fun in the snow...

Some videos from our fun in the snow.

1.Diya had just walked outside and she goes face first in the snow. (Ignore my laughing.)

face in the snow from Diya Shah on Vimeo.

2.Then Premal pushes her around in the sled.

daddy pushing the sled from Diya Shah on Vimeo.

3.I finally take her for a real ride down the driveway.

on sled with mummy from Diya Shah on Vimeo.

recent photos and video

Here are Diya's photos from last month.

Diya 17th month

This is a video of her saying sorry. This was hard to capture and this is the best I could do. She only says it once in the begining so listen carefully.


saying sorry.. from Diya Shah on Vimeo.

Holidays are coming..

The holiday season is definitely upon us. I love this time of year...the lights, decorations, parties, music, presents...everything. Diya is already getting a lot out of this year in comparison to last year. She loves the xmas tree...or I should say she loves the lights on it. She kept pulling on them after we first put it up. So we ended up putting a "wall" around the tree.

Last week a scary thing happened. She was in her crib while I was putting her clothes away. I had my back to her for just a second as I turned around I was just in time to witness her falling out of her crib. She went head first. Thank God we have nice carpeting in that room. She didn't really get hurt, but she got really scared and starting crying. Her tounge was bleeding. My guess is that she must have bit it during the fall. She was back to playing in few minutes. But the whole thing got us thinking about maybe getting her a toddler bed. Anyways we will need the crib for #2 soon. We are holding of on that project 'till next year.

She now repeats 'ok'. If I tell her "Don't do that, ok?" She will say "ok". That doesn't mean she won't do it, but she just likes to repeat the word. She does same thing with 'alright' and 'oh God'. The 'oh God' is really cute.

Being Thankful

We had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Main thing was that Diya's tubes procedure went really well. Whole thing was much better than we expected. We got to the hospital at 8am and were out by 10. It was little scary when we first arrived, but the nurses and doctors were real nice. They had a special gowns for all the little ones. Most of the other kids were there for the same reason. One parent was allowed to go in while they gave her the anesthesia. Due to my condition I was not allowed so Premal went in. She was down in just a couple of minutes and then Premal joined me in the waiting room. Not even 15 mins later doctor came out saying they were all done. We saw Diya in the recovery room where she had just woken up. She was a little cranky, but was soon babbling like her old self. She was 100% back to herself by the time we reached home. She had a nice big lunch then a nice long nap. She is a trooper.

Rest of the weekend we stayed in Burlington. We all had a really great time. At times it was tough to say who was enjoying more Diya or my dad. Diya quickly learned the word 'nana' and was calling for him soon as she would woke up. It was cute. She had also become nani's little helper as you can see. We were little sad when it ws time to come back home.

Diya also got a haircut. It was long over due. Although it didn't come out how I had pictured it I am happy with. I know many others may not feel the same, but not having to run around behind her every morning to do her hair it really worth it. Not to mention the easier head baths.

Halloween and diwali party

Past weekend was a great one. Lots of excitement.

Lets start with Friday, Halloween. At daycare they had a costume parade. All the kiddies got dressed up in their costumes and had a little parade in the parking lot. I really wish I could have seen it, but I'm sure Diya must have a a great time. In the evening I got Diya back in her costume and we headed out for her first ever Trick-or-Treating experience. She loved it. She would reach in the candy bowls and grab one candy and held it as tight as possible 'till we got to the next house where she had to do it again. She would say 'hi' and 'bye-bye' to everyone. She even said 'thank you' once when I asked her to. We only visiting about 5 houses...mostly just the people we knew on our street. It was a very fun Halloween. Here is Diya on our front steps in her lady bug costume.

Saturday morning was Sushma and Sam's house warming. It was nice to see them all moved in finally. Their place looked great. Many other kids there too so Diya loved running around behind them. She got fed so much food by anyone who took her. She was loving it.

Saturday evening was the ever waited annual samaj diwali party. This year there was a fancy dress, rangoli, mendhi, and dessert competition. Diya took part in the fancy dress...she was a pari (fairy). She was the entertainment while everyone was having appetizers. There was open area and music...what else does she need. I took part in the rangoli and mendhi competition. Didn't win either, but had a really good time taking part. By 9 Diya was getting sleepy. She wouldn't sleep but had her head down and was getting tired. We finally left around 10. Good thing we didn't wait for the end of the party which was apparently 2am! Here are 2 videos from the evening.

appetizer entertainment from Diya Shah on Vimeo.

Diya as pariyo ki rani from Diya Shah on Vimeo.

Sunday we got few things done around the house, made some phone calls, did a little shopping and had a nice dinner at dosa temple. Perfect ending to a great weekend.

Happy Diwali!!

Wishing everyone a very...

Happy Diwali and a wonderful New Year!

getting better

So the bad news first...Diya has a double ear infection AGAIN! We have decided tubes is the way to go now. We were resisting it, but its for the best. Her last ear infection was less than month ago and winter hasn't even started yet. Seems like she gets them very easily. Luckily, the antibiotics are still having an affect. But the docs say it can cause hearing damage. That was enough for us to finalize getting tubes for her. We have an appointment for Nov5th at Children's Hospital for a preliminary exam and I'm guessing they'll put them in soon after. Panic mode has not set yet, but I'm sure it will once Nov 5th comes around. I know its a common procedure and many children (even younger than Diya) get it done it still scares me. It's mostly the thought of Diya put under general anesthesia that I'm afraid of. It sucks that the only reason they have to do that is to keep her still. Knowing Diya that really is the only way to keep her still.

Ok, lets turn to some slightly good news. Looks like she is mostly recovered. She has no fever and even had a good night of sleep yesterday. She 's pretty good like that...rough and tough.

Here are some random pics taken couple weeks ago.

Helping unload the dishwasher.

Ready for daycare.

Long, long weekend

I know…I’m slacking about posts…but there is a lot going on right now. This past weekend was a busy one. Premal and I both took Friday off hoping to enjoy a relaxing day. We enjoyed, but it wasn’t really relaxing. We ended up doing a lot of errands.

