We were up pretty late last night packing. We had to be up at 5:00 am, So this will be a short post.
We got up and got the two children dressed and ready for the long day.
Our driver picked us up at 6:15am for a 10:00am flight. We loaded our ten tons of luggage into his car and drove through Bogota for what may be our last time. I tried to soak in the sites and burn them into memory, but we know how that goes. After a while, the memories fade of the minute details. And all you have is the photos.
We get to the airport in only about 20 minutes. Once at the airport, we unloaded our ten tons of luggage. We get a sky cap and have him tow our luggage into the terminal.
Once inside, our driver told us to hang out and wait for him. So the sky cap and the Carman family waited for about 15 minutes for Mauricio to return. He had to go pay the airport deportation tax. That is a tax that every person leaving Colombia has to pay. It costs $50 U.S. per adult and about $30 for James. But you can not get your boarding passes unless you have a receipt of payment.
Then we had to go towards the ticket counter. Our sky cap had to unload the little luggage cart and place it on the floor. So I gave him a $3000 peso tip, which was my last of the pesos. He counted it and stood there. He said something to our driver, who then asked me for more. Some pair, huh? I told him that was it, I was tapped out. So my driver gave him some more.
We had 5 check on bags, two of which were over the allowable weight. The airlines wanted us to pay $75 extra per suitcase. But Mauricio talked them out of it. So he was good for something after all.
They did ask Linda to step to the side so they could open one suitcase. They took everything out of it. I was stuck at the counter getting our tickets. Linda gave Mauricio the baby, and James was basically roaming around doing whatever he wanted. After about 2 minutes, Amelia started screaming and crying, but there was nothing either one of us could do.
Finally, after almost 25 minutes, we got everything approved.
We then walked to the gate, but not before stopping at a place to buy 10 bags of Colombian Gold.
Coffee that is. So whomever would like to come by for a cup of joe tomorrow, we will be serving between 8:00am -10:00am.
Mauricio walked us to the gate and we bid our fond farewells. I just remembered that he never gave me the change from the $300,000 pesos I gave him for the airport tax. Which was about $230,000 pesos. Scum chicken!
We had to wait about an hour before we could board our plane. Amelia was great this whole time.
Our flight was 5 1/2 hours long. Amelia had about 3 outbursts through out the flight. Each lasted about 5 to 10 minutes.
We all have heard the one about being stuck on a plane with a crying baby, Well now we were the ones with the crying baby.
I was a little freaked by the whole experience, but Linda handled it very well.
Everybody napped for a little while, and all in all in hindsight, the flight was not bad.
After we landed, I was ready for an experience that we had when we came home with James. Especially after Sept, 11th.
We were the last ones off the plane. We than had to go through immigration which felt like 3 miles from where we got off the airplane. The last time we had to wait on line for about 30 to 45 minutes before even reaching an immigration official. This time we waited about 30 seconds. The guy told me to take the sealed package that the U.S. Embassy gave us and hand it to any officer near the exit.
I did and he told Linda and James to sit and wait while I took the baby to the office of immigration/department of home security. Last time we had to wait about an hour before we were seen. This time it was about one minute. By the time my name was called, and I got to the counter, the guy was handing me Amelia's passport back and said good luck.
From there it was on to baggage claim. Last time, at least a 30 minute wait. This time about 3 minutes. I gathered my 10 tons of luggage on to a cart and we went off to U.S. Customs. Last time we waited for customs at least 30 minutes, and were asked a bunch of questions. This time we walk in the guy says were you in Colombia for business or pleasure? I said to adopt this beautiful baby girl, point to Amelia. He looks up, smiles and says how long was the adoption process? I say since August. He says that's great, have a nice day and congratulations.
We went downstairs, and there was my mother waiting for us. I wanted to have the video camera ready for that, but didn't get a chance. James ran to grandma with big hugs. He then introduced my mom to his new baby sister. It was very nice.
From there we went to the car, hopped in and started home. The last time we came home, we had landed in a blizzard. We were supposed to be home by 7:00 pm but because of the snow, we didn't get home until 4:00am. This time, other than being stuck on the belt parkway for a little while, we were home by 6:20pm. About 3 hours less then I anticipated.
We came home about 10 minutes earlier than we should have. We caught Linda, Michael and Matt decorating our house with welcome home signs and balloons. And a red carpet was laid out from the stoop down the walk, good idea Matt!
My sisters and their families came over with some pizza's which the three of us ate and cherished. Linda went out to get Mrs. Henriques to come back and meet Amelia for the first time.
It is now 10:15, James went to bed about 20 minutes ago and is out cold by now.
The baby is in her crib, in her own room.
Now that we are home, it is like the last two weeks never happened. Driving home on the crappy belt parkway at about 8 miles per hour, made me kind of miss the lush tropical Andes mountains of Colombia.
But in actuality, It has never felt so good to be home.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Wednesday - Final Day!!!!!
I want to take this time to say thank you to everyone who has been reading along. Your comments of love and support have been very helpful to us here in Colombia. You all have made us feel like we haven't been that far from home.
Every night I would stay up until 12 or 1 in the morning writing our daily experiences. And throughout the next day I would read all the great comments from our friends and family, which made the late nights worth every second.
I didn't know what to expect when I thought about doing this daily blog. But after the first day, when we started receiving emails, I knew it was the right thing to do. Every night was like a little bit of therapy for me.
So you all got to see a little bit of what makes Dan Carman tick. What was inside me during these last couple of weeks. Hopefully you got to understand when I was happy, sad, pissed off or scared.
If anybody has any questions about our adoption experience, please do not hesitate to ask. If I left something out, I will be happy to fill in the blanks.
With that said, I will probably be the same old quiet and private Dan Carman the next time you see me. It has always been easier for me to write down how I feel, rather than sharing it in person.
- - - - - -
Today started very early for us. We were up at 5:30. Our driver, Mauricio, came to pick us up at 6:30 for a 7:00am appointment with the U.S. Embassy approved doctor. He basically had to put his final stamp of approval on all of Amelia's vaccinations and general health. Other than her cold, she got 100% approval.
-- let me interject here for a moment, When we first had our meeting with our attorneys to discuss "donations", they gave us a very specific set of dollar amounts for each step of the way. This new driver, we were told, does not get anything other than what is on the list, no matter what.
Our last driver, took care of everything, from buying us some sodas or coffees or parking. Never asked for anything. We were allowed to tip him anything we wanted on top of his regular fee.
This new driver, needed $10,000 pesos to pay for parking at the doctors office. We had to pay the doctor $120,000 pesos. We had to pay for Visa photos. Non of which was told to us by our Attorneys, so today we had to go find a ATM, because we need $50 U.S. each or $100,000 pesos each (airport tax) to leave this place.
Sorry for venting, I'll continue with the days events ---
From there, we went right to the U.S. Embassy. By the time we got there it was about 8:15ish. We stopped out front to get more photos for Amelia's visa.
The line to get into the embassy must've been 50 people deep. We walked right through to the front of the line. Apparently, Adoptions go to the head of the line.
From there you must go through two separate check points, before getting close to the embassy. The embassy has a 6-8 foot black metal fence surrounding the perimeter with another fence inside. Sounds like it is a fortress, but I only saw one American soldier seemingly getting breakfast. The place is actually parolled by a local private security company, and each one only carries a side arm.
Once inside, we discovered that Adoptions have to wait like everybody else. Inside the outdoor waiting area was hundreds of people waiting for one thing or another.
After giving our name, we waited about an hour before they called our name. Then going to the window, where you must speak through a telephone (like in prison), an interview is conducted. Linda was the interviewee, and basically answered simple straight forward questions about the baby. The interview lasted about 15 minutes. Then we had to wait to be called back for a final interview before we could leave. Now we had to wait a good two hours before they called us back up to the window for our closing interview. The whole time, we were waiting for a receipt that reminds us in six weeks to make sure we have our final immigration papers.
We came back to the hotel, and we all took naps, except James. After a while we went into the giant mall, that is attached to our hotel. This mall is twice the size of Roosevelt field mall, with inside and outside stores. We made a bee line for the food court and all had Cheeseburgers and fries.
Than we kind of explored the mall, but it was very difficult because it has about 5 levels, all of which are not on top of one another. They are spread out in every direction.
By 3:00 we headed back to the room, at which point Linda had to go back to the embassy to pick up Amelia's immigration docket. Which we need for customs when we get home.
James, Amelia and I kinda hung around watching cartoons in spanish until Linda got back. Linda got back just in time to feed Amelia, than the two of them went shopping again in the mall. James and I hung out some more.
It is now 8:19pm and the two kids are sound asleep. We just ordered room service and we are about to pack once again.
- - - - - -
By the time most of you read this, We will be on a plane flying back to NY!
As many of you have stated in the posts, sight seeing would be a fun thing to do. However, as you all could imagine, nothing is more important to us than getting home and getting some regularity in our lives. Besides, I think I might have to fly home "commando" since we have no clean clothes left.
- - - - - -
Again, Thank you all for your love and support. This is probably my last entry here at "thecarmans.blogspot.com"
It has been an amazing two weeks! I am so glad that you all got to join us in this amazing journey!
We are happy to start our continuous journey as The 4-Person Carman Family and hope you will all follow along until we are all old and grey!!!
Love you all,
Dan
Every night I would stay up until 12 or 1 in the morning writing our daily experiences. And throughout the next day I would read all the great comments from our friends and family, which made the late nights worth every second.
I didn't know what to expect when I thought about doing this daily blog. But after the first day, when we started receiving emails, I knew it was the right thing to do. Every night was like a little bit of therapy for me.
So you all got to see a little bit of what makes Dan Carman tick. What was inside me during these last couple of weeks. Hopefully you got to understand when I was happy, sad, pissed off or scared.
If anybody has any questions about our adoption experience, please do not hesitate to ask. If I left something out, I will be happy to fill in the blanks.
With that said, I will probably be the same old quiet and private Dan Carman the next time you see me. It has always been easier for me to write down how I feel, rather than sharing it in person.
- - - - - -
Today started very early for us. We were up at 5:30. Our driver, Mauricio, came to pick us up at 6:30 for a 7:00am appointment with the U.S. Embassy approved doctor. He basically had to put his final stamp of approval on all of Amelia's vaccinations and general health. Other than her cold, she got 100% approval.
-- let me interject here for a moment, When we first had our meeting with our attorneys to discuss "donations", they gave us a very specific set of dollar amounts for each step of the way. This new driver, we were told, does not get anything other than what is on the list, no matter what.
