On Monday, August 3, Ayla and I, done with Grandparents Tour 2009, planned to get resettled at home. Today, I took Ayla to a doctor's appt. which was significant for one main reason - it was the first time that I was returning to the OB-GYN's office with Ayla since she was born. As soon as I checked in, the receptionist and nurses were so excited to see Ayla! In fact, the first nurse called the others to come and check out the "cute baby." They took some time to play with her before returning to work! During the actual visit with the doctor, my baby started crying really loud but there was nothing I could do. The doctor said not to worry because they were used to crying babies :) The rest of the day, I began to tackle some of the tasks that I left behind before the Grandparents Tour. When Baba came home from work today, he settled back into his "Ayla" routine, he took her outside in the balcony and played with her the rest of the night. Baba was excited to spend time with her again after a few weeks.
On Tuesday, August 4, Ayla and I continued to work on getting reorganized at home. Our little baby is getting very active. If you lie her down, she tries to sit up. And, she has begun swiveling her head from left to right to take in everything around her. Her activity has made me realize how fast she is growing. Not only do I need to spend time feeding and changing her, but I need to spend time playing with her. She is also putting things in her mouth, including her hands, and she drools a lot more. Today, we also set up the baby monitor and....I can't tell you how much easier that made my life!! Until now, I have been so used to leaving Ayla upstairs to
sleep and when she woke up, my freakish super-hearing allowed me to run upstairs and get her the minute she started crying. However, sometimes, I would run upstairs thinking she was crying when in fact she wasn't. The monitor not only put my mind at ease but allows me to get more done when she is sleeping and, to get it done with a piece of mind that my precious little Angel is safe :)
On Wednesday, August 5, I spoke to Ayla's pediatrician and she said that the pain that Ayla was feeling during her party in Tampa last Saturday was probably from teething pain. The doctor said that Ayla would occasionally be experiencing this pain from now on and she needed Children's Tylenol if she kept crying from the pain. And, I needed to buy her teething toys. My heart sank when I processed what the doctor was saying because the first thing I thought about was that my poor baby was crying non-stop last Saturday and I couldn't figure out why and therefore, was unable to help her. Kids count on their mommies and daddies to know everything and I felt bad that I could not stop my little cutie's crying :(.
This week, I also added Ayla's little "lounge chair" (my mom bought this in FL and I brought it to DC) to her bathtub. Boy, has it made life easier. It's sooo freakin' cool. Ayla just lies on it, sort of in a reclining position in her bath tub which I have now moved to the big bathtub in the guest bathroom (this is where Ayla's bath products are). Previously, I used to give Ayla a bath in the sink but now she has outgrown it. While I am giving her a bath, Ayla just kind of lies all chill. She's very cooperative during her baths; she seems to enjoy them a lot :) I have this yellow rubber ducky (like Ernie used to play with in Sesame Street) too which I have been contemplating letting her play with in the bathtub...
Thursday, August 6 is an important day - Ayla's mom's cousin is visiting from Canada!!! I haven't seen my cousin Ayesha and her husband in 7 years so I was really excited that we would see them again. Also, I only saw their oldest daughter when she was 6 months old and now, we were set to meet Rania, her little sister Zoish, and their brother Abdullah. Before we discussed plans to take Ayesha's family out on the town, Ayla and I started to pack for our trip back to Pittsburgh. We were planning to go for the weekend. It was to be a brief return to the Grandparents Tour '09 :). We decided to take Ayesha and fam to Macaroni Grill in Reston Town Center. But before we did that, they came over to our house for introductions. Zaid and Samer met them for the first time and we all saw the kids grown up! Sarah, Samer, Zaid, and I gave the kids gifts (Sarah and Samer gave them these great Disney ones!). Their kids w
ere so precious and very well-behaved. I kept thinking all night how much I want Ayla to grow up and be so well-mannered. And, Ayesha and Mujib were very excited to meet Auntie Fauzia's first grandchild :) The kids kept taking turns wanting to touch and hold the baby. We went to Macaroni Grill and caught up, re-lived old memories. Zaid and Samer got to know the fam better. And, Baby A spent time getting passed around. She seemed amused to see the new people! Afterwards, we walked around the town center, grabbed desert, and took some lovely pictures. It was a great night!!!
On Friday, August 7, Zaid, Ayla and I got up and finished packing before hitting the road for a return trip to Poppy and Dadoo's! On our way to Pittsburgh, we stopped at Babies R Us to get our googleberry much-needed toys. And, we stopped off at Rahila Khala's house to say hi to Nadia Puppo's cousin Tazeen. Tazeen and her husband had a cute little baby, Eshaal (a little over a year-old), who was excited to meet the "baby."
This is Ayla's second road trip. Our little superstar has been on a boat, on a plane, and in a car all in 10 days. She's traveled by sea, land, and air - she could join the military :) Traveling to Pittsburgh for Ayla this time was old hat! We got to Pittsburgh around 8 PM and Dadoo, Poppy, and Chacha Adnan were so excited to see her. They all noted how much Ayla had grown since the last time they had seen her. You can tell that Dadoo is a day care provider because she loves little ones and is sooo good with them :)
On Saturday, August 8, the family continued to "catch-up" with Ayla :) They enjoyed s
eeing how much Ayla had progressed since the last time they saw her, how much she could do. Ayla could now sit up. She was smiling a lot more, recognizing faces. She was up most of the day, foregoing her usual napping! I think she was excited to see her grandparents :) Chacha Adnan also got a chance to spend time with her for the first time after a long summer studying for the bar exam. Zaid and I took advantage of the family being able to watch Ayla and we went and saw a movie. It was nice to go out on a quick date but I gotta admit that during the movie, I kept thinking about my baby! After the movie, Poppy and Adnan went to a dinner and Dadoo, Ayla, Zaid and I spent the rest of the day enjoying each other's company.
On Sunday, August 9, our short trip to Pittsburgh was going to come to an end. Whenever we have to say goodbye to the grandparents, it's sooo hard for me because I know they want to spend more time with Ayla. I really wish Dadoo, Poppy, Umi Jan, and Nana Jan lived in the DC area so that they could witness all the precious moments of Ayla growing up. My mom and dad have called me a lot over the past week saying how much the missed Ayla like, Poppy and Dadoo did following our last visit to Pittsburgh. And now, you could tell by Poppy and Dadoo's eyes how much they were going to miss Ayla again. And, we will miss them a lot too but, see them again soon inshallah :) Our wonderful trip to Pittsburgh was capped off by a 7 hour trip home because of traffic but our little jujubee was as cool as a cucumber!!!!
Until later! Saadia
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