Relishing the Present

The very first thing I want to say - no, I haven't disappeared because of the great event, it hasn't happened yet :) But of course anticipation and preparation made me a little less interested in some other things, sorry to say, in blogging too. I must be having loads to share, many pictures to post, and I will do this yet right before mid July... as of now I am slowly falling into some sort of renunciation while my body is getting ready to finally do what it has to and my mind is filled with emotion and unrest. We celebrated our 4th marriage anniversary on the 15th of June, and feeling blessed and grateful for our togetherness.

Me and D are also getting a little sad as our time we could spend only together is finishing to be replaced with a new kind of experience in which we will have to become even more caring, loving, tolerant and happy. So far the journey has been good for both of us, nature has been kind to me in terms of health, and we hope for a successful end of this period and a successful beginning of a new phase of life. I think that it is such a wit of nature it gives us whole 9 months to get used to new feelings and also plan things! If I could say I was not ready back then now I can't wait to kiss soft little cheeks and tiny fingers of our baby who will be entirely a creation of our own! We have prepared almost everything, and with a great help of my D's parents our room was repaired and now it is looking fresh and cozy :)  

I can proudly say that I have not been idle and am relishing:

1) lovely time with my D while shopping for our baby, attending counselling sessions, planning, enjoying evenings at home or outside, and so on! 

2) new dimensions of marriage

3) healthier food choices (which I hope to continue)

4) baby's movements and funny lumps formed by his body parts on my belly

5) love and care which multiplied

6) my clumsiness and a moment I have to take my belly in both hands in order to turn from one side to another (lol)

7) a thought of becoming a parent, and all good we can  teach and pass to a child (I hope it is good mostly)

What I understood while going through my pregnancy - be as active as you can (if health permits) and

this will save you from many discomforts both physical and mental. Having a support of your partner is very

very important too, I have been lucky to get it :) 

This post seems like it could be the last before I get back to my blog again (though I might make one right

before mid July). Till then, my dears, please bear with my absence. I will still be peeking into your posts

and reading as many of them as I can. I wish you to have days 

filled with happiness, pleasant moments, smiles of your loved ones and love of course! Keep on smiling and I

will keep on expecting ...

Last Friday Morning

Every day I get up to a lovely morning, not yet hot, slightly cool. It's been long time I wanted to take some snaps of my morning walk to the bus pick up point. And there are reasons for doing so. I didn't take photos of all possible interesting things, however tried to give you and impression of what the city we live in like. 

First as the path from our house leads me among the houses I can view how people manage their homes. I must say that in India those who have their own houses take really good care of them, and adorn their little front gardens with various beautiful flowers and gorgeous blooming trees and bushes. 

Like this bright orange ones which make a bright fence "cover".

Dahlias are very popular in our city. Mostly they are of a red color.

I couldn't miss this delicate lilly in one of the gardens.

Another dalhia - this kind are huge and have multilayered petals.

A nearly wild  rose bush with little roses of this dark pink color. 

Now as I filled my mind with color I continue strolling along the road, towards the market you can see afar. I will walk till those one storied buildings and to the left. It got really hot here, around +35 in the afternoon, though morning is still bearable. 

On the approach to the bus stop I take time to click a picture of these. (Please educate me again which flower it is). This wild bush can have flowers of different colors - red, pink, yellow, orange!

Here I reach the trees under which I usually wait for my bus and meet my co-workers leaving from the same spot. New translucent leaves appeared just two-three weeks ago, it was unusually "cold" the whole March. 

I am sporting my special maternity salwars - such a comfortable thing!

The bus picks me. I continue my morning riding along the city roads. At some point I realise that I need to include  my baby into this short photo shoot too. Here we are, 26 complete weeks. It looks big from the top, and round - I love it! 

                            

The 44 sector market - still closed, people lazily preparing for the day. All the markets in Chandigarh city look quite the same, so it is a problem sometimes for a new person to remember the way. I still cannot give you directions if you ask me (so ask somebody else :))

The city roads include round abouts which join them into a web around sectors. Sector 35 cross road and a round about.  

The same round about - notice how pretty it looks like! Every such has its own landscape design and plants growing in it. My parents liked these very much when they saw them and took many photos.

