Coronacation update

My Oh My! The times we are living in these days....

How are you all doing with the pandemic situation? Hope everyone reading this post is healthy, safe and quarantined.

We are doing well so far - staying healthy, staying safe, and staying (mostly) home. We are allowed to leave the house for exercise and groceries, so except for these 2 things, we've been home.

There is so much to be grateful for during these uncertain times - we have continued employment and paychecks as we transitioned to working from home without any issues; kids have switched to online schooling, and although the teachers, parents and kids are still trying to figure out an optimal process/way of learning, there has been no dearth of resources or opportunities to grow during this time.

When there was no school during the first couple weeks, we focused on life skills like making their beds, folding their blankets and laundry, rinsing dishes, making smoothies and baking cookies, vacuuming the floor, and helping with general de-cluttering around the house, starting with loads of school paperwork that needed attention. Now that online school has started and there are assignments/tests due weekly, we try to wrap up our day by 3pm, and still get enough outdoor time and play/reading time in the evening.

Many new recipes have been tried and tested; many new skills have been gained; many books have been read; many family walks around local trails and neighborhood have happened; many family board games have been played; many much needed conversations about expectations and boundaries have happened!

The introvert within me is enjoying the social distancing (which does not equate to social abstinence). I am loving the slow pace of life with nowhere to drive, and no activities/sports/gatherings to attend.

The lockdown for us in California started more than a month ago. I was leading a project at work and had a deadline to meet couple weeks ago. I took an extra week to meet the deadline under tremendous pressure and after assessing the amount of hours I had to work, I made a choice (at the risk of either slowing or negatively impacting my professional growth) to give up my lead role and move back to an individual technical contributor where I could choose flexible hours to work and still be able to complete my deliverables on time. I don't know if I'm happy or sad about this change - I wish I didn't have to make a choice. But for now, it is what it is!!

I have taken vacation this week. It's been liberating to have screen free, meeting free days so far. I'm trying to optimize how kids can get their school work done with minimal intervention and help, and also knocking down items from my personal to-do list that had piled up!

One thing that has tremendously helped me, and which I'm proud of - is that I've exercised almost everyday. Although gyms are closed, my favorite trainers are all doing online classes from their garages/homes, and I've been able to fit in at least one strength/HIIT session on most days. My yoga instructor who taught me out of her home has also switched to ZOOM classes, so I get to do Yoga with her. And we've managed atleast 3-4 long hikes/walks as a family during the week. I am going to do everything I can to keep the same momentum going!

That's it for now from us - do update me on things at your end!

PS: Pictures from our 5-mile bike/walk around our neighborhood today:
(after many years, my terrible allergies have returned but it's too gorgeous to stay indoors and not enjoy this beautiful weather).....

Park outings are such huge stress busters....

The 12000 Intel Layoffs announcement has suddenly brought on SO MUCH STRESS at work. Every single team I work with is affected. Many small sites we work with are shutting down, affecting all our colleagues working there. We don't know yet what will happen to our team (we will find out next week), but there is nothing we can do except wait for the news.

It's been a crazy difficult week, to say the least.

However, the California spring warm weather has done it's best to keep things cheerful. This is quite possibly my favorite time of the year. Our garden has so many roses, camellias, orange and peach blossoms, other springs flowers blooming. We also have blueberries starting to grow. Thanks to the abundant rainfall this year, the lawn is lush green. The hills around us are lush green. And the parks are so inviting.

Our kids are young, and thanks to both of us working full time, go to all day private schools. We have made a choice to keep them out of ALL structured activities lately. Other than school, they have nothing planned going on. This has helped keep our evenings and weekends completely open. I have loved every single minute of this open time. We make it to the park almost every single evening, and most weekends. It is pure joy to watch them race down the slide, or make sand castles in the sand pit, or chant "higher higher" on the swings, or watch them make slow but steady progress on the monkey bars. It is also absolute delight to watch them make new friends - the son doing that more easily than the daughter, but both trying, nevertheless. After every park outing, we all come home relaxed, and rejuvenated.

Yesterday was one such lovely day, and our visit to a small park closest to our house was one to cherish. The kids made a friend, Sonia, who hit off really well with them. I played tag with them, and fed them evening snacks. The husband climbed slides and raced down with them. They played in the sandpit, climbed the structures, yelled and squeaked in delight, and we came back as the sun began to set, leaving us with a breathtaking sky in the background.

What's not to love?

Here are some more pictures of our park fun....

SUPER cleaning week....

After a week of fever, we had a relatively good weekend. Thank goodness for that. Because we had no idea what was in store for the following week.

