OUR First Summer

I have so much wanted a summer baby and then when I found out that I was due in July, I was so glad. Our LO being so small we could not do much during previous summer. So this year we were so determined to enjoy it fullest without missing a single opportunity in gorgeous weather. And it turned out to be the best summer so far. We realized how much we could enjoy those little outings when our daughter also had so much fun. I have tried to summerize all our outings in this post.

Parks

We love strolling around parks. It was good exercise for us, DD would sit quietly in a stroller and let us talk :). And we are blessed with several of them in our area.

Arora hills park

This is the park we visited the most. It is opened recently and very close to our place. Swings, slides, taking a walk and sometimes finishing her dinner in picnic area.

Adventure playground

The best park we have ever been to. They have everything for all age groups.

Waring Station

Been there only couple of times especially after grocery as it is just few minute from grocery store. Did not like it much though

Mosseum lot

It's part of adventure playground mainly for small babies. This is the very first park I took her. And she thoroughly enjoyed her first swing ride.

Ridge Road Park

Close to home and perfect for long walks

Black Hill Regional Park

We enjoyed long walks at lakeside in this park. They have playarea and quite many picnic shelters as well. They also offer boating.

Frederick

When we got tired of parks in our area we ventured in nearby towns. Playing and splashing in Baker Park followed by dinner in downtown make just the perfect evening.

Rockville

Heard about it online. It's bigger version of Arora Hills Park and with so many picnic areas and train ride. Train runs every half an hour and you feel as if you are passing through woods. Where kids can actually see deer.

Wheaton

Carousal and Train ride

Outdoor Restaurants

When we were tired of parks and wanted a break from routine, we would go to nearby restaurants mostly on weekdays to avoid crowd. We mostly chose restaurants with outdoor sitting if weather allowed. So she would enjoy surrounding and let us eat ;).

Panera Bread, Baja Fresh, Chipottle, CPK and Green Turtle became our favorites.

Then there were these special outings that required a bit of planning since I wouldn't dare to deviate from her nap and meal time.

Brookside Gardens

Located about 20 minute from our place in Wheaton, it offers several small gardens on various themes. They also have Live Butterfly Exhibit. We can stroll around easily for couple of hours.

Butler's Orchard

It's a farm that offers fresh fruits picking throughout summer. Try to reach as early as you can and it would be fun for all ages. Our LO loved the trailer ride.

National Harbor

You can spend almost an entire day at this place. Kids can play in sand and in carousal area. Then you can tale cruise and spend time at other side. Try to be there around 4th July and take a cruise in the night so you can also enjoy spectacular fireworks.

Rio

The most convenient and happening place. Enjoy train ride, boating, cinema and end your evening with fantastic dinner at one of the restaurants.

Great Falls Park

Perfect for one day picnic. Enjoy falls, take pictures, take a long walk or just have a bbq get together.

Water Parks

Montgomery County offers several water parks at reasonable rates. We have to ones in Germantown and Gaithersburg. They also come with mini golf. And when you do not have to drive that far, local community pool always helps.

Broom Bloom Dairy

Enjoy your hot evening with local homemade ice creams. They have a big sitting area in open where you can eat while kids enjoy playing.

Cherry Blossom

People come from all over USA to Washington DC to see the Pink Beauty. But it's not wise to travel with a baby. Alternatively, you can visit Kenwood. A posh suburb of MD offers the same beauty without hassle of commute, traffic and parking. You have ample of time to take photos without other people poking in the background.

Kite Festival

Indian Community along with National Museum hold Kite Flying Festival once a year in DC. Buy your kites and teach your kids how to fly. Have lunch at your favorite restaurants in downtown.

South Mountain Creamery

Plan a trip with friends so they can offer a guided tour. Kids would love to see sheep, dogs, goats and most importantly, cows. There are hundreds of  them and you get to see milking process as well. Enjoy their local cheese, ice cream and other farm products. However, they do not have picnic area, benches or sheltered area. So avoid when it is extremely hot.

And when rain or extreme hot weather limit your outings, there are always malls' play area and indoor train ride, Chuck E Cheese and Library.

Happy First Birthday

It's quite late to write about your first birthday when you are already 17 months old. There are several reasons: my laziness, difficulty in finding time to concentrate and more importantly me becoming emotionally overwhelmed thinking about this day.