Our last driver, took care of everything, from buying us some sodas or coffees or parking. Never asked for anything. We were allowed to tip him anything we wanted on top of his regular fee.
This new driver, needed $10,000 pesos to pay for parking at the doctors office. We had to pay the doctor $120,000 pesos. We had to pay for Visa photos. Non of which was told to us by our Attorneys, so today we had to go find a ATM, because we need $50 U.S. each or $100,000 pesos each (airport tax) to leave this place.
Sorry for venting, I'll continue with the days events ---
From there, we went right to the U.S. Embassy. By the time we got there it was about 8:15ish. We stopped out front to get more photos for Amelia's visa.
The line to get into the embassy must've been 50 people deep. We walked right through to the front of the line. Apparently, Adoptions go to the head of the line.
From there you must go through two separate check points, before getting close to the embassy. The embassy has a 6-8 foot black metal fence surrounding the perimeter with another fence inside. Sounds like it is a fortress, but I only saw one American soldier seemingly getting breakfast. The place is actually parolled by a local private security company, and each one only carries a side arm.
Once inside, we discovered that Adoptions have to wait like everybody else. Inside the outdoor waiting area was hundreds of people waiting for one thing or another.
After giving our name, we waited about an hour before they called our name. Then going to the window, where you must speak through a telephone (like in prison), an interview is conducted. Linda was the interviewee, and basically answered simple straight forward questions about the baby. The interview lasted about 15 minutes. Then we had to wait to be called back for a final interview before we could leave. Now we had to wait a good two hours before they called us back up to the window for our closing interview. The whole time, we were waiting for a receipt that reminds us in six weeks to make sure we have our final immigration papers.
We came back to the hotel, and we all took naps, except James. After a while we went into the giant mall, that is attached to our hotel. This mall is twice the size of Roosevelt field mall, with inside and outside stores. We made a bee line for the food court and all had Cheeseburgers and fries.
Than we kind of explored the mall, but it was very difficult because it has about 5 levels, all of which are not on top of one another. They are spread out in every direction.
By 3:00 we headed back to the room, at which point Linda had to go back to the embassy to pick up Amelia's immigration docket. Which we need for customs when we get home.
James, Amelia and I kinda hung around watching cartoons in spanish until Linda got back. Linda got back just in time to feed Amelia, than the two of them went shopping again in the mall. James and I hung out some more.
It is now 8:19pm and the two kids are sound asleep. We just ordered room service and we are about to pack once again.
- - - - - -
By the time most of you read this, We will be on a plane flying back to NY!
As many of you have stated in the posts, sight seeing would be a fun thing to do. However, as you all could imagine, nothing is more important to us than getting home and getting some regularity in our lives. Besides, I think I might have to fly home "commando" since we have no clean clothes left.
- - - - - -
Again, Thank you all for your love and support. This is probably my last entry here at "thecarmans.blogspot.com"
It has been an amazing two weeks! I am so glad that you all got to join us in this amazing journey!
We are happy to start our continuous journey as The 4-Person Carman Family and hope you will all follow along until we are all old and grey!!!
Love you all,
Dan
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Tuesday - BOGOTA !
The baby is recovering nicely. Last night was not that bad. We actually took her out,against doctors orders, to dinner last night.
We finally got to experience real local cuisine. We went with another couple, who happen to speak great spanish.
We let them order everything. We had a little bit of everything. For all you spanish folks out there, we had empeñadas, buñuelos, pandeyuca, churizo sausages, plantains and a couple of diet cokes, you know to keep it real.
- - - - -
Enough of the small talk. Today around 9:30 we got the call that our case will be in front of the judge today. Our driver told me that we would be back by 2:30 pm.
So at 12:30 I took the baby, by myself, first to the notary. This is some run down little structure. This is where we get the birth certificate, with our names on it. We then went to lunch at some little roadside stand for some more empeñadas. We waited about an hour to get three original copies of the birth certificate. Each one had to be filled out with an old fashioned type writer. That is why it took so long.
Then from there, it was onto the court house. First we had to go to the passport office. There were probably 100 people in there. Today was the hottest day in quite some time. So Amelia and I were sweatin. We had to fill out a bunch of papers in order to recieve the passport. My driver, Eduardo does all the work. He had to stand on 3 different lines. This took about an hour.
From there we walked across the court yards to get to the main courthouse. Walked up 4 flights of steps. No elevators and no air = me sucking wind. At the main court house we met up with Fanny our lawyer. I had to add my signature to the final adoption decree. At which point, Eduardo says "Congratulations, it's a girl!" That's it, there is nothing anybody can do to take this baby away from me. She is mine! Hooray!
We still had to wait for the actual passport to be printed. But at this point, the baby was done. So she and I went back to the car for a daiper change.
We finally got back to the hotel at 3:45. From this point on it was nothing but crazy!
I brought the baby up the room, and sent Linda down to the travel agent to get tickets for a 7:10 flight to Bogota! We need to be downstairs in the lobby by 5:00 to get to the airport in time. By the time Linda came back we only had about 45 minutes to finish packing and go.
So here I am in Bogota.
We stopped by the couple from California's room to say goodbye. We felt very bad that they had to stay behind. They have been down here since Jan 15th. And because their case didn't go through today means they probably won´t come to Bogota until next Tuesday. That means almost a full month for them.
When we got downstairs, to load up the truck, the other couple from Denmark were just coming back from shopping. The look on the wife's face was so sad. She came and hugged Linda and we all said our goodbyes, even James and Simon. They were not happy of this situation that they are in. They have been here since the first week of January. They weren´t even allowed to see their baby until the day after we got Amelia on January 27th. Their baby, Julianna, was sick and at the foster parents house. The foster parents had no way to get the baby back to the orphanage because some roads were washed out or somethng. So these people actually went up to Cartegena, which is just like the carribean for a week. Anyway, they also won´t be going home until next week on their 15 hour flight.
We will miss the friends that we made here.
- - - -
On Wednesday, our driver is picking us up at 6:30 am to take the baby to the embassy doctor for a final checkup (more effing doctors). From there we will go to the American embassy to apply for a visa for the baby.
We will be back around 1:00 to hang out until 4:00 pm before going to pick up Amelia's travel visa. After that I can be on the next available flight home. The next flight after that time of day is 11:30pm which gets me home on Thursday at 5am.
We won´t be taking that flight. We will try to be on a flight on Thursday morning around 10:30. We should be in Newark by 5 pm. But of course we have to go through customs which means I won´t get home until very late Thursday.
- - - - - -
We are kind of contemplating staying here an extra day to do some sight seeing. We´ll see.
We finally got to experience real local cuisine. We went with another couple, who happen to speak great spanish.
We let them order everything. We had a little bit of everything. For all you spanish folks out there, we had empeñadas, buñuelos, pandeyuca, churizo sausages, plantains and a couple of diet cokes, you know to keep it real.
- - - - -
Enough of the small talk. Today around 9:30 we got the call that our case will be in front of the judge today. Our driver told me that we would be back by 2:30 pm.
So at 12:30 I took the baby, by myself, first to the notary. This is some run down little structure. This is where we get the birth certificate, with our names on it. We then went to lunch at some little roadside stand for some more empeñadas. We waited about an hour to get three original copies of the birth certificate. Each one had to be filled out with an old fashioned type writer. That is why it took so long.
Then from there, it was onto the court house. First we had to go to the passport office. There were probably 100 people in there. Today was the hottest day in quite some time. So Amelia and I were sweatin. We had to fill out a bunch of papers in order to recieve the passport. My driver, Eduardo does all the work. He had to stand on 3 different lines. This took about an hour.
From there we walked across the court yards to get to the main courthouse. Walked up 4 flights of steps. No elevators and no air = me sucking wind. At the main court house we met up with Fanny our lawyer. I had to add my signature to the final adoption decree. At which point, Eduardo says "Congratulations, it's a girl!" That's it, there is nothing anybody can do to take this baby away from me. She is mine! Hooray!
We still had to wait for the actual passport to be printed. But at this point, the baby was done. So she and I went back to the car for a daiper change.
We finally got back to the hotel at 3:45. From this point on it was nothing but crazy!
I brought the baby up the room, and sent Linda down to the travel agent to get tickets for a 7:10 flight to Bogota! We need to be downstairs in the lobby by 5:00 to get to the airport in time. By the time Linda came back we only had about 45 minutes to finish packing and go.
So here I am in Bogota.
We stopped by the couple from California's room to say goodbye. We felt very bad that they had to stay behind. They have been down here since Jan 15th. And because their case didn't go through today means they probably won´t come to Bogota until next Tuesday. That means almost a full month for them.
When we got downstairs, to load up the truck, the other couple from Denmark were just coming back from shopping. The look on the wife's face was so sad. She came and hugged Linda and we all said our goodbyes, even James and Simon. They were not happy of this situation that they are in. They have been here since the first week of January. They weren´t even allowed to see their baby until the day after we got Amelia on January 27th. Their baby, Julianna, was sick and at the foster parents house. The foster parents had no way to get the baby back to the orphanage because some roads were washed out or somethng. So these people actually went up to Cartegena, which is just like the carribean for a week. Anyway, they also won´t be going home until next week on their 15 hour flight.
We will miss the friends that we made here.
- - - -
On Wednesday, our driver is picking us up at 6:30 am to take the baby to the embassy doctor for a final checkup (more effing doctors). From there we will go to the American embassy to apply for a visa for the baby.
We will be back around 1:00 to hang out until 4:00 pm before going to pick up Amelia's travel visa. After that I can be on the next available flight home. The next flight after that time of day is 11:30pm which gets me home on Thursday at 5am.
We won´t be taking that flight. We will try to be on a flight on Thursday morning around 10:30. We should be in Newark by 5 pm. But of course we have to go through customs which means I won´t get home until very late Thursday.
- - - - - -
We are kind of contemplating staying here an extra day to do some sight seeing. We´ll see.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Monday - Day 11 ? - Pictures (Finally)
I just spent the last hour typing. Then the computer crashed. Now I am starting from scratch. I am exhausted, so this will be short I think.
Last night was rough. Amelia would have a coughing attack every 30 - 45 minutes. She would start coughing and shoot the pacifier out of her mouth. She then would moan and cry until we stumbled in the darkness towards the sound of a sick baby, rummage through the crib looking for the "binky", and pop it back in. If it took you more than 2 minutes, she cried loud enough to wake herself up. So you had to hurray. This went on every hour of the night. Right up until 7:00 am, at which point she was ready for breakfast.
