Our new life

All is well with the new addition!

2010-04-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

Emmy is doing really well. We had a GREAT night with her last night - perfect sleeping, waking only to eat, which is great news for sleepy mom and dad. Hayes is really looking forward to bringing her home today. We're looking forward to learning what "normal" is for our new family of four!

Here are a few pictures from the first 48 hours of Emmy's life.

Hayes is (clearly) so excited to be the BIG SISTER!
Hayes LOVES sunglasses right now and was so excited to receive a gift from Megan and Marla that included matching sunglasses for her and Emmy. She couldn't wait to get them out and on both of them!

Emerson Hampton Welch

2010-04-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

We are thrilled to announce that our second daughter arrived today, April 28, 2010. Emerson "Emmy" Hampton Welch was born at 9.15am and weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces and is 20.5 inches long. She is, of course (as any good parent will claim), perfect! She is doing really well.

I'm still waiting for the impact of two daughters to hit Hank. :) He hasn't thought ahead to two proms, two weddings, etc. :)

Hayes absolutely loves Emmy already (as you can tell by the cheesy smile in the picture below). We hope that they will always be friends and love each other.

A New Chapter...

2010-04-08T06:13:00.001-07:00

Given that the last post on here was when Hayes (who is now 26 months old) was 9 months old, it is clear that we've taken a bit of time from the blog. We are resurrecting the blog to share some exciting news - - - we are moving...to China!

Hank has been offered a position with his company in China so we will be moving at the beginning of September. We're so excited for all the experiences this move will provide. We visited in December to look around and check things out and Hayes LOVED it. Since returning she says very often, "I wanna go to China." She claims to dream of China every night and often makes imaginary phone calls to China. She's learned to say, "I love you" in Mandarin, too.

Hank and I have a Chinese tutor and are doing our best to learn this very complicated language. We're moving to a "smaller" city called Suzhou (population around 6 million). It's about 60 miles west of Shanghai and other than in the expat community there isn't much English spoken so we've got to get on the ball and get the hang of the language!

Our next little one is due to arrive in just 20 days so she will be about 4 months old when we move. I will become a full-time mommy to our two little girls and I'm so excited for the opportunity to share their days with them. The girls and I will return home twice a year for 3 -4 weeks at a time (probably in June and December) so we'll have time to catch up with everyone. Hank will come home with us in December.

We're so excited about this new chapter in our lives and hope that some of you might come visit us in China!

9 Months Old!

2008-11-11T20:27:00.000-08:00

Hayes is nine months old. We truly cannot believe it! Our baby is growing up so fast. She's babbling constantly and is a speed crawler now. She's started pulling up and we feel like walking will be here before we know it. Hayes has a recent fascination with her tongue so she constantly has it hanging out and making noises with it.

She is still an angel. She's a great sleeper and has such a fantastic personality. Now, all that said...we are her parents. She could be an evil baby and we'd probably still think she hung the moon. And we think that's exactly how it should be. :)

You can see from the expression on her face how much she loves to swing!

Trying out the slide for the first time.
We're not admitting to anything but there might have been a face-first tumble just after this picture was taken.
If you're happy and you know it clap your hands...

"Hold it. I'm 9 months already? Seriously?"
I love these pictures of Hayes...

Hayes's First Buddy Turns 1!

2008-11-11T20:12:00.000-08:00

Hayes's buddy, Jax, recently had his first birthday party. Jax's grandparents live on a farm (a fantastically cool mini-horse farm!) so his party was out in the pasture with a tractor and fire pit the way all little boys' parties should be!

Hayes, the baby fashionista, wouldn't dream of showing to a party without theme-appropriate attire so I had to whip up some girlie overalls. She donned her pink alligator cowboy boots and had a blast celebrating Jax's big birthday!

The Fitch Farm is a child's dream - they have so many fun things like this - the "Barrels of Fun." Hayes isn't old enough to really ride it but she loved sitting in the barrel while it was still.

Hayes getting in touch with her country roots.
The birthday boy!
This is as country as my little girl can be.
Jax is saying, "just wait, Hayes, when it's your birthday you get to eat cake...real cake...it's amazing! And you don't have to take a nap. And the toys, my goodness, the toys. I'm going to have a birthday everyday!"
Hayes and the birthday boy.

The Fall Festivals Are Never-ending!

2008-11-11T20:03:00.000-08:00

Our friends, the Hatmakers, invited us to their Fall Festival. It was so nice to be able to experience it with Hayes (and not be in charge of it)! We had a great time just relaxing and enjoying the evening together as a family.

Babies and Daddies.

Babies and Mommies (We realized this night that it was roughly a year ago that we met in our birthing class. It was nice to enjoy it this year and not be uber-pregnant.)

Fall Festival Time!

2008-11-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

We had a blast at RBCC Fall Festival! Hayes was overwhelmed by all the people and she had so much fun seeing all of her friends dressed up!

Hayes and Daddy (who was supposed to also be a cute pumpkin but ended up a rather terrifying version!) with her Nursery buddy Lynley and her daddy.

As people began to arrive.

Hayes and Landon (who were both, apparently, famished! They were attacking Cherrios!)
On a race for the Cheerios.
Landon's pulling ahead...

Our little pumpkin all bundled up for the cold.

Hayes and one of her favorite people, Mallory (the cowardly lion). Mallory's sister, Sarah Beth (quite possibly Hayes's favorite person on Earth), was Dorothy.

Getting Lost

2008-11-11T19:22:00.000-08:00

We recently tackled (and dominated!) a corn maze with our new friends, The Littles. I am please to announce that with keen sense of direction from the Littles, Hank, and Hayes (I am NO help in the way of directions!) we owned not one, but two, mazes is 45 minutes!

Hayes rode in her backpack and was so quiet the entire time. She was just soaking it all in!

Hayes and Daddy in front of one of the many, many "See Rock City" barns.

Our Little Pun'kin

2008-10-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

Hayes is going to be a pumpkin for Halloween so we thought it only right that she visit a pumpkin patch to do some research on being a proper pumpkin...you know, get into character and such. She had such a good time!

Waving at her audience...

Taking it all in...

Pumpkin on the move...
Hayes making friends...

Tubby Time

2008-10-15T19:15:00.001-07:00

Hayes loves tubby time!

Time to Baby-proof the House!

2008-10-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

It's official...Hayes is on the move! She learned to crawl last week and has become an instant expert! It's time to move everything up and out of reach.

Check out her mad new skills (to get the lens cap which is far more exciting than a toy!).

First Booboo.

2008-10-04T19:29:00.000-07:00

It finally happened. Hayes got a booboo. She is trying to pull up and was pulling up on an old iron bed we have and her hand slipped and she face-planted. It left a tiny bruise under her right eye. After some serious mommy-love and consoling she was back to playing being her normal, happy self.

Small Group Visit to the Zoo

2008-10-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

Hank leads a small group for dads and I am part of one for moms (the dads are much more dedicated than we are - they meet at 6.30 am on Fridays!!!). We decided to get the two groups together one Saturday morning. After a yummy breakfast at one of our favorite places, we spent the morning at the zoo. It was MUCH cooler than our first visit to the zoo and therefore MUCH more pleasant!

Perhaps some illegal camel feeding. :)

Hayes in the petting zoo.

Hayes and her buddies, Oliver and Carson, checking out Hank, the zoo's famous chimpanzee (held by Hank, another well-known monkey).

This picture cracks me up - I have no idea why she is making such a funny face!

Hayes first time on a carousel.

Hayes on the Panda seat on the carousel.
The whole group.

Seven Months Old

2008-10-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

Hayes is now seven months old. She's rolling around and is so close to crawling. She's desperate to walk, it seems. Sometimes we think she might just skip over crawling and move straight to the good stuff.

Ready to take off...

Gooooooooooooo Dawgs!

2008-10-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

Like a true southern baby, Hayes attended her first University of Georgia football game as soon as humanly possible. While it was dreadfully hot, the UGA/Georgia Southern game will long go down in history as officially baptizing Hayes into the ways of southern life.

