Adios 2011!

2011 was an uneventful one and I am glad it was.But as a mom it was a very busy year chasing behind two kids and a handsome hubby:)

January 2011- Celebrated Suku's birthday and boy!it was not so much fun. Organising, planning with two little ones was not easy and I am glad I pulled it through.We also bought our first mini van.I definitely feel like a soccer mom on it:)

March 2011- Soni's birthday went well with all the kids partying at home. She was happy with her Minnie cake and to my surprise I was feeling satisfied at my attempt.

April 2011- I heard someone say that you can never make friends in thirties.I do not agree. I met a wonderful person who happens to be Soni's friend's mom.I feel blessed to connect with such like minded people and I never want to shut my door for good friends.

May 2011- We complete eight years of marriage.We had no celebration, not even eating out.Yet, I feel conteted and blessed.

June 2011- Soni started her preschool. And knock on wood she is inseperable since then. She surprised me at the first day of her school not being shy at all. She adjusted immediately to the whole environment that she took her teachers to surprise. Though a part of mine feels sad that she never misses me I am so happy for her social nature.And I am proud that I managed to listen to my heart when I did not choose Montessori. I wanted my kid to be in safe, clean and happy environment where she can have fun rather than her excelling in academics and montessori principles.And her school totally fits for the above category.

July 2011- I started volunteering for Shlokas recital every Friday. I am proud to say that almost five kids learnt to say Hanuman Chalisa and few small shlokas with no help. Soni started to look forward for the classes and she loves to recite Chalisa.I am yet to record her recital.

September 2011- We had been to Key west and I was totally mesmerized by the beauty of Keys. It was indeed a beautiful place and I think the long drive was totally worth it.

October 2011-Been to Smokies and Atlanta. Again anything with nature amuses me and I loved the fall colours totally.Kids had been great the entire trip and we had lovely time.

November 2011- K got a major break in his career. He is into management and he has worked hard for it. Though this means lot of pressure and stress in his work side I see how happy he is.*anti jinx*

December 2011- I love this month.The season seems full of spirit. Lighting everywhere makes me feel energized and christmas everywhere makes me happy.Also we got our new Nissan (replaced our old Camry) and I realize hOW economical it is to our mini van.

There have been few times when kids fell sick with something or other and I kept falling sick right after them due to less immunity.I understand how important for a mom it is to stay healthy for family.My asthma attacks were bad and my thyroid readings were messy. I have issues with my toe nails due to vitamin deficiency. Doctor suspects I could have sleep apnea too..so there are more tests to undergo.And I have not been successful losing weight. I still have lots to lose and I feel disappointed every time I weigh. But hey..I am not giving up yet..I look forward to less- weight -me by 2013.I am going to keep trying , exercising and watching my diet and getting up every time I fail or fall.

Overall I am happy with what 2011 has brought us. I feel blessed to be here and blog about it. I pray and hope 2012 makes me feel more accomplished and brings good health and peace to one and all.

Wordless Wednesdays!

Half- half

This is one of those Saturdays where I want to sleep longer atleast until 7.30 vs 6.30.My kids are morning persons like I was.

So one typical Saturday morning when I am too lazy to get up from bed..

Soni- Amma, please wake up.Ammma ammaaa ammaaa

Suku- Ammaa wake up.. ammma amma amma

Me- Please guys five minutes..

K(also sleeping)- No screaming Soni and Suku!Why don't you come to this side of the bed next to me and not bother amma.

We co-sleep and I try to put kids in one corner but every morning I catch them next to me on either side.

Soni to K- I want amma.

Suku- No, I want amma

Soni- No I want amma.

K-Guys, amma is mine first. I want amma.

Soni- No, I want amma

Suku- I want amma.

Me(Getting annoyed at the noise they were making at 6.00 am)- Why don't you guys each take one half of me and not yell now!

So there was a moment of silence after which

Soni- Ok.. I need a bigger half.

Suku- I want big aaaff.

K- well..err

Me- :-/

Cooking Cooking

On my birthday I decided to take few resolutions(which sounds like a big word for me) among which "cook for a week" falls into second one. I am yet to make a seperate post on my thirty first birthday.

So after I quit working (immediately after Soni was born) I took cooking full time. I always cooked everyday fresh since I stayed home anyways and this was not a big deal as I had plenty time in hands.I enjoyed staying home, decorating my new place which was just less than an year old and spending productive time with my kid.

