Bring On The New Year - PLEASE!!

Trauma.
Yes, again today - we had a trauma. I think I might have mentioned in previous posts (several previous posts) that we can't seem to get through ONE week post-India without a visit to the pediatrician? or a doctor of some sort? Well.. today was our first of at least 2 doctor visits for this week.
Devika broke her leg today.
Yes, that's right.. her leg!! ACK! Totally bizarre and completely random incident that she likely will not let us forget for the remainder of our lives! Ajay had just finished changing her diaper, and Devi was reaching for a toy that she was playing with. Aj reached for the toy to help her grasp it.. and she suddenly kicked out at his chest (which was over the top of her) with her legs and then - I'm assuming - locked her knees - and somehow hyper-extended her left knee. This caused a 'buckle fracture' of her left tibia.
We were pretty surprised that the bone was broken. She cried at first.. and then was fussy for awhile.. and would not walk on the leg at all. We thought this was odd, as she is SUCH a walker. We thought we should take her in to an urgent care and have them look at it - thinking that it was a muscular issue. Boy were we shocked after they x-rayed and found the fracture! :((( Pooooor little baby. :((((( She isn't in pain when she isn't trying to use the leg... but she is constantly trying to use it. They put a splint on it and wrapped it tightly. They told us to make an appmt with an orthopedic doc at Children's Hospital asap. We have an appmt for Friday. I have a feeling that they are going to put a cast on it. 4-6 weeks without walking - ACK! Seriously I have no idea how this is going to work. Life has become more exciting once again. Especially as Aj has to travel next week from Saturday thru the following Friday. Ahh.. a challenge.
So - we didn't even make it to our 4 pm new year's party. We did end up with 4 bottles of champagne though. :D


Unbelievable. The number of physician visits we have made in 2 1/2 months.



Very. Very happy that we have both of our babies home with us. Very glad that we are embarking on a new year that does not include the anxiety associated with adopting/waiting for a new child (only b/c we have had this anxiety for ~4 years now). Very happy that 2008 is over and very hopeful that 2009 will bring MUCH less drama, anxiety, medical trauma, and exhaustion. :)

Wiggles. We love you - The Wiggles. We would probably not be sane after our 16-hr trip if we had not had you on DVD to serenade our children. I have no idea what it is, but this Australian group creats instant calm and commands attention of both of our girls. Even today, when Devika was in pain and freaking out b/c her leg was immobilized from hip to ankle - the Wiggles made her smile.


X-Chromosomes. Poor Aj - he is surrounded by a houseful of paired X-chromosome beings!!



Y? As taught to me in my high school senior religion class: 'Because in the great and eternal scheme of things, God has willed it so.'
Fr. O'Keefe would be so very proud. ;)


Zoo-a-philes. Ok, so I was listening to NPR last Sunday while I was prepping to embark on the big Road Trip. They were interviewing an author who had written a story about a man whose wife (or fiancee??) had died.. and he became obsessed with rare animals. He would break into zoos just to be close to certain animals. The interviewer asked the author (and I am so bummed that I cannot recall the author's name right now.. nor could I find it with a quick Google search) if this was completely fictional, or if she found in research that there are people who do this. She explained that there is an entire 'sub-culture' who are into animals and break into zoos regularly just to be close to a certain animal or animals. They do not intend to steal the animals.. they just feel a connection and want to be close to them. Could be something as small as a lizard or a bird - not necessarily a large animal such as a tiger or elephant, etc.
Now there's a piece of trivia, eh? :) And you thought I would have no entry for the letter 'Z'!

Well, there's the alphabet! That wasn't quite as fun as I had hoped. Oh well. It was a challenge!
I hope that all of you are having a fabulous, fun, and SAFE New Years Eve! 2008 was quite a year - I'm looking forward to a peaceful 2009!

It is 11:11 pm here in Mountain time. And we have 1/2 of a bottle of champagne left (out of the one we opened - not out of all 4 - HA! Good lord, that would lead to a painful beginning to the new year!).
Let's raise our glasses - A toast to all of us! Cheers!

The End of An Amazing Year!

New Year's Eve! I cannot believe that tomorrow is New Year's Eve! And, as always, we have no babysitter. ;) We would only leave Devika with someone that she knew extremely well, and we don't have anyone like that yet. Not a problem - a friend of ours is throwing a child-friendly party that begins at 4 pm. Yes, that is when our partying begins. And will probably end for us by 7 pm. Sigh. We will have to leave ourselves a nice bottle of champagne at home so that Aj and I can actually toast the new year. I wonder if he will be awake at midnight? I might be toasting by myself. Maybe I'll call someone at midnight so that they can toast with me. Or - we could have a big 'virtual' toast. See you tomorrow night! haha.. hopefully no one else is looking forward to this lame of a celebration. ;)
But in all seriousness, this was quite a year! 2008 was our 'Year of Anticipation'.. but all is well that ends well. Our family really does 'feel' complete. Nothing feels better than saying '.. my girls ..'. :)
Which leads us quite nicely to the letter 'O'...



