First Craig bought rinse for the dishwasher, then I bought hand-washing dish soap and, after playing in Anna's room for a while came out to find a soapy kitchen. I think we've finally gotten it straightened out now with a bottle of dish detergent marked in English that it is for the dishwasher.

One big difference between Qatar and Korea is hot water. In Qatar there was no need to wait for hot water (it was scalding or more scalding right away) and here we have to remember to press a button to turn on the hot water before washing dishes or taking a shower. I had also forgotten the luxury of heated floors (we don't need them now but we'll love them this winter!).

A second difference between Doha and Okpo is that I was at Whole Mart (a new store since we were here last time so I had to check it out; it wasn't that great) with the kids and walked past a Westerner (Australian) and we stopped to talk. She has a son who is 3 weeks younger than Sarah. Unfortunately neither of us had a pen to exchange numbers but since Okpo is a small town, I'm sure we'll run into each other again. Extremely rarely did another Westerner even acknowledge you in Doha.

Posted by Becky at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna, Sarah, my mom, and I went to Old Navy and Target today and Sarah took a short nap in Target and I had the hardest time getting her to take a real nap at home although it was clear that she needed one. I guess we're reaching the point where we can't let her fall asleep while we're out (which makes it hard because she has a hard time staying up for more than an hour and twenty minutes at a stretch).

Since Sarah didn't nap well, I left her at home with Grandma & Grandpa while Anna & I went to the airport to pick up Craig. Sarah refused the bottle again. Hopefully she was just not hungry and it's not the bottle in general.

Anna was so excited to have Craig back with us she talked non-stop from the airport (even more non-stop than usual which is impressive). She ran around my parents' yard like crazy and then had the hardest time falling asleep tonight. We are all glad to have Craig back with us!

Craig did get the villa packed on Sunday and the movers took the boxes on Monday. So, we shouldn't have to go back to Doha at all. We just need to get everything arranged with his company now.

Posted by Becky at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The movers are coming to pack up the our villa in Doha on Sunday. Hopefully everything else will start falling into place soon. (Craig sold Korando last week so we won't have anything in Qatar once Craig departs next week.)

Posted by Becky at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Things I'll miss about Doha (relative to our new place in Korea, not relative to the US):

• The friends Anna & I have made in our playgroup
  
• Activities for kids (like music class, etc.)
  
• Good shopping (both "stuff" and groceries)
  
• Winter weather was pretty great!
  
• The Corniche
  
• Camel-spotting
  
• The beach (although we never checked out Korea's beaches so we might be happy with theirs as well)
  
• Starbucks at every mall
  
• Having a carousel so close by (and kids play-areas in every mall and most restaurants)
  
• We didn't get to try it, but I like the selection of pre-schools here much more than what Okpo has to offer.
  

Things I won't miss about Doha

• Dealing with the administration at Al Ahli hospital
  
• Slow Internet
  
• Q-Tel!
  
• The time difference between battery-powered clocks and ones plugged into the wall (the frequency of the Qatar electric grid is too fast so I have to re-set the clock in Sarah's room about once per week or else it gets too far ahead to make sense anymore (I need a digital clock in there for my night-visits to her room)).
  

Posted by Becky at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yesterday my mom & I drove to Hyatt Plaza and Carrefour and I wished we had taken a video because it seemed like every street and every turn we were coming across some wild traffic (people cutting us off, pulling out in front of us, driving on the wrong side of the road, etc.). So today Craig, Anna, & I went out and I had the camcorder and taped the entire drive. Nothing remarkable happened at all (which, in the end, is actually preferable, I realize!).

Posted by Becky at 8:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We said goodbye to the Sorento today. The guy who bought it is also potentially interested in Craig's Korando. Surely it can't be that easy.

Posted by Becky at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have asked myself a million times what the public hospitals could be like if the private one we chose is so irritating a lot of the time. We could get free health care along with everyone else at the public hospital but the reason we chose to go private (and get reimbursed for most of it through our insurance) was we wanted Craig to be in the delivery room with me for Sarah's birth. And we live really close to the hospital we chose so it is convenient for the pediatrician, it is new, etc.

However, the inefficiency of the administrative staff there continues to amaze me. I have to wonder if it's worse or actually better with the public hospital. I went to my six-week follow-up appointment with my OB last week (and complained about the doctor who delivered Sarah while I was there) and asked for my records and the kids records since we are leaving Doha. Dr. Rizvi said they'd type up a report for me and to come back in one week. So, Anna & I drove over yesterday and neither the pediatrician's nor the OB's people had made the copies. I got Anna & Sarah's files (because there wasn't much there anyway, just a couple of vaccinations) but have to go back again for mine because the report wasn't written for me. I will actually be surprised if it is ready today.

Also, getting "a copy of your files" is not like in the US. The pediatrician's receptionist had to tell the records-lady what we were "allowed" to have a copy of. Why not just copy the whole folder and be done with it? It is, after all, my health (or my children's health) we're talking about, not this hospital's health (or their concern anymore when I leave the country). I am really interested to see what is in my "report."

Posted by Becky at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have to shoot everything in our house at ISO 1600 and forgot to change the ISO when we got to the fort: oops!

I adjusted the exposure in Adobe Bridge and got kind of a cool effect.

Luckily, my mom also took a photo with her camera... (Photo by Adele)

A Petrol station I decided I had to take a picture of but ended up not wanting to wait for my lens to de-fog (from stepping out of the air-conditioned car into the desert heat) so you can see a bit of fog around the edges of the photo.

I've been wanting this photo since I saw the sign back in December or January but we never took the North Road anywhere after that trip to Al Khor. (Photo by Adele)

Camels!

Note the camel's front legs are tied together so they can't get too far too fast. (Photo by Adele)

My mom, Anna, & I went for a drive up to Al Zubara Fort this morning. A guy asked if we wanted to go into the fort but Anna didn't want to get out of the car (couldn't blame her, really!) so we just took a couple of photos and continued on our way. We were feeling pretty sorry for ourselves that we hadn't seen any camels yet on our way home and then I spotted a bunch crossing the road in the distance so we did a u-turn and got pretty close to them; I think it was the highlight of the drive for all three of us.

Posted by Becky at 8:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My favorite sleep book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child says that babies will reach their "peak fussiness" at six weeks from the due date. As I've said before, Sarah's fussiness is not nearly as bad as Anna's was (although Sarah does have her moments—she's having one right now, actually). I am just hoping that the "peak fussiness" includes the older sibling at six weeks from the birth of the younger sibling. Anna had a major freak-out this afternoon that is making me really nervous for dealing with jet-lag-Anna in a few weeks (and then one or two more times this summer depending on whether we go straight to Korea from the US or come back to Qatar from the US and then go to Korea from here). I just have this awful feeling that things are going to be less-than-fun until we get settled in Korea and I hope I'm wrong about that.

Posted by Becky at 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I wish I had something to write about this weekend but I think these kids are wearing me (and Craig and my mom) down! We went to out to Sarai (Middle Eastern food) on Friday night and Sarah slept in the sling the whole time. Today, my mom & I did a bit of shopping with Anna in tow. And just like that, the weekend is over. I really hope to get my mom out to see some camels before she leaves; maybe next weekend.

Posted by Becky at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You can see that we have a very nice selection of eggs at Megamart. Photo by Adele

We ventured out to Landmark Mall today to hit the carousel (grandma & Anna rode), the grocery store, and get some Starbucks (Anna got "chocolate-to-go"). Sarah slept the entire time in the Hotsling: yay!

Posted by Becky at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have to go back to the Souk to get another tea set for Sarah.

Grandma made Anna a bunch of really nice felt strawberries: it was love at first sight for Anna.

Grandma made Anna some more cookies: lemon & chocolate chip. Lucky these are sugar-free!

Anna, my mom, & I went to the souk yesterday morning. It was so warm out we had to stop and get a drink at a coffee shop. We did get a few souvenirs but I now need to go back as I want to get something nice for Sarah from Qatar and I need to get her her own tea set. I guess the heat impaired my ability to realize I needed these things while I was there.

Posted by Becky at 9:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think Grandma's first words about Sarah were, "she's got red hair!"

Craig & Sarah passed out on the couch while Grandma, Anna, & I were picking up a few things at the Villagio.

Anna was pretty proud of the Earthworm Birthday Cake we made for Grandma (just like in the Max & Ruby book, Bunny Cakes).

My mom's flight came in on time and we were all glad to see her. She brought a ton of fabulous things in her suitcase, including an Elmo plate and the stuffed Elmo I ordered for Anna. I'll post video of Anna discovering her Elmo plate later on.

Posted by Becky at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am officially counting down the hours until my mom gets here tonight (nine more hours!). The funny thing is that the last couple of days have gone really well. So well that I've gotten some down-time in the middle of the day and no major battles (Anna is sometimes not the best listener when it's time to go upstairs for her afternoon rest and Sarah sometimes doesn't want to fall asleep when she's "supposed" to). Sunday was so bad that Craig stayed home on Monday to help me and ever since then I've been feeling better and things are going better, too. At any rate, I know Anna's going to have fun with my mom and I can stop feeling guilty about splitting my attention between the two kids. Now, hopefully my dad can survive a month without my mother (it's not too late to come out for a week, dad!)...

Posted by Becky at 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'll have to take a picture of the page from Richard Scarry's Best First Book Ever so you can appreciate the significance of this picture. Anna saw the page and suddenly needed her triangle stick and I think we both thought to draw the "eye chart" on the chalkboard at the same time.

I was happy to eat my words on this one: Sarah randomly fell asleep on the Gymini this afternoon! It was only for about 10-15 minutes though.

Anna started getting a cold on Sunday, I got it Tuesday, and now Sarah is getting it. I guess it's partly because we never get out of the house because it is just too hot (at least that's my running excuse!). I am really looking forward to getting to Colorado this summer and I think Korea's four seasons will be a welcome change (although I know the winter is nice here, it's just been too hot for too long already and it's not even summer yet!).

Posted by Becky at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two nights ago, Anna would not sit down in the bathtub, she stood, put her bum in briefly and and said, "too hot!" Craig turned off the water heater in that bathroom and the next night she took a bath. There is very little cold water left as the tanks sit outside in the sun all day. Even in the morning I have the shower turned almost all the way to cold and it comes out pretty warm. I realize this is supposed to get worse and that eventually we'll have to run the girls' bath water early in the day so it will have time to cool off before bath-time.

Posted by Becky at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anita, Anna, & I got out to experience the thrill of sitting in too much traffic today. We had to stop and get Gertie some food and then wanted to go to the Villagio for lunch and to get a few things at Carrefour. I chose the absolute worst route and we sat in a lot of traffic. Really the traffic here is pretty ridiculous because it's not that big of a city but it just takes forever to get across town because there are too many cars, the lights are not timed well, and there is a ton of construction. Thankfully today was just exceptionally bad and not the norm or else Anna & I would never go out!

Posted by Becky at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Becky at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Driving through the desert today on the way to the beach, Anna looked out the window and said, "there's some dirt!"

Posted by Becky at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I got a phone call tonight from the hospital and I thought for sure they were rescheduling my appointment tomorrow morning, but it was the pediatrician "confirming" that Anna needs to come in on Thursday to do a TB Skin test. I say confirming with quotes because this was the first I had heard we were to come in. All of this immunization stuff over here makes me nervous just because it is slightly different than at home but I feel like we have to do what they do here because we're here and not at home... It's also hard for me to keep it all straight (but I've ordered some little immunization record books to keep track of each of the girls vaccinations so hopefully that will help keep it all organized as we move around the globe).

Posted by Becky at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lowercase alphabet puzzle.

"G is for Gloves" (but that's what I get for shopping at a British toy store). Not a real problem in my book.

I mentioned the G is for Mittens thing to my friend Claire from the UK and she said that yes, they do call them gloves; I didn't ask if gloves are also called gloves though.

I found another puzzle at Giant that looked good last week but am really bothered by one of the pieces.

Oh yes, "X is for X-mas!" of course!

I actually saw this same X is for X-mas description at the Japanese one-dollar store today. The puzzle I bought was made by an Indian company. I am planning to take a picture of a xylophone and tape it over the Christmas tree because it bothers me so much. It just doesn't make sense!

Posted by Becky at 9:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All of the products in the grocery store have Arabic instructions/information stuck over (usually) the most important part of the English instructions/information. Luckily all of these stickers are pretty peel-able and I've always been able to read what I need to make the food inside.

Posted by Becky at 7:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just couldn't not buy these dolls (Barbie-sized). I asked Craig if we should give them to Anna but we decided not to for now since we don't want her to latch on to them and have to bring them out to the mall with us. Jamila is the woman and she has henna on her hands. Jamil is her Arabic friend. Jamila has two other "friends" for sale at the store, an Egyptian woman (her best friend) and an Indian woman.

Posted by Becky at 7:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It took a couple of eggs to get Anna into the Easter egg "hunt" but she liked finding them all. I asked her if she wanted to find out what was inside the eggs or eat the eggs we colored last night and she said she wanted to eat the eggs we colored. She liked picking out which color egg she and I would eat and then after breakfast, she was thrilled to find stickers inside all of the eggs she collected. She made three two-page spreads of sticker art (I usually limit her to one sheet of stickers because you just can't get stickers here like at home, thus our Nana & Grandma suppliers are always high in demand).

I should also note that I had my mom send the Easter egg dye kit (I have only seen Easter candy here, nothing else Easter-y and I have not seen any food coloring in the stores) and that I bought those plastic eggs last year before we decided to go to Paris over Easter; glad they made it in the shipments so we could enjoy them!

Posted by Becky at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's no wonder I've been feeling warmer lately. We've had the air conditioning on for a few months now but I've attributed my warmth to being pregnant. When I actually took the time to click on my own link to current weather here in Doha (on the right), I see that the high today was 89 degrees and 73% humidity. That would explain why the pool has been feeling really nice lately! Now I almost wish I didn't know what the temperature was... it's going to be an interesting spring and summer!

Posted by Becky at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's not really up to us, but it's one of our hottest topics to discuss each day right now. When Craig was originally offered this assignment, we were to spend part of the three years in Qatar and the other part in South Korea. By the time we arrived in Qatar, no word of moving to South Korea was being spoken and it looked like we might spend the entire three years here. Now, after some meetings last week, South Korea is being discussed again. Of course there is no time-frame for this and it could not happen. Here are the things that I want out of our living situation:

• Move out of this particular villa so we are off of the street.
• Just move one time: either across town or to Korea. (However, if we are not moving to Korea until, say, June 2008, then I will be happy to move across town to get away from the street noise in this villa.)

In my dream world we will go home for a month this summer and instead of flying back to Qatar, we fly to Korea. Part of this dream is that they pack up our stuff before we leave for the US so four weeks of air-shipment and sea-shipment waiting time is spent while we are vacationing in the US. I honestly don't see that happening but, well, it would be nice. I just hope Anna can handle the next move as smoothly as she handled the move from the US to Qatar. Baby Girl will be fine as long as I can keep my stress-level down I am sure. Who knows what Gertie is going to do.

Until we know anything I have to operate on the thought that we're staying here. I find it really hard to "live" my life when big unknowns like this are looming over my head.

Posted by Becky at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I really try to maintain a positive outlook on the place where I am living since, from my observations, those who complain about where they are living tend to be unhappy and those who find the positive tend to be happier. I can get over crazy drivers, they are everywhere. I can get over poor service in restaurants because we really should be eating at home more. The one thing I cannot get over is the fact that there is a law in Qatar against smoking indoors and yet every time we are out we see (and smell) people smoking inside the malls.

