Being different
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!
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!
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Slide pool
Today we went to the slide pool again. Regardless of the fanciness at the Westin I do think Habtoor is our favourite beach club.
J has now learnt to come down the slide on her own (with an adult waiting for her of course!) and she tries every possible way of coming down the slide :)
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Party pics part 2
Best buddies!
Happy birthday boy with all his presents
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Party pics part 1
Parents coffee table
Party table
The birthday boys and their sisters have arrived!
So typical of J in the back ground!
Face painting
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Yesterdays pictures
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Bye bye Shuma!
This was supposed to have been posted yesterday but apprently got posted on the swedish part instead :)
After all the problems we have had with our Malta car since we moved we finally decided to sell it after it broke down on us AGAIN this summer. Thanks to R´s dad and brother in law (that helped getting the ad up online) it was sold today. Of course it feels a bit sad to have gotten rid of our car that served us for a long time but since we moved and it was not longer used on a daily basis it has just needed fixing up after fixing up. Now we will rent a car when in Malta instead and Im very happy with that.
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Eid Mubarak!
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
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Sometimes luck is on your side....
....other times not. I think I have to say luck was on my side today though. DESS took the school photos today and tomorrow and they were offering sibling photographs for those who wanted after school. I would have prefered to have it done today but when I emailed the school to see if it would be done both days or not they said only on Wednesday. When I picked up J though it turned out it was not the case, they were taking photos today too so we went in and didnt have to wait that long until we were done. Im very happy!
Less than a week ago I went to Next and tried on some jeans. I needed a new pair and wanted to try some on to be able to send an order with R as he was going to fly to Glasgow a few days later and all Next things are really expensive here and really well priced in the UK. I hadnt really looked at the price but normally is about double here and in the UK they were only 20 punds (ie. approx 32 USD). I had taken down the article number and size for R to easily find them in the shop but it turned out they were all sold out! I therefore decided to call around the Next shops here in Dubai and get them from here, regardless of cost. The one in Dubai Mall didnt have them and the salesperson told me that they were sold out but they had a very similar model and they had only one in my size. She was going to keep them for me until tomorrow but when I checked them online I found that in the UK the price was double compared to the original pair I wanted. That´s when I decided to keep on trying the other shops here to see if someone might have them. In Mirdif City Centre they told me they would check and call me back and believe it or not she did call me back telling me that they had only one pair left of that model and it happened to be the size I needed!!! She was going to keep them for me until tomorrow until I asked her about the price it turned out that since it was the last one it was on offer. The original price was 400 AED (approx 68 pounds/109 USD) and were now 100 AED (approx 17 pounds/ 27 USD) and therefore it was not possible to keep them overnight. I didnt hesitate getting the kids in the car and heading out even though I knew that it would be tight for dinner. In the end though I even had time to try them on again, got them for a fourth of their original price, even less than they would have been from the UK and dinner was served on time. Phew!
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This weekend
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!
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Proud mama
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.
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Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to the best husband and daddy! We love you so and hope you had a good day dispite all the "musts".
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Flu jab
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 ;)
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Social life
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!
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Rumble in the jungle
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 :)
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Fiona
Here is how the rest of the weekend with Fiona was spent
An early morning bike ride
On our way to the ice rink....J insisting to wear her cardigan all the way there, even though the thermomether showed 32 degrees!
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About time...
Finally I got some pictures up in the house. R had them printed in Malta and Im very happy with the result
The stairs
On top of our bed
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Football practice
The kids (and Fiona) at fooball practice
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I know website is in Swedish but should you wish to leave a comment click where it says "0 kommentarer" (or any number of course) Then fill in your details
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Cousin update
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.
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Welcome!
The kids got their second cousin today. Welcome into the world baby girl and congrats to E and M!!!
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Bowling pictures
Here are the pics from last weeks bowling
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