April 14: Double Celebration

Since mommy seems to be so tired these days (I really don't get why... I'm full of energy!) I decided I would take over again and just keep you updated of the latest developments. 

First: Daddy's B-day.  The "old man" is getting older.
Second: Our new family's second month anniversary.

1. Daddy's B-day.
Yes, daddy is a year older, or like he said very seriously... "not a year older but a year more experienced". Yeah whatever! I don't get the whole b-day celebration yet... but after having front row seats to daddy's, I have to say that it definitely seems like fun. I don't know what the fuss is with the years you have... when you're still counting just months that doesn't really matter.  

Anyway... mommy decided to have what was intended to be a small "gathering" at the house.  What she didn't remember was the amount of kids that are now part of the circle of friends! Wow... I have only one word to describe our Sunday afternoon: Zoo.   Mommy made a mental note:  Next party we'll have it at a park!

We did have fun though... we played,  we went up and down the stairs (well... the bigger kids did, I am not allowed...), we eat cake, daddy and Maria Jose (my cousin who's B-day is April 17) blew off candles and  they both opened presents! I am definitely liking this whole B-day deal.

Besides, I also got to spend some time with my "fiancee", Nathalie, who's looking cuter and cuter! ; )
But don't tell her I said that.  

I am of course, very smooth and try to pay no attention to her yet.  The other day she even send me kisses... which I totally ignored.  That's why I am a chick magnet. 

This is a pic of daddy and Maria Jose, each one with their cake, blowing off the candles.  Maria Jose is a little precocious and ended up blowing everybody's candles! Let me tell ya something dude... when I have a cake... I'll take care of it... okay? Nah! she's pretty cool...

  

2. Our family's Second Month Anniversary: 

So it's been two months since we were formally introduced and I have to say that I've learned a lot about my parents and about being a family since then. And I won't even go into what I've learned about Canada and the fact that is mid-april and the white stuff is still there!.  Everybody said is supposed to be gone by now but we're still going to the malls in the afternoon instead of the park...oh well!  I've also "shared" with mommy and daddy more and more about lovely me! 

Things mommy and daddy know about me now that they didn't a month ago:  

1. I do like pajamas in Canada.  Not in Colombia because is hot... but here... they're worth a try.  Besides, I look sexy.  (Maybe I should show Nathy my fav with the ears).  What do ya think? 

2.  I do enjoy some time by myself in the play pin.  I didn't at the beginning and I would start crying when mommy left me there... but I now know that she's looking at my while she cooks and I no longer get so anxious.  Mommy also sings and dances while I'm there to keep me "entertained"... I think she's hilarious when she does the frog dance, so now I dance as well! 

 3. I can enjoy a good laugh after a bath.  See... I love the bathing experience but don't like it when I have to dress up again, so I usually cry and make a fuss! However, mommy and daddy are so funny sometimes when they're dressing me that I just can't hold a good laugh.
 

 

4.  Duna and I are becoming best buddies.  We share toys and mommy found me the other day biting on Duna's favorite bone.  Mommy was not happy about that... but Duna didn't care. Milu on the other hand does not love me at all! That's ok... my charm will eventually win her over. 

5. After much consideration I think daddy is the coolest daddy ever!  I even chose to say "papa" instead of "mama" the other week.  Mommy was a little upset 'cause she's home with me every day an all... she also said that because of me she had to change the whole house decor and "that's the way I pay her back" but, I think the old man is just great!. - I'll say mommy eventually... I just like to give the ladies a hard time at first.  :)   

So happy B-day daddy!  You are the BEST-EST ever!

Sebastian

Back in Calgary!!!

I know it's been a while since my last blog but I got to tell ya... it's been a couple of crazy weeks!
Since the last post,  Sebastian and I booked our trip to Bogota (Sunday, March 26th) where we spend a couple of days with Tavo's mom and brother.  It was pretty great being there with them and seeing how in only two days, grandma Marina and uncle Diego fell in love with Sebastian.

Well, of course! he's a pretty lovable little guy! Besides, he seemed to enjoy daddy's side of the family as well! :)   We basically did stuff together,  go for ice-creams, go for walks, etc etc.  It was pretty relaxing and I discovered Sebastian doesn't really mind blankets... as long as it's a little cold! In Bucaramanga he insisted on sleeping without any pajamas or blankets!!