There is a giant no-smoking sign as you walk in Landmark Mall. There is just about one no-smoking sign per wall and column at Starbucks. People typically don't smoke inside Starbucks but "outside" in the mall walkways, as if they think they're outside. Now, maybe I could get over this if their cigarette smoke wasn't drifting toward me (35 weeks pregnant) and my daughter (2 years old) and ruining our experience and our air.

I have yet to work up the nerve to say anything to anyone because as I see it, it is something that is just overlooked. I get that native Qataris probably think they're above the law or whatever but then the expats do it, too. Today I really and truly almost said something to the Qatari man or the expat woman smoking near us (we were sitting there first!). Instead we just got up and left. I'm leary of saying anything to a Qatari because I don't want to get us deported (no, I don't think that that is so far-fetched) so if my short fuse blows one of these days it will probably be directed at an expat.

It's not the smoking so much that gets my temper flaring as the blatant disregard of the no-smoking signs posted everywhere. If it were legal I'd suck it up and deal with it better but I can't help but feel endlessly frustrated in this particular situation.

Posted by Becky at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna & I hosted our first playgroup today with a new set of moms & kids. Anna was a little leary of sharing her toys with the first kid who came, but once there were more she got over it. Seven moms (including myself) and seven kids with five of the moms expecting another between April and August! Because I find it interesting, I just want to note where each of the moms are from: Scotland, England, Russia, New Zealand, Germany, Morocco, and USA (me).

Overall, I think it went really well and we are planning to get together again next week (that's the best indicator I have that it went well at this point!). I really hope this works out and Anna, Baby Girl, & I make some good friends in the end.

Posted by Becky at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The bouncy room; she never really made it past the entrance but claimed to have fun "jumping" in the "jumping room."

Anna hopped on the pony like she's been riding all her life—no hesitation.

Surly camel.

At first, Anna wanted me to put her shoes back on because the sand felt funny on her feet.

Once we got our feet in the water, there was no turning back.

The face I get when I ask for a smile. (This is accompanied by pained whines.)

Petting a horse while waiting for the camels to come back.

Getting on the surly camel.

The next set of photos are of the camel lying back down so Craig & Anna could get off. I don't know if it was scarier to watch or to be on the camel holding your two-year-old daughter.

Today was "Family Fun Day" at Sealine Beach Resort for Craig's company. Anna had a blast! We will have to hit the beach again in the next few weeks now that the weather and water were actually warm enough to enjoy it.

Posted by Becky at 8:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I don't know how he did it; Craig must be Super Man! He called Qtel yesterday afternoon and they were at our house at 8:15 this morning to fix our phone.

Then Craig stayed home from work today because I was feeling way too sick to take care of Anna (or heck, even myself!) and he got her to take a nap from 1-3 without hours of talking beforehand. Now they're off having fun at the park while I'm still resting.

To be fair, Craig did give me this cold/flu so he does have some flaws. However, I am never calling Qtel again, that is officially his job.

Posted by Becky at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We've had our home phone working just fine since arrival. A week and a half ago our neighbors moved out and our phone number mysteriously stopped working. I really don't like calling Qtel, it makes my blood boil just thinking about it so I did not call while Craig was out of town last week. I just got off of the phone for the third time and have passed the task off to Craig because I am not emotionally stable enough to deal with Qtel. Here is what happened.

Becky to Qtel #1:
Becky: Listens to series of prompts and chooses English, landline, problems (or some similar wording, you get the point).
Qtel Operator: Qtel greeting
Becky: Hello, our landline is not working.
Qtel Operator: Can you hold on a second?
(not put on hold, operator doesn't come back after a reasonable amount of time for having absolutely no information from me--she hasn't even asked the phone number!)
I hang up.

Becky to Qtel #2:
Becky: Goes through the prompts again.
Qtel Operator: Qtel greeting.
Becky: Hello, our landline is not working.
Qtel Operator: What is the number?
(so we're getting somewhere this time—at least she asked the phone number!)
I proceed to tell her our Internet is fine but the phone is not, she says I have to call back and choose the prompts for ADSL repairs even though there is "nothing wrong" with our DSL. I repeat this information because it sounds wildly incorrect.

Becky to Qtel #3:
Becky goes through prompts as instructed by Operator #2 and explains the problem to Operator #3.
Qtel Operator: I can't help you with landline problems. He tells me I need to follow the prompts that lead me right back to Operators #1 & 2!

I give up and let Craig deal with it because I can't handle it beyond this point. I blame pregnancy hormones, but really, why should anyone be subjected to this run-around?

Posted by Becky at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I don't think Brian can call Denver "the Big Dirty" any more. Vicenta cleaned on Wednesday, we had a dust storm yesterday, and now Anna's (and everyone else's) feet are filthy and it's only 10 AM! There is a vent in the kitchen that flaps open in the wind so I'm sure some of the dirt came from there. It's really frustrating since the house was clean and now it's filthy again and I wonder if this something that I will get used to over the next three years. Next dust storm I'll try to get a picture but it's probably as you imagine it.

Posted by Becky at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The women's prayer room.

Detail on wall.

Detail on window.

Incense & screen overlooking men's prayer room.

Courtyard.

After you take off your shoes, you walk into this entryway for the mens prayer room.

The men's prayer room has a chandelier, stained glass (above chandelier), and many more books along the side walls.

Looking back toward entry doors; women's prayer room is on second level.

Detail on the pillars.

Chandelier and stained glass.

Where the Imman (leader) stands for prayer times.

The doors; this was about as ornate as the decor got.

Detail of door.

The books were of great interest to me; that's a literature major for you!

The Qur'an on the higher stand; I'm not sure what the lower book is.

Close-up of the Qur'an

Courtyard.

Courtyard; note the spire from where the daily prayers are broadcast.

Entryway to mosque.

Building overview; I couldn't get far enough away to get a good overview with the spires but will try to get some pictures of other mosques from the outside while we are living here.

Craig's company has a club that I joined back in December but I haven't participated in any activities until today. This was a chance to visit a mosque which is not easy in Qatar. In Qatar, only Muslims can enter the mosque unless by special permission. It is my understanding that that is not necessarily true in other parts of the world.

I was kind of surprised by how simple everything was. When you go to a church in Europe everything is so ornate where there really wasn't much here. I'd be interested to know if that is true of all mosques (I don't know why I didn't think to ask that question on the tour!), if it is a Qatari mosque attribute, or if this was just the luck of the draw.

Some things I learned (remember I am pregnant so not a lot of information actually stays in my brain, unfortunatley).

• The women's prayer room is not as fancy as the mens because it is not used as much. Women typically will pray at home rather than at the mosque (the exception is on Fridays when women do tend to come to the mosque to pray).
• People are encouraged to go to the mosque nearest their home so that they build a community and are praying next to their neighbors.
• People line up shoulder to shoulder to pray, also to create a connection with their neighbor.
• Whether you cover your hair, face, or none is based on your culture's interpretation of the Qur'an. Women are covered because of their beauty: they can show their beauty to their husbands, fathers, brothers, etc. but not to strangers.
• The incense is burned for the smell, not for purification.
• Prayers are held five times per day but you can pray at home or work, you do not have to go to the mosque. Also, if you are in the middle of a surgery, important meeting, etc. you do not need to drop everything to go to prayer, you can do all of your prayers at the end of the day if you have to.
• You have an angel on your left shoulder that tallies all of the good you do in a day and an angel on your right shoulder that tallies all of the wrong you do in a day (I may have that mixed up).
• You cannot ask God forgiveness for things you do to wrong other people. If I hurt someone in some way, I must ask forgiveness from that person.
• Muslims are required to give 2.5% (that's the number I remember anyway!) of their savings to charity/the needy each year. It's not the percent of your yearly income but just f what you have put into savings for that year.

I hope to go on some more outings with this club, they seem to have something interesting every month but most often it is during the week and I don't believe it is appropriate to bring Anna along.

Posted by Becky at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Shopping here has been pretty exciting the past two weeks. Last week the Virgin Megastore opened and this week H&M opened at the Villagio. I got a few things for Anna & Baby Girl there and plan to go back on my own (Anna is a good little shopper, but she only has so much patience as is expected of a two-year-old). They actually had solid-color-clothing for kids (plain jeans & t-shirts? what a concept!) and they had a maternity section that I need to go look through without Anna in tow. More stuff is scheduled to open soon (an Apple re-seller at City Centre, although Virgin also carries Apple products) so things are looking up for us!

Posted by Becky at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Vincenta (not sure how this is spelled) did a great job cleaning today. Of course, compared to the limited cleaning I was doing, just about anyone could do a good job! She was here for five hours and it seems to me we are getting a pretty good deal for weekly service. She'll be here every Wednesday from now on.

After we showed Vincenta around, Anna & I went out to the playgroup we had been going to but missed for the past few weeks for various reasons. I met a woman there who has a daughter one month older than Anna and is due with her third child two weeks before Baby Girl's due date (her other daughter is 4.5 years). I now know three other moms with kids Anna's age and due dates between now and August. I am hoping that I can set up a little playgroup with at least a few of these moms and then post an ad in the Mum's the Word newsletter if we want to get some more moms in on the action. Of course I'm kicking myself that I didn't give/get this new woman's phone number but we'll go back to the playgroup next week and see if she's there again.

Posted by Becky at 8:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Something I've learned about myself is that, although I enjoy a clean house, I thoroughly do not enjoy cleaning. This was okay until Anna arrived on the scene: now I feel more compelled to keep the house clean although I still detest the work. I am the first to admit that I am lazy and will do the minimum amount of work that I can get away with. In Korea, the apartment we lived in came with a cleaning service each week. In Texas I found a service that I really liked (best cleaning ladies ever and they were affordable and reliable! Oh how I hope Rosie is still around when we return to Texas!).

Here, we are on our own to either clean our own house (gasp!) or find a cleaning lady. I don't know that there are cleaning "services" here as a lot of people employ a live-in maid/nanny. Gill has a lady that is at her house every day but doesn't live-in. She sometimes will stay with one of the kids while they nap and Gill can run out and do an errand with the other child. Sounds kind of nice, but I don't want someone around all the time.

Anyway, on to the point of the post: Gill's lady has a sister looking for work and she is coming by tomorrow morning to hopefully start a weekly routine with us. She just sent me a text message with the list of cleaning supplies she prefers (I asked her to because I have been using just the bare minimum of supplies and really haven't developed a preference for any brands). The cost? 20 Riyals (less than $6 USD) per hour plus taxi fare and cleaning supplies. This will be the first time an individual has cleaned my place rather than a crew so I hope it's not an all-day affair. Now I just need to tidy up the place so she can get straight to work in the morning!

Posted by Becky at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I decided I wanted to (finally) check out Grey's Anatomy and downloading TV shows off of Apple's iTunes. We're already on season 2 (after just one week). Pretty soon we'll be caught up and then have to wait like everyone else for the next episode. It takes forever to download a season of shows on our slow Internet connection and Craig is disappointed that it is not wide-screen for his fancy-schmancy-TV we brought all the way out here.

Posted by Becky at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Playing with some of her beautiful jewelry this morning.

Anna & I stayed home this morning to wait for the people from the compound to fix the air conditioner in her room. We have been running the air conditioners for the past week because, although it is nice enough to have the windows open right now, our house was so dirty from all of the sand blowing that we just had to shut the windows. Our feet were turning black from walking around inside the house! Now, of course, I have some major dusting to do as well, but at least my feet are clean(er)—I think it will take another round of vacuuming to get the floors as clean as they were again. Problem is that I need to find out where to get some more vacuum cleaner bags as I'm sure the one I've been using has filled up by now.

Posted by Becky at 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Waiting with Big Orange Daddy Cat for the match to start.

We went to the Qatar Open tonight although we only stayed for an hour because Anna was getting too squirmy & loud (yelling "Go to Landmark Mall!" and "There's the moon, right there!", among other things) for us to stay. We saw part of the final match of the Open where Justine Henin beat Svetlana Kuznetsova. Our tickets were free to a professional tennis match; you can't beat that!

Anna really thought we were at church although we told her numerous times we were at a tennis match. The similarities were this: music (they were playing some while we waited for the match to start), you have to whisper when you talk, and sit (relatively) still. We realized that the only other public event Anna has been to is church, so no wonder she thought that was where we were.

Tonight she was totally chatting it up with some Filipino girls behind us. Telling them about her cat, smiling, and engaging them in "conversation." I'm excited to see that some of her stranger anxiety is going away and that there is hope for her in social situations yet!

Posted by Becky at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We went grocery shopping this morning and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Pampers Cruisers and Baby Dry (in Anna's size) next to the local version of Pampers (Active Baby and Let's Go). I snatched up a package of each although I never used the Baby Dry at home. There was a big empty space on the shelf and I can't help but wonder if I missed out on some Swaddlers for Baby Girl (the New Baby just aren't the same as Swaddlers!)... Now I will be sure to walk down the diaper aisle each week just to check.

Posted by Becky at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I feel like I've been unpacking non-stop (while the annoying thought of having to move everything again lurks in my mind each time I finish a box) and we've made quite a bit of progress. Hopefully we can get it all put away over the next few days. We've got to get these boxes out of our house though because they stink! I can't explain the smell, but it's not attractive.

I've been thrilled to use actual kitchen tools last night and today! I feel like I could have my own show on the Food Network! I'm not mixing muffin mix with a large soup spoon, for example (one time I needed two mixing bowls so I had to use a large pot because I only bought one bowl for the interim as Craig's company did not provide any baking tools).

Anna has loved finding all of her old toys and books. And I had some new books in the shipment that she is just loving (and so are we, it's nice to read something new six times in a row instead of something we've been reading ten times per day for the past two months!).

I'm excited to have more clothes (a lot of the maternity stuff I had in our luggage doesn't fit anymore/is out of season) but I also have a ton of clothes that don't fit that we need to store until they do. We also have all of our cold-weather clothes in case we end up spending some of this time in Korea. And the guest room is overflowing with stuff for Baby (and all of the new stuff that Anna hasn't even seen yet).

Fortunately (for me), a lot of what is left is Craig lifting things into high places that I can't reach or dealing with heavy stuff that I can't lift. My back and feet hurt after spending the past two days standing/walking on these tile floors non-stop!

Posted by Becky at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Unlike Erin, I didn't have to travel all the way to the US to pick up my Salmonella-Peter-Pan: I got mine at my local Mega Mart! Good thing I hadn't opened it yet because I kept forgetting to look at the numbers on the jar until we got a message from Craig's company tonight.

Posted by Becky at 8:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"They" came to take the excess furniture out of Anna's room at 9:30 AM. The sea shipment arrived at 10:00 AM. Qtel came at 2:00 PM.

The only mistake was that I was told they would put our furniture and things in the car port to take away on Sunday so we didn't have them put the TV out there. Then they proceeded to take away the excess furniture right away so we still have the giant TV in the way and I'll have to ask them to come back and take it out.

So far nothing is broken in the sea shipment (in our three previous moves with Craig's company the only time something has broken is from Korea to the US) and I have not shown Anna any of her new stuff. She is enthralled with her old stuff (namely her Little People zoo & barn, Little Tikes car, and all of her books and puzzles) so I think we should be able to save at least some of the stuff intended for Christmas until next month for her birthday if we are so inclined. We will set up her toddler bed tomorrow and hope she likes it enough to sleep in it (she liked it in the store when we picked it out in October)!

Gertie is uncertain what is happening.

Posted by Becky at 8:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I don't think it's possible to convey how excited I am that we're getting our sea shipment tomorrow. I am a little worried it was all a mis-communication and it won't happen then I'll be really depressed. I am actually not counting on Qtel; the way I see it is if they actually show up it's just a bonus. Craig's company/the compound is supposed to come tomorrow (hopefully before the sea shipment!) to take out the excess furniture in Anna's room and the TV, too, so it will be a really big day if everything that is supposed to take place actually does.

