29 years done.....

It's my birthday today. My last one in the twenties, so my 29th. 

There is never a better time than my birthday to go back and reflect on this year . It's been a wonderful year, filled with many many blessings.

Of the many , a few here......

  Hazel's birth , a dragon year born baby she is. Utterly precious, it's absolutely irresistible to place to kiss on her cheeks while asleep, although it disturbs her beauty sleep, and she rubs her eyes with the back of her hand and looks even more irresistible for another kiss, lost in her baby beauty.

  Nephy is growing up to be a fine, smart, courteous and caring young lady, with an understanding and maturity beyond her age. Time stands still without her around , her nonstop chatter amuses me. She made me forget TV.

  Anto became project manager, God is abundantly gracious. Anto has proved to be a very good father, helping with Nephy and Hazel. I am amazed that he reads 'hurt' so well and reacts to it within no time. He has become smart in avoiding conflicts, wiggles his way out of tensions between us, and has become even more lovable than before. As always, am never going to acknowledge that he is all this in public :) 

Deeps & my BIL wedding

  My Parents and in-laws , who pitched in when I needed them the most during my pregnancy .

The 6 months I spent at my maternal home , with my mom, dad, bro and sil , which my mom calls it the golden days and it truly was.

The time with my lil niece Natalie , watching her pretend-play to be Betsy athai is such a warmth to be loved!

Had a nice run at work , and my manager's confidence in me was truly the best ever I've felt at work

My friends S&S , M&V, San are God given stress busters

My maid Bensi , who took care of Nephy so very well and helped us during Hazel's infant days

My brother who made me laugh all through the six months I spent at my mum's place. I still can't stop laughing at some of the things that he says.

Nephy's fancy dress competition at school which was an eye opener

My cousins and their kids

Places I've been to this year....

Tour to Sri Lanka , memorable

Our stay at sentosa with my in laws, truly relaxing and I was touched by my hubby's and my inlaws' care and concern.

Giving birth to Hazel at mt. Elizabeth(needs another post to go over the whole experience) , how I wish I could have birthed Nephy there too , really cool ;)

Mums place :)

Pondicherry trip with my mom dad and bro's family

A quiet trip to yelagiri that my dad took us, to escape from the deepavali noise

The holiday within a holiday trip to Sg. We travelled to SG for 3 weeks in the middle of my 6 month holiday to my mum's home. I loved the trip, would be the most memorable trip ever. Staying at my own home for a holiday is priceless.

The stay at the marina bay sands for our sixth anniversary. The infinity pool !

Finally a trip to velankanni , after all there are a plenty of things to thank for :) and to keep me happy and contended forever

Things to do this year....

Learn to swim , to properly swim like a pro

Get Nephy into a dance or drama school

Paint the house

Redecorate rather decorate my home

Get my kids to eat more vegetables

Stop yelling at my kids

To cut down on my planning lists and work instead , you'd be shocked at the elaborate lists I have for everything.

Work harder

Eat lesser

Work out -to atleast try and use that treadmill once this year

Bake a cake by myself, all by myself. 

Save for my kids education and a small savings that would help them when they need it the most .

Be happy and content with what I have.

Stop all the noise , I meant my yelling. 

Hurt lesser

Give more 

Expect zero 

My most unforgettable moments....

Holding Hazel for the first time

Nephy dressed up as a fairy , but looked more like a bride

Natalie , when she cried her heart out when Nephy fell down

The tractor ride at Nuwara Eliya to a strawberry farm 

The time I held Jay's baby

Watching Nephy perform as Cinderella in her school

The time when my granddad held Hazel for the very first time 

When my cousins , Val & Yami ka came down to visit us with all my nieces and nephews

Meeting Nithi & Augus, my friends after a long long time. 

My last appraisal meeting :) 

The time I spent with my dad... After nearly 6 years , where I never spent more than a couple of days with him , I spent 6 whole months with him. Truly the biggest gift for this year. 

Finally, the surprise my hubby had for today. :) 

Baby... My second little one..

Am expecting the arrival of my second little one, I've been praying for another little Nephy since its easier to handle her. I taught Nephy to pray that way too, 'Please give us a baby like Nephy...' and she developed her own version, since she wasn't interested in another Nephy. Her prayers were 'Please give us a baby like Natalie...', my niece. Its going to be a long wait before we find out if the little one is going to another Nephy or Natalie. Nephy even has a name for the little one, she wants to call the baby 'Ray'. Ask her why, and comes the reply 'Ray as in rain'. Well, a million dollars if you understand it.

