More Scrapping

Never have I scrapped so quickly. I mean I finished 2 Layouts in 1.5 hours. They just came together by themselves. This is so not a norm with me. I usually can spend anywhere from 2 to 4 hours on one LO. But these were quick.

My sister (finally) scanned and emailed me some old photos yesterday. She's sent two of our childhood photos (one I already had), one of my mom's as a baby, one of our kitty when she was a baby. We had taken her to the photo studio to get her photographed LOL I adore that photo. We lost the kitty a couple of days after I moved to the US. There are whole bunch of other photos too.

I love this one of the three of us. It was taken in Haridwar when we visited back in 1999. I am on the left, my little sister in the center (she looks so tiny), and elder one at the right. I have shared LOs of my elder sister and my neice here before. This is the first one of my younger sis! I didn't have any of her pics before. Now, my brother will feel left out LOL I'll have one of his too. Also, there is one photo that will surprise one of my readers. Stay tuned :)

Sisters

Credits:
Everything here is by Diamante Designs Envy kit available at The Digi Shoppe.

Little Boys Are Made In Heaven

My sweet little boy 2 Days Old.

Credits:
Everything is from Diamante Designs.
All papers, paint stroke, fabric tag, wood plate, bow, stitching, and staples from her Secret Garden kit.
Handle with Care tag is from her Handle With Care lables.
The flower (recolored) from her Envy Elements.

All available here at The Digi Shoppe.

Nice, Relaxing, Short Weekend

Nothing major to report. I stitched a lot on the Angel of Love. There is a lot of beading in this one, but I just love how pretty it looks. Beading takes longer than just plain stitching. I remember when I started this angel, I was beading with the long beading needle. It was going painfully slow. I had asked on my stitching board, and got a suggetion to use small quilting needles. They work so much better. But the needles are tiny so I have to be very careful with them around Mehul.

Didn't get any scrapping done due to the lack of reliable internet. I had to download new goodies as I've scrapped with pretty much all the kits that called to me :) I have some more now. I love this part about being on a CT, all the new kits that the designer puts out are free! I can even ask for an old kit, if I want to scrap with it. The only requirement is that I have to use the kits I download and show off my LOs in the required # of galleries. Who doesn't love to do that? LOL

Oh, I wanted to give you an update on Lori's secret. Diamante Designs is having an opening sale at The Digi Shoppe. That's right. She has moved her shop from 3 Scrapateers to TDS. All her gorgeous new kits are 30% off till tonight. The discount will be applied when you add the kits to your shopping cart. Hurry! I am on her CT, so I am sorta affiliated :) She had to drop out of the ScrapArtist Challenge, though. She had reached the 4th round! I wish she was able to continue, but I'm sure she knows what's best for her career!

Mehul is a Pumpkin today :) There is Halloween Parade at the daycare today and he dressed up as a Pumpkin. Sooo cute. All the kids in his class looked so cute. I wasn't able to make it to see the parade. It was 10 - 11AM :( I bet they had a blast. I have pictures from this morning. We'll hopefully take him trick or treating tomorrow.

Weekend Plans

*Edited to add Credits. Thanks, Erin!*
I plan to put some hours in the 'Angel of Love' and do a couple of Digi LO's. I did two LOs last night. I'm trying to come up with a plan to carry on both stitching and digi-scrapping more or less regularly. I think stitching 3 nights a week, and scrapbooking the rest of the time is going to be enough. I already stitched 2 nights this week, and scrapbooked only 1 night. Wish I had more hours in the day to dedicate to this stuff. Ofcourse, the nights I cook and clean, I can't do much else.

Weekends should usually be free if we keep the house relatively clean throughout the week, which is the plan. I make the beds in the morning after getting up, wipe down the bathroom counters after using, same with the kitchen counter and stovetop. I'm trying to get back into the habit of keeping everything back in it's place again. When we had our Townhouse for sale this summer, we practiced this and the house was always neat and clean, ready to show off to anyone who might call 10 minutes ahead. No major cleaning on the weekends. That is the plan. We'll see how far we go. If I can't handle it all by myself, I'll get the cleaning maids to come in once a month. After Mehul was born, I kept the maid service to come in bi-weekly since I couldn't do much, and Girish was already taking care of a lot of things. Worked perfectly :)

My last night's LOs

Mehul in the New Kitchen

Credits:
Everything from Diamante Designs. Envy Paper Pack and Envy Elements On sale today.

Childhood

Credits:
Everything from Diamante Designs. Watercolor Doodles and The Necessities Collection - Note It.

I got it!

