Well I'm calling it as well. I'm calling bullshit.

Do you remember that scene in the movie, "What to Expect When You're Expecting?"when Elizabeth Banks breaks down and confesses how hard pregnancy really is and called pregnancy glow as bullshit.

That is very true.

There may have been those days when I presumably had a "glow" but that's because you saw me on my best hour where I took the entire day to get ready, put shimmer on my cheeks, and got out of my plus sized pjs. But trust me, I was NOT glowing.

I threw up everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

On the train, check.

On the floor of the bus, check.

On the side of the street where I worked, check.

In all three of my toilets at home, check.

On all the toilets at my work, check.

At my brother's house, check (sorry).

I threw up for 4 months straight plus more on my last trimester. I lost 8 kilos in the first 4 months.

But ohhhh did I gain those back plus more.

When I got hungry, the last thing I wanted to hear was the infamous advice that pregnant women do not necessarily need to gain that much weight and we should be careful (this advice is always said by women who have never been pregnant. The ones that have been know better). Honestly, we have been to the doctor's office. We have been given the professional advice on how to treat out body. WE KNOW. 

After I had Hasouni, I immediately lost 10 kilos which immediately followed the comment,  "oh, he's only 3 kg so how come you lost 10kg?

Well you know what...

First of all, it's not like I gulped Hasouni and he went straight into my stomach and I gained 3 kg. I'm thinking that if it takes 9 months for a baby to be developed in the body, I think, I THINK there is more to it.

When you're pregnant, you don't get those feelings "yeah, not really hungry but I could eat." When you're pregnant and you're hungry, you want to gauge someone's eyes out but you try to keep it cool...

It was as if you were on the brink of starvation. 

The heavier the meal was, the better I felt. It was a crappy feeling, but that's it. That's what happens when you get pregnant. For the love of God, you are creating a HUMAN inside you. Its tough business. You don't have control over your emotion, you don't have control over what you eat. You obvious do not want to eat bad food because you only want the best for your child but when you are spewing after every attempted meal, you just hope to God that you can eat something.

One night before I knew I was pregnant, Amar and I were in the kitchen and I was telling him that I was starving. I told him to go to his parents house and get the dish of food that I knew his parents made that day. I was really craving it. I was dead serious. Amar was  shocked. He said,  "you want me to go home, wake my parents up, and get you a plate of their food." I didn't understand what the problem was. All I heard from that was that I was hungry and I wanted a plate of the delicious meal they made. To me, it was basically a compliment to them. I was craving it so much that I thought for a split second, am I pregnant and why is he still here!??? But that thought went away and I kept trying to convince him. He didn't end up going. 

Unfortunately, pregnancy is hard for some and for others it may not be. AlhamdouAllah, I found raising a baby to be easier and even though pregnancy was hard, I would do it all over again for him.

On a good note, HASAN SAID MAMA!!!

Once. 

Next post will be less dramatic. I promise.

Baby Product Review

WOWWWWW babies need a lot of stuff. A lot of crap. The amount of toys that accumulated in my living room is ridiculous and what's really annoying is that Hasouni would like a toy for maybe a second and then spend the rest of the day playing with a string or a cup.

So, I thought I should do a product review of baby products and pass on some of my 8 month motherly wisdom.

1. Nappies. No hugs for huggies. A lot of love and comfort for Babylove.

I was so excited to buy nappies (aka diapers) that I immediately bought Huggies. I thought they would be an obvious choice since it's a huge brand and I love Winnie the Poo. I hated these stupid nappies. They were beyond useless. They kept leaking that I swear I thought I went demented and didn't know how to put nappies on my kid. I didn't know that nappies didn't necessarily fit all. You actually have to try and find ones that are best for your child. I swear, life gets so complex.
My favourite brand is Babylove. I was secretly disappointed with their cartoon choices for the nappies but I guess since they get the job done then I can-should overlook it. Really wanted Winnie the Poo though.

