Mommy Center

Thank God For Teachers!!

2011-03-29T19:32:00.000-04:00

It is no wonder that the world, at one time came up with the concept of having a Guru. I wonder when it all began, but whenever it did, I am so glad it did!!!

The reason is simple. Now that my little boy has begun learning his ABC's and 123's, I have to make an honest attempt to sit down with him so he learns it. It all began with enthusiasm, like many other first-times. Excitement to buy his first set of crayons, pencils and erasers. Hunting down good books with which I could 'educate' my child. And, I was ever so confident that he would pick up everything in a jiffy. Boy, was I wrong!! No, don't read me wrong here. Not like he has some sort of a learning disability. But each time we sit for our learning sessions, I remember my parents. I really do. How in the blue blazes did they get me this far?

Recognizing the alphabet and numbers came easily and very long ago. In fact, I think most kids learn that pretty soon. But today, when he writes H instead of A and makes 12 look like a duck drowning in water, after a good 6 months or more of him learning to write, it ticks me off! He even has a big red book that he got as a gift from a good friend which has loads of writing, reading and coloring exercises. I sit with him to work on it. I really do, I promise. But, by the 13th minute into us writing B for the 15th time and still drawing a big fat lady instead, it can be really frustrating.

So, well, I am not saying I am worked up about the fact that he is not learning things. He is. Just at his own pace. Just like every other child. It is not like he is going to face his Bachelor's Degree examinations in two months, right?! Thinking of which - Teachers, professors, mentors, guides, gurus or whatever name you want to call them - are certainly a blessing to this society. I know its nothing new I am saying here. But, when you get to this stage of parenting is really when you realize how much people of this profession mean to this world. Thank god for teachers for otherwise I'd be having my Blood Pressure skyrocketing every time I saw ABC!

Congratulations Ramya!

2011-02-23T21:21:00.000-05:00

Hello Ladies! And, yes its been a L.O.N.G time since we all 'met-up' out here. But I just happened to chance on a reason to do so. And, what a wonderful one indeed. Thought I would let you all know that Ramya is now proud Mommy to her second son, Ishan. Congratulations Ramya and Vikram! I am guessing Ramya is the first on Mommy Center to be Mommy of two. So Congrats on that note too!

Ramya, I leave it to you to fill us with all the details on Ishan. Do so when you can because we all know how busy the initial days are, with a new baby around. I am sure big bro, Anish, is enjoying his lil sibling. We'd love to hear it all. Fill us in and do not forget to update your information on Mommy Center! And last but not the least - BESTEST LUCK WITH EVERYTHING!!!

Heartwarming foodie story

2011-02-02T04:29:00.002-05:00

I really loved the way this was written...just thought i'd share it with you ladies:
Its from a food blogger with 2 kids...here she makes creamy homemade butter the old fashioned way, with help from her 2 elves :)

http://dashandbella.blogspot.com/2011/01/milestones.html

Children's Ailment Symptoms - What They Mean?

2010-09-29T07:36:00.000-04:00

Here's a link on Baby Center that I thought would come of help to us parents to diagnose what may be the underlying ailment of the symptoms your child shows when he/she (God forbid) is unwell.

http://www.babycenter.com/symptom-guide?scid=preschooler_20100928:3&pe=2Uj7C8Z

It's a keeper. Save it!

Off To School!

2010-09-07T15:20:00.001-04:00

To start with, let me thank Vijaya and Pallavi for putting up posts on Mommy Center. That gave me enough inspiration to do this post which has been long over-due.

In Jan 2010 my little one turned two years old, we were thinking of putting him in playschool. I know two is a really tender age....but still, we began seeing the need for him to have more social exposure. Not because he was any sort of an introvert or self-contained, but simply for him to develop inter-personal and communication skills. I know, I know.. these are awefully heavy words to be thrusted on the shoulders of a two year old...but, let's face it - It is a Big Bad World - And we, for one, have to give our kids all their ammunition as soon as they can learn to deal with it!

So before I start sounding like we have to train a warrior , let me jump straight to the point. There are several things that change when you put your child into school - of any sort. Starting from emotional and physical needs to financial and time related issues that get involved the moment you enrol your child. I've tried to put together some consice guidline as to what you might expect and how to prepare for your child, as he/she enters this new world!

FINDING THE RIGHT SCHOOL

You might need to do a bit of groud-work before you zero in on a particular school for your child. This becomes easy when you talk to people who have kids the same age. Do so! And, of course you have the internet to assist you with all the other information you need. Once you have a list of preffered schools based on all the logistical aspects (Distance, How you would commute, Who drops baby etc.), look into the other things like

- The school being recognized by an Educational Board/Government

- What all timings/sessions they have for children belonging to age group that of your child

- Do they require the child to be potty trained. If not, do they assist with the same

- Food and snack requirements

- What kind of activities they do for various age groups

- Teacher-Child ratio

- Cleanliness/Hygiene

Visit the zeroed-in schools with your child. If they allow you to take a tour, do just that. See how the teachers are interacting with the kids and how they greet you and your child when you go visiting. If possible, spend a couple of minutes with the concerened prospective teacher to get more information and a feeler of the class in-progress.

What we did
Distance was a big contraint for us, because I had to not just drop S but also my hubby every morning. So we found 3 schools that were close by and then filtered them down based on distance, timings and price. He now attends school from 8:30am to 11:30am. Sad part is he gets no snack in this (long!) time-frame. But, he has got used to it (because he is now having fun at school), so its fine. It also eases all the fights I used to have at lunch time. He gets so hungry that he eats without a fuss!

MENTAL MAKE-UP

Once you have decided on a school to enrol your child, take him with you each time you visit the school to drop off papers/forms. This will familiarize your child with the school and its surroundings. Keep talking to him about school frequently throughout the day and about all the fun things they do there. You could even introduce him to some other older kids around your neighbor-hood who go to school and ask them to talk to your baby about all the friends he will soon be getting.

What we did
I spoke to S about school for about a month or more before we got him enrolled. That helped to a large extent. Also, since he saw all the toys and other kids he knew that school was not a torture arena. I have nephews here who attend middle and high school. I asked them to talk to him and that I guess worked too, because he got first hand experiences, albeit made-up *wink*

LET'S GET SHOPPING

Now that you've cajoled your little one into going to a new place where Momma dear would not be around to watch his tantrums - get shopping! Again, involve your child in this, too and tell him that all this is for him when he goes to school. Stash up on all the things you think your child will need. Clothes, diapers, pull-ups, wipes, sippy-cups/glasses, snacks, a nice bag - and yes, CLOTHES! (My laundry has begun growing exponentially ever since S started school).

What we did
In S's school, each child is provided with a cubby (short for cupboard, I'm guessing!) to keep his bag of things. Apart from pull-ups and wipes (since he is in the process of being potty trained) I keep two sets of extra clothing. Check about what your play-school requires you to keep and do so accordingly.

WELCOME GERMS!

Yes. Yes. Yes! You heard me. Get ready to have germs and viruses entre your house-hold without notice. How? Oh from school! Did you forget already? One child catches a cold and its passed on and on and on. But do not fret. This is the only way your child will get his immunity to the thousands of cold, cough and flu causing viruses there are. So, make sure you have all medication handy at home. Although I recommend that you use it only if the ailment is too severe. Keep checking expiry dates on all of them, for these germy fellas do not know to knock the door - They just barge right in!

Most importantly - You might want to check on all the immunizations/vaccinations that your child has received and update the records. Schools like to have a record of this.

What we did
S's school required us to give all his medical information and a permission from the doctor that he was ready to attend school. The rest, the germs took care off!

GETTING READY FOR THE BIG DAY!

And its not all about having your child mentally ready for school - Before you are cerain about putting you child to school, make sure YOU are ready for the big change. Are you okay with having another person deal with your toddler? Are there any concerns in your mind? If so, make sure you talk it all out first with your partner and then with the school authorities. Leaving your child in his/her classroom the first day and walking out as he/she is screaming out for you is no joke. So make up your mind about being stern with yourself.

Putting your trust in your little one's teachers and school authorities is the first and fore-most important thing to do. Talk to them everyday just so that you know your child is safe and you can rest assured! The first few days are hard for both you and your child. But there has been no child (or parent) who has been in this period forever! So cheer up!

What we did
On S's first day at play school, I just did as adviced by some good friends - I dropped him and waved good-bye and drove back home. Of course, the moment I got out of the car and started walking towards our house my knees felt like jelly. My mind went wary as I opened the door, and it hit me just how lonely I was without him around. Yet, I consoled myself (and talking to a couple friends who had been thru this in the recent past helped) and time just flew by.

Also, the longer you hover around your child in the class, he is going to expect the same each and every day - Thus, making peeling him off to independance a far worse task than you thought. And, who is the culprit? You! So just leave. The teachers are trained to take care of kids. They know better!

AND THEREAFTER...

It does not end with the first day. In fact, it does not even begin on that day. Why? Simply because your child (if he is like S and is a people loving) will not realize that this is going to be a daily affair. It is only the second day onwards that your child gets to know about this and wails out louder than you have ever heard him. But, stay strong. He'll be fine. Make sure you are, first!

What we did
Of course, S got really clingy for about two weeks after we first started him at play-school. If we were grocery shopping and I left him with his Dad to fetch something from the neighboring aisle, he would go bonkers and run for me. I did upset me and I was left wondering if he'd ever get over this insercurity. But he did. And boy, the process of them settling into school is weird. So is their behaviour. I still remember on his third day, he cried, oh yes! But, he cried, got off my arms and went towards his teacher!! Then on, there's been no stopping. (or crying!) :)

In conclusion, here's a little note to all those Mom's planning on putting your toddlers into school for a couple hours each day. Do not be under the impression that your day will be so much more relaxed with your child away. It gets a tad bit hectic in the mornings, with you pacing around trying to get food into your child's tummy so he wont starve his day off at school. But, it is all worth it when they're off and you put up your feet, even if its for five minutes, after the crazy morning before you get back to your own life.

Then, before you realize it its time to pick up your little one and time flies by. And just as I end this post, I sit back to read up the new curriculum they handed me at school. S just graduated from play-school (where he spent 4 months) to prep-school. I should've done this post four months back... but oh well!!

Birth story - Vijaya

2010-08-31T09:50:00.000-04:00

Well, all of you can afford not to write even after that threatening post from Deepti but unfortunately I cannot take the risk. I am meeting Deepti this weekend and I thought I better write in something I have been meaning to write my birth story before I forget the details and so here it goes. Krish is now 14 months but as I am trying to recollect the events of the day, it seems like such a long time.

My husband works in New York and it is a 3 hour drive from our place, one way. So, it was lucky that I woke up at 4 in the morning with a slight pain. It was very slight but it was enough for my husband to decide to not go to work that day. Now my motto in life is ‘Do not do something now that can be postponed and done latter’ and so accordingly my hospital bag was not packed and along the same line, I had some work that I had to complete before I went and delivered a baby. By 6 in the morning, the pain intensity had increased but the interval was still long. So, in this interval I sat with the laptop trying to finish work that unfortunately could not be postponed anymore, all the while giving instructions to my husband about what to put into my hospital bag (but honestly, the only thing I finally needed and used were my bathroom slippers and the dress to come back home in).

The interval kind of shortened and then we left to the hospital around 10 (there was also some bad time that we had to cross, my in-laws were there and so you see no arguing there). It’s around a 40 minute drive to the hospital and as were driving, I kept thinking how the next time I am on this road, the baby would be out and with me. So anyhow, we reach the hospital and I go walking in and seeing me the nurse predicted that it could be false pain. Sign, I should have come in a wheel chair. They monitored and checked me and since I had not dilated much, they decided that the baby was not coming anytime soon and that I should go home. And so went back home on the very same streets I thought I would be coming with a baby the next time I remember speaking to my mom on the way back home and she was quite shocked that they wouldn’t admit me in. The concept of limited hospital beds, insurance etc. did not mean much to her. However, on the way back I realized that my pain was increasing in intensity. Now, the doctor in the hospital had told us that I may take from a couple of days(minimum) to a couple of weeks(my due date was anyway a couple of weeks away) and they also told us not to come back until the pain interval was less than 4 minutes apart . My brother-in-law and sister-in-law had also arrived by the time we reached home. My pain slowly started getting worse and unbearable in the afternoon. But we did not want to go back to the hospital because the doctor was so confident about it not happening anytime soon and obviously the doctors know it better!

I can still picture my bedroom, I am trying to sit, walk, sleep, anything to make the pain a little better, my husband and BIL timing my pain, my MIL and SIL massaging my back and walking with me. Given a choice, ladies, please have an epidural. I wanted to have one! I could and still cannot understand when people say they do not want to have one. I am still so cheesed off by the fact that in this 21st century, having the option of not having to go through the excruciating pain of childbirth, I went through it!:) The previous day, I had my appointment with my gynic and she had told me that my effacement was more than 90%. My guess is they only considered my dilation and did not take my effacement into the picture when I went to the hospital. From what I understood in the birthing class, both the dilation and effacement have to happen. A lot of times the dilation happens and it takes a while to reach the 100% effacement. But in my case, I think I started dilating pretty quickly in the afternoon and since I had completed 100% effacement, I was directly into the pushing stage.

By 4 in the evening, the pain had passed and I was at the pushing stage. We then rushed to the hospital. I asked my BIl to drive the car and asked my husband to sit with me in the back in case I delivered! As I had mentioned earlier, it is a 40 minute drive to the hospital and I did not think I could last that long. I should thank my BIL for getting me to the hospital in a record time by breaking all speed limits and skipping a couple of traffic signals! My water broke in the car. Krish was born 10 minutes after we reached the hospital! He was almost a car baby.

I remember the nurse in the birthing class telling all of us, mostly first time moms how the delivery is the easy part, what comes latter is the challenging phase. And fourteen months into this roller-coaster ride, where no two days are the same, I so agree with her.

I end this post with a picture of Krish on his first birthday.

Birthday Party Ideas

2010-08-31T07:18:00.013-04:00

I was heartbroken when Deepti said she may shut down Mommy Center...so I decided to push myself a bit and make this post. Would be awesome to hear everyone's stories too!

1st Birthday Celebration Ideas
Courtesy: Friends/family/self

If the big day is almost upon you(or upon you yet again if your kid's older than 1!), then here's a little help with planning!

Theme parties

Very popular and as much fun to organize as they are for the lil ones.

Popular themes seem to be:
1. Zoo/Jungle/Farm theme - since most 1 year olds are fascinated by animals. M loves butterflies so her party HAD to have a butterfly theme!

2. Cartoon character theme - works well for kids who're hooked on a character from a book, a soft toy or game. Popular ones include Pooh/Mickey Mouse/Disney characters

3. Flowers/Pretty garden theme - works well for girls or metrosexual boys!
4. Water theme - lends itself to great outdoor party with splash pool/water based games, but needs more supervision. Attempt only if all the kids are escorted by parents!

CAKE: The big advantage with theme parties is the cakes are simple to plan since you already have a basic theme. The only decision is - bake at home or buy? Tip**: I combined both and bought a basic chocolate truffle cake and did the decorating at home. FOOD: Cookies in line with the theme. You could make cut-outs in the shape of the theme characters/flowers etc. OR make basic round ones and ice them with easy to pipe royal icing.

DECORATIONS: Buy ready giant size posters/cut outs in the theme, pick out pretty paper plates and paper tissue with prints to match the theme. Balloons are always a delight! Tip**: We used thin fish wire to string up cut outs of animals all along the ceiling of the house so whenever M looked up she would see an animal.

FAVOURS: Pick up party favours with some elements of the theme on them, make your own personalized gift bags(or buy them ready) with thank you tags with a little printed image of the birthday boy/girl and some element of the theme. Tip**: For the grown ups, its easiest to just get some sinful filled chocolates, we got a mix of truffles, liquer centres and nutty dark chocs. Pop them into a pretty gift bag with some theme related confetti(lots of teeny silver butterflies in our case) and you're good to go!

Picnic in the Park

Nice if you have a great spot to unpack a lovely picnic meal for a small group(or if you have a park with BBQ stands/lots of play areas then works for a big group too).

CAKE: The cake won't last long if this is a summer party, so cut it first and then get on with the games!

FOOD: Keep it simple but tasty. If its going to be a 'cold' picnic then pack things that taste just as good cold. Sandwiches(make sure you buy really good bread and only the very best butter for the base), Salads(Potato/Thai/Chaat/Fruit), Cheeses, Vietnamese rice paper rolls are crunchy and fresh, wraps that you assemble just before eating. If you have a BBQ that opens up a whole world of options! From basic burgers, to tandoori food to satay and grilled meats! Baked potatoes work well and you can make some 3-4 different fillings and let people pile on their fave flavors(chili, cheese, butter, hung curd with greens/capers...)

DECORATIONS: Nothing really, just remember to carry lots of rugs/mats, paper tissues and plenty of garbage bags to clear up after you're done!

FAVOURS: Keeping with the picnicky theme, give away the favours in miniature cane woven baskets that resemble picnic hampers. Or give the kids frisbees or other outdoorsy game stuff with a red and white checkered ribbon tied around to match those picnic rugs!

A visit to the zoo/aquarium with just mom n dad

If you'd like to skip all the hype and hoopla and have a simple day out together, then this may be just what your lil one will love too!

