the Southern Hemisphere...

We just went to Auckland via KL two weeks ago. There are no direct flights from Colombo to NZ or Australia for that matter, so we had the option of breaking our journey in one of the SE Asian countries... On the way there we had a 10 hour lay-over at KL, but were put up at the airport hotel, that turned out to be surprisingly comfortable (The Pan-Pacific at KLIA). The flight from KL to Auckland was our longest every with Ayushi, and it went surprisingly well, with her taking naps of up to 2 hours, and only being awake for about an hour and a half in between, I think she slept quite well cos it was a night flight.

We arrived in Auckland to some typical British weather of grey clouds and grey everything, and were quite cold! The appart-hotel we were staying at was also pretty cold until we got the heaters switched on... it remained wet and grey for the first 2 days, which reminded us why we'd left London in the first place! We're just not winter destination people, or if we are, we just still need our RDA of sunshine! We spent our first day walking down Queen Street, which is Auckland's version of Oxford street, which was actually a bit more like the high street in Cardiff, rather than London, and not that impressive for shopping compared to any of the major cities in the world... In the evening, we decided to go to Ponsonby, which is meant to be the hip and buzzing area of the city... there were a number of interesting looking restaurants, but being a Saturday night, we weren't able to get a seat in any of the ones we were really interested in, and it was a bit chilly to sit al fresco, especially with the baby... so we had to settle for takeout.

Our third day finally there was some sunshine! so we decided to walk through Auckland's Domain Park, which is the city's oldest park, developed around the cone of an extinct volcano. The park was pretty, with a duck pond, beautiful gardens, mature trees, and the Auckland War Memorial Museum, which stands at the Domain's highest point... after a quick stop at the duck pond for Ayushi, we walked onto Parnell, which is the quaint colonial style area of Auckland, with some of the best dining options.


We stumbled upon Iguacu (pronounced Ig-wa-soo), which was having a Sunday Jazz brunch, with a live band, and singer. The food was excellent, and the high glass roof made it feel really light and area. It was also great place to dine with a baby, as the staff were friendly, and there were plenty of other families dining.


After lunch, we went for a spot of shopping in Newmarket, which is their main shopping area, again, its not really worth a stop if you're used to London or any other large city, but I did manage to get Ayushi some Pumpkin Patch clothing...which is a NZ brand kids clothing company, and its always nice to get different stuff from the usual clothes we buy. In the evening we were joined by Bush for dinner, we drove down to the Harbour and had another great meal at the Harbourside Seafood Bar & Grill...I stuck to the seafood, which was great, the boys had Lamb (this was to be a feature of our trip...since everyone was determined to have as much of the famous NZ lamb as possible), and I must say, it was pretty scrumptious!

The rest of our week was pretty jam-packed with Bush's pre-engagement and engagement celebrations in the evening, but we managed to make the most of our time there, by still doing some sight-seeing in the day time.

Including: Mt Eden (Maungawhau) - an extinct volcanic crater which has magnificent views of the city:


Mission Bay, which has a man-made beach, and many quaint sea-side cafe's serving up fish'n'chips. and a day trip to Waiheke Island, where we were able to savour some great food and wine at their newest vineyard (which was set up at a staggering cost of $5mn, but not surprising when we found out that one of the 5 investors was no less than the original 007 (and the best one according to me...) Mr Sean Connery...), Cable Bay the views were magnificent, you could look across the sea to Auckland's sklyline... after the lunch, M had the great idea to walk to the next vineyard Mudbrick (which with 9 adults and two babies on pushchairs... took well over half an hour, but again, the views were great... would definitely visit Waiheke Island again to sample the wines!

Our trip ended all too soon, and we were on our flight back to KL, which was even longer than the one there at 11+ hours, this time we were not so lucky, and Ayushi only managed to sleep for about 3 hours in total, which meant we had to keep her entertained for the rest of the flight so we arrived in KL quite shattered... but were happy to have a luxurious 7ft bed after the barely double bed we'd had in NZ!

there's something about the sea... part 2 (pictures)

pictures as promised!

there's something about the sea...

that is ever so calming and peaceful.... anyway just wanted to share that thought with you all - my special thoughts are with friends commuting to work on the tube (yes Harris- that would be you!), anyway, just sitting at this luxury resort, on the southern tip of Sri Lanka, called The Fortress enjoying the amazing view of the pool overlooking the blue/green waters of the Indian Ocean - all I'm missing is a Bellini, or well, any champagne coctail really - but for the joys of breastfeeding... will post the pictures when I've bothered to download them... in the meanwhile - enjoy sunny London - it's beautiful there too when it's sunny!

