Journey of Motherhood

2011-04-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend i caught up with some movies which i have been wanting to watch for long.Finally,i got some time and both i must say was not dissapointing. Saturday i watched Hard Candy. I read somewhere that this was a nice movie and wanted to watch it .The movie is about a 14 year old and a pedophile. Ellen page as the 14 year old has done an awesome job. The movie has two main characters and the entire movie except for a few scenes happens in the house of the pedophile. If you like psychological thrillers,this one is good.

The next movie i watched is Dear John.I heart Nicholas Sparks books ,i havent read all but few and he never fails to dissapointn the readers. When i started this movie all i expected was an average film since i have not seen any good novel adapted movies.This one i must say did justice to the book.Well i wouldnt say this is one of the best romantic movies but its definitely one of the best adapted movie.The guy who plays John ,Channing Tatum looks so damn good,and he plays his role of a soldier so well .Amanda Seyfried as Savannah has did her job well too. There were few scenes which made me tear up a little especially the last scene between dad and son.

I would say this was very productive weekend. 2 movies .. a picnic at the park, and some fun times at the Beach. : ) Just wish every weekend could be this awesome...

I HAD A DREAM..

2011-04-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

I was waiting patiently for my turn and when i was assigned my case I was nervous,i was thinking '' Will I be able to do it?'' It's been a long three years. I asked them whether they can give me a Grade 2 or Grade 3 mobility case ,so that would be easier for me. I was happy when i was given an anterior grade 3 mobile tooth. This was so easy ,i knew i had very less to do,the tooth with a lil nudge will come out easily. I was so happy. The next case was a molar tooth ,now the nervousness set back,i need to give an Inferior Alveolar Nerve block and its been long and you have to be very careful.I have done it so many times but will i now after three years??I was trying to palpate the muco-buccal fold and with the shot in my hand,i was ready to inject and then .. Dang!!!! I woke up... Its been very long since i had dreams like this one involving work. Life has become very busy and profession has taken a back seat. I'm not sure whether i would practise again but i have been yearning to learn and work again. Weird as it may sound,i miss the smell of latex gloves and the constant drilling noise. Dreams often reflect your sub-conscious thinking and thats what happened to me i guess.

CONVERSATION WITH A TODDLER

2011-04-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

Today,as we were walking to the garage to get in the car ,i tripped and was about to fall and Jenna comes over and says '' Uh Oh!! ,You have to be careful mommy!!!!! I was actually dumbstruck because she usually talks in broken sentences. Her most constantly used sentences are I Want this Whats that? What are u doing,Mommy? I want to go to Chuck-E-Cheese!!! ( The most frequently used one) She is learning new things everyday and comes home from school with all these stories about her friends. Q pushed S today.. or I Played with B today!! I'm glad i put her in pre -school ,she is learning new things and moreoever she gets tired and naps well and gives me some much needed rest : )

LOVE

2011-03-31T13:28:00.001-07:00

It was love at first sight. I have been spotting him a lot now in and around the place where i live. He is so small and cute and comes in various colors,though red and black are my favourites.First it was a crush but now its an obsession. Now meet him Mini Cooper : )

I dont have a car of my own,we have a family car. He seems to be very expensive so right now i can't think about owning him.. But the day will come when i will get to own him.. My very own'' FIRST CAR''.

DEEP THOUGHTS

2011-03-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to post about this for a long time but this being a sensitive issue,i just needed my time to think and put it into words.

This country which is called the Land of opportunities and which has large number of immigrants and whose President is an African-American still discriminates people according to the race.I'm not a citizen of this country but my daughter is and i fear for her,will she be racially attacked due to her color,her race? And i'm not talking this just out of the blue.I have a reason,you would have seen in my previous post about my school friend who was on a business trip to the states and she was treated badly by the hotel employees and this was not any small motel,it is one of the famous hotels and the receptionist spoke with his manager on the speaker phone of how these''indians '' behave? I have a doubt ,my friend was near this guy and she could hear the whole conversation.What was that guy thinking? Did he think that she does not understand English? Well,just because we do not have an american accent does not mean we dont understand English.This was my friend's last day in the states and she felt very bad and when i asked her to complain to the higher authorities.She just said" I just want to get back home''If it was me,i would have definitely dealt it with it differently.

On another instance,this happened to another friend.. He was told straight on his face '' Go back to your country'' and he was too shocked to say anything but an American friend of his came to his rescue and gave a piece of her mind.But sadly not everyone steps up when something like this happens.

I have made this country my home and i will not accept any kind of racism happening to me or anyone for that matter. I do not dicriminate people according to their color,sex or religion.
Just like my friend said '' I sometimes feel i'm not home and that aptly describes our status in this country '' Resident Alien''.

I know this is a sensitive topic but i would love to hear your thoughts on this. What would you do if one of your friends is racially attacked? Will you step in? What's your take?

OM SHANTHI !!!!!!!!

2011-03-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

If you are wondering what that means ,it is a prayer for peace and thats what i have been telling a lot lately.I have joined a Yoga Class and thats what we say when we start Yoga.The first day of Yoga class,i was kind of lost ,i didnt know what to do.The other students were doing advanced yoga poses and i was falling over here.I was so discouraged looking at all these women who were much older than me ,having fab bodies and were doing many complicated poses as if it were nothing . The next day i was sore all over and had to take tylenol ,it was that bad... The only thing that encouraged me to continue with the class was the fabulous Jennifer Aniston body you get out of it..Do u know Jennifer Aniston's swears by Yoga for her long lean legs and fantastic abs?????.I'm not sure i will become as fit as her but one thing i know im going to die trying : )

I'm still not great at yoga, i still have like 11 classes and i hope by the end of it i will be able to achieve half of that fabulous body i want........ ok i know that wont happen but i promise to continue to do Yoga everyday ; )

Happy Weekend Guys!!!!!! Om Shanthi!!!

JENNA GOES TO SCHOOL

2011-03-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

Yes! Its been two days... Jenna started pre-school from Monday.I have been waiting to put her in pre-school for months since lately she has been watching too much tv,not much activity except for the My Gym classes every week.My neighbour told me about this montessori school near our place and it seemed the best fit for her. She got this adorable Kai-Lan bag for school and was very excited on the first day.But the moment we reached school and she knew that i would be leaving,all hell broke loose... She started crying and i felt so bad and i teared up a little too.I couldnt bear to leave her and when i got back home and the house was empty i regretted my decision for sending her to school,to rub it in my mom said that Jenna was not ready yet and im just rushing her .Today is the second day and the teacher said she just cried for 5 mins and she was playing today.Thats an improvement for sure....

This picture makes my heart break,can't believe she is going to school now,it seemed like yesterday i held her im my arms for the first time.. makes me all weepy : (

MAKE -UP WOES

2011-03-03T14:19:00.000-08:00

Ok! Here i go,i dont know to put on make-up.Period.When I see all these lovely women who look so pretty and even teenagers who wear beautiful make-up,i feel so embarassed.My idea of make-up till now is my Revlon eyeliner(kajal) and Maybelline lipgloss : (

Till last week i didnt even own a lipstick.So this year i have decided i'm going to learn to put on make-up.Its been on my bucket list.I have been looking around for people who give basic make-up class and i think i'm going to join that. They charge 35$ for a class .

I dont own a make-up kit,but i'm excited that i'm going to shop around for some basic make-up essentials.I will definitely update my progress on the blog.If you are a make-up pro ,let me know the ''must have'' in every make-up kit.So that i can buy them.. : )

My idea of make-up is nothing over the top,something very natural and subtle like her Aishwarya Rai .

This is a picture of her during Oscars 2011 ,she looks so damn pretty..No wonder she is called the most beautiful person on earth ......

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS

2011-02-28T13:29:00.000-08:00

This weekeend it was kind of bleh.. I spent the entire weekend coughing,sneezing and wiping the yuck out of my nose.Jenna ended up with an ear infection and is on antibiotics ,poor baby! But she is so much better after the meds.. The virus did not leave poor hubby too,he ended up with the cold .. So the entire family is sick..

But we enjoyed our stay indoors.We watched the movie Dial M for Murder,some George Carlin Videos.We ended up staying late night watching the cricket match between India and England. It was a nail biting match.Loved it..

Jenna had her share of fun too,she watched Barney and Dora, was playing quietly by herself which does not happen often in this house.

Sunday,we watched the Oscars.I love watching the red carpet,thats my favourite.I havent watched much of the Oscar nominated movies except for 127 hours.I need to catch up on the following Oscar Nominated movies: Black Swan,The king's Speech and Winters Bone.

SICK!!!

2011-02-23T15:16:00.000-08:00

Dealing with a sick toddler is not easy and the last few days were quite difficult for all of us. Jenna is down with fever and cold.She was crying throughout the day and the watery eyes and runny nose were not making it easy for her. I did not know what to do to make it better for her. I called the doctor office and the nurse says the same old,give her a warm bath,give her lot of fluids.She is feeling much better today and is almost back to normal. It really breaks my heart when i see Jenna not her normal self and sick.She doesnt fall sick easily but if she does it really knocks her out.

