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

It has been awhile... again

And here I thought that I was doing so well at updating the blog, then all of a sudden nothing for 2 weeks! I am sorry. There isn't much to tell, not much is new in our day to day lives, we are just waiting to find out when our Visas might be done so that we can start to figure out travel plans. The fun part is planning the travel and thinking about everyone we get to see. The reality of the travel is the not so fun part, but there is that wonderful reward of seeing loved ones at the end of it that makes it all worth it!

Greg is still working hard here in Saudi, on his current job here, thinking and feeling out his new job in Oz, working on the visas, doing the fun legwork of looking at possible houses online... He keeps very busy and we love the weekends when he leaves his computer off (this rarely happens though!) I give him a lot of crap for working so hard, but it is his job, he is good at it, he (mostly) enjoys it, and he takes great care of us, so I often end up taking back the crap I give him in the first place.

I am trying to enjoy the time that I have left with someone to take care of the housework for me, and help watch kids when I have shopping or a coffee to go to, or just to have someone stay in with Oliver while he is sleeping if Lily wants to go outside. Right now we are all a bit spoiled, everyone getting what they want pretty much right away.

I made Lily play-dough yesterday, and she seems to like the way it feels when she smashes her hands in it. She hasn't put any in her mouth yet, but it is home made, so when she does at least I know what is in it. This is more than I can say for the sand that she likes to put in her mouth outside right now. I think she likes the grittiness of it when she crunches it in her teeth. She is doing really well, mastering a few words at a time. When she wakes up in the morning she says juice first thing, you can see where her priorities are. Greg is amazed at how much liquid Lily can pull in in one day! Lily still loves to go outside, and she will grab your hand and pull you to the door if you are ready or not. She expects to see her friend David (aka DeDe) at the park, so as she is headed for the door she says pak (park) Dede! David and lily are great friends, and we are going to miss the Lopez's very much when we leave. They are so cute together the way they recognize one another, tell each other important things in their toddler language and play together.

Oliver is growing so fast! I can hardly believe it, and as he grows and gets older he is happier to be on is own a bit more, which saves my back! He still sleeps on his tummy, and he still sleeps all night. He wakes up as the happiest little boy in the morning, but this morning was special because he was on his back when I went in to pick him up! So he flipped (or rolled) sometime last night or this morning! We are so proud. He hasn't done it since, and I have been watching and waiting for it, but there it is, he can roll now so we have to be extra careful where we set him down. He is starting to take little naps during the day again, much to my relief!

Both the kids got shots last week, Lily got her 18 month checkup and shots, she is right on. She weighs 22 pounds, and is in the 25% on both weight and height. Oliver weighs 17 pounds, and he is in the 90% on weight, and the 50% on height. He is a big boy.

That is it for now, Later in the day I will try and post a few pictures for everyone to see.

not much going on

We are still doing great here in Saudi, nothing ever really changes. We are loving having our maid, Chari, who is very helpful in all aspects of our household lives. She takes a lot of stress off of me, and Lily and Oliver seem to adore her, as do I! We all have little colds right now, they will be gone soon though with luck. We are ready for some warmer weather here, and I have a feeling it will arrive soon. I just don't want it to get too hot too soon. Oliver is growing up so fast, Lily too. She tries to put her croks on, but can't quite get them on yet, so she moves on to my shoes and walks around the house in them. She found bath crayons the other day, and had a blast in the bath with them, the water went cold before I got her out. She adores Oliver too, trying to climb on him and give him kisses all the time. She wants to include him in her meal time, tries to feed him cheerios and popcorn. Such a good big sister. Oliver loves to watch her. They are going to be great friends.

Lily found her bath crayons!

Beautiful art isn't it!

Lily is helping Oliver drink

There are the babies!

What do you think is going on in that head?

Lily wearing my shoes

Lets play catch up!

