Wednesday, April 28, 2010

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...

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

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 ;-)

Monday, April 26, 2010

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 :-) ?

Thursday, April 22, 2010

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!!!???

Thursday, April 15, 2010

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.