Kaniz & Abbas +2

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!