Day 10 - {this moment} Family walks

"A Friday ritual. A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember" - SouleMama

This picture is from our trip to Mendocino in November.

Both the kids LOVE to go for walks. The daughter will walk/hike as much as she can when we travel and take trails. And she enjoys it too. We find little adventures to do on the way for her. 

My husband also is a nature lover. He enjoys such outings, and rarely says no. He prefers that over movies, socializing with friends, dining out, etc. 

I can't wait for summer when we can be outdoors much more often!

Have a good weekend! We will be staying home and taking care of the baby who is still feeling poorly!

Day 9 - ER musings

Spent a few hours in the Emergency Room (ER) today. The son has caught a nasty virus and he was in respiratory distress. Took him to his pediatrician and she sent us to the ER.

Have I mentioned before that it is a crime to fall sick in this country? And the medical system is the #1 thing I hate about this country? Well, if I haven't, I now have.

I've had the pleasure of visiting the ER a few times, either for myself or for others. And rarely it has been a pleasant experience. Today was frustrating, initially, but we came across a really nice physician who thought on the same lines as I did, and agreed on a treatment plan that I proposed, and somewhere, by doing that, he kept a hope alive in me that there are always a few good individuals in every bad system.

Frustration #1 - From the moment we checked in, it took them 90 minutes to get my son his first breathing treatment. I could have done this myself with the nebulizer at home in 10 minutes. The reason for the delay? No one told the respiratory technician which medicine to give. So he was hanging out with us waiting for an order to be placed. I mean, really? People are that lame and slow when a 15 month old is waiting to receive treatment at the other end?

Frustration #2 - His charts said that he had already been checked for flu virus. They do a nose swab these days to check if he tests positive for influenza. But I clearly remembered that a nose swab was not done. My friend A concurred. So we brought it up to the physician and he sent a technician to do it. Another lesson for US folks - ALWAYS find someone to be your advocate when admitted to a hospital - ER or otherwise. I have nightmarish personal stories to share.

Observation - Except for one female nurse at checkin, all staff we encountered was male. And I always thought female nurses far outnumbered their male counterparts.

Observation - They don't keep kid friendly snacks around. Thank God our home is close by and we were able to stock ourselves with food, water, milk and supplies. But if not, all they offered to my child was "apple juice from concentrate" which he has never tasted in his life so he would spit it out for sure. I mean, how much does it cost to keep a few goldfish crackers, cheerios, nuts, or fruits like bananas and apples?

Observation - You REALLY feel alone when illness strikes you in this country. Unless you explicitly make a phone call and tell someone (or post a FB update which I prefer not to), they would not know what is going on. Whereas back home, you go missing for an hour unplanned and people look out for you. I remember when my daughter was hospitalized for a day during my last visit. My 74 year old bapuji dropped all his work and came to spend time with her. She enjoyed his company SO much - they read books, talked, slept, ate, and had a great time.

I feel very blessed to have my friend A. He not only came with us to ER and helped us manage both kids, but he also cooked dinner for us (organic veggie stir fry with baked tofu) after we returned home. It cannot get any better than that. So, contradicting my above statement where I said you really feel alone - sometimes, all it takes is one individual to pull you through a tough situation. I'm glad I had that someone today.

I'm watching my baby breathe heavily as I write this post. He is fine, but still sick. We will be home with him for the next few days to help him get better. Thankfully, he is still very perky, and playful. Just a while ago, we woke him up for his breathing treatment and he was roughhousing with me. I hope he gets better really really soon. Please please pray for him!

Day 8 - Work Anniversary #13

The husband was sooper nice to me this morning....he woke up early and did many chores that normally I would do. Before leaving for work, he came by to wish me "Happy Anniversary". For a minute, I felt terrible for forgetting our "wedding anniversary".

But then I paused - and thought again, and told him, "but our anniversary is not until the end of the month".

And he said - no, it's your "Intel Anniversary" today - another pause - and his wish brought a huge smile on my face :).

13 years - jeez, it's a long long time. I never knew I would stick around with one company for SO long. Thank God I don't feel stuck though. I've changed groups and positions and work profiles, and my current job has been the most challenging assignment that I have taken up in my career. My manager, who is technically exceptional, always pushes me to do more and better (it's another story that he only does that and appreciates very little of what I deliver, but that's okay) so there is never a day when my work day is boring.

There is still SO much to learn for me.....and honestly, as much as I like being a mom and cooking new recipes and doing things at home, I think I would be miserable not having a career.

Also, I LOVE being in California. Southern California would be slightly better than this, but where we live currently is blissful. Small town - everything is within 10 minutes of driving, excellent schools, great weather, great social circle, an affordable lovely home to live in, and lots of nature around to enjoy for us. The entire country is gripped by the Polar Vortex but we have warm sunny weather out here....could not be more blessed in that department!!

I treated myself with a sooperb massage during lunch time. The therapist Cassandra was really good, and my sore running muscles are thanking me tons right now!!!

One more year and I have my second sabbatical from work - looking forward to a paid quarter off :)!

Day 7 - Night Running

I went for my first night run tonight. It was with my training group (thankfully), and I had prepared myself with all the gear I needed a couple of days ago.

I thought I was ready.

SO wrong!!!!