We had plans today to go to a clinic so the baby could get a vaccination. This vaccination was important enough that Raquel told us the baby needed it before we went back to the U.S.
Well we went to the orphanage to see their doctor first. You know, because Raquel was so worried about the baby last Thursday that we needed to see her doctor.
Thank god Linda called the hotel doctor the other day, which started the baby on antibiotics. Today she was diagnosed with a little bronchitis. Could you imagine if we didn't call the hotel doctor, how sick this kid could be.
This doctor prescribed 3 new types of medicine. More antibiotics, something similar to Tylenol for fever and one of those asthma puffer thingys.
So they tell us she can't have her vaccination because she is on antibiotics and that we would have to do it in the U.S.
One contradiction after another.
I can't wait to get out of this effing paradise!!!!!
- - - - - - - -
The good part about our visit to the orphanage was that we got a tour of the place. Our translator took us around the whole place. They said I could take as many pictures as I wanted but I felt a little uncomfortable. There were kids everywhere, watching us as we walked through.
I learned some things about the orphanage, that I didn't know when we came for James.
1) There is always about 40-45 kids in the orphanage
2) They range in age from brand new to about 12 years old.
3) 90% of the children are up for adoption, the other 5% are here because they are in protective custody. Which means that they come from an abusive family, drug addict parents, or their parents are in jail or whatever other bad thing you could imagine.
4) There is a nursery with about 8-12 cribs in it. There were babies on the floor in their baby seats and some were in swings hanging from the ceiling.
5) There is a boys room with about a dozen or so bunk beds. The girls room was larger and had more beds than the boys.
6) School age children are bused to the local school.
7) There is a full time medical staff, cooking staff, cleaning staff and maintanence staff.
8) Several children came up to us and tried to talk to James and I and wanted to touch the baby. That was hard.
9) Many children here have physical disabilities. I understand that some of the worse off ones spend their whole lives here, because they have no place else to go.
10) If I won the mega millions, I know where I would spend a lot of my money.
- - - - -
I was able to get pictures in front of the orphanage for posterity I guess.
Here is the section of the building where we were presented with Amelia, up on the second floor.
In this photo you can see the wing that we went to when James was ready for us. I remember walking up those steps, in was drizzling. I could hear the rest of the children behind those barred windows eating lunch. Something I will never forget.
And in this photo you can see behind me the view that these children see every day. Notice the top of the playground. The ground just goes almost straight down after that. But the kids are safe, they get fall down the mountain.
- - - - - -
The other day we went souvenir shopping at some little tourist trap that was up on top of some mountain somewhere.
Turns out we went to this place because our translator gets some kick backs when he brings in some Gringo customers.
Anyway, it was raining very hard as we were driving up this mountain. They roads were being widened on this mountain and here is what the road looked like.
This is not a good picture but I think it gets the point across. It is the view, just to the right of the road. The billboard is an ad for an undertaker (I think).
On the way back to the hotel. We stopped at a place that has a view of the Medellin, however it was so cloudy we really didn't see much.
This picture shows Linda and the baby sitting in my translator's truck. The truck was clean when he picked us up. Today he told me it took almost two hours to get it clean.
Here is a picture that shows the gang from Denmark. You can see Oola, with the white shirt. Wife, Brit with the new baby Juliana and in the yellow shirt is Simon. James is at the left pissed off about something. Oh yeah, and an amazing view also. See in the back the mountains in the clouds.
Here James and Simon take in the view. Now remember these two guys do not speak the same language. Yet talk to each other and kind of get the gist.
- - - - - -
Here are some random images. Some good some bad. It has been awhile so I figured I owe you some.
Amelia chillin' poolside, pre bronchitis.
Amelia, not feeling well.
Amelia will eat that whole bowl of soup, twice a day.
View from my room.
View of the hotel, from poolside.
Good Daddy Kiss, Bad Daddy Kiss.
Mommy changing a sick baby. Mommy wants to go home...
We have a 90% chance that we will be flying out of here tomorrow (Tuesday) to go to Bogota which is several days earlier than expected. We may be home by Thursday.
Okay it is now 12:30 and I am tired. So, Hasta la bye bye baby!
Last night was rough. Amelia would have a coughing attack every 30 - 45 minutes. She would start coughing and shoot the pacifier out of her mouth. She then would moan and cry until we stumbled in the darkness towards the sound of a sick baby, rummage through the crib looking for the "binky", and pop it back in. If it took you more than 2 minutes, she cried loud enough to wake herself up. So you had to hurray. This went on every hour of the night. Right up until 7:00 am, at which point she was ready for breakfast.
We had plans today to go to a clinic so the baby could get a vaccination. This vaccination was important enough that Raquel told us the baby needed it before we went back to the U.S.
Well we went to the orphanage to see their doctor first. You know, because Raquel was so worried about the baby last Thursday that we needed to see her doctor.
Thank god Linda called the hotel doctor the other day, which started the baby on antibiotics. Today she was diagnosed with a little bronchitis. Could you imagine if we didn't call the hotel doctor, how sick this kid could be.
This doctor prescribed 3 new types of medicine. More antibiotics, something similar to Tylenol for fever and one of those asthma puffer thingys.
So they tell us she can't have her vaccination because she is on antibiotics and that we would have to do it in the U.S.
One contradiction after another.
I can't wait to get out of this effing paradise!!!!!
- - - - - - - -
The good part about our visit to the orphanage was that we got a tour of the place. Our translator took us around the whole place. They said I could take as many pictures as I wanted but I felt a little uncomfortable. There were kids everywhere, watching us as we walked through.
I learned some things about the orphanage, that I didn't know when we came for James.
1) There is always about 40-45 kids in the orphanage
2) They range in age from brand new to about 12 years old.
3) 90% of the children are up for adoption, the other 5% are here because they are in protective custody. Which means that they come from an abusive family, drug addict parents, or their parents are in jail or whatever other bad thing you could imagine.
4) There is a nursery with about 8-12 cribs in it. There were babies on the floor in their baby seats and some were in swings hanging from the ceiling.
5) There is a boys room with about a dozen or so bunk beds. The girls room was larger and had more beds than the boys.
6) School age children are bused to the local school.
7) There is a full time medical staff, cooking staff, cleaning staff and maintanence staff.
8) Several children came up to us and tried to talk to James and I and wanted to touch the baby. That was hard.
9) Many children here have physical disabilities. I understand that some of the worse off ones spend their whole lives here, because they have no place else to go.
10) If I won the mega millions, I know where I would spend a lot of my money.
- - - - -
I was able to get pictures in front of the orphanage for posterity I guess.
Here is the section of the building where we were presented with Amelia, up on the second floor.
In this photo you can see the wing that we went to when James was ready for us. I remember walking up those steps, in was drizzling. I could hear the rest of the children behind those barred windows eating lunch. Something I will never forget.
And in this photo you can see behind me the view that these children see every day. Notice the top of the playground. The ground just goes almost straight down after that. But the kids are safe, they get fall down the mountain.
- - - - - -
The other day we went souvenir shopping at some little tourist trap that was up on top of some mountain somewhere.
Turns out we went to this place because our translator gets some kick backs when he brings in some Gringo customers.
Anyway, it was raining very hard as we were driving up this mountain. They roads were being widened on this mountain and here is what the road looked like.
This is not a good picture but I think it gets the point across. It is the view, just to the right of the road. The billboard is an ad for an undertaker (I think).
On the way back to the hotel. We stopped at a place that has a view of the Medellin, however it was so cloudy we really didn't see much.
This picture shows Linda and the baby sitting in my translator's truck. The truck was clean when he picked us up. Today he told me it took almost two hours to get it clean.
Here is a picture that shows the gang from Denmark. You can see Oola, with the white shirt. Wife, Brit with the new baby Juliana and in the yellow shirt is Simon. James is at the left pissed off about something. Oh yeah, and an amazing view also. See in the back the mountains in the clouds.
Here James and Simon take in the view. Now remember these two guys do not speak the same language. Yet talk to each other and kind of get the gist.
- - - - - -
Here are some random images. Some good some bad. It has been awhile so I figured I owe you some.
Amelia chillin' poolside, pre bronchitis.
Amelia, not feeling well.
Amelia will eat that whole bowl of soup, twice a day.
View from my room.
View of the hotel, from poolside.
Good Daddy Kiss, Bad Daddy Kiss.
Mommy changing a sick baby. Mommy wants to go home...
We have a 90% chance that we will be flying out of here tomorrow (Tuesday) to go to Bogota which is several days earlier than expected. We may be home by Thursday.
Okay it is now 12:30 and I am tired. So, Hasta la bye bye baby!
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Day 10 - Superbowl Sunday !
As stated in yesterday's post, I went to sleep with a couple of drinks in me. So my night was relatively quiet. Linda on the other hand, had a rather long night.
So at 6:00 in the A.M. Linda was done and it was now my turn. Ugh! Doesn't she know that I was up until 1:30 writing the all important days events? (Note to self: no more drinking while there is 4 - 6am feedings happening.)
The baby is still feeling crappy. There is no pleasing her. She doesn't sleep for very long, maybe 3-4 hours at the most. Today was for maybe an 1 at a clip. Nothing that we do will stop her from crying. We both feel so bad for her. Every time she has an "episode" James gets very nervous and doesn't know how to handle the situation. So he kind of goes off the deep end. Which means we now have two kids at a time losing it.
He has the same helpless feeling that I do, and just wants to do anything to make the baby feel better. I start to get angry at him for doing things. Then of course after the situation I feel guilty for yelling at him.
Anyway, Amelia was up for about 2 hours and finally went back to sleep. I decided that I needed some air and went down to have breakfast by myself.
Upon my return, everybody, including the baby was awake. So now Linda and James needed to escape, and they went down and left me with a baby that we cannot make happy.
She was actually quiet and sat on the bed with me for quite some time. Long enough that she started falling asleep in a sitting position. It was pretty funny actually, because she did not want to fall asleep. So she kept dozing off, with her eyes rolling back into her head. Then she would start to slump forward only to catch herself and then she would pop up like a jack-in-the-box.
I felt bad and tried to get her into the crib. We've noticed that she is alot like her big brother, whenever they both start falling asleep, they do whatever they can to wake themselves up.
So once I stood up, she starts freaking out and screaming. Another 20 minutes of screaming and she falls asleep in my arms.
At which point Linda and the tasmanian devil stroll back in. The tasmanian devil with 5 pancakes and a half a gallon of syrup in his belly.
