Wednesday, April 1, 2009

My Angel


Dear Bloggers, after much anticipation and overwhelmed joy, l'd like to present to you my little princess, Asha Nicole Prasad.
At the moment she is 10 days old and as l had predicted, she is very stubborn when it comes to nap times, which clearly indicates that she got it from her mom....umm..it could be me. But the one feature that clearly relates to me (which is as evident as the nose on my face!) is her nose which is my nose...on my face. Yep, l guess it's true what they say; yuor baby is a tiny picture of who you were when you were born.

After continious cuddling and cooing, my wife has very quickly managed to control this litle bundle of joy. She was pretty scared when she was in her final month, asking me every now and then, "l'm really scared of holding the baby...what if l drop her?!". Well, that seemed a long time ago since she is doing very well. Too well really since our little Asha does not clearly appreciate her space. (She loves constant hugs, it comes from both of us really..). Clearly l had not truly trained myself for the big news, l was in shock for a whole 5 minutes before my voice kicked in. And of course the only intelligent question l had to ask myself was "Is she sure?" (Cathy had texted me at 1.15am in the morning Fijian time). l hardly slept that night. l was really happy. Very happy. So happy that not any horrid thing at that moment could kill my buzz. Well...then came Monday of course...and yeah.

Feeling really proud to be a dad, just 23 years old and already l'm beging to feel the ol' gramps in me, you know, the wise talk and all that. l feel totally young except sometimes when l'm hanging with my buds in the pub (Bar is an ugly word), l kinda ended the whole evening with my "I really think l should go home early today...." speech. Guys giving me the "You Crazy?!" look. But l guess it happens to the best of us. Certain amazing situations bring out the best in you and you adjust to it pretty well. Thats what l did, until Saturday. But that was more of a "Happy Father's Day" celebration.

So l have lived my youth, l really have. Now l guess l will live it again through my daughter's eyes. Wow! Just saying the word "daughter" gave me an energy boost. So yeah, l am a father and it's a proud moment. Although this distance is driving me crazy, not a lot of fathers could deal with this situation, but l am trying. The only strength l had was my love for my wife, now its the moment when l will hold my child. It keeps me strong and by the will of god, l will make it. Just hope time stands still enough for her to stop growing for a bit, but l guess thats a lot to ask. Love really works in misterious ways, my friends, and with your hopes and blessings, l know we'll be a family soon.

So thats that, l really have no words to tell you all how freaken' awesome it feels to be me right now, but it is truly amazing. If my little princess grows old enough to read this, l love you so much my angel. You have made your daddy proud.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Self Inducing...

So now I am going on the third day being overdue. I have been given all this advice on what to do. One was to go to a health food store and get black cohosh. And the other thing I hear from everybody is to walk three or four times a day. I know I have been lazy the whole pregnancy and I won't try to fit in nine months of not walking into the little time before the baby does come. I am going to fully trust my doctor who is hoping for the baby to arrive by this weekend. If not, I get to see him on Monday and we can discuss the various types of medical intervention to get labor started. Or else I can wait as long as possible because sooner or later the baby will come. She can't stay in me forever...or can she?

Sunday, March 15, 2009

The Mystery of My Angel

So here's the big question; What will my baby girl look like? To understand what the baby may look like or which one of the parent's characteristics would the baby imitate, we have to first understand the parents. So here is my very first attempt to predicting what my baby girl may look like. A very lame attempt at that but l guess there's no harm in guessing what beautiful features this new addition of my family would possess.

Gosh! l guess you may realize how paranoid l get sometimes, well that's what Cathy said when she read my last post. Well here l go:

So here's what l know about Cathy. She loves shoes...my dreaded moment whenever we go shopping was to pass by a shoe store. She loves all those girly things, you know, like love songs, surprise moments with flowers, cakes and anything with sugar, credit cards, crying when l get all romantic and your usual "I'm not going to talk to you..." routines when you make a mistake. But the best thing about her is her big brown eyes and her smile. She loves to smile and that's exactly what she does when she wants to cheer me up. (Really good for paranoid people). And she has this really cute look that just leaves me...um...whats the word....wanting more. She's cute and lets just say too cute sometimes.

