MENA pregnancy/baby/parenting thread

[sara535 15]

Just gonna jump in and say hi

I'v never cut Amirah's hair at all - she's been close to bald until the last few months and I cant bring myself to cut it yet even though it hangs in her face. poor kid.

[kimberly&tarek 0]

Hi Everyone ~ This is a great topic, I usually only read, never post, but I had to jump in here. My husband and I have been married for almost 3 years, I have a 13 year old daughter from a previous relationship, that he bonded with great. He is a huge help with her and they have an awesome relationship! We are going to start trying for a baby soon! A am nervous, but excited. I think the hardest part is that our 13 year old is so independant now, it will be hard to start all over. I am not muslim, but I don't think that will cause any problems, we have always been able to sort out any culteral/religious difference. Anyway, I will keep you all posted if I have any exciting news! Congrats to all the MENA parents and parents to be out there!

[sandinista! 1,816]

Just gonna jump in and say hi

I'v never cut Amirah's hair at all - she's been close to bald until the last few months and I cant bring myself to cut it yet even though it hangs in her face. poor kid.

hi sara!!

i can understand why you'd want to hang on to every last strand then. i broke down and cut the front of ayah's into bangs to keep it from tickling her nose all the time. it's getting really long in the back though. i love the new pic of amirah! she's such a doll. does her hair curl at all? ayah's is mostly straight, except for this one patch on the back of her head that gets curly. it gets all frizzy from laying back in her carseat.

Hi Everyone ~ This is a great topic, I usually only read, never post, but I had to jump in here. My husband and I have been married for almost 3 years, I have a 13 year old daughter from a previous relationship, that he bonded with great. He is a huge help with her and they have an awesome relationship! We are going to start trying for a baby soon! A am nervous, but excited. I think the hardest part is that our 13 year old is so independant now, it will be hard to start all over. I am not muslim, but I don't think that will cause any problems, we have always been able to sort out any culteral/religious difference. Anyway, I will keep you all posted if I have any exciting news! Congrats to all the MENA parents and parents to be out there!

good luck kimberly! that's great that your daughter and husband have bonded so well. i think it's really special when that happens.

Edited January 13, 2010 by sandinista!

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

Zaid now loves baths too. He took to them well once colic was gone. He lays on his belly and pretends to swim and also loves to brush his teeth in the tub. he brushes brushes brushes then spits and does it OVER AND OVER again!

We let Zaid watch a lil TV. He doesnt stay interested very long but will hear a song or something that catches his attention. He loves Yo Gabba Gabba and Wow Wow Wubzy. We also have some Disney DVDS that are in arabic (thanks Annie!) and he watches those in his bed in the morning and stuff

[Jenn! 918]

That's a great idea about the pictures during the day. My grandmother is lucky if she can even answer her cell phone, but maybe I can teach her. And Wadi should be able to do that once he gets into the swing of things. He won't admit it, but I think he's finding it very hard. I know it'll get easier for him though as he starts to learn what works best for him in terms of comforting the baby. He hates to hear him cry and kind of panics still.

I could probably live w/o the pics even though they'd be nice, since I'm coming home on my lunch hour. I'm lucky to work only 10 minutes away. It's a good thing, at least for now, bc Adam is not liking the bottle very much. He doesn't eat well at all when I'm gone.

Adam loves his bath. Not in a giggly, splashy way, but in a totally serene way. It's very cute. He also loves the changing table. He must love being clean!

Wadi hasn't mentioned anything about shaving his head, thank goodness. He doesn't seem to have many of these common Moroccan ideas about child rearing. However, we're hoping to have my MIL come in April to stay a few months - I'm sure she'll have ideas of her own! I hope that it doesn't cause any problems. My good friend's MIL is Italian and was insisting on feeding her baby parmiggiano cheese and olive oil when he was a newborn. I don't want to have to deal with those sorts of battles...

[HLM 1]

HLM. When Zaid was little like that he hated baths too, until I realized it was the initial putting him inside the water he hated....So what i did was put him in his baby tub and then let the water fill up while he was in there. Believe it or not, it worked. And for the colic....RUN THE VACUUM CLEANER!!!

ETA. Everyone told me colic would be gone by 12 weeks, and it wasnt, so just be prepared for that. Zaid was colicky til like 4.5 months and high maintenance due to the colic til about 5.5 months, then...he was an angel baby <3 HANG IN THERE!!

Thnx for the tip I will def. try that as for the colic..*sigh* my poor baby! we ll see how it goes! but totally appreciate the heads up.

