Kaniz & Abbas +2

It's been a busy couple of months in the Rizvi household. Don't believe me? Well, here are a few highlights from August and the first week of September: Plenty of post-move issues (dealing with the builder, trying to get a Rogers tech to actually show up on time, unpacking the remaining boxes, etc.). All in all, fairly typical for moving into a new home, but having both girls home full-time added a bit of extra challenge. Two weekends with out-of-town visitors . We had a ton of fun with our guests - especially with Baby Tess meeting Samarah and Syra (just check the pictures). Having to deal with our refrigerator breaking down after 6 weeks. Let me tell you, that is one appliance you cannot do without. It was an interesting week to say the least, but we did get to live like Europeans and buy fresh groceries every day. An out-of-town wedding (congrats Julia and Shane!) Kicking the afternoon nap.. and I know what some of you are thinking, but no, it wasn't me trying to for...

So just as I caught up on the blog, I fell way behind again.. but this time, I think I have a pretty good excuse. Kaniz, Samarah, Syra and I finally moved into our brand new home last month.. which meant a lot of packing up before hand, and what felt like a lot more unpacking afterwards. A little over three weeks after the move, we're pretty much out of boxes (there are a couple of stragglers), but the place still has a 'just moved in' look. All the work has been worth it though - the place is fantastic, and Samarah & Syra are loving all the extra space. We finally have a place for Samarah to set up her little tent and tunnel.. and I'm sure once Syra starts to crawl, she'll be tiring herself out going from one end of the house to the other. I'll have to post some pictures soon (which means I'll need to take them first). To be completely honest, I haven't actually taken a lot of photos over the past 2 months, but now that things are slowing down (a li...

Well, the weeks seem to be flying by and most days are a blur. Good thing we've got some documentation of everything we've been doing. Needless to say, it's been another eventful couple of weeks (and we've got the pictures to prove it). A few highlights: My youngest brother, Zain, got married last month - yes, that officially makes me feel old. Here's a big Rizvi welcome to Samarah and Syra's newest aunt, Aliza. Congrats you guys! My cousin Amber from California came to visit. It was great to see her, even though the visit was quite brief. It's baby shower season! Pratiksha and Rahul had not one, but TWO baby showers. Talk about loot! Baby Mehra is due in July. Baby Shower #3 was for our good friends Janet and Clement. Let me tell you, they had quite the collection of cupcakes! Baby Ma is also due in July. July will be a busy month for babies, apparently. So aside from attending wedding ceremonies and baby showers, we've been spending a lot more time out...

Do you have 20 extra minutes in your day that you don't know what to do with? Yes? Well, you're in luck! That's probably how long it'll take you to flip through this week's photos! Ok, so the photos aren't exactly from this week, but we're getting pretty close to being caught up (we're up to late May!). I hate to jinx it, but I feel like we're starting to get things under control (I know Kaniz would say the exact opposite). Anyway, as you'd expect, Syra and Samarah continue to amaze us. Syra's learned a bunch of new tricks over the past month, including rolling over, sitting comfortably in the Bumbo, drooling like a champ, doing mini pushups, and even crawling a bit. Ok, so maybe not exactly crawling, but if you put your hands against her feet, she can definitely push herself forward. Even though our little baby is growing up so fast, she still has some very delicious baby features, including more rolls than a bakery! Samarah is no slacker ei...

Back before the economy tanked in 2008, I was doing a fair amount of traveling for work. In fact, when we were expecting Samarah, I remember both Kaniz and I being worried about the constant business travel and how it would affect our (growing) family life. Luckily, right before Samarah was born, my employer cut down on discretionary travel, my job focus switched to a product that didn't require meeting with customers in person, and we had the economic crisis. Ok, so maybe the last part wasn't that lucky, but it certainly worked out for me. Obviously, there are some disadvantages to working at home full-time (like losing my status on airlines and hotels), but given the fact that I spend so much time with Samarah and Syra, I think I've gotten a pretty good deal. So when I got word last month that I'd have to go to San Francisco for a 3-day trip, I managed to convince Kaniz that we should turn it into a family trip. It took a bit of doing on my part because Kaniz was real...

Ok, so maybe I took more than just a 'bit' off the top, but you gotta admit, the bald looks suits Syra! Some of you may recall that we also shaved Samarah's head when she was about 2 months old, in observance of the muslim tradition of aqiqa. This ceremony is typically done on the baby's seventh day, but since both Syra and Samarah were such small babies, we decided to wait a few extra weeks. As a bonus treat, here are the pictures from when we did the aqiqa for Samarah .. and of course, here are the pictures from Syra's big day (plus a few other pictures from our adventures around town).

