Luke Turns One!!!

Luke actually turned one almost a month ago, but Lance was in Portugal so we waited to celebrate until after we got back from our trip.

This last month Luke started to point at things and people he wants. He also started to stand straight up in the middle of the room by himself. Taking any steps is still a little too risky for him. But he stands up and down all day!

He can also finally go down stairs by himself! (Yay! No more crawling up the stairs then crying until he's rescued.) What's funny is that when he first started to do this, we got all excited and praised him and clapped and all that stuff. Well now, weeks later, Mikey's enthusiasm has failed to wane even the slightest bit. Whenever Luke starts to back down the stairs, Mikey yells and yells until I come, "MOM! Come look! Luke is going down the stairs all by himself! MOM! Come see!" What a good, proud big brother.


Luke, like most little kids, is quite enamored with all cell phone and controller looking things. And don't try to take it away or you'll hear about it!

You know how moms know their own babies' cries? You know, the one for I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm sad.... Well Luke has some of his own distinguishable screams. The most distinguishable one is the scream meaning "Mikey just took something out of my hands!" If you ever need to interpret his screams, it's the one that sounds like he has slammed his fingers in a door. Once he gets his hands on something, he screams at the top of him lungs when it's taken away. Mikey has been pulling stuff out of his hands from day one. Suddenly he's realizing he doesn't like it! So don't take anything out of his hands unless you're ready for the screaming.

And finally the party! It was only two weeks late.

Lance calls Luke his little bear, thus the bear cake.

It was quite a tasty cake!

But don't ask Luke.

This was the product of sitting around for awhile trying to get him to touch the cake. Then trying to put some in his mouth. Then finally pushing his hand into the frosting and putting it in his mouth. None of that succeeded in getting any into his mouth. But he did like rubbing the frosting all over his face!

Finally a few presents.

Of course I don't think Luke actually ever touched the wrapping paper.

Happy Birthday, Luke! We love you!

FINALLY

SIGH...

Finally I made it through my long month of being a single mom while Lance worked in Lisbon.

And finally I got to go on vacation with Lance and only Lance (yes, no kids!)

And finally I made it back to Portugal after 7 years.

And finally I am posting our pictures from our trip!



As many of you know, Lance started out his summer this year by working at the biggest law firm in Lisbon for a little externship. I first agreed to this plan because we decided I would bring the kids over after two or three weeks and hang out there while he finished up his work, then we'd all tour around a bit. So plans were made. Then after much consideration we realized how much better it would be without trying to drag two little kids through 18 hours of flying and layovers and then all over Lisbon. This was, in fact, a much better plan. The one drawback was that my plan of 2 1/2 weeks alone with kids turned into 4! Oh well. I made it through and then got to meet up with Lance for a great vacation! So here we are. There are a lot of pictures here, all of which are of us just posing in front of different backgrounds. Sorry if they get boring after a minute.



We started off by visiting The Algarve since that was all we ever heard about as missionaries in the summer. Everyone kept telling me I should go to The Algarve! So we went. It was beautiful, though we didn't exactly have perfect weather. At least we got a little sun :)

We got to do a little diving while we were there. Aside from the cold water and nauseating water swells it was great.

This is in Silves in the Algarve--a cute little town with a castle (like most little towns in Portugal :) That's why they're so awesome)

Silves Castle entrance

Lance would have been quite useful in defending the castle...

...especially with THAT sword

You can't go to Lisbon without going to Sintra. Okay, well we actually didn't go into the biggest attraction, Palacio de Pena because it was too late and it was closing. But we have both been there so we went through the Moors Castle which was new to us both. It was very cool. We climbed the stairs of two very tall battlements. This is me at the top of one battlement--you can see the top of the other battlement we climbed and Palacio de Pena in the background.

Before the climbing began. See? I'm still smiling :)

Lance was really disappointed that they didn't have any sort of layout or description of what the castle had looked like before falling into ruin. He was pretty sure he got this one room right, though.

Trying to get in? Trying to get out? I don't know.

Just some room. We have lots of these pictures. Us standing in front of some ruined part of the castle. It was really cool to see, though.

See? More standing in front of ruined castle.

And still more....
But that's the last one I'll share. Just imagine more of the same of that stuff.

Of course we had to see the Torre de Belem. Cool as always.

