"International Education and Islamic Parenting Conference" organised by Brainy Bunch Islamic Montessori (BBIM)

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

First and foremost, Alhamdulillah shukur for the opportunity given by an old friend to attend the "International Education and Islamic Parenting Conference" organised by Brainy Bunch Islamic Montessori (BBIM). It meant a lot to the both of us because we have been thinking of sending Khairaldin to BBIM and attending the conference has shed us some lights on the nursery. So, thank you! Before I start sharing my experience about the talk, I will just inform you that I didn't stay for all 4 speakers due to "clingy kids". Alhamdulillah, we still managed to stay and listen to the Famous Mufti Menk, which helped a lot in our parenting skills. However, that will be on a different blog post. ;-)

The conference begin with Ustazah Isfadiah Dasuki's talk on "Raising our Children with The Book of Allah & The Importance of Islamic Education." In her talk she mentioned a few ways of raising our child with Al-Quran, which are, teaching them Ibadah, morals, sexual education and teaching them to socialise. (I think I missed out a few points and also added a few according to my understanding during the talk. It will be great if anyone who went for the conference share their experience as well. Jazakallahu khairan kathira.) 

How do we teach them Ibadah?

• We can start teaching them at a very young age. The best way to teach is by being the example! When we solat, put them in the same room as us. Let them see how we solat and why we solat, explain to them why we need to stop everything as soon as the Azan finishes. 
• If they disturb us during solat, leave them to it. After finishing our solat, hug and kiss them as they were there watching us doing it. Even if it means they were tugging onto our 'telekong' the whole time. Hugging and kissing them after solat makes them feel that we are enjoying the solat. If we finish our solat and scold them straight after, it will show that solat is very stressful! 
• Reward them when they do something good. When they solat on their own, reward them. When they fast, reward them! They deserve it as it is not easy for them to perform all this on their own. They need encouragements and we are the best source for them to get it from.

How to teach them morals?

• When the child reach a certain age, GUIDE them to be independent. For instance with putting their clothes on. We can't expect them to one day wake up and miraculously put their clothes on, some have the ability Alhamdulillah but most of us needs guidance. So one day we can guide them to just put one sleeve on and when they are good at that, let them put the sleeve on themselves. Then start guiding them with their pants, when THEY feel confident, let them do it on their own. We should keep guiding them throughout their life, even when they are an adult! 
• Give them choices and ALLOW them to make mistakes! If we don't allow them to make mistakes, how do we expect them to know what is right and wrong? 
• Our Prophet s.a.w taught us to have good morals by projecting good morals in himself. So, take that onboard into our own family. 

How to teach them sexual education?

• There are TWO places we can teach them sex ed. First it starts in our own house, we have to explain to them the roles of parent. Sometimes my son gets confused why is it that Mommy can sleep with Abah and yet he cannot sleep with Mommy. We have to explain to them what parents is all about.
• Immediate sexual ed is through SOLAT. How? We explain to them why is it that boys have to solat at the front and girls at the back- this is done by teaching them the aurah and how to protect the gaze. They then understand how to respect different gender.
• Teach them to ask for our permission before entering our room BEFORE fajr, zuhur and AFTER Isya'. Tell them why we need to close our bedroom door and why they need to ask for permission to get in, it is all about aurah and this will then make them feel ashamed to show their own aurah. Also let them know what they should not see inside the bedroom they should not see outside the bedroom. Its like whatever happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom kinda thing.
•  Outside the household, manage the gaze. They should know by now what is shameful for them to see and what is not. When we see adverts of those not covering their aurah, tell them to lower their gaze and switch view for a moment until it's gone.
• Avoid chattering and gossiping. Yes yes yes we all know about this but sometimes we make an effort to get out of the house to meet up with people just to gossip. So, do our best to avoid this! If you can't restrain yourself from gossiping, then avoid the people you know that would talk bad about others. Choose your friends wisely as it teaches them to choose their friends too.      

 How to teach them to socialise?

• Socialising can be taught by letting them watch TV. We shouldn't stop them from watching TV or internet. Observe what they are watching, if they like those violent shows, watch with them and tell them why is it wrong to destroy the buildings. How real is all this destroying and killing people. Tell them and talk to them to instill a different perspective as how the TV is instilling it into them. When we STOP them from watching their favourite shows, they will find the need to watch it more and will go out of their way to watch it. So, best not to refrain them from watching TV or using the internet. Teach them to use it wisely.

Again and again, you are the best example to SHOW them how they should bring themselves up in this world. When they do anything wrong, reflect on yourself. How much gadget have you been using around them? Where are they when you are performing your solat? Have you been covering your aurah around them for them to understand that it is wrong to see other people's aurah? So, START WITH YOURSELF FIRST. Insha'Allah, the parenting will be a breeze for you. Sometimes we want to impose things onto our kids that we ourselves can't keep up with. DO OUR BEST to be the example in the household. 

I pray that Allah make it a breeze for us to care for our children according to the Quran and Sunnah. When we feel we are at lost, grab the Quran and start back from the beggining, Insha'Allah, we can't be wrong at educating our kids the right way. May Allah bless all of you for the efforts you have been putting in to care for his Amanah. Amin ya Rabbalalamin! 

Insha'Allah, I shall continue on Mufti Menk's talk in the near future. Thank you for your patience.

Hajj Pilgrimage : The Plan

‎This is one journey that I want to have in my memory.... forever! Ok, other than the birth of my children and their growing up stage and some other random stuff. But *this* right here, is an event that I will never want to forget! Inshaa'Allah.

It's best for me to start from the beginning, right? So, how did we even plan on going for Hajj? Well, we didn't really. See, every year during Ramadhan we will get flyers being sent to our house for Umrah and Hajj packages. Of course during that month you would only want to read sacred things and that is considered as one of them. As I was going through the Umrah packages for year 2011, I told Iskandar how it would be amazing to bring the kids for Umrah as we have visited Malaysia and a few other countries. It'd be nice for them to step foot in Mekah at such an early age. Iskandar, being the thinker and "financer" in the family was not too keen with my plan. So I thought how cheapo can my husband be! Yes the umrah packages aren't as cheap as going for holiday to Malaysia, it was double the price. I gave him the chance to explain his points. Then he said, "why not we do the mandatory first before taking the kids for Umrah". It didn't occur to me that he meant Hajj. He then suggested for us to save up for Hajj and try to do it as soon as possible. 

Hajj was not something I talk about everyday. Haha Duh! But you know what I mean. Hajj is looked at as an Ibadah for the elderly rather than youngsters. Of course we don't talk about it until we are about 40 years old, at least. So when my husband suggested Hajj, I had to ask "Are we even allowed to go?" because in Malaysia we'd have to wait for our name to be called before we can do Hajj with Tabung Haji. ‎Iskandar then showed me the price list for Hajj and how to go about booking it. Obviously the procedure of booking it is the same as booking any other holiday, at least in the UK. 

