40Q on 2007

I did this last year so I'm gonna continue it. I wouldn't mind if you X out the webpage right away as it's totally boring. Go ahead and leave. Honestly, go! Gone? No?! . Ok then, here goes:

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
   Celebrated my child's first birthday.
2. Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
   Here's what I said last year:
   - Try to survive on my own and not ask mom to return, pronto.
   Not. Mom spend most of the year with us.
   - Visit Avi when he moves to Shanghai.
   Not. I'll move this to next year as we are planning a China trip in May '08.
   - Cut down on the carbs and get back in my size 8's.
   Not. I got preggo. Move to next year too?
   - Do more things together as a family.
   This we met, did a zillion family-related activities.
   For 2008 I want to settle-down whether it be in the US or India or anywhere, I just need to settle.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
   Other than me, again?!
4. Did anyone close to you die?
   No.
5. What countries did you visit?
   Stuck in Seattle as I was saving up for maternity leave, yup again.
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
   Sleep
7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory?
   Oct 24, 2007 8:29am - the day Nisha was born.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
   Being stupid courageous enough to have 2 kids under 2.
9. What was your biggest failure?
   Can't really think of anything
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
    No
11. What was the best thing you bought?
    A webcam. S and I stood in line at 5:30am on the day after thanksgiving and fought crowds to get it just so my Grandma can watch Tara say "Hi, buddu". Worth it one hundred percent.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
    I'll give S kudos here. He's had a tough year careerwise but he kept the oil burning at home. He's been my strength and a lovable father to our girls.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
    I rather not say
14. Where did most of your money go?
    Daycare, diapers and toys.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
    - Having another baby
    - My brother being rewarded well at work
16. What song/album will always remind you of 2007?
    Don't stop believin' by Journey. C'mon admit it as soon as that screen went to black all you could do is hunt up the old Journey album and listen to it and keep wondering if Tony got whacked. Did he?? Argh it bugs me till today.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
    happier or sadder? Happier
    thinner or fatter? Thinner
    richer or poorer? Financially poorer
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
    Yoga
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
    Worry
20. How will you be spending New Year's?
    Rocking my girls to sleep.
21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
    My brother
22. Did you fall in love in 2007?
    Yes, I fell in love with this little family of ours.
23. How many one night stands in this last year?
    Still a good girl.
24. What was your favourite TV programme?
    Sopranos until it ended, Curb Your Enthusiasm; Mad Men, and I cringe to admit it but Gossip Girl.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
    No
26. What was the best book(s) you read?
    Haven't read a single book and I don't think Goodnight Moon qualifies.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
    Amy Winehouse
28. What did you want and get?
    Another daughter
29. What did you want and not get?
    A plasma TV
30. What were your favourite films of this year?
    I watched only two, a measly two movies this year- Knocked Up & Namesake. I chose well cause I enjoyed them both.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
    Celebrated it with our close friends Lakshmi & Arvind. S surprised me with a cake. I turned 34.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
    See #29
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
    Does it stretch?
34. What kept you sane?
    The Internet and this blog.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
    Bill Maher
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
    The immigration reform bill
37. Who did you miss?
    I don't think I'll ever stop missing/wanting/needing/crying for my dad.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
    Do blog friends count? if so, Dooce
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
    Just when you think you can't love your child much more, have another one and watch that love quadruple.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?
    This song is more appropriate for S than me but it reflects my sentiments too.
    I'm gonna watch you shine
    Gonna watch you grow
    Gonna paint a sign
    So you'll always know
    As long as one and one is two
    There could never be a father who loved his daughter more than I love you.
    - Paul Simon, Father & Daughter

Happy New Year!

Our Christmas weekend

December 22

We started the celebrations early, frankly it feels like we've been celebrating ever since the Xmas tree and lights went up. Most of our Indian friends go home during this time so we had a "Stuck in Seattle" party for those who remained. It turned out to be quite the crowd. The kids had a complete blast as we had presents and a giant sized Santa by the fireplace that kept them amused. When the mood went a little down there were plenty of home-baked cookies (ahem I really did bake!) and candy canes to go around.

Mom was at her culinary best she made jeera rice, cauliflower and capsicum sabji, matter paneer, veggie cutlets, dehi vada and more, I can't type the rest out as my mouth is watering again. She even had the energy to roll out a 100 plus chapattis, God bless the woman. I was in charge of the appetizers and dessert so I made spinach dip and for dessert we had ice-cream with a bunch of toppings that the kids could pick, simple but a huge hit!

