bismillaah

Alhamdulillaah
atas penyeri hidup kami

my baby girl was asleep on my lap
she was tired and sleepy
cried a bit and asked for ibu, muala, and nunun
before finally went asleep



my baby son was still playing
rolling and creeping around the house
he cried a bit asking for attention
before smiling again when abah came to him



trusts, gifts, happiness
and truly they are...

Bismillaah

Hajar & Adam,
May you two grow up loving the Solat,
Loving the solat as your source of peace,
and energizing breaks from the world ...

bismillaah

Alhamdulillaah, the book that ibu has been waiting for arrived safely today. Ibu has not read it yet, and inshaAllah will allocate some time for studying the book and putting it into practice.


Btw, the book was recommended by a dear friend of mine, Jazakillaahu khaeer. May Allah make it easy for ibu and abah to teach Hajar and Adam to read. inshaAllah, Hajar will be able to read and enjoy her books by herself as soon as possible.

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.

bismillah

just remember,
when the next time you cut your finger while cooking in the kitchen,
that your mom's fingers might got cut also while preparing meals for you...

Just remember,
when the next time you accidentally touch a hot plate, pot, or anything hot in the kitchen and burn your fingers,
that your mom your mom's might accidentally done the same thing while preparing meals for the family...

Just remember,
when the next time you feel so tired of managing the family for the whole day,
That your mom might got tired doing the same thing for you...

bismillah

i am grateful to Allah for giving me a place that I can call home
Alhamdulillah that I have a shelter from the rain and sun
Alhamdulillah that my daughter and son are safe with me
Living healthy and happy, warm at home

today we went to take a look at our next home-to-be. InshaAllah we'll begin the moving out from our current apt and moving into the new one soon.

we'd just left Nupac when the rain started to pour. We ran(pushed the strollers) as fast as possible to reach Toberman before Hajar and Adam got all wet. Alhamdulillah, Toberman was just at the end of the street and it took only couple of minutes to reach.

Alhamdulillah the apartment was nice albeit a bit smaller than Nupac's. The cheaper rent and paid utilities made it reasonable. Overall, the apartment needs some jobs to be done especially for the floor, it needs to be carpeted since it was very cold to step on with bare feet. Malays dont wear shoes inside their homes, right :) needs an extra heater to be installed in the hall, replace some old bulbs, and some other minor repairs here and there. Alhamdulillah, the landlord, Shalih has agreed to do all of the above, and we're grateful for that.

We went back home after Asr. Hajar was very happy with the trip since she got the chance to jalan-jalan and explore a new place, soon to be called home, inshaAllah

Bismillah

Alhamdulillah, sister Gjie and bro Abli came visited us last Sunday. It was wonderful to receive tetamu/guests at our apartment. Ehe..after about 1 month++ feeling like real 4 batang kara(sebatang kara x 4).. Hajar was asleep when they came, but not long after that she awake. Hajar was really surprised(i guess) to see a malay makcik and Hajar was just staring at Gjie for couple of minutes with serious,confuse look. It took quite some time for Hajar to warm up and run around the house like usual. She was excited to see other people in the house!(other than the same abah, adam and ibu everyday!)


the weather is a bit cold today and we are wearing sweaters in the house! ....

Alhamdulillah, we've got someone to sublease the apartment.InshaALlah we are moving out by the end of February. Hopefully the new apartment, which is bigger and closer to Masjid Umar al-Khattab will also be better for us. No bugs and less problematic. InshaAllah abah will be able to make more frequent visits to the masjid and attend every jemaah prayer.

inshaAllah...:)

Kita Bukan Budak Kecil Lagi...

Bismillah

Anak-anak kecil boleh buat apa sahaja yang dia mahu
Mereka masih kecil dan belum tahu erti malu
Tapi kita bukan budak kecil lagi
Tak bolehlah buat semua perkara ikut suka hati
Tanpa segan silu

Anak-anak kecil buat apa sahaja dengan ikhlas
Mereka masih kecil dan belum tahu meminta balas
Memang kita bukan budak kecil lagi
Tapi mestikah buat semua perkara ada udang sebalik batu?
Tanpa niat hanya untuk Yang Satu?

