Our family had the pleasure of shooting with Summer Infant’s travel campaign back in May! We love Summer Infant as a company from being familiar with their products already, like their durable baby gates and adorable potty seat, but their travel collection has been amongst our favorite now. We tried their pop up play-yard, adorable pop up seats and our favorite: the 3D Pac travel stroller. It’s compact, light weight yet durable which makes the perfect travel stroller. Some of you who follow my Instagram Stories have probably noticed that we recently took it with us on our trip to Scandinavia. We’re so happy with our decision to do so, it was so convenient and took just 1 second to fold up whenever we would use public transport. It even handled the European cobblestone streets well! Now that we’re back in Los Angeles, it stays in the trunk of our car for convenient trips to the farmer’s market, promenade, aquarium and other outings. I highly recommend this stroller and all products by Summer Infant!
Shailey, our beautiful second baby girl was born on December 31, 2017 at 6:13 am. She was born in the water at home in a technically unassisted homebirth (we called the midwives a little too late and they arrived 5 minutes after she was born!). It was such a magical experience and I am just so over the moon happy with my birth. I had already felt so empowered after I gave birth naturally to Sareena 2 years prior, and now this experience felt like something out of this world. I was going to write Shailey’s birth story like I did for Sareena, but I realized there really wasn’t much to write because it happened so fast…
It was such a fast labor (less than 4 hours), my water broke after we came home from an outing at the aquarium, I started getting contractions, Sameer supported me throughout labor just like a doula, and then I was overcome by an alien force and felt my body start to push on its own(without knowing how dilated I was!). I then jumped in the pool, got on all fours and out popped Shailey’s head, and then her body followed a few minutes later and she just came right out and we plopped her right onto my chest in my arms immediately. The midwives arrived a few minutes after she was born, and it was perfect. Seriously, it was so magical just staring into the eyes of our beautiful Shailey, knowing how hard she worked to get to me. To say I felt empowered was an understatement.
But despite the copious amounts of energy I felt and the feeling as if I didn’t even give birth (I never felt sore and I didn’t really bleed much) I knew I had to respect the post-partum healing process.
I adhered very well to the first 40 days rule, as outline by this book. I made sure I ate only warming, nourishing foods that included lots of warming spices and broths and soups. In fact, I ordered a meal service from the author of this book and fell in love with her soups! I continued with the soup delivery the last few weeks of my 40 days.
But the most rewarding and I’d say vital aspect of the post partum period I did was self care. I had the most wonderful experience with Princess Doula’s Premium Belle Bind services. She started each session by applying a paste of warming spices on my belly, then gave me an amazing body massage and rub down while playing a soothing, guided meditation. She incorporated aromatherapy and gifted me with the coziest plush socks during each session to keep extra warm. After that I felt so refreshed and enlightened as each meditation was so applicable to motherhood. She then bound me in her wrap, and I instantly felt like my organs were in proper place. I did 5 sessions with her, spaced 2 days apart each session and it’s crazy what a difference these sessions made! I went from looking 5 months pregnant to pretty much completely flat after our last session.
I was soooo sad when our sessions had come to an end, Princess is such a beautiful person both inside and out and she truly taught me the importance of self care. It’s something I’ve now been working toward maintaining for life now, whether it’s as indulgent as booking a massage therapist at home once in a while, or as simple as listening to a short meditation in the morning before I start the day. Little acts of self care have made such a huge difference in my attitude and being able to handle the challenges that come with being a mom of two under two… and my girls deserve a confident, happy and relaxed mommy. I wouldn’t have taken the much needed steps toward self care if it weren’t for Princess and her incredible belle binding experience. It’s something every single mother should try! Even now, six months later, her practices have now become a regular routine with me and I couldn’t be happier to do so!
Dear little baby inside me, I want you to know: I am involved in a wonderful experience. I am having a baby, and you are that wonderful baby. I welcome this experience with such happiness. I can feel the changes taking place in my body. My womb has become a temple of joy because of you. I can feel you grow within me, and my body swells with pride. I take pleasure at the thought of your moving inside me. My life combines with yours in love. I’m preparing myself for the time you will be born. I’m carrying you with such loving pride. I feel the exciting bloom of being pregnant. I have a beautiful glow about me because you’re in my life now. I nourish you with love and take care of my body. I’m learning to relax more everyday. I look forward to your birth with such joy. I am confident about your birth. I’m practicing relaxation so that you can move easily and comfortably into his world. When you’re born, little baby, I will give you love so that you may grow in love and trust in yourself and others. I promise to talk to you in such a way that you will listen, and I promise to listen to you in such a way that you will talk. I will respect your right to be yourself and I’ll try to help you learn to respect the rights of others. I promise to encourage you to seek answers that will lead you to know and appreciate this wonderful world around you. I promise to teach you with love and guidance, rather than anger and punishment. I will teach you, and I will learn from you. I will provide opportunities for you to help you grow in love and happiness. I see you, little baby, coming from my womb, and I see you cradled in my arms. I’m elated at the thought of your coming to me. Dear little baby, I love you.