Tip**: Watch what your lil one enjoys doing most when you're out together to help you plan. If its meeting other kids, then maybe you should go somewhere he/she can meet other lil kids...even a toy store! If s/he likes reading then spend an hour at a bookstore allowing her/him to pick put some fave books for their birthday. If your kid loves watching little fish swim around in the tank in a restaurant or at a friend's home then plan a trip to the aquarium followed by a snack lunch or tea at the beach. Or hit the zoo! While you don't need to worry about party favours and decorations, a few balloons and a little cake would be nice to remember the day by! And don't forget your camera :)

Make someone else's day special

Take your kid to visit their great grandparents/grandparents or family members who would love to see how big s/he has grown! And from the money saved on the party expenses, sponsor a child's education/healthcare or clothing for a year via World Vision or GiveIndia or similar charities.

Happy Birthday to all the lil ones who turn 1 this year!

Chrs,
Pallavi

PS: Happy Party Planning to all the Mommies :D

The Last Call!

2010-08-18T17:48:00.000-04:00

Ladies, THIS is it!

Looks like we're all too busy to write even a single word here, let alone a post. So, if you all agree I'd just shut this whole thing down. So much for a slow death, might as well turn it off altogether!

And, it is not just all/any of you but me too who is to be blamed. Life does get hectic with growing kids. So much that even though we mean to write here, we don't! So its fine. Nothing lost!

But, if there is anyone out there who believes this blog can get back to life...write a post. NOW. This is your last chance. Else, I delete it!

Superfoods for kids

2010-06-20T00:01:00.000-04:00

Baby Center recommends these superfoods as a must have for kids. So, even if you have a picky eater, try to work these wonder foods into their meals using fun ways and sit back and watch the nutrients glide into your little soldiers tummy!

Click here for the super duper list!

I. Me. MYSELF!

2010-06-18T22:43:00.000-04:00

They do not call it the 'terrible twos' for nothing. There are definitely two things happening. Of course I know that that is not the actual meaning of the term. The real meaning is about the phase that toddlers go through anywhere between 18m to the end of toddlerhood. Some kids, they say, get on the 'terrible' wagon much earlier.

I know many moms out here who would have already gone through this phase. But, here is a little fresh take on it. There is, of course, the whole 'gaining personality and independance' thing happening with your toddler. But, there is another thing happening side by side. And that, dear mommies, is the regaining of our personality and independance. Your once teeny, weeny helpless baby has blossomed into the most energetic, I-can-do-it rebel that you never imagined you would see. And as he/she peels away from you causing bittersweet emotions, you youself begin to realize that you are regaining control over your own life.

I can, personally, see the difference. These days I can at least think about doing something that I like and not worry about too much disturbance from my little one. Just give him some crayons and a paper and he is happy...and I am happy too! Yea, one side of the whole thing makes me sad that he is now a person - all on his own. Not 100% free yet, but almost there. And on the other side I am like "Hooorah"!

Did any of you experienced moms feel the same way? And those of you yet to get here...hang tight. For the terrible twos give you a lot more than just truck loads of tantrums!

Peace & Smiles
Deepti!

how to get single children to entertain themselves?

2010-05-25T05:01:00.002-04:00

hiya ppl,

i am a regular 'visitor' of mommy-center and a great fan too :) a friend of pallavi's she introduced me to this wonderful group last year when i was expecting my first. i have a lil girl Urvi who is now 6 months old.

as she is growing older, i am a little concerned about the fact that she needs a face in front of her/ around her at all times. she is happy to play on her own with no one around - but that time is the morning time for a brief 20 mins. in the evenings, once husband returns home, she is still happy to play on her own - but only when she can see our faces. which means she is privy to our discussions. which is ok for now. but as she grows up, i am sure i wouldn't want her to be privy to ALL of it.

any tips on how to manage this.

cheers!

How Mom's Can Stay Sane!

2010-04-30T13:49:00.000-04:00

Hey Ladies!

I found this interesting read on baby-center.. Of course not all of them may be practically possible... but its worth a try, is it not?

http://www.babycenter.com/0_indulgences-how-mothers-stay-sane_3421.bc?page=1

Check it out when you get a couple minutes of free time :)

Kids Reading List- ideas!

2010-04-22T05:08:00.001-04:00

If you're wondering what books you'd want your kids to read, this is a nice link a friend forwarded to me recently, check it out!

http://www.saffrontree.org/

Mommy Talk!

2010-04-09T21:13:00.003-04:00

I've come to this stage in motherhood, where I think I simply cannot carry on a conversation without mentioning a little something about my son to the person in context, especially if my lil man is around/in the vicinity. It's pretty funny how I can go on and on about how he plays with his blocks in such a dramatic narration that I do not bother if the other person is even interested or not. How moms can get carried away with 'Mommy Talk'!

But, then there is another side of this coin. And that comes into play when the other person involved in the conversation is not a mom or a parent. I've discussed this with many mommy friends and they all agree, that it simply is not the same kind of conversation that we normally would have had pre-baby! Every now and then I hit this void (especially with new contacts) and then the ice-breaker is invariably some new antic that my son would have picked up over the past couple days.

Have I forgotten how to converse 'normally'? Or is this just the way we moms are...I do not know. Do we out-grow this as our little ones grow up? Because I think my mom knows to talk to people without mentioning me. I am pretty darn sure about that! It is probably more common a 'syndrome' among stay-home moms because we are seeing our kids 24/7 and there is really nothing more than we can talk about. I mean, I cannot discuss the number of dishes I washed or what I have cooking in my kitchen with everyone I meet, can I?!!!

Hello Ladies!

2010-04-06T21:46:00.002-04:00

Is there anyone out here? I know I myself have not been writing too much out here off-late... but why am I the ONLY one who has been writing here? I understand that with kids growing up it does take up our entire day... but we're here to share just about anything - Not just baby/kid related stuff.

Come on and let us breathe in new life to Mommy Center. Share your latest scoops..even if its just a day out at the park with your little one, or a terrible day at work. Bring on the posts...yet again!

The Dawn of Bribery

2010-02-21T15:02:00.003-05:00

Well, its something we all have encountered as kids. "Do this, and I'll give you that.." or the very famous, "Eat your food, and I'll get you that new toy you always wanted!"

I never thought I would use these exact same phrases. But time has come! It is one thing to make a statement and another to keep it up. There have been times when I have said to my little sonny that I'd give him a new set of ABC' fridge magnets if he'd finish drinking his milk...but no matter what the outcome, I would not keep up my word. Not because I dont remember it once he has/has not had his milk, but for reasons better known to me (I'm already tip-toeing across the floor with toys all over!). But, just the other day, he asked me where the new set of ABC magnets were and I lied (again!) saying the monster took it away.. just so that I could save the same tactic for his next I-dont-want-milk tantrum.

Is it right to do this? Would they stop trusting our words? I fear that from the bottom of my heart.

Do any of you do so? Share your thoughts!!

The Big Question

2010-02-01T20:10:00.005-05:00

...and it lurks in the minds of most people who have had their first experience with a baby already - Should we have another one? Its not uncommon I would think, but what kind of feelings are associated with this decision, no one can tell. And it pretty much depends on a lot of circumstances, as with many major decisions.

Yet, beyond everything that's going on with your first child, do you still believe that it is a necessity to have 'just one more' (lol, do I sound like I'm asking for an extra cookie with guilt)? More so that your first child will have a companion to grow up with...and someone he/she can call family when we're long gone?

I know you all must be thinking now, "So, have you decided to have a second one?". Well, sorry to disappoint you - No. Not yet. I'm in a state of confusion myself. More so since I am dealing with the terrible two's phase I find myself yelling on most days and saying, "God, I don't want another baby!". But I've not decided. Ya, its a very personal thing... but there are some aspects of it that I thought I could put out here.

For starters, I have lived a good three decades of life without the need for a sibling. So, I do not quite know what it even feels like to have one. No, I'm not complaining. In fact, I'd say I would think I never ever had a problem being alone. Even today, I don't feel that having one would make my life any better. And I'm not against those of you who have siblings. I'm sure that is a good life in itself.

Besides this, I wonder, maybe a second child will help the first to learn a lot of things. Like being responsible, sharing and caring for another person. And this will further extend to the second one since they (Ive heard) in most cases ape the first.

What do you think? What's your answer to the Big Question?

Where is everybody?

2010-01-06T07:59:00.002-05:00

Let me guess. Enjoying the holidays and having trouble getting back into the routine?? At least that's what has been happening in my case. Its been so long that I even logged in to blogger. Too bad. But hey, nothing is lost.... Let's reconnect ladies!!

I hope you all have a fantabulous 2010 and an even better time being 'Mommy'!!

Get blogging!!

PMS, Anger, Frustration and its aftermath!

2009-11-20T14:56:00.002-05:00

Do you want to bang your head against the wall somedays just because there was another dish to be washed not too long after you did a thousand dishes? Do you feel like you do so much and there seems to be nobody even bothered about it? Do you want to whack the brains out of your toddler simply because he wanted your attention but you were busy? And does all this happen mostly around when its that 'time of the month'??

Im not sure how, when, where or why this has been going on but Im pretty darn sure its PMS. Because I feel downright frustrated, short tempered and get absolutely cheezed off for every little thing around the time of my monthly cycle. Not to mention it has a mind of its own, thanks to PCOS that continues to linger on.

I've seen that working out and following a healthy diet does affect this syndrome. When I do rigorous workouts and watch what I eat the symptoms of PMS such as anger and frustration dont show up as much as the other physical aspects of PMS (bloating, sugary/salty food cravings etc.) which persist to some extent no matter what I do.

Sadly for me, it becomes a catch 22 situation sometimes. And most of the times its when Im taking a break from working out and head into my PMS days that I begin craving chocolate and chips. Yumm! And bang, the next thing you know, Im SO ANGRY and thumping my feet on the floor (Neha do you feel the building vibrate or something??) because something did not happen my way. But if I avoid all this junk then Im a lot better. Ive observed it over months now. But, everyone needs a break, right??!!!

Well here's the real thing that is bothering me. I get upset. So much that I display violent actions in front of Samvit when I'm in those horrible PMS days. On normal days I do get angry too but it dies down fast and then Im like trying to console Samvit and play and all that.... you know, just the normal modus operandi!

But before my cycle, I can be a terror! And sometimes I feel that is getting incorporated in him as a way of handling his own anger. Because these days when he does not get his way he tends to bite and pinch and gets physical. Im afraid if this pattern continues then he might get violent when he goes to school, and worse later!!

To add to it he is in a phase that is termed as the 'terrible twos'. Just adds to the misery on pre-mentrual days. Some days I end up crying when Im alone. But once the cycle is over and done with Im all smiles and just the happy person I had been before. I have a feeling that this upheavel has mostly occured post-delivery. You know, with hormones going crazy thru pregnancy and then post delivery (and PCOS to compound it all!!). I never felt all this pre-pregnancy. Im pretty sure of that and those who know me would agree and not believe that Ive become one wreck of nerves.

My mom keeps telling me to calm down and all that. But its just not that easy. My hubby sees me acting like a tornado but cannot do much except tell me to stay cool because its not Samvit's fault. I agree. But Im not able to stop myself. Its like ther is some invisible power that controlling my emotions.... Um, on second thoughts, it is!!

I'm just pretty worried about the way its all going. And I just needed to share it with people who'd understand and relate to it in some way if not all. Any of you out here going thru all this? How do you handle it?? Let me know!!

Welcome Sadhana Sen

2009-11-10T16:55:00.003-05:00

One more member everyone. We are 25 members now. I think that calls for a celebration!!!

Sadhana Sen is Anitha P B's friend and lives in Auckland, NZ. She has a five month old daughter, Ritisha.

Sadhana, Welcome to Mommy Center.

I have sent you the invite to write on the blog. But apart from accepting the invite, we require our members to do a couple more things. They are listed out below.

1. Subscribe to the posts - Doing so will enable all posts to come straight to your inbox. For this all you have to do is follow these instructions.

2. Share your Profile - This feature is on the blog (Member Profiles) where you can view some basic details about various members of Mommy Center. We would like you to provide us with your information so that we could have it up in this section. Here are the instructions to do so.

We cannot wait to hear from you about everything that you want to share with us out here. Anitha, thank you for another member. Do fill in how you know each other too!!

Happy Blogging!

Anitha P B

2009-11-09T05:30:00.002-05:00

My Information
Name – Anitha Pissay Balakrishna
Profession - Looking of a break. currently working part time
Husband's Name – Srinivasa Rao
Husband's Profession - Research Scientist, Working for Novartis
DOB – 14*August
Wedded Since – 22*May*2003

Interests - Music, dance, reading, working out, teaching Shreyas
About Me - Born and lived my entire life in Bangalore till marriage catapulted me to Singapore. Completed my Masters in Statistics after marriage and with Shreyas in hand (I was pregnant when I started the course).

Son’s Information
Shreyas - Boy, 10*March*2006

A-Z of Animals!!!!

2009-11-09T05:05:00.001-05:00

How do I stop??? NO not stop...satisfy my son's hunger to know 5 animals of all the letters of the alphabets.....Yes!!! You read right!!! 5 animals each for the letters A-to-Z

Shreyas, being a 3+ years old boy is crazy...definitely I can say crazy about animals...how??? He imagines every morsel of his chapathi as an animal.."What is this animal???" (What he means to ask is , which animal does the shape resemble??) he questions me every time he takes a bite.

Last Sunday after an outing to the well lit Orchard Road (Chirstmas season has begun) on the way back home in the bus, Shreyas, started asking "What animal?" His way of letting me know to ask him questions. So I began with Which is the biggest Animal? Tallest Animal? Fastest Animal?Slowest Animal? Animal with longest neck? Longest nose? lots of hair on the face? fastest Bird? biggest Bird? and so on....he finished answering me.....Again he wanted me to ask more questions...for which I began give me 5 animals under the sea? 5 birds which lives in Water and so on....

Later, after a much needed silence of 5 so mins..(I guess I triggered his quest here) He started with his list...(Well let me highlight here that he knows A to Z of the alphabets in an order without any help and recite A-Z of animals...including I for Iguana, Q for Quail Bird and X for X-Ray fish). As I was saying, his list for 5 animals each...

A for Aardvark, Alligator, Armadillo, Angelfish, Anaconda , Aye Aye (My son remembered this from his book)....
B for .........
"Mummy, Mummy! Which 5 animals....bear, bull, buffalo,beaver...hmmm...what animal ?"
L for Lion, Lemur......
..................
.................
I could get away with easy ones like O - Oclet, Octopus, Orangutan, Owl, Otter, Ox, Okapi (He know all the animals listed here). But for the difficult ones, I was thoroughly lost for animals for letters like E, Q, N , X, V, Z and more ( I couldnt get 5 animals each for these)

Every night he reads ( I read for him) fact books on animals (those mini encyclopedia kinds) repeatedly( I have lost count).... When we go for outings he wants to buy Animals, Animal Books, anything related to animals...

After this incident, today, I started to search on the web for the A-Z of animals and got this beautiful interesting site on the list... http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/a-to-z . It lists all the animals with pictures, which I thought I can share with my fellow moms......

I have booked tickets to visit the Zoo this Saturday, 14th November 2009. He is all eager and awaiting this trip to the zoo. ( in this pretext, I blackmail him to do his things right and behave, OR ELSE ..... ) I know its a little crime, but hey Its ok once in a while...

All I can pray is God give me the awareness and strength to meet my son's quest for knowledge....

It's a Vanity Affair!..or is it??

2009-11-05T16:55:00.003-05:00

Feels like yesterday when I used to complain to my mom about her sense of dressing, make up and style. I cannot forget how I whined and got annoyed at the fact that she used to apply the brightest available shade of red at the last minute...almost at the moment when we have to step out of the door for a wedding or a get-together, making her nails looking like half baked cherries in a pie. I would be so angry with her for over applying her make up making her face look like a 3 inch thick pancake.

But today, when its time to head out and socialize I find myself rushing to get myself all groomed up and to say the least, end up looking far worse than what my mom did. In fact, coming to think of it, she looked so beautiful no matter what she did (or did not) do to herself. I'm sure our kids will say the same to us when they get to this stage too.. but what Im coming at is the point that what seemed so essential at one time has now dwindled down our priority list.

I could'nt care lesser about having matching nail polish shades on my finger nails and toes...or for that matter, not having it at all!! I could'nt care lesser if I wore the same dress over the last two occassions simply because it was the one that was right on top of the pile of clothes in my wardrobe. I could'nt care lesser if I had a bad hair day... all I care now is if my son has a good pair of trousers and shirt to wear. Do his socks match his outfit? Does he need a different hair-cut? Are his nails clipped? How about his jacket? (Gosh, Im thanking my stars I dont have a baby girl...I'd go bonkers!!)

How things change... and it happens in the most amazing (sometimes annoying too) way!!! So the last time when I met Mom when we were in India (that was last year when Sam was around 9 months), I... was the one rushing up with my eyeliner and she stood there behind me, still looking as beautiful as ever....and as unhassled as ever!

How things change!!

Malini starts reading

2009-10-28T02:06:00.007-04:00

Daughter is turning 5 and she already read 18 sentences ALL BY HERSELF................. !!!

