To my darlings, on Children's Day

Children- they may not always smell pure and sweet- a dirty diaper or a damped sheet. But with a loving cuddle and a beautiful smile, the joys of parenthood are all worth while.

This children's day is special as it is Anvika's first with us. It is such a joy to have her and Anvesha as a part of our family. Anvika means completeness and very rightly so. It is completeness in every sense..... thanks for making our family complete baby. When I started writing this blog, I was a new mom and now, I have come a long way.I have learnt a lot from my daughters.... to be patient, to be a good listener, to be happy for no reason, to be always busy with something. This list will continue to grow over the years.

This children's day I want to send a sweet note to my girls...

My sweet girls...
Growing up in this world is going to be tough, but I want to let you know that I will be right here beside you whenever you need me. Explore the world, live life to its fullest, love yourself before you love anyone else. You will never be happy if you don't love or respect your own self. Both of you bring so much joy and happiness to my life. When you have children of your own, you experience immense love and until both of you came into my life, I did not know love like this. Don't ever grow up.... be a kid always. Childhood is the most precious phase of anyone's life and I promise to give you the best memories that both of you can cherish for your lives.

Love you both to the moon and back. A very happy children's day to my darlings :)

Million Smiles

Baby's first smile is one of the highlights of early parenthood. Anvika's first (social) smile happened around 2 months of age. Although I got to capture it only today.I can't say that I remember the very first "social smile", since in the beginning so many of the little smirks were questionable. After weeks of giving this girl all my love and energy, she gave me smiles that told me, "Life is good Mamma! You're doing a good job and it's gonna be all right." In that instant, all the hard work of sleepless nights and endless diaper changes over the past several weeks seem well rewarded because my little darling finally flashed that pink gummy grin :)

Although I keep talking to Anvika throughout the day, but the massage time is the time which is exclusive to just us. She is at her best behavior since she is relaxed and enjoys the oil massage. The easiest way to encourage her to smile is to smile back and give her a cuddle. That way she knows that she has done something wonderful. I can see that she is a very social child. She loves to be around people and actually talks ( in her baby language) when you talk to her.

Anvika is growing up fast and starting to figure out human behavior. She probably understands that smiling at me gets my attention. I can now say for sure that she knows who am I since she gets super excited and rapidly moves her legs and arms seeing me first thing in the morning.

For her, its the beginning of socialization and for me- its an emotional time when I truly feel for her even more :) Its perhaps also the onset of many milestones that are in store for future.

Halloween Special

It's that time of the year again..... Halloween !!! Every year we use our brains to decide what to dress up Anvesha as.  The past years have been easy as I decided the outfit and Anvesha simply wore it. But this year, she has her own set of liking. This time all she wanted to become was a witch on Halloween. Maybe she was just fascinated by the hat and broom:) I did not get her the costume till the last minute thinking she can change her mind any time. So, I let her choose the perfect witch costume for herself. I was amazed as to how many different options you can have for a simple thing like a witch.  As far as Anvika is concerned, this was her first Halloween and she cannot sit as she is still a newbie:) The options were limited for her and so she just wore the strawberry constume that Anvesha wore for her first Halloween.

So here's presenting our witch and strawberry this season.

                            

The day was usual where I took Anvesha for trick or treat to some of the participating places. This time Anvesha's friend Sanah also accompanied us. At night we took a round of the neighborhood for trick or treat. Anvika was at home taking her nap. I promise baby next time when you grow up, you can accompany your sister for trick or treat :)

Some of the highlights of the day...

I can't believe how Anvesha has evolved from a strawberry to Tinker Bell and now a witch on Halloween.

As far as the halloween candies are concerned.... they have gone for donation :) Out of sight means out of mind :)Shhhhhhh !!!! 

