On Monday, Lucy picked us up at 8:30am so we could get Camila's new passport. We thought we would be able to get out of there fast because we were like number 5 in line. Of course nothing can be easy and when it was time for them to give us the passport the system went down and we had to wait. We decided to go have breakfast and come back for the passport. An hour or so later the system came back up and Camila had her passport.
We came back home and went out for a late lunch since we had eaten breakfast so late. After lunch Camila took a nap. Lucy called and said the appointment with the embassy doctor was at 7:oopm. We arrived at the doctor's office early and it was good because he had some new forms he had to fill out and it took longer than expected. We finished around 7:30pm, it all went well. We got the paperwork we need for the appointment at the embassy.
We tried to get a taxi and it was impossible. We decided to walk a little to see if we could get a taxi at another location but we were never able to and we ended up walking the whole way home. I had to carry Camila most of the way. I was very tired by the time we got home. We took showers and we called Cesar via Skype. Camila played with him, and gave him tons of kisses on the screen. Very cute!!! She is missing daddy so much. She asks for him all the time. tonight when she saw the computer she started saying papa, papa... We talked with Cesar for a little bit, we prayed together and off to bed we went!
Today, Lucy picked us up at 8:00am to go to the ICBF and pick up the last paper we need before we can get the visa. On our way there Camila was unusually quiet. Lucy even mentioned how weird it was that she was so quiet. Well my little girl was not feeling good. All of a sudden she started throwing up. OMG what a mess, I felt so bad for the taxi driver because she threw up all over me, all over the taxi and literally think she threw up the entire bottle! The taxi driver pulled over at a gas station and I changed Camila (Thank you all you moms out there who told me to always have extra clothes in the diaper bag). I had vomit all over my pants, jacket and sweater. We did the best we could in cleaning it up but the smell was terrible. There was no time to go back home and change. We decided to keep on going to the ICBF. We arrived and we had to stay there for a couple of hours. We got our document and left.
I arrived home and we both went straight to the shower. Camila was starving so she had soup, rice and some chicken. I could tell she was feeling better, she ate very well!!! After lunch shw took a nap,,, a very long nap. I had to make noise so she would get up. She slept for a little over three hours!!
When she woke up we played, we colored her fav Mickey book, sang songs and just played whatever she wanted to play. Some of Cesar's uncles, couin and aunt came to visit. Camila was very friendly and did not feel uncomfortable at all. We talked for a little while and then it was time for bed. We skyped with Cesar and again Camila was kissing my computer screen. It is so cute to see her touch his face and play with him over skype! I cannot wait until we are all together again. I miss my honey and Camila misses her daddy!!! I really hope we can go home this weekend!
Tomorrow, we have the appointment at the embassy for the visa at 1:30 pm and by the afternoon we will know if we can go home this coming weekend! Everyone please pray all goes well.
That's all for now.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
We got sentencia!!!
Yeahhhh we got sentencia on Friday. Cesar was able to drive to Villavicencio with Lucy. I was so glad he could go. I was really dreading that drive with Camila again!! Lucy picked him up at 4:00 am, the rest of us got up at 8 and I have no idea where the morning went but we ended up leaving the house around 11am. It was very sweet when Camila pened her eyes and did not see Cesar she looked at me and said...papa? Where is he? she climbed unto bed and kept on asking for papa. I explained to her he was gone for the day and he would be back that night. She just looked at me. We had an appoinment at the hair salon. We decided to cut Camilas hair again and try to even it out. Kind of hard right now because she has a lot of layers but the lady did as best a sshe could. She looks absolutely beautiful!!!
We went to have lunch with Cesar's aunt and Camila just loves her cooking. It still amazes me everyday how good Camila eats! We had to run to the doctor's office so they could read the TB test and more good news!! She tested negative : ) After the clinic we went to get the pictures for the embassy and Camila just sat there and waited patiently for the lady to take the pics. She is such a good sport!! She loves to pose for pics!! We went for icecream and then went back home because it stormed!!!
Cesar got back around 5pm. We are so happy all went well. Camila is oficially ours for life!! What a blessing!
Camila asked for daddy all day. When we heard Cesar coming up the stairs we told her daddy is coming she ran to th door and we waited. When he came in she had this big smile but then immediately turn her head and would not look at him. She acted all mad because he was gone all day. It was sweet to see.
Saturday was the big celebration for Camila's birthday. We had to get up really early. We left the house around 8:30 am since her party was supposed to start at 9am. I have to say that Cesar's aunts and two close friends of the family took care of everything! They were there early so they could decorate and everything was perfect. We are so lucky to have such great people around us!!
At first Camila was holding on to my pants when she saw so many people. We had about 49 adults and 20 children. Most of the people there were family but we also had some friends. Camila had already met some of the people there so after a while she was ok. We had hired a company to do a show for the children. They did an excellent job. They did a muppet show, then had all the children get up and dance and at the end one of them dressed up as Mickey Mouse( which Camila loves) and do the Micket Dance!! Camila was dancing and had a huge smile on her face. The party was perfect. I was so happy and yes in case you are wondering I did cry. I was overwhelmed with the amount of love shown to us, I was thinking how perfect everything was and how lucky we were to be able to celebrate her birthday, I cannot say it enough HOW BLESSED WE ARE... The birthday party ended around 1pm and then we hung out with some of Cesar's cousins. Camila was very good eventhough by then she was tired. We got home around 5pm and she was all excited to see her presents again. We bathed her and she went to bed around 8:00pm.
I was extremely tired but we had to pack Cesar's luggage. We sent all the summer stuff we brought and some of Camila's toys and presents so we do not have to take so many bags when it is time to leave.
We went to bed at 11:30.
I had mentioned to you that the social worker told us to tell Camila everyday this past week about Cesar leaving on Sunday and that he was coming back to get us. Every night this week we did that and it was amazing that Sunday morning she woke up at 4:30am crying. She kept n saying mama... papa.. I got in bed with her and was able to put her to sleep again. Our cousin Miguel came to pick Cesar up at 6:30am, When Cesar left Camila was asleep. She woke up at 7:00am and when she did not see Cesar she started crying and saying papito, papito!! It just broke my heart. I tried not to cry but it was impossible. It was sweet to see that she missed daddy but it broke my heart at the same time. I wondered what she was thinking. Was she thinking Cesar left her? who knows but all day Sunday she seemed sad and she would cry often. I took my phone and showed her a pic of her and Cesar and she would stare at it and say papa, papa.
We went to Tia Fanny's house for lunch and tried to distract her. She took a nap there for about two hours. When Cesar arried in Atlanta he called and we skyped. Again Camila was acting up, she seemed mad at him! About two hours later she pointed at the computer and said she wanted papito. We called Cesar and she talked to him for a little bit, try to touch his face on the computer and even gave him a kiss! We prayed Angel de la guarda together and then when it was time to say good bye she started crying again. I put her to bed with Cesar's pic and she would just stare at it. She finally fell asleep and so did I!
I am missing Cesar so much already! I am really hoping we can go home this coming weekend. Please pray so this week all goes well. It all depends on when we get the appointment with the embassy!
That's all for now....
We went to have lunch with Cesar's aunt and Camila just loves her cooking. It still amazes me everyday how good Camila eats! We had to run to the doctor's office so they could read the TB test and more good news!! She tested negative : ) After the clinic we went to get the pictures for the embassy and Camila just sat there and waited patiently for the lady to take the pics. She is such a good sport!! She loves to pose for pics!! We went for icecream and then went back home because it stormed!!!
Cesar got back around 5pm. We are so happy all went well. Camila is oficially ours for life!! What a blessing!
Camila asked for daddy all day. When we heard Cesar coming up the stairs we told her daddy is coming she ran to th door and we waited. When he came in she had this big smile but then immediately turn her head and would not look at him. She acted all mad because he was gone all day. It was sweet to see.
Saturday was the big celebration for Camila's birthday. We had to get up really early. We left the house around 8:30 am since her party was supposed to start at 9am. I have to say that Cesar's aunts and two close friends of the family took care of everything! They were there early so they could decorate and everything was perfect. We are so lucky to have such great people around us!!
At first Camila was holding on to my pants when she saw so many people. We had about 49 adults and 20 children. Most of the people there were family but we also had some friends. Camila had already met some of the people there so after a while she was ok. We had hired a company to do a show for the children. They did an excellent job. They did a muppet show, then had all the children get up and dance and at the end one of them dressed up as Mickey Mouse( which Camila loves) and do the Micket Dance!! Camila was dancing and had a huge smile on her face. The party was perfect. I was so happy and yes in case you are wondering I did cry. I was overwhelmed with the amount of love shown to us, I was thinking how perfect everything was and how lucky we were to be able to celebrate her birthday, I cannot say it enough HOW BLESSED WE ARE... The birthday party ended around 1pm and then we hung out with some of Cesar's cousins. Camila was very good eventhough by then she was tired. We got home around 5pm and she was all excited to see her presents again. We bathed her and she went to bed around 8:00pm.
I was extremely tired but we had to pack Cesar's luggage. We sent all the summer stuff we brought and some of Camila's toys and presents so we do not have to take so many bags when it is time to leave.
We went to bed at 11:30.
I had mentioned to you that the social worker told us to tell Camila everyday this past week about Cesar leaving on Sunday and that he was coming back to get us. Every night this week we did that and it was amazing that Sunday morning she woke up at 4:30am crying. She kept n saying mama... papa.. I got in bed with her and was able to put her to sleep again. Our cousin Miguel came to pick Cesar up at 6:30am, When Cesar left Camila was asleep. She woke up at 7:00am and when she did not see Cesar she started crying and saying papito, papito!! It just broke my heart. I tried not to cry but it was impossible. It was sweet to see that she missed daddy but it broke my heart at the same time. I wondered what she was thinking. Was she thinking Cesar left her? who knows but all day Sunday she seemed sad and she would cry often. I took my phone and showed her a pic of her and Cesar and she would stare at it and say papa, papa.
We went to Tia Fanny's house for lunch and tried to distract her. She took a nap there for about two hours. When Cesar arried in Atlanta he called and we skyped. Again Camila was acting up, she seemed mad at him! About two hours later she pointed at the computer and said she wanted papito. We called Cesar and she talked to him for a little bit, try to touch his face on the computer and even gave him a kiss! We prayed Angel de la guarda together and then when it was time to say good bye she started crying again. I put her to bed with Cesar's pic and she would just stare at it. She finally fell asleep and so did I!
