What I'm Thankful For

Well, this is our first Thanksgiving with Alia, and it's been one year to the day that we announced that I was pregnant. Last year, we had about 20 people here at the house for Thanksgiving, and so much has changed since then.

First and foremost, I am thankful that I am married to my soul mate. I can't imagine what my life would be without him. We've navigated through a lot together, and every step of the way, I've always known without a doubt that I am married to a good man. A caring man. He is kind and supportive and sensitive. He loves his family above anything else, and is a wonderful husband and an amazing father.

I am thankful for my beautiful little girl Alia. I never knew that love could feel like this...so completely protective and 100% without question. The journey we traveled to add this little lady to our family was long and at times tumultuous, and I'd do it again a hundred times over if I had to. I am thankful that every morning when I go in to greet her in her crib, she has a wide open smile for me. She squeaks with happiness when she sees me for the first time. I am thankful that she is healthy and happy. I am thankful she is going to be raise in a family that loves her so much. I am thankful that Ajay's hard work allows me to stay at home and experience every moment of her life.

I am thankful for my friends and family. My family and friends have given me a lot of support over the last few years. At times when I was ready to throw in the towel on having a baby because the drugs were screwing with my head too much and making me downright miserable...the people in my life saw me through it. And now that Alia is here, these same people are still right along side of me to share in the joy that she brings.

I guess you could summarize that I am thankful for knowing love like I know it.

We're baaaack!

Hi everybody...

First of all, sorry for the confusion of my last blog entry...no, I'm not stopping this blog...I stopped writing my other blog about getting fit after baby. It was consuming too much time to try to do both. Anyway, I suppose I shouldn't have announced the end of a blog just before going on vacation, right? And how were you supposed to know that when we were visiting my Dad, his computer crashed, so there was no way of blogging from there. So, again, here I am, happily typing away, happy to be back, happy to be sharing my thoughts.

Alia on her first flight

Well, a lot has happened since I wrote before Alia's first transcontinental trip. She flew. She met her grandparents. She slept through the night...12 hours in a row!!!! She turned 4 months old. She ate out at restaurants. She got comfortable traveling in her car seat. See? So much has happened in so little time! So with so much to report, I think I'll break it up among a few blogs.

Dad watching as Ajay helps Alia decide what to order

First, as I mentioned, Alia flew on an airplane, and she did so well. I was so proud of her. On the first leg, from Southern California to Atlanta, she was a dream. She smiled at everyone who passed by. She ate a little, slept a little, played a little. She was patient with Mommy when I tried to change her gigantic poopy diaper in the airplane bathroom that didn't have a changing table (because that extra fold down shelf would have been too much for the men who build airplanes to think about....f*ckers). Then, we touched down in Atlanta. We hit the Medallion lounge, where people looked at her skeptically, but she was no threat to their relaxation...she slept like a little angel when she wasn't looking around happily.

Then we boarded our final flight from Atlanta to Daytona. That's when it all became too much. Alia snapped. She didn't want to fly anymore. She didn't want to be on that cold plane. She didn't want to see any more new faces. She didn't want her little tiny ears to pop again. She was done. And she cried. And cried. And then cried some more. Thank the baby Jesus that the flight was only 55 minutes long. As we landed, after waling at the top of her lungs the entire flight, Alia got a case of the happys. As people deplaned, the shot us dirty looks, and Alia responded to each and every one with smiles and cooing noises. That's my little charmer.

Because we haven't had enough photoshoots

As you know, we failed to capture any photos of Alia with her two cousins at Ajay's Dad's 70th birthday photo session. So when my sister in law called and said she was having her own photo shoot for her girls at her house this past weekend, we jumped on the opportunity to join in and try to get the coveted shot. 

My sister in law had all sorts of great ideas about themes and genres to photograph the girls in. She had Christmas outfits, Indian outfits, tutus, tap shoes, ballet shoes, and tons of miscellaneous accessories for the girls. I brought Alia's tutu. 

When the photographer got there and was taken to what Lena dubbed "wardrobe", she took in all the different clothes and ideas with apprehension. Three girls? Two of them babies? And all these costume changes? Hmmm. Maybe we should think about prioritizing.

So we decided to do the girls in tutus first, and that would be the only photo for Miss Alia, who historically doesn't do so well with these types of things. So I dressed her up, and she was happy. Very happy.

Look at me! I'm wearing my tutu! I'm on a big bean bag! I'm happy!!!

Then we added Alia's cousin Ciela, who is 6 months old and typically the most chilled baby in the universe.

Hey! Wait a minute...I don't know if I like this anymore...no one said I'd have to share my bean bag!

Finally, we added Haylah. And the shot was complete...except, well, Ciela of all babies decided that she didn't like this.
...and that's when Alia decided to join in with her very own special brand of inconsolable melt-down. And then? It was time to go home...after, of course, Daddy calmed Alia down just a bit. Oh, and the best part? The photographer didn't capture a single shot of the girls...my snapshots are the only proof that captured this day!

The 70th Birthday Celebration

a snapshot of Ajay's Dad feeding Alia with Uncle Hirroo

A couple of weekends ago, we had a photo shoot here at the house for Ajay's Dad's 70th birthday. Did I mention this? Well, see, there is nothing more valuable to Ajay's Dad's side of the family than the standard professional portrait. Of course, they would prefer the Sears or Olan Mills variety, but since we were having a big celebration lunch here at the house with a chef and everything, it didn't make sense to then cart everyone off to the closest Sears, especially after the bottles of wine we enjoyed at lunch. So we hired the same photographer that did Alia's newborn photos to come back to the house to photograph the family. Especially Ajay's Dad with his 3 granddaughters....that would be the photographic gift of all gifts...the portrait of all portraits. The shangri-la of staged capturing of the moment.

