My baby's a big SIS!

I have always seen you as my baby.
Until Alya came along, then it hit me at just how much you have actually grown.
Congratulations my dearest dearest Umaira, for at 22months you are now daytime toilet trained!
Mama is so proud of you!

Working hard to be a good big sis!

The addition

Alhamdulillah, we welcomed another Balqis last 5th of June. Time sure flies fast...only 4 more days and she's already a month!

Name: Alya Balqis (now its not the2balqis anymore...)
Weight at birth: 3.75kg
Place of birth: Master bedroom

Now its time to rest before another...maybe 4 years later...insyaAllah.

65 more days and nesting

Around the fifth month of pregnancy, the "nesting" instinct can set in. This is an uncontrollable urge to clean one's house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world.

The house is in mess!

Result of heavy nesting kicking in. I am in the midst of totally(I wish!) making over the house and Abah of course  just had to go with it. With the mood swings, stubbornness, everything just has to go my way (I blame all on the pregnancy hormones, I sure hope you understand that Abah dear).  

I had to enlist Abah to help me out, as my energy is dwindling, even getting up from the couch would left me breathless and not forgetting the constant back pain. And when 2 heads are not always a good thing, squabbles and sulking would happen for sure. We are just complete opposite at times (well most of the times). While my cleaning mantra is 'Throw, throw and throw, his would be Keep, keep and keep". See, that is why I would rather do all by myself if possible, unless it is really necessary to ask for help. 

Tackled the storeroom yesterday, it looks so spacious now that even Harry can sleep in it. Next is the study room and master bedroom. I always love results but not so much the process. I've lost count of how many times I opened the storeroom just to peek inside. Call me crazy.

After the house, I hope I will be able to sit down and catch on my DIYs. Hah!

My ambitious DIY project to-do (which involve a lot of sewing which I know nuts about):

- Curtains : Living area & Master bedroom.

- Create my own nursing cover

- Repainting the crib and sew the sheet and bumpers

- Dining table cloth and maybe, just maybe the chair covers. 

- Make own bean bags (coz Abah brought back these 2 huge bags of small polystyrene balls)  

(I think those are the Pinterest effects, which makes me feel like I can do everything by myself)

So how about school? Hmmm...its been on and off quite lately, I just feel that I have to re-organize everything first and then we can re-start our schedule. For now, I just let Kakak do the works in the workbooks we bought some time ago, the rest of time its either the TV or Ipad or outdoor play or just art on the easel. I do feel bad, really really bad, so I just have to speed up the organizing and hopefully insyaAllah we can settle into our homeschool routine back. Amin. 

Fragile

is how life is.

We do not know for sure if there is another tomorrow for us. Or even another minute. Its the point in life when there is absolutely no turning back.

When its time to go, will I ever be ready for it? Have I done enough for myself? Have I done enough for my husband, children, mother?

How will my children remember me? Or will they?

Upon hearing the departure of a known friend, only a year or two older than I am, leaving behind her young family of 3 and 1, the latter was still breastfed, a lot of thoughts and emotions ran through me. Though not close, but I can feel putting myself in her place.

It was quite sudden, an asthma attack at work, which left her in coma and caused brain damage. She had to be on life support ever since and finally yesterday, it was time for her to leave as ordained.

But hers was a beautiful one insyaAllah, as friends described how serene she looked, how her husband is redha with her. May Jannah be your resting place dear sister. Inna lillah wa inna ilaihi raji'un.

al-Fatehah.

Si suami berkata, “Semoga tidak ada sesiapa pun dari kamu yang mengucapkan takziah kepadaku sebaliknya dengarlah kata-kataku ini.” Semua yang berhimpun terkejut dan terdiam dengan kata-kata si suami itu. Si suami meneruskan kata-katanya, “Demi Allah, tiada Tuhan yang berhak disembah melainkanNya, sesungguhnya hari ini adalah hari yang paling bahagia dan gembira bagiku, lebih gembira dan bahagia dari malam pertamaku bersama isteriku itu.

Maha Suci Allah Ta’ala, sesungguhnya isteriku itu adalah sebaik-baik wanita bagiku, kerana ia sentiasa mentaatiku, menguruskan diriku dan anak-anakku dengan sebaik-baiknya dan juga ia telah mendidik anak-anakku dengan sempurna. Aku sentiasa bercita-cita untuk membalas segala jasa baik yang dilakukannya kepada diriku.

Apabila dia meninggal dunia aku teringat sebuah hadith Nabi Muhammad s.a.w: ‘Mana-mana wanita yang meninggal dunia sedang suaminya redha kepadanya pasti akan masuk ke dalam syurga’. Tatkala meletakkan jenazahnya di dalam lahad, aku telah meletakkan tanganku di kepalanya dan aku berkata: Wahai Tuhanku, aku sesungguhnya redha kepadanya, maka redhailah dia. Ku ulang-ulang kata-kataku itu, sehingga tenang dan puas hatiku.

kawan2 redhakanlah pemergian Almarhumah Nadia Baqsheer..sesungguhnya Jannah tempat yg pasti baginya.."
(source FB)

Letter Craft - O Ostrich, C Caterpillar, G Guitar, D Dinosaur

O Ostrich

We pasted tissues on the letter O for texture since we don't have any feathers.  Bit messy as Kakak used the liquid glue. But she's proud of it anyway, and that's what's important!

C Colourful Caterpillar

No pompoms or cotton balls available at hand, so I just printed out small circles and asked Kakak to cut them out. Up to 4 circles and the rest was up to me. 

 Adding details

G  Glitter Golden Guitar

This was done weeks ago. We used the 'left-over' paper plate from our planets craft and made the letter G.

Kakak had a lot of fun with this because of the glitter of course!

D Dinosaur

Super simple craft. Googled the dino template, printed out everything. Kakak cut most of it. Then she just colour them, pasted the dino stickers we happened to have and done! 

Our current collection hanging by pegs on a fish line. 

WW : My girls

A Family Gathering

Last Saturday we had a small family gathering with Nenek's side of family. 

And of course, food is mostly always the 'star' of any gatherings in Singapore.

The 'star': Nenek's Lontong complete with serunding, sambal kerang and chicken rendang. 

Super Yum!

 At grandaunt's house

Oh yes! They are Chinese! My mum is actually a Chinese-born given to a Malay family since baby. The only chosen one in family ~masyaAllah! 

Nenek's sisters and brothers = grandaunts and granduncles

The lil girl who loves to eat!

 A little barbeque

And....

 Weee! My advanced birthday prezzies! 

Alhamdulillah!