Riya is 2!

We blinked and she turned 2. Such a momentous year for her. New country, new accent.

Although the last half of the year has been incredibly challenging, it has been so awesome to watch her personality shine through this year. She is shy, sweet and stubborn. Laughs with her entire being. Booty shakes Dances with all her heart. She confidently waves says "Hi" to all passersby, something I didn't see my shy girl doing anytime soon.

Unfortunately, the last 3 months have been burdened with teething and poor girl has gotten 7 teeth in that time. The most painful ones all at once (molars and canines). And just when we thought we were getting a break, she started teething her two year molars the week leading up to her birthday. The two year molars are no joke. They have been the most painful of them all and causing Riya to not be herself for way too long. Sadly, her birthday was hugely affected by her disposition.

My brother and his wife came in town to share her special day since my baby has no friends. It broke my heart to think about last year how we had a house full of friends on her first birthday. But in hindsight, if she had a party planned, we would have had to cancel, so I guess its all the same.

We spent the morning trying to get her to go through the balloon wall (no luck), opening presents and playing with her new toys. After she attempted a nap, we decided to brave the Children's Zoo in Battersea. We were hoping seeing all the animals would distract her from her pain. No such luck. It was so bad that we had to skip cake that evening:/

The next day we had a small window and she was able to enjoy her cake and it was worth the wait and smile:)

Birthday Stats: 23lbs, 34" tall, and 16 teeth
Obsessions: Balls, Balloons & Bubbles
Fav Foods: Berries, Mango and Squash
Fav Song: Wheels on the Bus
Fav Book: Mamas Little Ducklings
First Sentence: I see you!

NHS versus the World

To date, I've been privileged to experience two different types of healthcare from life overseas. Dubai healthcare is similar to the US in that private insurance is required but the similarities end where pharmaceuticals are involved.  Some commonly used medicines (i.e. inhalers) that are available by prescription only in the U.S. are available over the counter and they are cheaper in Dubai. But there is a big difference in insurance coverage in Dubai, and we were very lucky Ram's company supplied us with the best. My entire pregnancy, delivery, private room hospital stay for 10 days plus Riya's 14 day stay in NICU was completely FREE. When we saw the "bill" we were thankful we didn't have to shell out a dime! There is no way we would have had that luck in the U.S.

The UK's healthcare, known as the National Health Service (NHS), is funded by taxes and available to all at no cost. Now free healthcare sounds and is lovely, but as with anything, there are drawbacks. The focus is not on preventive medicine, like in the US, rather they treat your current condition. This also means a trip to the ER can be a nightmare if you need immediate attention. If you go to your GP and ask for that annual checkup with bloodwork and all, it ain't happening. They will not order any tests unless you have a compelling reason. Along the same lines, if you want to see a specialist, you have to see your GP first and convince them you need to see a specialist. For non-urgent matters it can take weeks to see a doctor and you have no choice on the date and time of the appointment. They set the appointment for you. Although it may take a few weeks to actually see the doctor, when you arrive at your appointment the waiting time is minimal, like 10-15 minutes, so the system can be efficient:)

Since I've had a baby under the Dubai healthcare system and will now have one under NHS, I thought it would be fun to compare the two experiences:)

1. Appointments: for first time pregnancies you have 10 appointments, only 3 of which are with a doctor, 6 are with the midwife and 2 with an ultrasound technician (your first midwife appointment is combined with an ultrasound appointment). For second time pregnancies, its only 8 appointments and again mostly with a midwife. In Dubai, all appointments were with a doctor and we had a few where we would go to a speciality clinic to do specific ultrasounds to test for abnormalities. But I definitely got more than 2 ultrasounds! My biggest disappointment was not being able to hear the baby's heartbeat on the first scan (which wasn't until 12 weeks) and I still have no clue as to why. I didn't get to hear the baby until 15 weeks! I'm also hoping my next scan isn't my last (gasp) till I deliver, cause there is no way I can handle that. I will go to a private clinic if I have to. I need to see my baby growing!

