FOUR

Oh, how time is flying by!

My baby, the one who gifted me with the precious label of "mumma"....
The one who is so sensitive that she keeps getting hurt a zillion times each day....
The one who is incredibly compassionate and caring...
The one who is smart (and is aware of it too :))....
And the one, my only daughter, who is breathtakingly beautiful, inside and out - turned FOUR last week!

After a year of terrific (as well as terrible as) 3's, we are now entering the world of Fantabulous 4's. I can't wait to see what she has in store for us :).

This was her first birthday without grandparents, and her aunt n uncle from San Diego. Leading up to her birthday weekend, we were feeling the void of their presence, and I was not sure if the husband, son and I would be enough for her.

But we were. Along with many of our friends.

The day of her birthday, the son decided to sleep in. He is undoubtedly the first one to wake up in our house. But not on his didi's birthday. He KNEW. She woke up, and spent time cuddling with her mum n dad in bed. We came to the living room, and spent more time together. She got lots of calls and messages. HE LET HER HAVE HER MOMENT.

We fed her breakfast, dressed her up, and took her to school to celebrate with her friends. I know she had a great party at her school.

We then took her to Olive Garden, one of her favorite restaurants, for lunch. We had the best lunch ever. And the waitress surprised her with a dessert plate of sugar-dusted donuts, chocolate+cranberry sauce, and a candle to blow. Our fellow diners joined in to wish her happy birthday. It was a first-time experience for her and she was thrilled!!!

 In the evening, I baked a small cake for her at home. She helped me measure the ingredients and put it all together. It became more of a brownie than a cake, but it tasted good. We had some friends over with gifts and she basked in all the attention.

The next day was her party at MYGYM. We had already celebrated her 2nd birthday here, but she insisted on the same place again. I wanted her to be happy, and stuck with her choice. This year, I also listened to my inner voice, and decided to only invite people (apart from her school friends) who are close to us, and who have made a continuous effort to spend time with our family in the past year. We have a zillion acquaintances but not many close friends. I also considered the age group of the kids, and if they were too old or too young, I did not extend an invite to them. Turns out, excluding her school friends, we only had 5 families that I needed to invite- it was a short, sweet, stress-free list, as well as planning for us!

The party was a blast. The daughter knew each kid who came, and was very comfortable. I have never seen her SO happy at a function, through and through. Not a single meltdown or tantrum. I did not have to engage in any fake conversation, or put up fake smiles with any of the guests. It felt natural to be among those who we are close to.

All in all, we will remember and cherish these happy moments for a long time to come.

As usual, my wish for her is to be healthy, happy, be adventurous and free spirited, compassionate, and appreciate life and its little pleasures a lot more than all the material comforts. Being inquisitive and always questioning me, like she always does - I hope that never changes!

I love my little girl!

Last Friday....

Fridays are always busy for me, and this one was no different. After a day filled with  meetings at work, I picked up the son from his daycare, and waited for the husband to arrive home before leaving to pick up the daughter from her preschool.

She was playing outside with her friends, with leaves and twigs. Play and friends - the two most important things for a preschooler. So inspite of being late, I did not rush her. When she was done, she happily came to me and hopped in to the car seat. Much better than trying to pull her out of her play and dealing with a tantrum during the drive :).

We reached the church in about 15 minutes....and were greeted to some Mozart playing in the background. We quickly found our friends, and the daughter got into action.

We were there to feed the homeless - a social event held by the church every second Friday of the month. There were all kinds of people - young, old, children, disabled, poor, sick. Pizzas and treats were already served, so we started helping out with grocery distribution. The daughter and I were giving away Cereal boxes, and since we had limited supply, we were only allowed to distribute one per person.

It seemed like Cereal, among other things like cookies, pasta sauce, etc. was the hot item that day. I think Cereal has become such a versatile staple.....you can't do without it. Its easy, can be consumed with or without milk, and does not go bad for months. I do not bring any kind of cereal to our house, because they are all heavily processed, and laden with sugar as well as salt. But even with the homeless, I was happy to see many people checking out the label on the boxes, and many asking me which one was the healthiest. The Kashi blueberry granola clusters was the most healthiest option, and we ran out of it quickly.

The daughter also got to interact with a little girl, almost her age. It was all new for her, but she had blended in seamlessly, and was not bothered at all to be in a room full of strangers, and strange-looking people. My friend A and I were amazed.