Saturday was the last garba night at our samaj. I have a feeling Diya is going to grow up loving garba(like her mom). All night she was running around and getting in everyone’s way while they were trying to do garba. Of course when I tried to get her she wouldn’t have it at all. She didn’t want to be held at all. I had taught her this bit…if you ask her how does Diya do garba…she claps her hands in the air…her nani(my mom) loved that one. She was also enjoying running around behind the other kids and of course stealing their toys even though she had her own.

Sunday we went apple picking. It was Diya’s first time. She had a ball with everything…picking apples, the hayride, the petting zoo…etc. We will definitely be doing more of that in the future.




Unfortunately, Sunday night was when the fun ended. We got home and Diya felt little warm and it turned out she had a temperature. We hoped by morning it will be fine. But again she had a slight fever and as the day went on the temp climbed and reached 102. Doctor told us to give her baby Tylenol and just monitor her for the day. This morning no fever, but daycare called saying she has a temp of 100.5. So we got an appointment with the doctor. Dunno what’s wrong. Usually she has a cough or cold and its due to that, but she has no signs of anything. Only thing it could be more new teeth. Yup, 2 more molars coming in. That makes a total of 8 teeth on top and 3, plus one budding on the bottom.


Anyway, we hope its nothing serious and we get over this fast.

Diya is 14 months old

Diya has been having a rough couple of days. It's also the reason I'm late for the monthly post. Poor girl is sick again. She had a cold and then a cough and on Sunday she had a fever. Monday no fever and seemed like she was doing better so we sent her to daycare. But, they called in the afternoon saying her fever is 100.5 if it reaches 101 she will have to be taken home. Premal brought her home anyway. So yesterday I stayed home from work(I wasn't feeling that great anyways) and kept Diya home from daycare. I took her to the doctors. She has bronchitis and a double ear infection. Apparently, its going around in her daycare. That is one thing about daycare...the sicknesses never seem to end. But you can't tell by looking at Diya she is sick. Except for the runny nose she was acting like her normal self. She was playing by herself all day and even let me rest too. It was kinda nice to get a break from our normal routine.

So, anyway, here are the photos from last month. I'll post more later.

2 molars and more

As I mentioned in my last post that Premal had to go away for 2 days. (Well…it turned out to be 3 days.) But no problem, cause taking care of Diya went really well …actually better than I expected. Dropping her off was fun and picking her up was even better. She’d be so happy to see me…its one of the best feelings.

Over the weekend couple of interesting things happened. On Saturday Diya proved what we kinda knew all along...she is a people person. I was giving her lunch after her nap and she was little cranky. My parents, Deesh, and Vipul came over and within seconds she was a different baby. She started smiling…babbling…and didn’t make a fuss about finishing her lunch either. Rest of the day she was happy baby. My parents (especially my dad and Deesh) were totally loving it. On the weekdays she gets cranky sometimes after coming back from daycare. We wondered if maybe she missed all the kids…now we are pretty sure she does.

Another interesting thing I discovered is that Diya has 2 of her top molars! She has 4 front top teeth and 2 front bottom teeth. We hadn’t seen any new teeth for months now. We didn’t think much of it. Then on Saturday she was in my lap and leaned back while her mouth was open and I saw one of molars! I was kinda shocked. It wasn’t like it was just coming in either….it is fully there. Later on I try to get another look to see if there are more and sure enough I saw another one on the other side. Both are on top. So she has a total of 8 teeth and 1 budding in the front bottom. I wish I could get a photo of the inside of her mouth…who knows what other ones are in there. But she never stays still long enough and never mind letting us look inside.

On Sunday we went to visit the Ninans and their new baby, Sanjay. He is so adorable and so tiny. Can’t believe Diya was ever that tiny. Very happy for them. They will have their hands full with 2 now. After the visit we went out to dinner with the Pandes. Diya was copying everything Gautam was doing. He is such a cutie anyways and now that he talks it is so funny. Seeing him interact with Diya and the way she runs around behind him is really fun to watch. After dinner we were walking towards our car while the Pandes were going towards theirs in the opposite direction. Twice Diya pulled her hand away and started running towards them. It was cute(not to mention dangerous).

pizza and past weekend

We had a great past weekend. Initially, we didn’t have any plans so we decided to go to Tulan(my make-shift brother)’s place. He had been asking us to come over for awhile. Of course, he made us come for dinner. Avani(his wife) made some excellent Punjabi food. Tulan had so many stuffed animals and toys waiting for Diya to play with. He loves kids and loves playing with Diya…so obviously he is Diya’s favorite mama. After dinner the rest of the samaj gang came over. We got home really late, but it was a fun time.

Next day we were so tired except Diya of course. She had gotten her regular amount of sleep the night before and was fresh as usual. Then in the afternoon she took a 2.5 hr nap. It was heaven. We all rested and when she woke up we all had more energy. We went for a nice walk.

Something new that Diya has learned…I ask her ‘Diya na pug kiya’(where are Diya’s legs) and she will wiggle her legs. Slowly I want to teach her all the body parts. I’m also trying to teach her how to climb down the stairs. I put her on her belly on the steps and kinda pull her one step at a time. I think she is getting the hang of it, but I have to get her started. I’m also trying to teach her how to get off from a bed and sofa.

In other things…she had her first taste of pizza last Friday. I went to daycare to pick her up and I noticed that all her food that I had sent was still there. I couldn’t find her daily activity sheet so I got really worried and asked one of the teachers about it. She said her sheet was in the toddler room cause she was there all day. She ate what all the toddlers ate on Fridays…pizza. I was shocked…how can she eat pizza…she doesn’t know how to feed herself. Apparently, I was wrong. She is able to feed herself better than I thought. I mean it’s not perfect, but she doesn’t shove it all in her mouth…she actually takes small bites. So all weekend I gave her whole cookies, crackers or bread slices and I watched her eat it correctly.

