I feel better and better about our decision to leave. R flew with a union rep yesterday and asked if it´s true what he had heard that they are only going to keep 92 pilots even if they keep 10 planes. The answer he got was that 92 was wishful thinking, right now it appears that they dont intend on keeping more pilots even if they keep more planes. Who will fly the planes then? I suspect that they never had any plans for more than 8 planes, they are just trying to delay the inevitable. Probably they have someone they want to sell to and they are just preparing for it. Im so happy to get out of this mess!

Last sunday Emirates called and offered R a job. We have since then tried our best to straighten things out, especially when it comes to schools and health insurance. Since I have a "pre-existing condition there is no insurance to cover it for the first two years and medicin, bloodtests and doctors visits are really expensive in Dubai so it was extra important to see if it would be worth it money wise. In Dubai they have weekend Friday/Saturday so we decided yesterday that we would sleep on it and make sure that by Sunday morning his recruiter would have our reply. After having calculated a bit we can see that we wont be saving lots of money for the first two years because of my disease but we will make ends meet so we cant refuse this offer. Today we also had a maltese pilot and his wife over for lunch that moved to Dubai a year and a half ago. The husband has been a really good support to R before and during his selection process and the wife has answered a million questions I have had since we got the call and after their visit everything feels much better. Eventhough the kids still dont have a spot in a school I still look forward to leaving. I think we will be happy there. The house looks great, I look forward furnishing it and to get away from Malta. Now we have 3 months to pack up and then we are off :D 

Yesterday my mum went back home after her 10 day visit. We have had a great time even though Malta didnt really treat us to the bes weather. I actually think they had more sun i Sweden. When we waved her off at the airport the kids cried lots, its always sad to see. My granny always lived far away and I know exactly how they feel cause I can remember how it felt when she left or we left from them.

R passed! Out of the 15 they are now down to 4. Very surprising that they are so few, they were expected to be 6. What happiness when they called. We cant really understand yet. They were told that if they pass today and get the go ahead from the medical all it takes is 2 out of 3 positive references and they are in. Only thing that can stop them is if they Vice president of Emirates say stop and that would only happen if there is a "gentlemen agreement" between the companies not to employ their staff. Now we just have to wait for confirmed results and hopefully an offer but what a relief. Many thoughts are running through my head but I have to get back to that, have to get to bed...Am hoping to get a couple of hours good sleep in my bed tonight.

I dont understand some people. Just "talked" to a collegue of R on MSN, I know her pretty well since they studied together in Spain. She told me that they are going to school for Open day since they are thinking of sending their son there. It hits me that its rather brave, or stupid (?) considering their jobsituation. I dont think we would have chosen private school if live was looking as unstable as it is right now. Of course we are not going to get out of it before we know what will happen but to make an active choice right now? :O

J slept in the pushchair last night and I thought I would get at least a couple of hours sleep in bed before she woke up but no, just as the evenng before I had time to read for 15 minutes and at 21 she woke up. Nothing to do but to get back to the sofa :(

...and that means we have to miss out on open day at school. Feeling really bad about it since A was looking forward to showing off his work :( Have to look at them when dropping him off or picking him up another day I guess but since J is not well I dont think its right to go. I reason it out like I normally do, put myself in another parents position, would I appreciate it if another parent brought a kid that was feeling like J to school or a function or whatever when my kids were well? If the answer is no I stay home. Dont know what we are going to do though but a bath is planned (the solar heater will come too close to boiling point and auto release water if we dont use some) and probably play some games. Between 13.30 and 14.30 our time R has to be in his hotelroom to wait for a phonecall to see if he passes to the last part of the selection process so I will be hanging around the computer with him then.

Tomorrow its time for another elimination and I really dont know what I want from it. If he doesnt get a job offer we wouldnt have to take a decision at all, one that we might regret in a couple of years but on the other hand I got quite excited at the prospect of getting out of here too....Guess all I can do is wait and see, Im sure we will be fine in the end. :)

I put J to bed in the pushchair from the start tonight, she still coughs a lot and I felt it was useless to try in bed. When I said goodnight and left them I heard A speaking for a long time so I tip toed throught the corridor to hear what was going on. I hear him talking about letters and when I peep into the bedroom I see how he pulled the pushchair near him in bed and probably he is using books showing her what the letters are and describing how to write them ("sleeping soldier", "straight soldier", "big belly" "slide", "bridge in the middle" etc. How it warmed my heart! <3

J is still not well, when I went to bed last night I heard her cough and that she was about to vomit again and I didnt want to risk it so we "slept" on the sofa. Our sofa is brilliant for sleeping on so that was not the problem but J kept twisting and turning, coughing and wanting water (at one point also food!), it was either too hot or too cold so I didnt slep lots. At one point I also went down to the garage to find her a pushchair so she could sleep more upright. It was not possible to have her on her own on the sofa, as soon as I let her go she went flat on her back and started couging that second. By morning she didnt have any fever though it came back after lunch but I hope it has turned and at least slowly getting better. How do single parents do it really? Im exhausted and the house looks like a warzone!

