Fun With Fruit

Kai enjoying playing with his food.

The end result.

The Mom Diet Plan

So I've figured out why I lost all my pregnancy weight pretty quickly this time. It's a revolutionary plan that I'm going to write a book about. You guys are lucky to get the first look at what should be a huge development in dieting. I call it the "Mom Diet Plan."

Here's how it worked for me:

I started with just Kai (this was several months ago). For breakfast I would make three scrambled eggs covered in grated cheese, a piece of buttered toast and a glass of orange juice. At first, I ate most of it by myself, but Kai had about a quarter of a piece of toast and about half an egg. You slowly start giving your child a little bit more as they grow older. Then your second child starts eating solids, so you set aside some of the eggs from your plate to feed to them. The first child is now up to half a piece of toast and an entire egg, as well as begging from your plate once he's done with his.

I've realized that my breakfast intake has been cut in half because of all this sharing with my kids! No wonder I've lost the weight...

Meme

It's another meme, courtesy of my sister Celeste.

5 things I want to do before I die:
Live in Europe.
Learn another language (or two, or three).
Learn to surf.
See my kids grow up and have kids of their own.
Become a midwife.

5 things I can do:
Make my pinkie toe "dance," though Shawn has asked me not to anymore.
Make people laugh (especially my kids).
Name that tune.
Boggle.
Birth babies.

5 things I can't do:
Go without sleep.
Cook and talk at the same time (thanks, Mom!).
Jump on trampolines.
Paint my own nails without getting it all over myself.
Go without a day planner, even though my schedule is extremely flexible.

5 things that make a man attractive:
Being family oriented.
A good sense of humor.
Intelligence.
Nice eyes.
Patience.

5 celebrities I have a crush on:
My sister stole most of my list. You can see the pictures on Poetic Justice. I only have one change to her list:

Tom Brady
Ryan Phillipe
Sawyer on "LOST"
Hayden Christensen
David Caruso (very strange, but true!)

Other Interesting Numbers in Healthcare

Cost to non-citizens in Bahraini government hospitals:

Hysterectomy: $400.00
Liposuction: $265.00
Rhinoplasty: $265.00
Breast implants: $200.00

Kidney Transplant: $13,250.00
Kidney Transplant in the US (average costs): $25,000 to 150,000.

Number Crunching

As some of you may know, I am currently enrolled in a course to become a Certified Childbirth Educator through Lamaze International. I have been doing alot of reading about pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding in the last few months and was thinking today about the state of our healthcare system. Here are some interesting numbers:

Average costs of births in Sri Lanka:

Vaginal birth in government hospital: FREE to all citizens
Cesarean birth in government hospital: FREE to all citizens
Vaginal birth in private hospital (citizen pays for their own care): $265.00
Cesarean birth in private hospital (citizen pays for their own care): $400.00

Average costs of births in Bahrain:

Vaginal birth in government hospital: FREE to all citizens
Cesarean birth in government hospital: FREE to all citizens
Vaginal birth in private hospital: Between $200.00 and $1,500.00 depending on what "frills" you opt for.
Cesarean birth in private hospital: Between $600.00 and $2,450.00 depending on what "frills" you opt for.

Average costs of births in America:

Vaginal birth: $7,737.00
Cesarean birth: $11,000

Finally!

Finally, she's sitting up! Here she is sitting in Kai's high chair after eating a breakfast of scrambled eggs.

Sitting up on the playmat by herself!

Sitting on the playmat.

I think she got motivated once she realized she could play while sitting up. Here she is with a set of play keys from Grame.

Greed

Imagine working hard labor. I mean, REALLY hard labor. Lifting and laying bricks by hand, carrying sand in huge bags and wheelbarrows. Preparing electrical wiring and hammering nails. Now imagine doing it in 125-degree heat in the midday sun on the top of a construction site with no protective gear (hard hat, safety harness, good work boots). Imagine doing this job six days a week, 12 hours a day. And all for less than $200 a month.

