39 Weeks

Hot off the presses!  From just this morning...this happy dancing kid is suffering from bilateral ear infections.  Every time she gets sick, I say to the house that me and Hasan could learn a thing or two from her sunny disposition when she is sick.  I write this as I too am sick with a sore throat and cold...and let's just say I am not dancing.

38 Weeks

I don't know why I love this photo...maybe it was the moment it captured.  Us laughing happily, looking out the window and enjoying the kitty's antics.  But now that I look at it, I realize it also captures the fact that I had her shirt on backwards ALL DAY.  See how it looks like her neck is cut off...silly mommy!

37 Weeks

I love this picture of her.  Firstly, it captures what I get to enjoy every morning - time on carpet while I rush to get dressed (and she proceeds to pull off her socks, and anything else she can pull off when I'm not around to stop her)...and how fun it is to run in every so often to make sure she is OK, and just have her look at me with those big eyes.  But more so, this particular morning, how she was dressed made me feel close on both of our behalfs to Wendy and Tutu.  I call this outfit "channeling our inner Aunt Wendy and Tallulah".  Purple and stripes - that's what I think of when I think of those two :)

36 Weeks

Our niece Tanuja often likes to ask "what can Sanaa do now?".  I love that question.  Well this week she can take a spoon with some food on it and put it in her mouth.  Might be upside down, might have half the food land somewhere other than her mouth, but she's pretty clear that that food she likes to eat can come to her mouth if she moves an offered spoon quickly and straightaway to her mouth.

(PS - I like to call this picture her "gangster face".  She looks a little scary...)

35 Weeks - Happy Thanksgiving!

Sanaa is very blessed for having so much adoration from her cousins.  Jaheim loves to teach her new things...and he is so tolerant with her.  Here he is letting Sanaa pull his ears...HARD.  What are cousins for I guess...

October 2012

October flew by...I had most of the month off, but it was chock full of household illnesses, time that seem to go without notice, and so on...I can't remember much more about it other than it was my birthday, which was uneventful, and it ended with Hurricane Sandy coming the day I was supposed to start my new gig.  Hm...

Here are the pictures from the month...there just weren't that many strangely.

34 Weeks

Believe it or not, this was actually taken at 5:45 am.  This is a lot of smiling for that early in the morning.  That's our girl...  On another topic, does anyone see any resemblance between the two of us?

33 Weeks

Not sure what that face is...but this chair used to be her holding bay while I finish getting dressed in the AM.  Now, she can basically do a somersault out of it....so I have to put blankets on the floor in front of it.

32 Weeks

This week was Daddy Day Care!  While Hurricane Sandy caused most of life to stop here in Philly, I began my new gig and simply worked from home and my local Afro-French cafe.  Sanaa and Hasan spent the days together, and well...the evidence is her bib and, if you look closely, those cream colored sweats have bright orange all over them.  And her right sleeve is soaking wet.  And look at that bib!  I guess it's up to Mommy to get those stains out. :)  In all seriousness, I haven't seen her in as good a mood as she was on Monday with Daddy.  Great job Hasan!

September 2012

September was a wonderful month.  After we bid a tearful goodbye to my mom, our little family got into the swing of managing things on our own in our new place.  And I got into the swing of things cooking.  I've been cooking up a STORM of Indian food, and all of us are very very happy (thanks Mom!).  In addition, one of the greatest joys I have now is making food for the baby.  She is such a hearty, joyful eater, and her palate is welcoming of so many flavors.  I can make garlicky asparagus, curried carrots, spicy chicken, spicy sweet potato, spicy guacamole (catching on to the theme here?), and she devours it all.

I love this photo of her.  It's the first time we set her in the grass, and the way the sun was shining, she looks just perfect...and a little like Albert Einstein with that hair :)

September was also her 6 months birthday...I got each of us a chocolate cupcake.  And she only had a few bites...while I was around.  Then, her sweet-loving (literally) dad decided to give her more when I wasn't around...and needless to say, the Exersaucer was covered in cupcake throw-up that evening.  Also needless to say, I was less than pleased :)

Here are the September pictures.

31 Weeks

Bath time with Daddy!  Cropped to be internet-safe of course.

30 Weeks

First time in new high chair!

29 Weeks

This Tuesday was our last weekday of chilling together before I start my new gig in a couple of weeks. We had a blast practicing crawling, going to get some coffee, reading, and so on.  I just love her in this sweater because it captures her brightness.  On a very gray day, she wast he brightest thing around.