I am missing Cesar so much already! I am really hoping we can go home this coming weekend. Please pray so this week all goes well. It all depends on when we get the appointment with the embassy!
That's all for now....
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
The hanging out continues!!
First of all I added a new gadget to my blog.. follow by email. This way yo can put your email address there and it will notify you when I update. Look for it to bottom right of the page. I also changed my settings so you can leave comments. They will send me an email so I approve the comments and then they will be posted! I know a lot of you had sent me emails saying you could not leave comments.
I have not updated the blog in 4 days for several reasons... Camila was giving me a hard time when I put her to bed, I was too tired and when I put her to bed I fell asleep too and problems with the internet.
So Sunday we met Cesar's best friend for lunch. We went to a place called "la Granja" which is absolutely great for kids. Those of you who are adopting and looking for things to do with the kids this is a really nice place. It has everything, great food, great customer service, a playground for the kids, they also have painting, cooking, circus, feeding the animals, mini golf, etc.... It was a lot of fun. We arrived around 10:30am and left around 5:30pm. Camila was very tired but she had tons of fun and so did we.
She was very frinedly with Sergio, his wife and the kids. Everyday we see her more comfortable around other people. She is geting prepared for when she arrives in Atlanta!!
Monday and Tuesday, we hung out with Cesar's family. We had an awesome time and it is great to see how she is more relaxed around other people. Sometimes she gets in this mood were she wants to do whatever she wants, she gets mad and she starts to mis behave. I guess this is normal in all children and we are trying to put some limits and let her know that we are the ones that tell her what to do! It is hard but it has to be done.
In the afternoon on both days we had to stay in because it stormed. This is the only bad part about Bogota. It rains just about everyday!!
Last night she went to bed around 10! She took a nap really late in the afternoon and then she did not want to go to bed. This morning she was so tired she got up at 8am. This is the first night since we got her that I can say that we slept well. She did not wake up in the middle of the night and she slept late : )
Today, It was Camila's 2nd birthday!! We are so glad we were able to be with her. We are so blessed!!!
We left the house around 11:00 am. We had to shopping for shoes!! All we had was tennis shoes and sandals. Today for her birthday she was wearing this pretty dress, stockings and tennis shoes : ( So we decided to go get her pretty shoes to wear with her pretty dress. We went to a nice store, not to terribly expensive.
We had to meet Lucy's assistant(gladney rep) at 1:30pm at a clinic to get Camila's TB test. I was scared that it was going to hurt and that she would be mad but OH Surprise she did not even cry. We had her look away so she would not see the needle and she was a happy camper when the nurse gave her a lollipop. She was such a good camper, even the nurses were surprised. We have to go back for the test reading on Friday! We are hoping it will be negative, if not she will have to go for chest XRAYS. Just to clarify for those of you who do not know, if the test is positive it does not necessarily mean that she has TB it might be she has just been exposed to it. To make sure all is ok the doctor orders chest XRAYS! I always test positive and actually most latin people test positive.
After the test we went to a mall called "El Retiro". There is this place called "la plaza de Andres" and it has YUMMIEEEEE food. Camila was happy!! We got her a cup cake and sang happy birthday to her. So you know the big celebration will be on Saturday. I hope she is not too scared with so many people. Cesar has a huge family and since she has met most of them I think she will be ok. We found out that one of her fav characters is Mickey Mouse so we will have him over to entertain the kids! I wish I could post pics but I am not able too just yet!!!!
Ok so in general Camila everyday shows improvement. She is more attached to us and she feels more comfortable around other adults!! When it comes to daddy she is definitely coming around. She is hugging, kissing. all the time asking for daddy. Today when I put her to bed she was extremely tired and very fuzzy , crying, etc.. I gave her a bottle and with watery eyes and with a sweet voice she asked for daddy to come lay beside her. She hugged him and started to put her little hands on his face.. very sweet tender moment!!
Here are some other the good news, it looks like their is a big chance we will get the "sentencia" on friday. I am really hoping for this because that way Cesar can go with Lucy and Camila and I can stay in Bogota. If not, next week I will have to get up at 4am, take Camila with me, drive to Villavicencio( it can take a while depending on traffic), sign paperwork, do some other paperwork errands and then drive back the same day. It would be so hard for Camila, specially if it takes is 3 1/2 hours like last time!!! Please pray so all is ok and this is done on Friday!!!
That's all for now : )
I have not updated the blog in 4 days for several reasons... Camila was giving me a hard time when I put her to bed, I was too tired and when I put her to bed I fell asleep too and problems with the internet.
So Sunday we met Cesar's best friend for lunch. We went to a place called "la Granja" which is absolutely great for kids. Those of you who are adopting and looking for things to do with the kids this is a really nice place. It has everything, great food, great customer service, a playground for the kids, they also have painting, cooking, circus, feeding the animals, mini golf, etc.... It was a lot of fun. We arrived around 10:30am and left around 5:30pm. Camila was very tired but she had tons of fun and so did we.
She was very frinedly with Sergio, his wife and the kids. Everyday we see her more comfortable around other people. She is geting prepared for when she arrives in Atlanta!!
Monday and Tuesday, we hung out with Cesar's family. We had an awesome time and it is great to see how she is more relaxed around other people. Sometimes she gets in this mood were she wants to do whatever she wants, she gets mad and she starts to mis behave. I guess this is normal in all children and we are trying to put some limits and let her know that we are the ones that tell her what to do! It is hard but it has to be done.
In the afternoon on both days we had to stay in because it stormed. This is the only bad part about Bogota. It rains just about everyday!!
Last night she went to bed around 10! She took a nap really late in the afternoon and then she did not want to go to bed. This morning she was so tired she got up at 8am. This is the first night since we got her that I can say that we slept well. She did not wake up in the middle of the night and she slept late : )
Today, It was Camila's 2nd birthday!! We are so glad we were able to be with her. We are so blessed!!!
We left the house around 11:00 am. We had to shopping for shoes!! All we had was tennis shoes and sandals. Today for her birthday she was wearing this pretty dress, stockings and tennis shoes : ( So we decided to go get her pretty shoes to wear with her pretty dress. We went to a nice store, not to terribly expensive.
We had to meet Lucy's assistant(gladney rep) at 1:30pm at a clinic to get Camila's TB test. I was scared that it was going to hurt and that she would be mad but OH Surprise she did not even cry. We had her look away so she would not see the needle and she was a happy camper when the nurse gave her a lollipop. She was such a good camper, even the nurses were surprised. We have to go back for the test reading on Friday! We are hoping it will be negative, if not she will have to go for chest XRAYS. Just to clarify for those of you who do not know, if the test is positive it does not necessarily mean that she has TB it might be she has just been exposed to it. To make sure all is ok the doctor orders chest XRAYS! I always test positive and actually most latin people test positive.
After the test we went to a mall called "El Retiro". There is this place called "la plaza de Andres" and it has YUMMIEEEEE food. Camila was happy!! We got her a cup cake and sang happy birthday to her. So you know the big celebration will be on Saturday. I hope she is not too scared with so many people. Cesar has a huge family and since she has met most of them I think she will be ok. We found out that one of her fav characters is Mickey Mouse so we will have him over to entertain the kids! I wish I could post pics but I am not able too just yet!!!!
Ok so in general Camila everyday shows improvement. She is more attached to us and she feels more comfortable around other adults!! When it comes to daddy she is definitely coming around. She is hugging, kissing. all the time asking for daddy. Today when I put her to bed she was extremely tired and very fuzzy , crying, etc.. I gave her a bottle and with watery eyes and with a sweet voice she asked for daddy to come lay beside her. She hugged him and started to put her little hands on his face.. very sweet tender moment!!
Here are some other the good news, it looks like their is a big chance we will get the "sentencia" on friday. I am really hoping for this because that way Cesar can go with Lucy and Camila and I can stay in Bogota. If not, next week I will have to get up at 4am, take Camila with me, drive to Villavicencio( it can take a while depending on traffic), sign paperwork, do some other paperwork errands and then drive back the same day. It would be so hard for Camila, specially if it takes is 3 1/2 hours like last time!!! Please pray so all is ok and this is done on Friday!!!
That's all for now : )
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Hanging out!
For the next two weeks we will be hanging out in Bogota until the "sentencia" is approved. The judge is looking all of our paperwork and it is supposed to take up to 12 days. I will not update the blog daily because I do not want to bore you but I will probably do it every couple of days : )
Yesterday after breakfast we went to the hair salon to get pretty. Camila had her first haircut and she was such a good sport. She was just sitting still watching the lady cut her hair. It helped that before we cut her hair she saw her daddy getting a haircut and I had them blow dry my hair. When it was her turn she was not scared just intrigued! There was this guy with a weird hairdue and she stared at him for a long time. It was cute and funny to watch her analyze him. After the hair salon we went for lunch to Cesar's aunts house. We ate some good food. She is such a good cook. We were there for a couple of hours and then Camila decided it was time to go. She went to get our bags and told us she wanted us to leave (vamos mama...papa ... rapido). She is such a cutie. Today I saw her a little distant from Cesar again. I did not like it but we just have to remember we have to give her time. It is hard for me to see her act like that with her dad but we both have to be strong and patient.
We went back home and we all tool naps. It was raining and cold. Camila slept for like two hours. I tried to wake her up because I was concerned she would not sleep at night but she got really mad at me. I let her sleep a little longer. She woke up and she was a happy camper. It did seem to us that she woke up with lots of energy. She was dancing, talking like a parrot and just happy!
Yesterday it was my dads Bday so we skyped and a lot of my family memeber were there. They were able to see Camila for a little while because she was so hyper that she would not sit still. I was very happy to see that a lot of my family members were celebrating my dad's Bday and also that I had a chance to see them all again. Did I tell you that I love SKYPE! It is so cool to be able to see my parents, other family and friends!
Camila took a shower and then off she went to bed!
Today, when Camila woke up I pretended to be asleep to give her and daddy some space and time to play. She did, I saw her hugging him, give him kisses, playing with him and that just warmed up my heart. She is such a sweet little girl. Then after a while she started yelling mama, mama so I had to "wake up".
After breakfast we went to a mall to meet a very good friend of mine Pedro, his wife Aida and their son Tomas(who they also adopted). We talked for a while and it was nice to talk to somebody who went through the same process that we are. Tomas is such a good and happy boy!! At the beginning Camila was very shy and careful. She started to cling to me (this happens every time she see other adults, sometimes we think she thinks that they will take her away). After a little while she started to relax, she even left my side to go after daddy, he had walked away and she did not care I was not with her. I love when this happens!!
