On Saturday we went to Ambience Mall early. When I say early, I mean 10.30 (as the shops open at 11). It was so quiet; I couldn’t believe how few people there were there. We started off in Debenhams, and then to Archie’s to try and change the watch I bought (as it was faulty). Archie’s Gallery couldn’t change the watch as the manager told me that although Archie’s is a chain throughout India, they are all franchises so they don’t all stock the same things and the watch I had bought was an item that they didn’t stock. He told me I had to return it to where I bought it from, which was a real pain!
Penri had tried to get a massage booked in the spa in Ambi but they were fully booked. So, we left there and went to get Dylan some lunch and then asked him if he wanted to go in the play area, but he didn’t – he wanted to go into Early Learning Centre! So, Pen took him into ELC and I went and sat somewhere quiet to feed Abigail. Afterwards we went down to the basement to Big Bazaar to do our weekly shop. We didn’t actually need that much as myself and the children were leaving on Monday morning to come to Doha so we only needed a few bits to tide us over the weekend and then obviously, things for Penri.
We would have had a fairly cheap shop compared to our usual weekly shop except that Pen decided to buy DJ this HUGE bear! When I say HUGE I mean three times the size of Dylan! Dylan can actually sit on the bear’s knee. Will find a photo – hang on …
Wednesday 6th October 2010
The bear was reduced because it was a bit dirty but it was still expensive. I asked the guy who worked there if he could give us more discount than they were offering and we managed to negotiate a price. I basically told him if he gave me 50% off, we would buy it, which he agreed to. When we got to the till Pen said he would have asked for more discount and I told him he should have. I know he actually wouldn’t have as I am always more outspoken when it comes to things like that. Anyway, we got the bear and our bits and pieces and headed back to the car.
As we were driving home, Abi fell asleep in the car. I wanted to let her sleep as long as possible because I knew she was exhausted. I suggested to Penri that we go to Ansal Plaza, which is another mall that we haven’t been to before. I know they have a massage place in there because that’s where my friend Alex goes to get her massages. I had the number saved in my phone so I called them and we found out that they could fit Penri in, so we headed there instead. I was going to stay in the car with the children but as DJ was falling asleep, I decided to go into the mall instead. Abi managed to stay asleep when I moved her into the pushchair and DJ fell asleep in the pushchair straight away. So, while Pen went for his massage, I had two babies asleep in the pushchair and I was able to look around the shops without any interruptions or stress. It felt really strange not to be rushing around grabbing things quickly before one of them needed me!! While I was in the supermarket, a lady came up to the pushchair and bent down and pinched DJ’s cheek. I looked at her completely gobsmacked! I said to her ‘Please don’t touch him – he is sleeping!’ – I mean really! How stupid is she?!! If you saw a toddler or baby sleeping, would you touch him/her let alone pinch their cheek?! Anyway, DJ didn’t wake up and I kept on shopping.
I went in this really cute children’s shop that had 50% discount on everything and I bought DJ a cute little vest top and Abi a t-shirt. The two together cost Rs. 300 which is like 4 pounds! After that DJ woke up so I took him downstairs where they had a fish tank and ride on cars. He went on two remote control cars, at this point Abi had also woken up and was watching with fascination! Then we just passed time until Penri finished at the spa. By the time he came out, he had been there for two hours and I’ve no idea how I kept the children amused that long without one of them crying!
We left there and went home where I started washing clothes and getting things ready for the suitcase. Pen went for a lie down and the children played in the play room. It was a very chilled afternoon/early evening for the children and they both went to bed about 7.30.
On Sunday (26th), I was up really early with Abi. I decided to make the most of the early start and get my cases packed. DJ must have sensed that I needed quiet time because before I had even opened one suitcase, he was awake and bouncing around lol. So, I laid the two cases on the living room floor and put cartoons on. Then I brought everything we were bringing into the lounge and laid it all out on the floor. The children played and watched cartoons while I tried to pack. Abigail was into EVERYTHING! I would put something into the suitcase and she would take it out, then DJ joined in too. It was taking so long and although I knew I had all day, I just wanted to get it done.
