Hotel Intercontinental - Medellin

Here are some pictures of our home away from home...

The fountain in the front of the hotel

The kiddie pool, larger pool and playground area

Below is the view of the pool from the spa and fitness center. The fitness center is open 24 hours and has really nice equipment (3 treadmills, 2 elliptical machines, weight machines as well as free weights, spin bikes, fitballs and an area for stretching). Medellin is at a much higher elevation so along with the heat and humidity, our workouts have been a little more challenging... that is when we get down to workout. Josh hasn't been able to train as much as he'd like but he's still doing great. One day he ran 10 miles on the treadmill and I honestly don't know how he did it.

Below are some pictures of our room. We have a suite that has a bedroom with a separate living room and kitchen area. Sam sleeps in a pack and play in our room and Joey sleeps on the roll away bed in the living room. This leads me to a funny story about the crib the hotel provided us with. The night we got here, we called to request a crib. The maintenance guy came up soon after we called with a rackety old crib that looked like it was from the 70's... definitely something we did not feel comfortable letting our baby sleep in. So after we picked up Sam from the orphanage, we went straight to Exito (which is similar to Walmart) and bought a pack and play for about $95 USD. Since we already have one at home and don't want to bother trying to bring it home on the plane, we will just donate it to the orphanage. The other family we met here did the same thing and also plans to donate theirs to the orphanage so it makes me wonder how many other families do the same thing... and how many pack and plays the orphanage has received over the years.

Below is our kitchen/ dining room which has been really nice to have. There's a microwave, small stove with 2 burners, sink and small fridge. The kitchen is stocked with pots and pans, plates, bowls, silverware, glasses and utensils for cooking. We've been to the grocery store a few times to buy things that are easy to make in our room which has helped us save some money.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the breakfast buffet is included with our room so that's where we eat breakfast each day. The buffet has a wide variety and is pretty good. They have pastries, 6 kinds of cold cereal, 6 or 7 different freshly squeezed juices (which are awesome), a variety of fresh fruits, pancakes, waffles, french toast, eggs, omlette station and several different Colombian dishes such as rice and beans, chorizo, plantains and chicken soup with vegetables. They also have a yogurt-type of drink which is really good.

There is a separate restaurant in the hotel that is open for dinner and there is also another great restaurant right across the street but both are pretty expensive so we try to limit going out to eat to 3 or 4 times a week at the most. There are also 3 different malls close by that have food courts so those are an option as well.

All in all we've really been happy with this hotel. The staff is very adoption friendly, the food is great and we've really enjoyed our time at the pool. Even our maid is great... she doesn't speak any English but happily smiles and pretends to understand Joey when he starts showing her his cars or talking to her about his brother. There are also 2 bellmen who speak really good English and greet us by name every time we see them.

Explora Park and Aquarium

Yesterday we went to Explora Park and Aquarium with Gloria and two other families who are here adopting. The one family is from Rochester, NY and they have a 2 1/2 year old daughter (Nina) and are here adopting a 7 month old little boy (Apollo) and the other family is from Denmark and they are here with their 3 year old son (Magnus) and are adopting a 6 month old boy (Tobias).

The park was a lot of fun, especially for Joey, Nina and Magnus. Outside the aquarium there were science exhibits which were mostly geared toward older kids... maybe 12 and older but the aquarium was perfect for the younger kids. Sam slept through almost the whole thing but Joey loved looking at all the different types of fish. They also had another exhibit which had snakes, spiders, lizards, frogs... not really my favorite part of the tour but as you can imagine, Joey thought it was pretty cool.

Joey and Nina

I tried to snap some photos of the fish but we weren't allowed to use a flash and it was pretty dark so the pictures didn't turn out the greatest but here are a couple of the better ones...

This frog was really cool... it was about the size of my thumb and I wouldn't normally describe a frog as cute but this one was cute so I just had to get a picture.

After we were done with the aquarium, we stopped for some refreshments...

Back at the hotel...

I don't think it will be long before Sam is walking. His legs are very strong and he's able to stand on his own for a short amount of time. I think at this point he just figures he can get from Point A to Point B alot faster by crawling.

Sam loves his daddy!!

It's crazy to think that we have already been here 10 days... the time has gone by so fast and we have really enjoyed Medellin so far. We have a list of things we want to see and do and have only managed to get through half of them so far. Sightseeing with 2 little kids definitely takes a lot of planning, flexibility and patience so we try to take at least 1 day in between outings so the boys can get their regular naps and try to keep them on some sort of schedule.

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Many people have asked how Joey is adjusting to everything and I have to say he's doing very well considering the circumstances. Not only does he have a new brother who gets lots of attention from mom and dad but he's also in a different country where everyone speaks funny, the food tastes different and it's just not the same watching Playhouse Disney in Spanish. He's been a little more sensitive than normal but otherwise has been really good. Josh and I have been trying to each spend some individual time with him whether it's taking him to the park, swimming or playing a game of Uno and I think that has helped. Joey is also starting to pick up a little Spanish and greets everyone in the morning with Hola or Buenos Dias and loves telling the waitress Gracias when she takes his plate. At home he's usually pretty shy around new people but for some reason he's not as shy with people here but the staff at the hotel gives him a lot of attention so that might be part of the reason.

