How’s the weather from where you are? Here in Dubai, as far as the midday sun is concerned, ‘winter’ is already over. But on early mornings and evenings, it is still cool – or cold, depending on the years you have lived here.

~ Dubai winter sky in my side view mirror ~

So when I mentioned on Twitter that I was feeling really cold, our room temperature being at 20C (68F), I got some reactions:

“You’re kidding! Dubai is NEVER cold.”

“At 20C, I will sleep naked!”

“Maybe cool but not cold, that would be the perfect room temp!”

Ah, yeah, these all came from cold bloodied people from the north of Northern Hemisphere.

Truth is, it DOES get cold in Dubai, those days when we wear fleece jackets and don’t want to come out of our duvets in the morning. DUVETS. In the desert. What an abomination, right? But really, no one has the right definition of what is cold and hot. It all goes down to acclimatization and all in perspective. Saying it doesn’t get cold in Dubai is like saying it doesn’t get hot in Canada but I know Toronto can reach as far as 35C in the summer!

It does get cold in Dubai in the months of December to February. It’s the time we shy away from the glorious beaches because the water is cold. It’s the time we take out our ‘winter’ jackets despite the mocking looks of red neck tourists coming from snowy places!.

We tell our friends coming to bring warm clothes and light jackets and of course they don’t…then regret it later and spend their travel pocket money buying one here. True story!

Finally it’s Friday where we can wind down to the weekend. My first two days back to work had been tough on baby Ben and me – I still need a lot of getting used to the morning routine. Ideally, I’d like to have a morning shower before I go but not, sometimes, sleep gets the priority especially if I’ve woken up many times at night to feed, change nappy or soothe the baby. Oh well, at least this doesn’t go on forever!

Speaking of soothing, our baby boy loves being soothed/rocked to sleep to a Carpenters song (blame the old fashioned mama!). He loves the songs so much that most of the time, he sings along to it.

Of course, all we can hear right now are ah, ah and lots of ah’s.

Yesterday’s back to work thing was ok. No one jumped in to tell me, “hey, I thought you were away to give birth, how come you still look pregnant?” Hah. The joys of having an all male colleague in the office. There were no nasty comments to welcome me back, only a huge amount of paperwork.

But my work colleagues were kind and understanding enough seeing my anxiety that they told me I can go home early and they wouldn’t tell the boss…

As expected, Benjamin was hysterically crying for so long. He wouldn’t give it up, looking for the real thing. I am so thankful his caretaker never gave up on him and was able to manage a smile (of relief) when I went home during my lunch break! Baby Ben was like a lost puppy who finally found his mother when he saw me. I was totally like a mother dog who found the lost pup too. I couldn’t take him off me even if I needed to so I can eat my lunch. He gave me the most adorable smiles and coos after I fed him.

We took a lot of photos  (he loves seeing himself in the phone camera) – all of which Benjamin looks scared. And clingy. But at least he was calm and I could tell, so happy.

I really really wish I didn’t have to go back to work in the afternoon.

Hello everyone. I am back to work today after a total of 100 days of maternity leave, I am back as a working mom – meaning, I have double work now. I am well but not too enthusiastic to drive to work this morning and hating the fact that nothing from my closet fits me properly (the maternity pants are too loose and the pre-pregnancy clothes are still too tight) but otherwise, I am ok health-wise.

I don’t want my maternity leave to end. I am in the state called ” I’m covered in drool and I like it” plus who would ever want to come out of the uber awesome stretchy yoga pants?

Seriously, I am terribly missing Benjamin and wondering what he must be feeling right now. I was too afraid to call home and ask my husband if baby Ben is crying. Afraid he’ll say yes, afraid I might hear those familiar screams violently refusing the bottle. I sent him a message asking if the baby is ok and he replied, “yes, he is ok”. I feel he was just trying hard not to make me too anxious.

But I am still anxious.

Benjamin still doesn’t suck the plastic nipples well. He still nibbles it and cries while doing so. Everyone says, “oh, he’ll eventually suck when he’s hungry!” (it hurts every time I get that remark – which mostly come from my husband). In short, we are not ready. It’s like going into battle unprepared. He doesn’t latch on the plastic teats even if he is hungry. His caretaker uses the medicine dropper!

Pristine had been worried of the whole mommy-going-back-to-work-what-will-happen-to-the-baby thing that she has volunteered to bottle train him.

At least it’s already Wednesday today. Baby Ben would only have to ‘suffer’ today and tomorrow then I’m off on Friday and will be having a bonus off on Saturday too (Islamic holiday). I hope this gets easier everyday, for both of us, mostly, for him.

I am typing this at work, my mind and my heart left at home.

Today’s prompt: You, again

You, I mean me. That is a picture of me with the baby. I simply couldn’t post a picture of myself alone because ‘being me’ right now means I always have this cute little human attached to my body.

I look at this picture and feel sad as I bid goodbye to my no alarm clock days, my unlimited cuddling time with the baby and probably (most likely) miss to see his major life milestones as I go back to work tomorrow. My heart is torned.

