Post #5 30-day Photo Challenge

Day 5 Someone you love

If you have read the previous posts so far, then you will have no problem guessing the one I LOVE the most in my life. Yep, my darling daughter :). And you know what - she LOVES me the most too {so far} :). Now that's pretty terrific.

I love how she clings on to me, and does not want me to leave her. I love that sometimes she has eyes only for me, and a certain kind of smile that she only gives me. Last night, she slept in my lap, just gazing at me, stroking my tummy, while I was stroking her hair and patting her forehead. And when she woke up, she flashed that dazzling smiles of hers, gave me a hug and a kiss....and instantly made my morning beautiful and happy :).

I'm smitten by this love bug, I'm addicted, and so Crazy in love....she is my precious sweetheart!

Post #4 30-day Photo Challenge

Post #4 Favorite Color

It's hard to pick just one favorite color. I love almost all colors, for various reasons. They each have a meaning in their own perspective for me. So since I have to pick just one today, I'll pick YELLOW.

I love the yellow sunshine, and sunny warm days. I feel pretty depressed when the sun does not come out for days together.

I love yellow outfits. On myself, my daughter, and my husband. I bought a couple yellow t-shirts for him today, one for myself, and one yellow hoodie for my daughter which says "Live to play Play to live" :).

I love yellow daffodils and yellow roses (both grow plenty in our garden), sunflowers, and all other yellow flowers.

I love the song "yellow" from Coldplay, one of my favorite bands.

I love turmeric, which is yellow.

I love the yellow leaves of trees in fall, waiting to turn orange then brown.

I love the yellow fields filled with mustard flowers - reminds me of DDLJ.

I love bananas, pineapples, corn, lemons - which are all yellow.

I love yellow butterflies.

The list could go on and on. Heck, even the header for this photo challenge picture is yellow :).

So last but not the least, I LOVE "smiley faces" like these which color my life a wonderful happy "yellow" :)

Post #3 30-day Photo Challenge

Day 3 Clouds

I thought I will go out and click a picture of the clouds with the sunset....but all day, there was no cloud in sight. It was a clear sunny "cloud-free" day out here....it was beautiful :).

However, we live on top of a hill, so sunrise, sunset, star gazing, and sometimes lightning can be seen from either our backyard or frontyard. Here is one such photo of lightning striking through the clouds in the sky, taken from our backyard. We were out in the backyard for a long time on this day, and we slept while listening to the thunder. We clicked very few pictures, just enjoyed mother nature unfolding its beauty in front of us.

Post #2 30-day Photo Challenge

Day 2 of the 30-day Photo Challenge Today

Post #2 What you wore

So today's post can be interpreted in so many ways. I've had a rough sleepless night and it's very tough to function normally with lack of sleep. However, it's inspiring to see my daughter smiling her way through her high fever, mouth sore, and breathing difficulty. Here is my baby, "wearing" her dazzling smile at the peds office :).

Post #1 30-day Photo Challenge

So I chanced upon this tag today (from here), and since I love photography, I thought it would be a good thing to pick it up. It will give me a small task to look forward to every day, and will provide much needed distraction and relief for a little while from the routine stressful life.

The general rules are to refrain from using old pictures and post daily. However, I might dig out something from my archives if it fits the theme for that day well. For example, I have so many sunset pictures, and I may not be able to click one that day as the evening time is sooper busy for me, and I will choose one from the archives and post here. However, I will try to make it fun, meaningful and interesting :).

Post #1 Self Portrait

My dad never liked taking too many pictures. So, growing up, we don't have too many memories in the form of pictures. Ever since I came to the US, I've been trying to make up for it by clicking as many pictures of myself as I can ;). I bought an entry level DSLR in 2006, and have been enjoying it soooooo much since I bought it. Nothing can beat the quality of a picture that an SLR provides. I am a huge fan of Nikon cameras and lenses - I even bought a Nikon point n shoot recently (mainly for taking my daughter's videos) and have been very pleased with it so far.

My daughter is sick since yesterday, and I am juggling between taking care of her and work. So, in lieu of a picture taken today, I'm posting one from last week that I clicked on the iPhone after returning from a Vegas themed party at work.

Usually on Fridays, I wear an Indian outfit to work. Let's see what I come up with tomorrow :)

Being a working mother

I always knew, even before I became a mom, that having a career after becoming a mother was going to be stressful and difficult. That was one of the reasons (along with many others) that I waited until  I did to have a baby. After having worked for close to 11 years, I feel content with the career aspect of my life. However, I want my career to continue, not just end because I got pregnant and delivered a child.

All moms in my shoes are going through the same turmoil as I am. They feel guilty leaving their children with grandparents or caregivers, and some decide to quit, hoping to get back to work some day. Me - I'm still trying to figure things out!