oh and for those looking for a review of the hotel - well it is ultra modern, with plasma tv's, bose media systems, and iPods, espresso machines and open-plan bathrooms. Beach rooms on the ground floor, with french doors opening out to ocean-views, and ocean rooms which are on the floor above, so you get a balcony view... we chose a beach room, cos it was easy to walk to the pool/beach straight from our room, plus better to avoid stairs with the baby! We got a bit of a deal since the hotel is not too busy these days, but with 50 rooms its far from a boutique hotel. Also the baby's high chair looks like its from the space-age, but lacks in practicality. But the view of the ocean is great.

Life is definitely not a party these days...

or so my latest blog title was meant to read... there I was typing away at how my days(& nights) are determined, not by me, but a precious little someone, whom we affectionately call "bundle" (private joke between M and me)... and many other such names, she gets a new one each day. Yes, so there I was writing a self-pitying blog-entry about how my days revolve around feeding, changing nappies, massaging (twice a day), bathing, playing and not sleeping because of said bundle... which leaves precious little time to blog... what with FACEBOOK taking up all my net-time... or like my mother likes to call it - BOOK-FRIENDS, (thanks to M, who told her I was always on "BookFace" just to confuse matters!!!).

but that entry never made it to the blog, because between the time when I was writing it, (which was probably last Monday), M casually asked me on Tuesday afternoon if I'd like to go to Singapore, we booked the tickets on Wednesday morning, and were off on our way on Thursday!

Singapore was a refreshing break from Colombo, and not least because my sister managed to make it from KL to come see us! Which was great - only Preeti would take a 5-hour plus trip on a bus from KL to Singapore to see me I think - that's why you've got to love your baby sister! Although , I do suspect seeing her neice was more of the reason she took this ultra-mammoth (mega-bus-esq (another private joke)) journey to see us. I hid Ayushi in the ultra-plush hotelroom bathroom, and told her that M had taken her with him... she almost believed me, but I'm a terrible liar so she found her within a few minutes.

Mausi & neice were reunited after almost 3 months, and knowing Ayushi to be the fussy little miss she is, I was quite pleased to see that she actually smiled and cackled at Preeti and went to her fairly quickly!

The weekend went by all too fast, but it was great fun, to have this almost surprise-like trip, especially since I wasn't expecting to meet up with P until next month! A little part of me even wondered whether M had planned it all this way???

so life may not be the party these days, but I don't think I can complain much either ;-)!

Material girl...

Got to Singapore this evening. Ayushi behaved very well on the plane, which is great seeing that her parents are determined to make her a frequent flyer! The stewards couldn't believe she was only 5 months old.

We decided to try out some "street food" at one of the hawker stalls, which is a large open area surrounded by small stalls serving different foods - malay, chinese, indian, sri lankan, and some Singaporean specialties such as the chilli crab, laksa, singapore flat noodles, and many more to choose from. The various stalls are ranked from "A" to "D" for cleanliness, it's as if Switzerland ran Asia... ( can't imagine this in Chowpatty or Bangali Market or even at Nana's or Pilaws... but then I guess half the taste comes from the dirt???).

M will be "working" tomorrow, while I will be introducing Ayushi to my own inimitable brand of retail therapy - driving down Orchard Road and seeing all the shops (Zara, Mango, Borders, Starbucks, and yes even good old M&S!!!) really brings home how much I am starved of retail therapy in Colombo - ah well, at least we have Odel, Barefoot and Paradise Road!

Good night for now - am too lazy to upload the photo's today - so that can wait till tomorrow, better go before M sings his rendition of all the cheese on MTV to A and she actually thinks that off-key is the right key ;-)

यह आप साb हिंदी प्रेमियों के लिए!

जिसका मतलब है, के मेरे रिश्तेदारों को छोर के ये और कोई नही पढ़ पायेगा...

सो कूल ना!

another set of doting grandparents......

so we're back in Colombo, actually we've been back for over 2 weeks now, but as all you parents of nubies will know, it's tough managing to find any time to yourself, and least of all to sit down and write on your blog.

