R&R in the Maldives!

We just returned from a week in the Maldives (at the end of March). It is truly a tropical paradise and the only memories I will try to suppress are when they wouldn't let Travis leave at Saudi exit immigration (more on that later) and the one where we paid the bill. Ouch. But other than that it was amazing!

Our days were filled with beach, pool, food and some excursions. Seems a little silly to do a day-by-day recap so instead this post will be Top 10 List style on our favorite things from the trip.

10. The Tropical Island Vibe

Who wouldn't love being on a remote tropical island at a 5* resort? The Shangri-La was an extremely well thought-out and well run resort. I'm having a hard time thinking of anything they could have done better.

We started out each day with a delicious breakfast (more on that below!) and from there went to the beach or pool, or let Lucy play at the kids club. We either ate lunch on the beach in the cabanas or ordered in villa dining and ate on our pool deck. Afternoons were filled with naps or excursions for me and Travis. Evenings we ate dinner at one of the three restaurants and relaxed in our villa. The Shangri-La offered a ton of activities so we never got close to being bored! 

The most popular way to get around the island. Ellie seemed to like it too.

They provided a bicycle to all the guests and even brought me a trike when the first bike was too tall for my 5'0" frame. Since I had to carry Ellie in the carrier on my front I thought trying to jump on and off a too-tall bike would be way too dangerous! I really enjoyed biking everywhere and it has inspired me to look for one to buy here in Saudi to ride around the compound. If we were going really far, the staff would come pick us up in plush golf carts.

Living in a desert has upped my appreciation for nature even more. I've always been a nature lover (MHS Field Biology class of 1999 here!) but needless to say haven't spent too much time in tropical paradises, so really enjoyed that the Shangri-La tries to leave as much to nature as possible.

This not-so-little guy lived in our outdoor shower area. Thankfully he stayed away from our feet!

Do you see the bat? He was HUGE. Vulture size.

The red in the water is Coral Spawning! A once or twice a year event. So lucky to have had the chance to see it!

9. Golf 

We hired babysitters and took off for a round of golf at the Par 3/4 9-hole course one afternoon. The views were incredible, the holes were challenging, and we both had enough good shots to feel proud of ourselves.

This picture makes me look much more competent than I really am.

Travis' first shot of the day. Great way to start!

"Don't look at the water. Don't look at the water." Travis wanted me to point out that he hit it on the green, by the way.

Does it get any prettier than this?

This picture was taken from Mt. Villingili Summit, the highest point on Villingili island, at a whopping 7 meters tall.

8. Cocktails and Bacon

Since we live in Saudi Arabia, I'm sure you were expecting a paragraph dedicated to alcohol and pork products. As any good beach resort would, they had a delicious menu of cocktails you could order delivered to your room or on the beach. I mention the following in the next paragraph but I don't care that you will be reading it twice: At breakfast they had all-you-can-eat bacon and pork sausage. AMAZING sight for our pork deprived eyes! And yes, we ate like pigs (pun intended!). At a beach bbq dinner they had amazing grilled pork chops and pork belly.

Our first bacon of the trip... but not our last!

Iiiiiitttttttttt's BACON!!!

Cocktails and Canapes at sunset

7. Breakfast

I can't think of much that makes me happier than someone else making me breakfast. This was a made to order, all you could want and eat breakfast EVERY day! Again, what made us really happy was the table labeled "Pork"--they had bacon, sausage, and various cold cuts of prosciutto and ham.

The "Pork Table" at the breakfast buffet... SO good.

They also had tables with traditional breakfast offerings from several Asian countries, western countries, a pastry table, fresh cut fruits, yogurts, breakfast potatoes, and oatmeal.  I couldn't think of anything they didn't have! Most mornings (along side my pork products) I enjoyed a made-to-order onion, pepper, tomato and cheese omelet, pancakes or Belgian waffles (Lucy preferred her pancake shaped like a dolphin), and a selection of fruit and pastries. While I'm sure the fried noodles, sushi, and rice conghee was delicious, I couldn't pass up the traditional breakfast offerings since we don't have a lot of those here. The last few days I discovered the perfect combination: a Belgian waffle topped with berries and vanilla sauce! All this was in addition to the chocolate, almond, or cheese croissants that were heaped upon our table every morning by the croissant man.

Waffle with vanilla sauce and berries--try it, you won't be disappointed!

Lucy loved the variety of juices she got to choose from every day. Orange, grapefruit, mango, guava, tropical mix... they even did smoothies!

Yes, that is a pancake shaped like a dolphin. They also did starfish and turtles.

Travis' made-to-order banana pancake

Another great part about breakfast was one of the workers would come over and hold Ellie anytime she started getting fussy so we could eat.

Ellie and Ms. Sheena

Ms. Sheena would put Ellie to sleep and make her a bed of chairs and pillows.

Looks pretty cozy!

If you ever feel the need to cook someone breakfast and hold their fussy kids while they eat, come on over! I will welcome that any day!

6. Kids Club + babysitters

The only thing that would have made kids club better is if Lucy was old enough to go on her own without paying for the babysitter. We LOVED the ladies that watched Lucy at kids club and they also came to our villa to babysit the girls while we did some excursions. Lucy thought the slide, spinny thing, and ball pit were the coolest things she'd ever seen. They also did art projects, made necklaces from shells found on the beach, and fed the fish in the koi pond outside the club. Every morning she asked to go back to kids club, and she still does from time to time!

The highlight of the Kids' Club. Not shown: ball pit, movie station, art station and foosball table.

Feeding the fishies in the koi pond with the Kids' Club ladies. "They're getting my toes!"

Painting

The ladies fell in love with our girls... and I think it was mutual!

5. Mangoes

I've honestly never had a  more delicious fruit in my life. They were the perfect flavor and texture. Sweet. Melt-in-your-mouth softness. They were so creamy and smooth we even let Ellie try them, and she just started eating solid foods the week before!