I told everyone to bring a gift and put it under the tree. We got Tara a set of dolls and a medical kit. The truth was one was for Nisha but the real truth they were both for Tara. Nisha just starred at the people and the lights and was clueless while Tara enjoyed ripping the gifts and yelling bebe dolly mamometer bebe dolly mamometer! All the boys even wanted to play with the dolls. Now she roams around everywhere with a doll in each hand.


December 23

Since the party got over close to midnight, we all slept in and half the day passed thankfully. The weather wasn't all that great so we stayed in, ate left-overs and Tara watched this song only 12379484573629 times. By the 445 time we all started singing "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" and meant every word.

December 24

Not wanting to sing the Hippo song one more time this day we took Tara out of the house as soon as she woke up. Nisha was left behind with Agi, cause going out with two kids the day all shops close early is insane. We braved it and went downtown, luckily our gym has parking so we didn't have to hunt for space. We did the Christmasy thing of riding the carousel a few times(Horsy melly go-a-round horsy, go up go down, papa. More, more papa) and then went to the malls to see all the decorations through Tara's eyes. She enjoyed riding the escalators the most while we exclaimed - Look Tara Santa, Look Tara Elf, Look Tara Kissamee Tree and sounded like complete doofuses.

December 25

Tara got to open her last set of gifts. By this time she was trained to walk straight to the tree and say Santa gift? Surprise? and ripe whatever she finds under the tree. I got her a book, I'm thinking of giving both the girls a book every year with a note in them from us. I think the best gift anyone can give is a book, I can still remember the day my father gave me The Godfather and ear-marked the pages I should skip. Ha, I read every page and then the book over and over again.

So, back to the gifts. Tara got a book, she got princess chocolates from my friend Diane left in her stocking and a lovely train set from her aunt Roma. S had more fun building the Lego trains and playing with it while Tara kept saying Chagga-Chagga-Choo-Choo and stuffing her face with more chocolate fudge.


The Gods had pity on us because as soon as the facination with the new toys was starting to fade it began to snow. Yup, we had a white Christmas in Seattle. S took Tara out and she played and played in the snow until it melted. I got some much-needed time with Nisha who has been such a darling, not demanding at all, just an absolute darling.

By evening we were back to singing the (in)famous Hippo song. Oh, c'mon join me:

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
Don't want a doll, no dinky Tinker toy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy!

(I typed that up without even looking at the web page, If you do watch it hit the down arrow key so you can sing along. You will totally get hooked after the second time.)

All the weekend pictures are in the Christmas album. Thank God it's over, we need some rest! Hope you and yours had an equally enjoyable holiday.

Kissamee

We've jumped hook, line and sinker into the Christmas spirit. Partly, no mostly, no completely due to Tara. She is enchanted with snowmen, lights, stars, and candy canes but stays clear of Santa. No Santa! No I scared! No Santa! Bee-ard! I scared! goes the banter everytime she sees something reddish bobbing around, ANYWHERE. I saw children walk up to Santa and give him their list while I was holding a squirming toddler who wanted nothing more than a candy cane and the chance to run back into the car and hide. Needless to say the Santa picture was a disaster.

We thought maybe Santa's reindeer would not be daunting, wrong. No! Raindeer! Big Horns! Big Eyes! Poke Tara! No! Sign, the holiday picture turned out good but with no Santa or Reindeer, maybe next year, but wait Nisha will be yelling by then, oh dear.



We didn't go with the fresh cut tree this year, the bajillion needles that the tree sheds was no fun to clean up and getting rid of the tree is even harder. We got rid of last year's tree in August as S had no time to chop it up. it just lay there on our driveway wilting. We picked up an artificial tree and it still wasn't an easy endeavour. The first one we bought had a wobbly stand, the second one we got the lights were multi-colored, it was the third one which had a steady stand with clear lights and by then S was pleading I AM NOT GOING TO THE STORE AGAIN so it remained.

