Our home and native land

We arrived here on June 15 (almost the 16th--thanks to the delay at the Chicago airport). The flight was very LOOOOOOOONG, but all the little ones did very well. None of them was THAT kid--the one that everyone dreads on a long flight--screaming as the air pressure makes their head explode. Baby N was (as predicted) the hardest to keep occupied, but we managed with a little help from our (mango-smuggler) friend from India, Rita.

Little A fell down (or rather UP) the escalator, as Peter tried to help her to get on it on her own. That was not a pleasant experience, and it necessitated a stop at Tim Hortons for a donut on our way to my brother's place in Calgary.

Over a week later, we are feeling much better (the jet lag was hard, and we found ourselves and our little ones awake around 3 in the morning). The children's naps were very messed up, and we are still finding baby N falls asleep on every car ride now. NB S seems to be doing the best (and with a little help from Aveeno Baby, her eczema--NOT prickly heat Dr. Stiles--on her face is GONE!!) as her body operates in its own time zone no matter where we go.

We have been having an amazing time, and have seen so many of our old friends. Though tiring, I know our holiday here will be over before we know it. The little ones (A&N) are also really enjoying time with their grandparents. Though NB S is still too little, the grandparents are also really enjoying her sweet personality. She has so many smiles to share, and so much to say.

OMG--Two more sleeps!!

THIS IS THE HOW I HAVE FELT ALL DAY LONG!!!

I have been having a low energy day. I have wanted to accomplish so many things, and I feel like I have gotten nothing done. Our flight is leaving on Wednesday morning, and I want to be DONE packing by Tuesday night--no last minute running around with like a chicken with my head cut off. I want to have a nice sleep--bags packed and by the door--ready to go, nice and easy, yeah!

On Friday we had a lovely 'bon voyage' breakfast with Uncle Ajay (who treated us) and Uncle Pete. We were also joined by our friend Gee, whose family is in England. As I previously suspected, he mentioned that there is a high probability that they will not stick around Abu Dhabi. They have enjoyed their six month stay at the Shangri-La hotel, but feel that this environment is a bit too surreal, and just not for them. Fair enough. I will miss my new friend Sahar, and her boys, but am happy to have another friend to visit in the UK.

I also met my friend Amal, whom I have not seen since before NB was born. It seems that she has moved back to her family home in the city, while her husband Alex completes his contract in Kuwait. It was good to run into her (the first time I met her we'd just had baby N), especially as we will be leaving so soon.

Just a little bump in the road on the way to breakfast. We stopped for gas (and planned on using the famous DGA shortcut to the Shang), as we so often do. Unfortunately, when Peter turned the key in the ignition, NOTHING HAPPENED!! He tried and tried and tried...nada--just a clicking sound and all the lights went off. Although it was only 8:15 a.m., it was plenty hot, and we had three wee ones in the car. So, I went over the the other lane and loaded the children and myself into a silver cab, and we headed on our way to breakfast, while Peter had the men of Adnoc help him push the car out of the gas bay into a parking spot. He hopped into a taxi and joined us ten minutes later. Uncle Pete helped us boost our car back to life, so we could get home, however, when we tried to start it later, it was dead.

As it was Friday and everything was closed, the earliest appointment we could get was Sunday.

Here is my newest friend Malik Kashif (mob: 055.725.0107). Please call him if you need a tow. He is a friendly and hard-working Pakistani fellow, who dreams of becoming a Canadian citizen. He has already applied. He was very intrigued to meet me--so much so that he phoned me afterwards to see if I could help him out with his application. Believe it or not, Malik is the SECOND Pakistani man to call me this week with this request. The first phone call came on Saturday, from Hussain, who was the watchman at our KCA residence. Hussain told me that he had just returned from Pakistan and had cut all his ties back home. He is now searching for a new country to give him citizenship, and was hoping that I could help him get into Canada (don't ask me how). My advice: get a job there, or find a Canadian girl to marry you.

Here is the fort I made for Little A and baby N. Peter has been complaining we don't have the proper amount of furniture to make a good fort. So, I schooled him in "Fort-Making 101". I used two bull-dog clips, and VOILA!! So good that little A asked me to make it the next day too!

How different would MacGyver's life have been if he'd lived in the age of bull-dog clips? Can you imagine what he could do with bull-dogs AND duct tape??

The car is fixed, and I had a busy day. We started early, around 7, with a haircut for baby N. Then it was off to the post office to pick up an International Driver's License (my Alberta license expired in 2010), and to the pink shops to get some tailoring. I was hoping to have a new white top to wear, but they messed it up! Insert sad face here.

I think little A can sense my stress, as she's been pretty sensitive and quick to tears. She started crying when I was joking with her and told her she couldn't accompany me on errands this morning. She seems unusually attached to me today too. I've got to chill out...

I'm tired...but still so much to pack and put together. I am supposed to be looking for ideas to keep an (almost) toddler busy for 18 hours of flying time...but I decided to blog. I think we'll have enough for little A (I just put together a big pack for her), and so many friends here have been so thoughtful giving us little activity book gifts out of the blue (thanks Tara and Sherry!!). Baby N though...hmmmmm.....

I am really looking forward to being back in Alberta--just not looking forward to getting there. Wish us luck!

Lovely Day

Today I spent the morning getting to know a lovely lady named Dimple. She is from the UK, but like me, she was born in India. Deema introduced us before she moved to Dubai, and then I had NB, and last week I had to re-schedule b/c of baby N's dr's appointment--so this was the soonest we could arrange a visit.

I had SUCH a good time. We have a lot in common, and talking with her and spending time with her was so very easy and comfortable. We talked about so many things (education, children, husbands, families), and had some tea and sweets (oh yes--we both like to eat sweet things too).

