Bye bye 2011

2011 was quite eventful for us.

It was so nice to have both sets of parents visiting during the summer and then both sisters and families visiting for Christmas. Being so far away from family, it is such a treat when that happens. We got to travel to many places with our parents and that was always something I wanted to do. To show them our adopted country and spend time together while we are all healthy. R got a promotion and did great at work. We learned we are (God willing) going to welcome a new life next year. We had a move and was blessed with a better house.

On the other hand, work has been crazy busy for R, traveling with Neil was very hectic for me, there was a lot of illnesses for everyone. We suffered some big financial losses, I had a very difficult 1st trimester with horrible debilitating migraines. I found out I have some health issues. Someone very close to us died unexpectedly and it was just hard to deal with. We had a move and had to get the house ready in 2 weeks. And we have a house now to be rented.

There were a lot going on in the last few days and I was feeling completely overwhelmed. I had help from both families, but the feeling was not because of the things to do although they are plenty of course. Sometimes when we get a really great gift from someone, don't we feel like it is just too much? That is how I have been feeling. The blessings have been numerous. And instead of being thankful, it is making me fearful. I know the hormones are working overtime for me, but I have been many times to the point of being unable to enjoy the present for fear of the unknown.

For the past two days, I have been an emotional seesaw. What am I going to lose to balance the blessings? I know God doesn't work with blessings that way, he takes pleasure in giving good gifts to his children. And I also know that if He chooses that I walk through the valley, that He would still be the same one who took me through the hilltops.

Fear is addressed so much in the bible because the Lord knows we struggle with it. My fears now are imaginary as nothing has happened so far, but they are all possible. I worry about the health and well being of my husband, child(ren), parents and many other stuff that most of us worry about. But God has not given us a spirit of fear, so we need not spend our days being afraid.

None of us know what the next year holds for us. But we know Who holds it in his hand. And because of that, we can eagerly anticipate the new year.

Happy 2012 everyone. May it be filled with blessings from above.

All about Neil

The thing about not updating the blog often enough is that I am afraid I am going to forget these days. Now that Neil is at a really fun age, I want to remember all the cute things he says and does. Life is certainly a challenge with a 2 year old, but it is great too.

His vocabulary has increased quite a bit. Doctor thought at his 2 year visit that he might need some therapy, but he seems to be doing well now. He says the alphabets and counts to 10 (one day he counted to 15!)He says some phrases and couple of Bible verses. He is still slightly un-social in a group setting, but I am that way too, so it is not a huge surprise. ha.

All the things which we tell him, he says it back to us. "No pinching Mama, No cotton (no touching counters), cafoo (careful), gimme hand." And he can identify almost all the objects. We had a book on shapes, and he could identify them long ago, now he says all the shapes too. He can also identify body parts in English and our native tongue.

Books are still his best friends, and he "reads" Goodnight Moon, The Gingerbread Boy, My First Bible, In the Fiddle, and I love you Little One. I just have to say two or three words in the book and he says all the rest.

The biggest issue we are working on his tendency to put everything in his mouth. Play dough, crap on the floor, ANYTHING. It drives me nuts because I know he understands he is not supposed to do it.

He is way too active for snuggles and cuddles. I am ready to cry when I think about that. I read to him in hopes that I can kiss and cuddle him while reading. He is 2, but he thinks he is 15. He wriggles and runs off when I force snuggle him. He does give ummas (kisses) when I ask for it. I have to be satisfied with that.

BUT...

He still goes to sleep with me and then after he has fallen asleep I transfer him to his crib. (I use this time to shamelessly shower him with kisses) Yes, I know he is past 2. But we are Indian parents, our kids sleep with us till they are 25.

He loves to flush. If anyone goes to the toilet, he runs after them, hoping to flush. I try to use that to encourage him to go on the potty. He tells me poo poo and then I dash him to the toilet and then he sits there for 20 seconds, does nothing, flushes and then runs off. I am now thinking he is tricking me.

He has started to play with toys much better and I am happy. Not that I get to do much around the house. He plays with his toys only if I sit there watching him, doing nothing. If he sees me doing something, then he wants me to stop and play with him. ha ha. He loves being on the phone and tells hello, goodbye, umma, how are you etc to whoever is on the other line. The grands have a blast when we talk to them.

He is still a good little helper to his mama. He unloads the dishwasher, helps with laundry, wiping down tables, putting away toys etc. I so hope it lasts!

I was looking through some old pictures and I am so startled at the passage of time. The days at times which seemed so long, in retrospect seemed to have flown by. It helps me stop and cherish the day to day, tantrums and all.

Here he is at 14 months



And now at 26 months.

Reflections

I am turning another year older tomorrow. When I was 18, the 30s seemed so old. When I was 21, I felt very old and mature. I don't feel very old now. Which probably means I am growing older gracefully. :) A lady at church yesterday said I look young and pretty. Well, beauty beholder etc etc. I do have a couple of grey hair, my metabolism is not what it used to be, I am a few pounds heavier, few shades darker. And those are just the physical changes. 25-30 years (and continuing) has been the most eventful in my life.

When I was newly married, my husband and I vied with each other to create the perfect birthday for each other. After our wedding, the first birthday was R's. We were in two places at that time, but I bought him an ipod, took him to a mystery dinner, bought clothes, made a collage birthday card, booked him a massage, made his favourite stuff, and totally made a weekend out of it. Not to be outdone, on my birthday, he showed up at my work with flowers, arranged a lunch with my boss and some friends, went to La Nouba, had dinner out, bought me dresses, stuffed toys and made me a card with all the 52+ pet names he called me in the time he knew me.

After that, all of our birthdays, we took 3 days off and travelled. We went to Yellowstone, Utah for R's 2007, Grand Canyon for my 2007, Yosemite for R's 2008 and Bahamas cruise for my 2008. That was our last vacation with just the two of us. We were planning one to Costa Rica for our anniversary in 2008, but it never worked out and we are happy it didn't as I was pregnant with neil by then. Then in May 2009, we went to Hawaii but I was 6 months pregnant with Neil and although it was just the two of us, it still wasn't just the two of us :) I made a nice lunch for R for his 2009 birthday and that was it. I was a new mom for my 29th birthday and my parents were here with me, and I had pretty much everything I wanted.

The year I had Neil was when it changed for me. Now, we exchange cards and buy something we need. This year I needed a coat, and R got that for me. I am celebrating my birthday tomorrow with a doctors appointment. :) Life is very busy for us now. Years back, it was all about me and us. And here is the funny part, I don't miss it at all. And here is something else I never thought I would say: I don't miss the traveling. Honestly, it is more like a hassle packing everything for all of us for a few days of travel. I like staying home and the routine. I know a time will come in our lives when Neil gets much older, we will have time for everything we have put in the burner. I am enjoying this season in life. And a birthday marks another year that has gone past. I have changed, I know, and I hope - for the better.

My sweet husband and child is fast asleep hugging each other up in our bed. I should be asleep too. But I am enjoying this few hours of alone time. R might not get up to wish me Happy Birthday at the stroke of midnight. But he took Neil out in the evening, so I could have a few hours to myself. Then he took him up to bed and I had more time. That is worth more than any pearl necklaces and diamond earrings to me now. I am truly blessed!

Heavy Heart

It is close to midnight on a Saturday. I really should be asleep seeing as tomorrow is a Sunday and we need to be up early to worship. But sleep is elusive. My heart is heavy tonight.

