Our time in Colombia

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Week 4: Enjoying Summer!

So all of my weeks are blending together now because we have been quite busy enjoying our summer with friends and family.  Our ginormous pool in the back has been getting a work out almost every day ;D!  Both girls enjoy getting in there and they are quick to invite everyone into the pool as soon as they get here.  Our primos (Gia, Devynne, and Jr.) came over on Thursday and then on Friday our other four primas came over (Sierra, Hayley, Emma, and Ava) with Tio Joe.  Hayley had a soccer tournament this weekend down here so we got to hang out with cousins all weekend long.  Amaya and Alejandra were in heaven!  They each had someone to play with and love on all day long!  Our girls partied hard this weekend and every night they would go right to bed because they were exhausted from so much excitement!

Amaya picked up some more confidence this week and has been venturing out without me by her side.  Mark can put her to bed with only minor crying now, which is amazing!  He can also pick her up at any given time without a fuss now, which is a HUGE improvement!  The girls are still working on how to play with each other in the same room...forget trying to play together for now ;).  Amaya's expressive speech is getting so much better.  She is babbling and will babble on and on like she is talking.  She still gets all of our names confused (mama, nana, papa, dada, hana) but she definitely gets her point across. She knows how to shake her head "no" and she still relies on signing the word for "more" when she wants something.  Today we were working on teaching her a word for "agua."  Alejandra is the best teacher when it comes to Amaya.  Amaya will mimic everything Alejandra does.  When Alejandra said "agua," Amaya said "a, a" or something like it :S.  You'll also notice that I am referring to her as Amaya more know and that is because she finally is understanding that this is her name :D!  We still say Fernanda sometimes and it is hard to just drop this name 100%.  It was the name given to her by her biological family and so it is a very significant part of who she is.  She went by this name for 15 months of her life and at a time when her family changed, we felt it wasn't right to change her name as well.  We left it as a little piece of comfort for her, but now she is more attached and familiar with us so we have been transitioning her name to Amaya.  Her name has been a little bit confusing for family and friends so hopefully this clears up our reasoning for referring to her as Fernanda for so long.  Alejandra still refers to her as "Amaya Fernanda" almost all the time, which seems so perfect!

Alejandra Sofia has been going through a bit of a tough time.  She is used to having her primas all to herself and now with a baby in the house she has to split that attention.  She had a tough time this weekend with sharing her primas attention and was acting out in negative ways to get them to notice her.  My heart aches for her as I see her struggling with this.  We've been continuing with her classes (gymnastics, swim, and preschool) and giving her positive feedback on how wonderful it is to be a big girl and have all of these special things she gets to do.  She is hypersensitive to Amaya and will yell as soon as Amaya gets close to her and run away.  Amaya has scratched and hit Alejandra a few times so we can understand her reaction.  The new plan is to play games together as a family so we can model a few different games they can play together.  Thank goodness for summer vacation and all the time it is giving me to be here at home and work through all of this!

This has been our life this past week in 3 paragraphs!  Full of lots of laughter and happiness, along with a few tears along the way.  Have a great week!

Week 3: Hi!

This past week was full of more family memories for our 2 girls!  We celebrated our prima Sierra's 15th birthday and Amaya got to meet more new friends and family.  She did well given her new surroundings and was excited to be in the mix with the family.  She is becoming a better walker and we are having less falling and tripping accidents.  We treated her for parasites again with a medication and it gave her a lot of gas.  I found a great pro and prebiotic specific for infant and toddlers and it seemed to be working for about 3 days.  Yesterday, she had diarrhea again so we'll see if today gets any better...fingers crossed and hoping we have found the answer!  She has 2 molars coming in on the bottom and they bother her on and off.  The rest of her lab results came back and they all were normal...YEAH!  She has started picking up words here and there...her newest words are "hi!" and "by" with a hand wave.  She loves to do this when we are out and about and getting a response from people.  She also loves to make dog and cat sounds "gua, gua" and "miau, miau."  Her confidence is amazing and she is getting more and more sure of herself, her family, and her role in the family.  She is laughing more and more every day.  She now lets her abuelita and dad pick her up without any crying even when I am in the room.  Her tantrums have gotten very minimal.  She still will let out a little whine when things don't go her way, but it is a normal toddler response.  She is an amazing sleeper and will sleep 12 hours at a time...thank goodness!  This kid LOVES the pool and is trying so hard to swim all on her own, it cracks us up!  We will be enrolling her in swim class next week because we notice she loves it so much.  Her relationship with her big sister is improving as they both learn about each other's personality.  She loves to copy whatever Alejandra is doing, which is both good and bad :)!

Our little Alejandra is back to preschool, gymnastics, and swimming.  She got an ear infection which kept her out of the pool for about a week.  I've spent at least 1 day at the doctor's office almost every week since we've been home.  I'm hoping for one week of no doctor's visits...thank goodness for medical insurance!  Alejandra has been going through some growing pains lately as she learns to share space with her baby sister.  She is seeking attention through negative behavior so we are working at trying to instill more self-confidence in her so she feels secure and starts to change her behavior.  She has been having a fun summer so far and has enjoyed playing with her primas and friends so much!  She was able to spend a few days with her Papa and Grandee and she was/is SO sad that they left....she had such a great time with them who could blame her?

We are finally starting to feel like things are coming together for us here at home.  We are extremely busy but it is summer after all and thankfully we have this time to be together with our friends and family.  Until next week...

Week 2: Father's Day and more!

We started this next week with a few different parties at home, so the girls were so excited to have a house full of friends and family.  Saturday we celebrated Father's Day with a potluck/BBQ, Sunday our friends the Hernandez came over, and Tuesday a few of my school buddies came over.  The girls have loved every second!

