Hi. Hello. I am still alive!

Hello! How are u guys doing? It's been a really long time and am so excited to be back here

Minion is now 14 months! Actually, a week shy from turning 15 months! Can u believe it?!?

I Am Being Watched!

Yougaizz, this is serious! I started sensing that I am being watched two months back. But things got pretty serious in the last couple of weeks! I am being watched ALL THE TIME that it gets so creepy and freaks me out like crazy.

I think it all started when the Minion was  around 3.5 months old or atleast that is when I noticed it. I was having my usual cup of evening coffee! She was observing me as I drank my coffee, her eyes following with such focus from the mug to my mouth. I casually brushed it off telling her she needs to wait for a really long time to have her first coffee.

But then couple of weeks back, I noticed that very same pair of eyes watching me all the time - when I eat, when I brush my hair, when I sneeze, when I cough, when I use my mobile phone, when I apply my lip balm and yes, literally all the time! It was no longer funny.

You may wonder what the big deal is about it now and all babies do the same. Yes. All babies do that. And that is why it is a huge deal. I am sure every parent will have a spark of the moment at some point or the other when they realize it and this is probably mine!

It hit upon me how much I have taught her  these 5 months even without my knowledge and how much I have influenced her with no intentions at all.

Believe me, I am no preacher. I don't think I have ever preached about anything in this space but this time I am going to - not to anyone else but myself.

 When you give it a serious thought, babies are just like a sponge soaking in anything and everything that is offered to them. Don't they?

Husband and I joke around often at home calling each other crazy etc. Although we know we are just goofing around, I very much doubt if the Minion knows it. We most certainly don't want her to call either of us crazy or any other name anytime soon.

The other day I caught her staring at me while I was browsing on my phone! Am I not teaching her that it is okay to get distracted when you are with company? Can I even complain when she is hooked to her phone without responding to me when she grows up?

If I leave behind the toys without clearing after her playtime, should I not be prepared to see her do the same in future? Can I even expect her to clear her own mess?

Am I not setting the standards here of what is acceptable and what is not!

As scary as it may sound to me, I play a huge part in  shaping her 'normal'

So when I try to evaluate myself -

I try my best to reduce phone usage as much as possible when she is awake. But that is not enough. I need to work on it more however tough it might be.

I need to make sure I eat on time and most importantly  the 'right' food at the 'right' place. I must remind myself that couch is not the place to eat. This is the phase that will set her eating habits and I really want to make it right!

I really need to watch my words. Thankfully, neither do I use swear words often nor do I fight with husband bringing the roof down, but I must definitely be more conscious of my choice of words (definitely not use the word '$#!t' which I tend to use when I don't get things my way!)

I have always been generous with "please", "thank you" and "excuse me" but I must put more conscious efforts to keep doing it day to day basis.

Some may think I am over reacting as she is just 5 months old.  But all I know is I can't undo the lessons I have unintentionally taught her these 5 months but I can definitely make up for it if I start NOW. 

Changes do not happen overnight. It needs practice. There is no time better than NOW and I really don't want her first word to be '$#!t'.

A Happy Friday!

We have a bedtime routine for the Minion and try as much as possible to stick to the routine. Sometimes, she decides to be a rebel and will just not be willing to sleep. The little devil will slyly try to pull us to her games by giggling and squeaking. It was one such night yesterday.

She was in her play mode and I was in my tired mode. I somehow made her sleep around 11.30 pm badly hoping she sleeps through the rest of the night.

She started sucking her thumb in the middle of sleep which is her hunger cue!  I usually wake up to that sound. Don't ask me how! I am surprised myself and maybe little proud ( pat on my shoulder). When she did that yesterday, I woke up with a jerk!

Omg. What time is it! It seemed like I was sleeping for 2 days straight  ( how I wish!). And when I looked at the clock, it was 4.30 am! Ah, how much could a 5 hours sleep make you feel! Sleeping through 5 hours after what seems like forever made me think that I slept through days!

