At the moment...

At this very moment, Sarah and I are hanging out at the couch. She's about to go to sleep while nursing and I'm juggling between the nursing and typing and battling not to doze off myself. She already took a short nap this morning, we played for a while, I gave her a bath and now she's on my lap again. She won't nap for long unless I were to hold her or lie next to her. When she's wide awake, she's usually all over the place. Chasing her around the house is pretty much what I do these days as she explores and tries to put everything she sees and finds in her mouth. She doesn't sit still at all! She has started cruising more than 2 weeks now. She even tried to climb the stairs just 2 days ago! Seriously, I can't turn my back for one second, or she's off getting into trouble. It's fun to watch her and all the milestones that she has achieved right in front of me eyes. BUT I have to admit, it is also very exhausting trying to make sure she doesn't get hurt. 

She just got up from her morning nap and didn't have her bath yet.

We bought this ermmm..baby play yard (has anybody raised any brows yet?). I hope it doesn't impair her development in any way; cognitive, physical whatsoever. But Daniel and I wanted to give it a try just because it seems like we can't get much done except keeping an eye on her for most of the time.We never intended it to be a permanent fixture and we only leave her (usually with one of her brothers) in there for a short period of time, less than 2 hours usually whenever we need to get things done, like when Daniel wants to study and I need to fix dinner. It's only been 5 days since we got it and so far she's not a fan.        

                      

I was also browsing the bazillion pictures earlier in the day, pictures that I took last summer and am wondering how in the world I'm gonna post them in here without being so behind. In case you're reading this, Dad - are you still checking my blog daily? I'm so sorry! I'm still trying to figure out how this SAHM thing works - EFFICIENTLY! Either my time management is so poor or because there are so many things to do that never seem to end. And oh I'm a bit OCD. I have certain ways of doing things that I'm pretty sure won't contribute in being efficient but keep doing them anyway just to keep my sanity intact. Sometimes when I read other mummies' blogs, I can't help feeling a bit intimidated by them and how they've accomplished so much and here I am, still struggling to find the right ways, do the right things even after having 4 kids. I have to say I did get a lot of help from my mother and a live-in-maid for the first 3 children so that probably explains why I feel at loss sometimes with Sarah. And I worked before and I didn't get the privilege of seeing my 3 older boys growing in front of me. Heck I didn't even potty training them! My maid did it for me for all the boys.

Excuse my leg. Sarah was trying to get on the laptop and I was busy taking her pictures doing so. And that's my mom in the picture, with Neil and his wife Nancy. Neil is Daniel's friend and he owns a boat and he invited us to go sailing when my parents were here. It was awesome! But that of course would be in other post :-)

Oh oh, she's awake! 

 Post nap happy face!

 Trying to get our pictures together. 

She does not look too happy, although I think it's hilarious the way she looked at me, like 'Errr excuse me, I need to eat so stop taking pictures and feed me' kinda look .

Daniel and the boys just got home from work and school. In case you're wondering why Emir is wearing a reflective vest, he's a school safety patrol and he even got a badge for it. Right now the boys are reading. We set a schedule for them to follow to make life easier for us and for them. When they come home from school, they need to wash their lunch box, then perform their prayers, and do their homework. Then they need to read for an hour and then off to do math practice on IXL (which is great math practice site btw, apart from Khan Academy). And then when they're done with all these, they get to watch TV for an hour and/or play video games for an hour. In between these, they have to perform the rest of prayers of the day when the time comes and have dinner. We made the rule for them to play video games only on alternate days. The games drive me crazy but Daniel plays with them whenever he gets the opportunity.

Daniel is trying to lure Sarah to get inside the 'baby jail' by reading one of her baby books.

It works!

Now that everybody's home, I'm off to fix dinner.