She told me to buy her an 'easy book' and I did that. Bought her the Book, 'Goat in a Boat' and SHE READ A FULL STORY :)) I loved every minute of it and even felt rewarded all over again!! I started reading out to her when she was barely 4 months old and she would stare at the pictures with full focus and curiosity as I turned page after page.

The neighborhood book shop 'CROSSWORD, Powai' has been my second home ever since we landed in Mumbai and I can't stop without a word of gratitude, especially to 'Nisha' who works in the children's section and has read out many stories to her. Sooo Happy, Guys! Want to share this moment of joy!

Anjana Parthasarathy

2009-10-27T18:38:00.001-04:00

My Information
Name - Anjana Parthasarathy
Husband's name - Sanjay
DOB - August 1st
Wedded Since - 22/04/05
No. of Children- 1
Interests - Reading, travel, baking cakes, sometimes play the keyboard, shopping and currently, photographing my little angel.
Web page/Blog - http://www.cozyoven.blogspot.com/
http://www.my-potpurri-of-thoughts.blogspot.com/
About Me - I grew up in Bangalore and did my schooling etc all the way upto engineering, and then came to Hawaii (yes! Hawaii) for my masters, though I transferred out to a school in Bay Area and graduated from there. I am now living in the Land of Sun and Sand, sans the Surf!

Kids Information
Maanya - Female, May 1st, 2009

Divya Panuganti

2009-10-27T12:12:00.005-04:00

My Information

Name - Divya Panuganti

Husband's Name - Arjun

DOB - 07 Oct

Wedded Since - 15 feb, 2009

Interests - I enjoy music, driving, travelling, reading now and then, chatting, and shopping!!!

About Me - I grew up in Hyderabad mostly and then went to Lko for my MBA. Joined Infy from college, and have been with them ever since. have been comfortably single for a long time, before getting hooked to arjun early this year. and here i am - already ready to be a mom! :) am due in the end of november.

Vijayalakshmi Chandrasekaran

2009-10-22T11:57:00.004-04:00

My Information
Name - Vijayalakshmi Chandrasekaran

Husband's Name - Eswar

DOB - 23rd February
Wedded Since - 30th April, 2007
No. of Children- 1
Interests - I love reading, travelling, watching home decoration and cooking shows(though not very fond of cooking:))
About Me -I was born in Bangalore, grew up there, went to school, college, basically lived there all my life. Then came marriage, got married and moved to the US but oh, how I miss Bangalore! Now in the US working as a statistician in a pharmaceutical company. .

Kids Information
Krish - Boy, 23/6/2009

9 tips for stay-at-home parents from Gerber

2009-10-22T09:49:00.001-04:00

Got this lil piece of information and thought since we are on the topic of stay-home moms, its the apt time to post it.. although following it may seem tough.

http://www.gerber.com/Articles/9_Tips_for_Stay_at_Home_Parents.aspx?source=10076962&utm_source=Gerber&utm_medium=email&utm_content=10076962&utm_campaign=PostNatal_Newsletter

Introducing Paromita Deb

2009-10-21T15:44:00.004-04:00

A new member after a long time indeed. Here's introducing to you all - Paromita Deb. She has been among the best of friend's I can ask for and was my colleague at i-flex Bangalore, only I hardly remember the colleague bit because we had so much fun at work! We worked in the same team, on the same projects even... but never ceased to stop by and grab every chance to take part in just about every cultural/non-official activity. That gave us the feel of being back in college.

Paromita has a son, Rishi who turned two this July. She lives in Toronto with her hubby, Shivaji, and her little brat. Now, Mommy Center enters another country.... nice!!

Paromita, welcome to Mommy Center. I personally cannot wait to see more of you here!! Share with us everything you experience as a mom - whether they are answers to others queries, your own questions or just random thoughts you want to share with everyone out here.

I'm guessing you would have accepted the invite to the blog. Now all you gotta do is subscribe to Mommy Center. For this simply follow these instructions. And, for everything else that you want to know about Mommy Center read up the archives!

And here is a little something we would like you to do as a member of Mommy Center. We run a section with profiles of all our members (which you can see on the blog) so it will be easy to look up basic information about a member whenever you want. All you have to do for this is mentioned here. Make this your first post so we have you up on the Member Profiles Section!!

Happy Blogging Paromita!!

Stay-home moms et. al.

2009-10-20T16:20:00.005-04:00

Anjana this is in response to you post. Others, its a long one... just the way most of my posts are :) Enjoy!!

To start off, being a stay-home mom, for whatever reason you become one, is a huge thing. Here, I will put in my perspective of all the good and bad (and everything in between) of being a stay-home mom in a setup where you have NO domestic help and practically no 'social influence' per se.

It came to me as a surprise - this whole baby thing. It was one thing trying to conceive, then go through a miraculous pregnancy and now, its another trying to raise a child with absolutely no prior experience (Even visual, since I have so siblings/nephews/nieces who have grown up with us).

As I write all this I'm wondering where to begin. Whether I should tell you the number of times I lost my patience and temper because Samvit did something very annoying.... and got so angry that Id whack him hard on his snuggly diapered butt. Or narrate how much I crave to re-live every single moment that I spent until today raising this baby of mine just so that I can see how he has become every little thing that he is today, yet again!!

Its tough. It takes patience, perseverance and a many self-taught philosophy lessons. It was one thing to deal with home and work and totally another to deal with home and baby. Im sure its another ball game having work in the latter combination. I think someone who is going through that can throw more light on it. Well to put things simply - Ive grown from sitting on a swivel chair at work and commenting on the way the world is... to staying at home and making the world what it is. Ive come to believe, after having a baby, that what the world is today is due to every single mother (working or at home) who put in her EVERYTHING to raise a child and make him a contributor to this world. Ok,I'm drifing away to philosophical fundas now!!!

So, back to the point. Stay at home moms are not somehow suddenly blessed with a ton of patience and nor does motherly passion takeover entirely. Its a battle between trying to be who you are (or 'were' before baby) and who you ARE!! Like most of you working women might agree it does give you a break to go off to work and be 'yourself' although mentally you might have baby on your mind 24/7! Its work but its some time off for yourself too. I might be wrong, because going to work, I know, has its own pressures since Ive been there and done that too.

And then there is the physical aspect. There are days when I personally would do anything to simply sit in a silent room and not do ANYTHING. No cooking, no dishes, no tons of laundry, no diaper changes, no potty training, no cleaning, no nothing. Yes. Being at home takes a huge toll on a woman physically. It is very VERY exhausting to say the least. I think its the toughest task to keep up with a toddler who wants attention. Besides, more than just attention, they even need physical activity.. so apart from doing all these chores we have to see that we play with these little bundles of energy so that they would sleep easily at nap times and eat well too. Having family at home solves this problem to a certain extent. How much can one woman do? It aint easy.

And how can one forget about how we moms can get totally insane just worrying that our kids are not eating, or not sleeping easily, or not walking or talking etc? What makes this worse is the fact that when you are around them all the time as a stay home mom you feel YOU are responsible for it all. The only thing that compounds this feeling is #1 Our guilt and #2 Relatives who pass snide comments about our 'incapabilities' of being a parent. It gets on you - Like a dose of slow poison....and suddenly you get engulfed by this whole horrifying idea that you are not doing a good 'job' as a mother. I had this feeling. I broke down in front of my husband one evening when he returned home. And I kept sobbing and weeping like a kid telling him I'm a pathetic mom because Sam cannot eat with a spoon. He was like, "Are you ok? You fought for it this far.. and, for Gods sake, its all not about a spoon!!" That did miracles, but what I'm coming to is the fact that we stay-home moms feel we are accountable for EVERYTHING. Which does cause more than a few strands of hair turn gray.

And then there is this whole 'what-am-I-doing-with-my-life' aspect, that takes over every once in way which Id rather talk less about because if I start with the list I want to do and rant and rave about it... this post can become an endless one.

All emotional attachment said and done, sometimes(out of monotony of our daily lives and trying to adjust our routines to the kids) we stay home moms tend to push away kids when we are doing chores. Simply because we have 'so much work' to get done before 'its mealtime/naptime'. We're at home but always rushing to cope up with time juggling N number of things at hand and trying to find a little 'Me' Time. And sometimes I think I do take my childs presence for granted. But later when he sleeps I feel guilty if I did not pay him attention when he was screaming his heaad off and showing me that he put those two red blocks together...and later realize that it was because he recognized the colours and I failed to see that!! Its the little things they do and the monotony of daily life makes us over look it all.

But apart from all this, no matter how tired I am or how frustrated I get with the number of times Samvit throws tantrums I think there is nothing more rewarding that staying home and watching a miracle grow right in front of my eyes... that I think is enough to refuel a mom, ANY mom!!

So as you can see life of a stay home mom is a huge concoction (and confusion) of emotions, chores, activites - all put together in a way that cannot be explicitly explained. And like I said earlier... I would do anything to watch a re-run of this entire story - even with another thousand diaper changes. Yes!

Co-Sleeping

2009-10-19T16:52:00.003-04:00

Its something we all do right from when our lil ones are born. And I think its a part of our Indian culture to have our babies sleep with us until a certain age when we think they can sleep on their own.

But how and when do you make the transition? Have any of you made your babies sleep alone, separately at night right from the start? Have any of you already transitioned them to sleep themselves? If so when and, more importantly - HOW??

Put in your thoughts on this aspect and lets see what we all would agree on and finally end up doing!!

Patience, Passion or Both?

2009-10-14T12:41:00.000-04:00

One question has been knocking on every brain cell for the last two weeks - how do the people working at day care, single moms, stay-at-home-moms manage to care for the little ones? Is it just passion, or an abundance of patience, or both?

Since my parents returned to India 20 days back, I have been staying home with my almost-six-month old kiddoo. This is just the beginning of my three month time off from work. These last few days have been such an eye-opener to me, I tell you! I figured how much work goes into managing all the household work plus the little "Home Entertainment System" that I have. It does take up all your time, but sure is well worth it in the end.

My typical day starts at 6 in the morning when I shower up before hubby leaves to work at 6:30. I get about an hour to myself before Maanya is up, and I usually try to catch up on household chores then, except, occasionally (like today) when I go online to check my mails. Once the little one is up, it's all whole nine yards - nursing, diapering, baby bath, rock her to sleep (and catch a few winks myself right on the rocking chair). Before I know it, it's evening and time to step for a little stroll! Once we are back home, that's when my patience is tested. I will need to get done with cooking, and put Maanya to sleep (the princess protests if her dad rocks her at night!). And oh, I am still working on getting her to at least nap in her crib. It's baby progress, if you know what I mean. I am so exhausted by the time I hit sack, the night seems to just whizz by, what with waking up a couple times to nurse the baby as well.

So I wonder, how does a single mom manage? What is it that folks at day care centers have that keep them going every day? Is it a huge pot of patience that they have access to, or do they just love kids so much that nothing else matters? I absolutely love kids, and am very patient as well, but there are still times that actually test me! What about stay-at-home-moms? Does everyone feel the same, stay-at-home and otherwise? Are there times when you feel you need some time to yourself?

All in all, I must say that I am really glad to have taken a little break from work and am enjoying every minute I am getting with Maanya!!

The mind of a child

2009-09-29T16:41:00.003-04:00

Been wanting to do this post for a while now....Finally found the time.

Like, we all know by now that every child has a mind of his/her own. I so very well knew that but yet when I was approached by a kid not too long ago I conveniently forgot about it and tried to act like I had the upper hand of the situation since I was an adult.

Well, here's what happened!

We had been on a vacation to this lovely place called Lake George in upstate New York. We enjoyed every minute of ours there. Then we headed straight for a supposedly popular garden in a town close to Lake George. Although we seemed to have expected a little too much from the garden, there was a wedding party there taking pictures to prove us wrong. They stood in the middle of what I might want to call the remains of a once-beautiful rose garden.

Anyway, while I was climbing my way up a flight of stairs towards a pavillion (where the wedding party were trying all poses/combinations of people for photos) a little girl dressed up in a very beautiful white frock walked up to me and asked, "Have you seen a Princess?"

I never expected anyone to come talk to us, let alone a child who would rather be flaunting away her dress with her friends.

I said, "No"

In an instant, she snapped at me, "I AM A PRINCESS!!"

"Oh, ok" And while I searched my brains for a more staisfying reply, some devine power had me and I said, "I thought you were a Fairy"

She gave me this 'dirty' look. I began wondering if I said something devastatingly wrong. She gave me one of those 'are-you-outta-your-mind' looks and continued, "I'm four"

I was like, where is this going? "Oh ok?" I managed to fumble.

She was so cheezed off by now and she nearly yelled at me, "Fairies are small. They are one. I am FOUR"

Phbbbttt.. Did any of you out there know the age of fairies???....Well, I smiled and she stormed away! The mind of a child, I tell you... !!

Lekshmi S Sukumaram

2009-09-28T04:22:00.008-04:00

My Information

Name - Lekshmi S. Sukumaran

Husband's Name - Rajesh Gopinathan

DOB - 21/08

Wedded since - 03/02/2003

No. of children - 1

Interests - Architecture, Animals, Plants, People, Kids, Painting, Sketching, Photography, Movies, Blogging, Music.

Webpage/Blog - http://www.arkitalks.blogspot.com/ or http://www.oxy-i-gen.blogspot.com/

About me - Kerala born/educated architect. Did B Arch from TKM Kollam, City Planning from IIT Kgp. Got married after masters and went to US - Santa Clara, CA. Was there for 2 yrs. Daughter was born in 2004. Came back, worked as lecturer in NIT Calicut. Came to Mumbai and has been working as industrial planner for the almost 4 yrs.

Kids Information

Malini - Girl, 02/11/2004

Singapore Moms...

2009-09-24T00:28:00.001-04:00

A group of moms in Singapore also do something like us...one of my classmates from junior college there is part of this, that's how I discovered it: http://mums-a-musing.com/

She also has a lovely baby blog: http://olimomok.livejournal.com/tag/jellybean

Why God Made Mothers

2009-09-17T20:05:00.003-04:00

I got this as a forward. Some of you must have read it before. But, it's so cute, I think you would not mind reading it all over again!

WHY GOD MADE MOMS?!

Here are some answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?

1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is

2. Mostly to clean the house.

3. To help us out of there e when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?

1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.

2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.

3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?

1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean

2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?

1. We're related.

2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?

1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.

2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.

3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?

1. His last name.

2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?

3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?

1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.

2. She got too old to do anything else with him.

3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?

1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but s he has to because dad's such a goof ball.

2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.

3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?

1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.

2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.

3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.

4. Moms have magic; they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?

1. Mothers don't do spare time.

2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?

1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.

2. Diet. You know her hair. I'd 'diet', maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?

1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.

2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.

3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

To have or not to have

2009-09-17T06:19:00.002-04:00

As Kyra is nearing her first birthday, the debate about the celebrations play out in my head more often. I thought it would be apt to go over the no 1st birthday party rule that I made and ask of your opinion.

A baby's first birthday is always something special for the parents, grandparents, close friends and family. The baby probably doesn't even understand what the fuss is all about. It is also potentially costly as people spend a hefty amount in organizing a lavish birthday party and on birthday gifts, return gifts, the food and the decoration etc. However, I think that the birthday baby won't appreciate such extravagance and small is definitely beautiful at this age!

A one-year-old may be fearful of strangers, and strange or new places. Despite liking other babies, she won't understand how to play with them yet. Kyra enjoys individual attention and likes to make us laugh. At this closely-attached-to-mum stage, the best way I fell I can make this a special day for her is by offering her loads of undiluted attention. Her social network is small and intimate and that's how she likes it.

I have seen babies cry on the special day, or just too cranky and clingy. That defeats the whole purpose - the one who should be the happiest is not happy at all. And the people whose attention she craves for the most are busy organizing the party and looking after the guests. Kinda makes me question the whole point of the party.

I had planed to bake a cake for her. Buy her new clothes and toys. Take her out to a park or something. Make the day special by these small gestures. But of late worried - Just hope that Kyra doesn't grow up and ask me why I never celebrated her first birthday, was it not important to me? The 'All in your best interest my precious little one' concept maybe lost to her.

What do you guys think?

Padma Ramanathan

2009-09-13T10:09:00.003-04:00

My Information

Name - Padma Ramanathan
Husband's Name - Murali
DOB - 10/17
Wedded since - 01/16/2005
No. of children - 1
Interests - Reading, music, watching movies, travelling, baking
About me - Born in Chennai. I did my schooling in Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and in a small town in Gujarat. Then I went to Bangalore to do my degree which is where I met Pallavi (next door). Three years later, I did my MBA from TAPMI, Manipal and moved to Mumbai to work. Two years later, I got married and moved to Indonesia for a year. I spent 2 years in Singapore where I was working and my son was born. I've been in the U.S for about 1.5 years now (we are already relocated once:)) and am currently at home full time.

Kids Information
Varun - Boy, 04/12/2007

Ramya Vikram

2009-09-11T18:48:00.003-04:00

My Information
Name - Ramya Srinivasa

Husband's Name - Vikram Boregowda
DOB - 30/04
Wedded Since - 11/02/04
No. of Children- 1
Interests - Crafts , Browsing,Watching daily soaps,cooking and wud luv to do some gardening.
About Me - Born and brought up in Bangalore.Got married in 2004. Moved to San Diego.Have a cute boy Anish whose going to be 3in Oct.

