PLAYING SUPERMOMMY TO MY AB KIDS!

And the stork revisits....P.S. Notice the blog name change

2014-07-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

Time not just flies but zooms and vroooms past when you are a mommy of a newborn....Yes, 6 months already that I have got a double promotion...yes 2nd time mommy and loving it....

People say it’s really lucky to have been blessed with a daughter…Well, then God must really love me coz I won the lottery!

Brightening up our lives like a pretty rainbow, our 2^nd princess Arya arrived on a rainy January morning with a ‘ butter wouldn’t melt’ smile ….Yes, im not lying but this is her just 15 hours into this world, smiling away all our worries…

The happiest soul that day was actually the elder sister…She thinks that’s the best thing that happened to her really. She absolutely got smitten by her gorgeous little bundle…love at first sight!

She took the’ all grown up now’ role pretty seriously and has been a cool babysitter from Day Zero with Daddy back on his business trips on Day 10L (Anyone heard of Paternity Leave here?)“Adya get the wipes; Mamma watch baby, I need a wee; Adya rock your sister in the Moses Basket n she will stop wailing; Can you please read the text on my phone, I am feeding sissy”- My sweetheart did it all and didn’t moan even once…in fact she reached to pacify the baby before we picked up the baby monitor alerts downstairs…That’s what you call sister bonding , I guess….

Still remember the first day out for buggy ride with baby to pick up big Didi from school….she was ecstatic….

Adya even took baby for Show& Tell to her class…it was priceless to see her showing off her baby sissy to all her buddies!

As for Chini Chin Chin (That’s what we call her as soon as you tickle her chin- she smiles for England!); Although a complete clone of the elder one, you can clearly distinguish special characteristics so unique to her, a different persona altogether- this lil chipmunk already shows signs of ‘Whos the Boss’.

Generally, a very calm and composed lady, shes quite a no nonsense character when it comes to food and sleep routines….If she’s hungry and not attended to in few seconds, she lets the whole of Isleworth aware of the fact…poor neighbourhood aunty bears the brunt of midnight snack alert…

Quite a cheeky monkey already mastering motor skills by grabbing at my neck piece or Adya’s ponytails and her favourite is Daddy’s glasses…compared to my soft hearted elder peanut, this little one is proving all my ‘ Been there, done that formulas’ wrong….

Every kid is unique, same household, same gender,- doesn’t matter, still complete contrast…You thought it will be easier dealing with two girls, think again mommy….I can already foresee clashes of the style divas or which one gets more kissies on the daily count…then again, it may be a smooth sail…only time will tell…who cares…I am loving it all over again!

However, key differences between now and 5 years earlier is that parenting is much simpler, easier and stress-free…errr…less stressful now I should say! There are so many tools, and technologies to keep it simple…

- Amazon family membership upgrade is a must….nappies and wipes ….your lifelines are often half price to market rate and whats best is next day free delivery at your doorstep…no more last minute emergency dash to the 24 hour open local Asda!

- There is now an App for almost every aspect of making a baby- right from tracking baby’s growth and development inside your tummy to birthing plan and right upto the first smiles, turns, teeth coming through and weaning plans!

- Tommy Tippee and Fisher Price become your favourite brands over Burberry , Chanel and Gucci any day!

- Electric breast pumps and Steam sterilisers are a blessing from God!

- Baby monitors with camera feeds into your smartphones, where you can not only hear and see ur honeybun but also talk back to them or play her fav lullaby tune to soothe them without burning your dinner on the hob running to her rescue

- A teething baby is no longer a monster with teething gels and granules and Sophie La Giraffe teether and Cheeky Chomper bibs that the baby can chew on all day and night…..

- I particularly like muslin squares in bright colours and patterns that are a life saviour with multi purpose benefits right from mopping up milk spills to being a bib, sunshade, comforter, breastfeeding cover, peek a boo cloth and many more….

- Clever buggies that can give Transformers – a run for their money, morphing into carseats, carry cots, strollers all with a press of a button here or moving a lever there..

- Varied range of baby food- each one competing for Mum’s choice for healthy eating- each one boasting of newer tastes, textures for your child’s growing taste buds- Ella’s kitchen, Cow and Gate, Heinz, Annabel Karmel- (I thew away my blender the day I discovered these on the Boot’s aisle and each one is packed with the right doses of vitamins, minerals and Omega 3 and 6 supply for the clever tots!)

- Milton dummy steriliser that attaches to your buggy n does the job in 5 minutes- for all those awkward moments when your lil one chucks it on the floor in the super market and cries at ear piercing decibels

- Play gyms, rockers with vibrations, Bumbo seats- That’s entertainment and sleep making rolled into one stimulating those lil grey cells

- Clever lil handy tools like roll up bibs to gather all crumbs,portable highchairs and spoons that screw into fruits pouches to avoid spillages are inventions on this millennium…

- For mummies of pretty lil gals, you can now buy hair clips that actually slip into their hair like open scissors rather than traditional tic-tacs that may injure the soft skull…

- Look out for half price seasonal sales on Jojo Maman Bebe and Mini Boden for your baby’s fashion haven with the latest style lines at affordable rates…

Well second time around it does get better honestly! You don’t run at the 1^st cry or whimper…you know they will be OK… You become an expert and PRO at dealing with nappy rash, fever, common colds and projectile throw ups J Also learn to recycle hand me downs in Blues- Never mind if she asks me 10 years down the line why shes a tomboy in all baby pics….

Bottom line…Bonding is happening and I am loving it! Love my 2 flowers, 2 trophies and 2 iris of my eyes to bits ….Proud to be your mommy my darlings!

Baby on Board!

2013-12-30T09:19:00.000-08:00

Well, its Déjà vu! But, being honest to the core, 2nd time around seemed to be slightly less manic…of course taking into consideration, a lot many instances during the last 36 weeks, when I have actually forgotten that I am expecting, lost into auditing, or running from school pick up/drops, after school maths, drama and craft classes…..to add to the fun, hubby’s endless business trips and our darling pup Julius Caesar’s teething issues!

In a way, the chicken run actually got me the much advised exercise and prevented swollen feet and excess weight gain from useless calories unlike the first time around, where I just was like Cleopatra sitting with my feet up, waited around by several household help and a darn less stressful job to handle and no 5 year old screaming for attention! So, grazing on cereal bars and super foods such as sprouts, almonds and apricots and the occasional Mac D slipped in did the trick…well at least I think so…

The first thing that hit me was would I remember the lessons learnt? Would I make mistakes like first time around? But, one of my best buddies said something brutally honest, that just like you can never forget swimming or cycling in your life, baby making n baby keeping stays afresh in some remote cortex of your brain, waiting to be summoned again for your next number or grandkids :-)

Do I even need to mention, the level of thrill Adya is at currently at waiting for her partner in crime to arrive…She wants to share every toy, clothing, sweeties and what not… I mean, most of Isleworth learnt about my due date even before I could inform the grandparents back in India! I could sense the sheer joy and pride in her tone, as she told her best buddies at school… Found really good reading material by Usborne books to help siblings prep for the big day and set expectations right….

Highly recommended! The most amazing bit was the 4D scan where my lil girl suddenly grew up into a big sister ‘DIDI’ and squealed in joy to see her sibling on screen…Baby was covering the face with tiny fists…and Adya kept saying ‘Baby is playing hide and seek with me, Mommy’……and when baby clenched fists together as if praying, Adya said, ‘Look Daddy, What a good baby!’

They say that every pregnancy is different…I can second that totally… Unlike big sister who was Miss Laziness personified just occasional stretching only the final few weeks, this lil munchkin inside seems to be progeny of Energizer Battery material…hyperactive since the time I can recall really…which is getting quite tiresome now…as I have now become the size of a super beach whale or a mid sized dino and cant get any bigger to accommodate the acrobatics…Sweet toothed like Daddy for sure, coz as soon as the Belgian chocolate cheesecake enters the system, I can almost hear cheering and thumping!!

This pregnancy has been double the fun, as most of my mommy friends with kids in Adya’s age group became preggy at the same time! It was as if there was something in the waters of London….every time I spoke to a buddy, we had a secret to share…wait a minute …no more a secret coz we both knew what it could be! But that meant, we could freely bitch, moan and groan with the joys of carrying a pebble, till it matured to a melon, then a pumpkin and still growing!!! Loved the shopping sprees, mums days out, spa dates with my other preggy bumpers, reading the crappiest preggy magazines and even watching the annoying baby tv while on a never ending wait for Midwife appointments….

