Birthday maddness

Omar turned three yesterday! We had a party for him on Saturday with all his friends at a Ceramic Cafe near our house. Omar loves this place, and he was very excited! The party was pretty low key, very different than the parties we have in the US, but nonetheless, it was nice!

We were there for about 4 hours. Exhausted and happy Omar fell asleep on the way home. He didn't open his presents until the next morning.

Then on his actual birthday, we didn't do much, had birthday lunch, got calls and emails from family and friends and had birthday cake.

While I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready, Omar was climbing all over the couch in the living room being all silly, when all of a sudden I heard a huge bang followed by loud screaming. Right then I knew it was bad, I came flying out of the kitchen and saw Omar had fallen off the back of the couch flat on his face on the marble floor. Blood was everywhere and I tried to stay as calm as possible but after I looked at his face I knew he needed to be taken to the hospital. I called Ramy who came right away and we hopped into a taxi. Traffic was terrible that time of day and it took us a good thirty minutes. Luckily Omar's face stopped bleeding but it was extremely swollen. At the ER we were seen right away, and the good news is that nothing was broken and no teeth were loose. We got some medicine for the swelling and we were on our way back home.

But during the time I was in the kitchen I was starting to feel ill, and it got worse and worse. Back home I realized it must've been something I had eaten that day.

The next morning Omar was sick too, it looks we got food poisoning from the lunch we ordered on his birthday. What a mess! Poor Omar!

Now for some  good news, Ramy met with the realtor, and signed the contract, so we are moving on December 1! Will keep you posted.

Proud mama

I always cut Omar's hair since he was a baby, but decided to get him to a hair dresser at age one. I have blogged about it before, his first hair dresser experiences have been rather traumatic so I resorted back to cutting it myself. Omar would get so hysterical that I would always cut his hair while he was sleeping. But the last couple of hair cuts I have tried to do them while he was awake. He needs to get over this fear of getting his hair cut and realize I am not going to cut him. So after procrastinating it for about a week, I decided to do it. I told him for two days I was going to cut it so he knew it was coming. Lots of protests and that mommy should get it cut instead as my hair was longer than his.

The clippers came out and Omar went into hysterics. Then he stopped crying, got out his little chair, picked up the clippers and told me to sit down and he would cut my hair. It was quite cute but it wasn't going to work!
I told him that if he was to sit down he would get a bowl of m&m's. He threw another major fit and then realized he was never going to get those m&m's without getting his hair cut.
So he came and got me and told me he was ready. He sat down on his little chair, held the bowl of m&m's and I started cutting. Not a single cry, a bit of complaining and twitching around but that was it, he even offered me some m&m's! Now why didn't I think of candy bribary before? Besides the whole bribe part I am super proud of him for not crying, it's like a whole new milestone for me!

His best little friend from Germany, Sami, is back in town for three weeks. We met up with him at the club the other day, and Omar was super excited to see him and played with him for hours. The last time he was here was back in May. The great thing about Sami being here at this time is that he is able to attend Omar's birthday which is on the 17th of November and we are able to attend Sami's which is on the 28th of November.

Omar is super excited about his birthday. Yesterday we went out to a little french bakery and he picked out his birthday cake. Of course it has a huge train on it! Then we went to the toy store to get his birthday present. Normally I would go out and get it while Omar is at home with Ramy but things are a bit different here so I had to take him along. What a nightmare! Shopping for a kid that is with you is not a very good idea.
All Omar is talking about is his birthday, his train cake, the party and the presents. It must be so hard for him to wait!

Lovely

Yesterday we met up with the realtor who showed us all the apartments in Maadi. We had spoken to him several times over the past week and decided to look at the ground floor apartment once more before signing the deal.

The owner of the apartment was there and we discussed everything with him before heading out. As we were about to commit to this apartment, our realtor said, you do know we are talking dollars here don't you? Ramy and I were shocked as we had clearly stated we were looking for an apartment in the range of 4000 Egyptian pounds. This apartment was renting for $4000 a month. I mean, $4000 for an apartment? Our house in America which is more than 3 times the size of this apartment costs half per month!

We were both in a state of shock and I felt rather foolish, embarrassed and angry at the same time. 

For the past two weeks we have been discussing in  Egyptian pounds and then all of a sudden it has become dollars? Very un classy.

