3alawi’s growing up and has had a pretty fun gargai3an so far.. I had a photo-shoot at home for his gargai3an card. I used my brother’s camera and borrowed mom’s sado carpet and pillows. It was fun because he wasn’t smiling due to our funny faces and sounds, he was smiling because he thought we looked like idiots lol

I got his gargai3an ready by shopping for fancy glittery festive vases for the family and wooden trunks for the grandmothers, then I took them to a chocolate shop to get them filled up and wrapped up.. Everything looks great and I’ll update the post later to show you the results..

In the July 28th post, he was just a few days old, in this pic he’s two months and a few days.. Like they say in arabic, the days are running (el ayam tarketh)…

Anyways, I hope you’re all enjoying gargai3an, getting all dressed up and getting sugar-high on candy!

See you after Eid!

I know I said I wouldn’t watch any shows during Ramadan, but there’s this one show that is so refreshing in comparison to the other shows and its timing is perfect too

That show is “Saher El-Lail”. The reason why I like it: It’s McChicken-Free!
Drama-wise, it’s too early to tell, but I hope it doesn’t get all 7ayat ElFahad soppy and tear-jerking..

I like the way it’s shot, I like how all the women in the cast look normal (no cone-heads, no skin-tight clothes and no rainbow make-up) with nude make-up, simple 60’s dark hair, real simple pajamas at home and a top/skirt/3abayet ras for going out…
I like how the men look manly rather than the usual meterosexual aliens we see today.. As a commenter on FB said, “Men were more charm than harm”..

The dialogue is peppered with “Allah ekhaleech lena, yumma” and “Allah esalmik, yuba” and not rude obnoxious spoiled brats, the music is always UmKalthoum and 3bdel7aleem…
Even the cars look good lol

I watch it at 8pm on Al-Watan, so it’s right after futoor and prayers and I’m usually busy on the couch feeding the baby…

TV this year is pretty ok, especially if you don’t watch the annoying sadness-laced Aneen or Lailat 3eed (the trailers? -promos?- alone are depressing)..

As for the ads this year, I really enjoy Zain’s “Allah Akbar” advertisement because of the positivity.. Wataniya’s “Family Futoor” rap/song because it’s just adorable and a lot of people can relate to it.. And of course, Asnan’s “Khi6ba” ad because it’s funny.. I just wish they’d made more ads with different situations…

I hope they make more normal-looking McChicken-free shows without over-the-top drama…
Enjoy the rest of Ramadan, people! I know I will ;D

Ramadan is finally here!
And it’s my birthday today! Happy 26th to me! lol

It’s my 1st Ramadan with the baby and it’s a bit more relaxing than the usual days.
Why? Well, I don’t have breakfast, lunch and dinner to interrupt mama-baby time.. Instead it’s just two meals at night, and they’re great to schedule sleep-time around lol

I’ll be cooking again these days since I have all day to be productive.. I can start cooking earlier in the day so whenever the baby needs me, it wouldn’t make the meal time later than it should be..

I will not be watching any shows, so that’s a huge burden off my head..

Now I’m gonna go eat, so you guys shoo! (for now ;p)

Ups:

* My baby… I don’t even need to explain this!

* I get to practice my photography on him.. Example:

Goolaw Mashallah!

* I get to do the quiet things I love to do while breastfeeding such as reading or bbming my friends lol
At least it makes the people with weird beliefs happy (look at the Downs, number 2)

* Smelling that fresh baby-out-of-the-bath smell.. I just can’t stop smelling my baby, he’s my new drug ;p

* No more junk food because I don’t want it in my milk, so I’m getting healthier for me and my baby, el7amdillah..

* Watching my husband play with the baby.. A-DOR-ABLE!

Downs:

* Everybody has an opinion and it’s really annoying. It’s not “hey, why don’t you use this?”.. It’s more like: “Use this. Bs intay kaiifech *sighs*” in a condescending way? I can’t explain it, it just makes me feel stupid, it gets on my nerves..”

