Wedding Album

H1 was very quiet for a change. She was busy drawing pictures in a notebook. What was she doing? She was creating a whole wedding album! See for your self:

                                                                         Saying "I do"

                                                                             Eating

                                                         Having their dessert

                                                                  Fancy dance moves

 

I thought this was the honey moon...but um she said they were sitting on the sofa for the photos. (yeah yeah...Mummy's got a dirty mind :P) 

  

 Giving each other drinks off their glasses

 Carrying her over the threshold! (We don't do that in SL do we? too much TV!!)

 

 More fancy dance moves

                                                          And off they go.............

A Veeeeeeeery Merry Christmas!!

Wishing all my blogger friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

                                                         Christmas Angel drawn by H1

Peeping Tom!

I don't know how to react to this incident!! I am not disturbed...though I think I should be...I am not scared...should I be? OK OK enough with the preamble, let me tell you what happened.

Because we have such a lovely view, we have not put up curtains, but we have hung blinds from the roof, out side the window. So there is a space between the blinds and the window.

I had the lights out and just put H2 to sleep and decided to lie down next her until Hubby finished putting H1 to bed in the next room. After about a minuit after lying down, I felt water splashed on my hair. I got up and sat in bed and looked towards the window. There was a man in shorts standing between the blinds and he window. I thought hubby was playing a trick on me and just stared for a couple of seconds. Because there was no reaction from the person standing there, I reached for the light and switched it on. It wasn't my Husband!!!

I screamed ''Thief! thief!'' (I should have screamed &*%$ing pervert!!! but my mind was numb you see). Of cause the bastard bolted.

Hubby was trying to go after him and was looking for a baton. We have none in the house! (time to go shopping!) and there he was trying to go after the fellow with a broom!!! Calls to neighbours and everyone was going up the lane with torches flashing here and there. Of cause the pervert had vanished by then.

I think it was a loony. I mean why else would he throw water at me? Hoping I'd wake up and join him????

Anyway, I am going to put up thick curtains at least in our bedroom now!

Up in the air!

There I was getting dressed to go out. I did not expect H1 to walk in on me.

So, picture me, naked with my derrière up in the air, bending down to pick up the underwear I dropped.  I hear a gasp and H1 goes "I sure hope I don't get to see that again!'' and walks off.

If that wasn't a ROFL moment I don't know what is! How does a six year old come up with such a witty comment? Maybe it was the shock! ;)

Monkey praising it's own tail?

See the new title picture? I did it in Corel DRAW. My meagre skills seems to be improving.....

It's been so long....

Just realized that I haven't blogged in 3 months! THREE months??? Time sure does fly when you are busy.
Not only have I not written, I have kept away from the blogs I love to read as well. I missed all of you....I did often think of you...Some of you, I have on my FB page, so I did manage to glimpse what was happening in your lives.

I am going to try at least to drop by. I will cause I really missed you guys.

So, what have I been up to? and my two little hoots? Hmmm...H1 is being the same old drama queen that she always has been. Actually her theatrics are getting worse, if that is a possibility! You want an example? This she posted on her door after a tantrum.

So, yes, I am dreading those teen years. Notice that she has crossed out Hubby and me? And the declaration that 'Until I want you to come...?' Yes, I do want to bang my head on the wall....

My little H2. Ooooooooh she's the cutest thing! She can say ''Denna" (give) now. She actually says ''Deeeeeeeeennnnnaaaaaaa'' but it works for us. She can say star and car too. When she sees a picture of a dog, she goes ''buh buh''. Her vocabulary is a lot less than H1's was at 15 months, but she sure knows how to get her message across by pointing and grunting.
You want an example? She's usually taken for a walk in the afternoon and she somehow senses the time for this. One day, when it didn't look like it was going to happen, she picked up my slippers, dropped them at my feet, pointed and grunted in a way that clearly said ''Put these on Ammi!'' Then she said ''Baba'', picked up her shoes and pointed at her feet. Once I put them on for her, she pointed at the door and said ''ah, ah', ah''

When she get's hungry, she points to the pantry and smacks her lips. When she wants something opened she twists her hands and goes ''gnnnnnnnn'', the way we'd grunt trying to open a tight lid :)
Come to think of it, she'd make an excellent mime artist.