Linda actually got him to sit still and do homework at this point, don't ask me how she did it. It is like trying to keep a hurricane in a box, it is almost impossible. But she did it.
It was a perfect opportunity for me to get some work done. So both James and I did homework. His was over within the hour. Mine was a few hours longer.
The baby got up screaming and crying again. So James and I abandoned Linda and went to the pool.
We met up with Oola and his son, Simon. We hung out down there from about 12:30 to around 4:00. It has been raining here every day. But today it wasn't raining when we were in the pool, it was cloudy though. The pool is heated and is warmer then the air. It is actually quite chilly when the sun is not out.
We had lunch and a couple of margheritas for Daddy at the poolside.
Linda and the baby showed up around 4:00 about 7 minutes before the rains came. So she turned around and went back up stairs. And 10 minutes later James and I were right behind her.
She had stopped at the front desk to inquire about how we could see the super bowl. The other guys wanted to get together and watch it somewhere, even though Oola has no idea what it is.
The front desk informed her that the game was on ABC and that the hotel didn't have ABC. Now I have not missed a super bowl since I was ten years old. That is 28 years without missing a superbowl.
Okay, do I hold this over Amelia's head for ever? After all she is the reason I am down here in the first place.
So I suck it up and realize, what the hell, it is only a game. We decided the baby was starting to do better and we all went downstairs to the outdoor restaurant for some dinner. The baby fell asleep within minutes, so we were going to have a nice family dinner.
Before they came to take our order, the baby was awake and screaming.
We placed our orders, and Linda took the baby for a walk, only never to return. She walked right up to the hotel room with a screaming baby.
Let me just interject here for a moment. Things are different here. There is no such thing as a quick bite to eat. When you first sit in the restaurant a waiter comes to take your drink orders. Before you even see a menu.
The 10 - 15 minutes that it takes to bring a 7-up and a couple of margherita's (see the pattern) is like an eternity when you have children. They bring the drinks, then you have to request a menu because they assume you will have cocktails for awhile.
Another 5-10 minutes goes by before the menu shows up.
When it does (This is the point at which the baby wakes up freaking out), the waiter disappears.
15-20 minutes later, he comes to take your order. Gracias, senor waiter for blessing us with your presence.
Linda splits, and another 15-20 minutes later the food makes it to the table.
After you are done eating, you have to get a waiters attention, because he will never come to you. They believe it is rude to interupt you until you need them.
James and I order some chocolate ice cream (another 10 minutes).
IT IS AT THIS POINT THAT OOLA COMES DOWN TO GET SOME FOOD TO BRING BACK TO HIS ROOM, THAT HE INFORMS ME THAT HE IS WATCHING THE SUPERBOWL IN HIS ROOM AND I AM WELCOME TO COME WATCH!!!!!!
Well I had made the mistake of ordering a cappucino, which of course is another 5 - 10 minutes.
Let me just say that there is only 6 other people in the entire restaurant, so I certainly wasn't competing with anybody else for a little time with my waiter.
I drink the cappucino. I have to get the waiters attention to bring me the check. Another 10 minutes.
I am usually pretty casual about the time line, but now that I have been told that the superbowl was actually on I needed to get upstairs as quick as possible.
Let me add up all of those minutes for you. We made it down to the restuarant around 6:30ish. James and I got back to the bedroom at 8:55.
He was losing it, Linda felt abandoned all day so I called him to decline his offer and to find out what channel the game was on.
Channel 19, ESPN Desportes!
The TV in my room goes from 2 to 17 then 20 and above. Are you freaking kidding me? I immediately run down to the receptionist and ask her to fix it.
They send a maintainence guy up to my room. The tv is right next to the crib where the baby is finally sleeping. He whips out of his tool belt a universal remote control to reprogram the tv.
This process involves the tv going by itself from channel 2 to 120 searching for a signal. It then does it a second time to confirm the signal and automatically makes the channels work.
Well my autoprogramming functioning tv goes from 2 to 17 and then 20 to 120. Skipping ESPN Desportes channel 19. What the hell?
The looks at me and says in english "TV no works, buenos noches"
Okay, I can handle it. I have seen every Super bowl for 28 years, so what if I miss this one game.
5 minutes later there is a knock at the door, It is the maintanence man. Standing before me in the doorway holding in his arms a brand new television set. He goes into the room and moves furniture around removes the old tv and installs the new one all by himself in about 3 minutes.
This guy should work in the restuarant. He would make a killing with the American clientele.
Downside is the baby wakes up crying again. So what! I have the super bowl on for almost the entire 2nd half. I have a screaming baby in my arms, which doesn't matter because the game is being broadcast in spanish.
She passes out after a good 30 minutes, but again who cares, I have the superbowl!
For those of you who don't know, I am a NY Giants fan for as long as I remember. However, My grandparents and my mother are from Pittsburgh. I went to college in Pittsburgh. So I am glad that they won and that I witnessed it about 8 gazillion miles from home.
29 super bowls and still counting.
- - - - -
I was going to end this evenings blog there.
However, after reading the last comment from yesterday, I need to continue. It seems that "Sam T" doesn't know if this is a family blog or not, so some things must be clarified.
1. Linda thought the same thing about his traveling companion.
2. You know me, I may only look tough, but deep down, I'm a softy.
3. Ancyay Kayay isyay elcomeyay otay eesay myay ideovay
4. a. Real estate is good. Land is expensive but labor is cheap. There is no middle class here. The rich get richer and the poor live in shacks with tin roofs outside of the city limits in shanty towns, I am trying to get a picture, because these towns spread for miles into the horizon.
b. Exchange rate is fairly stable at $2000 pesos to $1 U.S.
c. Hookers? Not that I noticed. HOWEVER, for all of you single guys back home. I have met or seen 4 Americans down here with their new Mail order brides. The women all get boob jobs, and walk around showing everything off. They think it will win them a green card. I have included a google link to satisfy all of your curiousities. Kids under 18 stay away!
d. Don't even know who to ask about the poker, but I have seen it on tv here.
5. We effed up, what can I say?
6. My camera was not my good digital one, but it was an Olympus and Nancy will be getting a call.
7. The guy from Hicksville has an aunt here with a full time staff of servants. Each servant is responsible for a particular job, one cooks, one cleans etc. Each one is paid the equivalent of $40 U.S. a week. And it is the best job that they could ever ask for. So I am thinking a dirty sanchez might be affordable...
8. We miss you too, and hopefully you will be home soon.
9. If any kid under the age of 20 comes to me and asks me what a dirty sanchez is, I will give you Sam's email address, because he will be only too happy to answer that question.
10. We will always love Sam.
Adios, and hooray for the Steelers!
So at 6:00 in the A.M. Linda was done and it was now my turn. Ugh! Doesn't she know that I was up until 1:30 writing the all important days events? (Note to self: no more drinking while there is 4 - 6am feedings happening.)
The baby is still feeling crappy. There is no pleasing her. She doesn't sleep for very long, maybe 3-4 hours at the most. Today was for maybe an 1 at a clip. Nothing that we do will stop her from crying. We both feel so bad for her. Every time she has an "episode" James gets very nervous and doesn't know how to handle the situation. So he kind of goes off the deep end. Which means we now have two kids at a time losing it.
He has the same helpless feeling that I do, and just wants to do anything to make the baby feel better. I start to get angry at him for doing things. Then of course after the situation I feel guilty for yelling at him.
Anyway, Amelia was up for about 2 hours and finally went back to sleep. I decided that I needed some air and went down to have breakfast by myself.
Upon my return, everybody, including the baby was awake. So now Linda and James needed to escape, and they went down and left me with a baby that we cannot make happy.
She was actually quiet and sat on the bed with me for quite some time. Long enough that she started falling asleep in a sitting position. It was pretty funny actually, because she did not want to fall asleep. So she kept dozing off, with her eyes rolling back into her head. Then she would start to slump forward only to catch herself and then she would pop up like a jack-in-the-box.
I felt bad and tried to get her into the crib. We've noticed that she is alot like her big brother, whenever they both start falling asleep, they do whatever they can to wake themselves up.
So once I stood up, she starts freaking out and screaming. Another 20 minutes of screaming and she falls asleep in my arms.
At which point Linda and the tasmanian devil stroll back in. The tasmanian devil with 5 pancakes and a half a gallon of syrup in his belly.
Linda actually got him to sit still and do homework at this point, don't ask me how she did it. It is like trying to keep a hurricane in a box, it is almost impossible. But she did it.
It was a perfect opportunity for me to get some work done. So both James and I did homework. His was over within the hour. Mine was a few hours longer.
The baby got up screaming and crying again. So James and I abandoned Linda and went to the pool.
We met up with Oola and his son, Simon. We hung out down there from about 12:30 to around 4:00. It has been raining here every day. But today it wasn't raining when we were in the pool, it was cloudy though. The pool is heated and is warmer then the air. It is actually quite chilly when the sun is not out.
We had lunch and a couple of margheritas for Daddy at the poolside.
Linda and the baby showed up around 4:00 about 7 minutes before the rains came. So she turned around and went back up stairs. And 10 minutes later James and I were right behind her.
She had stopped at the front desk to inquire about how we could see the super bowl. The other guys wanted to get together and watch it somewhere, even though Oola has no idea what it is.
The front desk informed her that the game was on ABC and that the hotel didn't have ABC. Now I have not missed a super bowl since I was ten years old. That is 28 years without missing a superbowl.
Okay, do I hold this over Amelia's head for ever? After all she is the reason I am down here in the first place.
So I suck it up and realize, what the hell, it is only a game. We decided the baby was starting to do better and we all went downstairs to the outdoor restaurant for some dinner. The baby fell asleep within minutes, so we were going to have a nice family dinner.
Before they came to take our order, the baby was awake and screaming.
We placed our orders, and Linda took the baby for a walk, only never to return. She walked right up to the hotel room with a screaming baby.
Let me just interject here for a moment. Things are different here. There is no such thing as a quick bite to eat. When you first sit in the restaurant a waiter comes to take your drink orders. Before you even see a menu.
The 10 - 15 minutes that it takes to bring a 7-up and a couple of margherita's (see the pattern) is like an eternity when you have children. They bring the drinks, then you have to request a menu because they assume you will have cocktails for awhile.
Another 5-10 minutes goes by before the menu shows up.
When it does (This is the point at which the baby wakes up freaking out), the waiter disappears.
15-20 minutes later, he comes to take your order. Gracias, senor waiter for blessing us with your presence.
Linda splits, and another 15-20 minutes later the food makes it to the table.
