Potty Training Here We Come

Brooks and I decided to potty train Gavin and we are going to start tomorrow!!  The program we're doing is the 3 day Potty Training Method.    It's been seen and advertised all over and we have had several friends who have done this program with their kids around the age of 2 and it works!!  We're really excited to begin this new adventure and are hoping that Gavin picks up on it quickly.  Brooks and I both studied up on the method, together, and this week I got all of our supplies ready for the 3 days!  We have M&M's and popcorn as rewards, a sticker chart, and 3 brand new CARS potty seats for each bathroom toilet.  We've been preparing Gavin for the past few days of what was about to happen-- we let him try on his new underwear, practiced sitting on the potty seats, and have been showing him where his pee pee goes.  In the morning, we're going to let him throw away his diapers (the rest are hidden and put away in Miles closet for when he needs them in a few years) and start drinking lots of liquids.

Brooks and I weren't really planning on potty training Gavin this soon, however, we knew we wanted him to be potty trained before Miles gets here, and thought this would give Gavin plenty of time to work out having accidents and adjust to this new freedom.  Plus, our schedules are going to get busy with events and things that we weren't going to be able to miss, so we're taking advantage of not having anything going on this weekend.  In order to use this method, you really have to give up going anywhere and doing anything for the 3 days.   We're ready and prepared as we will ever be so here goes nothing!  I'll let you know how things go in the next few days.  Say a prayer for us, please!

26 weeks (a week and a half late)

I had an appointment two weeks ago that went really well.  Things look good!  I've been feeling great, aside from walking and living in scorching HOT weather while big and pregnant.  As always, we had an ultrasound done and got to see Miles.  He looks just like Gavin did.  It's amazing.  There weren't any more jokes about his lips being big this go around thankfully, but he was sleeping and looked simply precious.

We semi toured the hospital (we had to leave in the middle of it to go to our appointment), but we went to a presentation where we learned hospital procedures and important information about their policies.  For instance, they are a breast feeding ONLY hospital... no bottles, no pacifiers.  We're not worried about that though-- we will just bring in our own bottles and formulas if we feel it is necessary (we would only be there for 2 days anyways).  The hospital is run just like back in the states- they have all the same equipment, labor and delivery is all the same.. they DO conduct epidurals and husbands ARE allowed in the rooms during delivery.  We're planning on finishing the tour at our next appointment where we will get a look at the rooms, nursery, NICU, etc and ask any questions we still have.  We did talk with our doctor in more detail regarding the way their labors run, who delivers, etc.  We feel good about all the information we've received and feel that having this baby over here would not be a bad thing.  I also had my third trimester testing done- glucose, blood work, and my RHogam shot (since my blood type is negative).  All of that went fine and we will find out the test results soon.  As you can see in my picture, I'm still growing!  I'm not use to being mobile at this stage in the pregnancy so this is all very new to me... my body feels... well, just heavy.  Is that weird?

I am enjoying being pregnant though.   Miles is moving around and kicking all the time.  This past week he has enjoyed the left side of my rib cage and finds comfort in counting each one of my ribs or something to that effect.  This was the first week I felt discomfort with him moving around inside, but I love knowing he's active and awake!  My belly button has protruded so far out that Brooks has nick named it a door bell (I can't believe I just wrote that) and he and Gavin enjoy walking up to me and pushing on my belly button while making a ding dong noise.  They think it's soooo funny!!  I'm just laughing hysterically (complete sarcasm).  Now that our shipment is here, we have our favorite book, Guess How Much I Love You, which Brooks is starting to read to my belly every night.  We did the same thing with Gavin (only we started much earlier) and the day he was born, our first moment in the hospital, just the 3 of us, Brooks read it to Gavin and he opened his eyes as if he knew what he was hearing.  We're hoping to do the same for Miles.

I have a latest ultrasound picture of Miles, however, I can't seem to get our scanner to work to upload it.  He was weighing/measuring just under 2lbs and was right on track with his size.

