It has been a very eventful 6 months.
Abhay and I visited Greensboro the first week of May. Sampath was on a business trip to California and we made use of this excuse to go visit Divya. It was a very relaxing trip. There were a couple of interesting things on the trip. Abhay stated walking in earnest on this trip - that is he was taking more than a couple of steps. He walked pretty much from the bedroom to the living room in Divya's house. The other thing I remember about the trip is at 9 at night, Divya and I would both be lying down on couches and Abhay would still be going full swing. I found out that Abhay loves to crawl/run around in airports. On hind sight now it probably is he loves to run around and any open space is fair game.This was the first trip that I made with Abhay alone (no Sampath). It was very interesting as well as tiring. But since it was a very short flight it was not a big deal.
The Boston trip and the Greensboro trip really helped us prepare for our upcoming India trip in terms of packing and setting our expectations.
The India trip was a everything and more than we expected. Abhay did ok on the flight. Sampath had to carry him around a little. He had a blast in all the airports - waving to people and running around and just being curious.
He was an angel on May 21st. For the amount of things done to him he was very sporting. it started off with a bath, Ayush Homam, ear piercing, krishna dressing, photo sessions, cake cutting, head tonsure, bath again.
I want to write so much but then I realized this is all old news. So small snippets of the trip moving forward.
1. Madras was HOT! Abhay suffered diaper rash all through out but that did not stop him from being his jovial self. Highlight - he loved taking trips and napping in AC cars.
2. Hyd was short but good. Amma loved having him there and making things for him.
3. Bangalore birthday was a blast. It was nice to have so many people come, the food was good as well as we did not have to do much work ourselves other than show up. The photographer did a fab job.
4. Being in Bangalore for 2 months was just fantastic. Appa and Amma were always there for Abhay and they so doted on him. He was a constant source of entertainment as well as affection. Highlight - he loved going for a ride in the car with no restriction and kind of expected to go out everyday in the evening.
Flight back was very challenging in that Abhay had become more mobile as well as there was no Sampath. Amma did the best she could but they both had not gotten used to each other.
After coming back to the US we had a few challenges settling down, getting used to one another, setting routines. Divya and Kishan were here for Avani Attam. Then Vijay and Ramya were here for Labor day. Revathi was here with us for a month. We visited Cincinnati for Aditi's Ayush homam. Off to Boston to see fall colors. And just when we thought everything was calm and quite and settling down I got an offer to work. A contract position for three months.
This threw a wrench we were not really prepared for. What to do with Abhay? How to deal with the change in routines?
The company wanted me to start immediately ( like the very next day). I started out the following Monday and worked for a couple of hours everyday. I would put Abhay down for his afternoon nap and then head to work. I would come home by the time he got up and had milk.
The next week was probably the hardest in terms of emotional upheavel we have faced.
Abhay was not happy being a strange place, he fell sick, I was feeling very guilty about not being there for him. He also started being very clingy once I got home. This was very tough - I was tired (both physically and emotionally) and wanted him to go be himself and be with other people but he would not. Sampath was trying very hard to help but was getting frustrated as Abhay would whine and not go to him.
Anyway, I think we are now past it. I still feel extremely guilty about not being able to take him to little gym and other classes. The biggest loss I feel today is not being able to snuggle up with him for his afternoon naps and catch up on my reading and emails.
