Happy Birthday & Happy Anniversary

The anniversary of my labor pains. 53 weeks ago waddled into a hospital, moaning and groaning, not sure what to expect, excited and anxious. Labor pains which changed my life (and the life of G's) forever. In the span of 24 hours, my heart suddenly latched itself to another being in a way thoroughly unlike the way our heart attaches to our family or spouses.

Labor pains which resulted in this squishy cheeked sweet smelling eyelash envy wonder:

Happy First Birthday to Om.

And Happy Labor/Delivery Anniversary to me.

Portland Trip

Last month we went to Portland, Oregon for a basketball game. Although I'm not a basketball fan, it was neat to see the L.A Lakers in action.

We took a train from Seattle to Portland. It was the first time for me on a train (in the US). The train ride went fairly well, we arrived there in about 4 hours. Om was SUPER excited thoughout the whole trip. It was hard to put him down for naps because he just wanted to explore and socialize.

Cute kid in the hotel, trying out the bed with toy in hand.

Cute kid tryin' out the bathroom sink. Mini jacuzzi anyone?

Cute kid makin' cute Shirley Temple look-alike friends on the train. Om's first girlfriend?

Cute kid passed out in the carseat during the game. He made it for about 2 hours before we had to put him down for a nap amidst all the noise. Om sleeps all bundled up.

LA Laker's vs. Portland Trail Blazers. Kobe Bryant is in there somewhere!

Cute kid with his 'rents. He's looking at me so admiringly! LOL...15 years later he may not like us this much. :D

The amazing Om

Plays peek-a-boo all by himself...give him a blanket and he will raise it over his head and start giggling while waiting for me to say "Where's Om?" This is so cute I just want to die. Sometimes the blanket won't cover his head completely, and one of his eyes will be uncovered, but he still thinks that he is "hiding. "

He is a hand clapping monster. Throughout the day I say "Yaaay" or "Clapping clapping" and Om will smack hands together in happiness. Om also randomly claps while playing or while crying (which blows Mommy's mind...clapping while crying? Don't get it). Also it's nice to get applauded everytime I walk into a room. :-)

Today I was putting Om down for a nap when the phone rang. Decided to take the phone call, and put Om on the sofa next to her while chatting. Om was frustrated, but occupied himself for a while. Then he climbed onto my lap and wriggled around, reaching for the phone on my ear. Also made lots of funny faces and fake cries showing his frustration with an interrupted nap and the fact that I wasn't paying him any attention. After sometime, Om FELL ASLEEP on my tummy, face down snuggled into the many folds of stomach tire. His body was half twisted in mid-crawl. He remained asleep for a whole hour and a half (during the phone call). This was so cute and new, because he NEVER falls asleep without a bottle of milk and a blanket. It's also amazing that he remained asleep for the entire phone call...usually I have to go upstairs to talk because any sound will wake the sleeping prince.

Baby needs a new pair of shoes!

On Monday Om saw Dr. Mosca at Seattle Children's Hospital for a club foot checkup. Dr. Mosca said that Om's feet look great. His left foot is in the top 5% of club feet cases, and the right foot is in the top 1%. Again, it is all based on dorsiflexion, and according to the doc, Om has dorsiflexion very close to a normal foot. The achilles tendon has been growing wonderfully and is flexible.

I love that hospital...the atmosphere, the decor, how organized the system of check - in is (although I end up going through several lines and waiting a lot for a 5 min check up!). I don't mind waiting to a certain point as long as I know why I am waiting.