Not the most flattering picture ever but that's what 100 degree weather will do to you! Hayes loved being at Sanford Stadium - so many people to see! Plus, there is a huge tv - what more could a baby want?

Despite having spent hours sweating Hayes was still just as happy as ever.

We would grab Hayes's hand and help her do the "goooooooo dawgs, sic 'em" part and she loved it!

Teeth!

2008-10-04T17:55:00.000-07:00

Shortly after turning six months old Hayes cut her first (and then second the next day) tooth!

I'm 6 months old!

2008-10-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? Hayes is six months old! We cannot believe our baby girl is growing up so quickly. She continues to be an angel baby. We really couldn't have asked for a better baby!

We just can't believe we're half-way to a year!!!

what? I'm already six months old? really?

Start Spreading the News...

2008-10-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving today....

well, actually, we left several weeks ago.

Our dear friends, Brook and Benjamin (and their beautiful girls, Ibby & Mimi) live in Dubai but come to the states during the summer for several months. I was dying to see them and wanted Hayes to meet them so we headed to New York!

This was Hayes's first airplane trip and she was a superstar!!! We had four flights in all and she was an angel on all four (sleeping completely through two of them, actually).

There were No set plans for the trip other than just spending time with friends! We had so much fun. It was a reminder of how much we miss them!

Hayes on her first airplane trip.

Just after arriving, we went to a lovely park along the river where Hayes experienced a swing for the first time. She instantly fell in love with Ibby and Mimi and as you can see in the picture she loved the swing, too!
On our first full day in New York we went to the Museum of Natural History and Ibby planted her sunglasses on Hayes as we were purchasing tickets.
Hayes LOVED New York - constantly being outside and so many people around...it was a little bit of heaven on earth for her!
Morning snuggles with Ibby and Mimi.
Hayes loved playing with Ibby and Mimi!!!
Hayes ready to hit the town (check out the view from the apartment - fantastic!).
Hayes, Ibby, and Mimi (and Brooke) watching the Sea Lions (or were they seals?) performance.
They told how to tell a seal from a sea lion but I surely can't remember what they said. So, here's a lovely seal or sea lion.
This pig was just outside the pig habitat and when you touch it it snorts and Hayes thought it was hilarious. She giggled and giggled!
Hayes and I decided to take a little trip to Times Square - during rush hour, to boot! Hayes was completely overwhelmed! She did not crack a smile from the moment we stepped off the subway until we were back safe and sound in the apartment! It was so funny. Although she is a very social baby that was way more than she could handle!!!
I "wore" Hayes in a sling so we didn't have to try to navigate with a stroller.
Hayes completely overwhelmed with the lights, sounds, and people!
Night view from the apartment. Beautiful!
Ibby reading a book to Mimi and Hayes.

Hayes and in front of Jeff Koons's Balloon Dog on the roof of The Met.

The Proper Blowing of a Raspberry!

2008-10-03T19:46:00.000-07:00

There is a proper raspberry-blowing form and Hayes is the queen of it. It's beginning to subside but that baby girl will often blow raspberries 90% of her awake time (and even sometimes while half-asleep!). We just had to document it since it has long been such a part of who she is!!!

Take a deep breath...

press your lips together...

and give it all you've got!

A proper raspberry should share a fair amount of spit with the world!

Hayes's 1st Movie

2008-10-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

Coolidge Park has Movies in the Park during the Summer. We went with our small group and ended up running into another small group while we were there. The other small group has several kids and Hayes loved it! She was eating up the attention!!!

Hayes and her entourage.

A sleepy Hayes kicked back with Daddy watching "Horton Hears A Who."

A Little Time Away

2008-10-03T19:30:00.001-07:00

We headed to the mountains for a few days this Summer. Hank's parents rented a cabin in Sevierville and we spent a few days doing a bunch of nothing. We spent a lot of time at the pool (much to Hayes's delight) and just generally relaxed.

Hayes is SO happy when she is in the pool!

Bathing beauty!

This is quite possible the only time we left the cabin or pool - our niece and nephew went to the Alpine Ski Village to ride some of the rides so we went to watch - this is one of the ways to get there - on the gondola.

We're pretty certain that we should put a pool in the backyard!

A New Buddy

2008-10-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

Hayes has a new friend and they have become best buddies. His name is Landon. He is four months older than Hayes and Landon and his mommy, Anna, keep Hayes two and a half days each week (ok, truly Anna does all the work and Hayes and Landon just poke at each other and steal toys from each other!). Amanda and Landon's daddy, Brian, work together and we've grown quite fond of the whole family!

We were at their house recently and captured a cute shot of the kids playing.

ZOO!

2008-10-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

We met our friends, the Simuros, at the zoo recently for a fun outing with the kids. Their son, Carson, was almost two years old and they were just weeks away from adding son #2, Jackson, to the mix.

It was super hot but we had a great time!

This goat took Hayes's hat and she thought it was hilarious. She giggled and giggled and giggled!

Hayes and Carson monkeying around.

This snow leopard is looking at Hayes like she might be a tasty snack!

Hayes loves animals so a day at the zoo is thrilling for her!

Hayes was fascinated with this bird. Good thing she can't walk yet or this poor bird might have lost his pin-cushion head!

Hayes cozied up with a huge stuffed animal in the gift shop.

Isn't She a Little Young For A First Kiss?

2008-08-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

We met the Hatmakers in our birthing class then ran into them at our hospital tour and decided that it must mean we should be friends! Their son, Jax, was born at the end of November so he and Hayes are about two months apart and get along really well. We've been swimming numerous times with them and have enjoyed some time just hanging out.

We were recently at their house and Hayes and Jax were playing when we spotted Jax putting the moves on our little girl.

He spotted her and headed in her direction...

Moving in....Planting a wet one on her...
Look at the guilty look on Hayes's face! :)

Water Baby?

2008-08-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

Shortly after the attempt at the baby pool at a friend's birthday party we were invited to go swimming with our friends, the Hatmakers. As you can tell from the first picture, this attempt didn't look promising either. Hayes acted as though we were lowering her into hot, molten lava. However we just dunked her in (up to her chin) and clapped and made a big deal of it and she then realized it was ok and she actually liked it. She learned to slash and had a great time with Jax.

We were a little worried at first. Hayes was not amused.

She finally decided she loved it. Jax is an old pro (the swimming pool belongs to his grandparents) so he showed Hayes the ropes.

2008-08-20T17:44:00.000-07:00

Hayes went to her first brithday party recently. She loved it. She couldn't participate too much (there was an inflatable jumpy house, cake (which she probably WOULD have willingly participated in eating but mommy said no), and a small pool. We thought she might like the little pool but she was terribly uninterested!

The birthday boy, Kylen.

Kylen's Madagascar cake.

Anxiously anticipating the pool (looking wuite spiffy, too).

As you can tell from the expression on her face it went over like a lead balloon! We think perhaps the water was just too cold.

Old McDonald Had a Farm

2008-08-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

In this case it's friends of Hank's parents and really it's not a farm but they do have darling miniature donkeys. Hayes loved feeling them and even tried taking a spin on one (he didn't love it).

Hayes was just beginning to feel things and starting to learn textures. This is the baby miniature donkey - he was so tiny!
First ride on a miniature donkey (ok, perhaps only ride on a miniature donkey - it's not like hitching a ride on a mini donkey is a commom occurance).

Moo Moo Says the Cow

2008-08-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hank's mother raises beef cattle (or cows who retire to loving retirement farms...[not slaughter houses] as I like to think of them). Hayes has just recently noticed the fact that there are cows all over Grandmommy and Granddaddy's back yard and she loves it!

Yum yum!

2008-08-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

Hayes started cereal one week after her four-month birthday! She loved it!

It's a Zoo!

