Beks and Ro and Aditi

Best Love Poems

2012-02-13T15:19:00.000-05:00

Anandi pointed this out. I'm still going through them but I thought I'd bookmark them here so I can go back and forth.

Here's the link.

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I'm also loving this Valentine's Day playlist from Black Eiffel.

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Also, I think I'm nesting! I don't remember this so much from Aditi but it's kind of fun. Still hestitating before tackling the laundry room/basement storage/garage but the fridge and kitchen cabinets better look out!

2012-02-07T22:18:00.002-05:00

Can't believe in 2 weeks the No. 1 Son will be fully cooked, can't believe that he's pretty much done already in fact. (Lungs are still developing and he's still packing on the weight.) Rej told me that in Canada, if the baby has no other problems you'll probably be sent home as per usual labour and delivery policies. Amazing!

Under One Small Star

2012-02-05T10:02:00.003-05:00

My apologies to chance for calling it necessity.
My apologies to necessity if I'm mistaken, after all.
Please, don't be angry, happiness, that I take you as my due.
May my dead be patient with the way my memories fade.
My apologies to time for all the world I overlook each second.
My apologies to past loves for thinking that the latest is the first.
Forgive me, distant wars, for bringing flowers home.
Forgive me, open wounds, for pricking my finger.
I apologize for my record of minuets to those who cry from the depths.
I apologize to those who wait in railway stations for being asleep today at five a.m.
Pardon me, hounded hope, for laughing from time to time.
Pardon me, deserts, that I don't rush to you bearing a spoonful of water.
And you, falcon, unchanging year after year, always in the same cage,
your gaze always fixed on the same point in space,
forgive me, even if it turns out you were stuffed.
My apologies to the felled tree for the table's four legs.
My apologies to great questions for small answers.
Truth, please don't pay me much attention.
Dignity, please be magnanimous.
Bear with me, O mystery of existence, as I pluck the occasional thread from your train.
Soul, don't take offense that I've only got you now and then.
My apologies to everything that I can't be everywhere at once.
My apologies to everyone that I can't be each woman and each man.
I know I won't be justified as long as I live,
since I myself stand in my own way.
Don't bear me ill will, speech, that I borrow weighty words,
then labor heavily so that they may seem light.

Wislawa Szymborska

via

Under One Small Star. Such a beautiful poem by the great Szymborska. Thanks @bdutt! twshot.com/5D62
— Salman Rushdie (@SalmanRushdie) February 5, 2012

2012-01-25T18:08:00.001-05:00

This year, I thought my birthday and anniversary would suck and my anniversary kind of did. Even if you take the position that our wedding anniversary isn't reflective of how long we've been together it still doesn't feel right when your husband is (allegedly) working his butt off in Vegas and you're at home Alone.

My cousin (a loose description of our relationship) was staying with me on her way to Iowa, the Pinnedo's stayed with me on their way to Disney World (they didn't know it was my birthday and I didn't tell them and they left very early morning anyway). It made me feel very old/boring to have guests over but not have any plans for my birthday.

Aditi and Akshaya (my cousin) were sitting on the sofa when Akshaya called out, Hey Beks there's a surprise for you at the front door! I opened the door to Betty, Jini, baby Shaun, a german chocolate cake, a breakfast of bagels and the biggest cupcake balloon :)

I don't know what I'm doing with my face, probably trying to smile as I eat cake but this was the first time I'd ever had a surprise party and I cannot tell you how it made my year. This year is going to be good. I can tell.

2012-01-25T14:12:00.004-05:00

I'm in my 33rd week now and it was weird when I realised that in another month, by Feb 22nd, I'll be considered full term. My due date is still March 12th.

2012-01-21T11:33:00.003-05:00

I was wrong about not having enough friends - when push comes to shove, one solid gold friend is all you need.

