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...