A taste of solids–first reaction is always priceless!

Almost about to take off crawling

First ponytail

Latest family pic… my dear husband is trying desperately to hold onto summer

Bye bye summertime…

A family friend’s daughter…

For all Samoans worldwide, this is the first time in our memory that such tragedy and tremendous loss has taken place. We have all been deeply affected by it and will only find comfort in prayer and devotion…

“O my Lord! Thou knowest that the people are encircled with pain and calamities and are environed with hardships and trouble. Every trial doth attack man and every dire adversity doth assail him like unto the assault of a serpent. There is no shelter and asylum for him except under the wing of Thy protection, preservation, guard and custody. O Thou the Merciful One! O my Lord! Make Thy protection my armor, Thy preservation my shield, humbleness before the door of Thy oneness my guard, and Thy custody and defense my fortress and my abode. Preserve me from the suggestions of self and desire, and guard me from every sickness, trial, difficulty and ordeal. Verily, Thou art the Protector, the Guardian, the Preserver, the Sufficer, and verily, Thou art the Merciful of the Most Merciful.” ~ ‘Abdu’l-Baha

What keeps me going…

God bless the mothers, fathers and children of Samoa… soifua
xoxo

Tara’s sister arrived into the world today

Keeping a watchful eye

Already a wonderful big sis!

A family moment

For MONTHS we have been working hard, trying to achieve the potty milestone, especially before the baby arrives. As frustrating at times as it can get, I could not stop laughing at this scene. Tara set up her bear this way and then proceeded to say, “Good job teddy for going on the potty”.

Could it get any better than this in the meantime?

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas out there!

The countdown begins as we await the arrival of our second baby at the end of May! Mom will be arriving in a few weeks’ time, and then Ioana and Joey visit in July. Helloooo summer!

1. I almost drowned once when I was 5 years old in a well that was under our first home at Sa’anapu kua. I remember seeing darkness and the foundation posts under the house through the water, but was surprisingly calm by the time my mom pulled me out.

2. I spotted Dustin Hoffman and the guys of No Doubt within the span of 10 minutes at LAX. I remember Hoffman being very short. Meanwhile I was dying to go up to No Doubt but was too palaai, until the dark-haired one walked right past and smiled at me! Made my day.

3. I got bitten by Saba’s dogs on my hip when I was walking near their home with his sister, Nasime. Put me off Samoan canines for life.

4. Since becoming a stay-at-home-mom-desperate housewife-domestic goddess, I’ve been experimenting a lot with cooking–Persian, Asian, Italian, Samoan, and they taste goooood! I’m also a little OCD when it comes to clutter and cleaning.

5. Every now and then I need a bit of retail therapy. I recently got hooked onto amazon.com.

6. I can’t stand needles. After a cyclone in Samoa, I stepped on a loose board and the nail went right into my foot. I screamed all the way to the emergency room not because of the pain but because I didn’t want to get the tetanus shot.

7. I caught my parent’s gardener peaking through the window of me and my sister’s bedroom in the wee hours of the morning. I shouted at him and threw water in his face and went straight to my mom who gave him the biggest tell-off of the century. To this day he still works around the yard. That’s Samoa for ya–live and forgive.

8. Giving birth was the most agonizing experience of my life, and I can’t believe I’m going to go through it again.

9. The qualities I’m working the hardest on are patience, eloquence, confidence, and purity of heart, especially now that I’m a hormonally imbalanced preggo.

10. I love giving gifts–everything from the time spent, to the wrapping, to the expression on the person’s face.

11. I think I have the cutest fingernails.

12. I almost got hit on the head by a falling coconut when I was little. My sister ad I were watching my parent’s tennis game when I got this sudden urge to get up and move with her to another area. Just as we stood up and walked 3 paces, BOOM! Coconut in the spot I was sitting on.

13. In high school during P.E. class I won best dance moves to the “Electric Slide”, lol

14. While playing rugby with friends, I tore a ligament in my knee when I was running away with the ball from a plus-size opponent. She never even touched me when I konked over in pain, much to the amusement and laughter of the bystanders.

15. I’m a world citizen, having German, Irish, African, Chinese, and Samoan blood. That mixed with Persian, Canadian and Australian, my daughter looks nothing like me.

16. Every year I go through a “Pearl Harbor” movie phase. In fact, I feel like fulfilling that quota right now…

16. I still have a scar on my cheek from my brother biting my face off when he was a baby.

17. I still get the flurries when my hubby randomly tells me he lurves me.

18. I’ve lived in Samoa, Ponapei, New Zealand, and now Israel.

19. I think one of the funniest people on the planet is my daughter. Recently she put on black kitchen gloves on her feet and walked around calling herself a duck.

20. I use to bury my sister’s Barbie dolls under our house and stage eulogies and prayers at their funeral with her sobbing uncontrollably. My mom was not impressed.

