Infant Geographia

 Here we have the human baby, Egyptian-Portugese variety, out of his natural habitat, at a a celebration of Xmas. The infant is out of his comfort zone--his element, and does not yet understand the gathering. He appears confused and scared, as he reaches for the comfort of something he recognizes from home-- the television remote control.

This is That Baby at his Great Uncle Gary and Aunt Gails house for Xmas this year. He was in rare form people, lemme tell ya.

Malek Today

She got so big! Wow. You just don't picture it. I mean, I know my son got bigger, so logically so did Malek, but it is hard to grip until you see it.

Ayman and Malek

 A year ago we were in Egypt. My sister in law has two daughters, Nada and Malek, and a son , Ahmed. Malek is the youngest, about 1.5 months older than my son. We took these pictures of the two babies. As you can see my son was a lot skinnier in Egypt. I think he was like, 12 pounds while we were there. When his daddy came home a month after us, the baby had gained 3 lbs. I blame it on formula. The little fart started refusing to breastfeed on the right breast while we were in Egypt, then refused the left when we got got home. I tried pumping and supplemental feeding because my production went down while I was there. It didn't work except to damage my breasts with the pump. I gave up in April or so, trying to get him to nurse and continued giving him breast milk in bottles with formula. It is funny, how bummed out I got when I stopped trying to get him to nurse. I was hurt. My feelings were hurt . I was so upset that he didn't want to nurse from me anymore. I still have dreams of nursing him and I swear I won't be taking a trip to Egypt in the formative breastfeeding months of babyhood. Long story short: hungry crying baby+demolished nipples+70 cent Enfamil+nipple refusal=chunky monkey.

Please let me add that I know the benefits of breastfeeding, I knew how to breastfeed. There was a series of unfortunate events that led to me *gasp* giving my son a bottle. Let us suffice it to say that I have suffered through guilt from this and don't really welcome any reprimanding emails in regard to this post.

That's a great look for you.

 
I guess I just need to make posts that can be read in the 20-30 seconds it takes to get a credit on BlogExplosion, Blogclicker and the less famous, (but generous, you get 250 credits for signing up right now)Blogcrowd. This is irritating. Of course, I haven't been surfing too much this week so that probably explains the low traffic.

People, come back to me, I miss you.

I went to this awesome "Oriental Buffet" Last night. They have a ton of sea food, a choose your own stirfry bar and fresh sushi bar.

I am having some serious trouble getting behind the sushi. I figure, if I am going to try sushi, it is when I have choices of other food just to be safe. So I went for it last night.
EWWWWWW
Right off the bat, I hate the seaweed. CACK! And why is it so fishy tasting? OK, I know it is FISH. But I had this one piece that had some pinkish mousse-y looking stuff in side it with a piece of green stuff in there. I had to spit this piece back in my napkin because I thought it would start swimming in my mouth. Then I tried this piece that looked like a little food present. It was a retangular piece of imitation crabmeat, sitting on a neat square of rice with a narrow band of seaweed holding it all together. Not so good. I think it has to do with the imitation crabmeat. And here is the big surprise of this sushi extravaganza: there was a piece with a huge pink piece of fish, sitting on a wad of rice. I bit into this huge piece of raw fish with my napkin at the ready, and it was tasty. With no ginger or wasabi. I was pleasantly surprised
I guess to sum up we can say it wasn't a terrible experience, but I went back to the teriyaki chicken skewers and sweet and sour chicken. All in all not a bad deal for 10 bucks a person, all you can eat.

Eid, baby advice, and John Henson not in that particular order.

Daddy and That Baby. 
okay, I am making this post in the notepad right now because Blogger is messed up and I can't even log into it right now. I have also had a ton of problems with my ISP. I can't wait to get broadband. And an apartment with two bathrooms. The only time I really think of it is when my husband is in the bathroom and I am having a bowel crisis.

Speaking of my husband, I have an adorable picture of him and that baby from last night that I really want to post, but of course, Blogger is down. Okay, I posted the picture. By the time I get this posted it is all going to be together. But at least now I can ping Blog rolling, which I forgot to do yesterday when I wrote a much longer post. (rereading this post they may be about the same size. I am long winded)

Today I am fasting, because tomorrow is the Islamic holiday of Eid (Kol senna winta tayeb). I need to go to wal-mart today. I will take that baby and we will pop in on Gramma at Wally World. I am going to make shawerma tonight, but it never turns out as good as the ones from Truly Mediterranean In San Francisco. I love that shawerma.
If you are wondering what a shawerma is, it is a middle eastern burrito, basically. Lamb or beef, wrapped in lavosh bread with a tahina sauce and some butt burner red sauce, with parsley, potato (in my case because I don't like the tomato) it is sooooo yummy, it is a little bit of heaven wrapped up in the yummy goodness of fresh lavosh bread with the delight of tahina thrown in for good measure. MMMMM food. I can tell I am fasting today, I am like plexing on the food I can't eat.

moving On.