Without hesitating, I agreed to his plan and started planning on how much we have to save monthly in order to reach our goal. Truth be told, he wasn't earning a lot (+-£1500/month) and with one income we really had to make sure we took everything into consideration. Some way some how, after we have decided on going for hajj we were receiving funds from various source. At this time we haven't even told anyone about our plan. But money was coming in non stop. Alhamdulillah. We manged to save up at least £3000 within 4 months. The ticket per person was approximately £4000. I was so optimistic that we will be able to get the whole sum before the booking date.

Then we started telling our parents the plan to make sure there will be someone to babysit the kids. The initial plan was for my parents to come over to the UK to look after the kids since it'll be cheaper that way. However, we had to change all the plans when we found out we had to move to Malaysia for good. The plan from then on became bumpy and distorted! Everything we planned wasn't going OUR way!

To be continued.....

My loves.

I feel so bad for not updating about Khairaldin and Layina for a while now! This blog is supposed to be their platform to reminisce the fond memories if one day I leave the world before getting the chance to tell them what they're like when they're babies. But somehow I feel that jotting down every single thing couldn't justify the whole "being there" memories. So now I have chosen to be there with them more rather than clicking away on my phone and taking lots of their pics as memories. Because, I might even miss a few things that are more important when I am busy setting up the camera/phone. So the memory remains in me.

Saying that, my kids now find the necessity to "self potrait" or document their everyday routines. Hehe they kinda took over my "job". Here's a picture of Layina being vain and capturing hereself and the other is a picture of Khairaldin capturing his "what I ate today". Blogger much? ;)

It scares me how much they mimic what I say and do! However, I am glad I get to be there and make sure I'm showing them what is good and bad. I always get praises on how well behaved my kids are and all I have to say is, Alhamdulillah I was made redundant almost 4 years ago as this is definitely the best job ever- MOTHERHOOD! Only a mother can discipline, care and love the child all at the same time. It's true that you have to be there in your kids' life for them to be there for yours later on. I couldn't have learn all this if my mom was a working mom. I'm sure she went thru a lot to bring the 7 of us up but I'm sure she never regretted being a Mother first before anything else. I love my mom so much! Alhamdulillah for the chance to still learn from her on how to bring up my own children.

Lots of love.

Content. SubhanAllah.

I have been so busy and content. SubhanAllah. Never imagined my life would turn out this way. Blessed.

I've a new hangout place now. :) www.craftsy.com. Whoever "invented" online sewing classes are genius. Giving SAHMs the chance to do more with their time. Alhamdulillah, I cant believe how blessed I am to have stumbled upon the site. It's definitely what I have been thinking about doing for the past few months. Sewing classes from £13 and no expiry dates? Simply amazing! If you're another SAHM trying something new, I advice the site for you. There's so many arts and crafts on there!

Alhamdulillah for an amazing husband who supports me not only financially but also emotionally and physically. Haha He understands when I suddenly pick a fight with him it's not that he's done something wrong but mostly because of my materials not cooperating with me ;) SubhanAllah. I would've given up with myself way before I started but he saw something I have never seen in myself! He guides me through even though he doesn't know anything about sewing!! O Allah, thank u!

Of course my parents who stocks up my materials every now and then!! Alhamdulillah. And for an amazing mom who's given me the sewing genes. Hehe 

But, I couldn't have done it if it wasn't for such amazing kids. SubhanAllah. Khairaldin and Layina understands my sewing time! Khairaldin talks about material as much as I do! Cut like this like that, pink is better than green. I don't know how I managed to have a hobby and raising 2 amazing kids along side. 

Yes, Alhamdulillah.

My boy and my girl :)

Believe it or not, Khairaldin's been in school for 6 weeks now! He's having his half term holiday next week, yeah in the UK they get 1 week off every 6 weeks. Too many holidays but guess they really need it. Alhamdulillah he's been amazing ever since he started school. He couldn't even hold a pencil properly before this but now, he's already tracing the dots amazingly! I was so amazed when I sat down with him to do his homework (they have 2 pieces of homework every Friday and apparently it's not enough). He can even draw straight lines! Every Thursday they have a show and tell, something like presentation. I'm glad they start early because I am not one to do presentations! I hate presentations. I guess it's because we weren't exposed to it from a young age. Khairaldin doesn't mind the crowd. So tomorrow he has to bring something to talk about Hajj. I LOVE HIS SCHOOL! Although, I am struggling on what to bring. (Mom's my saviour as I've just received a text on some ideas! Superb!) Love the fact that they teach the children about Hajj etc. Today Khairaldin came home from school and said, "Mommy, we have to tawaf the kaabah 7 times you know!!!!" :))

My utmost  respect to the teachers for having such determination to teach these kids. Masha'Allah. I was gutted for a while when he came back with all these amazing 'skills'. Only because it wasn't me who taught all of these to him. However, I have come to realise that I was part of it. I have been teaching him throughout his 3 years. Alhamdulillah Iskandar and I have managed to do a lot with him. If we didn't send him to school, he might still be the boy that he was 6 weeks ago. It is okay for other people to teach him new things in life. It is okay if he learn through his mistakes. We can't take full responsibility for everything. There's a reason why teachers are teachers and friends are friends. They are there to teach you the meaning of life and that is why it is important to choose a good education as well as good friends! :)

Above all, I am thankful that I am the first person he tells his day story to. THAT I wouldn't wanna miss it for anything at all! My boy is chatty, SubhanAllah. He can go on and on about things from morning up to his bedtime. When he tells a story, he tells it in detail. Like every single thing he did. But, he can never tell his story twice. Whenever he repeats himself, the story will be altered or lose its meaning. So, that's why I want to be there when he finishes school. I wanna know everything he did when he wasn't with me. Alhamdulillah.

Little sister is also indulging herself in books. Layina loveeeeee books! She can sit down quietly flipping books after books. This is the only mess that I am okay with. It's nice to see her look at the pictures as if she knows what she's reading. She memorises her books so well. For instance if we sing a nursery rhyme, she knows which book it relates too. How amazing are their brains?? SubhanAllah!

Favourite posts

Masha'Allah! I couldn't believe how known my blog is on google. As you can see I have added the 'favourite posts' widget. Never knew that people do google those topics and my posts are on the first page on google search engine. SubhanAllah. When I started this blog, I didn't think it could benefit others.Reason I started this blog was merely to jot down my memories with my kids. When they are older, Insha'Allah they have something to look back to (and also for myself).

But, who am I to know what my future will be? Alhamdulillah I am really pleased to know that my favourite posts are indeed those related to Islamic posts. Couldn't express how pleased I am. After all, it is in a hadith that we should share the knowledge we have as this deed will carry on even after we die. AllahuAkbar. This is just a post to say JazakAllahu Khairan Kathira to every single one of you who have stopped by to read my posts and thank you to all of you who have commented and e-mailed me personally. Please carry on sharing your knowledge with others too because you never know who could benefit from it. 

Alhamdulillah.