Phew...it feels good to write again. Do drop in more often now that I am back ;) (Fingers crossed!)

The Past Few Weeks

...I've been too lazy to update this blog :(

- So, my one year old had a teensy weensy teeny tiny party to celebrate her birthday. I almost feel guilty that I didn't do the crazy elaborate celebration I had for her sister. A pool part with about 50 people. But we used the money we would have spent on a crazy party to help a solder who needed funds for an operation, so I feel glad. I mean H1 doesn't remember her first b'day. It was more of a celebration for me than her, so I think H2 will forgive me later in life.

- H2 walks about a bit now... extremely unsteady, but she does seem to prefer standing and walking to sitting and crawling. When the phone rings, she holds her palms upto her ear as if she has a phone in her hand, it's sooo cute that I want to squeeze her every time.

- We went off to a hotel for a couple of days and realized that we haven't been on a holiday for so long when H1 started jumping on the bed exclaiming, 'Oh! I am soooo happy. I am sooooo very happy to be on holiday' ;)

- I had to leave the two kids without me for the first time ever when I had to go on a two day work related workshop. I was a little concerned about H2 because she still breast feeds in the night. I was so happy that both the kids had handled the separation well. H2 did cling to me the whole of the next day when I came back though.

- I am madly in love with a vampire. Seriously! There I was snickering at all the teen hype about the Twilight series and was putting off reading the books because I just didn't want to get on the bandwagon. Boy! Was I wrong. Read Twilight and now I am in the middle of New Moon. Bought all the movies, but I don't want to watch them till I finish the books. I want an Edward...I do...Sorry hubby honey, I love you madly as ever...but I do wish you'd turn into a vampire ;)

So, what have you been up to lately?

She's ONE!!!!

My little Hooty 2 is ONE today

You've brought us nothing but joy everyday

Ammi, Thaaththi and Akki are so blessed

because you are the best

at chasing all our blues away!

Embrace Life...

This one’s for all those idiots who don’t wear seatbelts..... 

This one’s for all those wanna be murderers who talk on their phones while driving......

This one’s for all those fucktards who weave in and out of traffic with horns tooting, lights blazing just cause they think they own the roads.....

Yes I am angry! Yes I am frothing mad, because I have to do more of defensive driving every morning and evening to avoid these bastards, to get home safely to my family.

It makes me angry and sad to see a banner with a little six year old’s smiling photo in front of a school. A death notice.…a motor cycle accident…because he didn’t wear a helmet….(the father survived) because the law doesn’t state that he should. It makes me angry every time I see parents wearing helmets (because the law says so) and take their kids without helmets..because the law doesn’t require them to. What law abiding citizens we are!

It makes me angry when people go without seatbelts…because Sri Lankan law doesn’t say you should. It makes me angry when I see friends taking their kids in the front seat. These are people who can afford a car seat. Their excuse? The kids refuse to go alone in the back seat. For heavens sake, if the kids refuse to go without you, why can’t the mom get in the back seat with them? Discipline people...give the kids a good talking to on road safety or show them a few scary youtube videos on road accidents.

It makes me angry when people come for a party, get drunk and get behind the wheel. Hubby always makes sure that if he would drink, I would be the one driving us back. If I can’t, he will not touch that drink.

That’s taking responsibility for your life as well as others. STOP being selfish! STOP taking life for granted. STOP thinking of small comforts such as travelling in the front seat more important than preserving the lives of your loved ones. STOP and think before you get behind that wheel……STOP to embrace life.....

11 months old!

My baby is 11 months old today!

Though she delights me in everything that she does, she is turning out be a real rascal. Seriously! 

She growls with anger when she's not given what she wants. She bites us.

She was only shown twice how to climb down a step (facing backwards) and now she climbs down the bed, the sofa or anywhere high just cause she can. 

She crawls at high-speed, screeching in anticipation and heads straight to my dressing table to pull down all my bottles of cream.