The pork may have gotten the most attention, but the mangoes were the real star of the show.

Despite the skeptical look on her face, she LOVED eating mangoes.

 
4. Dolphin Cruise

We had no idea what to expect. We thought we would ride the boat out a ways and maybe see some dolphins following the boat. Instead we got to see what was probably one of the coolest animals-in-nature shows of our life! Literally HUNDREDS of dolphins were in the surrounding waters jumping, spinning, and playing. Several were swimming in front of the boat, and I even got to see a sweet mother-baby pair swimming along for awhile. At one point we asked Lucy if she knew any of the dolphins' names. She confidently replied, "Um, that one's Peacock." We're not sure she realized that we weren't seeing the same dolphin over and over. Whenever one would disappear she would call out "Peacock, where ARE you?"

Three out of the literally hundreds of spinner dolphins we saw on our cruise.

How many dolphins can you spot in this picture? If you answered less than 7 you are wrong...

Captain Lucy, doing her best not to run over any dolphins.

If only she realized she was taking the best vacation of her life before she was 2 and a half...

Sadly we weren't good enough shutterbugs to get a picture of a dolphin spinning, but here's a random YouTube video of what they were doing: Spinner Dolphins

3. Dinner at Fashala

Maybe it was because it was the first time we were having dinner to ourselves since Ellie was born. Maybe it was because it was the first bottle of wine we were taking the opportunity to enjoy since moving to Saudi. Maybe it was the beautiful setting on the edge of the island with the waves lapping 50 ft from our table. I'm not sure which played the biggest part but this felt like one of the best meals we'd ever had. Despite our best attempts to pretend we were experienced at fine dining, they outed us pretty quickly with the pre-appetizer course that we didn't know was coming. "Sir, we didn't order this soup!" we said. He quietly assured us it was ok to enjoy. And it was delicious! But since I didn't order it I don't know what it was. We also enjoyed some goat cheese panna cotta, a mango-lemongrass soup, expertly prepared local seafood (Travis' rock lobster was "exquisite"), and a dessert so delicious neither of us can remember what it was. We may have literally blocked it from our memory so that all other desserts can stand a chance.

2. Snorkeling

One of the things I was most excited about for this trip was that our resort offered a night-snorkeling expedition. We were a little nervous about snorkeling at night for our first snorkeling adventure since 2009, but after practicing in our pool that afternoon and getting our gear perfectly adjusted we were as ready as we'd ever be. When we arrived we were happy to find out the other couple had cancelled so we had a private excursion with the guide! Our guide gave us a heavy duty flashlight and took us out to a reef near the island with the main airport (Gan). We put on our gear and tried not to listen to the voices in our heads telling us we were crazy. One of my biggest fear was the water would be cold, but I chalked up any fears to being "part of the experience" and hurtled myself into the water. Turns out the water was perfect! There was just enough light to still barely see under water when we first arrived, but the sun quickly went down and we were alone with the reef, the fish and our flashlights. I have to say the biggest difference between night and day snorkeling (besides some of the wildlife) is that with night snorkeling you are forced to focus on wherever your flashlight is looking. And boy did we see a lot! We saw a lot of squirrelfish, some angelfish, parrotfish, a couple Nemo's, two starfish, a lionfish, some teeny tiny unidentifiable fish, and a lot of these bluefish. Most exciting was the Hawksbill turtle (it's endangered!), two reef sharks, some luminescent squid, and then, literally as we were getting out of the water, some bio-luminescent plankton! In fact Travis didn't realize what he was seeing when getting out, and our guide pointed it out as I was climbing the ladder into the boat. It was like little tiny pinpoints of light all around. The bio-luminescense was activated by motion in the water and would fade out quickly. I made Travis put on his flippers and jump back in, because this was too cool to miss. Sorry we don't have any pictures of this night snorkeling adventure, our guide laughed at us when we showed him we had a camera so we decided to leave it on the boat.

Before our night snorkel. Nope, not one bit nervous... :)

A couple days later we took a daytime guided snorkeling expedition to "Rock Island", a nearby reef.  This time we saw a lot of reef tip sharks, one nurse shark, a barracuda, and turtle, and another impressive array of pretty tropical fish. Unfortunately, our waterproof camera flaked out on us during the swim so we didn't get very many pictures. Thankfully, after sitting in a bowl of rice overnight, the memory card still worked so we were able to recover those that we did take!

White-tipped reef shark. Swimming in the right direction.

Apparently we were very lucky to get to see two turtles!

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."

Travis and I took a third snorkeling trip on our own on the island's house reef. Some day I would love to stay in the water villas where you could just step outside and start snorkeling!


1. Our Villa

While all the other things mentioned above were amazing, what made our vacation really special was the villa. We had reserved a "Deluxe Pool Villa", and it was probably the nicest space I'll ever stay in. "Luxurious Pool Villa" is a more appropriate description. It wasn't just a villa, it felt like we had our own little slice of the island. Each villa has a little driveway off the main road through the island and ours had an adorable palm branch arching over the entrance.

"Just leaving my Maldivian villa to go to breakfast. What are you up to today?"

Grand Entrance to the villa at the end of the drive

Bicycle parking opposite the Grand Entrance

The doorway led to a porch that wrapped around a private infinity pool and was flanked by the bedroom and bathroom on the long side, and a separate pool house/den/family room on the short side.

Looking back on the entrance from the pool deck

Den and outdoor dining area. Entrance on the right, beach on the left

The porch then opened up to the beach. For a family that is not good at sleeping in the same room together, this arrangement was PERFECT. We set up Lucy's pack-n-play in the den area, and then put Ellie's pack-n-play in the bathroom. I LOVED being able to still enjoy the pool (and the beach!) or watch TV in our bedroom after we put the girls down for a nap. I also learned the genius of the infinity pool--because water was constantly flowing over the edge, it provided a natural 'sound machine' type effect so when one girl woke up the other kept sleeping!