My uncle, who was ready to get on a plane to visit his daughter and grandkids, suffered a stroke with seizures and is in the hospital in critical condition. Doctors are unable to do any tests on him as he starts getting the seizures again if anything is done. He is on life support and his whole family is gathered around him praying. Those of us who are miles and miles away are also praying. It is just hard though.

And today, I just found out that a friend of ours who used to worship with us is battling cancer. She is undergoing treatment, but apparently it has spread.

Also, in the last week, R's sister's FIL passed away. He was apparently in good shape, but had a heart attack, went into a coma and in 2 days was gone.

Hearing these things is hard. I want it all to be better for everyone. But we are not promised a pain free life. I am praying for healing and God's mercy for my uncle and friend. It hurts here on earth, but a day will come when there will be no more grief or pain and when HE will wipe away every tear.

Neil's 2nd Birthday Party

Tonight we had a small party for Neil's birthday. I just invited two families and I was planning to just order pizza as I didn't feel like cooking a lot. Then I kind of felt funny doing that and ended up cooking a most laborious dish (for the first time, that!) and another tried and true appetizer. It was nowhere as elaborate as last year, so I even hesitated to call it a party. We ate, played some Taboo and hung out.

The camera did not work, although the batteries were charged long enough and I did not have the presence of mind to take some phone pictures. So the only picture I have of the party is one of the main dish I cooked. I just happened to have the phone nearby and thought the final product looked good enough to take a picture.



And here is the weird part about the day. We had the first family come in, and I was getting ready upstairs. I suddenly heard Neil crying loudly. I thought he had fallen down, but apparently he just cried on seeing them. And he cried and cried and just would not stop. R and I have never seen him behave this way and it was so surprising. He took a long while to calm down and was pretty much cranky the entire time. Then just after we finished our food, he went upstairs all by himself and sat down. He would not come down. Then R went upstairs and put him in his crib, and instead of crying, as he usually does, he talked to himself for about half an hour and then went to sleep. It was quite surprising and a little disconcerting to see him behave this way.

Still, it was nice to have friends at home. I feel bad that there are no pictures, but I was a little all over the place after the unprecedented behavior.

DIML - Tuesday

Today started just like yesterday with Neil waking me around 7:30. The only difference is that I lounged in bed until 8:30 with him. He was nice enough to just talk to himself and PRAISE THE LORD he slept through the night in his crib yesterday. We have been trying that for a few days and it happened yesterday. Finally, I woke up did all the stuff I did yesterday. I am not going to show another picture of a made bed. Consider yourself spared.

The one thing I didn't do today morning was my devotions. Somehow, I started the day and it got pushed off and sure enough the day started going downhill soon. I had some breakfast and maybe it didn't quite agree with me. I started getting some upper body pain. I don't handle pain well and it makes me cranky, so I just started counting the time until I could put him for a nap. I chatted with mom in the morning, and also went for a walk. I didn't want to sit and get worse, so I figured I would clean out the gunky mess that is my car. Neil thought we were going out, and he got in the car seat and put the seatbelt (the top strap) all by himself. He got angry after a while when he realized we weren't going anywhere :)

The one good thing today morning was that the temperature was only 250 degrees instead of the usual 429, so we did not melt into a puddle after the walk. We had leftovers for lunch and so it would have been a good morning if it were not for the physical discomfort. Neil went for his nap around 12 ish, R and I had lunch. After that, I put a movie on and started cutting veggies for dinner. As soon as I finished, Neilu woke up and I fed him lunch. Then we had some reading time, he rode his bike, I finished the movie. Around 4:30, we left for the gym and I worked out for 1.5 hrs while Neil ran around and had a blast.

Alas, I don't have any pictures save for this. This has really nothing to do with how I spent my day, but I found it worthy enough to stop my car, reverse, and take a picture!



And the only other one is of me in gym clothes. And that my friends, is not an image I want to leave you with.

I will be back tomorrow with hopefully a less blah day.

DIML-Monday

As promised, a post with pictures (!) of my Monday.

Day started at around 7:30 when I woke up with Neil. Gave him some milk while I started getting ready for the day. Gave him his vitamins, made some oatmeal and set it to cool. R woke up and we do some stretching exercises and sit ups.

R fed him some biscuits (or cookies in American) dipped in tea while I came up and did my morning devotion. I made the bed before going down.



Neil is ready for his oatmeal with a dollop of homemade strawberry jam.



I start a load of laundry.



I do my daily morning chat with my parents while sweeping the dining room and unloading the dishwasher. Doing two things made it impossible to take a picture as well. :)

I started lunch prep. Lunch was simple today. Channa Batura. While cutting stuff, I fed Neil some strawberries too mainly to keep him quiet :)



Neil helped me a bit with the cooking. He is trying to stir it while being on my hip. He asks me to pick him up sometimes when I am cooking so he can see better what is going on.



While I waited for the sauteed stuff to cool down before grinding, we had reading time for about 25 minutes.



I finished up cooking and took Neil to the backyard to play with bubbles. He was more interested in biting my clothesline.

(As an aside, is is just me or is it insanely boring?)



I fed him some Special K, gave him some milk and put him to nap at around 12:15. Oh, and by this time, Neil had to be disciplined for tearing books. We have been trying to make him understand that books are not to be torn. But there was a mistake on our part that we let him tear scrap paper and we think that he probably doesn't understand the difference. Anyway, we decided that from now on, all paper is off limits. It makes us feel so bad to discipline him and have him cry, but we have to do it for his own sake. Also, laundry was shifted, and another load put in.

R and I had lunch and I came up for my work time. There were invoices to be sent and paid, emails to be answered etc. After about an hour of work was my personal time. I made appointment for a dental surgery for myself this Friday, found out about insurance and updated the checkbook. I also sent some personal emails, downloaded some pictures and cleaned up some files in my laptop, and folded a load of laundry.

Neil woke up around 3:15 and I fed him lunch and then started on dinner. Dinner was fish, sambhar and cabbage stir fry and rice. Thankfully, at that time R came down and he cut the cabbage for me. Cabbage cutting is not my favorite task as I just take a lot of time, but I bet R will think twice about taking breaks from work to visit me. ha :)

After cooking was done, my sidekick and I went out for some errands.



First was Staples for some office supplies for a work/home organization notebook. And while I was there, I found that they have one subject notebook for ONE AMERICAN PENNY. I bought one not knowing that and when I saw the bill, I was shocked. I should probably go tomorrow and buy more, because at one penny, WHY NOT?



Next stop was at the library where I checked out 4 movies.



Dinner was a disaster as the coconut which I had added to the cabbage was spoilt, and it spoilt the whole thing. I had to throw it out and we ended up eating just rice and sambar (and fish). And I had put rice in a wrong utensil and it didn't cook well and R had to come and recover it and Neil was hungry and whiny and screechy and I got a headache listening to him. I finally gave some cereal to calm him down and then some rice when it was done. We put one of the movies I got and watched it while we had dinner. After dinner, I cleaned up while R gave Neil a bath and got him ready for bed. He stayed up with us a little bit and then went to sleep nest to R. I am sitting next to them and blogging about the day.

It is close to midnight and I am done after I hit publish. :)

Hello!

This is actually the state of my little garden patch. I could use the same picture as a metaphor for my blog too. I have squarely neglected both of them for the longest time. Both sets of parents were visitng from India and so we had an epic summer and spent the majority of time traveling. The garden patch was taken care of yesterday. Weeded it, put some fertilizer, loosened the soil, and watered it. Today, I am going to put some topsoiol in and put some stones around the edges to pretty it up.