Well, I decided to check this coat out yesterday while going back home. I picked Mehul up from the daycare and went to Kohl's. Yes, this is from Kohl's. I don't normally shop there, but I had to look at this coat. I figured, it's worth a look.

I'm wearing it today LOL It's really beautiful. The photo doesn't show the back, which has more embroidery and a built-in belt. It's really cute. I had to go one size up on this. It doesn't have any give. When I tried it on, a lady who was passing by complimented how beautiful the coat was. And then, Mehul said "Nice, Mama". His first compliment to his mama :)

I also got some stuff for Mehul. I can't find the track suit pants online, but they are OshKosh. The Jacket is also OshKosh and has a removable vest. These Big Chill overpants will be so useful in snow. Most of their winterwear is on sale. I think I'll be going back there again :)

Nothing Exciting going on

It has gotten rather cold this week here. I have to drop our overcoats at the drycleaner's. I also need to wash our other jackets. Every year, I buy atleast one new coat/jacket. This year, I'm thinking of getting one with some sort of embroidery. I saw some on a site when a stitching friend mentioned it. It would be great to wear over my Salwar Kameez or Sari. I normally avoid wearing these dresses in winter, but if I had a pretty jacket, sure. Something like this would work. I could even wear this over jeans or other pants.



Stitching. Yes, I have started stitching again. Yay for me. I picked up the 'Angel of Love' to renew my love of stitching. Here is a WIP Picture from ages ago. Not much done after this. I have to also update my webshots album. I have started a bunch of new projects, and completed some.

Scrapping. I'm still scrapping. In fact, I am downloading some new goodies by Diamante Designs (Lori) today. Speaking of that, Lori has a secret! She'll announce it soon :) The new stuff is To Die For. Trust me.

I never gave an update on Mehul's Transition. He is doing great. He took the new class like a champ. No tears from him or me. Yay. The new class is also a lot more fun, because they get to rotate the classrooms. Computer room, Library, Gym, Coconut Theatre. Oh my. He has a lot of fun there. No more Buggy rides, though. They are only for Toddlers. I'm sure he misses them!

This morning, I was supposed to drop Mehul off at the daycare. DH has been taking him for a few days, but I'm generally the one to do that. DH and Mehul got out of the house, and I came out a little later. Mehul said Bye Bye and started to go toward DH's car. I said, "No, Mehul, you're coming with me." He made such a bad face. Started wailing and saying "Nooooo. Nemo" and went with DH. Sigh. Yes, I know I only have a small car and no DVD player. Guys know their cars LOL

Tired

The party went very, very well :) Couldn't have been better. Everyone LOVED the food. They said it was like 'Wedding Food' which is the best compliment anyone could get! Everything was done on time, and I even had some time to relax before the guests started arriving. But, somehow we had postponed wrapping up the party favor gifts long enough that there wasn't enough time to do that in the end. That's okay, the kids care less about the packing, and more about the stuff ;) BTW, we decided to get the age appropriate puzzle cards for the kids.

I have never received so many compliments on my cooking {blush} I was ecstatic. About 25 people attended, but there was way too much food. My friend M stayed back and helped me clean up afterwards, which was great. We were so busy enjoying the party, we forgot to take pictures! Our regular camera backup friend, N, had to leave early and we didn't think of giving someone else the camera LOL We did get pictures of the cake cutting.

Okay, now that you're sick of hearing about the party, no more party talk until the next month ;) Today I stayed home to rest. I'm exhausted. There is enough food in the freezer for a week, which is great since I can't stand any more cooking LOL

I might do a LO today, or pick up stitching. Or, I might organize my stitching stash.

Happy Diwali!

Today is Diwali. I usually make a Rangoli and put up the lights outside, but this year I can't. I'm busy preparing for the party tomorrow. Plus, I don't know where the lights are. We'll put them up on Christmas :)

We're Online

We got the phoneline. Finally! My home is no longer an Internet, Phone Free Retreat! LOL.

Party

Party prep is in progress. I have done some dishes and will do a couple more more today. Rest will be done tomorrow. The items that are prepared, or bought_and_need_no _prep are in silver.

Starters
Small Samosa/Chutney
Sausage
BelPuri
Nachos/Salsa
Jaljira
Dry Fruits Tray
Paneer w/ Chalmasala

Kids Menu
Chowmein

Main Course
Shahi Paneer
Chicken Makhani (Take out)
Bhartha
Chole
Raita w/ Bhalle
Tricolor Rice
Roti
Crunchy Salad
Papad

Dessert
Nemo Cake!
Kheer
Icecream

Drinks
Sprite
Diet Coke
Whiskey
White Wine
Red Wine
Beer
Tea

The 10 Stitching Projects Challenge

I am having the itch to start stitching again. I have abandoned it for more than 2 years. Right before DS was born, I was stitching Victoria Sampler's Gazebo Roses. I remember sitting on the Tennis Court, stitching, while DH and his 3 friends played Tennis. I was around 7 months pregnant with Mehul. Ah, all the free time we used to have! August 2004 - We had just moved into our Townhouse - our first house. We had a handle on everything, from jobs to cleaning and organizing the house, to home improvement. We had so much time to plan and do things. We had time for hobbies! Poor DH hasn't played Tennis since Mehul was born.

