k.u.d.a.h.u.r.a.a

Before you go further, let me warn you that this is a long read.. almost thesis-like length ;)

Sun, sea, sand, throw in a couple of stormy weather, constant gust of wind.. and that pretty much sums up our vacation in the midst of the indian ocean. We embarked on our first maiden voyage as a family to the Maldives and it was a wonderful getaway. What?.. we're crazy to have brought our child to the Maldives, you say? Well first of all, we couldn't bear parting with our daughter for a week and second, there was no one to look after her. Anyway it was a good experience travelling with a toddler.. it got a bit challenging at times but we managed to keep things under control.

aah Maldives, Maldives.. where shall I start? Well lets start from the very beginning...

We dreaded our first flight with an active toddler. Though the 4-hour flight to and fro went smoothly, it wasn't without a hitch but there wasn't any major meltdown. That experience was in fact a good prep for a long haul flight we're gonna take pretty soon. Now that, would be the real challenge.

So we took the evening flight on SQ as that was the only direct flight to Male and SQ only flies there at night and that sucks big time cause what that means is when you reached Male at around 10 pm Male time, that's considered one night off from the package you took which subsequently leads you to lose a night. But that's how it works and there's not much that you can do about it.

It was great service from the moment we reached the airport which one should expect from a luxury hotel of this caliber. There was a representative from the resort waiting for us with our name printed on a placard. Once we were identified, we were soon relieved of our luggages and did not touch them until we reached our bungalow. We were then promptly ushered to the speedboat that would take us to the resort. It was a 30-minute speedy boat ride (ala Miami Vice) in the dead of night. Do bring a bag to puke into if you're seasick. As soon as we reached the jetty, a line of resort staff were waiting for us guests.

Check-in was a breeze.. we just need to park our derriers on the plush sofas and they brought the papers to us for signing.. but not before offering us iced ginger-lime infused drinks and cool towels to freshen up after our journey.. lovely gesture indeed. Not only that, our little girl got her own fruity juice too, plus a little toy which of course, she refused, seeing how her sleep has been disrupted and she was out of sorts with the journey and the few hours time difference.

After everything was settled, we were off to our bungalow in a buggy (the only form of vehicle on the island) and arrived at our 'home' a minute or so later. The moment we stepped into our vacation home, I gushed a big "WOW!" as my eyes feasted on the urban chic interior of the bungalow with clever, cozy lighting and Maldivian music humming softly in the background.. quelle entree! A quick tour around the bungalow by the staff, and we were promptly left to our privacy. The place is AMAZING!.. well appointed with lusciously decorated interior and elegant finishings. We were on cloud nine.

We opted for a beach bungalow since water bungalows are not recommended for young children because of safety issues. We wanted to stay in a water bungalow initially when we first planned for this trip (which was around 5 years back :) but personally, I find that the beach bungalows have more pluses as they give you more private area, with an outdoor shower in the backyard and a plunge pool and direct access to the beach. It was the perfect choice for us as our girl loves to play in the sand (and at times eat it too!). Well I guess the different bungalows exude different charm. Some guests split their stay on the island by trying out both types of accommodation for the different experience.

The bungalow we stayed in was on the sunset side of the beach (or west side, if you like). Not only did we get to see lovely sunsets, we also get constant breeze which can be too much at times.. and the sea on this side is much rougher as well. We chose this side mainly for the beach - better and nicer, though not powdery-pristine-white perfect cause there're broken corals everywhere due to the tsunami.

Our stay in the Maldives was not all sunny side up, unfortunately. In fact, half of our stay there was hampered by rain and that was a real downer cause when the rain came pelting down, you're forced to stay indoors and you don't go to a beautiful island like this to be confined to your room. Even though the rain did hamper some of our plans, it didn't spoil our vacation as a whole. Usually when it rains, it came all in a sudden with a heavy downpour that lasted for say, five minutes and the sun came popping back out in the sky soon after.

There are 3 main restaurants in the resort offering different arrays of international food. Since our package includes breakfast, we made good use of it by making it into a brunch.. usually making a trip to the restaurant half an hour before they close the buffet and piling up food on our table. So then we either skip lunch or have light snacks or have early dinner.