Here are the last few photos that I took in January of the kids! My network went down for about a week, so I wasn't able to update anything! It drives me crazy when things don't work like they should! I am back at it now though, but I had wanted to put these photos up sooner. Lily and Oliver are doing great! Lily is learning new things all the time and she is getting so big, turning into such a little girl! The words that she knows now are Mama, Dada, bebe (baby), peas (please), dede (David), Baba (I think this one is supposed to be brother as she says it as she climbs over him to give him kisses!) Byebye, and she has a Lily way of saying morning. She likes to go out, it drives her crazy to be in the house all day. I still force her into taking a nap during the day, she doesn't always like it, but she always needs it!

Oliver is such a great little boy. He usually only takes one nap during the day as well, but if I am lucky it is a nice long nap! My children don't sleep during the day! Help! Sometimes he will take a cat nap as well. I am sure his habits will change as he grows. He likes sitting in his walker and lets Lily push him around. He isn't as photogenic as Lily is/was but I think I got a few good shots of him for the site. He is a big boy, he likes to be up and looking around. He also loves to be held!

Oliver in his walker

There is a smile for everyone!

Lily and her little friend David

Just look at that face!

Oh so much better (don't you just love the hair)

Lily zonked on her high chair during lunch (this is a very rare incident)

Lily and Oliver, she is going in for a kiss

Uh Oh!

Pushing Oliver around (she is going to be doing it the rest of her life!)

Oliver Charles Mickle

Oliver Charles Mickle was born a week ago, Saturday October 24, at 1:02 pm. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces, and was 20 inches long. We are so happy that he is here finally! He is perfectly healthy, he was born with his cord around his neck, so he came out looking very blue then purple. His face remained a bit purple for a few days, and his eyes are still a bit bloodshot, otherwise he is perfect. We brought him home on the 25th, and Greg was home for a week to help adjust, start all the baby paperwork involved, and to bond with our little boy.

Lillian is doing very well with Oliver, she is adjusting to having him around. He is a novelty, and she wants to poke at him. She checks in on him when he is in his pack and play. She doesn't yet understand gentle, so we are very careful when he is within her reach. So far so good. We still go out to the park almost everyday, and we go for walks, mainly to our little store on the compound about once a day. As long as we are still going out Lily seems to do okay. While Greg was still home we ran errands, went to the mall and a doctors apt. Tested out our new double stroller, it is very large, but it works very well. Lily seems to like being in the front, but she doesn't really like riding in it around the compound, she would rather walk!

Oliver is a very good eater and sleeper, it seems that is all he does. A few nights he gets up early in the morning and doesn't want to be put down, but so far I think we are lucky. He really lets out a cry if he is hungry and you aren't fast enough in settling down to feed him, but that is the only time he really gets upset so far. He takes a lot longer to eat than Lily did, and he doesn't burp as well as she did, but he does spit up a lot more than she did. He has already shown us that we have to be careful while changing him, he peed on the wall for Greg already, and he peed on Levi when she changed hi one day! His facial features are already changing from the first day when he was born, when his face seemed very flat to me!

Greg and I are realizing how easy it was with just one baby, and how much more work it is with two now! My toughest times come when Oliver is eating and Lillian wants something and I can't do both at the same time!

Here are a few pictures, there are more posted on Picasa

Lily meeting Oliver at the hospital, she wants to give him a hug!

Lily peeking in on Oliver

Oliver Charles, just a few hours old

Oliver and happy Mum

Oliver and his proud Daddy

How Cute am I

Lily climbed between under the coffee table this morning, and I just thought that it was so cute I had to get a picture of it! She thought she was pretty smart to get under there.

What a cute little baby girl

I think I can fit under here

Where are your teeth Lily?

What a good smile

Lily finally has seven teeth, we have been waiting for the seventh to come in for a while and it is finally here! But now I think that the eighth is going to follow right along. We will see.

I am still waiting for the baby boy to make his appearance. Besides from being tired of being pregnant, and feeling really fat and heavy I feel fine, I don't even feel very tired in the afternoons any more. I have a doctors appointment today, and we are thinking that the doctor just might have me stay to have the baby. I don't know how I feel about this so much, it is something that if the doctor gives us the choice Greg and I are going to have to talk about, waiting for it to happen, or just getting to it. The waiting is the worst part of the whole deal, not knowing when!