From one set of doting grandparents to the next. Our daughter is a very lucky girl, she arrived to a beautifully decorated house, full of balloons and her second set of grandparents. For all those parents determined to do it alone, I strongly recommend involving your parents, partners parents if you can, or are lucky enough to have them around. I remember as a child only having 1 grandparentmy nani, who had about 15 grand-kids besides me, so in comparison Ayushi is a v. lucky girl.

However, I know that its not always possible for this to be a good solution, since people have different views on child-rearing and everyone has an opinion on everything, but as a parent its up to you to make the decisions and do what feels right for you. For my part, I know I am happy for the help and support I've received from both sets of grandparents ;-).

I think I've spent lots of time reading various books and discussing with my friends about whats the best way to go about things, but at the end of the day, I think I just ad-lib most of the time. What works one day may not work the next.

We took Ayushi out for her first outing yesterday to Cinnamon Grand, and she was pretty good. In fact I think the evening was such a success, that it was the first time she slept straight through from 10.30pm through to 5.10am... which was probably the longest we've got to sleep in a long time....

Thanks Ma & Papa...

for everything really, but mostly for the last six months...
Thanks for opening up your house to us... and letting me take over the tv at times (must have reminded you of my teenage years!), and monopolising the laptop...

I don't think we could have managed without all your help and support with Ayushi, and I'm sure she's going to be told about it for years to come...

goodbye again...

I can't believe I've been here in Wales staying with my parents for almost 6 months now. The time has just flown by. Well maybe not the last trimester of pregnancy, but definitely the last 10 weeks since Ayushi's birth. This is the longest I've spent

Ayushi, M and I are heading back to Colombo in a weeks time, which is exciting, but also kind of sad. My mother has been phenomenal in her help and support in the last 10 weeks. You could say she's been looking after Ayushi, and I've been helping her out rather than the other way round! Apart from that, she's had to cater for the streams of visitors that Ayushi's had, I don't think a single weekend went by since her birth that we haven't had my friends visit us!

No doubt my parents are going to miss Ayushi, especially since she has just got to the stage where she's starting to recognise people and interact somewhat. But all the more reason for them to visit us in SL asap!

We took Ayushi for her first trip to London last weekend, and enjoyed Guddu & Rishika's hospitality (yet again!). I was quite nervous about looking after her on my own, but I think we managed quite well. Here's some pictures outside Sunderland Terrace, where M used to live when he started work at Terra Firma, all those years ago, we loved this street, especially at this time of year when the pink magnolias are in bloom:

part 2...

the great indian batting line-up collapsed... and how. I do think there were a couple of bad decisions made against the Indian bowling side, but no time for excuses now. I really feel the Indian team is the most over-hyped underperforming team there is. But lets move forward not look back. What the team need to do is get some fresh blood, stop touting that "oh so amazing batting line-up", and try and find some decent bowlers...
anyway at least Ayushi still has SL and England to support for the cup ;-)

the big match...(part 1)

we're half way through the match, and India bowled decently, although SL still managed to get 254 runs... some poor fielding by the Indian side.
its do or die for India, SL are probably through, but if we win, we go in with the 2 points to the next round.

Ayushi seems a bit bored by the whole thing, as she spent most of the firs innings sleeping, but she did wake up for the end of the Sri Lankan innings and let out a soft purr to her dad!

Happy St. Paddy's Day...

Congratulations to IRELAND - what a win!!!

Who would have thought Ireland would beat Pakistan and how???
Good match!

the group of death...

its already started... for the last decade this has been a difficult period for M and me every 3 and a half years or so... the fun that is the cricket world cup... its all very well not to believe in borders and boundaries and be "International global citizens of the world..." but throw in a game of cricket and everything changes...

India played pretty badly today and lost to minnows Bangladesh - who played superbly, with a v. young side. As the show presenters on Sky put it, 1 point to the teenagers and nil to the OAPs, and indeed the Indian team do seem like the OAPs. The sheer frustration of it... whats the point of having a great batting line-up (Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, who between them have over 35000 ODI runs...) if they can't win matches...M tried to console me by saying that the Pakistani team were losing even more badly, that too to IRELAND (an associate member of the ICC). 'cos we do tend to support each others teams when they are playing...

but since India & SL are in the same group, labelled the group of death, we are now in the situation where we both have to wish the other's team to lose in order to progress to the Super 8 stage... the worst thing about cricket is that you wait all day hoping against hope that your team will still somehow turn it around and win the game, and until the last ball has been bowled you are hanging on a thread. The worst thing is how you end up spending an entire day watching and then have to deal with the depression. The only up-side is that we are no longer students, since the WC was always during exam time, which meant we'd spend an entire day watching cricket rather than revising, so if after all that our team lost, that was the absolute pits...