Just gonna jump in and say hi

I'v never cut Amirah's hair at all - she's been close to bald until the last few months and I cant bring myself to cut it yet even though it hangs in her face. poor kid.

Shes adorable!! her hair is so cute! just use cute pins for her bangs no need to cut it!

Zaid now loves baths too. He took to them well once colic was gone. He lays on his belly and pretends to swim and also loves to brush his teeth in the tub. he brushes brushes brushes then spits and does it OVER AND OVER again!

We let Zaid watch a lil TV. He doesnt stay interested very long but will hear a song or something that catches his attention. He loves Yo Gabba Gabba and Wow Wow Wubzy. We also have some Disney DVDS that are in arabic (thanks Annie!) and he watches those in his bed in the morning and stuff

So cute!!!! cant wait to Z do the same thing. Zaine already loves listening to songs and ofcourse he is not interested in TV yet. But when he grows i wd like it if he wd be more into books than TV.

Adam loves his bath. Not in a giggly, splashy way, but in a totally serene way. It's very cute. He also loves the changing table. He must love being clean!

Thank God Zaine is the same way too! He hates being in dirty diapers and laughs and playes while I change him.

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

Jenn. Its funny how the kids are with their changing tables! We use to call Zaids the "talking table" bc I swear as soon as he got on it he would bust out into baby babble and gooos and gaaaas for hours! If I needed to go to the bathroom or do something in the house I would sit him on the changing table, buckle him in and he would sit there content until I came back. I miss the days of him not minding diaper changes. Once he hit 12 months....geeeez. diaper changes were a workout for me then

[Staashi 371]

Jenn. Its funny how the kids are with their changing tables! We use to call Zaids the "talking table" bc I swear as soon as he got on it he would bust out into baby babble and gooos and gaaaas for hours! If I needed to go to the bathroom or do something in the house I would sit him on the changing table, buckle him in and he would sit there content until I came back. I miss the days of him not minding diaper changes. Once he hit 12 months....geeeez. diaper changes were a workout for me then

Enzo has been tough to change since he was about 6-7 mos. I swear, we just give him anything to play with and gnaw on while we change him. He loves to chew on bottle caps with a nipple. Sometimes when we're changing him on our bed, I have been known to grab this little Blessed Mother statue that he loves to chew on. When I put it away I always say, "I'm so sorry, Mary."

[MrsAmera 41]

LOL about the statue!

Arabic Disney DVD's?!?! Where! I must have some...

[~ Karima ~ 0]

LOL about the statue!

Arabic Disney DVD's?!?! Where! I must have some...

I would like to know too!

[UmmSqueakster 54]

Gah, AbuS and I are now seriously planning kids. I'm freakin Still no time soon, as we'd like to make hajj first, and that probably won't be able to happen until 2011 (wooo, gettin excited for that ). Now it's just what comes first - a house, or a kid. I want a house, AbuS wants a kid. I'm thinkin house in 2011, then a kid in 2012? Ok, really freakin out now

Does anyone make their own baby food? If so, do you have any spiffy (which is apparently my word of the day) equipment or cookbooks? Maybe I should start asking my parents to give me baby stuff for my birthday now so I'm prepared

[Staashi 371]

Gah, AbuS and I are now seriously planning kids. I'm freakin Still no time soon, as we'd like to make hajj first, and that probably won't be able to happen until 2011 (wooo, gettin excited for that ). Now it's just what comes first - a house, or a kid. I want a house, AbuS wants a kid. I'm thinkin house in 2011, then a kid in 2012? Ok, really freakin out now

Does anyone make their own baby food? If so, do you have any spiffy (which is apparently my word of the day) equipment or cookbooks? Maybe I should start asking my parents to give me baby stuff for my birthday now so I'm prepared

Yes, I make Enzo's baby food - he hasn't had a jar of food ever. Not that there's anything wrong with them - I just found it alot less expensive to make my own. I found it easy to steam his food in a little steamer and then puree it in my food processor. I would prepare it for the week and freeze it in cubes. I gave him lots of variety, but he LOVES butternut squash with spinach.

[Staashi 371]

Jen, I also suggest the Beaba Babycook from Williams-Sonoma. Save up for it as it is $149, but it is to die for. http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/be...&cm_src=SCH

It has like 247 5-star reviews on their website. I think that's pretty good.

[Berber Mama 5]

LOL about the statue!

Arabic Disney DVD's?!?! Where! I must have some...

I just went on google and typed in arabic dvds for kids and found that ebay has quite a few including sesame street in arabic and barney....

[MrsAmera 41]

I didn't make all of Khalil's babyfood but did some. Like Staashi said - just steam it and puree it - super super easy!