Amira and her Kuwaiti Cousins
In preparation for Cousin Kiira’s 1st Birthday, we got all of the Kuwait Cousins together to take some pictures. It was quite the fiasco trying to get all four kids to stay still long enough to take a picutre. It actually took two mommies, two nannies, and one fantastic, fast-action camera to get these pictures. It was the first time I used Paulo’s fancy camera for something like this and am quite proud of how the pictures turned out. 
Now I understand why child photographers make so much money!!!
Special thanks to Amira & Tate Valenza, our nanny Mina, Kiira Ghosn, her nanny Chintha, and Aidan Cauley for being such willing participants. And also to Jennifer Cauley and Paulo for all of their help.
http://www.valenzalife.com/flv/With%20the%20Kuwait%20Cousins.flv
Amira Meets Tate
She couldn’t have been any cuter!
Amira was extremely gentle and well behaved - thank God - as she held Tate for the first time. Enjoy these photos of Amira as she meets her baby brother for the first time. We’ve even included a short video for you to watch.
Even though this video is all about Amira meeting Baby Tate, half way through this song you’ll hear a great song called “Son of Mine”. This provides a perfect backdrop for a very tender moment as I hold Amira and Tate in my arms. Everything this song says is true for me and my new son. Thanks Ralston Bowls for such a great song!
Ralston is a personal friend of mine and you can learn more of Ralston’s great music by heading to site.
Amira Turns 2
How it goes fast. Hard to believe all that has happened in the past two years. As we celebrate our little girl’s big day we can’t stop thinking how much we have grown up in the past two years! We love Amira deeply and really wanted to do something special for Amira on her second birthday. And we did. It ended up being a great day with lots of friends, food, and trash?
Yeah, I had a great idea of having a party at a local park near Fintas. Lot’s of trees, green grass and a playground area. I wish I knew when the cleaners picked up all the garbage around the park. One would hope it would be constant - but I guess they had the day off or something. I just happened to swing by the park in the morning and discovered it was a landfill! Garbage everywhere! So I quickly went to the store and bought some cleaning gloves and trash bags. I managed to kind of clean the area where I thought we would be hanging out the most and then roped off our piece of land.
In general, it all worked out. We ended up having a great time. Ordered McD’s for lunch and just let the kids run around. The weather outside was gorgeous and the company of friends was great! Over all, despite the dirty park, I think everyone had a real nice time - and most of all Amira really enjoyed herself.
Happy Birthday Amira!
http://www.valenzalife.com/flv/Amira's%202nd%20Birthday.flv
You’ll find two great short videos I’ve posted. One is video footage taken from our new HD Canon video recorder and the other is a fancy slideshow of all the photos I took with my Canon D30. Hope you enjoy!
Amira Playing
Here’s a quick video that I shot of Amira playing at the mall. I shot it on my iPhone while I was watching her play. It’s actually two different days over the weekend. The first is her playing at the Avenues store called Borque. It has a giant play area - sandbox and all! The second location is another mall in Kuwait called Al-Kuwt where they have this little play area in the food court. She played for hours and finally in the last 15 minutes figured out how to climb up, go around, and down the slide! Glad I could get it on video.
http://valenzalife.com/flv/AmiraPlaying.flv
A Bit Confused…
So check this out. We bought Amira a bed for her baby doll. Or did we? She seems to think this is a mini bed for herself! Check out the pics below!
Imagination
Time and time again Amira would slide down playing her heart out. Every time up and down, I couldn’t help thinking what was going through her little mind. Fortunately, I had my handy iPhone with me to take some pictures of her playing. Later I decided to try and capture a child’s imagination. An imagination without boundaries, fairies, treehouses, kitties, and yes, sometimes with wings!
Download to see it in better detail.
[update] I’ve added some more photo’s of Amira playing at a local park.
Kiira and Amira
Here are some shots of Omar and Mira’s baby girl, Kiira, with Amira. Anytime Amira gets to be around her she is so excited. It’s fun to see her trying to baby Kiira. Leaves us with a taste of how she might be with her baby brother who is on the way. Hey you can even get a quick look at our huge Christmas tree! Wow! We went all out this year.
Ballerina & the Bee
My cousin Kiira and I dressed up for Halloween. I was a ballerina and she was a bumblebee. Together we went up and down the elevator collecting candy (for my parents). We had a great time. I was a bit startled by the fairy dressed in white, but he seemed nice enough.
