First haircut December 8, 2009

Bubbu’s hair ceremony ( first haircut) took place today ( Dec 3,2009). He is such a good boy and cooperated so well to the haircut that I am amazed by this sweet and cute little boy.

The temple pujarigaru booked the appointment for today morning @ 10 AM. I woke up in the morning, gave Bubbu his head bath and S helped with the feeding and getting him to nap part. Meanwhile I made Parammannam for prasaadam to take to the temple and did puja @ home.

After Bubbu woke up from his nap we fed and left to the temple and reached the temple with fruits and prasaadam at around 10:15 AM. Pujarigaru was ready and waiting for us by that time.

We took couple of snaps with his head full of hair and started with Puja. I felt a little unprepared as I forgot to bring flowers and scissors ( didn’t know that we have to get scissors). But pujarigaru used the scissors in the temple.

We sat @ the puja and started off with Ganesha Puja followed by “elavelpu” ( home diety) puja (Mallikarjuna Swami is our home diety) and then a puja to the scissors is performed. Al in all it took 45 minutes and Bubbu was watching everything throughout the puja calmly without being fussy. He is sooo adorable and such a sweet and good boy. Everything went well without any interruption.

Once the puja is done, pujarigaru cut 3 strands of Bubbu’s hair.Typically Bubbu’s mavayya ( Mom’s brother ) gets to cut Bubbu’s hair but since we are in a faraway place from family pujarigaru did it. I totally forgot that mavayya gets to cut Bubbu’s hair; else I would have asked one of our friends to do it.

After the temple ceremony, we headed out to a hair salon and explained to the hairdresser about the haircut. She understood immediately ( prev Indians storming the place ?) and completely removed all of his hair. There is still a slight stubble as they don’t shave the hair like in a barber’s hair but all of my Bubbu;s hair with his beautiful curls is gone. We took a video and lot of photos of the entire process. The salon also gave him a certificate showing the date and his first haircut.

Bubbu was sitting very still and enjoying all this without being fussy at all.

Sometimes I am amazed by this darling and cute little kid who is always curious, very social and generally does not fuss about anything ( except about food..sigh!).

Thanksgiving 2009 December 8, 2009

Bubbu’s pinni made it to our home for Thanksgiving this year and it was a joyous occasion filled with lot of fun,shopping,eating,playing with Bubbu etc.

Bubbu had lot of fun on seeing his pinni and generally played with her and spent time with her. He also gave her a gift for thanksgiving…a bite on her cheek under the eye. Yes..nowadays Bubbu bites if he gets very excited.

I was telling my sister how she should not give her cheek for kissies and the next day, Bubbu bites me. J

This little guy has cute and sharp teeth like a Bunny rabbit and it is simply amazing how much he makes use o them nowadays trying to bite off everything ( except food).

We left Bubbu under the care of his Dadda on the day after thanksgiving and shopped from 5 AM till 12 PM and it was wonderful. His pinni got lot of toys and dresses for Bubbu.

My sister’s friend landed from Chicago on Saturday and more shopping followed. Bubbu guessed that he is getting lot of attention and he became quite naughty refusing to eat/refusing to nap and always wanting to play with us.

I did have one incident of a  frustrated dinner time during the 4 days when Bubbu refused to eat not more than 2 spoons of dinner. His pinni took over and somehow he finished half of his bowl and that’s it.

Sigh…I wish Bubbu would eat well and not be fussy with food and always be healthy.

His pinni left on Monday morning and life came back to a routine.

The 4 days passed off like 4 hours.

His babysitter told me that he was a little fussy on  Monday but was back to normal on Tuesday.

This thanksgiving I am thankful for many things in my life ( big kala tika )

• Bubbu: the joy of our lives and the best de-stresser ; his smile is enough to lift my mood anytime, any place;
• Family: S for his level handedness in most things and my family for being the best loving and caring supporters in everything
• Job: I remember last year around this time things started getting bad @ work; we weren’t sure if I am going to have my job. And me being pregnant and S planning to quit to start his company it was a very stressful time. But we survived. (
• Friends both @ work, outside work and my childhood ones

Also, I am thankful for

• Hindi channels, especially soaps like Karol Bhagh and Shree which keep me sane during the winter months
• Movies : even though I did not watch as many as I wanted to
• Unlimited calling to home and g-chat for video chatting
• Blogs : food blogs , Mommy blogs, others …I enjoy reading them even though don’t get around to comment
• Our local library: love it..its my place for getting some good reads.
• Good food, either cooked by me or S or by friends during get-togethers.

