This website is a window into our lives...from our wedding day to the birth of our beautiful daughters, Tara and Mira, to our travels to our home in Santa Monica.
Have fun enjoying our gallery of online photo albums, covering our
memories and experiences with our family and friends (and a lot
more to come)!
The Change (or not) of the Season - November 3, 2006
Fall has arrived! Here in LA, the weather has dipped down to a frigid 78 degrees, the leaves are not falling, and the beaches are as crowded as ever. Some things do change significantly however! Tara is rapidly approaching 7 months and is becoming more of a handful (in a good way!) by the day. She has now incorporated a steady diet of squash, rice cereal, bananas, potatoes, and spinach into her daily meals and recently celebrated her first Halloween as a chili pepper. The last few months have seen several other milestones including learning to swim (or at least splash), talking (in her own unique language), and almost sitting up.
For our part, we are slowly but surely getting a handle on this parenting thing. Heather has returned to work (though she is fortunately able to work a few days from home each week) and has even managed to attend a few book clubs and Mommy and Me classes, in addition to ongoing board work with the Step Up Women’s Network and the ACLU. Sumant has been busy at his own job, and is looking forward to his own Daddy and Me swimming classes with Tara starting in December. We have also managed to keep some version of our previous life: walking in the 10km AIDS Walka few weeks ago, traveling regularly to the Bay Area and Tahoe, attending weddings, and even scheduling a mini-getaway to New York next week.
Through all this, we try to cherish each day we spend with Tara. As those of you who are parents know, it seems like every day Tara grows up a little bit, and we don’t want to miss any of it.
A New Chapter - July 11, 2006
This update has been long overdue, but as anyone who has been a new parent can confirm, the first few months of parenthood can present its challenges. It all started on April 6, 2006, where a standard visit to the doctor’s found us in the Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angeles just a few hours later. By the next morning, our ob/gyn had decided to go ahead with the delivery, and at 9:24am on April 7th, our beautiful daughter, Tara Alda Sridharan,was born – a full five weeks early!
The sudden early arrival threw us for quite a loop. Our nursery furniture had not as yet arrived, we were only halfway through our “happiest baby on the block” book, and most importantly we still had to mentally prepare for the fact that nice dinners out were now a distant reality! As Tara was born early, her initial four weeks were spent at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Cedars. So for four weeks, we shuttled back and forth daily to feed her, change diapers, and watch her progress. Our parents were of great help and support during this somewhat difficult time. As we drove home on the day of Tara’s release from the hospital, we continually looked at the little baby in the back of our car, happy to finally take her home, and wondering how we were going to handle this new and important responsibility for the rest of our lives!
The months since Tara has come home have passed by like a whirlwind, but we think (or at least hope!) we are getting the hang of it. She is strong-willed and alert, and has shown a high interest in all that is outdoors. Heather joined a daily morning exercise program here on the beaches of Santa Monica called “Stroller Strides,” which both mother and daughter attend regularly. At home, Heather’s mom was here for the first couple of months to help us sort out the chaos created by the unexpected early delivery – accompanying us on the daily visits to the hospital, assembling the nursery, doing a myriad of household errands, making us delicious meals every day, and of course taking care of Tara! Sumant’s parents continue to be a warm, positive influence in Tara’s life, and since they only live 20 minutes away, are always there to help at a moment’s notice.
Tara took her first plane trip a few weeks ago up to the bay area and Lake Tahoe for the Fourth of July to meet her cousins, Joe, Kate, and Marisa. She also took her first dip in a pool up in Tahoe, and absolutely loved it. Heather has gone back to work starting last week, though she is able to work from home 3 days a week, which makes the entire family happy.
Needless to say, the first three months of Tara’s life have been exciting, and we look forward to the months ahead!
Big Changes are Comin' - January 20, 2006
After an eventful (and extremely busy) 2004, we looked forward to settling into married life and getting back to our daily routine. Of course, that didn't happen. Our travels continued and we attended a number of Spring weddings including our friends Niraj and Shuchi, Jose and Kira, Jason and Jenny, and Romelia and Paul.
The close of spring also saw Sumant leave Yahoo! and take a role as Director of Product Management at Revenue.net - an online marketing company in Downtown LA.
By late August, our lives would be changed forever - we found out a baby was on the way! Immediately thereafter, we took a trip to Santa Barbara to celebrate. Though Heather managed to avoid many of the normal symptoms of early pregnancy, her first trimester was still marked by occasional tiredness.
In October, we traveled to San Francisco to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. It's always nice to be in San Francisco and this weekend was especially nice, marked by (1) our stay at the Mark Hopkins and (2) the Bruins comeback victory over the Bears.
By November, we were 1/3 of the way through our pregnancy, and Heather was beginning to show (as well as show her frustration over not being able to exercise!) We spent Thanksgiving with Heather's family in Tahoe where we found out the great news that Heather's brother Scott and wife Maggie were expecting another child (and due just 1 month after us) Next year's Thanksgiving was going to much bigger with TWO new additions to the family!
Before we knew it, the year was coming to an end, and our favorite season, the holidays, was upon us. Our holiday season was kicked off with the Red Party, our annual get-together which was a great opportunity to see all of our friends. A year that was supposed to be a "back to the usual" affair, was anything but, but you won't hear us complaining. During December, we found out we were expecting a girl. We began receiving name suggestions from everyone save the postman (and we're sure that's just because we're not home when he comes by). Well, when we decide, you'll be the first to know! We were also fortunate enough to be able to spend the Christmas weekend with both of our families. .so that was our year, certainly, we have no expectations that 2006 will be back to normal, with the expected addition.