I know having 3 posts in 1 week might throw a loop in our avid readers' expectations, but I'm sure you can handle it! Here's a small update (from my perspective) on the girls: Samarah's geting cuter and cuter every day....her vocabulary has just exploded and she will bascially say and learn any new words we teach her...puts the pressure on to keep teaching her. She's moved up to more advanced books now (with more text to a page) which makes story time a little longer but we really enjoy reading to her and making trips to the library to find new interesting books. She did great on our trip to SF - I was really worried about the plane ride but she was a star. And then once we were there, she loved the cable cars, the hills, the sea lions etc... It actually felt like she might remember this trip. Syra is growing like a weed. She's 15 weeks now and is so active. Not a huge surprise since she was really active in the womb as well. She can spend 30 mins kicking her to...

Some of you will recall that we did a big 1st birthday party for Samarah at IKEA. I think we ended up having a guest list of about 60 - we had a great time, but it was also pretty hectic. This year, we thought that we'd forego the big party for Samarah and just have something small at her daycare. So we did that party and it was fun (especially when Samarah started screaming when she saw we were going to her school on a non-school day). That party was followed by another, and then another! So much for low key birthdays... The upside for Samarah was that she got a lot of (Dora) loot! I'll have to take some more pictures of her riding her car, driving her bicycle, sitting in her Dora chair and running around with her backpack. In the meantime, here are some pictures from the parties .

Guess who's been getting a bunch of guilt trips about not posting any new pictures lately? I suppose it's well-deserved. So without further ado, here are a month's worth of photos.. enjoy!

Anyone remember the old fable about the hare and the tortoise? The one where the 'slow and steady' tortoise wins the race? Well, I feel a bit like the tortoise with my blog posts - slow and steady - but unfortunately, time isn't going to stop and take a snooze. I catch up, I fall behind, I catch up, and then fall even further behind! Anyway, life with +2 is busy, so I have twice as many excuses. As you all know, it was Samarah's birthday last week, and we just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you for the extra love and attention. Samarah has a lot to be thankful for - she really has everything a little girl could ask for, but more importantly, she's got so many loving and caring people in her life. It's hard to believe that it's already been two years, but it's equally hard to believe that it's only been two years! I know that we won't ever be able to explain to Samarah how much we love her, how much happiness she's brought into our li...

Well, it's been ages since we've posted we know, but with two under two (until today), you tend to have a lot going on! Our beautiful little girl turned two today. It's hard to believe it, and yet it feels like she's been with us for so much longer. We've learned so much from Samarah in the last two years. Samarah, we love you more than you can imagine. A post with pictures coming soon!! (Abbas promises).

As some of you know, I come from a family of five boys. Growing up, I always knew that my dad wanted a daughter, but I don't know if I ever really understood why. Now that I have two daughters of my own though, I completely understand. Every parent-child relationship is special, but (and I may be a little biased here), the father-daughter relationship is extra special. In my case, it helps that Syra and Samarah are nigh-perfect, not to mention super cute! :) Syra turned 5 weeks yesterday, and boy, was that a quick 5 weeks! Kaniz and I are already feeling like she's growing up too fast. I'm guessing that this particular parental feeling isn't go away anytime soon. She definitely isn't a newborn anymore, having already graduated to size 1 diapers, 0-3/3 month clothes and staying awake for hours at a time. Based on all the picture of her sleeping, I know you may not believe this, but Syra is one alert baby. Unfortunately, she's dealing with a rather bad case of bab...

Well folks, as of 6:10am EST this morning, we're official two weeks into being parents of two kids! So are either of us going crazy just yet? No, not really, unless you count buying a minivan last week. Our little Nissan Sentra just wasn't cutting it with two car seats, so we caved. I gave up on acting cool/hip once we had Samarah, so switching to a minivan isn't going to be a big deal. I'm not sure how or why Kaniz caved, but the bottom line is that we've now got seating for 8 (and no, we aren't planning on using any of the extra seats on a full-time basis!). Anyway, aside from our mobility challenges (which will end this Tuesday when we pick up the van), things are going quite well: Syra is a perfect, healthy baby; Samarah is a perfect, happy big sister; and Kaniz and I are getting enough sleep so that we aren't hallucinating during the day. We've got a pretty decent nighttime routine going, so both of us are able to get some sleep. I'm also back a...