So how did your thanksgiving go?

Note: Image source- google images

Puppy love December 1, 2009

Bubbu loves his puppy. A good friend V, gifted us this puppy on my  baby shower. We didn’t get to open it till now because of all the other toys.

As soon as Bubbu  sees the puppy, he has a smile and laughs at it.

He just falls all over the puppy and gives him lots of kisses!

It is soo cute that I snapped couple of pictures last nite.

I will try to post some pics of Bubbu with his puppy.

The end of world? December 1, 2009

Two weeks ago   I went and watched the movie 2012. This is the first time after a long long time  that I went and watched an English movie in the theatre. S came home early by 6:30 PM and took care of  Bubbu and I went to the 6:45 show with a good friend D ( who has a 3 month old boy ) . And it was fun. I never realized going to a  movie would be such a big deal; I am beginning to realize  the luxury of having that free time only after having Bubbbu.

 

Pre-Bubbu days, going to movies was fun and I guess I always took it for granted.

 

Post  Bubbu, I am realizing the importance of those 2 hours of just “me”time. It is wonderful just enjoying he movie with no distractions, no thoughts about feeding,changing diaper, sleep time/bath time/bottles boiling time etc.

 

However, I did feel like calling S in the middle of the movie to check on Bubbu; but I did not just because I know S takes very good care of Bubbu and I left instructions only on what to feed for dinner. Thee rest of the evening part S took over and did all the customary to do things for Bubbu. After dinner S gave Bubbu his evening oil massage followed by a wet/warm cloth wipe ( instead of bath).

 

 

I liked the movie; even though it was a non-stop disaster  to the power of disaster effects;  the graphics are excellent, John Cusack is very natural and the movie did make me have tears in my eyes couple of times!

 

Is the world beginning to end on Dec 21, 2012?

Only time will tell that.

But if it does, I do wish that we all have lived our lives to the fullest and the happiest before the end!

9 months old December 1, 2009

Our little Bubbu gadu turned 9 months on Nov 15 

He is keeping us very busy and entertained with his cute little antics and chesthalu.

 

• Bubbu can crawl on his stomach at a superfast speed. So if I place him in the living room he will crawl and be there in the kitchen in less than a minute). .that is if he doesn’t get distracted with wires and plant in his route.
• He loves cables, wires any ropes; As soon as he sees them he gets all excited and tries to pull the cables.
• He has his upper 2 teeth coming and we can see his teeth when he smiles or opens his mouth. He already has his lower 2 teeth.
• He tried to bite off my finger if he is very hungry and it hurts!
• He loves any colorful kid books; I got a bunch of them from the library and he does respond well and gets entertained at least a few minutes with the colorful pictures in the books
• He had his second attack of cold , cough last week and it really is quite hard for us. But homeopathy seemed to help/relieve him.
• He loves Daal rice with spices and turmeric; he would eat it for dinner and the next day for lunch too without getting bored . ( touchwood…kala tika)
• He loves MysorePaak,  apple phirni , egg ( scrambled, boiled, omelette ,pulusu any form )
• I started giving him small quantity of regular milk ( mixed in solids like apple phirni, kheer/payasam etc) and he seems to like it
• His all time favorite play activity is peek-a-boo; I would hide behind the center breakfast counter or the kitchen wall and play peek-a-boo with him and Bubbu would squeal and laugh delightedly. Nowadays he keeps crawling trying to find me behind the wall.
• He loves all the nursery rhymes from Youtube: his favorite ones are : Ba ba black sheep, Clap your hands, Mary had a little lamb, Humpty Dumpty; during dinner , he gets mesmerized watching these rhymes on the laptop and his evil Amma tries disturbing him by feeding his dinner.
• We attended a birthday party over the weekend and Bubbu was at his social best; he would go to everyone without crying and would just stare at their faces and be happy generally.
• Bubbu got his first taste of Tiramisu on my birthday and he loveddddd it. He also had a little cake at our friend’s birthday party too!
• He had his 9 month checkup and his Ped said he gained only 3 ounces from the last time. Needless to say we are very concerned. Hopefully once he recovers from the cold, his appetite will improve.
• Bubbu gets his bath sitting in the baby bathtub . He plays with all the duckies in the tub and keeps trying to grab and play with the water in the bucket. He loves bath time.
• He still loves the phone and keeps shouting until I give him the phone. He babbles with his pinni on the phone nowadays and his pinni is all excited about his “aboo…,,gooo…uuuuuuu”
• Anything in my hands, he tries to grab them and wants them.
• Bubbu loves it when I read him from the baby books.He keeps staring at the pictures and smiles @ them.
• If he sees a baby on the picture or any paper, he tries to kissie the baby..err..I mean kiss the baby.
• He loves to grab the houseplants and generally wants to get hold of the leaves…sighhhhhhh..poor plants!

