My Little Bulldog

The one thing I have learned about myself from this move, is I am a far better mom when I have caffeine in my system. Waking up at 4:30-5:00 AM every morning means my caffeine intake has quadrupled. Believe it or not, I actually really enjoy being up that early now (my parents cannot believe what they are reading). I get to hangout with the husband for a little bit, and we now have a morning routine (man, I feel old typing that). We have been enjoying a cup of liquid energy together, and he has been able to help with the little poop faces (since they too are up at the butt crack of dawn. This morning, while making my 3rd cup of tea (and no, i’m not exaggerating), I saw my first spider. The little sucker was JUMPING! He was a little black spider about the size of a grain of rice, but that little demon was hopping about an inch off the floor. He was seriously the Michael Jordan of insects. I made the world a safer place by squishing that sucker. You’re welcome!

A few people have asked me about Hunter going to school. Originally, we were going to put him it a Montessori school near us. Unfortunately, with how hectic our schedule will be it doesn’t make sense. We will be traveling so much, the tuition is pretty expensive, and he will miss a ton of school. Instead, I am looking into an online homeschooling option. K12 is the place I am looking into right now, but if anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them. Now, I know a lot of you are concerned about the social aspect of pre-k, but I can assure you, there are PLENTY of children here he can play with. Which leads me to the funny portion of this program.

Everyone has nannies… EVERYONE. I had an interesting interaction with another mom at the park about our nanny situation. She asked me if I found a nanny yet, and I have (cue the clip of Tom Cruse in Risky Business). Right now she is on vacation for a few weeks. In Bahrain, employers must send their nanny home either once a year or when their contract is complete. The employer must pay for the ticket (round trip if on vacation, one-way if the contract is complete). Our nanny (Jovy) is from the Philippines (yes, the Colombian is employing the Philipino… enter Steve Harvey punchline here), and she is going home to see her 3 year old daughter. She only gets to see her once a year. I couldn’t imagine how terrible and difficult that must be. Anyway, I told her yes, but that our nanny is on vacation for three weeks. This is how the conversation went:

“Wow, that is a long time without a nanny!”
“Well, I’ve never had a nanny before, so it really isn’t that big of a deal to me.”
“Oh, I’ve always had a nanny. The only time I didn’t my mom came to visit”
“What about when you are state-side?”
“I live next to my mom. She just helps out a lot.”

Oh, man! What a life! My goal in life is to be that lucky! Maybe I will illegally take Jovy home with me! Screw labor laws, I want myself a nanny forever! The other mom is a really nice lady, and she wasn’t snooty about it. It is just a reality of her life. I think quite a few of the state-workers are the same way. When they aren’t overseas they get to go back home. We aren’t so lucky. “Home is where the Army sends us”

At the same time every day, all the nannies take all the kids to the park. At first it looks like a scene from Lord of the Flies (you’re welcome Thomas), but then you realize there is some order to the anarchy. After naps, I have been bribing the boys, to get out of bed, with the park (so far it has been very affective). Hunter and Mason have been playing with all the younger kids and have been having a great time. I am pretty sure this is because parents are coming home, and it is sunset, but as soon as I hear the Call to Prayer (I can faintly hear it from our house, but it is a little more noticeable from the park) all the kids and nannies scatter like cockroaches. Then, the bigger kids come out to play. Hunter loves playing with the bigger boys. There are about 5-7 of them (ranging from 7-10 years old), and they come out with their lightsabers to play fight. Last night the ring leader told Hunter that he was too little and didn’t want to play with him. Hunter was really sad and didn’t understand why the big boys didn’t want to play. While all of this was going on, I was pushing Mason in a swing. As I was trying to talk to Hunter I heard Mason yelling from behind me, “NO BIG BOYS! Don’t say that to my Hunter. Hunter is a big boy too. You need to be nice and play with my Hunter. Mommy, get me out. I need to go protect my brother.” Mason for the win! I looked at Mason, and he looked like an angry bulldog being held back by a leash. He was kicking and swinging his legs with the angriest look on his sweet little face. I, of course, said, “Good job Mason way to protect your brother” and let him out of the swing. I wish I could report that Mason kicked all 7 of their asses, but sadly that wasn’t the case. He did however stay around Hunter to make sure he was being treated fairly. I consider this another mom win.

Another question I have been getting has been about Austin and food. As most of you know, Austin has food sensitivities. When I eat dairy, soy, and/or wheat he gets sick for three days. This made eating in the United States very difficult. Almost everything has soy in it, and that is what affects Austin the most. I am ecstatic to share that I haven’t had a problem… yet (knock on wood). I’ve eaten out twice and both times he has been fine. One day I actually cheated (the flatbread here is AMAZING! I couldn’t help myself), and he didn’t react. I was even able to eat peanut butter! I haven’t had peanut butter in almost 6 months (but I made up for lost time! I have almost eaten a jar to myself). I didn’t realize how much I love peanut butter.

Believe it or not, the produce here is wonderful. I was very surprised by this because I assumed they imported all of their produce. I don’t know where the produce comes from, but it is fresh and delicious. Oh man, and the apple juice!! I almost pooped my pants! It was like biting into an apple. I guess it is what real apple juice is supposed to taste like. I love food, and so far it hasn’t disappointed me. food Food FOOD! A cool fact about Bahrain, EVERY restaurant delivers. All of them! I haven’t tried ordering delivery from McDonalds, but apparently they will drop a Big Mac off on your front porch if you want them to.

Yesterday, we went to the Embassy and then took the kids to a park. This was a large park and in the middle of it there was a large cage with birds. Not your typical birds! It had an emu, a rooster, some chickens, and other birds I didn’t recognize.

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Austin was not amused!
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Overall the boys had a good time, life is good!

 
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Kudos
 
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Kudos

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