A productive day

No we did not pack a single box nor did we do anything related to packing or cleaning. Mom and I took V out for lunch to meet Show-may and Patti. I used to work with them in 2003. But we became friends very quickly and I am just sad I am leaving them. Even when I left the firm, I was at least meeting them every now and then for lunches or dinners but now I know I am moving so far that I cannot probably just say, "Patti , pick me up at 6 so we can go out for dinner." :(.
It was so great to introduce V to them. We went to a chinese restaurant. This place is my favorite. However the service was more than "sucko". We always used to get take outs from this place , so never realized how pathetic the service was. Any who, V made it up for our bad experience with his smiles. And guess what he wore to the restaurant?


Lakshmi attayya and kamalakar mamayya got this outfit for him when they were on a vacation in China. He wasn't even born then:). Love their thoughtfulness and the outfit:).

And after lunch we took couple of hours break and went to Nicholas court to just hang out with attayya, mamayya, Gautham, Lakshmi dodda , Madhu and Leela. It was so much fun. Good food, great company.... what more do you want:). Just in case you are wondering, Nicholas Court is the name of the street they live on. We just got used to saying, "Dinner in Nicholas court on sunday", "I will meet you in Nicholas court" a lot. I stayed with attayya and mamayya for 3 years when I came to this country and I learned so much from them . When Prabu and I took V there for the first time, I told Prabu, "I walked through this drive way 8 years ago as an 18 year old and here I am with a son in tow. Feels strange for some reason." But it was a good "strange" feeling:).

Once I am done hunting for a house for us in Arizona, next would be for Chaitu. He wants to move there by the end of this year. After or even before that, I will also be looking for a place for attayya and mamayya:). I am convincing them to move there or at least spend vacations there. Let's see how well I succeed.

Our calendar is getting filled with the good bye meetings:). I am meeting my Hewitt colleagues on April 5th for lunch. Family get together on 8th to celebrate G's 30th. And great news, Ravana Dodda is coming in on 22nd April from India. Even though we will miss seeing her in NJ, we will probably meet her in Arizona:). Mr. Pedda is coming on the 13th. ( Pedda is Madhu's dad;))

Click here to look at all the picture we took today with Show-may, Patti, attayya, mamayya and all.

Tickets are booked

Mom,dad,me and V are leaving on sunday, April 22nd from newark airport. Flight departs at 7.40pm:). Movers are leaving on the 9th with our things. It should arrive in phoenix between 18 and 21:). So we are pretty much set as of yet.

I packed 3 boxes in the garage all by myself without mom's help today. Lovely you say:). Together now the packed boxes count is close to 18 I think. Gotta go count again.

V rolled over during his tummy time. Mom says it's not exactly rolling over cause he was on his tummy and he just "fell". I said I refuse to accept that theory cause he did not just "fall" all these days when we were putting him on his tummy. Huh!!!

Here are some pictures for today before I move on to more boxes. He loves sucking his fingers.

Cutie Patootie

Leela that is:). Leela and Lakshmi Dodda visited us today. It was so much fun. Mr.V was Mr. Kpants again. Leela akka got V a drawing she created. She is so cute.She even made me one today because she "Loves me".

I took some pictures of her today playing with the bears. Dodda and her wore matching outfits. It was too sweet.







On the packing front, we packed a wardrobe and couple of boxes in the garage. What did I learn today from it? The tape dispenser blades ARE sharp. Don't ask me how sharp:). One more lesson: lifting boxes is no fun and try not to over estimate your capacity;).

Here's today's lunch.

Packing - part two

I figured no one will sue me if I made 2 posts per day. There will be days in coming months when I cannot even write once a week.

After not doing much the whole day, mom and I packed 4 boxes tonight which brings the total count of packed boxes to 12. Pretty neat eh!.

Attayya was asking today why I didn't just let the movers do the whole packing and why I took up this job with a baby and with both Chaitu and Prabu out of town for the next two weeks. The reason is pretty simple. Mom and I are planning to use this, "We worked so hard to get this done with out you people" reason on Prabu and Chaitu for a long time. We gotta have something to bring those boys down now don't we?