PHOTO FRIDAY-AKA NOTHING INTERESTING TO BLOG

2011-02-18T16:07:00.000-08:00

Since there is nothing happening interesting enough to blog about ,i'm posting a picture of me and Jenna on Valentine's day.Happy Friday Guys!!!!

VALENTINE'S DAY

2011-02-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

I'm not a big fan of Valentine's day and i dont know why.. but of course we celebrate any occasion so why not Valentine's day.This time Jenna wished daddy Happy Valentine's day and together we made a card and she colored it or i should rather say she scribbled with color pencils .Daddy was ofcourse touched by this. In turn Hubby gave each of us a heart shaped chocolate cake with our names written and both of us went all awwwwww over it and ate it almost immediately and wow,it tasted damn good.In the evening, we went for dinner to an Italian Restaurant at Old town Pasadena.The food was good and we had an awesome time.But i was super full at the end that if i had seen another plate of ravioli or pasta i would have puked.And hubby asks do you want to have cheesecake for dessert??The idea of eating anything for that matter didnt go well with me so we returned home after dinner.The day was spent well with the two persons who i love and will continue to love throughout my life...I know that sounds so mushy but well thats a fact : )

POTTY TALK

2011-02-07T13:52:00.000-08:00

No Mommy blogs go without potty talk and it's my time now..If you have been reading my blog for sometime now ,you would know about my failures in training Jenna to use the potty but finally i have succedeed.YAY!!!

Last year after several failed attempts i lost hope and i had this vision that Jenna would be wearing diapers for a very long time and this year i decided that i have to train her .Jenna was ready from the time she was 18 months but will not sit in the potty,i would say she was just stubborn .On Feb 2 nd i started with utmost confidence that i will definitely or should i rather say together we will succeed in this mission.The advantage i had was Jenna never pees on the floor,she wants the diaper to do her business.So well i just hid all the diapers and said we have no more diapers . When it was time to go, she begged ,pleaded and cried with me for the diaper and when i was about to give up,i just thought Ok !let me try one last time and made her sit on the potty and she peed.I know she could not hold in anymore..Thank you Orange Juice and Water!!!I gave her stickers and m&m's for her success and she finally got it.In the last five days,she had had only 1 accident and thats because i was late to take her in.Initially she didnt want to poop in the potty,only pee pee and from day 3 she did both.I'm amazed at how fast she got trained ,i'm so proud of her and she says she is Big Girl.Night time she is still wearing pull-up and i think it will take some more time to master that.Right now,day time she is completely trained and i'm so relieved : )

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY- JENNA'S FAV POSE

2011-02-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

WE ARE BACK!!!

2011-02-01T14:17:00.000-08:00

We are back from San Francisco.This is one of the places we frequently visit because a) it is closer to los angeles b) we have lot of friends here c) We have many indian restaurants out there,(there are lot of restaurants in L.A too but this is the authentic indian food and tastes much more better than the ones around here ) and this time i had one of my school friend visiting sfo on a business trip from India .We showed her around the place,we visited the Golden Gate Bridge (for the eighth time)Fisherman's Wharf and the Union Square..We ate lot of biryanis,dosa and spicy chutneys too.. yumm!!! Jenna was at her best and enjoyed the trip as much as we did,food not that much..she is not a fan of Indian food right now!I hope thats a phase and she will start enjoying homemade indian food soon.She enjoyed the french fries and chicken nuggets.

I had lot of fun chatting with my friend ,just gossiping and talking about stories from school days... School days are the best.She will be visiting us before she leaves back to India.Maybe next time we should do some girly stuffs,maybe go shopping and do some mani/pedi. Altogether it was a fun trip : )

MINI VACATION

2011-01-28T13:51:00.000-08:00

We are taking a mini vacation this weekend and will be back on Monday.

More on our travel,next week...Stay tuned!!

Happy Weekend! Have fun!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY-SMILES

2011-01-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

MY NEW FASCINATION

2011-01-24T13:42:00.000-08:00

This was my hubby's gift for our anniversary and i have just started using my nook color and i'm just hooked.Initially i did'nt read any books was just getting to know how to use it but this weekend i started reading. I was not a big fan of Nook,Kindle or any of the ebook readers cause i just love the feel of paper, the smell of old books and just the feel of curling in the couch with a book so these ebook readers was a big no-no for me but hubby surprised me with this since he knows i love reading books. But now i'm sold..

its super light some of the library books are hard bound and so damn heavyyou can read in the night without disturbance
you can hear songs while reading,
you have wifi
you can lend books with other nook members
The books are much cheaper than original books since it reduces the cost of printing so you see we are saving some trees and being eco-friendly here ; )

Anyway,the bonus is i get a 14 day trial for any of the magazines and you could subscribe it monthly for a low cost .. Thats a pretty good deal and so far i have subscribed only for Parenting Magazine.Let's see how it goes,so far i'm loving it.. Thanks to the hubby.. : )

CONVERSATION WITH A TODDLER

2011-01-21T14:42:00.000-08:00

The other day when Jenna just got up from her nap and was just lying on the couch,i thought it would be fun to scare her by making a scary face { i didnt try too hard : ) } and some weird noises( Yup! i'm crazy like that... ) And she just looks at me and says ''Stop it Mummy,Enough!'' Ha!Ha! She sure cracks me up.

On our day to the beach,she sees the water,the people around and says'' izz beautiful,Everybody sooo happy. "

And one day while i'm cooking lunch,she says Can i watch Barney? I said "No Jenna ,not now,Maybe later" She immediately makes this sad puppy face and says '' Pleaseeeeeeee Mummy'' And yes that trick works... and i let her watch. This girl sure knows how to get things done.

She communicates well in small sentences,sometimes she baby talks. She is learning new words everyday and she surprises us sometimes with well formed sentences like What are you doin ? How are you? I'm good. I'm hungry.I wanna have cookie.And she is just 27 months old and my mom says i started speaking only when i was 5.She so doesnt take after me in this. She is definitely a fast learner.

BEACH BABY

2011-01-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

The weather has been beautiful for the last few days,temperatures in the high 70's.This made us go the beach.Jenna was so excited to wear her Dora Swim suit.We packed our lunches and set to the beach.Jenna had so much fun collecting sea shells,building sand castles with daddy and just playing in the water.When it was time to go home she didnt want to leave and we had to bribe her with ice cream to get her back to the car.Good times : )

BUDDING FASHIONISTA

2011-01-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

I had no idea a 2 year old kid is very choosy when it comes to clothes.She picks her own clothes.She loves denims and if we are planning to go anywhere she brings in the jeans and says she wants to wear them.Oh! And she absolutely hates capris and keeps pulling the pants down.It is either shorts or pants.. no capris for this girl..!!1

And there is this red indian dress which my inlaw gifted and she absolutely loves the dress.She brings that out everyday and says she wants to wear that .

She likes accesories hairbands,bracelet,chains,.. Her favourite game nowadays is ''dress up''.She wears hairbands and her pretty pink minnie mouse shoes and my hand bag and says ''Bye mommy! I going Office..'' Looks like my girl is growing too fast..

ONE OF THOSE DAYS

2011-01-07T16:06:00.000-08:00

Sometimes i think i take life too seriously,if things dont happen my way i get upset,i keep thinking about it all the time.There are days like this where i'm feeling worthless .I don't know why i feel like this and this does not happen always,someone or somebody just tick me off.I keep thinking i have not done anything productive in life.

Damn!!Even this horoscope says i'm thinking too much and i need to loosen a bit.I'm sick too maybe thats why i'm feeling down or i think its that cough syrup,i feel drowsy all the time.

Anyway,i think i 'm just going to relax and not think too much.Maybe i should watch a light hearted movie and just go to sleep.When i have days like these i sleep,sleep just numbs all my worries .I'm sorry for such an awful post but thats how i feel. Happy Weekend Guys!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2011-01-05T14:25:00.000-08:00

We had a quiet New Year's eve.We went out for an early dinner and had some grocery shopping to do since we had friends coming over the next day.Jenna slept in the car on our way home and when we reached home she was so fresh and did'nt want to go back to sleep, and she decided to stay up until 12..
I know thats way too late to stay awake for a 2 year old but she refused to go back to sleep .So ,when the clock struck 12 we hugged each other ,wished each other and went to bed.But the the best part was when Jenna called and hugged me and said ''happy nuuuuu ear''... i feel there is no better way to start a new year..Cheers!Happy New Year to all!!!

