Hola and happy Friday!  While I’m sure I could share a lot of favorite moments from the week, I honestly don’t have the brain power to type them all out.  I will say though that along with all the good, the week was exhausting.  But that’s expected since my mom left, and we don’t have an extra pair of hands to help out.  What does help is keeping things simple.  As much as I want to be at times, I’m not supermom/superwife, and honestly, I’m realizing there’s no need for me to be.  Simply doing the best I can is enough.

A few notable Friday favorite moments include…

Giving Kaiden a bath.  My mom was usually the one in charge of this task, but now that she’s gone, Vishnu and I tag teamed and did a pretty good job if I do say so myself.  As witnessed by Kaiden’s calm demeanor throughout. 🙂

I made some delicious peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal balls.  No recipe.  No measurements.  They turned out pretty good.  Just oats, chia seeds, coconut flour, salt, peanut butter, honey, and chocolate chips.

When I walked into the kitchen at 10 pm, Vishnu told me to chill out.  We were both confused for very different reasons.  He didn’t understand why I was pulling out ingredients to make something that late at night instead of relaxing, and I didn’t understand why he wanted me to be hungry!

After Kaiden’s two month visit, we treated ourselves to donuts.  Because shots.  Our little guy was a true champ and cried for literally a few minutes before falling asleep.  While I didn’t bawl, I teared up and probably made the nurse feel really bad.  Thank goodness both Vishnu and my sister were there.  It truly takes a village!

Vishnu’s off this weekend! YAYAYAYAYAYA!  We don’t have any major plans except brunch on Saturday.  We definitely need to soak up the good weather before it starts getting cold.  Don’t even want to think about it!  Brrrr…

And as always, here are a few of my favorite links from the week…

Very fitting lessons and quotes for what our country (and the world) is currently going through

Only 8 weeks in, and I agree with almost all of these!

LOL!

Yes please

Great interview – “Habits of the mind far outweigh habits of the body. How you think is everything. Everything.”

Everything I would say to my own mom.  “I know that all mothers sacrifice themselves for their children, but immigrant mothers are unique in this way because their sacrifice has taken them across continents, away from their network of support, into unfamiliar lands and foreign values.”

As a food lover, I found this super interesting.

Brene Brown is one of my favorite people.  Everything she says/writes is pure gold.

Super interesting article about the power of our thoughts on how we metabolize what we eat.

Simple but true!

I’m determined to make these muffins this weekend

Things do get better in two week increments.  I can vouch for that!

And with that, have a wonderful Friday and weekend!

Hello friends and hello Friday!

This past week was a good one.  Nothing too exciting happened, yet the week felt productive and smoother than the past couple (except when Kaiden had major gas pains for a day…which equaled major fussiness).  However, the thing I now understand about parenthood is to expect the unexpected and take each day as it comes, so next week I may be singing a different tune.  But I’ll take a good few days when I get them!

Let’s see…what else.  We ate some really good food this week – homemade pav bhaji, loaded nachos, and RPM!  My mom’s been wanting to try the former for over a year now, and the only reservation time available was 9:30 pm.  A little late if you ask us, so we ordered in some RPM, and it was DELICIOUS!

Kaiden’s social security card arrived this week, and I also picked up his birth certificate from the country office.  Vishnu and I were probably a little too excited to receive these two documents, especially his birth certificate because it very officially states that we are his parents!

My aunt and cousin (my mom’s younger sister and her son) are in town for a wedding and were able to sneak away for a few hours to visit Kaiden.  It never gets old seeing the people I’m closest to meet K for the first time.

My mom’s time with us is coming to an end soon. 🙁  Of course, this brings with it a ton of emotions.  Tuesday night was particularly rough for some reason.  However, after seeing/talking to a few friends on Wednesday, I felt a bit better and more upbeat.  It’s amazing what a few really good people can do.

This weekend already feels like it will be fairly low key.  Vishnu works both tonight and Sunday (boo!), so that’s that.  Other than that, we have a fun birthday celebration to attend on Saturday for Thea!  We’re going to karaoke but you likely wont’ find me behind the mike.  Kaiden is the only one who enjoys my voice, and honestly, who knows how long that will last!

Check out my favorite links from the week…

My talented friend Aparna took this picture, and it’s beautiful!

Love everything about this article!

Kindness always wins…always

Love me some Eckhart Tolle

I’ll admit, I’m guilty of a few of these (but now I know better!)

Goosebumps!

So much yum. I need to make the Skinny Banana Chocolate Chip muffins soon (as in this weekend)

How delicious do these smoothies look?

I constantly think about this and how to maintain a good balance with Kaiden

Have a great weekend!

Up until this point, I’ve been blogging fairly regularly.  That’s probably because Kaiden’s sleep patterns have been pretty predictable.  This week turned out to be the one where I ate all my words about my sleeping angel and his ever improving sleep habits.  He’s still my angel, but because of a likely 6 week growth spurt, he’s fussier than usual which equates to sleep times and feedings that are a bit all over the place. Needless to say, Vishnu and I are pretty exhausted.  Vishnu put it best a couple of days ago when he said he feels perpetually tired.  Yep, that pretty much explains it!

When I think about this phase of life, I think about something I said to Vishnu when we got married.  He always felt bad about the fact that he was still in med school, not contributing financially, etc.  I told him these “hard” days will be the ones we fondly think about in the future. And guess what…they are!  Same goes for these newborn days.  I have no doubt that years from now both Vishnu and I will look back on when Kaiden was a baby and wish we could hold him in our arms and sit with him in the stillness of our apartment at 2 am!

