Lucas has waken up around 7 or 7:30 almost everyday this week. I'm so happy! Almost back to his old schedule. A couple of times this week I was so tired that I actually slept in and did not hear his monitor. I didn' hear him waking up and going out of his room. With the house to himself he chose my office of course. He trashed my desk throwing everything on the floor then he grabbed a permanent marker and colored all my paper work, calendar, photos, you name it. Luckily he also had a washable marker that he painted beautiful murals on my desk, chair, walls, etc... I believe he had at least 1 hour to do all of that work. There are a few circles on the top of my nice computer desk that he made with the permanent marker though. :( Some day he will give me a new desk!

Lucas crying when the baby cries has not stopped yet. I think it may be a sensory issue or something. Nothing we tried so far has helped. It is totally crazy sometimes...

We are pretty sure we are naming our baby Joshua. This is the only name I can get Curtis to agree with me. We have had the hardest time agreeing on a name for the last 11 months!! My family likes it a lot and he won't have any problems with the pronunciation living in the US. I think Joshua Edward Bryan sounds very nice too. I'm feeling better now. Curtis still needs to make up his mind. Hopefully this name saga will end soon. It drives me nuts!


Thanks for everybodys suggestions and help!

I absolutely love to see him sleeping. So peaceful and cute. He smells so good...I miss him already and he is just sleeping downstairs with Curtis.

That was my 5 minutes of the day so I better go now.

You can't imagine how hard it was to take this photo. Lucas does not like to sit or be near his brother. It was worth all the work though. They look cute. Baby still has blue eyes. I so wish his eyes would stay blue.

My mother will really like this photo once she sees it. I wish I could take nice photos like my sister-in-law's Shawna and Tracy. I need a better camera (my hint for my Christmas present - Curtis!) .

P.S. The baby's current name still bugs Curtis and I so we have 5 days to decide what will it be. Right now we narrowed down to Joshua or Matthew. I feel like we are terrible parents, we had 9 months to decide it. We call him baby so much that pretty soon that will be his official name :( I feel bad!

Have you ever heard or know of anyone that follows a safe schedule for vaccines w/ their kids? I have been hearing a lot about it recently. I first heard about from my visiting teaching companion and the girl we visit. I still need to read the book about it. My baby already took two shots and in a few weeks when he is two months old he will need more shots so I need to be prepared before then. I was wondering if this is something popular out there or if anyone I know has done it. I'm a bit scared of doing it specially because Curtis thinks we should do the way all the other kids do. I need to do some research and find some friends that have done it so Curtis can feel better about it.

By the way, my mother is back home. It has been very sad and quiet in the house. Well, not so quiet because Lucas still screams and cries like crazy whenever baby makes a little sound. I have had about 3 hours of sleep these last couple of days. My mother left frozen meals for 2 months so I have not cooked much which has been a huge help. I will post some pics as soon as I have a chance to sit here again.

Well, things are pretty crazy here. Every time Mateus cries, Lucas cries. Now they are competing to see who is louder and who can make me more crazy. I sleep about 4 hours a day. Lucas has not gone back to his perfect sleeping schedule yet. However, now he is usually in bed by 10 and wakes up around 6 at the latest. I thought after a month of being with Matt he would go back to his old schedule. Mateus is more colicky now, I have been eating a little more than before so that's why. I wasn't eating well during the first couple of weeks. I still need to lose like 25 lbs!!! I love eating though!! I can't fit in my jeans and I'm going a little depressed about it. I guess this normal, right?

My mother has prepared about 2 months of frozen meals for us. She is leaving next Tuesday the 21st. I'm already so sad and not sure what to do then...I guess I will find out on Tuesday night how life is really supposed to be... lol! I love my kids. But maybe I should had waited a couple of more years...

I'm really going to miss my mother. She is so good to me. She has been helping a lot. I feel like I will be lost without her. Lucas will miss her the most. She is constantly running and playing with him. She takes him to the park every single morning. Her food is amazing and she cooks for him everyday. My mother never cooks him the same meal, he has something different everyday, he never has the same thing for lunch or dinner. He is so spoiled now. I will be definetely lost after she leaves. We'll all lose weight as a family...