Sadly, this is the situation of many, many migrant workers here in Bahrain. Food, clothing and housing here all cost about what you would expect to pay in any average American city of moderate to large size. These workers primarily come from India, Sri Lanka, the Phillipines and other Asian countries. It tells you a lot about their own economies that the jobs they have here put them in better financial positions. I have no idea how these people manage to survive. What is even more amazing is that they are somehow able to support families back in their native countries--yet they are! From what I have been told and read, it is almost unheard of for a Bahraini to work a job like this.

Also unfortunately, because of this abundance of people willing to do grueling work for almost nothing, migrant workers are often mistreated, discriminated against, abused, left unpaid, crammed into tiny, crowded housing camps. Their passports become property of their "sponsor" or employer, meaning they cannot leave the country unless their sponsor allows them to.

Not surprisingly, there are many people profiting from this labor situation. To make matters worse, any time the public raises issues to improve the situation for the workers, businesses lobby against the proposed changes. This year they have made the decree that all employers are required to allow their laborers a break from noon to four in the afternoon through the months of July and August. The heat is at its peak during this time and many workers are exposed directly to the cruel elements. From what I've read in the Gulf Daily News, employers are fighting and opposing this decree. Their solution is to make employees work even earlier in the day and later into the night. Indeed, it is not uncommon for us to see people working at construction sites at 10 PM or later.

Workers often cannot afford transportation of any kind to their job sites, so the companies which employ them will provide them transportation by way of an open truck bed. Because there have been injuries and deaths from overcrowded trucks and people falling out of them, the government decided that they would no longer allow workers to be transported this way. So I have seen some trucks now that have basically been rigged up with boards or tarps to "close" them. Imagine riding in that in sweltering heat! So somebody proposed that companies should be responsible for providing air conditioned, enclosed buses for their workers. Several companies complained that this would be too expensive (yet they pay their workers almost nothing!) and that if the workers went from the air conditioned buses to their work sites, they would become ill from the drastic changes in temperature!

This is an Arab, Muslim country. I'm not sure how the West came to symbolize to some Muslims and Arabs an evil, greedy super-power bent on oppressing the helpless. It is clear to me now that greed most likely exists everywhere in the world. Unfortunately, it seems to be one of the things which is truly cross-cultural.

The Kids Playing

Kai and Quinn on the playmat.

She's getting so close to crawling!

Kai trying to pick Quinn up.

Quinn defies gravity in her attempts to crawl by balancing on her tippy-toes and her hands.

Numbers

We have a big, foam playmat that connects together like a jigsaw puzzle. It has numbers and mathematical symbols on it. Kai takes great pleasure in immediately tearing it up into as many pieces as possible as soon as I put it back together. It is a nice place for Quinn to crawl around since it acts as a cushion against our tile floor.

This morning, Quinn was crawling around and Kai went and sat by her. I told him to teach Quinn the numbers and sure enough, he started showing Quinn the numbers and explaining them to her. "Quinn! This is a seven! Quinn! This is a two!" It was adorable. So cute, in fact, that I got out my camera to record it for posterity. Of course, as soon as I pulled out the camera, my two little hams immediately stopped what they were doing and fixated on the camera. Oh well, I tried....

How Motherhood Changes a Woman

This morning, I was cleaning up the living room and realized during this simple task how much I've changed since becoming a mother. As I was picking up Thomas the Tank Engine books, crayons and toy cars, I noticed a Cheerio on the floor in an area where Kai had been snacking. Without even thinking, I picked it up and ate it, noted mentally that it "wasn't even stale yet," then did a dead stop!!! (ERRRRR--tires screeching sound)

Did I just eat a Cheerio off the floor? Did I just automatically do it without thinking? Was I so used to doing it that the mere fact that it wasn't stale a source of something to be glad about (as in, "well, at least this time it wasn't stale")?

I guess it's time we re-examined the "five-second rule."

Play Group

Wednesday night Shawn was playing in a volleyball game, so I thought I'd bring the kids to go watch him play. I pulled into the parking lot on the Base and dragged the stroller out of the trunk. As I did this, a woman driving by in an SUV stopped rather abruptly and rolled down her window to speak to me. She asked, "Did you just get here?" I thought maybe she meant parking-wise and wanted my spot. She meant here as in Bahrain and told me about a playgroup she and some of the other moms from the Base participate in. She gave me her contact information and I decided that it was something I was definitely interested in doing with the kids. The reason she thought I must have been new to the country was because I had the airline check tag still attached to my stroller (oops!) from our trip home in April!