So when Suku was born I thought this should not be so difficult as I am used to it. But I was so wrong. Feeding him, pumping for him, giving Soni extra attention since she was getting jealous over new born was not easy. But I still stuck to cooking everyday(most times morning and evening)..one of the major reasons I never wanted to compramise on nutrition aspect is K being diabetic.

But I discovered slowly that this cooking schedule is killing me as it demanded lot of time as well energy which I felt could be put to better use. I understand that we need to eat everyday that too in right quantities
but there has to be other option where I could work on spending little time in kitchen and more time with kids.Afterall that's the only reason I chose to stay at home rather than being a full time working woman.
That's when I took a decison to cook for whole week at one go.Okay that seems very dramatic so I deeided to cook for atleast three days at one go.
I planned the schedule and decided to give it a try from the week of my birthday.
Initially this was difficult as I am not used to heating the food from fridge everytime. But I knew this was just in my mind set.So I bought good plastic containers to store food I cooked and arranged them neatly inside my fridge so that would look appealing to eat. I also decided to add good menu so that I wouldn't feel bored to eat the same thing over and over. So I prioritized variety over quantity.And it works!!!

The greatest perks are

# I get to go to gym regularly without having to worry about K's lunch or him taking enough protein.
# I get to play with Suku all morning when Soni goes to school.
# I get time to light Diya and offer my prayers peacefully.
# I get to make trip early morning to Suku's playgroups and play gym.
# I get to visit library often and participate in story telling.

So all these keep me going and I am glad I am sticking to this so far.

Yesterday evening I went to Patel brothers and bought vegetables like every weekend. But instead of them going into fridge they went on stove.
I made palak paneer,beans curry, chole,Brinjal(gutti vankaya),black peas curry,Beerakaya chutney, mango dal and sambar. All these were done within 3 hours and I am proud of myself that I mannged to clean the kitchen, load dishwasher, wash non stick pans,grind dosa and idli batter and be done by 10.00pm.

Wait- another perks of cooking at one go is not having to clean stove tops over and over and be done with minimal cleaning.

So by today morning I had ample amount of time to feed Soni her breakfast, go to gym,play with Suku and catch my morning news peacefully.All I did was switch on the cooker for rice and dal for kids.Ofcourse I prepared beetroot fry for kids which took me less than half an hour.

By then I had time and energy to clean the kitchen cabinets when Suku was catching his thirty minute tv show.

And publishing this post in the day time is also one of the perks ain't it :D?

Conversations with G

So G and I have been neighbours from past eight years. She has two daughters eleven and eight. She like any other person has two sides-one which is good where I get to learn some nice things and other which I would like to call a different side. Sometimes her different side is so overwhelming that I wonder if have to laugh it off and ignore or confront. So being the person that I am decide to blog it off!

During one such conversation (p.s- Her kids are three years apart)

G- It's very difficult to raisE children close apart.

Me- I know, I wonder how especially twin moms do it..hats off!

G- Its very difficuly ya know..its hard to cook, clean, spend time with them and most difficult part is to eat.

Me- Eat?

G- Yes! Its very difficult to eat..Now that my kids have turned 8 , I am able to eat properly.

Me- What..

G- See I personally know how difficult it is.There are times when I go crazy.

Me- Why?

G- Its not easy bhai..

Me- But aren't your kids three years apart?

G- Yes! Close apart right..

Me-Err

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G- Hey please bring your mother in law for Haldi Kum Kum this week.

Me- Ok when can I bring her?

G- Any time this week.

Me- Ok..

G- Actually D1(daughter 1) has dentist appointment tomorrow on Monday so my day will be quite busy..

Me- Ok..

G- Also Tuesday we have a dance class

Me- OK..

G- D2 has swimming lessons on Thursday and Friday.

Me- so..

G- But Wednesdays are free..

Me- So you want us to come on Wednesday?!

G- yeah(insert laugh here) and please bring your mother in law for Haldi Kumkum.

Me- on Wednesday?

G- Yeah!You can bring her any time of the week you see..

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G is very particular when it cimes to raising her daughters but little did I know about this!

G- Does your husband work from home everyday?

Me- Yeah..he works from home two-three days a week.

G- It's pain na

Me- Why? Actually I love it!

