Christmas in Dubai 2014

A very (belated) Merry Christmas to all! It really didn't feel like Christmas this year. I guess that's what happens when you're on the brink of an international move. It was kind of depressing since it's my fav time of year- I have some of the best memories of my dad and I decorating the house and preparing for the festive season. I told Ram this is the second and last time I will agree to move during the holidays. NEVER. AGAIN.

We did manage to take Riya to a Christmas Festival the week before, which was fun. Fake snow and all:)

I also challenged myself to roast rack of lamb for the first time. One burn mark the size of my pinky and two broken glasses later, dinner was served. Christmas will come late for Miss Riya though. I plan to buy her a few new toys in London when we arrive since I can only pack a few toys in her suitcase. She had 2 presents from her friends here to open and it was cool to see her open them. She LOVES paper and was more excited about that than anything else. Ha! I'm sure next year will be a totally different story...

The next day Ram surprised me with an overnight stay at a hotel. I was ecstatic about getting to actually sleep in but felt weird being away from Riya for 24 hours. The day started off well. Had lunch, then got a lovely 80 minute massage, followed by some shopping, dinner and a hot bath. I was all tucked in by 10pm. All was good in the world up until midnight when the hammering began. Unfortunately I was on a low level and the hotel was connected to the Mall which had construction going on all night long. Needless to say I was furious by morning and my room was free of charge. But I still ended up the loser...I was happy to be back home with my babies, that's for sure!

Hope everyone has a fabulous New Years! Our sitter is booked, so Ram and I plan to have a staring contest, lol.

Jitterbug

As we anxiously await for Ram's certificate of sponsorship to come through (fingers crossed by this Thursday), which we need to apply for our residency visa, I figured I'd let y'all get your weekly dose of what's happening with the Aiyers.

The sleeplessness and restlessness has already settled in. These international moves always happen SO fast and all the logistics don't end up coming together until the end and then it's a mad scramble. Trying to get everything in order with all these loose ends is making me a ball of nerves.

I've hired a pet relocater for Luca. Of course the first 2 things they need are our flight itinerary and an address in London. A standard and simple request, yet I cannot fulfill it. Based on previous experience, we have decided not to book our flights until we have visa in hand and since it's an expensive time of year, even more reason to wait and avoid any outrageous change fees. Since we don't have a concrete arrival date, we don't have a designated address for temporary housing.

I scheduled an auction house to come and appraise our appliances (stove, dishwasher, refrigerator, washer/dryer) that we had to purchase when we moved here but obviously will not need in London (if you recall, rental properties in Dubai do not come with basic appliances).  Side note- I need some serious convincing as to why I should leave our coveted dryer here. Flashbacks of crunchy towels and hang drying in Aberdeen haunt me. Add 2-3 extra loads of baby clothes a week and that puts me on edge. Of course the auction house wants to know when the goods can be picked up. They didn't seem too thrilled when I gave them a one week window.

And then I met with the movers to discuss all the furniture we are shipping to London. Yet again, the dreaded question is posed, "which day(s) do you want to schedule the pack up?" Again I had to go through my spiel of uncertainty.

So as you can see its anxiety central over here!

Since I cannot control any of the uncertainties, all I can do to calm my nerves is shop, drink, and shop some more:) Baby girl has her first winter wardrobe all ready to go! She is going to look so dang cute all bundled up. Now I just need to buy her some appropriate shoes since she is actually going to need something functional to walk in...!

Time for a massage....and a drink :p

Giving Thanks

I still remember when I was organizing our first Thanksgiving away from home in Aberdeen, which was shockingly only 2 years ago.

So much has changed since then!

This is our second and last Thanksgiving in Dubai. We have plenty to be thankful for this year. I'm very thankful that Ram got his dream job and we are moving to London. I'm thankful for a happy and healthy family. And I'm thankful for the friendships I've made all over the world.

I kept going back and forth on whether or not to host an official party and finally decided against it. Over here the Americans celebrate on Friday since its the start of the weekend and everyone is home. I figured this is the last year I can get away with putting Riya to bed first so I can enjoy my turkey feast with both hands :p

Even my menu for two was pretty ambitious but this year I got smart and decided to do all my chopping and portioning the day before. Since Ram had to work the next day, I had to find a way to cook while taking care of Riya. Luckily, Ram was able to only work half a day and was a big help in the babysitting department. This made Turkey day go very smoothly!

Too busy to smile while watching Baby Einstein :p

My grumpy lil man was happy once he got some Turkey!

We had enough to feed 6, but then we wouldn't have had any yummy left overs :p

I don't mean to brag, but Ram said this was the BEST holiday meal he's ever had. And I won't lie, my baked macaroni and cheese with gruyere and cheddar cheese was DAMN good.

Riya has been taking a step here and there but she finally took those first few steps all together the day after Thanksgiving. Woohooo!

