I've been blogging lately, but realized there are so many things that I have yet to share about.
For starters, my dad left the KSA a few weeks ago and Gavin was very sad to see him go. They became great buddies while my dad was here and Gavin has missed getting to go to the playground with Captain, having his food flown around on a fork like a plane, and since my dad has left, Gavin has quit drinking his chocolate milk. I guess no one makes chocolate milk like Captain. My dad taught Gavin to say, "beep beep" so anytime we're out in the car, and Gavin hears a car honk there horn, he says, "beep beep!"
Brooks' has gotten a little break in work and has actually been off on Thursdays the past few weeks. (Thursdays are our Saturdays here) It has been really nice having him around. I'm holding on to these days because pretty soon he could start working 7 days a week once start up gets going. Yikes. He's also been enjoying playing basketball with all the guys every week. It's a sad day for him when basketball gets cancelled. However, they always seem to make up for it by rescheduling on a different day of the week.
I stopped nursing. Let me first say, thank you so much for all the emails and posts you sent regarding my heartfelt post about nursing. I received a TON of encouragement and lots of suggestions and ideas and I appreciate those of you who took time to write me! After three weeks of many ups and downs, I decided nursing Miles just wasn't the best thing for him. Our concern was making sure he was gaining weight and able to thrive and we have seen a MAJOR difference in him all around just in the last week. There was a small part of me that was sad when I was done nursing him, but I was also relieved that the pressure was off. I'm also convinced that there was really something wrong with my milk supply. I was able to stop nursing Miles cold turkey. I only had to pump twice since quitting and even then, I really didn't have to pump, it was just to make sure I didn't get any clogged ducts that could have caused more pain for me.
We are in the process of selling our house. We actually have a contract on the house and are closing on it this coming Monday. We are super excited and are praising God for this sale going through. We put the house on the market in May and finally got a serious buyer this past month.
We are also in the process of getting all of Miles paperwork taken care of. We were given a certificate of birth at the hospital where Miles was born and then had to get a Saudi birth certificate which is written in Arabic. We went to the US Consulate office and applied for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, which is primary proof of American citizenship to a child born abroad to American parents. Saudi does not issue citizenship to children whose parents aren't Saudi's. We also attempted to apply for Miles passport, in order to allow him to travel out of the country. We ran into a small issue with this process, due to the USA requiring all international, overseas applications for US passports to be sent through Washington DC, instead of being printed globally. Khobar is no longer allowed to print passports, therefore it will take longer to retrieve his passport. The main issue is the USA isn't ready for this system change and are now requiring international locations to HOLD all passport applications until they are ready. Which, for us, means, Miles passport applications will not get processed for a few weeks. The USA doesn't even know when they are going to be ready to start receiving applications so who knows when things will take place. All we know is we have purchased plane tickets to come home March 3rd and we are hoping and praying the system is ready soon, Miles application goes through swiftly, and we receive his passport in a timely manner in order to complete other paperwork required for him to travel out of the country as well as to get back into Saudi. Say a prayer for us please!
Gavin is still loving Miles and is an awesome big brother. He has been doing amazing with pottying lately and is finally making it all the way through his naps and bedtime DRY FREE, consistently. He went through a phase where he was wetting the bed 2 and 3 times a night.. it was pretty rough on us at night. I think what's helping him is when we get up to feed Miles, one of us goes and gets Gavin and takes him to the bathroom. We're hoping he will eventually get back to waking up himself at night and calling for us when he needs to go.
Gavin is growing up. He has been talking more and more every day. He can repeat words, hold conversations, give his opinions, plays independently, and explores. He is always trying to figure out how things work and has a strong desire to keep things in order and they way they are suppose to be. He has also been showing us a new side to him. His opinions have been accompanied with very intense emotions when he feels he isn't getting his way. He has also been testing us a lot lately. We are constantly working on teaching him to be patient, to listen, and obey. He's two and we know that this is a phase, but, wow! Wonder how long this will last?
My mom left two days ago and it was a tough day. We were very sad to see her go. Things just aren't the same around here without her. It was WONDERFUL having her here on our side of the world for the last 6 weeks. I can't imagine her not having been here for Mile's birth and getting to celebrate Christmas with my parents was a bonus. We're looking forward to getting to visit them in a month along with the rest of our family and friends.
As for me, I'm preparing to have two kids on my own tomorrow for the first time. I'm anxious to see what life will be like managing the boys, the house, cooking, cleaning, etc, but I have to do it sometime or another. I'm ready to get into a routine and help create some normalcy for all of us. Wish me luck!
