A growing vocabulary

appa amma thatha aa-ati akka anna -thai -ithi chitha (for chithappa) bow-bow pa paa-pa kaa-ka -dy (for teddy) main (with arms flung up - for plane) bubbizh (for bubble) thaaar (for shark) ka-ai (for vegetables) -tha (for theetha 'water') mum-mum (for food) kakka (for poo) poooooo (for 'poo' flowers) brrrrr (for cars, buses, autos, bikes), caa- (for car), aa-nai (for elephant), naaaaai (for dog), baa (for ball)

My most favourite fictional heroes

I'm taking up this tag from a blog i read: http://thirtysixandcounting.wordpress.com/

It's so much fun to think about all the fictional heroes that i've fallen for and list them down here:



1. Fitzwilliam Darcy - this man would figure on most women's top 10 list - his arrogance, the way he protects his sister, his unseen kindness and the way he hides how he feels about Elizabeth - what more could you want.

2. Rhett Butler - Arrogance and charm take the cake again. Is there something wrong with me - that I like arrogance so much?

3. Hank Rearden - Arrogance again - this character from Atlas Shrugged is not its hero, but it's him you fall for in the end.. not Galt or Francisco.

4. Superman - Do i really need to list the reasons? Spiderman never really did it for me because he became too human in Spiderman 2. Superheroes should remain what they are - super heroes. No?

5. Aragorn, son of Arathorn - A lost inheritance, the heir of a long line of kings, descended from men who were once immortal, sigh....

6. Frank Hardy - the elder of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew's interest whenever the two sets of characters were combined in one story.

I can't believe I couldn't get to 10 characters. I think that lately I've read so much chick lit and so little of the kind of fiction you read and always remember that I don't remember any other characters. Let me take this tag up after a week and tell you if I remember anything else!

Babble and bubble

The last weekend was an important weekend for me. We had planned to go to Raja Mannarkudu to visit the Rajagopalaswamy temple there and offer Sammu prasadam as her first Annaprasanam. The plan was executed beautifully. Thanks to my father-in-law's current job, we were received at the temple with a lot of care and things rolled out in a very smooth fashion.

Sammu was supposed to have had her first taste of rice here, but the prasadam offered was 'sheera' which is what we call rava kesari when it is made in a temple as prasadam. She ate up the sheera eagerly :-)

We also visited the Garbarakshambigai temple in Thirukarugavur and put Sammu in the 'thanga thottil' which was there. I had prayed to this Goddess for a healthy pregnancy and safe delivery. Thanks to her, both happened. Sammu wailed all the while in the cradle - we had to put her in the cradle and take her around the temple and she didn't like it one bit. She tried to stand in the cradle and held out her arms to us, all the while crying piteously.

Sammu also achieved lots of other milestones over the weekend.. she started babbling on Friday.. Upp-pah was her first word :-) Strangely i do not begrudge R this... that Up-Pah is her first word as opposed to Um-mma...

She started saying Um-mma as well the next day.. so now she keeps saying paa-paa or up-paa or maa-amm-mma... you get the picture..

It feels great to hear her call me Umm-maa... It's almost an anticlimax though.. that this word comes almost 8 months after you accept motherhood...

Must eat, Must try, Must everything!

I've never bookmarked recipes in my blog, but this one is just amazing:

http://eatanddust.wordpress.com/2009/05/13/chana-bhatura-at-sita-ram-diwan-chand/

I can almost taste the channa batura (maybe the fact that it's near dinner time has something to do with it :-)

I have got to try making this at home!!!

Birth Stories

I've been reading birth stories this morning... and I just realized how gripping they can be. They took me back to my own labor time... and when I finished reading, I was surprised to find myself at work.. with people going about their routine tasks around me. The feeling was totally surreal. This is why I love reading.. Being absorbed in a good story works magic like nothing else.

I must make a small confession here - I love reading in the bath... and now when I manage to do it for a few minutes... it's a real pleasure. A guilty pleasure because for those few minutes, I forget the whole world outside, including my little daughter who is so dependent on me. I'm reading a book that promises a lot now - it's called 'Gently falls the bakula' by Sudha Murty.

