Party Time

Since Jaydon and Ella were born only 6 days apart we decided to have a joint party for the kiddos. We invited everyone in the compound and decorated the club house for an unforgettable birthday bash. Jaydon was sure to give us a hand with picking up the balloons, he's actually a much better driver than most of the people on the roads around here (don't worry he only does his driving in the safety of the compound with dad). After getting the balloons it was time to set up and try on the party hats. Both Cheryl and I made tons of cupcakes so that no one could feel shy about joining the fun with kids. The theme was also 1st cupcake so we couldn't go wrong with too many of them. Jaydon helped me figure out where to put all the balloons and then he and Ella got a little playing in before the big event started. Our next door neighbors are from Mexico and they have 2 kids, their youngest just a few months younger than Jaydon and Ella, and they love to make pinatas for parties. Well she had a great idea of making a pinata for Jaydon and Ella but rather than use paper mache she used cellophane, and rather than filling it with candy she filled it with balloons. It was a great idea and the perfect activity for the little kids to be involved in and for the bigger kids to help out with. Once everything was decorated it was time for the party to start. Everything you read says to keep your 1st birthday celebration small, well that's not really possible around here so we went for the opposite approach. Steve made a big pot of chili and we lit up the grill. Once everyone had lunch it was time for the big event of Jaydon and Ella's 1st birthday cupcakes. Jaydon was careful about the candle this time (or should we say mom and dad were) and took his first taste of cupcake. I think he liked it because he dug right in for more. Ella was enjoying hers too. Once they had a little cupcake we upped the anti by adding some ice cream. But we soon learned the trick to getting a couple of 1 year olds to use a spoon like old pros is to add whipped cream. Whipped cream was definitely the highlight for them both and also made the biggest mess. After all that eating it was time relax an enjoy the party. Jaydon got caught steeling Ella's pink sippy cup of milk. Fortunately he knows just when to be extra cute. He also went for a short flight before deciding that party time was over and it was time to head home. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAYDON!!

1st birthday cake

On his way home from work Daddy made a special stop and got Jaydon his very own chocolate ice cream cake to celebrate the big day. I had spent the whole week testing various "healthy" alternatives to the standard birthday cake so that we wouldn't load Jaydon up with too much sugar. Steve wasn't a fan of any of the fancy recipes and decided his 1 year old should have good old fashion chocolate and ice cream. Well Jaydon was a big fan of everything except the candle. I was so busy making sure to get a pic of every moment that I didn't pay attention to Jaydon's fascination with it. Well rather than blow it out Jaydon opted for pinching it out...let's just say he didn't exactly have the technique down so after a few tears and hugs it was back to the cake. Jaydon loved it!

Happy Birthday Jaydon!

Our 1 year old

It's already been an entire year. So how does our 1 year old start his day. First thing is to check out his very first birthday present from a neighbor who got up extra early to leave it at our door. Jaydon liked checking out the card and Christmas gave him lots of practice for how to open presents. Once he got it open he found that inside was a great little cowboy buddy just waiting for a big hug. Jaydon thought he was great and was a perfect way to start his day. Since Steve and I had to head to work we asked Semina to take pictures of what a 1 year old does during his day. So apparently he first started the day by taking a little stroll in the backyard. Had to make sure and bring Athena along. Then when that was done he proceeded to take a little stroll in the front yard. After all that walking it was time to play inside and wait for mom and dad to get home...

Fun with the Critters

Jaydon loves his animals. His first word is doggie he also can do a pretty good kitty (more like a kee) and always trys to give Athena and Mav a good patting when they're around. Mav took awhile to warm up to him but now is quite content to hang out. As can be expected Athena loves Jaydon and they makes great buddies. We gave Athena a new chicken toy and Jaydon had a great time playing with it and her.

Happy Birthday Ella

Ella turned 1 today and Jaydon loves balloons soo much that he wanted to get her some for her special day. Ella was a big fan of the balloons and the teddy bear. Since Ella and Jaydon were born so close together we decided to do a joint party for the two newest 1 year olds...more pics to come - I promise.

Friday at the Pearl

We have found a new baby friendly activity to do on Friday when most everything else is closed. Strolling and lunching at the Pearl. Now that the weather is nice we try to use every excuse possible to go out and enjoy it. The Pearl is one of the many major land reclamation building projects going on in the middle east. You've probably heard of the World islands or Jumariah Palm island that is being constructed in Dubai, well the Pearl is Doha's equivalent. The water front mall in the Pearl with a few restaurants and coffee shops has been finished and opened to the public. It's a beautiful location on the water and everything is brand new and very clean. On our stroll we saw at least 4 different cleaning crews dusting and scrubbing everything in site. They also have the place hooked up with outdoor bose speakers playing music. Jaydon and Ella decided a walk was too boring for a Friday afternoon and preferred to have a baby dance party...sort of.

1st haircut

Yep - it's time for Jaydon to take his first trip to the barber. His bangs were so long that they kept getting in his eyes. It would always happen right at meal time when Jaydon had a fist full of food. He'd rub his eyes to get the hair out then put food in his eyes and then rub some more to get the food out. As you can imagine it was a big mess so off to the hairdresser... Here's the before shot. After giving the lady explicit instruction on how to cut Jaydon's hair the first snip didn't quit go to plan, way too short and too straight. I also wanted her to save the cute curls Jaydon had behind his ears. Well, I can now tell why she does kids hair - she's super fast and can get a whole cut done within a short attention span but she's not so good at listening to instructions. Fortunately Jaydon's cute enough that any hair cut looks good on him. My mom has also been working on book of Jaydon's first year and we realized that we didn't have any pictures of Jaydon and his nanny Semina so with Jaydon's new due we posed them for some pictures. This picture made me realize that my little baby is starting to look a lot more like a little boy...

Happy New Year...

After a nice long visit back in the US it was time to head home. Jaydon did a pretty good job on the trip, I still think the short domestic flights are a lot more difficult than the long-hauls over the ocean with a baby. The worst part about going home (besides leaving everyone behind) was that we had to take 2 flight just to get to DC to start the 16 hour flight. That makes for a very looong day for everyone but Jaydon did sleep for more than half the flight home. We sat next to a mom and her 13 month old daughter who was flying with a bunch of other relatives on the plane. They would come by every so often and read the little girl stories or play with her and Jaydon thought they were lots of fun. He laughed at their games and was interested in their stories and it helped a bunch to have other people entertaining him. Jaydon did pick up what the doctor called 'travellers tummy' on the way home. It waited until the next day to show itself but poor Jaydon had awful diarrhea for about 4 days straight. This made getting over the jet lag and getting into the new time zone very difficult. He also ended up passing it on to Steve and I. No pictures in this posting because I spent New Years Eve throwing up and New Years day curled up on the couch in a ball. It hit Steve the next day. It took about 12 days to get Jaydon back into his routine and sleeping at night and once that happened we were all happy to be home again. We've decided that we're going to save our New Years celebrating for the Chinese New Year which we will be in Hong Kong for. We will definitely have pictures for that...