Oh So Adorable !!!!

We always wanted to have a daughter and I still remember the morning of Sept' 2012 when we had scheduled the "big ultrasound". Our prayers were answered when we found out its a "girl" :) For me, the best part about having daughters is that we have countless ways of dressing them up. Sun dresses, skirts, shorts, trousers, rompers, dungarees, lehangas, salwar kameez.....the list goes on !!! Not to forget the cute accessories- clips, hairbands, ribbons, shoes..... they look so adorable :)

I love dressing up and styling Anvesha. I have so much fun dressing her in those cute little outfits, especially when I know that I will not be able to choose her ensembles forever. In just a matter of few years she will have her own style statement, so I enjoy having my own real life doll to play dress up with :)

If you happen to pass by the kids' clothing section in any of the stores, it looks so colorful. Pink still rules the girl's section :) Needless to say, pink dominates Anvesha's wardrobe as well and I am so much over the color pink now that I have stopped purchasing anything pink for her.  Yellow, red, orange, blue, green...... anything but pink !!!!!  Its hard to resist this color as its my favorite one. I think we have exhausted Carters now and its time to look out for other brands... Zulily has some really cute ones  and with summers just around the corner, its time to stock up some cute sun dresses for her :)

I happened to re-organize Anvesha's wardrobe one day ( something which had been on my to-do list for long ) and couldn't help but admire these cute and lovely dresses. I have two favorites- the blue dress that she wore for her welcome party in India and the pink dress that she wore for her birthday party. I wish I could turn back time and go  into my childhood  so that I can wear them too ;)

Here's a sneak peek into Anvesha's wardrobe..... These dresses are just A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E !!!!!

P.S: These ones are just the few BEST ones out of the lot :)

On Mother's Day

I used to say I am a new mom with a little baby girl. But now I am a mom with a toddler... can't believe how time flies. I started this blog to write about anything and everything I could think of as I became this new person called "mom". I continue blogging to share the spirit and joy of becoming a mother- hoping it might help others like me who are discovering this all new aspect of their lives called motherhood. This is also my own way of recording all the sweet memories of Anvesha's childhood and everything else that I have learnt being a first time mom.

Thank you Aanu for giving me the most special role in my life and thanks Prateek for being my pillar during the rough times...... last but definitely not the least, thank you mummy for inspiring me each day to get better at this role. Even if I can be half of what you are, I would consider my motherhood a success !!!

This mother's day I make a promise to myself to be a good mom- not the best mom 'coz who knows what the best mom is anyways ??   I have come to appreciate how much harder it is to be a mom despite all the conveniences of modern motherhood!! I don't always get it right, but I am trying.... Being a mom is the toughest job on planet. There are always clothes to wash, meals to cook, stories to read, tears to be kissed away.... and it never ends there. It's hard to get up at 3 AM when your little one is crying and you are exhausted... its hard to take care of a fussy toddler when you have a cold too. I finally understand the value of mother's love and appreciate how hard our mothers have worked to raise us. Happy mother's day mummy.... thanks for being my guiding light !!!!

Here's a special mother's day note to my angel ( i thought I'll just flip sides and celebrate the reason I've been able to call myself a mother)

Dear Aanu,
Its mother's day and I want you to know that you are the bestest daughter in the whole world. I am so blessed to be your mother.I promise to always be there for you and be the mom you deserve. Thank you for the wonderful  mother's day greeting this morning ( courtesy  your dad ). Being your mom makes me the happiest person today !!!!
 Hugs n kisses.... Mamma

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there !!!!!

Let's Play !!!

