Author Archives: Chase & Britt
ten months
Gosh is it possible to love this sweet girl anymore!? Ah, I just love her to pieces! And since I am SUPER late in posting this I am not going to write as much, but share lots of pics from her 10th month. (can’t believe she will be 11 months in like 3 days!!)
Clothes: She is wearing mostly 9 month clothes, but can still fit into some 6-9 month. She is still in a tiny size 2 diaper! She is just a little bitty peanut.
Food: We are still nursing about 5 times a day with 3 meals and sometimes a snack after nap. She is not a huge fan of pureed baby food- she prefers to feed herself – miss independent. However, she loved the squeezable food pouches- she can even feed herself them! When we go out to eat we have been using a “tiny diner” mat and love it! We are also big fans of the “bumpkin” bibs- you can just throw them in the washing machine and they come out good as new.
On the menu this month:
- Canned green beans (however, I discovered that those have lots of salt in them- yes mother of the year award here- too bad, cuz they were super easy and quick to give her)
- Beans- black and kidney (loves them)
- Pancakes and waffles (loves them)
- Cheese (loves)
- Diced grilled chicken (likes it)
- Cheerios (loves them, esp in her “snack trap”- this will entertain her for at least 5 minutes! ha)
365
19: dancing with dad
20: “sha-la” (head covering)
21: returning full plates to our neighbor- when you receive plates of food from neighbors you always return them full….
22: fatoosh salad- yummy goodness
23: pool fun-love these girls to pieces
24: morning coffee view… not to shabby
25: silly faces at pizza hut
26: nanny & papa’s
27: breakfast with papa
28: Starbucks at the hospital
29: Sunrise— God is faithful and worthy to be praised!
all new 365
I am starting a 365 project again! I am super excited to pull my camera out on a more regular basis and hope to improve in my skills as well as document the everyday again.
Enjoy!
1: Sunrise over the ocean on the first day of Ramadan
2: Lunchtime… salmon salad= delicious
3: afternoon walk with the fam
4: power outage- thankful for close neighbors to eat lunch with
5: a little QT on the porch
6: drink to break fast during Ramadan
7: late night visits
8: my fav- chai tea: black tea with rainbow milk & lots of sugar
9: rubber ducky from our hotel stay in Dubai
10: 5 years with my love
11: ocean view swimming
12: lots of laundry after vacation (well everyday actually…)
13: what a great way to wake up! FaceTiming with Gramzi
14: family photo shoot with Jord
15: lunchtime… turkey sandwich with guacamole, pepper jack cheese and tomato = perfection
16: love the way a clean house feels
17: happy birthday to jord- celebrated with her fav: a fall party in July!
18: fashion show- sweet smile
nine months
Nine months to me feels like a whole different category of baby- like going from an infant to a baby… can’t believe I have a baby girl who is growing and developing more and more everyday.
Thought I would do a compassion of how much she has changed from 3, 6 and now 9 months! Its amazing. Didn’t realize she had chubby little cheeks till I look back…
Clothes: Believe it or not she can still wear some 3-6 month stuff, 6 month, but mostly I am putting her in 9 month clothes now, but she definitely has room to grow in them! She is still in size 2 diapers. This month she has had enough hair for me to put a rubber band in for a little pony tail! And it actually helps her keep in her bows which makes momma happy 😉 She also got her first pigtails this month… I die… too cute! (pictured below)
Food: Lydia is loving solid food way more this month. She wants just about anything I am eating. I am nursing her about 5 times a day and feeding her solids 2-3 times a day. I plan on working on dropping a nursing this next month in the mornings. In the picture below she had her first pancake! And of course loved it! She has gotten pretty good at picking up food and feeding herself- often prefers that over being spoon fed.
New foods on the menu this month:
- Apricots (loves them)
- Plums (they had them from the US at our grocery store… so yummy, was hard for me to want to share! ha- but she loved them)
- Pasta (hasn’t had a lot, but likes it since she can feed it to herself)
- Plain yogurt or with cinnamon (she really likes it, which is awesome cuz it is cheap and easy)
- Scrambled eggs (loved them- again cheap and easy)
- Chick peas (a great option for finger food)
She finds anything and everything, small or big, picks it up and puts it in her mouth. It amazes me that after I have swept the floor she still manages to find the one little crumb still left on the ground.
