Tearing up the hotel room floor.

During our hotel stay we did have some bits of fun, and happy moments. Here is one of them.

Marin and Corban Dancing at the Park Hyatt from Kristin Foulds on Vimeo.

18 Months

Corban is a year and a half old today, he'll be 2 before we know it!
He is such a fun little guy and very much a people person, even though he pretends to be shy.
His vocabulary continues to grow and he has added "nooooo"complete with furrowed brow and pursed out lips and "pweeeas" (please) along with a totally irresistible goofy grin, needless to say "pweeas" gets him what he wants. :) If he can't tell us what he wants and we offer him different things he is really quick to nod his head when we come up with what he wants.
He thinks bugs are the neatest thing. The other day we were out for a little walk, he was a ways away from me and I spotted a bug on the ground near my feet. I called to him and told him there was bug, I pointed at it, he came running over and got right down on his hands and knees to check it out. His favorite books to read right now are the Little Critter books, on each page he finds the grasshopper and spider, he points to then and shrieks "buggg" with glee.
These past couple months he has been working on getting some molars, it has really messed with his eating habits, he used to be a really good eater, now not so much. Also another less than desirable thing he has been doing a lot lately is throwing pretty much everything, we are attempting to fix that.
He knows where his belly button, nose and ears are. When I ask him where his belly button is he lifts up his shirt and leans his head forward to try and look around his round little belly. He sticks out his little finger and gives his belly button a poke and says "beeeeep". When I ask him about his nose I say honk when he gives it a squeez and when I ask him where his ears are and touches them I say ding-dong. He thinks it is all pretty funny.
Anyway that is a bit about our sweet boy, we love you little man.

Anniversary Greetings

Happy 31st Anniversary to Mom & Dad/Barry & Alison/Oma & Opa!

Where we are at.

So, last I wrote we were on day 11, Monday, what I didn't tell you about day 10 (Sunday) though was that late that evening we got an email announcing that they were going to start allowing people to move into their houses! I didn't say anything because I know how it goes... never the way they say it will!
We had been hearing rumors that many of the houses had been finished since the end of July, but that they were not clean or set up for people to move yet. Also that the roads and other necessary buildings like grocery stores and what not, were not ready. Workers were still everywhere, and it was not really safe for people to be living there.
So anyway the email instructed us to make an appointment 48 hours (or more) from the time we phoned to tour the house, pick up the keys and find out anything else we needed too. Ian got on the phone right away and set up an appointment for Wednesday at 5 pm after he was done work for the day.
HOORAY!!!
Right?
Nope!
See this is why I did not tell you all.
We were supposed to received email confirmations to set up a few more details. When Ian got back from work on Tuesday (day 12) and there was still no email, he called, there was no record of our appointment!
Hello fuming angry pregnant lady!
He spent some more time on the phone being sent from one person to the other, finally it was set up that he would be able to go see the house, but that it wouldn't be ready because they didn't have the time at the at point to have it all clean and ready for us.
Fine.
So on Wednesday (day 13) he went, nothing was of course ready and he got no keys.
(He was able to confirm though that even though we don't have a complete sea view that we will be able to see bits of the sea from our house! :) Here is a link to the post where I showed a picture of the location.)
We are now on the afternoon of day 15 (Friday) and still in the hotel. We tried to get things fixed, but we're getting nowhere. We made a new appointment for this coming Sunday morning so we shall see.
I really hope to have good news to share soon!
There was nothing else mush to share from days 12 and 13, Ian was gone both days all day. The bus leaves here in the morning at 6:30am and doesn't return until 6pm. Wednesday he didn't arrive back until 8pm.
Those are really, really long days for us here at the hotel, too long for a pregnant lady 2 1/2 months away from having a baby, chasing around a 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 year old. I also will add that our hotel room is the second furthest room from the restaurant and hotel lobby, it seriously feels like walking a kilometer each time we have to go anywhere. And add to that Corban has to be carried for large portions of it because otherwise he tries to play with all the stuff we pass in the hallway. The cleaning trolleys for room service, the privacy signs on the other rooms, having a seat in the chairs we pass along the way, you know all that good stuff a little boy needs to check out. Can you tell I am done living in a hotel? That, and I never really wanted to live here in the first place!
Anyway...
Yesterday was day 14, the weekend "Saturday". In the morning our rental car was dropped off for us and Ian went out to the IOB to pick up the Iquamas for the kids and I, and also some diapers, we were down to 2 left! His first solo driving experience went well, he only go honked at once. :) They honk a lot here and lets just say that their driving is a little less "structured" then ours is back in Canada. :)
Later in the afternoon the 4 (5) of us headed out on a little adventure, first we drove to the car rental place to give them our credit card imprint and then it was off to one of the many malls. We went to Al Roshan mall, it is at the end of Jeddah closest to KAUST and we wanted to see what what is in it. Toys R Us, (very important!), a Mother Care (kind of like "Please Mum, but with a few added baby accessories, like soothers, strollers, and bottles etc.), an ECL (Early Childhood Learning with nice toys and stuff for kids), and a Hyper Panda (very similar to Superstore in Canada) among many other stores. We had supper at Chili's, and looked around and just enjoyed being out and about. We headed back to the hotel for bath time, and were pleased that we made the whole trip without getting lost or honked at, in fact Ian did the honking! I can tell already he is going to pick up some interesting driving habits. :)
So today, day 15, Friday ("Sunday") we went for a walk along the sea wall here by the hotel this morning and now Ian is getting some work done while Corban naps, Marin watches some VeggieTales and I bring you all up to speed.
More later, with in theory good house news!
:)