The pool, looking out from the master bedroom

The master bedroom, looking toward the bathroom.

We also had a nice dining set on the porch and enjoyed several meals outside. The roof over the den stretched out over the dining area so we were even able to enjoy meals when it rained.

About half of the entertainment room, located separately from the main suite. This was "Lucy's villa". Her pack-n-play is set up on the left side of the room.

One of Lucy's favorite activities- throwing leaves in the pool.

Panorama shot from our private pool. Private beach on the left, "Lucy's villa" straight ahead, and the Master Suite on the right.

 

Looking back at the villa from "our beach".

Bathroom from Master Bedroom. Pocket doors closet off this area. Toilet on the left, shower on the right, Outdoor shower out the back doors.

The bathroom made a convenient spot for Ellie's pack-n-play.

Outdoor shower. Lucy loved it!

We very much enjoyed our trip to the Maldives and nearly every aspect of it, from the villa to the excursions. While we had a great time on the excursions, and I'm glad we did them,  but I wish we'd had a few more days to just sit by the beach! I can't complain too much though because I'm looking at a beach outside our Saudi villa as I type this. It's just not nearly as pretty of a beach. :) I think the biggest testimony as to how enjoyable our vacation was came from Lucy a few days after we got home. I was tucking her into bed and trying to prepare her for getting back to 'normal life' the next day. After going through our routine once, I said "Ok, so what are we going to do when we get up tomorrow?" The correct answer would have been "go to school" or "eat cheerios". Instead she said "get on an airplane and go back to Maldives?" If only, kid, if only!

My only complaint about the trip would be the crazy travel that you have to do to leave Saudi. I remember thinking I picked the best of the (terrible) flight options, which meant that we left our home at midnight to catch a 4:45 am flight to Doha, then a reasonably timed 9am flight to Male, Maldives. However then our resort was another 1.5 hr plane ride away from Male so even though we were only going two time zones, it took us about 18 hours to get there.

Our luck is such that we cannot travel without incident and this trip was no exception. As we were going through passport control in the Dammam airport, the agent told Travis that he had to stay behind while Lucy, Ellie and I could go on through. He held on to our passports which meant we couldn't actually go on through security (and as much as I was ready to go to the Maldives I wasn't going to leave Travis behind!), leaving us stuck in what I call "airport purgatory" between immigration and security. They took Travis into a little room and we could see him from the other side of the immigration desk. It is 2:30 am and naturally we are not at our best.  Lucy starts wailing "DAAAA-DDDYYYY!! I WANT TO HUG DAAAAADDDDYYYYY!" I'm hoping the security guys will take pity on us and just let him through. After about an hour of not knowing whether we'll actually get to leave, Travis finally comes through and explains that they thought his visa was expired. Turns out that the last time we came back from Bahrain in December, the entrance immigration agent mistakenly checked him in on his EXPIRED work visa instead of his current resident visa, and he was technically in the country illegally. So much for the celebrating we did when we thought we had last entered the country without incident. Travis had to show them his residency permit, which technically he isn't supposed to be carrying out of Saudi (he was certain they were trying to frame him for entrapment). Thankfully they didn't and it helped to show that he was in fact legally in the country so we could leave. I have never before been more thankful that we arrived at the airport early! Coming home we had the same problem we will likely always have now that Saudi has 'upgraded' to an electronic visa system--we no longer have proof of our valid visa in our passports, so airline ticketing agents have a difficult time checking us in without this proof. Again we were glad we had those residency permits that we technically weren't supposed to be carrying, as without those I'm not sure they would have let us go!

If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading about our experiences, and I have one last thought. Possibly the most important part of traveling is that this trip helped remind me that the sacrifices we make by living in Saudi Arabia have now become freedoms I will never take for granted again. I appreciated every bite of bacon, every sip of my cocktails, and enjoyed wearing what I wanted whenever I wanted. I relished holding Travis' hand in public. We felt free to pray before our meals in public. We returned to Saudi a few pounds heavier (but the pork fat was so delicious--no regrets here at all!) and our spirits lighter. We would love to return again someday, but we have a lot of the world left to explore, so we'll just have to see where life takes us!

The most hazardous thing about compound living...

Is that your husband's co-workers will probably see you in your pajamas. And so will your drivers, and the maintenance workers, and the gardeners, etc. Here's how easily this happens (and yes, all of these things have happened to me!):

• Your hot water goes out before you can get ready for the day, so it's necessary to call maintenance before you are dressed.
• We have such nice weather in the spring it's hard to resist taking your cup of coffee out on the porch. Anyone out for an early morning walk around the compound will wave and say hello.
• Maintenance will come to paint the outdoor trim at 8am.
• The gardeners will come to mow or trim the yard early--especially in the summer to avoid the heat.
• Your husband accidentally leaves his badge at home and calls a friend to pick it up for him. At 5:40 am. Husband thought he was being sweet by not calling me to wake me up, forgetting that I would likely be up with the baby at that time anyways. Thank goodness I was wearing the good pajamas that day!

So ladies, please do yourself a favor and invest in some quality pajamas, a nice robe, and some good slippers!

The 6 Month Interview

Can you believe it? We've lived in Saudi Arabia for 6 (now 7... boy am I behind) months! I thought to commemorate this I would do a short little interview with myself. But first, a lot has happened in six months, so I want to share some accomplishments and fun facts!

