Double the Trouble: Our crazy car day

Last weekend was generally going to be a nice weekend of fun.  On Saturday, Koral was invited to a Princess Jasmine themed birthday party and she had a nice time.  Senthil was starting a cold and opted to stay home - but Sunday, we had planned a day trip to Charlotte to visit my cousin, Sarah, and her little five year old daughter, Avery - and visit IKEA, as I had heard it was a cool store.  On the way, for the first time for either Senthil or I, our car broke down.  It started to not accelerate, so he pulled over to an exit ramp and on the side.  The hood started steaming/smoking.  Senthil really flipped out.  He ran to the back, grabbed Koral out of the car seat, and started RUNNING away from the car.  This was all really great instincts as he was sure the car was going to explode since he only watches action movies, except that she was hatless and in normal clothes with no shoes or coat on in 30 degree weather with wind on the side of a highway.  I got him to get her in the bassinet covered up with a hat before explaining that the car was okay to be near.  He was still very skeptical about toxic killer fumes and the safety of being inside the vehicle, but after a few minutes, he agreed to sit back down with the doors slightly open, which was very good wind cover.  In the mean time, I called my cousin who was able to pick us up - and Senthil eventually called State Farm for a tow.  Goodness, we had no idea what to do.  The towing was covered by our insurance.  

Soooo, we met my cousin, went out to lunch with her, and then she graciously offered to let us use her car to drive home and return it the following day (presumably picking up our fixed car then).  Trouble is, on the way home, HER car broke down.  I am not joking.  In 16 years of driving I had never experienced a break down, and then boom, two in one day.  This occurred the moment of the super bowl kick off.  I called our friend and neighbor, Tina - the dog-mom of Milo's playmate, Evie - and luckily she not only answered but came right away.  This time it was pitch dark out and the battery and alternator were out, so we had no light except our dying cell phones.  Again we moved the car seat and got a ride, whilst working out the towing details for Sarah's car with her!!  

Since then, this whole week has been car related.  Bottom line - our car is dead.  We are shopping for a new one.  Last night we drove Sarah's repaired car and our other car back to her, then returned home together.  It has been such a busy week.  

Koral and I went to a Mom Group party tonight for the interest group I started, which is all about holidays.  This one was the first event, and a Valentine's Party hosted by a friend.  Here's a few pics of my sweet cupid daughter today:

Time with Koral - Valentines

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A friend of mine told me last fall about how when her second child was born, her "heart split into two" and she felt the same love for both children.  I can say that when I was pregnant with Koral, she didn't become real and that enormous love didn't truly start until she was in my arms.  The same goes for Ocean.  I am THRILLED to have him coming, I am nesting and excited, but he's just not real yet until he gets here.  I do anticipate him taking lots of time and this will be a huge change for Koral.  So for right now, while I still feel pretty good and not too huge, we are spending lots of play time together.  This week, we're doing valentines and crafts while it rains, and walking outside when it's dry.  And thanks to Mom's Club, we also had a social Monday and Tuesday - but I'm planning on staying in today for the most part.  It's nice once in a while to just stay home.

Kitchen Overhaul

One of the new things in our house for the past 8 weeks was Senthil's decision to be on an Oil-Free, Plant Based, Whole Foods Diet.  In a nutshell, it means eating food in it's original, unprocessed form often and not eating foods with added oils or sugars.  It's a vegan diet with a healthier twist.

While this might sound daunting - we prepared for this by watching the Netflix movie "Forks Over Knives" - then we bought the book and both read it - then we thought about it for weeks in India - and came home to start.  He has done absolutely amazing with it.  So far, he has stopped having sleep apnea and stopped snoring completely.  He feels lighter and healthier without going hungry - he can eat as much of this kind of food as he wants.  The only extra restriction he placed on himself this week is to avoid peanut butter a bit as it was becoming an every night treat on toast with jelly, and he would not only like to feel good, but also start losing weight.

Koral and I still go out and have treats or eat pizza occasionally - and last night, we 3 went to eat at Moe's for a diet-friendly meal - BOGO free burrito and a free kids meal on Tuesdays made the entire enormous meal for all of us less than $8!  Senthil ordered a whole grain tortilla with brown rice, veggies, black beans, salsa, guacamole, corn, etc. for a healthy meal.  I ate the same thing but with chips, and Koral got a free cheese sandwich, apple juice and cookie.  But at home, this is a typical breakfast:

Fruit, Sugarless cereals, Almond Milk

Our bowls of cereal and Koral's tray

It's been a YEAR since my last post. Koral is 18 months!

