About our in-house pharmacy, among other things

Not sure how it happened, but I have over the time that we've been living in Doha, stocked up on a myriad of medication that I'm pretty sure, is on par with the pharmacy down the road. Cold? I have several kinds of anti-histamines, decongestants, nasal sprays and drops ... take your pick. A cough? No problem! I have many cough syrups, sedating and non-sedating, propolis based. Sore throats? Here, have some lozenges. Yipee ... I have different flavours, try them all. Not working? Here, try this throat gargle ... or maybe this one? And that is only the tip of the ice-berg ... or just one drawer, I have a cabinet upstairs that is stuffed, ready to spill out any time.

This is not to say, we ... this family of three, are a sick lot. In fact, aside from the three of us battling the end of a cold ( I hope), we're pretty healthy. Johan is simply dumbfounded by the amount of medicine we possess ..hey, me too! It's not like I go shopping for medicine on a regular basis but these are medicine that have been prescribed over the years by the doctors, vitamins and supplements given to me by my mother dearest, supplements left over from my pre, peri and post pregnancy days. And it doesn't help when pharmacies here are just bursting with their wide selection. I find myself going straight to the pharmacy instead of a doctor to self medicate. I know that's not such a good practise, but there's usually a chemist who seems to know what he's saying.

Until Johan met me, he didn't even take a panadol (aka common painkiller), a vitamin or a supplement. He was always raised to believe that everything he needed was from eating well and exercising ... basically having a balanced lifestyle. Wow, how wonderful is that? I have to say, we can all learn from that mentality and I try consciously to practise that too.

So before the weekend came, I was supposed to clear out the medicine drawer and the cabinet and do some organising, while Johan went through the drawer of tools (hammer, screw driver, nails ... and yes, those are essentially the only three things he has in his tool drawer. I'm NOT kidding!) I don't fault him for being un-handy ... but it's just funny because I remember how my dad always had his tool box, and was very, very proud and even possessive of it. Anyway, that was the little 'To Do' over the weekend but hey, the weekend is over and nothing was done. A pity! Well, next weekend ... we'll do it,we'll try ... we'll think about it.

By the way, remember what the school nurse advised me to get? A HUMIDIFIER? I actually bought it. Talk about eating my own words, literally. Honestly, we only got it because Sera has been sleeping so badly, waking up many times during the night because of her very congested nasal passage that we resorted to buying it. I mean, our sleep has been bad these few weeks, so much so that even Johan didn't put up a fight when I suggested buying one. He even chose the one we currently own. So you see, I do not exaggerate the situation ... we needed some solution and thus the purchase of a hideous-looking contraption called a humidifier. It has not worked miracles, Sera woke up twice instead of five but she's breathing better these past two nights.

Ha ha, I can't believe I've dragged you all into my little boring world of medicine and humidifiers ... oh, not forgetting Johan's little tool box. Anywhere, have a great week ahead. Keep healthy!

I was contemplating taking a photo of my medicine drawer and cabinet but I thought that went a bit too far, yah? So here is Sera having her teeth brushed. She doesn't do it herself yet. I usually try in vain to brush her teeth in the morning and Johan is more successful at night.

See how Sera clamps her mouth shut. I get that all the time from her! But see how Johan squeezes her cheek? Ha ha. A little brute force is necessary sometimes.