3 Beautiful Things Monday (on Thursday)

I love writing, but I find it hard to find the time to actually write let alone blog. So I will take things in stride and post something at least once a week in the form of 3 Beautiful Things Monday (starting on a Thursday)

1) Coming home after work: I love it when I unlock the door and my two kids coming running at their fastest capacity to see me. "Mama!" my daughter yells and give me a hug at the knees and around the corner comes my son in the same enthusiasm. She's eager to tell me anything, something off the top of her head, "Weston went poop today" or "Batchoy pulled pulled my hair!" Then not far behind her is baby Zain walking fast. He's usually holding a piece of junk mail and flapping it around like it's an important telegram I. LOVE. IT.

2) Healthy kids: I thank God that my kids are healthy and don't have a chronic illness. Since becoming a mother, I have become a better practitioner, but also an empathetic one. I am especially affected by those patients who are the same age as my children.

3) Carbon Monoxide Detectors: It's all over the Baltimore news this season. Families who don't wake up in the morning only to be discovered by a neighbor or relative peeking through the front door. Carbon monoxide poisoning is a silent killer. It's a gas that can't be seen or smelled and is caused by faulty heating sources like old furnaces, gas stoves used for heat, or poorly ventilated gas generators. Get a carbon monoxide detector for each floor of your house and protect your family.

HA! I'm back...for now!

I can't believe it's been over a YEAR since my last entry! 12 months have gone by and BOY have things changed! And when I say, BOY, I mean it! We are now officially a family of four with the newest addition of baby boy ZAIN who was born on September 1st. Blessedly, my pregnancy was healthy, but the delivery was LABOR! (Let me NOT elaborate!)

Anyways, Zain is now 3 1/2 months and a chunky little guy. He's got Hassan's patience and appetite! I am not used to a baby who loves to eat and sleep! He's been the complete opposite of Noreen from the day he was born. Easy in some ways and challenging in others.

What has been the hardest most of all is Noreen's life after the arrival of Zain. Things went off with a rocky start...she was sick with a fever the day we left for the hospital and it continued until we came home. So there were a lot of layers to her irritability and temper tantrums...new sibling, separation anxiety, and illness!

Once she was better physically, we were able to manage her better. She's a great big sister or 'Ate' in tagalog...wants to help with the baby and imitates me ALL the time! Sometimes I feel that if she were a little bigger, she'd understand what was going on.

End of Part 1

Balut

Hassan and I got into a very funny discussion today, but unfortunately it didn't go very far. His participation in conversations about our childhood in the 80's are disappointingly limited. Nonetheless, we got on a VERY random conversation about Chicken McNuggets and how when I was a kid, I would always save my favorite piece last: "the boot". Hassan disagrees at the odd fact that McDonalds' Chicken McNuggets come in "standardized" shapes. HA! In fact, I can recall 2 distinct shapes: the "oval" and the "boot". AND thanks to Wikipedia, there is also the "tombstone".


Which leads me to the title of this blog entry. Mikey, my younger brother, always saved the "oval" last because as a little kid, it fit perfectly into his palm. As a kid, Mikey loved little, random objects: Tic-Tac containers, quarters, Legos, and finally balut. Balut is a Filipino delicacy and hot food item for gastronomists like Andrew Zimmern on Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods". Basically, it's an aborted duck egg that was thown into a vat of hot, salted water. Imagine chicken soup with the meat (ala feathers and partially developed eye and beak) all in nature's original little container. And that's all that little Mikey had to hear...

When we were in the Philippines in the 1985, Mikey begged my parents to purchase balut for him from a street vendor in the early morning (they eat this for breakfast). Mikey, who has always had a kind heart and naive intentions, did not want to eat this cute little duck egg, but to adopt it, hatch it, and love the little animal that was supposedly inside. Little did Mikey know that this egg would not hatch. Nonetheless, he built it a temporary nest (we were in a hotel at the time) for it to hatch. He took the hotel's ashtray and gathered up some toilet paper, folded it up, and placed it neatly into the ashtray. Then he placed this "nest" underneath a lamp so that it would keep the egg warm (despite it being 99 degree weather outside). After laying the egg in it's new home, Mikey sat eagerly and waited and waited and waited...now this is where my own memory becomes fuzzy because I can't recall how long he waited and how he came to realize that this egg would not hatch. Maybe it's a good thing I can't remember so that I don't have to remember his disappointment, but it's a cute story I keep with me always.

It's been a while: Part Deux

Yes, it's been a while, but this time I have a good excuse. I HAVE A BABY. I had a baby girl in January and it's taken over with what is left of my life. When you work 4 days a week, have a husband, a cat, and a baby, there isn't much time for anything else. I'm not complaining, but when you work 4 days a week and live for the weekends, the months go by quickly and things are either really busy or mundane.

Some days I miss the old bedside nursing gig. When I worked 3 days a week it was nice to have 4 days off. I actually had time for HOBBIES! Reading, working out, watching movies, scrapbooking, blogging! But I look back and realize all the weekends, birthdays, BBQ, and holidays I missed out on. Don't forget the stress factor as well. I burned out and burned out quick in the PICU!

Anyways, no Tanookie moments that I can think of lately. I'm sure that Hassan could remind me. There are plenty of mommy and baby stories, but I wouldn't know where to start. Noreen is 8 months old now and there are 8 months worth of stories (not including the rest of my pregnancy and delivery) to rehash. Right now I just don't have the energy.

