Unexpected Turn of Events...

Life is full of unexpected moments, happy moments, tiring moments, instant decisions and much more. But yesterday evening, it was just the above moments in my life.  

Did you ever had one of those days, when you were just having a normal evening and suddenly one decision, one simple decision leads to unexpected turn of events the same evening? 

It was a tiring day at work yesterday and I was hoping to have a relaxing evening. Soon after tea, Puneet suggested we go to the Ramsey center and play Ping pong. Now, ping pong is one of my weakness. I can never say No to it. I can play even in my sleep. I love that game so much. So, obviously, without giving second thoughts and forgetting how tired I was, I agreed. And in no time, we were all set to go. It was 6:15 PM then. We planned returning home by 7:30PM, eat dinner and sleep.

Oh! And this was the first time we were going to the Ramsey center during a weekday. While parking the car, I suddenly felt, maybe they don't allow little kids during the weekday. And yes, my feeling was right. They don't allow little kids on a weekday. Dang!! What a waste! I thought. Or rather we thought. We were not ready to go back home without doing anything. It would seriously be a waste. So we thought of having an ice-cream. Downtown? Aanya and I asked Puneet. "No, let's not go there. We'll have at the students dining hall. It's just right there", he said. Unfortunately, the dining hall was closed. Now what? Downtown, after all? Instead of going back to the parking lot and going by car, we decided to go by bus. Aanya hasn't sat in a bus in a very long time. She probably doesn't remember the fun of bus ride. It was a good idea. And btw it was 7:00PM then.

We waited for the bus and as expected, Aanya enjoyed the bus ride. She was so happy. Like super happy!!

We had ice-cream at Ben and Jerry's and by the time we finished it was 7:45PM already. Going back by bus, taking our car, going back home would take another 45 min. So we decided to have dinner at Downtown only. Thai Spoon? Okay! Food was good of course, and so was time. It was 9:00PM
Walking down the streets of Athens Downtown on a weekday night is not fun really, but felt nice. And then waiting for the bus with Aanya, was another experience. We reached home by 10:00PM. Phew!!

Did I say earlier, I needed a relaxing evening?

Things I am learning as a Parent...

A lot of women fear they will loose their time in careers through their maternity breaks but I think it's a period of way more learning and maturity. Things that we learn from being a Mommy is something that can be easily applied at work later on.
I learn so much just by observing my daughter, things that she does or things that she say, but what I am really learning as a parent is...

1. To Listen: There is no denying that kids talk non-stop throughout the day. My daughter wants to tell me stories, ask questions, give opinions or whatever it is, she just needs to talk all through the day. At times, it becomes quite challenging to give her full attention while she speaks. It's simple to pretend to be busy with laptop or reading or doing something else, but she gets it when I am really listening and when I am not. So, as a parent I am learning to listen, which is an important skill.

2. Empathy: One morning, I woke up tired. I told everyone that couldn't sleep well the previous night. Aanya asked me WHY I couldn't sleep. I told her I am not sure, maybe monsters kept me awake. Immediately, she gave me her stuffed toy and asked me to sleep with it that night. She ensured, it's by my side before I went to sleep. Next morning, I told her, I slept well and that her 'piggy' was great. She smiled. She was happy. Now every night, I am asked to sleep with it.
Kids display empathy all the time and that they teach us by live examples.

3. To be Fearless: As adults, we fear many things, many illusionary things like fear of unknown, fear of being judged, fear of rejection. But kids are fearless. I am trying hard to conquer my fears, just to be a good role model for Aanya. And it takes a lot to push myself out from my comfort zone like holding a bug, taking initiative in talking to people, dancing in the rain, singing out loud. But I am doing it.

4. Seeing Everyone as Special: To Aanya, everyone is special. She has such beautiful eyes, that she finds everyone special and unique. And that's exactly what we all are. I am trying to clean up my lenses that might have become dirty, so that I can see as clearly as she can.

5. There is no Tomorrow: Everything has to be now. There is no tomorrow. Aanya doesn't still understand when is tomorrow. She lives in the moment and that's really important. Buy a new dress, wear it NOW, who knows tomorrow you won't get a chance to wear it. Bought cupcakes, eat it NOW. Don't keep it for tomorrow. They might not taste good or your taste might change. Plan going to park, go NOW.  I remember, once I had a severe ear pain and I called up the doc to take an appointment, I was told to come after 2 days and I was surprised. I have an ear pain NOW, why do I come after 2 days? It's the same thing...You feel like doing things NOW, do it. Why keep it for after 2 days.

