Dr appt and Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day this week.  My Valentine was very thoughtful and brought home some beautiful roses.  I've gotten flowers before, but never roses so it was pretty special.  My gift to him was a clean house and a nice dinner of chicken with mushroom sauce, homemade mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce.  I think Aden was a bit jealous because he decided to cry during our entire dinner.  So much for romantic background music.

This week was also Aden's 1 month doctor check-up.  We tried a new doctor this time and absolutely loved her.  The very first thing she did was sit down with us and let us ask questions.  This was great because I had come with a list of them.  Everything at the check up went well.  Aden now weighs 12 lbs and is 22.8 inches long.  This puts him in the 95th percentile for both weight and length.  After questioning us about how much he eats and how active he is, the doctor determined that his size is just genetic.  She called him a "big boy" but also a "perfect baby".  We'll go in again in a few weeks for his 2 month vaccinations.  I'm not looking forward to that appointment. 


Also, Aden and I went on our first mommy/baby outing.  There are two other ladies on the compound with babies and we all decided to go to Khobar (a bigger city about an hour south of Jubail) and go shopping.  It was a lot of fun being out on our own with the babies.  Aden had a blast being the only guy on the trip. 

Flowers from my Valentine!

Aden and the ladies on our way to Khobar

Aden's favorite trick.  I thought he was working on rolling over, but SURPRISE!

Ups and downs

It had been a week of ups and downs for us. First off, we had to see my parents off. It was hard to see them go, but the time they spent here was priceless. The hardest part was going back to being in the house alone while Jamie's at work. I can no longer pass Aden off and take a nap or do some cooking. The good thing is that they made it home safely and without much excitement (which is always good when you're traveling).

While my parents were flying home, it was Super Bowl time! Although the game aired at 2:30 am our time, we did get up a few times to check the score (and feed Aden). It was so exciting to get up at 6 am, go downstairs, and see that the Packers had won! Aden was even supporting his team. Yes, he is only 1 month but he already knows that he is a Packers fan.

Enjoy some pictures.....

Tara

Game Time!  He's Packers head to toe.

The proud Papa Don.  Pay no attention to that Patriots shirt he is wearing.

Nana and Papa visit update

Hi everyone, I would like to give you a quick update on our time with Don and Kim, Aden's Nana and Papa. Don and Kim were fortunate enough to be here for our biggest rain of the year. Streets were flooded, our sliding door was leaking, and thunder rolled. It has been a good time for them to get to know Aden. Despite the rain, Don and I were able to get down to the fish market on Friday morning to pick up some fresh shrimp.

On Saturday things cleared up a little and when I (Jamie) finished work we went to downtown Jubail. Affectionately called "Man Town." Kim commented that she only saw one other woman while we were out. That is a very common experience for the expat women here. We went and grabbed some shawarma at our favorite Shawarma place, bought some copied dvd's, and Don picked up some fresh roasted peanuts on the street corner. It was a great time showing off our very dirty, stinky, Man Town.

On Sunday, Tara and her mom went to the humble malls in Jubail. They were stopped by numerous women who wanted to look at and take pictures of Aden. Funny, the women never ask to do that when I am around. That sort of makes me like their bodyguard, protecting my family from the paparazzi.

Monday we were invited to dinner by our Principal and his wife along with the other math/social studies teaching couple at our school. It was nice to be able to share some of our teaching community with family.

Tuesday afternoon everyone met me at school shortly before the end of the day. Don and Kim met our friends at school, met some students, and received the full tour so they can picture where we spend our time. Let me say, Aden is the most popular kid in the school when he comes to visit. Tuesday was also a fun evening with our good friends Brent and Laura. We went to a favorite restaurant of ours in downtown Jubail. This isn't really a normal downtown restaurant though. Cookxon is an Indian place with cloth napkins and everything. It was a good chance for Don and Kim to know our friends better and try our favorite Chicken Tikka Masala dish.

Wednesday was Tara's long awaited spa day. She went to the fancy salon at Murjan, the very nice and large compound our friends working for Chevron live on. Tara got a hair cut and eyebrow wax. We are casual friends with the stylist and she didn't allow Tara to pay one riyal. She said it was a new mommy gift to Tara. While the ladies were in the salon, Don had a good time lounging on the beach and enjoying the breeze.

Thursday was our busiest day yet with a trip to Khobar and then the desert. We went to our favorite stores, Don and Kim picked up some gifts to bring home, we visited our favorite Lebanese bakery, browsed the carpets, and toured our favorite grocery store. Afterwords we headed West into the desert. It took a while, but we finally hit the rolling sand dunes. Kim and I took a walk out in the dunes, decided it was pretty hard packed after the rain and then we did a little off-roading in our little SUV. Aden had just ate and turned into a milk shake over the bumps. It was a really good Arabian experience for everyone.

