If he hadnt passed away, today would have been my grandfathers birthday. He is surely missed!

Just to answer the question I asked about who was going to be next with the gastric flu, it was both me and R. We spent a whole night feeling cr@p and then another 3 days feeling bloated and just not 100%. This is also the reason I havent posted since then. Now we are back though, and I have some more posts waiting to be written if you hang in there :)

Mirdif City Centre have a Lazy Town show three times/evening now during Dubai Shopping Festival and LT being one of the kids fav tv programs we couldnt miss it so today we went. Everything was very professional from start til en and the kids really enjoyed it. Thumbs up!

Wondering if we can be so lucky that only the kids are going to have been sick this round but I think probably not. Right now my tummy feels a bit unstable but im not sure if im bringing it on myself by thinking too much.

...at the end of the tunnel? After a whole night of A throwing up he seems to be better already! He has kept all he drank this morning and also a piece of bread that he ate. Dont want to get my hopes up but I can always keep my fingers crossed ;)

As I was enjoying some peace and quiet with my laptop on the bed I heard a big splash, ran towards J´s room but heard sobbing from A instead. He had thrown up ALL over the place. It took me 1½ hours to get him and his room clean! When J was home from school on tuesday he was complaining sooo much about having to go. The last words I heard from him on the way out to the our friends waiting in the car were "I wish I was an adult or sick so I could stay home too". He got what he wanted...No school for him tomorrow.

and here is A's bedroom.











The rooms are not 100% ready, desks and some other small stuff will be added, but that will happen later when the kids grow out of the "kids beds".

The kids bedrooms are basically ready, here is how J's looks like...

This evening when it was time to eat J complained about a tummy ache and didnt want to eat so she stayed resting on the sofa until I heard what sounded like a burb. Ran in and found her throwing up :( Poor thing.Good thing we got a sofa with washable covers though ;) Got her cleaned up and straight to bed and while the adults finished our meal A stayed on the bed with J reading to her. Such a sweet and loving brother <3

Today it´s the Chinese new year (year of the dragon) and our neighbours from Singapore are celebrating. The wife originates from Hong Kong and was dressed in traditional clothes, absolutely lovely! She came with two envelopes for the kids and when they opened there was money inside. Was totally surprised as expected a card and now dont know what WE are expected to do....

J´s nursery have had "animals" as their theme the last few weeks and today we were invited for an Animal party. They had animal inpired activities but the highlight must have been the animals that were brought in for the kids to see, and touch if they dared! It was funny to see that the older the children, the more scared they were. The really young ones didnt hesitate to touch the snakes while both A and J barely dared to touch it with one finger (and they both made sure to touch far away from the head!)

Today I really felt cold for the first time here in Dubai. We went to play in a park but it was so windy and chilly that we went home early, we just weren´t prepared for it to be so cold. Dont get me wrong, Im not complaining, its nice to get to feel cold every once in a while too :)

 

 

 

 

As you can see we really need adult length floorball sticks :D

 

Today we managed to convince the kids to take a siesta. We tempted them with dinner in a restaurant and the chance to be out in the dark and see all the lights. We found a steakhouse that gave us 25% discount with the pilot card, good kids menu and a play area where the kids could play while we waited for the food. Ages since I was so relaxed in a restaurant! We have been home for about half an hour, kids are in bed and im exhausted, will have to post pics tomorrow.

Today R and the kids assembled our bbq. We were going to cook dinner on it but almost ended up without food! :O The charcoal we bought didnt want to remain burning no matter how much firestrater R put on it. As a last resort I had to jump in the car and run to Spinneys for some better charcoal :) It was worth the hassle though, how I have missed bbqed food.

The other night when I went to bed I went to check on the kids and I started with J. Her bed was empty and I thought to myself "guess she has already come into our bed then". Went to check but no J to be found. Where could she be? I found her in her brother´s bed. This is how sweet they were.

Yesterday when we went for J´s ballet lesson her teacher got a good telling off from one of the mothers. I was feeling so bad on behalf of the teachers.