We have a pretty hermit-like existence aside from the usual shopping trips to the grocery store, Shawn's sporting events and an occasional weekend outing. Things get worse during the summer because it's so hot the kids can't even really go outside to play any. So I thought the playgroup would probably greatly benefit us.

When I spoke to the playgroup organizer, she said that this particular playgroup a lot of the dads would be coming, too, so Shawn decided he would check it out. The group was hosted this week by a very nice couple who is from Poland originally. They have lived in Bahrain for over a decade each and have an adorable little girl. There was another Polish couple there who had a 2 year old boy and a baby girl with the exact same birthdate as Quinn--December 8, 2006. Needless to say, we compared notes. There were several other couples, mostly Americans. In total there were something like 8 kids all running around everywhere. Everyone was very nice and the kids all got along surprisingly well. Shawn and I had a nice time and I think it is something I will continue to do in the future. That was my big excitement for the week!

Augusta "SuperMom" Cherri

Islam

There are two reasons I printed the letter shown in the previous post. The first is that I think there is a misconception in the West that Islam is primarily made up of the extremist terrorists who have so damaged the world. I have to admit that I had all those prejudices in my mind when we first came to Bahrain. What I have actually learned is that by and large, the overwhelming majority of Muslims I've come into contact here are very similar to us. They want to have families, friends, homes, jobs, purpose and to worship their God. Nobody has mistreated us here because we are Americans. Nobody has mistreated us here because we are not Muslim.

My guess is that the overwhelming majority of Muslims fall into this category. Unfortunately, there are a great number of cultural practices here (and from what I understand, in much of the Muslim world) that do not reflect well on Islam. This is the issue to which Ms. Fleetwood is referring.

For the record, Islam has Five Pillars (things which are required of all Muslims and essential to belief):

1. Profession of Faith (much like professing your belief in Christ, for Christians)
2. Prayer
3. Charity
4. Fasting (especially during Ramadan as an act of submission to Allah)
5. Pilgrimage (to Mecca once in your lifetime if you are of physical and financial means to do so)

All of these are worthy and positive values. I hope that people will read this and understand that Islam is not the religion of the zealots that is portrayed on CNN.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of cultural influences on the practice of Islam that have been breeding negative consequences. I think Ms. Fleetwood said it better than I did, so I will finish my comments here.

A Fascinating Letter

I usually check the Gulf Daily News Online every day. It is an English-language newspaper here in Bahrain. I enjoy reading the Letters to the Editor section. Lately there has been an ongoing debate in the Letters section discussing the issue of women's dress (Muslim hijab vs. less modest clothing). This morning I read a very fascinating letter from a Muslim woman and thought it was worthy of re-printing. Additionally, though she is speaking to other Muslims, I think it really applies to everyone, regardless of what their particular religious affiliations are:

"Silence is surely deafening

I AM curious as to this recent spate of letters for and against the hijab.
I want to know why the issue of hijab is such a strongly contested one. Why Muslims are willing to protest and riot over it being banned such as in France? Why so many believe it's practically a pillar of Islam and consider women who don't wear it outside the shadow of Islam and not 'really Muslim'? Why girls are sent back into a burning building because they are not wearing the hijab and end up burning to death for it? Is the hijab even more important than life?

How about all those terrorist bombers out there who claim they are performing jihad or holy war in the name of Islam? How come we aren't protesting and rioting against those misguided animals who are destroying the peaceful image of our religion in every corner of the globe?

Yet when somebody draws some cartoons of our prophet (PBUH), we riot and protest and people end up getting killed over it.

When someone writes a book denouncing Islam, we are up in arms causing damage and headlines and in the end proving them right about the non-peaceful aspects of Islam. When people are stoned for adultery, women suffer and the men go free, we are curiously silent about it.

When girls' schools are closed and education is deemed unnecessary for them, we become mute.

When women are kept bound in marriage to abusive husbands because the right to divorce is taken from them, the silence is deafening.