For some reason I am at peace when K works from home.He has his office room upstairs completely detatched from our other rooms where he can not hear anything from outside. I have to ring him up if I need to call him for lunch.
Though his working from home has no particular advantages, I love to have lunch and tea with him.

G- you are a specimen.

Me- (thinking- I am for sure!)Why?

G- When my kids were of your kids' age I would not ask my husband to come home until 9.00 at night.

Me(confused) - why?

G- You know..if he comes home for lunch and dinner, I won't be able to give 100% for the kids na..If he is home , then I cannot concentrate on kids properly.It was better when he had his food outside and come home just for night.

Me- (picturising her poor ,gentle husband)- oh..but..

G- My kids are close apart na..

Me- Err..

A mama

I am experimenting my new camera settings. You might see some pictures from now on.

This was taken while my cousin A came to visit us for a day..just for a day. He came on an official trip and just visited us for a day.
We had great time especially Soni who demanded he should just talk to her.Poor A had no choice but stick around her all the time.

Last time I met A was 8 years ago in 2003 when we got married. So It was total surprise for me to see him grow into a handsome, gentle young man.

I asked him what he wanted to eat and all he asked for is dal chaaval and dahi :-)

It was sad to see him leave the very morning..sigh!

I asked Suku later in the morning when K went to drop A off to airport

Me- where is nanna?

Suku- Affice

Me- Where is akka?

Suku- Shcoolll

Me-Hmm..where does amma go?

Suku- Gudi(temple). I to temple every monday evening for Shiva abhisheka and K has taught him that.

Me- Where is A mama?

Suku-(Looking upstairs towards his room and thinking hard)-I dooon know.

This is one of the first words in English he has taken after Soni.

:-)

Suku isms.

Suku is growing big, fast really fast. Its fun to see him learn and try new things every day.

He is the first one to wake up in our house hold and that starts with big thud on the ground. Well, that sound comes from him jumping
from our king bed. His first thing is to open the door and run into his sister's room.

I love the way he gets all ready to brush his teeth and have a bath first thing in the morning. He tries to reach the bath room sink with his tip toes on the step stool.

I love the way he gulps down his cup of milk in seconds and gets ready to pull those doors of the cabinet.

I love the way he wants me to sing while I put him to nap. He says "amma paata amma paata" until he hears his favourite song. He
apparantly loves devotional songs so he insists- "jay jay paata."

I love the way he says "Picchi paata picchi paata " to the songs he does not like to listen.

I love the way he says "no" to everything.

I love the way he demands - "apple joose apple joosh"

I love the way he remembers his ice pops and takes me over to the fridge saying "aish paap aish paap'

I love the way he says "blue" to every colour asked.

I love the way he loves to play with each and every ball.

I love the way he tries to wear hair clips and rubber bands on to his hair just like his sister.

I love the way his face lifts up looking at his sister.

I love the way he hugs his sister and acts like she is the coolest one on the planet.

I love the way he demands what he wants and never obliges to what he doesn't like.

I love the way he says ' nuthin' when I ask him what he is up to.

I love the way he demands puzzles looking at the wooden ones when I take him to his sister's room and doesn't leave until he completes each one of them.

I love the way he sulks when he doesn't get what he wants. He goes to the corner of the room and makes the 'most cutest saddest'(hehe) face and fills his eyes with tears until we carry him and kiss him.

I love the way he loves to settle in his car seat as though he is the king.

I love the way he loves donuts and calls the "dona"

I love the way he stacks the blocks one upon the other and waits for my applause.

I love the way he points at every part of the body with so much enthusiasm that I am literally thinking of some complicated ones to teach him.And yes! he also knows his 'thingie' and thinks that it is very funny. No! I did not teach him that!

I love the way he barks like a dog, meows like a cat , neighs like a horse and mimicks every creature.


But wait a minute,

I also dread the way he runs in the Walmart, Target and every public place making me work out.

I dread the way he screams in the store if he doesn't get to hold the teddy bear.

I dread the way he would never want to sit in the cart or stroller.

I dread the way he spills rice, attaa,chex, and what not on the floor in the milli -second I turn away from him.

I dread the way he opens the doors and runs to open the garage door.

I dread the way he removes all the wipes from the box and cleans the house with those ones.

I dread the way he runs to bathroom and opens the tap and lets the water flow outside the tub.

I dread the way he tries to turn the stove knobs and tries to pull the vessels from the stove top.