Ornery.







Well, they LOOK innocent enough..













Somehow I think that if you have to wear it on your hat.. you might be struggling between Santa's lists! ;)









Pacifier. Maya, since our India trip when we brought pacifiers in case Devika used one, has been obsessed with 'binkies'. On Xmas Eve, we were sitting in my mom's living room. She has a kid-friendly 'Veggie Tales' nativity set set right at Maya's eye level. Maya suddenly noticed the nativity set, grabbed the baby Jesus, and exclaimed, "Mom! Where is Jesus' binky??"




Queen. Ajay tried to use his line 'In my country, you would be queen!' on me the night we first met. If I recall correctly (and of course I do), he was trying to lure me into his rooftop hot-tub.
Sometimes I can't quite remember what possessed me to agree to our first date. ;) That first night that we met - at his friend's (and a coworker of mine) party - was 10 years ago next month. WOW.



Road trip!
Well, we survived our Xmas road trip! 16 hours each way, though we broke it into 2 days. It really wasn't bad, all things considered. On the way home we were smarter - we left earlier and drove only during daylight hours. Devika starts screaming when the sun goes down, and nothing makes her feel better. Maya was like that as a baby also.. so I wasn't surprised. On the way TO Indiana, we spent 2 hours each day listening to screaming b/c we weren't prepared.
On the way home, we had no problem. PHEW. Maya is a fantastic traveler - she was great. As was our lab, Tasha.
It was great to spend time with the family. I hate to see how thin my mom is - she needs to bulk up!! She kept apologizing for being so tired, but I thought she held up very well. Holidays, guests, etc. are very tiring for anyone - and she really kept up with it.
Everyone else was fun also.. we loved visiting Chicago and introducing Devika to some aunties, uncles, and cousins on both sides of the family. The photo above shows Devika with her Grandpa (Papa) - meeting Grandma Nanny (MY Grandma, who is 92). Devika did sooo well! So many new people, new accomodations, etc.. and she was very happy and personable. Maya was in heaven - she looooooooved the attention from her aunties and uncles and grandparents! I think she is suffering withdrawal now. This was really the first visit where she was loving and huggy to everyone.. and not attached to mommy. It was so fun to see how much fun she was having! And she definitely enjoyed Santa this year!
The next two photos: Middle : Sr Mary Joseph (Maya's 'Spiritual Godmother'), Devika, Andrew (Maya's cousin and partner-in-crime), Sr Marie (aka Auntie Mary-Toot), and Maya. Right: Maya entertains Grandma and Uncle Mike.


Stretching. You would think 'oh, 16 hours in a car - no movement - feel like a slug.'.
You would be so very wrong.
If you have 2 small children (and a dog) in an SUV so packed that there is NO space for sitting next to the kids or even placing your feet flat on the floor, you might want to warm up prior to the drive and prepare for some serious stretching exercises. I was quite surprised to find myself in a sort of mini work-out throughout our long drive this week. There was no sitting still. At ~10 minute intervals, something was always needed. One of the kids needed food or a DVD change or a new toy or.. blahblahblah. So I came up with some exercise names:
'Feed-Baby-the-Bottle Arm Extensions'
'Baby-Food-Administration Repetitive Shoulder Rotations'
'DVD-Swap Abdominal Twists'
and my favorite.. the 'Find-The-Misplaced-Bear Leg, Arm, and Upper Body Extensions/Rotations'

So.. 7 letters left for the last day of the year. Might have to get creative on a few of them. Maybe I'll blog post-champagne. That outta do it eh?
Hope all of you have a very fun and SAFE celebration tomorrow night! {or mid-day, depending on your situation - ha!}

Merry Christmas!

Merry, Merry Christmas!

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.
And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap.

When out on the roof there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
tore open the shutter, and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
gave the lustre of midday to objects below,
when, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles, his courses they came,
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name:
"Now Dasher! Now Dancer!Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid!On, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch!To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away!Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky
so up to the house-top the courses they flew,
with the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
the prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head and was turning around,
down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes--how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
and I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight,
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
~Clement Clarke Moore

..And a scene from my fav xmassy movie!