And I hope to get back to blogging soon. I am so glad to have the routine of everyday life back that for the next few days I am going to do a day in my life. I have to warn you that since I stay at home, it is going to be really boring, so feel free to skip it.

You have been warned.

Facebook

So much has been written about facebook. I don't know too many people under the age of 60 who doesn't have an account. I am not going to talk about the pros and cons of facebook. That has been beaten to death. Maybe someone has written about this already, but there is one aspect which I find very unsettling. They are the ghost friends. I am aware that maybe it is because this is a problem just for me.

Who are ghost friends?

They are people who are on your friends list who are fairly active on facebook, but in all the years that you have friended them has never once "liked," commented or messaged you.

I have some ghost friends. Some of them are family by marriage who I have never met in person. Some are friends. I find that very voyeuristic and makes me feel uncomfortable. That someone is reading about my life by reading my statuses every other day and never cares to connect in any way? In the time since I opened my account, I had a baby, he had a birthday, tons of cute pictures, celebrated 2 anniversaries, 2 birthdays and not one comment?

You could ask me why I cannot just delete them. The thing is I hate doing that. Which brings me to something that my husband thinks is very mean. I have about close to 30 unaccepted friends requests in my account. I am too nice to click the ignore button, but I have not clicked the accept button either. One reason is that most of them use facebook to play stupid games. I do not want to get umpteem statuses about the cows, goats and rattlesnakes which I could care less about. Once I have a lot of people on the list I will have an unmanagable news feed (as I mostly check facebook every other day on a computer) and I will miss updates from people who I actually care about.

So now that you all know that I am a mean person, I hope you still come back to read. I do have to add that I have another account (not facebook) and all these people who have requested to add them are my "friends" there and haven't interacted in years. That is the main reason why I hesitate to add them here.

Actually, I have found a workaround to all the requests which I am implementing now. I had another facebook account which I have pretty much never used. I will add all friends there and am waiting to see if anyone interacts. If they do, I will tell them about the real account. You may think I am nuts to overthink it so much. But, this is how I manage my facebook time online. I do not need more things to overwhelm me.

How do you manage facebook?

Laundry Room Makeover

Our utility room/laundry room is the first room that most people (including us) see when they come in to the house. It is off the garage, so we park the car and get in that way into the kitchen. I spend a lot of time there as well especially since Neil was born. It was in bad shape, and I wanted to make it a bright pleasant place. This remodel was done a while ago, but I just happened to see the pictures now and was pleasantly surprised at how much better it looks.

Here are some before pictures.

This is what you saw as soon as you came in. Precious isn't it?



This was the view from the kitchen looking into the room. Also, part of the view coming in to the house.



This was the view looking out from the kitchen. I have to add that the shelves were originally not there. They were constructed later.



NOW for the AFTER pictures:

This is what you see when you come in from the garage.



From the kitchen




Up close and personal



The floor. I PAINTED THE ACCENT WALL (to the right) AND THE WHITE DOOR. It was my first time painting and I was just excited. Sorry. Wont happen again. The rug is from Home Goods I think. I may be wrong, it has been a while.



Another look. I got the curtain from walmart to match the wall. I love the color burgundy. Just love it. It is a slightly "heavy" color, but I think it is perfect for accents. I also love white and the idea of a white laundry room with a touch of color really appealed to me. White = Clean, get it? The tile is white with the slightest hue of blue. The blue is barely even there.



I basically had a curtain hung to hide the heater. I did not want to put plywood and make it inaccessible. I thought a curtain would be a pretty solution. And the other unit, I had someone put in a door (again, for accessibility) and also, as the wood was rotting below, the whole bottom part was redone.

I love how it looks now and I actually like being there and doing the laundry.

Our week

It has been a crazy last few days. On Wednesday night, I went to the gym with Neil. R had to be in some meetings and could not come with us. I worked out until a little past 7:30 pm and then got out and started driving. I was waiting at a signal to take a left turn in to the State Highway and suddenly, my car sputtered to a stop. I turned my hazard lights on and thankfully there were two turning lanes.

I called R and he said he will come and pick me up in the van and help us get home. He also asked me to flag someone down and have the car moved to the side. I was shy, but a little bit later, I summed up some courage and flagged down a van which was driven by two guys. They helped me get the car to the side and tried to jumpstart the car. They tried many times, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, what was R doing? Well, as he said he was on the way and while he was on the way, he got a flat tire. And he said he could not find a spare in the van. So my car was failing to start, R was stuck with a flat tire, neil was screaming his head off because he was hungry, tired, thirsty, and sleepy. I had finished the bottle of water that I had, his bottle was empty too, he had even finished the snacks I had for him. I called AAA and the guys who helped me said that they would wait until AAA comes as it was getting to be dark. I knew they would take a while and I told them bravely that we would be okay. They refused to leave and so wait they did.

When I called AAA, I also asked for police protection as I was parked in the side of a building which was not lit and I didn't want the poor guys to wait for ever. So after a while, an officer came and the guys left. I was so touched that they did that. I guess there is not much more sympathy evoking than a young woman with a small child stuck with a non-working car in the middle of the road. After a while, the AAA guy came, and try as he might, he could not get the car to work. Poor guy did everything he could and finally called for a tow truck. The officer left when the AAA tech came. At least one good thing happened because he came. He told me where to find the spare for our Sienna. Turns out it is in a very inconvenient and non-intuitive place. Anyway, by the time the AAA guy gave up, and the tow truck called, R changed the tire and was on his way.

The tech had handed us some water, and at least we weren't thirsty anymore. I just drank very little as I had no idea when we were getting home and it was not like I had a diaper to pee on. So while he was calling the tow truck, I sang the entire album of kids' songs that Neil likes and he went to sleep in my arms. Finally, both R and the tow truck came within a few minutes of each other. The tech stayed until R came and we talked about how our vehicles plotted against us. We do not know if the car or the van started the conversation that led to a mutiny which ended up with all three of us stranded outside.

The tow truck came, and the car was dropped at a mechanics and the next day I had it repaired. Turns out, the computer which controls the car crashed and there is a recall on that. So, if you own a 2006 Toyota Corolla, and this happens to you, you know what to do. Since there was a recall, the parts and labor, which came to a $1000was done for free. The car still needed a lot of other work, and we will hopefully get it back tomorrow. I also had to get the van tires fixed and I was out all day Thursday taking care of both.

Today was resodding day. We fixed the front lawn and I also planted some flowers and bushes in the front. I do not have a before picture, but it was in pretty sorry shape, that much I can tell you. Maybe I will have some after pictures soon. I think it looks lovely. I planted some azaleas, and geraniums. I have to admit that I am using the term I very loosely here. I just bought them and had someone plant it. He was resodding the lawn as well and I helped out for 4 hours. My feet are killing me, but boy, I feel good.

So that is the highlight from our week. Also, I have to note that Neil ran a mile on Friday. It was quite an achievement. He fell down so many times and bloodied his knee, but he just got up and ran again. Not one tear. Such a spunky child. (Is he even mine?) I saw that when he came home, there was a bunch of grazed skin, and one was big even. Also, the only time he cried during the car debacle was when he was strapped in the backseat. I saw that he was sweating bullets. Once I took him out and let him run around, he was fine. He is a trooper.

Here is a picture of him from Easter.

Mother's Day

It was a lovely mothers day for me. All the past mothers day, we had always been traveling, so it was nice to be home this time. In 2009, when I was pregnant with Neil, we were coming back from our babymoon in Hawaii. Hubs got me two overpriced necklaces from the airport. In 2010, we were coming back from Portland. It was a very memorable trip and you can read all about it here and here. Needless to say, gifts were not on either of our minds that day.

