I don’t blog for few weeks and here I am struggling to get back into circulation. Too many things to write, not able to decide which one to pick first… Its like deciding what to cook the day of grocery shopping. Too many options directly proportional to decision time :).
Kick starting with a bit of this and a bit of that..

Got a hair cut over the weekend. My requirement to the lady was simple - chop it off as much as you can. Must say she did a good job. Me getting compliments left, right and center. Now ya’ll be nice and don’t ask for a pix - ok? [It is on my To-Do list to send pix of the pea pod and the princess to all who asked for it]. Anyways, before I digress, coming back to the hair story. Am at 5+ months post-partum. About a month back it started shedding, lately it has gotten to the point that I carefully avoid the mirror, as all I can see is the receding hair line. I think I got so obsessed that unconsciously I have been telling D, I only have 4 hairs left on my head, girl. Don’t you dare mess with them. Every now and then she asks Mumma, how many hair do you have now? bah! I so baadly wanted to have long hair after years of having them short. I watered them, gave them nutritious food for about 2 years! Wasn’t enough I guess. GONE!!! Am back to my original style… sob.. sob..

The Good, The bad and The ugly:
The Good: Am back to a size 4. Yipee!! Back to the weight I was 4 years back - 113 lbs. Double Yipee!!
The Bad:
The Ugly: Though I could fit into a size 4 jeans, I have to stick with a 6, damn the hernia. The LH was commenting the other day that I looked like the kids here, wearing their pants at the knee line instead of the waist line. Whatever! Doc says I need to wait another year for the corrective surgery, as there is too much fluff there. Fluff? Yeah sure! On a positive note, I could get a tummy tuck done at the time of surgery, I think. hmm….

The LH has started a new venture with couple of other guys. We are[I am] still adjusting to the new timings. As with the new venture, he does not have[want] the luxury of working from home. He leaves at 8:00AM and is back around 7:30PM. I know, I know thats probably the routine in a lot of households, might not sound like a big deal. He worked 16 hours a day before and its the same now, not much has changed. Its more of a perception thing. Before he was only few stairs away, once or twice a day I could hand over Dlittle to him to get a breather. Don’t have that luxury anymore. Add to it, Dlittle’s day nap getting shorter by the day and my role in the company getting wider by the day.
Not really time pressed, but chaotic. Utter chaos in the house from the time we wake up to the time we hit the bed. Its definitely getting better, so much better that I am back blogging!

Thanksgiving:
Thursday: We took the kids to the park in the afternoon. We packed sandwich, fruits, carrots and cucumbers with a cilantro dip. The park was pretty much empty, the kids train was not operational. We ended up playing soccer. Not really soccer, we were just kicking and running around the park like crazy. Had fun. That evening we had spinach soup, pasta with pesto sauce and a fruit salad for dinner.

Black Friday: Set the alarm for 4 AM. Plan was for the LH to hit the store at 4:00 AM, be back by 6. Me to leave at 6AM and return by 8:00AM, so not to bother the kids. Over the period of time, I have mastered the art of switching the alarm 5 minutes before its scheduled to ring, all while sleeping. Friday was no different. D woke us up around 8:30. The LH finally hit the furniture store at noon. We wanted to replace our dining table with a more kid-friendly one. Only for him to stand in the long line for 1/2 hour and hear the set is out of stock and they are already overbooked until Feb of next year.
I did my shopping on Sunday. I am not a shopping person. I only do it on a need basis. The kids were napping in the afternoon, when I suddenly got the urge to shop for jeans. There I went, not sure of the size and not having enough time to try them on. Picked a 4, 6 and 8 size. So, now I have a body fitting, a comfort fit and an oversized jean. One for each occasion - Date, Work and over-eating at restaurants.

D turned 3, D graduated to the big-kids class, Dlittle started on solids, Dlittle almost sitting up are the latest happenings at our end. Its only fair to pen these as separate posts. Soon!

I am having 3 parties today! I had a blast at the school party this morning, mumma says we are going to have a cake session tonight in the midst of Diwali celebration at a friends place. And I have an internet party!! Thank you!

Thankyou MNamma Aunty for hosting the party
Thankyou Moppet for the wishes, I love Dora. You too?
Thankyou Poppin, kisses right back to you.
Thankyou Timepass Aunty, very sweet of you to remember my liking for Thomas train.
Thankyou Chintu, I love the balloons and the stars.
Thankyou Tharini Aunty, Winkie and Thambi for the beautiful note. First thing I did today was to call Naani, and I am wearing the dress she sent to school today.
Thankyou for the hand drawn card? Madhu and Nandu?[Guess is because your card is right after]
Thankyou Madhu and Nandu for the hand written note.
Thankyou Kodi, you are an artist that was a beautiful rainbow.
Thankyou Ashu, love the balloons.
Thankyou Nikki and Anitha Aunty, the cake is yummm..
Thankyou COS Aunty and KT for the wonderful wishes.
Thankyou Shobana Aunty and Naren for the wonderful wishes.

Thankyou all everyone once again to make this a wonderful day!

Loads of love, hugs and kisses,
D-didi


[This a big day in the RB household. D turning 3, celebrating with the festive of light, adding to it the delight of Dlittle tasting her first solid Will write a detailed post when I get a breather from making sooji laddo, peda and chiwda. ]

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! For the record !

