Today is the first day of my maternity leave.  There are still 28 days to your arrival date, but my employer and the State of CA are gracious enough to give Mom a four week leave before the due date to relax and prepare for your home coming 🙂

The highlights of the day were some paragraphs towards my NanoWrimo entry and a blog post. Along with a nice and sunny walk to the downtown to ship Dadu’s (or may be you will like to call him Baba) lil something. After which I indulged in a chocolate croissant and some coffee at Alexander’s. Do you know that I did not drink coffee in the first two trimesters? But the third one is quite a challenge and hence I did lean back on my friend to provide some drive. I hope you like it too. And I hope by the time you are all grown up, this world has figured out its debate over the pros and cons of coffee.

The walk back was uneventful and the dullness of the afternoon cradled me to a short nap. I know you enjoy my naps more than I do, since you get a stable and more calm environment to stretch your legs and arms. The naps also energize me. So it works out for both of us 🙂

I woke up and came down to make dinner for the night. Pay close to attention to Dad’s comments at dinner time when he goes all ga ga over simple dal and subjee meals. He is very easy to please when it comes to food. And that gives me even more joy to cook for him.

One of the best things that happened to us during the last nine months is our habit to take walks. I have always enjoyed walks ever since I was a child. Dad on the other hand was a little difficult to convince. He did not see the health benefit of spending an hour walking at a slow pace. But after I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, where in my fasting sugar numbers were always a bit on the higher side (relative to other pregnant women), walks after dinner sort of became the only prescription for us and so we religiously took our walks no matter where we were and how the weather was. The length and frequency both dropped a wee bit in the last trimester since my energy levels had to be balanced between work and home chores.

These walks were our time to connect with each other, plan the tasks, appointments and other details and spot cats in the neighborhood. Oh we also played a guessing game  involving the water fountains around Stevenson Park 🙂

Your Nani, who is arriving this Saturday, is also very fond of taking walks. And I plan to enjoy my walks with her in the neighborhood in the next few weeks leading up to your arrival.

Dad and I are looking forward to taking walks with you soon. We just need to keep you protected from the winter though.

Until tomorrow, love
Mum