2. Prams. Steelcraft Strider Compact

I LOVEEEEEE my pram. If there is one thing I would suggest it would be to take your time and invest in a good pram. Everytime I use this pram, the Notorious B.I.G song plays in my head and I sing " I love it when you call me big mama." I don't know why. I feel so gangster with this pram. It's so EASY to use and it's so light. I bought a cellphone and coffee cup holder so I always have my sh-t together. All my groceries fit in the bottom. When you go to the pram store and ask for advice from staff, always say that you take a lot of walks even if you do not. The staff members will assess which type of pram you will need. When you say that you are a huge walker, they will advice you to prams that are easy to gear. This is the most important aspect. Remember how frustrating it is when you go to the grocery store and the stupid carts move slanted so you look like a retard pushing it sideways instead of straight. The last thing you want is after you put your crying baby in his seat, the diaper bag, the soft blanket, the heavy blanket, the bottles, all the toys and even your crap is to deal with a pram that is heavy to push and steer. Yes, the bulkier prams are much less expensive but you need to save your sanity.

What's cool with this pram is that you can turn the seat so that your baby faces you. Sometimes I feel bad because I know Hasan should be looking around and exploring the world instead of me but he's just sooo cute. 

3. Sophie the Giraffe

I am sure even if you do not have a kid that you know about Sophie the Giraffe. Every baby will love this toy. It's a teething toy. They say it is 100 percent natural which is great but I don't really know what that means. So, I looked that up and they explained

• Made from 100% natural rubber derived from the sap of the Hevea tree

In one ear and out the other. Sounds good to me though. 

It's very soft and gentle for the baby. When they start teething, they really need something that they can bite on aggressively without getting hurt. You know this costs around $30. I know. I almost had a heart attack as well.

4. Melobaby Nappy Bag

This is the coolest thing I bought. It's a small purse that folds out to a change mat (that is machine washable!) and it holds nappies,  toys, clothes, baby wipes and even your cellphone. I was showing this to some friends and Amar told me I was being inappropriate because we were in the middle of tea and cakes and I just folded out a change mat to a bunch of people that don't have kids but CMON it's so cool. I was explaining to him that instead of taking that big bulker diaper bag, I can just take this one. The thing is I end up being really paranoid and take both this tiny bag and diaper bag and it just becomes this big mess but I am working on it. 

5. QV kids balm. Cradle cap saviour 

I love all QV products but I especially loved QV kids balm. It's great for when you need to remove cradle cap. Wait till you find out what cradle cap is. It's pretty gross but completely harmless to a baby. 

6. Dermeze. A must have for babies with eczema

Nothing was more heartbreaking then seeing Hasan flare up from his eczema. I used every possible moisterizer because I really wanted to avoid using hydrocortizone creams on him. Nothing worked until I found dermeze. Dermeze really helped in controlling his eczema but it did not eliminate it. I had to stop eating dairy and egg but, dermeze has been a significant help. If you do not have dermeze in your country, look for an ointment that has "Liquid paraffin 50%, white soft paraffin 50%,  no colours, no preservatives." Thats dermeze full ingredient. I am sure your pharmacy has this but in a different name brand. 

Hope this was useful! Love to hear from you so feel free to leave a comment.

xoxo

Oum Hasan

Horrific Nursery Rhymes

There comes a time in every parent's life when they feel this pressure to sing their children nursery rhymes. We are literally the only source of entertainment for our children and we are solely responsible for their development. So, the pressure is ON folks.

When they stare straight at us, it just gets too quiet. You start to perspire and worry that your child will not learn if you don't starting singing. Now.

So, I tried to find good-feeling sing a longs that can bring value to my child. I knew that I would come across some nursery rhymes that have those really freaky historical origins like "Ring Around the Rosy" and the plague. What I didn't realize is practically all of the freaking songs are bad.

We all know Jack and Jill. I never understood the point of the song. Why would my kid care if Jack falls down and breaks his crown? It's kind of depressing.  Then I found out that it's about King Louis  Number whatever, and Queen Marie Antoinette.  The guy didn't just lose his crown, he was beheaded. So was the chick. Jesus.

Then there was Humpty Dumpty which was actually a cannon used in a civil war, and don't get me started on three blind mice. Even if you did not know the origin of three blind mice, why would you want to sing to your kid "they all ran after the farmer's wife, who cut off their tails with a carving knife." I can just picture myself almost bursting into tears as I try to read that to my kid.