• Becoming a family of 4!
• I meal plan for almost every night--and usually have the groceries on hand to cook the meals! That never happened without a significant level of stress before moving here.
• Daddy works out on a regular basis (when mama lets him get up at 3:45 am to do it...)
• Lucy can talk almost as well as an adult. Today she told me "my peter jelwy sammich does not taste good". She was probably right because the bread is kinda old and I had to use off-brand peanut butter. Then last week she said "I want to go across the street by myself to the store and buy a banana." Sorry kid, you're not that independent yet!
• Ellie smiles and talks to us a lot during the day. And last week she started SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!

She can get away with anything when she looks at us like that!

• We took a family vacation to Germany when Ellie was only 10 weeks old and it actually was fun, relaxing, and helped us to appreciate our home. Someday I'll finish the blog post about our trip!
• We are finally feeling settled in our house thanks to some organizing and rearranging projects Travis' parents took on while they were visiting. 

The most organized closet I've ever had in my life.

• We are now comfortable navigating the medical system and pharmacy when in need.
• I know how to make a grocery list--with alternates--in case the store doesn't have an ingredient I'm looking for. Like chicken.
• I've used pure vanilla beans and maple syrup as substitutes for Vanilla extract, and it turned out ok. I've also made my own bechamel sauce for lasagna when I couldn't find Ricotta cheese at the store.
• I've learned how to smock!

And I will proudly display this every Christmas for the rest of my life!

• I've learned how to play the card games Shanghai and Canasta.
• I've discovered I actually have curly hair and am no longer fighting it every day by embracing the curl.
• I participated in some yoga.
• Lucy thinks dates are a perfectly normal snack, and routinely requests them.
• We saw dolphins in the swimming area behind the compound!

 

• We have become good friends with people here who make life here a lot of fun.

Life's always more fun with a friend!

Now for the interview!

What's the most surprising thing about living here?
It's really interesting to live in a culture that is not driven by consumerism. They couldn't care less about the fact they are losing out on my shopping dollars by closing 5 times a day for prayer time. This is such a huge contrast coming from the states where everything is driven by consumerism, and a business (generally speaking) wouldn't dream of doing anything that doesn't cater to the consumer.

However, for a culture not driven by consumerism, they sure do like their high-end fashion! 

Another thing I find interesting is the total lack of regard for conservation of any type. The side of the highway is littered with plastic bags, tires, and any other trash you can toss out a window. I've been told that picking up trash is beneath a Saudi's position, so I guess they wouldn't participate in 'adopt a highway' if we tried to introduce that program. I did see a recycling container once but now I can't remember where. Water comes from a desalination plant so we don't have to worry about water restrictions here.  The compound does use reclaimed water in the sprinkler system, so I guess there's that. For a country that only has oil and sunshine as a natural resource you'd think they would be a teensy bit more conscious of what they use, but I suppose since they can buy whatever they don't have its not a big deal to them. Last week I heard that when people first moved to the compound they were told they could recycle, but then when they asked where the recycling went they were told "the trash". LOL. You just have to laugh.

The natural landscape. Can you see all the debris on the side of the road? It's quite depressing.

What is the most frustrating?
The ridiculous amount of bureaucracy and red tape it takes to move here or to visit. We turned in a visa application about two months ahead of my parents visit, and government relations did not get their visa to them in time and they had to delay their trip by a week. Even at that, they literally picked up their passports from FedEx the morning they drove to the airport. There is no reason it should have taken so long. We also turned in Travis' parents visa application in about two months ahead of time, and they would have had that back in plenty of time except they spelled his dad's name wrong. They ended up received their visas a few days before their trip.
None of this even mentions the insanely frustrating process we went through to get our own visas and residence permits. I'm still too frustrated to talk about that!
Coming in a close second is how all businesses close for prayer time. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to squeeze in a trip to the grocery store during nap time but have the doors slammed in your face because they decided to close early.

Another aspect of life here that can be frustrating is how society is very hierarchical, with Saudis on top, westerners next, and easterners on the bottom. This is a big culture shock coming from the states where equality has been preached my entire life.

And one more thing--last week a cat broke into our home and peed on a couch and some blankets. Gross. I like cats, but I'm not a fan of stray cats that pee on my stuff. Then I think this cat tried to leave his dead, gut-spilling seagull inside my daughter's playhouse in the backyard. Even more gross!

What do you miss the most from life in the states?
The top things I miss (not including people!) are a variety of lettuces at the grocery store and chai lattes from the drive through at Starbucks. Besides that, there are not a lot of 'things' that I miss. Probably because I know that in the grand scheme of life this will be a very short blip, and I can easily live without pork, the occasional glass of wine, chai lattes, and driving for a few years. I'm rather low maintenance and like to 'eat clean', so it doesn't bother me that we can't find some processed foods or 'brands' that we'd use back home. However, I don't understand why it is so hard for the grocery store to carry any type of lettuce but iceberg on a consistent basis! They import most produce, and we have spinach/arugula/romaine occasionally (literally only about 6 weeks of the past 32), but why not just one of those alternatives to iceberg all the time?

Another thing I miss is the consistency of business. While most places have regular hours, it's not uncommon for a business to decide to just not open on a random day or not open after prayer time. This is highly frustrating when you're already trying to schedule a shopping trip around prayer time, driver schedules, nap time, and feeding times!


What is easier about living here than you expected?
I thought I would feel more uncomfortable here given the status of Saudi Women's rights. However, since I  don't leave the compound more than a couple times a week, (mostly because I'm parenting two young children!) I don't see it/experience it enough to really be bothered by it. Now if we didn't have drivers, and Travis could drive but I was stuck at home all day without the option to leave, I would be seriously bothered by this. I have a nice abaya to wear and it's easy to forget I'm wearing it when I'm off-compound (until I drag my sleeve through some ketchup or whatever sauce is on my lunch plate). I also want to mention that I have yet to be reprimanded in any way. I'm sure before we finish our time here I will be asked to cover my hair or something of the like but it hasn't happened yet.

