Neelima Kiran Nikila and Pranav's World

Pranav After 14 Months

2011-09-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

Pranav completes 14 months. He is now able to point at few things and try to show us. He asks for water going near the refrigerator. If he is in good mood and we carry him, he thinks we are going out and starts waving hand saying 'ba ba' meaning bye bye.

Pranav After 13 Months

2010-11-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

I did not get a chance to post Pranav's photos after 13 months.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

For a week Nikila has been talking of Halloween in her school. She wants to buy a princess dress. There is a parade in her school on Friday before Halloween. We went to Party City the previous night to buy costume for Nikila and Pranav. The crowd there is huge and the lines ran through the entire store. Finally she got a Cinderella costume and left the store almost after 2 hrs. At home she tried and found that it was big. We went back to the store and late in the night there were almost no crowds. We took this chance to buy one for Pranav. We got a bumble bee dress for him. We took Pranav to school the next day and he enjoyed there looking at other kids.
Back at home, there was a Halloween party in our park. There were many people and lots of games for kids. Its the first time I saw so many people on the hill. It was very well organized and kids had a lot of fun. In the evening we went for a round of trick or treat.

Nikila's Aksharabhyasam

2010-10-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

We performed aksharabhyasam for Nikila today. This year when we went to India, we wanted to go to Basara, but could not go. We were looking for doing this since then. We called Lakshmi Ganapathi temple at San Jose for an appointment and they said they are doing group Aksharabhyasams on Dasara day. It was performed very well for almost an hour. There were lots of people and almost 7 batches performed every one hour.

Nikila 4th and Pranav's 1st Birthday

2010-08-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

View Photos Inline

Today is Pranav's first birthday party and Nikila's 4th. We thought for a while if we should combine both the parties or not and decided to do combine. We were a bit lazy in selecting the hotel and finally chose Athidi in Sunnyvale. The party hall is big here. We engaged an entertained that dressed as snow white and did some magic show and balloon twisting for the kids. We ordered balloon from Party Fiesta in San Jose. They came and arranged the balloons before we came to the hall. Since the hall is a big one the decoration seemed a little less. The cakes were ordered at Peacock Santa Clara. Nikila wanted Thomas train for her and Cars for Pranav.
We were in the party hall around 11.30 AM and Bharani and me did a few decoration arrangements. Pranav was good most of the party time and was almost getting ready to sleep around 2PM. We hurriedly arranged for cutting the cake as we thought he might sleep soon. He cried a little bit around that time. The food was very good but we did not get a chance to have it. Thanks to Bharani, Sai and Baker for taking pictures and video.

Pranav turns 1

2010-08-25T22:38:00.000-07:00

Pranav completed 1 year today. Its been amazing that time flies so fast. We got a small cake and make him cut it. I will upload the photos after the party

Pranav gets first Rakhi from Nikila

2010-08-24T13:34:00.000-07:00

Today is first Rakhi for Pranav. I did not remember this and never thought that we can make Nikila tie Rakhi to Pranav. The previous evening Neelima called me and told me to get Rakhi. It was fun seeing Nikila tie Rakhi to Pranav. She asked us why she needs to tie Rakhi. Neelima told her that its for being happy forever. Nikila immediately said "we are happy".

Pranav After 11 Months and first professional photos

2010-08-16T11:14:00.000-07:00

Pranav completed 11 months and he is now able to walk mostly without holding anything. As soon as I come home in the evening, the first thing he does is show me that he can stand and walk and as he does this, he gives a big smile and shouts. He is getting bigger every day.
We never did a professional photo shoot for Pranav and all of sudden decided to do one this weekend. We got ready and went to Kiddie Kandid at Babysrus and they said that they don't have any free time for the day on Saturday and asked us to come on Sunday. Since we got the kids all ready, we went back home and got a few pictures for both Nikila and Pranav. On Sunday we went for the photo shoot and got a few more pictures.
It became very difficult for us to make him smile at the shoot. We tried a lot and he would not smile at all. After almost at the end of the shoot, I was holding a cap and dropped it. He then started laughing a lot. Only if we knew this trick at the beginning...
The last few pictures in the album are from the professional shoot.

Half Moon Bay

2010-08-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

This is purely coincidental that we always make a trip to Half Moon Bay in August. It was very clear all the way but once we reached Half Moon Bay, it was cloudy and a little cooler but was manageable. This is the first trip to beach for Pranav. Initially he was hesitant to get into the sand (like Nikila was at this age). But after a while he had no hesitation to get covered by sand. We were there for almost 3 hours and had fun. There were big waves. Usually after the beach we go to the Peet's coffee and have a nice hot coffee. But I miss the coffee now as we stopped taking coffee. But still went there and got milk for Nikila.
BTW, the parking fee is now $10 at Francis beach and I felt it was like a big hike.
Nikila slept on the way back around 6PM and did not wake up till the next morning.

Los Angeles (Disney Land, Legoland)

2010-07-19T15:57:00.000-07:00

We had a shutdown for a week for the July 4th weekend. Nikila has been asking for going to Disney Land for some time. We were not sure how Pranav is going to handle such a long journey. So we did not confirm this trip till the last minute. We booked our hotel in front of the Disney (Ramada Maingate). This is is nice hotel and very convenient, just walk to Disney. We started on 4th of July and the onwards journey was very easy with no traffic. On 5th of July we took LA tour from a company. This tour takes you across nice places in LA. This is not very good and would not recommend this. One place that was very good though was Rodeo Drive (Costly shopping). On 6th we went to Disney Land and spent the whole day here. The crowd was moderate (I would still call it heavy). On 7th we went to California Adventure. This is the first time for us here and we enjoyed a lot. There was minor earth quake in the evening and all the rides were shutdown. These were re-opened after an hour or two. Pranav was eligible for many rides and he enjoyed. Nikila did not enjoy anything that was in the dark rooms. On 7th we went to Legoland. This is mostly very very small rides and strictly for little Kids. Surprisingly Pranav is not allowed in any of the rides. Nikila had fun but waiting in the lines for such small rides is not very good and especially after visiting Disney land. On 8th of July we started back home early in the morning. But wanted to take another tour: Star Homes. This is a 2hour tour from Kodak theater that takes you around many stars homes. This is another boring one and I won't recommend this one too. We went to Madamme Tussads after this as it was include in the Stars Homes tour. This is OK and a bit of time pass, not very great. We started late in the evening back home.
On the last day Pranav showed us what he could have done the entire trip: Cry a lot. He had some discomfort and does not want to sit in the car and cried a lot, I mean a lot. We were worried if we can make it home that night or halt some where and start the next day. But after a while, he settled into sleep and we drove back.
The weather was not July like. It was cloudy the whole time and was very good, as hot weather would have tired us out.
This is the first time for Nikila to be away from home (other than India trip) for so many days. The last day she started saying she wants to go home and does not want to see anything else. The lines in Disney bored her and she said Disney is boring. May be the long journey and long lines took her patience out. Watching Disney castle on TV, she thought its some where around. The next day after we came back, we were to go to a party and she asked me if its near by or drive a long way.