On a slightly different note, a big ALHAMDULILLAH because the kids now goes to bed at 7:30p.m and they go to sleep ON THEIR OWN. Iskandar and I will change them into their pajamas, read them their du'as and we leave them on their bed in their room. Of course we have the baby monitor on so we can know what they are up to. So far, it's been 2 weeks and they have been sleeping soundly straight after we leave their room. Iskandar and I now have 'our' time. Alhamdulillah. Since we are enjoying this time to ourselves, both of us have also reminded ourselves that we cannot get too comfortable as we are not stopping at two kids ;) It is nice to have this break but Insha'Allah I don't want it to be permanent break. I do miss the late/early morning feeds. I miss the hustle and bustle. Nevertheless, we are going to cherish what Allah has planned for us.

Alhamdulillah.   

Because I just felt like blogging.

Today marked Khairaldin's first week of school. Unfortunately, he didn't manage to attend school today because both Layina and him was down with cold and cough. I didn't want other kids to catch their illness so I thought it was good to have them both at home. My oh my! I was partly wrong. Even though it's only been a week, I have totally forgotten how to manage two kids at once. Layina being her girly possessive self (like Mommy, apparently) didn't let Abang Khalid be anywhere near me. Every time she sees me hugging Khairaldin she will come wailing for help. Sigh. Girls will be girls. Abang Khalid is such an understanding brother. He would always give in and come back when the time is right. Alhamdulillah shukur.

Sometimes I wonder how do people cope with having their kids at home up till 5/6 years old?? Ok, those without maids. How do you cope? I'm really thankful that Khairaldin starts school at this age. It is just a prefect age and it gives me time to bond with Layina. Which also brings me to the thought of having another baby because Layina is way too clingy. Iskandar thinks it is best if she has a baby brother or sister soon. Hmmmmmm. Insha'Allah. In all honesty, I do want the kids age gap to be around 2 years old because it's super after looking at how Khairaldin and Layina just click with one another. They do have their moments but I remember more of them loving each other than actually bashing each other up. :)

Anyway, Khairaldin goes to school from 12-3pm, and obviously he's at school during lunch time. At first I didn't know that they allow to bring some packed sandwiches for him. A few days later only I found out that we are allowed to bring him some food. What I'd do before packing his lunch days were to bring some food for him in the car when I fetch him. On his first day of school, he demanded "pau kaya" for his 'lunch'. Yes, my son wanted pau for lunch. So not British! School also provides them with some fruits for snacks but one day they gave him pear and he didn't like it. So instead I packed for him his favourite fruits. Alhamdulillah both my kids LOVE their fruits and veges! They can sit down and just munch munch munch until its gone. Layina can literally finish a whole bunch of grapes all to herself. But then again, that baby girl would eat anything ;) It's okay girl, it's just a girl thing with food ;)

Yes, I made the dresses myself :)

As for my self update, I have been keeping myself busy with some sewing ever since Khairaldin started school. Layina's always asleep as soon as we send Khairaldin off to school and if I'm lucky, she will be asleep for the whole 3 hours. Mahsa'Allah. So I have been really free and I just needed to kill some time. Sometimes I would also prepare dinner or even just laze around watching tv. Alhamdulillah. Life has been great. Today however, my sewing machine broke down so they're taking it for repair for the next 7 days. You might or might not see me on here often now :) Alhamdulillah I have kept myself real busy and it's just a bliss. It's true they say when you're busy, you will not think of unnecessary things and Subhan'Allah, when I think back about my past, I am just so thankful for the people who's in and out of my life. They have definitely made me who I am now. May Allah bless all of you, Amin.

Anyways, it's hubby time now. So, I'll catch up with you soon. Insha'Allah. Please make du'a for my family. JazakAllahu Khairan Kathira.

Ps: Bear with me, blog's under construction. That's a good sign though because I might be back. :)

The wait is finally over!!! :)

Alhamdulillah!! Khairaldin has started his first day at nursery yesterday. THE wait is definitely over and Masha'Allah he was so excited and couldn't care less about us leaving him behind. We have been telling him over and over again about his 'school' and he was definitely looking forward to it. We told him it's an Islamic school and he will learn about Islam  on top of other things. When we arrived school, he was the only one wearing uniform and jumping around wanting to go in. Other kids were in normal clothes, maybe because their parents didn't want them to know that they were going to 'school'. Most of the kids cried their head off when their parents were leaving, unfortunately (or fortunately, whichever way you wanna see it), not our 'big' boy!! Iskandar and I were the ones holding back our tears even though it was only 3 hours school session!!!!!

It was tough. Being a stay at home mom and having your children with you every day and night makes it really tough having to let them go. His teacher even looked at us and said "It's okay, he'll be alright!" Sigh. I guess he's been waiting for this "freedom". hehehe Nevertheless, I feel really fortunate that I didn't have to go through all the crying and shouting. Alhamdulillah. I am also glad that we managed to put him in an Islamic school at least I know he will be in good hands, Insha'Allah. All the hard work I have put in during his babyhood will not be a waste Insha'Allah. All the du'a we have instilled in him will only get better Insha'Allah. So yes, I am thankful, Alhamdulillah for this opportunity given to us.


Anyway, here's a short update as I am kinda tired, it is 12am now :)

So, let the pictures do the rest of the talking alright?

Layina on the other hand, was kinda bored and lost when Abg Khalid left for school. She couldn't sleep and was going back and forth their playroom. As soon as we fetched Khalid from school, she felt sleepy and slept in the car. Poor baby girl! So used to having his Abang around and suddenly she's all alone. But today, she's grasped the idea that Abang Khalid's in school for 3 hours and will be back soon. She slept soundly, Alhamdulillah. Btw, after 15months of hanging onto Mommy, she's also slowly weaning off breastfeeds. However, I'm not in a rush, so we're really taking our time on this.

I've got a lot to talk about and Insha'Allah I will be able to update more frequently because.........Iskandar bought us a new laptop!!!!! After 3 years without any laptop, we finally bought one. :) So, be prepared for more updates. INSHA'ALLAH!! 

Why I 'left' Facebook....

To be honest, I never thought there was a necessity to be writing this post but it's unreal how many people have been asking me again and again on when I'm gonna reactivate my Facebook account and why I left etc etc, I'm hoping this post will answer all your doubtful thoughts :) First and foremost, no, I didn't 'leave Facebook because I had any sort of misunderstanding with anyone, especially with family members. I hope this entry will make it clear that I left because I feel the 'need' to do so.

Basically the urge on leaving FB has been with me for so long. I realised how addicted I was to it. It was like every single thing I had to 'document' on Facebook. Every time we go for an outing, I have to bring my phone along. I have never been a phone-person, which means having to have my phone everywhere I go was never a necessity. When FB and Khairaldin came along, I've always wanted to show him to the world kinda thing. I became proud, yes I realised it, Alhamdulillah and I'm so thankful I stopped when I had to. Although, I have been using excuses about having to update because I am so faraway from family and friends. Truthfully, I became big headed whenever I get likes or positive comments on my pictures or posts.

