Trying a video

The last day

As I sit in the hall to type this, Bobby is sleeping. They will be here to pick him up in about 45 minutes. We thought about waking him up, but don't want to hand over a cranky baby.

I have been tearing up all day. Every time I do something, I'm reminding myself that it's the last time that I'll do that. I figure I'll get one more diaper change. lol. I gave the last feeding to Bob.

We didn't do much today. Bobby woke up at 4:00 for a bottle, then back to sleep until 8:30. Then we had breakfast, hung out in the hotel lobby, and went to the pool. Oh yes, we went to the hotel mall. Bobby fell asleep in the stroller for about 30 minutes.

Here are today's photos.

More visit photos

Our trip, Days 2 and 3

After Bobby woke up from his nap yesterday, we got dressed and went to the pool. The kiddy pool was too cold for us, but there were three jacuzzis, cold, medium and hot. We hung out in the medium one for quite a while. He had a great time splashing in the bubbles and trying to eat the leaves from the trees that dipped nearly into the pools. As we were sitting in the jacuzzi, we met Phil and Sofia. On the adoption.com forums, a woman posted asking if anyone would be at our hotel when we were. I replied and she told me that her husband was coming down to visit their daughter and would love to have some folks to hang out with. So, they found us at the pool. Later on, after Sofia had returned to her foster mom's for the night, Phil joined us for a very good dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Bobby had a harder time settling down last night. I think it's because it was past 8:30 when we got back from dinner, so it was too late for his regular bath. After about an hour, Daddy finally got him settled down and to sleep some time before 10:00. Then he slept soundly in his crib until 8:30 this morning. I on the other hand, woke up about 3:00 listening for him to wake up for a bottle. But I eventually got back to sleep too.

We had breakfast at the buffet again this morning, then walked around the mall that is part of the hotel. We didn't buy anything. Later, we met Phil and Sofia again and we hung out at the jacuzzi for a while. Now, Daddy is trying to get Bobby back down for a nap as I sit in the lobby typing. The internet access in our room is just too painfully slow.

Trying for more photos

Our trip, Days 1 and 2

Friday, our travel day, was long and very tiring. We were a bit late leaving Baltimore, but got to DFW on time to make our 5:15 flight to Guatemala City. We got on the plane and sat, and sat, and sat. Eventually, they told us that the plane was 1,200 lbs over Guatemala City airport's landing restrictions. There was a delay as they decided whether to unload some cargo, some passengers, or burn some extra fuel. The extra fuel option was chosen, so we flew at a lower altitude. This made it slightly bumpier, but not too bad. We got into Guatemala City at about 9:15pm, 45 minutes late.

We were met by our shuttle bus driver, who was accompanied by two uniformed armed guards. It was a tad disconcerting, but after all, it was fairly late at night. It was about a 15 minute ride to the hotel. The hotel is beautiful! The lobby is a nine story atrium. Our room is on the 8th floor, so we have some great photos looking down into it. It's a nice room, except our wireless internet access is very tempermental. The access point is close, but we only get a signal in part of the room. Right now, the laptop is sitting on the bed and I'm sitting on a footstool next to it. We also have access in the bathroom, but I really don't want to sit on the john and type!

We woke up early yesterday and went to a very nice buffet breakfast here in the hotel. We were anxious, because we never did get a response to our email about when the baby would be brought to us. So, we waited and paced and waited and paced some more. Finally, at 2:00pm, I couldn't wait any more and called the lawyer. It turns out she forgot (arg!!!) so she called the facilitator who called the family (who knew nothing about the visit!) and told them to get down here. They arrived about an hour later, but there was no translator. We found one of the bellman, who was originally from Chicago, to translate for us.

When the taxi pulled up, I just knew it was them. I recognized the foster mom from the photos I have of Bobby at four days old. Except, she was much smaller in person. She's very tiny and very sweet. She brough along her daughter, who is about 11, who is like a second mommy to the baby. She was truly heartbroken just to leave Bobby for a few days. I was pretty upset that they had absolutely no notice or time to prepare for this! We sat and chatted for nearly an hour. They told me all about Bobby's schedule and what he likes to do. We told them about the name change. The foster mom was the one that orignally named the baby. Marvin, after a previous foster child, Estuardo, after her biological son. She was very pleased that we were keeping Estuardo.

After our visit, we continued to sit in the lobby with the baby and take pictures. He had a bottle and fell asleep in my arms for about 1.5 hours. After that, we came upstairs and put him on our bed. Imagine our surprise when he immediately rolled over and crawled up to the top of the bed, where he pulled himself up to standing. We knew he could pull up, but I didn't expect the crawling. He's fast too! No taking our eyes off of him for a second.

He kept right on his schedule. He got a bath about 8:30 followed by a bottle, and then he fell asleep. He slept for about an hour and a half in the portacrib until I started washing bottles, which woke him up. We brought him into bed with us and we all finally settled down and fell asleep around 11:00. He woke up at 3:00 for a bottle, then right back to sleep until about 8:30 this morning. That's certainly one of the benefits of an older baby. We all got a good night's sleep.

This morning, he was so happy, crawling all over the place and playing with his toys. We finally went down to breakfast around 10:15. Bob and I took turns holding him and eating. He fell asleep in the restaurant and we came back to the room and put him down. He's been sleeping about an hour, but is showing signs of stirring, so I better wrap this up.

He is a wonderful baby. Happy and very interested in what's going on around him. We do have to work pretty hard for smiles and so far only a few giggles, but he seems to be entertained by our antics. After he wakes, we're planning on going down to the pool. We're supposed to meet another dad with his adoptive daughter later this afternoon.

I'm having some problems with my ftp server and photos, but we'll try to work around it (Bob and I are both geeks after all) to get some more pictures up soon.

Finally he's in our arms.

Just photos for now more to come.

Photos!!!!

Here are the latest photos. I'm counting down the days until I get to hold him. I spent lunchtime yesterday shopping for 12 month size clothes! I still can't believe it.