Kim, G, and Baby L as nearly 4

Maternity photo shoot in the desert, with credits to Jo Cole Photography and Denize Xenia Dress Hire!

When I was pregnant with Baby L, I found an amazing photographer in Abu Dhabi to take my maternity photos, Baby L's birth story, and a home session once G and I got our parenting feet under us.  And then Lacey moved back to the USA :-(.  It was definitely the right thing for her and her family, but I was so sad to see her go!

So when we found out we were pregnant with Baby #2, of course I asked Lacey for a recommendation.  Lacey connected me with Jo, an amazing award-winning lifestyle photographer in Dubai. I was so nauseous and exhausted all the time with Baby L that we a fun an intimate maternity session at our apartment in Abu Dhabi.  With Baby #2, I was more exhausted and more nauseous early on, but it has mostly cleared up and I've had quite a bit more energy these last few months - as noted by all the sewing projects I've finished!  So I decided to do a maternity shoot in the desert instead, to round out my UAE pregnancy experience.

I found a woman who rents out BEAUTIFUL dresses in the area, so I made an appointment and picked out a dress. Denize Xenia Dress Hire allowed me to have a lovely dress for our desert photos without having to spend a fortune to buy a dress that I might never wear again.  It was also super easy, I just scheduled a fitting, picked it up on the day of my shoot, and dropped it off the next day - all the cleaning costs were included in the price. A winning situation all around!

We had some terrible dust storms during our scheduled photo session, and Jo was so flexible - we ended up rescheduling once, and we almost rescheduled a second time. Thankfully we didn't, because we were able to sneak into a perfect weather window in the desert! G and I had such a great time, and while we learned that Baby L is not AT ALL a fan of the sand (which is why she has no solo-shots), she warmed up to Jo right away and had lots of smiles for the camera.  We also got some really great formal photos of Baby L with Miss J, which I wanted to have since Miss J is such an important part of our family.

Below is a small sample of my favorites, the full gallery is located here: Kim's Maternity Session by Jo Cole

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And of course, some outtakes from G and Baby L. They and Miss J were such troopers, putting up with my desert photo shenanigans.  

More Project Finishes!

We got home from Oman on Tuesday afternoon, and which meant I had a little extra time to finish a few more sewing projects!

This first one, I actually finished back in January when Dad and Mary were visiting, but I wanted to wait until Danielle received it before posting it.  Danielle has been a penguin lover for as long as I can remember, so I completed my very first applique project - a cute little penguin mug rug!  As a late Christmas gift, I sent this back to her via my Dad with a package of yummy TWG Masala Chai for her to set her giant mugs on during the chilly Boston winter.

Penguin Mug Rug & my first applique project! I've learned that applique for tiny circles is actually a big pain!!

The next project finish is a fun memory game set for Baby L.  She's a little young for true "memory", but she does like to play matching where I take pick one tile, and she picks the matching tile.  I followed this simple tutorial from Apple Green Cottage to create a set of 16 (8 pairs) of fabric memory squares.  I also made a cute little bag from scraps of projects from the last "Project Finishes"

Quick and easy memory game from scraps in my stash

For Christmas, Miss J gave Baby L a little cash register and grocery set, which she loves!  The only bummer is that the little shopping basket that came with the set is much too small to hold all the grocery pieces - so I sewed Baby L a little elephant-print shopping tote from this tutorial from Diary of a Quilter. The elephant print in my stash wasn't quite the same size as a FQ, and the scraps that I had for the handles were a little longer, but the end result was still cute and  served the purpose that we needed - a little bag for Baby L to carry her "groceries" around!

Baby L' s elephant grocery tote

And finally, I finished a hexagon play mat bag from a fat quarter bundle I bought a few years ago. Baby L was gifted some blocks for Christmas, and this is the perfect way to keep them contained! 

Baby L loves her play mat! 

There's a few more projects in the pipeline before baby #2 arrives, some of which require fabric coming in our baby shipment (so excited!) Next post will have photos from our amazing photo shoot, I just need to put it together! 

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!