So Much to Explore!

I realize I really haven't kept up with my blog every-other-day promise, or even my blog every week promise... But here are some updates of what Myra is doing now, as well as me post-pregnancy! I can't believe we've come so far... I still remember that little beady-eyed bundle who always stared at things like a disapproving old woman. She is now a full fledged baby, laughing, exploring, and eating dirt.

Myra is all about the bath. She loves water so much, when we shower together she tries to grab it, hit it, and stick her face in it. We don't do that much classic bathing because she learned to climb out of her seat so she could splash more efficiently. This is her with Mr. Duck, who makes her laugh when he says "cuac cuac cuac".

These photos show that I am not a complete wreck, I have started doing my hair again and dressing up!! We dress matching, most of the time, because.... well, we just do.

Myra has shown she has spunk, and I try to capture this. Kicking up her feet in her walker, bouncing on the bed, she's going places. Really.

Here is Myra hammin' it up, just like her mom!!!! See the resemblance? We even have the same poses, when we're trying to look glamorous. So that's it for now, we're off to clean the room which is overrun with new clothes for Miss My, from our friends Aisha and Hawwa at Walker St. Byebye!!!

Myra Clapping ♥

It's been about a week since I've posted an update on my precious baby girl, so I thought I'd drop in with a video of her being a little doll.... She has learned how to clap and wave, and so late one afternoon I pinned her down in my lap and made her clap for the camera. She was over it, but she obliged when she realized her room-roving freedom depended on it.

Standing! and, could it be, Walking?

Myra has been almost every day this week to the park, where her favorite things, the swings, reside. She glides, she soars, she giggles. But now something else has captured her attention: standing up. Everybody else does it, so why not give it a try? She's a champion crawler, and now, it seems she is a champion pull-er up-er! Here are some of her latest, candid shots.

She pulled up on her favorite smiley car, and then after standing there for a bit, got distracted and stood without holding anything. When she realized what she was doing, she fell, but she got 6-7 whole seconds of glory!

"MOM! What do I do now??" Myra crawled to her walker, pulled herself up, and without anywhere to go from there, stepped onto the small white bar on the bottom, climbing up about two inches!

Good girl saying her prayers!

Glamor shot!!

"Look Mom! I did it!"

Such a happy climber.

Myra also went to her friend Kaya's first birthday party! She had a blast: Crawling around the house, and checking out the patio in detail...

Doing a bit of yoga while we wait for the guests.

Following Kaya through the kiddie tube!

"WOW! Rocks...."

Myra and Lake, Kaya's mom.

"This is a great patio you have, Kaya"

Baby vs. The World

Such a sweetie.

Playing together!

As for me, I'm working on developing recipes for selling at House of Curries on College Ave in Oakland. The owner has graciously allowed me to try out some of my recipes in the open counter space. Yesterday my friend, er - ahem - colleague and I made apple-chai cupcakes and chocolate chai cupcakes. Yummy! The apple ones were a bit dry for I fear I over cooked them, but the chocolate ones were delicious with spiced buttercream frosting. The white chocolate fudge with cranberries was a hit though, they sold 10 out of 30, in two hours! (I'm told for a new product, that's good.... hopefully they all sell out!)

And now, we're off to the park!

Swings!!

Myra had her first ride in a baby swing at the park yesterday, both Shoaib & I took her to the park and she was thrilled!!

"Wow Mom! This is great!"

No matter how great swings are, Mom's lap is always best.

"Weeeeeee!!"

First time in a swing!

We'll be going back to the park soon, Myra liked how many other little babies were at the park too, she was laughing and making friends the whole time she was there! I know there's a nice park in Montclair, maybe we can go there sometime after we pick up Great-Grandma for a picnic!

Museum Exhibit: Vivo

These are the photos from a trip to the Oakland Museum, on December 2nd. I wanted to see an exhibit I helped my brother in law write a paper on, called Vivo: The Day of the Dead. The installments intrigued me before I saw them, I read about the glass children who were created to remember the casualties in Juarez, Mexico, of a femicide that has been plaguing the city and leaving children motherless. I read about a ten by ten by ten pyramid in old Aztec style with each side colored and painted to represent a different one of the four sacred directions. About halfway through correcting the paper I knew I had to go see the exhibit myself.

Happy Daddy and baby!!!

The podium-esque box in front of the no-touch zone is filled with letters to dead loved ones. I wrote one too.

Three figures of girl-children made of shards of glass and illuminated from within.

The artist spoke of the orphans as being as fragile as glass, but as hostile as the broken shards they were made of.

I believe this exhibit represents the healing after losing someone, the flowers grow over the skeletons; the good memories over the pain of separation.

Shrine to the memory of the wildlife lost to the Gulf oil spill.

Myra was so excited to see all the art with Ammi!!

Interactive installment with notes to loved ones on it. One reads, in a child's handwriting, "I really miss you, mom".

Dolls decorated by under-privileged children in memory of someone why touched their lives.

Dead doll. Shadows cast by dolls above standing on a glass surface, looking down at their fallen friend.

Aztec pyramid, the white side is Plexiglas, showing traditional medicines in baskets in the center of the pyramid.

That's where daddy came from!

Welcome, Daddy and Ammi!!

Beautiful mural at the exhibit entrance.

We had a great time, and Myra took her first trip to the museum. Definitely not her last!!!!

2010 Junior Cricketer of the Year - Saqib Saleem

2010 Radiant Info USA Cricket Awards: Junior Cricketer of the Year - Saqib Saleem - Dreamcricket News

I'm so proud to have such an awesome brother in law! He got selected the 2010 Radiant Info Junior Cricketer of the Year!!!!!!

The thing I love the most about him, no matter what happens, he always has time to make serial killer faces and pose with cats.

Yay, Saqib!!!!!

All I want for Christmas.......

Myra got one of her bottom front teeth last night, and screamed and screamed. It's been working it's way in for weeks, and I deluded myself into thinking the pain would be less when it finally poked through. Boy, was I wrong. She's been all drugged up with oragel since it surfaced last night, and since I stupidly tried to feed her quiet when we first discovered it. CHOMP. Oh, I won't do that again. Here she is working on them:

Gotta love them keys.

Another accomplishment of hers within the past twenty-four hours was pulling up in her crib. I knew she could pull herself up, because when we sit together while we're out and about I let her pull up (with a considerable amount of hovering and fretting) on the stroller, while sitting in my lap.

I put her in her crib, in her Boppy so I know she won't fall and smash her head on something. Then I went about updating this very blog and checking my facebook, not really worried since I could hear her ooo-ing and baabaa-ing happily behind me. I finished with the computer, turned around, and lo and behold Myra was standing there grinning away!! (alternating between standing and kneeling really, since her sleeper onesie was caught under her feet). I grabbed my camera and snapped a few photos before she realized she couldn't get down.

So proud!!

"So, how do I sit back down?"

She'll be six months on Wednesday, who knows what she'll accomplish by then!