Apparently, because Maadi houses mostly ex pats, the companies that bring them over pay for the apartments, so landlords have no problem charging a ridiculous amount of money as they know they will get it.

After returning home, I was just so depressed, and then when Omar asked me 'Mom, when  are we moving to the house with the garden, I want to play outside', I just lost it.

All the feelings I had when we first moved to Egypt, how much I hated it here, how lonely and depressed I was all came back at once.

But after a good two hours of moping around I decided to not give up and keep looking. 

So now there are still options available in Maadi, but for the money we can afford, I have a feeling it will be like a one bedroom apartment or something small like that. 

After searching the internet all night long, I found villa's and huge duplexes in our price range in the 5th settlement. Not knowing where that was I asked Ramy and that is where his company has a huge project going on called Hyde Park. Reading up on this place, I found it is located in New Cairo, the air is not polluted and it seems really nice. 

So now Ramy called them today and we have an appointment on Thursday to go look. I made sure Ramy called this time so we don't get swindled with me being a foreigner.

Yesterday, after getting back, I called a ton of realtors here in Cairo, and all of a sudden I was receiving a lot of calls. I never get any calls, so it was weird, but hey, I thought all these people are calling me back!

The phone calls were from Egyptian men who did not speak English, and from the little Arabic I know, they were making fun of me speaking English. I decided not to answer the phone anymore but around 11pm, this number was calling me non stop. So I answered it in a very angry voice in Arabic, but I didn't understand the replies I was getting until he started talking to me in very dirty English. Words that can not be repeated. I was furious and called Ramy's father who called the man back, threatened him not to ever bother me again, and then called the police on him who then went and arrested him.

I am very happy as I believe he gave my number out to his friends, and that is why I was being bombarded with calls.

I am so extremely sick of the mentality of the majority of Egyptian men here, the sexual innuendo, the constant, yet subtle harassment I have to endure because I am foreign and a woman. Even when  Ramy is with me, they have no shame, they will stare, whistle, follow me, or honk if we are driving. Ramy has gotten into quite a few arguments with them over it, which almost led into fist fights but in the end they were too scared.

Another reason I am so sad of us possibly not moving to Maadi, is that I finally felt I belonged somewhere and I fit in. Not feeling anxious about going out and ordering a taxi, or simply walking on the street as most people there are foreign like me.

I don't know, will I ever be really happy here?

Maadi

On Tuesday we met with a realtor in Maadi. 

Stepping  out of the car I noticed right away the air was cleaner and the streets were cleaner too. It was also quiet and I heard birds chirping. There were lots of trees, and I saw villa's with gardens and Europeans walking  around.

The first apartment was a ground floor with a garden and patio. It was very big, four bedrooms. I loved it and couldn't stop smiling. Finally something looked right! But it didn't stop there, we saw maybe about 12 more and all of them were very big and very nice.

 The realtor was very helpful and had brought us a map where he numbered each apartment we had seen. It was interesting taking Omar as he certainly had an opinion on each of them. Our least favorite was his least favorite as well. When I asked him if he liked to live here, he said no, this one is bad!

So at the end of the day, we had picked a top 5 where the ground floor was number one, and a duplex (two floors) was number two. The reason the duplex didn't make number one is because its on the first floor and on a busy main street with not much parking. The ground floor one sits on a quiet and secured street where Omar could actually ride his bike!

So now we are in the process of negotiating. If it was up to me I would be moving yesterday, but we have a few obstacles, the main one being that when we gave our notice, it had to be for three months. Now if our current land lord sells this apartment before the three months notice is up, which is before January 1st, we could leave sooner. If we do leave sooner before he sells the place we will lose our deposit. 

I am keeping my fingers crossed someone will buy this place real soon! I am ready to move!!!

Here is a map of Cairo:

The blue streak running through the middle

is obviously the Nile river.

Then when you look at the right, you see El Nozha, which is where we live now. Heliopolis is where Ramy currently works. Nasr City is where we first lived. 6th of October is not on this map (it's our second apartment), so you can imagine how far it was from the center. Zamalek is where the club is, Maadi is where we are looking to move and Giza is where the pyramids are. So now you might have a better feel for what I am talking about!

Besides Maadi being cleaner and not as dense as some of the other places, Ramy's work will be moving there by next month, and it will be walking distance away. Omar's school is there and on the same street is the community center which is only for foreigners living in Egypt. I checked out their website and they have a lot going on! 

