La Maison Adams

Rolly-Polly

2012-01-20T11:36:00.000-06:00

Our sweet little Henry is now seven months old. He is sitting well, though still toppling over sometimes. He loves to roll... back and forth, back and forth he goes. And spin around on his belly. Our floors are all tile without a lot of rugs so I was trying to lay out large blankets every time I put him down to play but he just rolls right off and has learned to cope with the hardness anyway...

... showing off his skills, laying his head on his arm as he rollls.

He is still waking twice a night to eat. Eating solids well, though he takes a while to warm up to each new food. This is my first time making my own baby food (of necessity) and I am impressed with how easy and cheap it really is. I should have done it before. So far his favorite food is pumpkin with sweet potatoes in a close second. One wonderful thing is that the last few days I have given him formula in a sippy cup and he doesn't seem to mind it. I am having visions (dreams, I know) of him taking an entire formula feeding and getting to have a break for day... or at least more than 3 hours. We'll see.

He loves his brothers so, so much. Daddy too. All any of them has to do is, well, anything and he will laugh at them. There is no chance getting him to nurse if any of them are around. He loves to throw his toys on the floor and playing with a large spoon on the tile floor, for the sound it makes.

He still doesn't like being in his car seat and has stopped taking a pacifier. We still have to swaddle him when he sleeps but he is slowly getting better about scratching his head when he's upset. Still no teeth but lots of gnawing and chewing on things. He takes naps well every other day.

He gives me hugs. It is so sweet and I've never had a baby do it at this age. When I'm holding him he'll lay his head on me and put his arms "around" me... what a little love he is.

Pictures

2012-01-19T11:24:00.000-06:00

Here are a few recent pics of my boys...

Best buds in their "brother shirts"

And a silly one

An overstuffed playpen...

... can still be fun for this little cutie.

Ready for a winter fun day at school. He was so excited but I think he said they just crumpled up paper and pretended it was a snowball. I expected something more from the expensive, private school but I'm sure it was still fun for the kids.

After playing in the yard with Aysha.

He's Three

2011-12-28T12:13:00.001-06:00

Poor Charlie with his birthday three days after Christmas. Since his birthday falls during Christmas break, I justified putting off a party by telling myself no one was in town anyway. Pretty much all of the expats leave the country, as would be expected I guess. There were two girls from my playgroup that were in town so I invited them over for a playgroup on his actual birthday.

Time to open presents!

In addition to trains, this little guy loves Hot Wheels cars. Though he plays with trains most of all toys, he carries a car around with him everywhere he goes. His teachers even tolerate him bringing one to school every day.

Blueberry pan"cakes" for breakfast :)

Make a wish!

Playgroup kiddos

Singing to the birthday boy

Grandma and Grandpa Adams really spoiled Charlie this year... and we were so excited to show him his new car when he woke up.

Big brother taking him out on his first ride

Charlie is getting better at driving each time he tries

Having a bit of fun

I can't believe my little Charlie is three years old now. I think I'll always think of him as my "little Charlie." He's such a spunky, bright little guy who loves both of his brothers to pieces. He is going to school three days a week and his teachers rave about how well behaved he is, though he always puts on a show for me when its time to say goodbye. He still takes naps but I can't let him sleep more than an hour or he doesn't sleep at night - he'll sit in bed and sing and talk for two hours sometimes. He loves to sing. He taught himself counting, colors, shapes (long ago... I'm so late in an update) and I've been working with him on letter sounds. He would watch tv all day if we let him. He loves shows that are scary (to him) and "daddy movies," especially Star Wars but just about anything we'd let him watch, so we have to be careful. His favorite foods are yogurt, chicken with ketchup, carrots dipped in italian dressing, and salad with vinaigrette or lemon-garlic dressing and, of course, any kind of candy but especially chocolate. He loves to laugh and make jokes, listen to daddy's story-telling and trying to tell his own.

Thankful Turkey

2011-11-28T10:36:00.001-06:00

My brother and sister-in-law have been doing the Thankful Turkey with their kids for many years now and I have been meaning to do it with our kids for several. I finally did it this year - pretty pitifully - but I'm happy that it at least happened a little bit. The boys really enjoyed it and now that the turkey is drawn, hopefully we can be better next year. The idea is that every day in the month of November, each member of our family writes something they are thankful for on a feather and puts it on the turkey. I think we only did it like 5 times... the extra feathers are from doing it with our Thanksgiving dinner guests.

Here are the things that managed to make it to our list: The Gospel, eating oranges, home, prayer, friends, color green, being five, my parents, climate control, food, going somewhere, playing, City Centre Mall, our family, Book of Mormon, Oman, good books, going downstairs, Thanksgiving, sleeping, color purple, Henry, being healthy and the bathroom.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T12:27:00.006-06:00

Last year Dave worked on Thanksgiving and, although I made the full meal, it didn't feel too much like Thanksgiving. So this year I asked Dave to take the day off and that was nice. Plus, I really needed the help since it was a busy, busy day!

I kept Davey home from school as well, but he had a field trip that I didn't want to make him miss. They were going to the Waqif Souq, a fruit and vegetable market, that is right down the road from us so it worked out well to have Dave bring him there to meet the Kindergarten classes.

Davey's class at the souq

When they returned, we all headed to our friends', the Kings, home for some Thanksgiving crafts and fun. Nonnie read a story about the first Thanksgiving and had several fun crafts...

Making necklaces, feather hats and painting vests

Grocery stores around here only have plastic bags (one time I saw paper, but things like that are fleeting) but I knew of a restaurant who delivers their take-out in paper bags, so we both ordered from Nu Asia one night and asked for extra bags and they didn't mind our request. The bags were used for making the vests. They are cute.

The boys enjoyed playing croquet and Davey, in his typical style, was making sure they had everything set up just right and followed all the rules correctly.

There was even a Turkey Bowl game (of dodgeball, however)....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Then it was time to head home to finish up our big meal. Our church District Conference was being held here the next day, and since Dave attends the District Presidency meetings (via webcam) as the clerk and is the only one living in Bahrain, we were asked to host to members of the presidency and their families for Thanksgiving dinner - and Elder Pieper, the General Authority. Talk about pressure! Of course I knew no one would judge me or have expectations but I definitely felt stress about it.

I didn't have to worry about dessert or rolls, which definitely helped, but I was throwing in a new stuffing recipe and needed to make sure I could handle making all the dishes, plus I wanted to have a Thanksgiving dinner with people of my choosing (not that I wasn't happy to do the second one), so we did a pre-Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday before with the Harris' and Youngs. Somehow pulling it off on Saturday was much more relaxed than the on actually on Thanksgiving, though we did take 2 hours out to go to the Kings but I prepared many of the dishes the days before the 2nd meal and had done it all on the day of for the 1st. Oh well, it turned out well. I had a little hiccup when I asked my housemaid to rinse and dry the pumpkin I planned to use as a vase for my centerpiece and she started peeling it... it was the perfect pumpkin and they are hard to find here, but Dave found me a couple small squashes that morning at the souq that worked just fine.

The Prices, Phipps and Elder Piper
(If Dave had taken my maiden name we'd fit in better with this group ;-)

Their kids

Our silly little ones

The dinner conversation was quite interesting and afterward we did the traditional "what I'm thankful for" and added feathers to our Thankful Turkey.

It was a really neat experience to get to host a General Authority in our home. He was so kind and accessible - the kids totally treated him like a member of the family, jumping all over him and asking him to tickle torture them.

I certainly couldn't have pulled this off with a 5 month old without having my housemaid. Especially since my dishwasher broke on Saturday... I'm quite sure Aysha never wants to see my kitchen again (I'd rather not for a while either). Even with the help, it was still tough but worth it! I am thankful for experiences I'd likely not get living in the U.S.!

Things Are Heating Up Again

2011-11-20T10:50:00.001-06:00

Sent from the U.S. Embassy...
Demonstration Notice - November 20, 2011
Spontaneous demonstrations take place in Bahrain from time to time in response to world events or local developments. United States citizens should keep current with media coverage of local events and be aware of their surroundings at all times. If you encounter a large public gathering or demonstration, depart the vicinity immediately.
From 20-27 November broad protest activity has been called for throughout Bahrain to coincide with the release of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report.
- 20-21 November: Demonstrators plan to disrupt traffic at a number of locations throughout Bahrain, including the International Airport, financial district, diplomatic area, near Safriya Palace, and along all major roadways.
- 22 November: A demonstration is planned at the International Exhibition and Convention Center to coincide with the opening of the Jewelry Arabia exhibition.
- 23 & 27 November: Demonstrators plan to burn tires, disrupt traffic, and have threatened to use Molotov cocktails against police throughout Bahrain.
Demonstrators continue to employ tactics such as placing debris and oil on roadways and have been known to throw steel spikes at police vehicles. These actions often result in adverse driving conditions, an increased police presence, and significant traffic delays. Please use caution as you drive and plan additional time to arrive at your destination.
We remind U.S. citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence. U.S.citizens are therefore urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations if possible, and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of any demonstrations.

Growing Up

2011-11-05T12:14:00.002-05:00

Tonight while flossing Davey's teeth I was noticing how his perfectly spaced teeth seemed to be shifting. Then I noticed one in particular that was quite out of place - bottom front left - and a flash that it was probably loose if it had moved that much -- and I was right. I can't believe my baby is growing so fast, but my baby is elated to have a wibbly-wobbly tooth!

I had to snap a couple photos before his cute tiny-toothed smile changes forever...

Favorite Toy

2011-10-28T12:58:00.006-05:00

Church is always challenging to sit through with little ones and I am always on the look-out for interesting quiet toys small enough to bring to church. Well, this summer my mother helped me with an awesome bag of toys and we have a killer church bag. Last week I was able to keep my kids and those of two neighboring families quiet happy for the whole hour.

Today, when it was time we could get out the toy bag (after the sacrament was passed), I asked Charlie what toy he wanted to play with and he immediately lunged toward the baby on my lap and said, "Henry!"

He shows so much love and affection for his little brother. Often, when I am holding Henry in my arms and Charlie walks in the room talking to me, he'll notice Henry and stop mid-sentence and just run to Henry and hug and play with him as if he is so overcome by just the sight of his baby brother that he forgets all else he is doing.

All Suited Up

2011-10-28T11:52:00.003-05:00

There is so much going on in this picture you can barely see the baby, right? This is what little Henry looks like these days... a hat to keep his clawing little hands from mutilating his little head (somehow he still has made it a bloody mess), a bib to catch all the drool (when will it end... I'm lucky he's my first to be all drooly), and - most happily - a pacifier (also a first)!

Collecting

2011-10-25T11:28:00.002-05:00

One days' find

Every day lately, Davey comes home from school eager to share with me the things he's found at school that day. It may be a discarded elastic, a paper clip or a staple. Today he pulled out a wad of paper that had gone through the wash in his pocket, asking me what it was. I explained and he then told me that Dalia gave it to him. Not only does he think trash is a treasure but its still worth just as much to him when it comes out of someone else's pocket. Crazy kid.

The Same

2011-10-22T11:40:00.003-05:00

I can't believe my little Charlie is almost three years old. Even though I have another baby now, I still feel like he's my baby. I just love my kids to bits. They are just the sweetest things. I don't know how I'm ever going to give them up to their wives. I know I'm getting ahead of myself... but I can't think of a time when I'll be ready to let them go out on their own, though I'm already having to let go with Davey who is only five... he has another life at school, separate from me and I long to be part of it. Though I'm not ready to home school him or anything. I'm getting way off track here. Okay, back to my little Charlie and the reson for this post. As he gets closer to three, he is growing out of toddler-hood. It is amazing to me to watch him play with Davey and his friends like he's just one of them. And he definitely thinks he is...

Last night Dave was sitting with the older kids at the kitchen table having a bedtime snack and telling them how lucky they were to have little brothers. Charlie's comment was, "I'm not little! See, we're just the same (standing by Davey and trying to measure against him)." That is certainly what he thinks!

Another cute little Charlie moment - Dave asked Charlie, "Do you know why I love you?" His answer, "Because I'm a bear." We've called him our little Charlie-bear since he was born and I guess he's convinced. Silly little boy.

Recipe for Homemade Dimples

2011-10-21T01:28:00.003-05:00

It's really simple! And, no, I didn't mean to say 'dumplings.'

All you have to do is bang your cheek really hard.

In this case, Davey was running around Grandma and Grandpa Paulson's house, tripped and broke his fall with the coffee table. As the bruise dissipated (it covered almost his whole cheek and stayed for weeks - it was a hard fall), I couldn't believe the dimple I saw. And its a very pronounced one you can see even when he is just talking. Now I guess he just needs another fall to even himself out!

Before

After

Charlie, Charlie, Quite Contrary

2011-10-18T02:05:00.005-05:00

When my mother was visiting, she helped me pin-point what I would call a very poignant part of Charlie's personality - he is a contrarian. Where do you think he gets that? (Hint: not me!) Here's an example from last night...

Before bedtime, we were reading the story of Samuel Smith, the first missionary for the Church. When he was traveling he was refused lodging by an innkeeper who accused him of being a liar when he told him of the origin of the Book of Mormon.

Charlie's comment was, "Then I would spit on him."
Me, "But that's not a nice thing to do. We have to be nice to other people."
Charlie, "Then I would hit him. Or get him a poke (he recently got a flu shot)."
Me, "But Charlie, Jesus taught us that even if people aren't nice to us, we still need to be nice to them."
Charlie, "Jesus told me, but I said 'NO!'"

We are going to have our hands full with this little guy...

I'm a Fenugreek Addict

2011-10-11T06:48:00.003-05:00

After I was sick and my milk supply dropped significantly (basically vanished), I had heard of fenugreek being used for this so I started taking it. And I don't want to stop! It has this side effect... it makes you smell sweet... like maple syrup! The first time I took it I had eaten oatmeal for breakfast and thought I was tasting the brown sugar but hoping it was the pills... and it was. Now that my milk supply is finally reestablished (it took forever) I can't get myself to stop taking it. Because now when I sweat, I smell like pancakes... tell me, would you want to quit?

Teething Already...

2011-09-30T11:43:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago, when Henry was about 11 weeks, he started drooling like crazy. Neither of my other two kids ever drooled much at all, to my delight. But Henry is a drooler. I was sure it was way too early to be associated with teething, but now I don't think so. He is 15 weeks now, still drooling all the time and chewing with abandon on everything he can get his gums on. I think he's on track to have his first tooth at 4 months like Davey did....

Is This Really My Life?

2011-09-30T10:49:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I found myself asking myself this question twice. I was sitting on the couch nursing Henry, my mother was in the living room reading a book, as was Dave, who had come home early from work. It was after school and Davey had two friends over. Two men were in my house changing the light bulbs and two housemaids/nannies (mine and one of my friend's) were watching over the children. The scene was busy and almost chaotic but the adults in my household were serene and relaxing (though I count nursing as working, really).