We had lunch and then we went to their house. Camila was relaxed, playing with Tomas and his toys. She was even playing and talking to both Pedro and Aida. She was such a good sport. We found out she is more interested in cars than books,animals, teddy bears... She played with cars all afternoon. I am so happy that I got to se Pedro and his family today. He is such a good friend who I had not seen in a long time. I hope to see him often while I am here in Bogota.
We left Pedro's house at about 4:00 pm. Cesar's cousin Miguel came to pick us up and we went to the mall. Camila was very friendly with Miguel too. This are all very good signs!!! We were at Unicentro(mall) and there were so many people there we decided not to stay long. We had an icecream, bought pampers and off we went.
Camila did not take a nap today so when we got home she was very tired. We gave her something to eat, she took a shower and shortly after that she was asleep. Miguel stayed wth us and we are just hanging out. You might think it is kind of rude for me to be writing this blog while he is here but I like to thing I am good at multi tasking : )
The highlight of my day today was to see Camila closer to Cesar. She was playing with him a lot and calling for him often. When he is not around she asks for him, when we get out of the car she wants to wait for him, when he is not around and all of a sudden she sees him her little face lights up. I am so in love with my family I do not even know how to describe it! We are very blessed and I cannot thank God enough for everything he has given us. Cesar is the best thing that could ever happen to me and Camila came to make our family complete! I am going to tell you a little secret... I would like for us to adopt two more(siblings) and we would also like to try to have a baby.. can you imagine the magic number would be 4!!! We will put everything in God's hands! We will see what happens.. he is already calling me Angelina Jolie(Lol)
That's all for now!
Yesterday after breakfast we went to the hair salon to get pretty. Camila had her first haircut and she was such a good sport. She was just sitting still watching the lady cut her hair. It helped that before we cut her hair she saw her daddy getting a haircut and I had them blow dry my hair. When it was her turn she was not scared just intrigued! There was this guy with a weird hairdue and she stared at him for a long time. It was cute and funny to watch her analyze him. After the hair salon we went for lunch to Cesar's aunts house. We ate some good food. She is such a good cook. We were there for a couple of hours and then Camila decided it was time to go. She went to get our bags and told us she wanted us to leave (vamos mama...papa ... rapido). She is such a cutie. Today I saw her a little distant from Cesar again. I did not like it but we just have to remember we have to give her time. It is hard for me to see her act like that with her dad but we both have to be strong and patient.
We went back home and we all tool naps. It was raining and cold. Camila slept for like two hours. I tried to wake her up because I was concerned she would not sleep at night but she got really mad at me. I let her sleep a little longer. She woke up and she was a happy camper. It did seem to us that she woke up with lots of energy. She was dancing, talking like a parrot and just happy!
Yesterday it was my dads Bday so we skyped and a lot of my family memeber were there. They were able to see Camila for a little while because she was so hyper that she would not sit still. I was very happy to see that a lot of my family members were celebrating my dad's Bday and also that I had a chance to see them all again. Did I tell you that I love SKYPE! It is so cool to be able to see my parents, other family and friends!
Camila took a shower and then off she went to bed!
Today, when Camila woke up I pretended to be asleep to give her and daddy some space and time to play. She did, I saw her hugging him, give him kisses, playing with him and that just warmed up my heart. She is such a sweet little girl. Then after a while she started yelling mama, mama so I had to "wake up".
After breakfast we went to a mall to meet a very good friend of mine Pedro, his wife Aida and their son Tomas(who they also adopted). We talked for a while and it was nice to talk to somebody who went through the same process that we are. Tomas is such a good and happy boy!! At the beginning Camila was very shy and careful. She started to cling to me (this happens every time she see other adults, sometimes we think she thinks that they will take her away). After a little while she started to relax, she even left my side to go after daddy, he had walked away and she did not care I was not with her. I love when this happens!!
We had lunch and then we went to their house. Camila was relaxed, playing with Tomas and his toys. She was even playing and talking to both Pedro and Aida. She was such a good sport. We found out she is more interested in cars than books,animals, teddy bears... She played with cars all afternoon. I am so happy that I got to se Pedro and his family today. He is such a good friend who I had not seen in a long time. I hope to see him often while I am here in Bogota.
We left Pedro's house at about 4:00 pm. Cesar's cousin Miguel came to pick us up and we went to the mall. Camila was very friendly with Miguel too. This are all very good signs!!! We were at Unicentro(mall) and there were so many people there we decided not to stay long. We had an icecream, bought pampers and off we went.
Camila did not take a nap today so when we got home she was very tired. We gave her something to eat, she took a shower and shortly after that she was asleep. Miguel stayed wth us and we are just hanging out. You might think it is kind of rude for me to be writing this blog while he is here but I like to thing I am good at multi tasking : )
The highlight of my day today was to see Camila closer to Cesar. She was playing with him a lot and calling for him often. When he is not around she asks for him, when we get out of the car she wants to wait for him, when he is not around and all of a sudden she sees him her little face lights up. I am so in love with my family I do not even know how to describe it! We are very blessed and I cannot thank God enough for everything he has given us. Cesar is the best thing that could ever happen to me and Camila came to make our family complete! I am going to tell you a little secret... I would like for us to adopt two more(siblings) and we would also like to try to have a baby.. can you imagine the magic number would be 4!!! We will put everything in God's hands! We will see what happens.. he is already calling me Angelina Jolie(Lol)
That's all for now!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Our first day in bogota!
Camila and I got up today at 8:30.. that is how tired we were. Cesar woke up at 6:30am, he could not sleep anymore. As soon as she opened her eyes she was calling for papa and smiling and playing with him.
We had breakfast with my mother in law. Camila was running around and calling out for "abuelita"....very cute. She remembered her from the pics we had sent. We hung out for a bit and then at about 11 we decided to go to the park. It was sunny and warm. She had fun at the playground and again she is wanting to do things that she would not do before. She is a brave little girl!!
We came back to the apartment and a lot of Cesar's family came to visit. They brought the kids so Camila would feel better. She never cried but she was very quiet. She would not let go of my hand, at all times I had to be around. So here is the bad part about today...for some reason I have been very melancholic and have cried all day. I did not want Camila to see my like that so I tried to look away. I know that I should not cry in front of her but today I was feeling down. I am not sure if I am just overwhelmed and tired. Camila reacted really well to all the people that was here. She was giving them kisses, smiling but just very quiet. My crying started because I thought she had a setback, I thought that maybe there were too many people for her first day. Truth be told she was fine, she was quiet, she wanted mommy around but she was fine. The problem was me.
I am feeling better now. Cesar always manages to make me feel better and to make me laugh! I am going to bed now so I can wake up tomorrow well rested : ) Please do not get me wrong, this is by far the happiest time of my life. I am in love with my family, I just really think I was feeling very overwhelmed....Cesar also says that maybe I am playing catch up because throughtout this process I have cried very little and those of you who know me well, know that I cry a lot. (lol)
That's all for now!
We had breakfast with my mother in law. Camila was running around and calling out for "abuelita"....very cute. She remembered her from the pics we had sent. We hung out for a bit and then at about 11 we decided to go to the park. It was sunny and warm. She had fun at the playground and again she is wanting to do things that she would not do before. She is a brave little girl!!
We came back to the apartment and a lot of Cesar's family came to visit. They brought the kids so Camila would feel better. She never cried but she was very quiet. She would not let go of my hand, at all times I had to be around. So here is the bad part about today...for some reason I have been very melancholic and have cried all day. I did not want Camila to see my like that so I tried to look away. I know that I should not cry in front of her but today I was feeling down. I am not sure if I am just overwhelmed and tired. Camila reacted really well to all the people that was here. She was giving them kisses, smiling but just very quiet. My crying started because I thought she had a setback, I thought that maybe there were too many people for her first day. Truth be told she was fine, she was quiet, she wanted mommy around but she was fine. The problem was me.
I am feeling better now. Cesar always manages to make me feel better and to make me laugh! I am going to bed now so I can wake up tomorrow well rested : ) Please do not get me wrong, this is by far the happiest time of my life. I am in love with my family, I just really think I was feeling very overwhelmed....Cesar also says that maybe I am playing catch up because throughtout this process I have cried very little and those of you who know me well, know that I cry a lot. (lol)
That's all for now!
Catching up (Wednesday)
Today Wednesday, we got up at 8am, I was so tired I did not want to get out of bed. Lucy our Gladney representative arrived in Villavicencio at around 7am and she was waiting for the report from the social worker. We went down for breakfast and we could not really do anything else since they could come to pick us up at any time. We decided to go back to the room and play with Camila. At about 11am, Lucy called and said that the driver was on the way. We got everything together, got the many, many bags and left!
Ok so what I am about to say is not trying to be difficult but today I truly appreciated the fact that in the US life is easier. We are so spoiled.....Today is must have been the HOTTEST day ever in Villavicencio, humidity to the maximum, and our car had no A/C. We went to the ICBF office(no A/C and the office was mega hot) to meet with the people that we met the first day. They were also amazed with Camila's change from the first day. I was a little concerned that she was going to have a flashback of last Tuesday but all went well. She did look around and would not let go of me but she did not cry. We left the ICBF and Lucy said she would drop us off at the mall while she made like 300 copies for the file she needed to give to the judge. We were there for about two hours and my luck Camila wanted to go up and down the stairs for about a thousand times and there was no A/C. When we left the mall I was literally sweating and super tired. We left to go to the notary and again it was an office with no A/C and we had to wait for about an hour. The office was full of people and Camila would not sit still (very normal for a 2yr old).Poor little girl she could not have her nap, she was hot , she could not play, she was actually a good camper because she never cried! We finally got everything notarized and we left to the courthouse to file the paperwork. We decided to wait in the car, which was mega hot but I did not want to go into another office with no A/C and full of people. I treid to put Camila to sleep but no luck! At this point I really just wanted to sit down and cry. We had not had anything to eat and it was close to 4 pm. We finally finished and left to Bogota at 5pm.
Camila fell asleep and I did too. About 2 hours into the trip we stopped to get something to eat. We ate, got back in the car and we both fell asleep again. Ok so it took us about 4 hours to get to my mother in law's apartment. I cannot believe it took us that long and it was really only about 45 miles... Crazy huh?