I am sure some of you noticed that this post was lacking in the picture department, sorry, I have nothing to share. I do have a post in the works though that will give you a picture overload, so I am sure that will make up for it.

A bit of an update about the baby belly ~29 weeks, and life in the hotel.

I can't believe I am 29 weeks already! So much has been going on that being pregnant has kind of been put on the back burner. I remember last time after being pregnant with Corban that after he was born I felt like I had so much more energy and that I felt "normal" again, I imagine this time it will be even more noticeable!
I have been waking up really early in the mornings since arriving here, around 5am, and I am sure there is a combination of things to blame for that. #1 jetlag, #2 needing to pee for the 2nd of 3rd time that night, thanks to the growing little one inside me, #3 Corban squawking a bit because he can't find his soother, and #4 once I am awake at that time my brain goes into over drive and I can't stop thinking about all the things I will want and need to do once we finally get into our house!
My hips are still in bad shape, but I don't expect that to get any better until after this little one has arrived.
This little guy is getting bigger and stronger and he moves around quite a bit. More so than Marin did, but a little less than Corban, I think anyway. He also doesn't get hiccups very often. It was interesting switching time zones like we did, I think he was still doing his normal routine so I got to see what he was up to at night time. :) He was pretty wiggly. I think he has started to change again to match more of what I am doing though. We are looking forward to meeting this little guy and finding out what his personality is like. :)
Anyway we managed to snap a few pictures this week, unfortunately we don't have a tape measure with us so no numbers this week.
Onto a bit of what we are up to while living in a hotel.
When I last left you we were on day 6 so onto day 7, the "weekend". I think I mentioned a long while ago that here in Saudi Arabia the weekend is Thursday and Friday. I think this is going to take a bit of getting used to, the whole "weekend" we were calling Thursday Saturday and Friday Sunday. Ha ha.
Anyway day 7, the morning was spent with Ian doing some work, I straightened up a bit and unpacked a few more things and played with the kids. In the afternoon there was some napping on all 4 of our parts and Ian organized a beach day for Friday. There are no public beaches here that you can go swimming at, but there are private beaches, you pay a fee to get in and you can wear a bathing suit and do normal beachy type things.
So day 8, beach day! We took a rented mini bus along with another couple and headed out at 9:30am on our little adventure. The beach was about 45 min away and we had a fun drive there seeing parts of the Corniche we had not seen before. We arrived at the beach paid our fee and headed in. There were sun shades with tables and chairs, and lounge chairs on the beach. There was a snack hut with burgers, hot dogs, drinks and all that.
We got into our swimsuits and got out the kids little inflatable rings and headed into the water. It was SO warm! And SO fun to just hang out and relax in the water. Marin and Corban loved it, they played in the sand and splashed in the water. We enjoyed hot dogs and fries for lunch and without trying improved our tans, we of course had sunscreen on. :) At 1pm the bus picked us up again and we headed back to the hotel for some naps. It was a good day.
(I unfortunatly have no pictures to share, one of the beach rules was no cameras, and although others were not following the rule we thought it best to do so. I am sure you will get your fill of pictures of us at the beach in the years to come though. :) )
Day 9 "Monday" (Saturday) nothing stands out as a major event for that day, they are blending together a lot... Day 10 though Ian went and got his drivers license. Here is how the test went, 4 of them got in the car, it was a standard, the first guys drove forward 10 feet around a pylon. They switched drivers, the second guys backed up the same way the first guy had come. The third and fourth did the same. Ian got to drive backwards, he passed. Ha!
And onto day 11 today. Ian had a meeting this morning out at the KUAST campus, and was gone all day, the kids and I filled our day with eating, "hotel playgroup" with the other kids and moms that are here, naps, and a "hotel room playdate" with Belky and her girls.
So there you have it, I will leave you with a couple pictures.
Vegging, watching VeggieTales.
Marin saw me trying to take a picture of them and decided that the best look would be this, nice right?

