Introducing Sami Al Abri

Sami Al Abri (5 days old)

No Photos Please!

Ali gets his proper cuddle now with Sami when he is 5 days old.

Sami just after his birth.

Day 6 Sami finally in with me in the hospital room and in Bubbas and Mummas Nappies!

Sami in the incubator, his home for the first 5 days.

Sami finally back in the room with Mummy! Cloth nappy stash ready to go.



Hi to all! A belated posting as we have been a little busy around the Al Abri household lately.


I am very sorry to those that I did not email or txt msg with Sami's arrival news but that time is pretty much a blur as we had so much going on.

First let me say that our darling boy is home with us and we love him very much. Laith thinks having a new brother is neat and Lujayne , well we are not really sure what she thinks so far.

Sami had a rocky start as he was born with fluid on lungs and spent the first 5 days in an incubator. it was terrible not to be able to hold out new bundle of joy and it is heartbreaking to see your child (or any child for that matter) hooked up to wires and tubes but thank God he made a full recovery.

Details : Sami Ali al Abri born 9.27am Thursday 16th August, 2007. weight 3.4kg.

Here are some photos ...

Al Mara Magazine article - Bubbas and Mummas

Sorry can't seem to upload this any bigger at the moment so its a little hard to read.

An Update

Gee I know I have been a bit slack on posting but things have been crazy hectic here. Bubbas and Mummas keeps me busy in the spare time I have outside of the general running around you do with two bubs.

We were in Dubai for Laith's birthday and he had a great time. Both kidlets have been sick on and off with colds, chest infections etc so that always makes for interesting times.

Lulu has been enjoying here nursery mornings three times a week. Laith likes his summer program but is home now for a month before the new school year starts.

Bub 3 is due next week. Mum arrives tomorrow - we are all very excited!

The summer has been hot but you get that don't you!

We also have a new addition to the family, a new car. I love it and we call her the Bubba Bus as it is a people mover type - Kia Carnival if you know it. It took a long time to decide on her as we also liked the Chrysler Grand Voyager and the Honda Odessy but in the long run the Kia got more ticks when it came to safety and useful features. The Honda was pathetic and obviously not designed by a mum and the Chrysler just fell short in a few areas and it also appeared to me costly to maintain. I will try and get pics up soon (yeah I know you all can't wait LOL).

They have started to build a house next to us. So after enduring the dust and the like from the building of the house two doors down it starts all over again .... GRRRRR.

OK enough from me, take care .... Clo

Sneak Preview Bubba Al Abri

Here is a sneak preview of Bubba Boy Al Abri due to join us next Thursday 16th.

Lujayne's First Day Nursery

Yesterday was Lujayne's first day at nursery. She is going to go three mornings a week and I thought I would "try" it with her now as Laith is going to the same place for "Summer School". I took them in and Lu never looked back not even to say goodbye.

There were a few tears at home before leaving for "school" (as you can see in the picture) because she thought I was leaving without her!

Then today she was not happy when Laith went off to school without her. She got her bag and had a right old tantrum at the door. I took her to playgroup instead but still she wouldn't talk to me. You can't win.

Tomorrow they both go so I should be back in the good books I hope.

Much better Photos

As I said before my photos really don't show the devastation however I have come across this site that will let you see the real story. there are 4 photo albums, all very sad!

PHOTOS

Cyclone Gonu - video from the front door

Last one. This is from the front door. It shows the water level and the winds.

Cyclone Gonu - view from back of house

Not great footage but just shows the "lake" at the back of our house. They are building a house there and usually sooooooo dusty but not that day!

Cyclone Gonu - video from upstairs

Just a little footage from upstairs in the house. You can see the road construction barriers have just been moved every which way. The street became a river in no time.

No voice over on this one.

Video Footage of Front Yard Flooding during Cyclone

This is the front yard of the house. The water was rising very quickly and luckily Ali managed to move my car (a low to the ground Peugeot) closer to the front stairs which was slightly higher than the car port area so no water actually got into the car.

All around Muscat cars are piled high on top of each other because the water just swept them away. We were very lucky!

Video - Kitchen

This is 30 secs of video footage as the kitchen (an extension) started to move and the tiles began to fall. The kitchen ended up moving about 2 inches from the back wall but I think we are lucky it didn't just fall right off!

Video of Supermarket before Cyclone Gonu

Video

This is a shot from my phone so not great but it shows the market in the hours before the rains hit.

Hmm technical problem trying to work it out ...

Cyclone Gonu June 2007

Last week we had a cyclone hit Oman and it was bad. Thankfully we are back in the house, back on-line and we have power and water restored. We are lucky as many are still without these basic essentials.

Omanis and expats alike came together immediately to help out those in need. The roads have been a mess, many have been simply washed away. I have uploaded some photos here but they do not really do justice to the real life situation.

Ali and I had our birthday on the Thursday (the cyclone hit us on Wednesday) and we woke to no rain lashing down so I was happy enough with that as a birthday present for sure. We had spent the previous day mopping and mopping and mopping!

We did have some warning so on the Tuesday afternoon I went to the supermarket to get some water, bread, batteries, radio etc. Ali laughed at my radio but TG we got it as we had no power and it was the only way to hear what was going on. The market was crazy. We also managed to get up to the market on Thursday and the shelves were bare for many items. It took about an hour just to get through the checkout but we did not have much options.

Our kitchen extension has moved from the house by about 2 inches. The foundations were obviously too soft. Our house was surrounded by water but the house is raised slightly so we were very lucky that it did not enter the house. On Wednesday we were on our hands and knees as the water leaked (very fast) in the windows. Norhan was downstairs and we were upstairs trying to keep up with it. My hands were red and swollen by the end of the night from wringing towels. At 10.30 pm I told Ali I had enough. It was time to just move what we could downstairs and just leave it in Gods hands. TG in the morning we were please to see that the water did not actually enter the house!

