Days 4 and 5 (ups and downs)

Bogota showed us its beauty the last few days. Thursday and Friday were sunny and hot (or at least warm). You could see the mountains (the air quality was much better too) and thousands of beautiful Colombians were out and about. Today (Saturday) has returned to rain and it has cooled down - actually quite comfortable. The last two days of sun have allowed us to visit several parks. Esteban has tested all the play grounds within a mile of us with only one head bump. Isabella enjoyed the warm weather and watching her big brother. She likes being toasty warm wrapped up in sweaters and blankets even when it is 70 degrees out!

The last two days have had some ups and downs. We are still figuring out how to get into a routine with Isabella. Night one she didn't sleep, night two she slept 10 hours until 6am, night three she was up at 4:30am which then woke up Esteban. So she, he and Julien wandered the hotel for 2 hours until breakfast was ready. We watched the sun come up and the hotel staff wake up. Sabeth was lucky and got an extra hour of sleep. We also haven't figured out isabella's nap routine yet. Yesterday she napped three times for about an hour each. This morning she napped for three hours straight. The routine has also been tough on Esteban. There have been lots of changes for him, a new big brother, a new location (the first two days he kept telling us he wanted to return to Massachusettes), food he doesn't recognize, and a thrown off nap and sleep routine. He has had several temper tantrums that surely were heard in Cartegena! Sabeth and Julien have also been a bit frayed with lack of sleep.

So... today we took a much needed lazy day. After breakfast we all took naps (except for Esteban who let us sleep for almost two hours - he did not sharpie anything just stuck his stickers to the carpet) and have been playing in the room with no major trips or distractions.

The ups have been much more pronounced. Isabella showed us her giggle yesterday. She has this great baby laugh that is infectious. She is expecially ticklish under her arms. She is also very social and gives excited vocalizations when she meets new people. She also loves to be held and played with. Her favorite is to be held upside down. She is also enamored with her brother and smiles when he is playing near her.

Esteban has been great with his little sister. He helps bring her toys, sings to her and has even helped feed her. He is quiet when she is sleeping and tells us when she wakes up. He also loves to hold her. (he did want to return her the other day but seems to be over that now). He is going to be a great big brother!

We are starting to gell as a family and look forward to the next week and a half to keep bonding before Julien goes back to Boston and to work.

Days 2 and 3

We’re getting to know Isabella, and she is getting to know us.
Our first night together was a little rough. Understandably, Isabella was scared with new people in a new bed and place. None of us slept much that first night. As a result, Day 2 was a little bleary. We got out for a walk to the park after breakfast. As we were leaving the park the clouds started to rumble, and everyone who was outside was dashing for cover. We had about a 15 minute walk back to the hotel, and it was pouring rain by the time we got back. We all needed to put on dry clothes and get warmed up when we got back. After lunch the children and Julien all napped, while the heavens opened for more rain.

The hotel offered us a room in the main building yesterday (we had been in a courtyard room), so while everyone else napped I moved us to our new digs. The main building is warmer, the room is bigger, and it has more windows. Esteban even has a twin bed instead of a crib. (I think he was a bit insulted by being put in a crib.)

Yesterday afternoon we had a chance to visit with some friends who are also here adopting their second child. We met briefly when we both here adopting our first babies 2 years ago, and it’s a wonderful coincidence that we are here again at the same time. They have their sentencia (final adoption decree) and were scheduled to fly home to the US today, so our overlapping time here is really short. It was great to see them and to introduce all our children to one another.

Bedtme last night was less chaotic – and we all went to bed by 9:00pm. Isabella slept from 8pm to 6am, though I am of no illusion that 10 hours will become her norm any time soon. And she woke up hungry! The rest of us slept better, too, and we woke up to a beautiful sunny day!

Apparently it’s been about 2 weeks since there was a sunny day (it IS the rainy season) and everyone was out and about today. Our friends who were supposed to fly home today called this morning to say their flight had been cancelled and they are leaving tomorrow instead. So we met them at the Chico Park and had a great time visiting more and the almost-3-year-olds got to feed the ducks and play on the playground while the littler ones napped. We said our final, final good-byes and wish them a speedy and safe trip home tomorrow.

At one point this afternoon, Esteban called the fire department (on his play phone) and asked for the professional movers to come take Isabella away. Obviously, we are all still adjusting ☺

Isabella is relaxing with us. Julien got her giggling tonight, and she’s been much freer with her smiles today. I found out she has ticklish feet. She loves watching Esteban, and wants to take whatever he has in his hand (especially when they’re side by side in the stroller). She’s an active little girl, and she always wants to be moving. She had a great time in her bath tonight splashing with her hands.

We’re still having some technological challenges (my computer’s older wireless adapter doesn’t like the brand new wireless network here in the hotel) so we’re hoping we’ll get that all fixed tomorrow.

Gotcha Day

It’s been an amazing, wonderful and exciting day. At 8:45am this morning our driver picked us up and drove us about 40 minutes to CRAN. CRAN, our adoption house, is located in Bogota, up on the side of the mountain in a less dense part of the city. Because it has been raining so much here, the hillsides and pastures around it were so green. Julien and I were both nervous—different than with Esteban’s Gotcha Day, but nervous all the same. Our nerves must have been showing because Esteban had a really hard time getting ready this morning.

