Syona Quick Hands

Syona is like a magician when it comes to taking your glasses away from your face. Come say hello with your eyewear and be prepared to get them stolen from you when you least expect it.

See what happens to Ba!

This doesn't just apply to eyeglasses. After work, I often come home with my bluetooth in my ear...those don't stay in there very long. Nowadays, she sometimes just checks my ear to make sure the blinking light isn't there to play with. See how mischevious she is?

Elephant

Little one is quite the little rascal now these days. We haven't had a lot of time to update the posts because we've been busy running after her :) Syona is really good at crawling now, and standing up and down and up and down and up and down. She even takes a few small steps while she is holding the side of the couch. Syona's words now consist of muma, dada bao bao (dad hold syona), mum mum, turtle (we think), ta ta (bye bye), fffff (for fan), and probably some more we are forgetting.

But our favorite all time Syona trick is when she sees her stuffed animal elephant we say, "Syona, what does the elephant say?" and she sticks her hand up and says hm!M!M!M!

Our nanny Lien has been working out wonderfully. She is so wonderful with Syona and we are truly blessed to have her in our lives. She takes such great care of all three of us and keeps us going through the night.

Sejal Masi, Mom and I initiated Syona with her first black friday shopping event! We went to Valley Fair mall where we shopped up a storm!

We also celebrated Karina's 1st birthday where we put Syona in her first Indian outfit! She looked like an indian baby diva!

Syona had her first putting up the xmas tree experience. She had a good time rolling around in the golden and red ribbons while we unwrapped each ornament and placed it on the tree with her. She can point to the star at the top of the tree and the butterfly oranament and reindeer ornaments! It was really fun putting up the tree with her and Paul and I am so glad to have experienced that with my family! Here is a pic of Syona's aunties and uncles that have come over during these holidays!

Trick o Treat

It was recently Syona's first Halloween, and to celebrate her dada and I took our little pumpkin trick o treating. She was super cutie bundled up in her pumpkin suit and it was really fun taking her to all the houses. Some of the houses would hold the candy out for her to take and she would sift around the dish and then get kind of shy and cuddle her head in my neck. Super cute. It was fun for Paul and I to eat the halloween candy along the way. Then for a surprise, we decided to take our little pumpkin home to surprise our parents. My mom and dad weren't home, so then we took Syona to Paul's mom's house. After surprising nai nai with her sweet little pumpkin grand baby, we called my parents and told them to come home so we could bring Syona over. My parents had stopped my sees candies and bought Syona some Halloween lollipops and pumpkin chocolate. We all took turns feeding her first taste of candy- vanilla pop. She loved it and her little mouth got so sweet and sticky, I kept kissing all the candy goodness off. It was a really fun night.

SC Phone Home

Syona is learning and it is starting to show up in her every day behavior.

A few example :

1. Nanny number 3 (we are on our fourth and best one now) noticed that she was able to make the milk sign. The interesting thing is that the nanny didn't even know the milk sign- she just found out that Syona was making an open/close hand while she was crying before her afternoon nap. It wasn't until she gave her bottle that she went to sleep. I can't wait till she makes the poop and diaper change sign...

2. Dadu grandpa recently taught her to make the "Phone" sign, where she puts her hand on ear. Whenever we sing the 5 little monkey jumping on the bed book, she would anticipate the "Mama calls the doctor - Hallo?" line.

3. Syona doesn't just communicate with sign, she is showing her understanding of words. Seems like she said Light, and sometimes she seems to say "Ba Ba pao pao"

Just a few examples to share about her communication skills. Outside of that, she is also starting to get into the TV cupboards since she can crawl and is super curious. Starting to stand up now.