Kids Information
Name of Child1 - Boy, Anish Vikram Gowda 24/0ct/2006

Liz Abraham

2009-09-11T15:20:00.004-04:00

My Information
Name - Liz Abraham
Husband's Name - Binoy
DOB - 08/11
Wedded Since - 01/07/2006
No. of Children - 1
Interests - Music, arts and crafts, puzzles,watching movies, cooking and eating good food!!!
About Me - Lets see.. born in Kerala, brought up in Kuwait and then to Blore for under grad where all these lovely ladies come into the picture. After that , went to Chennai for a year to do another course and came to the US to do my MS, where i met my hubby dearest Binoy. Got married and now have a wonderful little boy, Jaiden who is nothing but full of life!!

Kids Information
Jaiden - Boy, 18/07/2007

Smitha Rao Madan

2009-09-11T04:28:00.003-04:00

My Information
Name - Smitha Rao Madan
Husband's Name - Sumeet Madan
DOB - 09/05
Wedded Since - 25/10/2006
No. of Children - 1
Interests - Shopping, Watching movies, Listening to Music and Browsing
About Me - Will add this later

Kids Information
Nainika Madan - Girl, 16/6/2008

Solutions to feeding a toddler

2009-09-10T16:51:00.002-04:00

Samvit is a terror when it comes to mealtime. He will not sit. He will not eat. All he will do is simply push my hand away so that it wont reach his mouth. All these days I got wild on him. But, now I read (and hear from friends) that it is normal at this age. Yet, as mothers we want to make sure our children get the best nutrition they can from whatever little they eat (Oh, how I miss those days when he gobbled down that full bottle of milk even before I knew it. Perhaps I should wait for him to cry outta hunger like back then?!??) Anyway, I did a little research online and I found this nice link that I thought might benefit other frustrated moms like me.

http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/children/parents/behavior/224.html

I've decided that henceforth I will not force him. And I am putting it down in writing here so that it will sit in my mind like the foundation of a new building, and yes, I wish to start it all again. Afresh. And, hope he eats better! Ah... Hope....Is it not what we all live on?

Ooops! A little more info...

2009-09-08T16:46:00.006-04:00

Sorry ladies... Not sure how many of you noticed it but I forgot to include a very important piece of information for our Member Profiles. And, that happens to be husband's name!! I so conveniently forgot to add that in....If my better half knows, I wonder what he will say. Well ya this is a Mommy blog, but they are equally important as well.

So as of now for those of you who have put in your information I will add your husbands name in your profiles, to make life easier for all of us. But those of you who are going to do it hence forth simply check one of the profiles and do so. I suggest you add your hubby's names right below your name. See this example.

Neha Srivastava

2009-09-07T09:47:00.009-04:00

My Information

Name - Neha

DOB - Feb
Wedded Since - 2005
No. of Children- 1
Web Page- http://www.inspired-recipes.com/and http://how-to-things.blogspot.com/

Interests - Music(listening), Blogging, Painting, Cooking

Kids Information

Toddler Boy

Komal Shah

2009-09-07T02:11:00.005-04:00

My Information
Name - Komal Shah
Husband's Name - Saumil
DOB - 07/04
Wedded Since - 14/12/2006
No. of Children- 1

Kids Information
Kyra Shah - Girl, 7/11/2008

Pallavi Rao

2009-09-06T04:08:00.005-04:00

My Information
Name - Pallavi Rao
Husband's Name - Srikanth
DOB - 21/10
Wedded since - 23/05/04
No of children - 1
Interests - Travel Travel Travel! oh and...armchair travel, Reading, Painting(oils), Writing , Music
Web page/Blog - http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/o/olive, http://www.chillifreeze.com/, http://www.chillibreeze.com/, http://armchairgypsy.blogspot.com/
About Me - Daughter of an ex army chopper pilot dad and editor(now GM) mom, travelled like crazy as a kid. Left home at 15 for Singapore on a scholarship, came back to Bangalore and joined MCC for my degree where I met all these lovely ladies who are now ex classmates and friends for life. Then headed to B school at IIM, ended up meeting my partner in crime there, got hitched in '04 and travelled together with my fellow explorer-best friend-husband Srikanth(who btw is an architect and B school grad who loves writing and design and is a great dad!). Last year we decided it was time to add to our little family and Mihika arrived this May to complete the picture :)
Kids Information
Mihika, Female, 26/05/09

Deepti Deepak Pawar

2009-09-04T12:03:00.004-04:00

My Information
Name - Deepti Deepak Pawar (Maiden Name was Deepti Suresh Moray)
Husband's Name - Deepak
DOB - 01/08
Wedded Since - 18/9/2002
No. of Children - 1
Interests - Music, playing the keyboard (the musical instrument, not the computer one!), dance, arts, writing, Bollywood movies, reading, working out, spending time outdoors with family and friends.
Web page/Blog - http://www.deeptizspace.blogspot.com/; http://www.somesalttotaste.blogspot.com/
About Me - Will do this bit a little later when I have my creative juices flowing!

Kids Information
Samvit - Boy, 17/1/2008

Member Profiles Section

2009-09-04T11:54:00.004-04:00

Yes, its been a long awaited feature for Mommy Center - A Profiles Section. A place where you can read up a brief summary about a person. Somewhere where one can click and get to know about Mommy Center Members. But for that to be in place I need a little help from each and everyone of you.

For starters, I will require all of you to write a post.It's just that simple. I will put forth a format (let's call it form to make it sound simpler) and we will all fill it up with relevant information. So here is what you gotta do.

1. Log in to Blogger.com
2. Click on New Post
3. Put the Title of the Post as your FULL NAME
4. Enter data in the format (which I will put down a little further)
5. Save, Publish the Post I will take it from here.

Of course initially we will have umpteen number of brief summary posts of everyone coming up as posts on the blog, but kindly bear with that. I will put up my information as an example as my next post and put the Profiles Section in place too so you get an idea of the whole thing.

FORMAT FOR MEMBER INFORMATION
Here is the format in which we'd like to have your information. Let's keep it simple and clean so that readers/browsers will find that all member info is following a similar style and hence improve readability.

My Information
Name - Full Name
DOB - DD/MM (You could specify the year if you want to)
Wedded Since - DD/MM/YY
No. of Children- (Enter in numerals)
Interests - Specify any of your interests, hobbies etc.
Web page/Blog - URL of any other web page(s) or blog(s) that belongs to you
About Me - (Optional - Can be added later too!) A little note about yourself that you would want to share with everyone.

Kids Information
Name of Child1 - Gender, DOB
Name of Child2 - Gender, DOB
etc...

So, that's the format and I hope to see you all do it soon, so that we have all our profiles up in the Member Profiles Section - Coming Soon On Mommy Center!!!

Hello all

2009-09-03T14:31:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to say hello to all of you. I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the posts .

Wanted to share this "http://www.babble.com/TMI-The-new-honesty-around-parenting-has-made-me-scared-to-have-kids/"

Looks like mommy blogs like ours is scaring people off :)

Kabhi kabhi, Aditi..

2009-09-01T04:06:00.011-04:00

"My friend ‘x’ is a little misbehaving type, my friend ‘y’ always agrees to whatever I say, but Aditi is real fun to be with and is my ‘true friend’", my daughter said. She was obviously unhappy about the fact that her best friend ‘Aditi’ is shifting to Delhi. I have seen them fight, compete and play together. They both got irritable when they had nothing to do. They always had an eye on the other, took dance and swimming classes together, checked whose drawing and coloring was better and whose hand writing was coming out well. I could just say, they evolved together.

My daughter’s plight led me to think of Aditi. She too sounded low but anticipates to play with the 'twin' friends who are going to be her new neighbors. She made a picture of a girl with a skipping rope and gave my daughter to 'keep safe forever'. She inturn got my daughter’s 'favorite smiley hair band' and looked relieved to have that piece of memory in her collection. I was reminded of Meenu, my own friend who has been the most meaningful influence in my childhood days and felt a loss for words.

"From where I am now, I have 'some things' to tell you two little children. It happens! my dear ones, and this is also part of your growing up. Life is not always fair and you need to face it with courage. It is not what you would've wanted, but you need to still move on. You need to move on with the knowledge that whatever space you have created in each other’s hearts are going to stay even when you both become as big as your Mammas. And you will even search for your childhood friends in your children’s friends...

You will walk places, climb mountains and cross oceans. You will meet people, make friends and have relationships. The learning that you had about interacting meaningfully and making a difference in each other’s lives will remain with you and help you in all your strides. So strange are the ways, who knows what life has in store, maybe you will still come together, go away from each other again and perhaps end up together all over again. It happens, Aditi, kabhi kabhi! You just have to learn to keep smiling... God bless you both!".

BitterSweet thoughts

2009-08-31T23:18:00.003-04:00

Its Still so fresh in my mind holding nainika rolled into a pink blanket when she was just born...pink cheeks, red lips, big eyes with long eyelashes and black smooth hair looking at everyone around her..wish she still looked the same.

Be it a day old or just few months old she used to be just right for my lap while putting her to sleep or while traveling..and those days i used to wait when will she start to rollback, to crawl, and start walking..Now that she's achieved all the milestones, I am waiting when will she start speaking..though she utters few words,i am waiting to hear more from her..the list is never ending i guess.I know as a mom, my expectations are always more from our babies.

I used to love dressing her up after bath, but initially i was so scared to give her a massage/bath alone and not to forget putting her to sleep-It was a terror for me( she was very poor sleeper then), But now I still want her to be a small innocent doll, whom i have bathe, feed, putting her to sleep and even play with her..As she grows older i am surely gonna miss all these things so badly
On one hand i want her to grow up and learn new things everyday, at the same time i don't want her to grow up so fast also having to go to school, then face exams and grades etc etc..and of course having to face the other hurdles in life..
I am happy seeing her not fitting into my lap anymore and growing up, but wish that she still remains a little innocent doll..coming up to me for everything.

I want to know have you ever felt like this? Have these thoughts ever crossed your mind? I hope it is a normal feeling every mom goes through at one point in her life..
Please share your experiences or rather thoughts....

Lifesaving Tips for Parents with Toddlers

2009-08-31T20:08:00.001-04:00

Hey All,

Just came across this nice article to keep parents of toddlers "sane"
http://www.babycenter.com/0_parents-say-55-ways-to-save-time-and-make-life-with-a-toddle_1397855.bc

ENJOY!

Hello all

2009-08-30T16:12:00.003-04:00

Thanks Deepti for the lovely introduction and mentioning my name often here(:)), thanks Anitha for the warm welcome and a big sorry for writing/replying so late. Just like you all mommies out here, I was quite busy with my son and with stuff :). Just took a minor break from blogging while I was enjoying summers. I am also trying to learn German these days and I am enjoying every bit of it(atleast for now!). But I do visit Mommy center regularly and read all the posts here. I can so relate to all of you here.

Its just so relaxing to share our experiences, joys and irritations as a parent. I do that all the time( with Deepti mainly) as we try to meet daily!. We keep asking each other, what is Samvit eating nowadays? how much does he eat? how do you make him sleep? and what not and its so comforting to know that somebody else is sailing in the same boat as me(hehe) and to know that all this is so 'NORMAL'. Hey deepti, I did not know about your story...I can only imagine how it must have been like. I read it in the blink of an eye... seriously.
Hats off to you to start this interesting blog (I love the thoughts behind those footprints!).

Here is wishing a healthy and safe pregnancy to all Moms-to-be out here!

Cheers!

Mommies Day Out

2009-08-27T15:45:00.002-04:00

For a very long time Neha(my neighbor) and me wanted to go out together. More for some time outdoors with kids than for anything else. And thankfully for us, we both seem to like similar cuisines and interests. So, finally this week we decided we ARE going. Because once winter shows up its going to be harder than ever to bundle up our little brats and take them out.

Today was our first outing together with the kids. We thought its a good idea to celebrate our two-year friendship. Tee hee....Anyway, that being said, the one thing that we were worried about was how the kids would deal with the whole idea. We gave it our best shot and hit the road. We'd decided to go to TGIF. Im glad we did because I do not remember how long it has been since I last went out for a solid three hours with a friend. And, the good part is both the brats had woken up late in the morning which left us with a good chunk of time to relish our meal, chat and simply hang out! We totally enjoyed ourselves and so did the kids (playing with menu cards, cutlery, cups and not to mention entertaining neighboring guests with their wild screams after their little tummies were full). While we enjoyed our delicious entrees the kids enjoyed themselves and later we (I did!!) gorged down an entire plate of heavenly, sinful dessert.

Sometimes, I guess all we stay-home moms need is some fresh air for ourselves and a little place for our energy-powerhouses to throw themselves around. So those of you who feel that frustration rising up ur brain making you think you will burst any minute, take some time, pull someone along and head outdoors.. even if its just for half an hour - it does miracles!

As of now, if there is anything I regret about this whole event its the number of hours I will have to exercise having pigged out at the restaurant!

Hospital Bag List for Mommies-to-be

2009-08-27T06:32:00.002-04:00

Here's my hospital bag list, I did a ton of searching online before deciding what I would need. If this can save some of you the hunting, great!

I used everything, some during labor and many afterwards in the room over the week of the stay at hospital. Prepare to stay a week just in case you end up having a C-sec or if your baby needs special care for some reason and your stay gets extended.

Hospital Bag - essentials are in red :

Your medical reports file/scans etc. - will be needed if there is an emergency or if u have a c-sec + to help make decisions even for a normal birth

Watch with seconds hand to time contractions

Water sipper

Pack of orange juice or any juice small tetra pack-this was SUCH a lifesaver after all the labor just before i had to push. really helps energize.

Shawl and socks - u will feel extremely cold right after transition before the rest phase/pushing

Comfy nighties/pyjama suits

Bathrobes/dressing gowns(for when no visitors are there, this was super useful. esp after u come out of the bath and are tired n wanna just sit n change outside in the room)

Tons of undies, some which you dont mind chucking if u hafta

Disposable breast pads - carry enough for a week's stay just in case. I took a pack of 50.

Bathroom slippers to wear in the room/bathroom

Wet tissues and hand sanitizer for visitors for the baby to clean up before holding baby. Especially relevant now with swine flu.

Outfits for baby, baby powder-shampoo-soap-oil for nurse to bathe him/her

Cotton squares(buy a roll and chop squares, most economical for at home use) to wipe baby butt! But for hospital i found the disposable baby diaper wipes best. johnsons or himalaya both are fine. u may need 2 big packs at least for a 5 day stay cos u are not yet a pro diaper changer and will waste plenty(and baby will poop like crazy!)!!

Disposable diapers for the baby. we found pampers were the airiest. baby was happiest in them u see wht works fr u guys :) our mantra fr the hospital was 'everything disposable'. saves a lot of hassle.

Magazines, music, board games for pre delivery in case u have a long wait and are on epidural

Clip to hold your hair backsmall towels and tissues to wipe face if needed

Cellphone n charger, this was handy to let everyone know when baby arrived + to trace down daddy-to-be if he is away from the room :)

Laptop with datacard if u wanna stay connected after birth. rt after birth u will get this energy spurt next day and may wanna tell the whole world! dont overdo it on this day though...

Some cookies/light biscuits in case hospital doesnt allow a meal before delivery

Chewing gum, mints and deo/perfume if you have a long labor and don't wanna smell like something that cat dragged in!

1 pack of super heavy sanit. pads for after birth(hospital may supply these, check)

Cosmetics - ur fave shampoo/soap/lip balm/moisturizer/compact/deo/perfume - u may feel like pampering urself after the birth, and may not like the hospital's selection!

Hairdryer so u look nice in pics!

Swaddle cloths for baby - 1mX1m made of super fine soft white cotton like u get in premium mundus/lungis. babies need this to feel secure fr at least 3-4 weeks after birth

Camera!

Toilet rolls - very useful for anything!

Birth Stories: Ding!

2009-08-20T18:54:00.004-04:00

Should I say the oven was super efficient? Or is it the bun in the oven that could not wait to be out? And this is not Southwest Airlines slick deal either!

Yes! We had a baby girl, Maanya on May 1st, 18 days ahead of schedule! I know you are wondering how it all happened, all in the blink of an eye.
Well, Thursday evening was a fun day for me - spent an hour of so in our backyard watching hubby dearest pull out weeds and do other chores around the yard. I must admit that I trimmed some rose bushes as well - of course, no bending or squatting or anything remotely similar to that. A relaxing bath and a foot massage followed suit. As we hopped into bed trying to organize our weekend plans, I figured we had more tasks on our list than that could be accomplished in those 2 and 1/2 days! Plans were as follows:

Friday, May 1: Visit a close friend and her new born baby, and eat all different varieties of chaat possible.
Saturday, May 2: Swim in gym, buy the sweet lime plant from Home Depot, a final trip (before Baby's Day Out) to Babiesrus for some remaining shopping and Jesudas' concert in the evening. We even had the tickets for this.
Sunday, May 3: Lunch at a cousin's place.

So, it was around 11:15pm when I suddenly felt a pop. Yes, a POP. Must have been a powerful kick from the little one. That's what I told Sanju. But wait, I felt something flow out (water?). I woke up Sanju and told him that either the baby kicked real hard, or my water broke. We looked at each other for a second, and then jumped out of bed. Actually, I got out very gingerly...if my water indeed did break, the last thing I wanted to do was mess our mattress and the carpet. Headed down to the loo, and I couldn't believe what I experienced...my water had broken! I WAS GOING TO HAVE MY BABY in the next day or so! I was shivering from head to toe, even a warm hug couldn't stop the shiver. I prepared to head to the hospital while Sanju woke up my parents. I was grinning ear to ear, and shivering all at the same time. There was no point changing out of my PJs...I would leak anyways!

