Midweek Ramblings...

A pretty busy week here which is so nice because it helps the week fly by.....

• We booked our flights back to the States! I am flying back solo with the kids the beginning of November from Saudi to Amsterdam to Seattle. Then I am heading down to Texas for 10 days at the beginning of December and then John meets us in Seattle the middle of December and we all head back to Saudi together December 30. I am scared to death of flying with two kids by myself. I would have no problem with one or the other but not both. I am worried.
• We attended a weekly meeting last week. It made us miss CCCC but it can be a good thing here. It was really hard to attend with both of our kids so we are trying to look more into what is available for kids and also see if this is where we need to be involved and what our purpose looks like here. Please pray over us as we try to determine where we need to be pouring our time into. Is it the weekly meeting? Is it a smaller meeting to study in our home for people who are not comfortable with the other larger place? We came not knowing what our purpose was and knew that it would be revealed and right now we are trying to determine the needs of our community and where we need to be.
• I skyped into my good friend Diane's baby shower on Sunday. I loved that I could see her on her special day, wish her well and see the beautiful shower that was thrown for her. I never really thought about how I would handle it emotionally so it caught me by surprise when I got off skype and broke down crying...more like sobbing. I don't know why I didn't think it would make me upset. I wished I could have been there. It made me sad to miss friends, important memories and also just hit me again the roller coaster of emotions you experience here. Earlier that day I was thinking about how this is working, how we are happy, getting more settled and then BAM...I start crying. I know it is normal and I am so thankful I will be back to actual see her little boy!
• I hosted two seperate coffee mornings at our house this week. Although it would have been fun to have the kids play, I planned them in the mornings when Peyton and everyone else's kiddos are at preschool as I have found that it is really hard to spend time socializing when I am monitoring Peyton and wanted to focus on quality conversations. I am truly blessed with such a vast group of women in my life that come from all over the world. Lots of fun!
• Peyton is doing better with school. Her teacher sends us weekly pictures of what they did and it was nice to see her being happy and engaged in her class during the week. I am really pleased with her teacher and looking forward to her getting more and more settled in school.
• We went to a play date as well and I loved that out of the six women there....I was the only one from the States/North America.
• We visited a remodeled grocery store called Tamimi's. They have several but this one just opened and it was beautiful! I felt like I was shopping in an upscale Krogers. I was so overwhelmed by all of the choices, the cleanliness and really was overwhelmed. I am not sure how I am going to handle shopping in the States. I am not used to so many options, and seeing foods I haven't seen in 4 months. I even wanted to buy a bag of Funions because I have never seen them here. I have never had one in my life...let alone bought a bag but I saw them and felt like I should buy it. I didn't...but I did find the last bag of Reeses Pieces in the whole store which are delicious. I almost don't want to eat them. We did see Charmin for $37...didn't buy it....real trash bags, clorox everyday cleaning spray, Pepperidge Farm Texas Toast (we did buy that) and so much more. And yes that is me sporting my awesome abaya and being overwhelmed with choices in the cleaning aisle. Goodness...what has my life become...excited beyond belief over grocery stores!

• I am having issues with Titus stealing food from Peyton or off the counter and yesterday was the worst when he stole banana bread off the dining room table today while I was in the kitchen cleaning up from coffee this morning. I got mad. Peyton told me to "be nice to my doggy." Fun times.
• John had a three day weekend this past weekend. He hasn't worked a full work week in awhile due to training courses, holidays, being sick, our shipment etc. I am enjoying him being home more and being around to help with the kids
• Graham loves solids! I am not used to having a baby eat solids so well. I had to do another big batch of baby food this week to stock up. I made peaches, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, apples, pears, pumpkin, mango, papaya, spaghetti squash. I love how easy it has gotten to make baby food and how much I can make in just a couple of hours.
• We are off to Doha, Qatar this afternoon to celebrate my birthday! I am excited about visiting their famous Souq Waqif, Mexican food, getting my hair cut, a massage and exploring another country around us!

Weekend Recap

We were so busy this past weekend and it felt great! We are really trying to be purposeful in building relationships in the six weeks I have before I head back to the States.

So...this weekend was packed full....starting on Wednesday afternoon we did all of the following....