Again, Alhamdulillah, when I went back to Malaysia, I suddenly felt the necessity to delete my Facebook account. Life was just different with Facebook. Way too different. I didn't expect people would be who they became, Facebook people. Before Facebook existed, I used to go back to Malaysia every Summer and when I do, I would always ring my relatives straight after subuh because I'd be up coz of jetlag and also it'd be a surprise to them to know that I'm back. We would straight away plan for lunch or dinner the same day and just basically catch up. But not recently. Everyone knew I was going to Malaysia because I was counting down and everyone expected me to be there as and when I said I was going to be there. Visiting relatives took its time because we felt we know everything about each other through FB. It was as if everything on FB was sufficient enough that we didn't need to find time to just be there with each other.

I didn't expect to meet up with as many friends as I used to because everyone was busy with their own life, work, family etc etc. But in fact I did. I met way too many people. I met up with close friends and also friends that I used to just say 'hi and bye'. As much as I was honoured to be 'celebrated', I also felt as if I was just their "Facebook update". It seems as though I was only there for picture time and it then went straight to FB. Suffice to say, it felt awkward. We hardly make conversations but when the camera is out, we are all hugging and smiling from ear to ear. So yes, the urge of leaving Facebook was rather strong. One day I woke up and I thought, is this really the life I want to live?

I'm not gonna deny that I miss FB. Sometimes I do, as I'd have something to read about but how far will that go? Reading and getting updates about others life is fun but it's also a different case sometimes. We take FB status like as though the person is talking to us, but how are we so sure it's the truth? How can we be sure that updates were straight from their thoughts and we're no edited to make it sound nice? And also, we as the "updater", how are we sure that our updates were not used for further interpretation, even though we don't mean it the way others would interpret it? Sometimes even our innocent thoughts could be brought as a debate. Sometimes we might update something about ourself but people think it's about their life, and again it becomes a different story. How many updates you put on would get a personal message from others. Good for you if you do, at least you know people cared. Last but not least,  try and observe this, when you do go on an outing, how many times does the word FB being uttered? Well, basically I've had enough of that life. :) I want people to personally ask me how I was doing not because I've given a big hint on my FB status. And also, I wanna be more in people's life than on their Facebook Page. :) Alhamdulillah, I'm living the life now. Outing without the camera/phone seem to be a breeze.

Now I've come to realise that out of my hundreds of family and friends on FB, I  can now be sure that only a few people really care about my family and I. Those who cared would take the extra length on finding out ways to still keep in touch. To those of you, thank you! We doubted life after FB but hey look at us now,we seem to know more about each other than we had ever before. From the bottom of my heart, you know who you are, thank you for being part of my life and for understanding my need to just stay off FB. ;)

Btw, I'm not gonna deny that I still check FB (through Iskandar's profile) but the only difference is, his FB Page is much beneficial than mine. He's only got approx 40 odd friends, and I'm sure those are true friends and I check only because of Mufti Menk's wise words and today he said : "Nowadays more homes are unhappy due to spouses or family members trying to keep online friends happy at the expense of those around them." This is so true SubhanAllah! Before I get deleted from my husband/children's life, I took the big step of deleting my Fakebook. :) The book that is worth making an impression of is the book the angels are writing about me, definitely not the book my family/friends are writing on- Facebook.

In the end of the day, everyone has their own story about Facebook but this is mine and I'm staying away for as long as I can. Sorry but I'm not reactivating my personal page, inshaAllah.

Reason why I disabled my Facebook account.

...............To be continued ;)

12 hours plane journey with 1 infant and 1 toddler!!

Phewwwww!

 

That was a mouthful and tiring subject on its own yeah? Yes! That's exactly how I embarked my journey back from Malaysia exactly 3 weeks ago. As most of you might already know, the 4 of us went back to Malaysia in late March. The kids and I stayed on till May for my brother's wedding. Unfortunately, Iskandar couldn't stay on because he was on work probation and could only get 3 weeks time off. A lot happened when he went back to the UK and left the kids with me, but that will be a different blog update altogether :)

So, everyone asked me the same question every time they hear I was going back with both kids all by myself, "how will you manage with 2 kids on the plane??", "what if 1 of them starts to throw tantrum suddenly? Will u cope??". Everyone had their concern and was doubtful about my journey back home to the UK. To be honest, I couldn't give any rational answers when I was bombarded with these questions. All I could answer was, "InshaAllah, with Allah's will, I will be able to handle them on my own."

When we booked our tickets, the plan wasn't for me to bring both kids on my own. The initial plan was for Khairaldin to travel with my brother via Emirates and for me to travel with Layina via MAS on the same day. Somehow, the plan changed because Emirates didn't have any spare seat for Khairaldin. Since I've already booked for Layina and my flight via MAS, I had no other choice but to book for Khairaldin's flight with us. In all honesty, I wasn't prepared for this ordeal at all. But with so much faith in Allah, I took this opportunity as a Mother. Everyone who knew about my travel arrangements started to label me as a "SUPER MOM". All I have to say is, I'm no where near that title.

So, here's how our travelling went. I have to say, Alhamdulillah shukur for such a superb and easy travelling provided by MAS. Staffs were helpful and everything was just bearable from the check-in counter onwards. We + my parents arrived the airport at 8am and dropped our luggage at the check in counter. We requested for a travel assistance since I had 2 kids with me. At first they didn't have anyone to assist us but they had that initiative to get someone nonetheless. I had to wait for someone to assist us at 9am. So, we just continued waiting at the departure lounge. By 9, one of the staff came to help us out. Well, the reason I needed help was only to have someone to pull my hand luggage. Khairaldin was in the pushchair and Layina was in the baby carrier. It wasn't a problem in that sense.

Good thing about having assistance is that they assist you right into the aircraft and everything is priority; priority lane for passport checks, priority for boarding pass checks and of course the first one to get onto the plane! It was amazing! No hassle at all Masha'Allah. I was so glad. I would have given the young boy some tips, but by the time I settled down in my seat he has already pass his duties to the steward(ess). Didn't get a chance to say proper thank you. Guess he was scared if the plane took off hehehe. He'll be in my du'a, inshaAllah.

Oh yeah, I didn't request for a bassinet seat because when travelling with Khairaldin before, he didn't like sleeping in the bassinet. So I thought, it's ok, give others the opportunity. But I really wanted at least the whole row to myself. Before we took off, I asked the steward if there was any vacant rows. Unfortunately there wasn't any. Flight wasn't that full, there were spare seats but not rows. However, a guy sitting at the bassinet seatings offered to give his seat to us. I accepted his offer and swapped seats with him. It's very nice of him! After swapping seats we waited patiently to take off. Just before take off Layina cried for milk. I thought, that's good at least she'll get her nap straight away. Seeing that our flight was at 10:05am, it's the time she normally have her naps. So I breastfed her and by the time we took off she was already sound asleep. The stewardess then assembled the bassinet for her and I put her in it straight away. Little did I know, Layina is so different from her brother! She loved the bassinet and what I thought was going to be a short nap actually lasted for 4-5 hours straight!!! How good was that?

