Memoirs of a beautiful summer

Oh what a beautiful, eventful summer we had this year - filled with Tons of activities, amazing time together, new things discovered, old traditions re-lived, cooking, playing, meeting friends/ family and just about everything to call it a memorable summer.

Both Kids, attended a summer reading program at out local library in Groton. While Gauri loves books and making new friends during the story time, Neel just likes to do puzzles or just knock some books down the shelves.

Gauri and Neel listening to a story with arms around each other

Not too bad at puzzles

Gauri love of reading finds her reading even at a Gap store :)

We were so lucky to meet a Kid's celebrity - Steve from Steve Songs on PBS. Gauri Absolutely loves his silly songs in the morning and you can catch her humming those throughout the day. She was sumer excited to meet Steve in person and to dance to his singing.

This year was the performance year at Gauri’s Ballet school, at at only 3.5 half years Gauri had her first stage performance. Oh Boy did she ever look cuter? It was an amazing experience for both Gauri and me, while on one hand it was very hectic for both of us attending the innumerable practice sessions (specially along with Neel in the waiting area or Audience) and Gauri did get a stage fright or what she called “afraid of the backstage Dark”,she screamed and cried and refused to go on stage during the Dress rehearsal, but Thanks to God she did finally went on the stage on the final day of performance. I was crying the whole time when was dancing and Neel was yelling “geggey” clapping and jumping with excitement.

Both Kids started swimming this summer and had great fun. Gauri decided to continue learning this fall and is doing so well. Finally, our little mermaid is showing the same passion for water as her dad. She is always on step ahead of her instructor and swims like a fish.

This year we also did some fruit picking, from strawberries, to blueberries to Peaches, Apples and now pumpkins. We picked them all and enjoyed eating them too. This was such fun and kids absolutely loved it.

Gauri attended the Sunshine Camp - a summer camp program from Groton and she had a blast there. She made two very wonderful friends there Alyssa and Sydney who continues to be her really close friends now specially after her losing her dear friend Shealyn to her dad’s work transfer. Summer camp was such a hit - the kids were hugging each other and crying on the last day.

We also visited the Seaport museum and Kids museum in mystic several times this year. The three of us love the Horse-carriage ride there and to dress up like sailor and pirates :) 

Neel not only stacks blocks, but just about anything.

Neel is turning out to be so funny, absolute goof ball, sneaky and mischievous and somewhat destructive too. He walks with his both arms spread out so he can grab something and throw it as he walks. Climbing up, all the way to the top of the fridge by stacking things, and making tall “block” towers is his favorite hobby. He also "loves" to help mum in the kitchen - now that's another story how much help I need cleaning up after he has helped me in the kitchen.

Making big messes with colors and latest with flour (at his uncle’s house) yet other favorites of Neel.

Over all we had an amazing summer and with festivals staring, and naanu (My dad) visiting us, we are happily moving on to a colorful fall.

A New Chapter

Happy Feet (and Happy Face too)

I can either say ‘Another chapter closed” or “A New chapter begins....” just depends on how I feel about our darling little daughter, the baby we “just” brought home from the hospital, flap her wings to fly into open air, a little further away from us, a little bit on her own, making new friendships, learning new things, moving out from just our company to the company of kids her age and ALL-READY for pre-school.

Gauri started pre-school and we are very proud of her. But it breaks my heart to see her go, holding hands of her teacher and her friend, excited to start a new chapter in her life, not looking back even once... I am so happy she is taking this transition so well. She sounds happy, excited and completely relaxed about pre-school. Fortunately, her friend from summer camp “Sydney” is in the same class as her, and that makes it bit more easy for her to adjust in this new environment.

Good luck my "sweet pea"; do your very best and may Fame and Success be yours!

Gauri’s First School: Charles Barnum in Groton

School Program: Peer role model

Gauri’s First Teacher: Mrs. Amy Nixon

Gauri’s First Day at school: Sept 2nd 2010

Papa's Day

You never look for praises, You are never the one to boast

You just go on working quietly, For those you love the most.

Your dreams are seldom spoken, Your wants are very few

And most of the time your worries, Will go unspoken too.

You are there like a firm foundation, Through all our storms of life

A sturdy hand to hold to, In times of stress and strife.

A true friend we can turn to, When no one else would bother

One of  God's greatest blessings, Is to have you as our Father.

Happy Birthday Our Dearest Papa.

Damn Dehydration

After having an wonderful 4th of July weekend in Boston with so many of our cousins and uncles and aunts and after finally uniting with Mani (he got back from Germany after 14 days that same weekend), eating tons of wonderful food - courtesy Gita taiji and Arvind tauji, laughing till our bellies would hurt, singing and dancing, after all this,  we had a terrible start of the week with Gauri suddenly throwing up at 10 PM Monday night. She continued to vomit all night, literally every 5 - 10 minutes, unable to hold even a spoonful of water, barely able to walk to the wash room, super sleepy yet unable to sleep because of the nausea. We waited till the morning but since she was looking dehydrated by 8 AM we saw her pediatrician who gave her some med for stopping her vomiting. The meds did work and by wednesday morning she only threw up once. We were so relieved but relief lasted only a couple of hours - While trying to sleep Neel wednesday night he had the similar throw up like Gauri. Oh God my worst nightmare had come true. The Doctor had warned us that the virus was severely infectious and we ALL might come down with it. Neel had the same throwing up episode as Gauri - 5 - 10 minute interval just that he seems out of it very quickly. After about 4 hours of throwing up he lay limp - not able to move, no tears - crying constantly in a very low volume because of nausea but unable to actually vomit anything any longer - completely dehydrated, too sleepy and lethargic. At about 2 AM we were begging the doctor to prescribe Neel the same med (Zofran that they gave to Gauri - but th answer was “NO” - “can never to such a mall baby, its not fit for even Gauri, not sure why the other dr. did prescribe it for Gauri”.

I immediately did some research only to find out that its mostly given to patients with nausea caused by Chemo, not safe for small kids.

We passed the night somehow - morning saw the Dr., and his opinion was to take him to the hospital for IV. I chose to keep him home and try some electrolytes but he want able to hold anything. I dreaded taking him to the hospital but finally we had to. He was so dehydrated by friday that it was the "Doctors ORDERS" this time. 

After falling asleep finally

Gauri was quite freaked out when we took him to the hospital and when all the nurses were trying to prick my poor baby several times to draw some blood and for the IV needle. Thanks to our friends Anurag and Malvi who came to the hospital and took Gauri with them. Neel was terrible after so many people trying to get the needle in him and so much commotion...he finally slept at 11 PM and I sat besides him all night to change him if he threw up again. 

Neel after 2 days of IV sugar in him

Gauri stayed home with baba but visited Neel every day while he was still there. We even watched some fireworks on the Thames from our hospital window and Gauri sang songs for Neel and even played with him while we tried hard to keep him from pulling out the IV needles from his hand. By morning and with enough IV fluid in him, he was looking better although he only had his first bite of food sunday afternoon then was finally discharged.

We were so relieved as all 4 of us drove back home from the hospital with our both babies finally Healthy and Happy. Oh what a week!!

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.