What's a Bulkhead?

When we moved to our current house in CT I asked this question and the answer was:

Its a door for outside access to the basement for getting bulky/dirty things in/out of the basement without going through the formal first floor areas of the house

We had never used it and it had always been a Dark, Dirty, Spider-web-filled, ugly looking slant door in the backyard, that our kids would often use for jumping on or as a slide at-times.

But today, I discovered a NEW use for this un-explored door.

"For getting out of your basement when Neel locks you in the basement and cries nonstop for half hour and does not know how to unlock."

Tonight, when I was in the basement getting the folded Laundry upstairs, Gauri came downstairs and closed the basement door so Neel wouldn’t climb down too. Soon Neel started crying and I climbed up to open the door for him, only to find that it had been locked from outside. Holy Sh... - what am I going to do now? Cellphone - Damn I dont have any of my neighbours' numbers in it, I just got a new phone after losing one in trash (again thanks to Mr. Neel) so my contact list was - GONE. Half nervous and half frightened, with two screaming babies in the background I remembered “The BulkHead”.

After struggling hard with the darkness inside it, the cobwebs and the badly rusted door latch that became almost impossible to open, I was finally out. I rushed to the back door on the patio, again to find that it was locked from inside too. I immediately ran to the front door almost thinking that if that’s also locked I am going to break the window and JUST GET IN. Poor Neel had turned all red and blue from crying and being alone. Thanks to Krishna, the front door was unlocked.

We then had a BIG group hug - all three of us.

On another note - today wasn’t all that crappy after all; we actually had loads of fun in the afternoon in our new water pool. These pictures will speak for themselves.

                 

Neel and Gauri after the water play.

Thank You Bulkhead - you saved us today :)

A Strong guy with heart soft as butter - we call him Dad

Happy Father’s Day (Belated) to my dad, my husband and all other amazing dads we know. You are pillars of our family and no matter how many times we forget to acknowledge your kid deeds, your love for us and for our kids, you support and strength at times of hardships is much appreciated; we want you to know, your efforts do not go un-noticed.

I am missing you Papa, wish we were closer, to everyday learn from you - new things and to hear the unlimited wisdom about life and the how to appreciate every one and everything we have been given by God. We miss you lots.

The three of us are craving to spend yet another evening with you my Darling husband, how can I tell you how much we are missing you right now, every day and as we strike off the dates on our calendar in the evening, Gauri loves to count how many days left before we will pick you from the airport. Two weeks seems like FOREVER. Come home soon.

Hugs and Kisses

The Lonely Three

Summer Starts with Strawberry Picking

Call it Pick-your-own, PYO or you-pick, the idea of picking your own fruit and vegetables is absolutely fantastic, specially for young kids (and adults as well, when you are picking mouth-watering-red-oozing-with-juice strawberries). 

With the season fast approaching, I was having a craving to go strawberry picking for past few days. The store bought strawberries are “trash-able” compared to the local-grown; I, anyway hate the idea of cold-storage and transporting fruits across the country. Its the worst thing you can do to your fruits. I love local and therefore wait for the summer.

This morning Neel, Gauri and I headed off to Scott Yankee’s Farm near our place to explore the idea of PYO with kids. I wasn’t sure if Neel would like it since he doesn't seem very comfortable with grass etc. I think its just the feeling of greens on bare foot that doesn't appeal the young kids, Gauri was exactly the same way but soon converted into a gardner of er own kind :) I am sure Neel’s on the same path too.

Anyway, the kids had a blast at the farm, despite the scorching heat outside (89 F) both didn't want to leave the farm. After tasting several strawberries and finally discovering that the small red ones were the juiciest, my smarty-pants Ms. G was busy looking for perfect strawberries to put in her container, 

and Neel was just exploring the BIG open farm - with no worries of where Mom was, he would just walk away real far from us with his fuzzy friend Jojo (the monkey on his back), get down occasionally and squish some red temptation in his tiny mouth; I almost caught him red-handed several times.

(sorry Image too small, click on it to enlarge)

I had to drag them back to the farm stand to pay and head back home. By this time, our faces and clothes were somewhat red with sun and all the strawberries we “tasted”, we had lots of fruit to bring back home for us and friends to share with. 

Gauri said on our way back “mumma, why do we buy strawberries from Grocery store, we should always get our own”!! What a great experience and learning for kids.

Thanks to whoever came up with the idea of pick your own. We will surely be going back for more strawberries and Blueberries, Raspberries and Apples too when the season starts.

Sweet Love

Oh goodness, I have been thinking of writing about all that has been going on in our life but I just dont seem to find ANY time these days. Its just that crazy right now. I wonder how you working moms (and of course my mom when we were little too) are able to find time for your “jobs” - I am almost amazed by those working moms of two or more little ones.