At 10.30, after trying to pack for two hours and not really achieving much, I decided to wait until Abi went for her nap and then it should be easy. I called Sam, who was supposed to come over on Friday to see how she was getting on. As Penri was still asleep and I knew he would be asleep for a while, I invited her to bring her little girl, Elle over for a play date. As soon as I hung up from her, I put Abigail down for a nap and then got myself and DJ showered and dressed ready for them coming over.
We spent a few hours with Sam and Elle and Dylan had lots of fun! It was really lovely! After they left, I woke up Penri and we headed out to City Centre Mall to Archie’s as I still needed to change my watch and needed to do it before we left. Before going to City Centre, we went to Penri’s office as I needed to print our air tickets and boarding passes.
Archie’s were fine about changing the watch although you should have seen me trying to explain the problem to the man behind the counter. The watch was actually working, in that, it was moving but every hour, it loses 10 minutes. Well, I couldn’t make him understand that. My final explanation which got him to change it was ‘It’s now 3 p.m on the watch, but in one hour it will be 10 to 4’. He looked at me like I was stupid. Anyway, the long and short of it is, he agreed to change it. Instead of getting another watch, we exchanged it for a really cool night light for Dylan. It’s an orange Volkswagen Van light. The whole thing lights up and it’s really nice.
We headed home after that and I finished packing and then played with the kids until dinner and bed. We put them to bed at 7 knowing that we would have to wake them both at 2 a.m. Unfortunately, Abigail found it hard to settle and woke up about 3 times between 7 and 2.
When it was time to wake them, I let Pen wake up DJ and we got him dressed and then I lifted Abigail out of her cot and put her straight in the pushchair. I was going to try and keep her asleep, but that didn’t happen because as we walked out of the front door, she started screaming. When I picked her up, I realized she’d just done a dirty nappy so I ran back inside to change her.
We headed to the airport and off we went!
We were the last passengers on the plane because as soon as we walked on, there was an announcement over the tannoy saying that now all passengers were on board, we would be taking off. Oops!
The journey was actually very pleasant. My dad paid for us to fly business class so not only did we have use of the business class lounge at the airport but when we got on the plane, the seats were huge and converted into beds!! I wish I’d had my camera to get a picture of Dylan’s face when I put the bed out. He was absolutely fascinated and had the biggest smile on his face! Both children slept on the flight. Abi slept in the bassinet for all of five minutes then spent the rest of her sleeping time on my lap! I took a couple of photos of them on the plane and in the business class lounge:
The flight was really good in that, before I knew it we were here. It was only 3 hours 50 minutes but we actually landed 15 minutes early. We arrived in Doha on Monday (27th) morning at 6.15 and my mum was there to pick us up. My mum had also arranged for a service here called Al-Maha, who meet you straight off the plane and take you to a lounge and then they do all your paperwork and get your cases and everything. So, literally all you do is get off the plane and sit in a lounge and have tea, coffee and there were fruit and nuts and wait while they take care of everything. They took our passports and got our visas and then came to get us to take us out to my mum. Our cases and pushchair were there waiting for us. It’s amazing! Queuing up for ages is hard enough, but when you have two little ones, it is really hard! So, it was wonderful not to have that stress!!
