Luka's Attempt at Standing Up

This video was taken last week. Luka really likes to stand up in his playpen...although it only last a little while before he goes into a complete straddle...he sure has fun doing it.

Another Letter to Luka

We will be heading to Miami on Thursday..llook how excited Luka was when we told him the news. The three of us can't wait to get there and see everyone. This trip home will be extra special with Luka. I think Luka's cousin - Maxwell - is getting really excited with his arrival. Grandpa recently sent us another letter Maxwell had written for Luka...enjoy.

Dear Luka,

I wanted to write this letter to you to discuss our grandparents here in Miami. I know you are the last baby in the family and the flavor of the week. Grandma and grandpa are crazy printing pictures of you and making calendars with your picture on it, sending boxes with presents to Mozambique, etc, etc, etc.

Grandma even says you are very "photogenic". I dont know what the hell that is, but I know its good, because she smiles when she says it. Lets make one thing clear. You are my cousin and I love you, but I'm older than you and there are things to know and certain rules you are going to have to follow:

1) Grandpa is crazy, but that is good. He is the one you want to call if you want to play and do crazy stuff. He has some kind of early dementia, so he lets you play with water, food, toys and even tools. You can call him "abu" or "pepe" or "yeyo", but he will respond to any sound you make. Also, he can only see from one eye, so stay on his right side, so he can see you better. Make sure when he feeds you, you open your mouth wide, because lately he is pointing the spoon to my nose or my left ear.

2) As soon as you get here you will meet Grandma. She is very sweet and gentle, but she is TOTALLY deaf. If you want to make yourself heard make sure you yell your lungs out and make noises. You will be the one answering the phone and telling her that someone is kicking out the front door. Also I know you dont see that in Mozambique, but you will become adicted to "General Hospital" and the Food Channel.

3) I dont want to sound jelous, but remember they are my grandparents too. Make sure they still keep an eye (in the case of grandpa) on me during your visit. I can't wait for your arrival so they can see you in person. I'm happy because I will see you for the first time, but also because grandma and grandpa will stop talking 24/7 about the new grandson, how beautiful, how happy, blah, blah, blah.

I love you -

Maxwell

Letter from Maxwell to Luka

Dear Luka,

Your day will come soon enough. I actually liked my hair how it was. It was always calling attention and people loved to touch it. It was lots of fun! Mommy and daddy decided to cut it after everyone saying it was long enough.

Yeah, I didn't want to cut it...but I knew it would grow back. I pretended to cry and be very upset, so they took me to this really fun place where I they cut my hair and I get to sit on an AIRPLANE. So when your mommy and daddy say, "Okay, today we are going to cut your hair," just start crying like crazy. They will take you to the really cool airplane place and might buy you a toy afterwards.

I can't wait to see you in person. You look really small on the computer screen, but I am sure you are much bigger. Either way we will play and I will show you all my "tricks" with grandma and grandpa.

Love,

Maxwell
"Your Cousin"

Happy Birthday Luka - 10 months

Yesterday Luka turned 10 months. It has been 2 months since his arrival...where does the time go? We spent his 10-month birthday going to the park, a bbq and seeing friends. He loves to spend time with other kids and is really social. He will strike up a conversation with almost anybody...sounds like somebody I know....hmmm.

Here is a photo of him yesterday at the park. It was his first time wearing a baseball cap...isn't it a great look for him?

Luka's First Passport Photo

I don't know if it is funny or absolutely adorable. What do you think? Doesn't he look like a little man. Enjoy!

Just for Fun

Happy New Year

Our 1st Month Anniversary

Can you believe that today it makes one month since Luka's homecoming. It is hard to believe to see how much our lives have changed in just 30 days. We celebrated our one month anniversary by taking Luka to his 1st pool party. You have to check out the photos and videos...not because he is my son...but damn is he cute!

Luka & Daddy in the Pool


Luka & Mami in the Pool


Luka Learns to Flirt

Our First Christmas Together

We had a great Christmas this year. We started off with the traditional Cuban Noche Buena feast with 13 of our closest friends here in Maputo and then on Christmas Day we went to mass with Luka for the first time. He behaved very well...his favorite part was the music. After church we went to visit his friends at the orphanage and take some Christmas cake for the kids. The ladies could not believe how big he was getting. One of them didn't even recognize him. Mass was a 8 am so we didn't open any presents in the morning. When we got back home we put his Christmas pj's back on and opened some presents. He had some gifts from friends and a couple from mommy and daddy. He wasn't really amused with the presents. His favorite thing BY FAR was the paper. You should see the photos of him enjoying playing with the Christmas wrapping. I think next year I will just wrap the wrapping paper. Here are some videos for you to enjoy.

