bismillaah

Yesterday we had a visitor from Malaysia, Akh Fadhil. He is abah's friend and was on transit for couple of hours at L.A. Alhamdulillaah, we rented a car and abah fetched Akh Fadhil from the airport to have dinner at our home.

Alhamdulillaah a'la kulli hal, on their way back home from the LAX airport, the car's headlights were not working. Abah was not aware of it until they were just a few miles from home. Once at home and after performing solat al maghrib, abah called the car's company, Zipcar, and asked them to fix it by 9pm since abah had to drive akh Fadhil back to the airport to catch akh Fadhil's next flight. However, the Zipcar man was not seen by then, and abah asked Bro Wasif, our Pakistani neighbor to borrow his car. Alhamdulillaah, Bro Wasif was very kind and understandable and let abah drove his car.

Alhamdulillaah, one of the most exciting thing was, akh Fadhil also brought a full luggage of goodies for us (our one small luggage that was left in Malaysia when we left for L.A earlier this year). Tokpak passed the luggage to akh Fadhil at the Penang airport.

MashaAllah, the bag was full with Qur'an, abah's books, Hajar's books, our important certs and documents, and new clothes for Hajar and Adam. Hajar was very pleased to get her books back and she took the books with her to bed last night. She also loves the new telekung and mini sejadah that she got. Finally, she has her own sejadah. Jazakumullahu khaeer tokpak, tokmak, cik mimi, and akh Fadhil for preparing the luggage and taking it to L.A.

bismillaah

Alhamdulillah, my children are real blessings

Our lives have been so wonderful since the day they were born
Astaghfirullah, our children are great trusts, our responsibilities
May Allah give us strength to be good parents
Teaching and shaping the children on the path leading to Allah
to achieve great success both in the dunya and the hereafter
Allahumma ameen

Alhamdulillah, we were so thankful to Allah because Adam's fever was over. His temperature went down slightly last night, and it turned back to normal today. Alhamdulillah, it was great seeing Adam being bubbly and active again. However, we've noticed that Adam has been trying to get all the attention, and he would cry very loudly whenever he noticed that Ibu was away from him. Adam cried a lot more today than the days before he got the fever. Maybe he was just loving all the extra care and attention =), Alhamdulillah.

Hajar was like her usual self, active and lively! Today, she picked up the phone when ibu called home from campus. after ibu hang up the line, she put the phone back properly since ibu got thru the line when ibu called for the second time. Ibu was trying to reach abah to check on how Adam was doing, but Hajar picked up the phone again. MashaAllah, it was very cute listening to Hajar speaking so softly at the other end of the line and at times, ibu thought Abah was behind her telling her what to say. However, abah told that he didnt even realize that Hajar was answering the calls. MashaAllah.

Hajar also knows how to turn off the burner everytime she heard the kettle whistling. Each time after she turned off the burner, she would say, "abih da." Alhamdulillah, she was quick and smart.

bismillaah

ALhamdulillah a'la kulli hal, the weather is becoming warmer as the summer is getting closer. Adam is not feeling well right now and his body temperature was quite high yesterday. Alhamdulillah, he's recovering slowly and Hajar was not sick at the same time. May Adam become better and stronger after the fever is over, Ameen.

Alhamdulillah, I feel relieved after reading some guides on parents.com website about babies fever There are helpful guides on how to act when your baby develops fever. After all, do not panic and know when to call a pediatrician inshaAllah.

Make a lot of dua that Allah grants us with good health and strong faith, inshaAllah.

bismillah

Alhamdulillah, being blessed with two wonderful children
MashaAllah, it's such a rich experience watching them growing up
O Allah, make them qurrata a'yunina
wa ja'alna lil muttaqeena imama

Alhamdulillah, both Hajar and Adam are doing great. Both are growing up fast and learning pretty fast too.

Hajar is now 22 months old and will reach two by the end of May, inshaAllah. She cried less nowadays and has been more bubly and cheeky. She also drank less milk and asked for more foods.
She also knows to tell when she needs a diaper change. Last night, she put a soiled cloth into the basket. Ibu never taught her that, but perhaps Hajar quickly learned through observation. Hajar would also pick up trashes and soiled diapers and put them into the waste bin. She also picked up her bottles and put them into the sink in kitchen. Other than that, Hajar also loves to help cleaning up after meals by carrying the plates, bowls, or anything that she could carry to the kitchen and give them to ibu. MAshaAllah, she is such a nice girl, Alhamdulillah.

