Our First Doctor's Visit

Before I get started, I have to say that I may have to/should resign my blogging duties to Matt. I have lived all that he talked about and found it quite entertaining! He's the best! Secondly, I have to say--WAY TO GO DAVID COOK! So excited to hear he won and can't wait to get home and watch it on DVR. Thanks, Whit, for sending the comment to let me know! Now, someone go put me on the waiting list for his first DVD!

Today was a pretty good day, considering all things. The kids all slept in until after 8am which was nice. Last night, while Matt blogged away, I slept only to be awakened by one coughing spat (Andres), one crazy dream (Luke) and one fall out of the bed (Maria). Outside of that I slept well. The beds aren't bad and I am actually getting used to the flat pillows. It's amazing the comfort an arm can provide. : )However, once it hits 5:30am, it becomes Grand Central Station outside our window. The amount of very loud trucks that pass by each morning is not comprehendible. I don't know why all of these people start working so early. Maybe it's because it's dark here by 6:30pm or so and light way before people should have to get out of bed. Nevertheless, we grow a little more used to it each day--and the same goes for the close-quarters we are in. The room obviously feels very small to us, especially with five, but we aren't in it all that much. Oh, and Sheri, we definitely are in the same room as you because the first day, the English teacher in me noticed that we are not to throw toilet paper in the toilet but in the "waist" basket. I got a kick out of that but it drives me crazy every day!

Anyway, on to the day. Breakfast--the usual--eggs and French toast. However, I broke out of my traditional scrambled eggs and ordered my eggs fried. Who knows, tomorrow I may go crazy and order eggs AND French toast. You know, you gotta mix it up a little! The morning went well. Outside of Matt's blog hangover that kept him up until wee hours of the night, we were all in good spirits, except for Andres. He was very whiney and cried quite a bit. But the funny thing with him is that he can be crying and immediately stop and give you a smile that just makes you laugh. It's so funny. But we just felt like things weren't right. After Matt and Luke spent some much needed one-on-one time this morning having breakfast and walking around town. I stayed and had breakfast with Maria and Andres and just hung around the compound. At around 10:30, we took Andres to the doctor. (El Refugio is awesome and they encourage you to leave your kids there and they will baby-sit for free. It's amazing!) The wonderful lady at our B&B, Carmen, got us right in with an English-speaking doctor who basically said everything checked out ok and it looked like the beginning of a cold. He weighed in at a whopping 25 lbs.--such a little pip squeak but oh soooo cute! So, we got some medicine for him and since then he has been awesome. The only problem is that he got all off schedule. He missed lunch for a nap and slept for three hours. Matt and Maria joined him for 2 1/2 of those 3 hours while I taught Luke to play backgammon and was re-introduced to why I hate checkers so much. What a silly game.



Once everyone awoke from a nap, we decided it was time to get the heck out of the place and go on a family outing to Unicentro. Pretty cool place with lots of great shopping--Mom, wish you were here! I wish we'd had more time, but we didn't. We mainly went to maintain sanity, to remember that there's another world outside of El Refugio and to get Maria shoes. As Matt is going to do his blog take after mine, I will let him tell the story behind the shoes. It was too cute!

Matt: Wow, no pressure to make this story cute or anything. We found a store in the corner of the mall that sold kids shoes. She picked out two pair that she liked and I asked here which was here favorite. Come to find out, there are those shoes that have lights in them when you walk. She loved it. The lady in the store put both of them on her and I moved about 10 feet away and asked her to run to me. She did and about knocked me over with a big hug at the end. We let her wear them home and notice that she was kind of dragging her feet so that the lights would light up. Oh, and Kitts family, they did sell those bubble gummer shoes (nothing in Maria’s size) so email in your order.

The Unicentro is really a very nice mall. I’ve been there twice now and has been pretty crowded on both occasions. Given more time (and cash), I think Traci and I would like to do a little shopping there. The main anchor store is the “Exito” which Luke, Maria and I went to get some diapers and “odds and ends” (cervesa for papi) on Tuesday. It is nice but the aisles are pretty narrow. They have those little kid shopping carts with the car in front. Naturally, Maria had to have a car, and, of course, I had to get one. Only here you have to pay a rental fee which was only a couple dollars (I think – had to pay in pesos and they weren’t coins).

And Andres isn’t the only child suffering from some sort of malady. I took Maria in for a nap and we laid on our big bed. I noticed that she kept rubbing her feet. She said something I didn’t understand and showed them too me. It looks like she has a very mild case of athlete’s foot (Yeah! Another athlete in the family). So, on the way home from the Unicentro tonight we stopped in a drug store to get some medicine for her feet. Again, the language barrier presented a bit of a problem. I think that the pharmacist understood what I was saying, but he gave us a topical liquid and some pills. Pills? It made me wonder what I had told him she had. Anyway, I made it out of there with just the topical solution. Let’s hope she hasn’t grown a third foot when we wake up in the morning.

