15 December 2013 - 1 Year and 3 Months Old

               On the 16th of September 2013 we had your one year's doctor visit. You had 2 vaccinations and a flu shot. The nurse had told in advance that you might cry for the last shot as it burns. You did exactly the same and the nurse was fine after regularly seeing the kids cry. But your dad and I were looking at each others' face and we had forgotten what is smile for that moment.

               With the one year check-up, doctor had told me that you need to feel the texture of different objects and that I must let you do that. The next day, I had prepared "sauthekayi kottige" for breakfast and you wanted to touch a piece from my plate. I let you do that and you immediately grabbed a big piece of it and rubbed it on the sofa and on your clothes like a bar soap! Again the next time, you managed somehow to get a big tube of diaper rash cream, grabbed a handful of cream and played with it in a minute's absence of mine. And the next time when I was busy video chatting with your grand parents, you reached for the formula box, pulled the powder on the floor and played till your dad shouted at me.

               I was feeding you your lunch and you were full. I still tried to feed the last 2 spoonfuls to empty the bowl. You shook your head and said "be" (short form for beda), I acted as though I didn't understand and asked you again "beka?" and tried to feed you again. You said "be be" a few times and when I still didn't stop trying to feed you, you thought for a while and then said "no no no!" I was amazed to see you change the language for my better understanding!

               Doctor asked me this time if you wave bye, and you immediately waved at the doctor and we all had a good laugh. Doctor doubts your head size every time and checks it by herself once again to confirm that the nurse has measured it correct. It is because your head it quite big to your age.

               On September 23rd your ajji has reached USA. We were waiting to see your reaction as she is the first family member you will be meeting after you started recognizing people. You only stared at her for some time without any smile, nor did you cry seeing her. Later you started passing your toys to her one after the other and then liked her glasses. After some time you slowly climbed her lap and sat. The next day onwards you both became buddies. You didn't go even to Sunita aunty the next day. Also, cried when ajji carried Anika baby, and for the very first time you refused to come to me!:(

               On September 30th your Sunita aunty and Prasanna uncle left to India. We had gone to the airport to say bye to them. They had been with us as our only Kannada friends ever since we came to the USA. They have seen you since you were a newborn.

               On the 28th September 2013, you took your first steps in our absence, only your granny saw it. I was disappointed that I could not see your first steps. But on the 29th (On your dad's birthday as a gift for him), you took your steps without support in front of all of us. We were very happy to see your new milestone! On the day your brother was born, you kept walking throughout the day in the hospital holding your granny's hands. It became a new game for you and soon after your brother reached home, you started walking 8-10 steps at a time and within a week you totally forgot to crawl! You love to walk and later on it was fun to see you experiment and learn new things with walking. You had started walking in the straight line and later started to take a turn as you were walking. Then you started walking very fast. Later you tried to slow down the speed as you took a turn. Your steps became more steady and and for a long time you had that beautiful smile of achievement every time you walked. In the beginning you always kept your arms up for balance as you walked. Sometimes you held some toys and walked for balance. And within 2 - 3 weeks you became a good walker!

                You love to watch nursery rhymes on TV and your dad has downloaded many colorful video songs for you. We have made it a habit to watch tv sitting on your chair as you eat your food. And you swallow the food without much effort. This is the first fall you got to experience and it looks like you love the colors!

               On October 15th, you didn't want to eat your food and I kept trying as you played with a deep transparent lid of a round cake box. You immediately found a new trick, put on that deep transparent lid on your head like a helmet to protect every time I brought the spoon close to your mouth!

               I always made you sit on my lap and we read your books together as I pointed at the pictures on the book and read it aloud for you. On October 16th, you held a book, read it in your own language with a finger on the book and after every sentence, you looked up at your ajji and explained it to her. She was extremely pleased and later she decided to learn English from you once you grow up.

               You love to play peek-a-boo and everyday you grab your granny's dupatta and walk around dragging it on the floor and keep playing peek-a-boo with it. You also love to watch giving bath to your brother and imitate him when he cries. I can clearly see your empathy for your brother because if you are holding my finger when he cries, you press it so much that I get marks. You don't like to miss seeing him dress up and apply moisturizer on him. And even you get all that done for yourself everyday. When granny applies moisturizer and baby powder to your brother, your mom does all that for you and you love it. 

               You pick up everything very soon. Your granny said "tikka" as she clicked your brother's shirt button once and there after the buttons are called "tikka tikka" in your language for the sound they make. Mixer grinder is called "gurrrrrrra". You repeat the words after us and say things like "offf" if dad goes to office; "doooooonda" for bath; "daaaaaadi" for sleep; "mum mum" for food; you say "ajji", "appa", "amma", "ajja" correct; you scream "thaaaaaa" if you want something; you scream "baaaaaa" if you want us to carry you; the funny thing is that you tell "baaa" to non-living objects as well and expect them to come to you; and of course "tata" is still your favorite word. 

               You want your shoes to go for walks, want to walk on your own even on the stairs. After your little brother arrived you are trying to be all independent. You want to walk by yourself, eat by yourself, drink by yourself. It has reached to such an extent that your granny was trying to put you to sleep the other day singing lullaby and patting your chest; and you - the little miss independent pushed her hand aside, started patting your own chest and sang your own lullaby for yourself!

               You are now slowly getting used to your brother and it looks like you have forgotten that there was a time without him earlier. There are times you get angry on him and try to push him from my lap and there are times that you want to hurt him. You also sometimes take his pacifier, pull off his mittens, grab his sheets. But there are also times you want to touch him, give him your toys, feel sad when he cries, let us rub his cheeks on your cheeks and the cutest thing is to watch you talk to him in your language. If he cries, you even ask him "mum mum maathe?!" 

               At night, you roll and roll and end up sleeping on the pillow and you like it. Your granny now gets hundreds of your kicks at night. When we are travelling together, you try to kick Aniket's car seat and you use it as a stand to keep your leg near his head. I can imagine the funny-bossy big sister in you when you grow up and fight with your brother.

               The next second after I cut your nails, you snatch the nail cutter from my hand and hit it to your toes; immediately after I use the bulb syringe to suck the mucous from your nose, you take it from my hand and insert it to your nose; as soon as I make you wear a head band, you pull it off and try to keep it back on the top of your head; when your dad pours water on your head giving you a bath, you take your play mug and pour water on yourself; after washing your mouth, you immediately pull any cloth you see (even my top if you don't see any other) and wipe your mouth; you observe everything we do for you and the next second we see you imitating it.

               Since the day you started walking you have forgotten how to crawl. You keep walking through out the day. If you are awake and if you are not eating your food and if you are not in the car, that means that you are walking. We don't to get see you stand in one place even for a minute. And now-a-days, we can not keep things on the table nor can we forget to keep the chair pulled out, because you immediately climb the chair and then the table and pull things down. You want to eat whatever we eat and refuse to eat your food. Whenever you see us eat our food, even if you are full, you come to the dining table, open your mouth and jump holding our legs asking us to carry you and make you sit on our lap and feed you what we eat. You love pomegranate, you chew it with your front teeth, drink the juice and keep those little seeds stored in your mouth for a long time and then spit it somewhere. That's how we keep finding pomegranate seeds under our feet on the carpet! You have got the taste of snacks like chips and biscuits and you love them.