Run like a girl

Two saturdays ago, Paul, Sejal and I participated in the Nike Women's half marathon. We all ran like a girl, to say the least :) Sejal and I did the half marathon and Paul completed the full, quite an accomplishment! We all went to the Nike Expo in Union Square on Saturday, collected our bibs and found our name on the Nike wall. After a carb overload dinner at Pasta P's in the city, we headed back to Bij's place where my parents, Syona and Sej and I all stayed over. What a busy apartment! We awoke the next day at 5:15 AM, got our gear on and our game face on, had some breakfast and headed over to meet up with Kendra, Carolyn and the rest of the gang. Union Square was flooded with runners that Sunday morning, it was pretty cool to be part of something so big. The 13.1 miles went on and on and on, and in some cases up and up and up. The mile 4 mark was eventful because we saw our whole family there cheering us on, including Syona who was apparently clapping her hands for all the runners. I'm happy to say that I ran the whole thing. My time was 30 minutes slower than the half I ran in DC before I was pregnant but I was just happy I finished. And of course it was nice being greeted by the fireman in tuxedos handing us our run like a girl necklace. I'd love to run this race with Syona one day.

Pumpkin Patch

Today is Paul's dad's 3rd year anniversary since his passing. We drove up to Half Moon Bay Memorial Home to pay respects to his dad. It was nice to take Syona there and tell her about dia dia, her grandfather. Later, we went to lunch at dim sum. Then, Paul's mom, Syona, Paul and I went to a half moon bay pumpkin patch! (Jackie and Dwayne went to go watch the last day of the President's cup where we had spent the day before). I remembered to bring Syona's pumpkin halloween costume (the costume I always knew I would dress Syona in before she was even conceived). It was sooo super fun taking pictures of her amongst all the other pumpkins. Syona had fun reaching for the straw and getting used to all the different textures. She even rode with muma on a small choo choo train ride. I can't wait for Halloween to come to put her in her pumpkin costume again.

Working 9 to 5

Back to work at eBay! It's been nice being back with my same team. I have to say, I am happy I was able to spend 8 months with Syona getting adjusted with motherhood before making the leap back to work. I am currently working 21 hours a week which has been a nice balance so far. The best part is coming home to a happy and well fed and bathed Syona with dinner ready. Paul and I have been taking after work walks with Syona since there are no real tasks left to do when we get home from work. It's nice having laundry done and put away too! It's nice waking up and getting ready in the morning for work. And of course its wonderful to come home and have Syona super happy and excited to see me. Miss that little one! But happy to be back at work, having lunch with friends, and just feeling life is at a more normal, familiar, state.

Nanny Times

After several interview we found a nanny we absolutely love. Her name is Maria Elena and she is a very friendly, sweet, wonderful with Syona! She speaks several languages and cooks yummy food. Today she even brought the guitar and played songs for Syona that sounded so pretty. Last week I trained her for 4 days. I went through my process docs with her and showed her the ropes, how to feed Syona, where her toys are, diaper changes, napping schedule, walking schedule, etc. I also pumped and had the nanny give her a bottle through the day to get her used to taking a bottle. The nanny is a single mom and has a 6 year old daughter, Mariella, who is very shy and sweet as well. The nanny told us Mariella is excited because she has a new little sister (syona). Sooo cute! After school Mariella comes to our house and hangs out and plays with Syona. With work coming up, I was so happy to have found a nanny we feel comfortable with. We have a few kinks to work out, like finding someone to pick up Mariella from school, but other than that things are going very well!

Syona and Amaya

Last weekend we went on a picnic with Jason and Deanna from way back in HS! Deanna and I had bumped our bumps into each other at prenatal yoga and got our girl's together for some parent and kid time fun at a local campbell park :) Amaya, the cute one on the left, is 9 months, 2 months older than Syona. It was fun watching the girl's interact! Syona is just getting to that playful age.