I dread the way he comes in between me and the kitchen counter and pushes me away to stop me from cooking.

But then I dread these things when I am having a tiresome day.As I am writing down the 'dread' list I am beginning to smile.I realise that there will be a phase when Suku outgrows the toddlerhood and I will surely love these 'dread' ones.I pray and hope that I deal these bad and tiresome days with more patience and positive energy. SO for now I will let these be what they are.

The walk

Walking in our neighourhood is one beautiful feeling. Ours is a large community with spacious pavements convenient for walking. If I find any time in the evening, I make sure I do the best workout oustside.

I often spot couples holding hands and enjoying the presence of each other.
I spot people walking with dogs, bicyclists, moms with strollers and joggers. But amongst all these people, I never fail to miss this elderly man of early 60's who walks, walks and walks. I see him on the opposite side of road, sometimes across the street. I find him in the mornings and evenings.I find him even when it rains. I would admire his determination to keep fit and healthy. I have noticed that he walks fast, really fast.

So today I finish my chores, feed kids and sneak out for walk.it was a beautiful evening with sun setting and nice weather. My usual goal is 5k within 45 minutes. I was trying hard to complete this in 40 minutes and started to walk above my comfort zone. That's when I hear foot steps behind me and since I have been in a competant mood I decide to increase my pace just to keep up with the steps behind me. And ofcourse I was beaten to this "same man" but this time he smiled at me.

He said "I see you are trying.Come walk behind me."

I smiled and decided to walk behind him. I felt delighted to do so. It felt nice to actually follow someones's foot steps literally.So my work out all of a sudden seemed very interesting to me.

All good things come to an end right? This too has to, but I wished it would have lasted a little more.

I walked, walked, walked until my walk turned to jog.

I jogged, jogged, jogged until my jog turned to run.

I ran,ran, ran until I couldn't any further.

This man was just walking..

I thought,

He should have said

"Come run behind me."

weight loss series

I had an appointment with my endocrinologist and he was pleased that I lost fourteen pounds from my last visit.But I was not too happy to see the numbers because for one- I feel I deserve to lose more weight for the hard work I am putting in and the weight loss has been darn slow.For two- I was disappointed that the scale at doctor's office showed two extra pounds from one at my place.For three-I am scared how will I be able to devote more time and energy to lose twenty more pounds.

He checked my thyroid levels and found out that I needed larger dosage of the medication and he mentioned that this could accelerate the weight loss. He also gave me bunch of paper work for next series of blood tests because my crp cardio levels were apparently high which means that I might have inflammation in some part of my body. So I guess I will stop with this because googling these medical terms only adds to my anxiety.

Coming to working out ,I could never understand when I hear someone say that they do not have time for exercise or for that matter anything. That was in the past so I ask myself what is preventing me from not working out some days.Don't I have time? Do I fall into the same category?

I did not work out today so I thought I would analyse what went wrong.

1.I wake up at 6.00 am to start exercise routine when hubby dear wanted the tread mill for himself.So I decide to start fixing his lunch and breakfast and then exercise.
2.Going out for a walk in our beautiful neighourhood in the dark( yes!Sun God does not shower his blessings until 6.45 am in our sunshine state) is not an option because of the snakes.We have spotted enough snakes this summer which is making me nervous even to venture planting something in our yard.
3.So I fix K's breakfast/lunch and both kids wake up and I give them a bath and fix their breakfast too.Then I send off my daughter to school with her lunch along with K.
4.So by now it is past 9.00 in the morning and there is no way I could get on a treadmill along with my 18 month old toddler. Walking outside is a good option only if your toddler sits in the stroller which does not apply to us.
5.So I decide to finish cooking for the day (I know I have mentioned cooking too many times)along with cleaning up.So by 10.00 I am all ready for my breakfast and my work out goes in vain. So I plan to work out around 11.30am when my son would go for a nap and give enough time for my food to digest.
4.But well! my parents call up and I spend another thirty minutes in a call.I cannot compramise on that..can I? So by 12.00 pm I decide I need to start my treadmill when I hear the door bell ring and that's the service man to fix my a.c.So now I don't have a choice but stare at his work and the clock.
5.By 1.00 pm I hurry to pick up my daughter from school as soon as the service man leaves.I carry my sleeping son and fasten him to car seat and rush to school.
6.The whole afternoon flies with kids' lunch, cleaning up,teaching abc's and spending time with them aka sorting out Mahabharat battles between them and thus putting my energy to the best use..
7.And don't forget- putting them to nap(one of the most difficult things). Now these brats don't nap together in the sense Soni naps first and when it is time for her to wake up, its Suku's turn to take his second nap. I am trying my best to have them nap together so that I could have some time..but alas!
8.I postpone my work out to evening when K comes.Imagine my broken spirit when amy neighour turns up with chit chat and some gossip and hinting me to offer some coffee. All this while only thing in my mind was working out.
9.So by the time she left , kids and hubby are ready for dinner and so was I which means I cannot exercise until next few minutes(err hours).

