November 2014

Sanaa is really coming into her own in the pool.  She has finally allowed Miss Freddy to teach her as a replacement to our dear Miss Lisa who taught me how to swim but injured herself permanently a few months back.  The video above shows how confidently she is now moving along without someone holding her in the pool.  It's hard for me imagine being that confident in "the deep end" at any age (including now).

November was amazing as Hasan and I went away on our first trip via airplane without our girl, leaving her in the trusted hands of Auntie Ebonie.  It truly takes a village to have a happy family...Grandmom watched Auntie's boys and Auntie watched our girl.  Delray Beach was an amazing long getaway for us along with our good friends Karen and Matt.  Thanks to their parents who have an amazing condo with a beautiful view of the intracoastal waterway.

It was also Thanksgiving time, which was at our house this year.  Rather low key, essentially a potluck...but it was just so warm.

Here are a few pics from the month...not too many...but a few funny ones.

October 2014

In looking back through last month's photos, clearly we had such a full month.  I continue to really like this kid.  Some fun things in October:

• First field trip - AKA daycare friends' birthday party at the pumpkin patch/farm, complete with hayrides, pizza, and more.  Yea, I was WIPED after.
• My birthday.  Best part?  The fact that she refused to acknowledge my birthday the day of (apparently she was convinced that it was HER birthday), and yet the next day she sang to me twice - awesome video above.
• Lovely time playing with her and Hasan at the fountains after work on the way home.  Just an ordinary stop on the way, but a memorable family moment (way too many pics of this are in the set below)
• Baby shower for baby Daniel's parents (Hasan's sister Evelan and her fiancé James)
• Baking with Sanaa for the first time - I had to learn to be less controlling.  I almost lost her half of the way through the process because she didn't get to do enough.
• Pumpkin patch with all of her cousins.  Complete with popping corn picking, broccoli and sweet potato picking, and topped off by hot apple cider and apple cider donuts.  Oh yea...should have seen the smile on her face to be on the hayride with all of her cousins on her dad's side.
• Halloween - her dream come true was to be Pete from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...and so, she was!

Pics of all of this are here.

September 2014

Here she is just being her normal playtime self.  I thought it might be nice for you all to see how she carries herself.

And now I AM CAUGHT UP!!

I am really proud of how Sanaa is coming along.  It's like I genuinely understand who she is, and what makes her tick.  That makes me feel confident.  And, I simply do like her as a person - is that weird to say?

I think it really sunk in for me when we went to a friend's 4 year bday party and she carried herself so well in that group of older kids.  That's just our girl...she has manners, she knows how to be independent (you are not going to get her to just do something because everybody else is doing it - she has to see a reason or rationale for why it's a good idea), and she's very clear on what is okay and not okay behavior.  I was very proud - can you tell?

More firsts - first trip to the hair stylist, first outing (to the Shake Shack with her best friend Jamieson), and first baseball game.

More pics from the month.

August 2014

The video above is one of my most favorite "Daddy-daughter" videos ever from these two...true joy at being with each other.

Anyway, August started with the St. Michael's trip (video above is from the marina there), which I still think about fondly.  What a treat to have a homey place to stay, complete with kids' toys, beach towels, and cozy linens!

In August, we celebrated Sanaa moving to a big girl's bed, getting her first backpack, taking Auntie Ebonie out for her birthday, getting a medal at Soccer class, and the first extended family beach trip to beautiful and quiet Cape May, New Jersey.  She is pretty proud of that backpack since her best friend Jamieson already has a backpack too, and she loves her big girl bed.  And no...she still hasn't figured out that she can get out of her bed herself to wreak some havoc after bedtime and before wakeup time.  I can't imagine what it will be like the first time she walks around in her room, or heaven forbid, out of her room for the first time!

Pics of all this here.

July 2014 - Summer fun

I remember back to July and I remember a lot of good bonding moments with this one.  I just felt like I really understood how she works, how she thinks, and what works with her.  That was very comforting.

July was a mix of soccer class, coaxing her to try to take a nap at school by offering way too many trips to fountains (I gave up finally), swim class, and lots of restaurant dates.  That's how I remember it.

