Last day of 2007

We are getting together at Saritha's place tonight for a dinner of appetizers. I am making some things and Saritha some. I will post the recipes and how it went next year ;).

I don't make resolutions for new year, I don't look back into the previous year, I am just plain boring when it comes to making big deal out of New year's eve and New year :). However, I want one new year to go away with just Prabu and V so I can get my man to kiss me at 12 on new year's eve :).

So what you doing for this new year's eve?

Birthdays

It was dad's birthday on Christmas day and Prabu's the next day. Both the boys got clothes and home-made meals as gifts. Dad didn't want to make a big deal out of his birthday so we kept it that way. For Prabu, I made Chicken Biriyani and took it to his work for his lunch along with some balloons. He took the lunch but said, "No thanks" for the balloons. He didn't want to be embarrassed by taking in the balloons to work ( What's wrong with you men;)?).

Then I came home and took the grandparents out for shopping so they can buy something for Prabu. Once home, I started my cooking 6 different appetizers and a chocolate cake from scratch. Does this whole post sound like I am tooting my own horn? Well good, because that's how I intend it to be because I never worked that hard in the kitchen. Did he appreciate all the effort I put in? I don't know, go ask him ;).

Merry Christmas

Hope you have been good and Santa got you what you asked for :)

I am right here

I didn't disappear into darkness. V's getting a tad better by the day. I have been very occupied with the usual working, cooking, cleaning and other domestic diva things. Mom and dad arrived from India today. Dad's turning 60 tomorrow:). I haven't bought him any real gift except some clothes. It's so hard to buy gifts for men (except my brother). Prabu's birthday is day after tomorrow and I haven't bought a thing. Actually that is the gift I am giving him this year. Not spending any money. He is getting home cooked meal, no cake and no gifts. He's gonna have a blast ;).

Oh, don't say I didn't warn you . We have decided to take over Vegas for a weekend or a week (depends) in March of 2008. By we I mean me and my girls, Dolly and Awesta. I am trying to bring Saritha to the dark side too so let's see. I told Dolls, we should start planning only in January but man, I can start shopping for the trip right now ;).

Note to self: You have 3 months to do those darn crunches and get that fat belly back in shape.

Yikes, Yikes and more Yikes

V's got stomach virus and hasn't gotten better yet. He's been on a clear liquid diet for last 2 days. Poor thing has no energy to even smile. Unfortunately there is no magic pill for this. I have to sit and wait for him to get better on his own. I am hoping tomorrow is a better day :).

What defines you?

I had an interesting conversation with someone in India. She also works from home and has a 16 month old. She said after her daughter was born, she realized that her daughter is very precious to her but her career is what defines her, so she went back to working from home. She has a nanny who comes in to take care of her daughter, a cook, a maid for doing dishes, cleaning the house and laundry. Her husband takes complete care of their daughter at night and weekends because she needs a break. I almost said can we switch places ;) but then realized I have it better(I always do;)). She asked me if I felt the same way and if that's the reason I went back to work. My answer to her was a simple, "No I don't feel that way", but I knew I wanted to say more.

Through out the trip, I thought about her question. I have a job, it's not my career. If I were to be a Chef, I would have called it my career. And even then I don't think I would have let it define me. This is me: neither my son, nor my work will define me. My kid is gonna go off to college in 18 years with a wave good bye and I will be retiring in 20 to 30 years. If I let these 2 define me now, I will be staring at an empty wall in an asylum on my 60th birthday ;).

Say "Cheesh"!

That's V's word for Cheese. I introduced him to cheese slices last week and from then on that's all he keeps saying. After he finishes his one slice, he shows me the fridge meaning, I have to take one more out :).

Porr guy hasn't had his "cheesh" in 3 days now. He's got stomach virus and has been on a liquid diet since yesterday. He stopped throwing up since morning which is good news:). As I type this, he is in the living room making Thatha and Paati dance to his rhymes..lol

Here is a picture of him I took today. He wanted to help momma dry his bedsheets.

Found this

This is Chaitu and me. I think I was 2 and he was 3.5 years old. The outfit he is wearing is the Police Uniform of India at that time:). Mom says, Chaitu would hold my hand and say, "I will always protect Chelli" ( Chelli means sister in Telugu). Just remembered the pictures and him :).

India - My opinions

All you hear now a days is how much India's economy is booming and blah blah and blah. But no one tells you about the traffic, the population, the accidents, and so on...

I grew up in a small town in India. I am sure you have heard me mention Kadapa like a million times. It was a small town then and I knew everyone and everyone knew who I was. I grew up not knowing anything about city traffic and pollution and such. I was happy in my small world. Then I came to US and it became my home. Now I love it here. So for me to go back to India for visits feels very weird and strange. I do get, "Oh come on, you were born and brought up here, you are acting like you never knew traffic in India." Honestly, I didn't. Where I grew up and when I was growing up, I drove my bike to school and home and wherever I needed to without having to worry about my life. Yes, people died in traffic accidents and such but it wasn't this common. So now to go back the traffic scares me.

There are certain things you get to see now a days that you didn't back in the day. Now couples hold hands while shopping or walking down the road. It brings a smile to my face when I see couples walking hand in hand. For me it says they are in love. You could call me cheesy but do you see yourself holding hands of your significant other when you are mad or upset with them. I think it's cute :).Tad bit of public displays of affection adds a zing into your life;). Don't ya think!

Oh the money! Kids graduating out of college are making enough money that they don't mind buying a pair of Gucci glasses or a Prada purse. Their motto is very simple. Live your life right now. Who knows what will happen tomorrow? They are young ( I am too but still like saying that) and they want to enjoy. Don't put them aside thinking they don't know how to save. Surprisingly the kids I have seen know how to enjoy and save, which is good.

The life of a stay at home, working at home or even working out of home wives/moms is tad bit easier there than here. I have seen everyone having a maid, nanny and a laundry lady who does stuff. Some even have cooks who come in and make meals. I know what you are thinking, grass is always greener on the other side :). And the second I came home, I knew grass on my side is much greener and is shining brighter waiting for me :).

What next?

I wrote about the trip in general and what we did in India and the pictures. In next few days you will hear me talk about what I really felt during this trip :). Stay tuned....

Also, I started cooking the day after I came so I updated the recipe blog too :)

Links to all India trip pictures

Singapore and Chennai Pictures
Chennai Party
Tirupathi
1st Birthday
Hyderabad-1
Hyderabad-2
Mangalore
Bodi

India Trip - Back to Chennai

After going all over the map, we came home back on the 29th of November. The next day we had a dinner get-together at a restaurant for Prabu's college friends. Prabu had a good time meeting his buddies ( so did I). I got to hear all the inside stories from his college days ( including list of coughcoughPrabusgirlfriendscoughcough)

Prabu left for AZ on 2nd December. I stayed back for a week more, finished the rest of shopping and came home on th 9th with V, amma and appa:).

