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All Kinds of Samples

Today was the big sample day.

I Almost Cried at the Doctor's

Isabelle went for her post-adoption check-up at the doctor (we went to OHSU Family Wellness Center, which has a travel/adoption specialist). Everything went fine and she was charming all the people who saw her until we had the flu shot and TB test. I held her for the nurse for the flu shot and it almost killed me. Then she needed to try the TB test 3 times because Isabelle would move. After the 2nd time, I told her that I couldn't hold Isabelle so she got another nurse to help. When the 3rd time looked like it wasn't going to work, I grabbed Isabelle off the table and said we would try this another day. She was so upset and I couldn't stand it. Thankfully, the nurse had finished the test right before I grabbed her.

When we went down to the car I almost cried while I was giving her a bottle. It's amazing what happens when those Mommy hormones kick in.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

The good traveler, on her way home.

Home at 2 am. This is all our gear.

Notice the super deluxe blue bag. When we ran short of bags on the morning we were leaving, I ran to the Mercado and haggled a guy who was using it to carry all the socks he'd sell that day down to 60Q ($8). The secure closure is a knot.



First day home, and first day on carpeting.





Hanging with Dad in the morning.

Yummy! Fresh peaches from the farmer's market.
No tengo frio! I am not cold!
This is the beautiful outdoor outfit given to us by Pat and Bill, our neighbors.





New outfit from Aunt Deanna and Uncle Paul.

Letting Aunt Deanna know someone else in the family likes peas cooked the way she does.

First Trip to Babies R Us

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We Can Crawl!

It started last night with two tiny steps towards some papers on the floor, when she wasn't thinking about what she was doing but just what she wanted. She crawled just a step or two two more times last night, when she was distracted.

Today, she's off! She's not very fast but she can move from one side of the room to another after something she wants. She still likes to be carried most of the time. I was hoping it crawling wouldn't really take hold until after the weekend because we still have some child-proofing to do, but she couldn't wait. I know what we're doing this weekend.

Isabelle is a Party Animal

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A Confession

I need to make a confession. It's a tough one for the mother of a baby girl, but it has to be done. All the cute outfits you've seen Isabelle in in pictures are not from the cute clothes I picked out. They're because my sister, Jenni, has a great sense of style. Her daughter, Julie, is about three years older than Isabelle and Jenni gave me Julie's clothes when she outgrew them. All the adorable matching outfits are from her. I loaned them to a friend, Molly, who had twins, and Molly gave them back to me in great shape just in time for me to take them to Guatemala.

In and Out of the Car Seat 15 Times

I understand the need for car seats but both Isabelle and I find them annoying. After not worrying about them for 3 months, they are tedious. Isabelle isn't used to being strapped into anything on her own (just on me, the him sling) and I'm not used to wrestling her in and out of the seat and the car every time I stop somewhere. Of course, it doesn't help that I have a two-door car.

Today we stopped at the Guatemalan restaurant in Hillsboro, Los Chapinos, for lunch. Now I even know what that means - it's the Guatemalan term for Guatemalans (like Guatemaltecos). I tried to practice my Spanish while I was there, but everyone wants to use only English (especially since my Spanish is so bad). It felt really nice to be around the Guatemalan pictures on the wall and the bread. It almost feels like a dream now that we were in Guatemala so it was nice to see the stuff from there and remember it again. The owner of the restaurant came out to talk to me when I was paying the bill, and played with Isabelle like she's used to. I told him about living in Antigua and how I missed things like the bus "callers" and he said he had been one! He even gave me a quiet example :-)

Then we went to the post office two blocks away and mailed Alba's letter to her friend in New York. Even though it took me five days to mail it, it will still get there weeks faster than if she'd mailed it from Guatemala.

Then we went to the vet (two more blocks away) and got Isbre and Tesla's anti-flea and heart-worm medications. The women at the vet loved Isabelle, and always love Isbre. Our vet, Dr. Hunsaker, showed me the picture of her daughter that she and her husband adopted 4 years ago from the Ukraine. Another woman told me that she's in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. Another was asking about the adoption process because she was thinking of adopting. It's amazing what you find out about people!

By this time, with in-and-out-of-the-car-seat 3 times, I was wishing I'd just walked on my errands. Last, we went to Pets Mart. I got Isbre some extra treats as well as her greenies because she is still feeling a little jealous of Isabelle and the attention she gets.

Isabelle has started getting a little bit shy, which is really new. When she meets someone new, she first hides her face in my chest for a few moments before turning to look at them. It's really kind of special, and so different from the way she was in Antigua where she was instant friends with everyone. I don't know whether she's just heading into a new stage, or if the giant change in place has caught up with her. She still feels more clingy than she was in Guatemala, but still has that love of going places.

