Kaniz & Abbas +2

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...

As most of you probably know, I've done my share of work-related traveling over the last few years. Fortunately, as soon as Samarah was born, my work travel stopped (for a couple of reasons which I won't go into).  So the past 9 months have been great because I've been able to stay home and spend lots of time with Samarah. On the other hand, I'm running out of travel miles (no 'free' plane tickets) and losing my airline & hotel status (no airport lounge access, no room upgrades).. it's a small price to pay for what I get in return, but I think Kaniz secretly wants me to travel some more to keep the perks! Anyway, that is a long, roundabout way of telling you that I had to spend a whole week in California earlier this month without Samarah (& Kaniz). It was really tough being away from home, especially because Samarah decided to get the stomach flu midweek (soon followed by her mommy). Thank goodness for cellphones, e-mail, Skype & Blackberry Mess...

Samarah's been busy as ever.. and she keeps getting cuter and cuter (as you'll see in the pictures)! A few highlights from this set: Attending her first birthday party - her friend Justin turned 1. Samarah and Justin are going to be daycare buddies! Meeting Baby Emily - congrats Hiro & Inthida! She's gorgeous. Eating, eating and more eating.  Enjoy the pictures! And make sure to leave comments, so we know you want more pictures! ;)

Hello again faithful readers. Sorry to have kept you waiting for almost two weeks for new pictures! Samarah has had a busy few weeks with teething, crawling and standing seasons in full swing, not to mention a full social calendar. Unfortunately, I haven't been as diligent lately about bringing the camera along on our outings or taking pictures at home, so this latest set of pictures is fairly light. On another note, it turns out that between the California trip and Samarah's teething, the poor girl's schedule has become a complete mess. Before the trip, she was sleeping consistently for 10-12 hour stretches at night, which really spoiled Kaniz and I. Then, for the entire month of November, Samarah was up every 2-4 hours at night! To top things off, Samarah also got her first cold and even a bit of laryngitis. But before you start worrying, don't fret! Our little princess has recovered fully - she's over her cold, her voice sounds as sweet as ever and even her sleep...

Can you believe it's taken me three posts to get through our CA trip? So where was I...?  Yes, so after Hearst Castle, the plan was to spend the next night in Santa Barbara. After a relatively uneventful drive (except for lunch at a dumpy dive where we had a run-in with a crazy lady), we got to SB and checked into our hotel late afternoon. Santa Barbara seemed to be very much a college town, or at least that was the impression I got from walking the main shopping strip.  The next day, we continued our drive down Route 1, which had now turned into the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). The drive here wasn't as scenic as it was earlier in the trip - either that, or you just get spoiled looking at the ocean so much. We stopped for lunch in Malibu and then continued on to Santa Monica. Our plan was to have dinner in Santa Monica with a couple of dear friends, Preeti and Siva, who've recently made the move from NYC to LA. So, naturally, we went to another Mexican restaurant.. dinner w...

Kaniz and I have done the SF to LA roadtrip a few times, but we've always taken the inland route and never tried driving all the way down the coast.. so we figured it was about time. We decided to take our time driving down to LA, with an overnight stop in Cambria (a town near Hearst Castle ) and a night in Santa Barbara. We left Fremont a little later than we were hoping, and by the time we stopped for lunch in a little town called Pacific Grove (near Monterey/Carmel), it was already 2:30pm. The drive down the coast was postcard-perfect, but unfortunately it got dark midway and driving down a very dark, very curvy, very foggy, cliff-hugging road wasn't as much fun as I'd imagined. Mental note for next time - get on the road early! Hearst Castle the next day was great - most of the pictures from this set are from our tour of the castle grounds. Having learnt our lesson from the day before, we got on the road right away (pictures to follow)... in the meantime, here are the p...

I know I've got some more pictures from our California trip left to post, but I thought I'd share some exciting news with you... Samarah decided to wait till we got back from our trip to hit a few exciting milestones.. drum roll please! Watch where you put those fingers! Samarah sprouted two teeth overnight! Where'd mommy and daddy go? Samarah's starting to develop a little bit of separation anxiety, and even though it's hard to admit, she is showing a preference for her mommy. The other day she almost jumped from my arms to Kaniz's! I can't help but feel a little sad about this, although I'm told that I'll get over this quickly. Get me a GPS! Our little girl is on the move! She's figured out how to crawl (backwards).. plus she's rolling over and even somersaulting (kind of).. all this basically means that we can no longer leave Samarah unattended on our bed (or anywhere for that matter). We managed to capture the first few crawling attemp...

Can you believe it? Kaniz and I both had our reservations about the possibility of an Obama victory, but Samarah knew it all along (even when she was just a +1 back in February!). Let's just hope that Barack is able to deliver on his message of change and hope - America (and the world) needs it. Congrats to everyone who voted!

Did we ever mention how much we enjoy visiting California? Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, so Kaniz, Samarah and I are headed back to Toronto on an early flight tomorrow morning. As expected, Samarah did really well the entire trip. She was perfect on the plane, perfect in the car on our drive down the coast and adjusted to the time difference right away. We landed at SFO last Saturday and after a 90-minute wait at the car rental place, we headed down to Fremont, where my cousin Ambreen had graciously offered up her place for us to stay. The next day, we went over to San Jose to visit my friend John Nack, his wife Margot and their adorable son Finn (who's two weeks older than Samarah). Even though we've been keeping up to date with Finn's antics through his blog , it was so much fun to meet him in person. John & Margot have a fabulous home (which Kaniz is still talking about), fully appointed with every toy Samarah would want, and to top it off, Marg...

Kaniz, Samarah and I are in Irvine, CA for Halloween, visiting Sarah & Kabir. We just came back from Samarah's first 'Trick or Treat' outing, which was a great success. We had brought along a cow costume for Samarah but it ended up too hot outside, so we opted to dress her up in her swimsuit (yes, a swimsuit on Halloween - life's tough in Orange County).  The pictures from tonight aren't quite ready yet, but I'm posting some from the last couple of weeks (before we left on our vacation). Some highlights: We hosted a baby shower for our dear friends Inthida & Hiro (and Baby Sasaki).. and we got to meet Baby Jayden! Our annual Thanksgiving dinner at Atul & Sonal's place. Unfortunately, Rahul had to be in India for work, so we had to make do without him (the evening wasn't quite the same). Thanksgiving dinner #2 at Kaniz's mom & dad's place. Yummy Thanksgiving samosas! Now that fall is in full swing (and then some), we went out on a ...

This isn't really a strictly baby-related post, but Samarah, Kaniz and I went to the Chinese Lantern Festival a couple of weekends ago (thanks for the invite Javed & Nishat!).. the installations were very impressive, and to top it off, we had perfect weather. All in all, a fantastic evening.. enjoy the pictures!