The daughter had been complaining about an itchy scalp for several days now. Blame it on my work travel and the bout of fever with both kids, I did not pay more attention to it until the weekend. I oiled her hair, washed it, but on Monday, she still complained. So Monday night, I checked her hair and found some nits. I thought she must have just caught it from school and spent some time removing them. But on Tuesday morning, I spotted a lice (yes, the dreaded SUPER lice) in her hair while combing, and that's when I realized the problem at hand is more severe than I was imagining.

I subsequently found nits in my hair, and my son's hair, and loads of time was spent on the internet trying to figure out how to best address the issue. I decided to get rid of it the same day, and called a local lice lady who uses all natural methods - yeast spray, essential oils, and a fine nit comb, to get rid of them in a 1-hour session. She comes to your house and does it, and she agreed to visit us on Tuesday evening. So for about 3.5 hours that day, all four of us took turns with her, and participated in "Operation Lice Removal". I am happy to report that the operation was a success :)!

Once our heads were clear, we turned to disinfecting our home. Thanks to our super awesome maid, we got the floors, bathrooms, carpet and tile, toys, sofas, etc done in one visit. We changed out the sheets in all rooms, vacuumed the dining chairs, carseats and rugs, threw the combs and hair ties in the freezer, and washed the jackets and clothes worn in the last couple days in hot water and dried them in high heat. It was a mammoth task, but it had to be done, and it is done now. Phew!!

The nit comb - I bought two of them by the way - is my new best friend now. All the way until children are in high school, I'll have to follow a prevention routine to ensure we don't have to tackle this kind of a mess again.

Lice love clean hair - they don't get onto heads that are not washed for several days, or on heads that have products on them. The husband dyes his hair and he came through clean. So, it's not really a taboo or a hygiene issue if you get lice. I reported the incident to both the kids schools without any shame.

This is also a month of finances. We have taxes to file, a home refinance to consider, and investments to look at. Add to that our summer travel plans and visa procedures, we are overwhelmed.

Sometimes I feel, I have very little time, outside of my daily routine, to devote to tasks that are really important. For example, investments. I keep procrastinating, and I would love to be a bit more savvy and proactive on that front. Exercise has been another thing that has always gotten the last priority. The only thing I do for myself without compromising on a regular basis is reading.

And then I also think: I have a good amount of savings. What if I quit my full time job and found something else, part time. Something that would keep me challenged, and left me more time to do things I really love to do? Like not having kids in school all day, and spending the late afternoon with them, exercising and going for runs, learning an instrument, have more time for parents and family, travel whenever kids are on break, have a less stressful routine life where I could enjoy the cooking, and play time, and can do the chores at a leisurely pace, be able to read when I'm fully awake, vs when eyelids are half closed, and so much more.

Something has to change. How, when, what? I need to figure it out.

A moment of McQueen happiness....

Whenever I travel for work, the kids ask me to bring them back something. It's usually something very small, sometimes just a chocolate chip cookie for both, but however small the gift, it's the thought that their mommy missed them, and brought something for them, that they care about.

Until last year, I would never discuss my travel plans with them. It upset them quite a bit, knowing I would not come home from work at night. But starting this year, I tell them way in advance where I'm going.

I traveled to Arizona this week, and the son kept asking me to bring him a McQueen T-shirt. He's been asking for it since days, and I decided to order a 3-pack from Amazon before I left so that it would arrive (hurray, 2-day prime shipping) by the time I returned from Arizona.

The day I got back, I got a call from his preschool right around lunch that he had a fever, so I picked him up and brought him home. Just as I was settling him in bed for a nap, the doorbell rang, and I told him his t-shirts would have arrived. He said did u bring them from Arizona? I said I ordered them from Arizona and they came in the brown truck. To say he was delighted and thrilled to see and wear them is an understatement. He must have said "thank you mamma" zillions of times, and so many other feel good statements. He was so excited that he could not sleep until 4pm, and was wearing a huge grin on his face all afternoon long.

He's home today with me, down with fever, but you can hardly tell he's sick. He LOVES spending time with me at home, especially when his sister is in school, coz then he gets undivided attention. He's sporting another one of his McQueen T-shirts today....and he is very, very happy.

Money can't buy everything, but if a cheap $5 t-shirt can bring my sick son several days of happiness, it sure is worth it.

It's been a fever filled week, so I'm ready for the tide to turn now. The daughter had fever since Saturday, and she missed school for 2 days while I was gone. Now the son is down, and our beloved nephew is down with fever as well. On one hand, these are routine common illnesses which go away soon, so I'm really grateful for that. On the other hand though, it takes a toll on us parents when both are full time professionals, and we don't have any family to help us during such times.