Kisses, Church, and Grocery Store

Isabelle has started making a new noise. It's something between a kiss and the way you smack your lips when your food is REALLY good. Tommy was doing it before we left Guatemala, and now Isabelle has caught up. I think it's adorable.

We went to church today and introduced Isabelle around and gave the Dean his stole from Guatemala. She is a charmer for sure. She's got this cute little shy smile down pat, and then she'll smile a big smile where her two front teeth show and people are hooked.

We did the big shopping trip to Winco this afternoon. It feels so weird to have so many choices for everything, like 20 kinds of soup and a huge selection of baby food. And, you can take a shopping cart right down the aisle - amazing! In La Bodagona (Antigua's "big" grocery store) I had trouble making it through the aisles with Isabelle in a hip sling and sometimes had to back out of an aisle and try it from the other side.

Day 3 at Home - Baby on a Dog Cart

Robert rigged up the dog cart that Isbre pulls at the farmer's market (which is sort of like the Marcado, but higher prices and no haggling and no one singing out their wares and prices) to have a seat on it from an umbrella stroller. So today we went to the farmer's market with Isbre hooked up to her cart and Isabelle riding on the cart. We got even more stares than usual, which was fun :-) Lots of people asked Robert if he'd made the cart and told us how beautiful Isbre was. You can tell you're in the US when your dog gets more attention than your child :-)

Then I went to get my hair done and Robert took Isabelle on a trip down to Dundee for a jogging stroller off Craig's List (for about $30, much less than they wanted at the big garage sale). She has never ridden in a car seat before, so she's not used to it and really doesn't like it (who would?). He made it back without losing his mind so the trip must have been okay.

We showed Isabelle off to some of the neighbors, then went for a walk in Noble Woods Park with Isabelle in her new back pack and Isbre on her old leash. It was only 6pm, but Isabelle fell asleep before we got back. I think she's feeling the strain of the move even if she didn't show it.

More thoughts on Guatemala:

• The people there are incredibly hard working.
• The people there that I had anything to do with are incredibly honest.
• Most people there live in houses and with diets that are hard for us to even fathom here in the US.
• They do not treat their dogs and cats very well in general.
• Families are incredibly strong.
• More social pleasantries are expected than here (saying excuse me when you make someone move to pass them, saying hello and how are you when you go into a shop).
• Most sicknesses (cold, flu, etc) are called "the grip" (like they used to be called in this country 40 or 50 years ago). It's assumed it comes from the weather.
• People in the Antigua area are called "green bellies" because they eat so many avacados.
• People believe that children need to be kept warm like they were in the womb so they are happy and don't get sick. I think part of this comes from the fact that really warm babies sleep more, which parents like. Most of the babies in the Mayan women's slings were sleeping.
• People believe that if you feed babies avacado they will get worms. After watching Isabelle gobble up avacado like it was the best thing on the planet, I think they believe this because the babies like it so much that they want more of it and start wanting more real food. This is not good if you are poor and want them to only nurse and not eat too much as they get older.

Very Happy Baby and Giant Baby Stuff Garage Sale

Today, Isabelle has been the happiest I've ever seen her. She smiles and smirks and plays a lot. She smiles when she sees Robert and laughs. She is back on her nap schedule (1 for about an hour at about 9am and 1 for about 1 1/2 hours around 2pm) and sleeps through the night, from about 7:30pm to about 6:30am. Even though I know she misses the hub bub around the house in Antigua and the other babies, she has started paying more attention to Robert and I and smiling at us more (we are trumped in interest by Tesla and Isbre, though). We are going to spend this month basically getting her used to Robert and I and our house and routines. After that we plan on letting family come and visit. I know this has caused some bad feelings, but I can see now that this is best for her and us.

Robert found a listing for a giant baby stuff sale just a mile from the house, so I went with Isabelle this morning and bought baby clothes (we were short jeans and long-sleaved shirts) and toys like a little musical work bench. We also got a back pack so Robert can take her on his back when we go places.

What's Good About the Being Home

Both Isabelle and I are settline in a bit more today. I've made a list of the things I love about being home.