First of all she complained that they started late and Ms. C didnt stay over for the same amount of time that she started late. This was the mum´s second time at ballet and couldnt she give it a chance? She was right that the girls only have a 30 minute lesson but most of the time they get a 35 minute lesson. This once, Ms. C only stayed 2 minutes late when she started 7 minutes late. I would complain if it happened all the time but it doesnt, normally she gives the girls a longer lesson than we pay for.

Then, if I understood it correctly, she complained that last time (not sure about this time) when one of the girls had to go wee Ms. C had asked one of the mums waiting outside the classroom to take the girl. She was saying that its not fair for her to be responsible for someone else´s child. In part she was right again BUT you could have a little compassion and understanding? Did she want Ms. C to stop the class to take the girl to the toilet? No I dont think so, she wanted that the ballet school sends out an email to make sure that all mums stay outside the classroom. Is she serious? Outside the classroom there is nothing but a corridor and a few steps away in the school entrance there are armchairs where to sit down comfortably. If she wants to wait just outside its up to her, Ms. C knows that most mums are in the lounge area and she would come and get us if our child needed us. If the child needing to wee is fine with going with a mum she doesnt know is it so hard to go around the corner and help her? Are you kidding me? I would do it without thinking twice about it.

Unfortunately I dont know what Ms. C told this mum because I was by then finished chaning J into normal shoes so I had to leave but I look forward to seeing if the school will send out this email forcing us to stay in the corridor....

Will I ever get rid of this headache? At least its not the same sinus headache but it really hurt! I think its my carb detox that is behind it, the first few days without carbs are soooo tough. Hopefully it will be better soon. Keep fingers crossed for me please!

Today we finally bought a bbq, we have been waiting for this! Unfortunately R has to work two nights in a row but on wed or thursday we will cook our first meal on it. After lots of thinking we decided not to spend our money on a gass one for, it feels like the money is going out faster than its coming in so for now we bought a smaller charcoal bbq. Next winder we look into changing it.

Im absolutetly knackered after a long day. Morning spent in a park and afternoon filled with complaints. We played some boardgames and A is such a bad looser! It also seems that once he has started getting so upset the smallest things makes him crazy again. 

Kids are finally in bed, reading a bit themselves after my bedtime story, R is sleeping too as he is working tonight and Im going to settle myself on the sofa with the last season of "Greek" and a grapefruit. 

I have been to the liverdoctor and we talked a bit more about A and his test results. Doctor wants to do a gastroscopy and biopsy however we decided not to do it with him. Our health insurance does not have direct billing with this hospital and that would mean that we would have to fork out some 4900 dhs (almost 1000 eur) to claim it back from insurance and I dont even know how long it takes to get it back. If we go to another hospital with direct billing they will bill Emirates directly and we dont have to be out with that amount of money. I was recommended a gastroenterologist at American Hospital (they have direct billing) so R went to see an GP at Emirates Clinic yesterday to get a referal. The GP got in his head, talking about how she, as a parent not as a doctor, would not put her child through a gastroscopy just from bloodtests if he doesnt have any symptoms. Instead she would introduce a glutenfree diet at home only and let him eat normally outside of the house. Instead keep checking his growth and make sure he following his curve. To be honest I was shocked with such advice.

A) Glutenfree products are really expensive so I would not buy that for someone if they didnt need it.
B) Why would I want to wait until he gets symptoms? I remember how poorly I used to feel
C) IF you switch someone on glutenfree diet any future test will not show proper results so you would have to switch back to normal diet to do the biopsy at a later stage and why waste that time?

Further to that I have read "Frequently asymptomatic children with celiac disease have autoantibodies to various organs such as antibodies that predict the development of thyroid problems or diabetes. When celiac disease is diagnosed in these children and a gluten-free diet is commenced the antibodies that predict the development of these diseases disappear from the blood. It appears that early diagnosis of celiac disease can prevent these other diseases that occur commonly in people with celiac disease. Early diagnosis can prevent the occurrence of symptoms due to celiac disease such as abdominal pain and diarrhea. The risk of malignancy in adulthood seems so far off, so many years away. However the diagnosis and treatment of a child dramatically reduces the risk of that individual getting cancer or lymphoma in adulthood!"

