school confusion and the Munnar trip

Its June, and the schools are giving out forms. We are confused, should we send Jason now, or wait for another year. To send him to a matriculation school or to a CBSE school? We have not yet come to a conclusion. Lets see, left it God.

Meanwhile we made a small trip to Munnar- kerala during the thanks-giving holidays.It was really cold out there, and we simply loved our stay. The best part for me was, no cooking for four days, and just relaxing and having fun with the family. We really needed this break. Jason too had an awesome time, as there were many achachans (big brothers) for him, who would happily play with him, carry him around where he does not want to walk, and buy him whatever he asked for. It was a trip from hubby office, so it was a big group.

Some of Jason's pics from Munnar.

He actually got bored smiling at camera for the nth time.

'Spring Dale Resort', where we stayed.

Oh.. he got hold of a binoculars and wanted to see everything though it. even the fishes in the small pond, which is right in front of him.

All ready for the day.

That's US, at the Mattupetty dam.

Poor thing, we had to do this to him. Was getting ready for the speed boat ride.

Those are the same fishes. He loved them, used to feed them biscuits, rice,paper, leaf, stone, sand...

Inside our resort. I just like this pic a lot.

In front of the tea plantation. The place is full of it, and its really beautiful.

Even though I am from kerala, this is first trip there. Its a lovely place to go with your family and have a nice time.

I am back...

At last I am back, and with an almost healed hand. At present doing physiotherapy to get the movement back. Even though I cant lift heavy objects, I can pretty much do other light work.

It was a rough month. I could not do anything by myself, was totally dependent on others for every small thing. The worst part was, I could not lift Jason or hug him or play with him. Poor thing, he would look at my hand and with a sad face would say, booaa as in boo-boo. Luckily my cousin came to stay with us till hubby came for Christmas. Later hubby was there till my plaster came off. Jason was very lonely there, although he enjoyed roaming around in the backyard and playing in the sand, which he can never find in our apartment here.

My Sisters-in-law came home with their kids and for two days and it was a non stop chaos in the house. Five kids aged 14-12-9-5-almost2. Jason was the happiest there, with all his cousins trying to please him and cuddle him, got gifts from aunts and uncles. He ran around, jumped on his cousins, hit them, kissed them, even slept with them. The best part was the dancing which went on till midnight. It was a huge project to get him to bed. But the worst part was when they all had to leave a day before Christmas.We had to take Jason to the backyard and distract him while they left. The whole day he was very dull and sad. He would go to the rooms and call out for them.

Christmas was OK, New Year too went by. Nothing much happened other than myself agonising over my broken hand. Hope you guys had a lovely New Year.

I have so many blogs to catch up on. Leaving you with some pics of what my son was up to in the past one month.

Lets hear it from the Horses mouth itself..

Had fun with my cousins. Here is Niya and Eric. They love me... cos I am sooo chweet.
Did some serious thinking and reading. Lets see, maybe I will soon write a coloum in the Economic Times.

Prayed to God, to heal my Mamma's hand soon so that I can break it again :)

Broke everything and anything I could lay my hands on, which included a flower vase with stand, the remote, n number of my Grandma's tapes...

Made a girlfriend too.. hee hee.

Played Santa with my Grandpa. See the Christmas tree behind? Ya.. that's kept on the TV so that the it remains intact at least for a day, before I take it apart.. see.. every one is scared of me.

Had a sunbath..even though I am not allowed to sleep on the sand, and dirty the pillow. By the way, where was my Mom, she could have stopped me. Oh.. she was busy laughing and taking snaps..

Diapers everywhere, expect where it actually should be ;) Its a free world, my bum should also enjoy the freedom... don't ya think so?

Trying to be a pakka Mallu guy :)

And now, presenting the Bald and The Cuty-pie :)

Bald is In Dude :) .

Its was our 4th anniversary yesterday :)

THE TWO HANDSOME MEN IN MY LIFE :)

Happy anniversary Hubby dear...

And happy 20th Month to my darling Jason...

Love you both more than anything in this life.

HOME SWEET HOME

Its such a lovely feeling to wake up every morning in your own house (at last!!!!)

