Little baby responded to Sarah!

It was the night of 15th-July-2014. Me and Sarah were all set for our bed time story. Everyday Sarah tells her little bro/sis that,it is story time, by bringing her face close to my womb. Today when she did that, she felt a prominent movement and then again she said "Mera baby Pucchu, kick karo, we are surprised!) and another kick. Mannu entered the room at that time and again she did that, bingo! a kick again. She kept repeating it atleast 5-6 times and this little one responded. Even me and Mannu were amazed as this was the first time that this little one responded to a voice like this. I know (be it a boy or a girl) these two are going to have a great bonding with each other! Amen.

Someone asked Sarah, that who loves her more, Mumma or Papa and her response was - both. And then she said Mumma is cute and papa is funny :)! This sentence made me think that how these different relationships give different feel to a kid and are so important for their holistic development.

Sarah's is waiting for Puchhu!

I am expecting again. Again, late in documenting things here but hope to do it regularly now.

Sarah knows that mumma has a little baby in her tummy and she is eagerly waiting to see the baby. She did go with us in 12 week ultrasound and she knows that we can see the baby through a computer. She desperately wants a baby sister (calls her Puchhu) and we all are trying hard to convince her that it could be a sister or a brother and both will be equally lovable and cute :) .(The stuff toy in the picture is Puchhu for the time being :))
   
I noticed the little one moving in the third month itself. Since then the movement was noticeable off and on. Since the sixth month the movement and kicks are very noticeable. Mannu could also feel the kicks in the sixth month. Today(28June) for the first time, Sarah could notice the tummy moving when the baby was kicking and she was so surprised!
I am a bit scared as I love Sarah so much and do want to give her lot of time but not sure how much of that will be possible after her bro/sis arrives.

I have been very regular in my morning walk. With Sarah going to school I get up by 5:45. Drop her to school bus and then go for a walk :). It is this walk and just 5 mins of exercise that is keeping me active even in third trimester. I am almost addicted to it. Lets see if I can resume it after the little one arrives!

Sarah has started going to school.Gets up at 6:15 and leaves by 7:05. It is quite small an age to burden her with all this and we really need to think of what kind of alternate schooling can we opt for.

 The other day she told me that Maám was quite loud in telling her that she should be quite in the class but she wanted to talk to her friend. I tried to tell her that Maám must be teaching something and would have liked that she should also listen to it but she was clear that Maám was with some other kids and there was nothing much happening and she did not like the way Maám spoke to her. Mannu was also listening to this conversation and both of us were quite disheartened! Again yesterday, I asked her if she drank enough water and she said that she wanted to drink but Maám said that this is not the time to drink water. She said that she wanted to go to wash room and Maám said that they are going out right now so she can go later and later my little angel forgot about it and she was holding on to it till she reached home. Sigh.. God is giving us signals to think and think hard and prepare ourselves. We need to plan how and where we want to spend the upcoming years of our lives with these two little ones. What kind of school do we want them to go to? Certainly not these traditional ones where kids are not even free to drink water when they fell thirsty....

This baby is more active than Sarah was but I notice the activity one day and the other day the baby is quite ! :)
Bought three small dresses on 5th July. Two for a boy and one for a girl. Both will look even cuter on the other sex. It is quite exciting when the gender of the baby is not known. I really enjoy this anxiety. Lets see, who it will be this time!
Something drastic happened today. I was making tea in the morning and somehow the pan got tilted and boiling water came over me. By God's grace, only a few drops came on my tummy skin.
"Love you my little one! Mumma will be much more careful now onwards."

Baby Preps !! Are We Ready For The Little One?