After you are done eating, you have to get a waiters attention, because he will never come to you. They believe it is rude to interupt you until you need them.
James and I order some chocolate ice cream (another 10 minutes).
IT IS AT THIS POINT THAT OOLA COMES DOWN TO GET SOME FOOD TO BRING BACK TO HIS ROOM, THAT HE INFORMS ME THAT HE IS WATCHING THE SUPERBOWL IN HIS ROOM AND I AM WELCOME TO COME WATCH!!!!!!
Well I had made the mistake of ordering a cappucino, which of course is another 5 - 10 minutes.
Let me just say that there is only 6 other people in the entire restaurant, so I certainly wasn't competing with anybody else for a little time with my waiter.
I drink the cappucino. I have to get the waiters attention to bring me the check. Another 10 minutes.
I am usually pretty casual about the time line, but now that I have been told that the superbowl was actually on I needed to get upstairs as quick as possible.
Let me add up all of those minutes for you. We made it down to the restuarant around 6:30ish. James and I got back to the bedroom at 8:55.
He was losing it, Linda felt abandoned all day so I called him to decline his offer and to find out what channel the game was on.
Channel 19, ESPN Desportes!
The TV in my room goes from 2 to 17 then 20 and above. Are you freaking kidding me? I immediately run down to the receptionist and ask her to fix it.
They send a maintainence guy up to my room. The tv is right next to the crib where the baby is finally sleeping. He whips out of his tool belt a universal remote control to reprogram the tv.
This process involves the tv going by itself from channel 2 to 120 searching for a signal. It then does it a second time to confirm the signal and automatically makes the channels work.
Well my autoprogramming functioning tv goes from 2 to 17 and then 20 to 120. Skipping ESPN Desportes channel 19. What the hell?
The looks at me and says in english "TV no works, buenos noches"
Okay, I can handle it. I have seen every Super bowl for 28 years, so what if I miss this one game.
5 minutes later there is a knock at the door, It is the maintanence man. Standing before me in the doorway holding in his arms a brand new television set. He goes into the room and moves furniture around removes the old tv and installs the new one all by himself in about 3 minutes.
This guy should work in the restuarant. He would make a killing with the American clientele.
Downside is the baby wakes up crying again. So what! I have the super bowl on for almost the entire 2nd half. I have a screaming baby in my arms, which doesn't matter because the game is being broadcast in spanish.
She passes out after a good 30 minutes, but again who cares, I have the superbowl!
For those of you who don't know, I am a NY Giants fan for as long as I remember. However, My grandparents and my mother are from Pittsburgh. I went to college in Pittsburgh. So I am glad that they won and that I witnessed it about 8 gazillion miles from home.
29 super bowls and still counting.
- - - - -
I was going to end this evenings blog there.
However, after reading the last comment from yesterday, I need to continue. It seems that "Sam T" doesn't know if this is a family blog or not, so some things must be clarified.
1. Linda thought the same thing about his traveling companion.
2. You know me, I may only look tough, but deep down, I'm a softy.
3. Ancyay Kayay isyay elcomeyay otay eesay myay ideovay
4. a. Real estate is good. Land is expensive but labor is cheap. There is no middle class here. The rich get richer and the poor live in shacks with tin roofs outside of the city limits in shanty towns, I am trying to get a picture, because these towns spread for miles into the horizon.
b. Exchange rate is fairly stable at $2000 pesos to $1 U.S.
c. Hookers? Not that I noticed. HOWEVER, for all of you single guys back home. I have met or seen 4 Americans down here with their new Mail order brides. The women all get boob jobs, and walk around showing everything off. They think it will win them a green card. I have included a google link to satisfy all of your curiousities. Kids under 18 stay away!
d. Don't even know who to ask about the poker, but I have seen it on tv here.
5. We effed up, what can I say?
6. My camera was not my good digital one, but it was an Olympus and Nancy will be getting a call.
7. The guy from Hicksville has an aunt here with a full time staff of servants. Each servant is responsible for a particular job, one cooks, one cleans etc. Each one is paid the equivalent of $40 U.S. a week. And it is the best job that they could ever ask for. So I am thinking a dirty sanchez might be affordable...
8. We miss you too, and hopefully you will be home soon.
9. If any kid under the age of 20 comes to me and asks me what a dirty sanchez is, I will give you Sam's email address, because he will be only too happy to answer that question.
10. We will always love Sam.
Adios, and hooray for the Steelers!
Saturday - Day 9 - Hitting the wall!
Let me start by saying, I hit my breaking point today.
Last night I went to bed at 11:40 which was about 5 minutes before Amelia woke up for another hour or so. She was still not feeling well. She was coughing all night. I had her for an hour and could not get her to go back to sleep. Every time she would lay down she would fall asleep and a few minutes later she would wake up coughing and whining.
Linda took her around 1:00, and laid down on the couch holding the baby in an upright position so she could get some sleep.
I was greatfull for the relief, I did work last night and was exhausted by the time Linda took over. I laid down, and let me remind you of yesterdays post, that James went to sleep around 5:30. Which means by 1:10 he had already slept for a good 8 hours.
Two seconds after my head hit the pillow, I hear James waking up. I look over just as he comes crawling over into my bed.
He says "Daddy, when are we going to eat dinner?"
I got him up and took him to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He came back into bed with me and he actually went back to sleep.
I don't know what time Linda finally got the baby into her crib, but I awoke around 4:00 and realized that Linda was sleeping in James' bed. James was wide awake at 4:00 am, because he has now been in bed for 10 1/2 hours. He is trying to wake me up by sitting on me, and then he was trying to push me over.
I feel bad now but I had to yell at this kid several times to go back to sleep. Which is crazy because he had already had a full nights sleep. He did fall back to sleep and we all slept until around 7:00am.
My infant slept through the night, but my 5 year old was awake at 4:00 than at 5:00 than at 6:00....you get the picture.
- - - - -
So we wake up at 7:00 knowing that Eduardo, our translator was going to pick us up at 10:00. Now yesterday, he told us to see how she was today and that we would be able to bring Amelia to see the doctor from the orphanage.
Well we meet up with him and the Danish family to go shopping at some touristy place. Immediately we tell him that the baby was still kind of wheezing and she had a fever during the night. So he says, we have to wait until Monday when the doctor is available from the orphanage.
So in my head, I am thinking "What the F*ck?" And also he doesn't bring the camera cable that he promised.
Amelia seemed better after we gave her the motrin. We decided to go to this little shopping village and see what would happen. It was kind of rainy all day. We had to drive up to the top of the mountains to reach this little tourist trap.
After being there for about an hour and Linda spending $150 U.S. on little b-s stuff, we headed back to the hotel.
I do not like shopping, no matter where I am in the world. So my job was to mind the two kids inside of this store at the top of the mountain. At this point is when Amelia started to decline. She started to become a little whiny, nothing I couldn't handle.
Byt the time we got back to the hotel, Amelia was kind of acting okay. Not really a 100%, but we decided to go down by the pool to give James some fun time.
We met up with the two other adopting families, and hung out for about 15 minutes. The the skies opened up and we had one helluva rain storm. So we all went into the hotel lobby bar which didn't open for another hour or so.
After awhile it was time to go back to the room, you know for feedings and diaper changes etc. The Danish couple, Oola and Brit, invited us to go to the Colombian restaurant across the street for dinner. Which I very happily accepted.
Well in the short time it took to go from the lobby bar to my room, things started spiraling down.
I get back to the room to discover that the baby has a fever and she is now wheezing heavily. James was exhausted from all the sleep he had the night before, so he was being a pain.
We were supposed to meet the couple downstairs in less than an hour. James wants nothing more than to go to dinner, but does not want to get ready to go. I have been wanting to go to this restaurant since we got here.
Linda starts to get a little more worried about the baby.
For one full hour, we try to figure out what we should be doing. James is crying that he wants to go to dinner. Linda is starting to get a little more freaked because of the condition of the baby. The baby is now crying/whining not really knowing what she wants.
We decide at the last minute not to go to dinner. James freaks out and goes berserk. He starts throwing things around, saying bad things starts to hit me, so I yell and he gets time out. All because we told him we were going to dinner with his friend Simon, and now we weren't going.
Now we want to order room service because it is getting late and we are hungry. But Linda doesn't want room service, she wants me to go down to the pool side restaurant and get a menu so she could get something from there.
I get dressed, the baby is crying continuously, James is pretending he is a Jedi master and jumps from bed to bed to floor and back again about 8 gazillion times. Every time James jumps he misses the baby by about a fraction of an inch. So I try to get him to stop, which only makes him do it more.
I go down to poolside and of course they are not allowed to deliver the food from the restaurant to the rooms. So i go all the way back to the room.
We start all over again, James wants to go out, so he is crying. Linda doesn't want anything from room service, but hasn't eaten anything all day. Baby hasn't settled down yet.
We finally figure out what we want for dinner. James wants Mac and Cheese, which is fine, but now I have to cook it. Linda is trying to get the baby to stop crying. The phone rings. Eduardo is downstairs with the camera cable. So I run downstairs, to meet Eduardo and his girlfriend at the bar. He invites me for drinks.
There is nothing more that I really wanted at this point than a drink.
But alas, the baby is crying, Linda is freaking and I have mac and cheese heating on the stove. So I bid him and his girl a fond farewell.
I come back to the room just in time for room service and Linda wanting a doctor to come right now. She calls and asks for the doctor. The doctor comes just after we ate dinner which they didn't bring everything we asked for.
James is starting to freak out now because his mother is freaking out about the baby's health. James is hanging all over me and all he want is that I sit and watch a movie with him. The baby is crying.
I officially have had enough at this point.
9 days in and all I want is to be sitting in front of my tv dozing off on my chair. With no kids crying and no wife freaking out.
Dinner sucked tonight. I just want to have a home cooked meal.
The doctor finally shows up with two ambulance drivers. Turns out he lived in fort worth for a year and spoke english well enough to communicate with us.
Apparently the drops that the first doctor gave us last week were for Amelia once a day to be given orally. Holy effing crap!!!
We had been giving her these effing drops in her nose. And every time we did, this poor baby would lose her mind.
Shoot me now!!!
#@$%&* ME!!!
The last doctor didn't speak english, and as stated in a previous post, I translated the prescription over the pone to the translator who then phoned in the order and then called back to tell us what the dosage was and how to use it.
We were under the effing assumption that we got nasal drops. God, I just wanted to be home. I have hit the wall.
- - - - -
Deep breaths.....
The doctor nebulized the baby, and gave us a prescription for an antibiotic. She has a slight infection in her lungs. And she has goo coming out of her left tear duct.
more deep breaths...
