Dealing With The Unpredictable

I have a daughter, her name is Selma. I love to call her Salamonti. Some people call her Simsim and some call her Salmita.
It doesn't matter what we call her, what really matters is what she calls herself.
Let's pray we hear her say her name soon!

Selma, or Salamonti like I prefer to call her is not talking yet. She will be 2 years old in July and I worry about this. Her favourite words are Hi, Bye, Baba and Mama. She says: Baby, Habeebi, Habbouba and Wow!

She says: Naan~Kaman, Etteh~3ilkeh, wee wee for a slide and hoppa hoppa for a swing, Babeeeb~zabeeb, Maii~liquids, Tate~cake~food.

She's so active, full of energy and loud. Very Loud. She loves music and clapping and she loves turning around herself over and over and over until she falls down and cry...

When I want her to nap long she is wide awake in 20 min and when I need her awake she falls asleep and I beg her to wake up!

She loves to do WhatEver she wants. What puzzles me is that I can't teach her how to behave like her older sister. I just wish I have the same determination I had with Mariyah, but I simply don't!

I tell her it's wrong to do this but then she makes me laugh. I ask her not to do that but then I shower her with kisses, Right Away!
She has these priceless looks that melt my heart and make me laugh so hard.

Selma fills my day with so many challenges. From the minute she wakes up until she goes to bed. She drains my energy, physical and mental energy.
And she owns a big piece of my Heart :)

P.S: I Love You Salamonti.

Good Cooks Make Good Men

I have 3 sisters. I admire my parents' way of raising us. They taught us how to be strong and independent. How to be confident and brave. How to be Thankful and loving.

And since I didn't have a brother until Ward showed up I actually can say that I don't know how to raise a boy. How to make a man out of him. A real Man, A Gentle man.

I'm thankful I am married to the best guy in the world. To the world he's not perfect, but he's perfect enough for me. He has his faults but they vanish in front of his beautiful personality.

He knows how to take care of the girls in his life. He knows how to bathe the girls, brush their teeth and comb their hair.

He loves cuddling with them and he knows how to put them to nap and sleep.

He knows how to clean the kitchen and around the house when I need him to.
He knows how to sing to us and how to make us laugh.
And most importantly he knows how to cook :)

He is a perfectionist and he takes his time to fix a meal and the wait is always worth it.

He loves to prepare a whole meal from scratch. He enjoys shopping for the right pots and pans to excel in the kitchen. He searches online to learn more about cooking.

He leaves the kitchen a mess every single time but who cares? When it comes to cleaning I'm the fastest.

What brought the idea of this post was the Best pumpkin pie I have ever had made by my brother in law who's become our neighbor.

I always knew that he's a neat freak but I didn't know that he's a good cook!

So my conclusion is that my mother in law did a great job bringing up two gentlemen in this funny world. I give this to her and her great cooking as well.

She makes one of the best original cheesecakes!

If you have a son, teach him how to love, especially the girls in his life ;)

Don't get too excited, sometimes!

Every Tuesday night I get excited about Wednesday.

I think of the maid showing up at 8:30 am. I think of the "no school day" for Mariyah. I think of Jeeej's turn to cook.
Sounds lazy right?
Well, Sometimes while the maid is here I get carried away with the cleaning process and I work on a project while she's around.



Today, I got rid of all the old baby/toddler clothes I've been keeping for no reason



Organized the rest of the clothes according to size and season inside these drawers

Now their closet looks kinda empty
and may I add...Cleaner? :)

And then I was nicely asked to do this...

She asked for a Lion carrying his baby in his mouth again,
But I skipped the baby part ;)

and later on I remembered I need to cook instead of Jeeej since he prefers to cook on Thursday this week! so I made Fattet Hummos.

I was too tired from another stay at home day so we didn't go out after the girls slept and instead of making these yummi chocolate balls I made last month

I ended up making the laziest dessert ever...