Sleep: We had a rough month of sleeping through the night again! I think a lot had to do with the move and that she was teething and got her FIRST TOOTH this month (actually 2 teeth!) So I think that had a lot to do with her waking up in the night and during nap time… poor girl, hated seeing her hurting. She also has become a weasel and cries (sometimes screams) at us to come get her at bedtime… I know that nothing is wrong because we changed her diaper, she was fed, we gave her meds when she was teeth and did the nightly bed time routine and every time we would run in to check on her she would smile and giggle real big at us while looking straight at the door and she would calm down as soon as we picked her up– yup we were suckers. Finally we decided we had to be strong and not let her win. So after several nights (maybe a week) of letting her “cry it out” and going in every 5-10 minutes to pat her bottom and whisper to her she has finally stopped doing that (for now anyway…) There were several nights where we let her cry for like 20 minutes- so so tough as a parent, but we knew nothing was wrong and she would eventually fall asleep.
We are in trouble with this face (above)… look at those eyes- how could we say “no” to them?! And notice her pacci… it is upside down- this is how it usually is since she puts it in herself now.
Other:
*Like I said above she got her first teeth this month! On June 25th I was getting her ready for bed and she was being fussy and so I was like, “are you getting a tooth?!”(which I had often checked before when she was fussy and nothing..) and so I stuck my figure in her mouth and sure enough I felt a tooth (left side)!! Such a cool moment- love being part of such big milestones in her life. It took about a week for the right one to join and then another week for them to come in… which equalled lots of drool, tears, cuddles, teething tablets, and time with momma. She really only wanted me for about two weeks and wouldn’t play on her own or be two feet from me…. as much as I loved it, it was a long two weeks…
It was quite the task to get a picture of those pearly whites, but I finally got one!
*She went swimming in her baby float for the first time on Father’s day and loved it!
* We celebrated Father’s day with a fun family day at home and at the pool. What a great dad Chase has become! He is so patient, loving, fun, and takes such good care of Lydia. I never worry about her when I leave her at home with him. He is so great and gets up with her in the middle of the night or early mornings and brings her to me (often he hears her crying when I don’t even budge!). He make her laugh all.the.time. It makes me love him more seeing how much he loves our baby girl.
She was d.o.n.e. with swimming and ready to eat!
*She started clapping this month! She does it all the time now and gets so excited when she does it.
* She has started to say “dadadadada” this month… don’t think she really associates it with Chase but she is defiantly making more sounds and different ones. She is quite vocal.
*Her crawling speed has sped up! I turn around for one second and she is in another room… I have to remember to make sure doors are closed and the baby gate is up!
* She has started reaching for you when you go to pick her up- so sweet.
*She loves to skype and FaceTime with family back home- its like she knows what we are about to do– she gets really excited when I start signing on and when she hears the ringing- you are loved by our Liddy Bug family! I wish we could see you in person more often but so thankful she is getting to know you through the internet- what a blessing!
*People are always telling us, “what a happy baby you have”, “does she ever cry?”, “is she always smiling?” … yes she cries, but generally she has such a happy sweet spirit and will smile for just about anyone.
*She is waving a whole lot more, and even without us showing her first… she has started to even do it when she is leaving the room… she looks back at us a waves her little fingers at us.
*We have started teaching her baby signs- “more”, “please” and “all done”– so far she hasn’t really picked it up yet, but we will keep trying!
*She loves to drink water from a big girl cup, especially when dad feeds it to her… of course it makes her clothes soaking wet, but she has fun doing it, so it’s worth it.
*She has been way more cuddly this month, which we love love!
This lasted about .2 seconds, but was still super sweet…
We love you sweet Liddy May. You have such a sweet loving personality. You are easy going, lovable, kissable, friendly active, busy, cute and so much more. We love watching you grow- can’t believe how big you have gotten… Thank you for making this parent thing such a joy.