When the doctor was done, the baby stopped crying. He wrote us the prescription and reassured us that the baby was fine. She actually was very calm and laughing at this point.
...I am slowly calming down now.
As soon as the doctor left, the phone rang. It was Ernesto from long island wanting to know if I wanted to go downstairs and have a drink.
Linda took the call and told him that I would be dressed and ready within 10 minutes.
I really didn't feel like going.
He showed up at my door with a bottle of scotch and three glasses. He and I went downstairs and met Oola down by the pool. Apparently we were all losing it. After a half a bottle of scotch and a few rounds of beers I was feeling normal again.
After listening to the other two guys bitching about this whole process that we are going through, I felt much better.
Guy therapy! Scotch, beers, cuban cigars, and a little cursing and we all felt better.
My wife is great for making me go out with these complete strangers from different parts of the world.
I came home shortly before 12:00. Opened the door only to have Linda hand me a crying baby, and you know what?
I wouldn't change it for all the scotch or cuban cigars this planet has to offer.
Here it is at 1:20 am now that I am done writing and I am really tired. Let's see how tomorrow goes...
Ciao
Last night I went to bed at 11:40 which was about 5 minutes before Amelia woke up for another hour or so. She was still not feeling well. She was coughing all night. I had her for an hour and could not get her to go back to sleep. Every time she would lay down she would fall asleep and a few minutes later she would wake up coughing and whining.
Linda took her around 1:00, and laid down on the couch holding the baby in an upright position so she could get some sleep.
I was greatfull for the relief, I did work last night and was exhausted by the time Linda took over. I laid down, and let me remind you of yesterdays post, that James went to sleep around 5:30. Which means by 1:10 he had already slept for a good 8 hours.
Two seconds after my head hit the pillow, I hear James waking up. I look over just as he comes crawling over into my bed.
He says "Daddy, when are we going to eat dinner?"
I got him up and took him to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He came back into bed with me and he actually went back to sleep.
I don't know what time Linda finally got the baby into her crib, but I awoke around 4:00 and realized that Linda was sleeping in James' bed. James was wide awake at 4:00 am, because he has now been in bed for 10 1/2 hours. He is trying to wake me up by sitting on me, and then he was trying to push me over.
I feel bad now but I had to yell at this kid several times to go back to sleep. Which is crazy because he had already had a full nights sleep. He did fall back to sleep and we all slept until around 7:00am.
My infant slept through the night, but my 5 year old was awake at 4:00 than at 5:00 than at 6:00....you get the picture.
- - - - -
So we wake up at 7:00 knowing that Eduardo, our translator was going to pick us up at 10:00. Now yesterday, he told us to see how she was today and that we would be able to bring Amelia to see the doctor from the orphanage.
Well we meet up with him and the Danish family to go shopping at some touristy place. Immediately we tell him that the baby was still kind of wheezing and she had a fever during the night. So he says, we have to wait until Monday when the doctor is available from the orphanage.
So in my head, I am thinking "What the F*ck?" And also he doesn't bring the camera cable that he promised.
Amelia seemed better after we gave her the motrin. We decided to go to this little shopping village and see what would happen. It was kind of rainy all day. We had to drive up to the top of the mountains to reach this little tourist trap.
After being there for about an hour and Linda spending $150 U.S. on little b-s stuff, we headed back to the hotel.
I do not like shopping, no matter where I am in the world. So my job was to mind the two kids inside of this store at the top of the mountain. At this point is when Amelia started to decline. She started to become a little whiny, nothing I couldn't handle.
Byt the time we got back to the hotel, Amelia was kind of acting okay. Not really a 100%, but we decided to go down by the pool to give James some fun time.
We met up with the two other adopting families, and hung out for about 15 minutes. The the skies opened up and we had one helluva rain storm. So we all went into the hotel lobby bar which didn't open for another hour or so.
After awhile it was time to go back to the room, you know for feedings and diaper changes etc. The Danish couple, Oola and Brit, invited us to go to the Colombian restaurant across the street for dinner. Which I very happily accepted.
Well in the short time it took to go from the lobby bar to my room, things started spiraling down.
I get back to the room to discover that the baby has a fever and she is now wheezing heavily. James was exhausted from all the sleep he had the night before, so he was being a pain.
We were supposed to meet the couple downstairs in less than an hour. James wants nothing more than to go to dinner, but does not want to get ready to go. I have been wanting to go to this restaurant since we got here.
Linda starts to get a little more worried about the baby.
For one full hour, we try to figure out what we should be doing. James is crying that he wants to go to dinner. Linda is starting to get a little more freaked because of the condition of the baby. The baby is now crying/whining not really knowing what she wants.
We decide at the last minute not to go to dinner. James freaks out and goes berserk. He starts throwing things around, saying bad things starts to hit me, so I yell and he gets time out. All because we told him we were going to dinner with his friend Simon, and now we weren't going.
Now we want to order room service because it is getting late and we are hungry. But Linda doesn't want room service, she wants me to go down to the pool side restaurant and get a menu so she could get something from there.
I get dressed, the baby is crying continuously, James is pretending he is a Jedi master and jumps from bed to bed to floor and back again about 8 gazillion times. Every time James jumps he misses the baby by about a fraction of an inch. So I try to get him to stop, which only makes him do it more.
I go down to poolside and of course they are not allowed to deliver the food from the restaurant to the rooms. So i go all the way back to the room.
We start all over again, James wants to go out, so he is crying. Linda doesn't want anything from room service, but hasn't eaten anything all day. Baby hasn't settled down yet.
We finally figure out what we want for dinner. James wants Mac and Cheese, which is fine, but now I have to cook it. Linda is trying to get the baby to stop crying. The phone rings. Eduardo is downstairs with the camera cable. So I run downstairs, to meet Eduardo and his girlfriend at the bar. He invites me for drinks.
There is nothing more that I really wanted at this point than a drink.
But alas, the baby is crying, Linda is freaking and I have mac and cheese heating on the stove. So I bid him and his girl a fond farewell.
I come back to the room just in time for room service and Linda wanting a doctor to come right now. She calls and asks for the doctor. The doctor comes just after we ate dinner which they didn't bring everything we asked for.
James is starting to freak out now because his mother is freaking out about the baby's health. James is hanging all over me and all he want is that I sit and watch a movie with him. The baby is crying.
I officially have had enough at this point.
9 days in and all I want is to be sitting in front of my tv dozing off on my chair. With no kids crying and no wife freaking out.
Dinner sucked tonight. I just want to have a home cooked meal.
The doctor finally shows up with two ambulance drivers. Turns out he lived in fort worth for a year and spoke english well enough to communicate with us.
Apparently the drops that the first doctor gave us last week were for Amelia once a day to be given orally. Holy effing crap!!!
We had been giving her these effing drops in her nose. And every time we did, this poor baby would lose her mind.
Shoot me now!!!
#@$%&* ME!!!
The last doctor didn't speak english, and as stated in a previous post, I translated the prescription over the pone to the translator who then phoned in the order and then called back to tell us what the dosage was and how to use it.
We were under the effing assumption that we got nasal drops. God, I just wanted to be home. I have hit the wall.
- - - - -
Deep breaths.....
The doctor nebulized the baby, and gave us a prescription for an antibiotic. She has a slight infection in her lungs. And she has goo coming out of her left tear duct.
more deep breaths...
When the doctor was done, the baby stopped crying. He wrote us the prescription and reassured us that the baby was fine. She actually was very calm and laughing at this point.
...I am slowly calming down now.
As soon as the doctor left, the phone rang. It was Ernesto from long island wanting to know if I wanted to go downstairs and have a drink.
Linda took the call and told him that I would be dressed and ready within 10 minutes.
I really didn't feel like going.
He showed up at my door with a bottle of scotch and three glasses. He and I went downstairs and met Oola down by the pool. Apparently we were all losing it. After a half a bottle of scotch and a few rounds of beers I was feeling normal again.
After listening to the other two guys bitching about this whole process that we are going through, I felt much better.
Guy therapy! Scotch, beers, cuban cigars, and a little cursing and we all felt better.
My wife is great for making me go out with these complete strangers from different parts of the world.
I came home shortly before 12:00. Opened the door only to have Linda hand me a crying baby, and you know what?
I wouldn't change it for all the scotch or cuban cigars this planet has to offer.
Here it is at 1:20 am now that I am done writing and I am really tired. Let's see how tomorrow goes...
Ciao
Friday, February 03, 2006
Friday - Day 8 - Sick Baby (ies)
Hola Everybody!
Last night went okay. The baby was fidgeting all night long and didn't sleep to well. She developed a cough yesterday ( I guess too much sight seeing). So she was kind of coughing all night and would wake up for a quick second. She actually only woke up twice to be picked up during the night. Each time was for only about 15 minutes.
The night was long, but not unbearable.
She awoke around 5:00 for her 7:00am feeding. Both Linda and I got up, I prepared the bottle, while Linda tried her best to soothe a hungary baby. (See previous post.)
As soon as Linda gave her the bottle, Amelia calmed down and started pigging out. That's when I made my move...
I made a bee line right towards my pillow.
After the feeding and noticing that the baby's cough was still kind of there, Linda felt we should just take it easy today instead of more sight seeing. So we shut the alarm off and decided to stay in bed as long as possible today.
At precisely 8:00 the phone rings and we were all still sound asleep which is an absolute rarity, but given the long night, I'm not gonna justify it. It felt goooood!
Anyway, it was the Orphanage director wanting to know if she could come by and discuss some of our final steps. Linda had to ask her to come around 9:30 or the woman was coming right then. Linda thought the woman said in her broken english, that she wanted to come by around breakfast time.
So Linda rushed into the shower while I woke up James. The baby woke up when the phone rang. We rushed around cleaning our hotel room, trying to make it look like we are the Stepford family. I ordered lots of fruit and danishes and coffee has any gracious host would do.
We actually were ready and waiting for Raquel. She showed up at 9:30 on the dot. She came in and saw the table settings and was a little embarassed that we didn't eat yet. At which point the food arrived, and Raquel was ready to go stand in the hallway while I ate my breakfast. The ettiquet here is a little different than at home. We have noticed little things through out the week. Anyway, Raquel meant that she wanted to come after we had eaten our breakfast.
So it was a little awkward.
She took the baby and insisted that I sat down to eat while she had my baby sitting on the couch. So we all felt a little funny now. Needless to say, James and I sat at the table while Linda sat with her and the baby on the couch.
