Hello, Baby!

Are you still out there?

2017-03-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

Talk about a hiatus. I am not saying I am back regularly blogging but i just need a creative outlet, and sort of a place to make sure my stories exist even after i am long gone... in 80 years or so!

Life has gotten a lot more hectic. The last time I wrote we were a family of 3. Now we are family of 4 with Veer and Ishaan (welcome to the world my baby boy) who are 5.5 and 1.5 year old, respectively. I feel like Ishaan will get shafted in a lot of things. I love and treat both of the boys equally but we just don't make a big deal about a lot of things Ishaan does for the first time. I guess that come with having an older siblings. I feel guilty at times but justified at other times.

Veer has grown into such a little man with many personalities. He is an amazing older brother. He is always looking out for Ishaan. He recently got glasses that make him look wiser and more mature.

Ishaan is a ball of energy. He is veers shadow. Whatever Veer is doing, he would like to do. He has a personality of his own. He doesn't talk yet but he's very opinionated.

Round 2, Week 6

2014-11-18T13:43:00.003-08:00

Yup.

We’re doing this again. It wasn’t as “fast” as the first time around. I think we have officially been trying for 3 months before we found out we were expecting. But then again we weren’t really trying very hard. Oh, so many pun, so little time.

The day we found out I was driving home from work and I was supposed to get my period that day. I usually always get it a couple of days early so I thought it was odd but didn’t think anything of it since the last couple of months have been sorta irregular. Anyway, as I was driving home from work, I thought I should take a test just in case because as an added bonus if we are pregnant, it would be the day we would remember as the day we found out and 10 years to the day when we met (November 6^th – in case my future self cant remember, which is very likely seeing as I cant remember anything anymore).

It feels different this time around or maybe I have forgotten the initial months. We are very excited but I know what’s to come… the first trimester. I already have some symptoms. I feel generally lethargic and lazy. Last time I would get chills in the evening, now I get chills during the day- right after lunch. We have our initially appointment with the patient educator next week and then she will schedule an ultrasound. We are officially 6 weeks, which according to my calculations gives us July 14^th as a due date.

Welcome, Fall!

2013-09-19T07:18:00.004-07:00

I think the year was 1999 and Natalie merchant was on the radio. Her song Kind and Generous was a hit. Things were so different. Life was a little less hectic and chaotic. The summers felt like summer and fall was months away. When did we start fast forwarding thru summer? I had such big plans to enjoy the summer with Veer. I wanted to take him to the beach, the zoo, to NYC… I did none of those things. Little Veer is a rascal now. We are knees deep into the terrible twos. He’s become super picky about his food. I can probably count on one hand what he eats aside from snacks. Here he is in his school photo; I love this picture despite the cheesy background.

Welcome fall!

life.

2013-08-13T10:38:00.002-07:00

With his second birthday approaching, Veer is getting very naughty. We found out today he’s been hitting and puling hair at school. It seems normal but I don’t have to have a kid who does that. Those are bratty kids. I refuse to have a brat. He did a little bit of pushing and shoveling this past weekend in Parsippany. He pushed baa around because he didn’t know how to say “please move”. He is an angel with us, but when he is with others he misbehaves. Brat.

Veer tickling Baa

Baa & Veer

He now recognized the route to his school, so as soon as we are near traffic light by his school, he starts saying, “No, no, no…” it’s actually pretty funny and cute when he does that. He is talking now but not as much I as I expected. I guess it’s a blessing because one day he will start and won’t stop talking. I can already tell he is going to be a chatterbox.

Life in the household is pretty calm. Wait, did I just say that? Now that the store is sold and Anand has a 9-5, we actually have a part of our life back. We can do things on the weekend and have dinner together. Or dare I say, go shopping and spend time with Veer during the weekdays.


Our view from Lowe's Hotel in Philadelphia this past weekend

Coloring table

2013-07-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

We got Veer a little Mickey Mouse table yesterday and he is in love with it. He drank his milk there last night and this morning. He also is coloring at the tables. He’s really into crayons right now. The first thing he wanted to do after watching (Yogi &) Booboo in bed was to color.

Little bit of this and that

2013-07-05T11:59:00.001-07:00

We celebrated the fourth yesterday at Guilford. It’s been so hot and muggy outside that, we were literally so uncomfortable until like 6:59pm. If we stayed put in a one area it was fine but other than that I was sweating in places I shouldn’t be (like my cheeks).

Kavita had bought Veer an inflatable pool and we tried to fill that up yesterday but that was a big FAIL. We didn’t have a pump and there is not enough air in my lungs to manually fill that. No sir.

