Since we had been in all day, working on the bedrooms, I decided to go for a walk this evening while R cooked. A came with me around all of Cedre Villas, riding on his bike. It was not too hot (dont ask me how I can think "not too hot" about 30 degrees) and I really enjoyed it! So lovely.

 

 

With the new beds the wallstickers were no longer showing and today we spent the morning organising and prepareing the kids bedrooms. This is the result in J´s room

 

One pushchair less in the house, the Maclaren stroller was just sold. Great!

 

 

 

 

J has had a runny nose for probably two weeks, some cough every now and then and not getting better nor worse. Last night I thought she felt a bit hot and this morning I took her temperature, 38.5. Because of this I stayed home with her in the morning while R took A to the pool with some friends. In the afternoon we all went grocery shopping though as she was showing no signs of being tired from her fever but this evening she was burning and didnt want any food. She said her mouth tasted bad and that it was hurting so I guess that is where the fever is coming from. We put her to bed extra early hoping for a quick recovery

 

There is a website for selling second hand stuff called Dubizzle and right now we have our first ads up. We are finally going to get rid of all pushchairs and strollers. Therefore we had to clean out our tiny under stairs storage in search for the acessories, rain covers are not really needed in Dubai ;) Im keeping my fingers crossed that they sell quite fast, it will be great to get rid of them from the tv room :) The kids junior beds are also for sale, to make space to organise their rooms a bit.

 

I dont think I mentioned it here on the blog but we bought a garden dinner table last sunday (not yesterday but the week before) and they were supposed to be delivered last saturday. It was a special offer and they had to colours to choose between, beige and green. The green was "bottle green" and not at all nice for furniture and the beige would look good with the colour of our house to it was an easy choice. On Saturday they called and wanted to deliver our GREEN table?! :O When R said no, we bought beige they said it was sold out but R didnt accpet and since then we have been bugging them about the table. They promised to call us back yesterday but after lunch R called them and they knew nothing. He tried a different number too and they said they would call back but surprise surprise they didnt. He called again this morning and they said it could take 24 hours for them to call back and R said its really not ok, we had to wait one week for original delivery and we need that table. An hour or so later the called to check that we were home for delivery of our beige table. Incredible! Its sooooo Dubai and its very frustrating and annoying. Why should you have to be angry and say you are going to want your money back and go someplace else before they do anything? Its so tough mentally to have to get so worked up every time!

 

 

Here is a post I wrote for Gluten free UAE, a support and info network for ppl in Dubai.

 

In my home country it’s all about making sure no child feels left out, or different. Being coeliac shouldn’t mean you cannot join your friends for a school outing or go to a friend’s birthday party. This is one thing I couldn’t agree more with.

I was 21 years old when I was diagnosed and it was a big change in my life but the worst part was feeling like a pest. I don’t know how many times I found myself feeling guilty for making demands, always asking my friends for ingredients in the food they cooked and always having to have the final say in where to go for lunch or coffee.

One event that I remember clearly happened in the first year after I was diagnosed. My whole extended family was away on holiday when we visited a museum and stayed there for lunch. It turned out they had nothing gluten free in the restaurant and while my family sat down to eat I could only stare at them and feel even more starved. To be honest, I don’t blame them, they all had young children that had to eat and there was no other option, but that feeling inside, hungry and left out, was horrible and I struggled to hold my tears back until I got home. I was an adult! I can’t even imagine a child having to feel that way.

Having experienced the feeling of being left out I always ask my children’s teachers about food allergies before baking something for the class and try to adjust to make sure everyone can eat the same thing. 

To have someone thinking about you and making sure they have some gluten free biscuits is of course always nice, but nothing brings me greater joy than when I attend birthday dinners at one of my aunts. 
It would never cross her mind to bake a normal cake and give me something else. Since she is not used to gluten free flour she will search the internet and find a recipe that is naturally gluten free so that we can ALL eat the same cake.

As a coeliac I feel different on a daily basis and I would recommend family and friends of anyone with a food allergy to do your outmost to try to help that person to feel as normal as you can. For example, one could easily avoid buying a “cookie” ice-cream if someone coeliac is invited or if going to a restaurant, ask the coeliac person for his/her preference first.