She hates to see anything in a box. She would pull each item off the box and tosses them over her shoulder. (it's adorable to watch this...like...she literally tosses them over her shoulder.). When there are a number of items in the box, she gets impatient and lifts the whole box over her head so that all the stuff comes raining down on her.

She does not let Akki do anything without being a total pain to her. She would pull all of Akki's stationary out of her pencil case while Akki does homework. If Akki does not pay attention to her, she would pat Akki's face or pull her hair.

I thought this one was the quiet baby. Life keeps throwing surprises at you ha?

Drama Queen in Action

H1was awaiting the arrival of her Grandma and Grandpa with such anticipation. I didn't know she drew 'I love you' cards for them. She's always drawing them for her Thaaththi and me. I was watching Jamie Oliver make a dessert with Rhubarb, and I just happen to have some Rhubarb in the fridge and needed something to jot down to recipe on. There was a paper with some of H1's drawings, so I took the notes down on the reverse side of the drawing. (In my defense, she does tend to leave her drawings lying all over the place.)

Then I went into the bathroom for a shower. After a while, there was heavy pounding on the door with, "Ammi, come out for a second. AMMI, Come out NOW!!!''

When I did finally open the door, there was H1 with hands on her hips, tapping fer foot going, 'Why did you write on my card for Kiri Amma? Why? Ha? Ha?"

She throws open her hands palms facing up and exclaims, "Do you know my hands are hurting after all that drawing? Ha? Ha?"

Then she looks down with her neck bending at such a dramatic angle and says, ""Do you know my neck hurts after looking down to draw? Ha? Ha"? Why did you do it? Ha?"

After much apologizing from me, she calmed down enough to go draw another card, but the moment her grandparents did arrive she went rushing off to tell them how horrible her mother was to draw on her much labored card for them.

Time flies....

The things my almost 11 month old can do (can you believe it's almost 11 months?? I can't!)

-Says 'Amma’,’baba’ and 'akkra’- which we assume means akka
-Can hold on to things and stand and cruises along walls and furniture
-Stands on her own for a second or two
-Says áh!’when ever the phone rings.
-Waves her hand when asked to say ‘’Bye-Bye’
-Loves to bangs things on the floor to get a sound.
-Shows her displeasure quite vehemently when a thing she wants is not given or taken away.
-Holds baby rusks or toast and eats them on her own

She also has four baby teeth which sometimes make a her look like a rabbit, other times a squirrel ;)

It's been so long....

It's been over two months since I last posted.

So many changes to adjust to...for me and for my family.

Starting work really saved my sanity. It really did. I am indeed a better mother because of it. Both the kids are doing beautifully well. They do tend to cling to me when I return, but they are both OK. Weekend are spent giving them all my attention, that I just don't have the time to log on to the computer. I think I spend more quality and quantity time with them now than when I was home.

The past month was a little hard though because H1 was down with the flu. Every time she recovered and was sent to school, the fever would come up again. She had it for about 3 weeks...on and off. Now thankfully she is better but coughing quite a lot. Then last Thursday H2 got fever. Though the fever is down by now she too is coughing now.

I want to thank everyone who mailed me asking me about my silence. Thanks guys. It means a lot and it motivates me to somehow keep the blog going. I do want to keep it because while I was going through my old posts, I realized how much of interesting conversations and all that growing up I would have missed and not remembered if I hadn't jotted it down here.

Oh mummy!!

While waiting at the doctors office, much to my embarrassment and the delight of the rest of the room, H1 said the following to my protruding stomach...

"Hellooooooooo....anybody home?"

"Come out, come out where ever you are..."

Bringing water from the water dispenser for the umpteenth time, "You need to drink this. The baby is thirsty. No! she neeeeds water. You HAVE to drink it!"

"Is the doctor going to cut you up and take the baby out now? now? now? why not?"

and at home while looking through my belly button..."How come I can't see anything? It's too dark in there!"

Double the Joy

Today is such a special day. My big girl is SIX YEARS old and my little girl is EIGHT MONTHS old!

