My Inner Shakti

finding strength in everyday things

Weekend Things – Catnaps, Friends, (No) Santa and More

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Ahhh another weekend came and went. I know I’ve always been like ‘guys, time is flying by,’ but with two kiddos, time is REALLY flying. Vishnu and I joke (kind of) that we look at the clock and it’s 7 am and when we look again in five minutes it’s 12 pm and then 7 pm. And then boom it’s the next day – rinse and repeat!

This weekend was no different. It was a little more packed than usual but still fun.

On Friday morning, my best friend texted and asked if we wanted to get together for dinner that night. Her, her husband and her daughter came over, and we had so much fun talking, playing, and eating. For years, we’ve talked about how great it will be when we live closer to each other, and I’m so thankful that time is now. There’s nothing better than having a core group of friends that are more like family. It’s also so crazy to see some of my best friends become parents. Weren’t we just in college the other day with no responsibilities, no real insight into what was to come…?

On Saturday morning, Vishnu and Kaiden headed out pretty early for a breakfast with Santa with another friend, her husband, and their son. Kaiden was really looking forward to seeing his friend and Santa (or so I thought), but Vishnu called and told me that Kaiden refused to step near Santa and didn’t want a picture with him. Given our past positive experiences with Santa, I was a little surprised by this, but oh well…there’s always next year! They headed to a nearby park afterwards and had so much fun. K was exhausted by the time his head hit his pillow – a sign of a good time!

While Vishnu attempted to get K to go near Santa, I tried to conquer Ms. Mila and her catnaps. Not sure what’s going on, but our great little sleeper is not such a great daytime napper anymore. I’ve been reading more about wake windows and planning to be stricter about those this week. Fingers crossed that we hit a better groove with her, but we’ll see! I didn’t know about wake windows with K (or many other things), and while I’m thankful to have more knowledge this time around, it almost feels worse having a name for it. Ha…you can’t win!

A resource I found online that I’m following. Wish us luck!

On Sunday, my in laws came over in the morning and hung out with us for a few hours. Again, it’s so nice to have all our loved ones so so close. Makes everything so much easier!

And one again, Vishnu and K headed to piano and I tried my best to get Mila to nap (no dice!). Piano went well at least! K learned how to play Jingle Bells, but of course, he wouldn’t play for me when he got home.

And that was our weekend in a nutshell. Nothing crazy and totally normal and just the way I like it (except the naps…I want her to sleep more!).

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Weekend Recap – Diwali, Netflix, and Family Pics

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First and foremost, I’m really really hoping to bring back old school blogging on this space. I used to share here so frequently with updates, life happenings, more topical posts, etc. But with how much blogging has changed over the years, I didn’t think that was really what people wanted to read. Welllll…I’ve decided that if people don’t want to read those kinds of posts, they won’t click over. If I want to keep MIS the blog alive, I need to write about the things that interest me.

With that, here’s a little rundown of our weekend…

Friday

Friday was Vishnu’s last day of paternity leave. Oh man! I have so many emotions about this. I told him I wish he got 16 weeks like me and made him laugh. As much as he’s enjoyed being home for the past few weeks, I think he’s really looking forward to going back and using his brain in a different way.

I wish I could say we did something special to celebrate his time at home and return to work, but we didn’t. With Mila on an every 2.5-3 hour feeding schedule, time just flies by. It’s like we go from 7 am to 12 pm in a matter of minutes.

While we didn’t celebrate during the day, we did go to my parents’ house for a family Diwali dinner on Friday night. It was so much fun hanging out with everyone, catching up, and eating some delicious food. My mom was the hostess with the mostess – her decor was beautiful and so welcoming. We ended our time there by reading some of Kaiden’s favorite Diwali books (the adults loved this too!).

When we got home, Vishnu put Mila down and then we watched Sex Education on Netflix (such a great show by the way) while I pumped.

Saturday

Saturday was a slow day overall. We ‘slept in’ until about 8/9 am because Kaiden spent the night at my parents’ house, so we could go back to sleep after Mila’s morning feed. Felt so good! But I missed my older guy a lot.

Again, the day passed by in 3 hour increments with some Sex Ed. mixed in here and there along with a few pumping sessions. Before we knew it, my parents were dropping K back off because we had a family photo session in the morning.

Vishnu and I finished Sex Ed. that night. Good news…season 4 is coming soon…yay!

Sunday

Sunday morning was probably the most hectic of all. Convincing Kaiden to put his sweater on took 30 minutes! Then I had to get ready – iron my dress, straighten my hair, and put on my makeup. Thankfully, we were all ready by 10 am which is when our photographer arrived.

Don’t let this picture fool you! Was literally sweating during our photo session…and was just a little frazzled!

The session itself was so much fun! Kaiden kept everyone on their toes with his silly expressions and movements, but I’m positive we got a few frame worthy shots!

