A Year of Silence??

Well, I've just copied over all my old blogs to this new site... I've gotten so much spam and some rather interesting invites for naughty acts; I wanted to get off of blog.com!  So here we are... it's been twelve months since I've posted anything!  I had a busy year keeping Facebook updated, hahah!!  And to be fair, I really loved posting on Caringbridge instead,  to keep all our friends and family updated on Allyson's progress.

We've had a heck of a year... Allyson's illness, treatment and recovery, Zachy's ADHD diagnosis and month of hospitals, a trip to Finland to meet the REAL Santa Claus and his trusty elves, and a first time visit to London for the kids and I (John has been before).  Zach was continuing to struggle at school but thanks to a very caring teacher, has come leaps and bounds!  Abby..... well, I guess it's fair to say she's gone from a baby to a big kid.  She's so independent~ I sometimes wonder if she isn't secretly applying to colleges on her computer when I'm not looking!  Both kids have gotten back into horse back riding and are having lots of fun.

John's Mom and Dad made a first time visit to the UAE.  We showed them around Dubai and Abu and then we headed off to explore Jordan.  What a great experience!  We landed in Amman, and not so smartly declined the GPS from the rental car agency (rental car man: ahh, you don't need! one road! so easy!).  Not one road, 4 hours of pouring rain, not so easy!!  But we eventually made it down to Petra.  It was still raining and cold so we only stayed one night, instead going to the Dead Sea a little earlier than planned.  The Dead sea was absolutely GORGEOUS!  The sun made the water literally shimmer like diamonds.  We mudded up and floated, as you do!  Zach and I were a little nervous but we both made it through the experience :) The six of us also went to see the River Jordan, where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.  Very cool site.  We dipped our toes in the River, and blessed ourselves with the holy water that sits in a huge bowl right before the water.  Heading back down to Petra, we were met with much clearer skies and warmer temps.  Petra was like nothing we've seen before.  We climbed up all the steps to the top (where, ironically, the shop sells Dr. Pepper, much to John's delight! Why UAE can't sell it in Carrefour, but Jordan can get it up 800 steps to a dusty snack bar, we don't know!).  We rode donkey's and horses in Petra and took in all the ancient buildings. Petra is a must see! We had such a great visit with Grandma and Grandpa on a trip that we will not soon forget.

The rest of the year has been pretty good!  We've been hanging out a lot with our amazing group of Abu Dhabi friends. I've met some new people this year who have brought lots of laughs into my life!  

As I write, we are back in the USA!  We arrived back July 3rd, just in time to have a family BBQ for the 4th.  It was a great way to open our summer back home.  I am LOVING being in my own house, the kids are loving having a big green back yard to run and play in and John is loving being on vacation!  John and I just got back from an anniversary trip to Colorado.  We had the best time ever!  Colorado is so beautiful... I don't know how it's not even more populated!  We would absolutely love to live out there.  John and I went on a long hike on our last day in Eagle Co... it was up 3000 feet to Booth Lake, elev 11500.  For people that live below sea level, the air was a bit thin for us, ha!  We made it to the top, though, and the lake, the mountains, the snow:  all beautiful.  The other cool part was that we were completely alone.  We passed some people on their way down just as we passed Booth Falls, but other than those few, we saw no one for hours.  What lucky timing~ it made the hike and the experience that much more wonderful. I did learn that I must never, ever hike on my own... I lose the trail approximately every five minutes!  Me:  veering off to the right, John: Um, Eileen.... trail is over on the left.  Oops!  So, no solo missions for moi! 

