Comma, Not a full stop !!

Dear blogger friends,

I have been away from action for sometime now and just wanted to put a quick post that this is just a comma in my sentence of "blogging". Personal priorities have kept me away from blogging but I should be back soon in action.

During this time my angel, Rida has become more beautiful, more naughty and has added load full of new activities to her existing list. I am capturing the moments and soon they should be on the blog.

Mama Hen, thanks for stopping by and checking on me. Amy thanks for using the theme, I may not be able to participate in this color splash :( (though wanted to ) but will be soon back in business :) ...thanks

For all others, don't lose the faith, I shall be back amongst you and catch up on all the lovely blogs posted by all . Keep checking :)

Luv,
Sam :)

Thank you!

What a week that just passed! Traveling, shoppping, going over to grandmom's place, a wedding ceremony, more shopping, farewell to mom and siblings, and much more traveling! I have a suitcase always packed!

Now, WHAT a way to sign off the week! Winning!!! I came home last evening and opened my laptop, my fingers automatically typed the url of my blog, they were excited somehow ( my intuitions mostly, always, preceed the actual), and lo! I have 2 big surprises waiting for me! I smiled, gave my hubby the surprised look as well as that which said, "I told ya!" and then smiled again..

My daughter's picture that said "beauty in scarf" was an entry at Amy's Color Splash Sunday meme. Amy thought it was the best entry last week!! Cheers!! Thank you Amy! It was one of my favorite pictures of my Angel and now we all know why! :) Thanks again!

(I had my eyes on this button ever since I saw it a couple of weeks ago, my daughter just brought it home for me! :)

As if that didn't bust the stress of my week long activites I had yet another sweet surprise waiting for me! "Outstanding Blogger Award"!

It came from my friend and a wonderful mom, Mama Hen! Now I am really smiling to glory! Thank you Mama Hen for your sweet gesture, I am touched!

I pass this award to Neel, Amy and The Mommy! I love what they do with their creative juices that makes their blog so outstanding! Congrats to you all!

Color Splash Sunday: Scarf

Wow it's that time of the week! I love color splash and as I mentioned earlier, the best part about color splash is it's end result! I was excited about the picture I was working on and boy! do I love it! I adore it! Thank you Amy for your great idea about CSS! Here is my choice!





I love wearing scarves and I highly rate the color purple and lavender and the shades around them! So the choice of my CSS theme this week was easy, SCARF. Rida was around 6 months old when I took this picture from my blackberry.(The comparative clarity of my phone sometimes surprises me...maybe its because of the daylight! ) Nay! It's my baby's radiance! I know am getting carried away....:)

We make "it" look so easy!!!

I am feeling "crowned" and hence sentimental! My one year old princess took 4 little steps, came upto me, held my face and plucked a kiss on my cheeks saying "ooah!" (for muah?!!) Not just that she even went and fetched me the remote control unasked! Nothing can bother me today, not even my corrupt camera charger!

(one of my favorite pics, little blurred though as taken from blackberry. I love that mischievous smile!)

("Bloggy moms not-so-bloggy moms, we ALL know what "it" is - raising children! We love to make ourselves and our near ones, credit the fact that having children is the most beautiful thing in the whole wild world! Not a day goes when I don't remember the out of the world happiness of holding my bundle of joy for the first time on 27th Feb 2009 at 3:38 pm! The pain was gone as if it never existed!


Motherhood is a such a beautiful gift from our Lord that honors our love for our spouses, recognizes our patience and courage as well as enriches us with wisdom.

This gift also brings with it the test -of -our -lives! The lessons that we impart to our children that will mould their future is the biggest challenge we (will) face. In this process we get even more closer to our mom and grandmom! I do now, after becoming a mum, truly and completey appreciate the qualities, the grace, the dignity, the courage and the selflessness in the nature of these two women in my life!