Pranav After 10 Months

2010-06-30T17:36:00.000-07:00

Pranav completed 10 months and he is improving on the skills learnt last month, like standing and walking. When I go home from office the way he comes to the front door, kneels and waves his hands is amazing. That image never goes out from my mind and always makes me think to go home as the evening sets in.

Pranav After 9 Months

2010-06-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

Pranav is now able to walk with support. He holds the sofa and moves along. He climbs the obstacles and crawls over that. We put both our sofas side by side, he crawls over the hand rests. He tries to get down from sofa by himself and most of the times gets down very well. He started liking songs and dances to some tunes when he likes (esp Banagaru Kodi Petta and Rangeela's Spirit of Rangeela). In fact, he goes to the music system near the TV table and turns around and shakes his body and hands. That's his way of asking for music.

Nikila's Kitchen

2010-05-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

Nikila has been asking for a kitchen for a long time. When she went to a friends house who had a kitchen toy, she played with that a lot: making coffee, soups etc. Then we bought her all kitchen items, she played with that for some time and then stopped as she does not have any 'platform' to put her things. So last week I wanted to buy her one. I took her to Toysrus and showed her few kitchens. She liked one and wanted to get only that one. We got that and she plays with that a lot now, but still cooks the same old items: coffee and soups.

Pranav After 8 Months

2010-05-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

Pranav completed 8 months. He sits by himself now. He started sitting on April 2nd the day of his namakaranam. He crawls and takes out everything he finds out. We took out most of the delicate things in the living room. He cries a lot when mom goes away from his sight and crawls to kitchen and keeps looking at the stove side to find mom.

Pranav After 7 Months

2010-05-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

Pranav completed 7 months. He is trying to sit a lot and crawl. When we make him sit, he sits comfortably and for a long time. He falls down doing some thing and cries. Then he always wants to sit again.

Pranav After 6 Months

2010-05-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

Back from India

2010-04-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

We are back from India after a month's vacation. Its been very good and may be some where we felt we did not want to come back. We had 2 functions, my brother's daughters namakaranam (Manasvi) and Pranav (my son) namakaranam.
We went to Tirupuathi and had tonsured Pranav's hair. He cried a lot during the process. But once he got up, he kept calm. We got introduced to a friend of my uncle and he arranaged for all the things in Tirumala, including VIP darshan.
Next day we came down to Tirupathi and went to 3 more temples in the town. It was very hot that day.
In Hyderabad we went to Zoo park and that was all we did other than going around shopping for the functions.
On the whole it was very good trip even though it was hot summer in there.

Pranav's Namakaranam (నామకరణం)

2010-04-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

Pranav's నామకరణం (నామకరణం) was celebrated on April 3rd at our in-laws new house. There were some security issues in Hyderabad that day and not many people turned in. Pranav went into sleep as soon as the function started. We tried very hard to wake him up and he finally did. His names were:
Achyuth - Masa namam (మాస నామం)
Taraka rama - Nakshatra namam (నక్షత్ర నామం)
Pranav - Vyavahara namam (వ్యవహార నామం)
The function was over before we even knew it. Take a look at some of the photos

Pranav Sits

2010-04-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

Pranav has been trying to sit for some time now and finally he succeeded today for the first time. Once he did that, he does not want to lay on his back at all and always wants to sit. Tomorrow (Apr 3rd) is his official naming function (namakaranam).

Pranav's Anna Prasana

2010-02-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

Pranav completed 5 months and on 6th month's 6th day (Jan 31, 2010) we did his Anna Prasana. Both Nikila and Pranav had sever cold during this time. We put in 6 or 7 items on the blanket. Pranav took a look at all of them before going to catch the items. He first got book, then money and finally pen.

Bhogi 2010

2010-01-13T21:19:00.000-08:00

This is the 1st Bhogi for Pranav and 4th one for Nikila. Both of them had fun while enjoying the fruits falling on them. We got cherries as usual.

Pranav After 4 Months

2010-01-11T11:35:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of Pranav after 4 months

Thank You Mom and Dad

2010-01-08T21:26:00.000-08:00

Mummy and Daddy left to India today. Nikila cried a lot in the airport that she wants to go to India along with my Mom. Pranav was looking for some thing and cried some times at home searching for Grandpa. He got used to Grandpa singing songs for him while sleeping and playing a lot early in the morning. We took some pictures before leaving to India.

Pranav After 3 Months

2009-12-18T23:03:00.000-08:00

Pranav completed 3 months. He started recognizing people a lot now and most of the times even responds with sounds. Today when I was taking his pictures, I was saying boooo and then taking picture. After a while I stopped making this sound and as soon as he saw me putting the camera, he started saying boooo. It was very funny. He is trying a lot to roll over and some times does it with a little help.

Nikila Singing for Pranav (జోల పాట )

2009-12-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

Here is a cute scene where Nikila is singing song for Pranav to put him into sleep.

Reno

2009-12-09T22:48:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since we went on a trip. After Pranav's birth it has become even more difficult for all of us to go together as our car can take only 5 people. So finally we rented a van and headed to Reno on Friday (Dec 4). Initially we planned to go on Dec 2 for our marriage anniversary but that did not work out. We started around 11AM on Friday and reached Reno around 4PM. We stayed at Grand Sierra Resort. We took a bus late in the evening and went to the downtown. There was not much crowd and the street was almost empty. Even though we have been to Reno a few times, we never roamed on the street in the evening with all the lights on. Some of the casinos were closed (recession effect). The next day we went to Tahoe. We had lunch at Baja Fresh near Heavenly and after lunch planned to go to Heavenly on the Gondola. But it was very cold and windy, we could not even walk a few feet. So we came back, had coffee and headed back to Reno. On the way we stopped at a few places and took pictures of the grand vistas. I really like the open place between South Lake Tahoe and Carson City. Here is one of the panorama shots. Once we reached hotel, we went to the funquest and Nikila played a lot of games there. The next morning we started out journey back to San Jose. As soon as we entered I-80, there was a sign that said the road is closed at Truckee due to an accident. We thought it would reopen in an hour or so. But we were wrong. By the time we reached Truckee the traffic was so backed up and we were stranded on the road for almost 3 hours. Snow storm soon started dumping lots of snow and we were so scared and there are not chains. Finally we decided to halt in Truckee in the first hotel we get accommodation. By that time there was already lots of snow and some how we managed to get into this hotel (Truckee hotel). It was snowing a lot the whole night. The next morning, when we went to pick up our car from the parking lot, it was almost buried in the snow. There were some people to plough the car and it took him almost 2 hours to plough all the snow. Finally we got chains and started our journey back. There was snow almost till the outskirts of Sacramento. The last experience was some thing that we haven't seen. It was very unsettled and confusing the previous night. Finally we made home safely. Nikila and Pranav did not create any problem at all. I thought with such big traffic and snow issue, the kids are not going to take it well. But they were very happy and almost slept through out the journey.

