June Staycation

As I've mentioned before, I have some maternity leave that I need to use up before Baby L's first birthday, so I took a week off in June to just stay at home and hang out with her (which is exactly what the extra leave is for!  Mommy-baby bonding!) I contemplated a little trip locally to Oman or even just to Ajman, but decided with our little family still getting back into a routine from our trip to Houston, it would be better to just stay home.

We installed padded flooring and babyproofed in Baby L's nursery so she could have a bigger space to play than just our living room rug. She absolutely loves it!

Mommy, I'm trying to sneak out!

This was a relief for the grown-ups too, when she's in the nursery, we don't have to worry about her chasing daddy's electronics and the padding is a lot easier on adult knees for crawling around. Win-win-win for all of us!

We also celebrated Baby L's 10-month birthday. She will no longer let me pose her for pictures with sweets, so we let her hold one of her favorites, a carrot (second only to the delicious avocado from her 9-month photos.)

After our return from Houston, Baby L has also (finally) gotten into a pretty consistent 2-nap-per-day routine. This meant I was able to work on some sewing projects. I found a hole in the seat and foot seams of one of Baby L's almost-new pajamas, so rather than tossing it, I cut it up and sewed a little cap for her. I'm not used to sewing with stretchy knits so it's pretty lopsided and crooked, and made with love. I also made Baby L a "bapron" since she likes to rip her bibs off and throw them on the ground. The bapron has arm holes and ties in the back so she can't rip it off and she can't choke herself with it.

I modified the pattern in this free tutorial to include a pocket

My baby girl looks like an adorable little boy with her cap! Made from this tutorial here.

I finished a project of fabric letters that I started while I was pregnant. She mostly just likes to throw the letters around, which is fine - we're happy to get her familiar with letters early!

Yay! Letters!

The final sewing project finish for the week is a new ironing board cover. I accidentally burnt a hole in the cheap synthetic one that came with the ironing board, so I quickly sewed up a new one with some extra fabric I had in my sewing crates. I wish I'd taken a picture of the cover before we threw it away!

I bought a mystery fabric bundle from Craftsy which included this weird crow fabric...but it makes a great ironing board cover!

A lucky thing for me staying home this particular week was that Baby L started walking. It started with toddling little steps between Miss J and myself, and by the time I returned to work on Sunday, she was taking little steps and standing on her own.

Baby crash helmet to protect her head from the super hard tile floors in our apartment

We wrapped up super fun week at home with some visitors from Houston. My first friend in Houston came to visit her daughter, who works for the US Consulate in Dubai. We invited Johnnie, her daughter, and both their husbands over to enjoy a delicious Filipino meal of pancit and lumpia cooked by Miss J. It's always good to see Johnnie, and great to make new friends in Dubai as well! Of course, as usual, I forgot to take pictures. :-( It just means we had such a great time that we couldn't be bothered with silly things like phone cameras!!

Early Adventures of Baby L: First trip to USA!!! (specifically, Texas)

It's been over a month since our last blog post because it's been a little crazy on our end!  At the end of May, Baby L took her first trip to the USA!  We were originally planning to only take one trip to the USA in 2018 - a trip to Boston for her one-year birthday (we're still planning that). Fortunately, with the new maternity leave policy that my company started last year, I had some extra time off that I needed to use. G's family was thrilled that we decided to go back to Houston!

The hardest part (or so we thought) of going back to Houston is obviously the flight. We learned from our trip to Vietnam that Baby L is not a fabulous flier. We lucked out on our way from Dubai to Houston, one of the Emirates Airlines flight attendants really took to Baby L, and totally spoiled her with lots of attention and a few trips around the plane (Baby L even got a little trip to business class so I could have a quick break!) We also had a plane that wasn't full, so G moved to the exit row and Baby L and I had 2 seats to spread out - it definitely made things easier.

Baby L and her new friend! 

16 hours of peekabo later (ok, not really...only 10 hours of peekabo since she did sleep a little bit!)  we made it! The actual hardest part about going back to Houston is baby jet-lag. Baby L would go to bed at her normal time around 7pm-8pm when the sun set, and then would wake up at midnight ready to play.  G and I probably would have been over jet lag much faster had we not had a little munchkin waking us up in the middle of the night! Fortunately, my parents decided to visit us for a few days as well, and my step-mom played with Baby L in the middle of the night and helped her (and us) through the worst of the jet lag.