After that it was time to flight again... but this time it was going to be a long ride.  On Tuesday evening we got Sebastian in the warmest, fuzziest jammies we could find... and headed to Bogota's International Airport.

We had a 6 hours flight to Toronto, a two hours stop there for immigration  and a 4 hours flight to Calgary. In a summary... a very very looong flight. Tavo and I decided that Sebastian and I would go first class so that we could get the best service and be more comfortable; however, as a side comment,  I don't think you can really "enjoy" the first class experience when traveling with an 8 month old baby in an overnight flight.  I don't know if it would have been much less comfortable in the "regular" section of the plane but I will definitely try row 12 (the row with the possibility of a crib) next time. 

The good thing is that Sebas slept most of the way. I had initially asked some friends for  things to give him so that he would sleep but ended up buying drops of a mix of herbs that a nathuropatic doctor recommended.  They worked perfectly!

We arrived to Toronto and had exactly 2 hours to get to our next gate which were EXACTLY the time we needed.  I could hardly get to the ladies room before boarding our new flight to at least take a look at my very tired face! :)  For those of you traveling for the first time to Canada with internationally adopted children;  plan for time for immigration as children need to be "recorded" as landed new citizens if they are not traveling with a Canadian passport.  The funny thing is, Sebas seemed to know the agent asking the questions was someone he needed to keep happy, because he kept smiling at her.  I guess the kid's learning the art of manipulation! And with that little smile and four teeth, I could see myself being a victim of that ancient male art!!...

Anyway,  we finally made it next day... all in one piece, with our two pieces of luggage,  one stroller, one carrier and two very very big brown bags under my eyes!.  And I have to say that I am very proud of myself and of Sebastian.  I was awesome handling documents, baby, suitcases and other stuff... (I can now say that I have "incredible" multitasking skills and almost 5 arms!) and Sebastian was an awesome baby who slept when he had to and smiled at the right time!

It is great to be home... even when it snowed 25 cm on Saturday... which by the way it's a perfect Welcome to Canada weather for Sebas.  He got dressed for the occasion and we were all out on Sunday. 

But before I end letting all of you think that everything was picture perfect... I need to add that Sebastian was not AT ALL impressed with car seats in Canada.  You see... in Colombia all he had was mommy's arms to hold him but here... well, here is different.  This is his first impression of the car seat. 

  

By the way, he still does that every time he goes for a ride. 

Until next post,  

Luz M.

Paperwork and more adventures in Colombia

Back by popular demand, I´m back writing. :) But let´s start by my current setting: The light is off, therefore I can hardly see the keyboard, I have a playpen to my left and an eight month old sleeping to my right.  There are toys everywhere, diapers, towels... to name a few of the things around me.  And on top of it, I am husbandless because Tavo left for Bogota yesterday and will fly to Canada tomorrow.

I know it doesn´t sound like the most inspiring setting but this is my new me... and so I´ll blog covered in baby stuff. :)  Besides, it´s not even that bad... it´s just another me!

Since the last time I wrote it´s been very busy. Process over here is really complicated because nothing is standardized and it seems that each judge and each registry is different. I'll sumarize for the sake of information and I'll throw in some baby pictures to make it fun. Documentation talk can be really dry...

The "sentencia" or adoption order: It took two and a half weeks to get our adoption order starting the day the complete set of documents got to the judge´s office. This happened last Monday March 14th. That´s exactly one month after the integration meeting. We got lucky we have a family friend who knew the judge and asked her to speed up the process.  We heard later that it is normally taking longer than 2 weeks. 

The new birth certificate:  On Tuesday the 15th my brother traveled to Sebastian´s town where he spend the full day getting a new birth certificate for him.  He had to wait for I don´t know how long and we kept e-mailing him documents that were required at the last minute.  Seriously... it´s like you are never ready because they can ask for anything. The good news is that by 4:30 pm he had Sebastian David Cristancho Jaimes´ birth certificate in his hands... 10 copies of it (just in case!!!).  He mailed everthing the same day.  (Yayyy for uncle Felix!)