DOUBLE DELIGHT

2010-12-29T14:47:00.000-08:00

Christmas is always special to us because we were married on that day.So it has always been a double celebration.We went over to our friend's place and spent Christmas and our 5th anniversary with them.I think it was one of the best anniversary ever... just hanging out friends,watching movies ,playing games ,having the best indian food ever..Our Friends surprised us with a super delicious ice-cream cake. The children had their share of fun too.. Hubby gifted me a Nook Color and i love it..i need to start reading some books now : )

Jenna got a lot of gifts from our friends and Santa .Everytime we asked her what do you want Santa to gift u.She said Dora and boots and Santa fullfilled her wish.She got few other toys,books ,dress and dora hair clips .She was so excited to open her gifts.The look on her face was priceless ... Hope everyone is having a jolly time.Happy Holidays Guys!

Tea Parties and more..

2010-12-17T13:37:00.000-08:00

Jenna is too busy nowadays.

She has tea parties to attend with her toy friends,

and Oh Yes! Sleep Overs too....

Happy Weekend guys! Have fun!!

RANDOM RAMBLINGS

2010-12-14T15:11:00.000-08:00

1.We had this frozen yoghurt last week ..It's called 21 choices of Yoghurt..Its one of the best
yoghurt shops i have been.. Yummm!

2.I went for a spa pedicure after months .They painted small flowers on my nails... so cuteee..It was so relaxing,i should do more often though.3. I heart Lindt Chocolates.They are so ummm.. delicious.I let Jenna take a bite and her face was so priceless ,like this is so heavenly.. why did'nt you ever give me one before? I stopped buying chocolates because it gets over in like 2 days .I can see that i'm gaining weight in all the places u dont want to, so no chocolates for now... or maybe once in a while.

4.We finally got to watch this movie in the theatre after a pretty long time..127 hours was an amazing movie..The story is about the guy Aron Ralston and he is such an inspiration,to think he underwent all this ordeal to save himself.If it was me,i would have just given up.There is so much to learn from him,his fight to live and get back to his family.Sometimes we just take life for granted.We dont appreciate the value of things when we have it,only when u dont have it u know its true value.

James Franco did an awesome job ,no wonder he is nominated as best actor for Golden Globe.The movie has 3 nominations.

I still have so many movies on my must watch list which i should just catch up on Netflix i guess.

THANK YOU

2010-12-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Morning i got the worst shock of my life, that my blog is missing and i was literally devastated because this blog means so much to me.Its not that people are going to miss reading my blog,i know i have very few readers but i have lot of Jenna's milestone recorded here and my family and friend back in India read and get to know what is happening here .After contacting the blogger support guys through the forum,my blog has been restored.Thank you blogger from the bottom of my heart for restoring my blog.I' m so happy and relieved...Now ,i need to back up my posts about Jenna 's milestones.I dont want this to happen again and feel sorry later.

LETTER TO MY FRIEND

2010-12-07T16:10:00.000-08:00

Dear N,
Its been 8 years since you left us and not a day passes without me thinking about you.You have been a good friend , more like a big sis and role model to me.You were the one who told me that my hubby then'' friend'' is fond of me and i should get married to him one day and that happened but you were not there to see that happen and that still pains me.I used to look at u and ur hubby and think that u guys were the most romantic couple on earth and i still think u guys must be the most romantic couple in Heaven.
I thought i would never get over the grief but i did...As they say ''Time is the best healer''..
I know u are watching from above and hope ur happy with the decisions i made ,like choosing my husband....

Happy Birthday N!! U are missed terribly : (

BARNEY CRAZY

2010-12-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

Jenna is so crazy about this big purple dinosaur Barney.Somedays, Barney is the only person who helps me to get my household chores done .

She has learnt many songs from Barney...Mr.Sun and Wheels on the bus,abc song ,so it has been educational in some ways too.

Her favourite song in Barney is ''I love you'' song which is the ending song in the Barney episodes.She can sing the entire song.

Every day before Jenna goes to bed she wants to sing this song but she does not leave it there, she asks me and hubby to join her in singing .Now this has kinda become our family song..

Is'nt it amazing how life changes after a baby??The songs which i keep humming nowadays seems to be twinkle twinkle and wheels on the bus...Which rhyme are you humming nowadays?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2010-11-25T10:58:00.001-08:00

I'm thankful for having a lovely family,a beautiful daughter and a loving hubby.Life is good!!

Happy thanksgiving guys!!! Have fun!!!

127 HOURS

2010-11-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

I'm a total movie buff and do not miss any of the good movies.But after Jenna was born we dont find much time to catch a movie.We wait until the Dvd release of the movie and then watch it.: (

But i so want to watch this movie in the theatre. You must be wondering whats so special about this movie...This movie is about a mountain climber who gets trapped under a boulder and goes to desperate measures to save himself.

The movie has been directed by Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionare fame and the music is by A.R Rahman of ''Jai Ho'' fame. (For readers who dont know about him..He is a music director from India and he hails from the place where i was raised .He won the Oscars for his song Jai ho from Slumdog millionaire.)

This movie has a rating of 8.7 from IMDB and its running in a theatre jus two blocks from my house.I think i have enough reasons to get excited about this movie and i'm planning to watch it hopefully in the theatre this time : )

FUN TIMES

2010-11-15T13:22:00.000-08:00

We had planned to go the zoo on Sunday and the night before while putting Jenna to bed ,i told her we will be going to zoo tomorrow.The next day the first thing she said when she got up in the morning was zoo...We were actually planning to cancel our zoo plans but once she reminded us about the zoo ,we went ahead with our plans.

It was a beautiful day yesterday in the high 70s...Jenna had so much fun seeing the animals,she was just squealing out of excitement everytime she saw an animal.Her favourite though was the monkey and the lion,she rode on the choo choo train,had her favourite pizza and ice-cream.Jenna had so much fun yesterday that she refused to nap.. finally she napped once we got back home.We were all tired due to all the walking we did at the zoo but i'm glad that Jenna had fun : )

MOMMY AND ME

2010-11-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday,me and Jenna went out for lunch .. Usually ,if we go out for lunch its with daddy but yesterday was exceptional.We were back late from our My gym class and i didnt have time to make lunch, so we call daddy dear but he was held up with lot of work and we had to go on our own.

We decided to go to Souplantation ,they have all Jenna's favourites mac and cheese,pizza,chicken soup,ice-cream and chocolate muffin.

She had so much fun and i was happy too.. no cooking and no cleaning up after lunch too..( i hate the cleaning up part after lunch.. )

I think we should do this more often, just me and Jenna.. Fun times : )

HALLOWEEN

2010-11-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

This Halloween we dressed Jenna as a witch, an adorable one.. Our first choice was a pirate but we didnt get one ... But she was a pretty witch,i bet u would agree : )

We trick or treated in the streets of Old Town Pasadena and in our neighbourhood.Jenna had fun ,she wished everyone Happy Halloween...sounded more like happy hallolee... haha!

She waited patiently to get home to have her candies and i didnt give her much one or two... the rest is mine : )

PUMPKIN PATCH

2010-10-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

We went to the pumpkin patch in our neighbourhood and Jenna was excited too though she did not know what to expect.This time it was not so much fun.. Last time the pumpkin patch we went was better. They had pony rides and we could feed the farm animals. Here it was just few creepy halloween stuffs and nothing else : ( Jenna was terrified when she went near the dracula and it started talking and it took a lot of convincing from us to make her stay ,she started crying that she wanted to go back home. After sometime she was back to normal, and started picking her own pumpkin.. she said one for Daddy,one for Mommy and one for Sana (Jenna).. Sweet : )

2 YEAR OLD WELL CHECK- UP

2010-10-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

Today was Jenna 's 2 year old well check,and as usual when we entered the parking lot Jenna started crying that she wanted to go home and the crying carried on for the next one hour .

Jenna now weighs 24.7 pounds and is 34 1/2 inches in height.She does not seem to be gaining much weight and that worries me.She has become such a picky eater,she loves all the junk food and i'm to blame for that since i'm not a healthy eater either.I try my best to give her vegetables and fruits but she has become very persistent,if she does not like it she will not eat it.

Her vocabulary has increased suddenly and she puts two or three word together.She says her name is Sana instead of Jenna(we are still working on the J). She say Sana wants to go out,Sana wants milk,Sana sleepy... i love when she talks like this.

We have even experienced the toddler tantrums in public and it makes me go crazy,but i just keep reminding myself that this is just a phase.

She can sing the entire alphabet song and can count till ten.She is an amazing dancer ( I'm not bragging ) I'm sure u will accept if u see her dancing : )

And as i told in my last post we are still working on the potty training and soon we will succeed : )

WE ARE BACK

2010-10-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are back from our 2 month vacation.It was fun and me and Jenna didnt want to come back.

I haven't been able to blog in India much since i was busy the last few weeks meeting friends and relatives.But now im back to the grind .So let me start with the updates...

~Jenna is now 2 years.We had a birthday celebration in India with friends and relatives.It was fun...

~I have put on weight which is good since i have had people asking me that whether i was sick and why i have lost weight..

