Recap 2011- May

May was our first full month with our daughter in our arms and the real beginning of the Middle Eastern HOT summer. Temperatures regularly reached up into the upper 110's and 120's, only getting into the 90's, maybe, at night. This goes on for four solid months and we were ready to hibernate for the long summer.

I started back to school this month, slowly, with four hours my first week, adding an hour a week until summer break two months later. I took Grace with my to most of my classes or Ian watched her in the lobby or at home, depending on his class schedule. It wasn't ideal, but it meant that Grace would get to stay in our care for the first five months of her life!

We started Grace's passport/birth certificate/social security process this month, which included a rather disturbing visit to the local photo shop for some pictures. They made her white(r) and added lipgloss. Oh yes, and they painted faint eyebrows on. I was rather relieved when this picture wasn't the right size and we had to redo the passport pictures!

It shouldn't be a surprise that almost all of the pictures are Grace related, but I figured I would give you a heads up anyways. I was a new mom and was (and am) completely enamored with my baby girl.

We got Gracie hooked on her pacifier this month, and I am totally glad we did. It is such a comfort to her and, I think, she looks completely adorable with these gum drop pacifiers.

She slept swaddled, very tightly, perpedicular in her bed. We placed another small blanket over her, folded into a long strip. I'm really not sure why we did this. I think we started this when she was in the hospital and needed extra blanket, but her little feet needed to have easier access for her blood work. Maybe. Or maybe we thought it might hold her in place and not let her flip over. I'm really not sure. Either way, it looked really cute!

Another normal scene was her burping sessions, sitting on one of our legs with a hand under her chin and another on her back for a burp. She usually loved being held like this and only burped this way, not on the traditional over the shoulder way.

We started doing mat time this month, but she was so uninterested. Luckily we didn't buy this, just borrowed from a friend, because she probably only used it 8 times. She did love looking at that zebra though!
May was also a big month, because I finally learned how to drive stick shift and could finally go out on my own. It only took 10 months until I finally decided to learn!

Everyone always said how much Ian and Grace look alike, and the resemblance, especially in the chin and mouth is uncanny.



My sweet girl loved to be propped up into a sitting position, and we finally captured a smile this month!

May was full of so many first and was so much fun!

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Recap 2011- May

Recap 2011- April

The month started out with a bang, literally, with my contractions beginning on April 1st, they increased during the night, and about 5 am on April 2nd, I knew it was time to think about the border crossing and getting to the hospital.

Long story short, we got to the hospital safely, were admitted after a couple of hours, and just 16 hours later, 6-7 of which was active labor...

Last "just us," picture!"
Grace entered the world!

She needed some help after inhaling her muconium....
But she was soon breathing well and we had our first family picture moment.

She was taken to the NICU and would have to stay there over night for observation. Ian went to check on her while I was stitched up.

Somewhere along the way, she got worse. We still aren't sure what happened. She needed a little help (nothing big,) help breathing and was hooked up to some monitors and had IV antibiotics going on.
We slipped into see her for a little then went back to bed, waking in the morning to nurse her. About six hours later, she was released to our room, still on IV's.

Sweet baby girl did well, though we really had no idea what we were doing, ha!

We had friends who were with us during the delivery and we had other friends come by to see us and Grace and to bring food.

On April 5th, we were released and went home.
The rest of the month was a blur of rec

Grace nursed well, and slept best swaddled (until she was 5 months old,) she slept with a hat on and usually long sleeve footie pajamas.

I think, during the first 2 weeks I didn't nurse as much as I could/should have, meaning we had a sad and hungry baby. If I could do it all over, I would feed her alot more and pump after every feeding. Even if the pumping would be a pain, it would help to store and freeze during those early excess days.

I had a new little model for my photography, and I loved learning how to take pictures of my baby girl.

Ian went back to school about a week and a half after Grace was born, and I watched all 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls during those first few weeks.

