Baby & Mom Blog

New family

2009-06-08T15:02:00.003-04:00

Gudiya is having constipation problem since we moved here.. We gave her stool softener, laxatives, took her to doc which ended up having miralax everyday and not drinking milk at all and the problem is still there. Last week we thought of giving a last try and decided to put medicine in the other end before taking her to doc who we know would want us to go for some strong med. Anyways, we tried it last week and after lots of crying and resistance from her we were successful and within 10 minute she “went” 3 times. Then another 3 days and no potty business. We told (made) her eat more, drink more and threaten to give her butt medicine otherwise:-) The other day we were telling her to eat more and she said

Gudiya: I want to get a new family…
Hubby: What?
Gudiya: I want to get new mommy, new daddy and new Bhaiya.
Hubby: Why?
Gudiya: Because you all make me eat, eat, eat and drink lots of water then give me medicine.
Hubby: But Its good for you.
Gudiya: But I don’t like it.
Me: Then try to go potty everyday and we will stop doing all.
Gudiya: I try everyday but it doesn’t come out but I go pee everyday. I don’t like you guys (crying)

Then yesterday we had to ahm put medicine there.. She was crying and didn’t want us to do that.. A was putting songs to distract her.. Hubby was trying to talk to her and I was trying to finish putting medicine but she wasn’t letting us.. She was crying loudly saying she doesn’t like it, she doesn’t want to medicine but we had to since it was already 4 days since she went potty.. She was very loud so I yelled at her thinking what the neighbors might be thinking of us and continued tried to use the medicine but she wasn’t letting us. I yelled at her and tried to turn her but she just sat there refused to move. In between all the angry looks from me, yelling from hubby and scary words like "shots" and "doctor" from A, she looked at me and said

“Are you my mommy?”
What!!!!
“Are you my mommy?”
(hubby & A were laughing)
I don’t want medicine.. I don’t like it..
Then you have to go potty..
I will try.
But its been 4 days.. you have to take medicine.
No, I don’t want to. Please mommy, I love you! (Kissing me) I love you so much.. I don’t want medicine..

(After 40 minutes of trying she didn’t let us use the med..)

*Sigh* okay, we have to go to doctor tomorrow and don’t cry if he gives you shots..
Will they hurt?
Yes.
A little bit?
No
A lot?
Yes
No, I don’t want that.. I want the medicine..
Now, I don't want to give you the medicine.
Please mommy.
No.
Please mommy..
You want me try again?
Yes..
Will you cry?
Yes but is this the last time?
If you let me put medicine there..
Mommy..
Yeah
Mommy, hurry I have to go potty..
:-)

And she went potty without the medicine but the episode left a hole in my heart..

I will never forget this.. I mean, she is 4.. don’t know anything but she thought of getting a new family and questioned if I was her mother just because we were trying to make her feel better.. What will happen next.. *sigh

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-12T10:43:00.004-04:00

A woke up early. I didn’t feel like getting up so kept my eyes closed and hugged & kissed him. But nothing can make him sit still for more than 5 minutes. In a little while I heard “I want to draw something”. I fell asleep and when I woke up he said “Mommy look whats under your pillow”:-) He made me 3 cards. Seeing this Gudiya wanted to make me card too but just like A’s cards. He didn’t want her to copy his cards so they started arguing. In the end she made me a beautiful card without copying A’s card :-) Then she said to me “Now daddy will get a dress and flowers for you” and hubby made a card with flowers.” We were out all day on Saturday so didn’t feel like going anywhere. I was just so glad that this year hubby didn’t have to remind them and sit with them to make card. It came from A’s & Gudiya’s heart. This was the best gift.

Around the world in 80 clicks

2009-04-25T08:21:00.004-04:00

2b’smommy tagged me. Here are the 5 things that I love about being mom..

1. I love the way they express their love. They are filling the hole I have ever since I know. Through my kids I am experiencing the love, bond and affection that is in mother-kid relationship. Their hugs, kisses, sitting in my lap and telling me the secret, whispering “Mommy, you know I love you.. You are the best mommy in the whole wide world ” atleast 5-6 times a day:-), fills me heart with so much love everyday.

2. I love the way they make cards for me and make everything special. A is really a kind soul who thank me for everything I do, be it giving him candy, telling him story or buying him something and Gudiya learnt from him. They make special thank you card almost everyday. Send me surprise e-cards so many times.. It feels good to open your email and find 5-6 cards from your cutie pies, with special message in each one of them;-) Makes me feel proud to see him making his sister feel better with his special cards after getting a boo-boo, or even after fighting with him. Those are the time I feel like “maybe I am doing an ok job as a mom” and smile with proud.

3. I love it when they fight over whose turn it is to sleep with me that night. And A wait for her to fall asleep and jump over her to sleep next to me. (yes, they sleep with us:-)

4. I love it when his teachers and my friends tell me how good they are and give me all the credit. Every time someone say something nice about them hubby never forget to mention “Its all because of their mom”;-)

5. The other day A and gudiya were talking. I heard A saying to her “When you get boo-boo you don’t need a bandaid. All you need is mommy or daddy’s kisses. Mommy’s kisses have magic in it. They make you feel better.” I love being the mommy magician.

Almost everyone has done this tag. If someone reading this hasn’t and wants to do the tag, here are the rules..
Just write a post of your own (five things that you love about being a mom) and find someone to link to and tag-someone from your own country, if you like, but definitely someone from another country, and link back to HBM's and leave a comment.

A and Gudiya

2009-04-21T15:56:00.011-04:00

Its been almost 2 years since I posted their pics.. So here are some recent pics..

With her monster

His school pic of this year

...contd...

2009-04-08T17:55:00.006-04:00

It took us 2½ days to reach KS. Hubby had to start working the same day. Yes, everything at last minute is his motto. We checked in the first motel we found. Rented the room for a week and the next day start looking for a place on monthly rent basis. Its not a big city so everything we found was on yearly lease. We were thinking that we were gonna buy a house soon, it was just 2-3 weeks we needed to stay somewhere and if the house needed work it the mostly 2 months but not more than that. Still checked out a few apartments. I have a phobia of rugs with pets pee and dirty walls. Since its not a big town, everything is not upto date here like in NJ. Even though it was ok we(I) didn’t like any of it. And I never lived in an apartment, to me its like living in someone else’s house.. Beside it was crazy to unpack some stuff and then pack it again in few months.. In the mean time we looked at couple of houses and all the schools.

They have one virtual school, which follows the same K12 method and requires the kid to take test before enrollment. Since A was already reading fluently, doing addition, subtraction and multiplication in pre-k I thought of sending him to virtual school where he can learn the next thing he should instead of repeating everything he already knew... In pre-k he had trouble going to school. School was for only 2½ hours still he didn’t want to go to school because he was getting bored. I had arranged with his teacher to give homework or some extra sheet to him but she was lazy. I even used to give him some assignment to take it to school still couldn’t interest him going to school regularly. I wasn’t happy with his teacher or principal so let him stay home when he really really begged. At home he was having more fun and doing more things than school so I wasn’t worried.

Anyways A took the test and according to the grades he got, if we pick the virtual school he was gonna go to 3rd grade language arts and 2nd grade math catagory.. I was so proud of him.. But there was one problem, socializing.. so keeping that in mind we decided to put him in regular school which I loved when we went to visit. Everybody was very nice. School was clean.. Kids looked happy.

So we enrolled him in Kindergarten. There they took his tests for 2 weeks and called us for a meeting. A never told us that they were taking his tests. We found out when we went there. In the meeting room there were around 10 teachers who gave their report after testing him. They thought he had mastered Kindergarten and 1st grade and he should be in 2nd grade.

WOW… yeah thats what came in my mind.. I never forced A to learn.. we never had study time but he was curious about stuff and I always tried to satisfy his curiosity. But 5 years old and 2nd grade was amazing.. They set a trial period of 2 weeks for 2nd grade and decided to have another meeting after that. After 2 weeks, his teacher said that ‘I thought a kindergartener would not survive in 2nd grade for even a day but he has proved me wrong.”

He got 94% on his 2nd grade weekly assessment test and 100% on spelling test. Everything was fine but kids in his class were 8-9 years old. He was getting along with them fine but we thought it would be best for him to spend time with his age group kids. According to them kindergarten was out of question so they put him in 1st grade and continue going to 2nd grade for language arts. 2nd grade math time was clashing with his 1st grade schedule so he picked the 1st grade stuff. We were happy.

I compare the stuff they do here with the stuff they do in previous school and it was way different. They learn a lot more here. Some of the stuff he is doing in 2nd grade, my friends son did in 3rd grade. Almost no home work here.. only once a week he gets spellings other than that they test them what the teach in school. All he does at home is play play and play..

Then one day I was eating Chinese food and all of a sudden my forehead went numb. I got so scared and went to ER. They did EKG and other blood tests and again everything was fine. He told me that something near my stomach felt very tender and recommended a doctor. In the mean while he gave me acid reflux medicine. It helped but only 40%. I missed the appointment and they gave me another appointment after a month.

By the time we bought a house. It was an old house but in move in condition. Nobody painted the house since it was build, green carpet, old kitchen, one standing shower bathroom, one with only bath no shower etc but clean. I could live in it if I had to but decided to get it done before finally settling down.. hubby agreed (at that time, now he blames me because of the time it took).

Got somebody to work in the bathroom and moved in the new house by end of oct. That guy got some problems and could work only few hours a day and it took him 2 months to do one bathroom. We stayed in motel for 2 months and we were back to 1 room situation in the new house. I was going crazy in one unfinished room with no carpet, old bathroom, sleeping on mattress, no washing machine and buying new cloths. I found another guy who could do rest of the work cuz I was already sick of the other guy. I painted A’s room. Got the carpet done and moved into that room with the bathroom that took 2 months to get finished. The new guy did the other bathroom in a 10 days.. whole new bathroom..

I started painting the room attached to the new bathroom so that we could move back before my MIL came to visit. We thought kitchen would be done before she came but it was partly done. and even if it was finished I couldn’t have used as it was all dusty and who wants to cook in that condition. She was here for a week.. She stayed with us for 3 days and we took her out to salt mine, to MO to see fantastic caverns.. It was 3 days trip.. The end of 3rd day she had flight back to my BIL and we came to our undone, dusty house..

First thing we did was hook up the washing machine and dryer so that we could start the laundry. Then I started the painting job.. painted Gudiya’s room pink and purple.. changed the kitchen color again. Painted downstairs playroom with 8 different colors. Painted another room downstairs and hubby did the living room & hallway upstairs. Forget about the extra time for white ceiling.. By now paining wasn’t a fun thing anymore.

Hubby has to finish his Phd so he started working lots of hours a day.. Me with the kids and the same routine.. house not done yet.. I was going crazy. I kept the kids busy.. they were happy , I wasn’t.. Stress started to build up.

Had doc appointment and they said I should get the endoscopy done. They checked for tumor and stuff and found out that I had some irritation in my stomach and hiatal hernia. He gave me 2 kind of medicine and told me to come back for follow up. Pills worked great and got rid of most of the symptoms I was having. The reason for Hiatal hernia was pregnancies. And another reason was gudiya’s acid reflux. She used to throw up a lot during her first year and I used to hold her in my lft side and sit about 22 hrs. a day. Doc said that my shoulder muscles are very tensed and I should visit chiro but who has time between all this chaos.

Its been 7 months since we moved to KS.. little over 5 months since we moved to new house and we are still living in 1 room, house is not doen fully.. upstairs room are done and one room is set as playroom other is just for bags of stuff which we can’t put in our bedroom yet and tons of folded laundry. Living room and kitchen is 99% done still he has to do some work. He kept taking off in feb & march and worked for 3-4 hr. a day.. That’s what put us so behind our schedule.. my stuff is still in boxes in the garage.. I don’t know how I am going to unpack all that.

This is small city with no computer jobs.. I can't get any job if I want to work.. What will I do?

Every thing took a toll on our lives.. Its not like it used to be.. This is the first time in my life when I am scared, confused, stressful and in depression. This is the first time when I felt the need of having mother, a loving family and friends. This is the time I really needed a shoulder and needed somebody to hug me, understand me, comfort me and be there for me. This is first time when I am scared thinking my kids are going to hate me when they grow up.. I am not a good mother, a good wife or a good person.. This is not how it used to be. Anytime somebody needed solution to a problem, I was the one they used to and still call. They all think I am the best mommy and I go out of the way to help everybody. Their kids are great too but my kids are considered the polite ones and intelligent ones and everybody gives the credit to me still I feel worse..

Absent from blogging..

2009-04-07T14:28:00.004-04:00

I was absent from blog world for quite sometime. I thought it was going to be a short break but it turned into a very long one.

The main reason of my absence was a guest from India, who was gonna stay with us for 4 months. He was vegetarian and we hardly cook any veg food or let alone 3 meals a day. After he came, our household turned into pure Indian one, where I was just cooking Indian veg food for him, regular food for us, cleaning and taking care of the kids. I thought I will be free after that but then hubby got job in KS and we had to put our house on sale and start packing. Well didn’t start packing right away as we were gonna move in July-August and it was march end, so decided to take a little break. Went to places we hadn’t visited for a long time and the new ones that we were planning on going for a long time. Between house showing, little packing and going out, I didn’t get chance to come back.

Right when I was thinking of writing a post something strange happened. One day I was done feeding kids at night and put them in the bedroom so that I could eat, all of a sudden my heartbeat went up and a warm rush went from my feet upward. I didn’t know what was going on. It stopped in a few seconds. I thought I was having heart attack. Hubby was out. Called him to come home. By the time he came home everything was fine. Didn’t go to the hospital thinking whatever it was, it was over, why bother the kids late at night. Then it happened again the next afternoon and we went to ER. They did all kind of tests but couldn’t find anything. Came home 2 o’clock at night. It wasn’t easy even though I told hubby not to come to the hospital and told him that I will call him when its time to come home. ER report said it was because of the stress but I wasn’t feeling any stress so told them that I am not going to take any stress medicine with tons of side effects. It happened again 2 days later. Went to ER.. same thing, they couldn’t find anything. Hubby kept saying there is nothing you are fine, its all in your head. Go to India for sometime.. Yeah rite, just get rid of me the minute you get chance ;-)

I made an appointment with my doc to see if he could find something but nope.. Went to heart specialist, every report came out ok.. But I was having dizzy spells, my heart was racing few times a week.. no particular pattern but it was happening. I wasn’t stressful but all this was starting to show effects. I was scared 24hr. that something was gonna happen and I was gonna die alone with 2 crying kids for hours as hubby was (still is) busy 18hr. with his work.. What if something happen to me how will I get help.. Even if I reach hospital they won’t be able to treat me if they don’t know what was going on with me. Change another doctor. He did every possible test he could. CAT scan. Individual scans of different parts but nothing.. I was still feeling all the symptoms. Found another heart specialist who looked at my report and said I was fine.. It was just the stress that was causing all the panic. With 2 kids this happen. But I explained that motherhood is not stressful for me.. I enjoy playing mommy, mean mommy sometimes but noway it was stressful. Went to a neurologist, got MRI done. Again nothing.. Now I was really scared.. Hubby kept saying it was all in my head. I spent months crying thinking about the kids if I die. Who will take care of them.. I don’t have parents or any family. From hubby’s side its only his mother but I don’t want my kids to be raised emotionless and selfish.. I was raised by my grandmother and it was the generation gap that killed my childhood.. Don’t get me wrong; I got lots of love, endless love but noone can raise you like your parents can. It is like I was never a child. I was born grown up..

Anyways between all this we sold our house.. moved from NJ to KS.

...to be continued….

Chanelizing his energy

2007-08-23T09:57:00.000-04:00

Since last year I am thinking of taking A to some music, Gym or Karate class. Music and gym class didn’t happen cuz hubby thinks I am making him sissy. Yes, he calls it making him “Nancy & Suzie” just like Frank in “Everybody loves Raymond”:-) And even though we had 2 weeks free karate class coupon, which A got as summer reading gift, we didn’t go there either cuz hubby said he might come home and start punching Gudiya.

Since few weeks A is into kicking & breaking things. I was thinking of taking him to karate class so that he can enjoy kicking instead of getting yelled at by me and we got another 2 week coupon again:-) Now I am not afraid of him kicking Gudiya either cuz if he dare to kick her or punch her, she doesn’t need me to defend her, well most of the time;-)

So I called and schedule a class for him. We all went there. He got the uniform and was really excited..

And Gudiya was

Because she wanted to do haiya too but they don’t take anyone under 4..

He is going there since almost a week and looks forward to the next class. Hubby thinks we shouldn’t go there because It doesn’t look good if we stop after 2 weeks. I think when they offer to give free classes, not everybody join afterwards, so its ok if we decide not to continue with them. I like the place and the teacher but it’s a bit far away.

Initially I was going to take him to place which is just on the next block. So sent Hubby to check out and schedule a free class there but they don’t take anyone under 5. Reason; they give reading material and kids under 5 can’t read. Hubby told him that he can so he is going there on Monday. This new place guy has trained police and Marine people and very serious about the training. He told hubby that they are not like other training places who gives a new belt every 3months.. They are very serious about the performance and gives one to one attention. I want A to learn something when you are paying so much for each class but more than that I want him to enjoy and have fun instead of sending him to a boot camp.

The place he goes now, the whole time he is saying haiya and giggling and all other parents giggle with him. No matter how many time they tell him “If someone is attacking you would you be laughing? No, right, so don’t laugh”. He stops for few minutes and forgets what they said and start giggling again. He is having fun:-) Its so much fun even watching him saying haiya & giggling:-)

We will go to the new place on Monday and if the guy is very strict, we won’t join and he will continue going to the other place otherwise we will start here from Monday..

And we are trying a gym class this week too:-) Its for both of them so Gudiya will be happy too:-)

Gudiya’s First prize

2007-08-20T11:18:00.000-04:00

Every summer our library has a summer reading program for kids pre-k to 5th grade. Last Year it was “paws claws, scales & tales” and this year “Get a Clue”. Even though Gudiya is not in that category still Librarian gave me the book log sheet for her and she got her very first prize:-) They had arranged a dance program before the award ceremony. kids didn't like the program that much but getting the beads necklaces was fun:-)

See I told you, dance pogram was boring;-)

Prize in their hands

Last few months-2

2007-08-15T09:13:00.000-04:00

NY Aquarium

Coney Island rides (Next to Aquarium)

Story Time at our Library

Picnic Time

His First Contest

2007-08-13T13:30:00.000-04:00

It was our library’s 100th anniversary and they had a Bookmark contest for each grade. Even though it was from K-8, they let the preschoolrs enter the contest too. A is not that good at coloring but that week I had a book called “where do Balloons go?” and that made it easier to draw:-) He made a party theme bookmark with cake, hats, streamers and confetti. I told him that its our library’s B’day and we have to make a card. I didn’t tell him that it was a contest and if he does great he might win the contest. I told him to do his best and try to make a nice card for our library who let us borrow lots of books, arrange story time twice a week, art class and lots of other interesting events throughout the year. Everyone is so nice there and we just want to say thanks by making a card for them and the library.

“Just like we made card for you and Daddy on Mother’s day and Father’s day?”

Yes:-)

They had all day event with really wonderful programs like Mother Goose, puppet show, Special story time, Bubble fun and Art time. As soon as the last event ended and we were about to leave, the librarian said “Its time to announce the winners (one from each grade).” By then I didn’t even remember about entering the contest and I knew there are lots of other kids whose mothers spend hrs. teaching them how to color and they color almost perfect. One of my friend’s daughter, who is a year older than A, can color pictures almost perfect. Every week I see my friend sitting with her teaching her how to color while I am trying to argue with Gudiya not to take all the crayons and let others use them too. A colors ok for few seconds and then start doing silly stuff but he is good at drawing stuff since drawing takes only few seconds;-)

Now I was sure that my friend’s daughter would win. That day she told me that she drew a book & cake and I thought since she drew something related to library(book) and celebrating(cake), she got it right and its everything they are looking for. I had also told A to draw something related to library but he wanted to draw only the things he drew so I didn’t argue. My friend said that her daughter A already told everyone that she will win and I agreed with her knowing how well she is at coloring. So I told her that even though I didn’t see her bookmark but I am sure she will win too. So when they start announcing the winners I told her go ahead cuz they will be calling her name soon but they called A’s name instead.

I couldn’t believe it. The librarian called A and gave him his prize. I didn’t tell A about the contest so he didn’t know what he was getting prize for. I offered my friend the prize since her daughter was so looking forward to it and A didn’t have any clue. She said she had already bought something and wrapped it for her at home so it was ok. A opened his gift right there and it was this..

(Where is my prize?)

It was his first competition and since he won, I explained it to him what that prize was for.
“They had a contest and so many kids made bookmark for the library. Everbody did a great job but they liked yours a little better.” All he said was

So I won and Gudiya didn’t?

Yes.

That’s Ok Mommy, I will share my prize with her.

:-)

To make it more special for him we took him out for dinner and Chuckee Cheeses :-) And the next morning I put 2 wrapped things (1 for gudiya) under his pillow and told him “Since you did a great job making bookmark and shared your prize with Gudiya, Jai-Jai left these for you”:-)

I never thought that he could win otherwise I would’ve made a copy of the bookmark or at least take a picture of it.. He ia getting another award next week for the summer reading program. Everybody who reads certain number of book during a particular period gets the award.. So both will be getting it this time:-)

Here are some pictures of that day..

Last few months-1

2007-07-29T09:45:00.000-04:00

Lots of things happened since April and they said so many cute things that I wanted to post here but now I don't remember most of them:-( Here are some pictures though..