Mickey Mouse Birthday Party

I spent a majority of this past week working on a birthday cake for Gavin's friend, Tucker.  He is turning two on Sunday and his parents threw him a Mickey Mouse themed birthday party tonight.  The cake was a lot of fun to make and, I think, turned out really cute!!  Tucker's mom asked for the cake to be traditional Mickey Mouse meets Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (the show on the Disney channel).  This is the design I came up with.  The hat was chocolate flavored cake and the bottom tier was white cake.  I made colorful "gears" from the Clubhouse theme and placed them all around the back of the bottom tier.  I kept with Mickey's original hat theme for the cake topper.  Tucker was very excited to see his cake and Gavin was excited to finally get to eat it-- he's been staring at it in our kitchen all day!  Tucker's mom also made LOTS of cupcakes to have in addition to the cake!  

Gavin had a blast playing in the backyard at Tucker's house with all the other kids.  Tucker got a playhouse for his birthday that has lots of gadgets all around it (a gas station, basketball goal, indoor kitchen, windows, doors, etc).  Gavin was in and out of that thing all evening.  By the way, can you tell Gavin got a hair cut?  It is sooo short compared to what it's normally been, but we like it.  He looks much older and like a true toddler.

 The "older" kids got to play washers while all the ladies hung out and visited!

 Tucker got lots of gifts and Gavin was helping Tucker open the gifts we got him.

 Brooks and Gavin got to hang out together outside with all the boys.

Overall, it was a very fun filled evening!  Happy Birthday Tucker!!

The wait is over...

We decided on a name for Baby Perry #2 a few weeks ago and have been "practicing" it for some time now.  We've been trying to get in touch with our parents and siblings to tell them first before announcing it, but with time differences and schedule conflicts, it was a little difficult.  Sorry to be teasing you for so long.  The wait is now over and our baby boy #2 will be.....

MILES LEE PERRY to be exact! 

(sorry, I didn't have enough blocks to spell out his whole name & was missing one more "E" to get his first and middle named together- so this will just have to do).  

Miles was a name we've had on our list since the beginning and just kept going back to it.  Lee is Brooks' middle name (and his dad's)!  We're really excited to finally have picked a name and we love talking about him as "Miles".  We giggle every time we mention putting something in "Miles" room or Gavin likes to kiss my tummy and he tells Miles hi!  It's precious & so surreal that we're having another baby.  

Back story... for those interested.....we had several names on our list that we really liked, but were having a hard time making a choice.  We ran into a conflict where we wanted this baby to have Brooks' middle name, but the first names we were picking wouldn't go with Lee (remember Brock?).  Then, we would pick first names that had disaster written all over them if he was given nicknames.... for example, we liked Harrison, however, if people called him Harry (which we really wouldn't want) then his name would be Harry Perry.  Yikes.  Not to mention, we considered the name Titus, but my older brother made one comment and that name was GONE!!!  We also liked Hudson, but if/when we have a girl, her name will be Brooklyn, NO MATTER WHAT (for Brooks and Lindsey put together)... so we really didn't think it would be appropriate to have 2 children's whose names seemed to be devoted to the state of New York (thanks mom and dad for that realization).    We got lots of ideas from friends and family and appreciated all of you who took time to offer us suggestions.  We honestly took them into consideration.

Rock N Roll

I guess it's safe to say I'm officially legit over here in The Magic Kingdom with my cakes!  I've created set prices for my cakes (I never really had that before since I hate charging for them), semi advertised (not really, but word of mouth is enough), and have made myself known as the "cake girl" on our compound.  I've completed three cake orders so far and have another one for this weekend.  I've really enjoyed getting back into the cake making "business"... I've missed it.  However, I don't like having limited ingredients- not to mention making cakes, icing, and fondant in this heat is HORRENDOUS!!  I feel like I need to go take classes on how to bake cakes, make fondant, and prep icing according to high humidity and drastic high temperatures.  

My latest cake was for a 13 year old boy who started playing the electric guitar for his elective class, Rock Band, at the International School here.  His mom has ordered a cake from me before, for her daughter back in the states, so I already knew her style, what she likes, and was excited to get to be creative for this cake.  I got the idea for this cake from Shannon's Creative Cakes, who does cakes in Lake Charles.  She made a guitar cake for a friend of mine's little boy's first birthday party and I collaborated with her on how she made the guitar.  Thanks Shannon for all your help! I was really pleased with the way the guitar came out, even though the guitar strings started melting upon delivery, thus causing them to sag a little bit.  I actually had them lined up precisely evenly-- I guess that side of Brooks is rubbing off on me.  