               You now know to give flying kisses. You like to stand bare-foot on the cold floor and you hate to wear cap when it is cold outside. We went on a few one day trips to near by places on the Thanks Giving holidays. This time it was hard to manage you because you wanted to run everywhere without holding our hands. What I don't like is that you don't let us hold your hand when you walk and the other day you went walking behind some kids and never looked back to check if your parents are there behind you. You like running freely outside so much that you keep giggling aloud as you run. 

               The only animal that you have got to see a lot is dog and you call them "bow bow". You like them and also get scared of them when they bark. When we went to an aquarium a few days ago, you called all the types of fishes and other animals as "bow bow"s. Though we constantly kept telling you that they are not "bow bow" and that they are fish, you refused to call them anything other than "bow bow". That made us realize that we need to show you more animals and take you to a zoo soon. The love for "bow bow" is so much that the other day when we went to HEB for shopping, you saw a lady with Reindeer hairband and called her "bow bow"!

               In India, all are so eagerly waiting to see you and Aniket. We are planning to go to India on the 31st of December 2013. If everything works, we will be celebrating the new year 2014 on the sky! After the 4th attempt to get your PIO card became a failure, we applied for an Entry VISA to go to India. Finally there was no problem this time and we are now waiting to get the VISA via courier soon. Hopefully we get to visit India soon and this is going to be your very first India visit. I still can't believe that you are not a citizen of India and it somehow hurts to know that you really are not!

               You hate brushing your teeth, you swallow the gel and bite our fingers hard each and every day. When we scream with pain, you laugh aloud. You love to look at your own reflection in the mirror and you give the naughty (sele-sele) smile at yourself. Your granny loves that "sele-sele" smile of yours with the shrunk nose. Here is that smile-

               Every now and then you put a cloth on the floor and lie down on that saying "daaaaadi". You do that even if you get a piece of tissue paper. After every meal, we give you the sippy cup with water and you like it a lot. When you are angry, you lie down on the floor on your stomach and get that artificial cry with no tears. You get such anger every now and then especially when you see your brother on my lap and end up lying on the floor at least 50 times a day. When we went to NASA, there was a little kid of your age and he did the same when he got angry. His parents immediately clapped and laughed saying "yaaayyy" and that made him get up from the floor. We liked that method and tried it with you at home and it worked! You wanted to see what is making us laugh and you got up with a curiosity every time and forgot the anger!

               You have your funny reasons to get angry and here are a few. You get angry and cry aloud that your toy ring doesn't get inserted through the keyhole, cry that a hanger should be kept in your brother's cradle, cry that your brother's extra pacifier should be kept in your mouth, cry that the ball doesn't reach your expected destination when you throw it, cry that a big steel vessel doesn't fit in your toy box, cry that you can't open the door, cried after locking yourself in the bedroom alone (it happened after you saw me go to bedroom to feed your brother and close the door behind me), you cry that your dad doesn't let you pull his hair, cry that you can not open the lid of a bottle, cry that you can't climb the chair, cry that your round toys don't stay the way you want, cry that you cannot switch on the TV with mobile phone, cry that your "old mc.donald" song stops when you switch the TV button off, cry that you cannot lift the fridge, cry that you cannot lift your car with a plastic spoon, cry that the wall comes on the way of your walking track, cry that you can't comb your hair holding the comb the other side, and cry for hundreds of other things the entire day. You laugh for hundreds of your own jokes as well.

22 October 2013 - Got Promoted as a Big Sister!

               You got a promotion today and we all had been waiting for this since last 9 months! Finally you are now a Big Sister. I can't believe that you will be considered a big girl here after. You are still a baby, you haven't even learnt to walk yet. And you are a big sister now.

               I had been trying to tell you that there is a baby inside my stomach. You had not understood that, you only kept repeating the word "baby". You always used my stomach as your personal pillow. But now that little human has come out. I am curious to see if you are going to continue seeing him as your personal toy.

               As much as we were eager to see your little brother, we all were curiously waiting to see your expression to see the little baby. Last night your dad and I had to leave home at 1 am and go to the hospital. You were not willing to let me go, you were grabbing my chain and hugging me even closer as I kept trying to go away from you. My contractions were stronger, we had to leave to the hospital and you had somehow got the clue, you were gripping me even tighter and crying. Somehow we finally managed to put you back to sleep and left home.

               I heard from your granny that you searched for me this morning as soon as you woke up. But you are a good girl, I heard that you didn't cry. Later you came to the hospital with your granny and dad. You looked expressionless when you looked at the little baby. And later you looked very confused to see me on the bed. When I held your brother, you had a big question mark on your face, but neither you could ask any question nor we could explain it to you the way you understand it. I felt happy and sad at the same time to consider you a big sister now. It feels so weird to call my little baby a "big sister" now though it is the fact. 

               You kept walking in the hospital lobby all the day holding your granny's hand. I didn't know if you were really not bothered about the new situation and busy with the new walk-walk play or if you were trying to keep yourself busy just to avoid it. I am really worried about how you are going to react once you see the baby at home after we get discharged. But you surely were puzzled to see me sleeping on the hospital bed. We all now wonder if you are going to sleep well at home without your mom next to you tonight or going to trouble granny the whole night.

               I really hope that everything settles down soon and you take it positively. As of now I am worried about you being fine more than anything else. We are never going to care less for you and you are equally important to us, you are the same sweetest cutie pie of ours always. And I somehow cannot call you a "big girl". You might be a big sister for your little brother, but for us, your brother is our little son and you are always our little daughter. Never big for your parents!

We had a photo shoot as you turned a year old. Because that would be the last time out family will have only three people. You looked very pretty in all the pictures and the above picture is one of them from J C Penny portrait studio.

8 November 2013 - 2 Week's Pediatrician Visit

              Today we had your two week's visit with the pediatrician and we were forced to see you cry! :( The pediatrician was good and we were happy to know that your weight now is 6 pounds and 9 ounces. So have gained 1 pound in 8 days. That is a good weight gain for your age. Doctor even gave us a few samples like Vitamin D drops. You need them as you are exclusively getting breast fed. She even cleaned your umbilicus with alcohol wipes. You had even grown much taller and your length now is 19.5 inches. I was given a book on breast feeding to clear all my doubts if I get any.

               Later, we went to Methodist Hospitals for the two week screening. You had to give your blood sample for 2 week screening and these 20 tests need to be done according to the Texas law. Your blood spots will be preserved for 25 years with them. It felt terrible for your dad and me to see the nurse pinch your little foot so hard to squeeze out those 25 drops of blood. She said that you were the 4th baby she tortured that day and they are so used to see the little babies cry. But it felt too bad to see you cry your lungs out when your tiny foot bled. 

               Mean while, your sister was not willing to stay at one place and she gave really a hard time to your granny out side the lab. She was running everywhere with her bare-feet and your granny was tired running behind her.