Sebastian's Colombian Passport: Wednesday the 16th we picked up the documents at the mail office. We already had Sebastian´s passport pictures taken so we quickly got to the passport office to get that done. I have to say that was the easiest step of all because once again, we dad's friend works there. The lady was super helpful and by noon we had the passport in our hands. (Yay for abuelito Felix!)

That same evening, Tavo took his plane to Bogota to spend two days with his mom and brother and to deliver the "complete" set of documents to the Canadian Embassy.

Canadian Visa:  Thursday the 17th Tavo called the Canadian Embassy to make sure he had everything required for Sebastian´s visa, and sure enough, we had a missing document! I went to my lawyer and nobody seemed to know how to get this letter. Of course I was on panic by then...again. How can neither my lawyer or the regional ICBF office know how to get that letter! But Tavo came to the rescue when he talked to someone at the main ICBF office today who was able to provide the letter. So finally, we have everything! Uff...  Yayyy for daddy!

Next tuesday (monday is a holiday here in Colombia) Abuelita Marina,  Tavo's mom, will be delivering the docs to the Embassy and hopefully before two weeks we´ll have the visa. :)
Yes, this is been a full family effort. 

Nothing seem to be easy regarding documents in international adoption!!

The good thing is Sebastian is so so so much worth the effort! Every day he seems to come up with different ways to be cute... he´s starting to say "agua" which in english means water. It seems to me that´s a perfect first word... since he likes it so much! He´s also already looking for us when we leave the room for whatever reason and he comes to me when "in trouble" which is a definite sign of attachment.

I got to run but I will definetely tell you later about our trip to my family´s acreage... what an adventure!

Until next post, 

LuzM.

Life in Bucaramanga

After my last "introduction" post I decided I kinda of like this blogging thing.  Besides, after I blog all of mommy's friends and family write and call back! Impresive!
So this time I'll write about my new life in Bucaramanga.  However, a word of caution... I hear this will not be my permanent city.  This is only temporary until we get our documents in order and we can all go home, in Canada.  I only hope the weather over there is a nice as it is here... 25 celcius in the past two weeks.  Niceeee!

In the mean time, I've had a very busy time.  Here is my schedule:

3:30 am.  During my first couple of weeks, I used to weak up at this time everyday.  My mommy said that it was probably because of all the changes in my life, but in reality I was just checking them out to see if they would really stick to our new parents-son arrangement. I wanted to weak up and see them there... no matter the time.  The good news is that mommy and daddy were always there, half asleep but there, so I decided to reduce the frequency of my testing and starting this past week, I'm only up now and then.  I am not ready to take them off the hook yet.

6:00 am.  I weak up ready to rock and roll! The day is bright and I am so full of energy that I'm normally smiling and playing.  However, I kinda of get the feeling daddy is not a morning person. He tries to keep me in bed for a little longer everyday... but I refuse! Normally is mommy who plays with me for a bit until daddy manages to open  his eyes just enough to be able to see me.

6:15 Tete time. (Bottle time). Just like that my smile goes away and I start getting really impatient.  That's my mommy's cue to get me a bottle.  I take it - 6 oz - not to hot, not to cold please. 

6:30 to 8:00 am.  I normally chill during this time.  We all go downstairs where grand-ma and grand-pa are having breakfast.  Then, I sit down with mommy and daddy while they get their breakfast too.  I normally try to reach everybody else's food but mommy only gives me crakers or fruit. She reminds me I just had my tete a couple minutes ago. 

8:00 am.  I get sleepy again. I think is this whole weaking up at 3:30 am situation... but daddy says my brain is growing and that's why I need so much sleep.  Either way, mommy says it's a blessing because I give them enough time to jump in the shower and get ready for the day. 

9:00 am.  I get my bath.  I really like my bath and I have a bunch of plastic little friends, including a turtle, which is my favorite, that swim with me.  Mommy sings: "ahi va la tortuga bajo del agua, bajo del agua"... she sais is a classic of tropical music.. and daddy gives her.. the "look". 

Oh! aunti Martha gave me a brand new towel with my name on it.  I not only use it after my bath but I also like the taste of it.  I actually like the taste of everything I find... it's a teething situation..

10:00 to 12:00.  I'm back to sleep again.  Mommy checks e-mails and-or reads during this time.  She said it will be great to have some time to cook lunch when we're in Calgary.  That's as long I keep my schedule like this. 