India Trip - Bodinayakanur

Bodi (short for Bodinayakanur) is Prabu's parents and grand parents place. This is where they grew up. Prabu's paternal grandma lives there still and so do all of Prabu's aunts from his mother's side. So we visited Bodi for 2 days. We took a train from Mangalore to Coimbatore. Had breakfast in Prabu's cousin Meena Akka's place and then headed off to Bodi in a car. V loved the over night train ride. The second we entered into the complex where Meena akka's family lives, I thought I entered into a town house complex in New Jersey or something. It had 2 security gates and the whole community was so quiet and peaceful and not to forget beautiful :). Here is Meena Akka, her husband Siddharthan, and her kids Divya and Keerthi.



My main reason to go to Bodi was to show V to Prabu's grand mother. She is 90 some years old and has bad memory but I still wanted her to see him. V will not remember this trip so I got pictures of him with her so I can tell him about her. Here is V with his great-grandmother, grand father and dad. I love this picture.



Bodi is a small town where people are so friendly and lively. They are very orthodox in certain aspects and follow traditions to the T but the love and affection they show makes up for it.

V loved the place and the people. He wanted to stay on the road all day and watch the dogs, the bullock-carts and any other animal and/or bird that passed by.

India Trip - Mangalore

V and I flew down to Managalore on 23rd. I got sick the morning of the travel but somehow managed fine. The fellow passengers and the Jet airways crew were great and so was V. Prabu's sister Banu, her husband Natarajan and daughter Nandu moved there couple of years ago. They were great hosts.



We visited couple of beaches a beautiful temple and spent a day in a boat house in Kerala.



If you guys have seen the movie "Bombay", you could see a fort/beach in one of the songs (sad song). We visite dthat too. Prabu refused to sing the song on the fort with me and take pictures like Manisha and Aravind swamy did in the movie, oh well. You can ask for only so much ;).

India Trip - Hyderabad

Prabu, V and I flew down to Hyderabad on the 15th. We had V's birthday party on the 17th for my side of family. It was like a mini wedding with 150 guests :).


Prabu left the day after the party while V and I stayed back for 4 more days. The one week I stayed in Hyderabad was awesome. Hanging out with cousins, playing cards, shopping, the jokes, the food.....hmmmmm....

Here is a picture of the 6 of us who grew up together.
Top (left to right) - Dolly, Chaitu and Yankee
Bottom (Left to right): Aditya, me and Toshiba



Dolly's real name is Mrudula. Chaitu started calling her Dolly when we were kids and now no one in the family knows her real name :).
Yankee's real name is Keerthi Priyanka and don't ask me why we call her Yankee.
Toshiba's real name is Prathyusha and my dad gave her that nick name.
Chaitu and I have nick names too. I will tell you what it is when you get some cash ready to pay;).

And then Sundeep joined us bunch of years ago and I think he regrets moving to Hyderabad and getting to know us;)



You can see all the Hyderabad pictures here.

India Trip - Real Birthday

V had 3 birthday's this year. One on the 10th, the real one on the 14th and another in Hyderabad on the 17th. On 14th we took him to the temple in Chennai and had a cake and all at home. Nandu (Prabu's niece) decorated the living room with streamers and happy birthday signs. Here are s ome of the pictures from November 14th.

India Trip - Tirupathi

We drove down from Chennai to Tirupathi. It was a 4 hour drive. V had his head-shaving ceremony there. Mom, dad and Chaitu came down from Hyderabad. As the maternal uncle Chaitu had the privilege of having V sit in his lap for the shaving and boy was Chaitu pissed. The guy who shaved V did a good job over all but since V was moving a lot, he got couple of cuts. Natarajan Anna, Seenu mama held him tight too but still he was moving a lot. After the deed was done Chaitu told me that if I ever decide to have another kid and do decide to do this all over again, not to call him because he doesn't want any part in making kids cry. Hahaha. Traditions are not all easy-rides my brother. Prabu's side of the family actually have ear-piercing and head shaving for even boys. We opted out of the ear-piercing.

Here is V clean shaven :)




Tirupathi has Sr Venkateswara 's ( or Balaji as called by some) temple which is visited by some hundreds of thousands of devotees every day. This god's income per day goes beyond millions of rupees. This is one of the over-rated temples where you have to be actually scared and careful as to not get killed in a stampede while trying to get a glimpse of the god.

India Trip - Chennai

Not knowing how V would react to the relatives and new place and all, before leaving we told amma and appa (Prabu's parents)to not feel bad if he doesn't come to them or to anyone immediately but he proved us wrong. The second he saw them, he jumped out of my hands into Amma's hands.

It wasn't a smooth ride all over. We landed on the 6th and V got an ear infection on the 8th with high fever. Rushed him to the doctor there and he put him on tylenol and some antibiotics. We celebrated diwali on the 9th. I thought he would be afraid of the fire works but he was so excited to see them and wanted to lit up few himself;).

Here is Nandu(Ananditha)


Me trying to lit up a few;)



More pictures here.

Amma and appa arranged a get together/party for his birthday on the 10th. Even though he was sick he still was in good mood and went to everyone and played with all the balloons and decorations.

India Trip - Travel to India

Prabu and I were prepared for some serious crying and fussy V thinking it's a 2 day journey and he will be cranky. To our surprise he was very well behaved and hardly cried or anything. As long as he got his food on time he was good. We flew through Singapore airlines and had a 12 hour break in Singapore. We took a open top bus tour. V had such a blast with the wind blowing his hair.



Singapore is really beautiful and clean. The guide and others kept mentioning that the only 2 activities or hobbies that Singaporeans have are eating and shopping and so you will find too many restaurants and too many malls. We visited Little India( What is it with Indians wanting to see traces of Indian-ness whatever country they go to?)

I am Back Baby!

Came in last evening. Everyone is healthy :). Will start posting today. Kept writing in a book so I don't forget anything :). Lots of things to share. Get ready for an attack of posts :)

Get set ...ready.... go

Mom and dad are leaving tomorrow afternoon for India. They are so psyched. We leave Saturday morning. Gotta be out of the house by 5.30 in the morning. It's going to be so much fun with almost one year old:).

I am almost packed, almost because I still have one more suitcase to go. Hopefully in the near future, I will go with a back pack (dare to dream, I know). It's been a hectic week. Lats minute doctor's appointments, sick kid and a sick momma, project deadlines, cooking, cleaning, packing, shopping, list making. Phew! too much, I tell ya! This is why I have a hard time keeping a straight face when people say, "You must be sooo excited. You are going to India." I am so torn between excited, nervous and just plain nervous break down.

Don't get me wrong, I am loving the fact that I get to see family and more excited that I will introduce Vikram to everyone and all. I am dreading his head shaving thing, I am dreading the travel, I am dreading the traffic. Good thing is, Prabu is coming with me to keep me sane and help me from not having a melt down. He will be taking all my hormonal, emotional crap for the next few weeks we are in India;). Love me my husband ;).

So think good thoughts for us and our safe return:). I will try my best to drop a line form India, if not, will talk to you all when I come back.

PS: Check out Prabu's cooking skills

Happy Halloween

More Halloween Pictures

What a Joke?

My doctor just called to let me know that my blood test results have come back and I have very low Vitamin D levels. He is calling in a prescription for me. Really? Dude I live in Arizona. I still have my AC on because it's fricking sunny and hot outside and I have low vitamin D? Oh well! Add one more pill to my routine.

