A day of firsts

Yesterday was a big day for the Mickle kids, lots of firsts for them. Lily had her first bite of lobster, she liked it and ate quite a bit, as well as her veggies. Oliver had his first bowl of rice cereal, and his first taste of formula, and none too soon at that. This morning Greg found Olivers first tooth! yes, the teething has started, and we weren't really ready for it. He is growing up so fast, I am not really prepared for it all yet. I lover his gummy smile, I don't want to give it up yet, but it isn't up to me. He is early on the teeth thing, but maybe he stepped it up so that he could eat the things that Lily tries to feed him! Who knows.

We are having a great time at Nana and Papas house, playing with the dogs and getting spoiled by Nana and Papa. Greg and I are getting spoilt as well, we are taking advantage of the baby sitting and taking little trips out of the house by ourselves.

Sibling Love

Lily likes to lay on the floor in front of Rocky

Lily showing Oliver how to play with his toys

This is Lily's new ride

Oliver taking his first bite of cereal! (just in time too)

Lily being introduced to her dinner

here we are in New Hampshire!

We made it, every one of us, no one got left behind in an airport (lucky for them). The kids did relatively well on the trip back to the states, all things considering. We woke them up at 11 pm to start our trip, arrived at the Dammam airport, checked in and walked right on the plane, thankfully. Oliver fell asleep on takeoff and slept awhile longer, but Lily had a harder time. Greg finally got her to rest in her chair, and she slept for a few hours. We arrived in Frankfurt 6 hour later and had a lot of time to kill before our flight left for Boston. Thankfully our double stroller was handed to us at the gate, so we didn't have three bags and two kids to carry, we could push some of our load! This was difficult because by the end of our 6 hour layover we were tired of running after Lily and just ready for a nap! We got on our full flight to Boston and breathed a sigh of relief that the last leg of our journey had started. The kids did well on this flight, Oliver napped in the baby bassinet, and Lily napped on Greg. Thankfully we had a seat for Lily as well, so we didn't feel so cramped. We were really glad to land in Boston, where the kids did really well as we cleared customs and got our luggage. All our bags made it, I think we did really well in that department, 2 car seat bags, 1 pack and play bag, 1 duffle, 2 big suitcases, and 1 small suitcase! Plus two backpacks and a diaper bag that were carried on. Thankfully Nana and Papa met us with the truck. We were very excited to see Nana and Papa and Auntie Kellie at the end of our journey. When we got the kids into the car seats and gave them a snack they passed out!

It is good to be back home in the states!

Moving

The movers are gone, and so is all our stuff, except for the small mountain of suitcases we have upstairs to take on the plane. These guys were very efficient, two days and they are done, and that includes taking an hour lunch break and stopping to pray every few hours. I was impressed, I didn't think I would be. Almost everything got wrapped in paper, and either boxed, wrapped in bubble wrap, or a combination of the two! They built boxes for things like Gregs grill and the rockers... I am glad that it is over, I am tired out, all that supervising running after Lily and Oliver, who were being watched by Chari most of the time, I only showed up to feed Oliver! It was great not to have to worry about them.

I had a wonderful going away coffee this morning, and like I said then, I don't think I am going to miss Saudi, but I am going to definitely miss my friends. Friends are what makes this place bearable, because all you have here is friends and shopping, and the shopping you have to do around prayer times!

Lily and her Daddy (with her Mum and Oliver in the background) We are waiting for the movers to show up

Greg took this cute picture of Oliver

Greg and his grill, like the pack job!

They had to pack the boxes on little trucks and take them out of the compound and then load them onto the big truck

They really load up the trucks

Just checking in

I am taking a minute to update everyone, the movers are here! YAY I am typing this blog to the sound of paper crinkling and tape being unrolled, what beautiful sounds :) Can you tell I am glad that they are here?!? The kids went over to the neighbors house for a while and the packers jumped right in! Hopefully it all wont take too long, they seem pretty efficient. When they got here it was like this is really happening, we are really out of here in three days! Can you believe it, I couldn't until now. Well I had better get back to overseeing! What Greg and I do best!