Went to Zoo

Hugs time

Playtime

Check this out

2007-07-26T18:57:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuPMJbqEzUU

Just saw this on Simpsons and guess who enjoyed it the most.. yes, A:-)

Graduation

2007-07-13T09:34:00.000-04:00

Did I mention A graduated in May:-) While everyone was singing and dancing, this guy was sitting there feeling shy and making faces.. take a look:-)

I am still having problem feeding Maharani.. Never thought it will reach to a point where nothing gets done and still no satisfaction of at least making the kids happy because one second all seems good and the next second its back to feeling yuck..

Anyways, still didn’t get chance to visit blogs yet.. Hopefully I will get more time to do all the stuff I was doing before this blah phase of Gudiya..

Phew

2007-07-05T15:36:00.000-04:00

Thanks for checking on me and your comments. You all are the best. Since 2 weeks I am thinking of replying and updating the blog but couldn’t. I was gonna write a quick note but I was too optimistic when I thought I could write a whole post when kids are asleep..

Its been very hectic lately. Gudiya is on food strike for almost 3 months now. It wasn’t that big of a deal in the beginning. She wanted only fruits & milk all day. I used to force some bread or few bites of other food at night because I didn’t want her to feel hungry at night, not that she woke up even once and ask for food but I was worried that she might feel hungry in her sleep. After 2 weeks I called the doc and she said if she is active and doesn’t look sick, its ok.. She will learn to eat other stuff few months later.. In my mind I was thinking “OMG, did she say few MONTHS later? It means I have to struggle for few months.. Oh no.” Then Hubby came in the picture. I told hubby to try feeding her at night. He is only here for 2 night a week.. Others days he comes home after their feeding time.. Still it was good if she eats from him but she is stubborn. After all the dramas & all she didn’t eat full meal but she did eat better. I guess she is bored with me and she feels happy by keeping me on my toes & bothering the heck out of me;-)

All day long I was making new things for her and tried to feed her every 2 hrs. Hubby went out of state for a week and it was no break at all for me. She didn’t want to take nap either and A usually sleep very late.. So it was like 24hr. duty. I included lots of activities thinking it will change her schedule and she might come back to her normal ways. We go out for dinner almost every Friday. Saturday is outing day anyway and we are eating our Saturday’s breakfast at IHOP for a month now. A loves it there and she eats ok too. Every Tuesday & Thursday we go out for story time in the library and then visit few stores. I try giving her a bag of junk food to eat,. sometime it works but not always. Then I took her out on Wednesday morning for another story time. This was in a food store and kids could eat food while listing to stories. I loved it cuz she did eat meal there but she got sick the same week and we haven’t been there since then.

The other day she threw up at night & twice in the morning. Now beside feeding her every 2 hrs. I was changing the bed sheets and cleaning the kitchen. I was exhausted & going insane. Same thing happened every time she ate & the next morning we were off to see the doctor. I thought it was just her drama and she is making herself puke but doctor said it was the stomach flu. A never had it so didn’t know the symptoms before. Gave the prescription to the pharmacist & went to grab food. Usually its drive through but hubby decided to go inside. We were almost done and even thought she just had water & hardly ½ spoon of cheese, she threw up there.. Cleaned up the floor while hubby took her to the bathroom. I went to check on her and saw her throwing up there too. Wanted to kill hubby for making the wrong decision at the wrong time but couldn’t since I said yes too. Since then we haven’t been to any store cuz It is embarrassing if she has an accident there. But we are going on long drives & fruit picking since 2 weeks:-)

Doc had told to give her chilled juice & sodas but she refused to drink any of it. On top of that she had the worst cough. I didn’t want to give her any cold thing but didn’t have any other choice. From that evening to next afternoon she had only 2 Popsicles and she was so out of energy. Called the doc and asked if we could start milk since she is not drinking anything else and wants chocolate milk. Milk is no-no in stomach flu case but she said to mix half water & see if she throws up. Well she didn’t and that the only thing she drank & had few spoons of pudding in between. This went on for 11/2 week and now since 3 days she is eating a little better. It was like a newborn in the house again. Because of my constant trying to feed her she didn’t lose much weight. It was few only ounces less when we saw the doc. And she was down total of 1 lb till 2 days back.

In between all this we managed to socialize. Hubby’s friend with family was here from India. He took them to Washington D.C & I was up at 5 in the morning to cook. I had invited 2 other families 3 days apart from each other. Plans were made weeks before and A was very excited so I didn’t want to cancel it. The other day I was up at 4 in the morning to cook and the third guest family was coming on Friday night and I had all day to do stuff. It went great because other families were gujju, marathi & marwadi and I cooked the Punjabi way; 4 appetizers, 5 dishes & 3 sweet dishes ;-). Just like Twisted Dna mentioned in one of his post about Punjabi hosts, my guest called & said they were full for the next 2 days:-) I was happy.. But now no more get together at home for atleast 6 months ;-) Outside meetings are ok because If I start cooking I can’t stop and its too much for me handle now. Kids had great fun because these friends have same age kids as A & Gudiya. Even kids didn’t want to leave our place:-) and another great thing was that Gudiya ate full meal. It was all before the stomach flu episode.

Now she is doing ok since 3 days. No more throwing up. Doc has given the medicine for her eating problem and it suppose to work in 3-4 weeks. I have to wait till she is all better and then start the med so in a day or 2 we will get to that.

Because of too much attention to her A had become so angry. She snatches everything he touches. Usually I don’t let her do that but I knew her crying will lead to throwing up so I tried to make A understand. I felt bad but I had no choice. On the bright side he got 5 jelly beans every time she took something from him.. So it wasn’t that bad, I think. He got 2 cavities and we are going to dentist today so I thought what the heck, let him eat more candy:-) She has became more gundi and everytime she sees me holding A, kissing him or hugging him, she gets very angry.. She starts crying or throwing things. I tell her to sit too but no, she doesn’t want him there sitting in my lap. Again I have to make him understand which I hate to do but he knows he will get some surprise from mommy for his understanding :-)

I will post few pictures tomorrow.. Have dentist appointment in an hr. and a magic show afterwards..

Hugs

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T09:51:00.000-04:00

This is the first Mother’s day we will be celebrating cuz no one remembered before;-) This year A has concept of celebrating but for some reason its only the taking part he connects with each holiday. On B’day HE wants a big present, On Christmas he wants lots of other things from Santa and on weekends he has his plan to visit his favorite places. So I thought now is the good time to introduce them the concept of making someone else’s day special too and a day where you give gift instead of expecting one;-)

So last week I told hubby & A that we are celebrating Mothers day.. Even though we go out on Saturdays only, I want to celebrate on THAT day, not advance.. I want to go to “that” place for lunch &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; I want a card from A;-) Next morning hubby wished me “Happy Mothers day” lol.. and I told him that it will be next week;-) Its been busy week to make the card still they STARTED making it the other day:-)

This morning hubby wished me after I asked him “Aren’t you forgetting something?” ;-) I think after going though this checklist he thought Mothers day could be the possibility and since we did talk about it YESTERDAY, he wished me;-) Then he told A & Gudiya to wish me:-) Now I am waiting for my card &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; lunch;-) oh and next year I don’t want to pick the place, they have to give me a surprise;-)

I wanted to post this today, on Mothers day since I won’t be able to post till tomorrow.. I will update later with pictures of the card & lunch:-)

Happy Mothers day:-)

UPDATE

4 Feet

2007-05-07T10:31:00.000-04:00

The other day we were in a playground and A saw a sign of “4 feet” and picture of kids playing together..

Mamma, it says 4 years old kids can play with their friends here. (Since he turned 4 every 4 numbers means 4 YEARS.)

No, Its not 4 years, its 4 feet.. F-E-E-T.

4 feet?

Yes.

(He looked down and counted 1,2) But I have only 2. How do you get 4 feet?

:-)

Getting Big

2007-04-26T19:05:00.000-04:00

At least twice a week I struggle feeding A and 3 times a day feeding Gudiya. Gudiya is very stubborn but A is the one whom I can distract, yell or scare and he eats his meal. Those times I tell him

Eat your food otherwise you won’t get big. Gudiya will get bigger and you will stay like this.
If I finish my food I will get big?
Yes
Like Pappa?
Yes
Like You?
Yes
Like Nani Bhua & Nanu?
Yes
Very big?
Yes
Very very big?
Yes
Very very very big?
Yes
Like Rakshash?
Umm NO.
Like you & Pappa?
Yes
Mamma I don’t want to eat too much and get big like Rakshash. I don’t like rakshash..
But If you eat, you will be big enough to scare them away...

And this is the conversation we have on every food strike day:-) and it works every time:-)

**************

There are days when I think about going on a diet and I feel so good for 2-3 hrs until I think of food or the next meal, whatever comes first;-) Then for a day I weigh myself after every meal;-) A is aware of my this routine;-) Once he saw some diet ad on tv and asked

Mamma what are they saying?
They are saying if you do “this” exercise you won’t be fat anymore.. You will get skinny.

Every other month I get the diet bug and every time I step on the scale he ask me

Are you getting skinny?
No
Are you getting fat?
(looking at him with angry eyes”;-P )
NO, I just have to stop eating the bad stuff.
You ate bad food, Mamma?
Yes.
What did you eat?
Samosas and all other fried food and that too a lot.
You ate lots & lots?
Yes
So you got big?
Ummm yes.
You got Fat?
Ummm
You become rakshash?
NOOOOO (God, I got to stop eating fried food;-P)

Gudiya and A

2007-04-23T10:21:00.000-04:00

Gudiya likes to jump on the bed. No matter how many times I try to stop her she just never stop. Even though I am always there stopping her still I am afraid that she is gonna fall down and get hurt so now to avoid that I have to yell & scream to make her stop..

Yesterday as soon as I put her on the bed she start jumping again. Seeing her A started doing the same. I told them to stop but nope, they continued. I tried to distract them but it didn’t work either. Then I yelled at them and A stopped but she kept laughing & jumping. I screamed

You cannot jump on the bed. You will fall down and hit your head. Stop before you get hurt..

Laughing & Jumping

STOP YOU WILL GET HURT

Laughing & jumping

Ok stop or I am gonna spank you

Laughing & Jumping

Allright then, *spank*

Laughing & Jumping

Another spank

Laughing & Jumping

A: Stop Gudiya, If You get hurt on your head how will you comb your hair and put clips.
(Yeah that’s the only worrying point if she gets hurt;-)

**********

Every time I tell her to sit down, she jumps & sit down.. Actually lands on her butt. I told her that one day she is gonna fly and instead of the bed she will land on the floor and get hurt.. But Gudiya is Gudiya, loves to scare the heck out of me.. So yesterday she did that again & I yelled at her. A was there too and said

“Gudiya you can hurt your butt then how will you do potty? So listen to mamma”:-)

Talk about putting 2 and 2 together;-)

Happy B’day Dear Hubby & A

2007-04-17T22:28:00.000-04:00

It was Hubby’s & A’s B’day on Friday, yes the same day:-). We usually go out to celebrate and cut the cake at home but this time A is into celebrating with friends so I was planning accordingly. I got all the information and decided the place and everything but because of all that happened last month, I decided not to do it the way I was going to. I didn’t think A would mind but boy, was I wrong. Everyday he asked me if we were going to invite his friends and celebrate at his favorite place. Finally I thought of calling 2 of my friends just so that A won’t feel bad that we didn’t invite anybody and planed to celebrate at home.

When I talked to him he got mad at me because I already told him that we would celebrate at Chuckee Cheese. He kept bringing the information paper I got from Chuckee Cheese and told me that he wanted to celebrate there. I tried to talk to him but every time he got mad at me. I thought if I won’t do it he will feel very bad so called my friends & told them to come to Chuckee Cheese and since it was far away I had to change the day from Friday to Saturday so that they could come with their family.

I asked him what did he want on his birthday and he kept saying, 1 apple, 1 banana, lots of candy, lots of ice cream, big cake, decoration and balloons. I was thinking of surprising him by decorating with banner & balloons in the morning but hubby leaves early in the morning and there is no way kids can stay in the bedroom without me. They are up as soon as I get up. And then hubby said if you do all that & celebrate the next day he will feel bad because he will be expecting everything on that day so I decide we will do the American way; celebrate on the weekend:-).

On Friday I just kissed him but didn’t wish. When I called hubby to wish him A was there and he said

“But its my B’day too”
“No , your B’day is tomorrow”
“No mamma, Jai Jai said mine & papa’s B’day is on the same day”
“Ohh yeah, sorry Papa, its not ur B’day today.. mommy made a mistake..we will wish you tomorrow;-)”

So the next day I got up extra early.. Decorate the place, not too much but enough to make him happy:-) Baked a small cake in my soup bowl:-), put his presents out.. He was really happy and as soon as he saw the balloons he said “Did Jai-Jai do that for me? Because I am a good boy?”
“Yes, Jai-Jai did that for you:-)”.

He is not into gifts as long as something is wrapped in a gift paper, he is happy.. so we didn’t get him any present as I am out of space to put anymore toys still I got him around 10 little thing that I knew he would like. We played with the balloons, made goody bags. Then we cut the cake.. It was magic candle and both of them had lots of fun until the candle was out. Then it was time for some bubble fun:-) It was just great morning and we all had so much fun.

We had planned to keep him in B’day mode all day long so after all that we went out for lunch. Had relaxed 2hr. lunch and then went to pick up the cake. We reached Chucke Cheese around 5:10 and my friends were there within 10 minutes. Everybody had blast there. Little after a hr. we cut the cake, had pizza and everybody went back to play. We were getting so tired but kids didn’t want to leave. Had to drag the kids out because it was already 8:30 and they were playing for more than 3hrs. Gave them goody bags and said thanks. We waited for them to leave and we left in 25 minutes too..

It was great but very tiring day. We didn’t get up until 12 the next day:-)
His only complaint “I am a boy and I wanted to celebrate with my boy friends not with girls:-)”

Priceless!

2007-04-06T20:41:00.000-04:00

Jack wakes up with a huge hangover after attending his company's Christmas Party. Jack is not normally a drinker, but the drinks didn't taste like alcohol at all. He didn't even remember how he got home from the party. As bad as he was feeling, he wondered if he did something wrong.

Jack had to force himself to open his eyes, and the first thing he sees is a couple of aspirins next to a glass of water on the side table. And, next to them, a single red rose! Jack sits up and sees his clothing in front of him, all clean and pressed. He looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect order, spotlessly clean. So is the rest of the house. He takes the aspirins, cringes when he sees a huge black eye staring back at him in the bathroom mirror.

Then he notices a note hanging on the corner of the mirror written in red with little hearts on it and a kiss mark from his wife in lipstick: "Honey, breakfast is on the stove, I left early to get groceries to make you your favorite dinner tonight. I love you, darling! Love, Jillian"

He stumbles to the kitchen and sure enough, there is hot breakfast, steaming hot coffee and the morning newspaper. His son is also at the table, eating.

Jack asks, "Son... what happened last night?"

"Well, you came home after 3 A.M., drunk and out of your mind. You fell over the coffee table and broke it, and then you puked in the hallway, and got that black eye when you ran into the door.

Confused, he asked his son, "So, why is everything in such perfect order and so clean? I have a rose, and breakfast is on the table waiting for me??"

His son replies, "Oh THAT!... Mom dragged you to the bedroom, and when she tried to take your pants off, you screamed, "Leave me alone, I'm married!!"

Broken Coffee Table $239.99
Hot Breakfast $4.20
Two Aspirins $.38
Saying the right thing, at the right time..

Priceless!

Comment moderation and anonymous comments

2007-04-06T20:34:00.000-04:00

I used to think why people go through all the trouble and choose to moderate. After all its very time consuming.. One reason could be because they don’t want to miss responding to anybody and another is that they want to avoid stupid comments.. I have seen so many posts with “comment deleted by blog admin” and few comment sections turned into a war zone because of few stupid comments by yeah, stupid anonymous person.

If someone writes about something on his or her blog, obviously they don’t mind getting positive or negative comments but is it has to be nasty comment? By starting with “I hope you take it in the right spirit” makes the following poisonous words turned into sweet message? I don’t think so.. And why do most anonymous get the right to leave nasty comments? I said most cuz not every anonymous person is out there to leave nasty comment to get rid of their frustration.

If you think you are so right why are you scared to leave your name and email id for further clarity;-) What are you scared off? You don’t want people of know it is your opinion by staying anonymous? On every blog there are lots of comments from anonymous people because they don’t have blog but most of them are nice & leave their name even though they are saying something negative...

I don’t think anybody has all positive opinion on every post they have written on their blog but not everybody leave a nasty comment.. I mean you can argue your point but no need to show your bitchiness or is it must? But because of few of those nasty anonymous people, people use “block” feature & miss getting sensible comments from people who don’t have a blog..

So please if you really have to get rid of your frustration on someone’s blog, don’t make the comment section a nasty zone.. If you must get rid of your itch, email the person so that you can get your answer back cuz not everybody is like “you” .

All I can say to those people is “keep your right spirited comments to yourself & click on “close””.

Why this post today??? Yes, you got it.. I got a nasty comment and even though I don’t have the energy or need to fight with a masked person, I would like to clear things by trying to be equally nasty (hey I am no saint;-) but not here;-) Email me or leave your email id..

Another school dilemma

2007-04-04T17:11:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was one busy day. A had Easter party and even though I told hubby to sign up for juice, he signed up for fruit salad. Crazy guy doesn’t know that its already hard for me have my cup of tea before noon and now I have to peel & cut fruits and make sure they don’t turn brown. Then I had to go for his registration in his new school, which I didn’t like at all. I don’t know if I am picky but I just didn’t get the right feel when I was there. There were lots of students in the hallway but I couldn’t see A in anybody. We register him anyway but now I am thinking of lots of options

1.) Renting a place few blocks away, near a good school, so that A can go to better school (Stupid public school system according to which part of the town you live in).
2.) Send him to his old school again.
3.) Find another private school since the other one was daycare type and now its time to find something which is more of a school
4.) Send him to this school anyway and see if he is learning good things or bad and then decide accordingly.
5.) Keep him home for few months and work on relocating.

On the other hand Gudiya put a show for the ladies there.. She danced there singing the wiggle song and with her hands on her cheeks, she kept saying, “wake up Jeff” “wake up Jeff” while they were clapping & clapping. We had to stay there for sometime so that she can finish singing and dancing;-)

I was planning on going to India around end of September, during Dushera & Diwali, but now I can’t go since A’s school is starting in September. But I don’t want to go there in summer and take care of the sick kids instead of having fun. Now I might go in December but I don’t want to miss Christmas either. Any suggestions..

Bhagam Bhag

2007-04-02T17:50:00.000-04:00

Is the latest favorite. First half an hr. of the movie has to be watched over & over again and the song has to repeat at least 10times before anything.

20 times a day she comes to me saying “BhagaBhaga” and the minute its on she put her hands on her knees and shake her bum. She try to copy by blinking her eyes, hand actions, shaking her leg & all.. Even though its not closer to how Tanushree does, its fun to watch her try to copy all the dance movements..:-)

The first time we watched, I had to go in the kitchen and I told A to sit & watch and let me now later what was going on and this is what he said

(A pointing to Akshay & Govinda)

Mamma, this guy wants the girl and that guy wants the same girl too, why can’t they share.

Well, girl is not something you share. She can decide if she wants to be with Akshay or Govinda.

(Then he watched it for few more seconds and pointed to the girls dancing in the back & said)

Mamma why can’t they pick one of the other girls.. They are dancing good too.

I don’t know:-)

Ohh & he loves Gullu, especially when everybody decide to go to Germany in his car:-).

Hi!!

2007-03-27T18:50:00.000-04:00

Thanks for missing me girls:-) And special thanks to Kodi’s mom for her humorous email and want to check on me.. And thanks Sush for your email. It was very nice of you all to leave message asking for me:-). It means alot to me:-) Thanks..

On March 2nd I was about to post but we went out and I thought I would post in the morning. 2hrs later we got a call that my FIL passed away. We were in toys r us and hubby came to me saying, “Dad passed away and I have to go to India”. His Father was sick for few months still it wasn’t expected and in the past we talked about hubby going to India he always said that he can’t go cuz there are lots of things going on here, his job & study related, so he won’t be able to but when he said he had to go It was so unexpected and I was scared. Yes, scared because I can’t live alone. I couldn’t go with him because somebody has to take care of the stuff here.

Anyways, he spent most of the night finding ticket online & I spent thinking how am I going to spend 2-3 weeks alone:-(. Days are not a problem since he is never home but I am so scared to be alone at night. He left the next afternoon for 2 weeks. I hardly slept that night and almost all lights were on every night until hubby came back.

Next day started as usual but around afternoon I started to get scared thinking of being alone at night. Two night of not sleeping made me very tired, zombie alike, and another sleepless night was on its way. That night around 1:30 I got a call from my Bhua. It was my bhua's FIL's death anniversary and they were thinking of going to temple but they found out that my uncle's older brother died in his sleep:-(. His wife went with morning tea to wake him up on Sunday but he didn't respond. When they took him to the hospital, they said he died 2 hrs back.. I wonder if he had woken up early to go to work he might have been alive? He died the same day as his father, 2 years later.. It was just so sad and I felt worse. They didn’t have any kid and they adopted his niece but she too died few years back at the age of 14. Now they had one adopted son who was very very attached to him. I kept thinking of everything when I met his 3 years ago:-(.

I couldn’t sleep till 4:30 in the morning and was up around 8 cuz kids were up by then:-(. The whole time hubby was in India I waited till morning to sleep and all day I was like a zombie.. Even now when he is back I still can’t sleep till late:-( A’s school was close and I was keeping them busy.. I hardly had time to even check email. I was online 2-3 times just to pay the bills & all. I wanted to check my blog but I knew once I see comments I will have the itch to respond & kids were really keeping me all busy so I thought I will check once they are asleep but A never slept before 1 in the morning & then I was too tired to even think about the blog.