Special thanks to even the non preggy mums who have so kindly supported me during these stressful months: Whether, it was giving me a chance to catch up on meetings by having Adya over for play dates or helping me out with her never ending birthday party invites over weekends where I could steal forty winks; allowing Joy and me some quality baby mooning dates at the movies or early dining and with enormous number of baby items- bouncers, gyms, baby gros and the list goes on….

Attitude certainly makes a difference…I mean, pregnancy is no longer looked upon as a disease…people no longer treat you like a walking sick bag…I truly respect every client I worked with during this pregnancy, who ensured that I didn’t have to do anything strenuous for the bump yet ensured that project deadlines were met with…which actually made me more comfortable and made me perform better in my work… I am totally awed by what a tiny badge stating ‘Baby on Borad’ can do to a cramped Underground compartment….within fraction of a second of me boarding the train, people would give up their seat (Sorry ladies…but there are definitely some chivalrous men still alive travelling by London Tubes!) and smile with courtesy and some even friendly enough to ask about when the baby is due…

So as we approach the year end…baby seems to be teasing us whether 2013 or 2014 model will it be… we are set now… Antenatal and Breastfeeding Classes done…shopping for baby essentials ticked, the hospital bags are packed, Moses basket is set up, laundry done, house disinfected, car seat fitted….tick tock…still waiting… Halloween, Diwali, Xmas have all breezed past…Most of my buddies have popped already….last but not the least…waiting and waiting…hopefully this wait will be worth is as they saying goes…the proof is the pudding!

Separation Anxiety!

2013-09-17T04:48:00.000-07:00

According to studies, this syndrome is supposed to affect babies between 9 and 20 months of age…but truly speaking, it has me under its wraps at a much higher degree than my brave lil tigress of 5 years…Be it dropping her off at Nursery when she was just a toddler or even till now where she proudly marches into her Year 1 classroom without looking back at me still standing there waving till the school bell rings and wiping my moist eyes thinking why do girls need to grow up so quickly….

At least at her Nursery I could ring at lunch hour to check on how my princess was doing, here we have no choice but to wait till I pick her from After Care to listen to the adventures of the day specifying every single detail from PE lessons to lunch menu and latest home corner gossips J which frankly I die to hear as it simply takes away all my day’s tiredness in a jiffy and better than even a hot cuppa tea!

So every year come September, I have to venture out into one of the coldest, wettest and remotest townships of North Yorkshire ( A pretty spa town for my customers based there!) for nearly a month for audits and it breaks my heart to kiss my sleeping angel goodbye in the wee hours of morning and setting sail for this horrendous exercise…

I mean I don’t know how people live out of their suitcases away from their family for days on end (Are you listening Daddy??) Just the thought of coming back to the lonely hotel corridors after a hard day at work is painstakingly depressing….

Honestly, I don’t know what I would have done without Facetime and Skype…Watching Daddy trying to tie ponytails is a scene not to be missed…Technology surely helps rescue working mums like myself to not miss out but surely it cannot take the place of actually smelling and touching your kid’s soft and supple skin against your cheeks…She is always excited to tell me all about the latest episodes of Sofia the First or what naughty Captain Hook has been upto…So even it means missing out those few minutes of tranquillity in a warm bath all by myself and my favourite novel, I rather spend it with Little Miss Chatterbox even if it’s a virtual meeting!

Latest addition to the varied vocabulary is the Symmetric patterns and 3D modelling happening at school along with Autobiographies being drafted….and of course the Mathematics Wizard says No Pressure Please while solving crucial addition and subtraction problems. Its hilarious to see how she bosses around the house pretending to be in charge when I am not around ever since I told her to look after the household! And the way she speaks just in my lingo while moaning about how cheeky our pet puppy has been lately or how Daddy forgot to take his Vitamins in the morning! Feels great to see my training hasn’t totally gone to waste…..

The best bit about going away is actually the reunion upon my arrival…The expression of her face is priceless as she spots me at the door and hugs me tightly while keeping one eye firmly on my baggage to check what goodies have returned back along with mommy which need to be almost instantaneously be devoured or taken upstairs to her bedroom to be introduced to the rest of the Barbie family members…

Now, 5^th Birthday is the Watermark that officially the kiddo is now mature enough to handle certain stuff my herself: Read Minimal Responsibility…but personally ensuring every bit of the party planning right from invites to colour of the décor and paper plate including her hot couture of Merida- Disney Brave Warrior Princess and matching wig was too much for me to handle…She definitely passes the litmus test of handling stress better than her mommy…

Especially coz just then mommy had multiple projects running simultaneously dotted strategically all across UK just before the D-Day and had to become a PhD in multitasking between shopping for return gift goodies and low sugar drinks for the party and ordering for the right cake and flexing my grey cells to prevent a customer from falling prey to credit card frauds and depending heavily on the London Underground to reach meetings on time shuffling between school friends mums invitation meets and project kick offs

….but every single moment of staying away from my heartbeat was excruciating and I wanted to run home and tell her all what I have planned for her special moment but found her fast asleep already clutching on to Doc Mc Stuffins toy….I had no choice but to whisper into her ears while slowly creeping into bed with her and cuddle my Sleeping Beauty silently…

We took her to Disneyland Paris to celebrate this milestone where Mommy and Daddy had a blast equally if not more….watching the Disney Dream come alive in reality which we have only witnessed on television screens and picture story books was indeed priceless…The icing on the cake was the Lunch date with her favourite Princesses where she looked like she could definitely take over when she grew up- dressed in her Snow White attire watching herself in the mirror a hundred times checking every loose strand of hair before the final rendezvous….

And, with at least a zillion kids around I was constantly vigilant of where this 3 feet something beauty was disappearing every time I batted my eyelids…

For few seconds, I nearly collapsed when I couldn’t see her tiny figure next to me as she confidently marched over to waltz with the Disney clan especially her favourite Snow White and got mesmerised with Prince Eric and Princess Ariel and didn’t listen to me calling out her name….Ooof thankfully, the mini meltdown was soon rejuvenated with a sumptuous 3 course meal ending with Princess dessert!

Looking back at the year gone by I have come to realise that it is next to impossible to fully gauge the complexities of maternal instincts! I mean you cant live with or without your kid literally…sometimes when its get quite handful managing your work, home and children, all you want is to get away from it all and have a bit of peace and quiet all by yourself…Something I read on one of the mommy forums made me smirk so much that ‘Going to the super market all by yourself becomes a vacation once you are a mum or even enjoying 2 minutes in the toilet really!!!’

But here I am penning down my thoughts late tonite all alone in my hotel room, I can’t help miss our sweet lil daughter crazily and wonder how I will survive when she grows up and one day leaves our nest to fly away to greater horizons to achieve her dreams and destiny….Wonder if I will ever overcome the Umbilical Cord Syndrome till my last breath…

ROLE REVERSAL

2012-09-26T16:52:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Joy and I were going through some picture albums to replace old photos on the fridge magnets and we were in for a reality shock…..4 years already! Still can’t believe it was just that day when we saw her new born head full of hair and utterly annoyed expression at the cameras shuttering around….the expression still is somewhat around though accompanied by endless chatter and questions and cute lil gibberish terms….

My Adya has now undergone rapid metamorphosis into a ‘Grown Up’ overnight… that little bunny who was crawling under the tables sometime back has just ran her first obstacle race at her school sports day and done us proud by winning her first medal!

So, few weeks back when I underwent a double wisdom tooth extraction surgery and looked like I had swallowed a balloon…it was madam Adya soothing my aches, patting me to bed with endless kissies for my boo boos and keeping her promises to daddy of not troubling me while eating her dinner or getting ready for school!

This year seems to be marked as my health show down special; next came adulthood Chicken Pox with a vengeance $%@£&%!

I wish my mom would have let me have a chat with my neighbour’s son in my childhood when he had them, so that I wouldn’t have to undergo this atrocious syndrome of erupting volcanoes all over me without any mercy…but one look at my darling daughter kissing my forehead stating: ‘Its OK Mommy…it will go away don’t worry….shhaat shhaat’ ….and that worked faster than any calamine lotion in the universe!

With her latest boy crop, she looks so much ‘Mini Me’- Flashback 25 years… I mean she definitely has inherited some DNA molecules from my side…

She keeps tally of all her personal belongings and ensures bringing back every single misplaced hairclip or accessory that tend to disappear in her nursery… My weekend helper assists in all household chores in return of Hello Kitty ice lollies!

Loves her fashion and doesn’t like to repeat clothes before approx 45 days (Kindly supported by the Autumn/ Winter/ Fall collection: Courtesy Daddy’s China Return Wardrobe makeover J

Loves to paint/ sketch/draw on anything that appears to be remotely as a canvas awaiting her master strokes including my work papers… An art and craft pro in making, Madam Adya has tried her hand at everything right from the Olympic torch to Pottery delights of her hand made piggy bank and not to forget her slightly burnt but delicious cupcakes.