Do you get bored living on the compound?
The short answer is No. While taking care of Lucy and Ellie truly takes up a majority of my time, there is almost always an activity going on. In fact I've already had to drop some things because I was getting too busy! Our monthly compound calendar has something on it nearly every day. There's fitness activities including yoga, P90x, and tennis, then there's card games, study groups, sewing groups, and cooking classes. Another interesting aspect about life here is that almost all of the wives don't work. So I have lots of stay-at-home mom friends to commiserate with during the day!


What is the hardest thing about living here?
Besides missing out on the lives of our friends and family back home, it is the revolving door that is the community of expats. We have already seen several people leave who quickly became good friends and we know that more will be leaving soon. It's amazing how easy it is to get close to people simply because we are all living similar lives on the compound together! Even though we've only been here six months it is already hard to say good-bye to people. Now I know what all my friends in Houston felt like when we left!

How has living in the middle east changed your worldview?
I now turn to Al Jazeera for my news! I also have a much greater appreciation for the Islam religion and a muslim's way of life than before. A lot of Muslim women see what westerners consider to be oppression as simply living a life respectful of their religion. There are still a lot of things that don't make sense to me, and every day I am more thankful to be an American where I have the freedom to choose how to live nearly every aspect of my life.

What will the next six months bring?
Well, since we will be traveling for about 3 of those, which will require some planning, at least two weeks to pack, plus an additional two or three weeks to recover from the jet lag, that only leaves me with a month or so of downtime. Truthfully my life right now is filled with domestic duties and mommyhood. I'm hoping to move Lucy to a big girl bed and to potty train her. Ellie will be starting solid foods soon and since they don't have much variety in the way of processed baby food here I'm sure I will be making a lot more food for her than I did for Lucy. There is a never ending mountain of laundry. Mathmatically it doesn't make any sense, but somehow everytime you add a little person to your family the amount of laundry in a household doubles. I spend most afternoons playing with the girls or cooking dinner, and since I will be gone for so long I need to start figuring out how to stock the freezer for Travis while I'm away!

We're also very excited about our upcoming vacation at the end of March. We're going to the Maldives!

If you have found my blog and have questions about living in Jubail or Murjan Village, please leave a comment with your email address. You can request for your comment to remain unpublished and I can answer you via email without publishing your email address on my blog. We have truly enjoyed our time here and I hope that if you are considering a move such as this that I can alleviate some concerns!

Waiting... so much waiting.

This morning we were supposed to leave on an early flight to Doha to catch a connection to Germany. We booked the tickets last August and I had it all planned out so that we would get to a hotel by naptime and we'd be all caught up on sleep in time to go to the Christmas market in the evening.

I should have been tipped off when on the way to the airport we were in the thickest fog I'd ever seen in my life. Our driver plowed on (safely) through and we made it to the airport with time to spare. The check in counters weren't open yet, but we figured maybe they stayed closed until 2am. 2:30 came and went, and finally a little before 3 someone made the announcement that our 4:45 flight was canceled. I was still pretty upbeat and positive at this point, even though the airline workers didn't seem to have any remedies for the situation. They told everyone to go sit down by the Krispy Kreme and they'd tell us when they figured out what to do. We patiently waited for awhile, and eventually Travis noticed a crowd gathering by the ticket counter so he went to check it out. When he came back he told us we'd been rebooked on the 10:35 flight to Doha. This didn't sound too bad... until he said the next flight to Germany from Doha didn't leave until the following day at 2 am. We didn't really have a choice so we settled into our Krispy Kreme chairs to wait for the ticket counter to open at 7. Travis and the girls napped and I kept an eye (sometimes just an ear) on our stuff.

Of course at 7 the lines to get checked in were huge. I'm not sure if it was because we are white, American, or the fact we had two little kids, but they let us check in through the business class line so we made it through fairly quickly. Unfortunately it may have been better to just wait to check in at the counter because the smoking lounge was next to our gate. Of course the door was open to the smoking lounge, which I think defeats the purpose of a smoking lounge, but I was too scaredy pants to close the door myself.

Two diaper changes, a gate change, and after a very inefficient gate check process for the stroller and Ellie's car seat and we're finally boarding the plane at 10:45. The flight was lovely and both girls slept well. This flight is only 30 minutes long though so unfortunately we had to wake up a rather cranky Lucy to deboard the plane. Doha is undergoing MAJOR renovations to the airport so you have to go up and down stairs and get on busses that take you to your terminal for basically every flight. I have a packnplay on my back, a baby strapped to my front and a diaper bag on my shoulder, and Travis has a backpack, carseat, our carry on bag, and Lucy. A very sweet Qatar Air employee was extremely helpful upon arrival and walked us through security. Travis asked if it would be possible for us to use the 'privilege club' lounge since we were facing a 14 hour layover, and they graciously accommodated (he was only 10 frequent flyer points short, so I don't think it was too much of a stretch for them). This lounge has been our saving grace!  There is a constant supply of food, the wi-fi works great, and we were able to set up the pack n play. Lucy has yet to get the message that we actually want her to sleep in it (this is her bed at home right now so she's used to sleeping in it), but we're hoping that maybe now that it's getting close to normal bedtime she'll just fall over from exhaustion without much fuss.

It's been fun exploring the Doha airport and we've met some interesting people. One Pakistani lady was very concerned about the fact that Ellie uses a pacifier. She kept telling me 'no good, no good!', and I told her we were going to have to agree to disagree. I've also learned some valuable lessons about what to put in your carry on bag. Maybe it's the newborn haze, but I did not at all think through packing the carry on bag for this trip. Now our checked bags are organized by outfits for each location we're visiting and I'm quite proud of how organized they are. If only I had anticipated actually needing to use things in the carry-on bag! We truly only even brought one because it had wheels and we could use it to help carry Lucy's carseat (as well as provide extra space for all the goodies I intend to bring back from Germany!) I feel like we've traveled hundreds of times over the past 10 years and at first I always made sure to have essentials in my carry on bag... and I've never really needed them, so this time I was a little too relaxed about it. For fun, let's just go through what's actually in my carry-on bag:

-Lucy's purple rainboots
-The glider board for the stroller that got checked through to Frankfurt
-My winter coat
-Two boxes of Nature Valley granola bars
-Two blankets for Ellie

The blankets have been useful. Lucy is wearing her rainboots just because she saw them in the bag, and at the moment I'm wearing my coat, but those totally weren't necessary.

