Cote Kids: playdates---sleeping issues---Thanksgiving (11.20-11.26)

Sun, 11/21- I volunteered to host again b/c Tina's kids were sick and she couldn't do it. Besides that she wanted them to get better before their upcoming Malaysia trip. Only one mom, Saadia showed up. All the other moms had stuff going on or the ones who rsvp'ed ended up not coming b/c either their kids or themselves were sick that morning. It actually was kinda nice getting to know Saadia. We hung out in the backyard and got to talking so much, I don't think she left until noon.

My worst fear happend that day. We had napping issues. Let's see, they are 27 months and I was hoping they would continue napping until they went to school. Is that asking too much? I was put them in their room about 1ish and they did NOT go to sleep until 3ish. It was 2 long hours of jumping, laughing, wanting water, dropping their lovies and blankets out of the cribs and calling for me to pick them up. No one was crying, but it was really hard for me to relax and do stuff when that's all I could hear. Dan came home and we woke them up b/c I didn't want them sleeping too long, otherwise they wouldn't sleep at night and there's NO WAY we're pushing back bedtime. :-) Of course, 1 out of 3 was grouchy (Tobin). This continued the next day...the problem was they really didn't need that much sleep during the day b/c they already do 11-12 hours at night. And some days they were waking up after 8:30, while that's good for me, it was screwing up their schedule. So on Tuesday, I was waking up at 7 so I could shower, feed the dogs, make their breakfast and wake them up at 8. Everyone was feed and diaper changed by 8:45. I also pushed back their lunch, it just mostly depends on Skyler, I think she has blood sugar issues like her mommy, but if I can push it to 12:30, than I do. They always get fruit as their dessert so I started doing that an hour after lunch and start getting ready for nap at 2. Usually everyone is quiet and out at 3 and they sleep til about 4:30ish. This doesn't leave me a lot of time during their nap to do stuff but I guess things are changing and I should still be thankful that they are napping.

Not only are we having napping issues, we're having bedtime issues too. I think it's b/c one affects the other. For the first time, it's been really difficult this week. There's usually someone who doesn't want to go to bed. And he or she will cry and do things to get our attention. It's been mostly Hudson and Skyler and they will switch. Hudson will constantly ask for water, and when you go to him, he'll take a small sip. It's his way to keeping us in the room. Skyler will just cry, not sure what about. Tobin too. Glad it was short lived!

Mon, 11/22- Coffee morning at Caroline's house. Caroline is one of Bee's friends. Her husband, Mike is the one who let us borrowed a microwave when we first arrived, what a life saver that was! Got to also chat w/Lydia, who dropped off her twin girls at Caroline's house since she's now teaching yoga. Her girls go to pre-school 5 days a week, but the teacher was still out on vacation from the EID holiday. Also met another lady, who's extremely outspoken, I will just leave it at that. Had a really nice time with these ladies!

Tues, 11/23- Julie's son has some surgery scheduled and she didn't want to bring Sarah, her daughter to the hospital (I don't blame her) to reduce her chance of getting sick, so she asked if I could watch Sarah, she's 5. Another mom dropped Sarah off after her pre-school and Sarah hung out w/us until about 2ish when her mom came. The kids really enjoyed playing w/her, it's so wierd that they play w/just about anybody, big or little kids, as long as they interact w/them. It makes me kinda look forward to when Skyler's old enough so I can talk to her, but then again, want them to be little for as long as it can be...I know I can't have it both ways! And I got a glimpse into how much ONE 5 yr old eats, boy are we glad we brought the freezer!!!

In the midst of me taking care of (4) kids, the cable guy came and switched out our receiver boxes to HD ones...I can't tell the difference. And the electrician came and installed the motor part on our garage door opener. He had installed it when our shipment arrived along w/all of our ceiling fans, but the "motor was missing". We ordered it a month ago and it finally arrived. So nice to not have to manually open the garage door.

Wed, 11/24- Playdate at Julie's. She lives down the street from me and I still drove there. Wasn't risking anyone having a meltdown from not wanting to be in a stroller.

Thurs, 11/25- Thanksgiving, can't believe the holidays are here! We originally planned to have the Felembans over, but with their sick kids and them preparing for the trip, we canceled Thanksgiving. I had planned on cooking a turkey and the whole shibang, but just wasn't in the mood. We did get invited to one family's home, but it was so last minute I didn't want to come empty handed and I was too tired to do any cooking. It was our first Thanksgiving without family or friends and it felt kinda wierd, but being over here makes Dan and I stronger with each other. I don't know how to explain it, it's just different here. I am extremely thankful and blessed for the family I have, my husband, 3 little ones and our furries. And of course this opportunity over here.

So since we had an untraditional Thanksgiving day, we thought to continue that at night. Chrissy babies sat for us at night so we could venture out again. We finally found Al Zamil's, the arts and craft store. I got the directions from Julie this time. Leave it to a woman giving directions to another woman in Saudi and we found the darn place! Who knew? It was so cool to know that I could get a lot of supplies here should I want to pursue my print making techniques or any other crafty things I want to do. I was planning to bring back a bunch of yarn and stuff from the States to start basket weaving, but now I don't have to. And I was told that you could get a Christmas tree there too, but you have to ask for them. So I did...I asked one of the sales clerk "do you have any Christmas tree" and Dan said "holiday tree". He pointed upstairs to their top floor. Went there and asked the guy and he looked around, I'm guessing to make sure there were no Saudis in sight...he took us upstairs again into a room. And there they were, three Christmas trees sitting on a table. They were not your average trees, they bearly had any "branches" on them...pretty sad looking. I was going to settle for the middle one, 250 sr/$67 US that had maybe 10 branches on it, it was so naked looking, but Dan didn't want me to settle. He was on a mission to find me one! They also had a Christmas decoration section, but nothing pretty. I did buy some gold beaded ribbons that I'll use for the tree.

Fri, 11/16- We took the kids to the Golf Course for breakfast. Did I mention how much I enjoy this place? Dan and I always get the tapsilog, it's a Flipino dish that has fried eggs, rice, and steak...so yummy! Kids usually get pancakes and chicken fingers or some form of that. We're getting really good at eating out w/(3) toddlers: basically we both just shove as much food in our mouths as fast as possible. If we don't, someone will have "bites" and eat it all or the food will be cold by the time we get to it. :-)

Pictures for the week:

Skyler, one of her thing now is to lay down on pillows, wherever she feels like it, usually in the kitchen when I'm cooking. Yes those are her bros clothes. Lately her tantrums have been different too, instead of screaming, crying, and flinging her arms, she just quietly puts her head down, sometimes her whole body down to the floor and just be there and wait for someone to say something. Don't get me wrong she still has the loud tantrums, just not as much. I also found a way to listen music through the netbook and was singing "Yellow Submarine", the Beatles song and Skyler remembered I used to sing that for them when they were babies. She went and got out the yellow block piece from their toys that's shaped like a submarine and I would make the motion like a submarine. I was so surprised she remembered that, I didn't know kids formed memories at that early in life, I think I started doing that when they were 5-6 months.

For some reason when Daddy's home, they like to stripped down to their diapers...not sure why. Here's Tobin, looks like he's dancing but he was telling the other two to stand against "this" wall. Another thing they're doing is saying "this" and "that" a lot, "this" cup, "that" pant, "this" shoe...

everyone dancing around. Hudson has his back to the camera.

Hudson & Tobin watching Jim Jam. Man they are gettting to look so much alike! They love to play w/each other A LOT more now, they love to wrestle! I love their little tanned bodies and their longish locks.