08.19.11

Lots of pictures today, but not much happened. Fridays are always like that for us... very laid back most of the time, which is nice.  I got the girls ready for the day while Paul went to the gym and then the girls and I got to playing.  

One of our favorite things to play since repat vacation is cars.  Madeline was exposed to playing cars a lot while in Utah visiting with my side of the family, and enjoyed it, so Paul and I got her a few more than the one green one she already had.  Madeline likes to make the cars talk to each other and acts like they are falling off a cliff and saving each other with a string - she is doing this with all her toys lately and I am not sure where she got it from - and Abigal loves to nibble on the cars - she does this with all her toys as well.

Madeline and I have also been working on her numbers.  She can count to twenty and does really well with counting things, but actually recognizing the number when she sees it is still something we are working on. 

Abigail loves to smile. She is the happiest baby I have ever known and I love it.

Here she is doing some serious work on the music table top. 

After we played some, we decided to dress up like a princess and do some modeling and dancing while Dad made some yummy dinner for us.  Madeline does some very beautiful posing. 

Abigail woke up from her nap and Madeline gave her some loves...

After we ate dinner I skyped with my sweet sister AmberLee and her little boy, Toshie.  Amber is expecting her second little boy soon. We found out tonight that she is scheduled for a C-section on August 30th!! I am so excited.  She said she would skype with me while in the hospital.  I know better than to really expect that will happen.  But my entire afternoon on the 30th will be free just in case.  We are SO excited for her and her husband and Toshie... we really wish we could be there for the special event and the welcoming of Abishaik Manik Shakya.
Later, after tubby time, Madeline taught Abigail how to pull herself up using the side of the crib... I can't believe this is already starting.  So we had to lower the mattress.  Abigail can't really get herself up into the crawl position or sit up by herself yet, but the way things are going we are not going to take any chances.

Abigail does not like to be left alone in the crib. Here she is showing me...

Then I made her smile and told her I loved her...

Then she started nibbling on the crib rail... this is something Madeline did A LOT and the teeth marks are there to prove it.  So I guess I will look into one of those teething crib rail covers?

Paul spent most of the day playing one of his new video games, Assassin's Creed.  He had made us dinner and is always so awesome with me and the girls, I thought he should have some time to himself to do something he enjoys.

At the end of the evening the girls and I watched Paul play a bit.  One of the things the Assassin can do to hide from soldiers is to jump into a pile of hay.  Madeline was SO CONCERNED about this.  Every couple of minutes she asked, "where's the hay, Dad?! Where's the pile of hay??!" And when she would see some hay, she would yell at him to jump in it.  It got pretty hilarious at one point and we were all laughing... probably an "you had to be there" moment, but we enjoyed ourselves. 

Then Madeline and I had some fun with the camera being goofballs...

I just love my little goofball.  She is so adorably fun and sweet.

08.18.11

Last night was awesome.  The girls went to bed with no problems and they both slept through the night.  I think I got up once to feed Abigail but she was right back to sleep.  There was NO coughing from Madeline and no waking up for water or food or crying for no reason at all.  I really think having Abigail in there, and our persistence, is finally paying off.  I should probably stop writing about it or I'll jinx us. 

Today was a normal weekend day for us.  Paul went grocery shopping for us this morning while I stayed here and got the girls ready for the day.  Abigail absolutely loves tubby time.  She splashes the water so fiercely the water splashes like 3 feet across the bathroom.  It is so much fun. 

When Paul got back home from shopping we had some lunch and then very slowly tried to decide what we wanted to do.  We ended up going to SACO WORLD the new, gigantic hardware store that is in Dhahran Mall right outside the compound.  It's really a nice store and it has a lot of things you may need for your home and garden.  We will probably buy our patio set there when we get to that point.

Today I wanted to go look at their blinds.  I having been thinking some verticle blinds would be better on our sliding door than curtains are. The curtains collect dust and cat hair and make it more dusty in the house.  It's also cleaner looking I think... I don't know. I might use some curtains for decor purposes once we get some kind of window covering.  It has been a hard thing for me to decide on.  I also want to put blinds on the windows in the playroom and in our room and the girls room. 

