Dont die from shock here ;)

Yes yes.. I know, its been awhile and for that I apologise.. Someone recently asked me for my link and I realised its been over a year since I last wrote, so where am I?

Well our little one arrived alhamdulillah :D our little Musa.. hes a treasure and Im grateful to Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) everyday for this gift, seriously I dont know how I coped before.. I love being a mum to him at home :D He has a few health issues and we are scheduled for a little routine op soon that should be in and out over a few days inshaAllah so please make duaa for him.

He arrived a little early just 1 week after I finished work, I had already changed my finish time so if I hadnt my waters would have broken at work!! can you imagine?? Alhamdulillah!! I arrived to the hospital ready for an induction on the Saturday after my waters broke the day before but my contractions began that night so alhamdulillah I wouldnt be induced.. although up until I was getting ready to leave I wasnt sure I was having contractions and completely forgot to tell them on the phone when I was ringing the labour ward to see if we could come in a little later lol.. I was fully dilated and got through the whole thing with no drugs and hubby by my side encouraging me. He told me we had a son as I looked down at him staring up at me with his beautiful almond shaped eyes.. mashaAllah I pray for his protect from Shaytan in this world and for him to walk the path to Jannah in the next world inshaAllah.

Life has certainly changed and I wouldnt have it any other way :D
We are currently trying to plan a trip to Pakistan in February to see his Abus family and Canada in September to see my mum and friends over there.. We have been up to Liverpool to see the rest of my family quite a few times.. its so different being up there now with him, life is just so different.

We are loving our cloth nappies having a few firm favourites in itti bitti, sweet cherry pie cloth and luscious little somethings :) and loving baby wearing too :D I love having him wrapped so close to me and he loves it too alhamdulillah :D

Will try to keep up with you guys more now inshaAllah
Fi amenAllah

Oops

Sorry its taken me so long to write this blog... things have been either pretty crazy my end or Ive been sleeping ;)
So we are now in our last trimester alhamdulillah :) Baby is due in February insha'Allah and me and chilliT (maybe I need to think up a new nickname for him) are very anxiously awaiting the arrival of the little one. We have our reusable nappy stash sorted, I hope :) insha'Allah and clothes and pieces.. we're going to a nearly new sale with the NCT on Saturday so I will be on the look out for a maternity coat (Im sick of not being able to fasten my coats) blackout blinds and anything buggy related to go with the pram we will be getting next year insha'Allah.
I have just today met up with a girl from a facebook birth board.. we are all expecting in the same month, but this lady has more than one in her ;) shes such an inspiration and really makes you grateful for what you have alhamdulillah. It was so nice to get out and meet someone in the same boat as me, currently Im still working (finish January 18th) 12 hour shifts starting at 2am :( with no pregnant ladies around me

We went to the baby show a few weeks ago... it was amazing!!! I was worried that hubby wouldnt enjoy it, but he bought the camera with him and was quite happy there :) he left me to my own devices collecting the freebies when we first got there and was very much as interested in all the stalls as I was masha'Allah. I think it would be useful to go once baby is here too, and then we know what we do need rather than what we might need but I dont think I could cope with going again next year and hubby looked worried at the prospect ;)

So I have finally had my braces taken off too.. it feels soo weird but I love it :) Ive certainly been taking things for granted all these years.. I havent stopped eating into crunchy fruits since I had them off, like apples, plums and pears.. cant wait to get into work on thursday purely to pick at the nuts Ive had on my desk for the last few months :D yummy!!! Just got to get into a routine with them now.. I couldnt really floss properly when I had them on, but have to make more of an effort now :)

Anyways, thats an update of whats going on in our world at the moment... baby is constantly moving around and poking out here there and everywhere, which can be painful at times, but I love feeling the movement :D Hubby just found out hes not entitled to any paternity leave as he started too late :( which is annoying as his work give really good paternity benefit so we have to re think our finances from that perspective, but insha'Allah it will be ok.

Confirmation at the doctors

After finding the lines on Saturday, Monday morning came and I booked a confirmation appointment at the Doctors (yes the one who suggested IBS!) for the Wednesday.
I patiently waited for the day to arrive and then set off down the road with Chilli. We waited for quite awhile and I was getting increasing anxious as I was due to be at work the next day so should be sleeping by the time that we were still waiting. I needed this confirmation to go ahead and tell my boss we were expecting so I could be taken off all the duties that are part of my job, the daily stretching, the lifting of 15kg weights and all the other random heavy lifting. Because of this I couldnt very well walk out from the doctors and go home, we found out that apparently her computer had registered me as being seen although she had no idea how that could have happened.
Sat in her room, she recognised me straight away as my other appointment had only been on the Friday, she asked what I was in for. The words failed to come straight away and when they finally did it didnt feel right to be saying 'I think Im pregnant' she looked surprised and asked if this could have been related to the bloated stomach Id been having... yes!! the Dr asked this!! So after the usual congratulations and what not, she did my blood pressure, took my details to book me in at the hospital we wanted and led me outside for some free pregnancy tablets and something called Emma's Diary. The whole appointment took no time at all and I was gutted it was so straightforward... I had expected something a little more.. in hind sight what I had expected was probably my booking appointment lol :D

But there we are, I was now able to tell work and looking back now it doesnt seem like four months ago and now its getting so close it worries me.. Allahu alim :) Please remember us in your duaas girls, and now I think I will be posting in real time :) Now everyone has been told and all is moving well alhamdulillah
JazakAllah khair

Our patter

Ive saved these as drafts to be posted in the future when the news is out to everyone. We got our positive test the end of May and have had trouble keeping it secret ever since :)

Anyways, it all started one Saturday morning, for the past week I had had a bloated stomach and after freaking myself out at the Doctors reading an ovarian cancer leaflet my GP proceeded to tell me my symptoms sounded more like IBS. I already had a feeling I might be pregnant, apart from the bloated stomach I was constantly hungry, constantly eating and constantly listening to the growls from my stomach. I got up and sneaked out the pregnancy test while the husband was busy with something, after obviously reading the best times to do it all. I proceeded :) Im not going into details as Im sure you all know what goes on there! I brushed my teeth while waiting but couldnt help taking peeks :) there was mostly some lines already there... I just needed to figure out from the paperwork what they meant. Apparently I was looking for a vertical line in one window which meant the test was working, check! and in the other window I was looking for a cross of some sort, what did I have? a cross... no hang on, wait there.. these things dont just happen so easily!! Was it correct? 3 months?? Surely that cant be right. 

I calmly walk into the living room where the husband is wandering around looking for something. I ask him, have you seen this? does that look like a cross to you? pointing at the second window. His answer, what is it? 'but does it look like a cross' he frowns, pulls his usual Im confused face and again asks the same question. I want to shout it out to him, but I want to make sure Im not seeing things first. Just tell me, is that a cross?? Yeah I guess so, definitely 2 lines... 'well, this means that we might be pregnant' a huge grin bursts across his face, the same grin I saw the first day we laid eyes on each other, the same grin when I first saw him just before we were to be married.. I know that smile, hes happy :) and he hugs me strongly to tell me he so (a man of few words but many actions my husband!) my heart bursts with emotion and love.

So we decide there and then to take one step at a time and not tell anyone until we see 'it'

Book review

So I wrote a book review for a friend and editor for Aalia magazine and here it is :D enjoy and let me know what you think

Book review of The Midwifes Confession in Aalia magazine

Biking around Richmond Park

So we took a ride to Richmond park last month, a nearly 7 hour ride in total so was a lovely day. The sun was shining as it has been for a few weeks now alhamdulillah :) and here are a few photos I took around there