the past two weeks

The past two weeks we've been in and out of the sick house around here which also meant loads and loads of laundry.  

It started with Ivy being throw up/ nasty diaper sick on Halloween.  Since she was a little under the weather and needed to stay in, I thought it was a good time to get our laundry piles that were out of control, under control.  Just as I proudly finished all the "normal" laundry, I got sick!

Sicker than I've been in a long, long time- maybe ever.  It wasn't fun. 

When I got feeling better (1 week ago) I had all the "normal' laundry to catch up on again plus I decided all the bedding and throw blankets, throw pillows,  pretty much everything else, needed to be washed because the house needed some all around freshening up.  With Asher at preschool for the morning, I tackled my responsibilities and was actually kind of excited about it.  Not an hour later, I got a call from the school to come get Asher as he was really sick, and got sick in the classroom.

messy sick

but not vomit messy- the other kind of messy.

disgusting 

and

embarrassing

I was there in minutes worried about Asher's health, but even more worried about his emotional state- I was imagining the worst!  Thankfully he has WONDERFUL teachers who handled the situation, diverted the attention, cleaned him up and Asher left school proudly waving to all his friends (wearing his swimsuit, because they have swimming once a week at preschool, and a cap sleeve t-shirt borrowed from the nurses office).

Ivy began vomitting again that same day

TWICE in her crib that day, and over the course of the week, about half a dozen more times in her crib.  (not to mention she experienced similar bowel problems and we had a few leaky diapers as well)

AND

Asher who has only wet the bed maybe 3 times since he was potty trained a year ago, wet the bed.

TWICE

in the SAME night!

AND, thinking that Ivy was feeling better we all headed to some church meetings in Abu Dhabi on Friday.  About 20 minutes into the hour and a half drive, Ivy was starting to doze off to sleep when she vomitted ALL over herself, her car seat and the only clothes we had for her.  It wasn't pretty either.  We pulled off on the side of the road, in the middle of the desert and let in about a dozen hungry flies while we sadly attempted to clean up our sick little girl with wet wipes. We took her to the meeting in a diaper (looking like total WT parents), thankfully one of my friends brought her a size 4T t-shirt to wear (still looked like WT parents, but at least she was somewhat clothed) when I called and told her our situation.*

Yep, I've been doing WAY TOO MUCH laundry!

but, I'm caught up, we're all feeling better, and we're headed to the States for Christmas in just 3 short weeks!!!!  Time flies when you're having fun (and when you're sick, or when you're just struggling to keep your house from falling apart)

Oh and I hired my neighbors maid to come over and clean for a couple hours this morning.

Things are looking MUCH better around here. Thank you very much.

*We didn't turn around and head home because a) we're just good like that when it comes to church stuff, and b) we would have driven another 30 minutes before there was a place to turn around, so we were closer to Abu Dhabi than home.

 

"wait a minute...?"

If you've been around Asher for any amount of time, you may know that he's full of questions.

I need your help.

Today on the way home from church (John was in a different car).  

We were driving in silence listening to music and I could tell Asher we were all a little tired and he was probably thinking over the events of the day.  I'm thinking the multiple times I asked him to sit next to me instead of on my lap because "my belly is getting to big", triggered this one, but I don't know.

Asher: "Wait a minute mom, how are you gonna get the baby out when it's after Christmas."

me: pause, thinking, "what?"

Asher: "when we get our baby brother, how are you going to get him out of your tummy."

me: "Well, my belly still has to get a lot bigger because right now the baby is still teeny tiny, but my belly will grow and grow because the baby inside is growing and then, when he's big enough, Dad and I will go to the hospital and the doctors will help get the baby out." (I was hoping that by not really answering the question and throwing in other details, that would suffice. not so)

Asher: "ya, but how?"

Me: I sort of repeat and reword things, saying that the baby will be strong and know how to get out, that he can come to the hospital and see me just like he did when Ivy was born, etc. etc.

Unfortunately, I don't think I ever really satisfied him he continued with

"are they going to use any tools?"

"how does the baby know how to get out of there?"

John soon pulled up next to us on our drive home and the subject was changed to an all our race to make sure we beat Daddy home.  

I know he'll ask again.  

I'm sure I'm not alone in this.  

Any good answers?

I was keeping in mind the fact that he likes to share his knowledge with others and I was trying to edit what he might tell teachers or friends too.

no pictures

I think part of being a Mom is that you're never in many photos.  Some of you have asked for a belly shot or have wondered why I don't appear to have a belly. Others of you saw me over a month ago and KNOW that I do indeed have a belly.  I was already showing then and I'm even bigger now and growing.  I don't know why those race car shots are deceiving.  I'll be sure to be the subject of a photo sometime this weekend and I will post soon.

New do.

It's been a while since I've been to an actual salon to get my haircut, this isn't because I'm thrifty enough to do it myself or confident enough that I don't care. It's because I have been lucky and blessed to find a friend like Melissa in California and Liz in Boston who are professional hair people (what do you call yourselves?), but are willing to let me pay them to cut my hair outside of the salon. I love it, it's more convenient, it's cheaper and usually easier to schedule- the only downside is bending forward to wash my hair in the sink instead of one of those reclining chairs while getting a head massage- pros outweigh the cons. Yesterday I counted myself lucky again. I found a friend here who cut my hair in her home with a professional background at a bargain price. Another stay-at-home-mom doing the hair stuff on the side, plus, she even had some of the professional stuff, the fancy hair chair(the kind that turns and goes up and down with the foot pump) and the over the head dryer/ dome. Anyway, unlike any previous haircuts, I gave her free reign and told her to cut my hair however she thought might look good. I guess I was imagining I was on What not to Wear and Nick was doing what he thought was best for my lifestyle and face shape etc. Anyway, this is what she came up with- shorter than I've ever had it, but I like it.

I don't know if this is perfect for this and that, but it was fun, it's nice to have a change, it seems easy enough to manage (we'll see). Plus, it was fun to enjoy the salon without the price and within the comforts of my new friends home. Thanks Neleh!