However, the nickname for the second one is "Gulfi". Reason, the elder one is Nephy , so the younger one is Gulfi cos it rhymes. Blame my mother for it ;)

The date is near now, am hoping that the little one will be born on the 4th of June to coincide with my dad's birthday. The last month is always difficult with the innumerous contractions, false pains, absolute lack of sleep, a tummy that gets heavier and heavier, anxiety and the nervousness of getting ready to welcome the newborn.

I'm nervous as well as excited everytime I think of bringing the newborn in. A thousand things going around in my mind about how Nephy would cope, how we would manage things. I'm the sort who gets over-anxious when things are left undone and when things are unpredictable. With 2 kids, the scenario is likely to have both, and my anxiety levels are just going to shoot up and up and up. God save us all. I need all your prayers, with the birthing just around the corner.

Thank you my near and dear ones.... pray for me and the kids...

P.S :- I've already exceeded the 8 kilo mark for prenancy, and am not very happy about it.


This post has been edited to remove certain parts which the mum isn't happy about, when she thinks of her little ones reading it when they grow up. :) Happy reading, my little babies.

Flowers...

My hubby dear and my little darling bought flowers for me today. Out of the blue, with no reason whatsoever, they bought me flowers...... Magical. 

Maybe, its the little one in the tummy effect, that the two are being extra kind to mom. :)

Little Miss Talkie Talk

Yet more of my baby's baby talk.

The other day, she was being quite naughty, and
I said: "Rekha teacher-ta phone panni sonna theriyum", (Shall I call your Rekha teacher and tell her that you are being naughty)
She answered back, "Unga office kaaranga-ta phone panni solluven" (Shall I call your office people and tell them you are being naughty.)


Conversation overheard,
Dad : Where does daddy work?
Nephy : XXX
Dad : Where does mummy working?
Nephy : Bank
Dad : Where do you want to work?
Nephy : Bank
Dad : Why?
Nephy : Because girls must go to work there. (*Wonder how she came up with that logic*)
Dad :(Trying to be smart) So, why do S uncle & V uncle go to the Bank
Nephy : No, they must go to daddy's office. They are boys right?
*End of Conversation*

More to follow.....

Little Miss Talkie Talk

The little missie talks and talks and talks and talks and... yes, on and on and on... and on and on and... you get the flow, right?

A few quips I want to jot down before I forget these jems.

An ant bit her, and she goes 'Naan nenakiren naan romba sweet-a erukken-nu, Ant vandhu yennai kadikudhu!' (I think I'm very sweet, this Ant is biting me.)

A little fellow at the playground trouble her, and she says 'Indha podiyan enn kitta vambu pannuran' (The essence is lost in the translation, so I didn't) The word podiyan that she had caught up, amazes me.

She was pretending to be mommy, and I as Nephy, she calls out to me to come and sleep on her lap, and I firmly refuse, to which she starts 'Nee vara matta? Appo naan Dora-kku Mummy aagiduven. Naan unakku mummy-a Dora-ku mummy-a?'. Had a really really good laugh that night, thanks to the little missy.

She has picked up this habit of picking her nose, and I came up with this rather brilliant idea of making her the monitor. So, anytime anybody picks their nose, she yells 'Amma, Look! Look!'. Sorry for any inconvience caused due to this Monitor's act.

I'm rather very proud of the tamil that she speaks,I think I've done a really nice job in gettin her to speak tamil, rather than going down the all English route, that seems to be the norm here and around.

Lovely hearing her speak in both... more to follow. :)

Star Cruise!!! A dream come true!!

As a teenager, when avertisements for Star Cruises were aplenty, I day dreamt about them. So, indeed, a dream come true.

The things that come to my mind as I think about the trip are the thoughts about the massive ship, the gentle waves that lick the ship, the ship moving effortlessly as though it were merely gliding, the sound of the sea and the cold breeze in the dead of the night, the blue sea and nothing else as far as the eye could reach and ... and.... the insane amounts of food, enough food to last a life time food orgy. Of the three days we spent there, no a single was I not over stuffed.

Remember, ye shall not step on a cruise, if thou art concerned about the extra deposits of fat which will go up by quite a remarkable number . All the fat deposits seem to have an uncanny ability to miraculously find way to my tummy.