We love you,
mom & dad
friday5
well, here we go again, late and behind- I guess thats the story of life with a 9 month old, moving and sporadic internet! I am actually hoping to start a 365 project again starting on July 10, the first day of Ramadan. I have honestly been missing taking pictures, learning about my camera, and capturing the small everyday things. So with Ramadan (the month of Muslim fasting) upon us, things tend to slow down a lot and so I felt like it would be a good time to start it up again.
1. date season
Fresh dates are in season right now and I am not going to lie, I am not a huge fan of them…. but man they love them. Dates are a huge part of the culture- they are served to guests with Arab coffee, used in baked goods, and they used to be a major food stable for the Bedouin people as they traveled across the desert for days with not much else to eat.
2. cuz limes
One of our neighbors has a lime tree! About an hour before sunset Chase, Liddy and I have been taking walks to meet new neighbors and explore our neighborhood and I discovered this tree! I would make a lot of Key Lime pies if I had this tree in my yard.
3. afternoon stroll
This is the alleyway I pass through as I go to visit local ladies in their outdoor mejlious (sitting area) along the beach. It’s almost surreal to me as I sit chatting and trying to understand the S0har dialect with the ocean waves crashing about five feet in front of me… I often have to remind myself that I am not on vacation. I look forward to many great conversations and yummy food to be eaten here.
4. my view
Sweet Liddy May is 9 months already! One of my favorite things she does these days is scrunch up her nose like this pic. Hard to believe how much I love this little girl.
5. the fourth
We had a great low key 4th this year especially compared to last year’s party where we had about 100 Americans over. My favorite part about this year’s party was the hamburger bar… caramelized onions, avocados, turkey bacon, queso… yummy!
*bonus pic* (Chase actually took this one)
Just thought this was a fun shot that Chase took. Am loving our new town because the people are always out! From about 5:30- sunset locals line the beach watching their kids and husbands play in the ocean while enjoying the breeze from the ocean. It is a great way to meet people and get fresh air!
eight months
Clothes: My little peanut can still wear 3-6 month clothes, 6 month and 9 month… not really sure how that works out, but the different brands all fit so differently. This month she has discovered the bow and won’t keep it in– and of course puts it directly into her mouth= chocking hazard! She even feels on top of her head of something when there isn’t even a bow. So, we are putting the bows up for a bit 🙁
Sleep: In the middle of packing, moving, and transition Lydia has been sleeping pretty good. She generally goes to bed between 8 and 9 and sleeps till 7 am. She then takes a nap till 10 or 11 and then again any where from 1 -3. Every once and a while she take a quick 20 min nap around 5 or 6. Lately she has just wanted me to put her to sleep. We have gotten into a little routine with getting ready for bed, nursing, rocking, singing (yes I sing to her, and only to her… sweet girl likes it 😉 ). She still sleeps with a swaddle without her arms wrapped or a sleep sack. She has to have her pacci to sleep and will grab it from my lab when she is down nursing and ready to sleep- too cute & way to little to be acting so old!
Food: Lydia is still nursing about 5-6 times a day and eating 1-2 solid “meals” a day. We have been on the go so much this month with moving, packing, and shopping that I have been as consistent as I would like to be with trying out new foods. I am hoping now that we are in our house and the kitchen is getting more settled she will get more variety of foods. She is liking foods much more and is way more curious when we are eating and generally wants to eat with us. She continues to eat from a spoon better for dad better than me- he likes that he gets to share this new experience with her.
On the menu this month:
- Lentils with sweet potatoes, celery, and onions (I found the recipe in a baby food book & she loves it)
- Applesauce (loved it)
- Bananas (loves them mushed up with rice, not by themselves yet)
- Bread (Arab, wheat, white, all of it- she likes it)
- Baby biscuits (loves them)
- Sweet potato puffs (loves them and is so cute picking them up & putting them in her month)
- Grapes cut up (loves the insides and spits out the skins)
- Mangos (not sure about these yet)
- Peaches (loved)
- Apples (she got a hold of Chase’s apple that he had taken a few bites out of and loved it! It entertained her for a while as she tried to bite/suck out the juices)
* About a week after Liddy started scooting on her belly she figured out how to crawl on her knees and has been on the go ever since. She seriously never sits still. It is so fun to watch her grow, learn, explore and discover.