Hoping for a healthy weekend....

Conversations

The daughter and I happen to have our most intense conversations during the early morning drive to school everyday.

These days, she's always bringing up death. And God. These two topics always throw me off. Unlike Sriram, who quite enjoys talking about death, I don't :(.

One day, she asks me: "what if someone loses their daddy? how would they live? then they would only have mommy, and brother, in the house, and no daddy, ever". Thank goodness she stopped there and didn't talk about our Porry (that's what my kids call their beloved daddy).

The other day: "do people come back after they die? where do they go when they die?"

And then today: "mumma, have you been in a storm? like when the sky falls down, and lightning comes? how would you save yourself from dying?"

And then, I must have told her, maybe more than once, that God is everywhere, and that God is within you. That has struck a chord in her brain.

So I constantly get questions like...."Is God in tires? Is God in stores? Is God in trees? Is God in flowers? Is God in our body, where in our body?"

Both kids are often found arguing about God as well. The younger one is mostly following what his sister says. And he isn't shy relaying that information to his friends in school. I often get questions from his preschool friends at pickup time on whether God is in their montessori jobs, or backyard slides :).

So far, I've done quite a poor job in handling these questions. But as kids are growing up, I need to be prepared for meaningful conversations around these topics.

This post has been lying in the drafts folder since a couple of weeks now, so I'm not going to drag anymore...I'm publishing it as is. That's how it's been with blogging lately - so many thoughts come up, and being spread thin + scatter brained, those thoughts don't make it here as a coherent post.

It's Friday again :)

Thank you so much for the hugs, and words of support on my post last week.

This week has been SO much better. The morning routine has been struggle and stress free...and a day that starts well is a blessing in many ways!

I've finally nailed down the recipe for poached eggs. The husband and I don't eat eggs, but the daughter loves them. I didn't know how to cook them, so the only way I've recently learnt to cook eggs is to poach them. Very British, thanks to my friend A who taught me. She can eat as many as you give her, but I limit to 1 at a time. She loves fruits, and veggies, so here is what her breakfast looked like this week:

Another reason for this week going great is that soccer practices got cancelled due to high heat. 108F expected later today. It left our weekday evenings wide open, and the kids enjoyed play dates, or running errands, or simply playing at home. I've resolved to keep at least 2 evenings free for "play". Although they enjoy the activities and never complain about them, it does take a toll at the end of the week. Right now, all we have is soccer...and only after soccer ends, I'll think about restarting Taekwondo.

I've also been able to cook healthy meals all week. I love soaking a bunch of dals with rice for multigrain dosa batter, which I can use for a couple of days. I vary the ingredients each time, and this is what I soaked this week. I added quinoa to kick up the protein content. And I used the high temps to get the batter to ferment well :).

The long weekend was so relaxing and fun. We checked out three new parks, ate yummy homemade meals, met friends, and had a family beach day. Even though the beach was crowded due to near perfect weather on a long weekend, it's the beach - always welcoming, always has enough sand+waves for everyone, and never fails to relax you with its atmosphere. The Pacific waters were surprisingly warm as well.

And last but not the least, I spent time prepping for my little man's birthday tomorrow! He is celebrating it in school today, will celebrate with grandparents tomorrow, and will have a big party (along with this sister) next weekend! I love him to the moon and back - and I am SO very grateful for his presence in our lives! Happy birthday my one and only, Rusliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Have a good weekend everyone! 

Memorial Day weekend trip

It's been a while I posted here....

We are all doing well. Great actually. The kids are at a stage where they play with each other ALL the time. From the moment they wake up to the time they sleep, they revel in each other's company. I can now relate to my friends and neighbors who always told us that 2 years apart is a great sibling age gap.

Our friend A has been renting a place in the redwood forest near Santa Cruz area since February of this year. And we have visited him three times already. He has a garage-converted-into-a-studio, right in the middle of redwoods. It's a short hike away from an excellent play ground for the kids, and about 15 mins away from the beach and many state parks.

The owner of this place, who lives next door, has a daughter and son our kids ages. Right from the first time we met them, the kids hit it off. They love bouncing together in the huge trampoline under the redwoods....

They love to chat, do crafts, play games - they immensely enjoy each other's company....

Every time we've been up there, including last weekend, we have been blessed with good weather, which makes our beach outings a ton of fun.

Whether its building sand castles, flying kites, playing ball with daddy, or paddling the waves.....the ocean always works its magic on all of us.

When we are not beaching, we are walking in the woods. The redwoods are simply amazing. The forest is always lush green, shaded and temperature controlled, and never fails to rejuvenate me with its therapeutic properties. The redwoods stand tall, each telling us a story.

