One Year as a Family of Four

It feels like no time at all since I was writing our eleven month update, yet here we are, one year as a family of four.   We are now the proud owners of a one year old having celebrated the Baby’s first birthday with what has become our standard birthday trip, to visit the aquarium.

The Big One

We’ve been talking about moving away from Dubai with the Big One, but I’m worried that he isn’t fully grasping what that means.  He is so settled and has so many friends here that I am scared of pulling him away from all he knows.  To unsettle him to move him to my mums, to undo the progress we made with calming down tantrums, to then move him again when we finally settle on our final destination.  But as my husband keeps reminding me children are adaptable and our little social butterfly has no problem with meeting new people.  This is the boy who is now so confident he runs up to other kids in the park and announces them to me as his new friends.  Just remembering his sweet little face as he runs up to me so proud brings tears to my eyes.  The good kind of tears.  The I am so proud of you and cannot believe what a little man you are becoming kind of tears.

And a little man he is becoming.  It’s truly hit home for us over the past week how grown up he is.  School assessments have been undertaken and our little man passed with flying colours.  He is bright.  He is chatty.  He is a joy to be around.  He will be four next birthday.  Four.  And I don’t know where that time has gone.  Time has made my memory hazy, I have glimpses of when he was a tiny newborn, I have fleeting memories from the all night snuggles, I have crystal clear memories, moments in time, from when he was smaller that take my breath away with the clarity that I remember them with.  But then I turn around and look, and a Big Boy is standing in my tiny baby’s place.  With his attitude.  And his sass.  And his overall cheekiness.  My Big Boy.  Who really isn’t that big when we sneak in to give him one last kiss every night.

Other than that, we’ve been busy just enjoying nursery.  Making the most of the Dubai weather while it is still cool enough to be outside, trips to the parks with our best friends and spending as much time together as we can before it’s time to leave.  Excited 3 year olds running around, squealing in delight at the joy of each others company.  Then of course there is always the too cool for school look…. sunglasses child Except he isn’t too cool for cuddles or kisses still (thankfully else I think I may cry!)

Baby Boy

Is ONE!  One whole year has passed since his dramatic entrance into the world, and while it feels like only yesterday he arrived, it also feels like he has always been here if that even makes sense?  We spent a relaxed day, opening presents, visiting the aquarium and the Rainforest Cafe, before watching Daddy on the driving range and home for cake and tea, because it’s not your birthday unless you eat cake.

Let there be cake
Let there be cake

Despite being one, sleep still eludes us!  Having finally worked through and got to the stage where I can put him down in his cot awake and he sends himself to sleep, going through the night feels a long way away, I swear once we had this nailed with the Big One he then started sleeping through the night.  Not so the Baby, some nights I’m up once, bad nights I’m up four or five times.  He must be shattered, as I know I am feeling it.  Still, he will have to sleep someday right?! He is, most of the time, a happy contented little soul.  Babbling away and flashing the cheekiest of grins, especially when he is up to something he shouldn’t be.  Like climbing.  He’s learnt to climb out of the trolley, out of high chairs, up on the coffee table.  Or pulling hair and biting.  Yep.  We have a biter still.  He is seemingly innocent then has a glint in his eye before he pounces, playdates and coffee mornings are no longer the effortless morning of chatting while he sleeps, nowadays they are spent following him around and trying to make sure he doesn’t bite anyone or anything.  Hopefully he will grow out of it!

It's MY card, from the lovely White Cotton Cards
It’s MY card, from the lovely White Cotton Cards

I thought he would be walking by now, he’s been cruising, and climbing, and pulling up, and climbing for weeks on end, but walking is just not as fast as crawling.  We’ve graduated through to walking with the walker but if he sees anything he wants he drops to the floor to crawl towards it as fast as he can.  Still, I’m not sure I am ready to cope with them both walking…..

Brothers

I am still not doing too well at this, the pair of them move in opposite directions.  This was taken on the Baby’s birthday morning as the Big One tried to rip into all of his presents. brothers Then of course there is the fascinated on the birthday aquarium trip by all the fish…

“A brother is a friend given by nature” ~~ Jean Baptise Legouve ~~ . It was kind of blue and eerie inside the underwater tunnel with sharks baring their teeth and swimming over our heads. Little Dorys darting in and out. We set the baby free to crawl around and he crawled straight to his big brother to watch the fish in awe together. It’s incredible to watch a relationship blossom and grow, heartwarming on the days where the Big One takes the time to point out the wonders of the world to the little one, delightful when you see the joy in their eyes because they have each other. Yes they fight. Yes there are tears. But the good moments? They make the bad times feel like milliseconds in comparison. A photo posted by Blogger | Life with Baby Kicks (@laura_babykicks) on

I’m hoping for good things in the morning as we head on a family photo shoot as part of our leaving Dubai bucket list.

The Husband and I

As I said, the Baby isn’t really sleeping.  It goes in fits and starts.  Some nights he is amazing and all of a sudden I have slept for longer than a 90 minute stint, others it’s tough.  The worst of it is that it is showing on my face, I look at the photos we took on the Baby’s birthday and I look haggard.  Seriously shattered.  My face is drawn, my eyes ringed in black and I have the vacant expression of the truly exhausted.  It’s horrible.  Luckily, I have an amazing husband who will take the boys away so I can truly recharge my batteries.  Who will takeover when I am hiding under the covers unable to do anymore (the perils of breastfeeding).  Who is doing more with the 3 year old.  Who is sympathetic most of the time when I whine that I am tired yet still don’t go to bed.

We’re getting ready to leave Dubai, it’s all very surreal still and every so often he pipes up with “only have 24 days left” and even though I know we are leaving, it feels like it’s happening to someone else.  Though in the past month we have ticked at least one item off our bucket list by heading up to Abu Dhabi for a weekend with friends which was lovely.

Me and the Husband

Alongside this, with all the turmoil on moving, we have let fitness slide.  I’ve done barely any running, my last run happening nearly 2 weeks ago and the husband is slightly better but nowhere near where we were.  We need a good kick up the bum to start again……

Until next month!

One Year as a Family of Four - Monthly Update from Life with Baby Kicks

Follow:

1 Comment

  1. April 29, 2016 / 2:58 am

    Eek, I’m surprised you’ve even got time to think about running with all that going on! I do hope it all goes smoothly.
    Nat.x

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.