* Around the same time as crawling (I didn’t write down the dates! ah- mid May) she started pulling up on stuff! She loves to stand and looks so proud of her self when she does it.
* On May 18th Liddy waved hi for the first time! She doesn’t do it consistently, but every once and a while she will bust it out again- so fun!
* On May 30th she stood up in her crib for the first time! I was sitting in her room packing up her dresser and I looked up right as she was pulling up and then stood. It made her look so much bigger/older than she is. It was also great timing because we took down her crib the next day for the move- so at the new house we lowered it.
* On May 31st she let go of the box of toys she was holding on to while standing and stood for a few seconds on her own! I couldn’t believe it. She attempts to do it more, but doesn’t have much luck- still working on strengthening her tummy muscles… I am in no rush for her to walk and stand, but i have a feeling it will be happening sooner than later.
* Lately at night when I am nursing her when she is tired and ready for bed she reaches in my lap and grabs her pacci, puts it in and lays back down… it is the cutest thing- makes her look so big!
* I love it when I am cuddling her and her pacci is in and Chase walks in the room and she gives him the biggest pacci smile there ever way- warms our heats
* She is still loving Praise Baby- she will sit for the entire 30 minutes and watch the video- it has been such a help while packing and unpacking. She cries out when it ends.
* When she plays she loves to crawl all over you.
* She responds really well to Liddy Bug- not as much to Lydia… wonder if she will be confused in first grade when the call her name? She may tell them, “No, I go by liddy bug”! ha
* She loves to stick her fingers in your mouth and then laughs.
* When you kiss the bottom of her feet she giggles and giggles.
* She has been such a trouper with our move- just going with the flow in the midst of boxes and packing, but I do feel like she has been more attached to me lately- which i will never complain about.
Still haven’t gotten the chance to weigh her, but my arms can tell she is defiantly growing! Out here you don’t have to take them to the doctor again till they are a year for their one year shot, so hoping we won’t have to take her in till then!
We love you sweet Liddy bug! So thankful for you. You melt our hearts and every time we think of you, you bring smiles to our faces. Can’t believe we are 4 months away from having you in our arms for a year!
love, momma & daddy
friday5
or monday5…. either way- my weeks keep zooming by as I chase my CRAWLER and pack up our house to move by the end of this week! So I am thinking for now this may be an ‘every other week’ project till we are more settled, or a ‘whenever I a get around to it’ project, but nonetheless I want to keep it going.
1. summertime
Watermelon is sold on almost every major street corner during this time of year. So tasty!
2. life lately
I know I have said it lots on here, but we have one busy bee! I love it, but it leaves me one tired momma at the end of the day. She is crawling everywhere and now starting to pull up. She looks so big peering into toy boxes (even if its the wrong toy box- this one is for older kids that come over..) and picking out which toy she wants to play with…
3. whole fruit
Fruit is served at almost every visit. Usually whole fruit sits in a basket next to a bowl of water, an empty plate, and a knife. After the greetings and small talk the host sits down, washes the fruit and then begins to cut the fruit in front of you and places it on a plate. Once way too much fruit is cut they begin to tell you to eat, eat while pointing at the plate, they will continue to randomly tell you to eat though out the entire visit. This is their way of honoring and serving you, their guest. Very different from our culture of “my house, is your house”, serve your self, eat when you want and however much you want.
4. lipstick kisses
This is Lydia relaxing after about 8 local women kissed, hugged, “mashallahed” (praise be to God- a phrase they use to compliment you without sounding jealous or like they want what you have), and photographed her. This is a common occurrence when we are out and about. I often walk by a group of women who, in Arabic, comment about Lydia and how cute she is and so I stop and greet them and start talking to them in Arabic (which 9 times out of 10 they are shocked that I am speaking to them in Arabic) and then proceed to let them plant big kisses on my baby’s cheeks. Luckily Lydia eats it all up and just smiles and lets them, at least for now.