Poor Ayushi, this is going to be the start of many a tug-of-wars over which team she should support... its a good thing neither of into football, otherwise she'd have to choose b/w Switzerland and England...

Anyway, here's to a good match on the 23rd... may the better team win ;-).

Parenting - noughties style!

Its coming up to 7 weeks since the birth of our daughter, and even though we haven't perfected a routine a la Gina Ford, since I don't think I'm into her school of parenting, we have got into the groove of looking after Ayushi, albeit with a lot of help from my mom.

The first week I was at home, the idea of ever going back to Colombo to live in our own house, or more importantly ever leave my parents house again, seemed like an insurmountable task, but as I recovered from the c-section and got more used to my baby daughter the feeling that I couldn't even leave my bedroom did disappear.

Having a baby is a huge life-changing event (and I don't mean that in a bad way). However ready you think you are, or however much you really think you want the baby, whatever your reasons etc, nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, not the websites (which there are hundreds of these days), or the umpteen books (Gina Ford vs. Attachment Parenting), prepares you for it.

That first night in the hospital, after M and my family left, it struck me that here she was, my baby daughter, and that I was solely responsible for her. Sure, the nurses were there with us (as I was a bit incapacitated with a catheter and the remnants of my anaesthetic), but it was still a daunting thought that I was responsible for this tiny little being, and that I had to keep her alive... I think I stayed awake listening to her breathe through the night!

This pattern continued on even after I had been discharged from the hospital, with M and I staying awake through the night, much of the first week since we'd get worried with every little noise that she made, but we soon learnt to sleep and wake along with her, and its amazing that I have been converted from someone who loves to sleep to someone who functions with no more than 2-3 hours of sleep at a stretch, how times have changed... but given the choice, I don't think I'd change things for anything...and as M and I keep telling ourselves, the sleepless nights are only a matter of a few more months...so for any of you thinking of having a baby - we'd definitely recommend it, but be prepared for your life to change forever ;-).

Another year older...

Another year - another birthday, yet, what a contrast from last year! Last year at this time, I was in Dubai on a short break with M, taking time out from our city jobs! This year, we're busy trying to get used to our new baby daughter!

2006: M & Preeti arranged a surprise birthday bash for me, and I was taken aback to see 40+ people in our kitchen. It was our last big house-party before we left London. I really felt I was getting old, since I was more concerned about my beautiful home getting trashed than just letting go and enjoying the party - but it had taken us almost 9 months to get the house to a livable condition! So much so, that I actually had to ask the last guests to leave at 3am in the morning, since we did have a flight to catch the next day at 5pm! I was quite relieved the next morning to find that M had thoughtfully called our cleaner to come in and tidy up the house.


2007: quiet birthday dinner at my parents house, with my parents, sister, M and our new daughter. Mamma cooked us a scrumptious Indian-Chinese meal, and I also had a proper cake - with my name on it! In bed with my baby daughter by midnight!

Introducing: Ayushi Fernando

After much waiting by her parents, grandparents, aunts and extended family, our daughter was born on Wednesday 24th January 2007 at 5.16pm at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil. She weighed 3.66kgs, and measured 50cm in length. As you can see she has lots of hair, and at the moment we all think she looks more like the father than me!

Back from my break...

So I took a long break from blogging, mainly because, I was no longer in Colombo, so didn't seem much point writing about my last trimester in Wales!

The highlights of the past 3 months were

• M arriving to Wales and becoming a regular at the Cyfarthfa Retail Park, and the JJB Sports Gym, where he works out with the Aunties!
• Our 2 trips down to London to visit with our friends - thanks to G-squared for their great hospitality!
• My baby shower at the Savoy, organised by Preeti
• Christmas holiday week with Preeti - including watching M& her competing at Scrabble, and all 3 of us getting competitive with Monopoly - although, Preeti and I did make Mr. Finance himself go bankrupt ;-). As well as a visit by Sonu, Baua & Richa.
• New Years at Singh Uncle's. I think I owe Preeti a big one this year, to make up for her staying in Merthyr with me as opposed to spending it with her friends... hope we can have a good one in Colombo this year to make up!
  
• Hira's pit-stop visit to Wales
  

& then of course the waiting..................