So we have our paperwork now and our tickets home. Our flight leaves here tonight at 730pm but we are on standby for our Honolulu to Houston leg of trip. The continental agent says we will be able to get on this flight home so believes. I am just happy to finally get out of our hotel room. It has been quite an experience here and I will never forget it. The people are very kind and friendly and they made it easier to stay here for 4 weeks. I will try and remember everything I can so I can show MV pictures and tell her all about her birthplace. One day we will come back I am sure.
Things I will miss from RMI:
1. Nice People
2. The weather when it is warm with a cool breeze
3. Spending time with MV in a slow paced kind of way
4. Banana Pancakes at Tide Table
5. Taxi rides being only $0.50
6. Someone to make my bed every morning and clean up after me in morning
Thinks I will NOT miss:
1. Cockroaches
2. Gnats
3. Sweltering Heat/Humidity
4. Not having a lot of choices on Vegetables
5. Prices of some grocery products
6. Not a lot of choices or variety in foods
These are by far only a few things on the top of my head right now. There will be more to come in the ensuing days I am sure along with Pictures from our experience.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
No paperwork
So paperwork did not make the Saturday flight out of Guam so hopefully it will be in tonights flight. Please pray for us since I really would like to get the the USA soon.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Paperwork is in Guam
So I really think that Monday departure can be a go ahead except the flight from Honolulu to Houston is full. UGH! I am going to go the continental office and see if we could do a honolulu to Los Angeles to Houston to norfolk. I just want to get home ASAP. I think I maybe coming down with a cold or something or maybe it is just being tired. I also don't want Wayne to miss out on MV changing and doing soemthing new everyday. Please pray for us and that we can get a flight out on Monday.
Jelka came by today and spent 10am to 6pm with us. I let her take care of MV all she wanted. I know how hard it is for her to see her go but also she sees that MV is thriving. I told her we may be leaving on Monday so she can get prepared. I think she may come by tomorrow again. I am taking as many pictures of them together as I can so we can share it with MV when she is old enough to understand the situation.
I know I have not shared any pictures but I will when we get home. I just don't have a lot of minutes on internet card to spend time downloading. I will keep you updated on progress
M and MV
Jelka came by today and spent 10am to 6pm with us. I let her take care of MV all she wanted. I know how hard it is for her to see her go but also she sees that MV is thriving. I told her we may be leaving on Monday so she can get prepared. I think she may come by tomorrow again. I am taking as many pictures of them together as I can so we can share it with MV when she is old enough to understand the situation.
I know I have not shared any pictures but I will when we get home. I just don't have a lot of minutes on internet card to spend time downloading. I will keep you updated on progress
M and MV
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
paperwork on its way
Just thought Iwould share the great news that our paperwork is on its way from manila. It is now in Hong Kong. So we should be able to leave here this Wednesday if all goes well with DHL and flights. I am really excited about it. We miss Wayne tons and Makayla is changing so much that I don't want him to miss any more. She is now 13 months and thriving. She wears me out since she wants to be on teh go all the time(lol). She is babbling up and storm and I taught her how to high 5. I am working on other things. I cannot wait to post more pictures of her as soon as i get back home and have another pair of hands to help watch her.
We will post more soon. Now to chase down the toddler who has crawled away from me.
We will post more soon. Now to chase down the toddler who has crawled away from me.
Monday, November 22, 2010
No word on paperwork yet
So I at least know the embassy int eh philippines has our paperwork since I spoke with Daisy at Majuro US embassy yesterday. I just hope they send out our paperwork before the thanksgiving holiday weekend. The other couple here from Minnesota who arrived teh week before we did is going to leave on tomorrow's flight home. Their package should be with DHL now and then getting the the embassy this afternoon. I hope our paperwork goes that smoothly in returning to us. Cross your fingers and pray for us please.
It is no fun by yourself with a teething 13month old with a cold. I have started to give her an antibiotic yesterday and she slept longer than she has. I actually had to wake up and make sure she was okay. So I guess teh antibiotic is working. She is coughing less at night too. I just have to feed her more during lunch and dinner. I also kept her up an hour later (8pm). It was hard to do but i have to so she can sleep longer in night.
running out of battery. I forgot to charge the laptop last night. Ugh. I have to go get the charger. Write more later.
It is no fun by yourself with a teething 13month old with a cold. I have started to give her an antibiotic yesterday and she slept longer than she has. I actually had to wake up and make sure she was okay. So I guess teh antibiotic is working. She is coughing less at night too. I just have to feed her more during lunch and dinner. I also kept her up an hour later (8pm). It was hard to do but i have to so she can sleep longer in night.
running out of battery. I forgot to charge the laptop last night. Ugh. I have to go get the charger. Write more later.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Bad Mommy...
So is it bad of me to leave my daughter in a diaper full of /#2 while i finish emailing? I just changed her no more than 30 minutes ago of one dirty #2 diaper and she goes and does some more. So she will have to sit in it for a few more minutes for mommy to get her internet time. Please don't call child protective services on me.
