We are finally here

The trip was quite an ordeal. Omar got sick the day before we left, and I was hesitant to go but as we had already postponed once, I couldn’t postpone again. Omar woke up around 1am shaking and trembling, he was freezing. I held him and rubbed him for an hour until he stopped trembling and he fell back asleep. Then an hour later he woke up with a high fever. I think he must’ve been hallucinating, he was saying the oddest things, he was very hyper too. I gave him motrin, and an hour later his fever was still 103. It didn’t go down. Finally around 5.30am we managed to go back to sleep for two hours. I got about three hours of sleep and as you can imagine I was dreading the trip now.
The last two days leading up to this were very hectic, the movers were at our house all day long packing up everything. It was stressful on all of us. On the day of leaving, my cats were very upset. Omar was just sick so I couldn’t really tell what he was feeling.
It was such a chaotic situation, but we did manage to get in the car and head to the airport without forgetting too many important things!

It took a while to get everything sorted out at the airport with getting the cats checked in, and figuring out all of the excess luggage. We had a total of eight pieces to be checked in. Crazy!
But we did manage it all, thanks to a kind manager who was very helpful and my dear friend Melissa who kept Omar occupied and me sane at the same time.
The hardest part was to say goodbye, all morning long the phone was ringing off the hook and of course I had some tears to shed. And then to say goodbye to Melissa was really the hardest.
Waiting in the security line Omar got upset that she left and kept saying where did Melissa go?
He knew we were finally going on the big airplane mommy had been talking about for weeks.
Everything went smooth until we got on the plane. Omar had a huge fit, he cried and cried, screaming ‘Mommy come back!’. His way of saying ‘I don’t want to go’.
He did calm down after we took off, slept for a little bit and then we watched Thomas the Tank Engine. He was running a fever again and he threw up as well. I wasn’t feeling very good myself and had the one throw up bag that I could find handy just in case. Luckily I started feeling better after an hour or two. The last two hours of the flight, Omar slept. The flight attendants were extremely helpful, I was the last person to exit the plane, with a sleeping child and three bags, jackets in hand etc. They helped me carry my bags got me my stroller and made sure I was well taken care of.
I love KLM!!!

Our flight arrived earlier than expected, so my dad was still getting there. I made a quick stop in one of the stores to get some toothbrushes and browsed around a bit before heading out. Omar never woke up, he was out!
Finally my dad came and we headed over to my grandma’s house. Omar woke up and was hysterical. I could barely get him in the car, let alone the car seat. I finally resorted to holding him and he threw up again.
After being at my grandma’s for an hour he finally calmed down and got happy. I brought his trains and he played with those. My grandma had bought him a dvd which he watched for a bit as well. He played trains with my dad for quite a while, he liked that my dad smashed the trains together.
Omar and I took a much needed nap, and then a shower. My grandma made us an awesome dinner and Omar actually ate!
Then it was off to the airport again. I didn’t tell him we were going there, I didn’t want him to get upset again.
I had asked him a couple of times if he wanted to go on the airplane to see daddy and he consistently said no. He was still upset with Ramy for being gone so long.