This year, we stay put at home and the men at church hosted a dinner for the ladies. They had children escort the moms and carry their plates and the men served us lunch. It was so sweet!!! Then we all got a small gift. Neil and R gave me a card and a necklace which I am wearing now. It is the cutest thing with a turtle for a locket which comes with 5 colours. Neil ahem has a habit of going all out for gifts. So I told him strictly that I didn't care what he bought me as long as it was under $25. And this one was $24.99. And did I mention I love it? Then they took me out to dinner at Elephant Bar. So it was a pretty good mothers day. Although, compared to last year, even if we did NOTHING AT ALL, it still would have been an excellent one by comparison. ha.

I do not have any pictures, but Neil looked really cute in his smocked jon jon which he completely spolit with baked beans and heaven knows what else. He also had a haircut on Saturday. And so did his daddy. I am not exactly sure what is wrong with me, but I love him with slightly long and curly hair. So I get sentimental whenever he has a haircut. This is how his haircut goes in this house. Hubs will be mercilessly chopping off his hair while I stand there and offer helpful comments like, enough, wait, leave some in the front, don't take off all the curls etc. And Neil will be screaming all throughout. Fun times. Now he looks just like the wild toddler boy that he is. Sometimes I wonder if all toddler boys are like this or if mine is extra wild. He growls so well. R says he has never seen an almost two year old growl so well. Then again he hasn't seen many toddlers. I can't recall many growling toddlers myself.

I hope all my mommy readers had a wonderful mothers day.

Losing Weight

I have been on the losing weight bandwagon since mid-Jan 2011. When your child is 20 months old, you cannot continue to blame the said child for your 'extra real estate.' I have been trying to lose weight without dieting or exercising in 2010. Surprisingly, it didn't work. Who would have thought? Although to be honest, I never gained weight not dieting or exercising for a major part of my life. All that indiscriminate eating has come now to bite my butt. Like literally.

The other day, I was at the BMV getting my license renewed and the lady asked me if I was expecting. I told her I wasn't expecting anything other than a license. She was visibly embarassed and apologized couple of times, but hey, it is what it is. That was though, the kick I needed to get back to the gym. I had not gone for two weeks. The problem with exercising sporadically is that the working out really increases the appetite and well, getting back to eating a whole burrito bol is not the fastest way to weight loss. It is in fact the fastest way to weight gain. Maybe that way I would be the only person who gains weight after 6 months of working out.

I have been trying out a few things to help me. These are the things which I know I should do. But it is like what Paul says in his letter to Romans. Although I am pretty sure he was not talking about weight loss. Here is the list of things I should be doing, and try my best to.

1. Drinking water.

Whenever I start to feel hungry, I take to drinking water. It gives a false feeling of fullness without actually contributing negatively. To help, I try and keep a bottle with me at all times. I am not drinking anywhere near I should be, but I have to start somewhere.

2. Eating breakfast.

This has been the hardest for me. I am not a morning person, and I somehow muddle through the morning until about 10 am, but I am rarely hungry. Also taking care of all the morning stuff, I just keep skipping. I have to make a conscious effort to eat and it has been harder than I thought. I try now, even if it is just a bowl of cereal.

3. Eating meat.

The second hardest thing. Husband and I did a fitness test and they told me that I need to introduce more protein in my diet. I have started eating chicken and fish. i figured, Neil needs protein as well and I have taken to cooking meat. Truth be told, I don't care for any meat (except fish, which I don't consider meat) and eating it once a day has been a bit of a challenge. But I did find that it has helped me in reducing the amount of rice which leads me to the next one.

4. Frequent Meals

I was told to have 5-6 meals a day. I used to have 2, I am aiming to double that. So far I manage 3. Let's not go overboard. I am not looking to be a supermodel here.

5. Portion Control

When I initially started all this thing, I thought this would be the hardest. Turns out, it wasn't too bad. The days I follow 1,2,3 and 4, portion control naturally follows. I mean I drink a gallon of water (not that I ever did) and eat protein and a good breakfast, and a snack to boot, it is not like I can eat a ton of rice at lunch anyway! On the best days, I reduce my rice to 50% of the peak and that has been awesome. But I can count on one hand how many times that happened.

6. Triggers and Pushpoints

This doesn't have anything to do with dieting per se, but I have found in the last months that when I get burnt out or DONE, I tend to eat crap. And it took me a while to realize what my triggers are. One of the major triggers is stuff lying around and things on kitchen counters. Maybe I am bizzare, but I tend to get overwhelmed if I see that. Then instead of doing anything, I sit with a book and munch. It is difficult with a toddler to keep things where they are. But I try and put things away so I am not looking at a tornado bitten house at the end of the day.

I lost 4 pounds in the last month. That has been encouraging knowing that I have not done a lot in terms of sticking to the ideal. If anyone who is reading this struggles with weight loss, I hope you are encouraged. Some days, when I have had a hard day with Neil, that is when I tend to raid the fridge/pantry and binge on chips/brownies etc. Now I keep yogurt and nuts. Even if I do get a craving, there is nothing much available. I hope that the changes I am trying to make will soon become habits and the habits will become part of my lifestyle.

But until then I will stay away from the chips aisle in Publix.

Not peaches and icecream

It was a wonderful weekend. I know that the majority of the people who read this blog don't care, but it has been a great weekend for India as they won the world cup cricket championship after 28 years. We three went to a theater here and watched the second half of the game with 250 screaming fans, Indian flags waving in the air, it was awesome. So pretty much the whole weekend, we talked of nothing else. We all wore blue in support and Neil slept through a lot of the game which really helped. It was a great memory to watch India win and singing the National Anthem at the end and for all three of us to do it together. We ate out after that and

Sunday was church and then we came home, took a nap and I worked on the yard a bit. We also found out on Sunday that our tax e-file came back rejected. I was on the phone most of the day with IRS and taking care of various other stuff. I barely had time to make lunch. Afternoon was spent helping hubby with some work and evening we went for workout.

As I was unable to do anything around the house, it looks awful. Anyone with a toddler in the house knows what the house is like after a day of toddler activity. I just feel exhausted. It is not often I feel miserable and exhausted and snappy at the end of the day, but I am today. I am actually feeling sorry for myself. I know I am blessed and all that, but the occassional day is rough. I hope to get up early tomorrow and get a head start on things to feel better. Sorry I was such a wet blanket today, but everything is not peaches and icecream everyday.

Ultimate Blog Party 2011 - Welcome

If you are coming here from the Ultimate Blog Party 2011, a warm welcome to you. Grab your beverage of choice and join me here. Please feel free to browse around and read more.

To get you started, the links on the right side which says Even More Things About Me would be a good place to start.

Are you back? Well, while you were out looking at it, I did too. I realized that the Link "Why Just About Anything?' is outdated. Sorry to have wasted 2 minutes of your life. I do have a cute child now and I am a SAHM now. I gave up my job when the cute factor in the house rose exponentially around 2009. I lost my figure, went through pain, delivered the child and I saw no reason not to be there to enjoy all that cuteness once he was out of my tummy.

I love traveling and I have come to realize that I do love cooking. It has come rather as a shock to me. I do not like the clean up after and despite the cooking, I am not very domestic. I have succeeded well in killing anything I have tried to grow in the garden, yet I continue to try every year. The Spring season gets me every year. I love reading and try to read a little bit everyday. I might not have time to wash dishes everyday, but I have time to read. Priorities, people.

