Pedaling4Preemies fundraising site launched!

Dili, 1 February 2014 - Team Pedaling4Preemies is now official - complete with logo and all!

Please click on the logo above to visit our fundraising site if you would like to make a contribution to our cause.

Remember, we're raising money and awareness for premature babies in Timor-Leste by promoting skin-to-skin and infant massage.  Money raised through this campaign will go directly toward supporting premature babies in Timor-Leste, no 'admin' fees or any other expenses related to our participation in this race will benefit from your generous contribution.

In case you are not up to speed, we are riding the 718km, 8-day Cape Epic to raise awareness (and a bit of money) for all those babies born too soon without the benefit of first-world healthcare.  Personal experience has shown that simple, low-tech solutions can have an enormous impact on the welfare of preemies - and we would like to try and give something back to the place we've called home for almost four years.

Please feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions by posting a comment here.  And a special shout-out to the awesome guys at Catalpa International for the awesome logo design!!

Pedaling for Preemies

Dear friends,

23 March 2011, Luka's first feed

It is very hard to believe that we are nearing the third anniversary of our lives with Luka, our favorite ex-prem.  For those not familiar with his story, you can poke around this blog to learn how we went from blissfully pregnant to emergency evacuated by air to welcome our first child into the world, 10 weeks early, on 22 March 2011.

This post however, is not to dwell on the past, but rather to talk about an event in the future.  To commemorate Luka's third year in our lives, Chris and I decided to attempt perhaps the only thing we could think of that would be harder than being in labor on an airplane - the 11th ABSA Cape Epic mountain bike stage race.  This 8-day torture fest occurs every year in March and traverses the mountains in and around Cape Town and the surrounding wine country.  The 2014 route will include nearly 750km of rugged off-road riding, where 1,200 riders, including Olympians, world cup winners, professionals - and weekend warriors like us, will test our endurance to the fullest.  For some, the prize money is a strong motivator, for others, like us, the mere honor of participating - and hope for being an "Epic Finisher" is glory enough.

Luka today - an avid biker

But why write about a cycling race on Luka's blog?  Because we decided to enter this race as a way to celebrate our life with Luka.  For months after his birth, the uncertainties of whether or not he would be 'normal', and healthy, plagued our minds, hearts and souls.  As time went on however, and we eased into the realization that we were one of the lucky ones - we started to understand just how fortunate and blessed we were.  In order to celebrate this blessing, and his first three years - we have decided to raise funds for premature babies in the wonderful country that we call home at the moment, Timor-Leste.  It is here, in Dili, that we went into labor in 2011, and here that we returned with our very small infant son later that year.  The Timorese have taken us in, loved us, cared for Luka, and been gracious in sharing their beautiful country with us.  This despite being the poorest nation in Asia, plagued by development challenges including some of the highest mortality rates for mothers and infants, lowest literacy rates, and extremely poor healthcare options.

While we were fortunate enough to access world-class neonatal care for our premature baby in Darwin, Australia - many, many people around the world are not that fortunate. According to an NGO dedicated to preterm births in Africa, an estimated 15 million babies are born too soon every year.  According to a recent report, premature birth kills 1 baby every 30 seconds!!  That is more than die of malaria, AIDS or diarrhea.  The worst part is that 75% of these deaths can be prevented without intensive care - through simple and inexpensive interventions like steroid injections (which I received prior to Luka's birth), proper hygiene, and warmth (the most valuable renewable energy source on the planet is a parent's skin-to-skin contact with a premature infant).  Yet scores of babies will die this year of preventable preterm births.

Of course, we do not anticipate that the two of us on our bicycles can make a difference in the world's premature birth statistics - however, we do believe we can make a small contribution to the situation for preemies born in Timor-Leste.  As such, we will be coordinating with healthcare professionals in Dili to seek opportunities to contribute to a low-tech intervention such as a 'Kangaroo Mothercare' room, or other similar intervention to assist parents of preemies to cope with, and adequately support their little miracles.

We are in the consultation process to find the most appropriate source to support, but with this letter, I am requesting those able to, please consider supporting our cause when the time comes.  You may choose to give a flat-fee, or an amount per kilometer (1c, 10c, $1?).  There will be no overhead, fee, or administration cost - just two very grateful parents, and one very boisterous ex-prem giving back to the world.  Every cent you choose to donate will go directly to benefiting these little angels.

Once we have our specific project finalized, I will share the information and procedure to donate with you. There is however absolutely NO expectation, NO obligation - just gratification for knowing that you may be able to touch the life of a very special person.