Home decoration traits are omnipresent Fairy stickers display in every nook and corner of house, even daddy’s laptop haven’t been spared. Last time I had to peel off Snow White from my Iphone to prevent the lady next to me on the Underground Train from smirking!

And of course the X Factor: Verbal Flood with no control barriers leading to awkward public dilemma situations of Mommy, how old are you? Or why has she got red hair like Ariel the mermaid princess? She nearly had Joy fall off the couch that day when she said, ‘Oh my HUSBAND gave me that hairband’!!!

But all said and done, daddy’s genes are getting predominant too… Adya checks whats inside the sandwich before even having a tiny nibble and wouldn’t have bfast or lunch or dinner without some meat involvement in any format….and goes ‘Mmmmm mommy…that smells delicious whatya cooking for dinner’ as soon as she sets foot inside the house!

This year for my 30^th birthday, hubby planned a nice surprise at 12 o clock with chocolates and cake **blush blush** but I had to wait till she woke up and set up all candles before cutting it for me as per her strict instructions the day before…

Turning 4 is a big milestone…all birthday gifts have moved up a notch…no more teddy bears or crying dollies but Ben and Holly have captured the market space this year! This fever was widespread including duvet covers and invites and table covers and napkins and of course the two tier birthday cake (Amazon Zindabad!)

Adya ensured ticking off and approving every item on my list while planning her bday bash in our garden. Who said summersaults of 25 children in the bouncy castle as well as handling guest appearances by Minnie Mouse was easy!

She’s shooting up faster than the pine tree in our garden and mummy needs to go shopping for new trousers and shoes every fortnight … not that I am complaining ;-) as it gives me a chance of Retail Therapy and Adya enjoys accompanying me to this sprees quite often. I had her height marked on her bedroom wall - date and time stamped for her to see how little she used to be when she grows up…which is fast approaching!

This cheeky monkey now has little girls looking upto her as their IDOL who want to be just like her and caused many a little girl’s parents delight who have finally started sleeping in their own bedrooms like Adya!

But, shes still such a baby and falls asleep with a few pats and a really long story…and you have one look at her ‘ I AM RECHARGING: DO NOT DISTURB’ mode and you wanna gobble up those cheeks!

Vacations with mamma are now a delight! Since mom and dad now plan their break only in destinations with at least 3 or more attractions for kids within 1 mile….so be it Lake District or Blackpool Beach, we seem to enjoy Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit and Pleasure Beach children’s rides much more than scenic beauty or fish and chips!

We are honestly living our childhood once more with Adya and every parent of a toddler would vouch for this feeling as the most rewarding part putting aside all the rest of the mania and mayhem involved…

She is conducting constant good girls vs bad boy contests in her mind….barring few handful privileged gentlemen who are in her good books such as Akash, Vinay and off course Diego- Dora’s cousin brother! Her rapid growth spurts are also marked with adorable acts such as being smitten by Bollywood dancing and aping all advertisements on Nickelodeon…

Adya has mastered almost all the words that Dora teaches in Spanish and very comfortably declared at school that we speak Spanish at home and her Daddy is a Subject Matter Expert which caused her class teacher to greet Joy with a HOLA AMIGO every morning and him rushing out of the classroom with a red face and hiccups!

Her latest fetish is exploring all possible apps on the iPhone including unlocking the code in a jiffy, texting her daddy every 3 minutes, downloading and playing games and clicking her zillionth snap reversing the camera towards herself!

She is currently enacting the Big sister and lil bro role play in repeat shuffle mode… asking Mommy when would you have a baby in your tummy and Don’t worry, I will look after it and take baby to Giggles with me…

Which is really a worrisome thought with project audit report deadlines and the schedule of exhibitions dotted across the globe for Adya’s mommy and daddy…given the fact that God listens to lil children’s innocent prayers! But, honestly, I think it might be a business development ploy by the nursery…

But, two weeks back when Adya walked into her Big school in her new smart uniform, smoking up the competition, looking lusciously adorable and stating ‘Go home now…Don’t worry…Im a BIG girl now’.… Joy and I looked into each other’s eyes realised time is just zooming past….that little pink bundle now rules over our hearts and lives and the roles are truly reversed with a couple of lessons learnt by us from her instead of the other way around!

Welcome to Toddlerdom!

2012-03-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

Mother’s Day has just gone by and as I look around our home I can see displays of my little crawling and gurgling baby brat maturing into a creative and very very talkative toddler…this year I was spoilt rotten with breakfast in bed and lots of goodies handcrafted by Adya including a photoframe with made out of pasta shells and tie and dye patterns (revealing my inner secrets of bribery) – ‘I like mummy coz she buys me icecream!’

No cooking for the day, endless chitchats with my daughter about what all her other friends made for their mums and wrapping up with an accupressure mat to deal with my aching back…I am one lucky mum!

Last few months have been quite hectic work for me ( which explains the delayed blog posting) and so I decided to take a mini break for some ME time finally….so whilst I am really enjoying Il bel far niente: The beauty of doing nothing – and the pleasures of crawling back inside the duvet at odd hours of the day, starting and finishing a novel on the same day, some sketches here and there and gardening till I drop dead; I have also tried to observe and note down the rapid growth spurts I am witnessing in my lil lady which may disappear faster than I can blink my eyes…

Adya now demonstrates a technicolour imagination; tell tales are a daily affair- ‘Mummy, today the dinosaur nearly swallowed me after school but my best buddy saved me; Oh Daddy, there is a crocodile under my bed- can I sleep in yours tonite?’ And off course informing all her Nursery carers that Mummy has a baby in her tummy leading to the embarrassment of hiding the fact that its actually just excess weight and love handles!

Now would you believe that this under 4 is already asking if she can have a sleepover this weekend with her friends?? She does give her Daddy mini heart attacks when her sentences end with ‘That’s Wicked!’ and ‘I reckon’ and ‘Don’t disturb me now, I am busy thinking’ or ‘Excuse me pls, Stop taking my video’ or ‘ I need space, don’t squash me’...

Her vocabulary is definitely getting colourful but its amazing to watch how refine their skills can get at such a tender age already….Its so funny to watch how they are all victims of Mass Wee- Wee Syndrome- if one kids wants to go, its ‘Follow the Leader’ time, the same applies to food habits- the way they will chomp on a new recipe or drink up a new flavoured juice drink at a friends place and say ‘Yuck’ when you buy the same thing at the supermarket the very next day! It is fantastic to observe the stark contrast in your toddler’s behavior- one day she is ‘Spiderwoman’ daredevil enough to hold a Tarantula Spider in her bare hands on a Tropical Zoo Visit and next day she screams her lungs out when someone uses the electric hand dryer in the ladies washroom! Toddlers and rainbows- now we see it and the next moment it’s gone!

She has inherited 95% of my non stop chatter chromosomes- with questions popping out like rapid fire round of a quiz contest- ‘Mommy, who’s that on the phone? Is it a girl or a boy? Does she like pink like me? Aaw my goodness me- does her mommy tell her off? …Ooof, I think I need a Cuppa Tea…Daddy, that’s not the way to say it! These are boots not shoes, silly! Arrrr I am a Pirate, me Hearty’…

It hurts her little toddler ego already if we tell her, ‘Mamma when you were little, you said ‘Gascalator’ instead of escalator or ‘Hutabu’ instead of Mr. Tumble’ and she promptly states ‘It’s not funny’!

And God save you if you say ‘I don’t know Adya’ and she will pester you ‘Please can you know, plsssssssss’!

Adya has already mastered the art of using our laptop like a champ and practices motor skill exercises by attaining high scores every weekend on http://www.educationcity.com/ and www.gruffalo.com.

This budding science fan knows that Japanese girls wear Kimono, Chinese eat with chopsticks and can point out all the continents in the world map including the fact that she lives in London upon river Thames which is in England and Granny lives in India – all thanks to endless sessions with Daddy with the World Mini Atlas Book in the car back seat waiting for school gates to open or World Map from the book fair put up on her bedroom wall!

She enjoys her visits to the local library post swimming lessons every Saturday and can give you a mini lecture on how to issue your book by beeping the code under the scanner!

She can now solve 64 piece puzzles in a jiffy and knows her numbers till 30 (Well, she calls it twenty ten LOL!) She is almost there in her left handed operation in mastering to hold the pen to trace alphabets and enjoys colouring Disney Princess characters. Yes, she has finally promoted from Peppa Pig to Ben and Holly and Minnie Mouse and other cartoon characters- However, when its SOS time, the pig still rules the ring!