On Thursday I purchased an inflatable pool at Toys R Us because the one we had was a bit too small and it had a slow leak.  I ended up under estimating the size of an above ground inflatable pool and it was GINORMOUS!  As the water went in it kept expanding and at one point I thought it wasn't going to fit in our grass area in the backyard.  Mark came home and looked at it and all he said was "Wow, that's big."  Well, it actually has ended up working out SO well and has been used every single day since we got it.  Alejandra and Amaya Fernanda LOVE it!  Both of our girls love the water.  Alejandra can swim and Fernanda is not that far behind.  And Mark....well he is now convinced that it is perfect for us.  When Alejandra's cousins came over they were in there for hours, they came out to eat dinner and then they dove right back in.

The Father's Day BBQ was amazing!  Amaya Fernanda did so much better then I thought she would.  At first, she was clingy and wanted to make sure she could see me.  As the time went on she started to venture out and play with others.  Eventually, she was playing with all of the kids in the playhouse and I didn't see her for a good 30 minutes.  She is definitely feeling a lot more secure these days!

Mark has been able to put her to bed.  There are always tears, but once the books get opened and he starts to read she stops crying and listens.  Their attachment is growing stronger and stronger every day.  She will ask for him to pick her up now and she will give him kisses pretty freely.  When he gets home from work she gets a smile on her face and is excited to see him.  Their relationship has been growing by leaps and bounds!

Alejandra and Amaya Fernanda are continuing to bond as sisters.  They are learning how to play together and share ;).  Our little Amaya Fernanda likes to hit and scratch so Alejandra is sometimes apprehensive to play with her because she is afraid she is going to hurt her.  Alejandra is also used to playing with kids her age (from preschool) so she plays pretty hard with her little sister.  So we are all learning how to play respectfully with each other.  BUT....they adore each other already and we hear Alejandra often say "I love my baby sister, she is so cute."

We are still working through medical issues with Amaya Fernanda.  We had to take her on Monday for lab work.  They had to poke her 3 times to get the sufficient amount of blood for all the lab tests ordered by the pediatrician.  She cried and wailed...poor thing :( but stopped crying as soon as they were done.  We are thankful that all of her lab work results are back and she is super healthy!  We were concerned at the reaction of her TB test, but the doctor told us it was just an allergic reaction to the BCG vaccine she was given in Colombia.  To confirm, they checked her blood work and it came back negative as well.  We will also have a chest x-ray done just to be very certain that she doesn't have TB.   Her diarrhea is still present and after 3 days of specimens and ALL showing negative for giardia and "other parasites" we've decided to retreat her for roundworm.  So we are in day 2 of her treatment and we still have diarrhea.  Hopefully after 7 days of treatment we will be able to report good news on that end ;).  She is babbling and expressing herself verbally so much more lately!  Her pitch will change with her babbles, which shows us that she is certainly trying to communicate with us.  She still hasn't given each of us a name yet.  She says "nana," "mama," "papa," "nena," and "ma."  We are so excited to see her expressive vocabulary grow!

Things we've learned about Amaya Fernanda after being home:  She loves to climb on everything!  She enjoys reading books.  She has to hug a stuffed animal in order to go to sleep.  She likes water, vanilla soymilk, watermelon, blueberries, popsicles, veggie chips, cocoa and vanilla puffs, waffles, pancakes, shoes, and yogurt.  She doesn't like cheese.  She loves to go swimming in the pool with her mama and big sister.  She loves to take bubble baths with her big sister.  She LOVES to brush her teeth.  She thrives on routine and structure, don't try to change things up on her...she doesn't like that.  She is a neat freak (so she fits in just fine!).  She will scrunch up her face and try to force the tears out if you do something that upsets her.  She enjoys having music play in the background and will start dancing spontaneously.  When she gets excited about something she will stomp her feet up and down like she is jogging in place :D....so cute!

I am so happy to be able to have this time here at home with my girls.  It has been challenging getting into a routine here on my end.   Thank goodness I haven't thrown work into the mix yet.  I still have a couple of months to work on creating a schedule that works for all of us here at home.  Mark has been amazing and has stepped into the role of being the dad of two girls with ease.  He has been the calming force here at home many times :).  We are growing and learning from our girls every day at how to successfully parent them.  Our family dynamic has changed and with that we must evolve as well and still be certain that we are meeting the needs of both girls.  We are a work in progress ;)

In other news....we took the plunge and purchased a mini van today.  We are the proud owners of a Toyota Sienna.  Alejandra, Mark, Fernanda, and my mom LOVE it!  I'm still working on "loving" it...for now I "like" it a lot.  It is the perfect car for the family and in the end that's what is important.  I was joking around with a friend the other day on what color would be the "coolest" and in the end silver won.  So silver it is!

 

 

Week 1: Home Sweet Home

There truly is NO place like home!  We have been home for 1 week now and have been growing together as a family.  We've had mostly ups and just a couple of downs, but we are all do so much better adjusting here at home.  We started our first Friday at Lew and Donna's house where Fernanda got to meet her Tio Brent, Tia Julie, and primas.  She did an amazing job of playing with the kids and she even sat in her Tio Brent's lap!  She let her papa pick her up for a very short amount of time (like 10 seconds) which was amazing!  Then at around 12:00 we packed up and headed home to San Marcos.  Fernanda cried in her car seat for about 2 minutes and before we could get on the freeway she was already asleep!  She slept the entire way home, which meant she got a 2 hour nap.

Once we got home she was trying to figure her way around the place.  We showed her, her room and the playroom area.  At one point she got lost trying to navigate the upstairs area and she started crying :(.  She slept well that night in her crib and every night since then.  She sleeps about 12-13 hours nightly...YEAH!  Alejandra on the other hand....got used to sleeping with us and she has been making her way into our bedroom at around 3:00 a.m.  She crawls right in, snuggles, and goes right to sleep.  Nap time took some time to train her to get to sleep.  Today was the first no crying nap day so I was very excited!