Saying goodbye at the airport was hard, it was so great to see my dad and my grandma again but yet it was too short.
After going through customs we walked around looking at the shops as we had two hours before departure. Omar got real whiny again, I got him a train in the store which kept him occupied for a bit.
At the gate we had to wait a long time, finally when it came time to board, it was a mad house. Everyone was pushing and shoving trying to get on the plane. What ever happened to common courtesy? Omar had another meltdown, I can say this one was probably the worst ever. I had to take him out of the stroller and he refused. He threw himself on the floor screaming and crying, while we were standing in this huge crowd who were shoving and pushing trying to get into the plane. Of course nobody offered to help, I had the stroller, now four bags and a flailing child. I just started crying with Omar, I felt so helpless. I even yelled at him to just shut up, I couldn’t take it anymore. Finally a flight attendant came to my rescue, she took my bags and got us to our seats. Omar threw himself on the floor in the middle of the hallway, while everyone was still boarding and the flight attendant suggested to just give him a minute on his own. I then held him and rocked him until they closed the doors. Finally got him in his seat and he was a bit calmer until it was time for take off. He went nuts when I put his seat belt on. And it went on and on... we just weren’t taking off!
They then announced we had to wait longer because three more passengers needed to get on board. So I had to hold Omar again until he calmed down. It was such a nightmare. The best part was when we circling over Cairo, waiting to land. There were lights everywhere, it seemed like it was only early in the evening instead of 3am. We took a bus to the terminal and had to wait in the passport control line another 45 minutes. The guy who gave me my passport back was real flirty and I decided to take advantage of that and ask him if I can take my cats with me now. He went to look for someone to help me.
In normal circumstances they overnight until the veterinarian inspects them and decides when I can pick them up. Horus was so loud, he was screaming the whole time. Another guy came then and asked if those were my cats, I told him yes and he told me to follow him. Then he told me I pay him now and he will take my cats out. I felt like I was in some secret spy movie or something. I told him okay unless he took all my luggage as well.
He got another guy and they got all my stuff and went towards customs. I saw Ramy standing behind the glass waiting. At the customs they were unsure of what to do, they all gathered together, having some kind of meeting about it and because I was quite loud talking back and forth to Ramy they decided to let me pass without even checking a single piece of document.
I was very nervous at the time but also very relieved I got through!
Ramy’s dad said he was very happy we got everything as the normal procedure would have probably taken us six hours at the agricultural department to get the cats back.
I only gave the guy 20 dollars but in Egypt it is like giving someone a 100 bucks!
Omar went wild when he saw Ramy, he made these weird laughing noises that I never heard before. He was so incredibly happy! The fussing and crying stopped and he transformed back to sweet Omar.

By the time we got to the house and in bed it was gone 5.30am. It was lovely to sleep and we managed to get a good couple of hours in before getting up again.
That afternoon we took a trip to the supermarket and the mall. This mall called City Stars is huge. It has seven floors and just about anything you can imagine in it.
I had no idea this existed and it is only 5 minutes from the house. They even have a Starbucks but I haven’t gone in it yet. By the evening I was exhausted and so ready to go to sleep. Omar wasn’t tired at all and he finally managed to fall asleep around 1.30am.

We are moving!

The craziness has started. Today was day 1 of packing to move. They started at 8.30am and finished around 6.30pm. I didn't realize there was so much to pack!

Omar is doing pretty well all things considering. He enjoys jumping on the packed furniture.

Today they packed up the basement and the first floor, except the kitchen. They also did part of the master bedroom.

While Omar was sleeping they packed up all of his toys, I got some of it in a separate box which I will take with me on the airplane.

I also sold the Mustang today, so it seems to have been a productive day!

Only three more days and we are on our way to Egypt. I still cannot grasp the whole concept of it.

This morning I was very sad, the movers came and started packing and I just cried. I love my home. I know to some people a house is a house, but to me it is more than that. This is my home, my place, my sanctuary if you may call it that. A place I can't wait to get to after a day out.

This is the first house we build as a married couple, this is where we had our son. It is much more than just a house. This is where the memories are.

I am being sentimental I know, but why shouldn't I?

At the same time I am very excited to see what Egypt has to offer, and how different and interesting our lives will be there.

It has been over a month since I last saw my hubbie and my son misses him terribly.

I can't wait to see the look on Omar's face when he sees his daddy.

Now that we are through day one, my concerns have shifted to the long flight, which is 25 hours and how my cats will do. I am actually really anxious about it, I know Omar will be fine, but I have no control over what happens to my cats. We leave Thursday night and arrive Egypt at 2.15am on Saturday morning. We have a 14 hour!! lay over in Amsterdam. They told me they will be in a kennel there, which made me feel better, at least they will be taken care of. When we get to Egypt they will have to overnight at the airport until the examiner comes to work the next day, which according to Ramy can be whenever he feels like it. Just that part makes me nervous. My poor kitties will be in a crate for almost three days!

A good week ending not so good

We started the week off pretty good. On Tuesday we met some of Omar's play group friends at a coffee shop in Brunswick called Beans in the Belfry. We had never been there, and I was really surprised. It was a very cool, not your normal coffee shop. It was in an old church, very comfortable with couches and stuff, and a place for the kids to play. We were running a bit late as usual. Laura and Grayson were already there. Omar was very excited to see them! Later on Melissa, Ella and Ethan joined us as well and we enjoyed a nice lunch with some good conversation that I really needed. The kids had a blast together.