The last few weeks have been really tough. Veer is still getting night terrors and in the last week he has become the pickiest eater. He wants snacks through out the day and has completely stopped eating grilled cheese and bhakari/puri. It’s so frustrating because he’s so skinny. Sometimes I see him stumble and it makes think he is stumbling because he’s weak. I know that’s probably not the case but I just wish he would start eating a regular meal again. Is this part of the terrible twos?

He’s also become super attached to me lately. I’ve noticed when we go to either of the grandparent’s house now he won’t let go of me for the first couple of minutes. Before he could care less about me when others were around, now he wants me to hold him and once he’s familiar with them he is okay. Last month I was away for two nights at a conference and when I got back from the conference this super attachment started. That Sunday following the conference we went to Ron and Hetal’s house for a BBQ and he would not let go of me. He wanted to play with the kids and me. And that has me started that maybe he needs a sibling. He sees Anand and I like 50% of the time and when he is home, he gets 100% of our attention. If he had a sibling to play with, I feel like he would be better. That being said, I’m just not ready to have another child. Like me -physically, mentally, economically, just over all. I wish I could pause him from growing up and in the next two years or so when I am ready to have another child, I can un-pause him so there is not a big age gap.

my doppelganger

Night Terrors

2013-05-21T09:36:00.001-07:00

We are experiencing night terrors now. The last couples of weeks or even a month now Veer has been getting night terrors. I thought maybe they were nightmares… but that’s not the case. I told two people at work about his odd behavior (gets up in the middle of the night and starts hysterically crying and sprints for the door to get to us) and they both described it as night terrors, not nightmares. I guess they usually occur around this age. Everything he is doing point to night terrors: he wakes up crying a couple of hours after falling asleep, he opens his eyes and starts walking toward the door, he sometimes won’t stop crying for a while.

I hope he does grow out of it soon. I read articles online that they could last up until they are like 12.

I wonder what night terrors are? Meaning, what exactly is going thru his head that makes him wake up. Look at this cute little face; the idea of him dreaming/thinking about something bad is upsetting.

2013-04-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

Should I feel guilty about not posting for a while?

I do.

I am afraid if I make it a private blog again, people will start thinking I am pregnant and trying to hide it. But that may be a risk I have to take.

Until I decide to go private again, here’s what’s been going on:

Veer started teething again and is practicing a hunger strike. He wants to eat junk food all day long, but nothing with value. He still does love his milk… so I guess that’s still a blessing
He now can repeat certain names on queue
He loves to Facetime and gives kisses to anyone on Facetime. He gives hugs and kisses in person on demand- to others besides Anand and me.
He has been waking up thru the night for the last couple of weeks, but the last couple of nights he has been okay.
We took him to the park a couple of weeks ago and actually enjoyed it (compared to the last time we took him when he was a baby and didn’t really know what was going on).
Oh, we are growing a mullet on him. Not a hick mullet, but a cool European mullet. Cannot wait!
Occasionally he comes over and tells us when he has done #2. We can’t potty train him completely yet because his school will start once he is two and so it defeats the purpose if we start and they don’t implement.

Mom & Dad you were right...

2013-03-20T09:55:00.005-07:00

For years my parents have given me natural way to align my mind, body, soul... one of things they practice and have asked me to start practicing is drinking warm water first thing in the morning. By no means were they the first ones to discover the benefits of this but they were the first one to tell me about it. I recently started drinking warm water in the morning and I have noticed how aligned my body is. It starts my day clean. Most of the days when I drink warm water I see an "S" or a "C".

My parents, Oprah, & Dr. Oz would be proud.

Nemo 2013

2013-03-05T06:47:00.000-08:00

Nemo came and hit us hard. We had more than 30 inches of snow and were snowed in for 4 days. Initially it was nice to be snowed in. It was exciting. (Queue Will Smith's Just the ~~three~~ Two of Us but in my mind he is singing three of us). The storm started Friday at noon and didn't stop till probably Saturday morning. The State was in a state of emergency. The Governor had banned driving till the next day. Later we saw that people who were "brave" (read stupid) enough to drive got stuck somewhere. People had abandoned their cars on highways because they couldn't drive in snow. being snowed in felt like a blessing in the beginning and a torture by the end. Here is the best way to describe what i went thru:

Friday night - yay! snowed in. let's get pizza. 2 large pies, yes please thank you very much. and a bottle of wine. We are putting Veer to bed and enjoying that wine.
Saturday morning. - Oh wow, look at all this snow. Roads are not clean but they will get cleaned soon. Thank god we ordered 2 pies of pizza. introduce Veer to snow. he gets scared and we keep opening the door to show him the snow for the next few hours. it is quiet funny how he runs away from it.
Saturday afternoon - oh wow, look at all this snow. I wonder when the plows are going to come.
Saturday evening - oh well, the plows didn't come today. Thank god for our pizza. and another bottle of wine.
Sunday morning - oh i wonder what time the plows will come. We are almost out of milk.
Sunday afternoon - well i think we should at least clean the car. Our car is literally buried. I should make Anand a hot meal even though we have some pizza left.
Sunday evening- WTF. where are the plows. We need to get to work tomorrow. Make a nice and hot meal for Anand who had been outside shoveling for 4 hours.
Monday morning - okay, seriously WTF. where are the plows. I can work from home but i still need the roads to be cleaned. Veer is at home from daycare because we cannot leave this condo complex. If something happened an ambulance could not get in.
Monday afternoon - WTF. Dad comes to pick Anand up, he runs a few errands, and brings home the milk. yay, we have milk for Veer! Where the heck are the plows!?!?
Monday evening - this is not funny. WTF?!?! stupid $%*#&#*@!
Monday 9pm- we hear a plow. Anand decides to stay up so he can make sure the plow doesn't block us in. Around 2am he falls asleep waiting for them to come by our condo.
Tuesday morning - YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. they cleaned right up to our condo but not in front of our condo. those damn #%^&*@!
Tuesday afternoon - we are out. thank you.

If you skipped the whole story above, these pictures will sum it up:

Our Front Door

Our car is under there. you can see a wiper

18 Months

2013-03-04T06:15:00.000-08:00

Knows where the garbage is and throws things away - anything he wants. He went and threw out my necklace once

Discovered his nose – saw him put his finger up his nose a couple of times.

Found out where the q-tips are that I use to clean his nose. So now he goes and gets them and puts them up his nose.

Did not eat for a good month but now is getting is appetite back.

Got his first (and hopefully last for a very long time) chest X-ray done

Does not like khicadi at all.

Recognizes the song “itsy bitsy spider”

Comes and snuggles with me for minutes at time. Kisses my face, sleeps on my face.

Makes spit bubbles

Said “I love you” to me on Valentines Day. No joke. Now Valentine’s Day has a purpose.

Started in the waddlers room this month

Introduced him to cottage cheese and raisins. He loves raisins and spicy Indian snacks.

He can clearly say “mum mum”, “momma”, “daddy”, “ball”, and “buh-bye”

He runs really fast.

Still on the bottle.

Living with grays

2013-02-20T13:31:00.000-08:00

Over the past 6 months I have noticed an increase in the amount of grays I have. I feel like they have doubled. Initially it wasn’t that bad. In fact it was something that was kinda interesting, but now it’s getting to the point where I am considering dying them. I have never dyed my hair to cover my grays. For the first time in my life at a tender age of 30 I am considering dying them. A part of me wants to see what I would look like with grays. I am so jealous of those women who have a head full of perfect tamed grey hair. Knowing my hair I know it would be all crazy and unruly. What I am trying to achieve is this but I bet I would end up looking like this:

Bring me a bottle of dye.

Where is my muse?

2013-02-19T10:49:00.001-08:00

As I browse the web and certain bloggers I find myself being envious of their way to turnover so many projects and posts. Here I am trying to keep a mommy/baby/life blog and can barely be inspired enough to post an entry a week. I saw these color pencils and had to have them. They are just so unique and pretty and purposeful. They inspire me to draw. There is a lot going on but to sit down and put it in words is the last thing I want to do. That is until I find my muse.

17 months

2013-01-28T13:10:00.000-08:00

It was a hard month. he was sick for most of it. at one point he was down like 2lbs. he had bronchitis, double ear infection, and cold/cough all within 6 weeks.

He is into Jake and the Neverland Pirates right now

He also is into tiki bhakari

He had his first parent less stay at nana and nani's house when we were in Aruba

His bedtime is offices 8pm now. That means he is up at 7 and even 6:30 sometimes

He still loves his pizza. the other day we ordered a pie and when it arrived, he was so exited that he started kissing the box.

He's learning body parts now. he loves pointing to his belly button. He especially loves pointing to mine.

Dawn Bathroom cleaner

2013-01-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

I recently was told (thankyoukavita) an awesome way to clean your bathroom. I was suspicious at first... how could a very inexpensive and not high tech method work better than my super expensive cleaners!? But it does. It’s great and my bathroom looks brand new every time I step into it.

