Love on my Bebo

Tis the season of babies and Doula duties call. I was out most of the day. I came home to my toddler who smothered me with kisses and hugs. "Mama Mama Mama!" he excitedly jumped on me. I was a little busy talking to Baba when my little guy grabbed my face, slobbered all over my face, kissed me tons and insisted on smooshing his cheek into my lips until he got a kiss out of me.

It took me back to the days when he was much younger. I would grab his face, even if he was busy cooing to his Baba. Slober all over him, kiss him tons and insist on smooshing my cheek onto his lips- until I got a kiss out of him.

I guess I had it coming.

How do your little ones greet you after you have been away for awhile?

Special Feature: Wave Challenge Winner!

Alif2Yaa and Nadoona got a chance to chat with Super Mama and winner of our Wave Challenge, Maria Battla.

This was Maria's humble response when she found out she won:  

"Thanks, jazakallah!! I am glad if it helped anyone in any way. Thanks to all of you who started it and made us all do it :) May we all get the reward for all the good deeds we try to do" 

Ameen to your duas Maria

Mom to three girls and one boy, my fingers were itching to ask Maria tons of questions about Motherhood. For now, I settled for one. How do you plan healthy meals for your family, especially with the challenge of different favorite dishes with each of your kids?

Maria: I try to cook one veggie, one chicken or goat dish and lentil dish at a time. One very important thing is that alhumdulilah they eat almost all kinds of our Pakistani food. My son Ali is not that much of veggie lover. Here's a secret I will share with you- last Ramadan I made chicken rolls and I added chopped cabbage (one of my friends trick) in it and it was very finely chopped. He couldn't tell it was in there. He thought it was only chicken, its the same with the chicken curry or goat curry for him as long as he can't see whats in there he will eat it. If I tell him that it's all ginger garlic onion & tomatoes in it- but if it's all hiding in there he is okay with it and he will love it :)

They all love curry chicken or goat and then sometimes I will surprise them with any pasta dish or burgers or tacos etc etc..As they are growing up alhumdulilah the quantity of food has gone up :) I kind of feel like I am cooking all the time and I do love to cook for them, but sometimes I get tired of cooking. I am not into fried foods, more like simple Pakistani  foods. Alhumdulilah for now all going good. You know I use to get tired of cooking but now I do try this thing, one of my friends told me that whatever you do as a mom or wife or friend like cooking, cleaning, picking up the kids, laundry etc etc we should always think that we are doing all this for the sake of Allah and for the pleasure of Allah. When I think like that or I should say try to think like that my work gets easier and easier.


Jazakallah khair and thank you to Maria for participating in the challenge. Your experience as a Super Mama, wisdom and expertise is so greatly appreciated here. I totally agree with you about linking the intention to a greater purpose, the results are so much more fulfilling! Inshallah everyone will benefit from your advice.

Stay tuned for our next challenge! 

Boys. Cant live with them- cant live without em!

This morning my little guy barged into the washroom while I was using it. He INSISTED on helping me with the toilet paper.

A few minutes later I got a text from my husband. I had told him a grocery list on his way out:

Husband: Ketchup, diapers and ?

Me: Honey

Husband: So sweet of you to call me that. I was asking what else should I buy

Me: Lame



Challenges with almost 2!

Look Mama, I can do it myself!

I have to say everyone warned me. I knew it was coming. There is no denying the fact that we are getting closer to the "terrible twos". Just 4 months shy of the big day. The days when infancy and toddler hood will be part of the past and the future will be full of kiddie ruled behavior. I have been preparing for this even before my baby was born. Praying dearly for a calm baby, reciting to my unborn baby and tapping into my inner "calmness". How could I expect to have a calm child, If I was off the walls?!

I focused on calming and soothing techniques with my newborn in my arms. As a family we focused on the 5S' theory- there is even an entire book on the technique. It worked so well for us, even know my little guy finds extreme comfort in the shhhssing sound (similar to the white noise in the Mothers womb). As he grew, I focused on the challenges that came with each age. Every phase of his development brought new changes. I nursed as much as possible, it was like an immediate bandage and always served as a calming rescue. We introduced baby sign to help our baby communicate his needs as an early age. He was able to tell me without crying for his needs. For example, he would sign for milk when he was hungry instead of crying.

As he got older, I turned to reason. How can you reason with a child? You use 'toddleresque'. Toddleresque, is basically using the child's own set of words and language to communicate. Alhumdulillah, this worked great for us. When bath time became I want to stay in the tub forever time- I would tell him bye bye water. It was the simple. He voluntarily came out of the tub waving bye to the water. Not once but every time.

Now we are facing what people call the "terrible twos". I am not going to sugar coat it for anyone, it is challenging. If I look back on my journey there has been challenges with every age. The difference now is that, my child has opinions, demands and knows his rights. He is strong, a believer and a fighter. He will put a fight- even if its with his Mama... and I cant say I wasn't the same. He is a little stubborn a times, like the men in his family. He whines a bit, like the women in his family. He is a combination of everyone- but discovering himself in the process.

I do not see any benefit in putting an ugly label on what I see as potential growth towards a strong personality. Its a bit humiliating to be called terrible. Ever. So to the ugly label of "Terrible twos" please close the door on your way out.

What advice do other Mama's have to share? What do you think of labeling your child? How did you deal with age appropriate challenges that came your way? 

Kiddie Craft: Stamp Art

We picked up these inexpensive foam letters from Michael's. How inexpensive you ask? Just $5 on clearance. All Mama's love clearance and while in my opinion Michael's is generally over priced, they have AMAZING clearance deals! My little guy enjoyed combining stamping as well as finger painting for this project. The only down side about these letters were that I had to cut them apart individually and did not think of doing it ahead of time. Plan in advance to avoid your little ones getting impatient while you cut apart the letters.

The foam was super easy to clean up and the letters are available in different fonts. I prefer these to wood stamps because you can combine techniques like finger painting or other types of paints (glitter paint, yogurt paint, coloring and so on) very toddler appropriate!