Ok got to go now... must do some work for the pay i receive ;-)

28 years 2 days ago

I turned 28 years old the day before yesterday. It made me wonder of how the twenties have been my most happening decade. I found my best friends, my husband and became a mother in my twenties. I've found a career and financial independence. Hmmmmm.. so much left undone :-) but still some important stuff done :-)

Dancing the night way

The last weekend was a whirlwind of feverish activity... as most of my weekends are. R's cousin was getting married and my in-laws arrived early on Saturday morning. They had brunch and left in mid-morning around 11 to the mandap to stay there for the wedding and return on Monday afternoon.

Every one was eager to see Sammu. But Sammu's fear of strangers held strong and she wailed inconsolably if anybody other than her mother and father dared to lay a finger on her. She had beetroot this weekend.. That was the newest addition to her growing repertoire of foods. We pressure-cooked the beetroot (grated) with some moong dal and then mashed the whole thing up to a thick creamy (little lumpy) consistency.

Last night was the wedding reception. R is quite the dancer and has quite a name for dancing at all relatives' weddings. R's cousin requested that he dance yesterday as well. So he did - to some music played on violins and mridangams!!!! R made me dance as well.. he just held me and moved my limbs - I was as usual two left legged. Then was the best dance of all... R danced with Sammu.. he held her in his arms and swung her to the music. She was so happy and was dimpled and smiling all through the proceedings. R's cousin A has also had a son recently (he's all of 4 months old) and A also danced with his son. It was a very happy moment. I was so proud of my daughter. She looked so beautiful and happy! :-)

Lifestyle Diseases

We received a rude shock at work in the past one week. There was a health camp conducted at my company where they did a battery of blood tests, measured blood pressure, height, weight etc.

R and I work for the same company. To our utter disappointment, R has now been diagnosed with mild hypertension. We visited a cardiologist yesterday and did a proper evaluation. He is to begin medication starting with only half a tablet. But still... hypertension is not something he or I had associated with his age. We always imagined that it would take more than a dozen gray hairs before he or I would develop this sort of a problem.

But that's not just all... A number of R's peers have been diagnosed with such problems as well, mild hypertension, borderline sugar problems - many of them are well on their way to developing lifestyle diseases which means they may need to take medication or control their diets for the rest of their lifetime.

What does this mean? Is the quality of our life so poor that we develop such diseases at such an early age? My grandmother wasn't diabetic until I was 12 or 13 years old. My mother is a diabetic now - when my daughter is just 7 months old. And my grandparents did not have hypertension - my still surviving lone grandmother still doesn't have it. But my daughter has a parent with hypertension - mild or not.

I read a lot of books, but i generally dismiss the books that talk about slowing down, taking life easy... But maybe there's some truth in it? I always think of people talking about poor health in IT as doing stereotyping and being cliched... but is there something to it after all?


Isn't it time to rethink the weird work life balances we have in IT? Why isn't there a union for IT workers? I think the industry has matured in so many different ways. Isn't it time for this kind of a maturity as well?

Ok time to go back to work... Needed to say all this somewhere and what's better than here...

My birth story

Shouldn't this be called Sammu's birth story? Well anyway, I thought i should write this down at least 7 months after the event :-). Just so I don't have different expectations next time (if there is a next time!)

I was on leave from 21-Sep-09, eagerly anticipating (or so I thought at the time) Sammu's birth... I couldn't wait for her to be born, to actually hold and cuddle a newborn baby seemed so unreal. And it felt as if the pregnancy would never end. I was so tired of hauling my huge self everywhere, even sitting down and getting up seemed like an excercise by itself. I fully expected pains to appear all of a sudden each night and imagined myself on the way to hospital screaming and holding my husband for support in the middle of the night! I could never have imagined that what would happen would actually be so mundane.

It was early evening on 2-Oct-09. I started to feel that I was having mild pains on the left side of my stomach, not dissimilar to what i generally get during ovulation time. Note the phrase, 'started to feel'. I wasn't really sure of how i felt and I couldn't be sure that I wasn't making the pains up. I am very imaginative, especially when it comes to inventing bodily aches and groans.

As it was a Saturday evening, R was also at home and he was very excited. He was more eager than i was to have the baby and he was also a bit scared for me
and how i would come through all of this. He suggested going to the hospital, if i was sure I was in labor. I wasn't so sure. I suggested that we wait a while.

That night I ate a light meal (just in case :;-)) and we decided to wait and see. Around 12ish, I thought i felt the pains increasing (notice: 'thought'). R had already spoken with a call driver to come in at a short notice, so we could go by our car to the hospital. R was not yet sure he could drive then - so we were still using a regular driver and call drivers for other times. By 1 AM i was convinced that the pains were getting stronger and that I needed to get to the hospital, fast.