After Mehul turned One, I quit my job and stayed home to take care of him. I was home for about 7-8 months. Very few people know this, but I was offered to work from home, part time, flex hours by my Program Manager. I took it but wasn't sure how it was going to work. Afterall, we were not going to send Mehul to daycare, even part-time. That was the whole point of me staying home! Anyhow, they hired me, I became an employee, but the *work* never actually materialized. My supervisor wasn't too keen on this to begin with. After a few rounds of playing tag, I stopped caring.

I've digressed enough. Point of this is I didn't stitch much even when I was home. I did finish a gift for a dear friend. I'll post it here (soon)! Now, I am going to get back to stitching. After the party, I'm taking out my needles.

The 10 Project Challenge is to not make any new purchases until the project you've listed are finished. I have modified it to not make any new starts. That is a big one for me. I never finish what I start. So, here is my list. Until these are finished, I won't make another start.
Oh, BTW, DigiScrapping is totally exempt from this LOL. I am allowed to scrap all I want. And buy both stitching and scrapping stash. That is a big motivator for me if I start to feel blah!

Here they are, in no particular order:
1.TW Heart Sampler
2.TW Tradewinds
3.TW Harvest Sampler
4.Victoria Sampler Gazebo Roses
5.EMS Frog Baby
6.EMS Bumble Bee Baby
7.The small Chatelaine Sampler I had started..
8.Fanta Cat Desings Gypsy Allure
9. Angel of Love - Completed April, 2008
10. Peacock Tapstry

I will update the remaining three here. A link to this post will be added to my sidebar.

House update and a LO

We are nicely settling in. I'll do a review of the current state:

Lower Level

All the furniture has been assembled. This includes the Dining Room, Family Room, and Home Office Furniture. 80% of the Kitchen Cabinets have been loaded. The Fridge is 100% done. LOL. That's the one thing that doesn't need more work.
There is clutter in the Family Room and the Kitchen Island, but I guess that will be a continuous effort! The pretty curtains we got custom made in India have been hung. The curtains were 3-part ~ Main curtain, embroidered sheer that goes behind it, and swag (or, valance). We have only hung the main curtains for now. There is no time to start hanging the sheers before the party! In the Townhouse, we had only installed the main curtains and the sheers without the swags. It looked perfectly well without them. I think the swags would make the room look too formal, and I don't want that. Not in the Family Room! We will have to buy more curtains for Living and Dining Rooms on our next trip.

Upper Level

The Master Bedroom furniture has been assembled. There is no decoration on the walls yet. No curtains either. We are thinking of putting up some temporary paper shades until we can decide what window treatments we want.
The Guest Bedroom furniture has been done too. Only Mehul's room is furniture-less. We have his crib, but he never sleeps in it so there is no point in putting it. Except for aesthetic value LOL I guess we'll assemble the crib and furnish it cutely again. 4th Bedroom is completely empty.
The closets are still a big mess. I have hung 70% of our clothes, but the rest are in a big pile :o Mehul's are still in a pile too. I did some laundry yesterday in the new washer/dryer. Happy to report they work pretty well. Since the laundry is on the top floor, we were concerned about the noise. But the appliances we bought were with noise cancellation and were recommended for top level. I actually wanted to buy the bigger size ones, which would wash a king-sized Comfortor (which we don't own, but might in future LOL). The sales rep and Girish were pretty amused by this reasoning. I think it's perfectly reasonable LOL.

Party

The party is on. Currently, we have about 5 families coming (besides us). I have to start preparing the stuff today. I did the shopping for a lot of the stuff yesterday, so I won't be held up. I also soaked the Chickpeas to make Kabuli Chana side yesterday. One chutney is done, another will be done today. But, I'll have to keep most of the work for Saturday and Sunday. Oh, and I have taken the day off on Monday so I can recuperate nicely from all the work LOL.

Here is a LO I did of our new house.

H is for House

Credits:
Everything except the Key is from Miki Ferkul. Ribbon, Letter, Envelope, Tie, Eyelets, Tag, Alpha, and Papers from her Emergency Scrapside Kit available at SBB.
Arrow from her Punk Boy kit available at SBE.
I have changed the stamp a bit by adding the Paisely from Miki's What I Want BCA kit!
Key is from Maya.