As far Fernanda's health goes we took her to the pediatrician on Tuesday and developmentally she is hitting all of her major milestones.  She is in the 92 percentile for height and 85th percentile for weight.  The doctor was not concerned at all about her weight.  Her speech is a little delayed but that is understandable.  We are going to monitor her speech progress and if we are concerned about it we will seek a speech evaluation in a few months.  She got a couple of immunizations and a TB test she cried (of course) but quickly stopped...she did REALLY well at the pediatrician's office!  We are still trying to figure out the diarrhea mystery.  We had to take stool samples for 3 days and return them on a daily basis.  So far they have only looked at giardia in the day 1 sample and it came back negative.  We were still waiting for them to look for "other parasites" and the day 2 and 3 samples.  We're hoping to get more news next week.  We still need to take her in so they can draw blood to run a series of tests, that is on the agenda for Monday.  

Her attachment and bonding is a work in progress.  We celebrate little steps here at home on a daily basis.  Her Abuelita and dad can pick her up and she will cry for about 1 minute but then will be fine.  She is venturing off on her own and is gaining independence at a quick speed.  She is climbing up on everything, which is scary at times.  She has enjoyed our warm and sunny socal weather here at home.  She has worn a bathing suit almost every day and enjoys playing in the inflatable pool in the backyard.  She is starting to let us know what she does and does not like to eat, which is SO new because she use to devour everything in sight!  We are seeing her smile and cute little dimples more and more these days which warms our heart and makes our love for her grow every day!  She is a toddler and still cries when things don't go her way....but we are learning her different cries and what they mean.

Alejandra has been loving her home and going back to her classes.  She started back to swim class and gymnastics this week.  She thoroughly enjoyed both activities.  Next week she goes back to preschool 2 days per week and she is so excited to see her teachers.  Every time we drive in the direction of her school she asks "are we going to my escuela?"  Alejandra has grown so much through this adoption....just looking at her you can see how she has blossomed.  She LOVES her baby sister and is learning how to share her space with her sister.  When Fernanda is sleeping she will say "Mami, Fernanda is awake let's go get her."  Their fighting has decreased since we've been home :D...THANKFULLY!  Alejandra's bond with her Dad has grown so much since Colombia.  She looks for him all the time and wants to play and play and play with him.

Mark and I are doing so much better now that we are at home and feel more at ease.  We feel like we can parent better now that we are not exhausted over lack of sleep OR scared that the police will come again.   This is not to say that every second is rainbows and sunshine over here....but it is manageable and every day it gets better.  We are so happy that we were blessed with Amaya Fernanda and that we were chosen as her parents.  She is a sweet little girl who has faced enormous challenges in her short life.  We are extremely grateful that we get to see this little one grow up, gain confidence, and blossom.  We can't wait for her to meet all of our friends and family this summer! 

Day 32: Travel Day

We got up nice and early, packed up the rest of the things around the house, had a small breakfast and then Andres showed up ready to take us to the airport.  We left the house at 9:30 a.m. thinking that we would have an overabundance of time but between check-in, lunch, immigration, and check-in our 3 hour window was just enough time.

Our first flight to Miami was uneventful.  Fernanda ate some crackers and just as we departed she fell asleep for about 40 minutes.  She woke up in great spirits and played with a few toys.  When we arrived at Miami we went through an obstacle course to get to our gate, thank goodness we gate checked our stroller so we were able to pull the girls on the stroller through our entire process in Miami.  First, we had to pass through immigration and of course Fernanda became a U.S. citizen!  That process was relatively quick.  I helped speed things along by letting Fernanda cry "enough" so that the immigration officers would want to process our paperwork quickly.  It worked because I heard one of the officers say "we need to get the little kids out of here ASAP."  Immigration took about 30 minutes.  Then, we needed to get all of our luggage and turn it in for inspection.  A short shuttle ride later we were in the right concourse.  Our gate was found quickly but then we needed to feed the girls and get them changed into their pajamas.  At this point the girls were on fumes.  It was 9:00 p.m. for their little bodies, so both of them were pretty delirious. We were so glad to have had my mom flying with us to help out.  It would have been very difficult to maneuver everything without her there.

This next leg of our flight was rough.  The 5 hour flight felt like an eternity.  Fernanda was exhausted and could not get to sleep.  I would have been fine with that but she was crying and throwing a tantrum so I knew I needed to get her to sleep.  I basically had to hug her and rock her until she fell asleep.  She cried for almost 20 minutes straight until she finally fell to sleep.  Alejandra did well, all things considered, and she ended up falling asleep for the last 3 hours of the flight.  Both girls woke up for the landing and they were both in good spirits.

We were greeted by Papa, Grandee, and Tata!  Alejandra was so overjoyed at seeing her family and Fernanda was so tired so she was just taking it all in.  We were so happy to have so much extra help at that point because we had 6 pieces of luggage plus all of our carry-ons!  My mom left with Tia Nena and Tata.  Mark and I drove our own car over to Lew and Donna's house.  We were very concerned about putting Fernanda in a car seat for the first time.  At first she was fine with it and when we started to move she started to cry.  I put classical music on for her and she stopped crying for about 5 minutes.  Thankfully our car ride was short :).

When we got to Lew and Donna's house both girls were up and partying!  It was 1:30 a.m. PST but 3:30 a.m. Bogota time.  Alejandra claimed she wasn't tired, but we all headed up to bed anyway ;)  We all tried to sleep on the bed together but the girls kept playing with each other so I took to the floor and a couple of pillows with Fernanda until the girls fell asleep.  We were SO excited to be almost home in San Marcos.

Until tomorrow!

Day 31: Visa...check!

We started our day by calling Tia Nena and wishing her a happy 21st birthday! :)

Today we headed out to the Hard Rock Cafe.  Mark was craving some nachos and a burger.  When we got there it was very busy and they were setting up for something.  We asked the waitress and she told us that they were celebrating the Hard Rock's 40 year anniversary.  The paparrazi was there and they were waiting for the Bogota musicians to arrive.  Some musicians arrived but we had absolutely no idea who they were.  We tried to make out who was there but no such luck.

