Men Don't Listen

After a few years of marriage Mr. Man should have learned that listening to me would be the smartest decision he ever made. Perhaps it is his Saudi influence that prevents him from doing just that. You know the male Saudi thing where men think they know better, can decide better, and are better than us little women who are so dependent on them. But perhaps now that he is sitting in his teeny weeny apartment in Saudi with the swine flu he might finally come around and listen to the Mrs.

Ok so pipe dreams they are as he will say "yes you were right" as he usually does (or I force him to) but than continue on the path of not listening to the wise one. Yes you read that right Mr. Man has the swine flu which he caught probably from Hannah who caught it during her trip to Jeddah. And yes the one thing I told him not to do, if you remember from my last post, he did and won't be living that down anytime soon.

Some might think well how cruel is this woman give the poor Mr. Man a break he has the swine flu after all. But this is after two days of talking to him about my concerns over them catching the swine flu while in dreaded Jeddah (I hate Jeddah for many reasons this one will top the list). He just ignored my motherly concerns and assured me no worries everything will be just fine I was simply over reacting or worse yet wanting to keep my children away from his family. (we women all know this guilt trip). So away they went with my words "Don't bring home the swine flu!"

Two days ago Mr. Man started with a fever that is AFTER he spent some time with Umar, hugs and kisses and loads of playing in the teeny weeny apartment. What fun he had bonding with the 'best boy in the world' he told me. While I was happy for their father and son time I wasn't happy when he told me about his having a fever latter that night. He went to work the next day, in order to share his germs with his entire office and returned home early with a "very bad fever".

I knew it then the man was a walking swine flue carrier and I asked "when can you bring back my kids here" since I was in Bahrain with now two sick ones, Jihad was now having a sore throat but nothing more. "Tomorrow" he told me and than I went on here, caring for the swine flue carriers I have here only to receive a call from Mr. Man at 8 something am the next morning that he was at the hospital "I tested positive for swine flu" Of course my concern was about Umar and he needed to get him out of that teeny weeny apartment and back to his mother.

Umar, along with Mr. Mans mother, Leyna, Mariam, Abla (the nanny) and Naomi (the maid) have all arrived here and I did an exchange for Hannah and Jihad who will sit with their swine flu infested Baba in the teeny weeny apartment in Saudi. He has instructions to actually feed the children as they both still have very big appetites even if they are sick and give them plenty of fluids. A friend of mine asked "Well who is going to take care of them" huh Mr. Man is going to be like any other parent and take care of them while he is sick "It is the same for mothers!"

He assures me they will "go into drive thrus" to eat, hey at least he is going to feed them. And they have been sent with work books and pages already marked for them so I expect that all to be finished upon their return. Of course Mr. Man wants to take them to the hospital but this American Mama told him there was no need. Hannah's fever is gone, she now is stuck with a head cold and Jihad only has a sore throat and no fever at all. According to the hospital Mr. Man has a 'mild' case of the swine flu and there are no big worries. Other than the fact that he was around Umar while contagious as well as his mother.

There is no telling if our household would have eventually caught the swine flu. And we are quite thankful it is only a mild case and nothing severe so far. And as I told Jihad "Be happy it is mild and your immune system can build a resistance". So yes things could be worse but I'm still going to remind Mr. Man once again that he should have listened to his very smart wife!

Quarantine The Bean

Yes Hannah Bean is in quarantine since she came back with some sort of flue. Swine flue? Dunno and I won't take her to the Drs just to check for it either. I told Mr. Man don't be bringing that swine flue back from that drasted Jeddah and sure enough she came off the plane looking so sad and coughing.

We have taken action, she has a fever and other flue symptoms so she is in quarantine. I put her in Leyna and Mariam's room and sent those two off to Saudi with their Baba. I also gave my little man Umar the boot as I don't want him getting ill. Now it is just me, Jihad (he has school work I will make him do) and poor sick Hannah Bean. And she is the one in the house that you just want to cuddle when she is sick but I can't. Nope no spreading germs!

See men don't listen! The one thing I told him not to do he probably did! And yes it is his fault.

Mr. Man, Jihad and Hannah went to Jeddah for the Eid holiday to see family. It was good for her, she got to see her cousins, come out of her shell, and bonded with her youngest Auntie and go out shopping. Which is probably where she picked up someones cold (flue whatever it is). But her Arabic improved in that short period so there is always a bonus.

So keep the Bean in your prayers inshallah she'll be over this soon and the little Man doesn't catch it.

She Is Annoying Me!!

Just check her out she'll annoy you to!