The lights, ornaments and stockings are all up, the only thing missing are the presents and at this point I'm too tired to go shopping. Tara & Nisha are not at an age where they expect presents, they are mesmerized by looking at the lights for now, thank you Jesus. Every night Tara returns from daycare and goes straight to the tree and waits for S to turns on the lights. As soon as the tree is lit she yells "Kissamee! Melly Kissameeee" in such a delightful enthusiastic voice that it makes returning home after an exhausting day, such a joy.

After the tree lighting she goes to Agi and yells "Surprise" at which point she gets a Santa chocolate or a Snowman chocolate or a Turkey chocolate. One day instead of the chocolate she was given a book, not so thrilling. She kept repeating "Surprise? Chocolate??" until we shoved some M&M's into her mouth to shut her up.

Talk to me

I received an email from a friend asking if Tara has started talking. It hadn't struck me that kids really start talking, actual talking not that dada-baba jabbering, only after they turn 2 or thereabouts. It seems like Tara has been yakking for ages. In reality, it's probably just in the last few months but boy can she talk up a storm. She constructs perfect sentences and articulates it in the cutest sing-song voice ever. Her Oh-mah-gawd exclamation complete with eyes widening, eyebrows raising and hand covering her mouth is delightful to watch. She repeats everything we say but in her toddler language. Sabudhana is Sabudhanana, Pomegranate is Poomoglanate, Sleep is Shleppy, M&M's is M&M&Ummm.

Every evening when she comes home, I greet her in the garage and take her upstairs. Each evening we have the same conversation:

Tara how was your day?
I sad. I fall down.
Where?
On the play-a-ground.
Who pushed you?
Jack*
And then?
He scratch, over there.
Awww and what did you say? (kissing imaginary hurt on the hand)
No thank you, Jack. I push you.

*For the record, Jack is the sweetest little kid and greets Tara with a hug.

Her teachers say they can't keep up with her vocabulary and are amazed by how well she communicates. Tara was slow in her milestones, but in the language department she does seem ahead. I wonder if it was the sign-language that helped? My grandma says Tara takes after me. I was known to have recited story books from start to finish verbatim, not only that, but I'd tell you when there was a punctuation mark and when you had to turn the page and to show-off rattle you I'd even give you the page number. No kiddin'. Where is that memory these days when i need it?

Some of the nice things she rambles:

- Mama, carry me I'm a queen.
- I no like Santa, I scared. I like Santa candy only.
- Wake up papa. Get up papa. Get up!Get up! (my personal favorite)
- No phone papa, switch it off. (my next personal favorite)
- No Nisha's turn, it's Tara turn. (when we try and feed/bath/cuddle Nisha)
- Avi, I want a purple bicycle.
- Agi I hungry. I wan knoodles.
- Whas dhis, Whas dhah? (repeated 234956 while in the car)
- You tired mama. Sit down take nap.
- Look in mirror I pretty.
- Goodnight mama. Big Hug. I love you.

Some of the not-so-nice things:

- I no like you. Go away.
- No mine. No, miiiine. (almost always followed by puppy face and tears)
- No shoutin mama. Be nice.
- I not ready to share.
- I wan Elmo I wan Telletubbies I wan Pingu I wan Spiderman I wan! I wan!!

She can sing most nursery rhymes. Obviously it's not word-for-word and you have to struggle to recognize a few but she can recite them all.



Most of the times she has her own language which is adorable to listen too.



Here's a longer one, I couldn't stop recording. To think only a year ago she spoke to her Teletubbies like this.

Naming Nisha

It snowed for the first time in Seattle today!! And oh, we officially named Nisha. We really hoped Avi would be here to do the honors just like he did for Tara but he's too busy attending surprise birthday parties for himself and his birthday hasn't even arrived. The naming ceremony was a small affair this time but nice. The priest explained all the prayers he chanted which was useful as I just randomly repeat whatever he says when asked to do so with not the faintest idea on what it means.

Tara was more amused with the snow falling outside (who can blame her) than the chanting inside but she did take part eventually. She enjoyed ripping the petals off the flowers and offering it to the Gods. She kept doing the more sign to the priest wanting more flowers and when he gave her a puzzled look she'd do the sign and say More Flowers, More, More. NIsha slept, cried, slept, through it all. She did enjoy the honey I fed her to "sweeten" her mouth, do not tell my Doctor.

Here are pictures of us doing the ceremony, S writing Nisha's name in rice, S whispering Nisha's name into her ear and finally the family picture.