After lunch Mark and my mom headed to the U.S. Embassy to pick up our visa.  My aunt, Alejandra, Fernanda, and I headed to Maku and then on to get Alejandra's hair done.  She has been talking about getting her hair done since we got here.  I had mentioned to her that they do beautiful hair styles at the hair salon and she remembered. She did not like getting her hair washed, but she loved getting her hair cut and then styled.  When we walked out of there her confidence was at an all time high and people kept complimenting on how beautiful she looked.  At one point she looked at me and said "mami, everybody thinks my hair is so beautiful."  I reminded her that not only was she beautiful, but she was smart and kind as well ;)

We ended up meeting up with my mom and Mark on the walk home.  I could tell by Mark's smile that he had succesfully picked up the visa and we were all set to go home!  We came home and finished up packing the last of the last of the last....Tonight we got a few visitors and calls to say good bye and good luck on our new adventure home. We are so excited!

Fernanda had another rough tantrum filled day today.  We are super excited to get home and continue to build a secure attachment with all of us.  This will be another change for her and we are hoping that she will be able to grow and trust us as her family.  The environment will change, but we will still be there with her.  We are looking forward to the positive changes to come with little Fernanda.  We see glimpses of her silly personality come out and we are excited to continue to see more of it!

Alejandra is excited to see her Papa and Grandee tomorrow night.  Today she said she wanted to see them and when I told her that tomorrow we were going on the plane and we WOULD see them she got so excited!

We have the most amazing security guard in our building.  Our girls go crazy for Luis Fernando, they smile at him and giggle.  He has a family but he has decided to take advantage of a scholarship opportunity so he has been studying at a university trying to get his business degree, while working 24 hours shifts as a security guard.  He is also Suachuno (just like Fernanda!).  Tonight we gave him some money for all of his help and rather than keep it, he is going to donate it to a charity dedicated to the education of children in Soacha.  HE IS AMAZING!  He thanked us for giving our girls a better life...that was a touching moment.  We of course feel like our life is better because of our girls, but we knew what he meant.  We are so happy we ended up moving apartments, this place was such a better fit for us....


Good night!

Day 30: Embassy Trip

We got up bright and early for our trip to the U.S. Embassy this morning!  We were excited to finally get the last requirements completed.  We arrived at 9:00 a.m. and were asked to stand in a line about 20 deep.  Our agency representative was insistent and told Mark, Amaya Fernanda, and I to go back up to the embassy representative with our U.S. passports in hand and inform her again of our reason for being there.  Thankfully a new representative heard the conversation and had us go straight inside the embassy.  Once inside the whole process took under 1 hour.  We turned in our paperwork, they called us up 10 minutes later, we were chit-chatting with the embassy representative, we paid, then they called us up 5 minutes later and told Mark to come at 3:30 pm tomorrow to pick up the visa....YEAH!  Amaya Fernanda was very well behaved at the embassy BUT the afternoon was a different story :S

After lunch we tried to get Amaya Fernanda to take a nap and she decided that she wasn't having it.  She threw a tantrum for about 30 minutes in her crib.  Finally, I pulled her out and I needed a mental break so Mark took her and calmed her down.  I closed the door to the bedroom and got some more packing done, as I wished the time would somehow pass quickly and we could fast forward to Friday when we will be back in our home.  The issues we are having with Amaya Fernanda will not magically go away once we get home, but a consistent routine will help immensely!

Mark then decided that we ALL needed a mental health break so we went for a walk down to Maku.  On our way back we stopped and got ice cream at Crepes & Waffles.  Mark was right...the girls enjoyed their own ice cream cones and everyone had smiles on their faces for the first time today.  I had the absolute best beer called Monserrate Red from a micro-brewery here in Colombia...it was a well deserved drink!  We took our walk back to El Batan and at that point both girls were tired. 

Amaya Fernanda and Alejandra Sofia played together in the bathroom tonight.  It was GREAT to hear them laughing together and interacting.  After bathtime it was time to put everyone to bed.  I was able to get Amaya Fernanda to sleep without any major crying.  Alejandra Sofia is still up and giving her dad EVERY excuse in the book as to why she cannot sleep....water, bathroom, ghost bunny, Clifford, Gnomeo and Juliet, I'm not tired...etc., etc.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Bogota.  Even though we constantly say we are ready to go home...we will miss being here.  It is hard to explain how we feel about leaving because we are saying good-bye to our daughters' birth country.  There is so much history for them here and we truly do love Colombia.  We look forward to coming back in the future for vacation and to just enjoy our time here.

Until tomorrow!

Day 29:Holiday...slow day.

Today was a holiday in Colombia so we were at a stand still with our paperwork.  We all got up and took a walk to the grocery store to buy our Colombina candy for home.  Saturia, my mom and aunt's friend from years ago, cooked ajiaco for us today.  It made for an awesome dinner!  We stayed inside most of the day and we packed up a couple of things.  We got ourselves organized for our embassy trip tomorrow and then we went to bed pretty early.

We have enjoyed Colombia immensely but next time we come I will be happy to be here for vacation ONLY...no legal process.  But, after almost 30 days we are ready to go home for many reasons....Fernanda's diarrhea hasn't been resolved so we want to figure out what is going on, Alejandra is ready to sleep in her big girl bed again, WE are ready for a good night's sleep, Fernanda is ready to be on a set routine (she is REALLY testing the limits these days).

Until tomorrow....

Day 28: Big Sister Day!

Today Abuelita Nana said she would take care of Amaya Fernanda.  We love the addition to our family but she cries A LOT when I am around and I needed a couple of hours to have a mental break from the crying and whining.  Apparently when I am not around the whining and crying stops.  SO...off we headed with Alejandra with us for a walk to a store called Artesanias Maku.  We walked over the bridge into Santa Barbara where Mark, Alejandra, and I sat down to have lunch at Crepes & Waffles.  We had another amazing lunch (haven't had a bad one yet) and then we proceeded to walk to the store.  Unfortunately Maku was not open, so we decided to stop at Juan Valdez for a latte before we headed back home.  That was followed by a stop at Pepe Ganga because they had a 35% off sale and we needed some baby essentials for Fernanda.  Alejandra enjoyed being with us today, she was walking, skipping, jumping, and even got a piggy back ride.  She REALLY needed this alone time with us to reconnect.  The crying apparently wears on her a little bit as well too. 