12:00 Tete time again! yay! I looove tete time.

12:30 to 3:30 is when I get the busiest.  I go to work and first and foremost... take care of things.  I even stole Abuelito Felix's favorite chair.  I think I look very corporate. 

We also go to different parks in town and I get to see bunnies and birds... we really have had a lot of fun in Bucaramanga.  This is daddy and me in El Parque del Agua.  This place is full of fountains and mommy thought I would enjoy it since I love water.  See why I love mommy already??

And Abuelita Martha was there too, she's the only one besides mommy and daddy who's allowed to hold me.  Mommy says it's better for my "attachment" process that not many people hold me besides mommy and daddy.  

I even got my feet wet while in the park.  Man that was fun!

3:30.  Tete time again.  Some days I get a little sleepy after my afternoon tete but some days I just keep on going!

4:00 to 6:30.  I get back to tasting things... did I talk about a teething situation? New rule in the house:  Nobody is allowed to taste remote controls, iphones or keys.   Booooring!

and I also check with the dog that the house has really been in order. 

Ok, the dog is super cool.  His name is Tizne and I think he's jealous with all the attention I get... but seriously... who's cutter?

After 6:00 everything goes really fast.  I take my second bath of the day, get on my jammies, say good night to grand ma and grand pa, and then mommy takes me upstairs so that I can sleep.  She gives me my last tete of the day and reads a book to me. 

And so are my days...

Process ways we haven't yet received the adoption order of "sentencia". We are hoping to get it next week.  Only then a new birth certificate can be written, with mommy's and daddy's names.  Then, I get my very own passport and a visa to enter Canada. 

I think mommy is a little concerned that this isn't happening fast enough.  Daddy has to go back to Canada soon and she doesn't want to travel alone.  We're hoping daddy gets a few extra days from work and can stay a bit longer.  I really like the guy after all and hope he'll hang in with us. 

More to come! ( I promised mommy I would let her write next time)

Sebastian.

All about our first week together, and some other important events

After Sebastian´s very own and personal intro,  I wanted to spend some time talking about our first week together and some important events from this week.

Just as planned, after we got Sebastian,  we went to "La Mesa de los Santos".  For those of you unfamiliar with the region,  this place is basically a country setting close to the city, where people have their cabins. We decided to spend some time there just the three of us, so that we could meet little Sebastian and start the attachment process, before joining my family back in Bucaramanga.  For those of you in the process, or interested in  adoption, I have to say that spending some time by yourselves is a great idea.  You really need that time to be a family before letting anyone else be part of the baby´s life. We used the time to get to know our little baby, what he likes, what he doesn´t like.. at what time does he nap etc.

You would think you have enough information provided by the ICBF at the integration meeting to figure out your baby´s schedule, and to be honest, you do get a lot of information, but still... it´s like you need to really live it with the baby to understand it.  Besides, there are so many changes in that little person´s life, that their schedule also gets messed up.

Anyway... we were really lucky because the cabin was really confortable and it had 11 dogs, 1 cat and multiple rescued birds.  The owner hires some people to take care of the animals which was also great because we got to enjoy them without having to worry about feeding them.  It was like having our very own zoo!

This is the cabin where we stayed at:

And this is everybody (see all the puppies?) napping after lunch.

Some very important facts we learned about Sebastian during our week in the cabin:

1. He really likes dogs (definite plus!) and he´s very curious about cats (also a plus).  The birds he finds interesting but nowhere close to the dogs.  :) 

2. He has two teeth already (middle down) and two that seem to be coming out ( middle top). Therefore, there is drooling all over, all the time.  :)

3. He likes to be taken out for walks. A friend lend us a stroller and it´s been really helpful! Wait until he sees the ride he has waiting for him in Calgary! (Remember? the one it took daddy 3 hours to put together?)

4. He likes it when I read to him the books I bough.  I read one in english and another one in spanish. He seems equally interested and helps turning each page up. 

5. He looooovvvveees baths.  I think is his favorite activity of the day. Oh! this is his rock the house due.

6.  He has the cutest little smile ever.

Cute uh? I think we are both totally in love.  :)

Anyway... process ways, we have our follow up appointment with the ICBF tomorrow.  Without that appointment our lawyer can´t place the adoption demand to the Colombian governement.  We thought the appointment would be exactly a week after the integration meeting, but they actually delayed it 4 more days.  In other words, we just lost a week. 

