Shreelu's 1st tonsure cermony

Chadakarana:

 Puttu ventrukalu( the hair which is there at birth) is tonsured as a tradition among Hindus which is known as Mudan(Hindi) or Chadakarana(Sanskrit).

This ritual is performed usually at temples or at home whichever is the custom in the family.

This is done in odd months of 1^st year (usually 11^th month), on any good day. But if it is not performed in first year, then we have to wait till the 3^rd year, which is too long. So I decided to have this done in any odd months of 1^st year.

Pic before tonsure

We planned to perform this ritual in 9^th month, the reason was I wanted Shreelu to have at least some hair for her birthday, and tonsuring in 11^th month she would be completely bald for her 1^st birthday.

I went ahead with the planning and asked Babu uncle (our family purohit, a friend’s dad) and we decided it to be performed on 30^th October 2014 in Tirumala Balaji temple. It is our tradition to perform it there.

I was a quick decision that we did not have time to invite family and friends. So it was just a family function.

According to Hindu beliefs it is said that this hair which is there during birth holds the past life’s traits, so this should be removed on an auspicious day and removed completely. A part from this, I have read in some articles that tonsuring baby’s hair allows sunlight to fall directly on the head, which is a main source of Vitamin D and this helps the skull bones which are still not fully developed to develop well.(I am not able to find the article right now to link it here).

Shreelu’s Mundan:

Since we live in Tiruapthi, it was not difficult for us to make arrangements for this function in a short time. My father in law left in the afternoon on 20^th Oct 2014 to Tirumala and made all the arrangements like booking the cottages, tickets for darshan etc. Later in the evening my mom, my MIL, Dad, Pinky(sis) left to Tirumala. Ram came early in the morning around 4 o clock directly from Bangalore. We had to wait for Eswar's arravial from Hyderabad, who reached tirumala around 9 o clock.

Ram was very hesitant about performing this ceremony thinking Shreelu will be hurt if she moves, she might cry etc etc. He was very nervous and was continuously asking the barber to be careful. He was not able to hold Shreelu's head tight. Seeing his panic, the barber asked him to leave Shreelu and asked me to hold her.

Barbar asking Ram to be cool and asking me to hold Shreelu's head tight.

Shreelu was scared as my FIL and I were holding her very tightly and she started crying. Some how we completed this ritual and later went to the Darshan.

My cute little baby seeing her Babai helplessly.

That helpless look :(

Darshan:

In Tirumala, the Devastanam provides free darshan for the couple with kid below one year.

We are asked to carry the birth certificate and this is checked at the entrance. This darshan is only at 12 PM and 2 PM. Ram, Shreelu and I headed towards the Supadam complex. There a small kid asked us he will apply the Naamalu on our foreheads, though we were not much interested we went ahead and asked him to do that.

 

Muggariki moodu namalu :P

We went into the Supadam queue complex and were in the queue. There were many young kinds and their parents for the darshan. Shreelu was so happy to see many kids and she was trying to interact with them. Nearing to the main temple in the queue, we heard someone calling our names, we just turned back to see it was Sarat’s (Ram’s friend) parents from Nellore. We were very surprised with the pleasant meeting and had some chat with them in our queue. Later in the temple, might be due to anxiety or due to the people’s loud chanting, Shreelu started screaming and it was real crazy time till we came out of the temple.

Ear boring ceremony:

This is the ceremony performed along with mundan. As soon as we decided to perform these two rituals, first thing I did was to call Shreelu’s pediatrician to ask the precautions to be taken while doing this. The doc said its ok to perform the mundane at temples but he suggested us to go for gun shot method in any jewelers shop to avoid infections and other mess. He suggested to apply Betadine and ice cubes if its done in traditional way.  But somehow I decided we will perform this also in Tirumala only feeling sentimental.

After darshan we went to our cottage and took rest for some time, later we all left to ear piercing complex.  There the purohits performed the rituals, I expected Shreelu to cry a lot but she didn’t cry. She became normal in 2 minutes.

Unfortunately didn’t take the pictures at Ear boring complex L

 

 

First pic after tonsure and ear pierce 

Sreelu's 1st Bhogi pallu function

In South India Sankranthi is one of the important festivals celebrated and its a 3 day festival starting with Bhogi.

Whole month of Dhanur masam starting from Dec mid till Sankranthi is considered auspicious in Andhra Pradesh, and I remember my mom getting up early in the morning, visiting Lord Vishnu temple and having rangoli along with gobbemma in the street this whole month till Kanuma. 

We reached early morning around 3:45 to tirupathi, while we saw my FIL litting the Bhogi manta, we had a real "warm" welcome with bhogi manta and we all friends had a chit chat near the bonfire. 

Shreelu assumed the bonfire as biggg harathi, and was going on praying in front of it. :P 

Water was heated in Bhogi and we all took bath that day with bhogi neellu(water heated in the bonfire).

This bhogi was special for us as Shreelu is here with us.

Bhogi pallu is a ritual celebrated on the evening of bhogi, where children below 5 years are beautifully dressed with pattu paavadas and they are made to sit on stool or chair and the mixture of bhogi pallu, flowers, coins, sugarcane is showered on them, followed by harathi. This is performed as a ritual to remove nara dristi and is believed to protect children from evil forces.

