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!

Saying Good-Bye is Hard to Do!

After 9 months in Abu Dhabi, it's time to start saying goodbye to the few friends we've made here! While G and I are super excited to move to Dubai (we track the sea freighter that has our furniture shipment daily), I am a bit nostalgic about leaving Abu Dhabi. Obviously, it will always hold a special place in my heart since my precious Baby L was born here. I mentioned in previous posts that Abu Dhabi has been a bit of a lonely assignment for me because it was hard to meet people while pregnant, but we did make a couple really good friends that we wanted to have lunch with before we moved.

First we had lunch with my coworker's wife, who helped us witness documents at the Embassy for Baby L. I wanted to give Jeanne a little thank you gift for helping us with our embassy documents and I knew she loved pho, so I put together a little care package of spices including my dad's recipe.  We had a fun little lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant out on Al Raha Island with her oldest and youngest kiddos and Baby L. The pho was just ok - it was a bit greasy and there was under-cooked garlic in my bowl, but when the options are limited, you take what you can get! I told Jeanne she is welcome to visit us in Dubai any time!

Jeanne loving on Baby L!

Later this week, we had lunch with Lacey, our photographer here in Abu Dhabi. We've done three photo sessions with Lacey, and I love working with her. She also loves on Baby L like crazy, and I wanted to get a photo of them together so Baby L would know who took all her beautiful baby photos! Sadly, Lacey is moving back to the USA early next year, and we will miss her dearly!

Cuddles with L & L!

Other than that, things have been pretty low key around here. I've been trying to build up my milk supply for when I go back to work, which has taken up a bunch of room in the freezer.  Since our tiny freezer does not auto-defrost, the drawer that I store milk in finally froze shut this week and G had to manually defrost it. We are looking forward to a freezer with auto-defrost...neither of us had seen a freezer without it since the 1980's. When he took the drawer out the frost on the coils was taking up over half the drawer! I know he was hoping to not have to defrost it before we left, but it was really getting out of hand.

G defrosting our tiny freezer so I can keep pumping and storing milk

We're also still trying to bottle train Baby L. It is honestly the worst part of my day because she cries and cries and looks at me with such frustration. G has the same experience when he tries. If I did it over again, I would have put her on a bottle more regularly early on, because now it's a struggle. I wish G good luck when I leave for work because it's not going to be fun for him. :-(

We've started nap training Baby L to get her onto a rough schedule. So far, we've got her regularly going down for a morning nap about two hours after she wakes up...we're still working on the rest of the day. I'm sure as soon as we've figured out a routine for her, she'll have a growth spurt and change...since that's what babies do!

I still can't believe how much she's changed in only two months. The bedtime swaddle went from too big to too small in such a short period of time! Same thing for the two hats that G's mom made for her - too big to snug so quickly! I feel less anxiety about how fast she's growing now that she smiles and coos at us because it's easier to enjoy the new changes and developments. I still miss my super sleepy cuddly newborn, and I'm in love and excited to keep watching my little baby grow.

Baby L - on Day 2 on the left, at 10 weeks on the right.

Baby L is 2 months old!

Baby L turns 2 months old today, and I just can't believe how much she has grown! People still tell me she's teeny tiny, and to me she seems huge. She also doesn't seem nearly as fragile as she did when she was first born - she weighs 50% more, and definitely feels more solid.

Couldn't get her to smile, so settled for getting her to sleep!

She's started smiling real full-gums-showing smiles at us where her whole face lights up, she's started cooing at us and having little coo coo conversations, and she's started making this weird clicking sound with her tongue - I think she learned it from Thuzar from housekeeping. She also (mostly) sleeps through the night! I usually get a good stretch from 7 or 8pm to midnight, and then she'll wake up to eat roughly every 2-3 hours after that. G and I suspect that she is actually awake for parts of the night, and that since we keep the room dark, she knows it's nighttime and puts herself back to sleep until she's hungry. She is definitely most cheerful in the morning - if there is any sunlight in the bathroom when I change her diaper, it's over, she's wide awake, grinning and cooing like there's no tomorrow.

Her whole face lights up when she smiles!

We've started trying to bottle train her with a little more consistency - previously, we only gave her a bottle if either I left her for a certain period of time (massage, errands, date night, whatever), or if my nipples went on strike from her biting them with her gums. Thankfully the latter is happening less and less! She is not fond of the bottle, and I honestly wish we'd started bottle training her sooner - I was so nervous about nipple confusion and wanting to breastfeed her that we're running into the opposite problem - she fights the bottle. We're hoping that a daily bottle will help her get used to it so G doesn't have to spend literally all day trying to feed her.

G has also discovered the magic of the Ergobaby carrier. He was commenting on how carrying her around the house to try to soothe her into a nap was hard on his shoulder, so I suggested he put her in the carrier - and sure enough she was out like a light in minutes. His current challenge is getting her from the carrier into the bassinet without waking her up!