Grace loved bathtime and would instantly become calm. We learned the trick of diaper changing after her feed, which also resulted in a much calmer baby.

Our tiny baby girl gained weight and grew steadily.


And near the end of the month, got to celebrate her first holiday...Easter!

We had Easter lunch (ham and all!) at a friends house and it was our first real outing.


Ian did such a great job at learning all thing baby and daddy related, considering he had such a sharp learning curve (never changed a diaper before Grace!) He got up with me in the night, even when I just had to nurse her, to keep me company and would rub my feet.

His big arms are perfect for snuggling Grace and he would often pace up and down the front hallway, talking in a super low voice to calm her down.

Near the end of the month, my maternity leave was coming to an end, and I tried to soak up every moment of stay-at-home- mom time that I could. I knew it was going to be a LONG year and 2 months until I could be a stay-at-home-mom again and I knew it was just a strange season in my life.

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Recap 2011- April

Recap 2011- March

March came, and we were READY for this month to be over, because it meant that we could finally hold our little girl, and part of our hearts would forever be outside of our body.

I had done really well with my pregnancy weight gain, but this month, my weight shot up. Picture as proof....
Some careful food choices and an unfortunate stomach bug meant that it leveled off near the end of the month.

We started receiving package after package of loving gifts from family and friends in the States, and were able to fully put together Grace's room. All of her layette items were washed and waiting her arrival!

Near the end of the month, Ian and I took a trip to Dubai as a late birthday get away and a babymoon. We ate, walked around malls, and sat out in the sun. It was glorious.

That was all that happened this month- it was pretty eventful. But the next month, now THAT was an eventful month!

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Recap 2011- March

Recap 2011- February

February always tends to be a busier month than I originally expect. At the beginning of the month, we started into our second semester of studying Arabic. Ian and I were in the same class again and my sweet husband would sit caty corner from me so that I could put my swelling pregnant feet up on his legs and he would rub them under the table.

Mid month, we had Valentines Day, my birthday, and my baby shower, thrown my some of my dear friends over here. My mom even got to skype into the baby shower and watch me open presents!

I made a special "heart," dinner for Ian, with heart shaped pancakes and apple slices (fancy, I know,) for our Valentines Dinner.
Our Norwegian friend Svein, stopped by for a visit for about ten days. We took him to see some cultural things and he enjoyed getting to know our new country. He also helped us hang all of the pictures in our house.

I was big ol' pregnant at this point, almost to the 8 1/2 month mark. Walking around in the heat was brutal, even though it was winter!
We were looking forward to March- our last full month before we became parents!!

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Recap 2011- February

Recap 2011-January

At the end of 2010, I recapped each month of the year with some of my favorite pictures and memories. It ended up being an amazing way to document the year in brief fashion and gave me something to reflect on during the month of December. I will be doing this again this year, as we have celebrated Christmas and approach New Year's Eve.

January-
We kicked off the New Year with having friends over to our house for games, movies, and fried chicken. We had a good time, and it was the first holiday, living over here, where I wasn't really sad the whole time.

Being that I was 6 months pregnant, I really began nesting this month. I borrowed a huge stack of baby clothes from my friend, cleaned out the guest bedroom, bought the baby furniture, and ordered the bedding and decor.

Ian put together the crib and helped to get the room all ready for his baby girl.

At the end of the month, we took our final exams for our first semester of Arabic, and had a two week break from school. Somewhere before February, we took down our Christmas tree.

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Recap 2011-January

One

{One} hour until I go for a walk/run. In the sun. I'm extremely excited to get some sunshine. I told Ian it should be our New Year's resolution to become un maggoty in our skin color.

{One} day until it is Christmas break. WE have nearly no plans, and I am perfectly fine with that! Good food, family, and alot of movie watching is in our future.

{One} week until we lose our car. Boo. I suppose we should figure out our taxi plan for when school starts back up.

{One} month until my parents come for a visit. They will be the first people to come from the States to visit us. They will also be the first family to meet Grace!

