One Year of Expat Life In Abu Dhabi!

I arrived in Abu Dhabi on May 23rd 2012 right before midnight.
Cannot believe we arrived at the one year mark.
Feels like just yesterday I was being wheeled out of Lufthansa's first class section to meet up with Adam on a muggy Abu Dhabi night (Yes, I rode in a wheel chair. No, I didn't request it, but I also didn't turn it down.)

I feel different but more myself than ever before.  Motherhood does that, so I've heard.

I counted days for the first 90 days, added monthly anniversaries to my Outlook calendar and fantasized about when we would get to move. 

Then, Savannah was born. I went days without looking at a calendar. My life became divided into 3 hour feeding/diaper changing increments. All other meaning to my time faded away. 

After a wonderful 6 month maternity leave (of which I actually only used fully for 4 months), I'm back full time as of this month. 

I returned back to work absolutely loving my job (but feeling totally overwhelmed and stressed by it and the 'working mommy' balance). 

Savannah is now at a stage where I am comfortable taking her out to most places or leaving her with the nanny on an evening at the end of a long work week for a date with the hubs. 

I am not as freaked out by germs getting on her and except for the occasional health alert regarding SARS outbreaks in the Middle East, I'm pretty confident of her little immune system (Yes, this happened. Yes, I totally freaked!)

All of these realizations happened over the course of the last two months. At that time, it's like I woke up, looked around for the first time and realized, WE LIVE IN FREAKING ABU DHABI and that's an awesome thing!

I had wanted to travel and live abroad my entire life, had my walls plastered with posters of exotic places instead of boy bands in high school (except, of course, Liam Gallagher).  I had been, rightly so, focused on a safe pregnancy, safe delivery and then keeping my newborn healthy. Now, when I kind of feel like I know what I'm doing, I can actually appreciate that the life I had dreamed of...filled with travel to exotic locations...is a reality. Even better though...as I didn't realize how much more fun it is to experience this with my soul mate and our child. 

My kiddo is destined to have a very different life than mine. I'm glad I didn't get to travel until later in life though...as the world right now is just as magical to me as it is to my little girl!