Anak-anak kecil boleh meludah selepas disuap
Tidak peduli ibu yang akan marah atau rumah bersepah
Tapi kita bukan budak kecil lagi
Tak bolehlah berlagak kasar tanpa batas
Kenalah berbudi dan cakap beralas

Anak-anak kecil boleh menjerit dan menangis sekuat hati
Tidak kisah jiran sebelah atau orang marah
Tapi kita bukan budak kecil lagi
Belajarlah berfikir sendiri
Sebab hidup bukannya lama
Takkan di akhirat nak hidup susah...

bismillah

They have grown up so fast
The apples of my eyes

The picture is a lil bit blurry as everyone was moving happily when the picture was captured. No matter how it is, I still love this picture.

Bismillah

Ibu bought a pink bike today! It's a used bike and the previous owner is a girl from Switzerland whos just graduated and is going back to her country soon. Alhamdulillah she sold the bike for just 20 bucks. Ibu's rizq.

Ibu was nervous riding the bike on the road since Hoover is a busy road. Alhamdulillah there's a bike lane, so it's safer. The bike's seat was quite high for ibu and ibu had to adjust it at the bike store. Alhamdulillah, it was done for free and ibu could get on the bike easier.

Oho..the bike comes with a lock and a pink helmet. The lady was very nice and generous!

Bismillah

Yesterday we had planned to go the Women, Infants and Children(WIC) office before we realized that the office was quite far from home and couldnt be reached simply by walking, which the only thing possible for us currently. FYI, The WIC is providing foods coupons for infants and children from the low income families so that every child gets proper nourishment. Since abah is not working, and ibu is a student, we are considered as a low income family and basically eligible to enroll in the program.
However, we'd to postpone our registration until we can find a transportation. The kids must come to the WIC office for the registration.

Then, an interesting event came up. Ibu saw an ad at the craiglist's website written by a person who offered help, basically of any kind, to those who needed it! The writer said that she(later we discovered that the writer was a woman) realized that her offer was unusual, but she wanted to do something to make her feel better.(she was having difficulty of finding a job within her field).So abah emailed her and told her that we needed a lift to do our groceries. Later, she called and agreed to take us to the Walmart. She also asked if she could bring her friend to record everything just to tell people that we could do kindness in many forms. We're fine with her idea, and were excited to meet her.

However, later on we decided not to proceed with our plan because we couldnt take the kids along since we didnt have car seats! Its the California's law that small kids must be secured in a car seat while riding on a car. Initially abah suggested that ibu go to walmart alone, but ibu didnt feel comfortable for going out with a complete stranger, even with a woman. Well, basically the main reason for us to go to the walmart was to claim ibu's passport from the customer service after ibu carelessly dropped the passport in the store. So, the plan was canceled and inshaAllah a better option will come.

Later on yesterday, we went to the Doheney Library because abah wanted to borrow some books. We took the tram and got down at the first stop on campus. then, we put Hajar and Adam on the twin stroller before headed to the Doheney Library. The weather was nice, the campus was beautiful and lots of students were on campus. We went to the library, abah got the books, and we went back. On the way back though, while we're undecided whether or not to visit the University Village, the stroller's wheel was suddenly broke apart. We were very surprised and dissapointed and still in shock when suddenly the second wheel broke. Two of the front wheels broke, and the stroller was no longer working! We were in trouble. We took Hajar off the stroller because the wheels on her side that were broken. Adam was still on the stroller because he was asleep.

Uhuhu..we walked back home with the broken stroller. Abah pushed the stroller with Adam on it, while ibu walked with Hajar. Hajar was very excited to get the chance walking on the sidewalk. She was 'talking' along the way with joyful and cheerful voice.

Alhamdulillah, what a day..

Bismillah

once an infant,
now a fast growing, active toddler,
healthy and bright,
enthusiastic and kind

once the only child,
now the older one,
a loving big sister
to the cute, chubby brother

she's Hajar
and her brother is Adam

they are our children
the hope for the future
to become righteous children
whose duas send their parents to heaven

Bismillah

This morning, it was started just like usual. We wake up for Fajr without Hajar as she usually performed jemaah prayer with us. Then Adam wake up, smiled broadly, did his bubbly, baby talk, and then cried when he got bored. Hajar was still sleeping soundly under the comfy blanket. It was cold out there and this made the bed was so hard to resist.