First the orthotist came and checked Om's feet and measured him for his growth. He determined that Om needed an upgrade to his Denis Brown Bar and Shoes. While we waited for him to adjust the new shoes, Om's weight was checked. After the orthotist put on Om's new shoes, we waited for what seemed like an eternity for Dr. Mosca. Thankfully the rooms and hallway are child friendly with pictures of sea creatures etc to entertain Om. I also took the time to feed Om breakfast and let him play with the paper cover on the patient table. Dr. Mosca almost always has a sidekick with him...whether it be a resident, a nurse, or another physician who is shadowing Dr. Mosca for the day. Dr. Mosca is very knowledgeable about this birth defect. When I ask him a question, he doesn't hesitate to go into a mini lecture explaining the dynamics of a particular problem. I actually like the explaination, because I have the habit of looking things up on the internet/library so why not save some time and have it come straight from the source? :-)

Om will continue to wear the brace 12 hours a day. And we got the okay to keep Om in the shoes for the straight 12 hours and do not need to bother with putting them on during the day. Om is incredibly mobile, and wearing the brace during the day is just annoying for his active legs.

Om munching on a mum-mum while waiting in the room.

Om Update! Long overdue

Om turned 8 months on April 18th. He is very mobile now, commando crawl and rolling all over the place. He also began sitting up by himself (before we would need to put him in the sitting position, but if he fell to tummy position he wouldn't be able to get back to a sitting position by himself).

He gets into everything...his curiousity is at its peak! He's eyeing the table tops and sofa cushions for potential toys. I don't let anything hang from tables otherwise he pulls the cords HARD and down comes whatever else was with it!

His eyesight is keen...he sees the tiniest crumbs on the floor that are camoflauged to my eyes (and then proceeds to insert nasty item in mouth). He notices and hears everything. If his Dad is upstairs getting ready in the morning and we are downstairs, he listens to the music coming through the walls and the sound of water going down the drain pipes. If children are playing outside, he tilts his head around looking for the origin of the sound. Birds are his favorite...the chirps that I have learned to tune out he relishes and looks toward the window in hopes of seeing said bird. One of his favorite activities is watching the crows eat crackers that I've put out in the backyard.

Om is such a little fireball. Set him down anywhere, and he immediately searches for something to play. We have attended a few playdates and storytimes, and Om is not hesitant to venture away from Mommy and explore the new world around him. He especially likes interacting with other babies and tots. He will grab their hair, ears, or toy they are holding without so much as a glance. The expression on the other babies faces is priceless...they are usually left wondering what happened to the toy they were mouthing and why was hair just pulled? During storytime at the library he sings his own words along with the rhymes...I have to bounce him to get him to quiet down so that we can hear what the storyteller is saying!

My favorite part about Om is his sense of humor...he smiles so easily....he doesn't hold any facial expression back. If a cashier is talking to him, he will gift her his toothy grin. If I am across the room busy in something, and then suddenly look up to see where Om is, he will display a wide mischevious grin and say "eeeeeeh" and then turn away in an almost shy manner when he realizes he's being noticed. Sometimes I just need to look in his eyes and laugh, and he will laugh back at the secret joke. One of our favorite games is to pretend that there is a baby stuck to my head. I take Om and put him on my head and say "there is a baby on my head! get it off get it off! eeeek!" and then Om giggles. Another game is blowing rasberries on his stomach....there is nothing sweeter than the sound of a baby's laugh!

Om's current favorite toys are his jumperoo and any container taken from the kitchen. He also enjoys watching Baby Einstein videos while sitting in his high chair and munching on crackers. He smiles and coos at the puppets. For eating, it is a cycle...some days Om will eat 16 ounces of baby food, and other days he will not even allow a spoon to enter his mouth. Last week he was 17.5 lbs, so he is gaining about a pound a month. Not sure if that is normal, but I don't know what else I can do to encourage weight gain...this month we have started full fat yogurt so maybe that will help.

He loves to take toys and wave them in the air. I think he is trying to determine how the toy works and what sounds it makes when bumped against something. Speaking of bumping, Om bangs his palms on any flat surface, such as tiles, hard wood floor, or table.

The worse part of this time is the seperation anxiety...Om doesn't last more than 5 minutes in any play area unless I am sittng very close. Stranger anxiety has also set in...he loves interacting with people from afar, but not necessarily when he is in their lap.

Om is blissfully continuing to sleep through the night. He goes to bed at 8pm, and then wakes at 6am without any feeding during the night. Sometimes he wakes up at 5am, which is when I feed him and then put him back down to sleep. He'll babble to himself for a while before going back to sleep until 7am. We attribute his good sleeping behavior to sleeping in a seperate room from us.

