Sugar and Spice, Everything Nice

Zoya is a healthy food nut! From a very young age, she preferred fruits over sweet desserts. Although it is a great habit considering how many sugary stuff is being shoved into kids faces nowadays from all different sides, sometimes I just want to spoil her with an occasional ice-cream or cookie, but she wouldn't have it!

Then, last year, around Christmas time, I made Snickerdoodle cookies and somehow she tried one!!!! At this point, I don't even remember what we said to convince her, but she tried it and became an instant fan. Finally a "Sugar and Spice, Everything Nice" treat for my sugar and spice girl.

Hairy Situation!

Zoya tells me the other day that she doesn't like the fact that she is the only girl in her class who has hair on her arms! My dad's side of the family is a hairy brood and I guess I have passed it down to her! I alone have kept many a different beauty product companies in business by getting rid of unwanted hair over the years, but she is too young to be starting now! Or is she? I told her she is too young to be starting these type of things at second grade when she informed me one of her classmates gets her hair dyed blonde! Really?!?! Why?!? In second grade?!?! Wow! However, I'm still not budging. I've removed my razor from the shower so she all of a sudden doesn't put two and two together. I don't think she knows about the other products I have under the sink. Lets see how long I can hold her off!

What do you think? Too early? (She is 8) When did you start? (I got my first threading done at 18!!!!) What was the first thing you tried?

My kids scare me sometimes!

I was watching Amazing Race last night. This morning, as I was driving the kids to school, Raffae gave me a scene-by-scene description, along with the exact lines spoken by the different people on the show. He remembered everyone’s names, which team got to the finishing line in what order, everything! I’ve been watching the show diligently as usual, but I still don’t know everyone’s names!

Yesterday, I was sorting out the Baby Einstein DVDs that Zoya loves to watch. We have 10 -12 DVDs. So I had all the DVD boxes and all the DVDs in front of me. Zoya would pick up a cover, look at the animal picture on the cover and tell me “Mommy, can you find green?” - meaning that specific DVD has a green border!!!!!!!!!!! She was correct every single time! Good God!

I wish I had memory like that!

Bye 2007!! Hello 2008!!

Wow. Another year gone! I was thinking about the past year and surprisingly, I kept coming back to Zoya. 2007 was definitely Zoya's year! She has made sooooooooooo much progress that it is almost mind boggling! She has flowered from a shy little girl to a bubbly, music-loving, school-going, cute-as-ever chatter-box!!!!!!!! We are all eagerly waiting to see what she accomplishes in 2008.

Raffae also amazes me everyday with his wit, his mischiviousness, his keen observations, his intelligence, his kindness. In his own words: "He is incredible!" He will start kindergarten in 2008. I can't believe my baby is all grown up!

Tanveer managed to get a job 15 minutes from home. He is lot happier about his commute, though his office mate might drive him to look for another job! (She is growing a garlic plant in the office!!!!!) He plans to go back to school in 2008 to finish his masters.

Ammu has adjusted well to US (I think!). She doesn't miss Bangladesh as much as before. Since the kids are going to school now, she finds herself home with lot of free time on her hands. So she decided to go visit her family in Bangladesh for Eid. Once she is back, she plans to get involved in some sort of work which will keep her busy.

As for myself, I've done a tremendous amount of work this year! Managed to keep the house clean enough that I didn't have to call the Clean House crew in! Did some travelling, read some good books, made loads of friends! Didn't lose any weight! That's what I definitely need to work on in 08. I also want to start looking into MBA programs :-) Wish me luck.

Happy New Year everyone!!! Now lets get the party started!!!!!!!!!!

To happy Beginnings

I was close to crying. My chest felt like it will explode anytime now from all the emotions raging inside me. Zoya’s teacher looked at me and asked “How is Mommy doing this morning?” I smiled a proud smile. Today was Zoya’s first day at pre-school.

We have come so far away from that day when we almost lost her. She has grown into a cute little girl who enjoys looking at picture books; loves to listen to music, and sing; enjoys going out; loves food; knows her alphabets, colors, shapes, numbers; loves to get tickled; loves her family. I know she will love this school also. Here is to happy beginnings Zoya. May you go farther in life then you can ever dream of, may you be happy in life doing whatever it is that you want to do. We will always be there for you with all our love and support.

Here's to my Princess

Happy Birthday Jaanu. I love you!