And by 9.30p.m I am exhausted and decide I would rather cuddle up with my kids reading a story book than getting on a treadmill.

But as I go to bed, I promise myself that tomorrow will be a better day for working out!

And I question myself again- Do I have time to work out or not?

Preschool tales

I pick up Soni from school and she starts her chit chat as usual.

Soni- Amma I am not happy today.

Me - emayindi Soni?

Soni- I am sad amma

Me- What happened?

Soni- Lucas pushed me amma

Me- Uh oh

Soni- I was playing in the playground and Luca pushed me amma

Me- Avuna, debba tagilinda Soni?

Soni- No amma, Luca pushed me

She seemed so upset that I was wondering if I have to bring this up with her teacher and ask her if she was acting ok at school.

Me- Nuvvu miss Chris tho cheppava Soni?(Miss Chris is her teacher)

Soni- No amma, Luca pushed me

Me- mari nuvvu em chesav?

Soni- I pushed Luca back again amma...

:-/

Hubby series -B

So we sit down to watch our holiday movie (that's the name given to movies we watch after kids go to bed during weekends)at 9.30 pm after a difficult phase of putting kiddos to bed. So I get all set to watch the movie along with you beside me and first 15 minutes flew by..Did I mention that any movie which brings a smile to my face appeals to me nowadays and this is coming from a very very picky movie watcher once-upon- a time.I guess having kids changes you in certain ways.So I get hooked onto the idiot box when we hear our brat whine. We pause for while and then continue with the movie.There he goes again..Whine turns to shriek and next minute we hear Soni screaming. So I run upstairs and settle the kids down.After a while I realise that thirty minutes have flown by and kids are asleep. I go down stairs and see that you are into the movie.I would lie if I say that I was not bit jealous.I asked you what happened last thirty minutes and the very minute realised that you were at the same place where I left.
"Nuvvu lekunda ela chustanu ra?" You said..

Yes! That moment did mean a lot to me :-)

Skool and shoes

Suku and I drive to pick up Soni every afternoon around 1.00pm.There are exactly three signals after which I take a left turn to enter into a school complex.Today I crossed third signal to take the left turn as usual when I hear

Suku- Akka skool

Me- what..enti Suku?

Suku (almost jumping from joy)- akka skoooool

The 17 month brat could make out from the 'third signal' that he was about to see his favourite person in the world.

So now its mommy's turn to feel overjoyed and she stops in front of the school's parking lot shovering a kiss to her laadla while taking him out of the car seat when the brat starts screaming.

Suku- ammaaaa aaaaaa

Me- ???

Suku- shooos shooooos

Ok that's the brat's ultimate reminder for his emotional momma to not forget to put on his shoes.

:-)

Caafi

Soni insists that I call her dad at office.So I call K only to hear a voice mail. I tell Soni that nanna is not at desk.

Soni- Where is nanna

Me- He is not at desk Soni

Soni- ekkada vellindi nanna?(Where did he go?)

Me- Probably to get some coffee Soni

Soni (thinks for a while)-Ok tarvatha call chestha (I shall try later)


After few minutes K calls to check up on us.

Soni- Nanna dunkin donuts ki enduku vellav?(Why did you go to Dunkin Donuts?)

K- enti Soni?

Soni- Coffee kosam Dunkin Donuts ki endu ku vellav?

K and I couldn't help but crack up..



P.s-We visit Dunkin Donuts during weekends for coffee.So Soni thinks K has gone to DD to fetch some coffee

Mine

So Soni dear is in a "This is mine " phase.Now mommy is all clueless where she picked this sentence from especially in English.So our typical morning goes like this-

Suku plays with the teddybear.