Anyway, although we have been SUPER DUPER SMUPER busy but I have never enjoyed life this much ever. Gauri and Neel both are such adorable and so cute and so mischievous and so funny that they just make my day by their silly acts.

 

Neel love Gauri like crazy - though they fight at times over toys etc but if I ever scold Gauri for anything - he will immediately some shushing me....I am serious that tiny person will place one hand on his back, bend somewhat and Shush me with his one TINY finger on his lips :) ... I just burst into laughter at this.

One tear from Gauri’s eyes and you will see Neel walking to her with a towel of some sort to wipe her tears followed by a BIG hug around her legs -  so cute. I hope and wish that their love continues to grow like this and when they are both teenagers and they almost hate each other, may be they can read this and realize how much they loved each other.

Gauri apart from being very sensible, very vocal and expressive, very sensitive to other kids’s feelings is also SUPER SOCIAL. Like today, she was standing outside mer mama’s(uncle) house and calling out this -

“people come inside my mom has made something very yummy to eat, come, come in”

She is super extrovert and LOVES LOVES LOVES being around other people no matter what age. She reminded me of her DIWAKAR mama who, my aunt tells us did exactly the same when he was a 3 year old.... I thought that was funny.

So life’s crazy right now but fun too, I am so glad I took this time off from work and choose to stay home with the kids. I would have missed so much if I didn’t.

Hope you all are enjoying the summer - we are.

Some days, parenting is… HARD

That was my exhausted thought as I was doing multitasking in my kitchen at the end of the day today. Between trying to check emails, making a list of pending phone calls, expanding my never-ending to-do-list where it feels like nothing ever gets accomplished, preparing dinner for kids and us, cleaning up the living room which looked like a jungle of toys, thinking about how to juggle in Swim classes for the kids…..I was feeling like “I just cant accomplish anything EVER!!”

The whole day had been a battle.

I can’t even remember as I write this what the issues were, but it just seemed like everything was a challenge today.

Maybe it was because I had planned to do many things today but couldn’t get much done from my list of things;

Or maybe it was because Gauri is almost 3.5 and she’s becoming more independent and more verbal. 

My every effort to try to teach her to write, color-within-the-lines, remember her numbers/ alphabets etc are all only making her more rigid.  

Neel’s also getting quite independent and doing the boy things – break stuff, getting into things he shouldn't, pull away Gauri’s toys and most specially her Dolls, and therefore fights between the two ALL-THE-TIME!!

Whatever the reason, I was frustrated this evening and I almost felt like a TOTAL FAILURE at parenting and house-keeping. I have really NEVER felt this way for anything. I have always been a go-getter, on top of everything, leading not following or merely trying to catch up…. But I broke down this evening into tears when I looked around me and all I saw was a mountain of work, Neel Gauri fighting over a doll, Gauri not stopping from putting her hair in her mouth despite of me asking her several times and Neel trying to run away with poop on his bottoms!!

Gosh – I felt SO down and sad and depressed, all I asked for from my hubby  

“can I get just 24 hours to myself to be 24 again”

 as our 10^th wedding anniversary gift.  

There is always so much pressure on moms, to teach their kids every possible skill in the world, to take them to million lessons, make sure they are achieving all milestones appropriate for their age and making them smarter, and obedient, and happy and disciplined; cooking the most nutritious meals for the whole family that also taste good and is not boring and repeating, keeping the house like NO-KIDS live in it – how do we do all that and also look good and sound happy at the end of the day when hubby descends from work?

Is it just be who doesn’t know how to make all this work effortlessly or do any of you moms feel the same way?

Well I know I am going to give my kids a nice warm bath and cuddle them in bed to bounce out of it for now!!

Valentines 2010

I know I am lagging behind in updating the blog and we are almost a month late in posting about our valentines day fun, but, I don’t want to NOT write about it at all because it was just too cute and a whole lot fun.

The week before V’ day baba was out on a business trip and we were supposed to have a snow storm – not ideal situation when hubby’s not around and kids have dr’s appointments, we have a flat tire and not of snow to shovel. But we were too excited for V’day to keep us from having fun.

So while it was snowing heavily outside (picture below)

All 3 of us were busy making valentines cookies and Gauri wanted to make a Valentines necklace for herself and her Baba. (Look at her creativity below, I am not going to steal the thunder here because really the cookie decoration and the fruit loops was all her idea)

Baba came home the night before V’day and as he reached Gauri’s Crib to kiss her on coming back, she immediately woke up and hugged him and whispered in his ears “Baba I made a valentine’s surprise necklace for you…sh…..Neel’ will wake up so I’ll sleep now, but I cant wait to give it to you in the morning, will you wake me up early tomorrow”

That was too cute and it melted her baba’s heart and in baba’s words – “this is what I miss the most when I am not with you guys….I love her so much….”