Well when you go to a 5 star resort, everything is charged in 5 star dollars. A can of coke from the bungalow bar costs 5USD, a big bottle of evian will cost you 13USD and a plate of nasi goreng with sambal oelek that comes with fried egg and some chicken satay will set you back at 32USD.. ouch! Our priciest meal was on the lobster night, where we had a 3-course dinner and blew almost 300USD that night (triple ouch!) But judging by how our tummy increased up two notches after the end of the meal, I say it's worth it. Plus, what's a trip to the Maldives without gorging on lobsters, right?

Let me tell you up right that it was a brain-draining task for us to settle on which resort to go to. But since we were bringing our girl along, it narrows down the search to family-friendly resorts. We finally settled for this one since it's very child-friendly. They provide kid's menu in all restaurants, offer babysitting service and there's a Kid's Club on the island where parents can 'deposit' their child(ren) for the entire day if they so wish. It's free of charge but if your child is below 4 years old, he has to be accompanied by the parent or a babysitter. We made use of the babysitting service twice during our stay, for 2 hours each time and it costs 17USD per hour. It was our baby's first ever experience to be cared for by a total stranger and she did well on the first occasion but not so the second time as she cried for us. Well it was necessary to leave her for a couple of hours each time as we had planned to do some activities.

And activities we did - snorkelling, dolphin watch and spa. We did book for a trip to Male but cancelled at the last minute due to bad weather and plus, the hubby was a little under the weather from the day before. And the day before, we went for the dolphin cruise. We took a dhoni ride out to the big blue for a 90-minute excursion. We brought our girl along for the trip thinking that it was a noble idea but we didn't anticipate the bad weather and the rough journey out sea. She didn't enjoy the trip at all.. crying intermittently every now and then.. my poor baby. And the sea motion got to the hubby halfway through. So I was the only one who enjoyed the whole trip, trying to spot the dolphins and capturing them on stills and video consecutively. Even though the skies were on the stormy side, we did see pods of spinner dolphins doing their acrobatic thing by spinning out of the water into the air and then swimming towards the boat. That was a real feast for the eyes and adults were turned into shrieking frenzy whenever that happens.

Fortunately, we had beautiful weather the day we went snorkelling. It was our first time ever and I was looking forward to it. The dhoni took us out to the house reef which was a mere 5 minutes ride from the island. A short briefing on the boat and in we went into the sea. I think I did great for a novice. Being a non-swimmer and having to stay afloat in the middle of the rough sea for 30 minutes, was a true feat for me.. and for that, I give myself many pats on the back. The sea was really rough.. I gulped down sea water a few times while in upright position as the waves came smashing down my face. At one point, I had difficulty breathing through the tube but Ahmed, our snorkelling guide, came to my rescue. Apart from that, I did enjoy snorkelling. The house reef were teeming with all sorts of fish of varying colours and sizes, though I heard that the reef is not as colourful as other parts of the ocean. Unfortunately,we didn't get to see any manta rays or sharks or turtles.. swimming with any of those would be a great experience indeed.

So, was I scared by the idea of being in the big ocean? Maybe I had that feeling lodged somewhere deep inside but I didn't give it a chance to surface or else I wouldn't be able to go through it. I adopted NIKE's "just do it" mantra :)

I'm not someone who adores being under the sun. I absord the sun ray like sponge absorbs water, so in a bid to stay true to my colour of origin, I slathered dollops of suntan lotion and whitening cream head to toe, to prevent from looking like a golliwog after an exotic vacation. And my efforts really paid off :)

The spa was a heavenly experience and since it's located on its own island, the experience was made more special and exclusive. After a 2-minute dhoni ride, we reached the spa island and was greeted by soothing sounds and were given refreshing drinks before being ushered to the couple room. We had a 60-minute Balinese massage and were entertained by the sound of the ocean and fish swimming underneath the spa room as we were being stroked and kneaded.. magnifique! We would've loved to have more of those treatments but the price tag kept us in check.

On the eve before our departure, we received a letter from the management informing us that we've been given a complimentary late check-out at 9pm instead of the usual midday check-out and that was a godsend cause we were on the 11pm flight and were trying to figure out our girl's sleeping arrangement between noon and departure time. So we were really grateful for that goodwill.

We got a tad bit emotional having to leave 'our' bungalow and the beautiful island. I miss that place, miss the huge bathtub, the outdoor shower, the plunge pool.. heck, the whole bungalow!... especially miss the twice a day housekeeping, the buggy service, the buffet breakfast, the smiles everywhere we go, the whole island!

We're already thinking of another trip to the Maldives.. to a different destination.....

(Photos will be up on FB soon)

to blog or not to blog..