I am a nerd, and love to play word games. I am rather sarcastic in real life. Hubby is still my best friend after 5 years of marriage. It is awfully sappy, but I love him more than I did 5 years ago.

I used to to be terrified of dogs, but got one and then had to give him up. It was one of the hardest things I had to do. I wrote about it here.

I am Indian living in America and I once wrote about what I love about America.

I am shy at real life parties, but I hope it didn't show in this one. Once the party is over, I hope you come back and visit me again.

Project Simplify - Kitchen Pantry

I have been planning on joining Simple Mom's Project!Simplify since it started. Unfortunately, the planning never got to the execution part and so I still have HUGE paper clutter, my closet is only halfway done, toys are still strewn about. BUT, when I read about the hot spot being the pantry, I knew I had to do it. It totally needed to be done, but it was not as intimidating as the paper clutter which I am not very confident of tackling in this life. Anyway, my dear husband took an unexpected day off, and so I had help with the little one and thusly the stars were all aligned on the pantry cleaning.

I had recently cleaned out our fridge very thoroughly, so I figured, I only had to do the pantry and thought I would finish it in no time. But I am slightly obsessive compulsive and I started with the pantry and ended up clearing out the pantry and ALL the cupboards. As the cupboards were not originally on my plan, I don't have before pictures of that.

My feet are tired, and I am yawning incessantly, but good heavens, I feel so GOOD.

So, here is the before picture of the pantry

Top Part



Bottom Part



After about 2 hours of washing old jars, throwing stale, old and unrecognizable stuff, and rearranging things around to make it more accessible, here is how it looks.

Top Part



Bottom Part



The entire thing



I don't have before pictures for the cabinets, except for this one. Even this is one halfway through so it is not very representative. Trust me when I say that it was not pretty.



Here is the after for all the cabinets.



At the left corner, I have put together all snacks that have been at various places. That way, next time we get hungry, we (and by we I mean my husband) will know where to look.





So this accounts for about half of my day. It has been rather productive and I am pleased with myself.

19 months

It has been a while since I posted last and it has been an even longer while since I wrote what Neil is up to these days. I do regret not keeping up with my monthly letters. As a matter of fact, I think the changes were even more from month 12 to now than the first 12 months. I cannot go back and remedy the lack of documenting that, so I thought I would write about what is going on now.

He is now 19 months old and a naughty little toddler.



His favorite thing to do is read or actually being read to. I am not sure if it is because he gets to sit in my lap and gets my undivided attention or if he really loves books. I think a little bit of both. Either way, I am not complaining.



He still eats well, but he has this funny habit of rejecting the first bite of anything I offer him. He turns his head away and makes faces and then I somehow manage to get it down his throat. After that, everything is great. Funny little boy!

He LOVES strawberries and between the two of us, we go through a pound bag pretty soon. Good thing it is the season now.

He doesnt like sitting in his chair and eating, mostly he runs around and then comes back to eat the rest. It is just easier for both of us. Thankfully, I don't have to run after him, he just comes back after all the wanderings.

His thing to do now is make sure all doors are shut. Sometimes even when people are in the middle. He is a man with a mission. THE DOORS NEED TO BE SHUT, PEOPLE. Car doors, microwave doors, regular doors, oven doors, you need a door shut, Neil is your man.

He does not understand the concept of his dad working from home. His favorite place to be is sitting behind R in the chair. I am the mean momma because I take him out from there so R can get some work done.

The laptops are his arch nemesis, if we are working on them, he will push it away.

He still laughs when something falls or unexpected sounds happen and his laugh melts us. It is the sweetest sound and we do anything to hear that.



He doesn't talk many words except No, daddy, mamma and bow bow. But he talks entire sentences in his own language which I think is much cuter than ours. And he says those stuff seriously too. It is just the cutest thing.

Speaking of words, he says No with such an accent. Like Naaaw. Cracks us up to no end.

He loves being outside, weekends are his favourite days as he gets lots of attention from both of us, and he is such a cuddlebug. These days, he wants to be rocked to sleep before he goes down for the night.

He loves to walk in the middle holding both our hands and I take a mental photograph of that and tuck it away. I savor all these sweet memories as these days speed by me all too quickly.

Neil 1 year ago

Stream of Thought

I bring him up from the car. It is late and he has gone to sleep. R holds him and I remove his shoes. We had to change him and put his jammies. He half wakes up and cries. I take him to our room instead of putting him in the crib. Usually, I go off to do "important" tasks and let him sleep by himself. Today, I snuggle with him. These days he won't let me squish and snuggle when he is awake. He is too busy running around. We lay cheek to cheek. I synchronize my breathing with him. I inhale his smell. I press him close to my heart. He stirs in his sleep.

I think of how small he was and how fragile he seemed to me when he was a newborn. I rub his back and pray for him. I lay him down back in his crib and keep Tigger next to him. He is fast asleep. There were tantrums, and drama today. But now he sleeps like an angel. I marvel at how long he has become when I see him all stretched out like that. I sigh and walk back out.

Here is what is going on

It has been afew dates since the last update. What has been going on?

1. Sickness: Neil cried so bad at BSF on Wednesday that they had to come get me. I took him to the doctor and she confirmed the start of a double ear infection. I am not sure if he had recovered from the last one and started another again or if he never did recover from the other one. Anyway, since he had been cranky for the last couple of days, I filled the antibiotics for him. I just don't want him to suffer unnecessarily.

2. Humiliation: At the gym, they did a fitness test and found out that my body fat percentage is 50. Half of me is just fat! It was humiliating, but just the dose I needed to get my butt off the couch and work out. I have hardly any muscle, no wonder I am so weak!

3. Exercise: As a result of the abobe, I have been exercising 4-5 days a week. It is going great. Except that I am ready to hit the bed by 9:30 pm and I am really really hungry as the metabolism is kicking in. The other day I did 45 minutes of cardio at 6.5% incline and 3.7 speed. I was proud as that was my first day of cardio.

4. Work: Every spare minute I have when Neil is sleeping is spent working, and as a result the house is A MESS. If I take a picture and put it here, I am sure my blog will be the cause of sudden heart attacks reported throught the country. So, I will spare you all. I finally got one part of the counter cleaned out today and that felt sooooo good. What with exercise and taking care of a sick baby, and work, and cooking, I have had no time. And it is so difficult to keep up with a busy toddler. I don't know why kids have so much energy and us so less. It just doesn't seem logical.

5. It is way past mama's bedtime at 10:15 and I am off to sleep. I am so sorry to have given the account of a very boring life here. But as a friend said in her blog recently, I don't have a very interesting life (either):)

Odds and Ends

Today is our 6-year engagement anniversary. R got me flowers most unexpectedly.



I love it. He knows that I don't care for red roses by itself, so on the few occassions he does get me flowers, it is pink or calla lillies. Oh, I love red roses, I just don't like it from him. A quirk of my personality.

The day didn't start out great as Neil vomitted all the milk he had in the morning. He threw up on the bed, pillow, conforter and got some on R as well. So, we all got up at 7 and I started laundry immediately. Neil was very happy after all the throwing up and was doing his "happy dance." R and I had a late night and so we had very few hours of sleep. We kept Neil at home for a few hours and only took him to church for the second meeting. He seems to be doing better. He was rather cranky towards evening.