Next up.. a mickey mouse cake.  

Our first trip out of the Country

Brooks, Gavin, and I, along with another couple, went to Bahrain last weekend for the day.  We "had" to make a trip out of the country, in order to activate our multi entry visas that we have, so we took advantage of our open weekend and set out for the day.  

Bahrain is located a little over an hour from Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, where we live and is a separate country.  Bahrain is its own island and is separated from SA by a causeway like highway.  Kind of like driving from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, except you have to make 5 stops along the way to get through customs, have visa checks, vehicle inspections, etc, etc.  Here is a glimpse of one of the stops we went through leaving SA.  I will say it's very nice to not have to get out of your car in order to do all these things.  However, if you are a Saudi woman who chooses to wear a face vail, you are required to get out of your car and walk to a building on the side where they hold Women's Passport Verification Checks.  The purpose of this is to have Saudi women lift their vails, to another woman of course, and verify that she is the woman on the passport.   It really does make sense to have something like that set in place seeing as how you can't see women's faces, so how do you know they are who is on that passport. Ok, enough about that.    

Before I keep writing more about our sightseeing and time in Bahrain, let me explain that since Bahrain is a separate country from Saudi Arabia, life over there is somewhat different.  First off, women do not have to be covered up in public, aka.... NO ABAYA wearing for me! Yippeee!  Secondly, women ARE allowed to drive, you can buy pork products anywhere (can I get a big woo hoo for bacon), alcohol is served & available,  and there are more American stores and products everywhere!!  Even though we were only in Bahrain for the day, there was a definite difference between where we live and over there.  You really could sense a feeling of freedom and were able to relax a little more!!  It was a nice break!!

Ok, now onto our day.....

We drove by The Al Fateh Mosque, otherwise known as The Grand Mosque, and decided to go get a tour of the inside.  Mosques are considered Muslim's churches where they go and pray 5 times a day.  This is the largest one in the city and has beautiful architectural sights!  We didn't make it here until mid afternoon, and we showed up as they were "closing" their tours, however, they allowed us 5 minutes to walk inside. Upon entering the building, we were required to remove our shoes, I had to put my abaya on AND cover my head (that was a first for me).  We weren't allowed to push Gavin in the stroller since the wheels of his stroller had not been cleaned properly so Brooks had to carry him.  Being inside the mosque, seeing parts of their rituals- the floor was all carpet, rugs were stacked up, Quran's were lined up against the wall and posters were displayed giving instructions on how to enter the prayer room, requirements before praying (you have to wash your body), and then how to pray along with the positions to be in during the prayer.   My heart just hurt.  I'm just grateful to serve a God who died for me, and my sins, and I am promised eternal life with HIM, because of what HE did on that cross.  I appreciate the love, hope, mercy, and grace that I'm given daily from HIM and I don't take that for granted.  I will say, I'm glad we went and saw the building... it's something we've never seen and now can say we experienced.   The grand room was beautiful.  It had a LARGE chandelier, I forgot where it was from, and there were arches, and stained glass windows, and more that really made the room look appealing.  We were allowed to take pictures inside since there were no lectures going on and the janitors were in there cleaning.  When we left, we were given some books on Islam, Muslim life, and how to more.  One of the titles was, Finding Jesus brought me to Islam-- hmmmm......

Bahrain is really a beautiful country and has some unique buildings.  Here were some neat places we saw while driving through the city.

During the day, we visited Gold City, just a building with tons of jewelry shops, knick knack stores, and more.  We went to one of the largest malls, called City Centre where we saw an indoor water park and regular/normal stores!  We (or I should say I) ate Cold Stone Ice Cream, we picked up Great American Cookie Company cookies (to take home), bought flavored coffee. and did a little shopping for our house.  Brooks found a speciality store for dates (his new favorite snack) so he picked up a few for him.  The store would be like a Godiva store for chocolates, but for dates.  Brooks and I want to bring Gavin back to the indoor water park before baby #2 gets here.  We think Gavin would love it!!  There was also a movie theater in the mall, something else Bahrain has that Saudi doesn't.  Our day was filled with too many things to do so we didn't go to a movie, but it's nice to know that's always an option. 

