Khawaja: family

To Jood on her 1st birthday!

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:07:00 GMT

If you missed the first letter written to Jood (before she came to life), you can find it here.

Our little sweetie,

Hard to believe, but true, you have blown out your 1st birthday candle last week :)

A year full adventure and amazing funny moments has passed leaving special memories that will live inside us forever. So be ready to trigger your memory back when you grow up!

The love of a parent is something impossible to understand until you become a parent yourself. You were the naughtiest baby around who attracted the eyes and hearts of everyone and made them all fall in love with your innocence, intelligence, cheerfulness, playfulness, energy, curiosity and cuteness.

During the times we were travelling, you were the most beautiful thing to discover! We still remember how you were making new friends everywhere we go with your charming smile –whatever their language, skin color or age.

If there is one thing that I want you to know even at this young age, it is to know that every moment in life counts - each is beautiful in its own way, whether happy, painful, joyous or awful. Treasure the wonderful moments in life, and learn to grow by living through those that are not.

You are developing in so many ways, sweet baby, and each day I catch another glimpse of something new that makes me say with swelling heart, "This is another aspect of Jood!" we are so privileged to love and care for you. We are so excited to get to know more and more of Jood.

They used to say that everyone inherits the qualities related to his/her particular name. That is very true in your case; especially when you insist on feeding everyone around you before you start eating!

I cannot look upon you without thinking of how Allah gave us the tremendous blessing of being your parents.

Our hope for you is to grow to know, love, and change the world in your own way!

With Love,

Mama & Papa!

Jood ... a four-month-old fetus

one-week-old baby..

3-month-old little lady!

7-month-old naughty girl!

almost 1-year-old swimming in Wild Wadi - Dubai

Jood is responding to NLP!

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:52:00 GMT

Since few years, I’ve been reading about the impact of applying Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) in my daily life and how it can REALLY affect our lives POSITIVELY. If you do not know what NLP is, simply it is an interpersonal communication model and an alternative approach to psychotherapy based on the subjective study of language, communication and personal change. (Definition from Wikipedia)

I used to utilize and apply what I have learned on myself and my small family, but I never realized that a 6-month-old baby like my little daughter “Jood” could respond to NLP at this early age.

The story started when Jood was rejecting the nose cleaner suction syringe as soon as her mom tries to put it inside her nose to clean it. Jood used to cry, move her head irritantingly and “fight” with all her mighty to stop her mom from placing it inside her nose.

We wanted Jood to accept the nose cleaner, thus, we started using it as a toy; we used it to pamper her by pointing the cleaner on her cheeks -not nose- and make her laugh and enjoy the soft air coming out of it. She started to feel that this toy may bring her joy and fun, too!

The good news is that Jood’s attitude toward using nose cleaner to clean her nose has changed tremendously after doing that exercise for 2-3 days, and now Jood fully accepts the cleaner with a smile on her face :)

So I would like to urge parents and parents-to-be to consider NLP as a smooth effective way in changing the attitudes of their children positively. It worked on animals, so why it wouldn't work on your kids!?

Special smiles for a speacial Eid :)

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:34:00 GMT

Special smiles for a special Eid! :)

Happy belated Eid Greetings :)

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:14:00 GMT

Jood and her little cow wish you a Happy Eid this year and every year!

أفطر مع الملائكة الصغار

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:48:00 GMT

It's a pleasure inviting you to this Iftar...

Amazing weekend in Syria!

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 23:58:00 GMT

Last weekend, mE, Hama and little Jood have rushed to Syria for an amazing trip. I consider that was a perfect opportunity for us to refresh and break out the daily routine while visiting an extraordinary destinations in Syria...

Jood was so cute "mashallah"; mE and Hama were about to eat her!, but the delicious food was enough to keep her safe this time ;)

This trip, I didn't use my digital photo camera that much, since I started to use our new video camera which recorded so nice moments we've spent there..

Damascus the capital was not up-to my expectation, I felt like this city has to be more organized and more beautiful. Being an old city doesn't mean it is acceptable to be less clean and messed up.

Summer resorts like Khadra and Fega was disgusting! I've been there 10 years ago while water was flowing around the place making it such a tranquil romantic atmosphere. but now, water are getting shallow and the place is no longer attractive for tourists.