By the time we left the temple the snow was falling pretty hard. As soon as Tara finished her late afternoon nap she wanted to get out. S had to keep making miniature snowmen and Tara would gleefully knock it's head off. I'm glad we picked up a snowsuit for her just yesterday, who knew snow was in the forecast.

I hope this is a short snowstorm as I start work on Monday ... what am I thinking ..... LET IT SNOW!

You're the best

It's no secret that without my Mom's help S and I would have checked into a madhouse. I mean, having two kids under two is no joke. It's not twice as hard but hundred times as hard. My mom does most, if not all, the heavy-lifting, leaving us to catch a breath and some sleep. I thank her almost everyday but just a simple "thank-you" doesn't seem to convey the amount of gratitude we have for her. Her response is the usual "Stop thanking me, if I don't help my kids, who will?". Regardless this Thanksgiving I am especially fortunate to have her by my side.

For a change though, how about thanking myself too? Pardon me while I toot my own horn cause there ARE somethings I do better than my mom. Like:

- I can snip Tara's and Nisha's nails. Ok so this list is starting off rather lame but do you know the precision involved in cutting a baby's nails? Not to mention I don't have the best eyesight in the world.

- I can make Tara go to potty and pee-pee even it it means reading the "Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see" book a zillion times.

- I can put both the girls to sleep faster than anyone even if it means singing "Goodnight Baby" a zillion times.

- I can cook Tara's favorite meal - Pasta and I get a compliment of "Mama, it's nice" every single time.

- I can get Tara to finish her meals better than anyone. Even if I have to plop her in front of the tele and get her to watch Teletubbies while I shove dal rice in her mouth.

- I use my voice of God so well that it shuts up Tara every time she is ready to throw a tantrum. My boob shuts up Nisha for now.

- I can put Tara's silky hair into two perfect ponytails.

- I worked till the very last day, till 4:30pm (hey I'm a government employee we work very diligently till 4:30pm, thank you very much) on both my pregnancies.

- I produced two adorable girls even if I have to say so myself. Mom bought Avi and me into this world, so I think I win on this one hands-down!

This and That 2

Thanks for all your concern over Tara. Happy to announce she is no longer ignoring the baby. Instead she gives Nisha a good old whack on the head every time she passes her.

-x-

The other day Tara took her shoe off and put her hand into it and exclaimed "My arm is now my feet!" She blew all our socks off with that remark, even though the grammar wasn't quite right.

-x-

Nisha is gassy! Very gassy!! Just like her father gassy!!! In medical terms they call it colic. This is how her evenings go - she wakes around 7pm, wants to nurse constantly, yells as she arches her back and turns beetroot-red in pain. This lasts till about 11:30pm at which point I hand her off to my mom who carries her on her shoulder for the rest of the night. My mom probably has had 2 hours of sleep in the last few weeks, maybe not even that much.


-x-

Nisha has dark-brown highlights. It's the strangest thing, her hair is jet-black but the tips are all a dark brown shade. To think we named her Night primarily after seeing the color of her hair and whadoyaknow it turns to brown.

-x-

We've been partying of late and the Thanksgiving weekend hasn't even started. We've been attending birthday parties galore. At her best friend Tanvi's party Tara flipped to her insecure self until the last guest left and then she was all playful. Lakshmi told us that we should be the first to arrive at a party so Tara does not get overwhelmed. The best advice ever, we went to Aakash's and Divya's party and the results were fan-freaking-tastic. Tara had a blast and as a result we did too. In fact at Divya's party we didn't even know where she was, she was busy playing with much older kids and refused to go home even though it was 11pm, way past her parents bedtime.

-x-

S and I had our first night-out alone in 2 years. My mom, the gem that she is, agreed to keep the kids while S and I went to his company's holiday party. Can I admit how nice it was not having to chase a toddler or carry a toddler or pick up a dropped sippy cup or eat off a plate which has Elmo on it!

Tara's reaction

Put it down.

Take it off.

Switch it off.

Send it home.

Take it away.

The "it" refers to Nisha and the words spoken by Tara. To say that Tara has taken the arrival of her sibling not-so-well could very well be the understatement of this year. I sent out birth announcement cards this week and lied, I lied people. Frankly I just left off one critical word "Tara is enjoying being a big sister" I said, failing to add the word NOT at the appropriate place.