Traci again: It was a great day for Luke and food! Carmen was concerned about why he wasn't eating much so the cooks fixed him a grilled ham and cheese and he loved it. I have to say it was one of the best I've ever had. Our lunch was interesting. The rest of us had ham and cheese roll-up--no tortillas, no bread just meat and cheese--mashed potatoes, a salad that I wasn't fond of and an excellent smoothie-like drink tasting of lime and pineapple. Then, for dinner, Luke cashed in once again and ate pork chops and even ate green beans (which he never eats at home). The only thing he turned down was the rice (which he almost always eats at home), and we are all about sick of it as it is a staple to be served with every meal, I guess (Not Matt). The meal always ends with a dessert or fruit of some kind. Tonight, we had to ask Maria what it was and learned that we had papaya. They cut it into long, thin slices like a cantaloupe and Andres ate all of his plus half of mine. We finally had to cut him off because he had his first diaper blowout today, and we didn't want to beg for another. Wow--what a two-year old can produce in a diaper is amazing! Sorry--that was gross, but Luke also wanted me to let everyone know what a "stink bomb" he was!

With dinner being at 7pm, that pretty much takes us to bedtime. Neither of the kids like the whole routine. Maria isn't nearly as bad as Andres. However, they both LOVE to brush their teeth (Maria asks to do it after each meal), especially since I bought them toothbrushes that light up. We read to them, and again, I'll let Matt tell you how cute tonight was with Maria. Andres and I looked at a First Words book of cars. He loved it, but when I put him into that little crib, he screams. It usually doesn't last for long once he realizes no one is going to pick him up. We do have to tell him a number of times to lay down, and it's usually followed with a pout and then that heart-melting smile. Anyway, neither went to bed quickly tonight. Must have been due to the long naps. Andres just fell asleep about 20 minutes ago. So the bedtime routine takes between 1-2 hours! We'll definitely get better!

Matt: I didn’t have to read the “Papi” book again tonight. Tonight we read a Spanish-English picture book. We’ve looked though it before but she will never repeat the English portion. It usually went like this:

Me: "Libro. Book. Peudes decir 'book'?"
Maria: "Si."
Me: Silence waiting for something to sound like book to utter from her mouth.

However, tonight, she was trying to repeat the English and did a pretty good job. Traci and I were both there and gave her lots of word of encouragement. So, that all went well and she was excited.

Traci again: A few more random thoughts/stories before signing off to Matt. First of all, I have realized how misconstrued my thoughts have been about the American culture. For the most part, I thought we were pretty loving, and I know in my family we aren't afraid to show emotion. But here, it is out of this world! Andres runs up to EVERYONE and wants hugs and they give them to him (Matt: like the random sales lady in the shoe store this evening). At Mc Donald's yesterday, he ran over to a lady and pointed to her drink. She asked if it would be ok if she gave him some of her Coke. What!? Ok, anyone, would you do that with a stranger's kid? Well, I wouldn't but that is just the way they are here, and I actually love it. It helps me to get to know my kids even more. Today, Maria was hanging out by one of the babies here at the B&B and the mom was singing in Spanish to the baby. She asked Maria to join along, I think, so Maria started singing. It was a very sweet moment that made me realize how much of her culture she will lose when she goes to the States. Kind of made me sad for her. Another story about Maria--she will not let me do her hair. Ok, actually, I tried the first day and totally failed. I mean seriously, I just got down how to spike Luke's hair after 8 years and I am supposed to get ponytails right the first time!!?? Well, they were horrible so I pulled them out to start over. By doing that, I hurt her and that was all she wrote. However, "mi papi" can do the same thing and all is perfecto! Matt hasn't attempted to do ponytails yet, but I am confident that it will be happening soon. Otherwise, the poor girl is going to continue to run around with 80's rock star hair. Now, one about Matt, well actually two. First off, this whole process has just made me fall even more in love with the guy. He is incredible with Maria and Andres, and always has been with Luke. Yesterday, I noticed a picture of my deceased grandparents on the mirror. I asked him why there was a picture of them in Colombia. He said, "Because without them, this wouldn't have been possible and we wouldn't be here." It brought tears to my eyes because in situations like this, I always feel close to my grandparents because I know how proud they would have been. But he is right. We owe so much them as they left behind the financial means to make this dream a reality. I miss them so much throughout this process and wish so much that they could see the fruits of their labor. And my last story had to due with breakfast yesterday. Matt and I have found that humor is incredibly important during this process. There is so much out of your control and so much change that takes place. While we were at breakfast, things were crazy. We were both running ragged trying to tend to all three kids, getting their plates ready, making sure they had all they needed. Just as we would sit down, something would come up--they needed more juice, someone sneezed and needed a kleenex, etc. Finally, Matt looked up at me and said, "This is why the Brady Bunch needed Alice." We both started laughing so hard we couldn't stop. I'm sure the other five families were wondering what came over us. Just a priceless time. Well, Buenas Noches to all! Things are going well in Colombia, and I want to say again how beautiful it is here. I really have enjoyed it, regardless of the fact that it rains every day and there is very little sun. I feel blessed to be here and going through this experience! Oh, and my day ended with Andres saying "Mama" for the first time, at least the first time I have heard. He speaks few/no real words so that was a beautiful way to end the day.

