Luis had a relaxing evening tonight, chewing on his Ugly Doll, practicing getting up on his hands and knees, and mugging for the camera.
Crawling still escapes Luis, but he got a step closer today. A couple of times, he did an "army crawl" to get to a toy that was just a few inches out of his reach!! It requires a lot of effort on his part, but he is realizing that it's worth it!
Luis absolutely ADORES his aunt Jules. He positively lights up every time she comes in the room
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The movers were here today, packing up all that is going to India. All of Luis's furniture went, leaving the nursery to look very sad and lonely - with just a pack-n-play and the desk from the guest room that is doubling as a changing table & dresser. Tomorrow they load up our container and take it to Baltimore, where it will set sail for India (and take about 7 weeks to get there!). 
Jules, Diego's sister is here for a visit. This isn't the best picture of either her or Luis, but I wanted to get her some face time. I also wanted to congratulate her on 
the grant she was recently awarded from Global Voices Online (http://globalvoicesonline.org/). Her project was one of 150 that applied.
In her own words, her project is, "Going to the communes (barrios in Colombia) and working with people there to get them to start blogging and telling their stories and their perspective on what happens in their communities and country, to see if we get their voices out. We would be working with other people doing similar workshops in other parts of the world, so there would be this neat interaction between these Colombians and maybe people in Bolivia or a Latino community in the US.
I'm really excited for Jules, and for her project. Congratulations!!
Luis has been a bit cranky most of the day. It's hard to say if he's still recovering from our 8-day trip, if he's feeling down because of his cold, or if he's got some teething symptoms. Or, maybe it's a bit of all three. As an after dinner treat, Luis spent some time gnawing on chew toys (or, in baby speak, teethers). About the time that the butterfly warmed up to room temperature, Luis rejected it and moved on to the fish (the red thing in the second photo).
Certainly it's possible that his gums are bothering Luis, but it does not look like he will be getting his teeth too soon.
Luis spends most of his waking moments eating or trying to crawl. Eating doesn't really take that much time. It frustrates him greatly that he can't get the motion part of crawling - he is an expert at getting up to his knees and then rocking back and forth. In fact, now he likes to rise up to hands and knees and then lift one hand in the air.
Last night he had a big victory. In the tub, he was laying on his stomach playing with toys when suddenly, he pushed himself up to a sitting position. Today, he could not replicate the move on the carpet. But tonight, he did it again in the tub! This picture was taken just after he sat up. I find it very exciting!
Friday night, Randolph & Lauren hosted a DELICIOUS birthday dinner for mom. Between dinner stories and conversations and after dinner games, I can barely remember the last time I laughed so hard or for so long. It was a wonderful night with my brothers, their families and Mom. A great end to my southern "farewell" tour.
Grandfather came up for a visit on Friday morning. He's 98 1/2 now (I did just spend a week with 3 small children who count age in 1/2's and 1/4's). It was a real treat to have him there.
Alison catches a fish for Solly's aquarium (Don't worry - it was a catch & release program).
Mom, GF, Dodie & Clare
Solly
Thursday morning got off to a cool start.
Mom, Randolph, Maggie & Franklin play Uno
Mom, Solly & Luis
Franklin, Alison & Maggie near sunset
Luis enjoys a new (borrowed) toy
Many stops along this trip reminded me of how much things have changed since I was young. But going to my grandparent's lake house at Lake Alatoona outside of Atlanta, was like traveling back in time. The lake and the cabins are virtually unchanged since my first memory of being there 25 years ago (though I think I've been going my whole life). It was great to be there with my family (my siblings) and their families, and Mom.
Luis w/out his DOC-Band
Randolph naps
Luis tries to enjoy a new kind of beverage...
Monday, we had a very relaxing day at Mary Ann's house (where Luis & I were staying). Luis continued to practice crawling.
Alison read to the children.
Mary Ann had a cuddle with Luis. 
This last picture is of all of the kids in the van before we left for Atlanta on Tuesday.