A couple hours later I found myself walking through the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel with my husband carrying the baby in his car seat and my maid carrying his bouncy chair and diaper bag. I was all dressed up and carrying only my purse. We were going to dinner with one of the suppliers Dave manages the contract with and other spouses. Henry doesn't take a bottle and we needed him nearby so we had him and the nanny stay in one of the supplier's rooms while we were at dinner. As I was walking in, I was thinking, is this really my life?

I am spoiled here. And its my life for now, but not forever. And I'll enjoy it while I have it! :) (though feel a little guilty too...)

My Three Sons

2011-07-10T04:31:00.004-05:00

When I Grow Up...

2011-07-08T07:23:00.008-05:00

For a long time, maybe the last year/year and a half, Davey has said he wants to be a pilot when he grows up. Then the last week of school one of his classmates' father came in to tell them about his job as a pilot flying an Airbus. Well, that got Davey thinking about driving busses. After that he switched to wanting to drive a bus, but quickly reconsidered to a mini-bus. He likes the mini-bus better because they can drive faster and thus less people will honk at them, according to him.

As we drove around the crowded streets of Abu Dhabi, Davey talked about his dream all the time. It was cute to hear him say how he was going to drive them wherever Dave and I were living. That way he could take us anywhere we wanted to go and he could help us if our car broke down. But he wasn't going to get to see us very much because he'd be working all the time. If he had a day off, though, he would see us.

Two days ago when we walked off the plane, having arrived back in Bahrain, and got on the bus taking us to the terminal, he had a moment of crisis. A very concerned Davey said, "I just don't know what I want to do when I grow up. Maybe I can try all the different jobs and see what I like. First, I'll try what Daddy does and if I like it I will do that."

I'm not sure what's prompting him to be so concerned about this, but its fun to hear him considering all the options.

What Does This Baby Weigh??

2011-06-25T13:01:00.003-05:00

When Henry was born, Dave looked at the scale and thought it read 6 pounds .146 ounces. Then we looked at the picture he took and realized it was displaying 6 pounds 14.6 ounces. When we discharged from the hospital, the papers said he was 3.135 kilos, which jives with the 6 lbs 14.6 oz. But now we're not sure again...

I took Henry to the doctor today, 8 days old, and his weight was 2.57 kilos or 5 pounds 10 ounces. That's a 1 lb 4 oz, or 18%, weight loss! The doctor was surprised and questioned me about how often he eats, dirty diapers, etc, and I needed to feed him while we were there to calm him for the exam so she was able to see and was pleased with his latch. We're both quite confident he is feeding well so she sent us on our way just wanting to see him again when he's a month old.

But as Dave and I think about this more, we're really wondering how he could have lost so much weight. When we looked online, it looks like the very maximum weight a baby should lose in the first week is 10%. I can vouch that Henry is eating plenty and now that my milk supply is coming full-forsce, often taking in more than he can handle (evidenced by frequent spit-ups). He sleeps well (as I mentioned in the last post), eats at regular intervals and doesn't act like a hungry baby. All we can figure out is that he must have been mis-weighed at birth. We really weren't that impressed with the Corniche Hospital (people sure talked it up, though) and wouldn't be surprised if they forgot to zero the scale before placing him on or something. To Dave and I, he never looked like an almost seven pound baby. Dave says he thinks Henry seemed the lightest of all our kids and I would have to agree that he certainly didn't seem to be the heaviest by half a pound (Davey 6 lbs 8 oz and Charlie 6 lbs 0oz). If Henry were really right around 6 lbs at birth, losing 6 ounces in the first week would jive much better with that 10% weight loss limit. But, I guess we'll never really know the answer!

One Week Old

2011-06-25T11:35:00.004-05:00

The first week of life with little baby Henry has been a great one! It seems I made a super-positive post like this one shortly after Charlie was born and then things got a little harder, but I'm going to do it anyway :) We just love our little guy. It is amazing how the instant you see your new child your heart's capacity to love increases amazingly. The love you feel for your other children isn't diminished in any way; it just grows. I just love to look at his tiny face and look into his eyes. And, I have been greatly rewarded by smiles! Henry first smiled at me at two days old. I know many people would not believe a baby so young will smile and I was skeptical the first time he did, but he was fully awake and looking at me as we were waiting for our car to be pulled up when we were leaving the hospital and he smiled at me. And he has smiled at me every day since, always when I am talking to him.

In addition to the smiles, Henry is a great nurser. He is very picky about his latch, which he knows how to do well, and I am greatly benefitting from it as I have experienced no soreness, which I think is amazing. He also is on a very good 3 hour nursing schedule that I haven't had to force.

The first two nights (in the hospital), Henry had a hard time sleeping because of a bunch of congestion in his nose. He was always sneezing trying to get it out and his breathing was very loud, bordering on snoring. Sometimes it would keep me awake just with the noise. His discomfort at sleeping made him think he wanted to suck all the time so the first two nights I got a pretty small amount of sleep. During the second night I called a nurse in to see if she would suction it out but she wouldn't! She just said it was natural that the baby had this drainage since he was just immersed in fluid. Ugh, I wished I had brought my own. But finally in the morning of the day we left, his breathing was clear and he sunk into a very deep sleep. I think he was so exhausted from not sleeping well those two nights.

Thankfully the better sleeping continued once we got home and he has slept most of the day, like most newborns. On days 5 and 6 he started having 1 to 2 waking periods about an hour each during the day and today on day 8 he had 3. He times them well, staying awake after nursing and then dozing for another hour or so before waking to nurse again. (I point this out because it is the "Baby Wise" way - the cycle to eat, then wake, then sleep - to teach them how to fall asleep on their own, not nursing - and he's doing it much more naturally than the other two did.)

Once we were home, however, he started having fussy periods at night, from about 1 to 4am. Dave, thankfully, took these on the first three nights but the poor guy got so little sleep since I have been unable to do much for the older boys during the day due to so much pain. So I said I'd try to handle the next night and then he slept for 6 hours straight! 10pm to 4am! And the next night again! The following night he was fussy again until about 2am but then slept until 7 this morning. I'm just hoping this continues!

Davey and Charlie have done well with having a new baby around (and not having much of a mommy for them) so far. Davey is a little disinterested mostly but certianly shows no ill-will. I was most worried about Charlie but he is very interested and gentle with the baby. The only sign I've seen so far is that sometimes he is very forceful that he needs Dave or me to hold him right now. So we're trying to be sensitive to that. Hopefully soon I'll heal enough to get off the couch and can give him more of the attention he needs.

Overall, a very good week!

Baby Henry's Birth Story

2011-06-17T16:14:00.015-05:00

I went to the doctor on Thursday, June 16th, and told the doctor that if I hadn't yet delivered, I wanted the next appointment to be on Wednesday so we could schedule an induction for Thursday. That would be one week overdue. For my emotional health, I just couldn't take going any longer than that.

Friday about 7am I woke to a "bloody show." (Ugh, I hate that term but the only alternative I know is no better.) Which only means you'll probably deliver within a week, but I was glad at least that I saw some sign of things moving along and that maybe I wouldn't have to be induced. I got up and started getting ready for church and within about an hour I started having some contractions but didn't think too much of them since I'd had so many during the last few months. They seemed to be not going away though, so I was hopeful. By the time we left for church about 9 they were fairly consistent so I started timing them once we got there. They were about 9 minutes apart.

By the time Sacrament meeting was finished and they hadn't stopped, I figured it was time to head home and get ready to go to the hospital. Some very kind friends we've made here, the Ethingtons, had offered to watch the boys when the time came, so it was convenient that we were already with them at church. We took Richard home with us, showed him around the things the boys might need during the day and then he went back to church with our car so he could drive the boys home. Their plan was to come back, have lunch and a nap and then take them to swim. That day was also their daughter's first birthday. Luckily they had already celebrated it the weekend before. I felt a little bad infringing on their day with her, but what could I do? :)

As I hurried around trying to think of last-minute things we needed to do, I lost track of the contractions and thought they might be dissipating. I was going to be embarrassed if the baby never came that day since after leaving church for the hospital, everyone there knew what was happening. But once I sat down and started timing again, they were coming right along. By the time we left around 1pm the contractions were about 5 minutes apart. Richard got home with the boys just before we left so it was nice to get to see them and hug them again before we went off since I knew next time I saw them I was going to be so much more distracted.

We took a cab to the Al Corniche Hospital, which is probably just 2 miles away from our apartment and checked into urgent care. I sat in triage being monitored for about an hour, being dilated to a 2 when they first checked. My contractions didn't progress much until I got up to go to the bathroom about 2:30. Then they sure got moving! I had been thinking of trying to do this birth naturally like with Davey but once the contractions really kicked into gear, I decided to abandon that idea and get an epidural. The nurses finally arranged for me to go upstairs to a delivery room and no, they didn't take me up in a wheelchair, I was walking all around the hospital. By the time we got to the ward, I could barely walk the contractions were coming so quickly and strong. I was doubled over in pain trying to deal with them and crying - not really sure why I was crying... partially from the pain, unsure I could do this again, and partially from the crazy hormones, amazed that this pregnancy was finally coming to an end and I was going to get to meet my little guy. The nurses ushered me into some sort of waiting room before figuring out what to do with me. Then they had me walk down a long hallway to the end into a room. Took me forever to get ther and when I did, I realized I wasn't in the delivery ward, I was in a recovery room! What?!?! I was dying for an epidural and knowing I was making fast progress toward delivery. They had just dropped us off in this shared recovery room - a lady was there with her baby, listening to me in labor - and left. I couldn't believe it! So I sent Dave to find someone to come back and check me again and get me to the delivery room. They checked me, I was dilated to a four, and saw how much distress I was in and finally got themselves into gear and made arrangements for a delivery room. Apparently it was a really busy day in the hospital and the rooms had all been full. Which I think is crazy for a hospital that does nothing but maternity.

I was finally taken up to a delivery room, though I don't remember the time. I'm guessing about 3pm. I immediately asked my midwife, Princess, for an epidural. She promptly told me it would not be possible, which made me angry. I was almost yelling at her, for which I apologized a couple minutes later. Apparently there were 3 women ahead of me who had asked for one and it sounded like no one was getting one because there weren't enough midwives on duty to watch over them after they'd been administered. Ridiculous. If you're having a busy day, call in some more midwives to work.

I didn't want to use drugs that would affect the baby so she advised me to try using the nitrous oxide gas (laughing gas) during my next contraction to see what I thought. I didn't feel much help but it did help me focus on breathing to get through the contraction... since I wanted some kind of pain relief so badly, I was taking very deep breaths through that mask. Eventually it started helping a little as it made me drowsy. From that point, the gas made me loopy. It was a strange experience, really. It seemed like I could still feel everything but I was sleepy and disconnected from it. And I started making no sense. I knew what I was saying was silly but couldn't help it. Sometimes I would alternate groaning in pain with laughter at the crazy things I was thinking, which really confused Dave and the midwife. I kept on telling Dave how I loved his eyes. The gas made me feel like I loved everyone there, even though now looking back I would not repeat the experience and don't feel much love for it. My water broke just shortly before it was time to push. Dave says I pushed for about fifteen minutes.

Henry was born at 4:14pm (GMT +4). He had Apgar scores of 8 and 9 because he didn't cry right away and his hands were blue. I held him right away, which was wonderful. He was so tiny. Then he was weighed and sat on the warmer for a long time while they sewed me up. I had, as usual, tons of tearing inside and out. They spent an hour and a half sewing me up and removing a quite large cyst as well. It was about the size of my thumb but wider. The sewing me up part was just as hard as the delivery to get through. So I didn't get to hold Henry again for a long time but he was happy.

Some random details to remember: The Corniche Hospital policy is not to bathe the babies for 6 hours but they didn't bathe him until about 24 hours later, but he came out amazingly clean. A couple nurses commented on it. Also, nurses kept coming into the recovery room and commenting on how fast my labor was. One nurse told me I looked like I was Arabic. Sharing a recovery room wasn't terrible but wasn't nice. The worst parts were sharing a bathroom and dealing with the other person's light being on so bright in the middle of the night when I was trying to sleep. Luckily her baby didn't cry too much. They really left me alone a lot and it was very quiet in the room (we were at the end of a long all, which probably helped), which was nice since they rarely woke me from sleeping. Henry had a Hep B shot in the hospital, but I declined the BCG vaccine (tuberculosis) because its not a shot they give in the US and it leaves a nasty welt on the child's arm that often gets infected and it just looks so painful. When I spoke with the pediatrician at his 8 day appointment, she supported my decision saying it only protects the child for a couple years anyway. The shot is, however, mandatory in the UAE. For that reason I'm glad we don't live there. The food at the hospital was surprisingly edible.

Nap or No Nap...?

2011-05-24T10:57:00.003-05:00

I can't figure out whether to continue with Charlie's naps or not... and I can't believe I'm even thinking about nixing them because I am such a believer that kids need sleep and lots of it. But Charlie is perplexing me... He's not quite 2 and a half yet but if I let him sleep as long as he might on his own, about 2 hours, he will wake too early in the morning. I put both he and Davey to bed at 7pm but Charlie will often wake before 6 these days. I have been shortening his nap, waking him after one hour, but it hasn't been helping much.

Some days he doesn't nap anyway because he'll get out of his bed (moved him out of his crib about a month ago). I've resorted to locking the door to not let him out. Being 8 months pregnant and on my own with them I just haven't had the energy to deal with bringing him back to his room over and over all night and day for naps.

Normally he'll never sleep anywhere but his bed, never in the car. But the last few weeks he's been falling asleep in the car a lot which leads me to believe he still needs naps. No conclusion here... just writing about my confusion! Guess I'll have to give it some more time to figure out...

Not Succeeding

2011-05-10T04:52:00.003-05:00

I must admit I have been loving having a full-time housemaid (for most of) the last year and a half... but I guess I need to make a little more effort in giving the kids more responsibilities... Since we've been in Abu Dhabi it has been hard to find some help at home (and I need it more than ever!) and we had a nice girl helping us for just a week of the time we've been here. Once she left, Davey asked, "Do we still have a maid?" No was the answer. To which he replied, "Then who will clean up after us?" Ugh...

Later That Day...

2011-05-01T11:51:00.005-05:00

So that wasn't the only adventure Charlie had that day, though the next one wasn't nearly so scary.

When we moved into our apartment in Abu Dhabi, I decided it was a good time to transition Charlie to a big boy bed. The first couple days went well, but he soon discovered he could get in and out as he pleased.

It took me a few tries to figure out how to respond, but decided the best way would be to just take him by the hand without a word or eye contact and lead him back to his bed every time he came out. Over the first several days, twice a day of course for nap and bedtime, I must have done that a couple hundred times. He thought it was such fun.

It was very tiring for this 7+ month pregnant lady so eventually I started holding onto the door handle so he couldn't open it. I just couldn't keep leading him back over and over for hours each day. The day before the elevator escapade, I heard through the door Charlie talking about locking the lock but he didn't do it. I made a mental note to check if my house key also opened the inside doors. The next morning I did just that and found it didn't work.

