Bowling

Sometimes I get a little tired of feeling like we don't "do" anything in Doha.  So last weekend I decided we were going to take Jacob bowling for the first time.  Of course, one of the malls here has a bowling alley (malls in the Middle East have everything) so we headed for the mall.  They did have automatic bumpers and somewhat light weight bowling balls but that was the only "little kid" help they had. At first Jacob was super into it and wanted to pick up the ball and do the whole "bowling" thing.  Of course we really had to help him but it was fun. However, that enthusiasm didn't last very long.  At about frame 5 he was done.  He enjoyed watching the screen and Mommy and Daddy bowl as much as bowling himself.  Ohh well.  However, he does still talk about "bowling ball" and "bowling with Mommy and Daddy".

Jacob's Summer Camp

Jacob just finished up his first "pre-school" experience.  During the summers in Doha, the nursery's do 1 week summer camps where you pay by the week to enroll your kids.  I decided to enroll Jacob for 1 week to the school that he will start going to in September.  I have a friend that sends her kids to this nursery so I didn't "shop around" or anything.  I just showed up to this place and enrolled him.

Ohh, his first week...I have such mixed emotions.  Of course I was sad that my baby boy is old enough to be going to "school" but I loved how excited he was about going and he was SO excited about his Spider Man lunch box.  All but one morning he cried when I dropped him off but all but one day he cried when I picked him up! Ha, silly boy!!  This nursery really is great.  They have great teachers and excellent facilities.  Jacob got to bounce in a bounce house, experience the soft play room, go to music class, cook in the kitchen, do science experiments, etc.  They really try to make it a learning experience and not just babysitting.

I loved having time to just hang out with Hailey and watch her play and explore with no big brother around to take toys from her.  I also enjoyed being able to get stuff done in the mornings!  It reminded me what it's like to have just one baby!  However, I wasn't a fan of getting up and leaving the house every day of the week! I'm not looking forward to kindergarten and having to do that for real school.  In September Jacob will be going 2 days a week which I think we will both enjoy.

Here is my adorable handsome boy on his first day of preschool summer camp.

As I mentioned before, I loved my time with just Hailey.  I should have taken more pictures but I did get a couple of us while we were together.

 All in all, it was a great week in Doha!

Hailey 9 months

Hailey's Stats:

Age: 9 months

Weight: She is 15 lbs, 2 oz.  I still try not to worry about how small she is but every time I weigh her I have a mini freak out moment.  It's not that I don't want her to be small, I just worry something is wrong.  

Length: about 27"

Eye Color: deep blue - they are lightening up some but still very blue

Hair color: blonde- with some tints of red.  

Clothing:  Mostly 9 month but I'm holding on to my favorite 6 month outfits

Eating Schedule: She is finally taking more ounces/feeding and has a bottle in the morning, before her morning nap, before afternoon nap and before bed.  Occasionally she wants a bottle in the early evening but not often.  Typically solids at dinner are enough.  She gets solid food at lunch and dinner and sometimes breakfast.  

Sleeping: She goes to bed around 8:30pm and wakes up around 7:30-8.  She really struggled with jet-lag back in the Middle East and it took us about 2 weeks to get back on schedule.  I was one tired Mama.  In the last week I stopped putting her in any type of swaddle.  She was still sleeping with a swaddle blanket around her feet but I decided it was time to try to stop.  It didn't take too much effort. 

Other: She now has 3 bottom teeth and 4 on top.  I can already see more coming!  She is going to have a full set of teeth before she is 1

Talking: She is still pretty quiet in comparison to her brother.  He was and continues to be a non-stop noise maker.  I wonder if sometimes she just feels like she doesn't need to add to the noise.  But she does squeal, make dadadada sounds, and she has her own little "heh" sound that she makes when she's excited. 

Activity:  Hailey is perfecting the crawling and getting faster and faster.  She is pulling up more frequently and is trying to walk her feet. She loves exploring the house and seeing what she can find.  She recently found our DVD collection and had lots of fun pulling them all off the shelf.  I also stopped using the bath seat and just let her sit in the bathtub with Jacob.  I've even let her crawl around some.  I have to keep my eye on her super closely but she is getting better and understanding she can't go under :)

Personality: She is still a very happy, chill baby.  She loves to watch her brother and is trying more and more to play with him.  Jacob isn't always a fan but I'm working on him. She is a "go with the flow" baby.  Even if I have to wake her up early or she doesn't get her nap she doesn't seem to get too cranky.  She never gets upset about being woken up.