5. gates
I want to share two things about gates… one, I love the way the look here. They are so ornate and beautiful. This one happens to be the gate to our new house! Two, inside these gates and outside these gates are two different worlds. Inside, is my “safe place”, my home, my little America and outside the gate is a foreign world, although much more familiar than two and a half years ago, but still a world that is so very different… a world where people speak differently, where I have to cover my arms and legs in 110+ weather, one where I have to choose to enter into- some days are easier than others. Even though I love the people here and feel much more comfortable than when we first landed it is still a daily choice that I have to make to enter into the world outside my gate.
I often wonder if there are women here that never step outside their gates, not because it is a foreign world to them, but because culturally it used to be the men that did all the errand running, carpooling of kids, working outside the home, etc. Times are changing now and more and more women are working and doing daily tasks on their own, but I still wonder how many of the older generation are used to just staying in and tending to the home. What a different world than the one I came from.
seven month old baby girl
(warning there are lots of pics on this blog… couldn’t decide which ones to use!)
All she was interested in was eating that flower on her shirt 😉
“what I can remove this sticker… and put in my mouth?!”
Clothes: Lydia can still wear 3-6 month clothes, but fits really well in 6 month, 6-9 month is pretty big on her. She is still wearing size 2 diapers and has had a lot less blow-outs since starting solids… not sure if I ever wrote about it before, (sorry if this is TMI- I am sure someday I will want to remember this?!) but she was infamous for her blow-outs, she prob had one at least twice a week if not more for about 5 months of her life… lots.of.laundry. I love putting Lydia in just about anything.. she is so fun to dress up! It is hard right now because outside and in the car it is HOT, but in the home the A/Cs are on and so different clothing is needed for each location- love baby legs for this reason- easy to put on and take off! (and great for crawling babies- that will be info for next month thou…) Oh and she just about always has a bow in! My mom’s friends asked her if she sleeps in bows!- no, but she does have one in from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to sleep 🙂
Sleep: Praise Jesus this has been a much better month of sleep! She has gotten herself into a nice little routine- goes to bed between 8:30 – 9 pm and sleeps till about 6:30-7, back down at 8- 10:30/11 and then naps again for about an hour and a half in the afternoon. Now this is by no means everyday… this is just what I would call her “normal”, but really what is “normal” with an infant?! For example, she woke up at 3:30 am wanting to eat last night…? who knows?! And somedays she only takes a 45 minute nap in the afternoons… not a fan of those ones 😉 But overall she is doing much better with sleep and loving her own room/crib and so are momma & daddy!
Food: She is still nursing about 5-6 times a day and eating solids 1-2 times a day. I must say, exclusively breast feeding is much more convienent, there have been several nights where we have completely missed giving her solids because of our busy schedule and/or because I forgot! Luckily, she is still getting most of (if not all) what she needs from me right now. Most of the time we have been adding rice cereal or oatmeal to the veggies that she has been introduced to. I have been making my own, mostly because it is cheaper and we only have apples and bananas in our local grocery store. I by no means judge any mom that doesn’t make her own baby food… it can be time consuming and overwhelming. But once you get a routine going it’s not so bad.
On the menu this month has been:
- Green beans (didn’t love those… we will keep trying)
- Sweet Potatoes (loved these- of course!)
- Pumpkin (verdit is still out on this one)
- Avocado (she liked it by the 3rd try!)
- Carrots (yummmy, but messy messy)
- Cucumber sticks (she loves these!)
Travel: We have mostly stuck close to home this month again. Except for going to S0har a few times to find our new house. She is still a pretty good traveler, but just gets board easier and doesn’t sleep as much in her carseat.
Other cute stuff she had been up to:
* On May 5th Liddy started scooting on her belly!! She is on the move- it’s game time around our house, cuz we have a busy bee. (I guess that technically happened in her 8th month, but close enough)
* She went to the pool for the first time this month and loved it. She was so cute splashing around and trying to grab for her toys. We have about a month left of pool weather (only in the mornings & evenings since it is already reaching 108 degrees!!) so I am hoping we will get to take her several more times.
* She has been “walking” around in our kitchen in the walker. It is so cute to see/hear her moving around the kitchen while I cook.
* We love love her giggles and she is super tickle-ish, so we can get lots of sweet giggles out of her.