Next time we travel I'm going to pack:

-A change of clothes for each person
-A variety of toddler food
-Phone chargers
-The large pack of wipes
-More books
-A toothbrush

Now the good news is we did have some other essentials (laptop and charger, ipad and charger, plus the typical stocked diaper bag), but the things in the above list would have made a much more practical carry-on.

Travis now needs to use the laptop to watch the K-State / KU game. Please pray we make it to Germany (another 6 hours until we can board the plane) and can somehow function despite not sleeping more than a couple hours since we woke up on Friday morning!

Ellie's Two Month Update!

Ellie turned two months old today, and in fine Rogers baby style she SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT last night! And by sleeping through the night, I mean from 10 pm until 5 am, which I thought was fantastic. We have been telling her since the day she was born that two months was the goal because Lucy slept through the night at exactly two months of age. I didn't think Ellie was listening because it had been awhile since she had gifted us with a stretch of sleep longer than 4 or 5 hours, but being the amazing little baby she is she clearly was saving it up for this milestone.

Two months old today! Notice the matching shirts. Lucy was very excited!

She's changed a lot in a month, don't you think?

Ellie's One Month and Lucy's Two Year picture

Another great thing that happened today was that she pooped! It had been a week since we last had to change a poopy diaper for her and even though I know this is fairly normal for infants I was starting to get worried! Sorry if this is TMI for those of you who don't have kids, but for those who do you know this is something to celebrate! (Side note: it's amazing how after 7 days of no poop, when she finally does it takes two adults, 10 minutes, 5 diapers and almost a pack of wipes!!!)

Ellie has been a joy and we have had so much fun with her in two months already. She is a great sleeper and generally doesn't fuss unless there's a problem. Like most babies she was fussy in the evenings from 2 weeks until 6 or 7 weeks. Mylicon drops seemed to help a lot, and it's been nice to realize I haven't needed to give them to her for over a week now. So now at two months she's less fussy, sleeping better, and she's also started smiling!

Cheese!

Oh how I love baby smiles! In the past week she's gone from smiling once a day or so to after most feedings, and when I set her down in familiar places like the bouncer or the stroller. She will also smile at Lucy sometimes which absolutely melts me. Sometimes we think she's going to smile but instead she just wants to stick her tongue out.

Being the second child she's had to be a lot more adaptable then a first child would. She's doing great at it so far! Every morning we load up to take Lucy to play school, and she typically naps then as well as on the way home. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I go to a yoga class while Lucy is at school and as long as I feed Ellie before the class, swaddle, and let her hang out in the bouncer she will nap great during class. It took a few classes to figure out this routine but once we did she's been perfect! Maybe she knows mommy needs some 'me' time :) She is also very tolerant of Lucy's love for her which I'm sure is a little overbearing. Lucy is constantly asking to see, hug, kiss, or hold Ellie and I love encouraging the relationship, though I'm sure Ellie will start protesting soon. Lucy just doesn't realize that her hugs are more like headbutts sometimes! She also loves to be held by her "Saudi Mimi's", and they are great at soothing her and giving mommy a break.

"Please be gentle, Lucy!"

It's ok Ellie, she's just trying to kiss you, not eat you.

Ellie worked her way from the 25th percentile (6 lb 15 oz) to the 50th (11 lb) between birth and her 8 week appointment. I'm sure she was a little underweight to begin with due to being born at 38 weeks, but it was wonderful to see her gaining weight so well. She also has gained a lot of strength in the past couple weeks and is starting to bear weight on her legs!

She was almost 4 weeks old when my parents visit was over, and she has become so much more alert and bright eyed in those four weeks. Speaking of bright eyes, she has beautiful dark gray-with-a-hint-of-blue eyes. We're 99% sure they will turn brown, but for now we love staring at their pretty gray-blue color.

While my parents were visiting we tried to get out and do some things, so Ellie was able to visit some archeological ruins at only 3 weeks old!

Exploring the Jubail Church ruins.

This week we've moved up to size two diapers! She's also really taken a liking for the Soothie pacifiers and no other style will do. Luckily several friends here on the compound had a stash of them that they were able to loan us, because I haven't seen that brand in the stores yet.

I love that compound life means taking walks every day. Ellie gets to go for a walk almost every morning, noon, and afternoon and I think she really likes being outside. I truly don't remember taking more than a couple walks with Lucy when she was this young. We have been blessed with incredibly nice weather the past 4 weeks making these daily walks not only possible but fun!

Life is good.

She also had the chance to experience her first thunderstorm earlier this week.

One special characteristic about Ellie is she is an extremely noisy sleeper. She constantly grunts, squeaks, and squawks! So much so we immediately had to move her crib into the guest bedroom from our room the second my parents left, because despite being incredibly sleep deprived sleeping in the same room with all those noises was really difficult.

Overall I think we've all adjusted pretty well to each other. We're looking forward to seeing her personality develop and have no idea what the next months will bring!

We love you, Ellie!

Happy Halloween!

I was so excited when I saw a small display of pumpkins, gourds, and indian corn at the entrance to the supermarket last week.

Aren't they beautiful? Through the rest of my shopping trip I was imagining this artful display and had visions of roasting pumpkin seeds.