After the mall, we went to a different area and did some street shopping.  Our "street" shopping consisted of shopping from one side store to another.  We went to a DVD store, where I bought the movie Eclipse from a back room for $2.00, then we had our first experience rug shopping.  Rugs are HUGE over here and there are a lot of them all over.  I of course fell in love with a few and the one WE really liked, as the worker was pulling it out for us, he said, "Mam', you have really good taste!"  That can only mean one thing-- expensive... and yes, it was.  However, Brooks and I are still contemplating the rug, we loved it that much, and we just might have to make a trip back to Bahrain to get it!  After our shopping trip, we went to a local Indian restaurant-- Brooks was in love!!  He has wanted Indian food for weeks and was so excited to finally get some!  We enjoyed our nice dinner before heading back to Saudi.  

We can't wait to go back to Bahrain some time soon.  There are lot of other places we want to go to and places we want to see.  You just can't do it all in one trip.  

Sea Shipment

Our sea shipment arrived Tuesday and we were so excited to get that call.  We've been waiting patiently for it to get through customs and for the port to reopen after Eid.  Brooks came home from work that morning to be here to receive the shipment.  We watched anxiously for the trucks to arrive and when they did, we were all a little giddy.  I decided to start telling Gavin that all of his toys were coming and he was excited, however, I'm not sure he realized what was about to take place.  

As soon as the trucks arrived, the workers got busy unloading.  They would bring in boxes, which were all labeled from when they got packed at our house, so we told them what rooms to take the boxes into in our new home.  After 2 hours, and a few breaks, the workers had unloaded both trucks.  Our villa was filled with boxes in every room.  

The very first "box" they unloaded just so happened to be Gavin's toy car.  I ripped open the packaging around it and let him run around playing with it the whole time the workers were here.  He was so excited to have his car back!  It definitely kept him entertained throughout the day.

As boxes were brought in, I noticed this one particularly.  I guess the writing on the side didn't mean anything.  I was a little upset though once I realized it was all my dishes-- they all got here in one piece though.  I forgot to take pictures of the rooms filled with boxes, but trust me there was a lot!  We decided to have the workers unpack all the boxes too while they were here.  We figured it would be very difficult for me to unpack, unload, and set everything up alone and I was very glad that we made this decision.  The workers took one room at a time and we all unloaded the boxes and placed the contents out on cabinets or tables or on the floor, stacked nice and neatly.  This really has helped in getting things put away faster.  The workers took all the boxes and wrapping tissue that was inside them with them so we weren't left with any of the mess.  

Once the workers finished everything and left, Brooks and I took a nap on OUR mattress, which we desperately missed.  Needless to say, we slept GREAT!!  After napping, we got busy working around the house.  Brooks went to basketball (it's a set event every Tuesday night here) so I got busy to work on our kitchen.  My goal was to have the kitchen put together, everything in its place, and organized by Wednesday morning, which I'm happy to say I was able to accomplish!!  But, I didn't work on the kitchen until I got some of Gavin's stuff out and usable for him to play with.  As you can see in this picture, he was in HEAVEN!!  Normally, we have a rule, he can only take out 2 bins at a time, but I wasn't about to put that restriction on him though.  He went to town playing with his toys as if he had never played with them before.  I can honestly say that he didn't get in trouble once Wednesday, all day, since he was so preoccupied!  Plus, it allowed me to get a lot of stuff done!  

I forgot to take pictures of all the rooms once they had been unpacked with all the stuff sitting out, but here is our kitchen table with just a few things laying around on it.  I will post pictures as soon as we get the house put together and everything is in its place.  We need a few storage pieces that we're on the look out for that will help us in putting away all the stuff we bought back home in the states as well as all the cabinets are deep and tall, but they don't have any shelving in them.  I also have to call one of the compound workers to come and hang all of our pictures-- the walls here are made of concrete so it requires special tools and drill bits to hang nails.

Gavin was a huge help the entire day the workers were here.  He did really good hanging out and enjoyed all the people in our house.  

More posts to come soon.... our trip to Bahrain yesterday, revealing this baby's name, pictures of the house finished, AND my next doctors appointment is Wednesday- we're going to tour the hospital as well.