Laykha's 1st Birthday

Laykha's 1st Birthday
Originally uploaded by herbstsa.

On February 17th, we celebrated Laykha's 1st birthday! I really wanted to make her a special cake - my Mom always made us really special cakes on our birthday. Since we were having a jungle safari theme, I opted for this giraffe cake. Took me two hours to decorate - but it was great fun!

Where Have All the Goblins Gone?

Happy Halloween! This year was Laykha's first. Fun times! I debated about the whole costume thing - Laykha is only 9 months. Dressing her up as some adorable little creature would be great for all of us adults, but for her, it is probably more like some strange form of torture. But, I couldn't resist.

I found a cute little giraffe costume for a nice price on ebay and started putting the plans in motion. I wasn't planning on taking Laykha trick-or-treating. She's too young for the candy. I figured if we took her around, people would think we were just using our little one to score some goodies. Instead, Laykha could dress up and help pass out candy.

Unfortunately, Halloween just isn't what it used to be. At least not here. Talk about a Ghost town! Could it be that there are just no kids in the neighborhood? Seems that a condo complex would be a nice place to accumulate a lot of candy in a little area. Not so, though.

On our street, we were the only condo with our porch light on and a Pumpkin glowing. The only one! We finally gave up on having any trick-or-treaters come and decided to take Laykha out - we'd hit up a few homes just to give little Laykha a taste of Halloween. It was probably a good thing we did, because Laykha was the only trick-or-treater those homes had.

Halloween was a bit of a different story when I was younger. I remember there being so many kids out. While going from house to house, we'd have to wait at the end of the driveway for the group in front of us to get there candy and go. When Laykha is old enough to really enjoy Halloween, I hope it is as much fun for her as I remember.

Gearing Up for Pizza

When it comes to raising babies, seems there's no end to the number of different theories - good or bad - out there. I've found that starting a baby on solids is no exception. While surfing the web on all things baby one day, I came across this approach called "Baby-Led Weaning".

The idea with baby-led weaning is that you let your baby lead the weaning process (I know what your thinking - "well, duh"). Instead of subjecting your little one to an endless barrage of U.P.Os (Unidentified Pureed Objects), baby is given an assortment of different finger foods which s/he feeds to him/herself. Common sense, of course, is used to choose what foods to offer. Baby is probably not quite ready for raw veggies and tough, chewy steaks. But choices like a bagel with hummus (one of Laykha's favorites) and steamed broccoli spears are all fair game. Apparently, a study done on this method found that babies following baby-led weaning were already enjoying pizza and sandwiches by 8 months.

I was taken to the approach because it seems very respectful to baby and teaches independence. Laykha would be a partner in the feeding process. It also gives baby exposure to a lot of different, yummy foods. With a few exceptions here and there, she can pretty much eat whatever we are eating.

I decided to give it a go and have been having a lot of fun with it! We've been blessed with a little one who seems to love to eat anything (heh - a blessing now, but will it be a curse later?) This morning, Laykha sampled banana, steamed sweet potato, steamed carrots and cinnamon-oatmeal pancakes. She has also dined on broccoli spears, peaches, poha (flattened rice), acorn squash, corn bread, bagels and hummus, dumplings, olives and many other delicacies.

In the beginning, I was a bit paranoid when it came to letting Laykha feed herself. She alway seemed to end up with an enormous mouthful of food - I had a really hard time trusting that she could mush it all up on her own. Here we are, though, 6 weeks later, and she's doing just fine. We've had a few gags here and there, but no choking episodes just yet. Bring on the pizza!

Back from the Dead

Talk about a hiatus. It's been almost 2 months since I've posted an entry. Certainly not for lack of want, mind you. Guess it just hasn't been a high priority lately. Thought I'd post an entry even though most of my readers have probably left me for dead.

The past 6-7 weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. My head is still spinning. What started as our somewhat semi-annual trip back to the States has ended with plans to shift back here permanently. While Aakash will travel back and forth between here and India, Laykha and I will once again settle into life in the States.