My little bunny has also done very well at her school this term- I just attended my first Parents Meeting and returned home with a puffed up chest filled with immense pride after witnessing how Adya has evolved with other children in class participating in all activities both study and play…Parents have to leave a message for the child to say how much they appreciate their efforts which I think is fantastic for a toddler’s morale boost. The best bit was watching her photos around the classroom dressed up as Red Riding Hood as her favourite book character for World Book Day!

My lil cupcake is one style diva- I just love the way she walks around with her hands tucked into her pockets with attitude, showing off her pink sunglasses the moment it’s a bit warm, her confidence at her first Dentist trip to check and count her 20 teeth, the way she checks the time every ten minutes in her Peppa wristwatch which was a gift from Santa this year, the way she combs her hair with her Hello Kitty hairbrush after a salon haircut with instructions to keep it smart and neat and looking into her mirror the way she goes ‘I am so pretty and intelligent Daddy’ and we all know by now how Daddy melts into pudding with these words and actions….

Now, after reading my Blog many would think I am one of the SMOGs- Smug Mothers Of Girls which is the tongue- in- cheek nickname for mums who think that girls rock and gone are the days of desperation of having a boy child (Ooops sorry mommies of big boys)…but I am super confident that 90% of my classmates and colleagues and best buddies who have lil girls would give me a high five to agree that having a girl is the best gift on earth! I am a proud mommy of my awesomest daughter and totally love showing her off as my prize trophy and boy am I glad that Adya’s mine!

Break ke Baad!

2011-10-27T04:59:00.000-07:00

OK guys I am still alive and kicking and not a chart topper in ‘Missing Person’ list as yet!

It has been a rollercoaster ride last couple of months: Moving into our new home, Adya starting big school, and mad rush to meet deadlines at work, grandparents’ yearly visit and Adya throwing tantrums while missing Daddy on his never ending business trips.

Autumn has arrived here already with the mercury fast dropping, days getting shorter, horrid clouds and rain turning London grey and morose. And with all the activities described above – both manmade and natural- happening simultaneously, my hair is falling at a quicker rate than all the orange leaves from trees all over town!

I mean come on I am not Sarah Jessica Parker from ‘I don’t know how she does it’ (Although, secretly I wouldn’t mind!) Any working mom who has seen this movie or read this hilarious novel by Allison Pearson would identify instantly dying with time starvation and juggling with priorities on your daily Rota. At least this actress gets paid to look good on camera – we moms would feel good if we got 8 minutes only to put our feet up and enjoy our evening cup of tea after a hard day’s work and surviving the Underground Tube journey back home!

Then, you face the great challenges of ‘I don’t like this or that’ and ‘Mummy, I am not happy with you, Say Sooorrryyyy right now’.

Adya brought tears to my eyes this morning when she said ‘Don’t say STOP IT STOP IT all the time mummy, LEAVE ME ALONE!’ I just couldn’t digest this coming from my 3.5 year old rebel already. I could feel a sharp pain in my heart thinking how much I must have hurt my parents when I said the same lines and much more….I guess these are lessons learnt with growing up pains…

Adya’s volatile mood changes can defy the changing colours of the season and nature around us…she is hot headed one moment and a cool cucumber smiling cheekily the very next moment. But,can’t blame her with the big turmoils happening in her lil world all at once.

In July this year, we bought our 1^st home located in a quiet woodland of suburban London away from the hustling City noise. Adya actually liked it at the very instance when we went for viewing and said ‘ Daddy, this is Adya’s new yellow house- Just like Peppa’s’.

It is a pretty Victorian style house with a lovely front garden and a back porch- ideal for barbeques, teddy bear picnics and cycle rides (and drying soiled nursery clothes!). Although we didn’t catch much of the summer sun this year, we did manage to have a few housewarming parties and play dates thoroughly enjoyed by my little champ.

The Big Move was back breaking with more cardboard cartons carrying toys, books, puzzles and high chair, prams and cot bed than all our grown up clothes and essentials put together. We had to wrap up everything very hastily - that includes shifting baggage, delivery of furniture and appliances, house legal paperwork, unpacking, settling in within 5 days of official leave from work and all this without ‘the storm never passed by here’ look on our faces!

All this done and dusted, Adya settled in pretty quickly in her cozy bedroom which Daddy and I made sure had all elements of our own childhood fantasies…books, toys, mirror, mini piano, bed and study table- all coordinated with her choicest characters such as Peppa, Disney Princess, Pooh Bear, Upsy Daisy!

(At least that took care of her not creeping into our bed each night from her cot bed). Frequent repetitions of the chant ‘Adya you are a BIG girl now!’ actually worked for us!

My lil helper has fallen for this line so badly that she actually gives us a hand around the household chores now- picks up every crumb she drops down to throw it in the bin, helps me put the with the laundry out to dry and plays Daddy’s assistant gardener to water plants and mow grass!

The ratio of Adya’s house warming play dates with her nursery friends compared to us adults is already 3:1! But, it was a pleasure to host the lil cheeky ones enjoying their ice lollies and soaking up some sun in the garden.

The number of attendees at the summer fair in the next door playground rose steadily with Adya’s pals paying her a visit.

And, oops I forgot to mention the teddy bear tea parties with Daddy whenever he was home on a weekend and not travelling to yet another foreign destination.(I loved these so that I could quickly escape to the parlour or read lat few pages of the novel dying to know who the killer is!)

Next stop: Adya’s big school. I have never seen a child so happy and excited to go to school. Both Joy and I cried every morning when left at the school gate when we were kids…and there was my lil angel donning her brand new uniform, hair neatly combed back complete with school bag and accessories and kissing me goodbye like she has done this all her life…

Instead, it was mommy having tears in her eyes to see her march to Mrs. Standing’s arms and greeting her with a big smile and a charming ‘Good Morning’…

Since, I am a full time working mom since Adya was 10 months old, and need to travel constantly to client sites, I have arranged for this angel for Adya’s school pick up drop. And guess what, my photo copy machine promptly apes her style- commanding us to sit in her mock- car, straps us securely to the pretend car seat, jangles her car keys and forces us to drink some juice while she drives us home!!!

Going to school for today’s Gen-x is learning how to operate a computer at 3 + and improve communication skills?? I mean come on at that age I barely knew what is ABC and Adya and most of her friends know the entire alphabet, numbers and much more…I am sure at this rate they will overtake our present IQ levels at 5!

I am glad my book bug has bitten my little girl too and she gets a new book home each day for us to read together.(And then mommy gotta write a book report daily to say what she liked the most- Ya right what about mommy trying to save the dinner from burning in the oven while saying…and they lived happily ever after…’)

But honestly, I quite enjoy this quiet time together with her each night when I read to her while tucking her to bed and a adding her own stories on what activities she was upto in school today and which boy was doing naughty and who is her best friend for the day.

Adya insists some additional reading sessions on weekends when we both must read different books at the same time and mind you she will check if you are reading the right storyline or just pretending, coz she can actually memorize and judge the book by its cover…

Finally, Adya’s yearly rendezvous with her grandparents was really entertaining where she constantly played BOSS- It was hilarious to see her picking up Bengali terminology from them and reproducing them in her firang accent: Kachakola khabe, bhaat mach khabe Dadu?

She would have endless hours of Shopkeeper- Customer sessions with granny and bully her to dig out ice lollies hidden in the freezer by mommy after school! She would pretend to be their teacher, mummy, ballerina, cleaner and many other role plays took place but with each one directed, scripted, orated, produced and edited by Adya alone!

She behaved like a grown up lady dressing up in Indian attire and praying with her eyes closed during Durga Puja at home. I am a proud mom really!

I see so many changes in my daughter in so little time that its tough to keep pace just like the ever changing weather. I try to capture these priceless moments in photos, videos and words but I know this too shall pass and one day she will be all grown up and read these lines and say ‘What rubbish Mommy, I never did that or I never ever said that!!’

In simple 2 words, Adya was, is and always be my PAAKA BOORI !

The Great British Summer!

2011-07-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

Yes! Its officially here now…

PIMMS, barbeques, Royal Ascot, Strawberry picking and of course Adya and my birthdays…just some of the joys of summertime…the things that help us survive the cold and grey of England for the rest of the year!

Come June, July and August, all residents of the English soil cross their fingers to leave home without an umbrella! The only 90 odd days that you can actually play peek-a-boo with the sun and clouds and have those warm coats and boots tucked away in storage cupboards.

In London especially, you better check the 10 pm news for weather forecast to predict whats coming up the next day on order to choose what to T-Shirt or Footwear and whether you can wash your laundry out to dry this weekend. This unpredictable 4 seasons- in- a- day behavior of the English Summer can ruin your perfect picnic basket spread and you would never know when few droplets can turn into a heavy thunderstorm and downpour out of the blue!

