Time to think about losing the baby weight?

It's been a year...

The last three weeks  I have had a Backache (capital letters are intentional).  Incredible, crippling, "I-can't-bend-over-and-pick-up-my-children" back pain has been plaguing me.  Fortunately, with an assessment from Yang (which made things a little worse) and some Voltaren from the pharmacy (which made things A LOT better), there is an end in sight to this pain.  

I had a Thai massage with Tod on Sunday (she does good things for me), and discovered that Sharanis spa has become Anahata spa (which also explains why I had such a difficult time looking up the phone number on the internet after Peter lost all my contacts on my phone--BTW:  please email me your contact information if you are reading this, as chances are good that I DON'T have it anymore!!).  

Despite the pain, I have managed to do a few exciting things here and there.

1.  We attended the Russell Peters concert at the YAS Flash Forum (basically, a big tent on Yas Island).  We went with a group of friends and really enjoyed ourselves (of course--it WAS Russell Peters).  I do confess to being a touch disappointed though.  Russell managed to pick Peter out of the crowd (so he could play out his Chinese bit).  However, after discovering ME beside him, and even having Peter tell him I was his wife--the only thing Russell used ME for was to make fun of Canadians and their patriotic ways (which apparently increase infinitely when we leave Canada).  

I feel that I was a veritable GOLD-MINE of opportunities for Russell--so many jokes could have been made about me (I'm Canadian 'woo-hoo'/Indian, I'm married to a Chinese Canadian guy from Vietnam, my name is hilarious--even I can't pronounce it properly...and he found us in Abu Dhabi), and he just let them all slide.  I just shake my head and sigh...we could have laughed so much harder that night.  Regardless, I think it was our second night out, since having S, and we really did have fun--we laughed and enjoyed the company of some good friends.

Birthday Girl

2.  Look who is celebrating her FIRST birthday!!  This little lady officially turned ONE on March 24--and we just spent a quiet family day at home.  I tried out my cupcakes and 'ladybugs' (which did not actually work out so great as the strawberries kept slipping off the icing--but I have a new idea involving shortbread and red food colouring...).  She is not walking yet, but does hold herself upright for few seconds at a time, unassisted.  She also takes the occasional step here and there.  On April 1, after what feels like one year of complaints, she finally managed to bust out her first tooth (bottom left).  We were scheduled to host her first birthday party on March 31, but had to cancel, as we discovered that she has contracted Hand, Foot (and Mouth--though she has no blisters there) disease.  I have no idea where she would have come in contact with this virus, as she is pretty isolated from other children.  As of today, her older brother has also succumbed, and has a smattering of blisters on his feet.

3.  We managed to spend a lovely evening, listening to the Rocket-Man (Elton John) tickle the ivories at the Yas Arena.  It was AMAZING.  He played for two hours straight, and entertained us with his piano skills and voice.  He comes across as a very lovable soul, and I will always remember the great night I had attending his concert.  Though Little A was very upset we were going out two Thursdays in a row, she now requests Elton John's Love Songs cd, and I think she knows the words to "Daniel".


We are all decorated for S's birthday party (we moved the date to April 14) and Easter.  I have to spend some time setting up an Easter egg hunt for little A (not sure if N will 'get it' this year or not).  Peter is jetting off to Japan tomorrow night, to spend some time eating sushi with our friend Ajay.  I am a little jealous...sometimes I think it would be really nice to jet off to an exotic land, and have an adventure where I only think about myself and my needs...but realistically, I would probably spend the entire time:
(a) missing my children and wishing I was with them
(b) sleeping (b/c where I am at in my life these days, the land of dreams IS an exotic place where I long to go!).

The Three Amigos--long may you love!

Hiatus ends

My parents were here for three weeks.  It was so very nice to spend some extra time with them (and what a surprise...I wasn't expecting to see them again for maybe another year).  They were en route to India, and managed to work the Visa and spend three weeks with us as well.  We squeezed in two trips to Dubai, and also do a few things around Abu Dhabi (in addition to our usual visits to Lulu Hypermarket).  

