Foogo Straw Sippy Cup

We all know how expensive having children can be… and to be honest, one of the things I have had struggled with the most was justifying some of those purchase- especially if they did not come from gift money.

I have learned with everything that if I got my money’s worth- then it was probably worth whatever I spent on it. This brings me to the topic of conversation- or blog today… why I finally bought the $20 sippy cup:


1) It is BPA free and stainless steel. We like to use glass bottles, it only made sense to continue in avoiding plastic

2) This cup does not leak at all, flip it over backwards, sideways, upside down- you name it… it will not leak… all the other cups leak like crazy- which just means you have to keep your kids in bibs and constantly need to change their clothes… why not just buy a leak proof sippy cup?

3) Keeps beverages cool

4) Easy straw suction- the last sippy cup we got for Zaki was impossible to suck out of, we were shocked because we tried it and almost hurt our brains trying to drink out of that thing

5) Has a cute lid/snap on cap- to keep the straw germ free!

6) You can order replacement straws once wear and tear happens to your old one

7) Light weight, baby and toddler can handle holding them… baby can probably use the spout cup to start off with

8) Come in blue or pink- gender colors if you care to match your baby to their cup!

9) Easy to wash and easy to clean- you may need to purchase a small bottle brush and use the small bottle brush side to clean the inside of the straw

10) Yes they are pricey… but buy 1 or 2 and it will save you money in the long run… don’t even bother buying other brands

Finger Paints

I have been doing weekly crafts with Zakariya... and let me tell you, crafting with a 14 month old aint so easy! First of all, he is really messy about the whole thing. He actually tried to paint on me at one point. He also refused to use any color other than the blue paint, which is kind of a cute in a blue-boyish way. He ruined my mom's table cloth.

Still... I think it is worth it and a creative outlet and for some reason I am a beaming proud Mama who wants to frame all his artwork and gift it to other people- so they can hang it in their homes ;) I think next year Eid gifting will be so much cheaper thanks to Zakariya (muhahaha- evil laugh)

So, Mama's what are some easy, crafty, creative outlets for babies-toddlers? Share share!

Toddler Sleep

Tips and strategies from Todays Parent

-If you think your toddler is getting enough sleep and might be going to bed too early, try shifting her bedtime to a later time. Gushnowski recommends moving it 15 minutes at a time for a couple of days, so that she's not overtired by the time she goes to sleep.

-Adjust nap times. Perhaps it's time to move from two naps a day to just one. Or you might want to gradually shorten nap times.

-Make sure your toddler's room is sleep friendly. Install blinds to keep the room dark, or add a white-noise machine to mask the sounds of pre down garbage trucks and particularly enthusiastic birds.

-Does your toddler wake up with a soaking diaper every morning? Try using overnight diapers or "diaper doublers"-- cloth or disposable pads that are inserted in the diaper to increase absorbency. You may also want to cut down the amount of liquid she has before bedtime. Putting a barrier of cream on her bottom may help reduce the discomfort so that she doesn't wake up.

-If he seems hungry when he wake up, a high-protein snack, such as hummus, yogurt, or nut butter on toast, before bedtime may help to stave off hunger longer.

-If he's awake and not willing to go back to bed, Gushnowski suggests trying to get him involved in quiet play until you're ready to get up. You may be able to leave some toys in his crib or room the night before, or you might feel safer having him in your room playing on the floor while you get a little more rest.

Give Give Give me AWAAAAY!

Drum roll please…

As promised, here is our very first give away! It is an IGym Yoga and Exercise mat! Finally an excuse for all of us to get off our butts!

The contest is open to all single ladies, newly married brides, married aunties, mama’s to be and full time mamas!

To enter send an email to alif2yaa@gmail.com and tell me in a few words- why you like reading my blog, and why you keep coming back for more! Simply take a few minutes and put together a list of things you love about or love seeing/hearing/watching kids and babies do!

The contest will end Thursday Nov 25th, 2010. I do not like the idea of a lottery style, luck of the draw, game of chance- style of picking a winner. So I will be reading the all the entries and picking a winner myself.

If you feel like being extra creative, feel free to attach a picture of your cute self, kiddos or any image of your choice.

Pajama Mama!

