Niya 2 years

Dear Niya,

You are two years old today. As I am writing this the day before your birthday, I should say you will be 2 years old in less than 8 hours. I know I will be happy tomorrow and celebrate with your favorite things, but for tonight I am indulging in a little whimsy. It went by all too fast, precious one. You smiled at 4 weeks and haven't stopped since. Happy should have been your middle name. You came into our life at a time when the skies were a little cloudy for us. The Lord knew we needed you and sent you to our lives at the exact right time.

At the age of two you are everything you should be. Talkative, extremely naughty, pushing every boundary, saying no to everything, busy as a bee, getting into trouble all the time. The days are long but I know I will forget all the hard parts very soon and will only remember your infectious laughter, goofy smiles and sweet conversations. You are very talkative and say almost everything in sentences. You have opinions on everything and boss Neil around quite a bit. You want to do everything he does and gets quite upset if there are any limits on anything.

I tend to think of you as a little firecracker. You are tiny in stature, but you never let your size stop you. You play with the best of them in the play ground, try everything and is quite adventurous. You are very sociable and have no problem going to anyone or be in any new situation. You happily adapt and adjust! You love talking on the phone and giving ummas to the grandparents.

You are a decent eater. Some days you eat very well, some days not as much. You are not afraid to try anything which is a good thing. You have an iron will which is an inheritance from one of your parents (who shall remain unnamed). I hope that we can train you to use for worthwhile things and that it can be used for your good and for the good of others.

Neil is your best friend and seeing you play together is one of the joys of my life. One minute you are in love, next minute you are ready to kill, in other words, SIBLINGS! he loves you so much and gets very upset to see you sad. He wants you to be with you at school and every where. It warms my heart to see that.

You are doing swimming now and we hope to start school for you twice a week next year. You are so ready. You say the sweetest things. I have a video of you saying "I lub you" and some times I just listen to it on repeat. It is the sweetest sound in the world.

I am so glad, sweet baby that you are in our life. You are an absolute joy and you complete our home. These last two years were so fun. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for you!

The Final Frontier

If you think I am going to write about Alaska, that is where you would be wrong. 

When I first got married, the only thing I knew to cook was rice and beans. That is it. My husband loves to eat (as do I). At that time, neither of us knew that. We were just getting out of student life where that standard staple was "daal chaval." (lentils and rice) We were both so heartily tired of that, it took us 4 years to introduce daal back in our diets again. We were just happy with anything that wasn't daal.

Right after we were married, we had to be apart for 6 months for our jobs and every time he would come visit, I would learn a new dish. With just a full time job and nothing else to occupy my time, I learned a bunch of stuff from mom through the phone and the internet in those 6 months. Slowly over the years, I have become a fairly good cook, but one thing remained elusive.

Introduce Puttu (rice funnel cakes). It is a breakfast dish from the South of India. It is a deceptively hard thing to make. You ask any veteran puttu maker for a recipe and they will tell you "just mix the flour until it looks right." Of course, that makes complete sense to someone who is trying to make it for the first time. 

It was my nemesis. I loved it so much, but I COULD NOT MAKE IT. When my mom came to help with my first pregnancy, she asked me what I wanted from Kerala and I said "I need puttu." So she brought 7 kg of puttu podi. And made puttu for me 4 days a week, until my husband was ready to throw me out of the house, him being not so obsessed with it as I was. But he is a sensible man and knew enough not to mess with a 9 month pregnant woman. And I pretty much ate all of it. That would be the story of how I gained 25 pounds and took 4 years to get back to my pre- pregnancy weight.

Once when my in-laws were here, my FIL thought he could teach me to make it because, it is "such a simple thing". I tried telling him that I have tried and failed before. There are 2 ways you can fail at puttu making. When it comes out of the puttu maker, it can either fall like an avalanche or be very hard depending on whether there was not enough or too much water. But he was *sure* I could make it. He is an optimist, what can I say? So I followed instructions and made it. And when it came out, it was so hard, you could kill people with it. He said to keep it and that he would eat it (He hates to waste). Since I do love my husband's family, and since we believe that weapons of destruction have no place in the home, I threw it in the trash.

So I was resigned to the fact that I can only eat puttu when my parents or in-laws come to visit or when I go to India. And that is how things were until 3 days back.