What does this tell me? I need to get a life and go out more ;). Reason# 345879 to get that Acura TL. I have had my eye son that thing for more than 2 years now. Time to go that baby home.

V is doing good. He gave his cold and fever to me and told me to go have fun with it. What a sweet kid ;).

Throwing Tantrums for Toys

That would be me. Did you really think V threw a tantrum for toys? Ahem. No. I did. I wanted to get him an activity table. Prabu thought we could wait till we come back from India since it's only a week more. I wanted it right now. I won.

When we got it home today in the evening from picking it up, V was sleeping. We set it up before he woke up. As soon as he got up he was about to cry but saw the table and went directly for it.

Where do I even start

Breathe... Breathe.... Not you , I am telling me to breathe. Ok let's go. I am watching Bommarillu for the 49th time so I should feel better by the end of this post.

Vikram's fever came down on Thursday. We dragged him to the doctors office on Friday to get his flu shot. He caught a cold on Friday night and it hasn't come down yet. Poor thing. His nose is blocked, so he has to breathe with his mouth and he had a hard time doing that last night. So what did he do? Ended up crying till 10 in the night. We took him out for a drive after trying everything we could to calm him down and make him feel better. Once we came back and took him to his room, he saw his bed and went and slept without a noise. I felt so bad for him. I am sure there would be more things like this that I have to deal with as he is growing up but yesterday felt like the most horrible-est(I know it's not a real word) day of my life as I just had to let him cry and nothing we did would sooth him. Oh well! Live and learn.

I had to get that bad part out first. We did have some good things too. Babloo anna and Julie came over to spend the weekend with us and it was fun. V played with them and seemed to have fun. Four of us went to Phoenix Art Museum and it was good. I will probably take V there when he is old enough. Babbi and Julie wanted dosas all weekend:). Mom made dosas for breakfast and dinner but we also had mexican and Indian for other time.

I just stopped by at the jewelery party to pick up the catalog. I know they said I don't have to buy but I feel guilty and they kind of caught me in my most vulnerable time. Usually when I am down like this, I try not to look at shopping catalogs. But now I think I am gonna go order me a ring or two perhaps ;).

Here is V at the end of his fever and before the start of his cold. Look at his tired eyes. My Poor Babbooski.

First Fever

Hey gotta record first time of everything. V had fever 2 days ago. It came down quiet a bit and he is doing good. Looks like fevers increase immunity. Good for him. We saw the doctor today and she siad he is doing great. She did think he needs to gain alittle more weight. So we ar egonna start him on cheese avaocadoes and even yogurt and eggs. Not a bad diet;).

Babbi and Julie are coming over this weekend. I got invited to a "jewelery party". Oh don't ask. Will fill in later on that if I do decide to go as I am not a big fan of companies where they say, "God made me do this." Oh phuulease!

Packing is getting done one by one. I just have to start making more lists:).

Must pick one

I had too many titles and ideas for posts in my head. I cannot seem to put anything down now. Some of them were:

- "Why do I love thee?" : About my love for Prabu not another V post ;)
- "Because I got them!" : My answer to mom's "I noticed you are wearing deep neck tops recently"

and a million other's.

Work has been good. Not too lazy, not too busy. Just right :). I did some shopping therapy. I finally have enough tops to wear 2 weeks straight without repeating. My goal is to go straight for a month without repeating.

V is getting ready to walk. He takes exactly 2 steps without holding anything. He is also getting big and loud. He got his first real time last week. What's a mom got to do when your son spits the food he is eating and laughs? It's so hard to be serious with him sometimes. He gives this naughty smile and goes all cute on me. I struggle to keep a straight face and be serious. I am learning:).

Here is him sleeping on the carpet in the living room in the middle of playing.

Tale of two cups

When Leela was V's age, Madhu would get her whole lunch/dinner broken down into 2 different rices and in 2 different cups at the same time. That way the second she is done with one, we can move on to the next rice without giving a break. I used to think, man she has to wash 2 extra dishes. LOL. Little did I know, here comes my tiny terror with his two cups and washing those extra tiny cups is not a problem anymore.



I mix rasam rice in one and a vegetable rice in the other. The thing is, if I just do it one cup - one rice: It's too boring for him. My man needs variety (and spicy). And he cannot wait for me to go mix the next round. He gets too hungry within that 10 seconds. So we sit with both cups. Oh! I so feel for Madhu now :). True, wait till you become a parent to know the real deal. Till then, just enjoy your nephews and nieces and hand them to their parents at the end of the evening. That's more fun ;).

Here are some pictures mom took today of V helping us pack for India. Never mind my messy room :).

11 Months

Someone turned 11 months today. One more month to go before th whole running around starts:).


That's him playing with Prabu's wallet :).

Here's a link to a new album i created with his monthly pictures :).

Rum and Coke, margarita or....

a glass of Chardonnay. I will take anything right now. I so need something after a hectic day. I am so tired. Instead of going to bed I decided to open the Amex bill today and got a mini stroke. Let me explain something to you here.

Prabu and I believe in gender equality. There is no such thing as "this is your job and not mine" at home for us. When it comes to mail, he checks all the bills and I take care of all the coach and williams-sonoma catalogs. Prabu works really hard to pay the bills and I work equally hard shopping and not looking at any credit card bills.

Since he is not around today, I said to myself, "Let me open it at least once and see how the bill looks like." Very very bad move. Our vegetable and fruit shopping total for 25 days is $400. Please tell me you spend that much a month too so I can sleep at peace tonight. I wish that $400 included wagyu beef or even some black truffles. Nope. Just fruits and vegetables which are priced much lower in this state that in Jersey.

Since I have no afore-mentioned drinks at home, I am just going to get a bowl of extra-rich but low calorie dulce de leche ice cream or as Prabu calls it "Oxi-moron ice cream".

Deja Vu

Seriously. I felt like I was in Kadapa today. Because that's the only place I lived where there was water problem. I woke up today to find out that they shut down water supply for our apartment (this is the second time this happened in 2 months). We had 1/2 bucket of water to use for emergencies and washing our face and stuff. I called the apartment emergency and the really nice lady says, "Maam, someone vandalized the water pipes yesterday and we have someone working on it. Unfortunately I cannot tell when it will be restored." AT that point I was hoping this was just a dream and I am going to wake up any time soon :).

Around 10.30 am, I call again to be notified that they are not going to open the water pipes till 3 in the afternoon. Alrighty then. So I pack everyone up and take them to the mall because we couldn't even use bathroom in our house. We walked around the mall. V was being his cute self and grabbing compliments from strangers. It was a nice day out. We did some grocery shopping on the way back. Finally we see water at 3 as they promised. I just realized, Prabu missed last water pipe issue and today's issue. Any ideas on how to take revenge on that guy?

After a nice long hot bath, I wanted to cash in as much as I can about the fact that I have a car till tomorrow morning. I went and ran some errands. And once home, it was cooking time:) Before I sign off, here is V in his fall clothes. It's starting to get little windy , so we put him in pants and full sleeves.



And here is him showing me where the fan is in his favorite onesie;).