..zat ees ze quest-tien.

So Bomi, I admit that I'm not sticking to my resolution. Hence I'm striking that one resolution off my list.

Blogging IS such a biggie to me now apparently. Eversince I'm back here in SG, I've taken the deeper end of the backseat at blogging. I became more of a reader, less of a writer and less active online in general. The thing is, blogging has more appeal to me when I was in France, giving the people back here insights to my life and surroundings. That was the main reason why I entered the blogging realm in the first place. Now that I'm back here, blogging has somewhat lose its appeal on me.

Maybe it'll all come back to me one day... maybe not. Lets play it by ear.

I guess I'll blog when I blog.

neuf=nine=new

Happy New Year!

I hope it's not too late to wish everybody a happy new year. Well of course not.. the year is relatively new.

It's the first month of the year, must at least put up an entry, no?

New year, resolutions abound.. first up - I resolute to at least update my blog once (or more) a month (no biggie, right?). I know I've sung to that tune before but what's said last year was old story and I plan to stick to the new one, heh. And then, I'd like to lead a healthier lifestyle, i.e. to break up more sweat than I did last year and keep a closer tab on what I stuff my face with - gonna try to water down this sweet tooth of mine. With a medical history on my back, I should take better care of my health. I'm happy to say though that I've been able to maintain my weight eversince it has dropped down to its pre-pregnancy 'lightness'.. all thanks to our little princess who keeps me moving around the house for her and after her. So what I'm aiming for in particular is the crux of every women - loose, wobbly flesh. Hence, I'm having a 'firmer-toner' mantra for this. (Anir, wanna pair up for some butt-clenching sessions?) And since your body will respond slower to physical changes with age, I will have to work doubly hard to achieve the desired result.

Another thing on the list to improve would be to brush up on my French. The hubby often said, "You see, you can speak French well if you want to", on those times when I felt like talking nasal-ly. Well I know that and I need to ace it on a technical level. I need to practice my French with different people. I should find some French friends here. So if you're French and happen to read this, est-ce que tu veux être mon ami?

Well I think I've laid out all my resolutions. 3 is a good number.. not too little, not too much.. just about round it up nicely.

Resolutions aside, we have a few things in the pipeline for this year. One of which is, to find a place to call our own. Things are settling down nicely for us here and soon, it'd be a year since we're back and now is a good time to start looking for our own nest. Frankly speaking, we miss having our own place and to mirror what Yati said, I can finally start cooking again. Sure I do cook for hubby - once in a long, long while. What I'm talking here is some serious cooking and there's nothing like cooking in your own kitchen, with your own cutlery and utensils ala ala Nigella's.

Well, it's gonna be a busy year for us, I guess. But what I wish for, most than anything else, is good health, that will see us through to our old age, insya'Allah.

Cheerios, people!

a good one

Who among us here doggedly followed the US presidential election?... yeah, me neither.. until yesterday, when I sat through the voting results cause I was eager to know the outcome.. and when it was announced that Obama's the man, there was a kinda warm feeling that surged through my body. Good job, Americans!

oookay, I'm gonna just recapitulate on what we did the past few days.

So Naila had her first zoo trip last weekend and thanks to hubby's zoo pass, we got in gratos. It was almost a no go when the weather decided to go all fickly on us. We've been jinxed by the weather lately cause each time we planned for an outdoor outing, the sky would turn all grey and stormy. But I'm glad we went ahead with the zoo trip, as the second part of the day saw the sunny side up.



This week started with some serious laughter in the form of Russell Peters. This Canindian is one gutsy guy, dishing out anecdotal jokes about races, stereotypes and the likes that are crack-ass worthy. He's excellent at doing improvisational comic and if you don't wanna be the unwilling star under his spotlight, avoid the front seats. I can't recall the last time I had bouts of bend-over laughs like that. That was good.. kinda 'painful', but good. Well it was the first time we went to a stand-up show and it sure won't be our last.

re-entrance

What telah happened here?? My blog has become a dead space.... writer's block? busy-ness? laziness? Lets say it's a combination of all that. Eversince we're back here, I'm pretty much tuned out from the wired world. Blog, mailboxes, networking sites, have been at the standstill for the longest time. Am I running high and dry on this front? I sure hope not. Let me try to get back on the wired track. I do apologize to those of you who diligently check out my blog, hoping to see some updates, only to exit back out because there're none. This blog has become an unreliable source of information, I know.

