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.

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.

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.

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.

I got nothing

I got nothing today as I am busy cleaning out the office room (at least in my head)which we are turning into a guest bedroom. But I have these pictures for you.



Too bad Neil is not going to remember.

Discipline

I am not a very disciplined person. I fall off the bandwagon all the time. Also, I am no good at far off or long duration goals. This is the main reason why I think my resolutions fail. So this year I have decided on goals for a couple of areas of my life. And this is only for a month. Anyone can do anything for a month, right? I am hoping that at the end of one month, the good disciplines might become habits. I did not want to write it at the beginning of the year, but the following are my goals for January in no particular order:

1. Self Discipline (Anti-Procrastination Challenge): I am a big procrastinator. And when I finally do the thing that I had procrastinated on, I find it only took 10 or 20 minutes and I have been giving myself stress for that silly a thing. Say, even if it took an hour, it seems awfully silly if you look back at the past 6 months and wonder why in the world you didn't have 1 hour to do something. I am trying to get to one procrastinated task every day and also trying to do things on time so as to get out of the whole cycle.

2. Spiritual Discipline: I am trying to not just read the Bible everyday, but actually meditate on his Word. I am not doing any reading plans for the month, (not that it doesn't have its time and place) but reading and thinking and chewing on it the whole day. As part of it, I am trying to wake up before Neil, but so far that is not happening. I do manage to read with him around and it is going okay actually, but ideally I would like to be up before if I can.

3. Physical Discipline: Crunches, Stretching and Running. I have been doing that since New Year and I am very pleased. Actually I went running only for a day since it was too cold today. I usually go running with Neil and I didn't want to take him out in the cold. I am thinking from now on, if it is too cold for me to run, I will ask R to look after Neil and go to the gym in the evening. Crunches/stomach exercise is important if I have to make sure I don't get a relapse of the October debacle.

4. Blogging Discipline: I will try my best to post everyday for the month of January (except on Saturdays and Sundays). I want to see if it is something I actually enjoy or only think I enjoy. On the whole if I find myself thinking of it more as a chore and less as enjoyment, I will call it a day and shut down the blog and journal my thoughts in pen and paper as and when I feel like it.

5. Commenting Discipline: It goes along with blogging, but I am trying to comment on blogs I read regularly. It is often just laziness to get off the reader that prevents me from commenting. Not that I will comment on every.single.post of everyone. And I do no want to comment if I have nothing to say. But I want to comment at the very least and say, yes I am reading.

6. Work Discipline: I am helping R with our business and I have one project to complete and one other specific thing I hope to accomplish and am well on top of it.

These are my January goals in addition to all the regular things that are going on. As and when things don't go well, I am trying to identify what the problem is and rectify it accordingly.

Did you not miss the list?

I spent way too much time in front of the computer today. Like the last one hour. Plus, nothing much happened today. Unless you want to hear in detail how I cleaned the high chair. Hmm. Didn't think so. So it is going to be a list.

1. The last one hour was spent looking at baby clothes. I love those cute longalls and shortalls on boys. Hubs thinks it is a little girly, but I think it is adorable.

Case in point:



What is your opinion? Hopelessly girly or freaking adorable? Or somewhere in between? Some sites I have been are this, this, and this. It is expensive though. Which is why I am just looking. Besides I have a husband who very possibly might kill me if I buy any more clothes for Neil.

2. Speaking of which, I wish I knew to sew these adorable clothes. Wouldn't that be all kinds of awesome? But alas, my sewing skills are limited to sewing a button to a shirt and that too just barely.

3. Speaking of sub par skills, I have those at baking, and decorating as well. To bring it to focus, here is a picture from a Christmas dinner at church where a lady made this.



And this.



4. I have clothes in the dryer that has been there for the past three days. To be sure, I was not procrastinating on that, I just plain forgot. Today, I found some clothes missing and that is when I remembered the dryer.

5. My anti-procrastinating challenge is going well. Today, I put the dining table linen to wash and put a new one in. And washed the high chair. It looks brand new. I have to admit though, that it is so difficult to do things with a baby constantly underfoot and trying to "help." But most of the time, I let him. I love having him around and for now, he loves hanging out with me.

6. I resumed my c25k run today. It felt good. Okay, I am saying that only because you are supposed to say that after exercise. I felt like I was about to die when I was running. But the cool down walk? Absolutely loved it. Saw a neighbour walking her dog and stopped and chatted with her and let Neil play with the puppy. Both were highly energetic and did each other good.