This is what happens when you don't have more than two people in your party. Two pictures exactly the same with each person.

Descobrimentos--Lisbon's shout out to all the Portuguese explorers. Also always cool. BUT, what was different from the last time I was here was that we could go to the top!

And here is the view from the top. See that tiny person at the bottom of the map? That's me :) Lance waited at the top while I sprinted down... yes, I said sprinted...

The elevator was broken so we had to hike the stairs. The good news? It was half the price to get to the top. :)

And Jeronimos--what an amazing cathedral! I recently read a historical fiction novel (Pillars of the Earth) about cathedrals being built in the 11th century so I had a whole new appreciation for this (not that this was 11th century, I think it was 16th). It's amazing what they were able to build so many hundreds of years ago.

Gardens at Jeronimos

More gardens at Jeronimos.

This was right outside Lance's office. I just liked the little pond/stream, the trees and the statues.

Campo Pequeno. This is where they do all the Bull Fighting! Sadly, we missed being able to attend a fight by one day. Poor planning!

More cool pracas (squares) with cool fountains and statues.

This is the "shopping" district/center. Translation: lots of crap stores (you know the stores I mean--rows and rows of magnets, pens, figurines and mugs and all that stuff that magically changes from souvenirs into crap as soon as it enters your home) and restaurant owners chasing after you with a menu.

And this was our last day. It just so happened that one of Lance's colleagues at the law firm was also a pilot and had some connection to the right people to be able to schedule a little flight for us with less than a day's notice to take a little tour over the coast. So we did it! It was the first time for both of us up in a small private plane.

The view was amazing! Of course pictures don't do it justice, but we got a lot of these anyway.

I thought of my dad the whole time and wished he could have been there. (Back in the day he flew his own little plane) He would have loved the whole thing.

This was one of our cute pilots

And this was the other pilot. They were both so cute and nice.

Okay. All done.

I feel like such a mom

Mom, Mikey and Luke get in the car. Mom in the driver seat, Mikey in car seat facing forward behind driver seat, Luke facing backwards in the middle. Here is how it typically shakes down:

Mikey: Mom! Lukey is kicking me! Luke's foot is on me! Can you tell Luke to move his foot?!
Mom: Mikey, Luke is too little to understand.
Mikey: Tell Luke to stop! Tell Lukey to stop!
Mom: Luke, stop putting your foot on Mikey.
Mikey: His foot is still touching me!
Mom: Luke, please stop touching Mikey.

...moments later

Mikey: Ahhh!!! Lukey scratched me! Can you tell Lukey to stop scratching me!
Mom: Luke, stop scratching Mikey.

...moments later

Luke starts crying
Mom: Mikey...? What did you do?
Mikey covers his face
Mom: Mikey?!
Mikey: I just, I just put my foot up on him like this (Mikey puts his shoe up on Luke's head and face--again)
Mom: Mikey! Do not kick your brother in the face!

...moments later

Mikey: I don't want Luke's cup! He keeps putting his cup on me!
Mom takes away Luke's cup.

...moments later

Luke starts screaming
Mom: MIKEY! What did you do?!
Mikey silent
Luke still screaming
Mom: Mikey...? Did you hit Luke?
Mikey: I just, I just pushed him like this (poking Luke's face with his finger--again)
Luke still screaming
Mom: Mikey, stop touching your brother

Is there anything more mom-like then telling your kids to stop touching each other and to leave each other alone?

So Saturday morning, months of this finally broke me down. I had both kids in the car and went back inside to grab something. When I came back out Luke was crying... The result? Luke graduated early. Just one week early (and he's been over 20 lbs for months now). I couldn't handle them touching each other any more! Since Luke's car seat only works rear-facing in the middle...

...I turned him around!

I love seeing his cute little face in my rear view mirror now.

And he loves it, of course--being able to see where he's going instead of where he's been. And best of all, no more kicking, scratching and screaming.

Only problem is that he is much less reclined and so sleeping is not quite as comfortable. (But look how cute!)

Bath life without the bath seat

As I mentioned a little earlier, we have had to get rid of the bath seat for Luke as he is now too agile to stay in it. Prior to getting rid of the bath seat we had a bit of a splashing problem with Luke. Basically he wouldn't stop splashing. We finally had to turn his bath seat backwards since the bather (mom or dad) preferred to not get drenched. Also, since Mikey freaks out when even a drop of water lands in his face he doesn't appreciate the water flying everywhere.