Dear little baby, I can’t wait for you to join our little family. You will be welcomed with so much love, especially with love from a big sister. She is constantly hugging and kissing my belly up while having conversations with you. I cannot wait to see you two grow together <3.
Last pregnancy we had booked a maternity shoot with the amazing Miranda North, but we missed it entirely as the roads were shut down all over our area as we were driving so we were unable to make it! We ended up pulling over and took our own using a tripod for the first time! Here are the pictures from exactly 2 years ago 2015. Sure they’re not so bad considering we took them ourselves, but we REALLY wish we had made it to her session, so we made extra sure that we made it to the one for this year. We’re quite pleased with our photos! Miranda is SO talented, she’s definitely one of our favorite photographers. I’ll release part 2 of our photo session soon!
For this pregnancy I decided I didn’t want to have an official baby sprinkle. I was so blessed to have had 3 baby showers thrown for me when I was pregnant with Sareena (one in the Bay Area thrown by my mother to celebrate with relatives, one in Los Angeles thrown by my amazing SIL, and a mini one thrown by my husband’s company)! So really, I just felt like I’ve had enough celebrations for myself.
Instead, I decided to turn my baby sprinkle into a casual event to celebrate Sareena becoming a big sister! It made the most sense as I wanted to invite 15 of my closest mom friends who all have toddlers around Sareena’s age or slightly older.
We gathered in the beautiful Temescal Gateway park in Pacific Palisades in our own private area. I had so much fun planning their activities! I took some of Sareena’s favorite activities we do at home and decided to incorporate it into the party. We had a baby washing station, play dough table, mini baby dolls, and a large painting & art area where every toddler had their own mini canvas to paint on to take home while wearing their little art aprons!
Hahaha her shoes totally match right? I’d also like to mention daddy did her hair.
Since the party was in the late afternoon I kept the food simple by having several charcuterie boards laid out and a donut tower from the only place I’d eat donuts from–Blue Star in Venice!
I think it’s safe to say Sareena had lots of fun with her friends!
It was just too cute seeing everyone play in each station, I felt like it was a success! I’m so happy I centered it around Sareena becoming a big sister, I know she will be such an amazing one (she’s already shown it with her cousin since the moment he was born when she was about to turn 7 months!). She’s so nurturing with her dolls and can’t stop hugging and kissing my belly while saying “baby sistoh is inside!”
I’m truly grateful to have such an amazing family & village. Our next little girl that will be arriving really soon will definitely be welcomed & showered with soooo much love!
I got a lot of love on my post regarding Sareena’s 1st birthday party from back in January. A lot has happened since then, and now that she will be 2 in just a few months, we have an even bigger birthday planned for her 2nd birthday..
The gift of a baby sister! Sameer and I are so grateful to be blessed with another baby girl on the way!
Baby #2 is due to arrive three days after Sareena’s 2nd birthday in January 2018 (but let’s see when she decides to make her appearance)! We were so excited and told Sareena as soon as we found out. She definitely knows and is excited that she’s having a baby sister. She has been obsessed with taking care of her baby dolls. She puts them to sleep, nurses them, feeds them, babywears them, basically is just all around nurturing as she always has been. She frequently pats and kisses my growing belly while saying “hi baby!” and sings to her. We watch birth videos together and the weekly baby growth updates, and she’s very hands on and involved in all our midwife check ups. She is going to play such an important role in her sister’s birth, I can feel it.
In the beginning, I felt so guilty wondering how I can love another child as much as my first, and felt sad about my attention having to be divided at times to tend to both daughters. But then I realized there is so much more to look forward to, like the joy of seeing my daughters interact and love one another. It’s a feeling I cannot wait to experience. Watching them grow and learn from each other, have princess tea parties, and get into all sorts of mischief together.
Sareena is going to be the best big sister, and I cannot wait to see how our little girls grow up together to be best friends. My heart is so happy and sometimes I cannot believe that I’m married to such an incredible man who I’ve made 2 daughters with. It truly feels like I’m living a fairy tale ❤
This post is long overdue, and after a much needed media break, I am officially back! Slowly bringing you more content as I find the time to sort through the plethora of photos and attempt to put my jumbled up thoughts into words. I’ll also be updating Sareena’s little blog as well!