Unfortuantely, NONE of the window treatments at SACO are tall enough to cover our sliding glass door/window. Even the shades don't unroll enough - according to our measurements.  So, now we are on the lookout for some other place that might be able to help us.  It's slow going, but it's not a big deal.

Both the girls fell asleep on the way home, so we let them nap a bit while I made some dinner.  After dinner the girls were ready to party and Paul was ready to sleep, so Paul went to bed at 8:00 pm.  It was a good thing. He hasn't gotten much sleep the past few nights because of the girls and his dedication to waking up at 5 am to go workout before work. 

The girls and I had a "girl's night in." We danced, we put on lip gloss, and we had graham crackers and milk and watched Rango - a very strange movie.  I didn't really like it.  It was weird.  Not really for kids, abd Madeline lost interest quick. Oh well, I guess they can't all be like A Bug;s Life (one of her faves).

Didn't take many pictures today... but this.  A Daddy who loves his girls.

Then it was off to bed.  Both girls, again, went to sleep really quick and slept through the night. What does that feel like? HEA-VEN and smiles wrapped up in clouds and ribbons.

Nice Cold Refreshing Privacy

This morning I was in the bathroom, doing my bidness (not a word), and Madeline opens the door and comes in. 
Me: "Hi Madeline."
Mads: "Hi mom."
Me: "Can I help you with something?"
Mads: "Whatcha doin'?"
Me: "I'm going to the bathroom."
Mads: "Eewww, you stink."
Me: "Thanks.  Madeline, do you think I could have some privacy?"
Mads: "Okay Mom." She leaves and closes the door.
Me: "I'll be out in a minute."

A minute or two goes by... the door opens again. It's Madeline.

Mads: "Here you go mom." She hands me an A&W rootbeer.
Me: "What's this for?"
Mads: "Here your pwivacy"
Me: Laugh my head off for a couple minutes... Madeline joins me. Then I explain what "privacy" is.
I have no idea why she thinks a rootbeer is "privacy".

08.17.11

Today was a great day.  We got to sleep in and I personally looooooovvvee sleeping in.  The girls and I had another rough night so there was really no choice.  I am hoping that tonight, and from here on out, will be better.  The girls seem to be finally getting over their colds.  A tiny cough still lingers with Madeline and Abigail has a snotty nose, but it hasn't gone any further than that. And I cannot say enough about this heavenly invention.  I LOVE it so much better that a regular ol' aspirator.  It is going to be my gift to every woman who ever invites be to a baby shower.  NO mother should go without one.

So our morning was slow and relaxed.  We watched some movies and played with toys and playdough.  The girls had a good time blowing zerberts.  Madeline is really an amazing big sister.  Abigail adores her to no end. 

When Paul got home we stopped at the store real quick and then I made some brownies for dinner.  We were invited over to our good friends, F and J's, home for some pizza.  Not crap pizza... good pizza... homemade pizza.  Our other good friend T was there and brought a lovely salad and then Paul and I brought some brownies and ice cream for dessert. 

It was a good time and these are good people. We had a good time eating and talking and planning our upcoming trip. We plan on taking a trip together to either Malaysia, Sri lanke or Thailand for the November Eid.  I am really excited to actually go somewhere other than our hometowns so I am not that partial to any particular place, but we still need to do some research so we have a better idea of what will be best for our families - mainly the kiddos. 

Delicious pepperoni and cheese

A VERY good vegetable pizza

And my favorite of the night, a barbeque pizza (picture courtesy of F)

Dessert - Brownies with vanilla ice cream, pecans, and chocolate sauce.

Madeline and B had a good time playing together.  They played with B's train set, his legos, his drums, and they piled pillows up on the couch and had a good time jumping on them. 