I was scared, and intimidated. I've never ran in my life, period. And this night run was scary. It was on the American River Trail which is really pretty during the day, but is equally scary at night. No lights, and chances of mountain lion, rattle snakes, deer, etc. FREAKED me out!

I started out with the core group, but very quickly, found my sluggish self at the end of the pack with two other females who were running at my pace.

And then suddenly I had an idea - let's listen to some music. I slowed down - considerably - trying to figure out a Pandora station to play and tuck in my headphones beneath my ear muffs and headlamp. It took me close to 10 minutes and I found myself all alone, in this dark jungle, listening to some stupid song which I immediately stopped. With the headphones, I had zoned out of all the sounds on the trail - there could be bikers calling out, a snake hissing, or an animal following. Feeling very afraid, I ran at a much faster pace to catch up with the group who was heading back after the 20-minute turnout.

Even though those 10 minutes were scary, the rest of the run was amazing. 3.5 miles again today, in 40 minutes, followed by a workout in the dark for 30 minutes (squats and push-ups and plank and what not).

I can't say I've fallen in love with running yet (I was dreading the run all day today) but I can see myself getting fitter and stronger with every session.

GO ME!!!!

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?

Day 5 - Sorry, I disappeared

Well, that's a great way to start the New Year - by breaking my resolution :) :) :) :)!

Sorry for the disappearance act. I goofed up big time. I actually wrote blog posts for Jan 2nd and Jan 3rd, and scheduled them to be posted at 11.30pm each day. Only to realize that I put '2015' instead of '2014' so they were never posted here. I have NO idea how I messed this one up.....

But, I will post them after this one, and backdate them. Hope that's okay.

I started my half marathon training. First run was 3.5 miles in 40 minutes, followed by a core workout session. The trainer is one tough task master, so whether I finish this half marathon or not, I'm sure I will be much fitter by the end of this training. Here is the group photo on day 1:

I have my training plan in front of me....and its slightly intimidating. But that's good, right? One of my goals this year is to get more uncomfortable, outside of my parenting responsibilities. And this training will do just that. Wish me luck and an injury free 3 months :)!

Day 4 - Words, sounds, and actions

When I met our ped last month for another ear infection on the son's right ear, she mentioned that back-to-back ear infections could cause hearing issues and speech delays. I took the opportunity to discuss his milestones with her, and was relieved when she told me he is WAY above average.

His milestones have gotten very little attention on the blog. So time to fix that :).

Next week, my little man turns 16 month old. We will see an explosion of vocabulary around 18 months of age, but he talks A LOT already.

His first word, apart from mama, papa, dada, and nana was "light". He was, and still is, mesmerized with lights. He LOVED watching the Christmas lights at home and all around town. Department stores attract him a lot, so does the iPhone which is his favorite gadget :).

He can now say "didi" very clearly....and its fun to watch him chase her around chanting "didi didi didi" - music to our ears, but not to hers :) :)!

Some of the other words he says are:

NO - probably the most important one of all
No No No No No - with actions - the frequently used one
aapo  - gujarati for give me
aav aav - gujarati for come here
doodhoo - gujarati for milk
aaaanu - for our friend A
nani, dadi - for grandmas
key
aalo - for hello :)
booooooo - for book - the cutest thing ever.
bhua - for water
aaaaple - for apple
cat
tar - for star
moooooo - for moon - another adorable sound
boa - for ball
bub - for bubbles
khakho - for any snack or food or to tell us he is hungry
tight - for light
cheeee - for cheese
Names of ALL of his daycare friends - he can even say a complex one like "Dhruva"

And I'm sure I'm forgetting as many as I wrote above. But he is definitely not delayed, inspite of the multiple ear infections he has had.

He is also building a good database of animal sounds. He can say the following when prompted: cat, dog, cow, sheep, snake, lion/tiger, bear, owl and elephant. They are clear, and distinct, and oober cute to listen to :).

And my favorite part about him right now is all the actions he does. The BEST are his dance moves - he dances to the beat, shakes his head, throws up one hand (sometimes two) up in the air and goes round n round.....he gets into a trance and it's a joy to watch him do his thing on the floor.

One day, he woke up very early in the morning, and got into a position on the bed quite far away from me. He started his 'mumma mumma' chants, and I was a very grumpy person when I opened my eyes. But as soon as I looked at him, I saw him crouched down on the bed, looking at me, and he started waving his hands while saying "aav aav aav aav aav". I saw a huge relief on his face and a megawatt smile soon after - he had accomplished a new feat afterall. All my grumpiness melted in an instant and I scooped him up in my arms!

When we say "didi ne hug karo", he will RUN towards her and hug her tight, wrapping both his arms around her. Absolutely priceless to watch. (She does the same to him too - when she is not throwing her tantrums around :)).

It is very interesting to see his personality develop. He is a mover (can never sit still), a destroyer (of blocks, puzzles, books, anything that he can lay his hands upon), a transportation engineer (he loves to move and push things around), a dancer (he's got great moves), and a heart charmer (he has the BESTEST smile).

He has fallen in love with books (finally, after an entire year of not reading) and can't get enough of them. The first thing he wants to do after waking up is to plop his bum on my lap and read a book. I never say no :).

It's a blessing and a privilege, to watch him grow. I love my golu SO SO much!