This summer kickstarted with the double bonanza of the Easter and Royal Wedding Bank Holidays. It was truly an overdose of off-season fun with the back-to-back holidays and what it brings along with it…

And what did I just do? Spotted another grey hair…I cannot take this any longer man…few more bank holidays and I will need another desperate salon visit to cover up for my act literally…I mean cmon, holidays are supposed to relax you, not make you go grey…

Not with a nearly- 3 year old with perpetual 4 bars of battery refusing to discharge no matter how much you tax her grey matter or muscle mass…

We have tried all possible activities to keep those lil feet busy. Right from getting a summer crop at mommy’s salon to the first attempt at the Cinema watching our first film as family chomping popcorn…having picnics in Surrey and feeding ducks at Hyde Park… innovative Easter Egg creations at the nursery and watching the Royal Wedding extravaganza on TV…we even tried dressing up in mommy’s saris and childhood dresses that were brought back from India utilizing the free excess baggage allowance by Air India!

There are definitely worse ways to spend lazy summer weekends than going to Peppa Pig World and facing the mayhem created by this tiny pink character. My daughter definitely contributes generously to the top grossing merchandise seller in UK…Peppa was Omnipresent! On bags, shoes,caps,duvet covers, suitcases, curtains, books, keychains, stickers and what else have I missed here??

Every ride had 30 minutes minimum waiting queues that drove all the kids bonkers everyone wailing for their turn and parents cursing Astley Baker Davies(Creaters of this menace!) After exploring every silly ride and the Live Appearances 4 times during the day, jumping in muddy puddles, paying 9 pounds for a snap with Peppa, Adya still wanted to stay back and had to be coaxed to go home when the gates were shutting!

Then, came Adya’s 3^rd birthday celebrations and no guesses for the theme of the party! Again the pig resurfaced on every item- Birthday invites, ballons, cups, plates, tissues and Voila- the Birthday Cake and 85% of her birthday gifts and cards. We had to play the part of Daddy Pig and Mummy Pig with no escape!

Her birthday gift from us was a Princess Bicycle complete with helmet and accessories which she simply adores and goes tring tring every evening post nursery. We were shocked with our little girls confidence in riding the bike as if she rode it before she started walking!

Now, the summer makes everything grow including my appetite chomping away Adya’s leftover cupcakes (Can’t even blame the post baby fat any more)…and it has made my baby grow up so quickly soaking up the sun…

Last week, Adya asked her Daddy for some pennies as her pocket money, and when he refused, she promptly pointed to the ATM Cash Machine as the source! Her speech is now filled with ‘’I dunno, Not yet, Go away, No naughtyyyyy, Take your shoes and go home to your mummy, I can’t find my bag anywhere, it must be lost’’ and many more hilarious terms.

She is so adamant about her demands nowadays; Adya spotting the icecream van = having a cone instantly, no matter how many bottles of Tixylix that mommy would need to pour down her throat later! She loves chatting with her friends on the telephone in imaginative role plays telling them about the latest Peppa DVD episode she knows by heart and would prefer not to be disturbed then! She remembers the route to the supermarket and moans the moment the car turns near the traffic lights during our weekly grocery sprees.

Miss Posh insists eating even the finest cheese gratings with a fork and spoon and wouldn’t entertain any mess on the dinner table. We have to pretend to scold all her nursery playmates who ‘supposedly’ take away her toys or push her or do something nasty or the other while she just watches!

But all said and done- Adya is my Summer Talisman: She can assist me to win a lost deal with a client or her never-give up attitude inspires to get through a super hectic day at work just like the rainbow after an untimely shower in the summertime. Look forward to many more beautiful seasons of the sun with you my darling daughter!

Spring sans Daddy!

2011-04-13T09:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, it’s finally in the air! I can hear the birdies chirping early mornings, smell the new shoots and fruits in the air and love eating dinner while the sun is still shining outside the living room window…Those long awaited spring weekends are finally here- where you can shed massive kilos of warm clothing and gobble down ice creams while having a stroll in the park in flip flops and flaunt variety of summery dresses and sunglasses in your wardrobe….

But, all this warmth simply goes up like barbeque smoke when Adya and I sulk in the absence of Daddy out on his business trips that loom up every now and then like the dark grey clouds appearing out of nowhere and heavy downpour playing spoilsport our wonderful picnics!

Although, mummy really tries to make it funny and interesting at the same time by inventing new funny faces by rolling her eyes and sticking hey tongue out or tickling me nonstop or yawning loudly, Daddy is dearly missed.

We have our Library trips to have some reading up before Night- Night time and the London bus Carrousel ride that I so enjoy. She gets me new Jigsaw Puzzles to solve and also invites my friends over from the nursery for awesome girly kitchen pizza parties.

Daddy Out –of-home status does give us some GIRL TIME to catch up on some essential shopping sprees for yet another pair of shoes or that must have summer top for both of us and also all the junk food we could chomp behind the fitness conscious male in our family: READ Mac Donald burger and chips which we both simply adore since mom doesn’t need to cook then! But, the best part is that I can crawl in next to mummy at night without her screaming since she’s really afraid of sleeping alone!

But we both know, that life is just not the same without my best buddy who simply removes zero from 30 to be my playmate, singing partner and dressing up pal all in one!

I miss Daddy helping me put baby doll to sleep by feeding her milk… I miss Daddy taking me for picnics in the park or jumping on the bed or having a blast on the bouncy castle at Funky Monkey…

I miss Daddy assisting me to paint my first masterpiece or ten pin bowling OOOPss game at home… I miss him so….

Till he returns from his trip with his suitcase filled with goodies for me: pretty dresses, chocolates, toy laptop and telephones, dollies and the list goes on..and occasionally some pretty looking jewellery or magnet curios for mummy, for being such a patient babysitter, which I don’t know why she finds so very interesting as compared to all these return gifts literally!

Daddy, when and where did you say was your next trip again??

From Boo Boos to Yippee Yay!

2011-03-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

Every cloud has a silver lining they say….It holds so true in my case…sometimes life gets so erratic and crazy with client deadlines and home chores like laundry overflow or last minute grocery shopping and gala dinner cooking and of course baby making and hubby keeping that you want to just break free from and run away some place doing absolutely nothing…I just finished reading ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ where the author Liz Gilbert so aptly describes this syndrome predominantly affecting Italians since centuries; They refer to it as ‘ The art and joy of doing NOTHING’…

I didn’t think I would get the chance to drop what’s on my plate and disappear into the oblivion…and actually that is not exactly what happened…but I got to put some brakes on my daily 6-12 daily schedule of home- work- home.

This blessing in disguise came in the form of my little girl contracting Chicken Pox at her Nursery. The infection chose my darling as his favourite host on a Monday and come Friday it had best use of the incubation period and started showing tell tale signs of red eruptions across her body accompanied by fever, tiredness and an all- time high temper!

So, I packed up my laptop and work papers, waved goodbye to Boss and dashed to the Doctors where all she was prescribed was Paracetamol and Calamine lotion.

Now, being a typical Asian mom, I tend to overreact to any minor health issue and this was Chicken Pox, and there was the doctor smiling calmly as if these horrendous spots were nothing more than mosquito bites…I was enraged...unfortunately kids under 6 in UK are not prescribed any anti biotic drugs unless absolutely urgent…so I came back home sulking with my poorly child ever so thrilled to be picked up early from her Nursery!

Another freak situation was that I was the only one who hadn’t got it till date and so my altar of obsessive compulsive disorder of cleanliness and sanitization took over! I swept, wiped, brushed, vacuumed, disinfected every square meter of our home every few hours and prayed hard so that my childhood sufferings of vaccinations against this cute named infection really pays off and crossed my fingers, arms, legs etc to come out this with still appearing to be a sane human being!

Next 12 days were like an extended picnic for 3 of us…I was granted the plea of ‘Work from Home’ for which I am still making up grinding at my office…Daddy got round the clock ‘health check’ report cards from Mommy and of course, Adya was knighted ‘Queen’ status overnight and all her wishes became our instant commands…

To name a few indulgences:

· Non Stop repeat performances by Peppa Pig (God bless the DVD section of our local supermarket).

· On demand ice-cream supply with all different flavours to excite the taste buds.

· Multiple bubble bath hours with loud pitched bathroom singing of favourite nursery rhymes.

· This was followed by pampering sessions of hair blow drying and moisturizing (P.S: Daddy at my service).

· Since, we were quarantined indoors, the only fresh air we got was to feed bread to the birdies through windows - They got more bread than me at breakfast…

· Red cheddar cheese gratings and sweet corn with butter and salt became our regular snack.