2008-08-15T19:05:00.000-07:00

While we were at Grandmother's house for the Fourth of July we decided to check out a sign advertising a zoo. We've seen the sign for years but this was the first time we've actually even driven down the road. We were pleasantly surprised! It was a lovely little animal sanctuary nestled in the north Georgia mountains. Hayes was fascinated by all the animals!

You could get super close to some of the animals! Hayes loved it!!!Staring contest between Hayes and the iguana. Hayes looked away and lost. :(
Hayes was fascinated by these birds who were apparently having an argument and screeching horribly!
They had really great animals here - lions, tigers...no bear but some llamas!

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

We were in Clarkesville for Fourth of July this year visiting Grandmother. We went to the local parade. It was definitely a small-town parade littered mostly with local politicians shaking hands and collecting votes but Hayes seemed to have fun. As with most of her activities at this age, it ended in her tuckered out and sound asleep! She even fell asleep in her carrier and had to have her head held.

Happy July 4!

All decked out in my red, white, and blue!

Hayes loves to be around people so an entire town out lining the streets was a perfect event for her - so many people to see!

It was truly a small-town parade complete with citizens in costumes. We do believe that is an actual boombox from the Revolutionary War!

It's tough being charming for a whole town. Hayes smiled and giggled at everyone she saw and then couldn't manage to keep her eyes open any longer.

Completely pooped!

A Day of Fun!

2008-06-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

Despite the insane heat today, we had a fun family day.

We love going to the Chattanooga Market on Sundays after church. The theme today was East Meets West so Indian & Chinese cultures were highlighted (I guess that's as East as we get around here). Hayes loves the Market - she loves looking around and smiling at all the vendors as we purchase our fruits, veggies, and breads for the week.

The Chattanooga Market has all kinds of fun goodies - local, organic produce, handmade items (soaps, art, etc) and treats (our favorite can be seen in the second picture - chocolate covered strawberries!).

Hayes flashing a smile at the strawberry man!
Two of the performers today.
Hayes seems to love to be outside and around lots of people! Sounds like Mommy, huh? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree! :)

We went home for nap time and then, this evening, Hayes had her first picnic! Can you classify her as participating in the picnic if she didn't actually eat anything? :) She did hang out in her seat, rolled around on the table, and generally provided great company. Riverbend began this week so we were able to hear a few of the artists (even though we were on the other side of the river). We had a great time just hanging out at our favorite park by the river.

Hayes & Daddy getting ready for our picnic.
Because of a very consistent nighttime routine where Mommy gets Hayes ready for bed and then stops by the fridge for a glass of water (which Hayes then drinks), she has learned to drink from a glass. Her little mouth flies open anytime a cup comes near.
Happily rolling around while Mommy & Daddy ate dinner.
Trying to learn to sit at the table during dinner!
This was just across the river from us - the main stage at Riverbend. There wasn't anyone on the stage at the time but we could hear the groups from the smaller stages.
Hayes and Daddy going to check it out. Hayes then became fascinated with a little boy on a bike. Since she already has Daddy wrapped around her finger, he promised her a bike soon. :)

Hayes had another first today - - first time in her highchair! Now, in all fairness, she can't completely sit in it unassisted but if you tuck a blanket around her body she does well and loves being able to reach for all her toys!

Her feet are a mile away from reaching the footrest! So cute!

I'm Four Months Old!

2008-06-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

We are still in awe of how quickly time flies. We can't believe our baby girl is already four months old! She continues to be an amazing baby. We grow more and more in love with her every day!

Sort of a "Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?" kind of face!

Who Needs Couture...

2008-06-06T06:09:00.000-07:00

when you have special clothes all the way from Dubai?

Hayes wore her very special Dubai clothes (chosen especially for her by Ibby and Mimi) today ! She loved her outfit and we talked about Ibby and Mimi all day!

Thank you, Ibby & Mimi (and Brook and Benjamin) for Hayes's special outfit!

Proud cousin!

2008-06-02T18:53:00.001-07:00

We are dreadfully behind on posts and have several to update this weekend (Mother's Day, etc) but we just took these pictures and loaded them on the computer and had to share them!

Hayes is fortunate enough to be cousins with a member of the 7 Year Old Boys Farm League Championship Team! :) We've been trying to attend one of Wyatt's baseball games all year and we were lucky enough to make it to the Championship game - which they won!

In true Hayes style, she slept for a good portion of the game but she loves to be outside and loves to be around people (perhaps a little of mommy's love of being in the middle of everything coming through?) so she had a great time! She was super proud of her cousin Wyatt!

Wyatt in action.

Wyatt with his Championship trophy.

The Championship team!

Hayes and Daddy visiting some of Daddy's old high school buddies. Hayes eating her hand (which she does about 23.8 hours a day!).

Hayes LOVES her cousin Wyatt!

Where Does the Time Go?

2008-05-06T18:38:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it but our little bean is THREE months old today! It's crazy how quickly time flies!

Hayes is right at 13 pounds now and is still sporting a healthy pair of chubby cheeks (both kinds, actually!) and is as happy and healthy as they come. She is such a dream come true and we're so thrilled to be her parents (let's just hope she's just as thrilled when she's a teenager).

She's beginning to "talk" and tells us about her day each night as we're getting her ready for bed. She's super alert and is OBSESSED with the television. If we walk by a tv that's on, she strains to see and then stares at it. We're going to have a problem in the future, I can tell!

YIPPEEEE! Have you heard? I'm three months old!

I crack myself up!

Hayes is desperately trying to suck her thumb - - we're trying hard to prevent it but it seems we're losing the battle!

Rock-A-Bye Baby On the Treetop...

2008-04-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

...just hopefully NOT this treetop.

Hayes and I were snoozing away this morning (while our fabulous husband/daddy was cooking us breakfast!) when we heard an odd noise. We ran to the window to spot a HUGE (I mean MASSIVE) tree in our yard had completely uprooted!

The good news is that it fell away from the house (and Hank's car) and smashed the awful chain-link fence that I despise (must be a sign that it's time to take it down!). It did, however, completely block the road. We were really lucky as it was so early in the morning the cute little neighbor children who normally play in the road weren't out yet and nobody was driving down the street.

So, it's now three hours later and the city is here with chainsaws-a-blarin'. What an adventure!

I'm not at all sad to lose that dog run (since, as you know, our four pounders don't need a run - more like a square of grass is fine for them).

Hayes assessing the damage.

Completely blocking the road is NOT a way to win over your neighbors! We completely blocked in our neighbors driveway. OOPS!

Away From Home

2008-04-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

Because our little Hayes is still so young & not quite ready for days away from Mommy, she accompanied me on a work trip this past week. We learned the reason people don't often travel with newborns!

Hank couldn't get away from work so our friend, Jessica, accompanied us to care for Hayes. I had meetings during the day so Hayes and Jessica hung out in the room. Our little angel baby became a fussy chick! She seems to already be better now that we are home (and she's had sufficient snuggle time with Daddy) so we think (desperately hope) that it was just a matter of her being out of her element (and that she couldn't find Daddy!).

Though we were in a lovely location, we didn't even get out to take pictures when the weather turned nice. But we had to document her first real trip away from home (other than visiting Grandmother) so here are a couple of her hanging out with Jessica...

Hayes is getting so big! She loves hanging out in her Bumbo!

Welcome Spring!

2008-04-06T17:28:00.000-07:00

And Hayes's 2 month birthday celebration! That's right...our tiny little bean is 2 months old today! We decided to celebrate - - how else? - - with a photo session.

We were fortunate enough to purchase a house with former owners who actually left us with beautiful flowers that pop up each Spring (no thanks, at all, to our efforts). We are both afflicted with a black thumb but you wouldn't know it to look at our yard right now! Hayes looked particularly lovely against a backdrop of fresh irises, tulips, and pansies.

Actually, the pansies are our doing - give it time, though, we'll kill them!
Hey Kappas, doesn't she look natural amongst the blue irises? Definitely a future Kappa!

