Sweet dreams... or just plain weird ones...

Well, while it looks like we will have internet access until we leave the hotel at noon tomorrow, we're not sure if we'll be able to post again. We're hoping to post from the Charlotte Airport again, but just in case, we figured we'd leave you with a post for the night.

There must have been something in those nachos besides food poisoning, because Melissa and I both have had some bizarre dreams over the last couple of nights. Melissa's dream was that we were hanging out with Bill, Tori and Julian, and Melissa kept misplacing Aden. Finally, Tori gave Melissa a french bread bag (with the bread still in it) to put Aden in, so she'd remember where he was.

I dreamt that I was in the basement of the Guatemala City Marriott to do some laundry (side note: you can't do your own laundry here - you have to send it out), when I saw three men huddled around what looked like a main computer router. I started to walk past them when I realized that one of them was our friend Chris, Wendy's husband. So I asked him what he was doing here, and he became very cagey - after some odd small talk, I realized that he must be involved in international espionage. Of course, I woke up before I could find out what was worth spying on in the Guatemala Marriott.

And with that, we wish you all sweet dreams... and who knows? When we blog next, it may be on American soil...

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

That's right - Aden decided that today was the day to step up his game. He figured out how to clamber up the stairs! Or, actually, how to clamber up A stair. He hasn't made it further than a single stair yet... but I'm sure that the rest won't be far behind.

But that's not the half of it - he's already proving himself to be a cunning strategist. You see, whenever he's doing something mischevious now, he makes the "kissy fish" face, which clearly demonstrates that he has sized us up as being suckers who will let him get away with almost anything if he looks cute enough.

Which is, unfortunately, kind of true.

We're in serious trouble, of the cutest kind.

I was poisoned by nachos...but now there's only one more day to go!!

Well, after 12 hours of vomiting and 12 hours of recovering, I am pleased to report that I am feeling much better--with better being a relative term. Today is our last day...and for me, it cannot pass fast enough. Maybe I am just bitter about being poisoned by nachos (a sacred food). Or maybe I just miss my tempurpedic mattress. But you know you are almost crazy when going to a third world country's airport (with an infant) sounds better than another day at the Marriot. One more deep fried meat cigar (small tortillas stuffed with mystery meat, wrapped, then fried) and I am going to kill someone.

So, today we start packing and count the hours to noon tomorrow when our shuttle to the airport leaves. I am willing to pass the time by any means necessary...dreaming about what food I will eat this weekend, Aden's first trip to the doctors on Friday, lots o' champagne with Tori, Bill and Jess, and our first play date with baby Julian and the Carrington Street crew. Of course, I already spend way too much time dreaming about our reunion with Nugget (our 85 lb golden dog-child).

More pictures below. Aden had peaches for the first time today. the picture speaks for itself.

Phototasticaliciousness

Melissa's not feeling so hot, so she's sleeping right now, and Aden is in the middle of his epic mid-day nap, and I'm waiting for the call that Aden's travel docs are here... so it's the perfect time to post some more photos! There's no real rhyme or reason - these are just a few that I've been meaning to post but hadn't had the chance yet...

Although, now that I look at them, a couple of them definitely fall into the "threaten to show these to his friends when Aden becomes a surly teenager" category...

Goodness gracious, great balls of fire

I meant to post this photo a couple of days ago. One amazing thing about the view from our hotel room is the volcanoes that dominate the horizon - there are three or four of them visible from our room. I got this shot on an unusually clear morning, when clouds weren't covering this one. It's pretty awesome when you can see the top of it.

Around that time, I overheard a conversation between an American tourist and a hotel employee in the executive lounge, where I forage for coffee every morning. The American was in the middle of saying "... so do you get any snow on these mountains? 'Cuz it seems that if you did, you could make some good money by setting up some ski resorts out here."

The hotel employee laughed and replied "Oh no, sir - there is no snow at the top of the volcanoes!"

"Volcanoes? Really? Wait 'till I tell my wife you've got dried-up volcanoes out here. She'll get a kick out of that!"