My car was saved too!

I have some video footage of the house (forgot to take the camera when were were out) so I will try and work out how to upload some of that.

Will be in touch soon.

A new Yahoo Parenting Group

Ok as if I don't have enough on my plate I have decided to start and moderate an online forum for parents in the Middle East to discuss natural parenting techniques like coth nappying, baby wearing, EC, co-sleeping, homeschooling etc.

the group addy is http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/natural_parenting_ME

I am not sure if this will take off or not but hey at least I know I tried.

All is well here and the summer is heating up and on most days now it is 40+ so as you can imagine most of our time is spent indoors. Bump is coming along well and happily kicking away. The kids are in great form although not very happy that they can't play outside now until after dinner.

The interest in Bubbas and Mummas has been great and I am working on fine tuning the site as much as I can in between sewing nappies, slings, pads etc. Ah it never stops and for that I am eternally grateful!

Catch you soon.

Bubbas and Mummas Website Launched

I am very happy to let you know that the Bubbas and Mummas website is now up and running. It has been a hard slog to get it done and stocked and there are so many more things I would like to do with it but for now it will have to be a "work in progress".

www.bubbasandmummas.com

We are all well despite the runny noses that seem to come with the change in weather. Summer is starting and already it is too hot to go out during the day so the kids are now confined to the house until after 5pm - NOT FUN!

Mum has returned to Oz and we hope that Aunty Sharon and Uncle Silvio will be here for a few days in May (I hope not to scare them off about the weather!).

The kids love to get in the paddle pool in the late afternoon before dinner and here is a photo of them after their paddle.

Hope you are all well.
Bye for now.

News from Muscat ... a catch up

As usual my darling brother had reminded me how slack I have been in keeping my blog up to date and sadly he is right (just this once!).

Well what can I say, we have had a busy couple of months. The highlight being a visit from my Mum. She is now in Ireland and tomorrow leaves for a week in New York with Sharon and Silvio (yep, lucky for some!), than back to Ireland for a week and then back to use for two weeks before she heads home again. Ah but not to worry we are hoping we can convince her to come back in August when bubba number three is due! Yes, you heard right, we are delighted to be adding another member to the Al Abri tribe.

I have not done allot with Bubbas and Mummas in the past few months but in the past week I have been on massive rampage to catch up. Today I finished two orders and I have about half a dozen slings to make in the next week. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Roaba our housemaid has left, things just were not working out with two maids in the house. We found her a lovely family here in Muscat and everyone is happy. Norhan is still with us and the kids have adjusted well.

I pretty much spent Jan and Feb sick and tired, got to love Morning Sickness, so not allot was going on then.

Ali and the kids are well. Lujayne has discovered how to annoy the hell out of Laith and Laith has discovered how to get milage out of that! If only all of their crazy antics during the day would leave them tired at night, but no, I am still in search of a "full nights sleep" ahhhh the thought of it LOL!

While mum was here we went to Yetti beach and to the Marina for lunch so I am attaching some photos for you (and a few more from valentines day and pics of the kids in general).

OK that is about it for now.

My love and hugs to all.

Final Thought. Just yesterday I spoke to a friend of mine that I have not seen in ... gee it must be seven years and you know what it felt like we were just catching up over a coffee, I love friendships like that, they are priceless in these days of hectic lives and not enough of time to write etc (which I am most guilty of I know). So thanks "old" friend you made my week.

take care, Clo

Bubbas and Mummas made the local press

Slacko - catch up.

I know I have been sadly SLACK in keeping my blog up to date - sorry. I see the last post was October. So let me see if I can give you a quick catch up on the past few months.

November was tiring.

We had a lovely Eid in Nizwa and the kids were spoilt with some lovely gifts. I think the favourite being the little tikes car which I attempted to put together (BADLY) and luckily Ali was able to save it. In future I am not allowed near the tool kit!

Laith was in hospital for a week with a terrible virus that just made him so weak that within 4 hours of going to the doctor in the morning he was up in the hospital ward on a drip with a not so happy face! He was a true champ and once home he made a full recovery. Ali was fantastic as he would bring Lu up for her feed each day / night and did a great job keeping her entertained at home. Mind you it took her a week to forgive me when i got home again! LOL.

A friend from Oz, Chris Brady, and his lovely wife Mardie came to visit for a few days. Wow it was funny to be with someone you have not seen for maybe 15 years and it felt like not alot had changed. Ali and Chris got on well and are planning a trip to Yemen in the future. Go figure!

Also the end of November saw the first "fair" for Bubbas and Mummas to be displayed. It was the PDO International fair and all in all a success in terms of awareness. I teamed up with another Aussie mum here, Marnie (who sells shopping trolley covers), and we enjoyed ourselves if nothing else.

December. I had a booth at the Oman Womens Expo for 6 days. Phew I was shattered at the end of it all but again great exposure and awareness for B&M.

Then Judy came for a few days on her way to London, France, Italy (can you hear the envy !) and it was so wonderful to see her and have her stay. You are always welcome aunty Jude, laith just loves talking your ear off.

We had a lovely Christmas lunch with Judy here and 'Santa" did find his way to Laith and Lujayne.

Then we had the second Eid again out in Nizwa. It was nice to spend a few days with the family but yet again I am reminded how poor my Arabic is which is so slack considering I have been here for 5 and half years now.

So now we are in January and we hope that 2007 bring you all lots of love, laughter and happiness.

NYR - Not be so slack on the blog!