These are two of our favorite pictures from the day. Hayes is so close to laughing out loud. She's such a happy bambino! We are so lucky (her two month birthday also marked three straight nights of sleeping through the night!)!!!

Storytime

2008-03-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

Hayes LOVES books! I am so glad, too, because I have been collecting children's books for years and years. It is so fun to enjoy these books now with my little one. We've been so lucky to receive some really great books as gifts. Aunt Ashleigh gave Hayes a really beautiful Mother Goose book with amazing pictures and we've already (in a week's time) read it cover-to-cover twice.

Today we were so excited to arrive home and discover a package at the door. It was a gift from our friends Brook, Benjamin, Ibby, & Mimi all the way from Dubai! One of the items was a lovely book so of course we just had to sit down and read it!

Hoppy Easter!

2008-03-23T15:24:00.001-07:00

So, it's Hayes's first Easter and despite the fact that she will not remember a single thing we're doing right now, we still feel the need to celebrate each holiday and milestone to its fullest! Easter is no exception. We decorated Easter eggs (we're talking old-fashioned, smelly vinegar and boiled egg Easter eggs), made an Easter basket (no candy, of course, it could rot her teeth...oh, wait, she has no teeth), went on an Easter egg hunt (she slept through it), made a bunny cake (with her grandmother [Welch] and cousins), and even had her first Easter dress (a gift from her grandmother [Hampton]). It was enough to totally wear her out - she is currently overtired and fighting sleep with Daddy as I type. Enjoy the photos of Hayes's big Easter celebration!

Hayes getting ready for the big egg dying eggstravaganza.

An extremely sleepy Hayes. She was over the whole egg dying thing about a minute after it began.

She's a child prodigy - spelling her name and with paint to boot!

Hayes and her grandmother. By the way, we do not have names for the Welch grandparents - anybody have any suggestions?

The annual bunny cake with cousins Wyatt & Ivey and Grandmother Welch. Hayes supervised. She's still working on her smearing icing & jellybean placing skills.

Hanging out with her cousin, Wyatt. She's going to love playing with Wyatt when she can master the whole walking & talking thing.

Some pictures of Hayes in her Easter dress. She slept through all of church (all three services!) but looked lovely in her dress tucked away sound asleep in the sling.

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy

2008-03-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

Our friends, Kelli & Andy, are back from Hong Kong & living in Michigan right now but are in Georgia this weekend. Kelli and their amazingly adorable son, Drew, and Andy's mom came to visit us in Chattanooga today. We took the little bambinos to the Aquarium. Drew, who is 17 months old, LOVED the aquarium. He was fascinated by the fish and seemed to have a blast. Hayes actually stayed awake for a good part of the trip. She, as a 6 week old, honestly had no clue what was going on but was a good sport, nonetheless! We're sure she'll love the aquarium one day.

Drew trying to reach a stingray (or perhaps just splashing around).

Drew, Kelli, Amanda, & Hayes at the Stingray pool.

Hayes looking for butterflies.
In the Butterfly House with Daddy.

Totally pooped out after all the fun.

Over the River & Through the Woods...

2008-03-21T18:08:00.001-07:00

...to Grandmother's house we go! We went to visit Grandmother (Amanda's mom) last weekend. Hayes was going to go see the Easter Bunny on Saturday but, sadly, we spent the entire day inside watching the news and tornadoes pop up all over Georgia (and making sure we didn't need to retreat to the basement!). On Sunday, Hayes had her first brunch at Chateau Elan to meet her third cousin, Louise Hayes Lake. She was quite the fancy Nancy in her fancy dress. Like most of her activities right now, she slept through the better part of the event but seemed to enjoy herself.

After our yummy brunch

Hanging out with Daddy

Chatting with her third cousin (who also shares the Hayes name!)
Snuggling with Grandmother

In an attempt to not take every single thing we own for Hayes, we left her tubby at home so we had to improvise - though you can see it didn't take any of the fun out of it for her! She loves tubby time!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hayes's Aunt Ashleigh (aka her favorite Aunt) bought her a terribly cute little St. Patrick's Day onesie and bib which means, of course, that we had to have a little photo session! Luckily I was even able to capture a smile!

So, from Hayes (& her mommy & daddy)...

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

And Baby Makes Four

2008-03-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

Four generations, that is. Hayes met her great grandmother this weekend. We then realized that there were four generations of Welches all together...which, of course, warrants a picture (what doesn't warrant a picture when there is a newborn involved?!?!).

Hank's grandmother, his dad, Hayes, and Hank

Hayes meeting her great grandmother, Mammaw. Mammaw kept asking if Hayes ever cries because she was an angel baby - letting everyone pass her around and even sharing smiles. We're so lucky - she really is an angel (again, not that we are biased or anything).

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

2008-03-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

It snowed! It was a pathetic excuse for snow but it was Hayes's first snow, after all. If you squint and look very closely you'll see perhaps a flake or two. Actually that white spot in front of her mouth was a flake falling just as we snapped the picture.

Hopefully the baby girl will be able to see "real" snow at some point but in the meantime, we'll take what we can get!

Are we in Colorado? This certainly doesn't look like Georgia!

Like I said, the snow wasn't much to write home about but even though we had no accumulation it did settle in the mountains. This is a snow-capped mountain behind Hank's parent's house. These pictures were taken from their back porch (overlooking the cow pasture). So, Hayes did get to see some real snow (well, she would have if she were able to focus further than 15 inches in front of her). :)

A Chat With Daddy

2008-03-07T19:37:00.000-08:00

These are some of my favorite pictures of Hayes and Hank.

This was one day after work. Hank came home and grabbed Hayes just before her bath and it looks like she is just chatting away about her day. I can just imagine her conversation..."and then I ate AGAIN. And then I took a nap. A couple of hours later...I ate again and then took another nap. It was exhilarating."

Ending the conversation with a kiss.

Hayes Hits the Town

2008-03-03T07:45:00.001-08:00

It was absolutely gorgeous in Chattanooga yesterday so we hit the town with Hayes! We love to walk around downtown so we decided to take Hayes to a few of our favorite places.

Hayes's first time over the pedestrian bridge.

Hayes on the new Market Street bridge.

Hayes by the river at Coolidge Park (under the pedestrian bridge) - actually just steps from where we got engaged.

OK, truthfully this is mostly what Hayes did on her outing around town.

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

2008-02-19T17:42:00.000-08:00

Tonight was our first real bath. Hayes has only been able to have sponge baths until now. She seems to love baths - she was awake, alert, and happy as can be the entire time.

Our Own Dress-Up Doll

2008-02-19T17:19:00.000-08:00

Our little bean is doing so well. We went to the pediatrician on Thursday and she'd regained some of her weight, which is great. Seeing as how all she does now is eat and sleep (with an occasional awake moment), it makes sense that she'd pack on some pounds.

We're settling in well at home. The girls of the house get a little stir-crazy during the day since we still can't drive so daddy sometimes takes us out at night so we can spend a little time somewhere other than home. Our favorite part of going out is dressing Hayes - she's like our own little doll. Here are a few pictures of how we torture our little bean...

This was our very first outting - we had dinner with Hank's brother, Greg, and our sister-in-law, Ashleigh. Hayes was great - she slept the entire time!

Sporting jeans and boots for the first time.

But sometimes getting dressed up is no fun at all!

Bright-eyed!

2008-02-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

We're working on Hayes staying up and having some awake time during the day to hopefully make her a little more sleepy at night (since a desire to party during the night has recently emerged) so what better way to take advantage of that than with a little picture time?!?

Being a model is ridiculously tiring.

We love, love, love those seriously chubby cheeks!

The bi-polar side of a newborn - - she goes from happy & content to this in less than a second!

Settling In

2008-02-11T13:23:00.000-08:00

We've had so much fun getting settled in with Hayes. She is such a good baby so far - a dream, really. We've struggled a little with a tummy ache that seems to come in the evenings but we're hopeful that it's short-lived.