It was a three day and three nights trip to Penang, Malaysia and Phuket, Thailand. Well, this post is going to get boring from this point on, as am going to pen down every single detail that I can remember. The essential warnings having been given out and assuming the user clicked on Ignore, I continue.

Star cruise Virgo!! 

Star Virgo

 The journey started on the 3rd of April. No need to say it was after 2 back to back days of celebrations. The 1st being Nephy's and the 2nd, Anto's birthday. Anto's birthday turned out to be quite a thrilling day with India winning the World cup. What better celebration for the cricket crazy husband ;) It turned out lovely. We had friends over at the house watching the match. Anto's friends S & S & S and my friends, the famed love-birds S & S. Seems like the 'S' numerology is working out big time for us.

Dear's 3rd birthday!

Lil princess

Sunday, the 3rd of April witnessed a very quick packing and shopping (a shopping where mommy managed to buy coolers, some t-shirts all under half an hour, that should be a record in itself.)

A very swift checkout, which needs no mention in this country, but deeply saddens me because my home land has none of it. Reminds me of those long queues at the immigration counters in Chennai. In Singapore, the number of counters for citizens is much more than the counters available for other nationals. However, in Chennai, the number of counter for other nationals is much more than the counters for citizens, step motherly treatment in my own home land. Why? :(

 Coming back to my sailing story, we stepped into the cruise without a Thailand Visa. The wise man in the family thought we could apply for an on-arrival visa when we reach Thailand. Looks like matters do not work that way on cruise, we are to submit our passports to the cruise staff before we enter and they apply on our behalf. So, the buggers charged us a royal 100 dollars per head. A thing we could have managed to do under 50$ a head in the comfort of our home. Lessons learnt, you need to have all required visa before you board your cruise and if you intend to count on on-arrival visa, prepare to shell out more bucks.


We entered the ship, all the time struck by its massive body. A very rich lobby serving champagne and juice and staff explaining to us what to do and such. Finally, we checked into our room and the balcony was just amazing , we ooh-aah ed over it and stepped out to check the rest of the ship. 



Lobby



Went to the ship's frontal end , the top deck and the pools and the terrace. Ooh, there was even a library, and we borrowed a couple of books, after all what is bliss if I don't stretch myself on a chair in that balcony, with the seas below and the stars above and nothing else as far as I could see, with a book.



The lil one lazing

Went to the galaxy of stars where there was a dance teaching session in progress. Nope, I didn't join them, lacked the confidence to step up and shake my booty. A rather very curious fellow was the teacher. he would deserve a post unto himself, not here though. Oh, right some of the ladies were showing off quite some moves!!

The top deck

Had dinner at one of the liner's restaurant, the meditteranean . After food, off to the Lido the grand theatre, where we caught up a magic show for Nephy's sake at the end of which, she dozed off. We got back to our room and gazed long and hard into the sea and the sky, those tiny waves that the ship makes, the sky jotted with numerous stars and the never ending quiet sea, a few specs and odd dots of light, a view to behold, and a dive from the balcony into the sea should be a sure shot way to heaven, or is that heaven in itself. I read somewhere that you could fall from upto 200m into the sea(disclaimer, my facts may be wrong)and still not be hurt. The temptation to dive into the sea was surprisingly strong, the peace and the quiet just called out to me. Well, am not suicidal and no, am not going anywhere witout seeing Anto with a mop of white hair and my lil darling walking down the aisle and my grandkids... :)

Day 2 dawned, yet again a heavy breakfast. We spent the morning at the galaxy of stars playing bingo.  Surprisignly I won!! I won, I won, I won!! Won 108$ , and paid 15$ for the ticket. Not bad , I say!

A dip in the swimming pool followed, thereafter an early lunch and we reached Penang at 12 noon. We stepped out and took a taxi around. First stop, chocolate factory, it turned out to be a shop selling chocolates, I wonder why they call it a factory though, gobbled the samples, bought more and headed to the next stop. Third longest reclining Buddha , there were two temples , one housed the reclining which I beleive the Thai people built and another with huge buddhas build by the Burmese. Beautiful temples. A priest there tied holy threads on our hands. 

Buddhist Temple, Penang

Reclining Buddha

chocolate factory, Penang

Final stop to Little India, had tea at Anada Bhavan, and surprisingly this one even served Non-veg. Went back to the ship again, and did another round of Bingo. 15$ down the drain. Off to the roon and I kept watch over the little one, while big darling went out to enjoy the night life.