That reminds me (the 'Moving On' part) Do you guys remember the show Talk Soup? It was on the E channel. I loved that show when John Henson was hosting it. He was hilarious. I was always hoping he would move on to bigger things, ala Greg Kinnear when he left the show, but he didn't really. I saw he had his own show on Spike TV, but I don't even think there is that anymore, and well, Talk Soup wasn't the same after he left, so much so, that I think it went away for a while and then came back as a show called 'The Soup' with this other dude hosting. It is still a funny show, I just miss the Skunk Boy is all. He was funny. And, apparently I am a geek because I just Went on about John Henson for a paragraph. I was bummed out recently that he is now hosting during the 8 o'clock hour on the TV Guide Channel. Is that TV purgatory? What is Skunk Boy doing there? He is way to good (and funny ) for that. Oh well what can you do? GET A BETTER AGENT JOHN HENSON! Enough of that.

Moving on. (again)

In the baby department I have some advice.... Many of you will not need it. I feel the need to post it so all of you can learn from my mistakes. If you have to go out of town to go shopping, make sure you have stuck to your baby sleeping schedule, OR ELSE. Else what you ask? ( or may not have too....) Well, I will tell you. Let your son sleep until say 1245, and then wake him up, feed him and run to Sacramento-- Fine. Don't lay him down for 3 o'clock nap? Not wise. I thought he was good on sleep yesterday. I was so wrong. He was very tired and cranky. I gave him a bath and laid him down forty minutes earlier than usual. Then he proceeded to wake up every hour and a half ....ALL NIGHT LONG. So there you have it folks, heed my cautionary tale. Don't deprive your baby terrorris- I mean angel of his naps or suffer the consequences.

Well that oughta do 'er for now.....heh heh heh.

Not to sick to Rant

I love Cassie. 
Okay, I had to jump on the band wagon really quick. I signed up for Blogclicker.com. It looks like there is another exchange site as well called Blogcrowd, so I think I will check that out before I bust this post so I can do a link. It is nice to see that some readers are slowly coming back after my long absence. I have missed everybody. It took me like two hours to go thru all the blogs on my blogroll to check on everyone and see how they have been doing.
I have to say something here, and if I get the hate mail comments, Oh well. I have been lightly following the story of a three year old boy that is being taken away from the only parents he has ever known, because the wack-job biological mother has changed her mind. From the best that I can gather this said wackjob contested the adoption because the birthfather decided to jump in the picture as well. I don't know all the details of this but I have to say what I do know really sucks, in my opinion. (that's right, folks, my blog, MY OPINION, that is what it is here for) I was watching the today show yesterday after I got off of work. They had video of the parents (the only ones he has ever really known, the adoptive ones) tell this poor boy that he has to go live with his adoptive mommy from now on. This poor little boy was crying, kicking and screaming, while his parents just tried to hold on to him for the last bit of time they had. And when the little boy noticed that his father was crying, he said "Don't cry Daddy"
Okay, I lost it right there.
This situation is f-ed up on so many different levels it is hard to even start to express my feelings except to lay in my bed and bawl for this family and little boy.
Then shortly after she had her biological son returned to her, said wackjob mother came out of her home to announce that her son was "so happy to be home"
Give. Me. A. Freaking. Break.
He did not look happy at all when the people were peeling him out of his mother and fathers arms to put him in a van with his "mother" ( wackjob). Where did the system fail these people? Is it exploitive that they taped their last bit of time with the boy? The adoptive parents said that they did it so that the boy would know later in life if he chose to learn that none of it was his fault and that his mom and dad loved him very much and didn't want it to happen at all.
Last, week leading up to the day that this boy had to be given back to wackjob, they had the parents of Baby Jessica on TV as well. They have some sort of advocacy program or something. These poor people were in the same exact situation. They have not seen or heard from the girl they raised for the first 3 years of her life for like, 11 years. What a heartbreak. It is disturbing.
Does anyone else have an opinion on this? Am I just being a cranky, hormonal bitch? It seems to me that it should stand for something that these people raised the boy in a loving family home since birth and are responsible for the happy little boy he was (before he got taken away from his mommy and daddy?)?
Again it goes to show that Florida HAS ISSUES.

Ok, thanks people for reading my bitchery.

On a lighter note, My cold never got as bad as I thought. I must have a great immune system (thanks god!) Now I just have a little teensy bit of congestion left with cough, but this too, will pass. Ilhamdulillah.
Thanks for reading, and remember: comments always appreciated.

I just want to know one thing really? How in the heck do you get to work a banner ad? I mean if you have one, and I think I have a generic one, how do you get it to work? upload it to my server? How do I do that? Who is that ? I am computer stupid, in fact I can't believe I figured out how to put things in the side bar of my blog on Blogger.

Illness haiku

Nose like a faucet
Copius mucous flows free
Need Puffs with lotion

I don't feel like I have a cold. I am just sneezing alot. With the sneezing comes the snot. MMMMMM, snot. Although, I do have to say, if I blow my nose really hard, I get a funny dizzy feeling. It is kinda cool. (cheap thrills!) Of course the best time to get a cold/or allergy attack, whatever it is, is at the beginning of your three day stretch of graveyard shifts at work. Looks like I am gonna be wearing a mask all night. Crap.