...how are you supposed to know what is the best? What choice will be the best for us as a family?

A collegue of R sent him a line and said "dont make up your mind yet, we talk more when you are back". This can only mean that he heard something new. I have said Im not going to listen to all the things ppl say, that I will listen to my gut feeling and I still dont feel that there is a future for the company but its not an easy decision to pick up and leave your home. We dont know yet if R will be offered a job in Dubai but the question is if its enough with a teny tiny chance for a future here to take the risk and stay? After all we are happy here....

Almost 10 minutes "late" they finally called. I had R on camera and got thumbs up. Wow what a relief. Im so proud of him and hope the rest will go even better!

Right now my tummy is aching with worry. In about 40 minutes R will get to know if he passed to the second day. He feels he did well in the simulator  but they had a "compass test" that included questions about everything and anything and there he felt like he had to chance a little bit too much so he says he is sure they will have a negative answer for him. He feels a bit dissapointed with the advice that he got from someone from before, they said that there was no need to worry about the ATPL stuff (basics to get a licence to fly a plane)  but R felt he could have prepared some more on that stuff.

The things is that his job here seems safe for now, at least for another year or two so its not the end of the world if he doesnt get a job either. US as a family will get by anyway but it will be a big blow for his self esteem if he gets passed over again. And how do you deal with work then? It appears everyone knows that he was going for the interview....

30 min to go.....

Its a really good thing that R was home on friday night. J woke up crying and he thought she was going to vomit so i went after them into the bathroom. That´s when I realise that what is happening is that she cant breathe :O Gaaahhhh. Managed to calm her down a bit but I told R that if there is a time to go to a doctor its when they cant breathe and while R got dressed to take her she fell asleep in my arms. Strange sounds where coming from her throat and I had a feeling it would be croup. None of the kids have had it though so I couldnt be sure and we agreed it was better to have her diagnosed so R took her to hospital. I was really tired and fell asleep but it turned out I was right, croup. She got to breathe in a mask (R doesnt know what she was breathing, if it was just oxygen or something else)  and also a steroid suppository and she slept all night when they came home. The doctor said to give her steroids for another 2 night but I could give up to 5 nights in a row if needed. Last night was ok, I heard her cough that bad croup cough a couple of times but only one cough at a time so I let her be, I knew she would wake me up if she got worse. She also has fever now that didnt want to remain down only on paracetamol so Im not alternating Calpol with Neurofen. She came up for no 2 after I put them to bed and I saw some of the suppository came out but I hope she will sleep well anyway. No school tomorrow though....

After a quick turnaround in Malta (just about 24 hrs) R left for Dubai yesterday. Today he has prepared himself, filled in papers and also met another maltese guy who works with Emirates. Tomorrow is the first of (hopefully) 4 in the selection process. Im really nervous on his behalf as even though I have tried to keep a low profile on this he knows this is where we want to go. On the other hand it appears that his job here is safe (for now) we dont feel safe staying and Dubai seems to be the best place for us. I will keep all fingers crossed for tomorrow.

A still has fever. He stayed in yesterday and will do so today too. Fever is staying over 40 degress and paracetamol doesnt appear to make any difference. Tried giving him a suppository so see if it had better effect than Calpol but no. The mother in law things we should take him to the polyclinic to see a doctor and I dont think there is a need, I know they will tell us its in his throat and probably suggest antibiotics. Looked around a bit on the net and it seems that in Sweden they suggest to see a doctor if the fever stays for 3 (some places even say 4-5) days but it also said to see a doctor if fever is above 40.5 and he had 40.6 this morning so Im not 100% sure what to do. He is not really affected, drinks well and ate a whole bun this morning so I think we will wait one more day and see how he wakes up tomorrow.

Yesterday was a public holiday that started at the playgound, then we bbqed on the roof with all that comes with it (jumping on the trampoline and scootering) before R took the kids to his parents while I did some exercise on the crosstrainer. Lovely day!

My poor little boy...Last night A woke up with a fever of 39.8 degrees and it was 40.1 this morning. He doesnt appear to be ill other than that though, no runny nose, cough or pains. Paracetamol didnt help so by lunch we gave him Voltaren. During the afternoon he felt a bit better  but when it was dinner time he was shivering and feeling cold and was so tired he wanted to sleep on the spot in the sofa. Gave him another voltaren and quickly to bed and he slept straight away. Hear him cough throughout the evening and a couple of minutes ago he woke up crying so now he is sleeping near me on the sofa. My little sweetie <3 I hope he feels better tomorrow.