HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!

Happy mothers day to those who celebrate today!

This morning my kids gave me their presents that they made in school..

Bilal had a hand print with a poem...ok seriously those hand print poems are tear jerkers...they always get to me!

Ziad had a pot, paint ,soil and seeds...we decorated the pot and planted the seeds together...I took over the painting and he got mad though...he had a questionnaire and he said he loves me because I do everything for him and let him eat on the sofa...

And I got a gift card for a manicure, pedicure and a facial at a local spa..now I have to find the time to do this...hmmmmmmmmm...

We will be going to my parent's house later...my mom is making a turkey!! I know who the heck cooks on mothers day?? MY MOM DOES...we were planning on taking her out to dinner but I guess not...this is why I did not get her a pampering present...it seems the older generation does not like to be pampered! My parents are redoing their bathroom, so I got her the bathroom stuff...rugs, curtains, decorations...I hope she likes green!

I guess Tamer's present to me is that he let me type this post...with one hand...thank you Tamer!

It is days like this that I like being a mother...and thank god no breakfast in bed..but one day I know my kids will do it and I will get down to a super messy sticky kitchen.

Well I did get bkfast...*sigh* Ziad poured my favourite special K cereal...great right?? noo there was a big hair in it! now I will not be able to eat my cereal for a week! We are going to make pancakes together...hubby is going to hate it...it is unarabic! We will make him labne, zeet w zaatar with shai on fathers day...Hey he can have that today too for breaskfast since he hates pancakes..yeh I know I have a weird husband!

So big already...

Slow down baby!! Stop growing so fast...

He is already 3.5mo...a big little baby. It seems like yesterday that he was born.

He is a great baby so far...cooing and smiling most of the time...but when he cries...watch out..he is LOUD!

He sleeps all night long, but he only sleeps when in bed with me..in his crib he sleeps for a max of 5hr...bad baby! I miss tossing and turning in bed freely! He'd better frow out of this soon or I will turn into a stick!

He is teething already...chewing on everything like crazy...i thought i'd have a normal baby this time, but I guess not! Ziad had his first teeth at 4mo...and Bilal has his first teeth at 10mo. I am going to miss those gummy smiles *sniff, sniff*

Well at least he is not a cat...our cat is only 1yo , she is huge and already a mommy to a huge 5mo old kitten...

Traveling with baby...not so easy!

We have never taken long road trips when our kids were this young. We have taken plane trips when our kids were 3.5mo and up...long road trip when they were at about 10mo.

This weekend we decided instead of staying home on the long weekend, we would go to Montreal. my dear hubby called me on Thursday morning and asked if we felt like going to Montreal's that night...I booked a hotel, it was too late to rent a van, so we took my car... and started packing...four changes of clothes for the older kids, and all like 20 outfits for the baby (babies spit up too much) and other necessities...we wanted to leave that night but decided it is more fun to travel during the day so we left on Friday morning...

Our motto is getting there is half the fun , so we stop whenever we feel like it to get coffee, lunch , snacks...and just walk around..

With a baby you have to stop every 3 hours...at the 3 hrs dot he starts to scream for food...what the hell? So we had to stop a lot more...and sometime we would stop at a place and spend 2hrs there...we feed the baby when we first get there ...then we leave and drive then 1hr later we have to make an emergency stop because he is screaming to eat...no pacifier or singing or anything calms him when he needs food.....and you cant feed him any sooner because he will just spit it all up all over you.....this is why I have to take a lot more clothes for hubby and I...hubby thought it was crazy that I took him 6 shirts for a 2 day stay...now he knows it was not!

It took us a bit over 9hrs to get to Montreal...it usually takes us 6hrs...but it was fun ...we didn't mind it...except for the unexpected stops in the middle of nowhere...

