So I was asked today...

Not just today actually... Lately a lot of people have been asking Husam and I if we're "done" having kids... I can't answer yes or no. I don't know. I thought for SURE after Samirah that was it for us. But neither of us can say with any certainty that we are done...
For one. I LOVE being pregnant. Despite the severe morning sickness lol. With Nadia I only had morning sickness from 6 to 10 weeks. I threw up maybe 10 times a day though. It was TERRIBLE I could barely keep anything down at all. But my boss at the time said what a happy pregnant woman I was despite constantly barfing my brains out. And he was right_ I was absoloutely glowing. Inside and out. I loved every moment of her pregnancy! I worked 50-60 hours a week right up until I had her. My last day of work was that Friday and I went into labor that Sunday. And I would have been at work Monday had I not gone into labor LOLMy pregnancy with Sami was wonderful as well. I now had my little toddler keeping me busy at home but I was able to rest more not running to and from work and being busy with that. Granted I had Nadia to care for and the house and Husam. But I could lie down on the couch for a few minutes if I needed to! I had morning sickness with Sami for five SOLID months. I threw up at least twice a day. Everyday. LoL It was definitely trying at moments! I remember leaning over the toilet throwing up and Nadia coming in and pulling back my hair telling me "It's okay mommy, I will take care of you" LoL. That always made me smile. My little care taker Nadia. The end of Sami's pregnancy was trying. He was a very big boy! 8lbs 10 oz at birth! And that gave me some back/pelvic/hip issues. but I still loved being pregnant!!!
Samirah's pregnancy went so fast! I had morning sickness for five months with her too, but I would only throw up maybe once a day, and I'd even get a day here and there where I didn't throw up at all!! Her pregnancy went very smoothly after that though! Until the fall down the stairs that injured my tailbone I was in constant pain after that- Esp having to chase after Sami and Nadia!! Samirah was also a bigger baby (8lbs 3 oz at birth) But believe it or not despite all that I still LOVED being pregnant with her!!!!!!!!!!So for me to say - Yes I'm done.. It just wouldn't make sense. I LOVE being a Mother. I LOVE being pregnant. Heck- I even LOVE giving birth!!! All of these things have been some of the most AMAZING experiences of my LIFE!!! I can't say for sure that I'm done. That I will close that book. I just can't. If Samirah is it, I'm blessed, and happy with my family. But if God decides to throw another blessing our way, I would feel truly happy about that as well!!
So. Everything else is going well. Mrs Meerkat is a champion nurser and Sami has become a little better about sharing the Nur with his sister lol.. Tandem nursing is fine for us. It really works out. Sami knows that he still can so he asks less. On a usual day he only nurses 3 times now. But he certainly has days where he is upset or just "off" and he nurses more often. I am lucky to be very supported by my husband about the Tandem nursing because I know everyone doesn't understand it. *Including most of our family* But I've never been one to let others dictate what is best for my children lol.
We had a fabulous photoshoot for Samirah!!! I did the photoshoot myself. But I really love how the pics came out!!! I'm going to share them with you all! I also have pictures of Sami's new Race Car bed that his father and I bought him for his 2nd birthday! (Not until April 11th but he was climbing out of his crib so we had to get it now!)There is my update!! I just want to share the pictures!

My Kiddos and my Awesome cuz!!

Sami and his race car bed!!! His big sissy was also excited for him! My kids are so good to each other!! (Most of the time! lol)

Interview your kid!!

I'm doing Nadia since she speaks the best out of the three lol

What is your name? Nadia
How old are you? Three 4 years old!
When is your birthday? uh... In November... November what Mom? Me: the 14th.. Her:the 14th.. DId you do 14th already?
Who is your mommy? Joni
What does mommy do? She cleans up the house.. Um.. SHe plays with me.. And she loves me... What else Mom?

Who is your daddy? Husam
What does daddy do? Umm.. He does the same thing only he yells too.

