Kaniz & Abbas +2

Can you believe it? Our little girl is growing up, and before we know it, she's going to be crawling, walking, running, asking to take the car out, moving away for school, getting married, etc. etc. Ok, so maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but I just can't help myself! So lots of activity in the last few weeks - some highlights: We started solids! We ended up starting Samarah on solids a little earlier than six months, and she's already gotten through rice and barley and now on to butternut squash! As with everything else, Samarah is doing great! We took a couple of trips downtown - once for a walk around Yorkville and another time to see LeBron James (and also for some stargazing). Our friend Ateka (who's been super generous with giving us lots of clothes for Samarah) asked me to do a little photo shoot for her three kids.. so Samarah, Kaniz and I met them in Unionville and had a great afternoon. Samarah took her first trip to the zoo with Rayn, Diya and ...

Samarah is getting more and more fun everyday! It seems like she's learning to do something new every day. She's almost mastered the skill of sitting on her own (although she still hasn't figured out how to roll over just yet). This video is almost 4 minutes long, and for the first half, Samarah struggles to push herself away from the couch and then finally sits on her own. We're so proud of her!!

Just when I thought I was going to catch up with the pictures, I got lazy and missed a couple of weeks! I think maybe I need to streamline my workflow - as it is, the whole process goes a little something like this: I take (hundreds of) pictures, download them to my computer, select the ones worth keeping (and ones worth posting), add the oh-so-witty captions, publish the photos to the web and then write the actual post. The whole thing ends up taking longer than you'd think, which may explain why I'm posting so irregularly these days. Anyone have any brilliant ideas for me? Anyway, the last month has been quite busy, as you'll see from the pictures. Kaniz, Samarah and I had lots of fun going to different festivals across the city, entertaining friends and family, and we even made it out to the beach! Enjoy the pictures! More videos are on their way (.. and for those of you keeping count, the next post will be our 100th!) Pictures from Days 147-158

Here's another video that I had posted on YouTube a while back and never got around to adding to the blog. This is Samarah's 4-month visit to the doctor to get her shots on July 24:

I've been meaning to put some of these videos up for some time, but you know how it goes.. if it's not one distraction, it's another. Anyway, enjoy the videos! 1. [August 4] Here is Samarah meeting Adnaan. As you can see, Adnaan was quite smitten with Samarah (she has that effect on boys!).. 2. [August 2] Here is Samarah going to town on her fingers. For the last month or so, as she starts teething, her fingers are spending more and more time in her mouth: 3. [August 26] Samarah has definitely become aware of the video camera. As soon as she sees the red record light come on, she quiets down. I think I'm going to have to put some tape on the camera to block out the light, just so I can get some footage of her babbling away. The clip below shows her current favourite past-time: 4. [August 27] Another milestone - Samarah sitting up (almost) by herself. She's definitely better at it in the morning after a full night's rest, but even still, she does pretty well for ...

Samarah turns five months today - so Happy Birthday sweetie! It's hard to believe that it's only been five months since our little +1's been in our lives, and at the same time, it's hard to believe that five months have already gone by! Samarah has really grown into a healthy, happy, beautiful baby. Although Kaniz and I often forget how little she was at birth, we were recently reminded when Safiya brought over her baby doll wearing one of Samarah's preemie outfits! There's a picture of the doll in Samarah's car seat, and it's hard to believe that our little baby was so, well, little! As usual, Samarah has been quite active - going to parties, going swimming, going shopping, going to the library.. sometimes I feel that my infant daughter gets out more than I do (sadly enough, this might actually be true). I really have to hand it to Kaniz for putting in so much effort to keep Samarah stimulated (despite only getting a few hours a night of restful sleep)....

Although I've taken a lot of pictures of Samarah, we don't have many pictures of the three of us.. So with the goal of getting at least one good 'family photo,' Kaniz, Samarah and I headed down to Edwards Gardens in North York with my trusty Nikon D80 and a borrowed tripod courtesy of my brother Hussain. It seems that I'm falling further and further behind on the pictures - this particular set was taken on August 3rd, so I guess that means about 15 days behind. Overall, I think the pictures turned out well , especially the ones with Kaniz and Samarah. As always, enjoy the pictures ... and feel free to comment!!

You bet! I think my favourite part of the day these days is when Samarah and I share a few minutes of non-stop laughter.. it's priceless!