Baby Syra is one busy gal! Well, not really.. she's mostly busy sleeping, eating and pooping, but with 8-12 feeds a day, followed by as many dirty diapers, 45 minute feeding sessions and 2-3 hours of sleep at a stretch for mommy and daddy, there seems to be a lot going on. All joking aside, Syra's first week went by well enough. Her weight was down a bit more than it should have been, so the doctor advised us to supplement with formula.. now after a couple of days of milk (and a bit of formula), her weight is back on track. The extra milk also means that Syra's been sleeping longer, although we still have to feed her every 3 hours, so not a lot of sleep for us (especially mommy). When Syra is awake though, she's a lot more alert (she has really pretty eyes). Big sister Samarah has been absolutely fantastic. She loves her baby sister! There haven't been too many signs of jealousy, but lots and lots of pokes, taps, holds, hugs and kisses. She pendulums between intense...

Needless to say, it's been an interesting 48 hours. I'll have to blog about some of the details later, but I wanted to post the photos from Days 1 and 2. So enjoy! Photos from Syra's Days 1 and 2 P.S. Just a reminder that if you want to follow along with our blog updates, the easiest way be to subscribe to the mailing list. That way, any new posts will get delivered to you rather than having to come back to this site.

Quick update: Looks like both mommy and baby are cleared to be discharged from the hospital this morning! This is great news because we were told we might have to stay at least till tomorrow. We really miss Samarah and couldn't imagine being away from her any longer, and we're really looking forward to see how she interacts with Syra at home. I have a lot more pictures to post, but that will have to wait until after we get settled at home. Thank you to everyone for their well wishes! Syra is lucky to have so many caring people in her life.

Hi everyone. Kaniz, Samarah and I are proud to introduce our dear princess Syra Zeynab Rizvi. Syra was born today at 6:10am, weighing in at 6 lbs, 1 oz. Needless to say, she is simply adorable. Not much time to write out the details now (Syra is taking a nap), but enjoy some of these early photos from the delivery room. Syra - Day 1 (part 1)

A quick status update for anyone keeping track.. We moved into the labour & delivery room around 4:30 in the afternoon and there's been quite a bit of activity since. The membranes are broken, epidural has been administered and the oxytocin is flowing freely. All of this should speed things up, but as much as we were hoping to have a January 15th baby, +2 might wait till after midnight. So things are progressing smoothly. As expected, Kaniz has done very well - she definitely deserves a treat after! The staff here at the hospital has been wonderful - one of the reasons we came back to this place even though there are other hospitals closer to home. Aside from all the drama in our room, there's been a lot of activity outside as well. I certainly don't recall the blood curdling screaming in the delivery ward from last time. Definitely a few moms that opted against the epidural. This will be the last post before +2 makes her way out. Photos to follow soon after.

As the title suggests, we're at the hospital, basically waiting for 'things' to start happening. Looks like +2 is pretty comfortable where she is now! Kaniz is having minor contractions, but it won't be until her next exam until 3pm that the docs will try something more potent. The hospital stay has been pretty uneventful. We're in the exact same room as last time when Samarah was born, and aside from some new staff, not much else has changed here. So far, the hardest thing has been being away from our +1. Anyway, since we're pretty much sitting idle here, I thought I'd finally catch up on the pictures. The set below includes pictures from our hospital stay.. the next post with pictures should be ones of +2, so stay tuned. Photos from January (Part 1)

Hi everyone, Just a quick update - we are now at the hospital. Kaniz is scheduled to be induced this afternoon, so I think we'll have a +2 sighting within the next 24 hours. Stay tuned!

As Abbas and I sat with friends awaiting the countdown to 2010, we discussed the relevance of this decade in our lives....we met, I moved to Toronto, we got married, we bought our first house, we had our first child....that`s a lot to stuff into 10 years! But what an amazing 10 years it`s been. We`ve also managed to travel to Asia, Europe and the Middle East - (hopefully this continues once +2 is well settled into life :-) We`ve met wonderful people and established strong friendships with those whom Samarah and +2 will grow with and be influenced by. I certainly had my hesitation about leaving a comfortable, well rooted life in San Francisco, and moving to Toronto, but I can honestly say, it was the best decision I`ve ever made. I`ve learned to love this city, make it my home, and even miss it when we're away! Here's to the next 10 years! ( Enjoy the last pictures from 2009 )

First off, Happy New Year to everyone out there. We hope that you all had a restful holiday season, and managed to spend some well-deserved time with your friends and families. May the new year bring each of you much joy, health, peace and happiness. Speaking of peace, I keep hearing from friends that have 2 or more kids about how much crazier our life is about to get, but I'm not sure I'm buying it. I'll probably be eating my words in a month, and this sense of preparedness I have is likely the calm before a storm. In either case, Kaniz and I are both pretty excited and anxious to have +2 make her world debut! As you'd expect, the preparations are well under way for the arrival of +2. As you can imagine, Kaniz has been busy making lists of things we need to do before the baby gets here, which is great, because it helps her feel more in control and I get a kick out of crossing off 'to-do' items from the list (the trick is to put even minor things on the to-do li...