Abigail has a good time also.  Being the first time out with her for a meal since we started solids, I pulled a brainless mommy move and forgot to bring her some food.  Thankfully, our friends shared some banana, sweet potato, and apple sauce with her.  After socializing and being cute, Abs had a milk night cap and fell asleep. 

It was a good day and a great night.

08.16.11

Happy Birthday to Paul's Mom, Mary Ann, today! We wish we could be with you to celebrate!  Madeline had a playdate this morning with a new friend and we made cupcakes. We brought a couple home with us and on the way home she remembered today was your birthday and she said, "For Gama for her birthday!"  She ate it when we got home, but the thought was there, which is pretty good for an almost 3-year-old.

This morning started out in an irritating manner.  I was bitten by an ant while sitting on the floor ironing the hem of my shorts.  These shorts are so annoying. Every time I wash them, they fold up in all sorts of directions and I have to iron them back to a straight, flat hem.  Then they look great, but to have to go through that every time I want to wash and wear them is quite annoying. 

So I'm sitting on the floor minding my own business and an ant, who was apparently camped out underneath me BIT me on the back of my calf.  I immediately clobbered the little jerk with my palm.  That little tiny bite caused some major discomfort and stung constantly for like an hour and continued to sting on and off throughout the day.  I didn't even think to use some antisceptic numbing spray, which I have upstairs, so to know I needlessly suffered annoyed me even more. The war is on.  I will have the service center come spray outside for ants and we will be on the lookout - like you have to be all the time here in the land of sand - for any cracks, crevices or holes in our tile or walls. There will also be some major stomping going on.

We were all ready for the day and about to leave when I noticed the car was gone.  Paul had missed the bus tending to Madeline this morning.  I was up all night last night with her or Abigail - who now has a tiny cold - so I apparently didn't hear Madeline screaming like a banshee in her bedroom this morning - oops!  So I called Paul. He was thankfully able to come home with the car.  The girls and I drove him back to work at the new building we haven't driven to yet.  Getting there was easy, especially with Paul in the car.  Getting back to our area was a little confusing.  I followed the signs to "community," which were supposed to say "camp" according to Paul, and then I was all turned around.  So I did about three U-turns and ended up following a sign that said, "core area".  Thankfully this took me to where Paul used to work and I was able to find my way back to our house. 

Today we had a playdate with another Aramco mom on camp, Sarah and her girls Agatha and Gussie (Augusta).  I met Sarah when I first moved here and was taken to her home for a playgroup.  She is originally from Australia and has a really cool accent.  Her girls are very close in age to my girls and Sarah and I are close in age as well, so there is some common ground there.  The girls had a good time making and decorating cupcakes and playing in the playroom.  We will hopefully get together again soon this summer.  Madeline and Agatha will be in school together if our families are still around then.

 

Tuesday nights in our house are "hobby night." Basically that means we order barbeque'd chicken or U.S. steak from the hobby farm restaurant here on camp.  I like it because it's pretty good food and I don't have to worry about what to make for dinner or mess up the kitchen. Then we try to focus on doing something fun together as a family that has something to do with a hobby or interest one of us has. 
Last night Paul took Madeline to the swings for about an hour while Abigail and I stayed home.  Abs and I would have gone with them but at 7:00 pm it was still 104 f and Abigail has a bit of a cold/congestion thing going on. So technically it was more of a normal day than a "hobby day," but that's okay.

Today Abigail started eating sweet potatoes.  Sweet potatoes are definitely a favorite for her because this is the first time she willingly opened her mouth and swallowed the food. So things are looking up in the baby eating department.

I love my girls *smile*

08.15.11

Abigail is such a happy baby. When she wakes up in the morning she doesn't cry, she just lays there and talks to herself and makes these adorable, wet blowing noises.  When I walk into her room and say, "good morning baby! I love you!," she gives me this heart melting smile and her arms and legs flap like a propeller on a helicopter.  She LOVES her momma (me) and I LOVE it so much.

Lately she tries to startle us as if she is playing peek-a-boo. She almost jumps at us, and does this little forced moan.  I love how smart she is.  She understands so many things already.