You may probably say all these are part of culture not Islam. Of course it is, but so-called Muslims are doing it. So who do you think get the blame. Muslims who can't read and enlighten themselves about true Islam and practice oppressive patriarchal cultural traditions?
How about Muslims who read into the Quran that God wants death to all non-Muslims or that bombing is OK if you say Allahu Ahkbar first and go to the mosque and pray once the smoke clears and the body count is televised?

How about those Muslims who believe women are inferior to men and so must bend to the will of men in all matters and not to the will of God?
Why aren't we protesting against those Muslims, those so-called Islamic practices?
In the end, it's not any of those Muslims that get blamed for what others perceive Islam to be - it's God.

Non-Muslims around the world are blaming Allah for creating such a backward oppressive religion that promotes terrorism, oppresses women and makes the headlines every night with some new horrific tragedy. And it's moderate Muslims who remain silent when all this occurs who condone and agree with its continued practice by remaining silent. Just saying 'that's not Islam' is not enough anymore.

If we can protest and riot over hijab, cartoons and anti-Islamic books, why cant we protest over terrorism, oppression and down right un-Islamic practices that have turned our religion of peace into a mockery and a scapegoat for every evil act men can come up with these days?

We need to stand up and claim our religion back and should stop arguing and causing a division in the ummah over petty stuff that hardly warrants the weight we give it.

We need to show the terrorists and the world that whatever religion they are practising (or just claiming to) surely isn't Islam. I've had enough. How about you?

Lee Ann Fleetwood"

Boys

Yesterday I amused Kai for a good 10 minutes or so while I was cooking dinner. How? By throwing a packet of guacamole seasoning at him repeatedly. He handed it to me and I threw it at him with an accompanying sound effect and he laughed so hard. Then he brought the packet back to me and braced himself for me to do it again. Step 1, step 2, repeat. A full 10 minutes of fun!

My Short-Lived Career as a Yoga Model

I'm putting this story on here mainly to amuse my sister; it's definitely the kind of thing she would laugh at. So, for those of you who don't know, I've been attending yoga classes twice a week the last two months at a nearby yoga studio. Well, at the end of my yoga class on Friday, the instructor told us he would have a photographer come in to take a few pictures of us doing some yoga postures to put in the new brochure they're working on right now.

I was in the front row, so I was right behind the instructor and he asked us to do this one pose (the triangle pose, for you yoga-enthusiasts) while the photographer took a picture. I leaned over and was trying to look professional; not smiling too big or looking depressed or weird. So the guy takes a couple of pictures, then he calls the yoga instructor over and they say something to each other in a language I don't understand. The photographer pointed at me, then the yoga instructor nodded. Then the photographer calls another woman up to stand directly in front of me and proceeds to take several pictures that way!

I totally got rejected! I keep telling myself it was because my clothes were dark and probably didn't translate well into pictures. The woman who replaced me was wearing brightly colored clothes. That's what I keep telling myself anyway....

Augusta "Yogi" Cherri

Kai vs. the Potty

So far, so good. We are on Day 4 of Mission: Potty Training. I read online all sorts of tips on how to potty train toddlers effectively and Kai seemed like he was ready. Tuesday, I pulled up all the rugs, took off Kai's diaper and set the potty out. At first he was reluctant, but then when he realized that he could get a couple of Skittles after her peed in the potty, he was all about it. Day 1 he had 4 accidents. Day 2, he had 2. Days 3 and 4, he didn't have any (so far, for Day 4). He's catching on rather quickly. In fact, once the Skittles were introduced, he would repeatedly pee every 10 minutes or so in the potty to "have more candy, Mommy!"

But so far, he's just been bottomless pretty much all day. I don't know how well he'll do once we transition to him wearing "big boy underwear." Wish me luck!

Augusta "Keeper of the Skittles" Cherri

More Pictures of the Kids

Kai giving me a double "pounds."

Shawn was trying to get Kai to give him "pounds," but I thought this picture was funny because it looks like Shawn is punching Kai. Okay, so I have a strange sense of humor.

Quinn eating a teething biscuit.

Kai playing in the remnants of the last sandstorm.

Pictures of the Kids

Quinn thinking that an empty Gatorade bottle is the coolest toy ever.

