Sharper Image stores and any others fun stores filed bankruptcy. The other which we really like is Bed Bath and Beyond.

I still have the picture of the Sharper Image store in New York City, on W 57th St between 5th and 6th ave. I used to go there with my friend, Cathy during my fellowship at NYU 1998-2000 and really fond of their gadgets. 

The economy is bad, worse, and getting worse, and I feel sad that even good stores can't keep up.

I am sorry that I keep thanking for what I have ... it is just that I am feeling so blessed with my life. I can't ask for more, everything relatively perfect, every single day.

I have Aidan with me whole day, and I really enjoyed playing with him, he was fully pampered today, I trimmed his toes and finger nails, then when he woke up, I cut his hair by strapping him on the trike and let him watch his movie.

I also enjoyed him by pushing him around the neighborhood with his trike, and have the afternoon bike ride with him... he enjoyed every minutes. We also played in the sand box, sitting on the grass and enjoyed the afternoon sun. My son totally turned to be brown/tanned. Still cute, according to me.

I enjoyed rocking him and played with him, holding him in my arms and watching those eyes went smaller, smaller, blink, he hugged me, and fell asleep hugging me. 

Nadia, she is such an angel, still. I drew for her, and she drew back for me, I have those pictures and I looked at it, it gave me very warm burst of feeling in my heart. I love my dear princess, and I enjoyed showering her before bed and dried her long beautiful straight hair in the real saloon style, blow dried it and she gave me a big kiss to thank me. 

Sometimes, I feel like I need a nanny or helper. Just like my previous life in Indonesia, I grew up living with 2-3 maids, gardener, cook, and drivers, and I have to admit, I sometimes miss it, but I realized that living like I have now, makes me more proud of what I am, what I do, and what I have. Nothing like the feeling of taking care of your own family (husband and 2 kids) with my only 2 hands, since day one.

I always go to bed exhausted, but the price you get, is worth every single time, when your husband came to your bed, giving you a kiss, and whispers, thanking me for what I did to him and the kids... and telling how wonderful I am....  don't you agree ?

I just spent almost 2 hours on the phone with Lisa... There is so much to discuss, mostly about life, relationship, and in laws. 

There is so much to share, and so much to learn from.

Life is beautiful, sometimes can get complicated, but we will survive, in any conditions and any circumstances, because we... are strong .... human is miracle.

Okay, got to do my errands!!!

Dalai Lama in Ann Arbor... Richard Gere, too!!!

Actor Richard Gere and acclaimed composer Philip Glass will join local Tibetan master Gelek Rimpoche for a discussion of Buddhism and art during a program that has been added as a prelude to the upcoming two-day visit of the Dalai Lama to Ann Arbor.

The program will be at Hill Auditorium on the University of Michigan campus on the evening of Friday, April 18. It was announced Wednesday by organizers planning the visit of the Dalai Lama on Saturday and Sunday, April 19-20.

Update on Aidan's health.

It turned out that when the Child Urologist wanted Aidan to come so much earlier due to my e-mail was after hours ... I came with Nadia and Aidan at 5.30 pm, no one was there, the receptionist even already closed her book that day, so I couldn't pay the co-payment. So he was so nice to see Aidan after office hours.

Ammar came to see us (he works at the same hospital), and after discussing what happened with Aidan. Nothing to worry about, he is fine. Great! I am relieved.

Dr. Bloom was so nice, he gave Nadia stickers and both of the kids the baseball trading cards.

I went home by my self because Ammar still have to see another patient that night (he works harder, doesn't he ?)

I took advantage from my husband's profession today.

Yesterday, Aidan was seen by his pediatrician and she referred him to see the pediatric urologist. They set up the appointment for Aidan and the first available was July 7th!!! It's 3 months from now!!!

This morning, I emailed the pediatric urologist, and just saying that I look forward to see him in July, and I have met him and found out he is such a super kind person (it's true, we met at the new faculty welcome party), and I just told him the short story about what happened with Aidan.

