A cool evening in Kuwait

We had a cool spell the last couple of days. This evening it was only 110 degrees, so we decided to walk to a park near our house. 

The park belongs to a pre-school across the street, and it has real grass that is green and watered every day. I say real because some people have astro-turf as their lawn. The play structures are covered this month because the school is on break for the summer, but it will re-open in September. The park is covered with the rubber ground, and it has a track around the playground, soccer field, and lots of space to run. When we first moved here before it got too hot, the park was busy every day. We should see the same in the coming months again.



Meet Tes! She is our nanny who started earlier this week. Rose was our temporary nanny this past month while we were waiting for Tes to arrive. We will miss Rose, but will see her from time to time, since she also works for an Embassy family. Tes is a very sweet woman and is great with the boys. You will hear more about her over time :).

 She colors with Caleb every day, we are getting a nice collection of his artwork started in the playroom.

 After an evening of playing at the park (well, Ben slept the entire time and looks like he never quite woke up), the boys enjoyed a bubble bath and hit the sack.

Happy Wednesday!

We are back!



We got the internet connected today....hooray! I have lots of backlog blogging to catch up on, but in the meantime here are a few pictures.

More videos to come of our little crawler...each day he gets faster and faster!

Caleb's 2nd birthday

I have been meaning to write a post about how we spent Caleb's 2nd birthday. Once we have internet, I will post pictures, I promise. We had a low-key weekend to celebrate his special day. On Friday we hung around the house, and Nathan built Caleb's new tricyle. He legs are a little short to move the pedals in a circle, but he likes to say 'ride bike' and to sit in seat. On Saturday we took the boys swimming at the Embassy, and had a lazy rest of the day at home. That night, Nathan and I decorated the house after the boys went to sleep.

Caleb was excited to see the decorations when he woke up in the morning! He was most excited about the balloons on the wall, and he wanted to play with them right away. His birthday was on a Sunday, which is a workday for us, but I was off for the day because the boys also had their well-child check-ups. That evening I cooked one of his (and dad's) favorite meals, macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, and I made chocolate cupcakes for a cake.

We sang the happy birthday song, and Caleb did a great job blowing out his candles. He was not too sure about the firecracker candle, but it looked cool! 

 

We gave him a workbench for his birthday, and Ben gave him a measuring tape and a John Deere talking tool belt. He enjoyed opening and playing with this new gifts. We think he knew it was his birthday.

 Today we had a get together at the house to have a belated birthday celebration.  We had a few friends come over, and there were 8 kids. Nathan set up a fun play room for them and that is where they spent most of their time.

 Rose and Tes cooked delicious Philipino food, and I fixed a lasagna and some appetizer plates. We had a LOT of food, then had birthday cake and ice cream. Caleb was still unsure about the firecracker candles, but he liked being sung happy birthday and he really liked his dinosaur cake!

Then he opened a few presents, and the kids played while we talked. It was a fun afternoon and we are grateful for the nice friends we have met since moving here!

 

 

And the saga continues...

I apologize in advance that this blog is a complaint, you have been forewarned. It is a process to get internet around here, and I am very frustrated with how long it is taking. The day after my last blog post our temporary internet service ran out. We are in the process of getting permanent internet that is actually fast enough to skype and upload pictures faster than one every 5 minutes. I did not want to renew another month of tempoary internet service, but here we are one week later and still no internet, so I gave in.

To get internet, you first need your civil ID, which we got about 2 weeks ago. After that, you can contact the internet company to order service. They came to our house to sign a contract, get some numbers off of the phone box, and collect our money. Unfortunately, they forgot to get some numbers off a mystery box outside of our home, that we never found, so that was a few more days of delay. After calling every day with no luck, the internet company finally told me they called the Ministry of Communications and got what they needed to move the order forward... Next, they submitted the request to connect the internet line to the Ministry of Communications. We have been waiting 5 days now for that approval. Inshallah, after we get approval, within the next week, we will have internet.