We arrived at CRAN and were taken into the office building. To get to the office building, we walked down about 100 stairs and past lots of children who were playing. Many of the kids greeted us with “Buenas Dias.” We met with the adoptions director to sign the most basic paperwork, and then with Isabella’s foster mother to learn about her habits, likes and dislikes. Our biggest surprise of the day was to find out that Isabella and Esteban had the same foster mother! We were so delighted to see her – and she was amazed to see Esteban so big. She gave us all the details on Isabella and we made sure to take a picture with her and Esteban. We feel so blessed to know that both our children had such good care with her.

Then we went back to the family room and waited. Esteban was feeling shy and didn’t want to go by himself to help get Isabella, so he stayed with us. We didn’t wait long for them to bring Isabella to us. She came right to us and was very fascinated by Esteban, who took a few minutes to warm up to her. We had about 20 minutes in the family room getting acquainted, and then we all got back in the taxi to come back to the hotel.

Isabella looks a bit startled in this picture. She´s had a lot of new things happening today and was getting tired. We´re hoping for many smiles in days to come!

At the hotel we were greeted with much excitement by staff and by other families. Since this hotel specializes in hosting adopting families, they have a special delight in meeting new children. The rest of the day has been filled with trips to the grocery store for formula and diapers, naps, meals and now bedtime.

It’s good to be in a familiar place (the Halifax Hotel), especially since we arrived later than we planned. It helps to know where to find the grocery store, and to know how wonderful and supportive the hotel staff is.

Throughout the day Esteban has gradually gotten more excited about Isabella. He is loving entertaining her, and helping with her. He was reading one of his favorite books to her at bedtime tonight.

Now I have to post this so Julien can get to the daddy duty of washing bottles!

Getting adjusted

We spent a rainy afternoon being a little lazy and napping. When Esteban woke up from his nap, we went to buy Julien enough clothes to make it through tomorrow. While Julien went to get his pants hemmed, Esteban and I visited Park 93. When we all got back to the hotel, we found Helena, our guide for the adoption process, waiting to meet with us. We worked with Helena in 2008 and are delighted to do so again. As she will do many times in the coming weeks, she walked us through what to expect for tomorrow and reminded us what to bring with us. Now we just have to eat a good dinner and get a good night’s sleep. I’m feeling pretty nervous now that we’re here and we know our ride will pick us up at 8:45am tomorrow.

[after dinner]
Julien was able to find out from the airline that they think his bag will arrive in Bogota early tomorrow.

We made it!

I wanted to post this at about 1230pm today, but between exhaustion and some technological challenges it didn´t happen then.

Only 23 hours after we left home, we arrived at our hotel in Bogota – at about 7:00 this morning. Nothing like full overnight flights with a cranky and excited almost-3-year-old to make you feel like the worst parent on the plane because your child is just crying inexplicably and won’t stop.

To top it off, somewhere in the changing airlines, one suitcase didn’t make it all the way here with us. In the grand scheme of things, only 1 of 5 isn’t bad for the kind of travel day we had yesterday – but it’s the one with Julien’s clothes and my dress for the presentation tomorrow, Julien’s razor, and my toiletry kit. If it can’t be located in the next two hours, Julien will be off to find some new clothes for tomorrow. Luckily, I packed another dress in a different bag.

Mix lack of sleep with less oxygen (Bogota is at about 8500 feet altitude) and we are really looking forward to lunch and a nap. Esteban is already out – he fell asleep on the way to our favorite park. We took a little stroll around the neighborhood, remembering places we went last time we were here. Now we’re just waiting for lunch, which is served at the fashionable hour of 1:00pm.

Travel Chaos

We're finally boarding a plane! 10 hours at the airport today - read on..

We started this morning with the greatest hopes for smooth travel and easy connections. Our ride picked us up on time (Thanks, D!), we checked our perfectly packed bags (exactly 50 lbs each) without a hitch, and arrived at our gate with plenty of time to get our seats changed so we would all be sitting together (instead of in 3 completely different rows). Esteban and Julien went off to buy some bottled waters, and by the time they came back to the gate area 10 minutes later all had changed! Our plane was being maintenance and needed a part that wouldn’t be available for HOURS! Needless to say, we would miss our connection to Bogota.

Once again, Delta agents have overdone themselves to help us figure out the best way to get where we need to go. After almost two hours of waiting (first in line and then with a ticketing agent), we finally are re-booked to fly on a different airline to a different hub this evening, to take a red-eye flight to Bogota that arrives at 5:00am! At least we are getting there! If the Patriots weren’t playing in Miami for Monday Night Football this week, our re-booking would have been much easier – but every flight south out of Boston is booked this afternoon and evening.

So, thanks to Delta’s hospitality, we are passing a couple of hours in the airport Hilton in Boston before we go back to the airport to FINALLY board the first leg of our flights. Hopefully, this is the biggest, first and last hitch in our Colombia adventure this time around!

Packing and off soon

Its 7:30pm and we are almost packed. We leave the house at 8am tomorrow morning and will arrive in Bogota at 8:45pm. Just 2.5 days until we get Isabella!