Big Tall Girl!

We took Callie for her 12 month check up and vaccines a couple of weeks ago, her second trip to the docs since we arrived in Bahrain. Fortunately it passed without incident and she was a trooper when it came to her MMR and Hep A jabs. Obviously, she screamed the place down during, but recovered quickly and trotted off to the fish tank in the waiting room to see the fishies again before she left without so much as a whimper! She has also been completely fine since the jabs. However, the interesting information to come out of the visit is that Callie is apparently now in the 98th percentile for height, just short of 32" and the 75th for weight at around 24 pounds. Given she was a wee scrappy thing when we left Houston and only measured in the 40th percentile for both height and weight, we are quite shocked by the change. Having said that, we shouldn't really be that surprised as the amount of food that kid can shuffle away every day is frightening! We're now psyching ourselves up to take Callie for her first dental appointment, confident it will be a challenge given her aversion to having her teeth brushed! Also, having just read Gina's blog about Carter's first trip to the dentists, I'm even more concerned... there is absolutely no way on this earth we'll ever be able to floss Callie's teeth! We can barely get a toothbrush in there! Hmm, maybe I'll leave it till we get back from Scotland...!

Abu Dhabi - June 2009

After many hours of toil (not to mention blood, sweat and tears!) I have finally finished my entries for May and can move onto June, whew! It seems the key to blogging is to have everything just thrown onto the page and it sorts it out when you post, but if you make it all nice pre post it totally arses it all up for you! Anyway, I digress...

The second week of June saw Callie and I jetting off again! Jamie had organised a business trip to Algeria and Libya for part of the time my parents were over but unforunately we didn't quite work the dates out correctly! He ended up taking off when my parents were also off in Abu Dhabi, hence Callie and I decided to have another wee vacation even though we were just back from Scotland. (Jamie may be starting to have a point about my being on a permanent holiday!) Anyway, we went for a few days as there didn't seem much point in us staying home alone when all my family were only a 40 minute plane ride away. I'm so glad we made the effort as we had a great time all together which hasn't happened very often in recent years due to our dispersal all over the globe!

Callie took to Uncle Jonathan very quickly despite only having met him once before and very briefly... she obviously recognises he's a bad influence who will lead her astray and so was right in there! He also has a lovely tank of tropical fish which she was fascinated with! However, I'm not so sure the fish were all that enamoured by her attentions, what with all the banging on the tank for four solid days and the lights being kept on much longer than usual so she could see them better. They must have been totally dazed and confused by the time we left, not to mention relieved!

To be honest, we didn't get up to a whole lot other than eating loads and wandering in the malls as it was way too hot to be outside and alternative inside entertainment is limited! We did find a large ball pit in one mall that met with the approval of two of the party who spent some time bouncing about and throwing balls at each other... don't know who's the bigger kid, Callie or Granda!?! The highlight of our trip was lunch at the Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi's 7* hotel. Yummy! It was pretty pricey but we lucked out as we didn't have to pay for Callie and she probably ate more than anyone! It turns out she has something of a penchant for lobster and duck! Trust her to have expensive tastes! All in all we had a lovely afternoon of grazing in plush surroundings with champagne on tap and all had to go home for a nap afterwards!

How much noise do you think I have to make before they throw me out!?!

A rare photo of the Cowie clan all together!

At Granny and Grandad Mac's

At the park with Mummy and Daddy... I liked the big slide the best!

Feeding the ducks with Granny and Grandad...

It was going well till one pecked my finger, hmmph!

This had better be easier than yesterday!

Okay, having now calmed down from yesterday's tantrum, I'm going to attempt to add some more photos to finish off the May section of the blog... wish me luck! I think I'll need it!

I hate blogs!

After having had at least 30 attempts to publish those last four photos and two captions I've decided that this blog is the most irritating and infuriating thing in the world! I can't even contemplate attempting another post involving photos I'm so mad right now! Can someone please tell me why it is that, after I spend forever arranging my photos and captions and previewing them to check everything is sitting correctly, when I publish my post everything suddenly shifts to create the biggest dog's dinner you've ever seen!? Help me before I totally lose patience and throw my laptop out the window! Thank you!

At Granny and Granda Cowie's

Down Cullen Beach... no rain but a wee bit chilly! Yummy, the sand tastes delicious! In the back garden playing in the sunshine (believe it or not!) Football or dollies - hmmm, can you guess what I liked the best!?!

At Auntie Em and Uncle Richie's Wedding!

Giving Auntie Em and Uncle Richie a lucky horseshoe.

With Granda Cowie in my pretty dress - I kept it clean all day!

Auntie Em and Uncle Richie's first dance - Callie giving it big zzzz by now!

Blowing bubbles with Granny Mac the morning after!