A couple of weeks before Shiloh arrived we had the wonderful surprise that G was going to come and visit. It was truly a surprise that she was going to make the trip over here and we were all very excited. G arrived one week after Shiloh was born and it was so nice to have her here to see our life here in Saudi, have an extra set of hands with the older kids and with Shiloh and the companionship of my mommy! No matter how old you get or how many times you have gone through having a new baby there is something about having your mom with you!
It was really hard for me though to not be able to be up and going and showing her all around our life here and resting instead. John did a wonderful job stepping in for me and showing my mom around our life here.
They visited the beach on camp and my mom went most mornings after helping getting the kids off to school to enjoy the sun!
John took my mom and the kids into the town next to our camp as well as into the more major shopping area to show her around. They also went to the craft store to pick up supplies to make Peyton a Halloween costume! Peyton wants to be Cruella De Ville and it was a great project for my mom to help pass the time here and it turned out amazing! The evenings that everyone went out was hard to not be going with them but it also allowed time for Shiloh and I to cuddle and relax and slow down without the big kids which was nice. I loved hearing about my mom's reaction to things when she came home too….from the family/singles sections and just various things that have become normal for me and to hear it from her perspective was amusing. Her comments about the fence around camp and feeling like you are caged in also brought back memories of how much I struggled with that feeling in the beginning as well and showed how far I have come!
One of the last days she was here I decided to try and venture out with everyone and go to a local souvenir type store that has nice imported things from around the Middle East. My mom found lots of goodies and we experienced our first outing with all three kids complete with a meltdown from Graham. Fun times! We went to the mall and had dinner and since we were there on a Friday night it was wild and my mom got the true Saudi experience. It was fun!
I am so thankful that my mom was able to come out and see our life here. I always feel like she sees a crazy/wild version of me and the kids with being out of our element and on vacation in Washington and although it was still not how we are normally it was a better representation of our family and life here. And when we first found out she was coming it was when we thought that we were not going back to Washington this summer so it was even more special to know that she was able to come and meet Shiloh. While she was here though we found out that John's vacation ended up becoming approved and we found out that we will be able to go back to Washington for the summer. As of now we are planning on leaving July 22 through August 25 and John will be with me the entire time! We are just working on finalizing Shiloh's passport, residency visa and entry/exit visa with the Saudi government and we will be good to go. It made G leaving much easier knowing we would be seeing her in six weeks or so.
Thank you G for coming to visit and for the tremendous help you were! We are all so thankful for the time we had with you! See you soon!
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