We have a routine going on basically and any deviationfrom this throws us off...not really...its an exciting turn of events. Nothing to report here. The other family who arrived one week before we did has their paperowrk on the way from Philippines. Hopefully ours get processed before the thanksgiving holiday. Please pray for us and that it will get here sooner rather than later.
good bye for now,
Monette and MV
We have a routine going on basically and any deviationfrom this throws us off...not really...its an exciting turn of events. Nothing to report here. The other family who arrived one week before we did has their paperowrk on the way from Philippines. Hopefully ours get processed before the thanksgiving holiday. Please pray for us and that it will get here sooner rather than later.
good bye for now,
Monette and MV
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Finger up the nose..........
MV and I have a routine going on and it seems to work for us to past the time. I have figured out that doing laundry at RRE helps past the time for us. I would bring it to Good Earth but doing it yourself gives me something else to do and allows me to experience the comaradrie of doing laundry in the RMI. I forgot to tell you all that when wayne left last friday, a building was on fire catty corner to the RRE. It was fully engulfed and they let it burn down. the fire company did not respond for 45minutes. It was really sad bc the owners of the building now are living in the hotel. I am not sure what they will do. I know that they are starting to clear out the lot today. That was our excitement.
MV is getting heavier. I am sure she is gradually creaping up her weight to where she should be. I am so glad i have the Ergo carrier to carry her around in. I don't know what i would do without it. I have taught her how to do the high 5 and she got it really quickly. she also likes to stick her finger up her nose. Of course it grosses mommy out and i get upset with her for it. Aw..mommyhood...
MV is getting heavier. I am sure she is gradually creaping up her weight to where she should be. I am so glad i have the Ergo carrier to carry her around in. I don't know what i would do without it. I have taught her how to do the high 5 and she got it really quickly. she also likes to stick her finger up her nose. Of course it grosses mommy out and i get upset with her for it. Aw..mommyhood...
Monday, November 15, 2010
Time is at a slow pace
Time is at such a slow pace here. During the day when we want to go out walking the heat is awful so it makes you want to stay indoors. But we are venturing out a little bit in the afternoon. She is doing okay. Her cold is getting better I think becaue now her chest congestionsounds looser. Hopefully we are getting over this. It does not stop her though. She keeps going. MV woke up laughing today even though she woke up every hour practically last night.
We were going to the Alele Museum sometime soon but I overheard it was damaged by water. So no museum for us right now. they are trying to find a place to store all the things not ruined by water.
No word on paperwork. It should have made it to Manila by now. Hopefully it will get processed ASAP since holiday is coming up.
Thought of day: Future families, their are multiple power outages here andstaying at place that has generator is great.
We were going to the Alele Museum sometime soon but I overheard it was damaged by water. So no museum for us right now. they are trying to find a place to store all the things not ruined by water.
No word on paperwork. It should have made it to Manila by now. Hopefully it will get processed ASAP since holiday is coming up.
Thought of day: Future families, their are multiple power outages here andstaying at place that has generator is great.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Getting bigger
Today is Sunday at noon and MV is napping right now so i have time to blog. We are doing okay. She has a little cold and cough so we are fighting that right now. The birthmom,Jelka, came to visit us for past 2 days for 5 hrs at a time and MV did well with us both. Jelka asked to come again today but I asked her to come tomorrow since i just need a day with MV and I. Wayne has left the island and is home safely now. MV misses her dada and so do I. It is harder than I thought it would be but routine is setting in and we will get through it.
Thought of the day: No more taking for granted your house without bugs or maybe an occasional spider or fly.
Thought of the day: No more taking for granted your house without bugs or maybe an occasional spider or fly.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Another day in paradise
Today we were able to get online and video chat with some family members. It felt really good to be able to hear from them. I never realized how much you miss your family until you are gone for awhile and in another country where we are here not just to visit the sights but to bond with our child. It is so different from if we were on vacation here. We are sort of stuck here until someone else tells us we can leave. So I cannot really enjoy things or relax since the anticipation of our paperwork is still happening.
We woke up early today and fed MV some oatmeal and left over rice/chicken from last nights dinner. Then we went out to the shoreline at the XXXX scuba shop and sat with the cool breeze from the ocean. It was very beautiful and nice for the 3 of us just to be out there in the cool weather. It lasted only about 1 hr but then it became so hot already. So we came back into our hotel room and MV took a shore nap. Then we borrowed the key to our lawyers office to go online. This is when we were able to chat with our families and our friend, Linda. It was so so nice to hear from them. Then we went to get lunch at La Bodgie and came back gain to email our family. Around 4pm we went back to the hotel since the power went out in our lawyers office. Our hotel, RRE has back up generators so we are fine. Then we went to dinner at DAR restaurant at 5pm. We were there til close to 7pm and it was already dark outside. Wayne being protective dad made us walk fast to get back to the hotel. I felt fine and safe there but daddy wayne wanted us to get back to hotel ASAP. We put MV to bed and she is still asleep.