We got to the apartment, we talked for a little while and then I went to bed. It was a long day for all three of us. Camila is such a sweet girl. She behaved so well considering she had such a long day and no play!! We are glad to be in Bogota, we do not have to worry about running into the foster mom and there is nothing like being around family : )
Ok so what I am about to say is not trying to be difficult but today I truly appreciated the fact that in the US life is easier. We are so spoiled.....Today is must have been the HOTTEST day ever in Villavicencio, humidity to the maximum, and our car had no A/C. We went to the ICBF office(no A/C and the office was mega hot) to meet with the people that we met the first day. They were also amazed with Camila's change from the first day. I was a little concerned that she was going to have a flashback of last Tuesday but all went well. She did look around and would not let go of me but she did not cry. We left the ICBF and Lucy said she would drop us off at the mall while she made like 300 copies for the file she needed to give to the judge. We were there for about two hours and my luck Camila wanted to go up and down the stairs for about a thousand times and there was no A/C. When we left the mall I was literally sweating and super tired. We left to go to the notary and again it was an office with no A/C and we had to wait for about an hour. The office was full of people and Camila would not sit still (very normal for a 2yr old).Poor little girl she could not have her nap, she was hot , she could not play, she was actually a good camper because she never cried! We finally got everything notarized and we left to the courthouse to file the paperwork. We decided to wait in the car, which was mega hot but I did not want to go into another office with no A/C and full of people. I treid to put Camila to sleep but no luck! At this point I really just wanted to sit down and cry. We had not had anything to eat and it was close to 4 pm. We finally finished and left to Bogota at 5pm.
Camila fell asleep and I did too. About 2 hours into the trip we stopped to get something to eat. We ate, got back in the car and we both fell asleep again. Ok so it took us about 4 hours to get to my mother in law's apartment. I cannot believe it took us that long and it was really only about 45 miles... Crazy huh?
We got to the apartment, we talked for a little while and then I went to bed. It was a long day for all three of us. Camila is such a sweet girl. She behaved so well considering she had such a long day and no play!! We are glad to be in Bogota, we do not have to worry about running into the foster mom and there is nothing like being around family : )
Catching up (Tuesday)
So sorry that I have not written anything since Monday! I have been so busy that I have not been to post the blogs for Tuesday and Wednesday
Today Tuesday we got up late "8:00am".. We started to get ready and it is just amazing that it takes us two hours to get ready!! We have to work on this because when I start working I cannot take that long. I do not even know where the time goes or why it takes so long. We made it down like 15 minutes before breakfast was over. As usual Camila ate extremely well. Afterwards we went to the little playground at the hotel. She was more playful and braver than any other time she has played at the hotel. Definitely yesterday made a big difference. She feels safer and is taking risks : )
The social worker arrived for our final visit around 11am. She would determine if she would give us the green light , if she thought the bonding had taken place and that way we could submit the paperwork to the judge for the "sentencia" (which is getting the custody of Camila). She was very happy to see that Camila was closer to Cesar and she also could tell the difference in the relationship since the last visit which was Friday. She asked us questions and we talked about any fears or questions that we had. In reality my only fear was thinking what if Camila never gets close to Cesar, but the past three days totally erased my fear because I saw the change. Slowly but surely it is coming!! We talked about how to manage the fact that Cesar is leaving on the 27th. They have explained to us that kids that have been adopted have the fear of being left by the adults that are around them. In Camila's life she was abandoned by her biological mother and then taken away from her tia so even though she is only 2 she has that fear of being abandoned. The social worker told us that we have to prepare her for his departure. From next Monday on every day we have to explain to her everyday that daddy is leaving on a plane but he will be back to get us and then we will all fly home together. We also have to skype with him as many times as possible, especially in the important times of the day like maybe when we first get up in the morning, having breakfast together, praying at night, while she brushes her teeth, etc...
Yesterday I forgot to tell you that when we went downtown we got a little paranoid and started thinking what if we encounter the "tia"(foster mom). Everything that we had worked on in the past week would go down the drain. We got so paranoid that we decided to leave and go to the mall. Well so it happens that when we were talking to the social worker she told us that the foster mom had gone to see her on Friday and she wanted to know in which hotel we were staying. The social worker told her we were far from Villavicencio but we got a little nervous. We also found out that her husband is a taxi driver and we were always taking taxis. The social worker left and said that she was very pleased with the bonding process and that she would write a favorable report.
After she left we decided we would not go out of the hotel today to avoid any problems. Camila took a nap for about two hours in the afternoon. Once she woke up we went to the pool again. There was nobody in the pool. Camila was definitely not afraid anymore. She was wanting to jump into the pool, playing with the ball, walking around.. as a matter of fact she did not even want me to hold her. It was great to see her so happy : ) We had been at the pool for about an hour it started storming so we had to run to room. We played for a while, had dinner, bathed Camila and she went to sleepat about 8.
Cesar and I started packing since we are leaving to Bogota tomorrow. It took us about two hours to get everything together. We had stuff all over the room. We went to bed at 12am...
Villavicencio has treated us really well. The change in Camila since las Tuesday has been just amazing. I am in love with my family and I would not trade this for anything!!! Tomorrow will be a long day so that's all for now!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Awesome day!!
We had such a great day today I did not want it to end!!!!
We all got up "late" 8:00 am ( now that we have a baby 8am is late!!!) and got ready to go for breakfast, then to the pool. Camila and I got ready before Cesar did. She was ready to get out of the room so she was yelling Daddy, let's go, hurry up, over and over again. It was funny to see Cesar getting ready as fast as he could so he would not have his little girl wait any longer!!! A
Something simple and beautiful happen as soon as we got out the door, ON HER OWN SHE GRABBED DADDY's hand!!! Since Tuesday whe did not want to hold Cesar's hand, she would only do it when going up and down the stairs. Some of you might think this is not a big deal but for us it is! She is starting to need Cesar and it is just AWESOME.
At the breakfast I was able to leave her with Cesar at the table to go get some food. Up until today I could not do that because she would start crying!
I was afraid Camila was not going to want to get in the pool because the last time it was not so good for her (It was the day I left with Cesar to go get the towels and she cried and cried!!!). Cesar and I played a game with her so she would put the bathing suit on we were laughing and tickling her so she would not focus on the fact that we were going to the pool. We got there and she seemed to be ok with getting in. Cesar started playing with her throwing a little ball back and forth. She was grabbing on tight to me. After about 30 minutes she started to loosen up and wanted to walk around the pool and she was having a good time. If she felt I was too far she would start to want to cry but we would distract her and she was back to laughing again. We stayed in the pool for a couple of hours and once she decided she was tired we got out of the pool. We went back to the paintings on the wall that she loves. She repeats over and over again where the cow, horse, couple dancing and pio, pio are! After that we danced, there is this song from Don Omar (reggeton singer) that she loves. She is so adorable when she dances, the way she moves her shoulders is funny! She loves dancing so daddy will make sure she learns the moves : ) We did not want to lave lunch so early because Adriana(cesar's friend ) had invited us for lunch. We decided we would share a banana split. It was very yummy and Camila loved it. She could live off icecream I think!
We decided to go back to the room, give her a shower and put her down for a nap so she would be ready when Adriana came to get us. It took a little bit for her o fall asleep so she was only able to sleep for an hour. We went to restaurant where they have food typical of this region. It was very good and Camila ate a little bit of everything. I love how she eats everything!!! She had meat, potatoes, arepas, plantain, yucca.. Of course in small quantities but she likes it all : ) I have to make sure she continues to eat well when we get to the US. After lunch we went to the place where Adriana's brother lives. It is a beautiful place. It has a pool, playground, restaurant.. It is more like a country club. There were so many trees, birds, fishes in the artificial lake, lots of water around the entire area. This is were another beautiful thing happened!!!!! Camila was so happy. She was playing with Adriana's 6 yr old. At the beginning she was carefuk but it did not last long! She was trying to do all that Maria(the 6 yr old) did. She also asked for daddy's help and at one point I stayed back so she would have time with daddy and she was ok with it. They were playing on a slide and right before she would go down she would give Cesar a kiss, she did this over and over again. It was so nice to see her be relaxed with daddy and having fun. At around 6:30 we went back to the hotel.
As soon as we came into the room she was taking her clothes off so she could go take a shower. She loves the shower and she looooooves brushing her teeth. She is brushing at least three times a day. I do not even have to remind her, she tells me..
I thought she was going to be very tired since we were out all afternoon... NOT she was so wired. I think it could have been the chocolate MAria gaver her this afternoon! You know before I thought parents would exagerate with the too much sugar theory NOW they were absolutely right!!It took us a big while to put her to sleep. Usually she goes to bed at 7 and today she went to bed at almost 9 pm.
Hopefully she will have a good night sleep! I am not sure if this is normal but Camila will go to sleep and every night she has done the same thing. At about 4am she starts making noises, kicking us and pushing us away. She does not like me or Cesar touching her. She wants her own space...
All in all we had an awesome day!!!I think we have done a good job on the integration phase. Camila is a different little girl from Wednesday. We aew loving every minute of being parents! We will continue to take things slow.
That's all for now!
We all got up "late" 8:00 am ( now that we have a baby 8am is late!!!) and got ready to go for breakfast, then to the pool. Camila and I got ready before Cesar did. She was ready to get out of the room so she was yelling Daddy, let's go, hurry up, over and over again. It was funny to see Cesar getting ready as fast as he could so he would not have his little girl wait any longer!!! A
Something simple and beautiful happen as soon as we got out the door, ON HER OWN SHE GRABBED DADDY's hand!!! Since Tuesday whe did not want to hold Cesar's hand, she would only do it when going up and down the stairs. Some of you might think this is not a big deal but for us it is! She is starting to need Cesar and it is just AWESOME.
At the breakfast I was able to leave her with Cesar at the table to go get some food. Up until today I could not do that because she would start crying!
I was afraid Camila was not going to want to get in the pool because the last time it was not so good for her (It was the day I left with Cesar to go get the towels and she cried and cried!!!). Cesar and I played a game with her so she would put the bathing suit on we were laughing and tickling her so she would not focus on the fact that we were going to the pool. We got there and she seemed to be ok with getting in. Cesar started playing with her throwing a little ball back and forth. She was grabbing on tight to me. After about 30 minutes she started to loosen up and wanted to walk around the pool and she was having a good time. If she felt I was too far she would start to want to cry but we would distract her and she was back to laughing again. We stayed in the pool for a couple of hours and once she decided she was tired we got out of the pool. We went back to the paintings on the wall that she loves. She repeats over and over again where the cow, horse, couple dancing and pio, pio are! After that we danced, there is this song from Don Omar (reggeton singer) that she loves. She is so adorable when she dances, the way she moves her shoulders is funny! She loves dancing so daddy will make sure she learns the moves : ) We did not want to lave lunch so early because Adriana(cesar's friend ) had invited us for lunch. We decided we would share a banana split. It was very yummy and Camila loved it. She could live off icecream I think!