Neighbors were invited and small children were also invited. When elders bless the children by showering bhogi pallu, coins etc, the kids are asked to pick the coins showered. 

While performing this function, Praneetha (Ram's cousin's daughter) was also with us so we celebrated this for both together.

thats my mom blessing my daughter with bhogi pallu

Arisela veduka:

Shreelu had started walking from Dec starting, and as mentioned in my previous posts, we have a ritual to be performed when the little one starts walking. 

We decided to perform this function along with bhogi pallu function. Shreelu was supposed to be made to walk on thse Ariselu by her grand fathers.. So my dad and father in law made her walk on the ariselu. Shreelu was super excited seeing those laid on a row and wanted to take them and play. Some how her thathas managed to make her walk on them. 

Sankranthi: 

We dindt have much to do on Sankranthi, except having unlimited delicious and traditinal foods.. So later that evening we decided we would do something which we can remember for long. We decided we will plant some plants which we were postponing since many days.

Bought some gauva and mango plants and planted them by the kids hands. Shreelu, Chaitu and Pranee planted gauva plants that evening with help of Ram and Eswar

Later that evening, Shreelu was gifted gold bangles by her thatha on the festive occasion.

Shreelu's Annaprasana

Annaprasana:

Annaprasana is a Hindu ritual celebrated on the occasion of baby's first intake of food other than milk.

This ritual is usually done on 6th month. If it is done on 6th month 6th day we need not see the tithi, nakshatram, etc. If we have to choose some other day then we have to see those things.

This can be done at home and some people choose temple also to perform this ritual. A bowl of Paravannam (prepared by overcooking rice, add milk, jaggery and ghee) is prepared and a small pooja is performed by purohit. Baby is taken on mother's lap and father feeds the first rice to the baby with a gold ring, followed by mother, uncle (mama) and other elders. 

Later a game is played lying the baby on the carpet on which different items are placed. It is believed that what ever the baby holds first, second and third it will be her/his profession or interest in future. These include Gold(symbolizing wealth), money, pen symbolizing profession and career, bhagavathgeetha symbolizing spirituality, knife symbolizing bravery etc. 

Shreelu's Annaprasana:

We chose 6th month, 6th day to perform Annaprasana for Shreelu, which was on 28th July 2014. It was performed in Tirupathi at my In-Laws place. Though it was informed in short notice most of relatives and friends made their presence.

After the ritual of first rice was performed, the game started and we lied Shreelu on carpet with all the items in front of her. Along with the traditional items which were placed, we also placed a ball to symbolize sports on Shreelu's Nanna's demand. 

Shreelu went ahead and held gold first and as soon as she touched all our friends started screaming and clapping and Shreelu was scared and stared crying. Then we had to take a break and pacify her and changed as her jewels and dress was irriating her. For the second time, she held Pen and third time it was Bhagavathgeetha. Don't know how far this game comes true but it was real fun to play it. 

P.S: Thanks to Eswar and Shabbir for Videos. 

Father's day - A gift to hubby

I have known my husband for 4 years, I have struggled a lot to find out what surprises him and delights him, but the truth is Ram is not a person who is concerned about material things. So for his first father's day I was determined I would give him something that makes him smile. After all he is the world's best father and husband.

Since I was alone looking after my LO, I could neither go out leaving the kiddo at home nor I could take her along with me. I decided I would give something hand made  (I had never ever did in my life till now). 

I went ahead and ordered printed T-shirt written I love Dad on it online. Then searched some gifting ideas on internet. I took the foot prints of Sreelu, and printed out a good poem. 

Obsessed with Cloth Diapers

"CLOTH DIAPERS" this word was first heard by me through a club Yummy Mummies, of which I am a part from my preggy days. Contemporary mommies started buying all the baby stuff from their 8th month it self. But I was not allowed by my mom, as we in South India say we shouldn't buy any new things for the baby until he/she is born.

Diapering is an essential part in raising the kids healthy. Firstly I was against using disposables to my lo. But I also knew using cloths was a very tiring job one can handle. I had to think wise and act smart to keep my daughter healthy and at the same time make my job easier. Andd I knew Cloth Diaper was the solution.

I did alot of research and was very confused to start it. My husband wanted me to think if I really want to use it and will be actually using it as he knows me as a lazy lady. I too wanted to make sure if I will really use it or end up switching to disposables after investing dollars on CDs.


Reasons to Cloth Diaper:

1. Safety:
 Disposable diapers have many toxic chemicals like Dioxin, Tributyl Tin, Sodium polyacrlate etc which can cause hormonal imbalances, skin allergies, cancer etc. These cloth diapers do not have such chemicals.

2. Economy:
You invest around 25,000 INR for nearly 25 - 30 diapers and you can use it till the baby is potty trained, which is far less than the ones you invest on disposables.

3. Environment:
Cleaner planet, as the disposable diapers take 500 years to decompose.

4.Easy to use:
It is easy to clean up when compared to the typical old cloth diapers.