· Ceebies (SKY Channel 614) was the only button pressed on the TV remote with torturous episodes of Chugginton, Timmy, Show Me Show Me, Gigglebiz and many more…

All the books in Adya’s library had to be read out at least twice morning, noon and night.

· Tea parties at her play kitchen could beat any English Afternoon High Tea offerings at 5 stars.

· Ringa Ringa Roses and Jumping on the bed substituted afternoon naps.

· We learnt the Alphabet and almost made it there with Potty Training with unlimited stars on the bathroom chart. All unopened toys hidden for a rainy day came out of the Pandora's box!

· Finally, quick drives in the evening when daddy returned from work made our days complete.

Oh yes, in between these activities, mommy slipped in the timely fruit juices, yoghurts, strawberry milk, home made chicken stews, fish or lamb pastas, French fries and canned coconut water to cool off the tummy which definitely contributed to the rapid recovery!

But, the best part of this ‘Happy Health Problem’ was getting reconnected with my baby. This bonding was really needed amidst the regular running about where I realised that she is growing up so rapidly…Must mention that I had to super multitask while she had caught her forty winks to catch up on work front and complete assignments and pending projects.

But, my heart just melted away to see her snuggling up to me on the couch every time she got exhausted...this I must confess that I have a fighter in my girl...never gave up with the weakness and fever trying to bog her down…

During these days, she simply refused to sleep in her cot and would invariably come into our bed, no matter what time or how quietly we moved into our room with our mute buttons firmly pressed…but I guess it is something with the parent touch- therapy comfort we all needed when we were younger and unwell…it was an out of the world feeling to feel her soft skin against mine and smell her sweet Johnson’s baby lotion scent just when she was a new born…

Have you ever watched a kid sleeping just like that? It is truly a heavenly sight when I stood and just silently watched my mamma sleeping soundly with mini snores whooshing out of her tiny nostrils and her body heaving up and down with her rhythmic breathing…On warmer nights, I loved to see the lil beads of sweat on her forehead and the way her hair sticks to her head…

I feel so proud of my creation when this 2 feet something lady conquers our life with her non stop blabber and jumps right back into the daily grind, with no blues whatsoever. Thank you God for taking away her pains and boo boos and joining our Yippee party being her cheeky self again…And of course, for this delightful bonding break!

New Year Resolution: Make Mommy my personal Wikipedia!

2011-02-04T09:12:00.000-08:00

When you bring a baby home from the hospital, you never think that 1^st day of the Kindergarten would ever arrive…yet this year my lil girl will actually go to ‘BIG SCHOOL’…Sorry! Adya will be really annoyed if she realises I am even remotely referring to her as a little girl when she is a very BIG girl capable of taking care of all the younger kiddos at her Nursery, or she thinks!

Daddy and I were doing the admission procedure rounds of the local schools (Parents: Please note that this task is more tedious and stressful than even planning for your own wedding!) It dawned upon us that Adya has grown up so much in the last six months…she is getting taller by the day, outgrowing all the pretty skirts at rapid speed…at this rate she would soon overtake me in height according to her father…LOL!

We recalled how she has gone from Goo-goo – Gaga to WHY, No Thanks and Excuse meeeeeeeeee! The recent great big Indian vacation has contributed largely to her growing vocabulary….but you gotta figure out the context of application in her sentence Hahoo may mean Mathew and well as Love u…Doggy, birdy, potty all sound the same, you gotta decipher the code…

She shows off her newly achieved motor skills such as carrying her own cereal bowl to the dining table and tossing the crumbs and leftovers into the bin, or cleaning the tables with wet wipes for the 125^th time! Daddy has become an official member of the’’ Wrapped around my daughter’s finger ‘’ club, clapping after each ’Tidy up’ session or giving a big star after every potty training success story!

She considers Mommy as her private advisory board to confirm and validate every new shape, animal, colour, number and alphabet she recognizes for its correctness. Shes already very protective of me and advices like a granny: ‘Mommy, Be Careful…Its raining’. With a mind of her own already, she loves following a streamlined storyboard and dislikes the sequence of activities being broken…like mommy has to be picked up from the Underground station before going home daddy…who would make our dinner then?? Hates if the same instructions are repeated more than 2 times and replies sternly ‘I KNOW DADDY’ if asked to have her cheese or fruit…

Adya has matured into the ‘BFF’ category already for me with a myriad of offerings such as handpicking her hair accessories matching with mine, asking me for my bracelets and neck wear immediately, trying on my gloves and stilettos the moment I take them off. And dare I step outside without my Lipsteeeeeek! She loves to put cream on herself and daddy and is already the fiercely independent chic kind: brushing her teeth and combing her hair without my interference.

She is my personal alarm system with ‘Mummy: Wake uppppppp’ call preset for 6 am each morn. Then we play the Animal Farm and ENT game recalling all her fav Old Mac Donald characters and Human anatomy recognition, while still being lazy in bed. Our personal ‘Health and Safety Officer’ at home ensures saving electricity by switching off unnecessary lights and ensuring buckling up seat belt of even her baby dolly before taking her for a walk in her pram in her imaginative park and say ‘ Don’t Cry’ each time with a pout worth dying for…feed her milk at regular intervals like a grown up carer....she wont set a foot outdoors without proper winter gear covering her from head to toe, even if that means having a battlefield attire just to go and buy milk… inherited clearly from mommy’s overprotective nature along with my sweet tooth and cleanliness syndrome, of course!

My brave lil fighter baby can start an anti-needle phobia training campaign…im so proud of her smiling after all her vaccination shots the moment I kissed her…and daddy should be the 1^st sign up member of this group….

Normal kids of her age would love to play with toys and there is ADYA…She would first look for battery slots, buttons, LED displays, flaps, knobs…..her mark up territory is the Kitchen area with Microwave, oven, washing machine…plenty of gadget terrain to explore for my lil engineer in the making! She gets annoyed if the wrong remote is used and knew to distinguish between the TV, DVD and Sky box remote control since she was 10 months old.

Adya has been blessed with memory cells that cannot be manipulated easily which lands mommy in trouble at times….she remembers exactly which book is missing and returned to the library and where she left that hidden chocolate left over from last evening.. During our weekly shopping sprees she simply remembers to pick up her favourite items like comic books and puts it promptly on the till for billing….

At times it gets a little catastrophic with Adya on weekends providing 24/7 brain stem cell stimulation…God bless Giggles Nursery for saving us on weekdays..I end up tearing my hair after tripping on blocks, wiping off food from her highchair or cleansing tiny fingerprints left on the TV screen or scrubbing off paint marks from her new jumper….

But, my heart melts away the moment my vulnerable baby comes crying to me to kiss away her boo boo when shes hurt or unwell.…My 3 feet angel is my only solace after a hectic day at work….she kisses my tears away in her own way to say she is there for me…

Adya, I may have been frustrated with you, been jealous of u, angry with u…but you can lift my spirits in a second with your gorgeous smile a simple Love u Mummy….

One of my best miracles on earth is to b your mum…May our hearts be best of friends linked forever….through childhood , teenage terrains and beyond…im just a call away…be it night or day…My spirit belongs to you and my love for u is an unconditional lifeboat, sun up or sundown…

Your Fan no 1,

Mommy

Terrible Twos

2010-10-05T04:51:00.000-07:00

As soon as Adya crossed the 1st birthday bench mark, we started realising that they don’t call it ‘Terrible Twos’ just like that!!!

This year was a mixed bag of excitement, learning new parenting tricks and dealing with separation anxiety....I still cant forget those tiny fingers grasping my hand tightly on her first day to the Nursery since I started work already…couldn’t stop myself from crying when she cried out for me as I rushed to office…this is the toughest test till date…but she soon got very familiar and misses her Giggles Nursery now on weekends..I can guess her lunch menu from her clothes and hair....

Jokes apart, I am very grateful to them for helping me to make my career survive. She has learnt so much there including her first success with potty training and made grown up already into a mature lady…love you guys for being my lighthouse at sea!

She has started talking non stop in a language I am yet to decipher…her first word was ‘Dadda’…no prizes for guessing that...she can blabber all the nursery rhymes possible even at 10 pm at night and at times I am terrified that we may get arrested for high decibel noise pollution complaints from neighbours!

Adya has a very cute idol..her name is Upsy Daisy..she is tiny, sings and dances all day, kisses all the things in a magical place called Night Garden..has loads of friends and has a bed that follows her everywhere…in short : My bribe to her for finishing her lunch without making mommy insane!