I don't even know what to blog about now. I've been out of it for so long that it needs some getting used to again.

Well, A LOT has happened since my last entry and I don't feel like running over old news, so I'm just gonna write about the recent event..

Our first Eid as a family was really special and Naila's really cute in her baju. We're happy that our girl gets to celebrate her first Eid in its full glory. We're gonna see to it that her Christmas here will be as joyous. We wanna make sure that she gets her roots deep in both worlds.

Our girl is now 10 months and a week old and boy, is she growing up fast. She took her first few independent steps barely into her tenth month. I reckon she'll be running, jumping, legs splitting, before reaching her first year... okay, a bit far-fetched there. It just seems that our baby has turned into a bigger baby in a blink of an eye. Grandis pas trop vite, mon bébé.

So we've wrapped up our Raya visits over the weekend and we've had great times with everybody. It's good to be back. Indeed.

Selamat Hari Raya!

yes, I'm this excited when I get them little packets

did we secretly have a boy? hmm...

and so we begin

I'm baaaaack! And you thought I've ungraciously retired from the blogosphere. Well not yet, not now.

SO it has been exactly a month, a week and four days since our return. The three of us are doing fine, despite having to face the initial onset of what seems like a heavy blanket of humidness the moment we stepped out of the airport. Don't get me wrong.. we're more than glad to be in the sunny tropics and away from the cold. But the humidity really gets to us. The constant feeling of sweat and stickiness enveloping the body is really uncomfortable. If I wasn't a fan of fans or air-con before, well I am now.

Ok enough whining. But hey, I'm a Singaporean after all. Wait a minute.. the French likes to complain too, otherwise they wouldn't be so infamously known as a strike-loving nation.

So are we missing France? - largely no but I do miss certain things for sure, namely, the medical convenience I've been getting while over there. But the slight fear I had before we move, concerning finding my footing here with the medical care was unfounded. Obviously, things don't work the same way here but the switch from French way to Sing way went smoothly even if I have to put in a bit more effort on my part. But the big OUCH comes in the form of dollars. If we didn't have to draw out a single centime for my medical expenses back in France, it's cash withdrawal in chunks here. Like I said, things don't work the same way. Well you can't blame us for harping on and on about that (not so much now) but the human nature is bound to react when one's habit (in our case, habit of having our med expenses taken care of by the French system) has been taken away. C'est comme ca la vie.. you win some, you lose some.

I do miss our apartment.. umm well maybe not the apartment per se but having a place to call our own. Our last day in our apartment was busy spent unloading our stuff to the truck and clearing our things but everything was done in a jiff, thanks to the PIL and BIL. It was a poignant moment for me when the time came for us to leave. I was the last person to step out of the apartment and gave one last parting glance before closing the door. I was feeling feeling sad like that.

Well the plan to have our own abode here can take a backseat for now.. we need to find jobs first and have sufficient savings. We are truly grateful to my parents for letting us stay with them for the time being and helping to look after our little girl.

Speaking of the little girl, she has grown into a 'ball' of cuteness and geramness. She is a really happy and active little darling, always smiling and getting excited at the slightest things :)

So what have we been doing since we arrived? We've been moving around the island for job interviews (for hubby), getting acquainted with the medical people here and formalizing the papers for hubby's PR... we've been pretty busy, I'd say. Well hubby's still furiously trying to find a job. He had quite a number of interviews but the bulk of it said he was over-qualified for the job. So, still trying..

On the gastronomical front, I had my Singapore-food deprived tastebuds fully gratified since day one. Well of course there're still a whole lot of other yummy food to discover... yes, me happy here :) Happy to be back with my family, relatives and friends.. happy to be out of the cold.. happy to be back behind the wheels.. happy to have a loving husband and a beautiful daughter. Yes, me happy :D

adieu...

You welcome me with open arms.

You treat me well.

Life was sweet with you.

And I thank you.

Even though I'm leaving you,

the memories I had with you will eternally stay lock in my mind.

Goodbye France.

You've been good to me.. really good.

Till we meet again.

Fin

pondering..

In less than a week, we'll be flying off to Singapore. I can't believe the time has finally come for us to make the big move. We've been waiting for this moment to arrive and although I'm all excited and raring to go, I can't help but feeling morose at the prospect of leaving our home here. Parting the nest that we've been living in for over 4 years (more for hubby).. leaving all that is familiar and habitual.. leaving our independence and the lifestyle that we've built together. It's always sad to leave the ground you've been rooted to for a period of time. Even though I sometimes complain about how things are here, the reality is that I'm happy. But we're moving for a better future.. to a more fulfilling life.. especially so for our little girl.