More soon, until then - yours sincerely

Susan, Chris and Luka

Pool side

Luka helping to fill the pool 

We've pretty much established than ever since the little man made his early arrival, he has been tremendously blessed.  We've been over the concept of privilege for even being able to evacuate, to being able to access world-class health care.  Bottom line, we continue to be blessed and fortunate in ways many are not - this weekend was no exception.  Our friend and neighbor has taken the lead on constructing our communal pool in Dili, and this weekend we got to reap the benefits of the labor by watching the pool be filled.  Fortunately for us, Luka was there to lend a much-needed hand....

The boys' first splash in the new pool

Halloween 2012: Bob the Builder (in drag)

So we were invited to a Halloween party for kids last week, which (*gasp*) I actually thought about skipping for lack of a creative costume (for those unfamiliar enough with our current locale - fresh bread is a treat, let alone ready-made cute Halloween costumes).  Fortunately my lovely friend Kay offered an emergency Samurai outfit - which, unfortunately on our tall, tanned, blonde boy, made him look more like someone that should be hanging out at the Playboy mansion with a cigar, than a celebrated Japanese warrior.  Luckily I spotted a 'tool belt' I had bought for Luka eons ago at Ikea if memory serves, so we decided - right, 'handy man' it is - we contemplated the accompanying outfit he should wear, when Chris suggested that 'white onesie' - meaning the designer, expensive, virgin white onesie my mom bought at a lovely shop in SA, which we have never put Luka in because, who  would put Luka in WHITE?

Given his obsession with shoes, Luka proceeded to test out his own footwear for the occasion which ranged from the effortlessly casual flip-flops, to the dependable black court shoe mamma wore to her UK college examinations and graduation ceremony.

Bob the Builder does 'casual'

Bob the Builder in 'drag'

Bob the Builder on the move

Gorgeous little Bob the Builder in a rare
stationary moment with his mamma

Bob the Builder contemplates his next move..

Bob the Builder announces the END of this
party!

You'll have to excuse all the photos being in 'MOTION' - if you have to *ask* - you obviously haven't seen Luka recently....

Mountain-bound to Maubisse

Trouble on two wheels... 

Since a friend and colleague was melting in front of our eyes (he's an East Coaster in some desperate need of 'fall weather'), a group of us decided to pack up and head to the mountains for the long weekend last week.  Here's three things I learned from that trip:

1. Friends don't let friends travel with toddlers alone
2. Yes, we can in fact survive an entire weekend without nannies
3. I want a motorcycle again

Now let's see, where could they have gotten this from? 

On Friday morning (somewhere between 09h00-11h00) we finally set off, the (big) boys on motorbikes, and the (small boys) and girls in two cars - which meant Luka and I were headed off solo - armed with a bucket load of Cheerios, a mountain of Marie biscuits and an iPod full of nursery rhymes for the 2-4 hour drive (roads are terrible, and people's speeds vary so much it is hard to get a good estimate at any given time of how long a particular course would actually take you).

The drive for us was uneventful - Luka fell asleep for 2 hours and I relished in the enjoyable (terrible roads notwithstanding) long drive, by myself, with a sleeping angel, good music and cool weather to match the winding roads up the hillsides.  We briefly stopped for lunch (read: chasing 3 boys around a local restaurant filled with dogs and other interesting things, and trying skillfully to wee in a less-than-stellar bathroom with said boys in tow), and arrived in Maubisse at the Pousada shortly after lunch time.

"My Supreme Court Justice-at-lunch impersonation"

At the Pousada we were thrilled to find that we actually had rooms (apparently reservation doesn't mean much at this destination-with-a-view) and cold beers soon ensued.

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out on our porch where they boys played (and Luka tried to escape either through the door, or by climbing over the strategically placed cooler boxes at the entrance to the porch).  The guys went motorbiking, we did some sight seeing, and generally just chilled out.  Evenings were spent drinking copious quantities of wine, debating the (then) upcoming American election, and all things toddler-hood.  Very nice to sit on a porch in cool fall-like air with awesome friends. 

Kaito showing up the Timorese kids with his skills

"I'm telling you, I KNOW that's where
they hide the cookies...just follow me!"

"Whoa dad!"

"Faster! Faster!"

The Kaito Kiss

Luka is super fortunate to have some of the most awesome friends here in Dili.  Only in an expat setting can you have seven nationalities between 3 babies....one of Luka's closest friends is a Japanese-American named Kaito.  We had the pleasure of spending a lovely Friday evening of sunset drinks on the beach with Kaito and his parents - where Luka decided to try out his new 'kissing' skills.  Kaito was less than impressed see Exhibit B.

"If you do that again, I'll punch you!"

Jimmy Shooooos.

One thing we have learned is that Luka looooves shoes.  So much so that it is one of his very first words (right after 'Das' (for Gus the cat), and 'wa-wa' (for warm, which despite it's mild English meaning it means hot in Afrikaans) was shoooooos.