               You now wake up every half an hour or one hour at night for feeding. You seem hungry all the time and willing to have food any time I offer you. During the day you sleep well and at the end, I don't get to sleep at all. At night you keep me awake and during the day, your sister doesn't let me sleep. I now have become totally a zombie and I forget what I said even an hour ago. It feels like I am living in a different world altogether and I am wondering how long this is going to continue.

               At night when you are not drinking milk, you constancy keep making different sounds and I keep checking if you are awake. I later realize every time that you are making those sounds in sleep. It sometimes sounds like a pig's grunt and some times like a hissing snake! They are still cute, because at least that makes me feel that you are there right next to me. You sleep in your cradle, but you love to sleep next to your mom on the bed. But I cannot put you next to me as your sister keeps coming in and she might kick you anytime. 

               Your dad and I are now familiar with names like - gerber, similac, enfamil, graco, chicco, safety first, fisher price, pampers, huggies, munchkin, comfort, desitin, lansinoh, johnson, babiesrus, toysrus, nuk, shutterfly, yorkphoto, playtex, orajel, garanimals and many many more. Thanks to you and your sister for improving our vocabulary!

               Your umbilical cord fell off on the 6th of November 2013 and I have preserved it to keep recalling that you were a part of me once upon a time. That makes me feel so blessed! I went to Kroger leaving you at home with granny on the 5th of November. But I kept remembering you through out, couldn't stay there for more than one hour. 

               You are such a sweet heart to be honest because you hardly make a peep. You don't cry even when you are in pain nor when you are hungry. You don't have colic. At night when you are awake, you keep staring at the roof or wall and make your own noises, lie for hours together, but you don't cry. You are such a good boy and we are extremely proud of you. I feel like giving you a biiiiiiiiig hug whenever I see you awake and not trouble your mom!

On this Deepavali, we clicked family pictures and it feels wonderful to see our little complete family.

28 October 2013 - First Pediatrician Visit

               Today you had your very first pediatrician visit. Your pediatrician is an Indian doctor - Dr. Anuradha Venkatachalam. We go to Pediatrics and Adolescent Center of Houston even for your sister, It is a group of 5 pediatricians and we had chosen Dr. Elizabeth Fowler for your sister. She is a good doctor, but we read even better review for Dr. Anu. We even know other kids who go to her and your dad and I finally decided to choose Dr. Anu for you.

               After today's visit, we were happy with the doctor, she sounded good and so far I feel that we have made a good decision of choosing her as your pediatrician. You are now 7 days old and your weight has increased to 5 pounds and 9 ounces. It is good to know that you have crossed your birth weight. 

               You had the bilirubin level 8 when you were born, but it has become normal now. I had thought of making you wear an yellow shirt today and your dad insisted that I must not carry anything today that is yellow - neither the shirt, nor your blanket. You wore a blue shirt. Because with our yellowish Indian skin tone, your sister's doctor had a doubt last year that she had jaundice. So we had to go for an extra visit and blood test. Your dad didn't want that to happen again. Hence the restriction on yellow for today!

               Everything looked normal and we were glad to know that you are healthy as well. So this was your second car journey so far and you slept well through out the journey. Today it was only a regular check up with the reports that hospital gave us at the time of discharge. Thankfully, there was no vaccination today and you were not made to cry. It was altogether a happy visit.

24 October 2013 - Little Prince to our little Palace!

               You are already 3 days old! You slept well on the very first night of your life. You woke up every one and half hours for feeding and went back to sleep soon after the food. You don’t really get to drink milk yet, but you are drinking the so called “liquid gold” now and that is colostrum. It has all the nutrients and is packed with immune cells and antibodies for your immature digestive system. I didn’t have to struggle much this time to make you latch on or to teach you how you drink. You were good at it and I was extremely happy.

               On your second day, you looked the same to us, the same tiny bundled joy. Your dad went home to fresh up in the morning and came back with your granny and sister. Your sister once again kept staring at you, but she got very scared every time you cried. She refused to come close to you and now she looked at me differently. I called her to sit on my lap, she eagerly wanted to come, but she was hesitating as you were there next to me. I felt bad for her and she was totally confused to see me stay at the hospital and to see a new person with me. She has to get adjusted to the new life with you, because even you are equally important to us. Together we make a complete family now.

               Like the previous day, your granny and dad were taking turns to take your sister out and to entertain her. After some time, we had the professional photographer in our room. She took beautiful pictures of yours, and some with your dad and me. We so wanted your sister also to be in the photograph with her newborn brother. But we failed to make her stay next to you even for a click. We were very happy to see the pictures later, but sad that your sister was not in it. There were different packages with photo, but preferred to take only the soft copies and it cost 135 dollars to us. But we believe that it is worth taking the pictures of your life’s beginning. We were not able to do that for your sister.

               I had been breaking my head for a beautiful name since past 2 months. From my shortlisted 42 names your dad had chosen 8 names earlier, then it came down to 4 and then 2 - Advay and Aniket. And finally your dad decided to name you Aniket! Aniket is one of the names of God Shiva. Your dad then was thinking of your second and last name and finally we named you "Aniket Bhat Kalandoor"! I now like the name. Your grand parents were eager to see you on video chat and they were happy to see their little grandson.

               Our room number was 2309 on the second floor. The nurses and doctors kept coming to our room throughout the day. They took you to the nursery for various tests every now and then and you passed the hearing test. The lactation consultant visited us and gave me a breast pump. You had not lost much weight, so we were all happy. I took a good shower and changed to my clothes and that made me much more comfortable. In the evening, you had your first visitors – Chaitra ate, Ashwin mama, Anvi akka and Anika akka. We celebrated your birth with a cake that the hospital provided. It was yummy and you were the center of all the celebrations! They brought you clothes and your sister too got her “big sister” clothes for the sweet promotion! Anvi akka was eager to see you and asked many questions too.

               Once again your dad went home in the evening to drop your granny and sister home. The second night at the hospital went on well too and I left you in the nursery for 2 hours, so that I could get some sleep. I knew that this would be the last peaceful sleep I will have for next 2 years at least. There are going to be two creatures at home here after to spoil my sleep, but I am not sad about it.  I had been getting contraction pain after the delivery, it feels just like the contractions and back ache I had just before the delivery. They are painful and I am on pain killers and they are saving the smile on my face.

               So today on the 24^th, we were told that we can go home in the morning. But after your complete health check-up and my health check-up and billing and after getting the discharge summary and packing the bag, finally we were ready to go at 1 pm. Your dad and I dressed you up with full clothes and that was the first time you wore a proper outfit. We had already kept your car seat ready after testing it at the hospital yesterday. You were made to sit in the car seat and that made you look so small in the big car seat. You were fast asleep in the car seat covered with a warm blanket. We gave all the remaining chocolates for the nurses to eat later and that’s how even they got to enjoy the celebration of your birth.

