The Happy Five

We are settling into a regular routine--eating, play, eating, naps, eating, play, errands, eating, baths, bed. Sally is trying to acclimate them to her shopping habits and I am trying to acclimate them to the outdoors. Work has gotten into Sally's way and the cold weather has kept us inside. We did have a few warm days around thanksgiving. Always good, especially when friends and family visit from up North.

Eating and Doctors

We were told by the Foster caregiver and facilitator that the girls ate most all fruits, vegetables and various other foods pureed. No matter how many times and things we try we have not found fruits and vegetables to be on the girls list of "willing to try". About all that we were able to get them to eat in Guatemala was scrambled eggs, pancakes, french toast and "coffee" crackers. Neither will even give anything on a spoon a chance. It is like they have never seen a spoon before! This short list of edibles did not leave us many choices.
Upon arrival each had a little bout of vomiting and diarrhea maybe due to the change of formula. The doctor suggested staying on formula, but changing to a soy based formula. The surprise at the doctors office was that the girls did not weigh the 18 pounds that we had been told. Madison only weighed in at 15 pounds and Monroe at 16 pounds. They did not believe that the girls could have lost 2-3 pounds in the short time we had received them.

We Are Home

The trip home held true to the rest of the adoption--nothing was easy or as expected! The flight out of Guatemala took forever to load and when they did they decided they had to inspect the monkey (a package about 4 x 5 feet with duck-taped handle) we were bringing back. As the wheels hit the ground in Miami, Madison lost everything in her stomach onto Sally and all over the plane. Welcome to America little one! Monroe was happy, happy. When we arrived at customs Melodye and Debbie had to fill out forms for re-entry which were not available on the plane. Unfortunately, we then picked a line that took over 45 minutes due to a family in front of us that was entering the country on Visas. Sally and I went to the "adoptions" room where the customs officer proceeded to purposely hold us up so that we would miss our plane. I have never been treated with so much hostility. He was so rude that even the other people waiting empathized with us. Of course, this all set us up to miss our flight, but American couldn't have been nicer. They booked us on a flight to leave an hour later, but arrive at an airport an hour and a half away from home. To top the trip off, in all the commotion at the airport we brought home someone else's bag and left the twins' bag at the airport. We had to spend the next day driving back to the airport to drop the other bag and retrieve the twins' bag. Today we spent the day at home. This seemed to help the girls settle in. They played, laughed and had a great nap. We had a great time watching Myles and the twins interact and play. All seem to adore each other!

Day 12 Waiting to Go

We are so ready to come home--one more sleep! Madison with Sally and Monroe with Terry. Today at 3:30 Sally goes to the U.S. Embassy to pick up the girls Visas. Tomorrow we fly out at 3:30 Guatemalan time.

Handi-craft Market Day 11

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Today we took a taxi and spent the morning at the Handi-craft Market. We found many treasures and trinkets. The girls slept through half of the morning--they got just a little bored with shopping.

Day 10 Embassy Day -- Finally!

Today we had to be at the U.S. Embassy by 7:15 a.m. Madison and Monroe are now U.S. Citizens. We will pick up Visas Wednesday at 3:30 and be on that plane back home Thursday. Seventeen months of waiting has finally paid off!

Day 8 & 9

Yesterday we went with Raul to meet his father Chris and eat tamalies. They were the genuine tamale--they were delicious. We are now spoiled and will probably never find tamalies as good in the US.