Tanush's first month birthday

We celebrated Tanush's first month birthday on 21st Sept. I was so excited to bake a cake for him. Usually Megha helps me with baking but that day she way away (for gymnastics) and in all the rush, I missed adding butter to the batter until after the batter went into the oven. Oh well, sometimes its the thought that counts right?

Here is Megha helping blow the candle...

Here is the one month birthday boy. How fast time flew by. If you take one night at a time, it feels longer but overall, time did fly by. He is starting to look more and more like Anand.

On a side note, I thought I could resume watching my favorite shows on TV/ Netflix but it doesnt seem like thats gonna happen anytime soon. I guess its too soon to expect to be able to watch shows!

Vinayagar Chaturthi 17th sept 2015

One of my favorite festivals when i was a child (and even today) is Vinayagar Chaturthi. I am the happiest mom on earth when I got to celebrate it with Megha and Tanush (and of course Anand and my parents).
Here are the happy kids:

Here is our Puja table which we managed to put together. We also out some of Megha's books and one soft book from Tanush near the puja table.

We made kozukattai, sweet pongal, sundal, lemon rice and a few other things for lunch. Megha dressed in her new outfit and so did Tanush. He didnt particularly like being in fancy cloths and soon I had to take him out of those cloths.

3D Painting by Megha

When the below craft/ painting was being made, I was asking Megha her suggestions about what she wanted in her painting. She was too tired (from school) to do anything on her own other than gluing paper and she kept telling me, "you do it momma, I will watch". 

So, I started it by asking what she wants on the paper and she came up with mountains, sun, clouds, pond, frog and the tree. 

I cut the mountain out of the previously made/ dried painting from Megha's craft box, Cut the sun and cloud from the foam shapes, and made a small pond. When it came to a tree, we needed brown foam for the tree trunk which we didnt have. I was wondering what to do and she came up with a brilliant idea that we can re-purpose the small cardboard (previously a puppet) and stick it upright!! What an amazing idea! I could not have thought of a better idea myself. Way to go girl.... The power of leaving things open ended brings out the best in Megha (and so does in every kid).

Anand helped with the frog. 

The awesome 3D painting is now ready. She glued things on the paper. 

Walking with Tanush

Tanush, not unlike Megha, seems to enjoy walking. We started going for our walks a few days a week, trying to make the best out of the last bits of summer. He does not like it when i stop the stroller even for a few seconds. The kid needs to be on the go all the time, if he is in his car seat.

Love this picture! He slowly started focusing on faces, voices and anything bright and close. He also started grabbing on to my finger tight. He still likes to sleep on his belly but loves best when someone holds him tight when he is sleeping (who can blame him for that).

My poor baby got sick last week though. Megha caught something from school and was down with fever and cold. Promptly, Tanush also got it. Thats when we made our very first trip to the ER (19th Sept) as we were quite nervous about cold in infant Tanush. Luckily nothing was the matter. We just needed to start using the nasal aspirator to relive some mucus. He is a lot better now. 

First Rakhi with Megha and Tanush

Tanush's birth happened right before the festival season began. Here are some of the pictures from the Rakhi festival that happened on August 29th, 2015.

 Tying the Rakhi on her brothers hand...

And finally, the most awaited moment (for Megha), her gift from her brother! A live looking dinosaur! Roooar!

We also sent a cute little Rakhi to Jayeesh. 

Megha's first day at JK!

Where did all the time go? Seriously?! She is already in JK! Here she is at the entrance of her school on the first day of kindergarten.

My eyes welled up and I was going through so many emotions only I know!

Soon after getting into the car, Anand started talking about something else altogether and I think I kind of got distracted from my blues.
Here she is sitting after praying on the first day:

Under the same circumstances, on the first day of Daycare sooo long ago.

How quickly they grow up!

Tanush is just 3 days short of being a one month old baby. Unbelievable how quickly he grew up. The  newborn cloths which used to loosely hang on him now fit on him right. I am hanging on to everything precious. And literally everything about him is precious.

A public nurse came to visit me today as part of the routine visits. She went through a whole lot things like post partum depression, baby blues etc. then finally she asked me what makes me happy as a mom to Tanush. I went on to say so much...finally she told me, the moment I started talking about him, I started smiling. I didn't even realize it myself :)

His cheeks are slowly filling in, God bless! How lucky am I to be his mom! 

My smart Boy and my smart baby girl

Its been exactly 2 weeks since we had our Tanush. If I take one day at a time, I feel like I am still recovering from a major surgery. If I look at the over all picture, its hard to know that its been 2 weeks!

I call him Tanuboo, just like I call Megha, Meghaboo.

Tanu is feeding well and is sleeping a lot better than the initial few days; as better as you can expect a 2 week old to sleep. After I feed him, I burp him and since yesterday, I lay him down when he is still awake. He kicks his legs, passes gas, fusses a little but eventually (with in 5 mins) falls asleep. EDIT: I spoke and jinxed this!!!

Some of the sleepers/onesies he wears are from Megha's time. Its unbelievable how quickly she grew up!

Sleep issues

Tanush has not been sleeping well at all. If I have to mention one downside to exclusively breastfeeding, I would say that someone else not able to feed the baby so that I can get some much needed sleep. He is 3 weeks now and I am yet to sleep for longer than a max of 2 hours in one stretch in the past 3 weeks.

Tonight, actually I must say morning, it's almost 1 AM. I had been trying to get him to sleep for longer than 4 hours with no luck. He wants to feed all the time and doesn't want to sleep. This has been happening since a few days and I am beyond exhausted.

In the evenings, as much as I would like to, he doesn't stay awake. On top of that, we have people around who love to hold him snug (I don't blame them). So come night, he is too rested to settle down.

Sometimes I feel a little resentment towards everyone who is able to sleep through the night and during afternoon while I seem to struggle even to get 60-90 min sleep. No fault of anyone. It's just the sleep deprived, tired mommy talking. 

Valaikappu for Baby Reddiar

Like last time, this time also I had 3 parties generously hosted by colleagues at work, friends and by Anand. Had fun in all these parties. The most special was at home hosted by Anand as he has prepared all (well, most) of the food items and planned everything.

Usually for the second baby we dont have Seemantham. But we do celebrate Valaikappu. My parents were here like last time. Here is last years celebration: http://aboutyouwithyou.blogspot.ca/2011/09/seemantham-and-valaikappu-31aug2011.html

Unlike last time, we woke up fairly; I at 5:30, mom around 6:30 and Anand around 4 AM. By then Anand started cooking and was already mid way through. I started helping clean up, make coffee and do small things around. Majority of the cooking was taken over by Anand.

Here is the Puja table that we set up.

one more:

We had quite a few guests and I am glad to note that everyone whom we invited showed up.

Anand and I...

With mom and Dad

Blessings time for the little bun.

Everyone loved the food, i cant blame them. It really was yum.
We also had a little get together from the girls from my college days. 

Our Baby is home!

Our little bundle is home! Hard to believe that its already been 12 full days since he was born. I will have to write a birth story yet for him.

He is such a joy. Baby and I are well on our way to getting used to each other. As of now he feeds every 2 hours during the daytime and every 2 and half to 3 hours during the nights. When i started writing this post, I had so much to tell. Now I dont know where to begin. My heart is so full with love for him.

Here he is resting with his dad.