Zoya singing ABCs

On Pins and Needles again

Zoya’s Pediatrician called this morning. She has some new information from the health department and wants to run some tests to see if Zoya has this disorder which would explain all her past medical history. On one hand, this new one seems to fit her. On the other hand, this means taking her to the doctor’s office/hospital again and she soooooooo hates it. I don’t want to put her through any more than she already has been, but a definite answer would put to rest so many unanswered questions/self doubts. It would also mean we can help her more. I need to be strong for this.

Future Bollywood Star??

Zoya on American Idol

If there was no age limit, I’d have taken Zoya to audition for American Idol this year. You want to know what she would have sung??

Twa, twa
How I
Up up up
Da da da
Twa twa
How I

cap, cap, cap
Job!!!!!!!

Translation:

Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are

Clap, clap, clap
Good job!!!!!!!!!!!

Simon would not have said “I couldn’t understand a word of that song!!” cause she looks absolutely adorable singing it! She does hand gestures too. :-D

"Happy Halloheen"

I'm in Chicago this week. So busy working and missing out on "Halloheen" as Raffae calls it. Hubby took the kids out for Trick or Treating tonight. Zoya I think thought she was just going out for a walk, so she stayed on our usual walking route and led Raffae and Tanveer back home!! :-) Tanveer then left her home with my mom and took Raffae out. Raffae said "I'm not scared" in front of houses that were decorated but then stayed back a little!!! :-D So much for dressing up as Superman!! I thought he would go for Scooby Doo or even Spiderman, but he was just determined that he wanted to dress up as Superman when I took him to the store to get him a costume!

We went to an orchard nearby our house on Sunday. They had hay rides, pony rides, face painting, animal petting etc. The kids had fun there too!! Halloween is becoming more and more fun every year!!!!!

Don't my Mini Mouse and Superman look adorable?!!! :-)

Apple of my eye

My baby is growing up way too fast! This picture was taken on her 2nd birthday. She is going through some rough times. She can't communicate efficiently what she wants and throws tantrums a lot nowadays. Sometimes it's really nervewrecking to handle her. If she could have her way, she would surgically have herself attached to mommy!! Mommy gets impatient at times, but baby, as soon as mommy sees this picture of yours, she forgets everything. You are mommy's favorite girl!

Hollywood vs. Bollywood

My mom was watching some Bollywood award show this morning. In between eating my breakfast, making coffee, I was taking in some of the hoopla. All the Indian actors, actresses decked out in their best outfits and jewelry, all the crazy dancing going on onstage. At one point, I started noticing all the actresses in their ever shrinking outfits had curves in the right places, even a small womanly pouch! I stopped and watched the next couple of dances and yes they all had some meat on them. I found it quite refreshing compared to the ever shrinking bodies of the Hollywood actresses! I think I’ll make Zoya watch Bollywood movies till she gets it in her head that being a size 0 or a size 2 is not necessarily a good thing. Now what to do about all the crazy outfits the Indian actresses are sporting nowadays?! Sigh. There’s always a catch!

Tidbits and others

I’ve been writing my posts in my head for the past couple of weeks! I keep thinking I am going to go home and write this idea down, but once I get home, I am busy playing with the kids or cleaning or cooking etc. So I decided to just write it all out today at work!!! Hehehehe. It’s Friday and I have been working extra hard last couple of weeks! I can play hookie for a little bit! So this post is going to be random thoughts, ideas, information, thrown together at the whim of the creator!

Speaking of creator, I was listening to an interview on NPR. They were talking about going to the moon to look for early earth rocks containing signs of life! I know crazy idea, but they had some valid arguments! You can listen to it here if you are interested. Anyways, listening to this, I experienced a moment of sheer panic! I was thinking what if in my lifetime, we find some intelligent life in some distant corner (or not so distant) of the universe??!! I literally felt chills going up and down my spine! What a scary yet exciting moment would that be! I am not a trekki, but I have seen enough Star Trek to color my imagination! I think I’d rather find some sort of “dumb bugs” on some other planet than some form of intelligent life!!!!!!!!! Which in turn made me think why do I feel the need to be superior to some other species?! What gives me the right to feel so proud of being the only known form of life in this whole big universe?! We are nothing but a grain of sand compared to the vastness of the universe! Now that is a scary thought! There’s got to be someone somewhere sitting there, looking at us, laughing his/her head off at our stupidity in thinking that we are intelligent enough to create, invent, discover all there is on this earth. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh. I am really freaking out thinking about this! Let me think about something else!

