Week 36 ( Sept 3- Sept 9 )

This week's highlight was a mighty jet lag that Zain was going through, which in turn affected me. It still was amazing to see him in a new surrounding but adapting really well. My only complaint was that he wasn't eating a lot. He was however, super friendly with everyone he met.

Here are my favorite photos from Week 36:

Day 246
Who loves air planes??? Ofcourse Zain and especially one as big as him

Day 247
Appreciating Truck Art at a local restaurant

Day 248
Playing with his toys at the window

Day 249
Walking hand in hand with Dada and Dadi

Day 250
White is the color of PeAcE☮

Day 251
So sad to see the king of the jungle in a small cage

Day 252
Not afraid of heights!!!

Thank you once again for stopping by. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Week 34 ( Aug 20- Aug 26 )

August went by very fast because my dad was visiting and soon it was time for us to visit everyone back home in Pakistan. They were really excited to meet Zain and spend some quality time with this amazing kid.

The highlight of the week was Zain's visit to Thomasland in Edaville, MA. When I get a chance I will write a separate post on it. It's a great place to take kids and have a wonderful time with family and friends.

Day 232
Dessert anyone?

Day 233
Matching sleeping suit buddies

Day 234
Hello Thomas

Day 235
Walking side by side, my three favorite men

Day 236
My good friend Bree brought me these from her European adventures to add to my collection 

Day 237
The best toys are sometimes just empty boxes

Day 238
Na-boo explaining Zain something interesting

I'm so happy to be back blogging my Project 365. Keep checking in and you will see many updates in the next couple of weeks. Have a wonderful weekend ❤︎

Week 32 ( Aug 6- Aug 12 )

The weeks went by very fast while my dad was visiting us in Boston. Everyday we tried to do something fun. We went to the parks, ate out, did grocery and generally just spent quality time together. It was just great to see Zain interact with my dad. The best part was that Zain warmed up to him almost instantaneously, from the time he arrived in Boston. I had feared that living with us alone without constant family contact in person might be an issue for him. Luckily, it wasn't and he had the best time with his Na-boo.

It was really hot during most of my dad's stay but we still managed to go out and do our thing. At Zain's age I like to take him out everyday because he has so much energy and if we stay at home all day, I know, he and I will both drive each other crazy. So normally we go out after breakfast for a couple of hours of activity and then come back by nap time. We did pretty much the same with my dad except we included a lot of shopping sprees during the outdoor time. Week 32 also marked the 3rd official haircut of Zain and it was a much better affair than the ones before. 

Following are my week's photographs:

Day 218
Two and a half men walking hand in hand

Day 219
Some beautiful pop of color right outside our house

Day 220
The never ending playground fun during summers 

Day 221
3rd Haircut was a much better experience than the first two times 

Day 222
Putting practice while Na-boo is looking around for his golf gear

Day 223
Chilling out at home with Na-boo

Day 224
Who doesn't like climbing a speed bump?

Hope you enjoyed the photos and keep checking back for more updates. Until next time, take care! Adios ☺︎

Week 31 ( Jul 30- Aug 5 )

It is such a blessing to have a healthy and happy family and we thank Allah for it all the time. The one thing that makes us sad though, is living so far away from our family especially our parents. Both my parents and my husband (Samer's) parents live in Pakistan while we live in Boston. Sometimes, the distance doesn't feel that much in this age of technology. With the Facetiming and Skyping generation that we have become, it makes us feel closer to each other despite living far away from each other. However, once we had our son, Zain, we realized that he was the one missing out on all the love and affection from his grandparents. He sees them almost daily via Facetime and interacts with them very well now, at the age of 22 months. Still, it is not the same as being with them and them being able to hold him and play with him. So we were very excited when we finally planned our first trip to Pakistan this year with Zain. Preceding that, was my dad's visit to Boston and then we were all traveling together to Pakistan. 

The highlight of Week 31 is the arrival of my dad to Boston and Zain's first meeting with his grandfather whom he lovingly calls Na-boo. Na-boo is a condensed version of Nana-Abu which is actually the word for maternal grandfather in Urdu.

Hope you enjoyed this post and the photos of the week. Thank you for checking my blog. Keep coming back for more posts. Until next time, take care!

Day 211
Where am I today? Exactly where I want to be

Day 212
Summer is incomplete without this giant bowl of banana split

Day 213
Zain's first experience of a live show, he was so excited to see kids performing that he would try act out like them

Day 214
To do or not to do? In this case get wet in the rain

Day 215
Trying to reach the tree without any luck!

Day 216
The day Zain met his Na-boo for the first time

Day 217
Zain showing Na-boo around his local fav spots

Week 30 ( Jul 23- Jul 29 )

I am not too proud of the fact that I haven't been able to keep up with this weekly post in a while. However, the fact that I am still continuing on with it, says something about my determination. Despite breaking the schedule during and after our Euro trip, I am still trying to catch up. I have only missed a few weeks at a stretch and I know I should be able to recover considering I am in Pakistan for an extended vacation. The best part of this vacation is that I literally have no household chores, which essentially takes up all day, taking into consideration I have an active toddler at home. However, the social calendar is jam packed here. I still think I should be able to catch up during this trip and be on track by the time I head back for home mid October.