Powder Room makeover...Take 2

The makeover is underway. The plumber installed the Toilet and the Sink last night. It's funny how we got the plumber so quickly. We had not even started looking!

Last week, we had gone to Lowe's to pick up our faucets and things, and we ran into P, who is actually a friend from my neighborhood in Delhi! Her parents house is on the same street as us. She moved to Virginia a year after I moved. We've been meeting since then.

They too have recently bought their Single Family House in VA, and moved a little farther away from us. Anyhow, they were there to look for some stuff for their Basement Bath remodel at their old place that they're renting. They said good things about their plumber. We hadn't even had the time to call anyone or look for a plumber. So, we went that night and met him as he was doing work at their place. Luckily he was available this week. Plus, he's cheap. I like it when things work this way :D

So, he has finished his part, now G will replace the Paper Holder, Vanity Light, Towel Ring, etc. We haven't picked a mirror yet! Also, we don't have the Tank Lever. Lowe's doesn't carry the one from Delta. They have another one from Moen, which might work with this collection, but I want to check out Home Depot or even order online. We are holding off on painting the room rightnow. There is just no time for us to do that!

Do you notice any changes around here?

Do you? Do you? I have been butting my head with this Beta version of Blogger for the last 3 hours. I think it looks pretty decent now. I decided to update the blog to beta since I love the Label feature. I get to label my posts with one or more label. That's the major change you'll notice as a blog reader.

A neat thing for me is that this Beta version allows me to drag and drop sidebar elements (see the lists, dropdowns, etc. on the sidebar) I had made a lot of customizations to the original boring template. For instance, I had added the left sidebar. Also, I had added dropdowns, changed the fonts, colors, etc. Added the Header image. With this new version, you can't use your old, customized template anymore** You have to start from scratch. Poo.

So, I had to code it again. It involves HTML/CSS/XML. This version is supposed to help those that are not experienced coders, but want to make changes to fonts, colors, add linked lists, drop downs etc. You do not need to know much CSS/HTML for doing that. But, for doing major changes like adding a new sidebar (like I have done here), you do need it. But, overall, I think people will be happier with this one. The drag and drop feature is pretty nifty. And, ofcourse, the labels are cool.

There are more features here, like each post can have different setting for comments -- to allow comments or not, allow backlinks or not, etc.

I still have to fix my fonts and colors here, but I'm happy that the structure of this template looks very similar to my old customized template.

**Edited to clarify - You can still use the old template with the new Beta version, but if you want to upgrade your *Template* (which you would have to, to use the drag and drop, fonts & colors feautres), you have to redo your template from scratch. Upgrading will reset your template. Take your backups!

Party Plans

We are planning the Birthday and House Warming Party this Sunday. We figured, since it's the same group that would be coming to both, we'd club them together into one party. I did't want people to feel obligated to come to two of our parties and give us two gifts, so now they don't have to :-) We don't know a whole lot of people here, so it's just going to be bunch of our family friends in this party. We do have another group of friends that we do potlucks with, and they would come in another party we'd throw the next month as one of them is going to India this month.

Anyhow, the meal. I am preparing everything myself. Yep, I'm crazy enough to do that. We started planning the menu last night. So far, this is what I've got. If you're reading this AND are coming to the party, all I have to say is Bring Your Appetite!

Starters
Small Samosa/Chutney
Sausage
BelPuri
Nachos/Salsa
Jaljira
Dry Fruits Tray
Paneer w/ Chalmasala

Kids Menu
Chowmein

Main Course
Mutter Paneer
Chicken Makhani
Bhartha
Rajma or Chole
Raita w/ Bhalle
Jeera Rice (or, Tricolor Rice)
Roti
Salad (??)
Papad

Dessert
Cake!
Kheer
Icecream

Drinks
Sprite
Diet Coke
Whiskey
White Wine
Red Wine
Beer
Tea

Am I missing something? What else do you have in an India Buffet style party?

We have to decide the party favors, I'm thinking separate items for boys and girls. If you have any ideas, please post.

Here is the invitation I just whipped up in like 30 minutes. So unlike me, but we're short on time! It had to go today. We don't have a theme this time. So, I just added whatever felt appropriate. The address has been blanked out but it goes below the line.

Just Random Stuff

The outside temperature this morning, 38F. Thirty Eight. That is 3C. That is how cold it EVER gets in Delhi! Froze my butt off. Have I mentioned that all my warm jackets are still packed away in a box in the garage somewhere. I wore my jeans jacket today. Brrr.

