An update

I was not my usual cheerful blog-self in my last post {I say blog-self coz I'm only cheerful while writing blogs....thank God you don't know me in real life :P}. Things were stressful over the weekend, but not so much anymore.

Thank you for all the prayers and support. It means a lot. Many of you have sent personal emails, called me, checked on things - it's amazing how many genuine good friends I have made through this blog. And then there are people who know me well in personal life, have read almost every post that I write (including the last one) and have never bothered to leave a comment or communicate with me. I really don't understand why they would bother reading about my personal life so religiously.

Parents (especially mom) have been doing better. Recovery is taking its time - it's a long road ahead, but we are moving in the right direction. I had booked my tickets to travel - and then mom n dad, uncles, aunts, loved ones - they all advised me not to travel. They had very valid reasons this time around (and I can't list them all here) so with a very heavy heart, I listened to their advice and decided not to go. I was not getting good vibes about the travel as well, and I figured I should listen to my gut feeling more than anything else.

In the meantime, here's some awesome stuff happening in my life:

• Laughter and humor have returned in my conversations with mom and dad. And it's always, always a very good thing. My maasi's (mom's sisters) are joining in the fun too. It just makes the situation lighter, and the pain much more bearable for the person who is dealing with it.
• The kiddo and few of her neighbor friends had a gala time observing a ladybug walk/jump/fly on the driveway. Such a small creature....doing nothing extraordinary, but it was a treat for the kids. It was pure delight for me to watch the show.

• I started going to yoga classes again. I have found an amazing teacher here locally. I went to her throughout my first pregnancy and I stopped after that. I had some pain that was bothering me at night, and just after one class with her, its all gone. After about 75 mins of yoga, when I came out and was walking towards my car, it was so magical. The sun had set, and the last few minutes of daylight were lingering. There was no wind, no sound of cars...everything was quiet except the loud croaking of hundreds of frogs in a creek nearby. That short walk after a very relaxing yoga class felt like meditation. I soaked it all in!
• I've been on a cooking spree. Over the years, cooking has become a relaxing chore for me. And it's also something which I really enjoy. I made mango pickle at home - it's only second best to mom's pickle :). I made a kick-ass rava-idli-upma from leftover idlis.....I experimented with the ingredients (used cashews instead of peanuts and used a different kind of chutney) and it turned out the best I've made so far. Yesterday I made dosas for dinner - I got the batter from the store, but I used Amul cheese with chutney powder and ghee as filling....it was a new combination that we had not tried before. Hubby loved it so much. Kiddo always gets three fresh home-cooked meals daily. Both of them enjoy my cooking so much.....I feel happy seeing both of them happy :)!
• The kiddo's gibberish talks are getting better and better each day. She says "ammonia for umbrella", "goga for dora", "sheums for fryums", "shoogar for sugar". She uses phrases like "oh ya", "no way", "oh man" often. She sings a few hindi songs now..."nani teri morni", "abc song", "shoni shoni aaja maahi ve", "jach gayi jach gayi kudi jach gayi ho ho ho ho ho" and few more {we don't show her videos of these...she just listens to these songs in the car on her way back n forth to daycare}. She LOVES to dance to any tune - rhymes, salsa, bongo music - anything you play, you can find her shaking her leg or booty. It's awesome really....to see her enjoy the simplest of pleasures in life.
• Apart from bedtime, the next best time I have with my kiddo is in the potty. Yep - you heard it right - potty. When she goes potty in the morning, she says "mumma sitdown" so I take a small step stool and sit in front of her. We giggle, play peek-a-boo, we talk about our dreams, we sing songs.....it's just me and her in that small bathroom sitting close to each other, and we have the best bonding time to start our day!
• All the hills around our home have turned green. I see cattle grazing all day on the hills. Flowers are slowly starting to bloom. We have cherry blossoms in our backyard. It's just so pretty at this time of the year.....I love the greenery! {I will try to click some pictures of the pretty scenery this weekend and post them here}. 