I think it might be easy for someone who hasnt been there to understand what it means and how important it is to get that diagnose ASAP, both for peace of mind and to start healing your intestine.

After some discussions we agreed that we will at least go for a visit to the gastroenterologist and see what he says, get a second opinion kind of. In the meantime my mum is also going to make some re-search as to what they would do in a case like ours back home in Sweden (for some reason I trust swedish doctors the most ;)

...or how to be rude to your friend.

To re-connect to the whole "keep your husband on a short leash" theme I wanted to share this story to show how J already has it figured out. I think J has a bit of a crush on a guy in her class at nursery. She always talks about K and whenever she is asked who her friends are she mentions him first. The other day when I went to pick her up I brought her scooter to make the walk home faster. I arrived to nursery at the same time as K´s father, parked the scooter by the entrance and went to get J. When we came out again K was checking out the scooter and when J saw this she shouted "NO! That is my scooter" Poor K was totally shocked and got off it as quickly as he could and I also think he got a bit afraid/hurt so while they went to get his backpack I told J about the importance to share, even the things that are our own, that K was sad and that it was not a nice thing to do to a friend etc. Then I suggested that she would go tell K that he could try her scooter from the nursery to the parking as an excuse. At first she didnt want but I managed to convince her and she went up to a still upset K that was complaining to his dad. Stubborn as the best female he refused to use the scooter as "she said no" etc. His dad tried to convince him by saying that that was cause its not allowed to ride scooters inside but outside its fine but the boy was not stupid. "I will not be J´s friend, EVER" he said. The dad laughed and added "until tomorrow morning". Anyways we went seperate ways when they headed to their car and we started walking home but as they drove passed us K was standing up in the car with half his body outside through the sunroof (the safety and stupidity in that will not be discussed here, it deserves a whole post at a later stage) waving and calling "bye J" over and over. Now it was J´s turn to be stubborn, he just looked the other way and refued to wave back! I lauged to myself and said they are like an old married couple!

In a last attempt at organising our home we now have 4 boxes left to unpack (only). Today I unpacked photos and came across A´s school photos. The first one from pre-nursery when he was 2½. Look what a sweetie! How small and babylike, a bit fluffy like a puppy. I just wanted to hug him and I wish I could have him back at that age, at least for just a day. I know, and see, that they both grow but its not until you see an "old" photo like that that you see how big the difference actually is. I wish they could stay my little darlings a bit longer, I know its a cliché but they ARE growing up too fast.....

Today J had her first ballet lesson for this term. She has been looking forward and was first in line to go into the studio today. When she came out she said he had "really fun". I guess we´ll have to see how long she will keep this up but I try not to influence her. As long as she enjoys it I will take her, if she gets fed up we´ll try something else. While we were at ballet R took A to the tennis court to practice a bit. A needed to refresh his memory a bit after the xmas break and on friday its time for his first lesson this year.

Today we went to Creek Park in the morning. Weather was lovely!























In the afternoon our friends came over, when they left I asked kids if they had fun. Both said "Yees!" and then J added: "And so did you and J" (J begin the mum)




The boys



The girls



Playing "Elefun"



This is how angry and sad A gets whenever games dont go his way....sometimes I wonder if he needs help to control himself!

 

Yesterday we unpacked the last toys from their boxes, the kids had a great time re-discovering their old toys. The dolls got to watch the movie with us :)

 

Sometimes you have to stop and think....yesterday or the day before was the anniversary of the day when my american hostsisters boyfriend committed suicide. I think a lot about her and how tough it must be for her, both in everyday life and then the fact that for the rest of her life christmas and new years will be tainted by this memory. They had a good and stable relationship and in last years christmas letter from the family they were hinting at weddingbells and then just like that he got depressed and shot himself. How do you move on? Her profile on fb is still showing pics of them together and it breaks my heart and makes me think about how lucky we are for every day we get together with our loved ones!