Also all the friends that I have made before and over here have in their own beautiful ways made this whole on-going experience merry and truly entertaining. I know I'm not the only one who spend sleepless nights, take a siesta and thank God for it, who is on her toes running behind half pints during the day, who cleans the house only to clean it again after half an hour who's meals are often interved with smelly diapers or a sleepy pair of eyes! Yet, yet we make so many people believe it's a cake-walk! :-)

Our love and efforts will truly pay off when we we grow older and see that our little babies who use to walk holding our fingers firmly grow up to love us unconditionally!

Sentiments continue...

But for now mommys sit back and relax, its time to pamper yourselves and smile to glory by accepting these awards!! The mommy and Neel both great bloggers and even greater mothers think I'm trendy and versatile respectively! Thank you!!! You both are so kind!

I extend these awards to my ssssweet friends Jeremi, Mama Hen, R Montalaban, Sarah, ArizonaMamma and Sami. Each one of you are very unique, trendy and versatile in your styles of blogging! Off recently I couldn't steal time to follow you ( I have been travelling, measuring certainity- will ramble about it soon:). So I apologize. This will not stop me from congratulating you and giving you this honor! *hugs to you all*



-To receive the 'Trendy blog award promise to share it with 10 other bloggers who you think are trendy too

-Post about your award on your blog

-List your top 5 trendy blogs

-share with them

-Leave a ling to 'Trendy blog' button

-Ask them to give this award out to 10 as well!

wow! Have a great weekend!

Ridu and Zidu !!

They were "almost" to celebrate - birthdays - on - the - same - day! Meet Rida's cousin brother Zidan. My sister-in law delivered only 2 days before I did! So Rida becomes Zidan's "little" sister and this is few of the delightful moments caught in the camera when lil sister went to Dubai to spend some time with little big bro :)

Checking if the grass is safe for them both to wander around a little bit

Woah! look the ball is here, ah lemme fetch it for you!

That was a quick grab! I was going to give you anyway!

Now it's my turn!

Hold on I'm not done playing with it!

tug-of-war?!

and it continues...

the push and pull....

Finally!

But no!!

Ooops slipped out of my hand!

Too far away...so what do we do next ;)

Love you both sweeties and hope you both be caring and loving brother and sister to each other always !!!

Bare Feet, Happy Feet!

My camera is playing games with me. Keep asking me to change battery pack even if I charged it an hour ago:( Hence I'm a bit sad. I think I have to pay a visit to it's doc.

But hey, I'm happy too!! How else would I have come across these pictures if I did not into my collection to see if I have some "happy" little feet waiting to be picked! :)I'm linking this post to iheartfaces and this week's theme is Feet.

Rayd and Nael are my twin nephews and are very special to me. Rida is only 3 months younger than them. We visited them when they were in India almost ten months ago. What a sweet riot it was at home! Our house looked like a nursery with cute cute things all around!

"2 & 4 Little Feet!"

Rida flanked by her brother's Ryad and Nael on either side. The "10 and 20 little toes" as I love to call , flapped and flapped and brought much happiness in our lives!

That's my daughter, the go-getter! Crawls, stands,tip-toes then grabs!

Color Splash Sunday: Flags

When I started playing around with different editing tools I realized it's so much fun editing! With color splash I couldn't wait to see the end result. I love the work of Amy at Artistically Amy and I am linking this post to her Color splash challenge.

My husband's love for sports has no perimeter. He enjoys T-20 Cricket match just as much as he loves watching the Grand Prix. That's HIM in the picture routing for Michael Schumacher and the Ferrari Team at the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis. This picture dates back to 2005, the year I got engaged to him! It was also the year in which an Indian Driver Narain Karthikeyen made his debut in F1! So that's the Indian flag painted on his face, to support and cheer his country and the country man! :)

Smiley Sunday :)

I found these pictures in my library and they brought back fun-filled memories to life! Mama Hen gave me a reason to post them here today... Smiiiile!, *Click!* :)

My sweet smiling sugar-pie giving her best shot!