Unlike real jeans, it uses Dormisoft fabric (a proprietary blend of cotton and spandex) that’s both stretchy and cushy, yet gives off a very jersey-like feel. Inside, it’s completely brushed, making it as smooth as fleece. Basically, it’s really just a pair of casual pants that should be so soft and comfortable, you wouldn’t mind wearing them to bed. Like a more stylish pair of mom jeans, probably.

source: http://www.neatorama.com/2010/02/09/pajama-jeans/

Are you serious? These are weirder then the SNUGGLY! I am not sure how to react to this...

CALLING ALL mothers to be & postpartum mama's!

Apparently, there is a pajama turned jean- that is Mama friendly. Can you imagine being comfortable and still looking cute? This would be my husband's dream come true. It would be like the newly married days, when I would actually wear my skinny jeans... or when I could actually fit into my skinny jeans.

Here is what I am thinking, if I get these:

1) I will look HIP at all times
2) I can trick my in laws into thinking I am dressed up, even under my abaya
3) It looks like they can handle a little baby spit up
4) They look stretchy and remind me of maternity pants.... HOW COMFY!
5) I can wear them to sleep

Yeah... I probably will not be buying them. For some reason, they still creep me out. Is anyone into these?

My Eid Dua List!

Eid is just around the corner and I do not know about you, but I am trying to plan in advance activities to keep my bebo comfortable during Eid Salaat. As cute as I want him to look- I have to make sure he is in warm and comfortable clothing. We normally pray Eid salaat at the Hershey Center but last Eid we opted to go to Al Huda. It was warm, cozy, less crowded and completely indoors. Also, they have super hero volunteer aunties who JET (AND I mean faster than a plane) and pick up crying babies! It is pretty cool actually, the last two years my bebo has spent the entire khutbah and salaat with random aunties- who cooed, smiled, played and loved on him. It was such a treat for me! Alhumdulillah. I know a lot of Mama’s are just not cool with other people touching their kids- and hey that’s fine too, whatever floats your boat… a lot of them claim that it is their child and not them, that’s cool too.

Zakariya is Mashallah a very sociable toddler. He has no problems with large crowds and new places. Usually a new environment is enough distraction in itself to keep him busy. My concern is that ever since he has started walking, it’s difficult to get him to sit in one place. He is for sure a toddler on the go and there is no stopping him!

I am hoping to have a few Mommy tricks up my sleeve to keep him sitting in front of me for as long as possible.

Here is my list of wishful thinking: or should I say my DUA list:

1) For those of you who have been to the Hershey Center before, they have a pretend soccer field- with some sort of plastic grass. I am hoping he will be too scared to walk on the grass and will be glued to my lap.

2) I am also hoping my mother in law or mom will find him either too cute or too irresistible to put him down and offer to watch him the whole time.

3) Maybe his dad can take him on the men’s side, yeah not likely. He will probably distract the Khatib and knock over the microphone system.

4) A super cute hijabi baby will catch his attention and he will stare at her the entire time. When they grow up they can get married. It would be so halal and weirdly romantic at the same time!

5) He will sit on his baby janamaaz and do sajdah the entire time.

6) His winter jacket makes him so cozy that he sleeps through the whole thing.

7) My relatives show up and refuse to return him to me, for the duration of the salaat.

8) He voluntarily chills on my lap. No fussing involved.

9) The stranger sitting next to me, signals to him “come here” and he actually goes and does not want to come back until AFTER the salaat is over.

10) Best case scenario: one of my younger cousins is not praying but had to come because her older brother does not know about PMS yet, she can watch zakariya while hanging out in the non-praying section.

Alhumdulillah, my bebo is not really a difficult child…. BUT you never know. Kids always have good days and bad days. At least they are better than adults! Anywho, it does not hurt to make DUA in advance =p

How are you planning to get through Eid Salaat?

Bumbo Baby

Here is an old picture of my little Bebo in his Bumbo baby. Obviously looking at the picture his stomach muscles were just not developed enough to handle the strength needed to sit upright in that thing- however, in due time he did grow into it.

I decided to spice things up a bit and do a product review for a change. This is to save all you expectant mama’s some money in advance- you can thank me later. This is also to give all the experienced mama’s out there a little credit for all the “I told you so’s” and pre-warnings they tried to give all the expectant mama’s.

