Pumpkin Picking

One thing or the other kept me busy all these days but we are finally back! Megha has started to feel better but still on antibiotics. I seem to have caught some of the flu like symptoms too and I don't feel very well :(

However, this weekend (29th Sept), the weather is so good that we could not possibly stay indoors! Poor dad though, he stayed back fixing the roof.

Just like the last 3 years, this year too we went pumpkins picking from a near by farm. Just like the last 3 years, we got the dates mixed up and we could not pick our own pumpkin.

She had her snack near the pumpkins.

We ended up buying what the farmer had already picked. When I mentioned this to him, he told that Megha and i are welcome to go to the farm and hang out. I was soooo glad! This was the first time Megha was going to a farm! I put her in her stroller but the walk to the farm was very bumpy. Oh well, it's a farm after all. I showed Megha all kinds of pumpkins and she listened intently. Lol! 

After that, we went to Willi's Apple Farm to pluck our own apples. Did I ever mention that Megha loves apple sauce? She does! We buy apples from Costco but when I tasted the apples which the farmer offered to me, the taste was waaaay better than costco's. I have to make apple sauce from the apples we picked today; I am very exited!

 The farm was huge and the stroller ride into the farm was bumpy again.

 Megha loved this farm though. She was gazing at the apples and the children who have come to collect around.

We went there around 11 am but by then most of the apples were gone. But of course we found some. I tried to select the best apples!

 This was my first time too into an apple farm. I selected the ripe ones and I hope they taste as good as the ones i tasted with the farmer.

We bought 5 pounds; have to make the sauce now. Over all, a great morning. The only thing missing was dad; we wish he were there too. 

A sad day

I think a child falling sick is one of the worst nightmares a parent goes through, at least once in a life time. We are here right now. Megha wasn't herself at all since Monday last week (03 sept) and by Thursday she got progressively worse. She had a little fever but by Thursday (6th) she also picked up cold and cough. Before she went to bed on Thursday night, we gave her Tylenol; about 7 pm. I thought her fever would get in control with it, which it did. The problem was that the cold and cough were persistent and by 10:00 pm, she had severe cold. I gave her 1 ml cough medicine thinking I will repeat the dose at midnight if it doesn't come down. It didn't. So I have her another dose and she seemed a little better but not to the extent that i can sleep with her too. I had to keep comforting her every 5 minutes until Anand came in at 2 am so that I can get some sleep until 6 am.

The next day, we were taking Megha to Walt Disney World in Florida. This is supposed to be her first ever ride in an airplane and first ever travel outside of Canada. 

When Anand came in at 2 am, she seemed ok but I guess her condition was becoming bad to worst. When he fed her milk at 2:30 am, she had only 30 ml; even that she vomited. He woke me up immediately as he felt that her vomit was kettle-water-hot and she was burning up with high fever. He panicked and started yelling but I had to stop and think what to take to the emergency; when one is panicking, the other has to think. That way, Anand and I make perfect couple. When I panic, he becomes the voice of reason. 

Anyway, off we went to the emergency with Megha in toe at 2:45 am on Friday morning. There was no one waiting at the triage and I thought we would be attended to right away. I should have known by now, it doesn't work that way. 

A nurse monitored Megha's vitals and checked her temperature. Her vitals are good but her fever is still rising. She asked us so many questions and I answered as best as I could.

After that check up we were sent to the waiting room again. I was called in for some registration and I was asked all the questions again. Weird, the nurse before had answers for all the questions. Anyway.

After a long wait, meg was so tired that she fell asleep. As soon as she fell asleep we were called in to get her admitted and wait for the doctor. Oh oh! That's not good. After another hour, another nurse came in to check on Megha. She asked the same questions we were asked while check in AND registration. She checked the fever too and at that point it had risen to 39.1. At about 7 AM finally the doctor came in to check on her. They couldn't give anything to meg right away because they wanted to know the source of fever before they begin treatment. For the 4th time, we were asked all the questions again. The doctor also ordered the blood work, urine culture tests, ECG, chest X-Ray and ultra sound for kidneys and bladder. At this point, A called the airlines and cancelled our tickets to Orlando, US.

The first nurse came in and "tried" to take Meg's blood. All along she was commenting about how chubby her hands are. She poked Megha 3 times (twice on each hand and once on wrist) and couldn't find the vein. Of course Megha was screaming in pain and it took everything in me not to cry out loud like her. She gave up after 3 tries and left Megha to "rest" for a bit. After 30 minutes she came back again with another nurse to try again. They held her tight and asked Anand to comfort her while I held her legs to prevent her from kicking the nurses. They tried the leg this time but still no luck. Megha continued crying. I kept counting backwards from 40. 40, 39, 38, 37....2, 1, 0. I opened my eyes and they still didn't finish with Megha. Trust me, with your baby crying so much, 40 seconds is a very long time. I started again, only this time it's 60, 59, 58...they poked her in 5 different places this time with not much of success to show. We were left to "rest" again.