I read about it, I was told about it, I was warned about it but nothing prepared me for it. To see Tara's insecure eyes and the change the arrival of a newborn has done to her is gut-wrenching. I must admit it's getting a bit easier but the first two weeks were terribly saddening to watch. Tara kept wanting me to carry her which after the c-section was hard to do. Considering I carried her till the very last day of my pregnancy, in fact, I walked into the hospital carrying Tara but walked out carrying Nisha which was too hard for little Tara to witness.

Even the daycare staff have seen a drastic change In Tara's personality. Tara always went to anyone and was the playful one. Now her notes say:

"Tara had a sensitive day."

"Tara had a rough day but we worked through it."

"She made it known when she was unhappy."

"She had a better day but she did have her meltdowns too."

Poor girl is still too young to totally comprehend what's going on at home and why this bebe-doll Nisha is attached to mama all the time. How do I explain that her sister sleeps during the day and wants to nurse constantly in the evenings. My Mom and S give Tara all the attention all the time and that seems to help. We don't talk about "the baby" and pretty much ignore her when she is not needy. We constanly tell Tara that we love her, and she is our baby too and we love, love, love her.

It is getting better, slowly. Tara has started touching Nisha's hair and every now and then gives her a little pat. I wonder how our parents and grand-parents managed us? Did they buy books titled "Siblings without Rivalry" and "My New Baby"? My great-grand mom had 14 kids, how the hell did she manage it?? And to think some people say I take after her, what are they thinking??

Cheer up, my Tara.

In 2 weeks

1) Nisha has gone from 8lbs9oz to 9lbs13oz and from 21inches to 21.5inches.

2) I have lost 23pounds, ALL MY PREGNANCY WEIGHT. Hallelujah!!

3) Tara has gone from happy-go-lucky child to insecure, introverted, does-not-want-to-leave-mommy-for-one-millisecond child. Tell me it does get better?

4) One child wants to nurse at my breast and the other wants to be held at my breast at exactly the same time.

5) I can tell if Nisha is comfort feeding, cluster feeding, hunger feeding or night feeding. Don't ask me how I know, but I just do, something called experience?

6) We celebrated my Mom's birthday. A year ago we were partying it up in Vegas. This year it was McD's for breakfast and pizza & cake for dinner to celebrate. Oh shut up, don't look at me with those eyes, that's what my mom wanted. Really, she did.

7) Our desktop mysteriously went kaput. I can access only https sites so I can go to BOA, AmEx and all the credit cards sites to check how much (Holy mother of God) is going in diaper expenses but can't get to any other site. Then to add to it our HotDiggity (yeah S named our wireless network Hot Diggity!) connection also went kaput. Right now I'm on someone's unsecured network hoping to not be dropped before I hit publish.

8) Nisha wakes up every odd hour and Tara every even hour, hence giving me exactly 1 second of sleep between the hours. I am so sleep-deprived but enjoying being a mom of two, atleast till my mom is here.

9) Nisha's poop color has gone from black to green to mustard.

I'll leave you with that pleasant thought and pictures of Nisha's countdown to a cry.

Halloween, not really

This ain't really a Halloween post as we didn't do much, correction, didn't do anything this year. Last year I was 100% into it and got Tara and S devil costumes which I spent a crap-load of dollars for and they both wore it for .05 seconds and that was it. This year with baby#2, oops, Nisha being born a week earlier I didn't have much time to do or think of anything. We picked up some last ditch effort shirts from Toys r Us which Tara wore to her daycare party and then another one last night to scare the few kids that came knocking on our door.

Tara's didn't care much about handing out the candy, she kept holding the candy basket going "No, mine. No, mine" so at the end of the day she had the candy jar all to herself.


Nisha on the other hand just slept through it all (Thank you Rama, Krishna, Ganapati my little one sleeps oh does she ever sleep!). But I did get a picture of her where she scarily resembles Tony Soprano ... I know I was on a Sopranos craze during my pregnancy but this is taking it to the limit, no? Or, maybe I'm just imagining it.

This is us!

Introducing the latest addition to the ShanDekarS. Nisha was born on Oct 24th at 8:29am, coming in at a healthy 8lbs9oz and 21inches. She has the darkest hair and the most pinchable cheeks. She has kept us up day and night but we are loving every minute of it. Tara hasn't quite figured out her "bebe sistah" but bring all her toys and gives it to her, sharing atleast for now.