We'll be starting a new chapter, creating new habits. It's not always easy to change the habits that you've picked up in life but I'm sure we'll adapt to our new lifestyle in no time. It'd be much more challenging for hubby than for me of course but together, we'll make it work.

This is for the best and we're really looking forward to our new journey, the three of us..

he got it!

Now, who applied for PR and got it the first time?.. yep, you guessed it! :D After about 3 and a half months of anticipation, we finally got the all-important response. Hubby literally jumped with joy while on the phone with mummy-in-law who broke the super duper good news to him. He tersengeh-sengeh-ed for a good half hour.. maklumlah, hati ada gumbira.

So now with the PR in hand, it would be much much less of a hassle for him to land a job there. Singapura, here we come!

naila's new do

Woke up over the weekend and saw this:

so how d'you like me new hair?

milky way no more

The time has finally come for me to say adieu to breastfeeding. The wonderful journey of ultimate oneness with my baby has sadly come to an end. It's not that I wanted to but I have to. I shall miss those special bonding moments with her.

Almost 3 months of breastfeeding. Not bad, considering that the initial plan was to do it for a month. But the need to provide for my baby was too strong, so I decided to go on. We have about a month left before our departure, so it's decided that I should make the transition to my oral med a few weeks before we leave, to have sufficiently enough time for my doctor to follow up on my blood tests. I still have to continue with my injections while taking my oral med until my blood test produce a satisfying result.

So almost a year of non-stop poking and what do I learn from that?... that every single jab and pain is worth it and I'm willing to do it all over again in case..

naila & her gigoteuse

Gigo amende??.. jee-go-terse or sleep sack in English. She sleeps in this thing at night. Keeps her warm in our 19°C bedroom. It's so soft and thick, I wish I could sleep in one.. and no, it's not available in adult size. I guess it won't be of much use once we're in sunny Sin.

Other faces of Naila..

bringing up multilingual

Being a mixed couple, we want our daughter to acquire both our native languages plus English, of course. While we don't expect her to utter all 3 languages by the time she can speak, we're very determined and will do our best to help her be multilingual.

I speak mostly English to Naila and some Malay and French at times, while her papa speaks in French and English. At the moment, she's exposed to a lot of French but she'll surely catch up on the other two once we're in Sin. I've read up a bit on this subject and as for every action, there's a reaction. This site is a good read on this matter.

After 4 years here, my understanding of the native language has markedly improved. Although I don't speak the language fluently, I can nonetheless spew sentences here and there under the circumstances. Suffice to say, I can go on my way alone here. I'm afraid I might lose touch with the language once we're out of this country. Well I just have to make the effort to keep up with it to better help Naila be mutilingual.

Lets hope she won't have language overload, turn to us one day to say this:

me back here

Finally found the time, energy and mind for some updates here. Been mostly busy, part lazy, got a couple of rude visits from the winter bug and was in no-blogging mood of late. So to my regular readers, mi scuzi.

So what's been brewing over here...

- Went to the in-laws last weekend for the last time before our move. Naila will be greatly missed by her Mamie and Papy and Tonton Nix but hey, c'est la vie, quoi. There're choices to be made (at times not easy), dreams to fulfill. You can't always have your cheese and eat it too. And thanks to the ever evolving technology, the world is a much smaller place.

- Naila has her double nationality now... she's a umm Frenchyporean?.. yeah, well she'll be that for the next 21 years at least. It's a great thing cause she has the advantage of both worlds. She's a fortunate girl indeed.

- The apartment is now about 3/4 empty. We've packed away stuff like books, clothes, bric-a-brac. It was a real chore organizing what to pack/to throw/to give away. I've never liked packing things but it has to be done and we still have a lot to do... bordel!

Wokay end of updates.

Here's a little video of Naila exploring the wonderful world of thumb-finger-fist sucking:

ticket to ride

We've recently collected Naila's French ID and passport.. so she's a recognized French citizen now. Our girl is entitled to double citizenship until she reaches 21, after which she'll have to drop one of the two citizenships. We've already applied for her Singapore citizenship and passport and are waiting for the response which we'll normally get in about a month's time.