Miss Posh Spice has started realising the girly features within her by gazing at herself in the elevator mirror every time she ventures out…she likes wearing Bindi from her Thamma…She just loves fashionable clothes and matching sunglasses and hats and other accessories which her mommy has no complaints about…

She is a complete Gemini like her mommy and has already started showing traits of being flamboyant, popular and pompous amongst her nursery friends…

Adya loves to read and has already managed to conjure up a mini library at home..she loved to listen to stories read by Dadu about Murphy horse trips to Windsor…

She is my little mathematician and puzzle cracker…taps away at her laptop gifted by dad …I sometimes I wonder if she may grow up to be a nuclear physicist one day..

But she is equally inclined towards art....loves to sketch wherever possible and everything including the walls and flooring becomes her blackboard…

She is my lil poetess and stares out at the sky and trees since her pram days and hums away lovely tunes..

She loves music since my tummy days and loves to play her piano and xylophone…A budding rock star, maybe??

My little water baby is very fond of bubble bath ever since Nani used to oil massage and bathe her…she is a champ swimmer in her batch and has already earned her second Duckling Certificate…

My lil angel loves to get into pray mode and joins me at the evening puja at home…she gobbles up the Prasad as a gift to ring the temple bell…I simply love to watch her close her eyes and join her palms to get my kiss after lighting up the house…

Every moment with Adya till now has been extra special and she has captured every square foot of our life and every thought process: Her 1^st kiss on my cheeks moments after her birth, her wonderful deep hazel brown eyes gazing at me with zillion questions, her Bhangra dance movements on seeing Joy back from work, her 1^st birthday ear piercing, her copying my cough and aping granny’s snoring, her love for Pooh, watching me dress up and trying to taste my lipstick, jumping for her water bottle …

I will miss you so much my baby when you will grow up and one day move out to seek your future and leave your mom with just your fond memories….You will always be my Bhuntimama…

From Nappies to Skirts

2010-10-05T03:47:00.000-07:00

I can write a zillion lines on her every cheeky move, but here are just a few ones on her year 1….

Miss Adya Bhattacharya is the 1^st girl child to be born after 65 years in our family which definitely called for Super Duper celebrations…Her arrival announcement appeared in Times Of India at her birth. She is a complete clone of Joy…complete Daddy’s girl…with Mummy’s Blood Group as the only gene factor contribution to her creation!

Having a lil girl is really a gift…you just fall in love with the Pink Section of Mother care…so many options…so little time...hair bands, skirts, shoes, leggings, tops, halter necks and Yes…every accessory needs to match up!

My starry eyed Queen Victoria posed for her 1^st passport

photograph on Day 5 followed by constant chase by the Paparazzi (Read: Mommy with her camera: 24 x 7) since Daddy left for London and demanded to know what was the dress, hairstyle and food of the day every few hours!!!

I still remember the 1^st vaccination rounds…wanted to kill the Nurse for piercing your tender thighs with that massive injection syringe…my brave girl hardly shed a tear wile mommy wept like crazy…

My sweety turned for the 1^st time when she was 3 months old…but she is a real lazy bum…could hardly support herself and held her neck high after ages…once she sat up…would take an eternity to crawl and went in the reverse gear in backward direction first…she stood up for the 1^st time on my birthday in her cot and don’t ask about her first steps her own…she still walks like at Penguin at 2!

We moved to London when she was just 3 months..in fact the 10 hour flight from Mumbai to London Heathrow was her 1^st outing in her pram. She was so awed with the many lights and people around her that she stuck her right arm up all the way as if saying: ‘Hail England, here comes Queen Victoria!’

Thus, began my battle of survival in this cold land filled with strangers and no support system except a confused yet adorable and globe trotting yet comforting husband who tried his best to calm post partum depressions along with smelly nappies and midnight wails!

Post Its and Disposable bibs and Microwaveable meals are just like Genies for super busy moms juggling 1000 household chores, job hunting and managing to put a smile on the two most important souls on earth…so even after emptying the never ending laundry wash basket for the 10^th time in a week and sterilizing the zillionth water bottle..u still needed to look good and wear your makeup right and be ever ready for a quick snuggle up session while the baby is asleep even though all u want is plain vanilla SLEEEEEEEEP!

It is a Balancing Act indeed!!

Yes, its unfortunate but true…kids don’t come with instruction manuals nor with remote controls to press that Mute button at midnite…New moms will quickly realise that you gotta develop some long forgotten skills very quickly:

· ‘Patience is a virtue’ needs to become the motto in your life!

· No energy or vitamin supplementary capsule can provide you the level of activity that a 5 month old is capable of..so no point trying to get them tired out!

· Your brain can never actually switch off for the next 5 years and need to become multi tasker of your 5 sensory organs

· You need to get immune to nappy stinks and cleaning up the throw ups that defy Newton’s Law of Gravity largely. As a positive side to this, you may end up getting a part time job in the Fire Dept or Bomb Squad for your sharp smelling sense!

You will do things you never ever dreamed you would- lick chocolate or any food off the kiddo’s fingers capable of making another Surf Excel advertisement, pick up toys tossed inside the potty and clean it for its next turn, carry non-Prada unfashionable and boring bags but spacious enough to carry your baby world with you wherever you go, search for the Baby Change sign in every shopping mall before the Sale sign!

You must be thinking it cant get worse at this point…you are still naïve…When you have to deal with Ego and Tantrums from a 6Month old…you will think again…

Adya was downright and No-Nonsense girl right from the start…her pet hates are long boring dresses, old music numbers and the sun on her face or brushing her long hair…

Her teething issues nearly drove us insane…her moodswings had us startled…fever, soreness, temper and my jolly lil baby turned into a grumpy granny!

She had her 1^st solid food ceremony:

Annoprashan at 7 months with first bite offered by her Mamu. She has been a fussy eater always and still bugs me to the core to finish off her dinner..she has inherited her carnivore non-veg genes so very aptly that she wont touch anything green unless accompanied by Tuna, Turkey or Chicken slices…the only veggie factor she loves is Cheese and French Fries…and off course that latest Hindi Item numbers playing on TV!

At this phase, we had to go into total ‘Baby Proofing’ mode for the house, removed all sharp ended furniture and edible/non edible stuff (buttons, shoes, pens, batteries, newspaper, coins…she has tried chewing up everything!)

Adya has a fascination for water as if she was a camel in the Nevada desert in her last birth…simply cant resist water and can spot her water bottle hidden behind anything!

Our new home slowly turned into a miniature Hamleys store with toys of all shapes and sizes…some of her favourites are her Car stroller, Penguin and Doggy and of course the greatest Winnie the Pooh in multiple sizes and appearances in bottles, plates, sippers, clothes…and also landed on her birthday cake!

And finally came the Milestone we have been waiting for: Her 1^st birthday was celebrated with great joy and fun…all her grandparents gathered to bless her and total mayhem with wailing kiddos who had no interest in the birthday cake but to burst all the balloons and then cry for more; Lucky girl got her 1^st diamond studs as a gift from her Mom and dad…girls do start quite early nowadays, don’t they?

Battles of a Super mommy!

2010-08-20T05:06:00.000-07:00

Battles of a Super mommy!

I had finally made it to the 3rd Semester…now I was starting to get really impatient…the wait to EDD seemed like an eternity!

It was an extremely difficult phase for both of us…we were relocating to UK and Joy had to enter the country in next 15 days from the date of visa issue. I decided to move to my parent’s place in Mumbai for the delivery and thus began our ‘long distance relationship’…..

Spent long hours on Skype just to get a glimpse of each other, managed different time zones and coped with each other’s tantrums and anger outbursts to win the battle of survival in a new, lonely and cold land without family and friends..

Can’t thank my honey enough to take up this Herculean task of jumping into the unknown and risking his future leaving behind his wife and unborn child without a secure job in the most expensive city in the world…But, it was because of this risk that we took that has made us stronger as a family and made us fall in love all over again!

‘We’ missed him crazily…stayed alive with the hope of him hugging me tightly again and making it in time from London for the arrival of our bundle of joy…

Our friends and family stood with us as our pillars of strength throughout this testing period without whom we wouldn’t be what we are today...Thanks guys once again making US happen!

Life seemed to crawl with watching my zillionth movie DVD at home, attending Antenatal exercise classes (highly recommended to cope with labour stress), and discussing curious experiences with other Mommy-to-be members.

It isn’t an easy task to stay stylish when you can’t see your own feet neither eat properly without gulping down crates of fizzy colas to digest it nor sleep on any one side for more than 8 minutes….

