Aash at Home

When I went home yesterday, I was dead tired and just wanted to snuggle into my comfy bed, relax, and possibly take a nap. A nice, refreshing, stress free nap..hmmmm, sounds so easy to some, but to me its a feat that cannot easily be accomplished. As I was dreaming about sleep,  Yusi came running, screaming "Oto Boos, Oto Boos" and showing me his new drawings (scribbles) of balls. "Wow!!! Yusuf that is just awesome!" Yusuf drawing balloons He said "awchum" and continued to follow me upstairs. As I was going to my room, thinking about my bed, the motherly guilt kicked in and made me go into Isa's room instead. He was just sitting there day dreaming with only half his work done. "Isa what's wrong, why are your spellings not done?" " Amm-mmma I can't find a pencil so I couldn't do my spellings" Eighty percent of the time, he does not have a pencil, or its not sharpened and for all of you judging me as a parent an...

It broke my heart when I saw little Yusi waving goodbye to me on my way to work from lunch and told me to be back at 2 by gesturing his index and middle fingers. I could tell he was sad that I was leaving but understood that I will be back soon to take him to get his cake and celebrate his "Happy to yee" - A day he has been waiting for a quarter of his life. Can't believe he is actually 2 today! He is growing up so fast, physically he is still tiny but is growing  by leaps and bounds mentally and socially Mashallah!  He understands how to make each member of the family happy and also knows exactly what to do to push our buttons.  Whenever he is being disciplined he knows to scream for... Babaaaaa!! As no matter what happens Abba is always on his side and lets him get away with anything. Amma is a little less lenient but melts pretty quickly as soon as he bats his big doe eyes in front of her and says Daduuu (his name ...

The Hole -Tooth! Yesterday when I went home form work, Isa was naturally very excited showing off his tooth and hole in mouth to everyone. He was taking his tiny little tooth everywhere with him. I told him he needs to keep it in a safe place until tonight when it will be time for him to put it under the pillow just in time for the tooth fairy to come and take it away and leave him a present. He finally put it in a drawer and went to Walmart with Ajee, Yusuf and I . We were done shopping and were just about to leave Wal-Mart when suddenly Ajee realized that we had forgotten something very important. I gestured him to go buy it while I keep the kids entertained. He told us he really needs to run to the restroom and left. Yusuf as usual was having a ball as he was allowed to run loose in this huge store. Ajee called and it was finally time for us to head back, he had hid the gift in the car so no one could see it. By the time we got home it was Isa's bed time. Whil...

This morning while I was trying to catch a few extra zzs, I heard Isa yelling in the shower and then an excited exchange between Ajee and him. I figured, the day (that Isa had been anxiously waiting for) had arrived.  He quickly came out and told me " Amma ---abba was brushing my teeth really really hard and it came out!" The first baby tooth was finally out of the mouth after weeks of wiggling and literally years of waiting (since his friends had started losing theirs over a year ago).   I asked for him to show me. "what the hole in my mouth or the tooth? " Both would be great, thanks. My little Baby Isa is growing up so fast!!  I just want time to freeze sometimes as I look at both him and Yusuf!!  Yusuf is at such a fun age and is truly a delight to be around. He has such a loud expressive personality and I can already see the little jokester in him. Sometimes I wonder what is ...

Yesterday I went to the now empty 1826 with Ajee to meet with our new Realtor who will help us put it on rent. While we waited for the her,  I looked at the empty rooms, bare walls (except for the nails and the really low pencil scribbles n the Master Bath walls thanks to Yusuf) and furniture indents on the carpet. The emptiness  reminded me of the same time exactly 10 years ago right before our wedding when we purchased this brand new townhouse.  The thought that I will not be living here anymore saddened me as this place has always been so blessed and has witnessed so many happy moments of my life that I have experienced from  a young, energetic college girl to a grown (not so energetic) mother of 2. I still remember walking in to 1826 (which was still half done) with Ajee, Amma, Abba, My Abba and our Realtor at the time to choose the upgrades, paint colors, wood flooring etc for our future house. It was so exciting to be starting my new life with ...

As soon as I got home yesterday Isa told me about his Art Show that "we just have to go to". "Ok - when is it?" "Today at 6!" "What? In 30 minutes! Do you also have a painting there? " "Yes but its ugly, I don't paint well!" (sad but true - Isa is not exactly gifted when it comes to art) "Aww Isa ..don't say that, finish your reading and I will take you" Isa finished his reading in record time of 20 minutes and we were on our way along with Yusuf. The parking lot was full and there was a huge swarm of people at the Art Show, the school staff had marketed this event well through the kids. There were a lot of framed artwork on display overly priced at $28 each. We finally made it to the first grade display, and we looked and looked and couldn't find Isa's; his was unfortunately not displayed. Seeing his disappointed face broke my heart and I stood in line for the art teacher, who showed me Isa's paint...

Its been over a month since I have posted (sorry Mahi!), so I guess it is time for some general updates. Everyone at the house (including Yusuf) is very familiar with the term Bey Blades now, and since my last post we have had several additions to the Bey collection. Isa now has a stadium for it and just convinced Ajee to order a specialty Japanese Bey Blade online. Bey Blades in their stadium  The Bey blades however, do come in handy. The sentence, "we will take away the Beys" works like a charm when homework needs to be completed, reading needs to be done or when there is a general need for discipline;  the Bey collection is also one of Yusuf's favorite things as he knows it is off limits, so whenever Isa is not looking he will go and sit in the stadium, or take all the beyblade parts apart. These toys can also used as a distraction to feed Yusuf. Yusuf in the stadium Feeding Yusuf, ...