Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Abu Dhabi Family, we hope our family and friends had a wonderful Christmas. We spent our third Christmas here in the Middle East and we had a wonderful time opening gifts on Christmas morning. We missed our family and friends, but it was nice we got to share Christmas with Heather this year. It is something to think about this time last year I was beyond pregnant and due anytime what a difference a year makes.

Momma

I finally get to hear Momma coming from Heather at 11 months old that is music to my ears. She is still crawling and pulling up to stand up and walking around stuff by holding on. I wonder when will she decide to take her first step? I have been lucky to get her to take two naps, but I think that is only because she has been waking me up two times in the night. I think we are going through a growth spurt.

Jordan

Our trip to Jordan for Thanksgiving 2011 was an eventful one. We stayed 4 days three nights in Jordan and we mapped out our trip down to the letter. Thank you Paul for helping us see all we could while we were there.

We arrived in Amman, Jordan first stop Jesus Baptism, Bethany Jordan. Then we were off to the Dead Sea. Then to Petra and Finally back to Amman to see Jerash and Citadel. I love the fact we are continuing our Greek/Roman tour of ancient ruins.

At Jesus Baptism, I had know idea that it was so big and they even had real Baptisms there. Not to far from the real Baptism site. It felt so cool that we were just a fence away from Israel.

I never thought I would swim in the Dead Sea. It was cold, but you just had to get in and float. Seeing all the salt was something and the Dead Sea is really fertile they grow all kinds of things, but what was really interesting is they can grow bananas we saw all kinds of banana trees.

Petra was just breathe taking. The ancient city was two miles into the mountain. It was a long way down, but we could to see some amazing ruins. We even got to ride on a horse and buggy on the way back.

I loved the fact in Jerash that you could see so many ancient ruins. In Citadel we got to see my favorite Greek God's Temple of Hercules. We thought that the Temple of Hercules was in Jerash and I told Paul that it was in a different area and I remembered that town began with the letter C and we were on our way to the airport the next day. I said ask the people at the hotel and luckily Citadel was just a few minutes from the hotel. The hotel got us a cab and arraigned for us to see it before we left. We even got to see a Roman amphitheater on the way to the airport. I am so happy Paul arranged for us to see the Temple of Hercules. Do I have a great guy or what? He is always making sure I am happy. I am just over the moon with excitement that I got to see it.

We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving we missed being with family and friends, but we had a wonderful trip to Jordan to make this Thanksgiving a one to remember.

Updated Baby Milestones

Heather has grown so much since my last posting about her. She is 10 months old now and crawling all over the place. She has started to pull to stand up a few months back and now she is walking around the play pen, but she hasn't made any steps without holding on to something I figure it is just a matter of time. When you hold her now all she wants to do is stand up. Our little girl also has two teeth and working on more I believe. She can also feed herself some finger foods. She has tried a sippy cup with some apple juice. I am not sure she likes it that much. She does however love feeding herself. I can't wait for her to try some Thanksgiving dinner and have her first Christmas. Look out Christmas tree look out. After the holidays she will be 1 on January 6, wow has the time gone by so fast. She still has brown hair coming in and blue eyes. So far the girls are alike they both liked teeth at this age. Why do they want to feel your teeth? I have never seen a baby like teeth as much as they do. I can't wait to see what she gets into next.

Writing

Sydney went from tracing her name to writing her name in a matter of months it seems. We had know idea how much Sydney has grown since the beginning of the year. At parent teacher conference we learned so much about our little girl. She currently gets two books sent home and a library book once a week making a total of three books a week. I never thought she would have homework at 4 years old. I have to say I am so proud of our little girl.

Thankful

We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Love of family and friends and a job in a place that you can only experience once in a life time. The opportunity to be parents of two little girls and a wonderful marriage. God have given us so much and we have a lot to be thankful for.

Baby Milestones

Baby Heather has blessed us this year with her little smile in January and since then she has grown and grown and has achieved so many baby milestones that I can hardly keep up. She seems to be growing faster then Sydney did. She has said dadda and bye bye and I am still waiting on momma. She has already rolled over from stomach to back and back to stomach. She started commando crawling a few weeks ago, a few days shy of 8 months old. I am still blessed with being able to breastfeed and she has started baby food, while time seems to be flying bye. She loves her new walker and keeping up with her getting into stuff under the coffee table seems to be a daily adventure now. We added a high chair and we are about to lower the bed soon since we think she might be ready to stand on her own. She pulled to stand up at Sydney's school all on her own. I had showed her some toys in a box and I guess she really wanted the train set that she pulled to stand up beside the box. I am not ready for her to walk yet. I believe Sydney didn't walk until she was over 1 and now I think Heather might walk before 1. I believe having a bigger sister has made her grow faster, which I have to say I wish she would slow down. Sydney is a big help and is really good with her. Heather is truly a wonderful baby and has blessed our little family to make us a family of four.