We had a nice relaxing lazy breakfast in the morning, went out shopping a bit, exchanged some presents, all of us got back in our PJ (well PJs were our presents this Valentines…hahahaha) and watched some TV together.

I was happy that no more we were running around, trying to get a reservation in a restaurant at stupidly-late-hours in the night, for valentines day dinner. We were all happy, sitting together eating butter popcorn in the coziness of our home …valentines day has new meaning for us now and WE (Me and Hubby) love it this way.

God's most amazing creation

Mother!
I am sure we all agree to that, and I hope we find that time to let the woman who gave us birth know, that what an amazing person she is (or was).

Very sadly, I want Gauri and Neel to know that today its been 10 years of us losing our most beloved mother, the Nani they unfortunately haven't meet, but the Nani who still continues to guide and motivate their mother (me) to try to be a good mother to them. My little babies, I hope I can be a mother just like your Nani, who will always love and care for you on earth or in heaven.

I do wish mom, you were here to sit by my bed-side and roll your finger through my hair when I would be sick; I wish you would still sing me the same lullaby that you used to when I couldnt fall asleep; I wish you were here to chat with me all night long while everyone was fast asleep; I wish you were hear to easy my fears, to wipe my tears, to share my excitement, to be proud of my achievemnets and above all to mother me, while I mothered my children. I miss you more than words could ever express.

This picture is my absolute favorite from my brother's wedding, its just that its little short of being perfect - I think its missing our mother, but so is every picture! We love you and miss you always, dear mother. Hope you are resting in peace.

Are we Home now?

That’s what super-tired-completely-exhausted Gauri asked me when we finally sat down at our departure gate in Charlotte after being in transit for over 50+ hours changing several planes, having done atleast 12 or more security checks and being dragged every where on the airport at various ungodly hours for last couple of days…..

As some of you already know we had already missed our first return flight to US since I did not have a UK transit visa. Frankly, that was such a shocker for me and I couldn’t believe that was happening to us. Gauri was very sad and upset at why baba had not come to pick her up at the airport, poor thing didn’t quite understand that we were still in India.

Finally we decided to fly back via Germany since it didn’t require a transit visa. But it seems like trouble was spread like a battle-field mine in the entire journey. First, the plane from India couldn’t take off for over 4 hours due to some military issue. I knew we had already missed our connection from Munich to Boston but I was hopeful we’d get some flight back to US.

But upon landing on Munich airport, we were not allowed to enter the airport as the airport was shut down due to some security breach!! Great!! We were left at a place with little heat, very few chairs, no food, phone or even water. We waited for good 4 -5 hours when our patience started running out. It was getting very cold and kids were beginning to freeze sitting on the floor. I put down my shawl, coat etc to make it warmer for kids to sit . Gauri was getting more and more thirsty and couldn’t hold off any more. Upon asking a German immigration officer who spoke little English, he told that only place to get some water was from “the toilet” – are you kidding me was the expression on my face. But I had no choice, I went and brought some water from the T. At that point I literally got tears in my eyes; children who I have taken care so gently and carefully, I am now feeding them water from the toilet. I was desperate to find some help. Determined, I kept asking immigration officers to let me/ other passengers talk to Lufthansa officials. Finally they came – told us that there are no flights to the US for the day and we may have to wait at the airport with atleast 300 other passengers stuck in similar situation, but they could now take us into the airport. After about 4 security checks and stripping sleepy-cranky kids every time for the damn security check, taking care of our hand luggage, purse, passports and million other things we were inside the airport finally. Now the next hurdle – to get the first available flight to US (forget Boston, get me anywhere in the US, beggars cant be choosers). After another 2.5 hours of standing in queue, we were finally booked on a flight to Charlotte and another one from Charlotte to Boston for next day. Now the next hurdle was to fight for a transit visa so I could take the kids to a hotel and not have to spend the night with both kids and luggage on a terminal. Seeing the condition of my kids and literally begging and pleading we finally got transit visa to go into Germany (now 1 AM German time)
Again dragging sleepy kids with luggage from one end of the airport to another, to an exit, we finally sat inside a cab; to tell the truth I was Sh…scared at this time riding a cab all alone with kids and no phone, no local currency, no understanding of German language and absolutely no idea where the heck the cab driver was going to take us. But with fingers crossed and keeping Gods name in the heart we passed that 25 minute ride to the hotel. We were happy to be at the hotel and the staff there was extremely helpful and empathetic. We all had a nice 5 hour sleep and our back felt lot better and ready for another day of surprises.