Mehul is fully transitioned now. He is handling it really well. And me too! I haven't cried even one time! We left him at his new class today. They have rotating schedule for the 2 year olds. Left him at the Computer Lab and he instantly got busy puttering away. Who's child is he afterall! LOL.

This Sunday is our monthly potluck. I offered to make Aloo Gobhi (Cauliflower & Potato side dish). My Pindi De Chole (Chickpeas) last time was a hit. Got a reputation to keep!

We have a lot of unpacking to do this weekend. Apart from Sunday afternoon, we're pretty much free all weekend. There is no Cable or Internet yet, guess we don't have an excuse. LOL

Powder Room Remodel..Take 1

The freshly minted house keys have not yet cooled down, we're ready to remodel. LOL. Yep. That's us. We are Self Professed Home Improvement Junkis. We had ordered some of the things from Lowe's when we ordered our Refrigerator and Washer/Dryer before we closed on the house. We did have the option of getting the same from the Builder but we did our research and found that we can get it for much cheaper (almost half) the price outside, and get it installed at a fair rate too. So, that's what we're doing. Our very first remodel.

Kohler Pedestal Sink - Portrait(Bisque)	Kohler Toilet - Portrait(Bisque)

We have selected the Faucets and accessories too, and will be picking them up this Sunday. (Psst..Lowe's is clearing out it's inventory of a lot of items, so many things will be 50% off this weekend. Check out your store.)

Ok, you want to see pictures of what we've picked, right?

Delta Victorian Lavatory Faucet	Delta 2-Light Victorian Vanity
Delta Victorian Toilet Paper	Delta Victorian Towel Ring
Delta Victorian Double Robe Hook	Delta Victorian Tank Lever

I *need* the Robe Hook in the Powder Room. Every room with a toilet should have a hook. I hate it when I need to put my purse, or coat away, I have to put it outside because there isn't a hook in the room. Hate it. It's my house, I can do what I want here, so there :p LOL

Yesterday's KarwaChauth

So, I know not everyone is familiar with this. Karwa Chauth is a Hindu festival that all married women participate in. It's more popular in North India, but now, it's gaining popularity in the South too! This festival is very well played in the Hindi movies, and is a big attraction for everyone. This happens once a year, always at the begining of fall, though the date changes each time because it's based on the Hindu calendar that is based on moon positions and so forth.

The main objective of this is for married women to pray for the well being and long life of their husbands. For this, they keep a day long fast. They stay without food or water until they perform rites upon moonrise. The festivities begin the night before. Traditionally, all the women in the family would gather around and decorate their hands (and sometimes, feet) with Henna. They wake up early morning at 4AM, take a bath, and eat 'Sargi', which is basically noodles with milk. They can also eat whatever else they'd like at that time, along with water. Then, the fast begins.

Sometimes, there are variations to this fast. In some families, the women are allowed to have water, tea etc. to drink, but nothing to eat. In another variation, the unmarried girls are allowed to participate, but they break the fast at the first sight of a star, which is always before moonrise! I have also seen some very dedicated husbands keep the fast for their wives! I'm always very impressed with that. The fast is not an easy one to keep!

In the evening, before the sun sets, the women dress up in the prettiest clothes. This is the best part, and why this festival is so popular that even the girls want to participate. Many women dress up in either their wedding dress (if they can fit into it! LOL), or beautiful saris or salwar kameez that they would otherwise wear to weddings. They do full makeup, just like their wedding day, and get ready for the Puja(rites). The puja can be done in the Temple, or in someone's house. They chant the Karwa Chauth song, and listen to the traditional story of Tara Rani. They also worship the Goddess Parwati. The women sit around in a circle and pass their puja plates (that contain rice, fruit, etc.) around to each other. This passing along of plates is done 7 times. It's a lucky number!

After this, the wait for the moon begins. At moonrise, the women first offer food and water to the moon, then their husbands offer them the first sip of water and first bite of food for the day! They can eat anything after this.

If you'd like to read more, you can go to KarwaChauth.com

Living in the US, I can't do everything the way it's done back home! Most of the times, I have to forego the Henna part. Mainly because I'm lazy enough to do it myself. It takes a long time to prepare for it, plus, with a toddler running around, it's not practical at the moment. Last year, though, I was in India at the time. My SIL and I kept the fast together and did everything. It was her first time keeping this fast. A memorable time, for sure.

The year before last, I didn't keep Teej -- similar festival but only certain groups have this one, my in-laws celebrate this -- as I was preggers with Mehul, and KarwaChauth because I was nursing at the time. My MIL gave me an out both times. So, it's not a hard and fast rule that you MUST do this, exceptions are made in case of illness and such.

