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).