TWITTER PARTY ALERT!

I am so excited to announce that I will be hosting a Twitter Party with an expert in all things hair – none other than the Dubai Hair Doctor, Dr. Mike Ryan of Hairspa.ae.

Dr. Mike Ryan is qualified with the Institute of Trichologists (London) and is a member of the International Association of Trichologists and has been involved with the education and development of the hair industry for 30 years.

I don’t know about you but I have a lot of questions regarding hair since relocating to Dubai. The harsh weather conditions, the desalinated water, the hot tap water during summer – the appearance of my hair says a lot about these culprits!

Have any questions about hair? Then join us for a fun and educational chat with Dubai’s hair doctor!

When: 3rd June 2012, 3-4pm Dubai Time

Where: #DHD on Twitter

How: To participate, use the tag #DHD during the chat hour and follow host @sandierpastures and expert panelist @dubaihairdoctor

Also, please visit and ‘Like’ the Dubai Hair Doctor Facebook page and their website, Hairspa.ae for more education about hair loss and how they can help.

Easiest way to join a TWITTER PARTY: TweetChat.com

Simply head to TweetChat on June 3rd at 3-4pm Dubai Time and you’re all set! Once you’re logged in using your twitter account, you can type in the chat box on the site and it automatically adds the party hashtag “#DHD” to each tweet.

Resource: How To Participate in a Twitter Party (with video to show you how to use TweetChat)

Prize: One lucky chat participant will walk away with a free consultation + hair treatment worth 700dhs from Dubai Hair Doctor!

See you at the Twitter Party and please help us spread the word!

Look at our baby boy, already 7 months! Benjamin is starting to show that he’s the family’s little boss by voicing out a lot of his feelings. Sometimes, it’s not the cute baby babble that his older sister Pristine did before – he has a big booming voice! He is every inch a boy!

Benjamin’s milestones:

• while appetite is on the upstick and I expected he’ll love snacking (like I do…ooops) but no, he doesn’t like baby biscuits!
• ditched the Jumperoo and embraces the walker! Our little boy is starting to get mobile, beware!
• laughs a lot
• MOVES a lot. I have removed my earrings or any piece of jewelry.
• Let’s just say, if you’re carrying him, don’t wear sheer silk material or else you’ll look like someone being caught in a tornado

As for me – I am still breastfeeding. My initial goal is to breastfeed exclusively from birth to six months but I’m happy that I am able to extend it longer. Pristine was breastfed until she turned 2 years old so I would like to do the same with Benja. But the thing is, honestly, I don’t know if we can make it that far. My milk supply is so different now than before. Is it the age factor? (I was 27 when I had Pristine and now, I am 35). We are just ‘getting by’ in terms of breastfeeding during the work week.

And always in panic after my day off (Friday) because I do not have any extra milk to store for the next day when I go to work again. When Benja is with me, he consumes it all, not leaving any room for storage.

On week days, I express milk during daytime and it’s a bit of a struggle because the ‘secret room’ I use has no window nor aircondition. I spend 15-20 minutes expressing milk and come out all sweating and tired people wonder what I was doing there inside!

It’s getting so hot in Dubai right now but I have to go home during my lunch break to deliver the expressed milk so Benja has something to drink in the afternoon. My car, parked outside, basking in the hot, hot sun is a moving sauna room. Sigh. If only I can leave my boobies at home or ask them to drive back home so I wouldn’t need to.

Why all this charade, you ask. Don’t this lady know anything about formula milk?

Oh yes, I do and have bought several brands for the baby to try out. The baby has only one verdict: YUCK. Then he spits it out.

I am delighted to announce that I’ve been made one of the brand ambassadors of BlackBerry Middle East through their new program, the BlackBerry Super fan. As someone who blogs a lot (or at least aim to!) and a busy mom, a smart phone would help me get around my online tasks. A BlackBerry would be a tool to ease my life.

As part of the program, they have invited us for a promotional video shoot last March. The short video was nicely done by the Team BlackBerry staff – I just wished I didn’t look so puffed up! They say television could add 10 pounds to your appearance, in this case, maybe a hundred was added to mine! And as always, I don’t like how I sound when I talk!

(I’m not too proud of the post baby me but…) Here is the video:

WHAT DOES BEING A BLACKBERRY SUPER FAN MEAN FOR ME?
It means I get to review the latest BlackBerry gadgets and share my experience here on the blog.

WHAT IS IN STORE FOR MY READERS?
My dear blog readers will have the opportunity to win the latest cool gadgets from BlackBerry so stay tuned!

All together now: Awesome!!