Its been a difficult journey, but the result is sweet, really sweet.

We have been hunting for a house from the last 3 years. We had even booked a flat in b’lore but had to cancel it because we shifted to Chennai. Here too we went to see some flats and plots. But did not work out, as most of them wont fit in our budget and the rest were not in the city itself. So we had left it to God. Then one fine day we came to know about this flat, and everything fell into places and we bought the house. We renovated the kitchen and one of the bathrooms, did some woodwork, painting etc and planned for the house warming function to be held on the 4th of sept.

The function was nice. My parents came down. My Sister-in-laws could not make it as their kids had exams. The only problem was that we had planned to shift to the new house within a couple of days. But the work was incomplete. The painting, polishing , carpentry work was still remaining. The contractor promised the painting and polishing will be done in two days and then we could shift, and the rest of the work will continue with us staying there. We agreed. Next day he says he needs more time. We agreed to shift by 14th. We could not wait any longer, as the new tenants were coming to occupy the (rented ) house. We had to vacate the house.

So we packed and left, but after reaching here, we realized that there was no way we could stay in our new house. The work was not completed. So we had to dump all our stuff into one of the bedrooms and stay in the neighbor, Koshy Uncle’s house. God Bless Them. I have no idea what we would have done without them. We slept, bathed, ate... everything in their house. And waited for the work to be completed. After three days, the other two bedrooms were fixed and we shifted our stuff there. But we could not do any cooking in the kitchen, so had to have food at Koshy Uncles house. As of now, 90% of work is finished, and we have almost settled down.

There are all good families around us. And I am loving my life here. Even Jason has made friends. There is Jaania and her brother Jeffin, and Alvin and brother Eric. But his best friend is Koshy Uncle himself. He keeps scolding Jason for sucking his fingers. So what my naughty son does now is, as soon he sees uncle, he will put his fingers in his mouth and smile teasingly. Its fun to watch them fight with each other. His other friend is Koshy Uncle’s son, Sinu. Jason likes to go to his room and listen to songs and play with his computer.

So all in all, with God’s grace life is quite good. Only the once in a while, money issues which will also eventually get solved.

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About the award which I received from ladybird, I am suppose to pass it over to 7 bloggers.

Now lets see... everyone is really good. And most of you guys have already got this award.

So.. I would pass on the Brillante weblog award to, some of the blogs I really like to read.

K3, Jonny's Mommy, Mama-Mia, Mira's Mom, Monica, Romila and Jen.

Congrats guys.. :)

Thats Jason with Jaania ...

Money.. show me the Money!!!!

Past few days have not been eventful, but surely has been a mess. And I am vexed to the peak..

So here comes all the rants..

OK, first of all, why the hell do we need to get a ration card NOW. There was no such requirement when we got the gas connection. And now they say, they cant issue us a cylinder with out a ration card. And its a long procedure to get one, as we have to get the 'what-ever' certificate from our respective places. SO what do we do now? We did what two other families in our building did. Buy it in black, double the amount!!!! Grrrr.........

Secondly.. whats with these auto guys? When will they start asking for the correct fare. Why is it always, that they ask 80/- when its actually 40/- and then after bargaining they agree for 60/-? Do they think, the milk man keeps wades of currency, along with the milk packets at our door-steps?? BREAKING NEWS !!!! Its just milk packets dude and most of the time leaking ones.

Now the most important one...the one which has made not just me but everyone else really pissed off and scared to death. Why the bombings? Now onwards forget going out anywhere on weekends, and specially not to any public places. So sit at home, watch TV, eat fatty and oily stuff and blow up like a balloon.That's how weekends are going to be...
Aaggggggrrrhhhhh ...........

I was so looking forward for my parents visit during 15-Aug weekend. I asked them to cancel the trip. God knows where the next bomb will be found.

The above was ranting on a general topic....

Now...its the turn of Jason's mama and papa..

Mama:
# still unemployed (Old story.. huh?)
# This is new.....Tried to loose an extra kilo at the gym, dropped the leg-press on my leg. Got hurt, went to hospital, had to spent 600-700 bucks on treatment (specially at this time, when money is the main cause of worry at our house). Now the leg is OK, and have got back to gym from today.

