Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Z, The Car Seat and the bigger baby

It was impossible carrying Z in the car on my lap now, she became totally restless. She didn't want to sit in one place till she was sleepy of course. I was contemplating on buying a car seat for Z, which was safe and would make me sit without having to struggle with Z. So after a lot of research and analysis (a special thanks to my FB mommie group) I bought a carseat from Mothercare for Z.

My first concern was how long Z will take to get used to the carseat. All my concerns were washed off when we did our first ride from Shopperstop Kormangla. Z took to the carseat like it was specially meant for her.

If you think my concerns stop here, you are highly mistaken. My next problem was bigger and this time Z wasn't creating the problem, it was Fizz who created. Fizz is so obsessed to the idea of having Z in front of his eyes that he hated Z seated in the rear seat. Since buying the carseat was my idea, Fizz told me he would through away the carseat if Z even took out a small cry. As that didn't happen, he kept on complaining that I wanted to keep Z away from him everytime, anyways he doesn't get to spend a lot of time with her. (Fizz can be a bigger baby and is capable of throwing huge tantrums... for me its easier to handle Z's tantrums but it becomes very difficult when Fizz does it). I will have to keep on hearing anti-carseat cries from the bigger baby till he gets used to the idea. Till then God save me.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Z Update - 15 Months and the girl is on the Go..o....o...o!!!

So Z completes 15 adventurous months today. The past month has been full of milestones and my baby is becoming a new person everyday. Here is a list of the new adventures she has been up-to for a few weeks/days:

Standing Unaided -  I must admit when it comes to standing and walking Z is sh*t scared (she's definitely taken that trait of being "cautious" from her daddy dearest). So she took her own sweet time and in the last week of January she finally stood without support. 

Standing Tall

Those first hesitant steps - Z finally showed her worried mom and her chilled out dad that she CAN walk. Z took those first steps... She is scared when I leave her on floor but on the bed she has started running she laughs when she walks... (I'm sure it must be the look of excitement on the face of her parents that makes her do so). When she does not want to walks she makes it very clear. As promised Mumsu and Abbi bought 3 new shoes for Z...

One of my new Shoes...

Z Personality - Z is now slowly but surely becoming a new person each day. She is a great blend of the personalities of both her parents. Like Daddy, she loves going into a zone of her own at times. Like mumsu, Z is a definite chatter box, loves music and dance, she is evolving as an entertainer. Z sure has got her mom's mood swings and both of us love getting pampered by Fizz.

Z has evolved into a chatter-box. Here's a sneak-peek into Z-Lingo

Pa: Refers to Fizz

Ba/Ma: means her Mumsu

Baaaaaa: Means a sheep (that's only when you say sheep, Z says baaaaa)

Haaaaaw: Is her response to a Lion

Baiii: Bye-Bye

Ya/Eeeeeoooooo: Hello (She keeps her hand on her ear while saying that)

Aaaaaaaaa: Is when Auntyji (from Ek Mein aur Ek Tu) is on TV

OoooAaaaYaaa: Is when she hears OhLala from the Dirty Picture

A quick Ahhh!: Is when she is pooping or about to poop... Guess potty training days aren't far away.
Eeeeeoooooo time with Abbi

Besides these, she picks up works in a jiffy. In her music class last week we were singing "RoW-Row-Row your boat" and Z was like "Wow-Woo"

Body Parts: If you ask Z wheres 'Nosey' and she will take your finger and put it on her nose. If you ask her "Where are your lips" she immediately puts a finger on her lips.

Let us see what else does the next month bring... Till then I'll keep other Z updates coming. 

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Does being a mum means losing your Identity???

If you ask this to people of the older generation they are likely to say 'yes'. Thankfully this is my space and I will express what I feel is right... *smiles from ear to ear*

I have seen new mommies go into a zone where they are stressed, burnt out and in a terrible state of mind. I have been through all this ... and nothing helped me come out of it, friends, family, nothing. Till, one fine day I decided to take things in my hand and change the way I was living since Z was born. And it worked, it worked like magic. I had wasted a lot of time mourning and cribbing about my life. I (someone who was so excited to be a mom) spent hours crying and cursing myself. That was because I was not being the person I was and I never wanted to compromise on that. To make things worse I heard people around me (read relatives and family) saying that once you have a baby your life becomes non-existent.

Before Z was born I was happy, optimistic, chilled out... I loved life, I loved making people around me happy, I loved pampering Fizz and more than that pampering myself. Now (for a few months after Z was born) I was sad, pessimistic, stressed out, I cried, sulked, argued with Fizz... and pampering myself... Wait what are we exactly talking about here?

