Random Updates...bullet style

*This is what I see when I look at my right foot. I had to have my big toenail removed. I thought I would be up and running around the next day but I was wrong. The podiatrist told me I wouldn't be in any pain; it would just feel like a "tiny mouse heartbeat in my toe". She lied. For one, I don't know what it feels like to have a "tiny mouse heartbeat" in my toe, and two, my toe throbs a lot and bleeds when I don't stay off of it. I didn't do so well with taking the dressings off last night so I'm starting to understand why God didn't have me birth my own children. I'm finding out I'm not so good with open flesh.


*Andrik is learning how to use a napkin. Unfortunately he hasn't learned to use a clean section of the napkin each time he wipes so even though he tries to be neat, he ends up messier. I still say he uses food as wearable art.

*Andrik sleeps in the funniest positions. The other day I went to wake him from his nap and this is how I found him. He's still a great sleeper and gets at least 11 hours of sleep at night and then naps for a couple hours during the day.

*All that sleep is necessary for bossing us around during the day. I get a lot of pointed fingers at me lately telling me what I need to do or telling Artem what to do. He's definitely learning to assert himself, even if he gets a little too big for his britches at times.

*The boys are starting to play together a lot better. They do more interactive play than parallel play during the day. Andrik absolutely adores his big brother; Artem still has his moments when he can't be bothered with a little brother. But it's getting better, slowly but surely.

*We all attended an Emirati wedding the other night. At a Muslim wedding the men and women are separated and have their own party in separate buildings. I took Andrik with me and Randy took Artem to the men's side. I walked into a huge reception hall with approximately 500 women in attendance and the only person I knew was the two year old holding my hand. I didn't even know the bride. Talk about awkward. At a Muslim wedding on the women's side, the ladies are in VERY elaborate gowns and eat for awhile, visiting with the other women in attendance. The bride prepares to enter the room for the first time and gets up on a raised runway and does her "catwalk" where she walks back and forth in her wedding dress, smiling and waving to the women. After a couple laps, the bride sits on stage while more food is consumed by the ladies in the hall and then the dancing starts, still separate from the men, and finally at the end of the night the women cover themselves with their abayas and the groom enters the hall. At this point the couple is considered married and allowed to be in public together.

*Artem is obsessed with his Cars shirt. He dresses himself in the morning and wants to pick this shirt every time. He's starting to get particular about his clothes and not just put on anything that mom picks out. Right now he wants to wear his Cars shirt and Harley Davidson shirts but can't be bothered with remembering underwear.

*Sweet tea...how do I love thee? My liquid obsession isn't available here in Dubai so I brew my own now and keep a gallon in the fridge all the time. We have a Swedish babysitter that comes over once a week so I can have some "mommy time" and she comes over every other Friday night so Randy and I can go out. Every time she comes over she helps herself to glass after glass of my sweet tea. I love that I got our Swedish babysitter addicted to a Southern delicacy. :-)