Happy Halloween Everybody!

Look what my cousins made for me!!!

Yesterday my cousins Akaash and Noah came to stay with their parents (my Mama and Mammy, Uncle Raj and Aunty Hannah).  The boys are a bit older than me and I was scared that they might knock me over when they were playing especially because Akaash was worried that my crying would wake him up at night.  I needn’t have worried though as they were very kind to me and brought me lots of presents.  Aunty Hannah (Mammy) also made Mummy and Daddy some Lasagne so overall it was a very happy household!

First of all we went to the park.  It was the first time for a few days that Mummy and I had left the house so it was really nice to get out.  Mummy said that she enjoyed it as well and now promises to take me out every day.  She says that she had got stuck in a bit of a rut feeding me all of the time and looking after the house.  I’m not sure about parks to be honest.  They seem to make people act all crazy.  Aunty Hannah couldn’t resist and ended up playing on everything.  She particularly liked the roundabout.

Mummy and Daddy have noticed that after I have been out of the house I really relax.  Also I get really hungry.  They say that it is really good for me to get some fresh air.  When we got home I was completely wiped out.  Akaash and Noah made sure that nothing disturbed me and that I could get some sleep.

I’m too young to go trick or treating so the boys left today to go home so that they could go.  I hope that in a few years I can join them.  They didn’t leave me empty handed though – they carved me a pumpkin with my name in it.  I am so lucky to have cousins like that.  Mummy and Daddy were also really pleased to have Mama and Mammy over as well.  They say that I might suffer from Colic, and Mammy showed them a really good position to hold me in.  I don’t think I have Colic.  I think that Mummy needs to stop eating weird processed food as it makes my milk taste funny.

Daddy wanted to compile a list of the most useful things to have for a newborn.  One of the things that he says has come in handy is the nappy bin.  He does want to know whether people recycle the cassettes.  He doesn’t want to throw them away and doesn’t really trust that Tower Hamlets recycles anything.  Do any other the other parents know what they do with these?

Big hunk of plastic.

Brush with the beautician.

Yesterday my Mummy had some beauty treatments at home with her friend Tedy. Tedy is a beautician who operates all around London and has been doing a variety of treatments on my Mum for a while.  Mummy told me that once she arranged for Daddy to have a pedicure so he raced home from work.  At the same time he needed to sign some legal documents so the law firm sent a trainee to the house with all of the papers.  Daddy was scared that the lawyer would see him at home with his feet out being varnished!

Anyway Tedy was very nice to me and said that in her culture (Bulgaria) when you meet a new baby you need to give them a coin or gold for wealth and prosperity, so Tedy gave me a coin.  I slept with it in my crib.  Its funny that in Hindu culture we have a similar culture.  For some reason Daddy seemed to forget when he saw me. Mummy thinks that he just didn’t get around to it, but Daddy says that when he heard I was a girl he started worrying about how much I was going to cost him in the future and so he didn’t want to give me any ideas.

Anyway you can see me and Tedy here.

We had to pose three times for this!

Mummy says I am too young for beauty treatments, but it seems odd given that I regularly have massages and even my nails filed.  You tell me, when you look like this do you need beauty treatments?

I do look a little startled though don’t I?

One of the things that I wanted to know is what other mothers use for their babies skin.  If you have any tips please either message me or write in the comments.

Have a good day everybody!

Poogate – Panipuri – I don’t know what it is but I like it!

Mummy and Daddy were very worried about me because for about six days I did not poo.  As you know after a baby is born for a few days we expel meconium.   It is not very nice to look at but for those who really want to know more you can find it here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meconium

Actually my Daddy had a plan before I was born that he would be so rubbish at changing nappies that Mummy would have to do them all.  However after my birth in the middle of the night he saw that Mummy was really tired so changed my nappy so now Mummy knows that he can do it fine.

What people don’t tell you about newborns is that once the Meconium is gone you don’t know when the next poo is going to come.  For some babies it is straight away, but for others it can be days.  Mummy and Daddy were very worried because I didn’t poo for a good few days.  The Midwife said that after three days they should take me to hospital.  Mummy and Daddy thought that would be pretty drastic so they decided to try other methods.  They called it the wait and see method.  Daddy also wanted to watch Liverpool play Hull so decided to use creative accounting to persuade Mummy to wait a little bit longer.  In the meantime Tama and Dadu decided to take matters in to their own hands.

Tama fed me some water with sugar.  This did nothing but tasted amazing.  Dadu however went and bought Mummy some Panipuri.  For those that don’t know what they are you can read more here.  Mummy loves them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panipuri

Maybe it was coincidence, but I like to put it down to the combination of Tamarind, and spice.  Either way the gates opened and out came this!