               Your discharge weight was 5 pounds and 4 ounces. You have lost only 3 ounces from your birth weight and that is good. Usually babies lose up to 8% of their birth weight at the time of discharge and your sister had lost 11% of her weight, where as you lost only 3% of your birth weight. You were 17 inches long. Your sister and granny have not come to the hospital today; they have stayed at home to welcome you. Your dad went home in the morning to vacuum clean the house and to make sure that everything was alright for your arrival. At 1 pm, we were ready with all our bags and hospital supplies like – formulas for you, my medicines, sitz tub, pain relief sprays, ointments, nipple cream (which I really need now), a few clothes for you, breast pump and many more. Just before the discharge, I asked for another pain killer and without that I cannot imagine my life as of now. I once again made sure that my prescription sheet for pain killers is safe in the bag. Your dad finally checked the room once again to make sure that we have not left anything in the hospital. Your sister had been leaving her toys and books in the room since past two days and we made sure to pack them all back in the bag.

               I was made to sit on a wheel chair, bags were loaded on a cart and your car seat with you was kept on the cart. My nurse pushed my wheel chair till the car park and your dad came pushing the cart with the most important person in it, behind us. We all waited near the hospital entrance as your dad went and brought the car. The nurse and he loaded the luggage in the car and I sat behind with our Mr. Precious! We waved bye to the nurse and your dad drove us all home. You slept through the 5 minutes’ drive and your dad and I were absolutely quiet to make sure that we don’t disturb your sleep.

               We were all waiting to see your sister’s reaction to see her little brother at home and you were anyway fast asleep. I slowly and safely climbed all the stairs taking enough time. Your granny and sister were standing in front of our door number 725 at the 7^th block of “The Mandolin”.  Your sister had a big smile on her face to see her mother’s return from the hospital. But behind me, your dad came holding the car seat with a tiny person in it. She very curiously looked into it, her smile faded away, but she definitely was not sad. She was confused and she was wondering why the baby from the hospital came to her house as well. She kept staring at every one with a totally puzzled face. Your dad introduced you to her once again and said “baby”. She did not repeat the word, but continued to stare at us as we all came in. Your granny had a huge smile on her face and she was eagerly waiting to welcome her precious grandson to home.

               Your dad kept the car seat on the sofa and your sister brought her yellow favorite car and dropped it on you. She spoke something to you in her language and she wanted you to pick the car up. You neither spoke to her nor picked up the car she shared with you. She once again searched around and gave the camera cap to you. She didn’t know where your hands were, so she kept dropping her toys on you. When you didn’t react, she pulled your leg, it was not to harm you, but she was trying to call you. But though her intension of making friends with you was good, we had to stop her from pulling your legs and dropping heavy things on you, as you are the gentlest thing ever in our world for now. You need to be protected from your sister for many more months to come.

               The rest of the day went on with a great joy at home. Your sister continued to be confused and curious, she was still hesitating to come close to you; granny continued to be in her smiling face as she took care of your sister and couldn’t resist her urge to hold you; dad kept a protective watch on you as he took the responsibility to make everything safe for you; I made sure that you are comfortable and not hungry. I was not in a state to do anything more, other than feeding you and taking care of myself. Your sister wanted me to play with her, carry her and run around with her. But there was no way I could satisfy all of these, I only kept talking to her. We all tried telling her that you are ours, our baby, our family, going to be with us here after and you are her little brother. We don’t know how much she understood, but she did not attempt to harm you.

               So finally here is a new member of our family and in fairy words, we already had got our little princess last year and now we got our little prince as well in our little palace. So this makes our happy family a complete one!

22 October 2013 - Little Hero from Mom's Womb to Dad's Arms!

               I had been getting contractions since last 2-3 weeks and every time I wondered if today is going to be our lucky day to see you. There were a few days the pain was so regular that I even thought "today IS THE day!" But that didn't happen until our scheduled induction today. Our doctor Kristie Moss had thought of inducing labor to me this morning at 6 am. Yesterday we had an appointment with the doctor along with an ultrasound. Doctor checked and said that I was still 3cm dilated and on 22nd at 6 am she is going to induce pain to me. Because as per the ultrasound your weight is 5 pound and 10 ounces. That is below 10 percentile and doctor had to keep a close check on me to see if you are getting proper blood supply and to see if the growth has stopped because of any reason. After the check-up, doctor even said that I might even go into labor on my own even before tomorrow morning. 

               So that did happen. After coming home from the visit on 21 October 2013, I started getting very regular pain and the intensity was much more than the previous contractions. We slept at 10.30 pm, keeping everything ready for the next morning's hospital trip. I had a doubt about getting any sleep out of excitement. Today is going to be the last day we are going to have only one kid. Tomorrow it will be two!

             It was at 12.10 am, I started getting contractions every 5 minutes apart. I didn't want to immediately wake your dad up and trouble him. So waited for another 30 minutes to see if it is true. After 12.40 am, I had to wake him up and he asked me to wait for some more time. I even had a doubt of my water breaking. Meanwhile, your sister who was sleeping in the living room with granny started crying for "amma" and granny had to bring her in and put her next to me. I tried putting her back to sleep as your dad started getting ready. The intensity of every contraction was increasing and your sister was not going back to sleep. She must have got to know that her parents are going to leave her at home and go to hospital as soon as she falls asleep. She was now crying louder and was not willing to take her hand off my "karimaNi". I took off the chain and gave it in her hand. She tried to stick the  "karimaNi" back to my neck and cried even more. We waited for some more time, but when the fear of delivering you right there increased, we had to let her cry and get ready to hospital. Your dad put her in her cradle, tied the belt and started rocking her as I was getting ready. We waited till she fell asleep and immediately left home with the hospital bag. Your granny and sister stayed at home.

               It was 1.10 am and we had to enter the hospital through the emergency block as it was mid night. I was made to sit in a wheel chair and we were taken to the labor and delivery block through some other way. We were then admitted to the hospital and given a labor room. My nurse was Bethany. She checked if I was going to deliver right away, I was not. She attached cords on my belly to monitor your heartbeat and my contractions. After the check-up she called our doctor and told us that she will induce pain at 5 am. By then I was getting contractions once in every 2 and half minutes. Bethany pricked my hand and inserted the electrolyte tube. Your dad took out the tablet as there was hospital wi-fi available and I kept looking at your heartbeat and my contraction monitor.

               It was at 5 am when the pain was induced to me through the drips. And at 6 am, doctor came and broke the water bag. There after the pain was even more intense and it was becoming unbearable. Doctor had told me to ask for the epidural when I reach that point and I asked for it. The specialist came in at 7 am and gave me epidural. Your dad was sent to another room during the epidural. It took 15 minutes to do that. Later the lower part of my body started to feel numb and the pain faded away. I was happy and now I could smile and pose for the photos. I was asked to inform the nurse if I felt the urge to push you. At 7 am, the nurse changed from night shift to day shift and once again my new nurse's name was Bethany! Later nurse noticed that your heart rate was dipping and she was worried if you are getting enough oxygen as you had started moving down. She fixed an oxygen mask to my face and I had to breathe through that there after. 

After an hour when the nurse checked, I had dilated 6 cm. And at 9.10 am, I felt the urge to push you. Your dad had gone home to have his breakfast and to inform granny what was happening. The nurse came in to check and she said you were right there and I just had to push. But I was not allowed to do so, as the doctor was yet to reach and so was your dad. She dialed and gave me the phone to ask your dad to come immediately from home and she soon called the doctor. Your dad was about to leave home when I called him and reached within 10 minutes. But doctor still had to come from the clinic. My urge to push you was growing and then to stop it for a bit I was asked to press a button, which was somewhere connected to my body and that slowed down the urge to some extent. I had to wait for the doctor, but you were not willing to wait. 