28 Weeks

As I posted on Facebook the other day, one of my most favorite activities with Sanaa is cooking her food and feeding her.  She has such a wide palate, and so enjoys food.  In the past week, she has matured to understand that there are a variety of foods available to her, and that she can actually not want to eat anymore asparagus or potatoes, and lo and behold there is some yellow squash somewhere that can be fed to her.  This may be heading down a path where she thinks I'm my mom - i.e. that I'm going to make her 5 varieties at every meal...oh no! ;)

27 Weeks

This is her "yea...I'm cute...but I don't need to smile every time you ask me to" look.  This week started a new phase in the Andrews household.  Baby is going to daycare more, and the whole house is gearing up for when I start my new gig, because oh...I forgot to mention that my company has been acquired!  It's a wonderful thing for me...I'm pretty excited about this next phase.  I'm going to the new company to grow a significant new business for them.  It'll be a change for our house...starting with these weekly Tuesday pics.  They're likely to be just like the above since I only get to see the baby in the wee hours of the morning, and for about an hour in the evening.  I miss her, so let's hope this next phase, while exciting, only lasts about 3 years.  That's what I'm planning for it to take for me to achieve my objectives professionally.

26 Weeks

Lately we've been practicing sitting.  She does pretty well with it if she's distracted, which means work for whomever is practicing with her :)  Lucky for us, she loves the faces in this book and will entertain herself "reading" it.  

25 Weeks

Just too cool for school. On our way to Mommy n Me yoga for the first time.  I had wanted to go since she was born, and it took me 6 months to get us there.  Such fun!  She smiled constantly for the teacher and other babies.  And spent most of the time on her belly sliding all over the floor.  Talk about doing Boat pose!

24 Weeks

These were the final days of my mom being with us.  It was really wonderful to have so many weeks of hearing my mom sing and talk to Sanaa from downstairs.  One of my favorite scenes was how much Sanaa enjoyed watching her cook.  Sanaa seems to be a  real foodie...good thing she has a grandmother with delicious cooking skills!

August 2012 - More mom!

August found us settling into our new home, new routines, etc.  My mom took such wonderful care of all of us, and I even started to learn how to cook some Indian food.  Hasan and I are so busy with our businesses that, to me, the highlight of the month was a family walk we all took together one Sunday morning to the Art Museum.  I love the pictures from there that are in this month's set, and above.

August 2012 pictures

There were lots of these moments in August.  Sanaa gets SUCH a kick out of my mother. Her first hearty laugh was with her back in June, and it was such a surprise to hear.



A great place to get her energy out became the Exersaucer.  But I pity our upstairs neighbors who get to hear her when she's "talking" to the various creatures in it.  She seems to have a real thing for frogs.




And lastly, the girl loves herself.  Something I am happy to say.  A guaranteed crankiness breaker is showing her a mirror.  Can be any kind of a mirror - a real one on a wall, one in a bathroom, a kind of distorted one on her playmat, and even her reflection in my sunglasses.

July 2012 - Moving & Mom!

July was a whirlwind for us.  We finally finished the renovations on our new condo and moved into it!  All in the span of like 24 hours.  I love the baby's room...it truly makes me smile.

Right up there with getting to move into our new home was a month full of absolutely delicious meals cooked by my mom - think 3 meals a day of someone who loves you nourishing you with YUMMY food.  Heaven sent.

The baby really grew and developed in July.  She rolled over more, became noticeably aware of Roxie's existence, dropped her night feedings (YAY), and developed her voice.  As I say, her "outside voice" seems to be used inside, and her inside voice is used outside.  Too funny.

Here are our July pics...I warn you, there are a few too many of her first day of solid foods.  But she just looks soooo cuuuuute :)

And one of my favorite videos from the month...not sure what she's saying, but she had a lot to say.

23 Weeks

Yes, that is Sanaa eating Miss Piggy's nose.  This Miss Piggy doll (now a "vintage" item) was a gift to Sanaa from my Auntie who gave me that exact same Miss Piggy doll (when it wasn't vintage) when I was about 4 years old.  

See pic of me carrying her below...

22 Weeks

And now I'm caught up!!!  Sanaa recently discovered she can bounce in the Exersaucer, and for a kid with such active legs, the fact that now both her feet can touch the base at the same time must be pure joy.  You should see those legs go!

21 Weeks

My mom had a day off of cook/grandma/babysitter/mom duty, and used it to go shopping (no surprise there :).  And she came back with this most wonderfully sweet piggy bank for Sanaa.  It really is quite the portly piggy and Sanaa really likes it.