On the other hand, We have spent a wonderful time at Blodan and Beqqan. The municipality of these two districts were keen to organize buildings and the green areas to come up with a wonderful landscape.

We made our own adventures at Hamidieh Shopping "Mall" and the Omayyad Mosque, it was really remarkable moments with pigeons, merchants and the mangonel of Saladin.

On the way back to Jordan, I was annoyed with the behaviors of Jordanian police officers on the borders; unfortunately, they were arrogant and frowning all the time! I hate to say that ... but this is the truth, I wish they would join a training course in customer service!

I conclude here with few nice photos from Syria.. while preparing to compress video files and post them online soon enshallah...

Ramadan Kareeeeeeeem :)

Jood's First bath :)

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 11:28:00 GMT

Good Day!

Enjoy watching Jood's first bath right after her birth....

leave you with the historical video in Jood life :)

P.S. If receive this post by email, I think you need to visit the blog (http://mkhawaja.jeeran.com) to be able to play this video.

For me, JOOD means LIFE!

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:21:00 GMT

This morning Allah enlightened our life with the birth of JOOd -my eldest and only daughter!

Stay tuned to this blog to enjoy watching and browsing Jood impressive photos and videos since the very early moments of life!

Bless you little Jood :)

To Jood with love…

Sun, 20 May 2007 20:22:00 GMT

Little Jood,

Even that we have not met or talked before, but we feel we know you well, and really we can not wait more for you. Maybe in the eyes of your doctor and my blog readers you are a black-and-white sonogram, but really love and passion made me & your mom realize you present in each and every moment in our life since the day we figured you out.

You will be our first child, which means all care, nurture, and dalliance will be going towards you, not only from me & your mom, but also from the whole family; starting from your passionate grandma's, grandpa, aunts, uncles, all their naughty sons and daughters, and their friends and neighbors as well! You, being the youngest child in this big family means you will have so many slightly-older kids to play with and learn from. With them, you will discover the world in your own way, and make your remarkable adventures.

Eventually, they’ll be jealous of how we let you do things at a much earlier age than they got to do them. By time, you’ll compete and fight in many good & bad things; who eats his/her meal first... who is the best in school... who is going to sit in the front seat in your grandpa's car and who gets the last piece of cake.

Your full name is Jood M. Khawaja. We named you Jood because we believe it is the generosity of Allah having you, and called you Joode to always remind you that you are the one and only Jood that we will have. Your mom is pleased that you will be able to write your name with those double 'OO' in very funny artistic ways; two squint eyes, two smiley faces, two lovely hearts, or in any style that reflects your own personality.

Looking at you in your crib, I’ve been overwhelmed by my love for you. Your fascinating fashionable clothes make me & your mom imagine how cute you would be dressing these little "things" with wonderful lively colors.

Parents talk about what they want from their kids. It starts right after a baby is conceived and doesn’t ever stop. When we told people your mom is pregnant, often they asked, “Do you want a boy or a girl?” We told them we wanted a healthy baby. Some parents know what they expect from their kids when they start school, or even what they want their kids to be when they grow up.

My wants are much less specific. I want you to be a confident Muslim lady. I want you to learn who you are, decide for yourself, and be satisfied with your own choices. I want you to experience life and find your own way in a world that can be confusing… painful… wonderful… and breathtaking. I want you to have friends and family that support, respect and love you.

I want this post to be a written proof of that support and love we promise to give you...

Awaiting You,
Mohd & Hama..

1+1=3 !!

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 09:07:00 GMT

My wife is Pregnant ... A new family member is about to come in:)

The whole family are so excited.. while the fresh newlywed parents-to-be started to visualize themselves holding an additional dignified yet interesting role never lived before!

Let me introduce our little daughter to you..

Jood is a 5-month-old fetus, she spends more that 15 hours a day sleeping deeply inside my wife's worm womb -as stated by the doctor!

Little Jood is a good listener (as recent research has proven)... thus, we play Quran and soft music from time to guarantee a musical ear for her! :)

During the last visit to the doctor, Joodé was curling her big toe :) and Exercising her legs as if she is attending an aerobics session!

As most excited parents do, we started to look for comfortable bed for her, and very soon we will start taking her shopping for stylish clothes and smart baby toys :)

more news about the cute Jood will be posted here, and on her mom's blog until she signed up for her own blog enshallah ;)