Merry Late Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas! Christmas here is unlike anything I've really experienced before. Because Eid and Christmas came close together this year we had a semi-holiday experience.

sidenote: Islam celebrates two Eids or Festivals every year (based on the lunar calendar) they put out lights and decorate everything really pretty like we tend to do for Christmas

So we had lights out and all of downtown was light up, it looked like downtown Dallas during Christmas. The only problem was nobody celebrated Christmas. It looked like Christmas, but it wasn't Christmas. On Christmas day everyone went to work. The traffic was normal, not a soul said Merry Christmas. We passed houses under construction and all the construction crew was out there working like it was any other day. I ran to the grocery store to get some drinks for the dinner and it was full of people and not one of them said Merry Christmas. Finally when I checked out there was a little Philipino lady working the register, so I said, "Merry Christmas, how are you?" She light up and replied back. Apparently she hadn't had anyone wish her a Merry Christmas yet. Sad day for them.

But despite the sadness for them we had a great Christmas.

Merry Christmas from the Bullions!

Noah got his first candy cane, which went over really well, it was just hard to convince him he couldn't have anymore!

And Noah really enjoyed the bucket his Mega Blocks came in.

The Boys

The Story of Mo and No

Morgan came all the way from Illinois to see Noah for Thanksgiving, so Noah wanted to take her out on the town and show her the sights in order to "woo" her. Here is their story.

Since Noah couldn't drive yet, there was a mutany on deck until all the non-short people agreed to take the twosome out....

The young couple enjoyed a burger and fries at Chili's.

Then Noah in all his slyness took Morgan up to the tower overlooking the Persian Gulf at sunset. Apparently this picture was taken after he tried to give her a kiss.

They then went out for Mexican food and listened to live music. (note that Noah is wearing his beans.)
Then, because Noah is a nice young man and from good stock, he got Morgan home early and they dressed up in their finest to take pictures with Morgan's mom. Because we all know, you've got to win the mother-in-law as well as the girl.

Ummm...MiniVan?

We were driving yesterday and saw this...... Three big dogs in a little convertible. What can I say?

The Pwoods Have Landed

We had a great week last week with Corey and Rachel here. Believe or not we don't have any pics of all 5 of us though.

Noah and Uncle Corey

Swing Low

Nice...

Noah and Aunt Rachel

More Day at the Park Pics

These are two pics of Noah playing in the sprinkles from two days ago.

Cheap Babysitting

Tonight we were walking through a mall and went into their big babystore. You know, the ones with baby clothes, baby toys, baby stuff, and baby furniture. As we were cruising through the playpen section we noticed that one of them had a baby in it. She wasn't old enough to crawl yet, but she could sit up and hold her own.

She had a couple of toys in there with the tags still on them. The only thing she was missing was her parents. Her parents apparently dropped her off in the playpen and threw in 3 or 4 toys for her to play with and, I don't know, were still shopping.

The girl didn't seem to mind. I guess I don't either. I'm just jealous we didn't think of that earlier.

Saturday in the Park

The weather was beautiful today (low 80s), so we went on a picnic in the park. Noah loved the park, the grass and trees, and loved running wild; that is until the sprinklers came on. Then he forgot about all that and just loved the sprinklers!

Sorry about the shoddy quality of the video. We used our camera for it and I uploaded it at a low quality to save upload time. Sorry. :(

Noah for Halloween

We don't really celebrate Halloween here. But we thought it would be fun to play dress up with Noah and all the outfits he has. So if we did celebrate Halloween here Noah could be....

A Bahraini Soccer Player


or..
A Chinese Man


or...
A Saudi Arab
(or an angel in the Christmas pagent depending on how familiar you are with Arab style thobes....)

What's y'alls vote?

Carving Pumpkins

L&A, this is for you. We miss you guys.

Noah not really sure about this whole gooey pumpkin business.

This is B's pumpkin.

This is Noah's pumpkin.....with some help from Daddy.

The two together.

Happy Halloween! Hope something makes you scream like Noah. :)

Quote That I Found Interesting

I just read this so I felt a need to share it. Being is that this is a family blog and is usually filled with pictures of Noah and how we are trying to live in another culture I will refrain from blasting you with my commentary on this, so just read it and imagine..... :)

"Today Islam claims more than 1/5 of the world's population and by 2025, some statisticians predict one out of every three people in the world will be Muslim."

