Merry Christmas!

It has certainly been a hectic few months since we arrived home!  Our sea shipment was delivered to our home on November 15, which worked perfectly with my work schedule. I had been planning to take 2 weeks off work to unpack leading up to Thanksgiving, so our stuff came  just in time!  But first, I need to back up to the girls' first Halloween in the USA. There was a lot of crying when I showed up for the storybook parade at school, mostly from L since she thought it was time to go home!

L REFUSED to wear the lion costume I bought her, so I dressed her up in a traditional Vietnamese Ao Dai.

Baby H is less-than-enthusiastic about her bunny rabbit costume.

Back to unpacking -- we unpacked our sea of boxes, and we were able to move in the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  The day before Thanksgiving, we picked up Baby H's plagiocephaly helmet.  Basically, H's head is flat on one side, and so this helmet will help correct the roundness  of her head.  It's critical to do it when babies are young because the bones in the skull are mostly fused together by the time babies are 24 months, and growth of the head slows down quite a bit.  Once the growth slows, corrective orthotics have much less impact.  Instructions were for Baby H to wear the helmet 3-4 hours at a time for the first few days, then 23 hours per day once she adjusted.  She actually isn't terribly bothered by the helmet - it's more of an inconvenience for me because nursing her is not as comfortable when she's wearing it.

Baby H at her helmet fitting - she's such a pro!

We spent the girls' first Thanksgiving with Granny and Granddad in Baytown, wearing the matching outfits that Granny bought for the girls.

Baby H and L playing around before heading to Baytown!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was the big Michigan-Ohio State game, and we hosted friends and family in our home for the first time since moving into our house. I was able to get a snapshot of Baby H in a wicker chair that had been G's when he was a baby in Singapore. L also had a few snapshots in the chair when she was the same age as Baby H, and here are the three of them together!

G on the left, Baby H upper right, and L in the lower right.

L is geared up and ready for some Michigan Football! Sadly, despite our enthusiasm, our boys in blue still lost.  There's always next year!

Of course, L was very curious about Baby H's helmet at first (and a little bit jealous), so we found her old soft helmet from when she was learning to walk.  She wore it for hours and hours over Thanksgiving weekend!  Now, she only wears it when we "play football" - this mostly entails G or me throwing the plushie football, and L runs to fetch it.  Yes, fetch it.  Just like a puppy.  We're still working on the catching part!

L in her best Heisman pose.

Amidst the chaos of moving, and much to G's displeasure, we had our family photos taken. I had some sticker shock when I started looking up local Houston photographers - most things in UAE are more expensive than in Houston, but photography is NOT one of them!  I think I was just very fortunate to befriend two very wonderful lifestyle photographers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and I have been spoiled by both of them.  Both of them take amazing photos, and both of them give the client the full gallery - no picking a set number of images for a price. I miss you tons, Lacey and Jo!

Sayonara complete galleries, that is not how the business works stateside!  At least, I haven't been able to find a photographer that operates that way yet. 

After much searching, I did find a lovely gentlemen whose prices I could stomach.  I understand that professional photography is an investment, and so I believe in paying a photographer a reasonable amount so that they can continue to take beautiful photos of my family and others. At the same time, some of the prices seemed outrageous. Aurélien was wonderfully patient with the girls, his photos came out beautifully, and while we still had to pick 20 images from the gallery, extra images weren't too expensive and he had a lot of nice little touches (like special editing for social media profile photos, and a mobile app of my gallery so I can easily bore my coworkers with more photos!)  The matching "Mommy and Me" dresses are courtesy of G's Aunt Robyn, purchased from Elestory. 

Family Christmas photos!

And that brings us up to this lovely Christmas holiday season. Despite my many objections, Granny still bought dresses for the girls for Christmas. We made it to a church service every Sunday during Advent (pretty amazing - 4 Sundays in a row is previously unheard of because the girls kept getting sick!) We're so happy to be able to spend our first Christmas with both our girls in our home in Houston, creating new traditions that will hopefully stay with us for years to come. As we wrap up 2019, we are so excited to see what 2020 brings for us!