Ibu had to get up early this morning since it was Monday! and ibu got 2 classes today.
Uhu...ibu was so very sleepy during the class. Ibu was fully awake just for the first half an hour,
and 'tidur-tidur ayam' for the rest of the class. Erm...morning classes were just not meant
for ibu. Ibu needed to practice staying awake while sitting in an air-conditioned room for more than an hour.

Btw, yesterday we didnt go to the Islamic Center. We'd no transport! Uncle S's car was sent
for routine service and uncle S wasnt able to drive us to the ICofLA. Poor Hajar and Adam had
to stay home for the whole week. However, it was raining during parts of the day and maybe it was a good thing we didnt go out, so that Hajar and Adam didnt get caught in the rain.

We bought a used laptop for Hajar. It was $30 and a 1999 Vaio. The laptop is still in the very good, working condition. Ehehe hajar ended up not getting the chance to play around with it much since ibu was online using the vaio.ehehe..

bismillah

Today we had to leave the house for several hours because the apartment needed to be carpeted with a new carpet. the old, green one was just too old and might be dirty and dusty for our little prince and princess.

Alhamdulillah the management gave us another apartment to stay while waiting the works at our apartment to be done. It was a single apartment and pretty nice. There was no heather, though and ibu got quite cold after 2 hours of waiting. The faucet's water was also ice cold!

Abah bought us breakfast at the McDonald as we hadnt ate anything for breakfast. We stayed up late last night and were having a late morning also :). We hadnt prepared to go outside when the manager knocked on our door telling that they wanted to start the carpeting soon.Uh - oh. Ibu had to rush bathing Adam and poor hajar, ibu was ran out of time and hajar didnt took her bath this morning. And off we went to the transit apartment.

Around 1230pm, the guy who dropped us at the transit apartment came back and drove us back to our apartment. The apartment was quite messy with everything was out of place. As for the carpet, it was blue and thicker than the previous one. Alhamdulillah, this new carpet makes the apartment looks nicer and brighter. No more gloomy, green, old carpet :).

By the way, Hajar and Adam got their toys and the twin stroller today. Alhamdulillah, both of them enjoyed playing with the toys and ibu sure they're having lots of fun. The stroller was quite bulky and heavy although people said it was among the lightest one. Ehehe..abah'll have to figure out how to carry this stroller when we go outside next time.

Right now, everybody was asleep as everyone got tired after the long day.The toys were still scattered all over the apartment and Hajar slept between her toys :) How cute, MashaAllah!

Bismillah

One thing worth noted here, Hajar has been calling her father 'abang'(which means brother) instead of 'abah'(which means father) =). It was cute. Ehe, may be she heard ibu calling her father with 'abang', so she followed ibu.

Right now, Hajar no longer drank the Dutch Lady 123 Honey flavored milk as we ran out of supply. We've been giving her the whole milk and she likes it! She usually asked for one bottle after another. Ehehe, yesterday she finished one gallon per day.Oops, guess we have to reduce the frequency of her milk time :)

We also bought a dvd-vcr combo for Hajar and Adam last week. Hajar has been watching the children's movies, cartoons, nasheed, children songs, and lectures!. We hope this will help with her learning through audio and video, and ease her of boredom of staying at home the whole week!

We love them!

bismillah
isnt it cute if Hajar and Adam both sit on this stroller? hopefully we'll be able to upload some pictures of them with the twin stroller as soon as possible =)

bismillah,

InshaAllah these will be Hajar and Adam's toys. Hope they'll have lots of fun learning and playing with the toys!