Pneukuntree Baybiotitus

B and I went to the doctor yesterday and apparently we have picked up from the Courtneys a disease called Pneukuntree Baybiotitus (Nu Kun Tree Bay Beo Titus) It is a rare disease found in young couples who move around from country to country alot.

Basically, you can tell if you have this disease if you find yourself pregnant shortly after you move to a new country.........

For those of you with mouths open, I will say it again so it will sink in quicker.

B and I (mainly B) are pregnant again!

In our quest to over populate the world and expand the Bullion Nation, we are pregnant. I' m not sure why it always happens within two months of moving to a new country though. Hopefully this cycle doesn't continue the rest of our lives. That could prove to be overwhelming!

But yes, Noah is having a little brother or sister. And we are very happy, so celebrate with us. Go out to eat and go ahead and order that dessert or that extra something. Don't worry! It's for the baby!! Go out and buy that shirt/book/CD/DVD/whatever that you've been wanting, its a celebration!

For those of you that need answers here are some basic things you may be asking:

How far along?
8 weeks

How is B feeling?
It's the first trimester, so morning sickness is here to stay for another month or so.

When is the baby due?
First of June, Noah will be almost two

Was it planned?
No, are you kidding me? TWO in diapers????? We aren't cr.....well, ..No, it wasn't planned.

Do you want a boy or a girl?
B wants a girl. I am a bit nervous about a girl, but I mean, I am happy with whatever.

Will the baby be born there or in the States?
We are having the baby here. The health care here is great and we love our doctor. She is wonderful.

Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one’s youth. ^Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. Psalms 127

An Evening at KFC

Tonight as we were out running errands we swung into KFC to grab some food before running a couple more errands. A couple of things that caught our attention that I thought you would enjoy.

1) Working Hours
This is what hung below the open sign. We tried to get a picture of it, but it didn't turn out.

WORKING HOURS
10:00AM until 1:00 AFTER MIDNIGHT

I thought it was strange wording and it made me smile.

2) It's Finger Lickin' Good
This is the slogan for KFC here. I can't really remember if that is it in the States or not, but it is funny how some things just don't translate well. On the English sign it said "It's Finger Lickin' Good," but on the Arabic side it said,

تأكل اصابعك وراه

Which literally means, "You eat your fingers after it!" Now I am sure that this is a phrase that an Arab would read and think, "Oh, man, that must be some really good chicken." But for me, I can't really think of anything that would make me want to just keep on until my nickname was Nubby. You know?

Anyways, thought you would smile at these.

Labels You Should Read

We saw these this week and thought you would enjoy this.

Zaatar is the Arabic word for Thyme, so they are Thyme flavored. It is good. For those of you that know Arabic food it tastes very similiar to Mana'eesh.

That's right, Volcano Water. I got nothing. I did get a little bit of heartburn after I drank it though. :)

Hair Growth by Mr. Bubbles

Are you embarrassed at your thinning hair? When you leave the house are you always reaching for a cap? When people are sitting next to you in a room are they usually squinting? Don't live in shame anymore. Just rub a little Mr. Bubbles on you and "poof" instant hair.



Are the kids in school making fun of you because you can't grow any facial hair? Say no! Mr. Bubbles has got you covered. Need a beard. No worries. Need some chest hair? No worries. Mr. Bubbles has got you covered.

When Noah wants you up......

This morning I woke up on my side facing the edge of the bed. You know that freaky sensation where you "feel" someone there. I open my eyes and Noah is staring at me eye level smiling. I smiled back politely and roll towards the middle, leaving my back facing Noah.

Thats right, I turned my back on my poor, defenseless son.

I doze back off and in a few minutes I "feel" someone staring at me again. This was coupled with the feeling of a certain small body climbing up the foot of the bed and crawling up the bed between B and I. Then that "feeling' that someone was staring at me was coupled with a "certainty" that someone what slapping me on both cheeks. I open my eyes and Noah (and you thought he was poor and defenseless) is laying there smiling at me. So I did what any loving father would do.

I pushed him over to his mother and turned my back on him again. I slept very peacefully too...for about another hour.

At lunch today B and I were talking about this morning's adventures and I got the rest of the story. Apparently Noah was desperate to have someone to play with this morning, so when I rolled him over to B, he then began punching her face. Then played the same game of running back and forth between her bedside and the door trying to get her up.