A week before that, we were getting groceries at our local Indian store when I saw a puttu packet on the aisle. All my insecurities resurfaced, but it was like a wound I wouldn't stop scratching. I quickly put it in the cart. And when I came home, I looked at the instructions. Would you believe it, it said mix flour with "enough" water and cook in the utensil. There were NO measurements. I thought I would hang on to it until the next parents visit. Then I was visiting my friend Sherin's cooking blog and there was it, a puttu recipe. And I read her similar experience with puttu making. There she had done the trial and error work for me and glory be, there were measurements!!! 

And I tried it.

And it came out awesome. Just like God and the good people from Kerala intended.

I had arrived. I had crossed the final frontier. I did a victory dance. 

Here is a picture of the puttu and the egg curry I made to go with it.

(The video of the victory dance not included)

And then I died and went to puttu heaven.

THE END.

Recipe: 

http://kukskitchen.blogspot.com/2013/11/puttu-l-steamed-rice-cakes-layered-with.html

PS: I had to increase the steaming time to 10 minutes after the steam comes out of the vent. I made no other changes.

puttu with egg curry

On Goals

Once I saw in an office, a plaque saying "Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life." or something to that effect. BUT, it is something of a marker to have an year end and a new one begin. Or as my husband says, it is just another day on the calendar. 

There is something to be said of new beginnings, a clean slate and a do-over of sorts. Almost all people love to make plans, create goals and make resolutions. Human beings are resilient beings. However many times we fall over, we still get up and keep going. Irrespective of how many times we promise ourselves the same things at the beginning of the year and fail to see it through, we keep doing it come some 350 days later. We are somehow optimistic that this time it will be different. Like how I hang on to those pre-pregnancy dresses that Rajiv bought me for an anniversary from White House Black Market, hoping I would somehow still fit into them.

For years, I thought I should eat healthy. My goal was nebulous, and I had no idea what that really meant. I thought eating healthy meant eating just a salad for lunch. I hate salads. No prizes for guessing how long that lasted. And most importantly, I really felt no rewards from such a goal. I had hardly any weight to lose (at that time), I really had no motivation. I did it because I felt it was a lofty goal. 6 months ago, I up and gave up sugar for a month. JUST LIKE THAT. 100% off. It did wonders to my body. I felt more energized, no post lunch slump, my weight went down 5 pounds. I fell off that wagon a bit, I have no idea why, but I am ready to get back on.

I have that hopeful spirit. The deep rooted changes that occur in the personality are not overnight. But I know that I am not the same person I was 10 years ago or even 3 years ago. Because of, or maybe in spite of our goals and resolutions, we grow by leaps and bounds. Like a river flowing peacefully without much change in course and then it suddenly meets a boulder and the face of the river is changed. The thing is, none of us when we go through a challenge or opportunity think to ourselves, "Oh, what an experience, here is how I am growing" when we actually go through it. With time and the blessing of perspective, we realize that we have changed in ways we never thought we would or could. 

May our dreams be lofty, but goals clear. May our love be without reservations. May we be a littler kinder that we were yesterday. May we be slower to speak, eager to listen and quicker to forgive. 

Happy New Year!

2013 in review: Highlights and Lowlights

Sunday, while we were driving to church, husband and I were thinking back on the highlights and lowlights of 2014. I then wanted to pen it down for remembering later.

Family:

1. We went on a 7 day cruise in June as a family of four and it was a lovely vacation. It was a happy time of reconnecting with each other and spending undistracted time with the children.

2. Teaching both Neil and Niya to swim. I find that one of the crowning achievements of this year.

3. How much Neil has improved in speech. His new school is one of the things I am most thankful for this year. He enjoys going there so much and is such a nurturing environment for him. I also started homeschooling him unofficially in the mornings.

4. Our trip to India to meet family. Spending time with both sets of parents and traveling with them in India. Meeting friends I hadn't seen in many years. A stop in Dubai. Trips family made to visit us in the summer.

5. Co-hosting a church dinner with Indian food.

Work/Personal:

1. I have become a lot more organized at my work and that has been a dream come true. There are a few more things to straighten out, but I have come a long way from last year.

2. I had started a freelance tutoring thing this year and it was very satisfying and provided some fun spending money!

3. Meeting a fellow ex-blogger turned real life friend in November. I had the best day hanging out with her.

4. I finished the tax calculations for the year. This was usually a stressful thing in the beginning of the year for me AND I AM DONE!!!