It was at this point she noticed that baby had this cough. She started acting like the worried grandma. She immediately wanted us to bring the baby by the orphanage today to see the pediatrician that had been taking care of Amelia since day 1.
Which made Linda very happy. So Raquel got up to leave and told us that she would call within the hour to tell us what time to go to the orphanage.
Well, our translator called several hours later and said that the doctor was very busy today and that if the baby sounded the same way tomorrow than we should go to see the doctor.
The baby had a slight fever this morning. But after giving her infant motrin, she was okay.
At this point Linda needed some James time and he wanted to take her to the trails behind the hotel. So they left.
My first solo flight.
Ooooh, it was nerve wracking. It was lunch time for the baby. Every thing went smoothly. Yet I was still a little freaked. I was counting the seconds until everybody returned. Which they didn't. I get a call about 45 minutes later to come down to the poolside restaurant. Linda and James were hanging out having some sodas and were thinking about having a pizza.
Okay, so my first solo flight consisted of hanging out in the room stuffing her little face. Which really is a piece of cake, because she is like a little baby bird. She sits with her mouth wide open waiting for the next spoonful of soup.
Now I had to clean her up, pack up the 8 million things that accompany a baby whenever you leave the house (even if it is to just go outside to get the mail) and go meet them for pizza. (Like I was going to pass that up)
So I get her into the stroller and we stroll (hence the name) down the hall to the elevators. All the while she is enjoying the scenery. In the elevator I break out the video camera and decide to film the walk from the elevators to the pool.
I see my family sitting there drinking their sodas, enjoying the day. As soon as I get to them, I noticed it is a little cold. Linda also realizes that it is chilly and notices that the baby has no socks, pants or a sweater on. Also the onesy that she had on was not even snapped, so the baby's belly is all exposed.
Okay, so my first solo excursion went a little askew. At least I had 17 diapers and a few hundred wipes, you know, just in case there was a catastrophic diarhea explosion.
I did remember to throw a blanket on top of her though, so it isn't like she was a little babsicle.
- - - - -
As we were leaving to take James to the playground, the other couple came over. We wound up hanging out until almost 5:00. But during this time, my poor little Jimmy D was starting to act a little wierd. He wanted to sit on my lap while we were talking with other adults. Usually as soon as Linda or I am distracted he is looking for a way to get out of dodge.
Turns out he had a fever.
We came back to the room, Linda gave him some motrin. He laid down and has been sleeping since 5:30 without dinner. So hopefully he'll be okay in the morning.
Amelia also is supposed to eat food at 5:00 and a bottle at 7:00 but instead ate a huge dinner at 6:00 which ended up combining with her 7:00 bottle. She immediately passed out and has been sleeping ever since. Which means she will be up around ten for her next bottle.
We think Amelia might be teething, she had all the classic signs today. Slight fever, soft stool, and was chewing on her pacifier like a rabid dog. We think we noticed some white spot on her gums.
I say "think" because at this age, it is all conjecture anyway. I like when they hit that age and tell you what hurts.
- - - - - -
So the orphanage lady told us the judge has our paper work and if all goes well, we could be leaving here by Tuesday. But you never know. It still may wind up being Thursday which means that we will be in Colombia until at least Tuesday of the following week. That would make our trip 3 and a half weeks and that would not be fun.
If it is Tuesday, we will probably be allowed to come home a day earlier than planned. We will have to see what costs more, the changing of the airline reservations or one more night in Colombia.
- - - - - -
Observation 8?) If you sit in front of a laptop with Amelia on your lap, listening to itunes. Amelia dances back and forth.
Observation 9) Amelia gets comfort out of rocking herself back and forth, just like when my little sister, Rachel was a baby and now her daughter Paige. So already, Amelia is picking up family traits.
Love to all.
P.S. Still haven't gotten the camera cable to upload pictures.
Last night went okay. The baby was fidgeting all night long and didn't sleep to well. She developed a cough yesterday ( I guess too much sight seeing). So she was kind of coughing all night and would wake up for a quick second. She actually only woke up twice to be picked up during the night. Each time was for only about 15 minutes.
The night was long, but not unbearable.
She awoke around 5:00 for her 7:00am feeding. Both Linda and I got up, I prepared the bottle, while Linda tried her best to soothe a hungary baby. (See previous post.)
As soon as Linda gave her the bottle, Amelia calmed down and started pigging out. That's when I made my move...
I made a bee line right towards my pillow.
After the feeding and noticing that the baby's cough was still kind of there, Linda felt we should just take it easy today instead of more sight seeing. So we shut the alarm off and decided to stay in bed as long as possible today.
At precisely 8:00 the phone rings and we were all still sound asleep which is an absolute rarity, but given the long night, I'm not gonna justify it. It felt goooood!
Anyway, it was the Orphanage director wanting to know if she could come by and discuss some of our final steps. Linda had to ask her to come around 9:30 or the woman was coming right then. Linda thought the woman said in her broken english, that she wanted to come by around breakfast time.
So Linda rushed into the shower while I woke up James. The baby woke up when the phone rang. We rushed around cleaning our hotel room, trying to make it look like we are the Stepford family. I ordered lots of fruit and danishes and coffee has any gracious host would do.
We actually were ready and waiting for Raquel. She showed up at 9:30 on the dot. She came in and saw the table settings and was a little embarassed that we didn't eat yet. At which point the food arrived, and Raquel was ready to go stand in the hallway while I ate my breakfast. The ettiquet here is a little different than at home. We have noticed little things through out the week. Anyway, Raquel meant that she wanted to come after we had eaten our breakfast.
So it was a little awkward.
She took the baby and insisted that I sat down to eat while she had my baby sitting on the couch. So we all felt a little funny now. Needless to say, James and I sat at the table while Linda sat with her and the baby on the couch.
It was at this point she noticed that baby had this cough. She started acting like the worried grandma. She immediately wanted us to bring the baby by the orphanage today to see the pediatrician that had been taking care of Amelia since day 1.
Which made Linda very happy. So Raquel got up to leave and told us that she would call within the hour to tell us what time to go to the orphanage.
Well, our translator called several hours later and said that the doctor was very busy today and that if the baby sounded the same way tomorrow than we should go to see the doctor.
The baby had a slight fever this morning. But after giving her infant motrin, she was okay.
At this point Linda needed some James time and he wanted to take her to the trails behind the hotel. So they left.
My first solo flight.
Ooooh, it was nerve wracking. It was lunch time for the baby. Every thing went smoothly. Yet I was still a little freaked. I was counting the seconds until everybody returned. Which they didn't. I get a call about 45 minutes later to come down to the poolside restaurant. Linda and James were hanging out having some sodas and were thinking about having a pizza.
Okay, so my first solo flight consisted of hanging out in the room stuffing her little face. Which really is a piece of cake, because she is like a little baby bird. She sits with her mouth wide open waiting for the next spoonful of soup.
Now I had to clean her up, pack up the 8 million things that accompany a baby whenever you leave the house (even if it is to just go outside to get the mail) and go meet them for pizza. (Like I was going to pass that up)
So I get her into the stroller and we stroll (hence the name) down the hall to the elevators. All the while she is enjoying the scenery. In the elevator I break out the video camera and decide to film the walk from the elevators to the pool.
I see my family sitting there drinking their sodas, enjoying the day. As soon as I get to them, I noticed it is a little cold. Linda also realizes that it is chilly and notices that the baby has no socks, pants or a sweater on. Also the onesy that she had on was not even snapped, so the baby's belly is all exposed.
Okay, so my first solo excursion went a little askew. At least I had 17 diapers and a few hundred wipes, you know, just in case there was a catastrophic diarhea explosion.
I did remember to throw a blanket on top of her though, so it isn't like she was a little babsicle.
- - - - -
As we were leaving to take James to the playground, the other couple came over. We wound up hanging out until almost 5:00. But during this time, my poor little Jimmy D was starting to act a little wierd. He wanted to sit on my lap while we were talking with other adults. Usually as soon as Linda or I am distracted he is looking for a way to get out of dodge.
Turns out he had a fever.
We came back to the room, Linda gave him some motrin. He laid down and has been sleeping since 5:30 without dinner. So hopefully he'll be okay in the morning.
Amelia also is supposed to eat food at 5:00 and a bottle at 7:00 but instead ate a huge dinner at 6:00 which ended up combining with her 7:00 bottle. She immediately passed out and has been sleeping ever since. Which means she will be up around ten for her next bottle.
We think Amelia might be teething, she had all the classic signs today. Slight fever, soft stool, and was chewing on her pacifier like a rabid dog. We think we noticed some white spot on her gums.
I say "think" because at this age, it is all conjecture anyway. I like when they hit that age and tell you what hurts.
- - - - - -
So the orphanage lady told us the judge has our paper work and if all goes well, we could be leaving here by Tuesday. But you never know. It still may wind up being Thursday which means that we will be in Colombia until at least Tuesday of the following week. That would make our trip 3 and a half weeks and that would not be fun.
If it is Tuesday, we will probably be allowed to come home a day earlier than planned. We will have to see what costs more, the changing of the airline reservations or one more night in Colombia.
- - - - - -
Observation 8?) If you sit in front of a laptop with Amelia on your lap, listening to itunes. Amelia dances back and forth.
Observation 9) Amelia gets comfort out of rocking herself back and forth, just like when my little sister, Rachel was a baby and now her daughter Paige. So already, Amelia is picking up family traits.
Love to all.
P.S. Still haven't gotten the camera cable to upload pictures.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Thursday - Botero Museo
Since I have been opening this blog every day with a description of the night before, I guess I will continue with this template.
Last night was cake... end of story.
She awoke this morning around 6:00am and was as happy as a clam. Which if the pattern continues, means we are in for a long night. We'll see.
- - - - -
Okay first off, if you read yesterday's entry you know that my camera crapped out. So I have no photos for you guys today. (more on that later)
Today started fairly early, Linda decided to set the alarm for 6:30 am, but since we have a built in alarm clock, we, I mean "I" was already up. Linda did get up and got a bottle ready right before going right back to sleep. So Amelia, and I kind of just laid in the bed playing and getting to know one another.
I have made a few observations of this little girl today. I will list them as I go, in no particular order, just as I remember them.
I had Amelia sitting up, and I was sitting indian style. She stayed like this playing with her toys for about 45 minutes. Then she was ready for an actual breakfast of Bananos and a 4 oz bottle of formula.
By this time we were all up, and Linda fed her breakfast.
