Author Archives: fabmomma

1

Flying (alone) with my 4-year-old

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Brave? I know, especially with a 7-month preggo belly!

We recently took a trip to the United States for a 3-day wedding (check out more pics on my Instagram feed) and I had to take the return flight alone with the little one as my husband had to stay back for a work seminar I still can’t believe I agreed to it…

Snippets from our trip

Anyways I was slightly nervous, what do you expect?! it would my 1st time travelling/flying alone with her plus it’s a long haul flight and in my 3rd trimester. Besides, she was a little uneasy on the in-bound flight (which continued for days after we got to America) – she didn’t want the hot food offered on the flight and refused most of the snacks I had packed for the journey. Even the colouring books I brought with me didn’t interest her much.

Travel colour books

She also refused to play with her tablet because mummy downloaded her fav videos too early so they expired 😦 

The in-flight entertainment helped a bit though the earphones provided by the airline barely worked and kept falling out of her ears. Thankfully I bought a set of children’s headphones two days prior to our trip the joys of Amazon prime! 

See I’m usually overly prepared whenever we fly with this little madam, my standard on-board package includes:

Tablet / Headphones / Snacks / Paracetamol sachets / Pocket Tissues / Travel games / Wet Wipes / Ziplock bag / Waste bag (in case she gets sick)

Still it was a tough journey we did get a bit fussy with her at some point.

Anyways, I packed the usual “on-board” essentials in my backpack and her trunki and off we went early to the airport. We said our goodbyes to her dad and went through security, then we came up to the gates and luckily for me there was a play area so we chilled here for about 20mins.

My tablet is my best friend… I call it ‘purple & black’

Then it was time to board – suddenly the lil woman wanted pizza, pizza? I was confused, where do I find pizza around here and why ask now? mayday! mayday! Then I saw the place (obviously she had seen it before me) so we ordered tomato and cheese pizza to go. She ate one slice as we boarded the plane so I put the othe slices in the ziplock bag see it’s good be extra prepared!

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I don’t know how this happened but the pizza and her tablet were my saving grace on the two flights home. She gave no problems at all, tbh I was a little calm too because we didn’t need to rush at any point and the crew were fantastic (they kept checking on us), to top it all, they didn’t sell her dad’s seat so we got an extra seat!

She also kept reminding herself of her father’s words as walked through the 3 airports – you need to take care of mummy and pull your trunki (cos she likes to sit on it while being pulled) I guess it made her feel grownup having to take charge her fussy mother 🙄

Also, she gladly ate the on-board kids meal thank God money didn’t waste this time! 

Gourmet eating… not for free though!

So I was able to properly relax, take my prescribed walks and toilet breaks remember I’m 28wks pregnant while she busied herself with the videos I had downloaded the day before on her tablet.

We landed at Dublin airport to catch our connecting flight to London and as we had to wait a little while to get off the plane, she became impatient and in a typical 4-year-old manner, started to moan  – mummy only had soothing words for her we need to be patient darling… the girl had just gone through a tantrum-free 7hour flight! We had a bit of fun checking out airport signs (they’ve been taught about signs at nursery so she always asks what they mean). At the gate, she had the rest of her stone-cold pizza while we waited to board.

#Mood Left: Washington Dulles Airport | Right: Dublin Airport

I, on the other hand was super wrecked by now and I just couldn’t wait to get home though my bump was well-behaved too☺️

I’m saying that, we did have a bit of drama on board – Aerlingus had actually sold on my husband’s seat on this leg of the journey so she was surprised to see someone sitting by her preferred window seat and froze! I was like this geh enter abeg sleep dey catch me! 😂 but she refused to sit beside the guy so I hopped in the middle seat and had to explain her behaviour to our new neighbour (for an hour 10 mins), thankfully he laughed it off but started yapping about his niece blah blah…

Quick selfie before takeoff

Sleep came easily for both of us this time… we closed our eyes before takeoff and didn’t open until we landed at Heathrow airport. There I waited till everyone got off the plane before waking her up, then we steadily made our way to arrivals.

Now did I mention the bonus of flying with Aerlingus to America? #NotSponsoredAd you are cleared of US immigration at Dublin airport before takeoff (outbound from London) so no need to face that hassle when you get there! We literally strolled into Washington Dulles like one of the locals and I guess same thing applied when we landed at Heathrow airport so straight we went to pick our checkin bags and search for a taxi home…

Heathrow airport – one for the road

3 plane journeys, 2 car rides, airport transfers and a lot of toilet breaks pretty much sums up the trip I took alone with my delightful 4-year-old daughter… Dealing with the jet lag? Now that’s a different story entirely!

 

Till next time guys!

