Kaniz & Abbas +2

Well, it was about time we changed the blog title.. and I decided to take the opportunity to change the look up a little. I'll be posting the rest of the pictures from 2009 as soon as the year is over.. stay tuned.

A busy month, as usual. The three big highlights from October were: My youngest brother Zain getting engaged (boy, does that make me feel old)... congrats Zain and Aliza. Moving on up to the toddler room at daycare. The transition has been great for Samarah and she's been able to pick up a lot of positive things from the older kids in the new room. Our fabulous road trip to New Hampshire (via Thousand Islands and Lake Placid). If I had to guess Samarah's favourite part of the trip, it would be a toss up between seeing the cats ("meow-meows" as she calls them) in Gananoque or meeting Melissa and Feargal's dog Happy in New Hampshire. Halloween: Samarah finally got to wear her cow costume! She was supposed to wear it last year but we were in California at the time and it was too hot for it. The costume was a bit tight, but Samarah looked adorable (of course). Here are some of the photos - enjoy!

In a single day, there are so many moments with Samarah that I wish I could remember forever. She's not even two yet and I find myself straining to remember details about her as a newborn or an infant. I suppose one of the reasons Kaniz and I decided to create this blog was so we would have a (more reliable) record of how much joy Samarah has brought into our life. Maybe one day, Samarah will read these words, look through the pictures, and get some sense of the immense love we have for her. So.. I thought that while I was taking my (rather short) trip down memory lane, I would write down 10 random things about my time with Samarah that I want to remember for the rest of my life: The way she wants to hold on to me (or Kaniz) when going to sleep. The way she keeps yelling 'Abbas' if she loses sight of me in a public place. (this is great for finding Kaniz and Samarah at crowded food courts - I just have to follow the yelling!) The look on Samarah's face when she fina...

It's hard to believe, but Kaniz is already in her third trimester with +2. This means that I've got to stretch out my flabby blogging muscles and get back into tip-top posting shape. I have to be as fair to +2 as possible, and at the very least, that means having as many blog postings and photos about her as I do about Samarah. So, expect to see posts on a regular basis from here on in.. and to get us started, here are some of the pictures from September. Enjoy! September, 2009

.. when you're busy chasing after a feisty toddler! Hi again everyone. Been a while since the last post, and since I finally got done sorting through the pictures in July and August, I figured it was about time for a post. So a lot has been going on in our life. The biggest news, of course, is the expected arrival of +2. The new news (although it isn't very new anymore) is that Samarah is having a baby sister! I'm not sure if we decided to find out the gender because we simply couldn't wait or because we wanted to know if we could re-use all of Samarah's stuff. Probably a bit of both. :) In any case, Kaniz and I are super excited about +2 - we think she will be a great little sister to Samarah.. and they'll never ever argue, fight or whine and always share and be helpful. Ok, so maybe a little wishful thinking on our part, but one can hope. Between the doctor's visits, busy work schedules, library visits, outings to the park, shopping trips, and a couple o...

Isn't she beautiful?!

Without further ado, a selection of our photos from Paris! (Again, remember if you want to watch the slideshow in HD, click on the link below to go directly to Vimeo.com) Paris, 2009 from Kaniz Sivjee on Vimeo .

Although we haven't started paying full fare for Samarah just yet (she turns 2 in March) and obviously +2 gets a free ride Skip the hotel, rent an apartment: You'll get more space (Paris hotel rooms are tiny), you'll (most likely) get a full kitchen and laundry facilities (lots of cost savings) and it'll probably be for the same price or cheaper. For our trip, we used VRBO.com to search and book our apartment. While most of the apartments are privately owned, they are usually managed by a property management company. While I'd like to think that sites like VRBO do some due diligence on the listings to make sure they're not scams, we found it reassuring to search other sites like Trip Advisor to see if other travelers had dealt with the same company. Here are a few things you might want to consider when getting an apartment: Location (of course) A/C (or at least some fans) if you are planning on visiting in the summer. Elevator vs stairs: Most of the Hausmann ...

