A special treat

As much as I try to feed Angela healthy snacks, from time to time we give her special treats. Especially when moods need changing. Its amazing how a small piece of chocolate can make her so happy. This morning, as we walked by Krispy Kreme at the mall, it called out to her. She had been very good as I pushed her around Carrefour (our version of Walmart) trying to stock up on last minute items for our trip home so I figured she deserved a special treat.

She picked the sprinkles (surprise surprise) and then asked to go sit in the big chairs (food court). Who was I to say no? I would much rather leave her mess at the mall than have it spread across my car!

The special treat

Start with the sprinkles - have to lick them all off first

Then finally take a bite, this was a very slow process

Yum!!

The doctor

Angela is into all things doctor lately. The minute somebody says ouch she runs for her doctor kit and is ready to listen to your heartbeat, peer down your throat, give you some medicine and a shot or two. Yesterday she discovered something new to add to her doctor kit - the band aids!

I glanced up to see her standing behind the sofa with a rather guilty look on her face.

I went to investigate to find an entire box of band aids laid out on the back of the sofa.

Clearly she knows this isn't where band aids go - as she quickly ran away from the mess!

This was all fine because the band aids actually kept her sitting quietly playing. Unfortunately, by the end of the day she had figured out how to open the wrapper and the entire back of my sofa was decorated with colorful bandaids!

You never know til you try....

There has been an ongoing discussion in our house about taking the bottle away from Angela. This idea started back in March after her 2 year check up when the doctor suggested it. I was so hesitant to do anything about it because for over a year now she has had a bottle for every nap, every night before bed and for most of her night time wake ups. Plus there was so much change with a new baby in the house, I really didn't want to disturb her routine.

Today is the day. Big girls don't use bottles and big girls sleep in big beds. It's nap time and she just drank her milk in a sippy cup (only protested slightly before she realized it had milk in it) and is snoozing away in the guest room 'big bed'.

So I guess I was wrong about my little girl. She isn't so little anymore. It's time to hit the stores and find this girl a bed!

(sorry for no pictures - Ang does look pretty cute at the moment but I'm not risking ruining her nap for a picture).

It's Grammy's birthday!

The girls made a very special birthday message for Grammy's special day!

Conversations with a 2 year old

Ang: 'daddy works'
Daddy: 'does mommy work?'
Ang: 'no'
Daddy: 'what does mommy do?'
Ang: 'mommy, Kai Kai, MILK!'

Making milk - its a full time job!

Five months!

Caitlin is five months today! She is such a happy, sweet baby and now has the cutest little giggle that we almost always hear when she is in the bath. She has perfected rolling from her back to her front - although she gets her arm stuck under her so she ends up frustrated, stuck on her belly. We've seen her roll from her belly to back many times, she just doesn't always have her arms in the right place. I'm sure she will figure it all out soon.

Sleep has gone backwards a bit. Lately it is taking her a very long time to settle at night so I spend close to two hours getting her to sleep. I'm hopeful this is just a phase because it is quite exhausting!

We've made no progress with her allergies. She is definitely allergic to all things dairy and possibly soy. If I have the smallest amount of dairy she ends up miserable for days - a bad excema reaction on her face and legs, a very gassy tummy and lots of spitting up. I've been trying to keep my diet incredibly bland and feel horrible everytime I slip up on something that bothers her. I love that I can offer her a great supply of milk but am really looking forward to the day that I can have ice cream again!!

It's now less than a month until our trip home which is very exciting. We can't wait to see everybody, and of course for Caitlin to meet the rest of the family!

Sorry for the grouchy face pictures - she had just woken up from a nap!

home sweet home

Although we have loved life on 'the Palm' in Dubai, we've decided its time to give up the apartment life and will be relocating to a villa in August. The community we are moving to is called the Meadows. The villa has five bedrooms (2 more than we have in our apartment) and has a large back yard. There are lakes with walking trails around them and we will be less than a 10 minute walk to a local shopping center (with grocery store and coffee shop).


As with any rental property, I'm sure we will find faults with the new home. Its not as new or fancy as our previous apartments. The maintenace will increase as we have a backyard to take care of (growing grass in the desert should be interesting). But, I think it will be a great place to live as a family while are in Dubai.

View of the neighborhood mosque!

View from the back bedrooms - lake directly behind the villa and 'mansion' villas just behind that.

The front

The back yard - this is just one section, it's much larger.