A car is a car is a car

My Chauffeur is away for the weekend. I decided to rent me a car for today and tomorrow (Sunday is day of rest ;)). And boy does it feel good to drive after a while. The sense of freedom and independence you get while driving is just…hmmm…. Something you have to experience on your own. No, I am not crazy. Driving is a feel good thing for me like cooking. Well, I have one more day to enjoy it before I get shoved into the passenger seat of a 5 speed car (Whoever made those stupid a-yes-yes manual cars?).

I went shopping for me today all by myself. You see my aunt gave me some money before I left Jersey and told me to spend it on myself ;)( no you cannot have her. She is all mine ). So I bought couple of things. I hate clothes this season. The material, the cut, yuck. I am usually walk-in, pick-up, get-out of the store kind of girl. So I hate when I have to go to 20 different stores to find one piece that I like. After that, I took mom, dad and V out for a drive. V got so excited getting into the car. He kept laughing all the way. Then picked up dinner and now I am writing it up. So what you guys up to this weekend?

Top Chef

Bravo Tv has this show. It was third season and I was totally hooked. I can not believe I didn't watch first 2 season ( Why didn't I have Bravo in Jersey...hmmmmm). The premise is simple. Pick a top chef from 15 chefs. Good stuff.

Mr. Hung won the title and all hell fell lose. People are biyaching about how Hung doesn't deserve the win because he doesn't cook with "soul and heart". That's the funniest thing I have heard in a while. You go to a restaurant and order steak. Do you say, "Dang! that steak is so tender and juicy" or do you say "I don't see any heart or soul of the chef in it". Phulease.

This kid works as a sous chef at Guy Savoy. That is a big deal to start with and he was good. I hated his arrogance and attitude but I think i could totally see where he is coming from. When you get good at something, you get defensive and arrogant about it. Oh believe me you, we all do it :). Whether it be cooking, programming or even painting. Nothing wrong in saying, I am good.

Phew! Rant over. Had to get it out of the system. Now I am going to go see how to make that darn le Cirque's fish dish so I can cook it soon.

Birthday and an Apple

Today's mom's birthday. She didn't want to go out or celebrate. She is in to the "don't-spend-any-money-give-it-charity-instead" mode :).

Oh and about apple. Mom and V went to visit our neighbor today and they gave an apple to mom before they left (it’s a telugu tradition to hand a fruit to the guests before they leave.). So he comes home with it and starts eating it sitting in the corner.



He also helped his ammamma with packing for our India trip.

:)

He just makes me smile. What more can I say :)? And please blame grandma for that manpris he is wearing. I have nothing to do with that.




Shameless self promotion ahead:). Check out my recipe blog. I have my first post with a picture:).

Phew!

It's been crazy 2 days. Dishwasher went crazy on Sunday night. I had water spilling all over my kitchen. Ended up cleaning the whole kitchen. I think even the dishwasher knew I was behind my kitchen cleaning ;). Prabu always wondered why I need 12 pack dish towels. "Honey, come home. You will know why."

Monday morning, we got news from India that my uncle (Dad's sister's husband)passed away in Vijyawada. We were kinda expecting the news as he was on dialysis and all but still a shock to my parents and they are really sad. I might make a trip to Vijaywada when I am in India. I would like to See my aunt and introduce Vikram to her. I hate feeling that my V never had a chance to meet my uncle and now I don't want to think my aunt never met him too. Sucks over all.

I think with young kids around, sometimes you do not and cannot be sad for a long time, which is good sometimes. V is learning a new word each day and does goofy thing every day and keeps us cracking up. He hardly drinks milk anymore and hates rice cereal. All he wants now is rice, lentils, vegetables and more rice and vegetables. I got brown rice and whole wheat couscous. I think it's time to introduce some whole grains. Just plain rice is not gonna cut it any more :).

I haven't gotten a chance to upload pictures yet. I promise to do it soon :).

I need ......

a big FAT vacation. Well you see, depending on the day of the week I have anywhere between 1 - 5 kids to take care of. So I am very stressed. Taking care of Kid # 1 (Vikram) is much much easier than taking care of my other 4 kids (My mom, my dad, Prabu and Chaitu). With V, I can distract him from his tantrums with a stroll around the park or just by tickling him. The other four, I have to start putting them on long time outs;). I am going to just go ahead and books us some tickets to Italy for 2008 summer and call it my gift to Mr. Husband for our 5th anniversary ;).

So how you guys been? We had a busy weekend. Went to the mall on Friday. Another major whining ahead, so please walk away if you had enough of me for today. Arizona's malls suck. I am so pampered by jersey's malls, these things here are just yuck. How hard is it to have decent stores around. Yesterday we did little grocery shopping and all and stayed home. Prabu left for Atlanta again today.

Prabu gave me the good news that their office move to a different city in Arizona itself. It might happen sometime in January. I am so close to hating this whole moving thing. I guess the good thing is it's not to another state ( in which case, I would have waved him good bye and told him to go by himself ;)). We will be starting serious house hunting the minute we come back form India trip. I do not want to move to another apartment near his new job and then move into a house again. I like to spend my time being a spoiled brat and enjoying sunny days of AZ instead of sweating like crazy by carrying heavy boxes around.

Ok, I am off to go check if that thing I threw in my room is working or not. What can I say? Parent's get on your nerves ( V is probably thinking the same thing right now in his sleep):)).

Someone is home

Prabu is coming back to night. He was supposed to stay till next Sunday but he is coming tonight and will go again sunday. Niceeeee :).

V is getting bigger and naughtier:). He found another friend in the complex. She is 2 years old and name is Adarshini. She came to play with him today. He kept saying "ba ba" to her. I guess he was trying to talk :).

Oh how can I forget this, I got a nice surprise package day before yesterday. It was from my girls Patti, Rosa and Show-may. Oh how miss them. It was a package from Harry and Davids with apples, pears, nuts and candies. It was so good. Thanks you guys. Love you and miss you :). I guess that's why I dream of going back to working at Meta Solutions one day. It was the best place I worked so far and everyone who works there makes you feel like we are all one big family. It's just wonderful.

Work is getting busy. I had 3 hours of sleep last night. I guess that's the drawback of working from home. You just cannot shut down and say I am going home :).

Come up with your own title

We spent the weekend stocking up the fridge with veggies and pantries with groceries and V's baby food since Prabu was going away for 2 weeks. Saturday night Prabu and I snuck out on a late night date after V slept (Note to self: Biyaching on your own blog helps). We went to a bar and I made the mistake of ordering dinner. Another note to self: Never order Risotto from a place that makes their own beers. It was like pilaf with water. I could sooo teach them how to make risotto. May be I should have offered. It was the worst dish I ever had. The drinks were so-so. But, I did enjoy the outing. It was just nice to sit and relax and chat with hubbs.

Prabu is away on a business trip. He won't be back for 2 weeks. V was all crying and cranky today. It was so sad to see him the evening. He kept looking into our bedroom to see if his appa came home. Mom and Som said that he is missing Prabu. I am in denial. I just keep thinking 10 month olds don't know much yet (I know I am wrong;)). V did give Prabu a kiss on the phone(by licking the phone)

Friends, acquaintances, buddies,......