Baby L in the onesie that Ong Ngoai and Ba Ngoai bought her on their honeymoon

It was honestly fantastic to have both our families together for a weekend in Baytown, especially for Baby L - she had an endless supply of attention, and G and I had a nice break to relax and catch up with our loved ones. We were sad to see my parents leave (and they were sad to leave Baby L!) but we will see them again this fall. Plus Baby L had other adventures ahead of her!

After the ocean disaster in Fujairah, we decided to try again in Galveston. We stayed at a rental beach house with G's parents for a few days in the middle of the week, before the big Memorial Day crowds came.  We're so glad we tried again, because Baby L LOVED the ocean! I tried to be a little conservative with her, playing with her in the wet part of the beach where the waves couldn't quite reach us. She kept pulling me towards the water, so I finally let her head towards the waves and she kicked them and splashed them with her feet, smiling and laughing the whole time.

Baby L, in her cute beachy sundress from Granny

We sat down so her arms would be free to splash the waves

After beach time, we celebrated Baby L's 9-month birthday! No sweet treats in the photo as now Baby L likes to grab things and put them in her mouth. Instead, she gave us this goofy smile!

I'm a 9-month old stinker!

Mommy, when can I have cake?!?

After our trip to Galveston, we spent Memorial day weekend at our house in Houston. It was great to catch up with friends and neighbors over the weekend! We're sorry we didn't catch everyone, and for everyone who did come out to see us, we're so thankful you did! Before heading back to Granny and Granddad's home in Baytown, we had lunch with Granny's side of the family at Lupe Tortilla (one of my favorites!) Yum!!! Baby L was the star of the show and was a doll all through lunch.

Baby L meets her great aunties and great uncles on G's side of the family!

We spent the last few days of our trip back with Granny and Granddad where Baby L had lots of carpeted space to crawl around. We looked at G's old baby photos and baby clothes, did some shopping for clothes and toiletries that are hard to come by in Dubai, and enjoyed the last few days of our time in Texas.

Baby elf! Baby L wearing one of G's old baby hats

We were sad to leave Texas, we really miss living in Houston! Until next time!

This Mountain Buggy bagrider is AWESOME - the suitcase is just so-so, but Baby L LOVED the stroller! Now she's really truly a jet-setter!

Pumping Mommy: Basra Edition

I work in oil and gas - I try to avoid posting who my employer is on FB and IG for privacy reasons. My close friends all know who I work for, and anyone who wants to snoop can figure it out via LinkedIn. Anyway - my work assignment in Dubai is supporting projects in Iraq. When I took the assignment, I knew it included travel to Basra on an "as-needed" basis - to develop relationships with Iraqis that I work with, see the construction site, and backfill for my supervisor; maybe a once or twice per-quarter sort of thing. We found out we were pregnant two weeks after I accepted, and when I disclosed my pregnancy to my supervisor, he and the occupational health team decided to cancel my travel and keep me fully in Dubai.

Now that Baby L is a little older, we've established a great relationship with Miss J, and I've read dozens of articles on pumping while travelling, I felt ready to travel. I will note a list of the most helpful resources at the end of the post.

Travel in and around Basra requires quite a bit of security - so pumping on the go is not an option!

Questions that I needed answered before going!

1. Where can I store my milk while in Basra?
2. Where do I pump at the office in Basra?
3. What do I need to bring my milk home?
4. What is the itinerary for travelling in and out of country, and where are the best places to pump?

1 through 3 were pretty easy. My room at the camp had a ~4 cu. ft fridge with one of those little built-in freezer compartments, so I was able to store milk there. I laid the milk bags flat against the metal since that is the actual freezing element, and then once frozen I stored them vertically for more space.

All those happy little milk bags standing upright, and one little milk bag in front on its way to frozen happiness. Plus a chocolate bar for mommy. Because in Basra, mommy NEEDS chocolate!

