Farewell Mozambique

Today we said goodbye to our home of four years. So many wonderful things happened for us in Africa. It is a posting that we will never forget and I have a feeling we will visit often so that Luka can always feel close to his country.

It was a very strange feeling to leave Maputo and know that we won't be back after a holiday. It was our home, the place where we began our lives as a married couple, had our children, had our family and made some of the best friends we will ever have. The friends we made in Maputo became our family and I am not sure what i will do without them, but I know that we will see each other very soon....actually we have already planned a Maputo reunion in Brazil next year.

I will also miss Maputo the city. The day I found out I was moving to Mozambique...I am not going to lie to you I was afraid and didn't know what to expect. As an American never stepping foot on the African continent I had no idea what was in store for me. Little did I know that I was moving to one of Africa's best kept secrets. Mozambique is considered a "hazard" post according to the Dutch Foreign Ministry....but I think the only hazard is that you won't want to leave after four years.

Coming from Miami I was very happy to live on the ocean again. It was great to be able to see the ocean every single day. Either when we woke up in the morning (when we lived in our apartment) or in our daily drive around the city.

I also am going to miss Elizabeth & Clotilde. They became part of our family and Luka developed a close bond with them. Elizabeth was Luka's surrogate grandma and my surrogate mother at times...always giving me advice. I was a little lost sometimes when it came to the kids getting sick and she was always there to calm me down and answer all of my questions. When we left they each wrote Luka a letter and I will save the letter that I will read to him again when he is old enough to understand where he comes from. He will always have a tie to Mozambique through them. After all they are his Mozambican family. To see photos of them with the boys click here.

Some things I won't miss from Mozambique...everything taking so freaking long and all the red tape and bureaucracy in the government. After all a place can't be perfect. Mozambique still has a long way to go as far as these things go.

But our time in Mozambique will always have a permanent space in my heart...it gave me the most precious gift of all...my family.

Luka's Last Day of School

Luka was able to celebrate on the last day of school with his friends and teachers. We took cake and chamussas for his schoolmates and they sang songs and wished him well on his new Bolivian adventure. Here is a "silly" photo of his class and teachers (Ms. Maria & Ms. Rita).

To see all of the photos from his special day click here.

Bath Time

Every night we have our routine. Luka takes a bath first....then he is put in bed. Then it is Sammy's turn for a bath. JJ and I do it together and it has become a little ritual. For the last couple of night's Luka has wanted to join in on the fun. He really gets a kick out of helping us with Sam. And from the looks of Sam's face in the photo below he seems to enjoy having his big brother around as well.

One of Sam's Favorite Poses

Doesn't it look like he should be saying, "Hmmm, one million dollars."
From Austin Powers....

Los Tios Cubanos

Luka was lucky enough to have sus tios Cubanos in Mozambique. We met Mirtha and Yudel a couple of years ago and they have been a constant in Luka's life in Mozambique. This couple is amazing. They volunteer 100% of their time in an orphanage in the outskirts of Maputo and live on donations from the church. They are wonderful with the children and even took in Deborah as their own. Here she is in the photo. She was teeny tiny and very ill when they got her and with them she has flourished and keeps getting better everyday.

Luka loves his visits from his Cuban aunt and uncle. We will miss them!

The Two Tinhikos

Today we said goodbye to our very good friends Sergio, Salut & Tinhiko. We met them a month after we adopted Luka and they have been there for the rest of our adoption adventure. They have become a very special part of our lives with Luka, and now Sam as well.

We met Tinhiko in the hospital a couple of weeks before we adopted Luka and visited her daily. She was just a tiny newborn baby and we loved her very much. We wanted to adopt both of them but they wouldn't let us...so we were very excited to find out that Tinhiko had been adopted by a Spanish couple and they had kept the name we gave her...same middle name we gave to Luka - Tinhiko (I think they spell it differently, but in the end it means the same thing - GIFT.

These two children have been the greatest gifts anyone could have given us. Tinhiko and Luka are beautiful children that are so animated and full of life and this really comes through when you are with them (and in the photos). Those two are inseparable and really love each other.

The times we have spent with Tinhiko and her family are moments that Luka (and we) will never forget. I know that we are only saying goodbye for now because we will see them very soon in the near future.

I don't think these two can stay apart for long....

For all the photos from that day click here.

Other uses for the Vuvuzela

If you have seen at least two minutes of the the World Cup you might have seen, but certainly heard the Vuvuzelas. At first I couldn't believe that FIFA would allow them inside the matches. I mean they are freaking loud. But some friends that went to the World Cup said they totally made the atmosphere. It was electric. We had one here at home for a couple of days and Luka was blowing that horn and he loved it. They do have a very unique sound! Here is a cartoon on some "other" uses for this very interesting horn....ha ha ha.

We have our very own photo booth!

I just love my Mac!

Just because...

I have no particular reason to post this photo other than I love it and I was playing around with one of my photo editing programs.

The look in this photo captures Luka perfectly at this stage. He is still the same sweet Luka, but he is loving being really naughty at times and he loves to constantly challenge me at the moment. I think being a big brother has stirred up many emotions for him. He is crazy in love with Sam, but he is still three years old and acts like it sometimes. The excitement never ends...

We love you Luka!

Say Cheese

A couple of weeks ago when Sam was 5 weeks we went to take some photos. I thought it would be the perfect time to capture Sam's "teeny tiny" stage and also to take some photos with Luka. The photos were taken by Vanessa Kruger - a South African photographer here in Maputo. The package was such a deal. If you are in town and need to take family photos I think she will do a great job.

Click here to see the rest of the photos from our session.

The Best Team Won

Our household was a little sad after the outcome of the World Cup...but the best team did win. Congratulations to Spain! If another team had to win I am glad it was Spain. Viva Espana!

Holland, it was a great ride and you did an amazing job. We are still very proud to wear orange!

Happy Birthday Sam...Sort Of

Dear Sam:

Today you are two months old. Although it has only been 8 short weeks it seems like so many things have happened. You have changed so much since the day you arrived and I have also changed, or should I say I am feeling normal again. Everyone said it would take about 8 weeks, but at the beginning you don't believe anyone...but it is true. And now that I am feeling better I get to have a lot more fun with you.

You managed to find your rythym at night and only wake up once for a feeding. You sleep MOST of the night....I know that you don't realize how great that is...but mommy and daddy are very happy.

You are also breastfeeding like a champ and grow about 300-400 grams per week. I wonder how long that will last. You are already wearing 6 month clothing and I am running out of clothes since I sent all the larger clothes to Bolivia thinking that you would be wearing the 3-6 month size until we got there...silly mommy. I guess we will just have to do some shopping.

You smile at us everyday and I think now you almost have a real laugh. Daddy is much better at getting you to laugh than I am. Luka also makes you laugh sometimes.

You are really good at holding your head up and enjoy our daily tummy time. You don't like being left alone to sit...we still need to work on that one.

We love you and are having so much fun with you at the moment!

Love,

Mommy

PS This is a photo of you today, to see more photos from your second month click here.

Early Mornings on the Weekend

Luka is up at 6:15 am everyday no matter what. He doesn't change his routine for the weekends. So lately I am up with Sam anyway so I try to entertain him. Luka loves to dance so he is very happy when I play music on the computer. He particularly loves music videos on YouTube. Here he is jamming out to one of his favorite songs.

I apologize for the dark video, but it was very early in the morning and I wasn't ready for the bright sunlight.

Mozambique in The Economist

I came across this article on Mozambique and I thought I would post it on the blog. My friends and family always ask me about Moz and this article gives you a peek into the economy and how Mozambique ranks in terms of other African countries.

Did you know that in 1992 Mozambique was the poorest country in the world? The article also says that Mozambique is "one of the best examples of post-conflict recovery in Africa." Well living here I find it hard to believe and I often wonder how success is measured, but then again I have never lived in other post-conflict African countries...so I don't have much to compare with. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Mozambique, but I often get frustrated at how things are run here and as an outsider it seems that many of these "donor" programs don't necessarily benefit those that the programs are intended for.

Click here to read article.

Happy Birthday Peter

Today our good friend Peter celebrated his fourth birthday. Luka and Peter are buddies and he had been looking forward to the party all week...especially since it was a "superhero" party. We found Luka a "Superman" shirt (adult size, so it looked more like a dress) and I managed to find a hankerchief in red, white and blue so that was the perfect cape. He thought he looked really cool....I thought he did too.

Peter is the one under the Spiderman mask.

Thank you to Laura, Peter and the rest of the Spear Family for a wonderful time!

To see more photos from the party click here.

HOLLAND GOES TO THE FINALS!!!

Holland has made it all the way to the World Cup Finals! We can't believe it. Hopefully now people will know where Holland is. You know that people still ask me if JJ is Danish....it happened just this Sunday! Come on people.....

Now everyone will know that Holland has a great soccer team in addition to windmills, cows and clogs!

Sam's Many Faces

A couple of people have told me that Sam is starting to look like me? What do you think?

But the majority still think he is a mini JJ. Most people see him and automatically say he looks like his daddy. We should start calling him Sammy JJ Jr!

Happy Birthday USA

I was trying to explain to Luka what the 4th of July was and the easiest way was for me to tell him that today was the USA's birthday. He still wanted to know "who" the USA was....I tried to explain but I don't think I was doing a good job on that one. Nonetheless we sang Happy Birthday to the USA and were off to the 4th of July picnic sponsored by the US Embassy in Maputo.

The festivities were held at the American School and they did a really good job. The decorations were great and I felt like if I was in a fair somewhere in the USA. I also loved the music...especially when I heard God Bless the USA by L. Greenwood. I am not a very patriotic person, but man I love that song and every time I hear it I stop and ponder on the fact that I am an American. It is one of the few songs that really make me stop and think about all the lyrics. It is so cheese, but I can picture myself traveling all lover the US. I guess that makes me a little patriotic...at the very least proud to be an American. Please tell me that someone else out there has the same reaction to this song...

The day was full of activities for Luka and JJ and I had a mediocre hot dog...but it was either that or Thai food and I thought the hot dog was more "4th of Julysy."

Here are some photos from the day and above you can see the whole family celebrating "Sam." No, not Uncle Sam...our new baby Sam.

Luka was very proud of his tattoo.

Awwww...the new family of four!

Yummy....blue ice cream!

To see all the photos from the 4th of July please click here.

Happy 4th of July

Today we will go to the Fourth of July Family Day at the American School. I am really looking forward to it and spending the day with my three boys.

July 4th is a day that I always spent with my family and many times we spent it on the beach. I am feeling a bit nostalgic today and I am missing them terribly, especially knowing that my mom, dad, sister and her family are renting on Miami Beach this weekend. They must be having so much fun with the kids. But we will see them soon enough and it will be perfect beach weather when we arrive in Miami, barring any hurricanes from appearing.

This video has nothing do to with my family or 4th of July, but I came across it this morning and I was looking for Luka's favorite music video on YouTube. I had never heard this song during his campaign...but I guess it is as good of a song as any to jam to on the 4th of July. Luka really liked it as well...

P.S. OMG, if they have sparklers at the picnic today it will really make my day.

Way to Go HOLLAND!!!!

Way to go Holland! I can't believe they beat Brazil...and one of the favored teams to win! Now we have to beat Uruguay or Ghana. I am rooting for Ghana tonight when they play Uruguay, but I think I will be wearing orange if they get to play Holland.

Lucky 7

It is incredible to see how much babies change just in 7 weeks. Here is a photo of Sam at seven weeks and one the day he was born! Amazing...

Let's see...this week he started to have somewhat a routine at night...Bath at 8 pm then some milk...then bedtime at 9 pm. He sleeps till 2 am then some more milk...then up at 5 am for some mommy and me time. This is such an improvement from the marathon of feeding him every 1.5 - 2 hours. Thank you Sam! He still hasn't had a bottle, but seems to love mommy's booby juice.

He is a champ at lifting up his head during tummy time and every time we hold him up straight he has to lift up his head to see what is going one. He is really observant.