Hospital bag. Check.

Baby bag. Check.

Camera bag. Check.

Car seat. Check.

Ipod. Check.

Towels ( a bunch of them) to protect the car. Check.

We were on our way!

I called my doc and he sure was surprised to be woken by me -- in fact, the same morning he had mentioned that my baby would be on schedule, he or she would not be out for another two weeks!

11:45pm. At the hospital, checked in at Emergency and waited for some one from L & D to come get me. That was the first time I sat in a wheel-chair! I could have substituted for Niagara Falls - the water continued to gush out, thought I'd drown in my own amniotic fluid! Once in the triage, I changed into the hospital gown. The nurses got all the necessary paper work done to get me admitted. An IV was administered, monitors were setup to track my contractions, the foetal heart rate and my blood pressure. I was 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced. The plan was to check my progress again at 5am. The contractions had begun. I was smiling, sometimes grinning and even joing around. The nurses were convinced that I was not having any contractions. We were waiting for a L & D room to be cleaned up. Oh, another thing, only one person is allowed in the triage. So my parents had to "wait" in the waiting room.

12:30am. Finally, I walked down the aisle to the room where I would soon have my baby. My parents came in there as well. Once we were all settled in, the nurses turned down the lights so we could get some rest. Well, I was still shivering with excitement, running a temperature of 99.4 (could be a cause for concern if it went above 100). The contractions were getting stronger, but still bearable and were 5-7 minutes apart. Sanju sat by my side, holding my hand while trying to get a few winks.
5am. Status Quo - 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced. I had not progressed in 5 hours. Doc decided to get me started on Pitocin. They wanted the contractions to be stronger and closer. My plea for walk in the garden, well, at least the corridor was declined. Reason? My baby was dozing off a bit too much and needed to be active at this time. So I had to be on the monitor at all times. We bargained for a walk to the bathroom and a 5 minute walk inside my room before being strapped down again...No idea what happened then! My tummy started tightening like crazy...the contractions had gotten really strong now...I could barely stand, let alone walk! Hoped they would do away with Pitocin, but nope, the plan was still on.

6:15am. Once Pitocin got into my blood stream, it ensured that I moan and groan and bite my teeth every 2-3 minutes. That was not all, I was having back labor since the little one was sunny side up. No amount of counter pressure that Sanju applied seemed to help. We breathed in and breathed out, my hubby, my coach, constantly encouraging me. It was painful. I thought I had a pretty high tolerance for pain, but I seemed to have crossed that threshold. I was preparing to ask for epidural.

6:30am. The doc came in to check on me. Another cervical exam revealed that I was 3-4cm dilated..yippee, some progress at last. However, I was told it would take anywhere from 4 to 6 hours for me to be completely dilated. The nurse was again going to check at 9:30. So the logical part of me decided to take epidural..it made sense to conserve my energy for the final push than to get pooped out only to have a C-section. A vaginal delivery was the goal.

7am. The anesthesiologist was there, and before I knew, I could no longer feel the contractions. I could not feel my legs even! They were dead. Somebody had to move them for me. The only thing that told me i was having contractions was the little tightness I would be at the top of my tummy/ uterus. I was back to smiling again. I got my ipod out and decided to listen to some Adobee music (we had nicknamed the baby Adobee, and Adobee music is the set of instrumental pieces that I used to listen to every night) and get some shut eye now. Parents and Sanju headed down to the cafe for some breakfast. My breakfast was all of some apple juice, that too before I was given epidural. It was going to be ice chips only here on.
The next hour went in me being turned from left to right and right to left every 10 minutes. They claimed to be losing the baby's heart beat every now and then. So much for trying to sleep, or barely drifting off into dreamland.

8am. The nurse decided to check my cervix 1.5 hours earlier than my doc's plans. She believed that the baby was decending very rapidly and that would be the only reason why the heat beat was being missed. The next thing I heard from her - "Guess what, you are ready to have your baby!" Wow..I had progressed to 10cm dilated and 100% effaced all in a matter of 1 hour! The baby was at 0-station. The doc was there in 5 minutes, smiling and soon started to get ready for the big moment. All the nurses were in position, the baby warmer all set. Only one missing was my husband! His phone was turned off, I didn't know where my cell phone was. Finally, one of the nurses went down to the cafe herself to get my hubby. I was not going to have my baby without him being in the room!

8:30am. My feet up in stirrups. Doctor all set to help the baby out. Sanju by my side. I was wearing my glasses again. The mirror was positioned for me to see the little one make it's grand entrance into the world. Soon I had the word I had been waiting for: PUSH! With all my might, I huffed and puffed, and pushed with every contraction, ever so obediently. Suddenly, I could see a head ful of hair...did I need more motivation? All along, I saw a calm face before me, my doctor. He sat there patiently, silently encouraging me. At last, he decided to use vacuum to help the baby out. He said I would have a tear anyways.

9:06am. It's a GIRL! Maanya came out in one slick motion with the help of vacuum and one final push from me. She was so pink, cherry red lips and oh so alert, taking in everything and everyone she saw. She weighed 5lb and 3oz .

The whole birthing experience now feels like a distant memory and very surreal, yet a most memorable experience! I wonder if I really brought this little girl into the world!

A Working Mother's Guilt

2009-08-19T20:56:00.006-04:00

Hi Ladies, I'm finally here! I have been following each and every one of your stories and enjoyed reading all of them. What better way to start than sharing with you one of the experiences that has touched and taught me so much in this past one year of being a mother.

For all the working mothers reading this post...I think you will be able to relate to this. I work for two days from home and the rest of the time at the office. As a new mother, this breaks my heart. I still remember the first day when I went to work 3 months after Aayush was born, I was in tears. Aayush was in very good, capable and trustworthy hands - his grandma! Yet, I could not shake off the sad feeling I felt. It haunted me all throughout the day. It felt completely .... for the lack of a better word...wrong. Slowly as the weeks and months passed by, I started to get used to the feeling. I consoled myself by wondering what all the mothers who worked the entire week from the office felt like. However, the guilt got worse. The guilt of not being there to see your child grow and bloom, the guilt of not being there and wanting to do everything with and for your child, including changing poopy diapers! It's been a year now and it's getting better now knowing that no matter how much time I spend with my son, he and I both know that I am his mother and there is nothing else more important in this entire world!

As I wave goodbye to my son who, looks at me with a small smile on his sad face from the balcony above and step into the car, the guilt mysteriously appears out of nowhere and I ask myself ....is it worth it?

Social Misbehaviour - How much is too much?

2009-08-19T14:52:00.004-04:00

How do you decide when to push the 'Stop' button when your little one goes outta whack in public areas? What do you do if there is nothing that you can do about it but simply act like you are bothered by interfering in your child's bad activity trying to stop him/her to show on-lookers that you are concerned? When your child hits the high pitch screeching because you are stopping him/her - then what?!?

I faced a situation like this with my growing toddler. He's not much of a walker yet but that has not limited his activities. Just the other day we had been to see a doctor. My husband was ill and I drove him (and my boy, of course!) to the doctor's clinic. Sonny boy and me and to sit outside in the waiting room while my hubby went inside to get checked up. Thankfully there was only one lady in the waiting room apart from us. There was this huge heap of magazines that lay on the tables beside the chairs that we sat on. For the first few minutes my lil brat sat quietly. Once he seemed satiated with all that he saw he simply had to get down and do his 'thing'.

His first target was the magazines - the only thing he could reach easily. At first he was simply pointing images on it and I kept telling him what it was. Car, sky, baby... this went on for a few minutes - and then it came. And it came like a storm.... One loud rrrrrrrrrrrip sound!!! And all I could do was try to yank my boy away from that table. But another louder sound overpowered the one that just took place... a LOUD scream. I did not know what in the blue blazes I was to do. I picked him up as he fidgeted around with his limbs flying all over the place... and I tried to distract him.. but NO! He fought his way back down and went straight back to that stack... If there was anything I wanted, it was for my hubby to get out fast!! But just as everything else, even this wish of mine took a little longer to get fulfilled. By the end of the whole visit, one mag was totally crushed and torn. I had a good mind of taking it away *hush hush*. But, what if they had some sorta detectors or something- I mean, you never know!?!?! So I 'flattened' the mag as much as I could and placed it at the bottom of the pile and walked out like nothing happened.

Has something like this happened with you? What did you do?

Welcome Anjana Parthasarathy

2009-08-17T16:34:00.002-04:00

Its that time again...New members!

Ladies, welcome Anjana Parathasarathy! She is Vijayalakshmi's friend and has a baby girl named Maanya who I'm guessing (from Anjana's blog)is in her fourth month now,right Anjana? Do write in more about yourself, your little angel and everything that you want to share with us - Because that is what we are all here for!!

Happy Blogging Anjana...and we cannot wait to see more of you out here.

Reminder for Subscription

2009-08-12T17:56:00.003-04:00

Hey ladies,

Here is a little reminder for all those of you who did not subscribe to Mommy Center yet. Follow these instructions to do so and get email notifications of every new post on our blog!

Cheers,
Deepti

Birth Stories - Hope never dies

2009-08-12T14:39:00.004-04:00

Had we started this blog about 3-4 years ago, I would have had nothing to say in this domain. Probably, the only thing I would have shared back then were my woes and sorrows of being weighed down by a diagnosis that seemed to have no cure and only led us to believe we, rather I, suffered from "Unexplainable Infertility". So brace yourself, because this birth story is going to either bore the hell outta you (yup its LONG!) or make you thank your stars that this was not your story!!

My birth story (or should I say journey to motherhood?) really began way back in 2003 when we discovered that things were'nt as rosy as they seemed. My cycles got irregular (They were so even when I was a teen. In college, they came into control because I lost weight.) and our trips to gyneacs began. If there was one thing that all of them mentioned was that I had Polycystic Ovaries and that if I lost weight I could get pregnant. So I tried. We bought a treadmill, I joined a gym, drank protein shakes etc. But, little did I know it was only the beginning.

We tried everything - birth control pills to regulate my cycles, HcG shots, clomid .... you name it. We knew these were the priliminary rounds of doctor visits because the biggies like Artificial Insemination (IUI), In-Vitro Fertilization etc. were silently knocking at our doors. Then we got to the US and I met this fabulous gyneac. Not that she has some magic wand to help people conceive but its her ways and methods of treatment and analysis that left us (who had seenso many docs) in awe!! She too tried all that she could. Finally, she said she had observed me very well and that our best bet was to visit an Infertility Specialist. So we listened to her and did the same. Sadly, our health insurance plan covered only a few of the procedures partly. And, you need to be a millionaire of sorts to be able to get it done without insurance out here! So, we met the infertility specialist who explained us various financial options. He also gave us "natural" options, like me losing (more) weight, which the N number of gyneacs I met had also told me. I knew weight had a major role to play in this. Those of you who know me well, also know I stash on pounds at the drop of a hat and that it directly influences my hormone levels and in turn my cycles and further reduces my chance of ovulating and hence - procreating!!! Talk about a vicious cycle. So everytime I let go and ate to my hearts content (the foodie that I am!!) I would end up having late cycles. Sometimes no cycle at all, leaving my gyneac wondering if I was pregnant. And each time that happened, she would perform tests after tests and finally - "Negative""Negative""Negative"!! This went on for a year (We came to the US in 2006. So this went on till 2007).

In the meanwhile, I decided to do something good for myself. Considering I had all the time in the world (being on a dependant visa does have its benefits for people like me), I decided to dedicate my mornings to workouts and noons to do things that I loved (art/music/writing etc.). This decision paid off. And it paid off like nothing else. I even decided to stop worrying about conceiving and start enjoying life. I got more active and dropped about 5lb in a few weeks. That itself was a huge task with my wayward hormones. But just continuing it and remaining active helped me get my cycles on my own. Of course every now and then things would go hay-wire and I would run to my doc.

It was one such time she had asked us to see the Infertility Specialist and yet she continued her treatment on me for irregular cycles. She said she will have to do a pregnancy test first. I was like - "Ya, as always!!". Here the normal modus operandi is that after a patient goes through a clinical/lab test the results reach the doctor and not the patient. Then someone from the doctors office would phone you with the results. So, the day my phone rang with my doctors number on it, I casually picked up and like I expected the bubbly Punjabi lady on the other side said "Deepti, aapka result aya hain. Negative hain". I said, "Achcha... thank you" and we both hung up. But my gyneac never stops at one test. Which is why I love her!! Hehe.. read on and you will know why... She repeates tests after 10 days and tells couples to stay "away" from each other until that test is done. So, after the 10 day trial and test I again awaited results. I almost was certain it would be negative. Had the first one not been so?!?! So I did my rigorous workout of a good 2.5 hours that morning and had my breakfast and settled down with ironing my hubby's shirts when the phone rang.

The Punjabi lady again - "Deepti, aapka result aaya hain".
I said, " Okay".
She said - "Positive hain". _________________________
Me (pulling out the plug of the iron) - "Kya! Are you kidding??!".
Punjaabni - "Nahi. Its positive. Your HcG count is 53. Abhi toh shaayad ek hafta hua hain so keep it to yourself. Dont tell anyone, not even your parents. Let it be confirmed aur fir batao". Me - "Can I tell my husband?" (For certain I was insane in that very moment, which made me ask this DUMB question!!)
She - "Haan haan of course!! Congratulations."

HOOOOOOOOOOOOLYYYYY COWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! I was pregnant (I was working my butt out!!) and then I was jumping up and down and then stopping myself trying to believe the reality that was....I cried and screamed and howled as if I had won a million dollars. I probably would not be as happy had I won it too! And then I called my husband and I repeated the dialog:

Me - "I got the result" (He was so dumb. He should've known that if I'd CALLED to tell him then it was not gonna be negative. Because in our history of babymaking (haha) I never called him to give results cuz they were always negative!)
Hubby - "Hmm" (Serious tone at work!)
Me - "Its positive"
Hubby - "_____________________________________ Call the doc and check if they are reading your results and not someone elses"
Me - "Okay"

And we actually did that!! We both drove down to see the results. As if we would know how to read it. But I saw HcG>53 and I saw Deepti Pawar and it was both in one sheet of paper and I smiled.... and I still AM!!!

Phew... If you have read this far, then dont stop now because.... here is the actual Birth Story - The story of the miracle baby - Samvit! (Ya, this one is short...the real thing is over)

So, the nine month penance began. I was due on the 16th Of Jan, 2008. Peak winter in this Northern Hemisphere. Its horrible to face it when you're not pregnant, let alone carrying an extra 40 odd pounds. But, I could not be happier.

The night of 15th Jan, I began getting pains. Those were probably the false labor pains. Or just the initial ones. But they were very mild, but a slow signal of what was to come. Then, by 16th morning the pain increased. I began timing it. It came like every hour. Sometimes every 45 min. So I thought I must call my doc. She said, "Do not call me until its every 5 min apart". So I waited... and by lunch time It was almost every half an hour and the intensity was on the rise. We decided to have an early dinner and then call the doctor again. I began getting pains every 10 minutes apart but it was not something I could not bear. I was still able to walk around, talk and crack a joke or two!! Still we headed to the hospital and even the registration nurse said I looked pretty good for a woman in labor. I was happy I heard that.. but not for long.

By 10:30pm I was on the bed of the delivery room and if there was one thing I wanted to do it was pee. Thanks to the pressure in my tummy and the cold I wanted to sit in the toilet. But I was tied down with all sorts of machines that monitored me and my baby. I lay there and the pain increased in leaps and bounds. I heard a lady in the neighboring dlivery ward screech her lungs out and knew it was my turn next. The pain (which I think those of you who went thru normal labor know quite well, so I wont try to explain it since no words can explain it anyway!) went on increasing and I was ready to slap anyone who came to console me.

Right then, as they were checking my dilation ( I was about 5-6 cm) my water broke. I was still willing to try to go through and have a normal birth (I still wish I had one), but thankfully since the water broke they could see that my baby had pooped inside of me. He was trying so hard to come out that his heart rate began fluctuating and his head got turned to one side. At 7:10 am on the 17th of Jan, my doctor said it was going to be dangerous if I decided not to go in for a C-section because the poop could prove fatal for my baby. And how could I say no??

The anaesthesia came as a BIG relief. And I do not know if they put an epidural. It was 7:45am and I was inside the Operation Theatre. God knows what happened after those 3 pricks that stabbed my back (where they asked me to stay still etc. Is that epidural?? God knows!) I was in a state of coma I think and I collapsed on the operation table. My mom was allowed inside. Although I would have loved to have my husband too, only one person was allowed in the OT. But sadly, he stepped out of the delivery room to inform my Dad (who was waiting in the guest room) about the emergency c-section and hence was not allowed back in. I could do anything to rewind time and go back to that moment and have my husband with me to see my baby. But, atleast mom was there. She was my strength and my everything (and still is) when I lay there like a half dead human. I knew nothing that was going on. I was unconcious, not due to the anaeasthesia but due to being in labor for so long. The only next thing I heard was screams in the room "8:10" "8:10"!! All I could barely do was smile in my coma-like-state at my mom a a few minutes later they got my baby to me all wrapped up and I kissed his tender, soft cheek and went back to la-la land.