Even if I couldn’t be online I still thought of everybody & I always though I will at least read few blogs but I couldn’t even do that. Hubby was back on 17th and I thought of updating my blog but he had jetlag & it was difficult to make kids not bother him all day long. Next day he had to arrange stuff for his seminar & he left again on Tuesday for another 3 days. He came back on Friday night, actually around 4 in the morning because there was smoke coming out of his original plane then they had to switch the plane. Weekend was busy. Yesterday was Ashtami & I had to do kanjak and now here is an update from me:-).

I still can’t sleep till 2-3 in the morning & days are still very tiring.. I hope everybody is doing great. I will check all my favorite blogs once I am out of my zombie mode;-).

Hugs

Why A didn't want to write...

2007-03-01T17:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I read an Indian story to A. It was about a grandma telling his grandson to study for his exam. When I went to the kitchen I told A to get his notebook & pencil and write something and he said

No mamma, I don’t want to.

Why?

Because

Because??

Because I don’t want to.

Remember that grandma was telling that boy to study, so you have to study too now since you heard the story;-) Otherwise Im not going to read you any more stories.

But my teacher said not to study.

Yeah?

Yes, My teacher said not to study.

Who, Miss T?

No, Miss C said not to study.

Alright, let me call her and ask..

No, you can not call.

Why?

Because school is closed now.

Ok, I will call tomorrow then and ask Miss C if she said not to study.

No, you can’t call them tomorrow.

Why?

Because then they will say we are closing the school.

But I can still talk to them..

No, you can not.

Ok, now when you will go to school tomorrow, I will ask then.

No, Miss C will be sick tomorrow and She won’t be in the school. Only Mrs T will be there.

Ok, I will wait when Miss C is all better and come to school, then I will ask her.

Mamma, she is sick. She will come next year.

I was out of questions;-)

Was I Mean??

2007-03-01T16:58:00.000-05:00

After the other day’s argument I told him that if he has that much work he don’t need to come home early (he work from home-first floor), I will give him dinner just like lunch.. Prepare a plate & call him then he come from the backdoor & take it downstairs..

So yesterday he came home and this is what happened

What are you doing here? Done with your work?

Ab kya, Im home now.

Well I told you can work as long as you want & I will take care of the kids..

No, its ok.

NO, We are in good mood and every time you come home either you spank A within 5 minutes & make me mad or you piss me off. So if you have lots of work to do you can go downstairs and don’t worry about us.

You can cook & eat and I will take care of the kids for an hr...

Well I am almost done anyway and I would like to work happily not pissed off or under pressure and feeling guilty that you are home because of me.. So no need to do that for me..

You sure

Yes.

Then I spend 2 hrs. cooking, doing dishes & other stuff, and though he might be hungry. So made berry smoothie (he doesn’t like anything so if I say it was his favorite, I would be lying.. He can live on milk & bananas.) And called him..

I fed the kids while he was in the kitchen & he offered to feed the kids but Nope, I didn’t want his help.. (I was still pissed off from inside). He was eating and I did all the night things for kids, peepee, diaper & wash them and put them in the bedroom. He even offered to do that which I usually like cuz I feel relaxed when he does that 10-minute thing. It’s a change for me after all day of doing the same.. But not yesterday.. I didn’t want his help at all.. In 10 minutes I finished eating my dinner.. He wanted to go downstairs for more work but now I wanted to have tea without any interruption.. So he stayed even though I said he didn’t need to “I will drink after kids are asleep”. So he was with kids & I had tea and did the tag;-) then went inside & spend 20 minutes making both of them go to sleep so that I can watch tv on mute & feel peaceful:-)

Now even though we argue it doesn’t mean I don’t love him (I don’t know about him though). He is a great guy who help me anytime I need but only problem is that he is emotionless & everything is a chore for him.. By everything I mean “Everything”.. And that bothers me sooooooo much..

And I made up my mind now.. Until he wants to stay home, we don’t need his help. So I thought he will be working late today too (yes he has too;-) let me make food which is more filling so Im off to making thai food for him;-)

Do you think Im wrong? I mean if he is not willing why bother making him spend time with us.. Kids are always happy to see him but they don’t care if he doesn’t come home for a day or 2.. Until I go in the bedroom they don’t even sleep with him.. I tell hubby that he needs to show interest in them cuz just sitting there watching tv with them is not all they want. Other kids wait for the dad to come home & spend time but not your kids. But he says, “Aise he hota hai”. Nope, Aise nahi hota.

Tagged..

2007-02-28T20:57:00.000-05:00

by sush.. Thanks sush, It was so much fun:-)

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

I tag everybody watching this;-) Food bloggers, you too:-) Come on, this is so much fun:-)

Yesterday

2007-02-27T16:55:00.000-05:00

I was pushed to the limit.. I woke up and thought of cleaning since kids were asleep so I mop the floor without even going to bathroom first (saving time;-). Kids were awake by the time I was almost done and we did all the morning stuff, diaper change, taking A to bathroom, brush their teeth, give them milk, cut apple for them & went to bathroom. By the time they were eating I vacuumed, then made tea for myself. I hardly had 2 sips and had to change gudiya’s poppy diaper.

While coming back in the living room I thought of getting cashews for them. I was in the kitchen for hardly a minute and both of them started doing masti.. In less than 30 second of my attempt to get cashews, talking (yelling) at them for not hurting each other I heard them fighting for the same ball then they ran to the kitchen & I think A pushed her and gudiya fell in the bathroom. So washer her hands & feet and send her in the living room. Washed my hands, went in the living room & saw A trying to pick gudiya up and before I could say stop, they fell.. I screamed “head head” thinking she will bump her head on the floor. But somehow A kept holding her & thank God she didn’t bump her head..

Again they came running to me, I almost sat down on sofa when gudiya hit the cashew bowl & everything was on the rug, which I just vacuumed.. Cleaned that again and gave them few cashew.. Then I put a song dvd and reheated my tea again.. I just had 1 sip and saw A holding Gudiya’s hand & dancing.. Circling & jumping very fast.. Told them to stop for 10 minutes & sit somewhere (wanted to drink my tea;-).. He held her hand and was going to sit on sofa but he went too fast and dragged her.. She fell near the table & hurt her leg/knee hitting on the bottom of the table. Then I lost it.. I spanked A cuz we have told him so many times not to hold her hand & try to run, rubbed gudiya’s leg & check for any swelling, yelled, yelled and yelled.

Now Gudiya was crying cuz she was hurt, A was crying because I spanked him for hurting her (this was the 3rd time since morning that he hurt her when I was telling him to leave her alone) & then I cried (yes, I did.. remember I am a mom;-) because I can’t see them getting hurt and it makes me feel so bad. Now I had even lost my voice, well almost (because of all the talking & yelling).. It was 11:30 and A goes to school around 12:15.. So I called hubby & told him to take A out. He said where? Well anywhere for 15 minutes.. I figured I will get him ready in 10 minutes & hubby can take care of him for 10-15 minutes & it will be time for his 2 hr. school. Right after calling him everything cooled down.. Both kids were sitting with me.. It was peace for few seconds and I told A to sit on a chair & gudiya to sit on other. Then called hubby again & told him not to come since it was ok now (beside my throat & headache).

Fed them more and got A ready for school. Once he was gone, gave gudiya milk, put on dvd for her and finally had my tea & ate some food. I was feeling so guilty for yelling & spanking A but what he did was not good.. Hurting someone, even after warning, is not acceptable..

Tried to make gudiya sleep but she wanted to pull my hair, one by one.. Every time I said ouch, she giggled so I let her to be cruel to me.. Tried so hard to rest for ½ hr. but she was in giggle mode.. Then I stood near the window & waited for A. I forgot that I had set my clock 15 minutes ahead (I was soooo tired to even think) so I was there for ½ an hr. waiting. Then called hubby & he said he is coming in 10 minutes cuz that friend of mine needed lift.. In the meantime I set the trimmer to cut A’s hair.. As soon as he came back, I kissed him a lot, gave him hair cut, shower, milk & everybody went to sleep around 4:30.. hey, we were tired:-)

Everything was fine.. Hubby came home & I asked him to make tea for me as A was sleeping on me & I told him to feed the kids dinner & milk and I wanted to read a book or do something.. In those 3-4 hrs. I changed gudiya’s diaper, ate food while hubby fed them and surf the net for some information (beside spending an hr. looking for a nursing home near his parents place, to hire a nurse for his father).. Then when I went to the bedroom, he said, “I wasted 3 days and you couldn’t even think that I need to get things done”. He was referring to Friday evening & Saturday out with family and Sunday it took him all day to fix the downstairs (rented not for my use so its not considered my work) sink as it was giving problem and it was messy once he tried to fix.. He did it but it took longer than he thought.. Actually weekend suppose to be ours (mine) and I could plan whatever, then he said he had more things to do so I told him that he can have the Sunday and then I realize that if we go out on Saturday I don’t have time to clean or do any housework.. So we started going out Friday evening (family time) so that I can have the Saturday when I can do stuff or have some alone time and he could take care of the kids but now even that was bothering him..

I was furious, back to crying.. He said he didn’t mean that way but is there any other way to interpret? And in the evening he said he wanted to go to India to see his father (he is sick).. so he could take 3-4 weeks to see his family but spending time with us is a waste.. He had 4 day seminar for the long weekend and he attended that and that wasn’t waste of time either especially u r that busy.. So I was very very very angry.. I just don’t know how some guys are so emotionless & if they have few emotions they save it for their “family”(parents). You ask his parents, if they want money or see their son they will say money and you have emotions for them not us..

Anyways, after he said that, he spent more than 1 hr. to eat dinner & then called India.. Now if you have that much work to do, you should eat quickly & do ur work instead of spending hr. watching tv and eating slowly.. Worst part is that he say things and the next second he is all back to normal like nothing happened.. He is a great guy but sometimes the things he say and does hurt so much.. Im sure he don’t think of them afterwards & think everything is fine but I feel so hurt & emotional..

And I am feeling all right today:-)

My Sleeping Beauty

2007-02-23T10:25:00.000-05:00

I spent 2 hr. trying to make her sleep before A gets home but she was in playing mode :-) Finally gave up, put a DVD for her and went to give shower to A. I came back after 5 minutes to check and saw :-)

Sanitizing

2007-02-22T16:13:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I wonder if motherhood make some of us a bit crazy;-) I am not talking about restless days and sleepless night. Im talking about being overprotective & paranoid about kids related things. Sometimes my hubby thinks I am a bit too much but other times he will say, yes you are right, for the same thing;-)

For example, when we started going out with A, I didn’t want to put him in the shopping cart. It wasn’t that I was making him sit in the cart but I was only putting his car seat in the shopping cart, still we used to go through all the trouble to take out the stroller even if I was going for few minutes. When he grew old for the stroller and I had no choice but to make him sit or stand in the cart. There are shopping cart covers available but in my mind it’s the same thing because you put the cover on cart, which in a way is covering germs with cover but what happen next… You fold the same cover & use it the next time.. Now don’t you think you are taking few germs with you? Unless you wash the cover before use it again you might not waste $25 on that… So with these thought in mind I didn’t buy one. I started using baby wipes to wipe the handle of the cart & cart seat but now I can’t wipe the whole damn cart.. I see people putting their pets, sometimes old people putting their walking sticks there, which they take it in the bathroom & everywhere and I can’t tell how many times I have seen kids with runny nose, open laces sitting in the cart with those nasty, dirty shoes, where I make my kids sit. I know its part of life and you might call me crazy but I still want to avoid these things as much as possible.

Thinking of these things, most of the times hubby is assigned to do the shopping :-) Its not much anyway since we get cold cuts, 1-2 meat of hubby’s choice, salad & few other regular things And hubby can get whatever he likes and it is easier for me cuz I know Im making what hubby like since he bought it ;-)

We have different outside & indoor cloths. Even when we come home at 12 at night, we all take shower (we go out once a week;-). In India your stuff is exposed to sunlight but here it is not possible unless you drag things out & put it in ur backyard but its not practical.

We have separate shoes for kitchen, bath & outside. No shoes allowed in any other room.

I carry a pack of wipe with me everywhere. A pack is in the car, one near the front door & one near the back door. (After you put shoes, wipe ur hands:-)
Still before we go to sleep we wash our feet again because kids like to jump on pillows:-)

My house look like a tornado hit these days. No matter how hard I try, its always messy so now I gave up & enjoy the mess. When I come to cleaning I used to be like Monica in “Friends” but now Im a different person, vvveeerrryyy different person:-) My house might be messy but its ok for my kids.

We socialized a lot before kids but not anymore. Last time we had guest over, the guy was an attorney. Everything was fine until husband wife started talking about cleaning a room in their house
“Honey, I started cleaning the living room”
“I saw it, It was a little clean, you are doing great”

then she told me how she hates to cook & clean and things are everywhere in the room, sometimes her hubby does the cleaning when her MIL comes to visit & cook, her hubby cooks most of the time.. Then she continued telling me that her mother was doing some puja and she asked her mother if she needs help and you know what her mother said “No help from you will be the best help :-O”.. And I start to feel dizzy. Her kids are 9 & 6 (I think), they went in the play yard (I had put 2 blankets and a sheet & gates around it for) and played with every baby toy. I had to clean at 2 in the morning after they left & forget about washing blankets & sanitizing the toys. That was end of our social life and I don’t regret it.

Now every time A comes home from his 2 hr. school, he takes shower. The girl I mentioned in other post, she is 4 and already has vaginal infection. Im not saying its because of school but what if. They have 1 toilet for everyone there. So Im doing whatever I can to avoid things and I don’t care if their system develop immune to these germs or not Im gonna keep them away from bad germs.

Last September we went to “Chuckee Cheese” and as soon as A came out of there he coughed and after that everybody was sick till mid of dec. That’s the reason we go to another Chuckee Cheese, an hr. away from our place just because It is clean. And that’s why we have certain play areas we take kids to and certain food places we like to go.

This post was inspired by my last trip to Kmart, where they had put a box of wipes to sanitize the carts:-) and take a look at this article

http://www.komotv.com/news/5819736.html

Lines

2007-02-20T20:05:00.000-05:00

…Which made my life a bit easier

Your belly is very hungry and asking for food.

Now you ate food, your belly is very happy.

I think food didn’t reach to your toes and now they will be very hungry & eat ur nails (mean, I don’t think so, cuz this makes him eat few more bites;-)

I can see germs in between your teeth, let brush & say bye bye to them (Even Gudiya wants to brush every morning;-)

You have 2 choices, eat your food or I have to call the doctor & she will put food in a shot & do “tuchi tuchi.

Eat your food if you want to get big & strong otherwise Gudiya will finish it & get bigger than you. (a healthy threat;-)

Say bye bye to ____ , bye bye to___ (any time we want to leave from a store or park or anywhere (thanks Aps:-))

Remember Jai-Jai & Santa are watching you so try to be a good boy;-)

Lines from his mouth

After burp- Mommy my belly is happy and saying thank you:-)

Mommy food is gonna come out of my belly button.

He wait till the last second to go pee & then he says “Come on mamma, my peepee is in hurry”.

The other day we were out & he wanted to go potty. We were ½ hr. away from home and I told him to wait (I hate public toilets). After few minutes he said “ Hurry up mommy, my belly wants to spit up from the butt:-O” I thought I didn’t hear him right but he couldn’t be any more clear;-)

Last week went to a store and while I was looking for some stuff, he said
“Mamma, are you getting this for me?”
“Yes, for everybody”
“I have to eat and get big & strong”
“OK”
“After I eat my Pee Pee will get bigger too”

I really hope that the guy standing in the same aisle didn’t hear A and I quickly went in the next aisle”
Yeah, I told him not to say that again, the millionth time.

He keep interrupting us when we are talking so I told him to say “excuse me” before he talk and now he interrupt us saying “Excuse me Mamma, can I talk”.

I tell him to say to gudiya (I think kids listen to each other;-) “Don’t be a naughty girl or don’t do this or that. I tell him in Hindi (how else he gonna learn then;-) & he says the same in English to her”.

Everytime hubby comes home both kids make sure hubby washes his hands, feet & change his cloths. Most of the time one stands there guarding & giving him instructions;-)

He finishes all my sentences, seriously.. If I say “get me that” hubby needs to know what am I referring to but A knows whats “that” mamma need:-)

My baby..

2007-02-19T14:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday A was coughing and as soon as Gudiya heard him, she ran to him & pat his back and gave him a kiss:-)

Since last week she is saying “Yup” instead of yes.

Since 3 days she is been saying “choomick (excuse me;-)” after every sneeze and burp.

Few days back she came in the kitchen and said
“Mamma, I mant (want) Pizza”
“But we don’t have pizza”
“No mamma, I mant pizza:-o”
“But we don’t have it”
“I mant egg, big egg (whole boiled) :-O”

She is been doing dancing action of atleast 20 wiggle songs without looking at them & just a second before they actually do in the video.

She goes in the kitchen, turn on the tv, sit on chair, watch tv for few seconds and comes back in the living room.

Yesterday she woke up & asked, “Where is Papa”… yes, she said her first whole sentence:-)

Today they wanted to eat the whole apple but I had to go do pooja, which means leaving the kids alone for 10 minutes watching tv alone in the kitchen, so I was cutting is very tiny pieces for them to eat by themselves saying “no, you can’t have full apple until mommy comes back” and all of a sudden she said to A “A, no roro(cry), no big appey(apple), momma appey cut”:-o.

My baby is growing up.. I am not ready for it yet..

The Decision

2007-02-17T19:22:00.000-05:00

Being parents is not an easy job. No matter what I do and how many times I think over before doing something, I always question myself if it’s the right choice I made. We always knew that we are gonna have 2 kids but how soon after the first one, was unclear. After A was few months old I thought having baby was not like I heard (because of the wonderful doc who delivered A, no pain or anything) and A was always very good since day1. I wanted to have another baby soon so that I go through sleepless night, diaper change, potty training & all baby related issues at the same time. Waiting for another 3-4 years to have another baby seemed too much. And I wanted A to have someone to play with soon:-) Although I did think if it was unfair to A cuz being pregnant with a baby around & having another kid when ur first born needs your attention all the time is not good and its not the same as first time when you can rest whenever you feel like it and have a guilty free pregnancy. Still it seemed the right choice for us cuz he was just a baby then we thought by the time I will deliver, he wouldn’t be asking for that much attention anyway and afterwards it won’t be bad since I can give him all the attention he wants. But from time to time I do think if it was the right decision we made and is it fair to A since she gets all the attention from us but there are other times when I am 200% sure that it was the right decision.

Today was one of those days when I felt it was the right decision:-) why? Well this is what happened.. Few weeks back I met a new friend S whose daughter is in A’s class. They had few school holidays during end of jan till first week of feb. Everytime we talked on the phone, S sounded awful. She complaint how her daughter is crying to go to school, not letting her do anything till evening, making her play all day long arranging tea parties, beauty parlor & pizza ordering game. Well it does sound like fun but not when you are playing against ur will and all day long for almost everyday. So many times we had to cut short our conversation because her daughter started playing with the phone, dialing# or crying.

The other day she was crying because she didn’t want to brush her teeth & S said that everyday it takes ½ hr. of crying to get her to brush her teeth. Today when I called her, her daughter was crying because she wanted someone to play with her and the girl next door was still sleeping and couldn’t come for another hr. or 2. Then she mentioned some other stuff that her daughter does & they let her get away with it cuz they feel guilty because of her crying.

I told her that every time I talk to her, I thank God for having my kids so close together;-) I even suggested that they should have another kid since her daughter is already 4year old;-) I really feel bad for her daughter cuz she really want someone to be there all the time to play with her.

Now my kids keep me busy all day long too. Even when I go to bathroom they come looking for me & stand outside the bathroom till Im done but they never feel bored even for a second. Actually days feel shorter compare to what they want to do all they long:-) Because of their less age difference they enjoy same kind of things and have lots of fun all day long:-) They draw on each other hands & feet instead of mine;-) Atleast 10 times a day A feels like he became bigger than he was the last minute and he can check it by picking gudiya up & feel happy:-) They enjoy same silly movies and sing & dance holding each other’s hands. One makes houses from blocks & other wants the same block instead of the whole bin next to them so another episode of fun comes in the picture after that:-) Even when I put them in bed and it takes me 10 minutes to do some stuff A makes sure that gudiya is not upto anything and he make her sleep on his pillow, put her favorite video & put comforter on her:-) I don’t even need to say that, he does all that by himself:-)

My bhua had her daughter when her son was 4-5 years old & when she started crawling, it was tough cuz she would take his books, pen & stuff and he used to get very irritated. Ofcourse it was fine few years later but they didn’t enjoy their childhood like my kids are enjoying. (My opinion;-)

But there are times when I feel the other way, that’s only because she gets lots of attention and most of time when we are giving A some time she gets all angry & we have to take care of both of them at the same time and this eliminate the chance of one to one time with A when I really think that he needs those few Mommy & Daddy minutes everyday. And both of them make so much chaos & keep me on my tows all day long. I am always scared of them chasing each other very fast & falling down 20 times a day and I don’t know how everyday they come up with new ideas of doing some mischievous things to make me scream & yell..