I got a phone call from his clinic... he moved Aidan's appointment for this Monday.

Well, I didn't ask bluntly that I want to see him earlier, but he made Aidan special by knowing Ammar works at the same hospital.

From Ammar's point of view : "Sari, it's not urgent.... you are asking between the line that you want the earlier appointment"

My point of view : "Hey, I am a mom and I am worry about my son.. hehe"

The truth : "Is it wrong or not using your husband's name in getting a better health care ?" 

After all, he treated patients, too and I think his family deserves to be treated well, too.

My three favorite cute faces, my world, and my hearts.

I am bit sad that we won't be able to go to Maui, Hawaii this year, as we always do for the last 6 years. This year, so much in our plate and we decided to put it for our friends to enjoyed it... just reimburse us with the maintenance fee this year. 

In the other hand, I feel so sorry for Aidan, he has never been to Hawaii and he has no idea how fun it is, while Nadia has been there twice and she enjoyed every minute of it. 

Oh well, maybe next year!! Nope.. next year will be filled of overseas traveling.. Here we come, Indonesia and Syria!!!

FREAKIN' AWESOME EASTER EGG HUNTING PARTY!!!

We had a 2 weeks later easter egg hunting party. Because this year we are hosting and we spent easter in Florida, we decided to make it 2 weeks later. Fortunately this weekend was sooo georgeous!!! Everyone enjoyed the weather outside just to sit down on the grass and hung out or they just rather standing up around the food table (the food were incredible!!!) or sitting in the sunroom and patio chatting and eat in the warmth of the sunny weather.

I was surprised that the party went so well, I made 3 dishes, and they were all gone by the end of the party and I had to prepare a day before because Ammar is on call and he worked the whole day on the weekend, and between taking care of the kids and cooking, preparing the house and the decoration.. I finished it up at by 10 pm and went to bed exhaustedly on Saturday night. I couldn't expect to have Ammar help me out because he went home crashing on Saturday, too, bringing Nadia to sleep with him (so he wouldn't read her story book hehe) and went to work again early in the morning on the party day.

Aidan surprisingly was so tired and wanted to nap earlier, 9.30 am, by the time all the guests came, he woke up, straightly went to the backyard to hunt for eggs.

It was so beautiful out, we enjoyed the sun in the backyard even after the guests left, that was when Ammar went home and played with the kids.

Nadia went to sleep happily, so did Aidan.. they got so happy after playing with the kids and of course, their favorite people on earth : Uncle Bill and Auntie Lisa.

Since we moved to Ann Arbor, I hardly drive Ammar's car. Today, without the kids, it feels so good to drive that powerful car and just press the gas, in 5 seconds, I reached 55 mph... WHEEEEEEE!!!!!!! It feels like it has been so long that I don't drive aggressively... not with the car I drive.. hehehe... Ammar's car is designed to speed.

Of course, driving his car was not for pleasure, I was assigned to bring the car back to the auto body store to fix some minor things... ended up going there twice because the problem was not all fixed. Ended up having to come back again later because they have to order the parts.

I remember.. when I was in Dental school, I always had race on General Sudirman Street.. to go to my university every single morning... that was when the street was not too crowded and you can speed on that straight, wide 8 miles road... oh Gosh.. that was long time ago.

I don't know,... it hit me today, how much I miss a speedy car... hehehe.... 

Now, having 2 kids and always on board, I drive like a girl scout. Although sometimes I got irritated with some people who drive like elderly...  on a one lane road. Sigh! 

I always enjoy driving, and today.. I really had a blast!!!!

If any girl who is crazy about cars, that's me... I used to just clean inside out by myself, although I don't like too much of washing the car from outside, my driver did that, but once, I even fix my beau's (at that time) car and brought it to the car dealer, and ended up going somewhere else and had better bargain, and of course, I picked him up at his work, with the stunning smelling good, immaculate car, inside out.. he hardly recognized his car.. well, I got a chocolate.. that's great! The price to fix it was fifth of the dealer quoted for. Yes, Sari was a tomboy! 

