Bye Bye Bogota

Our bags are packed and the kids are in bed so I thought I'd get in one more post from Colombia. Our time in Bogota has went by really fast. We've had various appointments each day so in between the appointments and naps, we haven't had a chance to do or see much here which is a little disappointing. Initially we were a hesitant about coming to Bogota but it's a lot different than I expected. It reminds me a lot of NYC or any other big city... there are some areas you should not visit and it's best not to go out alone after dark but if you use some common sense, you will be fine. Our hotel is in a very nice area and there are always people out walking, running, biking, etc. Yesterday we walked to the grocery store to get more formula and diapers and today we walked to an Artesan Market which was maybe a 15 minute walk from the hotel. Of course we bought way too much stuff at the market so now we have to figure out how to get it all home. We spent half of the night tonight rearranging our suitcases, weighing them and then shifting things around until all of our suitcases were under 50 lbs. Now... off to bed I go!

Visa Approved!

Last night Sam did not sleep well at all... he woke up every hour or two all night long. Luckily Joey managed to sleep through it all and surprisingly enough, they both woke up in a really good mood. Sylvia and Jaime picked us up at 8:00 as planned and we went straight to the ICBF office to pick up the Article 23 and complete a survey about our adoption experience. Josh and Sylvia went in while the rest of us waited in the van. As part of the survey, they asked for detailed information about how much we paid and who we paid the money to. I wasn't expecting them to ask us for that information so we went from memory and everything was fine but I don't like surprises so I wish I would've known that we were supposed to bring that information with.

After ICBF, we stopped at a photo place right outside the Embassy to get Sam's visa photo taken. It took them almost 15 minutes to get a photo of him because he kept smiling and this is one of those times where the photographer did not want him to smile. I think he was just in a really goofy mood and probably overtired because he just kept giggling, which made us all giggle which made him giggle even more. It was great! After that, we went to the Embassy and were able to bypass the long line of people waiting to get in (I think that was partly because we are Americans and also because we are adopting but I'm not quite sure). We waited about 15 minutes and then were called up to the window so the immigration officer could review all of our information. Then she asked us to go to the next window to pay for the visa which was $400. Then we waited another 15 minutes for them to call us up again to tell us that the visa has been approved and we can pick it up on Wednesday at 3:30. It was so easy and not stressful at all... and both Joey and Sam were on their best behavior which was a huge relief.

Once we were done at the Embassy, we stopped by an American Airlines office to change our reservations to Thursday. We knew there was going to be a $215 change fee per ticket so we were hoping to persuade them to waive the fees but they were only willing to waive one of the fees so we still ended up paying $430 to change our tickets but I guess that's better than paying $645. So we are leaving Thursday morning at 7:35 am and were told to be at the airport 3 hours early which means we will need to leave the hotel by 4:00 am! We are scheduled to arrive home at 9:50 pm so it will be a very long day but we can't wait to get home.

Bogota - Embassy Doctor

We left for Bogota at about 10:30 this morning. It was a quick 40 minute flight and Sam's first time on a plane. On a scale of 1-10, I would say he was about a 7. I thought he would sleep but no such luck. And if he's not sleeping, he really doesn't like to sit still so I think he just wanted to get down and check things out. It was good that we were able to test the waters with a short flight before the long flight on Thursday. We got off the plane, picked up our luggage and found Silvia and Jaime from Gladney waiting for us. They brought us to our hotel, we had some lunch and then took Sam to see the US Embassy doctor. He looked through all of the medical information from Casa de Maria, did a quick exam, filled out some paperwork and that was it. After making some small talk with him, we found out he briefly worked at the hospital in Minot about 30 years ago... talk about a small world.

The place we're staying at in Bogota is not as nice as the Intercontinental but has a very home-like atmosphere which is a nice change. Everyone has their own room with bathroom and a shared living space which includes two living/family rooms, a kitchen and dining room, play room, office and outside play area with a swing set and slide. The staff is all very friendly and the food so far has been wonderful. All of our drinks and meals are included with our room so it's nice to not have to worry about getting groceries or going out to eat every day. Not too long after we arrived, Joey wanted something to drink so I went to the kitchen to ask for a glass of juice (thinking they would open the fridge and pour him a glass). Instead they started shuffling around the kitchen and I soon realized they were making him fresh mango juice. Talk about great service... and he loved it!