Quinn asleep in her walker.

Kai outside on the patio.

Kai and Quinn.

Men Doing Manly Things

The other day was an ERT day (Emergency Response Team training day). I have not really been able to see much of what Shawn does at work, so I was excited when he invited me to come check out the training activities he had planned for that day. I found it very fascinating just because I was getting to see the types of things they would do in a real-life rescue scenario.

The past couple of weeks we've also watched several movies which center a lot around male drives and dynamics:

World Trade Center: Two PAPD police officers are found and rescued from the WTC rubble.

V for Vendetta: A man seeks to liberate the people of an oppressed futuristic Britain.

Glory: A white, Northern officer is commisioned to lead a group of African-American soldiers in the Civil War.

Full Metal Jacket: The story of a Marine journalist through boot camp and his tour in Vietnam.

All these movies show things about male character and instincts which are often muted, underappreciated or even downright scorned in our modern society. I think it is sad that the positive aspects to manhood are not more strongly emphasized and praised. I think it comes out of a fear that if masculine traits are allowed to grow "unchecked," we will have a "Lord of the Flies" situation on our hands.

Look back throughout history. There have been dark periods in history where men have done lots of bad things. BUT, look at all the things men have accomplished; all the GOOD they have accomplished.

What does this have to do with ERT day? I thought about all of this while I was watching from the shade as these men worked in 115 degree, humid, sunny, windy and sandy weather--in navy blue coveralls, gloves, work boots and hardhats! They didn't complain. They didn't quit. This was a scenario for training purposes. But I got a glimpse into the resolve that the men would exhibit if it were a real situation with somebody's life on the line. It is comforting to have a reminder that in this world, there are still plenty of men who use their strengths and masculinity to offer good to the world.

Fourth of July

Our Fourth of July was spent enjoying some of the usual American pastimes. Theresa came and stayed with the kids, which gave us a nice afternoon out and about. We went to see the movie "Transformers," which we both enjoyed. We decided that is was a good Fourth of July action-packed, check-your-brain-at-the-door, explosives fest and it was thoroughly entertaining. We went to the movie with a group of Shawn's co-workers, then had lunch before heading home for a quiet afternoon with the kids.

After the kids were in bed, Shawn's co-workers came over again and we played cards and darts until nearly midnight. We actually did pretty well this time, only losing about $20 between the two of us. The results are not always quite as good as that when we host a poker night.

Sadly, we did not see even a single bottle rocket. It didn't feel much like the Fourth and I missed having even sparklers or those little snake/pellet thingies. Oh well, maybe next year....

Augusta "Patriot" Cherri

Lessons from Nanny Theresa

I am spoiled. I have a nanny. It's true. She comes a few hours five days a week to help me with the kids and various household tasks. She has been a tremendous blessing to our family. In addition to the wonderful help she is, I've also learned a lot from her. Sometimes she and I will talk for hours while the kids are playing or napping. I've learned a lot about her culture (she is from Sri Lanka), her life here in Bahrain (she's been here 25 years), and what is it like to look at the world from another person's perspective.

The other day I was dropping her off at her house. Along the way, somebody cut in front of me in the turning lane at a stoplight. I threw my hands up in mild disgust and Theresa just laughed. She said, "Augusta, Arabs! They have no discipline! They are doing whatever they feel like doing!" Then she added, "It is a problem in my country, too. The people are always just doing what they want. They are never thinking!"

In response to this I said, "Why doesn't someone teach them? Why doesn't someone give them discipline?" She replied, "Augusta, who will teach them?"

"Uh, their parents," I offered lamely.

She said, "How can they teach them? The parents are the same. They have no discipline either."

For some reason that really stuck with me as something to seriously consider when I'm raising my own children. I'm grateful that God is teaching me through all sorts of ways. Sometimes the things He has to say to me come from very surprising places.

Augusta

How I Wake Up

This is how I wake up. I go and get Kai from his bedroom to discover that he has been up out of his bed for a little bit getting into his clothing and putting on not one, but TWO pairs of big boy underwear all by himself! You can see the results. He was so excited about it!