Look away if you are squeamish!

You can see from my face that I am confused here.  The thing is, I obviously like pooping, because since the I have been doing it every day.  Sometimes I’ll do it a couple of times a day.  Once I did it whilst Mummy was feeding me.  It made lots of sound and Daddy had to wash my clothes straight afterwards.  He decided to take a shower straight afterwards and then gave me a bath.

One thing that I have noticed though is that when Mummy eats something rubbish like spicy noodles, I get lots of wind.  I don’t like wind and it makes my face go funny but everyone laughs and says that I am smiling.  Daddy says that they don’t know what they are talking about.  Also when I get wind this happens.

Anyway I hope everyone has a nice day.  Over the next few days I plan to go shopping and to see my cousins Akaash and Noah.  I can’t wait to meet them!

Meeting my other grandparents.

So far in my blogs I have only talked about meeting Dadu and Dida.  During the time of my birth my paternal grandparents Tama and Dadu were ill. Tama had some sort of virus and Dadu had a cold.  Daddy sent Tama a video of me from when I was born and Tama says that she spent every day watching it and every night staring at her computer screen.  That sounds like a nice way of getting over a virus.  Tama and Dadu had seen me on Skype but of course I haven’t been able to see them properly.  As you may know

“Newborns can only see blurry shapes because they are very nearsighted. At birth, a newborn’s vision is between 20/200 and 20/400. Your baby’s best vision is about 8 to 12 inches away. As babies grow, vision improves so that by the end of 3 months they can recognise familiar faces even at a distance.”

The biggest problem for me with Skype is that whenever I am on there people just shout Lori, Ellora, and then things like “Guntaloo” at me.  They also always do it at the same time so I can’t tell who is talking.  Frankly if this is what Skype is – I’m out.  My Mummy’s side of the family are addicted to Skype so that is big news.  Daddy once said that they were so used to Skyping each other that once they had a family reunion and instead of talking over the dinner table they all get their tablets out and Skyped each other.

There is some kind of tradition that when people see me they need to give me gold.  So please keep that in mind when you come to visit.  Anyway here are my grandparents:

I’ve also managed to sneak in a photo of Mummy in the picture below.

Mummy looking more human.

Here is one of me with my Dadu.  He doesn’t like to hold me upright so I don’t have many of these.  He prefers to lay me down on his lap.  He says he likes the neck position better.

Some people call him the cat.

Daddy sometimes calls Dadu the “Cat”.  He says it is because his likes to curl up to sleep during the day.  I like to sleep a lot as well.  Maybe I am a cat too.

Here is my Dida.  She was very happy to see me and she even stopped trying to give me other names as well.  I think she tried to convince my parents to call me something else, but they ignored her.

Hmm…. how can I change your name?

Here is one of me on my own.  Sometimes a girl needs space.

Its good to just chill.

Watching football and giving my wheels a quick spin.

After my bath last night I wasn’t allowed to go out as it was dark and everyone was scared that I would catch a cold.  Daddy therefore waited until the following day to take me out.  He said that we were trying out my new wheels.  I think he meant my pram.  I took the teddies that Kaka gave me as well so that they would keep me warm, and also because I was a little bit scared as I haven’t really been out before (other than on the way back from the hospital).  I think that in some countries babies don’t leave the house for one month!  One month!  I think I would go mad if I didn’t get to go out.

Daddy took me all the way to the local Indian supermarket. He was buying some batteries for my bouncer so that he wouldn’t have to shake it with his foot.  I think he was looking for some other things as well but he could not find them there.  In the shop the woman asked Daddy if she could look at me, and she said that I was very cute because I was very small.  Also on the way back some of the men who work near our house had a look at me.  One of them cuts hair and has cut Daddy’s hair before.  Daddy says that the man also cuts Sharukh Khan’s hair, as well as a number of other celebrities because he has pictures of them outside his salon.  Mummy says that it is not true because Bollywood and Hollywood superstars don’t make the trip to a Bangladeshi guy in Canary Wharf to get their hair cut.  Also she won’t allow Daddy to cut his hair there any more as she says that he is not very good.  Daddy calls it a no frills haircut.  Anyway the men stopped smoking when they saw me, which Daddy was happy about as he says that babies aren’t supposed to be exposed to smoke.

Daddy also sat me in front of his computer to watch a game called football today.  He said that there was a problem with the satellite dish in our block so he couldn’t watch it on TV and had to watch in on the internet instead.  I watched Liverpool (Daddy’s team) play against Queens Park Rangers.  I like the name Queens Park Rangers and as a London girl think I should support a local team.  Daddy says that I would not be allowed home if I did, so I support Liverpool.  They have a new striker called Mario Balotelli, who is not very good.  Liverpool won the match 3-2, but Daddy said it was very lucky.