After this weekend the only things I really want before Baby arrives is to move into our permanent housing assignment and for Craig to either get his car fixed or get a new one. We have been a one-car family this week and it has not been pretty. Perhaps someday (after everything is settled), Craig will post about his Korando experience, I don't have the authorization to discuss it right now as the whole thing makes Craig's blood boil.

Posted by Becky at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been (mostly) jokingly telling Craig that the sea shipment is all I have to keep me going in life. There are so many fabulous things in that shipment that my life (our lives) are just going to be "so much better" (not that they're even really that bad now, mind you!) when we get that shipment.

We have been told that our sea shipment will be delivered on Friday at 9:30 AM. Now I need to fill out a request for the compound to get the twin beds out of Anna's room and the TV out of our family room so that the furniture we brought fro Anna can actually go in her room and so we don't have two TVs (when we hardly watch one at all!). I just hope they can get the beds out before Friday so we can get Anna's room set up ASAP.

I am just so excited that our stuff is almost here although I do understand that we'll be having to move more stuff when we get our permanent housing and that we will have more stuff than space to put it in. I think one of the reasons this villa seems so big now is that we don't have all of our stuff; it's going to start feeling pretty small pretty fast!

I'll be pretty amazed if Qtel comes on Thursday as well as our shipment, talk about a major turn in quality of life! It's a good thing we decided to not take a trip because we would have been gone this weekend!

Now I'm going to need tips for transitioning from the crib to the toddler bed... I can only dream that it will go as smoothly as the pacifier-elimination.

Posted by Becky at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was trying to see some pictures of fetal development so followed an old link (www.w-cpc.org/fetal1.html) I had from my pregnancy with Anna and instead of the cool images, I got this:

Posted by Becky at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This is my 400th post on this blog, wow!

I just got off the phone with Qtel (for what also seems like the 400th time) and now we are scheduled for Internet installation on 2/22. Please note that I called them to get this information, they did not call me to clue me in. Now, let's just see if they show up before we get our hopes up too high again. This time I think I'll try to schedule a playdate over here to help pass the time (I still don't think it's worth the risk to leave the house and hope to meet up with the installation guy on the same day, no matter what Qtel says).

Craig has been in a class all week this week so he hasn't been able to get in touch with the guy about our shipment. It was supposed to be in Doha last Wednesday so I am dreaming of getting it before, oh let's say Anna's birthday. I honestly never thought when we were leaving Texas that it would take this long to get our stuff.

Posted by Becky at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The cloth diaper order that I made last month finally arrived today! Customs actually opened this box but we were not charged any duties. (I am really surprised that the first three packages we have received were not charged duties.) So tomorrow will be spent doing a lot of laundry to get the diapers and inserts ready for Anna to test-drive. I'll be sure to give a full report after a week or two of using them. (Craig is not excited about the receipt of the diapers and told me I should move to Boulder.)

Posted by Becky at 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dunes off in the distance.

We went for a drive this morning to see some sand dunes and the beach. This time we went near Sealine Beach Resort. There were a bunch of ATVs ready to rent along the dunes. Too bad that is not a good idea for a pregnant woman and a toddler; hopefully Craig will get to go with one of his friends from work sometime (or any adventurous visitors!). We stopped off at the beach to stretch our legs before our ride home. The water was a really beautiful blue; hopefully we can come back again sometime when it's not so windy and we can see if Anna will step into the water a bit (she was not interested in that at all today).

Posted by Becky at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I bought a love-seat for Anna's room on Saturday and was told it would be delivered today at 1 PM. Can you guess what time it came? 1:15! I will take a picture of it once it is set up in her room. The chair I had in Anna's room in Texas will go in Baby Girl's room since it has an ottoman and I wanted something that would fit all three of us (me, Anna, & Baby Girl) in Anna's room.

Word is that Craig's company is moving everyone from two compounds (not ours) into a new one starting next month and that once those moves are complete, people in wrong-size housing are able to move to the new compound (that includes us, we qualify for a four-bedroom villa). So, maybe we'll be moving to our permanent villa in March/April? I just hope it is before Baby Girl arrives (except that we are actually closer to the hospital now). I just don't want to have to deal with packing & unpacking after she gets here since I know I'll be worn out! Of course we haven't been told anything directly, this is just the general word on the street. I'm afraid I'm already getting my heart set on this new villa though as there is a gameroom on the second floor which would be really nice to have!

Last we heard from Texas was that our sea shipment arrived in the UAE on January 28 and should arrive in Doha within a week. We haven't heard anything else but Craig is trying to get an update from his favorite customs guy today.

Now, I just have to summon up the will to call Qtel back (was told on Sunday that I would get a call within two days to schedule installation).

Posted by Becky at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I keep thinking I should post about the variety of places the fruits & vegetables come from but never get around to it. I had two exciting purchases at Mega Mart today so I'm finally going to make some notes about grocery shopping here.

I bought Tide Free (liquid) today! I sent several boxes of the powder to ourselves in the sea shipment (and a two in the air shipment) because both Craig & I have sensitive skin.I was excited about the liquid though because with the powder I had to do a double-rinse on Anna's clothes for a while (not any more and we are all actually feeling itch-free with the "regular" Tide that was given to us from Craig's work).

I did find some Crisco shortening today so I bought a big container. More than I will ever use but now I have it in my possession.

I have previously stated (I think) that grocery shopping here is fabulous. I must clarify that that is in comparison to Okpo, Korea; not Texas! If you require a certain brand of something it is best to buy a few containers of it when you see it because it is not always guaranteed to be in stock. Anna has been asking for goldfish crackers for weeks now but there just aren't any to be had. Aunt Jemima pancake mix hasn't been on the Mega Mart shelves for the last two weeks either. This is why I bought a 70 Riyal (just around $20) container of liquid Tide Free. I can't ship the liquid version in our Baby shipment, I know I'll want some for at least the first round of Baby Girl's clothes, and they were selling it.

I spend maybe 50% more on groceries every week here than I did at home and I am not discerning. I just buy what I want which typically means I am buying mostly imported food that is not cheap. I am ultimately too lazy (and uncoordinated) to do two separate days of grocery shopping to find a better deal at Carrefour (although that's where I have found the best sandwich bread).

I find myself continually surprised by all of the organic products for sale at Mega Mart. As well as the large sections for sugar-free stuff at both Mega Mart & Carrefour (Anita, I will get some Splenda for you when you get here!). I just really didn't expect that. I think of Rachel & Mat in the big soy milk section and every time I see the Panda licorice.

I'll try to update my list of fruits & vegetables on occasion, but here is the start of my list:
Oranges: you have a choice of USA, Spain, or Turkey
Bananas: USA or Phillipines
Sweet Potatoes: USA, India
Avocado: Chile, Kenya, Australia
Broccoli: Australia
Nectarines: Australia
Apples: USA

Posted by Becky at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We are trying to decide if we can squeeze in a vacation before Baby Girl arrives. We are considering Jordan, Egypt, Oman, and Dubai but we're really running out of time and I'm having a hard time finding good info online when much of the time lately we have had such a shoddy Internet connection.... I really need to get on Qtel to get our Internet installed but I think they've broken my spirit. I don't think we'll go anywhere (besides the US this summer) until next winter so it would be nice to see something now.

Posted by Becky at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I called Qtel yesterday and was told someone would call my mobile. Nope. I called back today and was told they are "still experiencing technical difficulties" and Qtel will call me, I don't need to call them. I do not believe them.

Craig called the guy he worked with on the air shipment about the sea shipment and was told that our sea shipment is not here yet (our contact in Texas told us it was scheduled for yesterday). So, Craig has emailed the Texas contact to see what she has to say.

I guess part of our new daily routine is to make a phone call to Qtel and to the customs people. Too much fun!

Posted by Becky at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I ordered Anna's shoes & swimsuit from LL Bean on Tuesday of last week. Someone delivered them to my door just now! I can hardly believe it myself! I paid more for the 1-2 weeks delivery instead of 2-3 weeks but I never would have guessed they would come in less than a week let alone be hand-delivered! Yipeee! They came through FedEx and we weren't charged any customs fees. Should I always be so lucky!

I did place a second order yesterday, for cloth diapers for Anna, but that will be sent through the USPS (international air) and that order is larger and heavier. I sent each package to two different addresses (one with a PO Box (the diapers) and one without the PO Box (the LL Bean order)). I will share the addresses with the grandmas probably after the diaper order arrives in the clear.

Posted by Becky at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I called them at 9 this morning and was told that there is a "technological problem" in our neighborhood and I need to call them in 4-5 days to reschedule an installation. I honestly believe that no one was going to call me to tell me this information. So irritating.

Anna has a cold though so we ended up staying home all day again today. I really don't mind staying home all day, it's just that yesterday I really wanted to go to that coffee and meet some new people so I'm still feeling frustrated about that.

I am attempting to formulate a plan to rid the pacifier from Anna's life. Although she only has it at naptime & bedtime, she is currently using a size too small (up to 18 months) and even if they did sell the next size here (I looked), I don't want to buy the next size. Also, since we are planning to move her to her toddler bed when the sea shipment arrives I don't want to get into the problem of the pacifiers falling off of the bed in the middle of the night (and having to go help her find them). And, of course, I'd like to not have her using the pacifier when Baby comes—and I don't want her own pacifier use in recent memory.

Since she has a cold this week, we are planning February 1 to be our first day pacifier-free (it's a Thursday so we'll hopefully have the worst of if on the weekend). We just need to decide if we are going to poke holes in them or talk up the "pacifier fairy" and have it be more of a voluntary thing on her part. If we go the pacifier fairy route, I need to come up with a good gift from the fairy... If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

Edited to add: in reading other parents' stories about getting rid of the pacifier, I came across this hilarious photo.

Posted by Becky at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Anna & I wasted the entire day at home waiting for Qtel. I called twice to ask if they could give me a window, the techinician's number, ANYTHING. Nope, the customer service people have no way of knowing anything about what the technicians are doing except that "they are out working from 7 AM to 8 PM and will call 10 minutes before they are coming to your house." So we sat and waited because I wasn't willing to go out and have to reschedule because there's no way I could go anywhere and be back in 10 minutes. Actually, Anna didn't seem to mind but I was (am) seriously irritated. When I called at 5 PM, the Qtel woman told me that "if the technician doesn't come tonight, they will be there in the morning for sure." And why am I supposed to believe her?

Posted by Becky at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just placed an order from LL Bean as my test of the mail system through Craig's work. If everything goes as planned, we will get two pair of shoes & a swimsuit for Anna in 2-3 weeks. I decided to go with this order instead of the Amazon one I am really interested in because it is lighter and I'm not sure if there is a charge by weight or just value. I'll report back in 2-3 weeks (I hope!).

If this method doesn't work or ends up being ridiculous, then we may open up a PO Box with the Qatar mail system although I am under the impression it would be slower and the only advantage would be saving some shipping charges.

I want to note here that this is NOT the same address that was sent out with the Christmas cards--that is for paper mail only.

Posted by Becky at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Craig's liquor permit came last week and he went with a couple of friends from work on Saturday to get it all squared away and buy a few bottles of wine & some beer. He seems pleased with himself except that our corkscrew is in the sea shipment and he didn't think to get one while at the store. So, I guess he'll be drinking the beer first. (Not that he'd be drinking a bottle of wine by himself anyway!)

He also went to look at a couple of cars, one was a Jeep that he was really excited about but the guy doesn't want to actually part with it until sometime in February. So, Craig went last night to check out a Korando and made a deal. I'm not sure of the details on that one when he'll actually get it, but he's excited about the price on it anyway.

Q-Tel called this morning and said that they are coming "on Wednesday" to install our Internet connection. I am a little annoyed that there is no window there because I was planning to go to a newcomers/oldtimers coffee morning on Wednesday morning and was really looking forward to it. We'll have to wait until next month though because we really want our own Internet!

Posted by Becky at 1:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Craig found a package of two vanilla beans at Mega Mart this afternoon. The price? 45 Riyals ($12.36 USD). I don't know how I'll ever decide which dish is appropriate to use them in at that price!

Posted by Becky at 7:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Craig just brought me my new Sorento and it feels like I'm driving a tank. I imagine I'll get used to it soon enough but it is bigger than the CRV and definitely bigger than the Accord. I hope I can hoist myself into it when I'm super-huge-pregnant!

Posted by Becky at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was feeling a little sad that we didn't do any Christmas baking and since Craig has been asking for snickerdoodles for about a week now, Anna & I got to it this afternoon. We did have to use ghee since we couldn't find vegetable shortening at the store (incidentally, you cannot buy vanilla extract here because it contains alcohol. I haven't found if I can buy vanilla beans or not).

I put Anna in charge of rolling the balls of dough in the sugar & cinnamon. She took her job very seriously. I didn't see her try to sneak any bites and she did a really good job! The cookies themselves turned out pretty OK. They didn't flatten out though and I'm not sure why (still cooked all the way through and tasted fine). I had to mix the dough in the largest pot we have because I only have one mixing bowl (I bought myself) and it was too small to mix both wet & dry ingredients in it.

Once she was done rolling the dough in sugar & cinnamon, she tried a few baked cookies and then got down and got to work in her own kitchen.

Posted by Becky at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna & I went to the park near our house this morning but the gates were closed so I guess we were too early. So, we drove up to the park near the Corniche instead. The playground was occupied by a lot of kids. I can't say what nationality but they didn't speak English. Their teachers (?) were with them and the kids and teachers swarmed around Anna, trying to take her hand out of mine, lift up her sunglasses so they could see her eyes, etc. Anna & I pushed our way through the crowd (I'm probably being a bit dramatic, but not much) and went for a walk through the park instead. I don't get it. Anna was obviously uncomfortable so why do they keep pushing?? Poor Anna. I don't know what to say to these people who obviously are just trying to be friendly. I just told Anna we could leave and walk around the park instead and didn't talk to the kids & teachers.

After our walk around the park, we stopped at the playground again because the school-group had left. We had the equipment to ourselves but I guess Anna wasn't having much fun because she said she was ready to go home again.

I guess I'm finding this really frustrating and I don't know what to do about it. I'll have to talk to some of the other moms and see what they have experienced and how they've handled it. I think one person coming up to us is OK, but swarming around a toddler is just not right and I can't think of why the teachers wouldn't tell the kids to back off (because the teachers were part of the swarm!).

I'd be interested to hear what YOU would do/say in this situation. Leave some ideas on the comments section, if you will. I think I'll just start by saying "please don't touch her" and hope that that has some effect.

Posted by Becky at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Our air shipment arrived this morning. They said they'd be here between 11-12 and came at 10:45. Anyway, I'm so glad it is here! I think Anna was a bit overwhelmed seeing so much of her old stuff here. She was probably most excited about a cat pillow, her Lego box lid (so she could pretend it is a changing pad), her train, her books, and her soft chair.

I spent her nap building her kitchen that I bought for her in October in anticipation of this move. She loves it and she was spent a lot of time cooking and baking with it. I put it in the kitchen so she can cook while I cook (I really don't like how the kitchen is separated from the living area in this house, but that's the style for the other villas I've seen here, too).

Craig spent part of his day procuring a car for me. He test-drove the Sorento and made a verbal deal with the owner and all sorts of transactions need to happen before the car is actually ours but I'm excited because it was basically in our price range (a little higher, but on the low-side of high), it's relatively new (I've never had newer than a 2001: the Matiz in Korea!—at home the newest was my 1999 Saturn (that didn't even have power-steering!)), and it supposedly has a few bells & whistles. I hope I like it when we get it!