So now that we don't have the bath seat anymore, what do we all think happened with the splashing.






Yes! WAY worse! Now he's all down in the water and gets a much deeper splash. And this video is from the first time without the seat. It gets worse every time! At first Mikey was able to stop the splashing momentarily by dumping a cup of water on his head--now it doesn't even phase him. Luke just splashes harder and faster throughout the whole bath. I can't even get his hair washed without getting completely drenched. At first Mikey actually thought it was funny when Luke would splash while facing backwards and get me and the floor wet, but now there is no escaping the splashing (I know, funny to be worried about the one who is actually in the tub and already wet). So my options at this point are to either hold the shower curtain or towel around Luke to shield Mikey from him so as to allow him a little splashing time in the tub (he loves it so much I can't bring myself to pull him out right away) or bathe the two boys separately. Sigh. Oh and of course have plenty of towels on hand to wipe down the bathroom.

Olá from Portugal

It's time for another Daddy post, though no cute Mikey sayings this time. I just wanted to say hi and let everyone know that I'm having a great time in Lisbon. I miss my hot wife and my chubby boys, but I'm past the halfway point, so I'll see them soon enough.

For those who don't know, I'm doing a legal internship with the largest firm in Portugal. I've had a LOT of work in both English and Portuguese, and they've been very good about letting me be involved and keeping me here 'til all hours.

Just to share a few funny things about Portugal that I had forgotten since my mission (8 YEARS AGO!). Every morning I walk by a nice lady who is mopping the sidewalk in front of the building where she works. Seriously, mopping the cobblestones...with a mop. This morning I saw a bunch of guys doing some kind of work on the side of a building, suspended by mountain climbing ropes and harnesses while using jackhammers and such. It was like watching a weird, giant puppet show with 9 or 10 of them dangling around up there. I also just saw a fire truck pass under my office window, and laying on top of it were two wooden ladders, like what we use to put up Christmas lights. In a city full of very few buildings less than at least five or six stories high, I'm not entirely sure what they're planning on doing with those ladders. Christmas is 7 months away.

Love, Lance

Never leave your kids alone in the bath...

Some of you may remember at Christmas when we got Luke a little bath seat so that he could easily bathe with Mikey and sit up and be safe. Well despite his now plentiful skills in all sitting, balancing, crawling and maneuvering, we have continued to bathe him in his seat just because it keeps him in place and I felt he was safer and more contained. So while bathing Luke, I don't really leave him ALONE, alone, but I usually do things like put laundry away in the rooms on either side of the bathroom and therefore walk back and forth in front of the bathroom.

So a few days ago I was doing just such a thing and needed something downstairs. So I looked in on him happily splashing away and sprinted downstairs for a sec. Well as soon as I got downstairs I heard a little "something" happen upstairs so I turned around and sprinted up. Now the bathroom is right at the top of the stairs and as you come up the stairs his little chair is centered in the door and normally you see his little face peaking over the bath looking back you. But his little face wasn't there! Even more panicked I reached the bathroom finally to see this:

The little stinker got out of his chair and was just standing there grinning at me as if he knew perfectly well he accomplished something new and something he maybe wasn't supposed to have done!

Being relieved, I started laughing at him and he quickly joined in. Well no more bath seat for this kid!

Walking?

I think we're still a little ways off from the real thing, but we're practicing and so cute doing it!

R&R in the Sun

One day, a few weeks ago on a particularly nice, warm day, the whole fam went outside for some R&R. It was fabulous and I was able to lay back and read a little while Lance played with the kids (as seen below). Well Mikey pays close attention. He immediately thought that was a great idea.
So he spent a good part of our time outside "relaxing" with his drink trying to lay just like mama--sunglasses and all.

The funny thing is, though, that now every time we go outside he starts pulling on two chairs for himself and asks for a drink. He insists that I join him which is great except that the boy has no sensitivity to cold--his mother is quite the opposite--and these requests often happen in the cold, wind and rain.

Mikey is quite the poser and hams it up for the camera. But here the swing had slowed down and Mikey didn't even notice that Lance and I were watching him. He just sat like this with his leg crossed for a good long while--contemplating something, I guess.