He is constantly putting his own shoes on, and off, and on, and off, all day long.  It is practically the first thing he wants to do in the morning, and heaven forbid if you are not quick enough!  So needless to say, he simply looves playing in our dressing room where all of daddy's shoes are (usually temporarily) neatly laid out in a row.  He somehow always manages to pick the biggest pair from the lot, and does his morning calf workout.

Beach Cruiser

 A few weeks ago, Chris and I finally decided that it had become too much of an occupational hazard to try and take our darling Luka to public establishments for sundowners.  It usually goes something like this:
 "..so, how's work?"
"yeah, go.....BABE, he's on top of the stairs...gooo!"
"sorry about that...Luka, OFF the table!"
"how about you? How's the fam...Luka, watch OUT"

instead - we took the *free* beer in our fridge, and walked down to the *free* beach located about 3 blocks from our house (though Dili's town planning in now way shape or form actually constitutes city blocks for the most part, more like 'enclaves', nevertheless).  With a blanky, a cooler, and Luka's favorite toy in tow - we were able to spend an hour watching him run up and down the beach with no fear of launching himself off a stair case, breaking glasses, or climbing on tables - because there were none of those things around!  Yeah, one for us!

"Ah-ha! Let's see how fast we can go!"

"Not so fast, I will come around and GRAB you from the
front!"

"Whoa there!"

There comes a time when riding IN the Chariot is no longer
acceptable, one now has to DRIVE the Chariot

Hm, I love putting pebbles into mommy's beer bottle...

"Hey! Enough with the camera already, I
feel like one of Brangelina's adopted kids!"

Bday bliss for mommy

Turned the space between our homes into an awesome
dinner venue to celebrate to Libra birthdays...

Mommy's little helper...

After an awesome bday 'braai' with neighbor, friend and fellow Libra, Maarten on the 29th - I  celebrated a blissful bday brunch on the beach with my two favorite boys... Fortunately Luka was there to help me unwrap my prezzies, and practice his latest word 'ouch' for my knee. 

hanging out - reminding mommy why she really needs to
think about switching to 'tankinis' ;)

'Where's Luka's tongue?'

'Aaaaaaah'

:)m

Dili International School

Deep down inside we are VERY nervous....

Apparently there comes a time in everyone's life...when the eternal educational wheel starts turning.  For some it is brief, for others a rather extended walk through life (my mother got her PhD in her 50s)...but nonetheless - we all have to start somewhere.  And so, Master Luka started at the Dili International School Pre-school a few months ago (yes his mother is only now getting around to sharing this groundbreaking news with you).

Now, trying to get Luka to appreciate the notion of 'circle time'
will take some doing....

'now why would I sit in a stupid circle when there are
playground equipment to conquer??'

'...afterall, I have a perfectly good view of the "circle" from here'

Essentially there are a few international schools in Dili.  The one that Luka frequents is commonly referred to as the 'Australian school' for following the curriculum from our friends down under, and staffed mainly by Australian teachers; whereas there is also an American and Portuguese school in town.

And then of course, nothing makes you as hungry as
'learning'!

I visited the pre-school with my mother-in-law shortly before they left Timor in August to get an educated opinion (she is after all an educational psychologist) and she was very positive and impressed about the setup.  So Chris and I decided that, despite not necessarily wanting to send Luka to school before he was 18 months old, the combination of his energy, and exploratory desire to learn things - that he was in fact, ready to start a more structured form of stimulation.  He goes 3 mornings a week and gets to hang out with Ms. Glau and all the friends doing circle time, painting, singing (his favorite is the dancing!~)

We have been absolutely amazed at how fast he learns and makes associations.  He is really starting to listen to requests, and instructions - which in the case of such a passionate little person, is a good thing ;)

Our little 'gearhead'

Wow, all this toddling makes me thirsty!

He may be only 16-months old, but he can spot an authentic CamelBak a mile away.  Might have something to do with the similarity in nozzle on his favorite bottle by the same manufacturer, so when our little man spotted the familiar blue squishy cap dangling from mommy's MTB hydration pack, he didn't skip a beat... 

Planting a vegetable garden

Helping!

I know there has to be a cookie in here
somewhere!!

 I've always said, of all the cool things I've been fortunate enough to do in life, eating food from my own garden was one of the most incredible experiences.  Those who have followed our previous blog on our kitchen adventures in Afghanistan may recall that we had a lovely vegetable garden in Kabul which provided us with abundant tomatoes, lettuce and plenty of other goodies.  So, I've decided to give it a 'go' one more time in Dili.  While I won't have my trusty chowkidor to assist, I am happy to report, I have a new, willing helper!  Luka and his friends had a blast digging in the dirt, disorganizing our seed stash, and of course - driving the biggest garden tools he could find!

