Day 4: Encuentro

It was both the happiest and saddest day of our life all at one time.  In came in our beautiful girl in the most gorgeous dark purple peacoat and amazing purple and pink shoes.  There she was wailing!  They told us they thought she had an ear infection and to please take her to the doctor.  Both Mark and I alternated holding her trying to see if it would help sooth her but we couldn't get her to stop wailing.  Finally, I (Debi) held her and rocked her and she ended up falling asleep out of pure exhaustion.  In the meantime, Alejandra was trying so hard to make her baby sister laugh.  She kept asking "|What's wrong with Amaya Fernanda?" because she wanted to help. 

We left our "party" all set-up at the ICBF office and got in a taxi and bolted home.  When we got home Amaya was spent, she wouldn't let go of me.  She would bury her face into my shoulder and just sob uncontrollably.  She finally calmed down enough for us to take her to the pediatrician.  We hopped into a taxi and got to Clinisanitas where they confirmed that yes she does have an ear infection.  Of course, she wailed when they had to check her throat and then she screamed when they took her from me to weigh her. 

By the time we got home it was past 8:00 and we quickly fed the girls dinner and then got ready for bedtime.  Alejandra was so excited she had a hard time getting to bed.  This being our first night together I was trying to figure out what Amaya Fernanda's bedtime routine was.  Thankfully she helped me out by pointing me (literally) in the right direction.  But our dear little Amaya was missing her foster family so much that it was very hard to see her grieve right before our eyes.  Her head was buried in the pillows and she was sobbing and wailing ....as I type this I can't help but cry again for her.  Eventually I was able to get her into the portable crib and she slept the whole night.

Mark and I sat by ourselves after bedtime and shed a few tears of happiness for our family and the incredible loss our little Amaya has suffered.  We are sorry that we have not updated much but we are figuring things out over here still and taking care of a teething toddler with an ear infection.  Alejandra has been absolutely wonderful and playful.  She has made us so proud as parents to see what an incredible helper she has been with us these past two days.   Amaya Fernanda is working on trusting her Daddy and this has been a little bit challenging for both mommy and daddy as well.  I will update our Friday on another post...

Day 3: Archie's Pizza and a walk

Today we met up with Andres and went down to the notary over by Unicentro.  We decided to stay in that area and head over to Unicentro and walk around awhile.  We bought a couple of books and coloring books over at Panamericana, then we went over to Exito to buy the things we needed for tomorrow's encuentro.  We then walked over to Baby Ganga (like Babies R Us) and bought plastic covers for the corners of our glass dining room table. 

We finally made it to Archie's Pizza which is a blast for kiddos 3 and up!  Alejandra got to make her very own pizza and she absolutely LOVED it!  We ended our fantastic meal with a Juan Valdez coffee for mom and dad and chocolate ice cream for Alejandra.  We had been talking about Archie's Pizza with Alejandra for the longest time so she was ready to make her pizza. 

We then decided to take a taxi back to our place so that I (Debi) could head over to the grocery store with Milena to buy our groceries for a couple of weeks.  Daddy and Alejandra headed over to the park and played their hearts out!  I realized that we are very close to the Gymboree Play and Music gym that I was hoping to enroll the girls in.  It also just so happens that there is a Juan Valdez Cafe a couple of doors down from that.  I mapped out the perfect afternoon stroll for our little family come Friday!

 We are looking forward to an amazing day tomorrow as our family grows by 1!  We are getting ready to put Alejandra to bed and then it's time for us to make sure all photo equipment has a full charge and our bags are ready to go.  We won't be leaving until around 12:30, but we want to make sure everything is ready tonight so we aren't rushing around in the morning.  Our meeting is at 2:00, so California family please think of us at 12:00 p.m. tomorrow and send your prayers and good thoughts our way! We hope to post pictures of our encuentro tomorrow, but we need to make sure we have permission to post pictures first.

Buenas noches from Bogota!