Tomorrow and Thursday Premal has trip to go on which means I will be on 100% Diya duty. I will have to drop her off and pick her from daycare plus go to work. It will be the first time this has happened and first time the 2 of us will be staying alone over night. I'm not really nervous...I just think it will be exhausting.

Anyway, here are some photos from Sunday.

Labor Day Weekend

I can't believe the weekend is already over. It was a busy one for us, but hopefully it will be the last of its kind for awhile now. Past weekend was my friend Tushima's wedding and Sital's baby shower. We realized how tough it is to take Diya to functions like this now on. At Tushima's sangeet I was one of those typical moms running around behind their kid. Doing that in a sari was no easy task. Diya would not sit still anywhere! It wasn't totally her fault because she didn't have any space to run around. Needless to say we left little early.

So the next day, I decided not to take her to Sital's baby shower. Not only cause she wouldn't have fun, but also cause it was in Springfield and she would have hated to be in the car for 2+ hrs straight. Instead, she spent the day with her nana, nani, masi and daddy. She stayed with them even when we went for Tushima's reception the same evening. Apparently, she was very well behaved and wasn't hard to look after.

Finally, yesterday we had no plans and enjoyed a relaxing day at home. We went out for few random things, but nothing stressfull at all. Here are some random videos from yesterday.

being silly from Diya Shah on Vimeo.


pushing her bubble lawn mower from Diya Shah on Vimeo.


big hug coming for mummy from Diya Shah on Vimeo.

it finally fits

Last weekend we went to a friend's house warming party. The dress code was to dress desi style. Initially, I thought I'd put a dress on Diya...but then I tired on one of her older chaniya cholis and this is what I got...

It finally fits her correctly. Now that she walks all clothes look better on her :)

1 year 1 month

So what is Diya doing now that she is 1 year and 1 month old?!...a lot! She is now fully walking which you can see from this video. Her daycare teachers all say that she runs around behind the toddlers all day and enjoys being them more then the infants where she belongs. She will be moving to toddlers room when she truns 15 months. I've been trying to get her ready for that change. What's the big deal you ask? Well, toddlers have some rules...no bottles...only 1 nap...must be able to feed themselves...no food that needs heating up or that needs to stay in the fridge. Diya is already off of bottles(thank God cause cleaning bottles was a pain)...so she is all set there...but that' s where it ends. She still takes about 2-3 naps a day and that will be a tough change. I haven't really been pushing it yet either. She can feed herself if I make pieces of food and keep it in front of her, but she still doesn't really get that she should eat one at a time...she will keep putting food in her mouth even if she already has a lot in there. That last rule is tough for us. As it is lunch choices are hard since we are not giving her meat yet. So, no microwave or fridge use makes it that much tougher. I'm not sure how strict these rules are, but I'm guessing they have to be a little flexible at least in the begining. We've only seen a flyer about this so no one has actually told us about these rules. I'm hoping they'll give us a little introduction to the program and tell us that there will be an adjustment period.

Diya now walks from Diya Shah on Vimeo.

Diya is making a bad impression at daycare. So far her complaints include taking others toys, biting and a new one of hitting. Great. Where is she learning to do this stuff? How do I teach her to be good? I'm pretty sure she doesn't mean to hurt anyone. She just does it to express her feelings.

Past month we did not take many photos or videos. Every weekend since the in-laws left we have had plans. We've been enjoying it actually. But the summer really is flying by.


In other news...today is Premal's Birthday!!! (Happy Birthday, honey! Love you very much.) We actually celebrated yesterday with some friends. We went out to lunch and Diya behaved really well. By this morning he had totally forgot it was his birthday.

Shah Family photos...

Before the in-laws left they really wanted to get some professional portraits done. Luckily we were able to squeeze it in the day before they left which happened to be Diya's exact birthday...July 20! Here are the proofs. Enjoy!

Diya's 1st Birthday!

Diya is officially one year old! I totally can’t believe it. The other day we were thinking about what we were going through exactly 1 year back…how on our way to the hospital we were convinced it would be a false alarm and would return home empty handed. How shocked we were when the nurse checked me and announced I was almost 6cm already and she assured us we were not going home without a baby. Then the first time we saw Diya…it was sooo amazing. She was so tiny and helpless….so precious. I had tears of joy. Here we are a year later. She looks nothing like she did when she was born. She is no longer tiny…she is no longer as helpless… but she’s definitely still our precious baby.

We had a big birthday party for her past weekend. She did really well. She was playing with anyone that would take her. Even after everyone left she still wanted to play.

Thanks to everyone who helped out with all the preparations and to all that attended and thanks for all the wonderful presents too. It was definitely a memorable time and it was nice to see everyone. Below are the pictures from the party.





In other news…Diya went back to daycare yesterday after a 4-month break. We are sending her for half days this week so she can get used to it. She did ok yesterday. She had trouble with food. She didn’t eat too much. I want to try to give her more table foods. She doesn’t have her chewing teeth yet…so I’m not sure what kinds of foods to give her that she won’t chock on. We give her some green peas…small pieces of fruits…cheerios…but what else can I give her? If anyone has ideas please let me know. Keep in mind that we are trying to stay away from offering her non-veg at this time. I know it was only the first day and she was probably too distracted to eat. Teachers had warned me that this week will be an adjustment period for her and she’ll probably do better as time goes on. Good thing was that she was able to take a nap which I was concerned about.

So the reason Diya is back in daycare is because(as some may already know) the inlaws are leaving. In fact mummy and daddy already left yesterday and Neha will be leaving tomorrow. It’s a bitter-sweet feeling. Bitter cause we are gonna miss them. It was nice having them around and that Diya was so well taken care of. But at the same time it will be nice to be just the three of us again and things to be less hectic. I know they totally enjoyed being with Diya and were very happy to have gotten this time to spend with us and so were we.

12 months (part 1)

I know its not 12 months yet and I'm already posting. Since this is a big month for Diya I've decided to post it in two parts. There is just too much for one big post.

