You know... stuff

 Here are some photos for you. Miss A likes eating a lot. She regularly out-eats Big E. And yet she's still only 16.5 pounds and 26 inches tall, which puts her below the 5th percentile for her age (both by birth and by her due date).

Here we are relaxing on a Friday (sabbath) afternoon. I originally wrote Sunday because it's just natural to call the sabbath Sunday. But we're still trying to adjust to the way the week works here. Thursday is sort of a U.S. Friday (because it's the end of the work week), and sort of a U.S. Saturday (because it's the day we get ready for Suuuuuunday--er, Friday). Friday is our U.S. Sunday, but it leads directly into Saturday, which is the same as a U.S. Saturday, except the next day is work (U.S. Monday), not church (U.S. Sunday). And then when anyone says Sunday, I have to remember that means U.S. Monday. Anyway, relaxing:

 Big E likes having such easily accessible mirrors here, and I regularly hear him having shouting matches with his reflection.

 Miss A likes to watch TV.

Here's a view from one of the balconies at work. 

This is some of the nice architecture inside Education City's Student Center.

This is Big E's favorite thing to do when we go shopping at Lulu Express. He pretends to microwave a snack for himself and for mom or dad.

Boy, that Christmas commercial season just keeps getting earlier and earlier. I wonder if they'd spiral slice the turkey for me and if they allow artificial ham flavoring into the country...

On the right is the roll-over simulator and on the left is the "seat-belt convincer", both of which I wanted to try while at our driving instruction, but didn't get the chance.

Miss A likes to interact with us either by making a kissing noise or snuffling at us with a squished up face. Here is the latter.

Rachel, as always, has managed to make a lovely play area for our kids, and fortunately for us, there was a perfect little alcove for them under the stairs. They spend lots of time down there, not least because the mats are so much more comfortable than the marble floors.

Big E is going on four or five days now without any accidents, and diapers only at night. He's even putting on his own underwear! Well... working on it.

These couches make good forts.

I got my Residence Permit (which, paradoxically, allows me to leave the country), my medical insurance card, and my permanent driver's license this week. Navigating has been pretty easy since Google Maps added turn-by-turn GPS support for Doha just a few weeks ago.

Rachel is getting out of the house a lot. This week she had three nights of outings in a row, either for church or for time with friends. I'm glad for that, since it really helps this feel like a home.

We are blessed and happy and safe.

Every cloud has its silver lining

Content advisory: this post talks about poop. You've been warned.

Big E has been having big problems with his bowel movements for the last three days. Loose stools ahoy! He needs his diaper changed at least once an hour, and the mess inside does a good job of irritating his skin, so he's got diaper rash, too.

Each bowel movement is preceded by rather painful intestinal efforts, which sends him moaning and groaning. However, it also makes it very obvious when he's about to poop, obvious both to us and to him. This, in conjunction with his declaration the other day that we should go to the Lulu Express to buy him some big boy underwear, means that potty training is finally going somewhere.

Today he successfully went about two hours wearing underwear--no diaper!--without having any accidents, and he used the toilet four times for various waste disposal needs. So although his being ill meant he and I didn't go to church today and he's been really whiny, perhaps the days of changing his diaper are coming to an end.

P.S. For your artistic appreciation, here is a still life I call "Anticipation."

Photos and videos from consumerism week, and friends

You know how Walmart often has smaller stores just outside the checkout lines, like banks or optometrists or hair salons? Well, the stores have those here, except they include things like jewelry stores. This is at the Lulu Hypermarket where Big E and I had checked out already and were waiting for Rachel to come to the checkout line. Note that Big E is actually looking at the Christmas lights, and not what's in the window.

 This is one of the roads leading downtown. The city is set up like a wheel with the harbor as its hub and spoke-like main roads connected with concentric ring roads. Instead of intersections with lights, most intersections are roundabouts, which become important landmarks for directions and usually have nicknames among the expats.

This is at City Centre Mall. If you refer to my last post, you can see the map, which gives you a sense of scale based on the size of this ice rink. This is at the center of the mall, and on most floors, there are wings branching out right and left from here several football fields long.

There's a great glass elevator going up and down next to the ice rink. Some floors have these escalators without steps over on the wings. They're like this at Landmark mall, too, and there are special grooves in them that hold your shopping cart in place so you can take it from floor to floor. Big E was in heaven.

On Wednesday night, our friends two doors down took our kids so Rachel and I could have a night out at The Mango Tree, a Thai restaurant at The Pearl, Doha's artificial island. Our friend from school drove us, and we really appreciated it. Again, everyone has been extremely helpful!

The Pearl used to be one of the few places serving alcohol in its restaurants. As is common in the US, that was a central part of most restaurants' business model. So when their liquor licenses were revoked a year or so ago, several of the big name ones tanked, and the ones that were left were forced to change their pricing and offerings in order to attract a larger crowd. Judging by our night there, the larger crowd doesn't come in August. We were one of three couples in the restaurant, and by the time we left around 8, we were the only couple in sight on the entire pier. No yachts around any of the docks. Only a few lights in the high-priced apartments overlooking the bay. Perhaps the crowds come back when the weather cools off.

 Here's a hallway connecting some of the larger stores at the Pearl.

 Big E and Miss A came with us to my school director's house for an open house he hosted for the staff and our families. There were tons of kids there. Big E settled right in with several on the couch to watch Tangled.

Miss A finally released her death grip on my neck and crawled around with a few of the other pre-toddlers. In our groups of friends both at work and at church, there are lots of kids their ages, which we're very happy about.

And remember to keep tabs on Rachel's blog!