CARS

 I think it IS time to post about Cars

Not any cars, but that “Cars” movie by Walt Disney

Years ago, when I saw the ad of this new cartoon movie, I thought: who on earth would go to the movies to watch talking cars with weird eyes

(though being a Huge fan of all Disney movies)

Now, I have  to admit that I watched this movie more than 20 times… and yet I may be watching it more in the next months-years… nobody knows

Ghadi is like any boy, has a collection of small cars

So when he first saw this movie, it was like a whole new world for him.. and since then, we are obsessed with all the characters, Flash Maqueen and his friends

Now I can repeat some scenes by heart

And watching it synchronized in Egyptian dialect makes the whole thing funnier

Ghadi began repeating his favorite scenes with his own cars

Especially when bar’e benzene (Flash Macqueen) looses track of his fellow truck who (allow mw to use who- these are talking cars after all) continues his way to California without noticing that bar’e benzene is left behind

All this introduction is to point out that 2 days ago, I noticed the truck under the TV station

yes..there it is 

 on its way

to?

I thought it was there by mistake and I wanted Ghadi to take it back to his room

I asked him this several times

Then at last he looked at me and said: I can’t… it’s on his way to California!

 and this is the "real"truck

Yes

And another related issue, is that after I noticed that his excitement for reading stories is much less than before, I went to the library and bought several –really expensive- books

He was not at all interested

Until I waved with a thin squared story… yes… it was “Cars”

I thought maybe this would encourage him while the others failed

And it DID!

He was so excited

Held the story and flipped the pages and stated to look into every detail of the illustrations…

 his favorite illustration!"

I was happy about that

hoping he’ll be interested again in his books just as he used to be.  

some Updates... from my everyday Life

At last!

We are wearing half sleeves!

This spring was a cold one

And I was sooooo excited to see Sary wearing shorts and sleeveless shirts!

And so excited to stop putting layers and layers of clothes on him to keep him warm while he goes early morning to my in laws

At last

It’s 29 degree

And I’m HaPpY about it!

Sary began to smile and react to my smiles and whispers

It’s amazing

and it gives me tons of energy just when I need it

still my housekeeper didn’t arrive

and I’m getting so exhausted with my full-time work, taking care of my home, my two boys, and my lovely hub

I still have to take care of myself, my mom, answer my sisters calls and hear my friends

I know I have to take a deep breath,

And I thank God for the blessings

When I look around me and I see my kids I smile

When I see Jamil holding Sary, I smile

When I hear Ghadi’s excitement whenever Sary makes an “ouugh” I smile

I AM happy and that is what matters

Brunch under the Pines

last sunday I insisted that we should go out and have a picnic! i needed to breath fresh clean air. so we headed south to "Iklim Area", precisely to the Pine Forest at Deir Lemkhalliss... as suggested by one of my colleagues who lives near this forest.

weather was great!

kids enjoyed playing with sands...

el Trio!

exploring!

and Sary, enjoying hugs and kisses of his lovely cousin!

Q&A

Yesterday Ghadi asked for an Art Attack, he wanted to paint with watercolors

I promised him that we’ll do that when Sary sleeps… In fact – admitting that I was a bit mean- I didn’t expect sary to sleep before Ghadi. But this little boy seems to be just like his mom: he loves sleeping and now that he is 2.5 months old, he sleeps more than 6 continuous hours through the night!

So, against my calculations, sary slept at 7… so Ghadi ran to me asking with a wide smile (which he knows that it helps his case very well): shall we start painting now?

By that time, I had to do the dishes (a mission I will b leaving soon to the –soon to be in Lebanon- housekeeper)

I told Ghadi that I still have some stuff to do in the kitchen and he insisted on standing there watching me until I finish…

And there it began… the infinite questions of a 3.5 years old!!!

They were so funny, yet dazzling cuz I always get stuck with the answers!

Example? – while washing dishes, Ghadi stepping on his toes, nose reaching the sink, eyes wide open…

he asked:

where does all this water come from?

From an underground well (easy answer- way to go mom!)

Where does it go?

Into pipes to the sea (this one wasn’t convincing)

He narrowed his eyes: but it’s all dirty water!

mmm…silence…

then asking, again: how does it go to the sea with all that dirt? (probably he was imagining all those lovely fishes swimming happily then suddenly surprised by a huge dirty flow of water!)

how?????????

Now an answer shall b given..silence isn’t enough

(thinking moment: terms like filtration or similar explanation would be simply too complicated to him…  but now I admit, I could have explained it to him but really at that time I didn’t have any energy to go through all this…)

Let’s go painting… I dropped the dishes, snapped the brushes, and we spent an amazing hour together!

Love is in the air

The typical question from everyone i know or meet is: how is Ghadi doing with his little brother?
and my answer is always the same: He is doing really great (with a feeling of an immense joy in my heart)
because Ghadi proved to be a big boy with a great sense of responsibility
he cares for his brother
he likes to hug him, kiss him, lay down beside him
he never shows acts of jealousy and he's never aggressive
I hope it will stay like this because seeing those angels together makes this world much more beautiful, it makes my life much more meaningful and the Love is truly...in the air everywhere around me and in my house.

Sleeping like an angel

Ghadi is having some really weird sleeping positions these days!

But still... he looks like an angel

no matter how - or where- he falls asleep!

and here is my favorite one!

Bath time

As all babies Sary enjoys bath time

and since he was born i take care of his daily bath.... alone!

and it is the time i enjoy the most with this cute boy!

