On July 22nd we officially completed 1 full year in Saudi. And how did we celebrate? By jumping on a plane to go back! And I was genuinely excited about it! The girls and I had spent the previous 10 weeks in the states visiting family and friends and while we had enjoyed our time there a lot, I was really missing our quiet, peaceful life on the compound. Not to mention my husband, who had to return 6 weeks earlier.
It was so much fun to go back and know what to expect and actually feel comfortable getting on that plane. Quite the contrast from the previous year, where looking back I was completely terrified but trying so hard not to be. I felt so organized, having been packed up since the night before (instead of having to enlist the help of friends to throw stuff into suitcases willy nilly at the last minute!). I had also procured nearly every item on my list to help me survive the next year in Saudi (more on this in a separate blog post), and I had my meal plans for the following several weeks ready. In fact I was actually excited to get home and go to Tamimi, our local grocery store to start the grocery-treasure-hunt again. It's just way too easy to get everything on your list in the States!
So what all have we accomplished in one year? For starters I feel like a much more proficient housewife and a better mother, wife and friend. I've taken up sewing and meal planning. Our house is 90% organized, thanks to some organizational tools I was able to bring back from the states with me. Maybe at the 18 month mark I'll finally be able to post some inside pictures :) I still have a ways to go figuring out what to put on the walls, but that's never been a strength of mine. Now that we're past all the visa and arrival issues I don't anticipate any more crazy surprises at the borders for us, though I'm not going to completely let my guard down! One of our biggest accomplishments is that we've traveled to 5 countries together as a family and hope to go to at least one more before the end of the year.
Ellie hit a lot of milestones while we were in the States too! She returned to Saudi crawling, pulling up, feeding herself, and saying "Mama". She LOVES her big sister and gets so excited to see Lucy and play with her. Lucy is very tolerant and sweet with her until Ellie takes one of her prize possessions away, like her new Doc McStuffins stethoscope. Travis was worried that Ellie would forget him while he was gone for 6 weeks, but you should have seen how excited she was to see him again! She loves her Daddy, for sure. :)
A few weeks ago I hired a nanny who is wonderful. She comes 3 days a week and watches Ellie so I can do things like go to the grocery store, yoga, sewing, write blog posts, etc. It's quite the privileged life--I never imagined I would be a stay at home mom WITH a nanny! But when in Rome, right? This is never something we could have afforded in the states. A definite perk of being an expat wife! Thanks, honey!
It's been a whirlwind of a year and I'm quite excited about what the next year will bring. We're hoping to go to Greece, Germany (get ready for us, Angi!), Prague, maybe South Africa, Oman, and the British Isles. We'll see what actually happens! Lucy is getting cuter by the minute and says the most adorable things all day long. She's starting to get pretty good at tracing letters and has outsmarted us a few times already.
It's truly been a fantastic year and I couldn't be happier with our decision to move abroad. A lot of our happiness is due to the fact we live on a really nice compound with lots of amenities and lots of great people. I think next year will be even more fun now that we know our way around and we won't be dealing with a newborn :)
Stay tuned for some new blog posts about our trips to the states and Singapore!