It was capped off by a lovely trip to St. Michael's, Maryland to stay at "Tallulah and Atticus's grand mom's house" when they were not there, and I'm pretty sure she heard the "Tallulah and Atticus" part but didn't understand that they would not be there.  She walked through every room trying to find them, but alas, it was just the 3 of us having a really lovely family getaway.  MUCH needed.

Some pics of July are here...

June 2014 - We don't need no stinkin' diapers!

June was AWESOME.  Sanaa learned to use the potty in a matter of a weekend.  A dedicated weekend at the beginning of the month, following this method from the trust Dr. Sears family.

We had some good help and encouragement from Grandmom, and her teacher Miss Emma was awesome.  She made Sanaa this Potty Princess crown to use at school, and within a couple of days, the kid was done.  She did drive me crazy for the first couple of nights with the incessant "I need to pee Amma" calls from the crib.  But by golly, she did need to pee each of those times!

Sometimes, I cry and thank my lucky stars at how easy she makes most things.  Here's to aiming to make the next 50 years just as easy.

The rest of the month was full of good times as the weather warmed up...trips to the zoo with cousins,  to her first play to see Cat in the Hat with her friend Hannah (I am STILL having to tell her the Cat in the Hat story at bed time), and lots of cute dresses.  :)

Here are a few pics from the month.

May 2014 - London!

May was freaking awesome!

I got my first opportunity to give a really BIG talk.  At Google in London and took the whole family along...which meant we had our first family plane trip.  S was such a good sport on all that travel (thanks to all my many friends who gave us tips and tricks).  We got to meet Doddamma, my sister, for the first time - YAY.  And Hasan ROCKED the supportive husband and father work.  S's natural state of liking to observe and take in new things really was amazing to see in action in London.  All that while celebrating H's birthday as well.

May also had some away time in Lambertville, New Jersey for just me and Hasan.  That was wonderful as well as we stayed at the fancy Lambertville House.

Here are some pictures from the month.

April 2014

My absolutely favorite video of this girl of ours is above.  Just love love love it.  It captures who she is so perfectly.

April was the start of spring, which meant we were outside as much as we possibly could be.  See the sidewalk chalk drawing pictures as proof...and the soccer photo.  (She's pretty good, by the way...when she isn't protesting the silly aspects of training techniques.  This girl has a pretty darn serious side.  Go figure.)

We went to Virginia to see our cousins - totally fun to see the children play together.

That's about it - so close to being caught up!

Here are the other pics from April.

March 2014 - Birthday girl!

Someone had a wonderful birthday month...but someone's mommy is tired of being so far behind on posting here so she'll keep it brief!

• A school birthday party with a surprise cake, hats, and Elmo galore
• A birthday day trip to see dinosaurs and the Shake Shack.  We all know which one is more important.
• A home family-only birthday party preceded by S's first trip to Amma's hair salon to get her hair braided.  
• All her father's side cousins spent the night in her room.  God bless those children figuring it out - and Hasan for dealing with it all.  I was at a loss as to what to do with that many children jockeying for space, air time, sleep time, Sanaa time, and so on.

And despite all this, when I ask her even now how old she is, she says ONE!  Methinks it's a plot to drive me crazy.

Here are pictures from the month's fun.

February 2014

February was cold and snowy.  We were sick a lot.  But she was just super cute...most of the time.  We had our first fancy brunch outing with friends where somebody who shall remain nameless had to be taken out at the end due to the screaming.  Ugh - in a museum no less!

I did my first bake sale at her school.  Yea, I was pretty excited about that.

And we made a really grown-up, but hard decision, to take her out of a new school and send her back to her old one.  In retrospect, best. decision. ever.

Here are a handful of pics.  The videos above are way better.

Missed these before, and love all 4 of these people so much...

Just had to do a special post from the December trip to see the McKennon-Petersons

January 2014

(The above video is Sanaa expressing thanks to Aunt Wendy for a beautiful fancy dress.  Exactly the kind  of dress I would wear if I were 2 :)

January had us kicking off the new year with Sanaa starting at a new childcare, a Friends school that we had been on the waiting list for quite some time for.  It ended up not being a good fit and she went back to her ever-welcoming previous childcare by the time President's Day rolled around.  But she did get to play with lots of snow, get over hand, foot, and mouth disease (thanks Atticus), and generally be pretty pleasant to be around.  :)

Here are a few pictures from the month - clearly I was in a picture-taking lull…especially with being indoors so much of the time.