• Swimming lessons
• Play date/coffee at a new friends house
• Birthday party
• Family breakfast at the dining hall...where we ate a large amount of food for a total of $8. Pretty sweet deal!
• Grocery store
• More unpacking/organizing...realized all my curtains are too long, tried to hem and my sewing needle broke and I have no more. Going to look for the sewing/hem tape to make life easier or I have to take them into somewhere.
• Friends over for dinner...so much fun! We got to meet their new baby, enjoy their company and entertain for the first time in our home.
• Weekly meeting....more on that another day. It went well though!
• Birthday party....scavenger hunt on the beach, splash pad and lots of fun.
• More friends over for dinner....four big kids and one play room equalled a big mess but we had some great fellowship.
• Breakfast with the ladies
• Have the Perry's over for the whole day!
• Drive Perry's back to Jubail and go for dinner at a great Indian restaurant

I will have to blog sometime soon about our day with the Perry's and Peyton and Gavin's adorable friendship and also now seeing Miles and Graham start to interact and show an interest in each other. This week I have a couple coffee mornings scheduled to host at our house. We are having lots of fun enjoying our shipment, entertaining and creating new memories here.

I WON...

I never win anything...and I never enter giveaways on people's blogs because I don't see my luck increasing there BUT a blog I just started following Blue Eyed Bride was doing a giveaway for a $25 gift certificate to Erin Condren who has these amazing planners, notepads and tons of other adorable stuff to get organized. I was planning on buying a planner and to bring back with me so when I saw the giveaway I figured why not try since it would save some money. Well I won! I am so excited and can't wait to get my new planner for 2012! I am an organization nerd like that.

Midweek Ramblings

What a long, busy week it has been....

• We spent a large chunk of the week unpacking boxes after boxes after boxes and I LOVED it! We are so happy to have our furniture, our pictures, toys and we are already starting to LOVE our house. Everyone was not kidding when they said your shipment makes a world of difference.
• I am planing on posting pictures of the house next week. I just want to finish hanging pictures and curtains and then we should be good!
• We have been battling being sick. Peyton...then me...then me again and now possibly Graham. :(
• I started Boot Camp! After Peyton it was hard work to lose all the pregnancy weight and after running and then working with a personal trainer I was able to lose all of it plus some and be in better shape than before I had her. Since I HATE gyms I wanted to find something else so I am doing a two session a week for eight week boot camp. I finished two sessions and was surprised how much my body was able to do and am looking forward to it...and the results.
• I love living by the beach! Boot camp as held at the field by the beach and as hard as the workout was....it was so pleasant and relaxing hearing the waves crashing in the background and looking out to the beautiful turquoise water
• We have been watching Mad Men and are obsessed! I always wanted to watch back home with being in advertising but we didn't have cable and I didn't have time. I downloaded the first season before we left and John and I love it. We are now onto season 2 and it is so much fun to sit down at night and watch an episode together.
• Peyton is still having a hard time leaving me for school and does fine after about 5-10 minutes tells me she has fun when I pick her up but I wish the mornings would go better than they are.
• Graham on the other hand loves the lady that comes and watches him and is doing great! I love that I can do swimming with Peyton and no have to feel bad that he is just sitting in his stroller in the heat, bored.
• We have been in Saudi for 4 months now. Not sure how I feel about that or how I am doing. Probably depends on what day you ask me. My goal was that when we leave for the holidays that I feel like this could work and I would be ok with coming back. I think we are on track.
• I can't believe that in 6 weeks I will flying to the states by myself with the kids for seven weeks of family...and Target!
• We will be attending Fellowship here on Friday (it is the place that we used to go to on Sundays in Texas). We didn't go over the summer for many reasons...probably no real good and valid ones....so we are kicking off the school year with a commitment to ourselves and to Him and our family to be consistent and get involved.
• This coming Sunday is a good friends first baby shower. I should be there and I am sad I am not. They are having skype set up for the shower so I am hoping all the connections etc work out so I can skype in and wish her well. This is the part of being here that stinks.

Here's to surviving another week in Saudi. I am praying hard that we all get better soon so we can get out and be with friends next week. I really want to be building relationships and that doesn't happen when you are sick!

Off to enjoy our weekend.....