One more lesson learned today after packing: I think I am done saying "But I didn't have "it" growing up." After looking at the amount of personal stuff I have ( purses,bags,clothes,shoes,jewellery, scrapbook stuf..etc.) I just realized, I did make it up pretty good for that "it" that I always complained I didn't have when I was growing up. I guess my man will hear me whine less about that diamond necklace now. You can get that for our 15th anniversary honey instead of the 10th;).

Doing nothing for a day

It's pretty good not doing anything. Weather was really nice so we took V out for a short walk. He was so good to all the fellow "walkers" ( is that even a word?). He smiled and said "Agoo" which means "How ya doing" (Joey style) in his language. I watched so much "friends" while I was pregnant, I won't be surprised if he said, "How ya doing" as soon as he starts talking:). Prabu would be definitely worried reading this. Don't worry hon, I will teach him other stuff too;).

Lakshmi Attayya stopped by today during the day. She treated us for lunch at Hoysala which is one of our favorite Indian restaurants. We had coffee at home after lunch and chatted for a while. It was a nice break from our other wise boring day which would have been filled with mom and I packing, watching sob stories on sun and gemini tv .

We got more boxes from costco today which means we need to speed up our packing. We haven't even filled the ones we already have.

V has a mild case of cradle cap which makes him scratch his head. So we started using mittens so he wouldn't scratch himself so hard. but that little guy figured how to take those out. So today morning I put socks (clean ones of course;)) on his hands thinking it would be a little tight and he won't be able to pull them out easily. Aha, what was I thinking. Figure it out yourself from the pictures below as to what he did with them;)







Now I HAVE to go pack some stuff. Later:)

Packing - Part 1

It just feels like there is no end to packing. It's not the amount of stuff we have. So many things involved with it. Labeling, seeing which goes where, what needs to be thrown out and sorting the gigantic collection of books, audio and video.

I packed my scrapbooking stuff which made me realize that I probably won't be opening those boxes till we move into a new house after 6 months or so. I am not going to open them in the apartment, makes no sense to repack them all over. So you won't be seeing any new layouts or albums from me anytime soon and I probably am going to give you a store bought card for your birthday instead of a hand made one:).

We bought a pair of pacifiers for V just in case we needed it on the flight. On the way back from shopping, we couldn't get his car seat out of the stroller. It got stuck:). A kind gentleman helped in getting him out. He was smiling all along.

No recipes today because I haven't cooked today. Mom and I had leftovers and we ordered dinner from Dosa grill. The food there is awesome and they play great music.


Here's a picture of V being silly when ammamma was trying to change his clothes.

Back to Arizona.....

For Prabu that is. Chaitu and I dropped him at the airport this morning. He will get the keys for the new apartment tomorrow. Now I just have to decide if I want to leave on 15th of April or 23rd.

Man there is so much packing to do and I am feeling gloomy every time I tape a box shut. So many memories. Prabu and I met here. We bought our first house here. V was born here. And we made so many friends here apart from the huge family that we have. It's going to be tough leaving but then again I am trying to look at the bright side. It is actually going to bright and sunny in AZ:). I have babbi and Julie close to me which makes me feel a lot better and Chaitu is planning to move soon.

I took this picture of V sleeping on his Chaitu mama last night. Isn't he adorable ( V that is (insert wink here)).



And this one I took today morning:).

Weekend again:)

Prabu and I went to Bridgewater temple in the morning. Again, for the 4th time in a row we couldn't get the "Darshanam" ( viewing) of the main God, Mr. Venkateswara Swami. Today we were in by 9Am. Last couple of times were different timings too. They are always doing something or the other behind the closed curtains. I guess even God needs a break on weekends. But the thing is, this God's timings seem to suggest that he works on weekends and takes rest on week days. Oh well!

We took V to meet Tavathia Uncle in the afternoon. It was nice to see him after a long time. He treated us with Tastee subs for lunch. That sub place is awesome. We used to go there for lunch when Prabu and I were working for Horizon companies in Edison.