I don't want to know the difference between each, neither do I have the interest to look it up on dictionary.com for a difference. I am sitting here in my bed, watching one of my favorite man's movie ;) and got to thinking about friends. Prabu is out with his buddy and that's another reason for this thought(s).

In Jersey, I had Jay, Dolly and Anu. It was fun. Now I am here, it's like all by myself. As much as I like my solitude, sometimes you just feel the need for someone to go out to dinner, drink or just a movie. I found out that there are few more who work from Arizona virtually for the same company I work for. I tried reaching them but we just couldn't schedule anything. Oh well!

Now I am going to say something corny, get ready. You do miss your people when you are away from them. I wish I could call Dolly right no and tell her to meet me on Stelton road for a coffee, or tell Jay to fly down for a weekend;). I think, after 8 years in this country now I feel why all the H-1 wives who come here immediately complain about how much their life sucks because they feel so alone. It's true, you do need a friend once in a while. Blah blah, your significant other is your best friend blah blah but you do need a friend so you can bitch about your husband and kid or just to discuss the top chef episode.

May be I should sign up for a cooking class or better yet teach one.

And the fun begins!

The first question other parents seem to ask us is this: "Is V sleeping through the night?" SO far the answer from us was this :"No problem at all. He sleeps just fine." And now we jinxed it. he still sleeps through the night ( touch wood) but has been trying not to sleep at all to start with. His usual sleep time used to be 7.30 PM. Now he nicely pushed it to 9 PM. And I am the only one in the family who believes in letting him sleep on his own so it's hard to do that too.

Tonight was no exception. he was so sleepy but refused to sleep. I asked Prabu if he would take him out for a drive since he is on his way to drop Chaitu at the airport. He said, it wasn't such a good idea because then we would have to put him in the car seat and back and all that. . Guess what happened. I became a car. As soon as they left, V started crying and he was sleepy. I put him in the car seat, put the car seat on his stroller and .....I ran. Yes my dear friends and family, I ran with the stroller like I was the car to give him the feeling he was in a car. He slept . Hallelujah! I ran about 5 times around my apartment block and he slept. He is now transfered to his bed from the car seat and the verdict is that he didn't get up yet.

Phew! What a relief:). I kept circling my own apartment because I was too scared to run all over the neighborhood at night;). So there you go. next time, your kid doesn't sleep, get yourself a workout. Or if you don't have kids and want a full work out, call me. I will lend you Vikram for a night ;)

PS: Always listen to what I say. I am usually right ;).

Bandoos Rascal

Well that's the character I created to tell stories to V while putting him to bed. Oh I love my baby. I am finding him cuter by the day. I cannot belive he is 10 months old already. We celebrated his first Vinayaka Chavithi festival on Saturday.

He is slowly starting to try hard to talk more. He says "sh" when you say "trash". he says "mummums" when he is hungry. It's just so adorable to watch these teeny tiny changes everyday.

Here are the latest pictures.

Oh Men !

No, I don't meant it in a funny way today. I mean it in "oh-these-men-do-get-on-my-nerves" kinda way. We all know I work from home and my dad thinks, the minute the clock strikes 2 pm (which is 5 pm in NJ, I work eastern time) I should shut off my computer and walk right out of my office/bedroom and take care of everything. I was happy when I didn't know he thought that. Now that I know, it irritates me sometimes. Come on, it's not like I shut myself straight 8 hours from 5.30 am. I make coffee for you ( twice), cook lunch in between and take care of V in between and other stuff while working. So yes, I do have to work beyond 2 pm. The funny part in this whole thing is, my dear brother has been working from home for the last 5 or so years and my dad never ever said anything like this to him and he never will. Again, oh men!I kinda expected this kind of attitude when I was taking this job but still it ticks me off and nope, I am not going to blame my anger on thyroid this time ;). Don't worry I did give him a piece of what I thought about his comment and ever since he is been trying to be super nice to me ;).

Speaking of men, do you know I have got two lazy men in my life. I hope V doesn't join their cult ;). They ditched my idea for a night out to downtown Phoenix to get a drink on Saturday. Chaitu asked me why I need a drink so badly. Honey, let me tell you something. When you take care of a 10 month old, work full time, clean, cook, do laundry and million other things, you do need a drink once in a blue moon (Please don't quote any woman who does all this and more and doesn't drink ;)).

Today I wanted to go get some ice cream and they are both busy and I don't know how to drive a stupid 5 speed car. Dang, I need a hot fudge sundae. That or I need to make new friends here in Phoenix. No one comes out because of this stupid heat and the one's who are in our apartment are 20 something singles who are more interested in playing volley ball every week than to talk to the neighbors. I should join them probably. Heck I can use some exercise.

Prabu is going away for 2 weeks on business trip coming Sunday. I think I will just surprise him by picking him up from the airport in my very own car. So who wants to join me in my car shopping. I promise to buy you a drink later ;).

Shake Shake Shake

That's what I do now a days to make V laugh. He is teething and poor thing is in pain. He cries a lot now a days. We try(ied)everything to sooth him but the one thing that makes him laugh in the middle of his crying is his momma picking him and saying "Shake Shake Shake" and dancing with him. He thinks it's hilarious. Oh kids:).

I am off for the day from work. Not that I wanted to but V came in to play in my room and decided I worked enough so, he turned my desktop off. So I played with him and now he is taking his mid-evening nap.

Thanks again for checking up on me after the surgery. I am actually doing great. I still have to drink using a straw ( throat hurts when i try to drink from a bottle)but apart from that I am back to normal. I am back to my cooking, cleaning, laundry doing, working, taking care of my baby super woman self. Hells yes! I am boasting of my capabilities. Why the heck not? We don't have super woman or super mom awards so I might as well give myself one;). If you are one of us reading this, please pat yourself on your back because you deserve and you are good at it. And all you men out there reading this, please go make a margarita or a martini for your gal, she deserves one.

I am going to update my recipe blog soon too. Since mom went all healthy and diet on us, we are actually doing pretty good. Even dad's food habit's have changed. He no longer needs oil and onion based curries. He is enjoying lettuce wraps and corn salad as much as chole and potato fry. And while we are on the topic of food, I just want to reiterate this again ( and I will do this again and again). Please do not go out and buy anything that has a label of "curry powder" on it. Adding that doesn't make a dish "Indian" or "reduce cancer". It tastes horrible and there is no "authentic"ness to a dish once you add it. I will elaborate more on this later on my recipe blog but for now just enjoy your dehydrated alu gobi and chole.

I lost half the butterfly

Thyroid is in the shape of a butterfly and I lost half of it yesterday in the form of surgery. Everything went smoothly. Turns out it was just inflammation and not cancer. I am home and feeling good. Cannot talk or laugh much. Throat hurts :). Hence the blog update.

Thank you everyone for your calls and mails. Made my day. The surprise call was from Saritha who is vacationing/studying for her CPA exams in India. I am so glad I have another great friend. Made me feel so good and special. And today, Som dropped off couple of DVD's. Guess what was in there. Biwi No.1. Yesss. Salman Khan's movie is what I need right now to recover fast;).

Good thoughts?

Can you spare some? I am getting the right side of my thyroid removed tomorrow. Should be out by 11 am. I am a little nervous :).