Getting Mobile

Guess is starting to become mobile...this really makes me sad. Oh...and my voice sounds awful because I have been sick all week and it has finally settled in my throat making me sound horrible. Anyways... It makes me sad each time Graham hits a milestone. I don't want him to get bigger and I wish he could stay my little newborn. So different than the first time around wen you are anxious about when they are going to get to the next step and wondering if they are on schedule and you tend to compare. I wish I enjoyed each phase more with Peyton and I am for sure cherishing every moment with Graham. I just can't believe he is starting to move :(

Lately

This past week one of us has been sick at one point or another. Started with John and an awful stomach virus. Went to Peyton with a cold, then to me with a cold and now Graham is starting to cough. Not sure if the cough is due to drool/teething or a cold as he was coughing awhile ago before all this hit. I started feeling better, and am now back to feeling crummy and I lost my voice which is not helpful when trying to manage a toddler.

Anyways....we are LOVING our house and putting it together. We are bummed that due to being locked up at home we haven't been able to have people over and entertain but hopefully next week we will be back to normal. We do have plans for people to come over Thursday and Saturday. I want to really use the time I have here before I head back to the States in early November to continue building relationships and making memories in our home so I will want to come back!

Since not much has been going on here are some pictures I pulled off my phone....

This one is hard to get but....I was driving...on camp of course....towards the Hobby Farm (horse riding place) to meet some ladies for breakfast at the cafe there. This road is on the perimeter of camp and to the right is a huge dessert/field and then another two chain link electric fences with ditches on either side and big pipes and a video system between this road and the housing portion of camp. It is very secure here and I never notice all the fences etc until I drive out to the Hobby Farm. I realized how funny it was that one on side of this chain link fence I was driving, wearing jeans and a tank top and having tons of freedom and just on the other side is where I have all these restrictions put onto me. And I thought it was funny to see the "objects appear closer" text on our car in Arabic.

Then here is Graham and I doing some shopping at our camp grocery store. He has been able to sit up for awhile but I never put him in the cart because I didn't have my cover and he wasn't that sturdy so I wanted more cushion around him. He LOVED sitting in the cart.

I didn't realized how BAD of a picture this is of him when I took it. Opps....and yes he is still wearing his PJs...I had to wake the poor guy up to take Peyton to school and then he pretty much stayed in them all day.

And...check out those boxes of Trix cereal on the bottom right....Peyton was so happy when I surprised her with a box when I picked her up from school!

Graham: 6 Months

Graham turned six months while we were in Abu Dhabi. I can't believe that it has been six months since he was born. It seems just like the other day yet at the same time it feels like forever ago since so much has happened in his short life.

• He is a big, chunky and adorable baby. He weighs 22 lbs and it around 28 inches...essentially in the 97% for both height and weight
• Graham is eating about 6 ounces of formula every 3-4 hours during the day and was sleeping from 7:30 PM to 7:00 AM but this past month has been waking up in the middle of the night due to teething.
• He started solids and liked them but is kind of fickle. It has also been hard to be consistent on feeding them to him since we didn't have a highchair or anywhere to sit him down until our shipment came. He didn't like being held while feeding.
• Graham is a flirt! He loves women with accents and will coo and make cute sounds at them, laugh, then hide his face and start again.
• He has been to four countries in 6 months....the USA, Saudi, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates and will probably visit Qatar and Canada before he turns a year. He has flown business class, stayed in three different five star hotels and is leading a way too glamourous life for a baby!
• He is way too accommodating and just rolls with our life. He will fall asleep wherever and whenever and even if he is woken up from a nap unexpectedly he will just smile and just go with it and fall asleep again later.
• He is teething! Droll everywhere, lots of chewing on stuff and even then is still an overall happy baby.
• Graham rolls everywhere. Peyton never really rolled and just screamed to be moved. Graham will just roll where he wants to go, twist, turn around and somehow get where he wants to be. He even rolled his play mat over and just hung out until I saw him.
• In the mornings he just hangs out in bed, cooing, playing with his feet and rarely screams for us to get him and if you take too long he sometimes just goes back to sleep. He is so content.
• He is getting interested in Titus and watches him but nothing more than that
• He loves his toys and is really starting to have preferences and also interacting more with things.
• He adores his big sister and loves to be near her. Peyton is not as interested in him but lately has been wanting to read more to him, hold him and often I find her in his room when he wakes up from his nap telling him good morning and mommy is coming.

