Success!!!!! She's a suckin'

Jiana is drinking from a bottle!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!

If you have been following my blog you know that Jiana refused to drink from a bottle, even though she had one for the first 3 months of her life. And this was a great concern for us, since I started work in the beginning of April and those who watched her were struggling to feed her. The credit for this goes to my incredible mother-in-law (Mum) who, convinced me to give her 3 days with Jiana, where she would strictly bottle feed her (and I would pump). Every feed Jiana had was going to be with a bottle, and eventually she would have to take it. At first, I was hesitant, because every mother knows that your breastfeeding your child is special and a time for bonding and I didn’t want to lose that. But I thought that this was worth the try because if she drank milk from a bottle, then it would be easier on everyone who watched her during the day and on me, since I wouldn’t stress about her starving. So Friday morning, I dropped off Jiana and didn’t breastfeed her until late Sunday afternoon. She started latching on late Friday, but it would require Mum to sing to her and rock her, almost to the point of distraction so that she didn’t know she was drinking from a bottle. And now she is transitioning between the breast and bottle perfectly.

But lo and behold, Jiana drinks from a bottle now! I have to thank my wonderful Mum for putting in the hours and long nights to make sure Jiana had a bottle feed for three days straight. It was a lot of work for her but as my friends know, she is the “Baby Whisperer” and she succeeded! Now, when Avikar gives her the bottle, she only wants to watch sports on TV. It's either basketball, soccer or baseball. She is definitely her fathers’ daughter!

Link Fixed!

Sorry about the link below! It's fixed so please check it out!!

I got the giggles!!!

Suhana is obsessed with Jiana, to say the least. She constantly wants to play with her, squeeze her toes, pull her ears, and pretend she is her size. The amount of times the word "Gentle!!" comes out of my mouth is too numerous to count. But, it is really cute to see this interaction between them. If one is crying the other starts crying, if Suhana is laughing, Jiana will watch her and smile. These two are sure to be best friends! I love every moment...

In this video, Suhana is blowing bubbles and Jiana thinks its hilarious! She is cracking up!! Enjoy and click the link below.

Suhana making Jiana laugh

Happy Anniversary

A couple weeks ago, my in-laws, celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary. We had a nice dinner at CPK, near our house, and just enjoyed each others company. The whole family got together and that means Shikash came from Arizona and Aman (Ayushka's fiance) came from Pasadena (with traffic that's far!) We always have a good time when we get together and its really cool to see the family expanding, thanks for Suhana and Jiana. Times like these, makes me remember to take a step back, enjoy the present and be thankful for all our blessings. Blessings like having such a great family and incredible grandparents to Suhana and Jiana. They are pretty much the coolest!

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad!

The Girls!



Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad!



More Random Pics

Here are some recent photos of Suhana and Jiana. :)

Watering the garden.

We went to the LA Zoo last weekend and Suhana took a tumble,
 as she fell from a stool she was climbing. Ouch!

Some sister love!

At the LA Zoo

Right before bedtime....so content.

Last weekend, it rained all day. But we still ventured out.
She reminds me of the Citibank commercial, with the red umbrella.

We took this video of Suhana dancing. She has this new style of moving
involving some fancy foot work! It's awesome!

Beautiful Jia

To bottle or not?

The end has come.  I am going back to work next week after having 5 months off to be with my kids. It has really been an amazing time, as I reflect back on these months. I got a chance to see what it is like to be a Stay-At-Home Mom (SAHM), something I always craved deep down to be. Now that I have had the chance to experience it, I have decided that staying home full-time is not my cup of tea. Don't get me wrong, for some its a choice, for others there is no choice. I worked full-time for the first two years of Suhana's life and was always guilt ridden of not spending enough time with her, but the time I did spend with her was quality. I always wished I was a SAHM in those years. Now that I have had the honor of experiencing life as a SAHM, I think I need a balance between work and staying home, and this is what I get to have now. I will work part time when I return next week, I get to use my brain, have adult conversations, hang out with my friends (I actually like the people I work with :)) and I get to spend more time with my kids and be a mom. Staying at home full-time is a lot of work. I have many friends who are doing an amazing job with their kids and they are sane women!!! I admire them but for me a good balance is my cup of tea.

With that said, the post title is about Jiana not taking a bottle. She was bottle fed for the first few days of her life in the NICU and then every night Avikar gave her a bottle for the 10pm feeding. Around January we stopped giving her the bottle, because it was easier for me to feed her and (we got a little lazy). So, fast  forward to February and we start trying to give her a bottle feed. NOT HAPPENING! For the last month or so, we have tried every type of bottle, nipple, person and she flat out refuses to take it!! This has been stressing me out quite a bit as you can imagine, since I am going back to work next week and who ever watches her needs to be able to feed her. Yesterday the Lactation Consultant, Gisele, from Long Beach Memorial came to my house to help me out. These women make it their life's work to help babies eat, be it from a breast or bottle. If anyone had a chance to make Jiana drink from a bottle it was going to be Gisele. I had all my bottles ready and my milk thawed. Gisele, tried and tried and Jiana refused. She cried, she knocked the bottle from her hand, sputtered, but refused to take the bottle. OMG!

Gisele's assessment: She is one stubborn baby! She has lost the reflex needed to suck with her tongue and move the milk back into her mouth. Jiana is also teething really bad, and so having any type of nipple up against her gums is very uncomfortable. We need to transition her straight to a sippy cup. Don't worry mom, it's going to be okay. Until she gets the hang of the sippy cup, she needs to have rice cereal diluted with breast milk spoon fed to her. When you get home from work, know that she is going to want to eat A LOT from you, until you leave for work again. (this part makes me tired just writing it) If she used to wake up once a night, expect her to wake often to feed, to get her calories in. :( 

For those moms who say, well why don't you give her solids now? Well, she doesn't show any signs of being interested in food and she doesn't have that reflex yet that pulls food back into her mouth. All in all, this is going to be okay. My baby is healthy, happy and I can't ask for more. Here are some pics to remind me what a darling she is. Even if she won't take a bottle!!!!!!!!!

Random pics

We have had a busy few weeks here at the house...preschool, dance class (ballet/tap), outings with the family and as for me, I am preparing mentally to go back to work part time.  I think it will be good for me to go back, but I am a little nervous on how it will all pan out. How will I juggle everything??? Laundry, lunches, pumping, nursing, activities, and remaining sane?????? I guess I will figure it out as I go along.  Until then, here are some fun things that have happened lately.

Dadi takes Suhana to the local stables for horse rides! First time she rode the horse and enjoyed it. Future equestrian?

Jiana is 4 months old!!!

Sitting in her very own big girl bed! Thanks Jojo Ma!

Ballet and Tap class. Not so happy to be there. But it was cute nevertheless.

Having 90 degree weather in March..playing with the water hose..Priceless!