I took quite a break from blogging, and also moved everything over from the old blog to this better interface on Blogger - so hopefully things will finally be in chronological order and dated from here on out!

Koral is now a beautiful 18 month old - in a nutshell, after the last post last year, I gradually became a full-time stay at home mom and have really loved caring for Koral.  Daycare became scary for us as I ended up finding Koral there crying in a pool of her own snot while the teachers ignored her, and that was the last day she attended.  After, we went to India for 3 months as Koral was 6 months to 9 months - we mainly stayed inside and played during this time due to heat, but would go on early morning or late evening stroller walks and made some local friends and had a good time.

Afterward, we returned home for the summer in the states at our townhouse rental -- but went to Iowa to have her 1st birthday party with my family, which was awesome.

Following, we enjoyed fall here at home whilst I joined a local Mom's Club group that has been awesome for friends, socialization, and support - we are able to get out nearly every day for an activity and play.  We attended lots of fall festivities and in general had a great time!

In November, we took another short trip to India but it was really an awful stay due to city flooding and power outages, bad food and constant humidity and rain.  We were happy to get home!  Then a quick week to Iowa for a snowy fun Christmas with my family, and back home!

Koral now loves climbing more than ever, and is very good with balance.  She doesn't say any words at all yet - stopped saying "Mama" after she learned to walk at 7-8 months.  However, she lets us know what she wants very very well.  Right now she's sitting at her little craft table coloring with markers - another favorite!

My big news other than my favorite girl in the world is that we are expecting a baby boy in 3 months - and so I have decided it's time to start logging our lives again other than Facebook posts.  This time around, I feel so much more capable.  I feel ready, know what to expect, and we are planning to have our baby, Ocean, at the midwife center in town.  It's really lovely and I have heard great reviews, so this time around, hopefully no hospital or belly band.  I'm sure I will write all about the experience when we get there.  Below are photos from our walk today.

Christmas and New Years, 5 months

1/2/2015
It's been 18 days since my last post and a lot has happened.  I haven't written because I am still in the process of moving my blog over from Svbtle.com to blogger.com.  I am even more disappointed in svbtle as I have discovered my posts didn't even automatically log the date and time of posting!  How terrible.  I dated this one for future reference.

First, I was in such a happy Christmasy spirit, and dancing with Koral around the living room for days to Christmas music while making peanut butter cookies and tree decorations was an awesome time.  Then, so sadly, she caught a sickness the day before Christmas Eve and got a fever for four days.  It was heartbreaking and I stayed home with her on a routine of baby IBuprofen or Tylonal to help her low fever stay down and lots of feeding and using the Nose Frida to keep her airway clear.  We had to co-sleep or she didn't rest well and I wanted to hear her breathing anyway.  Well, five days into that the fever was gone and my parents arrived for a post-Chirstmas visit and they helped out a lot with watching her and playing with her throughout this week.  They just left this morning and we're all a little sad about it.  Milo was getting extra doggie-walks with them and Koral didn't have to go to daycare and it was a big help.  She's almost all better, so I took her in today but they called me after two hours since her nose was blocked.  Poor girl!  She just needs her mom and dad right now to help her out.

The other really big news is that our cousin, Lavanya, had her baby one week ago!  We had talked a bit in California and I hoped I gave her some good info, but her labor was very long and difficult and ended in a C-section.  Great news is that little baby girl is so very cute and everyone is healthy, so we are all really grateful!  Koral now has two cousins younger than herself!

The Scoop on Postpartum Pregnancy

You've probably heard of people who get pregnant right after having a baby.  I have.  One of my dearest friends from the past, Tom, has a little girl only a few months older than Koral and his wife is already expecting!  However, there are reasons.

First, Tom's wife is a teacher and went back to work in August.  She's pumping in the day, but not "exclusively nursing."  Basically, your body can tell and if you are nursing every few hours, it probably won't release an egg.  If your baby starts to sleep for 8 solid hours, you might get your period back.  If you work without nursing for 8 hours, you might then, too.  But if you're still "cluster nursing," it's only a 2% chance without protection, so in my current case, unlikely.  If your baby is under 6 months of age, that also helps as you body probably won't release an egg, especially if you're nursing.