               The bed was arranged for me to deliver, lower part of the bed was removed and a different part was attached favorable to deliver. Hospital pediatrician came in with 2 more nurses and someone to help me in cleaning. All were ready and it was at 9.25 or so when the doctor came rushing in. That's when I was asked to push. Doctor checked and said that you are going to be out in just a few minutes. Your dad was eager to see you as well. I was asked if I wanted the doctor to put you on my chest as soon as you come out. But I preferred to hug you only after they check you and clean you up. It was not that I wasn't eager to give you a big hug, but I was just scared. I wanted to first make sure that you are fine. With the next contraction, I was told to push you. With every contraction there after, I was supposed to take a deep breath and push for 10 seconds and once again a deep breath and 10 seconds' push and repeat it for the third time and then wait for the next contraction to do that again. That was what I had done with your sister too. With her, I had taken several such contractions and pushes to help her come out. But this time, you were right there and my job was done much easier! You yourself had done most of my work and it took me only one contraction with 3 hard pushes and I heard the loud cry of a tiny darling baby! 

               All said "aww.....!" looking at you and all seemed happy and smiling. I looked at your dad and he had a broad smile on his face, he said "congratulations" to me without letting his voice out. He was rushing towards us to see you. He brought his camera which was kept ready from some time and you were taken to your check-up bed. It was just a few steps away from me and I could still see you from my bed. Your dad was busy clicking photos and all the nurses were around you as the doctor was pulling out my placenta. I could not give much attention to myself nor what doctor was doing, she was busy stitching me and the nurse was cleaning me. All were doing something with me, but I could not take my eyes off from that tiny bed and the crying baby in it. I felt relaxed when they said that the baby is absolutely fine, they cleaned you up and then brought you to me. You weighed 5 pounds and 7 ounces and were 17 inches long. Your dad was also there, he held you and I could see him being extremely gentle. It looked like he was holding a priceless gem! 

               Later once everything was settled and cleaned, all went out except my nurse Bethany. She was very sweet and here is her picture.

We were now waiting for them to provide us a private room and that took a little while. The nurse started the breast feeding lessons practically once you were brought in from the nursery after all your check-ups. You were doing good and we were happy. You got the hang of feeding too. After making sure that you are fine, your dad left to home to bring your sister and granny. When he was gone home, you were with me for an hour and then you were taken to the nursery for a detailed check-up for two hours. Meanwhile, they shifted me to a private room and I was asked to order food. I ate my veggie burger and drank some fruit juice, slept for a while and after I woke up, your sister and granny came from home with your dad. We were eager to to see your sister's reaction as well. They both saw you for the first time.

               Your sister kept staring at you and she neither cried nor seemed happy. She was just wondering who the new person was. She finally said "baaaaabyyy"! She was amazed to see you though she has seen other babies earlier, her reaction now was little different as she saw you with me now. And we kept telling her that you are our baby. She had cried earlier seeing your granny carry Anika baby and even when she saw me carrying Anika baby. But now when we carried you, she did not cry, but she kept staring at you all the time. Every now and then she peeped at your bassinet. It looked like she has somehow come to know that you are going to be with us here after and you are ours too! 

               You sister was bored at the hospital after a while, they had come here after her morning's nap. She didn't find toys at the hospital other than the few toys I had brought to the hospital in my packed hospital bag for her to play with. She was not allowed to roam around much on the floor too. That's why she was soon bored. The place was also new to her. Your dad and granny took her out for walks and unexpectedly, she crossed another new milestone of hers on the same beautiful day you came to earth. She took her first independent steps at the hospital and this was the same place she saw the world for the first time too. She walked a lot and had a smile of achievement on her face and kept walking a lot. She might have got to know that this is the time to be a little independent as her mom is going to be a little busy with the new one in the family. I am trying to give her equal attention as well as I don't want her to feel left out and get angry on you. As of now she has taken your entry quite well as she did not cry looking at you nor when we carried you. That was a good way of your sister welcoming you, much more than what we expected. I am letting her sit on my lap and roll on me. Here after, I can't really bother much about my pain or rest because all the time I get has to be divided between you both. 

               Your sister tried to touch your hand after some time and then she tried to pull your hand to ask you to come and play with her. But we couldn't let her pull you as even a gentle pull might hurt the just born! She spoke a few words in her language to you, we are not sure if you understood. We didn't, because we have forgotten the language she spoke. Your granny, dad and sister then went home to have their lunch. They took some time to eat, your sister and dad had little naps too and then came back to the hospital with granny. I ordered my food at the hospital.
               Once again your sister kept walking around in the hospital and staring at you. Your dad, granny and I enjoyed carrying and looking at the new, yet familiar, precious tiny member of the house. Later at night we had a video chat with both your grandparents, they were all too happy to see you. Already people were asking who you resemble whether dad or mom. We couldn't answer that question so soon, but were all happy that you look healthy. Your dad once again left the hospital with granny and Aadya, went home for dinner, dropped them there and came back to stay with us at the hospital. Since he came after 10 pm, he had to enter the hospital through the emergency entrance and walk a mile to reach our room.
               You were such a gentleman today, you didn't cry nor troubled your mom throughout the night! But woke every now and then to feed. (I have something to whisper in your ears - you are blackish red in color and quite too hairy right now; to be frank, you look like a baby mouse. But we all know that it is lanugo, grown to protect your skin like fuzz on a peach, while you were in the womb and it will fall off within a few weeks.) This is how the very first day of my Little peach went on and I am sure of treasuring every bit of this beautiful day's memory all through my life! You are an awesome gift your dad and I got today from Heaven!

17 October 2013 - Saw You Sucking your Thumb!

               After last weeks's disappointing ultrasound (with which I had a lot of excitement to see you and then got disappointed as it was not clear at all), I was not that eagerly looking for yesterday's ultrasound. One reason is because, I was not worried about your weight being below 10 percentile as it is very common to Indian babies. Even your sister was of the same weight when she was born and within no time people had started telling 'she looks big'! So I am quite sure that the same thing is going to happen with you as well. The second reason is because, I have realized that it is only in the second trimester that the baby looks clear. Later on, as the fluid level goes down and as the baby grows, the clarity of ultrasound goes down as well.

               Still somehow the thought of seeing you had made me happy. We were called to another ultrasound room and there was a different specialist to do the ultrasound this time. She was very good and explained everything to me as she tried to check if you meet all the required criteria. Your granny was trying to understand it as well. She had to check if you practicing to breathe and you were doing that well. She then checked your blood flow from 4 different places and all the blood flow looked fine. So, the biggest worry of proper blood supply is now gone. She tried to check your gender once again, you were not in a favorable position for some time, though she showed me something stretching out and said that there is possibly nothing else stretching out right there and it has to be your gender indication! As we were laughing, you changed your sleeping position and sowed very clearly that you are a boy! Immediately she took a big snap shot of it and gave me the print later, though I feel little embarrassed to show it to others, I have kept it safe! What made my day was, that we were lucky enough to see you suck your thumb! It was not that clear, but after she pointed out your nose and lips and the way you stretched out your tongue like a lizard (comparison used by the ultrasound specialist herself!), it was clear enough to recognize. Your lips and nose looked cute and I have even got a print of that with which later we spent one hour analyzing it checking if you look like your dad or me! 