I also think that if people knew more about our condition and what we can or cannot eat, they would be delighted to help out. It is up to us to make more people aware of coeliac disease and I encourage all to spread the word as much as you can. I think it’s the least we can do for our children!

 

 

Today we went to the slide pool again. Regardless of the fanciness at the Westin I do think Habtoor is our favourite beach club.

 

The muslims are celebrating Eid today and tomorrow so no school today. We tried a new (for us) beachclub at Westin and ended up staying all day. It was good fun but the sun makes me so tired! The kids are sleeping already I wont be up much longer either :) Tomorrow is party day so I´d better make sure im well rested :D

 

 

We´ve had a "just right" weekend. Friday started with football practice and we had planned for ice skating in the afternoon however the kids were at their grumpiest so we decided to stay home. Watched a film and played some board games instead. We went ice skating on saturday instead and I think the kids did worse than the week before but I guess things change quickly in the beginning. After lunch and saturday treats R took the kids to the pool and just like that another weekend passed by!

 

 

 

Im a very proud mama on any given day and today even more so. DESS had parents day and we had nothing but praise for A. His P.E teacher said that even though he has only been his teacher a short while he notices that he is doing very well in the swimming, and that he has got a good attitude and listens carefully to instructions. His arabic teacher said he always sits at the front, eager to learn more and more and his class teacher had so much praise for him I thought I was going to cry. She said he is very bright (one of the top students in his whole grade) and he listens well with a positive attitude. She also showed us his writing work and its on level with what the "average" student in year 2 (a year older than him) would do. He´s been breezing through the maths and reading really well too. Of course Im very proud of him but I want to point it out that I dont expect the kids to be top grade or even class cause I know those things change. Hearing that he is well behaved, with a positive attitude really makes my day though. What about J then? Her teacher was ill and home today so that appointment was cancelled so we´ll  have to wait and see what they have to say about her.

 

 

 

Happy birthday to the best husband and daddy! We love you so and hope you had a good day dispite all the "musts".

 

 

On wednesday the whole family went to the clinic for the yearly flu jab. Since I have a chronic disease with supressed immune system I have been recommended to take any vaccine that can help me. For the same reason we think its better if the whole family do it, not to drag anything into the house and so last wednesday it that time of year. J started getting herself worked up even as we arrived at the clinic and it just got worse. In the vaccination room she went crazy and cried like someone was trying to kill her. R got his first "to try it out, if he didnt cry it wasnt so bad" but it didnt help, instead A had started getting himself worked up too, crying with worry so I got mine next. Then I managed to get A on my lap and calm him down enough to get his injection. He took it well and actually giggled a bit afterwards, feeling stupid for crying over that. J didnt calm down though, in the end another nurse had to come in and help holding her down so they could give her the shot. Of course its never fun to force someone so sad to do something but sometimes you have no choice. In this case we also knew that it wouldnt actually hurt her, it was all in her mind! When I carried her out of the room and into the reception I met a mum I know while J was still sobbing to me that it "reeeeaaaally hurt" and she asked me if it was J crying like that? Apparently the whole clinic had heard her even though the door was closed! It took her ages to calm down properly. I hope one day we can go to the clinic without her getting an injection one day, so she can stop worry every time we go there ;)

 

 

For a while after we returned to Dubai after the summer I felt like my social life was dead however I think its beginning to pick up again. Yesterday I went for a coffee morning with the Swedes here in Silicon Oasis and this will happen every week. Tomorrow a bunch of mums from A´s class is coming over after school run for a chat and some coffee/tea. Next week, us emirates wives in our block will meet for a coffee too. Lovely!

 

Today was Rumble in the jungle at DESS and the kids in Js grade were supposed to come to school dressed as jungle animals. J was the cutest little giraffe :)

 

 

Here is how the rest of the weekend with Fiona was spent

 

Finally I got some pictures up in the house. R had them printed in Malta and Im very happy with the result

 

The kids (and Fiona) at fooball practice

 

 

 

Im not even sure I have mentioned on the blog that the kids were going to have a second cousin this year. That R´s sister after so many miscarriages finally passed into the second trimester. They have had so many problems and I didnt want to mention it here before we knew all would be well. In the 27th week she was admitted to hospital as baby was too small and when checking the flow in the umbellical cord they found that it was not sufficient. Apparently normal should be 50 (whatever they measure it in), when its 100 baby has to come out, and she was 95. They gave cortison to prepare the lungs of the baby and kept her under check and on the next ultrasound things had improved a bit and the flow was 90. Today however she started bleeding and they took the baby out, about 2½ months early! She did breathe on her own as soon as she came out so it all looks positive and im soooo envious of R that´s going to Malta tomorrow and gets to see at least the new parents! All the best of luck to them, and hopefully we can find a time when we can go see them all after christmas.