 The girls love playing together in the playroom, and now that Abigail is sturdy and in control enough to be left sitting, I am able to make breakfast without having to secure her in a chair.  Here they are being snakes, "We're snakes mom! Not mean snakes, nice snakes that don't squeeze too tight," Madeline says.

Today was picture day.  Madeline had the idea to line up all of her "little buddies" (not all are pictured here - she has a million of them) to do a photo session.  I assume she got this idea from me since I have done this with our family a few times in her lifetime. 

 So we lined them all up and told them all to smile.  It was a good time.  Madeline is such a little character.  She talks to her toys like they are alive and like they have feelings. 

After the first shot, Madeline jumped in behind them all. 

 Tonight after dinner - meatballs, brown rice, and carrots with garlic wheat bread - I gave the girls a tubby while Paul finished moving the office stuff upstairs into Abigail's old room.  The desk is so large he ended up having to take it partially apart to get it up the stairs.  It was more annoying to do it that way, but picturing us trying to move it up the stairs was terrifying. It all worked out and now we just have to get the new PC built and move the TV downstairs.  The playroom is larger now since that big desk is moved so I am excited about that. 



The Baby with her binky and a baby with a binky.




One of Paul's favorite anime cartoons is Dragonball Z.  On a business trip he bought this for Madeline - a Goku doll.



To distract Madeline while Paul moved some things upstairs, I let her put cherrios on a noodle. She had a great time and showed me every single time it got full... "yook mom!"

Abigail seems to be getting a runny nose. I wonder if another tooth is coming in? I hope that is the case.  I hate when she is sick.  Madeline is coughing a little also.  It looks like it might be one of those nights. hopefully we get some sleep.  The nice thing is, if I am really tired, I can always try to forcer Madeline, who doesn't really nap anymore, to have a "rest."

08.14.11

 Last night was a lot better than the night before. Madeline still had about 5 cough attacks, but she didn't wake up crying and screaming. She actually slept really well despite the cough.  She seems perfectly fine during the day. 

The temperatures are reaching 110-115 degrees F during the day now so going outside to play is not really an option.  When it's humid it seems even more ridiculous.  So I try to keep the girls entertained and busy as much as I can.  Today we played with bubbles.  Abigail just stared with this curious look and then began flapping her arms so madly she kept tipping over.

Yesterday I also gave Madeline some  time to play outside in the backyard - even though it was hot.  I let her play with the hose.  She enjoys filling a bucket and then watering the plants. She also enjoys stomping on ants. I have no problem with this. 

Potty training is still going really well.  It is amazing the difference it makes when your child is actually ready, as opposed to being forced to do something. When you finally reach a goal you've been working on for a while it is such a sweet feeling!  Of course, we are not completely there yet, but I can actually see the end of potty training with Madeline in our near future.  Madeline enjoys reading while she goes potty. I just had to take a picture.

Tonight I met some of the other ladies on camp at the Tandori restaurant for dinner.  Paul was fine with watching the girls. I made sure they had dinner and that he had everything he needed. I was only gone a few hours. 

It was really fun to see everyone and catch up. We talked about travelling, kids and parenting.  For some reason at one point I even pulled my joker face for everyone.  I'm just not sure why I did that, but I guess it was fun. I haven't done that for a long time. The nice thing about living here is that all of these women are going through the same things I am so it's really nice to talk to them.

When I got home my cute little family was so happy to see me.  I am so blessed in so many ways.  We got the girls ready for bed.  Moving Abigail's crib into Madeline's room was the best thing we have ever done.  When Madeline found out she would be sleeping in her room she wanted to stay there and sleep in her bed. 