SLB Eid Party

Last Thursday there was an Eid party on the compound, lots of people were here, I haven't seen that many people here with SLB before. We spent a few hours outside watching the people and visiting. Lily was too little for any of the games, but we watched other people play. Greg was volunteered to call out Bingo numbers, he was a good sport and did a good job of it. At least one of us helped out.

Lily making new friends

Shuja took Lily around the party for awhile to show her off. She has no problem going around with other people, and it gives me a break! Shuja gave her a little cotton candy, when I went to get her she couldn't stop smacking and licking her lips! I think she liked it :)

Lily hanging out with Shuja, he gave her cotton candy!

Greg took Lily on the camel for a ride, their first camel ride. He was smelly! And I guess he was pretty bumpy. I am glad Greg wa there to give her the ride, there was no way I was getting up on him. Lily didn't know what to think of him, she couldn't stop staring at him!

Greg and Lily on the Camel waving

Greg and Lily getting ready to go

Lily on the camel by herself, she couldn't stop staring at it!

Fun at the Park

We went to the park this last weekend.  Lily walked halfway there before she got tired and started crawling.  We wanted to show Greg how she can go down the slide by herself.  She has a fun time at the park, and usually we go a bit later when there are other children around to play with.  

Greg and Lily walking to the park

There she is by herself

Climbing into the slide

She still likes the swing

Greg pushing Lily in the swing

A few more stories

For a week there have been ants in my kitchen, and a few days ago I got fed up and called the pest guys.  They came and sprayed the problem corner in my kitchen, the ants were gone, but so were Lily and I as the smell was horrible!  They sprayed right before lunch, right when Lily was getting up from her nap, so we called Fiona who was kind enough to take us in for a few hours while the worst of the smell escaped through all the open windows.  Lily and David are very close to the same age, David is a few months younger than Lily.  It is a lot of fun to see them together, they watch what the other one is doing and they play along side each other.  If one sees something the other one has to go and check it out as well.  David has a bottle that was out, and Lily (very much to my pleasure and surprise) didn't just try to grab it, but she did point at it and 'talk' she was telling us that she wanted it I think, but she knew that she wasn't supposed to have it, and she didn't take it.  I was very proud of her for that.  She is still getting a bottle at night, but that is all, and for the most part it is working out well.  One of the down sides is that she isn't taking her naps all the time though.  

Lily and David playing with the little slide

Aren't our babies so cute!

Last weekend we were able to go to the beach and we had a great time.  The weather was very nice, not too hot.  We had a good breakfast, and then Lily and Greg played in the sand for a little bit.  Lily had fun throwing the sand, and it got everywhere.  Greg would build little towers, and Lily would smash them right after.  We went in the water, and Lily did really well in the ocean this time.  The water is very salty though, and if she rubs her eyes she starts to scream because it stings.  We were all tired when we got back home from the beach, but Lily didn't want to go down for a nap (a growing problem).  Greg put Finding Nemo on, and Lily sat on the couch and watched for a little while.  

Lily after a morning at the beach

Lily and Greg playing in the sand

Greg building sand towers, can you guess what happened to them?

Yesterday Lily and I went to the park in the afternoon.  There were a lot of children there, and Lily had fun just watching.  We went on the swing which is always a hit, and then she walked over to a seat and climbed up and down on it, and watched the older children playing.  Then we walked over to the big play gym and Lily climbed up the steps and into the slide, I went up to help her turn around and then ran around to catch her when she came down.  Then she crawled back to the steps to do it again.  I walked up behind her and told her to turn around when she got into the slide, she did, and then after that she started doing the whole thing by herself.  She went up the steps and down the slide a few dozen times, she had a great time.  A few times she didn't turn around, and had to crawl down the slide, she figured out that it doesn't work out as well.  