Up next:  A night in Nantucket, which will be a first for us!  Then a week in Sea Isle City with our cousins, and then sadly, John goes back to AD.  I can't believe how fast summer is going.  Slow down summer!!!!  I'll be praying for the month of August to crawl by ;)  

Love,

E x

Pics below~













Jordan:

Dead Sea:


Colorado:

Copied Blog: Lady OH MY GOD Ga! Orig Post: 2010 JULY 8

I can admit I don’t exactly have my finger on the pulse of today’s music.  My favorite song is an Indigo Girls song from 1992… my favorites as a kid were REM (obsessively so), Violent Femmes, The Cure,  INXS,  Bread, U2, but only until Joshua Tree, then they got too cool for me… and then the slightly more main steam, but MUCH less popular with my particular age bracket: Air Supply, Barry Mannilow, Johnny Mathis, etc.  When I went into the Air Force, the radio stations offered bible reading and country music.  No offense to God but I chose country and eventually went full on to the dark side.  Once iPods came to be, I was able to join all my crazy, unpopular genre’s together on one little memory drive!  The point is,  and probably needless to say, I’ve never been much of a Top 40 kind of listener.

My daughter, on the other hand, is the epitome of a Top 40 listener.  Although she does like a lot of Broadway music (much to the chagrin of her father) and she’s down with Fleetwood Mac, the majority of her musical interests fall between Jonas and Justin, Miley and Taylor.   She came home recently and told me that she and a friend were going to perform “Poker Face” for her class… I said no, not knowing the lyrics but assuming the worst.  Then she found a song on my iPod by Laura Brannigan (An old co-worker once described my play list as the most horrific compilation of music EVER), “Gloria.”  I listened to Gloria and told her no on that one too.  ”A-ha-ha, a-ha-ha, Gloria, how’s it gonna go down?  Will you meet him on the main line, or will you catch him on the rebound?  Will you marry for the money, take a lover in the afternoon?  Feel your innocence slipping away, don’t believe it’s comin’ back soon….”  Um, no for an 8 yr old.   Eventually they decided on a Taylor Swift song.  When I really start listening to the lyrics of the songs she listens to, I realize the content is so way beyond her maturity level.

We had a party recently and I wanted something playing in the background that wouldn’t kill the vibe instantly (as only “Joey” by Concrete Blonde can do, lol!)  so I knew my song selection wasn’t going to cut it.  I went onto iTunes and downloaded what I thought were good party background songs.  I put some Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Daniel Powter, etc.  I broke down and added Lady Gaga too, after hearing Abby raving about her for months.  I will admit I like the beat of her songs and I never paid too much attention to the words.

The other day Abby and I were riding along in the car and Poker Face came on the iPod.  She was singing along.  I was kind of tuning in and out… then all of a sudden I heard my 8 year old child sing, “Get him hard, show him what I’ve got”  and I nearly crashed into the car in front of me.  I sat at the red light madly trying to google the lyrics on my blackberry and was only mildly relieved to read it actually said, “Get him hot and show him what I’ve got.”   I guess it’s better because it rhymes? I don’t know… either way it’s horrifying, really.  I know these are concepts that are way beyond her little brain at the moment  but still, in the not too distant future she may understand.  So many of her little friends love Lady Gaga…  it seems very, very WRONG!!!

On a positive note, I have found a new love love love song among my Top 40 downloads!  ”If I Were A Boy” by Beyonce.  I have never owned anything by her but I just might try expanding my horizons….

In the meantime, how do I manage all the influences coming in from the radio??  I can’t screen everything she watches or hears, especially as her time away from me/ independence increases constantly!  I can’t believe these words are coming out of my mouth but I can’t express how much I miss The Wiggles!!   Anthony, Murray, Jeff, and Greg:  I miss knowing I can leave the room and you won’t be embedding profane references into my baby’s head =)

Copied Blog: A Blessing and a Curse… Orig Post: 2010 JANUARY 11

Abigail is eight years old.  For whatever reason, this seems to be the age of the sleepover.  Or maybe it’s an Abu Dhabi thing… Regardless, I hate sleepovers.  Especially at eight.  Especially in a new country.

Another sleepover invitation has come home today.  This one isn’t even for a classmate.  This is for the sibling of a classmate.  Seriously?  Abby is excited… poor thing, she never gives up hope!  She, of course, cries when I say I am not comfortable with the sleepover.  Here’s the thing… first, I don’t know these people.  Never met ‘em.  Secondly, I don’t know exactly where they live but I know it’s in the city somewhere… as in not 5 minutes away.  Thirdly, I just don’t get it.  Why can’t kids just have a normal party at this age?  I mean,  thirteen or fourteen years old: OK.  But Eight???

