Eesa's Crib

Motherhood...

2007-04-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

Eesa's gone over to his grandma's for the weekend and the house is getting a good clean while he's away. The result of my hardwork lasts longer when he's not around, but I really miss him while he's gone.

Nothing ever prepared me for this feeling ofunconditional love. Yesterday, Eesa & I were watching our fave - sesame street - and he turned around to give me a hug - just randomly. I have to say, it was the most heart warming feeling ever - i could just lay my life out for him right there. He also has this way of placing his hands on either side of my face and clenching his teeth super hard... as though he cant let go (or so i hope!)

Recently, we've been learning our ABC's. In the car, he was just humming along the tune, until he got to Gee, Aich, Aii ... he went over that part a few times and then proudly announced to my mum, 'Anneh! Aich, aii - CHAI!' (aich, aii makes up chai{tea}).

Its an inexplanable sense of achievement to watch him make the connections. The other day he was singing 'lakri ki kathi' (sorry aasi, no idea how to translate that - its just a nursery rhyme in urdu for kids). and then he goes ' mama horsie ko ouch ho gaya'. (mum the hose go hurt).

I responded, 'uh oh, how Eesa?'

He goes, 'hammer se' (by a hammer! - the nursery rhyme talks about a hathora(hammer) hurting the horse, and being his father and grandfather's blood - he's a hardy tool/handyman to the core!).

The point being, he made the connection between the rhyme and the story, especially considering the fact that the rhyme is in urdu.

-=-=-=

Last, but not the least, we have an announcement to make. We've been secretly harbouring a blog for the past few weeks. http://powderfresh.wordpress.com

Enjoy!

Itchy scratchy..

2007-04-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

The weekend went by so fast, i can't even believe its monday already.

Friday afternoon chot, my cousin from pak arrived. Friday being her first day over, I made some chicken parmesan and chicken ginger soup with garlic bread and stir fried corn. There was a basketball game on so we spent the evening just watching basketball and playing scrabble.

Saturday morning, a friend came over from Calgary and we just hung around downtown. In the afternoon Bajia, my eldest cousin from dad's side, arrived and we bummed out back and forth at home. We had to go somewhere for dinner so we swung by and came home around 9ish to spend more time with each other at home. We stayed up till fajr and then got up early morning since bajia, chot and their friend had to go out for breakfast. Afterwards, we all went to ikea ( i came back having spent a total of $11 - a record!!) and then bajia and chot went out while I went to a meeting. It was almost 7 by the time we got done and I was pooped beyond belief. Imran and I were joking that for the first time in my life, i admitted that ikea exhausted me. The walk and all was extremely tiring and the lack of windows really bothered me.

Mama's leaving next weekend and that already feels too close. I just want to hang on to her like her apron string. lol.

and now eesas up from his noon nap. ciao

busy weekend ahead..

2007-04-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry I havent posted in a while. Its been a hectic and busy week here between running errands and getting on top of school work.

Last semester is finally over. it was one crazy semester, i dont know how i got through it... I just did. Alhamdolillah. 9 more weeks and ill be done two yrs of this craziness. Although, i have to admit that despite all my whining abt it, i love the course I am currently taking and if it were not for the course, I would have gone crazy identifying many diff pieces with the puzzle called life.

Anyhow, Eesa seems to have picked up some form of rash all over his back. Its keeping the poor guy super restless and frustrated all the time. My heart actually breaks watching him, trying to figure out what to do. Initially i thought it was food. Then detergent. Then food again. Then fabric. Finally i thought it was measles. In the end, I took him to the doctors' who said its just a rash that develops into eczema. THAT did it. I was ready to sob my eyes out. My family has had a long and painful relationship with eczema. I personally have gone through years of treatment, trying to treat it and remember the exhaustion and stress that always seemed to follow me around. I hope inshaAllah he cures soon. Ameen.

I'm loving the spring clearance in most stores nowadays. i'm loving the bargains that I'm getting to pick out these days. I raided children's place last week and picked out polo tops and summer tees for 5 bucks each. I was amazed! I need to find him some cute pants now since he's outgrown most of them.

Today, chot, one of my elder cousins, arrived in TO. Tommorow, her elder sister and someone else we know from calgary are arrving fron NJ. InshaAllah its going to be a packed house. We've got dawats to attend tmrw night and the day after and lots of sightseeing during hte day inshaAllah.

Ill be out of the blog scene this weekend inshaAllah, catch you all again on monday iA.
peace!

My new bun-daids...

2007-04-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

Mama's doodoo has an ouch. That's why we drink from a glass. But when will it cure? So we came up with a solution. Bundaids (bandaids pronounced eesa style). So there we have it. Mama is hopefully on her way to recovery soon!

First dentist visit...

2007-04-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

Today was our first trip to the dentists. Baba and Eesa had back to back appointments and Baba went first. During Baba's appointment, Eesa pulled in a chair next to Baba's chair and held his hand through the appointment. The gesture tore my heart into shreds and I promptly pulled out my camera to snap a million and one pictures. InshaAllah, I hope they both share a continous, mutual bond of strength and support forever. ameen.

Initially eesa was petrified of the masked hygenist. But the hygenist broke the bond by handing him a sparkling, bright orange tooth brush which achieved the results we were hoping for.

As the hygenist worked on baba, eesa kept yelling 'eesa turn'. (its eesa's turn). After a while, he started going eesa sleep time! (eesa's turning to lay down on the reclining dentist chair). Finally when it was his turn, he very bravely climbed up the chair and sat down. Once on the chair, however, he was trying to put on a brave front. His face had scrunched intoa tiny thing and his eyes wee popping out (caught on camera). The hygenist said there isnt much to do for a two year old, so she stuck in a mirror instrument, moved it around inside to see if there were any cavities - none found Alhamdolillah. By this time, eesa's patience ran out and he was ready to jump down. That was it :D

Here's an album of the piccys. Sorry if some of them are repeated. I can't view them yet, it took me over 5 hours to upload them.

p.s. in some of the pics u can see his socks. one's yellow and the other white/grey. one is his khala's and one his phoppos.

Going Daadi Home

2007-03-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Eesa's day to go Daadi home (grandma's place). He woke up in the morning and spoke with Daadi, who told him that he's coming over later in the day. All of a sudden he had an energy rush. He ran to shower, brush and change. Usually getting him to select clothes etc is a pain, but yesterday, he was ready to wear anything we picked out. He was sooo ready, he wore his jackets and shoes and went and sat at his breakfast table. This was 11 am in the morning and Dada wasn't due to pick him up until 5pm.

Luckily dada called at just that moment and said, i'm on my way to pick booboo up. Once he came over, Eesa refused to let him enter the apartment, he wanted to leave from the door. Reluctantly, he agreed to let dada have tea. During tea, dada was explaining something to baba and Eesa went up to dada and said 'dada talk eesa' (dada talk to eesa instead). Finally the tea was done and eesa was ready to go. He sprang out of the apartment as though he was finally released from home arrest. lol.

I love the bond he shares with his grandparents. His grandma is absolutely head over heels in love with him. She does all her chores with him hanging on her hips. She'd slide down staircase banisters with him and crawl on her fours playing toys with him. Even Imran's aunts would empty out eesa's toy buckets and sit on the floor under the staircase with him to play. Today, I called to speak with eesa and eesa was sitting on dada's back singing lakri ki kathi. May Allah swt keep the bond strong forever. ameen

Here are pics from eesa's happenings at daadi home.

The buzz...

2007-03-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

This week's been super busy for us. Annuh (naani for Eesa), Eesa & myself are thoroughly taking advantage of the weather lately. For the last couple of days, the weather's skying in the teens and we're going out for daily walks to anywhere possible.

Annuh's been busy revamping our abode and the rest of us are enjoying the daily change of scenery everywhere. I've been MIA in the kitchen for all of this week and wake up to a house that's already been mopped and swept and a baby who's already had breakfast and a bath. aagh! I'll miss this pampering when she's gone!! She's also been doing alot of purging for me and TONS of thigns are landing up at craigslist.

Annuh's also been teaching eesa lots of rhymes, alphabets and colours. We've also started doing shapes now. The most amazing part is watching eesa make connections. A few days ago, I said something about ginger and garlic, Eesa immediately picked it up to say 'Garlic bread, mama?' So adorable. yesterday, we stopped by food basics for grocery and were planning that while imran ran for groceries, i'd run to the dollar store. Eesa heard the word dollar and asked 'dollarama?'. It's amazing how much he's picking up nowadays mashaAllah. I'd also taught him how to say 'La ilaha Il Allah Mohammad Ar rasool Allah' but i hadnt revised it with him for a while. yesterday I asked him to repeat it, he refused. So I broke it up and read it bit by bit, 'la' 'ilaha' etc... Finally when we got done, I smacked his bum playfully and said 'you forgot it!' Alla of a sudden, he yelled it all out in one sentence! Surely made my day!

Maryam also suggested starting up a sticker system to get potty training done. So we've pinned up a sheet on the wall in the wahsroom and reward ourselves with eons of stickers each time we pee in the pot. It's been working fairly well so far. Alhamdolillah.

We went to dollarama today and I completely fell in love with their patio-ware! I LOVE the colour and ofcourse the prices. I can't wait to get the balcony ready for some summer fiesta.

In other eeesa news, he's been singing songs to him self. He's been high on thank you Allah, shukoor, ABC's, alif baa taa, one two three, twinkle twinkle and lakri ki kaathi. It's adorable watching him play on his own while humming out tunes. In ABC's, he can't say the part that goes 'el, em, en oh, pe' so he goes 'ma ma ma ma que, are, es, tee'.

He's also been high on sesame street lately. Everytime it's on, he sit in front of the tv with all his diapers with different charachters out in front of him. I'll try and grab a pic of him doing it next time.

He's also been high on the yellow 'big bird' diapers lately. He calls Big bird, 'big butt'. So one day, after his bath, he was looking for a big bird diaper and it wasnt there and I pointed it out to him.

Me: 'eesa, there's no big bird diaper left'
Eesa: 'there's big butt, see' (pinches his fingers into the drawer and pulls out a pretend diaper!'
Me, looking at the air (pretend diaper): "Woow! niice diaper, let's wear it." So I go on to make all the actions of putting on a diaper. (but infact, he's still empty coz it's a pretend diaper!)
So I said, 'Eesa, let's put on two-two diapers! This time let's wear an Ernie diaper!'
Thankfully, Eesa agrees and we put on a real diaper this time.

So guys, there we had ourselves a mini diaper selection party!

Memories...

2007-03-23T22:59:00.001-07:00

It's only been a year... but it seems like these pix are from forever ago! No longer a toddler, I can't even remember a time where life was without Eesa =)

I'm a cutie yet again...

2007-03-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

Here's an album of Eesa from last week... plus a couple of pics from daadi's place.

All star night..

2007-03-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

Pics from Feb 17th B-ball All star weekend... Baba & Eesoo dressed alike...

'Tis the life..

2007-03-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

Pix from bedtime last night... Nana massaging while Eesoo's relaxing. (see if you can pick out something diff!:P)

Two two Nayma khala...

2007-03-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

So Shaima came over from pak yest. For the first time in almost 4 years, we're all together as a family. It is also the second time Eesa is meeting both his khalas at the same time. (usually one is here in may and the other comes in aug). The first he met them both together, he was too young.

Today, he came over with daadi and saw both of them....he couldnt believe his eyes. He came running to me and goes:

''Mama!! Two two Nayma khala!!" (mama, there's two of nayma khala - they both look like twins even though they are 7 yrs apart). lol

Memories...

2007-03-18T13:42:00.000-07:00

It's a day of nostalgia for me, i suppose. Just came across these pictures of Eesa's from almost two years ago so quickly uploaded them. He's crawling all over chacha and chaachi's car after dinner at a local pizzeria.

I have to say, I love the blubber all around him and those tiny bunny teeth mashaAllah.

29 months milestone:

2007-03-18T13:21:00.002-07:00

So I got another email from babycentre about baby milestones this month. It only seems recent when i put up the last one. Alhamdolillah I love to read these since the things that seem so ordinary developmental steps, suddenly feel like major milestones. Moreover, everytime I see something that Eesa is already doing, it makes me want to smack myself on the head for not appreciating it earlier.

MILESTONES:
Using a fork and spoon: Check, been doing it for a few months now mashaAllah. Esp with fries and soup.

Washing and drying hands: Check. It been going ofr about just under a month i think. Our fave milestone this month i think! it's so adorable how he keeps his hands entwined and will keep standing infront of the sink until they're washed.

Preparing his own breakfast: Check. He loves pulling out waffles from the fridge to put into the toaster (with my help there) or running on his own and grabbing his cereal from the cabinet and the milk pitcher from the fridge to make his own cereal.

I have to say as I am ending this email, it is so overwhelming to realize, that not only is he not an infant, baby or a toddler anymore, shortly he's not even going to be a preschooler anymore. :(

I'm a cutie =)

2007-03-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

I suppose it's a two year old thing. Alot of my friends with two year olds talk about how their kids call themselves beautiful, cute or handsome.

In Eesa's case, self image, we lack not. So last night, while looking at himself in the mirror, Eesa very boastfully declared:

"Eesa cutie". lol

And from that moment on, whomsoever he needed to butter up (mainly daadi!) became a cutie!

French immersion...

2007-03-15T22:21:00.000-07:00

So part of having a balanced lifestyle includes extra curricular actitivies - one of which is french immersion classes. I've always been quick with languages and really want Eesa to be multilingual inshaAllah. (our bldg supervisor gets really amused by the fact that eesa can spk bits of three languages - english, urdu and arabic (merely alhamdolillah and salaams)).

So anyway, today during french class, there were two latino girls who joined us. The chic magnet that he is, he shamelessly chatted them up throughout the entire class. He even buttered them up with some rockets (those tiny candies) and mimicked everything they did. Not once did he turn around to look if i was still in room and participated alot more in class - raising his hands to participate in all the activities.

MashaAllah he's generally very ocnfident in all his classes, whether he knows the answer or not, he loves trying. But today he just refused to come back home. Infact, he was ready to go home with the girls! He kept pushing me towards the door and kept saying, mama home! (as though he wanted me to go home!). Bachay aaj kal ke (kids nowadays!) - how brazen!

The other mums probably thought i torture him at home or something. LOL!

Baby names...

2007-03-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

If Eesa had a sibling, what would I name him/her?