Again, the employee laughed "Oh no sir - they are not extinct. They are very much active - every two years or so one will erupt. It is very exciting - everyone comes out with their cameras to take pictures."

The tourist seemed a bit taken aback by that, and I left with my coffee.

Bjornin' it

This morning, I figured we'd give Melissa a little extra time to sleep in, loaded Aden into our Baby Bjorn (for those not keeping up on their baby paraphenalia, it's a front-loading baby carrier... kind of like a reverse backpack with holes for his legs to pop through), and went out to scavenge up some coffee. Aden's been great in the Bjorn - we've gone out a couple of times, to get him used to it - so I figured that I'd try to take a picture of us for the historical record.

Anyone who's ever tried to take a picture of themselves knows that it's not an easy process... add a baby strapped to your front and, well, let's just say that this is the best shot that I was able to get.

Free-range Monkey!!

Well, the big day came. And it's official - Aden's visa has been approved! We're just waiting for the delivery of the actual papers, which we will receive tomorrow afternoon. Once we land in Charlotte, we'll be given the papers to apply for his citizenship. Good stuff.

Today was simultaneously weirder and more mundane than we had expected. We received a call last night, saying that our appointment would be at 7:30, so we should meet someone from our lawyer's family in the lobby at 7:00 (it's a family busines, so they all help out - the husband and two of the sons are runners, and the third son is a lawyer as well, and works on cases for his mother, who seems to run the show). So, to make sure that we'd have time to get everything together, we set the alarm clocks for 5:30...

... and barely slept a wink. Needless to say, 5:30 came fast. We got up, got ready, got Aden ready - even had time to grab a cup of coffee and some toast before heading back to our room to wait for the call to come down... and we waited... and waited... finally, at 7:15, we received a call from one of the lawyer's sons - some of the paperwork wasn't completely filled out, so he was finishing it up now (!). I was a little worried, but he sounded completely cavalier. He said that our appointment wasn't actually until 8, so he'd be there by 7:30.

7:30 came, and still no call... so I called him. Thankfully, he was in the lobby. Time to go! We headed down to find him buying his breakfast in the coffee shop. He showed us out to the car that would take us to the embassy - a beat up red jalopy of a pickup truck. Did I mention that this brother is actually a pineapple farmer? He runs errands like ours on the side. We all clambered in (no child seat, of course), and he pulled out into traffic, eating his breakfast and talking a mile a minute. There was no need to worry, he said, zipping through traffic - the embassy was close by, and we wouldn't miss our appointment: 8:00 was just when they'd open the doors to the adoptive families. Our place in line had already been determined - he pointed to our pink appointment slip: family #29, out of 35.

He was right about the distance - we were there in a matter of minutes. He dropped us off while he parked the truck. It was quite a scene in the embassy courtyard - adoptive families, would-be immigrant families, food-vendors and random merchants all rubbed shoulders. Thankfully, our representative showed up soon and showed us where the line for adoptions was.

We stood in line for a while, chatting. Periodically, our rep's father, who was there with another family, would come back to talk to his son. The first time, we found out that the embassy wouldn't be letting any of us in until 8:30. The second time, it was to catch up - turns out that two dead bodies had been found near his house last night. When we asked the son how the people had died, he shook his head and cocked his hand like a gun.

Finally, the doors opened and our line slowly started moving. We got inside, found a place to wait, and did just that: waited. And waited. And waited. Turns out that there were really only two interactions that we needed to be there for: the first, to meet with an embassy employee who would review our paperwork and make sure that everything was in place. The second, to meet with another employee who would ask us a few perfunctory questions to make sure that our story matched up with the paperwork. In between, our lawyer's rep took care of getting Aden's new American passport set up. But that was really it - a whole lot of waiting for our names to be called, in a tiny room crowded with other people in the same boat as well as other people wanting just to get ON a boat (well, o.k. - a plane). All told, we were in the embassy for three hours, and dealt with actual embassy employees for maybe five minutes. It was a lot like the DMV.