Still until now, the one who handles cleaning the car from inside is me... not Ammar.. he thinks I do great job so he doesn't bother to do it himself... well, I don't mind.. I love doing it (if I have time).

(PS: No wonder Ammar always speeds) ha ha ha

Update on Jalan Sesama.

Last night we watched the sample DVD the sesameworkshop, inc sent to us, it turned out that Beatrice made 2 episodes of Sesame Street in ARABIC!!!! Yay!!! That was very thoughtful of her.

When we talked on the phone, I mentioned that my husband speaks Arabic, so she said sesame street also makes in Arabic language. Now, we have 2 languages of sesame street movies....

Nadia eagerly watched the Jalan Sesama in Indonesian and I translated most of it, she now knows what "itu" (that), "tangan" (hand), "jabrik" (mohawk hair), "buku" (book), etc.

Fun..fun..fun.. 

PS: Thanks so much, my friend to give this information to me.

Jalan Sesama from Sesame Workshop.

We got home from Florida and found a package in front of our door and I was wondering.. hmm... I have not ordered anything on the net lately... I wonder what it was...

I took that UPS package inside, showed it to Ammar, and I opened... I found 4 sesame street characters and a DVD with 4 Jalan Sesama episodes, samples.

I was so excited. I remember that I had this information from my friend whose wife is Indonesian and he said his son loves the new Jalan Sesama episodes airs on Indonesian Television. They are now living in Indonesia and works at the American Foreign Post, he said he got DVDs because he is a member. Talking about how fun to have a bilingual children, I got so excited to have this, too and show it to Nadia and Aidan. After I talked to him, I immediately went online and search for Jalan Sesama, I talked to a really nice woman, her name is Beatrice Chow in NYC, and she said she would love to send some samples. I asked her if they decided to put the DVD on the market, to let me know.

Wow, seeing the whole package she sent, I couldn't believe that she sent the whole 4 characters plush toys in addition to the sample.

I remember my friend's little brother learnt lots of English from Sesame Street played on Indonesian TV, so this "Jalan Sesama" should work the same to teach my 4 year old some Indonesian and its culture.

We are back!!! We enjoyed our nice sunny day in the sunroom, there is snow on the ground, but it's not that cold. 

We also had a great time at Ann Arbor yearly event: Brick Bash. (Think Lego!)

So much laundry to do and I decided to make the living room free of kids toys for our sanity.

I saw my old best friend from Dental School whom I have never seen for 12 years!!!

It was so excited to see her and her husband in Florida when we came to visit. Our flight was delayed 2 hours and she had a dinner to attend back in Miami so I only saw her for like 15-20 minutes... we also had a meeting with someone that afternoon...  wish it was longer... 

You look so pretty, Linda. It was like a dream... and we love your husband!!!

My kids love them, Ammar loves the Godiva Linda gave us (he-he) and Nadia loves the chocolate and the easter lollipops! Thanks so much!!!

Today is the first day of Spring....

It's snowing!!! arghhhh &*$&#&*$()#

The snow almost melted all.. now it's snowing again? We have been having snow since THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!

We are leaving tomorrow to Florida... yay! Thanks God.. and I am done with this weather.

Study!!!

How hard it is to sit on your bump and study contently!!! We will have our vacation soon to Florida, tomorrow we are leaving. I packed all the kids stuffs and mine, all set. Ammar still have his undone. We have been so sick, Aidan, me, and Nadia. On and off, it comes and goes in a short period of time. I am on antibiotic, so is Aidan. I felt good yesterday and I paged my PCP to tell him how much I appreciate his help treated me as a VIP patient. Today... I feel miserable again... allergies!!! Ugh... spring time is here... pollens!!!! I woke up this morning and found my eyes were puffy and full of stuff.. red... heavy... makes you just want to sleep having this eyes condition.