I was worried about college, but apparently it starts in preschool

2012-01-05T16:49:00.001-05:00

On Monday I took Aditi to Montessori to register her for the New Year. We stopped by her class for 15 minutes, so I could chat with her teacher and she could play for a bit. You could tell she had fun.
On Tuesday we attended the full two hours. I sat in a corner and watched her play. She came over a couple of times to show me something cool but she was pretty busy. She'd look up and wave every now and then. She called me to play with her a couple of time but when I didn't, she was fine. I sat there for two hours just watching her play and surprisingly I wasn't even bored. She didn't want to leave exactly when the time came but she didn't make a fuss either.
On Wednesday it's a 3 hours session. I dropped her off, washed her hands and said, Hey Aditi, Amma's got to do some shopping. I'll see you later. She didn't even look up from the toy sink where she was busy washing dishes. She said, bye, see you! When I came back to pick her up, she was playing catch with another little boy and she wasn't waiting for me or anything. When she saw me, she came and gave me a hug and was happy enough to leave but when we got home, she wanted to go back and play with her friends. I had to bribe her out of the car and into the house.
She is so independent and social and I cannot believe she's my daughter. I hope she will always enjoy school and friends in the same way she does now.
On the other hand, I think I'm suffering a little bit from empty nest syndrome, even though I really enjoyed my time alone. Such is parenthood right?

On a lighter note,

2012-01-03T17:43:00.002-05:00

Treat yo' self to:
Yesterday - Downton Abbey extravaganza!
Today - Speculoos from Trader Joe's on toast. It's the new Nutella.

2012-01-03T17:02:00.000-05:00

I tried to pull together a year end recap but looking back through all my old posts, I noticed that I'd mostly put up picture post and there wasn't much writing going on. It made me realise that while 2011 didn't suck, in fact 2011 had some really, really great moments - it just wasn't my year.

Ever since family and friends have started reading this blog, I've hard a hard time really expressing myself fully on this blog. I've tried starting other blogs unsuccessfully but this one is the one I feel the most myself with; not to mention, the expectation of family waiting for updates. I like this and I like this side of the blog, an easy answer to the question of what have you been up to? The downside of this is that I don't particularly care to write about the times when I feel frustrated, tired, bored, boring. I hate it when someone reads something on the blog and then calls me to ask me more about it. I hate it even more when people don't. I realised this is a lose-lose situation and so I stopped posting negative stuff here. The upshot is that I have a year of pictures to commemorate the good times and almost nothing posted about times I found trying, which judging by the gaps in posts were numerous.

The truth is that 2011 had its ups and downs like any year - the ups were mostly Aditi related. She started sleeping better, talking more and just being a delightful, quicksilver little girl whose smile made even bad days not so bad. I am constantly in awe of what a lovely person she is, so affectionate, so funny and so smart. I know she's not perfect but I find it easy to forget that.

Other highlights were having family here and showing them around and having them enjoy being here. I loved spending time with Chech and Robs after ages and it was great to see all the cousins hang out like we all did when we were kids under the aegis of their grandkids.

Our holiday in Mexico was pretty great. It was a real eye opener for Ro and me as to who we are as opposed to what we thought we want. It also made us feel freer than we've felt in a long time.

It was great to have Rej come and be pregnant with me for a week :) and pig out on Indian food and talk to, which sort of segues in to the way 2011 sucked.

There was only one major problem with 2011 - it was the year of no friends. After 2.5 years in Arlington Heights I think I have only 2, maybe 3 friends in the Chicago area who I'd care to call or hang out with and neither of them live close by. I'm hoping this year will be different after Aditi starts going to school (today was her first day btw and she was great) but honestly I don't have high hopes. (Not because of anything else except, well, I can't talk about it.) No friends makes everything more difficult - fights with Ro, sleepless nights with Aditi, sheer boredom, all of these are compounded by the fact that often the next days simply looks like more of the same. Also only you care about it. Being pregnant hasn't been all that awful because Rej and I are due just a week apart and it's been nice to have a sort of back and forth going even though we are cities apart.

Somehow I feel like I disappeared in 2011. 2012 doesn't exactly seem like the year to carpe diem, because after all nothing makes you vanish more than a new baby but as I announced on FB this is the year of Treat Yo' Self and I am going to do my best to make this a good year instead of waiting and seeing how things go.

Getting off to a good start

2012-01-01T17:09:00.002-05:00

As part of my New Years resolution to read more, I ordered the first four books of George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones. They will arrive on my birthday, or so Amazon promises which will be cool, because Rohit is travelling this year on my birthday and our anniversary. I also ordered I Can Fly by Ruth Krauss for Aditi. Partly to qualify for free shipping and partly because I remember it fondly from my holidays in Kottayam.
What are your toddlers reading? What are the books you remember loving as a kid? I loved The Little Mermaid, we had a Ladybird read-it-yourself version of the Hans Christian Anderson story and I loved the part when she turned into a daughter of the air, so sad but still with hope. (I must have been five or older though) Also do you have any must read recommendations from last year?