Lets talk about Zoya now. BIG NEWS! She is talking! She has about 4/5 distinguishable words now! She says “Hi”, “Mama”, “Papa”, “Bebe” (baby), “shee” (shoe). She definitely understands a lot more. If we say “Lets go”, she runs to the front door and stands there with her hand on the doorknob, looking at us, with a smile on her face! If I say “Pani Khabe? (Do you want a drink?), she will look at the kitchen counter and look for her sippy cup. When we say “night night Zoya”, she will run to the stairs and start climbing! I can’t tell you what a big relief that is to us that she is finally talking! She loves looking at books. She loves playing with her mega blocks too.

Raffae has become a constant source of chatter in the house!!!!!!!!!! :-D Right now he is learning that Papa and Raffae are boys and mommy and Zoya are girls! Every now and then he forgets and says “papa is a girl” or “mommy is a boy”! He has become a BIG computer hogger! He can spend literally hours on the computer! I was working from home one day last week and he wanted to sit at the table with mommy. He played for 2.5 hours straight! Is there any study out there that’s going to make me into a criminal for letting a 2.75 year old play online for that long?! :-P He says “Bess You mommy/papa/nanu/zoya” when we sneeze. He even says “Bess you Raffae” when he sneezes! Hahahaha. He passes gas and says “scuse me” with a naughty look on his face! He is becoming much better at sharing toys and stuff with Zoya.

Work is becoming more and more stressful! I’ve been feeling completely drained lately. By the time I get home, I am just sooooooo exhausted mentally that I don’t feel like doing anything. I just play with the kids for a little bit, give them dinner, get them ready for the bed and then hit the bed myself! This means, I’ve been piling up house chores! Yikes! My sister and her hubby are coming to visit us next week! I’ll be doing lots of cleaning and tidying up this weekend!

Planning to watch “Da Vinci Code” tonight. I was telling Tanveer that I wanted to read the book before watching the movie. He brought up a good point. He said the movie obviously is not going to be as great as the book. He doesn’t want all the details of the book fresh in his mind when he goes to watch the movie! Smart man!

I feel like taking up knitting. I know the basics. My mom is a knitting wiz. I remember seeing the needles dancing away effortlessly in her hands as she would be watching tv or reading a book! She made sweaters, shawls, caps, gloves, scarves for everyone in the extended family every winter! I think I need to have a chat with her.

Speaking of mom, we had a wonderful Mother’s Day Brunch with all the moms and daughters in the family. Here’s a picture of Zoya and her cousin Priya at the brunch. My brother-in-law commented seeing this picture that he can just picture these two sitting like this and talking about boys in less than 12 years! Yikes!

Windy City Updates

Look what I am missing out on by being in Chicago! Tanveer took this picture last night and sent it to me! I love you babies! Mommy will be home soon!

Now for the updates! I have more free time on my hands than I know what to do with! I've been walking around Downtown Chicago last couple of nights. I walked up and down Michigan Avenue the other night, shopping paradise for those of you that are unfamiliar with Chicago. By the time I got to the Cartier store front, the store was closed and all the display cases were empty! I need to go back early one of these days just to drool over their stuff! ;-) I went to the American Girl Place! Oh My God! I wanted to buy ALL the dolls they had for Zoya! Then watching other girls picking out their dolls and accessories, I realized that she needs to experience and remember her first trip to the American Girl Place. I think we will make it her special treat for her fifth birthday! :-)

Then I went to the Lego store. I wasn't that impressed with the store itself, but the different things they had all around the mall (made of legos) were amazing! They had a big spider, R2D2, Darth Vader, man sitting on a bench, a dog, a mini replica of Chicago downtown!

I found an awsome Thai place to have dinner one night. I asked them to make my food extra spicy and boy did they make it spicy! It was gooooooooood!! Compared to that, dinner from "The best of Chicago Originals" Harry Carry was bland tonight. I do realize I might just have ordered the wrong dish. I also found an indian restaurant named Gaylord Cafe. The thought of "Gaylord Cafe" showing up on my expense report stopped me from going in! ;-)

I've been watching lot more TV too! I find myself watching news and movies more than the series ones. I guess because I don't normally watch TV much nowadays so I really don't know what's good or worth watching! I always like news shows though. I was a big Dateline junkie until Tanveer made so much fun of Stone Phillips that I stopped watching! Anyways, I'm going off on tangent! I'm sure everyone is writing about Katie Couric, Tom Delay. I'll tell you what caught my eye on the news, some real weird news and funny coincidences! I think just last week or so I was wondering about Jill Caroll. I thought I must have missed whatever happened to her. Then I saw her on TV the other day! What a coincidence! She was released! Wow! What an ordeal she must have gone through! Then this morning I watched on CNN (with my jaw on the floor) the arrest of a Deputy Press Secretary of Homeland Security for soliciting sex from someone he believed to be a 14 year old girl on the internet! He sent her his photograph wearing his DHS badge and sent her his work and Govt provided cell phone number! What the hell! This can't be his first try! How in the world did he pass the security clearance?? Isn't FBI part of Homeland Security? He was right under their nose all this time and no one ever saw, heard, felt anything!?? Makes me sick!

