Kids Swap Meets

These have got to be the best idea ever! Last weekend my husband and I took Farah to her first kids swap meet, it's not about trading clothes like I originally thought, it's about buying "new" used clothes and other baby and kids items. Even though we managed to arrive 10 minutes after the doors opened we still ended up being at the end of a very long lineup. We invited our neighbours who are inshAllah expecting a baby in January, but one look at that line up and they were gone. Wasn't expecting that at all, but live and learn.
Once we were in, there were three small conference rooms packed to the ceiling with baby items. Our main goal was to find a swing, as Farah doesn't seem to be content unless she's being held or is being moved around in some way. My husband went off looking while I picked through some great baby clothes, minutes later he comes towards me with this big swing in his hand and a big grin of accomplishment on his face. With more to see we put the swing in a safe spot and kept on shopping, I still can't believe what great condition most of the baby clothes were in, it makes me wonder why in the world did I ever spend so much money on new stuff. While we were searching we found another older style (wind-up) but cheaper swing, it was too hard to resist and our intention was to give it to the neighbours who left.
When we got home I thoroughly cleaned and put together both swings to get them ready for judge Farah. Well they are both baby approved, and even now as I write this she's enjoying her wind up swing and starting to fall asleep. It's going to be hard to part with it but hey at least she'll get a few more good months use out of it.

Little Foo Foo's Entrance

Farah was born in the early hours on July 20th, 2008 weighing in at just 4 lbs 3 oz. Unfortunately a severe case of preclampsia caused her to be born 5 weeks early via emergency c-section. Alhamdulillah Farah managed pretty well considering the circumstances, she was also small for 35 weeks gestation due to the placenta being unable to absorb enough nutrition. Farah spent the first 24 hours on oxygen, and the first 2 and a half days in a incubator. In total she spend 22 days in the NICU, along the way she met many baby buddies while I got a quick lesson on medical terminology. Farah left the hospital August 11th weighing 4 lbs 13oz, 3oz shy of what I would have liked her to weigh. Bringing home an extra small baby has got to be one of the scariest and most nerve racking things I've done yet so far. Farah had to eat every three hours and we had to wake her up for the first two weeks, otherwise she would just sleep the whole day. Now She is 3 months old weighs about 8 lbs more or less and is more alert than ever before. MashAllah she's getting so big ( I've gotten so use to a small baby) she has almost outgrown her newborn clothes. As I enjoy each day with her and every new surprise, I still can't wait to see what she will be like when she's older, I have such high hopes for her future and inshAllah she will do wonderful things with her life.