March Madness

Sorry folks, this post isn't about sports!

March is here!!! March is the start of spring, though London hasn't gotten the memo yet. It's okay because I'm loving the cold weather. March is the month of Riya's half birthday and mine, Rayan's 3 month old status, and we take our first vacation of the year over Easter weekend.

Rayan has doubled his birth weight at 12.5lbs and is 23" tall. He is growing so fast and those cheeks...!

I cannot believe Riya is 2 1/2 now! So much has changed in the last 6 months. We can have conversations with her now, she sings all the time (Riya means singer, so I guess we got it right), and she's really good at saying and recognizing all the letters in the alphabet, knows all her colors, and counts to 10 but sometimes skips a few numbers, haha.

She is FINALLY over her balloon obsession. We have been balloon free for a month. Hooray!!!!! Her current obsessions are beads/bracelets, dinosaurs, and stickers. For her birthday we bought her a bead set and a dinosaur color and shape matching game. 

Now that I'm not so pregnant and Rayan is willing to nap on the go, we are trying to capitalize on this short window and check out new things over the weekends. We spent Riya's half birthday going to the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. Riya is obsessed with trains and buses, so I figured this was the perfect place to go and it was a hit. It's geared towards young children and has a small play area where they can dress up, which she loves to do lately.

We are about to start transitioning her out of her crib this weekend which is a big milestone but also makes me nervous. I really hope she catches on that she has to stay in her room sooner versus later. Wish us luck! 

Our London Anniversary

Well it came and went...over a month ago. But it will be one year at the end of March in our flat in Putney, so I'm not too far behind:)

Our first year in London has been one heck of ride. In the span of a year we traveled, played tourist in our hometown, watched Riya reach so many milestones, the biggest being her ability to talk (and yes she does have a slight accent. I'm so proud!), spent Luca's 10th birthday here, and expanded our family. I love living in a city that has different seasons. I love living in a city that is lively and cultured. And most importantly, I love sharing a zip code with the Royal family:)

Living in London has opened my eyes to a new way of life. The idea of raising small children in a big city that relied mainly on public transportation has always been unappealing to me.  Walking on the sidewalk and having people in close proximity would freak me out. I always dismissed Ram's desire to live in New York for those reasons. But here we are! I don't even notice the people anymore as I walk around. I've become another floating head lost in a sea of people. It is tricky not having a car when you have car seat and stroller bound children, especially on the weekends when you just want to jump in the car and go instead of waiting 20 minutes to finally catch a bus that can accommodate my stroller. But its a trade off.

One thing hasn't changed, I'm still at a loss for friends with kids. Usually by the one year mark we are happily settled with a new circle of friends but this city is just too spread out and I haven't connected with anyone. Honestly, I'm over it. It is unfortunate because we are so happy here but don't have that social aspect to go along with it. Its one of the few cons of expat life. We got lucky with our friendships in Aberdeen and Dubai, so I guess our luck ran out. Ram gets my daily dose of "this happened and then that" and truth be told he's probably the only person that actually cares about my day in that aspect, so I can't complain. Ram, on the other hand, may have a complaint or two!

Looking back at how small Riya was when we first arrived in our new hometown is such an eye opener. So much has changed in a year and here's to many more in London!

And here she is now, my grown up baby girl.