Still I love it :-)

New game

2007-02-15T21:30:00.000-05:00

Is there anything called too much kissing? Whenever I try to kiss Gudiya she puts her arm diagonal on her face and start giggling. If I try to kiss her above the arm she slides her hand there and if I try below her arm she slides is down:-) It’s her new game these days which makes mommy kiss her more, more and more:-)

Happy Valentines Day

2007-02-14T09:02:00.000-05:00

This is what A & I baked for hubby as a surprise, Big Cookie:-)

Happy Valentines Day everybody:-)

On a twisty note, I got twist in my life err in my neck;-) I had pull a muscle while sleeping and now my neck & shoulder along with left arm is feeling twisty since 2 days:-) I knew it was coming though cuz both kids want to hold my hand & they pull it very hard. Now Im looking at everything like a kid cheating in the exam, looking but not looking look:-) Y’day I was trying to lay down but couldn’t put my head on pillow so I had to hold my neck with one hand & hold my shoulder with the other hand and gudiya thought I was doing some circus trick for her, she laughed & laughed:-) Well she had to pay for that cuz I taught her how to press mamma and do “mukiyan”:-) Kids are getting kick out of it cuz some time when they say something and I can’t see them, I had to turn in circle like a dog is chasing his tail and they think its funny:-)

Winter Activities

2007-02-09T18:17:00.000-05:00

This post is in response to aps question:-)

Winter or any other season, we go out only on weekend so I have to keep them busy all year round:-) Still this is something going on this winter;-)

1. A loves to play on computer. He would play 24hrs. If we let him:-) His favorite games are Mario, prince, few games on nickjr. And lots of other game websites. He gets bored very easily so no particular favorite game site.

Gudiya can play few games beside her favorite clicky clicky time on computer;-) Her favorite game is this. She can find fisher-price icon by herself & click on it then she can click on the infant option for the game & she is busy for few minutes. Her other favorite website is pbskids. She just like to click on everything..

2. Most of the times they play with each other.. Actually they play for few minutes until gudiya hit him and I am busy for the next 1/2hr. with one crying kid & 1 jealous kid (always Gudiya), who is mad at mommy for holding A:-) So next 15 minutes its huggy & kissy time with her after yelling at her for 5 minutes for hurting A.. at least 2 rounds of this activity everyday;-)

3. Now this activity starts with them picking something to do like A sits on his pooh ride-on and she is playing with something else then all of a sudden she will grab him from his shirt & pull him off the pooh. Or If he is trying to pickup something off the floor & gets up from the seat white still on the pooh, She (waiting for this to happen for few minutes) runs to him & sit on the pooh before him:-) Now he is standing (well kind of;-) on the pooh & she is sitting there, refuse to get up. He cry saying he was there first but she usually closes her eyes & smile. Why close her eyes?, cuz she doesn’t want to look at mommy looking at her with her eyebrows up indicating get up or else;-) So these days she pretends she didn’t see that:-) and next read#2:-)

4. Every day I give them few stickers to put on the window:-)

5. They like to run after one another until one bumps into the other or get nauseous (which is within 5 minutes:-)

6. He likes to pick her up and she likes that so all day she ask him to do that and I see that at least 20 times a day:-)

7. If A doesn’t bother her she liked to draw things for 10-15 minutes:-)Usually She want us to hold her hand but once or twice a day she wants alone time with doodle writer:-)

8. Almost every evening we like to spend around ½ an hr. playing “Simon Says”, dance on poems or songs etc.. Latest favorite song is from the pooh book

Round and round and do-si-do!
Music makes me tap my toe!
Grab a partner! Feel the beat!
Music gives me happy feet!

9. Right now she is putting her hand on the window glass and then putting it on our face saying “thana”(thanda/cold:-)

10. We watch the wiggles at least 7-8 times a day and others favorite shows are Dora, Diago, Dragon tales, Backyardigans etc.. Unlimited tv times.

11. I like to spend some time with A.. You know giving him attention without worrying about gudiya getting mad at me. So when hubby is home I try to do some small project with him. He can’t sit & pay attention for more than 5 minutes but I want to take advantage of hubby holding gudiya so that I can use the scissors & our project don’t get ripped without us finishing it first.. She contributes coloring & all but only for few seconds:-) These are 2 things I errr we made:-) mask & kite

(Fighting to hold the same end of the thread.. )

And for this weekend I am thinking of making some valentine day cards with A for his teachers:-)

12. A loves to play with play dough but Gudiya always do silly stuff like throwing dough every where including in her hair & diaper so we stop playing with it when she is around. On A’s school days I force her to take nap when its time for A to come home (doesn’t work every day though) and have one activity ready for A to play while eating. I usually have 1 hr. to give A shower, feed him & play with him stuff like

Play dough
Finger paint
Paint with dropper
Use the scissors

(Ganesh ji(I helped him a bit), then he made shiji & parvati ma:-)

13. A’s favorite activity is being mommy’s little helper:-) The cooking part is his favorite even though hubby doesn’t approve it;-) Sometimes we make sandwich together or he break the lettuce if I let him:-) Not very often though, just once in a while because of obvious reason;-)

14. Sometimes I tell him story with pics. This is what we did the other day. We didn’t want to use sticks or glue because we were in bed & gudiya was awake so we used toothpicks instead:-)She wasn't even letting me draw.. Its the story of a hardworking bee and I drew bee on black paper cuz gudiya wasn't giving us the yellow paper:-)

That’s all I could think of right now:-)

My heart skipped a Beat..

2007-02-09T10:40:00.000-05:00

Last night I was putting them to sleep but they didn’t want to so I told them if they go to sleep and I will take them out tomorrow otherwise I will go out alone and they will have to stay home with Dad.

My one hand was on A and Gudiya was mad at me cuz she wanted to hold both my hands but I told her to close her eyes and sleep otherwise she will be staying home tomorrow. She closed her eyes but didn’t put her head on pillow instead she started swinging her head (eyes were still closed;-). After a minute she bumped her head on the side of crib. There is bumper pad on the sides & crib is not that hard anyway. She said “Uee”, I rubbed her head & told her to stop swinging but she was all giggly and started the same with closed eyes & twitchy nose:-) After another minute she got another “Uee” then another. I rubbed her again & again and told her to knock it off, loudly. She opened her one eyes, looked at me with a smile, rolled over on my arm and came close to my face & kissed me:-). Then she put her arms around my neck & kissed me atleast 20 times. My heart skipped a beat and I almost had tears in my eyes to experience such love & see her doing all that nautanki.

My grandmother and bhuas raised me. But that time my grandmother was working and my bhuas were busy in college & job. I was wondering if I ever did that kind of stuff and if I did, did someone noticed that. I got so much love growing up, lots more than my parents could give me but seeing my kids doing these kind of things, I always wonder how can a mother forget about her child(my parents are divorced, I don’t even know my mother) and now everytime my kids do something I have noone to tell me that “You used to do this or that too:-( ”. And when I was watching gudiya last night I felt so lucky to see her doing that and felt unlucky to think that nobody was there see me doing similar stuff.

Kya Mamma & Because

2007-02-08T09:46:00.000-05:00

Since last few months I started using “kya” word a lot. Every time kids do something I say

Kya hai A or Gudiya, kya kar diya..

Or to hubby

Kya yaar :-)

I guess, in my mind, Im trying to wait for their explanation and this waiting stops me from yelling at them and believe me it works every time:-)

And since Gudiya started “talking” this is the word she uses lots of times a day:-)

Yesterday I gave her aloo.. It was a bit warm.. She held it & put it back in the plate and said, with hands in question, “Kya hai Mamma, gam(hot)” I couldn’t stop laughing:-)

Everytime I hold A, gudiya gets mad at me & lay down on the floor with sad face.. Yes, she makes angry sad face with almost tears in her eyes:-) I tell her to come to me and the minute I hold her, she ask me “Kya hai Mamma”:-)

So many times a day I hear “Kya hai Mamma” without even saying or doing anything:-) Now even when A & hubby are doing something together Or A is not giving her something, she starts crying saying Kya hai Mamma”:-) I was telling hubby that everytime she says that she makes me feel guilty for no reason. Still everytime she says that I just can’t stop kissing her:-)

And A’s latest favorite word is “Because”. He is at this age where he has millions of questions about everything and even after getting the answer he keep saying because, because.. grrr.. I was started to get very annoyed. And now whenever he ask me any question I say to him “I will tell you why only if you won’t say “because” after that and we are done after 2-3 “because” and me repeating everything;-)”

Where is Gudiya?

2007-02-06T14:53:00.000-05:00

We usually watch latest home videos which have both kids in it and y’day we were watching A’s video when he was leaning to roll & crawl. He watched it for few seconds and said

What am I doing, mamma?

You are learning to crawl:-)

Why couldn’t I crawl?

Because you were a baby then.

Oh Ok, then I ate lots of food & got big?

Yes.

Where is Gudiya (in the video)?

She wasn’t there yet.

Where was she?

*Thinking* She was with Jai-Jai.

Why was she with Jai-Jai?

*Thinking* Because Jai-Jai said “A is a little baby yet so do lots of pari pari to him and when he is a little bigger I will send gudiya.” (I was so proud of myself for thinking this answer;-)

oh ok, so Jai Jai send Gudiya because I am a big boy now?

Yes:-)

Mamma, I love to play with Gudiya now cuz I am a big boy and I can teach her lots of stuff too.

Yes, you are such a good boy:-)

I think I dealt with the big question “where do babies come from” for now or until he will realize I fooled him;-) What do you think?:-)

Something Indian

2007-02-01T22:43:00.000-05:00

When I got pregnant with Gudiya things related to housework took a different turn. Hubby always prefer American stuff, no masalas or hot & spicy stuff, and it require very less work but during this pregnancy I didn’t feel like eating non-veg and I was too tired to cook 2 different meals cuz I used to feel nauseous all day long. The craving was just too much to ignore. Fortunately that time a guy opened a new shop in Jersey City. I went to that place couple of times & asked what other veg they cook & when. He said that he could cook whatever I like as long as I call him few hr. advance. That solved the purpose:-) We ordered from that guy for a long time even after Gudiya was born. It was worth it cuz if I think about going to Indian market, buy vegetable, cut it and make it with 2 crying kid, I loose interest even before eating That guy was Gujarati and I got to taste some good traditional dished too. And that time I mostly liked methi & saag dishes, which require lots of & rinsing so it seemed worth to order it:-)

Then that guy had to close his place but by that time I was ok with non-veg and we have a special place for non-veg food and we were fine. For a long time we ate outside food every meal of the day.. Actually I did. Kids were getting their stuff like chicken nuggets, mashed dal & kichdi (they didn’t prefer this though). Hubby was getting his sandwiches, egg salad and tuna salad, which requires very less time. I used to cook big pack of 2 kinds of different meats & make 2-3 side dishes on weekend, and hubby was all set for few days with additional chinese food & pizza take-outs:-). Kids are like hubby too. They prefer American food to Indian. They love all the sandwiches, egg salad & chicken. Every time I make paratha, any veg or dal, I end up eating that.

I don’t make resolutions but this year I though I have to try something otherwise my kids will never develop a taste for Indian food (Keshi are you reading this? Forcing the first generation;-). In our house we cook Indian food only on Mondays cuz that day I keep fast but even then my hubby & kids don’t eat Indian food. I usually order pizza or make khichdi (they like it) for them. But now I have to force my kids:-) So I decided to make 1 new dish every week and if it’s a hit I will write it down for Gudiya:-)

Last night hubby & I had talk about this

“Because of you we don’t cook Indian food. Before I used to think that I don’t want to cook all that just for me but now kids are becoming like you too so I have to do something. I don’t care if you want to or not; you HAVE to eat new dishes. I will pick the ones that you guys like & make a collection of atleast 365 dishes and I will leave those recipes for Gudiya:-)”

“Ok but will SHE use it or A:-)”

“I don’t care. Both will get a copy and if she doesn’t want to cook she can tell her hubby that I want that dish on page# 24 and he will cook for her;-)”

“OK, as long as you make Italian or Mexican food, I will eat ”

I didn’t get chance to make any new dish for weeks but since last week Im on roll:-) First I tried Coffee’s dhokla

Then Asha’s falafel

Yesterday we had Trupti’s ragda patties

And today I made idli & kind of dosa from the leftover dhokla batter with some more urad dal in it and we had Asha’s chana dal chutney.

And tonight I made Asha's peanut chicken

This I have to cut in pieces instaed of on skewers cuz then I don't have to worry about them poking each other:-) Gudiya was asking for corn which I wanted to put it in the chicken but forgot so I just put it on top of the chicken.. She took few bites of this chicken mixed with rice. great recipe even though I didn't marinate it still It was great:-)

Even though I made last 2 dishes today, consider this made yesterday (in January;-) I am planning on posting this kind of post in the first week of every month. And until I get at least 365 dishes for my kids booklet there will be a post every month;-) They have to have something Indian in their life, right? or something to remember me by and all the food bloggers whose recipes they will be using (I hope:-) ;-)

P.S By chance I tried all starters, which is the theme of Coffee’s MBP:-) So this is my contribution to the event :-)

What to do?

2007-01-31T13:37:00.000-05:00

These days A & Gudiya are into fruit loops. Usually its cheerios but I guess they want colorful sugary stuff now:-) Most of the times I give them in the kitchen in separate bowl, to eat, to throw or whatever. We have a rule about eating in the living room, only snacks are allowed there and mommy will feed you cuz we don’t want food fights on the carpet or food under the sofas or under the table on daily bases to avoid bugs.

This morning I got one bowl of cereal. Just then someone called and I told Gudiya to wait for just a minute but both of them were fighting to eat on their own. I had an empty bowl too and I tried to split it for A but by now Gudiya has the possession of bowl & spoon and wasn’t even letting us to touch it. He took a cheerio but she started crying & held his hand and made him took it out of his mouth & put it back in the bowl:-O She did this 3 times and I had to tell my friend that I will call back later. I took her in the kitchen, crying & holding full bowl & spoon, and put her on the high chair. Told A to stay in the living room cuz she didn’t want him near her cheerios bowl. Got another cereal bowl for A cuz he wanted mamma to feed him.

She was in the kitchen for 40 minutes watching tv & eating peacefully and we have to go check on her every couple of minutes to see if she is eating one at a time instead of stuffing her mouth & spitting everything later. Still I had my tea peacefully & A ate without someone putting finger down his throat.

Now as Orchid mentioned that California is going to become a no spanking state, made me think what if every state pass that rule, then? I mean after whatever Gudiya did, I didn’t spank her or really yell at her. I just said, “No, you don’t do that. Share with A” and put them separate cuz usually whenever I give something to one kid, he/she demand another one to give it to the other kids. But what if she start doing, what she did today, everyday, then it won’t be the ignoring matter after more than 2-3 times and I have to yell at her or spank her.

With one kid things are different but with more than 1 it’s a whole circus and zoo like, even for the silliest things. Parents are more of a rafree then and you have to draw a line somewhere. At this age they don’t understand the time out concept so what do you do? And by passing these laws aren’t they taking away parents rights to teach kids the good things for everybody’s better future? I mean they are kids, they need a bit yelling Ok lots of yelling & warnings and at some point spanking has to come in the picture. Don’t u think?

Little Krishna

2007-01-28T23:16:00.000-05:00

Every time A goes to bathroom she takes his pant and hide in another room or put it like hat & run around the whole place laughing so hard, then few minutes later A is running after her try to take back his pant. Hubby puts his stuff out on bed before shower & its almost always gone by the time he is back, then we have to look for her:-) Usually she hides it under her comforter:-)

Every time A is holding a toy, she snatches his toy & hides it behind her. If he is writing something she try to run away with whatever comes in her hand, usually the paper. The cutest part is that while doing all this she laughs so hard that she turns red. Actually she turns red laughing & A turn red crying & trying to get things back from her. Her favorite place to hide after crime is behind mommy:-)

She is my naughty Krishna:-)

My 2 Monkeys

2007-01-24T15:33:00.000-05:00

There is been lot of confusion lately. Because of their hairstyle (he needs a haircut & her hair need to grow a bit faster:-) & almost same height, my both monkeys start to look alike and sometimes I can’t even realize the difference for a split second (when I am in my own world or trying to finish things quickly).

Y’day I was in the kitchen & they were in the living room. I was looking from the kitchen and I saw one monkey standing on the bicycle. I thought it was A cuz he is the one who usually does that. I yelled, “get off the bicycle or u will get hurt” but just then I realized it was gudiya. OMG, I ran as fast as I could while both of them looking at me like I was crazy.

Then she was trying to climb on safa’s back to grab the high chair cuz she wanted to do “weeeeeeee” Like A:-O I thought it was A until she start saying “Mmmmmmaaaaa Weeeeeeeee”:-O

Look at the pics.. They are looking in the mirror & dancing (the same way:-)

Once again

2007-01-22T18:21:00.000-05:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, hubby forgot to wish me on my B’day again:-( I was waiting & waiting but nope, he didn’t remember. My cousin called to wish me then hubby started giggling and offered me breakfast in bed but I refused. Great thing was that A baked a cake for me (with my help:-) I didn’t feel that bad cuz he did remember few days back;-) Actually I was very happy to celebrate with kids:-)

Day of appreciation

2007-01-17T10:28:00.000-05:00

The other day I got out of shower & A was sitting in the kitchen. He came up to me and said “Mommy you smell good:-)” Then I put my lipstick and he said “Mommy you look beautiful”:-) Needless to say I was very happy. After years I got comment without asking for it;-) Hubby came home and I told him about it and few minutes later he said “You are looking nice today”:-) All I said was “Stop copying your son;-)”. Then hubby was feeding them and I heard “Yummy.. Papa, Mamma makes yummy food”:-) I looked at hubby and said “You should really learn from MY son;-)” And he was smiling and me too, the whole day:-))

Yesterday I got my morning tea and he said “Mommy, your tea smells very good. You make yummy tea:-)”.

Are you a Lurker?

2007-01-16T10:18:00.000-05:00

What’s a lurker? People that read blogs but don’t want to leave any comment. So are YOU a Lurker? This is a serious problem;-) And luckily it can be solved this week because it’s National De-Lurking week;-)

So If you lurk here often, leave your shyness for few minutes & say hi :-)

Eating Nemo

2007-01-15T11:56:00.000-05:00

I was reading this post & remember the nemo incident that I wanted to write but totally forgot.. Thanks Aps;-)

The other day hubby got shrimp & while I was cooking, A was watching me. It took me 5 minutes to make it and the whole time he was asking me what I was cooking & what else did I put in the pan.. I told him its fish and asked if he wanted to try.. He was excited so I gave him one piece. Just before he ate it he looked at it for few seconds observing every single detail of it and said

“I ate fish, mamma?”
“Yes”
“Its orange color fish”
“Yes”
“Is It Nemo?”
“huh?”
“Is It Nemo?”
“huh?”
“Is It Nemo?”
“No”
“Then what is it? Its some other fish”
“Yeah”
“But its orange”
“So? There are other orange fishes beside Nemo. Do you want another one?”
“No mamma, I don’t like fish.. But it is small like Nemo. Did you cook Nemo”
“No, I didn’t cook Nemo”
“Whats the fishy name then?”
“hmmm Go ask your father”:-))

(Hubby was taking shower)

“Papa, Did you bring fishy?”
(I was listening with a big smile cuz I was off the hook for a little while;-)

“Yes, for you”
“You got orange fishy for me?”
“Yes”
“Did you get Nemo?”
“huh??”
“Did you get Nemo?”
“No”
“Its orange”
“That’s ok. Its not Nemo. Tell mommy to give you some more”:-)
“No, I don’t want anymore. I don’t like fish”

“Mamma, I don’t want to eat fish. It looks like Nemo.”
“Ok. Its not Nemo though.. go play on ur computer”

“phew”

Happy Dance

2007-01-11T14:12:00.000-05:00

There is a new lawn tennis court near our home and last week I was telling A that we will go there once the weather is ok. All of a sudden hubby said you can play that at home too cuz we will get wii and that is ur mom’s B’day present;-) Now its not about getting wii or b’day gift, its about him remembering my b’day almost 2 weeks early;-) We stopped exchanging gifts long ago and if he remembers to wish, is the best gift itself:-) Usually I wait till 12 at night or the morning for him to wish us but most of the times I have to say “Aren’t u forgetting something;-)”. I asked him if he put any reminder, since when & how many;-) I really don’t care how he remember but I am happy:-)

Talk Baby Talk

2007-01-11T09:47:00.000-05:00

Gudiya is been talking in her “own” language since long. The other day She was saying something for 2-3 minutes with all sort of hand actions and she stopped couple of times for me to say something, you know expecting some kind of input. I was just looking at her trying to understand but couldn’t So I told her “Gudiya, I don’t understand what you are trying to say. You are not a little girl anymore. You are 2 now and big kids should talk not babble. So start talking.. OK”.

The next day they were playing & She snatched a toy from A saying “gimme that”:-O. I thought I was imagining so I asked A “What did she say?” He snatched it back from her and she did the same again.. Snatched from him saying “MINE, GIMME THAT”:-) We started laughing. I went to her & gave her a tight hug. She struggled to get away but I didn’t let her and she said “Lemme go” :-O. I looked at her and hugged her tighter while she kept saying “lemme go”:-) A & I was laughing so hard:-) I wanted her to talk but wasn’t in that hurry. I guess she takes things very seriously;-)

While I was writing this she came up to me saying “gimme some more papd (papad:-)”.

Update: She was on the phone with hubby & I was talking to A in the kitchen. All of a sudden I heard “here mamma, here mamma”. I thought I was just imagining cuz A is the one who say this (and he is only other talking person) And since he was talking to me I seriously thought I was imagining. Then I heard it again & when I turned around Gudiya was standing there trying to give me the phone saying “here mamma, here mamma”. OMG was all I could say.. Im not used to to hearing her talk yet. I took the phone & hubby was laughing.. He said she was saying this the 20th time, trying to give me the phone:-) And this is the first time he heard her saying something:-)

Toddler Brain

2007-01-11T08:17:00.000-05:00

We have 400 dvds player & u need to hook up a keyboard to enter the names of dvd otherwise its just a dvd sign in front of every number. We have arranged dvds in certain way that songs, movies & Mythological dramas are together. We started from 1 & then from 400 to backward. We watched certain dvds often and so many times hubby ask me about a dvd number & before I can answer him A tells him:-) He can’t even count to 100 but he tells hubby 333 is fanaa, 400 is Rani Mukherjee, 353 is Superman & lot more.. :-)

Yesterday he was writing numbers & from number 15 he was saying the dvd’s name of that number then wrote the number & he did for almost 15 dvds. I don’t know if I should feel happy about this or really cut down the tv time;-) But I was just amazed how he remembered all:-)

Yayyyyyy!!

