A "Birthday", A Trip to the ER, and a Smile

These last couple of days have had quite a bit of drama, as Neal was running a 102 fever and so we headed to his first ER visit at Children's Hospital. The poor little guy was pricked with 8 needles! All is well, though, and he's been given a clean bill of health from his pediatrician. Thank goodness Ammamma was still here to help with Sonia... we were sad to see her go home yesterday.

On Tuesday Neal was officially 1month old. He's coming of age quite nicely, and today he had his first intentional smile. Mommy tickled his fingers and got him to crack this grin... and then he repeated the performance for the camera!

3 Weeks Already?

Where does the time go? Neal is already 3 weeks old! These past few weeks have been a bit of a blur, but one thing is for sure - we love getting to know our little guy and love seeing how Sonia is adjusting to her new role as "big sister". Neal is super mellow and basically loves to sleep and eat (with the occasional gassy smile). Sonia loves helping out with her baby brother by holding diapers and Neal's toys. She is probably equally excited about her "Big sister" t-shirt as she is about having a baby brother, but considering we've had no drama and she seems to love being around him - we consider ourselves very lucky!! Here are some pics from the past few weeks. We've had lots of visitors over the past few weeks! Here are some more pictures of the fun we've been having.

One of our many family outings - a trip to the zoo

 Amy and Miles came to meet Neal, and so did Sarah & Sam, Kelsey, and Karen & Ernie (we had lots of other visitors, but given the few moments I have now to post pics, these are the ones that made it - sorry!

 

 

Time with Tata (and stickers)

 

HOT weather = Pooltime in the backyard

 

All smiles

Naming Ceremony

While my parents have been in town, we did a traditional "Naming Ceremony" which occurs on (or close to!) the 11th day of the baby's life. Sonia and Neal wore outfits that Ammama and Tata brought from India and the main event is when Sonia "whispered" Neal's name into his ear. It was so fun to get dressed up!

 

Neal!

 

 

Family photos

 

Proud big sister

 

Ammama and Neal - with his name in rice

Neal and  picture of Sonia during her Namkarnam 2 years ago - quite a resemblence!