Wednesday 22 July 2009

The Moment

There are times when you do something or go some place on the spur of the moment and it works out. You enjoy yourself but don't realise it at the time. And you try so hard to recreate that moment in vain. Everyone has those moments.

Hubby and I have always enjoyed movies on Friday nights with some junkfood. We did it until the night I went into labour. It feels like its been ages, although it has only been around seven months since we got to do that. I am sure we will again...someday.

I'll get to the point of this story. Last week, after a bath and feed my precious offspring made his brief trip (its never an all night event, at least not yet) to dreamland. I slowly brought my sore self downstairs to get a cup of tea only to find Hubby at his computer watching a ridiculous Will Ferrell movie.

I hate Will Ferrell. His movies are lousy, I hate his sense of humour and here he was fighting off a dinosaur smarter than him. I was annoyed. Then I got interested, Ferrell's character reminded me of a man I work with, "I am Dr. Whatever...I know more about dinosaurs..." I wanted to see if he would get eaten by the animal. I hoped he would and never act in another film, ever.

So I popped some corn, dragged a chair and sat beside Hubby. We watched the whole damn movie and had a few laughs and went to bed with smiles on our faces. We have been trying to do the same thing again, but I know we never will, because that was a 'moment' and it will not happen again. So it must be cherished *sigh*.

p.s. - Ferrell was eaten by the dinosaur and pooped out. He lived. I still hate him.

Wednesday 24 June 2009

A day out and another and another...

When we were expecting our baby, both Hubby and I were thrilled. We talked about all that we could do with "it". But we were not prepared for what an infant had to offer. It might pay to be a pessimist and expect a colicky, constipated, clingy baby. But then again it might take the fun out of being pregnant and all that dreaming you do of fun days while on maternity leave. My fun days includ ewalks to the mall in my efforts to keep the little fellow entertained. I tried walking in the park, but apparently he does not fancy watching birds and trees (I am guessing its all one big blur to him right now) instead he likes to watch people or anything that moves constantly and is filled with colour.

These walks have been very educational, to me ofcourse. I have never been much of a shopper. I still rely heavily on Hubby, Mom or whooever is willing to assist in buying clothes, I mean real clothes. I can handle my jeans and t-shirt shopping. But serious work, lady like clothes are an issue with me. The point of this is that almost all shops have signs about specials. At least three shops I have seen have signs that say "Only Today - 25% off" or whatever percentage off. But if everyday is "today" then I don't have to rush and buy the stuff. The other thing I am learning is that it is not too hard to take that credit card out and buy stuff. Like yesterday, when I bought myself a pair of shoes. It was thrilled. I walked out of the shop with the biggest grin, with a sleeping baby in the stroller. Why shouldn't I grin at everyone around me!! I can see why some people are addicted to shopping. All this is stuff I would never have learned without my baby boy.

He's sleeping right now. Not much time left, so I must down that cup of coffee and see if I can get some stuff done.

Thursday 18 June 2009

Change

People kept telling me that life will change with a baby. I expected it to, perhaps not to the extent that it has, but I did. What I did not expect was to see the changes in me, I am not referring to being fat or going bald but to who I am, the essence of my being, if I may call it that. I have a wise friend who constantly spoke of 'priorities', I must tell him that he was right. There are days when I have completely forgotten to pee, that's right, forgotten (or maybe those stretch receptors in my bladder died with child birth). Bottomline, life has changed. And its pretty much almost always about the baby.

What else has changed is the attitude of people. Its almost like my husband and I have earned our membership in this club that makes it alright to talk about other women's breasts and genitals and your own. They are not sexual organs anymore, they are "a portal of entry or exit (whichever you prefer) and organs of sustenance". We have been accepted by relatives who would not visit us for we live 30 bloody minutes away from them (that is a f@#*ing long drive for some), but now I am told, "let us know if you need anything, its just a thirty minute drive". Oh really! Sure, will do.

Being married, not living together or being in a long term relationship, but being married means you must have children. That seems to be universal. If you choose not to you are pretty much an outcast. We took our time with this baby, but the five years from marriage to the birth of this child was a constant barrage of "so, when are you guys have a kid". I bet there were speculations of my being a lesbian (what with a wardrobe that consisted of nothing but jeans and shirts) or my husband being homosexual. Ah well, we have proven that we are both fertile. As for our sexuality, well if the ignorant associate homosexuality to infertility, its really their problem.

I am sure life and people around us will keep changing as our baby grows...and so will I. Sitting here typing this means my son has decided he will leave me be for an hour (if I am lucky). Here's hoping he will let me keep up with this blog business.

Thursday 16 April 2009

Stepping stones

If failures are stepping stones to success, I should be able to build myself a staircase with the road tests I fail. So I failed the bloody road test again. I wouldn't have passed me if I were the examiner. I made the three point turn, perfect turn, only I drove on the wrong side of the road! 

Sunday 12 April 2009

Who's worse

I wonder who is worse? Hypocrites or people who constantly contradict themselves and claim to be poorly understood. The former, I can ignore and stay away from. The latter, a little more difficult to deal with. If I could walk away from people altogether, I would. But I just brought a new person into this world, and that means I am stuck to the world with people. I cannot remove myself to a world void of people.

Monday 30 March 2009

Sweet Surprise

You sometimes put something away and forget all about it, like a few dollars in the secret compartment of your wallet/purse or whatever you call it. Sometimes you wonder if the bulbs that come out of the pots that you are clearing away for the winter will come up the following year and put them away. 