I was very sad to find out that if I had just picked a different day for Music with Mummy for little A, Dimple and I would've met two years ago. Now that summer is coming, everyone (including moi) will be heading off to escape the heat. Now I won't see her again until the end of August, and we'll have to pick things up again then.

The Milkman

It's taken a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG time, but this little guy finally has enough coordination to hold his own milk bottle. He has been causing us some 'problems' (refusing to drink his milk, and biting hunks out of the latex teat causing a big gush of milk to spill out everywhere) when we feed him. So, I decided to offer him a bottle with a silicone teat (but with a slant similar to what he's already used to) and a snazzy dragonfly design. I was pleasantly surprised when he actually finished the first bottle, and considered that it might possibly be a 'one-off'. However, here we are, two days later, and he is still enjoying his new dairy dispenser.

The rest of the little ones are doing well. Little A accompanied me to the pink shops this morning (another one of those quick runs while the other two siblings were both expected to be asleep for at least another hour). We managed to accomplish a lot--and I even held strong in my resolve to not by Little A any 'extras' when we shop (things are so cheap here--both in cost and quality--sometimes it's just not worth the fight).

We had a lot of tears, and a refusal to buckle up into her car-seat (which I countered by offering to call a taxi to drive her home, b/c in my car she had to be strapped in). This worked, but she 'didn't like' me after that (and we went through Abela with her not liking me).

When we got home, she had worked through her dislike of me, and we were okay again. Then she had a bout of stomache cramping and diarrhea (which I am attributing the marshmallow 'snack' she had this morning--before breakfast). The diarrhea always works in my favour as it's generally not serious, but reinforces to her that she needs to drink more liquids, get more rest and eat more HEALTHY FOOD.

We had some ladies from Peter's office come by today to meet NB S. I baked butter tart squares and Helen's Microwave Brownies (which weren't as tasty as the last time I made them). However, our guests seemed to enjoy them, and we enjoyed our visit. We actually got to visit, b/c all three of our little ones were asleep at the same time (for part of it) and Phinn had a bone to keep him occupied. They kept commenting on how quiet our house was, considering we had three children.

NB S continues to grow and delight us. She is a big talker, and very smiley and friendly. Generally, she only fusses if she is hungry or uncomfortable (gas or poo). She likes to play in her butterfly garden and is now kicking and catching all the bells. Both baby N and little A adore her. It is sweet to see baby N try to control his clumsy hands to try and be 'gentle' with her.

Love You Forever

I just read Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch to Little A for the first time last night.

I remember passing this book to my dad to read, over afternoon chai. He started easily enough, but as we got 3/4 of the way through the book, he paused. I could see him reading through the remainder in his head, and processing things. He closed the book and passed it back to me, and told me to take it back. Clearly, he couldn't finish it.

I have never been able to read this book without getting a lump in my throat, and tearing up. Last night was no different. It really burns me from both ends, as a child AND as a parent.

oh SOY good...

Taste-test

It is very difficult to take pictures, much less take live video footage of little A. I took this video of her drinking a glass of vanilla soy milk, by placing my phone beside my own drinking cup, and then pretending to read the newspaper.

At one point, I cracked up, as she made me laugh--the way she kept looking at her glass after each tiny sip.

We have an oversupply of soy milk at the present, and I can use all the help I can get to drink it. Thanks to the internet, I thought that NB's spit-ups may have been a reaction to the dairy in my own diet, and so I made a switch to soy milk. Only problem with that:

I don't like soy milk.

After talking with Stiles, who assured me that NB has no such issue (he tells me that she would be an extremely irritable and unpleasant baby with bad skin if this was the problem), I have happily re-stocked the fridge with COW'S milk for me--which I have always loved.

Yesterday, Baby N had an appointment with Dr. Khaled, the neurologist. Dr. Khaled was very pleased with his growth and development to this point. He told us to hold off on any further testing (we were thinking of having some done while we were back in Canada). He felt that PW was looking less and less likely (cue celebratory music), and that a muscle biopsy at this point was premature and possibly unnecessary. He said to give Baby N another six months, as he is still within the 'normal' milestone range for walking.

We celebrated this great news with our friends Shariza and Arul. We ordered food from BuTaFish and I made two desserts from recipes given to me by friends old and new (Kristy's apple blossoms and Helen's brownies).

Gilligan's Island

We spent Wednesday morning doing 'clean-up' and 'organizing' our things, in order to prepare for our trip back home. In the process, I managed to find some clothes for Little A and Baby N that had been packed away, as they were too big when we got them. Unfortunately, for some of the brand new clothes, they are about a month away from being too small.

For little A , we have WAY too many clothes, and she generally has only one or two favourites that get worn ALL THE TIME! It's a good thing that we have TWO girls as some of Little A's clothes have been worn only once. I think for baby N we have just the right amount of clothes (obviously he is not as much of a clotheshorse as his sister). He has a few new things, but also enjoys some very masculine hand-me-downs from his big sister, such as the following baby Spiderman ensemble (which I had purchased for little A to get the attention of her cousin Sahil--who used to be a big Spidey-fan!). That hat is brand-new--and looks so adorable (but I keep hearing this song in my head: "Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale..a tale of a fateful trip...").

Skip-PER!!

In the afternoon, we had a 'pool party' as little A likes to call it. We invited our friends Shariza and Arysha over, and splashed around together in the pool. This is little A's THIRD pool party, and she is really learning to interact WITH her friends, instead of just parallel playing. It makes me so happy to see her engaging with other children her own age, and enjoying herself.

Fishes in the water...