On 17th Jan, 2008 at 8:10am Samvit Pawar was born. And from that moment he has been living proof that when everything else fails, hope never dies....

Childhood is Calling - Yet Again!

2009-08-04T15:20:00.004-04:00

Its been a while since I blogged. Sorry if I did not answer any mails/messages because I was way too busy enjoying life and re-living my childhood through my little brat.

Like I mentioned Samvit plays often with Neha's son, Darsh. Not too long ago we mommies and the kids were at the park. They usually play on the swing... but one day we decided to sit on the see-saw! After, we got onto it, it suddenly occurred to me that I did not remember the last time I had sat on one. And to make things seem "weirder" I was actually enjoying myself. I felt like a kid all over again.

Just the other day I handed Samvit a couple of crayons and paper and he gaped at me with this look that meant, "Now what?". Then as if to teach him some art, I drew out a cat, house, etc. And he still looked as blank as he did the minute before. Then I tightened my grip on the crayon and scribbled my heart out and smiled. The next thing I know my baby was chuckling away and joined in to scribble with me. Well I guess the easiest way to teach them is to get down to their level... and boy, did we have a hearty laugh together. Life is so good!!!

Birth Stories: Predictable yet Unpredictable!

2009-08-02T21:45:00.003-04:00

I simply love the story of how Jaiden was born into this world. To begin with, Binoy and I never imagined that we would be parents by our first wedding aniversary! Yes guys.. we had a perfect plan in our heads.. marriage, I find a job and then hopefully buy a house and in 2 years after our marriage we would think of a baby. but HEY! God had other plans for us!!

I used to pray that I should get a job before we start a family because then we could settle down better and then provide better for our little one. God definitely answered my prayer about finding a job and having the baby.. offcourse the settling part couldn't happen. While I was going through interviews and job hunting, I was offered a position in a company and a day later I accepted the offer, we found out that we were expecting.

My pregnancy had only one major problem.. well two.. a terrible back pain and adjusting to a new job. I started having terrible back pains even before we knew we were expecting and had it till the last minute. I had sciatica which made it painful to walk more than 15 minutes, to sleep at night or even stand under the shower for more than 10 minutes. and as the baby grew , it just kept getting worse as the uterus kept pinching my nerve at the back. As far as my new job.. just sucked!

In the midst of all this, we decided to move to Maryland because Binoy got another job offer and a month before Jaiden was born , we made our major move.

In my 3rd trimester, we found out that the baby was breach and the doctor told us that there could be a chance of c-section. But she also told us that the baby is likely to turn around as it gets closer. Well our little fella just didn't want to sit upside down. He was breach through the end and the doctor told us that we could decide on a date to schedule the c-section.

We were given couple of days to choose our date to schedule the c-section and finally came up with July 18th. My due date was 22nd and so we decided to have it a couple of days before so that Binoy's parents (who live in ny) could come and be there with us when we went in for the procedure.I was kind of upset for the fact that we had to decide on a birthday for our little one.. but hey.. couldn't do much about it because he was breach. And I also thought to myself.. would never know how it would feel to have actual labor pains.

D-day: My parents had come down from India 2 weeks before for the big event and Binoy's parents had come down from NY the evening before. The c-section was schedule on 18th at 12:00 noon. We were happy that our little one had all the grandparents around when he/she arrived. So after dinner was all done , and chit chatting with everyone, decided to get a good night's rest and be prepared for the surgery next day. We slept late that night, after receiving calls from friends and family wishing us all the best.

So we get to bed around 12 , saying a prayer that everything should be fine and go well. As usual I woke up around 2 to go to the bathroom (how many times we have to go to the bathroom in a day!!!) and I noticed something red in my urine and realized that the mucus plug was expelled. So I went back to bed and told Binoy what I saw and we were told that it could take hours or even days for actual delivery to happen once the mucus plug is out. So we didn't take it much seriously and we thought..ok lets get back to sleep and call the doctor in the morning. A couple of seconds later I suddenly feel POP!! I was like ..whatz going on??!!! and suddenly felt this huge gush of water coming out and realized my water broke! Then I started getting a little nervous. Binoy woke up everyone and by the time he came to the room.. I started to bleed and I started going into labor. ooooooooooooooooo the paaaaaiiiiiinnnn.... (yeah just when i thought ..how labor pains would feel..there i go into labor!).

My contractions were pretty hard and we called the doctor and she told us to get to the hospital as fast as we can. The hospital is only 10 minutes from our home and with it being 2 am in the morning , you could reach even faster!! But I tell you ladies... those 10 minutes were the longest 10 minutes in the car. I just had such bad pains that I couldn't wait anymore!!

Got to the hospital and the nurse checked and found out that I was dilated already 5 cm and I was dilating fast. 10 minutes later , the doctor came and I was already 8cm. She said the baby's feet was sticking out and that we should go in for an emergency c-section.So they took me in for c-section and Jaiden was born at 4:04 am. Although I couldn't hold him then, it was the most beautiful moment ever. We were parents with a beautiful child.

And why I love this story is because, we were scheduled to have the c-section on that day , only 8 hours later.. but he decided to come in his own time on the same day that we decided to have him come into this world. We predicted his birth , but happened with unpredictable events!!

Cherish your memories

2009-07-31T02:39:00.004-04:00

Hi Guys, This is my first post. I wanted to cherish your memories with the best thing i ever had.
This is our Christmas party pic at Jennifer's.

First Post....

2009-07-30T00:51:00.003-04:00

First of all, Thanks Pallavi and the rest of the team for including me in this blog. I'm stepping into the last trimester and I'm already going insane (though I know its all gonna be well worth it in the end) !! I do hope I can get any tips from the seniors in this group.

A quick introduction ... I am a CA from Chennai and was Pallavi's colleague and friend in Citibank. I resigned my job when I got married so that I can help hubby in his private practice (he's a lawyer) and also devote more time to home.

Pregnancy so far: I had a horrible first trimester with so much vomiting and nausea that I could barely get up from bed. To top that all, I had mild bleeding which made my doc give me strict instruction not to even get up from bed till month five (I wasn't even allowed to walk around inside the house). I've just begun feeling like myself again in the last one month. But looks like my happiness is bound to be short-lived. I came down with high fever and joint/body pain 4 days ago. Fever is showing no signs of going away (hitting 102 to 103 degrees). Am popping in paracetamol tablets (which only brings the fever down by a couple of degrees and then shoots back up in an hour or so) and waiting for my blood and urine reports to come in. I read somewhere that fever higher than 102 degrees can harm the baby, so I've been worried sick. If anyone has any tips on controlling fever, will be glad to try!!

Birth stories...Pallavi (30hr labour, 5.5 hrs at hospital, 5 mins of pushing!)

2009-07-29T06:48:00.005-04:00

Since we have new mommies and mommies to be joining the group, I thought it would be nice to share our birth stories here. Will kick it off with mine - my ulterior motive is if i don't write about it, am likely to forget it with time!

The pregnancy: I had a roller coaster pregnancy thanks to PCOS making trimester 1 riskier than normal, compounded by some blips on the ultrasound including a low placenta that made my doc put me on house arrest for 2 months (aarrgh!) and our annual holiday to Goa was cancelled. On the up-side, i had not 1 minute of morning sickness/nausea and the house arrest meant I caught up on a ton of reading. Trimester 2 and the anomaly scans etc. were all good, placenta moved up - so I was allowed to workout again and get about town for movies and shopping and dinners out. Then came Trimester 3 and the warning that I was at risk of having a premie cos of family history. So again outings were down and all holidays cancelled. A final 'just for fun' scan in week 37 ended up showing some possible problem for the baby which required a paed. cardiologist to be present at the birth. Thankfully Mihika chose to arrive in week 38/39 cusp so we didn't have long to worry!

The birth

Early stages: I was staying at my docs place in Pune (yes, you read that right - my doc was also my mum's own sister) - with the hospital a short 5 minute drive away. Srikanth was with us for the weekend since it was our 5th anniversary as was my mum who had arrived with me a few weeks earlier. Sri was due to head back to Mumbai(where we live)Monday morning but that's when I had my first contraction at the breakfast table!

My aunt walked over and checked to see they were the 'real' thing, and I could tell these were different from the random tightening that the Braxton-Hicks I'd had the week before were. We fished out the timer and discovered the contractions were 30 seconds or so every 30 minutes to an hour. I decided to sit down to a normal day of work and it was only by evening that I finally began to have to use my lamaze breathing techniques. By late evening things got a little stronger and I felt the need to head for a walk at 9.30pm to take my mind off them. When Srikanth and I came upstairs, we found mum and aunt all dressed up and ready to head to hospital! But i'd decided not to check into hospital at night 'cause i felt it would just be one long night - i wanted to sleep in a nice home bed, have a nice homey breakfast and THEN go to the hospital. I had a decent night's sleep though stronger contractions woke me up every 20 minutes at night. I later discovered my aunt and mum hadn't slept much at all!!!

Off we go : At 9am the next day I had a warm shower, a light breakfast of semia upma and a bowl of melon and said 'Now, let's go to the hospital.' :) Sent a mail to work folks saying i was off to have my baby and headed to the car with contractions now every 15 minutes lasting about 30 seconds. Took my well stocked 'hospital bag' that had been carefully packed with a stack of magazines, an ipod, chewing gum, fruit juice packs and chocolate plus my trusty sipper, some socks and a shawl. (I ended up not having any time for the books, mags or ipod!)

The check-up: When we reached the hospital and checked into the maternity suite at Apollo Jehangir by 9.30am - I was thrilled to see it was an LDR so that meant no shuttling around from labor ward to delivery room etc. Wore my robes, junior docs checked me(this means they strap on a fetal heart monitor and a contraction monitor which gives an ECG like output), my aunt did a quick internal check(this was like a pap smear/TVS but easier since there are no gadgets/tools involved, just a gloved doctor!) and found I was 3 cm dilated and said 'still lots of time - contractions are not that strong' (i was like Oh! Hope my lamaze breathing helps when it gets strong cos this felt strong enough!!). They prepped me with an enema and I asked for the epidural to be fitted though no dose would be given till later(just so i wouldn't flinch and have it go the wrong way). It was now 10am.

The wait: At 11am I was given an IV and a test dose to check for allergies with the epidural. All well but since it was a mild dose I felt every contraction. My drip was 'enhanced' with pitocin to speed things up. In about 10 minutes the contractions got really strong and came 10 minutes apart lasting 30 seconds to 45 seconds. The hospital catering folks dropped by with hot soup and lunch. (I skipped the lunch, had the soup). At noon they decided to do an ARM(membrane rupture since my waters hadn't broken). This felt like a little pressure and the doc did this manually - painless, again internally. My aunt then left on her rounds. By 1pm I felt my breathing wasn't gonna get me through the next phase so asked for my epidural dose. Junior docs wanted to wait for my aunt. So I groaned and moaned(learnt in lamaze that the hee and hoo breathing won't help if pains are strong and painful, and that this would be better. Sri held my hand through it all and reminded me to keep breathing) my way through till 1.30 when she arrived - apparently I was rather quiet cos a doc came to check if I was asleep or sniffling cos it was so silent! She checked me and found I was already past transition - the toughest phase and almost 9cm along!! She did give an ok for the epidural which was administered at 2.15 or so. Unfortunately for me, everything in the labor stage was over by 2.30 which is when the epidural pain relief kicked in! So much for that.

Mihika arrives: At 2.30 my aunt did another check and said the baby was almost at the birth station, but that she would not get me to push till the baby crowned since I had just had an epidural and may not feel like pushing(ladies if the baby is doing fine and you're on an epi, please please tell our docs you want to wait to push, it is SO much easier). Again, lamaze lessons kicked in! We'd been taught to maximise the phase between labor and pushing to rest and recoup. So I planned to take a 20 minute nap and Srikanth brought me one of our orange juice packs which I glugged down in 30 seconds! By this time i had the shivers so put on my socks and shawl to catch some zzzz's. At 3pm the docs arrived again(and sometime in between gave me an episiotomy) with nurses in tow and had me set up in a stirrup type position to push. Everyone in the room cheered like a squad in unison, 'Come on Pallavi' and suddenly I felt the need to push! Everyone cheered like crazy saying you're nearly there - which I thought was a load of bunkum, intended to motivate a pooped woman in labor(friends told me they pushed for 30 mins to 2 hours) - it was only 3.03pm. So the next time I pushed again and suddenly my aunt says 'Nearly there, once more', so I hold my breath and push again. "waaaaaahh waaaahhh" . What? Already? I check the clock its been just 3 to 5 minutes since we started!!! The baby arrived at 3.05pm with no fuss and a wild yell! A slippery lil thing who was given to me to say Hi to...we were so surprised she was already there, but happy as hell! Srikanth was the proud dad to a darling baby girl...thankfully our nickname for our baby-to-be was ok (we had referred to the baby as Olive. didn't have a clue if it was gonna be a girl or a boy. Imagine a poor boy called Olive!)!

They took her away to the next room for the cardiologist and neonatologist to check her while I got my episiotomy stitched up/placenta delivered, she got good APGARs and we were happy. She came back to us all bundled up and looked us straight in the eye when we held her. We melted. Mihika was here.

PS: She was later found to be absolutely fine and healthy, so no worries on that count. Touchwood.
PPS: After the birth, we hung around the same room where they gave me some pain killers and brought me hot grilled sandwiches and tea while I was under routine observation post delivery. I shifted to my room an hour later.

New Subscription Service

2009-07-28T19:45:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone!!

You all must be wondering why we were sending all those test posts out to mommy center. Thanks to Ramya our tech admin, we have now a subscription feature on our Mommy Center blog page. Now some of us have already been getting email notifications when something is posted and some of you weren't. The reason why some of you didn't was because we could only have 10 people who could be notified by emails of all the updates in the blog.

Now with the new subscription service , we all can get emails when someone posts something on the blog. So here is what YOU ALL SHOULD DO!

1. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the blog page and you will see " Subscribe to mommy center". All you do is enter your email address in the text box and click the "Subscribe" button. The process isn't over yet.

2. You will come to a page called the Feedburner Email Subscription page and you have to complete the subscription process by typing in whatever word you see there and then click the "Complete Subscription Request" button.

3. Once you have done this, you should get a confirmation email in your inbox from Feedburner asking you to activate your subscription. Just follow the instructions and you should be good to go!!

Now... how this is set up is that the emails of any updates from the blog will be sent between 11 am -1 am EST which is 8:30 pm - 10:30 pm IST (Singapore bloggers not sure about the time there :D). So if anyone writes a post after that, you will not get an immediate email notification of your post, but you should get it between the times mentioned above. But don't let that stop you from blogging :) ! It is just that , it will come to your inbox late.

So ladies make sure ALL of you (that means those of you who still do get emails ) subscribe to mommy center. If you could comment saying that you subscribed, that would be good so that we know who all subscribed and make sure everyone is getting the emails from Mommy Center.

Thank you all for keeping this blog alive!!

Cheers,
Liz

Why the silence?

2009-07-28T09:30:00.000-04:00

Hey ladies... wake up!

Why is there a sudden lull on the blog? Yes, there is some work going on .. but that does not stop you from writing up. Come on and get those posts flowing in. It will only further help us with getting the email notifications thingie working.

Get Blogging. Now!

Welcome Divya Panuganti

2009-07-27T15:58:00.000-04:00

Thank you Pallavi for getting many Mom's and Moms-to-be onto this community.

Divya, Mommy Center extends a warm welcome to you! Hmm.. Due in December? Nice. You must be so excited!! Fill us in about your journey through life and what it feels like being at the stage you are in. Do you have cravings? What about nausea? You must be oh-so-done with it by now we hope, since you seem to have completed your first trimester. How is it managing home and work as of now? Do you have help at home? Write to us and share your thoughts.. and we "experienced" moms will be more than happy to give you words of wisdom :)

If you seem to want instructions on how to post articles, click here. And if you want to know more about Mommy Center, this is it. And if you are wondering what sort of a header we have...here is some info about that!

And before I forget, I am Deepti Pawar (Pallavi's college mate, obviously) and here is a little something about my life after we graduated until date. A few other ex-college moms who are already on-board have written in too. Check out their posts in the archives section of this blog.

Welcome aboard!
Happy Blogging.

Our New Admin - US Region

2009-07-25T10:41:00.000-04:00

Here is announcing the administrator for the US Region....someone who was glad to take up the task at hand right from the start!

drumroll again please.......................

And the US Region administrator is

LIZ!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

One more mommy-to-be: Divya Panuganti

2009-07-25T03:32:00.000-04:00

Introducing Divya, a close friend from B school days...she's due this December. She lives and works in Bangalore and is looking forward to sharing her cribs and joys of 'mommy-to-be'dom!

Introducing Neha Srivastava

2009-07-24T16:24:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I think I took way too long to do this. I'm sure Neha agrees with me. Not because I simply did not tell her about Mommy Center so long, but because she lives right next door and we meet everyday and talk about everything - and STILL I did not tell her about Mommy Center. Well, Neha I'd hate to say I am not sorry about it... simply because I wanted this whole blog to stabilize a bit... and I did not want to make it seem like something big when it really was not. Ya, it still is not that big, but its at least getting there (I hope). A little space on the web for us moms to share everything under the sun!