~Jenna is officially weaned now... She stopped nursing herself 2 weeks short of her 2nd birthday and i did'nt do anything to stop her nursing.. I love that she weaned herself and there were no tears..

~Jenna is not completely potty trained ,she is mostly in her underpants and will tell me that she wants the diaper when she wants to pee.If i make her sit in the potty she does not want to go.We are almost there and i hope she gets trained soon.

MIXED FEELINGS

2010-09-20T02:06:00.000-07:00

We are just back from my mom's native place .It's a beautiful place and we stayed there for 10 days. I used to visit this place when i was young during the school summer hols and it been nearly four years since i went here.

Its a small village near the sea shore and what made this trip even memorable was Jenna joining us this time.It was Jenna who enjoyed thoroughly ,since the place is near the seashore she got to play with sand, and in the farm too.

She loved feeding the goat and chasing the hen and i sat back and enjoyed watching her. I would say these 10 days was very relaxing for me since i had no work ,just some good food and fun times with the cousins there.

I have even gained few pounds and thats a good thing here in my village..Fat is healthy and beautiful. I had to reassure my concerned relatives that i was not sick and suffering from any disease.

Another 4 weeks to go and i will be heading back to the U.S.Hubs will be joining us in 10 days for his 2 week vacation.I'm waiting eagerly to see how Jenna would react to watch Daddy after nearly 2 months...

The next few days are going to be very busy as i have started planning for Jenna's 2 nd birthday party.Can't believe my lil girl is 2 already?Sometimes i feel she is still a baby and sometimes i can see the terrible two's striking??

MISS YA!!

2010-09-04T04:05:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,i know its been long .. been trying to post something but have become super busy here meeting friends and relatives...hope y'all are doing well..

Anyway,you must be wondering who the guy in the picture is?? Say HI to my baby brother Faaj... He is now on his way to Canada to do his Masters and we are already missing him : (

One of the reasons i came to India is to spend some time with my bro before he leaves to Canada...

My brother is more like my best friend ,we both share all our secrets without judging each other.

He will be the one person on earth who will come to my rescue without any questions asked..Sometimes i wonder who is the older one??

We have had a fair share of fights and i love irritating him and not a day goes without us quarreling over some stupid stuffs like who gets the bigger piece of cake? ; )

its been only few hours since he left but Jenna is already searching for him asking where is faaj?She will miss him terribly ...He has been her playmate for the past 1 month.

The only thing i can look forward for now is to meet my bro during the thanksgiving holidays...

and its not far off...

P.S I know u will be reading this and do know we are all missing u here... love ya..

HELLO CHENNAI...

2010-08-12T03:12:00.000-07:00

The place where i come from is called Chennai,formerly known as Madras.This was the place where i was raised.

These are some of the things i love about this place.

FILTER COFEE
This is one coffee i would die for ,or should i say any coffee lover.The rich taste and aroma will definitely make you yearn for more .

DOSA(rice pancakes)
This is my favourite and i do make it at home but it never turns out half as good as it does in the restaurant.I'm still working on my culinary skills and i'm sure i will master the art one day : )
If you dont understand what on earth i'm talking about.. then u need to find an Indian restaurant nearby and try this ...
JASMINE FLOWERS

I love this flower and Indian women adorn this in the hair for any special occasion .
You will see this in Indian marriages for sure.

SILK SAREES
I love sarees but i rarely wear them.Silk sarees are my favourite and my wardrobe has few silk sarees but i rarely find the occasion to wear it in the U.S

There are still many things i love about this place and i have mentioned only few. I'm sure everyone will have their own favourite things about their hometown.There is no place like ur own hometown..I'm sure u will agree : )

LIFE IS GOOD

2010-08-09T23:18:00.001-07:00

It's good to be back home,i did not know until i got back how much i missed my room where i spent most of my childhood years.. My mom has still not taken down the posters i had in my room...

I love the huge wooden swing we have in our living room here, Jenna loves it too.. she just sits there and tells ''Mommy,wee''

Its good to have someone do the cooking and all u have do is sit back and just relish the food.

Its nice to see the bonding between Jenna and her cousins.I know she is going to miss them terribly when we get back.

Surprisingly,she is doing ok without daddy... Last time during our trip to Portland she missed daddy so much and used to cry for him.She does see him everyday through Skype ,she says hi daddy and shows the toys she has here and then rushes to play.I'm sure Daddy misses her too...

Right now,Life is good : )

REACHED

2010-08-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

Hey all, we have reached India safely.It was a long and tiring trip but was a good one.. Jenna was very good throughout the journey.She was well behaved in the flight and did not trouble me a bit the elderly gentleman seated next to us complimented Jenna telling that she was very good baby .Jenna is so very excited to be here.. She is being totally pampered by both her grandparents .

I will update my blog regulary from today since i have lot of time in my hands and this time I 'm going to give my friends out in the U.S a sneak peek of Incredible India.Maybe you guys would come to visit this Incredible place sometime .Whatdya say???

TRAVEL

2010-08-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

I wish i could travel in style with high heels and one baggage but NO!! I''m travelling with 3 baggages ,one diaper bag and a backpack wait!! yes,my handbag too and will be sporting my old jeans and tees and incase u happen to be in LAX or Frankfurt airport and notice a woman running behind a toddler looking half-dead ,,yes!!it could be me.....u could drop in a hi... it would make my day better ; )

TERRIBLE WEEK

2010-07-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

It has been a hell of a week.. First of all,Jenna has fallen sick.. She has not been her usual self for the past 2 days, she has been running a low grade fever...We visited the doc and she is on medicines now : ( I just hope she gets better soon.. I'm leaving on Tuesday and i thought i will postpone the tickets but the doc gave me the go-ahead sign and told me not to worry.. I'm just worried because its a long trip and she is just recovering, anyway i 'm just praying to God that everything should go well.. On th other hand,i have been busying packing, three suitcases for 2 months trips,loaded with diapers,clothes and gifts for my cousins out there in India..I hopeful plan to potty train and wean her in India, ofcourse with my mother's help : )

We will be celebrating her 2nd birthday in India with grandparents and cousins..I have already started planning for her party,just 2 months and my baby will turn 2....it feels like yesterday i was planning for her 1st birthday party..phew!!!!! time just flies

10 DAYS

2010-07-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

Yes!!!The tickets are confirmed,me and Jenna will be leaving to India in 10 days.. so excited.. Its been like a year since i saw my parents and Jenna needs some serious Grandparents time.We will be in India for two months .I have been waiting for this trip for so long.. Now i can get to sleep late,no cooking and definitely Jenna is going to be pampered from both grandparents.I have been shopping all week long buying stuffs to carry for our long trip and some gifts for the cousins . Sometimes its fun shopping for others too.. and thanks to all for ur feedback on the elmo harness,i think im using it for our trip.LAX and Frankfurt are both busy airports and i'm sure Jenna will refuse to sit in the stroller so could put it to use then.. 23 hours trip with 3 stops ... keeping my fingers crossed for a safe and sound journey : )

ELMO SOFT PLUSH HARNESS

2010-07-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

image credit:walmart

Few months back i got this Elmo thinking it was a backpack but little did i know that it was a harness for toddlers.Last week at Sea world i saw someone using this and thought ''oh! we have this one but when i saw the leash i was like i dont have that leash along with backpack.I came home and i checked and ofcourse i had the leash too...

Anyway here is the truth ,i'm not a big fan of this harness and when i used to see someone use it,i would say i would never do that...After our trip to Sea World i actually changed my mind,she did not want to sit in the stroller or the sling, she wants to walk all by herself and we had to keep running behind her.. So yesterday during our evening walk i thought i will use it,just try walking around the block ..So she was eager to put the elmo and we left .After walking for sometime she turned back and saw the leash and patted herself and said'' Mommy,puppy dog come...'' I did'nt know whether to laugh or feel bad. I kinda liked the elmo harness , she had the independence to walk alone and i had the control to stop her.... I'm so confused whether to use it or not..Do you like this product? Will u use it for ur kid?

WHAT'S HAPPENING???

2010-07-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week for us and i am guilty of ignoring my blog for a week now,though i do read all my favourite blogs.. We had been to San Diego last week to pay a visit to Shamu at Sea World.Jenna had so much fun.There was an Elmo show in Sea world and Jenna was super excited to see Elmo,Abby and Cookie Monster..The only problem was she refused to sit in the stroller and i had to run behind her ...Anyway she enjoyed and thats what matters..

And finally i got to do the pedicure which i have been wanting to do for so long.. i did the spa pedicure and it was awesome...i wish i could do it more often ...