Muma

Here are some recent videos of Syona. She has learned some new tricks! She can clap her hands, give a high 5, give a kiss, feed muma with her spoon and has been saying her first word for the last 3 weeks or so which is my favorite, muma :) Muma she only says when she needs me, when she is hungry or tired or wants to be moved but it's super sweet still. Other Syona news, she is rolling all over the place now, can't leave her alone for a second. She is pretty strong and can grab books out of her book basket with one hand and bring them around and then go for the next one. Suffice to say, end of day clean-up is quite a task. We are feeding her breakfast, lunch and dinner solids now, which include avocado, mango, carrots, nectarines, pears, asparagus, green beans and lots of different grains. I will be going back to work in the beginning of October part time, so our nanny is starting next week. I have been getting the house organized to make it as easy as possible for the nanny to find syona's things and take care of her. On my list of to-do's is to make the nanny some process docs. I can't help myself :)

Pony Tail!

Look who's hair is growing  :) Syona with Masi and Ba

Big Girl!

Syona holding her bottle

Aloha!

We had quite an eventful last few days! It has been a nice excursion from the real world.  Syona was surprisingly really good on the plane ride to Kuaui, another mom even stoppped by to tell us she was the star of the show! We have a small fridge in the hotel and have been refrigerating her some gerber baby food, applesauce and sweet potatoes and feeding her breastmilk and rice cereal and oatmeal as well. This week she tried bananas for the first time too and really liked them! Going to the beach was quite an event! It took forever to get her dressed in her wetsuit, with sunblock, her swimshoes on, her sunglasses and sunhat, and when we got to the sand Paul took about an hour to set up the beach tent haha. Once we were all settled we took Syona to the ocean and had her play with the sand. She kept trying to eat the sand so we had to watch real close. She was wary about the waves, but once we took her to a kiddie pond she was much happier swimming there as it resembled a pool and was nice and warm. Last night we went to a Luau at the hotel and got Syona dressed up for the occasion in her first luau outfit, thanks to uncle alok and auntie thoral. Syona received many compliments on her ensemble! The pool has been really fun here too. We have Syona in her own floaty floating around the pool, she loves it!

 If I never took her out of the water, she would stay in it all day. Unfortunately, Syona caught a small cold last night, so we're having a relaxing day to rejuvenate, nap, play and read with Syona.

Syona Lei'ed in Kuaui

It's been a couple of days in and just hard to justify getting on the net. That said, wanted to get a couple of pictures up for those interested in catching a few glimpse of Syona and her adventures on the Garden Island of Kuaui.

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Above at the top of the Waimea canyon (Grand canyon of Hawaii)

Above at the Sheraton resort (near Poipu Beach)

Syona the Queen

It was a friday afternoon at the Santana Row (SR) park and a day off for Mama and Dada; but we all know who really runs the show... Syona starring as the queen of the board (she's taller than the king, just like in chess pieces) and threatening to start a chess game with a worthy opponent.

Instead of the match, we settled at the SR benches, where chubby Turkish girl was playing nice and making friends with Syona.

Syona Dunking!

Here is a video of Syona swimming! Thanks Lauren for showing us how to edit the movie!

Syona Eats!

Lately we have been feeling bad eating in front of Syona because she gives us her cute blank stare with big bunches of drool dripping from her face as she watches us take each bite. Sure, we have given her a couple tastes of frozen yogurt and icecream because she so badly wanted a lick here and there, but this was her official first food! Two Sundays ago, JP and I mixed 2 small teaspoons of rice cereal with a little bit of expressed breast milk and put it in a small bowl. My dad was over and he sat Syona in her little chair. It was very fun giving her first food! She gobbled it all up and wanted more! I breastfed her a little before and then after as well. It was super fun and spontaneous when we decided to feed her. We had fun taking lots of pictures and movies. I fed her the next day as well, but then noticed a rash so decided to hold off. Our doctor and Rupal both think the rash was probably more related to a heat rash, so we tried not to bundle her up too much a nites and the rash has subsided now. She is now back on a rice cereal food schedule.

