Our days

Lily and I have fallen into a new routine now that there are more people back in the compound.  Our mornings are still pretty much the same; wake up between 6 and 6:30 and go downstaris to have a morning snack and make Gregs lunch, then we play for a while, have breakfast, play again, sometimes watch TV, (teletubbies is entertaining to us so we watch this when we are a little grumpy) Then we have a snack around 9 and take our morning nap.  Lily is still getting bottles at nap time, but in a week (with luck) we wont be having any more bottles during the day, I just need to get a few more sippy cups.  I have decided that all drinks will be in sippy cups from now on, including formula, I just need to get a few more of them!  We will have to see about the bed time bottle, I think that I am going to let Greg take the lead on that one because he is the one giving it to her.  But with luck the bottle thing will be over before Christmas which is great!  

Lily wakes up from her morning nap between 10:30 and 11.  I go up and get her and we play upstairs until lunch time, which is right at noon.  With all meals Lily is getting cows milk, and she seems to be doing very well with it.  At snack times she gets juice, and at any time during the day she can have water.  After lunch we play for awhile, maybe take a walk to our little store here if we need anything, or go visiting.  She naps in the afternoon from around 2 to 4.  

Here is the new part, around 5 we go to the swimming pool for an hour.  The sun is low enough that it isn't shining in the pool, so it is usually cooler.  Lily loves our pool time, we have been going for the last week, and every day she gets more comfortable in the water and a bit more adventurous.  There is a baby pool, and she walks around the edges holding on, sometimes she will let go and walk to me (I usually sit in the middle of the pool) if she falls it is too deep for her to crawl, but she has figured out that she can kneel and her head is still out of the water.  yesterday she was working on going from the kneel to standing.  I will put a toy on the bottom of the pool, and she will reach down and grab it!  We put her floating thing in with her, and she grabs in and walks around the pool.  In the big pool we practice floating on our backs, she fights this after about 30 seconds, she likes to be able to see what is going on around her.  The last few days Greg came with us (weekend time) and we sent Lily down the slide, she loved this and wanted to keep doing it!  she has no problem going under the water.  Greg held her and they jumped in, this was also a hit to her.  We threw her back and forth between us, dipping her under as we caught her, and she just turned in our arms and pushed off of us to go again.  She is a water nut.  I am hoping that she learns to float soon.  

We come home around 6, wind down a bit and eat at 6:30, she is usually pretty tired out from the pool, so sometimes we eat a little earlier, then our bath time and bed time.  She is down by 7:30 normally, and out soon after that.  

Lily is still eating pretty well, we have more snack times during the day to compensate for less formula.  Sometimes at dinner she doesn't eat as well, which usually means she will want a bottle around 5 the next morning.  If she eats really well the next morning bottle doesn't happen which is what I like.  

All in all we are doing really well here.  We are looking forward to Monday, when we are going on a little holiday!  The doctor said that I could travel for 2 more weeks, and two days later Greg had us booked on a plane!  He is really excited.  We are going to go to Cyprus for a few days, more pools, sun, no abayas or Ramadan, also there is beer and bacon for Greg!  We are all looking forward to it.

Happy Ramadan

It is Ramadan (a month long fast) in the Muslim community right now, and in many countries this doesn't change the way most non muslims go about their days.  But Saudi Arabia is different, everything here changed a week ago with the start of Ramadan.  During the day stores are closed, making it almost impossible to get things if you need them (or want them).  When you go out, even if you are non muslim, there is no food or drink, including water-this is hard for me as I am drinking a lot of water all day long right now.  I guess babies and pregnant women can drink water.  When it started Greg had a transitional period at work, right away there were problems.  The working hours of Muslims is from 8 - 2, meaning 9 to 1.  This makes it hard for me to complain about my internet going down from noon to 7ish every day!  If you want anything done you had better catch people in the mornings.  The grocery stores are still running at relatively normal hours, but the only time the rest of the stores are guaranteed to be open is after 8pm!  Not very ideal for us.  This last week Lily and I pretty much stayed home, just going out for our doctors appointments.  This week we will be going on vacation, so that will be halfway through this craziness.  But when we get back I will have to venture out to pick up some essentials (like new sippy cups).  One really nice thing is that we have a great little mini market on compound now, he is very well stocked, and you can order things he doesn't have to be delivered the next day.  He keeps the essentials though, this includes diapers which is great for us!  