Our house is filled with the sound of "Daa daaa dadada" all day long...I don't think Om knows what he is saying, but it's his favorite word, and it is usually associated with some material thing (toys, household items). He also blows rasberries frequently. I think the rasberries are associated with pretend play...he takes a toy and then holds it up and blows a rasberry...maybe he's mimicing a sound that he imagines must be coming from the toy? :-)

Om and his best friend Jovin. You can tell which one is Om hehe.

Not a Happy Bunny Rabbit

For those who celebrate it, Happy Easter!

To do: reply to comments, read blogs, update on Om (8th month coming up!), update pics from past month or so...

Club Feet will ruin your furniture

Om is supposed to wear his Dennis Brown Bar for 12 hours a day. All the parents out there will understand that those hours easily fly by in sleep time. However after reading enough posts about relapse at the nosurgeryforclubfoot group at yahoo groups, we have increased Om's brace time to about 14 hours. So for a baby who sleeps 12 hours EXACTLY this means the extra two hours in the bar are spent in our family room and kitchen area. This wouldn't be a big deal if Om was still the stationary 3 month old. But he's not...as I type he has rolled out of the family room and into the kitchen, and is eyeing the next room (formal living room) as his current destination.

The problem is that when they have a hard metal bar attached to a pair of leather high tops, and they roll and kick in typical baby happiness, things get damaged. For instance, our wooden coffee table is a mess. He has kicked the table legs enough times that I've just ceased to stop him...the table is from G's bachelor days and wasn't in the best shape anyway. I don't want to get a new table because I know Om will just ruin that one too. We will just wait until he outgrows the kicking-things-with-his-bar phase (whenever that may be).

Om also manages to roll into the speakers of our new sound system. THAT is annoying, because they are expensive and probably can't bear the brunt of being smashed. Also, the microfiber and leather sofa has lots of baby scratches too. The bottom leather portion of the sofa is a prime area for getting scratched by the brace, and Om uses his finger nails to scratch the leather. The microfiber cusions were a great idea, however...spit up and food get cleaned up easily.

Oh and I can't forget the hardwood floor in the kitchen...Om loves new textures, and when he lands on tile or hardwood floor he likes to test out the area by kicking his braced legs HARD. I just hope when we leave this rental house that he hasn't caused too much damage, I feel bad for the landlord!

So here are some questions from a newbie Mom to all the experienced folks...besides surrounding Om with cushions and blocking areas, what can be done to soften the blow of the brace? And what can we do about saving the carpet from baby stains?

Infant Crawling

Should have added this to the previous post on revelations.

Apparently there are different forms of crawling. There is the classic bear crawl which means baby is on his hands and knees. I thought this was what crawling meant. But no, there are several different types, and we've realized that Om has been doing various forms of these since age 6 months! I'm such a ditzy Mom...Om get ready for many mistakes to come from parents who are learning on the fly! I just thought that there was only one official way of crawling!

Om does the commando style belly crawl. He lies on his stomach and inches forward with is elbows (slowly) until he reaches his destination.

He also rolls. This is the fastest way of getting around the room for him. I wish I could get a video of him rolling, but whenever I whip out the camera Om because camera shy and doesn't move (which is great for still photos) but bad for making movies. He also gets shy when there are strangers around and refuses to do all the cool things he can do at home. LOL.

Here is a link that explains the various forms of crawling: http://www.parents.com/baby/development/physical/6-cute-types-of-baby-crawls/

According to my parents, when I was an infant I was a very fast bear crawler and also used a walker to zoom around the house. However I didn't learn to walk until a year and a half! And it was only when we moved to the States from India at age 2 that I was forced to really learn how to walk because I didn't have the myriads of relatives to pick me up every 10 minutes!

So we'll see how Om does...G learned how to walk at a good age, and my brother learned to walk at 8 months (probably to follow his big sis around, ha!). I wonder if crawling/walking (physical abilities in general) are hereditary in nature?