She is already on a great schedule - she eats every three hours, has about 30 minutes of awake time (where she stares at us like we are the greatest thing on Earth) and then sleeps for the remaining 2 hours when the whole process starts again.

We are so madly in love. We constantly stare at her and comment on how perfect she is or how beautiful she is (don't we sound just like bumbling new parents?!?!). She really is an amazing gift and one we're definitely keeping!

Some friends brought us a bag full of pink, girly items while we were in the hospital. Included in the bag were these outrageously cute pink sunglasses. I put them on her and then laughed so hard I ended up in tears from the pain! She cracks me up.

One thing we've worried about during the entire pregnancy was how Huck & Boogie would take to having a little one in the house. So far, so good. They are reacting just as we thought they would - - Boogie seems to love her already and is constantly trying to see her and (if allowed to get that close) kiss her. Huck - - - well, he's Huck. He barks each time she cries & is only interested in her for her toy potential (and I think he thinks she might be packing some cookies).

Going Home!

2008-02-10T19:42:00.000-08:00

Finally after 3 nights we get to go home! Women's East of Erlanger was very good to us--from the nurses to the doctors to the room service it was all great but there is nothing better than when you get to go home. This is when I find out that the going home outfit is very, very important. So after getting her dressed we left the hospital and of course we had to take her on her first Starbucks trip. So here are a couple of pictures of Hayes's going home outfit.

She's 1 Day Old!

2008-02-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

Hayes is officially one day old. She's eating like a champ and sleeping like a little angel. She also spends about an hour every 3-4 hours just contently staring at us. We love it.

Her pediatrician came to visit this morning and gave her a clean bill of health. Apparently, she is perfect all around. OK, perhaps we are a little biased.

Here are a couple of pictures from her day.

She's lost some of the puffiness from her face (but those chubby cheeks are staying!).

Hank is totally smitten with her. Looks like she's likely to be a Daddy's girl (and have him firmly wrapped around her finger!).
Visit with the Pediatrician (you can tell from the screaming she's doing that she's not a fan of the the doctor [or having her clothes off]).
Answer to the pregnancy-long question - "will she have hair and enough for all the bows I made for her?" - - the answer is YES! HOOORAY!!!

The Arrival of Hayes!

2008-02-06T18:28:00.001-08:00

Hayes Emmaly Welch was born today, February 6, 2008, weighing in at 8 pounds 7 ounces and 21 inches long. Hayes and mom are both doing great!

This whole process has been so incredibly amazing - from the day Amanda told me that she was pregnant, to the day we told our parents, to the day we said that there are 120 days left, to the day we said 3 days left, to the time we said 60 minutes left, to the time she was actually born and we got to see her for the first time!

We look forward to being parents--even though that part hasn't actually sunk in quite yet. Thanks to all who prayed for us--for Amanda, Hayes, and me! I made it without passing out and actually walked around in the delivery room and saw some stuff that I really didn't need to see! It was an amazing experience and to get to do it with an incredible woman like Amanda makes it even more special. Here are just a few of the pictures from today but I'm sure there will be plenty more in the near future.

Just after her first bath.

Her favorite activity so far
Just after making her debut! With Mommy & Daddy in the OR.
Those chubby cheeks are so kissable!!!

HELLO...HELLO...IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?

2007-12-10T20:10:00.000-08:00

Perhaps that's what you've been thinking. We keep getting emails from friends asking if we've forgotten about our blog. We haven't forgotten! We've been busy buying a house, renovating the basement (into Hank's mancave), traveling (Seattle in July for Greg & Ashleigh's wedding), and growing a baby! It's been busy but seems like things are slowly reaching a normal pace which is good as we have just 6-8 weeks before baby Welch's arrival!

Stay tuned. We promise we'll finally get pictures of the house, our trip, and my ever-growing belly online soon.

Stay tuned and check back soon! And we promise to do a better job of updating in the future!!!

Our Final Day. :(

2007-03-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

Friday, March 30th—Our final day in Dubai—our flight leaves in the morning at 2 a.m. This morning Brooke, Benjamin, Amanda, I, and the girls went for brunch at The Lime Tree Café in Jumeriah. After eating we went to the beach and played in the Arabian Gulf. The girls had so much fun. The water was very nice and we loved the shots of the Burj.

Our final Dubai activity just ended. We went to Al Barsha Spa and Resort for High Tea, a falcon show, and camel rides. It was so much fun. We’re going to look into a camel for a new pet – much more worthwhile than Huck and Boogie!

We leave shortly. We’re sad to be going. We should be home late Saturday and then next week back to the real world – work, bills, schedules, etc. It’s always so hard to end a vacation. This one has been so nice!

Amanda with Ibby and Mimi

Finally! A camel ride!!!

GOLF! (and some other things, too)

2007-03-30T03:42:00.000-07:00

Thursday, March 29th—Today I woke up and played golf at The Montgomerie. Very nice! Much different than the Emirates but very nice. The accommodations are spectacular. The crazy thing is that for an hour of my golf, it rained! That never happens here – they get .19” per year (I think all of that today).
Until a recent renovation, this was the largest green in the world.
Not a shabby view from the driving range.

The clubhouse was amazing!

After playing golf Amanda and I went to Ibn Battuta—a different mall. Much different than Mall of the Emirates. This has 5 different areas based on the 5 countries where Ibn Battuta traveled. The malls here are much different than back home and much more crowded. When it is 130 degrees outside many people flock to the malls. After spending time at the mall we decided to go back to the marina and have dinner. Very nice Lebanese food! And very nice views! After eating we decided to go back to the Mall of the Emirates to buy some art work at a gallery there. Like I said the malls are very crowded here and have I mentioned that they stay open until midnight 7 days a week. Thursday night here is like there Friday night back home. The weekends here are Friday/Saturday. We were there until 10:30 last night and there were thousands of people there! It’s funny to see teenagers here – they put on their snazzy dishdashes and abayas for weekend mall hanging.

2007-03-30T03:33:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, March 28th—Today we decided to take it pretty easy because of the weather. The last couple of days it has been about 100 degrees. Very, very hot!!! So today we just went to get a coffee this morning—really went for Ibby (the 3 year old) so she could get a baby-chino. Amanda has her hooked! We decided to go back to the souks and do some more haggling. I bought myself a straw hat for $2! From there we went back to the Mall of the Emirates and had dinner and saw a movie, Alpha Dog. It was in English but crazy to see the whole movie with Arabic subtitles. After the movie we went for coffee and desserts at Après which is situated at the base of the main slope of Ski Dubai - - it offers an amazing view and it was fun to watch all the skiers and snowboarders – some very amateur and some really, really great.

Amanda at the creek

Hank at the entrance to the gold souk.

The gold souk is crazy - talk about some bling bling! It's just store after store after store like this.

Hank on the creek (in his new, super expensive hat!)

Grand Adventure!

2007-03-30T02:05:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, March 27th—We got up this morning and went to Jumeirah Mosque. Through the Sheikh Mohammed (he’s the big kahuna here – “Sheikh Mo” as he lets us call him) Centre for Cultural Understanding, they open the mosque to non-Muslims for tours and information (though women must still dress conservatively AND cover their heads before entering. I summoned up my Jackie O. persona and headed in). It was really interesting to gain a deeper understanding of Islam. Muslims are very committed to their religion. They are called to pray 5 times each day, based on the lunar system. You can hear the call to prayer all over town when it is time for them to pray. The earliest one is around 4 a.m. (before dawn) and the latest right now is around 8-9 (after dusk). Every home must have a mosque within walking distance so you see them EVERYWHERE. In Dubai, with a population of 1.5 million, there are 560 mosques (and we thought we had a lot of Southern Baptist churches!).