That was our morning. :)

Arabs.....Well, me too I guess.

This is a picture of a car on fire at an intersection.

We noticed that traffic was pretty one night and then we notice that above the cars infront of us we could see a fairly large flame coming from the intersection ahead of us. I pulled off an exit early to take the side road to get by intersection and turn right.

I couldn't move! Apparently every one thought of the same thing, so the entire exit ramp next to the car a blaze was full of Land Cruisers and SUVS with their flashers on! They had all jumped the curb and pulled on the exit ramp and put it in park and gotten out and were taking pics and videos of the flaming car with their mobile phones!

And they weren't moving!! They parked it and stayed there until the fire department came and put out the fire. We were stuck there. But the thing was, we were the only ones not parking and running over there with our mobile phones to take pictures (that is why our picture of it is blurry :) ).

Ramadan Specials

Ramadan here is great!! That's right, I said it. I like Ramadan. I mean, of course, sometimes it is a pain in the neck to not eat or drink outside your own house during daylight hours because its against the law and yes it sometimes is upsetting that some of your Muslim friends blow you off during their holy month because you are just an ignorant blasphemer, but overall I like it.

One reason I like it is the great Ramadan Specials. You can go break fast at Dairy Queen for 5 bucks and get double meat double cheesburger, fries, salad, dates, and a drink. Chili's will give you Chicken Crispers, soup, salad, dates, a drink, and desert for 10 bucks. That will feed an entire army!

The best thing is the Micky D's Date Pie!!! That's right, Fig Newtons move over. Just thought you would want to see a picture of it.

[the reason everything is served with dates is tradition.... and well, that's really the only thing that grows naturally here in Arabia besides oil]

No, No, NO!!!

Noah understands what "no" means. You say "no" and he immediately, temporarily stops what he was doing.
The other day we went looking for Noah (he has a tendency to run to other rooms and get quiet, which is when you really worry). Noah loves to play with our oven (you see? really worry!!) He likes to click on the electrically light button that sparks so you can light the gas stove top. He runs over there and pushes it and listens to it click. We tell him "no" and swat him, he repeats, we swat him harder, he repeats, blah, blah, blah ....vicious cycle.

Well we heard in the kitchen...
CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK (Noah playing with the oven)

Then we hear...
NO! NO! NO! NO! (Noah telling himself that it is wrong)

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!
NO! NO! NO! NO!
CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!
NO! NO! NO! NO!

Finally when we walk in there, Noah looks up and immediately drops his arms down to his side and walks away like nothing just happened.

My son is living proof of the doctrine of original sin.

Legal in Three Countries

Today I went down and picked up my third Drivers License! I am now officially a resident in three different countries and have three sets of IDs. I am thinking about changing my name to Jason Bourne.

Spudoodle Palooza!!

That's right, spudoodle palooza!

Since B and I have been dating we have played a game while we are driving on who can see the most spudoodles (cars with one headlight out).

I realize that everybody has different names for these rare and fascinating creatures, but I would like to point out that in the Latin Animal Categorizing Thinga-ma-Jigger it is called a spudoodeles doodelas. So spudoodle is closest to the scientific name.

Anyways, the thing is that here we see about 5 every night. We usually would slap our hand to the roof and call out, "There's one!" But now they are so normal it would be like driving through Brownwood and calling out everytime you saw a truck, so they've lost there value here I guess.

We were telling a friend here about our little game and they thought we were rather stupid and that spudoodle was not a good name for these one-headlighted creatures.

So the question is: What do you call a one-headlighted car?

Apparently My Arabic Stinks

I've studied Arabic for two years. I've lived in the Middle East for two years. I should know Arabic when I hear it, right?
The other day B and I went to the grocery store and after loading up the car, it wouldn't start. Nothing! So I call the rental car company (we are renting a car until we can buy one, and we can't buy one till the residency comes in which it did, so we should be buying a car this next week insha'allah) The point is, B and Noah went with a friend to their house with all our once frozen food in an attempt to rescue it. I sat behind and waited while the car company brought me a new car.

