Saturday, August 15, 2015

{1,000}

One thousand posts ago I sat down at my college laptop to tap out some thoughts that were rolling through my little head.

I was 21 years old, just graduated from college, and was days away from getting married and moving out of my childhood home for the first time.

This blog has followed us through Ian's grad school and my perilous job search.

It's been right there as we explored our calling to the nations and it has seen our stretching and growing as we have responded to move overseas.

This blog has been my voice as we moved from Orlando, to Nashville, to Richmond, to Vancouver, to Buraimi, and then to Abu Dhabi.

This has been my mental outlet as we sloughed our way through two years of Arabic language school. It was the one place that I felt I could be ALL in English and not feel bad about it.

Far More Than Rubies has been my home as we struggled for a year to conceive our first child, the place we rejoiced with so many when we found out we were expecting, and where we joyfully announced our first, second, and third child!

Slowly, over the years, I have not turned to the blog as much as my motherhood bogs me down some days and leaves me without the ability to form coherent thoughts. If I tried to write on those days it would mostly come out as such:

Kids are fine.
House is semi clean.
Dinner was made.
I like television.

Ha! And that would be about the extent of my thoughts. The days that I can piece together intelligent sentences feel like a big accomplishment, but then I can get overwhelmed with all of the details I need to share. I do love when I get back into a groove though.

So much to share. So much to record. So many things to remember!

And YOU guys. Man. Ya'll are awesome. Some of you have been around since the very beginning. You read through my takes on the honeymoon period when we were dirt poor but madly in love and loving every new experience.

Alot of you joined in when we, as a collective group, where expecting our first children within the same time period. Ya'll are my tribe, even if you don't know it.

Some of you joined in during the crazy, hairy days of moving overseas. You were intrigued about what we were doing and why, and you got a peak into a more "exotic," life. If you can call rats in your grocery store exotic.

And some of you are family. Literally. My family reads as die hard fans, wanting to get the newest update on what the Galloway family is up to. And to catch a glimpse of these sweet babies' faces.

I am so grateful for every one of you.

So here's to 1,000 more.

1,000 more posts.
1,000 more adventures.
1,000 more memories!

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Trying New Things

Having lived overseas for five years now (!!!) there are so many things that cease to be exotic and new. In fact, most days are boring and normal. 

As boring and normal as things can be with three little ones, I suppose!

After time you can no longer afford to do touristy things and the things that you have done are old hat. 

We've tried a few new things lately though that have helped us remember why it's great to live in our city!

Ian and I went on a date to a puzzle chamber! (Seen in both The Bachelorette and Big Bang Theory recently.) The premise of a puzzle chamber is that you are "locked," into a room and have to figure out how to get out. 

Our particular one wasn't scary but was a murder mystery that you had to help solve. Puzzles, riddles, keys, combinations, and searching the room with a black light were some of the things that we did all while the clock was ticking. We got stuck on the first puzzle for 30 minutes and ended up having to ask for a clue. We didn't finish in the hour but since we were the last people for the day they let us stay an extra ten minutes and "solve," it. 

It was a lot of fun and something we would love to do with a group. It would also be great pre marital counseling, ha! Locked in a room, forced to work together, seeing how each other work in stressful situations! Such a fun and different date night!


Another new thing I did recently was exercise related. I'm part of an awesome Facebook health accountability group and we set personal goals every six weeks or so. My goal this time was to get in 800 minutes of exercise. We are coming up on the deadline and I needed to get in some time! 

We are too far from any sort of gym or park and it's questionable if it is culturally appropriate to run outside as a woman. (In some parts of the city it would be no problem, but in our area of town it is a gray area.)

I usually get in exercise during one of Luke's nap times but the girls constantly interrupt and it can be a bit frustrating. 

So this week I headed out to our local Formula One* race track for a run.

*as a American Southerner I had never heard of Formula One, just NASCAR. Apparently it's a really big deal. Like, in the whole world. Kind of like how soccer is not really followed as much in the U.S. 

Yas Marina Circuit hosts an open track day on Tuesday nights and a ladies night on Wednesday nights. Cyclists come and use it to get in some major mileage and walkers/joggers go around the outside edge for some well lit, safe, exercise. 

I came right after I put Luke to sleep for the night and was on the track by 7:45. I did two days worth of Couch to 5k in a lap and a half (a lap is 5.5 kilometers.) then things kind of went down hill from there. 



I knew I still had an hour for the track to be open and I was about 2 kilometers into the track. There was one shortcut/turnaround but I missed it. Shortly after my hip started having pain and my feet were completely numb! It took me nearly and hour to finish the track and I was quite possibly the last one off even though there were several hundred people there just an hour before!

It was really neat to walk through the track (seen on The Amazing Race season 23!) and get a bit of a behind the scenes look at the pits and the grandstands. 

I will definitely be coming out again. It would be fun to come with a friend or to rent bikes and ride it!

I even think the girls would love it! 

Sunday, August 2, 2015

{Luke} Five Months

Happy Five Months, Luke!

Luke weighs 15 pounds 8 oz.
He wears size 3-6 months clothes
He wears size 3 diapers

I can't believe we are just weeks away from him being six months- half a year old! So many milestones start happening at six months that I am excited for (food!) but also I am not wishing the days away.

This month had its share of challenges. In his four month update I shared how Luke was starting to drool alot and liked chewing on his hands. That continued through July but included a sleep strike that left Ian and I totally useless for a couple of days! Whether it was teething or growth spurt related we will never know.

Our little buddy is back to his normal schedule. He nurses really fast and he currently wants to be held constantly when he is awake. He's started reaching for cups and spoons when we are eating so starting food next month will be fun!

6 am- Up for the day, feeds.
7:15- Nap
9:30- Wakes up, Feeds
10:30- Sometimes naps but most days we run errands in this time and he cat naps in the car
12:30- Feeds
1:00 pm- Nap
3:30- Wakes up, Feeds
5:00- Naps
5:45- Wakes up
7:00- Bed time!


Luke still doesn't roll over but he loves to sit or stand assisted.

He loves suck on his thumb now to fall asleep. We take him up to his room when he is fully awake, lay him down, and he rolls over onto his left side, puts his thumb into his mouth, and falls asleep. Easy peasy.

Sophie the giraffe is still a favorite toy and he talks to himself sometimes.