Now I have a huge task in front of me, I want to change the way I feel and the way I look. I have started taking out time for myself, am trying to see things in a positive light. Whenever I feel angry or low I take some time and think what is the reason behind it??? Is it big enough to make me sad for hours... most of the times this trick works like magic. I have also started working out. I do cardio and yoga... Which again helps me keep myself sane (yeah working out is a huge stress buster, at least for me it is). Another thing is music and dance... this is like my soul. I have been away from it for months... no more.

This change in me has changed the mom in me (for good). I'm happier, I'm myself, I'm more organized and less stressed out. This brings out a happy mommy and in return I get a happier Z. It's a win-win situation.
Happy Me and a Happier Z....

Friday, February 17, 2012

My Complete 'Awwwwwww' moment

Its difficult to handle a baby alone, during the day... Ask me or ask any other mother who does that, and you will get the same answer. It is not just difficult for me but it is more so for Z. There are so many times I'm tired or working on something else that I just ignore her. Phir, when I realize that Z is my priority, what ever happens I need to attend to her first. This happens on a daily basis and I feel the same every single day.

Z has now thankfully become more independent and needs her 'me-time' she doesn't want to cling on to me for the entire day... Like she used to a couple of weeks back. It is good for me because I get some time to do things I have/need to.

It happens so often that I feel the urge of going and hugging Z just like that. I thought it was just me who felt that, until today. I was sitting doing something on my tab and Z was sitting besides me playing with her books. She stood up in between my knees and started pulling my tab away from my hand. I gave her a dirty look and kept the tab down. She came close to me, climbed on my lap and hugged me. I had tears in my eyes. I just couldn't get over that feeling for a long-long time. A complete 'Awwwwwww' moment.

Days when Z used to Cling to Mumsu

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Love You My Valentine

This isn't a baby blog but it is more about me, so I thought of just adding it here. People always complain and tell me "your life revolves around Faizan... There are many other interesting things in life"... Well I don't totally agree with them... My life revolves around Faizan and Z now.... and there might be interesting things in life, but for me Fizz and Z form the core of my life, and I like it that way. Why I like Faizan (there are more than just a couple of reasons) here are some of them:

- Faizan loves me for who I'm, he knows I'm a very difficult person to be with (yes Fizz... I accept it, even if you deny it).
- Faizan is extremely good at handling people, especially relatives. I have learned a lot from him on this front and still have a long way to go.
- He doesn't care about fancy clothes, big cars (though he'd love to own a BMW), plush houses. For him the person is more important.
- His love for music, movies and books... Faizan and I share a lot of common interests but these are something we love to talk about.
- He can't say 'no' to people... he just can't
- He just keeps on talking about things he needs to buy but never ends up buying em. Instead he buys something for me and Z.
- He is the best Dad (thank your stars Z), the best son and the bestest Hubby.
- He loves cooking ... Thank God for it coz I'm just a baking person.
- He loves watching RomComs and is not much of an Action flick person (not in front of me).
- He makes me feel secure. I trust Fizz more than I trust myself.
- He can do whatever is possible for me and Z
- He is someone who is particular about how he looks.
- He is more emotional than I'm (though he won't agree to it)

OK Faizan no need to get all romantic and dew eyed. There are things which I hate about you:

- I don't need an alarm clock, thanks to the constant snoring.
- I put on weight (lots of it) and need to work real hard to shed some of it. You lose weight without even trying much and always lose weight when I'm not in shape.
- You just can't say no... Yeah that's the best and the worst. At times one has to be selfish and say 'No, ThankYou'
- You don't reply when I speak to you... you just don't acknowledge me at times :-(
- You are glued to these stupid comedy serials on TV.

So however upset I get with the things that you do... or how you make me fall in love with you all over again. I strongly believe 'When you love someone, you love all of them... you gotta love everything about them, not just the good things but the bad things too. The things that you find lovable and the things you don't' ... Love you Sweetheart.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Movie Time... Fun Time

So I finally became brave enough to take Z for her first movie. I don't know exactly why movie buffs like Faizan and me were so skeptical. We decided to take Z for Ek Mein Aur Ekk Tu on Sunday 12th February'12. It was the 07.50 show at Gopalan, Bangalore.

The reason why we chose Ek Mein Aur Ekk Tu were:
- Z loves the songs and we were sure at least during the songs she will stay calm.
- It is a romantic comedy with no action so that was better. Loud fight scenes would've made her a little uncomfortable.
- The length of the movie (1 hr. 50 mins) was another factor.

