New shoes.

We have a tiled compound and Aisha loves to run outside on her walker. 

We bought her a new shoes yesterday, so that she can run on her walker in our compound. Her old booties got worn out and so we bought her a new pair of shoes.

Aisha's new shoes.

Aisha admiring the Nobel Peace laureate Tawakul Karman.

Oh, Tawakkul, 

Oh, Mother of revolutions, 

Queen of Sheba,

You have raised the dignity of Hijab.

We love you.

Islam loves you.

Last year...

Last year, this time... waiting in hospital for Aisha to grow until she weighs 2.5 kg.

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Building Burj Khaleefa.

Playing with building blocks.

A and Z.

Demolishing Z's Burj Khaleefa.

Burj Khaleefa made by Z.

Hell's Kitchen

The red team attacking the blue team.

Blue team (Z Deedi) crying for help.

Clay curry (Z's recipe).

Utensils.

Weekend Wandering

Yesterday we decided to go to get some fresh sea air, and drove to the palm Jumeirah. Palm Jumeirah is a small man-made island built in the shape of a palm, crowned by the luxurious hotel Atlantis on its crescent.

Palm Jumeirah*

Atlantis*

Aisha loves the tunnels, there are two of them which we often use. One of them is the underwater tunnel from Bur Dubai to Dubai and the other is the tunnel under the Dubai Airport that joins the first and second terminals. The runway of the airport is built on the tunnel. Yesterday, on our way to Atlantis hotel , we had to pass another under water tunnel, and Aisha was thrilled to go through it. I don't know what makes the tunnel so interesting but I guess it is the lights.

The image is not clear as Aisha was crying when taking the photo.

The trip was not a pleasant one for Aisha, as she got frightened of the raging sea. We wanted to breath in some some air, but what we got was a huge storm. The waves splashed on the rocks to spray the water droplets in the air, and the thundering sound frightened Aisha. She clung on her Dad's shoulder. To me, the sea looked like an angry man shouting at us for robbing his land (sea). Even I felt a little scared to see the sea in its full fury! The twilight and the almost full moon never looked like an added glory anymore, with the chill still  in my stomach. All I wanted was to run out of the place and take Aisha away from there.
 Aisha has started teething, with a small portion of her right bottom central incisors popped out of her gums. She has started biting me when I feed her, and the rule is: I should not shout or make any painful sounds when she bites me. Or else, she will burst into tears. She knows crying is a good tool for her.
Aisha has started feeding us, with her imaginary food. She grabs her 'food' from an ice-cream bowl we give her to play and extends her hand to our mouth. She forces her tiny fingers into our mouth.

*Images from Google.

Fever - Updates

Alhamdulillah, Aisha has recovered from her sickness and is now the buzzing bee once more - although she was not a mothball when sick. She has a running nose though. I was also bed-ridden yesterday, with cough, blocked nose and throat infection. Happily the temperature never soared. Hubby was here to look after Aisha as it was weekend, and so I took a half-day rest. Alhamdulillah, I'm almost fine now, with the homeopathic treatment. I stopped the medicines for Aisha, now giving her the Mexican mint juice twice daily. She loves it and wants more of it. It was a bit difficult to give her the modern medicine, with Aisha writhing and sometimes screaming.

Aisha had difficulty in sleeping. She woke up every half an hour when she coughed our sneezed. It was only yesterday that she slept almost through out the night. With Aisha waking up every half an hour, I too had difficulty in sleeping. It was hectic, with sleeplessness, cold and pain. alhamdulillah everything is over and alright now.

The newspaper on October 13th reported the news of common cold sweeping through UAE as the temperature cools. There has been a series of dust storms, and I think the dust inhaled induced the cold and fever. You can feel the change in the air everyday. The temperature makes a sudden fall, not a slow transition. You open the water pipe today and the hot water gushes out, burning your hands. Tomorrow it will be tepid water. And day after tomorrow it will be cool water. Such is the change.
There in a myth in Kerala, my homeland - infants gets sick at every milestones of their development. Like, during the first month they get sick on the last days or first days of every week. During the first three months, the period widens, by getting sick on the last days or first days of the month. The frequency falls down again and they get sick only once in three months. And then they get sick before they reach one year, two year and so on. Getting sick doesn't mean that it should be fever. It can be anything, from gastrointestinal problems to infections. It can be pain in the body parts, vomiting, fever, cold, cough or anything, sometimes so small that you don't notice it while she cries. As the time period increases, the intensity also increases, ie, when it becomes yearly, the ailment will be severe. This is only a myth, but coincidentally, Aisha has got sick before completing her first year.

Gulf News: Common cold virus sweeps UAE as weather cools

Wave of Light.

Remembering you...Aisha.