Baby H in her dress from Granny with her helmet "dressed up" to match. L refused to pose with her baby sister.

We started a new tradition! Picking oranges from our orange tree on Christmas Eve. L is helping us gather them up for freshly squeezed OJ (and mimosas and screwdrivers for the grownups!)

Baby H in the same PJs that G wore when he was a baby.  L was too big for these when we got them (and she would have been too small her first Christmas anyway), but they fit Baby H pretty well!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Home, sweet Houston!

Blog posts will likely slow down after this - as we settle into our lives in Houston, G and I plan to take it easy as far as travel.  After the trip to Italy and subsequent repatriation travel, I promised G that we don't have to take a family airplane trip again until he tells me he's ready!

Our flight home was fairly uneventful. We said good-bye to Miss J and sent her in an Uber to Abu Dhabi the night before we flew home, and that was a really, really hard night for all of us.  We wanted to make sure that L saw Miss J leave so that she wouldn't be confused later.  There were, as expected, a LOT of tears.  After Miss J left, L surprised both G and I by asking me to do bathtime and bedtime routine with her (I hadn't done it since before Baby H was born), and I literally had to get into the bathtub with her to keep her from trying to climb out. She discovered the shiny mirror though, and by the end of bathtime, we had the opposite problem that she didn't want to get out.  Once we wrapped up our routine, L kept asking for Nana to take her to bed, and I, still crying, took L to bed and held her as she cried for Nana until she fell asleep.

Baby L discovered the "mirror" in the bathtub (the drain knob) and is enthralled by it!

The next morning went a lot better - we all woke up early, got dressed and met our Emirates Chauffeur-Drive service in the hotel lobby. WheI forgot how fast business-class check-in goes, and we were relaxing in the lounge 20 minutes after arriving at the airport.

L in her carseat with the GoGoBabyz Travelmate (which turns it into a stroller) and Baby H snuggled into the wrap

Daddy is a champ watching the 2 kiddos while Mommy gets some breakfast - except Daddy forgot L's yellow water bottle on the table when it was time to leave.  2 days of drama while we waited for its replacement to arrive!

 As I've mentioned before, my company pays for everyone to have their own business class seat, including the baby.  For L, we put her carseat onto her airplane seat, so really the business class seat was kind of wasted on her.  It saved us from checking her carseat, and the carseat doubled as a stroller to wheel her around. This was a lifesaver on Houston end of the journey because the walk from the airplane in Terminal D of Bush International to immigration in Terminal E is quite long! The carseat also kept her secured to the seat since G was in a different "pod" from her, so the 5-point harness was definitely a bonus.

L, all ready to fly in her carseat with her videos.

I ended up using Baby H's extra seat a TON.  The bathrooms were quite busy, so I laid her seat flat and did most of her diaper changes in the seat. I was also able to nurse her in the seat without feeling exposed, and it gave me a place to set her down while she napped without having to set up the bassinet. The flight staff was kind enough to hold my meals until she slept, which made eating during the flight much easier for me. Photos of our flight, in chronological order (notice how progressively tired we look after 16 hours!).

We made it to Houston, and we paid for porter service to help us with our luggage. He and the Emirates Chauffeur Driver were great! The van came with 2 carseats, just like we requested, though they weren't installed. I'm assuming due to liability, we had to install them ourselves (the driver was really helpful in instructing us). We arrived in Houston just in time for Tropical Storm Imelda, and some potential flooding, but hey, that's Houston!

Poor Baby H has a drool rash, but welcome to USA!

L and Ong Ngoai were fast friends - I was worried that she might be afraid of him because of how weird she was on Skype calls, but she remembered him right away!

L and Ong Ngoai playing like best friends

Our first month in Houston was just as chaotic as our last month in Dubai. We've purchased 2 cars, gotten the girls settled into a routine with daycare, and already been through two rounds of sickness in our home!  We're fortunate to be staying with my dad and step mom while we wait on our sea shipment.  G's sister and brother-in-law just purchased their first home, so G helped them move out of our home and has started "baby proofing" our home ahead of our furniture arrival. We've been able to say hello to tons of friends in Houston that we've missed over these last 3 years and we're looking forward to seeing many more over the coming weeks as we settle in!

