Temu Vs Amazon : #temufinds & Review #PalsLivesLife

Can they reach the temperatures? Ninja Foodi XL Pro Air Oven Vs Instant Omni Plus

Since my breads did not bake as expected last week, I bought an oven thermometer and tested how long it takes all the ovens to reach the temperatures. And unfortunately, the Ninja Foodi XL Pro Air oven completely failed the test.

Sourdough Bread Battle | Instant Omni Plus Vs Ninja Foodi XL Pro Air Ove...

 

My very first attempt at baking in these two ovens. It definitely did not go as I thought it would. Check it out. #InstantOmni #InstantPotOmni #NinjaFoodiXLProAirOven #NinjaFoodiOven #AirfryerSourdough #SourdoughBread #SourdoughFocaccia #InstantOmniVersusNinjaFoodi #InstantOmniPlusVersusNinjaFoodiXLProAirOven #PalsLivesLife

My lil helper

Today I asked Dhruv to pick up one of his shirts, that he had just changed out of and was lying on the floor, and take it to the hamper. He said, 'No no', as he has started saying now a days, and started playing with his car again. I went back to watching TV. In a few minutes he disappeared. I asked J where he was, and J didn't knew. I noticed that the shirt I had asked him to pick up had disappeared, as well. Just then, Dhruv walked back into the living room, saw a pair of his pants on the floor, and took those to the hamper as well. He then came back, and walked towards me clapping his hands, with a smile on his face. I know, it's such a small thing. But, he really made my day. He is not even a year and a half yet.

Feeding the hungry children, instead of the stone gods

India is a country of extreme contrasts. On one hand, we are almost out of the 'developing countries' list,  while on the other there are thousands of children on our streets that go to bed hungry at night, while alost 3000 won't even make it through the night. And while that is happening, precious food resources like milk, oil, and money that could have fed these kids gets poured down on stone statues by God fearing people.
The sight of begging kids has always bothered me. But now that I have a kid, who I see almost loose his mind when he is hungry, makes it even more personal.

This picture, posted on Facebook, especially struck a nerve. Both J and I felt that, the little one even looks like our baby. The Gods are our patents. And if that is the case, will I ever be happy, if my baby was crying away with hunger, and someone was bathing me in food? Then how can Gods be happy with the same? I need to do something to get the food/money to these hungry mouths. God forbid, if there is ever a situating, a worldwide natural calamity, something devastating, that lands my babies in a situation like the ones in the picture above, I want to feel like they will atleast have food. I don't want to add to the list of things that people do. I don't want people to give to god and then give to these kids. I want them to give it to these kids, these flowers from God's garden as they are called in my native Marathi language, knowing that it is infact reaching the God. I need them to feel the same satisfaction/ happiness/security they feel in giving to God, knowing that they did what was needed of them. I know that I am talking about a massive change in outlook, which is usually very difficult to bring about. That is why this needs to be done in conjunction with the temples. Either have a deal with the temples, which I doubt if the priests would be willing to let go of a major chunk of the hundi, or separately collect the donated food items; or have booths right outside temples, which I am afraid would simply be ignored by most devotees. I would like suggestions. I would like to hear from some hardcore devotees out there.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1517098

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/02/16/10424930-indias-hunger-shame-3000-children-die-every-day-despite-economic-growth?lite

Blowing bubbles

Today my baby, who is just one day short of his 16th month birthday, pulled out the top from a small empty spray bottle. Held the little spray tube close to his lips and blew. Then with his little hands he gestured something flying upwards. It took me a minute to understand that he was pretending to blow bubbles, the activity he loves so much, and we haven't done for over a month since we got back from India. Oh, bless his little heart and imagination. Love him so much! 

Baby on the way

Week 32, here I come.. says the notification from my pregnancy app. Can't believe we are here for the last haul of this pregnancy. 8 weeks to go, at the most!

The past weekend J said, "I can't believe, the four of us are going to be home full time for atleast 14 days straight after the delivery!" And I found myself thinking, four? J, my mom who will be visiting to help us and myself.. who else?

OH! The baby, ofcourse! (We still do not have name for him, so he is still just baby. )

A mini panic attack sets in.. like it has a few time over the past two months.. the realization that we are going to have a little one living with us, full time, not visiting, not for a few hours like my nieces or nephews, not even for a few days.. but for ever.. 24 - 7.. and I am the main person who is going to be responsible for his everything.. feeding, cleaning, soothing.. everything! EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!

After the overwhelming feeling subsides, I usually follow up by going into the action mode. I go ahead and order the cloth diapers and covers as we had discussed, or rather I have insisted after learning that regular disposable diapers take 500+ years to degrade in a landfill and one kid generates about a ton of disposable diaper waste till they are potty trained!

We place the order. I spend the rest of the weekend watching cloth diapering videos.

As it turns out, for our diapering system we are going to have

• Diaper covers
• Diapers/diaper inserts
• Diaper liner, which catch the solid portion of the poop and which can be flushed away in the toilet
• Flushable wipes
• Changing pad
• One large diaper bag/pail to hold the soiled liners
• One medium size diaper bag/pail to hold soiled covers
• A small tub to hold one soiled diaper-liner combo near the changing station till we are done changing the baby
• Special soap like Charlie soap
• And possibly a drying rack to dry the covers, and liners if we decide to do that.

When the diapers first arrive, I need to wash and dry the liners 4-5 times to remove any natural fiber oils/residue from them and make them more absorbent.

After that, we will have to do

• The liner-laundry every two or at the most three days,
• With one cold rinse cycle.
• Followed by one full wash and rinse cycle with detergent with hot water.
• Again followed by one cold rinse cycle.
• The liners need to dry on high heat or in the sun.

• And a separate cold wash and rinse with detergent cycle on the covers.
• The covers need to be dried on low heat or on drying rack.

This is on top of everything I have seen other parents around me do!

And (yep, it does not end there), I am hoping that I can start potty training my kid like they do in India.. I have seen it a few times with my own younger brother and cousins, and neighbors kids growing up. According to my grandmother, you can hold a baby as young as a month old over a sink, sprinkle some cold water on his/her feet which makes them pee, and pair it with the pee sound like 'Shhh'.. and soon they learn the association between the sound and action of peeing and learn to hold the pee atleast for a while..

Also, I remember growing up, uncles and aunties joking about weird faces babies make before they want to poop or pee, which can be taken as cues to bring them to the toilet. Ofcouse, back then, there were no absorbent diapers, and it was essential to know these cues if you yourself wanted to stay dry, or they would soil over you..

But right now, all of this sounds nothing but overwhelming! So the normal doctor of philosophy within me goes online to do more research, and I came across this quote by Pursuing Titus 2, who has done the Western version of the same thing called Elimination Communication with her young ones, which makes me instantly feel better:

"If I were unable to walk myself to the bathroom, I know I would much rather have someone take me than put me in a diaper and change me at their convenience (like I did with my first three children). That’s a big thing that keeps me going on this strange path. I’m treating my baby the way I would like to be treated myself."

So true for a little little life that can't walk or even talk for himself, that I am bringing into this world because I want to be a mom!

Get geared up Pallavi, you singed up for it. Now, you have to do your part!