Aash at Home

 Yusi taking care of Ali with fever. When CDC said that this was going to be a challenging flu season, they were not kidding. All 3 of the kids have been sick simultaneously from Halloween to Thanksgiving. I have been to the Pediatrician 8 times and through 5 rounds of antibiotics! I know this because I just paid off almost $250 in co-pays.   It started with a virus coupled with extremely high fevers, to croup to ear infection to croup to bronchitis to croup to strep to ear infection. It’s just ridiculous.   Finally Isa and Yusuf were both healthy enough to go to school this week, although Yusuf is still on antibiotics and Ali still has an ear infection.     Yusi wanting to trick or treat on Halloween with his Ninja Turtle costume.    On Monday morning as I was telling a co-worker how both my older boys are finally back in school, I get a call from Isa’s school.   ...

While I am filling up a glass of water,  I drop a piece of ice. Yusuf picks it up for me, knowing that I can't bend down and instead of putting it in the sink, he puts it on his head, imitating the Ice Bucket Challenge. Yusuf: Amma mujhe Ice Buckets karna hai. (I want to do the Ice Buckets) "Sab log Ice buckets kiyoo karte hain?" (Why does everyone do Ice Buckets?) Knowing it was a very valid question, I didnt feel like answering. Partly because I was not sure how to answer him and partly because I was feeling miserable. Me: Yusi, Amma does not feel good! Yusuf: Aapke paas baby hai na! (Since you have a baby inside you) His theory was pretty accurate. Me: Ajee can you drop me to work for a couple of hours tomorrow, I have this important meeting with the whole team including the CPO and I don't think I will be able to drive. Ajee: Are you insane Ayesha you can't go to work tomorrow, you need to work from home. Me: Yeah you are right, the baby cou...

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, ...

Isa has a new obsession -- bay blaze (what I thought he was saying for the longest time)..but it is actually Bey Blades. It is what he has been whining for about for a week. Apparently this the newest and coolest gadget on the block that he had to have.. especially since Rayan (his friend) has plenty. This weekend Ajee promised him that he would get him one on Sunday. Sunday was also Yusuf's 1st birthday and all I wanted to do was to make it special for the lil guy..I mean it’s such a big Milestone, Ajee, on the other hand did not really see what the big deal was, it’s just another day and it happens to be the same date that Yusuf was born on last year..so why should we stress ourselves out on a nice Sunday afternoon when we will be doing a party for him later..he wanted to rather focus on his website (that he works on every Sunday in a secluded coffe shop away from home) he did promise to bring me back the pizza though. You know what that means ...

1826 is about to go on rent in February so we have to find a rental place pretty quickly. For the past month or so we have been looking and have not had much luck - a pretty stressful situation, but we have been in situations like this before and are hoping that something will be worked out right in the nick of time.   This past weekend Amma, Abba, Ajee and the kids looked at a few houses and fell in love with one. They were so excited (especially Amma Abba) as they thought they had found the perfect place in every way. However someone else got to it before us, which kind of depressed the two of them. A few weeks ago a similar situation had happened where we almost got a place but the landlord gave it to someone else. We cannot completely blame luck for us not finding a suitable place however, there are some other factors: 1.       We need something big enough to house all of us and some. 2.       Each member of the family has their...

Dates for us our few and far between, therefore in June after a really fun and relaxing 2 hour dinner date on my birthday,  Ajee and I decided we should go out at least once a month. Since then we have been on one after- dinner, and when kids are asleep dessert date and one other random unplanned sorta date with Yusuf asleep in the stroller beside us. We always plan (even prior to having kids) but due to the lack of time, family and other commitments, these plans seldom materialize. For the longest time we have been aiming for a dinner and movie at the AMC Fork and Screen, but something always comes up. Even on my birthday our first choice was the dinner theater, but all the movies were sold out. So when I won an AMC gift card at a work Christmas Party, it gave us a good reason to plan our next dinner and movie date this last Saturday. We planned to go early in the day around 6ish so that we would be back by 9 t...