Goodbye November, Good Riddance. Hello, December. Lookin' Good...

This year has been busy and fairly stressful, but nothing beat the month of November.

The entire month, my little maid was out and we didn't know if she was coming back. Was she going to get married at her village? Was she going to decide she just couldn't take any more of the twins' capers?

So we went ahead and put them in daycare. And it didn't work for us. No sirree, not one bit.

I'm sure Daycare is the life-saver for many, many mothers - I know many of these working moms myself. But in our case, the twins just kept getting infections, infecting each other, and eventually ended up going only about 12 days of the entire month.

The worst part for me was how they cried every one of those 12 days that they were being dropped off. Of course, the fact is that they didn't get enough time to really settle in, what with all the breaks, but still. Actually, I must correct myself - their crying was still okay, because I knew that within a few minutes they would be alright. What was actually the worst part was how everytime I picked them up - they were sitting around quietly playing, looking morose and subdued and with this wondering expression that clearly said 'Where the hell are my folks?'

Anyway - now the good news. My maid came back! And I'm hoping she stays with us for a while, because it is only now that I fully realize how much we need her.

This is a seventeen year old girl called Rinki, small and slight but with luxurious long thick hair, which appears to be her one vanity. She was very quiet and shy to begin with and didn't speak any Hindi a year back when she walked in - but is now a bright and happy chatterbox - who despite being a bit hot-tempered and prone to mood swings, is very very fond of the children and generally speaking, takes great care of them, playing with them and managing them with the energy that a seventeen year old posseses - and that the actual mother of twins who will in a few years be (gasp) twice that age definitely does not.

Of course, we also have help in the good ol' trustworthy K, who with all her faults, continues to be the biggest blessing in disguise - between Rinki and the K, and some other part time help ( yes, we have a lot of help, and by God, do we need it!) - we pretty much get by.

December, kicking off with Vijay's birthday and chugging along smoothly, seems to be overall a far better month than November. I am kind of looking forward to 2012 though. Lots of excitement coming up for more than one reason, including (Yay!) possibly, potentially, probably even the book, slated for April as of now - but we'll see about that.

In the meantime though, since we're all about living in the moment, we just got back after watching the Lunar Eclipse tonight. Pretty it was, and I realized only after a few minutes that I was seeing double, squinting up through my shortsighted eyes. Once my glasses were at hand, I saw the very pretty sight of the moon being gobbled up by our shadow, and had an interesting discussion around the dining table on astronomy, physics, philosophy and life in the womb ( don't even bother asking) with Vijay and his father.

Net-net, life goes on.

Know what I mean?

Next up: in the month of January, the K decides to leave for her village for a break. DAMMIT.