Until then...

23 weeks...

Hello, All! This blog entry is a montage of thoughts...some longer than others (that's if I spend more time in lines thinking about things). Just remember, even though I may be pregnant...the fists of fury is still the same, even though my fingers may be a little swollen at this point!

1) It's been two weeks since our summer trip out to Hatteras Island. What a wonderful week it was! We stayed in a little town called Waves and we rented a 6 bedroom house called "Island Bliss" on the beach with four other couples and Showieb. Ironically (and blessed it be) it was the same group that we traveled with or met through Hajj almost 2 years ago! Pictures are sure to follow once I get out of my lazy mood. It was a relaxing week where the biggest part of the day was cooking our meals. We'd sleep in to about 10 am and eat dinner 9:30-10 pm! We had our turkey dinner, girls time at the pool all week long, glass beading, sleeping on the beach (my personal favorite), Jinn stories by the bonfire, and halal smores!

2) Ramadan Mubarak! It's that time of year again...but this time around I won't be fasting because of the pregancy. I feel bad for Hassan as he goes through the days of fasting alone. During the weekends I have to shoo him to the basement so that he doesn't hear me pull out the dishes or smell the food that I am eating. I try to make it up to him by preparing a hearty sahoor (before sunrise meal).


3) Does cheese in a wax casing have to be refrigerated? I spent almost 30 minutes researching this very important question. I ask because my parents just returned from a Caribbean cruise and purchased a gigantic wheel of gouda cheese encased in red paraffin wax. Although the milk used to make the cheese was pasteurized (safe for preggers), I'm not sure if it was refridgerated the whole time. SO...does anyone know this answer? I have to admit...I did have a couple of bites (and what a good cheese it was), but after reading the risk of Listeria I controlled my urge.

4) Etiquitte in the "Self-Check Out Line" at the grocery store: Our grocery store recently implemented this cost-saving and time-saving idea, unfortunately the mass population must learn (the hard way) the proper strategy when approaching these new machines.
1) Make sure you have a shopping partner: One person to scan items and another person to bag groceries...this saves time. One person will slow down the process and thus crush the "time-saving" concept.
2) Shopping baskets welcome...shopping carts = get into another line: There should be a limit to the number of items that one should consider "self-check out". What's the point in having a 50 items if you have to scan everything and then bag it yourself? Forget getting in that line if that person has no partner.
3) Follow the directions: Sounds simple, but you'd be surprised at how many people don't. Even though there is an automated person talking to you, somehow you do your own thing and the "Please see attendant" warning flashes. Awww...you got in trouble!

MFTEE

"MFTEE" = My Favorite "Transformers" Episode EVER

Recently saw "Transformers" TWICE because it was so good. I haven't seen a movie like that in a long time in the theatres. When people "ohhhh", "ahhhh", and give a standing ovation at the end of a film, you know it was good movie.

After watching the movie, I wanted to reminesce about the Transformer's cartoon episodes. I found my favorite episode EVER in it's entirety. Of course, Optimus Prime is a part of the main storyline in this one. As a kid, I remember liking this episode because you see softer, more affectionate side of Optimus that I found endearing. Not to mention that there were FEMALE Autobots! Enough said and ENJOY!

http://truveo.com/?method=truveo.videos.getVideos&query=id%3A2208371973&play=1

"I Am Not a Plastic Bag"

For the past few months I have been using reusable bags for my grocery shopping. I never would have thought about using them until it was given to me for free by Whole Foods. At first I was kind of self-conscious using them at my local grocery store. Then I saw someone bring their own bag and I thought to myself, "You go girl!" It takes just one person to start a chain of events and she (unknow to her) motivated me to start using those reusable bags. I hope to inspire others to emerge from the "landfill" and purchase those reusable bags.

It's a liberating feeling knowing that I'm not contributing to as much non-degradable materials in our landfill. Besides, I've cut down on the clutter in our pantry trying to store all those plastic bags and we still enough bags around the house to line our trashcans and clean out Murry's litter box (special thanks to Target).

So, if you are reading this blog...purchase one of those reusable grocery bags at your local grocery store. Your purchase won't go unnoticed. Most grocery stores will credit you 3-cents for every reusable bag you use towards your total purchase. 3-cents won't make a difference in your budget, but grocery stores will be able to track how many people use reusable bags. If there are enough people using them, then they will make more because of the popularity and the demand. The more people using them, the more reusable bags they will sell and the less plastic bags you (and they) will use. It's a good promotion and it only takes just one person to turn the wheel...

"I Am Not a Plastic Bag" is hottest selling bag around the world. It was designed by Anya Hindmarch. Not only is it a fashion statement, but one can skip looking like a tree hugger in the grocery store and use this trendy bag for your groceries or as a large purse. I tried to get my hands on one of these bags, but they are sold out world-wide!

I'm back...for now

I know, it's been a while. Not that I don't have a lot to talk about, but things have been busy since our trip to Europe. No recent "Tanookie" moments that I can truly recall, just regular life events that have kept me busy.

But before I blog, I'd like to know who out there is actually reading my blogs. I'd like to take an "internet attendence" before I devote some time to blogging and find out that I've been writing to an empty audience.