Baptism & Blessing Day

Earlier this month Bret was baptized and Laci was blessed. It was a busy day. Nick's parents were able to be here for the events, which was nice. Bret was baptized in our pool. We had a couple of friends from church over and it was a nice, peaceful morning. Bret said the pool was a little cold, though.

The fam

Nick & Bret looking good in white

Bret about to get dunked

Laci with one of her first smiles

Laci in her beautiful blessing gown. The dress was made by Nick's grandmother (who was nearly blind) before she passed away. The picture does not do it justice.

Dress Up

Laci has a couple of dresses now, so I thought I would dress her up and take a few pictures.

Dubai Mall

The kids had a day off from school last week so we headed out to see Dubai's newest attraction - a new mall! Dubai needs another mall as much as it needs more sand. But, this mall is supposedly the biggest in the world. Inside the mall is the largest aquarium in the world. And, this all sits right next to the tallest building in the world. You get the idea - this place is insane. Only about half of the 1200 stores are open and these are all the same stores that are in every other mall here in Dubai. I just don't get it. There is one plus for us, Dubai's first Taco Bell! We had our Nachos Bell Grande and soft tacos for lunch. It tasted just like any other Taco Bell. We walked through the shark tunnel at the aquarium and the kids loved it.

Tacos and nachos for lunch - note the Taco Bell logo in Arabic

Halloween

Here are a few pictures from Halloween. Bret, Cole and Drew all wore costumes that Nick brought back from his most recent trip to the US. He made special trips to Target (oh how I miss Target!) to get them. Bret was a bleeding skeleton, Cole was the Hulk and Drew was Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story 2 is his favorite movie). Bret and Cole had a parade and class parties at school on Thursday and then Nick took the boys trick-or-treating around our neighborhood on Friday. Laci wore a little outfit that some friends gave us. It is newborn size (5-8 lbs) and it actually fits her. None of the boys ever fit the newborn size. They were too big.

It's a.....GIRL!!!!!

There's finally some pink at the Wiseman house. We can't believe it. We're still in shock. Little Laci (yep, we finally decided on a name, no middle name, fyi) was born Thursday, October 23 at 2:45 p.m. She weighed in at 7 lbs 14 oz (or 3.576 kgs) and was 51 cm long. Everything is done in the metric system here, so Nick did the kilogram to pound conversion on his blackberry in the delivery room and we still haven't figured out her length in inches yet. She's the smallest of the kids yet she was my most painful labor and delivery. The nurses couldn't find the guy to give me my epidural. They finally found him and the medication kicked in when I was at 9 cm, better late than never though. My nurses were great. I had 3 nurses, one from Portugal, one from India and one from the Philippines. My main nurse, Bella from Portugal, had to kick my butt a few times because I was freaking out from the pain. I'm such a wimp.

Nick is loving his little girl and has turned into quite the protective dad. When he was in the nursery with Laci as she was having her first bath, he was making the nurses laugh. The nurse came back and told me that Nick said Laci couldn't date until she was 30 and told the baby boy in the little cart next to her to "stay away from my daughter." He also went to Baby Gap the day after she was born and bought practically the whole newborn girl section. Laci's big brothers are also very fond of her. For the first few days, they kept referring to the baby as he or his or him. They couldn't get used to the fact that there was a girl in the family now. Bret and Cole race in from school and fight over who gets to hold her first. Drew has done well so far. He says "baby" and "soft " as he pats her on the head. I'm sure the jealousy will start soon. The only issue I've had is when I would check her diapers for pee, I was concerned because they seemed dry. But, duh, girls don't pee in front like boys do.

One more thing - our maid, Anusha, has been such a help this past week. She helped a lot with the kids while I was in the hospital. Nick would bring the kids once a day and then come back by himself once a day. It was so nice to come home to a clean house and empty laundry hampers. Anusha has been doing my house cleaning and all my laundry for the past few months and it is soooooo nice, especially now with a newborn. I have more time to just sit and hold Laci.