And the sniffles start… November 10, 2009

Bubbu got his first cold and phlegm attack around the beginning of his 9^th month, the exact same time when Amma was leaving to Singapore and I stopped breastfeeding. Timing wise..its the worst…( well there is not really a great time for cough and cold )

 

I attributed this to me stopping breastfeeding ..sigh….

 

Luckily a good friend’s Dad practices Homeopathy and he was kind enough to prescribe medicines for Bubbu which I “borrowed” from my friend here and he was fine within 3 days.

 

Buy the cough/cold returned last Friday again…only more severely. This time I blame the quarter  banana he had for snack  because he immediately started having a phlegmy throat after eating it.

 

So this time too I started Homeo …but he is still not recovered ( today being the third day).

 

Here is what I am doing to relieve him of this sniffle craziness

• I am giving Bubbu a  little haldi (turmeric) mixed with water in his ugguginni ( once a day ). The haldi is not the turmeric powder we use for cooking but made by scrubbing a turmeric stick on a  hard surface with a little water.
• I am giving Bubbu oil massage and “kapu” on his chest area every evening with castor oil; “kapu” is a special technique where the palms of ur hand are warmed over steam and applied to the baby’s chest and stomach area making the area warm. Bubbu loves it and usually doesn’t complain when I am doing this for him.
• I am applying vicks to the soles of his feet and covering them with socks; this supposedly is a good remedy for cough ( source: Amma)
• I am giving Bubbu 1 drop of ginger extract with honey..I did not try this with Bubbu even though I swear by the wonders of ginger juice and honey ;  but Bubbu’s babysitter swears it  works for babies too and she gives it to him..very little though ( 1 drop of ginger extract+2 drops honey with warm water )
• Milk in small quantities instead of one single feeding ; inspite of doing this, Bubbu vomited twice last nite and twice on Saturday…sigh
• Placing him on a pillow while sleeping ( so as to enable him to breathe easy)
• Using the vicks vaporizer with the vicks drops; this works wonders especially during the night time.

 

I found a link on the web and interestingly some of the things above , which I got as advise from Amma and my friend’s Dad are found in these article..

 

I am pasting this link here

 

http://www.indiaparenting.com/babyhealth/data/bhealth014_01.shtml

 

Bubbu’s babysitter who is a Gujarati also mentioned that a little warm beetel leaf on his chest area throughout the night will relieve him of his congestion ( which is what is found in the first para of the article ). I am going to try that today/tomorrow if I can find the beetel leaf in the Indian store.

 

The next time I am going to India, I am going to get all the ayurveda/natural  medicines for childhood ailments. I wish I could get like a list of these!!!

Milestone November 10, 2009

Bubbu sat independently for more than 5 minutes on Tuesday (Nov 3) …Yay!!!

He can sit independently before too..ut he always needed some support like a pillow at the back.

 

Karthika Poornima 2009 November 10, 2009

Monday (Nov 2) was Karthika Poornima and I fasted we fasted for the first time together as a couple.

It is another couple-milestone!

 

I remember Karthika Poornima as a very important festival/noomu for my parents during my childhood days. It is an auspicious day for our family and vratham/noomu was performed in the evening for Lord Siva. A lot of preparations and planning goes into it. Every year my family ( Mom,Dad & sis) would travel to my paternal grandparents place without missing a single year. At my grandparents place it is lot of fun because all of my Babais with their families would be there. My Dad has 4  brothers and this meant meeting all the cousins and above all bunking  school.

 

The house is scrubbed and cleaned and new clothes are bought. All the items for the puja are purchased . Diwali crackers/fireworks are saved for this day after the puja.

