“Who are those guys?” – you might wonder. I did post about the beginning of our life together HERE, but that’s all that some of you know about us so far. So in order to introduce our family a bit better, I’ve decided to entertain you with some trivia. Enjoy!
1. Before Khaled met me, he was positive that he will never get married.
A bit unusual, right? Especially for someone of his origin and cultural background. Why did he think that? There actually was a pretty simple explanation. He thought he’s just too picky and decided he’d rather stay single than marry someone only because people expect him to do it. He only told me all this after our wedding. My ego grew significantly. 🙂
2. During my high school years, I had a summer job working as an English translator at the local Police Headquarters.
Ah, Gdańsk, my gorgeous home town! I’m a local patriot, big time. Tourists seem to like Gdańsk as well, so my translator work was never boring. I had to deal with everything from misbehaving drunken foreign sailors to naughty Englishmen getting naked in public. 😀 Still consider this as the most entertaining job I’ve ever landed.
3. I am a book lover, not really keen on movies. Khaled is a movie lover, not really keen on books.
I still remember how I told everyone that I’ll never date a guy who doesn’t enjoy reading. Major plot twist: I ended up marrying one and he’s awesome! Which doesn’t change the fact that this has been one of the biggest challenges early in our relationship. 🙂 It also taught us both a lot about understanding and respecting each other’s differences.
4. When I was pregnant with Danny, we were fairly sure that he will come out looking like a miniature copy of Adam.
However, as soon as I held the little one in my arms it became clear that they are NOTHING like each other. Visually, Adam is a spitting image of his Dad while Danny is a copy-paste of Mama. Danny is already a big boy (I mean, like, BIG 😀 ), while Adam is (and has always been) on a slim side. Adam has always been a picky eater, while Danny devours everything we put in front of him. Danny hates naps but sleeps through the night like a boss, while for Adam naps that lasted for 3 hours were the norm. The list goes on… One thing they both have in common is being an equally awesome addition to our family. 🙂
5. When Adam was little, people often mistook him for a girl.
If I got a dollar (or Qatari riyal, or Polish zloty) every time someone told me that “my baby girl is so cute!”, I would be a very rich woman now. At some point, I stopped being bothered and simply answered with a smile and a “thank you”. Funny thing is, nobody even asked about the gender – they all just assumed he must be a “she”. 😀 This streak of confusion ended somewhere around Adam’s 2nd birthday.
6. In January 2018 we spontaneously decided to run 10k as a part of Doha Ooredoo Marathon, which we both completed with surprisingly good results.
I ran short distances frequently, but I don’t think I’d ever run 10k before, so it was a pretty crazy idea! That was my last significant sports achievement before discovering I’m pregnant with Danny, a month later. 🙂
7. I never officially announced my 2nd pregnancy at work.
The only person I informed about it was my line manager. Instead of announcing it, I made things awkward for everyone by letting them guess whether I’m pregnant or just fat. Some people hadn’t realized what’s happening until I actually left for maternity leave! Or maybe they were just too scared to ask…
8. We moved back to Poland in 2019 planning to settle down, but only lasted for 8 months!
After my Dad passed away, Mom was considering selling the house I grew up in. That made me sad. In the end, I’ve had 20+ years of memories connected with that place. Khaled saved the day and proposed that instead of selling, we could divide the house into two separate apartments and move in. Our apartment is amazing, but we missed life in Qatar so much that ended up moving back after less than a year!
9. We are really keen on eventually settling down in Portugal.
One short trip back in 2017 and we both fell in love with this country and consider it to be a perfect place for our family. We plan to discover it more as soon as it’s safe to travel again. The move itself won’t happen in the nearest future, but we’re hoping to shift around the time when Alex is big enough to start school.
10. We have three boys, while my brother and his wife have two girls.
We’re happy to announce that despite the language barrier, our kids love playing with each other. It’s also the subject of many jokes in our family. We often mention that we should try swapping our offspring from time to time!