So Happy Ramadan to all!

Here is the Cake!

I made Lily's first birthday cake at home, out of a box, but I still made it, and I also came to the conclusion that I am most definitely not a baker.  My first attempt ended up in little crumbly pieces!  I have never seen a cake do what this one did to me.  I took it out of the oven, let it cool, turned it out onto a rack to cool completely, and when I came back it had gone through the rack and was in tiny pieces!  I was going to cut out a cute number one out of a cake and frost it, after that little mishap I decided that if I get a cake out at all and frosted that it would be good enough!  I think I need a little practice, too bad Greg doesn't eat cake, no one to practice on.  

Lily is getting into the unwrapping of things!

All the cakes lined up

What do I do with this?

You want me to what?

Okay, No Problem!!!

So as you can see Lily did indeed get into the swing of things, and she made a HUGE mess.  She had fun, most of the cake ended up in her chair, on the floor, everywhere but her mouth.  She did eat some of it though, She liked the cake part, but not the icing part (sounds like Jordyn).  She had too much of it all though, as we found out a few hours later when she spit up on me.  Poor girl.

Happy Birthday Lily!

A few days ago Lily turned one!  Can you believe it, she has been with us for a year, it doesn't seem that long, and at the same time I can barely remember life without her.  We had a BBQ with friends to help us celebrate this special day.  Lily had a great time, lots of people around to watch and hold her and help entertain her.  Plus the paper to rip off presents and kids around to help and play with.  

Lily got lots of presents, among them an Elmo doll (to annoy Greg), a Puppy dog doll that sings songs when different parts are pushed, a wooden puzzle, wooden blocks that she likes to throw, her walker toy that will help her learn to walk, a toy computer, and a toy phone that she pushes around the house, some bath toys, and a little bike/trike.  Oh, and I gave her a little wallet filled with old cards, this is a hit, she likes to open it and pull the cards out, It will live in my purse, and hopefully she wont go for my wallet anymore! (wishful thinking I am sure)  She seems to enjoy all of the presents, thank you all so much.  

We are waiting for the cards and gifts sent from the states, I will let everyone know when they arrive.  This is good though, more paper for Lily to rip in the upcoming days, she will enjoy it.  I have come to the conclusion that having something wrapped in tissue paper is a good thing, it keeps her very occupied.

Dad gave Lily a play computer, both my babies working hard!

My little girl, walking with her new walker toy, more like running!

Lily with her new friend David, they are only 3 months apart and will be good friends.

Lily, presents, and helpers!

Lily playing with the older kids and her tent and tunnel.

A year ago

I can't believe that a year ago I brought Lily home for the first time.  I have been thinking back a year for a few days now, remembering the anticipation of meeting her, and the worries and questions about bringing home someone so little and so dependent on you.  

I remember being worried that she wouldn't sleep, or we wouldn't get the feeding thing right...  the sleeping thing was never really a problem, thankfully, and it still isn't, what a good girl!  The feeding thing wasn't anything to worry about either for us, she knew exactly what to do, and when she was hungry, she let me know and all I had to do was listen.  Then I was worried that she wouldn't take to a bottle, and that she would be dependent on me and Greg would never get that moment with her when she is eating.  This turned out to be another unnecessary worry.  Now that Lily is a year old I am worried about getting her off the bottle, and I am really hoping that this worry will be unfounded as well.  We are working hard at this, down to 3-4 bottles a day, and she gets them mostly when she is getting ready for nap time, or if we are out and about during her nap time, when she can really fall apart if she gets tired enough.  We won't be going out much this next month, (Ramadan - nothing is open except for the grocery stores!) so this is the perfect time to cut them out.  I am hoping that by Christmas she will be on sippy cups and working her way to real cups only.  We will see.  