This entire year has passed at the speed of light. I would not exaggerate if I say that this has been the most happening year of my life. Everyday was different with new learning and experiences. Even today I become numb when we pass by the hospital. I feel happy and sad at the same time. Happy because that's the place where the most beautiful thing of my life happened and sad because I shall never have the same time again.  We will not have anymore monthly celebrations. So no more new dresses and toys on 12th of every month ;)

You are no more a baby but a toddler. Now you sit in a big front-facing car seat. Which is a lot easier for both of us because you can see us so I can choose to sit in front with daddy.

Now you understand and have become so  much familiar with the parks. You just love to swing and slide on count of 3. We even took you to Chuck-E-Cheese. You had gala time during our first visit but then onward you start crying inconsolably as soon as we enter. Hopefully you will overcome this fear soon since we do not have many options during winter.

We did not celebrate your birthday but we followed all rituals except inviting guests. One week prior to birthday, we called a photographer and we had a photo session in our community garden. And she was able to get some darn amazing snaps of you (We have framed one of these snaps. The cost of frame was almost equal to your Birthday Dress) . We went to Macy's to buy your birthday dress. After browsing for about an hour we found what we were looking for. They were about to close and we rushed along with you in stroller towards check out counter. We were the last customers to exit the store/mall. I put matching nail polish on your toe nails and you loved staring at them. We bought balloons, candles, ribbons and other decoration supply (We kept this decoration for a month and while taking it out it struck me even harder that you were indeed a big girl). I baked the cake at home with my very own home made chocolate frosting. Daddy took a day off on your birthday and we went to Mandir. I cooked your favorite food (Idli-Sambhar). We had invited kaka-Kaki-Siya over the weekend and we all went to Rio. As always, you had fun watching the ducks and riding the train.

Now we are just waiting for you to start talking and walking!

Kyra - 10th Month

Dearest Kyra,

Oh my little love! You are growing too fast. It seems just like yesterday we held you for the first time. Each month you learn something new and however small it is, it just amazes us. Sometimes we do get frustrated and tired when you would not sleep/eat but mostly, we feel blessed to witness wonders of parenthood.

You started moving around. You were not crawling but by using an elbow and both the feet, you started reaching almost everywhere. You would not need somebody's presence to go inside a different room. You were able to entertain yourself. Bathroom, corner beside the bed, laundry room and pantry became your favorite areas. Just the noise of opening/closing door of these rooms was enough to draw your attention. Even though you could not see the source of noise, you could easily identify it. 

In between, you would lie on your side to take rest. This was just amazing. 

You would love seeing me cleaning the floors. Whenever you would see broom, you would just run to grab it.

Your cute smile became even cuter with two little lower teeth. Still we gave you 2nd stage/pureed food. You would simply throw up when we would give you textured food. But we started giving you Roti with Veggies and Rice with Dal instead of cereal.

You could very clearly speak 'mmmm', 'dddd', 'bbbbb', 'vvvvvvvv', 'nnnn' alphabets. In fact, when you were in a very good or bad mood, you would come to me saying 'mmmm'.

Your swing of moods became easier to identify. Or I should say you started communicated in a smarter way. Whenever you would be hungry or sleepy, you would find me and sit holding my feet. You loved our shoes/flip flops so we had to hide them from you.

We joined Germantown's Moms Club. There were about 35 stay home moms in this group. We went to their meeting/playdate couple of times. They were mostly Americans but you enjoyed company of other kids. And more importantly, you were started getting used to with new places and faces. I also grew more confident in our outings. I took you to the park for the first time. They had baby swings. I was scared whether or not I should put you there, but you thoroughly enjoyed it. 

We also went to restaurants, baby showers and birthday parties. If I could follow your feeding and nap time, you would be just fine. You loved going out so much that when you would wake up in the morning, you would sit near balcony door and bang your hands on it. So when weather was not favorable to step out, we started taking you the play area in nearby mall.

We went to New Jersey, your second trip. Be it rest area or Aayan's home, you were amazingly comfortable except 'drinking milk part'. Actually, you were more than comfortable that you bullied him in his own home. Although, you fell sick after returning home. Maybe it was restaurant food I had and you got stomach flu.

We put our big teddy on the floor. I would put you between its legs with toys around and you would not stop laughing. Another soft toy, which was a dog and we started calling it Tommy also became your best buddy.

We had a big collection of balls ranging in different sizes and colors. You learnt to throw and bang the ball on the floor. 