My eldest hasn't changed much from the day she was born. She is still the same drama queen. She still knows how to push my buttons. She still is a little know-it-all. She still uses her 'outside' voice more than her 'inside' voice and need constant reminders to speak softly. She still surprises us with the little gems that comes out of her mouth. She still impresses us with the way she looks at the world. She still cries more number of times a day than her baby sister. But...she has changed in little delightful ways. She has become more gentler. She has become more lady like. She douses her self in baby cream and baby cologne before going out. Just yesterday she asked me if she looks like a model while wearing the new bikini she got from Puncha for her Birthday.

It's great to see her turning out to be such an independent, confident little girl. It's a little sad to see that she has lost most of her 'baby-ness.' It's exiting to see how she is changing yet scary to visualize what lies ahead when she becomes a tween and then a teen.

But there is one constant in all this...my love and her father's love for her, our first born...

Meanwhile our second has turned eight months and delights us in everything she does. She is such a good natured baby. Her belly laughs make everyone around her go into helpless laughter. She started crawling exactly on the day she hit seven months and there's no stopping her now. She wakes us up in the morning at exactly 5.30 am by crawling up to us, jumping over us and patting the face till the poor sleepy mummy or daddy opens their eyes. She's eating better now and seems to like her food. She takes more formula as well. She growls when she is not happy. Points with her whole body the direction in which she wants us to take her. She still loves looking at birds, butterflies, ants and leaves shaking in the wind. Give her a toy and she either tries to see if it makes a noise by shaking it like a rattle or sees if it moves by moving it up and down on the floor like toy car. She loves to blow raspberries on my tummy or my face.

It's delightful to see her changing from a helpless baby to a baby that's learning to take charge of her world. It's fun to watch the wonder in her eyes when she discovers something for the first time. It's fascinating to watch her communicate her needs by using body language.

It's so easy to fall in love with this baby...our second born...

I am back! Am I? I don't know.....

Thank you so much everyone for all your encouraging comments. Just saw them now as I didn't even log into my account the past few weeks. It just got easier and easier just to ignore this blog and even the blogs I am so fond of reading. I think because writing comes from your soul and my soul needed a little rest...from what I don't know.

It doesn't help with the guilt that I have such a great life...a super husband, great kids and all that I need and here I am feeling blue. It doesn't help that hubby tells me about how cheerful the blind solders at the Ranaviru sevena are some of whom have no limbs. And here I am having everything I wish for, yet complaining of how dull my life has become.

Being a mom brings such conflicting emotions that sometimes my mind feels like a whirlwind. Part of me wants to get away from it all. The next second, I want to grab my baby and never ever let her go from my arms. Part of me is so exited about the prospect of dressing up nice again and having adult conversations. Part of me just sob at the thought of having to be away from my baby.

I question my decisions all the time. Am I doing the right thing? Is this what I really want? Will my babies be all right without me? Will they miss me? Will they cry? Am I harming them anyway by going back to work? It just goes on...

I am trying to ease it all for everybody as much as I can. I've found a loving person to look after them...the same 'Nanda' who brought up my husband and his brothers. She's like a second mother for them. I am slowly increasing the time I spend away from home. A few hours the first week, half a day the next and so on. So far both my kids are doing great. I am not officially starting work till May, but I am slowly geting everyone adjusted...including my self.

I am getting H2 used to formula. It doesn't help that every formula tin, book and doctor screams 'breast milk is best for your baby.' I am not taking her completely off breast milk. I am combo feeding and I did exclusively breast feed her for 7 months (why do I feel I need to give excuses and justify my self I don't know)

I think being a mom is the hardest thing in the world....

Feeling Blue

I don't know if I am having a late reaction baby blues....but I am definitely blue...
I don't feel like doing anything...writing the blog...taking pictures...doing house work...nothing.

I am bored...bored to death staying at home. I really need to go back to work. Soon.

If only things would fall back in place so I can go.

Food Wars

H2 is moving up in the food-chain. She has now graduated to eating mashed fruit, mashed veggies, mashed rice mixed with veggies, a bit of chicken, dhal etc. Does she like moving up on the food chain? NO!
You'd think it's because the food is bland because there is no salt, spices or herbs or that it's not sweet but she is not even keen on baby rusks which are slightly sweet.