A very bubbly bubble bath.

No bubble bath picture of Marin, poor girl is not over the the jetlag yet, at bed time she is so tired that she is in "melt-down mode" and tonight she told us that she didn't like bubble bathes which is SO not the case. She also ask to go to bed now and after prayers, a little song and good night hugs and kisses she basically kicks us out of the room saying "I want to sleep now". Such a change from before!

***
For those of you interested I have added a couple more links of the professional photos of KAUST to the side bar.

The Goods on Our Big Move.

~Prepare for what may be my longest post yet~

So we are here now and it is unfortunately not all daisys and roses.
Let me fill you all in.
Our trip here began on August 5th, we were in Salmon Arm and had been there since June 30th. The plan was to fly out of Vancouver, (a 5 hour drive from Salmon Arm for those of you who may not know) on August 6th.
We woke up bright and early on the 5th to read the very disappointing news via an email sent to Ian, that our house was not ready for us, and that temporary accommodation would be waiting for us. No other details though, like when the house would be ready and what temporary accommodations we would be getting.
This was 2 hours before we planned to leave, to say that I was not impressed would be a HUGE understatement!
Ian got on the phone right away to find out more details. Our new move in date was not yet known, we would find that out the day after we arrived, and the temporary accommodations was a hotel.
Obviously (because we are now in KSA) we kept on with the plan and packed up and headed out of Salmon Arm, we were on the road by 9:15am.
We stopped at Ian's grandparents on the way to say good bye and then went to the airport to check in an unload. At 6pm we met Dorothy, Mary Ann, and Brian at a nearby restaurant for dinner and good-byes, and they took our van for us.
By the time that was all said and done it was time for the kids to have a bath and to bed, we all had a good night sleep.
On the morning of the 6th after breakfast and a few last minute packing details we checked out and got all our stuff over to the check in counter so we could send it on it's way.
We were a bit of a sight as we made our way through the airport. Ian was pushing one fully loaded cart and pulling a second fully loaded cart. I was pushing a loaded stroller with Corban in it and had Marin on her safety harness.
Once we had checked in we headed to the lounge for some lunch and then spent our time wandering the airport.
Playing on the bobsled at one of the Olympic displays.
Checking out one of the many water features.
The kids both liked the aquarium,
and Corban totally loved the escalators (the flat ones, by our gate there was a set of 2 going in both directions, Ian took him to ride them over and over again, Corban thought it was awesome!).
At 4pm we boarded the plane and at 4:30pm we took off on our 10 hour flight. It was bye-bye Oh Canada... We had window seats, Marin and Ian sat in front of Corban and I. For take off Corban sat on my lap with a special child's seat belt. He fell asleep during take off, poor guy missed his afternoon nap, and he slept for a long while.
Marin and Ian played with some of the toys we had along.
Marin had a melt down at dinner time, but after that fell asleep, and slept for the majority of the flight.
Corban was up for a little while in the middle of the flight, but fell asleep again for the end, Ian and I managed to get some sleep too so that was good.
We landed in Frankfurt for a 2 hour layover, it was just enough time for us to get to our connecting gate and give the kids a bit of time to stretch their legs.
Once on the plane we settled in for a 5 hour and 20 min ride, this time we had one window seat, Marin sat in that with me beside her and Ian and Corban sat across the isle from us. Corban sat on Ian's lap during take off and again he fell asleep.
Once we were in the air Ian moved him to the seat beside him and he slept the whole way except for the last 30 min. Marin watched some shows both from the selection on the plane and a few on the portable DVD player.
This meant that even Ian and I got to watch a couple movies!
When we arrived in Saudi Arabia it was 8pm, I put on my abaya and took the kids off the plane, Ian got to handle all the carry-ons. When you get off the plane at the airport in Jeddah you go down onto the tarmac and then take a bus to the airport. The kids and I were ahead of Ian getting off the plane and I thought he was behind me coming out the same door of the plane, we waited at the top of the stairs for him, it was taking a while, but he did have 6 bags! After a bit more waiting, I realized he had gone out the other door of the plane and was on the tarmac with all our bags. I looked over the edge of the stairs to see him running back to the plane from the bus after looking for us in there. Ooops, silly me. I called to him and thankfully he heard me. Poor guy.
Our stroller was waiting for us on the tarmac so we put Corban in it, Marin already had her harness on, and then we hopped on the bus.
We entered the airport and found the KAUST representative there to meet us. He took us to the front of the line at customs and took care of all the details. Ian and I had our finger prints and pictures taken (a normal process since we were going to be residents) and all 4 of us had our passports stamped. We then went to collect our luggage, we had 8 pieces, and it all arrived!