Today was rather relaxing, we socialized with some friends at Murjan, did a photo shoot on the beach, then Tara and I napped while Nana watched Aden. It is times like that which are very nice for having extra hands around that are eager to entertain a little boy.

Don and Kim are flying back out on Sunday evening. It will probably be a low key couple of days. It will be sad to see them off, but it has been a nice visit. The challenge will be to do this whole parenting thing alone again. We've had help with all the responsibilities lately like doing dishes, folding laundry, and having twice as many arms to hold Aden, but we are confident we can do it (says Tara).

Enjoy our pictures!

-Jamie-

A monkey on a limb

Nap time!

Family photo on the beach

Sure beats the snow

Hang out time on the beach

Proud parents

Don and Kim enjoying their vacation

Nana and Papa

Another week has gone by and tomorrow Aden will be 3 weeks old. We already have seen him grow and Jamie gets all sentimental thinking about our baby boy growing up. The fun part of it is seeing him do things he couldn't do before. He's starting to hold his head up on his own and is able to focus more on faces.

The exciting thing about this week is that my parents are here! They are still getting over the jet lag a bit and it is great having them here. Aden is fully enjoying having Nana and Papa here as he rarely has to be put down. There are always a willing pair of arms to hold him. They will be here with us until Feb 6. Unfortunately that is Super Bowl Sunday so they will be traveling back to the States instead of watching the game. We do want to thank everyone who sent gifts for Aden with my parents. You were very generous and we really appreciate it!

Here are some new pics!

Tara

Nana and Papa with Aden

Papa and Aden time!

Isn't he a cutie!

Tummy time

Multi-tasking

Settling In

Well, we will officially have been a family of three for two weeks tomorrow. We have gone through nearly 100 diapers, three blown out diapers, two nail clipping sessions (with no blood!), three sponge baths, one full bath, one six hour fussy fit, one doctors appointment, and one trip to the US Consulate.

It feels like we've always had Aden around and our old lives are foggy dream-like memories. It's more work and more wonderful than I ever thought it would/could be. He has been a wonderful little sleeper and eater. He sleeps in 3-4 hourstretches at night with one wake-up to eat and eats until he looks like a drunk half passed out with milk dribbling out the corners of his mouth. He is growing bigger and more cute by the day.

Aden is also working on becoming a legal US citizen (Saudi does not offer citizenship). By the grace of God we processed his paperwork at lightening speed. Our Government Relations Office at school said we needed our marriage license certified by the Saudi Embassy in the USA to get his birth certificate, which is needed for the passport. This was turning into an 8 week or more process. Long story short, we went to the office that issues birth certificates and I buddied up with an Egyptian guy processing the same paperwork for his son. He said they turned him away last time for not having an appointment, but I said I was going to try anyway. He went up the counter first, showed his appointment sheet and said something in Arabic and pointed at me. Then he said in English they would process mine too. 30 minutes later we had the birth certificate. Five days later we went to the consulate and processed all his passport paperwork. Instead of taking months, it took 9 days! However, the US government is usinga new system for new international passports that is not ready, so everything is on hold. We are confident in an April homecoming though.

As for Tara, her headaches are completely gone and she is feeling very good. She is back to walking laps around the compound and looking forward to being able to run again in the coming months.

Enjoy the newest pictures.

-Jamie

What a heartbreaker!

Our school organized dinners for us for a whole week. It was very nice and very yummy.

This is Daddy at his most tired time of the day, right before bed and after bath time.

Good perspective on how small even a good size newborn is.

Can you tell he's putting some weight on the cheeks?

Aden hanging out with some of our friends and his fans, Heather, Stephanie, and Laura (left-right)

Aden James: The Birth Story

He's here!  We've been patiently waiting and our little boy has finally come.  A lot of people have been asking for details, so here is the story of his birth.

It all started during our doctor's appointment on the 5th.  After doing a physical, the doctor told us that I was 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced which meant that my body was ready to go into labor.  Our doctor is scheduled to do deliveries at the hospital on Saturdays and offered to let us come in and do an induction because we live so far away.  Our immediate reaction was to decline the offer because we wanted Aden to come when he was ready.  The doctor scheduled us in anyway and told us we could decide later but he wanted to keep the option open.  After much deliberation the next few days, we did decide to get induced.  I had been having contractions on and off all day Thursday and Friday so we knew the time would come soon.  This, along with the fear of actually making it to the hospital with the crazy traffic that can sometime happen, helped us to make the decision.