We had forgotten to pack a bottle, but Aden was amazingly good, even though we went way past his regular feeding time. Frankly, he was a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. We brought him a couple of smaller toys, and he gladly sucked and chewed on those for a while (the little guy was a fountain of drool), and then passed out for a while. He didn't really fuss at all the whole time, which was reassuring, since it was our first time out and about in such a high-traffic / long wait area with him.

When we finally got back to the hotel room, we were all drained. Bottles were prepared, naps were taken, playtimes were had, more naps were taken, and we're only now beginning to feel human again. But no matter how out-of-whack we were upon getting back, there was a huge undercurrent of excitement: our little dude is all but ready to come back to the states.

Houston, we have begun the countdown for re-entry. And we've got a Free-range Monkey with us who's looking forward to exploring his new life.

Happy Birthday Grammy Barbara!

Mommy says she never forgets your birthday because when she was a teenager your ATM passcode was the same as your birthdate. So, everytime she suckered you out of $20 bucks a secret reminder of your birthday deeply penetrated her subconscious. We wish we were there to celebrate with you. I will smear some peaches into my hair tonight as an act of celebration.

Bizarro rock

So, for your breaking up-to-the-minute news here in Guatemala City, the music has changed over at the park from Euro-techno to cover bands doing what sounds like bizarro-world renditions of 50's and 60's music. The only song that we've been able to identify for sure is "I Only Want to Be With You." So far, all of the bands are the same in that the guitarist sort of knows the chords, but not how to tune his guitar, and the vocalist sort of knows the melody but can't hit the high notes. It makes me glad that we have a bunch of songs loaded up on Melissa's iTunes, so the music in the park isn't Aden's first exposure to rock n' roll.

At the moment, his musical faves include the more upbeat numbers by Belle & Sebastian (fey English pop), Cheap Trick, Brother Ali (indie rap from Minneapolis), and The Figgs (Kinks-inspired power pop). Oh, and he thinks it's hilarious when I sing him the riff to Led Zeppelin's "Imigrant Song" (even though we are far from "The land of ice and snow"), and when Melissa and I do our not-so-synchronized dance routine to "Whip It" by Devo.

I have to admit, our Devo impression is pretty dang funny.

Over the Hump

Yes, there were fireworks again last night and today there is another party in the "plaza" across from our hotel. Think dirt arena with vendors set up around it and really loud techno latin music. These people throw down!

Well, today is Sunday...which means that we've been in room 1157 at the Marriot for 4.5 days. Good news is that we are over the hump and we have only 4 more days here and then we travel home on Thursday (yay!). Tomorrow will be an exciting day. We must meet our translator Oscar in the lobby at 6:30am tomorrow morning. He will then take us to the embassy for our appointment. The embassy agent will interview us, check our papers, and then on tuesday afternoon, issue Aden's Visa. Wednesday we are technically free to go, but there are no flights into Providence that day, so that's why were are here until Thursday. Because we have visited Aden before, he will be an American citizen the minute his little feet touch the tarmac in Charlotte, North Carolina. The newest little american! How cool is that? We will have to spend an extra few minutes in imigration at Charlotte, but everyone we have spoken to says that the agents there are very friendly and welcoming. I sure hope so...because I have had my fill of annoying government types.

Aden's so energetic--a boy through and through. I am not too worried about the plane, though, as he seldom cries. It was relatively affordable to fly first class from Guatemala to Charlotte, so we have lots of extra space and easy access to a lavatory and things like warm water. Baby flies in style!

Lastly, this morning was a big one for chef mommy. i went crazy and mixed oatmeal cereal with a jar of apple banana sauce. He ate 6 oz of food in one sitting. doesn't sound like much, but it filled his little baby bowl. he really liked it. tomorrow we move to peaches and plums. His repetoire is expanding quickly. won't be long before he is ordering the 8 course tasting menu at Gracies. Foie Gras anyone?

We'll let you know how the embassy appointment (and the ride to an fro) goes. I am sure that there will be some wild stories to tell.