5. I started learning spanish!

Lowlights:

The lowlights make you really appreciate the highlights. So here they are in no particular order.

1. September can be best remembered in one word as sickness. I came back from India in a wheelchair. Continuous sickness one after the other. I remember being in a stupor as all 4 of us lay in a bed restlessly tossing and turning. Not being able to lie down due to trouble breathing.

2. Some major financial losses.

3. Some stressful times due to an emergency surgery in my sister's family

4. BSF group this year was a disappointment.

5. Letdown by some friends in various different scenarios.

I can think of a lot more positive things that happened this year.

And as I was re-reading the lowlights, I could not help but think that even the lowlights has a blessing associated with it. We were sick, but it could have been a lot worse. Especially considering the amount of international travel we did. So we lost some money, but it is only money. We can always make it back and we did recuperate some of it. Although there was an emergency surgery, all went well and that has led to some diet changes which is very beneficial in the long run. So what if BSF group this year is a disappointment? I still get to study God's word and love the messages. Let down from friends only helped me to remind myself to choose my words carefully and follow through on my promises.

God has been faithful, he always is!

Home Christmas Tour 2013

Welcome to our home. I am so glad you are here.

We love to eat here at this house. So let us go to the dining room first. This is our dining table with the little Advent set up I have going on in the middle. We love doing the devotionals and lighting the candles. Although, truth be told, I have not lit the candles as my husband was out of town and I can never get the lighter to work. True story.

Next up is the kitchen. There is a cozy little tree in the corner next to my cookbooks.

It is perfect for that corner and just makes me smile every time I look at it. My bowl of Christmas ornaments on top of the fridge. They match my blue kitchen color. I wanted it ideally on the breakfast bar, but with 2 small kids in the house, who am I kidding?

Going to the family room, our main tree. I don't have a color theme or anything, but looks like its mostly red.

I want to show some of the ornaments on there, but the pictures are super blurry. My camera was confused by the lights or something.

In 2008, I went through some difficult times. I thought my arms and heart would be empty. I bought this as a reminder of God's promise. It says "Believe."

And this one says "Answered Prayers." It was true in 2009 when Neil was born and it is true today. God is faithful!

 This is the ornament for this year. It says "Rejoice." We went through some hard times this past year with some difficult news, but we can always Rejoice because our Savior has gone before us. His goodness towards us has never ceased to amaze me.

To the left of the picture, is this fun countdown thing from Target. I don't have a full picture of it. I usually write the days until Christmas, but I think Neil rubbed it off.

Some additional stuff on the chandelier etc.

Steps going up.

Kids play room. This is our old tree, one we had for 7 years. Now it resides in the play room. Kids love the multicolored lights. I didn't do much decorations on it except put some ribbons.It just makes the room so festive!

And lastly, my two munchkins who make all the extra work totally worth it. They are in perpetual motion, so it is hard to get a picture of both of them smiling and looking at the camera.

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Full hands and fuller heart!

Thanks for stopping by my house.

Posting as part of Kelly's Christmas Tour of Homes 2013.

Niya - 1 year old

My precious little Niya,

You are one year old today!!! I am trying hard not to cry as I write this. I feel like the time went by too fast. Last year this time, I was running around not sleeping and watching tv and eating. I went to sleep at 2 am and then you woke me up at 3:10 wanting to make your grand entrance.

This, I think is one of the first pictures of you. You were pretty mad with all the poking and cleaning.

Sweet little baby girl, you were so happy to be swaddled and held close to my chest.

1 Month

And I want to do just that. Because you see, you might have  6 teeth and say da-da, yes, and do a bunch of things, to me it feels like you are that little baby above. You hardly want to be held. You can't wait to get out and get busy. You are such a busy little one. You do not like to be held back in any way. The only exception to that is the sling. You are very contended to be in the sling.

2 Month

Your lovely curls, sweet smile and big brown eyes are like a magnet everywhere we go. You are a very sociable child and loves to interact with people.

3 Month

You babble quite a bit and say da-da all the time. You hardly ever say Mama. All three of us say mam-mma and you smile the biggest smile and say dad-dda.

