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what it looks like when 2 adults hold 2 kids and 3 puppies (one on loan from my parents, we had a shortage ;)) |
I have five kids of all different ages - the 30 year old is
the one I married, my 8 year old Coco and 2 year old Tizzy have 4 legs and love
to play fetch and my human babies Riaan and Kiara are 3 years and 11 months old
respectively. Each one has brought with them learning experiences and a whole
bunch of love.
I spent most of my adult life in New York City after
graduating from the University of Pennsylvania and completing my Masters of
public health at Columbia University. I studied there, worked there, played
there and fell in love there too (and not just with Manhattan), but life is all
about change and we turned it all on its head by moving across the world to
India in August 2014. As crazy as it seemed, it was the right move for my
family and my career, and so it was for me.
Raising a baby on your own isn’t easy, particularly if you
have never been a stay at home anything and routinely set the microwave on
fire, and I’m fortunate my mother was able to take time off from her life to be
there from the day my son was born (she landed two weeks before my due date to
find me in the hospital starting my 26 hours of labor), till he turned 3 months
old. I learned a lot with her here but probably even more trying to juggle it
all into place after she left. There have been moments of joy, love, stress and
laughter and at the end of the day there’s no better way to sleep than knowing
your family is all around you and is happy.
Moving countries with a colicky husband, an active infant
and a pup was even harder, and I went back to work soon after I moved, very
grateful to have a support system around me to help with all the chaos. We just
about got settled and before we had human baby number 2.
I believe – strongly – that experiences should be shared for
those who want to learn, take a break from their lives to read something
interesting or those who just want to laugh (with me or at me, I’ll take
either).
To my brother Shaun – my rock, who would come home after a
crazy day and try to study, sleep or be a single man in Manhattan, with
barking, crying, shushing, giggling and arguing in the background, words cannot
describe how much I miss you and miss living with you, and how grateful I was
to have gotten to see you everyday for 3 years. We will always have our amazing
father to thank for that and so much more.
Even though I like to think I know it all, I'm sure I do
not, and I make no claims to be a parenting expert. However, I have amassed
enormous amounts of information through my love of reading absolutely
everything, that I am happy to share. I will also post interesting
pieces of health information as I can, since that is my field of expertise. Please
feel free to reach me if you have particular things you would like to know or
any stories that you would like me to share on my page.
Hope you enjoy reading about my journey as much as I love
writing about it,
Tanya Khubchandani Vatsa
Last updated: July 2017
Wow Tanya! Congratulations. I'm so glad you started this blog. You can have many meaningful interactions with other young mothers like yourself. And, we are all wauting to welcome you back home in India, and especially to hug and cuddle the little Prince. Enjoyed reading. Love you. Coomi
ReplyDeleteLol @ that first line! I'm proud of you :)
ReplyDeleteReally liked your blog...☺️
ReplyDelete