My Husband...he's sort of a big deal.

I don't like to brag but my Husband is sort of a big deal.

He's always very modest and quiet about his accomplishments and successes at work so Ram, I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to brag about you. 

I'm just so proud of you.

He has been noted in several reports over the last year as a highly respectable and experienced attorney in his field. Compliance attorneys are very specialized in what they do, so the fact that he has a glowing reputation in his field is amazing.  

And now, my rockstar husband just scored a gig with the one and only GOOGLE. 

Yup, that's right. After 7 grueling interviews, spread out over a few months, Google wants Ram to join their family. Originally, the job was posted for Dubai but halfway through the process they changed their minds. Google wants Ram to be based in their London office and build out their Ethics and Anti-Corruption program for all of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He's going to be the number 2 guy (under the chief compliance officer) for the region. Say whaaaaaat?!

I'm sure I don't have to tell you all how hard it is to get an interview with Google, let alone a job offer. They receive something like 75,000 applications on a weekly basis. Ram beat out hundreds of applicants for this role and I am so thrilled that he has joined the Google family. Can life get any better than this?! Oh wait, yes it can! We are so excited to have the UK and Europe back at our fingertips. Riya is going to grow up with a proper English accent and my dream of her meeting the prince (and falling in love) just got real folks. 

Do you think Google allows spouses access to their amazing facilities?! Apparently they are dog friendly, so Luca can go along for the ride. Lucky dog!!! 

We are expecting to spend the new year in our new city, so stay tuned! It's going to be a whole new adventure moving internationally with Riya in tow...

I'm so excited...and I just can't hide it!!!

Kite Beach

While all of you are layering and putting your boots on, we are shedding our clothes over here.

Okay, that sounded weird. What I meant to say was winter spring has arrived!!! Now that it's cooled down to 80 degree weather, we can actually enjoy outdoor activities. Hip hip hooray!

We are lucky to live in a city where there are multiple beaches only 15 minutes away.  Dubai has many faults, but I can't fault them for this one! So we packed up Friday morning and headed off to Kite Beach. Riya has been to two beaches before the age of 1 (spoiled!) but we never really let her get down and dirty in the sand and ocean.

There was a beautiful breeze and the water had a slight chill, but Riya had a blast.

The good times only last 45 minutes (thank god we live close by) but I definitely think that was a good start! It just sucked because our friends were running late so shortly after they arrived, Riya was ready to go. We hope over the course of the next few months we can make this a monthly, if not weekly, activity. Next time we hope to be able to participate in some of the activities they offer- kayaking, paddle boarding, kite running and check out some of the food trucks. 

"Bringing up Bebe"

I decided to start an evening book club so that I have another excuse to have a night out:) The first book we read was "Bringing up Bebe" by Pamela Druckerman. My friend Laine had high praises of this book and I was particularly drawn to it because it's about a New Yorker who married a Brit and they moved to Paris to raise a family.

It was definitely cool to read about an ex-pat family raising a child for the first time abroad. And since the French style of parenting is so unique, I enjoyed gaining some insight into their methods. Did you know that even as babies they eat 4 course meals for lunch and dinner? Did you know that if a toddler doesn't say "Bonjour" to another adult, it's socially unacceptable? And did you know that they don't teach the alphabet or count until the children go to elementary school? Rather they focus on teaching them how to communicate and socialize in those early years instead of shoving letters and numbers down their throat. It was very cool to learn the ins and outs of parenting abroad when they are different customs at play.

I sometimes feel like a fish out of water raising Riya. We're American, yes, but we're also Indian. And we live in a melting pot city raising a child without any influences around us. Turns out I have employed some of the French parenting philosophies without even knowing it. I'm impressed with myself :)

If I could sum up the book (and my biggest take away) in one line, the author says it perfectly, "I want my kids to be self-reliant, resilient, and happy. I just don't want to let go of their hands."

Looking forward to one of many more book clubs to come! Our next book is called "Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women" by Geraldine Brooks. Can't wait to delve in!

It's October?!

October signifies the beginning of fall to me. But over here in the land of 100 degree weather, pretty hard to enjoy that pumpkin spice latte but I am happy that Starbucks decided to offer it this year (though I prefer making my own, healthier version. Click here for the yummy recipe.) I cannot wait to start making all my favorite pumpkin recipes!

This past weekend was a holiday weekend for us. It was Eid Al Adha. This is the second of two Eids that Muslim religion celebrates every year. Once again, we never know in advance how many days off Ram will get, so it's impossible to plan anything. He ended up getting two days off which was really nice. We kicked off the weekend celebrating his big 3-4, with breakfast at Baker & Spice, a place we've been wanting to try, and dinner at an Claw BBQ, an American themed restaurant with our American friends:)

Now that's a margarita!!! It was delicious btw

Oh, and I decided to chop off my hair to mark the occasion. Ram, you officially have a wife that looks like she's in her 20's. You're welcome :)

The next day Ram grilled us some yummy burgers and hotdogs, which Riya got a taste of for the first time. I didn't get to snap any pics, but she wasn't complaining :) Baby girl will eat anything you give her as long as she can feed it to herself. She has a firm "No Spoon" policy.