Getting ready for Noche Buena - Christmas Eve Dinner

Luka learns to sit up on his own:

I will work on uploading all of our photos today. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Luka Keeps Growing

It has been three weeks since Luka's arrival and he is growing like weed. Yesterday we had a doctor's appointment and he weighed 5.22 kg (up from 3.6 kg). That means he is weighing 11.5 lbs! What an improvement from 8 pounds and you can definitely tell in the pictures from our album. I swear I have never been so happy about seeing a double-chin and cellulite in my life! He also grew from 55 cm to 57 cm. That is a good growth spurt for a month and it was only three weeks. Even the doctor was impressed when he sat up on his own and started grabbing things from her hand...something he wasn't even attempting on his first visit.

Life as a mother and father has been interesting to say the least. JJ and I are taking turns waking up early and at night since JJ is home on "daddy leave." He is here everyday and Luka is starting to recognize us as his parents...well I think he is.

I think the hardest thing about having a new baby is that you have to learn to do things fast or in sections. He eats almost every two hours and it takes anywhere from 30 -45 minutes to feed him. So if you count prep time you better be done with your task in about 55 minutes. Shopping is a challenge. I have become a very quick shopper. But I have noticed that most of the personal things (phone calls, emails, bills, etc.) get done when he is down for the night. You would think that I would be dead since I have been up since 5 am, but somehow you find the energy to finish what you need to do and then wake up early the next day. I would have never believed you if you told me I would be up till 12 - 1 am and up at 5 am AND function well enough to carry, change, feed a child and pop in a Barney DVD.

Today was our first walk down to the park and use of our "borrowed" stroller. I don't know if he enjoyed it. To tell you the truth he looked kind of scared...it might have been daddy's driving. The picture above was taken today.

I promise the next entry won't be about Luka....I surely must have more to talk about than my son!

Happy Holidays from Mozambique

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the three of us in Maputo, Mozambique! This has turned out to be a very good year for our family and we have many things to be thankful for.

Christmas is almost here and I still can't get used to having Christmas in the SUMMER. You might say, but aren't you from Miami where it is summer all year round! But if you are from Miami you hope that on Christmas you can at least wear a sweater and if you walk outside on December 25th you can sometimes feel a cool winter breeze. Well, not here...we are in the middle of the summer. The cable channels are promoting their summer Christmas movies and holiday line-up..."summer Christmas"....does this sound strange to anyone else?

Okay, okay...so I know that half of the globe is also in summer right now...but i just can't get used to it. I mean if it is summer then does Santa wear a big fluffy suit or is it more like bermudas and a Hawaiian shirt?

Maybe I am just really homesick or maybe I just miss the notion of sitting by the fireplace, drinking hot chocolate and listening to Christmas carols. Again, you might say....fireplace in Miami...well, every Christmas my parents would turn the air conditioner the coldest it could possibly go and make a warm fire in our fireplace...it was GREAT!

It is way past my bedtime, so for now I will go to sleep and dream about a White Christmas!

One Week and Counting...

It has been a week since we became a family. Luka is a completely different baby than when he arrived home just 7 days ago. Just in that time he has learned how to grab things with his hands, he puts them in his mouth, he grabs his bottle, holds his head up when he is on his tummy and has discovered his feet. These are just some of the many things he couldn't do last Friday. It is amazing what love, attention and good nutrition will accomplish.

Our first week as parents has been interesting. You know getting used to having this little human being that depends on you for everything. For us it was strange...on Thursday we are a married couple with no kids and on Friday we are carrying around a baby bag. On Friday night I kept waking up and pinching myself to make sure that it was real....we finally had a son!

We can't really say it has been hard...Luka is such a great baby and at eight months he has survived an orphanage so he doesn't complain much. I predict that after a few more weeks of mommy and daddy spoiling him he will start asking for more things.

We are still getting to know him, but just after a week we have developed a routine...Boy does this child like to nap! He naps at 10 am, 3 pm, 7 pm then he sleeps from 10 pm - 6 am. I know that other parents reading this must be jealous. But I think that prior to living with us he wasn't able to rest quietly. He has also grown a lot in one week and the doctor says he is sleeping more due to his rapid growth and the greater amount of food he is getting. He already up to 9.59 lbs!!!!

What else can I tell you about Luka Dario...well, he loves his bath time as you can see from the photos above. You can see more bath time photos here.

I think I am going to sleep and wait for my 6 am wake up call. Come back to hear more about Luka and our holiday season in Mozambique. The Christmas tree went up today...Luka's first Christmas photos will come soon.

Luka Dario's Birth Announcement

Making a Mess

Luka Dario has been home with us for 5 days and he is thriving! He has learned how to hold himself up on his tummy. He also started grabbing things with his hands and today we went to the doctor and he gained 500 grams since his arrival. We are so proud of him!

We are even proud of the BIG mess he makes when he eats. Please don't pay any attention to my jibberish in the video. I was trying to get him to laugh so that you can see his beautiful smile. I hope you can see it behind all that baby food.