So, as you can guess, that afternoon while Charlie was supposed to be napping, he got up tried to lock the door. I heard him start to touch it and immediately opened the door and guided him back to bed. The next time he got out of bed he got to the door and turned the lock so fast I couldn't stop it. He was locked in. Ugh. I didn't know how long he would be in there before I got a key. I was unsure if Oxy had the keys or if the reception/maintenance for the building would. After trying to coax Charlie into unlocking it, I made a call and maintenance was able to come in and unlock it, thank goodness. Needless to say, I now I have keys to all the interior doors.

Almost two weeks later I still lock his door. Sometimes he unlocks it himself but luckily seems to forget that he knows how to do it. Finally in the last two days he seems to be trying to do it less. But he still will get out of his bed and cry at the door and often not nap. Oh well, life is full of transitions.

Elevator Escapade

2011-05-01T01:24:00.004-05:00

While we're in Abu Dhabi, we're living on the 5th floor of a 23-story apartment building. The elevator doors close very quickly so I've had to be vigilant about making sure the kids get off before me. Well, they had gotten good about running right off and I got lazy...

So Charlie and I were coming home after dropping Davey at school and I got off before him. He didn't get off right after me and I couldn't stop the doors from closing! What a nightmare! I'm just listening to him call for me... I tried to stay calm and watched the elevator go up to the 7th floor and stop. I frantically called the elevators (there are 3 in the bank) and the same one came back for me - phew! I figured he'd be on it. But he wasn't! So I went up to the 7th floor figuring he'd be there... but he wasn't! Now what do I do? Then I'm looking at all of the floors he could be on... the two levels of parking garage... oh my gosh, it was scary.

I decided the best thing to do was head to the lobby so I could enlist the help of the receptionist and other workers and perhaps find a way to call all the elevators back at once or have us all running up and down the staircases looking for him on each floor. Luckily, when I got there, Charlie was there too. What a relief!

Apparently someone had called the elevator from the 7th floor, the guy must have seen Charlie - imagine an elevator opening on your way into work and seeing this little two year old, wearing sunglasses and holding a train, all alone in your elevator... it makes me chuckle a little now - so Charlie must have gotten off and while the guy decided what to do with him, the elevator left to come get me so they got on another one and rode down to the lobby.

It was all probably over in one or two minutes, but it felt like forever. The funny thing is that it surely made an impression on Charlie since he still talks about it at least once every day... "Remember when I got stuck on the elevator? A man got in with me and I wanted my mommy." You can now imagine that I never let down my guard.

Stake Conference Miracle

2011-04-15T12:46:00.003-05:00

The evening of the day I went to the doctor and found out I had placenta previa was the adult session of Stake Conference. As I walked in I found it hard to concentrate, I was so worked up about the news I'd heard. Elder Holland attended the conference (we watched on the internet; the conference was in Dubai) and he spoke about how all of us who are living in the Middle East are here for a reason. We may think we are where we are for the job that brought us, but that Heavenly Father has bigger reasons He guided us here. He also assured us that we are safe. As he spoke, a great sense of calm came over me. I felt that it was an answer to my prayer that I shouldn't bail on the Middle East and that I would still be fine not heading to the States.

The next day during the main session of the conference, Elder Holland left his apostolic blessing, specifically mentioning pregnant women and saying that this blessing is as if he had his hands on each of our heads individually. I really felt the power of his words and indeed like he was directly giving me a blessing. I knew then that even if I had to have a c-section, everything would work out okay and I would be able to handle it. It was a very special experience.

A week later, the kids and I were off to Abu Dhabi. Later that week I had an appointment at the Corniche hospital and got an ultrasound that revealed that the placenta had moved! It was incredible news. I can't remember when I've felt so relieved, happy and blessed. From what I understand, the placenta just doesn't move at this point. I know it was a miracle.

Placenta Previa

2011-04-14T12:51:00.004-05:00

When we were in Greece, I noticed some bleeding one night when I went to the bathroom. I was 29 weeks and I've never had bleeding before except for my miscarriage. I didn't know who to call or what to do. I hadn't seen my doctor in Bahrain for 3 months, I had seen an OB in Dubai recently but only once and both of their offices were closed. I didn't feel like I had enough of a recent or long enough history with either of them to call them during the night. So I ended up calling Generations in Michigan, whom I had seen for my miscarriage last summer.

The nurse there recommended I go to the hospital right away because bleeding at 29 weeks is not normal and is concerning. I pushed back a bit and when I told her it had stopped she said I could wait until morning to get it checked out unless it started up again. Luckily it didn't but I was worried all night.

The next morning the wonderful manager of the villa found a doctor for me, made an appointment, brought Dave and I there, translated when needed and then took us to the pharmacy afterward.

The doctor was very thorough, giving me a non-stress test, physical exam and ultrasound. He was able to confirm that everything was okay with the baby but never gave me a reason as to why I was bleeding. He was also very through in answering his phone. His cell phone rang so many times and he always answered it. He even answered it while I was lying there in stirrups and left me there for several minutes waiting while he spoke!!

When I returned to Bahrain I went to my doctor who informed me that my placenta was low and that was why I was bleeding. Luckily I still hadn't had any more bleeding episodes but she advised me to stop exercising and put me on pelvic rest, though not using that term. She informed me that I would have to have a c-section if the placenta didn't move. When I expressed my concern (I'm so afraid of going under the knife!) she told me not to worry about anything, but that when I get to Abu Dhabi, I'd better see a doctor immediately. Quite a mixed message.

She didn't ever say the words "placenta previa" but when I googled it, that is exactly what she had described. Its a pretty serious condition with lots of risk involved. I wasn't happy with the little bit of information she had given me and the mixed message she gave me as her parting words. From my reading, I found that a low placenta in early pregnancy will often move out of the way but that at 31 weeks as I now was, it pretty much will never move.

I was so worried, almost making myself sick with stress and worry. I was questioning my decision to have the baby in Abu Dhabi, thinking that if I were going to have a c-section that I shouldn't be doing it in a new city/country where I knew no one and Dave wouldn't be with me most of the time. I wanted to go home and have my mommy there to take care of me! But so much had already been done to arrange our stay in Abu Dhabi and we would have to be away from Dave for so long...

Love the Airlines in the Middle East

2011-03-28T11:46:00.001-05:00

I love airlines in the Middle East. Granted, I had to travel to the office to make the change, but today I changed my itinerary for our vacation only two days away - departure city, return date, added an extra flight and changed the return city - and only paid $20 per ticket because of Dubai's airport tax. Amazing! My cab ride to get to the office cost more.

Other great things about the airlines I've been on here: planes are nice, clean and new, food is plentiful, individual tvs usually even on short flights, great customer service, etc. And their change/cancellation fees are either non-existent or minimal. I was dealing with Qatar Airways today. Go Qatar! Now I'm even more excited for our trip to Greece!

Witness at the Scene

2011-03-13T12:59:00.002-05:00

So I called my friend Monica to see if she wanted Dave to bring her kids home from school, too, since I wouldn't recommend her being on the roads to go get them. Yes, she did of course after hearing about what I encountered.

Dave picked them up just fine but as he drove from the school to the first roundabout just outside it, he sensed something was wrong. A car was up on the median and started squealing its tires like crazy to get moving all of a sudden, entered traffic the wrong way around the circle and crashed head-on into another car. It was so obviously an intentional crash that one of Monica's girls asked, "Did that guy mean to hit the other car?" Dave just said, "I don't know," and gunned it to get out of there as fast as he could, seeing other cars acting strange as well.

So he took the other way home that I hadn't gone to avoid that protest and got still more of an eyeful. Hundreds of men gathered together with clubs and stick in their hands looking like they were looking for a fight. It was such a relief to have the whole family home and safe. But the afternoon was filled with jitters about what we'd witnessed and what it could be meaning was happening out there.

Later that afternoon we got an email from the school explaining that they had gone into lockdown for ten minutes following that car accident, which they heard from the school, and then mostly because of the gunshots that were fired at the scene of the crash. So scary and I'm glad Davey was out of there before that! Imagine if they had accidentally hit the wrong car and it was Dave with a carload of kids! So scary!

Caught in the Action

2011-03-13T12:21:00.001-05:00

The last week that Dave was gone in Houston was really hard for me. I was so exhausted, physically and emotionally, from the stress of everything happening in Bahrain and felt like I would never make it through the week. We hadn't left the house in a week and a half (I did run across the street from our compound once to the Midway Supermarket to restock our produce and we did take the kids to play at the park and ride bikes at the tennis court in our compound) and, being 5 months pregnant, I was emotional. But somehow I made it through the week and Dave came back on March 4th.

It was so good to have him home and over the next week, life started to return to normal a little bit; Dave was home every night, Davey went to school and Charlie went to school one day. We still went out as little as possible and were always trying to figure out what was happening across the country but we didn't see any of it. Then the weekend of March 11 and 12, protests were all over and church was cancelled. But we didn't hear to much and Sunday we planned to live life normally. Davey went to school.

Everything changed for me and I think everyone in Bahrain that day. Later, I found out that several mothers had felt an impression to pick up their children early from school; I don't know why I didn't have that impression too and wish I had. Either I wasn't listening or I wasn't meant to do it. Either way, when I went to get Davey from school I decided to go the longer route that would avoid passing a royal palace in Riffa that had been the scene of large demonstrations and clashes over the weekend, not knowing if it would still be a bad way to go. As I drove down the freeway, I saw three ambulances going both directions with lights flashing. I was curious but not too alarmed yet. As I continued in the left lane, two cars came driving toward me in my lane, traveling at highway speeds! I was able to get out of the way but was spooked. Then several more cars were driving the wrong way up the freeway, in the right lane/on the shoulder.

By this point I, and the cars around me, was traveling much slower, wondering what was happening making these cars do this. There was only one exit left before the freeway ended and I thought about getting off but didn't because I didn't know how to get to Davey's school from there. Just after that, I came upon tons of cars parked along the road and had to come to a stop as there was a large traffic jam near the end of the freeway and I found myself in the middle of a freshly-tear-gas-fired-upon demonstration. People were everywhere, coughing and holding their heads in pain from the tear gas and I quickly turned off my exhaust. Cars were going every which way on the freeway, but no one could get through in the direction of traffic so we all had to turn around, in the middle of a tightly packed traffic jam. As I was trying to turn around, more tear gas was fired. I must say I was getting scared and upset. I was trying to call Dave but he was in a meeting and ignored my call the first couple times. Fortunately he got the message that I needed him and picked up after a couple tries. Thank goodness he works right next to (less than 5 minute drive) Davey school so I sent him to pick up Davey, unsure how long it would take me to get out of there and if I could get there the other way either.

Luckily near where I was, the freeway was not divided by metal barriers, but by cement blockades so some men were able to move one and cars were able to get through to the correct lane of traffic to get away from there. The drive home was uneventful though filled with tears and nervousness.

And even crazier, Dave had a very eventful drive home. More on that in the next post.

Bahrain Protests

2011-02-15T11:40:00.001-06:00

Thousands of Protesters Take Control of Bahrain's Main Square

Published February 15, 2011 | Associated Press

Thousands of protesters poured into a main square in Bahrain's capital of Manama Tuesday in an Egypt-style rebellion that sharply escalated pressure on authorities as the Arab push for change gripped the Gulf for the first time.

Security forces have battled demonstrators calling for political reforms and greater freedoms over two days, leading to the deaths of two protesters and the main opposition group vowing to freeze its work in parliament in protest.

In a clear sign of concern over the widening crisis, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa made a rare national TV address, offering condolences for the deaths, pledging an investigation into the killings and promising to push ahead with reforms, which include loosening state controls on the media and Internet.

"We extend our condolences to the parents of the dear sons who died yesterday and today. We pray that they are inspired by the Almighty's patience, solace and tranquility," said the king, who had previously called for an emergency Arab summit to discuss the growing unrest.

As the crowds surged into the Pearl Square in the capital of Manama, security forces appeared to hold back. But key highways were blocked in an apparent attempt to choke off access to the vast traffic circle -- which protesters quickly renamed "Nation's Square" and erected banners such as "Peaceful" that were prominent in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of protests there.

The dramatic move Tuesday came just hours after a second protester died in clashes with police in the strategic island kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

Oppositions groups aren't calling for the ruling Sunni monarchy to be ousted, but they do want an end to its grip on key decisions and government posts.

Other demands -- listed on a poster erected in the square -- included the release of all political prisoners, more jobs and housing, an elected Cabinet and the replacement of longtime prime minister, Sheik Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.

The nation's majority Shiites -- about 70 percent of the population of some 500,000-- have long complained of discrimination and being blackballed from important state jobs.

Many in the square waved Bahraini flags and chanted: "No Sunnis, no Shiites. We are all Bahrainis." It also appeared they were planning for the long haul. Some groups carried in tents and sought generators to set up under a nearly 300-foot monument cradling a giant white pearl-shaped ball that symbolizes the country's heritage as a pearl diving center.

Bahrain is one of the most politically volatile nations in the Middle East's wealthiest corner despite having one of the few elected parliaments and some of the most robust civil society groups. A crackdown on perceived dissent last year touched off weeks of riots and clashes in Shiite villages, and an ongoing trial in Bahrain accuses 25 Shiites of plotting against the country's leadership.

A prolonged showdown could draw in the region's two biggest rivals: Saudi Arabia, as close allies of Bahrain's Sunni monarchy, and Iran, whose hard-liners have spoken in support of the nation's Shiite majority.

Bahrain is also an economic weakling compared with the staggering energy riches of Gulf neighbors such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which can afford far more generous social benefits. Bahrain's oil reserves are small and its role as the region's international financial hub have been greatly eclipsed by Dubai.

One protester, 24-year-old Hussein Asamahiji, echoed the complaints from Tunisia and Egypt: a lack of jobs and allegations that the ruling elite monopolizes the best opportunities.

"We simply want the chance at a better future," he said. "Egypt showed it's possible."

The bloodshed already has brought sharp denunciations from the largest Shiite political bloc, which suspended its participation in parliament, and could threaten the nation's gradual pro-democracy reforms that have given Shiites a greater political voice.

The second day of turmoil began after police tried to disperse up to 10,000 mourners gathering at a hospital parking lot to begin a funeral procession for Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima, 21, who died in Monday's marches.

Officials at Bahrain's Salmaniya Medical Complex said a 31-year-old man became the second fatality when he died of injuries from birdshot fired during the melee in the hospital's parking lot. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to journalists.

After the clash, riot police eventually withdrew and allowed the massive funeral cortege for Mushaima to proceed from the main state-run medical facility in Manama. He was killed Monday during clashes with security forces trying to halt marches to demand greater freedoms and political rights. At least 25 people were injured in the barrage of rubber bullets, birdshot and tear gas, relatives said.

The main Shiite opposition group, Al Wefaq, denounced the "bullying tactics and barbaric policies pursued by the security forces" and said it was suspending its participation in parliament, where it holds 18 of the 40 seats.