Who is your brother? Sammmmi
Who is your sister? Mmmmm.... Samirah
Who are your friends? LeAnna, Marsella, Alyana, Victoria, Dyllan, Jack.. uhhhh,... Lucas.. No I like everyone Mom
What is your favorite color? Pink and Purple and red
What is your favorite food to eat? Ummmm Macaroni and cheese
What is your favorite song? "My new pony song"
What is your favorite movie? My Little Pony
What is your favorite book? Umm.. The pony one at school
What is your favorite animal? Umm.. A tiger
What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Umm.. White with sprinkles

What are your favorite toys to play with? Um Ponies which I talk to.

Where is your favorite place to eat? Umm.. at... um.. Dairy Queen

Who is your favorite person? LeAnna

Who is your best friend? LeAnna
Where did your brother come from? He came from my family

What is your favorite thing to do? Umm. Play with my friends and spend time with my friends at school. And play with them.
What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a princess and tell everyone what to do!

Where will you live when you grow up? In a pink house.

What do Mommy and Daddy do after you go to bed? Read a book

Nadia is always great for the LOL's . She is disappointed that these are all the questions!

Mish mash

I have had so much going on here! (Yes, more so than usual with the three kids and husband I care for LOL) We decided to put our house back up for sale. We had taken it down last summer after the market was just so crappy. We are hoping to have better luck this time around. So with that going on we started decluttering the house this weekend. We took some furniture out of our bedroom and the living room and chucked it. We took Sami's changing table out of his room but just put it in the attic (Hey you never know if we'll have another baby that we'll need it for! lol)

I was also kind of waiting to post until after my fabulous photo shoot with Samirah! I bought her some cute tutus and headbands and I'm going to have a FIELD DAY taking those pictures and editing them! So keep an eye out for those!

So while we were de-cluttering I realized I have WAY too many cloth diapers.. And WAY too much wool.. (Think in the 200's in terms of diapers. JUST FOR MY SON!) So I am deciding to do a MAJOR de-stash. If anyone is interested all reasonable offers will be considered! I need to clean house a little.I need to get rid of at least 100 diapers. I have so many NIP goodmamas it's not even funny. These things need to go. ASAP!

Anyways. That's all I've got for now! Ill be back with some super awesome photos of samirah all dolled up!

Photo Editing.

So hubby bought me a really fancy SLR Cannon XSi rebel camera last year. I love taking pictures with it. They all come out amazingly beautiful! I always wanted to do photo editing but I never knew where to start. Well a dear friend of mine helped get me started and on my way into the wonderful world of photo editing! Now those fabulous pictures I was taking- Are even better! Check these out!!
This last one is definitely my favorite. I think it's so precious. So. Clearly - I'm a beginner in this area.. I'm definitely not a professional photographer- but I am having so much FUN taking and editing pictures of my kids. Nadia looked so diva today I wanted to get a pic of her to edit but she spilled red sauce on it at dinner time so I had to get it RIGHT in the wash so it wouldn't get ruined! (It is a white sweater dress!!)

But you will be seeing more from me for SURE because I am really enjoying the heck out of it!
Just thought I'd share :-)

My Children...

I have heard women say they lose themselves after having children.. For me.. It is the opposite. Having my children has made me find myself. In a whole new way. I am "Mommy" "Mom" "Mama" "Maaaa!" and I wouldn't have it any other way.

My kids are my whole entire life... I can't imagine living without them. And I almost can't remember life before them.. How did I live then ? Without these precious people in my life.

Having children is such a miracle. They are made from something so small.. They grow, inside of you, into an entire person! As if that isn't amazing enough, Your body KNOWS how to birth them.. Without any aid, without any help, your body knows. And then, from no where, there they are.. They come into this world so tiny and fragile, they depend on you for everything.. And then they begin to grow (Far too fast if you ask me) And they bless you everyday with their words and actions..

I promise you there isn't a day that goes by that I don't hit my knees and thank God for blessing me with my children. I thank Him for trusting me with the most wonderful little people. For believing I can do a good job in raising them.