Then on Wednesday we took a trip down to the aquarium in Baltimore with his friends Daniel, Alex, Ella and Ethan. It was such a different experience this time around then when Omar was 10 months old. I enjoyed his enthusiasm very much and he loved looking at all the sea creatures. Towards lunch time he did have a small melt down and we all stopped to eat. Unfortunately the dolphin show was closed for maintenance which was disappointing.

Today we had a lazy day at home. In the afternoon Omar went into the other room to play with his trains but he didn't turn on the light as he was going nr.2. All of a sudden I hear this big bang and a huge scream, I was on the phone with Ramy at the time which I dropped, grabbed him and his forehead which he was holding and walk into the living room. I felt this warmness in my neck and when I pulled him from me, there was blood gushing everywhere. I couldn't even see one of his eyes.

I completely panicked, which made him more hysterical but I totally was not prepared for all of this blood as there is nothing in the room where he was playing that he could hurt himself on. Thoughts were racing through my head as I couldn't see where the blood was coming from, I thought it was his eye. Omar kept screaming he had a boo boo and that it hurt. I finally saw the cut on his forehead and started putting pressure on it while trying to call Ramy who was not answering. I called the neighbors who were not there either. Then I called Melissa who came right over and helped me calm down. She drove us to the hospital and Ramy met us there.

Things went pretty quickly from there, we were taken back and then the doctor had a look at Omar's cut. He took something, peeked inside of it and told us it needed a couple of stitches. Omar screamed and cried so hard it was heart breaking, he kept yelling at me that he was stuck and he wanted to go home. I think the needle and the thread that was dangling in his eyes totally freaked him out.

He was okay once we got home, I was so relieved Ramy was with us, and stayed with us as it made Omar much more at ease. Now we have to go to the pediatrician in 4 days to have the stitches removed. I am already dreading it!Lets hope the rest of the week will go a bit smoother.

Never a boring moment

I am not sure where to start. We've been kind of busy with little things here and there.

I have been enjoying my time with Omar very much, not so much the terrible two part, which is also interesting, not to say the least.

Omar is really into 'projects' at the moment, so we make beautiful pictures or paintings, or build towers with blocks, weird creatures with play do, or some other stuff like imitating a story from Thomas the train on his train table. What I also really enjoy is when Omar reads me story books instead of vice versa. He has a good memory and tells me pretty accurately.

The other day he really surprised me when we came out of the supermarket at night and while I was loading the car, he looked up at the sky and said 'look, the moon.' I was like, yeah, the moon. Then he said 'how did it get up there?' It totally surprised me, so I turned around and said what? He repeated himself and I just didn't have a response to it. I was not expecting the question at all.

Omar is growing up so fast, I was just looking at his baby pictures that same morning and now he is already two and talking up a storm!

We also had a lot of snow a couple of days ago, Omar loved it, we played outside for a long time, and made a big snowman. We did eventually have to go in because he got really cold. The next day it had all pretty much melted but I am sure we will have more snow days for him to enjoy! I need to get him a little more prepared as the snow pants from last year are way too small.

Dentist

Omar had his first dentist appointment today. I've been dreading this day ever since he turned one.
He absolutely hates getting his teeth brushed. I have to hold him down to do it and then it barely lasts a minute.
He loves brushing his teeth by himself but it goes nowhere and he ends up eating the toothpaste. We have gone through at least 10 different tooth brushes, including two electric ones.

We got to the office, and it was very kid friendly. Omar knew immediately we were there for him and he was very clingy. I had a really hard time filling out the forms. The waiting area was nicely painted with kid stuff, they had cool toys, a big TV with a kid show and two flat screen TVs on the side for games and stuff. Omar was not interested.

Then we got called to the room, I had to sit on the big chair with him on my lap facing me. The dentist then brought out this cool pillow with cars on it, and I had to recline Omar's head onto the pillow so he could have a look. Omar screamed but didn't move. As I suspected, the kid is getting cavities on the top front four teeth. Those are the hardest ones to brush, he won't let me near them.

The dentist then got some fluoride paste out that he put on the four teeth which will protect them for three months. So we need to come back every three months for that until he is around four. Everything else looks great, and I finally got to see his two year molars.
That was that!

