Dubai Visitors and Early Adventures of Baby L: Muscat, Oman!

We had planned to go to Oman back in November, but due to some visa issues, we had to cancel the trip at the last minute.  So on the second attempt at Oman, I took Miss J to the Omani Consulate here in Dubai, we got her a visa stamp in her passport, and we were good to go!

But before we left, we learned that my sister's husband's parents were taking a little vacation tour to Dubai - so of course we had to go see them!  They spend most of the year in Hong Kong, so we hadn't seen them since Danielle and Jonny's wedding in 2015. We found out they were staying a night at Atlantis as part of their tour, and Baby L LOVES fish, so we met at the Lost Chambers Aquarium.  Incidentally, this is also the same aquarium that Danielle and I did our tank dives last year!  Baby L was a little doll, walking around saying "Fish! Fish!", and it was nice to see Jonny's parents, even if only for an hour or so.

Baby L, a very pregnant mommy, Mimi, and Richard

Baby L loves her some fish!

Baby L didn't really want to be held, because walking up to the glass is way more fun

We left the next day (Baby L's 18-month birthday!) for Oman.  Having Miss J with us while travelling made managing Baby L so much easier.  I know, I know, tons of parents travel with their kiddos without a nanny...and yet having her best friend along for the flight was definitely great for Baby L.  Plus, it's means that G and I get to take a real vacation, and Miss J gets to go somewhere she wouldn't otherwise be able to go...so win win win all around.

We chose to fly instead of drive since Baby L and cars have about a 90-minute maximum, and the flight there was a little rough. We've gotten a ton of use out of our mountain buggy bagrider suitcase - we purchased it for full price on Amazon.com, and I am not receiving any bonuses for stating that I love the product!

Jet Set Baby!

When we arrived in Oman, we were able to skip the visa collection line since I'd gotten everyone's visas in advance.  This was a huge time saver.  We breezed through immigration and met our meet & greet outside customs to be whisked off to the Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa.  It's about a 45 minute drive from the airport, and it's nestled between the coast and the mountains just outside Muscat. The resort has 3 different hotels, Al Husn for adults only (mental note for future trips!), Al Bandar for the more business-focused traveller, and Al Waha for families.  We had a "family" room, which was basically 2 rooms connected by a very narrow entryway.  The rooms were a bit dated, but having the adjoining rooms was nice because we could close the entry to the hallway, and Baby L could wander between the 2 rooms like she owned the place.

Baby L and Miss J spent time exploring the resort while G and I took long naps, went to the spa, had nice evening dinners, and generally relaxed for our last getaway before Baby #2 graces us with her presence.

Babymooners!

I would give the Shangri-La a 3 out of 5 stars - the resort itself was beautiful, and amenities like pool and spa were great.  The rooms were pretty dated and looked fairly run down, which is unlike any Shangri-La I'd been to previously, and the room service menu was pretty limited (seriously, what kind of family-focused hotel doesn't have PIZZA on the room service menu??).  The Shangri-La also didn't have an Asian restaurant on site, which was surprising since the Shangri-La chain is based in Hong Kong and started in Singapore.

Baby L making friends at the pool

Baby L VERY interested in the horsey horsey, but afraid to pet it!

We spent 3 glorious nights at the resort, and while we didn't see much of Muscat other than the mountains, we had a blast.  I think Baby L's favorite thing was running up and down the long hallways of the hotel. Since it was carpeted and "family friendly", we pretty much just stood at either end of the hall and let her run free!

The flight home was much better as we flew Emirates instead of FlyDubai and we were able to get the bulkhead seats with extra legroom.

Perks of travelling with a lap infant

The flight attendants on Emirates are usually super baby friendly and this trip was no exception. Fortunately for us, Baby L was sooooo exhausted from her adventuring that she passed out about halfway through the 1-hour flight.

Sweet snuggly baby!

The next time Baby L gets on a plane, it will be as a big sister!!!  Only 2 months left until Baby #2 joins us, and we can't wait to meet her!

Project Finishes!

After the nausea and exhaustion finally subsided, I found I had some time to start sewing again.  And let me tell you, I've been busy with lots of small projects!  I started small with some little bean bags for G to juggle for Baby L, in addition to dropping off a baby quilt top I finished over the summer to the local quilt shop for quilting.