One request: Please pray to the television gods that today's CSI episode will be a new one ;-)

Educated baby

OUR son only reads The New York Times...

... admittedly, it's actually The Times Digest, and he'd rather chew on it than read it, but come on, people - he's got to start somewhere!

Case in point, re: toys

Not to give away the punchline to the post below, but this is what Aden spent the last half hour doing.

Spoon Versus Manhattan Baby

Manhattan baby makes killer toys. Colorful, stimulating, and pitifully pleasing to the yuppie aesthetic. I know this because we have a bag of them here. Aden is fond of them. The same way he is fond of the garbage can, the uncovered electical outlets, the coffee table, and yanking out clumps of my hair. In general, he likes all toys, whether they are attached to my body or not.

Interesting thing...Given a choice, Aden will faithfully choose his favorite toy among the plethora of Manhattan Toy options we offer him. Does he choose the "sensory boosting stuffed rhino"? No. Does he choose the "taggie aligator?" No. Does he choose the "crinkle puppy texture doll?" How about the "mirrored multi-colored hamburger shaped "play disk?" Um, no. There is one toy far superior to all of these. And it's not the sateen rattle stuffed dinosaur he used to love. it's the blue plastic coated gerber baby spoon I got for fifty cents at Kohls last week. If the blue spoon is not available, the pink spoon will do, but blue is definitely best. It is a drum stick, a teething toy, good for rubbing on the floor. good for passing hand to hand. sometimes even good for eating! (side note: yesterday we introduced corn, winter squash, oatmeal, apples, and cinnamon. Today we snuck in some carrots too).

I would be remiss if I did not mention the other favorite toys: a clean diaper to chew on, the desitin tube, daddy's stockpile of digital wizzy wigs, socks, and board books. Yesterday he licked the bottom of my Vans (sneakers) so obviously those are hot right now. Oh, and the empty water bottle. God forbid I forget the empty water bottle. Playtime is fun.

Drunken Monkey 2: Return of the Monkey

Yep, you'd think that by now we'd have learned at least one rule of parenting: know when to leave well enough alone. But sometimes, for us experiental learners, you've got repeat a mistake three or four (bajillion) times before the lesson sinks in.

Yesterday was going amazingly smoothly: textbook-smooth, even. We had gotten into a groove. Feeding? Check. Solo playtime? Check. Group playtime? Check. Giant nap for everyone? Check. We even took some time to walk Aden around in his Baby Bjorn, so he could get used to it, and we could see the hotel (hint for travelers to Guatemala City: there's not a whole heck of a lot to see in the hotel). So maybe we can chalk this all up to feeling flushed with success. Pride goeth before a fall. That sort of thing.

Anyhow, around 6:30, we gave him his bottle, which he sucked down like a champ. And then he passed out. Simple as that: eat, conk out. Perfect!

But the thing of it is, a sleeping baby is like a custard. You have to let it sit. And don't open the oven door too fast! (or is that a flan? a popover? souffle? you get the idea.) When Aden is out cold, you could drive a tank by his head and he wouldn't notice. So we figured that it would be safe to move him from our bed, where he had passed out, to his crib. Bad move, folks. Within seconds, he was 100% back to awake. We tried being quiet and rocking him (he laughed, and bounced up and down like we were giving him a ride), we tried dimming the lights, we tried singing, all to no avail. Drunken Monkey was back in action.

The one upside was that, without his PCP-laced bananas, he was something of a new Drunken Monkey. Like he was drunk on Schlitz instead of Jagermeister - not quite as frantic, though still full of slapstick antics. His big new move this time was the fishy-kiss face. He blew air kisses! Over and over and over again. He thought it was totally hilarious. Of course, the fact that we had given in to the hilarity and were blowing air-kisses back probably didn't hurt. Sadly, the fishy-kiss face proved too elusive to catch on film, so there are no pictures of this just yet - we're hoping that it will make another appearance sometime soon.

Anyhow, after two hours of blowing kisses and falling around like a miniature Benny Hill, Aden's energy finally subsided to the point that we really could rock him to sleep. The upside of the whole episode was that he didn't wake up at all for the rest of the night, and slept in until 6:30! Bliss!