The countdown begins

In a week from now we will be on plane headed to Boston! We have our tickets and our itinerary, we have the dates for the movers to come, and I think we are ready for the busy week ahead. I haven't started to stress out about moving yet, I think if I start thinking about it too much, then I won't be able to stop and I will drive us all crazy. So for now I am looking forward to having someone else come in and pack up my house, moving to Australia, and getting to spend time in the US with loved ones, and letting loved ones get to know my children. What I am dreading as much as humanly possible is getting on the plane with my kids! I used to like flying, and now I want to postpone it for as long as possible. I just have to keep thinking that it is only 24 hours out of my life, that it won't be the end of the world if my kids fall apart on the trip home, that maybe they will be great and I am dreading the trip for no reason (I secretly hope this is what will happen), and lastly that there are wonderful people waiting for us when we arrive!

So for our last weekend in Saudi we are going to stick close to home, maybe go swimming, and take it easy, and get together with friends in the evenings to say our goodbyes. On Saturday I will start packing our suitcases making sure I have everything I could want or need, and maybe running any errands that have been left to do. Sunday will be a continuation of Saturday. Monday will bring the movers and Lily and Oliver will be living at someone else's house for awhile! Tuesday will be more movers and a going away coffee for me. Wednesday the movers will be done (with any luck), we will have a quiet day saying goodbye, have one last happy hour with friends and we will head out to the airport at midnight to start our journey home! That is our plan for the next week, we will see how it really evolves.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from us to you. We hope that everyone has a great day today and drinks lots of beer for us! We all remembered to wear our green today, we hope you remembered too! I love this holiday because it doesn't ask a lot of you, just that you wear a bit of green and drink a beer and if you are lucky, listen to some great live music somewhere, and have a great visit with friends.

Quad biking in the desert!

Over the last weekend (aka Friday) we went out to this spot along the waterfront a little ways out of town to go quad biking. We went in the morning to try and beat the heat, yeah right! By the time we were through it was well into the 90's! It is getting hot here fast. Lily did a really good job keeping her hat on, something we are working on. We went with a few other family's and had an altogether great time! Lily didn't know what to make of it all when Greg took her for a rider until she saw David, then she figured if he liked it then it must be okay! We are so glad that we were able to fit this experience into our time here in Saudi.

Lily and David on their own quad (don't worry, it is only for a pose!)

Lily and her Daddy

Even Oliver got to go for a little ride

Lily and her Mommy

After a morning in the sun it is nap time all around

Good and Tired

Pics from the park

My friend Ina (who takes fantastic pictures) took a few pictures the other day in the park. Here are a few shots that she got of us. I love her photos! I am going to try and get a session in with her to take pictures of Lily and Oliver, and Lily and David (her 'first friend' here).

Oliver and Qasir hanging out in their strollers

Lily with Oliver in the background, this picture is my favorite

A picture of me, something that I normally don't see (as I am usually the one snapping the pictures)

In other news we are going to try to go quad biking on the sand dunes this weekend, that should be a lot of fun.

The move is starting to take shape, we have had the movers in to give us quotes, and all the information is in for the visas, so now we wait. When the visas are through then we will make our tickets and have the movers come and things will happen very fast. I am trying not to stress out too much yet, but I am trying to be a little organized and set things apart that I want to take to the states, finish my shopping here, finish some projects...

On the baby front, Oliver is growing so fast, he is working very hard on moving, he gets his butt right up in the air and gives a good push. He is so cute, I can't wait to share him with everyone! He is making a lot of baby noises, trying to reach and grab for things, he follows Lily very well and likes to watch her. Lily is doing great, she loves her outside time, I bought her a bubble gun that she thinks is the greatest thing ever, besides her brother who she has to check in on every morning. I am so glad that they love each other so well and can only hope that it stays this way!