All of Lucas' therapies are going to be center based so it means I will have to drive more places with both boys every week. It will be much better for Lucas so I'm glad to do it. I just can't really imagine how it will be driving and going places with the two of them...but I guess there are millions out there with a lot more kids than I so I should not worry about it.

We have gone to every shopping mall in Arizona at least a good few times while my mother, brother and Bruna were here. So we look forward to staying home for a long time, I'm literally tired of malls!!! All my Christmas and future birthdays shopping are done so I'm good to enjoy my crazy schedule at home. I just need my loan officer to give me some more loans ... :) Rates are great right now, so if you want or know of anyone in need to refinance or purchase a home my loan officer is great and she will love to help you!!! :)

Oh, by the way... Mateus was almost a Rafael, Joshua, Daniel, Tiago and Felipe. But now even though it still bugs me a little we settled on Mateus. I still call him Hafa sometimes but soon will be only Mateus. We love our little baby. He is great! He eats a lot and all day long!

My brother and his fiancee Daisy. My brother is the one on the brown polo and Daisy is the one on the purple sweater and jean jacket.



























Lucas splashed milk all over the place...















Lucas on his little pool...















Lucas and Gustavo, the black sheep number 2















My favorite Aunt Simone and my mother...















My dad and Nariman, my mothers dog 2nd daughter















Isn't my mom pretty? I look like her mother now!!!





























My parents at the Curitiba temple















THE black sheep of the family, Eduardo!

I know you are going to think Im totally crazy, but here is my issue. Curtis and I named our baby Rafael (pronunced like Hah-faye-ayle). Since day 1 this was the name we were expecting. So we called him Rafael for nine months! In the hospital it drove me crazy. In the hospital withing the period of ten minutes, Curtis and I came up with the name Mateus. So thats how his name was changed. Now for the last three weeks I call him baby most of the ime. And everytime I think of him, I think of the name Rafael. And I kind of feel weird telling people his name is Mateus. One of the reasons we had chosen Rafel, because the one person Curtis was able to see baptized on his mission was named, Rafaello. And Rafael is the Brazilian version of that name. Now I dont know if I should just get over it and try to get used to Mateus as the name, even though I have been thinking about changing the name back for the past few weeks. Or just change it now. Family and friends please give me your opinion on what I should do. Which one sounds better and which one do you think will be better for him when he grows up? I cant believe I am thinking about changing his name after he was born. I just want to make up my mind and feel good about it.... Aaaarrrghh

Isn't it cute? He always does that when he is playing in the backyard. He loves to watch what is going on outside. He enjoys our unfinished backyard way more than us.

He is still having a really hard time with Mateus. We are not sure what to do anymore. He touches Mateus in the face with only one finger like 2 or 3 times during the day. However, if Mateus cries he will cry desperately too. It is driving me nuts. I'm not sure what I will do when my mother leaves in a couple of weeks.

I don't know if any of you have ever had this problem, but I need some help. Lucas used to be the perfect sleeper. He used to sleep from 8 pm to 7 or 8 am everyday, plus his 2 or 3 hour nap during the day. Since the day we brought Mateus home, Lucas has been going to bed like only around 10 pm or later. He has been waking up crying between midnight and 3am every day. Some times he will cry non stop and other times just for a little bit and then goes back to sleep. But for the last 3 weeks (as long as Matteus is here) he has been waking up at 5 or 5:30 am. He is tired and cranky all day. He takes afternoon naps of 3 or 4 hours but still is cranky. I think he is depressed or something...not sure. Any ideas what we can do to go back into his normal sleeping pattern?

This lost dog wandered into our yard this morning and seems like a great pet. She seems really nice around Lucas and kids and doesnt jump up on you unless you call her. Anyways, we wont be able to keep her very long so let us know if you know anyone who would like to take her.

There are several reasons why I miss Brazil so bad. But one of the top answers is the delicious food, fresh fruit and vegetables. They are absolutely yummy....just delicious and so tasty. I miss Curitiba the most, my favorite city in the world. Everything there is perfect, the food, the streets, the nature, the air (the air smells so good) the people (my family there, of course), everything. My dad took these pictures bellow just a couple of weeks ago.