The fridge also made a really great cleaning station for all my pump parts. Iraq is a dry country, so we are instructed not to carry in any alcohol products - and this includes hand sanitizers or alcohol wipes. Medela makes alcohol-free disinfecting wipes, which is perfect since I didn't want to wash my pump parts in the local water and I didn't have a microwave or electric kettle to heat up bottled water.

My tidy little pump parts cleaning station. Sometimes I wondered what the all-male housekeeping staff thought of me!

At the office, I found the ladies prayer room, and did my business there. It was private, much nicer than using the toilet area, and the ladies there were excited to see photos of my daughter. I think pumping is not a "thing" in Iraq, so they all thought I was little strange, but they seemed pretty accepting of what I was trying to accomplish.

At camp was easy. I just pumped in my room. Done.

If I were living in and taking a business trip in North America, I would have used a shipping service like Milk Stork to get my milk home, but that's a bit harder when crossing international lines, especially in the Middle East - so I was going to have to carry it in my checked luggage. To bring my milk home, I purchased a Pack-It lunchbox which is lined with freezable gel, and cooler-shock freezer packs.  I didn't know for sure that the refrigerator in my room actually worked, so I had planned to ask the camp boss to use the main kitchen freezer. I had fully prepared myself to have the awkward conversation about what was actually IN the lunchbox. Fortunately, since the mini freezer worked, I just sent my empty lunchbox and cooler packs to the kitchen freezer. Again, the all-male staff looked at me like I was strange, but didn't ask any questions.

Pack-It Brand lunch box and Cooler Shock Ice Pack

I also used zip-top bags instead of my normal Kiinde bags. The Kiinde bags are great, but they take up more room because of the twist cap. Since I was already lugging around my pump and all these cooler packs, I wanted to try to use as little space as possible, so the more traditional zip-top bag was the better option. They also allowed the milk to freezer faster since they lay flat and have more contact area with the freezer. I used Lanisoh because they were the cheapest in UAE, but Medela or any other zip-top brand would have been fine. My 16 bags of milk BARELY fit into the cooler with 2 icepacks, so I may need to come up with a different plan in the future if I'll be gone for more than 3 nights. Or maybe the extra frozen milk will keep everything cold enough that I can get away with just 1 ice pack. We'll see!

I brought 3 cooler packs with me, for a 3-night stay I only needed 2. For a 4-night stay, I'd probably only need 1.

The last question was the hardest. When can I pump while in transit? On the way in to Basra, the itinerary looks like this (note BAS is 1 hour behind UAE)

0545 UAE - arrive at airport

0715 UAE - board plane

0755 UAE - depart Dubai, 2 hour flight

0900 BAS - land, go to immigration for visa

1030 BAS - depart airport

1200 BAS - arrive at office

So the two primary places to pump were either at the airport or on the plane. Since I nursed Baby L just before leaving, I opted to pump on the plane. I dumped the 6 ounces that I pumped on the airplane so I wouldn't have any issues at the security checkpoints at the airport - in retrospect, I probably could have kept it.

On the way back to UAE, it was a little trickier, and the airplane was still the best option. There is a ladies prayer room at the airport, however there was no guarantee that there will be time to use it - between the office and the airport, we have to change vehicles once, and then we have 2 checkpoints that involve getting out of the vehicle, putting your bags through an x-ray, and getting patted down (for me in a private ladies area). Once at the airport, there are 2 more security checkpoints, one before and one after flight check-in. I knew once I landed in Dubai, I wouldn't want to stop and pump, I'd just wanted to get home, so I planned to pump on the plane.

1330 BAS - leave office for airport

1430 BAS - arrive airport

1545 BAS - board plane

1625 BAS - depart Basra, 2 hour flight

1915 UAE - arrive Dubai, go through immigration & customs

2030 UAE - arrive home

I had a little complication with my passport on the day we left - obtaining my exit visa took longer than expected, so I didn't get my passport back until 14:00, so the main transport group left without me so the other 10 people on the flight wouldn't be delayed because of me. Our logistics team arranged a private transport for me, but I still had to do all the security checkpoints. Plus I had to explain what my pump was at every check point. It involved a lot of pictures of my baby, pointing at my boobs and saying "milk". As soon as the male security guards figured it out, they looked incredibly embarrassed and let me through! If I wasn't in such a rush, I would have been more entertained by the whole situation.  Either way, I was glad I planned to pump on the plane.