Also, are walkers available in the US? My Mom called me yesterday and asked me to get him a walker so that he could burn all the extra energy and not get so frustrated. However I don't think I've seen a walker lately in stores, nor at people's homes. I'm assuming it's because they are too dangerous for homes with 2 levels. Any thoughts?

You are my Baby Love

Om turns 6 months old today, February 18th. Here are some photos of updates from the past month or so. And yes, we take almost all the pics on the same couch!





G and I before attending a wedding. I'm posting this pic because it's a rare nice pic...most pics usually come out at some weird angle, with stray hair, double chin, and wires and diapers in the background. This one came out pretty decent! Oh and I usually don't wear saris.



This pic is screaming Valentine's Day with all the red. This year G and I left Om with Grandma and went out to dinner at Calabria, an italian place, in Kirkland, WA. Om behaved well while we were gone and was asleep when we returned. On Saturday I attended a Moms group coffee date and we all attended a wedding. Then on Sunday we ventured out to North Bend outlet mall for some shopping. Om was on good behavior all throughout. I found hats, shorts, and diaper covers for Om that will be useful when we travel to India this summer. (Why is it that a variety of hats is so hard to find in stores?).

This would have been a great pic, I look decent (for once)...but Om would not look directly at the camera! Argh! I wish I had more pics of him and I together that I actually like!

Om's hilarious passport pic. This boy's hair is NEVER settled. Love the crazy poofy hair!

Om stylin' before going to a birthday party. Notice the diaper in the background. Of course! LOL. Oh and I love baby pants...they look so grown up wearing miniature khakis and jeans!

This outfit (minus the pants) was stitched by grandma. Love the baby bonnet type hat!

Lots to explain in this pic - First, Om's hair is in a mini "bun" because we were trying to make him look like a little Sikh child (sardar kha bacha). For those who don't know what Sikh is, they are the religion that wear turbans. We are not Sikh, but just thought it would be funny to dress him up like one and show off to relatives in India. Second, Om's wearing pants knitted by Grandma. I love the rainbow print. Third, Om's favorite toy is his hairbrush, despite the state of his ever poofy hair! He loves to gnaw on the handle and we have to take it away from him lest he chew on the hair infested bristles.

Gotta love this pic, the lighting is perfect. And Om has his mouth closed! This boy breathes through his mouth so it's a rare sight (unless he's sleeping) to see him with his mouth clamped shut.

This pic is from a friend's baby shower. I like this pic because we look so natural! (Thanx Namita & Deepak). I'm holding a little mouse. LOL We decided to give his Halloween costume one more use before we gave it away.

For milestones, I don't even know what to write. He loves eating all sorts of sweet fruits like banana, pears, apples, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash. I enjoy feeding him even though he makes quite a mess and can be pretty fussy. It's so cute to see his facial expressions as he swishes the food around in his mouth. At times he'll stop and stare up at your face, which is soooo adorable. We tried spinach and carrot mix, which he refused to eat! He also has 4 teeth now...the two on the bottom came out at 4 months, and the top two are emerging.

He's so antsy ...wants entertainment and something to play with all the time. When he's sitting in my lap, he'll twist his head around to see who's holding him....LOVE when he does that! He's almost sitting up...he tends to lean forward or back so it affects how long he can stay in that position. He rolls around a bit, but not as much as other infants his age because he imagines his brace is still limiting his movements. Nevertheless, he's trying really hard and can hardly stay still.

Om went to his first baby playdate this month. All the babies were 6 to 8 months so he fit right in. :-) I've joined a Moms group and have so far attended a playdate with Om and a Moms only coffee date. I really enjoy meeting new people and especially enjoy getting advice from fellow Moms.

February and the end of Jan were chock full of social events such as birthdays, baby showers, weddings, and get togethers. I love attending, but at times I was missing some down time on the weekends to get stuff done (especially things that required G). I've been studying as much as I can, mostly just reading outlines. Am still waiting patiently for the date of my examination to magically appear in the mail box. Once that date is set, I will have more direction and focus, because there is so much to memorize that it doesn't make sense to implant it into my brain now and then forget later. (No I'm not rationalizing!)