Do I sound a little excited? Just a bit! 

Although I am not looking forward to packing it all up AGAIN, I am confident we will stay put here for a little while.

This will be our fourth move in less than a year!

Moving around in Cairo

It has been months since my last post, which means lots has happened since May.

We finally moved out of Nasr City in June to Sheikh Zayed, which is in the outskirts of Cairo. A beautiful area, quiet, clean air but completely secluded if you don't have a car. 

We only stayed there for one month as the commute to Ramy's work in Heliopolis (two hours each way by taxi) was taking a toll on all of us. While there we had three visitors from the United States which made the time go by quickly and made me feel less home sick.

Then in July we moved into an apartment close to the airport in Nozha el Gedida, which is basically 5 minutes from Ramy's office. Our furniture arrived at the same time, so it was a very busy time with getting the apartment set up and trying to resume a normal life after months of living on borrowed stuff.

The apartment itself is very nice and roomy, but only one third of our old home in the US which forced us to put half of our belongings in storage.

Omar was very happy to have a room of his own again, he was also ecstatic to have most of his toys and to sleep in his own bed.

But Cairo is Cairo, and with living in a overcrowded city like this comes pollution and lots of dirt.

It keeps me busy, cleaning every day. My husband tells me to just get a maid, but why should I? I am home at the moment, taking care of a two year old, I can manage this!

In September Omar and I took a month long trip back to the US. It was a fantastic trip, and the month flew by. Omar and I tried to visit as many friends as possible, and Ramy managed to join us for two weeks as well. 

For our seven year anniversary we took a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas which was absolutely fantastic and would highly recommend it to anyone thinking of taking a cruise with kids. Omar had a blast and so did we. We all needed the much needed vacation and relaxation.

Afterwards we stayed in Orlando for three days and visited Disney World. Coming back to Maryland after our little vacation gave us only a couple of more days before we had to take the plane back to Egypt. It was a crazy hectic few days which flew by and before we knew it we were in the air on our way back. 

Mixed feelings of happiness and sadness engulfed Omar and I, but the fun wasn't quite over as we had a long lay over in Amsterdam.

We got there pretty early and Omar and I took the train to my grandma's house, where my brother, fiance with newborn baby and my dad and his wife were all there waiting for us.

Omar was very happy again, and did not sleep at all as he was too excited.

Later that evening we took the train back to the airport and finished our trip to Egypt.

Surprisingly enough it felt good to be back in the apartment. Ramy came and picked us up as he had gone back ahead of us. 

It looks like Egypt is starting to grow on me, well Cairo is. I still dislike it but don't hate it anymore.

While we were gone on our trip, our upstairs neighbors flooded our apartment, which they failed to mention to us, and luckily Ramy's dad happened to stop by and found the mess and was able to save our things.

Due to the nasty mentality of our neighbors and it not be the first time they did some nasty stuff to us, we decided to give our notice and move out.

At the same time Ramy told me he is being moved to an office in Maadi, which is where I wanted to live all along. So it seems things are falling into place, and I am very excited!

The apartment search is on again, hopefully we find something nice with some green around us.

After 8 months I am finally feeling a bit happy and I am trying my hardest to keep this feeling going!

Good news and bad news

The good news is that Ramy got the job! We are very excited, and as soon as he finishes his paperwork he will start his training and then we will find out which office he will be working from.
They have six offices in Cairo, I am hoping it will be the one in 6th of October as that is the nicest area to live in.
So for now we still have to be patient and wait to move until we find out where he will be working.

As for the not so good news, apparently our shipment, which arrived over two weeks ago is being held at National Security. The reason for it being there is Ramy’s sword and knife collection.
They claim it is a national threat and it looks like Ramy is planning a war. Yeah right! With the couple of swords that old and in that kind of shape. Outrageous let me tell you. They are planning on confiscating it all, so Ramy is working really hard on getting this solved at the moment.
Besides that, they now say we need to pay 30% on each item we bring into the country
which is also a big load of crap, where are we supposed to get that kind of money from?
And that is certainly not what they told us when we were moving!
I don’t know why the little bit of good news always has to be overshadowed with a lot of bad news.
Will things ever go our way or at least go as planned?