Graham Ryerson....you are such a blessing to us and we LOVE you so much! I can't imagine life without your smile, joyful spirit and just chill attitude. You have adjusted to our crazy life so well and I am so thankful for that. You remind us daily that we are here in Saudi so we can enjoy these precious moments of your life as a family and that our family is what matters.

Falling in Love with Abu Dhabi

While we are busy unpacking I am going to go ahead and do a post on our trip to Abu Dhabi.

Pretty much I fell in LOVE with Abu Dhabi and the joys of being overseas, feel the culture/international feeling while still being able to have the freedoms of driving, wearing real clothes, eating in any section of the resturant and just feeling free.

After we arrived Friday, we went swimming and relaxed and then Saturday went to this area on the water called Heritage Village. It was supposed to feel like an old Arabian souk but the stores were closed, drove around and looked at the amazing architecture, beautiful hotels and then went to the mall before we droped John off at the airport to fly back to Saudi for work. He flew back on Wedensday to pick us up and drive home Thursday.

One hotel we drove up to was called the Emirates Palace. Which is the worlds most expensive hotel costing 3.8 billion to build. It apparently has an ATM made of gold in the lobby where you can get bars of gold. The spa services look amazing and it is an unbelievable site when you drive up. When we drove in to look around the security guard had to make sure John wasn't wearing shorts!

You can check out their website here and see more pictures and maybe even reserve a room. Surprisingly there is a large range of rooms in various price levels from the $425/night Coral Room to $11,400/night 3 bedroom Palace Suite. I would be fine with the Coral room...hint, hint John!

After John left, we shopped a bunch and was able to try on clothes and enjoy the many malls that Abu Dhabi has. I wanted to visit the Grand Mosque but I didn't want to do it with the kids by myself and the day I planned on doing it with my sister she got really sick. There were also a bunch of fun outdoor things we could have done but it was too hot. So, next time I am sure we will be able to see a whole lot more than just malls! We helped my sister unpack, shop for things for her apartment and just enjoyed a week away from Saudi.

Peyton celebrated her actual birthday at the hotel my sister was staying at prior to moving into her apartment. I ordered room service for her and we picked up a cake later that night for her. She loved room service and the big pancakes!

I loved Abu Dhabi and only wish John was there with me so we could enjoy it together....and so I could have the help of another parent! Next vacation....heading back to the States in November until the end of December and I have to flew one of the legs solo.....not looking forward to that at all!

Driving Through the Desert

The day after Peyton's party we packed it up and made a very long drive through the desert from Saudi to Abu Dhabi. We had everything all packed and ready before we went to bed and woke up earl and left the house at 4:00 AM which worked great because the kids slept until 8 AM which helped make the trip not feel so long for them. It took us 8.5 hours driving and 1 hour at customs and the route was pretty straight forward and an easy drive. Both Peyton and Graham were amazing and did great in the car. I was probably more impatient and fussy than they were. It was a very boring drive with not much to see....not even pretty sand dunes. But we encountered many camels which made Peyton happy!

It was pretty funny once we passed through customs and made it into the United Arab Emirates how different the roads, landscape and just overall feel of the country was. The roads were smooth, nice and had traffic signs and people followed the traffic rules. They have tons of radars along roads and will send out tickets so people don't speed. The roads had landscaping along them and was such a more scenic drive.

We made it to Abu Dhabi finally and immediately met up with my sister for some swimming. I will do another post on our time in Abu Dhabi but pretty much I loved the city and wish we lived there!

Midweek Ramblings...

Here is what happened with us here in Saudi this week...