I've been trying to introduce her to baby formula as well but she doesn't like that either. Tried switching brands, giving it chilled etc but nope, we just want to breast feed. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Feeling Dealings

H1 was kicking up a fuzz yesterday while she was having dinner. She was sleepy and tired after a day of school and playing. It didn't help that she was eating something she wasn't exactly fond of either. H1 knows her feelings well and let's us know exactly how she is doing.

"I am cranky because I am sleepy" she said.

Then after a while of me telling her "Eat H1!" for the umpteenth time she snaps, "Do you think I am a shark to eat so fast? I wish I was a shark so I can gobble all this up!"

Then she whines and whines and exclaims "I am crabby! I am crabby like that crab in Sponge Bob!"

Ah! I love the way kids express their feelings. Don't you?

Half a year has flown by....

Half a year has gone by in a jiff since I had my second bundle of joy and she is definitely a little bundle of joy. H1 was such a high demand baby that we didn't get to enjoy her. It was more like getting through the day because of her constant colic. Maybe we are better parents as well the second time around. We are definitely enjoying H2. There is more time to play with her and interact with her because less time is spent consoling her.

H2 can now sit on her own and she loves to play sitting on the floor. She would topple over occasionally. but that doesn't seem to bother her much. We've figured out that there is no point in buying toys her. She has no interest in the carefully researched and selected age appropriate toys we throw good money on. She loves playing with plastic spoons, lids and cardboard boxes.

She loves to watch the birds fly by, the trees swaying in the wind and spends a lot of time looking at the ants scurrying by. I think she's going to be a nature buff.

She hums while feeding. Yes, she definitely enjoys her meal times.

Though she is no trouble at all, she is not a timid baby either. When akki starts playing rough with her, she will screech at H1 and would push her away with her legs.

H2 is trying to crawl now. She lands on her face most of the time because she doesn't know how to coordinate her legs and hand together, but she keeps trying.

While all this is happening, I am getting restless. I am bored to death at home and I am seriously thinking of going back to work. My pediatrician keeps insisting that I should exclusively breastfeed the baby till seven months. I want to do the best for my baby too...I don't know....what do you think?

Proud of my big girl

Wow! January just flew by. It was such a busy month for us. My brother got engaged and my brother-in-law got married. H1 was the flower girl.

My big girl started school and has taken to it like a duck to water. She loves the fact that it's an all girls' school, maybe because her biggest complain during pre-school was that Ashen and Shehadu hit or pinched her. Little girls tend to be less aggressive noh?
According to BBC's Child of our time one of the questions for parent's goes as this:
We all want to be popular but for a five year old, friendships can seem very fickle. From the following options, what do you think would give a child a head start in the popularity stakes at school?
a)  Develop their imagination
b)  Help them to be well-presented and make the most of their looks
 c) Enourage them to take up lots of hobbies

and the correct answer is b. Forget 5 year old's. Isn't this true for most adults as well. We all want to be seen with the prettiest thing. I remember the way I used to think as a kid. I wanted to be friends with the girl who had the prettiest things as well. So, I made sure that H1 had all pinky, frilly, girly stuff. Pink bag, bottle, lunchbox, pencil box, apron, you name it, we've got it in pink!

I shouldn't have worried. She's doing fine. I am so proud of her.

On the very first day, parent's weren't allowed to stay on. I took her to the class and the teacher asked her to sit where ever she wanted. I think it helped in making H1 instantly popular that H2 went along because everyone was interested in the baby, including the teacher, and I think H1 got to shine in her glory ;) H1 was OK with us leaving and when we asked her to come back in the school van by her self, for the first time, she was OK with that too. We followed the van home though. I am so proud of my brave girl.

On the second day, hubs took her to school, and they were asked to go through a different gate and he was told that he cannot accompany H1 to her class. The poor thing was left to find her class, which was on a second story, all by her self. Believe me, this is no easy task. There are fourteen Grade 1 classes alone in that school. But H1 was OK with that too. When I asked her how she did it, she said, "I went up one building and it wasn't there, then I went up another and it wasn't there. Then I thought of looking for my name and my class name on the door. In each class there was a pretty wall deco with the kids names in each class and H1 had gone searching for her name. Isn't that clever? A five year old me would have just sat down and cried till someone took me to my class. So yes, I am so so proud of my big girl.