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY-HERE I COME

2010-06-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

FOREVER 21

2010-06-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had a few friends come over and we were hanging out in the Old town Pasadena where they have lot of shops.We had a great time,we had dinner at a Mediterranean Restaurant and when we were heading back to our we saw this huge forever 21 showroom.. its one of the biggest showroom among their branches which i have visited...So we bid adieu to our hubbies and kids and thought we will have just a sneak peek at the shoes and accessories and promised we would be back soon.And as we enter there is this huge collection of sunglasses for just five dollars...Of course i could not stop myself ,i started trying out different shades and finally ended up with these 3.. um yes 3!ofcourse i could not stop with 1... what do u think?? : ) and it was 15 dollars for the three.. how cool is that??
photo:image credits:forever 21

So do u like them? The third one is my favourite.. : )

SHOPPING SPREE

2010-06-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

I love Shopping, temme which girl does not love shopping????? So this weekend i went on a mini shopping spree to the mall...Hubby took Jenna out for awhile while me and my friend were shopping.We hit Sephora first and spent nearly an entire hour trying make-up.. it was so much fun.But the truth is i dont know to put make-up,embarassing but true.. i apply some lip gloss and eye-liner and thats my make-up. I wish someone can teach me or is there a class which teaches some basic make -up tips..???I would definitely take that class. Then we hit the Payless shoe source and i bought some nice sandals and party shoes for Jenna. And lastly i went to Claire's and bought some big silver hoops which i usually wear since my old silver hoops seemed to have disappeared.

It was nice to spend have some girl time without worrying about cooking,naptime or just doing mommy duties... it is not that i hate doing mommy duty.. it is just refreshing to go out and as always when i see Jenna calling out Mummy i'm so happy to be back and miss her terribly,though i would have been out for like an hour or two..

I'm already looking forward for my next ''ME'' time..Maybe for a Pedicure or a nice movie...Looks like Eclipse is releasing soon,can't wait to watch it : )

20 MONTH OLD

2010-06-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

Jenna is now 20 months.. 4 more months until she turns 2.

She weighs around 24 pounds..

She can count from 1 to 10 and the alphabets A to Z(i'm working on putting up a video of her singing The alphabet song)

Her favourite songs are pat a cake,wheels of the bus and itsy bitsy spider and she tries singing them.

She just loves her My gym class and she has learnt a lot from the class.. she is doing head stand,forward roll(with my help,of course..).

She can say her name too..She started saying as Senna but now she says it perfectly.

She loves her baby doll and elmo and barney doll and will not step outside the house without either one of them in her arms.

She loves anything with cheese , noodles,pasta and ofcourse her new favourites are chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream .

She is in the stage where she puts up a lot of tantrums if things dont go her way but we are working on it by distracting her.

Bedtime is another issue,she does not want to go to bed and it takes me atleast half an hour to put her to bed..

I realize life is not easy with a toddler at home but i have no complains... i love being a mom and soon she will grow up and i will miss all these simple things umm maybe i wont miss the tantrums ; )

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY-MESSY EATER

2010-06-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

Jenna eats by herself now but sometimes she makes a big mess.. this was one such day..

BAKING WITH MY LOVE

2010-05-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

Jenna is in a stage she wants to help me doing the household chores,be it cleaning or dishwashing .So ,i let her help me sometimes .I love baking and decided i will bake today and let Jenna help me out and she was glad to do so. She helped to pour the measured cup of water, broke eggs too..in between she was licking the mix and was saying yummo!!! She does not have much of a sweet tooth that is excluding cakes so i treat her once in a while by making her favourite chocolate cake.Our next attempt would be making a Rainbow Cake which i have been dying to do for very long.

MEHENDI/HENNA TATOO

2010-05-19T15:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday i had a lot of free time.. (Jenna bedtime was earlier than usual)so i thought i will do something and i ended up doing this..

JUST AFTER APPLYING
AFTER LIKE ABOUT 6 HRS...

I applied on Jenna's hands too...

since she was sleeping it was smudged a little.

I HAVE TO VENT

2010-05-18T16:45:00.000-07:00

I think of writing something but my mind is blocked ,everytime i sit to write i think about some things which have happened over the past few weeks and my anger rises... I'm not able to concentrate on anything else.. i want to vent somewhere and thought i will blew the steam here after all its my blog but after a lot of thinking i find its not approriate to talk about someone in my blog so i leave it to that.. before anyone puts on ur thinking hats on i want to tell its not something about my hubby and our marriage.. no everything is fine in my household and im blessed with an awesome hubby..i cannot ask for a better soul mate.. its about a trusted friend who we know for so long and does not turn out to be the person who he is..??????

Since i have some awesome bloggy friends i want to ask you guys a question,just to know what will u do,if someone does not respect women and does not treat them well? Will u just sit and watch and say not my household not my problem or do something??Well, let me know... I'm waiting...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2010-05-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

We are back from the Bay Area.. it has been one amazing weekend.My hubby surprised me with a birthday /Mother's day gift...a spa package in La Belle.. I had luxurious time in the spa... Jenna was with daddy taking a look around the Stanford University along with my cousin who studies there. Hubby took off from work on Monday(my b'day) and cooked for me some yummy lamb biryani. In the evening friends came over to our house and we had dinner with them.Jenna wished me too but Happy birthday sounded as happy bad day ..lol! The only thing i missed on my birthday is my family who are in India but neverthless i got to see them through skype.The funny part is they sang Happy birthday and cut cake for me in India and i got to see all this.Thanks to skype!! Anyway i had an amazing time otherwise and thanks to my hubby and Jenna for making my 25th birthday a memorable one.

19 MONTH OLD

2010-05-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

Jenna is now 19 months...can't believe she will turn 2 in few months..

Jenna is in a stage where she understands what im saying,she puts her dirty diaper in the trash when i ask her to.. she fetches me the tv remote,she helps to water the plants.. she has become Mommy's big helper.

She uses the word thank you frequently,the best thing about this is after i nurse her in the morning she says thank you ammi.. which is the most sweetest thing on earth.

She says lets go,thats all,please,i'm sorry..she is combining 2 words now .

She loves playing in the water... if u give her a glass of water she will entertain

herself for atleast an hour by just playing with it.

She can almost repeat any word we say but at time s when she cannot she just babbles something instead.

Regarding ,Nursing..I have decided not to forcefully wean her now and I will wean her when we go to India during summer for 2 months so that it would be easier for her and me .

THE HAIR STORY

2010-04-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

Last time when we went to get Jenna 's haircut it was a total nightmare... she screamed all the way through and the lady stopped halfway and said she could do no more since she was not sitting still.So we brought her home with haircut half done but neverthless the lady charged us entirely.. Anyway this time i did'nt want to take her to the same place and did some search on the net for someone who specializes in baby haircut and i found a place very close to my place called Little Kuts. We made an appointment and seriously i was dreading the day because i was sure she will cry again. The place is very baby friendly.. they have lot of toys for the kids to play and they have this cute horses and ducks and the children can sit on them and have their haircut... how cute is that!! But anyway Jenna did not want to sit on that,so she sat on daddy's lap and she cried but not much, she stopped once she knew that no one was hurting her.The lady who cut her hair did an awesome job.. We wanted her hair cut short since its getting pretty hot here ... She looks little boyish now but her hair was way too curly and it was kind of messy always.. now its kinda neat.

TRIP TO PORTLAND

2010-04-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

Portland is a beautiful place...it has greenery all around and the weather was gloomy most of the time. Just the perfect place to have some good food and curl up and read a book.Luckily,i had a great friend who let me relax and did all the work and took care of Jenna too. I read 4 novels in a week..and i was not the only person who had fun. Jenna loved being pampered by my friend and her hubby.

We took Jenna to the zoo and she enjoyed thoroughly.It was her first time.She was naming the animals.. tiger was cat, pola bear was dada which means Panda.

The tulip festival was just gorgeous.. acres of land with all these colourful tulips was just a feast to the eyes.

If your a nature person and love all these scenic views ,Portland is the place to be.

THANK YOU!!

2010-04-18T22:33:00.000-07:00

I received an award from Maegan from a little twig bird house ,this is my first one,thank you so much,Maegan!!She is a beautiful lady in and out and has a lovely blog,dont forget to check it out.Jenna and me are reallyexcited to meet her in a few weeks from now.

So ,Bloggy award rule ... I have to post 7 fun facts about me and give my fav bloggies the beautiful blog award.. so here i go,,

1.I 'm a chocoaholic..i need to have something Chocolate after lunch and dinner or i will die,i mean seriously..

2. I love to watch horror movies and all the super natural stuffs on t.v and will get scaredand not sleep the entire night thinking about it.

3.I have had orthodontic treatment twice from two different dentists ,mine being a complicated case was shown to post-grad students and it was so embarassing.. and thats when i decided i will become a dentist.

4.I have a spot in my right toe and if any one touches it gives me shudders.. justlike someone scratching on the wall or the chalkboard...

5.I love to read gossip magazines like US weekly,Intouch, Hello.. i know its all crap but i still read 'em.I love reading fiction too and will always go to bed after reading a novel.