Halloween

2009-10-31T23:08:00.001-07:00

This is the first time Nikila is celebrating Halloween. The first 3 times she was not feeling well and did not celebrate. This time we got her the costume of Butterfly Princess and Pranav got Pea. Nikila was very excited right from wearing the costume. She did not what to expect outside and as soon as she saw people putting candy in her basket she wanted to go to more houses. She goes to each house knocks the door or rings the bell and asks for the candy. It was fun to see her. After a few tries, she even knew which house has candy or not by just looking at the lights. After an hour she said enough and wanted to go back home. We did not take Pranav out

Pranav completes 2 months

2009-10-31T22:53:00.000-07:00

Pranav completed 2 months last week. He started smiling and cooing a lot nowadays. He can identify voices and responds to people around him. Whenever he is lying on the floor and sees someone standing, he tries to shake his legs and hands a lot asking us to carry him. When he cries a lot he does not like to lay down sleeping and remains calm when we carry him on our shoulder. Even when we carry him he does not like to be in arms, but only on shoulders.

Daddy నేను లావయ్యాన (Did I become fat)

2009-10-31T09:23:00.000-07:00

We were going to Toysrus on a weekend and I was telling Nikila that she has to walk throughout the store and I won't be carrying her. This is how our conversation went on:
Me: Nikila you have to walk in the store and I wont carry you
Nikila: Why
Me: If I carry you I would get back pain
Nikila: Enduku daddy nenu lavayyana? (ఎందుకు నేను లావయ్యాన)
That morning I was putting on a dress for her and it was not going on easily. She told me Daddy I became fat, change this dress. She was very cute when she was saying this. Don't know where she learnt all this

Pranav After 1 Month

2009-10-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of Pranav after 1 month. During the first month, he used to cry in the night. Now he adjusted well and is sleeping good. We got a cradle for him and he enjoys a lot in that cradle. As soon as he wakes up in the morning he wants to go to the cradle and enjoys the music and swing of the cradle.

Pranav in Livermore

2009-09-27T15:25:00.000-07:00

We went to Livermore today and this is the first time we took Pranav out, other than the doctor's appointments. We usually do this on 21st day and this time, it was on Monday and could not go out. He slept well during the journey and in the temple he was calm.

Pranav's Birth Video

2009-09-23T11:35:00.001-07:00

I finally found some time to edit Pranav's birth video. Its about 3 minutes

Pranav's Naming (ప్రణవ్)

2009-08-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

We knew it was going to be boy during the first ultrasound. But we started searching for names only in the last month. We looked for some names and a finalized a few: Nitin, Jayant, Varun, Vinay, Tejas, Pranav, Pratik. Out of these we finalized on Pranav and Pratik. Pranav means "Om". When we went for a Doctor's appointment, she did an ultrasound and said that he is sitting like a Buddha or Yogi folding his legs and praying. Doctor asked us if we finalized any names and when we said Pranav she said she like it very much and applies perfectly for what he is doing right now. And finally we decided on Pranav (ప్రణవ్).

Welcome Pranav Madabhushi

2009-08-25T23:05:00.000-07:00

Cute little Pranav entered our beautiful world today at 11.05PM. He weighed 8.6lbs and 20.5in in length. Unlike Nikila's delivery, Neelima did not have any problem this time. He had a little jaundice and so had to stay an extra day in the hospital. That night, he did not sleep at all and we were awake all the night.

Napa Valley

2009-07-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since we came to San Jose, but never went to Napa Valley. But in the last 2 months we went there twice. This time Nikila and Neelima did not come us. Its only me and my parents. We started off around 9AM and reached there by 11AM. We went to Rober Mondavi Vineyard. This is one of the first yards on the road and has big open space. There were preparations for some concert and so the area was filled with all equipment getting ready for the evening. We took a short wine tour. After that we were looking for a Gondola like ride and could not really find where it was. Baker said that Sterling Vineyard is good and went there and found the Gondoal there. The ride was nice one with very good views. The Winery was on top of the hill and there were very nice views. It was very hot on that day. After that we went to the Old Faithful Geyser of California in Calistoga. This one has a small stream of water gushing out from the ground once every 10 - 12 minutes. This, they say, is due to volcanic activity under the ground. We came home in the evening.

Alanati Ramachandrudu (అలనాటి రామచంద్రుడు)

2009-06-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

Its been some time since I wrote anything on my blog here. A month back, I was playing "Alanati Ramachandrudu" (అలనాటి రామచంద్రుడు) song from Murari, in the car. Nikila listened to that song very keenly asking me to be silent when I was talking and asked me to repeat the song. Then repeated, repeated, repeated for 6 times. She got the song and started singing it, including the chorus. Here is a short video that I got when I asked her to sing for me so I can record it

Rides in Oakridge Mall

2009-03-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

For the last week there were some rides in Oakridge mall parking lot and we wanted to go there last week but forgot. Today we were very bored at home and suddenly remembered about this one. This is also the last weekend for this one. There were some rides for small children too. Nikila enjoyed the baby roller coaster a lot and she was screaming on the whole ride. She sat by her self on some smaller rides like Cars, Cups, Horse etc. One ride she enjoyed a lot was sliding down from the top. I took her once and then she wanted to go again. She did that twice and we had to pull her from going up again. She saw the Gaint Wheel and immediately she held my chin with her hand and said "Daddy, please no ride on that". We asked her a few times and every time she said no. So we did not force her and let here enjoy the only rides she asks for.

San Francisco Union Square

2009-03-08T22:02:00.000-07:00

We went to San Francisco Chinatown and Union Square today. This is the first time that we have been to Union Square. Its amazing. The stores are rich and walkways are big with lots of crowds. The atmosphere is very lively there. I don't understand why we haven't been to this place for such a long time. There are only a few place that we have visited in San Francisco and lot more to visit. We can easily spend a day roaming on the streets here. We always take the Cable Car on California/Embarcadero, but never go on the other cable car on Powell street. This time when were riding the California one, the tickets person told us that we could pay $11 for a day trip. Each way is $5. So for a dollar more we could ride as much as we like (including all the buses). So this is the ticket I would suggest for any one riding the cable car. So we got down at Chinatown, roamed there for a while and took the Powell cable car. Since there is lot of shopping and nice views on this line, its usually very crowded.

Nikila's self made slide at Home

2009-02-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

One day Nikila asked us to take her to the park so she can go on slide. It was very cold and we said no. Then after a few minutes of crying she would normally go behind our sofa and sit there. Then she got the lid of the box that we kept behind the sofa to store some blankets and put it like a slide near the sofa. She started playing with it like slide and does it like that even today.