She’s crying… I feel bad… rewind, replay for every other invite that she has received.  Time for a different approach. 

Me:  “Abby, imagine if you had a huge, shiny, beautiful diamond.  You loved this diamond and it was worth millions of billions of dollars.   Now imagine if someone sent you a note to your home asking if they could borrow the diamond from you to keep overnight.  You don’t know the people who sent the note, you don’t know where they would be taking the diamond.  Would you let them borrow the diamond?”

Abby: Sniffled “No” from the backseat. 

Me: “Ok,” I say… “Well you are my diamond.  Except you are even more beautiful and worth even more than any diamond in the whole world.  This is why I cannot send you to someone else’s home to be taken care of, looked after.  I cannot let someone that I do not know, be responsible for you, just like you wouldn’t send your diamond off with a stranger either.”  

Abby:  (After some processing of this info, through her tears) “I am still upset that I cannot go but I do understand what you are saying.” 

Me: ”Sometimes having a Mom that loves you more than anything can be a blessing and a curse.”‘

Abby:  ”MOM! Am I ever a curse to you?”

Me: “No babe, you are only ever a blessing to me.” 

Abby:  In her sweetest voice ever… ”Mom, it’s true, you are kind of a curse to me.”

Me: (punch to the gut!) “Gee thanks Ab!”

Abby:  (back pedaling, LOL!) “Well you are mostly a blessing but I really want to go to sleepovers so that part is kind of a curse” 

Me: Laughing… cursing myself for teaching her the blessing and curse stuff!

She wanted to talk more about it.  The horse was not dead quite yet in Abby’s eyes.

Me: “Ab, there are so many things in this world that can go wrong.  Those things are for adults to worry about.  Someday when you get big you will understand.  In the meantime,  I would rather you be frustrated with me than know about all the bad things out there.  You will have to trust me.”

I know there is like a ridiculously small chance of anything happening to her at a sleepover.  And I have let her sleepover at a party earlier this year.  The mother sent a note, explaining the party details, explaining the small amount of children, giving a background of her and her husband, etc.  I was able to meet the mother before the party… I still almost said no, but I relented at the last minute… I had a good vibe from the situation.  And I am not saying I will never let it happen again.  However, I seriously cannot imagine sending a blanket invite to a class…expecting people I do not know to send me their daughter’s over night.  What is the matter with these people?  I know some will disagree with this stance.   I can’t worry about what other people think.  I can’t worry if Abby or her friend’s think I’m not a cool mom.  In the grand scheme of life, sleepovers, or the lack thereof, at eight years old are not going to break her.  But her, my, life changing forever or ceasing to exist only takes a split second.  That’s not a risk/reward I am willing to chance.  I guess I am stuck with my mean mommy name tag for a little while longer!

Copied Blog: Jet ($%^ing) Lag Orig Post: 2010 JANUARY 3

I lived in California and traveled to and from the East Coast numerous times… both as a child and as an adult.  I always hear people complain about the jet lag after these flights.  Honestly, I was never bothered by a three hour difference.  Maybe woke up a little earlier or went to sleep a little later but nothing to make a fuss about.  Even when we came to visit AD for the first time, we were fine really.  Eight hours time difference is a big deal to the body but it was actually kind of nice… the kids slept in until 11 am for the first time in their little lives!  I think the hotel made a difference, looking back, because it was very quiet, and the curtains enabled the room to be extremely dark.   Upon arriving here in June, again, there were no real issues.  The kids slept in late, we stayed up a little later than normal but no big deal.  It took a week or maybe two to feel truly on schedule.

This trip, however, is nothing like those last two.  I think my kids have been bitten by some sleep deprived gremlin who enjoys seeing me overly exhausted… and now overly emotional (I almost started to cry when I was asking a school administrator to please let Zach’s teacher know he was definitely going to fall asleep in school today).