Day 2: Pre Encuentro Visit

Today we  (Mark and I) woke up at 8:00 and Alejandra slept in until 10:00!  She was SO exhausted from the flight yesterday and she needed to catch up on her beauty sleep.  We met our housekeeper Milena today and she is so sweet. She made us breakfast and then we all headed over to the small grocery store across the street to buy food for lunch.  We then went to a fruit market and stocked up on a lot of the wonderful fruit they have in Colombia.  We ate the most delicious little banana, it was super sweet.  We've missed all the food here so much!

We got back to our apartment at 1:30 and quickly got ready to head over to ICBF Cundinamarca office.  We met up with Lucia in the taxi and saw our attorney Oscar there.  It was a beautiful, very modern office building.  We were greeted by the psychologist and 2 social workers.  One of the social workers has known Amaya Fernanda since she was a newborn so she had a lot to share with us.  We know she is meeting all of her developmental milestones and that she has been very well taken care of by her foster family.  She has a healthy attachment with her foster family and for that we are SO excited!  The ladies wanted to know what we had in mind for the encuentro and we told them we were going to let Amaya Fernanda take the lead and we would go along with what she wanted.  They wanted us to treat the day like a celebration so they recommended that we arrive 30 minutes early on Thursday and decorate the room with balloons and decorations.  They also wanted us to bring cake to celebrate.  The feeling of this office was SO different then the other regional office we went to with Alejandra.  We were asked to keep the encuentro very low key when we went there.  We are excited for this little party we're throwing for our sweet little girl.....it so closely matches what we feel in our hearts!  We also received 2 updated pictures of Amaya Fernanda and two sheets of pink construction paper she had  colored for us.  It was SO sweet.

We then came home and were welcomed with arroz con pollo and fresh mango juice!  We watched Tangled here at home and then headed off to the park and a little exploration walk.  Tomorrow we are going to notarize a couple of legal documents and spend some time in Unicentro.  We need to order a cake and get some party supplies as well!

We've arrived!

We woke up bright and early this morning (3:00 am) and headed off to LAX.  We had no problems with check-in or flights.  Everything was pretty smooth.  We actually got into Miami earlier so we decided to walk to our next gate instead of taking the shuttle.  This gave us all a little exercise before having to sit on a plane for another 3.5 hours.  We had a nice lunch in Miami and then boarded the plane. 

We were welcomed into Bogota by lightning, what a beautiful show!  But, there was no rain at all.  It actually feels a little warm tonight!  Alejandra's face lit up when the wheels of the plane touched down.  She knew we were FINALLY in Colombia!  We went to immigration relatively quickly (they have a priority lane for people with children) and found our luggage quickly.  We then proceeded and saw a very familiar face Andres!  He welcomed us with open arms and he was so excited to see Alejandra!  The last time he saw her she was 9 months old!  Alejandra quickly put on her best Spanish conversation and began speaking in Spanish.  She even told her daddy to speak in espanol!

We got into a very large taxi (it was a 9 seater van) because that was what was available at the time.  Andres said he remembered that we weren't light packers, so he knew a big van would be perfect for us :D!  Alejandra sat down in her seat and started looking for a car seat or seat belt.  She was very concerned, at first, that there weren't any and that nobody had one on!  She quickly got over that and enjoyed her van ride back to the apartment. 

We had a tiny problem finding our apartment, but nothing major.  We have a park right in front of our place which will be WONDERFUL!  We aren't really sure where we are quite yet.  We have to get out and explore some more tomorrow.  Mark ventured out with John, the apartment owner, to get groceries for breakfast tomorrow morning.  Poor guy....I just threw him out there.  He brought back the MOST basic things.  We've got some grocery shopping to accomplish on Tuesday as well ;)

We know our social worker appointment with ICBF is tomorrow afternoon.  Thankfully we get to sleep in and take our time in the morning before we have to get ready to head out to ICBF.  A lot of our nerves have calmed down tonight because that big flight and getting to our "home" is done.  Now comes the exciting part, meeting our newest member!

We are wiped out!  Buenas noches from Bogota....Ciao!