The experience:

Z loved the atmosphere as we entered, the big screen, huge dark space kept her quite for sometime. She wanted to move but never in the entire movie cry for a second. In fact there was just 1 instance when Fizz took Z out for a minute, here again I don't know why, because she was not difficult to handle.

As expected Z went mad (in a very nice way) during the title track and specially during 'Auntyji'. She wanted to sing along, jump, dance, enter the screen and shout on top of her voice.

There were scenes were she started laughing hysterically as if she understood what was exactly going on in the movie.

Towards the end she became a little sleepy and started sucking her thumb. She still didn't become cranky for a bit.

Both Fizz and me enjoyed the movie, it was fun and refreshing. Made our Sunday turn into a complete fun day after a long long time. A huge thanks to Z.... Love u baby.

And Finally Z's 1st movie ticket

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Z The Reader

Z gives me a reason to smile every other day without fail. Now I have stopped being surprised at everything, still she manages to amaze me with new things she does on a daily basis.

One thing I love about my childhood is being grown up on books, I wasn't a very selective reader as a kid. I never use to restrict myself to a particular set of authors or genre. Things did change when I grew, what didn't change was my love for books.

I never forced (as if we can) Z to take interest in books, all we did was get her loads and loads of books. Stories, animals, colors, shapes, sounds, hide-n-peek, etc. She used to love turning pages of books till now and explore the colorful world.

Today in fact was something special, I was reading Heidi to her. I read the whole book with lots of expressions put in for Drama. Z loves listening to stories when I read em like that. After 5 mins or so of reading she just took the book from my hand and started turning pages.What I loved was that she started babbling loud like she's reading. I just kept looking at her and kept smiling. Donno whether it was her aping me that made me smile or just her trying to read aloud. Whatever it was my sunshine made my day 'yet again'. Love you my baby. Thanks for being my Sunshine sweetheart.

Don't disturb... Im busy   
I love my Cat n mouse hide'n'peek book 
I love Ginger the Cat

Friday, February 3, 2012

Z's Blessed to have you around


Khalas/Maasis/Aunts have been an extremely important part in my growing up years. Infact one of my Khala, is my mom. I have always said I'm blessed to have two moms. I have never taken 'Babbie' as someone 'like' my mum but she's my mum. Z is blessed enough to have 6 Khalas - (real and cousins) all of them have pretty unusual names (by which Z calls them) and all of them have pampered her like anything. Z doesn't get to see them a lot but when she does she is in for a treat. 


Aanie: Z's Aanie pampers Z like anything, she'll be the one who Z can go to and complain about me. I'd not be able to say much, because she's the only elder sis I have. Z misses the yummy food Aanie used to make for her and that is one thing she'll look forward to when she visits Delhi. She pampers Z with lots of gifts and obviously she's Z's bhaijaan's mum (Z's first playmate ever and a lot more than that.)





NooKha: My kid sister has some kind of a magical spell on Z. When Z was just a couple of months old (3-4 months) she used to keep looking at Nidaa for hours while Nidaa admired herself in front of the mirror (yes 'when' Nidaa decides to get ready she takes hours). In our recent Delhi trip, Z did go through desperation anxiety. The moment she laid eyes onher Nookha, she was ready to go in her lap in a jiffy.




ZoKha: OK, Zoha is my 2nd mum's daughter... the kid is fabulous with babies, but with Z she did have a tough time. Z did take a little time to get friendly with her ZoKha. Zoha is someone who plays with Z, irritates her and makes her laugh at the same time. I just wish we spend more time together and I give you more opportunity to babysit Z (which I know you'll love)




PeeKha: Well Samrah hasn't spent much time with Z as the others have, but she calls Z her "Pumpkin". So lets see what will happen with PeeKha and Pumpkin get together. I realized only now I don't have a pic of them together. 




ZeeKha: Zarish is the only one besides me whose specs Z loves to snatch. When ZeeKha talks to Z you can't hear what is going on. Well that's the problem with Zarish anyways. Zarish was my only princess before Z was born and now I have 2 of them. By the way, I won't forget how you made Z cry in Crystal Chopsticks... I have a proof right here :-D







And last but not the least the youngest 'Ghunda' of the gang FuKha: Ifrah wants me to believe that she is the one Z loves the most. Well I can't say much... let Z grow up, she'd tell you who she loves the most. FuKha loves playing 'Peek-A-Boo' with Z and Z loves playing with her till she gets scared and starts howling. :-). 