At a certain point, when we were out laughing and enjoying ourselves,  I almost felt guilty for having such a great time without Fernanda.  But, once we got home and I had a chance to reenergize I was ready for the crying and my patience level was up.  I finally felt like a happy mom ready for any challenge.  Thank goodness I got that time because as soon as Fernanda saw me she started wailing again.  I just scooped her up and gave her a kiss.  We all missed her and Alejandra even said out loud that she had missed her baby sister.  Alejandra was also in a better mood tonight and making better decisions than she has the past few days.  It was a much needed rest for all of us....

Tonight Amaya Fernanda had a great bathtime she even walked over to her dad and gave him a kiss.n  Then when we went to put her to bed she cried again as Mark left the room.  I called him back into the room and she stopped crying.  At one point, as I was putting her to sleep she peeked over my shoulder to make sure he was still there. Then she turned, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.  Maybe within the next week Mark can actually try a bedtime by himself....we can only dream! :)

After Amaya Fernanda's bedtime we packed up some of our luggage in preparation for our leave on Thursday.  We are excited to be headed home to San Marcos and get Amaya Fernanda and Alejandra Sofia back into a routine.  Alejandra today mentioned that she missed her big girl bed, her backyard, her toys, gymnastics, and preschool.  She said that she wanted to see Sydney, Lolo, and Carly.  Now that she saw the luggage get pulled out again she is starting to put it all together.  We are almost home...SO CLOSE!

Until tomorrow!

Day 27: Panaca and El Corral

We woke up to RAIN...surprise, surprise!  We decide to head out to Panaca Sabana (a beautiful outdoor zoo in the north of Bogota) anyway and take our chances.  It continued to drizzle while we were out there but little Alejandra and tiny Amaya Fernanda still enjoyed viewing the animals.  Alejandra got to feed a sheep and a goat a bottle.  She also got to sit on a horse and go on a pony ride.  She said her day was "muy divertido!"  Fernanda enjoyed viewing the animals as well.  She kept pointing at them and making sounds.  We all enjoyed the horse show where they show a few different types of horses and do a few tricks.  Then the rain started to pick up so we decided to head back to Bogota, but not before Mark's favorite place to eat....El Corral!  They have a really nice El Corral in the north of Bogota and it is HUGE!  On a sunny day it is an awesome place to eat because they have 2 outdoor play areas for the kids.  Despite the rainy weather we still ended up having a nice time at Panaca and of course a great lunch ;).

We got back to our apartment in El Batan and we spent the afternoon relaxing around the house.  We had a nice dinner and then Miriam our favorite sweater/dress lady brought us all of our purchases.  Each and every one is absolutely gorgeous!  Alejandra happily wore her dresses and exclaimed how beautiful they were.  Now they just need a place or reason to wear these gorgeous dresses...party anyone?

Fernanda had gone to bed so early because she didn't really take a nap with the excitement of the day.  Normally I (Debi) do bedtime without a problem with her.  But, tonight she cried when Mark walked out of the room.  A bond is definitely developing between those two!

Until tomorrow!

Day 26: Passport and Refajo

Today was a busy day in the world of adoption paperwork.  We got up early and got ready for a 10:00 a.m. pick up by our agency.  I was going to go by myself to ICBF for a Letter of Conformity and then to pick up Amaya Fernanda's passport.  Then we would swing back around and pick up Fernanda and Mark so we could go to the embassy doctor for a 2:30 appointment.  That was the plan...originally.

I ended up getting picked up at 11:00 a.m. and then we rushed to pick up 2 families at Casa Lanthana so we could all go together to get our letters from ICBF.  That little run took awhile longer then we originally planned and we ended up getting to the passport office at 1:00.  It took me 1 hour to get the passport so at 2:00 we ran out of the office and I called Mark at home and told him to take a taxi to Casa Lanthana.  It was a rainy day so getting a taxi was difficult.  Mark, Fernanda, and my mom arrived at Casa Lanthana at 2:20 and then Andres and I jumped into the taxi to face Bogota traffic.  We arrived at the doctor's office at 2:45 and THANKFULLY the doctor was running late.  We had to run to get a picture for Fernanda and by the time we got back the doctor had arrived.  Every day counts  right now so if we had missed the doctor appointment today we would have not made our flight next Thursday and we would have had to pay an additional $1000 to change our flights again.  Thank goodness everything worked out in the end and we have the passport and doctor's paperwork all ready to go for our trip to the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday.

In the middle of the rush we finally got to meet the sweetest little boy at Casa Lanthana.  We have been emailing back and forth with this little guys family since they received their referral.  It was nice to meet friends we had been talking with in the cyber world.  He is an amazing little guy and just as happy as could be, he is truly a blessing!

After our running around was done I was ready for a drink and some food. Andres and I were hungry because we hadn't had a bite to eat since breakfast.  We searched for an El Corral but we saw Bogota Beer Company and that sounded even better.  So off we went for a burger, fries, empanadas, and refajo.  It was Amaya Fernanda's first day at a beer pub....why not, we were celebrating!    Andres definitely deserved a nice lunch after all the running around he did all day long with me.  Thank goodness we have an amazing team here in Colombia taking care of us!

So tonight we breathe a sigh of relief that everything has fallen into place.  Our two girls are in bed asleep and the adults have a couple of hours to themselves before heading off to bed.  We are headed to Panaca Sabana tomorrow and were hoping for no rain, but unfortunately showers are predicted.  Tonight is our last Friday night in Colombia.  Next Friday we will be home asleep in our beds in good old San Marcos!

Until tomorrow!

Day 25: Feliz Aniversario

Last night was a pretty restless night for Mark and I.  Alejandra slept with us and she must have been competing in a triathlon in her dreams because she was moving all over the bed all night long.  Also, I was literally having nightmares over the "worm" incident yesterday.  I was concerned about Fernanda and the medicine she was taking, I kept thinking she migh vomit or have some adverse reaction so I kept listening for her all night.  Incidentally, after some "research" it appears as though Fernanda has roundworms not tapeworms (a minor detail...I know).  Mark and I slept about 2 hours or so last night, so it took us a while to get going this morning. ;)  Amaya Fernanda had quite the morning in diaperland.  She went through 3 changes of clothing before we left home.  That medicine is REALLY working! 