Just a glimpse of how the morning traffic can be - all possible vehicles in one place! It is crazy at times! You can see an auto rickshaw -  a small three wheeler, which makes loads of noise with its engine, and is one of the essential types of  transport in Indian cities.

Sector 26 vegetable market "mandi". It is always chaotic and crowded, and noizy, be it morning or evening. From here vegetable sellers purchase their lot, and then sell on the carts in the city.

Oh well, this is an IT park where I work. It is a huge territory with different offices, including mine. No, that one is not my office :) I go back along this road which takes me about 45 minutes.

Just before I get in the bus again and start that routine itinarery - a Jerusalem Thorn tree covered with yellow flowers which give away the sweetest fragrance I've ever felt!

Bye bye for now! See you next time with a bit of crochet in my blog finally. I am also sorry for not replying your comments, I read them all, but this week my office work is so hectic that I am too tired to switch on my home laptop in the evening. I look forward to the coming up weekend and hope the next week gets better. Hugs!

Awaiting Good

My blog has been enriched by one important topic recently - Baby. What is unavoidable, and baby keeps on popping up here and there, because he/she is always on my mind these days and days to come.
After giving it a thought I have decided to deliver in India because going to my native city will be of no use considering trip expenses and probable limited time my D would be staying there with me, and then my 2-3 months living at parents place before I could fly with a baby back here. Phew! Yea, it even sounds a little complicated.
So here I am ready to experience Indian hospitals and health care for the first time on a big scale. I am of a good opinion so far. Initially I had a really nice gynaecologist/obstetrician I found through one Russian-speaking friend, and who also spoke Russian as she studied in Belarus many years ago. It was a bliss for me! However I had to shift to a speciality maternity hospital and started showing there.I heard a lot about it from other girls who already went through their care and had good impression overall. Now I am more busy, doing the exercises after office and going to counselling sessions on weekends (together with D). I like it as it keeps me updated and aware as well as prepared.

I am at 26th weeks now and want to note for myself what good and bad effects of pregnancy I currently possess.

☁ Bad ones: ☁

1. Stretch marks - no, as of now. Using Indian Ayurvedic cream "Stretch NIL" and wonderfully smelling  "Parachute" coconut oil (which is much cheaper remedy than the first one). I know they don't help really, but I feel more confident with them.

2. Limbs swelling - Yea! I got it in my feet, a little. However all of it disappears during the weekend :)

3 .Pigmentation - no. Hope no at all.

4. Skin problems - significant reduction and overall face skin improvement - much softer and tenderer. 

5. Mood swings - oh yea! And also irritability with small things particularly and people's behaviour. 

6. Insomnia - no, so far. But baby sometimes starts being active when I am about to fall asleep.
7. Heartburn - not even a single time. Perhaps my diet is good.
8. Nausea - disappeared now, but was very inconvenient in the beginning.
Did I forget anything?
☼ Good ones: ☼
1. Better Hair - yes, feeling  much thicker hair because they simply don't fall!
2. Better Nails - grow faster and more strong. Consider all the calcium I consume.
3. Glowing skin - yes! I like my skin these days.
5. Mood uplift - some days is very significant, when  I feel my baby's kicks.
6. Eating healthier - definitely getting more nutrients and fiber, loads of fruits, and no alcohol at all (of course!).
7. Attention - well, people are more friendly now, but sometimes it annoys me when everyone smiles at me and looks at my bump. Some do it every day (office). See point 5 among bad effects.
8. More love - I feel more more and more love towards my D... and feeling loved and cared for in return. ❤
9.New plans - awaiting good new things to come :)
I suppose that's all, I could continue with smaller things but these are major, let me dwell on this.
Have a wonderful day, my dears! Thanks for all love and support, I appreciate it so!

Hobby Time

You know that I have already expressed my worry regarding ability to do hobbies after I get busy with my baby, but I am sure with time I will find some place for them too, just need to get used to new routine. Four days ago I started prenatal exercise classes after my office hours – a useful and a pleasant activity. I will be getting rid of feet swelling which has already begun a little, and also relief mild back aches. My belly is not that big yet ( I hope so) as to cause me much discomfort and I feel well too, but oh, I am so grateful for the time we live in – so many things to use for your benefit. My mom never attended such classes, she was anyways fine when pregnant with me, but who knows, may be many health problems could be avoided if those were available that time too.