So, while I was looking for something the other day I found some dahlia bulbs that I left in a pot over the winter. I brought it into the house and left it by the back door where all my houseplants reside for the winter, and while giving my babies a drink I just gave the dahlia pot a touch of water too. Well, what do you know, I walk over to say good morning to my flora this morning and lo and behold, my dahlias are coming up! I so love these little surprises, so much better than diamonds or pearls.

Thursday 26 March 2009

Violets

My African violets. These are two of my favourites. I discovered my green thumb when I attempted to propagate a deep purple violet. I was very excited that I was actually able to grow new plants, so excited that I ended up with dozens of new plants, which I then started to give away for lack of space in the then tiny apartment. It felt good to be giving away plants, especially to veteran gardenerrs.

Then I looked around one day and saw that I had very few plants left and what I had were doing badly. My deep purple one was completely gone, not one left. I lost the pink one too. I love the white one, and I was really upset to see it doing badly. I took a leaf cutting and hoped it would grow new plants. Six months later it had three baby plants, which now sit in three pots, all with flowers. The white with purple borders was a gift, also one that I had and lost altogether. So once again happy to have that. My pink double petal one has a bud on it. I am waiting for it to blossom. Never fancied myself a gardener one, but I guess I am, at some level.

And outside the house my daffodils are making an appearance, bringing hope of warmer days and letting me know that I am their gardener.

Thursday 19 March 2009

And so I 'weight'

For the longest time I weighed no more than 51 kilos. The most I had weighed was 52 kilos. But growing a baby goes hand in hand with gaining weight. I wondered if I would because, there was a time when, no matter how much I ate, I simply could not gain weight. I always ate what I wanted and stayed the same weight, so much so that I had a pair of jeans from my high school days that fit me perfectly until I got pregnant (it is in tatters). But, I did gain weight and now weigh over 65 kilos!!!

I was surprised at how steadily I gained weight, and unlike before when the weight was distributed to regions not easily noticed by anyone but me, now it is all over. I shed my baby around three months ago, but the "baby weight" is still sticking around. Nursing my little man means I can't go on a diet, but simply cannot imagine doing that either, because I have never ever been on a diet. 

Anyhow, wondering how you go about shedding all this extra weight while eating sensibly, etc., has helped me better understand my friends who struggle with weight issues. It isn't easy, especially when people visit you with chocolate fudge cake, which, hubby can't eat because he is on a diet and can stay on it. And you simply cannot let a good cake go to waste, so...I managed to get a picture of thew last piece of the cake before devouring it. Ah well, as I always say, life is short, so...

Monday 16 March 2009

Dare

The arrival of our offspring has forced me to take driving lessons. Most places that babies have to be taken to seem to have no access to public transport and hence the need to drive legally.

My instructor is a retired pilot who served in the Royal Airforce. We still haven't got to interesting stories about World Wars, etc., but I am sure, the rate at which I am going, we will. I am not sure whether it is his military experience, absolute confidence in himself or his students or sheer madness, but he teaches without brakes on the passenger side of the car. To most instructors their lives depend on that brake!

My independence and day trips for my baby depends on these lessons. Here's hoping both teacher and I come out unscathed, with that damned licence.

Tuesday 24 February 2009

...

I was a day overdue and highly irritable when I heard the MTV/MBC station had been attacked by “armed civilians”. Interesting when you think that there are “armed” civilians walking the streets of Sri Lanka. I have been there and have fond memories, and it saddened me to think that it was vandalised or attacked, whichever word is more appropriate. While I was thankful that no one was hurt, I was angry, and the progesterone coursing through my system added fuel to the fire. I raged on about it to my poor Hubby and my Mother who is visiting to help us with the baby.

Not sure if it was the injustice against private news organisations in Sri Lanka, or MTV in particular, or perhaps it was the obstetrician working her magic on my cervix, I went into labour that night, while still ranting about how nothing would be done about the attack and how could civilians get their hands on arms without the support of some one or some people with more authority, and in Sri Lanka’s case “power”. Authority and power are not to be mixed up, not in Sri Lanka, not in the current climes.

So I went into labour as I was saying (that is a story for another time), and our boy arrived the next day. I completely forgot about the attack, which is rather unusual for me, but I would say, something like childbirth might do that to a woman’s brain. Anyway, we had been home a couple of days, and I was just beginning to feel my numb bottom and praying desperately for some sleep when Hubby asked me if I knew the editor of the Sunday Leader. I knew it had to be bad news. Why would he ask me about someone he knew nothing about, journalists from Sri Lanka don’t win the Pulitzer, they just get killed, that is recognition of quality work. The hormones still raging through me, I did not take this news well.

What the hell is going on in Sri Lanka? I tried to live in denial for the longest time by avoiding any news coming out of the country. And now…weeks later, the government is surging into the north and east and the LTTE are flying into the city bombing or crashing into buildings, whatever it may be and my son is growing, I am recovering, but my head is full of nasty memories associated with the birth of my child. I am confused, not sure what to think. I always wanted to take my offspring to Sri Lanka, a beautiful country with beautiful people…I don’t think there will be much for him to see. There certainly will be few nice people left for him to meet. They are all leaving the country, or worse still dying!

Friday 30 January 2009

State of mind...

Hubby and I had just come home with our brand new baby and were in the process of registering the birth online. We went about entering our names, age, date of baby's birth, etc. We then entered the name of the doctor, the hospital at which he was delivered and then Hubby read aloud, "mode of delivery." Me in my 'fresh off the delivery bed mode' very confidently said, "vaginal."

He was asking about the method of delivery for the birth certificate, not the birth itself!

I am glad I was not filling out the forms!