San Francisco Alcatraz Island

2009-02-23T19:54:00.000-08:00

We have been planning to go to Alcatraz Island for a long time and finally decided to go today. I made reservations in advance with Alcatraz Cruises that had cruises from Pier 33. Its near by to Fisherman's Wharf (Pier 39). The jail has been seen many times in movies and is exactly like that. I tried to go into a Hole (D block) thats completely air tight and light tight. No light enters the cell. I did not close the door but could imagine how it would look like if the door is closed. After this we were just walking on Embarcedaro beyond Pier 39 and found small boats that charge 15 dollars for 1hr cruise. The challenge is getting onto it. You have to get down a ladder and it might be difficult for elder people. After that the cruise is very good. It looks like you are going on a private boat owned by you.

Las Vegas

2009-02-18T16:47:00.000-08:00

We went to Las Vegas for the President's Day weekend. We reached Las Vegas on the evening of Saturday, Feb 14 2009. We stayed in Excalibur hotel. There was good crowd in Vegas. That evening we just walked the streets and did not visit any hotels. The next day (Sunday) we went to MGM, Aladdin and Paris hotels. MGM has a Lion habitat and Nikila had fun looking at the Lions. This is the first time she ever saw Lions. The next day (Monday) we initially planned on going to Grand Canyon but cancelled this idea. We went to Hoover dam and spent almost half a day there. In the evening we went to Luxor and Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. After this Nikila and Neelima were tired. Susmitha and me went to Stratosphere. There was not much crowd in the night there. So the wait for the elevators was very less. On Tuesday we saw Venetian, Mirage, Wynn and Palazzo hotels. In The Mirage we went to the Secret Garden and watched Dolphins and other animals there. Nikila enjoyed Dolphins. In one of the pools there were 2 dolphins and I told here its Mummy and Baby Dolphins. She spotted another Dolphin and started shouting that its a Daddy dolphin. Every one was very tired after walking in all these hotels. It was very relaxing trip as we did not force ourself to wake up early in the morning. Most of the days we went out of the hotel only after lunch.

Golden Gate Bridge

2009-01-17T16:42:00.000-08:00

January has been very hot so far. Its almost like April or May. So every weekend we plan on going some where or the other. This weekend we went to Golden Gate Bridge. Nikila was not feeling very good, but she was very calm. For the first time ever we walked on the bridge. But we could walk only a part of the bridge (till the first span) and came back. Nikila enjoyed with the dogs walking by but most of the time she was very silent. So we did not want to take any chances. We went to the top of the hill for good views of the bridge.

Bhogi

2009-01-13T09:15:00.000-08:00

This is the 3rd Bhogi for Nikila. We bought Cherries just like last year. She enjoyed a lot. As soon as the fruits started flowing down from her head, she caught some of them and was laughing.

Santa Cruz

2009-01-10T16:36:00.000-08:00

Like last weeek, the weather was hot today. So we decided to go to Santa Cruz. Its been a long time since we went here. Almost after reaching Santa Cruz, Nikila started vomiting and we expected this. So we had blanket around here as were going on the mountains. The cleanup was very easy with the blanket around. Many of the rides were closed for the season. But there was lot of crowd and Nikila enjoyed the ocean a lot. Neelima and Susmitha went on some rides. We played Mini Golf and returned late in the evening.

Half Moon Bay

2009-01-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

We went to Half Moon Bay today. The weather was excellent and unlike Winter. It was warm on the beach with absolutely no wind. I did not even have to wear a jacket. Its very rare that we go to Half Moon Bay and stay there for a while. Usually it gets either windy or cold even in Summer and we get back in less than 30 mins. This is probably the 2nd or 3rd time that we stayed for more than an hour. We shot lots of pictures, far greater than any time we did. There was another family there and Nikila started playing with their kid till they left. Nikila enjoyed a lot with the sand. We threw a ball into the Ocean and it came back many times. But once I threw it hard and it started going over the waves and never came back. We just stared at it for a while and forgot.
We had lunch at a Thai restaurant (Siam Thai) and the food was very good.
We came an hour before Sunset to have coffee and planned to go back for the Sunset. But Sunset happend so fast that by the time we came out of coffee, it was already dark. May be we spent too much time at the Peets Coffee. It was an amazing day at the beach.

Happy New Year 2009

2009-01-01T12:29:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to you all. We went to Baker's house and there were 4 more families and celebrated the New Year together. We played Poker and Pictionary and went to Livermore. I have never been to Livermore during the peak days and this is our first time. There were lot of people and parking was difficult to find. We parked on a street and walked to the temple. The arrangements were very awesome in temple and never had to stop as everything was going smooth, the lines, the prasadams etc. Here are some of the photos shot in Livermore and Baker's house. The photos are at the end.

Lake Tahoe and Reno

2008-12-26T11:12:00.000-08:00

I took off for two days during the Christmas week and we headed to Reno and Lake Tahoe. I got a free room at Grand Sierra Resort in Reno for Sunday (12/21) and then headed to Lake Tahoe for 2 days (12/22 - 12/23).
We started at 10AM to Reno and reached there by 4PM. On the way over Donner summit, we were required to put on chains. Initially I was hoping there will be some one that we can pay to put on the chains. But on I-80 I could not find any one. So I tried it myself and was successful. Its only the first time that you are afraid of things like this, but once you start using them, it gets comfortable. I spent about 20 mins first time to put on the chains. We started again and found the entire road to be clean and many people were driving without chains. So we stopped again after 6 miles to remove the chains. A cop was going by and he announced that chains were not required.
The next day we went to Circus Circus and other hotels and shot some photographs. In the afternoon we went to Lake Tahoe. Just 10 miles before Tahoe, there was lot of snow and our car was skidding. So we stopped to put on chains. This time I could do it less than 10 minutes. But this time too after driving for a mile, we found that all the road was clear and took them off again. We reached by 4PM and spent the rest of the day in the hotel. We stayed at Horizon Casino.
The next day was beautiful with clear blu sky, sun and lots and lots of snow. We went to Heavenly Ski Resort. Nikila was packed completely and she enjoyed the snow a lot. We should have prepared better for Nikila to enjoy a lot more, like having better gloves etc. We spent about 2 hours and got back. Everyone was very hungry and had our lunch at Baja Fresh. We roamed for a while in the city and went back to our hotel.
We started our journey back home on 12/24. It was snowing a lot today, but was very nice. It was not very cold when it was snowing. We stopped on the lake beach again. We spent an hour or so on the beach. It was very nice over there with very less crowd. We borrowed a plastic skater and skid on the snow for some time. Nikila enjoyed snow a lot. She was falling on it, playing with it and some times even made a ball out of it and touches her legs and shouts. There was heavy snow fall and had to put on our chains for 25 miles, which took more than an hour. We stopped at Round Table Pizza in Placerville for lunch and had a nice pizza there
While going to Reno, Nikila vomitted a lot. But in the return journey she was good.
It was very nice trip on the whole, but we could have enjoyed a lot more if we were prepared better.

