August 27, 2007

好書再推薦 姊姊的守護者

堂妹來紐約時, 請她買了一本翻譯小說 "姊姊的守護者." 故事是有一個小女孩兩歲時就被診斷出血癌, 為了救她, 她的爸媽用基因配型生出了一個完美配型的妹妹, 因此這位小妹妹從一出生開始就不斷地捐身上的東西給姊姊作為治療用, 從一出生時捐臍帶血, 骨髓, 血小板, 次數多到數不清. 但是在她十三歲的時候, 姊姊因為長期治療導致腎功能衰退, 她媽媽終於要她捐一個腎臟給姊姊, 她於是決定提出告訴, 控告父母擅自替她做她的醫療決定.

故事之所以精采是因為, 雖然妹妹因不想捐腎而控告父母, 但是她和姊姊的感情之深, 又不想姊姊死去, 所以心裡非常掙扎. 故事的結局我個人覺得有太肥皂劇了一點, 不過還是讓我感動到流淚. 真的是一本很好看的小說, 有興趣的人可以向我借閱.

今夏最後一烤 Last BBQ this summer

老妹一回到紐約就號召大家來烤肉, 於是上週末我們都回到紐澤西共襄盛舉. 只不過聯絡沒有做好, 我媽準備了好多吃的, 表弟準備更多, 我和阿里也準備了一冰桶的肉, 最後當然是吃不完啦! 不過這次烤肉的花樣比起前兩次真是棒多了, 除了一般的肉和菜之外, 表弟準備了鳥蛋, 魷魚, 甜不辣, 香腸, 還有雞皮, 老媽也準備了好幾種魚, 真是太豐盛了.
As soon as Rebecca landed in New York, she told everyone that she'd like to have a BBQ. So we went back to New Jersey last weekend to have BBQ outside of my mom's apartment. This time we had too much food, but very good variety.






小肉包有吃有玩, 開心的不得了, 所以就沒有睡午覺, 到了下午兩三點, 已經眼神渙散的不行了, 每一張照片都恍神恍神的.
Hasan was so happy eating and playing with many young ladies and eventually skip his nap time. He was so tired around 2 o'clock.....you can see that from almost all the pictures.





還有跟小表妹合照喔! 但是眼睛怎麼好像在"青"人家一樣.
Hasan and Lindsey! (The way Hasan looked at Lindsey was weird....)



Lindsey 大頭特寫.
3-month old Lindsey!

August 25, 2007

漫步布魯克林大橋 Walking Brooklyn Bridge

去年三月柔懿阿姨和阿信叔叔來紐約的時候, 本來說要去走布魯克林大橋, 但是阿信叔叔腳不舒服, 結果沒走成. 兩個月前和 Ramzi 叔叔及 Abir 阿姨約了要走, 又陰錯陽差的沒走成. 今天 Ramzi 叔叔和 Abir 阿姨打電話來說無論如何一定要去走一趟, 於是我們約了五點在曼哈頓這端的橋頭見面.
When Zoe and Asing came to New York in March 2006, we said we were going to walk the famous Brooklyn Bridge. But Asing had some issues with his feet, so we didn't really go. Two months ago we asked Ramzi and Abir to walk the bridge, but something came up at the last minute and we didn't make it either. Today, Ramzi and Abir called and said that we really had to make it this time, so we said we would meet at the City Hall at 5pm and started walking.

今天天氣很好, 雖然太陽很大但是有微風徐徐. 布魯克林大橋上人好多喔! 還有很多騎腳踏車和滑滑板的人. 我們雖然在紐約住了有一陣子了, 但是大家都沒有徒步走過布魯克林大橋, 今天終於可以很驕傲的說自己到此一遊了, 也像觀光客一樣照了很多照片.
The weather was nice today, sunny with little breeze. It was very crowded on the bridge, many people walking and biking on the bridge. Although we've been living in New York for a while, none of us has been walking the Brooklyn Bridge before. Finally we made it today, and we were just like other tourists taking lots of pictures on the bridge.

