New identity, new citizenship, new passport

Today I am going to become an American officially. I am going to pledge my allegiance to the United States of America - Land of the Free and Home of the Brave!! I can't believe that I am going through with this and really have mixed feelings about it. Hence the blog - to just help me sort out my feelings. Don't get me wrong, I am happy that the United States has accepted me to be her citizen but part of me wants to be identified as both Indian and American. So for starters, I can never ever vote in India again - but I was eligible to vote for the past 13 years and how many times did I cast a vote you might ask - NEVER! Yah that's right, I never got a chance to cast my vote. I will have to get a VISA to go to my country (or a PIO or OCI card whatever that is) and I think this is what's bothering me the most. But the bright side is I don't need VISA to enter a lot of other countries with an American Passport - good thing I love to travel and this works in my benefit. So come to think of it, I remember my struggle to get a student visa very very very well, so why am I complaining now? I don't know, may be because I have to complain about something and have some drama :) :). Ok, I think I will look at it as yet another immigration documentation to get done with! And then I will keep thinking about a post on how women love drama in their life for a later time and that will be my first post as an American!

I Love India and I Love America!

Yay, we did it!

So finally my team -UNTITLED1- (that was our team name btw) - got an official title - THE BIGGEST LOSERS OF CLUB-O. We lost 4.69% body weight as a team. DH came in 5th with a loss of ~14% weight and I was somewhere in the top ten with ~10.05% loss. I lost 6.5% body fat and DH lost a whopping 8% body fat. This sure transformed our lives. It was a great feeling yesterday walking up that aisle and taking the prize and while everyone was really admiring us. We really did it as a team. Funny story about the team name. When we had to come up with a team name to register we all came up with a lot of ideas but none of us could agree with the other one. So I had the details of the team on a notepad file and when I was about to close it I got the prompt if I wanted to save UNTITLED1 and viola I made that as our team name. Turns out everyone thought that it was the best team name in the competition and also the funniest.

Final Week on The Biggest Loser

We are into the final week of our competition - The Biggest Loser - at Oracle. AND our team is currently in #1 position. We were all trying to come up with strategies to win it all by losing it all. Our team name is UNTITLED1- your truly's creation - and we are hoping to be finally saved as "THE BIGGEST LOSERS". But we have to wait until May 7th to find that out. Either way, I think we did win it all as we all lost what we wanted to and everyone's raving how good we look now. It feels good to fit into a size 4-6 dress after all. DH lost about 11% of his body weight and I lost close to 9%. Now the real challenge is to maintain this weight loss. 

So, good luck team! Here's to winning!

A few conversations with a certain 2.5 yr old

Mommy: You are the light of my life darling
DS: No mommy, look light! pointing the light in the ceiling
Mommy: Hahahaha :)

Daddy: Dear do you want to have breakfast?
DS: I don't want to have breakfast, I don't need to have breakfast, I don't have to have breakfast
Daddy: Point duly noted!

Daddy: (Looking at a project he did at school) Did you make these hens
DS: yes daddy
Daddy: What are they doing?
DS: Eating those eggs
Daddy: Honey, hens don't eat eggs, they lay eggs and we eat them
DS: No daddy. I lay the eggs and hens eat them!!!!
Daddy:!!!!!!!!!!!

Daddy and Mommy watching Election Night results on Nov 4th: Whoo Hoo! It's President Obama
DS: No! It's Barack Obama
Mommy and Daddy: !!!!!!!!!!!

More to follow :)

A field trip and a bunch of emotions!