* She loves watching the Praise Baby videos, which is one of the only times she sits still (unless she is sleepy). (the pic above is her watching it…)
* We got her a jumper toy (got a great deal- was looking forever and could only find ones for $200 for the same kind we could have gotten in the states for $80!, but we got this one for $70!) She really likes it, but doesn’t like to stay in it for too long…
* She is a great helper buddy to have around while I do laundry, clean, cook, & now pack! ha No, but really she does pretty good, I just have to keep one eye on her because she is a fast scooter and very curious. 🙂
* She still loves people and to be out and about. The other day when we went to go visit our new house, I was joking with our new neighbor that she could take Lydia home with her and I would come get her to feed her in an hour… I’m guessing that the joke didn’t translate in Arabic because she shut our gate and walked out! I looked at Chase and waited to hear cries, but nothing. I decided to follow her anyway and asked if I could join cuz I didn’t want to leave my baby girl. It worked out great because I got to meet all sorts of new neighbors! What a sweet door opener she is for us.
* Turns out Lydia loves puppies, which makes her daddy’s heart very happy. I just hope she doesn’t have allergies like her momma…
* I am not sure if it’s because I have had my camera in her face since day one of her life or what, but it just seems like she poses/smiles for the camera. Which of course, I love.
* I have been wanting to take pictures with Lydia in this adorable pink tutu since she was 6 months old and have never made it to the park where I wanted to take them, so I finally decided to just take them in our yard… the tricky part was at 6:45 pm (right before the sun went down) it was still 106 degrees outside!! So it was a quick photo shoot.
I wasn’t sure if she was going to do as well with how mobile she is these days, but I feel like she still did good!
* She loves to press her lips together and blow out when she is playing, after she wakes up, before she eats, just about whenever…
* When she gets excited about stuff she opens her mouth real wide and giggles.
friday5
So I have already missed a friday5… oops… Last Friday I was throwing a bridal shower for a friend and taking care of a puppy for another friend… so the day came and went and I never got around to post anything and as the week went on I just decided to wait till this Friday to post again.
1. Rain clouds
Last week it rained in our very dry desert for about 5 days (maybe more) straight! It was glorious! It cooled the temperatures down, cleared the dusty air, and made my heart oh so happy. I think it was record rain for out here. This picture was take on the road to S0har…. a few days later on this same road we had to pull over and wait because it was raining so hard- so strange, but so wonderful.
2. ruins
Lydia and I wanted to get out of the house so Chase took us on a drive around our town (again on a day we had clouds!). This is a pic of some old ruins that people used to live in probably about 50 years ago. This area was hardly developed (only 10 miles of paved road in the whole country) in the 70s- it has come a long way in development since then.
3. football
A.K.A. soccer… is a popular sport and played all over the country in the middle of mountains, along the beach, on the side of the road. Kids, teenagers, and adults all head out around 5 pm and play till the sun goes down. Not a bad view to play soccer in!
4. trash
Thought I would share a not so pretty picture of the area we live in… unfortunately lots of the bushes around town end up looking like this… one, because of the wind that carries the trash from the dumpsters and two, because the local people here are not too concerned with keeping their environment clean and aren’t fans of using trash cans. When you camp or picnic in the wadis there is usually a lot of trash (diapers, food, bags, etc..) all over the place… it is sad that it gets polluted because the surroundings are so beautiful here.
5. bait jadeed!
That’s right! This is our new house! We are moving to the coast at the end of this month!! It all happened so quick. We went down to look at houses on a Saturday and then again on Tuesday and that night (after only seeing 2 houses) we decided the first one we saw was the one for us! Chase did his thing and got us a great rental price. We feel so thankful and so blessed that it all fell into place. And we are a 3 minute walking distance from the beach! And if that wasn’t good enough, our best friends, Drew & Jord will also we living a 3 minute walk from our house starting in the middle of June!! I was in shock for the first few days and now that the reality has set in, we are super excited… now I just have to get a system down for packing with a scooting (almost crawling) 7 month old- who is into.everything!