Then I got to the checkout... these cute little pumpkins and gourds cost over $60! Oooooops. Sorry honey. I promise I'll figure out how to cook every single little gourd! I've never cut up a pumpkin for eating before but I'm certainly inspired to do it with these!

On Wednesday we were invited to take pictures in the 'pumpkin patch' on the compound. Lucy really enjoyed standing in this spot between the two smaller pumpkins, but refused to smile.

But she's always happy when she's holding baby sissy!

I'll update tonight after the trick-or-treating festivities!

A C-Section in Saudi Arabia

On Sunday September 22nd we welcomed little Ellie Kate, or "Baby Sissy" as she is lovingly referred to most often, via a scheduled c-section at Saad Hospital in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Since this was my second scheduled c-section (apparently I only carry babies in the frank breech position) it has been fun to compare the two experiences. Again this is a long post, and I don't spare the medical details so if you don't want to know, don't read!

1. OB Appts

I am very thankful that several of the girls on the compound have already had babies here so I could piggyback on their recommendations and not have to go through the process of vetting an OB and a hospital at 30+ weeks pregnant. The Saad complex is beautiful. Driving up to it is a little intimidating because it looks like a walled fortress. The inside of the clinic part of the complex is unlike any hospital clinic I've ever seen--marble floors, large koi ponds, fish tanks, mosaics, bamboo adornments, I could go on and on! At each appointment I was called back into a "female only" room for a nurse to take my blood pressure and weight (no idea why the husbands can't be privy to this information!) and then we would meet with Dr. Ashour in his office. In the back part of his office was an exam table with an ultrasound machine. While the exam table was covered with the usual sanitary paper they used nice sheets and blankets to cover me during the ultrasound. I had either an ultrasound or non-stress test (NST) at every appointment, as my Doctor specializes in fetal ultrasounds. However the only time I had a urine test was during my lab work, which was quite a change from having them every appointment back home! Another difference is I think they only measured fundal height at one of my last appointments, which back home was also a standard thing for each appointment. Also I was never checked for dilation and effacement. Here scheduled c-sections are simply done at 38 weeks to avoid going into labor on your own.

2. Hospital admissions

My surgery was scheduled for 8 am, so they told us to be at the hospital at 5. We left our compound at 3:15 and arrived at 4:55. Turns out that they expect Saudi's to always be late and we didn't really need to be there until 6:30 or 7:00! We had to enter through the trauma entrance because the main entrance wasn't open yet. In fact they made us wait a few minutes so we wouldn't be admitted before 5 am and charged for an additional day. Once it was time to be admitted, a nice man walked us down a dark alley to the main hospital, past the check-in desk where two security guards were sleeping, and into his office where he then processed my admission.  Travis paid extra to accompany me as my 'companion'. One perk (for me) is this did include three meals a day for him, so he didn't have to leave 3 times a day to go to the cafeteria. He may have preferred having an excuse to leave the room though, ha!

3. Surgery Prep

After being admitted I was led to my hospital room in the maternity ward where we were to be for the remainder of our stay. It was nice knowing that we had a room right when we got there and not worry about what to do with our bags during the surgery (in Texas you leave your bag in the car until you've had the baby and you're admitted to your regular room). A nurse soon came in to prep me for surgery and administer my IV. The IV didn't go well and they had do it a second time. Then my hand and arm started swelling around the second IV but the nurse just said "We'll keep an eye on it." This wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear but it didn't seem like they were concerned about it so I tried not be concerned either. Thankfully this was probably the worst part of the surgery prep. At this point we then had over an hour to kill before the surgery so we tried to nap a little. I may have slept a few minutes but it would have been a lot more valuable to sleep at home and arrive an hour later!

The point of this picture is not my humongous belly, or the fact I'm overdue for a haircut, but rather the beautiful crown molding above the closet doors and on the ceiling seen in the mirror. It was almost like having a baby in a hotel!

4. The surgery

A little before 8:00 they came to wheel me to the operating room. Conveniently the operating room was just outside the maternity ward and down the hall. Travis had to change into scrubs in a men's changing room and was to come out through a different door on the operating side than he went in on. It was a little disconcerting waiting for him and hoping he would be allowed through that door! While I was waiting the anesthesiologist came up and introduced himself. He was very nice and asked me a few questions about my previous experience with anesthesia. While everyone had assured me that Saad was a fantastic hospital the anesthesia was by far the part I was most worried about. Specifically the spinal! I had a good experience with the spinal and my c-section at The Women's Hospital in Houston and I was pretty nervous that this hospital wouldn't measure up. He was very reassuring and extremely professional.

Dr. Ashour appeared with Travis through the door a few minutes later and I was relieved to see both of them.

At this point I think Travis had to wait somewhere else again while the surgical team prepped me for getting the spinal. I was very impressed with the surgical team and thought both the nurses and the anesthesiologist did an excellent job. In fact I think the spinal was easier than the IV! Once the spinal took effect and Dr. Ashour was ready for the surgery he came around and said "So I can make the incision a little shorter than the original or I can make it a little longer and give you a small tummy tuck." Why yes I will take the gratis tummy tuck! Now that is something that would never happen in the states!

The c-section itself took a lot longer than Lucy's. I also had a better experience with the anesthesia--with Lucy's I felt like I couldn't breathe very well, and I'm not sure if it was because I was more prepared for it or what but this time I did not have that side effect.

5. The first few minutes and recovery

With the delivery came another 'only in Saudi' experience. My Dr. called Travis to the other side of the curtain so he could take pictures as they were pulling Ellie out! I'll spare you the actual images of my gory guts but part of me think it's pretty cool we have these pictures :)

I think it's pretty cool that you can see how Ellie's leg was stuck in the frank breech position--it's still sticking straight up here!

As soon as they cleaned her up and wrapped her in something warm Travis was able to bring Ellie over for me to see her.

She gave me kisses as soon as she saw me!