To top it off it was 30 minutes before iftar (the breaking of the fast). So everything closed down. The supermarket closes down for an hour before iftar and an hour after. So when our friend comes to pick up B and our cold goods, the gates into the garage are shut and locked. I have to run around to the guard shack and tell him what's going on and to let our friend in and then let them out. He didn't really understand though.

*sidenote - all the manual labor jobs here are done by Indians, not American Indians, but actual Indians, so I spoke to the guard in English trying to get the gate open.

As I wait, I am sitting trying to talk with the guard and he and his buddy ask me to join them in breaking the fast, so we sat down together and waited for the call to pray. He and his buddy kept talking back and forth and I didn't understand any of it, so I figured it was Hindi.

The call to prayer goes off and we dig in and I notice that we are eating like Arabs and the soup tasted like Arab soup, so I asked him where the soup was from.
"Arabic soup"
"Did you make it?"
"Yes"
"Really? Where are you from?"
"Yemen"

they speak Arabic in Yemen

So we switched from English into Arabic, but it was really funny. Him and his buddy would talk back and forth and I would pick up maybe three or four words, then when I would talk with them and they would talk to me, it was like when a 5 year old comes up and asks you a question.
They would "squat down" and "use small words" and help me understand what was going on, but the minute I was out of the conversation, it went all fuzzy and I didn't pick anything up because they would speak in Yemeni Arab. Then I would say something and it would go back to kindergarten talk, then boom. Fuzzy all over again.
I took for granted knowing the dialect of where I was living. Gulfi Arabic, Yemeni Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, it's all fuzzy. Here's to starting over with kindergarten Arabic

and here's to Kool-Aid, fishy crackers and nap time all over again.

Internet Finally

So, life is coming together slowly here.

Today I went and picked up my Residence Card. Whoo Hooo for Residency!!
Now I can do all the things I needed to do but couldn't. Like...
internet, a phone plan, and a bank account (it's hard to remember where we are burying all our Mason jars full of cash out here in the desert! No landmarks!)

The internet is being worked on as we speak, but until it does, I was able to get a plan with the local mobile phone company.

Here I can buy a little USB thumb drive that I put a SIM card (the little thingy that you put in mobile phones to get reception) in it and hook it up to the computer and I get internet in the entire country. It's high speed and I pay for it like I would a monthly subscription.

With that said, I am internet capable! So call our US number or call us on Skype. We are here.

Ba Ba Bala La Ba

Today I came home from work and Noah was very excited to show me something, so I followed the waddling young tike into his room. He turned and picked up a picture book in another language that some friends in the Far East had sent him back several months (L&A, thanks for the books and stuff, he still doesn't fit into the outfit though. When he does you will be the first to know) But Noah loved the back cover. Ba! Ba! Ba!
Okay, Noah what is it?
Ba! Ba! Bala!
My son was pointing to the "ball" on the back of the book and was saying the word he knew.

That's right, no short bus for this baby bull, he's on his way to GT!!

Yogurt Foot

Today while I was feeding Noah yogurt for breakfast I turned my back to him to get something.

When I turned back around he had stuck half his foot in his mouth. He then pulled it out and saw that it was now covered in yogurt and commenced in licking the yogurt off his foot before sticking it back in his mouth...... then repeating the process.

Noah is Walking Video

Noah has started walking really well this week, so we finally dug out the video camera and caught some of it on film.

Noah eats my money

A quick funny story about Noah:
Two nights ago we walked into the dining room and Noah had spotted my change on the table and I told him NO and moved it towards the middle away from the edges where he can grab it.... went into the kitchen to get something

came back in and he had

pulled the chair out,

climbed up in said chair,

and was eating my money!

We are pretty sure he didn't swallow any of it, but time will only tell.

Noah the Pirate

Have I really turned into one of those people that only blogs once a month? Hang in there. Updates, pics and the like are coming. We are suppose to be getting internet in a couple of weeks.

But this is Noah at Chili's with a balloon-making pirate.

Spaghetti Sauce Stains..... Children

We all have it.

You know, that one Tupperware container you stored your leftover spaghetti sauce in. It's still sortof clear, but its got that red tint to it and no matter how hard you scrub it just never returns to its original color.
This is what I picture when I look at my son, wondering if he will ever be back to normal again.

It went something like this....
We shipped his high chair last week so insha'allah it will be there by the time we are in our new home. This makes feeding Noah fun to say the least. Because of this conundrum, I have heard B say more than once my favorite quote from her about Noah.