Day 3 arrived and we reached Phuket. The little boats were eased out of the ship for us to reach the shore, Unlike Penang, where we got down on dry land right off the ship, Phuket was different. From the ship, there were small boats which took us to a wooden rop bridge built on the sea , which led to the shore. We hired a taxi, the taxi driver and we were totally out of sync this time. He had a mind of his own , and pretened not to understand when we insisted on something. He took us to an Animal show park, the first in the line was Monkey show. Next in the line, was a snake show, which I refused outright. Next was an elephant ride, which we skipped due to the long line. we headed off to a pearl factory, again a shop. Next stop was to buy souvenirs and finally sea food. Lobster and prawns... hmm, the Thai have perfected the art of cooking sea food, I must say.

To Phuket

Thai Seafood

Pearls & a miniature of a pearl farm

We returned back to the ship to spend our final night at sea. The dinner happened to be a gala dinner, thankfully the love-birds S & S who had already been on a cruise trip, warned us ahead to carry some formal clothes. The ladies were dresses in lovely cocktail gowns and dresses and the men wore suits. Went back to the room to stare more into the sea and the sky and ended our final night.

Day 4 dawned and we sailed through to reach back Singapore. I wanted to check the Casino, but with Nephy around we weren't allowed inside. So, we left Nephy at the child care for an hour and went down to the Casino. I learnt the game Bacarrat from a dealer and watched for a while and decide to bet 100$. We got all 5$ chips and played at a table which accepted minimum bets of 10$. We won back a 100$, we cashed it and felt quite lucky. Then we checked our the rear end of the ship and the kids swimming pool. In the afternoon, I set out by myself with a 50$ bill, back to the Casino. I played with the 50$ and got a 100 back. I came back singing to myself and I can't wait to go back to a Casino and lose it again. In SG, I have to pay a 100$ as entrance fee, which is rather uninviting. Next trip to Genting I say.... !! Is it true that you only win on your very first day at the casino?

Finally it was time to get down and go home. At 7pm, we stepped on land and set off to home with memories of a lovely trip and a longing for the sea, the quiet and the darkness.

Jai Ho...

A R Rahman's concert at the grand theatres at Marina Bay Sands , Singapore.

I saw the legend , the maestro today, and am still reeling from the giddy effect. An acute dose of music performed by the ARR himself, no wonder, I still don't feel my new shoes bitting into my legs.

The concert started off with the number O Sana... from Slum dog Millionaire and the whole 2 hours that ensued was nothing short of magical. The second number was from the movie Robot, the Rajinikanth starrer.

There were other songs from tamil which others sung, it wasn't ARR*disappointed*. Kilimanjaro...... Taxi..., that Blaze and Benny executed to perfection. I saw Blaze with his wife and 2 kids after the concert taking off in the direction of the Marina Sands hotel. For one second, I thought I would get a picture with them, the next moment, I dropped the idea. Afterall, its only Blaze, not ARR. I digress, getting back to my story line.

There was a particularly wonderful moment when everything sizzled, when the master started off with "Marhaba...Marhaba....". Of course, its "Oorvasi...oorvasi..." from Khadalan. Lovely. I can still hear the Marhaba ringing in my ears.

He played bits of music from VTV and other movies on the Piano.  The one performed at the Nobel Prize was done too. There was this number Lukha chuppi, sounded very delicate when he sung.

There were other lovely songs too, mostly bollywood numbers. Rang de Basanti, Jodhaa Akbar. There was a Classical Indian music section which covered nice numbers from Tamil & Hindi. Then, ARR Bhai put on his white prayer cap and I thought he was going to sing his famous Qaseeda, which I am still in love with from the moment I heard it first. No, he didn't. He performed a number from Jodhaa Akbar. You can listen to the qaseeda here.

He finished off the show with Jai Ho & Vande Mataram.
The final slide on the concert was "Ella pugazhum Iraivaivanukke", All glory is unto God.

I missed hearing Vellai pookal... wish he had sung that one. Wished & wished so many other songs too, maybe another time.To sum it up, the concert rocked. When Anto said that he should have bought the first row tickets instead, I chided him saying , he could even see ARR's pimples if he is that close. Well, Now I wish I had been in the first row and had seen the dirt in his shoes ;)

Almost forgot, My little baby darling came to the concert and trust me, I didn't even get up once. That well behaved, she was. She slept off the last half hour , otherwise she seemed to enjoy it completely.