Valentine's Day

This Valentine’s Day was a little complicated for us.   Micah has been working 14 hour days with only 1 day off per week so I knew he wouldn’t have time or the brain capacity to really think about Valentine’s Day.  I decided I would just take charge and do whatever I thought would make him happy while at the same time keeping me happy! First of all I knew he would want to sleep and mostly have a low-key day so for the most part that’s what we did.  I made flapjacks for breakfast and we just spent the morning as a family playing with the kids.   For lunch I had a babysitter come so that Micah and I could go out for a late lunch.  We went to a very romantic lunch at Elevation Burger.  Ok so maybe it wasn’t romantic but I was craving a juicy burger and knew it was a place Micah really liked.  Plus I knew it wouldn’t take that long so that we could be home for naptime. 

That evening I made one of Micah’s favorites, my “Chick-Fil-A” chicken and again we just enjoyed the night together as a family. There may have been a couple glasses of wine consumed over the weekend too J

My gift to Micah was a picture collage of the kids in a frame that he could take to work. Aren’t they cute! We also took a few pictures during the day.  

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Jacob- 2 1/2 years

With all the Hailey updates, I feel like it's time to capture some of Jacob right now at 2 1/2 years old. I have not hated the 2's. I'll admit, we've had our rough moments, days, weeks, but overall it hasn't been bad.  He is actually usually a super fun kid.  I also decided to write this today since it has been a very good day :)

I woke up this morning around 8 am listening to Jacob cracking up over the monitor.  What he found so funny, I have no idea but what a wonderful way to wake up!  I usually go get him around 8 and he insists that when you open his door you say "Ready to get up?".  He then climbs out of his bed and we head downstairs to eat breakfast.  Breakfast consists of the usual.  If I feel like cooking its French toast, waffles, pancakes, muffins, eggs, etc.  If I don't feel like cooking it's cereal (he loves Cinnamon Toast Crunch), toast and yogurt, or on my rushed mornings we do pop tarts. He usually eats a lot at breakfast, the boy wakes up hungry.  His favorite food for lunch or dinner is mac and cheese or pizza.  He doesn't get that for every meal though and he will eat most of what I cook.

Jacob loves to play with his toys.  I feel like we basically have a kid heaven going on here with all the toys we have but Jacob does play with most of it.  Currently his favorite movie is "and beyond" aka "Toy Story".   He has a fancy Buzz Lightyear, small stuffed Woody and Jessie plus Mr. Potato head and dinosaurs.  For some reason he has been obsessed with Mr. Potato head.  He will sit and just play with him for an hour.  Jacob also enjoys his new train track, Jake the pirate hide out, and as always Kachow (Lightning McQueen from Cars).  Playing with cars is a long time favorite that he still returns to often.

Jacob talks a lot more and more every day.  Some of the things he says cracks me up.  Just yesterday he said "ohh my word" which of course is something I say way too often!  His version of "too infinity and beyond" sounds more like "broccoli and beyond".  When he is hungry I get "I hungry" in a super whiney voice emphatically until the moment I put food in front of him.  For some reason the idea of Mom's working on it doesn't register in his brain.  He has also finally learned to tell us what he likes.  He will say "I like ____"  It's fun to hear what his little brain is thinking about.

This boy still loves to sing and loves his music.  We sing all sorts of Sunday School songs all the time. Currently the favorite song to make me sing is the Veggie Tales theme song.  Occasionally he will also tell me that he likes one of my songs while we are ridding in the car.  I'll make him a country music lover ;)  Sorry Grandpa.  I finally got him to sing songs to Hailey.  It was so cute to listen to him sing to her and watch her smile at him.  Today he was singing "The wise man built his house upon the rock" to her and she was loving it.  As much as he loves to sing, all of a sudden he doesn't want to dance. AT. ALL.  He doesn't want Mom to dance either.  Makes me kinda sad  but I'm working on him.

Of course Jacob still can't get enough of running, jumping, and climbing.  He makes obstacle courses around the house and scares me on a regular basis.  If there is a step he is going to jump, if there is room to run he is going to run, and if it looks climbable he will climb it.  I'm trying to teach him boundaries (don't climb on our nice couch) while still letting him be a boy and explore.  I guess as  a former PE teacher I'm pretty impressed with his balance and ability so I let more things go than maybe the average mom would.

Jacob still enjoys his books and I will find him in his room just sitting "reading" his books.  I love that he enjoys books so much.  When I put him to bed we have a rule that I pick a book and he picks a book and then we take turns reading them to each other.  I love listening to his interpretation of the books.

Sometimes I can't believe how much fun it is to be his Mom!  Yes, we have moments or days when I don't feel quite so much this way.  But the hugs and the "I love you's" and the mommy don't leave moments make up for any frustrating moments.

We love you Jacob Asher!

Hailey 3 months

This past month was filled with lots of travels, meeting more family, and even returning home to Doha.  I spent time in Texas, Oklahoma, and another 14 hours on an airplane before getting back to Daddy and my home in Doha.