Another funny coincident involved Midway airport. I was telling Tanveer after my first trip to Chicago how I thought we were going to crash on someone's house cause the houses are really close to the airport! I mean really really close! Look at tha picture! Then watching local news this morning, I found out they are thinking about putting up some special type of concrete at the end of the runways to stop planes from running out of bounds. This cement is supposed to crumble under the weight of the plane, slowing it down in the process. Remember last December, a plane skidded off of the runway and crashed into a car, killing a 6 year old boy? That was Midway!!!!! Now if only they can make sure that planes stay on the runways when they are skidding/running out of bounds! :-P

I have started reading "The Time Traveller's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. It's based in Chicago! Think coincidence?! I think not! Chicago is my fate!!!!!!!!!!

Sad

Chicago evoked emotions in me that I wasn't even expecting. Back in third grade, when I was memorizing the name of Sears Tower as the tallest building in the world, I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I'd actually be standing in front of it one day. I was proud of my accomplishments, sorrowed by the realization that my father couldn't see my achievements. Today also being the one year mark of Zoya's surgery, made me think of all the "what ifs" of that situation. I wanted to be home with her today, hug her all day. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy to be finally sinking my teeth in some work for FM, at the same time, I miss being home, being with the kids. I'll definitely make a stop at the toy store at the airport tomorrow on my way back.

Some random updates

• My sister is reaching Toronto on Feb 9th! Yayyyyy!!!


• I've become addicted to food blogs!! Doesn't bode well for my resolution of "eating well/healthier and finally loosing the pregnancy weight"


• Raffae is just becoming too cute now that we can really communicate with him. He doesn't throw as much tantrums. Becoming very managable(!!). Those of you that know him know it is still a lot of work!


• I don't have anything definite, but recently I just feel like Zoya is making a lot of progress. She babbles lot more (probably because she doen't have the pacifier in her mouth! She strictly gets it at night), she is becoming more and more active. No new dance moves recently though.


• I so want that job I interviewed for!!! They are going to interview an internal applicant and then decide! I hate inernal applicants! I'm just trying to get my foot in the door, but this guy is alreay in! That is just not fair!


• Next month, we will be celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary!!!! 9th!!!!


• I don't think I can finish reading "Shalimar the Clown". Too slow!


• I got a new laptop! I'll be downloading all the hindi/bangla songs I want on my iPod this weekend from questionable sites. I'm sure I'll be downloading some spyware too which would be driving Tanveer crazy! ;-)


• I am very hungry! Arthur (our intern) better be here with the lunch soon! ;-)

Zoya turns one today

I am very emotional today. My little girl is turning one. I can't stop thinking what could have happened if her Pediatrician had not sent us to ER on March 16th, 2005. Dr. Hoover and Dr. Uscinski, I can not thank you two enough. Ever.

I plan to dress her up and take pictures with her once daddy gets home. Today is a day of celebration!!

My angel

She was five months twenty three days old that day and she was undergoing a brain surgery. My precious little angel. Zoya. It broke my heart to see her small hand, jumbled with needles and tubes going in and out of her body, strapped to a small plastic board; so that she can't pull out the needles. She was so brave. We held her close to our hearts. The unspoken fear hanging around in the dark hospital room. What if this was the last time we get to hold her? We knew she was in good hands. She was in one of the best hospitals in the area, with the best surgeons and very very caring staff. Still.. she was only five months twenty three days old and she was our little girl.

I took pictures of her. She was holding Tanveer's finger. Eyes as big as saucers. Sucking on her favorite pacifier. Still I see a smile behind the pacifier. "Fight, my little angel" I begged her silently. The nurses come in. It was time to go.

We sat at the waiting room. We cried. Held each other tightly. Nothing else mattered. I couldn't even visualize how Raffae looked. I was only concentrating on Zoya. I was in intense negotiations with God. Take me if you have to, but don't do anything to her. She hasn't even started her life yet. I want to see her crawl, walk, run. I want her to talk gibberish. I want her to try on mommy's shoes, jewelry. Paint on the walls with my lipsticks.

The surgeon came out after almost two hours. Everything went well. She was in recovery and responding well and we could go see her. I walked in and saw her half shaven head with a half-moon cut on it. All I cared for was she was breathing..