The rest of the day involved coloring and some time outside (66 degrees!).

A few notes

Taking care of one kid versus two is much much easier (duh!), but you don’t realize how much easier until your parents take one off your hands for a night. I missed Kaiden so much…he keeps things interesting around here and can be a bundle of fun (90% of the time). But he had a really fun time with my parents. In fact, he didn’t want to come home at all. If we didn’t have pictures, I would’ve let him stay another night.

Sleep is critical. Always. But especially when you have young kids. The irony here is that when you have young kids, sleep is hard to come by. I definitely need to find a way to squeeze in a couple of more hours because 4-5 hours of broken sleep a night isn’t cutting it.

Most people may already know this, but it took me by surprise so I’m sharing – if you’re seeing a therapist and you end up rehashing a lot of what’s been going on for you lately, those emotions will all be front and center all day. I had a session last Thursday and felt off the rest of the day emotionally. I think it’s because we talked at length about my second hospital stay, overall emotional state, etc. Also, while I believe in the power of acknowledging and validating, I don’t always hear those things from many people in my life. So to hear my therapist A/V me a ton, it just meant so much.

Well, that’s all I have for today! Hope y’all had a great weekend.

Weekend Recap – The One Before Baby Girl

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This was our last weekend as a family of three! It’s hard to believe she’ll be here so so soon (starting this post on Saturday night). I wanted to document this time because I’m sure I’ll look back in the near future and want to recall some memories.

In some ways, this was the exact weekend we wanted/needed. And in other ways, it wasn’t what I imagined it would be.

FRIDAY

Friday was mine and Vishnu’s last day of vacay. We dropped Kaiden off to school in the morning and headed to the hospital for my Covid test…a pretty simple process. Vishnu dropped me off at home afterwards and headed out for more errands (Costco run, gas, car wash). And I sat my butt on the couch and watched Baby Sitter’s Club on Netflix (season 2 was just released!).

Once VIshnu was home, we ate lunch and headed to our final doctor’s appointment. The appointment went well overall. We had an ultrasound done (love this part!) and a stress-test, which took forever. Apparently, baby girl was moving a ton so that kept messing up a part of the results. We were there for 2 hours!

Once home, I reparked my butt on the couch and watched another BSC episode. Before I knew it, it was time to go get Kaiden (which Vishnu did because at this point, I’m not driving or going anywhere I don’t absolutely have to).

Then…it was play (mostly draw and color/run around), dinner (I made a pineapple, tofu, coconut rice dish. Kaiden ate rice and small bites of everything else), bath, PT exercises, and bed.

Vishnu and I settled in on the couch (yet again) and watched two episodes of Sex Education (on Netflix). Loving this show so far!

SATURDAY

Saturday morning started off fun, with Kaiden letting me lay in his bed for about an hour while he played. This was much needed because mama has not been sleeping that well at night.

We then hit a rough patch or two with Kaiden and some frustrations over what seemed like small things to me at least. But I kept my cool and we rode that wave relatively quickly.

We then ate breakfast and let Kaiden watch a bit of TV which Vishnu and I adulted over some health insurance stuff! Ha!

The next couple of hours were spent running around (Kaiden…not me!), making some snacks for K for next week, and setting up a few more things around the house before baby girl arrives!

Our after lunch plans were to get some custard at a local place, but I was so tired and pretty much couldn’t get off the couch. Kaiden and Vishnu both told me it’s ok and that we could get custard tomorrow (Sunday). Love my boys.

Kaiden then watched Moana while I napped on the couch next to him. This is where things didn’t go the way we planned. This was supposed to be a family movie we watched together. I just couldn’t keep my eyes open. Exhausted doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt! Luckily my little guy was very forgiving and didn’t mind watching on his own.

To make it up to him, we spent the next hour or so learning how to draw Moana from a YouTube video. I have to say, I’m not a super artistic person, but I really enjoy drawing and coloring, especially with Kaiden. It’s kind of our thing now!

I quickly pulled together a lunchbox dinner for K while Vishnu went to grab some food for the two of us. And of course, we listened to Moana songs while we ate!

Then came bath and PT exercise time. Not my finest moment to be honest. Kaiden is great at paying attention when he wants, but then when it comes to something he needs to do, he definitely zones out and goofs off (re: during his PT exercises). He knows that if he doesn’t do these every day he’ll have to wear special boots, which none of us want for him. We try to make it fun with songs and timers and whatever else we can, but sometimes it’s just so painful (for him and us). So yesterday, I just kind of lost it. I did some repair before bed, but this kid really knows how to push my obviously big buttons. We’re working on it!

After putting Kaiden to bed, I took a quick shower, Vishnu finished up Squid Games, and then the two of us settled in to finish off season one of Sex Education. It’s so good, y’all!