I can actually go on and write many more things I am learning as a parent. Everyday is a new day and Everyday I am thankful to God for the new day. Out of the many things that I have learnt, the most important is that Kids, esp the younger ones, need so much love, much more than we can give. They need to be loved and cared. They are the greatest gift of God...

How a 4.5 year old's MIND works!!

Last year same time, I had written about 'How a 3.5yo's mind works'. Today, as I was having my breakfast, I saw Aanya building something from her Magnetic construction blocks. Off late, she's been playing with it a lot. Suddenly I heard her shouting with excitement, " Mumma look, what I made!". It was a little castle. And she was ecstatic.

I asked her if she can build a story from it. And here's how she went for it...'Challenge a budding mind and see what happens' :)

She made another castle, with windows and door this time and had a man sleep inside the castle, while his pets ( horse and goat) stand outside to watch out for any danger.

And we have his friend now, sleeping with him.

There is train track and both of them were awakened by the sound of the train passing by and they watch from the window.
 

There is this rocket behind the castle( made from Lego blocks), soon to be launched.

The men in the Castle own 2 cars. One is the flying car and the other is just a roller car (made from Lego blocks)

Interesting right? Growth of a child always amazes me. Not just physical growth, the intellectual, psychological and social growth as well. What makes me happier is, watching Aanya enjoying her creation.

First Blogversary!

Exactly one year back, on this day, I had opened this blog. It was sudden. I had not planned doing that. While going through few interesting blogs one morning, I just decided to start my own. And there I was with my first blog post. I was excited and scared. Excited because, I had been writing on my journal all this while and now I posted my thoughts on the internet. And scared because, after my first post, I had no idea what I would write next? What if I ran out of topics? What if there is nothing to write? But I set aside my worries and took the plunge. After 97 blogposts today, I think I did right. I am glad I listened to my heart.

It has been an eventful year and I have learnt so many new things. More so because, we had just moved in this house and had so many things to create and ponder what else I could do. In this one year I have read, written and learnt more than I have ever done. And today I can hardly believe, my blog is 1 year old already.

Here's a big THANK YOU to everyone who took time to read and comment on my posts. You people have helped me grow. Looking forward to more learning this year.....

Smiles!

Playroom benches: DIY

So! from a long time I had wanted to give some personality to the playroom. But was just not sure how. Googled playrooms, read blogs, articles, projects but was always left confused. Coloring the playroom with the child's favorite color, was the first thing most of the parents did, but that's not something we wanted to do. Not yet.
And then one day we decided to make a window bench ourselves. Why ourselves? Ah! There is so much satisfaction in doing things yourself. 

Window benches in the playroom

The window side of the Playroom

I love these window benches for so many reasons

1. It provides a comfortable place to sit and read books, write, draw, play or even rest.
2. The storage below can hold so many things. They are easily visible and easy to clean.
3. We made it ourselves! There is so much excitement and satisfaction in doing projects like these.

And now, The Tutorial:

1. The first thing we did was, bought 2 Kallax shelving unit from Ikea. They come in three colors, but we preferred white. My husband put the units together in just a few minutes, it was that easy.

Kallax units placed in a L shape.

2. We bought an OSB from Home Depot, cut to the dimension of the shelving unit. The board cost us about $8 and was enough for both the benches with some board left over.

3. Then I bought high density 1" foam from Joann's for $30 and cut it to fit the bench using a shapie marker and a regular scissors.

4. I had some quilt batting from my previous projects, so I did not buy, but it's easily available at craft stores for about $5.

5. My daughter wanted the cushions to be in yellow, blue and pink color, she wouldn't settle for one, so I also bought this multi color sturdy fabric from Walmart, about 4 yd at $3/yd.

And now The Construction part:

1. Placed all the materials one over the other like this. Fabric-batting-foam-OSB

2. Then, stretched the quilt batting over the edges of the foam and OSB and stapled it with the staple gun. It was fun actually. I had never used a staple gun before and needed some practise before I worked on this project.

3. Then, I repeated the same stapling step, using fabric this time.

 I placed the cushion onto the bench. And yay!! the bench was complete. Now, that wasn't too hard, really. Hoping to enjoy many years of fun !!

Got inspired for the bench after reading this tutorial from Mommy Vignettes: No- Sew Window Bench. :)

6 Things a Married Woman is Always Thinking....

The other day, I read a blog post shared by a friend; the writer misses her parents. And then just yesterday another friend posted a lunchbox contest; her children feel she's a good cook. School teacher asked my daughter what I like to do, she replied; My mom likes to wear dresses.