Me at the American Hospital Dubai.

Little Laci - she has the most hair of all the kids


Bret and Laci

Cole and Laci

Drew and Laci

Bret's #8, 3 times over

So, Bret was a lucky boy this year. He had 3 birthdays. First, he got this before Nick left for his 2 week trip:

A brand new bike!

On Bret's real birthday (October 9th), we had a little swimming party with a few friends.

The kids loved the "magic" candles, but Bret said he was annoyed that everyone was spitting on his cake trying to blow out the candles. A little extra spit never hurt anything, right? He got a few lego sets from his friends, that he has enjoyed putting together.

The morning after Nick got back (yes, we survived, with no baby yet), Bret opened his presents from us.

The highlight of the birthday for Bret was getting the new Lego Batman video game. He's been begging for this for months. Nick and I tricked him and wrapped another video game up. When he opened it, we said that Nick couldn't find the Batman game in the US, but Nick said they could play this new game. Bret was visibly disappointed but went to the player to put in the other new game. We had placed the unwrapped Lego Batman video game on top of the player. He found it and was super excited. He has been playing it non-stop since. When he gets home from school, he doesn't even stop for a snack.

Drew's 2nd birthday, a few days early

We celebrated Drew's birthday five days early because Nick left us for 2 weeks. Nick is sad he is going to miss Drew's and Bret's birthdays. We just hope he won't miss #4's birthday. Yeah, I'm crazy sending my husband halfway around the world when I'm 36 1/2 weeks pregnant. He's just a short 13 hour plane ride away. We're just crossing our fingers this baby doesn't arrive early. Anyway, we gave Drew his presents, sang to him and had cake on Saturday - really exciting, I know. He didn't care that it wasn't his real birthday. We'll celebrate Bret's #8 when Nick gets back. Now, Bret, on the other hand, is a little upset that he will have to wait a couple of days to open his presents.

Drew waiting patiently to open presents.

Wow, a new book! He doesn't care that it's upside-down.

Unwrapping presents, with Bret's help.

Drew loving the candles. The cake is sooooo boring. Finding decent, or any, decorations here isn't an easy task.

Drew blowing out the candles.

Drew enjoying the boring cake.

He enjoyed it so much, that the next day, I caught him sneaking more cake and cupcakes. Don't worry about that large knife within his reach. I've got it all under control here without Nick.

And, last, but definitely not least............................a much anticipated belly shot. Drew and Cole wanted in on the action, too.

Summer

I'm finally getting around to the Summer recap. It seems as though I'm on the quarterly report schedule, oh well. Warning: A lot of pictures ahead. There would have been more, but I was too lazy to find an adapter to charge the battery in my camera and I put it off until the last minute when I realized I hadn't taken many pictures. Anyway, here are the pictures, in no particular order:

Bret and Cole getting a taste of real snow - none of the fake stuff like there is here

Cole getting a shave at Pioneer Village (I think that is what it is called)

Cousins on the train at Pioneer Village

Boys at the zoo - no cougar fans here

Drew and Jenna or "Nenna" as he calls her. When I was putting these pictures on my computer last week, he walked by and saw this picture. He started yelling Nenna and dancing around because that is what she would do with him. He loved it and very much remembered it.

Drew and Emme playing with the water

Slip and Slide day at the cousins' house

Drew enjoying the slip and slide

Bella and messy faced Drew with his faux-hawk

Relaxing on the hammock

The highlight of our vacation was the trip to Disney Land. It was the boys first trip and they loved it. They still talk about it almost every day. It was referenced today as we were riding an elevator and how it compared to the Tower of Terror. They are already planning next years trip.

Bret and cousins on California Screamin

Cole at the little petting zoo

Drew hangin' out with mom because we weren't allowed on very many rides

Bret and Cole in front of Tower of Terror, their favorite ride. I don't know how many times they rode this, but it was A LOT.