We bought hair pins in several styles and colors. You looked so pretty in that different hair do.

Your 10th month birthday coincided with Mother's Day, our very first :). We went to a mall and then to a restaurant. Unfortunately, you got cranky and we had to get the food packed and bring it home. Hopefully next mother's day has something better to offer :)

See ya next month!!

Kyra - 9th Month

Dear Kyra,

This entire month was all about new adventures. Be it with food or outing :). 

We introduced several new items in your diet like Crushed Poha mixed with Milk, Raab, Bhaidku etc. 

This entire month we took you out each and every single weekend. You attended Siya's birthday and also went to Kite Festival, yes, your very first trip to Washington DC. We also took you to see Cherry Blossom. We concluded that you loved going out. You behaved very nicely when outside but all problems started after reaching home. How much I love to go out with you, just the thought of it gives me chills :)

You started sleeping less and less day by day. I would not mind if you just play and entertain yourself. But soon you would get cranky and would not cooperate with our efforts to put you to sleep. You would reach at a point where you were severely sleepy and hungry and confused about what to do first. It became sort of a mission to handle you when we missed your feeding or sleeping schedule by several minutes.

You were sick for couple of days, down with cough and fever. For two days, we gave you Advil and that acted like energy booster! Normally, you would go to bed around 10 PM but after taking Advil, you were wide awake past midnight. We took you to the doctor and there you were just playing and smiling. Your weight was perfectly on track so doctor would not listen to me for complains regarding eating and sleeping!

We bought a new laptop toy for you which became your latest crush. We had bought it a while ago but were saving it for a rainy day. It plays Numbers, ABC and some other songs both in English and Spanish. But you would always select an option for Spanish and at the end of the days, our ears were ringing with 'Hola Hola'. Also, 'ABC' became your favorite song and whenever I would sing it to you, you would burst into laugh.

I had to take you to MVA office for my license renewal. Thought it was matter of just couple of hours at the most, I literally carried a bag with your food and toys. 

Warm weather allowed us to take you to the park on regular basis. Whenever daddy would be home early, we would go to play area in our community. You just loved seeing other kids playing.

You became more and more possessive about me and daddy. You would not let me talk to anybody over the phone unless phone is in your hand. Sometimes even daddy was not allowed to interrupt when I was singing to you or feeding you.

The two most important milestone of this month are 1) You would willingly sit. I would put  you on a soft surface with no clutter around so even if you fell, it wouldn't hurt you.  Slowly, I started giving you bath in sitting position 2) You started moving by jumping like a  frog. When you did so for the first time, I was able to capture it. Even after watching the video few times, I was not able to figure out how exactly you did it.

You have been growing very fast. Can't believe in another 3 months you would turn one!

See you next month!

Kyra - 8th Month

Dearest Kyra,

This month went by pretty fast. Everyday we learnt something new about your routine/behavior. And by the time our intelligence network analyzed and understood it, it already got changed :).

We celebrated our first Valentine's Day and Daddy's birthday with you. Arpit Kaka and Tulsi kaki visited from NJ and you had great time with your little buddy Aayan. Arpit Kaka showed some tips and tricks about our new SLR camera and daddy was able to take your best close-up photo so far.

You stopped sleeping through night. You would wake up more than 2-3 times with sudden discomfort and till date we have not been able to find the reason behind it. Sadly, you would not sleep through the day either and that would affect you eating pattern. Result? More incidents of me getting mad at you and more spit ups. 

You started making various sounds as if you were ready to talk but could not find words. You became expert at sounds like blowing candles, clicking tongue, Jaa Jaaa, Naaa naaa, Daaa Daaa, Ti Ti Taa Taa. And you loved clapping with daddy. We had several videos that we shared with both the families. And they were amazed to see how fast you were growing up.

You were already obsessed with phone. But now you started liking laptop and TV remote as well.

This entire month was all about experimenting with your food. Not only about introducing new food but also about steadily increasing the quantity. You loved solid food far more than milk.

We celebrated Women's Day with you. Daddy treated us at an Italian Restaurant. This turned out quite adventurous as I had to feed you there. Of course, I ended up singing 'Ek Biladi Jadi' and 'Mara Prabhu Ji Nana' :P

We took you to the Annual Cricket Party of Ferocious11, first of a kind for you. We all were in a formal black and white attire. We gave a trophy to daddy and we had our best family pic so far.