Samarah's 4 and a half months now...when I look at the pictures of her when she was first born I can't believe that she was that small...and that she's grown so fast. It's cliche but it's so true. Anyhow, we've been busy!! We started going to the Ontario Early Years Centres for babytime. It's great. Samarah is one of youngest babies but she's starting to get into it more now. She can hold on to toys or books, she is a pro at tummy time and she loves to laugh and giggle at the older babies. We're still going to the library twice a week as well and we made it to Masala Mehndi Masti at the CNE last weekend. I find that keeping busy with her, especially while the weather is nice out, keeps both of us happy and entertained. Enjoy the pics! Samarah Days 122-133

Before I even start with today's post, let me just acknowledge the fact that it's been a while since I posted.. and I really should do a better job with keeping this thing up-to-date. Also, I should have done this a while ago, but I added a little form to the sidebar where you can subscribe to this blog.. so rather than checking in occasionally (or several times a day as some of you claim to do), you'll get notified by e-mail when there is a new post. So subscribe away!! Ok - back to the real post. When Samarah was still a '+1', I decided that I wanted to invest in a digital camera rather than a video camera.. although once she was born, I felt like I couldn't adequately capture the entire experience of having her in our lives with still photographs. I started doing some research on HD cameras, and even tried out a couple, but found the process of editing or sharing the videos to be more time consuming than I would have liked. So no video camera for me (and Sama...

Ok, so you probably thought that Samarah didn't survive the ear piercing as we haven't posted in so long, but she did! Her ears are healing very nicely and she already got her first new pair of earrings. We can't put them in for another 5 weeks though. 2 weeks ago, we took Samarah downtown for a fun filled day in the sun. It's so hard to keep her shaded though (and no sunscreen for another 2 months). We met Lauranna at Saving Grace for a delicious breakfast (my new favorite spot) and then we walked around Trinity Bellwoods. We then headed down to the Harbourfront Centre with Pratiksha and Rahul for Samarah's first summer festival, Beats, Breaks and Culture. Half way through the break dancing competition, her and I left Daddy and went to browse through the clothing and jewelry stalls - man that girl loves to shop! The next weekend Maria came to visit us from NY and we went to Livia's baby shower. Abbas and I volunteered to help make the favours so we decided...

Last Friday, as we're heading to my parents' place, Kaniz announces that after the visit, we were going to a mall and getting Samarah's ears pierced.. although I wasn't sure about getting this done so soon, Kaniz persuaded me that now was the best time, before Samarah is really even aware of her ears.. so off we went to Claire's at Yorkdale Mall to get the ordeal over with. As usual, Kaniz was well prepared - she brought a numbing cream for Samarah's ears as well as some baby Tylenol. The plan was to give her some Tylenol a half hour before and numb her earlobes to ease the (eventual) pain. So far, so good. Except, as soon as we got in the store, Samarah must have felt something was up and started fussing and crying, which is quite unusual for her. We first tried to have Kaniz hold Samarah while her ears were being pierced, but Samarah kept moving too much, so I had to do it. Having to restrain my wailing baby while willingly letting someone hurt her was quite d...

The days are flying by.. so much so that we almost missed Samarah turning 100 days old! She passed that milestone on June 30th, and we didn't realize it until the day was nearly over.. so alas, no picture of our little cutie on her big day.  In our defense, we've been pretty active and Samarah has been learning new tricks almost every day, such as: Giggling fits! If you get her in the right mood, she can't stop laughing.. it really is the sweetest thing, and hearing her laughter cracks us up, which in turn makes Samarah laugh even more. Sitting up.. well, not quite on her own, but she can sit quite comfortably in her Bumbo chair (thanks Safiyya). Surfing on her tummy time board. We've been doing tummy time with her for a while now, but she hasn't had a lot of staying power until recently. As you'll see in the photos, she's gotten quite comfortable on her tummy. Soothing herself with her hands. She's been doing this for a while, but it's been very con...

Our first family roadtrip continued from Ottawa to Quebec City - a distance of about 450km (~300 miles). We decided to take the back-roads rather than the main highway, and while it took us a little longer to get to our destination, the drive was quite scenic (and fun!). As usual, Samarah was perfect! We stayed at the Chateau Frontenac for our first night in QC - I had earned a free night through the Fairmont loyalty program. While the historic hotel's decor and ambience isn't our style, it's hard to argue with free. Even our dinner was on the house, but the most memorable moment of the evening was probably when Samarah had a major diaper leak and we had to hose her off in the bathroom sink. For the next two nights, we checked into Hotel 71, another boutique hotel, located in QC's Old Port neighbourhood. We had a really nice room with modern, minimalist decor, 14' ceilings and a rain shower. Some other highlights of our stay in QC: Samarah rolling from her tummy to ...