The day after they left, I had to go shopping to Lulu (my mom's favourite place while she was here), and I teared up as I was going down the Travelator with my grocery cart, thinking about how many times my parents had walked those same aisles while they were here.  I wished for a time machine, so that I could see them browsing the aisles, my dad with his hands clasped behind his back, more interested in the people around him than the products on the shelves.  Mom would have been oblivious to everything except all of the exciting Indian products on the shelves--which kind of chapati flour (of the eight varieties or so in front of her) would be the best (she finally decided on Lulu's own brand--No. 2).  Everyone time I have to part ways with my parents, a part of me becomes so worried that it might be the last time I see them...

I have given my laptop to Malou (bc I was supposed to be getting a new one...but now I am waiting for the NEW iPad to come out...and for Peter to go to the States to buy it for me).  So, the hiatus from blogging is attributed to my parents visit plus my laziness in using the office computer upstairs to blog.  

Here are some pictures to help fill the 'gap'.  

 Here we are at Ibn Battuta mall in Dubai.  You can see my parents in the back with baby S.  Little A is (of course) glued to me.  This is a beautiful Vegas style mall, and we took my parents on a quick 'golf cart' tour of the whole thing.

Clarks was having a sale (which I found out about VERY late...) and here is N getting measured for his first pair of big boy shoes. 

We still have no definitive answer about N's hearing status.  We know he can hear, and he has acquired many new words ('doctor' is his latest).  In this picture, he is having an ABR test, without sedation.  The results basically supported the mild to moderate hearing loss diagnosis from before, which is inconsistent with his behavioural responses to sound.  So, we are now in the care of Dr. Michel Bussieres (a Quebecois doctor), who has my confidence and respect.  We will be repeating another ABR test, with oral sedation, in May.  In the meantime, I am going to book another hearing test with a different clinic.

Kraft Dinner has made its way into our home.  Both little A and N love the whole-grain KD that I found at Lulu, and now Peter has told me to stockpile it.  Here you can see N enjoying his KD with some yogurt (different strokes for different folks).  

Smileah will be turning one at the end of this month.  We will be celebrating with friends on the 31st, and I am hoping to have a ladybug themed party.  Let's see how the ladybug cupcakes turn out (I am going to use strawberries).  

Here are little A and Smileah playing.  A has been singing this song (which you can hear in the video)--one that gets stuck in your head.  She learned it from her jazz class last term, and on our last trip to Lulu on Saturday, she was singing it quite loudly as we wheeled around the store (garnering the attention of more than a few patrons of the store).  She (of course) didn't know the song title...so I googled it (based on the few lyrics that she new) and discovered that it is called "Jar of Hearts" by Christina Perri.  I have had one of those "You know you're getting older when..." moments: "you know you're getting older when you rely on Glee or your four-year old daughter to discover top-40 music".  

Eneloop batteries

I feel like all the juice has run out.

Did I mention I slipped and fell in the bathroom last night?  If 'clumsiness' is something hypotonics suffer from, then I am most certainly the genetic contributor to N's hypotonia.  I have slipped and fallen more times as an adult than any other adult I know.

Today little A was unwell.  There was a fever, and some crying...and a request for a doctor's appointment (which I made and then cancelled when she started to perk up a bit later in the afternoon).

My parents are coming on Saturday morning.  I look forward to some quality nap-time, while the grandparents play with my children.  Perhaps Peter and I might even venture out for a night on the town--just the two of us...

N--2.0

Like most mothers, I think that my children are amazing and beautiful.  Before I had children, I had not realized how much love I was capable of feeling.  After I had my own children, I found myself reevaluating my own relationship with my parents, factoring in my new found knowledge of the love between a parent and a child.  It is like no other love.  

That said, allow me to share with you N's new look--it's him, only just SOOO much cuter.  

This morning we had two appointments.  First, was N's audiologist appointment, where Jino was able to perform the OAE test on N WITHOUT SEDATION (and here's a big one finger salute--mature, I know-- to the chief ENT at SKMC, who said N would have to undergo general anaesthetic because he was "too active" to sedate).  This test was consistent with Jino's original ABR findings, and confirmed a mild hearing loss (which I guess is unfortunately not temporary, as he suspected).  However, it IS mild (and not moderate to severe) and Jino is recommending that we follow up with another test (which he will also try to perform without sedation in two weeks time), to determine which frequencies are missing from N's hearing range.  Normal speech occurs at a frequency range of 400 Hz to 5000 Hz.  Jino said if N's frequency loss is outside of that range, then we won't pursue any kind of treatment, as he will be able to hear all the sounds required to develop normal speech.  