My mum brought us to my parents’ house and you should have seen Dylan’s face when he walked in the front door. My mum and sister had set up a play area for Dylan and Abigail with two little tents, a play mat, cars, toys, a garage, books – it was amazing! Dylan ran straight over and started playing and I went and had a cup of tea with my mum and Mel. Here are a couple of pictures of the playroom (and our bedroom) before Dylan messed them up lol:
In our bedroom, my mum had bought DJ a blue racing car bed, which he was also amazed with. He kept saying ‘my bed, my blue car bed!’ and there was a travel cot for Abi too. It was really lovely! My mum had to go to work, so we spent the morning with Mel. In the afternoon, my dad came home and picked us up and took us to the HUGE Toys R Us shop. We were looking for a ride on car for Dylan. They didn’t have what we wanted but my dad bought Abigail a little pushchair toy and a transporter for Dylan with some little cars inside. We left Toys R Us and headed to one of the shopping malls ‘Villagio’. We went into Hallmark which is only a small shop, but they have the swing cars (like the ride on car DJ has in India). They had a yellow one on the shop floor that DJ didn’t think twice about getting on and riding straight out of the shop and into the mall. My dad went running after him. He couldn’t quite believe how fast DJ was! LOL! My dad bought him a yellow swing car and Abigail (and Dylan) a giraffe that walks and makes a noise and lowers his head. We left Villagio and came home. Abigail had a nap and DJ played with his new toys.
On Monday night (27th) – our first night in Doha – DJ slept for 13 hours straight! He didn’t even wake up for a drink. Abigail slept well too. It must have been the journey – it really took it out of them even though it wasn’t long. It was probably from being interrupted from their sleep on Sunday night.
On Tuesday, we went out to Mega Mart, which is a huge supermarket. It was so nice to see all the familiar things again – salt and vinegar crisps, parsnips, and every chocolate bar you can imagine, baby food – you name it, they have it! So unlike the supermarkets in India! So, we did a bit of shopping and then we took the children into the small toy shop that is in the same building. Dylan made me laugh so much … he was in the main part of the trolley (and Abigail was in the seat) and as we went past a Hello Kitty shelf, he lent out and grabbed a pink and cream handbag. He put it on his arm and said ‘My bag mummy, I go shopping!’ it was too funny! After Mega Mart, we went up to Villagio (mall) and Mel took Dylan in the HUGE kids play area they have there. They had a great time – well DJ definitely did. I could hear him giggling constantly!! We called into a couple of shops and then we headed home so Abigail could have her nap. Dylan ended up having a sleep too. In the evening, my mum took us to pick up an electric car she had bought for Dylan. He was too tired when we got there to appreciate it but as soon as we got it home, he couldn’t wait to ride on it.
On Wednesday my sister and I and the children went out shopping. We went to City Centre Mall to go to Mothercare, only to find out that Mothercare closed down on Monday. We did some other shopping while we were there. It is such a huge mall though and took forever to walk from one end to the other. We didn’t get back home until 6.30 p.m so it was dinner and bed for the kids. My mum was out working until late last night so Mel and I waited till she came home and then had a cup of tea and then we all said we were going to bed. I came upstairs to ask my mum something and while we were talking, I asked her what was in this plastic box that was in her bedroom; she replied it was old photos from when we were kids. I started looking at them and Mel came in and looked too and then we sat there looking at photos, reminiscing and laughing at the crazy things my mum used to dress us (and herself) in! The funniest part of the photos were my mum and her sisters’ hairstyles (sorry Aunty Viv and Aunty Ann) but some of them were crazy!! We finally went to bed at about 11 p.m!
Thursday was a really relaxing day – apart from being woken at 5 a.m. DJ made a really loud noise in his sleep, which woke up Abi, who woke up me and then DJ got up. I couldn’t get either of them back to sleep so we ended up getting up out of bed and I took the children into the play room. Mel came downstairs at 6, but she wasn’t feeling well so she went back to bed.