The kids had a good time walking around old Montreal...and we took the horse carriage...it was for $45 for a 20min ride!! When we rode the carriage in Aqaba it was for like 4JD...but the kids loved it and they are still talking about Buddy(the horse) ...we went for lots of walks around the town...it was cold but no body minded it , except now Bilal knows how important his mittens are!

I think I gained 5lb on this trip..I have to make an extra effort to go to the gym daily and to eat well this week...We ate so horrible...too much flafel and shawarma, hamburgers and fries...YUCK! All I am going to eat are veggies this week...I will do what 7aki is doing and make myself baby food...steamed veggies without anything...

Hopefully in few months when we are ready for another road trip ...I think we'll go to PEI next time, the baby will be 5mo and will not need to eat every three hours...or at least able to take a bottle while we are driving...maybe??

OUCHI!!

I have become a major klutz since giving birth, I keep on dropping things and breaking others...

My latest episode was falling down the stairs...I was rushing down, with the baby in my arms, Bilal annoying me to tie a towel around his waist so he can be a cook ...I slipped and fell...OUCH!!

My poor tailbone is bruised...like I really need any more back pains! grrrr.....it hurts to sit...who would of thougth that sitting can be so painful...

Well I guess it could have been worse...it would have been awful if it happened when I was pregnant..so I guess alhmdoullah for everything..

BUT! I was going to start working out this week....I ditched my old gym and joined a new gym...this gym looks so much nicer...it has a pool...a ladies area and a coed...the best thing is I made hubby join hahaha.....and there is a junior gym so Ziad can workout on cool equipment...a dance pad, a playstation that you play while peddaling a bike..yeh good stuff...and the day care for the kids is huge..so the kids will have plenty to do while I am working out...

I bought the cutest workout outfit, new sneakers, new socks, loaded new song on my MP3, and I was ready to start working out 5x a week...and now I can not ...

I guess I am meant to be fat...waaaaaaahhh...

Six weeks....

It has been six weeks since the arrival of our new monster...Ok he is not a monster yet, but it is in the works...or maybe I will be lucky this time around? A good baby who becomes a good toddler??

Tamer is an awesome baby....just like his brothers used to be.

He sleeps few hours during the day....about 6-7hrs at night then wakes up to eat and then goes back to sleep...(I wish I could go back to sleep...but sleeping from 6-8 is the worst..I wake up msatli..) .He only cries when I take too long to fix his bottle, or when he is gassy or sleepy and one of the monsters won't let him sleep because he is so loud...and he is so freakin' cute mashallah!! I can not stop looking at him and holding his tiny teeny hands....I like to hold my babies and do not believe in the spoiling them thing...they are only so small for such a little time...I want to enjoy it...

Now that the baby is here, and the six weeks resting is up , it is time to get into shape!

I am happy to say that I gained 20lb with this baby...14lb are gone and I am left with 6lb to lose...I have been wearing my pre pregnancy clothes since 1 week after giving birth.....even the jeans after getting out of the dryer!! It is nice because with my other pregnancies I had to go out shopping for bigger clothes and did not see my pre pregnancy clothes for a good eight months...

It is time to get back into shape...because yeh I am so out of shape...your body changes a lot during pregnancy...I need to lose lots of inches here and there and get my old shape back..

Exercising is proving to be hard with a new born and a 4yo around! I get Bilal busy with a project, some arts and crafts, or his favourite DVD or a show on demand..and get dressed for my workout...well the minute he sees me working out he decides that I am and the baby are more interesting and he is either in my way, or he is waking his brother up...I will have to restart my gym membership sooner than I thought!

During my pregnancy I lost my appetite...but it seems that the minute the baby popped out my appetite made a grand return! I have been eating like a crazy horse in the past six weeks! My love for chocolate is back!!

I just realized I have not posted in over a month....and it is almost my blog's second bday...I do not have much time anymore...maybe this blog was only meant to live for two years...

Welcome to the world baby....

I feel bad sharing my good news when everyone is upset and angry about what is going on in Gaza...but I did share all my pregnancy up and downs on here..so here goes..