Thought of day: Everyone is out and about when it gets dark here since it is much cooler. It is like there social hour. Kids running around in the streets and neighbors just chatting and walking in the dark. We just realized how small this island is because our hotel is on one side of ocean shore and when we went to DAR restaurant it was on other coastline and it is not even 1/4mile from one side island to the other.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Sorry not connected but will try to do better
Internet is not so good and their have been multiple power outages. Luckily we are at RRE and they have a generator. Here is what has been going on for past couple of days.
November 6,2010(9pm)
The weather was really ugly today. It rained really hard last night per Wayne since of course I sleep soundly. It was cloudy all day today and raining off and on. We just had a power outage here in RRE but it only lasted for 5minutes. They have a back up generator which must have blown out for some reason. The island has been out of power since 7pm tonight. We were at our lawyer’s office going over our paperwork for court on Monday at 11am when the power went out so we were talking to him in the dark. We had a meeting with him for 2 hours to go over our paperwork for court and the process thereafter.
Today we woke up early as usual since we end up going to bed at 7pm usually and wake up at 5am RMI time. Television has limited channels but I get to watch Filipino channels (hooray). We are staying in a room with a balcony overlooking the bungalows which is fine by us. It does get boring as wayne and even MV think so. They want to be out of these 4 walls during the day but not a whole lot to do but walk around the Formosa, EZ mart, etc.
We were able to spend 5 hours just the 3 of us today. MV was a little more fussy today but I think she is getting more teeth now since she seems to be drooling a lot more and putting her hand in her mouth. We put a bottle in the fridge and just gave it to her and she seemed to calm down some more. I think the cold nipple of the bottle helped her feel better. Wish me luck with a teething toddler. I brought some baby orajel and hope this will help her as well. Luckily, she loves to eat and will try a bunch of food. We gave her cooked carrots at lunch and she enjoyed it along with rice. We have been giving her formula we brought and she has taken to it really well. Jelka has been breastfeeding her and is trying to stop since we have been here. She loves looking at the saltwater fish tank outside of the Tide Table restaurant. She likes to walk with assistance of course, wayne even noticed callous on her little feet which her daddy will take care of as soon as we get home. (lol)
November 7, 2010 (10pm)
Today it rained a lot so we did not get to go to Eneko Island due to the weather. So we spent time with MV alone again. We were able to spend from noon to 6pm with her and she did great. She is really coming out of her shell. She loves to walk with assistance and has walked out our hotel room down the hall around the main lobby and back to the room. She is just so proud of herself when she does this. Unfortunately sometimes we have a cranky toddler since she is teething more due to more drool and putting her fingers in her mouth. So we have orajel ready and put her bottle nipples in the fridge. She does not seem to mind it and it seems to help her. She loves music and loves to dance. Luckily she likes riding in the Ergo baby carrier we brought along.
We went walking down to a dock behind our hotel when it was not drizzling. It was interesting ot see all the boats in the water off the coast of Majuro. One gentleman was here with his sailboat crew of 5 who just goes from island to island and spends some vacation time. He will fly into a port and meet up with his sailboat/crew and vacation for a week or 2 then go back and work and do it all over again when he has time. I would love that life. We found the local filipino restaurant and it was pretty good for a small island area. We are going to have MV celebration dinner there tomorrow.
November 8, 2010 (4pm)
MV is officially a Chin today. We were granted the right to be her parents at noon today by the judge. The court was a little nerve racking since I have never had to get on the stand in front of a judge and I hope I never will. The judge was very nice and everything was very official and it took about 1 hr to get through court. Jelka went to the stand first with MV on her lap. I was so anxious during this period but all went well. Then I went to the stand and then Wayne went to the stand. Then the judge made his statement that we are MV’s parents now. After this, we waited to get MV adoption decree. Then we took Jelka and her cousin, Valerie to lunch at Wo Hai Shen. After lunch Jelka and Valerie went home and Maddy took the Chin family to get MV birth certificates old and new. We only got 5 copies each since the printer was not working that well today. I will get more before I leave to go back to the USA. Then we went to get her a Marshallese passport at the RMI government office. It only took us 30mins to get her Marshallese passport and cost us $85 which is much better versus the USA expedited passport of a couple hundred dollars. We are waiting to go to MV’s celebration dinner at La Bogie (a filipino restaurant) where about 15 people will be going.
MV is adjusting well to us. She cries a little bit in the beginning but then she is fine with some comforting. Unfortunately, she is teething. Right now she has 4 teeth but I know more are coming since she always wants to touch her teeth and is drooling a lot. So we have one cranky teething toddler at times. Good luck to me. She also has a runny nose I believe from teething. I only brought 3 containers of formula and I did not bring enough if we are staying here 4 weeks. I will have to figure a way to stretch out the formula. I think once I feed her oatmeal for breakfast and other things that we will be okay, I hope (lol).
She is such a happy baby in general. I hope the next few weeks of adjusting together will go smoothly. I just have to get a routine going. It is all new to me and being in a foreign country is hard. Maddy told me that Jelka is happy that at least one of her children will be going to college and maybe even become a doctor, lawyer, etc. whatever she wants to be. The language barrier is tough so I think I will write a letter to her and have maddy or someone at CAA translate it for me to her.