DS who is barely 2.5yrs old had his first field trip with his little friends and teachers to Sulphur Creek Nature Preserve and ofcourse his chopper mommy chaperoned!! I took the day off from work yesterday to accompany DS and his friends on this field trip. We were supposed to arrive at the school by 8:45am and that's a challenge as DS refuses to cooperate in the mornings and I hate to make him cry in the morning so usually I play along and let him take his own sweet time. So yesterday morning as soon as we woke up (at our usual 7am) I told him that if he behaves like a good boy and co operate with mommy then mommy and DS could go on a field trip along with his friends. He asked me to make sure that mommy is not going to Owacle (his word for Oracle) and if she is really going to spend the whole day with him and I said yes. so he played happily along with me and we were out the door by 8:35am. So by 8:45 we reached the preschool and I just took him out of the car and we walked into the class. Once we were in I wanted to remove his jacket and bent down only to see little tears rolling down my sweetheart's cheeks and it about broke my heart. Totally surprised I asked him why he was sad and he told me "No pweschool or owacle mommy, only field twip" and that's when I realized that I did not set the expectations right and I should have told him that we will have to board the bus in his school. The next 10 mins were just plain horrible. All his three teachers tried to tell him that we are all going but my little guy kept crying - not too loud mind you - that silent cry which literally breaks your heart bcoz you can feel his pain and disappointment and yet don't know how to console him!!! So after 10 mins - what seemed like eternal - the bus came by and then the same little guy who was silently crying was all smiles and jumping up and down singing "wheels on the bus go"...So we went to the preserve and he had the time of his life there. This isn't the first time that he went to a zoo or that he saw animals but he absolutely loved it and I think I know why - his mommy was with him and his little friends and teachers spending a day out and it's not a weekend. He kept telling me "I love you way too much mommy" through out the trip, kissed me every opportunity he got and gave me the best hugs in the world. So I realized how much he truly misses us during daytime and how much he loved doing that little outing yesterday. That time off from work was the best I ever had!!!!! AND for a change none of my project deadlines or piled up work came to my mind even for a single second - well - atleast not until he went to bed at 10pm last night!!!

Sick DH + Hyper Toddler + Warm Weather + Dead Line on a project = One Tired Woman

Hmm may be I am not such a good blogger after all!! Life as I know it has been so crazy and on a roller coaster ride the past few weeks. Work's gotten hectic and DS was down with another bout of lung/ear infection - my poor baby is not catching a break this season and then DH came down with a nasty nasty viral fever. It literally ate him up so much so that he is down 10 pounds in one week. He is a 6.2ft man and well built too but he just couldn't stand on his two feet for more than a few seconds...So between taking care of him and helping DS burn energy thanks to the beautiful Bay Area weather this past weekend and cooking for the week and delivering my projects on time at work I am exhausted. I am sooo looking fwd to the weekend now so I can relax and may be even get some retail therapy.

On the weight loss, like I said DH lost 10 pounds to a total of 20 pounds so far (8.6% of this body weight) and I shed another 2 pounds - not bad considering I barely got time to do my intense workouts. If DH can maintain his weight loss then he might win it all and we might get the weekend getaway afterall and also the team prize - A FREE MASSAGE!!! 4 more weeks to go and I have decided to rev up my workouts and also watch everything that's going into my mouth.

Rainbows

This past week it has been raining a lot in the Bay Area - much needed rain so we don't have to kill our lawns in summer - and the rain brought along so many rainbows. There were days when we spotted even two rainbows at once. I love these little enhanting arcs from mother nature a lot. Growing up in India it was a very rare sight to spot a rainbow and on the very rare occassion that we did it was the topic of conversation the next day in school. But this week DH and I spotted one every single day on our way to work and it kinda brightens my day. I tried helping DS spot it too but for him he expects a rainbow in the perfect shape like in his books and so he could not spot them at all. However, he would spot something else that looks like an arc and would scream "Vainbow mommy" and I know it's not the real one because he would be looking in the opposite direction. Hey, whatever makes him happy right!! Now if only I can find that leprachaun and the pot of gold that's at the end of the rainbow my day(s) would be even more brighter.

Onto the weight loss journey - DH has been getting a lot compliments of late from co-workers on how good he looks and I have to admit it he is looking hotter by the day! Watch out ladies - I might have the best looking man with the best heart ever! As for me, I am down one dress size and would love to go down one more. 10 more pounds and I will be where I was 10 years ago when I graduated from college..