Nisal's birthday - 29th March 2007

Actually, i should mention we have had two birthdays this month.. Nisal's mother's was on the 20th of March and Nisal's is on the 29th.. We had Nisal's mother's birthday at our place on Thurstan Road, and invited some friends and relatives to the function... it was fun and everyone really had a good time!!

Nisal's birthday was more of a surprise.. we intially wanted to have a surprise party for him on the 31st but lots of people couldnt make it because it is a long weekend (surprise surprise in Sri Lanka, right...) so we decided [initially] to have a small party for just his parents, Bappi, my mom and me.. then eventually we started adding people and the list came up to 25! but of course, in true surprise style, Nisal didnt have a clue.. he thought we were all going out for dinner at Il Ponte or somethihng.. i managed to invite some friends (Matt, Sanjay, Sabs, Samantha).. and yes, Nisal was surprised when he came home.. although, he did notice all the cars outside... but i think he didnt expect THAT many people at home...

anyways, it was a fun night.. everyone got along with everyone else.. Swara was on top form and was dancing around the whole night.. and it was very casual.. my mom played "happy birthday" on the piano quite a few times because people forgot to sing and she made a few mistakes.. but it all added to the happy casual atmosphere at home.. and as usual, Kumari and Dilruk did an amazing job in cooking and cleaning.. it was just lovely.. and i am so happy!!

Eventually the whole thing finished around 2am (tomorrow work, people!!) - and by the time Nisal and I went to bed, it was around 4am.. Birthday boy was quite talkative and we ended up chatting the whole night (get your minds out of the gutter!!)..

i managed to get up for breakfast around 730am and then trotted off to bed again and slept till midday - when nisal and i both woke up...

Now its Friday, 30th March - 245pm and I am still at home.. we plan on heading into work soon and sending cake to everyone and dropping by and seeing Nisal's aunt and heading home shortly.. But you never know...

Just Thoughts
Next year around this time, our baby will be 9 months old.. and Nisal and I have been married less than a year.. how time flies.. I know, deep in my heart, everything is going to go wonderfully.. I honestly feel blessed I have a mother who loves me and loves my husband unconditionally.. and my in-laws - Bhadrika and Douglas and not forgetting Bappi who continously make me feel so welcome in their families... I truly feel lucky.. I know I have never really been a religious person, I like to consider myself spiritual, but still i must have done something good somewhere sometime to get myself in this situation... I hope this lucky streak continues.. Love you all!

Long-awaited London Pictures...

Hi everyone,
thank goodness the SLT/Metropolitan mess is finally over and Nisal, being the darling he is, fixed my hard-drive so finally i can upload pics from our trip to London...

the main reason we went to London was two things, one was for baby items.. Sri Lanka does sell most of the stuff you can buy there, such as Avent stuff but you can never really truly be sure of the quality plus the price is cheaper there.. believe it or not.. and the second reason is, Nisal had some work to do there...

Our first week was moreorless trudging up and down Oxford Street, sightseeing at Mothercare!! haha my credit card company must be thrilled with the extra business.. but we bought a lot of interesting stuff and believe me - i never thought babies need so much stuff... haha and this is just for the 1st year :-) crazy... we also met up with some old friends - Eunice (who i havent met in ages... i think we havent seen each other in 2 years), Rajat (same as Eunice) and we met some of Nisal's friends, who i hadnt met before - Priyesh Patel (who is getting married in June, we also met his fiancee) and Stuart Barnaby - both really nice people.. of course, we met up with Hassan and his delightful parents.. They hosted us an amazing spread - roast chicken, lasanga, salads, even curry.. it was just divine...

we also caught up with some films - Hot Fuzz (done by the same guys as Shawn of the Dead) and Blood Diamond.. we also went to a play with Clayton, another friend - Dancing in the Streets.. i highly recommend it - esp. if you love 60s Motown classics like Nisal and i do :-)

We did a lot of work during the two weeks we were there - Nisal and i also maintained a small flat when we were there.. and i discovered to my surprise, Nisal can cook curry!! haha it was yummy too.. hehe we feasted!!

However, we did miss out on seeing our friends Priyanga and Christoph who just recently had a baby girl, and we missed out on seeing my friend Sonali, whose number i got literally two days before we flew back..

in terms of the pregnancy - i think i am finally settling into some sort of size now so i dont feel as big as i did the previous months.. plus my food cravings have died down.. apparently you are supposed to put on, as asians, a total of 15 kgs MAX and me - haha - dont even ask.. basically the doctor told me i have enough weight for 5 babies.. i think he was exaggerating and i told him i was overweight before the baby too.. and he was like then u are definitely too high...haha but thank God, i dont have diabetes (u apparently can get that if u are overweight/pregnant) and my blood pressure is low.. so he is puzzled but happy.. end of the month, i am doing another scan so i will post pics... promise... what else is going on in my pregnancy - oh, we joined a prenatal class which is fun.. a bunch of preggy women and their husbands and we basically discuss with a midwife what goes on in the pregnancy, how to push, how to breathe, relaxation techniques, whether to do a c-section or a natural, pain relief (yes!!!) how to take care of the baby etc. it is quite interesting and the midwife knows a lot of stuff... we also visited the hospital (joseph fraizer) i want to have our baby and it is so nice.. its like a colonial hospital and the rooms are massive.. plus the nurses who were there were so friendly.. nisal actually got scared i wanted to stay on there.. hahaha but honestly, i was happy... and the birthing room didnt look as scary as i thought it would be... and yes, i am feeling more kicking now.. haha its not painful as some people say but its quite gentle... the baby responds to music too - like if i play 60s music, baby gets all excited but i was told play more classical music because it improves the baby's brain!!!

thats all for now :-) will post when i get new scanned pics

computer - not - in - use

Ugh.. this is why i hate computers... and most technology, in general.. first, my home phone line is busted, then my ADSL goes.. and now i have issues with my hard-drive.. thank goodness i married a man who is capable of handling these issues.. today and the past two weeks, i have been fighting with Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) regarding my damn service, and Nisal and i have got scolded by technicians, help desk employees, etc. finally, i got through to a manager who seems to be more capable and today things seem to be a bit better... so please bear with me for the moment..

i still owe you guys pics from my trip to London with nisal, and i will write the details as soon as my home connection starts working... PROMISE!!!