Hell-Cabbie

Life. I very seriously thought that we might lose our lives today. We had a very frightening and bizarre experience. We are here in Chicago, visiting family. We grabbed a cab to head from Aj's cousin's condo downtown to my brother's condo in Lakeview. A cab ride that should have taken - oh maybe 15 minutes.. seemed to last an infintessimal amount of time. We found ourselves passengers in..

The Hell Cab.

Things started out pretty scary. The temps were freezing.. the roads were wet/slushy.. there was a bit of snow flurrying in the air. We piled into the van-cab: Aj, Mike, Maya, Devika, and myself. Hell-Cabbie immediately pulled out and accelerated well past the maximum speed limit. We flew down Lakeshore Drive - weaving in and out of traffic - creating our own lanes at times in median and side-of-the-road areas. There were several times that I thought we were goners. If you know LakeShore, you know that there really are NOT median or side-road areas. Needless to say, I was incredibly nervous. I glanced at my brother, seated next to me, and he gave me a somewhat startled and anxious eyebrow raise. I double-checked Maya's seatbelt and my own, and held Devika to me as tightly as humanly possible.

After turning off of Lakeshore, Hell-Cabbie decided that he did not want to wait in a normal queue for a red light, and veered around another cab - cutting him off and almost side-swiping him. Immediately the other cabbie honked.. and then.. all hell broke loose.

Hell-Cabbie began speeding up and slowing down, as did the other cabbie. They continally tried to cut each other off and cause an accident - running at least one red light and probably terrifying every other driver on the road. During this chase scene, Hell-Cabbie had his window rolled down and was literally SCREAMING at the other cabbie (who also kept stopping next to us and screaming out HIS window) - racial slurs and curses - screaming at him that he was a terrorist and he needed to go back to his own country. He began cursing Pakistanis, etc (um, hello, Indians in the cab!!). He barely watched his crazy driving, as he had his head out the window screaming and evil-laughing, "HIT ME! THAT'S RIGHT #%$#% HIT ME NOW! HIT ME HIT ME! I'LL KILL YOU! TRY TO KILL ME! I"LL KILL YOU NOW! HAAHAAHAAAAAAAA!!". My brother and I were seated directly behind him and began asking him to pull over and let us out. He ignored us - too busy screaming expletives, threatening, and making obscene hand gestures at the other cabbie.

Finally, after several blocks and extremely near-misses (he kept slamming on his brakes and gunning the accelerator in order to try to cause an accident).. the other cab was behind us and turned off at an intersection.

PHEW.

I tell you.. that was one of the scariest experiences I've had - especially as we had the girls with us, and Devika wasn't restrained. Maya was barely restrained, as she is much too small for a normal seat belt. I was literally shaking by the time he stopped in front of my brother's building.

We took down his cab # and reported him.

Yikes.

Icicles and Donuts

Ice Storm! As I sit and type, I can hear the ice pellets bouncing off the roof of our house. Here we go! Come visit the midwest and experience an ice storm LIVE and IN PERSON! So exciting. What would really cap it all off is if the electric goes out and we are stuck with 2 little kiddies in a freezing house with no generator. Or maybe there is a generator here. Hm. Doubtful. We're staying at a guest house that my family's company keeps for use of sales people who travel here from out-of-town.

So our pending trip to The Windy City tomorrow morning isn't looking too good. I wonder if they are being hit by something right now also? I really was lucky tonite, as I was hanging with my parents - watching a Xmas movie and wrapping gifts - and just left ~30 minutes ago. The freezing rain actually began during my drive back to the house. Phew! That was a close one.

Omg, I just realized that we might be trapped in this house tomorrow with 4 lbs of chocolates. :D Too bad it is supposed to warm up into the 40's and melt the ice later in the day! What a great excuse..

Jewish. To all of my Jewish friends, I wish you a Happy Hanukkah! This year, Hanukkah begins at sundown on Sunday December 21 and ends at nightfall on Monday December 29. Maya loves the song 'Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel' - sung as only Barney can sing it.

Jokes. I LOVE stand-up comedy. Here's a clip-o-the-day:

"I notice that there are no 'B' batteries. I think that's to avoid confusion. Because if there were, you wouldn't know when someone was stuttering. " ~ Demetri Martin

Krispy Kreme. o m g. Need I really say more??

Well.. I'm going to. This reminds me of last year, when my favorite uncle - my mom's younger brother, Jim - passed away unexpectedly at the age of 58. :( Oo.. I should have done 'Jim' for the letter 'J'. Oh well. Anyhow..

So one of my favorite stories of all time about Jim (and there were oooh soooo many stories!) was when he was a teenager and landed a job as a delivery boy for a local donut shop. Jim, who was notorious throughout his life for eating-escapades, was more than thrilled. On his first day on the job - he ate 71 donuts.