Well, you're all up to speed with this now, so if someone asks you, you can tell. LOL. Honestly, I like learning about other cultures and I *love* sharing things about my culture.

Layouts

I want to show all the LO's I've been doing the last few weeks, but I probably will not be able to if I continue scrapping like I am! LOL! It's a good thing, I am certainly not complaining. And I'm not under any pressure from CT or anything. I am on 2 CTs - Miki Ferkul's and Diamante Designs. They are both very understanding of my time commitments due to work and family obligations. I'm so lucky to be a part of their CTs.

I did this LO just for me. I wanted to scrap with these beautiful pages by Buddhini. This is from her ScrapArtist Apprentice Challenge 1st round freebie kit, and seeing as she has reached the 3rd round(!!) today, I feel it appropriate to post them now. Congratulations, Buddhini! Knew you could do it.

All That Hair

Credits:
Papers: Buddhini's Elegance kit (Edited: I do know how to spell Elegance!)
Black Ribbon, stitching, buttons: Ztampf Syrin Seamstress
Needle, Pin: Ztampf
Pink Tag: Michelle Coleman's Tutti Frutti
Butterfly: Michelle Coleman's Gypsy Rose
Overlay on black paper: Jason Gaylor
Fonts: Misproject, Scriptina and Stamped DSG
Chocolate Dreams filter on photo by Diamante Designs.

Officially Moved

Yesterday was our first night at our new house. Technically, it was our second night as we had stayed the night of House Blessing or 'Havan' ceremony, but that was just us, without any of our stuff. Almost all of the furniture has been moved, with the exception of a side table, some decoration items, etc. Both the houses are currently looking as disaster areas, as is to be expected.

Lower Level

Girish assembled the Entertainment Unit that is in the Family Room. With some rearrangement of furniture there, that room will be done. I started setting the Kitchen, Refrigerator and that's all looking good too. In the Dining Room, the China Cabinet has been moved to it's proper place, inbetween the two east side windows. The table needs to be assembled. We couldn't find the drill bits for the electronic drill, or it would have been done yesterday! Manual process takes much more time LOL We don't have any furniture in the Living Room currently, as in our Townhouse, we had combined Living/Family Rooms. The Home Office furniture needs to be assembled back too.

Upper Level

Total disaster. Master and Guest Bedroom furniture need to assembled. Clothes are all over the place. I started setting our clothes in the Walk In Closet this morning. Mehul's clothes are all in a big pile. Finding a uniform for him to wear to Creme was interesting. I kept coming up with single socks from many pairs LOL

Transitioning

Mehul seems to be very happily settled in the house. He calls this 'Townhouse'. Apparantly, we did so much house talk in front of him, he picked this word up and had been using it for a long time before we realized what he was saying! He was running all over the place last night, and even went to sleep peacefully. He still sleeps with us, though. He never got used to sleeping in the crib except for naps. That's ok, we like it that way :)

As far as his transitioning to the Big Boy Room, today it's 2 hours, not 1 as they mentioned in the papers they sent home. Mehul and another kid from his class are starting there today. Atleast he has someone with him! He would also (probably) recognize some older kids from his class there. Hoping that he doesn't cry! He was a little clingy this morning as he has come back after a 3 day break.

Other

Today is KarwaChauth. I am fasting today. No food or drink before Moonrise! Please, Moon, come out early tonight!

In the middle of Packing

Most of the stuff has already moved, I am packing up the kitchen now. Just taking a short break. Girish had to go to work today, Mehul and I are home. I am also cooking a couple of meals now, so that we wouldn't have to worry about unpacking the kitchen right after moving, or eat out (like last time LOL).

I have done a couple of layouts that I'm not finding the time to upload here. You can browse my gallery at DST if you're so inclined. I have also made a card for Mehul's daycare teachers. I haven't posted that one, but I will post it after giving them to the teachers.

Speaking of that, Mehul will start transitioning over to the 2 Year Old room tomorrow. They ease them into the routine, so, tomorrow he'd be there for 1 hour in the morning. Next day, he'll be there till the afternoon but will come back for lunch in his toddler room. The next day, he'll do lunch and afternoon nap there, and so on. They take a full week to do the transitioning. I hope it all goes well. Since we're also moving today, it's a lot of change for him. From his perspective, his whole world is changing. Sigh.

Well, I have to get back to packing and preparing meals.

Quick Post

I just returned back from work. Yes, on a Saturday. My life sucks LOL. I had to do a software upgrade at a client site. Since it was Production system, the only available timeframe was weekends. This is a long weekend here (Columbus Day), so I still get 2 days off, and I will take the next Friday off and make that a Long weekend. Someone ask them, where is it written in my job duties that I'd be expected to do upgrades/installs. I am the only Documentum 5 person they have, and they're milking it! Grump.

