Kanjak Poojan

With the navratri celebrations Iam reminded of my childhood days in Shimla, when I got ready to accompany my friends as we were invited by many neighborhood households for kanjak, a ritual very popular in north India- young girls are invited to be worshiped, offered delicacies like halwa, puri, chana and are given gifts or money. Kanjak Poojan is usually done on ashtami or naavmi ( eight or ninth day of the navratris). At our end we perform this on naavmi ( ninth day of navratris ).

We do not have many Indians in the neighborhood here and Anvesha missed the many opportunities that she would have got- had she been in India around this time ;) We did have friends come in for Kanjak though and since Anvesha could not eat all of the yummy halwa puris, I finished them for her, lol :)

We dressed up Anvesha in the traditional salwar kameez that day and she looked adorable as she played around with the dupatta. Since it was 'her' day, I took her to Wiggle Works- kids play area, so that she could enjoy her day. She is fond of stacking these days, so I thought it would be a good idea to get her a stacking ring, which reminds me of the onion rings at Red Robin :)

Here's our Kanjak, ready for her Kanjak Poojan :)

Spring is here !!!!

We've spent most of our winter indoors looking at nature through the window and wishing for an early spring. Now that spring is 'officially here', its our chance to go outside and experience it first hand. We take a simple walk for granted until its too cold and rainy outside and with small kids it gets so so difficult to engage them in any sort of indoor activities. Anvesha brings her shoes asking us to put them on for her and drags us to the main door, indicating that she wants to go outside :) Poor baby !!! little does she know that we cant go out in the cold, rainy afternoons.

Iam personally very fond of flowers ( who isn't ?) and its a delight to see cherry blossom trees all around the place these days. This week we were lucky enough to see some daffodils bloom in the spring and we took advantage of it and spent  some good time outside. Weekend was spent in Portland and Anvesha enjoyed being out, ran all around the place with her ball and didnt want to come back home. Here are some of this week's pics.

We look forward to more of such delightful colors that spring has to offer and welcome it with open arms !!!!! 

Happy Spring 2014 !!!

Here's a poem, " To Daffodils" by Robert Herrick that has stayed with me from my school days, which I think is  very appropriate to this particular post.

"Fair Daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon;
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attain'd his noon.
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the even-song;
And, having pray'd together, we
Will go with you along.

We have short time to stay, as you,
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay,
As you, or anything.
We die
As your hours do, and dry
Away,
Like to the summer's rain;
Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again."

The Dark Side of Motherhood

All right, so this post is more like a vent post and I don't mean to discourage new moms or soon to be moms, or even bleakly sound positive. So far I have mentioned about the good part of becoming a mom, life as a stay at home mom..... but hey!!! there's other side of the coin too.

Its 8 AM.... Anvesha wakes up and just wants to be held (only by me), she has been super clingy for whatever reason, refusing to eat. While I need to get the household chores done before Prateek leaves for work, Anvesha would just not let me work at all and follows me everywhere. I somehow manage to get some tasks done, gobbling some instant breakfast meals while holding Anvesha. God bless the instant meals concept !!! Too tired to hold her anymore, I end up putting on her favorite rhymes so as to get her down to sit in one place. I hate treating television as a baby sitter, but this is my last resort.

Fast forward... its 12.30 PM now and I have finally managed to get her to sleep after hours of whining. I sit down in front of my laptop and begin to write. I look around me - at the unopened book that I wanted to read but haven't managed to so far, my to do list which is becoming longer and longer, and finally the lukewarm cup of "adrak ki chai" which I wanted to drink while it was still hot... too tired to get up, I gulp it anyways.

These days the success of my day is determined more by whether Anvesha finishes her meals, how much she naps and how much of the household chores Iam able to finish on time. Its so easy to fall into the trap of counting all the wrong things, that Iam forgetting what motherhood really is.... Squeezing out time for myself is a major challenge these days..... I need some pampering, some ME time :(

How many times have I swept the kitchen floor, how many times have I cleaned the carpet stains, how many times have I stepped over that particular toy, how many times have I cleared the tit bits of Anvesha's leftovers, how many times have I raised my voice? My equation of motherhood seems to be always unbalanced. No matter how hard I try, Iam always at the losing end and the more I think about it, the more overwhelmed, hopeless, frustrated and uncertain I get. But you know what, motherhood cannot be quantified and children aren't equations and my purpose is definitely not to solve my domestic life as a complex maths equation. My purpose is to extend grace, plant love in the hearts of people I love most.

I should rather focus on what is going right in order to feel better. I know today I haven't been able to meet any of the standards I have set for myself, but who said motherhood would be a rosy picture? Whenever Iam feeling low in times like these, i see all of Anvesha's pictures and old videos and that makes me feel better.

A beautiful mess !!

The organized side of me would hate to see the messy house that I live in these days ; correction-  "beautiful messy house". This is my life now- a beautiful mess. Despite my best efforts, its crazy and unorganized. Its just way too stressful to keep my house perfectly neat at this stage of my life, its just next to impossible. Iam inherently an organized person, but from the time Anvesha has gained mobility, she has ganged up against me and turned my house crazy :) She'll un spool rolls of toilet paper, empty out kitchen & the bedside drawers, knock glasses off the table. to keep my sanity, I sometimes take her out for a walk or to kids' play areas nearby, but have to limit the outdoor activity these days as it rains crazily in Seattle. 