We usually eat Sunday lunch out. We eat so much that we cannot even eat dinner. But now that we are working out, we were both hungry by dinner time. So all to say the workout is not really helping in weight loss. I am pretty sure I gained a pound. We make it to two workouts per week, we are hoping to do more if we actually want to be fit. haha.

Saturday I cleaned out my fridge and the high chair and that was about it. We went for a walk in the evening and I walked 2 miles. It was so cold outside that we had to stop and come back. The goal was 5 miles. We have been looking at all our options in our communication needs and I think we finally came up with something that we might be happy with. I looked at our expense sheet and realized we were spending a lot per month for phone/internet etc. I think we found a way to save $80 per month. We had to save that much to make up for the time spent researching everything.

I am hoping that Neil will be healthy, it has been rough on Friday. It got to a point that he would cry when I tell him to go and play with his kitchen after reading the same book 15th time. I know he is not feeling too well when there is a lot of whining. I am not sure if his ear infection came back or if it is teething. He sometimes tries to put his whole fist inside the mouth and is drooling rivers. There are a last few still to come in.

Hoping to get up early and have a good start to the weekend.

Home Remedies

I have not been very good about updating the blog this month. All the blogging about life has been interrupted by well...life. Neil has been sick most of last week and I have been nursing him back to health. He is doing better now. He was diagnosed with a double ear infection and was prescribed antibiotics. I have been doing what my husband lovingly refers as witchcraft. My witchcraft includes feeding him mush (which is really boiled brown rice), turmeric seasoned buttermilk, and vicks on the feet and rubbing essential oils on his chest and back. He can call it witchcraft, but hey, who am I to argue with results? Oh, and instead of water, I feed him the nutrient rich leftover water from boiling rice. I also diluted his milk and made sure all his food was hot. The turmeric? It is pure magic. It cures tummy upsets too.

And with the above paragraph, I have officially turned into a 90 year old woman. I know it is not just my dear hubby, most of you who are reading thinks I am nuts. And you would be probably right. Which mom doesn't give antibiotics to her child with a double ear infection? But let me explain. I grew up with antibiotics. They were my constant companion. I was a sick most of my childhood. I was breastfed until I was 2 years old and my siblings were not breastfed. Yet, I was the one with all the issues. Funny, huh? I regularly got cold, cough, and fever every single month. And every single month I had to take antibiotics. At that time, I had to go to school, dad and mom had to work, and there was not a whole lot of alternatives. Anyway, this pretty much continued until I was 18. Then I didn't get sick as often, but still about 4-5 times a year. The tide finally turned when I came to US when I was 23. It has been 7 years since then and I must have gotten sick 7 times at the most. And taken antibiotics once. These days I don't even take tylenol. Now, don't get the wrong impression, I am not against western medicine or anything. I just have a host of other issues which sometimes require medication to function in my daily life and I just don't feel the need to take medicines for something like a headache or medium pain or cough.

And I pretty much do the same for my child. As much as possible, keep him off of antibiotics and do the natural stuff. Of course, it goes without saying, if there is stuff I have no clue about, I don't mess with home remedies. Also, if he is in pain and things seem to get worse, I don't wait and see. Like, one time he got roseola, I had no idea what was going on and I took him to the doctor. By that time the fever had broken and rashes come out. Initially, when Neil got ear infections, we gave him antibiotics as I was worried what would happen if I didn't. It is hard to break years of conditioning. :)

Do you practice withcraft home remedies? If so, please share your favourites so I can add them to my repertoire.

The weekend recap

Our weekend was a mixed bag. Saturday started out very nice. The weather was glorious and the three of us spread a picnic blanket in the backyard and just lay there. As in R and I lay there and Neil just ran around. We plucked a lemon from the tree and threw it around for Neil to fetch. He would run after it, and bring it to us for approval. We would say good boy and that would make his day. Just like a puppy. Except that he is cuter and we will have to send him to college. I was loading the dishwasher when R asked me to come and join him on the blanket. I was about to say I had work to do, but then I realized that the dirty dishes will always be there. I left it and enjoyed the day. I am so glad I did. It was one of the simple pleasures of life and we loved it.

After all the running around, Neil got tired and had lunch and went to sleep with no complaint. Saturdays are his favorite days as he gets attention from both of us. I also went to take a nap while R set up our new internet. I have no recollection of what we did Saturday evening. Isn't that weird?

We had not one, but two birthday parties on Sunday after church. There was one right after chuch where a friend was turning 50 and it was from 2-4. Neil went to sleep at 1:30, so I left him with R and I went by myself. When I came back, he was already up, and we got ready to go for the next one. Unfortunately, R had two call conflicts and could not make it to this one either. This was for a sweet 5 year old. We call him Neil's older brother because when I happened to see his baby pictures, it was just like Neil's. Neither of the parents look like either of us, but the kids have very good similarities. Isn't that funny?

There was a super bowl party at the house at the same time and so there was a bunch of people. Neil was running around like a dog with his tail on fire and I was chasing him the entire time. It is hard to go anywhere with him by myself. He wanted to play with the big boys on the stairs. Nice. We left around 9pm and by that time, I was exhausted. I almost fell asleep at the wheel on the drive back.

I somehow dragged myself to bed and that was the end of our weekend.

Friendship Muse

Today I am thinking about friendships. I have never had a ton of friends, just a few good ones. I know it sounds corny, but my husband is truly my best friend! We tell each other that we needed to be as we are both home and are together all the time. haha. Being in a new city right after marriage, where neither of us had any friends or family really got us closer. To be honest, after a while, neither of us felt a need to be with anyone else. You could say we became a little antisocial. It was a different life for R as he had always been the life of the party back in Ohio where we met, but I was always a bookworm and a tad antisocial anyway, so I settled into our new life pretty well.

Since then, we have had friends come and go. I never felt a void or a need until Neil was born. It was at that time I really craved for some friends. I joined a meetup group so I could form some fun frienships with moms who had kids Neil's age. I went on playdates so I could discuss what our kids where going through at that stage and of course if they were SAHM as well, well, that would be fantastic. The meetup thing never worked out. Although, I had become a little bit more extroverted after being a mom, at group settings, my inner introvert always came out. I was frustrated. I looked at the blogs of moms and they were all surrounded with friends. I was jealous. It was not like I was asking for a lot, I was just wishing for a like minded friend in real life. I was unhappy.

I am not sure why it took me a long time to find the answer to that. But it came to me one day.

I was looking for friendships in all the wrong places. I don't mean the meetup group is a wrong place to look for friends. Or the church. Or Bible Study. But it could be, if I am looking for friendships for filling a void only God can fill. Had a rough mommy day? Take it to the cross. He refreshes my soul. Since coming to that realization, I have learned certain things. One is that you cannot force friendships. It has to click. I have experienced the not clicking with people who were great "on paper." And sometimes, you are looking for that great "in the same boat" likeminded friend that you almost miss the boat on people God brings to your life. (Pardon the pun) Singles, older married, and really old ones too :) I smile now, thinking how important it was to me to find mommy friends. I have learned a thing or two since then. And I am glad. I am also glad I found some new sweet friends. Who once called me while R was out of town and we chatted for 4 hours. :)

I have had good friends who drifted away with time, friends who call only when they need me (sometimes I am that friend!), and some great friends with whom we can pick up just where we left off. Those are rare!

What about you? Are you surrounded by friends? Do you feel the need for companionship?

I have things to share

I have four things I need to share today.

1. Neil is the official dishwasher-unloader of our house. He is getting better everyday. Now, instead of taking the spoons and forks one by one, he takes like 3 or 4 before giving them to me. Then he opens the bottom rack and oh-so-carefully picks up the plates and gives them to me. Dude can carry some weight. I am impressed.