Khairaldin on the other hand, wasn't as easy as Layina. He suddenly had tummy ache and was restless. After putting Layina in the bassinet, I had a steward to look after her for awhile whilst I brought Khairaldin to the toilet. He had diarrhoea! Sigh. I did put diapers on him before we left for the airport, but being toilet trained, he couldn't 'do it' in the diapers. But Alhamdulillah, we only went for 2 toilet trips in 15minutes gap. After those 2 trips, he felt much better and fell asleep straight away! I was so glad. Since both of them were sleeping, I didn't waste anymore time and straight away 'joined' them to sleep. Alhamdulillah I managed to sleep for 2hrs straight. It was good!

By the time they woke up, we were already half way through our journey. We went for a few rounds around the aircraft, read a few books, played a few games and just made a mess on the floor! Thankfully Layina was already walking, saved me from having to carry here everywhere in the aircraft. We managed to catch some short naps. Layina wasn't awake that much. It was only for awhile that she was awake. Khairaldin was lucky as he got to just spend time with me :) Two hours before landing was a bit tough. Khairaldin kept asking what time we were gonna arrive and kept bugging about wanting to eat bread with chocolate spread from Nana's house! So I had to reason out with him until he really gets the idea that we are far away and there is no way he's getting his bread and choc spread in the plane. Hehehe

All in all, it was an interesting experience as it wasn't as how I expected it to be at all! I was prepared for the worse and Alhamdulillah, that was nowhere near my expectations. I am sure this breeze journey was from the numerous thoughts and du'as people sent to me! Alhamdulillah shukur! I believe that if we have a plan, we should tell your loved one about it so that they constantly du'a and remember you. JazakAllahu Khair, everbody!

 

Any tips or tricks? No really. I guess it was a rather "easy" journey on my side because I am with my children almost 24-7 therefore I know when they are restless or about to throw tantrums. If I was a working Mom, I don't think I would be able to take up this adventure. Basically, you really need to know your child when you're about to travel. Get them as comfortable as possible, InshaAllah everything will be great! :)) Personally to me, SUPER MOM are those working Mom's who would be brave enough to take such adventure seeing that they're rarely with their child during day time. But either way, mother instincts are the best!! :))

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SAHM in Malaysia

Sigh. As much as I enjoy having maids around, I get offended when people ask me to ask the maid to change my child's diaper or to feed my child lunch. It's as if ayong I don't know how to do my 'job'. I don't tell you how to do your job as an accountant or anything now do I? So yes, being a Mother is a job to me! I feel the need to clean and feed my child with my own hand. Looking aftery children is a reward to me. Please don't take away the only luxury that I have. It's fun having an extra hand but there are things that I would prefer to do on my own. Maybe preparing the kids' clothes whilst I bathe them is helpful enough. Anyway, that's me ranting. I love my job so please let me be. Even if you see me with eyebags, just kmow I'm enjoying myself. I will ask for help if/when I need it. Alhamdulillah, I am coping. :)

I have a problem. I need to talk.

Isn't it true that we've been brought up in a society to always "share your feelings"? Heck, even on FB it asks "what's on your mind?" and when you're done, you'll be clicking the "share" button. Right? So yeah. Whenever we have something on our mind we don't hesitate to share with others. After all, that's how we've been brought up. People will always advice you to talk to someone if you have a problem, you'd feel better after that. No doubt in that.

Sometimes, when I'm at my lowest point, I'd constantly go thru my Facebook friend list or BBM list to look for a non-judgemental person and a trustworthy one. I would go back and forth until a point I just don't know what I'm doing. One day, it got me thinking.. such person does not exist. Never! Even if they do, at least not on my friends list. haha It's veryyyyyyyyy rare to find that one person who could tell you the truth without hurting you even more. Of course at this point you're asking, why not just talk to your husband? Oh yes, I do talk to my Hubby. But in his eyes, I am almost perfect. How can I not be when I've got tears and sadness in my eyes? Would he dare to turn around and say, "it's your fault!" Hahaha He knows what will definitely happen next. So at times it's difficult to trust him as he wants the best for me. After I've calmed down he will then reason out with me rationally. I don't do rational thinking at my lowest point :)

I'm thankful for the people that has brought me down to my lowest point. It has only opened my eyes and heart about the life I have been leading. Like I said, we are told to share our problems. But what people forget to say is "don't share it with human beings!". Just imagine, when you are carrying a bag full of items and you need to stop because you're tired but at the same time you want to continue your journey. What would you do? You'd find a person to help you carry the load whilst you take a breather. So, what if this person you pass your load onto is a weak person? Of course they could not carry the load for long. They then pass it on to another person and it carries on.

It's same with problems. You tell a person about it and EXPECT that person not to tell anyone. But this person might not have that strong willpower to keep it to him/herself. It then spills to another and carries on. This is how gossips and backbiting happens. You don't mean to do it but you have your own problem to deal with on top of another being load on you. So the cycle begins. One story passed to another and another. At this point, think, would that story remain as how it is? Of course not! Everyone have their own imaginations. People tend to reconstruct what is being said or told to them according to their own experience. Story becomes distorted, people become upset. We are all human beings. We make mistakes but the best are those who repent and not make the same mistake again.

What do you do then when you have problems and really in need of someone to talk to? This is obvious but definitely the last choice we would take. TALK TO ALLAH/God. HE will definitely not judge you! HE even have the solution to your problems. So why speak to others? Why spill every single thing to others? Here's another thing, talking to ALLAH is FREE! You don't need to pick up the phone to let off your steam. HE is there with you all the time. When you speak to HIM, the conversation is safe with him. It can never be spilled. So, choose HIM first before others.

For Khairaldin and Layina, my advise to you is to choose Allah first before confiding onto anyone about your sorrows. If you want to confide in Mommy/Abah, please do so. But you have to know, your story will not be safe with us. You are our children, and if you are hurt, we will all be. Please, talk to Allah if you need to let go of your stressful or happy days. Tell Allah everything. If you were to tell Mommy, the story will get to Abah or even your Uncles and Aunties. If you tell your friends, the story might just spill when they come over our house or even when I fetch you from school. ;) My point here is, your story can never be 'safe' with a human being. If you really want it to be a secret, then keep it to yourself. If you can't, take sometime on the prayer mat and just converse with Allah. HE is there. HE is waiting for you to talk to HIM. There's nothing to lose.

Mommy and Abah are currently striving to do just that. We will Insha'Allah guide and help you through it when the day comes. Here's a quote Mommy recently came across:

Don't trust anyone because even your shadow leaves you in the dark!

There you go. Allah knows best, your solution is there with HIM.
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2012, everything new :)

SubhanAllah Walhamdulillah! It's already 2012. I know I know we should be aware of the Hijrah year. The only reason I'm excited is because it's the year Khairaldin will start nursery, Insha'Allah. When he turned 1 year old, people kept reminding me to register him for nursery. You see, in the UK, the education is free so if you want nursery closest to your place, you have to register as soon as possible. However, we can only start registering when the child turns 2. Fast forward, Khairaldin turned 2 in June 2011. We didn't bother that much since we had Layina around and was pretty occupied. He then had his 2 years development appointment when he was 2 years 3 months. At that time, his nursery nurse reminded us to start looking for nurseries. So we did.

