My daughter with straight hair

Today, after lunch, i gave Mona a shower, then proceed to blow-drying and brushing her hair as usual. Her hair is very very curly!! Even after blow-dry/brushing it still is pretty curly.
So just for fun, i decided to try and straightened the back of her hair, because i wanted to see how long her hair really is.
So i started strengthening her hair with the strengthening iron, and to my surprise Mona was allowing me to do it. She was sitting there very quietly, playing with hair bands and combs and her reflection in the mirror, while we talked and i did her hair.
Within a few minutes, her whole hair was straighten!! And her hair is pretty longer than I thought it was!!
So we took some pics to immortalise that moment!!
Then she went for a nap and she looked so cute with her long straight hair and her kaloos (bears)!!

Here are the pics...

The Barbie & Backyard Fun

Pictures speak louder than words!!

Video of Mona dancing

As promised on my previous post, here is the video of Mona dancing for everyone at my birthday dinner.

Yummy Mummy's Birthday!!

It was my special day on Friday (24 August).

The day started really wonderfully, with a cup of coffee and lots of wondering emails from family and friends from around the world, wishing me a happy birthday.
After the emails, i headed out for my morning walk and felt really nice about it. The sun was shining and the birds were singing, or maybe because it was just my special day!! I used this time alone to reflect on my life now and the millions of things i need to improve to be where i want to be. Thinking and taking mental notes of how i can better myself and be more of service to mankind and to God. It was a very positive reflection time for me.

After my walk, i had breakfast with my little family and then as the sun was still shining, we went outside to play in the sun. While watching my daughter and husband play together, i couldn't help myself from observing the blessings that i have in my life. All of my life, i have been truly blessed!! My wonderful parents who are truly living examples of how to be and act as a Baha'i, even though they are human and have and do mistakes from time to time, they are both and have been for as long as i can remember, an inspiration for so many people. Take my mother, her selflessness in service to the Cause of God and my dad, his love and passion for applying the Words of God to his own life, combine them both together and you have truly the most perfect example of how to be as a Baha'i. If only they both knew how much they inspire me in every stages and period of my life!!
I have been blessed also to have the most hilarious, loving and supporting brothers, my husband who is the most loving and kind person i have ever known, my amazing families & friends and most recently i have been blessed with a truly precious gift, God's own gift to me: my daughter.
No one but me, can truly understand how blessed I am. I hope to be able to give back in return too!!

Anyhow... it was a very reflective morning!! So back to my day....
We went out for lunch at Nando's (my favourite fast-food restaurant) then came back home and chilled, till the afternoon, when i got some time to pamper myself while hubby and daughter went out to buy me my birthday gifts.
Then we headed to my mother's in law house for our usual Friday night dinners.
Now, i had previously told my mother in law and hubby that i didn't want a birthday party, but of course no one really listens to me... So the whole family was there, but no one knew it was for my birthday!! lol
We had the famous Golmeh Sabzi (Persian dish with herbs, red kidney beans and meat) with rice, there were some other chicken curry and beans curry and of course fresh garden salad, yogurt and Persian pickles. After dinner, we had tea and coffee with a mocha-choc sponge cake!! It was divine!!
Then i opened the gifts from my hubby and mother in law. I received a 100$ gift card from mother in law & her husband. And my daughter and hubby got me a....drum roll please.... an MP3 Video Player!!!! YAY!!!
I have been wanting to get one for a few months now, well not really a video one, but just a normal mp3 player to take with me on my walks, but hey who am i to complain about the video, right!!!
Not to mention that the day before, hubby took me out shopping for some well needed sports accessories. I got brand new walking/running shoes, new sports outfits and a pedometer for counting my steps! I am so excited about all my new gears and gadgets!! lol I feel like a little girl again!! lol...

So yeah, my special day was indeed very special...
Some good time reflecting about myself, my life and everything that revolves around it...
Some quality time with my own little family!
Some fun with cake and family!
And some wonderful gifts of love showered upon me from my family and friends around the world.
What a great birthday!