No, that is not a typo.

After Jim's funeral last October, I bought 71 Krispy Kreme donuts to commemorate his life. I didn't EAT all of them.. but I shared them (and the story) with everyone at the post-funeral gathering. It brought a smile to everyone's face and left another fun memory of Jim with his friends and family. He would have loved it. Ahh.. we miss you Uncle Jim! Still expect to see you walk thru the door.

Mmm. Krispy Kremes. Wonder if they are open during ice storms...

A Little Catch-Up

Eating. Ah, but we love the holiday season, don’t we? Such a fabulous excuse for stuffing your face with food you wouldn’t touch during ‘ordinary’ seasons. In the past 24 hrs, I have ingested chocolates, caramel popcorn, some hideously rich and fattening chocolate pie made by my sister (so I just could NOT refuse, right??), wine, chocolate cookies, and cheese pizza. I am so grossed-out and disgusted with myself. I think maybe I will not eat anything tomorrow that is not completely healthy (and yes, a Starbux nonfat latte is my very necessary source of calcium!!). Maybe I’ll even do some form of exercise that does not involve lifting food or drink to my mouth. Hmm.. shopping is good exercise, right?
It might be time to break out that Wiggles Xmas DVD and dance with the girls again!
Echo. If you want to see every bad habit that you have – live with a 3-yr old. They are little ‘mirrors’, reflecting back all of your bad habits to you. I keep seeing myself in my daughter, and several of the things that I see do not make me happy! Criminy. The other day I heard her say ‘Dammit, dog!’. Oops. Yesterday I started noticing that she is chewing her fingernails. I think that comes from Daddy, as I never picked up that bad habit. Or did I?

Flip. Have you seen or used the Flip Camcorder? Best camcorder ever for technically-challenged persons! Now, I do not mean myself.. seriously, I am extremely technically-literate and very good at programming and using electronic items. My husband, on the other hand, .. not so much.
Last Christmas I found this amazing product and gave it to Aj as a gift. It has been the best gift ever! There is a button to turn on the camcorder. A button to record and stop recording (same large, red button – very obvious, phew). In order to upload the videos to your computer, a little USB connector ‘flips’ out – insert into your computer – and the software takes over from that point (on it’s own.. it is oh-so-easy). It’s cute, fun, and EASY!!

Little Girls.
Some women are dripping with diamonds
Some women are dripping with pearls
Lucky me! Lucky me!
Look at what I'm dripping with..
Little girls!!
This is Maya’s favorite song from the Annie movie. She loves to watch a few scenes from this show, over and over and over and over.. this is one of them.

I’m not sure how I feel about that?

Health. Soo.. you would think that maybe.. just maybe.. we could make it ONE week without a trip to the pediatrician. Since arriving home from India, we have made a trip to our pediatrician pretty much once or twice per week for one or both of the girls. I thought that surely we would be ok for 2 weeks while traveling. We already have one child on medication that should get HER through 2 weeks..
Ah, but I was mistaken. I had to take Maya to the local urgent care clinic today to check out her fever/body aches/runny nose. Turns out that she has a sinus infection. Now we have both of our kids on pretty pink liquid medicines. Sigh.

Driving. Yes, we took our lives in our own hands and drove 2 consecutive days of ~9-10 hrs each – to reach my family in the Midwest this past weekend. Wow. That really wasn’t fun.
First of all, poor little Devika freaked out completely when she saw the suitcases being packed. My guess is that she remembered those suitcases from the India trip and was scared that things were going to change again. She screamed and screamed – was quite inconsolable. Poor little whoo. :(
Once on the road, she did pretty well for most of the day. When the sun went down and it was dark in the car (except for the dual DVD player, which lit things up nicely with scenes of Barney).. she began crying and would not stop. It was either the dark.. or the time of day (tired).. I don’t know for sure. I do know that Maya, when she was only home for a few months, freaked out in her carseat when it became dark. Poor little things.
Anyhow, we had 2 more hours in the car both days when the sun set and the baby started melting. Blaaaah. Loooong 2 hours. Luckily, Maya did pretty well. No sleeping, but a decent attitude.

We also were lucky to beat the blizzards - phew! We had perfect weather.
So – we are here! Yippee! Phew. That black-Friday-dual-dvd-player-purchase saved our lives. No joke. I LOVE Barney. (Delia, feel free to pass that on to your friend (yes she knows the real man behind the dinosaur!)