{One} more semester left in our Arabic language study program! We'll take our exams in January and start our new and last semester in February! I can't believe it has already been three semesters, but at the same time, it feels like our time here will never end.

{One} ingredient that I forgot to put in our crock pot Chicken Tortilla Soup. Must. Hunt. Down. Cilantro.

{One} post in more than 10 days. I am having serious writer's block.

{One} book that I am reading on the Kindle "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." I love it!

{One} present that needs to be wrapped for a little friend of ours. It is actually the third present that we picked out for her and then changed our minds. And when I say "we," and "our," I totally mean "I," and "mine," because Ian doesn't really have much of an opinion on gifts for a two year old.

{One} movie trailer that made my husband really excited. Me too, but really, not as excited as he is. We're looking forward to The Hobbit next year!

{One} baby of our friend was born today- a whopping 10 pounder! I suppose that is better than their first, who was over 11 pounds!

{One} anniversary of my in-laws, yesterday, for 31 years of marriage!

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One

Our Weekend

Our weekend was a long weekend, we had Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off from school! I started off on Thursday with an early morning (my time) skype date with my parents and Grace was cute as a button for them. I went on a walk with my friend and then we spent the rest of the day just lounging around.

Early afternoon I began making preparations for our church's potluck that night but I was feeling really nauseous and ended up having to lay down while Ian finished the food and kept Grace entertained. We went to church anyways but at the end of our service I had to excuse myself because I became very VERY sick. Never fun when that happens, but especially when you are at someone else's house!


Spent the rest of the evening in bed or puking my guts out (sorry, TMI?) and sweet Ian was right there with me. Too bad if he ever gets the stomach bug, he's on his own! I have a very sensitive gag reflex and can't even hear the sound of it before I start gagging. Grace is going to have to have her Daddy hold her hair back when she's sick (just like my Dad did for me when I was little!)


Friday I woke up super early but was feeling better, it must have just been food poisoning. I had some questionable meat that day. And some questionable milk. Hmm.... maybe my food shouldn't be so questionable.


Got Grace up and found out she had puked all in her crib and just slept in it. Praised God that she was okay and that something terrible didn't happen. Promptly bathed Grace and changed her sheets while we got ready and headed to the Big City for the day.


The day, as a whole was a bust. I was exhausted from being sick the day before and Grace was crankier than usual. We had a good lunch at Texas Roadhouse with our friends, but then after that we just didn't enjoy ourselves like we usually do. We might have to go on a Big City strike for awhile.


Ian forgot that one of the main reasons we went that day was to do stocking shopping (we're not doing presents for each other this year, just a few little things for stockings,) and he was so cute when he remembered.

I mean, he remembered when I told him I had to slip away so I could go get something, ha!

Poor man had to think quick on his feet and come up with a shopping plan. 


We left the Big City earlier than we usually do and came home, Ian with a headache and a stomachache (umm, he ate an entire chicken fried steak- he was totally ashamed of himself afterwards, ha!) and literally fell into bed when we walked in the door at 9:30.


9:30! When did I become such an old lady?


We woke up today, Saturday, to a baby girl who wasn't acting herself. She was clammy and wouldn't wake up and I had a million articles from web md running through my head at what it could be. We finally got her awake enough to eat and then she perked up and the clammyness went away. I'm no doctor but my guess would be she was a little dehydrated from not eating or drinking alot while we were in the Big city and from throwing up.


Chores were finished, Arabic was studied (we took our final exam for our first book of Classical Arabic on Wednesday and now get to start book two!) naps were taken, Grace's four Christmas presents were wrapped, and tv was watched.


We ended our weekend with a mini date night, just Ian and I, by playing a game and watching episodes of Army Wives.


Whenever we start a new week at school, our teachers always ask us how our weekend was (in Arabic of course,) and my answer is always, "Too short!"


And this weekend, that holds true, it was much too short!

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Our Weekend