What the penguins brought.

For our anniversary, Mike made me a card depicting the changes in our life since May 2008. Cute clip art of a man rubbing a belly of a pregnant woman (ostensibly his partner), and a stork carrying a newborn baby.

No storks have stopped by, but this is the second May in a row that the Pittsburgh Penguins are in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Last May, Rohan was still a small bulge (see photo) on the night we watched the Penguins lose to Detroit.

This May, the Penguins brought Rohan a new tooth, a visit from Dimoni and Dadan, and an exciting trip to the Saugus Iron Works/Rocco's Pizza. Will the Penguins face Detroit again in the finals? Stay tuned... Meanwhile, groove along with Rohan to the musical "octoplush."

First Mother's Day

I wasn't sure what to do for Chandreyee's first Mother's Day. She is a caring, loving, and all-around great mother and wife. I wanted to show her how much she means to Rohan and I and just how much she does for us all the time. I am still living with the rule that for everything new that comes into the house, something of equal volume has to depart it. So instead of buying something, I decided to do as many of the things that Chandreyee does all the time as I could: cleaning, cooking, taking care of Rohan so she could have some free time to garden. Oh, and bake a big chocolate cake from scratch. At first I wanted to have Rohan help me out with the project and make his stamp on the cake. But then I realized that at his age, that's exactly what he would do, stamp on it with his hands, feet, etc. Considering that babies shouldn't have chocolate, what a crime I know but I guess they don't know what they are missing, I had Rohan watch me and play in the kitchen in his exersaucer and with some kitchen implements. I think the cake turned out well and we will finish it up tonight. I really like the frosting. Anyway, we had a really nice and relaxing weekend and got the garden started up.

We also really enjoyed having Chandreyee's cousin Sandip over to the house. After a nice Thai meal, we played with Rohan in the back yard. He still loves his swing (thanks Nana!) and we go out there almost every day. I love that it stays light out until long after I come home.

Rohan gave his mom her gift a bit late (2 days). I guess he had to practice it a bit. Just yesterday, he started to say "mama" and now says it more often than "dada" or "baba". It has really been a lot of fun watching Rohan learn something new and then practice, practice, practice lest he forget it. I can only hope that each new year will be as much fun as this past one has been. I feel very lucky to have such a wonderful family and I am grateful to the mom and son that make every day unique and exciting.



Thanks for listening,

Mike