Wanderlust

Success...is when your son finally decides he'll fall asleep on your lap, during the plane ride, instead of having a HUGE screaming fit because he doesn't have his bed and isn't being cuddled to sleep! (This is also a fairly new development, where he feels comfortable enough to lay in my arms and rest/fall asleep with his head on my chest. I waited 9 whole months for this moment!!!) 

Success is also when you are given the opportunity to take the car seat on board, free of charge because attendants  are nice enough to offer! Alhamdulillah. 

Number of trips/plane rides so far: 6 

Michigan x 5. Florida x 1. 

And he's not even 1 yet. Can I go back in time and have this life? 

We are definitely trying to travel as much as we can before baby turns 2. 

Now what I really wanna know is who the heck came up with the idea that you should pay full air fare for a 2 year old?! 

9 months

(Today is June 10, 2015. This post was  originally written in November uhhh yeah I know that's 7 months ago and then re edited in January, I think...so I'm not even sure what date this will be under once I publish it. I never had the chance to complete it and it has just been sitting there, daunting me with the gray scaleness of the title. I figured I should just post it already, for memories sake :) ) 

On vacation currently and decided to write a little post! I have so many pending, just never get around to completing them. We are currently in Miami!! The weather is warm and I'm loooving it. 

Anyway this post is just a quick recap of his milestones and behaviors (that I can recall off the top of my head). 

Watching him grow up has been fun. Alhamdulillah he hasn't been a handful...yet. 

He's crawling all over the place now. 

He picks himself up to stand and often shimmies over while holding the sofa- bed-play pen. 

He tries to imitate our behaviors. He'll clap after we clap. He claps when we say "yay!" 

He shakes his head "no" along with us. 

He gets excited when he sees us eating our food and wants to join. 

He absolutely loves the Bengali lullaby, "Aye aye chad mama" as courtesy of his grandma. 

He also does this new thing where his eyes will lock on our lips and then he'll use his pincher grasp to pinch and pull on it. He'll then stick his fingers in our mouth. It's pretty painful but he finds that's hilarious, laughs and continues to pinch and pull. 

 

Solids

Transitioning into baby food was interesting. The first time we fed him food was in July I think. 

He was hungry for milk and very fussy. HORRIBLE TIMING! He didn't know what to do with the cereal and all he wanted was a bottle. Eventually I started with rice cereal and he loved it. Then it was time to try the "good" stuff. Bananas, apples, spinash, squash... "Real" people food.

I was excited! I bought lots and lots of veggies and fruits. I steamed them and then used my magic bullet (Thanks to the guest who gifted us that on our walima!) to purée. I froze them in ice trays and then transfered them into gallon size zip lock freezer bags. I opted for as many organic products that I could find.

I can't recall now at the top of my head which vegetable was first. 

(To be continued..)

Pumpkin Spice...everything

A couple of weekends ago was my first trip to an apple orchard, as was Noah' s (yay!).

The Orchard was in upstate NY and quite frankly, I was not interested in the 1.25 hour drive up on a Sunday morning. Tahmeed convinced me it was great, as he got the recommendation from his boss.

"Isn't there anything closer?!"

"Come onnnnn, it's top 10 on yelp!"

Alhamdulillah there was no traffic and the commute went by quick. It was a family (and friends) affair. The more the merrier! The trip, for me, was initially just a photo op (for the baby) but I ended up having a great time! Maybe it was because I didn't expect much. :)

The Orchard was huge. There were many activities and sights to see. A haunted house, a corn maze, petting zoo, family fun zone with tube slides, train rides and bouncy houses, a pumpkin patch, hay ride and of course, the apple orchard itself! The vegetable gardens were dead and barren but maybe we'll catch them next year.

I don't know how we lasted being outside for 5 hours because it was so cold! I was slightly under dressed but I made it through *insert flexed bicep emoticon*. Noah had fallen asleep about about an hour into the trip and slept like a baby the whole way through (pun intended). Before his nap, we got to snap a few pictures. He got to ride on a wagon (fully supervised and held by a family member of course), until staff informed us we were not allowed. Booo! He grabbed his first apple, albeit from the crate (picture below) and posed at the pumpkin patch! He was warmest out of all of us. I dressed him in a fuzzy onesie with a fuzzy white coat on top and then a fuzzy blanket on top of all that other fuzziness! And he was laying in his bassinet (vs the usual car seat). Seriously, that is the LIFE!

During the pumpkin patch shoot, I felt a little rushed and really didn't pick the perfect pumpkins or set the scene. They were dirty and old, lol. He was not interested in sitting on the ground near the pumpkins. He wanted to grab. He wanted to stand. Except he really doesn't know how to stand on his own. So we played a game; panicking mommy, with dad as the supervisor (I think we took turns too, can't remember) holding, releasing, and arms ready to grab at any moment. "Ok, ok, I think I got it...hold on hold on...wait wait wait, grab him, he's gonna fall!" all whilst trying to get the "perfect" shot. Yeah, didn't happen. It's okay though, babies are cute regardless!

Since we went very late into the season, we had to pick most apples from the ground, lol. It was a bit disappointing untillll my father in law found the perfect orchard. It was way past the pumpkin patch, past the slide and after an open empty patch of land. NO ONE WAS THERE AND APPLES WERE STILL ON THE TREE! We couldn't believe it. It was a beautiful sight! We picked apples and ate them. I can still taste the freshness! My in-laws even climbed the trees to get the apples at the top. Thank God no one else was around, we probably would have gotten kicked out, lol.

All the younguns ended the trip with a visit to the haunted house. I took Noah to the car instead to feed and change him and warm myself up as it got very chilly towards the end.

The only thing I didn't like about the orchard were the rest room facilities. Most hand washing stations were outside and there were many porter potties. I saw a baby changing station but it was literally attached on a wall outside of the restroom, in open space. There was no way I could have undressed him in the cold. So I didn't. Thankfully he didn't fuss. And thankfully my bladder was under control that day.

Anyway, here are a few pictures! None of Noah's face as I'm still debating whether I want his pictures up on a public platform. 

 Can't wait to do it again next year!

Impromptu

We decided last minute that we should go to Europe or Asia for the week we took off in November.

London? Spain? ITALY! Wait, no, Singapore! Australia? Maldives! Ahhh the possibilities. 

...and then we realized our baby does not have a passport and it's too much of a time crunch to get it expedited. Who knew both parents had to appear in person with baby in hand to get a passport made? NOT I!

Life would have been easier if these offices operated on weekends or after 5 pm. Oh NYC, how I hate despise thee.