So if the title of this post hasn't given it away as yet, Abbas, Samarah and I have some big news...we're having another baby! We're all very excited and looking forward to the big day but to be honest, time is just flying by these days and I find that being pregnant isn't always in the forefront of my mind - as it was with +1. Did I just say that?! We're trying to make sure we do everything for +2 as we did for Samarah, and that includes being as enthusiastic and prepared so I've got some catching up to do. Here's a pic of +2 for you to enjoy. Stay tuned; you'll undoubtedly see more.

So it took me a little longer to sort through our trip pictures than I was expecting, but I'm almost there! Instead of the usual set of photos, we decided to create a slideshow for each stop of our trip, so for today, enjoy the slideshow from our London trip (hint: to watch the slideshow video in HD, click on the links below to go to Vimeo.com): London, June 2009 from Abbas Rizvi on Vimeo .

Hi again everyone. Kaniz, Samarah and I got back from our fabulous European vacation last week, and after a couple of jetlagged days and nights, we're pretty much back in the swing of things. Samarah adjusted very quickly to the time change, and in fact, is sleeping better now than before the trip. The 8 straight hours of sleep that Kaniz and I have been getting for the last week (knock on wood) has been almost as enjoyable as our trip! As you might expect, I went a little overboard with taking pictures on our trip, particularly in Paris, so I've got quite a herculean task ahead of me in terms of sorting through all the photos and creating a slideshow of reasonable length. Hopefully, I'll be able to put up some of these pictures on the blog sometime in the near future. In the meantime though, I decided to get caught up .. so here are two sets of pictures, getting us right up to Father's Day (which means I'm only three weeks behind). Days 416-428 Days 429-470 Before ...

Hello from London!  Kaniz, Samarah and I arrived in London (UK) earlier this week - having a great time so far, although struggling with the time difference a little. Anyway, will post more about our European vacation later on.. but I'd finished a set of photos before we left and wanted to post it. As always, hope you like the pictures... and feel free to leave comments! Days 401-415

Hi again everyone. I'll start with my usual apologies for not posting anything sooner, so we can get on with the actual post! Bobble So Samarah has turned into a certified toddler. As of last week, she's started to favour walking over crawling. She's still pretty wobbly though, and when she gets going, her head bobbles up and down. Not sure if that's because she's a toddler, or because she's a true 'desi' girl and the head bobbling is encoded in her genes. She's graduated from the 'zombie walk' (her arms stretched out in front of her for balance) and can now walk for long stretches (relatively speaking) and even pivot on one foot and turn herself around without introducing her bum to the floor. Things get somewhat problematic when we take her out for walks, because she wants to walk all by herself and not hold either of our hands. This has lead to an increasing number of falls - at home, at the park, in the middle of mall hallways, on sidewal...

I'm guessing that most of you thought the Kaniz & Abbas +1 blog had come to an end after Samarah's first birthday... but I assure you that it was just a brief hiatus, and we're back in action! And speaking of action, Samarah's been up to a whole lot lately. Let me catch you up on what you've missed! Two years ago, I never would have imagined that my weeknights would consist of going to bed before 10pm and my weekends would be spent with dozens of toddlers (the past six weeks has been birthday-central). Since Samarah's birthday, we've been to no less than 6 different birthday parties, so Samarah's social calendar has been full, as usual.. It's been a real treat for her because she enjoys being around other kids so much (the experience is enjoyable for Kaniz and I, but man oh man, 2 hours at a birthday party tires you out!). Samarah's also hitting all sorts of milestones.. here are some highlights: A total of 8 teeth, which she isn't afraid...

Don't pretend to be surprised..  you knew it was going to take me a couple of weeks to get these pictures online. But better late than never! I have the coming week off from work, and I don't have much planned other than trying to get a bunch of things off my 'to-do' list, so hopefully I'll get caught up with my blog posts. Hope everyone is doing well, and enjoying the (relatively) nice weather... Enjoy the pictures!

These days, it always feels like I'm running behind (on everything), and just trying to keep up.. so it's no surprise that I'm playing catch up on posting pictures on the blog! Samarah's starting to settle into a routine at daycare. She's only going 3 days a week, so I think it's taking her a little longer to really adjust to things. The first couple of weeks were quite eventful - I'll spare you the details, but let's just say that we had plenty of smelly baby clothes to launder - but now I think we're in good shape. Samarah did really well this week, and we're hoping it's the new norm!  Anyway, enjoy this installment of pictures (last one from Year 0-1)!