More pictures in this album.

Ready

Sorry. Did I need to post a warning before you were subject to a picture of this completely pregnant women looking all cylinderish with haldi-kukum splashed on her forehead? Next time, what, there is going to be a next time? Haha kiddin', I am so done with pregnancies and ready for this to be over with. I yearn to wear non-maternity clothes and start getting Victoria Secret catalogues again, well, if they will have me back. I just realised that I've been wearing the same baggy loosy goosy clothes for the past 3 years as I've been pregnant 2 out of the 3!!

Mom made me have the traditional Hindu 9th month bangle ceremony this weekend. Ever since she arrived she's been cooking and preparing for it. I wasn't too keen at first since it was so late (39th week!) and I'm so tired but after I saw the lovely sari and the hoop diamond ear-rings she bought me I coudn't resist. It was a really fun afternoon, I had a bunch of my girlfriends over and after Husband, Diane, Meenu, LaTonja, Kristie, Shannon, Patricia, Lakshmi and Sharda blessed me and baby#2 by smearing my forehead with haldi/kukum and struggled to force a green bangle into my chubby hand we all enjoyed mom's feast. She outdid herself this time as we hardly had any leftovers and everyone complained that the goody bag she handed out just wasn't the same without a bit of curry added to it.

The next post will hopefully be of us holding baby#2, finally. I am Ready.

One week

I can't imagine I'm going to be holding baby#2 a week from today. This pregnancy has truly flown by, thanks in large part to being pre-occupied with Tara. The difference between the first and second pregnancy is unbelievable. Take for instance:

- The morning sickness I had with Tara lasted for 5 whole months and I kept loosing weight as I was unable to retain even water at one point. This time I've been eating everything and more, I managed to resist the bacon cravings with sheer will power.

- I flunked the 1 hour glucose test, the anemia test and the Group B strep test with Tara. I passed all of them this time around.

- I craved for sugar and all things sweet with Tara. Now its pickles and spices and hot hot curry.

- I gained 32 pounds with Tara. I've gained 22 pounds so far and am hoping to keep it under 25 pounds with this one. Considering I never lost all of the weight I gained when I went to India and ate and ate last year I am determined to keep from looking like an elephant. Although I sure am (see above pic).

- I got horrible, leg cramps with Tara. She would often land on some nerve and it would send me into spasms. Baby#2 has managed to avoid this so far. However I do have terrible pain where my c-section scare is, so much so, that I bend over and clutch my stomach as if I'm an old lady who has forgotten how to walk and cannot find her walking stick. It gets worse when I carry Tara, but how can I not carry her when she looks up at me with puppy eyes and out-stretched arms going "Mama carry".

- I was in labor for 16 hours with Tara and after all that pain ended up with a c-section. This time I know the time and place with hopefully no accompanied painful contractions.

I know it's not right to compare your kids. But gosh do I wonder what baby#2 will turn out like? She's been an absolute darling in me, ignored most of the time, but still let's me know she's there with the gentle pokes, jabs, hiccups and constant heartburn. I have an intuition she's gonna be a handful on arrival. Yet I can't! wait!!

Mom's back

She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back!

It does sound like I'm more excited that Mom's back than when my second daughter arrives but really can you blame me? S and I had the soundest sleep this weekend as we both knew that my Mom is here and everything will be fine, just fine.

Tara was expecting to see Avi this weekend for some reason as every time we asked her "Who is coming on Saturday?" she'd chant "Avi, Avi". So when she saw Agi she just starred till Mom came closer and said "Tara, it's Agi". Tara couldn't get out of my arms fast enough to run to her grand-ma. It was the sweetest thing. I was fighting with my daughter for a hug. I lost out. In fact Mom didn't really notice me till hmm lets say later that evening when she bumped into my belly on the way to get Tara another toy.

My bro has sent 2 suitcases full of toys for his little niece. She's got so much stuff that we had to clean out our house with the current toys as we had no room whatsoever. Of all the toys Tara liked her hair bands, she has enough to start a shop. Avi also sent me some beautiful pearl and jade necklaces and S got the entire fall collection of Armani. To say my bro is doing well is an understatement but I can't complain and I can't be more proud.