And, in baby news (I suppose), my back is killing me today. I don't know if it was unpacking (there were only ten boxes), building the kitchen, or just running around non-stop but I am in a bit of pain when I get up to walk. Hopefully I can take it easy the next couple of days and my back will feel better.

Posted by Becky at 8:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We got our Resident's Permits today—they took the crying-photo of Anna, thank goodness!

Our air shipment has been cleared in customs and we're supposed to get it delivered "in the morning." Craig did a little bit of car shopping tonight on the board at Mega Mart and is going to go check out a 2005 Sorento for me tomorrow. We'll see how that turns out: it will be nice to have our own cars instead of the rentals. I am not particularly fond of the Accord (it is a nice car, drives well, etc., but I find it awkward with the car seat in the back: I really liked my CRV, I guess!) and want to be sitting up higher.

Anna & I had a good day today. I was little worried if I'd have enough energy for her after Craig has been home for two weeks and helping out a lot but she was just great today. We went to the vet to get Gertie's food then we went to Landmark and rode the carousel and then did our grocery shopping at Mega Mart. This was the first trip to the grocery store (or any store) where she acted like she did at home: pleasant. I am wondering if having Craig home was throwing her off and now that it's back to the two of us she knows what to expect.

Posted by Becky at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Three riders: two robot jockeys and one man.

This man waved us over so we could take a picture of him with Anna. (She wouldn't let him hold her though—she's a smart one!)

This appeared to be a rather upscale team of camels with their crisp white covering and the maroon edges (Qatar's flag is white & maroon).

This man wanted a picture of Anna (on his cell phone), so when he was done I asked him if we could take his.

We went back to the camel race track this morning to see the camels. We'll have to plan to go back another day for the races; they are in the afternoon so we'll have to plan to miss a nap that day. We'll wait a few weeks so that we don't use up all of the interesting stuff to do right away though.

It was pretty cool to see all of the camels and all of their different blankets, muzzels, etc. We did see some running on the tracks but most were walking back toward the stables. Anna thought it was really cool, too, and we had a bit of a hard time convincing her to leave ("let's find some more camels!").

Posted by Becky at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's not that it's Friday & Saturday vs. Saturday & Sunday that throws me off, it's that the day of rest (day where all of the stores are closed in the morning) is Friday, the FIRST day of the weekend. My mindset is to run around like crazy on the first day of the weekend and then kick back on the second. So, we have to get used to relaxing at home on the first day and then running around on the second.

We actually did get up and go to church this morning so we could "sing church songs." Anna did a good job except that she was getting so excited about all of the letters on the bulletin ("there's an A, K, B, O!, etc.") that Craig ended up taking her out for most of the service (no nursery available at the church we attended today). She really needs to learn how to whisper is all I know right now. We went back to the same church we went to on Christmas Eve, an Anglican church that is very near our villa and seems nice enough.

Posted by Becky at 9:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not sure what these formations are called but we weren't really expecting to see them after only seeing flat desert the whole way.

Pedestrian crossing.

Bundled up at the beach. Photo by Craig.

Anna had to bring her pig with her and she didn't want to get down and walk in the sand. She did like looking at the water though. Hopefully we'll be able to go back when it's a bit warmer and less windy (although I don't plan to go when it is HOT. Photo by Craig.

We planned to head out to where the camel races are held but got sidetracked by all of the road construction and kept driving to Dukhan instead. After the first camel crossing sign we passed, I turned to Craig and said, "am I supposed to be led to believe we're going to just look out the window and see random camels walking around?" and then looked out the window and we saw some random camels walking around.

We did see quite a few camels but usually they were too far away, we were going too fast, or we didn't spot them in time. Also, I have discovered that I am not the worlds' best taking-pictures-from-the-car photographer. I am slow! Also, every time I opened the window to take a picture I'd let a lot of dust in so I had to make quick decisions to determine the worthiness of a shot...

There really wasn't much to see in Dukhan (as far as we could tell) so we didn't really spend any time there. Plus it was windy and cold at the beach again and Anna only wanted me to hold her, not daddy and I just can't hold her very long because of my sciatica. So, we drove for about two hours (total) to see all of this (there were a lot of exciting excavators, rollers, etc. at least, to break up the monotony of the desert scenery).

On the way back we saw where we should have turned to get the camel races so we might try again on Saturday. Will post pictures, of course, if we make it.

Posted by Becky at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This happened a couple of days ago but I just got around to taking the picture tonight. I really can't wait for our cookware to come because there is no reason why this knife should have broken when I was slicing up some cheese for Anna's snack. It's going to be a long wait for that sea shipment though! Hopefully we'll hear something positive about our air shipment when we call tomorrow.

Posted by Becky at 9:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna loves to read books and although we brought as many as we could carry in our suitcases, we are really missing a lot of our books that are in the shipments. Today we made it to the bookstore (can't wait to go back again on my own!) and I bought several books for Anna. She seemed to like them all pretty well but really latched on to the Gingerbread Man book. I can't tell you how many times Craig & I read it in the hour we had it at home before bedtime, but, when I put Anna to bed tonight she was still shouting the Gingerbread's line.

As you see in the video, Anna was running around the table yelling "Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man" (or "I'm a cookie" or "I'm Anna Martin" or "I'm mommy")! She must have done this for 5-10 minutes and was completely worn out from it. It's too bad I won't have my kitchen supplies to make gingerbread men (women, boys, and girls, too!) until we get the sea shipment...

Posted by Becky at 8:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I hope I can remember all of the little things this month, I am sure I'll have to come back and add more to this post as I think of them.

Anna has been "singing" more. She's actually just saying a lot of lines from songs but I'm counting it as singing since I've never spoken words to songs, just sung them. She started with a version of Hickory Dickory Dock that we have on a CD (it is set to a tune) and has built up to creating her own lines for The Hokey Pokey. As you can see in the above video she learned That's Amore last night when we saw the moon on our way to watch Craig work out in the gym. She'll sing lines from songs while they're playing in the car and randomly quote them while we're out as well. We've also started (finally) listening to more music in the house now that Craig got a cute little speaker we can plug an iPod into (we didn't have a great set-up back in Texas so we didn't listen to music in the house much, just in the car).

Her speech is getting clearer and clearer all of the time. She is always talking and speaks in sentences very well. Sometimes we think we need to stop and explain the concept of run-on sentences but she'll get it.

She has started to respond (sometimes) to strangers who ask her questions (like waiters or store clerks) if they ask the right question. She says "please" consistently and we're working on "thank you."

Overall, I'd say that she has adapted very well to our new life in Qatar although I know we're both ready to get out and make some more friends. I'm hoping to sign us up for a music class this winter and we'll keep checking out playgroups until we find the right fit for us.

She is kind of at a stand-still with potty training (we haven't really been making an issue of it; I'm waiting for our air shipment with potty books, stool, second potty, and training underwear—and real underwear—to arrive). We've switched to pull-ups full-time so she can practice the pulling up and pulling down aspect of the process although she hasn't gotten that quite yet (pulling down is more intriguing than up). Another reason for the switch to pull-ups is that she will not lay down for a diaper change so we must do it standing and I am completely useless trying to put a diaper on standing.

The last thing I can think of has happened over the past couple of days. I am not a particularly "girly" girl but Anna & I have been doing something that appears to be pretty girly. I treated myself to Santa brought me some Body Butter from the Body Shop this year and somehow, Anna & I have started sitting in her bus and putting body butter on our legs (she usually says her knees are itchy and asks for body butter) and tummys and backs, etc. Anna gets super giggly when we do this and it must be done in the tent where it adds that extra girlie-ness element to it.

Posted by Becky at 8:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On the road home.

Anna gets out the broom and sweeps right behind me each time I vacuum. Her toddler-sized broom is in the air shipment but her vacuum is in the sea shipment...

We took a drive out to Al Khor today but there was a ton of road work getting to and around the Corniche as well as being particularly windy and cold today so we didn't stay very long.

Another reason we didn't stay long is that a large group of Indian (?) men (maybe 15 people?) were hanging around near us and obviously pretending to take pictures of each other trying to get one of Anna. It was a bit creepy since there were so many of them. One did start to ask Craig if he could take Anna's picture but Craig said "no" before the guy could even get the question out. This happened the day that Anna & I went to the (Doha) Corniche together, too. One man out of a big group came up and asked if he could take Anna's picture. I said no and then I told Anna it was time to go. I honestly don't think that they mean any harm but it's still creepy nonetheless. I guess this is a time when the "ladies-only" days at the zoo and other places are feeling much more attractive!

Posted by Becky at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Each day at prayer time we can hear the prayers being broadcast from the mosque near us (I am under the assumption that this can be heard no matter where in the city you live). The first prayer time has been around 4:50 AM (specific times are published in the paper each day) and then another at around 6 AM. When I wasn't sleeping through the night yet, I was always awake for the 4:50 AM one and would go upstairs because it was almost time to get up at that point and knew I had to try to sleep a little. The broadcast prayers only last a couple of minutes (less than five, I'm sure).

This morning was the start of Eid so the 6ish prayers lasted what seemed to be about 30-45 minutes (I didn't actually look at the clock when they started). We all ended up waking up early because it was so long and seemed louder (maybe because there was less road traffic this morning?). Anna didn't wake up (start talking) until about 7:15 but that's a good 45 minutes earlier than usual for her!

I wanted to go check out the book store today but a lot places are closed in the mornings for the next few days for the holiday. So we ended up going to Carrefour (at the Villagio) and got a few groceries and a cordless phone with answering machine. We got some pretty good groceries there so I am going to do my next weekly shopping trip at that Carrefour instead of Mega Mart to see if I can spend less and see if we are happy with the selection there (there will be less American products, of course, but there's a really good looking cheese section—Carrefour is a French hypermarket).

Also, I wanted to note that there is a really great blog about Qatar called Qatar Visitor (link on the right now) that has a lot of interesting articles about life here in Doha. There was a good post about Eid today. We saw just one pickup truck with two goats in the back today but we didn't realize the significance until I read the post on that blog.

Posted by Becky at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anna & I went to a pretty nice park right by our house today (no round-abouts needed to get there or back—yipee!). We didn't stay as long as we would have liked because it was pretty cool and windy outside. Also, Anna wasn't wearing socks and kept getting sand in her shoes and she really didn't like that. She did have fun walking up the stairs and going down the slides, doing chin-ups, and the zip line. I liked this park a lot more than Al Bidda so it's a double bonus that it's so close to our villa.

Otherwise I think I've hit the "funk" stage of our move. I am really just ready for at least our air shipment to get here and to know where and when we're moving into our permanent place. I want to feel a bit more "settled," I guess. Hopefully it won't take too long for this stage to pass, I'm kind of worthless right now! The latest on our air shipment is that we're supposed to call back on Wednesday to find out what's happening. That helps a lot.

Posted by Becky at 7:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here are some little things that I keep forgetting to write about or don't fit into a post of their own but want to remember about our first three weeks in Qatar.

• Carseats: When we arrived to Doha the driver taking us to our villa was going to throw the carseat in the back with the luggage rather than hand it to one of us to install in the car. It was a pretty strange thing for me to have the driver install the carseat when Anna & I went to the security and orientation meeting. I think the driver and Qatari from Craig's company thought it was strange we insisted on bringing our carseat to go to the medical commission (I kept over-hearing them say things in Arabic with "American" thrown in now and again while Anna & I waited for Craig to come back from our car with the seat to install in the driver's van).

  We often see kids and babies sitting on the lap of the front-seat passenger or standing in the middle or back rows of cars. We saw this in Korea, too. I am just floored everytime though. I really don't get it.

• When you park your car at the mall, people will come up to you and ask if you want your car washed while you shop. It is 10QR (about $3). We went for it a couple of days ago and the car looks pretty good!

• You cannot bring outside bags into a store, you must check them with the security guard or the service desk at the entrance.

• I feel like a pretty conservative dresser at home but here I feel like I'm walking around half-naked! I never realized how many v-necks I have (I think most of the maternity shirts I brought are v-necks). I sure hope I have more crew-necks in the sea shipment! With the local ladies completely covered, it makes you quite a bit more aware of your own clothing.

• I posted about frozen pizza from Iceland the other day; my chicken is from Saudi Arabia, I can get Saudi eggs or Dutch eggs, Saudi beef or Australian beef, and my paper towels are from Saudi Arabia. Many of the things I'm buying are from the US but sometimes I don't have that choice so I haven't noticed everything yet, but I think most things are Saudi products. The bottled water I bought this week is from Qatar (it is recommended to buy bottled or get a water service—I think we'll end up getting a service rather than continuing to buy the bottles each week).

• As promised, I took notes when we filled up my Accord with gas on Sunday night:
  (I'll provide all original numbers so you can feel free to check my math if you like.)
  51.3 liters
  41 Qatari Riyals
  436.3 km driven

  I come up with:
  13.55 gallons
  $11.26 USD
  271 miles

  So, 83 cents (USD) per gallon. ... maybe I can afford that H3!
  

Posted by Becky at 8:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There is a lot of reconstruction going on around the Souq Waqif.

Some of the falcons at the falcon shop; there were more inside. I think this was Anna's favorite stop.

The fabric souqs and the spice souqs were probably most interesting to me... maybe someday I'll get that sewing machine to be my friend.

View of the KDF Islamic Centre from the Souk—I always think this building looks cool whenever I drive by

We decided to head out to Souq Waqif today, the "old souq." I have to say that the hassle of parking led to a bit of disappointment for me. The area was cool, but nothing jumped out at me as particularly exciting. I'm sure some of this had to do with Anna being a little clingier than usual which always makes an outing less fun. Anna did want to ride a donkey (so she says, I'd be interested to see what she did if we actually put her on!) but we didn't have any small bills with us to let her. Next time we'll see if she still wants to do it.

I did want to take a lot more pictures, but this was the first time I've taken my "real" camera out in Doha and I know that the locals are particularly sensitive about being photographed so I kept it by my side for the most part. Perhaps I'll get more comfortable with it the longer we are here. I'm interested to see what the other souks are like and I suppose we'll hit them all at some point during our stay.

Posted by Becky at 8:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We all got in the car to go to the zoo this morning but when we got there, it was Ladies Day only (our book said it was Ladies Day in the afternoon, not morning). So, Anna & I went in for an hour and fifteen minutes while Craig went to Carrefour and got a paper and some adapters.

The zoo was totally empty so it was really nice! It was only 5 Riyals to get in and we got to see a lot of animals. There are a ton of giraffes, one elephant, tons of oryx and other deer/antelope-type animals, a lot of ostriches, and what seemed like a gazillion monkeys. I thought the exhibits with a lot of animals seemed really cool because the one in Houston just seemed to have a few of each animal (although more variety). There was one male lion and I think that that is the closest I have ever been to one (no zoom on the camera in the above photo). We also got to see the tigers, cheetahs, and monkeys up close. Anna loved it and I had a good time. She also really liked watching the flamingos.

We didn't go over to the rides area which is just as well because, from the parking lot, it didn't look like anything was running. I'm sure we'll make it over there at some point though.

We were stopped twice by pre-teen girls asking what Anna's name was and then one of the girls (both times) bent over and kissed Anna on the forehead. Anna didn't like this one bit (neither did I!) but I'm not exactly sure how to prevent this. I had better figure it out before Baby comes because I'm sure she'll be an even bigger target.

Posted by Becky at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We went to Christmas dinner at one of Craig's co-workers tonight. They are British and Christmas dinner is a big deal. There was shrimp & salmon for an appetizer (I gave Anna mine) and then turkey, potatoes, parsnips, brussel sprouts, broccoli, stuffing, gravy, & cranberry sauce for dinner. There was a trifle and a chocolate cake for dessert. We were all stuffed after dinner and I am not sure I have felt Anna's belly so hard before!