Being a stay at home mom, I have all the time to entertain Anvesha. We both love to try new things to keep ourselves entertained. I love to play peekaboo and the "chase" game with her where I chase her through the house and tickle her all over... she goes splits and rolls all over the floor :) We love to play with the ball throwing it back and forth to each other. I try to involve her in the household chores like laundry, stacking the dishwasher and she loves to help around as well :)

She loves books and I read out to her a LOT!!!.  We go to the library and  Barnes and Noble for story times. She loves dancing, playing with her blocks, sliding on her slide, riding on her horse, playing with her ball ( she is so possessive about it )..... taking her new best friend- her caterpillar out for walks :) Seeing her with her caterpillar reminds me of the Hutch ad.... she loves to stack things up, empty up the cabinets which is frustrating for me but I let her continue anyway. That's the best way to encourage curiosity in this cute little enthusiastic cutlet !!!!!

I feel that it is MUCH easier to keep the toddlers entertained when the weather is nice. Past few days  had been very sunny and its beginning to warm up now with temperature hitting 80 degrees !!! Time to get those summer dresses out from the closet :) So each sunny day, this is how we spent our day together:

• taking walks around the neighborhood
• playing at the parks
• feeding the ducks at Bellevue downtown park
• stroller rides along the Bellevue Way

There are some really good kid friendly parks in the Bellevue/ Redmond area like the  Bellevue downtown park, Crossroads park, Grass lawn park. These parks offer a lot of activities for the little cruisers. Anvesha would squeal in delight as I pushed her on the swing and had great fun whooshing down the mini slide :) Here are the highlights from last week.

Anvesha loves playing with sand, picking up pebbles and leaves and I love showing her how they crush and crumble :) Being outdoors is a great way for her to learn and explore new things. This exploratory impulse- to go, look, touch and taste is what drives her to learn. She learns about 'fear', for instance while climbing a playground structure and about 'excitement', when she comes down the slide.  Unfortunately at her age she can't yet differentiate between what's safe and what's not. The challenge for me is to keep her safe without inhibiting her desire to touch, hold, shake or taste her world !!

Anvesha @ 15 months

Time for an update !!! I like to have these things documented so I can always look back with a smile :)
Its been 15 months for Anvesha in this world !!! We had her 15 month check up today and she is 19.5  lbs in weight which is the 25th percentile and 29.5 inches in height which is the 25th percentile.

Though her vocabulary is still small, but she still has the ability to convey her mind through some hand gestures, sounds, words. This display of communication is rather impressive. This is also an evidence that she is learning how to share her thoughts. When asked to get her ball, she runs to get it. Ask her where "Tinker Bell" is and she will get her storybook to you. Bath time is fun time for Anvesha. Sing the song, " Chai Chappa Chaii" and she will drag you to the bathroom. She is learning new words.... and my ears are still waiting to hear Mamma :) Here's a list of few words she can say:

• "Doah" for Dog
• "Ish" for Fish
• "Shhhh" for Shoes
• "Aiii" for Bye
• "Da" for Duck
• "Bub Bub" for bumble bee
• "Ja" for jump

She is 75 % weaned as of now and the day time feedings are close to zero... yayyyy !!!! As far as favorite foods are concerned... well she loves strawberries & oatmeal- she will just jump in excitement on seeing strawberries. Her favorite song these days is "Clap your hands"  and she can "clap her hands", "stamp her feet", "jump up high", "turn around" in sequence on hearing this song :) Cute isn't it?? Here's a video of her activities.

Anvesha has four upper teeth and four lower ones right now, one lower molar and two upper molars have erupted and the other lower molar is on its way.She also has a small finger toothbrush and loves to brush her teeth :) We also need to have her first dentist appointment soon :). The past few days have been tough on her .....sleepless nights, lack of appetite and fussiness and I would blame it on these "horrible molars"!!!

She is down to just one nap during the day now and this gets harder on me as I am not able to catch up on my sleep (yeah.... she still doesn't sleep through the night ). I  am not a great supporter of the cry it out method of sleep training... though many people swear by it and that is what her pediatrician recommended too. I just feel its wayyy too harsh on the child and I just do not have the heart to let her cry until she falls asleep. The sight of her falling off to sleep on my lap is just so precious that I can give up anything in this world for that.