For some reason, while visiting family, both Aakash and I were feeling a little more homesick than usual. We both agreed that, with this trip, it was going to be harder to go back to India - we both wanted to stay. Having a little one has changed our perspective on many things.

On the very day we were to head back to Bangalore, Aakash threw an idea out there. We would head back to Michigan, but instead of catching our connection on to India, we'd remain in the States. Aakash would travel back and forth regularly to work on the business, and I would find a job here in the States. It was crazy -no, make that insane - but I went for it.

So, here we are, some 4 weeks later, still in the States. It has been comforting, fun, crazy and stressful all at the same time. While I was hoping my company would let me remain with them after shifting back to the States, it's a "no go". Can't really blame them - they'd be getting the same employee at nearly 3 times the cost. That means I am once again in the job market. I really would love to take on the role of full-time stay at home Mommy, but we still need a source of stable income.

For the time being, we are staying with family and living out of suitcases. In anticipation of all of the goodies from the States I'd be lugging back to India, I brought the bare minimum of clothes. Thought I'd save the room for all of the "comforts of home" I'd be bringing back with me. Consequently, I've been wearing the same 3 pairs of pants for the past 2 months.

Staying with family has been wonderful but challenging. I am definitely one who needs to have my own space and likes to have my own things. No matter how many times I'm told "our home is your home", unless it truly is my home, I have a difficult time feeling "at home". I'm hoping that whatever job I end up with, it is enough to sustain a place here in the States as well as our place in Bangalore. Regardless, it sure is good to be back.

Happy Father's Day

Just a quick note to wish all of you Daddies out there a very Happy Father's Day! Laykha has been blessed with a really amazing "Papa". I am blessed as well because having such a great Father makes being a Mother that much easier. And, it inspires me to be the best Mom that I can be. It's funny - in just about every parenting book I've read (we've amassed quite the library), there is inevitably a section on how to get your husband to be more involved with the baby. That's one problem I won't ever have to worry about having. I just need to work on getting Aakash to understand a new Mother's crazy hormones.

I just read the other day that around 5 months, a baby develops a rather keen interest in her feet. Sure enough, just a few days after reading this tidbit, I watched Laykha amuse herself for quite a while over her feet. When I feed her, I really have to battle it out with Laykha's feet for her attention.

Give It To Me Straight

The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing

Aakash and I have been working on a much anticipated trip back to the States. It has been an amusing experience - traveling with a little baby definitely adds some interesting logistics to the planning. Our first order of business was to reserve a bassinet on the flights. While we've got a seat booked for Bebu, she doesn't take too kindly to her car seat and likely wouldn't be doing much sleeping in it.

After booking the tickets, we called up Northwest to request to have a bassinet reserved. The representative took little Bebu's vitals (height, weight, age) and told us to call back in 24 hours to check on the request. When Aakash called back the next day, he was told that we could have a bassinet on the leg between Amsterdam and Detroit, but on the KLM leg, no bassinets were available. No bassinet? Eek! Must be a lot of babies flying. We were told the only way we'd get a bassinet was if someone already requesting one were to cancel. Guess we'll really get to test Laykha's tolerance for the car seat.

A couple of days later, we decided we'd call KLM and check with them on the bassinet. You know what they say about the squeaky wheel. I called up a local agent and was told I would need to call the airport - that these requests can only be handled at the airport. So I called up a KLM representative at the airport. He did some checking, and said yes, we do have a bassinet reserved on the KLM flights. Go figure.

Skeptics that we sometimes are, Aakash made another call to KLM the next day. Turns out we didn't have a bassinet reserved - they couldn't process our request because they didn't have all of Laykha's vitals. Hmmmm. As they say here in India, Aakash "did the needful" and gave them Laykha's stats, so the request could be put through. As it stands now, we have a bassinet reserved on all flights. Think I'll believe it when I see it.

Updated Photos

In honor of Laykha turning 4 months (wow!!), I've posted some updated photos. See the Laykha at 4 Months album.