2007-01-05T09:47:00.000-05:00

The other day we went to Kmart & while we were there they drew a raffle.. It was for jewelry set (chains & bracelets). I was in that aisle anyway so stood there few minutes listening to them but halfway through I got bored & went to next isle where hubby & kids were looking at toys. I put the tickets on the shelf & said its all BS, just waste of time cuz they sell cheap stuff expensive saying its half off and I rather spend more money & get nice thing (we had experience of similar thing). He said you might win something so I decided to go back for the heck of it (thinking: yeah right, I had chance to win(rolling eyes).

Well there were a lot of people so they decided to do 2 raffles instead of 1 and both time some guy won the bracelet. So he said “let do one more since it wasn’t any lady who won both times” and guess what who won this time:-) Me:-)

Happy New Year

2007-01-01T19:31:00.000-05:00

From Our Family to Yours:-)

A's First Prize

2007-01-01T12:42:00.000-05:00

Gift certificate

With the Librarian

A, A & A :-)

During summer there was a reading program in the library “Paws, Claws, Scales & Tales”. You have to read 20 books in certain time & submit the log. I did it for A and 2 weeks back he got an invitation for the award program. Last week we went there & he got $5 Barnes & Noble gift certificate and a certificate kinda coupon for 2 weeks free karate class.

When the librarian was giving the card to A, Gudiya was saying thank you & wanted one too. I felt bad for her & got her the box cover of the card which was same looking as A’s card. She was happy. I started a log for her too then I didn’t submit, thinking they might think I was doing it for some gift (silly sensitive inner voices).

Baby Tag..

2006-12-31T11:49:00.000-05:00

First read it on Kodi's blog then promised Boo to do the tag.. Sorry for the delay girls..

3 Things That Scare Me
Loud noises
Being alone
Weird Shadows of things at night

(Gudiya)
Nothing scares her.. She scare the heck out of us by standing & swinging on rocker chair, her small chair & table..

3 people That Make me Laugh
Gudiya
My Parents
My friends at school

(Gudiya)
Jeff (Wiggles)
A
My Parents

3 Things I Love
Going to school
Getting new toys
Taking long shower

(Gudiya)
Watching Wiggles
Kissing Mamma(300-400 times a day)
Sleeping on mamma’s hand

3 Things I Hate
Seeing mommy holding A
Saying bye to wiggles dvd
Sit in the car while mommy makes quick trip to any store

3 Things I Don’t understand
Why can’t we go out every day
Why do we have to take nap
Why can’t Ice cream & chocolate be every meal?

(Gudiya)
Why can’t I go to school with A
Jump high like A
Why Im strapped in the high chair while A sits on big chair

3 Things On My Floor
(Not counting 3 baskets full of toys, rocker &amp; regular chair ;-)
Heart stickers
Mr. Potato head
Stethoscope from doctor’s set

3 Things Im Doing Right Now
Fake crying cuz mommy is making me put my toys away
Holding toys in my mouth (too big to go in the mouth so just the tip to drop in the box)
Watching Tv

(Gudiya)
Breaking computer
Eating pear
Watching tv

3 Things I Can’t Do
Cook like mommy
Ride bike
Sleep without Mommy

(Gudiya)
Play computer games like A
Stop following mommy everywhere
Sit down & eat properly

3 Things I Think You Should Listen To
Wiggle songs
Mommy, when she is saying good things about me
Daler mehndi songs

3 Things I Think You Should Never Listen To
Mommy yelling at us in Punjabi
Mommy saying that we are naughty
Mommy singing old songs

3 Absolute Favorite Foods
Noodles
Chocolate
Ice-cream

3 Things I’d Like to Learn
Cooking
Using scissors (kids ones)
How to make mommy believe that Im a BIG BOY now and totally capable of doing every thing on MY OWN..

(Gudiya)
To do every thing A does but with my naughty twist

3 Beverages I Drink Regularly
Milk
Coconut water (latest favorite)
Ice-cream (yes, but mommy’s version (another blog story;-))

(Gudiya)
Milk
Soda (If mommy let me)
Water

3 Shows I Watch
Dora
Go Diego go
Wonder pets

(Gudiya)
Dora
Blue Clues
Backyardigans

3 Ways to Describe My Personality
Smart
Very sensitive
Very Loving

(Gudiya)
Very Loving Gundi

3 Fellow Babies That I am Tagging
Any baby who wants to do the tag:-)

Our First Xmas Celebration

2006-12-26T13:59:00.000-05:00

This year A is aware of all holidays celebrations so we are trying to do everything the proper way. I wanted to celebrate Xmas since A was few months old but didn’t. And now since A is equally excited I look forward to festivals & other holiday celebrations.

I got fake tree the year A was born so spend 2 hr. to find it;-) It’s a small one that comes with everything so I put it few days’ back. A & Gudiya helped me, A by putting the ornaments on the tree & Gudiya by putting them in her mouth. With their help I was done in 20 minutes;-)

I wanted to get 1-2 toys for each but A start counting how many things he wanted from Santa. It started with nothing, then 2 candies & lollipops, then lots of candy & lollipops then lots of toys, candies & lollipops then he added coconut in the list too;-) With his growing list I started collecting things a month back.

During A’s time we got every toy for him that we liked but during Gudiya I swear not to buy anything expensive cuz we already out of the room to put them & we have most of good toys anyway. She never showed interest in toys so never felt guilty about not buying her stuff like A.

So this time too I decided to get more but less expensive toys than just one expensive one. Went to couple of stores and got few good things on clearance. Then bought few games & puzzles. I made sure to get something that they will be using it often. It worked out great. They were happy opening up all the gifts & we were happy to get stuff we were gonna buy for them anyway;-) Everything cost less than what we would’ve spent on 2 toys for them;-)

I got hubby a jacket & tried to hide it but he guessed it that it was something for him ;-) He waited till y’day morning to see it though:-) He wanted to get something for me (I think because I got for him and he thought of too, but he said he was gonna buy for me anyway;-) On Xmas eve he went out and got a jacket for me too;-) I already have lots of perfume & jewelry set so he couldn’t think of anything else;-) He said he was gonna get something sexy but lots of girls were in THAT section so he didn’t go there..LOL!!
We wrapped the gifts till 1:30 in the morning cuz I didn’t want kids to see it and A slept around 11:30. It was so much fun.. I wrapped few things then I cut the paper & he wrapped them.. We watched KANK while getting the gifts ready.. I love to spend time like that:-) Oh & when I fell asleep he went downstairs to get my present & put it near the tree ;-)

Because Santa is Good

2006-12-26T10:57:00.000-05:00

Mommy, do we have grapes (A’s favorite)

No but we have Apples & Bananas.. Do you want to eat?

No, I want to give it to Santa.

Why?

Because Santa is Good. He gives presents to everybody and I want to give him present too..

Oh Ok but he might not want to eat fruits so you want to give him something else?

Yeah, Chocolate..

Well we got chocolate box for Santa, wrap it nicely & went to see Santa. Two days we stood in the lines but couldn’t wait for our turn because of those long lines. Finally the third day we found a Santa & NO LINES so wanted to give him the gift & make A happy cuz since 2 day all he was talking about was giving gift to Santa. Hubby wanted to look for real looking Santa cuz this Santa had very sad eyes but at that point I just wanted to make A happy & go home. He gave Santa his gift & Santa was so happy to receive first gift ever;-)

A was happy that he gave the present to Snata.. Snata was happy to receive very first gift from anybody and We were happy seeing our parenting efforts going in right direction..

I am so proud of A. I hope he stays this way and spread the real holiday spirit to everybody around him, which is not only take but to give too. This time it came from his heart & I hope on every holiday he will make a difference:-)

My 2 Birth Stories

2006-12-20T16:16:00.000-05:00

at the request of themadmamma :-)

I had few complications when I was pregnant with A. I started bleeding in early weeks, and then I got type2 diabetes later. Went for couple of NST’s(every other day in last 2 weeks) cuz A kept sitting on his cord & skip breathing for few seconds which made my last few weeks very stressful. I was already 1 ½ cm dilated since 38th week.. My doc was going to china a week before my due date so she asked me to have c-section before she leaves but I said no. She suggested not waiting since I wasn’t progressing any further but I decided to wait for few more days hoping to go into labour naturally.

She left & suggested another doc. We went to meet him on the 7th. . He was such great guy & not in favor of unnecessary c-section. I was due on April11th.That day came and went by without any sign of labour.. On Saturday, the 12th, I went for NST and A sat on the cord again. They contacted the doc again & now he didn’t want to wait any more (for insurance reason). So I got admitted in the hospital where they induce me and next morning I broke my water but I wasn't progressing till afternoon. Around 2 in the afternoon I felt 2 contractions and asked for epidural. By the time my third contraction was over I had epidural;-) The Epidural guy was Punjabi so the whole time he was there we were talking about stuff back home & food;-) I didn’t even feel a thing.. great experience..

½ hr. later while we were just looking at the monitor & saw A’s heartbeat went almost flat. I told hubby to go get the nurse but before my hubby could leave, my favorite nurse came running & stimulate from “there”, which made A move, otherwise they had to do c-section within those few minutes.. I got so scared.. Once the heartbeat was ok they paged the doc & he told them to prepare for c-section. Doc came around 3:40 & explained everything. We were in OT around 4:30 And A was born at 5:01 pm. Everything went great.. I woke up in labour room and was feeling very very cold so asked for few blankets & a cup of tea. Don’t know when hubby went & got the tea cuz when I woke up he was telling me to drink. I told him to call India.. Took 2 sips & was out againl:-)

Then I woke up in the postpartum room. Asked for A.. They brought him in the room. I wanted to keep him with me but they wouldn’t let me since I wasn’t totally conscious. I told them that hubby will be there at night and since it was private room no one can come inside anyway so they left him with me.. I fell in love with him the minute I saw him:-)

The next day I started walking even though nurses didn’t let me till afternoon but I was fine by evening. They were asking me if I was going to have baby or I already had;-) 3 nurses came to see me in the room cuz they were surprised to see someone back to normal before 24hr. of c-section (without any pain killer since morning) . I was happy:-)

During Gudiya, It was so tiring cuz from beginning she was kindda on the side. I could not lie down on any side even when I was few weeks pregnant. I used to feel very heavy every time I tried to sleep on side but my doc never believed me. I didn’t have any complication during pregnancy but I was so restless the whole time.. I had a choice of c-section or VBAC but based on my last pregnancy I had great chances of ending up with c-section any way so went ahead with c-section decision and I didn’t want to go for VBAC & rip the previous c-section scar open.

We decided to have c-secion on Dec 21st 7:30am but I already started having contraction around 5 in the morning so delayed going to hospital. Callled the doc saying that I was in lots of pain so will be there ASAP. We reached the hospital around 10:30. Since our c-section time was over & doc wasn’t there, we had to wait long time in the registration area.. Once they got our doc on the phone we were finally on our way to delivery room. I had called couple of friends there to take care of A so that hubby can stay with me during c-section. By the time we were leaving they got there too..

Nurses were really bitchy this time.. My sweet nurse from A’s time works in the night shift so I was bit disappointed. A was not ready to stay with my friends and was running around everywhere in the hallway so hubby had to run after him. I was expecting my doc to be bitchy but surprisingly she was fine.. I was contracting verrrryyy slowly so they wanted to have the c-section done soon but OT wasn’t available. So we waited for sometime & got it.

A wasn’t ready to stay with my friends so my friend came with me in the OT. She was born around 11:45(I think). I wanted to get my tubes tight this time so it took longer. I woke up in delivery room with every one around me. I couldn’t wait to see her.. During A’s time I saw him before they gave my full med but this time they have to do more work so I was sleeping before the surgery started. I asked my hubby about her and before he could answer I was out;-) Then woke up sometime later & talk to my friends.. I was falling asleep before finishing sentence and every time I woke up and start asking something everyone start to smile..

Finally woke up in recovery room. Asked for Gudiya. Felt so happy & satisfied after that. Friends called & relatives from India were calling seconds times cuz they didn’t get to talk to me the first time they called. Soon friends left.. Nurses took the baby & hubby left with A. I knew I was gonna be Ok so I wanted A to have a restful night.

I wanted to see her again but nurse wouldn’t let me.. Actually I had bigger surgery this time and I wasn’t fully awake.. I was in so much pain even with the med and that was making me so sleepy. They didn’t want to leave the baby with me but I wanted to see her so badly that they had to bring her in;-) I told her if I start to feel sleepy I would call her to take the baby. I really struggled to sit up and see her cuz my incision this time was from one leg to other and I could hardly move without putting any pressure on it. I called the nurse to put her in my arms. I spend sometime looking at her before feeling sleepy. I loved her but I didn’t feel connected like A’s time. Maybe because I was in lots of pain or feeling really really bad leaving A the first time. I wasn’t worried about the surgery but leaving A alone with hubby was major tension for last few weeks;-) I called the nurse to take her and as soon they took her I fell asleep.

I woke up few times in so much pain. Called the nurse to give my more pain med but I was already getting morphine. She told me press the button more if I wanted more med. (it was a drip and I had to press the button after counting 6 and now I was doing it after every 3 sec.) Fell asleep again & woke up feeling a little better. Called the nurse to bring my baby. It was around midnight so kept her with me on my bed till morning.. They took her before their shift change.

Was feeling ok in the morning. Had breakfast, change cloths & asked for Gudiya again:-) She was with me on my bed the whole time even though nurses said I was spoiling her and will be a problem after I get home but who cares.. We are born to spoil our kids;-) Second day they took her and refuse to give her to me cuz they thought I needed rest but I went to nursery & cried after seeing her crying there..(Postpartum Blues;-) They just let them cry there. So told them I don’t care and I want her in my room. She told me to send my nurse cuz I wasn’t allowed to push the cart. Finally got her in my room after 10 minutes. Afterwards I didn’t let them take her at all. I changed her & feed her in my room. Only time they were allowed to touch her was when I wanted to put her with me on my bed… That time I needed someone to hold her to me, as it was very hard for me to sit or lay down on the bed. I was walking in my room the whole time so that I won’t have any problem after coming home.

Hubby & A were visiting every day but A wanted to run around so hubby was just running after him the whole time so I told him to stay home & not come to visit. We were finally home after 3 days..

Madmomma, I wrote whatever I could remember.. A was born in 2003 & Gudiya was born in 2004 so I feel confused sometimes thinking if something happened during A’s time or Gudiya’s;-) But its almost how it went:-)

Wishing you smooth remaining weeks of pregnancy and quick & easy labour:-)

Updated to add
The reason madmamma started this because some people think having c-section is easy way out. I don’t think so. If you think about it, the vaginal one is less hard(not using "easier" word cuz giving birth is NOT easy by any choice) unless its totally natural birth cuz you get epidural, don’t feel anything waist down & just push on instruction.. Once the baby is born you are done & feel sore for couple of day only but with c-section you can’t even sit properly without feeling the pain on incision for weeks or even months cuz every time u try to do something, u feel ur whole body’s weight & pressure there. Even 2 years later I still feel sharp pain in the beginning of the incision. According to my doc its thread’s knot:-(

So madmamma, don’t listen to those who are not mature enough to think why people make certain choices.. They just don’t care to know the exact circumstances some people face..

Sigh

2006-12-19T09:50:00.000-05:00

Gudiya is still not feeling too well.. She had fever till last week & very bad cough. Even though her ped told me to wait for couple of day, I got her blood test done last Monday cuz I didn’t want to give her any unnecessary medicine when I know she won’t be feeling better with that. They had to prick her both arms to get the blood cuz it wasn’t enough from one side. Getting urine from her was a totally different story cuz she didn’t want to pee in a cup & every time I put those urine collecting thingy in diaper, she pooped on them.

Blood test came out normal but she still was coughing a lot so took her again on Friday. Doc gave the med and now if she is not all better till Friday we have to get the chest x-ray done. I think this med is asthma related & even if she is better, we have to get the nubulizer procedure done. I knew things would be bad after A will start daycare but never imagined they will be this bad.

She has become so clingy, cranky & jealous these days so didn’t get the chance to visit all the blogs. Hopefully she will be better by this weekend & things will be back to normal.

P.S Boo, I know its been a while since I said that I will do the baby tag but will definitely do it by Thursday.
And Madmomma, I will write those birth stories (whatever I remember) soon too. (hopefully by friday :-)

Getting big

2006-12-19T09:02:00.000-05:00

We always tell A that if eats his food he will get big & strong otherwise Gudiya will finish his food & get bigger than him and this trick works almost always works..:-) Yesterday when I picked him up, I said ahhh.. He got so happy and asked me

I am getting big, mamma?

Yes, you are:-)

(He got very excited and showed me his arm)
My arms are getting big, mamma.

Yes.

My legs are getting big mamma.

My eyes are getting big.

My nose is getting big.

My ears are getting big.

My eyebrows are getting big.

My fingers are getting big.

My head is getting big.

My tummy is getting big.

And my Pee-Pee is getting big too..:-)

Letter to Santa

2006-12-12T23:43:00.000-05:00

Can you read it? He told me what he wanted to write & I spelt for him:-)

Dear Santa

I am a good boy. I want lots of(a smiling face in O before "of" cuz he was happy:-)Toys and candy and coconut:-) And for my sister too.

Bye-Bye School

2006-12-07T17:09:00.000-05:00

Since September A is been suffering from cold & cough.. In last 3 years we never had to go to doc for any winter issues but this time we already went 3 times for each kid.. This season is first time for the antibiotics, that too two times already.. Then I got sick too.. Same virus as kids.. So I decided to keep him home for winter cuz its really hard to take care of 2 sick kids at the same time..

We talk to his school director about leaving and the next day we got call from the high school of our area about an opening in their school program for 3 year old kids.. This is a program by our city’s board of education in the high school where they teach high school kids to take care of kids under the supervision of a teacher. We came to know about this program few months back but by then they were already full. Still I put his name in the waiting list even though the director said its of no use..

So after receiving the call from the director we went to check out everything.. It nothing compares to his old school but we were going to leave that school anyway so it sounds good for some proper school activities like circle time & socialization issue with other kids. And now he won’t be missing out any school stuff.

Since he goes to afternoon session from 12:25-2:25, he gets to sleep cozy till late in the morning:-). And the teacher student ratio is 1:1 and sometimes 2:1… Really, there are as many student-teachers as kids.. First day we went there, we saw a kid crying and there were 3 girls trying to make that little girl feel better.. It was nice to see that..

So now these days we get up, have breakfast, play a little while & leave for school.. I come home, have lunch with Gudiya & we are off to pick him up.. By the time A takes shower & eat lunch, it is already 4. Mornings are easy but rest of the day is hectic.. A is enjoying this school too but had few issues in the beginning, like “Mamma, there is only one bathroom in this school”, “Mamma, there are so many teachers in this school” , “they are all babies in my class”(Since this is for 3 years old kids so some are 3 & few are 31/2 & up, not like his other school where everyone was almost same age).

Anyways, today was his 4th day here & he is all happy.. He didn’t want to stay there on Saturday so we spent ½ hr. that day & left. His teacher asked me to leave him there that day but I didn’t want him to cry so she asked me “So, he won’t cry on Monday?” “No, he won’t.. I hope :-)” And guess what he didn’t cry on Monday.. yayyyy:-) When I went to pick him up she said “He totally blend in:-) Other kids are here since Oct beside 1 girl who cry every day but he was just great":-) I am so proud of A:-)

Why Krishna is not a good boy..

2006-12-06T16:14:00.000-05:00

What do you want to eat A?

Makhan

Ok, I will go get Makhan for my little Krishna.

I am not Krishna, Mamma.

You want to eat Makhan all the time so you are my little Krishna.

No Mamma, Krishna is not a good boy…

Why?

Because He doesn’t listen to his Mamma and he always bothers her. I am a good boy and I always listen to you.

:-)))

Save Nirali

2006-12-05T16:41:00.000-05:00

The evening of my kid’s surgery day I got an email about Nirali and the next morning I just couldn’t stop going to marrow donor drive to support. They are still looking for the right donor & the poor kid is going through a lot. Please pray for her and support her by going to marrow drive in your area.

Krishna

2006-12-03T20:06:00.000-05:00

Few days back we got Krishna movie for kids, thinking they will enjoy it like they did Hanuman and Ganesha but after watching it for few minutes they were bored. Since Friday I tried to make them watch 2-3 times but they weren’t interested at all. They wanted to watch other movies but not Krishna.

I don’t blame them cuz it has very poor animation & you get headache after watching it for a little while. Eventually A liked some “Makhan chori” scene & wanted to watch it. Since then he wanted to eat makhan too so I made oatmeal for him & he finished it:-) Y’day morning I asked him what he wanted for breakfast & he asked for makhan:-) Now he likes to sleep like krishna, on his side & one hand under his cheek:-) But when I ask him if he wants to watch the movie, he still is not interested in watching it again..

If you are thinking of buying this movie, don’t waste ur money. It is not worth it. Get Hanuman instead… Hanuman was the best Indian animated movie I saw & I still can watch it 2-3 times a day. I was hoping Ganesha movie would be like Hanuman too but it was only half as good as Hanuman, still it was not that bad but Krishna is just way too puppet like movie..