H1 is not very fluent in Singhala yet, but it's amazing to see how she manages. She says she looks at what the other kids do and just follow suit. Once they were asked to bring different types of seeds and leaves for arts and crafts. She says she just saw the other kids give the leaves to the teacher and she just gave hers and brought back the seeds home. She didn't know that seeds were called 'ata' you see. But she is doing fine. Yesterday she sang a Singhala kids song all by her self. She sings out loud the parts she knows and mumbles the parts she doesn't. She manages beautifully to appear as if she knows the whole song well. I am so proud of that girl.

She can't remember half the names of the kids in her class what with parent's giving their kids the most tongue twisting 'trendy' names. H1 says she just calls them 'Mey Aaluwa'. I think she means 'Yaaluwa' which means friend in Sinhala, but that's close enough don't you think?

Yep, I am one proud mom, I am. My big girl is growing up!

Bragging rights

You know how mothers tend to brag about their kids? I too am guilty of this. Even a simple thing as an involuntary lift of a finger by my 5 month old is enough for me to talk for hours about with friends, family and total strangers who give me even stranger looks.

Apparently the latest thing moms brag about is how far their kids are on FarmVille! Atleast that's what my mom says. Her staff members give daily updates on how many elephants and cats are there in their kids farms and I suspect my mom is a majour player in this, judging by the daily phone calls on my farm updates :)

Holy Molly! Catapolly!

I've got writer's block (or just plain laziness-but writer's block sounds so much posher!) - so till I unblock my self here's a picture to keep you entertained. Can you guess what it is?

Saw this on a tree in Kandy at my in-laws holiday home. The creepiest thing I ever saw! Just made my skin crawl.

So horrible when they are together, yet so cute when alone...like some people I know :)

Book it all

H1 will be starting school and I am soooooooo exited. She doesn't seem to give a damn :)

Ever since I got the book list, I was so looking forward to getting them and putting covers and sticking stickers and writing her name on them...it was like it's me going to school.

Hubby offered to go get the books because it's such a hassle to get the whole family out these days, but nothing doing I said. How can he even think of depriving me of all the fun of choosing the books, pondering over which crayons are the best and which stickers would look cutest on the covers?

So last week, we all bundled into the car and went off searching for a book shop. Hubs said he knows of a good place and took me into a dingy looking place. I took one look at all the dusty shelves and said no way and walked out.

We finally found a place that had a banner screaming 'All school supplies. 7% discount.' I screamed 'Stop! Stop here!' I gave baby to hubs, hitched up my skirt (I was actually wearing jeans - but you know what I mean) and got down to business. I took out the book list, selected the books oh so carefully, I mean 80 pages is 80 pages, you have to check it twice..or thrice. There were bristle boards to pick...oh it's so hard to choose between pink and yellow...10 A4 sheets, 2 each of different colours, glue sticks (long or short?), erasers (ones with ABC's or Ice Age characters?), Play dough (big or small?)...oooooooooh I was in heaven.

Apart from H1's book list, I was getting some books for a kid my helper knows, so I was having double the fun.

When we finally got back to the car, I gave a great sigh of satisfaction and said, 'Oh I loved every minute of it.' My hubby spoiled it all by saying, 'You should have got H1 more involved. It could have been fun for her too.' I said, 'Why didn't you tell me then?' He said, 'I was scared to tell you when you were in such a snappy mood.'


Darn! In my excitement, I forgot all about H1. In fact, I think I snapped at her once or twice for disturbing me. Darn! Darn! Darn.

So I did somewhat make it up to her by getting her involved with putting covers and pasting name tags and stickers. I had to grit my teeth half the time because it didn't go the way I wanted, I mean who would paste a sticker that way? But I managed to not snap and H1 did have fun and there's always next year...

I can't wait for next year's book list!!!