Eid Mubarak!

Little Liya wishes,  you all a wonderful and blessed Eid!

What's Eid-ul-fitr?
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[Tour with PL] NYC Night Tour

How about that idea? A city tour under moonlight- that was included in our sightseeing package. Yes, 6.30 pm is not 'night' in New York, especially in June when sun sets by 9.30. It was an awesome trip, the sun was setting down in the horizon as we were crossing Hudson river. NYC sky in the twilight is truly mind-blowing. Sitting in an open bus under twilight, watching the sun slipping through the horizon is surreal.
Everyone was busy capturing the red horizon over Hudson river, with Brooklyn bridge in the background, the camera flashes did distract the beauty.

There was a big CROWD at Times Square.

Book of the Week :: Dimity Duck

As I told earlier, we are sticking to a THEME and reading along with Rainbow. The theme for the week is FRIENDS, hence we chose Dimity Duck by Jane Yolen.

It is all about... a duck Dimity and a day in her life. There begins a day as

Dimity Duck Waddles,

she toddles out of bed...

Wordless Wednesday :: The Studious Girl!

She falls into slumber very Quickly...

She was actually Scribbling.. but sleep conquered her!

3 updates

Sick child, Mom and Dad!
That's it. That was everything happened in last week. We all three fell ill one after another.  J brought it from Masjid, Pappa's clinging girl BOUGHT it and GIFTED to mom. It was such an ordeal, all three falling ill together in Ramadan! It was Liya's first ever fever session and was sort of scary. She went up to a temperature of 105 F! Tylenol did not work anymore. We took her to Doc and he asked to give ibuprofen and Tylenol alternatively and confirmed it is a viral fever and might take some days to come down.

ABC's of Liya

Ashoo- that's how she expresses amazement.
Book - only thing to lure her, even if cranky.
Curious- that's her nature!
Diya- Her only cousin sis, she calls Diya-tha!
Elephant- She loves to see it in a book but afraid to see live...lol!
Fish - her fav food!
Grapes- Her most recent craving!
Hush little baby... she rhymes it very often!

Listening to Somalia...

That was a truly heart-touching fundraising program, the one I attended yesterday right there in the banquet hall of ISNF, which was conducted as a part of collecting Zakat shares towards the cause of relief activities in Somalia. Former Prime Minister of Somalia was explaining the harrowing tales from Somalia and the dreadful situation he has been in while he was holding the PM chair. Even though he personally traveled/begged to every country on the face of earth, to help them come out of the 'hunger', NO one except UAE listened to them. He concluded his speech saying "the condition right there is beyond your imagination and we need to act immediately".

How ironical it is, myself sitting near a table which was getting filled with multiple delicious items to break my fast as it was almost the time up for iftar and my little girl sitting on the next chair,  munching her evening fruit snacks and sipping her banana-milk shake, while the horrifying silhouettes of starving children in Somalia were flashing through the screen!

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Wordless Wednesday :: Gleaming big eyes

Clicked when Liya was 5 months old...

(yes, pretty old, but my all time favorite)

Half way through Ramadan

How fast days are flying by! We have already finished 15 days of fasting, that means half part of the blessed month has gone behind the curtains. 
* I am not denying the fact that the first few days of fasting were tougher. Nursing, work and longer hours of fasting was kinda of exhausting. Every evening I suffered from bad headache, as well. But Allah, the Merciful has showered his blessings in the form of RAIN.

 It's been raining heavily here for last few days, I no longer feel tired. Alhamdulillah *Thank God*. In fact, I don't even feel that I am not eating or drinking.

♫ 22 months ♫

 Alhamdulillah *Thank God*, my little love has come a long way, from the sleeping pill of first day to all spark and spunk little explorer of 22 months old *1 year 10 months and 4 days, precisely*. Isn't that a moment of pride as a mom and a reminder to be grateful to Almighty? In another 2 months she will turn 2 years, Insha Allah!

What's she up to these days?

Book of the Week :: Old MacDonald in the City

Let's have a glance at - Old MacDonald in the City by Suzanne Williams.
About the Book: The book rhymes around Old MacDonald, who is a food vendor in the city, who owns a pushcart to sell snacks in an urban park. Whenever Old MacD's back is turned, his cart is swarmed with animals. Increasing numbers of different animals, from one horse to ten ants, everyone tries to steal food from Old MacDonald's corner food cart. How sad!!!

Mice squeak, pigeons coo, squirrels chitter chatter, ants skiddle-skaddle, cats meow... all around the cart's tasty treat. OldMacD tries hard to stop them from stealing his goodies. Poor Guy!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday :: In spiritual way!

She imitates everything Mamma does...

...now all set for Salah (Namaz- the compulsory prayers everyday)

Do you breastfeed?

Well, that's NOT my question. My question is till what age you breastfeed your baby? If anyone asks me, my answer would be I am still breastfeeding my 22 months old little girl. The reasons are: first and foremost, I am a Muslima, my ideology asks me to breastfeed my baby until 2 years and secondly, mom's milk is the best of any food a baby can ever gulp.
 Liya's doctor (in US) frowned, when I said she is still under nursing. But I was inspired by a lot of moms out there who breastfeed for 2 years or more.
Have we benefited?  Definitely YES! There are numerous nutritional, immunological, developmental and psychological advantages for breastfeeding. I am not an authentic/medical person to pen down the medical benefits of it. But I am gonna share with you our successful story of nursing. I experienced several good changes in my health and baby's health, as well.

[Tour with PL] At Madame Tussauds

Our next destination was Madame Tussauds wax museum, located at Times Square. This is a major tourists attraction, displaying waxworks of historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars etc.
Liya was all active and lively after a sound nap during our Brooklyn trip. We did not spent a lot of time in MT. Honestly, we both are not film freaks. But we definitely enjoyed watching the amusing wax statues, which appeared like original.

*Trust me, after getting out from the area, for a long time I was confused whether people I met on the road were originals or waxworks....lol!*

Story of the Week ~ Little Red Riding Hood

We are glad to share one of our favorite online story on 'Little Red Riding Hood'. I'm sure you are already familiar with this European fairy tale about a young girl and a bad wolf. I've read somewhere that, this story has different versions, being told in different parts of the world, with conflicting climaxes.

Wordless Wednesday :: A little help goes long way..:)

A little help from TINY hands...

Ramadan Updates

This is my second Ramadan with little Liya, but first one in USA. Her first ever Ramadan was in Hyderabad, India.
As per the tradition of Indian muslims, we clean up entire house and household items on the previous day of Ramadan, some people do it on 15th day of Shabaan (the month before Ramadan). You might be  wondering what's the relation between house cleaning and fasting. But I personally feel that it is a simple and beautiful way to welcome Holy month to our home, minds and life. It also indicates the need of cleaning our inner minds along with the surroundings.

Pathiri (thin rice pan cakes) before thawing