Child, you don't need a bib, you need an eight by ten tarp!

Tonight was no exception. We had spaghetti, and the noodles and the sauce were problematic for both child and parent to remain semi-clean during the process, so we just set Noah down on the floor and filled up his bowl with spaghetti and sauce.

By the end of the meal, Noah, the floor, his diaper, and the chair next to him were all a pretty shade of spaghetti sauce red. It was AWESOME!!! He looked like he had donned himself in warpaint and was on his way to global domination.

In the end, B took our little Indian brave straight to the bathtub and I took to scrubbing the floor, chair, table, and everything else to get the red off. My job went well. B came back in though with our happy, smiling child and he had a redish tint to his chin, neck, arms, legs, and the top of his round, little belly. Priceless.

Yup...that's going to have to wear off.

Moving.....

As you may have heard we are moving to the Gulf. We are very excited, but are ready to be there. Right now we are staying with some friends until we move on Monday. Once we get there and get a place to stay, internet, and running water (joking about the running water thing) we should be in position to blog alittle more. Hope to be back in contact with y'all.

More Family Pics

I promise things slow down I will actually have a real post and not just pictures. Of course, who am I kidding? I know you guys are just here for the Noah pics. :)

A Wedding and Validation

us and the groom

So this weekend a buddy and I went to a Saudi wedding. I would like to say that I am a big fan of the way they do weddings. All the men of the wedding get together and have dinner (there was about 400-500 of us) and then they all drive through the town honking and singing and dancing announcing the arrival of the bridegroom until they arrive at the house where the bride and the girls are at. Great time! I highly recommend it.

But the point of this blog is really about how we never want to be the only one to do anything. I decided to go the wedding wearing my shmaag (the red and white thing on our heads) Emirati Style, the way the Arabs from the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula wear theirs. Partly because I am more comfortable with it like that and partly because I can never keep my argaal (the little black thing on top) from falling off. So we go. We get there and I am the only one sportin' "emirati style." Everyone else is "saudi style." I am already a little self conscious because I am one of the only two foreigners there.

So as I am looking out among the masses and thinking to myself, "STUPID!! WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST BE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE! BUT "NOOOOO" YOU HAD TO BE COMFORTABLE!!!!" when one of the cousins of the groom came up and said,
"Clinton, who tied your shmaag?"
I did.
Really?
Yup.
So you know how to tie them emirati style?
Sort of.
Cool. Could you tie mine like yours?

Now.......if I told you that I just repeated this whole story without poking out my chest a little more, or sitting up a little straighter, or even givin' a manly chuckle; I would be a liar.
I was beaming as I tied this guy up. And he wore it the whole night!!! I'm da man!!! And to top it off, we were at someone else's house after the wedding hangin' out and drinkin' tea and one of the guys said, "so you're the guy that tied Mohammed's shmaag! It looked good!"

Yes......I have a big head.

But more importantly...I wasn't the only one...

Birthday Family Photo

One of us had cake for the first time....any guesses?

Noah's 1 year Birthday!

More to come.......

House Thobes

Here is the promised pics of Noah in his house thobe. We don't have a "dress thobe" for him yet. We are waiting a little while to get one made for him. These are your typical, everyday "kick around the house" casual thobes.

You would wear this if you are just running out to the store for a quick something or just relaxing in the house on a Friday afternoon. Its similar to our "shorts and a t-shirt" look.
However, people don't wear these much anymore. With the larger influx of Western culture these days, you rarely seeing anyone under the age of 40 out in these anymore. Which is sad, cuz honestly....it's really comfy. That's right! I wear a dress and I am proud of it. :)

103.5 and still kickin'!

This is Noah. This is Noah with a 103.5 temperature. No joke. The kid doesn't act sick. He is running around and showing off his food, not pulling his ears......nothing.
He felt really hot, so we took his temperature and voilah!! 103.5! So we take him to the doctor and the doctor said he has a ear infection in both ears....

Did he act like it? NO! He is just being a typical Noah.

A Couple of Noah Face Shots

Here are a couple of Noah up close. Enjoy. We also bought Noah a little dish-dash to wear (thats the little Arab man dress). However, we are having problems getting a good picture of him in it, so stay tuned for Noah all Arab.