It was a nice fall weekend in the NW so we managed to drag Tara away from her toys and go to a pumpkin patch. She enjoyed the 5 dollar total-ripe-off pony ride and the tractor ride and didn't really care about the pumpkins. S had to take her on multiple tractor rides, I went on just one as it was pretty bumpy and I didn't want to have an emergency delivery surrounded by hay and pumpkins.

Energizer Bunny

I am exhausted. My stomach is BULGING way out there, the back PAIN is hurting me so much I can't sleep for more than 45 minutes at a stretch, I'm PEEING every 15 seconds and feel like peeing every 5 seconds, I get major karate KICKS on my right ribs every time I eat and the HEARTBURN is so bad that I can feel the acid just coating my throat like a pendulum. This pregnancy has flown by so I shouldn't complain but these final 3 weeks are ex-haus-ting! What, I didn't tell you the c-section is scheduled? Oh I meant to, really I did. If all goes well I'll be rolled into the OT at 8:00am on Oct 24th.

I did have a scare yesterday though. I had to check into L&D (Labor & Delivery) to make sure I wasn't already in labor. They sent me back home but I was petrified that the baby was gonna arrive and mom is not here yet! Things seem to be okay but baby#2 unlike Tara wants to get out quick.

Talking of Tara she seems to have morphed into the Energizer bunny. She comes home with so much energy it's freaking insane. I mean she's had an activity filled day at daycare so you'd think she'll be tired but it seems like she has inhaled hyper-gas. She is so very active and if I weren't lugging an extra 20 pounds on me I wouldn't mind chasing her around the house going "I'll catch youuuuuu" 1283745 times/day. Here are some videos I've taken around 8:45pm the past few nights and you'll see what I'm talking about. (The last video should be titled Ouch, very Ouch).

We've had visitors!

Since we returned from California we been meeting a lot of friends and relatives which has kept the weekends busy and Tara pleasantly distracted. In all the flurry we even managed to get our house painted. It's a strangely nutella-ish color don't you think? I've been on a nutella binge of late and it's reflected in the paint! Here's the before, if interested. The weeks are flying past and the most anticipated visitor (no offense other darlin' visitors) arrives in 3 weeks. No not baby#2 but my mom!!

My buddy Srikanth was here for a weekend and Tara enjoyed spending time with him. He has a one year old daughter so knows how to entertain toddlers. He bought her some lovely toys and a big stuffed gorilla which Tara insists on taking to bed every-single-day (I thought I'm cuddly enough these days that she doesn't really need a stuffed toy). It was fun catching up with Sri, we've known each other since our tennis days at Bangalore Club and it's mind boggling to see how we've all changed and umm grown old!

We went to my favorite breakfast place while he was here and I ordered Tara her first kid-meal. I usually just give her stuff from my plate but I really didn't want to share my Very Berry Waffle with warm maple syrup and whipped cream with anyone. I ended up eating most of her breakfast as all she did was lick the maple syrup and toss the pancake.

LaTonja came and spent a day with us recently as well. Okay technically she's not a visitor but since she's been globe trotting of late, I think visitor is an accurate description. Tara has been asking for her every now and then and I guilted LaTonja into coming over and keeping her company. I had a whole day where I could lay on the couch and watch as LaTonja played with Tara who didn't even look in my direction. It was a restful day and one I hope happens more often, hint hint!!

Jude came by from London for a fleeting visit. He brought hot food from kebab house so we didn't have to go out and we had a nice evening together. Tara was entertained by Arun and Ian so I could enjoy my dinner in peace and eat it while it was hot and not various levels of cold like I usually have it.


S's dad visited us after a business trip to the Bay area. He had seen Tara about a year ago so he was totally taken in with how much she's grown and how well she identifies each and every single item on the Baby Einstein flash cards. Tara was fascinated with his beard and the swing-ornament he bought us.

Shoeb's daughter Leila has returned. She is exactly 3 years older than Tara and we parents have the hopes that our girls will be tennis partners someday. Leila has grown into a delightful girl with a double-handed backhand/forehand a la Monica Seles. I'm hoping she starts to spend more time with Tara.

We also got to meet Mark on his stop-over on the way to Japan. He has taken some good pictures (cause he's so not an amateur photographer anymore) of Tara but the absent-minded person that he is forgot the camera's cable so we'll have to wait till he returns to get a copy. The only pictures I get of Tara is when she's on the move, like so.