* You hear the stupidest things in the world.. Examples:
“Don’t talk while breastfeeding, or else the baby will choke!”
- That has never happened, and the very few times it did happen I wasn’t talking..

“While breastfeeding, don’t just look at the baby’s face, look at all of him” Why? “Because if you only look at his face, the rest of his body won’t grow, so look at his whole body.”
- So if I watch TV while breastfeeding, will I get a bigger TV?

“Don’t kiss the baby’s forehead, hands or feet while tickling/talking to him because then he’ll look down on you.”
– Is he even going to remember? He’s an infant, for crying out loud!
And many many more.. They’re hilarious, but then turn sad when you see that the people saying them are dead serious.

* I miss my 8 hours of sleep

* I can’t get anything done around the house, even while the baby’s asleep because I’m afraid he’ll wake up any second and I’m too busy doing something noisy or far away (washing the dishes/doing laundry/cleaning out the fridge) to hear him..

* I miss blogging lol

That’s all I’ve got for now.. Seeya when I seeya!

Motherhood is better than I thought it would be..

True, I don’t get enough sleep. True, I’m achey all over. And true, his crying is heartbreaking.
BUT I have to admit that the quiet times, the mommy-son bonding moments are simply amazing.. When i hold him close, rub his back and he looks up at me with those big eyes… I really can’t express how that makes me feel.

The first 40 days after delivery (the nfas period) are a mix of things, ups and downs, highs and lows.. It’s a good thing that I’m staying at my parents’ house or else I wouldn’t have been able to vent and let it out to my mom and friends as much as I would’ve needed to.

Postpartum depression reared its’ ugly face a few times during the first couple of weeks, and it’s not pretty at all.
Hormones were flying all over the place and everything made me want to cry, and the fact that I had a slightly difficult delivery and the baby needed some extra medical care didn’t make things any better lol

It would get to the point that I would sometimes think I was a failure because I couldn’t take care of my baby when it was coming out of me or else he wouldn’t have needed that extra medical attention, THAT low.. Again, NOT PRETTY.
Now that I’m almost over all that, things are way more relaxed and baby 3alawi’s all grown up.

Then there was the food… There are a bunch of spices and foods that a new mommy has to eat during the first couple of weeks after delivery because they’re good for the body, good for the breast-milk and a whole bunch of stuff. Food like khabee9a (a sweet date-based dish), 7esoo (I have no idea what it’s made of and it’s not tasty at all), mughat (an egyptian drink, you mix it with milk and it tastes okay.. like sugar-y cinnamon-y milk) and 3a9eeda (another sweet) and gaboo6 (dough balls filled with a veggies and meat mix, swimming in soup and meat and potato pieces)..

Being a very picky eater, I wasn’t really looking forward to eating nfas food and I hated the majority of it (I only liked the khabee9a, 3a9eeda and mughat), but I just closed my eyes and had to bear it for the sake of my baby’s health.. uuugh *shivers*

Now that I’m close to completing the 40 days, I’m packing up my stuff so I can move back to my apartment.
I am not looking forward to taking care of the baby alone even though I can perfectly handle it.. I’m going to miss my mom and our shifts lol we would both get enough sleep by taking turns, so now it’s going to be all me and I’ll have to take advantage of 3alawi’s sleeping time to catch a few Zzzzzz’s.. I don’t know how productive that’ll be lol I’ll have to figure it out..

What I AM looking forward to is spoiling myself again! LOL Like all new moms, as a way of ending the 40 days with a bang, I’ll be going to the salon to treat myself with a “Happy End of Nfas Period” program.. A “new look” and everything.. A Moroccan bath, a facial, a massage, a mani/pedi, a new hair cut, dying my hair, the WORKS!
It’s the beginning of a whole new chapter in my life, so it deserves a new fresh look hehe

I’ll see you guys after everything’s settled down.. till then, this blog’s on hiatus again.. Seeya