The nurse opened a drawer with tons of little toys in them but he didn't want any, he wanted James the train I had promised him.
So off we went to Toys R Us and he was very happy.

I wish my dentist appointments went this smooth!

Finally

That's right! Omar is finally sleeping at night!
This is really strange for me as we have been getting up 3-5 times every single night for the past two years.
It was rough for the first 3 days, a lot of crying, kicking, hitting, screaming. All things I am not used to from him. He has never hit or kicked me before and all of a sudden he intentionally is trying to hurt me.
But after day three it got a little better, no more kicking and hitting, he would hug me again, then the crying stopped.
The past three nights have been so much better, and last night he slept through the night! He has only done that twice in his whole life when he was a little baby.
I did wake up like 5 times listening, looking at the clock, wondering if he was alive ha ha
The only problem is that he hates going to bed now.
Before he would ask to go to bed, he loved going to sleep. Now we are up reading books until 9 or 9.30pm, the door has to stay open and he has gotten scared in the dark! I had to pull out a night light.

This was pretty hard on both of us, but I think it was for the best.
The hardest part for me was that I could tell Omar thought I stopped loving him, or was rejecting him. And in turn it hurt my feelings that instead of letting me comfort him at night he would push me away and hit and kick me.
I am so glad we passed this stage and he is his own loving self again. It was tearing out my heart.

The new year is starting out pretty good!

Is this really it?

Our sleeping situation hasn't changed, we still get up every one to two hours every single night. I spend more time in Omar's bed then I do in mine and it is making me very frustrated!

A couple of months ago I decided to stop nursing him. It wasn't like he was constantly having it, just before bed time he would have some and it would bring him to dreamland. With the stress in our lives and the switch to his own room I had given in again. Just so he could settle. But honestly, I think this is the problem of him waking up. Besides the fact that I am not there next to him when he does wake up, he more than ever wants to nurse at night, every single time he wakes up. I don't know if it is his way of getting me into his bed and I stay there so he has me to cuddle with or what. I know he is not hungry as he only takes one or two sips at most, it must be the closeness.

He has always been a very affectionate child, the doctor said on our last visit that it is his character which is fine with me but this whole sleeping thing is totally affecting my life! I am so on the edge all day long, I just can't function. I am also extremely forgetful, I can't even make it to a friends house without getting lost.

So to make a long story short, last night was the last straw. I am done. I can't do it anymore. Omar has had enough time to get used to his room and his bed and it is time to pull the plug, or for this case the breast.

The previous time when we decided to end it it was more for others than it was for me. It didn't bother me he was still nursing. It was only at night, he was in my bed, I got more sleep then too, but the pressure of the outside made me feel ashamed about it and stressed out. It was hard then, but it seems harder now. Harder for him as he can voice his opinion on the matter. It kills me to see him crying like this, begging for a tiny bit of milk. One moment I think, no, I am staying firm, I need sleep, this is better for all of us, so I can be a normal person again. Then the other moment I think, what the hell am I doing to this child? Will I scar him emotionally for life? Does he think I don't love him anymore? Am I crazy to let him cry like this?

He did finally fall asleep on my bed, hugging my pajama top. Now it is really up to me. Can I do this? What will happen tonight, will I be able to stay strong after my third trip to his bed room wishing for a little sleep?
I am hoping and praying I can, I hope God will help me with this to make it easier on both of us.

It can only get better right?

A little 'sleep' update

Well, so far so good. Omar has been in his own bed for a week and a half now. He is taking his nap very well but the nights are still a bit rough. He is waking up 5 times again. Every two hours. It took us a year and a half to go from 5 times at night to 2-3 times at night and now we are back to square one.
Needless to say, we are both exhausted. Omar barely makes it to 10.30am before going for his nap which means he has a very hard time making it through to the night having a nap that early. (If it was up to him he would be down for his nap at 9am!)
At some of the awakenings I just give up and fall asleep with him in his bed, then waking up two hours later with Omar's foot in my nose and a bad back ache before returning back to my bed for a minute and him waking up again.

I honestly need to contact that sleep specialist as the sleepless nights are definitely taking a toll on my sanity. I feel like I am living at Starbucks these days, or at least, at their drive through, and the coffee doesn't seem to be working anymore at this point as I almost fell asleep behind the wheel coming back from the airport yesterday!
I am going to give it one more week, until next Friday, and if things don't improve, I might have to start a different approach.