This past month Hailey traveled on another airplane for the 14 hour flight (it's shorter going back) back to Doha.  She did great!  She slept well and played in her bassinet seat.  We spent our first week back just trying to adjust and enjoying all the toys we'd missed for the past month.  It's been a pretty good month!

This was by far the most difficult time I've had taking her picture.  She was so interested in the board and just wanted to crawl and play in her bed!

* The first dress Hailey is wearing was made for me when I was a baby by my Grandma Gilbert*

Play Time in Doha

Before we left for the USA I captured some adorable playtime moments around our house.  Memories in the making.

One of Jacob's first popsicles.  He kept saying "Mommy, yum!"

I've been trying to be more intentional about taking pictures of the kids while they play around the house.  These are simple moments but I never want to forget them! And they are just too stinking cute!!

USA: Houston

On the Sunday after the 4th, the kids and I started making our way back to Houston.  However, we made a quick visit in Dallas first to see my brother and his family for a couple nights.  We had lots of fun during our short visit.  On Monday Traci and I loaded up the kids and went to Grapevine Mills mall for a visit to the aquarium and some shopping.  The evenings we just spent hanging out at Chad and Traci's.  Jacob loved playing with all of Coleton's toys and really loved "playing" Wii with Chad and Coleton.

Tuesday morning the kids and I were out of the house bright and early to get back to Houston.  My friend Dawn and her baby Cora fly into Houston Tuesday morning.  Dawn was gracious enough to let my Mom pick her up from the airport and not be upset that I wasn't there yet.  Cora is the little girl that was born the same day as Hailey.  They are only 6 hours apart.  It was sort of entertaining since Cora is in the 90%'s for weight and Hailey is in the 3%!  The girls had so much fun watching each other and playing around each other.  I think they both learned something new just from being together.  I really wish they could play more often and of course I wish I could see Dawn more too.  We spent a couple of mornings at the pool, did some shopping, and going out to eat.  Jacob was very interested in "baby Cora" and loved entertaining her.  I'm not sure how much Cora appreciated the entertainment but she handled it well.  I'm so grateful Dawn was willing to fly from Kansas City to see us!  We attempted to get pictures of the girls together but it wasn't the easiest task.

I had a kind of "bucket list" of things I wanted to be sure Jacob did this summer.  I know this mostly had to do with my own personal desires and that he honestly didn't care that much.  My list included bike riding (in a kid seat behind me), playing outdoors as much as possible, going to his first movie, and getting his first sno-cone.  We accomplished all my goals!  We went on several bike rides.  On one of them we stopped at a park to do one Jacob's favorite things, slide!  And in typical Houston fashion it started raining on us.  Jacob thought it was fun that we were all wet.  We also took one ride to the sno-cone shop.  He enjoyed his sno-cone but I think he got brain freeze early on and wouldn't take big bites after that.  He was taking so long eating it that I decided to head home and let him eat while we road.  Well of course that led to blue flavoring being all over him.  It seemed like the best idea to just give him a bath in his little outside pool!

The movie theater close to my parents had a summer kids club where they showed an older kids movie on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for .50c.   I figured this was a perfect time to take Jacob so that if we only lasted 30 minutes I wouldn't feel like I wasted my money.  He wasn't too sure what to think of the big screen and at first seemed a little over-whelmed but I convinced him it was ok.  He kept saying, "Mommy, look at all the people".   We did only last about 1 hour and I don't think the movie "Rio 2" was holding his attention too well or mine so we decided to leave.  To some it may seem like a waste but he still talks about "going to the movie with Mommy".  

We also spent one day in Silsbee visiting my Grandma, Aunt Sue, and cousin Avery.  Aunt Sue has a pool with a slide that Jacob loved.  We had a nice day catching up.

My last weekend in the USA Bailey was able to make it to Houston.  I was happy to have some time with just Bailey.  She is such a help with the kids and I think she's using them as practice to start babysitting soon.  We had fun walking the kids down to the neighborhood pond and throwing in gumballs.  Also, Dad had a Mustang convertible as a rental car and I had fun reminiscing about my convertible days.

 The in-between times of activities and visitors was filled with lots of play time at Nana and Papa's house.  Jacob loved taking Papa's hat and playing Mr. Potato head with Nana.  Hailey started exploring more and more and found her own favorite spots to play.  So much fun!

We had a great time in the USA but it was at last time to head back to Qatar!  Jacob was pretty happy to get on the airplane to see Daddy!