Nikila and her promptness in power savings

2008-12-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

Nikila got this cute habit from her mom. She switches off all the lights as soon as she is done with her work. We walk upstairs and as soon as we get into the room, she closes the door and turns off the light. Even when we go out and let her know that we are going out, she turns off all the lights.
Today we were watching TV and wanted to go out. We got ready and then left. In the car after going for a while, I asked Neelima if we switched off TV or not and no one was sure. The Nikila shouted from back seat that she switched off TV. "Nikila off chesindi TV" were her exact words. We were surpised, that she understood the context and replied back.

Nikila helping me move the TV Stand

2008-11-17T21:54:00.000-08:00

A few days back, I was trying to move the TV console, to fix some wires. Nikila came running to me to help me move the stand and started pushing from the other side and once in a while asking "chaala" (చాలా?)

Nikila Logo Identification Game

2008-11-07T10:24:00.000-08:00

We play this game with Nikila where we present different logos of companies, TV programs and she identifies them. I tried many times to video this, but as soon as I hold the camera, she stops saying things and wants to see the video. So yesterday, instead of using the camcorder, I used the webcam and she did not know that it was switched on. I started presenting the logos as slideshow and she started saying at them. I got the video captured.
Now when I wanted to present it I looked at various ways on how to show this one. I wanted to show as Picture-In-Picture but did not have tools to do that. Google Search showed that I can do this with Quicktime. So I had to capture another video of the logos' slideshow and sync the timing. Once this was done it was easy.
Nikila identifies few more logos than shown here, but I could not readily remember them. When we go to a store and if she finds logo-like, she asks me what that one is.

Pump It Up Jr

2008-11-02T15:03:00.001-08:00

We went to friend's birthday party today at Pump It Up Jr in Sunnyvale. This is play area with inflatables. Unlike Pumpkin Patch we went to last week, here adults are allowed. It gave me chance to take Nikila on some of the big slides and play. Nikila was first scared to go on the slide, but once she got used to it, she never stopped and went up to slide by herself. Even adults enjoyed the slides a lot. Initially everyone was helping their kids with the slides, but once they got used to them, even adults could not stop and everyone had a blast here.

Nintendo Wii, My First Gaming Console

2008-10-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

I never considered my self a gamer. Neelima plays some games on the computer online. 7 years back we bought Sony Play Station 1 and sold it with 2 months as we never used it. I started hearing about Wii 2 years ago and saw a few demos in the malls but never was interested in buying it. When Wii Fit was released in May 2008, I saw few ads and got excited about it. My cousin was looking for Wii Fit but could not find it anywhere. When he came home last week, he explained how good Wii Fit was and when I enquired local Bestbuy, it had plenty in stock. He got one and I "almost" bought the console but did not. I was roaming in Costco today and found a huge pile of Wii Consoles. So I just took one, thinking that I might throw this away by the time I go to the checkout counter. But I did not. I came out with the console. I connected it to the TV and played Tennis and was amazed. I was thinking how could I miss this one for the last 2 years. The graphics on this are no where close to what can be seen on PS3 and Xbox 360 (Just from the demos in the stores and malls). But the experience is awesome. I never was comfortable holding so many keys on the controllers and this controller is an amazing piece. You play games naturally. I did not buy any games though. I just bought an extra controller and we played tennis for the whole day.

Fog Photos

2008-10-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos I shot when there was heavy fog in the morning today

Pumpkin Patch 2008

2008-10-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, we were driving on Santomas Expressway and wanted to stop at the Pumpkin Patch. But Nikila was going to sleep at that time and so we did not stop. Today we wanted to go there. Its $12 for an hour. The slides were tall and Nikila had difficulty in going up. I took her up and she slid well. But then when I was taking her up again, the lady in charge asked me not to do that. Nikila tried hard to go up, but could not succeed. I took her to some of the smaller slides and she succeeded in sliding well. Then she tried to go on the big slides and she succeeded on that too. She tried hard.

My Blog moved to Blogger (Blogspot)

2008-10-24T17:44:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks I moved by blog to Google's blogger (blogspot). The domain name www.neelki.com is now pointed to blogspot. You can access it directly (neelki.blogspot.com).
The move was a huge task. I uploaded all the photos to picasa. The photos are in 3 different accounts. Then I customized blogger to look exactly like my website. I did not want to look like a template from blogger. Blogger does not have option to have pages. I fooled to have my photo pages. All this took a lot of time, 2 weeks in my case here.
The reason for moving is a simple one. The storage space that I have at godaddy.com is expiring and they are charging a lot for renewal. They give me free storage with my domain name. So I thought why not use that free storage space? But it is served with ads. Then I thought of using blogger and picasa. If I spent time on customizing blogger 3 years ago, then I would not have even bothered to buy space some where else. Now I learnt how to customize it and completed it. For photos I debated between picasa and flickr (paid account) and finally settled for free picasa.
All the posts are moved, having labels, and if I enable then comments etc. Picasa does not have hieararchy for the folders, so i created hierarchy on the blog and just link the final albums to picasa.

Nikila 2nd Birthday Video

2008-10-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

I finally found time over the weekend to edit Nikila's 2nd Birthday Video.

Nikila Emptying Makeup Bottle

2008-10-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

This is a video that I shot when Nikila took Neelima's cream and started applying on her face. She emptied the whole bottle. Even when we were watching her she would not stop.

Nikila Photos After 24 Months

2008-10-01T21:17:00.000-07:00

Sir, I don't want to argue with you

2008-09-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

Have you faced this statement when you try to say something to the other person usually at the stores, customer service and other such places? After my transmission problems, Honda gave me a rental car and asked me to pick it up from Hertz. I rented the car. Initially Honda said it would talke about 4 days to get the transmission and replace it. So I thought I will rent the car. But Honda got the part immediately and replace it the next day. So I dropped the car back at rental. I drove about 5 miles with the rental car. I said that I will fill the gas when returned. Since it was just 5 miles I ignored it, my bad. I went to Hertz and handed over the key. He checked the gas and said that I have to pay $10 for it. He said its $7 refilling fee and $3 for the gas. I asked him why is it $3 for 5 miles and he says its not just 5 miles, it would take at least a gallon of gas. Then I asked him to give me the key back and he said once I give him the key its his car and he cannot give it back to me. Then I asked him "If I had a big dent in the car and you took the key back, will you just say its your car and not charge me anything?". Thats when he said, "Sir, I don't want to argue with you". Its clear he made a wrong statement. I paid him $10. But it was funny how 5 miles could translate to a gallon?