When 'IT' became a 'She'

Not so long ago,  I was addressing the minion as 'IT' like - "It is sleeping", "It is crying".. you get the picture, right?  I was not comfortable with 'she'. 'She' made it seem all real and I was just not ready for it.

And now with just a blink of an eye ,  'she' is 5 months old. Whoa! 5 months already! Wait, did I just say 'she' ? How did that happen?

I am usually pretty good with dates and events but when I think how/when this transition happened, I really don't know. All I know is it just happened and she is no longer an  'it' to me. And now, 'It' seems so weird. What was I even thinking!

Apart from the 'It - She' transition, lots of other things happened during these 5 months. I'd like to write  detailed posts about it all, but know what, by the time I get to 5 months milestones, we would very well be celebrating her 5th birthday. That is how fast she is growing or that is how lazy I am.

So here is the 5th month update for now. Let me see if I can make up for the last four months sometime soon

From sleeping 20+ hrs a day, she  barely sleeps during the day now. But I am happy she is not so much a troubled sleeper during nights.

Obsessed with her fingers. She got to check if all her fingers are still there every now and then.

Talking of fingers, she loves to suck them like it's her full time job.

Talking of sucking fingers,  her new found hobby is chewing anything and everything that is in her reach.

Loves to grab anything and everything she can.

Loves to scream and make all sorts of weird grunts.

Loves giggling to anything amma does ( however lame it might be)

Loves to dress up and pose for pictures.

Loves her bath that appa gives.

Hates appa's beard and tries to bite him if he tries to annoy her. Self defense, go girl!

Gets excited the minute appa comes back from work.

Rolls over every other second and calls out to amma to put her to back. More about it here

Needs amma  by her side all the time and cries the second amma leaves the room. Check out my post on that here

Tries really hard to speak. Few words that she tried her best and  close to success - "happy birthday", "thank you" and "hi".

Loves her nap on the couch.

Pulls off her puppy face and fake cries like a pro.

Loves her car rides.

Expresses opinions about food already! You should have seen her reaction for dhal. Oh, you better see it!

She will be the only minion who doesn't like bananas but... WAIT FOR IT.. loves beetroots! Howwwww!

More interested in the food we eat than her's.

And most importantly, the twinkle in her eyes and the beautiful smile on her face tells us how much she loves us and how blessed we are to have this little angel as our baby every single day!

I can go on and on and on.. but let me stop with this for now!

I started taking pictures of her on the couch only recently.When I look back at those pictures, I just can't believe how much she has grown in the last 5 months. How I wish I have more pictures of her on the couch from day 1.

#AnikaOnTheCouch

Just Because I Can

I did not know to speak fluently in English  when I was really small. When I got confident enough to speak the language, I wanted to talk in English the whole time -  at school, at home, over the phone and almost all the time. It was a phase. I wanted to talk in English JUST BECAUSE I CAN. Yes, a Show off 😛

I did not know to ride a bicycle until I was in 12th grade. But when I learnt to ride, I wanted to go on a ride all the time. JUST BECAUSE I CAN. Again, a show off!😛

I am not really a cooking enthusiast. Before marriage, I cannot cook to even save my life. I was the one to add salt to maggi noodles when I made it for the first time after marriage. But then I slowly started cooking and I was on a cooking spree trying different recipes and what I find so funny right now is I was writing for a food blog. Thinking about it now, it was not because of my love for cooking but it was JUST BECAUSE I CAN now cook. Show off again!😛

And do you want to know, what the Little Minion is up to now JUST BECAUSE SHE CAN?

What a mini show off!😄😄😄 Happy Friday!

Anika's Birth Story - 2

Give me the damn epidural !

So as I mentioned in the part 1, we got checked in to the hospital. My pain got really worse. I always liked to believe that I can take pain to a great extent but this was unbearable. I tried to remain as calm as possible but the pain was real.