G and I are excersising as much as possible. I feel sorry for G, his work schedule and commute time doesn't allow for much gym. But we are trying! And my first goal is to get into the 150s for weight. Be gone darn 160s!

Look a like and Lazy Eye

Here is G's childhood snap: (no he's not a Mexican kid in Catholic school uniform!)

Here is my baby snap: (Yes that's cigarette ash on my fingers! My 'rents were so safe! LOL ).

Here is Om's snap (one of 10,000):

Guess it's hard to tell at barely 6 months of age, but I think in this pic he looks like me. As long as he gets his Dad's height and IQ I am okay with this! My little pumpkin smoochie woochie mooshie face! Okay I'll stop gushing now.

Today we went to the eye doctor for Om. We suspected a lazy eye, in particular the right eye. We've noticed it in almost all his pictures. G's sister had it as a child and required surgery to correct. My side of the family was blessed with myopic vision (as part of a curse on our family due to an ancestor accidentally killing a snake in the butter churn...oh the hilarity). So of course we are paranoid about his eyes given that both side of the family have issues.

The doctor said he has a slight lazy eye on the right side, but nothing that can't be fixed with exercise and perhaps it will go away on it's own in a few months. The excersises are really simple. We need to hand him toys from the right side of his head and switch sides feeding him (I tend to feed him with his head towards my right side). We also need to make him follow moving objects with his eyes (as opposed to watching objects by moving his head).

Various Om

Santa Claus

Chinese Baby

Indian Lady/Dulhan baby (probably going to hate me later for this)

Cowboy

Preppy Baby


Pink baby (again, he's not going to like this when older)

Christmas Baby

Year of the Rat Baby

:-) More to come...Om's mom cannot resist playing dress up!

Happy Inauguration

A day late. Today Om celebrated the new president by having a blow out. Poop blowout, to be more exact. I thoroughly enjoyed cleaning it.
You can get your obamicon (or rather, the red propaganda imagery) at http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/entries/new.html

Mentioned at Sepiamutiny.com, - Obama used the phrase "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers." Regardless of what type of president he will be, I totally dig feeling included for the first time in my life. (I'm somewhere in between Hindu and non-believer).

5 Months Cuter

Om turned 5 months cute yesterday. He is such an active, expressive baby who feels lonely when we leave him alone (or just the other side of the room) even for a second! He needs stimulation and gets bored very easily!

- He has more than doubled his birth weight, but at the last checkup was only at the 30% of weight.

- His head size is at the 80% ... all that extra brain fat just means smart baby! He wears hats meant for 6 mos or older kids.

- His length was at 75%.

- He cries bloody hell murder and turns bright red that makes your heart drop when he gets his vaccinations. But after we picked him up, was bright and chipper again.

- He is so social with strangers...he chats it up with the pediatrician or the cashier.

- He giggles and laughs out loud when something is funny. He mostly laughs at his Dhadi talking to him, or when we make funny faces or sounds.

- He has now added a jumperoo to his favorite toys of swing and baby gym. He looks so adorable in it, I'll have to take a video of him playing in it!

- He's had a cold for the past couple of days that interferes a bit with is feeding/sleeping. I use the pump and saline drops in his nose before feeding/sleeping, but he cries SO hard when I do that. Not sure why, I don't think the pump actually hurts, maybe it's just annoying?

- He has cut his first tooth a couple weeks back, lower right side. We noticed another one emerging.

- He has discovered his tongue - loves to wiggle it around and out of his mouth. Just means for more drooling and the bibs are becoming even more necessary!

- He loves mashed bananas, and eats his rice cereal with hesitation. Unless, of course, we spike the rice cereal with bananas. Still eats out of his silver dish!

- Om is a screamer. Instead of just babbling or cooing, when excited he mostly tenses up and lets out a nice SCREETCH! This is especially lovely at 430am.