As I was preparing breakfast today, I was thinking what is it I always think about? Well, of course there are so many things to think about BUT what is it that occupies my mind most of the time. Missing our parents, cooking or getting dressed...to name a few....I made a list and came up with these top 6 things. Husbands can treat this as a guide to their wives mind :)

• What goes in Tiffin? And what's for dinner tonight? The #1 thing in a woman's mind is that, she is always thinking of others before herself. She constantly thinks about food, but not out of hunger. She is always thinking about feeding her family.  Even if she is not preparing a meal, she is thinking about what the next meal will be and how healthy can she make. It's almost like in her mind is a running a grocery list and the question, "How can I make broccoli taste good?" 

• Cleaning. Wouldn't it be nice to have a robot maid, who would clean up every little mess and keep us organized? Yeah, right. Unfortunately, it's just a dream. An unfulfilling dream. So, if you find her thinking about something during dinner, she is thinking about the million things that needs to be cleaned: laundry, dishes, sink...the list goes on and on, and she's probably making a mental checklist while others are thinking about a second helping of that vegetable rice.

• Her Looks. Yes, a woman worries about how she looks. Totally. We are actually sometimes too critical about our looks: we can't help thinking about strands of gray hair, wrinkles on our face or added pounds around our waist. So, please make sure you tell her she is beautiful. It helps. A lot.

• To keep her husband happy. We think that a lot. Wives want their husbands to be happy. And we constantly think about how to make that happen. We'll cook their favorite food, even though they are not our favorites. We will shop for them. We'll try to help them with their work...

•  Leave a mark on the world. When we get a quiet moment alone, chances are we are thinking about how we can leave our mark on the world.  We want to make a difference, whether it is through our work, volunteering, creating something amazing, or just showing the world that we have something unique to offer. So, Tell her she can and she will. 

• Her Parents. After marriage, she has added responsibilities and she thinks about her parents, how they maneuvered those responsibilities with such an ease. She misses them every day of her life. Their absence in her life is a void that cannot be filled even with all the love she gets from her family. She understands them so much more now.

And there is a 7th one too, if you have kids

• Are the kids OK? Yes. How can I be a better mom? Who needs to be where? What time? Our kids consume our thoughts day, and even night.  If we seem preoccupied or stressed out, it may be the overwhelming responsibility we feel toward children. Empathy and a listening ear would be good here....:)

Alright ladies, if you want to understand your man, here is a link to similar blogpost... Enjoy!!

Beautiful Ad Campaigns...

Times have changed. The way people think, is changing. The brands and their ad campaigns are changing. Usually people, including me, just mute or skip the ads that play before the YouTube videos. It's very rare that any commercial make us think about our self. But times are changing and I have noticed this change.
Brands like Dove, Pantene and Always have started emotive advertising campaigns, where they have shown Women in a better light, a stronger light, a beautiful light. Through their campaign they remind us, we are beautiful, strong, we have dreams to fulfill, we don't always need to be sorry and doing something 'like a girl' is a GOOD thing. We must be who we are. They are so inspiring and I appreciate them for their message that made me stop and think.

THINK BIG AND SHINE STRONG - PANTENE

LIKE A GIRL- ALWAYS

Of all these beautiful commercials, I can relate to this one more. I wrote a blog post last year when this commercial just came out. It reminds us to be who we are and doesn't matter what others say.

NOT SORRY- PANTENE

A MAN'S BOSS, A WOMAN'S BOSSY- PANTENE

YOU ARE MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN YOU THINK- DOVE

And my favorite is this one. It's simply Wow. What a beautiful reminder that Others see the beauty within us which we fail to see our self sometimes.  Its a reminder that...

1. The imperfections we see in ourselves are not obvious to others and that our biggest insecurity may be something no one has ever noticed.
2. It's not just about how we look, it's about the impression we make and attitude we exude which shape a person's opinion of both our inner and outer beauty. Remarks such as "she had a spark in her eyes" is not just physical beauty. It has lot to do with personality as well.
3. We focus on the negative things we notice in ourselves, like double chin, dark eye circles or crocked nose while we are more likely to see the good in others. We need to see the good in ourselves as well as others.
4. We should learn to recognize and acknowledge ourselves as the beautiful person that we are. It's very likely that we've never fully grasped or even come close to understanding just how beautiful we are, both internally and externally.

What is your opinion on these campaigns? Let's chat.