Summer
05 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
Of waterfalls and streams, river beds and rocks. Of sand between your toes and lemonade sipped through straws. Of sunshine and laughter. Of walks through tree canopied trails and giggles through shared jokes. Of picnic blankets and fingers licked. Of charcoal and lime. Summer is all things God meant love to be.
Blissful Love
01 Mar 2009 3 Comments
in Black and White, Hana, Silent Saturdays, Uncategorized
There’s nothing as tempting as waking up a peacefully sleeping baby!!
Mama me – Random 25
01 Mar 2009 6 Comments
..o0(Ok Jammie, lets believe I took your threat seriously:P LOL)0o..
Here goes:
1. I can fluently speak toddler. “Wai pee pee” and “ami-less” make complete sense to me. (Rice crispies and animals)
2. I’ve always been musically challenged but its never affected me like its affecting me as a mom. I can’t get the words or the tune to any nursery rhyme right. It annoys Imran like crazy coz the kids “correct” him with my version of the rhyme lol
3. Motherhood is making me bite my words ALL the time. I thought raising a girl would be easier. It isn’t (in my case atleast). I thought I would raise my son and daughter the exact same way. But I dont. I thought I’d love them the same. But I don’t. I love them both intensely but differently. Its something I can never explain to anyone.
4. I totally melt at the way Eesa and Hana look upto Imran. I melt all over again at the way he looks back at them.
5. The best part of being a mom is that I get to dictate fashion! Depending on my mood, I choose the look I want my kiddies to carry for the day:P
6. I secretly wish Eesa didn’t go to school. I miss him alot when he’s gone. I also miss my alone time with Eesa alot.
7. Eesa has an amazing relationship with his daadi. I love the way his face brightens up when he sees her. He calls her every night, loves to stay at her place and often refuses to come back home from her house. Most people ask me if I’m ever jealous. NOT the slightest! I want it to be like this FOREVER inshaAllah.
8. I can’t sleep well without my kids in the room. I need to hear them breathe.
9. I was the first “worldly” touch my daughter ever felt. Even before the doctors or the nurses.
10. I wish I had LOTS of children. A house FULL of people. It’d be awesome when they grow up. But I also know I’d go insane coz I’ve never been a baby person!
11. I’m a multi-slacker (NOT my coinage:P). I’ll avoid all my chores to play with the kids!
12. Feeding solids is the toughest part of my job description. I’d rather nurse.
13. I love it when Hana smiles, especially when she scrunches up her nose.
14. I still lay down with my kids to help them fall asleep. Secretly, I don’t want this to ever stop. It’s the most beautiful part of my day.
15. Motherhood makes me miss my mom. Alot.
16. I love the smell of apples/apple juice on their breath, the crease of their toes and their baby scented hair.
17. I wish I could write better so I could journal their lives better. I’m glad I started my blog and journals.
18. I love matching my clothes with Hana whenever I can.
19. Thank God for cameras.
20. In grade 6, I had a doll that I named Emaan. I always wanted to name my daughter Emaan. I made Imran agree to name our first daughter Emaan, even before we got married. I outgrew this name 13 years later, just 3 weeks before Hana was born!
21. People told me that once I have kids, I will focus less on Imran. I love my husband and kids to bits, but very differently and ALWAYS keep in mind that my kids will leave the nest 15-18 yrs later, but Imran and I are forever!
22. Imran and I are totally comfortable with our son’s colour of choice being pink and purple and him having a play kitchen of his own. I just wish people wouldn’t respond with as much shock.
23. I hate consumerism but end up over indulging my kids. I’ve shopped more for them in the last 4 years, than I have for myself in the past 24!
24. Being a mum is the single greatest motivation for me to be a better person each day. Incidently, being a mom has also made me a better wife, sister and daughter! (In no particular order:P)
25. I will graduate from law school around the same time my son graduates from junior elementary. lol.
the evil eye..
13 Jan 2009 4 Comments
What’s with this south asian obsession with nazr? I swear, if i had a penny for everytime someone told me to read qul’s coz ‘nazr lag jai gee’, i’d be a millionaire. What in the world is nazr anyway? How can a one year old magically fall ill if someone forgets to say MashaAllah while admiring him/her? What’s the child’s fault? then theres the kala teeka??
-Confusious!
Why didn’t anyone tell me?
23 Dec 2008 1 Comment
1. Children learn and develop according to a very strict schedule: their own.
2. There are no 16 year olds who are not toilet trained.
3. Any parenting lesson you painstakingly learn with your first child will be completely inapplicable to your second child.
4. The key to great parenting is a ton of love, support and acceptance. Make sure you’re getting enough.
5. Children are not as smart as those parenting books make them out to be. They’re way, way smarter.
6. With dedication and hard work, there will come a point when you know exactly how to handle any stage of your child’s development. Generally, this will occur when he’s halfway through the next 0ne.
7. When you find yourself, at 8am on a saturday, waist deep and shivering in your community pool trying to coax a screaming two year old off thedeck, what you need to remember is this: No election was ever won or lost on the basis of which candidate was prepared to put his face in the water.
8. There is only one thing that ever kept me from being a perfectly organized, perfectly patient, perfectly wise parent: being human
9. There is only one foolproofway to keep your children from whining in the grocery checkout line: leave them at home.
10. Raising children is confusing, challenging and over far too soon. And sometimes the wisest thing to do is just sit back and enjoy it.