Click here

For The Record

If I ever had a baby that was 19.2 flippen pounds I would kill Mr. Man slowly. That little baby beside him is like WTH is that??

Swine Flue Madness

So it is official, got a message from the school today it will be closed according to the Ministry set dates. Hannah and Jihad will return on Oct 11th, Leyna Oct 18th and poor Mariam Nov 1st. They will make up for the days lost by first extending the school year to July 1st. Which is only one week gained. They also plan on having school on Saturdays (thus a six day week) through out the school year. Jihad said "I will have a riot at the school" when he heard that. Evidently he is delusional and thinks he has a choice to attend school. It is as if the boy has lived in someones elses home all his life, choice? This is a dictatorship he is going!

I had to laugh today as a friend of mine sent me a message today "Just returning from the water park". So much for swine flue concerns. I took Mariam, Leyna and Umar to go see cloudy with a chance of meatballs (I would give a review but I didn't see much as Umar decided to scream the entire time which meant I was in the hallway entertaining cranky butt boy). and it was packed. Loads of children and their parents no concerns of swine flue.

And I'm not the only mother not happy about this in fact a few hundred are said to be planing a street march to show their displeasure. I can't help but think there will be an outbreak of swine flue among the parents thus defeating the purpose of shutting the schools to prevent an outbreak.

Rumors abound all of which you can catch on this face book page. If they intend on closing the schools until January, let me know so I can leave to our house in MO a bit earlier that way I can get a better discount on my tickets. I'm sure the kids would love to go beats sitting around here doing nothing. Although Mr.Man might complain about a budget (what is that anyway?) not supporting my spending habits in the US. And with the increased baggage allowance at Gulf Air he might be right.

Teachers are in limbo and some worse yet have been laid off because their jobs are on hold for two months. But they can get compensation, see how expensive this gets for the country in general, depending on their circumstance. Rumor mill has it that some teachers are leaving due to the up in the air policy that the MOE seems to be setting. Not knowing if you'll have an income? What your work load will become vs what a contract states it was to be and many more issues that we don't seem to know because no one is talking to educators or schools.

There is a mixed bag with parents. Some are afraid and think not having school is good but probably some of these same parents are at water parks and the cinema. Others are sick of the targeting of schools for if one were to follow the logic shut down the entire kingdom and be done with it. But for more reading check out the letter section of the GDN they are a good tabloid sense of entertainment.


As for me I'll be making a study plan for the kiddos on Saturday.

Kids don't need no edumacation!

Not if they live in Bahrain that is. It seems the board of education has decided in their ultimate wisdom that the perfect way to combat against swine flue is to close schools until mid October for most and November for KG and Special needs schools. You thought most of my kiddos were in school? Well they were and than they had this week off for eid which has now been extended until October 11th for Hannah and Jihad and October 18th for Leyna. Oh and Miss Mariam was excited to finally be able to start on October 4th well scratch that because she won't start until November 1st.

Make sense? Well sure because kids are free to go to the malls, the water parks, the cinemas and restaurants in order to pass around the swine flue. I guess as long as it isn't done in a classroom setting they aren't seen as 'responsible' for a flue actually doing what it will do regardless, which is spread. No worries about fees related to running a school, or making up missed assignments, or squeezing in a curriculum in a shorter period of time (stuff it pass them all). Won't have to concern themselves with parents who now have to figure out what to do with their kids or teachers looking for pay checks for their own families. Nope shut the school keep them all germ free and ignorant.

I'm sure most kids will be super happy I know I would if I were Jihad who is probably planning out how he can spend his time between the wii and the PSP. Of course that is until this Mama tells him we will be working on English, reading, writing, spelling, all that good stuff and I will be calling up the tutor who is a teacher and passing her on some extra income to come here three times a week to keep these monsters going in Arabic. I'll also be contacting the school and see what assignments they can be doing at home (extra credit would motivate them more) and how we can best make use of the time.

I think this will force me to home school because I'm quite sure that come mid October the Ministry will than decide not to open schools until December. If that how it turns out I'm leaving to our new house a bit early.

Eid Mubarak

From our family to yours I pray this is a wonderful day for all of you.

Notice my little man all dressed up for Eid? Yes he is a cutie and nope you can't have him!! I have no idea why he is dressed up we do nothing on Eid, nothing exciting to get dressed up for. The only two dressed up in this house is Umar and Abla (the nanny which explains his Moroccan outfit). Evidently they have plans we don't know anything about and it turned out to be too much excitement for my boy because he is napping it off right now.