For the last 2 weeks,  my dear friend, Lisa have been encourage me to study and study by sending me e-mails every day... she really is a wonderful friend.. 

I also have gotten calls from my friends, even someone I have not met, just talked on the phone, to study and don't forget to study.... the most recent one, I talked to my ex-beau and he asked me if I was going to go to school again.. and I said "I am!".... Yesterday, I got my sitter and took her and Aidan to Urban Toddler and I sat down at their cafe and studied. Talked to one Korean Mom and she mentioned about me studying and how much she look up for what I did with 2 kids in the house. It is hard to study ... really....

Thank you all.... I really appreciate it..... that makes me still have the strong will to study, even just an hour a day!!! Aim high!!!!

Lisa.. Love you much!!!! Please don't stop reminding me about studying....

I am sick.... sick... ugh!!!

Yesterday I got asthma attack, it got better during the day, then at night, I had chills, high fever of 103F. I coughed all night long. Nadia woke up crying, she had muscle spasms on her legs. Ammar sent her back to bed. Aidan cried at night, we let him fall asleep again.

I woke up so restless this morning. My right chest is hurting so much, sharp pain, esp. when I breath in. I have short breaths. 

Ammar called my primary care, Dr. Gradwohl in the morning and he asked me to come to his office. I got x-ray done because both ammar and him suspected me having pneumonia. I went to bldg 9 to get x-ray. Came back to bldg 3 to see Dr. Gradwohl again, he said I had no pneumonia. He gave me prednisone and antibiotic z-pack. 

I am still amazed how the u of Michigan hospital system was awesome. I remember when I got my chest x-ray done, I had to wait a long time for them to read and sent back to the doctor.. within minutes from x-rays done, my doctor could see it right away, on-line.

I went home, went to pharmacy on the way back. I beeped Ammar .. then someone called me with U of Mich number.. I thought it was Ammar, no, it was Dr. Gradwohl. He told me that he got another report from the radiologist.. that I HAVE pneumonia, very very early sign and he told me if I got more pain or things are not getting better to call him again, the same drugs so he doesn't have to change anything.

I got home, Ammar called, Dr. Gradwohl just called him and told him about me... he said not to worry, this might not be a real pneumonia, maybe because I got asthma, I am so prone to the lung disease. Ammar said he would give me extra z-pack if things are not getting better.

Okay... now... I feel so blessed that I have someone who cares so much, I didn't have to call the Primary Care office, to talk to someone about what happened with me... blah blah... Ammar right away called my Primary care, talked about me, and everything is taken care of.

I sent Aidan today for school, so I could get a rest.

I want to go to sleep now.... I am so tired and weak.... I didn't sleep good last night.

Finally after a long wait... yes, Ammar has been living in this country for 13 years! He finally received his welcome letter (yes, the security check from FBI came back after over a year.... ) and we received the real card in the mail 3 days after. No more advanced parole, no more reporting to the immigration at the airport, no more EAC cards, and no more hassle. Yay!

Congratulations, My love!!!

We celebrated Nadia's birthday party and Auntie Lisa and Uncle Bill drove all the way from Bay City to Ann Arbor just to attend the kids' party... we made them stay for dinner and had a last minute dinner after putting the kids to bed earlier and had our "adult" dinner together. It was so nice and the food, even though it was really last minutes, (you are a marvelous cook, Ammar), all tasted so yummy!.

Lisa and Bill ended up staying one night because we chatted and chatted.. and it was 11 pm and it was too late to go home. 

I love someone

Someone I got from my prayer

He came to my life as one

Honest, kind, the best so far

We are blessed with our family

One daughter one son

Time is so precious as a family

Nothing should be regret or undone

God, Thank you so much for your blessings

I can't ask for more, my family is so precious

Everyone is so happy, content, ready for the new adventures

Bliss in Life.... Alhamdulillah

(I usually hate to write poems, but I just feel like it today. The last poem I wrote when I had to at the elementary school, that was it, and it was not even in English....)