Where has the time gone? We are so sorry for the long stretch between posts, the days seem to be flying by, and now low and behold it is December and soon time for jolly old Santa to make his deliveries.
Since our last post, we have celebrated Thanksgiving. We celebrated quietly at home with Rhonda's Mom and Dad and just spent the day enjoying each others company, watching some NFL football on TV, a bountiful feast of turkey and all of the fixings prepared by Rhonda's Mom complete with homemade pumpkin pie Yummy!, and of course the incredible Arizona winter weather with lots and lots of sunshine (the temperature got up to 84 degrees!)
Rhonda is still trying to shake off the effects of her bout with pneumonia that she has been dealing with for the last 3 weeks. She has a lingering dry cough that just won't go away. I feel sorry for my girl, she has been such a trooper with all of this and has only missed one day of work (that's dedication to helping others!) That's what makes her such an incredible nurse.
A great big "Congratulations" goes out to Joy and Kelly on the recent birth of their son. We are so happy for both of them. Rhonda had the opportunity to talk to Joy just after the birth when we called the Docs. It was a coincidence that both of the Docs were with Joy and Kelly and their new little one in their hospital room at Hiranandani. Dr. Yash was busy feeding Samuel while Rhonda was able to speak with Joy. We look forward to talking with them once they get their newest bundle of joy (no pun intended!) back home safe and sound.
Another "Congratulations" went out to our amazing Doctor and Blaze's Indian God Mother, Dr. Yash. She celebrated her birthday this past week and it was great calling and wishing her the best for her "special day'. The entire SI staff were all going out to celebrate at a favorite restaurant of hers and ours, Mainland China in Powai.
And yes it seems that all good things come in 3's. We have to give one more very big "Congratulations" out. This time it is for the fertility clinic that made our dreams come true, Surrogacy India in Mumbai, India. They gave us our miracle, our beautiful boy Blaze. This past week was their anniversary. There are so many couples lives that they have touched and like us, they have been able to make their dreams come true.
Well with those updates out of the way, it is time to tell you what has been happening lately in the life of our "little monkey" He is now 13 weeks old. Wow! It just seems like yesterday that we excitedly emailed SI with a multitude of questions and then I spoke with Dr. Sudhir about getting the process started. There were ups and downs and a few disappointments along the way, but each and every time we pick Blaze up in our arms and squeeze him tight and look into his beautiful brown eyes, it was all worth it.
As each day passes Blaze is more and more active. He really enjoys laying on his back and playing in his Fisher Price Rainforest Activity Center. He kicks and grabs at his toys and stares at the flashing lights. He really enjoys sitting on his Mother's lap and leaning back on her legs and smiling and talking (well making lots of noises) and reaching out and grabbing and playing with his Mommy and just eats up all of the one-on-one interaction with one of his favorite people in the world (me being the other favorite of course).
Being able to spend so much time with my boy is awesome. At first it was a bit difficult I will admit. Not the actual taking care of him (I'm pretty good at that!), but trying to take care of him and continue to do all of the things that I used to do around the house as well. As a guy, I always have a bunch of projects on the go and before the birth of our beautiful boy, I had plenty of time to work at them. That all changed when our little guy came along, but thankfully that was only short lived. It does get easier and lately, I have really gotten good at using the time during his naps to at least get a few things done and crossed off of my list.
As usual our little man is continuing to grow like a weed. For the last month now he has been routinely sleeping completely through the night. We bath him around 7 pm, then feed him his evening bottle and then it's off to sleep around 8 or 8:30. And we usually don't hear him stir until around 5:30 or 6 am. We had read about the importance of a routine in a babies life, so we came up with this routine for our Blaze and have been sticking to it as best as we can, and it really has paid off. We are still putting a teaspoon of rice cereal in his evening and morning bottles which he usually drinks 7 to 9 ozs. Just over a week ago I started him on strained bananas at his lunchtime and suppertime feedings along with his bottle, and he really seemed to enjoy them. He now has moved on to sweet potatoes. The look on his face when he tried his first taste of them was priceless, but just like the bananas he really seems to be enjoying them and smacks his lips between spoonfulls. And just this morning to go along with his mid-morning bottle, I made a small bowl of rice cereal to feed him and you guessed it, he enjoyed that too! I think he is going to be just like his Daddy and eat almost everything. I was never a fussy eater growing up.
With Christmas fast approaching we are in search of a few gifts for our boy. What do you get a little guy that seems to have everything he really needs right now? We are kind of leaning towards some things to help keep him occupied during the day in between his naps. Maybe some sort of sit-in activity center. Evenflow makes a nice one, the Exersaucer that seems to have a lot of things to catch the babies attention and keep them occupied.
Today Blaze and I started to put up some of the outdoor lights around the house. Well Blaze did the supervising from his stroller, and I did the work. As funny as it may seem, even though we live in the desert and don't get any snow, the majority of people take the time to get into the Christmas spirit by putting up lights and decorating. I have an 18 ft Saguaro cactus in my front yard that I put lights on, and you know it looks pretty good when it's done.
Well , my boy is waking up from his nap, so I will end this post for now. Hope you enjoy the latest pictures of the many faces of Blaze.