I didn't realize that taking an ID photo of a baby can be quite a challenging task. If it takes just a few minutes for an adult to have his ID photo taken, it took us about half an hour to get Naila's done. Well it probably wasn't a good idea to feed her just before leaving home cause full tummy plus cool air plus brisk walk lulled her to sleep really quick and every attempt to rouse her failed - from gentle shaking to tickling to the blaring toot from a squeeze toy - as she was really in deep sleep. So we waited for a while, all the time tickling her everywhere until she finally opened her eyes.. good thing she didn't cry, once awaken.

One of the most brain-draining part of our move is having to settle all the paperworks. Thank goodness hubby is a great organizer and very meticulous with stuff like that. Well we have 2 more months to get everything in order before making our grand depart from the French soil.

publicité

Went to Big Bro's site and saw the video of the car accident he put up there and it reminds me of a commercial on road safety shown on French tv a while back... dunno if it's shown anywhere else. I must warn you that it's pretty brutal and shocking..

What it said:
- This day, he drove way too fast.
- And he drove just a little too fast.
- Always respect the speed limit.

strike a pose

During my hospital stay, I had a lot of people coming into my room - midwives, nurses, visitors, cleaners.. and a photographer.. yep. So this woman came in introducing herself and explaining her presence there.. that her company propose to take photographs of the baby and the mother while in the hospital, without any obligation to buy the pictures thereafter. Last week, someone came over to show us the album with all the pictures taken (there're 13 pics in total). I was thinking maybe we could browse first and then choose some but the hubby jumped in and closed the deal, buying the whole album which cost 155€.. okaayy.

Indeed, it's a smart business move - going around the maternity, spending 15 minutes in each room taking photographs of babies and mothers, knowing very well that they'll eventually squeeze some cash out of each couple especially from new parents who wouldn't resist the professionally done photographs of their cute little ones.

our weekend

Going to the in-laws now means a lot more packing to do and longer hours on the road. Naila had her first cross-country trip when we visited the in-laws over the weekend. We took 5 hours to reach there instead of the usual 4.. we had to make stops along the way to feed her and change her and to let her loosen her limbs a bit cause I can imagine it mustn't be all that comfortable slump up in the baby car seat like that at a long stretch. Well she didn't make a big fuss during the trip to and fro, so it was fine.

We visited the grandparents and Naila was properly introduced to them. Our baby got all the attention any baby could ask for during our stay there and was very much pampered by her tonton Nix (a.k.a Anthony - Stéphane's younger brother). The most frequent phrase uttered during our weekend trip was "Qu'est-ce qu'elle est belle!", meaning "She's so pretty!" - referring of course, to Naila.. NOT ME.. heh

my first outing...

...was a cool one. Yep, Naila had her first trip downtown yesterday. The weather was fine and the temperature was merciful. We didn't know that the winter sales came earlier this year and weren't expecting much crowd but the stores were thick with people. So we didn't linger for long to minimize the risk of the baby catching any microbes running wild in the air.

Well the purpose of our trip downtown was to get a girdle for meself. While I'm in no hurry to shed the excess weight I've put on, I'd like to get a grip on my tummy before gravity pulls it down till the point of no return. I do hope though that I'll drop down to my pre-pregnancy weight within a couple of months. Lets see.. total weight gain during pregnancy was 14 kg which wasn't that far off from the recommended weight gain. I've lost 8 kg after the birth which leaves me 6 extra kilos to burn... and this will be the good time to pump back some life into the stepper which has been long ignored and forgotten.. hee

So our baby turns 1 month today and she has been a constant joy to us. One month into parenthood and we're coping pretty well though there were some hiccups along the way but we've ironed that out. The hardest for me I guess, is the lack of sleep... lack of sleep plus crying baby makes Julie a tired and crabby mama. Hubby helps a lot around the apartment.. in fact, he does most of the cleaning while I deal with the laundry and cooking - I have to resume cooking now cause we couldn't eat from the box all the time. So my days are pretty occupied.. no more long hours on the computer and no more video games! (for now :)

Happy 1 month petite princesse! We love you so!

Oh, we let Naila explore her playgym for the first time today and she loves it!

welcome 2008!

2007 - a wonderful, wonderful year for us!.. especially towards the end... and you know why :)

We're really looking forward to 2008 - embarking on the journey of parenthood, making our big move to a better life, better future, better everything. Insya'Allah everything will go as planned.

Here's wishing everybody happiness and good health for the new year!