He was born on January 07...one whole week before his due date...you can imagine our surprise since we were sure he will come late just like his brothers..but noooo he had other plans...good thing our cell phones were recharged on that night...and my car filled up with gas...

Everything I have feared about his birth happened...

I was afraid of going into labour on my own for many reasons and was hoping that the doctor would induce labour on the 14th of January...I wanted to be ready, house clean, fridge stocked up, I was worried about going into labour and not knowing it, and I wanted to make sure there is no storm, be at the hospital when it is time to get an epidural, drive my kids to my parent's house in Hamilton and make sure they get there safely...

Well none of this happened...On Monday and Tuesday I was busy going out to get my shopping done, coming home I was too tired to clean my house..so my house was not perfect and tidy...

On Tuesday night I went into labour on my own!!

I went into labour on my own and was not sure I was in labour! At 8pm it started snowing and was supposed to get worse with freezing rain, at 9:30pm I started getting noticeable contractions, they were 11min to 5 min apart then all of the sudden got down to 2min apart.....everyone keeps on telling me when you are in labour you will know ...labour contractions are painful...well I was not in that much pain...some of them I hardly felt and others just needed an aw aw aw....

We decided to head to the hospital, I was sure we will be sent back home...but because of the snow storm they usually keep you there even if in early labour which is what I thought I was in.....so at 12:30am we got the kids up, got our bags in the car, cleared the snow off the car and left ...hubby was to drive me to the hospital which is in town and only 5min away and drive the kids to my parents house which is a 45min drive away, if it was a false alarm we would go pick them up in the morning..but it is better safe than sorry in this weather...

As much as I hate snow, I am glad it was snowing and stormy on Tuesday night...otherwise I would have decided to stay home and wait for painful can not talk, can not breath feel like you are going to die contractions to come.....if I did that I would have had the baby at home! I went to the hospital saying I think I am in labour...well it turned out I was in labour..and not in early labour but in advanced labour...too late for an epidural!! OMG you should have seen me....I was in shock...I needed that epidural...I am too much of a chicken! well too bad for me....

1.5 hrs after getting to the hospital little Tamer was born at 2:04 am...hubby missed the whole thing...it was just me, the doctor and the two nurses...it was pretty cozy actually...the baby was born before hubby even made it to Hamilton, when he got back to Milton the baby and I were ready to head to our room...

We just decided on a name last night...I wanted Omar...hubby wanted Mustafa...then we were watching Aljazeera and there is a reporter named Tamer and we both liked the name..so Tamer it is ...it is not for sure yet, since we have not even started his registration papers...as soon as those are sent the name sticks...

He is a good baby so far, as long as he gets enough food he sleeps well during the day and night...and he is soo adorable!!!

Yay January is here...Happy new year!!

I spent my new year sleeping this year....I chose to clean my house and ring in the new year with a nice neat clutter less house instead of going out and partying. Who wants to go out when you have a huge belly ahead of you?? So when 12 am hit I was sound asleep in bed beside my two cute little monsters....we had PJ party in my room...we watched a movie, ate some popcorn and fell asleep by 10pm....Happy new year!!

I hope 2009 is a good year for everyone..I know 2008 was not too kind to many of us!

My newest little monster will be born in 11 days inshallah....max 14 or 15 days if he is as lazy as my other two and has to be induced out...which is very fine with me...I have never gone into labour on my own and would rather not start now...not in the middle of January in stormy Canada...

I am just so happy he did not decide to come in December...the last thing I need is another kid yelling at me because he is the youngest in class...everyday we have the same old argument...if I change my birthday to July will that make me not the youngest...how about February..can we have a birthday party for me in February...why did you not eat my baby seed so I am not born in November...blah blah blah..You can not change your birthday damn it! I wish you could...I'd have my birthday in July so there are no storms on my bday, and I would have it 10 years later....

so yeh...wishing you all a happy new year.....