Excuse me, kya re?

Mein do bachhon ki maa re!

Yes, baby Vic is here.

Born: 20102010 (ddmmyyyy)

The nurses were more excited about the date than us. They literally pushed me to *push* before the start of the next day.

Scout's reaction: "Hi baby! How are you?"

Vic's status: Eat. Sleep. Poop. Pee.

My status: What more could a second-time mom ask for? May be a killer figure. Ha?

10 point update

1. Thanks to everyone who pinged about my whereabouts to make me get off my butt and post.
2. About 4 weeks to go to the D-day. Things are fine! Nothing much to write home about except work has ^peaked^ since I'm taking off soon.
3. Baby names are being short-listed. That's the minimum amount of prep we need to do before he arrives I guess. Should tell you much about the general lack of preparation here.
4. We are thinking of ourselves as parenting experts and being so relaxed about everything this time around. I'm sure the second one is going to be poles apart from the first one just to teach us a lesson.
5. Got professional house cleaning done for the first time using the whale-like physique as an excuse.
6. Scout talks nineteen to the dozen and is generally an easy-going toddler. But he reminded us that he is still very much a toddler by having a major major mother of all meltdowns at one of the parent-teacher meets in his daycare. I really understood what parents mean when they say they want the earth to open up and swallow them that instant.
7. Nesting instinct is kicking in. I NEED space-saving STORAGE SOLUTIONS.
8. My masala dabba is forever lacking stuff these days. If I remember to buy mustard from the store, I forget to buy jheera or something like that. Waiting for the mom to get here to fix such stuff.
9. Was thrown 3 babyshowers, many thanks to friends and co-workers. This second one better not complain about any lack of attention.
10. FB feeds flooded with Endhiran fandom. Anyone going to the FDFS?

Alright, folks! That's all from here. Nothing exciting really, and I hope it stays that way for a few more weeks. See you around!

How not to compliment a pregger...

1. Wow! You are big!
2. Wow! You look ready to pop!
3. You have some face weight, but don't worry, it will go away after the delivery!
4. You are having two boys!? Have fun!
5. Lucky you! Your husband does so much around the house.

Fill in the blank.

By the 3rd week of Oct, the "About me" section on the blog will read:

"Wife to GIJoe. Mom to Scout and _____. These are our stories."

And it ain't going to be a Girl Scout I'm afraid.

Attix .. fall down.

This is how the Scout reads Asterix. He points to Asterix and says "thiss Attix" and then he points to an unfortunate Roman legionary, that can be found in almost any page fallen down with a bump on his head, and says "uncle fall down", opens the next page and the same thing repeats "Attix".. "uncle fall down".. "Attix".. "uncle fall down" till he flips through the pages and closes the book.

Is there hope for this kid?!

Against gender stereotypes

Starry tagged me on this one. I hope I'm not repeating stuff that has already been said in the blogosphere considering that this tag has spread like wild fire, while I have been sitting around fanning myself. Anyway here are some stereotypes (none of which are ground-breaking) that I don't conform to:

1. "Good wives wake up earlier than their husbands, wash hair and do Tulasi pooja before starting the breakfast routine". -- I have never ever woken up earlier than the GI.
2. "Women do not talk about breast-feeding". -- I have educated a few men (including the father) about the benefits and difficulties of breast-feeding.
3. "Women should not talk loudly and should mind their own business" -- I have shouted at queue jumpers, litterers, rude auto-drivers while other people looked on.
4. "Girls are thrilled with branded gifts: dresses, bags, shoes, perfumes" -- I literally shouted at the GI for gifting me an LV bag for a milestone birthday and insisted on returning it. (I digress but he then spilled the beans and told me that knowing me he would never invest in a real LV. He had a friend buy a really good fake for me from Hong Kong. Reminds me of this saying in Kannada: "If I can slither under a carpet, he can slither under rangoli.")
5. "Women are high maintenance" -- I'm extremely tight-fisted about money spent on self.
6. "Women cannot promote themselves at work" -- I do not feel embarassed when talking about accomplishments at work when asked.
7. "Girls cannot handle a joke and might cry" -- I can handle raunchy, explicit jokes and slap you back with a rejoinder or two when in the right company.
8. "Girls lurrvee cute guys" -- No, thank you! I like my brooding, intense, smart-mouthed men in movies (and real life) than the goody, goody chocolate heroes.
9. And these.
10. And ahem last but not the least, "Girls don't like to to turn it on" -- ahem, if we were to take the analogy of a car, we not only know how to turn it on, we have been licensed to drive for years now and can drive on scenic routes and high-ways, in rain or shine, to heaven and back. ;-)

Some stereotypes that I conform to:

1. I strive to be a good cook, organizer and host and beam when I'm complimented on these.
2. I cannot eat until people with higher priority (children, older folks, preggies, guests of honor) at a party have eaten.
3. Have so far been extremely lax in investing my money.
4. Go all out to be a good daughter-in-law (or so I think).
5. If I'm angry with the GI, it's his problem to be sensitive and figure it out. I'm not going to help him by clueing him in on what's going on in my mind.

Would be good to get the mom, mil and grandma to do this tag. Shall try. Meanwhile any one who hasn't already done this wants to take it up?

Vacations, aunts, cities and such..

Went away for a week to the other side of the country. Got pampered endlessly by the aunts around there. Aunts are the best! No two ways about that. However I'm peeved that the Scout was like at priority-0 for them while I was at priority-1 or something like that and I cribbed to them about how intelligent women like them must not let themselves be charmed this way by a two-bit little thing. They said grandmas / grandaunts are supposed to be that way and shut me up. Asked me to instead go cool my heals and eat a mysore pak or carrot-halwa or one of the many other goodies they had cooked for us. They also turned out to be eager (and inexpensive!) babysitters for the Scout, so I shouldn't be complaining about anything really except may be the heat around there. God, the heat! Did it seem like we were in a pressure cooker or what? I have lived in the NY area for a few years and know how the summers can be around there but I seem to have become a complete bayarea convert now. I know! I know! Us, bayarea folks crib if the temperature happens to be anywhere but in the 70s. Anyway, the Scout had a blast with the family and on the outings. He had a great time running behind a biiiiigggg bubble maker in Central Park and dancing with this impromptu hiphop group there. That is what is so cool about Central Park. You can be sure that at anytime of the day or night there will be some thing or the other happening. That is what is so cool about the whole city anyway. And the eats, what can I say that has not already been said about the eateries around the city? And the parties? We went to this beach party by the Hudson, over-looking an impressive skyline. As the night settled in, the lights in the buildings turned on, shimmered in the reflection on the water, peppy music played and the tempo got going. Unbeatable! And the fashion sense around there? I was thankful I took a few of my skirts and strappy sandals (one in magenta and one in white if you are interested :P) and still couldn't look even half as chic as the people around there. Uhuh! You know, Frisco is nice and all, but I sure have a thing for NYC as well. Forget about beaches, mountains and other destinations, I love cities especially this one. Sigh.. double sigh!