Airplane pumping is definitely not glamorous. For such a short flight, as soon as the seatbelt sign is off, I run to the lavatory and set the pump on top of the toilet seat, and stand facing the pump (and the toilet) while I let the pump run. It only takes me about 15 minutes total, including setup and breakdown, but on an airplane, it's a long time to be in the lavatory! Plus, if it's a little bumpy, I basically get jostled around the grossest part of the plane. Baby L is old enough that I didn't worry to much about the germs, but it still grosses me out a little.

I also couldn't keep a very regimented schedule while away - I pumped when I could slip away from meetings or when I was very full and couldn't wait anymore. I'm very fortunate in that I have a pretty high storage capacity, so as long as I pumped until I was empty, I didn't see much drop in production - I brought home almost as much as Baby L consumed while I was away. The downside of my awesome milk production is that I had to wake up in the middle of the night to pump because I was super engorged and couldn't get back to sleep - so my hopes for full nights of rest while away were somewhat dashed.

Was it worth the extra bag for my pump, plus increasing my luggage requirements by 30% and all the extra anxiety? Not sure - if I didn't know that she hated formula so much, I probably would have just pumped and dumped. It would have saved a lot of hassle, as well as reduced my luggage by one bag. Either way, I'm glad that I did it, and similar to the author of my favorite book on this subject, I'll never question my ability to provide for my child!

Resources!

• Work. Pump. Repeat. by Jessica Shortall - a great book for working, pumping moms. It made me laugh and cry as I read it before going back to work. I went back to this book for tips just before I made the trip to Basra.
• Pumping on a Business Trip - from Moms in Tech Blog
• Shipping & Travelling with Milk - from Breastfeeding in Combat Boots Blog - the guide for packaging frozen breastmilk was my backup plan if my special lunch box and cooler packs hadn't arrived in time. Still a great resource.
• Milk Stork - for pumping moms in North America, this looks like an AWESOME SERVICE - unfortunately, they don't ship to Iraq 😀. I signed up for a beta to have them ship me a storage kit in Dubai, but haven't heard anything from them yet.
• Ladies I work with - I asked lots of questions of other women who travelled in an out of Basra for my company. They gave me tons of suggestions and advice for which I am so grateful!
• My supervisor. He was very supportive, he made what I thought would be very awkward conversations totally NOT awkward, and he let me expense my special lunch box and cooler packs (because I wouldn't have needed them if I wasn't travelling!!!). 

Early Adventures of Baby L: Northern Fujairah

Spring break in UAE is usually 2 weeks long so that all expat kiddos can go on a reasonably family holiday. I am usually the primary backfill for 2 of the managers on my project, and I had the joy of being on seat for both of them during spring break! After 2 weeks of wearing 3 hats, I needed a little break, so I took a week off - I also needed to use up some of the extra parental leave that is part of our new company policy, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity!

G and I completed our PADI Scuba Diver certification during our honeymoon, so since I was in the diving mojo from Danielle's visit, I decided this was the perfect opportunity to take the next step and finish our Open Water Diver certification. We're still pretty much "blue waters" divers, and won't go anywhere without an accompanying guide, but this allows us to do some interesting dives in Dubai, such as the tank dive at Dubai Mall and Diving with the Dolphins at Atlantis. We're here, so we should take advantage! The diving school we chose does their final open water dives in Fujairah, so we made a little vacation of it, and decided to stay 2 nights.

Baby L all dressed up for her trip to Fujairah!

On the way to Fujairah, we actually drove through 3 Emirates that we'd never been to - Sharjah, Um al-Quwain, and Ras al-Khaimah. Including Fujairah, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi, that means we've now been in 6 of the 7 Emirates! If we'd only known, we could have changed our route slightly to include Ajman...so now we have to find a reason to go there. Apparently they have nice beaches, so maybe another beachy weekend?

Mountains of northern Ras al-Khaimah (or RAK)

Desert (and camel) of Sharjah

We stayed at the Le Meridien al Aqah, which was beautiful. It was the first time seeing the Indian Ocean for all of us, and the sea creatures we saw as G and I finished our dive certification were pretty incredible! Unfortunately, we didn't have an underwater camera with us, so we'll just share a view of our resort instead.