We decided to go back to the room, give her a shower and put her down for a nap so she would be ready when Adriana came to get us. It took a little bit for her o fall asleep so she was only able to sleep for an hour. We went to restaurant where they have food typical of this region. It was very good and Camila ate a little bit of everything. I love how she eats everything!!! She had meat, potatoes, arepas, plantain, yucca.. Of course in small quantities but she likes it all : ) I have to make sure she continues to eat well when we get to the US. After lunch we went to the place where Adriana's brother lives. It is a beautiful place. It has a pool, playground, restaurant.. It is more like a country club. There were so many trees, birds, fishes in the artificial lake, lots of water around the entire area. This is were another beautiful thing happened!!!!! Camila was so happy. She was playing with Adriana's 6 yr old. At the beginning she was carefuk but it did not last long! She was trying to do all that Maria(the 6 yr old) did. She also asked for daddy's help and at one point I stayed back so she would have time with daddy and she was ok with it. They were playing on a slide and right before she would go down she would give Cesar a kiss, she did this over and over again. It was so nice to see her be relaxed with daddy and having fun. At around 6:30 we went back to the hotel.
As soon as we came into the room she was taking her clothes off so she could go take a shower. She loves the shower and she looooooves brushing her teeth. She is brushing at least three times a day. I do not even have to remind her, she tells me..
I thought she was going to be very tired since we were out all afternoon... NOT she was so wired. I think it could have been the chocolate MAria gaver her this afternoon! You know before I thought parents would exagerate with the too much sugar theory NOW they were absolutely right!!It took us a big while to put her to sleep. Usually she goes to bed at 7 and today she went to bed at almost 9 pm.
Hopefully she will have a good night sleep! I am not sure if this is normal but Camila will go to sleep and every night she has done the same thing. At about 4am she starts making noises, kicking us and pushing us away. She does not like me or Cesar touching her. She wants her own space...
All in all we had an awesome day!!!I think we have done a good job on the integration phase. Camila is a different little girl from Wednesday. We aew loving every minute of being parents! We will continue to take things slow.
That's all for now!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Fun at the zoo, church, park and the mall
It has been four nights and Camila has not had her bottle at 2 am so I think that problem has been solved : )
Saturday morning we skyped with one of Cesar's brothers and the kids. Camila wa snot very engaged, I think she was hungry!! She talked for a little bit but it did not last long. We will try again sme other time! we went for breakfast and she had a good breakfast. Then we decided to go to the zoo and it was a lot of fun!! Camila wa talking like a parrot. She repeated everything, every animal we named! She is so funny with her facial expressions and the things that she says. We were there for about 2 hours, Cesar and I were dying because of the heat but she was a happy camper. She is used to it and she did not mind the hot weather and 100% humidity! We left the zoo and came back to the hotel. She enjoyed lloking out the window on the ride back. She would call out muuu for the cows, agua everytime she saw water, taxi when she saw a taxi, it is amazing to me how much she talks. I am not sure at this age how much babies say but Camila talks a lot. She was very tired by the time we got to the hotel so she took a nap.
Everytime she gets tired she starts crying and she does not want Cesar in bed with us or close. We always talk to her that daddy loves her, I ask her to give daddy a kiss, Cesar starts tickling her and after a while she is ok with him around.
When she woke up we went downstairs to eat and while we waited for the food we walked around the pool and in an area where they have paintings on the wall. She loves to go there and yell for papa so she can show him where the caballo(horse), pio, pio (birds), muchacho(guy) and Muchacha (girl) are. She is so intelligent, it really amazes me! We had lunch and she ate arroz con pollo(chicken and rice) and ice cream for dessert. She loves to look for her highchair and ask papa to put her in it. She also shares everything she eats,her tete(bottle) , icecream, snacks, etc... A lot of times she will put the food in her mouth, chew it and then give to mom and dad to eat.. After we ate, we hung out there for a while, we danced and played with her some. Then it started storming so we had to go back to the room. She sometimes has a habit of hitting Cesar so I told her not to and she got mad and threw a temper tantrum. We let her cry for a while so she understands that it is not nice to hit daddy. When she calmed down I talked to her and asked her to say sorry and give daddy a kiss.. and she did : ) She knows exactly when she is doing something wrong but she pushes to the limit to see what will our reaction be. It is hard to try to discipline her right now but if we do not start it can get out of hand!
In the room we played with all of her toys and a puzzle that we brought for her. She loves it!!We also have a laughing purse and that is her little game with papa! Every time the purse laughs Cesar has to laugh too! She is so adorable and like said the faces and the things she says just cracks us up! She still has to sleep and carry around mu the cow, pipe her doll, and now we added two more that we gave her!
Ricardo(Cesar's brother) called via Skype. I think this was the time she was more friendly and silly. She was blowing kisses, dancing, playing, talking... They were on for about 45 minutes and she was engaged the whole time! By the time we finished with them it was time to give her a bath, bruh her teeth and put her to sleep. She loves brushing her teeth, she also does not want us to do it for her she wants to do it alone! After the shower it was not long until she fell asleep. We are teaching her to pray before going to sleep, it is so cute that she makes all this sounds as if she is repeating the prayer. I cannot wait until she really learns it!
Cesar and I went to bed pretty early. It had been a long day and after all the heat and walking we were ready to sleep.
Something cute....last night I was laying on Cesar Side when she went to sleep. Before I went to bed I went back to my side..she confused him with me. She even held his hand while she was sleeping : ). I can't wait to see her be daddy's little girl!!
Camila woke us up at about 6:30 am, she wanted her tete. We played with her in bed for a little while and at about 8 we all took showers and got ready to go to breakfast. We then decided to go downtown to the plaza. There is a church there and we wanted to go in at least to say a prayer. There is no way we could stay for the entire mass, she is too little and gets bored easily. She also loves to yell at the top of her lungs MAMA, PAPA, many many times in a row. I love hearing her say it but I am sure that would not be appreciated in church! After we came out of church, we were walking through the plaza and a bird pooped on us. He got Camila's hair, my shoulder an dmy shoes!! Of course Cesar though it was funny, Camila did not even pay attention, she was more entertained with the birds on the floor... I on the other hand thought it was grose eventhough they say it is good luck.. After walking around for a little bit we decided to go to Unicentro ( the mall) and walked around for a while. Camila was very entertained with the kids, clothes, shoes, etc. We went into a store where they sell everything and we went to the toy section to see if she would want anything. To our surprise she would look at the toys but she did not really want anything. We ended up buying shorts for her..
We left the mall and came back to the room. We have her a bottle with Milo and milk.. She did not want to go for a nap after that so we played for a while until she got tired. We ended up having lunch in the room because we thought she would be tired and get grouchy. When she woke up she had chicken and rice. We decided to go walking arund the hotel premises since it looked as it was going to rain. It is a holiday weekend here in Colombia so there was a lot of people in the hotel. We went to the playground and she played in areas she did not want to before. She was also holding daddy's hand and I can see she is starting to allow him to do certain things that she did not on Friday! That makes me soooo happy! We had a juice and she had some ice cream.
We came back to the room after a while, she took a shower(she is enjoying so much more now), had a bottle and we layed in bed playing until she fell asleep which took a while! She was so wired and all she wanted to do is play.
This weekend was awesome! We are starting to see another side of Camila. She is a happy, lovable, spoiled, sweet baby! If I was having doubts before of how this whole situation with Cesar was going to play out, I am feeling so much better now. She is starting to get close to him. She even let him change her diaper today. Cesar asked her if he would let him play with Pipe and she did, she held his hand more than any other time while we were walking, she danced with him and everytime he was not with us she would ask where papa was.. She still has to have me around at ALL times but she has definitely changed from Friday to today! Oh we also only gave her three bottles today! This is great news : )
That's all for now! Sorry if there are a lot of mispellings but I am getting really sleepy...
Saturday morning we skyped with one of Cesar's brothers and the kids. Camila wa snot very engaged, I think she was hungry!! She talked for a little bit but it did not last long. We will try again sme other time! we went for breakfast and she had a good breakfast. Then we decided to go to the zoo and it was a lot of fun!! Camila wa talking like a parrot. She repeated everything, every animal we named! She is so funny with her facial expressions and the things that she says. We were there for about 2 hours, Cesar and I were dying because of the heat but she was a happy camper. She is used to it and she did not mind the hot weather and 100% humidity! We left the zoo and came back to the hotel. She enjoyed lloking out the window on the ride back. She would call out muuu for the cows, agua everytime she saw water, taxi when she saw a taxi, it is amazing to me how much she talks. I am not sure at this age how much babies say but Camila talks a lot. She was very tired by the time we got to the hotel so she took a nap.
Everytime she gets tired she starts crying and she does not want Cesar in bed with us or close. We always talk to her that daddy loves her, I ask her to give daddy a kiss, Cesar starts tickling her and after a while she is ok with him around.
When she woke up we went downstairs to eat and while we waited for the food we walked around the pool and in an area where they have paintings on the wall. She loves to go there and yell for papa so she can show him where the caballo(horse), pio, pio (birds), muchacho(guy) and Muchacha (girl) are. She is so intelligent, it really amazes me! We had lunch and she ate arroz con pollo(chicken and rice) and ice cream for dessert. She loves to look for her highchair and ask papa to put her in it. She also shares everything she eats,her tete(bottle) , icecream, snacks, etc... A lot of times she will put the food in her mouth, chew it and then give to mom and dad to eat.. After we ate, we hung out there for a while, we danced and played with her some. Then it started storming so we had to go back to the room. She sometimes has a habit of hitting Cesar so I told her not to and she got mad and threw a temper tantrum. We let her cry for a while so she understands that it is not nice to hit daddy. When she calmed down I talked to her and asked her to say sorry and give daddy a kiss.. and she did : ) She knows exactly when she is doing something wrong but she pushes to the limit to see what will our reaction be. It is hard to try to discipline her right now but if we do not start it can get out of hand!