20 Weeks

Every time I look into my child's face, I see Hasan.  Something about those eyes.  And she is really quite the little Daddy's girl.

19 Weeks

Another first - the first day of daycare.  If you can call it that when it's the following:  have Mommy and Daddy pack you up, take you to this building, and be welcomed by your grandmother, 3 aunts, and 4 cousins.  You see, Hasan's mother and sisters have just opened a beautiful new daycare and learning center.  And Sanaa is the special baby there.  So far, she goes just once per week, and this picture was her first day.  I teared up...yes, I did.  But she seemed to have such fun.

18 Weeks

On her 18th Week birthday, Sanaa had her first real food.  The whole family decided together to make it mango, and Hasan got to feed her.  The doctor told us to just give her a dab of something on a finger, because she wouldn't know what to do with it (roll it to the back of her mouth, etc.).  Yea right, not this kid.  She's always been such a hearty feeder, and it was no different with the first taste of the good stuff.  She loved the taste and kept making noises for more - so we kept giving her more...and more...and more...and more.  What a treat to have a child who loves to eat.  Since then, she's had carrots, avocado, and apples.  Try telling her there is no more, and she screams.  That part isn't fun.  But I do love that she enjoys her food so much.  It reminds me a lot of my sister.

17 Weeks

This is when she truly started her "everything goes in my mouth" phase.  This toy's name is Gironkey. Weird name, I know.  You see - her Auntie Evelan gave her this very nice giraffe.  However Hasan thinks it looks like a donkey.  So I named it Gironkey.  Funniest thing in the world: to hear my mom say "Sanaa, where is Gironkey? Where is Gironkeeeey"? 

16 Weeks

One of my most favorite things to do is to carry her in the Baby Bjorn.  And this was the first time she could be outward facing.  She steals the show as we walk - everybody loves her anklets and she is literally music to my ears.

I'm sad that her growth means that she is getting a bit too heavy for me to run around everywhere with her in my "pouch".  We are a happy twosome.

15 Weeks

What a treat.  Getting to sit with both of your grandmothers.  She's pretty darn fortunate.

June 2012 photos

I have to say that June was when she was really starting to get interesting.  Who knew? :)

June marked the arrival of my mom, Sanaa spending time with her grandfather, her great-grandmother and more family.  She was "getting out and about", so to speak.

Not much else to say - it seems like eons ago...but I can't wait to share the more recent photos of her, so I'd better hurry and get caught up!

Here are the June pictures.

Meeting Grandpop for the first time

This was pretty cool to see - on so many levels...

Happy First Father's Day

Oh, I'm falling behind in my posting again.  I love this video - notice who he says is beautiful :)

14 weeks

One of my most favorite things that Hasan does is to pick flowers on his walks out and about and bring them to me.  We often have a box full of now-dried flowers he has brought home.  Now that has extended to the baby.  I love that.  And she loves to have the flowers tickle her nose.

13 Weeks

Today, Sanaa and I were treated to a wonderful mid-afternoon meal with my favorite professional advisor and friend, Anne.  We went to the French brasserie restaurant Parc in Rittenhouse and felt fabulous for an hour or two.  From the minute she saw "GG" (as Anne likes to be called), she couldn't stop smiling or talking.  And the little one is well on her way to being a jewelry buff.  Anne let her wear her "just came out of the safe deposit box" ring...thank goodness she never flung it across the room!


I'm so proud to be her mom.  She makes it so easy to take her everywhere.

12 Weeks

Well, that's clearly not a picture of Sanaa...But this particular week the above was front and center in my life.  I came down with a terrible stomach virus (picture above) and was out Monday through Saturday!  Talk about "it takes a village"...Hasan took one day off to be with Sanaa.  The rest of the week Auntie Ebonie was here.  So in all of that, little Miss Sanaa's 12 week picture was not taken.

Here is a cute video from last week, however.  The conversation is in Telugu, but for those who don't understand, she's cute enough to overcome the language barrier :)

May 2012

May was a wonderful month...she grew quite a bit, the first person from my side of the family came to visit, and Hasan and I had our first date night.  Cousin Janae has taken a real liking to Sanaa as have her cousins Jameel and Jaheim. And I can tell her cousin Tanuja just wants to reach out and touch her via Skype.  It was my first Mother's Day (which was positively sweet) and Hasan's 35th birthday.  And what would we do without Auntie Ebonie to help our whole family by taking such good care of Sanaa?