SUNDAY

Our last day before baby girl arrives! Sunday started a little later than normal for me because Vishnu and K let me sleep in a little. Then Kaiden got in bed with me to snuggle (never happens!) and was just so sweet. Brought tears to my eyes (and made me feel better about the night before).

We then came downstairs, ate breakfast, and got some things done around the house while Kaiden played and ran around. Tried my best to appreciate this because I know things are about to be verrrrry different for a while. Reminding myself that nothing lasts forever…enjoy it while it lasts.

The rest of the day included pumpkin carving (styrafoam from Target!), piano lessons (Kaiden loved his first lesson and his teacher), custard (finally!), and more cuddles with our soon to be big bro!

My parents are staying with Kaiden this week, since we’ll probably be at the hospital until Wednesday or Thursday. So thankful for them!

Also, I may have teared up quite a bit saying goodnight to Kaiden. So much so that even he teared up a little (not knowing why). So many emotions! So excited for him to meet his baby!

Last Full Weekend in Chicago

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I took a big exhale as I typed out the title of this post! I can’t believe the less than one week countdown is on. So bittersweet in so many ways, but also just so very sweet.

I wanted this weekend to be full of family time. While Kaiden and I leave next weekend, Vishnu doesn’t come until 12 days later when his fellowship ends.

Friday

Friday was a good day overall. I worked, ran some errands, and baked mini cheesecakes (because I wanted to!). We had a simple dinner, not so simple bedtime routine (because Mr. K didn’t want to go to bed!), and a night of television hopping. We started with an HBO show called Starstruck, moved on to the a docuseries called The Windsors, and ended the night with some Jason Statham movie. Well, Vishnu did anyways. I fell asleep about 25 minutes into The Windsors!

Saturday

Saturday ended up starting later than I expected. Closer to 7:30! Kaiden decided to sleep in a little!

As soon as he woke up, he reminded me that we forgot to wrap daddy’s presents, so that’s what we did first thing. Then we delivered the presents to daddy in bed, ate breakfast, got ready, and went to brunch.

Y’all! M Henry is a must try little place in Andersonville. The food was fantastic! Vishnu and I couldn’t get enough of the Blackberry Bliss Pancakes we ordered for our table.

We then headed to my sister’s place for the next few hours where we sat and talked and caved to Kaiden’s demands! Her SIL graduated from undergrad, so her in-laws were in town. We hadn’t seen them in a long time, and it was fun to catch-up…and I think they enjoyed Kaiden’s shenanigans!

We now had a tired boy on our hands who skipped his nap, which meant a quick dinner, no bath, and an intended early bedtime. Bedtime didn’t happen any earlier than normal, but he fell asleep right away, so there’s that!

I spent the next few hours reading on the couch and starting this blog post while Vishnu watched some Angelina Jolie movie.

Sunday

Sunday started off with pancakes and fruit. We then got ready and headed to the park to launch rockets and swing. I’m pretty sure Kaiden was a little disappointed because none of his friends could make it. He kept asking me who he should play with, and when I would say, me or daddy, he would reply with, “But I want to play with my friends!”

We eventually convinced him to come home, and then it was lunch, nap, workout for mama, wake up, and more park time. We launched rockets with K’s friend Roger, and they also chased each other around with Roger’s bubble guns.

We ended the day/weekend with dinner, bath time (much much needed), and little bedtime drama per the usual!

Overall, our last full weekend in Chicago was a great one! Lots of time outside and with family.

Hope y’all had a good one too!

Edwards Apple Orchard

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It’s been a minute since I’ve checked in on here. Honestly, this space is taking the back seat right now, but I’m staying true to my word and checking in when I can.

I wanted to share about our day trip to Edwards Apple Orchard because it exceeded all of our expectations. And most importantly, Mr. Kaiden had an amazing time!

Vishnu and I decided that we wanted to visit an orchard, but we were a little (lot!) late to the game. A lot of the nearby orchards are closed for the season. Vishnu did a bit more research and came across Edwards Apple Orchard. The website looked great and there were three varieties of apples still available for picking.

The only con was that Edwards is 86 miles from where we live in the city. But we decided to go for it. We brought our own lunch since the restaurants are closed, and headed out fairly early.

We got there around 10:45 and headed straight to the area where the tractors meet you to go picking. The first thing I noticed was how everyone was wearing a mask. Phew! One worry off the list. The second thing I noticed was just how beautiful this orchard was, and how well organized the place seemed. The process to get our tickets, get on a tractor, and go to the orchard was super quick and easy. Everyone was social distancing, and it just seemed so seamless.

The orchards themselves still had plenty of delicious apples to pick from, and we definitely went to all three. We got a basket for $48 (up to 6 people) and filled it 3/4 of the way. Kaiden had the best time being on Vishnu’s shoulders to pick the highest apples!

