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....

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!"

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!"

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... 

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....

One year on

It is hard to sufficiently express gratitude for the past 12 months. Despite some initial challenges in getting this whole parenthood thing started, I would say we made out like bandits. Judging by the speed with which Luka is acquiring mobility, babblebility, dexterity and a whole lot of other 'ity's - we're in for an interesting ride.

Today we got to celebrate the first of many joint birthdays for my boys, and I couldn't help but think back one year ago to when I was a terrified, first-time pregnant mom in a foreign country, dreading going into labor.  Yet, here we are today, celebrating the first birthday of many more to come!!  Here are a few of my favorite photos from today...

If my year of baking results in a book I will call it 'A Year
in the Baking' and this recipe will feature - Serious Eats'
Brown Butter Pecan Carrot Cake - yummie! And I go back
to my belief that I now need a cake decorating class.

The BIRTHDAY BOYS!

Happy Birthday to y'all! Happy Birthday
to y'all...

With mommy/mamma...

Ah yes - daddy and mamma's birthday gift to the little
terror....a HELMET - (with that mischievous look, how could
you NOT want to put a helmet on him...)

What a lovely day, with two amazing people....

Luka's LA Premier

Well, turns out that we didn't pick the best weekend in LA, weather-wise.  Unless you prefer your weather Chicago-style.  Our initial plan of a simple beach gathering had to be slightly altered for fear of Luka and his balloons going airborne.  So we shifted the whole deal indoors to the Cheesecake Factory right next to the beach.  Despite the blustery weather, more than 30 of our close friends, professors, neighbors and kids showed up to see Luka (we know it had nothing to do with us).

Thank you to each of you that braved the weather to come out and catch up, in many instances, it has been years, in all instances - it has been too long.

Despite his jet lag, Luka seemed to enjoy the party (and the various naps he took in people's arms).

Good times, good friends. Thank you all

(And apologies to those that could not find us, we made multiple trips to the beach to make sure we let everyone know that we moved indoors)

Here are a few photos from the party:

LA-babe

Hmmm cheesecake

Luka napping in aunt Sherril's arms

Birthday boy

Professor Bender - the instigator of it all!

With  uncle Eric and aunt Cinnamon.

Exhausted boy in the car afterwards.

Luka in the City of Angels

Luka finally set foot on his other homeland today.  As usual, it was interesting explaining to customs the purpose for our trip to the US was to 'visit' family - when we are all traveling on US passports, and Luka has about five other countries, other than the US in his passport, with no US exit stamps.  Customs notwithstanding, I am happy to report that we arrived in Los Angeles in one piece, and that Luka was an absolute superstar. The 3.5 hour flight from Dili-Singapore was uneventful, the plastic cover on the mattress in the Ambassador Transit hotel was unfortunate (meaning none of us got any sleep) and the 03:45 wake-up call brutal - but our upgrade on Delta came through!  So it was the Luka flew lie-flat from SIN-NRT, and in Seat 1B (for 1 B-day thank you very much) on the flight from SIN-LAX.  Out of nearly 24 hours flying (not counting transit times) he fussed for exactly 20 minutes, and after a change of scenery, he was back up and running.

We are at our dear friends home in Marina del Rey where Luka finally got to meet his other cousin, Riley.  To amuse our little jet-lagged peanut we took a stroll to a lovely local park in the Venice canals where Luka got to ride in a swing for the first time and pretend to steal a car (thanks in part to the borrowed hoody from Kaito).

Here are a first few shots of Luka in LA...

Chris and his 'twin', Doug with his little girl Riley

First swing ride...

'Ride it like you stole it!' Luka sporting
it LA gangsta style in his hoodie (thanks
to Kaito)

Our little jetlagged man.

Birthday Hats

About two weeks before our departure for the US, I realized that if we were going to throw Luka a party, mommy had better get on it.  So in my panic, I frantically ordered party supplies from Amazon and other online retailers.  To be sure that the goods arrived on time, I emailed the lady at Make it Mine Parties, who was so lovely and rushed the order for me to arrive at my office in San Francisco the next day.  Here are a few shots with his very cute 'Luka is One' party hats...unfortunately the party treats for guests did not show up on time, so we will have to distribute them at a later stage....

Luka turns 1, Dili Style!

On Sunday morning, Chris and I hosted an early (seemed fitting) birthday party for Luka for all his Dili bub-friends.

As one does in the Tropics, the festivities took place on the beach.  While we considered catering the whole thing, it seemed important and fitting for us to bake for this momentous birthday, given our history with baked goods at special anniversaries.  Specifically, we decided to bake the same cupcakes for his first birthday as we did for his 1-week birthday.

An amazingly large contingent of our bub-club friends and bubs showed up to celebrate this wonderful milestone.  We are so incredibly grateful for our friends, who are really our family away from home.

As I said in my brief remarks, to think that this boisterous bubbling young boy once weighed 1.5kg still blows me away.  But here he was, playing with his buds, smashing a cupcake and enjoying the good weather, cheer and wonderful atmosphere.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from that day...many more to follow...

The birthday boy and his mommy....

Chris sampling the goods

Luka's personalized decorations which came in JUST
in time courtesy of Susan's colleague from San Francisco

Emotional Susan...

The little party-goers enjoying the animal print balloons

   

Remembering...

...where we were almost one year ago on Darwin, and how far we have come....

First portrait of our brave little soldier, approx 1 hr after
birth - 22 March, 2011

How to enjoy a Maple cookie

Wholeheartedly!

Yummy!

Dili Bub Club 26 February 2012

In case you haven't noticed, there was a slight 'baby explosion' in Dili.  Yes, yes, we realize many of you think this is a 'post-conflict' country - just keep thinking that, so we can keep it all to ourselves.  In actual fact, it is a thriving community of young families all battling the unknowns of parenthood together, which from time-to-time does feel like post-conflict!

Here is a group shot of some of the regulars, and newer members of the Dili Bub Club!

Members of the Dili Bub Club hanging out
at the Irish Embassy

Luka in his man-jamas (aka Afghan Shalwar Kameez)

Our young man donning his Afghan
garb

Luka would like to thank his auntie Vic who sent him an authentic shalwar kameez all the way from Afghanistan to Cape Town.  Of course when we received the package in the mail, young master Luka was but barely 3kg and we were convinced he would never EVER fit into the outfit.  Low and behold... he was able to don the man-jamas to Bub Club on Sunday.  Of course, as with all of these pants, it does not come with a drawstring, but mommy quickly improvised by borrowing the handy draw-string with tie thingy from our TRX training system.

And Luka being very haraam trying to grab daddy's beer!