2. I am discovering muscles in my body that I never knew existed. Apparently there are a lot of muscles in our body. In my case 90% of them have been in blessed state of slumber so far.

3. Neil is doing very well at the childcare at the gym. Today he just walked off into the room without crying. I just stood there with my mouth open. He also is good about staying in his room by himself and playing for a few minutes. My baby is growing up so fast. I wonder when should I officially stop calling him baby?

4. Both my parents and in-laws are visiting us this year. Our summer is going to pass by very quickly. I am glad Neil is getting to spend time with both sets of grand parents.

And that is it for today.

Losing My Sanity

I am tired (but not sore) from the work out at the gym and the ktchen. All I wanted to do in the kitchen was make some batter for idlys the next few days. When that was getting done, I saw that the sink was overflowing and had to load the dishwasher. But then, it had to be unloaded first. So it went on and on and it is safe to say that the countertops got a thorough cleaning and it all looks very nice. My feet is killing me though and what best way to relax than to blog about it all?

Other than all the frenzied cleaning, it was just a normal day at home. Neil took two naps and I used the time to cook and do some business related work. We also went to the gym in the evening and hubs says I already look better with just a week of exercise. I think he is just saying that so I will keep going.

I really should be sleeping, but I have to share this story. Sunday, we took two cars to church as we went at different times. After that we went out to lunch together as usual. Coming back, we forgot to get the van back. Today, we had a repair guy come in and replace the windshield on the van. He came and rang the bell and asked me if this is the right house. I said yes, and he asked about the van. I told him blithely that it is in the garage. I went to open the door and then realized that ohoh the van is at the church. Thankfully, he was willing to go and replace that for us and bring the key back. All this to say I think I am losing it. And something else happened as well which I cannot recall even. But I am sure it was not the behavior of someone who has it together.

Maybe I am not getting enough sleep. My excuse for the longest time was Neil didn't sleep through the night. Now, that is not true anymore, so I guess I just need to go to bed at a proper time. I have heard that lack of sleep will mess with the brain functioning. Or maybe I just made it up. I am not entirely sure.

Oh, and I made banana bread today. And R and I picked up the whole loaf and started eating it, instead of cutting into slices. Does that make us totally weird?

Wait, I am not ready to hear that answer.

I think I should go off to bed before I write anymore random and incoherent stuff here. I am out of here.

Sore Day

I am so sore from all the workout that I think I have to take an ibuprofen. R already took one. Neither of us can barely walk, let alone do anything else. I had BSF today and Neil was at the child care they provide there. He cried for a bit and then went to sleep. The volunteer who was snuggling him said she felt so good cuddling him since all her kids were grown up and gone. They asked me if they wanted me to shift him to the infants room since that was his nap time. His nap time is usually 11 am (which is perfect since it ends at 11), but since he cries when I leave him, he tires himself out to sleep much earlier. I suggested that I try this for 1 month and see if he does better. They were very nice, so I am hoping it would work out. I don't really want to take him to the infants room. We discussed the passages on Isaiah and it was good how God spoke to all the people in different ways on the same passage. After that, there was a lecture as well.

Poor hubs has a bad eye allergy and I got some OTC med for him. He had such a long day at work too. Plus, all the workout soreness. It was rough on him to work long at the computer with his eye thing. I have some after dinner cleaning up to do and today is one of those days I feel really glad for my 15 minute rule. The rule is that however tired I am, I can still do 15 minutes of work. I put the timer for 15 minutes, and I work fast. The one thing that really bugs me is kitchen being dirty. Nothing puts a damper in the morning than a waking up and seeing a horrible kitchen. So one those days, I put the timer and go to town. Which is precisely what I am going to do after I am done with the post.

R is lying down with Neil so that he can put him to sleep and get some rest before another call at 9 pm. I am off to a date with my timer. Wish you all a good night.

Sunday Lunch and Drama

It was a pretty busy weekend for us.

We had 3 guests expected for Sunday lunch, one Indian couple and a man from our church who loves Indian food. So, I had no issues cooking as I wasn't expecting to watch the spice. When I went to church in the morning, I found that an American couple and the wife's mother were with them. So I had three more people which was fine, as there was plenty of food, but I had no non-Indian food. Not even salad. I cooked Indian food, you don't need to have salad, as we already have a ton of vegetables in the food. So, I was quite in a tizzy when I heard they were coming as well.

I left when there was 4 minutes left in the message, ran to Publix, got a salad, a cooked rotisserie chicken, and grabbed some iced tea as well. I had asked R to stall them as long as he could at church so I could have a head start getting things done at home. Hubs did great and they arrived close to 1pm. It took me half an hour to heat up the food and by 1:30 we were able to sit to eat.



I guess everybody was more than ready by then :)

All the cooking took me 6 hours and I was exhausted by Sunday evening. I took a nap for an hour. Of course Neil was the least tired and was jumping up and down for most of the time.



There was a 90 old grandma who had also come. (She looked 60 by the way!). She picked up Neil and I think she deserves an award for that!!! He is not exactly feather wieght. :)

Then we had some drama yesterday night. Neil was helping me unload the dishwasher. I had made sure there were no knives in there. Everything was going well, but suddenly I heard a tiniest cry and when I looked, there was a lot of blood. He had cut himself on a peeler. He never cried after that and I somehow managed to take him upstairs without passing out. I handed him to hubs and sat in a corner in the fetal position and took deep breaths to calm myself down. I cannot handle blood. I just cannot. And he lost a lot, he just kept dripping. R made a tourniquet, and Neil was so calm during the entire process. The room looked like we killed a chicken in there. It took a lot longer for me to calm down. I felt so horrible, but he had never hurt himself on a peeler before. He has been helping me with the unloading for 2 months now.

He is okay now (obviously) and I was so glad R was around. I am really not sure how I would have coped with it. I was dizzy and faint myself and I knew I had to apply pressure on his wound to stop it. It took R a long while to get it stopped and put gauze and bandaid. It was harder to stop him from biting the band aid and gauze than anything else. Now he is walking around without anything. Sweet baby.

He took two naps today as he had woken up quite early. We went to the gym in the evening and worked out. I am guessing I will be sore today and tomorrow. I was able to knock off quite a bit of tasks today from my list. That always feels good.

Off for a shower and calling it a night!

Bits and Pieces

I didn't get my act together, so I was unable to put a cooking post together. I will try and do a post next week.

I am on week 2 of c25k and it is a different animal. I could barely do it. When there was 13 seconds left on my run I would nearly collapse. I am thinking I have to do week 1 again. What a wimp!

I tidied up the whole house today in preparation for our guests on Sunday. It sure feels good to be in a picked up house. Neil is sleeping, so it should stay that way till he wakes up in the morning.

Speaking of sleep, he usually sleeps by himself, but today since hubs had gone out, I lay down with him and I thought he was asleep. But when I transferred him, he woke up and cried really loudly. Not the whining he usually does. I thought I would go to him in 2 minutes, but he fell asleep by then. I just felt unaccountably bad though. He is such a snuggly little boy.

When he was asleep I went in and petted him and watched him sleeping. I looked at the sweet face and I knew why the Bible says "Can a woman forget her nursing child?" It has to be the strongest bond, a love so powerful that there is poverty of words trying to describe it.