In the room we played with all of her toys and a puzzle that we brought for her. She loves it!!We also have a laughing purse and that is her little game with papa! Every time the purse laughs Cesar has to laugh too! She is so adorable and like said the faces and the things she says just cracks us up! She still has to sleep and carry around mu the cow, pipe her doll, and now we added two more that we gave her!
Ricardo(Cesar's brother) called via Skype. I think this was the time she was more friendly and silly. She was blowing kisses, dancing, playing, talking... They were on for about 45 minutes and she was engaged the whole time! By the time we finished with them it was time to give her a bath, bruh her teeth and put her to sleep. She loves brushing her teeth, she also does not want us to do it for her she wants to do it alone! After the shower it was not long until she fell asleep. We are teaching her to pray before going to sleep, it is so cute that she makes all this sounds as if she is repeating the prayer. I cannot wait until she really learns it!
Cesar and I went to bed pretty early. It had been a long day and after all the heat and walking we were ready to sleep.
Something cute....last night I was laying on Cesar Side when she went to sleep. Before I went to bed I went back to my side..she confused him with me. She even held his hand while she was sleeping : ). I can't wait to see her be daddy's little girl!!
Camila woke us up at about 6:30 am, she wanted her tete. We played with her in bed for a little while and at about 8 we all took showers and got ready to go to breakfast. We then decided to go downtown to the plaza. There is a church there and we wanted to go in at least to say a prayer. There is no way we could stay for the entire mass, she is too little and gets bored easily. She also loves to yell at the top of her lungs MAMA, PAPA, many many times in a row. I love hearing her say it but I am sure that would not be appreciated in church! After we came out of church, we were walking through the plaza and a bird pooped on us. He got Camila's hair, my shoulder an dmy shoes!! Of course Cesar though it was funny, Camila did not even pay attention, she was more entertained with the birds on the floor... I on the other hand thought it was grose eventhough they say it is good luck.. After walking around for a little bit we decided to go to Unicentro ( the mall) and walked around for a while. Camila was very entertained with the kids, clothes, shoes, etc. We went into a store where they sell everything and we went to the toy section to see if she would want anything. To our surprise she would look at the toys but she did not really want anything. We ended up buying shorts for her..
We left the mall and came back to the room. We have her a bottle with Milo and milk.. She did not want to go for a nap after that so we played for a while until she got tired. We ended up having lunch in the room because we thought she would be tired and get grouchy. When she woke up she had chicken and rice. We decided to go walking arund the hotel premises since it looked as it was going to rain. It is a holiday weekend here in Colombia so there was a lot of people in the hotel. We went to the playground and she played in areas she did not want to before. She was also holding daddy's hand and I can see she is starting to allow him to do certain things that she did not on Friday! That makes me soooo happy! We had a juice and she had some ice cream.
We came back to the room after a while, she took a shower(she is enjoying so much more now), had a bottle and we layed in bed playing until she fell asleep which took a while! She was so wired and all she wanted to do is play.
This weekend was awesome! We are starting to see another side of Camila. She is a happy, lovable, spoiled, sweet baby! If I was having doubts before of how this whole situation with Cesar was going to play out, I am feeling so much better now. She is starting to get close to him. She even let him change her diaper today. Cesar asked her if he would let him play with Pipe and she did, she held his hand more than any other time while we were walking, she danced with him and everytime he was not with us she would ask where papa was.. She still has to have me around at ALL times but she has definitely changed from Friday to today! Oh we also only gave her three bottles today! This is great news : )
That's all for now! Sorry if there are a lot of mispellings but I am getting really sleepy...
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Better than yesterday
Sorry about not posting yesterday but I was very tired! So this blog is about what happened Friday!
I am happy to report that Camila did not ask for her bottle at 2 am : ) We all woke up around 7am. We started playing with her in bed and she seemed to be happy. At times she cries for no reason at all but it does not last long! We went to get some breakfast around 9am. Camila ate a lot again, she has a really good appetite which is awesome and she eats everything except lettuce and beats! She loves avocado : )
After breakfast we went to the little park they have for kids here at the hotel. We were waiting for the social worker to visit us. Once the social worker arrived we went up to the room to talk. She said we were definitely bondig and she insisted on us letting Camila spend time with dad even if she cries. We started playing and she asked me to leave the room. As soon as Camila saw I was gone she started crying and asking for mama. I was right outside the door, I stayed there for about 5 minutes and as soon as I came in the room Camila grabbed and would not let go and she cried for a little while. The social worker said that she did not think we were doing something wrong. She explained to us that the foster mom had a husband but he was never around because he worked a lot. Camila never did spend time with him and the foster mom never left her alone. She took Camila everywhere and spoiled her a lot. So she said that Camila never really had a man in her life and that it was probably why she was acting that way. She said we should do that exercise of leaving her with Cesar at least once a day. Cesar told her that he understood what she was saying but that we did not want to upset Camila. We know that eventually she will come around but she has lost a lot in the past few days, she has to adjust and forcing her relationship with Cesar is not going to help. We decided we will take it slow, no stress and just try to do everything together. We will be patient and wait for her to be ready.
The social worker left and we went to downtown Villavicencio. We needed to find out if they have a passport office here. We went around and around and nobody could to tell us where the office was : ( In any case I think we will have to get in Bogota because if we do it here it will take longer! Camila loved riding in the taxi. She was so entertained with the scenery. After an hour or so of riding around we came back to the hotel. She was sleepy by then so she took a nap.
She woke up and we played with her and then got ready to go get something to eat. She plays with Cesar and she calls out for him so that is a good sign! We ate here at the hotel and then around 4:30 Cesar's good friend Adriana came to pick us up to take us to the country club she is a member of. It ws really nice to meet her. Her uncle was the one that examined Camila to make sure everything was ok with her. We were there for a couple of hours. Camila played in the playground they have there and she had fun. Adriana has a 6 yr old so it was good for Camila to be around other kids! It was getting late and Camila was getting tired so we decided to go back to the hotel.
We bathed Camila, gave her a tete (bottle) and played a game were we all brush our teeth together.. This is the only way she will let us brush her teeth. Afterwards I skyped with my cousin Kathya and her kids so they could see her. The only bad part about skyping in the evening is that Camila gets tired and she is not wanting to talk, dance or anything. At least they got to see her : ) At around 8:30 she went to bed!
All in all today was much better than yesterday. Some of our friends wrote to comment about yesterday's blog and it made me feel a lot better. One family that also adopted a toddler told me that she went through the same thing with her baby the first few weeks in Colombia. She told me that eventually he went to daddy. She said it was important for me to bond first and then the rest will come! I have a friend that shared her experinece with her child who is not adopted and he went through a face were he only wanted her. So we are definitely not alone on this and it helps when people let us know what they have experienced. Another good thing is that we went from 7 bottles to 4... we are working on getting her off the bottles so we feel good that at least we have been able in 4 days to reduce the number of bottles she takes in one day!
That's all for now, tomorrow (Saturday) we will go the zoo!!!
I am happy to report that Camila did not ask for her bottle at 2 am : ) We all woke up around 7am. We started playing with her in bed and she seemed to be happy. At times she cries for no reason at all but it does not last long! We went to get some breakfast around 9am. Camila ate a lot again, she has a really good appetite which is awesome and she eats everything except lettuce and beats! She loves avocado : )
After breakfast we went to the little park they have for kids here at the hotel. We were waiting for the social worker to visit us. Once the social worker arrived we went up to the room to talk. She said we were definitely bondig and she insisted on us letting Camila spend time with dad even if she cries. We started playing and she asked me to leave the room. As soon as Camila saw I was gone she started crying and asking for mama. I was right outside the door, I stayed there for about 5 minutes and as soon as I came in the room Camila grabbed and would not let go and she cried for a little while. The social worker said that she did not think we were doing something wrong. She explained to us that the foster mom had a husband but he was never around because he worked a lot. Camila never did spend time with him and the foster mom never left her alone. She took Camila everywhere and spoiled her a lot. So she said that Camila never really had a man in her life and that it was probably why she was acting that way. She said we should do that exercise of leaving her with Cesar at least once a day. Cesar told her that he understood what she was saying but that we did not want to upset Camila. We know that eventually she will come around but she has lost a lot in the past few days, she has to adjust and forcing her relationship with Cesar is not going to help. We decided we will take it slow, no stress and just try to do everything together. We will be patient and wait for her to be ready.
The social worker left and we went to downtown Villavicencio. We needed to find out if they have a passport office here. We went around and around and nobody could to tell us where the office was : ( In any case I think we will have to get in Bogota because if we do it here it will take longer! Camila loved riding in the taxi. She was so entertained with the scenery. After an hour or so of riding around we came back to the hotel. She was sleepy by then so she took a nap.
She woke up and we played with her and then got ready to go get something to eat. She plays with Cesar and she calls out for him so that is a good sign! We ate here at the hotel and then around 4:30 Cesar's good friend Adriana came to pick us up to take us to the country club she is a member of. It ws really nice to meet her. Her uncle was the one that examined Camila to make sure everything was ok with her. We were there for a couple of hours. Camila played in the playground they have there and she had fun. Adriana has a 6 yr old so it was good for Camila to be around other kids! It was getting late and Camila was getting tired so we decided to go back to the hotel.
We bathed Camila, gave her a tete (bottle) and played a game were we all brush our teeth together.. This is the only way she will let us brush her teeth. Afterwards I skyped with my cousin Kathya and her kids so they could see her. The only bad part about skyping in the evening is that Camila gets tired and she is not wanting to talk, dance or anything. At least they got to see her : ) At around 8:30 she went to bed!
All in all today was much better than yesterday. Some of our friends wrote to comment about yesterday's blog and it made me feel a lot better. One family that also adopted a toddler told me that she went through the same thing with her baby the first few weeks in Colombia. She told me that eventually he went to daddy. She said it was important for me to bond first and then the rest will come! I have a friend that shared her experinece with her child who is not adopted and he went through a face were he only wanted her. So we are definitely not alone on this and it helps when people let us know what they have experienced. Another good thing is that we went from 7 bottles to 4... we are working on getting her off the bottles so we feel good that at least we have been able in 4 days to reduce the number of bottles she takes in one day!
That's all for now, tomorrow (Saturday) we will go the zoo!!!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Hard Day!