7. Hubs is on a binge of Battlestar Galactica. He also hurt his back. I hope he recovers soon. From both.

8. I am planning on starting an Indian cooking feature here on the blog once a week as a response to innumerable (okay, one) request. I was thinking I would do it on Thursday and name it Tasty Thursday. Or should I have it on Saturday and call it Spicy Saturday? Or both are corny and just put a recipe online already, woman? I will try to have fairly simple Indian dishes complete with photos. I am hoping to start next week.

9. At least today I want to sleep before midnight. I have been trying everyday, but end up not doing it. I guess the cute baby clothes are not helping.

10. That is all, folks. Good night.

Sinkful in Chore World

New Year Resolutions are so yesterday. Everyone is talking of word of the year. If I should have one, it needs to be anti-procrastination. Although from the amount of food I ate today, one would wonder if it is EAT till stomach burst. Neil and hubs have recovered completely and I feel worst in the mornings, and slowly start getting better over the day. After two days of complete rest, we finally ventured out today. As part of the whole anti-p deal, I wanted to send a book to my niece (which was sitting at the coffee table forever), and send her home keys to my friend. It was on my to-do list for a whole month. Got both of that done at the Post Office and next we headed to Chipotle for some dinner. I was planning only on having half a burrito bol, but sad to say, licked it clean.

After that, as if all the hogging were not enough, we went to Don Pablos for dessert. Hubs and I shared a chocolate volcano. I was saying I am too full and cannot eat a thing, but proceeded to do good damage to that as well. I know it is TMI, but I had to unbutton my jeans on the way back.

Clearly, 2011 does not seem to be the year I am going to lose any weight.

Another A-P thing I did was to clean out the van. What a mess! I am not entirely sure how two adults and one baby can make so much mess. It felt SO GOOD to clean it out. I am excited to tackle these long overdue things on my list.

I have to admit though, that I am kind of neglecting my daily chores like sweeping the floor. I am thinking that if I ignore it long enough, it will qualify for the a-p list and then I can feel really good about myself. A win-win really.

I had sent a card to my friend and it came back undeliverable. Today I got an email from her saying she has been in Tahiti for the last 9 days and is going to Bora Bora tomorrow and will call me after she gets back. What a boring life! I get to clean out chewed out goldfish crackers from my minivan. I bet she doesn't even have a minivan.

I am happy for her.

Maybe 90% happy and 10% jealous. (Name that famous serial)

Signing off to tackle my sink-ful life,

Annie

In sickness and health

We are a sick, happy family. Well, we are definitely sick, but not all that happy. All three of us have been hit with the bug. Of course, Neilu doesn't seem to be bothered by it, he keeps running around like it is all the same. But he is sneezing a lot and has a bad cold. Hubs and I have a horrible throat ache and I threw up three times today.

It is kind of funny. Pre-Neil, if I were this sick, I would take off from work and snuggle under the blanket and take rest the whole day. Now, being a mom, I dont have those luxuries. I tried to take a nap while he was napping, but, the morning nap didn't work out as he woke up as soon as my head hit the pillow. In the afternoon, I had some Nyquil, and was so knocked out that I was unable to wake up when he did. Thankfully, R stepped up and offered to look after him for an hour. He was in bad shape after that one hour, but I felt slightly better. I went to the store to get some Benadryl and when I came back, R told me that Neilu had cried himself to sleep. Poor kid. But then, hubs was also exhausted. I wish this throat ache would go away. Out of all the flu like symptoms (cough, cold, fever, body ache), I think throat ache is the worst. Hopefully, we will all wake up better tomorrow.

It is still so cold here. And it is not like there is any pretty snow to look at. Just cold. Even last year, it was not so cold so early in the winter. I am glad we didn't travel anywhere, but just stayed put at home this season.

It is getting late now and I am going to take some Nyquil and hit the bed. I hope Neil doesn't wake up and cry in the night. I am pretty sure that I am not going to hear it if he does. Sweet little boy, I sure feel bad for him. Hope you all have a sickess free end of the year.

Daily Dish

I haven't updated in a few days. Plus, I started this earlier and now I have some kind of block and am unable to think of anything coherent to say. That means it is going to be a list.

Neil slept for 2.5 hours today. And we actually woke him up. Mainly because I did not want him to oversleep and stay awake in the night. He slept for half an hour in the morning as well.

