Baby extras I couldn't live without

1-3 + months:

A baby/ activity mat! The most basic and functional item every baby must have, and easy on your pocket too :) We got ours as a gift, and Hayaa loved it. The first few months, she would just play with it, lying on her back.. then she started to pull the objects with her hand, and then i removed the rods and the little toys, and would use it for her tummy time. When she began to sit up, i would use it as her toy mat. She loved it, and i loved it because it was so useful! :)

3-6 + months

The swing

This is pretty pricey, but hayaa needed it and it was worth getting it. The only thing I regret is not getting it sooner. Why did we need it? It was the only thing Hayaa would fall asleep in if i wasn't around.. so for my mother-in-law, it was really useful to put Hayaa to bed on days when my hubby and I would go out, or even if i had to run an errand and hayaa was tired. It really helped when I started school too (when hayaa was 8 months) and even today (11 + months masha'Allah, she still uses it).

6-8 + months

Space saver high chair

Our swing is fisher price 4-in-1 that converts into a highchair, but while we're so addicted to using the swing, we can't convert it into a highchair. Regardless, a huge high chair doesn't even fit into our space. This was such a better option. We got ours from walmart for about $40, and it wasn't on sale at that time. If you're a fan of the bigger one and have space for it, for the thrifter, the ikea one is nice and if you're willing to pay the extra $, there are some really nice high chairs available (i liked boon flairs highchair).

So back to my need for a space saver, I was getting so tired of having hayaa either in my lap or near my feet everytime hubby and i sat for dinner, we needed this.. as an added bonus, I would leave hayaa in it when i'd cook and she'd sit on it for the while, play with her toys and eat her snacks.

Activity center

After getting Hayaa a swing, i didn't want to buy a new activity center for her, especially because I wasn't sure how much she'd use it. She didn't really use her bouncer much and that was a disappointment, so I wanted to play it safe and get her a used one. Alhamdulillah we found a nice one from a family friend, and to my surprise, Hayaa did play with it a lot. She didn't like it early on (4-6 months) but at 8 months, she spent much of her time in it. Now she occasionally uses it. We have to force her to go in, but once she's inside, she plays for quite sometime.

Because this is sitting in my living room, and she does play iwth it quite a bit, I did regret not buying her a new one. I think if i could do it again, I would do the opposite and get her a used swing and new activity center.. because it's used so much, for playing, eating, jumping etc. and it sits in our living room.. so yeah.. but for Hayuu, since she's gonna grow out of it soon, ours will do :)

Flexibility and Tests

Before I was married, I remember my mom speaking to me about 'our' nature, as women.. she said, "Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made women flexible. What ever situation we're in, we can adjust to it and need to adjust to it. in your life, as a wife (a mother, etc.), you'll find yourself in many different circumstances, but you will adjust to it.. because we are made that way, to be flexible."

I still remember her advice/ words of wisdom sometimes.. and actually, Allah swt made us all flexible. No matter where we live, how we are, we'll find it difficult in the beginning, but we get used to it and adjust to it.. and Allah would not place us in that situation if we couldnt' get through it. Look at the example of people living in nunavut for example, i could never imagine living in such harsh weather conditions and not being able to see the sun for some of hte days, but people do live there after all.. and they don't even think of it.

Today i was reading this story.. the narrator said he was visiting a man that had his foot amputated and he wanted to comfort him by saying "the ummah doesn't expect you to be a fast runner... rather it expects you to offer wise opinions and enlightened thoughts, and you still have that, alhamdulillah"

He went to the man, and the man said to him "Alhamdulillah, this foot of mine stayed iwth me for decades and it was a good companion. But my religious commitment is what comforts me."

SubhanAllah.. i was thinking, these words have so much thankfulness in them.. like the guy is being thankful for having a foot before the amputation, and them accepting that although it was a great blessing, Allah has given him with something better that did not leave him... and realizing that it could have been worse.. he could have lost his religion.. and hte prophet sallalahu alayhi wasallam said (paraphrase) that the worst test for us is when Allah swt tests us in our deen (religion).

Alhamdulillah, Allah has made us very strong and flexible.. no matter what tests we go through, we have a way of making the situation work to our benefit. All we have to do is be realize of Allah's mercy and blessings on us, and we're set :) kinda crazy if you think about it, subhanAllah.. so like if you have like zero time for yourself and are getting no sleep (story of every mom's life).. realize:

1) Allah swt had given you so much time before for yourself and a peaceful night's sleep.. that was a blessing from Him, and be thankful for the blessings He had given you for so long

2) know that you'll get through it and honestly, it wouldn't even bother you soon.. you'll find a way around it.. find a way to be happier then you were before. accept there's a challenge, accept you had it better before and be thankful that it's not worse and move on. you can get through it, because you're a flexible mama ;) alhamdulilah for that.

be gone tired eyes!

I've had some crazy sleepless nights in the past 10 months (masha'Allah 10 months! *sigh*), as do all mothers some time or another.. and received many kind comments about how tired i look [*insert sarcastic tone]. So i decided to do something about it.. umm.. well not really.. here's what actually happened:

So, while wondering along one day in the Eaton's center, I noticed a couple of girls walking by me with black and white bags from a store called 'Saphora' .. and I thought, hmm where have i seen this name before? oh yes, dearest mamma bought a few things from there some time ago, so i decided to check it out (i had some extra time on my hands that day). I looked inside and gave a gasp.. it was makeup wonderland!

:) so i decided, i'm going to buy just one thing from this store, and that happened to be this stick:

[Dior Skin Flash - it was a little pricey at $45 but i'm sure you can find other brighteners for cheaper that'll do the trick]

...but little did i know, this was not an ordinary stick.. no no, it held magic powers (umm.. halal magic powers that have nothing to do with jinns).. yes so, i took this stick home and played around with it. I got the darkest shade, and it turned out to be quite close to my skin colour.

So.. i tried some sparingly under my eye, gently rubbed it into my skin and lo and behold, my under eye circles disappeared :)

Hubby came home that day, and said "wow you look fresh! did you exercise today?" :D ..and it was a keeper!

caution: this is not a concealer, it's a skin brighter.. don't use it on your acne, it wouldn't cover it. i did and lets just say it wasn't pretty.

so there you have it girls, for days that are after sleepless nights, and especially those days when you need to look presentable, this will help :)

I'm no expert on this, but i believe for darker skin tones, bobby brown has a good concealer stick.

**EDIT** two months later:

After giving it a little more research, I found that there are better alternatives to this, and much cheaper ones. I think the Urban Decay Surreal Skin Creamy Concealer ($16) OR Benefits eye bright ($20) do the job without forking the $50 down... You can't forgo quality for price, but for trail and error makeup products, sometimes it's better to play it safe and buy for a price which you're not gonna regret later :)