The nurse in charge for that night was really sweet and tried to keep the situation light by singing and dancing and making jokes. I tried to laugh but the contractions were now 3 minutes apart and it lasted a whole minute. I never knew one minute was so long until then.  Although the nurse was sweet, she got to do what she got to do. I was asked questions after questions about drugs and depression and what not. Really?!?

Trying to keep calm between contractions!

11. 30 PM -

The nurse did a quick internal exam and let me know that I was 3 cms dilated and that the minion will be a mid night baby. Yay.. just few more hours! But little did I know then that it was going to take forever. She asked if I needed the epidural. I took on the offer immediately and she said she will get things started. But it took another 3 hours for them to give me the damn epidural! 

My sister who is in Australia had her heart to her mouth. She had a c section and the thought of vaginal delivery gave her the chills. The fact that she was not there with me at that moment and was far away did not help either.

My dad had called my mom to check on the situation and he freaked out hearing my screams over the phone. It was REAL BAD.

My mom was getting frequent calls from sister and father to check on the situation.

My mother in law and father in law were in Vegas touring with my brother in law as expected date of delivery was only the week after and they were equally tensed about the situation.

My mom and my husband remained really calm. I could sense that my mom was freaking out inside but she tried her best not to show it. The husband as always remained super calm the whole time.

I had warned him earlier not to take it to heart if I snap back at him while I was pregnant. But he was lucky that I turned out to be the sweetest pregnant wife! So I was sure I will take it on him during labor and delivery. But again, his stars were rightly aligned at that time that I ended up calling out God's names instead. 

Let me tell you this. Contractions are tracked in a monitor and you can actually see it on the graph when you get one. It starts from the origin, reaches it maximum and drops down every single time you get a contraction. So I was able to see the graph every frigging time I got the contractions and that actually made me feel worse.

After few hours of unbearable pain, I was finally given epidural around 2.00 AM. My husband and my mom were asked to leave the room and the anesthesiologist arrived. The specialist was really great - chatty but not in an annoying way! Just what I needed.

The procedure took few minutes. Lo behold! I was not able to feel a thing the second  epidural was in. It was like magic. I could still see the graph on monitor with my contractions but I couldn't feel a thing. Words cannot express how relieved I felt then. It was like I got my life back. Like I was given chocolates after 100 years of fasting.

My mother and husband rushed back to the room as the last time they saw me  I was screaming the heck out. But then there I was welcoming them back with a broad smile on my face. Oh epidural, how much I love you!

And then this happened -

                                      ** To be continued***

Lasting Impressions

Exploring fun things to do with the Minion is one of the items in my to-do list for 2017. I would have mentioned about it here.  When you live in a place where the 'Weather Gods' show absolutely no mercy but treat you only with brutality, you have very less options. I just cannot wait for summer already!

So, while I  was trying to look for options to do with an almost 5 months old baby, I stumbled upon pottery studios where you can take the feet and hand impressions of the baby  on a ceramic plate and get it fired to make the impressions last forever.

A quick google search and I found the nearest pottery studio to be within 2 mi radius which was perfect.We chose to do it on the new year's day. It was a cute little studio and very welcoming. Perfect for a mom-kid/dad-kid/family date. There were so many kids having fun with their families. The Minion was too small to actually enjoy the experience and we had to rush back home once our work was done. This will definitely be something that I would like to do with her again once she is old enough to sit back and enjoy.

Life Is A Boomerang

I have always  been told that I was the 'not so naughty baby' ! But when you have the queen of mischief as your older sister, you are in the safe zone and its not that easy to break the records. Sorry, Shalu! But that's what I was told!

As much as a happy baby that I was, I had just one demand -  my mom. It was really simple. I needed her in my radar ALL THE TIME. How difficult can that be!

My mom keeps telling me these incidents over and over again. If I turned a year older every time I heard it, I would now be the oldest human on earth! Oh mom, give me a break!

