Ellie here

I am now 18 months old and they've been treating me as a baby for far too long so I have hacked into mom and dad’s blog to get my side of the story out. My big brother Alex got to tell you his side of the story when he was just 6 months old and then they have done nothing since! I was born on June 10, 2007 just after, Cyclone Gonu, the biggest storm of the last 100 years to hit. It is a good thing I was in no hurry to get out because we would not have been able to get to hospital with all the roads flooded out. We have spent both my summers visiting family in and. I really enjoy having all my cousins around to play with. I had a really big birthday party for my first birthday at the American club here in Muscat. Most of the guests were Mommy and Daddy's friends as being only one I only had a few friends (I have changed that now). I did get to wear my pink tutu and fairy wings though. I really enjoy driving in the car, flying on planes and playing at the beach. Like all good girls I love to get dirty and play in the sand and mud. It has also been lots of fun having a friends Golden Retriever stay with us lots as he makes a good horsie.

My big brother Alex is an enigma to me. He usually plays with me very well and I really like playing with all his cars and trains. It seems that is all he is interested in. When he gets tired or bored he starts hitting and pushing me and taking my toys from me. Mom says he isn’t really trying to be mean and he usually comes back and says he is sorry after they take him away. For a big two year old who goes to nursery three mornings a week he can be a big wimp. He is even afraid of rain. A few weeks ago while at the doctors office there was a huge thunderstorm with heavy rain. I wanted to go out and play in the rain but he cried and refused to go out. We don't see too much rain over here but we had to wait at the doctor’s until the rain stopped. This past summer in he would cry "ouch" if we were out walking and it started to rain on his head. While in this past summer we got to ride on the real Thomas the Tank Engine which is Alex’s favorite. No one really noticed, but I thought it was really cool too! Daddy went swimming down the Thames for 2 days. He said it was very cold (15 C) but it was very beautiful and lots of fun.

We have had lots of visitors from Australia, England, the U.S. and even my cousins from Romania. As you would expect everyone thinks I am the cutest girl ever! I am not that keen on having mom try to fix my hair up every morning. I just pull the clips out later. They don’t match the chocolate, yogurt, marker and dirt I prefer to wear on my face. Alex and I really love life here in. We get to go to the beach and the pool all the time. When mommy and daddy are at work Latha, who is from Sri Lanka, looks after us. She is just like that nanny we see in the movie Mary Poppins just that she doesn’t sing to us.

In August of 2008 mommy stopped going to work and she spent lots of time on the phone in her pajamas at strange times. I think she had finally had enough of her job here and wanted to spend more time with us and decided to start looking for somewhere else even cooler than Muscat for us to live. Not too long after Mommy put all the Christmas decorations up, daddy also stopped going to work. I think that was because it was Christmas holiday. We went to the American club to see Santa come in on a camel and then he gave us presents. Then we flew to see our cousins and hope that the real Santa could track us down. It was very cold there but it was fun getting dressed up and going out to see all the Christmas trees and lights and having Christmas all over again (Santa had already visited us in Muscat). Then in January daddy didn’t go back to work like he usually does so I am getting very suspicious that we will be going somewhere else soon. Now daddy just sits on the couch all day with his left foot in a big cast and he walks with two metal sticks. His foot is broken and he can’t go anywhere with us right now. Mommy is doing a pretty good job keeping us entertained though and this afternoon we went to the beach and for ice cream.

Mommy has started to sell a lot of our stuff and movers have been coming by to see how much stuff we have and try to figure out how to get it to our new home. We are keeping a close eye on her as we fear for some of our toys! I overheard that Mommy has found a job with a law firm in the Cayman Islands, so that is where we are heading. She is very excited as the hours will be far more flexible and she will be able to work from home sometimes, so we should see more of her. No news on what daddy will be doing but hopefully he will be able to take us to the beach every day and not find a job until September. There are lots of open water swims there so he is excited about being able to do those. We will be leaving the end of February and will go through England for a short visit to see my Nanna and Da before going to the Caymans. We are all very excited about the big move and hope we will get lots of visitors.

I will miss the only home I have ever known here in Oman. I will be sad to leave all my friends from all over the world and the friendly people of Oman. Mommy went to see the Caymans in December for a dew days and said it was really nice! They say I am still too young to have my own email so you can send all comments for me through mom and dad or leave a comment here on the blog.