Here is what I liked about the Bumbo:

-it has a cute 70’s retro look to it
-it is totally safe and baby proof, no sharp edges
-it did help baby get the hang of sitting up right
-baby hung out in bumbo from time to time
-came with a cool attachable tray- can be used to put toys on
- I got it as a gift
-comes in a cute box; great for storage

Here is what I did not like:

-the price, at $64.99 is it OVER PRICED; oh and you have to buy the tray separately
-it was used for a short time before our baby got bored out grew it because he was happier in his baby gym
-I tried to use it for meal time, not the best eating position and this caused for a lot of spit up
-for babies who spit up a lot or babies who suffer for GER (gastro reflux) this product has a short lived life span

So, Mom’s to be- do yourself a favor… buy a used bumboo or consider using one as a hand me down. Chances are the person you are getting it from did not use it much to begin with!

Dhul Hijjah!

Official Decision and Announcement of the High Judiciary Council of Saudi Arabia...

The official decision and announcement of the High Judiciary Council (HJC) of Saudi Arabia regarding the beginning of Dhul-Hijjah.

1 Dhul-Hijjah will be today, Sunday 7 November 2010, and the Muslims performing Hajj will be in 'Arafah on Monday 15 November 2010 (9 Dhul-Hijjah 1431), and the Muslim Ummah shall be celebrating 'Eed al-Adh.haa on Tuesday 16 November 2010, (10 Dhul-Hijjah 1431), inshaa.-Allaah.

May Allah subhana ta' ala accept their Hajj and our Ibadaat and put barakaat in our time and all that we do!

Buckle Up!

Sooo I have some EXCITING news!

1) My apologies for allowing the blog to go a bit 'dry' (I have some personal reasons for this, but I am feeling re-energized and ready for a fresh start) So starting now, I will be posting more often.

2) I will be adding a new feature called Kiddie of the month, SO excited to meet some of your cutie pie kids. I will post details later. You can email me at alif2yaa@gmail.com and enter your children to be apart of the fun!

3) Give aways! I was a little unsure about this one... but then I thought what the heck- I should reward all you devoted MAMA'S for all the hard work you do every single day.

4) If you are excited say alhumdulillah!

My Stomach is the size of a Pumpkin!

Well now that Halloween has passed, I thought it would be a good idea to blog a sort of emotional vomit type of post. I did not want to do it before hand because I would rather our house not get egged!

Maybe some of you can help me with this one… Especially because I know I will be stepping on some toes. But in my defense- I am far too ‘religious’ and ‘old school’ for some of your liking anyway…

Why is it that we confuse the heck out of our kids?! What is with the crazy elaborate celebrating of ummmm EVERYTHING?!

Why is it that parent’s do that again?

We send our children to Islamic school and then we encourage them to celebrate Halloween, Easter, Valentine’s day- all the holidays that we all know are not celebrated in Islam.

Parents should try to give their children an opportunity to decide. Explain it to them- and I think you would be surprised to see them understand and accept proudly why muslims celebrate Eid and look forward to Fridays, Umrah and Hajj rather than celebrate non muslim holidays.

Honestly, have some of you even tried reasoning with your kids?

Anyway, my parents totally let us go trick or treating but in their defense, they simply did not know the fiqh of it.

I am living proof of the fact that despite how cute the costume may look at the time, 20 something years down the road… no matter how many times you look at the pictures or which angle you try looking at them—they will never be cute. It is actually pretty embarrassing. In fact, I cannot even explain what my costume was, neither can my parents. Who knows how many cavities and pork gelatin I had that night.

Growing up, I remember hearing all sort of crazy stories about Halloween candy being tampered with. Finding steel nails in a cherry flavored tootsie roll pop! I am out of the loop on this one, but are parents doing a safety check to see what their kids are eating?

Dear Parents, do your children a favor. Have a vision now for the things your children will love and not love for the sake of Allah subhana ta alla. Plan NOW, create the network NOW, think of the alternatives NOW!

AND in the event that you already have children… buy your own candy, throw your own party- preferably on a day that is not celebrated by people of strange pagan fetishes but rather on a random day of the year (any day) and party your bums off- just not to someone else’s drum, try dancing to the beat of your own duff. Life is much sweeter that way.

Halloween you suck- you leave me with memories of strange fairy whiskered clown girl who is devoted to shopping at Highland Farms, even on the spookiest of nights.