Views from our balcony!

During our time on the boat, Baby L and Miss J explored the resort, and found a rockin' pair of baby sunglasses. Baby L is now ready for her Hollywood close up!

Baby L: Total diva!

For our second night, Miss J offered to have Baby L stay with her overnight, so G and I could enjoy a late dinner and some rest. I figured at 7.5 months, I was finally ready for a night away from my baby girl. I had a little cry, and then G and I were exhausted from our day of diving so we skipped dinner and went to bed around 8pm -- just like all those memes about parents night without the kids!

This was totally us.

After my first full night's sleep in...well, 7.5 months, the next morning I felt amazing! And I missed my baby, so of course I rushed over to Miss J's room next door for some cuddles. After breakfast, we took Baby L down to the beach to introduce her to the ocean. She loved the sand, and was marching right along toward the water...until a big wave washed over her little legs, and then she was inconsolable. My poor sweet baby was traumatized, and I felt terrible!!! We tried washing all the sand off and easing her into the kiddie pool after that, and she still just hated it. She clung to me with all her might, and would not let go. Miss J tried splashing the water to make bubbles like bathtime, G tried singing and dancing, and it was all in  vain. The three of us eventually gave up. We took Baby L back to Miss J's room, and she napped while the 3 of us took our time to shower and pack up to go home.

Swim lessons start again this Saturday, we're hoping she's not totally miserable in the water!

Dubai Visitors! Danielle & Jonny

Words cannot express how excited I was for Danielle & Jonny to come visit us! They were originally planning to come in November, but with the move from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and my transition back to work, we decided to push the trip to Jonny's spring break. I was so bummed when we made that decision, I really miss my sister! In the last few years, I had gotten used to seeing her every few months, so going nearly a year without, I felt like we so much to catch up on!!!

So happy to see my sister!!!

Danielle arrived a day ahead of Jonny since he was on Spring Break with his classmates in South Africa. Since she just finished her dive certification in Boston (in Boston Harbor. In November. I love my sister, and I think she's a little bit crazy!) we decided to do a pair of tank dives at Atlantis - one during the daytime, and one at night.  We had so much fun! I'd never been tank diving before, so the first dive was good for getting used such a high density of underwater animals. The second dive was awesome because we got to feed the rays underwater.

The dive team gave us these ridiculous bunny ears to wear for Easter - it was hilarious!

The sting rays got pretty up-close and personal!!!

We took it easy the day Jonny arrived so the both of them could recover from the their travels. That evening, Baby L stayed with Miss J and the four of us checked out Dubai Mall and Level 43 Lounge. Jonny took some nice photos of Sheik Zayed Road, the main highway through Dubai.

Standing among giants #dubai #cityscape #sheikhzayedroad #goldenhour #level43dubai #level43skylounge #springbreak #visitdubai #architecture #artofvisuals

A post shared by Jonny San (@thejonnysan) on Mar 30, 2018 at 10:52am PDT

The following morning, we woke up super early (pickup time of 4:15am!) for a hot air balloon ride over the desert. This was extra fun because G plays basketball regularly with the pilot of our balloon! After our balloon ride, we had a quick breakfast in a bedoin-style camp, and then a ride around the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve in an old land rover (similar to the desert ride that we did with Ben & Sarah).

G's friend, Richard, preparing our balloon

Check out that desert crew!

We came home and napped, played with Baby L, then we were off again for a chartered yacht cruise around the Dubai Marina and the Palm. The first hour of the cruise was super fun - we met up with a Dubai Expat group and went swimming in the Arabian Gulf. The water was warm and very, very salty - I'm pretty sure I couldn't have sunk if I'd wanted. I don't recall treading water ever being so effortless in my entire life! The second half of the cruise was not so great - Danielle and I have both inherited seasickness from our parents, and the waters were super choppy that day. We both managed to survive the rest of the cruise without losing our lunch.

Auntie cuddles with Baby L!

Baby L wants to come on the yacht cruise with us. Sorry Baby, grown-ups only!