His smiling is all the time now and I think he recognizes JJ and I and can tell us apart. I guess that is not too hard, since I am the one with the milk on tap...ha ha. But he responds to our voices with slight differences and he also stares at Luka all the time. I wonder what he is thinking about his big brother...probably "please stop counting my fingers and toes" since Luka is obsessed with that. I think he wants to make sure Sam doesn't loose any of them.

Luka has become very overprotective of Sam. If he cries he yells, "Mommy, please help him...he is crying." It is pretty cute.

Sam Perfecting His Morning Smile...

This is Sam's smile at 7 am...after he has been awake and chatting with mommy for about 2 hours.

Baby Group Despedida

For the last couple of weeks we have started to say goodbye to our Maputo "family" and friends. JJ has had parties at work, dinners and colleagues' houses and endless coffee dates. Well I thought....why should the adults have all the fun.

I think Luka and his friends should also be given the opportunity to celebrate their upcoming adventures. As I have mentioned before my Latina friends and I meet every week for a "Baby Group." This week's baby group was a "Despedida" for Max, Nynke and Luka.

Max & Nynke (Paty & Bastiaan's kids) are off to Brazil and Luka will be making is way to Bolivia soon. We hired a face painter to paint the flags on the kids and we had some snacks for everyone. Some of the adults (well Paty and I) even got our faces painted.

Thank you for everyone that attended. The kids really had a great time!

Here is a photo of all the girls....

I managed to hold Luka down for 5 seconds to take a photo...

Here are the "Three Amigos" that we were celebrating...

To see all the photos from the despedida please click here.

Happy Birthday Miguel

Miguel, thank you for inviting us to your first birthday party. The three of us really had a good time. I think Luka's favorite part was the face painting. He was very specific on what he wanted. "I want a purple and silver monster face, Luka told the nice lady painting faces - Angela.

Click here to see all the photos from the party.

Scenes from Our Weekend & Happy Father's Day

First of all let me start by wishing a Happy Belated Father's Day to all the fathers in my life...especially my hubby JJ. I have to make a big confession. I totally forgot it was Father's Day on Sunday...yes, I know...pretty awful. But to my defense, these days with Sam not sleeping and breastfeeding all day long I sometimes forget to brush my teeth and it is hard to find 5 minutes in a span of 24 hours to take a shower... I am a walking "mombie" (mommy zombie).

Okay, but that is no excuse to forget Father's Day. Baby, you deserve to be celebrated and I promise to make it up to you soon!

This weekend we spent the weekend with the kids and watching World Cup Soccer. Way to go Holland. They won again on Saturday and our friends came over to our "temporary" home to watch the game. I can't believe that our best friends are leaving next Saturday. We were posted here together and their family became our family. Bas, Paty, Max & Nynke: We are going to miss you so much...do you really have to go? This is one part that really sucks about diplomatic life. It has its tremendous perks, but losing your friends that have become your surrogate family is really difficult. I can't imagine making such good friends again. La Paz has a lot to live up to. Our time in Mozambique has been so great and our friends were a major part of it.

On Sunday (Father's Day), which I didn't realize until JJ reminded me (after breakfast!) we woke up and took some pictures of the boys. Sam and Luka are both growing up so fast and I realized that I hadn't really taken any nice photos of them together. Don't they look handsome. Luka is really fascinated with his little brother.

Then we were off to the park. There is a new cafe/park in town that JJ loves (least we could do after I forgot about Father's Day). Here you see Luka proudly showing off his new shirt:

Super exciting stuff huh...I hope I am not totally boring you, but I wanted to show off all these photos of our little men.

Oh and when we got home Sam enjoyed hanging out in his borrowed swing. It is called the "Magical Mobile Swing" and it is really magic. That boy takes at least two naps a day on that thing. It gives mommy time to type silly things on her blog...ha ha ha. Thanks Cherry for lending it to us.

Sam Helps with Laundry

For the next 1.5 months we won't have a washer/dryer where we are
staying and you know how much fun that is with two little kids!

Well thank goodness that my friend has given me an all access pass to
her laundry room. Here I am waiting for the laundry and Sam seems to
be content napping on the spinning dryer. The humming has put him
right to sleep. Do you think my friend will let me install the dryer next to
my bed so I can get some sleep. I will even offer to take care of her
laundry.

Ding...one load is done!

Giving Mommy a Break

It has taken many hours of training, but we finally got Sam to take the "dummy" a few times a day. I can't say that he is in love with it...he prefers the real thing...but at least it gives me a couple of breaks during the day.

Sam Learns to Smile

He has done it a couple of times...but this is the first time I caught it on camera! What a cute smirk...

Happy One Month Sammy

Hey Sammy...one month today. Well done! You are grown up so much. You are already weighing 4.61 kg (over 10 lbs.)!!! Today I think you smiled for the first time. Your dad saw you smile as well...now we just have to figure out how to get you to do it more often.

You still are feeding like a mad man...please give mommy a break. For month two the project will be to get you to eat every couple of hours instead of all day. I will work on it with you.

We love you and your Big Brother Luka is fascinated and intrigued by you and doesn't miss a moment to kiss you, touch you or try to make your hands and feet clap. He loves to do that. He also keeps asking me why you don't have teeth or talk yet. We will work on that.

Happy One Month Birthday!

For photos from Sam's first month click here.

Sam & Mommy at the Park

An afternoon in the park on Sam's One Month Birthday!

Moving Day - Part Four

Okay, so it took us 4 days for the movers to pack up and load our
house into the container. 325 boxes/items later I realized we have too
much "stuff."

Wow, that means I have to unpack 325 items in our new home...can't wait!

Here is a photo of Luka as he claims his title as the "King of the
Boxes."

A Little Sad...

This is our first move from a posting and I didn't realize how hard it
would be.

We arrived to Mozambique as newlyweds and we are leaving as a family
of four! We have also made such good friends that have become our
family. I can't imagine making those close bonds again! I made friends
this close once before and it was in Miami where I had lived my whole
life, so I don't know if I will have the same luck a third time.
Amiguis las voy a extranar a todas!

Then there is the house. Luka took his first steps in that house, had
his birthday parties there, slept in his first big boy bed, learned to
throw a ball, etc. Just last night he was asking me to go back home.
How do you explain all this to a 3 year old. Well I tried, and I think
he understood.

For now I leave you with a photo of the chaos that is our house at the
moment. Thank you honey for taking care of everything while I hang out
with Sam.

Sam @ 4 Weeks

Yesterday Sam turned a whole 4 weeks! Here you can see him on my lap
right after dinner...doesn't he look full?

Moving Day

Today we packed up our house and moved into temporary housing. I can't
believe how fast time has gone by.

I have been really worried about Luka and how all these changes would
affect him...but here you can see that he is really happy and adapting
well. I guess it helps that the apartment/hotel we are staying in has
an amazing play area for kids!

I apologize for the short posts...but I am uploading this from my
phone and typing takes way too long.

Get Up & Dance

On Saturday Luka's school celebrated "Dia de Crianca" - Children's Day and Luka and his friends were busy performing all the songs they have learned at school. Many of the songs, like this one, are in Changan - one of the local languages spoken here in Maputo.

Luka particularly loves this song as you can see from his enthusiasm to jump up and be the first one to get up and dance. I hope you enjoy watching Luka and his moves as much as I did.

This boy has loved dancing and music since the moment he came into our lives and his love for anything with a beat continues....

Sam's First Passport Photo

This week we are busy working on getting Sam's American and Dutch passports. We had to take him to get his passport photo done and one of the few places in town is the Chinese Kodak shop. The woman there LOVES to photoshop. If you notice Sam's face looks a little stretched out, but still cute, right? Well, this is the photo that will go in his American passport.

I tried to instill a little bit of tradition and I put Sam in the same shirt that Luka was wearing when he took his first passport photo in the same shop. As I am typing this I am realizing that this is something my mom would always do. If you look at photos from when my sister and I were little it seems that Moqui wore the same thing I did...for example in our Kindergarten photos we are wearing the same dress and like that there are many more examples. I think that as we got older my sister decided she wanted to wear her own clothes...actually as we got older I started to take her clothes.

This was Luka's photo taken in January 2008.

Naptime

Sam taking a nap in his Mozambican bassinet...