No girls allowed!

Josh received an email from work about a fun family day that was being planned. This included camel rides, fun foods, and those jumpy houses that Elise just loves. He told me about it and he had told me it was just for men. So, I thought--well, that's a little strange...but a whole Saturday to myself?! While Josh takes the girls to a party! I might just be able to take a shower...or better yet read a magazine! 

However, the next day after talking to some of the guys at work he slowly came to the realization that the party was for men only...meaning no girls..not even children! Yes everyone...that means--the "family" day was for men and their sons......
 There's not much else to say about that ( at least nothing I can say on a public blog).

We experienced our first dust storm this week. It was crazier than I had imagined! It is literally like raining dust. We had the driver take us to pick up the kids and we had to cover their faces with scarves. It took the rest of the day to get all the dust out of the house. The cars are covered in it and you are constantly coughing.

We went to Khobar for the weekend to purchase a few things for the house. We bought some lawn chairs and a grill. We got an update on our sea shipment--it arrives in Saudi on April 8 and it will take 10-20 days to clear customs. It's possible we will get it before Easter. I'm so thrilled!

They don't have escalators here...

These are two pictures I snapped to get an idea of what the sides of the highways look like. They have lots of billboards just like we do. They also have people selling random items on the side of the road.

I have yet to see a billboard with a woman on it.

Our friend Alex came along for the ride. He helped us find the much needed baby gate for the house. It was a whopping 250 US dollars!! Most things are double the cost over here.

It is really hard to find your favorite things over here to eat. We have yet to find applesauce and cream of chicken soup. I am also desperately looking for swim diapers!

This is a picture of a part of our master bath. This is a foot bath. All of the villas we are in were designed for Muslims. I'm not sure how often they wash their feet, but it is a lot I think. 

I'll end with another fun fact--I've only been here for two weeks and the country has just recently banned my name. They are saying it is an inappropriate name. It is now against the law to name your baby Lauren. I'm scared as hell to tell anyone my name is Lauren. I'm thinking of randomly changing it whenever I'm asked. SaudiArabiabanLauren

Lab Work, Bathrooms, and Ikea...oh my!

We had an adventurous and emotional first weekend here in Saudi. The weekends here are on Friday and Saturday. It can get quite confusing for us rookies here! On Sunday it feels like Josh should not be going to work!! It just feels wrong. 
This is a picture of the girls getting ready for group. All of the kids go to some one else's house. Elise had a blast--Claire stayed with me as she is still pretty quiet! 

Friday afternoon, we had a lot of work around the house to do. We are still organizing and putting away things! It's really hard to be motivated to get it all done when everything is upstairs--where no one else can see it! My downstairs looks immaculate, but the upstairs is a whole other story. I can't wait for our sea shipment to get here so I can finally make the house look like a home.

We celebrated Mardi Gras here. The kids got all dressed up and we had a parade on the compound! We all called it "Saudi Gras."

Saturday morning our driver came to pick us up at 8 AM to go to the doctor to get some lab work done for the kids and myself. We were told earlier in the year, the kids would not need any blood work so needless to say this momma was not happy! Josh had already warned me about the facility, so my expectations were very low. So, I will say, I was pleasantly suprised to notice that it wasn't as dirty as I was expecting.  The problem that I had with this blood work, is that it wasn't taken at a pediatric unit. These nurses (who by the way, were very kind and sweet) do not know how to deal with taking children's blood. There are no heel pricks or finger sticks here...they tried to take blood from my babies through their arms!!! It was a terrible, horrible experience. I had to hold Elise down and cover her eyes throughout. They stuck Claire several times, and finally Josh had enough and told them to stop. Claire still has bruising on her arm. Then, we had to go get x rays. That wasn't as big as an issue--even though I do not like the fact that my children had to have x rays when we had a note from our pediatrician saying they were in good health.
OKAY--end rant! If you want me to complain some more about it-I could go on forever. Bottom line--we should have been sent to a pediatrician's office and should have been warned about how traumatic this was going to be for the kids.....

