I love my Nana, Nani, Masi, Aba, Aji, Foi, Fua, Auntie, Uncle, and cousins!

Maliya has a very close relationship with her grandparents and aunts and uncles. Neal and I made the decision to move back to Virginia prior to having children because I did not know any of my extended family growing up and really feel like I missed out. The Morjaria family is huge and live on every continent except the US. Sej and I never really knew our grandparents and are very close to our family in Spain (Arti, Pritesh) but don't really know anybody else. I wanted Maliya to grow up surrounded by her grandparents and family- just so she can have a well-rounded upbringing. Neal and I talk about moving to California-----maybe someday Neha and I can be neighbors!

Here are some pictures of Maliya with her beloved grandparents, Masi, cousins, Foi, and Fua-

Dressing up my little diva

I didn't think I would love dressing up a little girl but I am guilty! I have spent so much time buying her clothes and dressing her according my own personal style. I don't really think I can dress myself but I think Maliya looks pretty cute (probably because it doesn't take much to make a baby look cute)!!!! It also helps that she has a lot of fly aunts and uncles out there that have given her really cute clothes as well! Please see some pictures for a Maliya Aria fashion show!

Some thoughts on Maliya's Pops

Neal is really a great dad- Maliya is already daddy's little girl and they are truly best friends. Neal is greeted with a huge smile and arm flapping when he comes home everyday. I think Maliya views me as her caretaker but Neal as her buddy. I knew it was going to happen :) I am really amazed at how much he does for her and how happy they make each other.

Cheers to all the great fathers out there- Maliya is lucky to have such a great one in her life.

Maliya and Friends

I am really lucky to have a group of girlfriends in the DC area that all have kids around Maliya's age. There are too many to list but here goes:

Aliya and Kieran Azad
Cameron Donahue
Sophia Echmalian
Caroline Rankin Green
Sydney Golub
Kush Chaand
Talin Gajendragadkar
Samaya Sharma

It took me a long time to make 8 friends- Maliya already has that many and more!

Baby Piglet

Maliya takes after her parents in that she loves to eat. We spent her 4th month feeding her rice cereal and oatmeal cereal trying to teach her how to take food from a spoon and swallow. Her first few attempts were challenging but we were persistent. Within a few weeks she knew how to take food off of a spoon and actually looked forward to eating something other than milk.

In months 5-6, I fed her vegetables- everything under the sun. She tried sweet potatoes, carrots, roasted red peppers, zucchini, squash, green beans, green peas, spinach, and garlic mashed potatoes. We began to integrate different spices into each puree (cumin, cilantro, garlic powder, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, and even coriander). Maliya seemed to like everything- I was pleased because I love to eat and I love to cook. I really enjoyed making her vegetable purees and would spend Friday afternoons boiling, roasting, and blending. It was important that Maliya eat homemade food and it was a pleasure to cook for my daughter.

We introduced fruit in month 7. Maliya loves every fruit out there- grapes, strawberries, blueberries, mango, banana, applesauce- again, everything made from scratch and from the freshest ingredients I could find. We try and feed her a fruit and cream of wheat for breakfast, something savory for lunch, and then 6oz of milk for dinner.

I can't wait to see what foods she eats next. We will be introducing meat, dairy, and pasta soon.

My first blog: Hello!

3/22/2011

Hi everyone!  I have never blogged before- in fact, this is my first entry.  I am a little late in the game but I wanted to start keeping some record of my first year as a mom.  I had a baby girl named Maliya Aria Desai on August 5th, 2010 at 5:36 am.  She is now 7.5 months old and each day is a new adventure.  It is amazing to watch her discover her surroundings and learn something new each day.  I thought I would use this forum to document some of the amazing things she does as the months go by.  I want to make sure that I remember as much of this time as I possibly can and blogging and taking pictures to go with each entry will help me achieve that.