I ordered Christmas cards finally and I used his naptime to compile addresses. Lots of work ahead, stuffing, stamping, and sending out. But I love doing that.

It is so cold here now, we are expecting 26 degrees tonight. Tell you what, there is a reason I moved to FL and it is not the cold. I do not like cold weather.

We had a guy from our utility company do the energy efficiency check at our house. He says the ducts have some leaks and the insulation in the attic is low. He gave us some information to look at. It costs on an average around $400 to repair the ducts. And the utility company will cover $150.

Hubby and I are completing 5 years of marriage this month. And on the same day, my parents are celbrating 40 years of marriage. I have no idea what to get him. If I ask, he says nothing, so in all possibility that is what he is going to get. Unless you can leave me some suggestions.

There is going to be a change at this lil ole' blog come new year. I will unveil that to my 2 loyal readers in a few days.

Neil helps me unload the dishwasher now. I figured he spends all his day in the kitchen with me, might as well utilize him. He is a good helper.

I cooked a lot today.

I pretty much didn't do anything else at all.

There is a strong wind outside, but in here it is cosy and warm. I feel very thankful for good food, and heat right now.

I would be even more thankful if someone brought me some socks.

I find it very difficult to move after eating so much.

That will be all. Thank you very much.

Christmas (non) cheer

It is the most craziest time of the year. With those holiday greetings and gay, happy meetings when friends come to call. Oh wait, that is not how the song goes?

Well, it should.

Inevitably, this ends up being so crazy busy always. I really have no explanation this year. I don't have a tree up, there is not one shred of decoration up in our house, no one is coming to visit. So it really should be very easy. But it is not. There are a lot of other things going on that is just making it crazy. Seems to me everywhere I turn there is work. Living room, kitchen, laundry room, garage, office work, and then I get into the car to get groceries and the maintenance required light is on in the car. As Anne says in Anne of Green Gables, the stars in their courses is fighting against me. It is a conspiracy. I was just so overwhelmed, I just sat in the car wishing I didn't have to get out. R is crazy busy. His colleague at work is out on paternity leave and so he has his share of the work as well. Poor thing is so unbelievably busy that even with working weekends he is unable to catch up. I was feeling so all over the place with a vague feeling of doom that there are tons of things to be done and that I was dropping balls left and right, I decided I should make list. The list which is growing out of control already has 45 items. And some of the items in the list is driving me crazy, such as finding a d/l cable for the cell phone. Where in the world is that thing? Argh.

I tackled around 3 items and I am already behind on so many things. I feel most days I am just playing catch up and not really making any progress. I mean with the baby, laundry, cooking and keeping the house livable, it is not like I have a lot of "free time." One thing I am glad about is that I am able to spend some time in the morning with God's word and that really helps. I only wish there were more hours in a day.

It is funny that of all the things to feel guilty about, I feel really bad I didn't put up a tree this year. I mean, I feel I am denying Neil something. Why such crazy thoughts? No idea. That is all I need. On top of all the crazy stuff going on, some guilt as well. Oh, and I really dislike this horrible cold spell. I am unable to get out running and when I do go out to the store, the cold gives me a headache.

Yes, I am a spoilt warm weather girl, why do you ask?

I just decided that from tomorrow on, I am going to keep an hourly diary that I will know how I am spending my time daily. Maybe I can catch some times that I find myself not doing anything productive and get back on track that way.

To bed now.

A Bizzare Experience

I had a really bizzare experience today.

Let me start at the beginning.

Last week, hubs and I were walking around in the mall and we came across a bargain priced book section in Barnes and Noble. I picked up a Jefferey Archer as I can never really say no to him. Plus, the bargain price? There was no way I could win that one. I had never heard of that particular title before, but I had enough faith in him as he has never disappointed me before. True to form, it turned out to be a really good read, but I was trying not to binge. So I stuck to just couple of chapters a day. It also helped that I was really too busy to do any reading up until yesterday. Yesterday night I was casually reading my two chapters and then could.not.put.it.down. Just kept reading and reading and reading. It was very reminiscent of the teenage years when I was supposed to be studying, but would stay up late reading. Anyway, it was 3:33am when I went to sleep. It was all fine and dandy when I was in 6th grade and I could sleep through the biology class to compensate staying up till 3:33am. Not the same story when my precious bundle of high energy early riser joy would be sure to wake me up at the unholy time of 6:30am. He has very good getting-you-out-of-bed tactics too. He would stand up in the bed and then tumble on you. If you haven't had 24 pounds falling on you while you are in an early morning daze, why, you haven't really lived.