I also had to get an x ray done. They made me take a pregnancy test before they would scan me. I had to wait a few NERVOUS minutes for that one! I thought--please Lord...if you tell me I'm pregnant I would just have to laugh at this point!! No pregnancy for me though! The nurse took me back into the x ray room and told me to remove my ababya. So, I started to remove it while she was talking to me and she turned her back to me and said,"no, no, miss...discretion, go behind the curtains!"...I was not naked under my abaya people!! I had a shirt and shorts on! However, they think legs and arms are considered sexy I guess! It was very interesting to me...and she made me feel like I was crazy for taking it off in front of her.

After that, we went to IKEA and the mall. It takes about an hour to get there. The girls both napped on the way there. They were exhausted from the morning. I finally really cried when they fell asleep. I hate that we had to put them through that today.

The girls loved IKEA and Elise was very happy because her new friend Lauren was there also! We treated the girls to ice cream since they had such a crazy morning! We picked up a few organizational things and left around 3. The IKEA was just like the one in Houston. We also got a chance to swing by Pottery Barn Kids and had lunch at Outback. The food was great and I was so happy to get to a small taste of home! Now...if only they would franchise a Sonic and a Pappasitos out here!!

Some interesting things we found while shopping. They use a sharpie on every single box that has women's skin showing. How would you like to have that job?

So, the other issue that came up was the restroom. There are very few American toilets. When you have a 3 year old who doesn't know how to squat over a toilet--let alone be tall enough to do that...you have a messy problem! I tried holding her, that didn't work. My solution is I'm going to have to bring my travel potty with me everywhere we go. It is so disgusting and the ground is covered in water from the sprayer. This is a picture of the "Western" potty we used.

Driving around Saudi, you notice that they really should implement an "adopt a highway" program for all the trash/litter. The streets have trash everywhere and they also do not recycle anything!! It feels so wrong to throw our soda cans in the trash.

Elise started playschool this last week and she has really been enjoying it! It goes up to the age of 5 here and Claire can start when she turns 1. There are lots of children in the school and they all play very well together. It is on the compound, which I love--We just walk down the street! How convenient!

Next year, I'm probably going to send her to the International school here. I am very hesitant to do so, because 1. I don't want to send her to school all day!!---I can't let her go--I feel like she is too young 2. The school is off the compound. 

I do think it's the best decision for her though. She needs to start doing some type of academic work and even though I am a teacher...she will not listen to me!!=) 

We were on our way shopping and Claire stole Savannah's bottle! It was so cute! She loved it!

Well, nap time is almost over and if I want to have any time to get anything else done, I better finish this post!!

Jet Lag, Camel Meat, and Business Class

Well, we made it! You know that feeling ladies, after you've just had your baby? A feeling of pure exhaustion, but yet accomplishment? Like, you could conquer the world! Well, that's exactly how I felt, when we arrived to the compound, minus all the physical pain (thank goodness). I was so proud that we did it! We traveled with two children, for 24 hours, under the age of 4 to what feels like a whole other world.

Let me tell you why the Kardashians of this world don't mind flying--it's because they are treated like royalty! Riding business class I'm sure compares no way in how the rich and famous fly-but it was AMAZING! We were treated so well. They helped us with the kids. They brought us food, wine, food, wine, and more wine!  The girls were also overall pretty good! Claire had her crying moments--like any 11 month old would! Hell, there were some moments where I wanted to cry and scream too. Elise loved getting to sit by Daddy and got to watch Frozen, several times.  "If you want to build a snowman..." That little bag I packed her, was never even open! There was so much to do and see, I didn't need any of it!

Now, when we fly again it will be coach--so that might be a totally different experience. 
I would say Josh and I probably got at least 2 hours of sleep--which I would consider a pretty good success. 

We had a layover in Germany for 6 hours. We stayed in the United Lounge, which was really nice-I even got to take a nap!

 Elise was excited to ride the train back and forth between the terminals.

