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 :)

Swathi's fav time-pass

Birthday-na adika maaten-nu nenachiya!!!

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!

27:02:2013

Dear Smruthi,

As you reach your sixth birthday, I cannot stop admiring at how much change the past year has brought in you! You are no more the baby I loved to see you as, nor do you like me calling you a 'baby'. Even if my statement is just 'Luv you baby'. You promptly ask 'Do I look like a baby to you?' You agree or not, like all mothers say, you will always be my baby - my lovely little daughter - and 'the best little girl in the world' (as your milk cup says)

You have grown big-enough to be a girl who can arrange for her own play-dates with your friend. On any Saturday morning, you just wake up and inform me that either you are going over to your friend's place or that she is going to come in to ours to play for the day. Warn you, it's just an information that I get, not permission. Not that I'm much happy about this, but still, I just stand back and see my little girl transforming. When you have nothing else to do, you keep dressing up and admire yourself in the mirror, and ask me how you look. Make-up or no make-up, you will always look beautiful to me!

You like to keep your things ordered and in a regular way. You cannot digest it, if your books are kept in the wrong sections of your school bag, or if your pencils are kept the wrong way in your box. Even if your table is a mess, you keep it a ordered mess. At any point of time, you can take the things you need from the exact location within the mess. You remind me of myself there.

As for you and Swathi, I give up! And I see that these days, even you have resigned to keep out of your sister's way. You just give up and compromise until or unless she gets on your nerves. For the record, it's not just your sister, there are times when you also pull her legs and irritate her just for the sake of doing it. Naughty you!

This year has been proof that you are mommy's girl - through and through. You are able to understand the story when you watch movies. In the most unexpected moment, you narrate the story of a movie, we once watched, and all this time, I was thinking that you were simply munching pop-corn in the movie. And you CRY, when the movies or anything in the TV for that matter becomes emotional - just like me. You just cannot accept not-so-happy parts of the plays, even if the ending is a happy one. For example, there are these 'bad' scenes in the 'Beauty & Beast' and 'Snow-white' which you are just keen on forwarding and move to the happy scenes. Your favorite cartoon in the TV is Doremon - Nobita :)

You are getting more glued to me with each passing day. And you never miss a chance to express your love to me - be it with a simple hug, or saying that I look good in a particular dress, or saying that I'm the best mother in the world! How I wish your dad learns from you! This means a lot to me, especially given my awfully bad temper. There was this one time, when after one of our regular fights and compromises, you told me that even though I go to office and you go to school, you always keep thinking of me - be it in school or home. Now, a statement this big from your little mouth is too heavy for me to handle dear! Especially when I am already whining to be a working mom. I never knew that I could love you even more than I currently do. Love you dear, as always and more than ever before. May you get the best of all that life has to offer. Wishing you the happiest birthday darling!

- With loads of love & kisses,
Your mom

PS: Thanks for making me write again. I just couldn't miss your birthday post :)

You & Me

Today, I sit and think as to what to write on our 7th anniversary....
But I just can't seem to write...
So, I tell myself, that our love has reached beyond words...
Or how else would you have bought me that gift
from the very store I was thinking of getting you, your gift....
We have reached a stage, where our love has gone beyond the words...'I love you'

But still, I would not stop saying them, as long as you have me around...

Loved you once...
Love you still...
Always have...
Always will....

Happy anniversary to us!!!

Senti mom - Senti daughter!!!

Yesterday, we were watching a movie in one of the TV channels. Actually hubby was watching it and me and the kids were standing before the TV because, the movie was about to end and we didn't have anything else to do. It was a love story, the hero and the heroine finally united after a long drama and cry-baby acting from the heroine. I was finally relieved that the movie ended and we went to the bed-room. I took Swathi for her night-time duties, and I came out of the wash-room, to find Smruthi sobbing uncontrollably in the bed. Assured that it was not the sibling rivalry and Swathi was not the cause this time, I panicked to see her crying like this. It took me almost 5 minutes to soothe her, and make her tell the reason, which was: "The aunty in the TV was so paavam, that she had to cry like this. Seeing her cry like that has upset me very much. I feel so sorry for her".*

So many times, I have cried in the house because of these two girls, and all she did was to find pleasure in seeing me cry, and today she could not control her emotions, because some stupid heroine was struggling to re-unite with her lover. Bah!

All the while, I could not resist thinking how my daughter was growing up to be very much like me. There was not a single love story which I have seen during my college days and not cried in the end. Another emotional, senti-menti in the family? No darling, as your father says, one of me is enough! You needn't inherit me in this trait.

* Her actual words were: Andha aunty eppadi azhudha! Adha paathu enakku manasukke romba kashtama irukku! Romba paavam avanga!"

Vacations 2012

May 2012 for us began with a vacation to Shimla-Kulu_Manali and it served as the most wanted break for me. The destination was finalized after a long debate between me, him, my friend and his friends. After lots of discussions on Bandipur, Ooty, Andaman Islands and Thailand, Shimla was finally destined to be our vacation spot this year.

The place was decided and the package was booked about a week before and the tickets were confirmed only in the last minute. To add to the confusion, it was Smruthi's school annual day on Saturday, Swathi had still not recovered completely from fever, my pending visa appointment, and we had to leave on Sunday. That gave me only one day to attend her school function, shop, pack and leave. I was still not confident of the trip until I actually boarded and the train started from the platform. But, yes, we made it, and gave a huge sigh of relief! Shimla - here we come! We were a gang of three couples and three kids,

and this added to the fun. The two days train journey to Delhi was nice, bringing back old memories of childhood travel, when my mom used to pack chappathi, puliogare and curd rice for the entire train journey. But, again, those were the days. The little girls thoroughly enjoyed the upper berths and was climbing up and down the berths. Finally Delhi arrived and we boarded the tempo traveller waiting for us in the station. The first thing I noticed on entering the cab was the photo of shirdi sai and I knew all was going to be well!