Decorations. In the spirit of the season, I tried to help my parents decorate their house tonight. My mom has been out of energy from her cancer treatments, and my dad has a horrid sinus infection. They have their tree up, but nothing else. I decided that they needed a bit more cheer, and I should try to help them out.
I was at their house tonight doing some laundry (good LORD how do 2 little children create such an ungodly amount of laundry??).. while they were out at dinner (during a snow and ice storm.. yikes). I thought to myself, ‘Hey! Great time to get into their xmas stash and put out some décor while they are not here to stop me!’.

I dug into their little closet under the stairs, and pulled out a few items. One was a small reindeer made out of logs. Too cute. I grabbed him and brought him upstairs.. setting him up in a prime location in front of the fireplace. I grabbed the electrical cord attached to his.. um.. her?.. um.. ‘nether regions’.. and plugged him in.
Nothing.
I sat back and looked closely at the face of the reindeer. Didn’t I recall that something was supposed to light up? Did I leave a piece of his antlers or something in the basement closet?
I bent my head closer to inspect the face of the little guy.. was about 2” from his nose.. when all of a sudden… POP! KZUTP! A lovely electrical snapping sound.. and a decent sized puff of smoke suddenly erupted from the reindeer’s nose!
Omg. I try to do something nice and I almost create an electrical fire in my parents’ living room. Upon closer inspection of the disgruntled Rudolph, I notice that his nose – which had once had a lightbulb and red cover – was smashed in. Poor guy.. wonder who he upset during a past Xmas celebration? Or.. maybe he wasn’t leading the pack during the last Xmas sleigh ride and there was a bit of a ‘back up’. Heehee..

So needless to say, I decided to chill on the Xmas décor and only put a few ‘safe’ items out for them. Hopefully they don’t mind. If they do, I’ll remove it the day after Christmas.

So I have obviously missed several blogging days. I decided to save room in the car and not bring my laptop. Sadly, my hubbie has had to freaking WORK every day we’ve been here, and I get no time to borrow HIS laptop… so things are not working out as I thought they would. Plus, Maya was sick with a fever the past couple of nights and was attached to me at night.
We somehow accidentally left Bear-Bear at home when we took off in the car – realized it after a couple of hours (yes, we are SO freaking stupid).. and she cried for bear every day and night until we finally rec’d him today. I had to take Bear’s place and be the ‘huggy-bear’ when needed. A HUGE thanks to our neighbors for going into our house (tripping the alarm – hahahaa!), locating Bear-Bear, and fed-exing him to us. Life-savers!!!!!!!!!

So I have to sign off – stupid battery is dying on this crappy laptop and it is almost midnight. I have photos to hopefully upload tomorrow. If I can manage doing this while keeping Devika from licking outlets (yes, I heard that she did this while on Daddy’s watch today omg) and keeping both girls runny noses from dripping all over their faces. UGH. Change of weather has not been good for them.

Until tomorrow.. and maybe we'll cram 10 letters or so into one entry. ;) I'm feeling a little poetic, look out! haa

All my life, I searched for a special person. Someone who could make me feel.. at peace.. joyful. Someone whom I could spend even 30 short minutes with, and part from with such a feeling of satisfaction and rejuvenation – that I almost want to skip like a child. Someone who boosts my confidence in myself and makes life a little more worth living.

I searched and I searched and I searched. For decades I entered into relationships – one after another – and was left feeling miserable and unfulfilled. I searched in several different cities, and several different states. I was ‘fixed up’ by friends.. by the internet.. by random meetings.

And just when despair had set in and all hope had evaporated.. I found him.

They always say that you find someone when you stop looking, right? Well.. this was true for me.

I found my special person.

I found.. Chad.

That’s right.. Chad. Hair artist extraordinaire. Finally, after many, many years of slinking out of salons with my head bowed .. walking as quickly as possible to my car {which I purposefully always parked in the closest possible location to the salon entrance}.. I can hold my head high.

Chad – you are loved. Merry Christmas from me.. and my hair.

{thank god you did not see me at the Embassy in Delhi, as you would have finally broken me down and forced me to do 'the big cut' that you are always hoping for!}

Christmas

Maya and I partook in a holiday event at a local museum on Saturday night. It was very fun! She was able to visit Santa, see live reindeer, watch The Grinch (or – Mr. Grinch as she calls it) on a movie screen, etc. Luckily we arrived when the event opened, and we did not have any lines. Thank god we made this decision, as the lines were HUGE when we left.

Maya was very excited to visit Santa and tell him her big gift wish for this Xmas: Thomas the Train pajamas – or as she says ‘Thomas Jam-Jams’. Santa seemed a little confused regarding her request.. and he suggested that maybe she had a few other items she might be interested in.. but she insisted on the Thomas Jams!

No problem Santa, we’ll follow up with a letter and explain in detail.