Here’s what you will need:

Here’s the formula:

½ dawn soap
½ vinegar

Seriously guys it’s awesome. I left some bobby pins in the shower once and a couple of weeks later when I finally moved the pins, it left this rusty mark. I tried about everything and couldn’t get rid of that rust. One scrub with this wand and voila, it’s clean! I couldn't believe my eyes. I was a believer on the spot. You got me. I clean mine while I am in the shower about once a week. I leave the wand in there so in case I see something that needs to be clean its right there.

That’s it. You’re done. Now clean your bathroom.

16 Months

2012-12-31T08:33:00.000-08:00

Still loves Mickey, but has a new found love for a teddy bear

Had a bad cold/cough thing going- bronchitis

Loves his pizza. Eats it for breakfast whenever we have leftovers

Loves to facetime

Does“kachiya ni topali ma meow meow”

Knows it’s time to go out when you have your shoes and jacket on

Loves dinner rolls right now

Tried a yogurt smoothie for the first time and didn’t gag

Went to see Santa. He cried. A lot.

Had his first lolly pop and some candy that Anand had when he was a kid

Loves chocolate and brownies

Very fussy at daycare

Moved on to #4 diapers (well he really should have like a month ago)

Got his first real haircut

Jumps on "1..2..3!"

He's very loving

Understands we are leaving daycare after we drop him. he cries.

He recognizes certain commercials on TV. When they are on, he runs over to watch them. most of them consist of music.

Christmas 2012

2012-12-30T09:02:00.000-08:00

We celebrated our 2^nd annual Christmas party at Kavita’s house this year. It was weird because Christmas fell on a Tuesday this year. So most of us had to work on Monday, day off on Tuesday, and work again on Wednesday. Veer had a blast opening all his gifts. He loves his plastic car mom & dad (#2) got him. He rode it all day long with Mickey and occasionally would let Raka get in it. Poor Raka.

Happy Holidays!

2012-12-24T14:08:00.000-08:00

Crafty Crafty: Hot coca in a Mason Jar

2012-12-21T13:59:00.001-08:00

This idea has been all over Pinterest for a couple of years now and I finally tired my hand at it. Kavita did it last year (or was it the year before?) for her co -workers and I had pinterest-project-envy (it’s a real thing. Look it up!) at the time. I was mad I couldn’t do a project like that. Well at last I can. I made these for Veer’s teachers at school. I am not a big fan of hot cocoa but I know some people are. I like to drink water or wine or vodka. Everything else is just extra calories. Hopefully the teachers are fans of hot cocoa.

Here is the recipe I used for the hot cocoa (yeild 5 jars):

4.5 cups of non fat dry milk powder

2 ¼ cups of unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/8 cups of sugar (i used granulated)

Chocolate chips

Candy cane

Marshmallows

Combine the milk powder, cocoa, and sugar. Layer the mixture at the bottom of your jar. Then layer with candy cane first, then chocolate chips and top off with marshmallows

I decorated the lid of the mason jar with wrapping paper. I didn’t like the look of just the metal lid, so traced the lid on Christmas wrapping paper and used that instead. Made a tag with instructions on one side and a small tree on the other and viola!

Pray for Newtown

2012-12-20T07:43:00.000-08:00

With the recent Newtown tragedy Christmas doesn’t seem the same. The massacre has left the nation in a lull and I think being local it’s even worse. It’s on the news 24/7 I feel like. As important as it is to remember, I think the media over does it. I remember I got a text from Jalpa Friday letting me know there was a shooting in Newtown. I immediately Googled it and saw it with my own eyes. That was around 12:45pm. Immediately after that the news spread at work and most of were glued to the TV on and off throughout the day. That first day we “learned” these “facts”: the shooter killed his father in NJ, then his mother in CT, and then attacked the school. The mother of the shooter was a teacher at the school. The mother was inside the building. None of these “facts” turned out to be true. There is no need for coverage on every little thing, especially when they don’t have their facts right. It is important we don’t forget but there is no need to be constantly reminded of it. I was driving by an elementary school today and saw a police car parked outside. I had mixed feelings about that. Should I be glad that the cop was there or worried? In what world do we need that kind of protection? Shouldn’t kids have the same experience we did of going to school without worry something bad may happen to them? It’s sad world we live in and something has to be done. It has gotten so extreme that I sometimes things the Hunger Games world is not too far away.