• Peyton started preschool Saturday. You can read more about that here. She will be going Saturday through Tuesday for three hours in the morning which is great for her to have some variety in her week, a new learning environment and a nice break for me to be able to spend time with Graham.
• Graham had his 6 month well child appointment Saturday. As expected...he is a happy, health and chunky baby...he is in the 97% in both height and weight. He weighs 22 lbs and is 28 inches tall. I don't think he is overweight but he is big and so I asked if it was normal and the doctor told me not to worry. He is meeting all his milestones (rolling, sitting etc) and as soon as he starts moving he will start to lean out. Graham is such asweet baby and I am so blessed with him just making life a little easier on me. He had his two vaccinations...cried when he got them for a brief second and then started to smile, coo and be his sweet self. The rest of the day he was pretty miserable but his miserable is not that bad. He was trying so hard to smile and be his happy self but you could tell he was miserable. He has such a sweet spirit.
• Graham also had a big day after his appointment...he had his first baby sitter! Yes...he is six months old and I have only left him twice...once with my mom and once with a very good friend for a total of four hours. I am doing Mom and Tot swimming with Peyton since she isn't ready for the group lessons yet and in the summer Graham would play in the stroller while I did it. But now he is getting bigger and not as content to stay in the stroller so I found an older lady from the Philippines that was recommended to watch Graham while I do swimming with Peyton twice a week. I am hoping that we can make this a regular thing so when Peyton does move up into the group classes, I can just have the sitter come during when Peyton is at school and have three hours a week to have time to myself! The lady showed up a little early which was nice so she could spend time getting to know me and Graham and he immediately took to her and was in love. I felt really comfortable with her and it went wonderfully. I am excited about adding a resource to our lives as it feels like we went from having a village to help us with the kids to nothing. It was so much easier leaving him than it was Peyton which surprised me but mostly it was because he is such a happy, content baby that I don't worry about him and I really felt so comfortable with the sitter and had such a good feeling.
• Another big step in getting settled is the scheduled DELIVERY of our SHIPMENT on TUESDAY! I am so excited! We are up to our eye balls in boxes, paper and chaos and I couldn't be happier! I am having so much fun unpacking, get our house settled and am already planning play dates, dinners, girls nights and making memories and making this our new home. When we bought our house in League City we just wanted to use it welcome others into our home and entertain and build relationships and I am looking forward to doing that here...and having toys for Peyton, a highchair for Graham and our comfy bed!
• Finally...camp is filling up with everyone coming back from their summer vacations. Lots of new faces, lots of activities starting up and I am looking forward to getting into life here.

Praying hard that this is a turning point in our time here in Saudi. Everyone says that getting your stuff, the start of the school year makes such a difference and I am looking forward to hopefully seeing this as home.

Christmas in September....

The moving trucks start to arrive. We had one big flat bed and two small trucks.

Living/Dining room after many hours...

Just a portion of the mounds of trash...moving is not very green.

Garage...complete with some Aramco furniture that the warehouse still hasn't come to get...boo

Peyton was so excited to see all her stuff! She was opening and was such a big helper.

Check out my big, comfy Temperpedic bed....I am so excited to sleep on it!

The kitchen before John and I stayed up way too late to finish it.

Pretty much it has been so much fun looking at everything we forgot we bought for her and putting things together. We are exhausted, up to our eye balls in boxes and things to do but we are so happy and are so thankful! A huge answered prayer in that first, nothing in our shipment got confiscated. We didn't have anything questionable but we were worried our "indoor large tree/floral decor." Well it made it! Second answered prayer, besides a couple of items nothing was damaged, lost and everything made it. Thank you for your prayers and we are singing praises! John is off tomorrow so we have three more good days to unpack and work hard...and he will probably be looking forward to getting out of here and not having to unpack and unpack and unpack!

The Big Birthday Party

We have had a busy couple of weekends, starting with Peyton's big birthday party last Thursday. She has been talking and talking and talking about her birthday party and I tried so hard to make it everything she had been wanting. We felt so blessed to have all our new friends here come and celebrate Peyton with us and it reminded me that we are getting settled.

I brought over some ice cream themed party materials since I wasn't sure what she would like in the four months since we left. I was going to do Dora and I am glad I didn't because I think Dora has been replaced with any of the Disney Junior cartoons since that is all we get here.

We had lots of fun, a lot of craziness with all the kids and a good first birthday party here in Saudi! We had cake, ice cream sundaes and played outside with silly string!

Peyton's friend Gavin joined us and as soon as he arrived they were attached at the hip. They play so well together and I love that they have been friends since they were six months old. Gavin celebrated her first birthday and missed her second because they had just moved to Saudi and so it was nice to be able to have him there to celebrate with her this year. They are such good friends and so cute together.

Happy Birthday Peyton...I can't believe you are three and we hope your party was everything you were wanting. We look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you and so thankful for every day we have with you! Happy Birthday Pumpkin Pie!