Transmission Problems with my Honda

2008-09-26T21:21:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago when I was driving, the car suddenly stopped at the signal and would not move. D4 light started blinking and it did not stop whatever I did. The shifting was very hard and everytime from stop to start would make a loud noise. Finally there was engine check light on. I took the car to the dealer and he said that there is some sensor thats gone bad. He could not see any shifting problems. I drove with the technician and could not reproduce the problem. He said that once I replace the sensor I should not see further problems. I asked him to replace it. He said that he does not have the part and asked me to leave the car and he can replace it the next day. The next day he saw the problem that I explained him earlier. Finally he said that its the transmission issue and Honda has a known issue with 1999 - 2001 cars. If you have one of this model and see D4 light blinking take it to Honda. Honda replaces is for free till 100,000 miles or 7 years from the date of purchase. Recently I checked Honda Owners website and it was prominently displayed there. It said that if you see D4 light blinking then its transmission issue. I donot understand why the dealer did not see this the first time I took the car, even though I mentioned the issue.

Trip to Oakland Zoo

2008-09-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

We went to Oakland Zoo today. We were planning on SFO zoo, Monterey Aquarium and Oakland Zoo for the weekend and finally decided on the last one. We went in very late at about 12PM. So we could not see much of the zoo. Nikila was awake till 4PM and after that could not control her sleep. She wanted to see elephant but could not see. We saw a very few animals on the whole. Nikila also could not go on the rides as she was an inch shorter than the required height limit.

Nikila turns 2

2008-08-31T21:23:00.000-07:00

Nikila completed 2 years on the 28th of this month. We had a small get together at our home this weekend. When we were fixing the "Happy Birthday" banner on her birthday, she was very excited looking at that and starting shouting happy birthday. She said cake and imitated blowing candle. When we cut cake she was happy this time and she even gave us a piece of cake.

Nikila's photos after 23 months

2008-08-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

I uploaded some photos that I shot during that last month.

Painting of our house

2008-08-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

We had our house painted this weekend. We hired Durable Painting and they did an amazing job. We only did the living room and the kitchen and they finished it in one day from 7AM till almost 8PM.

Nikila shows us restaurant

2008-08-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

We went to Fresh Choice today. As soon as we parked, Nikila showed us the restauarant with her hand and started shouting "aam aam" and pointed her hand towards her mouth. We were surprised on how she remembers this. We were enjoying this and then she showed us another thing. We stopped near red light on the road and she started shouting "phone hello" by pointing her hand outside towards AT&T store. The store was closed and she could not see any phones. To test this we drove by another store and even there she started saying "phone hello". It was surprising and we enjoyed this a lot.

iPhone (Edge)

2008-07-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

My friend at work has an iPhone (the first version) and he upgraded it to 3G this weekend. I asked him if he can sell the old one to me at a lower price and he gave it to me. Thanks to him for selling it to me for a lower price than the current market demand.
I put my existing SIM into this and after activation everything is working very good. I don't know if the contract is extended for 2 more years. I checked online in my account information page and as of now it does not seem to do so. Only caveat from my current account is to add data plan to it. I thought of calling AT&T to remove this plan as they may not even know that I am using iPhone. But I started using it and many applications that I downloaded use the network. So I just left it and I will see how much I use this.

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D

2008-07-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

We wanted to see this movie for the last 2 weeks. The first weekend we went to the theater but found it was showing only the 3D version. We had some doubts on how Nikila would watch this movie. Even if she does not watch, she might remove our glasses and try to play. So we came back. This weekend Nikila fell asleep by 8PM. So wanted to watch this movie. By the time we went to the theater she wake up and was very active. We thought we might have to go back home again and were thinking some thing wrong about the movie. Anyway we thought she will go back to sleep soon and purchased tickets. For the July 4th long weekend we saw a few movies and Nikila did not create any problems there. We gave her pop corn and she was eating it. This time she was very excited just seeing the pop corn. We bought a small pack and she did not eat anything. She watched the movie for a few minutes and slept.
Coming the movie it would have been worse if we did not see the 3D version. The movie itself is nothing spectacular but the 3D made it very good. It was fun watching full length feature film in 3D after a long time. Though I don't like some 3D effects like Dinosaur splitting on you etc, we enjoyed it. Nikila make some comments while watching. When the characters are falling she shouts "Padipotundi" and when there is an accident or spilling of juice she says "Ayyo". Its nice she enjoys the scenes that she understands.

Some of Nikila Photos After 22 Months

2008-07-22T21:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of Nikila that I shot after she came back from India. Nowadays when I take camera, for a few shots she gives stills and says to herself "SIME" and gives a big smile.

Circus in San Jose

2008-07-18T21:46:00.000-07:00

There was circus from Circus Vargas group at Oakridge Mall San Jose. Its been a long time since we have been to Circus. The last time I remember seeing Circus was in Nellore when I was in 6th or 7th class. Also wanted to check how Nikila might enjoy it. We booked tickets for Friday 7.30PM show. The tent was not full and there was lot of availability. Before the circus started, there was some games for children in the ring. But we were a bit late and by the time we went there the games were almost over. Nikila jumped right in to the ring to play. I was a bit surprised about this as usually she takes some time to get adjusted to the environment. Even when circus was going on, Nikila always wanted get into the ring. Surprisingly there were no animals in the show. I was a bit disappointed with this as I thought Nikila might enjoy animals. On the whole it was a good show.

Kids Day at Juniper

2008-07-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Today was Kids day at Juniper. This is the first time I took Nikila to office. There were activities for kids older than 8 years. I knew Nikila would not have anything there, but just wanted to take her. Every kid is given a badge with a photo on it. Nikila likes my badge and plays with it everyday. So I wanted to get one with her photo on it. She played well in the grass but whenever someone goes near her she feels shy and some times started crying.

Neelima and Nikila back in US

2008-06-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

After a long 4 month trip to India, Neelima and Nikila are back in US. Nikila changed a lot and talks a lot now. She learnt lots of words and sometimes even though she does not know correct words she tries to express them somehow. She plays with blocks, scratches on the Doodle Pro, plays with 2 rhymes she acts too.
In the airport I was thinking how she would react once she saw me. She was shy but jumped on me immediately. She did not talk to me but was smiling a lot. I was very very happy seeing them after a long time. Nikila likes Jalsa songs and whenever I say Jalsa, she holds my hand and takes me near iHome to play the song. Once the song starts she tries to dance. There is lot of things to write here and these are few things. I could not even gather my thoughts and a page would not be enough to write about her new things she learnt. I uploaded some pictures shot in India during my brother's marriage. I did not have any information to write about in the last 3 months. Without Nikila here there is nothing much to update anyway.

Back in US

2008-03-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

I came back to US alone and in the evening I felt very lonely at home. I did not sleep the whole afternoon. Evening when I was feeling sleepy Bharani took me out. So I expect I should not be facing any jet lag.
Nikila adjusted to the climate very well. She had no problems at all during this one month. While going we took 6 bottle of water and nothing else. The first we week we gave her the water we took and after that started giving the water at home. She started talking and though does not speak words yet, answers everything that we ask and even comes to us and start talking some thing. She uses phone a lot and walks around talking seriously and laughing some times in between. She sits in the balcony and empties a bucket full of water. When some one is going out the door she says "tata" and waves her hand. While driving in the car or auto, she keeps on waving her hand and say tata to everyone on the road. I just need to keep thinking of all these things for the next few days, till she comes here.
As for ourselves, we ate pani pooris and chats few times. We did not eat as much as we thought we would. Shopped around for a while. Most of the time is spent on marriage and trips. On the whole this is a very nice trip. I did not even know how a month has gone by.