At 11 ish Mel came downstairs again and then my mum popped home for lunch. I made DJ’s lunch at the same time and then we took my mum back to work so I could have her car. We were supposed to be going to the beach with my dad, but didn’t end up going … let me explain …
Here is the definition of love …
I didn’t want to go to the beach, but I know it’s my dad’s thing and he had offered to take the children and I for an hour today so they could have a swim. I thought it would be a nice opportunity for my dad to spend time with the kids so I said yes, even though I didn’t really feel like it. I don’t like going to the beach as I hate the sand (it gets everywhere), it’s so hot as there’s not much shade and the sea leaves you feeling really salty so it’s not something I choose to do. As it turned out, my dad had a lot to do and he wasn’t feeling up to it. He had mentioned to Mel he wasn’t feeling well but he was going to take us to the beach anyway as he had promised me and didn’t want to let me down.
I saw Mel in the kitchen and mentioned to her that I really didn’t want to go; she then relayed to me what my dad had said – so it turned out neither of us wanted to go but we were both still going to go because we thought the other person did want to go. How funny! I’m just glad I spoke to Mel as it meant we didn’t go to the beach. Both children ended up having a really long nap at lunch time – they slept from 12 until 3! I had to go and wake DJ up as I was worried he wouldn’t sleep that night.
In the late afternoon, I put up a paddling pool for the children next to the back door. My dad, sister and I sat outside with them while they had some fun splashing in the water. At about 5.30, my dad's friend Dave came over and DJ wanted to go upstairs and play cars in 'Gaddad's room' (my dad's television room upstairs), so he went upstairs with my dad and I played with Abi downstairs. At 6.30 I made them dinner and then got them ready for bed. My sister took some photos of them in the pool, this is the best one: .....
On Friday my dad went off early to go birding with his friends and my mum and I (and the children of course) went shopping! We went to a few malls and
We had another day shopping yesterday (Saturday). We left home at 10.30 and called at the tailors. I brought several items of clothes with me that either needed shortening or needed new buttons. My mum said to me that she would sew all the buttons on but I asked her why bother when it costs like a pound to get a button put on; plus, I didn’t have most of the buttons so it would cost that much to go and buy buttons and then sew them on ourselves.
After the tailors we went to the supermarket and then to a couple of malls. My mum spoilt the children buying Abi a little doll that laughs (Abigail loves it) and she bought DJ a new puzzle and a set of 18 little cars (which is his absolute favourite thing to play with). We also found in Toys R Us, a really cool material seat thing that you put in a shopping trolley before you sit the baby in. It makes it more comfortable and the baby has toys and things to play with. When you’re not using it in the trolley, you can lay it down and it’s like an activity mat. It’s really cool! We also bought lots of other bits including a bag full of books as we visited a book fair here. We came home laden with shopping bags and all exhausted. We had dinner and both children were asleep by 7!
I have a couple of photos of Dylan and Abigail in one of the shopping malls. We arrived at Landmard before the shops had opened so we walked down to the food area and Dylan had loads of fun running up and down the ramps. There are two HUGE elephant statues and Dylan was fascinated by them but it didn't take him long to notice an unattended counter with helium filled balloons just behind the elephants. He ran under the open counter and grabbed one of the balloons; my mum had to chase him in there and tell him he wasn't allowed in there. Anyway, he had a great time and spent a lot of time chasing, and being chased by, the other children who were there. Here are some photos:
After the children went to sleep my sister and I went on the internet and did some shopping on Amazon which was fun! ☺ We ordered a couple of DVDs and books that should arrive in the next couple of weeks. I was so tired by the time I went to bed at 10.30!
On Sunday 3rd October (I cannot believe it is October already!) we went to a place called Garvey’s, which is a European family club, which has a restaurant and swimming pool. We decided to take the children swimming. DJ couldn’t wait to get into the pool, but he was so good and stood there while I put LOADS of factor 50+ suncream on him and dressed him up in a swim nappy, full bathing suit, armbands, sunhat – the works … I took a couple of photos before he went in ….