  Hailey's Stats:

Age: 3 months

Weight: 10 lbs 10oz - still so little!

Length: 22.5" (not really sure)

Eye Color: deep blue

Hair color: blonde- still hasn't started falling out! Crossing our fingers it won't. 

Eating Schedule: Every 2.5- 3 hours, except at night before bed when she cluster feeds; mostly nursing

Sleeping: It took us a while to get Hailey switched over to Doha time schedule and she was eating every 3 hours for all 24 hours.  We finally got her back on schedule and now she sleeps from about 10:30pm-4:30 and then wakes around 7:30 am for the day.  

About Month 3:

Our little girl has stolen all of our hearts.  She is such a happy little baby.  She smiles easily at anyone.  Recently she has started talking to us with little coos, gurgles, and squeals.  Jacob enjoys talking to her in her language too! This month she rolled from her tummy to her back but typically she just stops when she's on her side and rests.  I can tell she is trying hard to roll from her side/back back to her tummy.  She is really good at holding her head up and checking out the world.  

USA-The Rest of the Story

Jacob, Hailey, and I finished up our time in the USA visiting more friends and family.  Daddy had to head back to Doha January 5 while we stayed until January 25.  We missed Daddy but were happy to have some more time to see more people and enjoy the USA some more.

Bye Daddy

Right after Daddy left, Mom and I loaded up the kids and headed to Silsbee to spend the day with my Grandma for her birthday.  It was nice to get to see Grandma and see where she lives.  My Aunt came as well and we all took Grandma out for a birthday lunch.  Unfortunately both kiddos fell asleep in the car on the way back to Grandma's from lunch so we decided to end our day a little early and head back for Houston.

I was also fortunate enough to be in town for our friends Susie and Darrell's twins first birthday party!  It was fun to celebrate with them and see lots of old friends from Clear Lake.  Happy Birthday Easton and Emerson!

One day the kids and I drove over to The Woodlands to visit my friend Laura and her girls Savannah and Olivia.  It's always fun to catch up with old Saudi friends.  Jacob and Savannah sorta played together.  Jacob is still not really sure how to play with kids but Savannah sure tried.

Papa and Hailey almost nightly had some time together.  Hailey typically didn't want Papa to just sit and hold her so she made him dance around the office with her.  I think she had Papa pretty well trained. 

One night I was able to get some super cute pictures of Jacob and Hailey in their matching pjs!

We also made a trip up to Stillwater.  I was very excited to find out my parents needed to go to Oklahoma for a weekend which meant we were able to go too without me having to drive.  Of course, no trip to Stillwater is complete without a little Eskimo Joe's.

Hailey was so excited to meet her Great Memaw and Big Papa.  

We don't get a lot of wide open spaces in the Middle East (well, at least not ones that aren't desert) so I really wanted to let Jacob experience the farm and the open and just explore and be a boy.  One afternoon I showed him the gate and told him to just wander while I followed to see where his heart took him.  Surprise surprise, we ended up by the pond throwing rocks into the water.  He had a blast finding rocks, finding a spot to sit, and then just throwing them in.  We also had fun riding around on the gator and one day we went specifically to find the cows.  Jacob loved seeing the cows.  When we were back in the yard he rode on his little gator telling me he wanted to go see the cows.

 Mom and Dad (Nana and Papa) had to go to Tulsa one day to meet with the architect of the retirement house so we ended up having an impromptu play date with Grandma, Grandpa, Kate, Evan, and Aunt Jackie.  Jackie and I noticed that every time we went where the kids were playing the moved to a different location so we decided to stop trying and just sit with Hailey and chat.  Kate and Evan got a trampoline for Christmas and it was a beautiful day so they enjoyed lots of time outside jumping.  It was fun to have unexpected play time with the cousins.

My original plan was to drive to OKC on our last day in Oklahoma to see my college friends but I was just so stinking worn out and tired of packing up the kids and driving so sadly I canceled on them.  They were all really understanding and since Holly had a chance to drive to Stillwater she decided to just come say hello.  We should have taken a picture together but instead I have one of little Caleb.  He is a cutie!

Once we were back in Houston there was 1 week left until we returned to Doha.  I was definitely starting to be ready to be back in my own house so I was so happy Anna was coming to give me a little extra to look forward to.  Anna's birthday was while she was with us so the first night  my parents were gracious enough to babysit while we went out to dinner.  Then we came home and put the kids to bed before heading out to a late movie.  We went shopping all day the next day and even accidentally dressed like twins and even our strollers matched. Unfortunately, I was pretty sick the next couple of days so we didn't get to do as much fun stuff as I had wanted.  What a bummer! But Anna was awesome and stuck around to help out and kept me company.  The boys had fun playing together while at the same time getting really mad at each other for stealing their toys.  Ohh fun 2's!

 The rest of our time was spent getting in last minute stuff done and getting in some quality snuggles with Nana and Papa.  We were sad to leave the USA but ready to be home and see Daddy!