- He loves toys and is fascinated with any object you show him.

- He "officially" rolled over at 4 months. He was rolling over before that, around 3.5 mos, but more slowly and it took some luck, especially with a heavy brace on his feet. Now he can purposefully roll over onto his tummy. When he first discovered rolling over he did it repeatedly and then cried when he was on his tummy. We had to keep turning him over, just to have him repeat the process and then cry!

- He can sit by himself, but only for a few seconds before he leans forward to untie his shoe or grab a toy, resulting in toppling over.

- His routine is bedtime at 8pm with milk and lights out. He gets extremely cranky at 6pm, so for two hours we may give him a mini nap or play with him, but no matter what he needs to sleep at 8pm otherwise very cranky! He gets up at 12am for milk, then the next wake time is very random. At times he will wake up a beautiful 5 hours later, and then sometimes he will wake repeatedly every two hours, it depends on whether he is teething or has gas.

" Just another day swingin' with mah friends"

This is such a wonderful time with babies. When they are newborn they have very little expressions and don't do much, and plus they are a stranger to your family. But by this time they are the typical "baby" and have filled out with chubbiness, sounds, and expressions.

"Oh why did mom dress me up like a girl?"

Happy Feet

The jumperoo never looked so GOOD.

The wooden tables and floor are saved.

No more questioning stares from people in public.

Today Om had his follow-up appointment at Children's Hospital in Seattle. First the orthotics team took a look at Om's feet. They were very pleased! Then Dr. Mosca checked his feet and reduced the hours Om has to wear brace. I can't tell you how amazing that is...now Om can be a normal baby for 12 hours of the day! The orthotist said that in his many years of practice he has not seen such improvement in club feet! The dorsiflexion is great, with a 40 degree angle, which is what NORMAL babies have! Usually club foot babies do not achieve that degree of flexibility.

Either Om is just lucky, or the constant massages, stretching, and bi-weekly visits to a physical therapist are really working.

Om got a new pair of Markel shoes one size up, but the bar is the same size and will be changed in another 3 months. Markell shoes are stiff and leathery and require some breaking in to adjust to the child's feet. I asked the orthotics folks if we could get the Mitchell shoes and bar, but they recommended against it, stating that why change something that is working so well. Also, according to the orthotist Mitchell shoes are geared more towards babies who have problems (constant blisters, feet slipping out of shoes, etc). He said that the Markell shoes are stiffer for a reason - they really work when used properly and if there are no slippage problems, the chances for success are greater. So I did not press the issue, because anyway now we only have to put the shoes on Om when he sleeps.

I just pray and hope that he doesn't relapse. You never know with club foot. Nazar nah lage (Antijinx on this post! Jinx monstor be gone!)

Tips for Teething

Today I stuck my finger in Om's mouth (I'm such a weirdo Mom!) and discovered what only can be early signs of a tooth emerging from his lower gums. Will try to get a picture of it, but I highly doubt he'll open his mouth for that long.

Any tips from fellow Mommy bloggers?

My Boyfriend

Om, AKA chipmunk, AKA my boyfriend, turned 3 months on Tuesday. He is a smiley, giggly child who loves to look around at the surroundings and also excerise his lungs with lovely baby talk. Sometimes he gets REALLY loud. His favorite time of the day to babble is early in the morning. Often times I will wake up to him talking in his bassinet, and if it is before 6am I just feed him and put him back to bed while I go to sleep. He continues babbling until Grandma comes and gets him for his bath. :-)

Sweet picture of my baby!

"I like to wear my hat to the side, very fashion conscious." Sweet dreams.

All giggles for Grandma!

"This book is SO fascinating."

"Umm did you want something? I was in the middle of reading my book!"

It's a serious birth defect folks!

Before Om, I had no idea what it meant to have club feet. To me, all foot and leg braces were the same. Now I realize that there are so many variations in the type of lower extremity birth defects. Some are more severe than others, and some are accompanied by other birth defects in different parts of the body. Each type of defect has a specified type of treatment which may or may not include a brace/special shoes.

