intermittent chatter

There is hardly anything worth reading at my (so called) blog because I am not a good blogger. But there is one section which has been appreciated by many of my friends, cousins and acquaintances - Twins-Timeline where I keep 2 pictures of my daughters every month since their birth.

Recently I have been so busy (and not lazy!) that I have neither clicked too many pictures of them nor updated the timeline on regularly. However, today once again I postponed some work to update the timeline. Now it contains pictures upto September 2007.

Following pictures are the crux of the timeline. It is their pictures when they were just a few days old in May 2005 and the more recent pictures of August 2007. You know where to go for a complete view - Twins-Timeline.

August 2007, 2 years 3 months Mahi showing her bangles Meha Rakshabandhan celebrations. Mahi enjoys getting dressed like this. Although Meha is smiling here, she gets irritated soon. She prefers her jeans and tops. Tomboy! May 2005 Both in hospital Both at home Mahi is on left and Meha is on right in both the pictures

I am going to Chennai for the BlogCamp on 8th September. Me and my wife planned out a small holiday alongwith it, since she has some relatives there. We all wanted to fly because Mahi-Meha are too young to travel such a long distance by train. But recent fear of terrorist attacks and new rules of flying without carrying any liquids robbed us of this opportunity

Mahi-Meha need something to eat/drink every 2-3 hours. We need to carry their feed and bottles of milk everywhere. We inquired with a friend working in Jet Airways. She said, baby food is allowed. But we again called Jet’s security section to be completely sure and they said no liquids are allowed. I called up the office of GoAir and they confirmed that no liquids are allowed. So ultimately we had to cancel the plan of a small holiday and M2 lost their first opportunity to fly!

A few friends and cousins have always been fond of the twins-timeline that I maintain. Some of them remind me to update it if I havent done it in a month. For those who don’t know, twins-timeline contains the pictures of my twin daughters - Mahi & Meha - since their birth in May 2005. I put 2 pics every month in the timeline. It really shows the progress these two have made since their birth.

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Here’s a birthday wish from a dad to his lovely twin daughters on their first birthday.

Exactly a year ago on 18th May 2005, my wife Heena, gave birth to Mahi & Meha by caesarian. I still remember that wonderful day, which could have also been a dreadful one for me.

At about 8:45am they both were born at Mumbai. Mahi is elder to Meha by 2 minutes. Mahi weighed 1.4kg (3.08 pounds) and Meha weighed 1.9 kg (4.18 pounds). I was the first one to hold Mahi in my hands and was overwhelmed by emotions. I could barely control my tears. Within 2 minutes Meha was brought out and my joy was doubled.

One day old Mahi	One day old Meha

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Today morning, it was pretty cloudy and there were some non-seasonal showers!! That really got the temperature down a couple of degrees and the sweet smell of moist clay filled the environment. Showers are on even now when I am writing this.

My twin daughters, Mahi & Meha, saw the rains for the first time. Last year, they were not even a month old when monsoon started. No words can explain the amazing mixture of expressions on their innocent faces. The initial reaction was of a little fear, then surprise, amazement and finally joy. They got very excited when I streched their small hands out of the window and few drops fell on their little palms.

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We needed to open bank accounts / PPF accounts of Mahi and Meha and for this needed passport size pics. After lot of difficulty we managed to get their passport size pics clicked. They both are looking so different and cute that for the Twins Timeline, I have kept these pics for february even before the month ends. Here are the pics. A click on them will give a closer look

Mahi	Meha

The person who coined the term “sleep like a baby” either never had a baby or never took care of one! Babies are one of the worst sleepers.

First of all, its difficult to make them sleep. Next there is no guarantee that they will reman asleep for a long time. At times, I spend 30 minutes to make Mahi or Meha sleep and they get up within 15 minutes.

Recently, during a press conference before departing for Pakistan Tour, Rahul Dravid, the Indian cricket team captain, said that biggest worry for him is to put his infant baby boy to sleep! I can understand and relate to what he said. Its so damn difficult to put a baby to sleep!

Additionally, when the baby cries, we don’t know whether the baby is sleepy or hungry or both! The worst part is that the baby itself doesn’t know that! We have to keep trying various options till they go to sleep. Additionally, having twins makes it all the more difficult. You put one baby to sleep and the other starts crying at the top of its voice. By the time you pacify the first and put it to sleep, the other one gets up because of the noise and then …. the cycle continues.

But one thing is there. Howsoever I or my wife may complain, we are enjoying all the little moments that we spend with them. All the babies, when sleeping, look like little angels. Their innocence shines through their face. Check out Mahi and Meha here.

Mahi	Meha

There’s a flip side to a child’s growth!

Meha has started crawling and we were happy. But she kept touching lots of things and kept putting her fingers in her mouth every now and then. We couldn’t keep a complete track of this activity and now she is down with viral infection. Everyhting she eats comes out in the form of a vomit or otherwise. We were under the impression that these are the signs of teething. But alas! We were wrong.

No preliminary medicines worked and ultimately all this loss of fluid resulted in dehydration and we had to hospitalise her yesterday night. Stool reports suggested viral infection. After two bottles of drip, she is better now, but still is so weak that she keeps sleeping and is not even half as active as she was. May be she will be there in the hospital for 1 or 2 days more. But she has lost 750 grams from her total weight of 6kg

UPDATE: 31st Dec 2005

Meha is back home! But she is somewhat low on energy and is still unable to digest milk, which is her main food intake at present. So she is on special diet But is recovering

A day before hospitalisation

In hospital

Back home, with her doll

Mahi

Meha

Whenever people hear that I am a father of twin daughters, they all think about all the stupid double role bolloywood movies they have seen. One of them gets hit and the other feels the pain! People think this must be happening with all the twins. Nothing can be further from the truth. From my experience of more than six months I can say that twins can also be as different as chalk and cheese!

Take the example of my daughters, Mahi and Meha. Mahi is elder by 2 minutes

Mahi observes a lot and keeps thinking. She even observes her own hand and fingers for minutes at a stretch. Meha has no time to observe. As soon as she sees something, she wants to grab and play with it.

Mahi hates milk and likes soups, rice and other preparartions. Meha loves milk and makes a face everytime something else is put in her mouth.

Mahi will cry when a toy falls from her hand. She will wait for someone to give it back in her hand even if its lying next to her. Meha will go and take a toy even it is a few feet away.

Mahi sits in all the swings, chairs, carriers, etc. that we got, Meha is almost always a bit afraid and apprehensive.

Mahi loves massage and loves to take bath. Meha cries at the top of her voice and hates both the activities.

Mahi doesn’t cry when strangers lift her, Meha starts crying within 5 minutes.
Mahi never smiles at strangers, Meha smiles at everyone.

Mahi looks like my grand-mother, Meha looks like me! No! They both DON’T look same! Meha is also taller than Mahi by about 1.5 inches!

Mahi is fond of dad and Meha is fond of mom

There are so many differences. Of course there are similarities as well. But the point is, there are so many differences. Just because they are twins, doesn’t mean there are only similarities.