I scoured through old photo albums my husband has brought back from Japan and found baby photos of Pristine, our now 8 year old daughter. People always comment how Pristine and Benjamin look so much the same, cut from the same piece of cloth so to speak so to see if it’s really the case, we took out Pristine’s photo when she was the same age as Ben right now.

Voila. Indeed, we have twins, 8 years apart!

One of the best things about working in Dubai, if you ask me is the annual leave (free trip home, baby!). Companies give employees 30 days of paid leave every year* + airplane tickets to their home country. Wonderful, isn’t it?

While an expat in Japan, I didn’t have that luxury (as expats in most countries). There are some days of paid vacation yes, but it’s so awkward to submit a leave application form like it’s a crime because every one is so work centered (almost robotic…). Needless to say, I only got 9 days of leave days for my wedding 9 years ago and that included Saturday and Sunday!

Oh well, my point is that, I thoroughly enjoy and look forward to my 30 days of bliss, no alarm clock days every year since I came to work in Dubai in 2007. I love “the annual leave culture” except when…

…a work colleague goes back to his home country for his own annual leave and leave his work load to me!

Oh well, every time I moan I feel the dagger looks around silently saying: “We covered for you for three months when you went and had a baby, remember?”

Oh hai, yes, you all did. And I bury myself in paperwork till the “annual leav-er” comes back!

* Most companies give annual leave every year, but some only every 18 months or 2 years but still with free return tickets to home country.

[Top Photo Credit]

The UAE dress code debate has resurfaced again – how short is short?

It’s liberating enough that even the UAE is a Muslim country, it’s not like Saudi Arabia or Iran – women are NOT required to wear a black robe to cover up yet so many people push the boundaries here. There are too many women wearing skimpy shorts and tiny tank tops in public as if walking advertisers of the cliche: “if you got it, flaunt it!”

One lady inside the mall was quoted saying,

I guess it is just too hot for me here, and these clothes are very comfortable for this weather.

I get how hot it must be to walk outside but it’s COLD inside the malls! How hard is it to just wear decent clothes? And as if these ladies are walking for miles to get to the malls. They travel by air-conditioned cars. Sorry but the weather is only a great excuse used by many. When it is winter time and it’s not hot at all outside, they still wear the same type of clothes.

Would it hurt to wear a normal shirt and jeans? or capris? or whatever more decent type of clothing that don’t expose too much skin?

The UAE and Dubai in particular is very liberal as compared to other Muslim countries in the region. As an expat, I think it should not be taken advantage of!

And let’s not get started on the things we see at the beach here…it’s good enough that bikinis are allowed and then some women go as far as wearing a thong bikini.

I don’t know how many of your remember but there was a Kokopax Baby Carrier giveaway in my blog last year sponsored by Kokopax – an award winning baby carrier company in the US. To my delight, they gave me a Kokopax Classic to review before I gave birth. I was so excited but had to wait. Now that our Benjaboo is six months, it was time to take the Kokopax to try it out.

To be honest, clunky was my first impression. I stopped, I hesitated. Then I put baby in and tried and felt so glad I did it! Our baby loved it as he has a better view of what mom is up to. I like that it’s very to put him in and take him out and thanks to the kickstand, it makes loading and unloading easier.

Here’s what we loved about the Kokopax:

• It’s very stylish, and ergonomically designed for both parent and baby.
• Good view of the world for little one
• The shoulder straps are well-padded and comfortable
• Easy in and out– not a million straps and buckles, as with other carriers
• Has a back pad that supports your back & serves as support for baby’s feet
• It can go places that strollers can’t do well, such as sandy pits! (very Dubai)
• The carrier is well built, durable and surprisingly, light (only 3lbs)!

We’ve made heads turn here in Dubai because there’s nothing like it here yet – at least not that I have seen!

* the kickstand can be folded away, not ajar, like in the photo above *

My only little complain is that the harness is a little tough to fasten and unfasten since it is located deep into the carrier, in front of baby’s belly. I assume if one has big hands, it will get in the way with the baby’s belly. (And sometimes the baby doesn’t like it…)

All in all, we’re happy with this baby carrier. We use it outside and inside our home – when I need to do something but want to keep the baby near me, safely.

Do you have a favorite baby carrier? What is it?

Back then, it was to be called Hydropolis, an ambitious hotel under the sea project in Dubai. We first heard about it in 2007/2008, before the economic downturn that knocked off several glittery Dubai projects back to the sand (or slowly back into the sea, as in the case of The World Islands and Palm Deira).

It seems that Dubai never crossed it off its to do list.

Now, the proposed construction of the Water Discus Underwater Hotel put Dubai in the news of the biggest, tallest, most spectacular and the lavish race once again.