They dig the fireworks down here

Say what you will about Guatemala City, they know how to throw a party. Once again, three blocks from our hotel: drumming! dancing! fireworks! more dancing! more fireworks!

If Wren's theory is right, they're REALLY psyched that we're here to take Aden home.

Peas (no) & Cookies (yes)

Um...let the pictures speak for themselves. I just can't imagine why pureed unseasoned greenish brown smelly peas wouldn't be a smash hit with the kid who, for the last 10 months, has been been eating vanilla flavored rice cereal and formula where the first ingredient is corn syrup :-) And surprise, cookies were an instant favorite. huh, what a riddle that is.

Today's been text book...6:15 wake up and breakfast, peas and cookies around 9, tubby time to get rid of the cookie crud at 9:30, bottle at 10, and a glorious three hour nap for all of us at 10:30. I am guessing this is too good to hold for the next twelve hours, so we are fueling up for a return performance from Drunken Monkey. I did not know that a woman could look forward this much to a single glass of red wine and being asleep by 9pm. Par-tay on.

Of boot camp and drunken monkeys

This morning was the first in which I woke up and officially felt broken. Everything hurts, even my eyeballs. I feel like I'm in boot camp, with a tiny little drill sargeant, who can't really stand on his own and issues his commands in high-pitched gibberish, but still demands absolute respect. "You will respect my author-o-TAY!!!!"

Going to bed last night turned into a 2 and a half hour comedy (or tragedy) event. Aden had been zipping about all day long, and taken one nice long nap in the morning. So we figured that we were in for an easy night. A no-brainer. Right? Wrong!

In hindsight, we made two major tactical errors: 1) Aden took a mini-nap around 4:30, and then 2) we fed him sweet potoato & banana baby food after he woke up. Now, I know that the last one might not seem like such a big deal (it sure didn't to us), but that's when things went really wrong. It was as if the organic hippies who make the food we brought had spiked that stuff with Red Bull. Or PCP. Aden suddenly went manic, alternating between wild bursts of energy and complete exhaustion. We tried every bedtime trick in the book to get him to settle down, from rocking and singing to leaving him in the crib to let him "work it out" (spoiler to the shocking ending: he didn't work it out).

Finally, we entered the final chapter, which shall forever be known as "The Drunken Monkey Incident." Melissa and I were so beat ourselves that we crashed out on the bed with Aden between us, and just watched the comedy carnage. For a solid half hour, Aden did his best impression of a tiny little man on a Jagermeister bender - manically trying to climb up on us, falling on his face, trying to stand but not being able to lift his head off the bed, spouting gibberish at a mile a minute, waving his arms in the air, smacking himself in the face, and generally acting like (to quote Amy from Schwa) he had "flipped his burger." We just looked at each other, mutely shocked at the insane juggernaut our cute little baby had mutated into.

Finally, when he began to slow down (i.e. when the craziness started coming in waves, and it took him a whole ten seconds to begin another spazz attack) Melissa made her move. It was like in an action-hero cop movie, when the protagonists are in a gunfight, hopelessly outnumbered, and they improbably crouch behind a wooden door, letting the bullets whiz by their heads. Melissa was that one hero cop who looks at her goofy, offbeat partner (yeah - that's me) and says, with a steely look in her eye, "Cover me," and goes running out into the firestorm.

Except in this case, she just picked Aden up and rocked him back and forth. Four or five times, Aden tried to spazz out in her arms, but it was a losing battle. Within fifteen minutes, he was slumped out, totally unconcious. We waited, terrified of making a sound, for another five minutes... and then Melissa put him down in his crib, and collapsed on our bed, totally zonked with exhaustion.

(and, while you've all seen him playing with his butt paste [heh, heh- I said butt paste], this particular expression best sums up the general frenzy of the Drunken Monkey. Fear the drunken monkey. Bow before his powerful spazztacity.)