Laminated List

Do you have one? I just heard from Prabu that he doesn't have one and he is surprised that I do :). Ofcourse I do honey. I am saving it for the time when you move in with your second wife and I get to take your money and one of the hunks from the laminated list and move to Jamaica.

I am gonna share my list below, who is on yours? Oh come on, fess up.

Numero Uno : Sallu

After that in no particular order:

My Take home Chef

Matthew McConaughey

Christopher Meloni

Bingggggg

Bragging time

Ok, I was all nervous about the surgery on Friday and now I feel better. I had a 10 minute talk with the nurse at my surgeon's office and she made me feel a whole lot better (Now I don't have to work too hard on that will anymore). So no more blah posts. let me write some fun stuff.

So off to some bragging. V is able to show fan and TV when we ask him where they are. It's so cute the way he raises his head and looks at the ceiling fan. He is starting to mouth stuff but we cannot understand jack :). He is also getting to be stubborn and throwing small tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. He has yet to learn that we are more stubborn and him throwing a tantrum doesn't convince us much:).

More good news: Amma and Appa ( Prabu's parents) said they would like to come back with me in December to visit us. Yayyy. That is super exciting. I didn't get a chance to spend my childhood with my mom's parents much so I have no memories of them. I spent most my time with my nayanamma ( My dad's mom) and I so cherish them till today. And now I am just so glad V gets to spend good time with both sets of Grand parents.

Krishnashtami

We celebrated Krishnashtami yesterday. We dressed V in traditional clothes and mom made the foot prints and he messed it up. I took bunch of pictures. You can see the traditional Krishna and the Krishna with sun glasses here.

Labor day Weekend

It was a typical long weekend at the Thevars. Saturday we went on a drive to Sedona. It was beautiful. V was good overall. He just wanted to be out of the car seat most of the time. Sunday, Prabu and I went for some "India shopping". Getting stuff for family in India. All we did was buy clothes for all our nephews and nieces. And Monday, just stayed home, I cooked, we ate and just sat with our butt on the couch without having to move :)

Adding Recipes

Well, I have been adding bunch of recipes to my recipe blog. Why? Well, I am hoping my hunny bunny like sto look up recipes online when he is in a mood to cook and I am hoping he will make something from these recipes when I am home after the surgery ;).

Scream

No, I am not going to review the movie. V learned how to scream couple of days ago and boy are we having fun. He is also turning out to be a teeny bit brat when he doesn't get what he wants. Too bad he doesn't realize, he still won't get it if he throws a tantrum :).

I learned a few tricks from Madhu and watching how she used to communicate with Leela. So I try to copy that. It works sometimes and it doesn't. And also, Leela is just a sweet kid who never threw tantrums (may be she did but I have never ever seen one yet). I try to tell V , "gentle gentle" and "Please use your inner voice". He will look at me and give me a laugh and would jump on me to hug me. There goes my training him :).

He is also getting teeth so he is very miserable right now.

Here are some new pictures. And yes, he was playing with diapers and just fell asleep without us having to put him to bed :).

A week in review

Before leaving Chaitu rented a car and let me have it for a day last week. It felt good to get back in the wheel. And it also reminded why every girl should have a big brother :). Cooking, singing in really loud pitch voice, driving, writing: these are just some of the things that I love to do.

Here is what V is upto now a days:

- You can see his bottom teeth coming out slowly. He is in pain but is doing good so far.

- He is more vocal, saying lot of new words. Tries to repeat what we say.

- Starting to get stubborn, screams if he doesn't get what he wants.

- Learned that Amma and Appa do not give in to his whims as much as he thought :).

- Trying to get on to the couch by himself by lifting his feet.

- Loves to play in the kitchen because it has tiles and tiles make more noise than carpet.

Prabu and I also went for a movie this weekend. Last night actually. "Super Bad". It was fun. I think I enjoyed just us going out more than the movie. Prabu enjoyed the movie better ( here is where you say, "Oh men!").

Oh on the health front, I am having half my thyroid removed on September 7th. Why half? Because thats the bad part and my doc says we don't need to remove it completely.

Arizona - 0, NJ - 1

I didn't want to say this in the last post and make it all weepy so here.

It was very weird having the Annaprasana for V without the family around. Don't get me worng :). Mom, dad and Chaitu were there and so were our friends and we had a greta time. But it was just strange not having Attayya, Mamayya, Madhu, Rajan, Leela, Aki, Siva and all. It's just not the same without our usual gang ;). There was no telugu, tamil, english language confusion. There was no , "Sowjanya is helping the economy by buying gold" comment by mamayya. And I couldn't even call Aki to tell her to wear matching saree along with me. Felt weird, I tell ya :)

I don't want to leave this post on a sour note so here are beautiful pictures of Ananya Sarkar.

First Rice Feeding

Anna Prasana ( rice feeding) went fine yesterday. My boy was ready with all the bling bling :).


Here is how the ceremony breaks down. Maternal Uncle (in this case Chaitu) should feed the baby a sweet sticky rice 3 times. And then we place 5 different things on the floor to see which one the kid picks up first. Each signifies something. We placed book, pen, cash, gold and butter knives. If he touches :

Books - He will be good in college
Pen - He will become a writer
Cash - He will become a businessman
Gold - He just loves his moneys ;)
Knives - He will be a thief ( Who comes up with this coughcoughcrapcoughcough)

So V grabbed book with one hand and cash with the other.



I posted pictures here. Here is my favorite.



We had Saritha, Som, Siddhi, Pallav and Monica over for lunch. I made quiet a few dishes for lunch. Will post recipes later.

Prabu, Chaitu and I went out for a drive later in the evening. We had coffee and then forgot where we parked the car and ended up looking for it for 25 minutes. At one point, I was hoping the car was stolen ;). Why? because during coffee it was decided that I will have to wait for a house because market is going down and that I don't need a car since I am working from home and Prabu is always there for me 24/7 as my personal "I-will-take-you-wherever-you-want" guy. And you thought I get everything I wanted ;)

9 month Collage

It's so fun to see the changes in V from those pictures:). Chaitu is flying down this weekend for Vikram's Anna Prasana. The menu is set and all I have to do is shop and also make sure I fit into my Indian clothes :).

Hair Therapy

See, this is me. This is how I am. Some days there will be like a million posts and some days none. Let's get to the main point of this post now shall we?

I went and got some hair therapy. Hair therapy? What is it? ( I know you wanna know) It's just a hair cut that makes you feel better when you are feeling like crappyola ;). I have been meaning to get a hair cut for a while now. And I got a great suggestion by a fellow "pea" ( from my scrapbooking 2peasinabucket website). So I printed that picture out, took it to the stylist and voila. Here it is;). I am looooving it.




Ignore the crappy t-shirt but what do you think of the hair ;).

Introducing...

Ananya Sarkar. Partha and Mou had a baby girl Wednesday night. Baby and mother are doing fine. I will upload pictures as soon as the parents find some time to upload them :). I love the name Ananya means unique or one-of-a kind.

Weekend went by so fast. Mom came back from NJ on friday. Saturday Prabu and I went out to Ikea to pick up a desk for my "work-from-home" thing ;). And then we went to mall for shopping. I made Prabu buy some stuff for himself, so I don't feel too guilty about my purchases;). Had lunch at a Mongolian grill and then went to check out some houses. Yesterday was spent in setting up home office and me cooking for this week.