Eeman (faith, this is the name I made imran agree to for our first daughter even before we were expecting eesa! it was also our choice for a girls name coz we hadnt found out eesa's gender)
'Eebaad (Faithful, worship. Love the flow of it but have a feeling he'd be picked on at school!)
Ibrahim (Prophet. My fave)
Maria (Wife of the prophet pbuh, it's imran's fave)

Yup thats about it. I like them coz they're simple and short.

P.s. just a clarification... I'm not pregnant... atleast not that I know of! A very close friend of mine is expecting her baby today and we were just brainstorming names. lol. She likes Sheza... go figure!

Cooking up some alpha's

2007-03-14T09:48:00.000-07:00

Eesa owns a pack of styrofoam alphabets that fit in together like a mat and also work as puzzles. I've only given him alphabets A-I (i hid J-z till the time he understands these first) and repeat them over an over again. (Recently, I also made him a powerpoint presenttion for him with different words starting with those letters. I had made one upto I only and then one of the girls from the homeschooling group told me that another friend of mine already has a presentation made so now we have two, one that goes to I and one that goes to Z. well, It's quite adorable watching him click and say out the words).

Coming back to the alphabets, Eesa was playing with them last week and got bored! So he ran to the kitchen, pulled out a pan and a ladle and started to cook up the alphabets. I tried to touch them and he warned, 'haath sambhal ke, hot hai!' (be careful with your hands they (alphabets) are hot!'). lol, what a grandma! haha.

Anyhow, so a few minutes later he started to cough and goes 'paani chayeh' (i want water). I knew he was playing a trick so I gave him a lil bit. So he barely put his tongue to it and ran back to the room to pour it into the pan so he could stir it with the alphabets.

Growing up, I'd always wonder how my parents knew EVERYTHING! Well, now I do. As smart as we could be, they outsmarted us. But what's even more amusing is the fact that my TWO years old son was trying to be conniving! huh? HOW??

One more dooor!

2007-03-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, we banged our head against just one more door, twice last night! (anyone counting? im guessing its an average of two hits a week!).

Eesa's found a new way of climbing on top of the bathroom counter. He climbs ontop of the garbage can lid, puts his arms on the counter and then lifts his legs upside ways and then straightens himself on the counter. It's so adorable watching him struggle mashaAllah. (i've taken a video).

So anyway, he climbed up onto the counter and was done brushing his teeth but he didnt know how to get back down and I was on the pot so I couldn't help. Instead of waiting, he jumped down and hit his head. He stood up smiling, nothing happened... infact he found it funny.

A lil while later, Imran was brushing his teeth and moved back not realizing eesa was there. so eesa flew backwards hitting his head agains tthe door that was half open. that one DID hurt. and so we had a screaming baby last night, only he was all too willing to share his dillemma with his grandparents over and over again. infact he was very willing to re-enact it too!

Guests Welcome: Always

2007-03-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

Last night, we had a dinner party at our place for ammi and abbu's friends. Ever the socialite, Imo's Eesa had a blast! As soon as there was a knock on the door, he'd run to the door and yell: 'WHOS IT?'

As ssooon as the door would open, he would literally grab everyone's hand and grab them in, lest they walk away. lol.

We also had a great time over dinner with traditional bihari food - khichri with mirch ki chutney (imran loved it), qourma and naans. I made some fatoosh (got the samwak from saudi when i went for hajj) and chicken kababs to go with it. All in all it was nice.

Sleep time..

2007-03-10T11:38:00.000-08:00

Day before yesterday, Eesa skipped his afternoon nap and hence was drowsy all evening. Anneh (naani/grandma) started singing rhymes to keep him up. But poor thing couldnt his eyes open. Once the story was over, anneh asked, 'what's baba doing?'.

He was sooo tired, he couldn't answer. So he placed his hands over his ear, as if to say 'on the phone'. So anneh asked, what's nana doing(grandpa)?

Still tired, he placed his hands over his ear to motion sleeping. Yet he realized that it's the same sign as sleeping. So he tilted his head and squeezed his eyes to signal that Nana's sleeping.

And then he tilted over for he fell asleep copying nana. lol

Bandaid mania...

2007-03-10T11:32:00.000-08:00

So we have ourselves an obsession. With all the injuries we get ever so often, we've developed a passion for 'givaf' (girrafe) bandaids.

Anyhow, yesterday Eesa's shoe tore alhamdolillah. Yet, he insisted he wanted to wear them. So i asked him how, now that they're broken?

His reply, 'bandaid!'.

lol. I fell in love with him all over again. Kids & their innocence. In all his innocence, he kept insisting that we should use a bandaid on the shoe. Nonetheless we convinced him to wear a new pair. Alhamdolillah.

They're here...

2007-03-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

2007-03-07T12:58:00.000-08:00

Today, I had that extra bounce in my step. The one that encourages you to leap forward and go that extra mile to do everything perfectly. My parents are arriving shortly and Baba and Eesie are on their way to the airport. This is ever so exciting. Being a mum now, I value the presence of parents so much more now. They bring with them this sense of security. This feeling of no-matter-what. Just thinking about it is making me look forward to placing my head in their laps and forget everything else.

My family is always upto spur of the moment trips and surprises. Even my extremely pre-planned Dad gets it into him often and would come up with spontaneous stuff. We hate waiting patiently and so surprises work for us perfectly. Alhamdolillah.

Imo and i've been hyped up all day and part of the package meant a visit to IKEA!!! Boy, was I missing the place? Mama came back super happy with some new pillows, shelves, bins(99cents!!), hardware, toys and more!

Then Nayma khala and I took off for grocery shopping and dollarama. Shopping for everything that i know they'd enjoy. It was sooo amusing watching nayma "wanting" to buy fruits. lol. (mama told her that if she notices that nayma doesnt eat healthy, she will return with ammi now as opposed to in aug. Nayma is a full fledge carnivore - she vehemently dislikes fruits and veggies). So to rub it in, i picked up eggplants & radishes. lol. (*muahaha*)

Nayma khala also just gave mama a very sweet happy women's day birthday card. It's a birthday card, but since i dotn celebrate birthdays, she wished me happy women's day when she gave it to me (VERY smart of her) and then inside as well. In return, I just endowed her with a slobbery, salivary kiss(on the cheek ofcourse!). It's all part of the sisterhood mayhem.
That's all from my end now!

Doodooo dabba!

2007-03-04T23:28:00.000-08:00

Doodoo dabba (doodoo = milk, dabba = box). Yes ladies and gentleman, we have ourselves a new name for a certain intimate undergarment wear!

So a few weeks ago, I was at the mall and walked into La vie en rose. Upon seeing the scantily clad manequin, Eesa smiled smuggly and declared: Nungi!! (naked). The poor manequin must have shrunk red down to her wooden bones! So anyway, while I was browsing inside, he walked up to a rack of bras, poked through a cup and declared: "doodoo dabbah!". (the box that holds the milk, i suppose). Ever so hillariously embarassed, I pretended he wasn't mine. Then I realized, "what the heck, no one would understand what he meant", picked him and paced out of the store - only to curse myself about my inability to decide whether I should be embarassed about his bluntness or if i should praise his growing vocabulary!!

It's a DOOR!

2007-03-02T09:29:00.000-08:00

So yes we walked into yet another door last night. Eesa was walking from the main living room to my room and the office door was open. He was looking back and talking to nayma while walking, the moment he turned out around, bham! right into the door.

Only this time, we split our eyebrow into two. Lots and LOTS of blood came. Funny this is when we called maryam after clearing it all out, the first thing she asked was: "howre u both coping?" Alhamdolillah, even if our own injuries didnt make us strong, Eesa's surely did. Both Imran and I had tendencies of fainting upon seeing blood. (For me, even watching ppl being shot in movies was too much, infact still is!)

So anyhow, we cleaned it with alcohol swabs and then put bandaids which totally made Eesa's day. However, he looks like a pirate now. lol. Pictures to follow.

Baba bring money!

2007-02-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

So previously, as Imo would be leaving for work, Eesa would bawl his eyes out at the thought of Imo leaving. Imo would make excuses like 'baba's gotta work so he could buy you diapers' or 'baba's gotta work so we can have pizza' etc etc. He'd cry nonetheless.

So last week, Imo gave Eesa a penny and said 'Baba needs to go to work so he can give you more money'. So Eesa nodded obediently and let him go.

Fast forward to today. Returning to work after a few days of working from home, Imo went up to eesa to give him a buhbye hug and kiss. Eesa asks, 'Baba bring money?'(baba needs to bring money?). It was such an innocently adorable moment. SO much achild can remember mashaAllah.

Every evening when imo returns and puts the key into the keyhole, Eesa runs to him yelling 'Baba home!!!!!!' and then gets hyper running across the apartment - from our bed in the bedroom to the sofa in the living room. It's adorable. Imo calls it the best feeling in the world.

So today on his way back, baba brought back a penny with him. Eesa went to cloud 9 and back as though he had just won a halal lottery! =)

With all the love pouring out from this lil soul, it makes parenting all the more worth it!

Which also brings me to Eesa's independent play. MashaAllah now he's able to sit by himself and play on his own for longer periods. He can now find things to entertain himself mashaAllah. When I had just returned from hajj, he would cling onto me and not let me out of his sight. Even though, before that he would ask to be left by himself at daadi's place, now he was scared to be alone there. But Alhamdolillah now he recognizes reasoning. If I talk to him and make him understand before I leave, he understands and waits patiently mashaAllah - (he has his moments still and going to school is still a no-no zone!).

That's all for now folks!

Toddler Moments..

2007-02-26T11:56:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, I walked into my home office and saw Eesa sitting at my desk, typing away on the keyboard. I found it quite amusing since the screen was off. I walked up to him and said, 'Eesa, what are you doing?'.

His response, 'Eesa busy, kaam' (Eesa's busy, working).

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Last night, Imran's aunty called from Pakistan and Imran needed his optician's phone number. So holding the phone with his neck, he noted the number down onto the notepad. A while later, Eesa asked to speak with her and then literally forced her to dictate a number so he could follow suit. It was definitely a kodak moment esp when he was making up the numbers as he was making baby-symbols on the paper.

The ball of Fun...

2007-02-24T12:38:00.000-08:00

Nayma khala arrived yest!!

We dropped eesa to daadis for a sleepover and picked her up. When we went back, he was play-hiding from me in chachoo's blanket. When he heard Nuhma khala's voice, he couldnt hide anymore. He jumped out to greet her and then stopped all of a sudden, turned around and ran back to the sofa to hide his face. What a QTpatootie mashaAllah.

I've been doing a new activity with him lately that I feel has been most helpful. I read in the montessori manual to introduce them to clothesline pegs since it enhances their motor skills. MashaAllah it's sooo amazing because i recently introduced him to a pencil and his grasp is amazing mashaAllah. He can hold it pointedly and make small circles which is generally introduced at age 3. He can also identify alif, jeem and ha from arabic and A-D, H, T and X in english.

Eesie, hope you're having as much fun learning as I am teaching ;)

Recommended Read for parents: Children are from Heaven. By John Gray (the guy who wrote the men are from mars series).

Flexibility...

2007-02-22T13:31:00.000-08:00

lol. i seem to have scared everyone into believing flexibility is the end-all of parenting. I just re-read my post and felt it was super judgemental and condescending! Parenting is very personal and everyone has their own method. It's a matter of what characteristics you want your child growing up with and you mould your way to it. I knew I wanted Eesa to sleep in my bed, every other mother I know didnt. And I respect them for having the will (mental if not physical yet:P) to try and set it as a rule. For me it was more important to feed on demand and to always provide the human touch and I did provide it for the first two years without regret and would do it for my future kids too inshaAllah. But the mums who wish to have the kids independent in their bed from an early age have very sound reasonings too and would not regret doing it for their latter kids either. It's a matter of what is more convenient and preferred.

From the day he was born, we went out with eesa every night from the night he was discharged from the hospital. we had no restrictions or limitations on anything. life continued and Eesa's very much a part of everything we do. As far as sleeping goes, last saturday Eesa got sleepy as I was cooking for the superstar get-together that imran was holding for his friends. So we both sat down on the dining room floor and that's where he fell asleep. Alhamdolillah he's super flexible. But I cant take all the credit for it. It's his nature as well, he was very easy going from the start alhamdolillah. I think the fact that we constantly kept him on the go did help it as well. However, if he was a collicky baby or something - we may have been less flexible. Allahu aalim

Painter's block...