Here are some pics from the month.

11 weeks

Another week where it was about 11 pm, I realized that I hadn't taken her 11 week picture and she was sleeping.  But I was so determined to get the picture, I ran in there, turned on the flash and hoped I wouldn't get yelled at by Hasan (who was also sleeping) nor wake up her up.  Mission accomplished!

10 weeks

This is a picture I'm sure will have my mom calling me to tell me not to do this again.  Yes, that's me happily eating my sandwich while my child is crying and I'm using her as a table.  Trust me, I'm not heartless...it was just kind of a funny moment of multitasking (which happens a lot these days) caught on camera.

9 weeks

This was my first "oh shoot, i'm supposed to take a picture and it's just about to be bedtime" photo.  9 weeks marked my first full day away from her.  I was in NYC all day - running from sales meeting to meeting, navigating "pumping while on the go", and everything in between.

8 weeks

My baby is getting big!  Her two month check-up was on Friday.  She's grown another 1.5 inches and 2 lbs.  She's now 2 feet tall - crazy!  This past week has been when she discovered her hands.  This discovery leads to the funniest moments:  she is either irritated that she is aiming her hand to her mouth (and misses), or is comforted when the hand is happily in her mouth, or is cross-eyed as she watches her hand come towards her mouth very, very slowly.


She's also continuing to talk up an even bigger storm and is tolerating tummy time more and more...she is also a big smiler and laugher.  She has now started talking during middle of the night diaper changes - it would be even cuter if I wasn't trying to teach her that nighttime is for sleeeeeeping.  


Another fun fact - the kid loves her baths.  She actually smiles during them...maybe it's the reggae music.  This is in sharp contrast to me.  I will share something - I distinctly remember the summer between 5th and 6th grade, I hated bathing.  So I would go into the bathroom, turn on the shower, and just let the tub get wet to make it seem like I had showered.  My poor mother!


Here's the link to the photo flipbook.

7 weeks

Just to show you this child isn't always happy, here she is on the morning she turned 7 weeks old.  This is an unusual thing because she usually is Miss Smiles when she's on the changing table - she LOVES knowing her diaper is about to be changed.  And, the morning is one of her most talkative times as well - but not that morning.

But, just so you know she was happier later in the day, here's a pic taken by her Auntie Ebonie.  (How can you not smile with Auntie Ebonie?)

6 weeks

I'm thinking our girl has a sense of humor.  There was some concern in the house the past week or two as her umbilical cord hadn't fallen off yet, and that can be a symptom of a no-good disease.  So the doctor said bring her in at 6 weeks if it still hasn't fallen off and we'll get her tested.  Well, yesterday the two of us along with her Aunt Ebonie (thank you for the moral support!) went to the doctors to get the blood drawn.  It was one day shy of the 6 week mark, but Erwin and I wanted to make sure we'd have the results this week - and as both we and the doctor noted, it didn't look like it was anywhere near falling off.  Well at 5:30 am this morning (her 6 week birthday) when I was dealing with an exploding diaper, I looked down and saw that her belly looked flatter...because the umbilical cord fell off in the middle of the night.  Funny girl...

5 weeks

Of course she had to have one shirt that says something about me on it :)  (And don't worry...there is a onesie in her dresser that says I Love Daddy too.)

I love moments like the one above when she smiles - they make all the exhaustion worth it.  I look forward to more of those as she starts to manifest her recognition of us in her facial expressions.  She's talking a lot more now too - especially when she's had her big poop of the day and is feeling free and relaxed :)

These past few days, she's in the Moby Wrap a lot with me.  As our doula reminded me, it works wonders when she is fussy.  And she's definitely fussier nowadays.

1 month, Tummy Time, and her voice

The above video is a rare "happy Tummy Time" moment.  Of course Roxie had to keep walking around me while I was trying to take it...sorry for the shakiness of the video.

Her one month check up was on Thursday.  She's doing just great...she's gained two pounds to be 10 lbs 1 oz, and has grown 1.5 inches to now be 22.5 inches.  Still above the 95th percentile.  I'm thinking she's headed towards her father's height.  That'll be fun.