We were then asked to hold Megha again. They wanted to put a catheter on to get urine. Baby started crying. I felt so bad for her. She was terrified with all the poking, hurting  going on with her. We were doing as best as we could to comfort her but honestly speaking, we ourselves needed some comfort. 

Around 11 am, Anand took Megha to the hospitals Tim Hortons (coffee place). I so wanted to talk to my mom and sister and share our plight. Mom was almost crying when she heard this. Anyway...

Anand was back in 10 minutes with Megha and she seemed to settle down a bit. I slept beside her on her bed and Anand dozed off too for 30 minutes. We all needed that. 

Soon after our 30 minute nap, we were called in for the x-ray. The technician explained that it's a pain-free thing but since we are dealing with a baby, the chest x-ray is different to watch. Megha was stripped down to her diaper and the little seat kinda thing on which she was kept was horrible to look at. It looked like she was like a little piglet being handled by ears. It was heart wrenching. The technician was very swift and the whole thing would have lasted maybe about a minute. One of the longest minutes In my life.  

We were sent back to wait for results and get the ultra sound. By then Meg must have cried so much that she was close to the stage of passing out. Ultra sound done but by the time we returned to our room the nurse was waiting to get the blood again!! My heart sank. It's like Megha is not being given any room to recover from one trauma and then pushed to another. Thankfully this time the nurse wasn't going to try the veins; she gave up. She poked Megu's tiny little thumb and slowly started taking one blood drop at a time. After she is done with one vial, she asked me to hold that vial and keep mixing it. Really? She wanted me to hold our daughters blood and mix it; I wasn't even prepared to look so much of it and suddenly I was being given a task of making sure that I mix it and hold it upright. I digress. After a certain point, no amount of counting works. We simply have to face the facts, as hard as it might be for parents.

By then the duty doctor who was attending Megha was off-shift and she said she was going to talk to another doctor and hand over Megha to him. It was about 1 pm then. All which was left was to wait for the results. Even when we put Megha on the bed to change her diaper, she started wailing: poor baby, she thought we were going to poke her again with the needle. Of course, we would too if we were held down and be poked for 9 times. 

The results were in. She has infection; I am not going to go into details but she has infection. She was prescribed antibiotics and we were given an appointment with the pediatrician the next morning. After more than 12 hours of intense pain, Megha, Anand and I headed home. All three of us were dead tired. Our friends in Milton were so nice, they brought us food so that  we don't have to cook. We didn't leave Megha alone even for a second for the next few days. Anand or I used to lie down beside her from 7 pm onwards. 

She is getting better but I still get nightmares that Megha is being troubled by nurses on and off. I think it will be a very long before I close my eyes and not see those flash scenes from the hospital. 

The weekend she was supposed to be in the Walt Disney Word, enjoying, she spent at the hospitals and waiting rooms. A sad day indeed.

Chicken for beginners (8 months)

Our doctor told that I can introduce chicken to Megha after she completes 8 months. So, for the first time today I made chicken for her. She seemed to like it. I didn't give her a lot though as this is the first time she is having it. Gave her maybe 1/4 breast.

You will need:
Skinless and boneless chicken breast: 1
Chicken broth: 1 cup (can substitute this with water but you might need to add salt)

Method:
Cut the chicken into bite size piece and boil in chicken broth until very tender. Do not over cook though. If we use broth, it has enough flavor in it and we don't have to add any salt or spices.
It tasted very nice and Megha gagged on the first bite but picked up and ate 1/4 chicken breast purée after that.

A trip to the Beach

Some of you know that our cottage lies (almost) in the tip of Bruce Peninsual. Over the last weekend in Aug, we took Megha to tip of the land; one side is Lake Huron and the other side is Georgian Bay. We had a little picnic there. Last year when my parents were here, it was raining cats and dogs and we couldnt go see the Flower Pot island in the peninsula. This year, since Meg is too litle, we decided we will postpone the boat ride for another year. We still had lots of fun though.

With dad; in the background is the cruise vessel to take us to the flowerpot island and other islands.

Megha enjoying the cold waters. We didnt swim here though; for one thing, the water was too cold and for another, we didnt feel comfortable in such big waters.

With Mom at the light house

usually we dont get to take pictures where we three are present; here is one of them.

 

The next day we went to a lake near by to our cottage. Its amazing how natural instincts come to play in unfamiliar terrains. Meg started kicking her legs and hands exactly the way we swim in water. This is the first time ever she is in a lake (Aug 26). She sure didnt behave like its her first time. I think it will be fairly easy to teach her swimming.