2007-02-19T06:44:00.000-08:00

So I forgot to mention tha tlast weekend Imo and I painted my mother in law's room. The previous week, I stayed back at mom and dads coz of my liscense practice and all. On morning, both aisha and i were excessively bored and so we randomly decided to rip out her wallpaper. we got rizzi to help out with the top parts too. The best part was watching eesa have the time of his life. he thoroughly enjoyed pulling them out bit by bit. a child's dream - i suppose.

last weekend on our way back from ayub mama's, we came back early coz of some work that i had to do. once my work was over, imo and i were alone and so we decided to just paint the room in the meantime. They hadnt picked out paint yet so we started by priming it. I had asked mom to move the furniture earlier in the week but they only moved their small cubby so both of us decided to do just that one wall ewith the cubby removed. it barely took five minutes so we decided to keep going. we moved all the furniture and managed to complete priming most of the room bar one wall - the one with the huge closet.

on monday, we went to get dad's car fixed and i got late for school so then i decided to just stay home and finish up the painting. dad and i went to pick up the colours. mom wanted light green, dad a light pink. we settled on eldorado tan which totally opened up the room and blended the furniture in. the trim is in a darker, light cocoa contrast. we alternated the colours in the fireplace sitting area - so now the walls there are darker with the eldorado trims. moms lamps and stuff give it a very hotel-chic effect.

eesa's doing alot of cute stuff lately. baba oftens cuddles on top of him and yells ' sandwich!!' (as in eesa is sandwiched between baba and the floor). so when beeloo came over on thursday, eesa wanted to sandwich him. so i explaned to him that beeloo is a baby and he can't handle eesas' weight. so when maryam came, i told her abt it and while explaining, i said the 'sandwich' word. upon hearing it, he wantedto sandwich beeloo again. it was adorable watching he was expressing love as he knows from us. must be mighty scary for beeloo though!

on the other hand, he walks like a zombie. he has a habit of walking right into walls and doors. it's literally unbelievable how much he walks into them. he walked into a door that was right in front of his face last week. then on friday, he tripped and fell right into the corner of rizzi's room. he got a cut on his lips and forehead, nothing major alhamdolillah. cried for 5 mins, hugged us and was ok.

he also walks into babies. lol. poor yusuf was over on sat evening for the superstar challenge and he was lying down on the ground. eesa was walking up and Yusuf seemed to be in the path... ignoring him, Eesa wanted to continue walking. i had a glass in my hand so i tripped him with one hand so he would go over yusuf. unfortunately his knee still touched yusuf's head and yusuf started to cry. and alhamdolillah since it wasn't a huge hit, yusuf just cried for 30 seconds and stopped. all this while my heart was thudding and i said to aasiya that eesa's knee hit yusuf's head. ive noticed aasiya is mashaAllah one of those matter of fact mommy's - he's gotta learn type and was totally ok with it.

that brings me to parenting styles. i enjoyed watching aasiya mommying yusuf. mashaAllah she's not the overly obsessive - my baby is delicate type. i like that in parenting. if eesa has done something wrong, i'd let him know it's wrong. but i never punish him or yell at him if the mistake is the result of someone else's wrong doing. if you dont want your phone in his hand, you've got to take it out yourself. i'm not going to be the one meddling in until he misbehaves in his mannerisms. i remember even when eesa was a baby and he would fall or get hurt - imran would soothe him saying 'it's ok, you've got to be tough to get into the nba' lol. and it's true, if it's not a major injury, they'd cry it out for 5 minutes and they're fine. i was observing kids yesterday at the party and moms would be like my kid can't sleep anywhere else or they cant sleep through in noise or they cant do this or do that. but i believe that the limitations are our own. if i'm going to be obsessive about telling everyone to hush up, my child would never learn how to sleep through noise. (all this despite the fact that he goes to daycare). The child's got to live in the world and these are just preps we have to make to help make our kids be flexible in life. i notice alot of the mothers themselves seemed to have a very inflexible/thoroughly independent attitude. 'i just can't do this or i just like it this way'. well if we're going to be stubborn, guess what our kids are going to turn into.

i remember having a conversation with amina once about how flexible our parents raised us up to be. we've moved and lived at so many places with so many cousins mashaAllah that we can literally adapt to any place and situation. although i notice myself loosing that flexibility now, alhamdolillah imran keeps encouraging me to overlook. that's a personality trait i value in people i meet.

This weekend we also had a basketball superstar party at our place with imran's friends. both imo and eesa dressed alike in starbury jerseys (pics to follow). we did the table in orange with an orange table cover and dollarama basketball shaped message boards as the mat. we also found orange bowls to hold the dips and sports themed plates to eat in. we floated out some cream candles in orange coloured water as a centrepiece. we had cupcakes sprinkled with orange sugar too. it was simple yet nice alhamdolillah. for a while i was so upset that i couldnt find anything basketball themed, that i was almost ready to drive back to buffalo to pick up themed stuff.

for the food, we had this yummy white sauce burrito with red sauce topping and imran made some yummy chili. we had cheese dip, salsas, nachos, 7 layered dip and maryam made her famous taco salad.

Leila came over with Farah and Mobin and eesa would keep on hugging her and kissing her. and she's sooo cute, she'd burst out laughng everytime he'd do it. it was adorable. i tried several times but just couldn't capture it on camera:( i went out with farah and leila yest and it was nice mashaAllah. leila's a cutie mashaAllah. there were so many kids around, i was somewhat wishing i had taken eesa along. but bai came back yest and he was enjoying her company. alhamdolillah.

so thats all thats been happening on this side of the world! i'm off to college now!

Milestones..

2007-02-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

Eesa turned 2 and 4 months today MashaAllah. My babycentre email says the following:

By now your child could be able to put on an article of clothing - Check diapers and pants
Can probably name about six body parts. - Check head, shoulders, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, teeth, tongue, lipsfeet, toes
He might also be able to balance on one foot for a couple of seconds - check he can hop on one too
Or identify one colour. - green, blue and orange

the most adorable thing happened right now. my phone was ringing so he came running with it, saying 'shezooo' aah! my heart melts! he calls me with so much love - subhanAllah.

he's sitting next to me now, going 'bas, done'. hehe.

It's been a crazy week

2007-02-04T21:31:00.000-08:00

It's been a crazy week at mommyland. We spent most of the week at daadis since mommy was attending driver's ed just in the nick of time for her G2 test on Thursday. In all her glory, she managed to graciously fail the test, again, for the umpteenth time - only to have her liscence revoked for having maximized the number of attempts allowed. Go figure! She really couldnt help it, it was the stop sign's fault! =)

In breaking new, Eesie dear has learnt how to cry! Perhaps its the emotional chaos from having me gone missing for a month, only to have me back and then watch phoppo daadis leave. Poor baby goes through so much trauma if I am out of sight. It's overwhelming to know that someone loves me so much but the frantic thought that it's not for too long always lingers on my mind. But I digress.

Eesie also hates wearing pants! The only pants he likes wearing are his pj's. Sometimes it feels as though he changes from one nightsuit into another. He has become EXTREMELY picky about clothes. Earlier I used to convince him that buttons are balls (sportaholic much?) for him to be bribed into wearing clothes. Now even that doesnt work!

His social antics haven't stopped yet. He loves being outdoors despite the chilly weather. He's been enjoying shovelling the snow and jumping and sliding in the snow lately. Pictures to follow;)

School resumes tommorow. I'm praying desperately for a snow storm to land in Toronto tmrw. I dont wanna go to school!!! (yea i feel like i'm in grade 1 all over again!) Going to school this semester has been a real test. I hate having to peel eesa's fingers off my body to go into school. It's emotional! I end up feeling guilty throughout the day! Plus the whole babysitting schedule isn't working out at all for me. It totally ruins my weekend and tuesday and has my nerves stretched out to the max!!

Ah! just saying that stressed me out enough!

What I really need is a bag of some jalapeno chips and a can of coke!
peace;)

Big Bro Eesie with cuzzin B

2007-02-01T14:47:00.000-08:00

Eesa's pix from Bakra Eid '07...

2007-01-31T19:35:00.000-08:00

First Eid without Mama...

Baba & Eesa
The reason behind Eesa wearing his Diago diapers - Safa - "mhy fraand!"
Sporting his thobe from Nayma khala and Naani
Giggling away
Getting ready for the masjid..

Dada & Eesie

Dada and Chachoo, I know my anatomy!

2007-01-29T20:58:00.000-08:00

Motherhood sure has its moments!

This morning on my way to college, Eesa & I shared a ride with Baba, Dada and Rizzi chacchoo.

Eesie was sleepy and to distract him Chachoo and Dada started to play a game of 'where's Eesa's...?'

The game goes where they ask for a part of Eesa's body and Eesa points to it. So they had "Where's Eesa's.... nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, lip, chin, hair, ear, shoulders etc. They then moved onto to tummy where he rubbed his tummy in circles and then knees and toes and then the ding dong for the belly button.

Once we had covered all parts that we assumed he knew, he goes 'Where's big butt(chachoo smacks his bum and calls it big butt)?' We didnt pick on it. So he asks: 'Where's noni'?' (his interpretation of noonoo - code word for a male organ!) So we tried to ignore it. Then he points to it, and in all seriousness, goes 'There it is! Noni...big butt!'

Couldn't leave them two out, could we?

Road trip to Buffalo...

2007-01-25T19:12:00.000-08:00

Three posts in one day... mama is obviously smoking some harsh stuff today!

The above pics are from a Merry go around at the food court at Boulevard Mall in Buffalo where Eesa and phoppo took a (few) spins! Mama and Baba had a spazz attack and decided to go on another post new years shopping trip to Buffalo. Obviously Mama went high with all the crazy shopping deals there. I got deals not just on b-ball jersey for 2 bucks but footlocker sweatshirts and hoodies for 2 bucks as well!! Obviously mama went ballistic! She raided Gap, wallie, KFS, a MUST pilgrimage to Bath and Body works, Victoria secrets etc

We hate baby toothpaste!!

2007-01-25T18:53:00.000-08:00

Imagine my agony, after making a gazillion calls and finally finding a halal baby toothpaste, trying everything from convincing him that barney on the tube is adorable to resorting to cartoon acts worthy of being published in disney videos to enticing him enough to want to brush... only to discover flouride from baba's tube is all it really took!

oooh baby! flouride it is! So after 8 months of trying - and trying real hard!- we've concluded that baby toothpastes arent as exciting as plain old baba's arm & hammer toothpaste tubes!

First day in "class"..

2007-01-25T18:40:00.000-08:00

For the past two weeks Eesi and I have been venturing into different toddler programmes. Last year I enrolled eesa into baby time where we'd go and listen to stories and music together. It was a free course offered by our community centre. This year, however, I enlisted him into some programmes that would require for him to sit on his own and learn some positive independence.

BIG MISTAKE!

Week three and we're still screaming! My son is petrified by children his age. One or two he can handle. But put 10 in a room and he starts screaming! He's literally scared of them. The only baby he knows apart from himself is Belaal, who is still pretty harmless.

Below are pictures from his first class. This year they introduced arts and crafts so I volunteered to bring in the material for this hat making project (It's eesa's fave project and we do it often at home). Eesa had a great time showing off his skills to everyone.

Congrats aasi maaasi!

2007-01-23T18:33:00.000-08:00

Thank you for bringing us a lil brejrin' to hang out with! May he always be the noor of your eyes and become a source of jannah for both of you. ameen

Love,

Eeso0o

Update

2007-01-22T07:30:00.000-08:00

Alhamdolillah Eesa's been doing much better lately alhamdolillah. Apart from washing 5 bedsheets a day from last tuesday to friday, it's all been under control! On the first night, we went through 7 bedsheets & blankets. Bless Imran's mom for having the stomach to wash them. The funny thing is, it's easy to wash your own child's but i doubt i'd be able to wash someone else's stinky sheets. When I have grandson's ill be sure to let u know!

A couple of u mentioned to have eesa checked up with a doc. Our peadiatrician is an excellent guy mashaAllah. He's also a friend so I am constantly on the phone with him. The best thing about him is that he always gives guidelines to follow. He mentioned that babies have 5 litres of water in them, pooping and throwing up causes dehydration. So we look out for signs of dehydration. If he is crying and there are tears, its a good sign. If his tongue is wet, it's a good sign. We look out for wrinkles on the top of his feet and make sure his tummy inflates when he breathes. if any of the above was missing, he told us to take him to the hosp right away.

He also told us water, crackers and 7up/gingerale are ideal substitutes for IV. They have just the right nutrition. crackers for carbs and sodium. water and crackers dont have enough calories, hence the 7 up. We had to minimize the quantity. about 3 tablespoons of liquid every 15 minutes.

Eesa fell sick the same way in pak last yr. the last time he refused to eat or drink. Alhamdolillah this time round he WANTED to eat and drink. Hence when he was throwing up, he was taking out what he was eating, but alhamdolillah not all of it. Alhamdolillah he's much much beter now, just very zoned out and tired.

on another note, phoppos have left for pakistan. we spent the weekend with them and Beeloo was over. Having spent an entire month with daadi all to himself, i noticed moments when he was jealous of having beeloo around. He's throw random tantrums and would do things that he knew would cause us to punish him (or send him to the penalty box as imran calls it). InshaAllah his jealousy is only out of love and if directed positively can be a good thing inshaAllahu khair.

its super silent here without phoppos. it's almost as if our ears have started to buzz. anyhow, im off for school! more to come later!

New words this weekend: phainko (throw), khatta (sour).

Tis the season...

2007-01-19T20:32:00.000-08:00

to be coughin... sha la la lala la

*sigh*

it's that season again. Eesa's coughs have kicked in but it's worse than just a cold. He's been constantly throwing up and his diet has been reduced to just bread, rice, applesauce, toast and soda (BRATS - doctor recommended). he's also having diahrea, hence the soda (gingerale or sprite) to give him quick calories for energy.

it's so painful watching him be so weak. he's been throwing up almost 12 times a day for the last three days. that's ALOT of water loss, factor in the diarhea and its crazy. we have to constantly give him water. he hates eating coz he's scared he'll throw up so even crackers and toast is tough to get in. :( poor thing looks sooo weak too

plz remember Eeesie in ur dua'as!

My lil man...

2007-01-11T00:12:00.000-08:00

I'm back! =)

Having spent an entire month away from my boys, being back at home seems like zenith on earth! I got an awesome reception at the airport from both of them who just couldnt contain their grin mashaAllah. Imran always insists that coming home to us after a hard day at work is one of the best feelings in the world. Yesterday, I truly understood what he actually means by it! I came back from a vacation and it felt awesome seeing the two of them.

Eesa insisted I let go of the luggage and sit on my seat in the car. He had his mantra 'sheza mama' going constantly throughout the car ride. It's like a lil tasbeeh he reads. He had soooo many stories to share and mashaAllah it felt great hearing them. Reaching home, he insisted I sit with him and see his videos. 'Awa whirl' (adam's world) and aish age (ice age). I had brought back a couple more videos for him including the king and I (based on surah muzzamil) and ice age 2, but he insisted he wanted to complete his memorization of ice age and adams world instead.

While I was gone, daadi had taught him that mama had gone to 'Allah ghar' (God's home). It was soooo adorable when he said 'eesa mama baba Allah ghar'. as though he wants all of us to go. (I can't wait for that!) InshaAllahu ameen.

He's learn such amazing stuff mashaAllah. having caught a cold in saudi, I keep coughing away. Everytime I cough, he yells out 'shukr alamla' (shukr alhamdolillah). Even if he is in another room, he'd run to say it out to me. lol. When i was giving him a bath this morning, I had the tap running, he gave me a stern look and went: 'No water! Allah watching!'. Ever since he was a baby, he'd been water obsessed. he's sit in the kitchen sink and spray water everywhere. So, daadi would reprimand him by saying 'don't waste water, Allah's watching'. It was adorable.

It was also after a month that he slept in his room. He woke up loving all the balls and cars around him. I brought back this lil cars set for him. mahsaAllah he loves it coz i got him the movie as well. (anything to get him off ice age). lol.

I think i'm in love with my boys all over again. it just feels amazing! it almost feels im newly married, just with a baby in tow this time around. God, I love vacations although they can be overwhelming when u return. I hate the mess alll the unpacking creates and therefore am unpacking one piece at a time. I brought back so many snacks and spices from saudi and pak that i barely have room in my kitchen anymore! I'm dreading the reorganizing required! so not in the mood right now. lol.

ok it's 3:30 am, i'm off to watch my boys sleep - truly, one of the best feelings in the world!