 They took her back to check her vitals, and then a nurse brought her back to start nursing. I was impressed by this! The surgical team took their time sewing me up and Travis was able to hold and snuggle with Ellie for most of this time.

The anesthesiologist and my doctor kept trying to tell jokes as they were finishing the surgery. One of them was "Dr. Ashour, what happened to your diamond ring?" implying that he lost one inside me. I did not laugh. Then I think they started talking about the price of gold and told me I needed to make Travis buy me some as a present, and I think they were describing the best markets to go to. Sorry docs, I wasn't really in the mood for joking! Dr. Ashour also insisted on adding Travis as a facebook friend at some point during the surgery so he could share pictures he was taking of Lucy with us. I can't see any doctors from my Houston practice doing this either!

Once they were finished (it seriously took at least 45 minutes--I didn't realize my tummy needed that much tucking!) they sprayed what looked like a hair spray all over my wound. I found out later that it was a spray adhesive and therefore they did not have to use any sort of bandage! Then Dr. Ashour told me "I fixed your belly button too". Um, thanks, didn't realize anything was wrong with it! After talking to several other girls here I have learned that Saudi's are very pro-plastic surgery, so this came as no surprise to them. At the end the anesthesiologist told me "The baby weighed 3.1 kg, the placenta was 1 kg, and you lost 1 kg of fluid. Congratulations, you lost 5 kg!"

Next Travis was sent to our postpartum room and I was sent to recovery. Now in general I really don't like recovery rooms. I have been in 5 in the last 3 years and the only one that was pleasant was after the birth of Lucy. At the Women's Hospital in Texas Lucy and Travis were allowed to stay with me while I was in the recovery room. This was the first chance I had to start nursing with her, and I really treasure this time where Travis, Lucy and I first got to know each other. In all the others, and this one was no exception, I was all alone for what felt like 30 minutes (it was probably 5) before anyone came in to say hello or tell me how long I had to lay there. The nurse here did not speak very good english and it was a long, boring wait until they finally let me leave.

6. Postpartum care

Once I was back in my postpartum room and the anesthesia wore off I was a little surprised at how high my pain level was considering I had opted to pay extra for a pain pump. This must have been different than the pain pump they use at the Women's Hospital because it did not really seem to be working! By noon I couldn't sit up to nurse Ellie. I was really thankful I already knew what I was doing with nursing because if this had been my first it would have been really, really hard. It wasn't easy trying to nurse her lying down but I didn't really have a choice. Then we realized that my hand/wrist with the IV was continuing to swell and now my hospital bracelets were tight.

Picture of my wrist ~9 hours after they switched my IV out. It was sometime the next day before it went back to normal!

Once the nurse saw it she immediately took it out and put a new IV in my other hand. Thankfully this one worked and was not painful like the other ones. I think all those expensive pain pump meds were just building up in my wrist! The nurse also gave me a new pain medicine and that one seemed to be much more effective, so by about 4:00 sitting up was bearable again.

Our good friend's the Feimster's had been taking care of Lucy while we were in the hospital and Heather brought Lucy to visit that evening. It was so fun to watch her meet Baby Sissy for the first time! I think she was even more excited to see me and Travis though :)

Later on in the evening, with a LOT of help from the nurses, I was able to walk to the bathroom by myself. This was definitely not a pain free experience, but I was impressed at how mobile I actually was 12 hours after surgery. I think I was on different pain meds in the states because while I don't remember as much acute pain, I know walking the day Lucy was not possible.

As usual the first night was busy with nurses coming in and out to take vitals. At one point I really wanted a light turned off and Travis was hopelessly asleep. The only thing I had to throw at him was a bulb snot sucker but he continued snoring away, so I bravely got myself out of bed and turned the light off myself. This probably isn't recommended, oh well!

By the end of the next day we were getting pretty restless. I had been disconnected from everything and as long as I took my pain meds regularly I was feeling ok enough to walk across the room, sit up, etc. I was relieved that the nurses agreed I could probably go home the next day since the hospital c-section policy stated that a 3-4 day stay was the norm. We attempted to go on a walk around the ward, but we were thwarted. When the nurses saw us they started panicking and whisked Ellie back to our room. I was really confused, but it turns out that as part of their security plan the baby is not allowed to leave the room without a nurse! Oops. They realize they had not explained this to us so we didn't get in further trouble, and we explained that this is a typical postpartum activity in the states so we had no idea it would be a problem.

At some point I realized that no one had been in to talk to me about lactation, or newborn care. In fact no one even came in to check my vitals the second night (which I was totally fine with, but it was unexpected.) I wasn't sure if this was because they knew this was my second baby or what. At my one week follow up appointment with Dr. Ashour he explained that lactation and newborn care services are not covered by the national insurance here. I thought that was really interesting since the insurance covered almost everything else 100%. The only things we had to pay for were the pain pump meds and some other prescriptions (which cost me a grand total of $10). I did see signs with a number to call for lactation help if needed, but I'm guessing that is extra.

By Tuesday we were stir crazy. Thankfully the check out procedure was much more efficient here (possibly the only thing in Saudi that has been more efficient than in the states!), and we were on the road about 1:00 after getting some panini's from the Costa Coffee at the clinic.

We've been blessed that all of us have stayed healthy since the birth. I did venture out about a week after Ellie was born to try and find some spare parts for my pump. Unfortunately I was not successful in finding spare parts, but I did find this amusing display of Medela accessories at a BabiesRUs in Khobar:

Add caption

The top row is Medela panties, support briefs, support belts, tank tops and nursing bras. All the women in the pictures have been censored. Apparently the woman modeling the support belt needed her face censored too. You're out of luck if you'd like to see the difference in panties vs support briefs or the cut of the nursing bra before opening the package.

And there you have it. I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have about having a baby in the Kingdom!