We got to know of my pregnancy on 16th of January 2010. For me pregnancy was the most wonderful and emotional phase of my life, I am sure it must be for everyone. But I am not sure if it makes everyone as patient and as composed as it made me!! I was so happy of the feeling of this little one in my womb that even those emotional swings or any other physical discomforts could not touch me. Rather I became more conscious of my own health and of my family. I ate healthy, struggled to do regular exercise :-() and tried to be as happy as possible.
From initial dizziness, to that first feeling of the baby moving inside me. From that first ultrasound to the final one where we could even make out some features of the baby, the entire phase was such bliss that I want to live that again and again. I keep telling Mannu that I miss my pregnancy so much; I miss the time when I could feel my baby inside me. I really feel bad that I did not start capturing those feelings there and then to live them again through this blog :(.
We did have our own set of tough times during this phase when Mom (I will refer to my mom as "Mummy" and Mannu's mom as "Mom" throughout this blog) was suddenly detected of a major heart problem in February 2010 and was operated through an open heart surgery. It was the toughest time for mom, Rasmie (my sis in law) and Mannu but even I was emotionally very upset during all this. I have developed a special bond with Mom in last 5 years, we have been staying together for last 5 years and during this time I have even stayed with her alone ,when Mannu was on an official assignment, for almost 1.5 year. Thankfully toughest time passed by, after 2 months of surgery and initial recovery, mom shifted to Rashmie's place for almost 3 months since Rashmie wanted to take care of her during this time and also I was not in such a physical condition that I could take as good care of Mom as Rashmie would. During this time Mom organized for my "God Bharayi" with Rashmie's help on 7th of June 2010.
In this first post, I will share some glimpses of my "God Bharayi" pooja and of baby preps.

God Bharayi : This is a ceremony in which would be mom and dad perform a pooja and all the members of family worship for the well being of the baby and Momma. They fill the girl's lap with fruits, dry fruits and gifts as a symbol of blessings for a healthy child in her lap very soon.
I really am thankful to Mom and Rashmie for arranging all this.


                               Mannu and Me performing pooja :)

                  
                  Rashmie, Mom and Pari after performing the god bharayi

Mummy, Divya (My bro's wife), Dadi, Bhaiya and Papa after performing

                                            the god bharayi

Baby Preps :) (this was so exciting !!!!!)
I prepared a list of all the things we should be ready with before the new one arrives!!!
The first set of clothes we bought for the baby was two half sleeves sweaters. We bought these when we went to Kasauli in April 2010. Afterwards, there were some from Mother Care, some her nani gifted and some more we bought from Karol bagh. We bought a bath tub and all the other accessories from Karol Bagh. It was such a different and I should say "cute shopping"!! Both Mannu and I were so thrilled to see those tiny clothes for a new born that we could not even imagine how tiny would the baby be :)

Below are few glimpses of Mannu, Mom and Me preparing for baby's clothes before the new one arrived !!!

Other than this, we got a new bigger bed so that the three of us can fit in it. We checked out the cradle that we would buy once the baby would be home  since it was available very near our house. Mom wanted to gift that to her grand son/daughter when she would arrive !!

The due date was 13th Sep 2011. Mannu and I packed my hospital bag and baby's bag on 5th Sep 2011.This was just in time since we had to leave for hospital on 6th. Somehow I knew that now I would be back home with my little one in my arms :)

The Story Begins...

Sarah is almost 10 months old now and I know I am quite late in starting to record all this but still I don't want to miss on it...!!!

I cant even express it in words how life has changed after this little one has stepped in. I want to record everything I can about our naughty little angel here. Through this blog we will be able to live those moments again whenever we wish to and I am sure, Sarah, when she will be a grown up would love to read about how she was when she was a baby, a toddler and a school goer.

For a girl getting married to her dream man is something she always dreams of and so did I. I was lucky to get a hubby like Mannu(Manish) who has always been a good friend, so understanding and caring. But I must admit that the feeling of motherhood is beyond anything else in this world and even for this I should thank Mannu and Sarah for making me feel so special for making me "Mum Mum".

Life has changed for everyone at home, Mannu is so much attached to Sarah that I can not explain it in words. He is always ready to do anything for her, be it giving her a bath, changing her clothes, feeding her, changing her diaper, I can see love and affection always pouring in his eyes.So is Mom (Mannu's mom), she is so busy with Sarah the whole day that she forgets about all her pain when she is with her. I feel her grand daughter is like a pain reliever therapy for her !!

For me,I am a changed person. I have decided to quit my full time job and have started working part time. I dont want to miss this time with Sarah. I want to do my best in bringing her up and at the same time want to spend a good amount of time with her. Its a mutual decision which I and Mannu have taken. Although unlike other guys, Mannu is always ready to quit his job and be with Sarah and take care of her but being a mom I am the luckier one :) to get this opportunity !!!