Meet Our Son - Luka Dario Tinhiko van Herksen

Okay, so our journey to parenthood has been a bit of a whirlwind. We became parents on Friday and we are still in a bit of daze. But we wanted to share pictures of our little guy with the world. As soon as I get my bearings I will tell you the entire story of how we met our son - Luka Dario Tinhiko van Herksen. Dario was his name in the orphanage and Tinhiko means "gift" in the local language here in Maputo. He is 8 months...a tiny little guy for 8 months, but watch his grow after a couple months of love, attention and lots of FOOD!

Check back later for more info on our son...we need to take a nap now. I know they told us we would get less sleep, but no one said anything about NO sleep.

For now you can see more pictures here.

What is Kupfula?

Most of you know that photography is a hobby of mine, well now I can share my "hobby" with all of you. A couple of weeks ago I told you that I was part of a group of individuals that had formed a photography club - Kupfula Photography. Well, after a little organization we have created a website to share with the world. Be sure to visit www.kupfula.com and let us know what you think. Our remaining exhibition photos are online for viewing and they are also for SALE. The money collected from these prints will go to charity organizations here in Maputo. At our recent exhibition we raised over $2,000 USD for a local orphange. I hope you enjoy the photos and welcome any comments.

Halloween in Maputo

It is not quite Halloween yet, but the festivities in Maputo started last night. Okay, so there won't be a lot of festivities. Halloween is basically an American holiday. No one around here really gets into it...including my husband as you can tell from the photo. But I LOVE Halloween. Ever since I was little my mom would always dress us up in these fabulous costumes...so I guess that tradition has stayed with me. Well, this year I didn't have any costume shops to go to so I had to get creative. I hope you can figure out from the photo above that I went as Carrie.

Luckily the US Marines hosted a party last night and my fellow Americans were into the Halloween spirit. Click here to see some of the costumes from the party. You will notice from the photos that JJ was feeling a little left out and as the night progressed he started taking pieces of other people's costume and morphed into the "Flying Dutchman." Happy Halloween!

My First Exhibition

I am a member of the Kupfula Photography Club and we have our very first exhibition in two weeks. This is all very exciting for me since it is the very first time my hobby has been displayed for everyone to see. I hope people like the photos and we raise money for the local orphanage that we have selected as our charity. For all of us in the group....i think....it is our first exhibition. Wish us luck. I hope you can make it if you are in Maputo.

My the way...kupfula means "aperture" in the local dialect here in Maputo.

Our House Guests

I guess you can't really call it babysitting...they aren't really babies. Celine & Michelle stayed over this weekend and we had a blast. On Friday the girls went to lunch, Michelle (the small one) had her own pizza and Celine and I shared. Then it was home for manicures, pedicures and a make-over session. JJ is sorry he missed that. On Saturday we were awaken at 7 am...seriously did I wake up that early when I was little? What could possibly be fun about waking up that early? But we were up and had breakfast. By the time it was noon I felt like it was 6 pm. I guess that is why their bedtimes are earlier. We really enjoyed our time with them...now we take a nap.

Our Holiday Weekend in Maputo

This weekend started off with a holiday on Friday...Signing of the Lusaka Agreement a.k.a. Dia da Victoria....peace agreement between Portugal and Mozambique to end the Mozambican War of Independence. School was closed and I was OFF. I mean really off...no checking emails...no going into the office to catch up.

I was especially looking forward to this long weekend to get acquainted with my new friend - Mr. Nikon D80. He is a little complex and I needed some time off to figure out what all the buttons are for.

On Friday JJ and I started off the day by sleeping in. We woke up and went for "lunch" at the local coffee shop that has real bagels! Who knew I could get so excited over bagels...but Cafe Sol just opened a couple of months ago and it has been such a treat to be able to order a latte and a bagel....yummy! This is the first coffee shop of its kind in Maputo. The rest of the day was spent driving around and lounging at home.

On Saturday we went for a walk in the city & market with our friends Dan & Danielle. Then for lunch at a new restaurant on the waterfront - Zambi. Later JJ and I walked over to the Holiday Inn and the beach...the Holiday Inn in Maputo is the best hotel in town. A four star Holiday Inn...not like back home. Saturday night we had dinner at the local Brazilian steak house - ALL you can eat picana!

On Sunday we headed out of the city to visit our friend's banana farm. Lance & Maria Laura started this banana farm less than 2 years ago...what an operation! It is amazing to see how it all works from start to finish. Did you know that a banana tree only produces ONE bunch of bananas per year? I didn't. A whole year....needless to say they have a lot of banana trees.

They invited a bunch of us (friends from the Latin Group and families) over for a BBQ as well. Maria Laura is from Argentina and a friend of mine through the Latin Group...I love to hear her speak Spanish it sounds so much nicer than my Cuban talk! We had many Spanish conversations going on at the BBQ (Mexico, Miami (Cuba), Argentina & Paraguay). I never thought my Spanish would improve so much by moving to Africa...go figure.

You can see the photos I took from our day on the banana farm and pictures of all the kids that were there. There were some very cute children....and TRIPLETS! Yes, my friend Charis from Argentina has 7-month old triplets. I don't know how she does it.

Well, our holiday weekend is over now and it is back to work tomorrow.