After were were done picking apples, we headed back to the main area where the big store/barn is. Again, there was a line to get in with markers on the ground, and everyone was still wearing their masks. The barn itself was spacious and smelled like heaven (fresh donuts!). We got a few goodies – spicy strawberry jam, salad dressings, popcorn, etc. And of course, we couldn’t leave without getting a few donuts, which in my opinion were the highlight of the trip. So warm with a crispy sugar +cinnamon exterior and a soft pillowy interior. YUMMMMMMM!

We debated going to the huge pumpkin patch on site but decided to eat lunch and head home. We were hoping Kaiden would nap a bit on our way back, but he didn’t! Of course!

I can only imagine how magical this place is during non-Covid times, but because we had such a great experience, I wanted to share in case any of you are local readers and are looking for a new orchard to visit!

Thanks for a great experience, Edwards Apple Orchard!

Weekend Recap – Super Short

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…or it felt super short, I should say!

Vishnu and I both commented on how this weekend just flew by. I think that’s a direct reflection of how much easier it is to parent a 3 year old than a younger child. Maybe it’s just us, but while we still have our ups and downs with K, this age is just so much fun and easier to manage. Woo hoo!

Anyways, here’s a high-level overview of our weekend…

FRIDAY – productive, creamy mac n’ cheese (from a box!), Parks and Rec, Vishnu home late

SATURDAY – run with my sister, park time, lunch from Moti Cafe (so so), 2 hour nap (for me and K), simple dinner, ‘Love Wedding Repeat’ on Netflix (do not recommend!)

SUNDAY – park time with a friend, short nap (for K), quick grocery trip, delicious pasta dinner (by moi), more Parks and Rec (and lots of laughing out loud!)

Other things to note:

I hope you guys are ready for more coaching posts on here and on IG. I’ve been brainstorming topics and have so much to say!

Threenagers are a very real thing. VERY REAL!

While I was super impressed with my fellow Chicagoans resolve to wear a mask in enclosed spaces, I’m no longer impressed because people are slacking! I went grocery shopping this weekend and I saw people with the mask under their nose, under their chin, and surprise surprise hanging over one year. WHY!? IT’S NOT THAT HARD!

How is it AUGUST?! Like how?

I’m still loving my daily t-charts for my to do lists. I found the idea via Kamana Bhaskharan’s instagram account and it’s an amazing system! I’m so much more productive when I have my chart ready to go.

Ok, that’s all I have for today. Have a great Monday!

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Weekend Recap – Just the Two of Us

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This weekend was Vishnu’s first call weekend, which means he worked Friday until 9 pm, Saturday until 8 pm, and Sunday until 5 pm. It was just me and K for the most part…just the two of us!

And to be quite honest, it was actually a great weekend. Knowing I would be along with K for more than a day used to bring me a lot of anxiety, but now, it’s fun. We talk, we eat, we go out to play, we sleep, we watch TV…the best of friends!

Anyways, even though I was flying solo this weekend, I feel like it was pretty productive. Here’s how it went down!

Friday

I worked on Friday but was able to squeeze in a quick baking sesh before picking K up from school.

I made these scones and these muffins. HIGHLY recommend both!

Saturday

Saturday morning felt like it started earlier than normal with Vishnu’s pager going off twice a little after midnight! Oh vey. Not fun!

Thankfully, the rest of the day didn’t bring any big surprises. We went to the park in the morning for 1.5 hours – we blew bubbles, played with rocks, looked for sticks, ate apples, etc.

The only hiccup was that Kaiden refused to nap. I tried everything, but it didn’t work. I let him watch Frozen instead. You win some, you lose some I guess.

My biggest accomplishment from the day was finishing Well Behaved Indian Women. You guys, this book was everything I didn’t know I needed. So good! Highly recommend putting it on your reading list!

Dinner was another accomplishment. Mainly because K seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. We made Manali Cooks’ Instant Pot Hawaiian Tofu. SO GOOD!

Sunday

Sunday started early because Vishnu’s alarm went off at 5:45. My body wasn’t quite ready to get up, so I slept in until 7:20…because K slept in until 7:30!!! What a win!

We lounged around, until it was time for our play date with our friends Saranya and Ishaan. The boys ran around an empty parking lot until it started raining. We then moved the party inside and colored for while until it was time to go.

K ended up napping for 1.5 hours (WOO HOO!), so I worked out and showered. We then played for the rest of the day (some independent play, some mama play).

Vishnu got home a little after 5, so we got some extra family time as well which was nice because K hadn’t seem him in a couple of days!

And that, my friends, was our ‘just the two of us’ weekend! Thankful to have a cutie pie, fun little boy who loves to keep me on my toes. Never a dull moment, I tell ya!

Hope y’all had a good weekend!

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