Tomorrow morning is my time out and I am planning to do my BSF study during that time. I have to come back and do a lot of cooking as there is no time to do anything after we get back from church other than lay the table. I am assuming cooking time to be 4 hours at the least. I will tell how much it actually took. Since hubs is around, hopefully I will not have Neil hovering around when I am cooking. It will be too distracting otherwise.

I made a friend in my neighborhood who is 80 years old. She and I take out our puppies out for walks everyday. Okay, I am taking Neil out, but really he is not that different from a puppy. So he wear clothes. Actually, the puppy also was wearing a sweater today. It was nice chatting with her and it was so good to walk after my running. She has a nice lakehouse and she took me around to the back where the lake was. It would be so nice to sit at that porch everyday. And they paid less for that house than we did. Stupid market. We bought the house at such a bad time. :(

Hubs agreed to wake up with Neil tomorrow as part of my time off. Yaay. And on that good note, I am off to sleep.

Oh, and with this post, I have exceeded the number of posts I have written in one month since I started blogging. The last one was July 2007. I am proud :))

Working Out

For the past two days, R and I have been working out at the gym. We took a trial pass for 7 days to see how we would like going there and so far we like it. There is child care available too which is the reason why we are able to go at all. There is a separate section for ladies where you can take a look at the childcare room on TV which is really cool. Neil cries every time we leave him, but he did surprisingly well today. He was walking around watching the older kids play with the ball. When R went to pick him up, he was smiling and laughing at the teacher. I make sure I don't drop him or pick him up. The tears and sadness are much worse when I am around.

I am sore everywhere, but I guess that is a good thing. We dropped by Target to get some things on the way back. Neil got tired of sitiing in the cart and started yelling. We let him down, which was a mistake because he just took off like a rocket. I had to run after him and he thought it was a game and he started running off faster. That is when I thought I should have had him at 20. Mama is too old for all this running. Especially after some punishing leg workouts. While we were at the checkout, he shot off again and when I looked, he was admiring and talking to himself in the mirror.

The megalomaniac.

This new gym is much farther than the one we used to go to. But the other one does not offer childcare and both of us going separately never really worked for us. We had that membership for the longest time and never utilized it. We are paying $10 more for this one, but the distance and expense will be totally worth it if we (and by we I mean I) get in shape. My husband the dude manages ro eat twice as much as I do, but still stays fit and trim. And he doesn't do any exercise either.

Sometimes life just isn't fair.

We both had a free fitness assessment today and my percentage body fat is high which should come as no surprise considering the jiggle. The guy did a before and after picture and it was totally embarassing to see the before picture stomach getting bigger as the instrument gave the body fat value. If that cannot motivate me, nothing will. R is all muscle and has very little body fat. Apparently, I married Mr. Adonis or something.

I am just a little bitter.

I started a Bible Study program called BSF. It is an inter denominational group where people get together for Bible study. It is a lot of work, but I liked the first week. The kids will be learning the same passage at their level (currently on Isaiah) and the whole thing is run by volunteers. Neil will be starting next week, I am hoping he will do well in the class. It is once a week for 2 hours.

After workout, we just hang out and watch a movie or something. It has been nice, so I never got around to blogging yesterday. Today, I was planning to come up and sleep (I am tired!), but then I found out that I actually missed not blogging. Hence I am staying way past up the bedtime and updating.

Our day and the Daycare Issue

Today I had a dental appointment in the morning. I left Neil with a friend. He cried and cried and was inconsolable, I am told. Finally, he cried himself to sleep and slept about until 5 minutes before I got there. He was in a good mood after the nap though. He had a good time running around everywhere talking to everyone and exploring all the rooms.

My dental appointment was a routine cleaning and they took X-rays. I apparently have a semi impacted wisdon tooth and the doc recommended me to an oral surgeon. When the hygeinist showed me a mirror I immediately told her that the tooth is partially impacted and knew that it won't be a easy extraction. She said only the doctor can make such a call and I kept quiet. When the dentist told me the same thing, I felt very smart. :)haha.

I came home and just felt very sleepy and slept for 1.5 hours. It was really nice except that I woke up with a headache. We went for a walk in the evening and I walked a mile and also did my c25k. Felt great about that. It is a bit chilly tonight and tomorrow, it is going to be more of the fun cold.

Now, here is something that bothers me. We have made a family decision at this time not to send Neil to daycare. He is at the age where he is really attached to the both of us and cries a lot when left with others. He is not going to be like this forever. He will grow up and be okay going to school and "socialize." For the love of God, he is only 16 months old. It really bugs me that I am told to drop him here, there, everywhere so that he will stop crying when left with others. I don't want to force myself or him into something both of us are not ready for. It is not like he is having a closeted life. We go out to playdates/storytime etc 2 to 3 times a week plus church. So yeah, this constant asking if he is in daycare yet does bug me. It is from a person I have a semi-fromal relationship with, so it is not even like I can really say anything much. Any advice?

Weekend

Our weekend was pretty relaxed and good. Saturday mornings are my moms day out. Although it ends up being less than 3 hours out, it is still better than nothing. Saturday evenings are R's evening out. The good thing is I get to spend some time by myself and 1.5 hours after I leave, Neil sleeps, so it is not too hard on R. And on the evening, 1.5 hours after he leaves, Neil sleeps as well, so it is not too hard on me either. Being an introvert, I really cherish this time. On Saturday, I spent time online looking at recipes. I am kind of in a funk with cooking. Last week, we ate out every evening. Yikes. I am also tracking our expenses and it really was ridiculous last week. I spent some time that evening and put together a menu plan for the whole month. That was how motivated I was. :)

I spent my time in the morning at Target buying some workout clothes and some stockings. I only wear dresses/skirts at church and I am really in a quandry over how to keep myself warm. I bought some nice, black stockings and when I was putting it on Sunday morning, I got a huge run in it. I did not even wear it once, and it has to be thrown already. Bummer. I pretty much suffered through the entire service. It was so cold on Sunday. Brrr. I also realized that if I don't cause a run in it, Neil certainly will, kicking me with his shoes. Do you have any suggestions for me?

I am thinking of calling next week's speaker and another person from church for lunch next Sunday. I have been ruminating on the menu since then. I am thinking pulav, raita, plain rice, seasoned buttermilk, fish fry, fish curry, lentils, cabbage stir fry, pappadam, and pickle with fresh fruit for dessert. We will see how it goes :)

R set up Neil's toy kitchen on Saturday and it has been a love affair. We are very pleased. I will soon take pictures of his room. I love how it looks now. We did a lot of rearranging and bought a new crib (that crib deserves a special post) and I did some decorating and it looks really sweet now. I had bought a changing table way back when because it was difficult for me to change his diaper in bed. It was giving both of us back issues. But now I looked at it and was thinking, I didn't need to buy it. Our counter in the attached bath in his room is long with a sink at the corner and it is the same height as the changing table. All I needed was a pad. And it would have saved me some precious real estate. Well, live and learn I guess.

Today was just a normal day at home. Neil only takes one nap now, but sleeps through the night (HALLELUJIAH), so by the time it is 6:30, he is super tired and cranky. When I am trying to put something together for dinner, he is going round and round my legs, and pulling at my pants, and whining and crying. By the time I put him down, I am ready to sleep even though it would be only 8 or so. I then feel so bad that I shout at him that I shower him with kisses (much to R's digust) before he sleeps.

Tomorrow I have a dental appointment and I am leaving Neil with a sweet friend. I hope he will be okay. He is really sweet and nice for me at home, but I am not too sure about him being nice to anyone else. :) Off to bed now, we have an early morning coming up.