♥Fabmomma♥

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Arabian Adventures – Sun Downer Experience (with kids)

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Hi my lovelies!

This a post cum review of our Sun Downer Dune Dinner  experience with Arabian Adventures. To start off we booked the ‘exclusive vehicle’ package because of the children, therefore the company sent 2 four-wheel drive land cruisers specifically for our group – usually these drivers pick people up from various hotels/locations until the car is full.

“Pickup” – 3PM

The drivers/guides of both vehicles were at our reception by 3pm as agreed, and according to the rest of the group, were quite entertaining but I couldn’t hear anything as I sat at the very back of the car. I stayed in the car which had the children and the arrangement was to have one adult sit in front and one at the back and I opted for the back. Now I did not anticipate the length of the journey, it took us about 1.5hours to get to the desert!

Outside of the Bonnigton Towers
Arabian Adventures
Getting in line…
The youngest in her car seat
gotta have some snacks to keep them happy 🙂

 

 

“The Falcon Show” 

Refreshments awaited us at this stop and a quick photo op with a camel before we sat down to watch the show. Quite informative and interesting, we learnt that the Falcon is the national bird of the UAE, a swift flyer with keen eyes for its prey.

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“Dune Bashing“

After the show, it was time to ride through the sand dunes but first the car tyres had to deflated to enable a smooth ride over the sand dunes. “Dune bashing” was through the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve  and I must say it was the highlight of the trip! The children especially loved it and talked about it for days! We made two stops in-between the dune, 1st – to enjoy the view and take pictures then to watch the sun set…

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the wee ones 🙂
2nd stop to watch the sun set
all the vehicles

“Bedouin Camp”

Dune bashing continued and stopped just a few mins before we entered the bedouin camp. As we had a table reserved for the group (courtesy of some strings pulled by hubby dearest), we were led to our table. Starters were served first – an array of food falafel, chicken sharwama, vegetable parcels, flat bread and with cheese. This was an all inclusive package – food, drinks (including alcohol) and entertainment. Our guides/drivers surprisingly swapped hats and became in charge of serving the food.

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After starters, we went for the camel ride – the children particularly loved this part. Note that I almost chickened out at this point seeing how tall those animals were! Such a weird sensation as the camel stands up but you get used to it after a few secs (my glutes get a good workout from the ride haha) some of us even went twice.

heading to the camels
hey!
My princess finally braved it!

Next event we went for was Sand Surfing, (which was an epic fail!) – firstly the queue was long and people were slow coming down the dune – I suspect this was cause the sand was a little moist as it was now nightfall. To make matters worse, it turned out he needed to wear shoes to surf. It would have helped to have a sign down below the steps to indicate the need for shoes.

Brave man – without shoes
patiently waiting for daddy
the queue

By now, it was time for mains – salads, humus, flat bread, rice, sauce, lamb chops, chicken skewers and roasted potatoes which we happily wolfed down as we were starving!
While we ate, belly dancing started. Set up right in the middle of the camp and Our guides had mentioned that the best time to leave was from the end of the 5th song because of traffic and everyone trying to get out of the camp. Also we still had to inflate the tyres of the vehicles before we could drive them on the road again. So after eating, us girls went exploring – henna turned out beautifully, then one of the girls got a sand souvenir and we finished off with Arabian coffee and dates.

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There was also a shisha area, a mini bonfire and a place to dress up like an Arabian (but we were not allowed to take our own pics) besides our henna was still wet so we couldn’t get dressed.

Soon the 6th song started to play which was our cue to start packing up to leave 😦 an announcement was made for Star-gazing where all the lights in the camp would be switched off (panic.com!) as the lights went pretty fast. We then lumped our tired bodies into our respective cars and back to the hotel – this was pretty uneventful.

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Tyres had to be re-inflated for the road

 

Tips

*Best to go for an exclusive car package if travelling in a group, especially with young children, it was truly worth the money we paid for it. We had four children with us, (ages 4 to 7) and they all got car or booster seats and the seating arrangement was well thought out. If we didn’t have the exclusive option, we might have ended up not being able to go with our children because it’s about filling each spot in the vehicle. So if the car isn’t full, the driver would just go to the next pickup location before heading to camp, eating into the safari time.

*Bring an extra layer of clothing, a scarf or cardigan as it gets chilly at nightfall.

*Ensure your child is at least 4 years old to go on this trip because dune bashing was a rollercoaster ride. Even my thrill-seeking 4yr old was a little apprehensive at the start but soon settled after comforting her – it might not be the same for another child.

*Try to keep an empty stomach before heading to avoid being car-sick. I had read some horror online reviews about people getting sick in the car!

