Antici-Leighton

A note from Jon...

Here we are on what Hillary has called, “D Day.”  It isn’t necessarily what we expected after we slept in (till 8am) and took the dogs for a little drive to get some breakfast without an ounce of craziness or contractions in sight.  I always figured that the day of my baby’s expected birth would start at 3am and cause me to run around with one pant leg on, put my shirt on backwards and frantically search to get everything we packed in to the car to rush to the hospital.  Thanks Hollywood!  Instead we are sitting as calmly as can be, sipping our morning coffee and watching the coverage of the Royal Wedding.  In the spirit of the British, so far it has been a crackin’ day.  (that means good)

So this week has been full of anticipation for both of us and has caused, at times, a bit of impatience.  We (Hillary mostly) have tried to stay active and have been walking the malls, going to dinner and getting out to see movies (last movies of our lives apparently).  There are only so many times you can walk by the Louis Vuitton store in an hour before your ADD kicks in and pushes you to do something else, so any time this little lady decides to grace us with her presence is ok with us. 

Here is Hillary looking beautiful before we head out for our last Supper. 
Officially 40 weeks.

We were a little bored last night, so I decided to get my gear ready ahead of time and practice for the big day.  I’m not sure why this isn’t a standard in the delivery room, but every guy needs a helmet cam to capture the memories, right?  And just a little help for Leighton to know where she comes from, there is no better way than to have the red, white and blue on a trucker’s hat as her first vision of the world. 

Hopefully we won’t have to wait too much longer and we can welcome a beautiful little girl to the world this weekend.  We will keep everyone posted via email, Skype, blogs, Facebook, MySpace (for our friends who are DJ’s that still live in 2005) and any other way we can think of. 

Countdown – 0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds……..!!!!!

Dogs - Leashes = Pure Happiness

We haven’t found any dog parks here in Dubai, which makes sense because dogs are not really appreciated in this area of the world.  Islam considers dogs “dirty” and other locals don’t know why you would waste time caring for an animal… it’s an animal!  Well, Walter and Charlie are not just animals, they are our practice kids, aka our little boys in dog clothes and they love to run and socialize!  Our Boys are amazing dogs, but they are getting a little depressed because we haven’t been able to let them off their leashes since we have been here.   But I think I have found a solution…

 I recently talked with a woman that started a dog shelter here in Dubai… she and her shelter, K9 Friends, have quite a feat on their hands due to a lack of animal education.  Sheik Mohammad recently built them a permanent shelter in Dubai to help the City with the over population and abandoned dog problem.  Any who, I asked for her advice on where to run our little guys and she told me about a road to nowhere in the desert just a few miles away from our house… YEA!  We have taken Walter and Charlie there a few times now and they are in LOVE… it is technically illegal, but the only people we see are workers headed out to jobs and the occasional taxi driver stopping to relieve themselves….seriously, that happened this morning.    

Doggies ready for their adventures!

The desert road to nowhere

Charlie doing what he does best… waiting for his ball to be thrown.  Yes, I am wearing a classy outfit I know… there is only one type of snake in the UAE but I am utterly petrified of snakes so I always wear the appropriate shoes.   And I look really pregnant but I only have 6 days left so I guess it is okay.

Walter and Charlie getting their run on!

Walter scoping out the joint

Charlie waiting for this ball to be thrown again.

Charlie diving to retrieve his ball…

Please notice the aftermath of Charlie diving on this ball… sand up the nose, in the eyes, mouth and ears… but he doesn’t seem to mind.

Walter soaking in the sun…

he is so happy, he is smiling and can’t keep his eyes open!

And he is off again to explore.

Getting ready to head back home.

We always make sure to have water… it was 8 in the morning and already 95 degrees out… and it is only April… GOOD TIMES!

Happy happy puppies enjoying the shade and the wind!

Walter loves the pool but Charlie needs a little coaxing… well, Charlie got in and couldn’t figure out how to get out from the “big” step… Walter is doing his best to help, but I had to come to the rescue.  Please notice that he was so concerned about getting out he left his ball in the pool.

Crisis averted... thanks for your help jon!

Until Later...

Casa De Cumby

So here are the long awaited shots of the Casa De Cumby in Dubai.  Our house is like a townhouse, quaint (meaning tiny) and as of today there are no more problems with it… KNOCK ON WOOD PLEASE! Our upstairs AC was still tripping the breaker so we had a new company out today to fix it and everything should be okay…. I hope!!!

We live in a community called Arabian Ranches out in the suburbs of Dubai.  Jon and I are not the “burbs” type of people… been there and done that in San Antonio and most likely won’t do it in the States for long time… but it is perfect for us over here.  We liked living near downtown Houston and loved being close to amazing restaurants, museums, bars, shopping, parks and friends that are anti-burbs like us.  Although, the Houston Heights still gives you the feel of the suburbs as their motto says, “A hometown near downtown!” Anyways, Arabian Ranches contains around nine or so different mini communities along with a small grocery store, nail salon, restaurants, dry cleaners, liquor store (but you have to enter through a back alley, haha) and much more.  There are a variety of house sizes in our community ranging from HUGE houses with nice yards near the golf course all the way to our little munchkin house in the back of the community.  Our Neighborhood, Al Reem 2, is setup like a conjoined townhouse community with carports in the front of every house.  If you ever watched the House Hunters International on Dubai, our community was similar to the second house they looked at on the show. We have a downstairs living area with a half bath and a study and then the bedrooms and full bathrooms are all upstairs.  We do not have a maid’s quarter which is shocking to everyone that lives here because 99% of all homes have maids living areas.  After living in this house for a few months, Jon and I have both agreed that this is not the right house for us but we have moved in and are somewhat settled so we are going to make the best of it and make this house our home for the next few years!

