Motherhood

Motherhood is ELECTRIC.
The moment I found out I was carrying a life within me I was awe struck and everything in my life shifted. It was the start of motherhood. Nine months later childbirth experience was full of energy, of chaos. An emergency c-section came unexpectedly after hours of pushing. Recovery from the surgery and the journey through breastfeeding dealt me the most pain I had ever endured. But it didn’t matter to me. I pushed through because the single most important thing in my life became my child.
Being face to face and skin to skin with my  little Sufyan for the first time gave me a jolt unlike any I had ever experienced. He was beautiful! He was perfect! Alhumdulillah, there could never be enough thanks given to God for Sufyan’s presence in my life.
If that wasn’t electrifying enough, nurturing and raising a whole other person full-time certainly is. Being fortunate enough to stay at home full time with Sufyan has taught me a great deal about myself as a mom and a woman. Becoming a mom has given me an entirely unique perspective on my relationship with my mom, and a newfound appreciation for all the love she has given me since my own birth.
The one thing I will always do my very best to instill in my little man is self-love. If he can love who he is and recognize that he can do anything, he will certainly be able to love  others, live responsibly, care for this earth, and do something good every day to make the world a better place.
Sufyan has a meaning in Persian; a walking thunderstorm. Since he creates the thunder, motherhood has to be the lightening . I hope to always show him the light in a rainstorm.
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Chaos

I guess you could say things got a little hectic after I gave birth to Sufyan… because clearly I haven’t gotten on the blog to post anything!

Maybe it’s just that in the little free time I now have, I choose to relax or take care of the many chores around the apartment.

I think I also got a little intimated at the idea of consistently blogging and actually having people view what I share.

WELL…. I just got charged the annual fee for my blog hosting site and as a stay-at-home mom I felt the $99 better not go to waste… I better start writing.

A Week from Due!

I am officially 39 weeks pregnant; just less than a week away from giving birth to our little one, inshallah, and that’s just according to my due date. My sister thinks I may be a few days early, and it’s overwhelming to think that the time I have left to prepare is so limited! I guess you can’t ever be 100% ready for your first baby and I’ll just learn things as I go, but I always just look at my stomach and tell him, “Keep on baking, baby!”! We still have so much of everything to read and learn as we anticipate his arrival.

The part I was becoming more and more nervous about was the actual delivery.  When I heard about what to pack in the hospital bag and what to expect from the experience, just the thought of ice packs and adult diapers make my lady parts hurt. I’m so very thankful for youtube videos on breathing exercises and meditation during labor. Hopefully I’ll be able to remember the techniques. My biggest hope, which overshadows any fears, is simply that we have a healthy baby boy and everything goes smoothly.

Now that I’m so close, I’m feeling a lot better about things. We’ve taken a CPR and Safety course, as well as a Baby Basics class, and on the 4th of July we took a tour of the hospital. I literally asked 4 million questions. I felt bad for the other people in the group but hopefully they benefitted from what I was asking! We went around the room and everyone said their due dates, which ranged from late July through September. I just looked at my watch and was like, “uhh.. next Wednesday”. It was pretty funny 🙂 We procrastinated a bit on taking the tour but it ended up being great. Plus, late in the game if there’s a fear of actually going into labor, you’re already at the hospital! So maybe it was smart of us to wait 😉

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GENDER REVEAL

We had a traditional cake cutting get-together at our apartment in TX to find out the baby’s gender in late March. Everyone thought it was going to be a girl EXCEPT for our nephew, Layth, and our cat, Chuchu (yep, it’s true). We ran out of all of our pink favors and in the end when we finally cut the cake, we saw nothing but blue! It was a shock for all of us! We got to FaceTime with my parents and sister in VA, and as we cut the cake, they opened a box to reveal blue balloons. I wish all of our family could be in one spot but this was such a special moment and it was amazing to be able to share it with our families via video chat 🙂

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BABY SHOWERS

Below are some photos from the pregnancy journey that I wanted to share with everyone! The nice thing about having family in two places is I got to celebrate twice and have two amazing baby showers, ahumdulillah! At the start of April in Virginia my sister threw me a travel-themed shower, and it was so fitting for me and my love for adventure. I was expecting it to be just close and extended family, and then my friends started showing up one by one and surprising me! I literally cried because I didn’t expect it at all. Then in TX, my sister-in-law threw my husband and me a woodland-themed baby shower. We were surrounded by my husband’s family and had such a sweet time. We didn’t want to touch anything at the table because of how perfect the set-up was! We are so beyond thankful for everyone who helped us welcome our little one into this world. We now have everything he needs to get settled into this world ❤

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Eid Mubarak | Special Announcement!

A little over a year ago (April 29th, 2016), my hubz and I tied the knot! Now, we have some exciting news to share with all of our friends around the world…15

You probably guessed it – We’re expecting!

Our little one is due on July 12th, 2017 inshallah (God-willing). We’re a little late on the announcement but we thought today, Eid Al-Fitr, is the perfect day to spread the happy news!

We are so thankful for all the sweet wishes and can’t wait to be parents. We have just a couple of weeks left to prepare. With all the reading I’ve done and the random facts I now know about babies, one might assume I’m an expert…. but we’ve talked to enough people to know that you can research all you want but no one can describe the feelings you’ll have, experience you’ll gain, and tough moments you’ll tackle when you actually become parents.

