Home "alone"

This week, Jason had to travel for work and was gone from sunday to sunday. My parents also went to Belgium, which resulted in me having a very busy (but fun) week - The days just flew by. As usual, we spent the morning together (which tends to be easy going with a nice family breakfast, getting dressed, playing downstairs or going to the store or for a walk, then we have lunch) and in the afternoon Kaio went to nursery (which he continues to love), the 'hectic' part is after Kaio gets home from nursery: most of the time I need to feed both kids, get some play time in, bath them, get them ready for bed (give Josefine the bottle, read a book to Kaio, brush his teeth, etc) and put them to bed! With Jason's help the bathing and putting to bed is done in 45min, by myself it is more like 1 1/2hrs. However, Kaio is such a big boy now that he is able to undress, help bath Josefine and dress himself! (and he quietly watches TV while I give Josefine the bottle)
When we went to the airport to pick up Jason, both of them had huge smiles when they saw Jason. It was very cute and showed how much they missed him. (as had the same feelings!)
Kaio had a Halloween party this week and really enjoyed getting dressed up! I got him a mask and a cape and he really loved being all dressed up to go to school.

I was explaining to Kaio our family "structure" and his last name. So now, when someone asks him what his name is, he says - KAIO BERNARD HALLLLLL! (before he would say Kaio Bernard). So then I asked him what Daddy's name was and he said - "Jason Lewis HALLLLL" and Josefine? - "Josefine Maia HALLLLLL" and me? - "MOMMY HALLLLLL"
Josefine has 4 teeth already and completely masters crawling and standing up (with the help of furniture, my legs, toys, etc)


She is also very good in finding her balance and is able to stand, without support for several seconds! She is sleeping very well and is very comfortable with the bottle (although she still has no interest in pacifiers). She is eating all kind of foods and most of the time she accepts them well! She started pointing at things when they catch her attention - like a bird, at books, when the TV is on - she uses her middle finger though!

We are so blessed!

Often I catch myself thinking of the great family I have! At random moments of the day I am just overwhelmed with the happiness that my husband and kids have brought to my life. Just a couple of examples:
- When I hear the giggles from my two kids from the backseat of the car. Giggling at each other!
- When Jason and I grab one of the kids each and dance to Dave Matthews and we all laugh and enjoy the moment
- When Kaio and Josefine take a shower together and then Jason and I get them ready for bed
- When (random people and friends) people comment in how beautiful, sweet and great kids we have
- When we all have breakfast together (Kaio is the first to get his plate and the last one to finish)
- When Jason and I wake up to Josefine and Kaio babbling (in their individual rooms, at the same time)
- When Jason and I talk about our kids while having dinner or on holidays (we just can't get enough of them!)
- When I go into Josefine's room in the morning and Kaio comes running to say goodmorning and kiss her!
- When we all play together and make a big mess!
- When we take the kids for a walk in their double decker buggy!

And she is off......

Josefine started crawling this week. She had been taking the crawling position before but would not move and this week, with a bit of motivation (my mobile, which she is fascinated with) at a certain distance, she started moving. The following day she went a bit further and now she scoots around to get what she wants. She still does not come after us but she is slowly but surely getting around! She also can easily go from the crawling position to sitting.
Kaio is really enjoying the fact she is crawling, however he could not help it and giving her a little push while she was crawling, which resulted in her falling face down on the floor and some tears.... I don't think he will be trying that again!
Josefine continues eating well and a bit of everything. She loves to chew on a piece of sausage when we have a barbecue (most of the times she spits the "juice less" piece out after chewing and sucking on it for 15mins!). She certainly loves to chew on things now that her two top teeth are coming out!
She continues to struggle a bit with constipation and although I have introduced lot's of ingredients that should be helping to loose her stools and removing several that make it worse, we still have tears every time she needs to poop!

"Dave Matthews..."

Bathing has become a fun adventure, as Josefine does a lot of splashing and Kaio loves to play for hours in the shower! But we all love it and is a great bed time routine! Since Kaio loves music I suggested we listen to some music and make it a dance shower.... while setting up itunes on the laptop I offered:
"Let's listen to Fruity Tunes"? (the music class we used to go to in the UK and which he loves)
and my little boy, very spontaneously said:
"Eu gosto de Fruity Tunes... mas eu quero Dave Matthews... eu gosto de Dave Matthews, papai tambem gosta de Dave Matthews. Dave Matthews e' legal!!! Tu tambem gosta?"
(I like Fruity Tunes.. but I would like Dave Matthews... I like Dave Matthews, daddy also likes Dave Matthews. Dave Matthews is cool!! Do you also like him?)
I almost cried!! SO CUTE! When the first song started playing he said:
"Eu j'a vi Dave Matthews, ne mamae?!"
It seems that the concert we went to in Colorado is clearly engraved in his memory... in ours it certainly is!!!!

Last weekend we 'dared' to leave the kids with Oma and Opa and went for a mini holiday of 4 days in Rio.
A couple of months ago we bought tickets to see Dave Matthews in Rio and thought we would be able to wean Josefine until then. Unfortunately she was not accepting the bottle. Since we realized there was no way we could take her we decided to 'bite the bullet' and we started weaning her a week before our trip. She fought it but after a couple of days of not giving in and showing that the bottle was all she would get, she started accepting it, from me! Then Jason started trying, and again, she put up a fight and was only accepting the bottle from me. After another couple of days of not giving in, she finally accepted the bottle from him and now she is taking the bottle from anyone!
Our mini break was great. We spend 2 days in Buzios (a beach city in Rio) and 2 days in Rio with some friends. On our first days we thought of staying up late since we could sleep in, but both days, by 10pm we were asleep and at 8am we were bright awake!
Josefine did great at Oma's house and slept through the night without any issues (from 8pm until 6am, for a bottle and then until 7 - 8am). Kaio also did marvelously and both Oma and Opa were very happy with how great both kids behaved!
All in all it was a great experience (for everyone) and we might repeat it in the future!

Rest in Peace....

A couple of months ago my dear grandmother, Josephine, passed away. And although she was 90 years old, her death came unexpected and has been very painful for our family! She was an amazing woman and gave so much of her to our family and others. She was very giving, caring, loving, supportive, funny, compasionate, and was a second mother to me!
Although our little Josefine never personally met the amazing woman she was named after, I am so happy we choose Josefine as her first name! I am also very happy my grandma knew I named my daughter after her (she kept joking she had to be the godmother since they shared the same name!) I am also very happy Kaio got to meet her several times and we have some great pictures!
I love my grandmother and she will always be in our minds! I am proud to be the granddaughter of such an amazing woman!