I stumbled out of bed, changed him, and took him down. I fed him a banana (I think) and slowly came to life. He showed signs of sleepiness around 10:15 and I put him down for a nap in his stroller. He slept off and I came up, did some stuff and had some time reading God's word and praying. I haven't had such a long, uninterrupted quiet time in a while and it really refreshed me. By 11, I decided I should get a nap as I knew I was going to be crazy tired in the afternoon. He only takes one nap now and I took the opportunity and lay down.

Ok, now here is the bizzare stuff.

I must have gone to sleep immediately. All I remember is I woke up very suddenly and jerkily. I looked next to me and didn't see Neil. I immediately panicked and ran to the bathroom, glancing at his bed on the way. (Bathroom is a prohibited area and consequently where he makes a beeline to). He wasn't there and I just cannot explain this, I started calling out his name loudly and was almost sobbing it. I thought he fell into the toilet, fell down the stairs and hit his head and I felt all weak. Suddenly, I heard him cry (possibly from all my yelling) and I remembered I had put him to sleep in the stroller, it was morning and he was fine. The whole episode of panic lasted probably 30-45 seconds. But the shaking didn't subside for another 2-3 minutes. I felt too weak to actually pick him up, so I knelt next to him in the stroller and put my arm around him. I sat there until I was calm and then everything was fine.

I felt so bizzare, I had never had an experience like this and don't care to have another one ever again. I am thinking it could be the lack of sleep that caused it. Unless you can suggest an alternative explanation.

Except tell me I am a tad crazy.

What is the point in stating the obvious, afterall?

Weekend Recap

It was cold here today for this time of the year. Sometimes I harbour romantic thoughts of living in colder climates. When the slightest cold hits around these parts, that is when I embrace my inner wimpiness and be very happy about living here. It is difficult with a child also, when it gets cold. Especially if said child would rather be taken to the torture chamber than put some clothes on. He is happiest if he runs around in a diaper. My mom told me that I was the same way. I would be running around in my petticoat outside the house even when I was 10 years old. (Although it is to be noted that very endowed adults here walk around in much less). Oh, the sins of the parents!

Today we had worship and had some missionaries speaking at the chapel. I was supposed to bring refreshments and no one told me about the overage of guests. I had a heart attack when I walked in and saw 42 people instead of the usual 16. Anyway, we managed. The message was great and the even better part was that Neil slept through. Both of us were able to sit in and that was an answered prayer. This was a ministry we support and I really wanted to hear him. Last week, we tried to stay and a friend took him to the nursery. The sanctuary door was closed, and way down the hallway, the nursery door was also closed, yet we could hear him screaming. Finally, my husband went to get him. His separation anxiety is the worst. He will not allow anyone, especially other women to take care of him. He does better with men.

Yesterday, I had some Mommy time. It was so nice not to wrangle the car seat, baby, diaper bag, stroller, food, drink etc. I went to the mall, looked around, bought some stuff, did some errands etc. It was just really nice. I was really looking forward to seeing Neil by the end of it. I was smiling just thinking of his face. Anyway, when I got home, he was fast asleep and I got to have some lunch also. I barely ever get to go out without Neil, so I savored every moment of it. Totally gave me the energy for the next 8 hours.

So, I bought a red and brown sweater, pants and a couple of tops. So I modeled all that for my husband and he said the red is perfect and brown is loose. I thought red is too tight, brown is comfy. I figured what does he know and put the red for returning. Later that evening a friend, who is the queen of all things fashion, came and said the exact same thing hubby said. I was mortified that I have a worse sense of style than my husband. I realized I have reached a new low.

