Selim Family Blog

Why do we live here???

Thermometer in my car

WOWZA. Please remind me why in the world we continue to live here??? It’s so, SO, SOOO cold.

We spent 12 glorious days in Florida and then returned home to a FROZEN TUNDRA. I know Minnesota is cold, but -20?? And add the windchill? Ugh. The photo above was taken of my dash when I took Tarek to preschool this morning.

Please send us some warmth!

Add comment January 15th, 2009 by Melissa

Mover & shaker!

He's ready!

He’s off!! It’s official, Aden is on the move. He is scooting (not officially crawling) all over the place. You can’t leave him for one minute by himself or you never know where you’ll find him! Tarek is very good at reporting when Aden is in a spot he shouldn’t be…especially when Aden heads towards the TV or the tree–both of which are very tempting! Here’s a few, not so great photos, of his new shananigans.

On the go!

Look at me, mom!

I'm pretty clever! And I can pull myself up the dinosaur!

1 comment December 16th, 2008 by Melissa

Dance party

Dance party with momma and Tarek

Tarek and Aden both love music so we often have dance parties at our house. Here’s some photos of our most recent dance party. We were listening to one of Tarek’s newest favorite songs: Lollipop by The Chordettes, an oldie by goodie!

Lolli-POP!

Lollipop--baboomboomboom.

Aden and daddy joined in the fun too!

Aden loves music too!

Add comment December 3rd, 2008 by Melissa

The many faces of Aden

I was looking thru photos last night and had a good laugh over the “many faces of Aden.” He is a very smiley, happy baby, which is what most of the photos show. To share the joy of Aden, I thought I would post some of the smiley photos and some of the wonderful face contortions he does when he’s not thrilled with the new foods we are giving him! Hope Aden’s little faces make you laugh as well!

"Momma, that's terrible!"

"No more!"

This is the one where I nearly fell on the floor laughing--he is less than thrilled with what we're feeding him!

"Look, momma, I can wrinkle my nose!"

"Sweet potatoes are delicious!"

"No, not squash!"

Happy guy!

1 comment November 14th, 2008 by Melissa

Peas…not so much

Aden tried peas…he’s not such a fan.

Unsuspecting victim.

Hmm...not sure I like the smell of those, mom.

Get these off my tongue!

I don't really like these...

Please don't let them feed me any more peas...

1 comment November 13th, 2008 by Melissa

Gotta get a Gund

Tarek loves "Dragne"

Some friends of ours sent Tarek a Gund Dragon which he quickly named “Dragne.” This was the first stuffed animal to which Tarek was really attached. He immediately took it to his room, while all other stuffed animals stayed in the living room. Dragne became a friend that slept and traveled with Tarek.

Last week Tarek complained of a hole in Dragne and asked me to fix it. I was set to get out the needle and thread until on closer inspection, I realized a needle and thread were not going to fix Dragne–he was really falling apart. I was shocked as Tarek is not overly rough with him and Gund is a very good quality product. I have friends that have washed Gund stuffed animals over and over again, without much effect on the product! So, I try my hand at Gund’s customer service. I call Gund (which is not an easy task, as they do not list their phone number on their website, but I was persistent in finding one to call!). I spoke to a customer service representative and explained the situation. She agreed that this should not have happened. She asked for my email address so she could email me a label to use to send in the stuffed animal and said they would send a new dragon to us, as soon as they received our dragon (so they can inspect it for quality control). I explained to her that I wasn’t sure that would go over well with our three-year-old as he sleeps with this dragon at nap and bedtime every day. She said, “considering the circumstances, I will send you a new dragon and a shipping form, so when you received the new dragon, you can send us the torn one.” Wow, fantastic customer service! I held my breath, though, hoping the new Dragne would arrive soon.

When Tarek woke up from his nap, I explained to him that he was getting a new Dragne in the mail and we would send the old one, with holes in it, back to the store, so they could fix him. Ironically, after my plea to keep our old Dragne until the new one arrived, Dragne was exiled from Tarek’s room–he was not pleased with the holes in Dragne! He said he would wait for the new one to arrive! Kids.

A week later a package arrived from Gund. I let Tarek open it and he was SOOO pleased to see his new Dragne! ”No holes, momma,” he exclaimed! He hugged and cuddled the new Dragne and was so excited to see him. He took the new Dragne right up to his bed and found the exiled Dragne and put him in the box. The new Dragne has been happily accepted back into his place of honor, in Tarek’s bed.

So, thank you, Gund, for the fabulous customer service. I really appreciate that we were able to keep the old Dragne until the new one arrived, making for a happy momma and a happy three-year-old!

Add comment November 9th, 2008 by Melissa

Here comes winter!

Oh my! This is what I woke up to this morning…I had NO idea it was coming!

I got Tarek out of bed and showed him the snow. He promptly announced, “Momma, it’s WINTER!” Yes, Tarek, and believe me, by the end of winter, you’re not going to be so excited about it. So after breakfast, when Aden went down for his first nap, (there was no need to drag him out to the cold!) Tarek and I got dressed in our hats, mittens and boots and headed outside to check out the first snow of the season. The snow was quickly melting (thank goodness!) but Tarek loved it anyway. He kept running after me with hands full of snow, trying to “get” me. Once he actually did–as a very unsuspecting victim, bent over to pick up snow, he got my exposed lower back with a hand-full of snow. I screamed. He giggled like mad–one of the sweetest sounds in the entire world!

Here’s a few photos of Tarek enjoying his first snow of the upcoming, bitterly cold, seemingly never-ending, Minnesota winter. (Can you tell how much I enjoy winter? HA!)

Proudly showing off his cold cheeks and his Hawkeye hat!

Gathering snow to "get" me!

Catching the falling snowflakes in his mouth.

Add comment November 7th, 2008 by Melissa

Aden eats carrots

Aden has recently started eating baby food–here’s his first taste of veggies. Tarek insisted on Aden’s first veggie be carrots. You be the judge as to if Aden liked them or not!

Getting ready.

We're using "baby sign" with Aden, so I'm signing, "eat" to him.

Hmm...not so sure about this.

Big Brother, cheering Aden on...

Carrot face.

I think he likes them!

1 comment November 6th, 2008 by Melissa

The right to vote…

As a parent of young children, I don’t really see voting as a “right,” but an obligation. Not only are we voting for a change in our lives, but for the future of their lives as well. So, yesterday, we went out and voted for ourselves, Tarek and Aden. Tarek was at preschool, so he missed this outing, but we took a few photos, to capture the historic moment…because no matter the candidate we voted for, this was a historic election.

After dropping Tarek off at preschool, going to Caribou for a coffee and then finding the correct polling location (we actually went into the elementary school, located right next to the junior high we were supposed to go to first and the realized we were in the wrong location!), we voted. It was a fantastic feeling! It was a beautiful day, sunny and 70, completely unheard of in Minnesota at this time of year. So with the sun beaming down, we voted and then chatted with some neighbors and then ran into some great friends. It was one of those days where all felt right in the world.

The rest of the day I felt like a kid the night before Christmas–I was filled with hopeful anticipation. It was fun to share the evening with neighbors at “returns party.” I’ve never felt so excited and nervous on an election day. Again, it was a great feeling to know that our country was making a historic decision, no matter which candidate was elected.

Here’s the photos we took of our voting outing…of course they are cheesy, but we want to remember this day with photos.