Gamyam

2008-03-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

Today we watched 'Gamyam'. Its a nice movie and all of use liked it. We watched this in Rajadhani theater in Dilsukh Nagar. I was surprised by a few things here. First when we bought tickets, a photograph was shot and printed on the ticket. It has a bar code on it. When entering the theater, the person scanned the ticket, verified the photograph and allowed us in. Inside the seating was in 2 seater sofa. There are single seats here and there but most of them were 2 seaters. It was nice watching a movie in a good theater.

Very busy last 3 weeks

2008-03-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

Its been very busy in the last 3 weeks, with arrangements for marriage, marriage, trips to Tirupathi and Nellore. And after all of this, need to clean house, do the laundry. Its been very tiring. And my return journey is in the next week. So its running again, shopping and packing. Neelima and Nikila decided to stay back for few more days. So it will be myself back to US alone.

Trip to Nellore

2008-03-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

After the Kalyanam at Tirupathi, we started to Nellore to visit Jonnawada. We started from Tirupathi in the evening and reached Nellore by night. The road was awesome. We stopped at a dhaba on the way (Reliance A1 Plaza) and had dinner there. The food was good and the dhaba was clean and neatly maintained. It was hot in Nellore. We went to Narasimha Konda and Jonnawada. The roads to these places are bad. Some of us got stomach upset during the journey. After visiting these temples, few of us stayed back and few went to Kovvur beach. They did not have much time there as we booked our return tickets to Tirupathi the same evening. Finally back to Hyderabad after 4 days. It was nice journey.

Our trip to tirupathi

2008-02-27T21:38:00.000-08:00

Today we started our Tirupathi trip. Our 2 families included 9 people and it was fun travelling with big group. My brother Kalyan and his wife Swathi wanted to walk to Tirumala. We wanted to do the same but was not sure whether Nikila would adjust with our parents. We decided we would walk and left Nikila with our parents. We started at around 11AM and reached there by 5PM. It took a long time. We were taking lots of breaks on the way and ate a lot: Mangoes, Pine Apples, Chips, Bajjis etc. The weather was good and there was nice breeze all the way to the hills. We were 5 of us and spent time talking, singing. Neelima even had a nice nap after walking the first hill.

My brother's marriage

2008-02-24T21:35:00.000-08:00

Today is my brother's Kalyan marriage. Its been busy last week with shopping, getting things done for the marriage etc. All our relatives came in yesterday and it was nice to see all of them. Last night was "Edurukollu" (ఎదురుకోళ్ళు). The marriage hall was big and nice. Nikila had fun running in the marriage hall. There were more than 1000 photos shot. I will upload some of these once I sort them out.

Trip to India and advance parole document issues

2008-02-15T21:34:00.000-08:00

My brother is getting married on 24th of February and so we planned to travel to India. Our H1 visa stamping expired and have not yet received our advance parole document. Neelima was planning to go 2 months before the marriage so she can spend some time in India. But we were waiting for our AP and did not get it till the last minute. We did not want to go to Chennai in our tight schedule. Finally our AP was approved on the last day. Our lawyers said that they can Fedex the document and so we left to India with the approval.
We booked tickets on Singapore Airlines. Last time we travelled on KLM but preferred SIA this time for few reasons. KLM does not give bassinet for Nikila as she is more than 1 year now. The baggage limitation is 50lbs. SIA gave us bassinet and its bigger than what we got in KLM and baggage is 70lbs. Nikila had no problem during the flight and was asleep all the way to Hyderabad. We reserved the hotel in Singapore during our transit and she slept all the time in the transit also. On the whole she was awake for 2 - 3 hours only.

Nikila completes 17 months

2008-01-28T21:33:00.000-08:00

Nikila completes 17 months today. She learnt a few things this month. We have mattress in our living room and when we shout "jump" she gets on the mattress and steps down and gives a cunning smile. If we shout "run" she runs and puts her head down while running. She knows how to check her weight. She takes the weighing machine, stands on it and waits till the numbers on it change as if she knows how to read it. Some times when we ask her to check weight she does this by her self.

My Macworld 2008 Experiences

2008-01-15T21:32:00.000-08:00

I went to Macworld 2008 conference today. This is the first time ever I attended any conference. I woke up at 2.30AM in the morning and was at San Francisco Moscone Center by 5:00AM. But there were lots of people by that time for 9AM start. The representatives there said that we cannot make it to the main conference hall and will be seated in a room that has like TV feed and can watch it on the TV monitors. We were very disappointed by this news. It was cold in the morning and waiting in the lines for 4 hours was difficult. Finally we could enter the TV room by 9.30 half an hour late. It was good experience. We spent there looking at all the exhibits and were there till 5PM. We can make it to the conference only if we stand there in the lines by midnight. There is VIP and Platinum pass that guarantees seat. All in all it was nice experience.

Nikila's 2nd Bhogi

2008-01-14T21:30:00.000-08:00

Here are Nikila's photos for her 2nd Bhogi. Neelima made some specials that day. We bought Cherries.

Our trip to Reno

2007-12-28T17:36:00.000-08:00

I was off for the 3 days after Christmas and we went to Reno. We planned to go to Lake Tahoe, but it was very costly there. So at about afternoon time we decided to go to Reno. It started snowing on our way and Nikila was cranky and vomitted. I hated for a while for taking decision so late, it was dark and I forgot to take my car chains. Finally we reached Reno at 7PM. We stayed at Grand Sierra Resort (previously called Hilton). I recommend this hotel. It was huge and cheap and has many amenities, lik bowling, kids games, cinema etc. They are planning to open water park. The receptionist gave us a suite room. The room was huge and Nikila enjoyed running around in the room. We never went out from the hotel as we went there underprepared. We stayed there for 2 nights.

Some more Nikila's 15 month photos

2007-12-25T17:34:00.000-08:00

I shot some more photos of Nikila yesterday. I added them to Nikila's 15 Month Album.

Juniper Christmas Party

2007-12-14T17:32:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos that I shot during our Christmas Party this year. Nikila was running around the entire hall. There was lot of noise and crowd but Nikila had fun.

Nikila's 15 Month photos

2007-12-09T17:30:00.000-08:00

I added Nikila's 15 months photos to Nikila's album. Nikila fed with me some mango slices, reading book very seriously and playing with Sravya and Sai.

Nikila's 15 Month Appointment

2007-12-04T15:44:00.000-08:00

Nikila had 15 month checkup today. She got 4 shots: 3 vaccines and 1 flu shot. She measured 33in and weighed 23lbs. On the height side she is into 99% on the chart.