A year ago I also remember wondering about the diaper thing when I brought her home, what to do if she gets sick, if she will get my allergies or not, Gregs skin or not.  Oh, and the worst worry of all, what if she has colic like I did.  What was I going to do then.  Thankfully you figure the diaper thing out, although that is an ever changing evolution.  At first the baby just lies there, but after a few months they squirm and you work a little harder, then they learn how to turn over, and that isn't very fun in the middle of a poopy diaper change.  But the worst, and where we are right now, is the running away phase.  Lily starts running as soon as she sees the new diaper, then again when you get the old one off, so you have to catch her and try to make her stay still on her back while you try to get the new diaper on her one handed!  The other hand is trying to hold her still.  The what to do if she gets sick is still a worry for me, she really hasn't been sick yet.  She gets cranky from teeth, and she ran a fever and had a bad rash once, and thats about it.  I am hoping that will be it for a while yet.  Lily has shown signs of allergies, but the body rash has disappeared, not to return yet, so we are hoping that it was something in the air and or carpets/couches that is gone now.  She does have a patch of eczema, this was confirmed by the doctor yesterday.  She doesn't know if it is allergies or just dry skin.  She didn't seem too worried about it though.  So I won't worry about it either, I am just sorry that she has it to begin with.  

Lily checked out pretty good at her one year checkup.  She weighs 19.5 pounds, and is in the 25% range on both her weight and height.  This is good because it means she is proportional.  Poor Lily then got three shots, one of them was a regular flu shot, I need to see if I need to get one on Tuesday.  The doctor said that developmentally she is right where she needs to be.  I need to work on her trying to eat with a spoon, I need to begin weaning her from the bottle, we need to try and teach her a few words, and practice the walking thing, oh and give her vitamin drops which I haven't been doing yet.  The doctor also said that this is the time she will start to throw tantrums, and to ignore them, she may become a picky eater as she is more interested in the world than her food, try to get her to eat anyway, try to discourage her from sticking her finger up her nose (I find this hard, I tell her no, and move her finger away and she thinks its a game, I think ignoring it is going to work better but I don;t really know) Oh, and that her molars are moving in already!  

Last night she had a few bites with the spoon on her own, I put the food on it but she got it to her own mouth on her own.  She likes the idea of walking now, and is starting to let go of things when I prompt her to come to me a few steps away.  She will take a few steps, very wobbly, and fall into my arms.  I think she likes the reaction Greg and I give her when she does this, lots of praise, hugs and kisses.  She looks so proud.  She also loves her birthday toy, a walker that she pushes and walks behind.  She goes really fast with this until she runs it into a wall or chair.  It is really cute because she also makes a vroom sound as she walks behind it.  

I am working on getting the pictures on my computer today from her party, so I will blog about that later!

I don't really have a title

Just an update from Saudi.  I am now on facebook, and for those of you who are my friends I have no idea what I am doing with it!  It is very confusing to me.  I signed up for it, put in a little info, added some people I knew who had it, and it sort of grew out of that, like a monster with a mind of its own!  I guess I  just don't really understand it.  Its like you can have all these little conversations with lots of different people and only see bits and pieces of it?  I don't know.  I definitely like the blog better for keeping people updated on our family and progress etc...We are getting ready for Lily's first birthday, I can't believe that it has been a year already.  She is doing really well, a very curious little girl, who knows when the stair gate is open and she can climb them, and has discovered my plants and likes to get into them and put the dirt all over the floor.  Usually just after the floors have been cleaned too!  

I have a maid coming twice a week, a total of 8 hours.  She is very efficient, and Lily loves having her here.  I love it too, I don't have to worry about laundry or the floors, two things that I hate doing.  

We just got new couches, well they are the old ones recovered.  Greg and I chose stripes, we weren't sure how they would turn out, but it ends up that we really like them.  they look smaller than the old ones which were a solid red.  

It is still very hot and humid here right now, net month I am told it will start to cool off.  

