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.