I was reading an article on NY Times, and the following lines made so much sense:
"It's a risky strategy at a time when the economic crisis is putting male jobs and incomes at risk, when increasing longevity means bringing up children is only a passing phase in a woman's life and when divorce rates are high. Even if childcare eats up all of the female income, there is a long-term pay-off to staying in the labor market."


And this can only be possible if moms have the required infrastructure and support system to be able to effectively manage work and home. For Indian women, the first step is to have their husbands help them equally in the household chores, whether its cooking, cleaning, shopping, taking care of kids, etc. Most Indian men around me do not step up after the couple has a baby, and the woman is so exhausted at the end of the day coz her workload in the 24 hours of a single day has more than doubled. Not to mention the stress of pregnancy, child birth, nursing and the hormones that cause havoc on her physical and mental being. I am extremely fortunate (touch wood, God bless) to have my partner support me more than 50% in running the house. I love my husband a lot for being such a good daddy and husband after our daughter was born. However, since he pretty much works as much as I do, it makes sense that we both work and bring in the moolah to support our family and save some for our future as well. I love the fact that we both share this financial responsibility equally as well.

Having reliable childcare centers where parents feel safe to send their kids and have trust in the teachers, the school environment and system, is also very important. I was recently talking to a friend from my undergrad - she quit her job when her second kid was born, and now after being home for few years, does not feel like going back and the primary reason is lack of reliable daycare for her kids where she lives. Grandparents can help out but only for some part of the year, not all the time. It is also not right on our part as parents to impose our kids on the grandparents lifelong. During the first couple years, it is very helpful to have them around, but after that, we need to manage our life without depending on them. In US, there are several options for finding suitable daycare, which is nice. However, finding the perfect fit that works for your child and you is always a challenge.

Another thing that I have been thinking since I got pregnant is that they should have more jobs for women where they can work 2-in-a-box. What it means it that two people combined deliver the work that normally one employee is supposed to deliver, and you pair up these two people based on their strengths and personal constraints. I would thrive if I find such a job right now. Another option is for women to switch to part-time careers which pay good enough for them to feel motivated to work during pregnancy and early childhood years. Once the kids start elementary education, they can choose to go back to full time professionals.

So, society has evolved and made it possible for more women to join the workforce, have careers, be independent and contribute towards their family financially. But we need to continue to do more and provide more support for women to continue on this path after entering motherhood.

Each phase of life brings a unique mix of challenge and joy....this one is no different :).

Day Care Trials

I feel lucky and blessed to be able to keep our daughter home for the crucial first year of her life. I managed to take close to 9 months off from work, and my parents covered for me for the rest of the time.

The painful process of finding the right daycare center for her has started. I thought about a lot of options - nanny, in-home daycare, school, etc. I did a lot of asking around, and visited most reputed daycare centers in town. We are in the process of doing trials and deciding which one would be the best fit for her as well as us.

I knew this would be hard, and its turning out to be exactly that. There's just no way that someone else is going to take care of your child the way you do, and know your child better or as good as you do. However, as she grows older, she needs social interaction with other kids, and also needs more activity outside of the house. So sending her to daycare for 5 days a week, about 7 hours each day, where I can choose to go see her during my lunch break, maybe a good thing for her after all.

I often think of quitting work. But my very supportive mom's group, where almost all the babies go to daycare, tells me that their kids are very happy at daycare, and that in another couple years, they will start preschool, and it will be tough managing the guilty feeling of leaving your baby in someone's care and going to work, but in the end, it will workout okay.

Our very first trial was a disaster. I did not get a great feeling about that center after meeting their staff during my second visit, and my daughter was handled very poorly on her first day. She was sobbing through her meals, her name was spelt wrong (which irked me a LOT coz I took great pains in choosing a name that is simple enough to be pronounced properly by everyone), and when I picked her up, she was playing by herself with no attention and a poopy diaper on herself. My heart broke that day, and I decided that I would rather quit working than send her there for another minute.

We decided this other center based on a lot of great feedback from my mom's group as well as few other friends. She has done two half-day trials, and so far, I think it's going well.

Here is the first daily chart that I got from her half-day trial:

She was sad (at times), but the big plus is that she did not cry. She wanted to be cuddled and held, and was just not too comfortable with her room so did not engage in play freely. The second day was so much better, and her grandparents were watching her both days, so we know first-hand how it all went.

I am still not sure if the above center is the best fit for her, since she is not eating her meals well. I am going to try an in-home daycare lady who has been recommended highly to me, and who is eager to take care of Ruhi and says she will feed her well.

Gone are the days when the only thing I used to worry is producing enough milk for her. My day revolved around nursing, and I thought of nothing else.

As they say, this too shall pass.....