Busy December

Well December came and went so quickly! We have done quite a bit of traveling with Nayan over the past few weeks and he was very much the expert traveler. Despite traveling late at night a few times, Nayan recovered like a champ. I think the traveling was harder on me than it was on him.

After the trip back home for Thanksgiving, we were in Cincinnati for a few days for Sumeet to interview. We then traveled back to St. Louis for another interview and squeezed in an early Christmas celebration with Grandma and Grandpa.

We spent Christmas in Dallas, it was just the three of us and we had a very nice, relaxing 1st Christmas with Nayan. It literally took us all day to open his presents (in between naps and feedings). I know that Nayan won't remember his first Christmas, but we always will!

First plane ride

Well, Nayan had a great first plane ride. We headed back to St. Louis to visit family and friends over Thanksgiving and it was a great trip! Here are a few pics from the plane ride. Granted, it was a short flight, but like always, Nayan was such an angel!

Celebrity look alike

Now that we're home a lot more these days, we started watching more movies/tv series- one of them being The Office (so funny!). After watching a few episodes, we realized our son has a strong resemblance to one of the main characters. See for yourself:

Don't get me wrong, we think Nayan is the cutest baby ever but the hairline combined with the double chin really makes us think Nayan looks like Kevin.

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween was extra special! Even though Nayan can't exactly trick or treat, we had a very busy day. We spent the afternoon at his cousin's house. Though we were concerned we'd miss a good photo op due to nap schedules, we were able to get a few good shots!

Here they are checking out each other's costumes:

Sumeet and I have never carved a pumpkin, but figured this would be the perfect year. Sumeet and grandma were in charge- it turned out great! Please notice the "N" in honor of our little guy:

We hope everyone had a great halloween-we sure did!!!

Anniversary Fun!

On 10-19, Sumeet and celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary. Sumeet took the day off which was nice, and we had a fun filled day planned for the 3 of us. We started with an amazing brunch then headed off to the highlight of the afternoon- the Dallas Arboretum's Pumpkin Festival.

First, we had to dress Nayan in proper pumpkin patch attire, complete with a pumpkin hat:

So, the hat didn't go over very well. Nayan preferred to show off his hair:

Here's our little guy peeking out the window of the pumpkin house:

It was a gorgeous day, sunny and in the 70's- pretty much just like our wedding day.

We were just saying that it's crazy that it's been 2 years AND we have a beautiful son. We're so lucky to have a happy and healthy family!

Smiles

Nayan is definitely smiling a lot more these days. It's super cute and makes us smile!

Sweet Peace

We don't necessarily have a lot of gadgets for Nayan, not that he needs them at this age but we did invest in a nice swing. The Sweet Peace is pretty fancy for a swing and you can even hook up an MP3 player to it. Most days Nayan likes hanging out in the swing for a bit, and when he does, typically falls asleep. I didn't even pose him in this shot- it's just Nayan being cute!

Busy few weeks

Now that Nayan is getting older, we're heading out a bit more. We've been out to eat a few times, been to the Nasher Sculpture Garden, attended a picnic at Sumeet's hospital and of course, go for plenty of walks around the neighborhood and on the Katy trail. A few weeks ago we had one of Sumeet's colleagues over for dinner. Noelle and her husband have a beautiful baby boy, Leif. Leif is only 9 months, but he's a pretty big guy. This wasn't officially a "play date" since Nayan slept most of the time, but it was still fun getting together.

Here's a pic of the cute Leif:

Last week, Nayan had a very exciting day at Sumeet's work. Nayan was a volunteer for one of Sumeet's conferences. They needed a baby to do a shoulder ultrasound on and Nayan was happy to volunteer all in the name of science. During the ultrasound, Nayan was the perfect baby and everyone was super impressed with how good he was and how adorable he is! Good thing he had his own set of scrubs for the occasion:

2 Months!

Well, our little guy has now turned into a big guy- sort of. He was born just under 6 pounds and now he's a whopping 10 lbs! I'm not really that surprised he's packed on the pounds because he has a pretty big appetite and never seems to want to exercise. We took these photos yesterday on his two month birthday and I think he looks so different even from just two weeks ago! Besides the physical changes, he's definitely more active and smiling from time to time. He's just a fun little guy to hang out with!

This one highlights Nayan's new double chin and thunder thighs:

Gun show

Nayan was showing off his "guns" earlier this week. Pretty impressive for a 6 week old!

Game Day

I don't care too much for football but Daddy and Nayan sure had a good time with the start of football season. In case you can't read the bib...

Cutie!

Nayan's been eating like a champ...the proof is in those chubby cheeks!

What a month!

Well, I guess we survived the first month!! It's been crazy, but great! He's eating a lot and growing a lot.

My due date has arrived!