Apologies for the long epistle but I do hope this helps someone out there planning a trip to Dubai with the family and seeking a thrilling adventure!

More posts on our Dubai trip soon 😉

 

♥Fabmomma♥

 

0

2017 so far…

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Hi my lovelies!

So last time I was here I wrote a post on anticipating preschool a couple of months back, so many events have happened – from going through 4 au pairs, travelling for work while trying to catch up with nursery newsletters and finding time to attend any nursery events we parents are invited to. Thing is with every new experience comes a learning curve so at this point, we are in a good routine.

The little miss has also made tremendous progress since the start of 2017, transitioning from a cranky toddler to a sweet child who appreciates all of our efforts over her. Apart from nursery which she has for 3hours a day, she goes to ballet, tennis and gymnastics class which have all contributed to her increased self confidence and social skills (plus mummy’s constant positive words!).

Best way to summarise all of these is through a picture reel so let the fun begin!

 

Model in the making 🙂

 

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Dressed as little red riding hood for ‘World Book Day’

 

 

 

 

My Heartbeat…

 


 1st pregnancy  selfie

 

Till next time guys! Thanks for stopping by 🙂

♥ Fabmomma ♥

 

Follow me on social media:

Snapchat: @cutie_temz 

Instagram: @Fabmommablog
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Anticipating Pre-school…

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Hello hello my lovelies! I know it’s been a wee while (my last post was in June eek!) but I hope you are all enjoying the warm September. Now, this is a spur-of-the-moment post which came to my mind earlier today so here goes…   Continue reading →

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Product review – E’TAE Hair

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Happy Friday lovelies!

This post has been a long time coming as I wanted to use the products a few times before giving my view on it. After a friend tagged me in one of their instagram posts, I purchased the E’TAE Hair range for children – what I understood from the posts was that you Continue reading →

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Summer Weddings – Dublin

 

 

 

Hi everyone! I’ve attended two summer weddings and it’s barely June but I did promise to share so here goes! This wedding was in Dublin and I went alone so all the time to indulge in my new found love of photography 🙂

 

All dolled up!
The Doc and I -we almost didn’t make it on time
Quirky wedding program 😀
Bride’s aunty all the way from the US of A
Bride and Groom
Love this picture!
More guests…
Kodak moment…
Cocktail hour
More guests…
More cocktail 😀
Canapes
Lads!
The dessert table yum!
Note the artwork
Gorgeous ladies 🙂
She played so beautifully
I’m falling more and more in love with photography
Cakes!
For the tea lovers…
Bride and friends
Dj Poison on the beat!
About to cut the cake
Murdering the cake
All smiles!
Bride in her Tope FnR reception dress
Can’t help myself haha

 

 

 

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The “Work/Life” Balance…

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Being a mum is the most fulfilling and hardest aspect of my life…

There is so much talk about “work/life” balance, so many inspirational speakers out there who preach the “agile worker”, not needing to work 9-5, the “4-day week”, and a general feeling of being able to have it all… Ah don’t get me wrong, I get inspired by these talks I feel like I can take over the world! with my child in tow of course – sure my decision to leave my previous job for a more demanding role (one which involves travelling) was made after I started listening to inspirational speakers… However I sometimes ask myself what really work/life balance means for me who invented the phrase? Do I truly de-stress? Offload? If not, how to go about it?

We recently moved to a completely new part of London and have been trying to settle-in. This clashed with the demands of my new job, brain has been so clogged up that I find myself always catching up with work. I find myself eating at my desk, not exercising not even yoga!, not updating my blog, I’m bringing work home only to end up worrying about not hitting deadlines – as you all know, these all lead to sleepless nights…

I remember being excited about the move – a bigger place meant more space for my bubbly 3yr to play and I could get an au pair to live with us; Dream #2 is taking forever, apparently many of these women do not want “non-traditional” English families. In addition, I’ve struggled with finding fulltime childcare in the new area, many of the places were fully booked or only had morning/afternoon sessions so I had to eat my words and go for a childminder. This led to another palava – the lovely lady closes shop at 6pm everyday… Just imagine the looks I get when I start packing my bag to leave the office at 4:45pm.

Good thing is I manage to pack some fun into our evenings and weekends; social media generally helps to liven mummy’s mood – Snapchat for the evening (mornings too!)sharing of our random moments of craziness. Then going to the local park at the weekends, I’ve also discovered alot of fun activities just within walking distance – benefits of living in surbubia. We have Jungle Monkeyz which is a compact playgym, a swimming pool, ballet, percussion class and the good ol’ library so it’s not all bad news 🙂

As long as I make family my priority, then it’s all worth it… right? Till next time folks!

Temi ♥