8 months old

This is our awesome, amazing pediatrician, Dr Edgar Castro Camacho. He is very patient, thorough and gentle with Lukas. We really like him a lot. He always takes his time with us, and very obviously loves his work.

Yesterday Lukas was 8 months old. He weighs 18.5 lbs, and is a tall 29". Hard to believe 8 months ago we were nervously staring at a newborn baby and wondering what to do next! We still have to wonder what to do next often, but he's so much fun and such a sensitive and funny little soul we can't imagine what life

was like before he came along.

One Cup of Coffee

As long as I can remember my Mom has left half filled mugs of cold coffee around the house. This is something we've teased her about for years.. her inability to completely finish a freakin' cup of coffee.I always thought it was just a weird quirk she had until my son came along. Now that I am a parent too I finally understand!!!

It is impossible to complete:

cooking something..

eating a meal..

drinking a cup of coffee..

an email..

a conversation..

a snack..

laundry..

with a kid.

That doesn't explain why 30 some odd years later she still can't manage to sit still long enough to finish a cup.. but it sure explains where the quirk came from!!

PS- One Cup of Coffee also happens to be my favourite Bob Marley song... it is a quirky little number and the title makes me think of my Mom every time! :O)

Finca Weekend

We went to Fusa this past weekend for Efrain's Birthday. Happy 65th!

I think there's a saying that getting there is half the fun or something to that effect. Really we don't do much when we get there as I've mentioned before. I believe part of the reason for this is the terrifying journey there takes a little time to recover from. Two hours of twisty roads through the mountain, crazy arse drivers taking their lives (and everyone elses) into their hands at every chance to pass even ONE car ahead of them. We almost always see at least one accident, more often two. Last time we came across a truck full of paint, that misjudged a corner (apparently) and skidded off into the pseudo ditch, twisting it's cab into a pile of metal and spewing blue and yellow paint across the road and along it's path of destruction. Amusing only because the driver was just sitting there waiting for someone to come and salvage his wreck for him. I spend the two hours with heart in mouth, desperately clutching Lukas' head so it doesn't whip off at the sudden swerves Peter makes. I have never driven or seen the Autobahn, but I imagine they have nothing on the skills of Colombian mountain drivers.

On holidays it is the same but of course with twice as much traffic. Some smart person, politician or policeman, not sure which, decided the carnage level was becoming too high and set some rules down. Now at peak travel hours during holidays they stop all the traffic one way.. say going "down".. for about a 30 minute span and let the traffic from the other direction (two lanes) run solo for that time. It's great because you don't have to concern yourself with oncoming traffic, but it whips the people who have the "GO" into a frenzy of speeding lest they get caught and have to wait for the other directions turn. Good in theory and apparently effective. The wait of course is frustrating with an active baby who doesn't like to be confined in the seat for more than 20 minutes, never mind 30 minutes of idling.

This time was not a holiday so it wasn't too frantic. We still didn't escape unscathed though because poor Lukas got carsick all over! Lesson learned.. don't top up the baby with milk two minutes before you leave for such a crazy journey.

Anyways..it was a nice hot and sunny break from all the rain we've had the last couple of weeks. Efrain is a great cook, so we had good eats and some birthday cake to round it out. Of course I'm the only one in the picture not looking as I'm trying to head off some disaster Lukas was trying to create.

New Year, New Adventures

Happy Really Late New Year!!

It's rare to have much time to post anything now but I am going to try to more often as so many people have said they read this for updates.

Lukas is 6 months and 25 days old and a busy busy boy! Naps are usually a mere 30 minutes only. He likes to sit up now and watch the world go by. We are so lucky to have such a healthy and happy boy! He has started eating solid food, and while he wasn't convinced at first he now enjoys apples, peaches, mango, watermelon, pears, cereal, spinach, avocado, carrots, and squash.

We spent New Years in Fusa at the Finca. It was a challenge to stay up past midnight for all of us but we managed to do it! It was so hot there and a nice break from the chill and smog of Bogota. The photo above is of a beautiful flower growing in the yard.

My time here is coming to a close, for now. We have started the long and difficult immigration process again, and pray that Peter is back in Canada with us as soon as possible. Lukas LOVES his Daddy and of course vice versa, so it will be a difficult separation with too few visits as the tickets are expensive and the vacation time needs to be used wisely. We are, however, grateful that Lukas is young enough not to really remember all this time we will have to spend apart. My feelings are understandably mixed. I want to go home, where I can go out and not be concerned with who is watching or have my family here repeatedly warn me to be careful. I want to be able to drive places and go whereever I want without worrying about people taking advantage of my "foreign-ness" . On the other hand we are missing time together when Lukas is little and fun and changing almost every day. I will miss the bakeries and fresh produce and the people who are ALWAYS happy, despite this country and it's craziness (at times).

We don't have anything ambitious planned for our last couple of months here in the apartment. Weekends sometimes we travel to the Finca or go to the park and hang out. But mostly we just try and spend as much time together as possible! I have already started cleaning out my clothes and shoes, giving away what I don't need or want anymore to people who really need it here. We will be homeward bound before I know it.

First Christmas Fun!

Today was Peter's company Kids Christmas party. It was held at a club here, Colsubsidio Bellavista. It's a country club, with tennis, pools, games, lounge chairs etc. that Peter's company pays for us to belong to as part of their benefits package.

Although he's so little, Lukas was able to participate with some infant stimulation exercises. A massage lesson, tactile fun with loofahs and sponges and styrofoam marbles, smelling some different scents, tasting lemon and sugar, and playing on a mat. He was a little overstimulated at the end of all this, and liked watching the other kids best of all. We had a nice bbq lunch, and then of course a very special visit from Papa Noel! His very first Christmas present is an annoying Barney doll, that warbles away and plays songs with different instruments when you press them. Fun!

Food Fun

So most of the time the food here is 100% enjoyable. I am an adventurous eater for the most part, and usually will take at least one bite of something, or try something suggested by a relative here. However, there have proven to be a couple of exceptions during my time here in Colombia.

One exception was Mondongo Soup. Upon visiting Peters Aunt Carmen, who is 80+ years old, and very old time proper, and who had formally invited us to lunch, I found myself staring down a bowl of Mondongo Soup. Most of you might know Mondongo as Tripe. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't bring myself to eat it. The texture, taste and look of it were just too much. I tried to sneak it across the table to Peters Mom, but alas Tia Carmen is sharp only at inopportune moments. She falls asleep mid channel change while watching tv, but the jig on this was up in 30 seconds flat. So I had to fess up and have the offending dish removed.

So, on the odd occasion something just proves too much for me.

Last nights foray into the culinary delights at the Parque Nacional Christmas display was another time when it just proved all too much. We stopped at one of the vendors and I asked Peter to buy me an empanada. An empanada is a wonderful little deep fried, meat and potato filled, corn dough encased wonder. Add some Aji (hot sauce) and they reach levels of addictiveness. These are empanadas.

SO. Peter bought three of what I thought were empanadas, same shape and size. Oddly people were calling them Pastele, but I thought nothing of it. Lukas was tired, it was getting too late and I was too hungry to think it through. When we got home, I excitedly opened the bag and took a BIG bite. An empanada it was not.. here's what it was...

Yup, an egg. And rice. Deep fried together in batter. Normally I am a fan of the egg, and of the humble little rice grain. But when you are expecting lovely hot, greasy, deep fried meat and potatoes and this is what ends up in your mouth as a bedtime snack.. well it's just not the same.