Don't get me wrong, I love that Omar is in his own room, and I am so proud of him for sticking with it, but we all need to get a good nights rest!
I can't imagine having another baby right now with the amount of sleep we are getting, as this reminds me of Omar being a new born and waking up every two hours to eat.
I could see it now, one hour Omar would wake, the next hour the baby. It would be a very unpleasant time!

What a big boy!

Well, he is doing it! Omar is sleeping in his own bed in his own room!

I think it helped that he picked the bed out himself and was part of the decision making.

We started on Wednesday evening. He went to sleep without a problem but woke up about three hours later with a nasty cold and fever. The rest of the night I kind of had to lay with him and we were both miserable. At 4.30am we both crawled into my bed and barely got any sleep. Around 9am we finally did fall asleep for about three hours.

Yesterday night he was very excited to go sleep in his own bed, and crawled in it right away. Then he got scared for a minute and tried to go to my bed. I told him that is mommy's bed and he had to sleep in Omar's bed. So he got back in and said goodnight to all the trains on his bed sheets and went to sleep. No crying! He did wake up every hour and I took him back into my bed around 1.30am. Its not that he was crying to get out, he was so miserable with his cold, he had a hard time breathing and wanted me near. I let him sleep on my shoulder and he was able to breathe better.

Today he was very tired and was ready for his nap at 10am. He went straight for his room and it took him a good hour to fall asleep, but when he did, he slept until 1pm! I was able to put all the laundry away in my room and just have my bedroom for me. It was really nice. When he woke up he was very proud of himself that he slept in his own bed and I made sure to make a big deal out of it.

I am also very proud of him, he has always known our bed as his, but maybe he was ready for his own bed. He absolutely hated his crib and he would cry and cry all night long in it.

I don't know, maybe he thought it was a prison or something haha

Anyway, I am very happy and I think Ramy will be nicely surprised to see this change when he gets back from his trip.

I was reading an article today about a family that also has their child sleeping with them. The only difference is that the child is seven years old. I can't imagine having Omar in my bed until he is seven and the author said she is not kicking him out anytime soon. When I started reading the story I was like, thank God we are not the only ones! But towards the end I thought, lets not end up like them!

What a big boy!

Things you need to do when you are two

Well, we survived the birthday parties, and now we are focusing on sleeping in our own bed. For Omar that is anyway. His new bed arrived yesterday afternoon. Two guys came in a big truck and went into Omar's room and put it all together. Omar was very excited to see the big truck on his drive way and he didn't care much for the noises coming out of his room. Until the guys had finished and said we could go have a look. Oh boy, you should have seen his face! He walked in and said with a really surprised voice 'Omar's bed!' I guess he recognised it from the store. he loves it so much and he wanted to sleep in it last night. We went out last night after they left to get sheets but it was rather late when we got back and the sheets weren't dry yet.

After bath time we laid on it for a few minutes and then he wanted to sit in his old crib for a minute as well.

When we walked out to go to sleep he waived and said bye bye to the crib and his bed.

I promised him tomorrow he could sleep in his own bed, and he keeps telling me it is Omar's bed while pointing at his chest.

This morning we had Omar's two year check up. When we pulled up at the doctor's office Omar said: Look! The doctor. I was surprised he recognised the place, maybe because he hates going there.

The nurse checked his weight, height and temperature and stuff, then I had to fill out two forms, one was about exposure to lead and family illnesses, the other was a sheet of questions to see how he is developing. We finished both sheets, except for one of the questions where they asked what a cup, bed, and chair were for. Omar answered juice for the cup which was wrong, it had to be drink and he said sit for the chair. He didn't answer the bed question as by that point he was crying a lot and wanted to leave.

The doctor seemed very pleased with him though, he is 38 inches tall and weighs 30.9 lbs.

She did give me a paper to see a specialist for his sleeping habits as he still gets up at least 3 times a night. She said I deserve some sleep and I agree with her!

Omar also got a flu shot and then we went for breakfast at Panera. His favorite place to eat.

We had a nice breakfast together and he seemed his happy old self again.

Fingers crossed for tonight!