You had this toy where you would put colorful rings on a stick. You were far more interested in stick than the rings. You would use ring as 'Gada'. So daddy gave you this new name 'Chhota Bheem'. You would look at us when you hear 'Bheemu'. And then when daddy would say 'Shant Gadadhari Bheem, Shant', you would smile at him.

Kyra - 7th Month

Dear Kyra,

At beginning of new month, we hope for better sleeping and eating pattern. But you always seem to beat your own record :). You caught cold in the beginning and you would not sleep at night. Both daddy and I were miserable and tired. Yes, we do get tired, irritated and frustrated at times but that million dollar smile makes us forget everything.

We started using high chair (First plastic extension and then borrowed from Kaka-Kaki) for your lunch and dinner sessions. You were not very comfortable as there was not much room for movements. But you would get used to it. As you could sit upright there were decreased incidents of spit ups.

As much as you hated milk, you loved solid foods. I would give you rice cereal or oatmeal mixed with lentil water and oatmeal mixed with vegetable (Tomato, carrot, broccoli, Doodhi, Cauliflower, avocado, sweet potato) juice/pulp for lunch and dinner.

You loved shaking your head and moving rest of the body in rhythm. We used to call it 'Dola Dola Dance'. It would be very difficult to hold you in upright position.

As soon as you would see us after sometime, you would raise your hands and start kicking. You would want to touch our faces. Initially you would caress and then start slapping!!

Due to your vigorous movements it had become very difficult to dress you or change diaper. We had to keep you busy by talking and making funny faces. Also, as you started rolling over on both sides, we always had to keep an eye on you. 

We took you to the mall for shoe shopping, first time ever. Daddy and I have been here for nine and six years respectively and yet we never owned snow boots. Also none of use bought 3 pairs of shoes in single shopping trip!

Our reading sessions became frequent and regular. You would be more interested in sound made by pages than what I am talking! We bought a musical book for you with nursery rhymes that you would enjoy on your own.

You also got attached to colorful blocks. You would usually pick blue and orange color and start biting or licking.

We took you to a friend's place for Pongal Pooja. They also let you participate along with their son and you enjoyed it more than  he did. You kind of bullied him in his own house!

Once we took you to visit friends and relatives for an entire day. I was so worried that you would not eat/sleep. But thankfully you behaved like a very good girl :) How cute you looked in skirt and baby-legs.

And this is your 7th month birthday photo taken right after shower. You wanted to eat and sleep, but I insisted on photo first as I was worried that you might spoil your dress. Yes, we dressed you in denim first time ever. You were so angry during this photo session that we named you 'Maa Hunterwali' :)

Kyra - 6th Month

Dear Kyra,

What a horrific start of the new month! Mom had already warned me about this. She had said that છઠ્ઠો મહિનો means છટકેલ! And that's what happened. Not a day had gone by when you did not make fuss about food/sleep. And on top it, you had to spit at least once a day!

You started rolling over on your tummy and you loved it. Initially you had always preferred right side. But you started flipping over from left side only. This had become primary mode of ground transportation :)

You love sitting on daddy's shoulder. And we too love our sweet 'Gol-Matlu'!

You always seemed hungry and yet you would deny to milk. So I thought now time had come to offer you solid meal. After consulting doctor and my mom, I started giving rice cereal and Parle G Biscuit in milk. Once you grew comfortable, I offered fruits and vegetables juices as well. You loved fruits, vegetables and lentils in this order.

We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary with you. It was our first venture to take you to the restaurant. Both food and ambiance were horrible but you indeed enjoyed it as it was well lit and not at all crowded.

You celebrated your first Christmas. We took you to the park to see winter lights and you were just amazed. We also took you to different malls couple of times (malls which we never visited!). You loved these outings. We also started our little Christmas celebration. We bought some gifts for you and then had photo session for the same. We had white Christmas this year. Yes, you witnessed your first snow fall.

You love to see when we make funny faces. You also try to mimic our actions by blowing nose and sticking out your tongue.

You started recognizing your name very well. Whenever you hear Kyra, you would look in that direction and then smile.

You got your ears pierced and now you look very girly girly. My Little Beauty!

We had power outage for few hours and you enjoyed your first meal with help of torch.

I took you for 6th month physical examination and vaccination. Your weight was 16 lb and height was 26". Normally you would be cranky and fussy after vaccination. But his time it had opposite effect. That was the only day you were not cranky. You finished food within reasonable time and you slept well!