Here's a poem I came across somewhere and wanted to share here

slow down mummy, there is no need to rush,
slow down mummy, what is all the fuss?
slow down mummy, make yourself a cup of tea.
slow down mummy, come spend some time with me.

slow down mummy, let's pull boots on for a walk,
let's kick at piles of leaves, and smile and laugh and talk.
slow down mummy, you look ever so tired,
come sit and snuggle under the duvet, and rest with me a while.

slow down mummy, those dirty dishes can wait,
slow down mummy, let's have some fun - bake a cake!
slow down mummy, I know you work a lot,
but sometimes mummy, it's nice when you just stop.

sit with us a minute,
and listen to our day,
spend a cherished moment,
because our childhood won't stay!

One day my house will be in shape again, the closets will be organized and things will be in place, but as of now I have stopped sweating over it. This is just a phase and shall pass too !!

Weaning Baby

Weaning can be a simple or a struggle depending on how attached the baby is to breastfeeding. Generally speaking, it is recommended to nurse for at least an year or as long as it makes you and your child happy.  I feel it was the best thing I did for Anvesha as it not only help her build a strong immune system, but also strengthen the bonding between me and her. Though it was a bit challenging for me and I kept getting raised eyebrows in the past couple of months as though to suggest that its time to give up breastfeeding. I have realized over the time that people WILL have opinions and the rule of thumb is not to feel pressurized, after all,  she is getting the best nutrition which is from ME :)

Anvesha did not take the bottle quite well and so I thought it would be just fine to introduce her directly to a glass or a cup for milk when the time is just right.Now that she is an year old, Iam slowly introducing her to whole milk. The plan is to wean gradually and not go "cold turkey" so as to give her time to adjust. But it certainly isn't a cakewalk, some days are good while others are bad ( read frustrating ). Her pediatrician has suggested to give at least 20 oz of whole milk each day and it sure is challenging. A work around is to give her dairy products such as cheese, yogurt,and other milk products such as kheer. Within few months she will be weaned off completely and I will surely miss feeding her.

Anvesha is getting used to drinking milk from her cup and there are spills... lots of them. I don't care anymore how the carpet looks.... as long as she gets the milk :) There are so many phases in a child's life and each one is so special -before we realize it, the child steps into the next phase. Well, for Anvesha the next phase would be, "Food the world awaits" !!

Tell me a story

One of the best things we can do for our children is spending time with them as it tells the child that they are important to us. This can be difficult if you are tired, but it is important. Bedtime stories have been very effective in developing a strong reading habit. It can take a child to a new world of imaginative activity and also helps build a strong affectionate bond between the child and the parent. Going down the memory lane, I remember sneaking into my grand mom's bed and requesting her to tell me a story. She would tell me all sorts of different stories of Indian Gods and Godesses, panchatantra, fairies and I would go into my own dreamland. Every time I would visit my grandparents, this was my bedtime ritual. There are some family rituals you want to carry on and story time is one of them.

We've got Anvesha few fairy fables, which she loves. Though she doesn't understand a word of what is inside the book, but she enjoys flipping the pages. Her favorite character these days is Tinker Bell & Rosetta :) I try my best to make story times special and enjoyable for her by showing pictures from the book as I am reading, making sound effects with some unique voices and dramatic pause ;) Phew !!!!! so much for becoming a mom. But believe me, its all worth it !!!!

Luckily for us, we have our local library nearby and guess what? they have weekly story time sessions as well :) My next step is to get her enrolled in one such story time .... and I am very curious to see how she responds, I think she will love it :)

India Trip Highlights

I know this post should have come long back, but I had been busy preparing for Anvesha's birthday bash, fighting jetlag and settling down of course. Its always a delight to meet family after a long time, but this trip was extra special as Anvesha was exposed to so many wonderful things that we as kids were; and with this I mean playing with mud, collecting leaves, taking an oil massage in the sun followed by a sun bath :) not to forget going for regular walk with grandpa and meeting new faces on  the way, a ride on the cycle rickshaw........ the list is endless !!!!!

The first week in India was a bit rough as Anvesha was terribly jetlaged and so were we. Family and friends were thrilled to meet her and the house was decorated with balloons all over. It was a grand welcome indeed :) I have never seen her so happy and social on meeting new people. She just loved to watch the birds and pigeons and to my surprise, she laughed her heart out on seeing the street dogs approaching her.

As a part of Indian tradition a child's head is supposed to be shaved off within an year of birth. The ceremony is referred to as "mundan". Its a big ceremony and father's sister (bua) has a big role to play in it. Though we tried to keep Anvesha distracted, but she cried uncontrollably when her head was being shaved off. Here's her pic before and after the mundan.

We've been celebrating Anvesha's monthly birthdays but her 11th month birthday was different as we had a katha ceremony at home. The next day was followed by Anvesha's grand welcome party where everyone came to meet her. She wore a beautiful blue dress that we got from Delhi after days and days of survey to get the perfect dress for the big day !! We even got her a pair of matching sandals but they looked alien to her and she was so scared to put them on that we dropped the idea of having her wear those cute little sandals.

Winter was at its peak and the mercury level was dropping down. The latter part of the India trip was at Anvesha's naana- naani ( maternal side grandparents ). By that time she had learnt to walk confidently and my job was even tougher as I had to run around to watch her, while she played in the mud and collected leaves that had fallen off from the trees.

I can't help but think that its so so necessary to be amongst people, especially for a kid. They learn so many new things and everyone has their own unique way of handling kids. Anvesha waves goodbye, claps her hands and gives a big "high five". I think it was the best trip to India so far..... wish I could turn back time, but life must go on.........