November 8, 2010 (9pm)
First night with Baby girl and she has been asleep since 7pm. It has been a long day for her. We adopted her at 11am today. She is officially a Chin. Then we went to lunch with Jelka and her cousin, Valerie. At 1pm Maddy picked wayne, Makayla and I up and we went to get copies of MV’s birth certificates. Then we went to get her Marshallese passport. Then back to hotel and off to dinner at La Bodgie at 5pm. It was raining so Maddy picked us up at our hotel and brought us to the restaurant. Maddy said it doesn’t usually rain like this but it is usually windy this time of year but the Marshallese believe rain to be lucky. So woohoo, it has been raining a whole lot over here so MV is our lucky charm. There were 15 of us there at a small filipino restaurant. Jelka brought her 4 yr old son, 22 yr old daughter and 4 nieces to our dinner along with Maddy, Gordon, 3 CAA people. We had Pancit, sinigang baboy, a whole sweet and sour fish, lumpia shanghai, and chicken adobo. It went really well and Jelka was able to take a lot of food home for her other family who did not come. We gave presents to Jelka, Maddy, Donna, ??????, and Gordon. Then we tooka cab back to our hotel and put her to sleep.
We pushed the queen bed against the wall and her and I are sleeping together. Hopefully she will sleep for a while. It has been a long day for her. Now we begin our lives together. She is somewhat happy. But I noticed some mourning for her tonight but hopefully it will get better and easier every day. We will just be patient with her and her with us. I have to get a routine going so it will be easier for us.
November 9, 2010 (1pm)
We had a good morning. MV woke up every 4 hours hungry last night at 11pm, 3am, then 7am. We woke up at 7am alittle cranky but after a drink of formula she was smiling up at me. She had some chicken adobo and rice. Then I took a shower and had her take a shower with me so I could wash her hair. She still hates baths. UGH! So I may just move to sponge baths every night and then a full bath every other night or a couple days. Then we decided to get some fresh air and take a walk to EZ mart. MV fell asleep in her Ergo carrier with wayne carrying her. It was too hot so we decided to go back to hotel. MV finally woke up when we got to the hotel. She walked around a little bit with her daddy. Then I met with Gordon in the computer room to go over our US Embassy paperwork. Our appointment with them is at 3pm today. They will make a copy of our packet and then send it off to Manila. I hope we can get it back sooner then 4 weeks.
Wayne is doing a good job with her and she is adjusting to him as well. He can even get her to sleep without my help. I won’t help him and I let him figure it out himself and he has done great. He has not done the diaper changes yet but he will. It is his first exposure to a toddler so I will let him pass until we get home to USA.
We met an older filipina lady who lives here in the hotel. She came here in the 1970’s and worked for the owners of the hotel. So now she is living here in the hotel. She spoke to wayne earlier this week and said that all the other hotels are not safe and so that is why she lives here. She stopped by and spoke with wayne and I while MV was snacking on cheerios. I bet I will learn more about her as the weeks go by. She pointed out the owner’s son’s wife who was eating at Tide Table and also the owner’s son was there.
Thoughts of the day: This island has extreme poverty. Jelka makes $1.50 an hour at the fish plant where it is first come first gets work for the day. The fish plant is run by japanese and sometimes there ships are in port or not. So work is not consistent for her. I think that is why families all live together in the same household to share expenses. Minimum wage is $2.00 per hour but the fish plant owners get away with it by declaring they are trainees learning about how to work first. People sleep on dirt or tile floors without blankets or a mat to sleep on. Children play in the streets as something fun to do.
November 9 (8pm)
Well MV is officially a US citizen today according to the US Embassy in Majuro, RMI. Hooray! We got her immigration paperwork done at the US Embassy today and it is being sent by DHL to Manila tomorrow. Pray that it will not take as long as previous families to get there and back to us. We are hopeful baring any USA and Philippine holidays that it will get processed and sent back soon.
We then went to dinner with another adoptive couple from Minnesota. They arrived 1 week before we arrived. It was nice to get to know them and swap adoption stories. We are in our room and baby MV is asleep. She has a little cough but nothing else seems to be bothering her. She is doing well. She is eating a lot but has not done #2 yet. I am hopeful for tomorrow but she is farting a lot and burping so I think we are still okay.
November 6,2010(9pm)
The weather was really ugly today. It rained really hard last night per Wayne since of course I sleep soundly. It was cloudy all day today and raining off and on. We just had a power outage here in RRE but it only lasted for 5minutes. They have a back up generator which must have blown out for some reason. The island has been out of power since 7pm tonight. We were at our lawyer’s office going over our paperwork for court on Monday at 11am when the power went out so we were talking to him in the dark. We had a meeting with him for 2 hours to go over our paperwork for court and the process thereafter.
Today we woke up early as usual since we end up going to bed at 7pm usually and wake up at 5am RMI time. Television has limited channels but I get to watch Filipino channels (hooray). We are staying in a room with a balcony overlooking the bungalows which is fine by us. It does get boring as wayne and even MV think so. They want to be out of these 4 walls during the day but not a whole lot to do but walk around the Formosa, EZ mart, etc.