I think I might just stick to Dr. Seuss. Not sure how I will break it down to Hasouni when we read "Green Eggs and Ham" that we actually can't eat ham, even though the entire story is about encouraging the character to eat it. Maybe I'll just skip that one. WOW, this is going to be harder than I thought.

Xoxo,

Oum Hassan.

PS:

Sorry about taking so long this time. I just found out that Hasouni is allergic to a lotttt of things which was causing him eczema. Ever since I stopped having dairy products in my diet, such as milk, eggs, yoghurt, etc... his eczema has improved, alhamdouAllah. So, if your child is suffering from eczema, I'd recommend getting an allergy test done for him. I also found out he is allergic to peanuts, so I have been clearing the house to make it a nut-free environment. However, his parents are still pretty nutty themselves*! Or as we arabs say, akhbal. Sorry Hasouni, can't do anything about that ;)




*Sorry, I try not to use cliches on my blog, but I couldn't help myself.

How I told Amar I was pregnant

I always thought that the way I would tell my husband that I was pregnant would be in this big romantic and profound gesture. Maybe have a little gift at home wrapped in beautiful paper with a big bow and when he opens it, he sees tiny little shoes. Or, I sit him down at a candle lit dinner and tell him very gentle that he is going to be a father.

For those that know me, you know that just when there is an opportunity to have a great moment, I mess everything up and things get awkward real fast.

I am a very impatient person. I can't WAIT and plan things. If I planned something special for Amar, I burst and tell him as soon as I think of it. So, already there is no chance for dinner to be made. There is no chance for a thoughtful gesture. I'm just too impatient and well, crazy.

I was visiting my family in Canada when I found out. I told my sister in law that I think I might be pregnant and she offered to take me to the pharmacy and pick up a pregnant test. I felt like such a grown up.  I didn't tell Amar what I was doing because I thought I was just going through my overly dramatic phase. When the test came out positive, I was still not convinced. I tried to remember the episode where Rachel found out she was pregnant and whether or not there was such thing as a false-positive or if the error only happens the other way around.  So, I casually showed my sister in law, expecting her to tell me that it might be false but she let out a huge gasp, bursted into tears and started crying. Immediately. I froze and just stared at her. I knew Amar  was downstairs and I thought, this is it! This is the moment when the wife tells her husband she's pregnant!! I thought, how meaningful. How exciting. I am going to go through another milestone in my life. I felt so blessed. He is in the living room and that is the same place where he proposed to me. Excellent. But... I also didn't want to give him false hope. So, here is how it went:

Me: Amouri, I want to tell you something but I am not sure.
Amar: What?
I bust out " I THINK I'M PREGNANT BUT I'M NOT SURE SO DON'T GET  TOO EXCITED BECAUSE THE TEST MIGHT BE WRONG"

That's how I did it.  I didn't say, habiby I'm pregnant, gently. I didn't tell Amar very sweetly that he is going to be a father. I told him that I think I am pregnant, but doubtful, so don't get to happy - and  I didn't even bother explaining that I took a pregnancy test.

Amar: What?
Me: I thought you would be excited!!!!
Amar: I don't understand, what's going on?
Me: I MIGHT BE. GOD, Amar is this how you react?? You can't even be happy!?!?

And I storm upstairs.

Amar thought I was just going through my paranoia stage. I am not that paranoid. I just assume things that others have as well. Like when you think you felt a bump in your armpit and you immediately assumed the worse, but it turned out to be an ingrown hair (my nurse couldn't stop laughing at that). Or, when you thought that you saw a red back spider but it turned out to be a beetle (Amar actually got really pissed off at me for that).

Anyway, AlhamdouAllah, things turned out great afterwards. We decided to go to my parents house right at that moment to tell them even though it was midnight. When we got to the house, my sister and my mom were in the bedroom and I went in to tell them. My mom was shocked (refer to my first post of how people reacted when I told them I was going to be a mom). When they came out to congratulate Amar, he looked at me and said "You told them already???" I completely forgot that he probably wanted us to tell them together.