Anna really did a great job at this adults-only dinner party. It probably helped that they had plenty of Christmas decorations and a dog. We did have to leave before coffee because it was already 7:30 (her bed time) and we thought we had better go before Anna left a negative impression on her hosts.

When we got home, Anna was still pretty wired from the trifle and cake so she stayed up for quite a bit longer so we could do a video chat with Grandma, Grandpa, Rachel, Mat, Jacob, & Sam. Anna seemed to really like talking to Grandma and I think she may have finally "got it" toward the end of the conversation. (We did video chat with Nana & Papa last night where Anna demonstrated her play-doh-container-stacking-skills. She liked it when Nana & Papa cheered when she knocked the stack over.) Hopefully we'll be able to do the video chats regularly so that she will know everyone when we come back to the US to visit and when they come out to visit us here.

Baby Girl is really kicking tonight—I guess she liked the Christmas dinner as well! Craig was definitely able to feel her kicking tonight where it was a bit less obvious to him last week. Once they're more consistently strong, hopefully Anna can get in on the action, too (although Baby is most active typically when Anna's finally gone to bed and I can relax!).

We got another batch of Christmas cards in the mail today, it's nice to feel loved when we're far away!

Posted by Becky at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna really seemed to enjoy her Christmas morning! She was excited to see what Santa left her and then liked opening each new present. She'd play with each toy for a few minutes before opening the next gift. The biggest hits were the cat bag, the beads, and the bus. After she opened those, each time she opened another present she'd guess it was going to be a cat bag or beads. Sometimes she'd guess a book, too. We may have some of that on video, I'll post it if it's worth watching. We saved the school bus for last, and rightfully so since she played with that for a long time before she wanted to open another present.

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful gifts! I know there are more coming in the shipments but we picked the ones that we could fit in our suitcases.

Posted by Becky at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna was really excited to go to church and sing Christmas songs on chairs (the church we went to is held in a school, so no pews). She wanted to wear her red sweater all day and kept asking to "get in car go to church" after her nap. She did a really good job although we definitely need to work on our "church voice" as she was yelling "we're at church!" "we'll do that again!" (after we sang a song) and other random stuff about being at church. I guess we'll see if she gets as excited about a regular service as this one (and then how she does in the church nursery!).

She seems intrigued by the empty stockings and Santa filling them up with presents, too. I am excited to see what she thinks of opening all of the presents in the morning and I can't wait to see which gift is the biggest hit of the day (and then which ones have the most staying power). It's too bad that a lot of her actual Christmas gifts are in the sea shipment although I guess it's good that they're getting spread out a bit, too. I have a feeling that some of the most exciting gifts are in the sea shipment though (the tricycle and rocking moose are the first that come to mind).

She still gets super excited every time we're out and we see a Christmas tree ("Just like at Ritz!") and the few Christmas lights we've seen around town. We've been listening to Christmas music in the house and in the car and she particularly likes Frosty the Snowman by Gene Autry and Here Comes Santa Claus by Elvis. I've had so much fun with her this season, I'll be a little sad to see it go. I guess the only consolation is that there's always next year!

Posted by Becky at 9:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our Christmas card this year.

Posted by Becky at 9:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The office

The hallway from office to Anna's bedroom; our bedroom is off to left, second bedroom is on left just before Anna's room; another bathroom on the right before Anna's bedroom.

Our room. Each of the bedrooms has a large mirrored closet (with shelving and drawers) and blackout curtains. Ours has a bathroom with shower on the other side of the closet.

Anna's room (pack & play in the corner by window).

The guest room (where Gertie hangs out). Anna takes a bath in the bathroom off of this room.

View from our balcony: to the left.

View from our balcony: straight ahead (club house).

View from our balcony: to the right: pool and beyond that is the playground (covered).

Craig took Anna out for a bit this morning so I could clean the house upstairs and downstairs and finally get these pictures taken! I vacuumed the tile downstairs last week but upstairs still felt dusty/dirty so I wanted to do the whole thing at once (much easier without Anna around!). Now the floors feel much cleaner!

Posted by Becky at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good advice for any city!

We took Anna back to the park we went to with the playgroup. I had read that there was a train here so we went exploring. No train, but Anna really enjoyed looking at the water, so I guess it wasn't a total loss (thankfully we didn't mention the possibility of a train before we went!).

Posted by Becky at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anna was ridiculously excited about these foam squares that we bought for what we'll use as the "play area" when her toys arrive. The front door doesn't clear them though so I think we'll end up putting two in her room or somewhere else as I'm not thrilled with the look we've achieved with six squares right now.

We went to get our fingerprinting done today (Anna did not have to get hers done since she is under 10 years old). I had heard to bring wet wipes because they do your whole hand and don't give you anything to clean the ink off. We got to the facility and it was swarming with people, presumably all to get their fingerprinting done as well. We were escorted to a building with "VIP" something-or-other on it and we were handed two numbers that were somehow before some of the people who were already waiting in the room. Anyway, we basically didn't have to wait and they had upgraded to electronic fingerprinting so no need for wet wipes. I did, however see some other people walking around with inked papers so I guess the electronic fingerprinting is only done for VIPs (whatever that means!).

After that we went to Carrefour to pick up the foam squares I saw last time but forgot to pick up. We stopped at Starbucks first though because Baby & I were hungry and I knew Anna also needed a snack. I think Anna drank more of my Frappucino vanilla blended creme than I did (no caffeine). She was pretty hilarious in doing so because after each sip she would just shiver and shiver and then go for more.

I went out during Anna's nap to check out another mall (Centrepoint) and found a really nice store (Baby Shop—they have one at City Center, but it is being remodeled and this one just felt nicer and like there was more in it) with a lot of good stuff for Baby and a pretty good selection of toys for Anna. The mall itself was not big at all so I'm not sure how often I'll actually go back, but it's good to know where some essential baby-stuff can be found.

Posted by Becky at 8:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thank you to all who have sent Christmas cards our way this year! It is taking about one week for us to receive letters which seems like a pretty good turn-around. We have a few things to mail back the other way so we'll see how long that takes!

Mega Mart at the mall with the fire is open (and so is the carousel, thank goodness!) so I will probably just do all of our shopping there since it has the most American/western stuff. Plus it's just a grocery store and not a hypermarket which, I think, makes it a little less crazy to shop in. I've gotten two frozen pizzas to have on hand and they are both from Iceland. I guess Iceland is known for this? I don't know, but the first one Anna & I tried was good so maybe the Mega Mart stockers are on to something there.

The weather is cool and we actually had to roll out the portable electric radiators last night to keep our feet from turning into ice blocks! Today seemed a bit warmer though and Anna & I were comfortable in long sleeves at the park (but needed jackets or sweaters to go out to dinner tonight).

Craig is starting the search for cars for us. We'll see what we can find in our price range, but I'll probably get a small SUV-type that will keep me and the girls safe from the Land Cruisers (and so I can have a chance to see around the Land Cruisers when they block my line of sight into the round-abouts!). Hopefully something will turn up before our alloted rental car days are up (the company only pays for a certain number of rental days and then we're on our own).

Craig will have most of the next couple of weeks off (vacation and then Eid al-Adha). Not sure what we'll do with him all of that time but hopefully we'll do a bit of exploring around Qatar (as much as we can without 4WD, anyway).

Posted by Becky at 7:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anna & I went to one of the playgroups today (Itsy Bitsy Toddlers: ages 18-months and up). There were five or six other moms ("mums") there and we all had daughters. I think Anna was the youngest, but the next youngest was just two months oder than her; the oldest was 2.5 years. Anna had fun and got to practice walking up and down stairs a lot which was great (I'm too chicken to let her do this on her own at home yet (all the tile terrifies me) but we're working on it since she can actually reach the railing at our villa and she couldn't in Texas).

They seemed like a nice bunch (all from Australia, New Zealand, or England—I must learn to say, "Aussies, Kiwis, and Brits") but it was hard talking to them because we met at a park and I had to keep an eye on Anna a bit because at first one of the local kids was trying to get Anna to "play" with her and then I just wanted to make sure Anna wasn't going to walk off one of the gaping sides of the play structure! We'll try to go again a few more times for sure.

Posted by Becky at 1:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We decided to let Anna watch Frosty the Snowman since she likes the book so much. She doesn't get any TV-time at all (she watches videos I take on the little camera on the computer and Jake & Sam's blog videos though) so a whole movie was pretty intense for her. She loves the bunny in the movie. I'm sure we'll be watching this every night for a while.

Posted by Becky at 9:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the moms we met at Dairy Queen on Sunday was nice enough to invite us over to get out of the house and play with some new toys today. Darcie & Talulah (27-month-old twins) had a lot of fun toys to check out (strings of beads were the biggest hit with Anna) and they all played with play-doh together for a bit, too.

The villa they are in is in a compound that houses a lot of employees from Craig's company and although it was a bit smaller than our current villa, I liked it a bit more (although I'm pretty sure a lot of it had to do with the fact that Claire furnished the house herself rather than keeping the more formal furniture that came with it). Everything was a little less "grand" than here and there was a lot more light coming in the windows. They also have a huge yard which would be really nice. I'm sure our place will feel more like home when all of our stuff gets here (although I don't think that will help me like the furniture any more!

On our way out of the compound we stopped at Craig's company club and paid our membership dues ($50 per year and I'm not totally sure what that buys us, but seemed inexpensive enough to check it out) and checked out the clubhouse. There is a nice little library, a pool, dining room with lunch & dinner catered by the Marriott every day, kitchen and bar, and a gym. (I have failed to mention that we are the clubhouse on our compound has a pool, gym, pool tables, etc. and is just across the street from our villa. I haven't gone over to check these things out yet but we will in time.)

I need to call about the Wednesday playgroup and see if they're meeting tomorrow and get directions. If they're not meeting, Anna & I will probably go check out another mall and see what we think of the play area there.

I'm really hoping that we can get our Internet connection set up properly here because this stealing-from-the-neighbors-spotty-connection is really starting to drive me nuts!

Posted by Becky at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This was the expression Anna had through the whole evening (with only a pretty big smile at the start of Frosty the Snowman—although not long enough for me to capture it on film!).

Checking out the big Christmas tree.

Everyone swarmed over to check out Santa on the other side of the tree so it's kind of hard to see how many people are there; also, I brought the little camera for the video capability but am basically disgusted with the pictures. Oh well, Anna is enjoying re-living everything with the video so that makes it worth it, I suppose.

We went to the Christmas tree lighting at the Ritz tonight. There were carolers and a brass quartet (two trumpets & two french horns) singing and playing Christmas songs. Santa was there, too, but we came for the tree and the music. Anna seemed to really like it but was overwhelmed by it at the same time. When the carolers sang "Frosty the Snowman" she got really excited as this is the song she knows best. I'll post some pictures and maybe video tomorrow.

We will try to go to church on Christmas Eve for more Christmas music; I need to call around to the churches in town to find out where they are and what time their Christmas Eve services are (there are four or five Christian churches listed in Craig's company booklet of info on Doha).

Posted by Becky at 8:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Craig took the morning off of work so I could go to my first OB appointment without Anna (thank you, Craig!). It was really quiet there this morning and I went from desk to desk as instructed and then met with the OB right away. This first trip cost 970 Riyals (about $266 USD) so we will definitely be submitting receipts to our insurance unlike in Korea where it was so cheap it wasn't worth the hassle!

It was pricey today because I had to get blood work done (the mom at DQ yesterday had pre-warned me that they like to be very thorough, perhaps a little bit too much) so, even though I told her I had the MMR vaccine in the US as a child she wanted to check that along with a couple of other things they didn't check at home in the blood work.

Anyway, I didn't get in to see the OB I wanted because she doesn't come in until afternoon on Mondays, apparently. I saw another woman who seemed fine though I will see the original OB I had planned to see at my next appointment (January 16) just to at least meet them both.

The OB asked the same general questions as at home and seemed really surprised when I told her I had no pain medication for Anna's birth. I told her I'd like to do the same with this one and that I'd prefer to not have an episiotomy and she seemed fine with that so that's good news there. There was an ultrasound machine in the room so we took a quick look at Baby to check measurements. That was an unexpected bonus! No pictures to take home though.

Overall, the hospital looked really nice and the staff seemed friendly, helpful, and everyone spoke English. The building itself is only two years old. I got a sheet that outlines the costs for delivery. I'll have to go back to Anna's medical records now to see how much she cost (something I've wanted to figure out anyway, but all of the bills came at different times and I never sorted through them, just paid and tossed them in her file). Here are the costs for "normal delivery + normal baby care in nursery for 2 days" (costs go up with vacuum/forceps, c-section & baby care for 4 days; and also not included in the package is circumcision (we were wondering if they did that at all), hearing test, epidural, radiology, and some laboratory tests).

Double Room 6,500 Riyals [$1,785 USD]
Single Room 7,300 Riyals [$2,005 USD]
VIP Suite 8,400 Riyals [$2,307 USD]
Royal Suite 10,500 Riyals [$2,884 USD]

(Royal Suite with c-section is 20,000 Riyals [$5,494 USD])

I'm sure I'll be briefed on the differences between the Double Room, Single Room, VIP Suite, & Royal Suite. We'll see which one Craig springs for.

We also have to remember to put in the bag for the hospital Craig's and my passports and ID cards, and our wedding certificate "this is very important for the baby."

I know the prices state "normal baby care in nursery for 2 days" but I'm pretty sure I've read that they encourage keeping the baby with the mother and that they are very pro-breastfeeding (I did see a lot of posters around the offices this morning) so that is encouraging. I am really happy with the experience I had in Texas with Anna's birth so I hope that this is somewhat comparable.

Oh, and the hospital is very close to our current villa so I hope we don't end up somewhere on the opposite side of town! With my dad missing my birth because he was parking the car and with how fast Sam came out, I don't want to deliver in the car on the way to the hospital! Although, I hope I didn't just jinx myself into a really long, long labor, either!

Finally, I have been feeling Baby move a lot since we arrived in Doha and Craig even felt her one night last week. It's nice to have that daily reassurance!

Will have to add Baby's weight & length from Your Pregnancy Week by Week after the air shipment arrives. According to the scale at the doctor, I have gained 2.5 pounds since the week I got the positive pregnancy test.

Posted by Becky at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anna wanted to go upstairs and read books this afternoon. More specifically, she wanted to lay back on a pillow and read.

I emailed with one of the moms on the expatwoman message boards and she and another mom planned to meet up this morning at Dairy Queen for a little playdate. There is a good play area there for the kids so we chatted while the kids played and snacked. Anna jumped right in, then got shy, then jumped back in.

One of the older Qatari girls playing in the area seemed to take to Anna and the girl was handing Anna balls to play with for quite some time. It was strange to me that Anna thought this girl was OK, but it was nice to know that she isn't completely afraid of new people!

I think Anna had fun and we met three moms and four kids (ages 20 months to 27 months; three girls—one named Ella—and one boy). I'm horrible at placing accents, but at least one of the moms is Australian. Hopefully we'll make it to one of the playgroups this week (one tomorrow or one Wednesday).

One of the moms just had a baby here (8 weeks ago) with the doctor I'm planning to see this week. She said that she had gone to her with and without appointments and probably waited less time without the appointment. Go at 8 AM or 1 PM right when they open for the day & after lunch to get in faster. Both of those times will be hard to swing but I can wake Anna early and try to get there as close to 8 AM as I can one day, I'm sure; Craig will come with so that will be a big help.