So, even though things are crazy busy at work, I still have my taxes to finish by end of this weekend, the weather is crazy - we've had hailstorms and thunderstorms in the last week & parents dealing with injury and pain are always on the back of my mind.....

I feel blessed! L.I.F.E IS G.O.O.D!

Weekend playtime - a photo post!

I like weekends that are not too busy. Especially with a toddler in our lives, we need more unstructured playtime as well as downtime to unwind from the week. I don't know how people can keep up with large groups of friends, and attend gathering after gathering every weekend with young kids in their lives. My life has certainly taken a U-turn in that respect, and I'm actually quite enjoying the way things are at the moment :).

Since I switched to a reduced work week, I have every Monday off from work. Every weekend is a long weekend, and I look forward to spending all that time with my daughter :). We've managed to find a play-date and activity to do every Monday that I have had off so far....and it has also helped hubby and I manage our other responsibilities in a somewhat relaxed manner. We also usually keep the baby home on Fridays, so that she only goes to daycare three days a week; on rare occasions she would go for 4 days. Ultimately, I felt that I needed to be a mom first, then an engineer, atleast until our daughter starts preschool. I'm lucky and blessed to be able to figure out a schedule that works in my favor. Of course I need to thank my hubby and manager at work who supported me unconditionally and is extremely sensitive to how I feel about leaving my child in someone else's care while I come to work.

So this past weekend, I declined 3 party invitations - 2 birthdays and 1 Halloween party. I just was tired from the previous 2 weekends where we had Diwali gatherings (which are once a year) as well as festivities going on during the week. The celebrations were fun, but we needed a break. So we spent the weekend by ourselves, just the three of us, and we had an awesome time!

On Friday evening, right after feeding dinner to Ruhi, we went to the new Whole Foods that just opened in Palladio Mall. I had gone for a sneak preview tour but had not visited after it officially opened. We loved the store, and shopped some real good stuff - including organic fruit for Ruhi. We got this huge organic Mango grown in California - it weighed close to 4lbs, and cost $3.99 each. I cut it last night and it was delicious. Ruhi loves mangoes so I'm going to get a couple more before they run out of stock.

Saturday morning was her usual swim class, which she always enjoys. We got home, and spent all morning/afternoon either playing with Ruhi or cleaning the house. We played with our stacking cups - Ruhi loves swirling them with her fingers, and she is quite good at doing that.....

Then we did bubbles.....

In the evening, I took her to play with our neighbors boys. She had a blast, as always! At night, she enjoyed some juggling from daddy (he is quite good at it).....

 Love this pensive look of hers in the photo below.....

Then she tried some juggling herself....but failed (which is OK :))......

Then we had some cuddling time with Mommy....and some giggling sessions....and some laughing bouts.....

Sunday morning, we went to the Sacramento Children's Museum and had an absolute blast out there....

In the toddler section....

At the waterways section.....

 In the Art Studio.....

 Artist in the making.....

 Rocking her No-No-No-No-No.....

 And doing an impromptu dance.....

 Enjoying the lights before finally leaving the museum...

We came home, ate and napped. And then in the evening, we read by the fireplace.....

We did animal sounds (this is doing the Wolf - but Ruhi knows cat, dog, owl, wolf, lion, snake, horse, octopus, fishie, etc)......

 And here we are doing the "small" and "big" signs - we have a Pocoyo book which explains this pictorially, so I am doing Pocoyo (who is small) and Ruhi is doing Ellie the elephant (who is big).....

 We gave tons of kissies to daddy.....

 And the weekend was over....

It was loads and loads of quality bonding and playtime....and it was fun n relaxing as well!

I had a day off today too, so we had a play-date with my friend's daughter Bree who just turned a year old, and we went to MyGym for a class. We love the Monday instructor Caprice - she is the most fun and her classes are always very enjoyable....Ruhi played so much she dozed off on the ride home!

Now I can't wait for the next weekend and our next set of adventures!