2011-12-28T12:04:00.000-05:00

Have you started thinking about your New Years resolutions? or have you given up the concept entirely?
I've been looking at my Life List and I think 2012 is the year that I want to focus on cooking more regularly, reading more and using my sewing machine.
Cooking more regularly is the one I find the most intimidating, in spite of the fact that I do a lot of cooking already. The catch is it's usually dinner. Aditi and I usually have some sort of cereal in the morning - toast/oats or Cheerios and I'd like to eat something a little more healthy in the morning. For lunch (and tbh dinner), Aditi usually has something like fish fingers or pizza or plain rice. This is actually a change from a few months ago when I would cook Aditi something like spaghetti or pulao or something from scratch. She would eat chicken or cutlets and sometimes she would eat her broccoli before touching anything else on her plate. With the pregnancy and also maybe just toddlerhood, I became lazier (I've been on a steady diet of cheese sandwiches for lunch for months now) and she became fussier. Even fruit is not very tempting to her anymore. So I'd like to reverse this trend before it becomes too late. I'm not sure how though, hence the intimidation.
I imagine that reading more is actually going to be impossible with a toddler and a baby but on the other hand it might be a sanity saver, so next year is the year where I buy myself a new book every month so I have something on hand to read at all times plus whatever I can get from the library when Aditi decides to co-operate and let me check out
I bought my sewing machine a year ago and it's still sitting in it's box in the closet. I know, I hang my head in shame. I have a list of projects to do - hemming curtains to making new bedding for baby boy & Aditi to making cute summer dresses for Aditi and myself but I have to start somewhere. PlanetHalder has a great pinboard that is inspiring me so here's to 2012!
Do you have any resolutions? Did you keep any from this year? I didn't.

A Family of Four

2011-12-22T12:15:00.001-05:00

I started a post about how much I hate the last trimester but about half way through I got distracted by Aditi and I realised that it's not just that I'm huge, gassy, achy-painy and exhausted once again, it's that I can't wait for the little man to be here. I mean, I know the whole point of all these aches and pains in theory are to make you look forward to labour and all the sleepless night to come but it's working! I'm already super impatient to meet him and hug him and become a family of four. A real family, only made more real by the addition of a pet; possibly. Two and a half months to go....

In other news, my cousin (the one in the blue pavadu) is getting married over this weekend in Bangalore and I am missing it. I am skype stalking everything that's happening though but it's not the same at ALL. *sigh*

La Amada, Mexico a review

2011-12-19T15:51:00.000-05:00

La Amada was the other hotel we stayed at and it was kind of a disappointment. Not that there was anything wrong with the hotel or with the service but it was kind of like staying in the Taj Malabar, before it was renovated. It was kind of uncharacteristic of Ro and me to want to stay in a five star, all-inclusive, don't have to leave for anything hotel and I guess that's what happened here. I think we had very specific expectations of it being an even higher end version of Be Playa with original design etc but instead it was very generic five star. So, nothing to complain about but nothing out of the way either. Also; I know I took only beach pictures but compared to the beach at Playa del Carmen or even at the Zona Hoteleria in Cancun itself, the beach here sucked! Constantly windy, it was a teeny beach and it was full of seaweed and they had a weird tractor like thing driving up and down constantly to try and pick up the seaweed which kind of ruined the ambience. Aditi didn't get into the water once, because the wind was just so strong (that's why she's in the towel, because it was cold, not because she's wet) and the tractor thing made it hard for her to play in the sand. I'm not saying we didn't have a good time, we had a lot of fun but it wasn't anything about the hotel that made the difference. In fact, hen we checked in the first room they gave us smelled stale and the tufting on the ottoman and bar were missing buttons. They did change our rooms as soon as we called down but that could be one reason why we never quite fell in love with this hotel. Nothing like a bad first impression.

27 weeks and an early Christmas present

2011-12-15T15:55:00.001-05:00

I weighed in at 170 lbs a couple of days ago at the doctors. I was wearing boots though. That means that Ro and I weigh approximately the same now. There's a foot between us, so yes I am HUGE, careful angles notwithstanding. In other news, today was the gestational diabetes test and I should have the results by Saturday. I was ok with Aditi so am hoping the No. 1 Son will be ok also. (Sidenote: Suemamma, was Ro actually a 9 lb baby????)
My Christmas present was the full set of Tintin comics, which came yesterday. Unfortunately it was raining and when I brought in the box, I thought I'd turn it over to prevent whatever it was from sitting in a soggy box (the top was drier, since it was covered by another box of Aditi's presents). While Amazon had used brown tape to seal the top, on the bottom they'd used clear and I could very clearly see the comics. So, thanks Amazon (not!) and thanks to my lovely, darling Ro for fulfilling one of my childhood dreams - to own all the Asterix and Tintin comics!