And this cute cuddly-duddly family brings a smile on my face:)

(For the record and the sweet memory, these pictures were taken when Rida and I went to Dubai to visit Rida's cousins, Zara and Zidan in March. The second pic with the bear family was shot in one of the malls there. Rida enjoyed her trip a lot and so did I! We would love to be there again soon!)

You Capture-Sky

When I came across this photo challenge hosted by Beth I couldn't resist participating in it. Here are my shots! (I have only recently discovered the 'fun' and the 'veracity' of photography:)

This one is around noon. Clear, speckless, cloudless sky, with the summer heat beating on me as I dared to step out!

Glittery gold in the evening!

This picture surprised me as I thought with the moon and north star, I captured the darkest night too on the horizon!

Sweet-To(oth)-Day!

Like mother - like daughter. Yes I have heard this phrase, mostly as a compliment from my folks and near ones many times! Ice-cream, chocolate, cake are still my weaknesses. Rida, although not very fond of sweet dishes but sure likes to dip her nose into an Ice-cream cone or a mixed fruit pastry!

And in the end of the feast my cuppy-cake "wears" the yummiest look on her face!

Random (pics of) Rida

These pictures are two months old when Rida had turned almost a year old! She is turning out to be a very expressive girl and quite specific in her needs. If I serve her cookies she will ask for "Chee" (cheese), if that's what she wants! The past one year has gone by in reading her expressions and learning her language. Every child is unique and as a mother the sooner you know about your sweethearts various behaviour/demand/needs/patterns, the better it is to raise them! Right?
Happy Parenting! :)

Hello World!

Caught in action!

If there is a certain silence in the house, no yells and calls and whispers then be sure my naughty girl is upto some mischief. She can stand holding almost anything and everything, be it the bedstand or a closet knob. She will stand on her tip-toes or climb on a chair to reach to her target! Today she "cleaned" her own closet with....well, the wet wipes!

Working unaware that mommy is behind the lenses !!!!

Removed and Stacked one by one in a basket. Well my little darling has all the time in the world!

Hahaha! That's when I called out to her! I laughed bemused when she made this expression, expression that spoke a thousand words...did she say "sorry mum I didn't know you were there" or was it "Oooopsy I'm caught!" or possibly she is saying "Shhh please keep mum, mommy!"

...and here comes the offer, wrapped in a cute smile to divert me. Well thank you, I guess I will take this last one, wipe myself fresh, sit back and relax! There is always time for arranging things, but growing-up has its own sweet phase and I will let my angel live it to the fullest!

So that's the end of Wipes, pack number..... forget it! :)

Getting smarter, learning faster..

What makes Rida happy is a small gadget - a Blackberry phone among many other things. Nah, she doesn't want it to talk to her, only two days older cousin in Dubai, but, to see the "creation" of Allah stored in that small gadget.... Her eyes scan my bedroom the minute she enters it. Once the black thing is spotted she will mark the area around it and target it armed with her crawling skills, two steps on toes and ten tiny fingers! They seize the target!



Caught her toying with it and pressing the play button... I know she got lucky but she was verrrry pleased!!

Rida loves the song " The creation of Allah", that I have on my phone. Her other favorite is "My mother". I know she would love music when she grows older, but these are the kind of songs I want her to learn and appreciate.

Happy 101 Blog Award

Good times indeed! Thank you darling sister for your wonderful appreciation of my blog and giving me this award! I am so happy and all smiles! Although we started together, you've gone ahead pretty fast, am still an amateur and on receiving this recognition of my blog and the pictures of my daughter, it sure makes me thankful!!

Rules:
1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. List who gave the award to you and use a link to her blog.
3. List 10 things that make you happy.
4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know!