Ramadhan was hot this year honestly I had one day where my head was literally going to explode because I was so dehydrated. 115 degrees is just plain torture inshallah next year we will be doing it in the states. Sure a longer day but ya know 90 degrees is tolerable. Hannah and Jihad did exceptional fasting with very few complaints. Their growing which I'm happy about and sad about all at the same time.

At any rate I hope everyone enjoys their Eid and if you don't celebrate well have a happy Sunday!

Elaborate Just A Little!

This is a prime example of why I so dislike reading English news papers in Saudi. I've tried to explain it to people with examples like "An article can read Man buys goat, man feeds goat, man dies" and that is it! Honestly I'm not really exaggerating too much. Take a look at this article.

14,000 infant deaths reported Arab News

JEDDAH: The number of infants who died in the Kingdom during the Hijrah year 1428 (2007-8) was approximately 14,000, according to a report issued by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs. The largest number of infant deaths was reported in Makkah (5,392), followed by Riyadh (4,152) and the Eastern Province (1,196). About 29 percent of these were children of expatriate workers, Shams Arabic daily reported.

Yes that is all there is to the article, no explanation, no discussion, no information. 14,000 infants died in a span of one year and it gets a blurp in the news. Hello!!!! What the hell kind of reporting is that? 14,000 infants dying is a big number, at least to me. And so I want to know why? What are the causes? These infants have expatriate parents, ok so what the hell does that mean? (used hell twice you know I'm frustrated)

I as a reader want to know how they died, and what age is 'infancy' to them and how does them being expatriates play a roll into infants dying in such larger numbers in one year. Yes actually do reporting with investigations and evaluations of an issue. Now if the reporters (and I use that term very loosely here) at Arab News need a helping hand in what questions to ask let me ask some for you.

What is the listed cause of death? From there you would look for a pattern, is it SIDS? Is it premature births? Malnutrition?

Is the cause of death in line with infants from Saudi families? If not how does the cause of death differ when it comes to expatriates?

If the answer is related to birthing, such as still born, premature births, or complications it would lead me to ask what type of prenatal care did these women receive if any? Do expatriate families of certain income levels receive significantly less care during pregnancy? If so why? Is it due to the rules of Saudis only receiving free medical care? Or is it an education issue among certain expatriate families?

If it is SIDS I would look into issue related to is it among a certain community where this rate is higher? And what can Saudi health officials do to help educate the population (both Saudi and Expatriates) about SIDS (note bundling babies up like they do here in thick blankets on their bellies doesn't help)

Now I'm sure if a reporter puts their thinking cap on they can come up with a whole lot more questions to ask. And in the end maybe address the social need for expatriate women who are pregnant to have access to health care. Every pregnant woman should be cared for, either by a private hospital or a government hospital. I feel the same way about children as well. If Saudi can fly in families to aid them for medical treatment those living on their own soil can certainly benefit from such charity from the government. Even if they have to pay a subsidised fee based on their income it should be done.

In order to address these social issues it would be a great help if there were some decent reporting. I know hold my breath until I burst it still won't happen, especially with Arab News.

Ever Wonder?

There has been countless times in my life when I'd be driving along a main road or highway when suddenly I would see a shoe in the middle of the street. For the life of me I can't figure out how in the world people loose a shoe in the middle of a busy road. I've wondered how that could be? Were they moving and their shoe suddenly fell from a box on a moving truck? Did someone have their feet out of the window and it fell off? Did someone loose it after making a narrow escape across the busy intersection? Or why didn't a mother see when a child threw their shoe out of the window?

In Bahrain it has been even more odd when I've noticed a complete pair of sandals (on more than one occasion) simply left behind. It looked like someone just opened a car door and put their feet on the ground, slipped off their sandals and left. Could it be some odd game of the owner where they secretly watch from afar as people curiously look up on these pair of sandals? Or was a driver caught lounging and Madam is a real B?

I'm sure I'm not alone in wondering how in the world people loose a shoe in the middle of the strangest of places. It seems odd to me that a person wouldn't realize at some point they have one missing. I look at these shoes and wonder what in the world is wrong with people. And I'm sure the people who saw a nice new black school shoe with a pretty silky black bow and glitter stones on the toe of the shoe and a decent brand, Hush Puppies, wondered how in the world could the little girl who lost that not notice? And what in the world is up with the mother that lets her child loose a school shoe?

Well I'll tell you. I've been going a bit crazy trying to pick Leyna up at 1:30 and Hannah and Jihad at 2:30 so I'm a bit surprised only a shoe was left behind. Yesterday I picked up Leyna with the company of Mariam of course, and I decided to drive to the store and pick up some things instead of waiting in the heat for the other two. I was rushing back because I was a tad bit late (only five minutes) and I drove up to find Hannah and Jihad waiting where I was told "Mama we had to come from the sixth floor and walk all the way here and we still beat you" Hannah's way of telling me she didn't like the wait.