Madeline only had two cough attacks tonight so she is slowly getting better.  I spoke with some of the ladies here and one of them said one of her kids, who went through the same things Madeline is going through, was diagnosed with asthma.  Apparently he only has problems when he gets a cold but is fine otherwise - like Madeline.  She uses a nebulizer on him at the first sign of a cold and during a cold and he is fine.  Of course, the drugs used in the nebulizer are prescription so Madeline would also have to be diagnosed.  It just doesn't make sense, and is not normal, what happens with her when she gets a cold.  Every single time she starts with the croup and has trouble breathing.  She breaths in and coughs so hard her little skinny chest sinks inward.  And all we can do is hold her and, lately, take her to the ER for some medicine to help. Then she hangs onto a horrible cough for over a month.  It makes me wonder if she might have a light case of asthma too.  I'm still looking into allergy possibilities because God knows there is a lot here to make someone really uncomfortable.  And despite our attempts to clear out the house, there is still dust everywhere. So we are now looking into air purifiers.

This is the second night both of the girls are sleeping in their own beds and it is SO AWESOME!! I do believe we will never encourage our children to sleep with us ever again.

I ended the evening finishing the book The Help and stayed up a little too late for some "me time."  Sometimes that just needs to happen.

08.13.11

 Last night I got about an hour of sleep because Madeline coughed all... night... long. She had been hanging on to a cough at night since her cold in New York, and it looks like it came back. So today we are tired. Thankfully we don't have any appointments or plans so we can take it easy.

I was going to give Madeline rest from potty training because she is sick, but the first thing she wanted to do this morning was go pee pee in her potty downstairs. I was so ecstatic! Just two days of serious potty training and she is already catching on.



 The day went on... we made some homemade peach/raspberry popscicles with my new popscicle molds, which are AWESOME. They were scrumptious.

We've had Madeline's potty in the living room since we started serious potty training so it is close if she has to go really quick.  Madeline disappeared for a minute while I was in the kitchen and all the sudden I smelled poop.  At first I thought maybe she went in her pants.  I have been telling her that if she needs to go poop to tell me and I will put a diaper on her - this is something a good friend of mine does with her child because pooping is rather scary to some little kids. 

When I first started potty training Madeline in my unaffective, laid back way this past year, she had to poop once and I ecouragingly and excitedly plopped her on the potty. When she looked down and saw it coming out? She lost it. She was so scared.  I had to calm her down and wipe her up and let her finish behind the curtain in her diaper.  My thoughts are that some kids are scared to see a part of themselves leaving thier body. So, I didn't pressure pooping. 

So I started calling for Madeline asking if she had pooped in her panties... no answer.  I come around the corner and she is SITTING ON HER POTTY watching her show and pooping!  She looks at me and says,
"I'm poopin' Mom! I'm poopin'!"

I just lost it. I was so excited and happy I started jumping and screaming "yay! yay!" over and over.  She smiled and said,
"Come wipe my bum mom!" So I did. 
As a reward for going pee Madeline has been receiving one stamp - I bought a collection of stamp designs and stamp pads while in the States. For a poop?  She gets TWO stamps and a piece of gum.  She always asks for gum and normally I say "not right now" or "gum is for special occassions" and she frowns and moves on, but THIS is a special occassion.

She pooped again in the evening when Paul got home from work so he got to see her being a big girl too! The pride inside was hard to hide. And THAT is probably enough about poop. It was just the highlight of my day. 

When Paul got home I made some dinner, my own little creation of chicken and vegetables with some fried spaghetti noodles.  Paul actually likes it quite a bit so I make it every once in a while. Not too much. When you live with a picky eater it's nice when you find something they like to eat.  It's even better when they really like it.  So sometimes when we like something we have it over and over and over and we kill the delicious excitement of it all.  So I am trying not to do this anymore. 

After dinner we decided to move Abigail's bedroom furniture into Madeline's room. Now the girls share a room. I still have some organizing to do and I need to decide how I want the room to look. We will probably get some shelving of some sort.  Now we also need to decide what to do with the extra room! It's a small room. We will probably make it an office and put my sewing machine up there. 

We won't make too many major changes because we do eventually plan on moving up to a bigger house here on camp when we have another kid or two.

Notes to remember: Madeline is now using her special sponge bob square pants toothbrush with vibrating head.  She wants to brush her teeth 10 times a day, she loves it so much. 