• Playskool Learning table spin and pop arcade, Watch balls roll, slide and even pop off the tabletop Big buttons activate fun sounds and music Center spinner keeps the balls moving Removable table legs for fun on the floor For ages 1 yr. and up, Manufacturer: Hasbro
• Toby the totbot Toby the Totbot is the perfect learning friend for toddlers. Simply touch one of the buttons around his light-up screen to see letters, numbers and shapes. Or, sing and dance with Toby to one of 3 different songs. Plus, Toby comes to life with moving head, eyes, waist and arm because learning is more fun with a friend!
• Learning Patterns Motion & Music Jungle Gym Sights, sounds and stimulation-they're all important for baby's developing abilities. With motion, music, high-contrast patterns and bright faces, this colorful gym is a great way to spark the senses. Three friendly animals move and dance overhead while baby hears delightful music and fun animal sounds. You can set it for long-playing music, or let baby activate shorter tunes by batting at the toys. As your child grows, remove the overhead gym bars and attach the animals to the soft quilt for tummy-time play. With rattles, clacker beads and ribbons, it's full of activities to keep baby busy! The Learning Patterns system of developmental toys is designed to help bring out your baby's full potential by awakening and rewarding developing abilities throughout the first year.
• Tyco Mattel Elmo House, cause and effect, by pushing the mat or the flower plant the door or the windows open.
• Fisher Price Baby Smartronics Nursery Rhymes Bus Learning fun is ready to roll, in your choice of English or Spanish! Choose a language, then let baby learn nursery rhymes and letters. Or turn the switch for numbers, shapes and colors. Friendly characters pop up to play "peek-a-boo" when baby pushes colorful buttons. And blinking lights dance while favorite songs play as baby rolls the bus along!
• Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Learning Puppy Play games, sing songs, enjoy lots of learning fun with this cuddly friend. Baby can learn A-B-Cs, 1-2-3's and parts of the body, plus sing along to 10 favorite songs and games. Dog bone collar lights up to the music! Make learning more fun with the whole collection of Laugh & Learn™ toys. With rich music, sing-along songs, and lots of activities, they combine early academics and everyday experiences-for the way kids really learn!
  
• Fisher Price Nursery Rhymes CD Player The Nursery Rhymes CD Player is a take along infant learning toy that teaches baby nursery rhymes, first words, animal names and sounds in a portable CD player format. Baby presses the center button to send the CD spinning around while the 3 colored lights dance. When is stops on one of 5 animals, it sings an appropriate nursery rhyme. Press the 3 lighted buttons on top to hear the animal name, the sound, and hear the nursery rhyme again. There are bangle beads on the side for additional manipulative play
• Navystar Animal Ship, push the animals to hear their sound.
• Bluebox classic toy
• Leap Frog My First LeapPad Learning System
• Leap Frog Leap's Big Day no cartage needed
• Leap Frog Preschool The Foot Book Dr. Seuss
• VTECH Little Smart Pull 'n Play Phone
• VTECH Storytime Rhymes
• Mattel Winnie the Pooh beads and sounds.
• Kids II Bright Starts Bop & Roll Drum Baby activates 4 melodies, 10 zany sounds and flashing lights by rolling drum, Includes a large reflective area for "Peek-A-Boo" fun, Rattling clear bead chaser on both ends.
• Plastic Duck
• Talking Singing Disney JOJO of JoJo's Circus Plush DOLL Toy
• Sesame Street Elmo's phone
• Sesame Street Elmo's guitar
• Elmo's piano, lights music numbers
• Fisher Price Camara
• Lamaze Puppy tunes Adorable Lamaze dog character with a different note in each of his four legs.
• Prince Lionheart Slumber Bear Tummy Sleep The Bear contains the only actual intra uterine recorded womb sound to help lull your baby to sleep in minutes. Additional hook and loop straps allow you to secure the rmovable audio box to crib rails, strollers and more.
• Blue Clue's
• Cititoy Baby Doll talks and sounds
• Leap Frog Learning Lily Bilingual, English, Spanish
• Kids II Bright Starts Clear rattle with colourful beads
• Kids II Bright Starts Colorful butterfly with beads
• Shelcore teething keys
• Leo the Lion soft book
• The First Years Phone, lights music, numbers
• Mattel Disney tigger with song
• Playskool piano
  
  
  

Bismillah

Today was a lil bit colder. It was very cold in the morning eventhough the sun was shining brightly.
In the afternoon, the sky was dark and it's started to rain till evening. All of us were at home trying to keep ourselves warm.

Alhamdulillah, ibu has received the recently bought, used laptop from EBay. Right now, ibu's using the new tablet pc. It's great and the tablet function's just so nice to play around with. Ehe, now abah can do his works using the other laptop without ibu interrupting him.