Child Cuteness

So a kiddo update of the day: Devika had a pediatrician appmt today and weighed in at 14 lbs 10.2 oz. Whoohoo! And.. she is 27 ½ inches! She has gained a little over a lb and grown an inch since her last 'well child'. Her head circumference is also growing appropriately to her height.

No wonder she sleeps so well –she is growing like a weed! The doc was not completely happy with her weight gain however.. I guess she should be gaining more. She is closing in on the 3^rd percentile in height and head, but her weight is still not on the chart.

She is either allergic to milk products or lactose intolerant, so the doctor has referred us to an allergist so we can find out for sure. This way we will know exactly what we can and cannot feed her. It is difficult to give her weight-gaining foods, as most of them are dairy.

Poor little Devi also had to have her ear flushed (again).. and it was a hideous nightmare for her (again), as well as for the 3 of us who were holding her down. I felt sooo sorry for her. She was just terrified. Glad we flushed it though, as it turned out to be infected. I can’t believe she has an ear infection and is totally happy all the time. She is SUCH a super-happy baby these days. It’s amazing! Just adorable.

Devi is also doing a couple of signs – eat, more, and all-done. She loves to point to her nose. She says ‘Mama’ and ‘Dada’ (btw 3 saturdays ago she said ‘mama’ – and it was her first word – yay!).. and repeats the ‘b’ sound for ‘ball’ and the ‘d’ sound for ‘dog’. She climbs EVERYTHING.. we had to gate off the stairs. She is a bit scary b/c she will do tumbles off of anything – purposefully – and has no fear. She will stack anything she can find in order to climb it. This is soo different than Maya!

Maya is also doing well. Slowly, slowly adjusting to being a big sister. She loves to feed Devi, so I let her do this quite often. She always wants to help get Devika up from her naps/sleep and to put her down. She tries to hug Devi and tell her how cute she is. Unfortunately, Devi does not want to be held down very often by anyone – so this often ends a bit ugly.. but she tries.

Maya is also into having long conversations with me.. long, rambling conversations that change subjects very randomly. Some of her fav topics include the fact that ‘someday I will grow up and be a boy and pee standing up’ (sigh).. Thomas the Train.. and school. She pretends to be her teacher, Ms Kristin, constantly. SIT ON THE BROWN CARPET! YOU HIT NICO – GO SIT ON THE BROWN CARPET! Now, she doesn’t hit at school – a couple other kids do (believe it or not – her teacher backs this up) – but she sure luvs to yell at fake people for doing it. She sits in her little chair and pretends to read books.. I can’t even read her books anymore b/c she refuses to be the listener – only wants to be the reader. Too funny.

She has figured out that when she gets in trouble, it helps to suddenly be super-cute and give hugs/kisses and tell Mom how much she loves her. Sigh.

Maya finally began walking up and down stairs without requiring holding very tightly to the banisters or a hand – just last week. Yay Maya!!

Ok, so I now am in this phase where I think my kids are the cutest, most amazing beings on the face of the earth (or maybe in the entire universe..) - until ~5 pm every day. And then I keep trying to remind myself of the earlier thoughts of the day. It is simply amazing to me how much a child (and Mommy) can change during the day.

Crap

*Ok I missed a couple of blogging days. I'll catch up. I swear I'll end the year on a Z or else. ;)

*So I work my butt off to decorate my house for the holidays.. and I just cannot get the dam star to sit straight on the top of the tree. Seriously - why is this so difficult?? Check out the photo in the slideshow below. Grr.

*My living room cable box died 2 days ago and the new one which is being fed-ex'd from the idiot cable/satellite/whomever people.. is not here yet. Thank GOD this isn't the DVR or I might have to cry. Yes, I am addicted to certain shows (Gray's, House, How I Met Your Mother, Survivor) and freak out a little if I miss them.

Blizzard! Ok, so it wasn't a blizzard exactly.. but we got a few more inches of snow today. Probably 3" or so. I think we had ~4" a couple days ago.. so it's been nice and holiday-ish. Very festive!

Bonkers! Yes, I was stuck inside the house today with the kids. Maya and I tried to go outside and play in the snow, but it was soooo freaking cold that we spent more time getting dressed to go outside than we did actually being outside. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! We threw the ball to the dog a few times.. made some snow angels.. and then came back inside to enjoy some nice peppermint ice-cream. Yes, I thought that hot cocoa (or maybe a nice hot toddy.. ) would be more suitable - but Maya insisted on the ice-cream! She needs the fat, so I wasn't going to argue.
During our hours indoors today, we did have some fun. We baked brownies.. the girls destroyed the house multiple times by dragging out every toy, pot, pan, piece of tupperware, etc that we own.. and the highlight: a big Wiggles Xmas dance party (ding dong.. ringy dingy dingy.. will that song EVER leave my head??)! Thank you Thank you to the Wiggles!! Both girls were enthralled for over an hour - and they burned off a lot of energy. PHEW.