And about me. Well, l am honestly weird, very orthodox when it comes to doing something boring. l am a romantic alias poet and florist on weekends. l enjoy family but hate large strange crowds. l slowly adapt but with a pessimistic attitude. l like being the goofy one in the marriage, gives me more leverage when l bargain to watch TV. I love writing (as you may now realize) and am a fanatic for western american novels preferably by Louis La'mour. I love movies, being lazy (which really should be an art!) and having fun. I am only serious about 3 things in life; Bills, Beer prices and How hot my wife looks.

If my baby girl has her genes on a 75% - 15% ratio over mine then l guess her genes would be dominant, right? I really should have paid more attention back in Bio class. So my prediction would be of a baby girl around 2 years old, focused over a laptop and busy engaged in some serious online shopping!

On the other hand, if my baby girl has truly gone on her dad then we can clearly predict 3 things;
1. Her favourite hobbies will include naps, sleep and relaxation,
2. Her first boyfriend will learn the meaning of "karate chop", and
3. She will do her best to protect daddy from mommy.


Well, there are chances of course, that the baby would turn out to have a totally new character. Which could be the change of spice we need to be an amazing family. Building a family is easy, keeping a family happy is fun, not hard. You just need the right fatherly attitude and a year supply of coffee (the strong kind). But overall, l've seen happy dads, and l guess l have to admit, l aim to beat them at being the happiest father in the world.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

I have a dream.....

So l have a habit of daydreaming my way through work, so it came as no surprise that my boss caught me staring into space again. Except this time (from his usual "What is wrong with you?") he smiled and said "Yeah, we know....your gonna be a father.." and with that, he disappeared off my screen. (He uses skype to spy!) Well, l was surprised and "goshed" at the same time. Yeah, still dazed from the fact the in any time within these two approaching weeks, there's a tiny human girl coming into this world. She's going to hold my hand and call me "daddy!" and ask me to get her a pony as soon as she gets tired of piggy-back rides.
So the most awkward moment in a father's life is when his daughter realizes her fascination with boys. And the feeling that will disturb me when she invites over her new boyfriend. l guess its a feeling like "Huh...so that's why all my girlfriend's dads had that same look...". And maybe they just simply wished for you to have a girl so you can also understand why they just won't like you no matter what you do!
So for all those new baby-girl fathers, welcome to the world of parenthood. Maybe we should all get together and start a Pony farm or a Barbie factory, it will easier on our pockets. Gosh, do you know how much stuff them babies need? Alot! l mean, first there's the food, then the different types of food in different flavours and sizes. Then you have special tools to feed them the food and special clothes to prevent spilling of the food. Then you clean off the food-eating apparatus (that's the baby of course) with 2.5kg of cleaning ingredients and water. Then you change the nappy which stores the outcoming food (or whats left of it) and dispose it in a toxic-sealable containment. Sounds like a true Fatherhood training program. But the mommies are there too (they suddenly appear when u make a mistake) well, thats what l often hear.
But overall, l guess for any perfect dream, you gotta work hard. In the end, you get a real princess in your castle. As long as she messes things around and gets supervised by mommy, just like daddy, well l guess thats fine by me.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Child Safety Seats

Did you know that car crashes are the number one killer of children under 14?. The use of a safety seat dramatically increases a child's chance of survival. There are many places that offer their services to check and see if the car seat is installed properly but still more than 90 percent of car seats checked in Sacramento last year were improperly installed.