Hajar and Adam were already asleep. Hajar finally got tired of playing around the house and screaming at the top of her lung(read:high pitch,piercing voice-she has been doing this a lot lately). Hajar also loves to tear papers into pieces and throws them around the apartment. We guess that she needs more toys to play with, which unfortunately we cannot afford at this time. InshaALlah if Allah permits, we'll buy some developmental toys for Hajar when the scholarship's already here. Adam was as his usual self, a very cute and heart-melting baby. I loveeee my kids very much.Thank you Allah for giving me the chance to be their mother.

To be far away from home(Malaysia) is a very enriching experience for us. This reminds us at the struggle of the muhajireen who left their families, homes, and properties behind to live at a foreign land.

Alhamdulillah, hopefully this experience will make us stronger and closer with each other.Ameen

Bismillah

Alhamdulillah, life has been great. After two weeks of settling down, I can say life has turned to normal again. Altho the bugs are still bugging us, inshaAllah abah will talk to the management to see if we can move from this apartment soon. Hajar and Adam surely dont deserve to be bitten by bugs everyday. We've got some new bites yesterday by the way.

We are planning to find an apartment closer to the Islamic Center, if possible. So, it'll be easier for us and abah especially to go to the islamic center and perform jemaah prayer.

I think, a visit to the Islamic center every Sunday will be a must in our calendar. We've enjoyed the experience of being with the Islamic community in Los Angeles. There are lots of people coming from different parts of the world. Ibu has made some friends from Pakistan and Indonesia.

Hajar met lots of other toddlers in the nursery. There are lots of toys and a nice playground as well. Of course Hajar loves the nursery! Alhamdulillah

Well, eventho Adam still couldnt do much during the visit, inshaAllah he'll turn to love it as well.
Ameen

Bismillah

guess what, we are at Los Angeles!
Hajar, Adam, Abah and Ibu finally made it to the United States. (Unfortunately, Cik Mimi couldnt join us this time, inshaAllah later)

We went thru a very long flight on MAS plane MH 094, it was about 16 hours(including an hour+ of transit at Taipei). We were very sad of leaving our dear Tokpak, Tokmak, Opah, and loved ones at Malaysia but were excited at the same time. Hajar and Adam cried while we headed to the departure gate.

hajar and adam got gifts from Kak Zu and her children(they're 2 coloring books, two flip books, 2 teethers, and a box of crayons), from cik Mimi(A small bear and a balloon.unfortunately the balloon was not allowed into the flight and had to be left at the checkpoint :( ), and from Cik Effa+Ida(a bear with a box of ferraro rocher chocolate! Abah, ibu and Hajar finished them on the flight:) ).Ibu got a gratefull notebook from Cik Adda =).sweet, we love them all!

Bismillah


The new addition to the family =)
Adam Bin Fazrul Fahmee
9/11/07

and our lovely Hajar a.k.a Kak Long
(not so recent photograph)

Bismillah

Pejam celik, pejam celik Adam, our 2nd child was safely born on September 11, 2007 after 8 days postdue. Ehe, honestly Ibu was tired of waiting for the 2nd baby and was worried of being induced if there's still no signs of labor by Sept 12. Alhamdulillah, 9/11 was the d.o.b for Adam.

Hajar? :D Bigggg smiles! Alhamdulillah she is healthy and cute and very active!It seems that she never stop running around and exploring things around her. She also loves to talk in her own baby language :) and she already knows to imitate our words especially at the endings. She knows several words already like 'nunun' for milk, 'pok mai-mai' for tepuk amai-amai, 'spoo boo' fpr sponge bob, 'pak' for tokpak, etc. its very cute the way she pronounce the words. she also knows to point to her body parts i.e mouth,nose, hair, hand, leg, and tummy when we ask her to point to her body while we say which body parts.

Not to forget to mention that she has become very manja with everybody. She loves all the attention.

From end of August till after Raya, we stay at tokmak n tokpak's place. Hajar enjoyed her stay very much because she got the chance to get the attention of many people and got to play with her cousins.

As for the Raya, Hajar and Adam got quite a lot of duit raya especially at their age. Hajar loves her baju and kasut baru. Raya this year was a lot merrier with Adam in the family. We went to several houses at Penang, Johore, and Selangor. Raya sakan this year (ibu's still in confinement though, lol)

Bismillah


Alhamdulillah, Hajar is healthy and happy.
Yesterday we went to Shah Alam to visit a friend who is going to join her husband overseas. Hajar was very quite and sopan during the 2 1/2 hours of visit. Alhamdulillah.