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We’re excited for all of the new adventures we’ll be having with the new addition to our family. If you have any advice for first-timers, we’d love to hear them – leave us some love in the comments!

Shoutout to my amazing husband for all of his love and support throughout this journey, and for the sweet maternity shoot. In these photos I’m wearing this dress by Louella, and basically lived in Louella tunics throughout my pregnancy. SO comfy. More about that later 🙂

We hope all of our Muslim friends have an amazing Eid spent with loved ones ❤

Eid Mubarak!

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Dealing with Distance

Ever since I moved to Texas last April (2016), I’ve felt a deep homesickness. I had a lot of changes in my life at that point – getting married, starting a new job, and moving to a completely new state. I’m going to talk more about my moving experiences and how I stay positive (when I do!) in future posts, but for now I just wanted to give two big tips on how I keep in touch with my family and friends in my home state, Virginia. This is not a sponsored post, these are just really great services that I personally recommend!

Tip #1: WhatsApp. This app is my saving grace, for two reasons;

CHAT | I use the chat feature daily to connect with my family. If you don’t have it already, I highly recommend downloading it and creating a family group. It’s worth it to spend an extra few minutes to teach older adults in the family how to become more whatsapp-savy. We text updates throughout the day, send photos to one another, and make plans for visits. My sister will send photos and videos of my niece and I feel like I’m close-by watching her grow up!

CALLS (VIDEO/AUDIO) | The second feature I use is the audio call feature. I personally have an iPhone, but half of my family doesn’t! We can’t FaceTime, so instead, to improve call quality, we use the WhatsApp audio calls. On the weekends, we sometimes catch up with the video call feature. It’s way better than the direct mobile calls simply because the sound is so much crisper! This is especially true when you’re on wifi.

Tip #2: Southwest Airlines. I rarely travel via any other airline. This is for several reasons;

POINT SYSTEM & CREDIT CARD | Knowing my home-base (and heart) is in Virginia, I knew I’d be traveling there often. Sticking to one airline makes the most sense to me because I can accrue points and travel using these points. At a previous job when I was traveling 85% of the time, I quickly earned A-List status which allowed me to board in the first set and also to skip the security line. Talk about a game-changer! With the credit card, I easily earn points through my purchases. They had an offer that got me 50K points in 3 months, and Nunu (hubby) and I used those to fly to SF for our Hawaii trip! Without that boost, we may not have been able to make the trip happen at such a good deal.

CANCELLATIONS | I had a nightmare situation with a different airline one time – They wouldn’t refund my ticket cost when I had accidentally booked the wrong date. To make matters worse, it was a work booking. The entire situation put this fear in me of booking with other airlines. Southwest Airlines does not charge when you cancel or change a flight. Depending on the type of ticket you purchase, the funds will remain on your account for future purchases. This works for me because I’m obsessed with traveling and I know I’ll use the funds.

BAGGAGE POLICY | Two free carry-ons and two free checked bags (at 50lbs max each)? Unbeatable.

When you live away from the place you consider home, it’s hard to feel connected to that place and the people. I’m always looking for ways to see my family, and WhatsApp and Southwest Airlines have made my living apart from them a whole lot less difficult. If you have any questions about my experiences moving away from family or home, drop a comment and let’s connect. If you have your own tips, I’d love to hear them! 🙂

 

That one moment that sends you soaring

I get this feeling a lot… I’ll be at work, sitting at my decorated desk, wondering what more I should be doing. I keep a journal nearby for when I’m so inclined to jot down some dreams. That happens probably once a month though. Usually when I’m over-caffeinated.

I always hear about people who have this crazy out-there dream in the back of their minds that would’ve been impossible had they not contracted some deadly unexpected health thing. People seem to chase the dream when there’s the legitimate fear of not living long enough to accomplish it later. 
 
I’m not talking about a person who was in third grade, read about the universe, fell in love with astronomy, committed to astronomy, was encouraged by everyone around them that they were good at astronomy, excelled at astronomy, and achieved their dream by getting their first adult job at NASA. I honestly envy the people who have known what they wanted to do for such a long time that no obstacle is big enough to stop them from getting there.
 
I’m talking about the people who live normal lives and have accepted not doing exactly what they think would be the coolest job in the world, until they’re triggered by some unusual life event or sudden monumental realization.
 
I’m always an inch away from taking the very first step towards something that sparks my curiosity enough for me to obsess over it. I think I have the greatest idea in the world, the key to success, something that will lead me to be happy every single day that I’m a part of it. And then I don’t do that thing. It happens all the time. I don’t take the first step because I eventually lose excitement by feeling overwhelmed at the idea, focusing on the challenges, and simply feeling like I can’t do it.
 
If I really think about it, I know what I’m capable of. I know that I can literally do whatever I set my mind to. You can, too. We all can. That’s the “sudden realization” that it can take to make your dreams come true; it’s the fact that you’re capable and worthy of taking the next step. After the first step comes the next, and soon you’re on top of the mountain you didn’t think you could climb. We don’t need to wait for that deadly unexpected health thing to realize that later isn’t promised.
 
Here’s me committing to doing exactly what I want to do. It’s written. I’m holding myself to it. Hashtag, accountability. The future is what you make it. “Do something today that will make you feel good tomorrow”.  Let’s go.