The declaration falls short of pulling out the group's lawmakers, which would spark a full-scale political crisis. But Al Wefaq warned that it could take more steps if violence persists against marchers staging the first major rallies in the Gulf since uprisings toppled long-ruling regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.

A statement from Bahrain's interior minister, Lt. Gen. Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, expressed "sincere condolences and deep sympathy" to Mushaima's family. He expanded on the king's pledge: stressing that the deaths will be investigated and charges would be filed if authorities determined excessive force was used against the protesters.

But that's unlikely to appease the protesters, whose "day of rage" Monday coincided with major anti-government demonstrations in Iran and Yemen.

In the past week, Bahrain's rulers have attempted to defuse calls for reform by promising nearly $2,700 for each family and pledging to loosen state controls on the media.

State media reported that the king telephoned the head of Egypt's ruling military council, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, on Tuesday. No further details were given, but Bahrain had earlier appealed for an emergency summit of Arab leaders to discuss the widening protests.

Bahrain's ruling Sunni dynasty also has extremely close ties with the leadership in Saudi Arabia, which is connected to Bahrain by a causeway. Bahrain has given citizenship to Sunnis in Saudi Arabia and across the region to bolster its ranks against the country's Shiite majority.

Bahrain's Sunni leaders point to parliamentary elections as a symbol of political openness. But many Sunnis in Bahrain also are highly suspicious of Shiite activists, claiming they seek to undermine the state and have cultural bonds with Shiite heavyweight Iran.

Valentine's Day in Bahrain

2011-02-14T10:49:00.003-06:00

Dave is in Houston for two more weeks, so Valentine's Day was going to be quiet around here no matter what. But it was guaranteed to be quiet because of the protests and demonstrations planned here last night and all day today. I kept Davey home from school just to be safe. With the scale of what's happened in Tunisia and Egypt, you never know what could happen here.

This morning my friend called me about 9am after being out and said everything looked normal except for the very small amount of traffic. She called again later about noon saying that the police were out en force gearing up for the protests scheduled to happen in a few hours. She said she saw 10 police cars and more men than that and 20 cars and men outside the entrances to two villages she passed, holding bazookas. Apparently, they are not afraid to use force here.

I just watched a couple videos from last night posted to You Tube of people being fired on with tear gas and rubber bullets. From what I could see and reports seem to be, these were fairly peaceful protests. The protesters here often burn tires and wooden structures in the road to impede traffic and make a statement. I have heard of them throwing moltav cocktails, which do scare me. But my basic impression of all of this here is that the protesters will get no where. There are just not enough people in Bahrain to make much of a statement. There are a million or less people in the country and half of them, if they're lucky, are Bahraini and about 70% of those are the Shiite muslims who, reportedly, are the ones staging the protests. The government has quite a fair bit of money. It would be easy to squash any insurrection and judging from the strong police presence and force used so far, though not deadly, still tells me these guys aren't going to get anywhere.

I do support free and equal democracy. Even living here, its hard to get a feel for how much representation the people, especially the poor Shiites, have. But I do wish I didn't feel intimidated to leave my home and that my husband were here to keep me company.

As a side note, I decided to have a last-minute get-together with some gals from playgroup this morning to have the kids decorate valentine cookies. 3 ladies showed up and several more were planning on it until their husbands asked them to stay home.

Helpful Boys

2010-12-01T14:28:00.003-06:00

Bahrain is so dusty (as I'm sure you could guess) that we have to clean our porches outside quite often. Davey loves to help...

Charlie also loves to be helpful, loving every time he can get a hold of a kleenex or a wipe that he can use to clean everything in sight.

Davey Should Live in Europe

2010-11-28T03:29:00.004-06:00

You might find this a little distasteful to read, but I had to write it down...

Yesterday Davey pointed to my underarm and said, "What's that?"

Me: "Uhh... hair, Davey." I'm thinking: thanks for pointing that out. (It had been a few days since I'd shaved... at least it wasn't so bad it was totally obvious to him.)

Davey: "I want hair like that."

Me: "You'll get some when you get bigger. I cut mine off, though."

Davey, getting emotional: "Don't cut it off!! It looks nice!"

Last Few Days Exploring Salalah

2010-11-20T14:17:00.016-06:00

More of the town of Mirbat. Not nearly so remote as Rakhyut but still felt just as back in time. I think this town has looked the same way for hundreds, probably thousands, of years.

Mirbat

Harbor in Mirbat

On the way home we had some good fun enjoying the dunes along the beach...

Nice jump Dave!

I love this picture! My three men :)

Charlie trying to figure it out

Davey got the hang of it

It was such a fun day of exploring

I think the dunes are beautiful

On the way home from Mirbat, we stopped at Khor Rori and to see the ruins of Sumhuram. Sumhuram was an important port city along the Frankincense trading trail dating back to the 4th century B.C.

View from far

More up close

My cute boys exploring the ruins

These sites we saw were amazing... so old and, like the rest of the region, seemed so untouched and accessible. We found a piece of a pot...

The pot shard we found

Up close

The port of Khor Rori in the background

This is the place LDS scholars believe to be the place Nephi built his ship.

Better view

Looking up the inlet, next to the city

View a little further down

I also forgot to mention that our kids had some adopted cousins we met at the hotel. They were amazing at playing with them and keeping them entertained that I actually got to relax and enjoy the sunshine even when Dave was in the room with Charlie to give him a nap. We happened to be on the same flight as them back to Muscat when we left... here's a pic of them hanging at the airport...

We absolutely loved our trip to Salalah. It was the perfect combination of relaxation and adventure.

Eid in Oman - Rakhyut & Mirbat

2010-11-20T13:05:00.007-06:00

If you look at the last picture in the previous/first post about or trip to Oman, you can see most of the town of Rakhyut. It is tiny. It looked like a town with a population of maybe 100 or so. But probably more with the size of Arabic families. There were perhaps two restaurants and a mosque or two. So remote and tiny but so beautiful.

When we arrived, I was super hungry and feeling faint (being pregnant). I had to take a chance on one of the restaurants and let Dave try to find me something. I had some chicken and was happy not to get sick. But I mostly stuck to the rice he got me. This town, like Salalah, was super-conservative Muslim from its appearance. I didn't see a single female. I can't imagine living such a life always in the home, no public life at all. Especially with the town being located on such a beautiful beach!

Needless to say, I decided not to shed my clothes and wear my bathing suit on the beach. But the boys had a lot of fun playing in the sand and running waist-deep into the water. The beach had a super low grade decline into the water so it would have been hard to get deeper. They loved it.

The beautiful beach at Rakhyut

Playing in the mud

So untouched

In addition to the camel problem, this area also had a cow problem. So many everywhere just roaming and not looking in good health...

No Mooo! heard here... I think they were too weak

I wish I could have gotten a picture of the actual checkpoint to get the feel of the remoteness of the location and intimidating feel.

I settled for a picture of the sign.

You can see that it is literally up in the clouds.

A view down the steep mountainside just past the checkpoint. Both sides were steep like this.

A view of the mountainous drive. It all felt so remote.

Another day we took a day trip up the coast the other direction to check out the town of Mirbat, a fishing village.

The town is on the far end of the curving coasline, top right of the picture.

Isn't the water beautiful?

The tomb of a local saint, Bin Ali, and neighboring graves.

Davey being silly enjoying the veiws up the coast.

Charlie was sleeping in the car.

Some of the town of Mirbat.

Davey was so interested to see a Dhow boat up close. There were some locals on board that seemed to be inviting them onboard but Dave decided not to go on...

Some beautiful doors we found exploring the back streets

Admiring the architecture

More beautiful doors

Eid in Oman

2010-11-20T12:58:00.007-06:00

We love Oman. We had taken 2 vacations to Muscat since living in Bahrain and decided to go back to Oman again and explore Salalah, on the south coast, this time. There was a week long "Eid" or festivity or holiday, in November, so off we went! It was a great combination of relaxing at a nice resort and exploring the area.

Salalah is the second largest city in Oman, known for its frankincense trade and lush, greenness amidst all the surrounding desert. In the summer, it receives some of the monsoon rains from India. So it wasn't still super green and lush when we were there but definitely more naturally green than anything else I've seen in the Gulf.

And it is considered to be the land of Bountiful from the Book of Mormon where Nephi built the ship and his family sailed to the Americas. It was fun to research this aspect before going and then see it for ourselves.

Our hotel was decorated for the occasion

It was a great place to stay with kids with two pools geared just for them and a great playground and splash park.

Charlie not parting from his trains even in the pool.

This picture just screams of childhood joy and free-spiritedness

Charlie enjoying the splash park.

The slide was perfect for my little ones.

Davey had fun making friends at the pool and organizing water games for them all.

The pools were so great we only walked out to the beach once.

Just two minutes' drive from our hotel were some amazing ruins dating to before 2000BC. The city was a trade hub along the Frankincense Trail.

Part of Al Balid City

Evidence of the ancient city was sprinkled everywhere around the town, still so untouched and it was obvious that so much is still undiscovered. It amazes me to walk around these places and try to imagine life at that time.

A pretty mosque in town

Trying to capture some of the landscape

Enjoying some fresh coconut water from a streetside vendor

Charlie's turn

Another pretty mosque in town

For our first excursion, we took an afternoon drive down to Mughsail beach. The beaches are so beautiful and there's a blowhole where the water is said to jet up to 90 feet high. I say "said to" because both times we tried to catch it we must have timed it wrong. But it was still a beautiful spot to check out. And to people-watch. For the first time since living in the Middle East (!), we saw a group of about 20 muslim men lay out a blanket and perform their afternoon prayers.

The boys checking out a cave on the walk to see the blowhole.

A beautiful glance up the beach from the blowhole in Mughsail.

Another day we took a drive to the town of Rakhyut, which was very interesting and felt very adventurous as the town is located so close to Yemen (less than 15 miles) that you have to pass through a military checkpoint and present your passports. I must say I was intimidated.

See these switchbacks? It was quite a drive to Rakhyut.

The mountains we passed over were incredible. They seem to follow the coastline all along the southern part of Oman and you drive way up on the tops with dramatic steep drops down to the ocean on one side and valley on the other, also seeming to drop back to sea level.

Only in this part of the world...

And, seriously, this sign was needed. This part of Oman seemed to have a camel problem. There were camels everywhere. Some of them looked like they were taken care of and belonged to someone (rope reigns on them and healthier) but many/most bore no signs of ownership. There were seriously so many everywhere and the inhabitants of this region so sparse that I can't imagine someone able to keep track of them all and having a consistent or commercial use for them. Transporting any product of/from them would be so costly, this area is so remote.

Well, hello camel.

We were stopping all the time for these things!

Our first view of Rakhyut.

A Couple Firsts

2010-11-11T14:14:00.005-06:00

One of these firsts is fun, the other not...

Even though I know Davey has been working on his writing a lot at school, he never wants to do it at home. So I was very pleasantly surprised to see how well he could write his name...

Nice work, Davey!

Both of them!

The other first is when cheeky little Charlie...

colored on the wall...

Halloween Cookie Party

2010-10-31T12:53:00.003-05:00

My mom has given me all kids of cute Halloween cookie cutters and Davey wanted to celebrate Halloween with all his little buddies, so we decided to have a low-key Halloween cookie-decorating party.

Davey decided who he wanted to invite from his class at school and helped me make the invitations...

I think they turned out cute and had to laugh at the

grumpy pumpkin he wanted to make.

Charlie, Davey and his two best buddies Jordan and Logan

I laugh at how Davey really looks like a ghost in this one

Shannon and Bryden intent on their decorating

Davey getting into decorating

Logan and Monica

Abi and Connor

Davey and I

The kids had lots of fun playing Hullabaloo

Super Stretchy ABC is always a hoot!

Thanks to Monica for bringing the sacks for sack races.

The kids couldn't get enough!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dalia joined us a little late but we are so glad she came.

Davey really enjoys her friendship.

My cute boys getting ready for a race

Oxy Halloween Party

2010-10-31T10:57:00.005-05:00

I worked with my friend, Donna, to put on a Halloween party for the Oxy families this year. Donna is a mega-planner so I let her lead and it turned into a pretty complicated party with all kinds of games and activity stations needing volunteers for every 30 minutes. Luckily a lot of people were willing to help. We had a chili and cornbread dinner along with a beautifully decorated Halloween cake.

Our boys had lots of fun as I think all the kids did. But next year we'll simplify... by the time we got everything going and tended to our own families a bit, everyone seemed to forget about their volunteering and the games didn't all run as planned but it was still a success.

When you first walked in was the "Guess how many spiders" game.

I think it was the favorite.

Leslie, me and Donna

We have a H'ween grinch in our family...

Our scary little ghost and cute little pumpkin ready to play!

We held the party in the clubhouse of a compound with all Oxy people so we were able to go trick-or-treating... yea!

The first house

Charlie was really into the candy. It was his first year going.

Last year he was already sleeping by the time we went out.

It was quite a warm night and we were all sweating by the time we finished trick-or-treating.

Birthday Time

2010-10-16T05:54:00.006-05:00

For some reason, turning 31 was harder this year than turning 30 was last year. Perhaps because turning 30 was a celebration and didn't seem like very far out of my twenties but turning 31 means I am officially in my thirties... and I am seeing signs of age now. Ugh, that really can't be true! But, despite these feelings, I had a really great birthday.

We have a group of couples we know through Dave's work who we go to dinner with once or twice a month and they planned a surprise dinner for me on Thursday night, which was lovely. Its always fun to hang out with Donna, Karen, Zeila and their husbands.

Karen and I with the delicious birthday cheesecake she made

Friday, on my actual birthday, Carol stopped by with a treat and a gift and we had a nice day at church and home as a family.

Trying to capture a family picture after church

Then on Saturday, the Boyetts invited us to dinner and it was a little surprise birthday dinner. We had such a nice time visiting with them. All of my friends here in Bahrain made me feel so loved! I am so grateful to have great friends.

And my family and friends from "home" (all the different homes I've had in the past 10 years) also made me feel loved with all of their calls and messages and some gorgeous flowers sent by my friend, Mendy.

Back to Real Life

2010-10-14T10:58:00.003-05:00

The rest of September and October went by rather quickly. It took quite a while to feel back into a routine and adjust to Davey being gone so much. Charlie and I spent a lot of quiet mornings at home. I kept busy with my calling in the Young Women and helping to plan a Halloween party for the Oxy families.

A few other things that filled our time...

Long before we left, we got a letter stating that our home's one-year warranty work needed to be done and we were to make a list of anything that needed repair. It wasn't until we returned from our trip, several months later, that they began the work. I was quite upset that this work hadn't been scheduled for while we were gone. The people involved in scheduling this were well aware that we were going to be gone and there is no reason it shouldn't have taken place when we were. This is what the house looked like for days...

They chipped out and re-filled cracks in the wall that we had never seen and brought up an unbelievable amount of tiles which apparently sounded hollow (not properly filled underneath) and the work went on day after day, coating everything with dust and preventing naps and just general living. Not to mention filling the house with stench. And, some of the tiles - even ones that they "fixed" - still sound hollow. But I'll never tell a soul. Or at least one who might do something about it.