Hotel review, Be Playa

2011-12-13T21:20:00.000-05:00

When we first got back I told Rohit that the vacation had solved the itch I'd had, wanting to move back to India or to Singapore or you know, anywhere but here. We put up the tree and baked some apple pie and everything was great. Ro is out of town for the next couple of nights which is not terrible; except I've been having weird dreams about some one breaking into the house. I'm not sure about the symbolism of that but it makes it hard to go back to sleep. So, anyway I've been looking at the vacation pictures to revive me.

These are the pictures of our hotel in Playa Del Carmen, - the Be Playa. It's a smaller boutique hotel; Ro described it as the type of hotel that two friends would start if one studied interior design and the other studied hotel management. I know that sounds like a dis but I think he was referring, among other things, to the sense of sincerity that exuded from the hotel staff. When we got there in the evening all pregnant and exhausted with a sleeping toddler, they couldn't find the reservation we'd made and they didn't have any available junior suites so they upgraded us to the master suite for the entire stay. Actually when we got there my first impression was that it was way too trendy and young for us but very, very quickly the warmth of the staff nullified that impression. They were always friendly and always acquiesced to any of our requests (none of them very demanding admittedly). I think the only time I was disappointed was when I asked the reception for a salon recommendation and she was exceedingly vague about it, friendly but vague.

The other critique I have I guess is for the interior designing friend - when you come into the room, the impression you get is, fancy! but there are a few practical things that make you think that this might be the first time they're trying to do a hotel. For one thing in the closet the rods are too high and you can't take the hangers off the rod, so in order to hang up anything I had to sort of balance on a shelf in the closet. The safe was also weirdly high up so that even Rohit couldn't see what was in there. You can see that the mattress was too small for the bed frame. When you open the shower door it drips water all over the room, not to mention the weird glass walls for the toilet (can you see Ro?) so not the best planned room but when it's not your home what do you care? Everything was comfortable and that's what really affected us.

One more critique and this is kind of a big one, the elevator wasn't working so you had to take the stairs up. That's not the crit, they were working on fixing it but; the stairs are made from sheets of iron which means that your foot steps reverberate, especially when you're wearing heels. Our room was right off the stairs and we could hear every single person go up and down the stairs. It didn't make a big difference to us because we were always exhausted by the end of the day and would instantly collapse but I think that better soundproofing should be on their list of things to do to improve their hotel.

Overall; the food at the restaurant was great - we had dinner there one night and breakfast there everyday, the service was great, the pool & terrace were gorgeous (we'd go up there in evenings - bribery to get Aditi away from the beach) and the room looks glamourous in photographs so yeah, I love this hotel and I'd definitely stay there again. You should too! In fact, call me and we can go together.

2011-12-12T17:03:00.003-05:00

We put up our Christmas tree Saturday. We bought this tree when we were staying in an apartment in downtown Arlington Heights and it was fine then. Now, in this house we realised it is tiny. Next year I hope we can get a real tree. No matter, Aditi calls it a "big tree" and every time we see it she says, so pretty! She's incapable of passing it by without rearranging a couple of ornaments. I like to do that too, so maybe it's genetic. Happy Holidays guys!

A Plan for the Winter

2011-12-09T14:15:00.001-05:00

Read

The Marriage Plot - Jeffrey Eugenides
The Tiger's Wife: A Novel - Téa Obreht
Bossypants - Tina Fey
Design*sponge at Home - Grace Bonney
A Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin
The Cat's Table - Michael Ondaatje

Watch

The Adventures of Tintin (with Ro)
Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy (with my Amma)
The Five Year Engagement (with BFF)

Day 1

2011-12-08T12:45:00.001-05:00

The first three days this is pretty much what every morning looked like: wake up, head to the beach for an hour, head back to the hotel for breakfast and then to the beach again. Rohit and I both felt that we were being unpatriotic when we both admitted that the beach was way, way, way better than Kovalam, better than Goa and infinitely better than Mahabs.

I've heard of white sands and blue seas but the reality of it was just amazing. Add to that that the sea was like a pond most of the time, great for just floating in and perfect for Aditi, who got knocked down by waves exactly once the whole trip. I guess if you were a surfer you could find this disappointing but if you're me there was nothing to complain about.