Nikila's Tent

2007-11-29T17:29:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago we went to Ikea and got a small tent for Nikila and put it in our living room. These are some of the pictures in her tent.

Nikila completes 15 months

2007-11-29T15:45:00.000-08:00

Nikila completes 15 months. She got 2 teeth lower side and started getting the 3rd one the top. She learnt to climb down the stairs. She walks up the stairs very fast and then crawls down slowly. She responds to "No" and stops doing things when I shout "No".

Nikila Completes 14 months, our visit to half moon bay

2007-10-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

Nikila completed 14 months today. Yesterday we went to Half Moon Bay. There was huge traffic slow down (about 45 mins) as we approached Half Moon Bay. Nikila was initially reluctant to play in the sand. When I picked handful of sand and let her touch it, she did it with just one finger to get a feel. After that she tried to grab some and eat it. When I put her down in the sand and play she had so much fun. She would take the sand throw it and wants to run. She fell many times walking on the sand but does not care. It was nice watching her do all these things. On top of all this, the weather was awesome. I have rarely been to Half Moon Bay when weather was this good. But on the way back home, she vomitted a lot. May be it was due to a cookie that she tried to eat. I did not take my camera, so no pictures. I shot a few of them on my mobile. Need to check how good they are.

Some more Nikila's 13 month photos

2007-10-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

Nikila likes the musical chair she got for her birthday a lot. As soon as she finishes eating food, she gets on to it. Nowadays she started standing on it and shouting. As usual when I take my camera to shoot, she does not pose. But after a few days she starts posing. Yesterday when I was shooting, she was shouting a lot.

Nikila's 13 Month Photos

2007-10-07T17:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of Nikila after 13 months. There is a funny photo where she tries to somersault but cannot do it. She finally gave me a pose like that. Earlier whenever I take a camera to shoot her like that she would not do it again. I added a few more photos into her 12 month album. There is one where she holds a broom stick and tries to sweep the room. I shot these on the last day and before she turned 12 months. Here is the link to the pictures.

Nikila Completes 13 Months

2007-09-28T15:48:00.000-07:00

Nikila completed 13 months today. I don't have any photos yet. Will shoot some pictures in the first week of October. She might have just started teething now. Last night she pulled my hand and put it in her mouth and it was sharp. That's how I can feel that she might have started teething. There is nothing visible yet as of now.

Nikila Enjoys at Great Mall

2007-09-16T15:49:00.000-07:00

We went to Great Mall today to use an expiring store card. Yesterday we got shoes for Nikila from Babiesrus. She initially had difficult woalking with them but finally got grip on how to do it and she had major fun walking in the mall. We went there in the evening so there wasn't much crowd there as it the mall closes at 8PM on Sunday. She does a funny thing. At home she walks from one end to the other and comes back. She does the same in the mall even though there is no need to do that. She would walk about 20 steps and then wants to go back. That was very funny looking at her at that time. She now does not want to sit in the stroller. Either we need to carry her and let her walk. Finally she got tired and settled in the stroller. In the stroller she put her legs up and was shouting. This is the first time we let her walk outside the house. Now we can do it more often.

Nikila's 12 Month Checkup

2007-09-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

Nikila has 12 month checkup today. Everything was good. She measured 31 in and weighed 22.65lb. On the height she is on 90% and weight she moved into 75%. She also got 2 new shots today: MMRV and Hep A. She fell asleep by the time she got shots. That was very good for us. It would have been very difficult to hold her if she was awake. Ofcourse she woke up as soon as she got the first shot. The second one was on hand. But she became quiet after a minute and was active the whole day yesterday. MMRV said that it can cause fever/rashes with in 30 days. So we just need to monitor for that. Last week she had high fever, but no problems of any kind as she was very active during that fever too.

Nikila enjoys in swing

2007-09-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

Our friends Krishna and Sai moved into their new house in Fremont last month. Finally we got time to visit them today. There is a park in front of their house and Nikila enjoyed the swing a lot. She did last time in Bayland's park.

Nikila in her Car

2007-09-09T17:09:00.000-07:00

Nikila enjoyed the ride in her new converitible car. In the morning we went on walk today and she was shouting a lot. May be she is nearer to the ground and so is not afraid unlike in the stroller.

Nikila's 1st Birthday Party

2007-09-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated Nikila's 1st Birthday party at Mayuri Indian Restaurant in Santa Clara. We reserved this hotel 2 months ago as this is pretty busy and not available most of the weekends. 2 weeks before the party we purchased all the goodie bags for kids. We got balloons from Lucky and Party America. Bharani and Smitha helped us decorate the hall. They went to the hotel at 10 AM and finished the decoration. We ordered Strawberry cake from Bijan Bakery. They picked up the cake from the bakery. Nikila was asleep in the morning and woke up on time by 12PM. We bought birthday dress for her from Little Angels. We cut the cake around 2PM. After cutting the cake every one popped the party poppers and Nikila started crying a lot for the sound. She did not stop crying for a long time after this. She fell asleep after a while. After coming home she was happy and started shouting again. She was afraid of the crowd too, seeing so many people at once after waking up. Thank you all for attending the party and wishing our little girl. I uploaded the video to Google Videos. Here is the link to the video. Its about 10 minutes.

Booster Seat for Nikila

2007-09-02T17:06:00.000-07:00

We bought booster seat for Nikila today. We looked at buying this one a few weeks back but postponed it as we wanted to wait till she completes 1 year. We went to Baby's'rus and talked to the agent there. We were looking at convertible seat and he suggested we do not need that as she is already one year old. We don't know why we were looking at the convertibles. The model we were looking for is Evenflo. It was not available here and went to Toysrus. They had a coupon for 10 dollars and we finally got it for 84 dollars with a 5 dollar coupon that we had. Nikila was happy the first time she sat in that as she could see outside while driving in the car. I have to wait and see how she would feel in the new seat. The main concern for us is how she can sleep in that seat.

Nikila's 1st Birthday at Home

2007-08-28T17:05:00.000-07:00

My cousins came from Fremont today and we had a small celebration at home for Nikila's first birthday. We got a Guava Cake from Bijan on Sunday. We cut it today. Nikila was almost about to sleep by the time my cousins came in. Then she became very active and started playing a lot with Abhi and Twinky. After having cake we went to Sitara for dinner. Today was also Rakhi. My sister tied rakhi to me and Neelima tied rakhi to my cousin. Its been a long time since I got rakhi.

Nikila turns 1, Happy 1st Birthday Nikila

2007-08-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

Nikila completes 1 year today. Happy 1st Birthday to Nikila. Its been amazing and very fast 1 year. We did not even know that its been a year. Every week flies by just watching her do things. She can walk very comfortably now. Most of the times she walks now with very less overall crawling. I have been planning to create a big image with all her nice photos one from every month, but did not have enough time to do this. I want to do it atleast in this weekend.