Sunday we celebrated Baby L's first Easter! First, we dressed her up in a beautiful outfit, courtesy of Miss J - everything from the dress all the way down to the shoes! We put on some of the jewelry that she received from her baptism, and she was ready for church. As usual, she was a doll during mass, making friends with all of our nearby neighbors until she fell asleep in my lap.

Thank you Miss J for my lovely Easter Dress!

After church, we dressed her up in an adorable bunny rabbit costume that Danielle bought for her. A pair of fortune cookie slippers and a carrot teether completed the outfit! She was so cute stomping around the house with her floppy ears and her new shoes. We kept wanting to pick her up and cuddle her cuteness, but she just wanted us to set her down so she could walk around!!

Full bunny effect

Stomping bunny tries to eat her chocolate egg

Our last group outing was to afternoon tea at the iconic Burj Al Arab. The atrium was lovely with a live ensemble. The tea and sweets were pretty yummy too!

Vertical panoramic shot of the atrium - courtesy of Jonny. I was too lazy to crop out his finger from the top.

And just like that, our whirlwind visit with my jet-setting sister and brother-in-law was over. They had early flights back home on Monday morning, and we were so sad to see them go. We are excited to see them again for Baby L's first birthday in a few months!

Early Adventures of Baby L - Swimming Lessons

I took a little break from blogging for my 40 Days of Gratitude, and now I'm back with an update from us!  First, Happy 7-month Birthday Baby L!  She can sit up on her own, and she's starting to push up onto her hands and knees. She can't quite crawl yet, rather she does this weird thing where she pushes herself backwards with her hands.  G and I are so not ready for a mobile baby, so we're extra thankful Miss J lives with us full time and can chase Baby L around! She also cut her first tooth, poor thing! It's not visible yet, I can feel the little pokey ridges when I run my finger along her gums.

Baby L loves her balloons!

In the last 40 days, we've had 3 visitors - my friend Jon from Michigan (whose mom was close friends with my mom), and G's Aunt Robyn and Uncle Roland. We were thrilled to show off our home and of course for all of them to meet the ever-social Baby L.

My friend Jon from Michigan - we forgot to take a photo with Aunt Robyn and Uncle Roland!

We've also started swimming lessons for Baby L. G and I wanted to make sure that she gets comfortable in the water early, so we enrolled her in a class near our home. The pool is heated, but Dubai is still a little chilly at 8am - so she, of course, hates swimming class. There are always lots of tears for her, and we usually take her out of the pool early. As the water warms up, we are hoping she'll enjoy swim class more, especially since bathtime is one of her favorite times of day.

Daddy, I'm not so sure about this water!!!

We also introduced Baby L to solid foods. We started with an Asian vegetable called bitter melon. Of course, she hated this. The good news is that after bitter melon, everything tastes good! So onward to peas, sweet potato, carrots, and cauliflower - carrots are definitely her favorite. We've also introduced her to prunes to help keep her regular! She doesn't love the prunes, but she seems to manage eating them ok.

We can't believe how quickly she's growing, and we love watching her little personality develop. She has a very happy disposition, and she can say say a few words - she says "ummm" when she's hungry, "mamamamama", "dadadada", "nananananan" (for her nanny, Miss J), and an assortment of grunts and squeals. Stay tuned for photos from an Easter weekend visit from my sister and her husband, Baby L was super fascinated by her  auntie and uncle!

Happy Half Birthday to Baby L!

Our baby girl turned 6 months old today! These are just a few of the things are little peanut can do:

• Roll back to front and front to back (she sometimes gets stuck on her arm when rolling front to back)
• Push her chest off the ground
• Sit in the corner of the sofa or in a supportive chair
• Reach to grab things with her whole body
• Tell us when she's hungry (she cries "ummmm! ummm!)
• Smile and laugh when she thinks something is funny
• Babble on and on and on and on...

I hear people say they see the face of God in their children...and I couldn't help but laugh at this one when we did her 6-month photos in various places around the house today!

Creation of...apple tart?

Our mostly cheerful baby!

We love watching her develop new facial expressions that almost always end in a big toothless smile. Next adventure for Baby L is SOLID FOOD!!!