Friday, March 15, 2013

Celebrating MY girls!


As I wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and come back, I couldn't help noticing how my girls were snoring gently and peacefully in their sleep. Just a look at their childishness and innocence was enough to make me feel contented! How could anyone not want 'girl' babies, I thought! I mean being open-minded, and acceptance of either girl or boy is fine, but deliberately NOT wanting a girl baby is something I'm still unable to comprehend! I am not judging others' interest of wanting a girl or boy, but others imposing their interests on me and my family is not acceptable!

My thoughts brought back memories of my labor, and the successive reactions from friends & relatives when it was declared that I had given birth to a baby girl!

As I was nearing my due date with my first one, the entire world came out with predictions that I would be delivering only a boy. Whether they were predicting or hoping, I would never know! It was only my FIL who 'predicted' that it would be a girl. Even though me and hubby didn't have any gender-bias for my first one, when hubby shouted 'It IS a girl!' in my labor ward, I felt like jumping up and down on hearing the news (though 'relief' was the first emotion after labor!) and my FIL was to be seen literally doing the same on hearing the news. Though both sides of parents and most of the family was equally happy with the news, some exceptional cases would come and tell me, 'Its ok! Better luck next time!' Excuse me! Was that a consolation? Do I look like I need one? All I wanted was to shout 'Idiots! I feel lucky and blessed that it IS a girl.' Better luck indeed! What could be better than the cute little girl which I was cuddling in my arms then?

When I was questioned about my second arrival, I surprised many by saying that I preferred my second one also to be a girl. (including hubby I suppose). I had always wanted a girl from the moment I realized that I was expecting my second! And thank god, she was a girl! What would I have done, had it been a boy is a different question. (Probably, cried one whole day, and got on with parenting from the next day!)

'Oh! second is also a girl? Its ok! Nowadays, both boys and girls are the same.' would be some genius' way of congratulating me. Oh yeah? Thanks for your lovely comments! Am so glad to hear it!

When someone comes and asks me 'How many kids do you have?", I proudly say 'Two girls!', and the responses which I get are mixed. 'Oh! two girls?' and then there are the oohs and aahs about how having two girls can be the cutest thing in the world, which I am happy to hear. But for all the others, who try to sympathise with me for having two girls, no thanks! You can keep the sympathies to yourself. I don't need it now! I have a close relative who was very happy and relieved when my neighbor also gave birth to a second girl child! So, now, I need not be the only one in the neighborhood with two girls! If she had thought that she was empathizing with me, she was failing badly! She strongly reminded me of an old Doordarshan ad 'Aaana? Ponna? Aaana ponna porandhadhenna.....'.

And then there is this one other comment, 'You are lucky both are girls. Boys are extremely naughty and difficult to handle!' This may be true, may not be always! I do not know. In my humble opinion, pranks and mischief are child-variant and not gender variant! Even if we assume the above statement to be true, for all the pranks played by my girls, they might have as well been boys. They are being equally mischievous and naughty, probably only more than if they had been boys. Your sympathies for me are welcome here! If boys can do it double, these girls can do it triple! Just for the record, even though my daughters get on my nerves every waking minute, the fact remains that my life could not have been any better without my lovely little daughters. I am perfectly happy, happier and happiest (and if there is any better word, please include that as well) that I have two little girls in my life who make my life as special as I can best wish for!

Coming back to the night-time episode, I keep looking at my girls for some time, and being overcome by my love for them, I re-arrange their blankets, squeeze in the bed between them, kiss my elder one in the forehead, and whisper 'Luv you baby!' in her ears. To my surprise, I hear her whispering 'Luv you too!' back in her sleep. Expecting the same, I turn towards my younger one, kiss her and whisper the same, and I hear only her soft breath, and the sucking sound of her fingers! I smile and go back to sleep :)

Friday, March 1, 2013

To like or not-to-like

Six months of tight project schedule and hectic time as a family-person, has drained out nearly all the energy from me, that realization has dawned on me that I should spend more and more of 'me' time. So, here I come - back to writing! Since this writing time is supposed to be 'me' time, I start by writing a few of my favorite things and our favorite 'Murphy' in each of those:

- Watching a favorite movie in the TV undisturbed: (ie, without hubby switching channels, or the kids interupting, or no house-hold chores to be done) aaaannnndddd - the power goes off during your favorite scene!

- Shopping like crazy in pondy-bazaar, coming home with handful of carry-bags, and displaying the goodies proudly to hubby, aaannnnnndddd - one of the favorite things which I shopped was left back in the shop itself!

- Reading a physical book after a very very long time, sitting in the balcony swing, with a cup of coffee, and enjoying the book, aaaannnndddd - the book ends all of a sudden with a 'To be continued' note, and the sequel is not available for the next 6 months or so, and suddenly you feel like a kid from whom chocolate was grabbed from her hand!

- Making round, crispy, dosas for the entire family, and hubby praises my talent, aaannnndddd - the final set of dosas which I make for myself gets stuck to the pan!

- In the theatre, the kids behave extremely well without any tantrums, so much that I'm able to watch the movie in peace, aaaannnnnddd the movie sucks!

-After every fight, I turn over to the other side, staying awake and waiting for hubby to come and talk to me first, aaannnndddd I hear snoring after a few minutes!

- As rare as Halley's comet, hubby gets me a surprise dress for anniversary, aaanddddddd the size is XXL!

- Sitting down to blog on the list of my favorites, aaaanndddd suddenly the list of my favorites simply doesn't cross my mind anymore!