Syona's First & Second Swim Lesson

Syona and I enrolled in a Mommy and Me swim class at the AVAC swim school. This was my 30th birthday present from dada and I couldn't have asked for anything more than swimming with my little fishy. Dada accompanied us to this first class. After changing Syona into her certified swim diaper and baby gap swimsuit, we waited in the viewing area for them to call her name. The pool was heated at a lovely 87 degrees F, perfect. After sitting Syona on the side ofthe pool and sliding in and saying, "Ready Syona" and bringing her in after me, we sang a welcome song to welcome each of the 4 kids in the class. We sang, "Who's in the pool? Syona is in the pool" as we swayed our babies side to side. Soo fuun. We learned and practiced kicking and back floating. At one point in the class, the teacher exclaimed, "Good kickers Syona!" Mama was so proud! Haha. Syona was really enjoying the backfloating also and was so comfortable she was even reaching to find her toes on top of the water, hahahaha. During her second swim lesson, Syona learned to dunk her head underwater and also practiced "Big Arms" which are the arm strokes. After class, we put on Syona's Nike Women's pink swim robe like a true athlete and she fell asleep on the way home!

Syona the Weekend Warrior

Syona had a busy weekend this week again. Starting on Friday night where we made it out to the SF marina to enjoy a night on the town. The Japanese place that we settled on had good food, but the venue was so small that there was no place to put Syona's stroller except in the front. Consequently, we couldn't eat with syona sitting down, which was fine since syona wasn't going to sit anymore than the hour + car ride. Instead she wanted us to take her outside and play, which we figured out when she was giggling after lifting her up and down in the air. We had fun taking turns switching off eating and playing with Syona outside. This was when a nice lady offered to "take her turn" and hold Syona. Shilpa and I ate together for a minute that night before taking Syona back. After getting our meal paid for (thanks for looking so cute syona), we had tutti melon and retired at our nice getaway apt ( courtesy of Bijel). The next morning, Auntie Jackie and Dwayne headed over to take care of her while mama, & dada went to train with the Nike women's group. Syona was good girl as she played with her morning sitter's. After the 4 and 14 mile run from the parents in respective order, we all went to squat and gobble. By that time syona got tired and slept for a while as we got our stuff together and headed to uncle Eddie's house. She woke up just in time for her feeding and swimming at the koo's. By the time the family headed home, we were all so poop'ed that the next morning we all slept in until past 11 ( minus the customary 1 hour feeding/morning play time at 6). After that we went to check in on cousin Chloe's broken arm. She seemed to be in good spirits and her pink cast got a couple more signatures. :) we then went to Carolyn's where we enjoyed another round of swimming and good food. This is the story of syona's busy weekend, she was a total trooper... That's why she's the weekend warrior.

30 and Fabulous!

I recently celebrated my 30th birthday and it was wonderful to say the least. We kicked it off with a family lunch at an old time fave restaurant Pedro's in Los Gatos a few days before my actual birthday. It was fun being there with my mom, dad, Paul, Syona, Paul's mom, Jackie and Dwayne. My mom walked around the restaurant with Syona and brought her back a red balloon. After lunch we walked around Los Gatos for a bit and then came home. At night we celebrated with a cake which Syona kept trying to touch and accidentally stepped in right after I blew out my candle. I then took her hand and smashed it into the cake and had her feed me and later my mom and dad too. We then took her foot and kicked it in the cake and had her feed Paul, it was soooooo fuuun. The day before my actual birthday we drove up to San Francisco to stay the night at Bij's new luxury pad. It was the perfect mini vacation! We had breakfast at Squat and Gobble, bought Syona a new sun hat and some peter rabbit books, and then went back to the apartment and rested a bit with Syona. After taking