Below some pics of the dinner, I will upload very soon a video of Mona dancing for everyone at the dinner...

P.S: Thank you for being part of my life!!

Mona is fine....

We just came back from the doctor's office and she gave us a complete reading of the ultra-sound test that Mona did on Monday.

Her results are clear and all good!! Meaning; she is fine. Her kidneys is not contaminated and is functioning properly. Even her bladder is fine, except for the infection.
The doctor ask us to take another test of Mona's urine to have it analyse and she also has to do the other test in a few weeks time, that is the cystogram test.

So Mona is doing better and that is a relief for both her daddy and myself.
Her fever has also gone since a few days, and even though she still has some glands behind her ear and on the neck, and even though her right ear is a little red (infected). She is doing fine and is off antibiotics.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and words of comfort when i really needed some cheering up.

Much love...

Some recent pictures

Update....

Hi there everyone!! Yes, i am still here!!
It's been almost a month since I last post on my blog.... So it's time for an update... here goes:

Well, as you read from the last post, we were sick.
We got hit with a gastro virus, and the 3 of us were in bed/couch for almost 2 weeks.
Then just as we were getting better, we got hit by another wave of virus, chest infections, yep the 3 of us again were in bed for another week.
We slowly recovered from all this sickness and went back to our daily routines.

Since the beginning of August, our little Mona has been sleeping in her very first big girl's bed.
We bought her a toddler bed from Ikea and slowly get her used to sleeping in it by herself.
The first week was really hard for Mona and me!!! We both didn't sleep very much.
I spent the first night sitting on the floor next to her bed trying to make her fall asleep. And i fell asleep there too!!
But the nights after that went a little smoother... slowly but surely, she was sleeping for longer nights in her bed by herself, just like a big girl.
On the 6th night in her bed, she slept through the night without waking up once!
So to encourage her and to do this every night we went out and bought her another Kaloo (lovie for sleeping in bed). She choose the kaloo herself and absolutely loves it when she goes to bed. She now has 3 kaloos in her bed. lol.

But then on Monday night at 2am, she woke up crying and shaking... She was having a fever. We gave her panadol (paracetamol) and I stayed with her till 4am till she fell back asleep.
I thought the fever was probably caused by her teething. But on Tuesday night, while putting Mona to bed, I noticed a little lump just behind her left ear. So first thing on Wednesday morning we went to the doctor. The doc confirmed that her fever was high and that she had glands behind her ear and on the neck. She also took a sample of Mona's urine for a test.
She also said that i should keeping giving Mona panadol for her fever.
On Friday, we went back to get the results of the urine test. The doc did another check up on her and she was still with 38degree fever. The results of the urine test showed that she has a bladder infection. The bladder infection is causing her pain in her little tummy and uterus. It most probably burns when she urinates (but she cannot communicate that to us yet, she is only 17months old) and the bladder and uterus area is very sensible to the touch, which now explains why lately she was not letting us clean her when we changed her nappy or bathing her.
The doc gave antibiotics to treat the bladder infection and booked us in for an ultra-sound on Monday morning and also a cystogram in 3 weeks time.
Prayers would be much appreciated for those tests.
I am a bit concerned because the tests are to find out if her kidneys as well as other organs are functioning normally. I was asking the doctor a lot of questions, but she didn't want to panic me and didn't really tell me what would be the worst case scenario. She only explained to me how the test were done and that they need to do them.
Now i am even more freaked out because i have no idea what could happen to my little girl and of course i am thinking of the worst!!
All i can do is hope and pray that the ultra sound test doesn't reveal anything else than a bladder infection. And i am also praying that the cystogram doesn't hurt her to much and that the results are not alarming.
Please pray for Mona's quick recovery and for positive results to the tests that she has to get done.
Many thanks.

Even though Mona is sick and sometimes in pain, she is so full of joy and energy!!
She is her usual self, playful, singing and dancing all the time, making a mess in my cupboards and pantry. She is also learning and developing a lot. She has reached a lot of new milestones and that is another post in itself... so laters...