I also sewed myself a bolster pillow to help me sleep on my side during the later stages of pregnancy - I had a lovely bolster pillow when we lived in Abu Dhabi, but sadly the pillow belonged to the hotel and I haven't been able to find one like it since.  So I decided to make my own! Baby L actually loves my bolster pillow and often tries to steal it from me, so I've added to my list to make her one as well.

Bolster pillow made from an rolled up Ikea pillow, a cheap pillowcase, and some fabric scraps

After a week in the shop my baby quilt came back beautifully quilted in a simple meandering pattern.  It still hasn't made it to its final baby yet, so for now, a photo of the minky backing with the hand-sewn binding will have to do.  I tried bias-binding around rounded corners for the first time, and I loved how it turned out! I used an online tutorial for cutting a continuous strip of binding, and it really made the process not too unbearable.

Minky (fuzzy fabric) is horrible to work with, but the end product is so nice!

After finishing the baby quilt, I made several heating pads to give away as Christmas gifts.  The first one was a very simple flat heating pad went to a white elephant gift exchange - I was in a rush to make it, so I forgot to take a picture.  I used this tutorial on Sew4Home with some leftover fabric from a grill apron that I made for my dad years ago, and I added peppermint essential oil to the rice.

The next two were slightly different types of heating pads, and they went to Miss J and her daughter for Christmas.  The benefit of the neck wraps was that I was able to use up the last of the minky in my stash, and now it is thankfully gone forever.  I hope that I don't have the urge to buy more for a long time!

Rice-filled neck wrap, using this tutorial from Sew4home

The most recent project finish is this cute little bag that I use to hold Baby L's fabric letters.  We had be storing them in a box, but she tends to try to step on the box and then fall over, and we'd rather not have a rolled baby ankle on our hands.  With the bag, she gets really exciting to pick up the letters and put them in the bag so we can dump the letters on her head (it's raining alphabet!).  The tutorial from In Color Order was fast and easy, and if I hadn't been using some fussy satin for the lining, I probably could have finished the whole thing in less than 2 hours...and now that I have a basic pattern that I like, I can re-size to make a lovely gift bag for any oddly sized gifts!

Bag made from 1 fat quarter and some scrap satin, but the original pattern calls for 3 fat quarters

In addition to these fast finish projects, upcoming bigger projects will include a baptism blanket for Baby #2 (fabric already purchased for inclusion in the upcoming shipment!), a string of projects to use up the rest of my Christmas fabric stash, a bolster pillow for Baby L, and maybe a chair cover for the Ikea Poang Chair that we bought her.  The ivory fabric drives me nuts in its boring-ness!  Plus of course the occasional hemming of pajama pants or mending of torn seams for Baby L.

Unfortunately all of that is on HOLD right now while my machine is in the shop!!! My Brother Innovis F420 (insert marijuana joke here) has an automatic thread cutter, which I LOVE. Well, the bobbin thread started catching on the automatic thread cutter, so when I started taking apart my machine to clean out the bobbin area, I dropped a screw into the machine!  I couldn't believe my clumsiness, and I couldn't even see where the screw was to try to use one of G's magnetic screwdrivers to get it out.  So, sadly, I took my machine back to my local store to send it out for service.  Hopefully it will come back soon!

Etiquette Conundrum Take 2: Baby Registries

I still have the same etiquette conundrum for Baby #2 that I had for Baby #1, so I am literally just going to re-post the same thing....again.  We are still registered on Amazon, though mostly for consumables that we can't get in UAE (our favorite wipes Huggies Naturals, and Kiinde breastmilk storage pouches are must-haves for us!) We are still getting a baby shipment (explained in the linked post), and we are clearing our registry on March 15, 2019 so that it can all be packed up and sent to us April 1...and hopefully arrive in time for the baby!

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the love and support everyone at home has given us while we've been abroad!

Etiquette Conundrum: Showers & Registries

Baby L loves opening new boxes!!  Big THANK YOU from all of us.

Early Adventures of Baby L - Ông Ngoại & Ba Ngoại come to visit Dubai!

Right after New Year, Baby L had a huge treat of having one set of grandparents come to visit her in Dubai. We were a little worried that they wouldn't get to spend much time with her since it takes her some time to warm up to new people, but within 5 minutes of seeing them (and a little peekaboo!) Baby L and Ông Ba Ngoại were fast friends!!

Baby L has a new see-saw buddy for the park!