Jihad jumped in the back stepping over lazy Leyna who seemed more asleep than awake, she complained when I picked her up of being very hot and that tends to make her zone out on the way home. Everyone was in, seat belts where on, even Mariam was buckled up in her new pink booster we got from the states and off I went. We talked about their day, how things went, and our plan to eat at Chili's for dinner. After we pulled up at the house Leyna complained she couldn't find her shoe and muttered in a mix of anger and frustration "Jihad always steals my shoe" and went off into the house. I asked Naomi (our maid) to go and help Leyna find the shoe out of the car and than I went on about my afternoon until 5:30 when we left for dinner.

As we were going out of the door Leyna still complained of her lost shoe, I ordered her out to the car in search of it and asked Naomi once again to help her. After the two of them and myself looked in every possible place in the car we couldn't find it. So I asked Leyna when was the last time she saw her shoe "in the car" well yea I got that but before or after we picked up Hannah and Jihad.

"Before" she said
"Did you have your shoes off?" I asked in annoyance at this point
"Yes I was hot" and the tears were going to start any second now
"Where did you have the shoe?" giving her that look telling her not to start the water works
"By the door" and her voice got squeakier
"Jihad came in the car on your side?" now she knows she is in trouble
"Yes.. no.. I don't know!" with tears
"Jihad did you get in on Leyna's side of the car today?" exhale, breath, exhale, breath
"Uhhh yea I think so, no I got in on Mariam's side...no wait it was Leyna's side" confused if he just admitted guilt
"And you didn't notice that her shoe fell out of the car???" fasting remember
"uhhh no there was no shoe" confused as to how he is going to get of this
"Leyna you didn't notice your shoe..."

No sooner did I turn to her than that girl was screaming crying and running up the stairs saying something about how everyone hates her. So instead of enjoying our ride to Chili's for iftar (Hannah and Jihad are fasting now too so I hate to be late) I had to drive 20 minutes out of the way to the school in order to pull up and let Leyna go collect her school shoe that was sitting in the sand as lonely as could be. Yes folks we were the family that left that shoe in an odd place and how so easy it happened. I don't think I'll stop wondering how people loose shoes and sometimes I'll wonder if it is a story not unlike mine. But one thing for sure as I count heads to make sure everyone is in the car and than make sure everyone is buckled up I'll now have to ask "Does everyone have all the shoes they came with?"

Our Home

Welcome To Our Home

This is the entrance to our home where Mariam
will rush to greet anyone coming in.

Notice that Mariam will walk you through this
grand tour. She is now standing in the dining
room. To the left are two huge windows which
allow loads of sunshine to brighten up the home.

To the far left is the entrance from the dining room into
the kitchen. Where you are sure to always find Hannah
looking for some goodies. We have all brand new
appliances that came with the home. I also noted where
the closet is to hang guests coats and a storage area for
all my kitchen goodies. To the right notice where I marked
there is a door leading to the outside, just don't step out yet
it is a long way down we have yet to build a deck.

Standing in the kitchen you will see our sitting area complete
with a fire place for those cold winter MO nights. A large
bay window brightens up the entire area and than off to
the right is a hallway leading to the front of the house.

This is the storage closet in the kitchen. Where I
will be sure to place many of my Sam's club purchases.

This is the hall way to the right of the living room.
You'll notice I marked the bathroom, no need to
show you and the laundry room. Right behind (from
angle of taking the picture) is the door leading to
the basement.

Through the laundry room is our two car garage. Notice the
huge van we rented for a small ransom while in MO.

This is the main portion of the basement what I didn't take a pic
of is the entrance from the stairs which will be my scrapbook
area and a small bench me and Mr. Man can snuggle in. This
main area will have two sections, one a sitting area and another
will be a bathroom with shower.

This is the basement and shows you the plans for the 2nd window
(somethings you notice after the fact) in the section that will
be Hannah's bedroom. She is going to have a huge room when
it is over with and something tells me she won't be spending too
many nights down there alone so she'll need it.

Master Bedroom

Master bathroom and take notice to the HUGE window
right above my tub. So I need window treatment ideas
I so don't want to go with plain old blinds blaah boring. So
let me know if you come up with some good decorating
ideas.

To the right of my sink is this big closet which I'm sure
Mr. Man will have no problems filling (he is a closet hog).
And in case your wondering the toilet is to the right of this
closet in a room all its own. I'm sure it will be the best
hiding spot in the house.

Mariam's room I did manage to get curtains up before I left.