The visit was fine, except Hasan decided he doesn't like the nurse who weighed her and gave her a shot.  First, the weighing:  he advised the nurse when she was going to take off the diaper that Sanaa would probably pee.  The nurse said that happens all the time.  And of course it did and pee went all the way up Sanaa's back.  (As me and my mother said, what else was she supposed to do?)  And then when she gave her the shot, of course the baby cried, and Hasan was annoyed that the nurse didn't give the baby a warning beforehand.  Fathers :D

Four weeks

One thing I have decided (in as much as I get a say so) is that there's no way I'd have a baby again in the winter or fall. The most wonderful thing when you're dealing with a newborn is sunshine and warm weather and a spring or summer breeze. Sanaa's 4 weeks day was an absolutely GORGEOUS day. Warm enough where she could be naked in the house. We just had our big windows open, lots of cross-breeze through the house, and watched TV.

This picture isn't particularly nice, except that it does remind me of just how lovely it is to watch a sleeping baby on a beautiful day. That comforter she is lying on was mine from when I was a very small child. I have memories of using it when I was 5 or 6. It's the only thing I have from when I was a child to give to my daughter, and it provided me so much comfort as I grew up. So that makes the whole picture noteworthy.

The flipbook

Three weeks...a little late :)

So now I'm understanding why Wendy's photo posts on their family blog are delayed. First of all, who has the time to go through the inordinate number of photos that are taken? Then, how do you choose which ones to post when babies are so cute?!

Anyways, this is Sanaa's best friend, Olivia the Octopus. She has many conversations with her.

Her daddy's rule is that the music on this play mat is not allowed if she's crying. Her mommy's new daily "work" is to get her 2 hours (TWO HOURS - YIKES!) of tummy time on this a day, per the doctor's orders. Her belly is rather rotund due to having no abdominal muscles. And if the whole family would like to get past this gassy stage, someone needs to work those muscles out.

Here's a link to the updated 52 Weeks of Sanaa photo flipbook.

Two weeks!

We have a bathing ritual now...we listen to reggae while we bathe on the iPhone, and then we plug the music into the nice loud booming speakers and do a dance after we're all done. I can't say she's calm throughout it, but hopefully we're going to create a positive association with reggae at some point :)

Welcome Sanaa Kiran Andrews!

Today was her due date, but our munchkin arrived just about 2 weeks early. Sanaa was born on Tuesday March 20, 2012 @ 1:42 am. 7 lbs 14 oz. 21 inches tall.

For those that would like to know what her name means...Sanaa means "sunshine" or "brilliance". Kiran means "ray of light".

It was a relatively uneventful labor - except I did scream at some point "This is not fair!" which keeps making Hasan laugh even now. In fact, the labor was everything we wanted it to be, much of which was due to the wise and active expertise of our doula, Nikki. Not sure what H and I would have done without her!

As soon as she came out, I said "that's Erwin's baby, not mine!" because she looked just like him. These days, you're starting to see a bit of an Indian girl in her. Either way, her eyes are just so lovely to me.

Anyway, baby is fine. Eating like there's no tomorrow. She's actually a really easy baby (thank God!). It's been two weeks, and I'm loving this new phase of life. As I posted the other day on Facebook, there really is nothing like picking up your daughter after a nap and looking into her face. So much sweetness and potential.

I decided to do a project where I take a picture of her every week for the first year - a "52 weeks of Sanaa" project. Here's the link on Flickr. Check it out for a virtual flip book approach to her growth. She's changed so much to me already!

Andrews family visit

Last weekend, some of the Andrews family came over to visit with us pre-baby. It was absolutely wonderful to hear so much laughter, from so many generations. It was really really lovely.

Here are some pictures...

Just a few weeks left...the doctor says it could be any day now, or a month from now. Fun!

One more pic from the baby brunch

Nice photo of everyone who came...

Baby brunch!

I had a wonderful morning yesterday that started with getting finished up with some taxes stuff, taking clothes and books to donations, and then some shopping. Followed by an absolutely lovely "baby brunch" at Parc Restaurant in Rittenhouse Square. Surrounded by 8 lovely ladies, I felt a-glow. I topped it off with a massage, working out and then a nice 60th birthday party for Hasan's cousin.

Here's a video from when the restaurant brought me a surprise cup of macaroons with a sparkler on top :D I felt like a princess!

Christmas Eve - DESSERTS

In our second annual desserts feast for Christmas Eve, I had an absolute blast baking and baking for several days in advance. I think I much prefer baking to cooking actually.

Made lots of yummy items and everybody got to go home with leftovers. The best part for me was laying down while Hasan and his sisters and brother-in-law played Monopoly...it was very lovely to have the whole family together.

Here are some pictures...

Happy new year!!!