Baby L loved the extra attention

Since it was short trip for Ông Ba Ngoại (they arrived late on Friday night, and left late on Thursday night - so really, only 6 days with Baby L), we kept it pretty low key. We sent them on an evening desert safari through the same tour operator that we used when both my sister and G's sister came to visit last year. G and I did not go along on the desert tour since we just had our little babymoon in the desert, but it sounds like Ông Ba Ngoại had a great time!  I also booked a car for them to do some sightseeing in Abu Dhabi mid-week when I had to go to work for some meetings, and that also seemed to go well.  The rest of the time was pretty much either cooking or playing with Baby L - sorry, no pictures of the food!

They did bring me some yummy treats from the recent (disappointing) Peach Bowl, along with a bunch of gifts for Baby L and odds and ends that G and I had ordered from Amazon in advance of their arrival.

Cookies from home!

On their last day before the headed home, we took a big family trip to see the Burj Khalifa.  Baby L hadn't been in almost a year, so we thought it would be fun to take her back. She loved it!

She thought this pretend glass floor was the coolest thing ever - she kept chasing the birds

She also really liked this chair, and almost threw a huge temper tantrum when we tried to remove her

We think her favorite part was the wind at the top - she turned her face into the wind like a puppy sticking its head out the car window!

We were super sad to see Ông Ba Ngoại leave, but they already have plans to come back later this year to help out when Miss J takes her annual one-month holiday back to the Philippines.  By then, they'll have their hands full helping out G with 2 little ones!!

Merry (belated) Christmas and Happy New Year!

Baby L full of Christmas Cheer (and a snotty nose that you can't see)

Family Christmas Photo - in our matching PJs!

It was a pretty low-key holiday season in our home this year. Since G went back to the US to walk at his graduation from Lamar (congrats, babe!), he brought home the typical holiday travelers cold so we were all under the weather on Christmas Day. Incidentally, if you didn't get a Christmas card from us, and you would like one next year, please input your address into our address book, and we will get you one!  Plus, you will also get an announcement card when Baby #2 arrives.

We couldn't be with G on his big day, but we re-created the moment at home after everyone was healthy again!

We did get a chance to take our first grown-ups only weekend getaway to the desert. Miss J stayed with Baby L for 2 nights while we went to an all-inclusive desert resort for my birthday.  Al Maha Resort is part of the Marriott Luxury collection, and G and I had a blast. We rode a camel, held a falcon, got spa treatments, and generally relaxed baby-free for 2 days...pretty much a little babymoon before Baby #2 shows up in May!

We gave Miss J the evening off for New Year's Eve so she could visit her daughter in Abu Dhabi, and just relaxed at home. Neither of us were able to stay awake until the midnight fireworks, but they did wake up Baby L and me! We have a nice view of the fireworks from our apartment, so I took her to the window to see the sparkly lights. At first, she was scared, and held onto me super tight, but after a few moments, I kept saying "Happy New Year!  These are New Year Fireworks!" and when the show finished, she said in her cute little toddler voice, "Bye bye New Year!".

Our (growing) family is super excited for all the things that 2019 will bring, and we can't wait to share it with you on our blog!

Our (Almost) Trip to Oman and Some Other Exciting News!

Whew, it's been MONTHS since I last updated this blog, in large part due to some big changes for our family!  If you follow me on social media, you'll know that our family is expecting to grow from a family of 3 to a family of 4, effective early May!  Somehow, when I had Baby L and held her in my arms, I magically forgot how much I dislike pregnancy - the nausea, the all-day-sickness, and the general fatigue. I have been reminded of all those things again, and it's even worse because I have a toddler to chase after when I get home from work!

Hats off to all those moms out there with "2 under 2" because I have no idea how you do it alone. I'm so, so, so thankful for Miss J, Baby L's nanny, because she not only takes care of Baby L, she takes care of sick, pregnant mommy!

Baby #2!

Fortunately, at around 16 or 17 weeks, Baby #2 decided to do something different from Baby L, and the nausea, sickness and fatigue has started to subside. I actually made it a full day on the weekend without taking a nap when Baby L took a nap! And I've been able to eat meat during this pregnancy which has also been nice (still no onions).

We think Baby L is excited for Baby #2. She sits on my lap and rubs my belly saying "hi baby!", and she hugs my belly saying "I wub woo" (I love you). She then proceeds to rub her own belly saying "hi baby!" which is also hilarious.  We're trying to teach her to say "big sister", with some success!