During our walks, we can hear the loud squeaks of the Acorn woodpecker or the harsh sounds from the Steller's Jay. The banana slugs, when spotted by the kids, bring us to a standstill. The slugs move oh-so-slowly and the kids are fascinated by them.

Last weekend, we walked 3+ miles in the forest. To make it more fun, we did races on the trail. We sang songs. We learnt about the flora and fauna. We stopped at the Redwood grove for lunch. And we stopped by the visitor's center to view the exhibits.

The kids love climbing and jumping off of fallen tree trunks.

It is a true Shinrin-yoku experience - breathe....relax....wander....touch....listen....heal!!!!

And we can't wait to visit again :)!

Post 8 - Winding them up

If you go by the experts, you need to have a bedtime routine with children. You need to do the standard bath, put on PJ's, read a book, cuddle, and help the child calm down. Once the child is relaxed, (s)he will fall asleep quickly.

The experts are right, but a strict routine for me is boring. And more often than not, I end up doing the opposite of what is suggested above.

For example, we do a bath, but instead of putting on PJ's, we dress them up in twirly dresses and play loud music for them to let off some steam :).

{Sorry Ramesh, but it's simply too tempting to see the son in such cute outfits. And he obliges without any issues :)}.

And instead of cuddling, we start playing hike n seek, tickling each other under the darkness of the blanket, and bursting out in laughter. The kids in the below collage are in anticipation of the huge blanket falling over them. They cozied up, and had a blast tickling each other.

A lot of times it's just Roughhousing. A must in my opinion...to keep their relationship healthy and strong.

I admit, I tend to wind them up at bedtime. Thankfully, after a few minutes of my antics, the husband takes over and works on winding them down. He is good at telling them stories, and he is also patient with them while reading books. In a few minutes, they transform from my mad monsters to the most adorable sleepy babies on the planet.

And because I've exhausted them before this transition happens, they fall asleep quickly.

Life is really about these fleeting moments in your daily life. Moments which have warmth, joy and love - all neatly packaged for you to cherish.....not just today but for years to come!

Day 15 - Blog Marathon break :)

Things are really difficult right now. I have never been so busy in life.....never, ever. And I never imagined it would be THIS tough to just get through routine.

So, I need to call it quits on this blog marathon. I hate to take this step, but other things need to take priority.

I'll keep blogging - I just don't want to force myself to post everyday when I'm dead tired and I rather sleep early each night. Also, my work PC was having issues the last few days where I was only able to access the Intranet, and when working from home (which I am doing all this week because the kiddo is still recovering), I would not be able to access Internet at all. That made it difficult for me to write blog posts during the day. And by the end of the day, I was totally spent.

We also travel tomorrow to Southern California for a short break. We had planned this trip a while ago and I'm really looking forward to the warmer weather and the beach :).

I'll post as often as I can, just not daily.

Leaving you with a few pictures of my bum-chums.....

Aren't they precious :)?

Day 6 - The odd couple

Hubby and I have a lot of friends and acquaintances, but not many who I consider close. And by close, I mean with whom we can comfortably share a meal or a cup of coffee, and converse freely while doing so. Those who will work around our kids schedules and adjust to us, vs. always expecting us to fit to their schedule. Those who take time out of their busy schedules and come spend time with our children. Those who understand why we repeatedly say no to dinner outings or movies or date nights.

After having kids, it seems we are becoming more and more distant from many people. And I was reflecting why we don't gel with most folks around us....and this is what I came up with:

:: Hubby and I don't drink (alcoholic beverages). We get many invites for socializing over alcohol, and we have to politely decline. The husband suffers more than me, as he does not get to hang out with most of the guy gang. But he really hates drinking (even socially), and refuses to put up with socialization centered around drinking.

:: We don't leave our kids with anyone and go out on a date or attend an adult-only party. Not yet, anyway. We both feel the children are too little, heavily dependent on us for their daily routine of eating, bathing, playing and sleeping. We are already away from them during the day for work so taking more time and being away from them does not feel right. Even when we had parents to help us out, we never dumped the children on them outside of our work hours just to have fun. We feel we can do this until they are older and can be self sufficient in many of the routine tasks. It will be not long before they ask for night-outs at their friends houses, and will want to be with friends more than us. Then we will have plenty of opportunities for date nights and movie outings.

{Both our kids sleep fairly early, so every single day, we both get to be with each other for quite some time. It seems to be plenty for now.}

:: We don't like to dine out often. The more I find out about the ingredients in food served at restaurants or processed stuff available in supermarkets, the more paranoid I am. I have become extremely conscious of what we eat. I have also found a creative outlet in cooking, and really enjoy my time making meals for my family. Because of that, we end up eating mostly at home.