Ok, so Day One:  We get in around 8:30.  Unpacked some, by the time we realized the time, it was after midnight.   Hurried everyone into bed.  Kids are wide awake at 4:30 in the morning.  No, I say. This can’t be… you guys always sleep in when we return.  Not only are they awake, but they are AWAKE.  Giggling, chatty, let’s go ride bikes kind of awake.  Fine.  I give in. I get up.

Day Two:   Today is New Year’s Eve so I think I better take a nap or I am so not gonna make it til midnight.   I fall asleep at 2, wake up at 6.  Kids, no nap.  I am not lying… they have been body snatched.  OK.  So NYE, we go to a friend’s house, the kids play upstairs.  I think they will fall asleep up there for sure.  NO.   We all head home, in bed sometime around 2 am.  2 AM.  Surely, they must be so exhausted by now, they will sleep all day tomorrow, right?

Day Three:  5:30 am.  Yes. No lie. We convince Abby to go back to sleep, which she does for a long while.  It’s the little crazy one who won’t sleep.   John and I did sleep in this day…gotta be grateful for that.  Zach played with his new toys and only woke us once an hour-ish… so charitable.   We watch a family movie at night and get everyone to bed around 9:00 pm (afraid to let them go too early b/c can’t handle earlier than 5:30 wake up again!)

Day Four/ Five:  January 2nd.  Getting down to the wire… school/ work resumes tomorrow.  No joke, we must sleep.  But instead we wake up at 5:20 am.  I hear them off and on and when I finally stumble downstairs around 7, they are ending a movie.  NO ONE should be ENDING a movie at 7 am.  We decide they should take a nap.  Lay them down, John and I run some errands.  Called home to make sure they were up… language barrier, no wake up takes place.  OK.  So now they have slept for three hours during the day.  I had that sick feeling in my stomach… this could not be good.  At 6:00 pm I personally can’t take it anymore.   I fall asleep replying to an email.  Never a good sign.  Can I please go to bed, I plead with John?  Off I go.  Certainly I will sleep through til tomorrow after all this deprivation.  At ten pm my eyes pop open like a someone has just set a firecracker off in my room.  And that’s how they stay for the next 6.5 hours.  But no need to feel bad for me up at 4:30 am… I had company.  Oh yes.  It started with one, I heard little feet on the stairs.  We must go to bed Abby, I told her around 2 am.  We traipsed up the stairs, and what do I hear but my least favorite word between the hours of midnight – 7 am???  “MOM”  Zach hasn’t slept at all yet.  Partially amazed he hasn’t gotten out of bed 1100 times, I decide to lay with him for a bit.  Then comes Abby again… now there are three of us in the twin bed.  At 3:30 I tried again… c’mon guys! We have to get up in 3 hours!!  No sympathy for the old, tired woman, they just wanted to have a sleepover they said. (Me thinking that ship has sailed!!!) Everyone in their own beds, I head back to mine.  At 4:30, just as my eyes finally close,  my two little friends are back to visit.  Can’t be, I say.  PLEASE, GO AWAY!  Being “best mom ever” is not priority at 4:30 am.  I finally got to sleep for about two hours.  I get up, go to wake Zach for school and he is sitting up, wide eyed in the bed.  “MOM, I was petting Tucker, I was petting him this way, then I was petting him that way, he likes me, MOM I think he likes this pet the best, MOM why do I have to take a shower, MOM you never read me this book, MOM, remember MOM you said you would read it to me yesterday.”   Me:   “Zach, let’s go… for real… they are closing the school gate earlier starting today because they want you in your seat earlier.”   Zach: “Really MOM? What happens if you get there after the gate shuts?”   I explain that we would have to go around to the front of the building and get a late slip, seems to understands, shuts shower door.  Ahhhhh, peace.  Then, shower door bursts open as my toe crosses the threshold of the bathroom (sooo close!) “MOOOMMMM!!! I KNOW! If we are late then you can just teach us school today.”    Tears well in my eyes, “No, honey, I don’t think so.”