Pyramids and horses

Isis seems to be a bit better now. I took her to a vet the day before yesterday. It was very hard to find and with traffic it took us an hour and a half. There was no sign on the building or on the door of the office which was so strange. Isis got really hot in the taxi and was barely breathing, it was quite scary.
At the vet she did great, I think she was just too sick to put up a fight. The vet here is something you probably cannot even imagine if you are used to the ones in the US or Europe for that matter.
We walked in and it was small and dirty looking. It had 5 billion pictures of dogs on the wall and not a single reference to any other animal. Then a woman took us to a side room that looked a bit more like a medical room. The doctor was standing behind the examining table with a cigarette in one hand and a lighter and cell phone in the other. He seemed annoyed we disturbed him.
He asked me what seemed to be the problem, I told him my cat had a seizure yesterday and after consulting with the vet back home we came to check her out.
He lit up his cigarette, then told me to put the cage on the table. He then asked me if it was a cat or a dog. Hello? Didn’t I just say it was a cat and can’t you see she is right in front of you?
He then asked me again, what seems to be the problem? I was really annoyed at that point.
I got her out of the cage, as his assistant was scared of the cat. He then took her temperature and gave her a bunch of medicines for fever and parasites. He never even looked at her or checked her, nothing.
Her fever is gone now but she is still a bit out of it. I am not taking her back there though, the guy was rude. I asked him what he gave her and he refused to tell me. He got really annoyed and kind of yelled at me that if I take her in for the next three days he will write me a report.
Whatever. At least he didn’t kill her.


Ramy took us horseback riding at the pyramids yesterday. It was a surprise and Omar and I were very excited!
When we were almost there, some guy jumped into our taxi and told us his stables are the best. So we went there. We got two horses and Omar was really excited. I got on the horse and he wanted to get on too, so I put him on with me. My saddle had a big metal ring sticking up in front so we were really cramped and I decided to give Omar to Ramy as he had a normal saddle.
We then rode off. Omar was so happy, he was petting the horse while we were trotting, saying good boy and he was laughing the whole time.
It took us about fourty five minutes to get to the pyramids. Omar was in awe. He couldn’t stop talking about how big the rocks were. He went for a little ride on the horse all by himself there. He loved it and I am very proud of him!

There was a guy there with his camel and he tried to get Omar on it but Omar was too busy with his horse and had no interest in riding the camel.
I then took him on the pyramid with me, it was hard to climb as the big square rocks were the same size as him.

When we were saddling up to ride to the sphinx, our guide got into a fight with the tourist police that was at the pyramids. As we had gone ahead, we heard screaming and then he came riding up behind us fast. My horse got scared and started galloping which scared me as we were descending a big slab of rock. I got him to slow and then the police had ran after our guide and were trying to pull him off the horse. They were very angry at him and were trying to beat him and arrest him. They got close to Omar and his horse got scared which in turn made me panic and started yelling at them. Ramy also yelled at them and finally they let him go.
Apparently, they wanted 50 pounds as they were the tourist police and they can demand whatever they want. Our guy refused and made them very angry.
It was pretty scary! While descending to the sphinx a group of wild looking horses came by and got Ramy’s horse a bit out of control, but luckily Ramy handled it well and him and Omar were fine. I am so glad I put Omar with Ramy as I am not a good rider and we both would have gotten hurt.
Omar then got excited to see the Sphinx, he recognized it from one of his Little Einstein shows.
We chose not to go in it as we had rode for an hour and a half and we were all very tired.
It was a great family outing!

Mickey

Mickey was fun! Omar had a blast! It was so American. He sat for almost the entire show, it was well organized, started on time and we had really good seats.
Omar did not want to go at first because he insisted Ella had to go with him. I tried to explain to him that Ella lives in America and we are in Egypt. He screamed and he cried.
Thinking about it, it makes sense as we are planning to go to Disney World later this year and I told him Ella and him might go see Mickey together.
The weather has gotten a lot better too, 80s during the day 60s at night, just wonderful!

Our situation is still the same, I wish I could tell you Ramy got the other job! We got a house! Our things are here in Cairo!
Maybe next week? I am still keeping my fingers crossed. The good thing is that we are here as a family, and although we have been cramped in a bedroom for two months, we are spending more time together as a family. Omar is very happy spending this much time with the both of us. It makes up for everything he misses back home.

