Ten on Tuesday

I have been feeling pretty low for the last couple days (again!). Everyday scares me to the point of becoming paranoid. Some say I am a natural worrier!! During challenging times like these, it becomes especially important for me to count my blessings. Otherwise I will lose all perspectives.. right? So, I’m going to list down my blessings today. All things I feel good about –

1. I am alive! And I love my life and the way I live! I have the sweetest parents and the greatest husband ever!
2. I am blessed with two beautiful children! They are my world!
3. I am reasonably healthy! I had a great childhood and an innocent transition to adulthood. I never had to worry about anything as a child/teenager. Everything was taken care of for me.
4. I went to a great school and a good college. My school days were quiet and my college days were busy. The toughest hardship I faced was being forced to travel to Mumbai for my first job when I wanted to quit it and stay in Madras.
5. I love to dream and can enter my dreamland any second!
6. I have couple people in the family who I can call even at 3 AM and not get yelled at. I have 4 close friends with whom I can share anything and everything. I have many other friends who I can go shopping with, watch a movie or just chat.
7. I am a proud owner of a newly constructed house. I love my house and I enjoy decorating/admiring it each day.
8. I love to travel and have worked in 6 cities, 2 countries and 2 continents.  I am good at what I do and great at picking new skills!
9. I can walk into any store (be it expensive ones or the thrift store kinds), and shop whatever my heart fancies. I love shopping that much. My wardrobe is so full and overflowing but I cannot let go anything.
10. I like to write and blessed to have you all stop by (you lurkers too!) and appreciate me.

I have more to add to the list but I will stop here for today… I hope you guys will feel inspired to share a similar list in your blog or put in your comments in the space below.

#Blogathon2023

J for Joy

Joy is what you feel when you have these in front of you. Many! Many of them.

When you have no plans for the afternoon, you take a nice long shower, have your favorite lunch, grab a blanket and settle down on your couch with nothing other than your ultimate source of power.

This bunch that you got at the store, couple weekends back during the holidays, has Mango, Cappuccino, Milk, Hazelnut, Dark and Fudge Swirl flavors (just in case you want to know!).

What a real treat these are! You love them! You won’t share them! You will finish them. One by one by the end of this month.

Ah! The small joys of life!

#Blogathon2020, #Joy, #A-ZWriting #Lindt #Truffles

Loving parents

Amma and Appa sent us a parcel from India recently.. dresses for the kids, and snacks for us… Awwww… I still have some snack left.. Will finish it off this weekend.

Lime loves his spiderman shirt; and I’m going to let Lily wear her dress (paavadai) for Pongal!

This is how the parcel was left outside the door..

And this is what Lily did with it after 😂

#ParentsLove #ParcelFromMadras #Blogathon2018

What do I do…

…when there’s a snow storm during weekend? I enjoy the snow, take a picture and post it in my blog!

This pic is now my blog’s header!

…when I attend the largest Women’s conference in the country? I brag about it for days with Lemon. I proudly post pictures in social media!

Being Fearless!

…when my kids help me do laundry? I become a very proud mom and post a pic in my blog!

#mybabies carrying laundry from one room to the other

…when baby Lily eats chocolate cake like this? You guessed it! I take a pic and post in my blog!

She’s all smiles after making a mess!

…when I see someone giving a wagon away for free? I grab it! Take the kids on a wagon trip and of course post a pic in my blog!

They both love the wagon! Thanks to the seller for giving this away for free!

…when I make my first sales in poshmark? Yes! Yes! Yes! I brag about it in my blog and post a pic!

And I made my first sale!

Do you have anything to brag about? Start a blog!

A letter to my baby boy – 4

My dear Lime, 

You are FIVE. 

As I write this post, I will try hard not to cry. You sweet boy, my firstborn child, made me a mommy!  

From the moment I saw you, I knew I’ll never love someone else the way I love you.  You changed my life forever. 

FIVE is such a big boy age. I’m struggling to understand how time went by so quickly. It just seems like yesterday I was in hospital giving birth to you. 