Friday, DH has meetings till 8 pm and so we don't have fun Friday evenings to ourselves anymore. So I took Neil with me and we went shopping. First stop was Ross where I had to return a table cloth that wouldn't fit. Next was Target where I bought a gift for an upcoming birthdday. There I realized Neil had lost one shoe. When we got back from the store, I realized, he had managed to get his other shoe off too. That was in the cart though, and I rescued that one. (Although for what purpose, I am not sure). Then we stopped at BabiesRus for a sippy cup and when I opened the door, he had his one sock off. I put it back, we went to the store, got that and for kicks, I asked if they have turtleneck shirts for him. And they had. At $10 a piece. I wasn't happy to fork over $20 (I needed two colors), and was going to walk away, when I just picked and decided to find out the price anyway. Turns out, it was only $5 a piece. Why would they not advertise 50% off or something? To theink, they almost got away from me! I am not exactly sure why I shared all of this useless information with you, but I just can't seem to stop talking. You will have to excuse me. You might understand my excitement maybe if you knew that I had been searching for turtleneck shirts for him for a while and Old Navy, and Children's Place didn't carry them and I badly wanted them for a picture. Finally, went to Chipotle to get my dinner and then we headed home. By the time we reached Chipotle, he had both his socks off and was sitting and biting his feet. When I left out with Neil, the plan was to let him play at the play area in the mall. Instead, poor guy had to travel town for returns and purchases. Good thing he is too young to have any idea.

I pretty much gave a weekend recap in the reverse order. If you hung in there with me through riveting information about returns, and turtlenecks and sales, bless your heart! I will soon be back with more information like this. That is the promise of my blog. You can depend on it.

No point taken

It is hard to keep up with this blogging thing. When I am in the mood, I don't have time. When I have time, like I do right now, my mind is a blank slate. So I have to warn you at the outset that this post is going to be a big rambly no point nothingness. I am not even going to pretend there is a point.

First off, I can't believe how fast Neil is growing. I mean he is 14 months old now. He hasn't started walking regularly yet. He did take independent steps 4 days before his first birthday, and he has taken lots of steps since then, but he still moves around by crawling most of the time. He is venturing more and more by taking steps, but he still hasn't developed complete confidence. My mother and mother-in-law keeps asking every phone call, is he walking, is he walking? Since he is active and healthy I guess they need to worry about something. He has the most fun personality and I love being with him. Except that he wears me out by evening. Morning when he wakes up he grabs my face and showers me with kisses. It is pretty much the best part of my day. R is so busy, it is unbelievable. He works from home, but I haven't really seen him in 2 days. I am only slightly kidding. That is how busy he is. I hope it slows down a little soon.

There are some things on my mind which bothers me at times and one of it is the house situation. I like our house, it is a great neighborhood, and the house is actually cosy, but I have been struggling with the space issue. R works from home for his regular job, plus he has a home business. So, one room is pretty much full of things relating to that. One room is Neil's which was also the guest bedroom, and we really want to move him there. Currently, our bedroom is so crowded with the rocking chair, crib, dresser and our bed. Literally we bump into stuff moving around. After both our parents left after their visit, we moved the guest bed into the office and made it into guest bed/office/library. Now it is really congested and it is a really tiny room to begin with. R gets a backache working there and so he moves all his stuff into the living room and works from there. So it gets cluttered very fast and that bugs me. Plus, when he is working there, Neil and I can't be down as R needs to be on calls pretty much the entire time. All of Neil's toys are in a corner of the living room and that is his play area. The high chair is in the dining room. It is difficult to keep him entertained upstairs as his favorite thing about going upstairs is that he can slide down the stairs.

We are not at a point where we can move as there is no way we can sell this house in this market. Another aspect about the house is the school district. We were young(er), stupid, childless and clueless when we bought the house. So we had no idea how bad the schools were. Now that we know, (and I was told by a lady who is a teacher in the elementary school!) and Neil is growing up, it is getting to be more of an issue. We never thought much about school when we bought the house mainly as we were planning to send our children to private school. But we never thought if there were any good private schools in the area. Now we know. Also, there is the aspect of expense of private schools for multiple children. One is okay. But it will get unaffordable if we have more than two. So, all these things sometimes unsettle me. I know I am borrowing trouble and I really don't have much to complain about, but I am just being honset here on this blog. This is something I think about a lot, so it just came out.

I started writing a while back, watched a movie in between and now it is the next say. So I am turning in. I have to get up early tomorrow as my baby does not know the concept of Saturday being sleeping-in day. :)

7 Quick Takes

I am participating in 7 quick takes over at Conversion Diary. I just seem to blog better in numbered or bullet points. What can I say?

1. We decided today that we are not going anywhere for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I am really relieved. I love traveling, don't get me wrong, but traveling with a small child, it is more work and less vacation. I am happy and looking forward to spending both holidays at home.