We were able to spend 5 hours just the 3 of us today. MV was a little more fussy today but I think she is getting more teeth now since she seems to be drooling a lot more and putting her hand in her mouth. We put a bottle in the fridge and just gave it to her and she seemed to calm down some more. I think the cold nipple of the bottle helped her feel better. Wish me luck with a teething toddler. I brought some baby orajel and hope this will help her as well. Luckily, she loves to eat and will try a bunch of food. We gave her cooked carrots at lunch and she enjoyed it along with rice. We have been giving her formula we brought and she has taken to it really well. Jelka has been breastfeeding her and is trying to stop since we have been here. She loves looking at the saltwater fish tank outside of the Tide Table restaurant. She likes to walk with assistance of course, wayne even noticed callous on her little feet which her daddy will take care of as soon as we get home. (lol)
November 7, 2010 (10pm)
Today it rained a lot so we did not get to go to Eneko Island due to the weather. So we spent time with MV alone again. We were able to spend from noon to 6pm with her and she did great. She is really coming out of her shell. She loves to walk with assistance and has walked out our hotel room down the hall around the main lobby and back to the room. She is just so proud of herself when she does this. Unfortunately sometimes we have a cranky toddler since she is teething more due to more drool and putting her fingers in her mouth. So we have orajel ready and put her bottle nipples in the fridge. She does not seem to mind it and it seems to help her. She loves music and loves to dance. Luckily she likes riding in the Ergo baby carrier we brought along.
We went walking down to a dock behind our hotel when it was not drizzling. It was interesting ot see all the boats in the water off the coast of Majuro. One gentleman was here with his sailboat crew of 5 who just goes from island to island and spends some vacation time. He will fly into a port and meet up with his sailboat/crew and vacation for a week or 2 then go back and work and do it all over again when he has time. I would love that life. We found the local filipino restaurant and it was pretty good for a small island area. We are going to have MV celebration dinner there tomorrow.
November 8, 2010 (4pm)
MV is officially a Chin today. We were granted the right to be her parents at noon today by the judge. The court was a little nerve racking since I have never had to get on the stand in front of a judge and I hope I never will. The judge was very nice and everything was very official and it took about 1 hr to get through court. Jelka went to the stand first with MV on her lap. I was so anxious during this period but all went well. Then I went to the stand and then Wayne went to the stand. Then the judge made his statement that we are MV’s parents now. After this, we waited to get MV adoption decree. Then we took Jelka and her cousin, Valerie to lunch at Wo Hai Shen. After lunch Jelka and Valerie went home and Maddy took the Chin family to get MV birth certificates old and new. We only got 5 copies each since the printer was not working that well today. I will get more before I leave to go back to the USA. Then we went to get her a Marshallese passport at the RMI government office. It only took us 30mins to get her Marshallese passport and cost us $85 which is much better versus the USA expedited passport of a couple hundred dollars. We are waiting to go to MV’s celebration dinner at La Bogie (a filipino restaurant) where about 15 people will be going.
MV is adjusting well to us. She cries a little bit in the beginning but then she is fine with some comforting. Unfortunately, she is teething. Right now she has 4 teeth but I know more are coming since she always wants to touch her teeth and is drooling a lot. So we have one cranky teething toddler at times. Good luck to me. She also has a runny nose I believe from teething. I only brought 3 containers of formula and I did not bring enough if we are staying here 4 weeks. I will have to figure a way to stretch out the formula. I think once I feed her oatmeal for breakfast and other things that we will be okay, I hope (lol).
She is such a happy baby in general. I hope the next few weeks of adjusting together will go smoothly. I just have to get a routine going. It is all new to me and being in a foreign country is hard. Maddy told me that Jelka is happy that at least one of her children will be going to college and maybe even become a doctor, lawyer, etc. whatever she wants to be. The language barrier is tough so I think I will write a letter to her and have maddy or someone at CAA translate it for me to her.
November 8, 2010 (9pm)
First night with Baby girl and she has been asleep since 7pm. It has been a long day for her. We adopted her at 11am today. She is officially a Chin. Then we went to lunch with Jelka and her cousin, Valerie. At 1pm Maddy picked wayne, Makayla and I up and we went to get copies of MV’s birth certificates. Then we went to get her Marshallese passport. Then back to hotel and off to dinner at La Bodgie at 5pm. It was raining so Maddy picked us up at our hotel and brought us to the restaurant. Maddy said it doesn’t usually rain like this but it is usually windy this time of year but the Marshallese believe rain to be lucky. So woohoo, it has been raining a whole lot over here so MV is our lucky charm. There were 15 of us there at a small filipino restaurant. Jelka brought her 4 yr old son, 22 yr old daughter and 4 nieces to our dinner along with Maddy, Gordon, 3 CAA people. We had Pancit, sinigang baboy, a whole sweet and sour fish, lumpia shanghai, and chicken adobo. It went really well and Jelka was able to take a lot of food home for her other family who did not come. We gave presents to Jelka, Maddy, Donna, ??????, and Gordon. Then we tooka cab back to our hotel and put her to sleep.