On a more fun note, while the kids and I were in the States, Dave wandered around Muharraq Island and found the Sheikh Isa House we'd been looking for... The Sheikh Isa House was built around 1800 and was originally the residence of Isa Bin Ali al Khalifa before he turned it into the building from which he later ruled the country.

Inside a main courtyard

One of the wind tunnels - the original form of air conditioning. You could really feel it working even on the calm day we were there. Not that it compares to current A/C.

Looking up the wind tunnel

Beautifully carved doors

And beautifully carved walls

Cute pic of my guys

Pretty stained glass

One of the local malls created an indoor ice skating rink and offered its use for free, along with the skates and helmets for kids. The day we went it was deserted and all the equipment seemed brand new. What a deal!

Davey LOVED it, though he definitely needed support all along the way

View of the rink. Not really large but perfect for us.

We also went through another transition period with our maid since when we got back home I couldn't find my diamond necklace that Dave gave me when Davey was born. I am quite sure the maid (or her "husband" rather) stole it. Needless to say we let her go. I'm trying to forget about the whole ordeal so I'm not going to include all the crazy details of what happened.

First Day of School

2010-09-15T09:20:00.003-05:00

Thanks to a sleepy reaction to Benadryl, Davey adjusts well to the 8 hour time change between the East Coast of the US and Bahrain. So he was all adjusted and ready for his first day of school (pre-kindergarten) on September 15th.

I had had a really hard time choosing a school for him to go to, mostly having a hard time just with sending him to school for such a long day (8:00-1:45) every week day. When was I going to have time to spend with my darling Davey? After each school tour, I left emotional and teary. Before that experience, I never thought I'd be emotional for my children's first day of school. And - I was right. I guess by the time school finally started I was resigned to the idea and my usual non-emotional self was in control

Dave was very excited for his first day. Both Dave and I accompanied him and his teacher had advised us that we should stay in the room with him until he was comfortable. Well, the second we all stepped in the door, Davey was shooing us out of the room. He was ready to be independent and has never looked back. He absolutely loves school.

Davey in his uniform in front of the school.

Davey and his teachers. There are 11 children in his class.

Davey's school picture

I will always think Davey is so adorable and handsome but I think this picture is terrible. Seriously, could someone not have combed his hair and straightened his shirt? He had just had a nice hair cut (I made sure it wasn't too short) and it was nicely combed when he left the house. So much for "professional" services.

Anyway, Davey still loves school (4 months later as I write this) though he does get tired by the end of the week. He gets up at 6:30 in order to leave the house with Dave at 7:30. I am so glad the school is less than 5 minutes from Dave's work and that he's not an early-to-work guy so he can take him since the school is 20 minutes away. I just pick him up in the afternoon.

Davey's teacher is a lovely lady with lots of teaching experience and gushes about Davey every time I see her. He gets along well with everyone and will never pick a favorite friend. They are all his friends. I miss him during the week but he is always so excited to go that I don't regret putting him in.

One More Summer Post

2010-09-10T11:15:00.004-05:00

Now that I'm feeling motivated to get caught up on blogging again, I found some hidden summer pictures and I can't resist posting them. I end up taking so many pictures when we're at the cottage I guess because there aren't many distractions. Just focusing on the here and now :)

Davey really got into playing croquet and is pretty decent at it for a four year old. We now have a set in Bahrain and it gets pretty regular use.

Touring the recently de-comissioned Ice Breaker Mackinac was really impressive!

We took a lake tour of Harbor Springs on a beautiful old wooden boat, the Pointer. The boys loved playing with Hot Wheels cars around this table. Luckily the captain didn't mind.

A lighthouse on the lake

It was a gorgeous day and wonderful ride until Davey lost his favorite car in the depths of the lake. He cried for hours.

Carrie and Katie are so fun and always trying to make the kids laugh.

The boys had no trouble joining in the silly fun.

Pretty view from the cottage window

A family picture after lunch with GiGi Featherly at the Midland Country Club

And that's all folks! (Until I find that download cord... :)

Summer Wrap-Up

2010-09-09T06:24:00.006-05:00

I've finally come to terms with the fact that if I wait to blog until I find the download cord for the camera with the rest of our pictures on it, I will never finish and move on. So I will wrap up our Summer 2010 adventure with what I have...

Most of the rest of our time in the States was spent at the cottage. We had a lot of fun exploring further the area around Cheboygan and the "Tip of the Mitt."

A great view of the bridge from downtown Mackinaw City

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse built in 1892

Fiery sunset over Mullett Lake

An old fishery train car used to stock the lakes and rivers with fish. We tried to tour the fish hatchery a couple times but their hours were too limited for us to catch them open. But the boys still loved the train car as you can imagine.

Charlie and Dave enjoying a lunch in Mitchell Street Pub, Dave's favorite place to eat in Petoskey. They do serve a mean grilled cheese.

Look at this face!

Charlie started making this face all the time this summer while he was playing. It made me laugh so hard and if you tried to do it back to him he had no idea what you were doing (i.e. no idea he was doing it himself). He kept it up for several months but has mostly grown out of it now.

Labor Day weekend was our last weekend in MI and Up North and Dave's sisters and brother-in-law joined us for the weekend (Dave's parents were of course up there the whole time). And Labor Day came in in true Michigan style with a cold, wet, windy storm ushering in the fall weather.

We also had a nice visit from Dave's aunt Sue and cousin Brian and his family.

Kissing cousins! Charlie and Abby got along pretty well.

So did Davey and Emma, showing off their skills. These two were born just a few days apart.

Our two families mirroring each other. And now both Sue and I are pregnant again at the same time with number three!

We returned to Detroit two days before our return flight to Bahrain and spent lots of time doing our final stock-up shopping and seeing my family. We were also able to see Mark & Amy one more time.

As much as we were sad to leave our family and friends, I was also ready to get back into some routine. I was very aware of Davey's school starting on Sept 15th and we were only leaving on the 9th. It was a wonderful summer and we certainly look forward to next year... it won't come soon enough!!

The Best Alarm

2010-09-02T06:11:00.003-05:00

I woke up this morning hearing Charlie on the monitor: "I like Mommy. I like Mommy. I like Mommy..." He melts my heart.

A Day Out With Thomas

2010-08-28T10:37:00.006-05:00

I thought Davey was a boy who was crazy about Thomas the Train, until Charlie was introduced to Thomas. Charlie is really, really crazy about Thomas and his friends. He rarely talks or seems to think about anything else, even in his sleep (as I learned sleeping in the room with him on our recent vacation).

When I checked the Thomas website for dates and locations of the Day Out With Tomas I was very excited that we would be able to take the boys while we were in Michigan. I knew they would love it and I was right.

On a Saturday while we were up at the cottage, we headed down to the Huckleberry Railroad in Flint to see Thomas. My parents met us there and spent the day with us as well.

There were so many fun activities for the kids - a hay-maze to wind through, Thomas bounce houses, video viewing and story time, and of course train tables and trains to play with...

Charlie was in his element

Luckily we had some of our own trains along as there were not enough to go around for all of the train-loving kids.

Charlie couldn't miss playing with any of the tracks even though he could barely reach this table

Anticipating the ride on Thomas!

Both kids were mesmerized watching Thomas pulling us...

A good view of the beloved engine.

Davey and I enjoying the ride

Sir Topham Hatt made a special appearance...

Davey was excited to greet him though Charlie was a little less sure

Us and the big man

Posing with the engine

For sale were these huge, way overpriced, Thomas-shaped helium balloons that my mother really wanted to buy for the boys. I thought it was a waste of money and thought it would be better spent on a train they could play with for a long time. But I kept my mouth shut and saw that Grandma knew best... the boys loved the balloons and wouldn't let us throw them away when we left the U.S. We had to carefully deflate them bring them back to Bahrain with us! They still insist on us blowing them up every once in a while so they can play with them. I never would have guessed :)

It was a really fun day for all of us and it was nice to get to sneak in another day with my parents. And Thomas, we'll probably see you again next year!

Mackinac Island

2010-08-25T07:31:00.000-05:00

This summer we decided to take an overnight vacation to Mackinac Island. I had never spent the night there and was excited to spend more time on the island. It is so beautiful. Most of it is a state park and its historic homes have been beautifully preserved and restored. It is home to the only state highway in the US that doesn't allow cars.

We stayed at the Murray Hotel, where Dave's family stayed for years when they used to go up and stay with their extended family. In fact, it is the place where I first met the aunts and uncles and cousins on his Mom's side.

We had a wonderful time. It is such a beautiful and relaxing place.

You have to take a boat to get there; no bridges

Dave's parents joined us for the day the first day and we enjoyed a lovely bide ride along the 8 mile perimeter road.

Our family :)

Charlie slipped in a nap

Davey and Dave stopped to build a cairn

Davey is sporting his self-named "skunk smile"

We found a great spot for lunch on the water

Dave and his mom

A natrual rock arch along the ride

After Dave's parents left we enjoyed a nice dinner as a family and played around on the grass at the park before heading to the hotel for an early sleep.

The next morning we headed to the Mackinac Fort...

It had to be one of the cushiest posts in the US when it was in use. So beautiful and quite quiet as far as battles go.

The volunteer "soldiers" getting ready for firing a salute.

Cute soldiers, huh?

The kids loved the cannon-firing deomonstration

A glimpse of the beautiful view of the fort.

Another view.

And another. Just so pretty.

The MI Governor's summer residence.

The kids also enjoyed a playground at the island school, ice cream and the island's famous fudge. I did too! Mmmmm....

We had fun throwing pebbles at the beach

Sweet, loving Davey

Headed home... see you next year!

We'll definitely stay again next year since we have a free night at the hotel thanks to them not getting our luggage to the ship on time. An inconvenience worth the trouble in my book!

Darling, exhausted Charlie fell asleep on the boat ride home.

Please ignore how silly I look!

Up North!

2010-08-23T06:18:00.000-05:00

The day after everyone left to go home from the Paulson family reunion (boo hoo hoo), we headed Up North to see Dave's family, which was Davey's actual birthday. The drive was beautiful (we stopped at a beautiful rest stop and had some fun running around and enjoying the scenery) and we were excited to see Grandma and Grandpa Adams. Davey was greeted with a table-ful of presents, balloons and a cake - round 3 already of celebrating and it was only just now his birthday! (Pics to come.)

The boys loved the lake and got to know Dallas the dog again. The weather was beautiful most of the time and I just couldn't get enough of the fresh air and green scenery. There are so many pictures in this post because all of our days were spent just relaxing and enjoying the vacation and family together time, which makes for a lot of picture taking.

The boys' days were never complete without a boat ride of one kind or another. Of course Davey liked the speed boat best.

Driving with Daddy

On the first weekend we were there, Katie and Carrie came for a visit. It was so nice to see them and the boys had a blast being entertained by their aunts. And of course there was a fourth 4th birthday celebration for Davey when they arrived. It's no wonder that Davey still is so proud to tell everyone he meets how he is four now - saying it like it's the most wonderful news and they will be amazed and excited. We celebrated it so much he thinks it was the biggest deal ever.

Trying to capture Aunt Kiki and Aunt Kate jumping around like dolphins to entertain the boys.

Giving Dallas a drink with Aunt Kate

There were lots of fun wagon rides with Grandma.

Enjoying a beautiful day for boating

Charlie and Grandma - Davey and Grandpa

Beautiful blue sky and water

A little unsure about driving, but they'll be pros soon!

Cute brothers

We also enjoyed the kayaks and paddle boats

Enjoying some good skiing...

Dave

Lovin' the hair!

Katie

I skied too but didn't look quite so graceful... no picture needed.

We enjoyed so many beautiful sunsets

The boys still can't get enough of this huge airplane Grandma and Grandpa bought on a day trip to Harbor Springs

The second weekend we were Up North, my parents and Ben stopped by on their way back from a family wedding in the U.P.. We really enjoyed seeing them again for an afternoon.

Charlie and Uncle Ben

Ben loved driving the boat as you can imagine a 16-year-old boy would

My parents

Charlie was freaking out until Davey finally put his glasses on him...

A good look for him, huh?

A nice pic of my mom

And a one of Dave's dad (minus my face!)

Dave's mom and me

1st Annual Paulson Family Reunion

2010-08-17T04:03:00.000-05:00

With our move overseas and planning only one trip home each year, we convinced the family to move their annual trips home from Christmas to summer. It was really fun to get everyone together in the summertime when there are so many more outdoor activity options. My mom was so excited that she planned it like a "proper" family reunion and ordered t-shirts and everything!

Dave had brought a new camera with him when he came and we used that to take most of the pics from the rest of our trip... and then left it beind :( We'll be getting it soon but in the mean time, I'm using the photos my dad was kind enough to send me.

We spent a day at Red Oaks Water Park that all the kids loved. My mom spent the day capturing bees (there were TONS!). Wish I had that pic.

We also had a family photo shoot and got some nice pictures. Don't have them yet.

The boys had tons of fun just hanging out together.

Davey loved playing games with his older cousins

Enjoying some ice cream in the backyard. Enoch is really into it!

Hanging out while Michael made quite a creation!

Unfortunately, one of the Utah folks brought back a bug that we not-so-fondly called "The Sickness." It spread through almost everyone in the whole 21 of us - all staying in my parents house. It was just my parents and Desiree and I who were spared. Fortunatley it didn't kick the kids as hard as it did the adults - but that thing was violent and miserable. By the end of the week I was so scared of it that I walked around everywhere with a canister of Clorox wipes wiping anything I was going to touch or that a sickie had touched. It was almost funny how hard that bug hit us all.

Harmony was awesome to work with my mom to prepare a meal schedule and assignments for everyone to take turns cooking and cleaning. I worked quite well, but mostly thanks to Mom who did so much food prep in advance and was almost always helping in the kitchen. The meals were delicious!

Desiree workin' it with the mango chicken quesadillas

John, Jared, Harmony and Ben ejoying a card game

Our family reunion was so much a "real" family reunion that we even had a talent/skit show. It was so cute to see the kids participating and we had some good laughs!

The kids enjoyed some fun water and bubble play outside...

Charlie provoking Davey

You have to look closely but their faces are so cute and happy

Getting clean after a hard day's play!

Since it was just a few days before Davey's birthday, I thought it would be fun to take advantage of the first time he would be able to celebrate with his extended family and we had a birthday party at Pump-It-Up. The kids had a blast, of course.

It was a good opportunity to all wear our matching reunion shirts.

Davey has always loved people to do things the same and at the same time, like for us all to take a drink or bite at the same time at dinner. So he just loved everyone wearing the same shirt and this is now his all-time favorite shirt. He wears it every chance he gets.

Davey being sung to in the big birthday chair.

Enjoying the Hot Wheels after the party

It was so fun that two of my mom's sisters, Mary and Judy, came for a few days of the reunion. I just don't get to see my aunts and uncles, especially on my mom's side, often enough.

Aunt Mary playing with her grand-nephews. She has always been so much fun.