2. R has been working crazy hours and has been traveling a lot. The first week he was gone, Neil got sick and was very clingy so I had to carry him around a lot. He would be up from 2 to 5 - IN THE AM, PEOPLE. Anyway, that really exacerbated by separated stomach muscle pain and by Sunday, I was in bad shape. My sister had invited me a while back when I told her that R was going to be gone for 2 weeks in a row. By monday morning, the pain had gotten so bad that I could barely walk. I looked up tickets online and it was the same price it was 2 weeks ago. This was for a flight leaving in 2 hours and I jumped on it and started packing. That was one of the best decisions I made. I got a week of solid rest the likes of which I never had since the delivery. It was a lovely, peaceful time and honestly, the best gift I have ever received. I didn't even have to change one diaper or give him a bath. My sister and family fed, changed, and entertained him and all I did was eat and sleep and rest. I truly needed it the first two days. Once the muscle relaxants kicked in and the worst was over, I just got lazy. I am so blessed to have such loving family here and may the Lord account this to them for righteousness :)

3. You know what I love about Indian clothes? That they are mostly pretty. Love the colours, patterns, styles, there is plenty to love.



You know what I don't love? The fact that it bleeds. Yuck!

This, my friends, is the fourth wash water.



And because of that, it always needs to be handwashed. No, not a big fan. Guess I know what I am NOT wearing in the next two years.

4. We had our laundry room all redone and it looks great. It totally deserves a post of its own with before and after pictures. Except I don't think I have before pictures, but I will certainly take some after shots. After it is done that is.

5. I am so glad to finally have my own laptop again after giving my old one to mom. I was tired of having to beg, borrow and steal from R all the time.

6. I am loving the fall climate. Low 80s, high 70s, beautiful for morning and evening walks. I feel I am really missing out, the days I don't go for a walk.

7. Neil is going to be a tiger this Halloween. Neil is Indian American, tigers are native to India and Halloween is celebrated here in America. That is the complex thought process
by which we (by we I mean I, because R couldn't care less if he tried) decided he is going to be a tiger. I actually made this all up. Well, actually he is going to be a tiger, but that is because that was the only outfit below $10. But talking about tigers and India sounds a lot better than saying I am a cheapstake. Doesn't it?

This and that

I think I have two readers now and I don't blame people for not wanting to read my once in a month posting blog. Why the silence? I am not sure. I always think to myself, I really want to blog, but recently in my thoughts, I have learned to drop the really. Because if I really wanted to do it, I would find the time. Blogging for me is like exercising, I mean I like the end result, but actually finding the time to do it, I guess it keeps falling on the list of things to do at the end of the day. I want all the stars to be aligned to blog. Neil should be sleeping, the house should be tidy and quiet which means R should be sleeping as well, the laptop should be free etc. I should be in the mood and let us say, all these things happens once in a rare while like today. I often wonder how these moms of little ones blog on a regular basis. I am assuming that for those of them especially the ones who depend on the blog for revenue possibly see it as a job. I know for sure that it is one thing that I don't want. I have too many jobs as it is. :)

I was in India for 2 months and Neil turned one while we were there. My in-laws hosted a party while we were there and here is some cuteness.



He is not dancing, he was just reaching out for something. I love his outfit, but he hated when we tried to put it on him. After coming back, I had a party for him with all our friends here. I will post pictures of that separately. R was supposed to take those pictures, but he got busy talking to people and we ended up not having many of the pictures of the decorations and that makes me really sad. The theme was Dr Seuss book Happy Birthday To You. The book celebrates the uniqueness of a person and the tagline is "there is no one alive that is you-er than you." More on the party later.

Swimming lessons are not going swimmingly well (excuse the pun). He just screams for the whole duration of the class. He is just really mad that I leave him with the instructor. We are looking at a 2 day MDO program for Neil so he will have other kids to play with and I can get some things done here at home as well. I am just worried about all the screaming.

We are just getting back into the swing of things and there is always such a lot of things to do everyday. Recently, I read this post which really encouraged me. I read other blogs on my phone when I get some time here and there and it was really what I needed to read. R is very busy these days working from 8 to 9 with a lot of travel upcoming and it has been rough bearing the burden alone with a very clingy one year old who does not leave his clutch on my pants for most of the day. Physically it has been a strain too, carrying him as my weak stomach muscles are not helping. It is a good reminder to live in dependence on Christ remembering that I am never truly alone.