Her first merry-go-round ride. In-utero, she had been on this. But outside, its her first time.

If I have to choose just one thing which I really love about this place, its the proximity to nature. We have TV but we hardly ever watch there. Here is a picture of a baby kingfisher. Megha and I watch the birds through the window while having breakfast. Can a weekend get any better? I think not.

8 months already!!

How fast time flies by. This time last year my parents were here and we were all planning for my seemantham. It seems only like yesterday that I was pregnant and she was kicking me from inside. She was such a curious girl even in-utero. She used to poke me. Anand used to say, "please poke more"! It's his way of feeling the baby. Sometimes she used to poke too hard and it used to hurt, so gently I used to poke her back; which used to upset Anand so much. Well, his insides are not being poked! Lol

Back to Megha in the outside world. She turned 8 months on 15 Aug 2012. Below are the things she can do:

Things she does:
Can crawl backwards.
Can crawl sitting up.
Can roll all around the home like a ball
Can shout on top of her voice to get attention
Can switch off/on the lights when asked (of course I would be picking her up)
Can open/close the door when asked
Did I mention, can shout on top of her voice to get attention

Things she can say:
Mumumumum when hungry of thirsty
Screaming game which we both love and which Anand doesn't particularly love
Tata
Atta

Things she Loves:
One Two buckle my shoe rhyme
Watching Jake and the never land pirates
Watching baby Einstein dvd's
Mango puree
Licking her dad's head and face
Biting on my footwear
The sunflower musical toy and Sophi, the giraffe
Our morning walks
The swing in the park
most importantly, playing on Anand's and my lap
gentle cleaning of her ears; she enjoys it somehow. 

Things she dislikes:
Food with texture (she likes smooth puree's)
Sunshine on her face
Dad kissing her while being unshaven
Drive after a meal. In fact it makes her sick.
Cleaning her nose after shower

Her Routine:  Its very consistent. Very predictable baby.
Wake up at 6:45
Breakfast, usually cereal at 7:15
Nap at 8:30
Playtime at 9:00
Snack time at 9:45
Walking time at 10:00 (On Mondays and Thursdays,day care for 1 hour since this week)
Nap time at 11:30...since 3 days she has left it
Lunch time at 12:30
Afternoon nap at 1:45
Wake up at 3:35
Snack time at 4:15
Shower at 5
Walking or playing inside until dinner
Dinner time at 6
Cuddles and hugs with dad until bad time
Sleepy time at 7:00

Her Food:
Breakfast is always Nestle Gerber Cereal
Snack is usually fruit or yogurt
Lunch is some kind of vegetable puree
Dinner is rice with dal or veggies or lentils

Mango and avocado purée

I cannot believe that I haven't tried this all these days! Avocado and mango purée is so yum that I decided today that I will make this as a dip for us (Anand and I) as well. I made it this morning but I didn't give it to Megha yet. We are going to the cottage tonight and she will be having this for lunch tomorrow. I am pretty sure she will LOVE this as she loves mango and avocado separately. If she doesn't like it, I will update this page.

I am sure Ragini will like this too as the richness of avocado perfectly compliments the sweetness of a mango.

You will need:
Mango: 1, choose a sweet ripe one
Avocado: 1, choose the one which is ready to be eaten today or tomorrow

Method:
Peel the mango and cut into cubes. Take the avocado pulp out. Place both of them in a blender and puree until desired smoothness.

Yummy yum!

Pumpkin and apple purée for 8 months

I have been meaning to give this to Megha for a long time now. Since fall is almost on its way, I though it high time I give this to her so that when fall is truly here, I can make things like pumpkin soup etc.

There is a special twist to this; I specially added this for the benefit of Baby Ragini, my friends daughter. She likes her food sweet and hence this special dish to pacify her sweet tooth. Hope Ragini likes it as much as Megha did. I made this for lunch but Megha tasted this as snack.

You will need:
Apples: 1 cup (appr 1 apple)
Pumpkin: fresh or canned pie pumpkin, 1/2 cup. You can also use pie pumpkin purée
Vanilla essence: 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon:  1/4 tsp (you can reduce this if you want)
Apple juice: 1/2 cup (to make it sweeter)

Method:
Peel and core the apples and cut into small pieces
Peel and chop the pumpkin into small pieces. If you are using canned or frozen, that's fine too. I used pie pumpkin pulp.
Place apples and pumpkin in a sauce pan and add vanilla essence, cinnamon and apple juice.
Cook on medium flame; stir occasionally until apples are properly cooked. Take about 20 kins
Cool and purée

Tips:
Choosing the sweetest apples is the trick. I used royal gala apples
If you want to sweeten this further, you can add dates syrup but that might overpower with sweetness.

Megha had her first taste today. She is ok with it.
Make sure to use pie pumpkins.