On the last day of the reunion, we had a barbecue and invited a bunch of neighbors and church friends. We warned them about "The Sickness" and held it outside so they would feel more comfortable coming if they did, and it was so nice to see how many people still came. It's always so nice to connect with old friends.

Hopefully next year we'll all be healthy and can fully enjoy ourselves. I was disappointed that I didn't get to interact more with my little nephews and niece (Isaac, Tommy and Megan) since they were all under the weather and not their playful selves.

I am so looking forward to our next reunion - we had so much fun! Hooray for having such a wonderful family! I love you all!

More Michigan = More Summer Fun!

2010-08-10T03:35:00.002-05:00

After we returned from Texas, we had a week and a half more to spend before my siblings and their families started arriving for our family reunion.

Enjoying goodies from the ice-cream truck with Grandma

We enjoyed a visit to Midland to see the boys' great-grandmother Featherly

Davey loved his birthday present of a baseball and bat and football

GiGi and the boys
I think this picture is so cute!

We got together a few times with Amy and her girls and they had fun putting on a singing show for us...

Davey, Ada, Charlie and Lucy on the stage

A small clip of some singing... (I needed more room on my memory card) :(

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By this point in our trip, the boys and I were really missing Dave. We talked on the phone and on Skype more than usual, but we still really missed him... so it was great when he changed his plane ticket to (unsuccessfully) surprise us 3 days early! We were so happy to be together again.

Lacey also came home a few days before everyone else arrived for the reunion. The boys really enjoyed her company. Lacey even took Davey to see his first movie in a theater and indulged him with popcorn and a huge bag of fruit snacks. He loved it!

Charlie insisted on her holding his hand while in the car, so Davey joined the chain too

Of course, we had to meet up with the Romneys for breakfast at the Pancake House and then was a trip to our favorite Birmingham park.

They have the best astro-turf sledding hill...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The kids did have fun even though the absolutely wouldn't cooperate for a picture!

A Visit to Katy, TX

2010-07-29T03:36:00.003-05:00

One of the highlights of our trip home was a trip to see our friends in Texas. Davey and I had been looking forward to it for a long time. We were graciously hosted by my friend and old neighbor, Mendy.

The flight from Cincinnati, though it was the shortest one we took all summer, seemed to take forever. It was strange. I guess when you expect something to go by quickly, it doesn't! The boys were occupied for a while by the flight safety instruction cards. They just love those things.

Figuring it all out

We arrived on a Saturday night so we were able to attend church and see so many of our friends. Davey just loved going Sunbeams with his old buddies. Charlie got a little teary in nursery but stayed the whole time. He was just old enough to go to nursery then so it was wonderful to get to attend Relief Society meeting.

Our first item of business Monday morning was a visit to our old pediatrician. Charlie was very late on his well-child check-ups since I was nervous to go to a doctor in Bahrain, especially about getting shots here. I had seen terrible infections on kids' arms (apparently they say its normal for whatever shot they give them - luckily that one isn't required for non-Bahrainis) and heard that the nurses are slow with the shots.

Also, Davey had had a bad cough for a while that we needed to get treated. And he ended up on a nebulizer treatment in the office. I was busy talking to the doctor about Charlie and looked over and Davey already had the machine going and these big, scared eyes. But he was a trooper and just sat there.

What is this thing, Mom?

While I was in Katy, I lined up our old babysitter to stay with Charlie at the house while he napped so I could go do things. The first day I made a huge shopping trip to Costco and Wal-Martof things to ship back to Bahrain. Mostly anti-bacterial wipes, Oatmeal Squares cereal and healthier on-the-go snacks for the kids that either just aren't available here or are way too expensive. Also included were vanilla extract, pecans and birthday party gifts (everything is so expensive here there are tons of bday parties to attend).

One of the afternoons we met up with our old friends, Fumie and Roberto. Davey had so much fun playing with Roberto.

Cute boys loving the heavy machinery

Our great friend, Amy, had a baby girl just a couple weeks before we went for a visit, so I really enjoyed getting to catch up with her and seeing her beautiful new baby. And Davey was in heaven playing with his buddy Lauren. They've always played so well together and he really missed her.

Sweet baby Julia

We also had the chance to attend our old playgroup and met up at the park and pools during the week. It was so nice that our friends made so much time for us. They were game for anything we wanted to do. We also had a girls' night out dinner at Lupe tortilla. Yum!

As if we didn't fit enough into the 5 days we were in Katy, we also had an early birthday party for Davey. We sent out the invite only 2 days before the party and everyone except one person came! It was so fun living in Katy because all of my friends had kids Davey's age so all of his friends' moms are my friends.

Kristin, Kim, Jamie, Amy and Alyssa

Fumie, Laetitia and Charlotte

It was crazy getting it all together so quickly and with rain all week, but it was really, really fun and the weather held out for us. We held it at the park and splash pad in our old neighborhood, Pine Mill Ranch.

The boys enjoying the water

Mackenzie had fun pal-ing around with Jace and Kai

Cool fountain

Avery and Lulu

Lauren and Jace

Roberto and Davey

Mendy was so nice to get the cake for him

Ready to sing and dig in!

Happy birthday to Davey!

Sammie, Avery, Lulu and Lauren

Davey's best buddies from Katy

Charlie enjoyed the cupcakes waaaay too much...

He grabbed two and dove in face-first.

Notice the sick, I-ate-too-much-sugar face.

Once we had the party and sang to him, Davey was sure that he was four years old. No matter how many times I told him that it was an early birthday party, he would not be convinced, with is defense being, "But I had a four candle!"

Now, months later, I've finally convinced him, but it is still a big enough deal to him that he loves to recount to adults he meets how, "when I had my birthday party in Katy, Texas, I thought I was four but I really wasn't." Along with telling them about how, "When I was in Ohio, I got mosquito bites."

The next morning we fit in a meetup with the Griffeths and Knies at Pump-it-Up and a quick visit with Dave's old boss Cliff's wife Betty and then it was off to the airport.

It was a wonderful whirlwind of a trip!

Cousins, Cousins, Cousins!

2010-07-24T04:08:00.000-05:00

We spent three very fun days with Colter, Kelly and their boys. My boys were in heaven with all the cousins to play with!

One of our excursions was to the Cincinnati Children's Museum. The boys especially loved the water area...

Charlie could barely reach the water "ball" but loved the feel of it

Michael turning the wheel

Davey, Peter and Joseph

Davey and Joseph filling up the dam

Colter & Kelly have a wonderful water park run by the city right around the corner from them. It was great fun!

The water park

Playing with Peter was a favorite of both boys, even two months after we've seen them, they still talk about him often

All of the boys enjoyed some good outdoor time but we ended up with major amounts of mosquito bites!

Joseph and Peter giving some great wagon rides

We also got to attend a fun pack meeting that Colter was in charge of. Joseph and his buddies did a really cute skit based on Goldilocks and it was fun to see him in that role. He did great!

Also, Charlie loved everything Kelly made, which is a huge feat! I need to get more of her recipes.

We love you guys and can't wait to see you again! Thanks for letting us crash your house! :)

Michigan Fun

2010-07-20T01:11:00.000-05:00

It was so nice to see my parents and little brother Ben when we got to Michigan. And to be in a beautiful, green environment with fresh, fragrant air. The boys enjoyed lots of time outside and had lots of fun hanging out with Grandma Paulson...

There was lots of water fun

The boys loved playing with the neighbor's hose and their grandsons

Charlie was happy to do nothing but be the hose-holder

We played with Grandma at Great Lakes Crossing, stocked up on shoes at the Stride Rite outlet, and rode the carousel

We also really enjoyed hanging out with my good friend Amy and her girls...

Davey LOVED the water slide at the Troy Community Center

Ada, Lucy and Amy

Some good one-on-one with Grandma making marshmallow men!

A pony ride at Chuck-E-Cheese

As you can see, we had lots of fun just in the first week we were in Michigan. We all adjusted pretty quickly to the time change, with Charlie deciding to continue his usual 5am wake-up time. I had really hoped to adjust that later, as you can imagine.

By the end of the week, though, things got really hard for me as I miscarried our third baby. It happened at only 6.5 weeks, but as you can imagine, there is never a good time to lose a baby. Luckily only a few days later we were off to Cincinnati to see Colter and his family and then on Texas to see our friends and both provided good distraction for me.

USA Here We Come!

2010-07-13T00:38:00.001-05:00

After our wonderful time in Germany, we were excited to go home to the USA! Our trip, however, had to begin with the 6 hour drive back to Amsterdam. The drive was smooth and the scenery beautiful as before and the boys were very well-behaved, but it made for an exhausting journey.

We stopped at a really nice rest area in Germany and the boys were so cute walking through the building holding hands, I had to take a picture.

I think this one is so cute with them both making the same face, not on purpose.

Davey showing off the matchbox cars I broke down and bought for them. They were so well-behaved I had to reward them!

Spending a little time at the park outside the rest stop (awesome, huh?) before getting back in the car.

It was a nine hour flight from Amsterdam to Detroit and while I didn't sleep at all (too worried that Charlie would roll off the seat) I did get to watch almost two full movies while the boys slept. I have never been able to relax and have any time for myself on a flight before when flying alone with children. Minus the very rude stewardesses (I'll let myself forget the details), it was great!

Charlie is 18 months

2010-07-11T23:13:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm way behind in posting this, but wanted to remember some details of Charlie at 18 months old.

Charlie is a very picky eater - he asks all the time for "honey," which is a peanut butter & honey sandwich, and yogurt. Those are basically the only things I can get him to eat with any regularity. I try very hard to provide him with options that will give him the nutrition he needs, but I worry because he won't eat barely any of it!

Charlie LOVES choo-choos and can name the following engines: Henry, Gordon, Percy, Emily, Alfie, Cranky (okay a crane not engine), Thomas, Toby, Coach, and Edward

My housemaid and I were joking the other day how you can sum up Charlie in two words: Trains and Yogurt.

He has discovered the word "LOUD" and loves to scream it in the car. Ouch for the ears!

He loves to run around the house yelling, "fast!" He shares very well (I can hear him saying, "here, here, here" reaching something to another child) and is good at saying "please."

Charlie loves camels. Each time we pass the camel farm near our home (which is all the time), he is yelling and pointing, "Mamoos!"

I just love the 18 month old age. Every time I walk in the door from being out and have left him with our nanny/housemaid he yells, "Yea! Mama's here!"

He loves, loves, loves babies. We were at a birthday party recently where a child about 12 months old was sitting in a stroller being fed by her mother. Charlie stood by her side holding her hand for a full half hour, ignorning the festivities around him.

There are so many flies in Bahrain and Charlie has been joining in the fun of swatting at them. He thinks its so fun to do and funny to watch. In fact, flies are so much a part of his conciousness that when he counts to five, he says, "one, two, three, four, flies!" (he picked up the counting on his own, no teaching involved).

Happy 18 months to our happy, talkative little Charlie bear!

Exploring Hamburg

2010-07-10T19:23:00.011-05:00

We arrived in Hamburg on Friday, so Saturday was a perfect day to explore the city and be able to enjoy Jeremy's company too, as well as have his help so the kids didn't out number us quite so much.

Our first stop - a beautifully treed walking district with great shopping.

Sarah, Jeremy and the gang of kids

Hamburg is a beautiful city with lots of waterways and beautiful buildings. Sarah and Jeremy were telling me how the city was never ruled by any of the kings that ruled the rest of Germany and surrounding areas, but it was built and developed by businessmen for their interests so it has more continuity than other cities.

Downtown Hamburg - Beautiful!

The weather was perfect for our day out - we were really enjoying it after the heat of Bahrain.

City Hall

The Nivea headquarters are in Hamburg, so we were able to explore all their coolest products in the company's flagship store.

Lunch at a very German restaurant - everything on the menu was made of potatoes! The kids had some potato pancakes and I had a very delicious turkey, cheese, potato souffle.

Dave loving his train ride and gelato

Part of the metro line includes a river boat with beautiful views of the city so we had to include that on our tour...

The huge dock owned and operated by the company my dad works for - Thyssen Krupp

Beautiful Hamburg shore

A more modern view

On the Baltic Sea, Hamburg is a shipping hub

It was a full and fun day. The kids were amazingly well-behaved for all we put them through that day. We did so much walking that (luckily right at the end) both Davey's and my shoes broke! (guess I shouldn't be cheap about shoe buying)

We unknowingly got the kids to bed past 9 o'clock because it was still so light out!

The following day we went to church with our friends and it was quite warm as no one there has air conditioning. The whole trip was hot and I had packed mostly cool weather clothes thinking that being that far north it must be bound to be cold (how quickly I'd forgotten my northern upbringing).

The cutest thing that day was that in church even though we couldn't understand what was being said (the service was in German of course) Davey decided he wanted to bear his testimony. It was hard to convince him that he couldn't since it wasn't fast and testimony meeting. He had never wanted to do this before so I was sad to have to tell him no. He had everything planned out how he was going to talk about how his Daddy and his Grandpa had been sick and he prays for them.

After church we drove through a little village to get more of a feel for the town.

Such a picturesque little spot

We had a delicious German dinner that night with bratwurst, saurkraut and grilled vegetables.

Charlie and Davey loved playing with the most darling twins, Henry and Isabella. Those little babies are just so adorable! They have such wonderful, calm, sweet personalities and they are just beautiful. Charlie wanted to be on Bella - literally touching - all the time (he didn't need any suggestions as in the video in the post below)...

(I'm having trouble with the video code... if anyone thinks they can help me fix it please let me know!)

Thank you Sarah and Jeremy for such wonderful hospitality. We all had so much fun exploring Hamburg with you and getting to spend some time together. We can't wait until we get to see you again!

Charlie & Bella Video

2010-07-10T19:00:00.000-05:00

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The Adventure Begins

2010-07-09T07:02:00.010-05:00

For weeks before we left for our trip, Davey asked every day if it was July 8th (the day we were to leave). He just couldn't wait to go home and see all his family and friends, just like me. The day finally came and we boarded the plane just before midnight.

Smiling and ready for the adventure to begin.

Charlie loves to clean with wipes. He was happy for a good 20 minutes "cleaning" everything around him.

The kids settled in and fell asleep after a couple hours. I was able to relax but unfortunately wasn't able to fall asleep.

The flight monitor showing we were flying over Iraq! I was surprised to know commercial flights go through Iraqi airspace.

We arrived in Amsterdam after a smooth flight. I was so happy to have not struggled with the boys. Unfortunately we arrived early at 5am and the rental car agencies didn't open until 6:30 so we had to wait around the airport. It was quite a struggle just getting to the right location with a hugely loaded luggage cart that you had to hold a difficult handle down to move and pushing the kids stroller at the same time. I was amazed at the number of people that just watched me creep by (we were truly moving at a snail's pace), without even sympathetic smiles. Finally, a man offered to help us. While we waited for the Avis counter to open, however, Davey really needed to use the bathroom. We had to move at the same snail's pace to get there and my hands were killing me. No offers of help or kind looks. I was put off by the lack of response and I guess I have really gotten used to the friendliness of people in Bahrain. Welcome back to the Western World. I shouldn't have been surprised.