Past weekend was a busy one for us. Saturday was just insane. We went to the Kansagra house for a backyard party, then ran a bunch of errands in preparation for the party, then went to masi’s house and ended the day with Deesh and Vipul’s dinner. It was hectic, but it was really nice hanging out with Pintu and family after a long time. Can’t believe how big Shivani and Sahil have gotten.

Diya 12 months

On Sunday we went with the Pandes to the zoo. It was Diya’s first trip to the zoo and she seems to really like it. Her favorite animals were the lions and the seals. Unfortunately, our camera ran out of batteries half way so we couldn’t take as many photos as we wished. It was nice hanging out with Amit, Soni and Gautam after a long time. We used to hang out all the time before either of us had kids. Hope we can do more stuff like this now.

Trip to the zoo

This past month we’ve taken a ton of photos. That was another reason for posting in two parts. I didn't want to through all the photos in one post. There will be more photos (and stories)to come from her Bday party I'm sure.

wisdom teeth removed

Well…there they are…my wisdom teeth! I know I said my appointment was for Saturday, but day before I got an unexpected call from the dentist office asking if I wanted to pre-pone my appointment. So I went for it. So, how did it go….great! I mean great as a teeth pulling can go. The doctor was not my normal dentist, but he was good. He was able to get both out in half an hour. I think I got lucky cause neither of my teeth shipped or crumbled (as you can see from the photo). Also, they both came out pretty easy and he didn’t need to cut my gums or anything. Worst part was hearing the teeth crack as he was pulling them out. He showed me each tooth as he pulled them out. At the end of it all he asked if I wanted to take them home. I obviously did.

Before I left the office he put a big gauge in my mouth and prescribed some meds. I went to CVS straight from there and people were definitely giving me looks cause the gauge was so big that it made it look like the side of my mouth was swollen. I was feeling fine until the numbness started to wear off…that is when I started feeling the pain. I took a pain killer and was good for the rest of the day and night. Only bad part was I had a constant taste of blood in my mouth. Infact at night I had to get up twice to rinse my mouth cause it was filling with blood. That was gross, but as of this morning it’s all good. No pain, no blood.

It went so great I’m thinking of getting the other 2 removed too. The doctor said it’s a preventive measure which is better to get done while I was still young (yes, he actually called me young). My next appointment for a cleaning is in November…will think about it then.

annoying screaming baby

Diya’s birthday is July 20 which is less than 2 weeks away. Mummy and daddy are going back to India on July 21st and Neha on 23rd. So between getting ready for Diya’s birthday party and doing some last minute shopping before the in-laws leave we have been super-duper busy. In the mist of it all mummy got very ill the day before and Neha has a continued bad cough which Diya seems to also have. I just hope everyone gets better by the 19th.

Diya continues to get naughtier as the weeks go on. She can scream like nobody’s business now. She screams when anyone tells her ‘no’ or takes away a toy or leaves her alone….basically anything she doesn’t like. We have officially become that couple with that annoying, screaming baby. I always thought when we reached this stage we would get really embarrassed, but honestly we don’t really care as much as maybe we should. I mean we don’t just let Diya scream...we try to distract her the best we can, but if she screams again…oh well…we just deal with it. We haven’t reached the point yet where we won’t go out cause of her screaming. Of course we tend to go to places where it’s already a little noisy hoping no one will really notice (or care).

As Diya gets older a new behavior is starting to emerge. She seems to ‘attract’ older kids when we are out. We’ve mostly noticed it with girls in the age range of about 5-8 years old. They seem to be fascinated with her. They come and kinda jus hang around Diya. For example when we go to the park there is a little girl who will swing next to Diya’s swing then follow us when we go on the slide and will continue to follow us and just stare at Diya…at one point I sat down with Diya in my lap and the little girl just sat down right next to me. She didn’t say anything…she just kept looking at Diya. Another time we went out to dinner and Diya was in a high chair and these 2 little girls just came over and started playing with her. And yesterday, we were at the outlet mall and Diya starting fussing in her stroller and a little girl out of nowhere came over and gave her a balloon to play with and was dancing in front of her to make her stop crying. Of course Diya absolutely loves all this kind of attention. Dunno what it is, but I’m not complaining since it keeps Diya quiet :-).

Last thing…on a totally different subject...I wanted to update everyone that this coming Saturday at 4:30pm is my appointment for the wisdom teeth removal. For those that have gotten this done before I had a question and it may sound silly so I warn you...Will I be able to drive myself after the whole thing is over or should I have someone come with me? Also, is there any 'prep work' I should do...like not eat or brush my teeth before I go? I'll be calling the dentist to ask also, but never hurt to get more than one opinion. Will keep you posted on how it goes.

new and old video

This one is pretty recent. It's real short, but cute. It's of Diya with her favorite doll.

Diya with her favorite doll from Diya Shah on Vimeo.


This is an old video of her laughing or should I say screaming with her daddy.

playful screaming from Diya Shah on Vimeo.

11 months

Diya's is 11 months old and she is getting heavy. I remember when she reached 11 pounds I complained about how my arms hurt while rocking her to sleep. These days never mind rocking her… I can’t even hold her for more than few minutes at a time. I'm out of breath by the time I reach the top of the stairs while carrying her. (It is very possible that I could just be out of shape ;-) Of course it doesn't help that while I'm going up she has to reach out to touch every light switch, and wall hanging on our way. She is very active so one would think she would burn off everything she ate and she'd be lighter, but nope....not Diya. I think she must weigh at least 22 lbs by now.

She's learned a lot of new things lately. She learns things much faster now too. It took us a month to teach her ‘ta-ta’, but these new things she learned within days. Ask her where is Diya's 'bhodu' (belly) and she will pat her belly. Ask her where’s daddy and she'll through her hand up (kind of imitating a plane). Ask her to do 'jay-jay'(like praying) and she will put her hands together and move them back and forth. Most of these things the in-laws have taught her (obviously). But it’s amazing that she can learn something new in just a day or 2.
She also has a favorite doll now. Well it’s really a teddy bear, but we call it her doll. Infact, we call it 'nani Diya' which means ‘small Diya’. When we ask her to get nani Diya she will get that same doll every time. Then if you ask her to put nani Diya to sleep she will put her in her lap and rock back and forth. It’s really cute.