Posted by Becky at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It would seem that there are about one hundred malls in this town so we're checking them out one by one. Today we went down to the Villagio and the Hyatt Plaza which turned out to be pretty good. The Carrefour at the Villagio is newer so, even though they pretty much have all the same stuff as the one in City Center, it was nicer. It was also less crowded.

We also stopped at the Homes R Us there which seemed pretty nice, but we really liked checking out the Dais-O upstairs. Dais-O is a Japanese discount store (everything is $2). We could have spent a long time in there, but it was close to lunch so we bought a few things (mostly stocking stuffers for Anna) and went to lunch.

These malls are right near the zoo so maybe Anna and I will go check that out this week or next.

We got a call to let us know that our air shipment is in Doha and we should have our stuff within 8-10 days (it has to go through customs). It's nice to think we'll have that stuff soon, but will probably make me want the sea shipment even more!

It was rainy today; the hardest rain we've seen here yet. It's been drizzling a lot since we have arrived which is unusual. It's also been relatively cool--long-sleeves-weather (and there have been occasions where I wished I had another layer on top of that.

Sorry no pictures today, I forgot to put the little camera in my purse after I transferred files yesterday.

Posted by Becky at 7:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The backyard from the corner of yard by kitchen; large water tank on right.

Looking back toward villa.

Along side the house (by dining room). Gate at other end leads to second car port.

Craig & Anna posing with one of many Orry's around town. Orrry is the official mascot of the 2006 Asian Games (he is an oryx).

I woke up at 1:15 or so because Anna was crying looking for her pacifier (no, I didn't go in). But, I couldn't fall back asleep. Anna woke up at 6:30 (yikes!) and I never did get any more sleep beyond the 2 hours or so. We all three lay in bed for a while though because Anna has never gotten up that early before and we just didn't know what to do with her (plus we were both exhausted).

We went to the Corniche again today since Anna liked it so much yesterday. We hoped to find a playground Craig saw last year that he said looked cool, but it was taken over by the Asian games. I saw some playgrounds yesterday but by the time we had walked to one end, it was time for us to walk back to the car and find some lunch. (I think the Corniche is 7km long? We didn't walk all of that today of course, but we did get some exercise in!)

I took a one hour nap and then went to Lulu Hypermarket to check it out and get some groceries and hopefully some essentials still on our list. Lulu was really crazy (surely partly because it was Friday afternoon) and a lot of the stuff upstairs was just clothes and everything else was kind of dusty stuff. I did get a little ride-on race car for Anna since her ride on toys are in the sea shipment. This one has a working steering wheel and it was on sale so I couldn't not get it. She loves it, of course.

The grocery store was OK, I did find several things I needed as far as bakeware, mixing bowls, etc. to help us survive until the sea shipment gets here. So far, Mega Mart has had the best selection but I was able to get some Australian beef and, best of all, Swiss Miss vanilla pudding cups (something I've not been able to find at Kroger or HEB for years now). I will try the other Mega Mart in town (the one not in the mall that had the fire) next.

I'm really glad I went alone because Anna would have gone nuts with all the waiting in lines I had to do. One upstairs to buy the car and some coloring books. One in the produce department to get my produce weighed. One to pay for the groceries. Fortunately traffic wasn't bad at all and I zipped there and back.

I'm really finding (so far) driving to be not a big deal at all. I don't know if it was built up too much or if I've been lucky so far. Yes, there are some crazy drivers but, there are crazy drivers everywhere! There are also less Land Cruisers than I was expecting—still more than you generally see at home, but I've felt perfectly safe in my Accord (it is pretty new so it has a lot of pep, something I haven't experience much in my own cars!). We stopped and filled up the car today, it was mostly empty and it cost about $10 to fill. I'll take actual liter and km and Qatari Riyal notes next time so you can get a true feel fro the price of gas here. Maybe I should get an H3 since gas is so cheap?

Posted by Becky at 7:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The view from Anna's room this afternoon when I woke her form her nap.

Anna & I had to go back to the medical commission today so I could get the TB skin test administered. We have to back again on Sunday to get it read. I found it easily on my own and although Anna acted really unhappy (not crying, but maybe a little scared?) being there, she was much better in the car because I made a CD of her songs to listen to. It helps that she has two full nights of sleep under her belt, too!

On our way home from the medical commission, we stopped at the Corniche to do something fun instead of all of the boring stuff I've been making her do. She really liked getting out and looking at the water (very blue and beautiful, but what she loved most was the "sparkly ones" where the sun was reflecting off of the water). She wanted to touch the water, but there is no practical way to get down to do that so I told her that once her water shoes come (air shipment) we can go to a beach and she can touch the water (you are not supposed to go barefoot in the water here). I left my little camera at home with the battery charging, but I'm sure Anna & I will head back again since she seemed to enjoy it a lot.

Anna took an awesome nap today (I took one, too, even though I slept until 4:15 this morning) and then we went out to Johnny Rockets for dinner. Anna loved it; especially the milkshake I ordered. Baby Girl liked that I actually ate some food for once (I have not been eating well the past few weeks with the move and then with the jet lag, nothing tastes good—and I just haven't stocked the house well with food yet). I have a feeling we will be going there often (even though I wasn't exactly in love with Johnny Rockets at home, this burger tasted pretty darn good tonight!).

Tomorrow is Friday so I'm hoping to sleep in a bit and then go to the grocery store alone in the afternoon. Craig thinks I should go out driving in the morning since traffic will be light, but I don't want to just go driving, I at least want to hit a few stores if I'm out. So, I might check out Lulu Hypermarket or the other Mega Mart in town if I can get out the door early enough. Friday morning store hours are funny as the stores open for 1-3 hours and then close for a few hours until afternoon so Saturday would probably actually be a better day for me to get some shopping done but we need stuff now!

Anna seemed back to her normal pleasant self today which is a relief. It's hard dealing with a jet lagged kid when you haven't gotten sleep yourself. I know she is needing to feel in control of herself and surroundings but some of things she has been doing have really been trying my nerves! For example, as soon as you get in the car she wants to "back out of spot! Back out of spot! Drive on road!" She doesn't care that I feel the need to consult my map before I start driving. Hopefully that will pass soon because it's not something I enjoy much. One funny thing she's bee doing for a couple of weeks though is when we get to a red light she says "let's make that green!" I know she gets her impatience from me and I guess I haven't done a very good job of concealing it from her.

Posted by Becky at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been feeling Baby Girl move more since we made the move. I think I am finally not stressed out now that we are out of the house and what's done is done (packing/storage-wise). Still not very strong or consistent, but I'd say I've been feeling her every day.

I need to get info on making an appointment (or just walking in) next week. I hope that the doctor's visits are not a huge hassle and that I like this first doctor I've scoped out. I'll be sure to post about my visit when I go in.

Something I've been thinking a lot about during my sleepless nights is Baby's name. I just don't have super strong feelings about any names. I want something that is timeless, is internationally-friendly, feminine (but not frilly!), and goes with Anna & Martin! Seems like a tall order but I'm sure the name is out there. We have a small list going now, but I'd be interested in any suggestions anyone out there has for us! Maybe I'll post a poll later on when we have solidified our choices more (although your votes wouldn't really count in our final decision-making, it would just be fun to see what you think!).

I don't have my Pregnancy Week by Week with my right now (it's in the air shipment) so I can't tell you length & weight this week. I'll try to remember to come back and update it though.

Posted by Becky at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

View from area to right of entryway.

From back of dining room toward family room & front door.

Into the kitchen.

Into the laundry/utility room (bathroom to right of stacking washer & dryer in back is the perfect spot for the litter box!).

From the back door in the kitchen toward the front door.

From the kitchen door; main powder room on left.
I spent Anna's "nap" cleaning downstairs so I thought I'd better take pictures. Tomorrow I'll try to get the upstairs and outside.—and I'll try to post them during her nap as well, we'll see.

She did it! Anna slept from 7:30 to 8 AM when Craig woke her up this morning. Just like at home. Unfortunately, she didn't take a nap this afternoon (not totally unusual for at home, but I would have thought she'd still be tired from this past week and not revert to no napping so soon). Doubly unfortunately, I woke up at 2 AM and couldn't fall back asleep until about 6 AM. I did not take a nap this afternoon but "accidentally" fell asleep this evening after I put Anna to bed and Craig was out getting my cell phone (so cute, I'll have to take a picture!).

We went to the Qatar medical offices where we had to do the tests for our residency permits. This is where they repeat all of the tests that we had to do back home because apparently doing them once wasn't good enough. I had to bring Anna with me to a separate ladies' side while Craig was escorted through the process on the men's side by two of the guys from his sponsoring company. He says that they ushered him to the front of each line so they breezed through.

The ladies' side wasn't busy, but since I was on my own, I was probably slower because I didn't really know what I was doing and Anna was not necessarily cooperative. One of the guys from Craig's work wrote that I am pregnant in Arabic on my form so each station I stopped at asked how far along, etc. At the station where you're supposed to get an x-ray, the lady said that since I am pregnant she would just do the TB skin test (same as they did in Texas) but that the injection wasn't available today so I have to go back tomorrow (and then probably again on Sunday to have it read). This caused a bit of an uproar with our hosts when I came back out without my stamp but there was nothing to be done. I'm just glad that I got out of the x-ray as I was worried I'd be back there by myself demanding a lead apron that they wouldn't give me or some other horrible thing.

Anna is having quite the time with everyone wanting to interact with her: she does not like strangers! She always turns to me and says "mom!" really loudly and then sometimes the strangers (waiters/people in Craig's office/people at the medical clinic) back off and other times they are (annoyingly) persistant, like they're going to win her over. Ha! She hasn't totally freaked out on anyone, but a couple of people today thought they were helping me by trying to pick her up and hold her while I was getting my blood test or whatever. They quickly put her down when she let them know she didn't like it!

Also, Anna was offered (and I accepted because I didn't want to be rude) two bags of cheese curls (one puffs and one crunchy—both generic versions) today and she loved them. Her diet hasn't been the greatest since we started packing in Texas, but this was really bad. Luckily I actually had time, ingredients, and the appropriate number of clean dishes to cook a meal tonight (chicken, mashed potatoes, and broccoli) so we'll get her the right stuff again in spite of Qatari-hospitality.

I had no problem getting from Craig's work back home this morning after we were done and I am planning to go back tomorrow without him and I feel like I can get there without too much hassle. It's actually probably a bit easier without the use of street names and just counting roundabouts and stoplights. I just tell myself, "straight, straight, left, straight" and then I'm there! No worrying about remembering the right street names. My trip tomorrow is longer but since I've done half already with Craig (and rode as a passenger for the other half), I'm not too nervous. I need to make a CD with some music Anna likes for the ride though because I haven't found a decent radio station to listen to yet and she gets antsy a few roundabouts before we get home.

Posted by Becky at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I feel like I should make a list of things that I wish I had brought on the plane, put in the air shipment, or could have put in the sea shipment so that next time around I have a better chance of getting it right. When we went to Korea we just had an air shipment (and no kid!) so it was a lot easier.

Our villa came with pots & pans so I sent ours sea (along with a lot of bakeware, measuring cups, all of our gadgets, Kitchen Aid, espresso machine, etc.). I wish I had really read the list of things provided in the apartment because I would have sent measuring cups and a few baking things (one pan and one sheet at least!) in the air shipment. I couldn't have prioritized all of the kitchen stuff about the Anna-stuff in the air shipment, but I could have thrown in a couple of things; like I'm not even sure that I thought to put my Joy of Cooking in the air shipment. Next time I'll know.

I'm happy with the amount of clothes I took in my luggage for myself (four maternity pants and maybe 15 maternity tops) so far but Craig wishes he had brought more or sent a few more in the air shipment. I brought all of Anna's clothes that fit her now in the suitcases (and the handful of clothes that I have in her next size) which is perfect since her clothes didn't take up that much room.

I wish I had brought more of food with us that Anna is kind of attached to. Luna bars, Earth's Best bars, Amy's Bunny Grahams, and Earth's Best crackers. I realize we'll get new stuff to replace these items, but I am running out of her standards faster than I can find new things at the store. I will probably get out to the store by myself later this week so I can really study my choices (Anna has just been too squirmy at the store; not like her usual self).

I hope I sent my office supplies in the air shipment but I have a feeling they might have gotten into the sea shipment pile.

So far, I think that's it. I know we sent a lot of toys in the air shipment and that we had a suitcase-full of them with us. That has felt like the right decision so far.

I also wanted to add that I have figured out the dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer. I even figured out how to pre-heat the oven after much trial and error—and the temperature is in fahrenheit. It was after I started pre-heating the oven, however, that I realized I had nothing that was oven-safe to bake our chicken in. Some kind of baking dish is on my list to get at the store as I don't see going 6-8 weeks without baking anything!

Oh, and the cat litter we are using here is not clumping and it is very strange: it is little white balls. So far, Gertie doesn't seem to mind and both Mega Mart and Carrefour only have the same brand. I have to get to the vet in the next couple of weeks to get Gertie's food (I just brought one small bag) so I'll have to check if they have anything better there.

Posted by Becky at 8:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Would you let these people live in your country? I was just going to post Anna's, but thought it was only fair if I made fun of all of our pictures.

I got my rental car today! Now we're not trapped on the compound (we could have hired a car to take us around, but I hate dealing with that car seat all of the time). Anna & I went to Carrefour to get some groceries (not as good of a selection as Mega Mart) and traffic was easy to navigate. Of course, this is one of two places I've been to with Craig before so I had a good idea of where I was going. Venturing out on my own a little more will be a bit nerve-wracking. There are a couple of playgroups I want to check out and they're on the other side of town: where I've never been before!

I couldn't get myself up at 8 but managed to at 8:20 or so, so Anna slept in until 8:30 which I thought would be just fine, but she was super crabby for the first hour of the morning. I didn't know what to do for her. She was crying "hold you on floor" and I gather she wanted me to stand and hold her, but I can't do that for long because it hurts my back & and puts a bit more pressure on Baby than I'd like. I explained this to her and eventually I got her to calm down while I held her on the couch. We played outside a bit and then the rental car was delivered so we hit the road. She was a bit squirmy toward the end of our trip to Carrefour but I figured it was because it was close to lunch and naptime.

After her nap, Craig came home and we went to do our eye test for our temporary drivers licenses. Anna did a great job there but when we got to the picture place in the mall to get some passport photos of each of us (for our residence permits and Craig's & my drivers licenses), she did not want to get her picture taken. I told Craig that he should be really appreciative of me because if I had had to take her to the mall to get portraits done all these months we wouldn't have any pictures of her! We ended up asking the guy to let me take the picture and I did get one, but she is crying in it. I hope that the Qatari government accepts it because I just don't think she's going to do any better any time soon. However, she is still overtired, so I guess there's a chance that, in another week or so, when she's caught up on sleep she'll be more open to things? Who can say.

Tomorrow we have to go do our blood tests and I'm really miffed because it looks like Anna & I are going to miss checking out the playgroup tomorrow because of it! I've been really looking forward to this all week so I'm super bummed. We might still try to make it (blood tests are at 9:30 and playgroup is at 10:30) but I'm doubtful.

I'm also really hoping to get some sleep tonight. Am trying to get to bed a bit earlier now (just took a one-hour nap today) so we'll see how it goes. The plan is that if Anna's still waking after tomorrow, Craig will sleep in the guest room with the monitor and I'll stay in our room (it's further from Anna's room) with the door shut and he's in charge of her. Hopefully she'll just sleep through tonight and tomorrow!! (I've got to hold on to a dream, don't I?) It's all just preparation for Baby Girl, I guess.

