Author: Robin Chartier

decisions, decisions

I want to go to bed, but it’s not even 9:00 and I have a 7 year old spending the weekend with us and a 3 year old watching My Little Pony and coloring so that’s probably not the best idea. Last night I put Camille to bed at 10 and thought I was home free until an hour later when her brother came upstairs to tattle on her: “Huh?! You mean she isn’t asleep in her bed?!” Other parents have sleepovers and are all, “Let’s have a family movie night!” while I’m all, “Sweet. Takeout and video games. Have at it. Don’t forget to brush your teeth sometime before midnight and I think there’s cereal in the cupboard — don’t wake me up in the morning.” Those are the kind of sentiments they don’t put on Mother’s Day cards.

I’m tired. Cumulatively tired. I’m sure I don’t get enough sleep and don’t drink enough water (yes, Josh. I know you’ve been telling me this for months years), and I feel sluggish as a result. Until 9pm rolls around and then I’m wide awake and ready to create a fresh sleep deficit for the following day. I’m supposed to be deciding (and booking) where we’re going to stay in Italy in July (now that our vacation days have been approved), but I lost my momentum while I was waiting for the “go ahead” and now I have to bring myself to dive back in to my travel books and maps and figure out where I left off. But that seems too daunting at the moment and I kind of want to take a bath instead. Except the getting wet part sounds like too much work. So pjs and bed then? Nope, that whole “Mom” thing is getting in the way of that. That’s how I end up watching Judge Judy most nights — easy and satisfying.

Today I came up with a plan that every time I feel tired I would drink a glass of water and maybe in a week or so, I’ll be rehydrated and feeling more energetic. Except I didn’t take into account the part where I never want to drink anything which is why I have this problem in the first place. Josh says I’m part camel. I’m also part donkey because if I know I’m supposed to do something, it makes me even less willing to do it — even when I’m the one telling myself to do it.

A friend had a baby 2 months ago and I got to spend a few hours with him yesterday.
(look at those tired/puffy eyes!)

I wrapped him up and he went right to sleep. It was fabulous. Just like old times with Camille. 

Look at the long legs on this big baby. It’s hot here and she runs hotter than anyone else in the family. 

She sweats even with the A/C on.

The cable guys came over the other night and installed a DVR! Happy day for me. Now I might actually watch TV since I can’t stand having to watch stuff on other people’s schedules and having to sit through commercials. Calvin pointed out that our new box is HD. All that stuff is wasted on me because I think it looks the same as before. I took this photo and texted it to Josh and he said he could tell the difference too. Whatever. The only thing I noticed was the American Idol contestants have gotten geekier in the past 3 years and Meatloaf’s son must be competing this year. 

I was texting Josh about the DVR when she hopped on my back and started riding me like a horse. I was too tired to care. 

Since I’ve already mentioned camels, donkeys and horses, why not round things out with a few goats? We saw this crew on our way to church this morning. Most of the time it feels like we live in the city, but every now and then we’re reminded we live on a wild island. 

Six

6 more early wake ups before Calvin leaves for Germany with the varsity soccer team. One of the perks of living in Bahrain is our school is part of the DoD (Department of Defense) Europe school district so our High School teams travel to Germany to compete in tournaments at the end of each season. (The tournament is called “Europeans” which makes me laugh like a 12 year old boy every time I hear it.) He’s the only freshman on the team and most likely won’t play since he is the backup goalie, but he’s excited for the experience.

We’re both excited that he soon won’t have to leave the house at 5:30 for morning soccer practices. I guess it’s the only way to beat the heat, but afternoon blistering sun sounds pretty tolerable at that hour of the morning.

Here’s Meelie in her new dress. She’s been on a hair chewing kick lately. I kept trying to get her to quit until I remembered that I used to do that too. Oh well. At least when she’s chewing her hair she’s not picking her nose. Today she pointed out that the cat has “a very small nose. He can’t pick it. The holes are too small.” Then she proudly demonstrated that the holes in her nose were not too small. 

Another new wardrobe addition — A Hello Kitty nightshirt, Arabian Nights. I saw it in the store and couldn’t pass it up for our Arabian princess. 
Late night. Time to sleep. Josh is gone again this week so I’m the only one able to make that 5:30am drive. Thank God we live close to school and I can leave the other kids asleep in bed while I make the run to school and back. Only 6 more . . .

phoning it in

Tonight I was thinking that I haven’t blogged in several days, but didn’t feel like I had all that much to say, either. I started doing some mental math and calculated that this is the longest we’ve lived anywhere since I started blogging and the period of our lives with the least amount of upheaval. Great for life, lame for blogging. New things equals new stories and new photographs to share. Oh well, not moving makes up for all of that. Too bad for you.

I do have several things in the pipeline (so to speak) that need to make an appearance here.

1) We had family pictures taken and they came out great. Since I just realized (2 minutes ago) that Mother’s Day is this week, maybe I’ll post them then. I’ve stooped to a real low in the gift department — Happy Mother’s Day! Download your own gift. Sorry about that. We had British Mother’s Day here in March and this international holiday stuff throws me off. I can barely tell which season we’re in (between Hot, Hot, Hot and Not) so I’ve sort of given up on normal holiday celebrations.

2) Calvin’s Uganda trip. I asked him to write down some thoughts while traveling and then do a write-up for my blog once he got home, but I keep forgetting to ask him for a copy of it. And I want to go through his 437 photos of blurry monkeys and have him help me pick out the best ones to post along with it.