And that's how its done.

The other side of the joyful moments with your precious baby

• Your baby has finally learned to roll from his back to his stomach.

And you wake up to the shriek of bloody murder because he got terrified from doing it.

• Your baby started eating solids. You take hundreds of photos and your heart burns with love.

Baby does a MASSIVE...well, you'll see.

• Your baby finally said HIS FIRST WORDS!!!!! You can't believe it!!

He said, "Dada." Then he said, "Baba"

• Your baby has learned to take the bottle. You're free to go out!!!

You have more dishes to do then ever. Plus you have to sterilize every.piece.of.the.stupid.bottles.

• You bring your baby home from the hospital and settle him in his beautiful bassinet. You get so excited to have this miracle in your room that you keep checking up on him every two seconds whilst he is asleep.

He knows you are watching. Even when you are sneaking up to his crib, down on all fours and carefully peaking through. He knows. He is staring directly at where you are and TADA he stays awake for a few more hours with you. 

• Your baby finally stopped crying and falls asleep

But that doesn't mean he doesn't stop making noises through the night. You hear every sound. Sorry, you have that motherly instinct and nothing gets past you. Husband is sound asleep though. So, that's...great.

• You captured hundreds of photos of your baby. You will cherish these when he is older

The fkking computer keeps freezing as you try to upload the "hundreds".. Now like THOUSANDS of photos, and you don't appreciate the commentaries from people as you go through the first few days photos. "Methil al jeradi"*

Plus, you are in none of the photos because in the first month you are in your maternity pjs and you look like you were trampled by a bus. However, there are a lot of selfies of you and your baby. The selfies make you doubt your intensions as half of the time when you preview the photos, you realize that you cut your baby off.

• Your on maternity leave and can watch as much tv as you like

Everything on tv offends you. Especially the scenes of kids acting out to their parents. You know your kids will obviously cherish you even when they are teenagers.  If not,  you already concluded to blame the media.


Hope you enjoyed!

Xoxo,

Oum Hasan


*a popular saying in the iraqi arab world. It means : Like a rat. 

The Birth Story

April 14, 2013. It was a beautiful day.  My inlaws decided to take mom and I to Icebergs at Bondi. If you haven't heard of Iceberg, it's a gorgeous bistro/rsl club on the water of the most famous beach in the world. The food is good..but if you are an arab, and they do not provide you with a large oval plate spilling with meat and rice, you say you like it but deep down inside, you really don't think it's worth it. 

But it IS worth going for a light lunch and the view is breathtaking.

Before we went there for lunch we decided to go for a little walk on the bondi-coogee walk. I was doing everything I could to get myself into labour since I was due. I forgot how LARGE some of the steps were. I lasted a few minutes before heading towards Ice berg.

I ordered a chili squid salad.

My water broke.

in Icebergs.

In front of my father in law.

Now, before you freak out. Rest assured. When your water breaks, it's not like in the movies. No one notices anything.

I thought I just had an accident. That's all

So when it happened, I just let out a gasp and my father in law looked at me strangely. He kept asking what's wrong (SHBEEESHH??) and I just muttered that I forgot my cell phone in the bathroom. When I came out of the bathroom he said "what was taking you soooooo long? I kept calling you!!" and my response was "oh, I was washing my hands."

I tried to walk past him to go to my mom and mother in law to tell them what happened but he kept following me and asking me questions. When I finally went to my mom and aunti, I whispered to them "I think my water broke, but I could have just had an accident."

They went from being so excited to completely confused. I ruined a special moment because I was trying not to get too excited and I wanted to save my pride. I thought if I really did have an accident, at least I admit that I thought it might be it. It made a lot of sense in my head at that time.

So we finally tell my father in law that I must be going into labour and we drove to the hospital. They told me to call Amar but I was determined to find out first if I really did break my water. Aunti asked me if my back was hurting and I exclaimed "yessss it's killingg meee" It didn't help their nerve when I started making jokes the entire way there.  

As soon as I saw my midwife and I asked her, she looked at me like I was retarded. We became kind of friends during my pregnancy, so I didn't take it too personally. 