Life with 2 kids

As I start writing this post, I recall 3 years back when Anvesha was born... those sleepless nights, cranky baby and managing the household chores. Becoming a parent is hard, challenging and life altering. First child, you are clueless about most of the things.... there are good moments and meltdowns as well. As a first time- stay at home mom, I recall when all I wanted was to sleep uninterrupted or get a break from my own baby :( There were moments of anxiety of high fevers and moments when I used to fret about her not eating enough ( although I do that even now). But there were moments when I could not spend a second without her. It was madness and pure happiness all at once.

Over the time, I got into the groove and moments that seemed "so hard" started getting manageable. At that time I questioned how people did this again with another baby? But as they say, "second kid is always for the first one" :) I am so glad God again blessed us with a daughter. Having a sister is something I missed and seeing Anvesha and Anvika makes me so happy. I look forward to watching them grow up together.

Anvika is 2.5 month old now and she is such a joy. This time, as a second time mom, is different in so many ways including the absence of a scared, not so confident mother that I was with my first daughter. So, here's what I am learning with my new life with 2 kids:

1. Enjoying small moments: This time it's all about enjoying little things and to live in the moment as much as possible.

2. Developing a system: Iam all about routine and structure. Weekly menus are planned at the start of the week and I make preparations ahead of time. Since Anvesha goes to preschool, I pick her outfit and pack lunch the night before. Although I get super exhausted at night, but it does help to make the mornings smooth.

3. Focus: I find it extremely hard to focus on my very active and talkative preschooler when the little one needs my physical attention, generally needing to be held, nursed or changed. Finding this balance can be tricky and extremely frustrating and it makes me feel somewhat guilty of not giving my 100% to both of them.

4. Meltdowns happen. Its amazing how Anvesha has taken the baby so well, but she is still only 3.5 years old and when things don't go in a certain way, she gets frustrated. With 2 kids I find it hard to calm her down when Anvika is crying or when I have to put her to sleep. Challenges like these make my day extremely hard and I do have moments when I can't figure out how to balance my own life.

Parenting continues to amaze me with all of it's ups and downs. As a mom of two daughters, Iam amazed how much I have changed as I continue to embrace this magical and challenging time.

Introducing Anvika

It was the morning of August 11th when I felt slightly different and my OB even told me that the baby is on it's way maybe that afternoon or evening....and finally my journey of 9 months with Anvika concluded on August 12th @ 1.07 AM. Yes, that's when I held Anvika for the first time in my arms. As I left for the hospital at night, I knew things would be very different when I return back home with a new member of our family. Anvesha- who until now had my exclusive and undivided attention would be the one most affected. I  didn't even know how Anvesha would react when she sees Anvika for the first time.With mixed feelings I left home thinking life will be completely different when I come back.

Here is Anvika, born on August 12th @ 1.07 AM weighing 7 pounds and 11 ounce and measuring 19.5 inches.

The following morning Anvesha came to the hospital with my parents to meet her little sister and she was so excited to meet her. Her first reaction when she saw Anvika was that she is so tiny and so cute. She insisted on taking Anvika in her lap and we let her hold her for some time. She is super possessive of her little sister and when the doctor came to check Anvika, she was in tears when we took Anvika from her arms to give to the doctor. Cute isn't it?

Here are the glimpses of the two sisters at the hospital







Anvika is 2 weeks old now and we had the shuddhi havan at our place last week. So what does Anvika mean? Well, the meaning of her name is "Powerful and complete", completeness in every sense indeed :) It rhymes so well with Anvesha too.

As far as I am concerned, I am still recovering and trying to catch up on my sleep whenever possible, although I still have a long way to go before I can finally manage to get atleast 6 hours of sleep :) There is lots to catch up and I will slowly get there.... just a heads up, this blog address will soon change and my blog title will change too ;) No prizes for guessing...... it's now gonna be "Life with Anvesha & Anvika"  :) But as of now, for the sake of simplicity and my sanity, I will keep posting on this blog until the new one is under construction, so stay tuned for lots of more updates of the new sisters in town!!!