I finally got skype today, I was so excited! There is high speed internet at the club and the program downloaded fairly quickly. Thirty minutes instead of 6 hours. The only problem was that nobody was on! We waited to talk to someone until the battery died. Omar was a bit disappointed but I told him we will try again tomorrow.

All three of us came down with another stomach bug. I woke up in the middle of the night with the worst pain, then the next day Ramy and Omar got it. I don’t know if it is something we ate or what but I can tell you, I am tired of having stomach aches! There hasn’t been a day that has gone by that my stomach has not hurt. Ramy however has never had a stomach ache here in Egypt so he was really miserable.

We’ve had a bit of bad luck here and there, just now when we got home, I went to feed the cats and Isis had a seizure. She was in the middle of eating and all of a sudden her front paw was straight up in the air. I have never seen such a thing, I didn’t think a paw could go that way. And as she was still eating I was just staring at first until she started staggering and shaking, I thought she was choking. I checked her, but could not see anything, she was spastic. I screamed for Ramy and we rushed her to his dad. I was freaking out, thought she was going to die as she had a very scary asthma episode a couple of days before we left to Egypt where she did almost die. I needed to go to an emergency vet right away!
Ramy’s dad did not know of a veterinarian here, and the one I had found on the net earlier this week was over an hour away.
Luckily she started to become normal again, and I called the vet in America who told me she had a seizure and to find a vet here as soon as possible. These things can be fatal.
So first thing tomorrow we are in the taxi, I hope it is nothing serious!

About two weeks ago Horus inhaled a couple of pieces of dry cat food that had gotten stuck together and almost choked to death. I swept his mouth, couldn’t reach the piece, held him upside down, shook him and did the heimlich until it came out. Very traumatic let me tell you. I honestly didn’t know what to do and Ramy didn’t really seem to care so I was trying anything I could think of. I figured if I didn’t he would die anyway. And yes, there is a heimlich for cats and dogs, I went online afterwards to read up on it and to prepare myself for future accidents. Unfortunately the vet here does not live around the corner like back home. In fact, a vet is hard to find here. Apparently, for the majority of the Egyptians dogs are considered dirty, and cats, well there are hundreds of them on the streets so why have them as a pet? The only people that have pets are Americans or Europeans that live here. In Holland four out of five households have a pet. The majority of the Europeans and Americans live in Maadi or Zamalek and that is where you will find a vet. One more reason to move closer, don’t you think?

Omar has had a couple of small accidents, some black eyes and nasty falls. The worst fall was at the mall. He was sitting on Ramy’s neck when he decided to jump off. As Ramy was distracted he grabbed him too late and Omar landed face first on the floor. It was such a smack I thought for sure he broke something, or lost a couple of teeth but he was okay! His left cheeck was all swollen and bruised and there was blood in his mouth, but that was the worst of it. Tough kid I tell you!

Heat wave

We have been hit by another heat wave. Yesterday we had a high of 106 degrees. It was absolutely scorching hot!
I tried getting a taxi with air conditioning but no luck.
Omar got really hot in the taxi, he was passing out which totally freaked me out. Ramy and I have been in disagreement over taking Omar into the hot weather. He claims thousands of kids go in the hot weather each day and it is no big deal.
But I think yesterday’s taxi ride may have changed his mind as Omar was really affected by the heat. I honestly think he was close to a heat stroke. It was a scary experience. He was really out of it for the rest of the day and didn’t really become his old self until he had a nice cool bath.
Today we are going to the Mickey Mouse show, luckily it is very close to the house so the ride shouldn’t be bad.
After yesterdays experience I am really starting to hate this place. I miss the convenience of my car, the central air conditioning of our previous home and the fresh air.
Now more than ever I want to move to our own place. For my son’s sake we need to live closer to the things we do everyday.
Heat wave come to an end!

Egypt anyone?

The last couple of days have been really warm here, so we were planning on taking Omar swimming today but looking out of the window now I see nothing but smog. I guess swimming is out of the question. The air smells like burning, it is very nasty.
Besides that, Omar woke up with a cold.
I am so bummed, I was looking forward to going to the club and the pool today. Anything to get us out of the house!

