A perfect women's day!

As I write this, we have shut every single window and door in our house to cut ourselves from the maniacal noises of bollywood songs blasting from every possible direction, one trying to out do the other in matters of boom-boom. (It is Holi today!) I haven't heard a track that is as much 'emosional attyachar' as the track that goes by the same words!! The husband has wisely shut his ears with his noise cancellation earphones and singing to his dear son, some favourite tracks from the pod and I am trying to watch the match while trying to immerse myself in some writing. Needless to say, we are driven crazy living in one of the noisiest neighbourhoods in the city (are there any quiet ones at all?)

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Both the hubby and me are not big believers in any 'days', but we sometimes manage to surprise ourselves or each other. Not that it is actually related to this post.

The past Sunday was Women's day - even if we forgot we had 3 Sunday newspapers to remind us of it. That morning I decided to visit the salon close to my house (2 buildings away) instead of the usual one that is a bit far that I used to frequent in the days before I became momma. These days all things close by are preferred - due to the race against time to be back before Atri starts demanding his next feed. I had decided that it was time to get in shape - not the whole of me, just the eyebrows - as it is definitely the easier of the two. So eyebrows neatly threaded and feet tended to, talons painted a rose pink, I felt like a new woman. Routine things of the past seem like the luxury nowadays, which I guess is a part of becoming a mother, our needs clearly (and willingly) sent to the back seat.

In the afternoon, we decided to test-drive the Mothercare carrier (I call it the space suit)for the second time. We hit one of the newer malls in the suburbs, which has wider corridors, lesser crowds, espcially in the late afternoons. The husband and me also managed to eat Natural icecream in the food court - I cant remember the last time we ate together :) so this was quite a celebration. We didn't want to outstay our welcome ( read time allotted to us by Atri) so we made a dash home after doing a good amount of window shopping. He seemed pretty comfortable in the carrier throughout except for the time we are trying to get him into the space suit and figure out how to affix the numerous buckles and straps.

The third outing of the day was the building gettogether party we attended in our terrace, the first we have attended in over three years of living here. The highlight of the evening was some fantastic food catered by an authentic Tamil caterer who on learning that we are Tamil insisted on serving us with double the gusto! The party was on the poolside and the breeze was just superbly cool - I rushed downstairs to get some cotton to be plugged into Atri's ears, but his superactive hands pulled them out twice, after which I gave up. I'm surprised he could sleep in his carrier on daddy's tummy even as the speakers blared out the same old bollywood hits (is there any function that happens here without the DJs dishing out this fare in full blast?)! The funny bit is that we tiptoe and shush each other around the house when he is sleeping so that we don't disturb the Lord and there he manages to sleep in ear splitting music - so Atri's first party was a very positive experience, giving us hope for many more in the future. After a couple of hours upstairs watching the couple games and straws-stuck-in-the-head catwalks to 'Fashion ka hai yeh jalwa' I came back home leaving the hubby to have his grub, managing to catch the Filmfare awards from 9 pm -11 pm after which I decided to call it a day. BTW Deepika Padukone seemed so dead in her compering - did the others think so, or is it just me? I always liked her!

So a record three outings in one day surely made this woman's day PERFECT!

Q1 results

Dear Baby,

You completed your first quarter yesterday and equally exciting news is that I completed the first quarter of momhood. It is a weird phenomenon where each day is so full, long and tiring and then weeks fly past us in a blur. From being completely at sea and overwhelmed when we brought you home on 8th December to today, we have matured as parents, as people.

The past 3 months, were a lesson in patience, love, selflessness and everything else that we had to learn to take care of the little helpless life in our hands - You. Today, I wont claim too much, but I am more confident that I can take care of you - and if we've done alright in the first three months, we wont err too much in catering to your needs - which for now are only milk and loads of love (this includes regular bum cleaning, singing, reading, rocking, hugging, kissing et al).

Your smiles have both dad and me weak in our knees. Especially the goofy smiles you give us when cleaning an especially big poopy job - it does make the smells more bearable :)

Your gaze is more fixed and I'm amazed how even boring stuff like curtains can hold your attention so.

You were born with a good head of hair, but your attempts at pulling them out with one hand while trying to stick the whole of the other hand into your little mouth, is not helping their growth. I try giving you a cloth to hold so that your poor head can be spared, but since you are a man of determination - you refuse to accept my offer.

You've become a pro at looking at dad and me, from time to time with your lower lip pouting out so cutely that we'll throw anything that's in our hands (yes even the laptop or expensive crystal) to attend to whatever it is that's troubling you. Such is the power of your little pink lower lip. I've always found this the cutest trait in babies and you've been reminding me of it since the last one month. Sometimes it's a prelude to a cry and sometimes you just make use of the lip alone to summon your slaves. What power!

The head holding bit, you managed to get that alright from the end of the first month itself, which the maushi (massage lady) gives herself all credit for and of course to me for getting her in so quickly on the job. Now when I put you on your tummy to give your bum some 'air time', you left your head perfectly well and even manage to do some push ups on your chubby little arms.

You've developed a huge fascination for your hands - and spare no effort in sticking one or both of them into your mouth. It can keep you occupied for a long time, well long enough for me to have my afternoon nap. Since your doctor declared that it is an important development milestone, we are in no way trying to get in the way of this love between you and your hand. Actually, it is this love that has got in the way of you turning on your tummy. About 6 weeks ago, your desire to get on your tummy was so fervent, that you'd try, try, try and then cry in frustration that you are not able to get there. But today this desire lies blissfully forgotten and I can see that your favourite rhyme is going to be 'One luscious, two luscious, three luscious lollipops'.

Your day time sleep has gone down sharply but since you sleep and let me sleep as well for most of the night, I don't mind keeping you entertained during the day.
You come up with a new word almost everyday. It started with 'Agooo' and now it includes many more like 'Tll', 'Dll', 'Khoo khoo', 'Gaai' and something that even sounds like 'Google'. I wont be surprised at the last one as my googling had sharply increased during pregnancy. Mornings and afternoons post-nap are the best times to have a meaningful conversation with you and I have noticed that you are happier to talk to me if I keep your bum free of nappies and diapers and pajamas. You will admit I am a very observant mom :)

Your legs are getting stronger (read kicks) especially when a hassled poor mom is trying to keep your bum dry by changing your nappy regularly. Also when I make an appearance at your crib after being absent for exactly 2 and a half minutes, you kick away in excitement as though you haven't seen me for months! When I hold you upright, the slightest something coming under your feet, you push down and do a jump of sorts - for which (also) maushi gives herself a lot of credit.

You've also learnt to stay alone with your mommy all day since you were two months old. I know it can be a bit boring seeing just one face apart from the house help and maushi's but what to do darling, something's gotta give!

I may have missed out on some things, but post pregnancy my memory has done a nosedive and I have no time or inclination to do a google on that.

Overall, we've been having a whale of a time, not counting the times I cry with you when you cry inconsolably for some reason, or when I feel I'm not keeping up with mommy duties as well as I should, or when I crave to go out and mingle with the rest of humanity.

It's a very long post this time, but hey its the First Quarter result after all.

A few more months / years down and we'll (me and dad) be reading this post fondly.

Lots of love and kisses to the pouty boy.
Mommy