Augusta "Ma" Cherri

A Bahraini Day, A Bahraini Night

Yesterday was supposed to be a day spent at a basketball tournament in which Shawn was playing. He played two games on Friday and his team won one and lost one. It was a double elimination tournament, so he was scheduled to play games all day Saturday. Unfortunately, his team lost their first game.

We had already planned on having a babysitter (our nanny Theresa) all day to watch the kids so I could have a day off and go watch Shawn play. Since she was already planning on coming, we decided to make the most of it and we went out together. It was a nice time to feel almost like an adult again (without having to sing along to Veggie Tales or read "Clifford the Big Red Dog" for the umpteenth time). We went to see the movie "Next" with Nicholas Cage and Julianne Moore. It was surprisingly entertaining and we enjoyed it.

After that, we went to the Manama Souq for some shopping. The Souq is full of life and activity, as well as people trying to sell you all sorts of things. Whenever the shop owners see us coming, they immediately start yelling at us in whatever English they know to try to get us to come closer to their shops. Sometimes they tell us what they have; "genuine, fake watches" someone yelled yesterday to us. Shawn said, "Isn't that kind of an oxymoron?" Sometimes they just yell, "onedinaronedinaronedinar one dinar!" over and over to try to get our attention. They always try to sell us really hokey tourist-y stuff like cheap abayas or the headscarves that some Arab men wear.

In the Souq, you can buy all sorts of things. They have electronics, clothing, textiles, spices, chocolates and sweets, perfumes, souvenirs, and all sorts of other things. The Souq also houses shops which provide specialized services like tailoring and jewelers. Part of the reason we went to the Souq is because we needed spare keys made for our car and the Souq is one of the few places you can have keys made. Another interesting feature of the Souq is that there will be several shops of the same type all in a row throughout the Souq. For instance, the key-making shop we went into has several key shops all around it. And, if the shop you happen to enter does not have what you are looking for, they will often good-naturedly point you to a shop nearby that does. Keep in mind that some of these shops are no more than 10 feet wide and 10 or 20 feet deep. At night, the Souq is especially crowded and exciting to visit. People are everywhere!

After our visit to the Souq, we came home and spent some time with the kids. After we put them to bed, we watched yet another Nicholas Cage movie called "World Trade Center." If you have not seen this movie, I recommend it. But make sure you have plenty of tissues nearby because it is probably the most tear-jerking movie I have ever seen. Shawn and I were bawling and afterwards we both had headaches because we kept trying to hold back tears repeatedly. It is a very sad, inspiring and moving movie.

Augusta "Weepy" Cherri

Earth, Wind, Fire and Water

The weather here is pretty incredible sometimes. This past week we had a sand storm that lasted about two or three days. Imagine you can see a decently heavy fog that obstructs your view of distant buildings and makes everything nearby look hazy. This is what a sand storm is like here, except it's not really sand at all, but very tiny particles of irritating dust. This dust just sort of hangs in the air for a couple days. It does end up falling down onto flat surfaces, creating what might resemble a light dusting of snow. Unfortunately, this dust is also very hard on your respiratory system and during the dust storms we've been privy to, our sinuses have been blocked for a couple days and we feel a little wheezy. When I was cleaning up our patio after a recent dust storm, the sweeping stirred up the dust and it got into my lungs. It causes a very uncomfortable and slightly painful sensation in your chest and throat that lasts for several hours. Next time I'm wearing a dust mask! It astounds me that there are men who work all day every day in this weather. How people native to this region have survived this long, I do not know.

Summer is in full swing and the temperature is constantly high. Yesterday it was about 113 degrees at about 11 in the morning. Yesterday night when I checked at 9:30 PM, it was 101 degrees still. And despite what you may think (with us being in the desert), it is extremely humid because we are surrounded by water. Shawn said the heat index on Base the other day was 127 degrees! It is HOT.

And the hotter it gets, the hotter our water gets. We have water reserve tanks on the roof of our building that supply our house water. Because they get heated up all day by the sun, the water that comes out of the pipes is very hot. The two settings of our water faucet are hot and hotter. It will be nice when we can have cool water again!

Augusta "I've-got-the-black-lung, Pa" Cherri