Soni- This is my Teddy bear Suku

Suku- Ammaa ammaa(complain mode)

Suku takes a peek into his sister's favourite tv show.

Soni- Suku this is my Dora

Suku runs to restroom to accompany his sister and Soni yells

"This is my restroom."

The height of this phase is when Suku calls for amma and Soni says "This is my amma"

Ok..so don't get me wrong. I try my best to teach my soon 3 year old that she needs to share everything with her brother ofcourse the saga continues.

So we go to a restaurant and Soni picks something spicy from my plate and starts to choke (cough)a bit. While I comfort her with some water Suku imitates her cough and starts doing it repeatedly.

Soni (while trying to sip water amidst the chaos)- This is my Daggu Suku ..This is my Daggu..

Kiran and I- :-/


*Daggu- cough in Telugu

Happy Birthday sweetheart!

This is 8th birthday together!I can't believe it's almost 8 years . I couldn't ask for more.

On this birthday I'm wishing you something which you always suffocate me with

"Love, laughter and Love"!!

Happy Birthday Kiran!

I wish you the best health and happiness forever.

complain?

We complain everyday. We complain that we do not have a better job inspite of making enough to meet basic needs like food, shelter. We complain about the noisy neighours when we are good enough to have a nice house. We complain that the food in the restaurant is spicy or salty forgetting we are in a position to afford a nice meal in one of the expensive restaurants. We complain that the weather is too cold or hot inspite of having able to afford the electronic controls to live in a comfortable room temperature. We complain about long drive to work inspite of having able to afford the car.We complain complain complain.

Now?

Weight loss series

My tread mill work outs are going good and am proud that I finally reached the phase of burning 225 calories(20 mins) today. I still find it difficult to take another 30 minutes from my schedule to fit my work out plan.I need to focus on doing that.However I am planning to keep up with this for another week and then try to increase the calories. Meanwhile I did not succeed in keeping the good diet.I had a small pizza and also panner butter masala this week:-/.Atleast I avoided Indian restaurant and instead ordered p.b masala and had them with home made rotis.That way I did not fill up my calories with unnecessary cold drinks and appetizers from restaurant.

So I need to watch what I eat more carefully but good news is that I am able to fit size 11(I started with size 6-7) and went up to 15.

I do have long way to go but atleast I am on the road.

Weight loss series

As seen in the ticker, there is no change in the weight. I am eating wise and trying to walk for a mile from a week. I am planning to add one more mile in the evening.

Lessons

1)If you ever crave for ice cream or some sugars never buy a bigger can. Even though the small cup may be expensive, it is so worth it.

2) Never buy anything which you would not eat while following a healthy life style.Like bag of chips may be tempting and you might promise yourself that you will eat this in limited quantity but you never know.So why taking pain to buy that and not eat it !

3) Never go shopping in empty stomach.

Again, I am trying to remind myself that I am not dieting or doing something which will not be a part of my lifestyle in future. For instance, I am never fan of salads so I am not going to eat salads to lose weight because I know that I will never be able to keep up with salads after few months which may result in me gaining back the weight. Instead I feel better if I coook veggies and eat so that i know that this will be forever the part of my lifestyle.

This process of weight loss may be slow but I think I will make it!

Blocks

Nowadays,Soni getting close to being a three year old, I can see her feeling insecure and jealous over the attention we show on her brother. So this is quite a challenging phase for me since Soni is agressive by nature.Though we keep hearing how common it is between two siblings one doesn't understand unless they face it.So I always try and keep extra patience while I have to make my toddler understand how she should take care of her brother.

So yesterday after nap schedule I was trying to engage both the kids with some blocks. While Soni was building a tower, Suku happened to knock it. Soni lost her temper and threw a block at him. The block was a plastic one.Ofcourse her behaviour is unexcusable. I tried to make her understand and tell her that I am not happy with what she just did. I kept reminding her of the incident and how it could hurt someone.
So after a while

Me- Soni, Suku nee tammu..nuvvu manchiga undali.

Soni- Ok amma

Me- mari tammu ki tagili unte?

Soni- Sorry amma

Me-Tammu ki inka emi teleedu.

Soni- Suku baby amma

Me- mari baby ni evarayina ee block to kodatara?(I showed a random block)

Soni- yellow block amma yellow block to kottindi Soni

:/

Dollars

I am sitting on couch catching up on news on the paper.Suku is taking his first nap while Soni keeps herself busy playing with my purse.