(Excerpted from Today’s Parent April 2006 issue.. page 146)
Eid Mubarak..
03 Oct 2008 Leave a Comment
to you and yours! Taqabbal Allah minha wa Minkum. Ameen! =)
(this post really calls for a nice image. Since I’m not a graphic designer, I’ll leave it upto the pros! Sara, Mayg? lol!)
Seeing eye to eye..
21 Sep 2008 1 Comment
This morning, Hana saw her reflection in my eyes for the first time and must have stared, poked or tried to capture it by her fingers for a good four to five minutes. It was adorable, to say the least. I kept my eyes wide open for her to have a good view and started deeply into her eyes… I know, I wasn’t imagining it, but I could see sheer love in those shining eyes, for whom I am the centre of their world -atleast for now.
In my opinion, being able to re-acquaint with the world, right from the very basics, has to the most rewarding and humbling aspect of motherhood. In that moment, that was my world, just us two. While the world may be turning upside down and spinning on its head, I couldnt care less for anyone or their grandma! As I try to write this, I can’t even give the moment justice with my words… there simply are no words for it. Just memories, that I hope will never fade!
Memories..
14 Jul 2008 12 Comments
There are some things in life that I wish I could preserve somehow. I wish there was a way to re-live those moments the exact same way again. The same place. The same people. And most importantly, the exact same emotions and sentiments.
Today was such a day for us. We celebrated Hana’s Aqeeqah party today. Yes she’s 7 months old, but we never had a party for her upon her birth since my parents werent in town. Plus, we don’t celebrate birthdays (don’t gimme the looks girlies, i can feel them piercing through my back lol!) so I really, really wanted to have this special day for Hana. With my dad being in town for just this one day, we jumped at the chance!
To sum it up as a beautiful day is gross injustice. I’m just numb with the intensity of emotions surging within me. I wish I had the ability to put our sentiments onto paper, but at this very moment, I just can’t.
Right now there’s only one thing going through my mind: I’m trapped! My heart’s been captured by two lovely souls and thankfully, I’ll never get out. Motherhood is a lovely prison indeed.
On Mothering Two..
04 Jul 2008 5 Comments
During my pregnancy with Hana, my biggest concern was about giving Eesa enough time and attention so that he’d never feel like his place in our house had been compromised. I’d observe and ask every second-time-around-parent for advice – (even our very club president Hinamommy 
)- picking up every morsel of advice, evaluating and chalking down everything possible, for future reference.
Before Hana’s arrival, we did our best trying to get Eesa used to the idea of having a new sister. We enrolled him for sibling classes. Talked to him about the ‘bump’. Got him involved in every outfit selection and nursery decorations. But he never made the connection.
When Hana was born, he visited us at the hospital and climbed onto the bed with me. He gave Hana a cursory glance, because she was just any other baby. His sister ”brought” him gifts but he was more concerned about playing with the hospital gadgets. He held Hana but only because it gave him the limelight.
However, nothing, absolutely nothing prepared us for what lay ahead. When Hana arrived home, Eesa immediately declared that she was not his parents’ daughter. He insisted that we immediately call up her mother and send her away. Return her to the hospital atleast, he persisted.
It didn’t help that Hana is a real charmer. Having been born after two boys, she is a show stopper for her grandparents. Not to undermine their love for Eesa, they still gave him alot of love and attention but couldnt resist Hana toothless gummy smiles either.
It was hard watching him compete for our love. Eesa suddenly wanted to be a baby again. He declared he wanted to be a girl (gave his dad a REAL shock with that one lol!). His favorite colour was pink and he wanted to wear hair ties. He wanted to sit in an infant carseat, be nursed to sleep etc etc.
We compensated by lavishing him with love and time. But nothing seemed to be working. Everytime our attention wavered, he’d go and smother Hana. If no one was watching, he’d sneakily go and smack her (yea!!). He’d squeeze her till she cried silly. On instinct, we’d respond promptly by getting angry.
What we really forgot was that even at three, he was a baby afterall. Yes he looked big next to her, but compared to the rest of the world, he was still only a tiny 3 yr old. For three years, he never had to worry about anything or anyone. Suddenly, we’d put him on the job, expecting him to be a responsible elder brother, without really even reading out the job title, much less the job description.
In time, we’ve learnt a little. We’ve learnt to keep the anger out. Instead of reacting, we’ve resolved to distracting. We let him hold her, even if it means holding our breath so tight that we go blue. We encourage him to carry her or hold her in his lap. If he smothers her or squeezes her super tight, we distract him by showing him her adorable feet. He’s learnt that wiggling his bums makes Hana break into fits of laughter. He loves seeing her smile.
6 months later, I’m proud of my champ!. He’s starting to outgrow his love of hair ties and dresses (except when it unfailingly recieves a shocked response from his phoppo, chachi or daadi). He’s alot more calmer and loves hugging Hana in a way that brings out more smiles than squeals of fear! He loves having her cuddle into him while she sleeps.
He’s finally figuring out this loving his baby sister stuff!
While we’re finally getting to figure out this parenting second time around stuff!
talesofamotherkind
jammie
HMZ
Mona S.
shezahasan
mayG
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