Bizzare...

2006-12-03T23:38:00.000-08:00

I read this article last year about a woman delivering her baby over the steering wheel. Definitely an article worthwhile reading. lol

How motherhood makes you smarter...

2006-11-21T21:12:00.000-08:00

The light that is promising!
-=-=-=

No doubt you've heard the unflattering (but not uncommon) mothering stereotype that babies suck as much energy from your brain as they do from your body. Ouch. Sure, childrearing takes a toll — as evidenced by the time you squeezed nipple cream onto your toothbrush. But giving birth is hardly the equivalent of a frontal lobotomy. In fact, motherhood may be the ticket to boosting your brainpower.

So says Katherine Ellison, the author of the new book The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes Us Smarter. In her book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, veteran foreign correspondent, and working mother of two young boys presents compelling evidence that having babies can make you smarter.

To get the scoop on how motherhood expands the mind, we went straight to Ellison:

Were you afraid your brain would suffer after you had children?

Yes, I was concerned I'd lose my mind to a world of diapers and baby bottles. In fact, a few weeks after my first son was born (while I was on leave from my job as a foreign correspondent), I had a troubling dream: Space aliens had landed in Brazil's capital, but I chose to stay home because I wasn't sure the story was worth pursuing. In the dream, I completely lost my reporter's instincts. It hit me that this nightmare epitomized my fear that I'd traded in my brain for a new baby.

But sometime later, I read an article about two researchers who discovered that mother rats were smarter — specifically in learning and memory capacity — than rats that never had babies.

And it got me thinking maybe there's more to motherhood than I'd thought.

How does motherhood make women smarter?
Because smart is such a vague term, I broke the brain-boosting benefits of motherhood down into five attributes in the book: perception, efficiency, resiliency, motivation, and emotional intelligence. Each category is supported by many animal studies as well as some human studies showing ways in which mothers have an edge.

The first category, perception, deals primarily with the five senses. One of the most interesting studies showed pregnant women had sharper "visual acuity" than women who weren't expecting. By that I don't mean they suddenly had 20/20 vision but they did notice a lot more.

Studies show that pregnant women also have an enhanced sense of smell, which theoretically serves to protect the unborn baby from foods that are potentially harmful.

Other findings show that mothers can experience a boost in motivation, fearlessness, and the ability to multitask and cope with stress. There's also exciting new research suggesting that oxytocin — a hormone important to labor and breastfeeding — improves moms' capacity for learning and memory.

Emotional intelligence is probably the clearest category in which mothers benefit, though. One of the biggest brain boosts for moms is the ability to see the world through someone else's eyes. In so many relationships, if you don't agree with a person you can just walk away. But you can't walk away from your child. At least, not if you want to be a good parent. Instead, you've got to stretch your mind to understand his point of view.

Did you find that people expected you to be "less smart" after you had children?
Yes. For instance I'd be sitting around with a group of women and someone would say something silly and then laugh it off as "mommy brain." Those kinds of experiences, trivial as they may seem, can make you feel as though you're going to accomplish less in life as a mother than you otherwise might as a childless woman.

Perhaps more important, I got a new editor after my second son was born who let me know that he thought I was going to be less productive and that I wouldn't be able to keep my mind in two places at once. He was wrong, of course, but his distrust shook my confidence for a while.

In what ways did motherhood make you smarter?

I found motherhood tremendously stimulating, like getting a crash course in human nature. I also got much better at time management. Because I'd been a newspaper reporter, I thought I was good with deadlines. But when I had a baby, the deadlines got a lot less flexible. I was forced to manage my days in a whole new way.

As a mother, the notion of having less time to waste informs your whole life. I became smarter about networking with other women, handling chaos, and dealing with difficult people. I know if I returned to the daily newsroom today, I'd be more savvy in dealing with editors having temper tantrums! Apparently former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright shares my viewpoint. When asked which part of parenting helped most in her subsequent diplomatic career, she answered, "Getting people to play well together!"

More generally, motherhood helped me focus on the future. I became determined to prioritize things, like environmental issues, that will matter more in my children's life than my own. At the same time, I found the motivation to accomplish other ambitions I'd had for many years. For instance, I'd always wanted to have a close-knit group of friends, more creativity in my work, and a lifestyle that would give me the leeway to write longer articles and books. All those things came true after I had children. It wasn't simply the act of being a mother, it was thinking about what I wanted to accomplish for myself and for my kids.

Several women in the book talk about making the same type of change. It's sort of like a midlife crisis. Once you have children, you reorganize your priorities. You think about your legacy and take your life more seriously when you realize your children will examine it later.

What was the most surprising thing you learned while researching the book?

My research was full of surprises. One thing that jumps to mind is a series of studies done by scientists in Switzerland, who compared the brain scans of parents to those of childless people. They found parents' brains were more active when listening to a baby's cry. On the flip side, brains of people who didn't have children were more active when they heard a baby's laugh.

This suggests that a rewiring of the human brain occurs once you have children. Some researchers see it as evidence that motherhood makes women more empathetic. One scientist I interviewed says that moms learn empathy skills with their babies that they can later take out into the world at large.

Another surprising study showed that mothers react even to the annoying sound of a baby's cry with parts of the brain that are activated during pleasurable activities like eating a good meal or winning money. By equating the nurturing of a child with great food or sex, nature is ensuring that you'll bond with your baby, and stay engaged with the mental challenges your child will present you with for years to come. It's a pretty great system!

How does "daddy brain" change after the baby arrives?

Some interesting recent studies show that new fathers mimic in many ways the hormonal changes their wives go through, although on a much lower level. For instance, expectant fathers experience a surge of prolactin, a hormone typically associated with nurturing and breastfeeding, as well as increased levels of estrogen, the "female" hormone. Experts aren't sure why men experience these changes, but they think the higher hormone levels may help dads bond with their offspring. And the changes aren't all chemical. I interviewed many fathers who told me they had become more patient and empathetic after spending a lot of time taking care of their kids.

How do mothers make each other smarter?

As a mother, you learn to strategize. When you see mothers exchanging information on the playground, for instance, it may look casual — but they're often earnestly collecting information that will ensure the well-being of their offspring, such as the name of the best teacher at the local school and whether strep throat is going around. Swapping this kind of information isn't rocket science, but it's important in an evolutionary sense.

Are the mind-boosting benefits of motherhood temporary or permanent?
That's hard to measure with humans, but in rat studies the benefits of mothering last until the animals reach an age equivalent to age 80 in humans, which I find very encouraging. And, when it comes to people, we know that seniors who are more connected to the outside world, especially through their children and grandchildren, are often healthier — mentally and physically — than those who are isolated. So motherhood continues to pay off late in life.

Why do you say mothers today need to be smarter than ever?

The mental demands on mothers are greater than ever. To do a good job of helping our children thrive, mothers today have to be information analysts. We're constantly bombarded with information from television, parenting books, and talk shows — not to mention, constant news reports about increasing rates of childhood asthma, autism, and ADHD. We have reason to worry and be up-to-date on everything from mercury in tuna to arsenic in playground equipment.

At the same time, to truly protect our kids, moms must often confront a culture that in many ways is harmful to children. Advertisers now spend fortunes marketing directly to kids — encouraging rampant consumerism and unhealthy diets. A surprising number of moms step up to the plate and become more assertive.

What advice do you have for new mothers?

Just appreciate how much you're learning and how much your brain is being challenged and enriched by your baby instead of turned to mush. You may feel exhausted, but if you pay attention to how much you're learning in an incredibly short time, the sheer enormity of it is energizing.

Oh, and don't underestimate the importance of sleep! If you and your partner share the responsibility of getting up at night with your baby, it'll make both of you better parents in the long run.

The BabyCenter Seven: How to make the most of your mommy brain

Take Back Motherhood: If you lost interest in world affairs when your baby was born, don't fret. Your brain hasn't shrunk — it's just otherwise occupied. New moms become super-attentive learning machines, says Ellison. Your baby is challenging your brain on every level, every minute of the day. You probably haven't absorbed so much new information this quickly since you were a baby yourself, so give credit where credit is due.

Sleep: Sleep deprivation is inevitable, but no one should shoulder the burden single-handedly. In the first year of your baby's life, his primary caregiver stands to lose 700 hours of sleep. Numerous studies have shown that lack of sleep can mess with brain function. In fact the brain's frontal cortex, responsible for keeping you alert, innovative, and flexible, is the first to falter during extended sleep loss. So don't surrender your Z's without question. Instead, sit down with your partner and make a sleep plan. Then stick to it. For each of you to stay as rested as possible, Ellison suggests trading off in three-night shifts. If you're breastfeeding, have your partner bring the baby to you, and pump milk ahead of time so he can bottle-feed the baby when it's your night off. (For more ways to get the rest you need while breastfeeding, check out this article).

Breastfeed: Oxytocin, a hormone released during childbirth and breastfeeding, promotes feelings of calm and cements the mother-child bond. And recent research suggests that this natural mellowing agent may boost your capacity for learning and memory. For a continuous supply of this hormone breastfeed your baby. Experiments show that nursing moms feel more relaxed physically and emotionally and are more sociable than mothers who don't breastfeed.

Get social: Don't let motherhood turn you into a lactating hermit. Being a new mother means you're vulnerable in a whole new way and need people in a deeper sense than you ever have before, says Ellison. Seek out other mothers at the playground, the gym, even the grocery store. Other mothers empathize with what you're going through like no one else. One large study funded by the National Institutes of Health found that belonging to a strong social network correlates with better mental functioning. Plus, social support helps ward off postpartum depression — a problem that affects 10 percent of new moms.

Don't be a couch potato: Having a baby doesn't mean you should trade your gym membership for Tivo. Unlike watching TV, exercise makes more blood flow to the brain and fights off the blues. Make exercise a priority rather than a luxury. Create a pact with your partner to support each other's exercise habits by babysitting while the other goes for a walk or to a yoga class.

Eat your veggies: Your mother was pretty smart to give you this advice. Studies have found that antioxidants in fruits and vegetables can help prevent declines in brain function due to aging, and leafy green and cruciferous vegetables (including broccoli, cauliflower, romaine lettuce, and spinach) are particularly helpful for older women's memories.

Don't neglect the other parts of your brain: Even though your brain is tuned to the mommy channel most of the day, don't forget you also have a "me brain," a "friend brain," and a "spouse brain." Take time to stay connected to yourself and the people who loved you before you became a mother. If you can afford a babysitter, don't feel guilty about spending an hour at a coffee shop staring out the window instead of running errands at full speed or working. If a babysitter is out of the question, use nap time to squeeze in a phone call to a friend and give yourself five minutes to talk about children. Then deem kid-talk off-limits so you both can connect on a different level. The same goes for your spouse. When you finally eke out a few minutes alone, whether at night or (lucky you) on a date, allow yourselves 15 minutes to chat about kid stuff, then make the topic taboo so you can remember what it was that made you decide to have a child together in the first place.

http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/emotrecovery/1428975.html?scid=pcbulletin:20061120:0:0:0

Lounge-d

2006-11-21T19:54:00.000-08:00

No it's not Kat's lounge.. it's Eesa's lounge! =)

Potty time...

2006-11-18T23:52:00.000-08:00

Everytime I see Eesoo sitting on the pot, I miss his newborn stage even more :( Bit by bit, he's outgrown his infancy years. It's awesome just going back and seeing his baby pictures; trying to picture what he looked like. =)

Anyhow, above are piccys of him from 2 weeks ago, trying to float out his boats (and hence the constipated expressions:P) :P

The well that refuses to dry up...

2006-11-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

So here's how it goes folks! The well wheels are still cranking! they refuse to stoppp!!! but alhamdolillah the good thing is that he's getting used to it now. he's not that milk obsessed anymore, alhamdolillah. and above everything, he's sleeping through the night!! MashaAllah!

I don't sleep till past fajr, but the sleep post fajr used to be really tiring because eesa would drink alot after fajr. alhamdolillah, by the time we get up at 9, i'm really refreshed, though every four five days, i'd need to sleep in the afternoon with eesa to catch up on the sleep.

I've also noticed that he sleeps alot better on our bed than his. this could be either because his mattress is harder than ours or because hes outgrown his bed (which btw, would be really sad coz i absolutely love his bed!!).

MashaAllah I've been intrigued by the amount of things kids notice. I was browsing through an email from IKEA and it had a lantern on it that Maryam has as well. And he made me scroll back up so he could point out that it's the same one as Mannams!

something really funny happened today! eesa loves watching Adam's world but everytime a song comes on, he turns up the volume. He maxed out the volume today so loud, Maryam could hear 'one big family' blaring two stories above! lol. yes, our son was bus'in up some muslim beats! lol he's doing dawah already .. haha!

MashaAllah he's totally in love with his baby cousin. the moment we leave the house, he wants to go see beelaah! he sits and watches beelloos videos over and over again. i absolutely adore the way he's sooo loving with everyone mashaAllah, but esp B. yea he totally smothers poor B, but at least he doesnt smack him - which, by the way, i was absolutely petrified about!!

thats the update from my end. Eeesa's gone to spend the night at daadi's with nadoo phoppo. imo n i are watching raptors... exciting game but the end is almost predictable - despite an excellent effort from the raptors!

Potty training..

2006-11-15T20:34:00.000-08:00

Eesa's potty training went back to zero while i was in winnipeg. But alhamdolillah i cant complain coz his weaning got expedited - alhamdolillah, mashaAllah, inshaAllah! lol.

So i decided to look up a few websites and see what I can do to help Eesa out. I looked up CNN, Babycentre, ivillage etc. Out of most of the articles, this is my favorite one. It has a checklist that seems reasonable enough to follow! Most websites say that the more you wait, the better it is. Desis say the exact opposite! Allahu Aalim!

Anyhow. Here's the list to look up:

Your child may be ready to start potty training if she:

• Has regular, soft, formed bowel movements (Check)
• Can pull her pants up and down (Check)
• Imitates others' bathroom habits (likes to watch you go to the bathroom, wants to wear underwear, and so on) (Check)
• Makes a physical demonstration when she's having a bowel movement (such as grunting, squatting, or telling you) (Not yet)
• Has words for stool and urine (Not yet)
• Can follow simple instructions (such as "Give me the toy.") (Check)
• Understands the physical signals that mean she has to go and can tell you before it happens (not yet)
• Dislikes the feeling of being in a dirty nappy (not yet - and cool alerts from huggies DONT work)
• Has "dry" periods of at least three or four hours (this shows her bladder muscles are developed enough to hold her urine in and store it) (check)
• Isn't negative about everything (Check)
• Understands the value of putting things where they belong (Not yet - do they ever???)
• Demonstrates a desire for independence (Not always)
• Can walk and sit down (Check)

Weaning Day 6!