                                                                      4 Months

You, my sweet thing is such a joy and bring a smile to our faces. You have three adoring fans here and a host of them spread around the country. You think the world revolves around Neil. You are his biggest fan and cheerleader. The biggest giggles and smiles are reserved for him.

5 Months

You are a super happy baby most of the time. If I would just let you lick the backside of shoes and eat out of the waste paper basket, it would be sunshine and roses all the time. But since, that is not possible, we have a bit of pouting at times, but all is sunshine in 30 seconds as you find something else to explore.

6 Months

You are a very busy crawler. You stood up at 7.5 months, and you were cruising since 8 months. But now you don't seem to be very interested in walking by yourself. You figured that crawling can get you faster everywhere. And you ain't got no time for walking, there is so much to do a day!

7 Months

You are a reasonably good eater and you do try a wide variety of foods. I am thankful for that. You love music, and you love going out. You can do Praise the Lord, high five and clap at the right moments in a song.

8 Months

You love going to the park, shopping, you are just always ready for an adventure. You sleep through the night, and have been doing that since 7 months since we moved you to your own special room. 

9 Months

You still love bath time and loves to play peek a boo after that. You have a head full of hair which dada is trying to get cut. It does look ridiculous for a little baby. But it does look adorable when it is slightly wet and not uncontrollable.

10 Months

You do not allow me to keep any bows on your hair. You love being in BSF, M2M and just about every where we went. They all ask for your hair bow which you promptly remove in 42 seconds. 

11 Months

I look back at these pictures and blown away by the first year. Huge changes.

12 Months

But the changes are not just for you. We have moved from a family of three to that of four. You have enlarged our hearts and multiplied our love. You are our sunshine on a cloudy day. You make us laugh. Just thinking of you and writing this is making me smile.

God made you and send you to us because he knew how much we needed a Niya Niya in our life. Our life is so much richer because of you being in it. The year seemed to have flown by. I sigh a little as I put your old clothes away. I am so thankful we get to hang out all day together. I am so grateful for that privilege.

I pray that God would use you in mighty ways as He sees fit. I pray that He would bless you with all the heavenly blessings and make you a blessing to many. My prayers will always follow you.

I love you, I pray for you and I am proud of you.

All my love,
Mama

Niya 11 months

Dear Niya,

You are getting close to being 11 months old. I can't believe in a month you would be 1. I didn't write the 9 and 10 month letter and that makes me sad. You are growing so fast! You have such a personality now. Lots have happened in the last 2 months. You have tried almost every food. Indian, American, you are game! I used to feed you only home made baby food, but you seemed so interested in our food that I started giving that. You are a good eater and I am so thankful.

You are quite mobile now and do not like to be held too much. If we just let you down, you take off and then you are happiest. You say ba-ba, da-da, and very occasionally ma-ma. At 9 months you started clapping on command. Now when I sing open shut them, you clap when it comes to clap clap clap. So sweet. You have 4 teeth and 2 more coming out.

You cruise around easily barely holding and many times you have stood without support. You kind of scare yourself when you realize you are doing that and then you sit down and start crawling. Neil still remains your most favorite person ever. Your eyes just light up. I wish I could take a video of your natural interactions with him. It is the sweetest thing in the world to watch.

You are a very sociable baby so far and go everywhere to every one. You seemed to have gotten better at the separation anxiety and know that we always come back for you. I hardly get to snuggle with you now, you just want to wiggle out and run. You are quite busy. Except, when we go out, you are incredibly happy to be in the baby carrier. I can get anything done as long as I wear you. You are the sunshine of our lives. You had your first Easter a few days ago.You looked adorable! (as always) I know I am biased because I am your mama, but you are super cute!

You love to play in your play room. Today, you were sitting in the high chair eating some thing, I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and Neil was doing his favorite thing- laundry. The sun was still out and it was very bright outside. Both of you were laughing and I just stopped for a moment and soaked it. This moment was the treasure that the day brought me. It seems but in a minute that a week goes by and before I know it you are a little older. Every day we are all getting older, but with you baby, you are still so small that it seems remarkable and the changes every month are significant.

You are so loved, sweet girl. Your bright eyes, curly hair, chubby thighs, every inch of you is precious.  You bring us joy and laughter and instantly lifts our mood. You are our sunshine.

I love you, I am proud of you and I am praying for you.

Mama