I still remember that first year when I quit my job to take care of you. I spent days exploring the world with you when some people criticized me for being a stay-at-home mom. You were content being with me and that mattered to me more than anything else. 

That second year when I put you in day care and resumed work is unforgettable. We both cried on your first day at day care. Ah! Those painful days!

That third year when you went so crazy about mickey mouse. 

Your sister came along before you were four. I was so worried i couldn’t love you as well anymore. I was wrong. 1

When it comes to taking care of baby Lily, you are so good. You learned to take care of her quickly. You make sure she doesn’t fall down from the bed by arranging pillows in the open corner. You hold her hand when she tries to walk. You sing so she can sleep. If I take away your toys, you get angry; But if Lily grabs your toys, you are so good with her. You give her something in exchange and then take your toy back. 

I love that you remember every single thing about anything I say. You are so fun. Everyone loves talking with you. Your laugh is so infectious. You love to figure things out yourself – Be it opening a snack box or inserting straw in a juice pouch; You want to do it all.

You are so smart and make Lemon and I so proud. 

You like to run around a lot. I still remember the day when I almost lost you at the shopping mall. You ran away and scared the hell out of me. I did end up finding you in couple minutes. But what a day it was. Phew!

You are good at soccer and swimming. We can’t wait to try karate and dance next. 

This year you fell so much in love with Power Rangers. And, you are still crazy about ‘Talking Tom‘. 

Can’t believe you are graduating this Friday from Pre-School. You love math and like talking about all you learnt in school. You have memorized our phone number and house address for emergency. 

Being a super hero is your dream. You love avengers, ninjas, spider-man and Batman and what not. You can name every character in all of the movies which I have no clue about. 

You have a big year ahead, my baby! You are going to go to a new school. Meet new friends and teachers. The path forward is new with lots of changes in schedule. Come what may, I know you will prosper in all your endeavors. God bless you my child! I love you so much! 

That’s you with your birthday gift! Power Ranger Megazord 🙂

 

Love,
Mummy

Introducing baby ‘Lily’

It’s late post. But better late than never, right?

This year has been so much fun. Most of my dreams have come true, especially the baby news! There has been 3 babies, all about a month apart, in the family this year. The 4th one is expected sometime next week. Can’t wait for the good news from the cousin! 🙂

‘Lily‘ is my baby girl’s blog name. She graced this beautiful world  on May 3rd 2016!!! The birth story is posted here.

It’s been 7 months now. Lime is still surprised by the fact that the baby is out of mommy’s tummy. He is a proud big bother and loves his little sister.

There are so many things about the baby that I want to record over here..Will do it as and when I find time..

We love our little one. She is our adorable doll. Her toothless smile makes us melt every time. She loves lying on her tummy and raising her head high. She is starting to sit up by herself and she always does it quickly when mommy is not looking at her. She is always curious about what is happening around her. She turns her tiny head all around to look at things. She even stretches her arms to reach for the cup when mommy is drinking her morning coffee. She also loves playing with mommy’s hair.

She looks up to her brother all the time. She admires him for everything he does. She laughs happily around him and plays with him. He sings and dances for her which is so adorable. She bears with whatever he does, even it is pinching her nose or hugging her tight. No complaints – She loves it all!

Keep growing our dear baby. Be happy and healthy! We love you and Lime the most!

All you readers, send in all your love to the little ones, will ya?

Ah! The small joys of life

When your office friends plan a surprise party for you –

They would convince your boss to make you come to office even though your boss had agreed and given you permission, a few weeks back, to work from home on that particular day for whatsoever reason. You wonder why the boss changed his mind suddenly and wants you in office that day. You would be mad at him. He would apologize and blame your close friend for convincing him to make you be present for the party. How can you be mad at your close friend? So in the end you would appreciate the friend’s effort and be pleased with your colleagues. 

When your  husband plans a surprise party for you – 

He would convince you to take Lime to a birthday party even though you are not well that morning. When you come back home and open the door, you would hear many of your friends shout ‘Surprise!‘. The house would be decorated. Your favorite food would have been ordered. The cake would look delicious and there would be smiles everywhere. 