turns taking naps, we gave Syona a bath and went out to dinner to Barney's in the marina. It was the perfect place for us since it was family oriented. Syona didn't want to sleep that evening, it seemed she wanted to party for muma's birthday. After dinner I had Syona in my moby wrap and went to Tutti Melon's for gelato. She was all bundled up in her snow hat since it was cold and there was no one more I wanted to cuddle with as we strolled along the city. She went to bed around 10:30 that night and slept through the night. After Paul and I almost drowned in Bij's shower (they need a new shower head) we went to bed. The next morning we went to breakfast at the Grove which was super fun and talked to another Dad who was out with his little boy. We then drove back home, wished  a good trip to my mom before she headed off to India and then made our way to the AVAC pool to take Syona swimming for the first time. I couldn't have had a better birthday! Just as I had expected (and as I did when I was little), Syona LOVED the pool. I was worried the water may be too cold for her but she didn't even flinch. She loved wading through it with us and splashing up and down in the water. I have never seen her laugh as much as she did this day! It was sooo fun holding her in the water and trying to get her to float. She had sooo much trust in us and she was not scared at all. At one point, when we took her out, she squirmed in Paul's hands until we brought her back in. That's muma's little fish! For my birthday, Paul has got me mom and baby swimming lessons with Syona and I am excited to start that next week!

Syona fell asleep on the way home, she was sooo tired after a day of splashing. We gave her a bath and put her to bed very quickly. We then ordered a pizza and watched entourage at night. Paul had also gone to the store and brought back some salad, roses and a cupcake which was very sweet. It was such a wonderful day. Check out the video:

Grandparents are fuuun!

Syona is very blessed to have 3 loving and dear grandparents in her life. She loves playing and seeing people, and I can tell will especially be close to all her grandparents. The past mother's day and father's day weekends have been especially wonderful to spend together. You can count on her dadu to always be ready to play and wake up her if he can sneak into her room when she is sleeping. 

She loves seeing her ba and always gives her big smiles and sometimes even a small giggle. Most recently, she gracefully took a bottle from her Nai Nai. Her grandfather on her dad's side is no longer here, but we know, in some way, she is close to him too.

Father's Day

For the first Father’s day weekend with Syona, I unfortunately started off with a nasty stomach flu. I spent the better part of Saturday, sleeping, replenishing fluids, and moping in front of the TV. Good thing Shilpa got some help from Dadu and Ba that day on their way back from Vegas. After a whole day of resting, and sleeping in late into the next morning, I woke up without the nasty fever and stomach aches so that I was finally able to play with Syona. Shilpa picked out the fitting outfits for Syona for the day. The Chinese outfit was brought back from Taiwan by NaiNai and Gou Gou.  For the day, we planned backyard grilling like we did for mother’s day. Dadu made nice bhajias and we also had veg curry and grilled corn. The rest of the day, we just hung out and since I was feeling better, I helped clean Ba's display case while the Mom's made dinner and Shilpa helped Jackie with her application essay. It was just a good family time all around.

Newsflash! Syona rolls over!

Yes folks! Little Synu rolled over today for the first time. I put her on her tummy for tummy time and she stretched out her little arms and started pushing slightly with her left leg. Her right arm haphazardly fell under her little body and it took her a couple tries but then she was able to sucessfully roll over! I was super excited and gave her tons of congratulatory kisses, I think she may have known she did a good job because this is the picture of her I took right after :) Here is also a movie clip of her when I'm trying to see if she will do it again. She doesn't rollover but she demonstrates her spitting which she is now so good at. hahaha

Baby Sign Language

After enjoying a yummy gourmet breakfast at Auntie Kendra and Uncle Jason's house, Paul and I took a class this weekend called Baby Sign Language. We learned 30 different signs to start signing with Syona so she can eventually sign back with us before she can talk. There are various signs for actions such as diaper change, poop, potty, eat, drink, more, please, thank you, go, stop, etc. They say kids can start picking up on signs around 6 months, but the earlier you start signing the better. At around 10 months or later the kids will start signing back. Signing allows kids the ability to express what they want instead of just crying, kicking and screaming. Other exciting Syona news, she has learned to purse her lips and blow which makes her spit and she can suck on her feet now too. She also likes being carried around in the MOBY wrap which makes my life easier because I can cook, make the bed, do laundry, you name it with little Syona strapped to me. Here are some pics from the weekend: