The ABC's

Rana has mastered all 26 letters of the English alphabet. She associates each letter with a word or sound from her daily vocabulary. It has really surprised us how quickly she has learned them and how well she remembers them! Here's a video of her identifying a handful of letters.

20 Months Old!

Rana likes to look out the window at the construction across the

street. While the rest of us are growing weary of all of the ruckus,

Rana enjoys watching all of the men and machines in action.

That's probably because she's 20 months old!

Goodbye Crib!

Rana has never liked sleeping in her crib and she slept much

better without one last week while she was away, so we

decided to say goodbye to her crib. For now, we've created

a cozy little corner for using her crib mattress.

She loves it! She likes to sit on her "bed"

during the day and is sleeping better at night.

We'll upgrade to a bigger mattress and a real

bed eventually, but this works well for now!

Catching Up

Najeeb and Rana had a great time in Saudi Arabia,

but they came home with colds and are still

trying to recover completely.

Rana's runny nose hasn't phased her much,

especially since she loves tissues. She took

each individual package out of the new pack

and inspected it carefully.

We also found some time to goof around.

Rana loves her swing, especially when Baba pushes her!

A Saudi Arabian Adventure for Two!

Najeeb and Rana flew to Saudi Arabia again on Friday to spend

a week with Najeeb's family and take care of some visa formalities.

With temperatures in the mid-80s Fahrenheit, they

quickly found their way to the Red Sea coast in Jeddah.

Rana remembered everyone and is very excited

to have so many playmates! Abdullah and his

kiddos (Yara, Faisal, and Abdul Aziz) are pictured

below with Najeeb's youngest sisters, Neda'a and Layal.

Rana is becoming quite a character.

She is full of energy and enjoys making people laugh.

Here's a clip of her showing off some of her dance moves.

What a fun trip!

19 Months Old!

It seems like Rana thought Baba's coat was more suited

to brave the extreme winter temperatures outside.

Even though the STEELERS are out...

Rana enjoys watching soccer and

Steelers football and donning the

appropriate attire with her Baba.

She was rather excited when she realized

the team on TV was wearing the same jersey!