Anvika @ 8 months

Can't believe it has been 8 months already :) Anvika rolled over for the first time when she was around 6 months and started to sit upright at 5 months. She tries to leap forward and comes on her knees in the crawling position. Though she hasn't started to crawl yet, but tries to stand when I extend my hands towards her. This new found mobility means she is entering the land of bumps and falls which is quite enevitable in childhood. I let her explore her surroundings in order to discover her limits :)

Anvika is extremely fond of  Anvesha and the duo play very well together and Anvesha picks her up whenever she falls.

We started solids for her when she was 4.5 months old since she was not gaining much weight and her pediatrician suggested that we start solids early. We started with oatmeal cereal and its been a long journey ever since. We have gone past the puree stage and now I try to give her more of textured foods. Soft cooked and mashed veggies and fruits. I somehow feel she has a sweet tooth since she likes foods that are on the sweeter side like bananas, apples, carrots, sweet potato. I try to introduce new food every week. I did try  giving her daal and khichdi, but this little girl just gagged. Maybe I will try again after few days :)

Last week Anvika got her first lower 2 teeth together. She looks super adorable in her 2 teeth. The gummy grin is now replaced with gleaming teeth :) I am trying to get her pic with both the teeth visible- so far no luck :( Just like with Anvesha, we have continued the tradition of celebrating monthly birthdays for Anvika as well.
Here's a video from yesterday...

It has been a long journey of 8 months- many sleepless nights, days of frustration, days when I thought I cannot handle 2 kids, but when I see this marshmallow smile at me, I forget everything and my heart melts. Thats when I think- It's worth it and it will get better from here. I look forward to the summer this year where I want to spend as much time outside as I can with my angels :)

Happy birthday to this little girl who turned 8 months old yesterday. Muaaahhh!!!!

Spring Break

Last week was Anvesha"s spring break and yayyyy...I survived this week long break. Don't get me wrong... I love my kids, but staying with them 24/7 and answering Anvesha's endless questions.... I mean reallly???   I don't want to be the overwhelmed mother who cannot focus and one who longs for her kids to go to bed so that she can get a breather:) Even though I try to be on top of things, I still feel that at times I am just not enough for my daughters, may be they deserve more of my attention and time. Over the years I have realized that at the end of the day, my sanity is what matters the most. Only then can I give my best to my kids.

So, coming back to the spring break.... it was challenging to keep the kids occupied, especially in the rains. We did have 1-2 sunny days here and there and thats when we rushed out to get that fresh air. Anvika stayed in her stroller while Anvesha went biking. 

Anvesha is slowly being more and more confident to ride on her bike and we practised a lot around the community.

 There were times I arranged for playdates at our home, so that the kids can play and stay entertained. On the other days I had to keep her involved in helping me around in my household chores. She loves to "help" :) Anvesha has started going for her art class and loves it. Mondays are reserved for that and Thursdays are for ballet. 

I had several activities for Anvesha that she did in this break. One of them was "design your own treasure box" that she loved a lot.

Tada!!!!!!! here's the final product :)

Then there was a taping activity, she is still getting a hang of it....

Another activity for her in her spring break was the Peppa Pig's lacing activity. She likes Peppa Pig a lot and showed  a lot of interest in this one..

So that's how we passed the last week... Oh! and I forgot about the grocery shopping... where Anvesha was the one taking charge of what she wanted to buy. That also helps in understanding how things work and the concept of buying stuff from the stores.

We ended the Spring break with Easter egg hunts and a trip to see the Cherry blossoms

I am not saying that I didn't lose my cool at times, yes I did, especially when I had to pretend to listen to the same story for over 10 times and still pretend to be so so so interested in it :) But I am so blessed to have such amazing daughters, I must have done something really nice to have these amazing little humans in my life. Love you both to the moon and back :)

Getting Anvika's ears pierced

We had been wanting to get Anvika's ears pierced since a long time and this Navratri, we got it done finally :) She is 7.5 months old now and although getting an infant's ears pierced at such a young age is still a controversial topic, but I personally feel its better to get it done earlier on. It is less painful if done at an early age and also solves gender identification- the little diamond studs tells it all.

For Anvesha we got it done when she was 4 months old. So we decided to get those tiny ears pierced at Claire's last week. In some cultures it may be a tradition to pierce a girl's age, but like I said earlier, we did it so that it is easily manageable. Although ear piercing is over in a matter of seconds, but it IS painful for these young souls and they will also soon forget it.

Here's our little girl waiting for her ears to get pierced.

And here's Mamma holding her baby tight.

In just a matter of seconds it was all done. If I am not wrong, Anvika cried for jsut around 15 secs. My brave girl, I am so so so proud of you. I do not have the complete video of the piercing, but will share with you what I have.

For now we have diamond studs for her, but in a couple of months, will get ear rings, like her big sister :).

Presenting Anvika in her brand new look...