ICBF Meeting at Casa de Maria

This morning we went back to Casa de Maria to meet with the ICBF Minor Defender to discuss the bonding process. Other people present at the meeting were a social worker and another employee from Casa de Maria as well as Gloria who was there to translate. They started off the meeting by asking us how everyone is adjusting. Then they went on to ask us what we have done to prepare for another child and how we have prepared Joey for becoming a big brother. They wanted Joey to tell them what he thinks about having a brother but he was being a little shy so they didn't push it. Sam was starting to get fussy so we took out his bottle and right away Joey wanted to help feed him. They seemed to really like the fact that Joey was so willing to help. Then they explained that the reason they have this meeting is to make sure the family is transitioning well and to provide assistance if necessary. All 3 people were very friendly and it was obvious that they truly care about the children and want what's best for them. Then they told us congratulations and that was about it. The whole meeting lasted about 10 or 15 minutes. Gloria's English is limited so the most difficult part was trying to keep our phrases short and simple so she could translate what we were saying. Sometimes it was hard to get our point across but everything must have translated okay because they seemed pleased with our answers and the ICBF official said he would write a favorable opinion and give it to our attorney to present to the court today. So now we just sit back, relax (yeah right) and wait...


After the meeting we were able to take a tour of the orphanage. We first went to the room Sam was in and met some of the caretakers and saw the crib he slept in. He seemed very happy to see everyone again and right away wanted to get down to play with his friends. It was so nice to see where he's been living the past year and to have pictures to show him as he gets older. After that, Gloria took us to see the lunchroom and kitchen where they make all their baby food from scratch. It was all very nice. Then we walked by the 1-3 year old room and all the little boys and girls came running up to greet us... they were so sweet but it was hard to see so many children without a family and I pray that they are all united with their forever families very soon.

Here is a picture of us with the ICBF official...

This was Sam's crib...

Outside play area...

Here are some pictures from the outside of the building...

Quick update on court

Gloria just called to inform us that we have been submitted to court #4, which our attorney says is good news. YAY!!! Now we are off to celebrate by going out to dinner with another family we met at the airport who is adopting a little boy from the same orphanage.

Medellin Zoo and El Tesoro

Today Gloria took us to the Medellin Zoo and El Tesoro Mall. Besides the fact that a few of the animals were a little on the skinny side, the zoo was pretty nice and had a wide variety of animals. Joey had an absolute blast and Sam enjoyed the stoller ride and even took a short nap. After the zoo, we stopped at one of the malls. It was really nice to get out of the hotel for the afternoon and see a bit more of the city. Tomorrow Gloria is going to take us to buy some souveniers and on Wednesday we go back to Casa de Maria to meet with ICBF officials to discuss how the bonding process is going. Then our attorney will have all of the legal documents needed to finalize the judicial process in court. Once everything has been submitted to court, we just sit back and wait for the judge to sign off. It could take a week or more... it just depends on how quickly the judge gets through all the documents. There are 13 family courts in Medellin and we were told by our agency that courts #2 and #9 have new judges and have been taking a lot longer to sign off so we are praying we do not get either of the new judges. We should find out which court has our paperwork either today or tomorrow. Once the judge has signed off, we will go to court to sign the final adoption decree and Sam will legally be our child! Then we will get a new birth certificate and passport. At that point, we will travel to Bogota, which is about a 1 hour flight from Medellin and visit the US Embassy doctor and apply for Sam's visa. The visa will be ready 24 hours later and then we are free to come home!!! The past week has gone by very quickly so we are hoping the rest of the time here goes by just as fast.

Here are some photos from the zoo...

The mall was very nice... much nicer than any mall in ND but most of the stores were high-end and very expensive so we just did some window shopping.

This was the view of Medellin from the upper floor of the mall.

Passing the time...

The past few days have been going pretty well. Sam is sleeping better and we're seeing more of his personality as he gets more comfortable with us. He's still not eating the greatest but each day we seem to find something new that he likes so I think it will just take a little bit of time and some trial and error. He absolutely loves papaya so we load up on it during breakfast (the hotel has a breakfast buffet that's included with our room). They also have a soup on the buffet that has chicken and vegetables and sometimes he'll eat that but otherwise he's not too crazy about meat or vegetables. He likes going for walks in the stroller and loves playing in the pool. We brought along an inflatable beach ball and that has given us hours of entertainment in the hotel room. We roll it across the room and he crawls after it... over and over and over! Here are a few pics from the past couple of days...

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Joey and Sam in their matching Buzz Lightyear pj's

Blowing kisses

All smiles


Joey is loving the pool as well. The hotel has a really nice kids pool as well as a larger pool. The first couple days he played in the kiddie pool but then yesterday he decided that that pool was for babies and he's a big boy so he needs to go to the big pool. With his floaties and noodle he will swim the width of the pool over and over and will also jump in. It's crazy considering he used to be afraid of the water.


We bought this inflatable car at the gift shop in our hotel and Sam just loves it. He spashes all over the place and isn't afraid to get his face wet.

Encuentro

On Wednesday, Gloria (our guide and translator), picked us up at about 10:00 am to bring us to Casa de Maria to meet Sam. Once we got there, we met with Raquel who is the director of the orphanage and she went over all of his medical information, personality traits, schedule and things like that. Then she left the room and a few minutes later walked in with Sam. He was much bigger than I was expecting, chubby and just plain adorable. It was an amazing moment and one that we will never forget.

Joey is so proud of his "big brother" status and enjoys introducing everyone to "his baby Sam." Sam is also very fond of Joey. He thinks he's hilarious and follows him everywhere. It's so fun to see them playing together and getting along so well... we are trying to enjoy the moment while it lasts!!

Here is the first picture of the new Belzer family of 4...

Joey couldn't wait to hold his little brother... even though his brother's not so little.

Daddy with his boys...

Joey kept giving Sam hugs and kisses... it was very sweet.

Our first night was a little rough. Sam was really restless and fussy and woke up about every 1-2 hours. He's been through so much already so I am not surprised at all that he had trouble sleeping but I also think he might be teething. We are hoping that tonight goes better. On the bright side, it's not like we have to go to work or anything so we have plenty of time to nap during the day.