So yesterday was my actual due date. I can't believe that Nayan would have actually been in my belly over these past few weeks. He's eating a lot and gaining weight at a great pace, so we're glad he made his debut a bit early!

A model in the making?

So I'm well aware that every mother thinks that their kid is the cutest but Nayan really is the cutest baby ever! It's obvious to us and now everyone can see by the results of his first photo shoot that he really is!

We decided to hire a professional photographer who did a maternity shoot shortly after we arrived in Dallas when I was around 34 weeks. She did a great job and despite the 100 degree weather, the photos turned out great. We really liked the idea of the maternity shoot since we will now be able to show Nayan some great photos of him inside my belly.

The same photographer did Nayan's newborn shoot when he was just 2 weeks old. She likes to do them super young since the babies will typically sleep through most of the shoot, making it easier for her to move them around and get them in cute positions.

Well, the little guy didn't sleep at all, but he was amazingly cooperative. He was being his typical cute self - many times even looking directly at the camera. We were pleasantly surprised that he not only didn't cry at all but that he totally worked the camera!

Here are a few shots from the day. She spent about and hour with him so we'll have many more to post once we get the photos.

http://www.deenariley.com/blog/

We hope you enjoy them- we can't stop looking at the pics!

Change in plans!

Well, I was trying to space out my posts until our baby arrived and this post was supposed to be about our new stroller. Since someone decided to arrive a bit early, we'll focus on that.

Technically, the baby was expected to arrive around 8-20, but we had an inkling he or she would arrive early. After taking it easy for the past few weeks, we decided to finish all of the final shopping for the baby on Saturday. We finished the day off with a great dinner in our neighborhood with some new friends. Later that evening while Sumeet was putting the finishing touches on our new baby gear, the baby started to let us know he was ready to meet us.

Sumeet and I like to think that we were well prepared for the baby. We had read many books on labor and the arrival. But still, Saturday night, we found ourselves googling various signs of labor. I think that after 9 months, we just couldn't believe it was actually happening. Plus, I have heard countless stories of women going to the hospital, only to be turned away because they weren't in actual labor. I definitely didn't want that happening to us!

Well, I certainly was in labor and just a few hours later our biggest surprise was revealed. We had decided not to find out that sex of the baby but I had a feeling it was a girl. A lot of other people seemed to think it was a girl too. I was wrong!

After taking care of this little guy for 9 months, it was the most amazing feeling to be able to hold him and talk to him. I just couldn't believe that this little guy was all ours and he is so perfect. We're so in love with him!

Saturday during the day we had talked about all the fun stuff we were going to do on Sunday...hang out by the pool and have a nice dinner later on. I suppose our little guy didn't want to miss out on all the fun!

Welcome to the world Nayan Robert!

The baby's room

Now typically we would have had the nursery finished a long time ago. Given our move, we waited to buy the furniture until after we arrived in Dallas to avoid any damage during transit. I've heard stories of cribs taking 5 months or something ridiculous to come in, so the second day we were here, we went to buy the baby's furniture. Granted, a baby doesn't really even need a crib right away, but I wanted to have everything set to go before the big day.

I had purchased the bedding a while ago and since I probably spent more time deciding on this than my own wedding dress, I made Sumeet transport it down here. After months of searching for the perfect bedding, I wasn't going to risk the movers losing it. Finding gender neutral bedding that I loved and that the baby would love was a lot more difficult than I thought.

Technically, we can paint the room, but we would have to paint it back. This seems like a hassle so I found these cute wall stickers. They're super easy to use and probably look like I painted this mural anyway.

So that's the baby's room. According to the floor plan, it's a "study" but I think it worked out perfectly as our nursery.

The "before" shot

Reviving the Blog...

Now that we've moved to Dallas and are finally getting settled, I thought it was a good time to start the blog up again. I think it will be a great way to share photos of our little one with our friends and family. Until the little one arrives, I'll try and keep this somewhat entertaining! After the baby comes, I think the photos of the baby will be entertaining enough!

We've been in Dallas now for a few weeks and we both have been enjoying the time getting our new home ready for the baby. Sumeet has been off work for a few weeks which has been great! We've been able to get the baby's room all ready and have ventured out to try a few restaurants. The temperature here is finally cooling down- it's in the 90s- a welcome relief after a few weeks of 100+ degree weather.

We live in a great neighborhood with a lot of great shops and restaurants within walking distance. Another bonus- our complex connect directly to the Katy trail. I think that this year will very exciting in many ways and I'm really looking forward to it for many reasons!

BIG changes coming...

I seriously doubt anyone still checks this site, but I just wanted to let you know that I will continue to write...but not until things progress a little more.  There really isn't much to post about right now, except for my fatigue and slightly expanding belly that really just looks like I just ate an extra large Dominos. 

Things will be busy between now and then, with school/moving etc but the most exciting part will not occur until August. Stay tuned.