Hey everyone, Neha Srivastava is my neighbor. We've known each other since late 2007. Yup, its not too long, but read on and you will agree that it does feel like ages!

The first time we met was at the doorsteps of Neha's apartment when they were moving in just two weeks after we moved into ours. And I could not help but notice the one thing we both had in common - bulging bellies. She was due that December 07 and me in January 08. How's that for starting a good friendship? And since then there has been no stopping. Neha's darling son, Darsh, is now 19 months old (one month elder to Samvit, as I mentioned earlier) and the two kids meet everyday for a daily dose of playtime. And, we both share lot more than just mommy talk.... good food, beauty parlor talks etc. to name a few. Who can ask for a better neighbor!?

Neha, here is welcoming you to Mommy Center!!

Announcing Our Technical Administrator

2009-07-24T16:09:00.000-04:00

Yes. The little setback we had seems to be falling in place. I will soon let you all know about how you can go about getting email updates of new posts to your inbox! For now, I have a little announcement. Before we have general administrators for our blog I think what we really needed was a person with enough technical know-how. And, thanks to the problem of email notifications that we faced and many more thanks to Pallavi ... we found just the right person!!

Announcing our Technical Administrator
***drum roll***
Ramya R

She has given us a good solution to the notification issue, which I will share with you all soon in my next post. For now, THANK YOU RAMYA! And, psst... here is a little secret, Ramya possibly is sleeping as I have made this announcement and has no idea about it. Ramya, love me or hate me... you are our Tech. Admn.!!!

The Mommy List - Calling Admins!

2009-07-23T14:34:00.001-04:00

Here it is ladies. An alphabetical list of all the current members of this blog along with their respective locations. If I have missed anyone (firstly, sorry!)...kindly add a comment to this post and I will include you.

INDIA
Arathi (Chennai)
Barkha Bordia (Mumbai)
Bhoomika Annaiah (Bangalore) - She mailed me asking for the invite recently
Komal Shah (Bangalore)
Lekshmi (Mumbai)
Modesty (Bangalore)
Pallavi Rao (Bangalore/Mumbai)
Prianca Aswal (Noida)
Smitha Rao Madan (Bangalore)
Sohini Sengupta (Bangalore)
Trisha Sandill (Bangalore)

USA
Deepti Pawar
Gayathri
Liz Abraham
Paddy/Padma
Ramya Vikram
Rohini Kumar
Sathyapriya Narasimman
Vijayalakshmi C

SINGAPORE
Anitha P B
Padma Alur
Shruti Anand

Now that the list is up, let's get the admins in place. I think we need two for India and USA respectively. Singapore can have one admin.

A little glitch!

2009-07-23T12:19:00.000-04:00

Yes, ladies we have a little technical snag in our blog. No, no! Do not fret just yet. Well let me explain what the issue is.

Firstly, we are growing. We started off with about a handful of us and now we are about 20 of us who have either been regular authors, readers or yet to accept invites (that's the new joinees). Now, that is a huge number! Unfortunately blogger's notification settings does not allow me to allow more than 10 people to whom an email will be sent each time a post is written by an author. So, with so many of us I am having a hard time getting everyone up and reading/writing.

Here is what I thought to solve this issue. We create a Google Group for Mommy Center authors and I add just that group id. But, Im thinking that will only complicate things further. Because I have already been asked by a couple of you about how you can get blog related stuff to your inbox. But, here is the catch. If you want everything to come to your inbox, why have this blog at all?? Right? The whole point is to check it regulary and share your stuff!

Well still the issue is not solved. Because with our hectic lives, checking mail itself is an ardous task, let alone going beyond that. So email notification is a great thing! And, so I will work to that end.

That apart, I wanted to know if any of you out there is a part of any other blog (with many people on it, like Mommy center) where you get email notifications. And if so then can you check with the admin and let me know how its done. You see, so much for my techy skills and BSc Comp. Sc.!!! Well, I know 'tis really a matter of getting some time and RnD, which sadly is tough with a kiddo. So I will gladly accept any help and more administrators!!!

Welcome Arathi, Gayathri, Paddy and Lekshmi

2009-07-23T11:50:00.000-04:00

Mommy Center welcomes you all. We want to know more about you so accept the invites I emailed you and start putting up posts on the blog. In case you feel you want information on how to post, check these instructions.

If you still have doubts, don't hesitate to contact ANY of us on the blog. And all you need to do for this is either just write it up as a comment to this post OR simply email me and I will try my best to clarify things.

Welcome aboard!! And we cannot wait to hear from you all....
Happy Blogging Mommies!!

Profiles Section - What say?

2009-07-23T01:46:00.000-04:00

With new non MCC folk joining in, maybe its time we created a profiles section. We could use the 'About' the blogger area of the blog maybe to do this? Each of us could put in 1 para about ourselves so when someone new joins all they need to do is check that out to see who is who. Else with all the new intros coming in(and am guilty of adding a few over the last 2 days!) it will keep the main site clean for actual blogging? What say all?

Welcome 4 new members to the clan!

2009-07-23T00:09:00.000-04:00

Hi All,

I'd like to introduce 4 lovely ladies to the group...none of them know each other though!

Arathi - Arathi is a mom-to-be due in this October and is hoping to get lots of tips from those of us who have a headstart...hope we get more moms-to-be signing on soon so we have lots on that equally exciting phase! Arathi is an ex-colleague from Citi and a pal always. She lives in Chennai and is a CA.

Gayathri - I went to school with her at Chennai. Gayathri now works as an architect in the US and has a lovely lil girl Anoushka who is about a yr and a half.

Padma(since we have another Padma maybe you're ok with being called Paddy as i know you?) - We are friends from Bangalore, attended B school coaching classes together and she lived in the same colony I did. Padma is now the proud mommy of handsome Varun and is based in the US.

Lekshmi - My hubby's pal from architecture college, I got to meet Lekshmi a few years back. She now lives in Mumbai, like Gayathri is an architect and has an enthu lil girl who is all of 5 years old - Malini.

New Mom on Board – Padma Alur

2009-07-22T21:45:00.000-04:00

Let me introduce Padma to all the ladies on our blog. She is an Architect, and Mother of two adorable kids - Anushka (Khushi), 6 years and Akshit, 3 years. She is a stay home mom and does the daily routine household chores and also takes care of her kids all by herself.

Our husbands got acquainted in Singapore as they were housemates. She was the first lady I met when I landed in Uniquely Singapore after my wedding… Our meeting was as usual in a restaurant, where we had gathered to welcome, Anushka (then 6 months old) to Singapore after her birth in India, and more I must say to meet up with friends.

Now she is the best friend I can ask for and more. We chat throughout the day… no not on the computer… but on phone about anything and everything!!!!… there are days when we have talked for more than 2 hours at a go… and yes… we can do all the household chores with perfection while on phone… that is the phone is between our shoulder and ear and thus our hands are free to do everything…

Welcome, Padma and have a wonderful blogging time. Do share your experiences (mother of 2) with all of us.

Anitha.

WANTED - Blog Administrators

2009-07-22T15:03:00.000-04:00

Yes. You read my mind. It is getting tougher with more mommies on the blog. Not that its a huge task, but if there are more hands, things will just flow better. Right? Besides, our little blog is sure growing... so why not have more people managing the show?

I hereby request those of you who would like to take up administrator rights to email me or simply post comments to this post saying you would like to do so. I need to do a little research on how many administrators are allowed on a blog. But, for now what I thought was we could have one admin for each region in the world (Two for regions that have many members). Well, its just my thought. It need not be the "rule".

So, as it stands we could have 2 admins in the US, 2 in India and 1 for Far East countries. We're global! WoW!

Does this plan seem okay? Like I said , its just a thought....if you all agree then we do this. But you think you have better ideas then PLEASE put them forth and we will all consider it and decide what works best for OUR BABY - Mommy Center!!!

New Moms On The Blog - Barkha and Padma

2009-07-22T14:54:00.000-04:00

Hey ladies, its that time again. Yes, new members!!! And, I am so so happy this community is growing. Of course, the blog as such needs more work with new features etc. that can be added, but I'm sure you all understand - its tough doing it all being a stay-home mom. Which means I am looking for new admins who can share this task with me. Will come to that in another post.

OKAY! Let me come to the point. We have two (yes TWO) new members joining in. Thanks to Pallavi and Anitha for introducing Barkha Bordia and Padma Alur respectively. I request the new joinees to kindly accept the invitation and read the instructions on how to post articles on the blog.

We at Mommy Center also invite Barkha and Padma to read up on our stories in the archives of the blog. Oh, and not to mention would love to hear about you too! Do write in and let's get the mommy-talk (and just about any other talk) going!!

Introducing Barkha...

2009-07-22T06:01:00.000-04:00

Ladies, pls welcome our newest member Barkha Bordia. Barkha and I (and her husband and mine) went to business school together(the 4 of us were batchmates) and she has a lead of a few months on me, on becoming a mommy. Barkha's kiddo is a darling lil boy Aveev...the family is now relocating from Singapore to Mumbai and she's sure to have lots of interesting tales to tell of managing a move between countries with a little one in tow!

Barkha is a CA-MBA and rejoins the workforce with her old company at their India office...she's now also someone I turn to for tips and stories on 'what to expect' :)

Eating out & Theatres

2009-07-22T03:52:00.001-04:00

This is in reply to the post which Komal posted - should I /shouldn’t I. I began as a comment and then realised that this would be a whole new topic for me AND its high time I posted on our blog…

Well Singapore being a food haven, and me being a food lover we could not resist to eat all that was out there. We started taking Shreyas out to restaurants from when he was very young ...may be couple of months old... He was too young to understand or react to anything out there. And those days he would sleep in his pram or just play with his rattles etc; Gradually he got used to the restaurants and would sit in his high chair...without fuss or tantrums...this does not rule out that we didn’t have bad restaurant out days...but he got used to it and now he enjoys all the different kind of food we try…

Another topic would be should we take them to theatres… L READ ON

My hubby being the person he is a scientist would watch at the least one movie in theatres every week. This was ok with me before Shreyas was born and there were days when we would be on a movie marathon!! You wouldn’t believe it if that we watched 3 movies at a stretch on a weekend and return home by walk on an expressway at 330 AM!!!! ( Singapore is a safe place in these ways).

When Shreyas was born, he insisted that we take him to theatres. Pooh!! Can’t recall how many arguments we had about this and eventually my hubby won. We would take Shreyas to movies along with us though not every week as before (he had me to face). To deal with a movie fanatic husband is one thing and managing a small infant in the theatres in another. You wouldn’t believe this if I tell you that I would breast feed Shreyas in the theatres (definitely we would choose the corner seats), feed him food and he would even nap in the theatres for the entire length of the movie. He would sleep because when I would make him sleep at home I would not close all the doors and windows as usually we do, but would leave the TV or music on and he eventually got used to sleeping in noise. So he could actually sleep in the theatres. Coming to think of it now, it was really an adventure. hahah (I can c many of your frowning faces and do I hear gasps...)

Now that he is 3.4 years old. He sits in the theatre and completely enjoys all the movies we take him to...definitely G and PG movies else they wouldn’t allow him inside the theatre. We also enjoy live shows such as Barney, Mickey Mouse on ICE... all this as a result of him getting used to people and the noise. Recently we watched ICEAGE 3 and other animated releases. Not forgetting to mention the latest Harry potter flick… ;-)

So I think that its just matter of them getting used to a place or setting...

Jaiden's Bday Cake

2009-07-21T09:36:00.000-04:00

Two years back on July 18th, we were blessed with little Jaiden.I dont know how time went by but somehow it did. Motherhood is a roller coaster ride ..but when you think about it, there are beautiful moments. When they grow older, you grow with them and when birthday comes..you become emmotional because they are a year older.

Well just like his first birthday, this birthday was special to me. I was excited about making him a cake because he cannot eat the ones we usually get. My hunt for a cake recipe started about a month and a half back. I also wanted to make it more special by having his favorite character drawn on the cake. So I got ideas from the web and did a lot of research on how to get that done. I finally got one recipe and would like to share it with you. Pallavi also suggested I put it up here so that anyone can try to make it if they have kids like jaiden. It isn't a fancy recipe but this recipe doesnt have any eggs or butter in it. If there are any kids who are allergic or have friends whose kids are allergic, they can use this recipe. Very simple ingredients, very simple recipe.

It is called Vegan Vanilla Cake and the link to the recipe is http://www.ehow.com/how_5051889_make-vegan-vanilla-cake.html
I used the recipe below for the icing.
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup margarine
4 cups sugar
2 tablespoon soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

This is the basic recipe and I did the icing according these measurements for the cake measurements and I got left overs for the icing. So there you go ladies.. if you want to try something new... try a hand at this!

Hi Everyone!!

2009-07-15T23:28:00.000-04:00

Hi Everybody! (Blush blush)

Thank you Komal and thank you Deepti, for inviting me to be a part of the blog! And to begin with, may I please apologize for taking so long to accept...baby, husband, in laws, MAIDS...all responsible for my bad manners! :)

The world of internet can never cease to surprise me! Komal and I are like the thickest of pals today and share our entire day with each other and...and...we haven't met EVER! This takes me back to one of the many books I read by Dr Brian Weise where he says that people who are destined to meet always will and they may have never known each other but will feel a positive vibe getting them together! :) But of course, lets not forget the REAL heroes (and heroines) who're responsible for our friendship and thus me being a part of this blog...our little darlings!!!

Well...a few years back, I would've never even thought that life could get to be such a rolleroaster ride but today, I'm a mommy through and through and my life revolves around nothing but my little brat, who, surprisingly, is asleep right now and that's the reason I have been able to finally get onto the blog...........and here comes the maid! Phew! And there begins my day!!!!!!! Oh well, lots more to share but it'll just have to wait till I'm free (I'm hoping that'll happen atleast the day my brat gets married, if not before!)

Oops! By the way, my son's name is not brat...It Shaurya Singh Aswal. I had pretty much set my heart on Randeep or Ranveer (the rajput in me!) but the moment my husband and I lay our eyes on him, it just HAD to be Shaurya!

God bless and stay good!

Pria Mommy

Milestone Chart

2009-07-15T16:06:00.000-04:00

As much as I hate to see charts about when every kid should do what, it sometimes is a good thing to atleast know what they are capable of doing at each stage so it will help us to keep them motivated. I found this interesting link that lays out information about various milestones (which seem not too unreal, thankfully) for babies aged 0-months to children aged 5 years.

http://www.talaris.org/5ways/index.htm

Hope its helpful!

Toddler Surprises

2009-07-14T15:00:00.000-04:00

Here is a link I found that enlists some surprises that are on your way as your baby becomes a toddler. I loved it... so will you!

http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-babycenter-7-surprises-to-look-out-for-as-your-child-gro_3656971.bc?scid=momstodd_20090714:3&pe=2Uj7C8Z

Milestone Mania

2009-07-14T14:45:00.001-04:00

"Oh, he has not started walking yet? How old is he?", a curious lady asked me at a party. "Nearing a year and a half now" I replied in a tone tired of having this discussion with N number of people where we go.

Yes, Samvit is 1.5 years now and he still does not walk. So? Is it in my hands? Do I have a wand that can make him walk? It's not like he does not do it. He is PLAIN SCARED! He holds my or his dad's finger tightly and will not let go .. although he is walking on his own without really tugging on to us and applying any pressure. So, he is bearing his entire weight and walking... but wont let go. The moment we leave him, he simply collapses on his knees and screams out in anger that we left him.

I mean its one thing about achieving milestones but totally another for every child to get to the same milestone at the same time. I fail to give more explanations to onlookers and people who give their "suggestions" that I AM doing ALL I can. I try to make him walk by holding him.. he walks... but he is scared to let go!! How can I take that fear out? It should come from him. So when people ask me I say "You can take a horse to the water, but cannot make it drink"!!!

Did any of you face this kind of thing? I'm getting frustrated with every passing day to the extent that I want to yank Samvit onto his feet, cast a spell and get him walking!

Should I/ Shouldn't I

2009-07-13T00:51:00.001-04:00

It's amazing how many people know what's best for you, baby and how hard you'll find it to actually agree with any of them! I am sure everybody on this board can completely related to me when I say, you can never please everyone as far as parenting is concerned. Advice, suggestions, complains keep pouring in from all quarters. I have been able to ignore some of the comments and complains which came my way. But of late confused about a decision that I took for my daughter.

Being married in the same town my parents live is a blessing. More so since my in-laws dont live in the same city or country for that matter. So my family is our only support group. Kyra spends her dad at my mom's place while I am at work. There are loads of help out there to look after her, plus my bhabhi stays at home, as she just gave birth to her second child. She has an elder brother to plat with over there. A Blessing most of you if not all would agree to.

Weekends are my chores day and the very rare dinner out with family/friends. On such cases I do not like to take Kyra out, as her sleep gets disturbed. I believe that children grow in their sleep so why ruin that. I must add that Kyra is a very light sleeper (thanks to my genes) and picking her up from the bed or someone talking loudly. So its best I thought she stays at home. Besides I am very confident that she is very well cared of when I am not around and not need to worry about anything. Kyra is too small to understand the concept of a resturant as yet and associates no pleasure with it. Thereby I am not depriving her of anything is my faith.
Though alot of people, mainly cause they would like to see her keep telling me how they took their kids to even a movie from the age of 4 m.