When there’s a celebration in office but you are too lazy that you do not want to move out of your desk – 

Your friend would bring you a piece of cake from the celebration. You would eat. You would enjoy. 

When your parents are at home – 

Every day, for lunch, you would eat fresh food cooked by your mom. And, when all the chores are taken care by your parents you would just spend most of your time relaxing at home. And when your mom and your son massage your legs you would take a pic and post it in your blog!

A letter to my husband on his birthday

Dear Lemon,

You are probably a little nervous about this letter now since I always like to be cheesy and as embarrassing as possible about you in my blog.  But do not worry. Today is your birthday so I will be a good wife and write only about what I like about you. I might have said the same things before but I think we all know by now that that’s kind of how I roll this blog. So, Ready? And go.

You are the heart of this blog. If it weren’t about you, I wouldn’t be here writing this post now.

You do things in a way that only you can do in the way you do them.

You are the reason we laugh so hard

You do crazy things with me

You are the awesome dad who likes to play with his son. And, I can’t wait to see how good you are going to be with our next baby!

You look incredibly good when holding hands and walking together with Lime

You take us on a vacation every year so we can relax and enjoy

You love us

Happy Birthday dear husband! You are the best! I hope you have a fantastic birthday today and you owe me a BIG treat this evening.

Loooooooooove,
Your wife!

At 24

Dear Lemon,

Do you remember this pic? It was taken on the day of our wedding, during the oonjal ceremony. That moment when this pic was taken will always be special. 

This was not a rehearsal. We were surrounded by our entire family, friends, the catering guys, the photographer, the video man and a zillion others. 

We were actually sitting in the oonjal for almost an hour waiting for the actual wedding moment. It was so embarrassing to sit in the swing all dressed up in front of the big crowd. Even more embarrassing part was when people started singing, dancing and teasing us all the time. But you made me feel comfortable. By passing jokes about our very own people. Lol. I laughed. I smiled. I was shy. I was 24 and you were 28. We were pretty young and fearless during that time.

I found this pic in our wedding album today. One of my favorites. Cheers to all the good old times and to all our future ones.

Lavender. 

A Letter to my baby boy – 3

My dear Lime,

Has it been a while since I wrote to you? Sorry tuttu.. You kept my so busy that I never got to write a letter to you.

Can’t believe you are little more than two now. I have not started potty training you but you seem to know already. Everytime you want to pee you come running towards me and say, “I want to change the diaper” At times, you also run into the bathroom and say “I want to wash hands”.

When daddy and I fight, our voices raise. We forget that you are around and still fight. You come inbetween us and raise your voice more than ours. You say, “Daddy! Ne na ne na ne na na na Mummy!” … “Shhh!” We stop. We laugh. And we hug you.

You know what I drink first thing in the morning. So you follow me to the kitchen and say, “Coffee!”. You also know how I make bournvita for you. As soon as I pick your sippy cup you say, “Mummy Milk! When I add milk you shout “Put bournvita ” and then “sugar”!

Cookies and strawberries are your favorites.

Whenever you see any Gods photo, you say “Ummachi Kaapathungo!”

You love music. Whenever I sing, you follow me imemdiately. You follow the tune and the thalam.

You run out to any place anywhere with no care. No amount of warning, scolding or time-outs have any effect on you.

You are not scared of anything.

Everyone in the family loves you.

Sometimes, for ‘yes’ you say ‘yeah’ and for ‘no’ also you say ‘yeah’. And I get confused all the time.

Remember how I said in my last letter that you like Coach Hooper. Well that hasn’t changed a bit. You still adore him and dance his way.

You fight with me a lot. Already. When I dont listen to what you say, you shout – “Mummy..No! Listen Mummy..Mummy……..” If I still don’t respond, you yell at me – “Nooooo!”. This “No Mummy” fight will go on for sometime. When you get tired, you say “Ok, bye!” and walk out of the room.

Why do you love your socks so much? Any time of the day you want socks in your legs. If you don’t see a sock in your leg, you would cry so hard to wear it immediately!

Keep growing my chweet boy. I love you so much! 🙂

Love,
Mummy