2 days (and a half)

Final bag count 4 duffel/luggage bags, averaging about 40 lbs. each, 3 carry-on bags, and 1 stroller.  Besides packing, here is what else we've been up to:

• The second car seat has been installed.  
• Overnight bags have been packed for Sunday night.  
• All adoption documents have been copied.  
• All travel documents have been copied.
• Checked the luggage to make sure Alejandra didn't put anything crazy inside (like a lock?)
• Mother's day gifts have been purchased.  
• Keys and money have been delivered to our good friend who will visit our house while we are away and then stock up our refrigerator before we get home (what a blessing)!
• Checked the luggage to make sure Alejandra didn't put anything crazy inside (like her comforter!)
• Carry-on food has been purchased (still need to prep and pack it).
• Electronic devices have been or are being charged...will pack those up on Sunday morning.
• Checked the luggage to make sure Alejandra didn't put anything crazy inside (like a princess wand!)
• Triple checked my lists and everything is checked off.....why do I still feel like there is still so much more to do!

3 days...

Today was my second day of maternity leave and I am so happy to be home to take care of all of the last minute details.  We had our "what to expect" phone call with our adoption agency today and we feel pretty comfortable knowing to expect the unexpected.  Most of the process is the same as the last time.  We have to take a total of 9 documents with us to complete the adoption....but honestly we doubt they will even look at them.  This happened to us last time as well.  Another change is that we cannot do an "immunization waiver" in the off chance that tiny A is missing any vaccinations.  She will just have to have the immunization done in Colombia.  That isn't anything concerning, just different from last time is all.

I know that there are "paper pregnant" families reading this, so my only piece of advice is to just roll with everything when you are in Colombia.  We remember, from our last adoption, that one night they told us that we wouldn't have any paperwork for the next day and then the next day we were eating breakfast and they said "Be ready in 20 minutes to go talk to the judge." So we rushed around and got ready, then we sat for about 1 hour waiting for them to pick us up.  You are told very little when it comes to the day to day processing of the paperwork.  But, rest assured people are working on your file and you will receive Sentencia when you least expect it.  I bet many families that have been on this journey and are reading this are nodding their head "yes!"

We have 3 more days left until we fly out and our packing and preparations are rolling smoothly.  Our goal is to be ready to roll Saturday morning so we can then just relax through Sunday.  Alejandra can feel it getting closer and she is beside herself with joy!

8 days and "a little bit sick"

We are having a very nice relaxing weekend with not much going on except that little A is "a little bit sick" (her words).  We are being THOSE parents right now that rush to the doctor's office for any minor thing because of our travel being SO close.  She went to the pediatrician yesterday and they checked her out and said it was just a cold.  We took her to urgent care today because her fever went up (103.5) and she didn't want to eat or drink anything.  They ran a strep and UTI test and it all came back negative.  We are hoping she starts to feel better by Monday.

To be on the safe side we are putting her in a bubble until we leave on Monday ;) so we can avoid any other crazy illnesses until we leave ;D! Well that is partially true because we aren't going to take her to preschool next week.  Logistically, it will be a crazy Monday and Tuesday, but after that I'm off of work so it will all work itself out.

On a separate note...Little A has been adding things to the luggage.  Today I found a book, a princess crown and wand in the front pocket of her luggage.  I'll have to inspect and see what else I find in there.  We've been watching a movie called Shae by Air that talks about what to expect in an airport and how to behave on a airplane, etc., etc.  We always watch this before any flight and it has really helped Little A out with her behavior.  The movie comes with a packing list and Little A found the list a couple of days ago.  She had me place it on a clipboard and told me that we need to use her list to pack her Trunki.  She is MY daughter after all!  We are 2 packing peas in a pod!  She went around telling the people at the doctor's office today that she has a packing list for Colombia.  They were a bit confused :S.

We have 8 days left until we board our flight....thank goodness tomorrow is another day with nothing on the schedule except relaxing, tying up some loose ends, and getting Little A some relaxation so she can start to feel better.  We're hoping she can sleep tonight after 2 nights of minimal sleep we are ALL feeling the effects...