               I had been bugging your dad to join me in searching a name for you. He had been taking his own time and I had no patience to wait. He sat with me a few times searching names in different sites, but no names got shortlisted and no names sounded that good either. And finally few weeks ago, I lost all the patience I had and made a list of 42 names by myself. All those 42 were the names I liked, though I liked some of them more and some less, I would be fine with whichever name your dad likes and picks from the list. All of them are cute names according to me. I can't type all of them here, but I can show you the list once you grow up. After a few days, your dad finally made himself free to go through the list and made a short list of 8 names from it. The first preference were - Advay, Advaith, Aniketh and Pratham. The second preference were - Anshu, Avaneesh, Adithya and Chitayu. 

               Whenever I saw your dad playing games, I started bugging him again to further bring down the names count. He had emailed the list to both the families, your Ashok mama had suggested 3 more names - Abhinav, Arav and Arnav. Your paternal granny had suggested Amay. All these 4 were already there in my list of 42 names and your dad had not chosen those. Finally your dad brought the list down to 3 names - Advay, Aniket and Adithya. Then the next day he took 'Adithya' off from the list. So as of now, there are two names to choose from - Advay and Aniketh. I am happy with both and I have started asking him to choose the last name - either bhat or Sharma whichever goes with the name. 

               We have now reached 38 weeks and 4 days. I have been getting a few contractions per day since last 4 days. They are not regular, so I consider them as Braxton Hicks. I got 2-3 contractions each on the 12th and 13th, but didn't any for the next 2 days. After the check up yesterday the doctor told us that I have dilated 3 cm and might deliver naturally by this week end. I am worried that you might not be grown completely if you come early, but I feel happy and excited to see you sooner. Yesterday night I got many contractions, may be it was because of the check up yesterday and every time I get it, I feel happy instead of the pain. I am eagerly waiting to see you now and the doctor said, in case if you don't come out by Monday, I will have another ultrasound and that she will induce pain on Tuesday, the 22nd of October. 

               I had been finding it a bit difficult to breathe since last few days and it felt as though all the Oxygen in the world is getting consumed by others. I feel like going close to the trees and breathe some fresh air and if I actually do that, I wonder if the trees have stopped producing Oxygen! But today all of a sudden I felt that there is enough air for me to breathe and it felt much lighter. I was worried and didn't know what was happening to me. Then when I checked in the mirror, I noticed that my bump has dropped. I clearly see my belly button come down by at least 4 cm. It feels much lighter now, but I am getting some marks below my baby bump because of my pant's elastic. Even your dad and granny noticed my dropped belly. So I see all the signs of you coming out sooner and I am totally prepared for it and looking forward to see you!

10 September 2013 - 4 Days to Go and you will be One Year Old!

               We need to wait for another 4 days and you will be one year old! I really can't believe how fast the time flew. I freshly remember the day I calculated your age in hours and later we told it in days, then it became weeks and till now it was in months we spoke about your age. And the time has come where even you have joined our group where we call our age in years. So its not even a week's wait for your first birthday. I want it to be a special one, not a grand celebration though. I don't want too many guests, but I want smiles on everyone's faces. Most importantly I want you to be special and enjoy the day. First birthday is always for the parents, since you will not remember even a bit of it. But I want to show you the pictures when you grow up and make you happy. I had been thinking of the place, food, guests, return gifts, cake, decoration, your birthday dress and everything ever since you turned 11 month's old. As of now, I have stories to tell about you since you completed 9 months. 

               You have spoken many meaningful random words so far including ambate, table, angi-gubbi. But you spoke them only once each without even realizing that you said them nor knowing the meaning! So, can't consider them to be your first words. I had been waiting to listen to your first word till you completed 10 and half months. And finally the first meaningful word you spoke knowing the meaning of it was 'baby'. Every time you see a baby picture or see a baby on tv, you have to say the word in your own cute way and I love to hear it. 'Ta ta' was learnt before that, but can't consider it to be a word. But both the words sound like music when it comes from your mouth. Every person who comes on video chat is now "ajja" according to you and every person at home is "abba" for you. Pain and hunger is called "amma"!

               This happened a few days ago when you were almost 11 months old. Every time you grabbed something you are not supposed to, like a plastic or a phone, I took it away from you, kept it behind me and told you "ille" turning my hands like it is gone. I didn't know that you were noticing my action and the word "ille", because you only stared at me and never repeated them. But after a few days, one morning when you were full and I was still trying to feed you that last gulp of your formula, you got fed up, took away the feeding bottle from my hand, kept it behind yourself and told me "ille" turning your hand and in the same tone I used to say it! So that was your next meaningful word. Then came the word "light" though you pronounced it "thet", you loved the word and everytimne you said it, you poiunted at the light. Later Sunita aunty taught you the word fan along with the action. You did it, but didn't like it as much as you did with light.

               You love going "ta ta" and after 10 months, every day you kept going near the door and say "ta ta". That in fact is the first word you say in the mornings as soon as you open your eyes and in the evening when you see your dad back from the office. You know that your mom doesn't take you out. I do feel bad about it, if I could, I would have taken you out somewhere. But with my heavy tummy with your brother kicking me hard every time I carry you, I am not able to take you "ta ta" other than Sunita aunty's house and to the swimming pool. But even that is quite tiring for me because my 7 months stomach is quite big! And you don't stay calm in my arms, you try to wriggle and get down from my hand at swimming pool and that is dangerous if I can't hold you at one place. And you are an energy ball! Your dad had joined landmark course and he came home only after 11 pm several days and there are 9 more such days to go. It was really hard for me to manage you and do my household chores on all those days. Giving you a bath alone is hectic, and cooking, cleaning and your constant plea for "ta ta" actually gave me hard days.

               One Sunday when you were 11 months old, you wanted to go "ta ta" and you knew that for "ta ta" you must wear different clothes. So you took a frock of yours, held it on your head and pulled it behind you. You had noticed how your mom makes you wear one. So you were trying to wear it yourself and you looked puzzled when it didn't stand on your body. You tried it the same way for more than 10 times and your dad and I had a hearty laugh looking at the smart you!
               It was with great difficulty I dressed you up like baby Krishna on the "Shree Krishna Janmashtami" and I could hardly click a few photos before you pulled out everything. I put clothes on you and when I was combing your hair to put a fountain juttu, your clothes were already kicked off. When I was making you wear your bangles, your juttu was pulled out. When I decorated your hair with peacock feather, your bangles were already pulled out. Finally after maintaining everything in its place, when I pulled out camera to click a photo, you ran out from the place. I grabbed you again and put you inside the cradle so that you can't escape and switched on the camera to click a photo and the peacock feather was in your hand! Finally I struggled for almost 2 hours to click those 4 photos of you in Krishna's costume!