Fever

Aisha had a fever day before yesterday. It was at dawn when I felt she had a temperature, and the thermometer read 38.1 degree Celsius. Aisha never had any illness until now, and so, at first I was confused about what to do. After a few moments, I remembered about the Mexican mint that my co-sister planted. I took two of the leaves, squeezed out the juice and gave it to Aisha. I wanted to take her to a homeopathic doctor, since I believe homeopathy is best for babies, with no side effects. But our doctor was on leave and so I had to take her to a pediatrician. When they checked her temperature at the clinic, it has dropped down to 36.4, thanks to the therapy of the Mexican mint my mother taught me. As usual, the doc gave her a paracetamol syrup and an anti-allergic syrup. Thank God he didn't give any antibiotics but insisted on taking it if her fever is not fully cured within three days. I hate modern medicine. He said it was a flu and advised us to give Aisha flu vaccinations as soon as she has recovered from her illness.
Aisha didn't make a fuss, nor did she take her rest. She is full of energy, chasing her cousin and scooting around the home. The only problem is her appetite - she don't want to eat anything and I don't want to give her the medicines without giving her any solid food. So I have to force the food on her, which makes her scream. She takes her medicines with out much whining or wincing, but now that she has learned to spit, everything we put inside her mouth shoots out with double the speed. Same story for medicines too.
Her nose is blocked and I had to use saline water today. She struggled a little when I put her on her bed, but after the squeezing the drops, she was happy. May be she must have got frightened when she saw all these weapons - Mama is getting ready for a fight!!
I sometimes feel like I'm also having the fever, my nose is blocked, I have got a throat pain. I cannot switch off the a/c 'coz Aisha starts sweating ( mostly her head, we plan to trim her hair this weekend).

The feverish girl.

I had to take out her books to make her sit calmly for sometime.

Awards.

I have got a few awards from my fellow bloggers, and I thought I'd thank them all in a single post. The problem with many awards is that I don't have much blogger friends to whom I can pass the awards. And most of my blogger friends have already received the awards. So, let me break the rule of passing the awards. Rules are made to be broken, right?
First of all thanks to Nishana, Salma, Izdiher and Umzakariya for your awards. Thanks for passing it, the pleasure is more when you can share your success with others. Pity me, I don't have anyone to share it. :'(
Nishana is a friend of mine, and its almost ten years since we became friends. We were the frightened first years of college when we met, but then, with the four years at college we changed a lot with time. Some friends bring a lot of change in your life, and Nishana was one if them. We had many thing in common- our lean body and our passion for writing being a couple of them. We still have so many things in common, our fat (Nish said she has put on weight) body (lolz), our passion for writing and our munchkins. When I think of her, I yearn to go back to college again.
I sometimes feel strange about how you meet people in your life. Salma is a person whom I have met in a totally strange way - we are mothers who have lost out babies. Both our babies were first boys (in my case, the first child), they died of umbilical cord prolapse and they died on 13th (May in my case and June in Salma's case). I have heard that relationships that start under intense circumstances never last, but Salma proved it wrong. We have been friends since then. Salma is a wonderful person, always trying to help her friends. She showed me how to care for the world even if you are alone and have nothing to give away. A little thought and some of your time is all she asks us to help others.
I met Um Zakariya recently and we have been good friends since then. She is a french revert, who is struggling to build up a life between her ex, her little man and Islam. I wish I was near her to support her and hold her hand, to gift her son with some chocolates and to help her in every way I could. By being at the other end of the world, I can only pray for her now.
One fine morning, Izdiher was there on my blog. It was like God just dropped a friend for me. I love her blog for the openness in it.  She writes about anything on her blog, from politics, fashion, Islam etc etc. The most thing I love about it is the header image - a lovely photo. She is from Pakistan and that makes us good neighbors too.
The awards I received are:

 From Nishana.

 From Salma.

From Um Zakariya and Izdiher.

From Izdiher

With the stylish blogger award and versatile blogger award, I have to put in seven random facts about myself. They are:

1. I love chicken a lot.
2. I am a proud Muslim.
3. I am a bad cook.
4. I want Aisha to be a social worker.
5. I always wish the fantasies were real with fairies, witches and wizards, beautiful and kind ghosts etc scooting around on broom sticks or popping out of flowers.
6. I love to read children's magazines.
7. I want to make the world a better place to live in.

For sharing this award, I have got only three friends:

1. Bonnie - I pass all the above Awards to Bonnie.
2. Um Zakariya - I pass the Extreme Muslima Bloggers Award to Um Zakariya as she has recieved the other two awards earlier.
3. Stay Blessed - I pass all the awards to Asma Khan.

Thankyou everyone. Enjoy!

At the Mall.

Last Friday, we went to Dubai Mall, the biggest mall in the world (with so much of petrol-money to waste, you can hire eastern and western architects and build the largest, biggest, widest, longest etc on earth). For Aisha, who doesn't know the concept of big, large and long, it was just another tour to an unknown place too cold and where there are too many people and too many lights. As usual, she got bored of it and fell asleep very soon. Strapping up in her pram is something she doesn't like. Insha Allah, we plan to take her to the mall once more when she starts walking. There's a lot of space for her to walk!!