:: We watch NO TV. Yep, Zilch. So it's difficult to connect with folks over TV serials. Hubby reads/watch a bit of current affairs online and I do follow some sports (occasionally watch a few games) but I find it difficult to be around folks who always have their television ON in the background, all day. So, another topic for conversation off the list :).

:: We look forward to quality play time with our kids. What I have observed is - when you socialize a lot and are always around people, kids (especially as young as ours) will keep busy for some time, then get bored. Especially if there are mostly adults and no other children of the same age. We avoid such outings. Hubby is actually more sensitive than me on this front. He really does not like if he has to skip bedtime reading to the children, or miss park outings with them during weekends. We do our best to engage with them and keep doing new things. Bubbles, playdoh, puzzles, dancing, blocks, trains, books, juggling, tunneling, drawing, crafts, parks - we really look forward to all these simple pleasures of life.

:: Avoiding large daycare centers and preschools - both kids go to home based centers. They are very small, and private. The care providers are excellent, loving, and genuine. But due to this choice, our kids are not going to the schools that most of our friends kids attend. Interaction at school events with our social circle is practically zero. We feel a little out of place at gatherings where we have to defend our choices, but we are confident of them, and can hold our ground comfortably.

:: We typically travel by ourselves. Its very difficult to travel with our little ones....so we avoid going in groups where we have to deal with the schedules and preferences of other kids and their families. Hubby and I have gotten quite used to loading up our car and setting off for road trips. We drive during the night when the kids sleep and rarely take breaks. I always pack lots of homemade food and snacks. I like being independent and not having to change plans or be waiting if we would have company to travel with.

I could continue, but you get the idea. We have become 'the odd couple' now. A friend from work who is single has hinted to me that I have an attitude problem LOL. Not that I agree, but the perspective tells me something :). What do you have to say :P?

UBM Post 21 - Expressions

Got lucky with both kids having expressive faces, and beautiful smiles. They both went on hour long walks (one with grandpa, other with grandma - separately) today morning but returned together. The sister was playing with the brother in the front yard when I clicked this series of pictures :)....

Here's a couple collages of the daughter from the archives  - I had more free time then to keep clicking such shots - I never get tired of them - not yet anyway :)

While we were out, I caught the neighborhood kids gathering for their daily round of cricket. It's summer break so they usually play twice a day...both our kids love to hang out and watch.

And this is the reaction I got from her last night when I said she can have kulfi for dessert - her favorite :)

Checkout his reach - eyeing his pacifier on the table, holding tight, raised feet, standing tall - such a delight to watch!!!!

Fun, eh?

Back to work....

:: First day back at work after a longish break - I find it peaceful and relaxing so far....I miss the kids but not so much that I would want to run back home :).

:: Cleaned my desk thoroughly - I find most cubicles filthy and full of junk....I like to keep my working space neat and organized.

:: Was pleasantly surprised to find a divisional recognition award plaque at my desk for a small research project I did with Barcelona team a while back.

:: Went down to the cafe and was happy to see that all disposable items - cups, lids, spoons, etc have given way to reusable mugs and steel utensils.

:: Spoke to my manager and found out he got a well deserved promotion. Extremely happy for him and feels great to work for someone who is much above the rest of the staff (in terms of technical expertise and mentoring) on our project..and is a true leader. Now only if he would cut down on his micro-management (and to be fair, he has succeeded in doing that in the recent past) then he would be someone I could learn and grow from and enjoy working with in the years to come. We had a bumpy beginning but we seem to be getting along fine since quite some time now.

:: The entire family, including moi, was sick with a bad bacterial infection as soon as we landed. It took us more than a couple weeks to recover. The baby has had back to back ear infections (seriously, he needs your prayers) and I seem to have caught another cold yesterday. It's been very challenging, to say the least, in terms of illnesses since 2013 began.

:: For our daughter: I've toured many preschools and have done trials at 3 of them. I have come to a conclusion that for our daughter's personality, a Montessori will work best in the beginning years. She has an interview today (good luck to her :)) and if she does well then she will start half-day preschool this week - I'm excited and nervous! {Any inputs on preschools, montessori, etc are appreciated}.

:: Tried out a new chaat dish recently - did not take pics but will post a recipe soon. It's a lot of work to make it (soaking dal, grinding, baking, etc) but its sooper yummy and nutritious.

:: I am already planning a short vacation in summer {sigh} - it will only be a week long but looking forward to it!

Here's a recent picture of the kiddos....{got a few matching outfits stitched in India...feel so happy to see them wear those :)}

Back to work now!