6.I was unable to speak until the age of five and my parents had me taken to speech therapist but now my dad says i speak so much and i have made up for the lost five years : )

7. I love In 'n' out burgers and its the only place i have tasted beef .i never had a liking to

it before.

Now i nominate this award to my other bloggy friends

Pigtails and puppy dogs- a bloggy friend ,great mom andwe both have daughters who are close in age.

Mother's insight- My friend IRL and has always been a huge support for me..and a huge mommy inspiration too.

Asaaan-Mommy of 4,a huge inspiration for me to blog ....

18 MONTH MILESTONES

2010-04-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

We had taken Jenna today for her 18 month well check up. She now weighs 24 pounds and is 32 and half inches in height. She had one shot today but the good news is she wont get any more shots until she is 4.. yay!She will also have her next well check up at 2 years.

She can now climb stairs and get down and it took her so long because we have no stairs at home but the one week when we were in my friend's place in Portland she practised climbing up and down.

She mimicks whatever we do.. the other day while i was putting my lip gloss she was imitating me and it was sooo cute.

She does simple tasks like throwing her diaper in the trash can,she fetches my handbag when i ask.

Suddenly i feel like she is grown up,she no longer has the babyish face...i can see an independent toddler when i look at her... where did the days go?????

A LONG NEEDED VACATION

2010-04-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

We are in Portland having an awesome time in my friend's place.. its beautiful out here.. the place is breathtakingly beautiful,lush greenery around ,clean air and its drizzling most of the times,there is hardly the sun out here ,me and Jenna are having fun. A long needed vacation for me.. no cooking.. yay!We will be back the coming weekend and will post more about our trip later : )

NIGHT WEANING

2010-03-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

Jenna has been breast fed on demand from birth. My goal was to breast feed until she turns 1. But there was this swine flu going around and under my paedtrician advice i decided to continue nursing... i decided i will stop when the fall season is over.. i started cutting the morning feed but she used to cry so much i gave in and fed her as usual...But last week i decided that if i dont start weaning now its going to be difficult later so i decided i will wean her in the night which is very difficult moreover i wanted to get a good night sleep too.. sometimes she wakes up so many times and will go back to sleep only until i feed her.. so last friday i started, the first day was pretty bad,, she woke up every 5 mins and was crying to be fed.. the second day was worse.. she was crying continuously and i cried too ,third day got a lil better... everytime she wakes up i would say we will feed only when Mr Sun comes up (i got this from the Dr. Sears website) and the fourth day she never woke up she slept continuously and didnt wake up inbetween and if she did i just had to pat her and she would go right back to sleep... now i'm down to 3 feeds... one in the morning ,noon and just before to bed. i will cut back the rest of the feed one at a time now since the difficult night weaning is over.The best part of the whole thing is that i no longer put her to sleep,its daddy who does the job because if im there she wants to be nursed again.... Nursing has been a wonderful experience and im happy that God gave me this wonderful opportunity to feed my daughter..more than all the benefits of breast milk its the lovely bonding we share that im going to miss . But I'm happy and proud that i nursed my daughter even after all the negativity i was receiving from family and friends for nursing for more than year.... at the end of the day all that matters to me is my baby is happy and healthy.

M.I.A

2010-03-26T22:46:00.000-07:00

Its been more than a week since i posted becoz i was busy at my friend's place helping her out with her 3 kids since her hubby was out of town. Its been a great week especially for Jenna,she is having a great time playing with her kids.She loves playing catch with them and sometimes they fight for the same toy . Its been a chillax week for me too,i just had to take care of the kids but sometimes they drove me crazy when they all cry at the same time or fight for the same book... ( hats off to all those moms out there who have 3 + kids ).i got to read few books and that usually does not happen at my place since i got to do the cooking,cleaning and taking care of Jenna too..Iwill be going back home this weekend and i'm looking forward to sleep in my own bed : )Happy Weekend Guys!

LOVE FOR ART

2010-03-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

Today,i had been to Micheal's to buy some craft items for the Easter Egg Swap I m participating which is hosted by Maegan .I'm so excited.. its been very long since i did something Crafty...Its been more than five years since i painted... i learnt water color painting and oil painting but once i joined dental school i became too busy and painting was the last thing on my mind ...but today after looking at the brushes and paint...i so badly wanted to start painting again.. i think i will join an art class again since i have lost touch with painting and I'm soon planning my next trip to Micheal's for the art items...

17 MONTH OLD

2010-03-09T16:03:00.001-08:00

Look who'a turned 17 months...

We have a very naughty toddler at home..She keeps me so busy nowadays..Sometimes i feel like i have a teenager at home, she gets angry if she does not get what she wants...

She is very communicative ... she tells whats she wants for breakfast .. somedays its bananas..otherwise cheese or cheeossss (cheerios)

She plays peek -a -boo with our friend's 8 month old and thats when i get all teary.. my own baby is all grown and entertaining another baby..

She loves to dance and sing songs...

She has started playing with other kids... last weekend she was playing catch with another toddler and they were saying ready steady and Jenna says go... too cute ..

She is a very picky eater and her only favourite food is Jingis aka chicken(have no idea where she picked up that name)

She loves to play her dad's guitar... she picks up a pen or whatever is lying on the floor and strums the guitar.. future Taylor Swift i say...

Cant believe she will turn 2 in another 7 months... where did the time go??

HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY

2010-03-04T23:47:00.000-08:00

Its been one year and 14 days since i started this blog.. I started this blog as a baby journal and to update all my friends and family in India .I was able to share all the small details about Jenna. When i first started this blog,knowing the real ''me'',my hubby said i wont blog for long but i proved him wrong : ).To say the least blogging has been very addictive... i have a handful of bloggy friends and i keep checking online for their updates , i truly enjoy reading other people's blog and about their lives and kids.. Thanks guys for reading my blog and for your comments.. i hope you continue to enjoy reading about Jenna as much as i do... thanks again : )

WEEKEND UPDATE

2010-03-01T10:35:00.000-08:00

After a long time, we had a relaxing weekend... we did not plan anything this week and just wanted to stay home..Me and hubby were recovering from the cold we got...had home made food and the weather was perfect for a afternoon nap and later a hot ginger tea.. Saturday night we went for an Indian movie..it was a romantic,feel good movie... Sunday ,the weather was perfect for a stroll and some Meditteraen food... Nothing like a relaxing weekend....

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY-BABY ANKLETS

2010-02-24T16:19:00.000-08:00

I love my baby's chubby feet especially with these cute anklets on them which was a gift from my mom from India..

FUN IN THE SNOW

2010-02-17T16:41:00.000-08:00

It was our first time in the snow and it was absolutely breath taking to see the snow laden mountains.. we played and played, had snow ball fight with daddy,

we sledged and sledged

again and again until we got tired

It was fun playing in the snow and we would love to visit the Big Bear again.

VALENTINE'S DAY

2010-02-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's day.We spent our Valentine's day in the snow of Big Bear mountains.Its first time in the snow for me and Jenna and we loved it.. We sledged in the snow,had snowball fight with daddy,came back the same night and had a quiet dinner at home together(that never happens at home since Jenna eats earlier than us) .. it was the best .. i couldn't have asked for a better Valentine's day : )

PLAY TIME!!!

2010-02-10T14:58:00.000-08:00

We are back from our first My Gym class and we loved it. I have been wanting to enroll Jenna in My gym for a very long time and i finally did because i felt she was having not much of activity and the play date with Dora and Barney was increasing!!!Jenna loved the class and was dancing for all the songs, exploring the new toys and she liked the teachers too and played with them..Her favourite was the trampoline All this activity has made her very tired and she is taking a nap and that gives some free time for me. I'm already looking forward for our next class ; )

LOVE FOR BOOKS

2010-02-08T15:52:00.000-08:00

I have been reading to Jenna from the time she was very little and that has paid off very well... Books keep her occupied for a long time and her vocabulary has improved so much... She asks me to read the ''abc ''word book a million times everyday..okie!!! she does not ask literally but shoves the book into my face and says a, b,c...

Poor daddy who comes home tired after work has to read the dora book for the nth time..sometimes i take her to borders and we sit there and read for sometime...We have a huge collection of children's books and i invest our money in books instead of toys since she does not play much with them.. Her favourite toy for now are the ikea's colourful glass and spoons.. they keep her entertained for hours. Blogging about Jenna's love for books reminds me that its been really long since i read a good novel.. the last book i read was The kite runner which was 2 months book,,, time to hit the library and get my hands on some good books..

TAKING CARE OF A TODDLER

2010-01-29T11:58:00.000-08:00

Life has become so hectic nowadays,taking care of a toddler is definitely challenging.. there are days when i want to go hide myself into a closet.....Jenna was an easy baby throughout her first year and wherever i go people used to tell how sweet and quiet she was but after she turned 1 ,i guess one day someone switched on some internal button in her and suddenly she has became so naughty.Yesterday, i just go to the restroom for 2 mins to come back to see a whole lot of neatly stacked clothes on the floor

Instead of folding the clothes ,i decided to take a picture of the mess and dumped back the clothes again.. and its yet to be folded..