I have absolutely *no doubt* that Zach is going to fall asleep at school today.  Abby will just cry over everything that happens (no idea where she might get that) but Zach is going to literally fall face first asleep into his lunch.  What then?  Do they call you to pick up your sleeping kid?

Dear Lord in heaven, please let this family sleep tonight. Please, please, please.  I can’t take it no mo’!!!!!!!!!!

Copied Blog: Convo with Abigail Orig posted: 2 Jan 2010

There are times that discrepancy between what I think of my child is capable of and what my child is actually capable of,  hits me like a ton of bricks.   There are little things, like when I was holding the baby bottle for her to drink and then she suddenly would push me away and hold it just fine herself, or when I was tying her shoes in kindergarten and she explained with hands on hips that she could do that herself.  As a parent, of course I think my kids are capable of anything, on the other hand, I am not always up to date on what they no longer need me to do for them.  Zach is still my baby… I think it’s possible he may NEVER push me away while tying his shoes… like possibly even for his college graduation.  Abby, however, is growing so fast, is able to do so much more each day.  I am proud, certainly, but I am also a little sad.  This time it was not shoe laces or Advent bottles but instead, it was Microsoft Office!

As we were about to board the plane from JFK to Abu Dhabi, we learned that Allyson was upgraded to First Class.  Abby’s jaw hit the ground.  She just kept saying,  “Allyson is in first class,”  like she couldn’t make sense of it.  Abby and I sat in our lovely business class seats together, in our own little pod.  The rack rate for each of our seats is in the $8000 range (thank you SRA!) but she was acting like we were strapped to the top of the plane compared to First Class.  Don’t get me wrong, she wasn’t being bratty,  but the adoration in her voice about the seats 20 feet away was a little disturbing.  “Abby!,” I said, “For goodness sakes! I am sure the seats up there are very similar.”  That’s when my own jaw began to drop.  She went on a ten minute MONOlogue about the features in First Class.  The larger seats, the pajamas they give you, etc.  My eyes wide, “How do you know this?,”  I asked her.  Her response:  “OOOOO, because this morning I went on Etihadairways.com and clicked on some of the images.  Then I opened a word document and cut and pasted a bunch of the pictures into word.  Then I cut a bunch of the words and made a paper on First Class.  Also, there is luxurious service and you can turn your seats all the way around. OH and I was a little worried about the weather with all these storms ‘they’ve’ been talking about and so I checked the weather on weather.com.  The weather in the Arabian Sea… I mean Gulf, is totally clear, no problem.  We should be fine.”  She sat for a while, then wistfully said, “Allyson is the luckiest girl in the world… (long pause), well… in our family at least”  I guess she didn’t get the memo that our other cousin is off to New Zealand on an awesome adventure.    As she was rambling on about Etihad, I began to get a knot in my stomach.  Not because Abby is becoming more proficient on the computer but because I now realize we have to set parental controls, etc.  She was excited thinking about first class service and I was mortified wondering what kind of results she could get on google.  Another milestone… another chip away at the “little girl-ness” of my little girl!  It’s not right!!  How do I have a little kid who needs my help to log her into Webkinz one day and then suddenly is making informational pamphlets on the features offered on a  Middle Eastern Airlines??   :)

Copied Blog: Resolutions Orig Posted 31 Dec 2009

As it would seem, this blog is less a daily, or even weekly chronicle of our time overseas, but more of a quarterly review.  Oops!  I would like to say I am just SO busy, busy, busy but that would not really be true.  When we lived in Maryland, my calendar was very full, I was squeezing in new commitments on the diagonal, crossing date lines, etc.  I vowed to not lead that life after we moved here and I have, in large part, kept that promise to myself.  I am the kids class parent, and a library volunteer but other than those few obligations… not so much happening.  I should have enough time to literally write a novel!  Yet, somehow time slips away.  Thoughts about good things to write come and go.  And apparently I would rather read about other people’s day at work, or their lack of sleep or cook up a new recipe on the Facebook cafe than write a blog.  The latter being a low point for me. Since I don’t actually cook very often for my own family, the fact that I am whipping up 850 servings of virtual pot roast is both ironic and yes, quite atrocious.