Tomorrow Silvia will be picking us up at 8:00 am and we will stop by the ICBF office to pick up the Article 23 on our way to the US Embassy. Luckily both boys went to bed before 8:00 tonight so I am hoping they sleep okay since it will be an early morning for all of us and probably another long, busy day.

Mother's Day

Today was a very special Mother's Day because I was able to spend it with both of my children and my amazing husband. We started our day by going to the Catholic mass at the hotel. We got there early to make sure we were able to get a seat and it's a good thing we did because it was packed... over 1,000 people were there! After that, we went to a special Mother's Day dinner at the hotel. They had a live band, tons of food and amazing desserts. Everything moves at a slower pace here so we ended up going to lunch at 12:30, eating around 2:00 and leaving at about 3:30. Thankfully the kids behaved (for the most part) and they were able to get in a nap once we got back to the room.

Now our bags are packed and we have said our goodbyes to Gloria, Blanca, Hernan and most of the hotel staff as well as our new friends Kim and Paul... whom we are hoping to see again in Bogota. We are anxious to get home but at the same time are feeling a little sad to be leaving Medellin. Everyone here has been so great and we have felt very welcome in Colombia. I really hope we can come back to visit again someday.

The Mariachi Band

The weather has been amazing the last few days... warm, sunny and a slight breeze but today the views were the best I have seen since we arrived... I am really going to miss this place!!

Bogota... here we come!!

Day 19

It's day 19 and I think we are all ready to come home. The past week has been a little hard on Joey. I think he's slowly starting to realize that Sam is now a part of our family and he's having a hard time with the fact that Sam is getting so much attention from mom and dad. We are seeing a lot of pouting and acting out that we are not used to seeing with Joey but I'm hoping it's just a phase and things will eventually get better once we get home. I also think both Sam and Joey are getting a little bored at the hotel. I didn't bring that many toys so we are running out of ideas to keep the kids entertained when we are in our room. The place we are staying in Bogota is not a hotel but rather a bed and breakfast type place that caters to adoptive families. I've heard it's not as nice as the Intercontinental but it looks like they have toys and other things for kids so hopefully the boys will like it there.

Sam has been doing great the past couple of weeks. He really seems to be adjusting well to his new surroundings. He's been sleeping through the night and he loves to eat (in case you couldn't tell from the photos). I've been keeping a list of some of his favorite things:

• His favorite foods are papaya, bananas, waffles, graham crackers, cheese and of course his bottle of formula. The only baby foods they really sell in the stores here are fruit so Kim gave me some of the vegetables that they brought and he really likes the winter squash and peas with brown rice. He has 4 teeth on top and 4 on the bottom so we try to feed him as much normal food as we can and he does pretty well with chewing it up.
• His favorite comfort item is the stuffed puppy we sent him. He likes to snuggle up with it whenever he gets tired. It has a little tag on it which he likes to put up to his mouth and make this sucking noise... it's really funny and I don't think I've ever seen another baby do that before.
• His favorite toys are balls and trucks.
• He loves taking baths and splashing in the pool and he's not afraid to get his face wet.
• He likes it when we go sit outside the excercise room because they are always playing music and he loves to listen to music and watch the people walk by.
• He likes riding in the stroller but gets mad when we stop moving.
• He is an explorer and loves to see what he can get into... drawers, suitcases, whatever he can find. He also likes to hide things under the couch so if we are missing anything... a toy, socks, diapers... we can usually find what we are looking for under the couch.
• He loves Colombian women!! All of the women we've seen at the hotel and while we are out and about give him so much attention and he loves every minute of it. He's quite the little charmer... much like his big brother.

Last weekend, the hotel hosted a Latin Arabian belly dancing competition. There were lots of pretty girls with beautiful costumes. One morning they were practicing their dancing in the gym so we watched them for a little while. The boys loved it... they would both clap after each dance and I was hoping the girls didn't understand English because Joey kept telling me "Look mommy! Those girls are shaking their booties!"