When Amar found out, he called and freaked out on the phone, telling me that he didn't understand why I wasn't calling him. The poor guy had an exam in a week and I didn't want to bother him in case I had an accident! It does happen to pregnant ladies, you know. I'm not crazy.

So, I was finally convinced that I was in labour but the ward already made that conclusion, dressed me up and hooked the monitors on me. 

I ended up needing to do a c-section because Hasouni's heart beat was going down after some of the  strong contractions. We were going to see how far I could go into natural labour but the doctor's said "oh, actually, if you do want to do a c-section, you will need to do it now because staff turnover is happening soon." Of course staff turnover happens around the time I was going into labour. 

Wait, before I go on... I want to tell every woman out there who hasn't experienced contractions yet that I know deep down inside you are hoping that it doesn't hurt as much as people say. When I was still in the ward, the contractions hurt but they weren't that bad. I thought I was such a hero for being able to handle it. I didn't realize I was  just in pre labour.

Couple of hours later when I was getting pushed into surgery, they stopped RIGHT AT THE DOOR OF THE SURGERY ROOM. I was like "WHYYYYYY" The staff had to get themselves ready. We were waiting for my doctor who was having a discussion with my husband. He was telling Amar that  he wasn't the one that was going to perform the operation but someone else was.  After Amar convinced him to stay since he was the one that has been monitoring me throughout my pregnancy, he then tells Amar that he will perform the surgery but will leave after and someone else will stitch me back up.

ARE YOU SERIOUS??

So, Amar very nicely asked the doctor to not leave when I am opened and to kindly close me up before he goes home for the day. He told him that it was probably not the greatest plan to switch staff between that time.

At that stage, I thought I was going to die from the pain. I made an official conclusion that people who do natural labour and endure these contractions are not real.  

At last, we were in the room and they gave me the sweet sweet drugs.

When Hasouni was getting pulled out, Amar and the doctor's decided to take photographs. They literally adjusting the light (that was supposed to be for the surgeons to see what they were doing), to shine on Hasouni so that Amar has a good picture. Ummm...HELLO!!!

Most amazing moment of my life was when they showed me Hasouni. I was stunned.  I don't think anyone can ever prepare to see their baby. I was so shocked to see that Hasouni was a full grown baby. He had eyes, cheeks, nose, legs, arms, stomach. The works. Before that, I only saw him on the ultrasound and in my mind he was just black and white in 2D.

The next day I asked the doctor if he removed my placenta. He looked me very strangely and replied. "of course I did?." Well, sorry. He just hasn't MENTIONED it.  I just wanted to double check.

A Mom's and Dad's attempt to go on a date ALONE and Hasouni's first solids (fail)

On our 3 year anniversary, Amar got me tickets to see the Australia World Orchestra at the Opera House. It was such a lovely gesture from my husband. We weren't worried about Hasouni because we thought we can just give him a bottle of formula and leave him with our family to baby sit...

How wrong was I?..

Remember when you use to fuss because your wife took ages to get ready for a dinner night. I had to take TWO WEEKS for a 3 hour event.

Two weeks before the event, I went to  Baby's R Us and  purchased the same dairy-based formula that I use to give to Hasouni when he was just born. I gave him this formula once a day for 2 months. Ok, sue me. No, sorry I was not super mom.  No, I did not give my baby breast milk exclusively during that time BECAUSE I WAS TIRED. He was hungry (Alhamdouallah) ALLL THEEE TIMEE ANDDD he was in the 25th percentile so he had a bit of catching up to do. I fed him breast milk throughout the day and just ONCE during the night he had a bottle. Ok fine SOMETIMES maybe TWICE when I was super tired, my mom would kindly gave him a bottle for his first morning feed but that was it. It worked. I got my kid to finally be at the 50th percentile in a matter of weeks. 

Sorry I went a bit off track there. Where was I? O yes, Baby's R Us. So there I was all proud of myself for planning ahead of time. I even purchased some cups and spoons and baby rice cereal to prepare for baby's first solids. 

The plan was to reintroduce the formula that he had when he was a baby and to finally introduce solids at the same time since he was of age. 

