The sun and the moon.

Drove Taufik to school early this morning accompanied by my little monkey, Inaaya. As we were driving Taufik said, "Why is it that you can't see a black car at night, Mommy?"

"Well darling, it's dark at night. There is no sun."
"But there's the moon." he replied.
"Yeah, but it's not half as bright as the sun. And darling, did you know that the moon is like a big shiny rock? So when the sun shines upon it, it acts like a mirror and reflects the sunlight onto the earth."
"Yeah, I know Mommy. The moon doesn't have it's own light. It's like a mirror. And we can see ourselves."he said knowingly.

See ourselves?
Well I wouldn't get that far. But hey, if it works for him.

The children and their current passions.

Last weekend we were at Central, Bang Na. Kim bought Taufik 'Gordon' from the Thomas the Train Gang. This all reignited his deep and consuming passion for trains. He has been playing with the trains and designing and redesigning the train tracks continuously. Today he called his father up and sought permission to buy more train tracks as he is seriously in need of more tracks to complete his vision of the ideal track. We scooted off to Central, and Taufik got himself several sets of tracks of differing length and also a little train crossing to boot. The train crossing comes with planks that goes down when the trains are passing, preventing cars from crossing the tracks. And as the train passes it makes a jingling sound as the bells at the crossing tinkle away. Amazing and what a lovely detail. I love TOMY!

For Inaaya, she has suddenly fallen in love with her baby doll, 'Baby'. I am so glad, because she's been playing with boy's toys so often that I am afraid she is not in touch with her feminine side. To nurture this love for her baby doll, I decided to surprise her with a mini stroller and a bottle milk. She was simply overjoyed...she pushed the stroller here and there. Stuffing the baby doll with bottle milk.

Tonight, as I tucked the children into bed, she insisted that her baby sleep in the crib while feeding on the toy bottle milk. She turned to me and put her forefinger to her lips and said, "Mommy...shhhh. Baby sleep. Shhh."

My darling wonderful children. They are happily occupied with all the toys in their brand new room. Where everything has a place, and all toys are visible and within reach.

Alhamdulillah.

Night night

Absolutely exhausting day.

I keep telling myself, get the house in order during the day and do my paperwork at night. But by the time night dawns I am exhausted.

The day for me ends at 4p.m. Then it's the children's time, it's either playing at the playground, going to the park, running to Tesco or Central or going to one play area or another. Then at 6p.m. it's time to get the kids fed with dinner. Then it's

- bath time with two raucaous screaming, screeching and hoppy children.
- lotion, powder, insect bites to attend to, and pyjamas to don.
- Bottled milk to prepare, antibiotics and other meds to be fed,
- Teeth brushed
- Story telling
- Tucking into bed

And then it's just a big sigh of relief that another day is over and once again time to myself.

But by that time I am run down ragged. Absolutely dog gone tired.

What to do? Tonight will be another night where paperwork will be left undone...tomorrow perhaps?

Tomorrow, I would like to box away all my uni text books to clear space on the bookshelves for my recipe books as I will begin my daily cooking of meals again. Then there are the children's CDs to organize. Following that I would like to reorganize my clothes, wardrobe and the linens.

Once that is done, I think I can say that spring cleaning has come to an end. I would like to get down to preparing:-

- my resume for Pan Asia and other International schools
- my business paperwork done for my venture with Hidayah
- my children's writing projects completed
- my blogs updated and running at full steam

Till then, I am just grateful and happy to have two wonderful children.

Getting the ball rolling.

It's been a while...and now I begin again.

The children are older, five months older and I am five kilos fatter. Wonderful to the former, unacceptable to the latter. LOL.

I will re-enroll myself for fitness first to recapture that glorious body of my hey days. And hey...who am I kidding? He he he

I am fatter, happier, and contented-er(?).

I will probably lapse on blog writing some time in the future, but for now I hope that I will be blogging consistently for a respectable period. School is out, summer is here and we're all about fun...fun and the determination to aim for Jannah.

The children's room is finally up. Their little piece of heaven, their sanctuary, personal space and place of rest. I am overjoyed and ever so thankful to my beloved husband. Their toys have been organized into neat little categories and placed in designated plastic boxes. All placed on the Ivar shelves that line the walls of their room. Two items are still missing, and that is their wardrobes and air condition. God willing, it will come in time.

Inaaya is heading for her terrible twos, and unfortunately what can be expected is already rearing its ugly head. I am full of trepidation. She has demonstrated an incredible sense of perseverance ("Mommy...mommy....mommy....mommy" this mantra can go on for 10 minutes without stopping, and continue again after a two minutes break). She is at present time besotted with her baby doll that she calls, "Baby". Has developed a fervent passion for the television which she calls, "Bibi" and I often confused 'baby' with 'bibi'. She still has a frightenningly enourmous appetite and an equally enormous tummy to match.

Taufik on the other hand, is becoming more and more adorable. Ever since I stopped school, he has gotten more and more charming. He is visibly a happier, more confident and calmer child now that mommy is at home all the time. Equally important, that mommy is taking him to school daily.

He loves knowing that when he bursts through the front door, he can expect me to be there mucking about doing household things or cooking meals. Oh how I love my children so much, and cannot stop berating myself for my short temper and low level of tolerance.

I pray to Allah to grant me greater patience and a more developed talent to enjoy the moment with my two wonderful wonderful children. His gift to me. Thank you Allah (SWT). I love you so much!

Time to go to bed. Will see you (if not tomorrow) some time soon.