Pueblito Paisa

Today we went to Pueblito Paisa which is a replica of a typical rural Colombia Village complete with a small house, school, church and barber shop. They also had small gift shops with handmade Colombian goods and a beautiful view of Medellin. It was a really neat place and there weren't too many people there so the kids were able to run around and play.

Below is a picture of Joey and Sam with Gloria at the hotel before we left for Paisa. Joey loves Gloria and gets so excited every time I tell him we are going somewhere with her. She is so sweet... yesterday she pulled me aside to tell me that she loves all children but Joey really has a special place in her heart and kept telling me how sweet he is. We have really enjoyed working with Gloria... it's so obvious that she loves what she does.

Pueblito Paisa

Here are some of the views of Medellin.

This bus reminds me of the buses in Guatemala

Adoption Day

I'm a little behind on my blogging but both boys are napping now so hopefully I can get caught up before they wake up...

Yesterday was our Sentencia which is the day we signed the adoption decree. Gloria picked us up in a taxi at 7:45 am and let me tell you... it wasn't easy getting everyone up, dressed and fed that early but somehow we managed to do it. We drove straight to the courthouse and had to wait in line for about 15 minutes to get into the courthouse. Then we went upstairs to Family Court #4 and our attorney, Hernan, was waiting for us at the window. We had to wait for another 20 or 30 minutes before signing the adoption decree. It was a fairly simple process but the waiting area was really crowded and very warm so both of the boys were starting to get a little cranky. Then Hernan said he was going to get a cake and that we would bring it to the judge. I was really excited because we were intially told we would not be able to meet the judge. So a few minutes later he came back with the cake and we were allowed to go back to the judge's office to meet her and thank her for everything. The language barrier made it a little difficult to communicate but she was really sweet and kept saying how happy she was that we chose to adopt from Colombia. Then we had some cake, took some pictures and said goodbye. Poor Joey was so confused as to what we were doing... we told him we were celebrating a very special family day so he assumed it was somebody's birthday and kept asking when we were going to sing Happy Birthday. It was pretty funny. Below is a picture of us with the judge, Hernan and Gloria (Joey was busy eating cake)...

Outside the courthouse (Josh and I look like giants next to our attorney)

Once we were done at the courthouse we took another taxi to the Civil Registry & Notary office to obtain a new birth certificate. We all managed to fit in one tiny little taxi and I wish we would've thought to take a picture. The taxi was about the size of a Geo Metro and Josh sat in the front while Hernan, Sam, Joey, Gloria and I all sat in the backseat. Luckily we didn't have too far to go. The Notary was not in the nicest area and it was a tiny little office with no air conditioning or airflow whatsoever and we ended up waiting almost an hour... not fun!! At one point we had 2 screaming little boys... we were "those" people with "those" kids. After we got the new birth certificate, we crammed into another taxi to go to the Passport office to obtain Sam's Colombian passport. Luckily Gloria has connections so she asked the lady there if she could rush the passport because the baby was tired so we only ended up waiting about 20 minutes. We were back to the hotel by 11:30 am and to say we were exhausted would be an understatement.

Here is the government building where we got the passport. The government buildings were very nice and it's not uncommon to see sculptures like this in front of the buildings.

My poor baby was so tired

Later that afternoon, Josh and Gloria went to Exito to purchase our tickets to Bogota. Once again Gloria used her connections and got our tickets for half price (about $60 each). We decided to stay in Medellin for the weekend and leave for Bogota on Monday. Once we get to Bogota, we will take Sam to the Embassy doctor and also go to the ICBF office to pick up an additional document which is needed for the visa. Then Tuesday morning we will go to the US Embassy to apply for Sam's visa. The visa will be ready by 3:00 on Wednesday afternoon. If all goes as planned we will be on a plane headed back to the US on Thursday morning!!

We decided to go out for dinner and drinks last night with Kim and Paul and their family to celebrate our big day. Here is Joey getting ready to chow down...

The Fogon de Piedra is best known for their hot stone meals. You order the meal you want and they serve it to you on a platter with a hot stone in the middle where you cook your own meat. Then they have all the side dishes and various sauces on the side. Josh and I both ordered a fajita type meal with steak, chicken, various peppers, cheese, beans and corn tortillas. It was delicious!!

Joey thought it was hilarious that his mom and dad had to wear a bib...