An affair with Mumbai

Mumbai, the city that I call home. The city that stirs up so many emotions in me. A city that I love and yet am not unaware of the issues. A city where people come together in time of crisis but in everyday life, the same people stare or ignore you. Mumbai, a city filled with dreams and dreamers. A city I call home even though I haven't live in it for 10 years. A city that will always be special to me. Which is why, I absolutely enjoyed showing his beautiful city to my beautiful child, Laksh.

Here are some pics from the trip, I wish I has enough words to express what joy this has been for me but for now, let the pictures guide you through.

                                                                                                                          

New year; Old me?

Dear readers,

Happy 2018 everybody. Hope this year brings you all joy, love and good health, everything else will fall into place in time. I would like to thank everyone for their support so far and I hope to keep getting more love for Laksh and our little venture; this blog.

It seems like we just celebrated Christmas and in a blink of the eye, its already 2018. Christmas has always been the best part of the year. All the lights, and festivities around me always cheers me up. Recently, I have started to feel the need to start traditions, things that I want Laksh to look forward to. Things like, baking cookies for Christmas together, opening gifts Christmas morning, wearing matching family PJ's, taking family trips across the globe, taking a minute to reflect and being grateful, give to others what we can, being kind and smiling a lot.

I have never been the kind of person to wait for new year to make resolutions, if I want to change something I do it right away. I am also someone who likes to celebrate and capture every moment that I can, because that is what makes life worth living, at least that is what I feel. My sisters and I have always been those people who love to celebrate and cherish each other and the people around us.

January 1st marked the beginning of this year but for us, it also marked the day our baby boy turned 5 months old. We spent the day celebrating his 5 month birthday instead. Hubby and I baked a chocolate cake for Laksh and it was such a fun experience. This lead me to think of other ways to be able to have more fun, be responsible and also lead a more meaningful life. To live life and not merely exist.

• Read a book to Laksh every night
• Laugh at small things instead of getting angry 
• Try to get quality sleep time
• Family movie night with popcorn (pop corn not optional)
• Go for a brisk walk (even when its freezing cold)
• Listen to music and dance
• Lite a scented candle
• Drink more water
• Try new recipes
• Don't freak out over every small thing and go with the flow (more of me than anyone else)
• Give someone a compliment and mean it 
• Be helpful and kind to strangers
• Be more patient
• And remove the Christmas tree before the end of this month. 😉

As we start a new year, I hope people learn to be more tolerant, kind, open-minded, accepting, friendly, understanding, polite, and kind. I know I said kind twice, that’s how important it is. If there is only one thing you want to take away from this blog today, then let it be kindness.

Milestone Monday

Dear readers,

It is time for our very first #milestonemonday. I am feeling like such a proud mamma while writing this, my baby is now holding his own bottle (for the most part with occasional help) while drinking milk. 
Here is a picture from this morning while drinking milk in his grandma's lap. ❤

Another milestone that Laksh has mastered is the art of smiling and making the people around him weak in their knees. Here are some pictures to show that;

Another interesting thing he seems to have started doing is, looking like this emoticon : 🙏

Or rocking "dabbing" in his sleep

         

Example of dabbing for those who are unaware of what it is

He has also started removing his feet from the sides of his crib

And, last but not the least, he is able to hold his head up for a good 15 seconds or more

These are a few of his achievements from the last couple of weeks. We will keep you updated about him and have made this GIF as a thank you from Laksh and all of us. Keep supporting us the way you guys have. It is appreciated and needed. Always be kind dear readers. 

PS: A very happy 37th wedding anniversary to Laksh's Nana and Nani (grandparents)

And then I was 4 months old

Dear readers,

Today my darling baby turned 4 months old. In fact I started writing this blog exactly at his time of birth but by the time I would post it, it would be late evening. I plan to have his photo shoot once I go home from work and want to add that to this blog so that will cause a little bit of delay. Anyway, now that this is out of the way, let me start telling you all about how his week went and how proud I am to be his mom. Also, on the occasion of his birth day of sorts, I want to announce that we are doing a little something special and would have guest bloggers writing here over the next couple of weeks.