Mario not Fantastico!

Dadu wants me to put more photos in to my blog, so the next ones might have a few more photos.  In the meantimes here is a little selfie of Daddy and me!

The match was getting a little boring.

Have a good day everybody!

A day of firsts – first bath and first presents.

So I’ve been home for a while now.  Its nice here as there is a lot going on.  People are around and are picking me up and holding me.  Also I seem to have lots of new things that Mummy and Daddy have bought for me.  I’m still getting used to the lights and the different smells – my Dida has been cooking some Indian food and sometimes it makes me smell.  This is probably why she gave me a bath.

Before I had the bath I saw Mummy, Daddy, Dida and Dadu all putting their elbows in to the water.  Daddy had something that he called a “thermometer” which he put in to the bath.  He said that the temperature was fine.  Everyone else said it was too hot, so they put some cold water in.  It was then too cold.  Daddy was right.  Daddy says that people can learn about the “thermometer” here if they wish.

And he promises to write a good review so other Mum’s and Dad’s don’t get their elbows wet!

Anyway the first that I really liked today was when my Uncle (remember he is my Kaka!) bought me some presents.  He gave me a card which my Mummy read for me.  For some reason on the card he wrote my name as Ellori.  I thought he was being smart, but it turned out it was just a mistake.  Luckily for the hat he bought for me, he had my proper name printed on it.

So Bunti Uncle (I really think Kaka is better) in his card referred to my toys as Micky, Minnie and Goofy.  As you the eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted, it was in fact Pluto rather than Goofy!  Nonetheless, I love my toys and I have them in my bassinet watching over me whilst I sleep.

Thank you Bunti Kaka and Dida for the toys and the bath.  Also thank you to Uncle Alastair and Aunty Sarah for my bouncer that you will have seen in the video.  I can’t wait to see you and give you a big kiss in person.  I’m very tired now so I have to sleep.  Goodnight.

Sleeping in my bouncer

My name, coming home from hospital and my first visitor all in one day.

As most of you know my name is Ellora.  I was named after the faces in India, which are Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples carved many years ago.  You can find more information on them here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellora_Caves

My Mummy and Daddy call me Lori for short.  I suppose it is because it flows from Ellora, but also because it means lullaby in Hindi.  I’m sure when I cry it sounds like a lullaby to them!

I told you on another post about my Uncle (he hasn’t decided what I should call him yet – I think Kaka!), anyway he drove me home from the hospital and I was met by my Dida and Dadu.  They did a little ceremony for me before I was allowed in, where I was given some honey.  The honey is very sweet and it is supposed to mean that I will say sweet things.  With those and my lullabies I think my parents might want me to go on X-Factor!

For those of you who weren’t able to make the trip with us or see the ceremony I’ve added a short clip below.

Shortly afterwards my Uncle’s friend Mo came to visit.  He was my first official visitor.  He and my Uncle go to something called Boot Camp.  I’m told it is a fitness thing, rather than some elaborate shoe making settlement.

Dida and the competition winner!

So it turns out that some of you had a little sweepstake on when I would be born.  The winner was Mummy’s good friend Yosh.  Apparently she wins a bottle of champagne.

In my last post I promised that I would post a picture of my Dida, so here is one where she is looking very glamorous.

Dida is smiling. I am not.

Daddy told me that Dida and Dadu helped him and Mummy a lot when they were in hospital with me.  Even though he likes to pull Dida’s leg, he says that he is very grateful.  He also says that there is no chance that Yosh is getting that bottle of champagne.

My first day on earth – October 2014

So hello to all of my friends and family.  My Daddy set me up on this blog so that I can contact you all and let you know how I am getting on.  I was born at 7.47pm and weighed 6 lbs and 1 oz.  When I was born I was very hungry and was looking around for my Mummy to get something to eat.  You can see this below:

Alongside my Mummy and Daddy, my Dida, Dadu and Uncle were there to see me.  I have been attached to my Uncle ever since.  He always brings things for my Mummy and Daddy when they need it.

We are both posing for the camera!

My Dadu likes to take photos of me all of the time as well, so hopefully I should have lots to show you.

Look how happy he is to see me.

Mummy won’t let me post a picture of her because she doesn’t have make up on and is wearing a hospital nightie.  I’m also waiting for Dadu to send me a picture of Dida on my birth day.  In the meantime my Dad has let me post this photo.

Daddy looks tired!

Hopefully you all have enjoyed my first post.  I’ll write again to tell you what I have been doing in my first week on earth!