2006-11-15T13:23:00.000-08:00

So alhamdolillah its day 6. Just a recap: spent three days weaning when he didnt see me. Two days when he did see me. Today is the third. SubhanAllah so far so good - rocks and all - apart from a slight glitch this afternoon!!

This afternoon, despite protests from Eesa, i put him down to bed to sleep by stroking his hands etc. I'd been so tired since my trip that I fell asleep with him too. When I woke up, he was nursing off me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So i gently pulled out so he wouldnt realize it. He'd eaten through a bit of the white out! thats WHACK!!! Anyhow i checked online and it said white out int hat quantity is not toxic... subhanAllah!!

on the positive side, Alhamdolillah it feels like a big relief coz one of them was a huge rock and hurt like one too! Its more .... heavenly now! Especially since i can finally feel something apart from soreness... lol!

Weaning update...

2006-11-14T21:05:00.000-08:00

If you ever wanna see what a drug addict craving his dose looks like, come look at Eesa!

He's going through massive withdrawal symptoms. Since my rocks are sore, and i coloured them white with white out (LOL!), he thinks i've hurt myself. All morning he kept telling me to 'whash' (wash) it out. I showed him its not coming off and it hurts to touch, he got really worried for me. The first time he saw it, he gave this really disgusted look and went 'YUCK!'. There have been moments today when he was literally writhing on the floor! A couple of times he even grabbed my arms super tight and clenched his jaws so tight that his body was shaking. LOL! I know it sounds scary, but it's not. It's actually really funny - and sorry!

Poor thing I feel soooooooo guilty denying him his "euphoria". *sigh* LOL

A word of advice to those of you who know weaning mums, DONT HUG THEM!

it HURTS - Like REALLY HURTS. lol.

Remember us in your dua'as please. Please pray that we get through this trial with ease inshaAllah. ameen!

The well is drying up... NOT!

2006-11-12T19:28:00.000-08:00

Those of you mums who haven't weaned a baby - if u carry the notion that it just stops one fine day! you couldn't be further from the truth!

The well doesn't dry up, even when you WANT it to.

So here's how my tale goes!

I've been in Winnipeg the last three days, yes THREE whole days, thinking this is a perfect opportunity for the well to dry up AKA Cold turkey weaning! For those who know me well, I've been battling with separation anxiety and hence been procrastinating on the weaning. Well this trip sounded like the perfect opportunity!

BAD IDEA!

It's been HORRIBLE. I miss my baby. Worst still, I'm walking around with two rocks. Ofcourse, one larger than the other. Moreover, I'm not expressing in fear of never putting a stop to the production line. However, bottom line, it HURTS!

But boy oh boy, do hot showers work!! i've had four today! one early in the morning but by dhuhr i was hurting again. So i prayed qasr and during the asr break ran upstairs to take a shower. Another one during dinner and one just before leaving for hte airport! SubhanAllah it has such a numbing effect. So nice!

It's been 5 hours since my last one, I've been sitting at the airport for eons, but my flight keeps getting delayed. *sigh*

I miss you...

2006-11-10T20:46:00.000-08:00

I flew down to Winnipeg this morning. You were deep in your sleep, but I was missing you even before I left you. It felt so hollow. Saying goodbye to you tis morning has perhaps been the toughest thing i've done in the last two years. I left before you woke up, because that would have been even tougher!

I'm so torn. I felt evil and I felt so guilty. I feel drained. But i know there's some good! inshaAllahu ameen.

However, I've been missing you through out the day. There were moments during the day when I'd totally phase out and simply think of you and baba. I was dreading having to sleep without you two cramping my space. I missed your laughter and just the sight of you sleeping away this morning - that priceless look! it's been etched on my mind. I miss you eesoo!

c ya soon! hopefully! muahz!
love Mama

Eesa's dictionary..

2006-11-07T22:05:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned how much I love the way Eesa blurts out random words these days?

Today we were out for dinner and it was raining, so Imran told Eesa it's baarish (rain in urdu). The most adorable thing happened a few hours later. Imran and Eesa were doing their bedtime routine ( they usually read or play puzzles) and they were playing on Elmo's wrold's website (MOST entertaining for kids, i have to admit) - anyhow, during one of the games about the weahter, there were rain drops falling on Elmo and eesa blurted out baarish! sooooooooo priceless, i must tell u!

Here are a couple of baba-time pictures...

Just putting up the pix make my heart melt! I heart the sight of them togehter, mashaAllah. Imran's really close to his dad and I am really close to my dad (in a very different, and super fiesty and opinionated way!~ :P love ya baba!), so I'd love for Eesa to continue the tradition with his Baba.

MashaAllah both of them spend alot of QT together and are jokes together. Imran has been really great at giving Eesa the balance that he requires for a well rounded upbringing. I was really scared that Eesa would charm his way into making Imran flex his rules, but MashaAllah Imran's been a super dad. He's been a really loving and well grounded dad so far, mashaAllah. Not only is he mashaAllah really involved in his physical upbringing but in his emotional wellness as well. I feel like one of those newly married girls who only speak like 'my husband says, my husband thinks' but subhanAllah, I can't help it! my boys rock my world!:P I can't talk about one and leave out the other!! :P hehe!

I also have to mention another adorable Eesa tactic. If Imran's busy doing something and he's not listening to Eesa, Eesa would list out all his names for Imran. He'd start with 'moh' then move to 'baba' then to 'abbiiiiii' - soooooooooooooooooooooooo adorable!!!! mashaAllah. i love the way he stretches the eeeeee on abiiiii. lol. makes me wanna make imran ignore eesa on purpose. lol!

Eesa Milestone..

2006-11-05T22:44:00.000-08:00

We’re talking & puzzling!

SubhanAllah in the last three weeks we’ve picked up sooooooooooooo many words. Some of them soooo random like ‘heavy’ or wait or ‘Sheza’ or ‘Sharmin’ or ‘Shellfoh (cellphone)’ or dai (dahi for yoghurt) or bootay (bhuttay for corn) or cahseat (for carseat) and ja-ah for jazakAllah. All of a sudden in the last three weeks he’s picked up over 30 words mashaAllah! He also recognizes people. I was showing him pictures from last years eid where I was standing next to maryam, beenish and aasiya. He pointed everyone out - shesha, mannam, B, aasi. i was quite thrilled, i must say! lol

He’s picking up grammar too. Here’s my favorite! He often picks something and goes ‘mine’ to which I reply ‘mama’s’. So now whenever I ask him for his name or for anything… he goes ‘Eesa’s’ or dais for yoghurts… basically everything is in plurals now.

His second milestone, he's figured out how to do board puzzles. yes mashaAllah! he can do them! he's also able to count upto 8 and can fix the alphabets and numbers into their slots. alhamdolillah that can keep his attention for some time mashaAllah and so thats a bonus!:P

To baby or not to baby?

2006-11-01T19:17:00.000-08:00

Recently Maryam posted something regarding desis having this urging instinct to warrant advice – wanted or unwanted. That has been something that has been bothering me for quite sometime now. But what bothers me even more is the deficiency of tact employed when firing out bullets of wisdom and the equally efficient amount of conviction in their right of interference.
It can be any issue. I really don’t mind the general ones – opinion on what to feed kids or what to make them wear etc. It’s the ones around the realm of personal issues that make me want to hand out duct tapes (Canadian solution to every problem).

The height of this is when a random aunty would mention – absolutely condescendingly so- that she’s raised 3, 4, 5 or 6 kids and that she’s never experienced her kids doing so and so. The number one rule of raising kids is to remember that each child is different. Two siblings can be completely different, much less two kids from two different sets of parents in two different generations. Duct tape for you lady - you no longer have a right to offer advice!

The problemis, the same point could have been made with a little more tact. How about something polite like, ‘really? That’s amazing, my kids didn’t do that until much later’. But ofcourse, positive reinforcement is a lil too tough for desis. Perhaps even a statement (albeit its as old as them) that goes: ‘kids today…!’ would have been somewhat less critical.

These days I’m being hammered with questions about ‘Musa’ (a codeword for a new baby.. basically for the sake of rhyming with eesa… the word was used for the longest time to poke at maryam to bring about a baby cousin musa, now its for sheza to bring about a baby brother for eesa). I don’t mind it coming from people that are close to me or who mention it as a suggestion. But for those who adhere to tactless poking, another strip of duct tape for you!

Really, who’s business is it to begin with? I’ve had an aunty reprimand a close friend, who was about to go for a vacation, to come back pregnant. Another incident where an aunty I met at a service centre on my way back from New Jersey, an interaction of a mere 5 minutes or less, felt privileged enough to comment about the fact that Eesa was already 2 and basically it’s about time I got my womb wheels cranking. (yes I too gasp each time I re-read this statement). I’ve got to mention the lady had a lot of tact (and nerve) but duct tape for you too lady… get to know me first!

Another incident, an aunty reiterating the benefits of having kids earlier in the marriage to a friend who has been married for ten months and is also about to get divorced next month. Bless her for having a lot of tact, but lady it’s really none of your business to begin with. Duct tape for you too.

I think I should come up with some lame comebacks for lame aunty comments. Some thing like…

Aunty: when’s musa coming?
Me: (polite) Whenever you’re available for babysitting *plastic grin*
-=-=-=
Aunty: when’s musa coming?
Me: (evil inside thought) when ever you’re willing to gain 50 pounds with me
-=-=-=

So here’s something for you guys…. How about you guys help me gear up with some quick quips?

Aunty: when’s musa coming?
You: …..??

Travelling with a baby...

2006-10-30T17:54:00.000-08:00

Somebody previously asked me to mention about my experience traveling with a toddler. Alhamdolillah, we’ve done A LOT of traveling with Eesa. In fact, Imran’s cousin jokes that MashaAllah Eesa has travelled more in two years than he himself has in his lifetime.

Here’s Eesa’s itinerary for the past two years.

In the last two years, we’ve gone to Montreal four times (with Eesa and once more without him – almost 6 hrs of driving each way), Ottawa once (without going to Montreal – almost 4 hours of driving each way), New York/New jersey thrice ( 10 -12 hours of driving each way), Washington once (from New York almost 5 hours of driving each way), once to Pakistan for 2months (18 hours of flying each way) and then onwards to India for a month (1.5 hours of flying each way)– and I may as well add Mississauga (because for most people living on either side of Toronto, that is a road trip as well - even though its only about 45kms away) which we go to at least once a week for one night at least.

I think one of the biggest factor behind this traveling is the fact that Imran, Eesa and I are very flexible and adventurous. To begin with, we don’t travel on a schedule (yes maryam, I hear you groaning). We plan our trips at the spur of the moment and leave with the mindset that whatever we do, we will enjoy without stressing. Alhamdolillah, we’ve never been disappointed because our aim is to have fun and spend some quality bonding time - and that we do. And I’d say 99% of the fun we have on our road trips is based on the feeling of being free and letting our spirits run wild and taking things as they come.

During our trips, we plan stuff for the next day a night earlier, but remain extremely flexible with it. For example, on Thursday, we had planned to leave by 9 pm but were unable to, because of Imran having to stay in at work longer, until midnight. Yea it pushed back our arrival time by three hours, but so what? The world wont stop existing because we'll reach my cousins place three hours late. It’s all about looking for the positive in each situation.

Another example, on Saturday, Imran wanted to hang out with friends so we planned to leave New jersey later in the morning, at around 9am (as opposed to after fajr) on Sunday so we could be back by 9 pm, before work on Monday. However, on Sunday morning we decided to leave at 9pm after Imran’s fantasy league draft – that was a real sudden change of plan but Alhamdolillah we were both very receptive to it. Yea it did require for us to drive throughout the night but we took naps in the afternoon and were able to enjoy the best of both worlds – be able to reach on time to work in TO and be able to participate in Imran’s draft as well.

We also mostly travel at night. This gives us less stress and more bonding. Usually because there’s less traffic and Eesa is sleeping at this time, it’s easier to drive right through. We take advantage of this time to poke fun at each other or talk and bond. We miss out on the scenery but we usually do some country side driving during the day in our trips where we get to enjoy nature. I love water so we make it a point to find rivers, springs or waterfalls to stop by every trip. Infact, this summer we drove up half an hour north a few times to enjoy hiking through nature – we even saw ships climb mountains!!! All with dear Eesa – I wish he could remember all this when he grows older. =(

Another trick is to pack a lot of junkies and new toys from dollarama. We bought Eesa a set of cars from dollarama before we left, whenever he’d wake up, we’d pull out a car and hand it over to him. This kept him excited while he was awake and then soon he’d get tired and fall asleep. Ofcourse, every 3-5 hours we’d get him out of the car and force him to run. This increased his circulation and eased out any muscle aches that he may be feeling. Even during our airplane ride to Pakistan, I would make him run to the airplane kitchen every few hours – ofcourse much to the chagrin of the air stewardess.

On the way to Pak, I had all three window seats to myself, so it was pretty ok. Plus we flew mostly through the night so it worked out perfect. Whenever he woke up, I’d let him do his running. On the way back, we flew during daytime in Pakistan. I packed up a lot of snacks and toys and weird entertaining things like a lock and a key, shoe polishing brush, a small basketball, mints (they excited him like ANYTHING!), random keys, board books and snacks. Basically pack anything and everything to keep him busy and entertained. thost 18 hours went by really well alhamdolillah, despite the fact that both of us were squished onto one seat in between two other passengers.