This got me curious, and of course, researching on-line, where I found this neat little test to check my OWN frequency of hearing.  If you want to check yours, turn up yours speakers and try this HEARING TEST.  The last one I could hear was 16 kHz and YOUCH!!  it sure bugs the ears!!

After this appointment (which started almost an hour late and ran almost an hour long), I packed up my hungry and tired little guy and went to pick up his glasses.  It just didn't make sense to drive all the way back into the city again tomorrow.  The pick up was quick and easy and we zoomed back home.  

I thought we might have some problems with him keeping the glasses on, but he was a superstar.  He kept those glasses on his head and toddled and played around.  He was a little upset after nap and bath-time, when I put them back on, but it was just a little cry, and then back to sweetness for this little guy.

N is truly just an angel.  For all the crap that he's gone through in his life so far--all the poking and prodding, the blood tests, the ct-scans, the doctors visits, the therapies--I can only shake my head in awe at him.  At night, when I go to sleep, I think that I should aspire to be more like my son.

17 aed will get you...

THIS smile, and THIS Ariel hooded towel.

When we were on the school tour yesterday, there was a group of KG-1s lined up to go swimming (b/c the school has TWO pools--one with lanes, and a smaller one for for the little tikes--both heated.  Private education dollars at their best me thinks!).  I thought Little A would be so excited to see that swimming would be part of her curriculum, as it is something she enjoys very much.

Well, apparently she was a little MORE excited about the prospect of owning one of THESE towels, which I guess one of the little girls had in the line-up (little eagle-eyes noticed and stored it away in her memory).  She was thrilled to see it at Carrefour today, and I was happy to get it for her (hey--it's not another doll, and towels are very useful).

Snotty noses and poor sleeps are continuing trends here.

I have hot water on the stove--and all three wees ones in bed.  If I get off the computer asap, I might have time for tea, a little read (aka "mental break"), and in bed by 8:15!

Chinese New Year came down and Valentine's Day decorations went up today.  Thanks to nanaji and naniji for all their shopping to help our home prepare for this holiday.

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As soon as I shut off the computer, I realized that I forgot to address the soul who makes Feb. 7 so very significant for me.  My dear Oliver--not a day passes when I don't think about you and love you.  Like I tell my children:  "you are part of me, and you are always in my heart".  The words "we lost him" haunt my memories, and yet I remember to 'have hope'.  Ollie forever. xx

Little A goes to school

I can never really tell what time is my official 'wake up' time.  Smile-ah wakes up so much during the night, that I'm never really sure if I've ever actually gone to sleep.  THIS morning however, was a doozy.  Little A pitter pattered into my room at 3 a.m., after wetting her bed.  So, I had to get up, pull off all the sheets, change her clothes, and then set-up another mattress on the floor for her as a temporary bed.  From her last 'wet the bed' night, I learned that she should absolutely not be 'sleeping' in my bed after an 'accident'--for the simple fact that she does not go back to sleep!!

At 3:10, I was all ready to sleep again (keep in mind that Smile-ah is just in one of her precious temporary sleep phases during all of this), when A comes in again.  "I'm scared!".  As I am shaking my head at her (or more in sadness for me), I just tell her to get in the crib and go to sleep.  I don't know if she slept, but at least she did not keep rolling around on my bed, and so I had at least another hour of sleep (factoring in the amount of time it takes me to fall asleep), before Smile-ah woke up again.  At least THIS time, she had someone to play with her.  Little A kept Smile-ah happy until around 5:30--when I texted Malou, and called her in.  Then I power-slept until 7:45.  