It might be a little early to comment whether she is a left handed or a right handed girl... but she prefers to use her left hand a lot. Neither me nor Prateek is a lefty, so it would be exciting to have a left handed person in our family, and we don't wanna manipulate her hand preference at all.

Although I do miss going to work at times, but watching  her grow right in front of my eyes is something I cannot trade off for anything else. Over the years I shall look back with a smile and say with pride, "That's my girl" !!! 

Tulip Fest !!

Spring is here and the tulips are in full bloom :) We have been going to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival since 3 years... its one of my favorite places here and last year around the same time Anvesha was still a  2 month old newbie. She is more mobile now and runs around more confidently, with me chasing after her. She loves touching the leaves and holding the colorful petals in her hands. It was certainly a delightful trip for Anvesha when we went for the tulip fest this year. She was so happy to see millions of tulips in full  bloom and ran around here and there screaming in excitement.

For a winter baby like her, seeing the tulip fields spread across 100s of acres of land surely is a treat. I find myself really lucky to see these beauties of nature here in United States- something that we miss in India. For kids who are of Anvesha's age, its a wonderful time for getting exposed to these wonders of nature. They can actually relate to what they read in storybooks and watch on the television.

It sure is a matter of great pride for both me and Prateek when people give her compliments on how cute she looks :) Clicking her pics was challenging for us as she would just not stand still.She was so busy absorbing the wonderful sight of the tulips, that she completely ignored us :( Here are few best ones from the tulip festival this year

Flowers are in full bloom all around us and I am so looking forward to summer this year. I also have a mental list of all the things I wanna do this summer..... but more on that later !!!!!

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter is here....my memories of Easter are somewhat faded.... all I remember is the long Easter break we used to have in school, so we didn't quite participate in the Easter egg hunt. But Easter is celebrated on a large scale here in United States. It is great fun for families with children and the kids really look forward to them. The community in which we live had organized the Easter Bunny Egg Hunt and it was such a big hit :)

We dressed up Anvesha in an adorable "Sweet Bunny" pink dress ( it coincidentally matched perfectly for the day) and a  white bunny ears hair band. She looked so adorable in the cute little Easter basket that she took around in hunt of eggs :) The Easter Bunny was such a hit among kids and there was a photo session too. Anvesha was thrilled to meet the Bunny and we clicked loads of pictures of them together.

Anvesha collected four eggs which were good enough for her age :) She happily flaunted her Easter basket and played with the candy filled eggs :)  Though she still hasn't reached an age where she attaches meaning to what is going on around her, but she enjoyed nonetheless :) Here are few memories from today's Egg Hunt.

Encouraging kids to participate in such events is a great way for them to learn various cultures, interact socially plus value and respect diversity. Easter egg hunt may be more of a western concept, but involving kids in such activities is a great way for them to develop and understand these concepts in a better way and relate to what they see and learn in storybooks  :)

Happy Easter Everyone !!!!

Kanjak Poojan

With the navratri celebrations Iam reminded of my childhood days in Shimla, when I got ready to accompany my friends as we were invited by many neighborhood households for kanjak, a ritual very popular in north India- young girls are invited to be worshiped, offered delicacies like halwa, puri, chana and are given gifts or money. Kanjak Poojan is usually done on ashtami or naavmi ( eight or ninth day of the navratris). At our end we perform this on naavmi ( ninth day of navratris ).

We do not have many Indians in the neighborhood here and Anvesha missed the many opportunities that she would have got- had she been in India around this time ;) We did have friends come in for Kanjak though and since Anvesha could not eat all of the yummy halwa puris, I finished them for her, lol :)

We dressed up Anvesha in the traditional salwar kameez that day and she looked adorable as she played around with the dupatta. Since it was 'her' day, I took her to Wiggle Works- kids play area, so that she could enjoy her day. She is fond of stacking these days, so I thought it would be a good idea to get her a stacking ring, which reminds me of the onion rings at Red Robin :)

Here's our Kanjak, ready for her Kanjak Poojan :)