• Having Robert around. He's great fun to have around and we have a very easy, fun relationship. He's also a super parent with Isabelle, sharing all the caring when he's home.
• Driving my car!! I love driving and love having a stick shift. I love how wide and smooth the roads are.
• Not having to remember to use the filtered water for anything we eat. I kept looking for it on the sink yesterday and today any time I got a glass of water or made Isabelle's bottle. The same goes for being able to use the tap water when I brush my teeth.
• Being able to eat at any restaurant I want to and not wondering if I was going to pay for it later with gastric distress. Also, being able to eat fruits and vegetables without washing them with vegetable soap first.
• Being able to leave out food in the kitchen for more than a moment without having to cover it so the flies won't land on it.
• Having my own high chair so I don't need to base Isabelle's feeding times on when someone else will be using the high chair.
• Clean air (we have emissions and burning standards) and less noise (we have noise ordinances).
• No-one building a house next door.
• Did I mention being able to have Robert around?
• A really big house, and I can leave things out if I want to.
• Not as much humidity.

Things I still miss about Antigua:

• Being able to walk everywhere. It's made me appreciate the Portland area's high density regulations because there is more stuff in walking distance than other places I've lived (especially West Valley, Utah where not only couldn't you walk to things, but you had to drive 10 miles for most things - yuck!). I loved walking down the streets.
• How much the people in Guatemala love children. Almost no-one could be near Isabelle and not tell me how beautiful she was, ask her age and name, talk to her, and reach out and touch her. She's confused when we are near someone here and they don't do those things.
• How friendly the people are. Even though my Spanish was almost non-existant, they almost all tried to understand and help me and liked just talking. If I said hello to someone on the street, they said hello back.
• The smaller personal space. In Antigua, once I got used to having so many people so close, it was almost like a dance.
• Really cheap and fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Chicken buses and the drivers calling for passengers.
• The feel of being in the 50's or 60's in the US - no seat belts or seat belts only as a mild suggestions, nurses wear starched white uniforms with little pinned on "hats", big groups riding in the back of pickup trucks.
• Herds of Tuk Tuks on the roads.
• Amazing Chocolate from Chocotanango. I still have some that I got just before I left, but I'm almost out. I got several boxes as thank-you's for people here, but I may not have the will power not to break into them.
• Absolutely fabulous pastries. And these wonderful stacks of frosted sourdough donut holes that were sold in the oldest bakery (paneria) in Antigua.
• Women in all types of clothing. All the beautiful Mayan clothes
• The mix of people, from traditional Mayans to city people to business people to tourists.
• Gardens in the middle of houses.

1st Day Home

We got home with Isabelle at 2 am this morning, after spending more than 17 1/2 hours traveling or waiting in airports. Isabelle was really great, I was proud and amazed. I could see both times when we got on the plane and sat down in first class that all the people around us got that wary look you get when you've paid a lot for something and now expect you get to hear a baby screaming through it. And she can scream, oh my goodness. Robert says she's breaking glass somewhere when she screams and named her "Screech" on our second visit. Everyone at Casa Bella new her scream and when Terry was on the phone with her husband, if he couldn't hear Isabelle even though Terry was a floor away, he'd ask if Isabelle was okay. Normally her voice filled the house. But, not on the plane or in the airports. She slept some (I had given her a small dose of baby Tylonol for each flight so her ears wouldn't hurt when the cabin pressure changed) and smiled at the air servers and bounced on Dad's lap some.

Isabelle is making the transition better than I am. Today I found myself really missing Antigua and the people there. I got so used to the rhythm of our days when I was there that it felt odd not to get up and got for pastry, go for a long walk in the busy town in the afternoon, bargain at the market, hold Isabelle while many people we passed told me how pretty she was and that she was cold. It felt odd not to see Alba or Angelo or Ishmael or the Mayan women in the Parque Central who talked to me when I wouldn't buy things from them, or the man in "Pollo Asado" who sits in a chair all day and talks to the people who come in while his daughter fills their order of roasted chicken, or the men with one leg gone begging on the street or the hustle of the buses and their destination callers. Hillsboro feels silent and dull and unpopulated compared to Antigua and the people seem distant and not friendly with babies. We went to lunch at "Red Peppers" today so I could practice my Spanish, and I found I was really missing hearing Spanish and talking to people in it. I want to start taking lessons again here and practicing as soon as we get settled in, before the Spanish I learned starts to fade.

Isabelle loves Isbre and Tesla. She stares at them whenever she sees them. Tesla is unsure about Isabelle, but has calmed down since he figured out she can't move around much. Isbre is starting to warm up to her now that she realizes she gets to eat what Isabelle drops. Isabelle doesn't, of course, understand petting an animal so we're working on that. Or, at least not pulling out handfulls of hair.

Last Day Here - Sniff

The Last Monday in Guatemala

I can't really grasp that I'll be leaving here in 3 days. Having Robert here makes it more real, but still it just doesn't seem possible.