We pushed the queen bed against the wall and her and I are sleeping together. Hopefully she will sleep for a while. It has been a long day for her. Now we begin our lives together. She is somewhat happy. But I noticed some mourning for her tonight but hopefully it will get better and easier every day. We will just be patient with her and her with us. I have to get a routine going so it will be easier for us.
November 9, 2010 (1pm)
We had a good morning. MV woke up every 4 hours hungry last night at 11pm, 3am, then 7am. We woke up at 7am alittle cranky but after a drink of formula she was smiling up at me. She had some chicken adobo and rice. Then I took a shower and had her take a shower with me so I could wash her hair. She still hates baths. UGH! So I may just move to sponge baths every night and then a full bath every other night or a couple days. Then we decided to get some fresh air and take a walk to EZ mart. MV fell asleep in her Ergo carrier with wayne carrying her. It was too hot so we decided to go back to hotel. MV finally woke up when we got to the hotel. She walked around a little bit with her daddy. Then I met with Gordon in the computer room to go over our US Embassy paperwork. Our appointment with them is at 3pm today. They will make a copy of our packet and then send it off to Manila. I hope we can get it back sooner then 4 weeks.
Wayne is doing a good job with her and she is adjusting to him as well. He can even get her to sleep without my help. I won’t help him and I let him figure it out himself and he has done great. He has not done the diaper changes yet but he will. It is his first exposure to a toddler so I will let him pass until we get home to USA.
We met an older filipina lady who lives here in the hotel. She came here in the 1970’s and worked for the owners of the hotel. So now she is living here in the hotel. She spoke to wayne earlier this week and said that all the other hotels are not safe and so that is why she lives here. She stopped by and spoke with wayne and I while MV was snacking on cheerios. I bet I will learn more about her as the weeks go by. She pointed out the owner’s son’s wife who was eating at Tide Table and also the owner’s son was there.
Thoughts of the day: This island has extreme poverty. Jelka makes $1.50 an hour at the fish plant where it is first come first gets work for the day. The fish plant is run by japanese and sometimes there ships are in port or not. So work is not consistent for her. I think that is why families all live together in the same household to share expenses. Minimum wage is $2.00 per hour but the fish plant owners get away with it by declaring they are trainees learning about how to work first. People sleep on dirt or tile floors without blankets or a mat to sleep on. Children play in the streets as something fun to do.
November 9 (8pm)
Well MV is officially a US citizen today according to the US Embassy in Majuro, RMI. Hooray! We got her immigration paperwork done at the US Embassy today and it is being sent by DHL to Manila tomorrow. Pray that it will not take as long as previous families to get there and back to us. We are hopeful baring any USA and Philippine holidays that it will get processed and sent back soon.
We then went to dinner with another adoptive couple from Minnesota. They arrived 1 week before we arrived. It was nice to get to know them and swap adoption stories. We are in our room and baby MV is asleep. She has a little cough but nothing else seems to be bothering her. She is doing well. She is eating a lot but has not done #2 yet. I am hopeful for tomorrow but she is farting a lot and burping so I think we are still okay.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
We are officially parents
Just a quick note, we officially MV parents. Hooray! We are sponsoring a celebration dinner for her this evening. We are doing fine. I will try to remedy this internet thing soon.
Friday, November 5, 2010
We are Here
November 5, 2010(Friday) 7am
We are here in the RMI. The hotel is okay actually much better than I expected it to be. The staff is very nice and pleasant. We have already gotten to know one waitress, Dolly, well. The staff here are used to adoptive families coming and I feel like they will be great help for me when Wayne has to return home. We met our baby girl and she is tiny, cute, a good eater (she will eat and try anything you give here-thank goodness), seems happy baby, attached to her birthmom (which I think we will be okay with since she is friendly and it was only our first day with them on Thursday). She can not walk yet but walks for a few steps with assistance and seems to enjoy it.
Maddy brought Jelka and Valentine to visit us at 1pm. Wayne and I were walking around and did not calculate the time right since we were late visiting them. They were at the hotel when we arrived. Baby girl was asleep when we arrived so we went back to the room and just let her sleep. It was her nap time and she slept for a good hour and we just picked her up and We went to the Tourist Trap to get her passport pictures taken and it was reasonable. The passsport pictures show her as a little groggy since we just woke her up from her sound nap. We got 8 photos for $12.00. A better deal than in the USA. After this we were off to Dr.Pinano’s office for the medical clearance. He is a nice man and we figured out his mother is from pangasinan where my mom and dad grew up. Dr.Pinano has been here for 28 yrs and is still practicing. His wife and kids are in California and he stays here because he enjoys practicing medicine here. Makayla Valentine weighs 17lbs with here clothes and soggy diaper on and is 31 inches long. Maddy then dropped us all off at hotel and we went back to room for a little bit. Makayla Valentine likes the Peach-Mango puffs we gave to her. We tried a sippy cup for water but she could do it yet. So we used the bottle and she drank it well. Around 5pm we went to the Tide Table for dinner with Jelka and Makayla Valentine. Jelka ordered half a fried chicken with rice and macaroni salad. MV ate that right up. She likes rice mostly with a little bit of chicken. Then we attempted the formula we brought and she had about 2 ounces of it which is good. We will keep trying it. I hope I brought enough drop ins for the bottles. It was then getting dark so we put Jelka and MV in a cab to go back to Jelka’s house in Majuro. So goes our first day with baby girl.
Thoughts of the first day: Poverty is all around us. It reminds me of the provinces in the philippines with children wearing school uniforms, people lounging around since it is so hot and jobs are scarce, stray dogs running around the streets, food is at least 2.5 times the cost in the USA. Prices for food in restaurants are similar to Hawaii’s prices. People love to drink soft drinks since just our short time with Jelka she drank 3 pepsi’s. I think MV even has been given some since she looks at the cans of soda like she wants it. Uh oh gotta break her of that habbit. Jelka loves her daughter very much and it will be hard to leave for all of us I am sure.
I was able to meet another birthmom, Willa. She came from Laura Beach with a CAA worker. I told Maddy I have a package from Bina/Araceli and she came right away. I was able to spend a few minutes with her and shared the moment with her when she was able to see pictures of Bina that Araceli sent. She looked so proud of her daughter and you could see the love she had for her. I could also tell she misses Araceli as well. She had tears of happiness and a bit of sadness. I am so honored to have shared this moment with Willa.
November 5, 2010 (6pm)
Today Maddy and Jelka came with baby MV early aroun 930am and they came and stayed in our room for 30minutes. Then Maddy took Jelka with her as they did errands and looked after other birthmothers in the JOH program. MV stayed with us from 10am to 230pm and we did well but I don’t think she likes to be cooped up in the room. So we will have to work on a routine of some sort. Well we went walking around the town at 11am and went to grab some lunch at a chinese restaurant. We soon realize it gets really hot here during the middle of the day. So we need to come up with another game plan. Around 120pm we went back to the room to cool off and play a little bit. MV can walk with assitance and can crawl fast and far. Then about 230pm, Maddy and Jelka came back. Maddy left us and Jelka stayed with us til 5pm. We ate at the local KLG (yes it is not a KFC but tries to be). We sent Jelka home with some chicken and fries. Now the new daddy is zonked out on the bed.
MV is a peanut like I said. We brought some onesies size 6/9months and it fits her loosely. So all the clothes that we brought along will be worn for sure. Only 2 more days and she will be a permanent part of our family. Hooray. We have taken lots of pictures and cannot wait to share it with you all but it will have to wait since internet access costs so much now. It is $18.00 a Day! Or you can use the hotel computer for $5.00 per 1 hr ($0.08/minute) so we will be going with this way since I will just be checking email quickly and adding to the blog when I can. So I won’t be online as much as I hoped to be. If I don’t answer your emails please know that I only have limited access to be online.
Tomorrow we will be meeting with Gordon Benjamin, our lawyer, to go over our paperwork and court date. We will just wait to hear from him on meeting at his office. He also invited us to go with him and the other family here from Minnesota from another agency to Enonmite(msp?) which is an island off Majuro that a wealthy businessman owns where on Sundays he takes friends/family to relax for the day. I know other adoptive families were able to visit this island and so we will be able to visit as well. I will definitely take plenty of pictures and will share it as soon as we get home.
For families coming to the RMI after us,
1. Bring sunscreen
2. Bring a water bottle or just reuse a bottled water container since in RRE they have a water cooler near the front desk where you can get water which the Reimers family owns/operates the water purification plant
3. You can get a lot of things that we have in USA but may not be the brand that you like. Prices on some things are comparable to the USA prices such as toothpaste, dishwashing detergent, diapers are off brand, laundry detergent,
4. You can get salad and fruits but it costs comparable to an upscale restaurant prices for salad and fruit plate.
5. Bring baby medicine you think you need such as nystatin cream, elimite cream (just to have in case), Baby Tylenol and baby motrin, syringe to give the oral medicines with, etc.
Monette and Wayne
We are here in the RMI. The hotel is okay actually much better than I expected it to be. The staff is very nice and pleasant. We have already gotten to know one waitress, Dolly, well. The staff here are used to adoptive families coming and I feel like they will be great help for me when Wayne has to return home. We met our baby girl and she is tiny, cute, a good eater (she will eat and try anything you give here-thank goodness), seems happy baby, attached to her birthmom (which I think we will be okay with since she is friendly and it was only our first day with them on Thursday). She can not walk yet but walks for a few steps with assistance and seems to enjoy it.