這是在橋頭照的, 很久沒有照全家福了,
This was taken before we started walking. It's been a while since we took our last family picture.



Ramzi 叔叔和 Abir 阿姨, 兩個懷孕的女人一起挑戰布魯克林大橋! (其實並不長啦......)
With Ramzi and Abir....two pregnant women walking the Brooklyn Bridge! (It's actually not such a long walk.....)





背景是曼哈頓大橋.
It's the Manhattan Bridge in the background.



爸爸幫媽媽照的特寫.
Daddy took this sweet picture for mom.



走過了橋到布魯克林之後, 我們就到橋下著名的比薩店吃比薩. 這可是號稱紐約最棒的比薩店喔! 光排隊就排了快一個小時, 不過真的挺好吃挺值得的, 價格不便宜就是了, 而且只收現金. 各位朋友如果有來紐約玩, 而且喜歡吃比薩的話, 建議一定要到這裡來排隊湊個熱鬧喔!
After we arrived Brooklyn, we went to a famous Pizzaria under the bridge. This is the best Pizza place in New York! We probably stayed in line for almost an hour, but it's totally worth the wait. It's not cheap though, and it's cash only. If you happen to come to New York and happen to like pizza, we highly recommend you to visit this place!

August 19, 2007

部落格更名啟示

各位親朋好友們, 今天起本部落格要改名囉! 為了迎接弟弟的到來, 媽咪決定把弟弟的名字也放上來. 弟弟的名字已決定叫做葉克霖, 英文名和阿拉伯名是 Kareem Arar. 這可是媽咪我自己選的阿拉伯名喔! 因為爸爸選的都是很俗的阿拉伯菜市場名, 本來要叫弟弟 Hussein (跟 Saddam Hussein 一樣) 的, 我一聽都快嚇死了, 趕緊自己上網找名字. 不過當然有經過爸爸的同意, Kareem 是慷慨的意思, 爸爸也很喜歡這個名字喔!

一年一度的康柏蘭湖之旅 陸上活動篇

每年康柏蘭湖之旅的重頭戲都圍繞在水上活動, 一天至少有七八個小時是在湖上泡水曬太陽. 不過每天出門前, 當大人們還在打包上船的用品時, 小朋友們還是會有一些時間在外面跑跑跳跳. 小肉包其實和堂哥堂姊們還玩不太起來, 通常都是自己一個人在旁邊玩玩具或是跑來跑去, 不過安娜堂姊非常照顧小肉包, 總是會想辦法讓他也一起融入大家.





有時我們也會趁早上還不熱的時候出去散步.

旅程的最後一天, 在上飛機之前, 我們讓小肉包在西湘伯父家的玩具室玩了一個半小時. 西湘伯父家不愧是有五個小孩, 玩具室的尺寸硬是比別人家的大上了好幾倍. 小肉包到了這裡簡直像是到了天堂一樣, 一開始他還搞不清楚這麼多玩具要怎麼玩, 只是一味的對大大小小的球還有他比較熟悉的 Elmo 感興趣.



後來也開始爬上爬下的玩起溜滑梯了.



還有跳跳床.



阿里和我還怕小肉包回到紐約之後, 會嫌家裡的遊戲區太小, 玩具太少, 不過顯然他回來後根本也不記得西湘伯父家的大玩具室, 玩起自己少得可憐的玩具還是很開心, 我們的擔心顯得多餘了.

August 18, 2007

一年一度的康柏蘭湖之旅 - 水上活動篇

每年八九月間, 我們都會到西湘伯父位於康柏蘭湖畔的度假別墅去住個幾天, 今年當然也不例外. 這已經是我第三度遊康柏蘭湖, 小肉包去年去的時候是四個月大, 現在都十五個月了. 出發之前我和阿里都在猜他到底會不會喜歡水上活動, 會不會和堂哥堂姊們相處融洽.