While at home our little Amaya Fernanda hit the side of her cheek on the corner of the nightstand.  It broke the skin a little bit and got really puffy.  We thought she would get a huge bruise, but after some ice all that was left was a little red scar on the cheek.  She cried just a little bit, but we picked her up immediately and hugged her.  Alejandra came over and kissed her and said "you'll be okay."  It was a sweet moment between two sisters who are working out their sibling relationship.  I totally understand why it is difficult for the two of them to figure each other out.  Alejandra was an only child and then a 15 month old comes into her world and now she has to share the attention and figure out how to interact with this "not quite a baby, but not big enough to keep up with me" little one.  Amaya Fernanda was in a home with 2 other foster children, but it seems as though she was the queen bee there, too.  Now, Amaya Fernanda comes into our home and she has to share me (her mom) with all of these other people.  She observes how Alejandra interacts with Mark and myself and she so badly wants to jump in there but she isn't comfortable enough yet.  She loves to play with Alejandra but she will pinch and hit her if we are not supervising the playing.  We are seeing more positive interactions between the two girls and as they make memories together their relationship will grow as well.  We've only been together as a family for 21 days so we are all learning from each other.

Eventually we ended up going to the nana's old neighborhood near estadio El Campin.  We went to Galerias and tried to find shoes for Alejandra.  We found a few pairs of the cutest little Bubblegummers that will be perfect for school next year.  We ended up back at the nana's old house on calle 57 and we got to eat the best pizza at Piccolino.  Mark LOVED the pizza!  Then it started pouring down rain and we spent 20 minutes trying to hail a taxi.  Thankfully we finally got one and then we headed back home, where Amaya Fernanda and I took a 20 minute nap on the sofa....we were beat!

Tonight the nana's surprised with a pastel negro to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary.  It was so good and a great way to celebrate our 10 years together.  Mark and I were remembering our wedding day and what a beautiful day that was.  Then we started talking about how for almost 7 years we didn't have children and how different our lives were.  We were trying to remember what we used to do with all of that free time? :D  We love how our life together has panned out.  Each step we have taken has been done with great care and discussion.  We enjoyed our life with no children and now we absolutely love every aspect of being a parent to two amazing girls.  Not every day is without its struggles, but in the end we wouldn't change it.  So on our 10th anniversary we are proud to say our family is complete!  We have two healthy girls with the biggest laughs and smiles.  We are blessed beyond measure....what more could a parent ask for?

Until tomorrow!

Day 24: Passport and Tapeworms!

Today was quite a busy day!  We were taken to the passport office at 9:30 a.m. and it was SO busy...even with priority handling it took us 1.5 hours to complete the application process.  But, that was the least of our worries today.  Her passport should be ready to pick up by Friday and then we will head over to the embassy doctor for the check-up.  Tuesday we go to the U.S. Embassy and Thursday we are on our way home!

After the embassy we headed to the clinic.  Then after the clinic we went to Archie's for one last day of pizza making for Alejandra.  She was excited for her big sister surprise!

Here is the disclaimer:  this is going to get pretty gross so stop reading if you have a light stomach or get grossed out easily :D.

So in the middle of our long wait little Fernanda looked at me with watery eyes.  It was the potty look so I knew that I needed to go and change her quickly given her diarrhea situation.  So off we went to use a bathroom with no diaper change area.  I had to lay her on the changing mat on the floor of the handicap stall and change it there.  Thankfully she was cooperating with me and stayed pretty still.  So of course it was SUPER messy and I had to basically give her a bath with wipes.  When I went to ball up the wipes and put them in her diaper I saw the GROSSEST thing ever.  It looked liked spaghetti at first, but I thought we haven't eating spaghetti.  Then the spaghetti like thing moved....EWWWW!  I yelled to Mark who was standing outside the women's restroom "you are not going to believe what is in this kid's diaper!"  I finished changing her and put her clothes back on.  Then I (OF COURSE) showed Mark the diaper because I didn't want him to think I was going crazy and he was as grossed out over it as I was.  I disposed of the diaper and with pale faces we both walked over to Lucia our agency representative.  I whispered to Lucia what had just happened and she said "after this you go straight to the clinic."  So we left to the clinic after the passport and Amaya Fernanda was diagnosed with tapeworms.  The doctor said it is uncommon for a child so young to have them, but she probably got it from water that was improperly sterilized.  Since she was fed formula for so long this was probably the case for her.  So although Mark and I will probably have nightmares after seeing a "worm" in her diaper we are glad we did see it and know for certain what she has.  Now we are on our way to recovery and she should be all clear by Friday.  Gross....YES WE KNOW!

Day 23: Happy 16th Month Fernachis!

So today was our little ones 16 month birthday.  We are so happy to have her with us finally!  When we originally learned about Amaya Fernanda she was only 11 months old.  In some ways Fernanda is a 16 month old, but in other ways she is a little bit behind her peers.  We have seen her develop in areas in the short time we have been together (like climbing up on everything) so we can only imagine her growth once we get home.  We did not do anything special today to celebrate her day, but we will make it up to her next month ;)

One BIG gift she (and us) received today was her amended birth certificate.  Our attorney went out to Soacha this afternoon and picked up the copies for us.  It was too late to make it to the passport office today so we are heading out to Calle 100 tomorrow to complete this process.  Colombia recently converted to the digital style passport like the U.S. so it now takes 2 days for processing (as opposed to same day with the old style).  It still beats the wait time for the U.S. passport!