2. Snail Mail: all communication here is done by mail. That is also true if the hospital has to reschedule your upcoming appointment. I came back from Paris the day before my doctor's appointment only to get a letter in the mail saying it was rescheduled. I was so annoyed cause I could have stayed a few more days and come back with Ram! Needless to say in Dubai, they had no issues picking up the phone and sending you email/text.

3. Conservative....to a fault: when I found out I was pregnant, I immediately made an appointment to see a GP and requested a blood test to confirm. That's normal in Dubai (and US). But I was shocked when they told me they don't do that. They just take my word for it, will refer me to the hospital where I will get all my pregnancy care and wait until my 11-12th week before I get any formal confirmation of my situation. Say what?! I don't understand the refusal to do a blood test. I guess it's money they don't feel the need to spend. But that's just cruel to make a pregnant woman wait that long.

They are also very anti-intervention. I've heard many stories where doctors refuse to give a cesarean to a women in labor for 12 hours begging for one or where minor complications arise. Nor will they even think about inducing labor until you are almost 2 weeks overdue. YIKES.

4. Postcode Lottery: every city and hospital in the UK is different on certain matters such as cesareans and revealing the gender. We are very lucky that our hospital has nothing against revealing the sex of the baby at your 20 week scan. Just sucks that they make you wait that far into the pregnancy. In Dubai, I knew by 16 weeks and I hear in the US now you can get a blood test confirmation at 12. Boo.

5. Free healthcare = no private delivery. This is something I'm going to have to figure a way out of! In Dubai our insurance afforded us a spacious private room with a bathroom and sofa bed for Ram to sleep on. Over here, I'm told I can forget having any privacy and warned that Ram may not be able to stay with me. The second part is not as scary this time around because we have Riya to consider. But I don't think I could handle a newborn along with 6 other moms and their newborns! (Laine, I still don't know how you did this). Google has given us private insurance, so I am going to start making some enquiries on what we can do to resolve this issue!

Countdown to Houston begins! T-10 days...

   

Dinerama

Summertime in London is so eventful.  Its all about rooftop gardens, beer gardens, festivals/concerts, hot tub cinema (?!?), picnics in the park and street feasts to name a few. When my friend Debbie suggested we check out Dinerama as an alternative to a sit down dinner for out next outing, we were pumped. Can't say no to checking out a bunch of pop up restaurant food all in one place!

This is a summer event only, so we were happy we got a chance to check it out before the season was over. The day was beautiful and sunny but come night fall, we were hit with face slapping winds, chills, and rain (none of which we were prepared for). We were literally sitting in the rain. BUT that didn't bring us down! The first 3 pictures are courtesy of Debbie:)

I was also surprised by the cleanliness of it all. The bathrooms were plentiful and clean and they had people clearing out trash often so it wasn't dirty at all. This worked out well since between our group we probably tried all 7 or 8 of the restaurants:) The food was delicious. They even had prosecco and wine flowing for the non-beer lovers. Ram and I shared paneer fries, buttermilk fried chicken and beef tacos, brisket and pulled pork sliders. (I'm missing a few pictures cause well, we were hungry :p)

The next day we found out there was a fire around 4am that wiped out about half the place. That was so scary to hear but luckily no one got hurt. Had we lingered around a few more hours, that might have been a different story! 

4th of July

It was interesting to spend the 4th of July in enemy territory this year. Fun fact: the British accent as we know it developed after the Revolution to distinguish the upper class from the lower class. It was fashionable to speak with this posh accent. No one knows exactly how or why the Americans lost their "accent" but the most noticeable difference is Americans pronounce their "R's" whereas Brits don't.

As expected, there were only a few select July 4th celebrations publicly announced and most of them were organized by American ex-pats. One military organization was actually going to put on a fireworks show about an hour outside of London, but it got cancelled due to threats (?!). There was the option of a pot luck picnic but it was an hour away and didn't start until late afternoon which didn't make sense for Riya's schedule. So we decided to have our own impromptu picnic at our favorite park in Richmond.  (Impromptu = picking up food from Whole Foods:) It was a pretty morning and Riya was all smiles:

The next day it was rainy so we decided to check out the Museum of Natural History in South Kensington. They open at 10am and there was a line around the block when we got there, which we didn't anticipate. Entry is free but it took us a longer than expected to get inside, so we didn't get much time to hang out there but definitely worth going back. Later that day we decided to BBQ as the rain cooled everything down and it was so pretty outside.  Nothing more American than homemade sweet tea and hot dogs and burgers on a Sunday!