She continues to 'speak' better too. If you ask her to call Cody(our neighbor's dog) and tell her to say 'aav'(come) she clearly says 'aav aav aav..'. This word used to be a little muffled before.
We are trying to teach her to say mum-mum(food) for when she wants to eat . I’m also trying to teach her to say ‘mummy’ (can you blame me), so I hope she doesn’t get the 2 confused.

Here are last month’s photos.

Diya 's 11th month

Below are 2 videos. In this one she is doing everything I ask her to like saying ‘ta-ta’ and doing radhe-radhe.

Smart Diya from Diya Shah on Vimeo.

In this second one she is in her swimming pool which initially she was very scared of, but as you can see in the video she’s gotten over her fear.

Swimming Pool from Diya Shah on Vimeo.

few more photos

Neha and Diya before Naam Karan Vidhi (naming ceremony)

More Father's Day Photos

Past weekend

It was a big weekend at the Shah residence. On Saturday we invited some family over for dinner. We hadn’t invited them over in awhile and we were waiting for the in-laws to be here. So finally past weekend worked out. The menu went like this…we had strawberry milk shake as what Neha calls ‘Welcome drinks’. The main dish was Idli-sambhar, rasam-vada and dosa with coconut chutney. For dessert we had rass-gula and ice-cream. These are all typical south Indian dishes that the in-laws decided on...do you see why I think of them as south Indian? There was a lot of food, and it was good.

Backing up a bit, there were 2 other reasons for inviting the family besides ‘it’s been awhile’. First, it was Deesh(my sister) and Vipul(her husband)’s ‘vaynu’ dinner. Basically, it’s a dinner for the newlyweds. Although, Deesh and Vipul have been married for awhile and they have also had dinner at our place before…this was the official vaynu. Second, we did a mini naming ceremony for Diya. It is a traditional ceremony when the fai (in this case Neha) holds the newborn and rocks him/her in all four directions then placing him/her in a blanket and officially ‘names the baby’. I can’t really explain it all, but we have it on video. Although, Diya is no longer a newborn and she has already been given her name we wanted to do it for fun. Plus, Neha was so excited about finally getting her rightful chance as a fai we couldn’t let her down. I think everyone enjoyed…especially Diya.

So that was Saturday. Sunday was Father’s Day. It was pretty low-key. I got Diya ready in her ‘I Love Daddy’ top. Daddy and grand-daddy absolutely loved it. We took bunch of photos. Since we had leftovers from the day before we didn’t have much to cook so we spent most of the day out. We made a stop at iParty for some decorations for Diya’s first bday party. They have such cute stuff. We ate out and returned home where Premal packed. Packed for what you ask? He has another trip to Jacksonville, FL this time. He left today and won’t be back ‘till Wednesday after next…it’s a week and half long trip, his longest yet. Thank God his parents are here so I don’t have to be alone or make any arrangements.

Diya is almost 11 months old. I will be doing a seperate post for that later this week.

pulling teeth

I had a dentist appt few weeks back. Last two times I was there I was pregnant so they couldn’t take any xrays. So finally at this last visit they did and get this…they found 3 cavities! I was expecting one…two tops, but not 3. One is on a tooth on the bottom and in the back on the left side and the other two are on my wisdom teeth on the right side. I had the left tooth filled yesterday so that one is all set. Dentist said its best to just pull out the wisdom teeth with the other cavities. My wisdom teeth otherwise are not causing any problems. In fact she was impressed with how straight they had come in. So now I have to decide what I want to do. I’m little scared about getting the teeth pulled. For one thing I get tired of keeping my jaw open for more than 15 minutes and the procedure would take 1-1.5 hrs. Second thing is that since the bottom tooth is a little set in they would have to make a cut on the gum to get to the tooth which means I’d get stitches. And recovering from that doesn’t sound like fun. Third thing is I like my wisdom teeth…I mean isn’t it a waste to remove them if they aren’t bothering the other teeth? And couldn’t she just do a filling on them? I’m pretty sure she’s too lazy to do the fillings. Anyone have any experience with getting wisdom teeth pulled? Any advice for me?

Diya's dancing videos...

Diya dancing with Pig from Diya Shah on Vimeo.




Diya dancing to walker music from Diya Shah on Vimeo.




Diya dancing to Toy from Diya Shah on Vimeo.

long weekend

The long weekend was fun. Friday, they let us out early from work and I went home and cleaned…no, that was not the fun part. But, it was good to get it out of the way so we could enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Saturday, we went shopping with the family. We got Diya a new front-facing car seat. They say to make the switch after baby is one year old AND is at least 20lbs. Diya is already 20lbs and her birthday is not too far off so we decided to get it now. Plus, the one Premal liked was on sale, plus there was a coupon, plus we got a free umbrella stroller with the purchase so as you can imagine it worked out well. Not only was it a good purchase, but Diya enjoys being in the umbrella stroller much more than her regular one.

Sunday, we went to Hopkington State Park and had a mini picnic. We took the new umbrella stroller which was very useful and it took up a lot less trunk space. Since my in-laws are here we always take the Pilot and use the optional 3rd row to fit all 5 of us and Diya’s car seat…so trunk space is always an issue. Diya did really well at the picnic. She ate all her meals and even took a nice long nap(as you can see from this photo which also shows her umbrella stroller). Only thing she was not happy about was the water. Dunno if she was getting scared or if the water was feeling cold. Unfortunately, I didn’t take my camera when we went over to the beach area. (Waiting for Deesh’s photos.) But just picture her in a cute little bathing suit :)…yes, I finally got 1…well actually I got 2 :-P I realized that Diya really needed a hat and shoes at the picnic. I used Deesh and Vishwa’s hat which was still a little big, but did the trick.