We have had such an incredible summer MashAllah that I truly feel blessed. I will try to write about each week as I post the photos but I think they may not be as descriptive as I would like to be but that is something I can live with as I like the photos to speak for themselves more. Week 30 was pretty fun as we were smack in the middle of the summer with the heat turned on full throttle. Summer is the time to be outdoors, so, heat or no heat there are plenty of play days. Visits to the parks are frequent and keep Zain happy, except the part where he actually has to go back home, which is always a struggle. That is where bribery comes in handy.

Day 204
Future soccer player maybe?

Day 205
After class, park playdate is always welcomed by these two

Day 206
No visit to the mall is now complete without a stop at the Lego store

Day 207
Creepy paper Mache of my least fav character

The other highlights of the week were a surprise baby shower that was for three of my friends who are all having baby number two this year. We became friends because of our babies number one. There are two boys and a girl joining in our baby bunch so we are very excited. As I write this one of the boys has already arrived, so welcome Ben and I can't wait to see you.

Day 208
Ready for the surprise triple baby shower of my friends

Day 209
Beautiful arrangement by friend Christine hosting the baby shower

We also went to the Stone Zoo this week, which is the smaller of the two Zoos in Boston. We like going there more often because its really close to us and has fun kid events throughout the year. Looking forward to their Halloween trick or treat this year since Zain had such a great time last year.

So glad to finally write again. Hope you all are having a great summer. Keep coming back as I will be publishing the next few posts of the missed weeks in succession.

Day 210
1st visit to the Zoo this summer by these curious toddlers

Week 29 ( Jul 16- Jul 22 )

The highlight of the week was Eid-ul-Fitr☪ also known as "Choti Eid". This is one of two Eids we celebrate and comes after fasting for a whole month and therefore highly anticipated. We look forward to eating lots of delicious foods especially desserts. This year Eid fell on a working day so we didn't get to celebrate in the traditional way on the actual day of the Eid. However, we had decided to take a weekend getaway with a group of friends to just relax and enjoy.

We went to the White Mountains in New Hampshire and enjoyed a great time at a family resort. There were lots of activities at the resort and surrounding areas, so the time passed by quickly and we had a memorable time. The White Mountains area is very picturesque and I feel like each season it has something different to offer. I now look forward to the fall season when we will try to go there again and look at the colorful leaves.

The rest of the week went by pretty quickly with our usual activities. There was playgroup, park playdates and a trip to the mall for the day that was too hot. I can't believe after the winter we have had, we are already complaining of the heat.

Here are my photos from the week:

Day 197
Eid Mubarak!

Day 198
Yummy homemade veggie pancakes

Day 199
Flume Gorge hike in New Hampshire

Day 200
Feeding the ducks at a lake in New Hampshire

Day 201
Being a monkey at the play place with his friend

Day 202
The runaway kid at the park

Day 203
Artwork during his play group at the school

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Go outside and enjoy the summer activities because it will be over before you know it. Keep reading my blog and thank you for stopping by☺︎

Week 28

This week was all about getting back into the groove, after coming back from our Euro tour. Summer is here in full swing and there is nothing better than that. The days are long and there are so many activities to do. We try to do one fun activity everyday to keep ourselves entertained. 

My birthday also happened to fall during week 28. Once you are older you really don't want to count how old you are, but rather just spend a good time with the people you love the most. I was too tired from our vacation so I decided to have a low key cosy dinner with my loves and be happy.

Here are my photos from the week:

Day 190
I love this place, so serene

Day 191
Birthday dinner at this French Bistro was like deja vu of our trip a week earlier

Day 192
Zain at his best bud's birthday party, enjoying a juice box together

Day 193
Somebody stop him!

Day 194
Random street art

Day 195
Steering clear of trouble is he?

Day 196
Coloring fun at home

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my post. Have a great day☉

Week 27

Our Europe vacation continues this week, with a road trip through picturesque Switzerland countryside and southern Germany. From the valleys, to the tops of Alps, the natural beauty is breath taking. I had imagined and seen photos of the places we were planning to visit during my research but I was not prepared for how incredibly beautiful it was in real. A must see area for people who like to travel the world. Here are my photos from this amazing week 27 of the year.

Day 183
The beautiful Interlaken region in Switzerland full of incredible mountains and lakes.

Day 184
Take a view of Top of Europe from the summit of Birg in Switzerland

Day 185
Cruising Lake Lucerne in Switzerland

Day 186
The Neuschwanstein Castle in Hohenschwangau, south Germany was the inspiration for Walt Disney's Cinderalla Castle. 

Day 187
A day in Zurich, Switzerland

Day 188
Back home catching up with friends at a park playdate

Day 189
The fun never ends!

We came back from our vacation this week. In some ways it seems too short but in others it seemed too land during which we had seen so many places. We had a great trip over all and for those of you still afraid to travel with your toddlers, I would say ditch the fear and take the leap. I promise, it is worth the trouble ☺︎

Thanks for checking my blog. I will be posting more frequently till I catch up with my weeks. Happy Tuesday!