One of my good friends from university tied the knot on Saturday, June 21st (congrats Namgyal & Jeff!) in Batawa, an interesting little town north of Trenton, about 2 hours from Toronto, so Kaniz, Samarah and I decided to turn our trip east into a week-long roadtrip. Packing for the trip was quite interesting. Since the stroller takes up most of the trunk space, we had to bring along a lot of small bags rather than 1 or 2 suitcases. In the end, we probably overpacked, but better than running out of diapers in the middle of the night, I suppose. After attending the reception, we drove straight to Ottawa and got to our hotel (Arc) around 12:30am. Samarah did very well in the first leg of our trip and our first night in the hotel which was encouraging for Kaniz and I. The Arc Hotel is a little boutique hotel in downtown Ottawa, and while it isn't necessarily baby-friendly (e.g. had to carry the stroller up several stairs to the lobby, the staff were very helpful and our rooms were...

Me, Mommy that is. Abbas has been working hard at keeping the blog up to date (even though we're behind) and I haven't posted in months! Months...I can't believe 3 have passed since Samarah's birth. It's just crazy how quickly time flies. I'm already thinking about the fact that I have to go back to work - and dreading it! Anyhow, let me fill you in on what I've /we've been up to. I discovered that the community centre across the street from our house has caregiver/baby classes as well as fitness classes. It's so convenient and it makes it alot easier to get motivated to exercise. Baby weight still present...we're working on it! So I've taken a muscle conditioning and pilates class. In a few weeks I start aerobics and yoga. Samarah has been busy too. We go to baby time at the North York Centre library which is really fun, even though she sometimes sleeps through the session. We're also taking a class put on by the public health nurses cal...

I guess it was bound to happen - my blog posts have started to slip. I was hoping to have an update posted every weekend, and I definitely missed my deadline this week! I've said this before, but I'll say it again - the days are flying by, and it's bathtime and bedtime for Samarah before I know it! Anyway, here are the pictures from days 65 - 78 (this brings us up to June 7) - I will try to write up some highlights later, but I better post the pictures before friends/family turn on me! Enjoy!

Now that Samarah has gotten her first set of shots, she is out and about town, hitting up all the hot parties!  Ok, so that may not be exactly true, but she did go to her first formal party (an engagement at Angus Glen golf club). Kaniz and I are getting a lot more comfortable taking Samarah out, whether it's for a stroller or sling ride in our neighbourhood or a dinner party downtown. So far she's handled all of it exceptionally well. I might be a little biased, but I think Kaniz and I have an angel for a daughter! Some highlights from the week (days 58-64): Meeting the Chagpars Dressing up as the third bear (see photo above) Getting more and more tummy time - she's almost ready to do the Superman flying pose Visiting with Noa and meeting Rayan Going to our pre-natal class reunion at our instructor's (Jaye's) house. Although a bunch of people ended up canceling, it was fun hanging out with Aaron and his parents. Meeting Aunty Shamshad and family from NY Attending a...

It looks like I'm a week or so behind in the pictures.. and even though Kaniz is the one that is supposed to be suffering from less than optimum memory, I can't seem to recall all the things we did during days 51-57.. good thing we've got lots of pictures as reminders! One notable thing during this time was our family trip to College St. (our old neighbourhood) for some dinner. Samarah, as expected, handled the outing exceptionally well. Aside from a feeding, she slept through most of it. Having seen plenty of toddlers have meltdowns at restaurants, I think Kaniz and I need to take advantage of this low-maintenance time as much as possible. Aside from that, we went out a bunch of times to visit with friends and family.. and we had a few guests drop by. Thanks to everyone for coming by, and bringing such wonderful gifts. Aside from diapers, we haven't really had to buy anything for Samarah! Here are the pictures - enjoy!

As usual, the last week just flew by. As I write this (12:11am), Samarah will be turning exactly 8 weeks old in 5 hours (adjusting for daylight savings). I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but I can't believe that time is flying by so fast! It may sound a little silly, but I really miss Samarah as a tiny 4.5 lb baby whose crying sounded just like the squeak of a mouse or a tea kettle about to start boiling. Despite the 'nostalgia', it is incredibly rewarding and humbling to see her get bigger and learn new things every day. This week's installment of photos are, in my opinion, pretty interesting.. we've got a few nice shots of Samarah's bathtime routine, which generally consists of bathing in a plastic bowl in the bathroom sink followed by a gentle massage with some lotion.. and since her head was shaved, we've also been putting some baby oil gel on her head. For Mother's Day, I have to admit that I wasn't able to think of anythi...