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