Diya and Eshaan at the picnic

Monday, was another shopping day. We went to the Natick area. Old Navy was a big hit with Neha. She has always loved that brand and she found bunch of stuff on sale so she was very happy. We also went to couple of other places and I found not 1 but 2 hats for Diya and not 1 but 2 pairs of shoes for her …so I was very happy. We all returned home happy. It didn’t last long though since I soon the realized that the next day I was the only one who had to wake up early and go to work. Premal is taking this week off since he has accumulated so much vacation time.

Congrats & Happy Bdays

We had a girls night out...where I found out that my good friend, Sital is expecting! I'm sooooooo excited and happy for her and Jay!! It's her first and she's due early December...congrats, babe! I had such a great time hanging out with my girls. Like Tanvi said...we should do it more often.

Today is my cousin Vinisha's birthday. She's 8 years old. Happy Birthday, Vini! I remember when she was Diya's age.

Tomorrow is Premal's cousin's birthday. She lives in India so its her birthday right now where she lives too. Happy Birthday and congrats, Pooja!! She is also expecting her first and we found out couple days ago that she is actually expecting twins...we are very excited for her. Mummy is already making a list of things to take for her and now she'll have to take 2 of everything :)

Looking forward to the long weekend. Plan is to have a small picnic with close family on Sunday and relax for the rest of it. Looking forward to it. It will be Diya's first picnic!

10th month

Ok, so where to begin. I guess some general updates are a good place to start. Mummy and daddy (Premal’s parents) have arrived from India. Neha is still here and with Diya, Premal and I…our house is full. For a change all rooms in our house are getting used :) Diya loves having so many people around her and always having someone to play with. Daddy absolutely loves kids and entertains her all day long. Hard to say who enjoys more.

Daddy got another truck load of clothes for Diya. Combining what Neha, mummy and daddy got for her it seems like she has enough stuff to last her ‘till college. They are mostly summer dresses and Indian outfits. But, man they are so adorable and when you convert the price into US dollars it’s so cheap. But, watch...with my luck Diya will grow up to be a tom-boy and will hate to wear girly stuff.

I think I mentioned before that Diya had learned to stand up in her crib. Well, now she can stand up anywhere, anytime…as long as there is something to hold on to like the sofa, ottoman, TV, bouncer, even my leg. We have noticed that she is a bit of a scardy cat…once she stands she’s very afraid of falling and is very careful about going back on all fours. I guess it’s good in this case, but she also gets easily scared of certain sounds too. Daddy got her a toy that plays a tune and lights up and moves around….soon as we turned it on she froze and you could tell she was not enjoying it. She wouldn’t go anywhere near it.

Teeth count...her fifth tooth is coming in now! Her 2 front, bottom teeth are totally in...her 2 front, top teeth are half in and I just noticed another one on the top budding out. It seems like these last few teeth have come in with such ease. Her drool seems to have increased a bit, but other than that there hasn't been any other signs. Only thing though...now that she has so many more teeth her bites really hurt. I have to be careful when I feed her something with my finger.

Probably the best thing she has learned this past month is to dance. It is sooooo cute!!! She wiggles her hips and moves side to side. She’ll dance to anything that sounds like music….my singing, her musical toys, TV…she even started dancing to the blender once…that was hilarious. It doesn’t matter what position she’s in…she can be in her car seat, lying down, on all fours, or standing. She can put on her groove anywhere. No idea how she learned this.

She seems to be making some progress with her speech too. Before she used to just say ‘ta ta’. Now she can put her hand up and say ‘hi’. It’s not a clear ‘hi’ and it sounds a little different every time. But you can tell that’s what she thinks she’s saying. We also play this game with her where we put something over her head like a blanket or something and we ask ‘Diya kiya’ (where is Diya in guju) and when she removes it we say ‘aa rai’ (here she is in guju). So now when we do it she will say the ‘aa rai’ part herself.

Other major thing is that she has learned to climb stairs. She’s pretty good at it too. One of us is right behind her when she’s climbing, but even if we weren’t she shows no signs that she would fall. I think this may be due to her being a scardy cat. Either way I’m still not ready to take that risk. Ok, I think I'll end it here. So here are photos from the past month...

Diya 10th month photos

... and I'll post videos when I get a chance to upoad them.

Mother's Day

Diya and I on Mother’s Day!

There are many new updates about Diya that I can’t wait to share. I’ve been super busy lately, but I’ll be sure to have her 10th month post next week.

9 months old

Diya officially turns 9 months this Sunday. It’s been an exciting month...lot has happened. Biggest thing was that she started to crawl which I mentioned before. Every day she perfects this new skill of hers. She is speedy and will follow me from room to room. It’s very cute. By end of the day you can see the dirt she’s collected on her clothes around the knees area (not so cute).

Yesterday, something new and kinda big happened while I was at work. Diya was napping in her crib upstairs while Neha was downstairs. The monitor was on. Neha heard Diya rustling and getting ready to wake up. Then she heard her talking…all still normal…then she heard the mobile on the crib. Strange…it doesn’t go off on its own…unless you turn it on or touch it by accident it doesn’t make a sound. So she rushed upstairs to check. What did she see?... Diya was STANDING in her crib. She was holding on to the side of the crib with one hand and playing with the mobile with the other hand all while standing. Naturally, in the evening we put her in the crib hoping she would do it again and we could see it in action. Luckily she did it again. She was even able to pull herself up using the ottoman. She does get lazy after a few tries and gives up, but I’m still proud of her.

Another thing she has learned that I also love is that she waves bye-bye. Of course she does it at random times. But, she waves her hands and says ‘ta ta’ at the same time all while giving a little smile. It’s really cute and she’s getting good at it.

Yesterday, we could have sworn that she tried to copy some words we were saying. We weren’t even trying to get her to copy us. Premal said excuse me to her and Diya immediately mumbled something back and it was very close to ‘excuse me’. We laughed and thought it’s just a fluke. Later in the evening…I turned off her toy drum which says ‘Bye Bye’ before it completely turns off and Diya repested something that sounded close to ‘Bye Bye’. After that time we started to think that maaaaaybe it wasn’t a fluke. But, of course she didn’t repeat it so it must have been.