Hank in front of Jumeirah Mosque.
After lunch at Basta Art Café (in Bastakiya – the old area where the first Iranian settlers lived) we went to do some shopping in the souks down by the creek (river). We took an abra (boat) over to the souks. Here in Dubai there are 3 main souks: spice, textile, and gold. As you walk down the street you have people constantly telling you to come in there store (you hear about a 1,000 times a day, “you want copy handbags – Prada, LV – how about a Rolex - - it’s pretty funny! Let us know if you want a Rolex – It might say RolAx on it - - but it will be cheap!). When you go in they definitely want you to buy something. If you don’t like the price they want you to haggle until you will buy it. A lot of times the people will say, “If you are happy with price I am happy.” At one particular store, the guy grabbed Hank in this long embrace. Hank was a little uncomfortable – I think the embrace was about two minutes longer than he liked. They will do anything for a sale. It is very hard to haggle with them in the first place because of the prices are unreal to begin with. In one particular store Amanda bought 4 pashminas and a shirt. I thought we had spent a lot of money but when I walked out and converted dirams to dollars we had spent less than $20. We made a lot of friends in the souks! Spend a little money, make some friends! After buying they want to talk and talk and talk and shake your hand (or even a hug – though Hank was happy with just one a day!).
Some of our new friends from the souks. The guy on the left owns one of the shops and we had quite a tasting there - saffon, dried shrimp, some other scary stuff that we didn't recognize. He also took us to his "relations" shop for Iranian ice cream. Good stuff! We're still not totally sure what's in it but we think it has something to do with rice and lemon juice. We think. :)

At 3 o’clock is where the adventure really began. We decided to do an excursion: a desert safari. It starts with (hopefully, as you will later see) an experienced driver picks you up and drives you to the desert along with 20 other cars. Once there it gets crazy. They drive like a bat out of hell, go on two wheels, and go down huge embankments. Definitely an adrenaline rush. On the way out to the dunes we were guessing about how many cars flip on a typical safari when we looked over to see the car right beside us rolling down the dune we’d just descended! What happens: all the people jump out of the Toyota LandCruiser, laugh, the drivers flip the car back over, and leave it there. After 2 hours of dune bashing (and some serious carsickness for Amanda [though still totally worth it!]) you end up in “camp” in the middle of the desert – there you can have dinner, ride a camel, watch belly dancing, henna painting, sisha pipe smoking, and finally they take you home at 9:30. The crazy thing is that this 6 ½ hours of fun only cost you $50 a person here. Back home this would cost somewhere around $200 to $300.

There were probably 20 LandCruisers like this one on our trip.

Camels! Camels! Everywhere!!! As we were awaiting the other cars to arrive there were abour 25 camels that walked right past us. We stopped to watch the sunset and climb on the dunes.

Why our mothers worry about us...

Seems Hank and I seem to seek adventure. They say, "there's a chance your car will roll." We say, "can you promise?" :) We were not in this car but it was quite a surreal experience to look beside you and see a car rolling down a dune!

So, we start adding it up - 120 people at $50 each is $6000 - - I'm no insurance adjuster but that appears to be more than $6,000 in damage. This doesn't seem like an impressive business plan to me!

My first henna

The Arabian Hank and Amanda Welch!

We could really get used to dressing this way - no worrying about what to wear, shopping is pretty simple, and what woman wouldn't what to wearing slimming black all the time?!?!

And we're off...

2007-03-28T23:13:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 26th—We woke up this morning and went to the Mall of the Emirates. It was very nice. The mall is 3 stories in some areas with every kind of store imaginable. This mall is so interesting, though, because it is home to Ski Dubai. It has an actual ski slope inside the mall. Amazing! It is an enclosed area that has chair lifts, lots of snow, and a few different slopes. The price is also incredible. It cost $80 for the entire day and this includes your pants, coat, skis/snowboard, and lift pass (you have to buy gloves – for $2!!!). It amazes me that it can be 100+ degrees outside and you can have snow inside the mall.

Our favorite store in the mall is Carrefour. It’s like a Super Wal-mart. Dates are very popular here – they are served at bars, with coffee, as dessert, etc. Inside the store the clerk gave me all kinds of different dates to try. I liked them all and I had to walk out of there with 3 different kinds plus 3 different kinds of Arabian candy.

This afternoon was simply well worth me making the trip to Dubai (aside from me getting to see my wife, of course [brownie points]). I played golf at Emirate Hills—the Majilis Course. This was where they played the European Dubai Desert Classic last month. This is in the top 100 courses in the world. It was by far the best golf course I have ever played. From the tees, to the fairways, to the greens it was immaculate. It was also one of the hardest courses I have ever played.

Clubhouse - cool design!

This particular green is for the 9th and 18th hole! It's HUGE!

And the winner of the 2007 Dubai Desert Classic - Hank Welch! Kinda looks like a natural standing there with his prize, doesn't he?

This evening we went to the Dubai Marina to have dinner. Very nice. We had dinner at The Inferno on the 2nd floor overlooking all the boats. We had beautiful views of all the buildings surrounding the marina. So many of the buildings here have beautiful, colorful lights (many that changes every few minutes) – it’s like a rainbow at night. After dinner we walked around the marina before calling it a night.

The view from our table - overlooking the marina.
The aqua-colored building on the right can be seen from our villa. Ibby and I like to check it out at night and make note of the different colors - this particular building changes colors every 5 minutes.

Does it really take 48 hours to get to Dubai?

2007-03-26T05:25:00.000-07:00

Sadly, if you are Hank...it does! :( Read on...

Friday, March 23—Roby takes me to the Chattanooga Airport. I am supposed to fly Delta from Chattanooga to Atlanta to New York-JFK. Delta tells me that my plane is going to be 45 minutes late in Chattanooga so they tell me to take US Airways to Charlotte and then on to JFK. This was a very smooth one hour flight. Once in Charlotte I check to see if my next flight is scheduled on time. I see that it is not going to depart until 1 ½ hours late. I check with US Airways to see if there are any other flights that I can take because with this I am going to miss my flight from JFK to Dubai. I spent basically 2 full hours in Charlotte going from US Airways to Delta back to US Airways trying to get them to help me. I was so frustrated and my feet hurt from walking back and forth. It was about a ¾ mile walk from each one and (no joke) I walked it 7 times. So I have no choice but to take the 9:30 flight to JFK. My flight from JFK leaves at 11pm for Dubai. I have no chance of making this! I land at JFK at 11:15 and take off running to the train so I can get to my terminal. My flight to Dubai has already gone. So the only thing I can do now is to take the flight at 11:20 a.m. in the morning. So what do I decide to do? I decide to sleep at the airport on a concrete slab bench—man, how do the homeless do it (Amanda here…I insisted that he grab a cab and find a hotel but I think that took the rugged feel out of the trip for him – so he stayed at the airport)!! I literally got about an hour’s worth of sleep.

Saturday, March 24th—So now I will get to Dubai to see my wife---after a 13 hour flight. Emirates Air is very nice but they tell me I have an exit row seat when in fact I am sitting one row behind the exit row. Man, could I have used the extra space. It’s hard on a 13 hour flight when you are 6’6 to get comfortable when all scrunched up. There is a tv monitor on the back of every seat. I watched Casino Royale, Night at the Museum, The Departed, played video games, and slept (for about 1 ½ hours). Also, on the flight there is a channel that tells you how far you are from Dubai, how fast you’re going, estimated arrival time, and the countries over which you are flying. I thought it was very interesting when flying over Saudi Arabia (probably a couple of hundred miles from Iraq) that on the screen it says you are flying in neutral territory (good thing to know!). The first 6 ½ hours of the flight was very long but the last 6 ½ went by fast. I am now going to switch to Dubai time from here on out—which is 8 hours ahead of Eastern time.

Sunday, March 25th—I arrive in Dubai at 8 a.m. I make it through passport control where I head to get my luggage. I stand there and wait and wait and wait but no luggage for me. I have to go to the Emirates Air office where they tell me my luggage didn’t make it on this flight but will be on the 9 p.m. flight tonight. From there I take a cab to the Meadows which is about 45 minutes from the airport. What a ride!!! We almost got hit 3 times and we almost hit someone 2 times. I was so scared! On the way out to the Meadows it is so crazy. There are literally thousands of people doing construction work. It reminds me of back home but rather than everyone working in carpet, they work construction. There is literally a crane on every building and they are working on every road. I finally arrive at the Meadows but at the wrong villa so I have to walk a ½ mile. I am so exhausted that I take a 3 hour nap. I’m glad to finally be at my final destination!!!