Iskandar and I discussed about his big step into the 'real world'. We were contemplating on whether to put him in an Islamic Nursery or to put him in a ermmmm I shall call it, 'Western' nursery. Iskandar and I decided on enrolling him into a 'Western' nursery because we thought there "wouldn't be" any government funded Islamic Nursery. Obviously I'd consult my parents for such matter since they have experience. We told them that we planned to register Khairaldin into an Islamic school when he's a teenager. Because if we are still in the UK, I'd be easy for him to go for his prayers or even Friday prayers. My parents didn't agree to that because according to them, we should instill Islam at a very young age. Once they know the importance of Islam, it would be easy for them to follow up. So maybe when he is a teenager he can start 'Western' school as he has been taught the importance of Islam. We thought, that made a lot of sense than what we had in mind.

I was very determined to send Khairaldin to an Islamic nursery. I want him to know this Beautiful religion! I don't want him to waste his youth. Alhamdulillah, thanks to Google, we managed to find 2 Islamic Nurseries which were government funded (ie; FREE). Without hesitation, I called the nurseries to have a look around. SubhanAllah! The nursery stole my heart straight away. I lovvvvvvveeee the nursery from the moment I entered their parking space. It's such a decent nursery almost like private but it's not. The nursery were in between semi detached houses. I think the nursery was formed from 2 semi detached houses. So, it's quite big. As I had the tour, they also told me that they have primary school in that building. Suddenly I'm thinking, how can they manage to make a 'proper' school out of semi detached houses?? Straight away I felt the place might betoo cramp for Khairaldin. But Masha'Allah, it really is Allah's power. The house/nursery/primary school is huge in the inside!! They even got a hall in there! It's amazing! The space is just surreal. Of course bear in mind there's only 1 class for each Year. So Year 1 till 6 there's about 30pupils in a class. It's still a big number for such a place.

Then I had a look at the nursery. It's an extension from the Primary school which if it's a house, it's considered in the garden :). When I went there, the nursery pupils were in a different room. They were having 'Islamic Studies'. I was so glad to have come at that time because I really wanted to know what they were learning about. I was brought to their classroom and as I entered, all the children gave salam "Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh!!!". Ahhhhhhhhh! Imagine 3 year olds saying that! Super duperrrrr cute. SubhanAllah. Now you know why I'm in love with the school? :D The teacher then told me that they just got back from NEC waterworld. Basically it's something like Aquaria in Malaysia. So, the teacher was telling them a story about a shark. Mind you, it's an English storybook not even Islamic but somehow they managed to link it up with Islam. The story was about a Shark who was scared of everything (weird enough ey?). The way they linked it was at the end of it all, he wasn't as scared because he knows that Allah will help him regardless of anything. Of course there's a lot more to it but I didn't stay for the whole story time. Because the kids just got back from NEC underwater, they can then imagine how the sharks and other animals looked up upon Allah swt. Masha'Allah. It's amazing.

After we have finished touring the school, I went to the office to enrol Khairaldin. Since there's only 2 Islamic Nursery in Leicester, I didn't think twice about enrolling. But sadly, there was already 73 people enrolled before us. Khairaldin is still enrolled but in the waiting list. The school only accept 50 pupils and 20 pupils are already confirmed because they're the siblings to the primary pupils. We will only be able to know if Khairaldin has a place or not at the end of January. If 23 people cancels their application, Khairaldin will then get a chance to study in that school. Insha'Allah.


I'm so excited for him and I know he will feel comfortable in this school. Please keep Khairaldin in your du'as!!!!! May Allah help us throughout our journey on bringing up a soleh(ah) children. Amin Ya Raabalalamin!!

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Khairaldin's journey to diaperless bottom!

Khairaldin at 5 months old in Cloth Diaper :)

Alhamdulillah! Khairaldin's been diaper free for 1 month + now!!!! Never imagined this day coming true but Alhamdulillah, here I am writing about his diaper free journey. He's now 2 years 3 months. We started potty training him on 5th Ramadhan at around 4pm. I remember this clearly because I had a break from fasting so since I couldn't fast, I thought I might as well start as soon as possible and not procrastinate anymore. The reason I wanted to start him then was because it was Ramadhan and I had more free time also, things somehow flow perfectly during Ramadhan. And I was right! Alhamdulillah it's been a month since then!

Some CD Stash

Just so you know, we started him with going for number 2 as early as 1 year 10 months. Since he was wearing cloth diaper, both Iskandar and I became disgusted with him poo-ing in his diaper that we decided to firstly train him with number 2. Khairaldin is a creature of habit. He does everything in routine hence it was easy to train him. We knew when exactly he goes for number 2 since he does it around the same time everyday. It's easier on us because we are with him almost all the time. Training him for number 2 wasn't hard at all. Personally I think he found it disgusting to poop in his cloth diaper that's why he cooperated with us. Number 1 however, was difficult! We've tried one too many ways, for examples rewarding him with stickers, putting him in nice training pants so that he'd not wee in it and putting him straight in underpants. We failed miserably with those styles! I gave myself a deadline of 2 months because I wanted him potty trained before Layina's debut. We didn't succeed and were running out of time as I was already very heavily pregnant and just couldn't be bothered to train or even argue with him anymore. We then left the potty training at just doing number 2 in the toilet and number 1 was still in his diaper. That was good enough for us newbies. After Layina was born, we still felt disgusted with the smell of his wee every morning!!! We constantly told him to tell us when he wants to wee. Everyday when he wakes up we just kept going on and on about wee-ing in toilet. It didn't work. We felt that he's just wee-ing in his diapers to irritate us because I was irritated with our whining!! Then, on that particular day when I decided to train him, I just felt enough is enough! I can't deal with washing 2 batches of diapers everyday. People would say, "who ask you to put him in cloth diaper in the first place?" But may I just say, if it's not because of the cloth diaper, my son will probably be in disposable nappies till he's 5 years old or more! Really, thanks to cloth diaper as we are where we are today, Alhamdulillah!

So how did we start and succeed this time round? Well, at 4 pm, I decided to change him in just his underpants and t-shirt. I lifted his t-shirt just above his pants to supposedly see when he felt like wee-ing. But that didn't happen. I couldn't see it and the next thing I know, he's wee-d on the carpet in his toy room at 5pm. Oh by the way, I didn't dare to let him go anywhere around the house so we just stayed in his toy room for few good hours. When I first trained him, I always brought him straight to the toilet every one hour. I've somehow come to realise that he only does his business in his toy room so I brought his portable potty downstairs in his toy room. I even asked him if he wanted the potty downstairs and he said yes! Anyway, when he wee-d at 5pm, I instantly timed how frequent he wees. The 2nd time, he wee-d at 6pm at the same spot whilst we were learning some Arabic alphabets, really there wasn't any sign that he needed to wee. He was just standing up, talking to me and suddenly wees. He let's go when he feel like it without thinking of the consequences. Now that I know he needs a wee every hour, I asked him "do you want to sit in the potty and wee?" at about 7pm. He said yes. I brought him to his potty and he comfortably wee-d in there. I did that again at 8pm and again he wee-d in his potty. Then I stopped for the day because it was nearing his bedtime. He was back in diapers by night. Oh yeah, after every wee I rewarded him with sweets/marshmallows. So he had just 2 on that day because he managed to do it twice.