Papa:
# Is working under a lot of pressure at office, so mama got worried and sent him for a complete checkup. Luckily, everything like BP, sugar, cholesterol, HB etc are fine. So nothing to worry about. From Monday will pack him off to yoga classes. That will relieve him of the stress.
# Also had to get his eyes checked, as he sits In front of the computer for more than 7-8 hours. Ended up with glasses, plane with anti-glare. Had to spent 3800/- for it. And did I mention that, money is the main cause of worry for us??? It would have been tolerable, if it stopped here. But how can it? So on the second day after getting the glasses, IT BROKE while papa and son were showing some affection for each other. So what do we give to get it repaired? No No... peanuts don't work now-a-days. Money does.... Nice crispy notes. And all this is happening while ???? Yes.. money-is-the-main-cause-of-worry-for-us.

I think, by now anyone reading this post will be banging their head on the system.

Let me explain... See,we are not poor. And unluckily we are not rich too. We are just normal middle class people. Since we have bought a house, things have been very very very tight for us. With all the installments.. its a little tough for us. And now, we have to do some work on the house which is going to be more than we expected it to be. so you see MONEY is the main cause of worry for us... So please bare with us. :(

To let you go happy instead of frowning, here is picture of my sweetie pie wearing his papa's brand new specs, before it broke.

p.s: I am not this grumpy always.... my next post will be something good... I promise

Our trip to Mumbai.

We had a lovely weekend in Mumbai with hubby. He had three days off, so myself and Jason flew down. It was his first time on plane. He slept through out the flight. Although at the airport he had fun. He would call out to everyone nearby, give a 70mm smile, showing off his one and half teeth. Anyone at the other end of the airport can hear his ’Abbaaa ’, ‘Appaa ‘ or ‘ laaith ‘. The first two words are, how he calls everyone, and the later one most of the time is for ‘light’. And some times for the switches, or the TV, or anything else which catches his fancy. That’s the most he has spoken till now, apart from the other gibberish words he keeps muttering to himself. The other day, he took his dad’s cell phone and was talking (in his own language) as if there is someone else on the other end. After some time he sang too. Well, it sounded like some song, or was he yawning?

Anyways, he slept nicely in the 1hour 15min flight. So I didn’t have to worry about him getting sick. My sis’s friend was also traveling with us, so the flight was also pleasant. We were greeted by happy hubby dear. We were meeting after three weeks. I just hate being apart. Jason took a couple of seconds to recognize his dad, after that they were inseparable.

We reached the "Hotel Grand Sarovar Premium", in about 34-40 mins. That’s the hotel, where hubby was put up. Its in Malad. I think it’s a 5 star Hotel. I never stayed even in 3 star hotel, let alone a 5 star one. So I was pretty excited to be there, and being treated like some VIP. Well, the hotel was nice, and our room though a little small, was also very cosy and well made (which soon became very un-made with our things scattered around). The best part was the bed with a fat mattress, almost 15 inches thick. All in white with fluffy white pillows, and all the works. It felt like, I was sinking into some soft white cloud. I could not resist my self from jumping on the bed, so fulfilled my wish as soon as hubby was in the bath. God knows, if I have broken something. All in all I was pretty impressed with the room. No wonder they charge Rs.8000 for one night. Luckily we did not have to pay the whole amount, as hubby’s was being paid by the office.

It was almost noon, we were tired so we decide to have lunch at the hotel itself. It’s was a buffet, costing 650 bucks per person. Lunch was really good. I tried almost everything like a greedy little pig. Jason also had fun there. He made friends with anyone who came anywhere near our table. Luckily for us, they had a 50% discount there, so saved 600 bucks :)

After a good nap, we went to "Inorbit Mall". It’s a huge shopping complex, with shops of all leading brands. Half of the second floor is full of games for kids of all age group. I always wanted to take Jason to somewhere like that, so that he can play his heart-full. We dont have anything like that in Chennai. You should have seen the joy on his face when we made him sit on the first toy train. That was followed by a fire engine, truck, jeep, different types of cars and bikes. He was really happy and so engrossed with the steering wheel, that when we took him, he started crying. So we let him play for some more time. Hubby also had a little fun playing basket ball. And mama went for a ride with Jason, in the mini train. Overall it was a fun-filled evening. It was 10pm by the time we finished dinner at the food court there and left for the hotel.