3 other professors had arrived at the same time we did, so once we all had our luggage we headed out to the SUVs to load up and head to the hotel. Ian quickly installed the car seats for the kids, our luggage was loaded into the vehicle for us and we were off, it was about a 30 min drive.
Once we checked in and were in our room we ordered up a big batch of room service, we were all really hungry! None of us could stomach the airplane food on the second flight and snacks only go so far. While we waited for our food we showered off and got into our pj's, when our food arrived we stuffed our faces and then passed out in bed, we were all so tired!
I don't really remember what time we woke up the next morning but after breakfast Ian and some of the other new faculty and staff went to the IOB (Interim Office Building for KAUST here in Jeddah) to get the whole paper work process started for their iqamas, medical, and ID cards.
The kids and I after breakfast (room service) went out to explore the hotel a bit and get some fresh air.
This is one of the courtyards at the hotel, the water in the distance is the Red Sea (we can also see the Sea from our hotel room window)
Marin's first time by the Red Sea, she was all about making silly faces.
(and yes she is wearing her harness, she wanted too, she named it Lyla, I wanted her to wear it too, I was tired and didn't want to have to chase her!)
Corban's fist time by the Red Sea,
I asked him to say "cheese" for me, I got "cheese" with a bit of "gerr baby" mixed in.
Then he flashed me a good one.
These kids are too cute!!!
Ian wasn't gone for that long and arrived back mid afternoon. He brought with the bad news that our new move date was now Aug 27th.
Now comes my rant! I think I am allowed one after all this! If you don't want to read it skip this section, but this is MY blog and I am ranting!
***
Aug 27th!!!!! That is 20 days in a hotel with 2 small kids! Now I know what some of you are thinking, room service, no having to cook our own meals, house keeping, laundry service, blah, blah, blah, how bad can it be?
Well...
We have 2 joining rooms, yes 2 rooms, that are large, but still in total is less space then we had in our town house. They are not kid friendly rooms, lots of sharp corners, marble floors with no rugs, glass tables, high beds, things like phones where they can reach them, if you have little kids I am sure you can imagine. The food is fancy, the whole hotel is fancy, not kid friendly. The hotel pool is not operational yet (the hotel is brand new and not fully open yet) and even if it were it is for men only. Outside yes there is the Red Sea, but it is a big rocky boldery shoreline that is down a 8 foot drop off along the walk way. The courtyard with the fountains is full of sharp marble edges, the lobby is also full of marble and sharp edges with pillars they can disappear behind and stairs for Corban to fall down.
We have had 4 different move dates and now 2 different dates that our house would be ready. We have made our plans according to the dates we have been told and have been flexible and adapted when they have changed. We have been in "transition" since Ian was offered the job in the end of November. The preparation to sell our house, the actual selling of the house, the moving into a rental because we couldn't move to KAUST yet, the moving in with my parents for 5 weeks because we still couldn't move to KAUST, and now this!
Baby Foulds #3 will be here in less than 3 months, I want to be able to get our house ready and set up before he arrives. Being pregnant makes all of this harder, physically I am just not as able as when I am not, and this will only get worse as time goes on.
I want to be able to get some sort of "normality" for the kids, in an environment that we have set up for them. I want to cook again, it has already been 6 weeks since I have been in my "own" kitchen, I like to cook and I like the food I cook.
I am done being in transition, I don't want to be "homeless" anymore, I want to go/create a new "home"!
Okay I think my rant is done.
***
So day 2 we worked at "kid proofing" our hotel rooms, we removed 3 of the 6 phones, had one of the 2 single beds removed as well as the base of the second so that it is now a mattress is on the floor as Marin's bed. We got a playpen from the hotel for Corban as well we had 2 of the 4 arm chairs removed. We positioned a few other things differently to shield the kids from running into sharp corners and we got a driver and took a trip to IKEA.
I HEART IKEA!
Even though we are in a totally different county and 95% of the signage was in Arabic we still knew where everything was and how to get what we needed, it was so nice to be in a familiar place. We got a rug, some toys, 2 clocks (the hotel has no clocks in any of the rooms), 2 high chairs with trays (the hotel has only one high chair) and a few other odds and ends. It has made a big difference!
Day 3 I went and got the medical portion of my paper work done for my iqama, and in the evening Ian took a trip out to get a few more things, toothpaste, Cheerios, a kettle to boil water, and peanut butter. He was also looking for cell phones, but didn't find what he was looking for that night.
Day 4 Ian had to head out to the KAUST campus for a meeting and to pick up his new laptop from IT, he was gone from 7:30am till 6pm. The kids and I managed well that day until the very end when jetlag was really setting in and it was getting close to dinner time.
The kids enjoying one of the last gingersnap cookies Oma sent for them.

