Baby Samson

I have been following baby samson's surgery that happened a few days ago but never got the chance to blog about it. He is another strong kid who went through an open heart to do a Glenn procedure. His condition is slightly different from that of Sophia and Inarah.He has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. His mom Erika, knew about his condition when she was pregnant with him. Must have been such a terrifying time for her. Its wonderful to know that he is doing okay after his surgery although he has more surgeries to come. I, for one believe that when the world prays together, the power of the prayer and the positive energy that is derived from it can make things happen.
Please read his story and keep him in your prayers.

What is a Little Girl?

Little girls are the nicest things that happen to people.

They are born with a little bit of angel shine about them and

though it wears thin sometimes,

there is always enough left to lasso your heart.

A little girl can be sweeter, and badder,

oftener than anyone else in the world.

A girl is innocence playing in the mud,

beauty standing on its head, and

Motherhood dragging a doll by the foot.

Girls are available in five colors --

black, white, red, yellow or brown...

yet Mother Nature always manages to select

your favorite color when you place your order.

God borrows from many creatures to make a little girl.

He uses a song of a bird, the stubbornness of a mule,

the slyness of a fox, the softness of a kitten

and, to top it all off,

He adds the mysterious mind of a woman.

A little girl likes new shoes, party dresses,

small animals, dolls, make-believe,

dancing lessons, ice cream and tea parties.

She is loudest when you are thinking,

the prettiest when she provokes you,

the quietest when you want to show her off and

the most flirtatious when she absolutely

must not get the best of you again.

Who else can cause you more grief, joy, irritation,

satisfaction, embarrassment and genuine delight

than this combination of

Eve, Salome and Florence Nightingale?

Just when your patience is ready to crack,

when your dreams tumble down

and the whole world is a mess she can make you a king

when she climbs on your knee and whispers,

"I love you best of all."

I dont mind having a little girl, after a little girl, after a little girl for the rest of my life.

Two full bottles of milk

Just got back from picking Alysha from school and dropping her off to my mom's. After her lunch, I was on the bed playing with Inarah and she was beside me with her doll, Leisha. Suddenly, with a very serious tone she went :
"Mama, I forgot to pump, Oh no! Leisha has no milk to drink. She is hungry. "
"But why do you need to pump, when you are around, just feed her from your breast, that's what mama does when she does not go to work."
"Nooooooo, I have sooooo much work to do, I must feed her, then when she is full I must do work. Please look after her I have to go and pump."

Shoots off and comes back in 10 seconds

"Leisha I have 2 full bottles of milk, you know. Two bottles. You will be very full. "

LOL, I had to try sooooo hard not to crack up. Such a drama queen she is, my little 31/2 year old.
I wanted to say only if it was sooo easy to get 2 full bottles of milk, but didn't want to spoil her excitement of having hat 2 full bottles

Yes, we did have a Sports Day

Like, Sri (who finally did blog about it). I completely forgot to blog about Alysha's Sports Day. So for those who want details, check out Sri's blog.

All I can remember about it was that I was trying to stay away so that Alysha wouldn't run to me. I was worried that she wouldnt participate as she was supposed to but she did just fine. Infact after the bean bag on the head thing for which her team won a gold medaol (my baby's first gold medal), she wanted to participate in the father daughter hairstying competition. Hubby did ussupprisingly proud as they won the first prize even for this one. It was great. I loved it, the March, the hand show, the teachers, the effort they put in to make this perfect, the kids, the food, gitanjali who was soooo funny, the works. I loved it. It was soooo much fun.

Enjoy the pictures!

The March. Oh! did I not mention they all had a special T shirt just for this day

Thats Gitanjali in the sip the Vitagen game

Thats Sri, trying to get Gitanjali back

Thats Ms. Anna, Gitanjali's teacher holding on to her so that she does not run away again

Alysha with her friends with the bean bag before the bean bag run

Alysha with her Gold medal

Papa, the hairstylist

And the winners are Alysha and her Papa

Alysha and Mama

Alysha and her nani

Alysha and papa with the 1st prize

Alysha and papa sharing ice cream after the event

A bald baby, finally

We have been wanting to shave Inarah for the longest time. Well, not really but since she turned 5 months. She just turned 6 and thank God hubby was free over the weekend. We took off to Batu Caves early and the shop, barber, Andy's was already so crowded. I panicked a little as all I could hear were babies crying. Inarah was already asleep in the sarong by the time we reached and I was hoping that she would sleep through. She didn't but didn't cry at all. It was so good. I am so glad I went to Batu caves rather then getting a barber at home like we did with Alysha. But then like Sri said, it all really depends on the child.


So here we have it finally, a bald cutie baby. Enjoy the pictures.

Oh, how I can forget to mention that Alysha was such a wonderful big sister. She saw a baby being shaved and the parents kept talking to the baby to distract him and to stop him from crying. She immediately came to me and told me :" see mama, this is what you shuld do so that Inarah does not cry". And the sweet child kept talking to her throughout.