Mina… my Nanny
This is a great picture of my nanny, Mina. She is great! All day long while mommy and daddy work she takes care of me.
Thank you Mina
Checking out the Heritage Sauq and Husain’s Carpets
Another fun day with my parents as they explored the Kuwaiti Heritage Sauq. As a birthday gift, Karin and I treated my mom to a Persian carpet. So we stopped by Husain the Carpet guy and let her pick out her very own carpet. As you can see, Amira enjoyed walking all over the many carpets.
Taking the Fam on a Dhow Ride
What a great day for heading out into the gulf. My parents had a nice time seeing Kuwait from a different perspective. Some teachers from our school where nice enough to set up this ride for us and other teachers. We had great catered food as we enjoyed the ride. Amira was very well behaved as she sat with grandma.
The best part was when my dad of 69 decided to jump in the water along with the other teachers. Way to go dad!
Sneak peak at my baby brother… but I still stole the show…
Today we all went to the doctors to look at my baby brother, although all we did was stare at a computer screen. The doctor kept pointing at the screen saying “look there’s his head”. I don’t know what he was thinking - that didn’t look like a head to me!
After that, Grandma and I walked downstairs in the lobby of the hospital. They had a nice Asian lady who was playing some kind of instrument with strings and sticks. She let me sit next to her and color. And then, she actually gave me the stick and I got to make music! It sounded really good.
Later Daddy told me this instrument is called a yangqin 扬琴 a Chinese hammered dulcimer.
Bath and Bubbles!
On my last night in Torin with Grandma gave me a fun bath. She gave me many baths at her house. It was always so fun. She would blow bubbles while I was in the tub! I love my Grandma!
Visiting my Grandparents in Italy
Yesterday mommy and I arrived in Torino, Italy to spend some time with my grandparents. This was a good day ’cause I also got to be with my daddy again after two weeks of him being gone in London. Actually, I don’t really remember my grandpa even though I guess he visited me in Kuwait when I was just a couple of months old. But this was a special week because I was meeting my grandma for the very first time! She’s really nice to me.
Today Grandpa and Grandma gave me two gifts. A big yellow tent with a tiger on it and a tape player with two microphones attached. I love playing with both. It took me a while to figure out how to use the tent and that I can put all of my other toys in it. And I love singing into my mics. It’s fun being at my grandparent’s place.
Amira and her cute face
Nothing better than just wasting time with Amira. So is very responsive now and I think is going to take up photography as a hobby. While daddy sure isn’t much to look at, Amira sure is cute!
The Arrival
http://www.valenzalife.com/flv/TheArrival.flvThis video depicts one of our most memorable and joyous days as a couple. The birth of our daughter Amira.
Edited for Karin’s 2nd Mother’s Day, this footage and our little girl celebrate 14 months. With the excitement of her entering this earth, every day we are even more in love with who she is becoming.
While this short film maybe should have been placed under Amira’s website, this is more so a reflection of Karin’s love and dedication as a mom and as a wife. A Mother’s Day gift from Paulo and Amira to express how much she means to us.
Amira Walks
http://valenzalife.com/flv/AmiraWalks.flvWell, there’s nothing to say. You just gotta watch it for yourself.
My best friend “King Tut”
Everyone needs a best friend. For our daughter, that’s our cat, King Tut. While friends are better when it’s mutual, at least Amira has someone to play with … right? As weird as Tut is, he actually does a pretty good job with Amira. It’s been good for her to learn the meaning of “gentle”.
While I am not one for posting blurry photos, I thought these were too cute to pass up! And there are definitely some keepers in the mix.
Daddy Let’s Amira Do Anything
Okay, in my defense… Amira was digging through an unpacked box and came across my pipe which was a gift from my friend Dave. Now the minute she started playing with it, I just had to grab my camera which was readily available. So the myth is that Daddy let’s Amira get away with anything, well, we’ll see.
Celebrating the BIG 1
It was a week of celebration! And I got to eat lots and lots of cake!!! The first time was with cupcakes and chicken nuggets at the American Embassy of Kuwait. The second time was with The Amira Cake, friends and family at our apartment. Here are the pics of me turning One Year Old!!