So Laksh is 4 months old and these 4 months have been the best and the scariest 4 months of my life. The intense love that I feel for my baby coupled with this protective instinct that I have for him is empowering and weakening at the same time. I remember reading, "Making the decision to have a child -- it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." -- Elizabeth Stone and wondering how can that be true. But I have been feeling like that for the last 4 months and it has been exhilarating.

Laksh has been successfully rolling from side to side, but is still to complete a roll. I am not worried as I know he is doing the best that he can and is doing amazingly well. Based now this I came up with an idea, I am going to start something that I would like to call "Milestone Monday" for him. One Monday in a month, I would update about what new milestones Laksh has achieved and would love to know where other parents are. 

For now, let me show you guys some highlights of his week:

Waiting for Mommy and Daddy to get home

When mommy says I'm cool, I am cool..

The day I decided to dress up as a teddy bear 

During PT session, redefining "killer smile"

Chilling in daddy's arms

Charming my aunts with flair..

And then I was 4 months old

Hope the last month of this year fills your lives with love and happiness. Happy December!

21 things I am grateful for this Thanksgiving

In this busy life, it is easy to forget what things we have going for us and keep focusing on things that are not. For instance, focusing on not getting the promotion you were gunning for and forgetting to be grateful for having a job. Getting upset over not being able to get that branded bag but forgetting to be grateful for the other bags you already have. Crying over baby having diagnosed with down syndrome at birth instead of being grateful for this tiny miracle you created.(see what I did there 👶❤)

I know this blog is not completely from Laksh's point of view or even fully about him like it usually is, but I needed to put this in writing for him to see when he grows up. It being thanksgiving weekend, I decided to come up with reasons 21 that I am thankful/grateful for this life that God gave us. (21 has become my most favorite number recently, oh & also, it is my birth date)

1. We have Laksh and he has us
2. We have a roof over our heads
3. We have food in our bellies
4. We have love in our house
5. We have people that care about us
6. Laksh has both sets of grand parents
7. Laksh has two older sisters (cousins but closer than the real deal), aunts and uncles
8. Laksh has a fur brother
9. We are healthy
10. We have an amazing online DS community, our extended family
11. We have jobs so we can provide for our baby
12. We have access to great medical care
13. We became parents
14. We saw his first smile
15. We heard his first cry
16. We celebrated his first Rakhsha Bandhan
17. We celebrated his first Diwali
18. We celebrated his first Bhai Dhuj
19. We celebrated his first Halloween 
20. We celebrated his first thanksgving
21. And last but not least, we will have the rest of our lives to see his many firsts and seconds and more.

Never forget to be kind to others as kindness is all that matters. Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours.

Highlights of this week

Started Nutrivene D on Sunday

Monday, November 13th 2017:

Laksh has started hitting moving objects (his mobile) and stationary objects (his play mat) consistently and with purpose. Great start to the week despite the fact that I am back to work and missed seeing this the first time it happened. But thanks to my darling SIL, I at least was notified via text message right away and also got a video (which I don't know how to add to my blog yet and no time to figure it out as well)

                                    

Tuesday, November 14th 2017:

Day 1 of PT and my baby rocked it. After weeks of jumping through hoops and calling the case manager every other day we finally got his PT started. Could not take his pictures during exercises but this is him after, passed out in style. Also him complaining to daddy about how hard his day was in the evening.

        

Wednesday, November 15th 2017:

 Day 2 of PT and a visit from the social worker which was more or less the weirdest meeting I have ever had. The social worker was unable to find parking in the apartment so we had a counseling of sorts in her car, parked in someone's driveway. Again no pictures from therapy yet but added some pictures just for fun. We aren't doing anything special in therapy yet, just tummy time and range of motion exercises. I have ordered a therapy-ball for him which I want to use to help with some core strengthening exercises that I want to start for him on my own.

Some tummy time at home

Thursday, November 16th 2017:


My darling baby smiled in response to me and then smiled again and again. Best day of my life. Only regret is I did not capture it but will cherish it for the rest of my life. Note to self, go home from work today and take plenty of smiling pictures but in the meanwhile lets see the trying to hold my bottle and pacifier pictures.

                                                      

Good morning pic

Friday, November 17th 2017:

Gripping the hell out of this new toy mummy bought for him yesterday. I couldn't be more proud. Its daddy's day home with him today and seems like they are having an awesome boys day in.