Welcome to the World My Son

My son, Shaan, was born on February 10, 2007 at 9:59 a.m. weighing in at 4 lbs 13 oz. and was 19 inches long.

He has his mother's chin and ears and my nose, but the rest belongs to him. He has a full head of hair, that looks a bit like a hipster haircut right now. When his cap is removed it inevitbaly goes into a mohawk. So already he is more fashionable than me. He is in a word - perfect.

His name means "pride" in hindi, but coincidentally also means "peace" in hebrew. My Jewish friends will be happy. He took my name as his middle name, as per Maharashtrian culture.

It has been a rough week in terms of feeding him. Initially Shaan was losing weight(as is normal for newborns) but he wasnt getting up to eat, because he had no energy. And since he wasnt eating he wasnt gaining weight. This created a vicious little cycle that was concerning us. So we ended up giving him formula (against all of our hippie concerns about only breast feeding) which helped turn it around. Now he is gaining weight nicely. Is very playful. The dog is bit bummed out right now, cause no one is playing with him, but he isn't jealous.

Now I thought it was kind of strange when I first saw it but I said nothing. Then more and more people kept commenting on it, so I feel the need to include here for you dear reader of mine: Shaan has an abnormally large penis. Needless to say I am proud of that, but it is just weird. A career in porn might await him after all.

One can't explain the feeling of having a child. To see this little thing with his whole life ahead of him that will be primarily influenced by you, is a bit overwhelming. I think I finally realize what mother's day is all about. I was in the delivery room with my wife. I try and wake up for all feedings in the middle of the night(she let me sleep through two so far) and sit there with her as she struggles through the feedings and the vice grip on her breasts. And I just watch my wife with the baby. I have so much more respect for her. For everything she went through and her complete and total lack of selflessness for the benefit of our child. To say that I am more in love with my wife now, would be an understatement. This past week is what I pictured being a family was about.

So welcome to the world Shaan. I leave you with a few paraphrased words from Rudyard Kipling's "If":

"If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too...

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master...

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”...

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run...

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!"

Next time: How old does Shaan have to be before I tell him that I only learned of the Kipling poem from The Simpsons?