Day 1 - Travel from Delhi to Shimla. It was a loooonng journey and we reached shimla around 8 in the evening. The climate was a bit chilly, but cold enough to make Swathi's teeth chatter. Wrapped them in jackets, had dinner and slept.

Day 2 - Woke up to see the hilly tops and monkey-crowded neighbourhood. Started to photo-shoot my friends, while the rest of the family was still snoring. Later, had breakfast and we all left for Kufri, where the only means of transport to reach the hill-top was through ponies. The kids were excited about the idea of travelling on ponies (horses, to them) and were fighting over the colors of the horse on which each one would travel. The respective fathers, admired by their kids' bravery went ahead and collected tickets for the entire gang. When it was time to actually climb the ponies, all the three girls (mine two and the friend's daughter) screamed like hell, climbed onto me and stuck to me like glue. They completely refused and were in complete shock. Not wanting to force them, I decided to stay back and take care of the kids and the rest of the gang went ahead. So, this gave me time to take pictures of the kids like crazy.

Smruthi actually felt bad on making me stay back, that she asked me about a hundred times, if I actually wanted to ride in the pony. When I replied in the positive, she said that its ok for me not to go, and that I could ride a horse when she reached X std. No idea on why specifically X std. The pony-ride had actually turned out to be too adventurous, and the gang told me that the kids could not have made it, even if they had come. So, that was one relief. Went to the local market place in the evening, and did some 'light shopping' in the evening.

Day 3 - Pack the bags and drive to Manali from Shimla via Kullu. Went for white-water rafting in Kullu. After the previous day's experiences, the kids had decided that whatever we take them to, would be scary. So, the moment we got down in the river-bank, Swathi started pleading, 'Amma, please let's not go in the water...please....please...please..."

But persuaded her in letting me go for the rafting. While hubby took care of the kids for the first half of the journey, I enjoyed the rafting and he went in the second half. The guide was kind enough to take the kids for boating in the shallow places of the river near the end-point. Later, went for shopping and bought winter jackets and accessories for the kids. Tired by the time we reached hotel. Refreshed, and all the three families got together for chit-chat, had dinner and slept.

Day 4 - Rohtang Pass. Got up very early and reached the snow point. It was terribly cold and the climate was too much for the kids to handle. Though one half of them wanted to enjoy the snow, they could not bear the climate, and Swathi was literally chattering with her hands and legs all frozen inspite of all the gloves and jackets. Had to take her inside one of the tea stalls there and warmed her by making her sit near the gas stove. After the warm-up, both the girls had the time of their life, by playing in the snow and sledging. And what more, they even let me go skating in the snow.

Me and Sri dressed in the traditional Manali outfits and took snaps in the snow. The girls sort of made up for not letting me ride the pony the other day. Enjoy and let them enjoy policy. The second half of the day, we spent in Solang Valley - with Smruthi doing para-gliding, Swathi - horse-riding, the rope-car, bungee jumping. When given a choice between para-gliding and horse-riding, Smruthi chose to fly rather than get near the horse. With so much fun, the kids refused to get into the cab, inspite of the cold weather in the evening. After lot of persuasion, they got into the cab, and dozed off the next moment.

Day 5 - The D-Day. It was Swathi's birthday. The day began very late, with each set of grand-parents calling to wish and waking us up. The day went with the sister's bonding growing stronger with every passing minute. The day was full of ‘akka akka…’s and ‘ennada chellams’. We visited Hadimba Devi temple. The kids also tried bungee-jumping, and they enjoyed it.

Then, dressed the kids in the Manali outfits. Suited them well too. Next, we visited club-house, which had more of kids games. We then tried the rope-crossing or river-crossing, which was very thrilling. I tried it twice and it was all very exciting. All the while, the kids left us to ourselves, and took care of themselves, very well. When I was done with all the games, Swathi slept over. We reached the hotel in the evening, and went for dinner, to celebrate the darling’s birthday.

Day 6 – Travel from Manali to Chandigarh. Nothing much to do, except travel, travel and travel. Fully exhausted and reached Chnadigarh around 11 in the evening.

Day 7 – Packed the bags early and left for Delhi from Chandigarh. Reached Delhi around 2 PM only to realize that the return tickets were not confirmed yet. Cancelled the tickets and extended the trip for one more day – Delhi site-seeing. Did some wonderful shopping, all for myself in the Delhi markets.

Day 8 – Delhi site-seeing – Visited Red Fort, India Gate, and Lotus Temple, in the burning, scorching sun. The climate in Delhi was the extreme opposite of what we were enjoying for the past one week. We couldn’t bear to do any more site-seeing, and went direct to Delhi airport. Boarded the flights and reached Chennai.

Day 9 – Back to office while the kids blissfully snored in bed up to 9 in the morning. Back to the pavilion. End of story!!!

All in all, the trip was awesome and one of the best vacations we ever had. Hubby darling, thanks for finally giving me the vacation.

I nearly thought you would not make it. But, thank god, you made it. God saved you from me. And the best part of the trip was that the kids gave us some our-time for me and him, and at the same time, they enjoyed their full best. As long as they had chocolates and Lays to survive on, all was well. This trip was so good, that, Sri has decided that we should have two such vacations every year – one during the summer holidays with the kids and the other one in September, only for the anniversary couples – minus the kids. Though I have not yet agreed on the ‘minus kids’ part, two vacations per year indeed sounds good. Looking forward to September!!!