We arrived at the hospital at 4:30 am!  After getting checked in and having another physical, I had the lovely experience of having an enema.  Jamie was quite amused by the whole procedure and decided it would be great to take pictures of me pacing the room, thanks hun!  At 7:30am Dr. Ashour (my doctor) came in and determined that I was only at 3 cm and broke my water.  That got things rolling and on came the heavy contractions.  I quickly asked for my epidural which worked very quickly and allowed me to finally get some rest.  Jamie and I both took advantage of the quiet, pain-free hours and napped.  At some point during the napping, my doctor came back in and started me on a drip of pitocin.  Which was supposed to get me ready for labor.  It worked, an hour later the doctor came in and said I was at almost 9cm and he would be back in an hour.  10 minutes later he came in and said "we are going to have this baby".  Jamie said, "what, I thought we had an hour?"  He was delivering babies all morning and didn't think he would be finished with a c-section he had to do before the baby came.  20 minutes later, little Aden was here!  It was relatively easy, but the epidural worked too well.  I was supposed to be able to feel pressure so I knew when to push, but I felt nothing at all.  One doctor was pushing on my belly when contractions came, another was coaching me, our doctor was trying to get the baby out, and a nurse was my cheer leader.  Aden's heart rate dropped slightly and they brought out the little hand-pump vacuum thing to use to pull him out.  Once his shoulders were out our doctor said, "Tara, quickly give me your hands."  He put my hands on the baby and with the doctor's help we pulled him out and put him on my chest.  At 10:58am Aden was born.  I was elated to be done pushing and to have this little miracle in my arms.  From there Jamie cut the umbilical cord (he now says he wishes he would have brought his own knife like he thought about doing), they cleaned him up,  and we sat in the delivery room for a while trying to make the final decision on his name.  He looked like an Aden and we both thought so.  Recovery went well in the hospital, the nurses were wonderful to us and Aden and some of our friends came to see the star of the show and tell us congratulations.

We brought Aden home Monday afternoon.  The first night home was rough.  There was little sleeping for all three of us and Jamie had to go to work the next day.  We were quite nervous the next night because we had to be up to take him to the pediatrician.  Aden slept in shifts of 3-4 hours.  It was wonderful and he did the same last night!

We are very happy and satisfied parents.  The only down side has been my headaches.  The epidural needle can release spinal fluid if they put it in to far and they did.  The doctor said my brain has sagged a little causing migraine type headaches.  If I lay down they are ok, but too much activity is not fun.  I should feel all better in a few days and Jamie has been doing a wonderful job caring for his family.  He changes diapers, burps Aden, makes dinner, does the dishes and even did laundry and dusting around the house.  He has definitely won the super-Dad award in our house.

Now for the fun part..... pictures!  Some of these have been on facebook and some are being published for the first time.

The very focused doctors and nurses

Welcome Aden James McGuire

This gives good perspective as to how small a newborn is.

Welcome home little pumpkin face!

Aden with his 4 month old friend Kamilla.  I guess they grow fast.

shhhh . . . . 

The first sponge bath!  I suppose they can only get better from here.

Sporting his cool shades from Auntie Erin

Mama and baby taking a nap together.

This is kind of sad and cute at the same time.

Looking forward to 2011!

The holidays here aren't the same as being in Wisconsin, but we did have a successful Christmas and New Years.  We were able to Skype with quite a few of you over the past week which was a huge blessing.  It's so nice to hear the voices of those we love back home.  For Christmas this year, we did a small gift exchange with each other.  Jamie got a bunch of car cleaning supplies which he promptly tried out.  I had already gotten my big present, an iPod dock that we put in the kitchen.  I love it!  Very handy for when I want to get my Dave Ramsey fix while cooking dinner.  For Christmas dinner we went to a friend's house and had gumbo.  Quite nontraditional for us, but absolutely scrumptious.  We rang in the new year on our own and actually made it to midnight!  It was a nice night of relaxing.

One exciting thing that happened this week is that we got new carpet in our place!  We had this lovely pink carpet upstairs and we asked to have it replaced.  They ended up replacing all the carpeting in the entire house.  It looks and feels a lot nicer.  Later on this week, they should be replacing the linoleum flooring in the kitchen.  These are things that we're not supposed to do on our own, instead we have to wait for the compound to approve the changes and have their crew come and do it.

On the baby front there isn't much news.  He hasn't dropped yet, but is steadily gaining weight.  As of the 29th, he weighed 7 lbs 11 oz.  He's getting so big that we can't even get good pictures anymore because he is too scrunched up.  We'll go to the doctor again on the 5th and get another update on his progress.

Tara

Enjoying some hot cider before opening presents.

Jamie with his presents, mostly car cleaning supplies.

Box that a beautiful necklace came in.  They have such funny English sayings on things here.