Chaitu, Prabu, and mom were busy in packing rest of the evening while I was busy cooking. Chaitu wanted a vegetable dish because he's been eating meat whenever he is out on business tour. Prabu wanted a "Home made" non vegetarian dish. So I sent them grocery shopping. The final result is this dinner I made tonight.

I took this picture of V before he went to bed just now. He finally started touching the monkey and parrot on his gymini:).

Cricket

Whenever we have cricket on, my mom refuses to move away from the TV. Especially if it's India playing:). We saw India Vs. Sri Lanka match today. Very disappointing because Sri Lanka won by 69 runs. Whether they lost or won, these cricket matches bring back fond memories of my childhood. When ever there was a match, my dad would pick me and Chaitu from school while we were still in our classes and we would take out lunch and go home. As I said Mom refuses to move so no cooking when there is a match on:). I don't dislike the game but I am not a huge fan like my mom either. I was just happy with no school for couple of hours and take out food.

I made a quick lunch today. Yes my lunches are always quick. It doesn't take me more than an hour to make it. I probably have to thank my 10 inch knife for it:). I also made blackeyed peas fritters in the evening because it was raining and it would be nice to have some fried stuff with coffee while watching the rain and the cricket game.

I didn't take any pictures of V today as he was being Mr. K Pants ( "K"ranky). However I am going to post one that I just came across today. Chaitu took this on the morning of Lakshmi Dodda's 60th birthday

Visit

Babloo Anna and Julie stopped by in the morning on their way to Conneticut. Mom made dosas and we also had left over avocado puris(very simple. just mix a ripe avocado in the wheat flour). Babbi brought up my favorite topic. How did my mom and dad meet and how they got married. The story feels fresh every time I hear it. We also went through Babbi and Julie's love story. Did I tell you it was fun?:)

We packed another box yesterday. That brings us to a total of 3 boxes packed. I shouldn't say we. Mom is packing the boxes, while I give her all the stuff that goes into the box. If you ask me to pack, I will probably need 100 boxes for just one room cause I am that bad.

So if you are in the neighborhood, just stop by. Not for packing but just so we can see you before we leave. It might be hard for us to make the rounds with V and the amount of stuff we have that needs to done. Mover's are coming on April 9th to take the stuff which leaves us with 17 days to do the packing, cleaning and discarding the junk. Not to mention the last minute doctor's appointments and all.

I made a quick lunch today. Tomato rasam and drumstick curry. Here is the recipe for the curry.

And a picture of V that I took just now. It was hot in the house so my man wanted to just hang out in the onesie.

Restaurant Review

My girl Dolly does Hindi and English movie reviews on her blog. It's fun to read those because then I can figure out, if I want to watch that movie or not:).

I will start doing Tamil and Telugu movie reviews pretty soon but for now I am going to stick with restaurant reviews:). Chaitu, me and Prabu went to a Chettinad restaurant called 'Aachi's'(meaning 'Grandma's' in tamil) on talmadge Road in Edison. Looks like a brand new place. Since we went for lunch on a weekend, it was buffet style. Service was very good. The crew was very cheerful and enthusiastic which is hard to find in Indian restaurants in NJ that I have visited. They had huge pictures of chettiyar style houses which was very interesting.

The food as good. The biryani did not have much taste other than being spicy. The appetizers and curries was very good. I loved the chicken tikka masala. The chicken was cooked just right. Prabu and Chaitu kept getting second and third servings of their dry lamb masala. Over all nice experience.

Almost Rolling over

Last night Rajesh and Priya stopped by with Sahana and Aditya. That's Aditya and Sahana and V with Rajesh uncle and Priya aunty:)



V is trying very hard to roll over. He gets very frustrated when he cannot turn completely.



Mom took this picture this morning. He is da King;)


He loves the mobile on his crib.



Today's Lunch recipes.