We took Fernanda to the pediatrician today to solve the diarrhea mystery and it still remains unsolved.  They checked her for intestinal parasites and that came back negative.  The pediatrician mentioned that it could be a response to the antibiotic they gave her for her ear infection.  They prescribed probiotics for her stomach and then we will talk again with the pediatrician tomorrow to see what else she thinks it might be.  Fernanda has not lost weight at all since we took her in a couple of weeks ago, so that was a good sign.  She is well hydrated and her appetite has not decreased any.  She also hasn't been throwing up so the doctor ruled out food allergies. We'll have to wait until tomorrow, if not it will be something we will have to see our pediatrician about as soon as we get to the U.S.  We're just trying to get it under control for the flight, because when it's bad it is TERRIBLE and it requires a complete outfit change and a bath...I know TMI right!

We did have one major breakthrough today with Amaya Fernanda and her dad.  We were at McDonald's today and I was ordering lunch.  I had Amaya Fernanda in the carrier and she raised her hands for Mark to pick her up and take her to sit down at the table my mom was sitting at.  This is a huge first for her and her dad.  She initiated the action which makes it even bigger. 

Little Alejandra is feeling a little homesick these days.  She doesn't say she is homesick but her actions tell us how she is feeling.  She usually loves to be outside but today and yesterday she has wanted to just stay inside.  We, of course, make her go with us to the park and for special big sister trips.  I think she is going through a lot of changes right now with where we are and her new baby sister.  It is all completely understandable.  She is out of her routine and she misses school and gymnastics class.  Tonight she wanted to sleep with her nana.  We keep telling her soon we will be back home in San Marcos and perhaps this is causing her more stress than what we thought it would.  This parenting thing is tough stuff :D.

Hasta Manana!

Day 22: Sentencia!

Of course the big news of the day is SENTENCIA!  We spent the morning indoors and just as we were getting ready to go to the fruit and vegetable store we heard the phone ringing.  Mark and I were already out the front door but we paused and waited. My aunt called us back in and it was Lucia!  We knew this could only be GREAT news!  Our amazing attorney Oscar got us through in record speed and our Sentencia was issued late Friday.

We were picked up at 1:00 and took the drive down to Soacha.  Thankfully the nana's are here and they stayed back with the girls.  We arrived at the family court and after reviewing the information we noticed that Mark's passport number was incorrect.  1 hour later it was corrected and we were able to race over the registrar's office to get the amended birth certificate.  When we arrived at the registrar's office there was a sign that said "No services today!"  Apparently there was an election this passed weekend and the registrar's staff had worked over the weekend so they took today off from assisting the public.  Well, our superhero attorney Oscar wasn't having it.  He knocked and knocked on the door until the security came and opened the door.  The guard said there was no one available.  But, that still wasn't enough for Oscar so we drove to another office building and we waited in the car while Oscar worked some kind of magic.  We got a call 5 minutes later to drive back to the registrar's office because someone would be helping us today.  So off we went and we were called into the registrar where we were able to sign the amended birth certificate showing our daughter's name "A.F.A.A."  and showing US as her parents!  Oscar always throws in a little something special and he gave us her original birth certificate complete with footprints on the back.  We weren't able to take the new birth certificate with us because the person authorized to notarize the documents was not in today.  But, we were assured that tomorrow it would be taken care and delivered to Bogota.

We drove back home in the height of Bogota traffic. We had not been out this late so we were taken by surprise by the massive amounts of traffic on the highway and streets.  It was definitely something to take in and part of the experience ;D.  It took us close to 2 hours to get back home, but we were greeted by two smiley girls happy to have been with the nana's and see their parents.  Our friend Myriam (the lady who makes the dresses) was here delivering some of the items that were done and they are SO gorgeous!  So that was a little bonus on top of an already amazing day!

So up next....we wait for the birth certificate so that we can go to the passport office and get Amaya Fernanda's colombian passport.  Then we have to take her to the embassy doctor and go to the U.S. Embassy to get the visa issued.  The Colombian passport takes 2 days to issue and the visa is usually next day.  Monday is a holiday here in Colombia so it looks like we may be travelling back home on June 8 or 9.  We are all paid up here at our apartment until then so that works out for us!

Hasta Manana!
'

Day 21: El Corral

Amaya Fernanda slept again last night.  She woke up a couple of times crying but she quickly put herself back to sleep.  We all woke up around 8:00 a.m. and the nana's greeted us with a nice breakfast.  We got ourselves all ready for the day to head out to Santa Fe.  The nana's left first because they were going to try to go to the cemetary again.  They were not successful in locating their father or brother and it was pouring rain on them.  They donated their flowers to another family that was there visiting their loved one.

We met the nana's at around 11:30 at Santa Fe. Mark, the girls, and I tried (unsuccessfully) to charge a cell phone for next week so that we can go out and sightsee and not miss any important calls.  But, the cell phone we are borrowing has an outdated SIM card and in order to reactivate it we need to pay.  Of course, we didn't realize this until after we had already paid to add minutes to the phone....GRRRR!  We tried to get our money back but our plea fell on deaf ears.  We ended up getting a new SIM card and we should be in business tomorrow.  Just a little FYI you can only call cell phone from another cell phone unless you have some special service installed on your home phone.  The phone we have here in the apartment does not allow us to make calls to a cell phone.  So, sometimes we can't get a hold of our agency representative, which is why we decided to get a cell phone.

After the cell phone crisis ;) we decided to treat ourselves to an El Corral burger.  This burger is NO joke!  It is SO good!  Mark had been craving one since we got here and his wish finally came true.  He finally had a smile on his face after eating his burger.  After lunch Amaya Fernanda fell asleep in the baby carrier while we shopped for our groceries at Carrefur.  We took a taxi back home and we were able to hit the park with the girls in the afternoon/evening.  It was a teeny bit muddy but the girls needed to get rid of some energy, so we braved the mud ;).  Fernanda had a great time learning how to blow bubbles and Alejandra had a blast on the swings.

The nana's got dinner all ready for us tonight.  We found a favorite little chicken place called "La Chispita Roja" that delivers so we've been eating that quite often!  We played in the living room for a bit with the girls and then they both were pretty tired.  Fernanda fell asleep pretty quickly after her bath time.  Alejandra stayed up a little while longer watching Gnomeo and Juliet and snacking on a yogurt.  Tia Nana was snacking on a fruit nicknamed "mocos de carbonero" and Alejandra kept looking at her and saying "ewww....yuck." She really thought Tia Nana was eating mocos...LOL!