08.12.11

 Today was what a Friday (Sunday in the States) should be like... very laid back and relaxed.  We woke up at a good and early time. When everyone was downstairs I made some pancakes.  Abigail got peas... her first peas and she HATED them.  She literally gagged them up.  I will try to give them to her again because they say persistence is the only way to succeed at this feeding thing, but she will not be happy about it.  She enjoyed playing with the peas though. 

 I sorted all our vitamins into our weekly pill holders and Madeline had a good time playing with that.  I forgot to mention yesterday that we are now attempting major SERIOUS potty training with Madeline.  Before she sort of had control. She would have her great days when she would go pee pee every time in the potty, and those days when she wouldn't go at all.  But now I am putting her ONLY in panties during the day.  At first it irritated her and she would cry that her "diaper has a hole in it!!" but then I explained to her that she is officially in BIG GIRL PANTIES now and they don't absorb the pee pee.  She's doing really well. She's had a couple accidents, and she is really embarassed and ashamed when she does. I try to let her know it's okay, and that she is learning.  I'm also trying really hard to make sure my house doesn't smell like urine.  Today we put the potty right in the front room so she would have direct access to it at all times. 

Madeline loves to pick out her own outfits now and likes to tell me how to do her hair.  This was today's choice, but minutes later she had her first and only accident of the day and she had to take it off.

We watched several movies today also, but inbetween it all the girls and I made some new playdough.  The old stuff was all dried up. Madeline loves to help in the kitchen so she added the food coloring to the pan while I stirred and before long we had a lovely gob of gray playdough.  We usually start with lots of colors and end with brown or gray... why wait right? We made cars, dinosaurs, cats, we did patterns with all of our strange kitchen untensils... it was a good time. 

 This evening I made my own concoction of spaghetti sauce with meat in it.  Usually Paul is the spaghetti maker in this house because of his mom's yummy recipe, but I decided to do a smaller portion in a frying pan.  I cooked the ground beef with some garlic... added some regularly used Italian spices, some sugar, tomato sauce, paste, pepper, salt... it was DELICIOUS!  I need to write that one down.  Paul liked it too. I really think he genuinly liked it!  So that made me giddy.

Today there was a lot of sitting and laying around.  I had high hopes for change... we are thinking of moving Abigail's crib into Madeline's room and having the girls share a room.  I am starting to wonder if it might be a good way to encourange Madeline to sleep in her own bed (along with giving us an extra room for whatever). Maybe she will like it more if Abs is in there with her?

 We are also planning on moving our TV that is currently on our wall in our bedroom, downstairs into the playroom.  Once Paul gets his computer built, we will probably have it in there too and the TV will be a monitor.
Eventually we will get it all done.  It was nice for Paul to be able to rest a bit today. 

We also watched Food Inc. Today.  I had heard about it from several friends before and never watched it.  It really does make you want to move out in the middle of nowhere and raise your own cows, chickens etc. and grow your own food. It is so scary what is happening in the U.S.

Then we realized something... we live in Saudi Arabia.  A lot of the food we currently eat - fruits, vegetables, meats, etc. are grown here, locally.  Another blessing in disguise? Maybe?

Notes to remember: Abigail loves to pull blankets, clothes, whatever she can grab over her face and she just sits there and giggles and waits for us to pull them off and act surprised to see her.  All four limbs just shoot out stiff with excitement.  She also tried to scare me today.  I was nibbling and kissing on her and making her laugh and all the sudden she just jumped at me and made the cutest little noise. She did it twice.  I tell you, I feel, over and over again with her, that she is an old soul trapped in a tiny, chubby baby body.  You look at her and she just looks like she knows something you don't know.  It's awesome and creepy all at the same time. She says, "dadadada" and now, just these past two days, "Mum Mum Mum". She reaches for ME when she says it too.  I love it. 

Special moment today... held both my girls in my arms for over 30 minutes while we watched a movie. I LOVE those moments.