Since we reached a little late, we were only there for about 90 minutes. The daughter helped cleaned up (the only thing left on the grocery table was cookies) and as we headed out, I realized that someone was actually playing all the beautiful tunes behind the piano. The music kept the whole atmosphere so lively, and gave a whole new feel to the place. So thankful for this person to be volunteering that day!

I was most interested in the daughter's questions that would follow post this experience. She asked me why these people did not have homes, or money to buy food. Where they lived? What they did? Whether the kids went to school, or to swimming classes, or Taekwondo?

When a friend of ours visited us over the weekend, I had her describe our experience to him, and her answers amazed me. She UNDERSTOOD. It was a profound as well as proud moment for me!

The daughter was a very fussy eater as an infant and toddler, but she has made a complete U-turn. From never wanting to eat....even with videos shown to her, she eats everything that's offered to her. She insists on NO TV during her meals, and she understands why it is important to not leave leftovers on the plate. I only hope this positive trend continues......forever :D!

It was a Friday evening....very well spent!!!

{I did not feel appropriate to take pictures, and I think I made the right call.}

Cleanse complete

Successfully completed the 21-day cleanse yesterday - Week 1 was much harder than expected, but Week2/3 were easier. It gave me a chance to note all my bad food habits and also gave me time to (hopefully) give up some of them for good.

Green smoothies were a bit hit - hubby loves them a LOT and gave up his morning tea for them.

The Chia pudding was not a great hit with me - but the daughter LOVES it. The chilled gooey, coconut milk pudding suits her taste buds. Its a great snack or breakfast item for the kids.

The son LOVES almond butter, just as much as I do. We both licked it off the spoon every afternoon.

I lost 6-7lbs. That brings my total for this year to about 12+ lbs. I am MORE than happy. I feel fit, and healthy. I am getting rid of the pregnancy fat, slowly and steadily. I continue to go for short runs, walks, occasional biking, and doing weights/kettle-bells at home.

My only cheats were eating black beans a day before they were allowed, and a portion of the kids fries when we visited Ikea :). I am proud of myself!!!!

If you want any tips or any new recipes that I learnt, or some basic principles on green juicing, let me know and I will be happy to pass along what I know!

This is the program I did: http://simplegreensmoothies.com/cleanse.

Looking forward to pigging out this week, including a big bowl of icecream tonite :) :)!!!!

21 day detox/cleanse

Along with my fabulous running group, I started a 21-day detox/cleanse program today.

This is the very first time I am trying something like this. I'm really curious to see how it will impact me. My mom is a great cook and growing up, we rarely ate meals outside. Mom even made all the snacks at home, from scratch. However, being in the US, inspite of trying very hard to maintain healthy eating habits, I am not always successful.

This is a small attempt to take care of my own body. This program is "supposed" to help the body get rid of toxins. It will also help reduce bad cravings and give your body a break from all the processed stuff.

Week 1 is the toughest - the only thing you can drink without limits is water. You can only eat fruits, vegetables and a few nuts. What to skip: grains (all), meat, dairy, soy, alcohol/soda, refined sugars, dried fruits, processed food, bread/pasta, etc.

I had a coconut milk+chia pudding this morning for breakfast.

For lunch, I had this Amazing green smoothie - "Avo-Berry Tang" - avocado, blueberries, greens, lemon, coconut water!

If you have tried something like before, please pass on any tips you may have to help me.

I will keep you posted during these 3 weeks on how I am doing :) :)!

Musings (more like rants) - Random

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I have no idea why people (Indians) in the US crave for bigger and bigger homes. We live in a 4-bedroom, 6-room home with a backyard and front-yard. It's huge for me already. But so many Indians in our community have either sold their home or rented it out, and moved to a bigger home. Why this obsession?

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I have no idea why people these days put their personal goals and ambitions so high above their kids. A better job with a better pay (a CA state job with average pay but wonderful benefits, plus medical coverage and pension during retirement is looked down upon by MOST....my husband has a state job and I can't be more proud of him), a better/bigger house, a better education (= MBA), choosing to leave small towns (not due to employment reasons) because other places have better social events, better restaurant and food options - isn't it madness? These are all educated people with Masters' degrees or higher. Can't they prioritize better? After all, a child remains a child only for a few years....can't everything else wait?

I am in FULL support of women working (I do myself) but I try to get my work done in the minimum amount of hours possible, and we ensure one parent is with the child ALWAYS during non-work hours. We refuse work related travel (I have only traveled once in these last 5 years and my husband has traveled ZERO times). We may be one lucky and blessed couple, but I don't think people around me are less lucky.