Afterwards, we went to PKNS because ibu was looking for a jubah she's very interested in buying =) Unfortunately, ibu decided not to buy the jubah because it turned out not very good of quality and design and its quite pricey. Not worth the money and time.

hajar was not very happy in PKNS. She wasnt very comfortable and we had to leave as soon as possible =). She might not like to be in a crowded environment such as in PKNS. Too many people to give ample space for Hajar to explore around. Poor Hajar.

So, we went back to Bangi and Hajar was happy to be home again =) Alhamdulillah.

InshaAllah, this week we are going to Penang to spend the next two months over there. Hopefully Hajar wont miss abah so bad and enjoy her stay with tokmak, tokpak, her aunties and uncles, and her cousins.

Bismillah

Alhamdulillah Hajar is fi afiah. Last few days she was having a runny nose but she was not cranky at all and didnt get too sick. Alhamdulillah. She got infected from ibu actually. Ibu was just too tired after the BTN and the trip to Jelebu, and caught a light flu in the end. Alhamdulillah it went away after a day or two as ibu got enough rest.

Hajar is a lil bit more manja with abah lately. Last night she clung to abah and didnt want to let go. She refused to go to ibu and cried whenever ibu tried to take her from abah. She didnt want to go to makcik Mimi either. May be Hajar knows very well that adik is coming pretty soon, and she wants to get all the attention she deserve right now.

Hajar is getting quite good when it comes to imitating sounds. She can say 'keta' when we say 'kereta', 'mik' when we say 'ambil', and last night she sang 'a-b-c'! It's very cute! She's also very active now, running around, 'talking', and playing restlessly. We just have to be patient with her =)..she's growing up.

Bismillah

Alhamdulillah, Hajar has becoming more manja lately. Erm..may be she knows that a lil baby is coming soon to join her :). We are trying to give her all the attention she needed this few months before we have to 'berbagi kasih' between hajar and her sibling, inshaAllah.


Couple of weeks ago we went to Bagan Lalang, a beach at Sepang. Hajar was very excited during the trip and she loves walking barefoot on the sandy beach. She walked nonstop along the shore and we had to run after her and stop her before she reach the water. she was a bit frightened though when her feet touched the water ;).

Bismillah

Alhamdulillah
Hajar is almost 14 months old now. She is healthy and very active, not forget to mention very 'bubbly'. She loves to do her baby's talk.

She loves running all over the house now. She knows how to wave goodbye to people by waving her hand and saying 'ba-h,ba-h' lovingly with the addition of flying kiss at the end, 'muuuaaa-h'. She is very adorable, mashaAllah!

She loves her tricycle very much and enjoys the ride to the playground in the evening. Her aunt will push the tricycle and Hajar will be very happy. Plus, the tricycle has a music button which will produce a lovely music each time it is pressed. Hajar loves it so much and will press the button many times. It attracts the other kids' attention though.

btw, I am having problem to feed her. She refuses to eat almost every types of food given to her. She will only take couple of bites before refusing to take anymore. Instead, she drinks a lot of milk lately. I am a bit worry about this and hopefully I can get Hajar to eat her meal soon.

Bismillah

My dear, beloved daughter,
First picture is Hajar with Abah =)

bismillah


These are the recent pictures of Hajar. She was busy unpacking the stuffs from the shopping bags.

Hajar is a lil bit 'thinner' now. May be because of her being very active exploring the world with her new acquired skills and interests =).Hajar doesnt need her buaian everytime she goes to sleep anymore. She'll fall asleep whenever she feels tired and full. Alhamdulillah, she's very healthy, easy, and strong.

I love it when she'll kiss the mushaf when ibu show her the Qur'an. I hope she'll grow loving the Qur'an, knowing and practising the contents, living by them! Allahumma ameen.

bismillah

Finally, here is a picture of hajar wearing the jeans hat! The pic was taken in April ;)
MashaAllah...


Hajar has got a new hat!
It's a jeans hat, and it's denim blue. Hajar looks so adorable wearing the hat.
She's very comfortable and doesnt take the hat off.

Hajar will look lot like a chinese girl with the hat on.
I'll try to put a picture of hajar wearing the hat sometimes soon.
=).