Sunday morning, we had a late and heavy breakfast (complimentary for all the guest there), and rested for some time in our room. We had to go to my aunts place in Andheri, which was about 30-40 mins away. The whole afternoon was spent meeting them. Later in the evening we went back to the Mall, so that Jason could have some more fun and we could have dinner. There were lovely balloons made of a some sort of plastic, in different shapes and size. We bought a pink dolphin for him. We also hired a stroller for Jason. Its shaped like a car with a steering wheel, so he was very happy. And Since it was Sunday, the mall was very crowded. We had to wait almost 30 mins to get a place to sit in the food court.

Monday, we were invited at hubby’s manager’s place. And we had to reach the airport by 3pm. So we had to hurry up with the breakfast, went to their place, came back, had lunch and started for the airport. The worst part was at the airport. Jason was so reluctant to leave his dad and come to me. And as we were heading for the security check, he was turning behind to check if his papa is coming or not. I hate this moment. Moments when we leave some one we love very much, being far away from the people we love. I think I am gonna cry now. But seriously I HATE IT. A family is supposed to be always together.

Luckily hubby will be back on 18th and we will head back to Chennai, to our Home Sweet Home (even though its rented). Cant wait....

Some pictures of Jason having fun:


Thats him enjoying his ride....

Thats him in the stroller doing some window shopping...

He even got to ride a horse.

Outside the airport, in the lugage trolly. The kid is all about wheels....


In the room he had fun playing with the switches or the big mirror. He kissed and licked himself.
Thats his dolphin baloon.

Back in Chennai.

Well.. We reached here on Monday morning. It’s good to be back. But the house is in a mess. Still, haven’t unpacked. Last two days were taken by the 'things which had to be kept in its places, and the lots n lots of clothes which had to laundered.'

As soon as everything is settled, I have to start “job hunting.” Planning to get back to work by March ( that is, if everything works well, that includes a full-time maid, and adjustable shift time, and a nearby office location).
Lets see....

That special day.

Let me start with my baby’s birth day. It was at 8.48 am on 19th of Feb 2007, that I heard my baby cry for the first time. That was the sweetest sound I ever heard in my life. I could not stop my tears of joy. I have never been so happy in my life before. I was waiting for the first glimpse of the ‘sweet little thing’ I gave birth to. I thought that the baby would be shown to me immediately. But the doctors thought it was wise for the mother to bear some more pain. i don't remember now how much i cursed them. Then i saw the back of his head. He had nice black hair, just like my husband wanted. Its not that i didn't want my baby to have nice hair, its just that i thought that all babies are born bald. I am happy that my concept was wrong. So, here i was waiting to hold my baby in my arms, and they took the baby to the room. After some minutes (which seemed like hours to me ) they took me to the room. There I saw my baby for the first time. he was wrapped up in a soft white cloth and was sleeping soundly in a cradle. he looked like an angel sleeping on a bed of clouds. i touched him, his skin was smooth like a velvet cloth. it felt like touching a cotton ball. it was such a beautiful moment. Just 2.8 kgs, he was small and tiny. i was scared to hold him in my hands. he was so delicate, that the skin where i touched him turned red. all i did that day was to look at him and blush with happiness. after i stopped crying, i could not stop smiling. I can never stop thanking God for this wonderful gift he gave me. the only thing i missed that day was my husband 'S'. since i was at my mom's place for delivery and he was supposed to come on the due day. but my son decided to surprise us by coming 15 days earlier. luckily 'S' was able to reach on the 3rd day. i could not express in words the happiness i saw on his face. he held the baby close to him, and thanked God. we are a family now, a complete family.

And later that day we went home with our son. we were proud parents of a beautiful little son.