Birthdays, Holiday Parties, Haircuts

2012-12-17T07:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas is right around the corner and for the first time in years I am actually excited about the holiday. It has nothing on my real favorite holiday- thanksgiving (previously it was Halloween), but it’s coming close. I guess that’s what having a kid does to you. You care more about celebrating with them and family versus all whatever the opposite of that is. Last year, I did a lot of x-mas shopping after the holiday was finished – waaaaaaaaaaat!?!? I am only celebrating for commercial purpose. Anyways, we decorated the house right after thanksgiving and I love our house right now. I bet our Christmas tree looks like other interracial homes. The tree supports the catholic side and the ornaments support the Jewish side. That’s how we roll. We don’t segregate. We celebrate all holidays. We’ll have to figure out a way to do Diwali big next year!

We celebrated Anand’s bday earlier this month with a small celebration at home and then going to Frank Pepe’s on his actual birthday. Veer had a blast eating that pizza, as did Kunal, Diya, and Pari (well she ate a roll).

The weekend after we hosted an Ugly Christmas Party with some friends from the recipe exchange. I finally made Anand his cannoli cake and he loved it. Happy 35!!! He is still eating the cake.

Veer got his first real haircut- not the bathtub hair cut I gave him a few weeks before this. I used a buzzer and trimmed his sides and back. He looks so cute with his big boy haircut. If you look at him now you would have a hard time believing that he had curls.

15 months

2012-12-04T10:26:00.000-08:00

He loves Doritos, potato chips, French fries, and mathiya

We cut his hair after he turned 15 months

He loves Mickey Mouse

He loves his new suitcase his foi's future family got him

Still loves sweet potatoes.

Loves to dance to random Indian songs. He bops his head as a way of dancing

Loves Mickey Mouse playhouse

Saying "hi", "bye" on queue and more clearly

When I come home from work, he literally screams at me

He has had both of his flu shots

Ran out of space

2012-12-03T10:10:00.001-08:00

I haven’t posted in a while because I ran out of space. I was trying to blog about thanksgiving, and Veers 15^th month, and Xmas, and miscellaneous stuff but I ran out of space for pictures on my blog. So now, not only am I not getting paid to write this blog, but I am paying Google to let me! Ahh, the man wins this time. So if there is anyone out there who wants to sponsor this blog let me know. It’s a whole $3 a month to do so. LOL.

We spent Thanksgiving at Gee and Parul’s new house. We tried with our tradition of watching Love Actually but that didn’t happen. It did bum me out but it won’t stop me for long. The weekend is almost here, right?! There was no foot in corn, literally, but the day was eventful. We had lots of little rugrats running around, including Veer. There was a memorable game of Uno that went on for like 2 hours. No joke. Although we didn’t continue with our other tradition of midnight shopping, I did hit up Target the next morning and got some good finds, including this Dirt Devil vacuum for $8. It was talking to me. So I had to buy it. Seriously, 8! It's sitting nicely in the box in the garage.

But the day before Thanksgiving was super memorable for all of us. Samit proposed to Kavita. After months of dating, numerous frequent flyer miles points earned, he pooped the question. We knew he wanted to do it that weekend and we even gave him some ideas on how and where to do it, but in the end he went with his gut and proposed to her in park overlooking New Haven where they first shared first date. *winknudgewink* Congratulations to Kavita & Samit!!!!! Now comes the crazy fun party of planning the wedding!

Shruti's Sweet 16!

2012-12-01T09:19:00.000-08:00

Long before veer came into the picture, 15 years to be specific, there was Shruti. She was our little baby girl and last month we celebrated her sweet 16. Shruti was 1 at my sweet 16 and Veer was 1 at hers. She was the cutest little baby and I can’t believe we celebrated her 16^th birthday. It felt so surreal to be at her party. It was like watching my own child, which she is in away. I kinda now get how parents get so emotional at their daughters weddings. My little cutie is 16 now! Veer had a blast and was a little dance machine on the floor. We found out that he doesn’t really like to dance in crowds; he loves the dance floor to himself. Center of attention.

14 Months

2012-11-08T18:48:00.001-08:00

The little boops is now:

eating a lot more grown up foods like toast, mamara (rice puffs), whole grain cheerios, gathiya (chickpea flour fried noodles), dal, pancakes, chips, certain cookies

He is also very naughty - he fake cries, throws tantrums, cries really loudly on purpose

He also runs away when you chase him

He combs his own hair, or at least tries

He loves baths

He loves milk

He understand what "huggies" (not the diapers) is and gives us hugs on command

He doesn't understand what "kissy" is just yet. He licks us when we say "give kissy". His inner Raka is coming out.

He sometimes still acts like Raka - licks us, picks up his food from the floor with his mouth (instead of his hands), and he pants like Raka does when he is out of breath

He understands when it's diaper change time, to put his feet up

He says bye, hi, hello, mama, mum mum, something that sounds like "radhe radhe"

He loves Mickey mouse club house

He loves to pray. yes, he really does