As of now I am still free to do my hobbies anytime and anywhere. I don’t get much of work these days and pass my time in the office by reading books. Recently I finished “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott, “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte, I also found Hermann Hesse’s “Siddhartha” in the net, and read “The diary of a young girl” by Anne Frank. The latter shook me - may be not the best read during pregnancy, but what is done can’t be undone. I am still under impression of this story.

To other hobbies. Before New Year I found real pleasure in cross stitch. Since then I haven’t done much of the projects but I am not in a hurry. One of them I already presented. The cat became a part of a postcard I sent to my parents. I stopped with this hobby for a while, as well as other things, when I was in some kind of depression after pregnancy news (yes, now I know it was that).When my mind cleared and all the pregnancy related business took over me, I began enjoying myself again and renewed crochet and cross stitch too. 

Not long ago I made one simple cross stitch which is called Valentine’s birds, but due to the limited number of cotton colors I had, it turned out of a different style, though I like it this way and want to use such color combination (or black and blue, pink and so on) for other projects in future.

After that a wonderful (as I consider it) thought came to my mind to cross stitch a Russian doll! I wanted to have a Russian doll in my house for long, but only now realized this small dream. I purchased gorgeous colors of Anchor and Rose cotton , and I LOVE this cutie in her blue kerchief! My D is also liking the doll. (Update* The doll hasn't been finished yet, I am thinking of putting it into simple wooden frame).

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The flower I put in the middle is a Russian  pattern from a beginning of the 20^th century lithography found on this cross stitch dedicated website. I am thrilled to revive it in modern days! The doll pattern itself came from Danceneedle. I have many other projects in my mind, particularly with traditional and old Russian patterns, let’s see when they get realized.

 Besides I finally made another item I not only wanted to have but also needed to – a pincushion.I saw something like this on the net. It consists of a crochet granny square sewed to the fabrics cushion. The snips of it I used are from my Indian suit. The cushion is filled with polyfill and yarn scraps. I need to buy more of polyfill by the way. The pincushion is such a simple but a handy little thing!

I suppose this is all for now, enough to inspire me to finish what has been started and begin new! Thanks a lot for all your sweet and kind comments, they make my heart happy and lift up my mood immensely. Have a lovely weekend and take care!!!

North Goa - Little Vagator Beach - Part 4

Hey, friends! Hope you all are doing fine and are happy at your places. I am yet to finish my Goa tale, and to my surprise, we had really done many things in just 1 week, as I can see now from all the photos.
What concerns my pregnancy - we are doing just fine. Three days ago I had 2 level scan, which revealed that baby is fine :) I have started feeling kicks now more clearly; they are light and not yet that frequent, but good enough to make me smile and love my baby more and more with each passing day! Thanks for all kind comments on last post - I know that all a woman is going through is worth the result!
My D is a great support to me these days, I am so grateful to him for all his care and help.I guess he also hasn't realized he is going be a "daddy" soon, but he feels good about it and starts discussing things like names already.
Well, and for today I have few snapshots of our very first day in North Goa, Little Vagator Beach. I had already showed our stay, but wanted to keep some more of them. Such a classical exotic scene!

Another through palms view. Te palm trees were very tall and all had coconuts on them!

As soon as we left our bags in the hut, we rented scooters and went to visit a famous Anjuna Wednesday market. The parking was full of scooters and bikes. 

There were many locals and foreigners. Very noisy and colorful rows of goodies. We bought 2 t-shirts for D and some small gifts for our parents.

 The trading rows were endless. We got tired very soon there, considering we didn't have any food since morning and traveled whole day. So after some time I said I'd like to withdraw from there, as in such mood we were not able to enjoy shopping.

 The best part was that after all we were back to our cozy peaceful location and swam at the sunset.

 Aww, now I again have that nostalgia coming back... Missing that place a lot. 

 Meanwhile our hotel cum restaurant lit up the lights, and later one we went there for dinner, thinking of our next day's activities. And for that we planned rather tough schedule, however we enjoyed it a lot.

 Today we both are visiting Delhi, I am at my D's relatives' house, and he is at work as it's an official trip. So I've got few minutes to greet all of you and tell something new. Day before yesterday I finished reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini - a book which will stir your feelings for sure and will make you look at your life at different angle. Blessings to all!