第一天下水的時候, 小肉包確實有點恐懼, 一不抓緊他他就要哭, 在水裡的時候都很緊張.




不過第二天開始他就老神在在了, 第三天第四天的時候還會跟爸爸媽媽玩水上遊戲呢! 在船上他也是很自在, 平常再家裡吃不到的垃圾食物再船上都應有盡有, 這小子可是吃得不亦樂乎呢!







小肉包的水上活動可不只是在水裡泡泡水而已喔!




還包括和爸爸騎水上摩托車......




還有坐在超大橡皮圈裡轉圈圈......




通常一天結束的時候小肉包也累攤了.......


August 09, 2007

最近有點"歡" Hasan's temper

小肉包心情好的時候是很可愛, 但是歡起來也是很歡. 尤其現在很會假裝, 常常為了得到某樣東西 在我們面前不擇手段的假哭.
Hasan is very cute when he's in a good mood, but when he is mad, he can be challenging us. He is good at pretending nowadays. When he really wants something, he can pretend to be crying for a long time in front of us.

他想要玩相機, 爸爸不給他, 他就開始耍賴了. 先是裝哭, 後來還躺在地上打滾, 哭一哭還會中場休息一下, 這也未免裝得太不徹底了! (小肉包兩天大的樣子和現在是不是差很多呢?)
Hasan wanted to play with the camera, but daddy didn't want to give it to him, so he started crying. He was even rolling on the floor when crying. But then he forgot to cry when he saw a video of his own. (Did Hasan change a lot compared when he was 2 days old?)



這一段還給我們摔起東西來, 滑鼠都摔壞了.
Then he started throwing things and broke the mouse.



不過他還滿有研究精神的, 摔壞了之後還會自己想要拼裝回去. 爸爸把滑鼠沒收後, 小肉包又開始假哭, 並且開始摔雜誌, 後來拿到一本他有興趣的雜誌, 竟然讀起來了. 影片的最後, 小肉包不小心打翻了我放在桌上的咖啡, 也被拍了下來. 真是一場災難.
But he was very responsible in the sense that he was trying to put the mouse back after he broke it. After daddy took the mouse away, he started crying again, and started throwing magazines. When he saw a magazine that he was interested in, all of a sudden he started reading it. In the very last moment of this video clip, Hasan knocked off my coffee and was all wet. It's such a disaster.



這傢伙真的是愈來愈叛逆了.
This guy really has a temper.

August 06, 2007

獨家!!! 阿拉弟露骨照大曝光! Little Arar's frontal picture

阿拉弟的第一張超音波正面全裸照正式曝光!
Little Arar's first frontal picture is here!

話說那天阿拉弟一直動個不停, 技師小姐直抱怨抓不到好的角度. 沒想到阿拉弟突然想到要給爸媽來個愛的微笑, 竟然讓技師小姐拍到正面全裸照. (當初小肉包照超音波時都只有拍到側面特寫而已.)
The day we had the ultrasound taken, little Arar kept moving around and the technician was complaining that she couldn't get a clear picture of little Arar. All of a sudden, little Arar decided to give mommy and daddy a cute smile. So the technician successfully took this frontal picture. (When we had the first ultrasound picture taken for Hasan, the technician didn't even give us the frontal - only the profile.)

就是這一張. 看清楚了嗎?
This is it. Do you get it?




有看沒有懂喔? 讓我來說明一下. 就是阿拉弟張大眼睛和嘴巴, 給爸媽來個愛的微笑啊!
You don't get it? Ok, let me explain to you. So this is little Arar opening his big eyes and big mouth, and giving mommy and daddy a huge smile!


恐怖吧......
It is a little scary......