• On day 2, I brought him straight to the toilet when he woke up. Again, I asked him every hour if he wanted to wee in his potty and I got a yes every time. This time I varied his reward with sweets and watching his favourite Youtube videos. I didn't want him to do it because of sweets so I varied his reward. By night time, he was back in diapers. I was also monitoring his diapers at night and it's still wet.

• On day 3, I tried asking him every 1 and 1/2 hours. He has now learnt that wee time is only when I ask him if he wants to go or not. I managed to make him control for 1 and 1/2 hours. His reward was just Youtube videos on this day. He looks forward to watching his videos hence wee-ing in the potty was ok for him.

• Come day 4, we (the parents) were slacking a bit. We became overly confident that he can hold his wee that we sometimes forget to ask him if he needed the potty. So there were a few accidents in his toy room. Thankfully he don't dare to have "accidents" in the living room because the carpet in the living room belongs to my brother. He knows that he can't mess around with people's things if we tell him not to. After we came to realise our fault, we started asking him again and this time it's every 2 hours +.

• By day 5, we brought him out to Tesco. Told him he has to tell us if he needs a wee as people will get upset if he wee's in Tesco. He decided to hold for as long as he could and only told us he wanted a wee at home. I've noticed until today that he doesn't like to wee at public places unless we tell him that he's got to go because of long journey. If it's just in town or groceries, he'll hold until we get home. By now we were confident that he can hold his wee for more than 2 hours. So we decided to train him in the toilet. I kept the potty away and everytime he says he wants to go potty, I'd say the potty's upstairs and that we'd have to go to the toilet. After a while, he just asked for the toilet instead of potty.

So that's our potty training journey. After 2 weeks, he can hold his wee for a maximum of 4 hours and we hardly get any wet diapers at night. Until today he's still in diaper during night time just because we've got spare disposable diapers and didn't want to waste it. We call it "special pants" and he knows he can't wee in it or else he will get drenched.

Ok, just so you know we didn't only have 2 or 3 accidents. We probably had about 5-6 accidents at the most. I've come to learn that he have accidents when I am sleeping because he doesn't dare to ask Iskandar to bring him to toilet. One time he also forced himself to wee because he wanted my attention when I was cooking. Other than that, he's doing great! It is difficult at first but don't give up too quickly. Give it a few days and you and your toddler will get the hang of it eventually. ALSO, it's better if the Mothers are control of it until you see the successful point. To be honest, Mothers level of patience is absolutely different to Fathers. Iskandar for example expects Khairaldin to be a professional wee-r by second day. He didn't have the patience. It became slightly difficult because Iskandar was pushy and gets upset when he had accidents. So, Khairaldin became scared of him since he gets told off everytime. As for me, I do get upset when he have accidents but I can tell myself that he's only 2 years old and that I can't expect much from him. After Khairaldin was comfortable with his potty training, he didn't mind going to the toilet with either one of us. So my advice is, make sure only one parent is active in the training and that only one style is being used. Having both parents active during potty training could only confuse the child. Like with Khairaldin, he goes to potty every hour at first so I didn't want Iskandar to accidentally ask him if he needs potty after 30mins because then he will change his routine to every 30mins or so. This doesn't mean Iskandar wasn't part of the training. When I needed to do something myself, I told Iskandar to only ask him at so and so time. This way it kept the ball (or in this case child) rolling at the same pace.

Diaperless big boy on 1st Shawwal :))

I hope this entry has been helpful to you Mommies and Daddies who are planning to potty train. This style might or might not work with all. I tried so many ways with Khairaldin too but one day I came to realise that patience was all that was needed to make the potty training successful. Also, need to know what's their interest if you're planning on giving reward. If you're scared they will just do it for sweets then vary the reward slightly. When we first started, with stickers, it was a downfall from then because he wasn't interested with stickers yet we were trying to impose to him that it stickers are fun. Know your child. Some say wait till they are 'ready', but really, how are you to know when your child is ready to go to the toilet? There's not harm in trying or introducing them with the potty/toilet. If you are determined to diaperless their bottom, Insha'Allah, there will be a way for you too.

All the best to you Mommies and Daddies!!! This will be one of the easiest task we'll have to do for them. Once they are an adult, our task becomes more difficult. Insha'Allah we'll all be able to get through this challenge! :)

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Sorry that I am such a positive person :)

In spite of my very positively chripy, lovely and heartfelt writings, I sometimes have the urge to just sit down and write a very harsh entry on how my heart really feel about a certain someone. But everytime I think of doing it, my brain tells my heart not to do such a harsh thing because the purpose of this blog is to share my Islamic parenting experience and moral values with other parents (to-be) out there. It is also a place where one day Khairaldin and Layina (Insha'Allah their other siblings too) can look at and Insha'Allah appreciate what we have done for them. I do not ever want them to grow up with hatred in life. Yes, life is tough but it's how we deal with it that matters the most. Like the saying goes, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade". Something so sour could still turn out sweet if you know the perfect recipe to it.

No matter how angry annoyed I am with this particular person, I have to thank him/her for making me the person I am today. I have been putting up with lots of harsh comments from him/her not only about Iskandar and I but also about my innocent children. Try this, Layina is only 1 month old yet she's already getting negative comment. Layina, don't worry, it's not your fault that you get such nasty remark. Mommy hope you'll not be offended with it but in fact take it as a reminder that it's not easy to please everyone. In the end of the day, just try your best and the only one you should always please is Allah swt. So, be strong babycakes. :) Anyway, back to where I was, all these negative comments I have been getting is not only making me stronger but it is also strengthening my Imaan (faith). It makes me want to turn back to Allah swt and Prophet SalallahuAlaihiWassalam and "listen" to what they've got to say by reading the Quran and Hadith.

Like I said, I sometimes feel like writing negative entries but because of this particular person also I have learnt that it is wrong to do such a thing. It's not only wrong in a way that "yeah you are talking bad about a person" but it's also very wrong to conceal one's sins. One day, in the hereafter that is, my blog will be revealed to every single one of us that's living on this planet and others. In one of the hadith narrated Abu Hurairah radi Allahu Anhu: I heard Allah's Messenger SalallahuAlaihiWassalam saying, "All the sins of my followers will be forgiven except those who commit a sin openly or disclose their sins to the people. An example of such disclosure is that a person commits a sin at night, and though Allah screens it from the public, then he comes in the morning and says, "O so-and-so, I did such and such evil deed yesterday," though he spent his night screened by his Lord (none knowing about his sin) and in the morning he removes Allah's screen from himself." Basically, if I were to go on and on about this person in public, it will only accumulate my sins and doing it OPENLY will only make matters worse in this world and most importantly HEREAFTER!