 

 

The kids got their second cousin today. Welcome into the world baby girl and congrats to E and M!!!

 

 

Here are the pics from last weeks bowling

 

Today we have weekend here, the kids went to their football practice but after that we have relaxed at home. J has a bit of a cold so we didnt feel like going out. Fridays everywhere is packed so everyone has to have lots of patience and none of us felt up for it I think. Instead we completed the photowall I have been planning and Im very happy. Photo will come one of these days! Right now we are relaxing in the sofa, with the Sweden - Faroe Islands on the tv. The arabic commentator is crazy excited, from the start of the match and both R and I are laughing and concluding that he might get a heart attach before the match is over and that its not only the italians that freak out over football....

 

 

Today we finally tried the gluten free pizza from N_K_D pizza. It was a very good pizza and Im so happy to know that for the future at least there IS a take away option for me!

We are soon going to have a 6 year old in the house! My mum has been wanting to buy him a handluggage on wheels to use when we travel but it has been tricky since it has to be yellow! Yellow is his favourite colour and its not a very good one to have as your favourite as its really hard finding yellow stuff. J on the other hand loves pink, and finding pink is no problem at all. We have only found really expensive ones, prices that would get you a full size luggage and we´ve both agreed that its not worth it. Yesterday we went to Carrefour for our shopping and there it was! A yellow luggage not too expensive! I felt so good buying it on her behalf. Hopefully A will love it too :)

 

 

I dont know if I have mentioned it before, but the classes (at least the younger ones) at DESS have a class mascot (in Year 1 they actually have two). Each weekend these softtoys decide which child to go home with during the weekend. This will be the star of the week, a child that has worked extra hard and has followed the golen rules (to respect eachother, teachers, school etc etc). Every thursday when I picked up A, he has come out of the classroom with tears in his eyes because he didnt get to take home a softtoy. "I have been sooo good this week". Poor thing! I have tried to explain that Im sure he has been good but maybe other children have been too. But good things come to those who wait, when our friends got him home yesterday he had Fiona, the deer, with him. He´s shining like the sun, repeating that he is star of the week and takes Fiona with him everywhere :)

 

 

Sometimes something small happens and you realise how the kids are just like us.This happened the other day when we were eating stir fry for dinner. J (just like me) loves her soy sauce with the noodles so the bottle was on the table. A reads the text and says "Mushroom soy, yuk, I never want to eat that" (Im not kidding, these were the exact words R used when he saw that soy bottle the first time, many years ago). I giggle and explain that the soy sauce doesnt taste of mushrooms. Not totally convinced he still tastes a piece of my chicken. After that I see him slightly embarrassed, looking at the bottle and when I ask if he wants som soy sauce on his food he smiles and says "Yeeees! It doesnt taste like mushrooms at all!! At least he could admit that he was mistaken...sometimes when I put soy in something I can see the look on Rs face, I think he is still not fully convinced :D

 

I think Im back on the blog now. Those first few weeks of school have been manic, driving kids, going to the gym and then picking up J early. I have been knackered at the end of the day but from this week J is back on track, her school days normal length until 2.15.

 

What has happened since last then? Not much I think, R has been working quite a lot in the beginning of October. We did go try out bowling though and we had a blast! That is until it was over and A got upset that J did a strike and he did not. He spent about an hour crying and screaming. Kids also had a party in the Villa compund and they both had a great time. A is really looking forward to his party, the invites went out yesterday, party bags have been bought and thank you cards are ready. Hope they will all enjoy it and next year we will then make a smaller party.

 

Sometimes things happen that gives you a bit of perspective on things. Today I went as a helper with J´s class outing and suddenly I realise what a job the teachers and the ta´s do. I was absolutely shattered when I came home, the noise lever in the bus was insane. Suddenly I also understand why the kids dont want to leave home after a full day at school.....