Then there is the question of presuming that other people care what the heck I have to say.  This is actually a big deal to me.  I am not a fan of the holiday letter (please, dozen or so of our friends who send them to us, do not be offended as your letters are often sweet, funny and interesting, but not my style to write myself) so sometimes the idea of a blog feels like a holiday letter that never ends!  On the other hand, I am quite a chatty person (the loquaciousness gene being tightly woven in my DNA) and my kids are also chatty.  John: not so chatty, but his bi-annual comedic zingers keep us giggling for months.    To that end, I want to save some of those moments, conversations, the little things that slip away as life moves on.  When I am so old that I can’t find my teeth, I want a record to read and remember.  (Note: I will definitely be losing my teeth someday if the frequency of which I lose my keys is any indication.)  Therefore, my #1 resolution for 2101 to is be less lazy about writing and also to remember I am my own audience.  I am doing this for myself.   Of course, I will share it out and if someone else wants to read it, great.  But if no one ever does, it is still worth doing.

Other 2010 Resolutions:

#2 Let less aggravate me (it’s good to dream)

#3 Be grateful for this amazing opportunity even in the moments I would rather be anywhere but here

#4 Maintain a healthier weight (the resolution that never ends!!! UGHHHHH)

#5 Invent something super cool… like possibly a way to awaken my comatose metabolism!

#6 Be more patient with… (changes daily, see #2)

Copied Blog: While This is On My Mind Orig Post: 17 Sep 2009

I have tons to catch up on… Z’s birthday dune bashing, the kids dealing with the death of Sophie, Abby’s amazing Atlantis/ dolphin meeting birthday weekend, getting our visa’s… and so on.  But, while this is fresh in my head I just wanted to get it down so I don’t forget how I feel in this moment.

Last year this time, the kids were settling in to school… I was neck deep in three college classes trying to get transferred over to the Accelerated College… John was working crazy hours and frequently getting home after the kids were in bed.  We wanted to do something different with our lives but couldn’t quite figure out what.  John was looking into overseas opportunities with his company and then all of a sudden this project in the UAE came up.  On Halloween we found out that we were going to be making this trip for sure.  I was nervous, excited, sad and thrilled simultaneously.  Abby was really upset to leave her friends and Zach, Mr. NO change, was surprisingly on board!!  John hoped he was doing the right thing for our family.

I have been all over the place with whether or not I like the UAE.  It’s a  place that is inconvenient and convenient at the same time depending on what you are trying to do (i.e. visas= not convenient, inexpensive/ one of a kind weekend trips= convenient).    I am not going to say that suddenly I love it.  What I will say is that on this trip to Paris I have realized that I love that we were willing to run with the opportunity presented to us.  I know some may think we were crazy (Maureen and Yvonne, hehe) but maybe it takes a touch of crazy to get the most out of life.  Can you stay in one place your whole life and still have a great life?  Absolutely, I am sure!  But for us, it has been an amazing life-enhancing journey and we’ve only just begun!  Actually, the craziest thing of all is that Paris is half way between US and UAE.  So why did we never think to take a trip here before??  We are suddenly tuned into the world outside North America.  Some Americans are just that way to begin with but I was definitely not.  It took moving to Abu Dhabi to learn that I could be comfortable with  foreign language, cultural differences, not always knowing exactly how to get somewhere, etc.   Surprisingly, I have been able to communicate with French only speakers really well here considering my last French class was in 1991 (well, everyone except for the metro ticket guy but I am sure he was already grumpy before I arrived!)  Prior to moving, I think I would have been too intimidated, too insecure to pick up the kids and head off to a non-English speaking country!  I admire Americans who just naturally have the confidence to travel abroad without thinking twice!  I am getting there.

I miss my family, my friends and my home so, so much…  On the other hand, I am not ready to come back.  I do not know if or when we will come back.  If I have learned nothing else it is that as I was writing a paper for my fine arts class, I could have never imagined I would be watching my children’s eyes wide with wonder as we walked through the Louvre one year later.  I can not wait to see what’s next…