Last night was very nice. We went to an Italian restaurant, Tuscana, at Madinat Jumeirah (a shopping area made to resemble the old souks. It’s much nicer – better quality and indoors. There are 2 four-star hotels attached to it) with the Newlands. The food was great and the scenery even better. We took an abra ride around the Jumeirah resort and got to see the Burj at night. We shopped around for a little bit and called it an early night. Gotta get plenty of rest - - tomorrow is golf!

On the abra ride around Jumeirah Resort - with our very unibrowed driver! Remember the broken camera? Well, here is proof. A slightly blurry Hank and Amanda in front of the Burj. This was taken at our table at dinner - nice view and SUPER yummy meal!
Burj at night. It changes colors every 30 minutes.

We interrupt your regularly schedule blog...

2007-03-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

The recent lag in new posts is due to the fact that I broke my camera! YIKES! Yes, my super fancy, I-dreamt-of-this-camera-daily-before-receiving-it, only-had-it-4-months, new Nikon camera. I must say, though, it was completely not my fault! While I think the actually camera is fantastic and takes phenomenal pictures, the strap stinks! It came undone while we were leaving the creek and crashed to the ground. Luckily it only damaged a circuit board in the lens and after spending some time being diagnosed at a camera repair place (and finding out that the part takes 4-6 weeks), I have my camera back in hand but with only manual-focusing capabilities! So, there may some slightly blurry pictures in our future (until we return home) but I was lucky enough to pick up a 70-300mm lens from the repairman for a great price - so we just have to decide for the rest of the trip....blurry close-ups OR crisp far-away shots? Check back for a little of both over the next week!

Down by the river

2007-03-18T03:40:00.000-07:00

OK, so really they call it a creek but I'd surely define it as a river. But they've not asked my opinion on the subject! Anyway, I went back to the creek yesterday - this time with the Newlands and it was a Saturday. It was a totally different experience than the last time. No awkward stares and all the shops were open so it was nice to see all the items for sale. We didn't spend too much time in the souks (it only holds so much interest for a 1 and 3 year old) but we did eat at Basta Art Cafe' in Bastakiya. Bastakiya is a collection of more than 50 restored buildings on the shore of the creek, dating back the the 1900's when Iranian traders settled in Dubai. It's a cool place and Hank and I will explore it more and share more details on it when he gets here next week.

For the time being, here's a couple pictures of the creek, souks, downtown, and the abras on the creek.This is one of my favorite pictures so far. It's hard to appreciate it in its tiny, blog form but if you can click on it and have it open to full size - it's a cool picture.

It's like a boat convention!
It's pretty neat to see the boats lined up unloading all their goods. The boats are sometimes stacked side-to-side 6-7 deep!

New Dubai at Night

2007-03-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

The area where we are staying is referred to as "New Dubai" - - one look at all the construction around and there is no doubt this place is new - seems nothing is old! Ibby and I have enjoyed some nighttime walks the last couple of nights and tonight we decided to take the camera. It's just amazing to see all the new construction. It's also incredible to see the work going on 24 hours a day!

This picture is in the backyard at night. I love to see the skyline. The pool is heated but despite the 95+ degree days, it gets a little chilly and breezy at night so there have been no late night dips in the pool!

I love these two pictures. There are many lakes in these little communities. This particular lake is only a 10 minute walk from our villa. It's lovely because you get such a nice view of the skyline there. I would love to see a picture from this spot 10 years ago to compare with this - - I bet there was nothing! I'd also like to see what it looks like 10 years from now!

Flying solo!

2007-03-10T07:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday after brunch, I decided to go solo down to the creek and explore the souks. It was my first time being alone here and I have to admit, I was a little nervous.

Dubai is an extremely safe place and is the most liberal of all the Arab countries but I had read that single women are still not all that common (not single as in marital status, single as in travelling alone). After a very nice cab ride, my driver dropped me off a far distance from the souks so I could walk along the river and take in all the buildings, boats, and sights. It really is lovely.

It was Friday so there were tons and tons of men out and about everywhere and I was definitely the center of attention. It was odd, I got A LOT of stares but it wasn't like icky male-ogling stares like at home, it was more like I had just sprouted a horn from my forehead - or like I was some alien. I guess to them, I kind of was. You're not likely to find any Girl Power stuff anywhere around here. I had a guy ask me if I would get on his boat and take a picture with him - he said, "we never see women." Like he'd just been released from prison or something. :)

Well, if I had done my homework, I would have known that the souks aren't even open Friday mornings (as it's the holy day) but it was still a grand adventure as I got to see a lot of beautiful buildings and got to experience a little more of typical Dubai life.

There were a few shops open and I was able to pick up a few items - 2 pashminas and a gorgeous shirt. I was feeling a little down because, as it turns out, I SUCK at haggling. I just couldn't make myself do it. They said I price, I handed my dirham over. So, after I purchased the last thing I was walking around feeling pretty down for wasting my money when I could have haggled a better price when I realized (after doing my dirham to dollar conversion) - - I only spent TEN DOLLARS! Who in the world needs to haggle if the first price given is only $10 for two pashminas AND a shirt.

This is one of the little alleyways that starts the textile souk.

This is kind of the typical souk scene.

After putzing around the textile souk for a bit I decided to take the abra over to see if any of the shops were open in the spice souk. The abra ride basically just takes you across the creek and it costs 1 dirham - 27 CENTS! There are tons and tons and tons of abras just going back and forth across the creek. The creek is literally packed with boats, abras, and dhows. The dhows are larger and often offer dinner cruises along the creek. I hope to do one of those when Hank arrives.
This is what the abras look like. There is a even mix of men in the traditional clothing and men in plain clothing - notice though, very few women. Except me. :)

This is where the abras park - - there are several abra stations and you just hop on the boat. Some go to different places so you just have to pay attention to where yours is heading.

Although there were NO shops open in the spice souk, it was still nice to ride over and back as I got some great views of the city and the different boats in the water. Some of the architecture is so interesting. I even got to see one mosque - though it's not the big mosque that I am hoping to see with Hank.

Some of the work on the mosques is so ornate. I loved this little doo-dad!

This is the Bank of Dubai, I believe. This picture does not do it justice, it is absolutely beautiful with the water reflecting off the building.

This mosque is right on the creek and I happened to be right in front of it during the call to prayer. It's a really interesting sound.

Just another interesting building with abra parking right outside. Walking along the creek. There were lots of people in this particular area feeding the birds.

For those not worshipping on a Friday morning, it seems the creek is the place to hang out. There were tons of men just milling around.

As you will notice in the picture above and the one below, the men hold hands with each other. Like, full fingers laced hand holding. It's the strangest thing to see. There is no romantic connotation to it. All of the Arab countries are completely intolerant of homosexuality so this is by no means "couples" - it's just what they do. It's very different from what we're used to at home.

This is definitely a sign of things to come - as far as weather is concerned. There are sun shades almost everywhere - most of the parks have them, public pools have them, this one is just along the creek.The airport is close to downtown - near the creek. It's do odd to see planes around all the buildings!!!

Beautiful! Burj!

2007-03-10T02:50:00.000-08:00

I really think this place is fantastic! I could move here in a heartbeat...it's a shame there's no non-profit sector OR carpet industry here!

Weekends here are Friday and Saturday. Friday brunches are quite popular so we decided - when in Rome, do as the Romans. Or really, when in Dubai, eat like Dubaians! So, we went to Al Qsar which is one of the five star hotels at Madinat Jumeirah. Madinat Jumeirah is set up to resemble an old souk but is new, has air conditioning, and fantastic shops that are moderately priced (not super cheap like the souks). We ate at a fantastic Lebanese restaurant (Nights of Arabia) at Madinat our first night here.