Peyton's First Day of School

Today was Peyton's first day of preschool here in Saudi. Since she just misses the school cut off date she will be going to an informal preschool in people's houses for this year and next and then she will be in the formal Pre Kindergarten class at the Aramco school. The preschool I chose for her this year is done by an Indian woman and her co-teacher in her home and has 12 kids. They get to do mini field trips throughout the year (the mailroom, the grocery store, clinic, helipad) which I know Peyton will love.

She was really excited leading up to it and kept telling me how she was going to have fun, do show and tell and was looking forward to me leaving....UNTIL we got there! Then it was a giant meltdown!

We got ready, had a nice breakfast, she picked her Pee Wee School backpack from last year as the one she wanted to take with her, got dressed and made sure we had a red accessory for red day and picked her show and tell item which was her red lady bug pillow pet and off we went.

We walked up to school happy as can be, walked it fine and then she saw another kid lose it and so she decided to join in. It was kind of chaotic and I normally would have just left but there was so much going on that I didn't want her to get lost in the shuffle or worse run out after me. I tried showing her things, talking about her day and nothing was working so finally I just kissed her and left and she screamed so loud. I got to the car and started sobbing and just sat in the car outside the preschool until a friend pulled up (who was dropping off her boy) and asked what I was doing. She said she would check on Peyton and let me know how she was doing when she saw me for breakfast later. I made myself leave and when we met up at breakfast the report was that Peyton was doing better.

As much as I worried about Peyton and whether she was settling in, I did LOVE the time I had with just Graham and the ease of one kid. We went to our weekly Saturday breakfast, took Graham to his 6 month check up (more on that tomorrow), went to the grocery store and then went to pick up Peyton.

When I picked her up she was playing with some musical instrument and told me she had fun and cried because she missed me. I had brought her a lollipop as a treat so she was happy about seeing that. We discussed how fun school can be and how I always come back and how we were looking forward to the next day. I hope we are on track for a better start tomorrow but when she went to bed tonight she told me she was "not going to school." We will see what she thinks in the morning!

One Year Ago....

One year ago we found out we were having a baby boy! I am disbelief at how much has changed since then. As much as I dislike being pregnant it still amazes me how a year ago this was what Graham was....

And now he is.... a beautiful, big, sweet and smiling baby boy that just makes me smile constantly. I am so in love! I had no idea what it would be like having a little boy and so far it is so much fun and I just continue to pray and hope that he will always love his mommy!

As I was thinking about how much has happened in a year, John and I thought through all the changes that our lives have had pretty much since 2005 and how we are very much looking forward to 2012 being status quo.

Here is a run down....

2005- John graduates from University of Texas, we buy Titus, John moves to Houston and I stay in Austin, get engaged

2006- Che graduates from University of Texas, moves to Houston, looks for a job, we get married, put money down to start building our first house, Che finally finds a job

2007 - Che starts new job in January, we close on our first house, celebrate our one year anniversary, start talking about having a baby

2008- We are pregnant with Peyton and have her in September!

2009- Che decides to quit her job and we go to being a single income household, then in the fall Che goes to work part time, we decide to lead a small group at our church, we have some challenging times in our marriage

2010- We start and finish an amazing marriage course, John has lots of discussions about what to do with his future/career, we start going down several paths and then back to where we started, we are pleasantly surprised to find out we are pregnant, make the decision to apply for the job in Saudi, go through the process of deciding if this is what we want

2011- Accept an offer to move to Saudi, have Graham, move to Saudi, my sister moves to Abu Dhabi......whew....

Happy Birthday Peyton!

Today my precious little girl turns three! I can't believe how time has flown! I remember so clearly when we met you and how much you stole our heart. You will always be our little baby girl (even if you tell me that you are a big girl).

Peyton, I hope your birthday is everything you have been anticipated! You have been so excited to have your birthday and we are just as excited to celebrate you and celebrate the day we were blessed to become your parents.

Peyton, we LOVE you so much! I can not even begin to form the words to describe how blessed we feel to be your mommy and daddy. You have completely changed our lives for the better and we are so thankful for everyday with you. We are excited to see you grow more and more into the independent, opinionated, funny and loving girl you are becoming and we love you so much Pumpkin Pie!