House News

We got our Refrigerator today. Girish got it installed. I haven't seen it in the kitchen yet. I'm totally excited. We're just heading to the house now to start moving stuff over. The movers are coming tomorrow. This is it! The next two weeks will be absolute chaos LOL

On the down side, we will lose our high speed internet connection. The community is brand new and they don't have the transmitter (or whatever else they need) set up. The wires are laid, but that's about it. It will be a long time before they start providing access. So, we'll be on dialup for a while. I hope it's not a looong while.

Well, I gotta run...

Erin tagged me last week. I'm a teeny bit late, but I hadn't forgotten. Here it is.

The Rules
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

I'm going to change it up a bit (when did I ever play by rules ;)) I'm going to list what are my all time favorites, as I don't really get a chance to listen to music on a daily basis nowadays. I listen to fast beat songs while I workout, but they're not what I really like at other times. I enjoy listening to Ghazals and old Hindi Movie songs. Slower the better! So, here they are, in no particular order.

1. Woh Kagaz Ki Kashti, Woh Barish Ka Pani (Jagjit Singh)
2. Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho (Jagjit Singh)
3. Aap Jaisa Koi Meri Zindagi Mein Aaye (Movie: Qurbani)
4. Baahon Mein Chale Aaoo (Movie: Anamika)
5. Woh Shaam Kuch Ajeeb Thi (Movie: Khamoshi (from 1969))
6. Tujhse Naraaz Nahin Zindagi (Movie: Masoom)
7. Aaj Dil Pe Koi Zor Chalta Nahin

There are many many more but I can't list them all here! I have to load these up in my MP3 player in a different playlist. I only have the fast ones rightnow, and I'm bored of those too. Time to change them.

I'm not going to tag anyone, mainly since I don't think I have 7 readers :p If you're reading this, and want to play, please feel free!

Let's rewind

I'm so pooped today. Yesterday, I had to do a lot of running around to get all the things ready for his party. We had gotten most of the stuff beforehand, but had to pick up the balloons (can't do that in advance, right), and the cupcakes. I got off work at lunchtime. The cupcakes were specially prepared for us (by Wegmen's; their staff is so helpful) with Red and Yellow icing. Did I mention the two stores are at the opposite ends from my house? Anyhow, I picked both up and went home to relax a bit and have lunch. Prepared a salad quickly. I was going to eat cake later in the day so didn't have a big lunch.
Girish was stuck in a meeting at the last moment, but thankfully it ended right on time. He came home around 2:25. When we reached the daycare, our little angel was fast asleep, along with a lot of other little angels. I took a picture, ofcourse. The kids had already started waking up. I set the table and put the food out.
Miss O. had to wake Mehul up, as it was around 2:45 and he had already napped for more than 2.5 hours. He opened his eyes, looked at me and Daddy. We totally expected he'd scream with joy and say Mamma and come running to me. Nope. He said "Emmo" looking at the balloons. Completely ignored us. Nice to know he remembers Elmo.
One of the kids has a lot of allergies, so he couldn't have anything we brought. Poor C. He was looking at the other kids, sitting at a different table. I felt so bad for him. Miss J. said sorry to him twice while serving him his food :(

The kids in the other class were peeking in. They were so excited to see the balloons. A lot of them started singing Happy Birthday!

Anyhow, it was a lot of fun to see all the kids. They sang Happy Birthday, ate and had a great time. I took a lot of pictures. Still have to resize them. We also took pictures of the house at daytime. Maybe I'll make one huge post with them.

We also did a quiet little cake and candle party at home. Mehul and I decorated a cheesecake (yep). Then, he was given his gifts. He was so excited about the first one, he didn't open the rest Hehe. It is the Elmo's Workbench as seen on Gina's Blog. It's the best thing. He was quite the carpenter last night! I literally had to peel him off the floor to go to bed. This morning, he was at it again. We'll open the rest of the presents today!

Happy Birthday, Mehul

We were scheduled for an induction for October 4th, 2004. We were supposed to show up at the hospital, at 8PM the night before, to get us to settle in and start induction. I had Gestational Diabetes and the danger of going over the due date was that of having an extremely big baby. The ultrasound I had at around 36 months put your weight at around 6 lb, not huge by any measure, but these things aren't accurate!

The hospital called us and let us know that there wasn't a bed available yet, so we wouldn't get to go just yet. We waited and waited. Finally, we decided to go to sleep around 10PM. At 11:15, they called and asked if we wanted to come in now, or in the morning at 7. We decided to go. We were ready, bags were packed (for the last couple of weeks actually). The wait was finally over, we were going to the hospital and we would finally get to meet you!