When I have a moment of nothing to do, it really means I have nothing to do. Yesterday I found myself coloring in Omar’s coloring book, now talk about being bored!
Being here is so much different than home, at least when I think I have nothing to do, there is something to do like laundry, dishes, paying bills or just get on the internet.
How I miss the internet. It is so hard to get on these days, I never reply to any emails, so I am sorry for that. I can read them on my phone though but it is such a hassle to reply. Please keep sending me emails though they are much appreciated!!!!!
Once my blackberry starts working here it will be better. Apparently the Pearl is not out here yet so they can’t get my phone set up. Hopefully it will soon.

Lets talk about some of the Egyptian ways. It seems everyone here has a servant for something rather, one for cleaning, one for cooking, one for laundry, a nanny, a driver and if you can afford it, more servants for whatever you need.
When we go to the play garden I still have a hard time distinguishing the nanny from the mother, however, I have figured out that when the kid is extremely bratty and the caretaker just laughs about it, it is the nanny.
I feel it totally unnecessary to have all these servants.
Once our car comes I do think we need a driver because driving here is extremely dangerous, as there are not traffic rules or signs.

The trash gets collected by a boy or an old man on a cart being pulled by a mule. They announce at each building they are coming, but honestly, who is going to run down with the trash if you live on the 12th floor? I see them look up in anticipation and then at the door to see who comes out. When they get the trash and if there are two people on the cart, one will browse through it. I guess someones trash is someone else treasure?

There is such contrast between poor and rich. I need to get used to all this poorness around me, it breaks my heart.
The other day when we left the mall, there was a little boy begging for money, we were just getting in the taxi and he was desperate. I didn’t understand what he wanted as I was busy getting Omar and our bags in the car until I looked at his eyes. He was so hungry. He kept reaching for something and I noticed he wanted the bag from the restaurant where we ate. I gave it to him and he ran off.
I felt terrible in the taxi, he was only around 6 years old, I looked at my son and thought how blessed we are. I couldn’t help but cry.
Stuff like this happens every day, it breaks my heart.
Don’t even mention the amount of stray dogs and cats that live here. I sometimes cannot sleep from the noise they make. Especially when the dogs get in a fight and I hear one being killed. It goes through my spine.
The other day someone ran over a cat, the scream of that cat dying still haunts me.
It seems I am the only one being so sensitive to this because my husband doesn’t even look up for any of this.
Children here make it into a sport to torture the stray cats and dogs. It sickens me.
It has been hard just keeping my cats save. Besides Omar and I, I don’t think anyone else is happy they came.
When they are on the balcony the neighbors throw things at them. I am so sick of it, the next time I see them doing it I am going to throw the dirty cat litter back at them. Serves them right.

Alongside the poor come the very rich, I see teenage boys walking around with iphones and psp’s. Driving expensive Mercedes etc What’s up with that?

Now on the positive side, there is a fruit and vegetable stand on every corner, so you never run out of fresh produce. It is lovely.
There is also a supermarket on every street and a pharmacy on every block. The pharmacy is more like a doctor here without making the appointment. You go, describe your symptoms and they give you the medicine. No prescription needed.
Everything in the supermarket is surprisingly fresh, it has a date on when it was made and when it will expire.
The weather is nice year round. I don’t know why we bothered bringing our winter coats.
Certain things are extremely cheap here, then imported things are extremely over priced. A box of Egyptian made cheerios is less than two dollars where a box of imported cheerios is 9 dollars.

Not to mention the natural beauty of the country. You can’t see much of it here in the busy streets of Cairo, but when you go a bit outside of it, there are the Pyramids, and a ton of other interesting stuff. The views are incredibly amazing!

I love the little cafe’s and bakeries here. It really reminds me of Holland. Fresh pastries galore!
Not so sure if it is helpful for my waist line as I am currently not doing anything in regards of exercise, but thank God I haven’t gained any yet!
So I am a big fan of cafe’s, an afternoon cup of coffee or tea with some sort of freshly made pie always works for me.
Omar really likes it as well, he loves all the fruit drinks here which are all freshly made as well. His favorite is strawberry.

We finally found some normal diapers the other day. One of the moms pointed out that a special kind of pampers is not made out of plastic. It is two sizes smaller than what he usually wears but so far it is working. No leaks and no rashes!
I don’t see us in diapers much longer as he is really trying to use the bathroom. I am hoping and praying we will be in our own home by May so we can say goodbye to them for good and welcome the big boy underwear with open arms!