Z is extremely blessed to have you guys in her life... Love you all...  

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Bringing up Z

I was reading this beautiful blog post written by one of my blogging/mommy friend - Sumita on 'Simple things which come a long way' and it made me realize how we as parents start thinking about how we would want to raise our kids the moment we get the news that we are expecting a baby. I was no different, I always thought I'd bring up Z the way I wanted to (most of which I have learned from my parents). So I can read 1000's of pregnancy books, 100's of online article but the biggest thing that I rely on (and will continue to do so) is motherly instinct.

I loved my growing up years (most of em) and I'd like to raise Z keeping those in mind. I was an extremely lucky kid when I think of my parents. I had a chilled out childhood, I mean how many parents (back then) would encourage a child to give equal importance to extra-curricular activities and studies. I was a pretty average student, you can say above average (because I hardly studied and still I managed to get decent grades through out my student life). For me, my extra-curricular activities were the focus of my student life. Dance, dramatics, declamation, creative writing, these were the things my life revolved around back then. And I strongly believe these things have made me confident, taught me importance of team work, importance of winning and losing. My mom made one thing extremely clear - you don't neglect your studies and I won't stop you from participating. I would want Z to indulge in a wide variety of activities and wouldn't want her to be engrossed just in her studies.

Dance is something that is a very important part of my life. My mum realized that pretty early and I learned Bharatnatyam for a good 8 years. I want to enroll Z for Ballet, if she is as keen to learn it. Why Ballet, because I personally love that dance form and would love to see Z perform one day. If she doesn't want to learn dance and wants to take up something else it'll be her call.

Reading is something mum loves and we (my elder sister and me) have taken that up (really don't know why my kid sister is anti books-but that's another story). When Api and I were really small we already had 25-30 Ladybird stories books. Faizan is equally in love with books, so Z already have 7-8 books. These aren't enough for her, she loves scanning through my books and magazines as well. I think books build your imagination, you go in a totally different world when you are in the company of books. Besides your grammar and language improves immensely - if you choose the right kind of books. And of course you get to know so much more when you read.

Traveling is another interest that Fizz and I share. We've traveled together, with family, alone, with friends. And we just can't seem to get enough of it. When we had to make a choice between a big 1st birthday bash for Z or a small fun family vacation in Goa. We chose the later, in a matter of 1 year Z is already had 7 flight and a train journeys. I would want to travel with Z to loads of places and make vacations/holidays full of memories for her.

I had an extremely unhealthy childhood. Nothing to do with mum and dad I just ate everything unhealthy and lots of it. I realized the importance of health very late in life. I'd want Z to know benefits of good health and an active lifestyle. She might or might not like sports but Self-Defense is something I would like her to learn (even if it is at the basic level).

I love my family, I may not show it but I do, but I have a little, a teeny weeny problem with relatives. Not all of em of course, but definitely the ones who are too interfering. I would like to tell Z to respect relatives but not to live in awe of them. Listen to them, but do what you and your parents agree is right. I wouldn't want her to unnesarilay argue with them (that's something I do which is BAD).

I've heard people say that I'm brutally honest. I'm and I love being like that. I don't like lying and I have not learned how to play around with words. I would want to be completely honest to Z and would want to answer all her questions/queries as honestly as possible (at times I'd have to make up things - white lies, but that's ok). So that Z learns to be honest and truthful.

Both Faizan and me are extremely particular about managing our finances and I would like to instill the value of money and importance of saving in Z's life. In today's day and age with peer pressure building up and people showing off, I know this would be difficult to say the least but then we as parents can't run away from our basic responsibilty of bringing up kids.

Another thing that I learned from my dad is that he never enforced his decisions on us. And both of us believe we won't ever do that with Z either. We are always there to give suggestions when she wants, tell her whats right and wrong, but eventually it'd be Z who would make her decision.

I can go on and on and say I want her to be this... do that, all parents want the best for the babies and I'm no different. The most important thing I want for her is, Z should grow up to be happy, healthy, secure, confident individual with a kind heart and strong personality. I want her to believe in herself and to learn that even the smallest effort can make a big difference. I always want her to remain the happy soul that she is right now, like me... I would want her to keep the child within her alive always.

Love you my baby.  And remember when and if you read this... these are things that we want... and not necessarily things that you'd want in life.

Wild Karnataka – Experience

We were ecstatic when we got to know we were going to see  Wild Karnataka.  It was a long trip to Vega City mall, Bannerghetta Road, Benga...