Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Keeping the faith, or how our bundle of joy got her name



This is a post I have been meaning to write for the longest time, especially since some readers have asked about the name we chose for our little baby girl. I just wanted to make sure that my husband was okay with me sharing her name on the blog, as well as a bit of the story behind it.

I wrote about some of our considerations for choosing a name, you can read that story here.

As we did not know whether we were expecting a boy or a girl, we had a list for both. We (or maybe just I?) were quite sure that the baby would be a boy adn we did not have much difficulty coming up with boy names. For a girl it was much harder. I had a girl name that I liked very much from the beginning, but in the last couple of months I changed my mind completely and that name was off the list!

In accordance with Islamic custom, the baby is given his/her name as quickly as possible. For us it was important to start using the name from the very beginning as we are not fond of nick names (cute as they may be). So as soon as I was out of recovery and pain medication was sorted we started discussing. I think we had three or four girl names on our list, but it was quickly narrowed down to two. My husband found it impossible to choose between the two, so he left the last decision to me.

In the end there was only that one name that fitted our precious little girl that we had been waiting for so long. All our difficulties in the years prior to her birth really tested our my faith. My husband was always strong  (he is stubborn by nature) and always reminded me that we needed to have imaan (Arabic for faith) that one day we too will become parents. Hence our baby girl is called Imaan.


För knappt ett år sedan skrev jag om hur svårt det är att välja namnet för ett barn, ni kan läsa det här. Vi gjorde det inte lättare för oss själva genom att välja att inte ta reda på babyns kön. Därför hade vi en lista med 3-4 namn för både en flicka eller en pojke.

Efter att vår flicka var född satte vi så fort som möjligt igång med att disskutera namn. Vi ville slå fast namnet så fort som möjligt, för vi vilje veta vad vi skulle kalla vårt lilla rosa knytte. Ganska snabbt hade vi uteslutit alla andra alternativ utom två och det visade ej att min man inte kunde välja mellan dem. Så han bad mej göra det slutliga beslutet.

Sist och slutligen var det inte så svårt att välja namnet för vår lilla flicka som var så efterlängtad. Alla svårigheter under årens lopp hade verkligen tärt på mej och min vilja att kunna tro på att vi nånsin skulle få barn. Min man var stark (envis kan man väl också säga), han påminde mej om att vi måste ha imaan (arabiska för tro) och inte ge upp drömmen om att bli föräldrar. Där har vi vi orsaken till att vår älskade lilla baby fick namnet Imaan.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Time is everything

Stumbled upon this quote today and I just had to share it! This is something I feel very passionately about, giving time to our children. At the end of the day, I believe that time spent with our children is always time well spent.

"The best inheritance a parent can give his children is a few minutes of his time each day"

Orlando A. Battista

Have a great Wednesday everyone! For us here in Saudi the weekend starts tonight. I cannot wait to spend some quality time with my husband and our little pearl!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Milk... or is it?

Gone are the days when milk was milk!

Undrar om dethär ens sku få kallas mjölk i Finland?! Först tar man mjölken, lagar det till pulver och sen lagar man det till mjölk igen! Men inte utan att lägga till en massa skräp förstås!

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Tired, but refreshed

Sounds like an oxymoron, but that is how I feel after the weekend that passed! Tired from lack of sleep. Refreshed from having spent some time outside the kingdom with a friend and her family.

On our way back we drove through a sandstorm and when coming home we were greeted by a house covered in a layer of dust :)

It was great to see Doha, a city that is what I always hope that the Kingdom would be: neat, clean and organized. Maybe one day...





Thursday, March 14, 2013

The 4 hour nap solution

Feed baby, put baby in car seat, take a four hour road trip (in hour case Riyad to Al Khobar). Be amazed and thankful for sudden gift of sleep.

Ponder about that ferris wheel in the middle of the desert halfway between Dammam and Riyad.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Souvenirs from Finland

These are some of the things that my parents brought with them when they visited us here in Saudi. Some things are the obvious, some not :) And yes, that last picture is a bag of potatoes (homegrown in my parents backyard) for their grand daughter.

Här får ni se några av de saker som mina föräldrar hade med sej då de kom på besök till Saudiarabien. Jo, en påse potatis tog de också med sej. Hemodlade förstås, för dotterdottern självklart! Att de hade potatis med sej förvånade mej inte det minsta!









Tuesday, February 26, 2013

10001 thank yous!

Ten thousand and one thank yous to you all! My blog has now hit just over ten thousand page views! Not a lot it may seem, but for me it's a big deal for a blog that was started just so that i could update my family and friends all around the world about what we are up to!

Tiotusen och ett tack till er alla! Nu har min blogg setts över tiotusen gånger. Det är väl i sig inte så mycket, men för mej är det inte så illa med tanke på att jag startade bloggen endast för att min familj och alla mina vänner i olika delar av världen kan följa med vad vi håller på med.



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