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