Parenthood...

Wow... This week we will complete an year and half of this amazing adventurous tumultuous journey and I can't help but reminisce about when we came to know that Agastya was on his way more than 2 years ago around this time... It wasn't the most convenient time but it was the best time... Because how much ever you plan for these things, you are never ready... :P I remember everything like it happened yesterday... I would love to write about it, but I wonder if everyone would be interested in reading about it.. :P So fast forwarding to when he finally arrived with both his arms in the air crying his lungs out, this beautiful little pink thing that has tragically his mother's nose but amazingly his father's heart... :) Ever since THAT happened our lives changed drastically... 

Of course life was not going to be the same anymore... What were we thinking? The first couple of weeks are a fog of memories... I don't think that any one of us remembers clearly what was going on... But of course we remember how many times in a day he fed and pooped (p.s. we have a detailed log about number and color :P) ... I remember one particular instance when he pooped as I was changing his diaper and since Rama was still in the process of throwing the old one and I wasn't fast enough to put up the new one on him, I had to take it all in my own two palms... Yes I did that... After that day nothing grosses me out anymore... :P And the sleepless nights... Sure when you hear people talking about it or when you read about it, it does not sound as scary... But trust me it is much much scarier... My poor husband started hallucinating for God's sake... :P So our big solution was sleep when the baby sleeps... YES! As soon as he was fed, had pooped, had bathed and ready to sleep, we both were ready to sleep as well... Doesn't matter if we had eaten anything or had bathed... Nope! Just plank out as soon as Agastya is out... :P 

More than Agastya getting used to us, we were the ones who struggled to get used to him... One month later, we started to get acquainted to each other.. we became his friends and partners in crimes... he started recognizing us, little smiles here and there, little naughty looks a few times... playing around us like he doesn't care.. And then came his first social smile and it put everything into perspective for us... These things one never forgets... After that his milestones kept coming one after the other, sitting on his own, rolling over, crawling, walking... Phew!! Everything he did on his own, with maybe a little help from us here and there, and I still wonder at this little miracle that has been put into our arms... And the enormity of the word P-A-R-E-N-T crosses my mind... 

Because Parenthood really does change everything... And I don't mean it in the cliched and cheeky way... I mean really really it does change everything... Your life, your relationships, your eating habits, your temperament, your choice in movies, your choice in music, your work life, your perspective about people around you... everything goes for a toss... If you were a calm person you might become a maniac and if you are a little bit of a maniac already then you will definitely become more psychotic.. :P The point is when we become parents we completely change as a person... We do!! Nobody should claim otherwise.. Nope! And after we become parents, we finally understand more deeply who our parents are... What they did and why they did so... And after writing this piece of blog I, Shruti Ravinderan, from the bottom of my heart want to thank every parent I know for bringing up their children in the best possible way... Giving them good food, the right education, the healthy life... Because gosh I know it is so so incredibly difficult... Now I do!!! So hats off... You all did and are doing great... Give yourself a pat on your back... :)

Disclaimer: This blog post is not meant to discourage anybody from having children of their own... :P Just a short warning though... :D :P Do it at the right time, when you're done with all that you've wanted to do... Never blame a child for your shortcomings.. Ever!