This is Elise saying," I need an iPad too Mommy"

Our first day, we woke up to fruit and cereal. BeBe and Papa had stocked our fridge with fresh fruit and Mom made me two dinners and put them in the freezer!! There were also fresh flowers on the table. It was so nice to have those things especially when all we wanted to do was sleep!

Getting over jet lag was harder than I expected. It's hard to get back on a schedule, when you want to sleep the day away and stay up all night! Thank goodness for Tylenol PM. 

The last time Elise fell asleep in my arms like this, she was a baby. I loved that she did this!

 The ladies here are so welcoming and friendly! We have been busy everyday! Our friend Jeanette took us to the local grocery store to help me navigate my way through. There were a few American products, but they were very expensive. They did however, have camel meat! I don't think I will be serving any of that...

They have a great app for prayer times that I've been using!  I haven't ventured out in the afternoon, so the prayer times haven't affected me yet. As soon as prayer time starts, you have to be in the grocery store or inside the restaurant. They shut everything down.

Two things I am very thankful I brought! Trader Joe's COOKIE BUTTER and my double BOB stroller. I can eat my cookie butter with a spoon and travel around the compound with my stroller. It's the little things in life! Thank you for all your continued prayers!

Here we go...

Time has been flying by and on Wednesday, as long as our paperwork has gone through--we will be off to the land of sand. I haven't said on my blog--since this is public--but Josh has been gone the past six weeks. He had to go to Saudi first to get his work visa and the iquama. I would explain everything to you if I understood everything. So, google it I guess if you want to learn more about it.
So, the past six weeks I've been a single mommy! It has been challenging, fun, exhausting, and exciting. Only moms can understand!! Suffice it to say, most nights I would reward myself with a glass of wine (or two).

It really wasn't that bad though--we kept so busy during the day! My sisters, in laws, and friends kept me very busy during this time!

 It snowed one day!! You could barely see it, but just enough that Elise could make out those tiny flurries!
Very exciting day in southeast Texas!

Pawpaw and Granny constantly spoiled us with dinners out!

It was a yucky day and the boys came over to play. Should have gotten a picture of their faces when they saw the jumpy house in the den!

Nothing sweeter than this!

I had to call our awesome friends one night when our garage door decided to stop working! Thanks Andrew for the help!

Celebrating New Years toddler style!

Josh sent me this picture to let me know they do sell the Squeezable applesauce! I'm so thrilled because Elise is obsessed with them!!

This is a picture of the back of our condo.

Josh was finally home! We had a balloon and poster ready for him at the airport. Claire couldn't hang! 

Elise ran up to him and gave him big hugs! 

Josh's choice of food was a beer and Pappasitos!

We have also been spoiled by many visitors and care packages! Ms. Norma came by to see us and brought us awesome goodies from Thailand. 

My friend Cristal spoiled me by having me over for dinner and bringing me dinner while Josh was gone! She also got us come cute "Texas" theme gifts!

We had so much fun at her Valentine party for the kiddos!

Erin and the boys made the girls special Teddy Bears at Build a Bear--they were so cute! Even though, they each have one-Elise has taken both of them-she says she will let Claire have hers when she asks for it...mmm....

My friend Darci treated me to a pedicure!! It was so wonderful to have a night out without kiddos!

Thanks Darci!

We spent one of our last nights with our precious neighbors-Emily and Andrew-who are expecting a sweet girl! We will miss our weekend dinners with you both!

Our empty room =( 

Moving people let us get in the front of the truck! Very cool-Elise got to blow the horn!

Our last day with our best buddies we spent at the zoo. We had so much fun playing together! There were lots of tears when we parted. It makes me sad thinking of all the things we are going to miss out on. These boys are so special to me and Elise. It was very sad to say goodbye.

This is what I have packed for Elise for the plane. It might be overkill--but better to be prepared!!

Granny treated Elise and I to manicures and pedicures on our last day! Elise didn't know what to think about being pampered. Being a girl rocks!

Here's to a safe flight and happy babies!