The view outside of Mariam's window.. now don't ask me
why we chose MO this should be sufficient enough of an
answer.

A corner room for Leyna I would have loved this room as a girl

Leyna's closet

Kid's bathroom

Jihad and Umar's room

The rest of Jihad and Umar's room as you can see with a large
closet (all rooms have this)

The view outside of Jihad and Umar's room which leads
to a nice big hill which will not be complete until I slide down
after a good snowfall. Think I won't? HA!!

And that is all folks thanks for visiting!

Back To School.. well kind of

The kid's school, along with many other private schools in Bahrain, was scheduled to open on the 1st of September. However, in their plan to fight against the spreading of swine flue it was delayed until the 6th of September. Which in the end means that the kids missed only three days of school. How this is to protect the children from swine flue is a bit beyond my comprehension, especially since the Kingdom is just getting started in their inevitable infections among the residents of Bahrain. But whatever the Ministry of education decides than so it is.

However not all are returning back to school as the kids found out yesterday. Leyna's class was missing 8 children on the first day back. Jihad and Hannah's class (they are now in the same class) were missing 10 children. Most of the Al-Khalifah family decided they didn't have to attend the first day or will be among some who choose not to attend classes until after Eid (not surprising at all). In the end they'll miss out on ten days of class have no fears it won't affect their grades for who would fail someone of the royal family.

Mariam would have been starting school tomorrow, I say would have because they delayed the start of all Preschool and KG classes until October 4th. That is an entire month of school as she was scheduled to start on the 3rd of September, don't think I'll get a month discount on her fees though. She is starting KG1 this year as I decided to keep her back a year and not put her in KG2. She was born in December which is the cut off month and I just didn't want to push another child in their schooling. I see the difference with Leyna (who is at grade level) vs that of Hannah and Jihad (who are a year ahead) and having Umar honestly has taught me not to rush it and let it go at a slower pace. I have no doubts she'll flourish even if she is one of the older kids in class.

School is going to be quite interesting for me this year because I have the privilege of being their soul source of transportation. This isn't so bad in the morning as I can drop them all off at 7:15 am and leave (Leyna can even walk Mariam to class). However it is the pick ups that have me wanting to scream. Mariam will be released at 12:30, Leyna at 2:00 and Hannah and Jihad at 3:00 except on Tuesday as they have an early release of 1:20. I have no driver and I won't allow any of my children on a school bus here so it is up to me to go absolutely insane and do the pick ups. Not sure how I'm going to work this other than Leyna having to wait an hour at school four days a week. If she has after school activities it won't be that bad for her but I hate to ask her to wait, although she'll have the company of other kids in school who do the same thing.

I've also came to learn over the holiday that I have to socialize Umar outside of our home. He has learned some bad habits, fully encouraged by his bad siblings, which he needs to unlearn before we even think of getting that boy in school. I'm sure you're thinking school? Is she crazy? But I will put him in a nursery as soon as I'm able in order to help him learn the school environment early on. I'm hoping this will help him in the long run and I have further ammunition to fight any school her in Bahrain that I choose to take on to accept him.

Little Man is a rough one, probably the roughest one I have had yet. Sure this is to be expected since he is growing up the youngest from five older ones. But I'm not sure how much understanding from others he'll receive when he pulls their hair, bites them, or knocks them upside the head with a toy. Yes it seems our bully Umar knocked a friends 10 month old (only child too what a shocker for him) upside the head with a toy hammer. Just wailed him for no reason other than it seemed like fun to him. This does mean that he can certainly hold his own when it comes to the other four, but doesn't give him much social grace at all.

He isn't unlike other children in this respect however considering he has DS it might make it more difficult for him to unlearn these behaviors especially when they are supported and encouraged by his siblings. Sure we might laugh when he takes a bite and runs off laughing, at times even stumbling over because he is amused. But this only supports the idea that what he is doing is a good thing which will carry over to school. Trying to convince the nanny to be firm when he tears her face apart (he has a habit of grabbing a hold of your flesh and bringing you to your knees) is difficult enough. Trying to convince the kids not to laugh when Umar clobbers Jihad is proving to be impossible.

On other Umar news that boy is really going to walk soon! He can stand up by himself he needs no aid to pull himself up at all. And he can stand for quite some time. He also takes small steps, nothing that will get him across the grand canyon but they are a start. I think all he needs is some confidence and a bit more balance and he'll be off. Which is exciting but also a bit scary because who knows where he'll be off to, fear of new things (other than people) just isn't in his vocabulary at the moment.

Moo

I don't think Umar will ever be a farmer, he doesn't seem to like cows.