The "New Dad" Feeling

So it turns out that all those "amazing feelings" and "proud moments" that usually new fathers refer to, are indeed, not explainable...that is to me. But the cool thing is, there is a child inside my wife that, amazingly, will carry a part of me for her future to come. She would probably take up Cathy's looks (honestly, my wife is hot!) and maybe take up my bizarre hobbies, (building amazing models and sculptures only to finally destroy them and mimicking people..). Not really cool hobbies, l know but l guess my wife digs them (because she married me). So it's really weird, this stuff l think about, you know, usually about the baby, my family and the future. But you just can't describe what goes in your head, when this moment approaches. l mean, you know she's pregnant and you know it's a baby, but, when you actually see her tummy..you think "Dang! l feel l got hit in the head with this situation.." and you think "l am not prepared for this.."

It was totally natural for me to understand and agree to have a baby, because that's what you do right? You get married and you wanna have kids and start a small family. But when you reach the timeline around the final month, you start getting paranoid and happy at the same time. l once sat down on a park bench for 2 hours to calculate how much baby nappies (diapers) would cost us in an year! Weird, l know but the whole "You gonna be a father!!!" thing from everyone really jerks your productivity level.

But at the end of the day, l love it. The whole thing. l love my wife and l love my child. Even though something tells me that raising a baby is not really a "dream come true" but at least, we will do it together and have fun. Yeah, l love the feeling of being a father. l hope if you are dreaming of becoming one or already are, l guess there are no words. Just smiles all around. Well that is, till the day she grows up and learns about credit cards.....

Friday, March 6, 2009

Childbirth Classes

I get a chance every Friday to go to Lamaze classes. It's helped me get a knowledge of what I will be going through soon. But some of the stuff I wasn't prepared for...like the in your face birthing video or the size of the epidural needle (could it be any longer).


There are so many options to having a pain free labor. But I have decided to try going au natural as much as I can handle (we'll see how well that works out). I just figured I laid down and had fun creating it so why not experience it all the way.




Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Doctor Visit

As of today I am about 2-3cm dilated. The good news is that I haven't felt a single contraction so far. It doesn't mean a whole lot because every woman and every pregnancy is different. But just knowing that sooner rather than later I will be having the baby.
***GG when you reading this, try not to panic. I haven't gone into labor yet***

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Moving Day


We moved on Sunday to a two bedroom apartment. It only took us about eight hours. Eight long, tiring hours in the rain. But we didn't have much of a choice since our lease had expired. But now we have more space for all our stuff and this kind of got me started in preparing for the baby's arrival. A very special thank you goes out to U-haul. We couldn't have done it without you. And then mom, James, Homer, Sajen, and aunty. Mom says this is the last time we are gonna move but we'll see. With our record we could easily be heading to another state in a few years...hahah.

OLD APARTMENT







NEW APARTMENT


Thursday, February 26, 2009

Due Date Mistake

Everytime someone asks me when I am due I usually told them March 10. But today when I went for my checkup I found out that my original due date is March 15. Then when I got the second ultrasound I found out that it got changed to March 8. But the nurse told me that the original due date is what they go by. Now I am all confused on the dates. All I know is the baby will come out when she is ready. Or unless there is a need for medical intervention...or hopefully not. So FYI everyone, my baby will be here during the month of March...:)

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

President's Day Sale

Despite the rainy weather, I managed to go shopping at DD's Discounts. Nowadays, it's shopping for either baby clothes or shoes. And not even heels but comfortable shoes for walking. It's so much fun buying stuff for babies.


Valentine's Day

My mom and I got flowers and chocolates. It's unfortunate because the sun ain't out much for the flowers to really open up. But I love my sunflowers :) Thank you GG




But the surprising thing was that baby got an entirely separate gift from mine. I guess it's Christine's rights to spoil her.

http://www.proflowers.com/new-baby-flowers-bab

Ultrasound Pictures






Baby's first pictures.

I'm Pregnant

Found out in Fiji that I was pregnant. On my last month now. Here are my body changes in the last few months.



I am having a baby girl by March 10 (hopefully). Can't wait to be a mom.

Family

This is a way better than writing in a journal. Where to begin....Oh yes!!!

FAMILY