Brown. Have I mentioned recently that Maya is very intrigued by the fact that she is 'brown'? I think that I have. This is a constant subject of conversation with her. Mommy is light.. Maya is brown. Is Maya light? NOOOOOOO.. Maya is BROWN! Is Mommy brown? NOOOOOOOOO.. Mommy is VERY light! So funny to see her figuring this out.
Seems like our little girl is learning all kinds of new things/concepts at preschool. Ah, stories for another day.
Just wait until we get to the letter 'P'.

Bath. I'm dying to sit in a hot bubble bath with a nice glass of vino and my latest Twilight book. Too bad I just can't get the motivation for even this once the girls are asleep. I blog because I can do it from my bed, enjoying the warm electric blankie, the fireplace, and my DVR'd shows until I pass out. Of course, when Aj is home and I'm not doing the 'single mom' thing.. I'm catching up on my book!

Blonde. Every time Maya sees a picture of Cinderella, she tells me that she is 'Mommy'. My god I love that girl!

Boogie.

Counting Down

Can you believe that we are counting down the last few days of 2008?? I find this so difficult to believe. The days fly by, and the years go just as quickly. I try to remember being a child and thinking that the months dragged by so hideously slowly - and I just could not WAIT for.. Xmas, summer, turning 16, turning 18, turning 21, getting married, having a dog, having a child.
Now I desperately wish that we could go back to that time. Well.. don't get me wrong.. I sure as heck don't want to be in high school again.. but college was pretty awesome. And any time after that was pretty good in the grand scheme of things. I'm just beginning to feel mortality creeping up, and I long for those days when everyone I knew was happy and healthy.. and we just worried about stupid things like - oh, say - what to buy for Xmas. sigh.

Anyhow, I recently came upon a blog-scheme that I never have tried out. Since I seem quite behind the times on this, I'm going to do it now. I luv themes (parties, photos, trips, etc) - and this goes very well with my compulsion.
To end the year, I am going to theme each blog entry with a letter of the alphabet and blog topics that correlate to the letter of the day. Sound annoying? Yeah, probably . Whatever. Surf away if you so desire... or stay and join the party. Feel free to comment and add to the post. I luv to hear from my blog followers!

"A is A"
~ Aristotle
For all of you that know The Big Daddy Neal - that's a shout-out to him.

Advent. Here we are in the Advent/Christmas season. We're heading on our yearly looong road trip to hang with family over the Christmas holiday. We leave early this year.. next week in fact. I'll be blogging some letters from the road.. so stay tuned to that exciting time in my life. Good lord - I can't even begin to imagine the level of insanity I might reach after 2 days on the road with a toddler and a 16-mo old who HATES her car seat. Maybe 'A' should stand for 'ARGH'. Or 'asinine'.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone and introducing Devika to the family. No members of either of our families has yet to meet her, so this will be nice. {'A'ssuming we make it}
Also, this is my very favorite time of the year. I luv, luv, luv the weeks leading up to Xmas! Xmas day is actually a little depressing to me. Xmas-eve is my favorite day. If I die on Xmas day sometime in the future, you will know that I made it thru my fav day first. ;)

Aj. Today is Aj's birthday. My love, my soul mate.
Love is that condition in which
The happiness of another person
Is essential to your own.
~Robert A. Heinlein
Happy Birthday Sweetie!! Be happy on this celebration of a day which turned out to be darn important to ME! Ok, and a lot of other people. But we know who really matters, right? Right?? ;)
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxxoxo Miss U.

American. I am proud to be an American, and will be especially proud to be an American on the day that President Obama is inaugerated.
I am very, horribly saddened by the events in Mumbai last week against Americans (British, Indian, and any other citizens who were affected). We were very worried about this type of event when we were traveling in India. I had wondered if we might have been a bit too paranoid - until last week. I know that a terrorist incident could happen anywhere at any time.. but things in India have been quite unstable lately. Ok, always a bit unstable.. but even our Indian relatives have been worried about the stability in the country of late.
Thank god we traveled prior to this.. and thank god none of our friends or family were directly impacted. Aj did have a friend in Mumbai at this time, but not staying at a hotel and not in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I am just simply devastated by what happened. My prayers go out to everyone affected by this horrific tragedy.

Amour, Adoration, Affection

Sisters

"Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life."