Ok to be honest, there was nothing to complain about the first day. Not that I mean to complain because we did other stuff but the second and third day the weather wasn't everything we hoped for. It was overcast and windy. We'd wait by the sea waiting for the sun to come out and then jump in, but the wind made it pretty uncomfortable and Aditi would be shivering pretty quick. So we spent a lot of time playing in the sand and chasing birds. I'd love to go back around Spring break time for better weather but I've heard it's crazy and it's going to be a couple of years anyway, so we'll see.

2011-12-06T17:07:00.000-05:00

So, like all good vacations I need another vacation to recover from this one. It's actually been a little difficult to get back into a routine (last night Aditi was up from 2 am - 7am) so we're all groggy and grouchy around here. Add the weather to that - it's been raining, not snowing, horrible in December- and you have a blogger with terrible post-vacation blues.

Looking at the vacation photographs help just a little. Our flight there was mid morning, which was such a welcome change from the usual international flights we take to India and Ro used his miles to buy business class seats on the way there. Another welcome change was to have flight attendants look like it's a pleasure to serve you (no matter what they're thinking inside.)

Aditi was a really great flier this time - she's always been a good flier, taking off and landing don't phase her but no matter how good you are long trips really take it out of you and she's usually a mess by the end of the trip. Luckily a four hour flight is well within her range, so even the flight was amazingly pleasant. This time we prepped by getting her some cute sticker books to distract her while taking off/landing and I'd downloaded a bunch of apps for the ipad. There was a clear winner, Toca Tea Party which is the cutest app ever. You choose your own table cloth, plates, drinks and pastries for your guests and then you can eat them up and then you wash your dishes. Ro and I enjoyed playing with it as much as Aditi did. We also took crayons, a colouring book and George which Aditi carried herself in her big girl bag but they didn't get much play.

The first view of the Mexican coastline was so promising and when we got down at Cancun, the weather was perfect. It was hot, loud and chaotic. It just struck me as a slightly cleaner, more easy going version of India. Basically perfect!

We're back!

2011-12-05T21:08:00.000-05:00

We're back! It was FABULOUS! Get ready for a huge photo dump and of course stories to go with them!

Sears youngest employee

2011-11-25T18:10:00.001-05:00

The day before Thanksgiving I took Aditi to Ro's office to show her exactly what Appa does all day without us. Aditi really loved Ro's cubicle and didn't want to leave it - there was a phone and a computer; what else was there to be seen at Sears? Also check out her new haircut! (Still growing out the bangs, ugh.)

BTW We're leaving tomorrow! So excited but I still haven't started packing. I should probably get started on that now. The house is super clean though - laundry all done, carpets vacuumed etc etc. See you later, alligator!

2011-11-23T17:44:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! This year we're going to Thanksgiving at a friends house. They're moving to Texas, so this will the the second and last time we're doing Thanksgiving with them.

Source: eatdrinkpretty.com via Kristen on Pinterest

I also have some news - I'm curating a slideshow on Kirsty.com on festive tablescapes and it's going to be featured on Nov. 27th. I'm super excited about it! Please check it out if you remember and let me know what you think? ( Yes, I am soliciting some ego massaging - sample comments can be like wow! what wonderful taste you have! etc.)

and on that note I'd like to give thanks for all the wonderful blog readers and friends I've had through the years! Love you guys!

2011-11-15T15:47:00.001-05:00

Did I tell you that we are planning to go to Cancun in a couple of weeks?

Source: flickr.com via Anita on Pinterest

I'm really looking forward to this holiday which will be the first real family holiday that Ro, Aditi and I are taking. Obviously there have been trips to India to spend time with more family and we've done trips just the three of us which were tacked on to Ro's work trips, but this is the first time Ro is not taking his laptop along.

Source: flickr.com via aubrey on Pinterest

Apart from sitting on the beach, sipping non-alcoholic drinks with little paper umbrellas in them, I really want to go see and hopefully swim in a cenote.

According to Wikipedia, a cenote (English: /sɨˈnoʊtiː/ or /sɛˈnoʊteɪ/; Spanish: [seˈnote] or [θeˈnote]; plural: cenotes; from Yucatec Maya dzonot or ts'onot,[1] "well"[2]) is a deep natural pit, or sinkhole, characteristic of Mexico and Central America, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. Especially associated with the Yucatán Peninsula, and some nearby Caribbean islands, cenotes were sometimes used by the ancient Mayans for sacrificial offerings.