Hajar knows how to call 'Abah' already. She'll shout "abah" loudly to attract her abah's attention.
Hajar will call abah again and again. So cute!

as we travel down life's road
we'll get along just fine

who knows what we'll get
who knows where we'll end up
who know's who'll we meet

as we travel down down this road
we'll get along just fine

When the woman left her home very early in the morning everyday, the infant girl would just watched her as she walked away.The infant girl didnt cry and sometimes the infant girl would wave goodbye.

The infant girl had got used to being left at home while mummy went to her workplace for the whole day.

When the sun just about to set down, the infant would wait for the woman to come home.The woman would knock at the door, tiredness so apparent on her face. The infant girl would smiled cheerfully greeting her mummy welcome home.

The woman would kiss the infant girl and give her a hug or two. Then, she would have some rest and time for herself, sitting motionless on the couch. She would watch at the infant girl, helplessly, wishing she had some more energy and time to spend with the infant girl.

That poor woman, got so tired at the end of the day. She had to leave her infant girl so early in the morning day by day.
That poor infant girl, got left at home with nanny with so little chance to play with mummy.

The secret behind the chosen name of Hajar...

The story of Hajar offers the Muslim woman the most marvellous example of deep faith in Allah (SWT) and sincere trust in Him. Ibrahim `May peace be upon him' (PBUH) left her at the Ka`bah in Makkah, above the well of Zamzam, at a time when there were no people and no water in the place. Hajar had no-one with her except her infant son Isma`il. She asked Ibrahim, calmly and with no trace of panic: "Has Allah (SWT) commanded you to do this, O Ibrahim?" Ibrahim (PBUH) said, "Yes." Her response reflected her acceptance and optimism: "Then He is not going to abandon us." Reported by Bukhari in Kitab al-Anbiya1

Latest Pics of Hajar

Taken March 11, 2007

bismillah

Alhamdulillah
Hajar has learnt a new skill. she knows how to clap already. after just two days of learning and observing auntie mimi and ibu while we sang 'tepuk amai-amai' song, Hajar has finally master the clapping skill.

she will sit and smile and clap happily. while she's clapping, hajar will look at either ibu or auntie mimi asking us to sing the song.

she's so cute when she claps. her hands are very small and yet they produce sound already.

clap..clap..clap
clap happily my baby
say thank to Allah
coz u r growing up happy and healthy

bismillah

Hajar is not feeling well. She has runny nose and light cough. ALhamdulillah she doesnt caught a fever. Last night she didnt get a good sleep due to the difficulty to breath because of her nose was blocked with the excess mucus and Ibu believe she was uncomfortable all night long.

Actually, we went back to Penang last weekend. We spent hours in the bus wondering when we would reach our destination. The trip from Kajang to Penang was a very unpleasant one (especially to ibu) because the bus driver was listening to tamil songs all the way and at one time, he turned the volume so high that it disturbed us very much. Alhamdulillah the co-driver realized that it was inappropriate to turned the volume so high and he asked the driver to turn down the volume. and then, they made a stop at a dirty restaurant at Slim River. with poor toilets, we had no choice at all. ibu think they're supposed to stop at the r&r which is more proper adn comfortable.
finally, we arrived at penang, but the bus went to komtar and jelutong first before they sent us to Sg. Nibong. it was very frustrating since we've already spent 7 hours in the bus and had to spent another unnecessary 1 hour because of the ignorance of the bus drivers! consumers in malaysia are really under opression and do not have much channels to get their rights. If we were to complain or to make report, will somebody really look at it? do anybody cares?

Oh okay...back to Hajar. At first she was enjoying the trip, but she was also got tired. poor hajar had to spent almost 8 hours sitting in the bus. Alhamdulillah she cried just when she was so sleepy and couldnt sleep. ibu and auntie mimi had to comfort her and 'dodoi' her to sleep.

Alhamdulillah a'la kulli hal, we took a taxi from the bus station to saujana, which has charged us with a very high fare(extra 6 ringgit from the actual fare, i guess.the taxis in Penang are still not using the metre even they MUST use it. again, consumers are the mangsa). finally we arrived at saujana and tokpak was already waiting for us(hajar especially =) )..

pheww...what a day. Allah has tested us just a little bit, but ibu melatah lebih-lebih..maybe shaytan has won that day. hajar, as pure as a baby is, still doesnt understand and doesnt get 'angry' at all. fa sobrun jameel.

bismillah

Hajar has been refusing to eat for the last few days. At first, we assumed that she got bored with the daily bubur nasi or nestum. However, after few days Hajar still didnt want to eat and we got worried. Hopefully Hajar will want to eat some rice or bread.