As I’ve been told many times, babies don’t keep so enjoy this time as much as possible!

Anyways, back to my irregular blogging.  Despite having lots of ideas, I had zero energy to execute them.  I prioritized sleep/rest whenever possible (whenever possible being the key phrase here!).

With that being said, I still wanted to write my usual Friday Favorites post because I truly enjoy sharing personal tidbits and my favorite links from the week.

While this week was challenging in some ways, we did manage to have some fun!  My mom, Kaiden, and I packed up the stroller and made our way over to the Chicago Riverwalk, a beautiful new “social” path along the Chicago river.  It was so nice to be out enjoying the warm weather.  I think Kaiden appreciated us making the effort to get out too!

My sister discovered a Hindu temple walking distance from our apartment, so once again, we packed up the stroller and made our way over.  You guys!  I’m so excited because this temple is truly a sanctuary in the city.  I felt so at peace upon walking in and loved the simplicity of the space.  Once Kaiden’s a little older, I hope to make temple visits a regular thing.

I treated my mom to a massage this week.  Despite having a bad back, she’s been doing so much around the house and with Kaiden.  She’s not one to go out and treat herself, so I thought I’d take action to make sure it happened.  She truly deserves it!  And because she loved her experinece so much (big thanks to my friend Erin for the recommendation!), Vishnu and I may just be back sooner than later.  If you live in the Chicago area, check out Lillie Ann’s.

Finally, we are expecting some special visitors this weekend…my in-laws!  They haven’t seen Kaiden since he was born.  Even though they’ll be here for less than 48 hours, we hope to make the most of our time together.  Will share more about the weekend on Monday!

With that, please find some of my favorite links from the week below…

Habits of happiness that have nothing to do with positive thinking.  Something everyone can get behind!

Books for mamas who need a little inspiration

I always knew my ‘thankful thoughts’ journal was powerful tool, as it is possible to turn negative thinking around

And the restaurant city of the year is….drum roll please…CHICAGO!!!

Quality relationships are the key to happiness per a Harvard study

A very honest take on the dark days of motherhood

Lessons from Buddhist monks

One more like the above!

HAPPY FRIDAY AND WEEKEND!  Make it a great one 🙂

HELLLLLLLOOOOOO FRIDAY!

First and foremost, thank you for the positive response to my post about mom guilt.  Totally wasn’t expecting that!  Your emails, messages, etc. are what making blogging that much more of a powerful thing for me.  I’m not sure how it will work when my mom leaves and especially when I go back to work, but for now, it’s a platform for me to share my journey and hopefully help/encourage people in whatever small ways I can.  At the end of the day, that’s enough to keep me going!

Earlier in the week, I shared on Instagram that my mom was teaching me how to crochet.  Well, you can’t say she didn’t try, but you can say crocheting is not my thing (I do plan to try at least one more time before my mom leaves).  Hey, at least we got a really good laugh out of my ineptness!

Speaking of my mom still being around, I’ve been able to make quick solo trips here and there for various errands.  This week that entailed a trip to the grocery store, Costco, and Michaels.  Bliss…it’s truly the small things!  I know eventually I’ll have to figure out how to do all of this with a baby in tow, but for now, I’m taking full advantage of being able to go at it alone.  So much faster!

If you didn’t know it already, my mom’s pretty awesome.  After not following through on my grand mani/pedi plans for the past few weeks, I finally made it to the nail salon because of her.  She literally pushed me out the door knowing that was the only way I’d go.  Ha!

And last but not least, I’m excited for the weekend because we have Friday night dinner plans with new friends and a couple of Saturday visitors who will be making their way over to hang out with Mr. K.  Yahoo!

And as always, here are a few of my favorite links from the week…

OMG…this is the sweetest thing ever (and one of the most tear inducing).

These four salads look like great prep and go options (I’d obviously replace the chicken with a vegetarian protein source)

ADORABLE!

#10 – hahahaha!

The science behind feedback – super interesting

YES! – “Don’t let the motherhood soul suckers of the world take away one second of your joy of mothering. Not one single second.”  A;so, this!

Exactly what I needed to see

As a boy mom, this gave me all the feels!

Annnnnnd…that’s all I have for you today!  I hope you have a wonderful Friday and an even better weekend. 🙂

The highlight of this past week was by far my grandparents meeting their GREAT grandson!  Ba and dada (grandma and grandpa in Gujarati) flew in on Tuesday night and stayed with us through Thursday evening.  Seeing the look on their faces when they saw Kaiden for the first time is something I’ll never forget.  Ba immediately sat down, put her arms out, and asked to hold him.  I can’t wait to tell Kaiden all about this special meeting when he gets older as ba and dada are his only set of living great grandparents.

Not much can top the above, but another highlight was Kaiden’s one month appointment.  He passed with flying colors!  Also, how is my baby one month old (tomorrow)?!  Feels like I just learned about him via a positive pregnancy test yesterday.

And as far as this week’s favorite links are concerned…

Avocado mustard dressing…why have I not thought of this?!

A beautiful post and so timely 🙂

Cuteness overload!

Yes x 100

Love each and every one of these quotes

Must remember this parenting lesson

I think this list is pretty spot on…thoughts?

Veggie ‘meat’loaf for the win!

Happy Friday and weekend, friends!