One last thing to note, if you'd like to be added to our Christmas Card mailing list, please input your address into our Postable Address Book here.  Until next time!

Good-bye Dubai (And Abu Dhabi!)

The last month in UAE was a whirlwind for us.  We landed in Dubai after our Italian adventure on 11-Aug, and I returned to work the following Sunday.

Last set of photos from our dear friend, Jo!

We divided our packing into 3 phases - Phase 1 was things to go into our air shipment (50 cubic feet) that would (hopefully) arrive at my father's home in Spring before we got home.  Key thing in this shipment was the double stroller.  We also packed some dress clothes, shoes, and baby stuff that we either had multiples of, or we could live without for a month, to help make transitioning to Houston easier. We were fortunate enough that our friends were going on holiday the week that I returned to work, so we borrowed their nanny for the week so that G could finish the inventory for our move, and sort out what was going into this early shipment.  Phase 1 completed on August 25.

Miss J and Miss J, out with the kids!

Phase 2 was everything we needed for 10 days of interim living plus what we would take on the airplane.  Since my company pays for business class for ALL members of the family (including Baby H!) we were entitled to 8 pieces of luggage and a free baby item (carseat or stroller).  After the carseat, stroller, and pack'n' play, we were left with 6 suitcases and 6 boxes - I think we packed more stuff into Phase 2 than we did into Phase 1, amazingly enough!  We also ended up throwing away a lot of things that came to interim living with us - a lot of medicines that we didn't want to bring, or odds and ends that we ran out of room for.  Phase 2 completed on September 6.

Phase 3 was everything else.  The full sea shipment - which would take 8-10 weeks to arrive in Houston, once it left Dubai.  It's currently scheduled to arrive in port of Houston on November 8, so hopefully it will be at our house the week of November 18. Phase 3 in progress, but the packing was finished September 9.

Our apartment...a sea of boxes...

In the midst of all this chaos, we had some big milestones as well!  L turned 2 - officially a big kid now! We had a pretty low-key family celebration where we took her to a breakfast & indoor play area on her actual birthday, then we had a big joint party with a family that we are close with a few weeks later.

This was the treat that L picked from a variety of pastries - a yummy chocolate covered almond biscuit

Celebrating 2 baby (I mean big kid..) birthdays!  

We also took a trip to Abu Dhabi and stayed in our old apartment building.  Our actual apartment wasn't available, but they did set us up in a nice apartment with the similar layout (it was mirrored from our apartment, which threw me off at times!). We were able to say introduce Baby H to our dearest friend Thuzar, who also happened to be Baby L's first friend.  We took one last spin around the Etihad Towers Observation Deck, went to St Andrew's Church, and reminisced about all the things we loved (and hated) about living in Abu Dhabi.  I cried a few times.  G smilesd and tried not to laugh while I cried.  It was therapeutic.

Baby H, also fast friends with Thuzar!

Thuzar, taking a few minutes from her very busy day to spend time with us

L, checking out the views!

One last trip to St Andrews Church

L & Baby H, cuddling on the sofa where I spent days and days cuddling Baby L

Baby H also turned 4 months old...and had to get her 4-month shots.  It went much better than the 2-month shots, thank goodness! We were in interim living at our hotel apartment by then without any swings or jumpers to entertain her, so we were thankful that the jabs went well.

Happy 4-month old Baby H!

We spent a ton of time saying goodbye to friends and colleagues. It was different from most goodbyes from our past because we truly aren't sure when we'll see a lot of these friends again - though hopefully not too far into the future.  There will always be an extra bed in our home for anyone who wants to visit Houston!

Miss Shelly had a special sing, laugh, and messy play class dedicated to all of L's favorite things

L actually hugged her friend good-bye! (She rarely hugs anyone)

Photo op with friends from Texas who happened to be living in Dubai at the same time as us!

