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!