Camila went to bed last night around 9:30 and Cesar and I had planned that if she woke up at 2am for her Tete we would try to ignore the request. I am happy to report she did not ask for her bottle. She woke up around 7am but was crying a lot., we gave her a bottle. We bathed her and she was not very happy but we were able to go down for breakfast around 9. She started laughing and seemed to be ok. She ate eggs, caldo(kinda like beef soup but light..not sure how to translate), arepita and even pancakes.. of course all in small quantities : )
After breakfast the social worker came to visit us. I was afraid Camila would start crying ad would want to leave with her but she didn't. When she saw her she was happy to se her but she never left my side. We talked with her and played with Camila at the same time. We talked for a while and she said that it was awesome to see that she was adjusting well but that we needed to work in getting Camila to be close to Cesar. She gave us advise and said I should give them alone time so they can also bond. When she got up to leave Camila grabbed me and started saying mama, mama. I think she thought that maybe she would take her away as she did on Tuesday. The same social worker was the one that brough her to the ICBF when we got her. It amazes me how little she is and yet she remembers and we can tell how afraid she is of us leaving her, or just staying alone.
After the social worker left we went back to the room and we played with her and everything seemed to be fine. We chnaged and went to the pool for a while. We decided we would try the pool to have her be alone with Cesar. She was so upset with me. She cried and cried because she wanted me to hold her, me to play with her, only me. I tried to talk to her and tell her she needed to be nice to daddy because she would throw her hands at him, push him away. We changed and we went to have lunch. She was upset with Cesar so she would not even look at him. She was sleepy and tired by then. We got back in the room and I left for a little but she never stopped crying while I was gone. She would just say mama, mama over and over again. Cesar tried to calm her down but she did not want anything but mommy. I came back and she clung to me... I put her to bed and she rapidly fell asleep.
When she woke up we went to the mall and the grocery store. She was very upset with Cesar, now it was worse. She was crying all the time,very sad and would not look at Cesar. We went to the grocery store and she trew a temper tantrum. We tried to ignore her to see what she would do but she would not stop crying. I tried talking to her because I gotta tell you she understands everything, but nothing she was just not interested. We came back to the hotel, we got dinner and eventually she started to play with Cesar again. She was playing but she had a sad face. I really do not think she had a good day today.
My parents called me via skype at around 6, Camila was not very friendly but at least they were able to see her! Right after that call she started crying again. We got her in the shower, put her pijamas on and off to bed, She was very tired and with the crying she was ready!! We put her to bed and she did not want to lay on it so I held her while she took her bottle was finally able to put her in bed about 30 min later. She would grab me and would not let go. We are thinking that she was associating this afternoon when I left with ging to bed. She was holding on to me as if I was going to leave! My poor baby!!!
I was suppose to connect via Skype with my brother, cousin and brother in law but it was impossible with Camila crying so we will try again tomorrow.
In looking back at all that happened today my heart aches because I know she is suffering and who knows all the things she is thinking,what she is feeling.. Although I respect all the things the social worker told me, I really believe it is too early to try to impose things to her. I know eventually she will come around I have seen how she has her honeymoon moments with her dad but I wish it was more! My heart also ached for Cesar. I know even though we are adults and we understand it still hurts. I hope tomorrow is better!!
That is all for today,
Estela
After breakfast the social worker came to visit us. I was afraid Camila would start crying ad would want to leave with her but she didn't. When she saw her she was happy to se her but she never left my side. We talked with her and played with Camila at the same time. We talked for a while and she said that it was awesome to see that she was adjusting well but that we needed to work in getting Camila to be close to Cesar. She gave us advise and said I should give them alone time so they can also bond. When she got up to leave Camila grabbed me and started saying mama, mama. I think she thought that maybe she would take her away as she did on Tuesday. The same social worker was the one that brough her to the ICBF when we got her. It amazes me how little she is and yet she remembers and we can tell how afraid she is of us leaving her, or just staying alone.
After the social worker left we went back to the room and we played with her and everything seemed to be fine. We chnaged and went to the pool for a while. We decided we would try the pool to have her be alone with Cesar. She was so upset with me. She cried and cried because she wanted me to hold her, me to play with her, only me. I tried to talk to her and tell her she needed to be nice to daddy because she would throw her hands at him, push him away. We changed and we went to have lunch. She was upset with Cesar so she would not even look at him. She was sleepy and tired by then. We got back in the room and I left for a little but she never stopped crying while I was gone. She would just say mama, mama over and over again. Cesar tried to calm her down but she did not want anything but mommy. I came back and she clung to me... I put her to bed and she rapidly fell asleep.
When she woke up we went to the mall and the grocery store. She was very upset with Cesar, now it was worse. She was crying all the time,very sad and would not look at Cesar. We went to the grocery store and she trew a temper tantrum. We tried to ignore her to see what she would do but she would not stop crying. I tried talking to her because I gotta tell you she understands everything, but nothing she was just not interested. We came back to the hotel, we got dinner and eventually she started to play with Cesar again. She was playing but she had a sad face. I really do not think she had a good day today.
My parents called me via skype at around 6, Camila was not very friendly but at least they were able to see her! Right after that call she started crying again. We got her in the shower, put her pijamas on and off to bed, She was very tired and with the crying she was ready!! We put her to bed and she did not want to lay on it so I held her while she took her bottle was finally able to put her in bed about 30 min later. She would grab me and would not let go. We are thinking that she was associating this afternoon when I left with ging to bed. She was holding on to me as if I was going to leave! My poor baby!!!
I was suppose to connect via Skype with my brother, cousin and brother in law but it was impossible with Camila crying so we will try again tomorrow.
In looking back at all that happened today my heart aches because I know she is suffering and who knows all the things she is thinking,what she is feeling.. Although I respect all the things the social worker told me, I really believe it is too early to try to impose things to her. I know eventually she will come around I have seen how she has her honeymoon moments with her dad but I wish it was more! My heart also ached for Cesar. I know even though we are adults and we understand it still hurts. I hope tomorrow is better!!
That is all for today,
Estela
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Second day with our sweet Camila
We are feeling so much better than yesterday, Camila is showing more and more that she is comfortable with us and that she is starting to trust mama y papa!!
This morning she did not want to get up. She slept from 7pm to 7am. It took her a while to get out of bed. She seemed ok when she woke up, we gave her a bottle and cuddled for a long time. So, we tried to make the bottle for her but she did not like what we gave her so we called the front desk and they made her a colada (its like oatmeal I think...)
When we said it was time to get up, take a shower and go to breakfast she started crying. I am not sure what triggers it but it did not last very long. I wanted her to wear a dress we brought but SHE decided she wanted wear pink clogs so we had to change her outfit so she would match : ) She is very girly and she loves to wear her shoes!!
We left to go to breakfast and she had her first PATALETA (temper tantrum). She wanted to go to the playground and we told her we would after breakfast but she did not want to hear that. We stuck to what we told her, she calmed down once she saw the arepitas. She had eggs and sausage and arepitas.
After breakfast we went to the playground as we promised and we hung out for a couple of hours. She let us know when she was ready to leave. We went back to the room and we skyped with uncles, aunts, cosuins, grandma and my coworkers. We skyped for a long time and she did not seem to mind all the attention. She then had a tete (bottle) and went to sleep.
Cesar and I had lunch in the room while she was sleeping. The social worker and the nutritionist came to visit us. They wanted to know how Camila was and how we were feeling. everything wet well with them and they were very pleased to know that Camila was much better today. They did tell us that we need to discipline her when needed. She has a lot of temper tantrums and she always wants her way. We thought we should wait but the social worker said not to wait. She needs to understand we are her parents and that there are limits...
She woke up and she was not in a very good mood but it did not last long. I had saved a little meat and rice from my lunch for her and she ate it ALL. Which is another good sign!! She is eating something else other than tete! At 2 years old she should not be having tetes anymore and she has about 6 a day. We are going to start reducing the number. Tonight we will try cutting the one she has around 2am. I hope she does not cry too much..
After she ate we played for a long time. Watched videos, sang and clapped with all the kids songs! I have to learn all the songs in Spanish (wheels on the bus go round and round, itsy bitsy spider, if you are happy and you know it, etc....). At one point Cesar had to say NO to her and discipline her and she did not like it. She started crying and she would look at him with big puppy eyes. I felt so guilty and told Cesar with tears in my eyes that maybe it was not time yet. I made Cesar feel bad and did not mean too! I just wanted to hold her and say it was ok bit I did not. Ten minutes later she was OK and wnating papa all the time.
When we saw she was getting tired we bathed her and got her in bed, She asked for another bottle so we gave it to her. Before she fell asleep we brushed her teeth and off she went to bed. It took a while for her to go to sleep because she slept a lot this afternoon.
In summary, I have to say that today was awesome. Camila always referred to us as mama and papa. She did not mention her tia(foster mom) at all. She ate all her food. The best thing of the entire day is that I see how she is becoming daddy's little girl. Every two words she is calling out for papa. It is sooo cute and Cesar is loving it. I hope every day continues to be better and better. We are loving being parents!! Camila has brought so much joy and love into our lives.
That's all for now.. going to bed.
This morning she did not want to get up. She slept from 7pm to 7am. It took her a while to get out of bed. She seemed ok when she woke up, we gave her a bottle and cuddled for a long time. So, we tried to make the bottle for her but she did not like what we gave her so we called the front desk and they made her a colada (its like oatmeal I think...)
When we said it was time to get up, take a shower and go to breakfast she started crying. I am not sure what triggers it but it did not last very long. I wanted her to wear a dress we brought but SHE decided she wanted wear pink clogs so we had to change her outfit so she would match : ) She is very girly and she loves to wear her shoes!!
We left to go to breakfast and she had her first PATALETA (temper tantrum). She wanted to go to the playground and we told her we would after breakfast but she did not want to hear that. We stuck to what we told her, she calmed down once she saw the arepitas. She had eggs and sausage and arepitas.
After breakfast we went to the playground as we promised and we hung out for a couple of hours. She let us know when she was ready to leave. We went back to the room and we skyped with uncles, aunts, cosuins, grandma and my coworkers. We skyped for a long time and she did not seem to mind all the attention. She then had a tete (bottle) and went to sleep.
Cesar and I had lunch in the room while she was sleeping. The social worker and the nutritionist came to visit us. They wanted to know how Camila was and how we were feeling. everything wet well with them and they were very pleased to know that Camila was much better today. They did tell us that we need to discipline her when needed. She has a lot of temper tantrums and she always wants her way. We thought we should wait but the social worker said not to wait. She needs to understand we are her parents and that there are limits...