P.S. If you enjoy haiku, and hey, who doesn't? check out Haiku Of the Day

UGH.

I started Curves this week finally. I like it. It is fast, gives me a decent workout and I only have to walk across the street to get there. I have decided to workout at 6am. This works for me because I am always awake then. If I am working, I get off at 530 am. If I am at home the baby wakes up around then with a tremendously pissy diaper and a need for a bottle. So, Curves it is. I have gone three days now. I am hoping to go tomorrow. This weekend I don't think I will make it, they open late for me on Saturday, and are closed on Sunday. Here is something that I would like to share. My second cousin, lost like 200 lbs going to curves and cutting fat from her diet. That is like 2 skinny people or 1.3 average ones! It is amazing. I think it has taken her about 18 months. It is great and Congrats to her for doing it. My mom has also started a regimen, she goes to the gym at her apartment after work. She is lucky because th complex is brand spankin new and the gym is really nice. Speaking of my mom, did I mention that she got a face lift during my extended absence? My son and I stayed with her for a week to take care of her. Since she said she didn't care I think I will post a before and after picture of her. My be before during and after. I have a feeling she is going to have a minor hissy, but hey, I got permission. YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T CARE REMEMBER? Okay, well, that is all for now I need to post some pictures.

Before

Mom before surgery. 

Day of Surgery

 My brother Alex and I thought she looked like Beetlejuice. They rubberbanded her hair in sections and she had 2 drains sticking out of her head that i had to change every hour for the first 6 hours then at mealtimes in the days after that. I also had her pretty doped up on the vicodin for the first 2 days post surgery.

Just too Cute

 Ayman sits with his gramma as she brushes her teeth. They has both just woken up. I think this was like the second day after surgery.

After

 Since my mom also got the eye lift, she can't wear her contact lenses just yet....She also had her mole removed from her left cheek. I think she looks great but she did before the surgery. I am just glad she went ahead and did it. Now i don't have to watch her pull her skin back and say "see how much difference it would make if i got the surgery?" woo hoo, that's overwith! I love you mommy!

I hope you observed yesterdays post.

 
Here is a picture of the repair. Yes, I said REPAIR. I don't think that baby is very happy about it either. My husband and I have agreed that he will never cut his hair again.

Observe the hair

 
My son is adorable (Not biased! mesha'allah) Take in the hair. Sure it is out growing the hair cut, not a problem. A normal person would take their child in for a cut. An experienced barber or stylist would cut it. And now I have found that an Egyptian Accountant would cut it too. Crap. Tomorrow I will post the doctored results of said haircut. I had to take the baby in to get it fixed after my husband decided he needed to cut his hair one night this week, but didn't realize he would flip out. Needless to say the end result of hubbys haircut was choppy to say the least, but according to him "the best haircut he ever got."
Riiiiggght.
Tune in tomorrow for "bowl haircut repair"

Home from work

Well I guess here is where my stuff gets boring. The only thing cool about work tonight happened when I was leaving. I met another Muslim woman tonight and she is so nice and cool. I don't meet that many Muslims around here, let alone ones that are Arabic. She does study groups and can help me to fine tune my Arabic, since I have like the most terrible English accent ever when I speak (what little I know) in Arabic. So, in case you weren't listening, FBI, I will be going to Islamic religious meetings with OTHER Muslim people, so if you don't have gps on my car, now is the time! Woo Hoo!
And from the "working mom" files my son was chasing me down on the way to the door tonight when I was trying to leave for work. He was crying when I left. HELLO, GUILT! However, I was informed by my DH that he stopped approximately 2 seconds after the door shut behind me when he discovered a stray cheerio on the floor. Thanks God.

I'm out!

Unhappy camper. 

Happy Camper 

excuse me? 

MMMMM...cake. 

Here I Am!

I am back, people. Finally I sucked it up and got internet service back. It took me a while, but I did it. Here are some new things that happened since I had no internet: (wrongful termination of services, November 12th, 2003)

1. I turned 33 on November 15th. I got a sonicare toothbrush and a 3 month membership to curves. I got a cool hello Kitty watch too. (how old did I say I was?)

2. I started my job at a hospital here in Stockton on December 6th. I work the graveyard shift in the lab, they call me a vampire. Whatever, the pay is good.

3. My son turned one year old on December 9th. We had a birthday party for him on the 28th of November.

Ok, so that is about it for now. I have to get back into the swing of the blogging. I have been dying to check out some web sites and blogs that I haven't looked at in a while, not to mention surfin' blog explosion.

I'd like to hear from my peeps, what was the worst holiday present any of you got this year? The best? As for me, I cant say that there was a worst, because there wasn't one. I got too many things, that were great. I will mention that my mom got a Sony cybershot camera for xmas and now I realize just how much my slow assed-shutter-speed-Kodak sucks. I will have to get a new one with some of that sweet cash from my new job.

I guess I am not a SAHM anymore we can call me a SSAHM Somewhat Stay At Home Mom. Since my son doesn't even realize that I am gone I don't think I and damaging his little psyche (sp?).

Love to hear fro you all.

I'M BAAAAAA-AAAAACK......