I did a lot of research because I had that feeling like, hey, maybe?  I would be pretty thrilled to get pregnant again soon.  Okay, I haven't had an easy time of it, and I was feeling sick for like a year, but I really want Koral and Baby #2 to be able to play together and grow up close.  Also, I really want my body back, and I don't think I can get there only to do all this again.  I just want to lose a little weight, go through the next one, and then when all is said and done and I get all in shape again, if I still have crazy belly skin drooping, maybe I get a tuck done so that doesn't hang around for the rest of my life.  I feel that's reasonable.  Also, if pregnancy was that hard at 28, how great will that feel down the road?  Yikes.  So, those are my thoughts.  If I happen to miraculously defy the odds and conceive whilst nursing, so be it.  I would be quite happy!

5 months old - Daycare

Original Post from 2014

Well, it's been a little while since I've posted.  I've been procrastinating because first I was just happy to be home, then we traveled to California, and also I do not like this blog format and need to soon copy and paste all my entries away from svbtle.com to another host because apparently people who read my blog don't get the posts in order.  How ridiculous!

OKay - so Littles had begun to taste baby food (veggies) last month, and now is a huge fan of eating.  She grabs the spoon and takes bites and looks like she loves it.  Her favorites are green peas, green beans, carrots, and sweet potato.  She's not fond of the fruits like pears or banana yet.

The big trip to CA for our cousin's baby shower snuck up on us, and we prepared for the flight with one layover.  I had asked around on Facebook on how to travel with a baby and read the flight allowances for babies.  I took the carseat snapped into the stroller base for rolling through the airports and walks, two small suitcases, and two bags - one diaper bag and my milk pump that is a tote, which was filled with things like empty bottles, baby fever reducer (just in case), chewy toys, and extra blankets.

After dropping Milo off at the sitter's for the week, I picked Senthil up from his second morning meeting and we just made our noon flight.  Total travel time, including the layover, was 11 hours.  Koral was great.  We did not buy her a seat so she slept on our laps.  I wore a short-sleeve button-down shirt that would be easy to nurse in and had a long, thin scarf.  This worked really well.  I didn't have to cover her head and had all the skin covered, and part of the scarf was like a little blanket for Koral if her arms or legs were cool.  Thank goodness she can nurse with ease now that she's older.  She basically does all the work herself now.

We had a great stay and our very pregnant cousin was able to ask me questions about birth.  I tried to answer as honestly as possible, and we picked up some things that might help her afterward like pads for bleeding, witch hazel pads for pains and swelling, and things like that.  I hope for her an easy labor, but also a child that sleeps well afterward.  We discussed how  everyone dwells on the birth but that is just one little day in the end.

The trip home was also great, with Koral nursing and sleeping all through the flight.  Such a good little cuddle bug!  She's begun to demonstrate some really awesome skills, like picking up a toy, chewing it, turning it, throwing it.  She can now roll halfway over, and then back.  She has a great laugh and has pretty much stopped daytime crying unless she is very hungry or tired.

Today was her FIRST full day of DAYCARE!!!  We went last week on Thursday together and I stayed with her for three hours.  Then we went home.  On Friday, I actually left her there for four hours, so a half day.  Today, she was there for six hours, but I went in the middle to feed her.  Hey, I might as well since I would have to pump and she needs to eat and it's so close.  Again I used my scarf to discretely nurse in the daycare room.  I feel she is okay there, but I do hope she eventually takes a bottle again just in case I can't get there.  It's been terrible throwing away all that pumped milk every day, but she will not drink from a bottle!  However, she will eat baby food veggies on a spoon from anyone, so they at least can feed her that.

Other than those updates, we are getting very ready for Christmas next week!  I need to finish gift buying and shipping in the next two days.  I am working on Koral's India visa application for upcoming visits to India - most likely in the next few months.  I feel so much better about the trip now that we've been on a plane.  International travel is even better as far as accomodations, so if we can take the duration we will be golden.

Happy Holidays!  Oh, we got Koral's "Baby's First Christmas" ornament and I love it so much!