Bahu or Jamai

2006-11-30T16:10:00.000-05:00

This morning

Hubby- You know you should be ready for a Bahu or Jamai.

Me- Of course, we will have a Bahu & a Jamai.

Hubby- Yeah, but I am taking about A.

Me- What?

Hubby- Y’day I asked him if anyone kissed him in the school and you know what he said

Me- What?

Hubby(smiling)- Dilen

I asked him again and he said the same

Me- LOL!! Seriously??

Hubby- Yeah

Me- Oh he doesn’t know.. Dilen is his friend and A likes to make up stories these days.. If someone visit a school or college in India they will think everybody is gay & lesbians because of the way they act.. No big deal.. Its just the way you look at it..

Me (thinking)- (I have to talk to A about this too.. )

Noni

2006-11-28T14:24:00.000-05:00

All the baby love has turned our princess into a baby:-) Nose was always a Nose for her but since last few week it had turned into “Noni” :-) She touches her Nose and say “Noni” then she point to her and say her name.. Then she touch my “Noni” and point to me saying “mama”.. yes, mama’s noni.. And she does the same for A & hubby.. Even though it’s a step backward, she look so cute saying it and I can kiss her 100 times in those few seconds.. I am falling in love all over again with my baby :-)

Really want to have a daughter??

2006-11-22T12:22:00.000-05:00

Few days back I read an article by Emily, who is a mother of three boys, on wanting to have a "daughter" to take care of her and I wanted to post for Tharini & other mother of boys who really want to have a girl..

(This is the article by Emily)
Three months after my third son was born, we took our first vacation as a family of five to the Bahamas. It was then that I discovered how a mother with three sons seems to attract frequent and not always appealing comments, ranging from “God Bless you” to “No girls?” The “No girls?” one always bothered me, and by the end of the trip, I finally resorted to a quick comeback. Responding to a woman working at airport security, I said with great conviction, “Oh no, my three girls are at home!”

A friend of mine once said that anyone who says they don’t care about having children of all the same sex is lying. I have another friend who put it more gently, and I think most accurately, by saying that everyone would like the experience of raising both a boy and a girl but it really doesn’t matter what you ultimately have. I have plenty of friends that have either three boys or three girls, but it is the mothers with the three (or more) boys who inevitably get the attention from strangers as well as friends with their insensitive musings. A mother to three girls hears “Oh, how cute” while a mother to three boys gets “Oh, how do you do it?”

In my small suburban town, there is actually a club called “Mothers of Boys” and to qualify, you must be a mother to three or more boys with no girls at all. I’m not sure if it’s a support group or an excuse to socialize. Nevertheless, there is something about having that third boy that makes us stand out and garner reactions that usually border on pity. Sometimes I find them downright amusing but other times they slug me in that vulnerable spot, knowing that I may never have a daughter. The comments that sting the most come from women who have had two boys, then give birth to a girl. These mothers brag to me, “I got my girl!” Or some women say with relief, “My husband finally got it right!” When I was lamenting to one of my friends with three boys that I never cared about having a little girl to dress up in pretty pink outfits, she quickly agreed and said, “I don’t want a girl; I want a daughter.”

That was it, exactly. When I think about the close relationship I have with my own mother, it wasn’t until my late teens when our mother-daughter bond truly evolved. We got over the hump of those hideous teenager years and became best friends. Whether it was going on shopping sprees, having long phone calls discussing friendship woes, planning my wedding or obsessing about my pregnancies, my mother was and still is a constant source of stability, strength and inspiration. I can only dream of passing on that kind of love and support to my own daughter.

I should interject at this point that days after I gave birth to our sweet, third boy, I told my husband that I thought I wanted one more child. Everyone, including him, immediately assumed it was because I wanted to try for a girl. But that really wasn’t it; at least I didn’t think so. I realized that my two older sons were two years apart while my third little guy was four years younger than his middle brother. My 4 and 6 year olds appeared to be eons ahead of him and now I felt he needed a “buddy” to grow up with, trick-or-treat with, sleigh-ride with, ride the day camp bus with— activities that my two older ones now do together. By the time my third son was ready to join them and really revel in these doings, they would be done, or almost done, with that phase of their childhood. During this conversation, my husband’s face instantly went pale with fear. He probably attributed my announcement to wacky hormones so I decided not to bring up the subject again for a while.

What would make me hesitate on number four more than my husband’s panic, however, would be that if I did get pregnant, I would dread the nine months of pressure and speculation from all the onlookers on whether or not we were having a girl or another boy. It’s both stressful and annoying. My husband and I never find out the sex beforehand because frankly, we truly don’t care! However, the rest of the world not only seems to care but to make wagers, predict and relay their own anxieties about the sex of our child.

It was during this Bahamas trip that I had a chance conversation with a woman by the pool who helped me come to terms with what may or may not be my destiny of being a mother to three sons. She told me that she too had three boys and then her fourth child was a girl. I told her that I too was thinking of having a fourth because I didn’t feel “done” yet. I also told her how I loved having three boys but that I had a close relationship with my mother and before I even finished my thought about wanting a daughter, she finished it for me: “I wanted someone to brush my hair for me when I can’t do it anymore.” Yes, that was it! Not the girl, but the daughter.

The woman by the pool saw my face get this faraway, sad look but that was when she said all the right things. “Don’t worry,” she consoled. “If you never have a daughter, I can promise you that one of your sons will assume that role for you. In fact, one of my sons is more of a daughter to me than my own daughter.”

Ever since that conversation, I am comforted and enlightened by the realization that a daughter won’t necessarily sprout from giving birth to a little girl. She may be one of my sons or a future daughter-in-law or one of my nieces. I know that I would have stepped in as the “caretaker” for my mother-in-law after her knee-replacement surgery if she didn’t have her own daughter offer to fly to Arizona to help feed, dress and bathe her. When I try to imagine if my daughter will in fact be one of my sons, I assess each of their burgeoning personalities for hints. My oldest son enjoys caring for his youngest brother and sometimes demands the involvement in dressing, bathing and feeding him. My middle son is incredibly attuned to other people’s emotions, including his own. And my youngest, now 2, is so precious and cuddly: He wraps himself around my heart each time he asks me for a hug and a kiss several times a day. My three sons are all so different and thus already fulfill distinct roles within our family. For now, I still do most of the hair brushing in my house but when the time comes for someone to take care of me, I know my daughter will find me.

This is how I wear my....

2006-11-20T21:38:00.000-05:00

Well every time I try the different way but most of the time I start like this

But the end result is always something like this

Sometimes lace on the side

And sometimes half lace showing to get a different look

Next time you should try the same way and I bet you will be happy like me:-) Don't take me word for it, just try it and see:-)

Before & After Mundan

2006-11-20T20:20:00.000-05:00

We did her mundan few days back. She was crying so bad after few minutes of starting and I thought I might have to shave the rest of her hair the next day but did it anyway. She didn't let me fix the forehead line so its been a bit crooked but no big deal:-) I really don't like taklu kids unless they are new born.. These are few before & after mundan pics.. last one is with spiderman stickers all over her face.. She has put lots of stickers on the other side of her face & on the back of her head but she didn't let me take the pic..

Check it out

2006-11-15T06:01:00.000-05:00

www.rajshri.com

OMG you have to listen to this:-)))))

http://www.rajshri.com/musicvideos/nowplaying.asp?band=low&fileID=musicvideosClub98

Enjoy

Thanks

2006-11-14T10:51:00.000-05:00

Thanks for your prayers. She is doing ok now, came back from hospital but in lots of pain cuz of the tube they had inserted near her chest to drain the infected blood. They will be getting detailed pathology report on Friday & then they will decide the next step. As of now the cyst was more than they expected so doc said to have the chemotherapy for at least a year. They were very scared the other day cuz chemotherapy means its serious than they imagined.

I wasn’t getting the right picture of the whole situation as they were really depressed and start crying every time I called.. I got the doctor’s name & googled it and guess what, I found his 2 home#, cell# & address :-) so talk to him instead.. Can you believe it.. I was so shocked that we can do lots of things sitting here and fill the gap of not being there personally.. My other bhua & chacha was there with them & even they didn’t get to talk to the doc & I did sitting saath samundar paar:-)

Another very good thing is that I found a site to send gifts within 2 hrs. :-) yup, 2 hr... I tried their service 3-4 times before and the cake I send was always fresh & wonderful. This time I send flowers & cake to hospital (after the surgery) & they delivered before 12 in the noon while ordering the cake around 7 in the morning.. Y’day I placed an order for flowers to send their home since she was discharged a day early & they delivered in less than 2 hrs. and in Delhi it takes 2 hrs. to get from point A to B. And prices are damn good.. 50 flowers are for less than $10 with shipping & everything.. People do use aryanflorist.com and indiafloristassociation.com (same owner). I told them I will recommend it to everybody so if you do use these sites just say(in the special request) that we found u from a friend’s blog in NJ:-) It will make me feel good not that Im getting anything out of it:-)

Kids are doing all right.. well almost all right but Im been very sick.. My whole body hurts, even ears & jaw too. If I won’t get better by tomorrow morning I will have to go the doctor. So I will be back in 2-3 days & visit everybody’s blog which I am been missing lately… or I will just sit & read new posts & comment later;-)

Thanks again everybody for ur prayers.

If you could spare a prayer..

2006-11-09T16:38:00.000-05:00

My Bhua is having surgery to remove the cancer cyst tomorrow morning. Please pray for her..

I can’t believe how much India has improved. On Friday My Uncle read an article in the newspaper, insist my bhua to get it checked as she had lump around 10m back and all the tests came back normal but he said to get it done anyway.. On Saturday they met the doctor who said it was breast cancer.. On Monday they took second opinion, Tuesday did all the tests, Wednesday they got all the reports back and now she is in the hospital to get the surgery done in the morning (Indian time).

Thanks for any extra prayers.

What A Week

2006-11-08T12:25:00.000-05:00

Both Kids are down with cold & cough. A had fever for few days, bad cough, which doctor thinks is seasonal & will be gone after thanksgiving (I blame day care for this;-) and now Gudiya has fever too. She is breathing funny since last night so taking her to doc in the evening.
Found out that my Bhua has breast cancer.. She has thyroid for almost 18 years & now this.. Just today they got the results of all the tests.. Its early stage still she will have to go through the surgery & everything else after that for the rest of her life..
I have this throbbing headache for 3-4 days, which is not going away even with medicine.
I am sleeping with A on my one arm & gudiya holding my other hand for almost the whole night since couple of days and now I got this twist on the back of my neck & I can’t turn my head on the left side..
Gudiya isn’t eating anything since 2 days so trying to feed her & give her med even 3-4 in the morning.. Today we were up around 4, had 3-4 spoons of soup while looking at the rain.. Whole day I am after her with something so that she could eat 1-2 spoons after every hr.
I feel this heartache every time she coughs & gets up every 2-3 hour at night too.. Poor baby..
We did her “Mundan” on Sunday and will post the pic in a day or 2.
On Friday I went to pick him up and “that” girl came running after him with their teacher running after her.. She hugged him & kissed him again.. So I had a little talk with A while coming back

“What did I tell you about not to kiss anyone”
“I didn’t kiss her mommy.. She kissed me”
“Then why didn’t u say, “my mommy said no kissing””
“Because….” (yeah that’s what he said)
“Because what!”
“BECAUSE”
“BECAUSE WHAT!!!”
“Because I like it when she kisses me” :-O
(Pause for few seconds..)
“There is noting to like, OK. Just play with everybody and no kissing”
“But I like it”
“Ok, I gonna watch you from my computer at home and if you kiss her or let her Kiss you I am going to send a policeman there”
“No Mamma”
“Oh Yeah, you watch.. The minute I see a kiss a policeman will come & take you guys”
“No mamma”
“ OK,then NO KISSING”
“ OK”

*sigh*
And I can’t think of any spicy, chatpati & fadkati hui dish that could sooth me..

Happy Halloween

2006-11-01T15:05:00.000-05:00

Mommy, these machines aren’t giving us any treat… Don’t they believe in Halloween OR trick or treat????

Wow!! yyyyuuuummmmyyyyy Cccaaannndddyyyyy!!!!!!!

My Spiderman..:-)

What??? A toothbrush?? What do I do with this,lady? I need candy...

Ok,Lets start eating candy now:-)

The treat I got for myself :-D

Miss You??

2006-10-30T15:09:00.000-05:00

Gudiya gave me the calcium sandoz bottle to open..

Gudiya: CA-MAN, CA-MAN(Calcium)

Me: you want calcium?

Gudiya: ah-huh ca-man

I gave her one. She held it in her hands for few minutes..

Me: Ok, you can eat now.. come on..

Gudiya: A, Ca-man (give the calcium to A too:-)

Me: He is not here.. He went to school..

Gudiya: AAAAA.. CA-MAN LELE :-)

*sigh :-)

In the afternoon..

Me: You want to eat rice?

Gudiya: Riiiccceeee, RRRiiicccceeeee.

Me: Open your mouth..

Gudiya: A, rice..

Me: He is not here..

She went inside.. looked in every room saying AAAAAA,rice… AAAAA,rice..

Even though its heartbreaking to see her miss him so much still it made me smile to see how much she care for him.. Or she is missing torturing him;-)

MINE,MINE,MINE

2006-10-30T07:38:00.000-05:00

That’s the new word Gudiya learned from A since he started school and she knows its meaning too:-) I think it’s the ONLY word she used during the whole weekend..*phew* It was very hectic weekend. A is running a little cough & cold since Thursday and has on & off fever since Friday night. It was very windy and cuz of A I couldn’t take them out which made the weekend even more hectic.

When he woke up on Saturday morning, It was hugs time instead of regular 2 mintes hugs & hurry to get ready for school but she jumped over to A’s side, pulled him out of my lap, sat there her arms around me, saying MINE, MINE.. This was just the start.. Any toy he touched, She screamed MINE & snatched away from him.. I gave them similar things still she snatched his stuff from him every time & hide in the bedroom.. Poor guy was complaining & crying the whole time.. Couple of times she took away things saying Mine then pushed him on the floor:-O Forget about letting him use the computer.. She stood there crying saying Mine, Mine, pulling him from the chair and when that didn’t work she took the mouse & throw it several times and used the keyboard as “tabla” to interrupt him.. *sigh She made it very torturing weekend for him. So the whole weekend I had one screaming kid & I crying kid.. Last night I felt like I had no throat cuz of all the yelling..

How do they learn these annoying things from nowhere and not the good thing that we teach then EVERY SINGLE DAY?

I HATE MEN

2006-10-28T11:34:00.000-04:00

well at least today... and only hubby’s type men, who are emotionless, have no interest in family life, never change and fight over same thing their whole life, make absolute no effort to have a peaceful life, never think of solving a problem which effects everybody’s life around them.. They think by avoiding & not talking about things is called solving even after friken so many years you are fighting over same things which leads to many other problems & new issues to fight about. Don’t they get any clue or they are just too dumb to realize.. There are so many men out there trying & making effort to have a loving satisfying life but are there people who want to fight every time they are home? I mean what kind of role model you will be for your kids? Or Just spending money makes up for every fight, every heartache and gives you back every second when you make other people feel so bad… Why can’t they realize that they are tearing you apart..

Few days back I read this on Keshi’s blog & can’t get it out of my mind..

You can have everything else in life but if you don't have love, respect, understanding and appreciation from your near and the dear ones, then you have nothing. If they can't and won't take few minutes to really listen to what you have to say, if they don't seem to understand how you feel, if they don't respect your feelings, if their love is just verbal only and if they demonstrate that your existence in their life is not appreciated, then why do you still hang around wanting to be heard and loved.

Today I don’t know the answer either… maybe because of the kids…

His First...

2006-10-27T12:13:00.000-04:00

There are lots of things to write about on the blog but lately I am in no mood. Every day I think that once I am in better mood there will be post rain here:-) but something happened today that I had to tell you all about..

I went to drop off A this morning. He is catching a little cold so I was wiping his nose before leaving And all of a sudden a girl ran up to A hugged him tight with both hands around his neck & kissed him on his cheek then lips:-O Before I could react she did it again:-O I just froze there.. didn’t know what to say.. A was looking at me with a shy smile & she hugged him again.. :-)

OMG, It’s A’s first kiss (actually the first I saw). His teacher came up to me and I told her that she just hugged & kissed A twice.. She said that what they do all day :-) they are best friends..

I kissed A & left the 2 lovebirds alone, who were still holding hands;-) No wonder the minute he gets up in the morning he tells me “ I am getting late mamma, hurry up, I have to go to school.” And during weekend he wants to go to school too. He asks to go to school at least 50 time during weekend. Now I know the reason ;-D

This is her picture from the pumpkin picking trip. She was sitting next to me looking at me taking pictures of A & Gudiya so I asked her if she wanted me to take her picture too.. who knew I was gonna need it later:-)

Last Diwali

2006-10-24T09:39:00.000-04:00

In Chandigarh with my cousin

He wanted to jump on Chakris

With my grandma who passed away in March

In Ludhiana with my other cousin & Bhua, who is holding Gudiya

With my Uncle aka Muchhe wale Nanu:-)

Last year we were in India this time and A had so much fun during diwali. He had never seen any firecrackers beside the firework on 4th of July. So last year was great since he gets to celebrate diwali twice and it lasted for almost a month… He started on fuljhari’s & chakris about 10 days before diwali & then after diwali we left for my bhua’s place in Ludhiana where they had saved bags full of firecrackers for him so we started again and every evening we used to go on roof & had fun:-) It was Gurpurav few days after diwali so people didn’t think we were crazy:-)

Now can't wait to be there next year.

I didn't take my camera there so these are pictures of pictures thats why a bit blury.

Happy Deepavali

2006-10-20T16:45:00.000-04:00

From Our family to yours.... :-)

Ghumi-Ghumi?

2006-10-18T15:31:00.000-04:00

Gudiya is usually up before A in the morning so I take her in the kitchen put on Sesame Street and gives her milk. I get ready while she watches Sesame Street then A gets ready and we are off to school. Hubby is usually up when we are ready to leave..

On Thursday I left and when hubby went in the kitchen

Gudiya: Mamma, A ghumi-ghumi.

Hubby: No, they went to school.

Gudiya: No,ghumi-ghumi.

Hubby: No, school.. say school, ssccchhoollll.

Gudiya: Nahi, mamma , A ghumi ghumi :-)

I got back & hubby told me that she is been saying that since we left. I changed my clothes while she followed me around asking for A

Gudiya: A??

Me: School.

Gudiya: Mamma, A ghumi ghumi.

Me: No ghumi ghumi, A went to school. We will go ghumi ghumi together.

Gudiya: A kool (school)... Mamma, A kool.

Me: Yes, good girl.

Gudiya: Mamma, A ghumi ghumi.

Now everyday I get back she says the same thing.. Maybe because she watches us get ready & leave...

Tagged

2006-10-17T15:51:00.000-04:00

by hastobeme ...

3 Smells I love:
1. White Diamond Perfume
2. Smell of rain in India
3. Smell of petrol

3 Smells I hate:
1. Seafood
2. Sweet perfumes
3. Skunk smell

3 Jobs that I have had in my life:
1. Bank
2. Helped hubby in his business.
3. Mommy Maid (Lifetime contract:-)

3 Movies that I could watch over and over:
1. City of Angels
And every year those Haloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas movies. I really look forward to these every year especially the witchy & magic movies:-)

3 Fond memories:
1. My acceptance letter from college here
2. When hubby used to come with a rose & card to see me.
3. Of course the birth of both kids.

3 Jobs I would love to have:
Start something my own or
Anything that pays well with flexible hrs.:-)

3 Things I like to do:
1. Read Bogs (new habit since I found blog world:-)
2. Walk around the whole store even if I have to get just one thing
3. Watch Indian Mythological dramas

3 Of my favorite foods:
1. Samosa
2. Rice & Kadi
3. Goat Kadai

3 Places I would like to be right now:
1. India
2. Disney Land with kids
3. Any Hill Station

3 Things that make me cry:
1. Seeing kids in trouble even on tv especially when they show kids in charity ads.
2. Emotions (Too happy or sad)
3. When people say hurtful things even when they don’t mean it.

She stripped....

2006-10-16T15:07:00.000-04:00

my computer… I was in the kitchen & came back to see this….

I guess this was the punishment for the laptop for keeping mommy busy..

Heights..

2006-10-11T11:39:00.000-04:00

Tagged by itchingtowrite .. Even though this tag needs lots of thinking & writing, this is the coolest tag:-) Good Job on starting it I2w..

Height of Bhakti- Every time Gudiya sees some lady with Sari & big bindi, she puts her hands together, close her eyes and say “Jai-Jai”.(I guess cheap makeup in the serials we used to watch:-)

Every time A eats something he really really loves, he asks me “Jai-Jai ne mere liye bheja hai?” (did the jai-jai send it for me?)

Height of Embarrassment- Every time Gudiya sees a sardar, she starts screaming “Dar Dar”.

When A was a baby we went to a restaurant and there he saw a sardar. He got so happy & started clapping saying “Dar dance, Dar dance”. He thought every sardar was Delar Mehndi till recent:-)

Height of Love- After eating a bite of every thing A tells me to give it to Gudiya.

Every time she eats something, she gives it to her baby (little baby toy) first otherwise she refuse to eat (well not always).

Her waking up in the middle of the night, finding my hand with eyes close & kiss me at least 10 times and fell sleep the very second.

Height of Copying- When we are going out without Gudiya & she is crying, A tells her “Nahi Nahi, rona nahi.. Mein ek minute mein aa raha hoon”. And he gives instruction to my hubby like I do:-)

She tries to pat & rub her back herself while coughing.

Height of Creativity- Gudiya put a block on pencil or crayon and say “mmmmm chokate I ceam” (yumm, chocolate ice cream).