#1 The 'baby me' is all happy and smiling in my mom's arms. Someone tries to take me from my mom. How dare they do it!#EndOfTheWorld

#2 The 'toddler me' is playing outside. My mom goes to take bath, my sixth sense kicks in and I go crying and knock the bathroom door. She HAS  to come out. I don't care if she is not done with her bath. I have to see her face. #EndOfTheWorld

#3 The 'toddler me' is sleeping. My mom has to take my elder sister to school. I hear the sound of slippers. Oh God. My mom is going out without me. How can she! #EndOfTheWorld.

And now, what have I got?

She is usually a happy baby. You should see her smiles and laughter, that's for another post! But the last couple of days, this is going on the whole day - when I go for coffee, lunch or even the restroom! I am not sure if this is just a phase (hopefully!) or if this is how it is going to be forever. But I have to tell this -

"Dear mom, I can now totally feel you and I agree its no simple demand! I officially give you the rights to go on repeat mode of all these stories for however long you want because guess who is going to play this video to the Minion for the next 100 years? Yours truly! "

Life is really a boomerang!

Life Is Good

2017 ! It WAS a brand new year not so long ago and it's already the second day of the year.

It is one of those times when you feel "Oh Man, my life is so good!"

Let me give you a live update. I want to keep it 100% real, so ignore how we or our house is looking.

I sit on my couch with my minion lying on me like this as I type the post  using my mobile app.

 With this in front of me set by the Mister -

And this happening right now in the kitchen -

It is 'kitchen take over' day by the husband and he is busy preparing the lunch.

Ah! Life is just perfect!

Hold on!

Husband is now coming towards me. I just hope he doesn't talk too loud.

Oh, it is the jar of cumin seeds that I apparently closed too tight. He just HAVE to tell me about it.Seriously? Whyy!

Bang! I know I always jinx myself! 

And the minion being the light sleeper that she is wakes up hearing the husband's voice

Oh wait, I smell something ! She now looks like she has just pooped. Let me check and be back.

Yes. Poop it is! Life is just great! So I am back after cleaning the poop blast and cursing my husband for ruining the moment for me AND clicking this on my way back!

This was completely a live update until now and I just had my lunch. 

Hmmm, of all the veggies, he had to pick beetroot which I really really hate. He had mixed it with carrots. I hate to agree with him but it was kind of yummy although it was a spice party in my mouth and I had to gulp down a glass of water and a lemonade and a chocolate to tone it down

Also, it is taking us forever to put her back to sleep and this is what she is doing right now

Life is definitely good! And oh, do I hear her cry now? Byeeeeee!

Anika's Birth Story - Part 1

August 10, 2016 - It seemed like just another day except that it was not. 

My expected date of delivery was August 17. But I was secretly hoping it gets pushed to August 23. Just for one reason that she will be a Virgo. Husband and I are both Virgos and as if two Virgos were just not enough, I wanted a full house.But as time went by, I knew that is not going to happen. But then I kept telling my mom she will be born either on August 9 or August 11. Don't ask me how!

The day started just like any other day - breakfast, lunch and the usual. Let me recollect every minute detail of the day as much as I can however mundane it might sound.

4.00 PM - I prepared noodles for the husband and was casually joking that if my labor starts that day, he should be prepared to hear that I made him noodles even few hours before the pain for the rest of his life.

5.00 PM - Amma and I went for a nice long evening walk like we always do. We met one of our friends on the way and had a quick chat. While returning back home, I could feel mild contractions.Slowly, it started getting stronger that I was unable to continue walking without taking a break every now and then. My mom literally freaked out. 

6.00 PM - We got back home and I reached out to my doctor just to let her know of the situation. I was asked to time the contractions and rush to hospital if I feel the need. Husband had a planned guys' night at his friend's place right across the street which he was about to cancel. I asked him to carry on with his plans as my contractions was not regular but to make sure he is reachable. He agreed and left home only to come back in a minute saying he didn't have the heart to go. Awww! LOL !