At 10, we attended a school tour, for Little A's school (did I mention that 5000 aed 'reserved' her a place at the American GEMS school, which is a five minute drive from our villa?).  As you can see from the picture, the school is enormous, and doesn't look like any school I have ever seen experienced before.  Check out the 'reception' area--it looks like a hotel!  Despite having some anxiety ("will there be other children there? I'm scared of other children.", "will you walk with me?", "will you hold my hand?", "will you stay with me?", "you aren't going to leave me there, are you?"), little A seemed to really like the school tour, and she enjoyed seeing the classrooms and the library.  I plan on taking her a few more times, so that she gets to feel comfortable in the space.  One less thing to be anxious about when we go for her 'assessment' sometime in March or April.  She will be starting KG-2-5 (which is Kindergarten for 5 year olds--the first mandatory year) in September.

Outside the school

The reception area

Smile-ah has been pretty miserable the last two days. She is congested, and has a runny nose (love that!).  She is not sleeping well, and I think her gums are bothering her too (though I don't see any teeth on the horizon).  Thus, she has not been a happy girl.  I continue to administer saline drops, pain relievers and salinol/ovol drops to her regularly.  I hope she is better soon!

Little Man--Big Changes

This week has been filled with lots of changes for our little N.  

We started with his first 'big boy' haircut (if you recall, I retired my scissors after the last cut).  Peter thought that his hair was a bit long and he needed some more shape for our family photos, so I packed him and A up (while S was sleeping) and off we went to the kid's salon at the pink shops.  There, we met Ahmed "sorry baby, little English", the hairdresser, and he worked his magic on N's hair, for 35 aed. Ahmed also taught me that Arabic cars say "da-rum, da-rum", as N drove around during his hair-cut.  We have received many comments on this new haircut, most of them indicating that N now looks like a 'real boy'.  I guess my mom-cuts weren't as great as I thought.  

Obviously N doesn't know he can't keep this toy.

Thank-you Ahmed!

On Thursday we met Earncy, our NEW speech therapist at the British Institute.  I wish I had found this place months ago!  Though it is really expensive (in an 'out of pocket' kind of way) there are a few things that make it much better than the Well Health Medical Clinic:

1.  The therapist seems to be very positive about all the things N CAN do.


2.  She seems to understand that the activities need to be 'age appropriate' for N, and does not have 'should be able to sit and concentrate at a desk for 45 minutes' as one of his goals.


3.  She feels that SHE is the therapist and is responsible for the therapy.  As such, she is requesting that I should stay OUT of the therapy session, b/c I will be a distraction for N.  At our previous shop, the therapist wanted me to sit in on the sessions, and went so far as to videotape a session where I led the therapy.  Her feedback to me afterwards indicated that I had failed as a therapist to my son.  


4.  The therapist indicated that N did not act like a child with any hearing loss.  If she did not already know the back-story, she would never refer N for an audiological exam, based on his response to auditory stimuli, and his reactions during the session with her.  She also informed me that disagreements between ENTs and audiologist is in fact the norm (in this region--or everywhere?), and that when in doubt, it is best to stick with the audiologist's feedback.  


5.  The therapist suggests that we attend no more than 1 hour a week (or two thirty minute sessions--which are more expensive, and so I am hoping 1 hour a week will work).  She feels anything more is too much for a child so young.  


6.  The British Institute is a five minute drive, on local roads, with little to no traffic.  It is a much safer drive and allows me to still have the energy and time for my OTHER two darling children, when I come home from speech therapy.  

I am hoping for good things!

This morning, we went to find N some specs.  We did find Majzoud Optical, on the corner of Khalifa Street, across from the NBAD building.  He tried on these two pairs.  Although I like the shape of the blue glasses, they are too big.  So he will be wearing the rounded pink version--but in BLUE.  Sadly, the Middle East does not carry the same colour range of Miraflex as North America.  However, they are super light, and durable, and as you can see--he is ADORABLE!!

700 aed and one week...his glasses should be ready for pick-up!

We had a great time at Yang and Juergen's housewarming bbq.  They chose to have an afternoon event just so that we could make it.  We chose to leave all of our little ones at home, and thus we were able to enjoy some delicious food and some adult conversation, without interruption.

Peter is jetting off to London again tomorrow morning.  He will be back on Saturday.  Let's see what this week brings us...hopefully better sleeps for S (and thus for me too!).