Source: underwatersculpture.com via Leslie on Pinterest

This is a picture of La Evolución Silenciosa which I find fascinating - something haunting and eerie about it.

British artist and sculptor, Jason de Caires Taylor, has created a huge underwater sculpture, "The Silent Evolution", that is being installed in the National Marine Park of Punta Cancún, Isla de Mujeres and Punta Nizuc. This sculpture weighs over 120 tons and is comprised of 400 individual statues cast from local Mexican people, representing a cross section of society.The goals of this sculpture are twofold: first, this sculpture is easily accessible to snorkelers and divers so it will ease pressures on the nearby natural reefs that are visited by 750,000 tourists every year. Second, this installation will provide the basis for a coral reef-like ecosystem that will attract a variety of aquatic creatures to the Cancún and Isla Mujeres National Marine Park. - The Guardian

Source: thebesttraveldestinations.com via Erin on Pinterest

The one other thing I want to do while we are there is to visit the ruins of Tulum.

Tulum (Yucatec: Tulu’um) is the site of a Pre-Columbian Maya walled city serving as a major port for Cobá. The ruins are situated on 12-meter (39 ft) tall cliffs, along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribbean Sea in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Tulum was one of the last cities inhabited and built by the Mayans, it was at its height between the 13th and 15th centuries and managed to survive about 70 years after the Spanish began occupying Mexico. Old World diseases brought by the Spanish settlers appear to have been the cause of its demise. (link)

A couple of friends told us that when they went to Mexico they intended to spend only a day looking at the Mayan ruins but the experience was so seductive they went to every ruin they could go visit. Being pregnant I am fairly sure just Tulum will suffice, but I definitely don't want to miss out on it.

Source: beplaya.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

We decided to split our stay into a small boutique hotel and an all inclusive resort instead of just staying in an all inclusive hotel so we could go out and explore and we wouldn't feel bound to stay in the same location all day just to take full advantage of the free food and drink. This hotel isn't on the beach but it does have a jacuzzi tub in our room (heh.) (and the beach doesn't look that far away right?).

Source: wayfaring.info via Rebecca on Pinterest

This hotel seems fancier than any other hotel I have ever stayed in. It must be all that white. We're staying there the weekend before we come back, you know, just for the experience. I picked this hotel because when I was going through the reviews, there was this one, otherwise terrible review where this woman was like, well the one thing I can't complain about is the prenatal massage. SOLD lady!

The only downside of going in November seems to be the high likelihood of rain. It's scheduled to clear up by the time we get down there but this week and next still have rain forecast. Please hope/pray that we have good weather. This holiday is supposed to be a stand in for a trip to India; think Goa, Mahabs or Kovalam, so I have very high expectations.

Have any of you stayed in and around Cancun? (We're actually in the Playa del Carmen) Is there anything we MUST do?

Fall Family Fun

2011-11-14T01:00:00.000-05:00

This weekend Ro and I (to a much lesser extent) raked all the leaves in the front and back yard. There are something like 40 bags of yard waste sitting on our curb right now. We started out with great enthusiasm, raking up piles of leaves and encouraging Aditi to jump in them. Very Calvin & Hobbes-ish we felt. After I gave up "helping", I took a bunch of photographs so I could feel like I was doing something. When I uploaded the pictures to edit I noticed this one right away because it reminded me of the photo below, taken the night Aditi was born. It's amazing how much and how little things have changed; and also a reminder that things are going to change a whole lot more soon. I'm trying to remember these small tiny moments that make every day so special for the three of us.

Natural Habitat

2011-11-09T11:17:00.002-05:00

I really wanted to get the perfect room together for Aditi but now that the No. 1 Son is on his way I've realised that this is probably as done as this room will get. It would be vastly more functional if she actually slept here instead of with us but maybe soon with her little brother for company?

Aditi's room; by Ikea

This is something Nathalie made for Aditi's baby shower. It's beginning to fall apart, but I can't bear to get rid of it.

My mom's sister embroidered this for Aditi. Sometimes I stand in front of it and gape at the work that went into it.

Ro brought this back from Puerto Rico and I think it's super adorable.

I've always wanted a cork board in my life and it's fun to have one in Aditi's room where I put up all her daycare stuff.

Hand painted leather elephants that my mom bought from an exhibition in Chennai. Hula hoop is um, thrifted.

The rooms occupant granting pony applications.