Hello! You may know me as beaker from the boards, and I’m excited to be sharing my family’s story with the hive.
My husband G and I have two boys, 3 year old K and 1 year old D. K is a typically developing, rambunctious toddler. D is thriving now, but was born 2 months early, suffered a brain injury at birth, and had some other major health issues in his first 5 months on the planet. Now we have a much better idea to the extent of his injury, or better stated, the recovery from his injury! As his doctors have told us repeatedly, children’s brains are much more elastic and can recover from so much more, and that has certainly been the case with D. In very brief summary, D relies on a feeding tube, has short gut syndrome and a mild form of cerebral palsy.
Right now, I WOH part time, while K goes to preschool and my MIL watches D. I’m too nervous with D’s care to send him to a daycare just yet, but I’m hopeful that he can join K’s preschool in the spring. I worked full time before D was born, and may at some point return to full time if/when D has less regular appointments and can be cared for in a more casual environment. My husband owns his own company and contracts for a government agency, and thus works insane hours all the time. I’m sure other spouses of entrepreneurs can relate!
We live in the suburbs of Washington DC, and now that D is a little bigger and sturdier, we do exciting things like visit the playground and go to the grocery store. My in-laws live in the same town and are around a lot to help with the kids (or hoist their kid on us – my SIL is 12!), and my parents are also close by. We’re so happy the boys are growing up with their grandparents – the benefits of local relatives far outweigh the disadvantages for us!
My husband’s family is Hindu, and we’ve done some Hindu rituals for both boys. For K we had a ceremony/prayer for when he took his first bite of solid food (sweet potato, yum!), and then for both K & D we shaved their heads around 7 months old. Many Hindus feel that it’s important to shave babies’ heads while they are still infants. It’s also common for adults to do it as a part of a concentrated prayer, as an offering to God. That said, Hindu beliefs are extremely varied – so take us as an example rather than a rubric, and note that my explanations are not necessarily a reflection of the majority opinion!
K taking his food ceremony very seriously, and newly bald D
I think that covers what makes our family unique! At the end of the day I still am running around chasing a baby and a toddler like many of you. I hope that I can bring some useful perspective to those of you with more typically developing babies, and a familiar voice to those parents dealing with serious health issues. I look forward to going through D’s medical journey and the resulting parenting challenges with you all. Thanks for having me!
pineapple / 12053 posts
yay! so excited to hear more!
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
Yay!! So excited to see you as a blogger!!
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
So excited to see you as a blogger!
blogger / clementine / 750 posts
Welcome! I’m excited to know more about your family!
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
Woot! Can’t wait to read more!
grapefruit / 4923 posts
yay, really looking forward to learning more about your family! and hooray for another dc area mom!
watermelon / 14206 posts
oh, cool! I’m glad you’re a blogger!!
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
Yay so excited to have you blogging!
pomegranate / 3225 posts
Welcome
nectarine / 2771 posts
Excited to see you as a blogger!
pineapple / 12566 posts
That’s so cool that you are blogging now! Excited to read more, and see more of your gorgeous family!
blogger / pomegranate / 3491 posts
Welcome!!
coconut / 8079 posts
Yay! Excited about more blog posts to come!
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
Yay!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
Welcome!
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
Welcome!!
cantaloupe / 6869 posts
Congratulations on becoming a blogger!
pomelo / 5621 posts
Excited to see your a blogger!!
clementine / 918 posts
Yay! So excited to see you here!
pomelo / 5628 posts
You will be such a great blogger voice! Congrats : ).
squash / 13208 posts
Welcome! What a beautiful family!
honeydew / 7295 posts
What a beautiful family you have. Yoy have always ben a wonderful presence on the boards. i look forward to more posts ft you. Welcome!
eggplant / 11408 posts
Yay, so glad to see you blogging!
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
Welcome, I’m so excited you’re blogging. I can’t wait to hear more.
pomegranate / 3779 posts
Excited to see you as a blogger and learn more about your family!
blogger / nectarine / 2043 posts
So great to have you part of the blogging family! We have a ton in common! I’m in the DC ‘burbs as well, and my husband is Hindu (Jain, more specifically), though not very connected to the traditions.
blogger / apricot / 367 posts
Your boys are both adorable! I’m looking forward to reading more of your posts!
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
You said your husband’s family is Hindu and your children participated in a couple rituals. Are you raising your children Hindu?
blogger / pear / 1563 posts
Welcome! I look forward to hearing more!
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
I”m so glad to see you blogging
nectarine / 2936 posts
Very excited to see you as a blogger!
grapefruit / 4997 posts
Very excited to see you as a blogger. You have so much to share and are such a caring person! Sending you warm and positive thoughts for your new venture.
grapefruit / 4731 posts
Yay!
I’m glad you got to be a bee! I can’t wait for you post.
blogger / pomegranate / 3044 posts
Thanks everyone! Spoiler alert, the next few posts are depressing…
@Mrs. Carrot: how funny! Perhaps we run in similar circles
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: So, short answer: yes, we’re raising the boys Hindu. Longer answer… neither DH or I is very religious (I actually got much less religious after D was born) but we have no problem participating in the rituals and traditional practices, especially because it means a lot to DH’s family.
blogger / nectarine / 2043 posts
@Mrs. Tiger: Perhaps! If you ever want to chat offline, I’d love to connect
kiwi / 550 posts
So happy to hear more about the tigers on the blog! You have a beautiful family!