We had plans to meet with Eduardo at 9:30 to go sight seeing. So around 8:30 we went down and got some breakfast ourselves. We once again met up with James' friend Santiago.
Afterwards, we met up with Eduardo. I asked him if there was anyplace that I could get my camera fixed. Basically they do not have Olympus brand camera's down here at least it is not a popular brand and he told me I would be better off to wait until I got home to fix it. He took me to a place to called "Foto Japon" to buy a disposable camera. They didn't have any and I wound up buying a $34,000 peso camera ($17 U.S.) and a roll of film for our sight seeing tour. Total bill: $24 U.S.
We drove downtown and saw the main part of the city. He took us to the Metropolitan Cathedral. Which is a beautiful 3 or 4 story Cathedral built of aged bricks. It was incredible. We got there just in time for the end of a mass. I hope the images from my $17 camera do it justice.
Right outside the church is Simon Bolivar Park. This park is dedicated to the guy who won indepence from Spain back in 1810. It reminded me of a smaller Union Square Park in Manhattan. It is a park in the middle of the city.
From there we went to the Botero Museo.
Ferdinand Botero is a world famous Colombian sculpter and painter. He is still alive and living in Italy. He is probably the most famous Colombian since Pablo Escobar. Anyway, he makes these giant sculptures of very round and fat people, here is one image that I found on the internet. It was nice walking through the quiet museum.
Okay Observation 1) Amelia loves being in the stroller, as long as you are moving. If she is in it just sitting there, forget about it. She watched everything in that museum.
Observation 2) Amelia is definately comfortable with us now. I noticed in the museum that even if I was across the gallery and I turned to look at her, she was already watching me. When she noticed me looking at her, she would smile and flail those little baby legs and arms. (Some of you may remember when James came home, even on that first day when everybody came over, he was looking for one of us making sure that we were in viewing distance.)
Observation 3) Linda and I both realised this earlier in the week, but I don't think I wrote about it yet. Amelia, really, really loves kisses. When you move in to steal a kiss, she immediately opens her mouth wide, and leans towards your face.
So this morning I put it to a test. I started kissing her, below her lips and above her little chin. She was laughing like a crazy girl. Not only does she lean into you, but her feet and arms start to flail about. It was great.
Right up until Daddy got a small mouthfull of pre digested formula. Now, James thought this was the greatest thing he has ever seen, laughing his little butt off. Laughing that is, until I informed him that whatever splashed off of my face, landed inside his brand new sneakers.
After we saw everything in the museum, we went down to the cafe so Linda could feed and change the baby. Eduardo bought us some refreshments of the Colombian version of a Frappucino made with very strong coffee.
I put mine down on the table and turned to help Linda get settled. When I turned back James was in the process of downing my drink. By the time I stopped him, he basically drank 12 ounces of my 16 ounce drink.
Do any of you know what 12 ounces of espresso will do to a 5 year old? Lets just say that he lasted a long time today before crashing and going through withdrawals that would kill a heroin addict. It is now 10:50 and I think I still hear him moaning.
Actually, I'm just kidding. He handled it okay. He had a belly ache and a wicked poop, but all is fine now.
After the museum, we drove around the city some more, just checking it out. On our way back to the hotel, Eduardo stopped by his friends house to pick up his digital camera so that we could use it for the rest of the time that we are here in Medellin. But he forgot the cable, so tomorrow I will have more digital photos to upload.
We got back, put the baby down for her nap. James and Linda did some homework and I went to the gym for an hour.
The other adoptive parents called and invited us to go to dinner at a local restaurant. So we jumped at the chance. Both of them speak spanish so we felt very comfortable going out without our guides.
We went to what we are told is the best steak place in Medellin. We were able to walk down to the restaurant, it was about 3 blocks away. San Carbon steak house, had menus in spanish or in english so we were set. I must say, I was worried, because the beef here tastes different than at home. Well, this was the best meal that we have had yet. This was like being at Peter Lugers. You could cut this one inch thick steak with a fork. The dinner for 4 adults and 1 kid with beers and margheritas cost about $198,000 pesos. Which after we split the bill came to about $50 U.S.
We walked back and my family went to the poolside restaurant for some desert.
That's it, that was our day.
- - - - - -
Observation 4) When Amelia drinks a bottle of formula, she gets a row of sweat beads that form across the top of her forehead. By the time she is done drinking, and is passed out, she is soaking wet from sweat. Her hair is actually wet.
Observation 5) James tries to make her laugh all day long. Mainly doing those annoying things that 5 year olds think are funny. Well today he figured out that if he sneaks off to her side and jumps in front of her, he could scare the pants off of her. I was about to yell at the kid, when I realized that Amelia laughs every time he scares her. She jumps which makes James laugh, which in turn makes Amelia laugh. Today, James actually laughed so hard because she jumped, that he had an accident. She is absolutely infatuated with him. It's great.
Observation 6) I am absolutely in love....
Hasta Mañana
Last night was cake... end of story.
She awoke this morning around 6:00am and was as happy as a clam. Which if the pattern continues, means we are in for a long night. We'll see.
- - - - -
Okay first off, if you read yesterday's entry you know that my camera crapped out. So I have no photos for you guys today. (more on that later)
Today started fairly early, Linda decided to set the alarm for 6:30 am, but since we have a built in alarm clock, we, I mean "I" was already up. Linda did get up and got a bottle ready right before going right back to sleep. So Amelia, and I kind of just laid in the bed playing and getting to know one another.
I have made a few observations of this little girl today. I will list them as I go, in no particular order, just as I remember them.
I had Amelia sitting up, and I was sitting indian style. She stayed like this playing with her toys for about 45 minutes. Then she was ready for an actual breakfast of Bananos and a 4 oz bottle of formula.
By this time we were all up, and Linda fed her breakfast.
We had plans to meet with Eduardo at 9:30 to go sight seeing. So around 8:30 we went down and got some breakfast ourselves. We once again met up with James' friend Santiago.
Afterwards, we met up with Eduardo. I asked him if there was anyplace that I could get my camera fixed. Basically they do not have Olympus brand camera's down here at least it is not a popular brand and he told me I would be better off to wait until I got home to fix it. He took me to a place to called "Foto Japon" to buy a disposable camera. They didn't have any and I wound up buying a $34,000 peso camera ($17 U.S.) and a roll of film for our sight seeing tour. Total bill: $24 U.S.
We drove downtown and saw the main part of the city. He took us to the Metropolitan Cathedral. Which is a beautiful 3 or 4 story Cathedral built of aged bricks. It was incredible. We got there just in time for the end of a mass. I hope the images from my $17 camera do it justice.
Right outside the church is Simon Bolivar Park. This park is dedicated to the guy who won indepence from Spain back in 1810. It reminded me of a smaller Union Square Park in Manhattan. It is a park in the middle of the city.
From there we went to the Botero Museo.
Ferdinand Botero is a world famous Colombian sculpter and painter. He is still alive and living in Italy. He is probably the most famous Colombian since Pablo Escobar. Anyway, he makes these giant sculptures of very round and fat people, here is one image that I found on the internet. It was nice walking through the quiet museum.
Okay Observation 1) Amelia loves being in the stroller, as long as you are moving. If she is in it just sitting there, forget about it. She watched everything in that museum.
Observation 2) Amelia is definately comfortable with us now. I noticed in the museum that even if I was across the gallery and I turned to look at her, she was already watching me. When she noticed me looking at her, she would smile and flail those little baby legs and arms. (Some of you may remember when James came home, even on that first day when everybody came over, he was looking for one of us making sure that we were in viewing distance.)
Observation 3) Linda and I both realised this earlier in the week, but I don't think I wrote about it yet. Amelia, really, really loves kisses. When you move in to steal a kiss, she immediately opens her mouth wide, and leans towards your face.
So this morning I put it to a test. I started kissing her, below her lips and above her little chin. She was laughing like a crazy girl. Not only does she lean into you, but her feet and arms start to flail about. It was great.
Right up until Daddy got a small mouthfull of pre digested formula. Now, James thought this was the greatest thing he has ever seen, laughing his little butt off. Laughing that is, until I informed him that whatever splashed off of my face, landed inside his brand new sneakers.
After we saw everything in the museum, we went down to the cafe so Linda could feed and change the baby. Eduardo bought us some refreshments of the Colombian version of a Frappucino made with very strong coffee.
I put mine down on the table and turned to help Linda get settled. When I turned back James was in the process of downing my drink. By the time I stopped him, he basically drank 12 ounces of my 16 ounce drink.
Do any of you know what 12 ounces of espresso will do to a 5 year old? Lets just say that he lasted a long time today before crashing and going through withdrawals that would kill a heroin addict. It is now 10:50 and I think I still hear him moaning.
Actually, I'm just kidding. He handled it okay. He had a belly ache and a wicked poop, but all is fine now.
After the museum, we drove around the city some more, just checking it out. On our way back to the hotel, Eduardo stopped by his friends house to pick up his digital camera so that we could use it for the rest of the time that we are here in Medellin. But he forgot the cable, so tomorrow I will have more digital photos to upload.
We got back, put the baby down for her nap. James and Linda did some homework and I went to the gym for an hour.
The other adoptive parents called and invited us to go to dinner at a local restaurant. So we jumped at the chance. Both of them speak spanish so we felt very comfortable going out without our guides.
We went to what we are told is the best steak place in Medellin. We were able to walk down to the restaurant, it was about 3 blocks away. San Carbon steak house, had menus in spanish or in english so we were set. I must say, I was worried, because the beef here tastes different than at home. Well, this was the best meal that we have had yet. This was like being at Peter Lugers. You could cut this one inch thick steak with a fork. The dinner for 4 adults and 1 kid with beers and margheritas cost about $198,000 pesos. Which after we split the bill came to about $50 U.S.
We walked back and my family went to the poolside restaurant for some desert.
That's it, that was our day.
- - - - - -
Observation 4) When Amelia drinks a bottle of formula, she gets a row of sweat beads that form across the top of her forehead. By the time she is done drinking, and is passed out, she is soaking wet from sweat. Her hair is actually wet.
Observation 5) James tries to make her laugh all day long. Mainly doing those annoying things that 5 year olds think are funny. Well today he figured out that if he sneaks off to her side and jumps in front of her, he could scare the pants off of her. I was about to yell at the kid, when I realized that Amelia laughs every time he scares her. She jumps which makes James laugh, which in turn makes Amelia laugh. Today, James actually laughed so hard because she jumped, that he had an accident. She is absolutely infatuated with him. It's great.
Observation 6) I am absolutely in love....
Hasta Mañana
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