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!