When i talk about how naughty she has become to all my mommy friends they say ''wait until she becomes two....there is yet to come''... so does it ever get better.. ?????

Neverthless at the end of the day when we cuddle up after a bath and when i ask for a kiss and she kisses me i forget at once how tiring the day was and just thank God for giving me a adorable baby..

PICKY EATER

2010-01-21T19:27:00.000-08:00

Nowadays,feeding Jenna has become a big chore for me ... She has become a very picky eater.Until last month she had whatever i gave for breakfast,lunch ,dinner but now she makes a big fuss.I really get frustrated when she does not eat.She used to like the home-made Indian food which i make like rice,lentils,yoghurt,chicken curry was her favourite... now she does not want to eat it...She likes dosa (rice pancakes) still.I have been looking out for toddler recipes and i tried the chicken alfredo pasta and she loves them but i cant feed her that everyday.. i think she is bored of the same dishes and wants to try some new foods....Occasionally i used to give her Gerber food ,now she runs when she sees the jar... If anyone reading this has any recipes which is hit among your toddler ,please lemme know....I'm worried that she is not gaining weight like before...i hope this is just a phase and she starts eating like before.

15 MONTH MILESTONES

2010-01-19T22:11:00.000-08:00

I have been so late in updating the 15 month milestone ,since my neck was bothering a little but anyway here we go...

Jenna is 15 and half month old and she weighs 22 pounds and the weight has been the same from 12 months though she has grown up in height... she is in the 90th percentile.

She repeats almost every word i say,,some understandable ,some u dont... she is still working on her vocabulary skills.

She loves to watch Barney and Dora...

She loves to sing songs... twinkle twinkle and baa baa black sheep are her favourite.. i will try to upload video of her singing.... but it has become very difficulty recording her.. once she sees me recording she stops singing..duh!

She loves to eat chicken alfredo pasta,banana,cheese....

She loves Taylor Swift's love story song and thats because i hear that song a lot and everytime the lyric ''baby just say yes'' comes .. she says baby.. he he..

She is getting naughtier day by day and it gets tiring some days but i would not have it any other way : )

TWO DOCTOR VISITS IN ONE DAY

2010-01-13T19:16:00.000-08:00

Phew! what a day it has turned out be... We got up very early today since we had the first morning appointment with Jenna' s doc... it turned to be as expected,she screamed her heads off when she saw the nurse and doc.. didnt allow to weigh her,measure her head circumference... she jus cried all the way through,the good thing about this was by the time she had to get her shots... she jus got tired and didnt cry much and as soon as we came out the office she stopped crying and was looking at the rain and said nanni which means ''water'' in our native language .
We were back home and i was jus browsing,Jenna was playing by herself and she was taking things out of my handbag,all of sudden she takes a 20$ bill out of the wallet and i thought she was going to tear it and immediately pulled it from her and turned and suddenly SNAP! i hear a sound in my neck... im not able to move my neck in any direction.. i thought it was minor sprain but as time goes by it gets unbearable,i call up my hubby and ask him to take me to a doc since i know this is unusual.. well thank god !we got a chiropractor appt within an hour...

After long history taking ,the dr examines me and says i didnt expect it could be this bad,my cervical (neck)vertebrae bone was slightly out of place and was surprised that this happened by pulling a bill out of toddler's hand .. he then held my neck and quickly snapped it back... god bless the chiropractor!i cried out of relief... he then placed some massager which helps to reduce soreness and said it will take 2 days to heal.

i have the next appt on friday... it still pains a little but not like what it did in the morning.It has really been such a rough day : (

MILESTONE UPDATE

2010-01-12T17:26:00.000-08:00

Jenna hit a new milestone two days back,and that is holding a pen and scribbling.... the other day when i was writing she grabbed my pen , so i gave it to her along with my diary and she scribbled to glory , she was definitely amazed by it... she even let me hold her hand and i wrote A B C D with her... now everytime she sees a book and pen ,she takes the pen and says C... now i hope she does not take the pen,marker and scribble on the walls....she already did once on the couch and now I'm hiding pens from her sight.......hehe ; )

I'm yet to write her 15 month update which i will do tomorrow since we are going to the doctor office for her 15 month check up....i dunno how she is going to cope with the shots being given tomorrow.. last time she started to cry once we entered the office ... hope it wont be as bad as last time...

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY-MEET ELMO

2010-01-06T14:02:00.000-08:00

ROSE PARADE PICTURES

2010-01-05T12:58:00.000-08:00

I didnt click many pictures this time... these are few of the pictures i clicked on my new Android phone (hubby's anniversary gift)...he he ;) i jus love this phone..Now people and friends who are bombarding me with this question... ''So ,what did u get for my hubby?''... i choose not to answer... heehe

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2010-01-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year.... We had a great new year's eve party at our friend's place,good food,games and jus hanging out with friends... We were in their place till midnight and was up early today to go to the Rose Parade.It was absolutely fantastic.. this is my second time watching the parade and last time Jenna was only 3 months so she did'nt get to see much.. this time she enjoyed seeing the huge floats and dancing to the band music ,she even took a nap in between.. thank god ,we took a chair this time,so i was seated comfortably... last time i was busy taking pictures but this time i didnt take much... I just enjoyed the parade.. ..and this year Rose Parade's grand marshall was pilot Chelsey Sullenberger,the person who safely landed the flight in the Hudson river and saved many lives... He is one true american hero and i admire him a lot.I'm so tired but it was a great day and i hope to have many great days like this...

ALMOST WORDLESS WEDNESDAY-MEET DORA AND DIEGO

2009-12-30T15:32:00.000-08:00

Jenna was absolutely thrilled to meet them when we went to universal studio.She touched dora's nose and was saying'' AA AA''.Cute...isnt it???

CELEBRATION TIME

2009-12-28T13:42:00.000-08:00

We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on Christmas...yup ! Our marriage was on Dec 25th and all my friends dont forget our anniversary because its so easy to remember.... We packed our bags and set off to San francisco to meet our relatives and celebrate our anniversary there...We had a wonderful time... My hubby gifted me a motorola droid phone... its the coolest phone i ever had.. now i can fb,twitter and read all my fav blogs from any where ; ) Four years of happy married life and many more to come,the best hubby and daughter i can ever ask.. all i can say is ''I'm blessed'' and thank God for this beautiful life... Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays...

LATE WEEKEND UPDATE

2009-12-24T11:32:00.000-08:00

This weekend has been highly stressful and tiring since we were moving to a new apartment. The moving which i thought would be easy since the aparment we were moving to was on the same apartment complex and on the same floor but it turned out not so easy.Jenna was super cranky during the moving,because of her shots she received the day before...Anyway we have succesfully moved in and i still have lot of unpacking to do..I'm totally in love with the new apartment,we have lots of space,Jenna gets her own bedroom ,I had put up some cute dora wall decors for her and im sure she loves it because everytime she enters her room,she sees the Dora wall decors and her face totally lights up and she says ''AA AA''which supposedly means Dora...though the moving ,unpacking,decorating her room was all very tiring...,it is totally worth it to see her happy and smiling....

A LITTLE STAR IN THE MAKING

2009-12-16T14:05:00.000-08:00

Jenna has an ear for music from the time she was very little.. even now she likes to hear songs while playing.If i turn it off ,she will come next to me and nudge me until i turn it on again.What amazes me is she hums the tune of her favourite song or rhymes..for instance today she was humming twinkle twinkle star and whenever the word star comes she says''' taa''..when i ask her''Jenna whats your favourite song'' she says'' uh uh oh''..which apparently is beyonce's single ladies in which she sings uh uh oh... she really surprises me by humming many tamil(native language) songs.. who knows she might turn into a singer later on in life ; ) and make mommy proud..hehe

WEEKEND UPDATE

2009-12-14T13:42:00.000-08:00

Its been really long since i had great weekend.. with my hubby busy with his CFA exams and me and Jenna down with the stomach bug,its been a month since we actually went out...We went to our friends place and got to see her adorable baby girl... its been a long 2 months of pending visit and we finally got to see her...

Sunday was my day out ,i went for '' New Moon'' and i loved it.. the introductory scene where Edward walks towards Bella with his trademark smile ,my heart actually skipped a beat.. Here,Look at me ,im a married woman with a 14 month old kid and im going ga ga over someother guy... im sure my hubby wont be happy reading this...but i ought to tell the truth ; ) Few of my friends said that they heard new moon is not good but i liked it,they have done justice to the novel which usually does not happen in novel adaptation movies..cant wait for Eclipse to release...Hope everyone else had a great weekend.