I will put birthday pics up this weekend, so stay tuned!

A few cute pictures

Here are a few pictures recently taken in Saudi of our new home and of Lily.

Here is Lily sitting on the only step she can get to, she loves to sit there though!

Here is Lily in her crib, she loves standing and bouncing in here!  Thanks again Jeff and Sydney!

This is what Lilys room (and most of the other rooms in the house) looked like 2 weeks ago, I am happy to report it looks a lot better now.

Here is Lily playing with the gates, she likes to do this too, I need to make sure I remember to latch them!

This was my worst room/project, it lasted the longest, but now all but 2 boxes are gone!  

A long lost post

Sorry to all who are loyal checkers of this blog that there has been no new information being posted!!  I have been very bad at updating it and letting everyone know what ha been going on in our lives.  I feel busy all the time, but things are getting done slowly, possibly because more of my time is going to playing with Lily than ever before.  She is doing very well now, but still slowly adjusting to only having one other person around to entertain her and see to all her wants and whims right away.  Lets begin at the beginning of our time back in Saudi, Lily did extremely well on the trip home considering all the travel involved.  Mum dropped us off at the airport in Minneapolis on a Monday-July 13th.  Tearful goodbyes all around, we are going to miss Grams!  We landed in Boston a little late due to a delay in Milwaukee.  All the flights were full on this trip, and Lily only fell asleep at the very end of each leg, just in time to land!  We stayed with Kellie and Dennis in Boston for the night, and Nana, Papa, Joslyn, Kelly, and Aunt Pamila came down to see us for the day while we were there.  We went for lunch, and had a nice walk to a park where Lily was entertained with the swings.  We went back to the airport that afternoon for our long leg across the ocean to Amsterdam.  Again tearful goodbyes, it was nice to have a little break in the long trip!  We were lucky and got 2 seats, so Lily fell asleep soon after the plane was in the air, and stayed that way for most of the trip, Lucky me!!  We arrived in Amsterdam, and checked into what is called a Yotel, a hotel in the airport that you can check into for as little as 4 hours for 39 euros.  This was excellent, we had our own little space, and it is little, I turned all the lights out and we stretched out on the bed and both fell asleep, me for an hour, Lily for longer.  I also got to take a shower, and we were feeling human again before getting on the next flight to Bahrain.  Again we got an extra seat, Lily behaved relatively well, napping on and off, and Greg was waiting for us at the airport after we collected our bags.  The only bag to not make it through was Lily's car seat!  The one bag that is most important!  I guess that is the way it works, and considering all the bags we travel with and how much we have done so far, misplacing a bag was bound to happen.  We did get it back though.

Back in Saudi Lily got right back on her sleeping schedule, so thankfully I got right back on schedule as well.  A few days later Lily ran her first fever, and we had a few cranky days, and soon after that a little rash that she had had spread all over her body, and creeped up into her face.  I made her a doctors apt. the same day I was going for my check up.  The doctor thinks it is some sort of allergy, and I hate that.  She is good now, her appetite is back, and she is less moody.  The rash is almost all gone, and when it is I will stop the antihistamines and see what may cause the reaction.  I have strong doubts that it is a food allergy, most likely environmental.  

I have been busy unpacking boxes and setting up the house, doing lots of laundry and ironing, and a little cleaning.  I hate cleaning the floors, it is the worst for me!  Yesterday we got some pictures hung up downstairs, so the house is starting to take shape and look like a home.  I still have a few boxes to put away, but only about 5 left!  I can see the end of the unpacking, sorting and organizing process YAY.

The doctor confirmed the sex of the baby, it is going to be a boy, he is sure of it.  We are excited!  Now we are trying to come up with a list of names that we like.  It is a little disappointing to know what it is before hand, we had wanted to wait and have a surprise again like with Lily, but it is also good to know for sure because of the speculation that it was going to be a boy, we didn't want to gear up for one thing and get another!  Everything is looking good according to the doctor, the baby is growing and developing just fine.  

Well that is it for now, Lily is waking up from her morning nap so I had better go be Mommy.