G, going about his day with Baby L fast asleep on his chest!

We have a long list of nicknames we call her...

• Sweetpea
• Sunshine
• Peanut
• Super Pooper
• Poop Shooter
• Spider Monkey
• Turd Monkey
• Stinker
• Whah-mobile (when she's crying)
• Poonami
• Wiggles
• Squeaks
• Sea Turtle
• #grumpybaby

She still flails her arms and legs quite a bit, and she still hates tummy time. I try to find alternatives to tummy time on the floor and most of them still end in tears. We'll keep trying, and we've decided it's ok if her physical milestones like crawling and walking are slightly delayed. There's a little clip of her flailing and squealing below.

Interestingly enough, her doula suggested that I try letting her sleep on her tummy when she's sitting next to me so I can keep an eye on her head position. It's not quite as beneficial as awake tummy time, but it might help her get a little more accustomed to being on her stomach. Apparently babies also sleep better on their tummies - I tried it, and she had the longest nap she's ever taken without either being held by someone or being in a carseat! She startles a lot less on her tummy, so I can definitely see why in the 80's and 90's parents were told to lay infants on their stomach to sleep. It was also fun to watch her lift up her head in her sleep to change positions without crying - a nice change from the tears!

Does tummy time count if you're asleep?!?

Things we're NOT looking forward to are her 2-month checkup and vaccinations. I'm bringing G with me to the appointment because her doctor is definitely LESS overbearing when he's with us - it's our last appointment with her anyway before we find Baby L a new doctor in Dubai. We're bracing ourselves for an unhappy Baby L when she gets her shots later this week.

We're enjoying these last few weeks in where we're all home as a family in Abu Dhabi before we move to Dubai and I go back to work. I'll definitely be bummed that I can't just walk downstairs to buy delicious little cakes for her monthly photographs! I'm feeling almost fully recovered - my hemogloblin is up, and I'm walking for 20-30 minutes 2-3 times per week. I'm back to pre-Baby L weight, although I put on some pounds with our pre-Baby L miscarriage that I've yet to work off. I'm targeting to shed those pounds by the end of the year. Of course now that G and I finally have a routine down to accommodate both our workout schedules and his schoolwork, it will all change - such is life, especially with a baby!

Look Mommy, I can grip it with two hands!

Early Adventures of Baby L: Granddad and Mimi (or Granny?) come to visit!

This past week Baby L had the pleasure of meeting her grandparents on G's side of the family! They were so so excited to meet her, and she took to them right away.

The G's parents were scheduled to arrive at Dubai airport on Wednesday evening.  This actually worked out really well for us because he needed to do an inspection on our new apartment (for those following along, we got the property we were hoping for!), so G left around lunchtime, did the inspection and took some measurements, wandered around the Marina for a bit, then went to pick up his parents.  Similar to when my dad flew into Dubai, we decided the trip would be too long for Baby L, so she and I snuggled on the sofa and had our regular evening routine. Luckily Mom & Dad's flight arrived an hour early, so they got back to Abu Dhabi around 9pm instead of 10pm. This gave the grandparents time to shower Baby L with gifts and play with her a little bit before everyone went to bed!

Thursday was a pretty slow day - Mom & Dad needed to recover from jet lag, and G had schoolwork to do, so we mostly hung around the apartment cuddling with Baby L. We went over to Marina Mall for burgers and hot dogs at Shake Shack late in the afternoon, then pretty much called it a day.

Baby L snuggled between Mimi and the sofa - she is clearly enjoying it!

Friday we gathered up the whole family to go to church. We went to the Anglican Church instead of Catholic Church so Mom & Dad could see where G & I usually go to service.  This was Baby L's second time to Anglican Church and this time went much better than the first time. She made it through most of the service without crying, and even then it was only because she was hungry.  G and I also brought a bottle this time so I wouldn't have to try to nurse her in the middle of church (or in the nursery, which was still only separated from the main sanctuary by a giant glass wall). I'm not real shy about where I whip my boob out to feed her, and something about breastfeeding at church the first time we took her felt super awkward.

Baby L with her Granddad before church!

Baby L looking totally gangster in an outfit made for her by a member of her Granddad's church in Baytown

Later that evening, we went out to walk around the Corniche. Temperatures are dropping in Abu Dhabi, so with the breeze off the water it was actually quite pleasant along the beach. Clearly everyone else thought so too because tons of people were out enjoying the evening.  After the trip to the beach, we ordered room service from Li Beirut, the Lebanese restaurant in our complex - we had a delicious spread of cold appetizers and a main course of mixed meat grilled Arabian-style.  