Mel took DJ in the water, while I put cream on Abigail and got her ready to swim. We got in the pool for less than 5 minutes before Abi started crying to get out. I think she must’ve got sun cream in her eyes as she was really upset and crying and rubbing her eyes. I took her in the shower while Mel stayed with DJ in the pool. After getting myself and Abi dressed, we went back to find Mel and DJ who had got out of the pool and were now in the restaurant. There was no-one else in the restaurant and DJ was playing cars with Chris (one of the owners). There’s a ramp down into the restaurant and they were pushing the tiny cars up and down the ramp. Dylan was having a great time.
We had some lunch, which was really delicious and I fed Abi, who then went for a sleep. After eating Dylan and Chris were running around playing hide and seek and DJ couldn’t stop laughing. Chris was hiding behind a curtain and DJ kept ‘finding’ him. It was so funny because DJ couldn’t say ‘Chris’ – he kept calling him ‘Piss’ so he kept saying ‘Piss … curtain!’ Mel and I were laughing so much. Once Abi woke up from her nap, we headed home. We had such a lovely time (even though we didn’t swim much!) but we all came back absolutely exhausted!
I had bought DJ a swing and some small toys from Abi from a woman who was leaving Doha. The swing is an indoor swing but still probably too big to fit in Mel's car, so my dad went to pick up the items for me. He brought them all home and it was like Christmas not only for him and Abi but for me too. As it turned out when my dad got there to pick up the items, the woman told him she had other things for sale too and managed to convince him to buy a huge bag of puzzles and some musical toys and a few other bits. The swing is really cool - both the children love it. Here are some photos:
On Monday we hadn’t planned to go anywhere although we were supposed to see a friend in the afternoon. As it turned out, we had got our wires crossed and didn’t end up seeing the friend because she thought we said morning and we thought she said afternoon! All a big mix up. We ended up going out in the morning anyway - we popped out to run some errands. Afterwards we took DJ to McDonalds play area. Abigail needed feeding so Mel took him in and then I joined her afterwards. Dylan has started to recognize the yellow ‘M’ for McDonalds and now whenever he sees it he says ‘yellow M, McDonalds, chips, nuggets, pop!’ – it’s so funny!! After McDs we came home and chilled out for the rest of the evening. Mel’s best friend Kat came over in the evening and got to meet DJ and Abi.
When it was bedtime, Kat helped me with bath-time and then she read a story to Dylan while I took Abi to put her to bed. What I have been doing at bedtime is - after their bath, read a story to DJ, then tuck him in bed and I then take Abigail into the living room to feed her and put her to sleep. Once they are both asleep, I wheel her travel cot back into the bedroom. They don’t seem to disturb each other through the night but to get them to sleep and first thing in the morning, just wouldn’t be possible if they were in the same room. Anyway, after feeding Abigail I came out of the living room expecting to see DJ still awake but Kat had got him to sleep! I was really shocked as she is a stranger to him yet he felt comfortable enough with her for her to read to him and then for him to fall asleep. She obviously has the knack! ☺
On Tuesday – I cannot believe I have nearly caught up with my blog – my sister and I stayed home with the children in the morning. First thing, I did some painting with Dylan. He painted a couple of items of ceramics and he loved it! While he was doing that Abigail watched a bit of television next to us so we didn’t paint for long but 20 minutes (or whatever it was) was long enough! At 3.30 p.m Mel had made an appointment for me to have an aromatherapy massage. We left home at 3.25 (the Thai Massage place is about 3 minutes drive from my parents’ house), and Mel looked after DJ and Abi in the entrance lounge while I had a massage. I have never felt pain like it – she cracked my back, my shoulders, my arms and fingers! She asked me how much I carry the baby as she said there is a lot of problem in my right shoulder and back! I do carry Abigail far too much! Anyway, the massage was nice, but also painful! She warned me that I would be in a lot of pain the next day … charming! ☺ She also kept apologizing but it was worth the pain! It felt really nice afterwards.
While I remember – I weighed both the children yesterday and DJ is 14 kgs and Abi is 10! My mum couldn’t believe that Abigail is nearly as heavy as Dylan lol!