It took pretty much a whole year of visits for L to warm up to this guy (one of my co-workers who became instant besties with G), but it FINALLY happened!

My AMAZING personal trainer, bouncing Baby H on her knee

L and Jo match!  We're a blue and yellow sandwich!

Miss J and the girls in Abu Dhabi

My office going away lunch at the lovely Mitts and Trays out on Blue Waters Island

I have so many more going-away photos, but I'll end with this one, another of my favorites from our dear friend Jo.  

Good-bye Dubai!  See you next time!

Early Adventures of Babies H & L - Italy Part 2: Venice

The morning that we left for Venice was pretty relaxing. Our train didn't leave until 10am, and the train station was only a 15 minute tram ride from our apartment. And of course, in typical Newsome family fashion, we were fully packed and ready to go at 8am. So we bummed around the apartment, took some walks around the  neighborhood, and tried to kill some time before heading out. Unlike our train to Turin, I didn't seat all of us together - G and I were in the designated "stroller seats" while Miss J and L were at a table. The extra space was nice for Baby H because it was hard to really rock her at one of the table seats, and I think G appreciated having some "alone time" on the train.

Daddy with the stroller (sans baby, who is with me)

Miss J and L, having fun on train!

We arrived in Venice and decided to take a water taxi from the train station to our flat.  We could have taken a water bus, but with the luggage and the kids, we thought the premium for the water taxi was worth it.

We're on a boat!!

We stayed in an amazing Air BnB next to the Rialto Bridge, which worked out perfectly because my sister's family stayed in an Air BnB just on other side of the bridge - just a quick 5 minute walk from flat to flat! We arrived 2 days before my sister, which gave us a chance to relax, unpack, and do some wandering around the city. The girls were running low on diapers, but we learned that the two of them can actually wear the same sized diaper in a pinch - yes, Baby H is THAT big that she can share diapers with L! It allowed us to only buy one small package to get through the rest of the trip instead of 2.

The Rialto Bridge

"Kiss Mommy's Cheek!"

We took L to Murano one morning while Miss J stayed home with Baby H. It was both fun and somewhat terrifying to have a 2-year-old around so much delicate and expensive glass!  She wanted to touch everything, so G had her in a vicelike grip to prevent that as much as possible. Since I couldn't buy anything to put on display, I opted for some wearable art instead.

More gold than glass, but still very pretty!

The day my sister arrived, we packed up the girls and walked over to hang out with my sister's in-laws before dinner so that they could meet our girls. The last time G and I had seen them was at my sister's wedding 4 years ago, so it was really nice to hang out with everyone again. My brother-in-law's 2 siblings are 8 and 10 years older than him, so only a few years older than G and I, and their kids range in age from 7 to 14. L loved following the youngest girl around, but was super shy every time we tried to introduce them! And of course, Baby H decided to have her first big diaper blow-out while we were hanging out at their apartment. 

Baby H with Auntie, just before epic diaper blowout!

Since our girls wake up early, but the cousins tend to sleep in, Auntie joined us for an early (9am...not really that early) morning gondola ride.  It was super fun, super cheesy, and we all loved it!

Morning gondola ride around Venice

Having Miss J with us was so amazing because it allowed G and I to go out later at night for dinner. Even with naps, L can't manage much past 7pm, and my sister's family was a party of 12 -- 8 adults and 4 kids, so dinners with them, while amazingly delicious and fun for us, are a bit boring for a 2-year old.

G and I got to have dinners without the girls - date nights in such a romantic city!

By the end of the trip, we were all exhausted, our bellies were full, and we were ready to go home - even if we only had a few more weeks of "normal" before the chaos of moving started!  More on that next! 

L stole my sunglasses - I think she looks better in them than I do

Gifts from Auntie D!

My sister cuddling her god-daughter

2 generations of sisters!

This would be totally instagram worthy, if not for my paci accessory clipped to my purse!

L, passed out on the flight home

Baby H, also passed out on the flight home