Just Another Day in Paradise

(Lots of pics at the end…smile)

The lice adventure last night was just that, an adventure. Jeanie started looking at the instructions on the box, which were in Spanish, and got on the computer to translate them so after dinner we could get started with treatment. Then at dinner we asked Lucrecia if we needed fresh pillows etc. After a few minute of us talking about how to treat poor Jessica, she said she would be in at 8:30 to come help us. Lice is so common here, it’s crazy. As it ended up Lucrecia actually worked on Jessica’s hair for us and explained everything. Jeanie and I worked really hard at trying to understand as much as we could. Jessica was as good as gold through the whole thing. Jeanie and I both noted that Jessica had obviously been through lice treatments more than once, she knew the routine.

Lucrecia told Jessica of the importance of her sleeping in one bed only and being careful to not pass the lice to us. Jessica totally understood. Jessica has not slept one night in her own bed. It was a fight at the beginning for various reasons. So she slept with Emilee at the beginning, then on the sofa, then with Joaquin. (Eric are you ready for this?) Last night she slept in her bed without a fuss and tonight too. Lucrecia had told her she needs to sleep in her bed because of the lice, then a few minutes before we went to bed Jeanie reminded her and Jessica seemed fine with it. So after we gave kisses and hugs she crawled right into her bed with no problem!!! I’m telling you we have a different child. Even just today a few things came up that normally would have been a fight, tears or a fit, and none of the above happened. She shot a few dirty looks and then got over “it.” I am so very proud of her! She is such a different kid than 2 weeks ago, or even a week ago. We will have to continue to check Jessica’s head, I did a comb through again this morning, just to check and will do so several times a day for the next little bit. We found another bug today so I treated her again tonight and will do so again the next two nights I think. She has been so good about it all. Tonight she was telling me what to do, as if she has done this a thousand times before. Poor thing.

On a brighter note, we woke up to beautiful sunshine! Finally! So after breakfast when Jessica and Jaoquin went to English with Carmen, Jeanie, Nate and Emi took off for Maku. Jeanie was sure to enjoy her shopping experience much more with out J and J anyway, it’s tough to keep their fingers off of everything. Nate probably should have stayed with me too, but he only broke on thing, they made Aunt Jeanie pay for it. But it gave Emi and Nate some time with Tia Jeanie. Tia Jeanie had a few words for Emi about sisterhood. Jeanie has been observing the sister relationship between Jessica and Emilee and analyzing just what’s going on. Both Jessica and Emilee like to be in charge and are used to being the oldest and the one with the responsibility. Even though Emi and Jessica get along great at times, they have great difficulty at other times. For Emilee it’s been really hard to fully understand the depth of Jessica and we have put a lot on her in our expectations of her being able to go above and beyond to help Jessica. As you can imagine it’s been tough for her, in a different country for weeks, becoming a young lady, and all the emotional pieces that just come along with adoption in general. Sometimes I am totally glad Emi and Nate were here for all of this, but at other times I think it would have been easier on them if we hadn’t brought them. However, it would have been more difficult for me. I guess that’s selfish. It’s been good for them to experience it all, but at the same time they have experienced a lot of “parenting” on our part for Jessica and Joaquin, which has not been easy for Emi and Nate. But again I have to say, I couldn’t be more proud of them, this has been a draining experience but yet so wonderful for them. They are true troopers and once we get home it will make it all a bit easier for Emi and Nate to handle. They will have their friends, their activities and everything familiar which will help off set some of the attention we have to give Jessica and Joaquin in their education, learning English and social behavior.

I was so anxious all day for a call from Lucia. I wanted to get out but was afraid she would call. We want the next few days to go quickly so we can travel by Friday. I don’t want to all try and get on a plane via standby on the weekend. But we’ll see. Lucia didn’t call today and it was silly for us to sit here all day, on a beautiful day, waiting for her to call. So we would go out for a bit and then come check in to see if we had any news, but nothing…all day.

After lunch we went to the park for a bit, then went to Crepes and Waffles. We were in and out all afternoon, so the afternoon went by quickly. It was so nice to enjoy some sunshine. Jeanie has been awesome to have here. She is helping me a lot with things with the kids. Just reiterating to the kids the importance of having each other as siblings, giving us stuff to laugh at and being a great help to me in general. I feel bad she is not with her girls but am loving having her here with us. Jessica and Joaquin have bonded to her already so well that I can’t wait to see them at home with the rest of the family. Joaquin and Nate had us rolling all day, they are so funny it makes our stomachs hurt.

I can’t resist telling this story about Joaquin from last night. It was a bit stressful dealing with lice, so he was a good stress relief. He came out of the shower with the towel around him and stood right in front of Tia Jeanie and said (in Spanish) “Now presenting, pause, ME!” and he drops his towel and starts cracking up. We doubled over in laugher, the boy doesn’t have a shy bone in his body. The staff here call him loco or Hurricane Joaquin, you can’t help but laugh at him, he’s a mess!

So our fingers are crossed to get the birth certificates tomorrow!

Tia Jeanie and Nate scrap'n over water balloons

A typical Joaquin hand gesture...thumbs up

Here is Nate with Joaquin on his shoulders, but Joaquin kept leaning over to give Nate kisses



Here is Joaquin checking out a bug on a tree. He has a "thing" with bugs, lights, napkins, and bananas...just to name a few


Another tree pic, they love to climb trees

Emi was sitting in the shade at the park and this dog came over to join her. Dogs, unleashed, are in the park, lots of them. They are always well groomed and well behaved.

Joaquin decorating Tia Jeanie with flowers

A little time in the sandbox