Fast times at baby high

So, you may ask yourselves, "do these people just sit around all day taking pictures of this kid?" And the answer is yes. Yes we do.

However, now that he's gotten super-mobile, the one downside is blurrier photos... still, they get the gist of things...

Fang

We've been kicking around nicknames for Aden since he arrived - "munchkin," "monchichi," "monkey," "munchkin brain" (not a comment on his brain size - phrases are just funnier with the word "brain" in them - try it yourself!) and "monkey brain" are all big hits. But Melissa just pointed out that his canine teeth are coming in faster than any others, and he's been leaving "fang marks" on his books, which he chews more than reads.

So I think that "Fang" may be my new favorite nickname for him. For the next fifteen minutes, anyway.

And Now Nothing is Safe

Our son the "genius" is now officially a menace to all things, including himself. Today's antics included "race me into the bathroom where I will hit the toilet like a heat seeking missile" and "can I pull this pile of stuff off the coffee table before you reach me." Two great, mensa-like genius games. Today we also experimented with mixing bananas, corn muffin, sweet potatoes, chicken, and two bites of predigested cereal (that fell from my mouth into his). if that doesn't cause a "reaction" I think we are in the clear to try that jar of peas and brown rice I've been hanging onto.

We are so happy we came a few days early. it is amazing the physical progress Aden has made in two days. I've always known this but now I have conclusive proof that children are case studies in resiliance. I now realize that my house is a death trap and I need to do another round of baby proofing asap when we get back.

i'll let you know how those peas go tomorrow ;-)

Our son, the GENIUS!

That's right - I've said it. I'm throwing my hat in the ring with all of the crazy parents in the world who swear that their 2-year old is brilliant because he or she can pick up a Tonka truck. But I know I'm right: our kid is a developmental GENIUS!!!

This afternoon, for the first time, Aden really, really burst into action. We put him down on the floor so we could do something, and he started crawling. He was a little shaky at first, but then all of a sudden, he was zooming across the floor, from one end of the room to the other. But that's not all! He started pulling himself up into a full standing position with absolutely zero help from either one of us. Then, after standing for a bit, he'd disengage from whatever he had used to climb up, and settle gently down onto his butt... only to gleefully start the process all over again.

Now, I know that this may seem completely mundane to anyone else, but this is the kid who didn't want to be put down yesterday (or this morning, for that matter), and showed almost no interest in moving from one place to another without being air-lifted. So seeing him jet around on his own is pretty amazing.

Of course, this is also the kid whose favorite new teething toy is a tube of stuff called "Butt Paste" (really - that's what it says right on the package!), but that's just because geniuses are eccentric. Further proof of my theorem. Genius!

Baby Top 40

This morning, inspired by Adam Golaski's chart-topping hit "O Squishy Pants" (check the comments if that one doesn't make sense), Aden decided to try his hand at composing music. I think that he's a rocker at heart, because what came out was a stunning rendition of "Cranky Train," as sung to the tune of Ozzy's "Crazy Train." "We're going off the rails on a cranky traiiii-aiin!" (guitar solo!)

Thankfully, after a half hour or so of being carried around the room, touching random objects that he's seen a bajillion times already, and throwing plush toys (yes, he's discovered the joy of playing fetch with the parents) he was in much better shape. It's amazing what being carried around by your own personal servant will do for your mood! I'd like to try that someday...

Eventful day

Well, that was one heck of a long day, full of ups, downs, sidewayses and everything in between. On the whole, though, it was amazingly good - the fussing came at standard fussy times, and the giggles, smiles and good stuff definitely outweighed the sad. It's officially been established that Aden responds well to a) tickling, b) bouncy rides, c) singing, d) drumming and e) exploring. Oh, and f) eating. But we knew that one already.

After the Monumental Nap this afternoon, we were moved to the larger room that we had originally reserved. And while I don't really think that Aden noticed, it certainly did wonders for our sanity. We were finally able to unpack & stretch out, which meant a lot.