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw her chubby cheeks and head full of hair…a big thank you to Dr. Kiran @ Lilavati, Mumbai and the latest 4D Sonography technique that enabled me to see my cheeky baby smiling and even sticking out tongue at my mom and giving us the Thumbs-Up sign as if to say ‘All ok in here Mommy; Relax, Don’t worry’…This made me forget my Stretch marks and back aches immediately…..Daddy called me from London to say how much baby resembled him, hence obviously good looking..LOL… I decided to present this DVD recording to my baby on the 18th birthday to show how tiny she was….

I was really freaked out after reading /listening to Labour horrors and realised they don’t called it LABOUR for just fun! Then began my endless nightmares about Joy not making it to the Delivery room due to missing his flight back home, or an Alien coming out of my tummy and the most reoccurring one about me not reaching the hospital due to water logging and traffic jams on Mumbai streets….and the list goes on…

As a distraction, my family and friends threw me an amazing Baby Shower…Papa organized my all favourite items available on the Mainland China menu….(no wonder my baby has Chinese eyes) and whistled the tunes to which the baby responded my kicking harder and faster…Ooooof!

But, all is well that ends well they say…

Joy did fly down two days earlier, I did get into the hospital on time, went through ‘Best of both worlds’ with nearly 3 hours of labour pain and then Emergency Caesarean Section, Joy almost threw up with the smell of disinfectant and sight of surgical instruments in the Labour room, I did make the entire OT staff crazy with my queries and hygiene panic utilising my ‘Medical knowledge’ to the fullest insisting on keeping my glasses on to witness that they were just taking out my baby and not any other organs….

And at last, there I was looking at the most precious gift of God I ever…our Masterpiece creation….Miss Adya Bhattacharya!

She arrived on 18th June,2008 at 4.07 pm, weighing 3.75 kg with jet black hair, hazel brown eyes and a smile to die for…She kissed me on my cheeks and stopped wailing the moment Joy picked her up and then our lives changed forever….

I Love my Bump!

2010-08-19T03:52:00.000-07:00

I was finally into my 2nd Trimester….got rid of those nasty throw up bouts, mood swings and tenderness all over my body…I can claim to finally enjoy the amazing growth inside me.

I followed all the possible Mom discussion boards and enjoy reading weekly newsletter updates from Babyfit.com informing me with all the intricate details about the new developments inside my bump…its fascinating to know how fast a single cell has multiplied into forming major organs and all sensory nerves…it helped me a lot with sensible guidance to flex my work and rest times with the right diet charts and exercises and even sleeping patterns to ensure maximum foetal blood supply..

I had developed very painful swollen feet by the 5th Month itself and waved goodbye to my high heels. My office folks really helped me cope with putting my feet up during work hours and accommodating my frequent loo trips.

Then, one fine Sunday evening, Joy and I were watching TV on the couch and then I felt it….my baby’s first kick! It was the most amazing fluttering sensation. Then I started feeling movements…I could make out when the baby was awake and when asleep. I kept track of the sleeping pattern and started getting hunger pangs in the middle of the night. Joy used to keep my favourite cookies next to bedside for my midnight snacks!

And of course, our endless shopping trips for purchasing 2/3 sizes larger outfits to accommodate ‘US’. Joy always made it a point to make me feel sexy even I looked like an upturned flower vase….still called me names he did when we were dating...he bought me new Makeup and great books to read and listen to Yogic chants to calm my senses for our baby…

I really enjoyed the tender, caring partner that Joy had metamorphosed himself into…helping me climb stairs, never missing a doctor appointment or scolding me for not taking my vitamins on time and taking me out for evening walks and surviving all the mushy Shahrukh Khan films I wanted to watch.

And it really helps, you know to have a support system in your hubby who is actually the most confused character in this whole episode…guilty to see his wife going through so much….apprehensions of his love getting shared with his baby and excited to be play Big Daddy all at the same time!

Our friends and family started to play ‘Guess me if you can’ with old wives tales and legends of whether it will be a Boy or Girl. Ring game, size and shape of my bump, eating patterns etc etc…Every passing old lady commented…..’You will get a bonny boy’ that used to annoy me so much….coz I wanted a girl so badly…and God does usually hear my prayers..LOL..

But, the USP of the 2nd Trimester was our intimate chats with our baby. Joy and I spent hours discussing our future plans as if our new family member was already listening and understanding every word spoken...Strange but true...whenever the baby got hyper active and started kicking violently, Joy just stroked my tummy and spoke to the baby and there was calm almost instantly… Sometimes, I used to wake up with the pushes and cry…And say, ‘Baby ur mamma is sad ..pls don’t hurt me’…and I felt the baby respond….Such is the miracle of parent and child bonding…I can imagine now how my parents miss me….Love u mom and dad..

The magical blue line…

2010-08-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

Seldom you would come across something small as a 2cm bleak blue line that would change the way you live, breathe, eat, dress and just about anything you have been doing till this moment in your life…

For a moment I froze in the loo….looking into the pregnancy kit result…can’t be true…so I retested…the same result!

I looked into the wall mirror…hello Mommy!

I woke up Joy from the middle of his sleep and broke the news….Obviously, he thought he was in the middle of a dream and asked me to go back to sleep…so I shook him again and this time he opened his eyes wide and sank it in!

We hugged each other and wept in happiness for the start of a new life….

So, the journey began…informing family and friends...preparing mentally and physically for the new member in our world..till now I believed that nothing could take my place in Joy’s life..but slowly I realised that the little heart beating inside me had already captured his mind and soul…

Every conversation, every action and reaction whatsoever revolved around this new ‘Arriving soon’ character.

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1st Trimester:

Pains:

• Endless list of unwanted ‘Free’ advice started floating all around us (Don’t have papayas…have 3 litre of milk daily for the baby’s fair complexion, no sex…blah blah…)

• Thou shall Do this and Don’t do that declarations were galore (Anyone heard of the saying: Rules are meant to be broken?)

• Whoever named it ‘Morning Sickness’ never thought of all the afternoons and evenings ruined by this syndrome!

• Mood swings and tantrums really made Mr. Husband wonder if pregnancy had side effects of insanity associated with it…

• Blood tests and Tetanus shots and dead tiredness out of doing nothing heroic were a real spoilsport in the 1st Trimester…

Gains:

• I could (without any guilt) eat all the spicy, deep fried and chatpata items on the menu card without blinking an eye on the calorie counter.

• Husbands and dads spoil you rotten during these 9 glorious months…so make the most out of it! (I really miss Joy fetching me a glass of water even it was just 2 metres away and my dad tying my shoe laces like when I was a little girl coz I couldn’t bend!)

• Catching up on some quality reading and pursuing that long-forgotten hobby (Painting/ singing/writing…) while playing the role of a dedicated and attentive wife all this while.

• The Out-of the World expression on Joy’s face when he heard the baby’s heartbeat first time@ Sonography and asked the Doc if there was a train chugging in my tummy? Or the time when he wanted to Work out even more in the Gym to prepare for running around with the baby since he had never held one till date!

• The power of being a woman and ability to create life out of your own blood and flesh is truly overwhelming…Its something every woman must experience once in their lifetime..I thank God for blessing me with this gift and making me a complete individual…

Transformation of two free soul lovers into mature, patient and responsible parents and an even stronger team as a couple to battle this likeable approaching storm…That is what a tiny blue line can do your life….

Journey to become Adya's Mommy: Welcome to my blog!

2010-08-18T04:21:00.000-07:00

Journey to become Adya's Mommy: Welcome to my blog!: "First of all, let me thank you for taking time out to visit my first attempt at penning down all my ga-ga..which annoys the hell out of most..."

Welcome to my blog!

2010-08-18T04:16:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me thank you for taking time out to visit my first attempt at penning down all my ga-ga..which annoys the hell out of most people who know me closely enough to suggest me to write down all the blabber rather than bothering them(Courtesy: My poor hubby: Joy...Thank you honey for the true inspiration and being my critic board!)

The real picture is however like this...I am the first mommy in my entire peer group.(Yes, I took the plunge and glad I did before anyone dared to set foot on this unpredicatable terrain...)

A bunch of my closest friends are expecting their first offsprings this year and some have just given birth to pure angels...so I decided to share my Mommyhood woes and wonders and what actually goes on in those 9 magical months and the aftermath that follows...

So, now that Adya has officially entered her 'Terrible Twos' and I can claim to have seen the worst...I can offer my shoulder, pillow,advice,tips and tricks and some occasional sound advice to play Agony Aunt to all those yummy mommies in the making....

Of course this blog also aims to offer the dads-in-making , some warning signs to watch out for in their wives and the way your life is going to change forever when you first hold your newborn in your arms....

So tighten your seatbelts and get ready to dive into the wonderful journey and realising the value of God's most precious gift to mankind...Creating a new life...