Lily Stories

I had meant to share this story with everyone last week, but time got away from me.  We recently had the babies rooms painted, Lily's was painted a light purple with a hint of blue, and the baby boys was painted a light green which will go well with his Winnie the Pooh decor.  I was very happy to finally have this project done with.  After the painters had cleaned up and left there was a bit of paint left over, and I had left the cans in the hall, not knowing where I was going to store them.  I assumed the lids had been properly put back on, but the next day I found out differently, right before Lily and I were headed out the door to catch to bus to go to buy groceries I heard Lily just start screaming, I came running out of my room to find her sitting in the hall surrounded by purple paint!  She had tried to lift one of the cans up, and it was too heavy for her and as it fell down the lid came off and she was in a puddle of purple paint.  Now looking back I wish I would have gotten a picture of it, but at the time all I could think about was that I had fifteen min. to fix this mess before we had to be on the bus!  Lily was plopped right into the bath so the paint wouldn't dry on her, and I wiped up the mess with rags and we changed and made it to the bus on time.  Oh the joys of being a Mum.  I learnt an important lesson that day, always check the lids!

Yesterday Lily and I were walking back from the compound store and we stopped into a friends house for a visit.  Fiona has a son, David, who is three months younger than Lily, and they are cute together.  She also has two older children, a four year old and a 2 year old.  They have lots of toys at their house, and it is fun for Lily to get to play with all the new things.  Yesterday Lily used David as a stepping stool to climb onto an art table!  Fiona and I couldn't believe it.  Lily is such a little climber, I have to keep a good eye on her now.  She also decided to show off, and was walking all around Fiona's house, she hasn't done this at our house yet though!  Last night she did though, she practiced walking a lot, I think she is starting to understand that she can carry things with her if she walks.  

Lily at 13 months!

Lily is our bright and shining little girl.  She is everything in our life, and in a month she will share that spotlight with her new little brother.  The last few days Lily has been practicing to overcome another milestone... Walking!  She is now walking, not all the time, but she is practicing.  At first she would just let go of furniture and take a step to the other piece of furniture.  Then a few days ago I watched as she would stand up in the middle of the floor by herself.  Then she would take a few steps, when she thought I wasn't looking.  Yesterday she would let go of what she was holding onto and walk to me, and I knew that we were there.  Last night when Greg came home I couldn't wait to show him what she had done.  I put her on the floor and she walked to her Daddy!  He was so proud.  Today she is continuing to practice, so far today when she falls before she gets to where she wants to go she will stand up and keep going.  If she wants to go somewhere fast she still crawls, as that is faster than walking still.  I will try to take a video of her and post it.  

She is fighting her naps, becoming less interested, even though I remain very interested in them.  She still needs them, they just tend to be shorter, and she isn't happy to go down.  Lily really likes it when we go and see other children, she likes to watch them play, or to see new toys to play with.  It is fun to see her when children come over here to play with her toys, she watches them and goes from one to the other to see what they are playing with.  

Our Cyprus Vacation

We went on holiday last week to the island of Cyprus.  Cyprus is famous for the birth place of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love.  It was lovely to get away from Saudi and Ramadan going on here.  Cyprus was a nice island, we didn't know what to expect, never having heard much about it.  Unfortunately we didn't get to tour about at all, we pretty much stuck to the hotel area because of Lily.  

It was great to see people wearing clothes instead of abayas, and to be able to have bacon and sausage, and drink real beer and wine.  Well Greg drank the beer and wine, I had a few sips.  We learnt a lot on this vacation, mostly about traveling with babies.  One, that you spend a lot more time in the hotel room, and two that it isn't as relaxing as you would like because you are always entertaining the baby.  We spent a lot of time at the hotel pool, not a lot of time at the beach, Lily was not very keen on the little waves or the salt water.  Greg thinks she is spoiled from the pool, I told him we would just have to visit the beach here more often to get her used to it.  Lily still napped in the morning and afternoon, when Greg and I would read and play cards on the balcony waiting for her to wake up again.  We walked out of the hotel and ate at local places once a day, which was a nice change of pace.  

One of the nice things about a vacation is coming home, and this was no exception.  We were glad to get back into our beds, and Lily was happy so see her toy boxes and to be able to crawl around and not be corralled as much.  

Lily in her buggy on the way back to the hotel from the beach, she looks a little sunkissed

Chelsi and Greg enjoying the sun.

Chelsi and Lily having some strawberry icecream in the pool.

Lily walking in the baby pool

The view from our hotel.