Brunch was super yummy complete with camel's milk rice pudding and (thank goodness!) a latte with traditional Arabian espresso (which has a slightly different taste - but still the lovely caffeine). The resort has abra-type boats (you can see them in the picture below) that shuttle passengers around on the property - from shops to restaurants, to the beach, and hotel. From the hotel we had lovely views of the Burj Al Arab - the sail-shaped seven-star hotel that has become the icon of Dubai. That's the Burj in the background - - looks like a huge sail out on the ocean.

After brunch we headed to the beach for even better views of the Burj - complete with helicopter landing on the helio pad (that is also the tennis court) - located on the small circle "hanging" off the side of the building.

You can just barely see the helicopter. It's just to the right and above the circular landing pad on the right.

There was also a camel sighting. OK, not a real camel but exciting anyway! We felt he needed proper accesorizing - hence the hat.

Another word about camel's milk...we've had two kinds now - one is just plain camel's milk - - fairly yummy. Tastes a lot like cow's milk. But then there is a flavored brand - we tried the saffron flavor - I was not a fan but I was quite fond of the brand name - Camelicious! It's logo is a stylish camelicious-looking cartoon camel. :)

Hello & Dubai

2007-03-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

I am in Dubai! At least for the next month.

This is a short blog, really just to report in that arrived safely and am slummin' it here in the Middle East. That, of course, is complete sarcasm as there is no world in which my current living quarters could be defined as roughin' it!

Actually, the last six days have been fantastic as there has been zero slummin'. The trip started with a fantastic flight in business class. I fear I may never be able to fly economy again. I'll attach a picture of Ibby (partly because it's just a terribly cute picture) that shows the accommodations in business class with Emirates Air. Not only is it a fantastic way to travel period, but it is THE only way to travel with kids on a 13 hour flight!

What this picture doesn't show is the 15 inch(ish) screen on the seat back of each seat. The remote is above her head and you can use it to select a movie, tv shows, music, video games, etc. And, the food was fantastic!

This is the front of the villa where we are staying. In these developments, many of the houses are similar. In this particular one - Meadows 2 there are 12 different home styles you can choose from - I think I read that it ranges from 4 - 7 bedrooms. This particular villa has five bedrooms, gorgeous marble and hardwood floors, and great, comfy furniture throughout.

This is my favorite part of the house - the pool! The pool is heated so it's pretty cozy anytime. The temperatures get so hot here in the summer (upwards of 120 degrees) that many of the pools are chilled!

You can see a bit of the background and view in this picture.

This shot is looking down the street. What is so crazy to see here is that EVERY building is under construction. At home, you might see one high-rise going up but here, literally every building has a crane on top. There are no unions here so construction goes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. While I was out and about yesterday, I could hear the call to prayer and then I noticed that some of the workers left their area and knelt on the construction site for prayer.

I now pronounce you...

2006-11-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

HUSBAND AND WIFE!

It is official. We are Hank and Amanda WELCH!

To sum up the wedding - perfect! Every single thing about the whole entire event was spectacularly perfect. We arrived in San Francisco very late on Thurday, November 2 with our friends Jason (he performed our ceremony!) and Dawn (Amanda's Matron of Honor) and the weather was drizzly and damp. The two weeks leading up to the wedding had rain not only on the wedding day but for two days before and two days after. We kept thinking, "Isn't this supposed to be sunny California?" However, when we got to Monterey on Friday afternoon the sun was shining and it was beautiful from that point on.

The wedding day was fantastic. Amanda, her mom (Beverly), Dawn, and a family friend (Kristie) spent the day on 17-Mile Drive and had a great and tasty lunch at Pebble Beach while the Welch Family, Jason, and Pete & Alice Adams also did 17-Mile Drive (be assured the bride and groom never saw each other before the wedding). We all arrived at the wedding site to find absolutely perfect weather and breathtaking scenery.

We had written our own vows and the words were perfect and will always be a special memory from our wedding. We were so lucky to have those we love the most with us to celebrate the start of our lives together. It was literally a perfect day in every way and a perfect way to start our lives as Mr. and Mrs. Welch.

Hank's dad and Best Man, Hank, Amanda, Dawn (Matron of Honor), and her husband and our good friend who performed the ceremony, Jason
Married Couple!
So in love!
The bagpiper who played - - fantastic!
The new complete family
Everyone - - literally everyone who attended the wedding

One of my favorite pictures - - we took this just as we were leaving for the reption

at the reception

pictures, pictures, and more pictures

2006-11-21T21:05:00.000-08:00

Hank arrives!

Hank looks so excited to be getting married!

The Welch family before the wedding
Amanda & Mom arrive

Hank reads his vows (you can see some of the views in this pic)

The Ceremony

Ceremony and our guests

You may kiss the bride

Does it take a house to make a home?

2006-11-21T20:58:00.000-08:00

We certainly hope not! We're pulling for "Home is where the heart is." :)

So, here's the scoop. We terminated the contract on the house many months ago. It was a super hard decision but we know we ultimately made the right one. There were many, many mistakes made on the house some of which changed some of our favorite features of the house. To say we lost faith in the builders is an understatment so after much thought and prayer about it we cut our losses and let the house go.

That left us in a little pickle as we were six weeks or so from the wedding and no place to live. We eventually found a darling loft and we are the first people to live there. It's a great location and we love some of the neat features - exposed brick walls, vaulted ceilings, historic building. We'll get some pictures up in the near future.

It's definitely not a free-standing house and while it is darling, it's not without it's faults. But, for now, it's our first home. If home is where the heart is then we are definitely home!

Step One!

2006-06-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

Seems our construction, at least by our standards, is moving a bit slowly. Hank checks (I think on a daily basis) and reports to me but the report seems to always be the same...."nothing has been done." Frustrating to very anxious homeowner hopefuls!

Then, last week, during what seemed as though it might be a regular report I was told....THE STEEL ARRIVED! So, while we still have nothing that even resembles a house - we do have some materials with which to construct a house. At least it's a step in the right direction!

So, here are a few pictures of the super strong metal that will one day hold up our house:

Home Sweet Home!

2006-06-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

OUR NEW HOME!!!
(well, our pile of dirt, for now)

We're taking the plunge into homeownership! We're purchasing a home in a neighborhood I call Pleasantville (though, the developers perfer to call it The Villages). We spent an astonomical amount of time choosing everything from flooring to cabinet hardware and finally have our housing choices complete. And, in a mere four months, we will have a house!

Here is the site of our new home:

We are so excited to watch the process of our first home being built. It's so hard to go to the neighborhood now and just see our sad little lot sitting all alone but it's fun to dream about what it's going to look like come October! I can just imagine our quaint little BROWN house (haha, Hank says gray) sitting there.

The contracts are signed, the decisions made, colors chosen...now it's time for the construction to begin. Here are a few pictures of how things look now.

We will only be the third family in the neighborhood - there will one day be 500! Please accept this as our official invitation to come visit as soon as there is a house. :)

This is the view from what-will-be our front porch:

And to our left (just visualize cute little Pleasantville-type houses all around):

2006-05-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

So, here we are - our first post!

I guess we should go back and start from the beginning. Well, the very beginning was we met, fell in love, and are working on living happily ever after. That's the short version of it. In recent news... we are engaged! Hank proposed on April 1 and after being assured that it wasn't a silly April Fools' joke, I enthusiastically accepted!

After a lovely surprise day at the spa and a fantastic dinner and carriage ride around the city, Hank proposed at Coolidge Park in Chattanooga. It was a beautiful evening and a great proposal!!! And, to top it off, the ring is GORGEOUS!

This weekend we went back to the park for engagement pictures. Our friend, Jody, is a fantastic photographer and we were lucky enough to have her take our photos! We've not seen all of the photos yet but she sent these two for us to preview. Hank was not thrilled that my pups went with us to the park and even less thrilled that they made it into a picture. I love the picture, though!