Sameer and I celebrated Sareena’s First Birthday Party on January 7, 2016 at Shutters Hotel in Santa Monica. Sareena’s first year was a very social one as we’ve made tons of friends with kids of all ages, but mostly babies her age. Most are born within months or weeks of her. Some even days apart! Each of these moms have been a part of my village; I’m so thankful for sharing our motherhood journey together. I’m glad Sareena gets to grow up with such a fantastic group of babies her age.
We chose Shutters on the Beach as our venue because we wanted an outdoor feel to her party without it actually having to be outdoors since it was supposed to rain on that day. The fact that the rooms are literally on the beach made it perfect! Naturally, we made the theme of her party Mermaids Under the Sea. I wanted to keep the party fun yet classy at the same time, so I decided to keep the color palette to pastels.
I collaborated with my friends Cyan Sattin of colorful parties, Francesca Blume, and my sister in law in planning the decor and details and they all helped me bring my Pinterest board to life! The florals exceeded my expectations and I was in such awe of the floral 1 Francesca created. There are no words to describe the talent my friend Cyan has when it comes to cake and dessert. She made everything herself, including the cake topper made of fondant! Seriously, how adorable is her mermaid cake? My sister in law Rati, brother and sister did some major work helping decorate the room the night before by creating the floating bubbles and hanging jelly fish.
But the most fun (and most important) part of planning the party was the entertainment! It was challenging to find a mermaid who wasn’t the typical Ariel from Little Mermaid, so when the Los Angeles Princess Company offered a beautiful & unique Neverland mermaid, I was so excited! She worked out amazing, all the babies loved her. She entertained with some singing, games, & parachute play.
The second entertainment we hired was a bubblologist, because if there’s one thing I know about Sareena and the other kids, they go crazy over bubbles! But this wasn’t an ordinary bubble show, they gave a mini science lesson so it appeals to adults as well as kids, and left us in awe over the crazy bubble shapes like a triangle, square, and several bubble tricks. The show concluded in giving people a chance to be inside a giant bubble! It was an excellent performance.
We really wanted to do something special to celebrate Sareena’s 1st birthday. We just wanted it to be a fun day for everyone and kept it as an intimate party by keeping the invites to only our immediate family and our friends with babies, so kept it at a total of 60 guests.
Introducing one of our new favorite organic cotton brands: The Spunky Stork! They make the most darling dresses and the prints are so cute! I adore every single dress & bloomer set she has from them. It’s one of her current favorites and one of the most frequent brand she now wears everywhere. I, of course, had to jump at the opportunity to match with her with this blue medallion print.
I also want to introduce a new second blog that I’ve started called Lil Sontakey. This site is solely dedicated to motherhood & babyhood; it’s where I can share all my casual iPhone photos while featuring our favorite products and other content (one of my most popular requests I get in my inbox!). It’s essentially a place where I can document memories & adventures. While this blog will primarily remain as my style diary, I am excited to branch off to this more personal blog which I will be a little more active on.
Sleep, little one, on a velvet cloud as the floating stars sing a lullaby. Drift away to the land of dreams, where teddy bears dance in a rainbow sky.
Play, little one, on the golden stars, as the mother moon keeps a watchful eye. listen as she recounts her tales of enchanted forests where children fly.
Dance, little one, in the whispering wind, ’til the moon and stars breathe a sleepy sigh. Wrap your dreams in a paper moon, and gently push them toward the sky.
Wake, little one, to the morning sun, as it calls to the world that it’s time to rise. Wave farewell to the land of dreams, and gently open your sweet little eyes.
Link for the fall 2016 campaign we shot for them in Venice, California.
In collaboration with Sakura Bloom | Photography by Courtney of Sakura Bloom
Today’s post features an exclusive wooden timepiece by JORD. This unique watch is by the Cora series in Zebrawood & Turquoise; it’s truly like something I’ve never seen before. To me, an eye catching watch is a reminder to be present and to live in the moment. I remember seeing an illustration of a dog and human sitting together and why dog is happier than a human in that scenario. The human is shown to be thinking about everything else BUT sitting with his dog, whereas the dog is thinking of nothing but sitting with his human. The dog has mastered the power of presence and therefore is truly content and happier. When you’re truly present in everything you do, you get much more out of your time. This is something I’m working on and I encourage you to try to soak up every moment by enjoying the now rather than thinking about anything other than what you’re doing now. Your time will be better spent and you will be much happier for it.
I’ve also teamed up with JORD to host a giveaway. All entries can be placed here by July 20 11:59 pm. The winner will be chosen at random & will receive a $75 giftcard, but everyone will receive a $20 giftcard just for entering :). Good luck everyone!
Shveta Sontakey 