Posted by Becky at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 4 AM and I haven't slept yet. Anna woke at 11:30, I held her for a few minutes and she was awake but not mad until 2 AM so I went back in and held her a little longer. I'm still awake. I think I napped too long yesterday. It is so hard to not nap in the afternoon but I'll try to at least take a shorter nap tomorrow. I'm feeling hopeful abut Anna's jet lag at least since she was awake for less time tonight. Planning an 8 AM start again in the morning (yikes! I have less than four hours to sleep tonight!!).

Posted by Becky at 4:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anna had a lot of fun putting the candy on the gingerbread house. She had even more fun eating a few of the gumdrops.

Craig's company's welcome wagon came today with a basket of treats and some good information pamphlets & brochures. I was feeling kind of left out since last time when we went to Korea they set us up with Erica & Joel right away as our "hosts." This is a little less personal than that, but at least now I have a few numbers at hand.

Last night Anna woke up at 9:30 PM and was really upset and did not want to be in her crib. My original plan for her when she woke around 1 AM was to lay down with her for a bit so Anna & I went to the guest room together at 9:30.

She really did try to sleep but just couldn't get there. She did a lot of talking (reviewing all of her favorite things, reciting lines from books, etc.) and a lot of log-rolling (I had set up pillow barriers on the opposite side of the bed to act as speed-bumps so she wouldn't just roll right onto the tile floor below.

Every once in a while, she would say "get down" but each time I gave her a choice: sleep with mommy in the guest bed or sleep in crib alone. At 2:30 AM she finally chose the crib and went there without a fuss. I woke her at 8 AM as planned and although it was a struggle, we made it until 12:45 for a nap (she asked for her pacifier several times but I only gave her her pig).

We both took a three hour nap in the afternoon and she seemed fine with getting in the pack & play again tonight. I'm crossing my fingers that she felt as good as I did today because even though I was awake from 9:30-2:00, I felt more rested at 2 when I came to bed and then I actually slept(!) from 2-6:30!

I think we both need to get out of the house tomorrow though so I am getting my rental tomorrow and we're going to go to Carrefour to get some groceries. We went to City Center (the mall where Carrefour is located) tonight for dinner so I feel pretty good about how to get there (and back). I'll be sure to post about our first driving adventure tomorrow!

I hope we get our Internet set up at home soon (especially now that I know we are actually supposed to have it!). Once we have it, I'll be able to email, etc. Basically all I've been doing is writing my posts in another program and then copying & pasting it into Movable Type and then waiting and waiting for it to post—and sometimes that takes all day! I'll also be looking forward to doing video chats with Nana & Papa, Grandma & Grandpa, and any of the cousins (so everyone better have their cameras (and Skype accounts) ready to go!

Posted by Becky at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Anna enjoying some lunch at her seat at the head of the table.

Anna & I ended up sleeping until 10:30 this morning. I fell asleep sometime after 6 AM and only slept really well (Craig was still snoring, then he was getting ready for work, etc.) from about 8:00-9:00. After a quick shower, I went to Anna's room and opened up her shades and she kept sleeping. So I laid down on one of the beds in her room and woke up an hour later and she did as well. I figured it was best to let her sleep really late today since we had to go to the orientation for Craig's work and I didn't want another "incident" like at the mall yesterday.

The driver came to get us at 11:45 as promised and took us to get a very short briefing on some security things. We need to register with the US Embassy here and he told me (because I am female) that I do not need to pull over while driving unless I'm in an accident or for an unmarked police car (I should still pull over for an obvious police car/officer). He took our pictures for our badges to get into various compounds and the company club and then we were off. Anna sat in her conference chair and was a peach eating out of her snack trap so no problems there.

Anna finally discovered the potty we put in one of the five bathrooms here (we put it in the main one downstairs) this evening so I have a feeling I know what we'll spend a lot of time doing tomorrow... Her bladder is still on Texas time though as she is waking up wet in the mornings so far and is dry during the day when she normally would have been sleeping. We'll see if the presence of the potty changes that.

Craig found out at work today that we are supposed to have Internet up and running already in our villa so we need to get someone to stop by and fix that for us. Also, we will likely be in this villa for 6-8 weeks before we move to the permanent one. I haven't told Anna that we're moving again yet because I figure her world is unsettled enough; I'll wait until we're closer to the date to spring that news on her (and Gertie!).

The mall we went to yesterday had a big fire in it which is really bad news, of course, but (and I realize the world doesn't revolve around me) I was planning to make that my first outing because I am confident in how to get there and the carousel is there. The newspaper hasn't given out all of the details on what exactly was damaged, but is sounds like the carousel area is in jeopardy because the fire was supposedly in one of the restaurants or in the food court near where the carousel is. Anna & I will have to find a different hobby, I guess.

Posted by Becky at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Craig goes in for his first day of work today. If I had real bearings on what day of the week it was, I'd probably write that it's weird he's going to work on Sunday. I'm sure it will just feel like Monday today and then I'll be pleasantly surprised when he doesn't go to work on Friday!

Our villa backs up to a very busy road and although it hasn't seemed to bother Anna yet, I'm curious to see if weekday traffic affects her nap at all. Traffic was pretty light the past few days since it was the weekend but she's also been super tired so who knows if when she is finally caught up on sleep if the noise will bother her. Especially since we lived on a very quiet cul-de-sac in Texas. Loud engines, sirens, and horns aren't easy to get used to. I can hear it really well in our room at the front of the house, too. We might just have to turn all of the in-room a/c fans on to try to deaden the noise if it becomes a problem.

Anna & I had a worse night last night; she was up at 1 AM again and I went in at 1:30 because she was angrily yelling "get out!" I heard her probably once every hour until 5 AM. I'm still up at 6:15 AM because either someone is yelling "get out!", meowing throughout the house, or snoring like a freight train. I really hope Anna can get back on track in the next couple of days because I would like to get back on track, too! I'm jealous of Craig's ability to sleep through everything right now.

Posted by Becky at 6:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anna & Craig decorating the tree. I'm so glad that we got a tree here, it was something I was feeling sad that Anna was missing out on at home.

When we arrived on Thursday night it was raining a bit and it was also raining yesterday (just a light sprinkling, actually). I realize that later I will appreciate the rain more but yesterday I was really wanting some bright sunshine to help us with our jet lag. Anna really had a hard time believing me when I told her it was time to be awake at 4 PM and it was just not that bright outside. She woke up at 1 AM last night and I went to her at 2:15 AM after she started crying a bit. After I held her for a few minutes, I went back to bed and didn't hear from her again all night but I couldn't fall back asleep until after 5 AM. We all woke up around 9 AM this morning and I think that was a better time to get started than yesterday's 9:30.

Yesterday we went to City Center Mall and Carrefour but we went too early and most everything was closed). We ended up going back out after Anna's nap to get what we could at Toys R Us (a baby monitor, a potty, and some Play Doh). Anna had her pacifier in her mouth for most of the day as she must have caught Craig's cold from last week as well as having jet lag & not enough sleep.

Today we went to Landmark mall and took Anna on the carousel and did some grocery shopping at Mega Mart. Anna was getting fussy at Mega Mart because she wanted to eat "samples" like at home. She was asking for grapes & tortillas (HEB is great for samples, and apparently Anna has come to expect this; unfortunately Mega Mart isn't the same way!). Craig took her back out to the mall and I did the shopping. I spent way too much money and got a lot of the same brands we have at home. I was actually a bit surprised that they really have everything here. It comes at a price, but we really won't have to do without while we're here.

Toward the end of my shopping, I heard a baby crying. My baby. Anna really wanted her pacifier (funny how easy it is to get hooked on that thing out of the crib!) but we didn't have it with us. I went though the check out and Craig & Anna met me by the mall entrance where we threw the bags in the trunk of the car. Anna had calmed herself by the time she got in the car, but she still really wanted that pacifier when we got home. Really, I think she was hungry and getting a bit tired (she ate well and then took a good nap).

She woke up more easily from her nap this afternoon and didn't need her pacifier before bed (although it was requested a few times).

Anna & I checked out the playground at the compound while Craig went back to Carrefour to get a new litter box for Gertie and a Christmas tree with decorations for us (we shipped our 6ft tree by sea). Anna really liked helping Craig decorate the tree and I'll post pictures of that later (probably after we get to an Internet cafe as connecting to the neighbor's wi-fi is really spotty and not easy to do).

I know I'm writing more about Anna & that pacifier than Doha, but I don't feel like we've gotten to see much yet. It's really so Westernized that I don't feel strange about being here and I'm more focused on Anna than the fact that we're somewhere very far from home. Her cold seemed better today and she didn't need any Motrin like yesterday but we gave her some decongestant tonight since her nose is still super stuffy & runny during the day.

Tomorrow a car is supposed to come pick up Craig for work and then later in the morning another car comes to pick up me & Anna to go to some kind of orientation. I'm a little nervous about this since I really don't like installing the carseat by myself and what am I supposed to do with the carseat when I get to where we're going? Oh well, it's just one day and hopefully Anna will be easily entertain-able (and I'll definitely bring the pacifier in my purse so we don't create a scene like we did at Landmark today!).

I imagine at some point this week we'll get my rental car so Anna & I can get out and about although I am a bit nervous about navigating the roads as signs aren't very abundant and there is quite a bit of construction. I'll probably wait to venture out on my own with Anna until I get my cell phone so at least I can call for help if I really need it! There are two playgroups I'm interested in checking out with Anna, one on Mondays and the other on Wednesdays. Hopefully one will be a good fit so we can go each week. I don't think we'll make the one on Monday this week since Anna has been sick and I'm not sure how her jet lag will be, but hopefully we can make it to the Wednesday one.

Gertie was trying to take over Anna's room as there is a bed near the window she likes to look out, but luckily, I brought one of her little fleece-lined cat beds with and placed it in the guest bedroom and now we have found Gertie relaxing there in front of that window (actually a much bigger & better window for a cat to lounge & look out of). Gertie seems jet lagged, too, but since cats sleep so much it's hard to say. She is coming to bed to sleep next to me in the morning instead of trying to wake me up (which she does anyway when she comes to bed; I just can't win).

Oh, and if you're still reading: we sold our house to the couple that came to see it on Wednesday morning. Closing is before the end of the month. I'm a little sad about saying goodbye to the house (all of our memories of Anna are there and the time we had with Tillie there) but I know I'll be excited for us to get something that fits us a little better when we move back with two kids.

I'm sure my posts won't be so incredibly long as we get settled further!

Posted by Becky at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The angle looks a little funny, but this chair reclined completely flat. It took Anna a while to find a comfy position! Photo by Craig.

Wednesday morning I met the cleaning ladies out at the house and while I was there, a Realtor & a couple stopped and asked if they could take a look at the house. They were there a while and asked a few questions that made me think that they were interested. Later in the morning after I went back to the hotel & Craig, Anna, & I were driving back to the house, our Realtor called to say that that couple wanted to make an offer on the house! The house sits on the market for one and a half months with absolutely no action for three weeks and then someone makes an offer on the day we're leaving? Crazy.

Anna & Craig slept in until 9 AM and after we showed Anna that the house was empty and said goodbye to it, we went out to lunch and then got everything together for the airport. Gertie was easy to catch but this time she hissed at me (I guess the rushing around clued her in that this was a bigger deal than the last couple of times I've had to catch her last week (to go to the vet for her travel certificate and to move to the hotel). She complained a bit in the van to the airport and I was glad I thought to put the locks from our new suitcases on both zippers to Gertie's carrier as she did try to claw/chew her way out a few times.

We left the hotel a little after 1 PM. The international terminal was crazy but many thanks to Craig's work for forking over the money for business seats for all of us as we got helped at the counter quickly by waiting in the business line (I felt awful for all of the other parents with kids in the longer line so I really appreciated this more than I think I may have in the past).

Nothing too remarkable to report about the airport. Anna had fun looking at the airplanes from the terminal and getting a bit of exercise before we boarded. Craig sat next to Anna on the plane so I had it pretty easy with my new motto of "live and let Craig" whenever Anna was squirmy or fussy. Really, she was great though and we didn't even get out any toys on the plane (something that's never happened when it has just been me & her). She had her pig that she sleeps with and her pacifier but she couldn't convince herself to give in to fatigue (no nap today!) until about 10:15 PM. I did not sleep at all on this flight, but Craig & Anna slept about two hours. I guess I just couldn't relax or get comfortable enough.

Gertie did not like take-offs or landings but was relatively complain-free for most of the flight. When we got to Frankfurt we had a bit of a time finding the Lufthansa lounge but it was worth it when we did for a little bit quieter and more relaxing space to wait for our next flight with a cat and a toddler with only two hours of sleep behind her. Anna pretty much kept her pacifier from the time it was given to her—I was glad that it was able to provide her such comfort and am nervous about weaning from it in the coming year.

Really for as much waiting and little sleep we all had to put up with, Anna was a fantastic traveler. She had moments of irrationality, but so did I! Gertie wouldn't take a drink when offered (I was kind of glad since she hadn't used the bathroom for so long but I didn't want her to be super-dehydrated, either).

Anna fell asleep pretty soon after we got on the plane to Bahrain and slept for another three hours. There was a time in there after the three hours where she obviously still wanted to sleep but couldn't get there and I was holding her (I sat next to her for the first part of this flight & I slept, too!) and I had to have Craig take her because the only position Anna wanted was really uncomfortable for me & Baby.

I felt Baby moving a lot more during our travel day than I had for most of the time we were moving. I think because finally I was able to slow down and relax a bit. It was really nice to feel her and I'm looking forward to more regular movement!

Our flight from Frankfurt to Bahrain was delayed by about 45 minutes (after we were on the plane) but since we were all exhausted it worked out fine. This was an instance where it was better to have to wait on the plane than off! We stayed on the plane in Bahrain and were delayed a bit again because both the Bahrain & Doha airports were busy and we had to wait in line for takeoff and for a space on the tarmac in Doha.

Customs was smooth sailing and all of our suitcases came off just as we walked up to the baggage carousel (it helped that the flight from Bahrain was pretty empty!). We had to wait a bit for a bigger car to take us and our six checked bags, the cat, Anna's carseat & stroller, my backpack, Anna's diaper bag, and Craig's carry-on. We had a ton of luggage!

The drive to our villa was find since we arrived at 11:30 and traffic was light. Anna seemed excited to check out the new place and she helped me get Gertie set up in the laundry room with food, water, and litter. We got Anna's room set up and she was ready to hop in bed after a snack and some books at about 12 AM. I heard her cry/fuss a bit around 1 or 1:30 AM (we were still up unpacking a bit, etc) but didn't end up having to go in to her. She is still sawing logs at 7:40 AM as I write this now! How I have been blessed with an awesome sleeper!! I really hope Baby Girl takes after Craig this way, too!

Our villa is nice although the decorating style is definitely not my own; it is very formal and grand. I'll take & post some pictures soon.

Our rental car just arrived and I guess we'll start getting ready to get out and about to get to know our new city! I'll post again later with some pictures and more first impressions.

Posted by Becky at 7:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Just a quick note to let you know we made it. One of the neighbors has a wi-fi set up so if we stand just-so on our balcony from our bedroom, we can get a connection.

I need to get to bed now, but will post sometime tomorrow with details from the trip.
Anna is a great little traveler and Gertie even did pretty well (well for any cat, not just her). Lufthansa has the best customer service that I've experienced in air travel by far.

We're getting a rental car in the morning so we can run out and buy a baby gate for the top of the stairs and a litter box (amongst other things, but those are my current highest priorities). Craig's company is nice enough to stock the pantry & fridge with a few basics for you upon arrival so even groceries aren't super critical instantly.

Posted by Becky at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It might be one or two months before we get our Internet connection at our house in Doha (it requires a residence permit) but I will try to post updates as often as I can by stopping at Internet cafes.