7.00 PM - Contractions got more intense and husband started timing it. They were only 15 minutes apart. I have this weird tendency to talk fast, laugh and make absolutely no sense right before I get fever or fall sick. (I do it all the time but it is relatively more right before I fall sick) Apparently, I was doing that then. My husband knew that was it and rushed to figure out the baby car seat that I have been asking him to do for weeks.

8.00 PM - Stronger contractions 10 minutes apart. All I asked my husband and mom to do was keep talking to me casually the whole time and even gave them the rights to crack the stupid(est) of jokes. As lame as it sounds, talking keeps me sane and gives me energy. 

9.30 PM - Hospital bag moved to car, baby car seat fixed, took a minute to offer prayer and we were all ready to go to hospital anytime from then.

10.15 PM - We decided to go to the hospital as contractions were now 5 minutes apart and pretty intense. The hospital we chose was not so close and had it been during rush hours, it would have taken us forever to reach. So "Thanks A for timing it so well". We continued to talk, joke and laugh on our way with me taking a break to moan in pain every 5 minutes. 

10.45 PM Reached hospital. Husband dropped me and my mom at the entrance and went ahead to park while we were filling forms and checking in. And this is when $h!* got real and hell broke loose. 

 **** To be continued ****

Hello World

Hello there! It seems like forever since I updated this journal of mine. Honestly, I started this blog with no readers in mind. I just wanted to document my pregnancy journey so I can look back to sweet memories down the lane. Slowly, it became more like my personal journal. 

In case, you happened to stumble upon this space just like that- "Hello, welcome to my world!"

It has been 4 months now since my baby girl came to our lives and  she has already grown up so much. I could watch her for a minute and see a million things I love about her! Million things I want to cherish forever. I want to record such moments as much as possible in this blog as moments become memories in a blink of an eye and when I revisit this space with her at some point of time, I hope to relive all of those wonderful memories once again.

I have lots of catching up to do for the 4 months that have gone by so fast.

 So without further ado, let me introduce my baby doll - Anika! 

** Drum roll Please**

These pictures were taken when she was 7 days old. She was such a doll throughout the session and made everything so much easier. 

Dear A, Years may go by fast and in no time you will be a fine young woman all set to take on the world.. but you will forever remain  a baby doll to me and Appa. These pictures will always be close to our hearts and every time we look back at these pictures, our hearts would gush with happiness and take us back on a time travel right to the day you were born - easily the best day of our lives!                      

                                                  

Dear Anika - 1

Apr 01, 2016

Dear Anika,

Let me first tell you, Appa and I just cannot wait to meet you! We cannot wait to hold you in our arms and kiss you. We just cannot wait to get the party started with you. Sometimes the smallest things take the most room in our hearts. That is so very true. You tiny little thing have already taken the most room in our hearts that anyone can ever take! You are the best thing that could ever happen to us!

We are in love with you already!

Do you know that you are one lucky princess? You are blessed with an amazing family- Thathas, Pattis, Perima, Peripa, Chitapa and one adorable big brother! And you are even luckier as you have your cute kollu paatis too! I am waiting for you to see them all very soon. And I am very sure your chithi is on her way to the family and you will meet her as well. We do have the coolest (and sometimes crazy, but hey what is family without some craziness) family.I am sure you will love them all as much as they love you.

And how can I miss the most important person of our family- Mr. Boomer, your crazy fur brother! He is such a sweetheart and am excited to see you both grow together.

Know that I am not and can never be a perfect mom! Of course I have my own flaws. This is all new to me and frankly, I am just too nervous. I badly hope I make you a proud daughter and I be a mom you can always look up to. Let both of us grow together, learn from any mistakes we make and be a great team, a mom-daughter can ever make.

Love,

R