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I have said this before on the blog, but I have to say it again. Personal conversations or phone calls take a lower priority compared to say, Facebook messages. I recently sent some pictures of my kids from a photo shoot to few friends and family via email. Even though every single person on the list saw them, not many emailed their response to me. The same people were active on FB commenting and liking others' pictures.

Phone calls are the same way. People just don't pick up the phone. Caller ID is a big curse, in my opinion. That feeling of just picking up the phone and hearing an unexpected voice on the other side of the line is priceless. I am grateful to experience that even now, when my relatives call me from India. If it's one of my aunts or uncles, I drop all my work and sit down on the couch to chat.

I sometimes cannot pick up calls too, but I'll usually call the person back. Especially if it's someone from out of town and not a colleague or neighbor who I would know does not have an urgent need to talk to me (if it was urgent, they would either text me or leave me a voicemail).

On the same lines, people living in the same town will ping each other, or call, or email, but not make time to drop by their friend's home. Why? And perhaps some don't like unplanned visits or unannounced visitors too.

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It boils down to this - as a parent, I find myself different from the crowd. My choices, my priorities and preferences, my way of living...it seems I don't always follow the general trend. And when I think some more, I realize that my choices heavily reflect how I was raised by my parents. And not that it should be any of my business how others live or raise their children, but I analyze, then rationalize. Then rant here, and then move on, thinking "To each one their own"! :)!

Trail Running

All my running so far has been on concrete. I needed a training program to get me going, and I stuck to the plan given to me. But I don't really enjoy running on the road. It is also harder on the body (especially the knees).

We have plenty of trails around here, and it was only a matter of time before I tried them out. Started trail running and it is simply amazing.

The best part about being on the trails is stepping away from all the noise we humans (and our vehicles) create...

To the sounds of birds and streams.
To the smell of moist earth.
To the fragrance of the Spring flowers.
To the trees, standing tall and always so grounded; their leaves, whispering secrets only they know.
To the train tracks and stations, unused today, but reminding us of the times they were bustling with activity.

This bench on the trail is so inviting, isn't it? It faces a stream as well :)!

An hour long run - or sometimes even a shorter 30 or 45 min run - squeezed into weekdays that are always busy managing work and family - completely relaxes and rejuvenates me.

Spring is a very pretty time around this area. Everything is still very green and fresh. The run warms you up quickly but the cool breeze continues to counter the heat generated by the body.

I always needed music during my road runs- they felt like drills - and I never seem to bother about music when I'm on the trail - there is so much to enjoy.

My runs become walks when something interesting comes along. Like this rowing race that my friend A and I watched one fine morning.

I always pause to listen to this as well:

I had this post in the drafts for a long long time - finally found the time to post it! 

Hope to be back to blogging more often :)!

Have a good weekend, celebrating BJP/Narendra Modi's emphatic victory in the Elections!!!!

Half Marathon, Summer Haircuts, and more....

Sorry I went missing for a while from the blog. Lots was happening and blogging fell off the routine.

I wanted to update all of you on my running training. I finished my first half marathon (13.1 miles), about a month ago. It was an amazing experience, and I hope to churn out a post with all the details in it. It took me about 3 hours to finish (yes, I was slow) but I ran strong, and I finished my training as well as my race injury free. SUCCESS!!!!

Pictures before and after the half-marathon race.....

Much to my delight, I have managed to continue working out and running as an effort to lose weight and get fitter. I'm eating more balanced meals (I always thought I ate healthy but being a vegetarian, I did not balance out the protein and carbs on a daily basis) and steadily losing a pound a week since the last 4 weeks. I'm learning to incorporate Kettlebells in my workouts and they are amazing to work with. 

On the home front, the husband changed jobs and is settling into his new role. His commute has gone down from about an hour each way to 20 mins each way so that's a blessing for the family. We are much more relaxed with our morning routine now and he is also back early in the evening to help me out!

The kids are growing up to be naughtier and more adventurous. The son TALKS a lot - I MUST do a post on all the words and short sentences he can cook up. The daughter rides her bike (with training wheels) on the street and they both absolutely love riding their plasma cars inside or outside the house. They are true champs at riding those cars....and when the neighbors' kids (6 of them) are also out riding, it's pure delight to watch the street scene.

The son also got his first haircut last weekend - he looks sooper cute with a shaved head :). The daughter, who hates getting her curls combed and hates any hair accessory, also got a haircut from her favorite hairdresser, Jenny, and is sporting a short curly bob.

We have some travel coming up, and then my parents will head back to India later this month. I'm hoping the warmer weather will keep us free from illnesses after they leave as we will be on our own for a while now.