She woke up and she was not in a very good mood but it did not last long. I had saved a little meat and rice from my lunch for her and she ate it ALL. Which is another good sign!! She is eating something else other than tete! At 2 years old she should not be having tetes anymore and she has about 6 a day. We are going to start reducing the number. Tonight we will try cutting the one she has around 2am. I hope she does not cry too much..
After she ate we played for a long time. Watched videos, sang and clapped with all the kids songs! I have to learn all the songs in Spanish (wheels on the bus go round and round, itsy bitsy spider, if you are happy and you know it, etc....). At one point Cesar had to say NO to her and discipline her and she did not like it. She started crying and she would look at him with big puppy eyes. I felt so guilty and told Cesar with tears in my eyes that maybe it was not time yet. I made Cesar feel bad and did not mean too! I just wanted to hold her and say it was ok bit I did not. Ten minutes later she was OK and wnating papa all the time.
When we saw she was getting tired we bathed her and got her in bed, She asked for another bottle so we gave it to her. Before she fell asleep we brushed her teeth and off she went to bed. It took a while for her to go to sleep because she slept a lot this afternoon.
In summary, I have to say that today was awesome. Camila always referred to us as mama and papa. She did not mention her tia(foster mom) at all. She ate all her food. The best thing of the entire day is that I see how she is becoming daddy's little girl. Every two words she is calling out for papa. It is sooo cute and Cesar is loving it. I hope every day continues to be better and better. We are loving being parents!! Camila has brought so much joy and love into our lives.
That's all for now.. going to bed.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Meeting Camila Isabel
We arrived in Bogota on Saturday night. I was worried with the amount of stuff we brought but truth be told I am glad we did. Everything here baby related is expensive. It is important to bring at least the things that you will need the first few days, that way you will not have to waste precious time when you first meet your baby.
We spent Sunday with Cesar's family. Everyone is very excited and they cannot wait to meet Camila. I was trying to remain calm but I was very anxious, excited, scared and happy. All of those feelings sometimes got the best of me and I would start crying!
On Monday morning Lucy (our Gladney contact here in Colombia) picked us up around 11:00 am . We drove to Villavicencio (about 21/2 hrs from Bogota). It was a beautiful drive. The scenery here is so beautiful!
We arrived at the Hotel del Llano which is a very nice hotel. We picked it because it has a nice pool and a playground. We then had lunch with Lucy. Around 5:00 pm we went out to check out were we could find the grocery store, shopping mall, restaurants, etc.. We needed to familiarize ourselves with the city since we will be here 1-2 weeks.
Later on that night we met Lucy so we could go over everything that would happen in the "encuentro". She told us to write down all the questions we wanted to ask about Camila and we went over the paperwork needed.
I was so tired that I had no trouble sleeping. Cesar woke up at 3 am and could not go back to sleep. I cannot explain to you all that I felt this morning when I woke up. We were just a couple of hours away from meeting our precious Camila Isabel. It is hard to explain having so many feelings, thinking what if she does not love me back as I love her, what if I cannot give her what she needs, what if I do not know what to do, what if, what if!! I tried to remain calm but it was hard!! I prayed that I would not cry too much. I did not want to scare her but it is inevitable!!!
We went to the notary to sign a document we needed to present at the encuentro so we left the hotel around 8 am. We arrived at the ICBF at 8:45 and we met with the ICBF staff. We needed to have an interview with them first. The ICBF staff was very nice, they made us feel welcome. The interview lasted probably about 1 1/2 hr, they asked tons of questions but it went fast. All of a sudden we heard a child crying we knew Camila had arrived.....
She came into the room with the social worker and she was crying histerically. She was mad because she had been woken up early to go to the hair salon. Her pony tail and braids I think were too tight and she was not liking it. We tried everything and she would not stop crying. The ICBF staff asked the social worker to leave because Camila wanted to be only with her. Once she left she would only be with me but the whole time crying. She would not allow Cesar to come close to her or hold her, she wanted her "tia"(that is what she called the foster mom). It broke my heart to see how she was suffering and there was nothing I could do. Just hold her and give her reassurace that everyting would be ok. I have to say I handled the encuentro pretty well. I was so worried about her feelings that I forgot about mine. It was perfect!
Words cannot express how happy we are but it has definitely been a very hard day! I walked around the ICBF bldg to try to calm her down but she would not stop crying. We left to go the hotel around 12:30, in the car she fell asleep but as soon as we got to the hotel she woke up and started crying again for her "tia". I put her to bed and cuddled with her until she finally fell asleep. She slept for about 2 hrs and when she woke up the crying started again. We decided to go down to the playground and we could start to see she wanted to smile but her sadness was more powerful. We stayed there for about an hour, she calmed down a little but she would remember something and she would cry again. It is amazing to see how she did not want to let go of the things she brought with her. She wanted to hold them all at the same time (Pipe her pig, muuu the cow, her dress, her shoes, the album and her tete which is her bottle). They were like her security blanket, the only thing familiar to her. So I held her with all of those things.
We decided to go up to bathe her since we were all sweaty. It is very hot here and she was used to taking 4 showers a day so we thought that would calm her down. Well as soon as we got in the shower she started screaming... we did a quick shower and when we came out something beautiful happen... she SMILED! Then she allowed Cesar to get close to her and when he went out of her sight she would call PAPA out loud. It was a priceless moment. She then started laughing, giggling, dancing, singing, she even ate! We played for a while and we sang songs. Cesar was able to hold her and play with her.. she was defintely coming around.
she asked for her album(the one we sent to her in the care package) and she would call out the people in the album. It was a beautiful moment. She was calling out for us as mama and papa.
Since she cried so much she was very sleepy and tired. She started crying again and remembered her tia a couple of times. She cried some more and she fell asleep around 7 pm. I think she will be up pretty early tomorrow....
Camila is such a beautiful baby! This was the best gift God could give us. I thank the foster mom because she did an excellent job taking care of her. She is healthy and JUST ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!
I pray that tomorrow will be better for all three of us. I know whe has to grieve but it breaks my heart to see her crying.
That's all for now! As you know we cannot post pics yet but we will do it as soon as we can.
We spent Sunday with Cesar's family. Everyone is very excited and they cannot wait to meet Camila. I was trying to remain calm but I was very anxious, excited, scared and happy. All of those feelings sometimes got the best of me and I would start crying!
On Monday morning Lucy (our Gladney contact here in Colombia) picked us up around 11:00 am . We drove to Villavicencio (about 21/2 hrs from Bogota). It was a beautiful drive. The scenery here is so beautiful!
We arrived at the Hotel del Llano which is a very nice hotel. We picked it because it has a nice pool and a playground. We then had lunch with Lucy. Around 5:00 pm we went out to check out were we could find the grocery store, shopping mall, restaurants, etc.. We needed to familiarize ourselves with the city since we will be here 1-2 weeks.
Later on that night we met Lucy so we could go over everything that would happen in the "encuentro". She told us to write down all the questions we wanted to ask about Camila and we went over the paperwork needed.
I was so tired that I had no trouble sleeping. Cesar woke up at 3 am and could not go back to sleep. I cannot explain to you all that I felt this morning when I woke up. We were just a couple of hours away from meeting our precious Camila Isabel. It is hard to explain having so many feelings, thinking what if she does not love me back as I love her, what if I cannot give her what she needs, what if I do not know what to do, what if, what if!! I tried to remain calm but it was hard!! I prayed that I would not cry too much. I did not want to scare her but it is inevitable!!!
We went to the notary to sign a document we needed to present at the encuentro so we left the hotel around 8 am. We arrived at the ICBF at 8:45 and we met with the ICBF staff. We needed to have an interview with them first. The ICBF staff was very nice, they made us feel welcome. The interview lasted probably about 1 1/2 hr, they asked tons of questions but it went fast. All of a sudden we heard a child crying we knew Camila had arrived.....
She came into the room with the social worker and she was crying histerically. She was mad because she had been woken up early to go to the hair salon. Her pony tail and braids I think were too tight and she was not liking it. We tried everything and she would not stop crying. The ICBF staff asked the social worker to leave because Camila wanted to be only with her. Once she left she would only be with me but the whole time crying. She would not allow Cesar to come close to her or hold her, she wanted her "tia"(that is what she called the foster mom). It broke my heart to see how she was suffering and there was nothing I could do. Just hold her and give her reassurace that everyting would be ok. I have to say I handled the encuentro pretty well. I was so worried about her feelings that I forgot about mine. It was perfect!
Words cannot express how happy we are but it has definitely been a very hard day! I walked around the ICBF bldg to try to calm her down but she would not stop crying. We left to go the hotel around 12:30, in the car she fell asleep but as soon as we got to the hotel she woke up and started crying again for her "tia". I put her to bed and cuddled with her until she finally fell asleep. She slept for about 2 hrs and when she woke up the crying started again. We decided to go down to the playground and we could start to see she wanted to smile but her sadness was more powerful. We stayed there for about an hour, she calmed down a little but she would remember something and she would cry again. It is amazing to see how she did not want to let go of the things she brought with her. She wanted to hold them all at the same time (Pipe her pig, muuu the cow, her dress, her shoes, the album and her tete which is her bottle). They were like her security blanket, the only thing familiar to her. So I held her with all of those things.
We decided to go up to bathe her since we were all sweaty. It is very hot here and she was used to taking 4 showers a day so we thought that would calm her down. Well as soon as we got in the shower she started screaming... we did a quick shower and when we came out something beautiful happen... she SMILED! Then she allowed Cesar to get close to her and when he went out of her sight she would call PAPA out loud. It was a priceless moment. She then started laughing, giggling, dancing, singing, she even ate! We played for a while and we sang songs. Cesar was able to hold her and play with her.. she was defintely coming around.
she asked for her album(the one we sent to her in the care package) and she would call out the people in the album. It was a beautiful moment. She was calling out for us as mama and papa.
Since she cried so much she was very sleepy and tired. She started crying again and remembered her tia a couple of times. She cried some more and she fell asleep around 7 pm. I think she will be up pretty early tomorrow....
Camila is such a beautiful baby! This was the best gift God could give us. I thank the foster mom because she did an excellent job taking care of her. She is healthy and JUST ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!
I pray that tomorrow will be better for all three of us. I know whe has to grieve but it breaks my heart to see her crying.
That's all for now! As you know we cannot post pics yet but we will do it as soon as we can.
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