Posted by Becky at 7:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Tuesday got a little crazy with everything that needed to be done. Craig took the car out to the house to meet the movers so Anna & I were in the hotel on our own. I made a bunch of phone calls (canceling car insurance, etc.) and it felt like the phone was ringing off the hook. All the while, Anna was yelling, "pee on toilet! pee on toilet!" (she still hasn't gone on the toilet but it's obvious she really wants to be potty trained—finally we can get serious about it once we arrive in Doha).

At about eleven when I realized I didn't pack a swim diaper for Anna, I decided we had better go on a walk to wear her out a bit so she would take a good nap. We walked about 15 minutes (Anna-speed; picking up acorns, pointing out "all the pine needles!", etc.) to lunch and the book store. Then we walked all the way back. Anna took an awesome nap. So awesome, that we had to wake her at 4 PM so we could go get the rental car.

Craig & Anna got the rental car and I drove the Mazda down to Carmax where we were 30 miles over our 1 week or 300 mile guaranteed offer we had with them so I had to wait for them to do another appraisal. Then it was to take another 45 mintues (after waiting in line for 10) to get the paperwork done. I sent Craig & Anna to dinner and I waited at Carmax. Finally, everything was finished, they came back to get me and then we drove back to the hotel in time for Anna to get into bed.

I had wanted to take Anna to hear some carolers tonight but didn't get to since we were stuck at Carmax. I also saw a display of really awesome lights that we just ran out of time to show her. I really regret that she didn't get to see it as I know she would have loved it. I know we'll be back in the States for Christmas again someday though so hopefully it will still be as amazing to her then as it is now.

We finally figured out the sleeping arrangements last night, too. I slept in the bed (with Gertie), Craig slept on the pull-out couch in the family room, and Anna slept in her crib in the second room (that was obviously a no-brainer since Sunday night).

Oh, and we had to make a last-minute decision yesterday when the movers called to say that not everything we had designated for our air shipment was going to fit (it fit weight-wise—we were 3 pounds under—but not cubic-feet-wise). We decided to put Anna's crib in the sea shipment which I hope was not a big mistake! Our thinking was this: she seems perfectly content in the pack & play. The air shipment comes in 2-3 weeks. The sea shipment comes in 6-8 weeks. She's moving to a toddler bed soon anyway. The toddler bed is in the sea shipment as well. I'm thinking we'll give her the option of moving straight to the toddler bed when the sea shipment arrives. She might just be ready, especially if she's potty trained already. We'll see how it goes!

This morning I am meeting the cleaning ladies at our house early and then we just have a couple of quick things to do before the van comes to get us at 1 PM. I may try to check in at the airport or during our layover, but it may not be until we are in Qatar that I check in again. Wish us luck!

Posted by Becky at 6:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

We've gotten down to the last story time, the last coffee shop muffin, etc. Tanya came for my car yesterday so we're down to just Craig's car. We went to dinner for the last time at the "pizza parlor" with our friends last night.

Anna is doing remarkably well during all of this, but I'm sure she hasn't grasped the concept fully yet, either. She knows something is up and she wants to be with me & Craig but I don't believe she "gets" that we're not going to live in our house anymore, etc.

She did a great job in the hotel last night and is talking just a little bit now during her nap. Hopefully she will eventually fall asleep so we can take a well-rested child on the plane with us on Wednesday.

Gertie is doing well in the hotel, too. She is using the litter box, eating & drinking, and even slept next to me last night like usual. She's even purring a bit.

I, however, had a miserable night on the hotel bed. It is hard as a rock and both of my hips were aching by midnight! Oh well, if someone is not going to sleep well, I prefer it would be me and not Anna (because then we both wouldn't get any sleep!).

The movers packed up our air & sea shipments on Friday and I don't understand why they didn't take that away with them on Friday, but they have put most of that in the truck now and are packing up the storage stuff. They'll come back tomorrow to take the storage stuff. It was actually probably easier for us because we were able to add some last-minute stuff to the sea shipment, but it's kind of a pain to have to deal with them for three days instead of one or two. Oh well, we're almost done now.

Just two more nights in the hotel and then we're on our way!

Posted by Becky at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We are at the hotel. Gertie is in our room, Anna is in her own room, Craig is watching the Broncos, and I'm on my way out to Old Navy to get a few little things for Baby Girl (she can't have only hand-me-downs!)... Will post more later tonight if I have energy!

Posted by Becky at 7:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The past week we have been driving around looking for Christmas lights on houses. We took Anna into town the night Craig came back from Korea and she was mesmerized by the giant Christmas tree in the park and the colored lights shining through the water fountains. It is so adorable how excited she gets about the Christmas lights! She excitedly exclaims throughout the drives:

"Let's find some more!"
"Drive around look for Christmas lights on houses!"
"There's some on ground/house/garage/trees."
"Let's go this way."
"Oh my, look at all Christmas lights!"

She likes to spot candycanes (big ones and teeny-tiny ones), point out different colors, and she especially liked it when we found someone with an inflatable carousel in their yard. She had the biggest smile when we parked in front of their house and gawked for a few minutes.

As far as moving goes, she seems to be doing fine so far. Grandma took her out to the Children's Museum & the carousel yesterday while the movers packed our air & sea shipments. She came home to boxes all over the house and exclaimed, "Oh my, look at all big boxes!" She had a little bit of a hard time falling asleep for her nap, but I blame that on the fresh scent of marker (that they labeled the boxes with) because it was really getting to me as well.

Overall, she doesn't seem to mind sleeping in the pack & play surrounded by boxes or that she only really has two toys out to play with right now (her stroller & a firetruck filled with firefighter, dog, fire hydrant, & water bucket). We've been going out to eat so much it doesn't feel like we're home to care too much about the lack of "stuff" right now.

She's only asked for a couple of things that are packed in the boxes (the lego box, the sit & spin, and the footstools for the bathrooms) and seems satisfied when I tell her those items are in the boxes and will come to Doha after we arrive.

Even the cat seems to be doing OK with everything so far (she wasn't thrilled with me when I caught her and put her in the master bathroom while the movers were packing us, but she stopped meowing once she heard their boxes & tape going.

I think I'm officially at the point where I just want to get there. Most of our stuff is packed up and I'm ready to be done with the process on this end.

Posted by Becky at 8:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I decided to get my act together and really scour the message boards for OB recommendations in Doha and finally emailed our friend for her recommendation (Ilona had a baby in Doha in March). I came up with two names and one was the same doctor Ilona used and liked. So, I'm starting with Dr. Rizvi and considering Dr. Maha as a back-up. The hospital Dr. Rizvi is at is also supposed to have some good pediatricians so that is a double bonus. The hospital is private so Craig will be able to be in the delivery room with me (my number one concern). I feel like having this plan is a major load of stress off of my back.

I also stocked up on my favorite nursing pads (should have a one-year supply) and got a few things for Baby at Super Target this weekend that I don't want to do without in Qatar.

I feel pretty good for the most part, but I carried Anna home from the park Sunday and my sciatic nerve was really hurting that night when I was trying to sleep. It feels better than Sunday night & Monday but it is still bothering me; hopefully it will feel better in the next couple of days, but I guess that means I can't really carry Anna much (not that I have been, but I'll be more conscientious about it!).

Your Pregnancy Week by Week says Baby is 4.3 to 4.6 inches (108 to 116 mm) long and is about 2.8 ounces (80 g) this week.

Posted by Becky at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As I expected it would be.

The photo I paid for. Photo by Santa Plus.

Riding "Rosie" the Cat on the carousel at the mall. Photo by Anita.

Anna & Nana.

Although it goes against my principles, we hit the mall first thing this morning to see Santa before Thanksgiving. It really bothers me that the stores can't wait until after Thanksgiving to put up the Christmas decorations, but it would bother me more to wait in a really long line to see Santa when I know Anna won't enjoy seeing him anyway. We were third in line so the wait wasn't long, but Anna really did not want to sit on his lap as you can tell! She enjoyed the flashing reindeer nose he gave her though. Later on, while we were still at the mall, I asked her if she wanted to sit on Santa's lap again, she said "all done." There's always next year (and won't that be fun to try and get two kids wrangled on Santa's lap).

Of course no trip to the mall is complete without a ride on the carousel. I really need to find out if there is a carousel in Doha and if so, where it is. Anna chose to ride the cat and the nice older lady who was running the carousel today told us the cat's name is Rosie. We were the only ones on the ride this morning!

After that, I stopped at Motherhood Maternity to use the gift card from my Playgroup friends (thanks again, guys!) to get a few 3/4-length sleeve shirts for wearing in Qatar and Anna & Anita went to the Germ Tree for a bit.

We ate lunch and then drove Anita to the airport. We won't see her again until April/May when she comes to visit in Doha. I know Anna & Anita will be best friends by the end of her stay that month!

Posted by Becky at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We got our visas yesterday and Craig made our flight reservations this afternoon. It looks like Gertie will get to fly in the cabin with us, too—lucky cat!

I am getting our ads prepared to sell the cars and now that we have a flight reservation things should start moving right along (shipping dates, housing, etc.)

I'm taking Gertie in to the vet tomorrow to get some bloodwork done then I'm going to start working with a kennel in Doha to get her paperwork straightened out for the move (really annoying stuff: she needs a health certificate not more than 10 days old but Qatar needs 4-5 days to do their side of the paperwork after I get the health certificate. Basically not much to do in advance but I'll get done what I can now so it will be one less thing to think about.).

I'm relieved that we finally have a date. I'm stressed out about all that needs to happen between now and then. I'm nervous (in general) about the major life change. I'm excited to live overseas again.

Posted by Becky at 7:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have had six showings of our house since it listed last week. At first it was fine, but both yesterday and today they wanted to come between 2-4. Stupidly both times I said they could come between 3-5 instead (because Anna naps from 1-3 or 4).

Yesterday I took my chances and then didn't see the Realtor pull in the driveway. When I let them in, I said I'd go get my daughter and we'd step out. They insisted that I let her sleep and they just poked their heads in her room and she slept another hour after they left.

Today they came right at 3 so I ran into Anna's room and it was just awful. She didn't cry but looked like she wanted to. She was also clearly confused why she was awake. I plopped her in the stroller and we did a loop around the neighborhood. When we got back the people were gone and I said, "let's go to your room and read and just be quiet for a while." When I got up there, I half-jokingly said, "don't you want to just curl back up and get into bed?" She smiled at me, I laid her down, she grabbed a pacifier and it has been silent in her room for 30 minutes. I really don't believe it myself.

Next time a request for 2-4 comes in though (the Realtors must book a showing through a centralized system), I'm going to say they have to wait until 4 PM. Craig makes fun of me saying it must be hard to be a "nap nazi" but I truly think it would be harder to not care if your child is well-rested & pleasant to be around.

I guess if the house doesn't sell before we move, we can blame it on me and my insistence on Anna's restedness.

I also find it annoying that they request a two-hour window for a ten minute showing. You'd think they could narrow it down to a one-hour window since they're apparently planning their showings in advance.

Posted by Becky at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We met with our realtor tonight and our house will go into the system tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to keep the house tidy with Anna's playing habits and all of the stuff we're collecting to bring with us, but I'm guessing that somehow it will just get done like everything else around here!

Posted by Becky at 8:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The two things we need to go to Qatar are medical clearance and Visa approval. Anna & Craig are finished with theirs (I just need to pick up Anna's records from her doctor) and I went in this morning. The company provides a letter with a list of things we're supposed to have done and then Craig's (company) doctor verbally added a couple of blood tests and a chest x-ray. We asked my OB about the x-ray and she said it was fine as long as I wore the lead apron to cover the baby. My regular doctor, however, would not do it unless he had it in writing from the company. I'm not terribly excited about the x-ray during pregnancy but it sounds like the only hesitation on the family-practice doctor's part is that I'm still in the first trimester. So I'm waiting for him to call back after he talks to Craig's work, hopefully sometime today.

I am procrastinating sending out my mass email about Gertie. I guess I'm in denial but realistically I know I need as much time as I can get to find her a good new home.

Posted by Becky at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gertie is looking for a new home.

I emailed a kennel and a vet in Qatar that I had found on one of the online message boards about Gertie's two needs that need to be met in order to go to Qatar with us:

1. her prescription for BuSpar (buspirone, an anti-anxiety drug) needs to be filled there as our vet will only give us a few months' supply
2. her urinary-tract-health cat food because she had crystals in her urine

The vet was able to assure me about the food but seemed stumped on the medicine. We thought we might need to talk to a regular pharmacist about it since it is something we get filled at the pharmacy for Gertie as it is usually prescribed to people, not pets.

Craig got in touch with the company doctor while in Qatar last week and the basic answer is that mood-altering drugs are illegal in Qatar (you can get them but it is a difficult process—and that's for humans, probably not even possible for my cat). That means that I can't bring the drugs with me even if my vet would give me a three-year's supply.

So, Gertie needs a new home. I'm going to ask our pet sitter if he knows of anyone, send out a mass email to anyone I ever met to see if they or anyone they know is interested, and then, last options are the no-kill shelter if there is room and then the regular shelter.

I am really upset about it as she is a perfectly good and loving cat (still a scaredy-cat though) when she is on her medicine (when she is off she has been known to not use the litter box). I've had Gertie since May 1998 (she is about 9 years old now) and she's good at hunting mice & roaches (things I wish I didn't know she was good at, believe me!). She would probably do best in a home with no other pets and either no kids or older kids who wouldn't try to attack her. I know she has a lot of needs and requirements but I'm hopeful that she can find a place—even if it's just for the time we are overseas (2-3 years).

Posted by Becky at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anna had her eighteen month checkup today (at nineteen months!) and here are her stats:

21 pounds 11 ounces (15th percentile)
32 inches tall (75th percentile)
19 inch head circumference (95th percentile)

She wasn't due for any shots today but we gave her one anyway. She got a Hepatitis A shot for our upcoming move to Qatar. She already had the Hepatitis B and the Typhoid shot is for ages two and older. Her doctor signed off on the forms we need for medical clearance for Craig's work and then I requested all of her records as well so we can have that information with us in Qatar. I go for my physical on Monday and Craig has already had his.

Anna really did not like interacting with the doctor or the nurse but recovered quickly after each interaction. The only thing I mentioned to the doctor for "concern" was that although she likes getting on and off of a riding toy, she shows no interest in moving forward or backward on her own. She can go backward but the most I've ever seen her go forward is one push. Her doctor didn't think this was a problem but that Anna has been focusing more on intellectual things rather than physical. She does climb up and down the stairs and likes to climb up ladders (with assistance, of course) at the park.

Posted by Becky at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not sure of the actual timeline yet, but we are on the move! Sometime in the next two months we will be moving to Qatar (and then back to S. Korea) and we will be overseas for 2-3 years. Hopefully we'll have more information soon and I will post updates here. We have sent in our Visa applications and are told they will take about six weeks to process. Obviously we can't go until we have our Visas, but I don't know how quickly things will move along once we have those in our hands.

For now I am occupying my time with lists. Lists of things we need to sell, give away, acquire, and do before we go. Of course it's hard to plan a lot of things when you don't have a timeline, but we're doing a fall-cleaning over here in preparation for moving. Anybody want a cat? A car? A stroller? (Just kidding about the cat, we are planning to take her with us provided she can get her anti-anxiety medicine and her food over there.)

In the meantime, here is some information on Qatar:
From the CIA World Factbook: "Closest approximation of the native pronunciation [of Qatar] falls between cutter and gutter, but not like guitar."

CIA World Factbook: Qatar
CDC Qatar
Wikipedia

Gulf Times
Aljazeera

Posted by Becky at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)