A little bit of tradition...

While I am not really the person you would label religious or traditional, I do love celebrations every once in a while - especially if they are fun, and involve good food :D. (I could go into details about which rituals and customs I believe in, which I don't, and how I do believe in God, but then that's not the point here :).)

When my parents were here to help during the last days of my pregnancy and the first few weeks post delivery, we celebrated Manya's naamkaran (naming ceremony) on the eleventh day. A simple family affair with the five of us - dad arranged all the puja (prayer) stuff - he actually recited the right slokas (holy chants) and everybody whispered Manya's name into her ear. We all did aarti and even had Ferrero Rocher chocos for modaks (laddoos). Dad's really good with these rituals and has kept in touch with all requisite sanskrit verses for the same. Mom made yummy puris, aloo, paneer, kheer; and we made a short trip to the temple with a peacefully sleeping cherub cooperating all the way.

Here's a picture from that day...

This Sunday, Vish and I did the annaprashan (grain initiation ceremony) for our daughter. Technically, Manya was already on rice cereal and oatmeal (both being grains) but it was all baby cereal, you know. Not grains grains as such (my argument for having the ceremony so late) - she can now actually eat most table food, so I thought now would be a more befitting time, which it was because I could make her taste a little of everything I made that day (a spread with a small variety). We also went to the temple and M enjoyed the trip because she loves bright lights and sparkling stuff, and there's lots of that in a hindu temple, right?

Pregnancy Journal: Checked off my to-do!

Sometime during my first trimester, Vish and I bought a pregnancy journal from B&N - basically a scrapbook kind of structure with templates for information to fill in for each of the nine (very long) months, and also space for lots of pictures (of the parents-to-be and the trillion ultrasounds we went for). 

Given my acute morning sickness till the fourth month, I had hardly made progress on the journal. Then up-till the 9th month, I was very regular on the updates (after all I didn't want to forget small details). The journal ends with welcoming the baby, and it was that part that I hadn't been able to complete up until last night, when finally my last set of pics reached our mailbox.

The verdict: Ofcourse, I love it :D. Though, the one thing that I didn't like about the book is that it has everything from the mom-to-be's point of view. For example, details of my family, my pictures etc. - no space for daddy dear. So, we had to take extra effort to squeeze in pop-to-be's details. Everywhere I had to cut out Me etc. to Our, Us, and so on.

I am glad this one's off my checklist - I hope some day Manya has the time and the inclination to go through the journal, and appreciate the memories we have so carefully documented. (Now, would that be too much to ask from the Generation Z? :D

P.S. Have started on the next project: Our baby book. This one was gifted by a friend and it takes off from where the pregnancy journal ends. I am already mostly up-to-date with that one but the completion is going to take a while as it covers the first 5 years! That seems a long time considering our babe is not even 5 months old!

Mommy is now also a full time manicurist!

So, our darling daughter was born with really long nails - which she learnt to put to use from day 1. She scratched her face atleast a couple of times in the first 48 hours itself. Don't even begin asking why I didn't put mittens on - that she hated/hates them is an understatement!

The minute we were back from the hospital, trimming her nails was the first on my to-do. Now, anybody who has seen a newborn (carefully) knows that the skin is so close to the nail, that even the most careful of attempts at using a nail cutter could result in a catastrophe. Also, I remembered all too well my SIL's post on how she had managed to nip her daughter's nail once. I was convinced - if she managed to do that, there was no way I was going to even attempt to try using a nail clipper. And, hence, I went about researching and guess what I found:

This is a tempered glass nail filer available on Amazon. Tell me, it's not cute :D. It requires some effort and force but you cannot cut your baby's skin even if you used it in your sleep. Requires patience too because obviously it takes longer, and you have to file more frequently than you would trim. But, it's all well worth it.

The flip side? The nail filer is as effective as any emery board filer but it's 10 times the price. The reason I still bought it - because I wanted something cute and likeable! Considering the fact that I have to file Manya's nails every two days (yes, that's how fast her nails grow), I'd rather have something nice to keep myself motivated (yes, i derive happiness out of simple, mean things :P)!!!

She's got mail!

On 28th November, Manya got her first postal mail addressed exclusively to her with her full name et al.

Though it was just some legal paper work, we were super excited and opened the envelope ever so carefully so that we could preserve it as a keepsake for the times to come.

Of course, we realize that time flies, and soon we will not have access to her highness's mail!