Storme'n on
Storme'n insad to say that today is the last day of our trip. baby j´s foster mom came to get her and now we are waiting for the airport shuttle. can´t articulate the pain and emptyness...thanks to each of you for your prayers, affirmations and love - we need every bit of it! as of now the plan is to return on labor day weekend to be with her again. as well as becoming consistent nags to the social worker about the process..just found out that the coordinator on this side has not received the dossier!! sigh...it is completed and not here; hence the nagging. hasta luego baby j...our love and connection is not broken by the physical distance!
day trip
Storme'n inHello everyone...well we are nearing the end of our visit. We are grateful for all the love and support everyone is sending our way!! Somehow we will get through tomorrow…we know and trust that everything is divinely orchestrated and are doing our best to move through each moment with that knowing; as hard as it may be. Heaven knows, this is not the first time on this journey that this knowing and trust has been challenged!
Yesterday we went to Antigua for the day. It was great to get out of the hotel and see something other than the city. Antigua is neat -- original cobblestone streets, a lot of spanish design, signs of the Mayan culture and people, artisans selling their wares, ruins, beautiful views of 3 distant volcanoes... The 1st picture above is a view of one of the volcanoes from the center of town and the 2nd one is of the three of us at a coffee roasterie - love that guatemalan coffee! Don’t know that J enjoyed the outing very much as she was not feeling well (big frown). She was fairly lethargic – mostly slept the whole day and did not eat well at all! The wrap we brought has been wonderful for having her with us on outings (thanks danelle!!). h says that fluid has come out of orifices that she knows we didn’t put anything in (laughing)!! poor girl….she seems to be feeling better now as she has kept more milk down and is not as lethargic. Today we are spending every moment as quality time and preparing for our journey back to the states. Off to spend time with my baby...
day 4 in guatemala
Storme'n inSY here...well, we are on day 4 of being with baby J! I am sure we sound like broken records, but…she is just so perfect and amazing!! H and I continue to argue that the other is getting more time with her! Laughing…I am about to go buy a timer because I am certain she has gotten her more! Grins…either way …she is loved completely and utterly!! Like h mentioned in her post yesterday, we had a doc visit…even though we knew she was healthy I am glad we made the appointment. Since we don’t know when we will have her with us in the states, I want to take advantage of every little event as a family! She is 5 lbs and 46 centimeters long. H videotaped parts of the visit so those of you who would like to see it may. We thought we would go to Antigua for a day trip today, but the driver who will take us had plans. So, now our day trip is planned for tomorrow. We will be sure to take pictures to share. Well…I better get back to baby j…more soon…
Storme'n in
Storme'n inwe took the punkin to the doc today; she again has a clean bill of health and we learned some stuff. she has an adopted out sibling possibly in the states, her bio father has a kidney condition and is on dialysis, her family gave her up due to financial reasons and she is the best dang kiddo in the world (okay so maybe the doc didn´t say that part but he should have). he bent her all over, up and down and she didnt make a peep. seriously she has cried maybe twice since we´ve been here and it is still short lived. broke my heart once because i couldn´t figure out what she was upset about. now we realize she is getting spoiled. she has maybe spent an entire hour in her crib but doubtful. she sleeps on someone´s chest or right next to us and now she is beginning to be demanding. peeps could be heard coming from her throughout the night just because she was not being touched; aye aye aye her foster mom is not going to dig it!
funny the doctor´s trip was a bit of a cluster, picked up late... meeting with another doc then as we were to be transported back to the hotel we found out the doc´s office is half a block away!!! we could have walked and been fine. j barely shows up in the little wraps and slings. so now we know we can walk right here and be in a big mall complex where we can feel safe.
ok... off to make some calls. thanks for prayers, thoughts and love. she is absolutely perfect!
Storme'n in
Storme'n innow it´s sunday and we just finished breakfast. our first night with baby j was wonderful. however, i gave h a scare! we agreed to alternate feedings every 2 hours. heid had taken her around 10pm with the plan to wake her up around midnight if j didn´t wake up herself. so, i went to sleep in preparation for my shift later. next time i woke up, i looked at the clock and saw 1:04, then i looked and saw h facing me on the other bed. my thoughts included the following: where is baby j? did h roll on to her? did she forget j was on the bed with her? did she feed her at midnight?, etc. well, i jumped out of bed verbalizing many of these thoughts of which h heard "WHERE´S THE BABY?!" this, of course, woke her up with her heart thumping!! she said, "right there, right there (pointing right behind her)". mind you she is wrapped in a lime green blanket which cannot be missed by most people!! laughing...it is just a sign of some of the new momma paranoia i am becoming quite accustomed to! smile...overall, we have been blessed with a wonderful, beautiful baby. she hasn´t cried a bit..just a few whimpers when cold or a poopy diaper. other than that she grunts and groans and rolls her eyes quite a bit. smiling...as for eating, she isn´t like the other storme girls, that is for sure!! we have to persist in order to get her to eat her quota of 2 oz every 2-3 hours. off to give her vitamins...loves to you all!