R immediately got the call driver in and we were all ready and set to go to the hospital by 3 AM. I even got my sis V to take photos of me before the delivery. Now is the right time for you to ask this question: 'If you were really in labor, would you be able to think of taking photos?' We reached the hospital in less than 15 minutes. It was not at all what i pictured happening, except for the fact that it happened in the middle of the night. I remember thinking that I was so calm - how calmly i was bearing my pain :-) This must be what motherhood is all about- bearing pain stoically and silently. We reached the hospital's triage area. There was an attending nurse and doctor. The doctor started to note all my details down, giving me a glare when i said i had 'PCOS', 'Say Polcystic Ovary Syndrome - don't use short forms', she berated me, but not unkindly. The nurse took one look at me and said, she is not in any hurry to deliver. She doesn't seem to be having more than the mildest of pains. If she did, then she would not look like this!!! This was my introduction to the pain that's expected during delivery. The duty doctor examined me. To me, this is the most painful part of delivery. The examination -
ugh.. few things have ever felt so uncomfortable to me. She said that i was maybe dilated a tiny inch and not much more.

They called up my doctor, who immediately advised that i be admitted, although I was only in early labor. My doctor's not one to take many chances. She decided to admit me even though the whole world felt i was not in active labor yet.

Part 2 will follow tomorrow. I can't write so much in a single day!!! And as you will learn, it's a long long way to go before you meet Sammu!

A word cloud

From wordle

A Super Dad Day

I realize that in all of these posts, I have never once mentioned my husband. I've mentioned before that i felt like a super mom for making breakfast and lunch and making it to work on time. But really, I would be unable to do any of this if not for the support provided by my husband and my mom.

He lets me relax the whole evening. I play with the baby and feed her on demand the whole evening. I often don't lift even a tiny finger to help with dinner or the cleaning up afterward. He also cleans all the baby's bottles and cups, my breast pump parts and sterilizes them at night. If baby seems too cranky or does not allow me to put her down and eat.. he even feeds me dinner!!!

I'm trying to make the mornings his time with baby. He takes care of her the whole time while I cook and keeps her amused and happy. I am a cribber by nature, i crib when things work, i crib when things don't. He listens to all my crap with a patient look and tries to solve whatever things he can. Even today, i can't believe the luck that joined my life with his :-)

He's a Super Dad and a Super Super Husband !!

Sitting Sammu

Sammu has started to sit up by herself now. It's funny how she sits up - she first 'almost' rolls over but not quite, she holds herself on her side and then rests that hand on the surface firmly, with the other hand she manages to pull and sort of push herself up. For just a few seconds, she looks like she will fall down, but then she straightens her hand (the one that's resting) again and sits up firmly, pressing her bum and thighs to the floor :-)

Now she refuses to lie down even for nappy or diaper changes. We would need to put the diaper on when she's sitting or more conveniently when she's standing. She also pulls herself (rarely) into a standing position.

She had a bit of sweet potato today and rejected it. Need to try it again soon but for now, I'm more keen to try her on some juice.

A near perfect day

I was a true super woman today. I woke up at 6 30, made breakfast and lunch, fed the baby twice and managed to get to work by 10 AM :-)

I've also managed to go home for lunch and come back to work in one hour - there it is, the move to kk nagar is now justified...

Sammu was also extremely co-operative today, she was awake when i went home for lunch and managed to finish her feed within 15 minutes... V is home today due to a fever and she is keeping Sammu happy and entertained.

I'm still wondering where we could go to for our third wedding anniversary this year. I want a place that's a short roadtrip away, where i can take Sammu and one that isn't too expensive. Also wondering if we will actually go to Singapore at the end of this year...

Too many thoughts about too many things, i need to empty my head before i get to work...

There's always a first time

Before I forget to record the many firsts... :-)
My daughter rolled over when she was almost 4 and a half months old on Feb-16 2010. There was a first-first roll over on Jan-26 2010 but it turned out to be a false alarm. By that i mean that although she turned over by herself on Jan-26, she forgot how to do it and lost interest :-D. It took her almost another month to start doing it again.