Tomorrow we don't have much scheduled for the day.  We're hoping to connect with another family that is passing through Bogota on their way back home to USA.  They are here just finishing up the last process of the adoption.

Hasta pronto....

Day 20: Jewelry and Futbol

Amaya Fernanda slept the entire night...YEAH!  There is definitely a trend here!  She cried a little when we walked into her room but after a little "peek-a-boo" she was smiling.  We got ourselves all dressed up and ready to go out despite the heavy rainfall outside.  By the time we were ready to go Amaya Fernanda had cried at least 4 times for no apparent reason AND the rainfall had slowed to a drizzle.  Our taxis came and off we went to downtown Bogota to pick up our girls emerald stud earrings and find Colombian soccer jerseys.

Our taxi driver took us on quite an adventure, we went through some interesting parts of Bogota were we saw many "working" ladies ;).  Mark looked at me at one point and said "are you sure you got the address right?"  I reassured him and then pointed to the jewelry store once we got there.  The earrings were gorgeous and the girls will love them when they get older.  For now, we will safely store them away for them.  Then we headed down to calle septima so we could take a "septimazo" as my aunt and mom call it.  We were on the hunt for authenticate Colombian Jerseys for a few family members.  We ended up at the Adistore and found the most beautiful soccer jerseys! 

It was lunchtime so we decide to get back into a taxi and head back home.  We got into our taxi and gave the taxi driver our address (if you don't know Bogota runs on a carrera and calle grid system) and he asked us how to get there.  We gave him specific instructions and he said okay.  But, he decided to go his own way and I swear he took every street in Bogota that was under construction.  It took us 1 hour to get back home (it only took us 20 minutes to get there originally) and we all decided to cram into a taxi so we were all about ready to boil over by the time we got home.  We sucked in so much fumes from idoling that our throats were all raw.  Lesson learned....be insistent with the taxi driver!

We finally ate lunch and I tried to get Amaya Fernanda down to take a nap but she just wasn't having it.  It was an interesting couple of hours as she threw a tantrum everytime I dared move from the spot I was sitting in.  But, at around 5:00 she finally turned it around and started laughing and playing with us.  She had a nice dinner and bathtime.  Then, she was off to sleep without any crying at all again...WOOHOO!

Tomorrow we are headed to Centro Commercial Santa Fe to do a little shopping for Mark and grocery shopping for the home.  In the afternoon, we are hoping our sweater/dress lady can come by and bring us all of our beautiful purchases!

Hasta Manana!

Day 19: Guatavita

Fernanda slept well the whole night last night...YEAH!  She even woke up with a smile this morning.  We headed out to Guatavita this morning and it was really nice weather all day long.  Guatavita was pretty dead.  I think we were the only family there when we went.  We ate at a really good restaurant in the little town square.  Then Fernanda had a massive accident in her diaper.  We had to completely strip her down and change her.  We are a little concerned because she has only had diarrhea (TMI) since we got her.  We thought it was the milk, but we cut it out and still no change.  We're thinking she may have intestinal parasites so we're taking her to the pediatrician on Monday.

After the excitement of the morning we went to Jardines Del Recuerdo.  We got to Jardines Del Recuerdo and we were able to quickly find were my grandmother's ashes are stored.  We have to inquire about how to restore the plaque because a couple of her letters were missing.  We tried to find my grandfather and uncle's tombstone but after 30 minutes we gave up.  My mom and aunt are going to try and go up next week to try and find it again. 

We got home at around 5:00 and both girls were pretty tired.  We gave them dinner and then Fernanda went to sleep at around 7:00 without any crying at all.  She just asked for her little pink ant stuffed animal, she turned sideways, hugged it, and fell asleep.

Until tomorrow!

Day 18: DiverCity -Take 2

Yeah!  Amaya Fernanda slept through the night again AND woke up with a smile!  We woke up around 7:30 a.m. and were getting ready to take a walk down to the mall Bulevar Niza.  But, then a pretty bad rainfall started and so that kept us in this morning.  Amaya Fernanda is becoming more and more independent she played ball with her sister, nana, and dad in the living room while I got some time to catch up on reading on my Kindle :). 

We gave Amaya Fernanda lunch at 11:45 and then we put her down to nap in her crib.  She cried a little while (like 3 minutes) and then she slept until 2:30!  She woke up again with a huge smile and ready to play!  She is definitely become more secure and attached with us. She's realizing that we won't dissapear when she takes a nap.  Actually today we celebrate 2 weeks together and we are amazed at the progress we have all made together as a family.

Mark, Alejandra, and I got picked up at 3:00 by Tatiana and her daughter Sofi.  We headed to Santa Fe mall to take our two little cuties to DiverCity.  The girls had a blast together, they are only about 4 months apart in age.  They were newscasters, veterinarians, astronauts, models and firefighters.  We got the most adorable video of Alejandra being the fashion reporter for Caracol T.V. News.  The girls both decided to spend money on a trip on Avianca Airlines and also at the beauty shop.  The two girls ended their day with a "cajita feliz" from McDonalds, not a peep could be heard from the back seat of the car as Tatiana drove us home. 

We were hesitant to leave Amaya Fernanda at first, but it was such a great treat for Alejandra.  Amaya Fernanda had a GREAT time at home with the Nana's.  She cried for about 2 minutes when we initially left but then after that she was all BIG smiles and laughs!  When we got home she was happily eating dinner at the table with her Nana's and she gave us big smiles and laughs as well.  We are SO grateful to have the nana's here with us!

Tomorrow we are off to visit Guatavita and then stop by the cemetary where my grandmother, grandfather, and uncle were laid to rest.  It will be a visit with mixed emotions for our Nana's tomorrow as they think back to all of the wonderful memories they have of being with their mother, father, and brother in Colombia.

Until tomorrow...