I was so worried how the children would behave while I was having my massage, not because I didn’t think Mel could cope but because I was worried about other people who were there for treatments. As it turned out, Mel said both children were really well behaved and Dylan was so good that she had promised to buy him cars and trains. So, after the massage, we went to Toys R Us, which is just across the road from the massage place. Mel bought Dylan a new train and a pack of new cars. I bought some stickers for Dylan and two new tommee tippee cups. On the way home we picked up some chips for Dylan from McDonalds drive through. When we started to head home
On Wednesday (yesterday), I went out in the morning with my mum. She had a meeting in Landmark Shopping Mall, so she picked us up on the way. When we got there I went off and did some shopping and she went off to meet her clients. I find Doha has changed so much over the last few years. The shops are amazing and you can get pretty much everything here but, and it’s a big ‘but’ – things seem to be so expensive here! I don’t know if it is because we’ve been living in India where things are much cheaper so things seem more expensive here. I suppose it’s also because I’m on holiday; I’m buying things I wouldn’t normally buy. After Landmark, we called at Al Khaimer (the Tent) restaurant and picked up mezza for lunch. My mum dropped us back at home and then she went back to work. The afternoon passed by pretty quickly. DJ had lots of fun playing with his cars and Abigail had a nice nap. At 7 p.m both children had a bath and went to bed.
So that’s it. I have finally caught up with what we have been up to the last two weeks!! There are a few other things I want to write about quickly before I finish this very long post!
Dylan is doing so well with potty training. He is now fully potty trained. He doesn’t wear nappies at all any more. He has now had 5 nights straight with no nappies in bed and no wet bed! He goes through the night wearing his pants and every morning when he wakes up with a dry bed, I praise him so much and he responds by saying ‘No pee pees in the bed, pee pees in the potty!’ with a big grin on his face. Such a clever little boy! I am so proud of him!!
The other expression Dylan has started to say is ‘when the sun comes up’ and then he says what he wants. So, for example, the other day when he was talking to Penri on Skype he said ‘When the sun comes up, I go Aunty Mel’s car, I go shops and buy trains and cars’ … as I said – he knows what he wants lol. It’s also really good as he understands exactly what it means so when I put him to bed at night I can tell him ‘when the sun comes up we are going to go swimming and to the play area’ which is what I told him last night (as that is our plan for today).
Dylan is having such a lovely time with his grandparents and Aunt. He always continues to amaze me with the things he says and does and he is so wonderful; I feel so absolutely blessed ☺
Abigail, my other little blessing, is doing really well too. She is trying now to get herself into a standing position all the time. It’s good to see her getting so much stronger on her legs. She has also completely mastered the art of crawling and getting herself into a sitting position and then getting back ready to crawl. She is crawling really well now and she is so much more communicative with Dylan. They absolutely adore each other and it’s so beautiful to see! We still have our moments of jealousy from DJ but overall, he is really good with her. Abigail is now getting into EVERYTHING and she always wants what she is not supposed to have. I asked my mum the other day – how is it that babies know what they are not supposed to have?! Anyway, I now have to watch her like a hawk as she is so fast and so clever, she’s just like DJ was as a baby! ☺
I play a game with DJ where I pretend to sleep (by snoring) and he says ‘WAKE UP MUMMY!’ – it’s so funny because now when I do it, as soon as I start snoring Abigail makes a loud shouting noise too. When I pretend to wake up with a shock (because of her noise) she just giggles and giggles. It’s so cute!!
So, that’s about it from me now. I am so happy to have caught up with all my blog. I apologise again for being so rubbish at getting online and keeping up to date. I also apologise for any spelling or grammatical errors – I’ve been trying to hard to get this typed and I have had to start and stop so many times, so I’ve no idea how it reads. It’s been so busy here and I don’t always have access to a computer or the internet. I will be much better from now on! Thanks for reading ☺ Bye for now x
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