If you're travelling by plane, travel as lightly as possible. I know, being desis, its tough but put as much as u can into your checked inluggage. Don't try to carry an entire medical kit in ur handbag... just some first aid remedies like tylenol, one bandaid, a nose bulb. If your baby can go with lotion and no powder, don't carry the powder in your handbag. Just a babywash and lotion will do. carry the least amount of baby wipes and diapers you can make do with - TRUST me, it all adds up. Yea our instinct says, what if! trust me, it only makes things worse if you're tired from tugging a heavy baby bag, purse, stroller and perhaps a carry on. on most of my flight travelling, i did carry a baby bag but placed my purse inside it and then hung it on the stroller. I didnt need my car seat in india/pak, so i used my dingy $14 stroller from walmart. (if you have a bjorn, definitely take it. )

Also, be warned the airline crew takes away your stroller and car seat just before you enter the plane and you cant get them back on your stopovers!!! during my flight from india to pak, my father placed the stroller behind the stewardess' seat so it was easy for me to have it right when i got off board - i didnt have to carry eesa in my arms along with the baby bag all the way to the baggage collection and through customs/immigration. i requested the same when i was flying from khi to tor, and they let me keep it behind her seat again. but when we stopped over in london, they didnt let me board back with it. So i had to carry eesa in my arms all the way through customs and baggage collection in toronto(at most destinations, u get the stroller at baggage collection). however, once i picked up the stroller, i hung it over the baggage trolley and made eesa sit in the trolley itself. that way he was right next to me all the time and i had only one cart to push/take care of. during khi - tor, he fell asleep in the trolley seat - he was over a year but fit in snuggly with a blanket but had his legs over the seat.

During my flight from India to karachi, my mum was travelling with us and the three of us were the only people in the upper deck so alhamdolillah it was really relaxed. But my mum was reallly stressed abt what i'd do from khi to toronto. The trick here is not to stress abt what ure not going through right now. It;s not like we dont have enough to worry abt right now. Just take measures but don't stress on what-if's. They say neccessity is the mother of all inventions, when it happens, you'll pull through it - believe me!

A few things I always pack when traveling with him: Infant’s Tylenol, Gerber’s mentholated baby wash, nose bulb, motrin’s cold drops, (vitamin D drops before he started solids), nasal saline solution, wipes (alcohol ones which act as disinfectant or butt wipes as needed usually found in the form of makeup removing wipes at dollarama), his safety kit (it has a thermometer, medicine drops, nail clipper and a nose bulb, I’ve added my own nail file too) and spare plastic bags (25 scented sheets in a palm sized roll for a buck at dollarama). I also keep an emergency kit, a tiny one from dollarama with bandaids etc. Do note, don't try to carry all this in ur handbag. Check non essentials in if you can or place in a suitcase in ur trunk if you can.

Maalish...

2006-10-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

Nothing soothes one down more than a relaxing maalish(oil head massage) from daadi...

Man to man chat..

2006-10-22T03:09:00.000-07:00

A few days ago you weren't allowed to visit beeloo coz you had a cold and Beeloo isn't immunized yet. so well, mama put on Beeloos picture on his blog and lets you sit and talk to him. Here's a few pictures of you and him. In one of them you're kissing him and in another you're grinning after having tickled him!

He knows my name!!!

2006-10-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

My baby ran aorund the masjid today, looking around for me by callng my name! =)

Moments of motherhood that I'd relish forever!

Ramadan and Nursing

2006-10-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

Alhamdolillah so far this Ramadan, I voluntarily missed out on only two sawms (fasts). Initially I was concerned about hwo long I'd be able to fast for. But alhamdolillah things went on rather smoothly and it felt great. So great, in fact, that I've gained 4 lbs and a tummy bulge this ramadan! lol. Alhamdolillah this ramadan has been extremely productive and busy and I can't believe that in three days.. it's gonna be gone!

On a happier note, I woke up this morning to Eesa tickling me and laughing hystericallyy. The world's best alarm clock, i tell u!

Nostalgia... #1

2006-10-17T16:13:00.000-07:00

I guess part of being a mum is laughing out to yourself at funny memories of your baby. Today while Nayma and I were laying down to put eesa to sleep, when we had this funny nostalgia of Aisha (eesa's phoppo/paternal aunt, Imran's sister) changing Eesa's diaper.

Aisha and Maryam (eesa's chaachi/paternal uncle's wife, Imran's Sister in law) used to love changing his diaper. Infact, they used to argue over who's going to change his diaper. Anyhow, one day aisha was over at our place and was playing with Eesa. Eesa's diaper leaked, but since he'd done the big job, it was gross!! It went all over her sleeves etc.

So she removed his diaper and placed it behind her and began to wash him in the sink. Lo Behold! during this process, he sprayed pee at her!! lol! it was HILLARIOUS!

but wait! it gets better!

To avoid his pee that was spraying out at her, she took a step back and stepped right into the poopy diaper! LOL!

Poor thing! i still love u moti!

Two years...

2006-10-16T22:07:00.000-07:00

Here's to the two years that flew by..

The first of Ramadan, just a little after the jummah prayers in the year 2004. After alot of waiting and pushing, you came out into this world. It was this day, two years ago.

You were the much awaited first born for Baba and I - and also for both sets of grandparents. Your dadis and naani had been running around for months, shopping for you. Picking up lil knick knacks from everywhere. Afterall, a new baby was coming home soon.

As cliche as it sounds, it seems only like yesterday when Dr Levielle handed you over to us. We both were amazed. Every cell in my body had stop functioning 'normally' and switched over into nurturing mode. I held you against my chest. In that moment, Baba and I made a silent, solemn promise to love and protect you with whatever it took.

I can safely say that during your upbringing, regardless of anything else that we may have lacked in, love was always abundant. Not just from us two, but from your family around us. Your grandparents, your khalas, phoppo, chaachi and chachas. Infact, even now everyones life rotates and revolves around you. On our gloomiest day, you've been the reason behind our smiles. The first time you crawled, the first step you took, the first tooth you sprouted, the first word you said - you were encouraged and validated every step of the way.

They say kids bring a special joy into your lives. I think that's an understatement. You've brought us so much more. I can't even begin to list what you've meant to us. To this day, I have a hard time saying you're my son. While most parents struggle to put their foot down firmly to establish roles, I've never had to.

You see, you're not just my son. On my hardest day, you've been my confidante. I've told you my deepest and darkest fears. You've been the friend whom I've enjoyed hanging out with. We've been through malls and streets, like no one has. You've been the teacher who has unknowingly taught me so much about life and about myself. You've been my inspiration. You've been my jannah on earth. You've been my comfort. I've wept with you. I've wept for you. you'e been my companion on journeys across oceans. But above everything else, you've been the light of my soul. I couldn't comprehend motherly love, until I met you. you're a whole new dimension to the word: passion.

I remember cuddling you right into me on the day you were born. All three of us slept on the tiny hospital bed. I held onto you and woke up to every movement of yours. Your life created a whole set of new experiences for us. Comfort wasn't a priority for us, as long as you were ok. It didn't matter if we were melting away in the heat, on your most feverish days we'd never think twice about cranking up the temperature to make u feel comfy. From humidifier vs vaporizer, to bed vs crib or pampers vs huggies, we bought fought out every battle to raise you in the manner we believed befitted you best.

I may have made mistakes in your upbringing. I can't see them yet, if i had to do this all over again, I wouldn't do anything differently. But maybe time will scour out the gloss. When that gloss fades, for my err, I humbly seek your forgiveness. I don't know if I will live to see you play out my dreams of you, but I pray that you will always strive for the best in both the worlds. I pray that you will put others before yourself, that you will mantain the mannerisms that your father is loved and respected by his friends and family for. I pray that you always seek justice and truth in all matters, inshaAllah. I pray that you will respect your elders and love your youngers. I don't care if you don't become our basketball player, as long as you become a valuable muslim inshaAllahu Ameen. ;)

My lil peanut, I wish you could feel the warmth that I feel when you hug me. I wish you could feel the love I feel for you - even when i wipe the poop off your butt! ;) I wish you could feel the strings of my heart tugging at my soul when you smile at me. I wish you could feel the leaps in my tummy when u call out 'mama' in the middle of the night. Deep down, it doesn't bother me having to repeat myself over and over to make you understand what I mean. Neither does it matter when you ruin our precious stuff because compared to you, it's all garbage! It doesnt matter that I should be sleeping so i could wake up early tmrw to study for my exam - as long as I get to watch you sleep, so peacefully, for an extra minute or two. I love having you cuddled into me. I wish I could make you understand what unconditional love means. Even the grandest scale wont be able to weigh out my love for you.

My words are failing me again. It's hard to write what I have for you. I'm just puting together an album of everything you've done with us over the last two years. I can't believe one by one you've abandoned all your vestiges of childhood. As you enter toddlerhood, I pray and wish for you all the smiles and joys life could bring for you in this world and in the hereafter. ameen!

Nuhmma is here=)

2006-10-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

Yes she came! Nuhma surprised us with her presence today! According to her, it was your second annual Eesa day gift! lol! (whatever:P)

You totally recognized ehr and jumped into her arms. You endowed her with this huge sheepish grin. mashaAllah you looked adorable!

smoochies!

My vacuum's first (and second) bath

2006-10-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

It so happens that we finally got our first vacuum delivered today. It's been the highlight of my week lately. We ordered it last week and finally got it today.

Amidst all the xcitement, Imran left for Taraweeh and i started talking to aasiya. After a while, i got up to get my self a glass of water and right there stood Eesa, peeing away. I got so carried away talking to aasi, I completely forgot about Eesa's potty training and forgot to ask him if he needed to pee. In the process of relieving himself, his aim was directed solely on the vacuum... my brand spanking new yellow vacuum!! *sniff*

And so it was. Our pride and joy, our precious new vacuum got its first pee bath followed by a proper clean up bath =(

Mama's day off..

2006-10-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

Baba's working from home today while mama has switched into complete relaxation mode. i woke up at noon to a baby who'd already taken a shower and dump ad had just completed his morning breakfast. The most amazing part is that I'm not even fasting and Alhamdolillah despite his fast, baba took everything under control. Eeso is enjoying having an extra person in the house as well!

thank God for great days and great daddys!

I see you!

2006-10-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

Eesa's concept of hide n seek is as follows: as long as you're out of his line of vision, he thinks he's out of yours as well!

Well he got caught under my desk and here are pix!

Imaam Eesa...

2006-10-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

This Merchant boy is crazy! The first time baba ever sat on the mimbar was when he was 17, chacha was 23, chaachoo was 16... This lil one has outdone all the merchy boys!

Yesterday, during taraweeh, Eesa ran right out of the women's section into the men's prayer hall. Looking for his baba, he ran right through the door, past men in prayer - squeezing his way through their legs, right into the front row. I turned on the tv in the women's section to see if he could be seen. Lo behold, he was first sitting next to the imaam. When the imaam went into his second rakah, he couldn't concentrate any longer and kept making mistakes. Soon I saw Eesa climbing all over the minbar, up down, hanging over the top step etc etc. As soon as Imam nadwi said his salaams, he burst out laughing.

In foresight, it was funny. BUt at that moment, it was ever so embarassing. I just wanted to fizz away. lol.

After looking at Eesa, Imaam Nadwi made a very special dua'a for the youth and children of our society. We can only guide our kids, the path they choose is eventually their own.. May Allah swt keep all our children on the straight path, ease their burdens in this life and the next, make them a source of jannah for their parents and children; and may He InshaAllah reunite those who are away from their families, before Eid inshaAllah. Ameen. Ya ar Rahman, Ar Raheem Ameen.

Potty training..

2006-09-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

Alot of you have been asking me lately about how potty training has been going so far. I think I mentioned in my last poop, i mean post, that so far it's been rather successful Alhamdolillah. I've been having no trouble with the big job. It's the pee that's been giving us trouble. Although mashaAllah he has enough control to hold his pee, he just doesn't warn me in advance. we always end up having this leak. The sad part is, that it's almost like having Uncle Tom on my territory. No mercy, no warning and definitely no apologies - if Eesa could have his way, he'd spray it all down with his pee!

After he does it, I ask him: 'who did this?' *doh*
He responds ever so proudly 'Eesha'

I can ask him once, I can ask him a million times, it's the same adorable response: 'Eesha' =) I have to literally hold myself back from breaking into a smirk and/or hugging him!

Three posts in one day! whoaa! i'm on a blog frenzy! Eesa's gone to daadi's with Chaacha so I got a chance to clean out our dressers and to get rid of his old clothes in the process too. Alhamdolillah. Imo0o's flight has already landed, so I better go get ready.

Waalaikumsalaam=)

A day with Beeloo..

2006-09-29T15:33:00.000-07:00

Beeloo came over to spend sometime with us while Chaachi went back to take a shower. Eesoo thought it was baby swap time, he was ready to jet off with chachi. Eesa's catching onto the cold i had last week so we washed hands and wiped our face, then geared up to hold Beeloo. I held onto beeloo from under his neck while Eesa held onto his legs. Then Beeloo fell asleep and Eesa wanted Beeloo to suck onto Eesa's pacifier (no he never used one but we got one as a gift and he's seen Beeloo use it). He went hunting for the pacifier. Then we tried to "understand" how Eesa's Big bird pacifier is too big;) All along showering Beeloo with kisses on his legs.

Now Eesa wanted Beeloo to sleep on his bed. So we (Eesa) lay down in bed and pretended to sleep just like Beeloo, with our eyes shut, only with a big smirk on our face.

Eesoo, I'm glad to see you grow up all loving, caring and sharing. Beeloo, if your mama can hand Eesa's monsterous antics, I wanna have you over more often inshaAllah. =) Having you over, reminded me of the pledge I made right when Eesa was born. So tiny and adorable, I wanted to have ten of him. I love the newborn smell on babies. The smell of diapers, lotions and sour milk. mmmm.

Imran's coming back tonight, maybe I should run the idea of having another one by him. I'm just warning you guys incase tommorow's blog post comes from a reality-check rehab centre that Imran enrolled me into..!

Marhubban ya ramadan

2006-09-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

(ive pasted the stuff from my other blog here but added more for eesa's memories)

Yes, I'm five days late, but a Blessed Ramadan Kareem to everyone. Ahamdolillah despite Eesa, fasts are progressing smoothly. So far so good. We throughly enjoyed the taraweeh and fajr at Alfalah for the first four nights mashaAllah. So soothing.

This year theyve got four imaams and mashaAllah two of them are AMAZING. SubhanAllah, they outdo themselves every night. Sometimes while they're about to go into ruku' you almost feel like saying... "wait not yet!" hehe.

It's ever so convenient praying at Alfalah because the women's section is sound proof so the kids can play outside without disturbing the prayer. Moreover, with Mom and Nadia around, I don't have to worry too much abt taking care of Eesa. MashaAllah i got to really enjoy the prayers because fo them. How 20 rakah's fly by, you don't even know. I love ramadan at Al falah. Even their iftaars are super impromptu and cozy. mashaAllah. Even now, going back to Al falah, it feels liek I'm at MY mosque. Even though we've been at ift for over a year now, it still feels liek the communities mosque. there isn't that personal feeling to it. It's so hard to explain!

