MINE

One thing that we loved about this apartment (other than the massive balconies, water view, great location and space) was the playroom option. Anybody that visited us in Shanghai witnessed the mountain of toys that overtook the living room, something that constantly drove me crazy. This apartment has one decent-sized room just off the living room that would make a perfect office (in Rich's mind). But, in my mind, it just had to be the playroom.

After our stuff arrived it became obvious that we had some storage issues. One trip to Ikea and we fixed that problem. The playroom is now finished!!




We discovered this past Saturday just how much Angela loves the playroom (and all her toys). We invited some new friends (somebody Rich met through a Columbia alumni event) over for breakfast and to play. They have a son that is slightly older than Angela and they just moved here as well. Well, as soon as Henry walked into the playroom and started picking up toys, we learned that Angela has a word in her vocabulary that we hadn't heard before. 'MINE!!!!!'....



I guess we need to work on our sharing skills!

arts & crafts

Angela has been attending a local daycare facility a few times a week. We drop her off for a few hours in the morning, once or twice per week. Its not a proper 'nursery' program but offers flexible schedules (we just call the day before to book her in) and has a really great staff.

Today she brought home an art project!

the new meggo-mobile & growing babies

We bought a new car! Of course, we haven't yet registered it because the registration process requires documentation from the bank and its taking them a few days to get the papers together. Hopefully we will be able to drive it soon. We ended up finding a slightly used (less than 1 year old) Volvo SUV. The owner is another ex-pat that is moving and needed to get rid of the car. So we ended up getting an almost new car at a decent price.



Angela is continuing to grow like a weed. We had her 18 month well being visit last week with the new pediatrician. Angela weighed 13kg - which is about 28 and 1/2 pounds. This puts her in the 95th percentile for weight which is so surprising because she was below the 0 percentile at 9 months. The doctor said she is healthy and had no concerns with anything. Her skin is also doing remarkably well these days (for those that haven't seen it, she has had a very annoying excema rash on her legs). I guess she just needed a break from the China air!



Finally, baby # 2. I haven't posted much about being pregnant but now that I'm really feeling pregnant (i.e. big) its time to start posting. So, my first official belly pic for this pregnancy is below - at 22.5 weeks. It has definitely popped!!

At the park!

While out for a drive this past weekend we discovered a cute little park not far from our house. Angela was up early this morning and was getting very antsy in the house so I decided to take her out to play. Unfortunately its still a bit too hot here so we only got to play for about an hour before Angela's face turned bright pink and her head was covered in sweat. Hopefully the next month will bring some cooler, more comfortable temperatures and then I'm sure you will find us in the park many mornings!

Interestingly, men are only allowed in the park on weekends - during the week it is only for women and children.

The BIG Ultrasound

I had my 20 week ultrasound appointment this morning. Rich and Angela tagged along and waited patiently for the ultrasound tech to do a big reveal of the gender. Although baby # 2 was not very cooperative, we're pretty certain that Angela will be getting a baby sister in February!! This will be confirmed in a few months at my 32 week scan, but for now we are thinking PINK!

Welcome to Dubai

Just thought I'd post a quick update with photo's of our new apartment. There is still a lot in process and we'll be filling the empty spaces soon I hope. It sounds like our shipment from China should be arriving on September 25th. It will be nice to have all of our stuff back, Ang sure is missing her toys.

Enjoy the photo's!

Farewell USA, Hello UAE

We have landed safely in Dubai after a great trip home to the US. It was so great to see so many of our family and friends and as always it was sad to say goodbye. Although it always seems a bit too chaotic while we are visiting home we always enjoy the trips home and look forward to the next one. I took so many photos while we were there and have finally had time to sort through them all.

http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3200449015/a=4776520_4776520/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Our first week in Dubai has been uneventful. Our apartment looks great but is so much larger than I remember it being. It still feels a bit empty since our shipment from China hasn't arrived yet. I took some photo's of the rooms that are mostly finished which will be posted here soon. Unfortunately I have been having some computer problems (yet again) and can't turn my laptop on at the moment. That also means no skype for me so if you are looking for us, try Rich!

I promise more updates as soon as I am back on my laptop!