It's hard to believe, but Samarah turned one today! I know this is quite cliche, but I'll say it anyway: Samarah's growing up so fast! To celebrate the occasion, Samarah invited her friends and family to her birthday party, held at IKEA. We had a great turnout, and a great (we hope) time was had by all. Kaniz and I had originally planned to do the party at an indoor gym, but when we saw that the new IKEA in Vaughan allows you to host parties in their cafe area, we decided we'd try it out.. and we're glad we did! Despite the fact that we were surrounded by hordes of IKEA shoppers, we had lots of private. clean space with lots of natural light, yummy (catered and homemade) food, and most importantly, great company! The best part was that setup and cleanup was minimal.. so the next time you're trying to think of a unique venue for a baby shower or a birthday party, try IKEA! Once we got home, Samarah had a great time ripping up all the wrapping and tissue paper fro...

The picture above obviously wasn't taken in Toronto.. it's been a long winter so far in Toronto, so Kaniz, Samarah and I decided to take a little break and do what lots of fellow Canadians do every year - fly down to Florida. Unfortunately, in our case, it was only for a few days. The trip was fun, but poor Samarah caught a cold before we left, and ended up throwing up on our outbound flight. The cold turned into a chest cough and then a mild ear infection.. so the rest of  the week didn't go much better. Luckily, Samarah's mood and appetite weren't affected, so the only change to our plans was fewer dinners out. Once we got back to Toronto, Samarah's pediatrician put her on antibiotics, which did the trick (more or less). The big event in our life this past week has been Samarah's 'transition' to daycare. As expected, Samarah did great! She played nicely with the other kids and charmed all the staff. Kaniz and I can't believe that our little gir...

I know, I know I know! You don't even have to say anything.. it's been a long time since my last post. I'm guessing that most of you thought I'd abandoned the whole blog thing, but never fear.. it was just a temporary lapse. So lots of new things since 2009 started, including: Two new top teeth, bringing the total to 4! (and two more on the way, apparently) Crawling forwards (again, finally!) First throw up on an airplane - not terribly messy, thankfully. First ear infection - all recovered now. First course of antibiotics - surprisingly, Samarah loved taking her amoxicillin, which smelled a little like watermelon Jolly Ranchers. Learning to feed myself Expanded vocabulary - in addition to the usual dada and mama, Samarah has added abbas (ok, so it's more like 'abba' but close enough), apple, purple, and up! I have another set of pictures to post this week, so will fill you all in on the latest then. Enjoy the pictures!

I think I've said this before, but Samarah is at a really fun age right now.. it's hard to describe the feeling I get to see the sheer joy on Samarah's face when she manages to stand on her own (albeit leaning on something), take a hesitant step, grab a toy (or my face) or even the simple act of making eye contact. Kaniz and I truly feel blessed to have been gifted such a happy soul! It's been a while since I've posted videos, so thought I'd share a few of the more recent ones so you can see Samarah in action. In the first video, shot in mid-December, you'll see Samarah having a great time with her walker: Over the past few weeks, I've really noticed a huge increase in Samarah's capacity to learn - whether it's mimicking the sounds we make, playing with her toys, earnestly turning pages during storytime and even figuring out all the bait-and-switch games we play to get her to eat her dinner! One of her latest tricks is clapping! She's pretty ...

I can't believe that 2008 is already over. It's been an incredible year, and lots of exciting things to look forward to in 2009. One thing I'm not looking forward to is going back to work! I'm so dreading that day...March 3rd...it get's closer every second!! With me back at work, Samarah will be going to daycare, and I'm sure ear infections, colds, runny noses, etc. will follow soon after. Things have been hectic as usual - in addition to holiday get togethers, friends visiting, etc., we've also been busy with spending our evenings at the mosque over the last two weeks. So Samarah's schedule has been thrown off a bit as she's still napping twice a day but when we're out, it's usually out of the question. She's getting very very distracted these days when I nurse her so I'm beginning the weaning process.  We're in the bib-protesting phase, the stroller protesting phase and the car seat protesting phase. Unless she's distracte...