Storme'n in
Storme'n inwe arrived in guatemala last night and thankfully were able to sleep through the night. i dreamt and dreamt of her arrival. this morning we got dressed and rushed down to hit the last few mins of breakfast... low and behold the babe arrived. i am flooded with love and wonderment. she is absolutely one of the tiniest babies i have ever seen. she is beautiful, alert and fun. we of course took her to the room and made her naked. she had a poopy diaper and that sticky newborn poo was just too much. i got in the tub with her and she peeped a bit. she liked being in the water but taking her out made her mad. we´ve done nothing since except snuggle and love her. she is now wrapped on my chest and happy that we stopped messing with her i bet. cannot share the way this feels, so fun, wonderful, amazing!
Storme'n infinally pulled into the driveway about 2 pm today. We planned to drive all night but just couldn't pull it off after such a full day of moving and cleaning; so we ended up pulling off the highway and napping between 2-5 am. h is still feeling quite a bit under the weather. She has been resting as much as she can in hopes of a recovery by Saturday morning. There are so many things still to do before we leave for the airport at noon! The house is in disarray due to renovations and we have only added to the chaos with our unpacking of the van! Oh well...no time to organize -- only time to prioritize and leave the rest for our return. Sppeaking of priorities, I had better post this and start packing J's clothes, diapers, and toys. Then off to pack for myself and do my best to put the house back in working order for our friends who are doing our renovations. Be well....next time we post we will be in Guatemala with baby j!! yay!
1 week after the news
what a whirlwind this has been. shopping and preparing for this trip has been the best thing ever. i am still trepidatious after the phone call yesterday; i was sick for hours after hearing "bad news" but i am recovering. the anticipation of the trip is keeping me going. this morning i woke up feeling lousy, cold, feverish... but i am plugging through and praying for health the entire trip. plane rides are infamously gross and cootie filled so i'll be on my best behavior. anything to prevent me snuggling this lil one will absolutely kill me and worse if i were to make her sick. today is packing up the townhouse and leaving denver around midnight. the neighbor will plan on moving in soon and helping us with some of the mortgage. the townhouse is a mess but we are so lucky to have such wonderful people next door to help us out. so tonight it's g'bye denver, hello baby J!!!
Introducing baby J...
Here she is!! boy, oh boy the last few days have been quite a whirlwind!! we are so excited about going to visit baby J that we can hardly stand it. we fly to Guatemala City on friday 7/21 to go be with her for one week! we are thrilled! well, i had better post this so i can get some pictures up and then go do our many errands so we can head back to Kansas on Wednesday! thanks to each of you for your support. will be sure to post updates as often as possible so that you can all be as much a part of this journey. Love to all of you!!
Day 2
just had the best news ever this July 13th 2006 ( my grandmother's <87th> birthday). My heart aches and my eyes fill up with tears just thinking about it; baby J was born on June 29th this year, the same day Anthony turned 15. This has been the most amazing journey with the most wonderful result finally on her way! Calling family and friends to let them know she is here has been so rewarding and validating; we have the best village in the world to introduce her into. We're diving in head first to the unknown but it has been a long time coming and I have only excitement for the process. Sy has talked about fear, something I did recently learn, but for this it just isn't coming up.... this has been a challenge for so many years now I am beyond ready. No matter there are a million things to be getting done before she comes home, I am READY. Life changing events come and go, the anticipation is sometimes more than the event itself but this is really living up to it. I can almost think of nothing else. I am here at work today doing vrs work in Denver, I am surrounded by friends and support but I want to be no other place than Guatemala. Thank you young woman in that small village outside of Guatemala City for bringing baby j to us-"You are in our thoughts and prayers and most of all feel our thanks". So far it seems that we will not get much information on the woman who carried J for the past several months, no matter she is exalted in our lives. The information that we hear we may have some access to is maternal biological information. I worry that some day J may wish to look for the woman who carried and birthed her, and we will not have much to go on.
she is now about 4 pounds; there has been lots of shopping for the bare necessities for the trip; a bottle, bath sponge, a baby carrier and some clothes all of these little things make it real, what a joy to go out shopping for her.
the house is in the current state of hurricane (not a real one) disaster but our good buddies Scott and Norm are working on putting it back together much better than it was before. the baby room will be done in a green with an oceanscape, I can't wait to get started on a mural; Y, Sy, maybe Ant and I will work on the critters for that.
okay well thank you for keeping up to date on this exciting new process and supporting us with you love and friendship. send thoughts and prayers, we appreciate your contribution to our lives so very much we can't wait to introduce you all to J.