Club feet is just one category of lower extremity birth defect. Within club feet there are variations in severity and also in what caused the condition. For instance, children can be born with bilateral or unilateral clubbed feet, with severe, moderate, or mild severity. There are also atypical club feet which are very difficult to treat. Om has bilateral club feet with moderate severity. The docs said it is an isolated (no other issues in Om) genetic problem. There was nothing we could do or could have done better (such as changing the diet etc). Om wasn't "cramped" inside me (he had plenty of room to kick the bejeezus out of his Mom).

Thus, I understand when people who hear about club feet for the first time say things like "Oh don't worry my cousin's friend's brother had this and he just wore special sandals and is totally fine now." How do they know it was club feet and not some other milder deformity that was easily fixed with special sandals? They don't, yet they are trying to be supportive and give us hope. So I listen. :-)

I also listened when my parents said that Om would "miracously" be healed in the womb due to prayer. They were convinced that club feet could be healed via intense prayer and that when Om was born we'd have a pleasant surprise. I knew in my heart that this would not be the case (I trust science too much) but I let them pray for my baby. They were just worried for their grandchild.

I listened when my mother in law conducted a puja (prayer) ceremony in her house in India and had a priest pray for the baby for several weeks after. Although I didn' t like the idea of the money spent, I didn't mind since she was just trying what she knew best.

What I don't listen to are when people say things like:

• "You didn't get enough vitamins. You should have eaten (insert random food here) so that your baby would have normal feet."
• "You didn't sleep in the correct position."
• "Malnutrition causes this."
• "You must have bent in an unusual position thus the baby's feet twisted inward."
• "You should have prayed more during the pregnancy."

(These comments are actually quite entertaining at times. I can't wait to see what comments we get when we take Om to India for the first time in March).

Club Feet - Goodbye Casts, Hello Brace

Last Sunday was the chipmunk's (AKA Om) last day with the correcting casts. In this picture the casts are pretty dusty after 3 weeks of wear. I couldn't resist adding a few doodles to the casts.

My little surfer/snowboarder! In the above pic, the casts have been removed. He is wearing a brace (Dennis Brown Bar) that consists of corrective shoes and a metal bar to hold his feet in place. We have to keep the brace on Om 23 hours a day. The extra hour gets divided throughout the day for a bath and stretching of his feet (special stretches that the orthotics folks taught to us) These shoes are not easy to put back on once we've taken them off. They are leathery and stiff, and Om cries each time we squish his feet into them. The bar is heavy so Om needs to re-learn how to kick up his legs.

If we don't follow the prescribed treatment there is a good chance his feet will relapse into the clubbed position. We take Om back for a checkup in 3 months. I'm hoping the doctor will determine his feet are satisfactorily stable such that we can limit the brace to only nighttime. That will be a huge relief from taking off and putting on the brace during the day.

When I hold Om without his brace, I think to myself "This is what it feels like to have a normal baby." Sigh.

Om Updates

Om was given honey (I know, I know...risk for botulism) by his Grandma via his very own silver spoon and cup set. He smacked his lips afterwards.

A rare sight in our house...Om fast asleep. This little guy likes to wake up every hour and cause a ruckus (he gets really cranky due to lack of daytime sleep...aren't newborns supposed to sleep 14 hours a day? WHATEVER!!!) I think he takes after his Dad...has no idea of what it means to relax, and doesn't want to sleep.

Yummy hands. He's taken to putting his fingers in his mouth only to get frustrated when no milk is produced. I've tried putting the pacifier but he sucks on that for maybe 15 seconds before letting go.

Navrathri Puja - Invited young girls over and give them food and treats. I don't really like the puja part (my mom in law took care of that) but I liked making the little treat bags for the neighborhood girls. I'm glad the whole Navrathri week is over, too much random work involved. While growing up, my mom took care of a lot of these things and I would just need to show up for the puja. But with MIL, I need to help organize these events since she's not used to shopping and coordinating these things in the USA.

Om celebrated his grandma's birthday.