Great Hopes

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.