Isabelle is sitting at my feet playing with a pot and its lid, and the tie at the foot of my pajamas. She wasn't really interested in breakfast this morning, but just wanted a lot of juice to drink. I'm not sure why sometimes she likes lots of food, and sometimes not. If she's not hungry for food she generally makes up for it with formula, so it's not a problem, but just curious.

Shopping Wears Out Dad and Baby

Today, after I had a blissful late morning nap while Robert played with Isabelle, we went out on the town to shop. I'm not a big shopper so I haven't gotten much since I've been here. Today I started looking for the things I wanted to get before we leave or things I couldn't have gotten before. We got 2 t-shirts for Robert and I wanted him to choose ones he likes and that would fit him. We got a Christmas ornament since we get one every time we go on vacation. We got really cute crocheted finger puppet animals.

I don't know why shopping seems to sap the strength out of men, but it does.

Embassy Visit

Isabelle has a US visa!! We can't have it until next Tuesday, but it exists.

And, Robert is here. Yay!

Living on Guatemala Time

Today after my Spanish lesson and Isabelle's play session with Alba and Camila and after lunch and our nap, Isabelle and I went for a walk to the Artisan's market with Amanda, Maya, and Aleya. Amanda showed me where she got a large Mayan doll for her girls, so I bought one for Isabelle since she really likes her small Mayan doll already.

Then Isabelle and I went to the Parque Central and just hung out. Somehow today it felt different than other days, more like we were part of the scene rather than people watching it. I'm not sure what the difference was, I can't put my finger on it, but some of it must be being here for 3 months and some of it the gorgeous, sunny day and some of it that today was Children's Day in Guatemala so there were lots of kids around. Anyway, whatever it was, we were on Guatemala time for the day. We ate an orange with salt on it (I skipped the crushed roasted pumpkin seeds this time, although that does add a nice flavor to it), which Isabelle ADORES. She sticks her whole face in the orange and holds onto one of my fingers on the hand holding the orange so I need to pry her away from it.

We sat on a bench on the edge of the park and watched the world go by. The people hurrying from work to the buses. The families hanging out in the park and eating ice cream cones. The girl on a big wheel who kept circling the north end of the park. The tourists wandering by. The Mayan women selling to tourists from their big cloth bundles. The shoe-shine men with their tiny stools and their wooden shoe-shine kits hanging from straps on their shoulders. The school children in their uniforms. We didn't have anyplace we needed to be or anything we needed to do, so we just enjoyed the sunshine and the people.

Isabelle played in my bag and chewed on the plastic bag the doll was in and bounced on my legs and stood on the ground watched everyone that went by. Alba heard her growling today and called her "monstro", monster. It still cracks me up.

Two of the Mayan jewlery sellers came by and loved Isabelle and wanted to hold her. I let them, and they were so good with her. One sat her on her bundle and pointed out the colors on her shirt and Isabelle kept staring at the shirt and feeling it. They had to leave soon after, but the one lady kept waving goodbye to Isabelle as they walked away. A Mayan woman and a girl who sell from their bundles in the park and that I have talked to since I got to Antigua came by and talked for a while. They still make an attempt to sell me something when they come by, but after a moment or two they settle down just to talk for a few minutes about Isabelle and when we're leaving and simple stuff like that. They speak some English, and they're fun to talk to.

Marta sat next to me on the bench and talked about how evil husbands are when they make you wait and how expensive it is to live in Antigua and that there are not enough jobs.

On the way back from the park, an old woman with a hat and blanket around her shoulders and few teeth who was sitting on a step beside the sidewalk said something to me about Isabelle being pretty, so I stopped and said thanks. I love that all the people here just love the children and show it. Then she pointed to Isabelle's hatless head (because I have a heck of a time keeping a hat on her - she wants to pull it off and chew on it before dropping it on the sidewalk) and told me Isabelle was cold. Too sweet. Everyone here thinks she's too cold, except the tourist from Scotland who thought she must be too hot in long sleeves.

Saw Carlos (coffee tour guide and all-around cool guy) in the Market, he had a great vacation in South America and saw whales and penguins and lots of great spots. I told him how much I loved Antigua and he was pleased.

Thoughts on Guatemala: not enough health and dental care, too many people with leg injuries, it's like the US in the 50's. Families on motor cycles, 20 people in the back of a truck, usually laughing. Mothers and daughters holding hands or arms. Everyone saying hello if say it to them.

Terry Gone, Robert Coming

Terry left yesterday afternoon, after a morning of walking and sampling Antigua for the last time (for a while). It's great to see her going home finally with Tommy, but we will miss both of them.