There is one last thing that she has learned to do. But, I won’t comment on it…I’ll let this video do the talking.

So, as usual here are the photos from last month and the link to the video.

First visit to the park

Guess who visited the park for the first time ever!! She loved it. She didn't really care for the sing or slide...she really just liked watching the other kids.

all better

I just wanted to let everyone know that Diya is back to her old self again. Knock on wood, all her sickness is gone. Only thing that hurts are her teeth. We are giving her some ayurvedic teething medication. Premal’s kaka is a big believer in the stuff and sent it with Neha. It’s a small pill that Diya takes once a day. Since its all natural I didn’t mind trying it out. I have to say that it seems to help. On days we forget to give it to her that following night she seems to have more trouble sleeping soundly. On top of that Diya loves chewing on the small tablet which easily breaks with her gums and tastes lil sweet.

Past weekend we saw some really cute summer clothes. So we got some for Diya and tried them on when we got home. As you can see this fits Diya perfectly now and no way will it last ‘till summer arrives. She was looking too cute… couldn’t resist not taking a photo or 2 (or 2 dozen). I’m really looking forward to summer. She’ll be old enough to sit in those baby swings at the park. We’ll get those mini pools that she can sit and play in…will get a cute little swimsuit...ohhh…I can’t wait.

and she's off...

Many people have been asking how Diya is doing so here is an update. She is doing better. She no longer has diarrhea or constipation or a fever. But the ear infection seems to be causing her some pain. It’s either the ears or her teeth (or both). She’s been a little fussy during the day and wakes up so many times in the night. Last night she woke up at midnight, 1:30, 2:30, and 5:30. This was actually an improvement from the night before when she woke up every, single hour. Each time she starts screaming within moments of waking up. Usually, she can fall back to sleep on her own, but lately she has to be held while you walk around. When you think she’s finally sleeping… slowly put her back in the crib. But it’s this last step that usually wakes her up again and you have to start all over again. Getting her back to sleep takes 30-45mins these days. Premal and I (and even Neha last night) have been taking turns putting her back to sleep. Hopefully each passing night will get better. Keep your fingers crossed.

So, while all this has been happening there was something amazing that happened yesterday evening…a huge milestone was achieved by Diya. She learned to crawl!! Luckily we were all there to witness it. It was really exciting for her and for us. Soon as she figured it out you could tell her face was saying “Wow, this is awesome!!” We can already see how we are going to have to be more careful with her now. She was all over the living room yesterday...no fear of coffee tables or fireplaces or ottomans…nothing was stopping her. Here is the video from moments after her first crawl.


Diya learns to crawl! from Diya Shah on Vimeo.

bad to worse

So, Friday I get home from work and Diya had pooped only once all day. Finally…relief...we thought. She didn’t go rest of the evening then Saturday morning she goes again, but it’s very little and it’s really hard. Great. She was now constipated. How does she go from one extreme to the next…no idea. Doctor said it’s pretty common nothing to worry about. So we start giving her the regular diet. Saturday night she felt little warm so we took her temp and sure enough she had a fever. We gave her Tylenol. Sunday morning she still had fever, but seemed better. Sunday evening she had a nice, big, normal poop…finally! Monday morning she still had a temperature. Ended up taking her to the doctor. She has ear infection in both ears. Great. She’ll be on antibiotics for next 10 days. Premal was most upset that for the first time she has actually lost weight. By now she should’ve been over 18lbs, but she’s only 17lbs 3oz. I'm sure she will make up for it soon.

no improvements yet...

It's been a whole day and Diya's diarrhea has not gotten any better. Infact it seems to be worse. Yesterday, she have even more poops and even more leaks from her diaper. She woke up at 5am and I went to check on her...I felt her belly and it was wet. I picked her up and her whole back and side were wet. I had to change her and wash her from chest down. I took her under the sink and just washed whatever I could. Of course by this time she is crying up a storm. I don't blame her...she was expecting me to just help back to sleep. She didn't want to be stripped down naked and be washed and changed while she was half asleep. Poor thing...I felt so bad, but it had to be done. Premal and Neha obviously woke up cause of all the crying and helped with the whole process.


She still doesn't have a fever or is vomiting so that is a little relief. Today we are going to try not giving her any milk and try some other things people have advised us on. If she doesn't seem better by tomorrow we'll probably visit her doctor.


On a slightly lighter note...these photos are some more of her random sleeping positions(before she got ill).

poor baby...

Yesterday I got home from work and Diya was playing in her bouncy chair. She was her usual self...good mood and happy to see me. I picked her up and in few minutes I felt some wetness near her diaper. She had pooped and leaked through her diaper. Four or five months ago this wouldn't have alarmed me, but yesterday it did. I soon learned that all day she had been pooping more than usual and having very loose bowel movements. Poor thing has diarrhea.

I called the doctor and she said as long as she doesn't have fever and isn't vomitting no need to worry. Her guess is that it is probably a viral infection due to her cold and cough. I find this little hard to believe because she's had this cold and cough on and off for a month and she didn't get diarrhea before...so why all of the sudden? I was expecting her to say it was cause of her teething. She has at least one new tooth coming in and her gums have gotten sooo swollen. The inside of her mouth looks so different from just a month ago. Food poisoning was another thought. She puts everything in her mouth so she might have just picked up a dirty toy or something.

Whatever the cause doctor said give her fruits and no fruits that start with 'p' like pears, peaches or prunes. She suggested bananas, apples, and sweet potatoes for veggies. Luckily Diya likes these a lot. But there must be something else we can give her. Anyone has any ideas please let me know even if the remedy isn't specifically for babies.

Knock on wood that this hasn't caused her to be extra cranky or fussy. She's just her usual happy self. Hopefully she will get over this fast.

