I had chinmaya today. Me and my two friends dressed as the three devis. I was Saraswati the Goddess of learning. My friend Noyornika was Goddess Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth. My friend Henna was Goddess Parvati/Durga, the Goddess of power.

So long,Samhitha

Leaves! Leaves! Leaves !

I was having fun in the leaves with my friends Ishani and Hailey. Hailey is my neighbor and Ishani lives pretty close to my house too. I love fall because it is fun jumping in leaf piles!

So long

Samhitha

Tennis time with my family!

Wow I think I've gotten bigger!
Now I can play tennis!
Here are a few pics of me and my family playing tennis!

         

So long

Samhitha

The Angel Tree

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Molly. She was very poor. Her mom was very concerned. One day her mom was looking through a newspaper and she found out about a company called "The angel tree". It was for people who are poor. One day, Molly's mom went to the angel tree. There, she found an employee that asked her what she wanted for Molly. Her mom said she wanted a hair brush, toys, clothes, food, books, and some accessories. The employee said that the presents would come on Christmas. Molly's mom was very happy! Soon it was Christmas day. Molly opened the presents. She was overjoyed. Molly was no longer poor and she lived happily ever after!







So long

Samhitha

Story by Swami Chinmayananda narrated by Swami Dheerananda

One day Swami Chinmayananda granted a boy a wish. The boy asked for a genie that would do anything for him. Swamiji asked the boy if he is sure because the genie was hard to control. The boy said that it is ok Swamiji and that he knows how to control it. So Swami Chinmayanda granted the boy the wish. When the boy got home he saw the genie in his room. The genie said "Master, give me work or else I will eat you". The boy said, "do my homework". He was just about to start playing video games when the genie came back and said "Master, give me work or else I will eat you". The boy said "I told you to go do my homework". The genie said "I already finished your homework. Master, give me work or else I will eat you". The boy said "go mow the lawn". The boy was just about to play his video games but suddenly the genie came back and said "Master, give me work or else I will eat you". The boy said "I told you to go mow the lawn". The genie said "I already finished mowing the lawn. Master, give me work or else I will eat you". The boy said, "go clean up the room, get food, clean up the house". The boy ran to Swami Chinmayananda, explained what happened and said "Swamiji please help me". Then Swamiji whispered something in the boy's ear. The boy said "That is a great idea. I would have never thought of that". Then then the boy went home and said to the genie "Go dig a hole that is 108 feet deep". Then the genie came back and said "Master, give me work or else I will eat you". The boy told the genie to go get a pole that was 216 feet tall. Then the genie came back and said "Master, give me work or else I will eat you". Then the boy told the genie to go do some work and when he is done to go climb up and down the pole until I have some work for you. So the boy kept control of the genie and lived happily after.

The lesson learnt is that your mind is like that genie. So, if you dont give your mind work, it will get tired and you will get tired too.

So long,
Samhitha

Huggie Snowman !!!!

Happy Holidays and a Happy new year everyone !!! We are heading off to Atlanta for the next few days to meet Pinky atha, Karthik mama, Dolly atha, Harish mama (CA), another Harish mama (Virginia), Deepthi pinni and Kapil babai.

So long for now,
Samhitha

First Birthday

I am one year old now. Amma and Dada celebrated my first birthday on February 15th. My grandparents were here too.

Pinkatha visited us just for my birthday. Dollatha wasn't able to make it to my birthday weekend, so she came to our place the previous weekend. It was very nice of them to come and see me. They are my mom's closest cousins. We had lots of fun. I was sooo busy playing with Dollatha that we didn't take a lot of pictures. The only one I could find with both of us is this:

Surya ammamma and Tatagaaru (my grandmom's sister and her husband) came from Corning for my Birthday. Deepthi pinni and Kapil babai also came to our place on my birthday along with Kapil babai's mom and brother. Pinkatha and Dollatha's cousin Indira who lives in Baltimore also visited us.

Early in the morning, everyone came into my room and started singing "Happy Birthday". For a minute, I didn't know what was happening but I was very excited to see everyone singing and smiling. Here is a picture of me at this point:

As I came downstairs, I was greeted by these decorations:

You can see my two favorite characters here (Elmo and Curious George) in the above picture. Below, I am in my birthday dress with my best friend Georgi.

Here I am in my traditional birthday dress and Elmo hat.

Here is a picture of me with amma:

Time for a family picture:

I was liked all the special attention for the most part of the day but towards the evening, I started getting cranky. Here are couple of group pictures:

So long for now,

Samhitha

Catch up

Apparently I have been very busy this past year; absorbing a lot of new stuff around me, meeting new people, trying all sorts of new foods, doing all kinds of travel and most important of all, learning lots of new skills. Needless to say, I have lots of catch up to do here in my blog. Oh, by the way, I am one year old now. I celebrated my first birthday on February 15th 2009.

For now, my first year round up:

First MonthSecond Month
Third MonthFourth Month
Fifth Month

Sixth Month Seventh Month

Eighth Month

Ninth Month
10th Month

Eleventh Month

My birthday pics to come ....

So long for now,

Samhitha

So what is in a name....anyways...

My Dad and mom chose my name to be 'Samhitha Geeth' after a lot of deliberation. It seems that they went through a lot of names, short listed a few and finally decided on Samhitha. A name is one of the unique identifiers that stay with you for life (assuming that I will not grow up and change my name).

Here is the short list of all the names they have chosen for me before settling on Samhitha: Amrutha, Hasini, Neha, Namita, Manisha, Kirthi, Krithika, Mahati, Mahika, Nidhi, Niharika and Meghana. Oh!! did I forget to mention "Anne" with an 'e' and Megan? So what does my name mean? Samhitha's are vedic texts written in Sanskrit. Also, Sam+Hitha means Everyone+good. It can be interpreted as the one who works for the greater good of everyone. Boy!!! those are big shoes to fill and I am already feeling the pressure. Geeth is my middle name I share with my mom and mama. I will carry my dad's last name anyways, therefore my dad thought it would be nice to include something from my mom's side. Yeah, yeah, yeah I know it too, that is sweet of my daddy.

I had my naming ceremony at our home on the 21st day from birth. The temple priest Mr. Venkatachari came over to our home and performed the puja. Below are some pics from that very important day of my life.

Apparently, Samhitha is not the only name I have. Per the priest, my name should begin with the syllable "Va" based on my birth star. Therefore, I was named after my amma (maternal grandma) as Vani. As I was born in the month of February and on a Friday, I was named Mahalakshmi after my nannama (paternal gradma). That is not only it, my name Samhitha Geeth Nemani came with a few prefixes, namely Naga and Venkata. These are due to some family traditions that neither I nor my dad understand. They are directives from nannama and greatgrandma. However, they will be dropped with immediate effect. Trust me on this.

So there it is. The story behind my name.

So long for now,
Samhitha

Hello Everyone

My name is Samhitha Geeth Nemani and my mom and dad call me Samyu. I came into this world on February 15th, 2008 at 3:40 PM EST. Dr. Cynthia Holcroft, Dr. Edward Tanner and Dr. Kimberly Levinson delivered me at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Campus. Ms. Amanda was the nurse who helped my mom. I weighed 7 pounds and 8 0unces and was 20 inches long at birth. My parents say they were ecstatic to have and to hold me. Here are my first pictures:

All I do these days is eat and sleep, hopefully not for long. I cry a little bit at times but only to let my parents know that I am hungry. I keep my dad and mom awake most of the time. I would love to receive wishes and blessings from all of you. So, feel free to leave one.

So long for now,
Samhitha