               You have been walking with support since your 9th month. After 11 months, you started standing without support for a brief time. And you started walking a lot with support like holding either wall or anything you see around. Sometimes the objects you catch for support are not stable and you end up falling down. Earlier you cried often almost every time you fell down. But now you have got used to the falls and you don't cry unless you really get hurt. Small hurts don't matter and you continue to play. You now talk to strangers a lot in your own language, wave them "ta ta", smile at them and catch their attention and make them laugh. Standing on the balcony, few days ago you were even calling everybody passed through that way and talking to them. You use a lot of nasal sounds these days and that sounds funny.

               I wanted to bake and decorate a cake myself for your birthday. Wanted to make it very personal specially for you. Because the first birthday is probably the only birthday we parents get to celebrate the way we want. Once you start growing up, you might want to choose your favorite colors, your designs, your cake and the people you want for your birthday! I have seen your Anvi akka do that for her 4th birthday. Since I have never baked a cake so far, I started researching a lot on cake baking and decorations. Every time I went to a shop, visiting the baking section has become my new hobby. I even baked a few cakes to practice and become perfect before your birthday. But now after a few flop attempts, I am thinking of dropping the idea. And your dad is totally against the idea of my cake from the very beginning. I had thought of somehow change his mind with a few self baked and decorated cakes. But it's not working the way I thought it would and getting constantly laughed at by your dad. :P
             Your sleeps at night are so funny these days, you sleep either like an Ostrich with your head inserted into our blankets or with your butt up in the air! It looks so cute and we never find you in the same position you slept at night. The positions keep changing every 10-15 minutes and you get enough exercise throughout the night's travel. You keep moving from our head to toe! We find you at our feet and the next minute you reach our pillow. We pull you to your place several times at night, it must be mother's instinct, somehow I wake up every time before you fall off the bed! Your dad and I get at least 50 kicks each at night and some 20 kicks go to your brother as well!
             It is fun to be with you these days and you have started showing all kinds of emotions these days. You choose who you want to be with and who you want to play with. You wave proper 'tata' at your dad every morning now and repeat saying 'tata' till he disappears from your sight. And sometimes the tata continues even after he leaves from home. I find it difficult to carry you around, but have no other option that taking you out at least once or twice a day. I feel bad when you plead for 'tata' every time. The pure joy and excitement you show when I pick you up for 'tata' is priceless!
               You love my baby bump, you kick it, you pat it, you hit it, you kiss it, you hug it, you lick it, you poke it and you use it as your very own personal pillow. You rest your head on it every now and then through out the day. And you love to roll on it. Your brother kicks you from inside as well though I am not sure if he is getting irritated or giving high-five to his sister! But it's fun to see you both get along in your own way. I show you my baby bump and try to tell you that there is a baby in it and you don't understand what I say.
               If you bang your head to the wall while you are busy playing, the sound grabs your attention. The wooden wall makes a big sound. Whenever that happens, you stop playing and hit your head once again to notice the sound. Then again to hear it. You end up banging your head to the wall over and over again to understand that sound until we get worried and stop you from doing it! There were times you got scared of that sound and cried as well.
               You now stand without support.Especially when you are lost watching tv or playing. Sometimes if you are holding some toy or any such object, you take it as a support to stand up and in the process you actually stand up without support.
               Every time I say something that you don't understand, you give that particular puzzled funny cutest look, very clearly showing how confused you are and you immediately say something that doesn't make any sense and smile at it indicating how much sense I made to you! I can't control my laughter at such situations and you join me in laughing! You are the cutest funny kid I have ever seen and totally proud of myself for manufacturing you! :)

A Day in My Life When Aadya is 9 Months Old

               Though I said Aadya is 9 months old, I am writing with a little delay. She is 9 months and 24 days old today. I have stopped breast feeding her during the day. When she turned exactly 9 months old, her time table at night was different. She used to sleep for 3 continuous hours in the beginning and then she used to wake up for milk. Formula feeding never worked at night. She wanted only breast milk, but there was no milk. So through out the night she kept trying to get some milk and ended up sucking for 6 continuous hours until morning. Every time I felt like turning to the other side for comfortable sleep, she cried aloud. Every night, I made her cry for a few minutes when I went for a quick bathroom visit. And every morning I woke up with my right leg, right arms and right side of my entire body aching as I slept in the same position through out the night! But after experiencing it for 2 weeks, I could not bear it any more. So whenever I wanted to change the sleeping position, I lifted her and put her on the other side and continued feeding and sleeping at the same time. But even that was too tiring, she never left my side through out the night. 

               So finally when my husband got 4 continuous holidays for Independence day and the week end clubbed together, the first thing we wanted to do was to completely stop the breast feeding. I had been dreaming about the whole night's sleep I was going to get for those 4 nights when she will be taken care of by her dad. Stopping the breast feeding totally was a success. But my whole night's sleep was not! Whatever I said and dreamed, I could not sleep in the next room. I put my comforter right below their bed where she could not see me. The crying was quite bad as we had expected for the first two nights and so many times I felt the urge to just grab her and feed. I could not see her cry so much and also her dad struggling to console her. I could have slept, but I kept staring at them every time she woke up and cried and kicked her feet and screamed her lungs out! Aravind had all his patience gathered together to calm her down. The next two days were comparatively better, though the temper tantrum was still bad. 

               Two more nights have passed after all this. Now everything seems little better. So the day goes like this :

6.00 am : Aadya is up crying. I pat her slowly, she changes her sleeping position, lifts her legs and throws them on her dad, kicks him and goes back to sleep. I go to kitchen and keep rice in the cooker, come back and go to sleep.

6.35 am : I hear the cooker-visil, slowly take Aadya's arms from my neck and keep it down. I pull myself back and get up without making any noise and walk to the kitchen. I start cooking. Aravind gets up too.

7.10 am : I am busy in kitchen and I hear Aadya talking alone from the bedroom. 

7.15 am : I still hear her talking and now the voice is coming closer. I turn towards the bedroom and there she is - smiling and crawling towards the kitchen, calling us "dha..! dha..!!" I say "Hello, Good morning magalu..... Who is that cutie pie coming to the kitchen?" Her dad grabs her by then. They have their hug exchange and talking. He does his works carrying her and then leaves her near the toys. But she comes to the kitchen, holds my legs and stands up. I pick her up, kiss her, talk to her. She slaps me a few times with love, pulls my hair, bites my cheeks and drools on my clothes. Lovely! I somehow enjoy it. She is back to her toys.

7.30 am : I am done with cooking and packing food for Aravind. He is eating his breakfast with Aadya on his lap. 

7.35 am : Aravind leaves to office. Aadya and I go near the door to say bye to him. I keep telling her to wave "ta ta" to him and she does it after he leaves! She calls him "baa baaa...!" But he can't come back to her now.