Height of smartness- when her favorite song or dvd ends she asks us to “wynd”(rewind) it and if the same thing doesn’t start with a minute she start saying “WYND, WYYYNNDD, WWWYYYNNDD” until its on again.

Height of Imagination- A has told me quite a few times “ Mamma, my school bell is ringing. I have to go to school” and today I happen to ask the teacher if they had some bell there but nope, they don’t.

Height of Pickiness- Gudiya refuse to eat veg stuff. I kept all Navaratri vrat & She was pretty much fasting with me most of the days. She only had milk & cookies most of the days and the day after Navratri she had full meal with chicken tikka Masala. Same thing y’day on Karva & Now hopefully she will eat meal with chicken..

While eating cereal she says the color & point to the cheerios she wants and if I give her any other she don’t open her mouth. If there is all same color cereal I really have to see which one is she pointing at.

Height of Manners- Both wants a napkin near them while eating so that they can wipe their mouth even if there is a tiny mess.

The other day she bumped into a lady in the store and she said “sorry” to that lady:-)

She says “Welcome” every time instead of Thank you.

Height of obedience- I told hubby to give her cookie, he got the cake instead. He gave her a spoon full saying “cake” but she said “mama” & waited for me to say yes.(It happened only once though:-)

Height of Seva- I told her “Gudiya, mere sar mein dard ho raha hai”.. She came to me & started doing “thup-thup”on my head… I had to cover my ears & face cuz the first time she did, I really saw stars;-)

Height of Dieting- She doesn’t eat much when A is at school. She waits for him to come home and then she is all hungry.

Height of anger- She wants to watch Boz all day long lately. Really at least 10 times a day. If I try to put another dvd she start rolling on the floor, throwing toys & big big tears in her eyes until she sees Boz again.

Height of Demand- I was driving alone with her when she demanded water. Home was just 7-8 minutes away. I told her “Ok I will give you water in a minute”. I heard “Papa, pani laoo.. Pappa, coke lao..”. She kept saying till we reached home.

Pumpkin Picking

2006-10-09T10:04:00.000-04:00

A had School trip to Pumpkin Patch last Friday. First I thought of volunteering then decided to pay for Gudiya (my daughter) and take her instead. We went to the school in the morning & I let her play in A’s class & the “village room”. She had so much fun in the playground and didn’t want to go on bus:-) They had blast picking pumpkins, on hayride & visiting farm animals. Even though it got very windy that day still it was fun:-)

In A's class she was playing with blocks when a boy came to see what she was doing. Can you see that innocent look in the first pic:-)

Weirdo…

2006-10-04T20:54:00.000-04:00

tagged by K’s mom

I was suppose to write 9 but I wrote 11, so pick any 9 to read;-) I never though Im that weird but now all I can think of is rest of the things that I didn’t list here..:-)

Talkative: I am very talkative. People feel connected with me even at the first time we meet. Hubby thinks I give away lots of info & secrets though;-)

Selective: I believe in “…. At first sight” in day-to-day things too, like when I go to a store I buy things, which appeal the first time I see. And the first impression I get of people... Sometimes I don’t like anyone in the gathering and I rather stay alone & not talk. I can tell by looking (face reading, I think:-) who is my kind & whom I rather not socialize. I strongly dislike fake people.

Can’t hide feelings: I can’t pretend. You will see the image of my feelings on my face. I am famous rather notorious in my family for telling everyone the straight truth. I am the youngest one so no one minds in my family:-P

Sensitive: well, way too sensitive. Things haunts me even years later. I cry on sad as well as happy thing on tv. And If someone hurts my feelings I try to completely stay away from them for a loooooooong time if not forever cuz I think of those hurtful things for a verrrrrry long time.. very bad, I know.

Jai-Jai: I do jai-jai before leaving the house but if I forget anytime I feel really really down till I come back home.

Making others feel better: I can make other sick people (cold, cough & little things) feel better with my home remedies but these remedies don’t work for me.

Certain ways & order to do things: I have certain way & order to do things and I want things to be done that way and ONLY THAT WAY. That’s why I like to work alone and don’t ask for any help even thought its too much work:-)

Question about mothering: Well, my grandma brought me up and there was this generation gap and now I have nothing to compare notes. Most of the time I question my parenting skills & wonder if I am doing it right. Lots of time I declare myself a bad mother. See, talking to friends about some situation & really think of how your mother dealt with you is totally different (I think). I still can’t tell if I am an ok mother or I should work on it..

Yelling: I can do the yelling at my kids but not any one else, not even hubby.. I yell at them, spank them and love & kiss them the next second but don’t want my hubby to say anything to them at all. We get into fights if he says something to them. (I know, I know what you all want to say but no one except me can yell at my babies:-)

Cleaning ness: I have a thing for cleaning ness. My kids are well trained too;-) My daughter start saying “saaf/clean” and asking for napkin to clean her mouth when she was a little over 1. I think “saaf(clean)” & “moo(mouth/clean my mouth)” are few of her very first words.

Fat?: I got very fat since marriage but I don’t see it. I know the situation with cloths but my eyes refuse to see me fat in the pictures. Talk about accepting yourself.. LOL

I tag twisted Dna , rads, rohini, Aps, Minal, The Inquisitive Akka & kalpana and I hope they would want to take up the tag:-)

Heck of a day

2006-09-28T10:52:00.000-04:00

Yeah, One of those terrible days, actually almost a week. I kindda suspected something was going to happen when I tried to do "Jot/diya" on Sunday morning and I wouldn’t lit up after 20 tries with lighter then another 20 tries with gas flame. On Monday I was doing puja & there were bad bad thoughts in my mind. Tried to shook them off but didn’t work.. I ate around 2:30 and right after eating I felt yuck & felt like throwing up badly. I called hubby to come upstairs cuz I thought I was going to pass out. Within 10 minutes I was a bit ok. He went back & came back in 15 minutes cuz It was time to pick A from school. He said you want me to go but I thought I will go cuz A feels happy to see me there.. not that he won’t feel happy to see hubby but I think after the long day I want to see him ASAP.

I started driving and felt terrible. Thought of calling hubby then I thought its just my mind since I was feeling scared thinking of whatever was going on since Sunday morning. Then I put a brave face & went anyway. Picked up my son, got back home safely (1 hr. drive), parallel park the car & was about to get out and thought the car was too close to the front car. Tried to back up a bit & instead of “reverse” it was on “drive”. I saw it going into the car ahead of me & tried to hit the break but panicked & put the foot on gas *sigh*.. Well it hit the car as hard as it could & it was rav4 in front of me. Since I hit the tire on the back it damaged the trunk floor of the car too. Felt terrible & shaky. Called hubby & told him to come down.

Well estimate of the damage is almost $4000. I am feeling soooo bad but hubby is keeping cool. I don’t know how he does it but he is one cool guy. If it were one of my side family people, they would’ve been freaking out right now. I was afraid to touch the car still I drove A to school yesterday & today. Went to drop off the car that we got for the neighbor to use. Felt shaky, still did it. I know if I was feeling that way I shouldn’t drive but with kids in the car Im always afraid of these things. I check 10 times before I put my foot on the gas or break, car in reverse or drive, but that one time really messed up everything.

Still I thank God that nothing happed to A who was in the car with me but now I will be scared for a long time.
#################################

I remember a story where 2 angels came to earth & went to rich person asking for a room to spend a night. He gave them the unfinished cold basement, didn’t ask them for food. There was a hole in the wall & before leaving those 2 angels fixed the hole. Next day they went to a poor farmer guy with the same request. Poor guy gave them their food, their bed. In the morning they found their one & only bull dead in the field.

Younger angel felt really sad & asked the other angel about the whole thing. He asked the other angel that the rich guy was bad to them still they did good for him & fixed his hole in the wall & this poor farmer was so good to them & still he didn’t save his bull. The older angel smiled & said “things are not always like how they seem”. There was a treasure inside that hole & if the rich guy had gotten fixed he would’ve known. So we fixed his hole in the wall. And last night angel of death came to take farmer’s wife but I told him to take the bull instead.

Now even though the damage is a lot still Im glad the money is going on car repair instead of any human repair that would’ve been in the other car or one of us.

Farm Visit & Apple Picking

2006-09-21T15:57:00.000-04:00

We went to a farm last weekend. Had so much fun there. Enjoy few pictures of our fun day..

My daughter’s & My Week

2006-09-17T18:57:00.000-04:00

Well It was the first time when we were spending any time without my son A. On Monday she was looking around & kept calling A hoping to see him running to her from kitchen or one of the rooms… It was just heartbreaking… She got very quiet last week. She wasn’t playing much, just taking toys & sitting quietly. No bicycle riding, no coloring, no sleeping during first 2 days and no eating properly. Yes, She went on almost hunger strike. She was just drinking milk. I had to force her to eat few bites of something every hr. but that wasn’t going quite well either.

I was hoping to finish lots of stuff while A was at school. I was thinking our life will be back to almost normal since I could do almost everything taking care of one kid at home like I used to, before I had her but boy was I wrong. I think it was her who needed to be in the school. Before She used to initiate things & my son used to follow her around making it difficult to do anything but didn’t think that it would still be same and very hard with only her at home with me. Needless to say everything in house is just the same as it was a week before. House is still a mess, laundry needs to be folded, no cooking done this week as I was busy feeding her every hr. and I am still very tired. I was really seeing myself very energetic at the end of the week but nope, still tired & exhausted.

Weekend is very tough. She is not letting A touch any toy since she was the queen of the house for a week & now she consider everything belong to her. She is not letting him use the computer cuz she was the one who used computer for the whole week. So in short, lots of fighting & crying is going on every second. Good thing is that she ate little better today as A was there and she was afraid of him finishing her food;-) I had never seen the jealous side of her before. Now anytime I am giving something to A first she get angry and runs to the corner of the room crying hard.

But She is getting all the love she deserves. I used to feel guilty kissing her in front of my son, even though I used to kiss A as well but she is very lovey dovey who likes to run up to me so many times a day just to kiss me and every time I kiss her back I feel guilty thinking I am only kissing her not my son. In my mind I know my son is playing or doing something and its not practical to count the kisses & kiss A the same time still I always felt bad. Now I can kiss her anytime although every time I kiss her I think of my son and still feel bad but she is getting lots of love from both of us, more than usual.

Now from tomorrow I need to work on getting her to eat well & sleep on time(she is sleeping good since Wednesday but very late in the afternoon), make a to-do list of house chores, which I can start doing at least little bit every day And hopefully we will have a normal clean house & life soon.

Week in School

2006-09-17T17:39:00.000-04:00

He did great during his first week in school. According to Ms. Monda, he cried for hardly 2 minutes after I left. She told me to stay for 15-20 minutes & watch him from behind the door or on tv downstairs. Tuesday evening he kept saying that he didn’t want to go to school. I told him that he was excited about going to school, having a teacher; lunchtime & nap time And used to tell me that he wanted to go to school.

“But now I am telling you I don’t want to go to school”

“No, you have to go to school. You will make friends there, get to play with them and have fun”

“But I don’t like school”

“Why?”

“Because I cry”

“Well, then don’t… Enjoy there”

And the whole thing repeated at least 100 times. *sigh*

Wednesday morning his teacher grabbed him as soon we got upstairs and I was hiding behind door. She sat him on a chair & asked if he wanted to make Mr. Potato head and he stopped crying & said yes. I was happy to see him not crying then went downstairs & watched him on tv. He was busy playing. That was the first day I put songs on while going back home:-)

He cried to see us there to pick him in the evening. We explained to him that there is no need to cry. You go to school to have fun. This was kept going until night.

On Thursday, I was talking to him the whole time in the car about having fun & not to cry. We got upstairs, he was hiding behind me. I showed him couple of other kids saying bye to their parents & running to class happily. He was still hiding behind me. We came out of the class, had a little talk again. Went in again. I was showing him how everybody was happy there and he should go & play too. In 2 minutes he stopped clinging & went towards the table chairs with toys. I was surprised cuz he looked back & kept going. I waved to his teacher & told her to keep an eye on him. I watched him for 10 minutes from downstairs tv & he was doing great. He didn’t cry when I went to pick him up. Definitely a progress. Same thing on Saturday, no crying at all.

His teacher said so many good things about his manners, the way he eats & other little little stuff. He is going to toilet by himself since day 1. She said I tell him to call me when he is done but he likes to do everything by himself. Sometimes she calls him from outside to check on him & he respond to her in Hindi then he realize it & say the same thing in English. He has no problem communicating with anyone. I was worried he might find it difficult to express himself since we mostly talk in Hindi at home but he understand English fully & could talk if needed. According to his teacher he has no trouble speaking English at all.

He did wonderful last week & hopefully he will keep doing great.

His First Full Day and Today

2006-09-12T13:27:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was his first full day. I couldn’t sleep till almost 2 the night before. I got up around 6:30, got ready, woke him up at 7. He was awake the second he opened his eyes. Got him ready by 7:15. Another 15 minutes for hubby & princess to get ready. At 7:35 we were in the car and its around 20 minutes drive unless there is traffic. I started driving again after 7 years, yes 7 years. Drove a bit on weekend but I was still afraid of driving alone with kids that far & to another town so told hubby to come with me. Not that he wanted to come but he had to unless he was planning on dropping and picking him up every day ;-))

Got to school at 8:06. Went inside the office, talk to the bird & fishy there. Then we went upstairs and met the director’s daughter, Cynthia. She took us his class, met his teacher, Ms. Mounda. Then I showed him the adult pee toilet for boys in the boy’s room. I didn’t want him to mistaken that for the sink ;-) Cynthia said to leave him in the class but I told her that he didn’t have anything for breakfast so it might be a good idea if he sees other kids eating and decide to eat something. They give breakfast if you are there before 8 but she was fine even thought it was around 8:30. They had cereal but my son didn’t want cereal today so she got him 2 pancakes. In the mean time he decided to have cereal so got him that too. He just started eating when he saw a kid crying. He changed his mind & didn’t want to eat anymore & cling to me.

We went to upstairs in the class. Oh he had 2 leaves in his hand which he gave to both teacher and he was happy about that:-) And on the way to upstairs we met another desi guy with his daughter.. He said hi to my son & found out that they will be in the same class.. At least someone can understand hindi & if needed they can carry a conversation:-) He gave good review too.. His son used to be in the school & now his daughter. It confirms that we are not wrong about the school. A desi can never lie about this stuff:-))

Took couple of pictures of him in the rooms and went to his teacher. I gave her hint that I was gonna leave. She tried to keep him busy with 2 bunnies’ they have… yup, there were 2 today but he didn’t want to leave me. We went to another room where story session was going on. He sat there for few seconds but ran up to me as he saw me sneaking out. We did puzzle but he was holding my hand the whole time. Once he got busy I tried to leave. I was about to get out of the class that someone came to see Ms. Mounda. As soon as they called her my son realized that I was leaving so he ran up to me again. I told him I had to go to the bathroom but he wanted to come with me. He let go off my hand for few seconds while we were taking to him and his teacher Ms. Mounda picked him up & held him tight while I ran downstairs. Didn’t feel like watching him crying on the tv downstairs. Hubby & hungry daughter were waiting in the car for long too.

Came home & called the school around 10:30 to check on him. He was doing well. Ms. Mounda said that he stopped crying after 2-3 minutes and he is doing great. They had B’day party there & he had cupcake & Apple juice. Called back around 2:30. She said he is lying down but not sleeping. While I was talking to her he closed his eyes. He went potty twice there. Had Ham & Cheese sandwich & Apple juice again. He told her that he liked the school:-) I told her that I will come around 5 to pick him up.

Hubby called around then and said we could pick him up now but he was taking his nap and after that it was playground time. I told him that we will go around 3:30. I called hubby around 3:15 but he was busy & couldn’t leave then so waited for another ½ hr. and got ready to pick him up. Hubby came too so we all left for school. As soon as we parked we saw him playing in the playground. He looked fine. We sat there for 15 minutes watching him from car. His teacher saw us and told him to play where we could see him:-) When we got out we send our daughter to him. As soon as he saw her and then us, he start to climb the wire fence like a monkey:-) He was laughing but I could see tears in his eyes. He kept saying “I can’t climb”.

I asked him “why do you want to climb?”

But he kept saying “I can’t climb”. He was in such rush to get out of there.

Actually they close the door of the playground during play time & other day his teacher didn’t let him open the door so he thought he had to climb the fence to get out of there:-)

I told him that we were there to pick him up & his teacher will open the door for him. He was happy to leave.. Said bye to everybody there. Then we went inside to get his backpack & talk to the teacher. The director was there and she said that he did great. Checked the sheet to see if he napped or eat even though I talk to her teacher before still wanted to see how they put the information And left afterwards. He was telling us all about the school:-) He kept saying “There was something wrong with my pee pee”And after couple of times he said the same I asked him again & again & again to give me description of what happened. In My mind I was thinking of Gauri’s Abhay’s incident. Then found out that he was playing in the playground but his training pants were coming down and they fixed it after sometimes:-)

***************************************
Today I woke him up by kissing. He opened his eyes and closed right back:-) It never happened in 3 ½ years. I tried to make him open his eyes but nope, he didn’t want to. Hubby said to let him sleep till 9-10 & drop him later but I wanted to see him parents leaving their kids & how they don’t cry And I wanted to go without my daughter cuz I can’t control her while taking care of my scared son’s who doesn’t want to let go of me.

Today hubby was saying “Its not that they teach anything there. It is only baby sitting.”
Ohhhh no no no. Don’t tell me this now. Anyways, he didn’t want to go to school today. I reminded him all the fun he had y’day still didn’t want to go. Y’day I got 20 blueberry muffins bags for him to take school. I told him if he want to go to school & give those to his friends. Well it did help a bit. Got him ready & we left for school. He was very quiet the whole time in car.

When we got out of the car I got him few leaves today too. It made him very happy and the thought of giving it to someone else dragged him to school:-) Even though he didn’t want to eat anything we went to eating room to say hi to whoever was there. Then we went upstairs. Kids were looking at the leaves he was holding so I told him to give it to them. He was smiling and giving leaf to every one who was coming to him. By the time his teacher came he had 2 leaves left so he gave her those while hugging her.

She showed me what he colored yesterday. And during circle time he knew most of the alphabets so he got the prize. He didn’t tell me that y’day or every kid might have gotten the prize:-) She told me that he made 3 girl-friends y’day :-) I think there are only 2 boys in his class and one is always lying down alone in the corner so he had to choose someone to play with;-) And he loved the circle time in the morning.

Today he knew I was gonna leave him. His hands were getting cold & he was hiding behind me holding my pant. I did puzzle with him, looked at bunnies but he was holding me tight. Ms. Mounda tried to distract him but didn’t work. Finally she had to hold him but before I could go he held my hair and pulled it badly. He was crying so hard & pulling my hair to come closer.. It took 3 of us to open his fist. Today I felt like crying too. I told him I will back to pick him up and left. It was heartbreaking to leave him crying there..

Around 11 I called his school & talk to him. He was doing great and his voice was happy. Ms. Mounda said that he cried for 2-3 minutes and got back to playing. Now I will call later to check again.

I think he is getting the concept of school and I am going to adjust just fine thinking we found a great place for him to play and he is having fun there. Now the school chapter is closed for the blog;-))

First Hour in School

2006-09-09T09:40:00.000-04:00

I was thinking of sending him to school next Monday then I realized that it will be better if he starts this Monday instead. We went there around 3:30. I didn’t call them ahead and found out that his regular teacher left at 3 but the director said we can stay if want. We wanted to see his reaction only and all the teachers can manage the kids so I didn’t think it was big deal if his regular teacher wasn’t there.

Their group was playing outside. The other day we went at the same time too so yesterday I knew they will be in the playground. I actually planned in a way that he can have little playground time & some time upstairs in the rooms. This way we can observe him better.

We stayed in the office while the director took him in the playground. He hesitated a bit but with our encouragement & the idea of being in the playground, he left holding the director’s hand. I went after them in few seconds and was hiding. He stood there just holding her hand. They were telling him to play with the kids but no response from him. Then they made every kid came up to him and introduce themselves. After that I saw him running around climbing on the toys & taking turn on the slide & other toys. After a few seconds the director was about to come out of the playground and my son was keeping an eye on her :-) As soon as she opened the door he tried to leave too:-) She spends another 5 minutes telling him to play there while he was just crying. He saw me hiding too so I quickly ran to the office before he could see me again. She came back few minutes later and said “He is doing just fine.” I bet they say that to all parents:-)

We wanted to leave saying Goodbye to him & telling him that we will be back soon. We had the choice to leave from the back door but we thought it will be better if he sees us leaving & then coming back in an hr.. We said bye to him and he was crying hysterically… Even though I had prepared him about no parents & sister in the school concept still this was expected. He followed us on all sides of the wired fence of the playground trying to climb like a monkey saying “Mamma Paas, Mamma Paas”. I wanted to stay in the parking lot that’s why I made hubby park in the back but the director said “don’t worry, go for a drive” And hubby thought of taking us ‘girls’ to shopping before I start crying too. Anyway it did help killing the time & before we knew it was 5:15, time to go back.

I went inside to see how he was doing. I had told the director that I wanted to see his reaction outside the playground too so she said that she will tell them to leave the playground earlier today so that my son will have the chance to spend sometime in the class room too. When I went there they were upstairs & she switched his class on the tv. They were going in the computer class at that time & he was just looking around. In seconds he settled down playing on one of the computers. I watched him on tv for 15 minutes from her office and he was doing fine. She said he did great, stop crying in few seconds & been playing since then. Chatted with her for a little while and went upstairs to pick him up.