Baby L's first trip to the beach!  She slept through all of it. :-)

Saturday was another slow day of jet lag recovery - G and Dad went to the post office to drop off the last of our thank-you notes and pick up his new Zoolander-esque phone. Mom and I stayed home to snuggle some more with Baby L (well, Mom snuggled with Baby L - I just sort of hung out and provided the boob when she was hungry). We all went out to Al Wahda Mall for pizza at Russo's - we know, we know, Mom and Dad didn't fly all the way from Houston to eat at Shake Shack and Russo's (which are both also in Houston).  Abu Dhabi doesn't really have "local cuisine" though, so we felt justified! 

Baby L sleeping like...well, a baby!  Sorry Mom, I know you didn't want me post the photo, but you both look great!!!

By Sunday, Mom and Dad were fully recovered, and we had high tea at the Observation Deck 300.  The theme at the Etihad Towers this month is "America", so we had "American" style tea - whatever that means. We had few good laughs about how tea really isn't an American thing, how we dumped the tea in Boston Harbor, etc, etc.  Regardless, the sandwiches and sweets were delicious, and I even caught Mom and Dad being like Millennials glued to their phones.  Baby L, of course, slept through the whole thing.

Yummy tea pastries!

Our parents are like Millennials

Group selfie!

After tea, we went back to the apartment so Mom and I could change into darker, more conservative clothes and I nursed Baby L before heading to the Sheikh Zayad Grand Mosque.  Obviously, no trip to Abu Dhabi is complete without a quick tour of the SZGM. Similar to when my dad came to visit, we didn't think Baby L was up to the full audio tour, so we just did a quick buzz around for photos before heading home. G carried her in the Ergobaby, and she, of course, slept through the whole thing again. I just love watching my husband with our baby, I get to see an extra tender side of him that makes my heart melt.

Family photo at SZGM!

G also took this incredible photo as we were walking in - we didn't realize how good it was until after we left since the glare from the sun made it hard for him to see his phone screen.

Gabriel snapped this fabulous photo!

We were all pretty tuckered out after such an eventful day so we took it a little easier on Monday. We met my supervisor for lunch. He gave Linh an adorable little farmgirl outfit! I'd been looking for a pair of overalls for her, so this was perfect. After lunch, both Mom and I were tuckered out, so we took a nap while Dad and G took care of Baby L.

Dad playing with Baby L while G supervises. Mommy and Mimi are taking well-deserved naps

We had our last major tourist attraction on Tuesday. We had lunch at the Emirates Palace, where G ordered the famous gold leaf camel burger. Really, the super touristy thing to do would be to have high tea at Emirates Palace, but I think one high tea per trip is probably enough decadence! And the views from Observation Deck 300 were definitely better.

Gold leaf camel burger

Baby L's first trip to Emirates Palace!

After lunch, we headed back to our apartment, with a quick stop at the conference center portion of our building. I wanted to get a photo of Baby L with both her Granddad and Mimi, and there is a beautiful ceiling backdrop just before the Jumeirah Hotel ballrooms.  Which brings me to the title of this blog post - Mimi or Granny?  Mom had originally decided she wanted to be called Mimi because she didn't want the same name as G's grandmother (whom he called Granny).  After a day with Baby L, she thought...well maybe Granny is ok?  G and Dad said it's too late - she'd already committed to Mimi.  So...we'll let Baby L decide when she's older. She's the first grandbaby, so she gets dibs!!

Mom and Dad with Baby L at the conference center of our building

When we got back to our apartment, Baby L's first friend (Thuzar from housekeeping) had a surprise for us! Thuzar had been so kind to Baby L, and we all love her. She'll be on vacation when we make our big move, and we are so sad that we'll be leaving her - since she's staying in Abu Dhabi for her vacation, she promised to stop by before we leave for Dubai.

Baby L loves the bear and plant that Miss Thuzar gave her!!!

We're so sad to see Mom and Dad head back home to Texas tomorrow - we probably won't get to see them again until we celebrate Baby L's first birthday in Connecticut next summer. Maybe after a few more Skype sessions, we can convince them to visit us in Dubai early next year ;-)

Baby snuggles with Mimi are the best!!!

Baby L's first Home Photo Shoot

Earlier this week our friend Lacey came over to take some professional photos of Baby L.  We got the final photos just in time for G's parents to see them when the arrived here in Abu Dhabi!

My favorite of all the photos works perfectly in our #grumpybaby series on social media.  Truly though, Baby L is no longer a grumpy baby - she has started smiling and cooing at us, and (if she gets her naps in) has a sunny disposition.  She is definitely a morning baby - she wakes up at 7 or 7:30 every morning despite the blackout curtains in our room, and she is ready to play!

Look at that face! We love it! #grumpybaby

We also have this lovely pair of photos from before and after Baby L was born. I still can't believe the little stinker ever fit in my belly.

Enjoy!