Hajar would also share her toys with Adam and would console Adam by giving Adam toys whenever he cried. Hajar would also rock the cradle when Adam was on the cradle and cried. Hajar is such a big help to ibu nowadays, Alhamdulillah.

More on Hajar's developments: Hajar was also getting better in role-playing with the toys. She would pretend to be a big sister to the toys, put the toys on a pillow, and then she would pretend putting the toys into sleep. She would say"tido-tido" and "ba-bam" while pointing and patting on the toys. MashaAllah that was very nice and cute!


Hajar also could hold a pen correctly and neatly between her fingers. She would scribble on papers and keep changing pages one after another. She loves 'writing'. Sometimes, she would 'explain' the contents of her art using her baby language, which is cute but hardly understandable.

As for Adam, he loves to do his baby talk as well by making the 'da-da' and 'di-di' sounds. Whenever he was upset, he would cry very loudly. He would scream to the top of his lungs whenever he did not get what he wanted i.e toys etc. We guess he is having a very strong character.

Adam loves to roll and roll around the living room since he was unable to crawl yet. He loves wires! and we have to watch Adam constantly when Adam was awake. He was a bit picky about toys lately and sometimes he refused to be on the jumper.

Alhamdulillah, Adam is now 20 3/4 pounds and Hajar is 30pounds. We went to the WIC last Tuesday(finally) and got registered and got the food checks. Alhamdulillah we've got free juices, eggs, milks, and cereal supplies for a month.

bismillah

as the Malaysia'a PRU 12 was over, I was thinking about my children. How and who their future leaders gonna be, or are they gonna grow up as leaders themselves?

While it is wise to let what will come, comes but I just want to imagine or something like that :), well parents do worry about their children, right?

I was nervous with the thoughts that my babies were gonna be candidates in an election. It's just because leaders are full of responsibilities, which surely gonna be asked and judged before Allah azzawajall. Leadership is never an easy thing. It's not just about the excitement and enthusiasm while campaigning before the election or the joy and pride winning an election. It's way more than that!

I pray to Allah azzawajall, to grant great leaders for us all and for the future generations, and for my children to be excellent leaders for themselves and others as well. I am not asking them to be leaders who run a state or country, but to be leaders who can lead the way through examples and wise judgements just like our beloved Rasulullah saw. lay people with great personality and great leadership.

Okay...ibu have to stop rambling :)

bismillah

semalam mendengar satu berita pemergian seorang kawan abu Adam. Walaupun ibu hanya mengenali arwah dari nama dan rupa, tetapi tetap terasa perginya seorang hamba Allah. Ia mengingatkan bahawa usia bukan pengukur bila kita akan meninggalkan dunia. Dan sihatnya hari ini juga tidak bermakna kita akan dapat hidup setahun lagi.

Kehidupan ini kompleks dengan pelbagai macam pemboleh ubah dan pemalar. Semasa menatap wajah Hajar dan Adam, Alhamdulillah, ibu merasa bertuah masih dapat mendakap dan menyayangi mereka. Hari ini mereka masih lagi bayi dan kanak-kanak yang sentiasa ingin bersama ibu dan abah. InshaAllah beberapa tahun lagi, mereka akan jadi orang dewasa yang mempunyai kehidupan sendiri, sudah tidak sering bersama ibu dan abah lagi.

Ibu ingin merasai dan menghargai setiap masa yang kami lalui bersama dalam perkongsian hidup yang tidak lama ini. Atas kesedaran bahawa hidup dan mati ini hanya Allah yang Satu yang Maha Mengetahui bila, di mana, bagaimana, dan berapa lama.

Alhamdulillah, kerana Allah telah mengutus peringatan tentang maut kepada kita melalui pemergian hamba-hambaNya. Semoga kita sentiasa mengingati tentang kematian kita yang pasti untuk kita lebih menghargai sebuah kehidupan yang Allah berikan.

bismillah

Hajar and Adam were joining ibu and abah for the Route 114:Uloom'ul Qur'an seminar. They were in the childcare, though.

Adam was crying quite a lot(according to the person in charge). The baby sitter was trying to reach abah or ibu, but the cellphone got no coverage in the hall. So, poor Adam was crying unit he got tired and fell asleep. Ibu had to take a look at Hajar and Adam during every break and change their diapers. Alhamdulillah

Hajar was having good time playing with Salma and the other kids.