She has started trying to sit up by herself. She rolls to her side, rests on that elbow and tries to push herself up into a sitting position, much like the way we are asked to get into a sitting position when pregnant. She's done it twice so far since 25-Apr but always with a little bit of help from me. I'm waiting for when she will do it by herself. The smaller milestones are coming thick and fast now, she picks up objects, throws them down, bangs them on the floor. She has even learnt to pick up two objects at the same time. She also babbles a bit and says ga-goo type of sounds. She also looks admiringly at her own wrists and watches her own hands with endless fascination turning them over this way and then the other. So now, she waves bye-bye inconsistently when you say bye to her. She imitates the action, without knowing what it means.

As for solid food, her first food was Cerelac Wheat. Since then she has had puzhungarizi kanji with pottu kadalai and first bites rice and dal cereal - both of which she dislikes earnestly. She likes her manna ragi kanji much better (sweetened with just a bit of sugar) and also cerelac wheat with apple flavor. She has also had a mashed mix of moong dal and potato with a bit of carrot as well. Also a bit of banana and apple puree. I'm hoping to start her on some juice next, with summer coming in, she needs fluids in all the various forms she can get them!!!!

Ok i've got to go now.. will try to write up more interesting posts later.. but for now, this information seems most interesting to me ;-)

It's a wonderful life

I realized what people really mean when they say time flies when you have a baby. Every week she does something new and changes in a small way. I sometimes wonder about how much we have stagnated, how much less we appreciate life and how many things we take for granted about the human body.

Looking at the wonder on my daughter's face when I make strange sounds and faces, when i blow a soap bubble, when she sees a bus for the first time - it's a great feeling, she makes you realize how extraordinary the most ordinary things are.

Since yesterday, she's been trying to sit up. She sat up with almost no support from me... and there was such a look of acheivement on her face. And she didn't rest her cute bottom on that achievement either - she immediately wanted to stand up :-). My sis V and I had so much fun watching her try to sit up again and again.

One of my pet peeves is how the whole world joins together to make a mother feel guilty. From the smallest things, like getting a tshirt caught over your baby's head, to a mom who decides to work (or not) - we are always judged for the things that we choose to do (or not) for our children. I had been gifted a baby sling by one of my colleagues at work. It was given to me when she was not yet 2 months old but it's only now, when she is six and a half months old that I worked up the nerve to try it. I went grocery shopping with my baby and I 'wore' her when i did this. I recommend a baby sling to anyone who wants hands free when carrying the baby. It's very convenient, baby loves it and you can get a lot of work done. And yet, I had to listen to a shopping attender comment to me - 'Are you sure that the straps are not cutting into baby's thighs?' . She must have thought to herself 'Look at this lady, she can't even carry the baby. Women these days, they have too much money and independence and they don't care what happens to their children.'

What do you think... Am i over analyzing her statement or did you over analyze me (just like i did) and decide that I probably have some guilt about leaving my child and going to work :-) ?

Cling

Cling - I'd never thought too much of this word before. Truthfully, I've thought more about bling and "Singh is King". Ok, i'll stop the bad jokes.

I'm trying to write about how my daughter now clings to her father and me. She would like us to always be in her line of vision and never disappear. Apparently this is another development milestone, one she must go through before she realizes that things that do not exist in front of her eyes still exist in the world. This is a crucial concept called object permanence that she must learn. All the 'kannum idho' games and the 'peekaboo' games that are played with babies are to help them learn this concept.

Last night was another typical night. My daughter slept at about 10 pm but she refused to be put down on the bed to sleep and insisted that i hold her in my lap. I tried putting her down several times, but in vain. I finally did what i always do - gave up and slept in a sitting position, leaning against the wall, with her in my lap. It was about 3 or 4 am.. really who can tell the difference between 3 am and 4 am at that ghastly hour, when i could finally put her down and lie down next to her.

Baby Center says this is one of the things that should make me happy for being a parent, at 3 am in the night i should be thinking that there are moms across the world who are sitting up with their babies. :-) At 3 am, I am barely aware of the baby in my arms, how do i summon up the energy to think about the rest of the world!!!???

Time Flies

It's been a long while since I blogged and yes, I know that I always begin my once in a while posts with this sentence and a resolution to make regular updates but I'm hoping this time will be different.

There've been a lot of changes in my life since the last post - I've moved jobs and cities. I've become a mother. And it's difficult to describe how fully life has changed since my little girl arrived.

Over the last year and a half, there have been many times when I felt an urgent need to blog - because I felt that if i didn't record a particular moment right then, the moment would be lost forever. Many such moments have now passed, but some memories remain as vivid as ever. And I hope to think about those and blog them soon enough.

To end this is a picture of my little girl.