This was just before Batu Caves. As you can see she didnt have much hair to begin with. So all the more a reason of wanting to shave her

She woke up as he was shaving but was very quiet. Here she is looking at Alysha who is trying to keep her entertained

My bald baby. God! Dont I look tired.

Inarah and hubby

Look at those eyes!!

Horrible car ride

As Inarah has been okay in the car twice, I decided to drive with them back home yesterday and hubby was still working and I didn't want to get home late. The first 5 minutes was okay then it was horrible. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Alysha and me tried everything, the rattle, music, talking to her but nothing worked. She just wailed and wailed. I stopped at least 5 times and took her out, nursed her, tried o put her to sleep so that I can put her back in the car seat and just drive home but she kept waking up and wailing everytime I put her in the car seat.

Finally, I gave up and drove with her in my arms whilst nursing her with my hazard lights on. Alysha was asleep by this time (she didn't have an afternoon nap) and kept knocking her head on the window (which I couldn't do anything about). I finally got home and I swear I will never do this again. It was just pure torture and I was so close to tears.

Halfway through the "Suryani is Away Marathon"

Yes, I am running marathon, again. Again? you say, well, technically I started when Alysha was born 31/2 years ago. Then sometime when she was 2 or 2 1/2 I slowed down and then after Inarah came into our lives, I was on full speed. After a few months, I did try and slow down.

And now, Suryani, my maid is away for a month. I really dunno how I forgot to blog about this very major thing that happened. Yup, my maid is away in Indonesia for a month and I have been maidless with 2 kids (one of which is exclusively breastfed), household chores and work for exactly 2 weeks and 2 days now.

This marathon is really different as think it has affected my health. My knee pain (supposedly mild arthritis) is back, my eyes are burning as if on fire all the time, body ache seems to be permanent and just not going away.

My day starts at like 6.30/7, I pump, shower, dress, pack (Alysha and Inarah's stuff), prepare breakfast for Alysha whilst hubby holds on to Inarah if she is already up. At this time Alysha is usually asleep. I do whatever household chores I can manage if there is some spare time.

Then I take over Inarah who by this time is hungry and tired and wake Alysha a ufor school. Shower, dress, breakfast and all (takes between 10 - 30 min depending on whether its a whinny day). We leave, (never in time) drop Alysha to school, drop Inarah to my mom's and hubby drops me off to work. We have been driving only one car as I am not comfortable driving with Inarah alone in the car although I put her in the car seat, in case she cries (we cant make her cry, remember, she might turn blue).

Only recently I started driving with Alysha and Inarah (without hubby as he needed to be in his office by 8, so he leaves the house at 7). This is a great acheivment for me. I feel so mobile suddenly as I can drive with my baby sleeping in the car seat.

Ohhh! but these are the worse days, I have to juggle Inarah and Alysha in the morning without any help, carry 3 bags 1 baby and drag and Alysha out of the house in time. I have driven twice this week with them in the car and Alysha does a good job keeping Inarah entertained for a while then we shake this particular rattle (has to be just this one, nothing else will do) and thank god Inarah falls asleep.

I carry Inarah and send Alysha to her class, get back to the car, feed Inarah, put her back in car seat, start drin=ving with practically one hand as I need to shake the rattle with the other until she falls asleep. I get to my moms, drop her off, unpack, give instructions to my mom, sister and this temp day maid that I have managed to get for a month ( I would have to quit /go on leave for 1 month if not for them). I rush off to office where I can take a breather in between pumping sessions and work.

I get back to my moms and bathe Alysha, feed Inarah and Alysha and wait for traffic to get a little better amidst all the chaos then hubby and me leave for home.

As soon as I get home, I put Inarah to sleep and then sort Alysha out. I don't have to mention that whilst I am doing this hubby is watching TV. As soon as we are home, its as if there is an sensor somewhere and the TV switches on. Hubby glues himself in front of the TV and does not get up unless I am yelling for some help. I barely have the chance to sort myself out (shower and eat something if I haven't gobbled something at my moms). I am usually asleep before my daughter sleeps off. And after waking up at least 3-4 times at night to feed Inarah, before I can feel like I have had a nights sleep, its another day again.

How do other people do it? I really need to know how is this done? what is the formula? I am surely missing it as I just cant seem to manage. I know a supermom with 3 beautiful daughters, (yes Ros I am talking about you if you happen to read my blog) who manages miraculously well whereas I am barely surviving. So all those moms out there who seem to have the formula, pls share it, Pleaseeeeeeee....

A prayer for Sophia

Sophia had an open heart surgery on the 5th. For those who want to follow her story, see link under Heart Families on the right of my blog. Sophia has ToF, like Inarah, but her condition includes pulmonary atresia which is different from Inarah who has pulmonary stenosis.

This little girl has been through a bypass earlier and will be going through more bypass in the future. Although its such a common word now a days, reading up on what exactly bypass is, gave me a much clearer picture.

Just reading about the surgery brought tears into my eyes, knowing that Inarah will have to go through very much the same sometime next year.

Please pray for this brave little girl who is now in recovery, May Allah keep her well and healthy and may he give strength to her family to see this through.