1st Day of School....okay, Playgroup but still.

There was a lot of uhming and ahing over whether Luka was too young to start 'school', and given the amount of stimulation he gets with neighbors and friends, whether he even needed a 'formalized' situation - well - I think this video sort of sums up what he thought of his trial at the Dili International School (DIS) playgroup today...

Dance white boy!

Cuddles

Cuddle time...

After a tumultuous time that included Chris and Luka having to leave Dili early with a bout of bronchiolitis and a chest infection, leaving mommy behind to work on the parliamentary elections in Timor-Leste - we are finally reunited in Scarborough.  Admittedly it was rough going for a few days as Luka got reacquainted with mommy - and we've been dealing with some separation anxiety every since...however, things are on the mend and we are finally settling in and slowing down.  Here is Luka enjoying his latest scheme: wake up at 05h30 and cry until one of my parents lets me sleep on their chest until 08h00 :)  Bad parenting?  Be my guest, try and resist this....

Much better way to wake up

hi mamma!

To the hospital in a hurry

Silly of us to think that Luka would spare us yet another medically-necessitated rapid departure from Dili following our first episode.  Instead, we found ourselves, once again, scrambling to pack in 20 minutes flat, while praying the Internet connection holds to book plane tickets.

Now, now, fortunately this one is much more par for the course and not nearly as exciting and scary as the previous one.  Turns out Luka has Bronchiolitis which is an infection of the small air passages (as opposed to the larger air ways, or the bronchials as was explained to me today). Whatever it is, it makes for one miserable little trooper.  With a fever spike of 40C yesterday, we listened to the poor guy wheezing all night long. At the doctor's this morning his O2 saturation levels (sats) were down to 92%, which is below the 93% that the doctor says is acceptable.  After a few minutes on the torture device known as the nebulizer he responded well - so we were sent home with a home kit to administer ventilin.

All the while we were planning to send Chris and Luka to Darwin tomorrow as a precaution - then it dawned on me, hang on, they're headed to Singapore on Tuesday anyway on their way to South Africa - why not just change that ticket and head up that way - ah right, because the plane leaves in TWO HOURS!  Unfortunately it was also lunch time in Dili, which on an island, is taken very seriously. So we had to wait until after 13h00 before Chris could go back to see the doctor.  By the time he called me to say that she still thinks as a precaution we should take him out, I had under 2 hours to change a ticket and pack for both of them and get them to the airport.  Mind you, it's not just packing for 4 days in Singapore, no, it's packing all the winter clothes Luka and Chris has to take to South Africa for the trip we were originally scheduled to go on next week.

Thanks to Michelle and Judith, we managed to get it all sorted, and off we went to the airport where the Air Timor guys were absolutely amazing and just checked us in right in the office, no line, no counter, no nothing (that is after we showed them the 'fit to fly' medical certificate' of course).

I was devastated to watch the two of them get on the plane, but with my boss out of the country (yes, this always happens when I'm in charge), and the election observation mission I am overseeing arriving in 4 days for the upcoming parliamentary election, I had to stay behind :(

Fortunately we know this is simply precautionary - and soon Chris and Luka will be hanging out at the Singapore Zoo, eating fabulous street cuisine.  We'd just rather he be eating street cuisine down the road from a world class hospital, than wake up tomorrow morning and be out of departing flights for two days.  Just the cost of doing business in our line of work I suppose.

Still sucked putting them on the plane though :(

Officially toddling

It's official, we have a toddler.  Heaven help us.  While I have failed to adequately capture the latest feature on camera - let it be known that we are now stomping around.  Despite not being entirely proficient at the whole walking bit, it has seemingly not stopped us from trying to climb our way into, and out of many things.  This afternoon when daddy put down a wash basket filled with dive gear, Luka proceeded to climb into, on top of, and over the entire heap.  Then when he noticed Gus (the cat) on the dining table, he figured that if he steps on the cross bar of the chair, he gets an extra 4 inches of lift to carefully annoy the cat on the table.

For the purpose of practicing the stomping, mommy purchased a nifty pair of red Crocs sandals (the only size available in giant toddler in Bali) to which we apparently still need to be accustomed to...

Will try and capture and share evidence of the latest phenomenon.

Scrub-a-dub-dub - Luka is in the tub (again)

If the title of this post sounds familiar - it is.  Though, how could you not title it this...here is Luka, slightly more than a year after his very first bath in the NICU, enjoying bubbles (again courtesy of auntie Becca) - thanks to my procurement princess, Luka has two of the most enormous bottles of Johnson's baby bubble bath you can possible imagine - and was making 100% sure he enjoyed it to the fullest!

I simply could not resist these...and yes, he is a total poser!

We're going to have our hands full with this one....