Only...did anyone out there know how hard it is to get yourself ready, the house ready, lunch ready (okay, the chef made lunch, but still...lunch was served), and a baby clean, happy, and camera-ready? Well, it's not easy. Throw in another 6 month old and a nearly 3 year old, and the permutation of things that can go awry exponentially increases. Oh, yeah, and there's Uncle Hirroo, Ajay's Dad's brother. Throw that man into the mix, and well, that's a whole other story for a different day.

So the photographer comes, we're ready, have had a nice lunch, Alia is clean, in her nice dress, and going along with things pretty well. She's been a real sport about being passed around from Granddad to Uncle and back and forth. Until it's time to actually take pictures. That's when the level of activity buzzing around her coupled with the fact that it was the early stage of the witching-hour melt-down time. And Uncle Hirroo insisted on holding her in the photographs-he's the oldest Lalvani, and Alia is the youngest Lalvani so it must be photographed this way in all pictures, right?

Oldest Lalvani with youngest Lalvani

Wrong. Alia didn't want this man she didn't know holding her, grabbing for her, insisting that he hold her freakishly tightly. She didn't want to wear her pretty dress. She didn't want to sit outside in the setting sun. She didn't want to take part in the flurry of activity. She didn't want to be anywhere but inside, with her Mommy and Daddy. And she told us this. Again and again. She hung in there for as many photographs as she could...she did her best.

So in the end, the photograph of Granddad and his three grand daughters didn't happen. Alia had had enough. She was through. And as her Mommy and protector, I pulled the plug, brought her to her room, rocked her, comforted her, and let her take a nice peaceful nap. Which is when the photographer knocked and asked if she could capture her nap. 

Thanks, but no thanks.

Definitely the cutest thing I've heard today...

Ajay's Mom, Maya is visiting his brother and sister-in-law, Amar and Lena, in anticipation of their second baby being born any day now. Maya lives in Turkey, and Amar and Lena live in New York. Amar and Lena already have a two and a half year old cutie named Haylah.

Maya told us that Amar took Haylah for the whole afternoon yesterday. After their usual stops, she wanted to go to a park, then another park. When Maya asked Haylah why she went to two parks, Haylah replied "one had no sand and then one had yes sand!"

Retail Therapy

My sister came to California for a visit over her Easter/Spring Break break from school (she's a teacher), so I've been tied up most of the week. She visited from Indiana, and we had a really good time together...mainly focused on retail therapy.

My sister and I shop well together. She's a tiny little thing...size 0, so it's fun to try things on her like a little doll---all the clothes that I couldn't, shouldn't, or wouldn't dare look fantastic on her little frame. So from store to store we went....me more looking than trying on because regular clothes don't really fit me anymore, and it's just no fun to try on my old size 6 (no prayer), then an 8 (still too tight), then a 10 (now we're getting somewhere, but still tight in the belly) a 12? still doesn't fit---too big in the shoulders and hanging on me in some places and then tight on the belly...and then the final realization that my body isn't shaped like a normal girl and none of the clothes will fit...until I make my special trip to the maternity store.

We walked into the Maternity Gap store and all the clothes looked like bed sheets compared to the tiny little cute things I'd been harvesting from the racks for my sister. No longer am I a XXL in this store...I'm a petite little Medium...my normal size! Forget that all the tops have enough fabric to cover an elephant...I'm just happy that some one is calling me a "medium"!

Finally in the end we hit Bloomingdale's Private Sale. Equipped with my Private Sale coupons, we browsed around awhile. I have a weakness for nice sunglasses, and to my utter surprise, sunglasses still fit the same!!! What a perfect product!!! I can try them all on and they all fit and none of them require me to ask the lady if they come in any larger sizes!!! So blissfully, I ended up not only with a fashionable pair of new designer glasses, but I also was able to take advantage of the Private Sale...so really I saved money...if you really think about it!!!

A new baby!

Congratulations to my brother Kevin and sister in law Merfe on their beautiful baby girl, Alison.

3-21-08

A new baby!!!!

This morning at 12:12 my niece, Alison, my brother's first child, was born. She weighed just under 7 pounds and is perfect. I can't wait to see her...my brother's wife is from the Philippines, and he's Caucasian, so I just know she's going to be gorgeous. I love Asian/Caucasian mixes...probably a good thing since our little girl will also be Asian Indian mixed with Caucasian!

While her birth is technically about them, I can't help but to get even more excited for my daughter to be born. Yesterday during checkout at a store, the cash register lady asked "when is your baby due?" When I told her July, she said, "oh, that's just around the corner!".

After leaving the store, I was thinking...."no, if this were June, or even July, that would be "just around the corner", but this is March...hellllo? I mean, if I could grow a marsupial pouch and deliver her kangaroo-style right now I would...just so I could see our little girl whenever I want and make sure she's safe and alive.

I am anxious....with what seems to be a long way to go. And seriously, my first trimester flew by. I was 12 weeks in the blink of an eye. But here I am in the middle...of the longest 2nd trimester ever! I still have a long way until I crack into the third trimester.

Okay....what was my post just a few days ago? About enjoying the now? And appreciating the present? Yeah, as you can see, there's a reason I need to go to yoga class to remind myself of that.