Matt again: I am sorry to all of the blog stalker out there waiting for a post this evening. For some reason the power has been flickering in the compound this evening and we keep getting bumped off of the internet. But my real reason for the delay was that I just had a very nice conversation with a French lady who is here in El Refugio adopting her second baby boy. She apologized for her poor English, which I found somewhat ironic since I can speak ZERO French. Nevertheless, her English as quite good and we had a great conversation about our children, the adoption and things in general. Cathy, my new French friend, and her husband Tony adopted a little boy named David from Colombia 5 years ago. David is the boy here closest in Luke’s age and they are kind of partners in crime around this place. He’s a really sweet boy and very handsome. I told her that he is going to break a lot of hearts some day. They are adopting another baby boy named Jeremy. However, the officials in Colombia have told them that some of their paper work from France is incorrect. (My worst nightmare). So, Cathy’s sister is going to be running around for them tomorrow trying to get stuff signed, stamped and delivered by overnight mail to Colombia. From what I gathered, she has a lot of driving to do. Poor Cathy wants to call her sister at 9:00 a.m. (France time), but she is afraid to go to bed and try to get up to do it (and that is probably a wise move with the power flickering like it is and alarm clocks going out). As of my writing, she has at least another hour to wait before she can call. Anyway, I really enjoyed out little conversation. She was a lovely little lady and seems to have raised one fine boy and is looking forward to duplicating those efforts on another lucky child.

I think we have touched on this before, but it’s really fun seeing the other families from different parts of the world here. At the present, we have two from France, one from Spain, one from Italy (might be Spain also, I haven’t gotten to talk with them much) and us from the U.S. Another family from Spokane, WA arrived at about 10:45 tonight but they are just stopping over before they fly out to another part of Colombia at about 7:30 tomorrow. It is kind of fun to be a part of all of the different languages and cultures here in the compound. Everyone here speaks at least a little Spanish and most speak some English (between the two we can usually convey thoughts, wisdom, assistance or just pleasantries).

Our other U.S. family here in the compound, the Adelmans, left early this morning for San Diego. They were a very nice couple who lived in the room across the hall. Debi’s mom, who was born here in Bogota, made the trip too. They adopted a baby girl, Alejandra, who is just about the prettiest little girl I’ve seen on my trip. Mark & Debi, if you are reading our blog, it was great getting to know you in the brief amount of time that we had. Thanks for the friendship and the help getting our bearing straight here in Colombia.

Our friends the Derrs were supposed to leave today or tomorrow but it looks like they have been held up. I know they are probably anxious to get home but it will give us an opportunity to maybe meet up with them at least one more time. We saw them on Sunday, but we didn’t have Maria and Andres then.


Here I have lured Maria into taking a nap by pretending to be asleep myself. And it worked!!


Andres didn't eat any lunch because he wasn't feeling when and was tired. So, we save some cheese and lunch meat for him. Here is Luke feeling Andres his "lunch" after the nap.


It pretty much rained most of the day today in Bogota. So, here are the kids killing some time with coloring.




A little walk in the rain on the way to the Unicentro.


Inside of the Unicentro. I found this burger joint interesting and strangely familiar. Someone alert the King!


Maria and her new shoes.


At about the same time, Andres decided to have his first "moment" while still in the store. Poor guy had to wait until we got home before he could be changed.


Maria and papi in the drug store on the way home. Even without seeing anyone's face, you can just sense that there is a difficulty here with the language being spoken.


Traci and Andres sharing a little papaya desert. Actually, I don't know if there was any "sharing" going on as I think Andres ate all of his papaya and most of Traci's.


Hermana y hermano. When they want to, both of these kids have great "camera smiles."



Brushing teeth before bed. As we said, Maria is great at brushing her little teeth. Andres, on the other hand, just kind of chews on it.