Soni- Amma vook amma vook(she cannot pronounce"L" YET)

Me- enti cheppu

She manged to pull few bucks from my purse and shows me

" naa daggira four dollars unnai amma"

Yup! She was right.I have never told her what a dollar is. The smarty pants figured it out and has started to count right.

Weight loss series

Yes! I am going to update my journey towards weight loss. It has been a while since I've the ticker on my blog yet I did not lose a pound!

Atleast talking about this might motivate me do something about this.
To start with,I ve always been in healthy weight all way long from my childhood, teens. It was in 2003 in US after marriage that I was diagnosed with Hypo- thyroid and was put under medication .My thyroid when diagnosed was way low and doctor was quite surprised when he saw my levels and re-ordered the test. He mentioned he has never seen such low thyroid in his career. So I assumed that I have had this from years before but just did not know. But the funny thing is I've started gaining weight only after medication.Ofcourse it took me few months to realise the problem and I did started to work out and watch my diet. It is definitely difficult for a person with thyroid issues to keep weight under control. I read somewhere that such person has to work hard atleast twice as normal one to achieve goals. But I did it and was glad I could keep it.

Then I delivered my daughter in 2008. I had a c-section and lost all my pre pregnancy weight with little effort. That was when I started missing some pills and my thyroid got messy.Co-incidentally I came to know that I was pregnant with my son.So I was put on double doasge of the medication and my pregnancy went fine. I delivered my boy in 2010 and then my struggle started.

Within few days of my c-section, I stated to break down in hives all over.They were so bad that my face, my whole body used to swell up. My boy was not even a week old and I had to run to emergency where they said I'm getting hyper- thyroidic. So i stopped my medication and followed up with pcp. I was put on anthisthamines for my hives and sent home. Still everyday I had hives which literally made my life miserable. All this continued for 3 months when all of sudden I was sitting in a couch and felt something was wrong. What happened? well..actually nothing! Yes, that is what I told my husband. I could not express what was happening coz I did not know what!I had some queasy feeling in my stomach, felt I could not breathe, wanted to scream, cry and what not! I freaked out. I left the kids with my husband and had a walk outside and felt better after 1-2 hrs. This continued days, weeks, months and I just did not know what to expect.

I followed up with allergist shortly to see if hives could have some cure and they found that I have some thyroid antibodies attacking my system.

So I finally found some answers.The feeling I described above was related to a panic attack which is common with the condition(Hashimitos) I was having.So I followed up with endo who put me on thyroid medication (though my thyroid was not hypo)and I started feeling better.I am still not on right dosage and am working with the doctor.But I'm glad that I found some answers.

Whatever, amidst all these issues, with a very little help, with Kiran's change of jobs, with a demanding toddler and an infant , I just could not concentrate on my weight management.One fine day I realise that I'm atleast 25 pounds over weight and need to do something about this.

So here I am!

The past year has been quite eventful but for sure made me spiritually strong.

Yes! 2010 has brought me close to spirituality and am grateful to have bonded in this relationship with Almighty.

Happy Birthday!

My little boy is not little anymore. It's bitter sweet.He is into toddlerhood and I still cannot get over this feeling.He is walking,chasing his big sister, keeps me on toes all day.I love him!

Happy Birthday my sweetheart Sumukh aka Pluto!!

New Year start

Mickey who?

Soni- Hey Minnie ,How are you?

Me- What?

Soni- Nuvvu Minnie amma

Me- ok..so nuvvu enti?

Soni- I am Mickey amma.

I still surprised how she has picked up English sentences ask her

"Mari Sumukh enti?"

Soni- Sumukh emo Pluto.

Me- Nanna?

She pauses for a minute and then she declares

"Nanna emo Goofy"

I crack up.

Seriously this girl keeps me entertained all day long with her chit chat.

Kiran comes home in the evening.

Soni- Hi Goofy

Kiran-?

Sonu- Goofy..yes, you are Goofy(followed by some gibberish which is supposed to be English)

So Kiran after listening to this story finalises

" If amma is Minnie,I should be Mickey Soni"

Soni- No nanna, amma Minnie, nenu Mickey.

Kiran- Nenu mickey ra..amma Minnie kada

Soni- No, I am Mickey.

And this goes on and on while Pluto keeps staring at these characters.

I guess

we sound like one crazy Disney family.