The instructions of solids was very simple to the normal person. It said "Spoon 1 tablespoon of Farex cereal into a clean bowl. Add 2-3 tablespoons of your baby's usual milk or cooled boiled water to make a smooth consistency."

Now, this was me:

1. What's 1 tablespoon? Is it 1 tablespoon of regular sized tablespoons that we adults use or is it the size of a tablespoon of one of those kiddy plastic ones?
2. Can I use my measuring spoon sets or do I need to buy one exclusively for baby foods?
3. Do I have to sterilize my measuring spoon?
4. Do I need to sterilize his spoon?
5. Do I need to sterilize his bowl?
6. It says that I can't use a sterilizer for his bowl. Can I pour hot water? Will it hurt the plastic? 
7. Bowl instruction paper said that I can use  the cold sterilization method. What the heck is that?
8. If I use formula to add to his cereal do I need to prepare a bottle first and then pour that into the bowl?
9. Can I just pour the formula powder straight to the cereal and mix it with water?
10. Am I over thinking this? Should I just wait another day?

Anyway, I finally figured it all out and I mixed the cereal with cooled boiled water just for the first time. I got all excited. I prepared my camera to record Hasouni's first solids and made sure I was looking at him  as well to really capture the moment in my heart.

I ended up recording half of his upper face. The spoon and his mouth was not even in the video frame. 

The next day I went out with some of my girlfriend's and prepared two bottles of formula for Amar to give to Hasouni. I was so excited because if this worked then that meant Amar and I would be free to go on our anniversary date the week later.

Hasouni developed an allergy to formula. Apparently, babies can develop an allergy even AFTER they had the milk before. 

AND he now completely refuses to take a bottle even if it's filled with breast milk.

I just accepted defeat.

My child is allergic to formula and won't take a bottle. So, what was the solution? Keep him in the city and come out of the orchestra if he needed me. My beautiful brother and sister in law (Yasir and Shirley) were kind enough to babysit him during that time. Amar and I decided to go for a lovely dinner at Sushi-E, a beautiful sushi restaurant in the city with Hasouni before the concert to really make a day of it. We would order some of the finest sushi and appetizers and enjoy the beautiful lounge seating. We were so excited.

Traffic was so bad that we ended up dropping Hasouni with Yas And Shirley and got a quick bite at Mcdonalds.

BUT, we did manage to see the concert!

Hasouni was a good boy with Yas and Shirley but he wouldn't fall asleep unless he was in their arms. We found Hasouni sleeping on Yasir who didn't dare to move because he was scared to wake him up. Poor guy was holding him for a long time. 

Hasouni woke me up several times that night.

The End.

Weekend? I hardly knew ya.

and to think I finally get a break on a nice Saturday morning, but my (dear) husband decided to go back to uni and roll in a 8:30am saturday class and I'm like...

but then Sunday morning finally comes and he takes Hasouni to the park

while im all like..

Happy Friday!

How to get people to stop asking when are you going to have another baby

I have to talk to you about my foolproof response to the notorious question "when are you going to have another baby?" which sometimes is paraphrased as "when is (baby name) going to have another sibling to play with? or "Aw haram, is he/she going to have a baby brother or a baby sister to play with soon?

This question is usually asked after you have delivered the baby and you're in the maternity ward with your guests.

Andddd it's usually asked by some lady that is related to a friend of a friend of a friend.

Yep.

I had 9 months to come up with the perfect response. And I got it.

Some lady: Woww Mashallah Mashallah what a beautiful baby. Ouy Hasouni is so beautiful. Inshallah his brother or sister will look just like him *Fake laugh*. When will that be ya Mariam?

Mariam: EE Inshallah soon! I hope so soon? Don't you? I just can't wait! God, I hope it doesn't take long!!

Some lady will be taken back and a bit disappointed by this as she probably anticipated the usual "oh not for a while!" response. She probably just wanted to gloat on how she had children right away and give you "advice" to feel a little bit superior.  Not that you haven't heard them before; such as:

Darling if you have all your babies right away you will still be young when they are older. (As if you don't know how to calculate this yourself). Or,

If you have all your babies young, you will still have the energy...Actually, that is good advice so I'll leave that one alone ;) But you will have many people give you this advice as if they came up with that all on their own.

