Days of Spring

Hello friends and family! I know I haven't written in days. I get the right thoughts in my head when I'm not near a computer and it's often 2:00am. The last couple of weeks have been interesting, enjoyable but full of regular to-do's and "why does this take so long" type projects. We're trying to get all those little things done before our baby's due date of May 19th. Oil change for my car. Getting his crib and room ready. Filing bills (oh and paying them too). Finishing taxes - yeah, that's over! And stopping to enjoy the days with each other.

I enjoyed a second baby shower hosted by friends in honor of Sujata and I where we devoured much-craved Thai food at a favorite eatery, Lemongrass. I even splurged my appetite on Sweet Cream Thai Tea and their famed dessert, Fried Banana Spring Rolls - yummy!

The weather here has been picture perfect. I just love open-window days. And we took advantage of that by going to our first baseball game this season. Saloni did great and I got to munch through the game on an old-time snack...Cracker Jack. I haven't had that in years! It was a lot of fun.

It was too hard to part with any of Saloni's old clothes as I raked through her closet for potential gender-friendly clothes that her brother can soon wear. I luckily found lots. But in that mix, even though one day I have to donate them, there were too many memories attached to each onesie and top and food-stained outfit that I packed them back in her closet. She even wanted to wear some of the clothes and we both had a good laugh about that!

Recently, I took Saloni to the butterfly festival at Tree Hill Nature Center. It was hot and crowded and we both got sick from the heat and walking around. She did have fun holding the butterflies but after eating real junk food (lemonade, french fries and a funnel cake) we wallowed back to the car and were both feeling yucky. And as you can see from my pregnant girth, need I add more calories?

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It was nice to just rest today and the three of us enjoyed breakfast and dinner on the patio with the cool wind blowing past us. It's feasts like this that no five-star restaurant could ever provide. I hope to better about writing more often, but this is the gist of the past couple of weeks. The fact is...there's always something to get fixed. Something to get done. And something to enjoy. How it all gets mixed in a week is always a surprise. But when you sit back on your sofa reflecting on the things with your family, well, you know it makes those "somethings" a little bit easier.

Showering in the Little One

I'm a bit behind in posting these wonderful photos. My beautiful friend Sujata threw me a baby shower with all of my closest friends in March. I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful afternoon. Her home was decorated with balloons and blue and white streamers of footprints and baby bottles and the most adorable diaper cake. And what a menu! My favorite appetizers and pasta dishes, adorable cupcakes and tiramisu topped off with coffee. I wish I could have stayed longer. Her own due date is just 10 days ahead of mine. So we are both basking in the glow as well as apprehension of what's to come. Her son Rohan just turned one this year and Saloni will be three in September, so the joys of second time Mommy hood are around the corner.

I wish I could live this afternoon over again...just for the tiramisu! And the company...

The games and gifts were equally exciting.

Mango Season vs. Motherhood

I suppose the title to this blog makes it obvious that one of the seasons is temporary while the other is everlasting. Today I looked at this photo and wondered of all the requests and commands I ask of Saloni how she always manages the best smile right back. Not all hours of the day mind you! But when she does smile, when she does giggle, nothing else matters.

"Please sit on the sofa. You're too close to the TV. Saloni you've had too much apple juice. Can you please clean up here? Put your shoes on. Can you please hurry up? We do one activity at a time. What happened to your hairpins? We don't scream at the dinner table. Saloni can you be quiet for five minutes? No, we're not watching that show again. It's night night time. No talking. Why are you throwing your Lego? Saloni, feet off the table please....."

At the end of the day, I wonder if I'm exhausted physically from her energy levels or from the list of requests I've had to throw her way. The thing is, I'm a huge disciplinarian and manners and good social skills are so important to me. Put me in a room of scholars and I might start to yawn. But put me in a room of smart socially-adept individuals and I'm all ears. Of course, her grades will be important one day, but for now, I can't help but want to instill as much good behavior as possible. I was talking to a friend about the fine line of being your kid's friend vs. parent. There the friendship days when I let her have ice cream for breakfast and watch an Elmo DVD three times in a row and then there's the parental moments of clean up time and going to bed on time.

My season of motherhood will last a lifetime. But these moments of joy and exhaustion, clean up times and ice cream times are like mango season (which I'm loving right now). Temporary and fleeting. So I'm trying my best to hang onto the sweetness of it all no matter how tired I get. Or as Saloni says to me when I lie down on the sofa, "It's okay Mummy, you'll be okay, I'll massage you." No licensed therapist can beat the touch of her little hands. And if it's true that we are what we eat, ice cream for breakfast will just make her even sweeter.

The Perfect Weekend

The forecast was rain. But the weather did anything but dampen our spirits. It was time to play local tourist and get away from the laundry, the dishes and the mail and relax in a local hotel for some r&r. It started Friday night with a wonderful dinner (just the two of us) at Cantina Laredo while Saloni was having fun with Daada and Daadi (her very smitten grandparents). We came back for some last minute packing and checked into the Sawgrass Marriott around 9:30pm.

It was bliss. We both had spa treatments on Saturday and I was able to take Saloni to the farmers market to take advantage of mango season. Sixteen mangoes for $9 = one happy mom-to-be. We all took a nice long nap and went out to dinner at Joseph's Pizza at the beach. If you live in Jax, you've got to try their Italian donuts - talk about yummy. We then braved the wet winds and took a stroll on the beach collecting shells and memories along the way. We love checking out houses, so we drove around getting ideas while Saloni reminded us it was time to get back to the hotel.

Sunday morning we enjoyed round two of the breakfast buffet. To burn off some the off the delicious calories we went for a walk around the property and got onto the swing and slide for fun. Even though we soon after checked out, the relaxing weekend didn't end there. We came home for a monster nap after which Sunil went to hit some balls at the driving range and I caught up on my favorite pastime...reading magazines.

It was a weekend we looked forward to for a while and I couldn't be happier with everything we did and didn't do. If you're looking to get away, you can find the perfect place just minutes from your home and still feel miles away.

Just Can't Put it Down

I'm definitely not one to give book reviews. As those of you that know me know that I'd rather read my allotment of monthly magazines than pick up anything with a spine full of pages. But a while back, I picked up a book called "Happy Housewives" by Darla Shine. And now, each night, a few pages of this and I'm revived to in the joys of being home. Her words make you stop whining, nagging, bickering and feeling "housey and lousy". It celebrates the joys of being at home and being a homemaker while shunning the portrayal that the media gives of women at home.

Let's give thanks to this author and people like Martha Stewart who treat the art of keeping home as a respectable profession vs. a role of pajama-wearing, TV-watching naggers. I love being home as much as I enjoy being out and about. I have tremendous respect for those that choose to be home and raise their kids on their own, cook, clean and love their husbands.

I will never understand the pleasure women find in sitting at a table whining endlessly about how their husbands won't do this or that. Ever eavesdrop on men's conversations? Their sharing stock secrets, sports scores and much more interesting details about life than these petty women. As I step down from my soapbox now but I hope that many of you will agree with me. My mom was always home when I came home from school or from work and I loved that feeling that she imbued in the house of family dinners and cleanliness and comfort. Why it is looked down upon today I don't know. Sure, it's great to work and balance home at the same time. And I know many women work to help support the family or further their career. But I raise a glass to those that are home because there is an invisible investment that only us homemakers know will last a lifetime. And oh, I'm writing this in pajamas, but that's only because it's 11:28pm.