Diya springs into her 8th month

Spring begins on Diya’s 8 month birthday. I was recently looking at her birth pictures and I can’t believe how little she was. I don’t realize how much she’s grown until I look at old photos or videos. People have been saying that before you know it she will be a teenager and I’ll wonder where the time went. Not sure about being a teen, but the ‘baby days’ seem to be flying by.

In the last month Diya has gotten very clever. She knows how to give a fake smile to butter me up. If she wants to be held she will flash that fake smile. She knows that when she drops a toy from her high chair mommy(or anyone sitting close by) is always there to get it back for her. She knows how to fake cry too. If there is a delay in getting the toy back she knows that by giving that fake cry she can get it faster.

She also knows how to pick up a cheerio with her fingers and put it in her mouth. Sometimes when the grip isn’t right she will switch the cheerio from one hand to the other. It takes her few minutes per cheerio, but it keeps her busy while we have dinner.

She recognizes her milk bottle and cries for it as soon as it’s in her site. If I have the bottle in my hand and her in the same arm she bends down and starts licking the cap. Even when she sees the bottle by accident and there is no milk in it she wants it.

She can also crawl backwards now. When she’s on her belly she will push with her hands and move her body back. On the carpet its a little tough cause there is more friction, in the crib she slides easily. But she’s little lazy and hates being on her belly for too long so I have a feeling she’ll learn to crawl late or she might go straight to walking.

Anyway, so here are her pictures from the last month. Sadly, I still haven’t made too much progress in being able to upload the videos from our digi camcorder.

Diya's 8th Month

pattu pavadai and squeaky shoes

A pattu pavadai with a Cinderella story...I found this amazing. Let me explain. Premal’s family is guju, but I consider them South Indian because they live in Chennai (which is located in southern India) and they are very much into the culture there. So naturally one of the dresses that Neha(Premal’s sister) got for Diya is a very traditional south Indian dress called ‘pattu pavadai’. In this picture Diya is modeling this dress. Basically, it is a very rich colored, two-piece dress that has a contrasting thick border. Looks almost like a choli, but there is no dupata. Now, look closely at the orange border in Diya’s pavadai. Can you read what it says…can you see the ‘ABCs’? Might be hard to see in the picture. I dunno why, but I think this concept is really cool. Apparently, they make ones that instead of the ABCs they have the story of Cinderella printed. Isn’t that amazing? Apparently, this is the hottest new craze going on right now. I can understand why.

Neha also got shoes that squeak(I didn’t take a picture of them). They look like regular sneakers and when we push the soles they squeak. I enjoy them more then Diya does. Sometimes when she’s in the car seat and pushes against the back seat and they squeak. I don’t think she realizes where the sound is coming from, but it gets her attention. When I squeeze them on purpose and she loves it.

Why don’t they make something like that here in the US. Maybe they already do, but I have never seen them. I’ve seen shoes that light up and that is cool too. The squeaking doesn’t require any electrical wiring so you’d think they are safer and more popular plus you’d be able to keep track of where your kids are running off to. I guess the noise could get annoying for some.

There are lot more things that Neha got for Diya that I liked very much like hair pins, bangles, bindis, sandals, regular dresses, soft cotton summer clothes…but the pavadai and the squeaky shoes were my favorite.

Taare Zameen Par

This might be the first entry in a long time that is not baby related…well, mostly. So past weekend not only did we watch a movie, but we watched a Hindi movie. I can’t remember the last time I watched one. In high school I used to watch them all the time. I never had time in college. Premal doesn’t like them so after marriage I rarely got to see any.

Neha(my sister in law) is visiting us from India. She brought some DVDs with her. We watched ‘Taare Zameen Par’. I had heard so many good things about this movie and really wanted to watch it and I’m so glad I did. It is very good...a totally different kind of movie with a very unique story line. It doesn’t have any of the usual, flashy Indian drama. It is about a 9 year old boy. It doesn’t have the usual boy-girl love story either…infact there is no lead actress at all. I won’t give away anything else.

We watched it during the day so we had couple of interruptions cause of Diya. But most of the time she played with her toys and let us watch the movie in peace even though it was a typical 3 hour Hindi movie. Since it all worked out pretty well I would love to watch more. There are few more movies from Neha’s collection that I’d love to watch. Instead of fighting boredom by going out in the freezing cold this was a great alternative(and a money saver).

7 months

Look who’s 7 months old! Couple of major things happened in the last month. I think the best is Diya’s sleeping. I hope I don’t jinx myself here, but she’s been sleeping really well. After she got over most of her sickness I re-did the whole sleep training thing. Luckily second time around wasn’t bad at all. She can now sleep about 7 hrs straight. This brought on another major change…we moved her crib into her room. Until last weekend she was sleeping in our room. I think the move has actually helped her sleep better. Seems like she’s adjusted fine, but me…I walk over to her room 2-3 times a night to make sure she is breathing. We have the monitor on, but I don’t trust it. On top of my paranoia…Diya now flips over in her sleep. So I’m constantly worried about suffocation although the risk reduces at her age. She is a crazy sleeper…this picture was taken last week when she was still in our room…every day she’s in a new position in the morning and so far most shocking was when I found her lying upside down and sideways. Next time I'll be sure to take a photo of it.

Here are her pictures from the last month. Will post more videos once we (have time to) figure out how to upload from our new digi camcorder. The difference is so amazing!

ears pierced

I’ve been wanting to get Diya’s ears pierced for awhile now. But there was always something in the way. First few months I just felt she was too young, then she had her ‘hey I have ears!’ stage where she was constantly pulling on her ears, then I went back to work, then she got sick…so finally on Friday we decided to just go for it. My little trooper did really well. She cried for both ears, but within minutes she was herself again…but much cuter since she had earrings on ;-) She doesn’t really notice them. She hasn’t tried to touch them so I’m guessing they aren’t causing her any pain or itch. What she does hate is when I have to clean(disinfect) the area. I don’t think it hurts her, it probably just feels really cold…whatever it is…she doesn’t like it.
I tried to get some nice pics yesterday evening with her ‘new look’, but she wouldn't stay still at all. You get the gist of it from the ones I posted here.