For the last two days, I've been in scarborough. Since Imran's out of town, i don't want to walk back alone at night so i come back after maghrib. As much as I hate to sound like a whiney wife, it feels super lonely without Imo in Ramadan. He's been gone since last monday and sometimes I just turn on the tv so there's noise in the house - esp after Eesa falls asleep. Even the usually hyper eesa has been unusually calm lately. There's only so much we can play too. Sometime's he's so bored, he just comes and wraps himself around my legs and smiles up at me, mashaAllah. I feel so sorry for him.

We've been doing alot of walking lately. To and fro the masjid, the park, the library, grocery store etc etc. Usually int he morning we go to the library, then to the masjid in the afternoon. When he wakes up from his nap we go to the park and then masjid again. The times that the lib is closed, we just go to the grocery store. Alhamdolillah that kills almost 45 mins to an hour of our time.

I can't say it enough byt MashaAllah i've been enjoying my time with Eesa alot lately. There's a completely different bond once they start responding to u and start to appreciate you. I remember in the start i used to go thru the 'postpartum of the itnellect' where i felt my mind was rusting. Alhamdolillah, altho that is still there, it's not so bothersome anymore. I'm so at ease with it. Alhamdolillah.

Eesa's also completed his 'big job' potty training. He's completely at ease with floating his boats out into the pot. He loves the farting sound/feeling and laughs uncontrollably when that happens. I think it makes him feel ticklish. Since today, he's been making the fartsy sound through his mouth and then laughs out loud after. (definitely a merchy baby!). Since yesterday, I started the small job potty training. We're still using the diapers. From tommorow we'll take off the diaper and count the number of accidents.

He's also become extremely loving mashaAllah. His antics are ever so priceless mashaAllah. Even if he's playing and doesnt see me around, he'll come looking for me, kiss me and then pull me indicating for me to come and be with him. This afternoon i fell asleep next to him and he woke up before me. He just kept kissing me in order to wake me up. He loves blowing flying kisses and all. oh and altho it's tough to make him do it, but its a really nice and warm feeling when he coems and gives Imo and I a 'Tight hug'.

I'm trying to record how Eesa prays so adorably mashaAllah. the only prob is when he notices the camera, he becomes really concious and wants the camera and leaves the prayer. STILL working on it though! It's so adorabel the way he makes dua and does sujood by lying down on the floor. He even taps his finger for shahadas mashaAllah.

I'm also trying to teach him the concept of picking up after himself. He tends to hurl things alot. Ever since he was a baby, he loves to throw things around. Even his toy baskets, he just loves to turn them upside down and mess them around. He enjoys messing things up more than he enjoys playing with them.

Winter's coming. It's alot of fun dressing him up now in runners and toupe. Toupes really suit him mashaAllah. Plus, he's shoe crazy like his naani and mum, so we have a great time selecting the shoe and socks we want to wear.

Signing out,
Mum!

Wheels on the bus go round and round...

2006-09-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

Our first bus ride!

A day at the Park 1

2006-09-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

Potty Training...

2006-09-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

and so it begins.

Today was the first day of our potty training schedule. We started the day very well mashaAllah by taking a dump and 'shoo shoo' (pee) in the toilet. Although I was expecting the pee bit to go smoothly, i was actually quite surprised to see him really relaxed about "floating his boats" (if u know what i mean) out into the toilet as well!

He's been sitting on the pot for a while, but just to wash up after a diaper change. As soon as I'd take off his diaper for a change, I'd put him on the pot and rinse his bum with water in the pot. If he was cold, he'd occassionally pee in the pot too but nothing as a routine. Alhamdolillah we're starting a milestone now! He's realy into his potty seat as well. It's just a removable seat for the conventional toilet seat. I'm ever so disgusted by the typical toilet seats that kids poop/pee into and then you have to wash it out. It's SOOOO gross. I saw a travel toilet system at Toys r us witha bag system, so the kids basically poop/pee into a bag and u can dispose it off. No hygeine issues, no washing etc.

I saw a black woman this morning making her kid pee behind the car, so totally disgusted me. InshaAllah if we keep the travel potty system in the car, we can pull over and make him poop/pee on it and then dispose the bag. I'm running ahead of the game here! let's just get this potty system rolling at home first!

Mommyhood is...

2006-09-16T00:12:00.000-07:00

- about alot of dispensible love and courage

- about smiling even when your heart aches.

- about turning to photo albums in order to validate the memory of a glowing skin!

- about having the honor of naming streets. Streets that are sketched across your belly in the form of stretch marks.

- about rewriting Oxford dictionary without words and phrases like: privacy, bathroom privacy, conversations with full sentences, good books etc etc! Ofcourse you get to emphasize words like: diapers and... well... diapers again for added emphasis!

- about functioning in a world where the sweetest smell is that of apple juice on a baby's breath; the most pleasant sight is a baby's smile; the most pleasurable sound is a baby's laughter - the one in which he has to gasp for breath 'coz he can't stop laughing; the most the most peaceful time of the day is during a baby's nap; and lastly, the best feeling is cuddling this bundle right into you.

- about learning not to ask for advice in the presence of elders. You will walk out feeling like nothing but an inadequate mother. Life saving tip: Don't question it! Smile and nod even if it sounds like the most absurd tip ever.

- finally accepting that reading parenting books is not a sure fire way to raise a perfect child. Every child is different.

- about learning to embrace. Each new day and each new moment. Before it becomes another memory.

- accepting that the floor has many functions! It's a catch all for food, toys, clothes and other belonging sthat your lil one may decide to displace.

- when the currency of your day is counted in nap minutes. Each nap minute is directly propotionate to a moment of order lost in your life i.e. your favorite lotion all over your bedsheet or baby oil poured all over the floor or sketches on your air conditioner made out of your favorite shade of lipliner.

- when your baby teaches you that dressers have other functions. How could you not know that, drawers can be used as stepstools towards your precious lotions.

- about accepting that you're part of a beautiful cycle. Your parents were that small once-upon-a-time. So were you.

- when you can finally place emotions and a picture to the nostalgic stories that your parents often narrate about your own infant years. Now you understand the smile on their face.

- watching your $800 matress turn into a trampoline. Enough said.

One more month to go..

2006-09-09T00:51:00.000-07:00

Before you officially hit your terrible twos.

But we all know that you've been going through those since the last 12 months anyway! =)

Moh and I have been having alot of fun with you lately. We love the crazy lil things you do all the time. MashaAllah we're always in awe. You've picked up on 'two and theee and foh' (two three and four). You have yet to say one but I'm sure it's just around the corner. It's actually quite amusing, going up elevators etc with you. You start your counting with 'two, thee, foh'. I keep asking you to repeat 'one' after me. Instead, you continue off from ... 'two thee foh'.

Your obsession with balls is reaching new limits now. you spend half the day roaming around naked because most of your clothes dont have balls. the only way you wear clothes is by either of us having to bribe you that we'll take you to chaachi's place. the other day, baba and I were laughing that most kids have parents that spoil. then they have grandparents. you have parents, grand parents and an extra three supplemental grandmas, YET you roam around naked! THAT is sad!

september's here so that means mama's back to school. i'd arranged for you to spend 7 hours a week at the daycare downstairs, while i was at school. on friday they called to let me know thata full tiem student has been given preference! that made my blood boil! anyhow, aunty zamzam was kind enough to help out today. Alhamdolillah. gotta figure stuff out for next week onwards.

last weekend for bilal's aqeeqah. he's simply adorable. but you're oh so jealous! the good thing alhamdolillah is that you dont express your jealousy by smacking him or anything. Instead, you seek to be cuddled and hugged. Which is pretty fair enough. ;)

Anyhow ive got to be get going. here are a couple of ur piccys from the aqeeqah!

Ee-Sa - Bay-Bee

2006-09-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

MashaAllah, You're simply the most adorable lil goof I've ever known. Your pranks make us crack up so much nowadays.

Anyhow, for an update, you've learnt how to say Eesa. But you have a hard time saying it like a normal Eesa. Ever since u were a baby, we used to call you Eesa baby - almost as if we're saying 'he's a baby'. (Shoaib chacha and Rizzi chacha were so crazy about ur name, they would yell out Eesa baby from the rollercoasters at wonderland!) anyhow, we're trying to get u to say ur name without rocking ur body for now!

And I need to mention, I was starting to get rather worried that you're turning two in almost 2 months and u STILL Couldnt say ur name yet. Alhamdolillah, u eased my worries nice and well! =)

Oh and while we're at names, we just found out a lil while ago that Chacha and Chachi have named the baby Belaal. MashaAllah. =) He's enjoying QT with nana and naani right now, we're gonna hog him soon inshaAllah. Chaachi, beware! =)

I'm a big bro now!

2006-09-01T18:14:00.001-07:00

Yes dahling, the stork finally delivered a 10 fingered bundle to chaachi today. MashaAllah, ever so adorable, Baby Booboo loooks sooo cute mashaAllah.

I couldn't help remember all the lil things I went through while I was having you. The way the flippin contractions kept squeezing in. The way baba held my hand and recited dua'as all the way through. The way, not having done and detection tests, I kept making dua'a that you're healthy. The way they gave me oxygen when your heart beat slowed out. Or the way you landed on me. All cute and cuddly.

Baby boobooo is miniscule! MashaAllah he's an average sized baby but you look like a giant compared to him! I can't come to terms with the fact that 2 years ago, you were just as tiny when Dr Levielle handed you over to me. So tiny and delicate MashaAllah. So observant, overcooked and flaky, just as you were.

Let's hope this starts for us a league of many merchy babies!

Way to go Factory Chaachi, just make sure u keep your production wheels crankin'!! Don't you stop the manufacturing line at one as well! :P :P :P

You're getting cousinofied!

2006-09-01T02:31:00.000-07:00

Big bro Eesa,

just wanted to let you know, Chaachi went to the hospital a lil while to bring you a brand new cousin!

Love,
Mama
(p.s. plz don't bully him!)

Ya Ommie

2006-08-29T23:32:00.000-07:00

Watching this made me want to somehow bottle each moment of your life with us. Opening and Spilling them as I want, cherishing the moment over and over again. Refilling and restoring them for a later nostalgia.

baw - A basketball players milestone!

2006-08-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a milestone that should belongs in our non existing babybook!

Today as I was putting on my fave denver nuggets top, you thought I was wearing a Jersey. You made me turn around so you could find teh NBA logo. Bu the top is from Foot Locker and it's not a jersey so it didnt have the logo. When u made sure it wasn't there, you twisted your palms and said 'baw'? As if to ask me, where's the ball? AWWWWW!! you can flippin recognize a jerseY!

A few days ago we were walking back from the park and you saw a guy wearing a lebron james' jersey at the corner coffee shop, u pointed to it and said 'baw'. I thought it was just a stroke of luck, u might have just randomly said it. BUT OMG! u know a basketball jersey when u see one!

Gotta start practicing with Coach Merchant if you wanna make it through the drafts!!

While you were sleeping...

2006-08-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

Having stayed up till the wee hours of the night with Nadia the previous night, I was tired out of my mind today and fell asleep at 10pm. Eesa was still up and I was feeling sleepy so I shut the room door. With me asleep, he was soooper bored. I heard him moving around, climbing over me etc. Somewhere around 11ish he fell asleep next to me. Imo called at 1, I woke up and to my horror both my dressers were emptied out. 5 out of 7 drawers!!! :O

But, the cherry topping! my laundry basket, previously homed on top of one of the dressers in my closet, was brought down and stuffed with all the clothes from the dressers.

How annoyingly sweet!=) aaah! the joys of mommyhood!

A day without Moh

2006-08-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

Eesies started calling Imran, moh - his rendition of my Imo.

Imran's off to Calgary again. This time for 6 whole days. He left yesterday and is coming back on Friday.

Eesa spent yesterday at Ontario place with Grandparents. They had a blast, water slides and all. He was pooped out by the end of the night and slept rather blissfully alhamdolillah.

When Imran's not in town, the day seems rather endless. We were up at around 9, had pancakes for breakfast, read a few books, played a few games and were back to sleep by 11. In the meantime mama did her routine cleaning etc. By 2 you were up again, we had cheese tacos for lunch, played around a bit. Basically bored ourselves to sleep by 4:30. In the meantime mama got dinner ready. We had pizzas..yummer... !!

At 6 we went to the park, played around for a bit. Managed to get our way onto CTV's camera (going to be on news tonight, weather segment at 11:30!!). Went to the library, read a bit. Came back home, spilt milk all over. Had a shower, splashed water all over the washroom and now I'm selecting my diaper..ehmoh ofcourse... while mama is writing away.... perhaps her 5 minutes of adult interaction before she speaks with baba later tonight!

You see, life without Imo, is just ....lifeless! =)

Phoppo's photoeditting!

2006-08-23T17:45:00.000-07:00

Hot stuff;)

Eesa's Crib..

2006-08-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

New pictures added from his room. It's also linked on the side toolbar.

Pix of Eeses from Chaachi's Shower Day

2006-08-22T22:45:00.000-07:00

Eesa getting dressed

Running Away from Mama so he could dress up himself Eesa Sportin' his stuff!

Showin' off his muscles!

Our name has changed..

2006-08-22T22:04:00.000-07:00

Our website is no longer Eesababy.blogspot.com. I reckoned a 16-20 yr old Eesa wouldn't like to introduce his wife to a blog called Eesa baby!! Hence, I've changed it to Eesa's crib... Truly a hangout for us! =)

Pregnant women stand up..

2006-08-22T09:47:00.000-07:00

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=396382&in_page_id=1770&in_page_id=1770&expand=true

Eesa- 21 months

2006-08-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've updated about his antics. He's been out and about into everything these days. From running into walls, to burning his hands, to spilling paint, to jamming dvd players with tons of dvds to spilling mama's craft beads all over the livingroom to ... everything! Oh dare i forget that he spilt baby oil all over my bed, bedroom floor and himself!

I also want to mention that I've discovered the most beautiful smell ever. It's the smell of apple juice on baby's breath. SubhanAllah. It's awesome! When Eesa was a baby he used to love sucking my chin, then he started sucking my nose. Not only did it feel good, I used to relish the smell of his breath. Nowadays I have to stick my nose into his mouth to smell it.

Another milestone. Ever since he was a baby, I'd pray while holding eesa in my arms just so he is used to the concept and is not cranky when he sees me praying. Alhamdolillah nowadays he doesnt cry or try to distract me while I pray but he doesnt stay in my arm any longer either. It's amazing to see him stand independently now MashaAllah. The greatest sight these days is to watch Eesa stand next to his Baba while praying. They look simply adorable. I've been trying to capture it on camera but Eesa gets distracted by the sound of the camera lens opening.