14 MONTH MILESTONES

2009-12-10T14:14:00.000-08:00

Jenna is now 14 m0nths old..She weighs around 22 pounds .Her milestones for the month are

1.She can climb on the couch or bed and get down by herself. Im relieved that now she knows to get down by herself,a month back she used to climb and was clueless how to get down,now she has figured her way out.

2.Her vocabulary is increased so much..she says mumm mumm when she's hungry,nanni when she wants water..if she falls down and i ask her ''Are u okay Jenna?''.. she replies''' kay''.She says the last or first words of any word.. whichever is easier for her to tell.. for instance, rice she says ice,banana as nana.

3.She calls my bro as mama which means uncle in our native language.

4.She eats cookies,oranges by herself.. she also got to taste her first lollipop,but im terrified and it was the only time.

5.She now takes only one nap a day but sometimes two. I secretly wish she takes 2 naps a day so that i have some time to sneak into facebook..or watch tv..

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY-STINKING CUTE!

2009-12-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

BACK FROM MY SLUMBER!

2009-12-09T14:43:00.000-08:00

I 've been so bad at blogging nowadays,mainly because im so lazy but i do read all my favourite blogs...Coming to us,we had a really bad weekend...Jenna got a stomach bug and she was throwing up four times for the past 4 days...this is her first time getting sick,she has got cold before but nothing major..Its really heart wrenching to watch your daughter throwing up,crying and helpless..she clinged on to me and i sat hugging her the entire time she was sick.. but when she had thrown up and was feeling well,she was her usual self..she didnt take an ounce of pedialyte or water and jus wanted to breastfeed....what a life saver it was ,it was the only food he can tolerate and she stayed hydrated..thank god for that...i have not resumed her diet and she is on a bland diet like rice and crackers...to add mess to this situation i caught the bug from her but it was not severe for me,i was zonked for a day but ended up fine...with 2 sick people at home my hubby took care of the entire house.. cooking,cleaning,dish washing...im just blessed.. what more can i say??

RANDOM

2009-11-21T13:16:00.000-08:00

I have been busy the past week ,doing lot of things... like what u may think?studying...i finally finished my forensics diploma program last week and i got my graduation certificate thru mail... im planning to do a masters in oral biology which is the best bet for me ,since i dont have the heart to do the whole dentistry course again for 4 years.. its an on campus course so i might join only after i put Jenna in pre school.. until then i have to collect all the paper work and give my toefl exam ....

Besides that i have been reading... one question people ask how u have the time to read.. but its actually its how u find the time for urself.. im incredibly lucky since Jenna sleeps early.. she is in bed by 8.30 and after finishing household chores i browse,read.. its my lone time and i luv that time when the house is silent and i can read .. Right now im reading the twilight series and im so into ..i knew it was some teen fiction and wanted to know what the hoopla is about and started reading...the book is so addicting...i have to write a seperate post about the book.,,its that good..

Coming to Jenna she always want to go out to play.. she carries her shoes and my handbag and comes to me and says amma buh bye... she jus enjoys being outdoors unlike me.. i jus like to curl on the couch and read and watch tv.. her personality is developing so rapidly now... she cries until she gets what she want... she will make u laugh by making silly faces or running around the house with a towel over her head.. she has become one naughty brat ;)

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY-IF YOUR HAPPY AND U KNOW IT

2009-11-11T14:32:00.000-08:00

CLAP YOUR HANDS!

13 MONTH OLD

2009-11-09T22:27:00.000-08:00

Jenna is now 13 months... she has officially entered toddlerhood.. The mile stones she has reached are..

She is now walking backwards lol.... even i thought it was very funny but its definitely cute and then when i checked my monthly baby centre email it states that walking backwards is also a milestone..

Her vocabulary has increased up to 10 words... she says hi,buh bye,thanni which means water in our native language ,baa baa back chee,she says hubby daddy whuch is utterly cute but no mommy coming from her yet : (

She says the nos 3 as (thee ),6 as (shix),9 as nen..

She loves elmo and barney and gets so excited when she sees them.. she says elmo as muah since elmo says elmo loves u muahand she says barney as nanii...

She eats pretty much grown up food ....

She surprises us everyday by doing something new and we are jus enjoying it...

JENNA 'S FIRST HALLOWEEN

2009-11-02T14:24:00.000-08:00

This is the first halloween Jenna is celebrating,last time she was jus 3 weeks old so we didnt do much... this being her first she clearly had lots of fun...

We dressed her as a Lady bug,because that was the only one in stock in party city .Initially I had wanted to dress her up as angel or pumpkin but both were out of stock...anyway she was a cute lady bug.. I put on a red outfit with matching red horns and was the devil ,my hubby had an afro wig and all of us went to the old town pasadena for trick or treat and later in our neighbourhood.. Jenna walked by herself most of the time and all of sudden she sat down on the streets to check out the candies... it was damn cute... by the time we came home she was completely zonked out..we had a good collection of candies and Jenna had he first lollypop from the collection,later i gave her piece of kit kat and she loved it....and that was her treat and the rest is mine ; )

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY-RELAXING AFTER A LONG DAY

2009-10-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

Relaxing after a long day by watching her favourite songs on You Tube..

PUMPKIN PATCH

2009-10-26T14:06:00.000-07:00

We had been planning to go to the pumpkin patch for a few weeks now but were busy with Jenna's party ... anyway we finally got to go yesterday..and we had so much fun.. Jenna got to see all the farm animals,the moment she saw the sheep she said baa baa baack chee (baa baa black sheep) and she was running behind chickens and ducks...but she was not able to go on the pony ride since she is too small for that ,maybe next time she would ride on it...we got a pumpkin home and im planning to carve it .We had a great weekend and looking forward for the coming weekend,since we are taking Jenna for trick or treat in the mall with other friends..

PHOTO FRIDAY- HERE SHE COMES!

2009-10-23T12:24:00.000-07:00

PRINCESS JENNA ON HER WAY TO ATTEND A PARTY....

GO AWAY!COMMON COLD.. GO AWAY!

2009-10-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

Go away.. big green monster ! is Jenna 's favourite song right now which is apt for the halloween season...and all i want right now is the cold to go away... Jenna seems to be ok with a little runny nose but for me its horrible... im not prone much to infections here but in India its a different story... i used to fall sick every month mostly infection of the sinus.. but after coming here i feel my sinusitis has improved ,only 2 infections in 3 years... good!Once i got the cold immediately i thought it was the flu...and that reminds me i have to get a flu shot this week...Jenna is yet to get her flu shot too...about the swine flu shot im still skeptical about taking that since there is a lot of story going behind it.. will wait until next month for that..

POST PARTY UPDATE

2009-10-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

I have been in a post party hangover all this while and that explains the reason for my absence...so we had a great party.. the food was great.. Jenna was cranky initially since i had made her wear the ghagra choli which was a bigger size and she was tripping and falling while walking but when it was time to cut the cake and when everyone started singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY..she was so happy and flashed a big smile for the cameras showing all her teeth.. me and hubby didnt get to taste much of the food and cake since we were busy taking care of everything.... the kids loved the jumper we had rented and everyone said they had a great time and were able to eat well since all their kids were busy playing in the jumper... anyway everything went well and the party was a success.. not bad for a first time i would say..and we had so many friends who were there to help us out by bringing the food from the restaurant,cleaning the hall after the party and one of my friends had flew from Portland with her hubby took care of Jenna the whole time when we were busy playing host ...without them it would have been very difficult...thank u guys.. anyway it was a great night and im happy that everyone had a great time as well..

12 MONTH OLD MILESTONES

2009-10-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

Jenna is now year old... we went today for her well baby check -up.She now weighs 22 pounds and is 30 inches in height.

She can walk andwas showing off her skills to the doc today

She climbs on anything and everything..

She can say cat,baabaa back chee(which means baa baa black sheep),dank(thank u),hi,haaooo(hello while placing the phone on her ears)buhbyee(bye)...

She is yet to master the art of feeding herself and loves homemade indian food..

She loves to dance ...

She loves playing with her baby doll..

She is constantly on the go and is learning new things everyday..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNA!

2009-10-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

Last year,this time i was in the delivery room hooked up to monitors waiting for u to come after waiting for 40 long weeks but u chose not to come out by yourself and came only when they induced. After 5 hours of inducing and 2 hours of pushing u finally made the grand entry into this world ...little did i know then that u would change our entire life... you were the best thing that happened to me and i have been loving this role as a mom which u gave me and i thank God for choosing us to be your parents... u have taught me so much in life inspite of u being so little .... though i feel a lil sad that ur growing up everyday.. a part of me is happy to see u so independent and learning new things... happy birthday baby and as mommy says everyday i love u soooooo much,for which u reply ''MUAH''which is ur way of giving a kiss... nothing makes me more happy and that small word cheers up even my worst day.AndI hope i continue to do a decent job in raising u ....

p.s(this is for you to read when u are old enough to read)