The thing that really struck us today is that, while Aden isn't much of a crawler, he's really getting good at standing up. He can't stay up unsupported for too long, but his toddling days are right around the corner. My bet is that he simply skips walking and goes straight to running. Man, are the cats ever going to be psyched about that!

Aden's super exhausted right now, falling asleep in our arms. He won't quite let us leave him in the crib yet, but I think that within the hour, he'll be down for the night. After all, it was a big day...

And now, as a final bizarre cap to the day, the Guatemalan soccer team won a big international match, so there's been a huge rally going on within earshot of the hotel for the past three hours, capped off with fireworks being shot off over the city... from about three blocks away. Dang. It's one heck of a party. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to be bothering the kid.

Naptime

... is really, really nice.

2 a.m. revelation

Well, as quickly as things went South, they seem to have turned back around. Last night, Aden was fussing so much that we let him sleep on our bed, between us (although I didn't sleep too much - every time he wiggled, I woke up). He fell deeply asleep... until 2 a.m., when he woke up. At first, he seemed a little confused, looking from Melissa to me and back again. But then it was like a switch turned inside, and he was all smiles and giggles. We changed and fed him, and then he sat in bed with us, babbling and gesturing. We finally put him down in his crib, and after a few perfunctory cries, he passed out again. He stayed asleep this time until 7, and woke up completely chipper and full of joy.

This isn't to say that he won't be fussy or cranky over the next couple of days, because I'm sure he will be. But it feels like we're over a major hump, which is really reassuring.

Oh, and revelation #2? We won't be co-sleeping with this kid - he thrashes in his sleep like Chuck Norris on a butt-kicking bender.

Best worst night ever? Worst best? Borst? West?

Well, he's ours now... and we're all totally exhausted.

We got in around 2, to discover that the room we had reserved wasn't actually available... because the previous guest decided to extend his stay. D'oh! But the hotel set us up with a nice little room, and promised to move us tomorrow. As we prepped the room and waited, we got a little nervous. After all, this was it, the day. THE day. The DAY. You get the idea.

Anyhow, I met the foster mother in the lobby around 4, as planned... but the representative from the lawyer's office, who's supposed to be there to translate and do official stuff was running late. So we tried to make small talk across the linguistic divide while I marvelled at how cute and observant and with it Aden was. And how incredibly attached to his foster mother he was. At which point, I realized that we were probably in for a rocky night.

Eventually the lawyer's rep got there, and we all went up to the room where Melissa was waiting. More talk ensued, about schedules and feeding and the upcoming Embassy visit and Aden's health... and then, suddenly, it was time to go. The foster mother was clearly sad to leave Aden - after all, she's been raising him for the past ten months - but after the goodbye's, it was just the three of us.

At first, it was great - he's cute and smiley and giggly and squirmy... but then he seemed to realize - the woman he thinks of as mom, she's not coming back.

So, long story short, there's been a lot of crying. A whole lot. The only breaks were for bath time (which he loved), feeding (which ended too quickly), and now sleepy time (which we hope lasts the night). Anyways, we have faith that it's going to get better, but for now, these two pictures should sum it all up - guess which was from the beginning of the afternoon, and which was from the end.

Totally awesome news

So, no pictures just yet (we're in the Charlotte airport - you don't really want to see photos of that), but we just got word that we've received our Embassy appointment... and shockingly, it fits with the travel itinerary that we guesstimated! So we'll be flying home on November 1st, landing around 11:30 at night! And we'll have Aden with us! Which is totally awesome! Even more so when coupled with our current state of sleep deprivation and caffeine!

Whoo-hoo!

t-minus how many hours?!?

Holy smokes, people - we're in the thick of it now! This past weekend flew by in a flurry of house prep, shopping, packing... we've been getting ready for this arrival for months now, but somehow, there's still a whole host of last minute details that need to be handled. But we've been making lists and whittling them down... so, bit by bit, we're getting there.

I should be getting back to packing & prepping, but here are a few more photos to tide people over until... well, maybe tomorrow!














That sound you just heard? That was the whole frickin' Internet going "awwwwwwwwwww..."