The next day we toyed with the idea of doing a day trip but as usual, we opted against it. There's just nothing worth the drive, in our opinion, in the nearby Emirates. This is one major inherent flaw I find with this part of the world; they are so into developing new and modern cities that there is no history or nature left to marvel at. It's not a very inspiring region. Very sad for the youth that grows up here.

Anyway, we ended up taking Riya to a new soft play area Sunday afternoon and then geared up for the Texans game. The next day, Ram and I both woke up very sick:( It's bad enough both of us were sick at the same time, but tell that to your one year old who is a ball of energy! We had to sleep in shifts (though I snuck in more shut eye than Ram- thanks babe) and it was just plain awful. So hard to be sick as a mother. Mother's don't get sick days!

Although I'm still having nightmarish flashbacks of Riya's not sleeping while we were in Houston, I am itching to do a family vacay in December. Eeeek. What to do, what to do...

Stay At Home Mom's Survival Guide

Now that Riya is down to 1 nap a day, I'm struggling to keep this girl busy for 5 hours in a row (cue panic attack). That's a BIG jump from 3 hours. At first I thought, great, now I can be out for longer stretches and get my errands done! But how many errands do I think I have?! Certainly not enough to keep me out every single day.

I feel a lot of pressure being a stay at home mom (SAHM). I am responsible for raising my child(ten) to be productive and positive members of society. That is a tall order! So I'm constantly trying to find ways to stimulate Riya. So I've been searching high and low for time killers creative activities. Here is what I found and I hope it helps some of you out!

1. Baby Center: this site has 4 activities per month for your baby. I wish I had discovered it earlier but lots of the activities are suitable for a wide age range. We've only tried a few. These "activities" don't hold her interest very long. Like 10 minutes. Thats IT. I think they are better suited for younger, less mobile babies, but they do have some cool ideas.

Contrary to what this site suggested, she did NOT like being pulled around in a box. 

Tunnel fun <3

So it begins...

Knocking things down is her favorite thing to do!

She won't do water play unless it's Luca's drinking bowl! (Sigh)

Haha took me a while to put this together and she didn't even last a minute. HA.

2. Sensory classes: we were attending these pretty regularly before summer hit, so this was a no brainer. However, the company we normally went with changed the schedule and the timings are less than ideal. So I found a few classes closer to me. However, the first class we tried was 1.5 hours long and the age range was 12-20 months. I was skeptical going in both because it was too long and that is such a wide age range for babies, all of them are at different developmental stages. Sure enough, it was not the right class for us. After 45 minutes, Riya was dunzo and the kids were at the top of the age range and the activities seemed more for their level, so we didn't go back. I then found another one with closer age range 12-15 months, and the class is only 1 hour long. This class is just perfect for us. Riya has already done her first painting! Will have to grab the masterpiece next week though after it dries:)

3. Swimming: I've gone back and forth about doing lessons and figured she would benefit when she was a little older. So in the meantime, I have decided to at least let her splash around and get used to the water a few times a week. I plan on looking up baby lessons on youtube and testing them out with Riya. Our pool has good shade, so this makes for a perfect before bedtime activity.

At the end of the day, she doesn't really care for all these "elaborate" activities that I spend hours thinking of and putting together. We still tend to get bored here and there and that's O-K.  All she really wants to do is chase Luca around all day! Sigh....

Riya's Birthday Bash

Riya's birthday party theme this year was "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" I thought this theme was especially fitting considering the year we've had. One obstacle after another, our 3.3 lb baby has come a long way. From worrying that she wasn't staying awake long enough between feeds (oh how naive I was) to wondering when she would roll over and crawl. From anticipating her first tooth to watching her feed herself. And now we wait for the day that she takes those first little steps all on her own. Take your time, baby girl, we are in no rush!

The first year really is a magical, unforgettable, all consuming love, and the ultimate test in patience. I'm both happy and sad it's over. It feels like the longest days of your life, but they are the shortest, most precious years.

Alright, enough of the sappy stuff!

Lucky girl had 2 parties this year. An early one in Houston with family and then one in Dubai with our Dubai family. Riya had a great time spending her birthday with all her loved ones.

Here are some pictures from her birthday morning:

"What, I'm ONE?!"

The Houston party. We hired a professional photographer and got some awesome family photos:

Cousin love :) 

First time eating a sweet! 

The Dubai party:

These are all the places Riya has been! Okay, okay, some of those were during our baby moon :)  

Her new toy:) 

Round 2!