Similar to the last time I was pregnant, my job also decided to grow simultaneously with my belly. When I was pregnant with Baby L, we had a reorganization where we merged 2 project management sections into 1, and while most people weren't impacted, my role was consolidated with someone else's role (so...my organization got a 2-for-1 deal out of me).  Almost the same thing has happened again, except this time we're not consolidating organizations. The other person in our group with my same job title is retiring, and so I've taken over his scope in addition to my own - and now I have 2 bosses, and 2 completely different portfolios. I'm hoping this consolidation is temporary because it's definitely been the source of some stressful days at work in the last few weeks!

In the midst of all this, we tried to take a little getaway vacation to Oman. Oman is nearby, flights are not expensive, and we thought it would be nice to check out somewhere new since all of our family trips with Miss J have been local to UAE. 

Baby L and Miss J walking around the airport while G and I were checking in our bags

Unfortunately, I thought I'd done my homework on Miss J's visa requirements - she should have been able to travel with us and obtain a visa on arrival to any GCC country, even on a Filipino passport, because I am her visa sponsor in UAE.  HOWEVER at the gate at the airport, we learned that she needed to have 90 days validity on her UAE visa, and since her visa was up for renewal in just over a month, Emirates Airlines would not let us board the plane.  Trust me when I say that you NEVER want to be turned away from an international flight at the gate, especially with checked bags.  Airports are not set up to handle this!  We had to go back through a special immigration counter to get our exit stamps cancelled, and then re-claim our luggage - in the time it took us to leave the airport in Dubai to go back home, we would have already been at our hotel in Oman sipping fruity mocktails by the pool.  We were all super duper bummed - the only upside was that I booked the trip on points, so it wasn't really "cash" out of pocket, but I did lose all the points, so that was also a bummer.  Depending on G's job situation, we'll probably make a second attempt at Oman in February when I can still fly without a doctor's note.

Until then...we're pretty much just hanging out in UAE!

Early Adventures of Baby L: Trip to East Coast USA!

For Baby L's first birthday, we had the pleasure of making a trip to visit my family on the East Coast. My sister lives with her husband in Boston and my father & step mom live in Connecticut, so we were able to enjoy some beautiful late-summer weather in New England. As an added bonus, G'd folks flew up from Houston to join us for Baby L's birthday party!

Family portraits for Baby L's birthday!

Baby L's birthday "party" was really a 4-day affair filled with balloons, presents, new clothes, cupcakes, ice cream, Dad's Vietnamese cooking, mooncakes, and Nintendo Switch.

Birthday girl!

Baby girl with her GDad

Birthday girl loves her new presents

Auntie came with us to introduce Baby L to mom for the first time

Baby L wishes that she could have a Nintendo Switch like daddy and uncle!

After the birthday festivities, we headed out for a road trip to Maine! We weren't sure how Baby L would do since historically, she is not a fan of long car rides and she did better than we thought (though not great). We ultimately wanted to go to Bar Harbor & Cadillac Mountain, but since it is 8 hours from Mystic, we broke it up into 4-hour driving days with overnight stops in Portland on the way there and Saco Bay on the way back.

Baby L LOVED the windy gusts at the top of Cadillac Mountain!

Playtime at the hotel in Saco Bay just before checkout

We ate tons of lobster while in Maine - and Baby L has definitely developed a taste for expensive seafood! After our the last night of our road trip in Saco Bay, Granny and Gdad headed back to Houston while we went back to Dad's house in Connecticut. We spent the last week of our trip hanging out at the house, doing some last minute USA shopping, and generally relaxing before going back to Dubai. We think Baby L has some sensitivity to disposable diapers (we primarily use cloth at home), and so we were also fighting a post-road trip diaper rash by letting her run around naked on the deck behind Dad's house.

This little wolverine was ready for the game! Until she fell asleep before kickoff - she didn't miss much in our season opening loss to Notre Dame.

My babies, sleeping in well past sunrise

One last trip to visit Mom

Baby's birthday balloon, still afloat 10 days later!

 And just like that, our East Coast vacation was over - it was time to pack up our boxes and bags for the long journey back to Dubai. Baby L was a champ on the flight - she slept for long stretches on the flight, and was (for the most part) not too cranky.  However, after the 3 long trips we took with her this year, we've decided that next year, we are going to limit flying to regional destinations and everyone else can come visit us!

Baby L just wants to push the buttons!