Summer activities

After a long gap, I am back to write this post. There is a lot to talk about, but first things first... Iam just a week away from baby #2 and life will get a lot busier ( for the good ). We have been preparing Anvesha for the arrival of her little sister and she is excited too :) I will need to update my blog with a new name. My past posts have been all about Anvesha, but going forward it will be about Anvesha and Anvika- yes we have finalized on the name.

Now coming back to what we have been upto in the past months..... Well, there is a lot to catch up on. Anvesha had her first stage performance which was the school's spring concert. She was probably overwhelmed seeing such a large crowd :) But I could see a big difference in her confidence level in her second stage performance which was the ballet recital. You did great Anvesha- I am so proud of you baby :)

All set for her spring concert with the Hawaiin theme

The summer break is still on and we have tried keeping her busy by enrolling her in individual classes instead of summer camps- although it also means that I run errands with her :) Mondays are reserved for soccer, Thursdays for ballet, Fridays for gymnastics and recently we registered her for swimming lessons as well. With a jam packed schedule, she is certainly busy and me exhausted taking her for the classes... lol

She is currently in the 'hoppers class' of the little kickers soccer program and recently her coach recommended her for the next level. She enjoys this 50 minute class a lot and loves her coach.

Though she is still learning to use her feet instead of hands, but she is doing pretty well. After running for 50 mins in the field, she comes home tired and most of the times dozes off in the car.

The ballet class is my personal favorite. She is with the "Dance with Miss Sue" program and Miss Sue- her ballet teacher is apparently the best in town. I am glad Anvesha has picked up well and Miss Sue has also agreed to let her in the 4s age group class starting August 25th.

Anvesha is pretty athletic for her age and looking at her flexibility and interest we decided to put her in the gymnastics class at Emerald City Gymnastics in order to channelize it formally. She has learnt monkey bars, forward flip, backward flip, somersault and more stunts. She sometimes amazes me with her skills. Whether its the staircase, or any railing outside, she starts climbing and shows me her new achievement.

The other day she climbed up high on the monkey ladder swinging like a monkey. She wanted to show off her new skill and called out to me saying, "look at this Mamma". For a moment my heart skipped a beat, but I just encouraged her by saying how awesome she was :)











I am glad Anvesha is turning out to be a perfect blend of a girl and is also athletic. She loves wearing dresses and agrees to wear shorts only for her soccer and gym class. Here is a cute video that I thought would be nice posting here.

I feel like so much is happening so fast, Anvesha is growing up so fast. She is just 3.5 yrs old and sometimes amazes me with her chit chat. Love you baby. Stay blessed and I am confident you will be an amazing big sister.

To Anvesha, on Mother's Day

My dear baby doll,

Today you are a little over three years. You see the world as a magical place and you are in awe of everything around you- like the way the sky looks and the way color mixes in water. You look into the mirror and love what you see- yes you love yourself and that's what I love the most about you. You know you are beautiful and you make yourself laugh. You  derive happiness in everything around you and this is one trait I am trying to learn from you. You think I am the greatest person ever. The other day I was almost in tears when you asked me in your innocent voice, "Mamma do you love me?" and jumped in joy when I hugged you.

I was in awe seeing you get me my plate at the "Muffins with Mom" day organized at your school. You were amazingly graceful that day and I couldn't believe my eyes as you helped me sit in the little chair in your classroom. Thank you for the beautiful morning :)

The day when you entered my life, everything changed- for better. Yes, my life is chaotic, exhausting, yet  it is fun. You are absolutely athletic and want to try out new tricks and become super excited to show off all your tricks to us. No matter how  exhausting life is for me right now, I can't wait to see how your relationship with your soon to be little sister will grow. I know you are super excited to be a big sister as you will get to be bossy :), but I am sure you will be a great sister :)

I have realized that Mother's Day is not all about me, it's about you and me- together. You are so much more than I could have ever hoped for and more wonderful than I ever could have imagined.

Thank you for making Mother's day, my favorite day of the year!

Love you to the moon and back...

Mamma