At the hospital, they hooked me up with the monitors and started IV fluids. Told me to relax and take a nap. The induction process was started, and the nurse switched off the lights and went away. I was asleep for I don't know how much time and woke up with weird cramping. Your daddy was asleep on the couch, he was tired and I didn't want to wake him up! After some time when it didn't stop, I decided to not wait any longer and woke him and called for the nurse. She came and checked the monitors, both of our heartbeats were getting lower. She showed some awesomely fast moves, put the breathing mask on me, got all the wires disconnected, and wheeled me very quickly to the Operation Theatre! She told me that your heartrate is going down and we're going to have to do an emergency C-section. Also, that your daddy will not be allowed in the room with me, because that's hospital protocol. I was scared like anything. Here we were, nicely relaxing and not expecting you until the next day, and I was about to end up with an Emergancy C. My OB/GYN, Dr. M wasn't on duty that night so she was paged. A scruffy looking Indian lady doctor was attending that night. In a couple of minutes of us reaching the OR, your heartbeat went stable. They monitored me for about 10 minutes in the OR and when things seemed fine, we were wheeled back! Phew!

Dr. M reached after some time, and visited me at the room. The nurse (and I) explained her what happened. It was probably a reaction to the medicine they'd given me. After this, the night was quite eventless. I woke up in the morning, walked around, watched TV. My blood sugar was being monitored every hour, because of the GD. It was staying stable. I wasn't allowed any food, but was allowed to drink water and munch on ice-chips. Fun.

It was a long day. 16 hours of labor and nothing to show for it. Finally, at 6PM, Dr. M asked how long we wanted to wait. We said if nothing happens in a couple of hours, we're ready for a C. We just wanted to meet you, in good health. That's all that mattered. At 8:12, Dr. M delivered you via C-section.

The first thing I heard was your faint cry. Then, the nurses and doctor started saying "Look at those eyes. The Eyelashes" "All that hair" "The head is big that's why labor wasn't progressing" (Nice) Then, I saw you. You were this teeny tiny thing, in a diaper. I don't know when they put that diaper on you! You were the cutest little baby I had ever seen. No lie. The Cutest Baby Ever. I cried. Your daddy, concerned as he was about my well being, asked if I was hurting or these were happy tears! Yes, he was clueless as always :)

I remember asking a doctor (not Dr. M) about your Apgar Score! I don't know why. It was 8 or 9, yes, that's what the doctor said. He gave me a very surprised look for some reason. Whatever. I wasn't paying attention in my drug-induced haze.

Your Stats: 18 inches long, 5lb 9oz weight.

I have rambled enough so I'll stop now. Happy Birthday, my 2 year old! We are coming to your daycare with cupcakes at 2:30, and you have NO idea :D

Your first day

Your first few weeks

Secret's Out

About our new house, that is. I thought several times about posting about the house that was being built, but didn't. We had kept it a surpise from mine and DH's family. Didn't want to ruin their surprise at the off chance they visit this blog. I know MIL does, sometimes. My sister does too.
We own a townhouse already, which we bought in 2004, just before DS was born. It was only 2 years old, and everything was in great shape. What it lacked was a back yard, and the extra storage space. We always wanted to move into a bigger house, but didn't have a specific time in mind. This year, we casually started looking at single family houses. It had to be a new construction, for sure. I wanted to specify what I wanted in the house, and see it take shape. We saw the plan we absolutely loved, and after *much* discussion, we signed up. It's a dream come true!

An unfinished post from my other neglected blog, that has been kept in draft...I wrote this 2 days after we signed the contract to build this home.


"Sunday, March 5th, we signed the contract for our new home. It's going to take some time for me to get used to the fact. It's our dream home. In a great location. It's going to be perfect. The house is not built yet, so we have about an year before we have to move. But...

I'm already having trouble thinking of parting with our current home. DS was born in this home. We just moved here 1 1/2 years ago. I love this place. Slowly we have been making it our own. I'm happy about the new place but don't want to let go of this one. I know that when we sell this place, the new owners will want to change it, and that thought is scary to me. I painted the home office downstairs just 2 months ago..."

The townhouse has been rented out. The housing market in our area has taken a nose dive this year. Hence, the lowered rate for the new house. We plan on selling the townhouse in a couple of years time.

Pictures will follow soon. Rightnow, I only have the in-construction ones, and not a final one. There's a lot going on with the birthday approaching, the move, house warming party, etc. I also plan to put up before-after pictures as we personalize this home. The first project is the main level powder room. We've already ordered the stuff for this!