The front of our house and my 4Runner that finally made it to Dubai a few weeks ago... Praise God!

 and no, we didnt install the basketball hoop but it makes us laugh everytime we pull in to the driveway.

Entry way with the Greeting Committee...

Family room… if you have ever been to my house you know I love wall colors!  I don’t think a room is ever complete with bare walls as it just feels naked to me… you have to at least have an accent wall somewhere in the mix.  When I was getting our Houston house ready to rent I realized that I needed 8 paint colors to touch up everything… whoops!  Well, living in a small house with all whitish walls is just killing me, but I am trying to disguise it as best I can… it is hard since all of our stuff has so many patterns… whatever, it is only temporary.

Family room

Dinning room, I mean the other half of the family room…

Dining Room

Kitchen….

Please notice the height of the counters... i think this kitchen was made for a 4 foot tall person!

Leighton's Highchair made it from the States courtesy of Hayden and Campbell

 It was originally my Dad's Highchair... this sucker is OLD! ;0)

“study” aka: art room/storage/ room to stick the dogs when our arab/muslim friends come over or when workers/maid are at the house…  don’t forget that people here hate or are miserably afraid of dogs!

Powder bath…

Dont use this bath if you are Closterphobic... it is tini tiny...

Guestroom…  I tried to change it up here in Dubai.  My bedroom colors have always been warm browns, paprika and tans or reds but I thought I would go for blues, gray and tan… well, I didn’t think about the fact that I had no artwork for the walls to match the new bedding.  So, that has been added to my never ending to do list.

Master bedroom….

Pack.n.play is ready, all we need is a little munchkin to sleep in it... hopefully sleep!

Master bath….

Backyard… this is a work in progress or should I say we haven’t even touched it yet.  I want to add large pots with climbing plants around the walls to add some color and life around the pool.  This is our next big project…

View from the Balcony

Leighton’s/guest bath… I know the first thing my sister is going to say, “you need to iron the shower curtain” I know Tracy but I think I will get mom to “help” me do that when she gets here.

I need to hang all the frames but i am waiting until i get little leighton pictures.

Leighton’s room…the big unveiling! 

Walter is very excited to meet his little sister!

 bedding was made by Leighton's Gigi.... THANKS MOM!

the little ladies dresses...

And lastly, yet another Prego picture of yours truly.  I officially have 9 days until the little lady's due date, but I am ready for her to make her debut!   Like I have said before, I feel oober lucky that I am still up and going to ladies lunches, bending over and tying my own shoes, and walking at night with jon and the boys.  BUT I am pretty sure that Leighton might stick her foot straight through my skin any day now so I am thinking it is about time.  From the feel of her little foot in my side, I am almost certain that she has pretty high arches like me and I feel like that is information I should not know until she is actually on the outside!!!  

Until later…

A butt(on) that won’t quit…

There are all types of belly buttons, not just innies and outies.  You have cute ones, wide ones, flat ones with over hangs, pierced ones, confused ones (like Jon,  half in and half out) or the great black hole like mine.  That’s right, nobody knows how deep my belly button is, because no one has ever seen the bottom of it.  For all we know there is a magical secret land of trolls that live inside of there… or maybe it leads to china… who knows...it is one of the world's great mysteries.  

Jon is a little forgetful and whenever he is looking for a “lost” item he walks over to me, lifts up my shirt and echoes into my belly button,  “Hello…. Hello… have… have … you.. you… seen … seen … my… my… keys.. keys?”  it has lost its humor over the years though!   

Well, I thought that maybe, just maybe this pregnancy would allow for the unknown to be revealed… the bottom of my belly button!  But alas, I am sad to say that the day I have waited for all my life will not happen.  Yes, I have finally seen the little tiny dot at the very center of the bottom… my button looks like the tied off end of a balloon… but to see my belly button stretch and flatten out, heck even poke out, well, it just isn’t going to happen folks.  Next time you are imbibing you can pour one out for me and my homie, Mr. Button!

I’ll save you from any pictures… you can just use your imagination on this one!

Until later….                 

It’s official, I’m Pregnant…

I know I know, this does not come as a surprise to most of you, but lord I am officially feeling pregnant!  I have 2 weeks and 4 days to go…  I must say that I feel completely blessed so far with this pregnancy.  Yes, I had some crazy morning sickness, but that passed.  Then in my second trimester I didn’t even feel prego… just chubby! Heck, even in my third trimester I have not felt really pregnant other than being tired and experiencing the alien inside of me trying to kung fu kick her way out… but it has seriously hit me now.  Sleeping is getting difficult, Leighton is growing out of her temporary digs, this peeing every ten minutes has got to stop AND, my feet hurt… which makes me feel sorry for overweight people!  I have put on a little over 25 pounds and my feet are always tired (but not swollen, thank goodness)… how do obese people carry around hundreds of extra pounds?  The idea makes my body and feet hurt just thinking about it.  Now I am just plain complaining because I have had such an easy pregnancy and I feel blessed to be up, out and about and active with so little time before the munchkins big appearance.  As my Pops would say… I am still kicking, just not as high… which is so true!

Charlie is very excited and will not leave my side...

But Walter on the other hand is not sure what to think about all of this!

 (he is hiding under the table)

Went to the Doctor today, everything is on track… don’t know how many centimeter dilated (they don’t do that over here) but everything is good and the monkey has even dropped a smidge. 

Well, Leighton’s bag and our bags are packed for the hospital… car seat is in the my car (yes, my car finally made it!!!!!), nursery is complete and this team is ready to add its newest member to the roster… but hopefully not before this weekend.  Jon and I are taking our prenatal birthing classes this weekend… I know, we are little late but this was the only time they offered them at the hospital… yikes!

House and nursery pictures are next… I promise!

Until later….