Happy Ugadi

Today is Ugadi(Telugu New Year). The name of this year is "Sarwagit". Mom made good food and ugadi pachhadi. You can read more about the pachadi here.

Here's V wishing you all a happy and prosperous new year.

Fun Weekend

Saturday morning was spent shopping for groceries, gifts etc. We went to Rajesh and Priya's for dinner that day. V was very cranky and we had to come home early. Since they live right behind our house, it was easy for us to just bring V home and put him to bed.

Sunday was the big surprise party for Lakshmi Dodda. Here is the thing with surprise parties. Every single person who knows about it makes up beautiful stories to cover it up. After the surprise is over the birthday girl gets to listen to how everyone planned it and all the faux stories fall in their place. Thats exactly how this party was too. Dodda had happy tears in her eyes and that's what shows that she had no clue about it and she was very happy:). Peddananna joined us on the phone from India:).

V over all was very good at the party. Leela, Maya, Ayana, Kiran ( Kanaka AUnty's Grandson), Siddharth were there to play with him. Leela and Maya are inseparable. When time comes for them to leave, it's just too sad. Maya doesn't want to go home leaving her Leela Akka behind and Leela won't let her little sister go home. Ayana laughed for the first time yesterday. It was just too precious.

On the way back from the party we dropped in at Aki and Siva's house. Had an awesome dinner from Bombay Talk. It was nice to see them after a while.

We got a picture of Vidyuth on our cell on saturday. He is too cute and we think he looks just like Setu:). And yes Vidyuth is the name Viji and Setu chose for their son. The minute I figure out how to upload the picture form cell to PC, I will let you know:).

Before I post the pictures one last piece of news. The movers are coming to take the stuff from our house on 9th of April. We will probably leave a week or 2 after that.

Lakshmi Dodda, V with Kumar Babai, Nagu Pinni-mom-Lakshmi dodda-Jaya Pinni






Leela and Maya with their new haircuts, Maya-Kiran-Leela, Siddharth





You can see more pictures from the party here and here

Be back in a few:)

I will be back in couple of hours with lots of news and pictures. Come back to find out the name of Viji's baby, Lakshmi Dodda's surprise party and our dinner with Rajesh and Priya on saturday night and how V got all cranky on us:).

V and his Pooja

Everyday V prays to god as soon as ammamma gives him a bath. She says the slokas on behalf of him and they both pray together. This is him getting distracted from the pooja as I am taking the picture:).



This is my boy with the Vibudhi on his forehead.

And this is him checking himself out in the mirror on his play mat.


Enough pictures for today you think?

And here's todays lunch recipes.

Can't think of a title:)

Mom got me hooked on to the soap operas in Gemini and Sun channels. She TiVo's almost 8 serials (soap operas are called serials in India) and watches them during the day. In the beginning I would make fun of the acting, the direction and what not but now I religiously watch them along with her. It sort of became a mother-daughter thing now.

Lately we are not able to watch any TV at all. Because of this:

I am not going to say anything, picture says it all:).

This is a picture we took today. He is trying very hard to put his toes in his mouth.


Today's lunch

4th Month

My boy is four months old today. You are probably sick and tired of hearing everyone say this but I just have to say it again:): "Time Flies":)

Here are the 5 pictures of V from birth to 4th month.




We got the much awaited phone call from Akila today. Viji ( her sister) had a baby boy last night. Both mother and baby are doing good and Simi is very excited about her baby brother. Viji and Setu are still deciding about the name:). I will update you as soon as I get more details.

Trip to the Mall

Mom and I took Vikram to the mall today. He was so good . As a reward we got him a new outfit for Ugadi ( which is on March 19th but I hear some people are celebrating it on 20th). He kept smiling at everyone in the mall .

I submitted my resignation letter at work today. After V was born, I thought I would go crazy if I stayed home longer without going into work. However, it's not bad after all to stay at home. I have more time now to plan a nice lunch and dinner, scrapbook V's pictures and just relax in general without worrying about code errors and status meetings.

Todays recipe.

Here's V's picture for today. He is almost ready to roll over.