3) Brunch. Josh and I went to one of the legendary hotel brunches that lasts 4 hours and costs $80/person. It was an event. We left the kids home (see above point about $80) and they ended up having to eat Cup of Noodles from the cold store, because the take out place that we intended them to order lunch from was closed. In my defense, they loved it and they only cost 66 cents each so that made our total lunch bill practically affordable. Now I just told 95% of the story. Great. There goes that post . . .

Our newest acquisition is this Bahraini bench — the first piece of furniture we’ve had made since living overseas. Having furniture made is a big thing here because labor is inexpensive and you can have things made out of solid rosewood or teak-type wood at a fraction of what you’d pay in the US. Like the carpets, it wasn’t “cheap,” but a good price for what it is (Though if I said it cost less than what our family would spend on two brunches, then it starts to sound like a great deal!)

It’s perfect — I love the fabric that Josh picked out

The rest of the week has been the same. Camille still loving on the cat every chance she gets (whether he likes it or not)
and I finished this shirt for a friend’s baby

and this dress for Camille. I just finished it so she hasn’t had a chance to wear it yet. I guarantee it will be on her body first thing in the morning since she’s been eagerly waiting for me to finish all week (and requested the beads in the skirt). There are two stripes that I don’t like (the olive green/brown at the top and the yellow on the skirt) and I’m tempted to take them out and reknit those parts, but I know Camille won’t care so I’m leaving it alone for now. She’ll get chocolate on it soon enough and then I’ll wish the entire thing were brown.

in his own words

This week I got a package from my cousin — a wall hanging that I custom ordered to hang in our living room.
The older my kids get, the more meaningful these words are to me. 
Tonight I came home from an evening out and all the kids were in bed asleep (thanks Josh!). As I was going around the house and turning out the lights I found Calvin’s paper that he had written in preparation for a presentation tomorrow. I couldn’t be prouder. 
The “mandala” has nothing to do with Nelson Mandela (I asked). It’s a particular type of drawing with symbols to represent the things that are important to him. 

Click to enlarge for easier reading:

I just looked up “mandala” in wikipedia and it says: “a spiritual and ritual symbol in Buddhism and Hinduism, representing the Universe.” That’s a bit ironic . . .  

My work here is complete — let’s freeze time and enjoy the warm fuzzies. 

No news is good news

We’re in the end of year rush — the finish line is within grasp. Only 4 more weeks of early morning soccer drop-offs and 3 weeks of school after that. Hallelujah!

Nothing exciting is going on . . . school, work, knitting . . . yawn.
Our normal life lately:

Camille is dressing herself as stylishly as ever. She also always brings a suitcase or a purse every time we go out. She packs her Ponies, crayons, various items of mine that she steals out of my night stand (balls of yarn/gum — etc until I figure it out and steal them back), and always a change of clothes/panties “in case I get a little damp.” 
She’s potty trained, but sometimes chooses to wet a bit rather than go to the toilet. She asked me, “did you pee in your pants when you were my age?” and I was about to say “no,” but then I vaguely remembered some stories about how I wouldn’t want to miss any part of Sesame Street and would do the same. I guess she comes by it honestly. 
 
Also inherited? Her ability to stay up 1/2 the night. Her brothers are long asleep and I thought she was sleeping since it was after 11pm and all had been quiet, but no. She was dressing up in her costumes and coloring by the light of the hallway. 
When she does fall asleep, she crashes hard. 
This photo was corrupted as I uploaded it to the computer, but it’s worth saving. I woke up one morning to find her passed out in the upstairs living room — the remains of a frat party obviously. 
11:25 pm, wide awake. 11:29, out cold. She keeps moving to keep herself awake.
This sums it up:  A few days ago at 6am she started thrashing around in our bed (cause that’s where she ends up most nights) screaming “I want chocolate! I want CHOCOLATE!!!” Full body rolling around, whacking us in the face, eyes closed, fully asleep, throwing a tantrum about chocolate in her dreams. After 5 or 6 outbursts she suddenly relaxed and resumed snoring. 
But when she’s as adorable as this . . . what can you do?

We went to the Bahrain Fort on a Saturday evening and walked around. 

Families enjoying the water’s edge — see the horses?

This is the beautiful side of this country. No real beaches, but this strip is pretty close to it (as long as the sewage smell doesn’t drift your way). 

An old Bahraini house (now a museum) — the tower was their air conditioning. Something about it catching the breeze and funneling it down to the main part of the house. So instead of 110, it might be 99?
 
We are having a Bahraini bench made (they are a particular style with cushions in traditional fabrics) so we stopped by the shop to check on its progress. We were able to see my friend’s almost completed bench. 

This one is ours. I had him custom make it so it would be double the depth. I don’t think the traditional size is very comfortable because they are straight backed and you end up perching on them. This way it will act as a lounge/daybed kind of piece and is long enough to sleep on (unless you are Josh). We’re just waiting for the cushions to be finished and then they’ll deliver it. 

I’ve been knitting a lot lately in the afternoons. It’s been getting hot and I hang out with Camille in our upstairs living room and she watches shows on Netflix or The People’s Court with me while I knit. She also likes to play with my phone and take 43 billion pictures of the floor or the tv. Surprisingly, she actually got all of me and Zeki in this photo. 
This is a dress for a friend’s baby shower. She should be able to wear it as a tunic/shirt once it’s too short to be a dress. 
Next week, more of the same. Hot, drive, eat, sleep, repeat.