I stood outside the room for few minutes watching him. Then I talked to both the teachers there. He didn’t even turn around after hearing my voice & I am kindda lound person:-) . He was so lost in computer game as lately I don’t let him be on his computer after the surgery, just trying to avoid him hurt this thumb before it healed fully. He had no idea I was there. I had to call him 3 times before he turned around. I was expecting him to run & come up to me but he was just playing there. I asked him

“Do you want to go home?”

“NO”
And everybody started laughing:-)

Can you believe it? Well we said thanks & bye to everybody and spend few minutes with bird and come back. We praised him & encourage him in the car and asked about the school. He said there was a girl name Julia, who didn’t want to share a toy with him.. yes, already :-) He said that they washed their hands after their playground time. great.. We asked him if he wants to come back on Monday, he said NO.

We think he was ok And after him refusing to leave the class I am a bit at peace too thinking that he did enjoy his time there.

Now we are starting full time from coming Monday.

Finalize the School

2006-09-07T13:23:00.000-04:00

The other day we went to see the school with web cams. It was on the ground floor of this huge office building. It looked very clean and bright. People there seems very nice too and so does their play ground. I was really impressed with the cleaning ness which is #2 on my check list. Then we talked to the director. She was a nice enthusiastic lady. While talking to her, another lady came by to play with the kids. After few minutes of usual talk about the program she took us to the room for my son’s age group kids. It was a nice bright yellow room with separate play area, cooking area, table chair to eat & learn stuff and nicely new type of platform to sleep, put aside & arranged on top of each other like square plates with sheets on it(really liked this one than those form mats). They had furniture pieces used as dividers to separate areas. Bathroom & sink were in the room itself so kids were pretty much staying in the same room the whole day beside the play ground time. Well in winter there won’t be much outdoor play time anyway. Really liked the fresh, new & crisp feeling though.

When we got out of there I was thinking about their fees & what are we getting. To me all the charges were for new stuff they have and I couldn’t think of anything they had different in their program from other pre schools who were charging half than these people. I think People don’t mind paying as much as double but they should have something special in their program to convince the parents that they were getting something DIFFERENT & MORE. And thinking about kids playing all day in one room is not that good, even though the room is big still its one room. Thinking from a kid’s perspective I didn’t like the fact. Till yesterday morning I was trying to convince myself to call them and say yes but couldn’t. Beside the web cams I didn’t find any thing in their program (#1 on check list) convincing.

Yesterday I spend some time finding more schools\and place few calls, then I came across a phone # in the search I wasn’t paying too much attention to since I start looking for a school. Instead of a school name or website URL there was just the # listed there. Yesterday since I wasn’t finding anything else I thought of trying that #. Talked to a girl and ask about the usual stuff. She sounded very nice. They were just few minutes further away from the web cam place and the fee was almost same too. So decided to check them out y’day. We went there around 3:30. It was an old office building and looked like a warehouse area around,wasn’t appealing at all. We parked on the back side and walked to the front. As soon as we turn from the side to the front, we saw soooo many kids playing in the playground. There were 2 different play ground on both front sides which we found out later was for different age group kids with appropriate toys and all the kids were looking very happy.

Went inside and found out that the girl I talked to was actually almost 50 year old lady with very peaceful look & soft voice. She started to give us a tour. They had separate room for different age groups. 3 different rooms for infants only… very young infant, medium age & almost toddlers. Not even 1 kid was crying there. Even babies were looking very happy & they had this glass wall between three rooms & had registered nurses to take care of the kids. Liked the toys there, were very different & interesting. Eating room’s floor was a mess which means they let kids enjoy. Good sign. They had gym there with 4-5 mini houses & trees & stuff which they called their VILLAGE ROOM. I liked that room.. Very different & interesting concept.

All the rooms had not fancy but clean carpet. Then she took us upstairs. First thing we saw an open area with an office feel and a girl was sitting there doing some paperwork. It was like she was guarding the upstairs part of the school & the Other lady was keeping an eye on downstairs stuff. A class of 4-5 years old were holding there hands standing in line ready to go downstairs with their teacher. They were all so happy and looking very nice & clean. Imagined my son standing in that line too;-)

Then she showed us their Science room with lots of wooden blocks placed in a circle, a rabbit, lots of books & other material. Next to that was the Nature room where they have stuff related to nature learning. On the other side there was a Computer room and my kids got busy:-) Next to that was Art room. & I saw lines of freshly painted paper on the side of floor. They had dough, clay for pottery & other art stuff in the room.

Kids ran to the computer room again with hubby while I stayed there to chat with her. She asked me if I was looking around and I said yes:-) I told her I went to that other academy almost next door too. She asked how I feel about them & hers school And I told her how I felt :-) I told her they are clean & bright but didn’t find anything great about the program but hers is really good & I think I like it so far:-) Hers is the best one I found so far.

Then she told me what they teach the kids and I told her that even my daughter can count from 1-10. She asked my daughter & we counted from 1-10;-) She was so surprise and said that 18m old don’t even talk and she can count too. I was happy:-) Then she told us what she thought of our kids & offered me a job there. I was surprise & happy but not ready to be with 20 kids.. lol.. I told her I consider myself a people person & I love kids but after these 2 Im already going crazy and need a break:-)

She told us about their open door policy, where we(parents) can go to school anytime & read them a book or do some activity with them. They do potluck once a month with all the parents. They have optional field trips on special holidays & once a year they call someone to their school for some fun activity like pony ride, magician or other. It all sounded so complete to me. And their policies are very flexible. I asked her if my son can come one day for sometime to get the feel and she was ok and I could start anytime & she will adjust the fee.

On our way home I was happy about the school & different special rooms with unique concepts. I think I would love to spend day there and that proves that my kid will have fun too. Hubby liked it too. In our mind we were still comparing and nothing could top this place. They were so loving & cheerful and I won’t be worried leaving my son with them.

We called them in 5 minutes after we left, about our decision of sending our son there. I told them that we will bring our son there on the 14th to stay there for an hr. to see his reaction and register him then and he will start full time from the 15th.

On our way home hubby was saying to send our daughter there too and relax for a while
:-) Well I am putting a brave face but I am not that brave yet.. It sure is a good place if I decide to send her. Maybe next year.

p.s I wish no one has to go to Old People Home but If there is that time in someone’s life, I wish that their kids put the same thought what their parents put to find anything for them;-)

What Goes Around Comes Around!

2006-09-05T15:53:00.000-04:00

Every time I try to do some thing in the kitchen for few seconds or go out of their sight to do anything anywhere my son always come looking for me within 5 seconds (more reasons to put him in school) then my daughter follows him & they start doing their investigation around. In order to finish quickly (whatever I am doing) I almost always mess up things.(I wasn’t always like that:-) So I tell my son

Dekh Tere chakkar mein sab garbar ho gayi. (Every got messed up because of you.)
(Now I am not blaming him.. its just a way to say that he should not follow me next time & let me work peacefully for 5 minutes)

The other day I put a sandwich plate on the kitchen table and he was talking to me while I was making more sandwiches on the counter. During his talking with all the actions & drama with hands, a piece of sandwich fell on his pant.. We looked at each other to check if someone was going to say something… me telling him to do stuff carefully or him saying something..!

Him: Mamma, Tumhare chakkar mein sab garbar ho gaya.
(Mamma, Every thing got messed up because of you.)

I was looking at him in disbelief and waiting to see what else he has to say… after few seconds of pause

Him: tumene sandwich yehain rakha & aur mein tumese bath kar raha thay aur mere hath sandiwich pe lega aur sandwich meri pant pei gir gaya.
(YOU put the sandwich here & I was talking to YOU and accidentally I hit the sandwich & it fell on my pant)

I was laughing so hard from inside & wanted to kiss him but didn’t want to give him the wrong impression by kissing him when he needs to learn to be careful.

I looked at him for quiet few seconds thinking what to say but couldn’t find anything else to say beside

“I didn’t tell you to look at me or talk to me while eating.. Be careful next time,Ok..”

Ok Mamma, then don’t talk to me when I am eating sandwich...

!!!!!!!!!! :-)))))

School with webcams

2006-09-05T10:59:00.000-04:00

While posting my previous post I knew what the response will be (If any :-) still sometimes we parents need a kick in the butt or twice or more than 100 times :-) (At least I do). I know I can’t hold them for long still I can’t control myself. It is only the socializing part that I want to send him to school otherwise I don’t like the school system here in USA. I think European style schooling is the best (my opinion).

And not having your kid in front of your eyes from having him there ALL the time is really really hard. Yesterday he went with hubby for almost ½ day while my daughter & I stayed home. I played with her, took her to the park still she was trying to see her brother in every little boy who was there. She ran up to couple of boys thinking they are her brother then she just said bye-bye. It was heartbreaking to see her finding my son.

I know once he will start school everything will be fine. We ALL get use to the routine.
Yesterday I looked looked & looked and found an academy with web cameras mounted in all rooms. They charge more than twice than other places and extra charge for web cameras but I can see him ALL DAY LONG from my computer:-) We are going to visit them today and hopefully my son & I will like it otherwise back to searching for another school.

Home schooling

2006-09-02T19:29:00.000-04:00

I always have hard time thinking of sending my kids to day care but now my son is almost 3 ½ and seems like I have no choice but to find a school for him. First I thought I will send him in next session then last week I changed my mind and start finding a school with opening for this session, starting from Sep 6th. We looked for few schools on internet & based on the reviews we went to check them out on Thursday. After going to 2 schools it really hit me again and I was back to “I don’t want to send him to school this session” And after that I find one or other problem in all the school we went to(for obvious reason) :-) After half day checking out all the schools I was all ready for home schooling or at least till he will bother the hell out of me & I will be back to searching for school. I wonder if anybody else thought about home schooling…

Quick Update

2006-09-01T16:30:00.000-04:00

They had their follow up appointment today since it is been a week TODAY but we were going to check out schools for my son yesterday so I called them to ask if I could stop by. The receptionist said there will be wait but what the heck, its not easy to get ready with both kids & go out… its like getting the whole circus ready..

Doc removed the bandage and while he pulled the cotton from my son’s hand, he went little bit too fast & the little band-aid on the stitches came out too quickly. My son started crying maybe with pain or by just looking at the black stitches. Doc put another regular band-aid on it but I thought I saw a little opening on the wound. I asked the doc if it was what I saw and he said since it is not been a week it is not healed fully. ???? Only 18 hr. short and if it was going to make that much difference, why didn’t they say to come today at scheduled appointment.

My daughter started crying because my son was crying & she remembered the doctor’s face. She wouldn’t let him touch her hand. Anyhow he cut her bandage & put regular one on the stitches. She kept crying until the doc didn’t leave the room and once he was out of her sight she wanted to run around.

Now the tough part is to keep their hands off the water for few days and teach them not to take off their band aid every hour *phew*. I still can’t look at the stitches but is so nice to see their hands without the big cast type gauge.

Thanks again for all your concerns and wishes. You all are the best.

Tagged

2006-08-30T14:04:00.000-04:00

By Chinuku(Raindrop)…

I am
Very honest person.
Thinking how my gradmother felt when she was sick & died in the hospital 5 months back.
Thinking how my days will be if I decide to send my son to school next week.
Thinking how some people can eat whatever and still stay slim.

I said
To my hubby “lets go for a drive in this breathtaking weather”.

I want
To feel satisfied with whatever I have.
To be a better person.
To lose weight.
A house in mountains or hilly area.

I wish
My parents weren’t divorced. (still wanted to stay with my grandma though)
My husband had feelings. (he is a great guy but can’t show his feelings)
I was skinny.
I had magic power to help everybody in the world and I could go to India by twitching my nose or just blinking.(yes, you can stop by my place & I would love to drop you wherever in India)
I wasn’t too emotional & sensitive.
People stop giving money(few dollars are ok) to temples here where they spend most of money on unnessary things and save the same money to give people in India who really really are in need.

I miss
My Grandmother.
India.
The smell of Indian dirt & cooking especially in rainy season. *sigh

I hear
Song of Fanaa “Chand Sifarish”
my son talking
lots of voices in my head. (I think I talk to myself all day long in my head)
And wonderful sound of rain.

I wonder
How can my son talk soooo much and not feel tired.
How it will be if you could really see all the Gods and heaven.(yes, I try to be good but Im not talking about going to heaven after death.. just in general)
How I will control myself when my son will start school.

I regret
Not started working after I finished my studies.
Saying few things to my grandma & other people that I shouldn’t have.

I am
A good cook.
Very loving, talkative, short temper & stubborn.
Possesive & very insecure about my kids.
Good & caring at heart.
Very lazy, moody, tired & emotional lately.
Trying to be a good mother & wife.
Trying to connect with God on regular basis.

I dance
With rain. Actually my heart dances with rain.
On the tiny fingers of my daughter.

I sing
Old love & sad songs (only in my head).
“Chand sifarish” of Fanaa
Pyar to hona hi tha
Jab pyar kisi se hota hai(old & new)
RHTDM
Nursery rhymes
Gayatri Mantra

I am not
Patient at all.
A Risk taker.
Very cheerful lately.

I cry
Easily. Hubby always says that I have hidden taps in my eyes and everytime I feel sad he started doing action of opening the tap & I start crying & laughing at the same time.

I'm not always
In good mood.
A good mother & wife.

I make with my hands
Yummy food
Stitching
Embroidery
Anything I put my heart into.

I write
My blog (Im new to writing)

I confuse
Love with showing off.

I need
To have lots of friends like I used to.
To control my temper.
To control eating fried food... actually all my food habits.

I should
Start excercising.
Stop being lazy.
Call my hubby and ask him where the heck he is.. we are getting late for our long drive. Its already getting dark.

I tag
No one since Im new to this bloging world and don’t know many people yet. Any one is welcome to take it if they want to.

Surgery Day

2006-08-30T14:02:00.000-04:00

We took the kids out the evening before, thinking they might be in pain after the surgery and won’t be able to go out for a week and it was my son’s last class in the library so had to go there. After library we went to a toy store & then had dinner out. Came home, tried to feed the kids since they didn’t eat much before and they weren’t suppose to eat anything after midnight till after their surgery. We wanted to feed them enough to keep them full till few morning hours.

My daughter didn’t eat anything so gave her milk. We wanted the kids to sleep late so that they feel tired & sleepy the next morning and we could avoid their crying for milk especially my daughter’s. My son was all hyper and playing but my daughter slept in few minutes. He played for almost 2 hrs. And fell asleep around 12:30.

Woke up at 4:30. Both of us got ready, changed the kids & left for the hospital around 5:20. Reached there at 6. My daughter was crying seeing people in while coat thinking she will get shot. So I was walking around with her in lobby. In ½ hr. a lady came in the froggy car to take her to the surgery room. My daughter was scheduled first so that we can feed her soon. Her surgery was at 7:30.The nurses gave her lots of stickers on her way to the surgery room. She was a bit better after she sat in the car with stickers all over her gown. Waited in the recovery room for another 1/2hr… She was waving hi to all the doctors & nurses in the room. Everybody was stopping by to talk to her. By the time the anesthesia lady came, she wasn’t scared anymore. Then the doc came to say hi. He drew a smiley on her thumb and she was busy looking at that. They gave me the while suit to wear and in 10 minutes we were on our way to the surgery room. I could feel my knees weakening as I was taking her.

I put her on a table and they gave her a mask to play with. It was cherry flavor & she was putting it to her nose to smell when they hooked the med. pipe to it. She tried to take it off but fell asleep before I could count 5. Pretty strong fumes.. They told me to wait in the recovery room. I wanted to be in the surgery room but doc said that it is not possible so waited in recovery room.

After 25 minutes my son came down with hubby. He was already playing with the mask. Nice trick.. Talk to hubby about what we did after we came down. Played with my son for some time and saw the nurse bringing my daughter. Was relieved that everything went ok. Took my son to the bed where my daughter was sleeping. He wanted to stay with her but it was time for his surgery so took him to the surgery room.

They told him to smell the mask & tell them if it was cherry or strawberry. After 2-3 times they connect the med tube to it.. He tried to take it off but I was holding him tight. He fell asleep but he was looking at me with his eyes open. They told me to leave. I asked then that his eyes are still open and he might be awake and feel hurt when they will put IV but they assured me that he was sleeping. I can’t forget that look my whole life. He won’t remember any of it but I won’t forget it ever. I felt so helpless but it was for this own good.

Came back in the recovery room. Sat down holding my daughter in my lap. She was still asleep. Talk to the nurses while waiting and in about 35 minutes my son was there. Gave my daughter to hubby and went to hold my son. There beds were opposite to each other in the same room. In another 10 minutes my daughter was fully awake so hubby gave her some warm milk. Waited another 1/2hr. there for my son to wake up. When he was little ok we gave him some warm milk too. They took us upstairs in regular recovery room. My daughter was way too hyper and wanted to walk around. My son was sitting quietly in huuby’s lap. Everyone watching them said their sons are like our daughter, very naughty & daughter are like our son… It was hard to make her sit so nurse took out the IV and I dressed both kids and we were out of the hospital around 11:15.

On our way back we wanted to get some soup for the kids and instead decided to go for a buffet as the kids were very hyper. Fed them few spoons of different soups & they had few bites of other food. Went home, gave them shower & slept.

No one could tell that they had surgery but I was nauseas & had throbbing headache for next 2 days. On Monday I was feeling better when my daughter started throwing up. Called her Orthopedist and made sure it wasn’t related to the surgery then called her pediatrician to talk to her. Since yesterday she didn’t throw up but her other end is leaking. Hopefully she will be fine soon.

Here is the picture 2 days after their surgery.. We were going to temple on Ganesh Chaturthi.

Trigger Thumb

2006-08-23T16:00:00.001-04:00

On January 21st this year, we were getting ready for our usual day out. My son was playing while I was getting the diaper bag stuff ready. He started playing with a ball, very lightweight, the kind of they have in McDonald play area. He was keep putting the ball on the floor with one hand and try to pick it up with the other hand while standing. I told him to be careful otherwise he will fall down (mother’s instincts) but they never listen.

After few minutes I saw him trying to pick the ball and instead he fell on his hand while holding the ball. It didn’t seem very big deal at all but he started crying that his hand hurts. I rubbed his hand, pressed it and kissed his boo boo but it didn’t make him feel better. He is skinny and even though he fell on his hand, I mean his body weight on his hand, didn’t make me worry at all. I thought he just want some mommy time so I sat down with him and tried to do silly things to make him feel better.

I was checking every inch of his arm and asking him if it hurt there and massage him trying to make him feel better. Then I reached his hand and start bending his finger to check for anything and he point to his thumb saying it hurt there. I tried to bend his thumb but he started crying with pain. Then I realize that he can’t straighten his thumb. My heart skipped a beat thinking he might have fracture or something. It was few minutes past since he fell over his hand but I didn’t see any swelling so I was thinking he might have sprained it or it is just a case of another dislocation.

Called my hubby to check my son’s hand and get ready to go to hospital. My hubby said it might be the same dislocation kindda thing and will get better in few hours on it own like last time but I was scared & didn’t want to hear anything, so we fought and decided to go to hospital. We paged his ped but by the time she responded we were in the hospital & she said to get it checked since we were already there.

After sitting in the emergency room for sometime, actually very long time, they checked him, did some X-rays & made him put a splint on his thumb. According to them it was a dislocation and splint could make his thumb stay straight and it will be back to normal soon. After whole day in the hospital hubby said “See, I told you so. You overreact every time”. And I am thinking “Well, I am a mother. Its my job to over react over something like this and I am at peace knowing that there is no fracture and If I had to choose all over I will do the same thing again instead of waiting and going to hospital when he is crying in pain.”.

In 2-3 days my daughter had a doctor appointment and we told her to check my son’s thumb too since it was still bending towards his palm. As soon as she saw the thumb & tried to move she said “He has a trigger thumb”. She checked his both hands but they were fine. She explained that it is something he was born with and we happened to notice it the day he fell on his hand. She said its very minor thing, sometimes gets better on its own & sometimes need surgery. As soon as I heard the word surgery I felt my heart in my throat and burning hot inside me. My baby might need surgery? Even though it will be a small one, still. I felt like someone robbed me there. Was in shock and didn’t know what to say. Then she gave us referral for Orthopedic Specialist and as soon as we settled in the car I made an appointment to see him.

Tried to bend & move his thumb in effort to straighten it but no luck. Went to Orthopedic in couple of days. He checked, did X-ray & confirmed that it was trigger thumb and he will need surgery. He said it could be genetic but no one we know had trigger thumb in our families. I told the doc that I will call later to fix the surgery date. I needed some time to absorb the fact that he will need the “local” and doc will make a cut to straighten his thumb. I didn’t even think twice when I had epidural during my both pregnancies but now I feel so week thinking about putting my kids to sleep with medication for few hrs…

Few days later I was playing with my daughter and since trigger thumb was on my mind I started checking my daughter’s hand (yup, didn’t think of checking her sooner). To my worst fear I felt a tiny bump inside of her thumb too.. It was very tiny though but there was a bit bump inside of her right thumb. Made appointment for her to see the same doc. He said it is very tiny and might get better on its own but it hasn’t still. Now my both kids need surgery and hubby blames me for that since I didn’t massage them in their babyhood. And according to him this is the ONLY reason for their trigger thumb. Even though doc said otherwise but he said “Here doctors don’t know anything. I know it is because of no massage.” *sigh

Now my kids, yes both kids, have surgery on this Friday and I am so scared. Even though its short outpatient procedure and we will be out of the hospital the same day still I am sooooo scared. My son is having the surgery first then my daughter.. We asked them to schedule my daughter first as she ask for milk the minute she get up but don’t know yet. I hope everything will go smooth but just thinking about it making me scared & nauseous. Please keep us in your prayers.

update: I get lots of emails from scared mommies regarding trigger thumb. Here is link to the after surgery post.