I admit that I did not realize how upset it is making me to not have reliable internet. Being so far away from home, it is right now the main way to talk to family, keep in touch with friends, update the blog, pay bills, order things online, look up things around town, just to name a few. I have so much to update on the blog about the boys. Ben is crawling everywhere, and he is getting around so well. Caleb is a little chatterbox. I have lot of pictures and videos to share with you, and I hope to get them all up soon.

Despite the internet saga, we are doing very well. We really like living here, the time we get together, the work we are doing, and the people we are meeting. We have been hanging low since it is Ramadan and most things are only open for a couple of hours each day, and then again at night. There are big fast breakings every night, and Nathan and I plan to go to at one of them before Ramadan ends in a few weeks.

I hope you all are doing well too. We love and miss you all! Have a great week and please check back soon for more updates.

It's Official...

We have a crawler! I've been trying to upload a video for the last 2 days of Ben crawling, but our internet cuts out. In the meantime, enjoy a couple pictures of the boys in action and stay tuned :).

 

Sweet and Colorful

One thing I am enjoying about living here is the fresh and inexpensive in-season fruits and vegetables. In the states, everything comes packaged, just how I like it. Here, everything comes in raw form, and I have to prepare the fruits and veggies how we like them.

It takes a little bit of time, but it feels good to eat raw ingredients, and we are enjoying experimenting with new foods too. Some of my favorite in season fruits right now are pomegranate, Egyptian sweet melon, and Philippine mangos.

 Hope you are enjoying some good summer fruits and veggies too!

 

 

Caleb is 2 years old!

Caleb, two years ago today, we welcomed you into the world. You were only a little over 5lbs when we brought you home.

You grew fast during your first year, and you changed and learned more than we could have ever imagined.

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 You developed and matured so much these past 12 months, and you amaze us everyday with the things you do.  Here you are at 15 months:

18 months:

 

21months

You are so curious about the world around you, and you have a fun and adventurous spirit. You keep us laughing and on our toes, and you are turning into a big goofball!  You are talking up a storm, and can let us know pretty well what you want. You can say many words, speak in two to three words sentences, you repeat things you hear, and understand almost everything we say. You know the sounds of many animals, your body parts, food, things around the house, names of books, TV shows, and movies you like to watch.

 You can eat with a fork and a spoon, and you are learning to drink from a cup. You are an excellent eater, and some of your favorite foods are fruits of all kinds, carrots, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, baked beans, spaghetti, pizza, hummus, peanut butter, crackers, anything chocolate, juices, and of course milk.

 

You are growing fast! You have all of your teeth except for your 2 year molars, you are 34'' tall (35%), 23.6lbs with clothes on (15%) and your head is 19'' (50%). You wear a size 4 diaper, 12-18 month bottoms, 18-24 month tops, and size 5 shoes. You sleep from about 7:30pm to 6am and take a good 1.5 - 2 hour nap each day.

You love to listen to music and you are starting to sing songs. Some of your favorites are Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs, Chuggington, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and the Hot Dog song. You have your own way of singing each of them, and they sound so cute! You do not know your ABC's yet, but you sing, BBBB, to the tune.

 

You like to run fast, jump, climb, spin in a circles, and balance. You are all boy and love to play outside, dig in the dirt, and wander and explore.  You enjoy going to the pool, you are learning to ride a tricycle, and you like to color, paint, and play with puzzles.You like books, and some of your favorites are How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight, I love you Stinky Face, Forest Friends, and Chuggington.

 

 

You can be serious and focused when you want to be, especially when you are working with your hands. From the beginning, you have had great hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills. You are curious about how things work, and love trying to take apart and put things back together.  You are a big helper around the house, you take good care of your Elmo doll, and you are becoming very independent.

Lately, one of your favorite things to do is play on our kindle. You know how the screens work, how to find your favorite TV shows, games, and books. We have even caught you trying to Skype papa a few times!

You love your little brother, and you like to make him laugh, rock him when he is upset, taking a bath together, kissing him goodnight, and seeing him first thing in the morning. He looks up to you!

Caleb, each day you bring more fun, joy, and adventure into our lives. We love every minute of it and are so thankful that God chose us to be your parents. You are an incredible TWO year old boy! Happy 2nd birthday Caleb, we love you!