Also when he knows he's done something naughty and I will get mad at him, he quickly goes into sujood because he thinks it would make me smile. One sly kid he is!

He's been saying a few words here and there. But I still love the way he says 'ehmoh' and 'uhoh' with a pout of his mouth..He's also picked up the habit of wearing his shoes the wrong foot in. Alhamdolillah the good thing is he can identify the wrong shoe in each foot intentionally. Most kids do it because they dont know right from wrong. But he knows which one is the wrong shoe and insists to put on the wrong shoe! SubhanAllah.

As I mentioned in my other blog, I've also organized his stuff."I came up with a substitue for diaper bags since I hate carrying them (even the mommy bags), so I've put together pouches (3 for $2 at party packagers :P). Each pouch includes a pack of cookies, an infant's tylenol, a bandaid, a pen, some hand sanitizer(2 for a buck at dollarama:P), vaseline or lotion, one small toy, a toonie for snacks and a quarter for emrgncy phone calls, and a diaper. ive placed one of these pouches in his stroller and another one in our car since those are the only two ways we travel by." I also found these baby wipes in a cup which are handy for tackling spill ups etc. The cup shape allows u to place it in the cup holder of your car or the car organizer in the back. Theyre from dollarama so I'm not too sure about the quality, but for spills on fabric etc I find them to be an excellent substitute.

Oh! I saw a woman clean her baby's butt with just wipes after he pooped. EEEW. You can imagine my eyes growing wider by the moment she kept cleaning her baby's butt! I was soooo disgusted. She didnt even use water much less soap! (...And they have the guts to say us muslims are dirty! )

Our potty training has begun. I was hoping to do the weaning first but he's much more keen to do potty training. I felt it was rather early to train him now but he insists on not wearing a diaper and holds his pee in for 2 hours!! So now I just ask him frequently if he wants to do 'shooshoo' every 20 minutes or so. I'm not pushing for it too hard because he's still not 2 and is not entirely sure about how he pees. I'd rather give him the time to do it on his own than for me to have arguments and temper flares. Alot of desis squirm at the thought of a 2 yr old untrained toddler, but I hate the way desis go about training their babies - screaming and yelling their way into it. (My next door neighbour is doint it these days, I can hear it all the way in my bathroom when her daughter has accidents!). I expect some dissappointments aand temper flares but considering he'd be over two, InshaAllah it shouldnt be that bad.

I guess thats it for now. Piccys from his room to follow soon inshaALlah. Aasi darling had a sneak preview of the piccys at Beenish's Halaqa 2 wks ago coz they were in my camera then. But inshaAllah soon, theyll be up.

Motherhood..

2006-08-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

Imran's been out of town again since the last three days. It's been tiring and trying to say the least. Nonetheless, I've come to the conclusion that single mothers definitely deserve that extra pat on their back.

During this time, I've been on the verge of tears soooo many times. Amidst everything I feel like I'm walking on my last straws. Maybe I miss the comfort of having Imo around, maybe it's my monthly friends that are here for the third time in 45 days or simply I'm feeling completely exhausted. Or maybe it's all of them. I feel like I don't even want to smile. I don't want to see anyone, nor talk to anyone.

Least of all, I don't want to address the clutter growing at my place. The kitchen dishwasher is leaking and the management doesn't give a beep about it. It's starting to smell coz the water is leaking under the flooring. The bathroom sink is leaking. I need to clean the washroom, order the mats, do the laundry, put away the clothes from the previous laundry, dust the place and the list just keeps growing.

I went down to complain to the management, she just smiles and lies. I'm exhausted and don't even want to battle that one.

Eesa is giving major disciplinary problems, but is ever so adorable. He burnt his hands yest(i can't type out the story right now), and clung on to me and Ayesha like anything. H e just wanted to be held and comforted. He was crying so painfully, i just wanted to do anything to ease out his pain. I felt like crying just coz he was hurting. :'(

Parenting really makes you appreciate everything your parents went through to give you the upbringing you got. I knwo for a fact that gowing up, I put my parent(s) through alot of trouble, May Allah swt reward them abundantly. Ameen

Rabbir hum homma kama rabbayani Sagheera. Rabbighfirlee wali walidaini wa lill momineena yawma yaqoomul hisaab. Ameen.

Eesa's new tooth

2006-08-06T10:47:00.000-07:00

So as soon I posted the last one, eesa stuck my finger in his mouth to tell me that he's sprouting out some new teeth. MashaAllah apart from the first four, he's been really good with his teething Alhamdolillah.

While I'm typing this, Eesa is lying across my chest (throat almost), drinking milk sideways, while reading what I'm typing. i'm watching the screen from the dent between his head and back (where his neck is). If i move my head to the right, his back in my face, i move to the left, his head in my face. Eesa sleeps like this in the earlier part of the morning, so that he's sleeping horizontally, while we're vertical. This way he ensures that imran is there. it's amazing but Eesa does wake up alot at night to chk if imran is around and he's been doing that since he was a baby. In the middle of his sleep, while turning or something he'd stick his foot out to chk if Imran was there. If he wasnt, he'd climb on top of me and come and sleep between Imran & I.

Anyhow, so imran just mentioned that because eesa sleeps like this, eesa's butt sticks into imran's face while he's sleeping. That all is tolerable... UNTIL, first thing in the morning after eesa's taken a crap(kaka in zamzam's language), Eesa's butt becomes unbearable. lol

Eesa and Ehmoh

2006-08-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

I thought I was sooo poooped after yesterday that I didnt have the stamina to blog. But something just happened and I want to blog it right away.

Its almost one 1:30 and i'm enjoying the fact that imo is home and hence I'm doodling around in bed with the laptop. Imo just made some homemade pancakes for eesa and himself, fed and played with him and jut gave him a bath too. LOL. It's mommy's day off and she's in bed, encouraging father son bonding...lol.

Anyhow, Imran brought Eesa out of the shower and as usual Eesa gave Imran the run - he hates wearing diapers! Eesa usually picks out his own diapers too since he likes wearing the ones with Elmo on it. I t took imrna a while to convince eesie to wear a diaper, he convinced eesa to wear one. Finally after much deliberation Eesa went through the pile, picke dout elmo and wore it. 10 seconds later, he pulls the tabs apart, pinches his nose and dumps the 10second old diaper into the trashcan and goes 'gahbij' (garbage). Imran's soooooooooo frustrated. He goes' shezzi what do i do now'. I go, convince him to wear another diaper. Imran goes 'Eesa your new girlfriend is Big bird, you HAVE to wear her NOW'. LOL!

anyhow, while i'm at it, might I add, pampers are simply amazing. i dont know how and what they do ... but their dipers are amazing!!!

here come the terrible two's!

2006-08-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

Lots of stories to share. It's been a very awk week. One moment i wanna just hug and kiss you, the next i just want to screaaaaam at the mess you create.

But lemme start with something you did yest. Abbi, bai, me and Daadi were in rizzi chacha's room and while you were scouring through bai's storage cabinet in the hallway. You found a packet of Always and brought it into the room and proudly announced... DIPUH! (diaper) :D lol!! We all burst out laughing while you gave bai a run before she grabbed you and made you put it away. I just found it sooo cute, i'm sure ud be super embarrassed abt this when you grow up! Don't worry, Nayma khala was worse:P

Today while I was leafing through the Ikea catalogue, you saw a desk and said tabuh for table. It's quite cute how you're saying these random words out of no where. Alhamdolillah, most amusing.

I'm still nursing you. It's very fatiguing and really taking a toll on me physically. However, you refuse to wean off! I've tried overstuffing you with food, increase your liquid intake, yet you keep attaching yourself to me, more for pacification(i hope thats a word) than nutrition.

You still give abbi a hard time while he leaves for work. You cling onto him and refuse to let him go. Hopefully you'll get used to it - soon!

Today Aunt Ayesha and I spokefor almost 3 hours and discussed ways of discipling you (amidst other random things). She's done ECE so she was my resource. I have the hardest time getting mad at you. I feel sooo guilty coz i know it's hurting you. Sometimes I just feel like lettign the issue drop and letting you do what you want, but I have to pulll myself back and remain stern. I just want you to know I love you (lots) and do it only coz I know its best for you. I don't want you to turn into a rowdy lil monster. {{hug}}

We have a shower for Chachi this week at Daadi's. Let's see how well you behave amidst 30 women. Women, act your age, don't let him flirt with you too much:P

lol

Love, Mum

Daddy, you're being missed...

2006-07-27T22:18:00.000-07:00

To the crazy man whom we call Abbi, baba, daddy etc!
Come home soon! :X

Believing is ....

2006-07-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

... three fourths of achieving!

Abbi Misses You!

2006-07-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hi baby!

It has been 3 days that I have been away, working hard to bring home the spoiling money required for you and mama! lol. Just kidding.. (sort of!). As time goes by, I feel the emptiness, lack of joy, boredem, wanting your presence around; mostly when I'm in my hotel room and hearing nothing but the air conditioner. I am looking forward to meeting you at the airport during my transit, urging to see that grin you have when I return from work; the grin that takes away all tireness and stress from my day.

I want a hug... a nice tight one.. with an "aaaaahh"! I want a kiss, on my cheek, not in the air rubbing your cheek against mine - lol! You're sooo cute! There are too many things to describe how adorable you are - mama is keeping a regular update on your life - kudos to her! Every day you do something new, and for the 2 weeks that I'll be gone, I want a replay of it when I get back - but for the short time I'll see you tomorrow morning at the airport - hugs and kisses work for now!

You are a true gem attracting everyone to you with the love you show them. Keep it up baby! I love you to bits! *HUG*

Your Abbi,
Imo

The lil Swimmer..pix from July 3rd

2006-07-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

Above are some of Eesa's pix from his second swim this season with his dad. The first swim was with chacha and chaachi but they took no piccys. They took a piccy when they went next and can be found on chaachi's blog.

Baw, dish, Dipuh and Joosh!

2006-07-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report you're turning into one slick charmer. Abbi's been gone three days and we both have been upto ALOT of mischief and kudos to you for being one slick one!

You've been behaving rather well for a 21 month old. You're upto the typical 21 month old mischief but I can't help but fall further in love with you. You wake up early in the morning and start patting my forehead but I still fane sleep. Then you kiss me and go 'mama, mama'. then you come lie down on top of me and keep patting me. I LOVE it. You've learnt how to rub lotion on me and spoil me silly!

Lately, you've been muttering a few coherent words amidst you typical 'pata pata bobidas'. Yesterday, you mentioned 'dipuh' for diaper and today you said 'book'. You say joosh for juice in the most adorable fashion. And you've been saying 'dish' for this and 'laieet' for light for a while now. You picked up how to say no a while ago but now each time you fall down or walk into a wall, you give a stern look and go 'no!' and wave your index finger!

A few days ago, you spilt some juice(i think it was) onto the floor and started clicking your tongue as if to say tsk tsk tsk! it was adorable! Abi and chachi had a hard time controlling their laughter in order to mantain a stern face at the fact that u spilt the juice!

Last night, you woke up at 1:30a.m. and were looking for abbi going 'abba baba" and then twisted your palm as if to ask where. When you couldnt find him, you went into his closet, wanting to wear his clothes. I didn't allow you to do so but his basketball jerseys were in a drawer nearby. You saw the NBA logo and kept going 'baw' for ball. You wanted to wear abbi's Garnett jersey. So i took it out and attempted to make you wear it on top of your clothes, but you insisted on taking your top off so you could wear it. The jersey was longer than you and you kept tripping on it but you were very content. You then climbed onto the bed and lay down on the bed and fell asleep very peacefully.

Love u to bitsy babester,
Yours,
*~Mama

jay cat 2

2006-07-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

Last wednesday Atikah aunty and Zainab came over. When Atikah was leaving, you wanted to be in her arms. So i took lil Zainab and started hugging and kissing her - hoping to get you jealous. But you decided, two can play at this game. You started hugging and kissing Atikah too. LOL! and the look you had on your face, the mischievious lil grin!

Love you lots essie
Mama

Jay cat:P

2006-07-19T22:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since i last updated abt you. Summer's here and you're kicking it big time at daada's pool. day before yest, Lena and Aunty Lubna came over. They joined you, phoppo and I for a swim as well. (ill upload the piccys later inshaAllah!). During lunch, Lena was sitting in JJ's lap. After a while Lena went to her mum and you climbed JJ's lap and enacted everything Lena did. You had the biggest sheepish grin ever. you leaned your head back into JJ or you'd lie down just the way Lena did. Later on, in the pool Lena sat in your old pool float. you waited patiently until Lena sat, but the moment she left, you climbed outta the pool and grabbed the float and insisted to sit in it. then you'd sit and copy everything lena did!

Alhamdolillah, the good thing abt u is that mashaAllah you dont show your jealousy violently - yet. I hope you stay the same when Booboo two arrives! you're extremely possessive about everyone.

Last sat we went to Mohammad uncle's wedding with Saima. You drove me CRAZY. you probably had a sudden adrenaline rush or something, you were running around the place like crazy. You'd crawl under the brides chair or whiz thru the guest tables. you were up and around, everywhere! I'd seen kids running around at wedding and frazzled auntys, never in my wildest dreams imagined that you'd be like them! *hugz* i luv u lots!

towards the end of the dinner, you climbed onto chacha and refused to go to anyone else. you've become really possessive abt chacha lately. God bless chacha once booboo two arrives!

lately, gravity seems to have an extra strong pull on you... except gravity seems to come at you from every direction - not just the ground. you're turning into a walking talking disaster just like ur mama! Oh my God, you run into walls and pillars like anything!

Recently you've been giving me disciplining dilemmas. I've got to do some research on disciplining methods. You're going through pre-terrible two's and its crazy. You've been expressing anger by throwing things and hitting. I've never really hit you except during the time you were teething and you'd bite while I nursed you. Even then i'd flick a finger on ur lip and that was ageees ago. Last friday, you threw a book and i punished you by locking you into the office. I wanted you to pick up the book before we would leave for jummah. you persistently tried to get away with it, i hugged you but remained mad until you picked it up. I wanted you to know that as much as it hurt me that you were crying because I was mad at you, you had done something wrong and you needed to be corrected. I love you to bitsys!

i think thats all for now.. its 2 am and i really should be sleeping!
love you lots
sheza