August 01, 2007

子懿子熹兄弟來訪 Welcome Ian and Sean

上禮拜天子懿和子熹一家五口來我們家住. 子懿哥哥四歲了, 子熹弟弟還沒滿月呢! 我們家一下有三個小男生, 可熱鬧了. 不過子懿哥哥比小肉包大了三歲, 兩人好像玩不太起來, 大部分的時間都各玩各的.
Last Sunday Ian and Sean came to New York with their parents. Ian is 4, and Sean is not even one-month old. All of a sudden there were 3 boys living in our apartment - a lot of fun! But Ian is 3 years older than Hasan, so most of the time they weren't really playing with each other.


子懿哥哥玩小肉包的玩具還挺興奮的, 小肉包則一手拿著橘子, 一手拿著水杯, 在一旁隨著音樂擺動身體.
Ian seemed to like Hasan's toys. Hasan was shaking his body with the music, with a orange in one hand and a cup in the other.



怎麼搖就是捨不得把小橘子放下.
No matter how much he shaked his body, he just didn't want to let go the yummy orange.



這一段兩人跳舞跳得不亦樂乎, 子懿跳得真是動感十足啊! 可惜電視的光線太強, 兩人臉都黑黑的.
Ian and Hasan were dancing, and Ian was very good!



但是總結起來, 兩人還是挺沒有交集的, 呵呵!
But most of the time, these two didn't really interact with each other.



珍妮阿姨也來看剛出生的子熹弟弟. 媽咪和阿姨都太粗心沒有準備禮物給小朋友, 只好合包了一個紅包, 但是竟然連紅包袋也沒有, 還拿普通信封來代替, 真是太克難了. (媽咪的新髮型很酷吧! 媽咪自己覺得很好看呢! 呵呵......)
Aunt Jenny also came to visit the new born baby. Mommy and aunt forgot to prepare a gift for the new born baby, so we gave Sean a red envelope as a symbol of luck. (Do you like mommy's new haircut?)


子懿子熹一家人在我們家住了四個晚上, 這可是媽咪第一次招待這麼多人, 做了四個晚上的晚餐, 媽咪自己覺得真是不簡單呢! 雖然不算是山珍海味, 但是應該還不難以下嚥吧! 媽咪給自己打六十分啦! 經過這次考驗, 從此正式晉升為主婦階級囉! 歡迎子懿子熹和爸爸媽媽及外婆下次有空再來玩囉!
Ian and Sean stayed with us for 4 nights. This was the first time that momy had so many guests over. Mommy cooked dinner for a big group of people for 4 nights in a row - quite an accomplishment! Although mommy's food was not particularly delicious, they seemed to like it very well. We welcome Ian and Sean to come with their parents and grandma to New York again next time!

十五個月的體檢

今天帶小肉包去做十五個月的體檢. 小肉包完全不記得每次進來這間診所都會挨針, 一派天真的呵呵笑的走了進來, 還向所有的護士阿姨和小朋友打招呼. 輪到他的時候, 護士阿姨量身高體重過程都很平和, 還是笑嘻嘻的, 一直到醫生伯伯進來之後, 小肉包就開始起戒心了, 臉都沉了下來. 以前都是一位美女醫生阿姨幫他看診, 但是這位美女阿姨去生小孩了, 所以換了一位老伯伯. 老伯伯只不過想聽一下小肉包的心跳, 小肉包就急著想要從診療台上下來, 等聽診器一碰到他的胸口, 他就哇的一聲大哭了起來. 聽完心跳照照耳朵和口腔, 也是哭個不停, 檢查小雞雞的時候還在哭, 不知道是不是跟他老爸一樣, 只對美女醫生有興趣, 不想讓老伯伯醫生碰他.

後來醫生伯伯出去拿針, 小肉包才稍微平靜了一點, 不過他可不知道真正的痛苦才要來臨! 醫生伯伯拿了針筒進來之後, 他一看到, 針都還沒扎下去呢, 就又開始哭了. 這次是他出生以來哭得最嚴重的一次體檢, 褓母阿姨說, 以後恐怕看到診所的大門就不想進來了呢!

小肉包身高 34 吋, 在 97 percentile; 體重 27 磅, 在 80 percentile. 醫生伯伯說是模特兒的體格呢!