First of May, a great labor day at Rawdah Cafe

On the first of May, I decided we shall go out…

Weather was nice, a bit cloudy but warm.

As I woke up,  I looked around me at home and I knew that if we stayed home (to RELAX) I would spend all the time arranging cupboards, sorting winter-spring clothes and probably cooking, other than taking care of my three beloved boys… So  definitely we should go out to celebrate the last holiday in this season.

Where to?

That was a bit of a hard question, I didn’t feel like enjoying a long ride

I wanted Ghadi to have fun

Then the answer came from Jamil’s niece: Rawdah café

This is a café located on Beirut coast road but it is as old as the road itself probably!

We used to go there when we were Ghadi’s age!

Yay… I made some phone calls, then we were ready to go and when we arrived everybody were already there: Jamil’s family, our neighbors, my mom

Ghadi was thrilled and Sary was the whole time asleep!

Yes, enjoying the breeze and nice company while sitting peacefully in his seat!

after we arrived, we hurried to the stairs leading directly to the water shore

 to jump or not to jump? 

Ghadi started collecting pebbles to throw them into the water and our cousin directly imitated him… no wonder the sea is full of pebbles..thanks to all those children finding an inexplicable joy by throwing these small cailloux!

 collecting small stones for the noble mission: filling the sea

taking positions, and... go! 

 best friends...forever! :)

Me and Jamil's nephew "maz" with the Rawda cafe in background...

Now here is another photo showing the real Scale of "Mazzoun"(and the higher rock I was stepping on to be able to get to his shoulder level!)

 and while kids were busy with their task, I grasped few romantic moments with Jamil

  

It was great feeling, standing there, on the rocks, feeling the fresh breeze all around, and the waves's sound filling our ears with its relaxing repetitive motion!

I spent joyful moments, and a nice peaceful afternoon though having a 3.5 years old boy and a 2 months old baby which is very promising…

 I hope that we are going to have a great summer! I will try my best to have the best summer ever!

Sary’s first promenade at Manara coast road!

 During my sisters’ visit, my older sister decided we shall have a walk at Manara coast road…

Of course I was not surprised, jumana is in love (as we all are) in this coast road and leaving Beirut without having this walk is out of question.

But I was kind of hesitating since that Sary was only 3 weeks old by that time, I asked her to go with kids while I stay with sary at home. She refused, and she gave me the encouragement I needed, and insisted I should accompany them. And so we did! And it was so nice, to feel the sea breeze and  the fresh smell…

And I found out that going out with two kids isn’t that scary…

Thanks jouj for this afternoon

And as usual, another photo for this photogenic couple! (again, a glimpse of jealousy!)

The "Why" Questions

Ghadi is officially into the "why" phase!
Why am I saying that, it is because every single sentence he says should end with the question word: WHY?

Typical Conversation:

- Ghadi...please try to play calmly, your dad is taking a nap.
- Why is he asleep?
- because he is tired.
- why he is tired?
...I have to think a moment here...
- because he had lot of work today
- why?
... another moment...thinking of an answer...
-because there was too much work at the office.
-why? (this time with a tone that could be translated into: ha, this is not convincing mom, think of a better answer!)
...thinking quickly, this time in another direction...
- Ah, what if we play football?
-OK

This is happening all the time and about literally everything.
sometimes answering is easy, but a mom could really go through tough time when having to answer difficult why-type-questions.

A Day out in Tripoli!

I was still during maternity leave, and Jamil was having Ester Holiday, so he took Ghadi to the corniche, they fed the fishes, ate at Macdonalds and played with soap bubble gun, then at 2:00 as he was heading home and called me and proposed that we go to tripoli (a city one hour away from beirut, 2 to 3 hours away at weekends when high traffic blocks the highway)
I agreed directly since that i was really bored and though this would be a greater challenge then the simple park day out we did a month earlier, but I decided I would do it.

and again, I'm glad I did, cuz it was a very nice promenade. we reached Tripoli in 90 minutes. went to a small garden. Ghadi was a bit fussy, probably tired because he made the effort in the morning running and playing at cornice. but buying a  chewing gum was enough to soften his mood. (by the way, Not any chewing gum, i had one in my purse, but he insisted he wanted a specific one, so Jamil had to take him to nearest shop and got him that one).

 

 Then we ate our sandwiches, fed the ants (trying my best NOT to tranfer my fear from thsese little insects to Ghadi) so we approached a big one, observed how it moves, and I explained to him why it is bad to step on them (the thing he did to a sister ant the second he noticed it!)
and we threw some bread crumbs, and watched the ant holding it, heading to it's destination.
I went through all this trying my best to control my phobia and playing the ant-friendly-mom
until the moment when i saw ghadi coming to me, holding a big piece of bread, which was ok, but when i saw the Big Black Ant holding that piece of bread, and struggling to move to ghadi's fingers, I couldn't help myself from shouting and jumping and almost crying (surely Ghadi imitated me and did the same).
I was really ashamed of myself, but I can't help it... those little freaky insects make me panic and hope that my kids won't feel the same!
 

Sary was such a cute angel. I tried to benefit from the sunny afternoon and shoot him while he observed the world around him peacefully.

we went back at 9:00, It was a nice day and I'm so happy I managed to spend all this time out with a toddler and a newborn without troubles!

Ghadi enjoyed the playground, and Sary enjoyed sitting in the stroller.

I enjoyed being surrounded with my two kids (still the idea thrills me!) and Jamil was as usual, laziz w rayi2! (cool and relaxed).