7.40 am : Aadya drinks her formula lying down on my lap and grabs a few toys in between, shakes them and hits me several times in the process. And the last gulp is sprayed on my face! When I try to warn her, she laughs with her mouth wide open and I can see some more white formula left in that little mouth. I leave her down before she sprays it again and go to the kitchen to clean her formula bottle.
7. 50 am : We switch on the laptop and check if someone is online. There is no one today. She tries to type and when I hold the laptop far from her she wriggles herself from my grip and follows the laptop wherever her mom takes it. We fight a little for the laptop and then play with her toys.
8.40 am : I am still eating my breakfast with Aadya around. She tries to pull my plate, eats a few tiny pieces of my breakfast when I feed her. I started eating my breakfast half an hour ago. I have been roaming around with my plate to keep it away from her and swallowing a few mouthfuls when she is busy with her toys.
8.50 am : I am finally done with my breakfast. Aadya's sibling kicks me from inside because I am full after the breakfast. Aadya and I continue to play.
9.50 am : We have been playing together and now I go to kitchen to prepare Aadya's manni. She follows me to the kitchen. As I prepare her food, she opens the cup boards, pulls out things, spreads them all over the kitchen and cries holding my legs to pick her up. I pick her up and continue cooking with one hand.
10.15 am : Aadya's food has cooled down, I put her in her chair and tie the belt. Tie a bib around her neck, give a few toys in her hand and feed her manni. She sings as she eats and talks in between. Makes a little fuss to empty the bowl, sprays the food a few times. I take a wet tissue and wipe her face and the chair and the flour every time she sprays her food.
10.30 am : We are done eating, I clean the place, take Aadya near the sink and wash her face. Keep her bowl and spoon in the sink, bring her back to the rocking chair and try to put her to sleep. She is yawning, but trying to shake her head to keep herself awake! I sing for her. She laughs aloud every now and then to grab my attention. I continue to sing in a monotonous voice as I rock her to sleep.
10.50 am : She is off to sleep. I take her out from the rocking chair and gently take her to the bed. She rolls as I keep her down, I sleep next to her and she grabs my chain and holds it tight.
11.00 am : Aadya is totally off to sleep, her grip on my chain is now loose, I slowly get up and go to the living room. I pick up my laptop without making any noise, mute the laptop as it is starting. Quietly check my face book. I do some of the household chores with as little noise as possible though I can't wash the vessels now.
12.10 pm : I hear Aadya crying from the bedroom, I rush there and pat her. She once again grabs my chain and holds it tight. I can not move from there now.
12.28 pm : Her grip on my chain is still tight, she is making some crying noise in sleep as she tries to roll with one hand on my chain. I continue to sleep next to her and I lightly doze off.
12.40 pm : I get woken up with Aadya's cry, I pat her back to sleep and she is still holding my chain tight.
12.55 pm : Aadya is wide awake, she is not crying now, but starts to talk aloud. I keep my eyes closed and she tries to poke them giggling to herself!
1.15 pm : I prepare some formula for Aadya and feed her as she plays and hits me.
1.35 pm : I heat my lunch in the microwave and keep it out of Aadya's reach. She tries to jump and climb my legs to pull my plate down. I try to eat my food and she cries. She climbs my lap and tries to pull my plate down. I end up keeping my lunch plate on the kitchen shelf and eat it standing in the kitchen as Aadya cries and troubles me.
1.45 pm : I am done with my lunch, put my plate in the kitchen and try to wash a few vessels. Meanwhile Aadya tries to open the cupboard doors and pull out the dustbin and the things from the dustbin. I try to leave her in the living area, she doesn't stay there, screams and comes following me back to the kitchen. I take a vessel, wash it half, keep it down in the sink, quickly wash my hands and run to hold Aadya from playing with the skin of vegetables from the dustbin. I take the vessel back to my hand, wash it with water, wash my hands and run again behind Aadya to take off the laptop charger from her hand. I take another vessel from the sink to wash it and run again to pull Aadya out from under the chair before she bangs her head into it and screams. I continue to wash the second vessel and run to take the shoe from Aadya's hand. I finally give up the idea of washing vessels and sit with Aadya and her toys! Her dad calls from his office, I put him on loud speaker and Aadya talks to him with a big smile on her face as she is familiar with that voice.
2.45 pm : I cut a few vegetables, take its skin off, add some rice, dal and keep it in the cooker for Aadya. Once the cooking is over, I wait for it cool down as we both continue to play and she continues to do her mischief!
3.25 pm : I put Aadya's food in the mixie and pour it to a bowl, put her back in her chair with the belts on her and tie a bib around her neck. I switch on the tv and nursery rhymes for Aadya as I feed her food. She once again sprays some on the flour, some to the chair and some on me!
3.50 pm : I am now rocking Aadya to sleep after cleaning her face with wet tissues.
4.05 pm : Aadya is off to sleep, I leave her in the chair slanting it backward. Because she usually takes light naps in the afternoon, wakes up every now and then, I can easily rock her back to sleep. I go back to my works with no sound. She wakes up, I rock her and continue with my household chores like folding clothes or wiping the kitchen. She keeps waking up and I keep rocking her every now and then.
5.30 pm : Aadya wakes up again for the sound of the door knocking. She talks aloud as I open the door for her dad. She smiles at him and stretches her body after the nap. Her dad picks her up from the chair and she immediately grabs his ID card and starts playing with it. They go to the bedroom for dad to change his clothes as Aadya sits on the bed playing with the ID card. I cut a few fruits and keep snacks ready on the table. She goes to the bathroom with her dad and stares at him as he washes his legs and face. Laughs at his white soap face!
5.45 pm : Dad and the daughter come to the dining area to have their snacks. Aravind puts a few tiny fruit pieces in her mouth and she tries to munch them with her few new teeth. I give her formula bottle and dad feeds her.
6.00 pm : They both play as I wash the vessels and clean the kitchen.
6.50 pm : Aadya and her dad go for a walk and I cook dinner.
7.40 pm : Aravind and I take Aadya for her bath and she continues to play with her toys as we give her a bath. She cries when we pour water on her head and she hates the head baths!
8.00 pm : Aadya smells fresh and I feel like eating her. Aravind eats his dinner as I sit and play with her.
8.30 pm : It's my turn to have dinner and Aravind's turn to play with Aadya.
8.45 pm : I prepare Aadya's cereals and feed her as her dad entertains her with his songs and toys.
9.10 pm : All the three of us are done with our dinners. Aravind tries to put her to sleep and she keeps crawling all over the house. She giggles, hits her dad's face, visits me in the kitchen, plays with her toys, sings, talks, does all kinds of mischief as I wash the vessels in the kitchen and keep everything ready for tomorrow's cooking.
9.50 pm : I go for bath and I still hear Aravind trying to put her to sleep and she troubling him.
10.15 pm : Aadya is off to sleep, I am done with all the work for the day, Aravind is tired.
10.25 pm : We put Aadya to bed and sleep as the two body guards on each her sides. She keeps rolling, twisting and turning through out the night. Wakes half up crying 3-4 times and goes back to sleep when we pat her. Kicks her dad and me a hundred times till morning. We pull her back to her place from near our feet a few times at night. Grab her down to the bed from our pillow a few times! I wake up once or twice to go to the bathroom and when I wake up, either I find her feet near Aravind's face and head near my legs or her head inserted inside Aravind's blanket like an Ostrich and her butt up in the air or her left leg on me and right leg on Aravind!
6.00 am : I hear Aadya crying. It's morning again after the regular long cute night with one mischievous bundle in between us! :)