When you respond back that you are trying to have another baby right away, she won't ask you again. Even the pushiest of the pushiest know that it is just bad form to repeatedly ask you when they think you are actually trying. (Doesn't matter if that's a complete lie).

Now you can adjust this response to other similar invasive questions people to tend to ask such as:

Oh, wow you guys are talking to one another..when are you getting engaged? 

Followed by: O, congratulations on your engagement? Are you getting married this year?

To probably the most annoying: "We are having such a great time at your wedding. The hall looks amazing. Love the decor. So, are you having your first baby in 9 months *hehehe- hardy- har- har*?"

As long as your response is very..positive and upbeat..people will be disappointed and will probably leave you alone. #arabclass.

First few months of having a baby

Sheno?? Mimi a mother?? Little Mariam? I don't believe it.

Yep. That was practically every single person's reaction to me being a mom. At first it was touching as it shows how long people have known me but then it just started to become..well kind of insulting actually. 5 months later and it's still the same reaction. Not, "o ya, of course! She's been married for almost 3 years now..." or "well Mariam is a woman now..over 25" Nope. Come to think of it.. I don't think anyone has said these last two sentences. Ah well, what are you gonna do.

God bless my kid, I love him. It definitely has that good feeling but man it can be tough. And just when I thought my kid was sleeping through the night, NOPE. He started to wake me up every few hours now. The really frustrating part is in the morning when he wakes up and I feed him, change his diaper, moisturize him (dermeze is AMAZING for kids with eczema) -blah blah blah - I become completely awake but then he falls asleep after 1 hour. He does this EVERY morning. I just don't get why he won't just push his sleep for 2 more hours, wake up and start the day. It would be a win-win situation for the both of us.

But at least my baby knows how to put himself to sleep without my help. OOO ye.

But then he wakes up half an hour later

(No, that's not my baby).


So what are 10 things I learned about the first few months of having a baby?

1. Poo comes in all different colours. Thankfully none are from the hues of a rainbow. Well, maybe the green. And maybe the red. Apparently, some babies may have blood in their stools. If this happens, consult your GP. 
2. Heat up your sandwich only after your baby has been sleeping for at least 10 minutes. You will have a better chance to completing it without interruption.
3. Do.Not.Google.Anything. Just ask your GP.
4. Do.Not.Ask.Everyone.For.Their.Opinion. You will never get a straight answer. Just ask your GP. 
5. You can exercise after 6 weeks of having a baby not 6 months.
6. Don't waste your money on buying many newborn clothes. Just buy a few as babies quickly grow out of them. Remember they are sizes by mere months not years.
7. Dummy's aka pacifiers only give you a few seconds of that amazing bliss. The - oh my God, yes, it is finally silent, I can finally sleep..I can finally just shut my eye---and your baby will end up dropping it and screaming for it again. So, with a couple of tries, I decided to not bother with them. No point in getting my baby use to something and go through the hasstle of wrestling it out of him when he's older when it only gives me a few seconds of quietness. Yes, I am quite aware that I called my baby "it" here but trust me, with the constant crying, you will hear yourself saying "whyy won't it stop??? What's wrong with it??"
8. There is no point in buying a book to read in the first few months. Don't kid yourself.
9. Mother's are not the only ones to roll their eyes on all the different advices they get from people. Doctor's do as well. I tried to get the general consensus on whether or not to use hydrocortisone on my baby to help with his inflamed eczema and I still don't have it. 
10.  This brings me to my most important note. Take your time to find a GP/pediatrician that you can trust and is best in his/her field. I went to a GP on a weekend who literally had to lean his left ear forward so that he can hear me better. It didn't help that he had a confused look about him when I asked him a question. I took his advice but then went back to my original GP for her opinion. You are going to have a lot of questions with open ended answers. Hopefully these questions won't be too serious and you can depend on your doctor whose done his  or her research to ease your mind. 

I  hope you liked my first entry!