Jetlag seems to hit us the worst between 4:30 and 6pm, we are 10 hours ahead of you guys over in BC so once that time of day hits here it is like we have been up all night and it is early morning for our bodies. I am also finding it really hard to eat dinner, I think because at that time my body is more in breakfast mode. Slowly the jetlag is lessening though, Ian, Marin and I are now able to make it though the day without a nap, but we are ready for early bedtimes that is for sure.
Anyway onto day 5, Ian was supposed to head out to KAUST again, but I was not up to another day with the kids and I stuck in the hotel on our own, so he stayed with us and got to work finding out what could be done about getting a large conference room set aside as a playroom for the kids, there are many other young kids here and more are arriving in the days to come. Things are in the works for a daycare/playgroup room so that is in theory supposed to be ready for Saturday. Also on day 5 the Ketchersons arrived. :) Marin and Elana have seemed to hit it off and have enjoyed playing together, Corban and Victoria enjoy getting in on the fun that their older sisters create. I am glad they have little friends to play with now, and that we are getting a chance to chat with Dave & Belky too. :)
This brings me to today, day 6, Thursday, which here in Saudi Arabia is the first day of the weekend, so it is like Saturday. We actually "slept in" till 7:30am this morning and by we I mean Ian and the kids. Corban has been waking up at about 4am and then coming in bed with Ian and I, he is going back to sleep again, but a restless, wiggly sleep. I have not been able to fall back asleep again so that has allowed me some time to work on this very large blog post. Ha ha!
After breakfast this morning I sent some of our clothes to be laundered, and Ian worked at getting his laptop set up while the kids watched a VeggieTales. Later in the morning we went out for a walk along the sea wall, the wind here is great, Ian can't wait to get a chance to go sailing!
This morning, playing with stickers.
(and oh yeah we thankfully packed two gates, so we are using one to separate the rooms, we called the kids side with all the toys the "fun side".)
Having fun playing on the lawn of the hotel grounds.
Giving me the "okay mom I'll look at the camera again" look.
Anyway so that is where we are at, we are trying to remain positive and get through these next couple weeks. Pray for us if you think of us please, and that our house would be ready when they say it will this time.

Hello from the Foulds 5 in KSA!!

So we made it!
The flights went well and all our luggage arrived too!
Our house is not ready though...
We are stuck in a hotel...
I have loads to share, but I need to get the kids and I over jetlag first.

Birthday Wishes

Happy 85th Birthday to (Great) Granny Phillips!