Two parts of the structure are connected by three solid legs and a vertical shaft containing an elevator and a stairway. The elevator takes guests 32 feet below the surface of the ocean, where the 21 hotel rooms, dive center and a bar are located. It’s being reported that each guest room will have special lighting so guests can photograph the sea life around them.

The view is beautiful, just don’t open the windows.

What do you think of it? Would you stay in this hotel?

If you’ve been following me on Twitter (I’m @sandierpastures there), you would notice that I just wrapped up hosting the Buckle Up UAE Twitter Party. The topic we talked about during the part was about car safety – everyone had so much to say, one hour flew like anything!  The Buckle Up campaign is close to my heart so I thank the founder, Ms. Lesley Cully for letting me be a part of it.

So how did our twitter party go? Let the numbers speak for itself:

Because Twitter Parties are new to the social media scene here in the UAE, there were only few participants, unlike the Twitter Parties hosted by my friends in the US. (But hey, not bad for only my 2nd Twitter Party)

**Hashtag tracking is courtesy of the wonderful team at HashTracking.com!

But, as the stats show, even with *only* 30 people tweeting, the party hashtag (and the message we wanted to convey) reached nearly 21,000 people! What a new way to send the message across in a fun, creative and effective way.

The Twitter Party was jam-packed with information and not to mention, it was fun! Everyone showed support to buckle up at all times and to spread the word!

As we partied on, the hashtag “#buckleupuae” was trending in the UAE less than an hour into the chat.

That’s the power of a Twitter Party!

*****

Just a recap for those who are still curious and clueless about this thing called Twitter Party…

WHAT IS A TWITTER PARTY?

A Twitter party is a party that happens ONLINE, not in the real world, as many would think. During the party (online chat), participants use a specific word tied to their posts, or “tweets,” allowing others to follow all posts that include that word. The word always begins with a pound sign or “hashtag”, our party hashtag was “#buckleupuae”.

Now what’s the point of a Twitter party? Why is it so hot these days?

Well, it’s a way for a group of people to converse with one another around a particular topic at a designated time, and if done well, it can be a way for a business/organization to increase awareness about its brand, products and social media visibility.

Resource: How a Twitter Party works, How to Participate in a Twitter Party

Interested in working with me? Please email sandierpastures [at] gmail [dot] com and I’ll help you put together a fun twitter party centered around your brand/message!

Our baby has started to eat solid food and boy does he love his food! He would say, ‘Mmmm’ with a look of delight on his face during feeding time. Since he is just starting, I am sticking to rice/oat cereals and vegetables and fruits; no condiments, spices or even salt. Nothing commercial, all made at home, by me.

Mashed apples, papaya, bananas, grapes (juiced), orange, squash, broccoli, carrots, sweet potato, potato…everything went well. Then pears came and bam! He went from happy to fussy to itchy and had red rashes appearing on his face. We never touched pears again. I introduced yoghurt and again the rashes came and his face swollen. Thankfully, a quick anti-histamine medication (Zyrtec) provided relief.

Like his big sister, I can already assume baby Ben is allergic to milk, (most definitely) eggs and recently discovered, pears. Who knows what more?

It’s so sad because he loves his food and now we have to avoid some and be cautious all the time.

And as if allergy sufferers and parents are having it hard enough dealing with it, the social stigma is daunting. People would ask at my scratching child: Why? I wish I know the answer.

Some moms I know personally to moms I meet in clinics/hospitals are bluntly rude enough to say, “maybe it’s just your imagination!”. Or implying how lucky they are their babies do not have allergies, referring to allergies as “a disease of  weak kids”.

Then it’s shocking how some suggest an ‘allergy cure‘: “Just let your kid eat and eat the food he/she is allergic to and he/she will get used to it!”

Ignorance kills.

The truth is, food allergy problem is real. Parents with children who are allergic to certain foods do not make this up and children did not choose to be born with this. It is hurtful to hear someone say that food allergies are “psychosomatic” – something dieters make up to avoid certain foods with less fuss. These people are of the opinion that no true allergy to foods exist.

Food allergies, although considered a joke by some people, are a medically documented disease that should be taken very seriously. Some food allergies can cause an anaphylactic reaction which can quickly become fatal if proper medication is not administered immediately.

My brother had an episode of anaphylactic reaction – his airway closed up when he accidentally ingested chopped shrimps. My daughter Pristine cries in pain when she has something with eggs. Her body was covered in rashes the first time she had cheese when she was small. She’s allergic to milk and eggs, and all its by-products. Now at 8, she can tolerate milk but still allergic to eggs. You would be surprised the girl is not thrilled at the sight of cakes and cookies – she knows her ‘enemy’ too well.

Allergies are life altering, life threatening for some. If you see a child/person with food allergies, don’t judge and if you’re not a doctor, don’t suggest anything.