We finally got out onto the road in Amsterdam and it was wonderful! Everything was so green and beautiful. The weather was cool and the air was moist and fragrant. Such a nice change from dry, brown, dusty Bahrain!

I know the following picitures aren't much to look at, but I couldn't help trying to capture the beautiful scenes (holding my phone up blindly in front of my while I drove), even though I wasn't able to. The countryside in Holland and Germany was so beautiful and it was so fun just to be in Europe. There were beautifully cultivated fields and grazing animals with quaint villages each with their very Dutch looking windmill or church.

I had thought the drive would be closer to 4 hours, but it took six solid hours. I was TIRED after not having slept that night but didn't feel in danger of nodding off. The kids were great and slept for about 2 hours of the drive. I expected them to be really restless but maybe they were enjoying the beautiful scenery as well :)

When we got off the autobahn, this is what the rest of the drive to Sarah's house looked like. She has said that she is living out her childhood dream of living in a forest and she truly is. So beautiful and lush! I wish I had taken a picture of her townhome and the homes around it. Everything just looked so German. (Duh! right?)

In making all of our preparations for our two-month-long trip, I hadn't spent really any time thinking about our time in Germany and what we would see or do, other than to be so excited to spend time with my dear friend Sarah, her husband Jeremy, and to meet their darling one-year-old twins Isabella and Henry.

The three days we spent with them were so much fun! (Details in the next post.) Sarah greeted us with a great dinner of gnocci (German as well as Italian because of it being made of potato and dressed with gravy).

Sarah helpingDavey with his first German meal.
(Yes, I cringe when I see this picture. Davey loves to pretend to be a baby. Thank you, Sarah, for putting up with it! Though now as I write this six weeks later he is thankfully growing out of it/being pushed out of it mostly.)

The darling babies - Henry and Isabella!

Sarah also hid for them in their rooms a chocolate Kinder Egg.

They loved them!

A Big, Daunting Adventure

2010-07-08T21:22:00.002-05:00

Part of living life overseas is taking our trips home. I was very excited to plan our first trip home, but every time I sat down to buy our tickets, I just couldn't do it. I was taking the kids home a month before Dave would join us, which meant travelling with them myself. The flight from Bahrain plus a layover plus another flight was more than I could think about trying to handle, especially with the journey beginning with a red-eye. Most of the itineraries involved 30+ hours of travelling.

Once I realized that the common layover points of Frankfurt and Amsterdam brought me close to my best friend from college, Sarah, who is living in Hamburg, I realized the wonderful solution - make a stopover and go see her and her husband and one-year-old twins!

So that we did and it was still tiring, but great!

Camel Farm

2010-07-07T20:24:00.000-05:00

Its about time I blogged about the camel farm up the road from us. I was in Macy's with my friend, Amy, the other day and another shopper overheard us talking about Bahrain and mentioned how much she had liked the camel farm there when she stopped on a cruise. I mentioned that we live right down the road from there and Amy was surprised she hadn't yet heard about it, so, here's the post, Amy!

HRH the King of Bahrain owns a camel farm that is about a mile up the main road from our home and is a major landmark for my kids. When we first moved there we took a drive around the island and Davey, our little GPS-in-his-head boy, knew we were almost home when we passed the camel farm again in the dark at the end of the day. For a couple months before we left for the summer, Charlie pointed out the camel farm every time we passed, pointing and yelling what sounded like, "Mammals!" He now says it correctly (boo hoo, I hate when they lose the baby-talk) but still often thinks (or hopes) cows and horses are camels.

We stopped by the camel farm again the day before we left for our trip and took the pictures above. The camel farm is open during the day and you can just stop and pull in and walk around. This time one of the workers gave us a little tour and walked us to the back where the pregnant camels and the new babies live. We got to see a two week old camel right up close (the camel to Dave's left in the bottom right picture)... it was so cute! Charlie LOVES camels. You may notice in both pictures that he would not look away from them for the picture. I have started collecting little camel figurines and Charlie plays with them all the time.

We've been reading a little about camels with the kids and found it interesting to know that it is not water that camels store in their humps, but food. The water is distributed throughout thier bodies. Did you always think it was water in the hump too?

Swimming Lessons

2010-06-26T12:40:00.004-05:00

This Spring Davey and Charlie have been taking swimming lessons at Davey's school. Even though it is only once a week for 30 minutes, I have been impressed with how much comfort and confidence they have given both boys. It has been fun to do the "Bubs and Me" lesson with Charlie and Dave and I were invited to watch Davey's lesson last week through the window (so as not to distract him) so it was a good chance to get some of his skills on video.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Charlie: "Charlie"

2010-06-26T11:42:00.002-05:00

Charlie's vocabulary is expanding like crazy these days and I'm going to try to capture more of his darling little voice on video since I regret not having more of Davey. Here's a short little clip...

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Muharraq Island

2010-06-26T08:11:00.004-05:00

Dave and I decided we needed to get out and do something different with our Saturday than swimming or going to the mall to play with the kids, so we decided to venture to Bahrain's second-largest island, Muharraq, and explore a former home of Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Kalifa, former king of Bahrain from 1869 to 1932. It is supposed to be very beautiful with period architecture and wall carvings.

We brought along a guide book and map and were sure we'd seen signs to it before (the airport is also on Muharraq), but we drove all around the island and couldn't find it. No one we asked seemed to know where it was and one guy said he'd never even heard of it!

The island is much smaller than Bahrain island and we figured we had to run into it somewhere around where our map put it, but alas we did not. We did, however, still enjoy ourselves and saw some interesting things along the way.

A very pretty mosque we came across.

Sorry, I'll fix the picture soon.

Another mosque. I should have taken a close-up of the detail work around the doors. Very pretty.

Muharraq hasn't endured all the modernisation that Bahrain has and seems to have a lot more historic, preserved buildings.

A very beautiful, restored residence.

We drove by the shipyard where dhow boats (traditional wooden fishing boats) apparently go to both die and be born...

Some abandoned, decaying dhow boats.

I must be adjusting a bit because I found the scene a bit beautiful.

Some people were working on the dhow being built and it is very impolite here to take pictures of others without asking permission, so we didn't get a picture of one being built. But Davey thought it was pretty cool. He has had an affinity for dhows since he first saw them in Oman.

Central Market

2010-06-26T07:43:00.003-05:00

I have heard for a long time about the Central Market here in Bahrain that is a great place to buy fish and produce. Cherries and berries here are extremely expensive and when I heard they could be had at a good price and I was invited to go with a couple from church, I was in! We went this morning at 6am...

Inside the fish market.

It was a slow day there since the weekend has been very windy and many fishermen didn't go out.

With the "shopkeeper" selling the sharks and my friend Imee

I picked up some prawns for Dave, which he thought were very fresh and delicious but a lot of work for the reward.

A view of the outdoor vegetable market.

I bought lots of cherries, mangos, kiwi, some cucumbers, capsicum (green pepper), garlic and bananas. It wasn't as good of prices as I expected, but surely a better deal than the grocery stores. It was a fun cultural experience!

Spelling

2010-06-05T22:02:00.001-05:00

Apparently, Davey has really started to notice the times when we spell words when talking in front of him. Today he told me, "Mommy, we really need to fix my T-H-E-D-A-Y -- my construction truck."

High-End Baby

2010-05-25T08:37:00.002-05:00

Two weeks ago, Charlie took a spill directly into the corner of the coffee table. We were so very lucky it wasn't just a bit to the left or right or we could have had a major issue with one of his eyes. The result, however, is looking like he might have a Mercedes-Benz-reminicent-shaped scar in the middle of his forehead...

An International Culinary Adventure (i.e. Disaster!)

2010-05-24T10:54:00.001-05:00

Amazingly, when I told my sister Harmony we were moving to Bahrain, she knew where it was. Her husband's uncle had been doing a consulting job here on and off over the last year. So once he came to town again after we moved in, we had him over for Friday dinner since he is kind-of family. He is a very nice man and the kids both really took to him. So the next Friday we invited him over again, in addition to another couple from church that we were wanting to get to know.

That week I came across this delicious-sounding recipe for an Orange-Teriyaki Roast and decided to give it a try. It would be perfect to do a roast since Davey had a birthday party I was going to take him to after church - I could get everything prepared before church and Dave made some potatoes while I was gone. When we got home from the party, the house smelled delicious - perfect! Our guests arrived and I took the roast out to let it cool a few minutes before Dave carved it.

It was definitely not the "Angus Top Roast" it had been labeled as in the supermarket. ICK! It had huge tubes in it the size of my pinkie finger! Maybe it was the top of a cow's heart! We thought about trying to cut away the good/normal-looking meat but even adventurous Dave didn't want to try to eat it. So with our guests already here, I had to switch gears and come up with a new main course! It was stressful but luckily everyone had fun chatting while I scurried around the kitchen putting together a spaghetti dinner.

I was so disappointed because I really wanted to try that recipe but now I'm scared to buy any meat here other than chicken breasts and ground beef that I can fully see what they are!

Chit-Chat

2010-05-20T07:13:00.004-05:00

Like every mother of their own child, I find Charlie's little voice to be so very darling. He is talking all the time and I love to hear it. His vocabulary is expanding all the time. It's so hard to catch him talking on video, but here is a little attempt we made a couple weeks ago...

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Now that Charlie's watched this as I'm posting it, he's running around saying, "Cookies please!" over and over... good thing I don't keep them on hand because I would have a hard time resisting that sweet little voice. Also, I guess he takes after me in the sweet tooth department as my mom was just reminding me how one of my first sentences at his same age was, "Tookies, Grandma!"

So Sweet

2010-05-20T06:40:00.002-05:00

I have been sick this week - a bug causing me to lose my voice along with intermittent fatigue. As I was trying to sing Charlie a lullabye before bed the other night, he started laughing at my futile attempts to produce something that sounded like singing. Keeping his head on my shoulder, he laughed and laughed, making me laugh, and the two of us kept on for a couple minutes making each other laugh. It was so sweet and tender, especially since he kept his head on my shoulder, his little body cuddled up to mine, occasionally getting up to look and smile at me. It was one of those moments I wish I could bottle up and save.

Not Tech Savvy

2010-05-20T05:49:00.003-05:00

Davey is not one of those modern, tech-savvy kids. He does not spend any time on the computer and doesn't even turn the TV on for himself, which I love. So I'm a little bit puzzled by his comment when we were playing with a farm set my mom gave him. He was trying to put together a gate correctly and said, "But they show it online that it's supposed to look like this." I guarantee he's never looked at a toy farm gate online. I guess they pick up the lingo of the day without even taking part in it!

Dance Party

2010-05-10T07:31:00.002-05:00

Charlie loves to dance and Davey has been getting more into it lately. When Daddy comes home, Charlie runs to the stereo yelling, "Dance! Dance!" It's become a nightly ritual now ;)

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Once Upon a Potty

2010-05-08T06:19:00.004-05:00

Charlie recently started telling me when he's gone poo-poo in his diaper. A couple days ago he started telling me this before doing it, so I got out the potty chair and started letting him watch the potty video (Once Upon a Potty). He seems interested in it though I don't know how much he understands at sixteen months. But, hey, if he's ready to try potty training when he's eighteen months, I'm game!

Dinner

2010-04-19T06:00:00.001-05:00

I probably should have chosen a better night to take this picture - I really do try hard to make sure my children eat healthy, well-balanced meals - but, a pizza night is when it occured to me to take the pic so this is how it happened.

So why this (not so) lovely pizza pic? To showcase my children's eating habits. At this point, both children were done eating and, as is typical, Charlie out-ate Davey. Charlie's plate is on the left (he ate his veggies) and Davey's on the left (he will eat them, just not on pizza).

Magic Planet

2010-04-17T23:50:00.001-05:00

Pretty much either every Saturday or Sunday we spend here involves a trip to Magic Planet, the children's play area in City Centre mall. Davey is always begging to go to this Chuck-E-Cheese-like entertainment area. If Daddy is along (on Saturdays), he will take them into the ball area while I get some shopping done (grocery stores are in the malls here). If I have them myself (on Sundays), I take them in the climbing gym area and we pass an hour or two. A bundle of money can be spent here very easily, so Davey can go on one big ride and he and Charlie share a small one. I was very surprised when he wanted to try this one (this kid is by no means a dare-devil)...

...but he loves it and goes on it every time now!

It is so fun to see his huge smile and hear his laughter as he enjoys the thrill. Plus he looks so small and cute in the big chairs.

Grandma's Fun Cards

2010-04-17T23:00:00.001-05:00

Every holiday, big or small, Davey and Charlie can look forward to receiving a card and little gift from Grandma and Grandpa Paulson. Usually it is a little bit of money and we get to go to the store together and pick out a fun new toy. For Easter this year, we received a package of fun toys and a book!

Our recent array of cards from Grandma & Grandpa

Just in case you were dying to know the answer to that knock-knock joke! hehe

Thank you for always thinking of us; you make holidays more fun! We love you!

A Little Easter Dance

2010-04-17T07:28:00.006-05:00

One of the Oxy wives here decided to put on a little Easter-fest for all of the kids of the Oxy families. It was lots of fun and Davey enjoyed it a lot, though we didn't wake Charlie from his nap for it and he was just crabby once he and Dave joined us.

They made these darling little Easter basket cupcakes.

Davey wouldn't go near the bunny without some bribery...

Loving every minute of the egg hunt!

Though Charlie wasn't happy for the Easter party, he still felt the Easter spirit and wanted to celebrate with a little dance...

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Exploring Oman

2010-04-16T07:40:00.002-05:00

FYI for those of you who have viewed our Oman photos on Facebook, this post will be pretty much the same. (There's another Oman post to come, we were able to take Dave's sister Carrie there a couple weeks ago!!)

We had a long weekend to celebrate the Prophet's birthday here so we took advantage of it and went to Oman for the weekend. We were excited as we had heard lots of great things about it and it did not disappoint. It was fun just to get out of Bahrain, but it also was great because it felt like a real vacation. In fact, it's the first vacation we've taken since having kids that wasn't taken to meet up with other family. I was a little nervous about how it would go, but the kids were great.

A quick side-note before moving on to actually talk about Oman... Bahrainis are either fiercely patriotic or there is a campaign going on here trying to instill it. Either way, there are lots of interesting billboards with the national flag depicted in various ways. The flag is white on the left with the zig-zag pattern connecting about 1/3 the way in with the red color, a la the girl's face below...

Here is an example, taken in the airport (hence the placement of the picture :)

They are all very attractive billboards and signs. Nice, huh?

Okay, now we arrive in Oman...

Everything in Oman looks clean and well-kept. This was our first view, walking out of the airport. I know, not much to look at really, but looks quite clean for an airport exit and is representative of the care taken of all the public roadways and areas.

First we drive to our hotel and pass...

The Grand Mosque. Due to poor planning (and difficult hours) we didn't get inside. Next time!