I am wrong in putting Kyra's sleep and her hapiness (as perceived by me) as priority number one, over taking her to resturants for my friends pleasure?

Re: Live Life?

2009-07-10T14:24:00.000-04:00

Komal, this is in response to your post. I did not know what title to put up so I just added 'Re:' in front of yours :)

Yes, I understand what you are going through. It can be a real debate (and works more on our mental level than anything else) - This whole issue about taking out time for ourselves without feeling guilty. But at the end of the day I think that its what we want most that will get its priority.

I am a workout freak (altho I have to still loose weight) and find it hopelessly hard to find time to workout even though I am at home. I guess its when you are home that you tend to have more work to do than when at work. Besides, like you all know by now...here is the US we ladies are everything from wife, mom, kaamwaali bai, dhobi, baawarchi, driver etc. to name few. But I am not complaining. We are the backbones of every family. But, that is where the whole issue starts. We handle so many things (plus office work) and baby care... sometimes its simply more than we can chew. And I think its not unfair to take a break and do what you want. But then this whole guilt thingie rises at the back of our heads and we just apply the brakes.

I honestly would love to workout at the gym and then practice playing my keyboard and painting. But when I get doing to doing it I think Im not being with Samvit..and then I feel like the worst Mom on planet earth.

Anyway, putting all emotions apart (which is so tough after becoming a Mom) I think it all boils down to time management. Komal, how about you going to the gym for say 3 days a week for now, so that the other days you can be with Kyra at home. So you will be splitting your time between what you want and what you ...umm... want!! :)

I guess motherhood is all about balancing things out and finding win win situations for everyone involved in our lives. Hmm.. and the game has just begun!!!

Me Time??!!

2009-07-10T13:19:00.001-04:00

Ok ladies... how many of you think you dont have enough "me" time? How many of you wish that you just want to sit down and do nothing all day? No tantrums, no yelling, no diaper change, no feeding, no cooking, no cleaning.. nothing!! I DO!!!

This is something I think of everyday and when I do get a little bit of "me" time.. it is just not enough. I remember the times when I used to spend 45 minutes taking a shower. Now even if I try to I can't go beyond 20 minutes. I still remember, last year I had gone out for lunch with my sister, leaving Binoy and Jaiden here and I couldnt simply relax at the restuarant. I couldn't enjoy the moment that we were spending. It was like I had to get back home to do something else. It is like I dont know how to enjoy or relax anymore, but still want to!

When Jaiden is awake.. I am either feeding him, or trying to cook, or clean or doing something with him or looking for jobs. When he is asleep, I try to again look for jobs, do some cooking or cleaning. Even if I try to sit down to watch a movie.. I keep thinking 'when is he going to get up...he probably will be up in a while'.

Looking for a job is very hard and with this 2 year break things are very bad at my end and so sometime soon I will have to fit in a time for learning something. The very idea of me starting that haunts me because I have enough on my plate.

How and what do you guys do for "me time"? Do you feel the same way too??!

Live life?

2009-07-10T12:43:00.001-04:00

Quiet a strange title I must say. But that's the thought going on currently in that head of mine. What triggered is my desire to squeeze in some gym = me time in my packed day. End result = a really confused (usual, i must add) me.

Beginning at the beginning, have a cousins wedding coming up in Nov plus we have a trip scheduled to my sasural (bangkok) in December. The wedding in nov, is the first wedding in the family that i would be attending post my marriage. There have been weddings in between, but for some reason or the other I have not been able to attend them. So heres my chance to justify some of the expenditure on clothes made during my wedding. Have not visited my sasural in over 2.5 years now - naver felt the need as my in-laws would come visit us. Plus this would be the first time Kyra would be going there, and if I know my in-laws I am sure they would be throwing a party for her. Plently of occasions for me to look great and feel great coming my way! Thankfully I have lots most of my pregnancy weight, but I am left with a well rounded ab region....makes me look about 4/5 months pregnant even now! :( The desire to have washboard abs has been with me for as long as I can remember....though no action till date has been done towards that front. Recently I came across a blog (cant remember the name) which only talks about the authors progress towards being bikini ready by 30. Thats when the whole flame rekindled and I wanted to look fit and good in the upcoming festivities.

You must be wondering whats this long story got to do with the mommy-center blog or with the title? Well I just couldnt fit in the gym into my schedule. Not that there was not enough time for it....I mean I am willing to cut corners with some other things for the next 3 months to be able to go to the gym but there were other factors - which part of bangalore (my house and office are in two different areas of bangalore), where would Kyra be, how will I cook dinner (cause I figured the only time I could fit the gym would be post work in the evening), Kyra's food and loads of other things. I am still currently working on finding answers to all those questions but over an above that is a thought....

I work through the day. Kyra drives with me around town for about 1.5 hrs a day. When we get home, I am busy with preparing dinner and other house hold duties. By the time I am done with everything its Kyra's bed time. Sometimes feel bad that I do not get to spend enough time with Kyra, but not working is not an option for me - both financially and mentally. Taking out time for the gym would mean a futher reduction in Kyra and my bonding time. Should I or shouldn't????

A friend of mine was mentioned that the american's went over board with the whole spending thing, but that apart there is alot to learn from them. Europe US, NZ (those are the places I am aware of ) plan their day such that they very clearly demark their family time from office time. They even set aside a budget for travelling and vacations. Something most asians would consider least priority. We are all so tunned to saving and securing our children's future that we forget to enjoy the moment. Postponing a joy is very common, in everything - be it a new dress (save it for an occasion) or a even as small as eating at a fav resturant (too tired today, will go there tmr).

I am not saying we should look at our wishes overlooking our children's wants and desires. I am just saying that is it right or selfish to try and do something for one's happiness. It could be taking a music class or dancing or writing a book or just about anything that gives one happiness, but sacrificing maybe time or money or some other resource for your child?

Let me know what you guys think.

Life's Little Pressures

2009-07-08T15:17:00.000-04:00

It was not too long back when there were a fewer things to bother about. And, even lesser things to get pressurized about. It would either be work, which would take the cake when it came to "pressures" per se, or it would be almost nothing else.

Of course, there were a lot of times when the pressure would be in a different direction altogether. Trying to look good, having the hippest of accessories, being groomed well at all times (umpteen parlor visits hehe) to name a few. It was all a part of the rat race. And, it was normal.

But suddenly, these days I find myself in a spot dealing with a whole new dimension of life's little pressures. If you have not guessed it yet - Parenting!!! I think Ive never questioned myself so many times about anything else as much as I have about how good or bad a Mom I am.

When I see other mothers of kids Samvit's age putting so much effort towards teaching them things I begin to wonder if I'm doing enough. And everytime I ask myself that question it stings like a thousand bees. One kid already eats with a spoon - Samvit does not. Another one already says a few numbers and "reads" books - Samvit does not. And, another one helps his Mom with small chores - Boo hoo, Samvit does not. So who is to blame? Me. Me. Me!!! And so I bought a spoon, and repeatedly say numbers and thrust laundry clothes and dirty dishes into my little boy's hand and tell him do this and say that.... LORD!

I don't think I had a single book at the age of 1.5 years. I probably did not even know what a spoon was although I may have seen it, nor did I know that something called numbers existed. But, someday along the way I did get to know it all. Sometimes I think its just best to let them explore things and learn on their own at this stage. They anyway have a whole lifetime for this... but when I see other Mom's doing all this I feel like a pressure cooker about to burst!!!

SOY JOY!

2009-07-07T21:18:00.000-04:00

After reading Komal's post on food, I thought I could write this as a post because otherwise this would be a huge comment! When Jaiden was 2 months, we found out that he was allergic to milk. We had given him milk formula even though I was breastfeeding and his lips got swollen even without drinking the milk and having just a few drops on his lips. After a blood test in about a year, we confirmed the milk allergy and also found out that he was allergic to eggs and peanuts.

So he doesnt get to eat chocolate or ice creams or sweets or cakes or cookies or anything that has ghee or butter. We constantly have to keep looking at the ingredients list to make sure it is safe to give him. The reason is , if he accidently takes in any of these products, he could get an anaphylactic reaction which could be fatal if not taken care of immediately. Even if he touches milk, he starts to itch and his face would turn red with a rash. So that means if we had to eat icecream or have tea.. we would have to wash our mouths and hands before we touch him or kiss him. Going out to eat is also hard for us because 90% of the time he cannot have anything.

Luckily, he can have everything else. Which means I can cook veggies and non-veg without adding any yogurt or milk or any of the nuts and feed him that. So that way we have adjusted to his allergies and now having to look at the ingredients or asking at a restuarant what they have in the dish is a normal thing. As for milk we give him soy milk. The joy of having SOY!!

I am happy that he eats whatever I make, even though it takes a couple of trials, and one good thing is.. he cannot eat a lot of the junk(phew)!! There are things that I dont like a lot but do make for him because he looses on a lot of the milk and eggs. We dont get a lot of indian veggies here.. so i end up cooking brocoli and asparagus(which i hate) for him. When we do get indian veggies... he loves them. Fruits is one thing he loves. One sad thing is he cannot eat mangoes! Again we found that his face gets a rash when he eats mangoes. But bananas, melons, grapes, oranges.. he loves.

It is good to make for our kids the things we dont like to see if they would eat it. But I think as time goes by.. we just dont buy those things and eventually they too wont eat it not because they dont like it but just because they dont have the habit of eating it. Eventually i think they will explore as they grow older, learn to like some foods, hate some and just wont know how some tastes until they try a good recipe. But yeah, giving them the option to like it or hate it is definitely a good idea.

Thank God for Soy and Soy ice cream!!

Food Glorious Food!!!!!

2009-07-07T05:43:00.000-04:00

Had come across this interesting debate today. Wherein vegetarian parents (vegetarian by choice, not by religion/customs) feeds their child meat. of course for most vegetarian Indian (including me) non-veg is a strict no-no for various reasons. The point of discussion is not those foods, but those other things that one does not like but is super healthy. The logic being that give the child the chance to choose what he/she likes/dislikes.

I do not like bhindi or brijal or paneer (yes i am a veg non paneer eater) and have only seen my mom prepare them, have never tried making them on my own either, and in some cases (paneer) have never seen my mom cook them either. Though it is too early to introduce some of these into Kyra's diet. I do not like Mango's but Kyra did eat a small piece. Its easy to camoflage some things and still fed the baby. My husband does not like spinach (for a very wierd reason) but Kyra has palak every day as part of her soup. I do not like urad dal - but its part of the many grains that make up her dinner. Some others aint that easy. What happens to things like pumpkin (dont know if its healthy or not) both of us cant stand that fruit. Assuming its a very import part of Kyra's diet, would we be able to feed her that?

Was wondering what happens if you really dislike a particularly healthy fruit or vegetables or grains that you know would be a valuable menu addition for baby (avocado, for example)? Do you pretend to like it, to encourage your baby to eat? Do you serve it JUST to the baby? Would you learn how to prepare it and then prepare it just for the baby?

The discussion is only for healthy food, needless to say that mother's restriction as far as junk food is still required and a must.

The idea is to introduce an array of flavours and letting the child make an independent choice. Have any of you given your child something that you have not eaten yourself or cant even bare the sight of?

Cheers!!!
Komal

Unassisted Child Birth..Midwifes and more..

2009-07-04T14:21:00.000-04:00

Unassisted Child Birth ..Midwifes and more..

I was shocked when i first heard that even today child birth is done at home who are assisted bye women called midwifes.And my friend(Japanese) said that she has given birth to her daughter (who is now 3yrs old) with the help of midwifes.I was like what? really? with all these new technologies and modernization..in today's world too..i still cant believe i said to her.I have heard stories that my grandmothers had given birth at home but that was 3 generations back.

Then my other friend said she has been reading a blog about a Canadian women who gave birth at home with no assistance at all...UNBELIEVABLE.

She said to me that we as Women we have to believe our body and it is when u get confidence that u can do it.

So i started reading her blog too..to know more.The lady has done a PhD in Unassisted child birth.So she decided that giving birth to a baby is a private thing and she gave birth to her daughter in the bathroom all by herself.(Her husband was in the room next to it..so that if she needed any help she can call him).I have seen her pictures too.

Now she has given birth to a boy but with the help of a midwife.Her daughter was taking a nap in the noon and at that time she gave birth...First i was really thinking of how they actually managed all this at home..the blood,cutting of the placenta..etc etc

But then realized that u shud believe in yourself and nothing is impossible.

But for me its still far that i can even think of doing.

Her Blog is called Stand and Deliver. A very very interesting blog.

(My husband thinks that I'm crazy coz i keep reading her blog.so from many mnths hes like ramya ur gone crazy!) Its not that i am crazy but just curious.

i thought of sharing this with u girls..

If u want to read more..

http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/

One of my most memorabe Teaching sessions with Nainika

2009-07-04T00:40:00.000-04:00

Its high time i posted a blog..was just thinking what do i write.
well i would like to share this funny thing that happened in one of my teaching sessions with my daughter.

Few months back whenNainika started to utter few simple words she started with ammam( when she needs to ask me for water) and other meaningless words .So one fine day i decided to teach her calling me "mamma" and guess what she started saying "papa" all by herself...initially i was pissed thinking she doesn't want to learn calling me mamma but prefers to call her dad as papa first..

But that didn't stop me... i was adamant on teaching her mamma first, but my daughter is also equally stubborn.. As many times as i was uttering the word mamma,she repeated that many times with papa itself. alas i was tired and thought that if now i teach her saying papa may be she will say mamma at least for once and make me feel happy but No, To put all my efforts to waste she again said papa and started giggling loudly..

when i narrated this incident to my hubby. obviously he was very thrilled and told me that she prefers her dad over me ... And anyways this shows that babies take their own time to learn and of course choice too.. no matter how hard we try to teach them what we want.

Cheers
Smitha

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow, There Day After???

2009-07-03T10:52:00.001-04:00

I have been wanting to write about this for a long time. Well, life changes after a baby. Mentally, emotionally and not to forget, physically.

Of course, most of us end up with bigger hips, softer tummies et. al. Some of us are even spared this and get washboard abs in a couple of weeks after delivery. All that is in the game. But hair? Okay, its not as gross as it sounds - But it sure is WEIRD!!!

All through my pregnancy I had long, lustrous, luxurious tresses to say the least. Something that I had not enjoyed anytime in my life. Well ya it was the hormones doing that. But I was overjoyed when it stayed that way well into a 2-3 months post delivery. Then it began falling. Yes, that is normal too. I know. I lost a LOT of hair for about 2 months. So much that I began looking nearly bald around my forehead and temples and just about all around my hairline (even at the back).

Then some friends noticed that and suggested I see a dermatologist. Blah! I could care less. I had enough on hand with an infant and a home to handle. So I let it be. Then a funny thing happened. When Samvit was about 6 months I noticed a small fringe around my hairline. It was new hair spurting up. How funny? But its real. And that began growing. But well, it did not stop at that. It went on. Layers and layers of new hair. Now, beat this, I still have layers growing even now. It's probably the fifth layer now. Hahahhah! And considering I have hopelessly frizzy, wavy hair it makes it seem to onlookers like I dont comb my hair in what seems like an eon!!! Ive been trying everything - new hair styles, clips, bands.. you name it. Nothing is helping. Well ya, its a good thing its growing back, but I look like a fuzzy, unkempt, lazy mom - which sadly, I am not!!!

Did this happen to any of you out there??

Welcome Prianca

2009-07-03T10:34:00.000-04:00

Thanks Komal for taking this blog to a new level. Like we all know, more the merrier. And when it comes to parenting, we sure can do with a lot more inputs. So, Welcome Prianca.

I have sent the invite to Prianca to start writing on the blog. Komal, I guess you can do the honors of introducing her to the process. That apart, Prianca - You can check some of the old posts for more information as to how this blog started, what the header signifies and basic instructions on how to post articles up here.

We would like to know more about you. So, write in and fill us up about yourself, your little brat and just about anything (oh did I forget someone?Ah, hubby dear!) you want to share with this bunch of us out here!

And before I forget, I am Deepti Pawar (Komal's college mate, obviously) and here is a little something about my life after we graduated until date. A few other ex-college moms who are already on-board have written in too. Check out their posts as well.

Welcome aboard!

Happy Blogging. Haffun.

Introducing Prianca Aswal

2009-07-03T00:57:00.001-04:00

Hey girls,

This blog was started with the idea of having a common forum where we mothers could blog and share our views/thoughts and experiences. The authors not restricted to CMS/EMS - MCC batch of 2001, hence thought would introduce Prianca Bhatia Aswal to you guys and invite her to start blogging with us.

Pria is from Delhi - Noida to be specific; and as an adorable son named Shaurya Singh Aswal (shaurya is just 2 days older than Kyra). Both Deepak (her husband) and she wanted a very Rajasthan Royal name - hence the singh. Where did I meet her --- thats the crazy part, we havent met each other till date. Became friends with her thru www.babycentre.in - we shared the same EOD for a babies. Became real close buddies right thru our pregnancies, sharing concerns about our yet to be born children to bitching about various things and sharing stories about fights with hubby dearest to making up with hubby ideas. Just about everything!!!!

Pria,
The authors so far are all my class mates from college. And yes before you ask....I actually did graduate!!!!

Komal