December 2013

Merry Christmas!

I have come to really look forward to the holiday season.  It's my season of baking my heart out, and getting to enjoy the wealth of that experience and the people whose expressions of joy make me feel really, really happy.  Adding Sanaa into that mix is just the cherry on top.  I'll never forget the look on her face when she saw the Christmas Eve Desserts Party table for the first time.  She was tall enough to peek over the edge, but inexperienced in desserts enough to know that this was unfamiliar territory.  What a joy to introduce her!

December also included our going to St. Michael's, Maryland to visit Ben & Wendy and their family. That town is so peaceful, and our hotel room on the harbor was really just what we needed.  Sanaa loved playing with all of the older kids in Suzie (Ben's mom) house.  While the kids got hand, foot and mouth disease, I would definitely say the whole experience was worth it :)  I was just amazed at how much Tallulah took care of Sanaa - she earned some serious Brownie points with me!

Here are some other pics of the month of wintry love.

November 2013

November was full of leaves.  Lots and lots of leaves.  Lots of rolling in leaves, picking up leaves, learning about leaves, and so on.  It also marked Ammamma's leaving after her visit - we miss all that good food :)  I can't remember much else - other than that Thanksgiving was a lovely day at home with a sick kid and some intense holiday baking.  We had planned to go out to dinner, but a parade, a vomit session, and the call of some homemade baked goods had us stay at home!

Here are some more pics from that month.

Blast from the past

This photo was shared with us not so long ago.  It's Hasan's stepdad, mother, him, and sisters Shineal, Ebonie and Evelan.  I love it.  He looks the exact same!

October 2013

October of last year seems so long ago that I don't remember what to say about it.  I remember Sanaa's moods were definitely more tempestuous as she got a stronger sense of independence without the full use of spoken language.  Typical of her age, but not necessarily always fun for me.

Ammamma was still in town and that let Hasan and I have some fun by running a 5K together the day after my birthday.  He beat me, but I did see him looking like he was about to keel over at the finish line. We also had some extra family moments with my aunts and uncle who were visiting.  It's so neat to see Sanaa's face when she hears lots of Telugu being spoken around her.  She knows there's something different going on.

And the 3 of us along with Anaiya had a really great time celebrating Anaiya's birthday.  First it was a crepes brunch for me and the girls, then all of us went to the Please Touch Museum, and then Anaiya and I had some grown-up girl time getting milkshakes at the yummy Franklin Fountain.

Anyway, here are the rest of October's pictures, as well as another video below that sums up her best moments that month.

September 2013

A hallmark of Sanaa's infancy is how she hummed when she ate.  From the very first time she had solid foods to well into 1.5 years, she hummed when she ate.  We all loved it.  And we miss it very much.  The above video is what I believe is the last time we captured her humming.   Nowadays I hum next to her at the table while I'm chewing to emphasize to her that we chew with our mouth closed (and can thus do fun things like hum at the table!).  Yea…I stole that from her.

September started off with our coming back from Toronto (what fun!).  The drive back was WAY better than the drive up there (thank you Hasan!).  As the summer ended this month, I capped it off by going to Atlantic City with my friend Amy for a girls' night.  I got to see a DJ I really like, and also realized I don't like AC at all!

Here are some pictures from the month.  She seems SO much bigger already.

August 2013

August was a month of lots of transition.  Sanaa ended her time at our family's daycare.  Lots of tears and nerves, but hindsight tells us she made the transition successfully.  Check out the video above for the fun dancing they did on the last day.  She *adores* her cousins.

I made the transition from the company I sold my company to, to a new one - and hindsight tells me that was a great decision as well.  I'm loving it.

We took a very long road trip to Toronto to visit Hasan's uncle and aunt.  Can you say c-a-r-s-i-c-k and 11 hours in the car?  Um, not fun.  The trip was wonderful.  The drive back was much better.  Not sure we'll do a car ride that long any time soon again!

And just some good summer fun - as seen in these photos…

And this video below of Sanaa's excitement about going swimming.  Hindsight tells us that she adores her teacher Miss Lisa, and swimming.  How could she not?  Miss Lisa taught me too!