5. Cute Factor:
These cloth diapers come with adorable prints and are very cute.

I started off with buying 4 CDs which costed around 4000 INR. Now I understand modern cloth diapers are very easy to handle almost as easy as maintaining any other garment of your little one's laundry. Now I am completely obsessed with cloth diapers and I'm lovin it!!!!!!!

My Cloth Diaper Stash:

I have been using cloth diapers for 3 months and I find it really very easy. Here is a set of my stash.

some of my cloth diaper covers

These are All in one size pockets i.e. they can be used until baby is fully potty trained. There are various snaps on the pockets and can be adjusted according to baby's weight. 

Cloth diaper cover without insert

Cloth diaper cover with microfiber insert

Diaper showing various snaps that can be adjusted 

Diaper inserts and some flats:

Inserts for cloth diapers

These are the inserts that are inserted into to covers.

inserts made of microfiber

these are the flats made of muslin cloth that can be folded and inserted

How to Clean and Wash Cloth Diapers:

Change the diapers as soon as you notice they are soiled or wet.

Place it in pail them in a bag or bin for washing.

Allow baby's bottom to air dry and give some diaper free time.

Use the water sprayer and remove the contents of the soiled diaper in the commode.

Soak the CDs in cold water for half an hour and machine wash it later in baby mode(LG front door washing machine has this option).

Dry it in sunlight. It does magic.

I use the same detergent which I use for other baby's laundry.

Organic detergent which is baby safe

Here is the CD fitted on my lo.

Shreelu's roll over.

Me being from Rayalaseema.. Did not know much about the pillala vedukalu (baby rituals) celebrated.

In this part of Andhra Pradesh, we only have these rituals: Namakaranam, Annaprasana, etc..

But as my husband is from Andhra.. I got to know some small rituals through my husband's nayanamma(paternal grand mother) which is practiced in Andhra Pradesh for some of the mile stones a baby passes..

I felt this is a very good idea to leave these mile stones unforgotten, decided I would do these to my LO.

By the time i got to know about these, Shreelu had already passed one of the mile stones.

The rituals are celebrated by preparing different kinds of Andhra recipes for each milestone and distributed among the neighbors and family.

 If the baby smiles for the first time(not the one in sleep but the one where they actually smile back to people) Nuvvula undalu are distributed. Pillalu modati sari navvithe Nuvvula undalu panchipettadam jarugutundi (I missed this for Shreelu.)

Borla padithe bobbatlu which we in Rayalaseema call it as polilu.

Gadapa dhatithe Garelu and Adugulu veste Ariselu.

Shree's roll over:

Shree rolled over for the first time on her 3rd month 10th day(June 2nd). My mom and I were sitting and having a chit chat with tea and snacks on the rainy day and suddenly we noticed Shreelu on her play gym turned over on her tummy.. I soon grabbed my mobile and clicked.

The following day we made bobbatlu and distributed in our apartment. I was so happy and excited.. My DD crossing her milestones one by one!!

Naa chitty thalli ki laali paata!!

Just before writing this post I remembered a conversation with my vadina (SIL) who is a mother of a year old boy Chotu(Adithya) before 2 months when Shree was 2 months old..

Vadina: Enti Sreelu padukonistonda?(Is Shreelu allowing you to sleep?) How is everything going? (She always knows I am a lazy gal.. sorry I "WAS" a lazy gal)

Me : Asalu Shreelu emi allari cheyadu vadina, maname every 3 hours ki lepali to feed her. Asalu edavadu.. She behaves so well..(Sree is a darling, she is very calm, we ourselves have to wake her and give feed, she doesnt't cry.)

Vadina: Pillalu 3 months varake calm ga untaru.. 3 months dhataka vallu em chesina manam dhaniki thaginattu undalisinde.. Ipude em leliyadu le.. She gave a sarcastic smile saying 2 months tarwatha ide maata cheppu!!(Told me to tell the same after 2 more months)

Cut cheste..

From a week or 2, I mean from when she rolled over.. She doesn't want to sleep at all..

She wants to roll over, she wants to play.. She tries to grasp things.. She loves to play on her play gym.. I had become a living zombie so desperate to sleep.. Both me and Ram had to try had to make her sleep.

One fine night.. She hadn't slept yet and it was 3:40 AM. My mom, Ram and I tried all possible means to make her sleep..  Then.....Meri dimag ki batti jal gayi.. Opened youtube and searched for a song which I heard from my grandmother singing to my cousins when I was young.. She used to sing many but when I thought about laali paatalu, this one was the 1st one which came to my mind..

It did a magic.. A 5 minute song made my kiddo fast asleep with in 3 minutes.. And now its her favorite song and mine too(Its my weapon now)..

Soon I learnt this
song and when ever I want to make my lo sleep I play it and sing along with it. It goes on like this..

Raama Laali.. Megha syama Laali..
Thamarasa Nayana Dasaradha tanaya laali..

Achha vadana.. Aataladi alasinavu ra..
Bojjalopali paalu arigedhaka nidurapove ra..

                                                                     ||Rama||

Jola paadi jo kodithe aalakinchevu ra..
Chalinchi orukunte saiga chesevura..

                                                                    ||Rama||