I have to upload lot of recipes. Will do that soon:).

:(

Prabu's grandma ( ammamma) passed away last night. She has been sick for a while now and hasn't been able to eat any solids for last week or so. It was very hard on Prabu's mom and her sisters to watch her in pain and not be able to do anything. They are all relieved in some sort that she is not suffering anymore. Prabu and I are doing fine. Sucks that Vikram would never be able to meet his great grandmother :(

Stupid cooking burns

I had this major post ready in my brain. I thought I would sit tonight and type. But guess what, got a teeny tiny finger burning drama in the kitchen and I cannot type anything that takes more than 10 sentences. So I will be back soon once I take the ice pack away. Good night!

Wanted for hire!

I am thinking of placing this ad ;) in the paper as Jay is leaving for Germany. He says he will be back but still :(

Age: 25 - 30 yeas
Sex: Male or female
Where: Preferably in Phoenix area
What should they do?

- Go shopping with me ( clothes and shoes only - no groceries)
- Listen to when I bitch about Prabu and not judge
- Find V as cute as I do
- Answer the phone when I call at 1am
- Tell me I am not crazy :)
- Not run away to Germany or any other country

What will I do? I promise to do the same for ya;).
Know anyone?

Blah blah and blah

That's how I feel. Just blah. Getting tired too soon and not interested in anything and everything. I need some shopping therapy. Last 2 weekends shopping didn't do it for me as I couldn't get anything I liked. May be some online shopping therapy should do. I miss the old days. Just go to mall, pick what you like and walk out. Now I have to watch what I buy because I am a 26 year old mother and gotta dress decent(Not that I am interested in fish net stockings). I just don't see myself shopping in forever 21 or even gap anymore. As you could see, last few posts have been about clothes. I think I am going to do something. Get a sewing machine, patterns, fabric and make my own clothes the way I like. You want one? I will let you know when I open the shop.
Forget shopping therapy. I might go get some hair therapy once mom is back.

Here are some pictures of V that I posted today. I think that's the major perk of being a mom. No matter how blah you feel, you look at this little dude and you just smile and forget everything. It's not a bad deal after all :).

Bowling baby

Prabu's office had a get together of employees and their family at this bowling place yesterday night. It was so much fun. Bowling after 5 years was good. Getting back into your size 2 jeans 8 months post-delivery is priceless:). V was such a good boy yesterday. he wore his favorite "Daddy's Team" shirt and was too cute. We all went to mall today so that I can find some decent clothes. But found none. I am not liking this silk and crappy looking material. Do these companies seriously think no body looks at the material anymore?

Mom is having a great time in NJ. She met V's girlfriend. We know her name but that's just how we call her ;). While mom is in NJ, I am getting better and better at multi tasking. The only thing I still haven't figured out is how to eat lunch at proper time without V having to throw a tantrum :).

I will post some pictures tomorrow. Right now I am going off to check some clothes online. I seriously wanna spend some money.

No no not MIA

I haven't gone missing ( even though I wish I did). Was buried deep in filing citizenship applications for the familia and making a load of appointments for me with the CT scan, an FNA and a surgeon. No nothing terrible happened. To make sure there is nothing wrong with my thyroid, I have to go through all these horrible tests. All the results came fine and I am meeting the surgeon again this week to "discuss" the reports. Boy, doctors love to do this :).

Off to the fun part now. It's getting so hard to make V sit in one place to put that darn diaper on. The second we put him down, strap on one side he is running off. Want proof?





My boy is just a riot. hahaha

Mom is leaving for Jersey today. She will be back on the 10th. We are going to miss her. V is now slowly starting to get to a stage where he just doesn't want anyone to leave the house. Every Monday morning, it's a new thing for him. Till last week, he would know that when Prabu wears his shoes, he is going to work. I take him out, we wave bye and he is fine. But today, when Prabu was leaving, V just wanted to go with him and was crying after Prabu left. It's just sad :(. Glad I am not going out to work and working from home.

Working reminds me, I think I might have to submit a resignation letter to Prabu and Chaitu asking them to relieve me from being their Personal Assistant (insert obvious wink and eye roll here).

Patti called me last weekend and boy was I jealous. She was having dinner at this awesome brazilian place in downtown Newark ( their shrimp dish is to die for) with Rosa and Jackie. Argh! I miss being in Jersey and my girls.

Alright, let me call it off now, V just woke up :). Later when he is napping again ;).

Good Morning

Mom is flying out to NJ in a week. She will be gone for 2 weeks. More work for me:). It's so wonderful to have her around. I cook and she takes care of Vikram. It's been working out great (who said Spoiled brat?)

The potluck was nice. The veggie pulao I made was so darn spicy. It was nice after a long time. Haven't cooked anything that spicy in recent months.

I might have to go for furniture shopping. Looks like my company might send me a desktop to work with ( They still exist?),and so I need a table. I could hear Prabu jumping up and down in the back saying, "Ikea". I still haven't figured out, if he likes the furniture in that store or their meatballs.

You all have a great morning, I am off now as V is waking up.

Pimp My Ride ;)

I got it for V today. We cannot figure out yet who is excited about this new toy, him or us.

Got my offer letter today. It's official. I am starting work in 25 days. I have got mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it's pretty exciting, on the other I am tad bit nervous about "managing-it-all" ( My ego comes in between to accept I am completely nervous ;)). Whoever lost bets to Kamalakar mamayya on this please pay up. He bet that I won't be staying home without a job for long. Here is my advice. Never bet with him about me. He is right about me all the time ;).

We are having a potluck at Sarita's tomorrow. I am making couple of Indian dishes. Will post recipes later on. Food reminds me, I just saw another episode of Top Chef on Bravo. Someone please get Padma a stylist. I know she is a model and blah blah blah but her dressing sense is just yuck. May be I should call Stacy and Clinton on her.

"What did you do?"

Our friends' Sarita and Som's daughter Siddhi keeps saying that often. "What did you do?" It's so cute the way she says it. What did I do this weekend? Just stayed home and relaxed. The more meals I am making at home, the less I want to go out to eat. This is when Prabu should come in and say "Thank you". The guy is not a big fan of eating out :).

V is becoming very clingy. He wants me around him all the time:). I say that with so much pride. I am not complaining at all:). Mom says, we should try to make sure he is not so clingy with me. But what the heck. He is not going to be like that for ages. This is just such a short period, so I might as well enjoy. I am sure there will be days where I want him to give me a hug and he will say something like, "Give me a break mama, you are embarrassing me."

He is standing on his own for 3 seconds without any support. The guys hardly crawls. Mom and dad set August 18th for his annaprasana. If you are in town or want to make a trip , try to come around that time :).

A happy man

Prabu was so excited today. V said "Appa" this morning. He was hanging out with us on our bed trying to play peek a boo with our comforter and he said Appa. Prabu was so excited:). V turned 8 months today:). Time IS flying:). Here are the pictures I promised.

We went to temple today. It was so quiet and much peaceful than the Bridgewater temple we are used to in NJ. And guess what? I found a dunkin donuts there. Had a coffee. Boy it feels good to have a DD coffee after 3 months ( I am weird, I know).