Things that make me Happy!(not in particular order)
1. My Daughter RIDA. Her smiles, her giggles, her bunny teeth her presence and all the things in her room-pink shoes, pink dresses, her toys.... :) everything that's her's:)
2. My husbands smiling face when he return from work in the evening.
3. My house when its clean and tidy, especially my kitchen and bathroom.
4. Monsoon- the fragrance of the mud.
5. Surprise gifts.
6. I love to hear stories about my childhood- my dad has many to narrate. It truly makes me happy and proud to be dad's girl:)
7. My mom's pamperings and my sister's attention! I get it all refined everytime I visit them. Rida gets her share too:)
8. My in-laws, when they are happy. Their happiness brings happiness to me:)
9. Meeting my neices and nephews, listening to their innocent and sweet talks and getting so much love and respect back brings smiles miles and miles.
10. Travelling places. I never wish to spend weekends at homes and love it when my brother plans an outing.

While making this blog that has Rida, my sweet sweet daughter all over it, I visited blogs of other mothers, passionate ones, loving ones and very friendly too. All their blogs make a good read and the stories around motherhood are just amazing! I am definitely trying to steal more time out so I can visit, comment, follow and make blogger friends.

Here are my 5 blogs that bring me joy! (These will soon be updated to 10 once I get more time to my blogging. Currently my daugther and my hubby take most of the time :). Am not complaining !!!)
1. Being Zara and Zidan,Mom Neels blog:) I know Zara and I know Zidan. I stayed with them for a month and watching them grow with every new blog is such a pleasure. Bhabhi is a passionate mother and yes we started blogging together! Those 28 days of staying together are the most memorable ones. We painted, we blogged, we travelled. If you have time then do visit and see for yourself! at http://weindubai.blogspot.com/
2. Twenty Little Toes, Mom Arhama's blog. I love the title "Twenty little toes" yes she is a mother of two cute cute naughty boys-Ryad and Nael, also my darling nephews! Can't wait to hear them call me aunt! Her blog is what got me started with mine! She is very inspirational and dynamic!
3. Hubby's blog He writes his mind and is very spontaneous. I would love to say that he is a thoughtful writer but whats more cool about his blog is that it has informative and some very thought-provoking topics. The funny thing is that our discussion that follows after his write-up is usually lenghthier than his post! :)
4. Oh! That's Why! I always like the titles of her post-they are so captivating and unique. My sweetest sister Sadia (yes our whole family is into blogging! :) is currently teaching and running a school in a small town in India. Her narratives, her experience is worth reading!
5. Sailor&Co This is one of the most happening blogs which I visited recently! I got linked to it through Arry's and participated in her Raw(e) Red carnival which was fun and it was sure nice to receive comments from fellow bloggers. It has some amazing pictures. One of the blogs which I started following ever since.

Mummammmmmm, heavenly!

It rained here in Pune! What a relief from the heat! Rida was extremely delighted as her "mummamm " was everywhere! and mom dear didn't stop her from playing with it:) (she says mummam for water and loves splashing, spilling,drinking, getting drunk too and simply spending long hours playing with it)

This picture is from our balcony, it was pretty windy and it pored for good one hour!

Rida kept her mouth open for the sweetest water from the heaven!


The leaves bathed and danced in the rain and they had an admirer too watching them:)

First Step!

And she did it! The first ever baby step of my darling sweetheart, right in the centre of the living room! Going on her knees first and then slowly raising herself using her hand to balance out. She couldn't get enough of it after that and neither did we:) The pics are little blurred as she was moving a lot when trying to hold her feet firm to the gorund. I loved the way she balanced herself by raising her hand. She was very delighted as we all clapped and appreciated her effort. My little girl was very confident and self-sufficient (she just wouldn't allow anyone to help her:)

Way to go Riduu!!!

Raw(e) Red

My baby's favorite Red Shoes. I love them too as they bring smiles and excitement on her face!

On my sister's blog I saw the mention of Raw(e) Red linking carnival. I got inquisitive and went to the hosting link i.e. Sailor & Co to understand how to participate. After looking at all the amazing entries I decided to link with this post.

The rules are very simple. Take a photograph and post it unedited in the category of the week(Red for this week).