After checking in, we head to the beach...

Qurm Beach near our hotel. The Intercon has a great location here, but make sure to stay on the Club levels.

Then we take a little driving tour of the area...

Driving into Muscat. The view on one side of the freeway...

...the view on the other. Everything was beautiful.

The Portuguese captured Oman's ports in the 16th century and built thier forts on the site of the Omanis'. Oman has a very interesting history as a main trade route for copper, then incense and spices. Its many ports also made it attractive to conquering civilizations.

And make a kid-friendly stop...

Charlie enjoying a park near the base of the incense burner hill (picture below). He loved playing with the rocks.

Cute little Charlie.

Davey enjoying the park.

Happy Davey.

A giant incense burner replica. Frankincense comes from the south of Oman.

Friday morning, we catch Sacrament meeting (there were so many young kids Davey didn't want to leave) and then head up into the mountains...

Driving up to Nizwa. Writing on the hills/mountains a la the western US

The mountainous scenery was beautiful. Dave and I were craving getting out and going for a hike, but that wasn't going to happen spur-of-the-moment with the kids, these mountains were pretty intimidating. It was incredible to see the geologic history of the area written all over the landscape. The mountains were nothing like those I've seen before - without an identifiable range with the peaks having some sense of uniformity - just high, intense peaks with the layers going every which way, showing the upheaval of the region breaking off the continents and the plates colliding.

Lookouts like these dotted the mountains.

A view of the city center at Nizwa. The fort, mosque and souq. Nizwa was once the capital of Oman.

In the Nizwa souq.

Nizwa mosque. A very conservative area. We arrived during prayer time and the mosque was thronged.

Fort at Nizwa. Didn't get to go in here either. Still interesting to see from the outside.

Souq/Fort at Nizwa.

After we returned, it was time to enjoy the nice hotel pools...

The coolest part of our trip; it was a sweaty one!

Then dinner...

A gorgeous night for a dinner at Trader Vic's overlooking the ocean.

Saturday morning we went exploring in the Souq and bought some fun souvenirs, including some Omani silver (a bracelet for me :) ...

The Muttrah Souq

It was a very nice feeling souq. I love the little hats the men wear here, different from the white flowing headdress of the Saudis and Bahrainis

The shopkeepers in the souqs always want to dress up Dave in the local headdress. Didn't see many of this one though. He and Davey both bought one of the other hats.

Then another little driving trip to give Charlie a short snoozer in the car. So many beautiful views...

The Sultan's Palace.

One of the many gorgeous views of the ports with Davey claiming to strike a pose.

Looking back to the Muttrah port.

Dhow boats in the harbor. This is the one thing Davey wanted in the souq - a Dhow replica - he loved them.

Then it was off to the airport for the trip home...

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After we landed back in Bahrain the kids were zonked out witin minutes of getting in the car. They were so good for getting no naps and in bed late the whole time!

Oman was awesome and we can't wait to go explore some more!!

Bye Bye Baby

2010-03-15T04:15:00.001-05:00

Surprisingly, even to myself, I have been a little more sentimental about Charlie growing up and out of babyhood. I have enjoyed him being small and can't believe how grown up he is sometimes. An outgrowth of this is that I put off giving Charlie his first hair cut (other than one trim around his ears) for a long time. It had gotten soooo long in the back.

Once I decided I was ready to cut it, though, Charlie started screaming bloody murder every time we put him in the bath (still no idea on why that was) so it took another month before we got around to it. The bath was the only time I could think of to do it where we could keep him confined and wet at the same time...

It had grown into a mega-baby-mullett by then!

Having Dave hold a lollipop in once place was the only way to get him to hold still at all. You can see in this pic how long the front had gotten as well!

Not only does he now look a lot older, but he is talking all the time. Not only jibber-jabber now (though lots of that) but also many words. I know Davey was an early-ish talker but I don't remember him being this on top of things by now...

At 15 months, Charlie says... mama, daddy, no, uh oh, woah, wow, baby, go, done, up, down, tickle, woof, baa, quack, birdie, choo-choo, shoes, car, ball, mine, cheese, apple, bite... and will repeat almost any other one- or two-syllable word.

He still has such a delightful little personality, easy to laugh and smile and is cuddly (with me at least). Even for that, though, I wouldn't call him easy-going; he definitely always knows what he wants and tries very hard to insist he gets it, both from me and big brother. We have seen some serious tantrums already when he doesn't get his way....

Having fun self-feeding

Charlie's first drawing - good job!

Living It Up In Bahrain

2010-03-10T07:41:00.000-06:00

By far the best thing about living here (from my perspective) is having a full-time maid. Obvious, non? I had my worries and misgivings at first, but I am sure getting used to this. Everyone asks me, "What do you do with all your extra time?" And, to tell you the truth, I don't really know where the time goes because don't feel like I spend tons of time on hobbies and me-time, though I do have more than I did. I spend more time playing with my kids, mostly, and less time stressing about the house being messy. I am looking into finding a paino to rent or a used one to buy. It's time to try to gain some skill and remove the guilt I have about not being able to play after years and years of my parents paying for lessons and me squandering my practice time.

Just as great as not having to do the cleaning and laundry is having a built-in babysitter who knows the kids and they are comfortable with. This post has been a long time coming and I am actually in between maids right now (the details not fit for my blog) and we are hoping to find someone again that will play so well with the children. They were always happy and well cared-for when we came home. Charlie is so very attached to me and he was really getting comfortable with the last one.

For the first time since Davey was born, we started having regular date nights. Monday nights we have a quick night out taking an Arabic class together and Thursdays we go out. It's been awesome! I can really see now why the leaders of our church stress its importance since Dave and I were able to have some time just to ourselves to have some fun without talking about what needs to be done at home and remember why we fell in love in the first place. Not that we'd forgotten, but you know what I mean, right?

Sometimes we go to a nice restaurant (there are tons of great ones here) or a quick dinner and a movie. The night usually ends with a stop at the grocery store since I have to stop at several to find everything I need and never get to all of them at once. Another great part about having our maid babysit is that we don't have to worry about having cash to pay her and I don't have to drive her home late at night.

I can't wait to get a new maid sorted out so we can have our date night back!

All dressed up and ready to go!

The Manama Souq

2010-02-21T07:40:00.006-06:00

A couple Saturdays ago we took a Saturday afternoon trip to the main Souk here in Manama. It was, for some reason, surprising to me that it was mostly locals with just a few Westerners/tourists. But it shouldn't have been surprising, this is the main place that (not as well-off) locals go to buy their goods. We didn't buy anything except a $2.50 toy that Davey saw - which was totally falling apart by the end of the day and had to be tossed in the trash. (You get what you pay for indeed.)

The Bab Al Bahrain, or Gateway of Bahrain, which used to lie on the oceanfront, though now its a little drive to the beach due to land reclamation projects. It is the entrance to the souq

Entering the Souq

Dave all dressed in the local thobe (robe-like garment), ghutra (scarf) and agal (cords holding scarf in place) . He just needs some Ray-Bans that he doesn't remove even indoors to be truly authentic. He attracted a lot of attention dressed like this; it was amusing to the locals (it was just for a minute though).

A mosque next to the Bab Al Bahrain. I just think they're pretty.

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed getting another taste of the culture here.

A New Preschool

2010-02-20T02:19:00.002-06:00

Davey has been in preschool here in Bahrain since early January. I could only find two schools nearby that would allow him to attend (or at least let us pay for) less than 5 days a week. I'm just not ready to have him gone that many days a week (plus, it's not cheap)! Luckily the two options I had were good ones. We have been very happy with the school he attends and he really enjoys it. Every morning as we walk out the door Davey says, "Let's see what they're going to have," meaning what activities and toys they'll have out when he walks in since they change every day.

Shortly after he began there, I was speaking with another mother who said how her son comes back the best version of himself every day. I thought that was a pretty high complement considering the bad habits kids usually seem to pick up when they start going to school. But I have also found it to be true. He comes home happy and nice and has some good habits and views that I'm sure he's picked up from school. And not a negative one so far. For example, he's always replying to requests with, "Oh, sure!" and, "I'll give it a try." He'll say, "Charlie needs a friend," and go to play with him.

A few other interesting phrases he uses these days that I'm sure must have come from the Brits at school:

It's not sensible to...

You're cheeky, Mommy. (What does that mean anyway?)

Oh deary me!

I need a friend. (Apparently if they say this at school, someone immediately goes to play with them.)

Another nice touch of this school is that they email a picture of each child at school every week, along with a nice caption or observation about the child. I'll share the ones we have so far (with the commentary from the teacher)...

davey has made a good start at nursery. attached is a first pic of him focusing hard ! great concentrating davey !

(I'm a little embarrased of this pic; how long and scraggly I let his hair get, especially for his first day of school!)

Davey is happy at nursery. He loves to chat and is therefore attracted to adult led work. He is pictured building his representation of your 3D house – in Bahrain and not texas ! great job davey x

(Notice the better hair? I also appreciated their correct observation about him after he'd been there only a week. That's definitely Davey.)

Davey enjoyed stencilling – you tried your best davey …… well done !

this week davey worked with joshy to try golf ball rolling .... good team work davey

this picture says it all ......hmmmm this puzzle is tricky

whilst dismounting from the trampoline davey found a hole in one of his socks. 'come and look. i have a hole in my sock' .... wow, he was excited ... and so was everyone who came to inspect it !

this week we celebrated chinese new year and used lots of red and gold colour in our art. davey worked with joey but was more interested in refilling the glue bottle when we ran out - funnels are very interesting things. good watching davey :)

this week we have been learning about the sense of sight. davey spent a long time in our looking lab, experimenting and doing lots of looking. great work davey :)

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-17T07:05:00.001-06:00

Well, I've put off this post so long that I can't really remember what it is Dave and I did to celebrate Valentine's Day... But I do remember that Dave came home with some roses for me, I gave him his gift during dinner and he then gave me mine right after we finished dinner. Then I saw Davey whispering something to his Daddy and looking kind of sad. Apparently he had asked Daddy if he had a Valentine present and Dave told him that Valentine's day wasn't for him. Poor Davey thought everyone got presents but him! I had forgotten to give Davey his Valentine treats and Dave didn't know I'd gotten him anything so he said what he could.

The little sweetheart had even made me a whole large envelope of Valentine presents...

Displaying his gifts with a little attitude.

I am so grateful to have my three Valentines!

The Pineapple Juice Box Store

2010-02-16T07:43:00.001-06:00

Right across the street from our compound we have a Midway Supermarket, a small local chain similar to a convenience store in the US. Amazingly these place's prices are the same if not better than those at the large "hypermarkets," as they're called here.

Davey loves to frequent the one near us using the money Daddy gives him sporadically for his piggy bank. He especially loves the child-sized shopping carts!

Hmmm... what should I get?

Notice he's standing in the beverage isle. He apparently thinks the best treats of all are the liquid ones, as he never asks to buy anything but...

... a pineapple juice box and strawberry and chocolate milk!

Paying the casheir.

His favorite of all, though, is the pineapple juice box. Hence what he calls the place - the Pineapple Juice Box store. He begs to go there so often that he and Daddy now have a weekly date to go on Wednesdays. I wish I loved going to the grocery store that much!

"I Want To Be A Dentist"

2010-02-15T07:43:00.001-06:00

So says Davey.

A few weeks ago Dave and I were getting really worried about one of Davey's front teeth. He had chipped them both when he was just a couple months old and we never had any issue wtih them but one day one of them just kept get darker and darker. I mean every day it was visibly different. We knew it probably was just dying and that there would probably be nothing the dentist could do for him, but we took him anyway.

The dentist told us what we thought we'd hear - just watch it and if it looks infected we'll take action, otherwise there's nothing to do. Apparently Davey really enjoyed the experience and now says quite often that he wants to be a dentist when he gets big.

Saying, "Aaaaah," while we we wait for Dave to pick us up

after the appointment.

Can you see how dark that tooth was? We were kind of sad thinking it would be like that, maring his smile until it fell out (I know, a superficial worry) but amazingly in the last couple weeks it has gone back to its normal color! Yea!

Black Eyes

2010-02-14T07:45:00.001-06:00

Charlie has now been inducted into true boyhood with his first black eye. Wish I could say it was more interesting but the poor kid tripped face-first into the bidet.

Trying to get a pic of it...

Looking back, Davey was just a month younger when he had his first black eye...

My two little black-eyed beaux!

Bahrain International Air Show

2010-02-12T06:52:00.004-06:00

In January we were able to attend the 1st Annual Bahrain International Air Show. It was fun to see all of the airplanes showing off...

Charlie was a trooper, making the best of a long wait to see the helicopters

Davey was about as happy as you can see him in the pictures...

Charlie - futre pilot? Perhaps. Davey? Don't think so.

Ready to jump!
Okay, not really.

Everything is so kid-friendly here. It almost seemed like a children's fair and oh, we also have an air show going on.

Clowns, magic shows, dance competitions

Davey did enjoy the kid rides with our friends kids

Taking a flight of their own

Davey can't get enough of hanging around with Mallory

A very fun day for all of us!

Ju-Ju

2010-02-12T06:21:00.003-06:00

Our friend has this little monkey that lives behind their home, Ju-Ju. Davey had so much fun feeding him little apples, even when the monkey scratched him a couple times (don't worry, no skin broken and cleaned right away). It was so nice that he wasn't scared of an animal for once! It was practically a farm back there with birds, dogs, chickens and goats. A fun place to visit but I'm glad it's not my backyard with all the noise and smell!

Around Town

2010-01-29T10:13:00.007-06:00

A couple weeks ago an Oxy representative drove me around to show me some useful places on the island and I was able to see a couple interesting places from a tourist perspective as well. It was nice to have the tour after I'd been here a little while so I can actually remember how to get back to the places she showed me rather than just being wide-eyed and confused. She also drove me by some restaurants she recommended, which I am grateful for because Dave and I now have a regular date night (I am loving it!).

Here are a couple pictures from my little tour.

Bahrain's World Trade Center

Notice the windmill arms between the towers. They never turn and there is a tragic story that goes along with them... To celebrate the completion of one of the stages of construction on the WTC, the company had a dinner-cruise party and the boat sank killing 58 people. Since it was a party, it included many couples and left children orphaned. I've heard that all of the engineers who knew how to get the arms turning were killed, but it seems like perhaps them not turning would be in memorial of them that died. So sad.

I took this picture of the bridge before learning that under it is the site where the boat went down.

Nearby is this development that they call the "Floating City."

As it looks, it is Venice-style canals between the homes. Very pretty.

I find the mosques to be very attractive, especially since not too much here in the landscape is all that beautiful. A couple I've managed to get pictures of...

Davey loves the Blue Dome Mosque, as we call it.

Random Mosque

We feel quite fortunate that you can barely hear the call to prayer from our home. It is interesting, even fun, to hear - makes you remember that you live in the Middle East - but only for some, like us, because we've heard many stories of Westerners who are woken by it every morning around 5am. So glad we don't have that to deal with.