My daughter the singer

My baby has got taste in music and she has a bright future ;)

June 7, 2009

It's a big thing after all! It is every adult citizen's right and duty.

This is the first time I experience it here in Lebanon and frankly I'm kind of getting annoyed by it. I cannot wait for June 7th to come to stop hearing about it.

I don't understand masalan, how a visit to congratulate new parents on the arrival of their daughter triggers a political conversation about voting, who said what and who is better than whom, and who we SHOULD vote for.

It feels like the huge billboards on the roads got even bigger with the campaign ads. Some of them don't make sense, and the best are the ones copied from an opponent's idea. No thinking required. That shouldn't have required a huge budget for marketing and advertising. Bravo! What a great money saving strategy! Money spent otherwise on other unthinkable actions like more billboards or paying voters or whatever annoying and disturbing action.

Radio and TV ads (at least the one I heard and saw) are a bit more conservative and targeted to the general public. They sound like they are made to encourage people to vote in general, no matter who they would vote for. That's great! The real funny one is that Xtra radio ad campaign... Only in Lebanon a beverage becomes a candidate in the governmental elections! I would maybe vote for it, if I know what it is made of :)

What are really annoying are two things actually.
First, people who try to TELL you who you SHOULD vote for. I might be of the same opinion, I may be voting for the same party but it is no one's business. Why otherwise would the voting experience be secretive and made behind closed curtains? Save the trouble of creating appropriate voting locations and do it by the raise of a hand, what's the big deal? Eh?

Second, some parties are paying money to Lebanese working and living abroad to come and vote for them. Where's the democracy in that? Why do some IMPORTANT people and parties have enough money to bring in people to vote and not spend it on Lebanon? Why do Lebanese in Lebanon have to pay an arm and a leg to have clean water, electricity and other necessities, drive on streets more like dirt roads, and sell their kidney to put their kids in schools, and be told that the national deficit is such, when there are IMPORTANT people with ENOUGH money to cover the national deficit and make life easier on EVERYONE? Wouldn't they earn enough votes had they done some good on the ground instead of having to beg people abroad to come and vote for them? Did these political figures with big money want justice and democracy in the election exercise; they would have worked on allowing the Lebanese living abroad to vote from outside the country. What is a better reason to have an embassy or a consulate than to facilitate the practice of ones duty towards their country? Just an opinion.

Looking forward to June 7, 2009; and see what happens after...

Welcome

Saturday March 21, 2009

• 5:00 am, the water broke


• 9:00 am, we - mom, my best friend Jako, and I - went to hospital to check the situation


• 9:30 am, it was confirmed that the water broke and that we're going to have the baby "today", but the passage was not open enough yet


• 10:00 am, I was induced to see if I can still have a natural birth


• 10:30 am, Karam joined us in the hospital, back from a shorter half day work


• 11:30 am, the c-section was decided


• 12:30 pm, I was half frozen, in the OR, ready to get baby out into this world


• 12:45 pm, I saw this little thing held by the legs and minutes later I heard her first cry


• 3:00 pm, I saw my baby girl for the first time and fed her

Baby Anastasia is here!! She's healthy and ever so adorable!

What better gift can a woman ask for on Mother's Day than to become a mom to a beautiful gift from Heaven?

35 weeks

As I feel her movements in my tummy throughout the day, I know that this is the point of no return. In just a few weeks, I will no longer be responsible for myself alone. My social status, responsibilities and priorities are changing forever. I will be called mom and will have someone to attend to, to care for and to love as much as there is love in me to give. Someone is coming to stay forever in my life and Karam’s.

This makes me feel so special and blessed, and at the same time scared to death. How will she be like? What will she look like? Will she like me and Karam? Will we be good parents to her? Will we know how to treat her the way she should to be treated? Will we give her enough love and attention, no matter what she does or says?

I see my belly sticking out, and I have images flashing in my mind of a baby learning to walk and trying to imitate what I say and do, or a little girl doing her homework or playing with her legos, or a young person asking permission to take the car to go out with her friends… It’s a long term relationship that will start in a few weeks with a crying baby so fragile and precious... and I only hope it will be a successful and loving journey.

It's been a while...

Seriously, that long without blogging? And almost as much time without even reading blogs??? Shame on me!!!

Life has been on the move more than I would have imagined it to be. I don't know what to write about, or rather, I have nothing new to blog about. Life is the same here since July, except for my growing battoun, and I'm enjoying it most of the time, especially when I'm not at work and when I'm not driving.

Speaking of driving, I see this ad every morning on my way to work and it puts a smile on my face. There's nothing to it, but it shows how witty and smart those damn Lebanese people are :)))