A guest blogger: Ahmed

Hello everybody! This is Ahmed. Today, I’m taking over Mommy’s blog. I hope she doesn’t notice until after I publish my post.

So, there it goes.

My name is Ahmed Alexander. I’ll be seven months old soon. I still live with my parents. I sleep in my own bedroom though.
 My favorite foods are bananas. But I hate avocados, they are gross! I love books and songs. I attack phones and remote controls.  I enjoy the outdoors and I like flowers.
Sleeping is my enemy so I fight it all the time! Oh, and I dislike wearing shoes.

Here is some more insight about my logic!

      The food that falls on my bib is tastier than what Mommy is feeding me. So I’m going to lick it instead and completely ignore her.

      Oh, here comes the spoon! Let me put two fingers in my mouth while eating, so my Mom can use a whole box of tissues to clean up just one feeding.

      Let me wait until Mommy is stuck in traffic, so I can throw a fit, cry and whine and make her life miserable.

      We are leaving the house! How about a surprise: a huge poopoo. It’ll come out of my diaper and reach my back. This way, my Mommy will spend half an hour wiping it and will run late.

      My mom is changing my diaper, so I will escape her grip and roll on my belly.

      A nap? Haha! I’ll pretend I want to sleep until she runs out of songs and patience, then I’ll show her that it’s a false alarm.

      I ate, slept and I’m all clean! How about I cry and confuse the hell out of my Mommy?

      It’s 4:30 AM! Ahhhh, perfect time to play!

      I’m staying with daddy. So I’m going to be the nicest boy in the world. I will not nag or bother him.

      I’m getting dressed. I will scream so loud, the neighbors will know how much I hate it.

      A clean and nice bib! You know what can make it nicer? A milk stain or spit! Maybe both!

Well, I won’t tell you everything today because I’m still learning! And even when I do all this and more, my mom still gives me cuddles and kisses, reads me stories and sings funny songs! So I’m very happy to be her son!

My SUN!!!

At a certain point in time, I thought I had everything in life figured out. I was able to juggle between work, university, foreign language classes, gym, housework  (the least possible - of course), writing, going out and all the regular things normal people do.
Until something happened and it all changed: I became a mom!
I watched my normal routines fade away and new habits and things I have thought I’d ever do, replace them.

Now, after almost 6 weeks, I have embraced my motherhood. I find it completely normal to sniff butts to check out for poop. To get peed on. To suck boogers out of tiny noses using a special device. To differentiate between 700 different types of creams and medications. And to use only one hand to do a thousand thing while carrying an infant on the other arm. And the list goes on...

Now, most of my afternoons consist of a crying baby, a hungry cat, food attempted to be cooked but burning on the oven instead and me wanting to pee all at the same time. And nights turned into a cycle of showers, sterilizing bottles and doing laundry!

Now, it’s okay to arrive late to any event looking like an old pair of socks and smelling like a rotten mushroom. Now, it’s fine surviving on four to five hours of sleep. Now, rotating between 3 outfits is acceptable, and wearing a milk-stained shirt is the new trend.

And I think by now, my husband made peace with my new Zombie look. And the bags under my eyes believe they are designer.

My new hobbies include walking around the house trying to calm my colic baby. I also took up singing; only nursery rhymes and songs I make up. I can now balance holding a car seat, a diaper bag, my purse and the groceries all at once. Travelling is enjoyable too, however, we only travel to one destination: Grandma Land. What else?

Well, all of that doesn’t weigh a feather compared to the smile I see on my son’s face. Watching him grow, interact with us, fall asleep peacefully in my arms are ridiculously and insanely rewarding.
Looking him in the eye and kissing his little toes are the new meaning to my life. And keeping him safe is what I live and die for.

If I were to go through all the pain and sufferings of pregnancy and labor, I would all over again, in a heartbeat. Besides, he’s the one who heard my heartbeats from the inside, and he became the one my heart beats for. I now have a small piece of heaven, I have a son.

Autumn...

He tried to keep his memories intact, until they ripped him into a dozen pieces.

It was the beginning of another autumn, a season he disliked.
He just hated how his backyard’s trees turned yellow. He didn’t want the leaves and their thousand shades of green to change, because they reminded him of the color of her eyes.
Ten years passed, maybe more, he wasn’t certain, but those hues of green were something he could never forget.

He watched his kids play around. He smiled proudly at them. But not a single day went by where he didn’t think about her.
He threw his heart in frozen lakes a million times, but that compartment which belonged to her, never hardened. He was forever changed by her.
In the way he talked, there was her. In the way he perceived life, there was her vision. In his children, he saw how she could’ve raised them. They might have picked up different hobbies or passions, he always thought.

He opened an old wallet: boarding passes, metro tickets, bills, silly notes, yet, not a single photograph. Each piece of paper smelled of youth and of a particular memory. He put it back in his inside pocket and allowed himself a flashback: places, achievements, songs, foreign languages, colorful moments and tons more.

After several minutes, he felt a gentle hand rubbing his back. “Tough day at work, huh?
He nodded without saying a word.
“Dinner’s ready.”, the voice said.
He got up, kissed his wife’s forehead and walked inside with her.

Counting Weeks!

So, my thigh gap stuck its tongue out at me and waved goodbye while  I stared at the mirror. And my thighs have recently met for the first time and decided to become inseperable.

I am no longer a sample size, the scale displays scary digits and my flat stomach (and abs! *swallows hard*) got replaced by a balloon.

And speaking of stomachs. Mine turned into a bully. Only the cool food gets to stay in and hang out; while it beats up then kicks out any unwanted nerdy meals.

I have become a water fountain, but not those pretty ones. I just take in water, then splash it, in bathrooms. Oh! And bathrooms are my new favorite places.

Moreover, my own bladder has started a rebellion against me. Sneezing and coughing are its weapons! And believe me, they are lethal.

And when hunger strikes, things get real – predator real. Let’s not forget to mention how my heart burns and starts a camp fire in the middle of the night.

So if you were ever told that pregnancy is enjoyable or in any way fun, be sure that this person is a big fat liar.

You’re on a constant emotional rollercoaster. You’re tired all the time. You eat uncontrollably. You breathe like you’re underwater. You look like an overstuffed Falafel sandwich and you walk like a turtle carrying its shell on the front.

But when you hear the baby’s heartbeat on the ultrasound. When you watch his growth each month. When you buy him clothes. When he starts kicking you. When he moves in your womb. That’s when your heart flutters and sinks to your knees. And that’s when your motherly instinct builds up.

I have had rough months and there are more coming ahead. However, I know it is all worth it.
Now I don’t mind if he rips my insides, as long as he is healthy. As long as I have a  little piece of me to call me “Mommy”.