For all the hardships of Motherhood. For all of the sacrifice, there is no way on earth I'd ever trade it for anything else in this world.

I always knew I wanted to be a Mother. It was one thing I was always sure of. I have always loved everything about babies. So when Husam and I got married I wanted to have children right away. Husam wanted to wait a bit, but we compromised and Nadia was conceived 9 months into our marriage. I remember being pregnant and asking my Mom "But what will I do with her when we get home?!" She said- She will let you know ;-) And she did.

I found you can never understand the love your parents have for you until you have children. I knew my parents loved me of course.. But until I experienced the love of a Mother for myself, I could never comprehend how unconditional, how strong, how powerful, how amazingly consuming the love of a Mother is. I remember looking at my first daughter when she was a few days old and thinking "wow. my Mom REALLY loves me"

I don't let a day go by where I don't tell my kids how much I love them. I tell them several times a day , everyday. And I am glad for this, because Nadia who is 4 now will just randomly say "I love you Momma" I always tell her "I love you too baby, more than anything in the whole world!!!" She's such a loving little girl.

I am lucky. Sometimes I think.. Why do I deserve this? My children are amazing. I am blessed. I am loved. I am Mommy. And guess what? There isn't anything else I'd rather be.

Have I ever mentioned I detest winter?

So starting Sunday we're going to have weather in the 40s (We haven't seen this in MONTHS) and beautiful sunshine.. I'm trying to hold onto that thought as we haven't seen the sun in a week.. And... This is what I see when I open my front door.. Lovely right?? That's 2 feet of snow your looking at!! (On top of another 8 inches we got a few days ago) And we still have another foot coming through tomorrow!! Kind of unbelievable! I really hate winter in general.. So I'm not sure what hubby and I were thinking when we bought a house IN a ski resort. Yes. You heard me. INSIDE a ski resort.. Beautiful huh?? If you like to ski I guess. We don't. So we see snow from November (When they start making it) Until April when it all FINALLY melts away! I can't STAND it! Which is part of the reason we are trying to see our house.. Anyone looking for a 3 bedroom house in Northern NJ? Let me know! HA!


Here is the view from one of the upstairs windows. So as I look out my window now. The snow is still falling. I'm tempted to shut the blinds and ignore the world until Monday! Monday monday monday. If I can look ahead until that time, I will make it through this! Luckily I went Wednesday to stock up on groceries and Wednesday night the snow began. And it hasn't stopped.

Nadia had a good time playing in the snow yesterday while Sami and Samirah took their naps. I hate cold , snow, and wet, so I stayed inside! Husam took her out while he made an attempt to get started at shoveling us out. I have a bit of cabin fever since Wednesday was the last time I left the house and I know Sunday is the absolute earliest I'll get out. If I'm lucky that is. Because yea.. There should be snow showers Sunday too. They don't THINK it will add to more accumulations. But really.. At this point.. What's the difference!?

Monday is Samirah's 6 week check up. And Tuesday is mine. So I really hope we will make it out for those..

I swear I have some good blogs coming up!! I just had to come and gripe about the stupid snow as of right now !! but I will leave you with some cute pictures of the kiddos!~!

I took this one of Sami and Nadia a few days ago.. They are really loving with eachother lately.. Most of the time anyways...













Here is little meerkat!! Asleep like an Angel. I took this one of her last night when I put her in her bassinet. She promptly woke up and spent the rest of the night in bed with us as usual. It's getting awfully crowded in our bed as Nadia gets bigger and still co-sleeps lol. We'll get there though... Samirah had an especially fussy night for some reason. She nursed at least 10 times throughout the night. Seriously. I don't know why anyone WOULDN'T co-sleep. It's the only way I get any kind of sleep at all lol

New PC!

My husband bought me a new PC! WOO HOO! Now I can get back to blogging on a more regular basis! I have some blogs in mind I want to write, but I'm too tired for tonight! I'll be back as soon as the kids give me a few quiet moments to string together some sentences that make some type of sense! hehehe