Chocolate and graham crackers "stuffed then baked" bananas.
Never Again :(

And this is what happens when I get too excited about MY lazy Wednesdays!
Oh well...A mama's life will never be boring, that's for sure :)

The End

My Hamsters

Tonight I'm beat.
It's really overwhelming when you stay home all day long with your kids, Trapped with one sick child and another hyper one
Mariyah woke up with a strong cough. I had to cancel school and daycare later on. But a trip to the doctor's was important.
It's Croup again and yes it's contagious :(

I was told that it's OK to send her to school as long as there's no fever but my heart couldn't approve...I had to keep her home, warm and relaxed and I had to feed her well.
Celery, carrots, broccoli, green onions, zucchini and chicken. Soup!

Speaking of carrots and Traps,

This little creature, a Hamster "BUN", loves eating carrots.

Yesterday she escaped the ball and hid in the wall. My Jeeej and his brother did this to catch her and it worked.

 Now she -The hamster aka BUN- is home, warm and relaxed. 
Enjoying carrots and celery and recovering...
Just like my Mariyah :)

What My Father Told Me And My Husband Did Know

Growing up in Amman I was baba's "son". I was useful and I enjoyed it. We did so many things together, planted the garden, invented several watering systems, built a wooden ladder, fixed the water pipes on the roof. Baba was a great Mr. Fix It and I was his right hand.

I had pleasure in organizing his red tool box over and over again and he always appreciated my help.

I enjoyed watching him fix easy and complicated problems. He told me that Duct Tape is REALLY important and can fix ANYTHING broken!

I remember that whenever I thought of my husband to be I wanted him to be exactly like my baba and the complete opposite at the same time. It was always related to my mood I guess.

One of the things that makes me glad that Jeeej is like baba, is his love for Duct Tape!

A couple of weeks ago, a BAD guy hit my car while it was parked infront of my friend's house. He simply ran away without leaving a note or anything! He scratched two doors and left the mirror barely hanging there.

I right away thought of using Duct tape and so did Jeeej :)

My Mr. Fix It these days did a great job, as always!

*I sometimes wonder, when will he take my car to get fixed?
 It doesn't really matter as long as it's safe to drive and as long as he fills it up with gas every weekend ;)

**If you're in a troubled relationship I recommend you read this book: "What Your Mother Couldn't Tell You and Your Father Didn't Know"

My Kofta is so Good, It's DEADLY!

Did you, ever, feel that you're About to lose it? About to quit? About to give up?
Today I did!

My "supposedly" happy Saturday, the 1st day of a promising weekend started with water flooding my kitchen floor, at 7:30 am.
It turned out that I didn't learn my lesson and dumped a potato peel in the disposal. My husband wanted to eat Kofta with potatoes yesterday, so it was all his fault...

But then he almost died after he slipped on the wet floor so I forgave him...

The dishwasher was full of water and leaking non stop and I thought that the neighbors downstairs were actually moving because of the flooding in my kitchen.

It turned out that it wasn't the reason, but I was worried!

The plumber came and was fast. But time was faster since I was supposed to start cooking for 16 people in the morning but didn't get the chance to start until it was 2 pm.

Five minutes after the plumber left, I decided to wash the towels I used to dry my kitchen floor and then SURPRISE!!
The machine turned into a fountain and my bathroom sink started flooding. Pure coincidence...

Yes, the same plumber came back and yes he was fast and fixed it all.

But guess what?
I was faster this time and I cooked for 16 people

And then I was feeling thankful so I made some cobbler :)

Yes, everything was gone, along with the malfoof for dinner tonight!
Enjoy the rest of the week/end :)

The Real View

If you ask me about my ultimate goal in this life, my answer would be quick. Really quick you'd be surprised that I actually had already decided that IT IS my biggest goal.

"A house with a backyard and a kitchen window with a view" Would be my answer.

It's not going to be easy.
It's going to take a lot of Work, Time -Maybe-, Sacrifices and Determination.
And it's not Impossible.

As for now,
I can live with this...

I actually like it but I would love me....
 "A house with a backyard and a kitchen window with a view"

Thanks!

Why Now?

Why Not?

 

Best life is when routine happens



They're still learning how to survive each other





In Love with the weekends





Salamonti's first hair cut
And Mariyah's playing the big sister. "support system".



Perfecting motor skills,
The communication ones, not so much ;)



Please, don't say school is over, ever again!



And don't stop the paper supply!





Still growing along with the girls...