Just for the records, I wanted to write the long due post with a link to the Telegraph article where this blog got a mention. Took another look at the email I got from the author, Tessy Koshy, just to make sure I got her name right. I must admit when I got her email I thought it was a prank. I googled on her name to make sure she was indeed working for The Telegraph. Anyways, she had written in the email that she hit upon my blog while surfing on the net for mommy blogs, and thought it was interesting.
Out of curiosity on how she hit upon my blog, when there are so many others that deserve a mention, I googled on indian.. mommy.. blogger.. daycare.... to name a few, to see if mine showed up on the first 2 pages. Damn! Not even on the third. I wasn’t going to let it go. So, searched on the keyword ddmom, hoping to see my blog as the first entry in the result set. Sure, it was and it did momentarily satisfy my alter ego!
Wait, what is this 5th link? ddmom’s dating an alcoholic? How? When did that happen? Sorry ddmom, whoever you are, this is just to set my record straight, no offense to you!
Only to click few more links and end up transforming into a dog!

Get back to work, lady!

It was my first halloween year in US, it was a Saturday. Me and the LH were in the apartment busy with regular chores when the bell rang. The LH opened the door to see few kids dressed up, screaming Trick Or Treat. These kids were in the 8-10 age group, were not accompanied by adults, which later explained why they did not look out for the pumpkin before knocking. The LH totally confused, no clue whatsoever calls out for me. I came to the door and got equally lost. I thought it was the neighborhood kids playing a prank. Before this event, once a small girl, about 6-7 years.. knocked on our door, handed a flower[weed] and asked for 5 cents. She was collecting money for a school project. That thought flashed and I hinted the LH for a 5 cent maybe? Thank God, the LH did not agree, saving us from the laughter of the neighborhood. He politely asked, why are you’ll dressed up? The kids got excited to tell us, stepping on to each others words to get the message across. Their version was something like this - Oh, you know.. Its like.. you go knocking on the doors.. decorate the house with scary stuff.. like.. skulls.. and skeletons.. when kids come over and say trick or treat.. you should say treat and hand over candies. Else the kids will really really really.. scare you..
Huh! candy. Lets see - Do we have some candies for the kids? Yeah right, I think, if only I had a magic wand.
Well, we told the kids to come right back after about 10 minutes, the LH went to the nearby store and got some.


Every year since then, we light a pumpkin at the door and have a bowl of candies ready to be dispatched. Me and the LH had no kids then, but loved to watch the enthusiasm with which the kids all dressed up, walked on the streets knocking on the doors, with their still not so mature voice trying to scare the inmates - Trick? Or Treat? I remember once I said Trick to a 10 year old boy and he almost ran away.


After D came into our lives, the first year we parents had no enthu in taking her out to t-o-t as we were preparing to leave for an India trip and she was too young to understand. The second year, she was a little sick with cold and fever, and had no clue about the festive. She just had fun handing over the candies..

Year 3: 2 weeks before the day, her school asked us to get 2 pumpkins to paint. Apparently, the kids have been talking to each others about wearing a costume and sure my little girl wanted to wear one and go chrick-or-chreaching. She had no clue what a costume meant, but wanted one. I asked her if she wanted to be a caterpillar, bumble bee. No, she wanted to be costume, costume only. Period.. hmm.. I told her costume means a dress like her shirt, pant. Just that its not something you wear everyday. Its something like an animal.. bug.. spider.. She did not seem to get it and I was too lazy to get myself to the store.
Two days before Halloween, her teacher reminded me to get some treats for sharing. No sweets, no sugary items, would prefer stationeries, small toys or stickers, she said. I dropped her in school and went to a nearby store, grabbed the treats, a pea pod dress for the little one[wasn't planning but had to take it as it was cute and 4.99$ on sale] and a black kitty cat costume with a long pink tail for D. She came home that evening, super excited to see it. Immediately wanted to try it on. It did not fit. It was for a 2 year old accidentally put into a 3T cover. She howled and would not understand that it did not fit.
So, mother and daughter went to the store again, returned it and went into another store where they had lot more to select from. They had pictures of all the costumes available on the wall and had numbered them. You had to note the number and ask for it at the counter. The line was long as it was the day before halloween, but it took hardly 2 min for my little one to decide. The pink princess with a tiara it was. She stood there and said all she could to convince me why the pink princess was the best. Because it was pink and it was princess and it had a crown. Much that I wanted her to dress up as the spooky spidy OR atleast a caterpillar, or a bee, I was left with no choice. And that was the cheapest of all, was full sleeved[cold weather], did not have any fur attached to it. The next day[the day before halloween], the minute she entered the school, she announced. Hey guys, you know what. My mumma got my pink princess… with a crown… And new shoes and socks… And pant socks alsho[Tights, that is].

On the day of halloween, she woke up early, got dressed and was at her happiest. The LH was a little green that we ended up buying a pink princess dress, he thinks I am behind the conspiracy. [He is sure his daughter would have asked for a spiderman[huh?] dress, but the mother convinced her on a pretty pink costume]. Anyways, she got all dressed up, I dropped her in school. A little later I got the little one into her pea pod costume and went back to school to see the parade. D was super excited, after the parade was over, she was seen anywhere and everywhere she spotted a camera, giving a pose. And here I am struggling with the thought of putting her pic on the site.

That evening, she looked a little sick and it was cold here. Father and daughter went t-o-ting to the mall. They were back just in time when the kids in the neighborhood started pouring in. D would stand at the door, refusing to close the door. The minute she would spot a kid in the opposite house or the adjacent one, she would scream - Hey friends, I have candy too. Very yummy, you want to try it?