But I need food in my system right now!

Yesterday I took my baby for his MMR vaccine. Rana was with me and she held him for me to the end. It was a quick shot and he didn’t cry much. I just hate needles. I’ve been told that he can get a fever after one-two weeks. I’m going to have to keep an eye on him.

On Thursday, I went to our weekly family gathering at my father-in-law’s place and we had an early celebration. I brought a cake me with Hassan’s picture on it. I fed him cake for the first time. He loved it!

I didn’t expect to get some more gifts from my sister-in-laws because they’ve already given him an early birthday present but we couldn’t say no when they did. Rana had a gift, she even cross stitched a birthday card for Hassan and it gave it an extra special touch.

On Friday, my sister said she’ll pass by with a homemade birthday cake. I was truly surprised when I saw her cake, it was shaped number one and it looked like a bird too. It was coated with chocolate and green sugary candies, it spelled “Hassan” in Arabic. It was so perfect. I wouldn’t have thought of that myself and I fed him cake but I forgot to use his birthday plate again. It was not meant to be. It was not planned very well but we had so much fun.

Today I’ve realized that my baby is a leftie. I saw him eat his biscuits and it’s always with his left hand. He hardly would use his right hand for anything else. I’m not 100% sure though! And lately my baby’s been saying a lot of gibberish, a language of his own just like Flinstone, it sounds like “bla bla ra ra ra gla gla bla” and I believe that’s called ‘jargoning.’ It’s funny looking at him trying to make all those sounds, twisting and pulling his tongue out!

I know I should be posting some pictures but I’ve been so busy packing our things. Inshallah we’ll be leaving to the UK this Wednesday. I’m looking forward to traveling with Rami and Hassan. It would be our first time together.

Baby’s travel bag:

1. Change of clothing.

2. Snacks.

3. Thermometer (just in case he got a fever from the vaccine).

4. Adol.

5. Burp towels (I can use them as compresses).

6. Four bottles.  

7. One blanket/jacket.

8. Creams (optional).

9. Bibs.

10. Diapers.

11. Empty plastic bags for soiled diapers.

P.S. I’m not only packing but I’m also cleaning out the closets. There’s so much charity clothes. It’s going to take me forever to get all this done!

There’s a rumour going around at work that I’m pregnant again lol. I know how they came up with that. I heard a couple of weeks ago that my manager was pregnant and somehow they thought I’m pregnant too when one day I craved noodles. So my co-workers asked me today and I told them I’m not pregnant but who knows they might know better! I don’t see why I should hide my pregnancy from them anyways.

Now I have to remove this ticker and add a new one. Happy birthday Hassan!

A couple of weeks ago we had plans to go to Marina Hotel but when we saw their rules, we immediately changed our minds. “No guests are allowed. Housemaids are not allowed in the lobby or pools.” It didn’t make sense to have so many rules that we couldn’t follow?

At long last after two failed attempts to bake a carrot cake I’ve finally done it. The frosting wasn’t that good but otherwise the texture of the cake was great and it was very tasty. All I have to do now is bake one for Thursday.

Now back to the birthday boy. I feel so excited that baby Hassan is doing like 5-10 steps all on his own, but I’m not ready to call him a toddler because he’s still not toddling around yet. He still didn’t even give up on crawling around and now he’s doing a backward crawl too, which is interesting, don’t snakes do that? He still walks around the table many times and swings himself from table to table like tarzan, but it’s his only way of learning how to go around so I should not interfere and let him explore around.  

Another thing I’ve noticed is that my baby started to climb down the stairs or bed by turning around, going feet first instead of head first, I guess he learned his lesson after falling off the bed. I haven’t taught him any baby signs yet but he’s doing a lot of pointing he taught himself that especially when he wants something and he shakes his head from side to side when he’s in denial. I think he made a new sound last week, he said ’nada.’ Say my name, say my name!

As I was feeding him breakfast today I looked at his gums and I saw that his lower side teeth are coming out. Oh no! I’ll be expecting more biting from now on. And yesterday I felt I wanted to scream when I had to change the sheets because baby Hassan wet the bed but I had to wash him up first and he was so sleepy. He didn’t cooperate, but it’s not his fault …

I really feel like a narrator, noting his every step for the past one year. It was fun though!