Rendezvous in Paris

We did a last minute trip to Paris this past weekend, and I'm so glad we did. Ram has been traveling to several different countries since last Sunday and heading his first road show. His boss and other colleagues joined him on this trip. It is a huge milestone for him and I'm so proud of him and happy he got one under his belt:)

Anyway, his last city was Paris and he was going to have a weekend there. He asked us to join him mid-week. I got really excited at the thought of a weekend get away and that we could take the train for 2.5 hours and voila, we'd be in Paris. Last time we were in Paris it was Christmas time, which is always especially magical in Europe. But it was so nice to see Paris in the summer. The architecture is gorgeous and on every corner there is always something to catch your eye. I can see why it's called the "City of Love."

We arrived Saturday afternoon and after Riya's nap, we decided to just walk around. Our hotel was walking distance to the Galleries Lafayette, so we walked over and it was SO crowded. We immediately regretted bringing the stroller and turned back. So no shopping for me:/ Ram lucked out this time! We stumbled across a playground on our way back, which Riya loved.

Sunday morning, Father's Day, was cloudy but otherwise a nice day. So we hit up Lover's Bridge first since we didn't go on our last visit. Sadly, they are taking all the locks down because the bridge is sinking and we weren't able to add one of our own, but I am happy we were able to see it. Next we walked over to Notre Dame and lastly the Eiffel Tower. It was good we hit up the sites in the morning because there was a city wide musical concert taking place in the afternoon and everything was going to be shut down!

We spent the afternoon checking out the Google office (Ram's fav one thus far) and the cafes in our hood. Roaming the streets of Paris with my loves made it the perfect weekend. Oh, and I got a sneak peak at Moulin Rouge on our way to the train station! Very sketchy area close to Ram's hotel. Hmmm.

I posted the best pics on FB, but here are pictures from our trip:

The Royal Ascot

This week marks the start of the Royal Ascot. The Royal Ascot is an annual horse race that lasts for 5 days and takes place in Ascot, Berkshire (1.5 hours outside of London). Always attended by the Royal family, this is one of the major social events of the year in the UK. The tradition dates back to 1711!

One of these five days is called Ladies Day. Dedicated to, you guessed it, the Ladies. This is a social event just for the Ladies to get all dressed up and wear those fabulous hats. But its not that simple...there is a dress code. Your dress must be a certain length, and no sleeveless allowed! Hats are required and there are restrictions on the diameter and overall size of your hat! I'm guessing they don't want anyone upstaging the Royal family:)

Who wouldn't want to spend a day all dressed up smoozing and boozing (sparkling for me:p) with London socialites and the Royal family?! I was dying to attend Ladies Day when I found out about it but sadly it wasn't in the cards for me this year. Ram is traveling for work. Boo.

Next year I'm going to make it happen!

So in honor of Ladies Day, I leave you with these pictures from previous years:

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A Royal procession each day before the race begins

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The 6 Month Mark

Saturday officially marks 6 months here in London. Where did the time go? Dubai is still quite fresh in our memories, though we are definitely not missing the 120 degree heat wave they are experiencing now.

This is our 4th year abroad so by now I know it takes 6 months to a year to completely adjust to a new city/country. I'm kinda having a love/hate relationship with our new home right now but that's mainly because we still haven't managed to expand our circle of friends. But I know that takes more than 6 months to accomplish. It's funny how in Dubai, I had zero friends the first year because I didn't have a kid. And it seems like the opposite here. There is a booming social scene here for singles/married no kids or moms with school-aged kids.

Sometimes it seems very discouraging, but I've felt that way before and things always change for the better. So I'm hanging in there!

6 months in London means I haven't driven in that long. I definitely miss having my own car. Especially when the 1 of 2 buses I use frequently, are always late. Riya does not like to wait people!
Apart from that, there isn't really anything else I miss right now. The food here is great and there's plenty of culture to go around.

Well its bright and sunny and dare I say approaching HOT, so time to go outside and play!