Jeev's Wedding Part 2

We were super excited for this wedding, partly because it was in New Orleans and we wanted to see our friends, but mostly because we had never been to an Indian wedding before.  Raj took us shopping so we could get super cute outfits for Skyla and me.  One of the most fun parts was getting ready with my mom (in case you didn't know, we treated my folks to this trip as a thank you for letting us stay with them all this time and also so we could have babysitters for the second part of the wedding at night).  Skyla was very patient as we got her dressed.  The results are fabulous, even though the outfit is ridiculously big on her:

I really loved the outfit I got for the wedding too.  The experience of shopping for it was a little daunting, as it was my first time buying clothes post-baby, but the salesladies were really nice and helpful.  They even altered the clothes several times for me in the store to make sure they fit right.  I have to say it's a small miracle that I was able to get all dolled up after traveling all day with an infant and getting about three hours of sleep!

We had to get ready by 9 a.m. because the shuttle was taking everyone to the baraat, the party in the street that they had for the groom before the ceremony began.  I knew this would be one of the coolest parts of the whole weekend, so we got up as early as we could to get ready and made it onto the bus about two minutes before it left!  The bus took us to this really cute neighborhood that reminded us of the West Village with its outdoor cafes and cute boutiques.  We were dropped off at the Nirvana restaurant and Skyla finally got to meet uncle Nan. 

We walked around the corner, where they had blocked off the street for the party.  There was a car blasting loud music and drummers banging a beat, who encouraged us to dance (he said, "White people too, not just the brown people!")

Below is Tory looking dapper and enjoying a complementary mago lassi.

Jeev with his family lookin sharp and enjoying his last few moments as a single man.

I took this picture because I couldn't believe Skyla was sleeping with the super loud music and drumming.

One thing I was really looking forward to was Jeev coming in on an elephant (and I may have told one or two people it was going to happen).  Raj told me something to that effect and I was trying to imagine where the hell they would get an elephant inside the city limits of New Orleans.  It turns out, they do that sometimes in India but most of the time they use a horse.  Oops!

Skyla was a big hit in her outfit.  However, I guess since she was wearing blue some people thought she was a boy!  One douche said, "Hey little man" when he saw her on the shuttle, and another psycho lady came up to me and said, "I'll take him off your hands whenever you get tired of holding him."  Not likely!  Here she is enjoying the show with Uncle Raj and then looking beautiful with her mama:

Eventually we headed into Nirvana restaurant for the Indian ceremony.  It was really really long and almost entirely in Sanscrit.  Plus, again, I had only had about three hours of sleep, so there were a few moments where a long blink almost turned into a nap.  A few cool things to point out: they put up a white sheet in between the bride and groom so they couldn't see each other until the priest said to lower it.  If they approved of each other, the ceremony could continue.  I assume this tradition comes from the practice of arranged marriages -- pretty cool!  There was also a really great moment where the priest introduced the bride and groom to the guests.  One thing I didn't get on camera but that I will always remember was when five of the bride's female relatives came up to her one at a time and whispered marital advice in her ear.  It was really sweet and special.

After the ceremony they had an awesome Indian vegetarian buffet so Tory and I were in heaven.  The shuttle picked us up promptly at 1 p.m. so we could go back and rest before the evening ceremony.  I napped with Skyla and Tory got some quality football-watching time with Jeev, Nan, and Raj.  We kept saying that it had already been a great wedding and it was only half over!

Jeev's Wedding Part 1

We just got back from an awesome trip to New Orleans for the wedding of our friend Jeev and his beautiful bride Erin.  This was our first big trip with Skyla and it was challening, but a lot of fun!  I've decided to break up the entries because I have a lot of pictures.  Here are the first few at the airport and on the plane for Skyla's first flight:

Her pediatrician said we should try feeding her on take-off and landing, which might help her with the potential ear popping.  I had to pump at the airport to get ready for this bottle, which she finished in approximately 3 minutes!  She didn't seem to be bothered by the air pressure, but she also didn't fall alseep right away.  Eventually we got her settled and she was a little angel.

I will post another entry (no pics, all words) when I have some more time so you can hear all about some of the trouble we had on this trip.  Let's just say we made some major boo boos and we are no longer in the running for parents of the year.

Grandma's 98th birthday

We took Grandma out to dinner for her 98th birthday.  She said she wanted to go to the place where "you can't tell if you're inside or outside."  We figured she meant Gordon Biersch, which has a very nice courtyard that does indeed feel as cozy as if you're inside.  Of course when we got there she said it was too cold to sit outside, but since she was the birthday girl, and since she was turning 98, we said we would sit inside.  We had a nice meal and gave her a few nice gifts: a card signed by all our DC family, and a nice gift from Geordie, Jolene, and Roma.  Geordie attempted to spray her new perfume so she could see how it smelled, but he accidentally sprayed it in her eye!  She was a very good sport about it but it did make her eye water.  I screwed on the cap for the ketchup bottle extra tight just in case, and Tory said, "You just can't escape your genes."  A fun time was had by all!

Sleeping Beauty

I realize that many (ok probably most) of the pictures I have of Skyla are of her sleeping.  She just looks so precious when she's sleeping that I can't help it.  I really do try to narrow it down to only the best ones, so here are a few of the most recent.  This first one is so freakin' cute I can hardly stand it!

I'm excited that she has started learning how to hold her pacifier in with her own hand.  It would make getting her to sleep a lot easier!

These last ones absolutely melt my heart.  She fell asleep while she was holding my hand and wouldn't let go.  I might have to pull these pics out some day to remember what it was like when she wanted nothing more than to hang out with mama :)



Healthy, happy baby = healthy, happy mom

We recently took Skyla to her pediatrician for her 3 month visit.  I was slightly nervous because I knew they were going to have to give her more shots and I hate seeing her go through that!  Dr. Solomon said everything looks great and she is very healthy.  We told her we were a little concerned about redness on her neck, which we think happens when milk or drool gets trapped in there (I know, so gross).  We told him we clean it every day but it still always gets red, and we asked him how to fix it.  He said, "That's easy, she just has to grow a neck!"  We also found out how much our little girl is growing.  She clocked in at 24.5 inches and 12 pounds, 11 ounces!  She has already packed on more than four pounds and she is getting chunkier every day :)  Here are a few pics of our visit.

About a week after this visit, we went back to the hospital for a follow-up hearing test.  We had to do this even though she passed her first one, because of Tory's congenital hearing loss.  They told us to try to arrive with her sleeping or at least really tired so the test could go smoothly. They had to hook her up to this really cool machine, with little tubes attached to her face and neck, and big headphones that fit over both ears.  Whatever the machine did made her really calm, and I asked them if we could bring it home!  I wanted to take pictures because she looked so cute but Tory said she wouldn't like those pics when she gets older.  He's right about the pics but I still wanted to include this little anecdote because I was a little worried but of course she's fine!