This weekend we were outside most of the time. On Saturday we went to Shah Alam and PJ to join abah with his activities. We got bored in the afternoon since we didnt really get to do anything, but Hajar was enjoying the comfy sofa at the hotel waiting area.

On Sunday, Hajar was with ibu for the study session at rumah kak zu. As usual, hajar loves to play with kak Hajar(they got the same name =) ), Maryam, and Aminah. Hajar loves the cats too. She got the chance to touch one of the cat while Kak Aminah was holding it. After that, we went to Putrajaya to visit a friend who has just given birth to a cute baby boy.

What a long day for Hajar. She was busy playing with the kakak-kakak the whole day. She went to bed a little bit early and giving the chance for ibu to get rest early too!

bismillah

last night we went to the mall. We bought for Hajar two dresses and beautiful,colorful hair clips. Hajar loves the clips very much. She was busy playing with her new hair clips till it was past midnight. She was too preoccupied!

finally, ibu had to endoi Hajar so that she would sleep. that was only after she fell down while 'climbing' up on ibu. she cried and ibu decided to put her in the buaian. we turned off the light as Hajar wont sleep as long as the light didnt go off. Hajar went to sleep after ibu brought her to the bedroom and endui her.

what a day....Hajar was so lovely that she caught the attention of the salesgirl in the mall. however, as usual Hajar didnt smile...eheheh baby garang.

she is the precious gift from Allah, and also a very important responsibility to take care of. A priceless treasure, pleasing to the eyes and hearts. MashaAllah...thank you Allah.

bismillah

assalamua'laykum warahmatullah

Hajar loves to merangkak lately. she moves a lot faster now. you look somewhere else a second and Hajar's gone! she went somewhere to reach something that caught her attention. she's a very active baby!

last Saturday we went to Nilai and Melaka to accompany abah. Abah gave talks to the college students regarding the miracles of Qur'an and Hakikat Tauheed. Interesting topics. It became more interesting since Hajar joined the talks too. Not sure either she was listening or not as she was either busy looking around or SLEEPING soundly! Sometimes, she wake up whenever abah raised his voice or when abah recited the Qur'an. She's so cute!

Hajar has got the title of 'baby garang' as she rarely smiled to the kakak-kakak. Maybe she was not in the mood to play around with the unfamiliar kakak's. However, Hajar was merangkak around the place and smiled happily whenever auntie mimi or ibu 'agah' her. She went a bit cranky towards the evening since she needed to take her bath. Hajar was happy again after taking her bath and playing in the bathroom. She loves water and bath time is one of her favorite!

We've noticed Hajar has grew chubbier each day, and taller. She's a big, healthy baby. Nontheless, our love for her is even bigger and bigger each and every moment.

We love you, Hajar!

Bismillah

Alhamdulillah
Hajar has got her second tooth! Now she's got two teeth at her lower gum! Looks very cute when she smiles broadly and happily.

Hajar loves Limau Cina very much. She'll immediately drooling upon seeing someone eating the limau or simply holding it. She'll 'run' to get the person and of course will give her 'pity' face. You'll definitely give her a bite if you saw her face at that time!

Another good news is Hajar has been able to sit by herself and was trying hard to stand up. She has made excellent progress and seems to love what she's doing.

We bought a new carpet and a colorful alphabet mat for Hajar to play with. Hajar loves both of her new 'toys'. She'll crawl and crawl on the carpet and took the alphabet mat and disamble them into pieces.

She's simply adorable!

Unfortunately, ibu have to leave Hajar everyday at home with auntie Mimi when Ibu went to work. Less time was spent with Hajar and deep down inside, Ibu knows that Hajar misses her mom badly. She cries easily when she is left alone even for a split second. As soon as she realizes no one is around, she'll cry. Ibu feel very sorry for her. This is life, as cruel as it can be. Hopefully life will get better and better opportunities come, and Ibu wont have to leave Hajar anymore. Ameen.