Maddy brought Jelka and Valentine to visit us at 1pm. Wayne and I were walking around and did not calculate the time right since we were late visiting them. They were at the hotel when we arrived. Baby girl was asleep when we arrived so we went back to the room and just let her sleep. It was her nap time and she slept for a good hour and we just picked her up and We went to the Tourist Trap to get her passport pictures taken and it was reasonable. The passsport pictures show her as a little groggy since we just woke her up from her sound nap. We got 8 photos for $12.00. A better deal than in the USA. After this we were off to Dr.Pinano’s office for the medical clearance. He is a nice man and we figured out his mother is from pangasinan where my mom and dad grew up. Dr.Pinano has been here for 28 yrs and is still practicing. His wife and kids are in California and he stays here because he enjoys practicing medicine here. Makayla Valentine weighs 17lbs with here clothes and soggy diaper on and is 31 inches long. Maddy then dropped us all off at hotel and we went back to room for a little bit. Makayla Valentine likes the Peach-Mango puffs we gave to her. We tried a sippy cup for water but she could do it yet. So we used the bottle and she drank it well. Around 5pm we went to the Tide Table for dinner with Jelka and Makayla Valentine. Jelka ordered half a fried chicken with rice and macaroni salad. MV ate that right up. She likes rice mostly with a little bit of chicken. Then we attempted the formula we brought and she had about 2 ounces of it which is good. We will keep trying it. I hope I brought enough drop ins for the bottles. It was then getting dark so we put Jelka and MV in a cab to go back to Jelka’s house in Majuro. So goes our first day with baby girl.
Thoughts of the first day: Poverty is all around us. It reminds me of the provinces in the philippines with children wearing school uniforms, people lounging around since it is so hot and jobs are scarce, stray dogs running around the streets, food is at least 2.5 times the cost in the USA. Prices for food in restaurants are similar to Hawaii’s prices. People love to drink soft drinks since just our short time with Jelka she drank 3 pepsi’s. I think MV even has been given some since she looks at the cans of soda like she wants it. Uh oh gotta break her of that habbit. Jelka loves her daughter very much and it will be hard to leave for all of us I am sure.
I was able to meet another birthmom, Willa. She came from Laura Beach with a CAA worker. I told Maddy I have a package from Bina/Araceli and she came right away. I was able to spend a few minutes with her and shared the moment with her when she was able to see pictures of Bina that Araceli sent. She looked so proud of her daughter and you could see the love she had for her. I could also tell she misses Araceli as well. She had tears of happiness and a bit of sadness. I am so honored to have shared this moment with Willa.
November 5, 2010 (6pm)
Today Maddy and Jelka came with baby MV early aroun 930am and they came and stayed in our room for 30minutes. Then Maddy took Jelka with her as they did errands and looked after other birthmothers in the JOH program. MV stayed with us from 10am to 230pm and we did well but I don’t think she likes to be cooped up in the room. So we will have to work on a routine of some sort. Well we went walking around the town at 11am and went to grab some lunch at a chinese restaurant. We soon realize it gets really hot here during the middle of the day. So we need to come up with another game plan. Around 120pm we went back to the room to cool off and play a little bit. MV can walk with assitance and can crawl fast and far. Then about 230pm, Maddy and Jelka came back. Maddy left us and Jelka stayed with us til 5pm. We ate at the local KLG (yes it is not a KFC but tries to be). We sent Jelka home with some chicken and fries. Now the new daddy is zonked out on the bed.
MV is a peanut like I said. We brought some onesies size 6/9months and it fits her loosely. So all the clothes that we brought along will be worn for sure. Only 2 more days and she will be a permanent part of our family. Hooray. We have taken lots of pictures and cannot wait to share it with you all but it will have to wait since internet access costs so much now. It is $18.00 a Day! Or you can use the hotel computer for $5.00 per 1 hr ($0.08/minute) so we will be going with this way since I will just be checking email quickly and adding to the blog when I can. So I won’t be online as much as I hoped to be. If I don’t answer your emails please know that I only have limited access to be online.
Tomorrow we will be meeting with Gordon Benjamin, our lawyer, to go over our paperwork and court date. We will just wait to hear from him on meeting at his office. He also invited us to go with him and the other family here from Minnesota from another agency to Enonmite(msp?) which is an island off Majuro that a wealthy businessman owns where on Sundays he takes friends/family to relax for the day. I know other adoptive families were able to visit this island and so we will be able to visit as well. I will definitely take plenty of pictures and will share it as soon as we get home.
For families coming to the RMI after us,
1. Bring sunscreen
2. Bring a water bottle or just reuse a bottled water container since in RRE they have a water cooler near the front desk where you can get water which the Reimers family owns/operates the water purification plant
3. You can get a lot of things that we have in USA but may not be the brand that you like. Prices on some things are comparable to the USA prices such as toothpaste, dishwashing detergent, diapers are off brand, laundry detergent,
4. You can get salad and fruits but it costs comparable to an upscale restaurant prices for salad and fruit plate.
5. Bring baby medicine you think you need such as nystatin cream, elimite cream (just to have in case), Baby Tylenol and baby motrin, syringe to give the oral medicines with, etc.
Monette and Wayne
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
M and W
Monday, November 1, 2010
Just a few hours....
Our baby girl is waiting for us and we are ready to be her mommy and daddy. I cannot wait for her to get to know us and our many family and friends. We are very lucky parents to be. All of this is so worth the time and expense and we will savor every moment of it since it will go by faster than we can imagine.
Love, M
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