~ Charles M. Schulz

Feelin Like A Fur Hag

Ever get the feeling that you are living a sitcom? Sometimes I think that I must be being 'punked' or something.. yet I never see any video playback. Thank god. My life sometimes reminds me of 'I Love Lucy' (my mom's all-time fav show, so I've seen many, many, many episodes}.
So if someone out there is filming a 'The Truman Show' type series on my life.. I hope you are enjoying.

Today's show opens with Mom and the 2 girls, busy in the kitchen.
3 yr old is whining loudly that she wants to sit in the highchair and be fed like a baby.
Baby is extremely tired and is trying to walk to mom and grab her leg, falling every other step and bursting into loud sobs.
Mom is trying to cook dinner for herself and 3-yr old (pasta is close to boiling over, oven timer is beeping, pasta sauce is bubbling away) as well as prepare a soy-formula-plus-Carnation-breakfast-micro'd-25-seconds-in-coffee-mug-first-bottle for (seemingly lactose-intolerant..ick) baby.
Mom opens the new formula can - crrrrrrrrrrrrk! - and POOF!
What must be a full cup of formula powder explodes from the can and instantly covers mom's face, mom's clothing, the countertop, the floor, part of the dog's head, and the top of the baby's head.
A moment of silence.


Haa.. Ok I enjoyed the title of this blog post. Hopefully my readers get the link b/t my day and Lindsay Lohan's encounter with PETA recently (it's on the news as I type). Yes, this is the kind of entertainment I get when the kids go to sleep by 7:30 pm, hubby is traveling, and I am out of vino. ;)

Ok, so off-subject, but I somehow (and please don't ask, but I'm really not sure how).. stumbled across the following video today. I laugh b/c it sounds so much like my MIL in the beginning '...this is a very popular dish with my husband.. you can feed him this every day." Heehee.. :) Ok that doesn't sound funny when I read back thru this.. but if you have an Indian MIL, you might appreciate (it's cute really!). I am so easily entertained these days I guess.
But in all honesty, I'm a little excited to find that these recipes are on youtube. I was just thinking today that, although our India trip was a bit painful and kept painfully hanging on for weeks after our return.. I soooo miss the food! Amy's brand micro-meals are good, but they aren't the real thing. {omg, I hope my MIL did not just read that!}

Just When You Thought..

..that you are ready to hide in the back of the closet and cry because you are feeling overwhelmed by toddlers who are screaming, crying, hitting each other, fighting over toys, banging pans, licking shoes, smacking their heads into the hardwood flooring, spilling drinks, smacking yogurt across the kitchen, having blow-outs in their diapers, refusing to eat the dinner you managed to cook while being clung to like a life preserver in the middle of a raging ocean.. you are suddenly overwhelmed by cuteness and you almost.. almost.. forget the stress.

After I put Devika to bed this evening (at 6:30 - she was sooo tired - thank god!) - I took Maya outside to look at the gorgeous full moon.
There were the perfect amount of clouds surrounding it, so it reflected off the edges of the clouds and lit up the sky. The moonlight bounced off of the gurgling stream and reflected into the still pond, and a very light breeze rustled through the few remaining crispy leaves still clinging to the Aspens.
Maya padded out onto the moonlit deck in her roomy red footed-blanket-jammies (aka 'baby jammies').. and stood looking with wonder at the beautiful sky.
After a minute or so, a small voice filled with awe arose ~
'Mommy? Could you please lift me up so I can touch it?
I need to touch it please, Mommy.'
So I lifted her up and told her to reach out her arm.. but alas, she still could not reach the glowing moon.
'I can't reach it! Could you please stand on something tall?'

:) I took this moment to tell her that the only way that she could reach the moon would be to go to school and study very, very hard.. so that some day she could become an astronaut and could take a rocket to the moon.
'With Mommy??' she asked. 'Hmm.. we'll have to see about that.' I replied.
Now she is totally psyched to go to school tomorrow. And I'm totally psyched to end this day and start it all over again.

My Name Is Devika!

Hi, my name is Devika!
I'm a funny little girl!
I love to dance and bang my head,
I'm learning how to twirl!

I'm only 13 lbs,
But I'm as strong as 33!
I do perfect somersaults,
It's something everyone should see!

When I came home
I was scared
My parents feared the worst.

I screamed and cried and rocked,
My parents worried I would burst!

Now I've been home
For 4 short weeks
The time has really flown!

It's amazing how much I've changed
And how big and tall I've grown!


I'm happy now,
I laugh a lot!
I've blossomed so fully
In the love that I've sought!

I'm pudgy and bouncy,
I jump and I walk.
I play with my sister,
I'm learning to talk!

Life as a family
Is so special you see?
I love my family
And they all love me!