Aisha knows what a remote is used for- she points it towards the TV and presses the buttons. Sometimes she switches on the TV. But when she plays with the remote (her favorite toy) while you are watching a program, you will definitely get annoyed.

Fishing out Mamma's bag...

..and with her books...

Vertical Limits.

Aisha doesn't walk. She never crawled until recently. But she climbs on sofas and beds, challenging her vertical limits (Watch it). I have to be double-extra cautious now and always put her where I can see her. Is that going to work? I don't know. She loves to stand in her stroller, loves to jump out of her walker, loves to stand alone in the car seat * don't know when the traffic police is going to put a huge fine on Dad*, loves to reach to the third drawer of our cabinet (when she can open the first and second drawers easily), climb up the shelf, loves to tear the paper or tissue into tiny bits,... Girls today are tomboys, isn't it?
Alhamdulillah, her eating and pooing habits have almost got to normal. She still turns her head away when feeding her, but eats it without any howls and hassles. I don't know what was her problem during the past couple of weeks. May be she must have got anxious with the arrival of her uncle, aunty and cousin. Not sure of that anyway.
Some snaps from her lively moments.
The temperature has dropped down from soaring to normal now, and we got out for a walk in our neighborhood park. Aisha enjoyed it a lot, although she is too small for the slides, swings and see-saws.

This pic below shows the love of the sisters - Aisha's cousin Z deedi giving her icecream. Z deedi is crazy about ice-creams and we give it to her only once in a blue moon. But still, she shared it with Aisha (even though it was a drop).

Doodling (imitating Z deedi) with Z's Doodle Pro. Notice Aisha is left-handed.

Remembering those days

Last year this day…I went to hospital for a routine check up, but was admitted there when they found through a USG that I had the same problem which I had during my first delivery – a prolapsed chord.

Celebrating the anniversary with Aisha now…Thanks to my Gyno, the radiologist and the biggest thanks to – God, Alhamdulillah.

Aisha has learned how to spit – she pushes out the solid particles with her tongue. I am happy because spits the paper pieces or other particles she mouths, and I am sad that she spits the solid food I give her. She wants to make her new achievement perfect by practicing it even with her favorite biscuit. Feeding her with semi-solid food is easier when compared to solid food - I have to keep pushing the morsels into her mouth every time she pushes it out.

Potty-ing Aisha is getting more difficult as she has got no time for pooing or peeing. When pooing or peeing, she sits still only for a second or two, and then tries to stand up and run away. She puddles her potty and herself, and I have to clean the whole bathroom many times a day!  I'd like to take some rest guys...

Tea Party

Thankyou Izdiher for your tea party. Loved it a lot. I also loved the snacks... the photos looks very yummy.
From my side, I don't drink much tea, except for some... tea parties. The problem is hubby takes his tea from office, and I'm too lazy to make a tea for myself. So I live without the tea. I only know two kinds of tea, one is the black tea, with sugar and no milk. The other is the milk tea, with sugar and milk. I love to make the tea more noble by adding some cardamom and a vanilla seed (or pea, whatever you call it). There is a third one, the lemon tea. I take it when I feel something wrong with my stomach. Its a black tea with a few drops of lemon in it.   For my guests, I'll be serving the aromatic milk tea, with cardamom, vanilla and sugar. Hmmm....I can feel the smell in the air.

Ooopppss...sancks? I don't have any idea. With so many of my friends from different parts of the world, what do I do? I'm not a good cook and so guests at home always brings worries. When guests are from around the world, I surely don't know what to do. May be I'll try out some easy recipes, and some ready-made items. At least they can enjoy the ready-made ones.

Click on the snacks to get the recipe.

Question -  Answer:

According to the tradition, here are few question which you have to answers :please join my tea party here by answering the following questions by adding your answers to the comments section:

1. What tea are you choosing for the tea party?
2. What sweet dessert(s) would you serve if the blog-sisters came for a visit? (Please link * to the recipe if it is online, then we can all try it at home :-D)
3. What's your favorite movie? Or your 2-3 fav. movies?
4. Please share some words of wisdom.

My answers:

1.I said it, the Milk tea with sugar, cardamom and vanilla.

2.Butter cookies, Prawns parcel, rice pancake layered with chicken masala and cutlets or samosas (Hope everything 'cooks' right)

3.I don't know. I don't watch much movies to select a fav one. On a general note, I love classics and movies with a message in it.

4.Wisdom? From me? I'm not a wise person! I'll put an advice that my high school principal plus our maths teacher gave us - Always smile, during happy times and hard times.

I'm giving my tea party to:

One droplet in an Ocean

Chasing Rainbow

Blessings through trials

..all about Liya..

Once A Mother

As the rule goes... please arrange tea parties and have fun with your fellow bloggers. Thanks for the visit and comments. 

Hope you enjoyed...