21. I wish I could afford to buy a TAV dress from the Cook Islands. I don’t have a pic, but they sure are puuurty.

22. My favourite airline is Singapore Air. Nothing beats the endless food, friendly staff, and diverse entertainment choices.

23. I’ve already designed my dream home on paper and got my dad (an engineer) to assess and quote it. It’ll most definitely remain in my dreams for a while.

24. One of the most touching letters I ever recieved were from my Year 13 students from a high school in New Zealand. I was on teachers’ prac and had taught them for several weeks, namely the films “Dead Poets Society” and “Moulin Rouge”.  They thanked me for assisting them and said I was the best student teacher they ever had

25. The most tense month of my life was experiencing the Israel-Lebanon war in 2006. I was both stressed and reassured rolled in one. I had to continually remind myself to rely on God, and place my faith and trust in Him. I need to keep doing that.

Visiting Bahji with Sheehan for Rose Garden class

Enjoying the kids’ section in a bookstore

Playing around in a toy store

Experiencing a Happy Meal for the first time

Tara finally allowing Nasime joon to trim her fringe

A success! Here’s a cuter version with pigtails

A recent, favourite activity

Sitting in her toy box

Picnicking at a new park near the beach with Aunty Sahar

Such a beautiful day!

Playing with Elfida at home

Some of the 30+ guests

The cupcake tower Saba, Sahar, Tara and I whipped, baked and sprinkled together

What’s a party without a little Samoan siva?

Brunch… Tara was happy to help Nasime blow out those candles

Then Japanese for dinner… I’m definitely coming back and ordering this plate after I give birth!

belly shot! at 5 months

Girl’s night at the cinema–watching “Australia”! A pretty good film–beautiful scenery, cinematography, story line, romance, and history. Later that week, I took Saba out to it. Here he is enjoying his burger prior to the film

At home… Tara helping herself to eggs

At the playground… don’t you just love those boots? i forgot i had put them away, thinking they were too small. Tara found them and wouldn’t take them off for days. They were such a good deal too–$2 from a second-hand sale in the States.

This is what happens on daddy’s watch while mommy’s napping

A walk down the Terraces in the evening

At the Holy Day prorgramme

Visit to Bahji

Tara’s amu Naeem and aunty Maryam visited from Germany at the same time!

Samoan dinner at Shahin & Saloomeh’s

Sitting around til midnight munching on pomegranates

It would have been the second time I travelled alone with Tara, and the first since I weaned her, so I packed a bunch of crafts and stickers and crayons and coloured paper and little toys in sandwich bags for the plane, thanks to an idea I saw on the Crafty Crow. They were a hit! and kept her in her seat THE ENTIRE TIME. While I was nervous about landing at JFK airport and going through immigration and customs and lines with a toddler, I was surprised, actually shocked, at how nice people were! Everyone helped us: from the immigration officer who was so polite, to the couple who paid for my trolley when I didn’t have the right change, to the person who lugged my bags off the carousel, to the customs officer who didn’t even look at the food I packed, to the check-in counter who took take care of everything when I was suppose to self-check at those new machines. And the whole time I had Tara strapped to my chest in the Ergo, and mind you, she’s not a little baby anymore. I said so many thank you prayers that day.

Here are pics from the holiday

Playing in the yard

Food my parents brought from Samoa:

Everyday Tara would take walks with her papa

Dad, Tara, mom, Gram, and Ioana before buffet dinner

Visiting Maine’s wildlife park

Picnic at the fort

Freeport was shopping heaven–outlet area for big name brands–attracting tourists from all over

Mom enjoying her Maine lobster

Tara with her cousins Ryan and Adam at the corn fields, getting ready to go for a hay ride

Joining the hunt for a pumpkin for Halloween

Playing in the corn box

Instead of birthday cake, she had a treat of ice cream for the first time–pink with strawberries (her pick)

Earlier in the week, we surprised Saba for his birthday at a Thai restaurant. Here’s Tara’s version of eating with chop sticks

With friends

There are tons of these dinosaur statues around town and on the walk back, Tara got to sit on one

All in all, a very fulfilling week with many things to be grateful for!

Modeling mommy’s apron

She told me she was painting a fork, a spoon, and a hat

It broke after she tried to eat it.

And for the longest time I have been cringing at the sight of the countless magnets on our refrigerator that advertise Shlomo’s pizzeria, the Golomb pharmacy, and who knows what else in Hebrew.

And also for some time I’ve been cutting out pictures of patterns and colours I love from magazines and stashing them away with the hope of using them for something creative one day. So today was the day.

I cut out those patterns and stuck them over the ugly magnets. Easy peasy.

You can go further and use family photos, recycled wrapping paper, or your child’s favourite cartoon characters. Anything goes! And the fridge doesn’t look half bad.