And so this is the last prompt/photo theme for the #janphotoaday challenge. It’s been a ride and I admit, it was not as easy as I thought it would be. Thanks for all your comments!

Today’s prompt: Nature

Nature – ah, I hope no one visited this blog and read this post expected beautiful picturesque mountains, clear streams or pretty garden of flowers. I live in a desert land camouflaging as a modern city that is Dubai and this is what ‘nature’ is here.

Nevertheless, still beautiful.

*****

If you’re doing the #Janphotoaday challenge, please mention it in the comments so I can visit!

The Juppy is a unique & unconventional baby walker that helps your child safely learn to walk. If you’ve experienced training a child to walk, you can definitely relate to back pains – not the baby’s, yours! It’s straining for a parents’s back because guiding baby to walk without the use of the wheeled walkers requires a guiding adult to hunch their backs.

When Pristine was learning to walk we had a wheeled walker at home. It was ok until she decided she’d like to practice walking outside too, in the park for example! I used a long piece of cloth to wrap around her chest and hunch my back taking her around. Ouch. The Juppy is the only walker so portable it can fit into your purse!

Our baby boy is still three months old and not learning to walk yet but I am really looking forward to using the Juppy in the coming months!

Watch The Juppy in action:

WHAT’S UP FOR GRABS:
One lucky winner receive a Juppy walker (winner’s choice of color)!

HOW TO WIN:
(1) Leave a comment on the Juppy blog under any story/article you choose

(2)Leave a comment here about something you learned from thejuppy.com

For additional entries:

• Subscribe to my blog via RSS or Email
• Follow The Juppy in Twitter
• Like The Juppy in Facebook
• Follow me in Twitter -> you need to have a Twitter account for this (it’s free & easy!)
• Twitter this giveaway (copy & tweet) ->My baby is learning to walk & I don’t want to strain my back so I entered to #win a Juppy Walker via @sandierpastures http://ow.ly/8K4dK

It is important to leave a separate comment for each of the entries to count. Thank you.

DRAW:
A winner will be chosen at random on 6th February 2012!

WHO CAN WIN:
This contest is open to everyone!

Today’s prompt: Inside your fridge

The husband and I love cheese so there’s always cheese inside our fridge. These cute little cubes, however, is our new favorite to nibble. It comes in four different flavors: tomato, green peppercorn, cheddar and natural.

I’ve read somewhere that there are opiates similar to morphine in cheese so when one eats cheese they feel a sense of satisfaction. The opiates in cheese also make it very addicting. It sounds crazy or cheesy, but it might be true! These little cubes don’t last long in our fridge!

*****

If you’re doing the #Janphotoaday challenge, please mention it in the comments so I can visit!

Call us crazy – this is the 4th time we’ve moved in our  five years in Dubai.

First, we lived in a room inside my company’s guest house for three months after arriving in 2007. It was tough. We weren’t allowed to cook so we ate outside all the time. Pristine got a terrible stomach bug because of that. Nightmare! We didn’t have a washing machine as well so had to wash laundry by hands (or else pay for laundry services – we didn’t have a budget for that and we had mountain load of dirty clothes with a small child).

Plus, the building is very near the airport and flight path of planes approaching Dubai International Airport. There would be these noisy, huge planes every five minutes or so, all through the day and night!

We spent three long months because the building where we were supposed to live after arriving wasn’t finished yet.

Our next move was into a real-ish living space. The two bedroom apartment about 15 minutes drive from where I work was ok. Nothing fancy, but better than the guest house room we lived. It was really small with a kitchen only to fit one person, much like living in a dormitory. But we have to make-do of the situation, lived there for three years!

It was small but with a great view, especially in the morning:

During the global economic downturn, rents dived down and we found a spacious apartment within our budget. It had a bigger kitchen, bigger living room, bathroom, bedroom, bigger everything. The downside? It’s located in the inner courtyard of the building and we could only see our neighbor’s windows outside our own (see above photo). We had no balcony!

This is what we can see from our window:

Aside from Pristine’s cute face and a mommy bird building a nest, the view is really awful! I terribly missed taking photos of the sky. Plus it could be suffocating not to have an outside view. We have been in this current apartment for two years.

So…

By the end of this month, we are moving again. With a new baby, it is a brave move, I know. I hear the “have we gone crazy or what?” and the “I hope the new apartment is worth the trouble!” remarks from friends.

Have we gone mad? Maybe but not really. Is the new apartment worth all the trouble? YES. We are moving to the same building complex (so effort for moving is minimal), but the room is on a different side so we get to have a balcony and an outside view. Same convenient location for us, only we could ‘breathe’ more with the bigger windows & balcony access.

Here’s the difference from our now apartment room and the one we’re moving into:

Hurrah for balcony and proper outside view! I am able to take photos of what’s outside again. I love the Dubai sky in winter. I can’t wait to breathe in fresher air.

Today’s prompt: Light

Beautiful light emanating from inside a clay jar, shaped in star and crescent – typical symbol of Islam, the main religion in the UAE.

*****

If you’re doing the #Janphotoaday challenge, please mention it in the comments so I can visit!