Next morning we took our 10 hour flight to Charlotte only to land there and find out that immigration is going to take long and we will miss yet another connection to Boston – lovely!! Who invited Mr. Murphy to this trip?????
Anyway when sat at the terminal in Charlotte hoping that this be our FINAL flight in our attempt to reach Boston, I asked Gauri if she was excited to see baba, she said “I am tired mum, are we home now?”…. my heart went out to her and I gave her a big emotional hug, keeping my tears under control and thanking her for being such a cooperative kid during this entire mess. 5.5 hours later we were finally HOME!!
Happy Ending, Happy Faces...

Pre-school - so soon??

Our little one is heading off on a big adventure -- preschool!
The first day of preschool has arrived (Monday Sept 21) and it's time for our little darling to begin an educational journey that will last nearly two decades. Gosh is she really that grown-up already – I remember bringing her home from the hospital, like it was yesterday!!

The night before, I talked to Gauri about her special day (she seemed very excited),

I am ready for School (the day before)

"I am so excited Neel"

picked her attire for the morning, packed some snack, she packed her back-pack with all sorts of stuff, teddy, doll, hair clip, toy cell phone, nighty-night Lucy book, a pair of clothing etc…..Alarms were set, with breakfast menu on mind, we went to bed early.

As we reached the school gate, I was feeling like I was going to cry any minute and as I dropped her off to her class and she asked me “mumma where are you going” my face turned red, my eyes were barely able to hold the tears in them any more, thanks to the teacher for pushing me to leave while letting Gauri know that I’ll be back after "picking up some groceries".
With little over 2 hours in hand, I did some grocery shopping (with no one asking to sit in those big- loud toycar shopping carts, so hard to maneuver and always stuck in the checkout lanes!), some laundry folding and organizing, and yes I also ate some breakfast that day! Yuppie!!.
Apart from all this, I had only one thing going on in the background – a hard-to-resist-urge to call the preschool about fifty times to ask, “Is she happy? Does she look happy? What’s she doing right now? How about now? Isn’t she wonderfully terrific? Don’t you agree she’s the most fantastic child ever? Does she look happy now? And now?”

God, I couldn’t wait to pick her up (no wonder I was sitting in the parking lot 20 minutes before the pick-up time). I miss my darling baby. And as soon as I picked her up – we hugged (real tight) and she asked “did baba and Neel miss me” and as Neel woke up from his nap and saw Gauri, he uttered excitedly - “ge-ge”; that’s it!! – Gauri said “I think mumma Neel missed me because he is smiling at ge-ge” (We think Neel calls Gauri Ge-ge). Gauri had the most wonderful stories to tell me all the way home !! :)

"I am ready to study too"

What's baking in our oven!!

“When baking, follow directions. When cooking, go by your own taste.” ~Laiko Bahrs

I following this saying – religiously; because (as some of you already know) although I can cook quite okay but I am a pathetic baker! While my mom (the BEST cook ever, seriously) baked the most amazing cakes (and for everyone’s birthday, all cousins friend’s kids etc.) me on the contrary, fail, if I am even short of one ingredient. Baking does not come natural to me. So, I had never ventured into the area of cookies etc. But in an effort to keep Gauri busy and to fulfill her random demand of very specific shape and color cookies, I have tried several recipes in the past. And after several failed attempts, I can say that I have finally been able to bake some really decent cookies lately.

Several months ago we baked some Vegan chocolate chip cookies – vegan because Neel is allergic to dairy (just like Gauri was when she was less than an year old; I really do hope he also grows out of this pretty soon) and so I am on no-dairy-no-soy diet too. The cookies came out pretty good and my big air-tight container was empty by the end of second evening. Both Gauri and her baba gobbled them quick (Gauri actually eating something with that much likeness - Best compliment ever).

Recently we tried these “Pink” heart shortbread cookies (yes these days everything has to be pink or princess) and they were fantastic too. Not only did Gauri had much fun making then (Kneading the dough, using the cookie cutter and frosting them) but she and baba once again enjoyed them much. Neel and I just watched since they had butter this time (I’ll bake you some vegan cookies again Neel!). If anyone’s interested here is the simple recipe for shortbread (the key is to follow the recipe)

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
Note: I found that for delicate tasting shortbread with a melt-in-your-mouth texture, replace 1/2 cup flour with cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1/2 cup (60 grams) confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In the bowl cream the butter and sugar until smooth.
Add vanilla extract and then stir in the flour mixture.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and chill for an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with the rack in the middle of the oven.
Cut the dough into whatever shapes you wish.
Place the cookies on the baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
Bake for 8 - 10 minutes.

Happy Baking everyone!!