Summer So Far

Painting for the first time

Playing with water

Being patient

Being silly

Swimming with ducks

Camping in the rain

One year ago

I gave birth to a wonderful little thing. Time goes by so quickly...


I gave birth to a wonderful little thing. Time goes by so quickly...

I Had Forgotten

Peasant Woman Nursing A Baby - Aimé-Jules Dalou (V&A Museum)

How sweet that was. How demanding that was. How tiring that was.

The smell of a baby's breath, the softness of his cheek.

The warmth of his tiny body when he sleeps in your arms.

The hours you can spend just admiring him, his little feet, his lovely nose, his fluffy hair.

The unconditional love.

I had forgotten.

The spinning head in the morning because you didn't get enough sleep.

The planning you need to make just to take a shower.

Typing with one hand. Eating while nursing. Watching too many boring TV shows.

The pain in the left arm, a place where baby sleeps most of the time.

I had forgotten. And I'm sad, because I'll most likely forget, again.

About how great it feels to take care of a newborn. To let hours go by, doing nothing else but loving this tiny being. To nurse him when others sleep. To kiss him, too much, when no one is looking.

Marwan

He is there.

He arrived March 8th at 2:04 am, after 24 hours of labour.

He's healthy al-hamdolillah.

And of course, he is the sweetest, most beautiful baby on earth!

So close to the end - and to the beginning

Mixed emotions.

Excitement. Apprehension.

Patience. Impatience.

I can't wait to see him. To touch him. Hold him. Smell him.

What will he look like? What will be his name? Will he resemble one of his brothers?

I don't really want the pregancy to end but I want to hold my baby in my arms so much. I can't believe we're almost there!

I feel it coming, my body is sending signals, more and more contractions...

38 weeks.

Almost there.

Expecting

photo credit: Cuba Gallery

Expecting love, health, joy. Expecting sleepless nights, despair, tears. Expecting expectations.

I'm welcoming a new soul inside of me, a wonderful feeling, an exhausting state, an overwhelming happiness.

I'm sorry for letting you down. I was not feeling good at all due to my state. No wonder why I felt so sick during my holidays!

Don't expect me to write too often in the coming months. I'll see how I feel about blogging, as pregnancy has changed my mood and my priorities... And I'm not sure you want to hear all about it every second day.

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I'll do my best to keep you posted once in a while.

The Perfect Hostess

Photo Credit vintage_cupcake

My in laws are in town. For 6 weeks. I'm being a good wife, a good cook, a good everything, cleaning up after everyone and praying I'll be able to get through this! That will not leave a lot of time for crafting, thinking, creating, and blogging. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to update my shop with some new items as I wanted to.

Well, well... See you soon, I'm going back to the kitchen *sigh*.

Like Mother Like Son

I guess it's no surprise that my sons want to do as mommy does. My oldest takes the art business very seriously. Picks rocks carefully, chooses colors and then decides which of my patterns he will 'copy'. You can appreciate his work on the left of both photos and his inspiration from my collection on the right. He's really proud because he can use big people's paint (acrylic), and my professional brushes and paint pens.

Who knows, maybe Zamzam will one day become Zamzam & Sons inc. :).

They are wonderful

My sons.

Oh yes, there are moments (plenty) when they are driving me nuts.

But there are moments, most importantly, when they make me feel so proud to be a mom.

I'm volunteering at my 6 years old son school library on Mondays. This Monday he came in with his class. He's always shy to meet me at school, it's really cute! Just before the class left, he called me quietly and while checking around if no one was looking, he put his hand in his pocket and took out 2 small pieces of paper, and handed them to me, with a smile.

2 little drawings, full of hearts and flowers. On the back of one of them, he wrote 'Mommy I love you very very much' (with some mixed up letters at the end!). Isn't that sweeeeeet?

Calamity

Three fire tucks. Twelve firemen. Me, with burning cheeks and rubber boots, holding a canister under the hole in the oil tank, my two feet in a pond of fuel. Windows open, heating and electricity off, suffocating smell of gas... That wasn't a nightmare. That was my house, last Thursday.

The insurance guy, the after-disaster expert, the oil company, the cleaning company, the new tank team, the minister of environment, the curious neighbours, all around, while experts were tearing walls apart and breaking ceramic tiles... That wasn't a bad dream. That was my house, last Friday.

Me, with respiratory problems and a headache, and the kids, away from home since then... That is not a holiday. That is our actual situation.

Calamity. Upon us.

Giant!

Inspired by the Family Summer Center, I decided to try making a huge calendar to help with planification and also for the kids to have an idea of what's going on this summer. 

Of course my summer calendar has nothing to do with the Craftzine version but I had fun and the guys are very excited about it. I used an old vinyl blind. We wrote on different post-its everything we wanted to do and when we decide to do an activity, we put the post-it on the right date. I used different colors for people we will see - either home or elsewhere (yellow), special event/activity (pink), others - like garage sale (orange) and Mommy's events (pale yellow). 

At least they don't ask me 1000 times a day anymore when we're going camping or which night there's a soccer game. Everything is there. I'm also reminded every time I look at it that summer is short, so let's profit!

Kids Holidays - and what it means for a Mom

Haven't find time in the last week to write even one line. Holidays are here, for the kids, I mean - so mine are over! I'm trying to keep them busy so they don't fight (the favorite activity of two boys that don't have something constructive to do). That means I'm also quite busy and don't find the time to blog/write/twit/list on Etsy/paint.

Weather was nice last week so that was kind of easy. Playing outside is an activity in itself so I don't have to be too creative. But rain came during the week-end so we had to find something to do inside...

I bought this 'carnival' kit a while ago and thought it was a good time to take it out. Little One (4 y.o.) took 2 minutes to finish his 2 masks. Big Brother (6 y.o.) took ages. I was so proud of him. He was taking his time, choosing carefully his colors, he was so into it, reminded me of me - that was a good feeling. I really enjoyed watching him (I secretly hope my kids will be artists!). 

So! My summer will be like this, a break from my usual occupations, quality time with my little guys, playing, watching, taking too many uninteresting photos and trying to enjoy some time away from the computer...

I'll try to post as much as possible but I already know I will not be able to be as active as I use to.

Have a nice summer!