 

Today has really been a crappy day. Three days ago I woke up with a headache from hell and I self diagnosed myself with sinus problems, took some Panadol Sinus and was actually feeling better the following day. Kept taking pills though and yesterday I was fine so I thought it was over, but today headache is back with a vengeance! Have been feeling sooo bad and it feels really stupid since my throat  is not hurting, im not coughing or have a runny?blocked nose. Im not "sick"! Hope that after two doses of Panadols today I will feel better tomorrow and I will learn from my mistake and keep taking the pills for a few more days even if I feel better. 

As always R is a god's sent and take care of the kids when im not feeling well, first they played some Wii and then putting up our trampoline again. 

Check out A's red face! He really takes his playing seriously :) 









Bad pic, I know, but they never come sharp on the trampoline!

I spent the afternoon in bed and after a quick shower the kids came near me for some cuddles. A came first as he was ready first and cuddled and chatted a bit and suddelny he told me "mamma, jag ska tella dig hur mycket jag älskar dig, tusen hundra!" , this meaning mummy, I will tell you how much I love you, thousand hundred however tella is not a swedish word, he used the word tell and made it into a swedish verb. Then he tought about it some more and changed his mind to tusen hundra sextio nio (thousand hundred and sixtynine). By now J had joined us and she wants to express her love to but she doesnt know numbers other than up to 10, or maybe 20 so she says "i love you so so so so so very very very very very much". My little darlings!



Love!

 

One room is finally ready, may I present our kitchen/dining

 

Juventus and Milan have spent a couple of days in Dubai for some PR and training and R has been trying to track down the team in his heart, Juventus without any luck. 2 days ago he went round to 4 different stadiums to see them train but they were nowhere to be found, he found Milan though, but he didnt really care about that) Since we moved to Dubai I have spent some time on a forum for expat ladies in the Middle East (expatwoman) and they have a subforum for areas like Dubai, Saudi Arabia etc. There you get lots of help and advice so I turned to the women there for help. Only some 10 minutes later someone had told us in which hotel Juventus were probably staying! Yesterday R went there and he did see the players, but only a few of them came out as they didnt have to train but were heading out for some sightseeing and those that did come out did not stop for photos etc. He was a bit disappointed so today we went there together, they are leaving tonight so today was his last chance). After a long wait some players came out to be driven some 100 meters to the arena and R was very excited that today they stopped with the fans. After the first player came out R told me he was shivering with excitement! I took photos of him with all the players that came out but what made R's day, week or even year was this picture with Alessandro Del Piero, his favourite since he saw him play with the under 21 team some 17 years ago. Im sooo happy for him!

Dearest R with Del Piero, how much he deserved this! 

 

As seems to be custom when one year comes to an end (or just started), here is my eventful 2011. The year that was like a loooong uphill. To start out with R went to Chile with me and the kids in Sweden and at the same time all the worries about AirMalta. It was a very tough time where I dont think we could have spent too long and Im very happy its over. When we finally took our decision to look for other opportunities and R got his joboffer from Emirtates we could move on in one way however instead next tough period started, to pack up a home and with that the mental part of leaving the home we had dreamed about and not even completed yet. While R did his groundschool we spent 2 lovely months in Sweden but it was of course it wasn´t easy to be without him and to be honest the kids dont seem to have accepted him back completely yet. Many times Im the only one they want. To get to Dubai was both nice and stressful. Trying to set up our home, settling in kids at school, paperwork to arrange here and there and at the same time speding quality time with the family was exhausting! When we started to feel more comfortable the hassles contiuned with the housemaid that we brought over but it seems the winds have finally changed. R got some unexpected leave for xmas so we could go to Malta. To travel back got us both to feel good about our move, we made the right choice. Life is not any worse in Dubai. Sure, there are things we miss but then there are also things we do NOT miss. I conclude this year saying it was a very tough one but towards the end things turned and I hope we bring the positive feelings into 2012.