Prabu and Som are out for the night to watch Sivaji;)

Congratulations....

and celebrations. That's what today was. I will be working from home pretty soon ( August 2nd week to be precise). It's the same job I was doing in NJ. The only difference, working from my home in my pajamas ;). Very exciting. Who wants to go car shopping with me;)? I also made a sweet dish in the evening ( kind of congratulating myself). My first Indian desert ever. Came out pretty good. I will add the recipe soon.

We went to an Ethiopian restaurant to celebrate. Dinner was nice, great food and V was well behaved. On our way back, he threw the mother of all tantrums we have had to face so far. He was just crying for no reason. We pulled over, made him relax for few minutes and started driving again and there he was crying like there is no tomorrow. I felt like we need to pull over again and sooth him but then Prabu gave his cell phone to try to sooth him and phew, it worked (If you met Prabu, you know how the guy is about stopping while driving. You tell him to stop for a bathroom break and he will drive as fast as he can, not to stop at the nearest rest area but to reach the destination before then ( I need to stock up on those NASA diapers.LOL)). He slept within 5 minutes while playing with the cell phone. He hadn't slept all day properly today and throw in teething with that, he wasn't happy sitting in that car seat. Any who we made it home safe.

What a night:). We came home and he was just happy as a puppy. He is teething and getting very cranky. The little guy is also trying to stand on his own:). I took some pictures of him yesterday. I will post them later on. Right now I am just too full with all the good food I ate and I just need to go sleep.

Another week and yet another weekend

I am so surprised how fast days are going by. When I quit my job and decided to stay at home, I thought I would have plenty of time to do lot of things. Even with mom helping around talking care of V and house and all, I still could use 26 hour days once in a while. I have been doing lot of cooking lately which is such a stress reliever ( for me).

V is standing more and crawling less. He is teething and that's not really fun. Prabu had to carry him from one room to the other before he fell asleep. Poor thing cried a lot ( V not Prabu;)). We took him out today to our community pool. He had his swimming diapers and off we went to this little area for kids where there is just sand and water. He was more interested in watching everyone around than play in the water:). That's one of my "things-to-do-when-I-get-a-car", get me and V into swimming lessons. Hello, I am Sowjanya and I don't know how to swim :).

Here are this month's pictures ( Including V in his Nemo swim diaper).

Happy Independence Day Y'all

This is V wishing you all Happy July 4th.


Just in case you are wondering where I got the hang of the word "Y'all", you have to blame Paula Deen. Been watching her shows a bit much lately :). We celebrated today by going to Cracker Barrel for dinner:).

Couple of "firsts" for V today. He is been promoted to a booster seat for his cereal feedings from the bouncer. He seems to like it so far ( or so we think).




We also got him a trainer cup which he likes as well. This below picture would be of him leaning on his daddio and drinking milk from his training cup and watching fireworks on TV. I think this is the first time we let him watch tv:). he saw for few minutes, wanted to go into the TV and grab the fireworks. After he figured he couldn't and because we wouldn't let him near the tv he got bored and wanted something else to play with:).



I just realized, I haven't posted in a few days. Well, it's been hectic couple of weeks for us: between doctors appointments, cooking sessions, running behind V making sure he's not going to the danger zones and all.

Pat on the back

I made an interesting dinner tonight and I am proud of me. Yes I do get excited with smaller things in life too ;). Any who, I made baked potato with vegetarian chili, cheese and sour cream toppings and a side salad with lettuce, carrot, peppers and cucumbers. This is just different from all the pappu, koora, sambar, chapathi, chole dinners and was nice.

So let's talk about V for a bit now shall we. He is being a riot. The kid's ready to walk. He wants to stand all the time. He is crawling pretty fast though. Cannot believe he is going to be 8 months old soon. I keep uploading the pictures on to the picasa site, so keep checking. Link is on to the right hand side in this page ;).

A Big Sigh

What did I do today to let that big sigh? Cooked food like there is no tomorrow. here is the story.

Even with mom around to help, I feel like I am not getting enough time to spend with V. I spend hours in the kitchen cooking lunch, dinner, evening snack, 3 sets of coffees and the cleaning, doing dishes, laundry and all. In between I spend some time with V but I feel like it's not enough and I also wanted to reduce the time I spend in the kitchen. Not to mention the work I do in between for Chaitu and Prabu( I am their personal-take care of-all our paperwork-and bills-and appointments-and anything -else-assistant;).

So yesterday I cleaned the kitchen inside out to get it ready for today's cooking marathon. Today I made 5 different kinds of dals( recipes to come soon) and 2 curries. Mom will be making another pulusu(kozhambu) and I will call it a day. From tomorrow all I have to do is grab a dal or lunch for the parents and they are good to go. I got me some salad stuff and morning star burgers. So my lunch is taken care of too:). Hopefully this should reduce my kitchen time:). Did I mention I was fasting today?;);)

V was very helpful today. Surprisingly he slept for 4 hours in the afternoon while I was cooking away. He hardly naps for more than an hour every day in the afternoon and I was surprised to see him sleep that long. He loves to help his momma. He is slowly starting to stand on his own by holding things and crawling pretty fast. We should be ready to do the annaparasana soon.

Here are some pictures mom and dad took today.

Fun Weekened

Ignore the title. Sorry for delays in posting. Been busy with like a billion of doctors appointments, filing for citizenships, passport renewals, calling in for future doctor appointments, cooking, cleaning and the list goes on without mentioning the too much fun I have in between by just sitting with my feet up and not doing anything sometimes.

Chaitu was here for the weekend ( actually he came in on Wednesday;)). V refused to get down from his Chaitu mama's lap:). Saritha, Som, Siddhi (from here on will be referred to as the Parikh's ;))and the 6 of us went to Pei Wei for dinner on Thursday. Pei Wei is the sister restaurant of P.F.Changs. However, it's diner style and much relaxed. Food is still goooood. On Friday we had dosa party at our place for dinner. I made sambar, potato curry, tomato-onion chutney and coconut chutney and mom made the dosas.

So on Friday we bought some books for V. You know those cushiony soft books for infants. And on Saturday we went to outlet mall and bought more toys for V. No we did not learn the lesson that kids at this age don't care for toys. That toy store trip was more for us than for V. He absolutely didn't seemed to like anything in the store. We did pick up couple of things that "we" liked. We come home, open all the bags and see if V liked nay of the toys or clothes we bought him. He crawls past all the things to go grab mom's red water bottle. Nice, I know. So I figured I might just buy a box of tupperware and let him play with it. Once he is done, I will just use it in my kitchen. why bother with those fancy toys that he doesn't even like to look.

I think we try to buy toys for kids at this age because those are the once, we adults get attracted to and not the kids. Hey but it was still fun ( trying to justify purchases here):). You can see all the new pictures here.

We still haven't decided on which house we want to buy and when. Every time we decide to settle down on the house, we get a call saying they reduced 10 or 20k on it. So we are just waiting to see how the market will be in next few weeks to months and then figure it out.

That's it for now. You all get back to your regularly schedules programs while i go make my lunch. Ciao