For starters, my dad left the KSA a few weeks ago and Gavin was very sad to see him go. They became great buddies while my dad was here and Gavin has missed getting to go to the playground with Captain, having his food flown around on a fork like a plane, and since my dad has left, Gavin has quit drinking his chocolate milk. I guess no one makes chocolate milk like Captain. My dad taught Gavin to say, "beep beep" so anytime we're out in the car, and Gavin hears a car honk there horn, he says, "beep beep!"
Brooks' has gotten a little break in work and has actually been off on Thursdays the past few weeks. (Thursdays are our Saturdays here) It has been really nice having him around. I'm holding on to these days because pretty soon he could start working 7 days a week once start up gets going. Yikes. He's also been enjoying playing basketball with all the guys every week. It's a sad day for him when basketball gets cancelled. However, they always seem to make up for it by rescheduling on a different day of the week.
I stopped nursing. Let me first say, thank you so much for all the emails and posts you sent regarding my heartfelt post about nursing. I received a TON of encouragement and lots of suggestions and ideas and I appreciate those of you who took time to write me! After three weeks of many ups and downs, I decided nursing Miles just wasn't the best thing for him. Our concern was making sure he was gaining weight and able to thrive and we have seen a MAJOR difference in him all around just in the last week. There was a small part of me that was sad when I was done nursing him, but I was also relieved that the pressure was off. I'm also convinced that there was really something wrong with my milk supply. I was able to stop nursing Miles cold turkey. I only had to pump twice since quitting and even then, I really didn't have to pump, it was just to make sure I didn't get any clogged ducts that could have caused more pain for me.
We are in the process of selling our house. We actually have a contract on the house and are closing on it this coming Monday. We are super excited and are praising God for this sale going through. We put the house on the market in May and finally got a serious buyer this past month.
We are also in the process of getting all of Miles paperwork taken care of. We were given a certificate of birth at the hospital where Miles was born and then had to get a Saudi birth certificate which is written in Arabic. We went to the US Consulate office and applied for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, which is primary proof of American citizenship to a child born abroad to American parents. Saudi does not issue citizenship to children whose parents aren't Saudi's. We also attempted to apply for Miles passport, in order to allow him to travel out of the country. We ran into a small issue with this process, due to the USA requiring all international, overseas applications for US passports to be sent through Washington DC, instead of being printed globally. Khobar is no longer allowed to print passports, therefore it will take longer to retrieve his passport. The main issue is the USA isn't ready for this system change and are now requiring international locations to HOLD all passport applications until they are ready. Which, for us, means, Miles passport applications will not get processed for a few weeks. The USA doesn't even know when they are going to be ready to start receiving applications so who knows when things will take place. All we know is we have purchased plane tickets to come home March 3rd and we are hoping and praying the system is ready soon, Miles application goes through swiftly, and we receive his passport in a timely manner in order to complete other paperwork required for him to travel out of the country as well as to get back into Saudi. Say a prayer for us please!
Gavin is still loving Miles and is an awesome big brother. He has been doing amazing with pottying lately and is finally making it all the way through his naps and bedtime DRY FREE, consistently. He went through a phase where he was wetting the bed 2 and 3 times a night.. it was pretty rough on us at night. I think what's helping him is when we get up to feed Miles, one of us goes and gets Gavin and takes him to the bathroom. We're hoping he will eventually get back to waking up himself at night and calling for us when he needs to go.
Gavin is growing up. He has been talking more and more every day. He can repeat words, hold conversations, give his opinions, plays independently, and explores. He is always trying to figure out how things work and has a strong desire to keep things in order and they way they are suppose to be. He has also been showing us a new side to him. His opinions have been accompanied with very intense emotions when he feels he isn't getting his way. He has also been testing us a lot lately. We are constantly working on teaching him to be patient, to listen, and obey. He's two and we know that this is a phase, but, wow! Wonder how long this will last?
My mom left two days ago and it was a tough day. We were very sad to see her go. Things just aren't the same around here without her. It was WONDERFUL having her here on our side of the world for the last 6 weeks. I can't imagine her not having been here for Mile's birth and getting to celebrate Christmas with my parents was a bonus. We're looking forward to getting to visit them in a month along with the rest of our family and friends.
As for me, I'm preparing to have two kids on my own tomorrow for the first time. I'm anxious to see what life will be like managing the boys, the house, cooking, cleaning, etc, but I have to do it sometime or another. I'm ready to get into a routine and help create some normalcy for all of us. Wish me luck!
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