LEKH ELIOT PARMAR

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Late... but so worth the wait.

July 6th, 2012 was a highly anticipated date in the Parmar household.  That was the due date given by the doctors for our second child.  Since we had decided not to find out the gender of the baby, the anticipation and eagerness grew with each day approaching the due date.  More than anyone, our firstborn, Meru, could not wait for a promotion to the coveted "Big Brother" position.  They say good things come to those who wait.  And wait we did.  

We were told by most people that the second one arrives sooner so we should be prepared to welcome the baby as much as two weeks earlier than the due date.  We got ready.  We would have gotten Meru more excited, if that were possible.  The last week of June came and went.  We watched the fireworks on the 4th of July with the car ready to rush off to the hospital.  Finally July 6th came... and it went.  This baby was not quite ready to leave Mummy yet.  But the baby was healthy (kicking all day long to prove it) and we were assured by the doctors to wait till the 11th when they had scheduled the c-section.  

Well, we welcomed another baby boy on 11th July, 2012 around noon.  He's a big baby and more than makes up for the wait.  Fortunately, the biggest challenge we had that day was to convince Meru that his brother won't quite be ready to play with him in the evening.

Catherine and I would like to introduce our newborn son, Lekh Eliot Parmar.

Date: 11th July, 2012
Time: 12:24 PM
8 pounds, 13 ounces, 21 inches
Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia

It took us a few days to finalize his name as we followed the family tradition of naming the child based on his/her moon sign, Aries in this case. 

Lekh: (lā-kh, lei-kh) A sanskrit word for text, writing or script.   

Eliot: (ĕl-ee-ut) One of Catherine's favorite names (named after the poet)

Since we didn't know the gender of the baby, over the last 6 months we have been referring to him as Biju-baby ("Biju" means second in Gujarati).  The nickname appears to have stuck, especially since Meru doesn't see any reason to give him another name.

Four years ago when Meru was born, we told friends that life, as we knew it, had changed (to put it mildly).  Well, life just got a little more interesting.  It is hard to articulate how much joy this little one has brought to our lives.

Welcome home, Biju!  

आयुष्यमान भव, यशस्वी भव।