 

All the elders would fast on this day and we kids would enjoy the delicacies cooked by my Nanamma with the help of my Mom and Pinnis. They would patiently cook festival delicacies like boorelu, Dappadam, garelu as Prasaadam to Lord Shiva. The cooking would be done so as to be sufficient to feed  atleast 50 people on a small gas stove and a wooden stove while fasting without eating anything from morning to evening. This is no simple task considering that the kitchen at my grandparents place is a traditional village kitchen which means no running water into the kitchen, just a 2 burner gas stove ,no fancy equipment, no exhaust fan. Inspite of that, the food always turns out to be world class.

 

The puja would start in the evening after the Sun starts setting and we would all have another round of showers and dressing up before the puja. We kids would reluctantly stop playing and start getting ready. Infact we would ask one another to go first for the bath( there is only one bathroom).

 

All the naivedyam would be ready for the puja and everyone would be fresh and all decked up. The puja would start with my grandfather taking the lead and it would go on with some slokas, puja vidhanam and finally the katha ( story).It would be a good 2 hours before the puja is finally done and then only all of us would be served the prasaadam which would always have mouth-watering dappadam,boorelu with loads of ghee, garelu..and some other delicacies which I don’t remember now.

 

After the food is the fireworks followed by some more noise and story telling and generally having lot of fun.

It is truly a memorable time and I miss it.

 

I wish Bubbu also has such loving memories of his childhood with time spent with his grandparents and pinni and extended family.

 

Fast forward 20 years, all I have to do is fast the whole day, cook 1 dish (pumpkin and sweet potato curry) and make dosas for naivedyam and do a shortcut puja. And of course work and take care of Bubbu. And by 6 PM in the evening I was sooo tired and cranky and not to mention hungry I was ready to eat a salad. . J

 

S actually ended up making most of the dosas and the pumpkin and sweet potato curry took me exactly 15 minutes to make.

 

But I was soooo tired by the end of the day that I went to bed by 9 :15 PM.

 

Truly my grandparents and parents had lot more patience and discipline than I do and yesterday’s experience has only reinforced it.

My babbyyyyy…. October 31, 2009

scolds/yells @ me if I

• remove  the home cordless phone from his hands after being disconnecting while talking to Amma for like 10 times in 10 minutes
• take the cell phone from his hand after he banged it for like 5 times on the hardwood floors
• delay hitting the play button on “Ba ba black sheep” on youtube during dinner time
• don’t carry him as soon as he wakes up
• run to the kitchen leaving him alone for 2 minutes with toys to play with

Sigh…he is becoming and turning out to be a naughty one and his Dadda says he is turning like Calvin!

Having it all in life.. October 29, 2009

Is it possible to have it all in life?

Today being  my huge milestone birthday I am wondering what exactly having it all in life meant and how it changed compared to my 20 something birthdays.

In my 20s

I wanted a job so as to “settle”down and start earning.

I wanted a big house with loads of furniture,TV and all the things money could buy

I wanted to go shopping whenever free or watch movies @ the theatre.

I wanted to eat out a lot as it was a luxury ( it still is but now I prefer cooking as I enjoy it)

I wanted to change/move every 3 years to a different place/country to experience new culturees

Now that I turned bigggggg 30…my perspective on life and what I mean by having “it”all in life has changed.

As of today this is what I mean by having it all in life :

I want to have a job which I am passionate about and have a successful and envious career

I want to spend lot of quality time ( not TV time ) with Bubbu and S as much as possible

I want to be the most patient and never tiring Amma to Bubbu

I want to be able to exercise 3 times a week and stay/maintain my goal weight.

I want to be 15 minute driving distance away from Mom,Dad,sis & family and enjoy and spend weekends with them.

I want to cook every single day..except once during the weekend when we eat out

I want to be able to go to the temple whenever I wanted even during weekdays.

I want to be able to go traveling once a year ( which is not the yearly trip we take to visit family)

I want to celebrate all festivals like in India during my childhood days and relive all the memories.

I want a comfortable house with non carpet floors  and brand new  appliances , with a vegetable garden full of vegetable plants and herbs and a front flower garden with all my favorite flower plants.

I want to be 10 minutes walking distance away from the beach and live in a   place where lowest winter temperature is 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

I want to be able to do all the housework by myself without the need to hire help ( I mostly don’t like it  if husband vacuums..because I like doing things my way )

I want to start a non-profit organization which teaches skills to underprivileged people and helps them earn their living without depending on others.

Only time will tell me if I can have it all.But for now, I will have to work hard towards these goals!