*bonus pic*
6. new best friend
Lydia and Posey, the puppy we watched this last week. Lydia LOVED her (she would giggle and get so excited whenever they were in the same room) and Posey was SO great with Lydia… even when she was pulling at her like this pic 😉 It made me excited for the future of having a dog again because of how much she loved her, but I also realized we are so not in a stage of life where we are wanting a dog… a week was plenty for now.
friday5
I have been tossing around a few ideas in my head about how to change up our blog a little bit to document our lives out here, along with keeping you all up with whats been going on and for it to not always be just about Lydia, as I am sure you all just tolerate love looking at our beautiful daughter, you would appreciate some other things as well! (well, maybe the grandparents are ok with it just bing about Lydia, but still…)
And since I haven’t started a 365 photo project again this year (one day I want to do it again cuz I miss taking pictures everyday, learning new things, and documenting our daily lives, but now is just not the time), I was thinking I would do a friday5. Which will consist of five fun things from the week and will be posted (hopefully) on Fridays- hints the friday5 🙂 Some of the things I post will be mundane everyday things, some will be of our life out here in the desert. I hope to start taking pictures of the culture and country that we live in again, to get excited about the small stuff that makes up the people, the smells, the sounds, and the tastes of where we are living during this time of our lives. It is easy to just get stuck in the mode of living; laundry, dishes, cooking, baby care, trying to speak Arabic and be understood and all the while forget that we have been given an awesome opportunity to experience something really cool and interact with some really great people- I mean how many people get to say that the lived in the Arabian Peninsula?! I know that I will still be posting about Lydia often, but hopefully this will be a nice break in between 🙂 (and maybe, just maybe you will hear from Chase some too!).
So, without further adieu, here is my friday5.
1. a trip down the coast
Right now we are in the process of doing market research for our business and in order to get a better feel for the country we took a trip down the coast at the beginning of the month to check out potential locations for business and to live. (I hope to have more info coming on this soon!) It was so great to take a trip to explore Oman and especially be close to the sea! Many of the people in Oman along the coast are fishermen by trade and so as you drive up and down the coast you see fishing boats, nets, fishermen and sometimes even their catch of the day!
2. excellent hosts
The people here are superb hosts and put anyone in America to shame when it comes to honoring their guests by serving them their best food, fruit, hottest coffee/tea, local dates and sweets. Anytime you visit a local home you can expect to be served some sort of food or fruit along with a hot beverage or juice, whether they have a ton of money or hardly anything. The picture above is of a local chicken dish with a soup-y bread underneath, it is only made in the home and it can’t be purchased at restaurants! Pretty tasty.
3. a local commodity
Frankincense is grown all over here. It used to be a major commodity that was exported all over the world in ancient times. It can be smelled today in the malls and when taking a walk outside from our neighbors houses when they are burning it in their homes. Above is a picture of a frankincense tree in bloom!
4. embracing the culture
Lydia has become quite the popular one among my local friends or just the random passer-by. I have to be very trusting and comfortable when it comes to taking Lydia out into this culture, they love to hold her, kiss her, and take her from me. They often try to walk away with her to show their other family members or friends, I have to tell them that she will want me near to her to give me an excuse to follow them. This is something I am still learning how to let go and trust, but it does warm my heart to see how much they love her and to see her giggle and smile for them. Once on a local visit a friend gave her a taste of honey! I about screamed NO, but it was too late, I just said a little prayer of protection, hoping that she would be ok and not have any reactions- thankfully she did not- I am learning that anything goes when it comes to kids here. I am embracing some of the things, letting go of some and not joining in for others.
5. local visits
I am trying to get in a more regular routine of visiting my friends with Lydia. It is a tricky balance because they of course always want me to bring her and I want to bring her, but often times visits don’t start till 8:00 pm and she usually goes down between 8:30 and 9…. I am ok with her having a later bedtime if she has taken an afternoon nap, which sometimes is still sporadic. I have also struggled with feeling like I have nothing to offer my friends if I don’t bring Lydia with me- she consumes most of my time, is most of what I think about and lets me honest is way more fun than me… although I need to get over this and be confident that my friends loved me before Lydia and will still want me around even if she stays home with dad. Plus, I don’t love leaving Lydia much right now anyway… learning the balance.