Even though this person tries so hard to bring my self-esteem down, I have to say it's only bringing it "up". I live my life the Islamic way therefore I would turn to the Quran or Hadith and see how our Prophet would react in every situation. (Narrated Tariq: 'Abdullah said, "The best talk is Allah's book (the Quran), and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad SalallahuAlaihiWassalam.) Be it a happy, blissful, angry or sad situation, I try my very best to make sure I don't react in an extreme way. So, I turn to the Hadith and read words that will help me with my emotions. As we all know, emotion is very difficult to control. Even though our mind says one thing, our heart (especially the female gender) would have the last say and most of the time it's not a nice one if we are in an angry mood. Before we regret saying one thing, sit back, grab the Quran or Hadith and ponder upon it. Insha'Allah we will live a happier and more Barakah life. :)

Below are the quotes that have helped me get through my difficult days. I hope it will also help all of you and comes in handy when you are feeling at your lowest mood. Believe me, it's not worth it to take up with the person you are angry with as they would definitely have their opinion and it'll only end up in a fight. Another way you can make yourself feel better is by taking everything in a positive way. Like what my li'l brother would say to me "What happened to your funny bone? Chill!" :) There's a reason why we have a "funny bone", try hitting the nerve and you'd definitely feel ticklish. If a person hits your nerve, remember, there's a funny bone somewhere in your body. You just need to look for it. ;) Sometimes it is difficult to just let go of what you have worked hard for but then, it's best to leave some things broken than hurting yourself trying to fix it. ;) Move on whilst knowing that you have tried for the sake of Allah and Allah swt is happy with your intentions.

May Allah make it easy for us to do good deeds in this life in order for us to prepare for the Hereafter! Amin!

"Tell them (O Prophet): "O you servants of mine who believe, have fear of your lord. A good end awaits those who did good in this world. Allah's earth is spacious. Verily, those who persevere shall be granted their reward beyond all reckoning." (Quran 39:10)

Narrated Abu Musa: The Prophet SalallahuAlaihiWassalam said, "None is more patient than Allah against the harmful saying, He hears from the people; they ascribe a son (or offspring or children) to Him, yet He gives them health and (supplies them with) provision." (Hadith Bukhari)

Beautified is the ife of this world for those who disbelieve and they mock at those who believe. But those who have taqwa, will be above then on the Day of Ressurection. And Allah gives (of this bounty, blessings, favours and honours on the Day of Ressurection) to whom He wills without limit. (Quran 2:212)

Narrated Abu Hurairah RadiAllahuAnhu: Allah's Messenger SalallahuAlaihiWassalam said, "The strong is not the one who overcomes the people by his strength, but the strong is the one who controls himself while in anger."

Ps: I could go on and on with the quotes but time is something I am lack off nowadays, therefore I shall leave these quotes with you and hopefully you'd continue by reading it from the Quran or Hadiths. Insha'Allah.

Coincidence or is it really ol' wives' tales?

22nd June 2011, it's supposed to be the due date for baby no.2 but hey, they did say it's ESTIMATED due date (EDD). One could give birth earlier or later than their due date. As for now, I'm still heavily pregnant, Alhamdulillah. No doubt I do want baby to be out a.s.a.p not only because I'm eager to see him/her but also because I'm too heavy right now!!! I've put on about 13kgs throughout the pregnancy, I know it's not much but when you have a possessive toddler who demands Mommy to carry him after bath/upstairs/to the toilet, it gets rather tiring. Alhamdulillah I can still pray as normal. I'm so thankful for that.

Anyway, reason I'm writing this is because I felt like comparing my first pregnancy "ritual" to my second pregnancy "ritual". I've been getting a few advises on things I should do or consume to get myself into labour rather soon.

Walking - yes, this is the most famous advise anyone would give. When I was carrying Khairaldin, I walked A LOT! I would rather walk then take the car whenever I was given the chance to do so. However, with this 2nd pregnancy, the only time I have a long walk is during the weekend when we go into town. After my first pregnancy, I didn't get any type of massage to "restructure" my womb. So, this 2nd pregnancy has been rather painful because at 5 months I feel as if baby is down 'there' and ready to come out. I had what they call "low lying placenta" but Alhamdulillah it is not THAT bad. Baby is lower than when I was carrying Khairaldin. Hence the reason why I couldn't do that much walking.

Eat spicy food- I've never heard of this but a sister on FB advised me to do so. The thing is, when I was carrying Khairaldin, I really craved for spicy food. I had spicy food (or sambal belacan) almost every meal. I couldn't resist it. Unfortunately with baby no. 2, I just couldn't. I would suffer from heartburn whenever I consume spicy food. So I didn't dare to have that much spicy food this time around.

Raspberry leaf capsules or tea- This was also mentioned by a friend last night. I was thinking where could I get Raspberry leaf. I forgot that when I was carrying Khairaldin, I did drink Earth Mama Angel Baby Third Trimester tea. I just realised that in the ingredients there is Raspberry leaf and it is one of the best ingredients for pregnancy. Read: Raspberry Leaf has healing and preventative properties which are said to tone the uterus, and improve contractions to facilitate childbirth. Raspberry leaf is also an astringent herb rich in vitamins and minerals important for pregnant women, among them vitamins C, E, A and B complex, and the minerals calcium, phosphorous, manganese, potassium and iron. (Source: Earth Mama Angel Baby). And yeah, this time around I didn't bother to buy or even make the tea. (But today I started drinking it all over again in hopes that baby will make exit soon, Insha'Allah).

So I was just wondering, is it because of these 'rituals' that made Khairaldin's debut 5 days early and baby no.2 come out later? Hmmmm, sometimes you feel that there is no effect to what you're doing until it's showed otherwise. Iskandar on the other hand believes that "different baby is different". It could be mere coincidence that Khairaldin was early since after all he is a much active baby compared to baby no.2. It maybe because his activeness that pushed him out earlier? Hmmmmmmm. Well, let's see what happens in 3rd pregnancy. LOL! Look at me talking about next pregnancy when I'm no where near giving birth to baby no.2! :D

In the end of it all, I believe that Allah has planned everything with baby no 2 (and us all). It's his/her destiny with Allah swt. What they have promised each other before he/she comes out to see the world only 'they' would know. I can keep on guessing like maybeeeeeeeee, he/she is just giving us more time to bond with the big brother? Maybe Allah is giving me extra time to Worship him? or even, maybe I myself am not fully prepared to handle 2 kids at this stage? Only Allah knows. One thing for sure, I've enjoyed the surprise in this pregnancy. It's also taught me that we can plan as much as we want but the end result is from HIM and noone else could change it. :)

So, here's to me counting down for another 14 days in case I have to be induced. In the mean time, do keep us in your du'a, always. <3

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