This means that Tavo might need to go back to Canada without us because he needs to get back to work.  That also means that I´ll have to have Sebastian in an 8 hour flight to Toronto all by myself (Oh dear!).
Worst case scenario, Tavo will flight to Toronto and meet us there so at least Toronto -Calgary I´ll have some company (& much needed help). 

This week Sebastian also had his first haircut... which he wasn´t very happy about (he lost his rock & roll due), and he also had his first appointment with the pediatrician.  She said he´s doing great and that he´ll be walking fast due to the strenght on his legs.  I´m not sure if I´m to be happy or worried about having a fully mobile 9 months kid.  :)  Good thing we baby proofed before coming to Colombia.

Well, hoped you enjoyed the pictures...  I really had a hard time choosing some because there are so many! we´re like picture crazy over here!

I better get to sleep now because I´ll have a crying baby by 3:30 am.  Oh yes! did I forget to mention he usually wakes up then only to fall back to sleep about 30 min later? But mommy still goes bananas each day (even with the lack of sleep) when he wakes up with a smile on his face.

Until next post.

LuzM.

Introducing : Sebastian !!!

My mommy tells me she´s writing a blog about me... so I decided I was going to take over and write one of the posts all by myself. I thought it was more appropriate to tell all of mommy´s & daddy´s friends and family, first hand, who I am.

You guessed right,  the handsome young man in the picture with the big brown eyes... it´s me.  Mommy says I am the most beautiful baby she´s ever seen, and I of course, I  think she´s right.

But let´s start by the beginning.  I was supposed to be introduced to my brand new parents last  Friday.  The appointment was set for noon, however, the night before there was a lot of rain in this part of the country and the road from my little town to the city where I was supposed to meet my parents had a mud slide and it was closed.  Mommy and daddy heard about the road conditions and got really worried that I wasn´t going to make it to the city that day, maybe not even next day!.  But mommy knew to believe this time and didn´t get desperate... actually, daddy told me later that grandma and grandpa were more worried this time!

Anyway,  the lady who was driving me to Bucaramanga had to take another road to get there, a much longer one,  and instead of a 2 hour drive it took us 5 hours to get to the ICBF building. Mommy and daddy weren´t there because they were told to wait home until I got there.  But finally we all got a chance to get together at 4:00 pm that afternoon!  I was a little cranky because of the long drive but I was so excited to meet mommy and daddy that I behaved just fine, and so did mommy who had promised daddy that she would "hold it together".

This is us... getting to know each other for the very first time.

And this is me... looking at daddy and trying to decide if I really liked this guy... (just between you and me, I knew mommy was a keeper right away... and after a couple minutes, daddy was ok too).

See? she even brought food... and I don´t care what daddy says...I really like her cooking!

And she has a great smile!! - I do too of course...

 And finally, this is the new us... I think I´m really liking this new arrangement...

Ok people... mommy says I got to get some sleep now.  Next week,  mommy will tell you all about our first week together.  We went to a cabin. There were dogs,  cats and birds.   I had a great time and got to meet mommy and daddy even more!

  ZZZzzzzzzz

Sebastian. 

News from the North & more from the South

North (Canada).
Date:  Wednesday - February 9.

Believe it or not,  the is mid-week already (but who´s day- counting?).  I´ve already finished most of my stuff at work and my suitcase and Sebastian´s are packed and ready to be put on an airplane.  After thinking for two weeks about what "mommy" was going to be wearing on "meeting day" I decided I would go for confortable instead of stylish (read: scratch the high heels and skirt - after all, the occasion might involve some poop).  I did however go to the hair dresser on the weekend and got myself a new haircut and nice redish highlights.  Call me superficial but I am meeting my new man.  :)

Gustavo on the other hand initially decided on Tuesday that he was going to pack everything friday evening.   Just imagine my face... yeahhh right! So tonight I think I mentioned that I was going to "help" and choose what he would wear for a month.  Read again: Pack his suitcase myself.  He suddenly decided he did have some time to pack.  Am I a good negotiator or what?!

North (Still)
Date:  Thursday February 10. 

Ok! my last day at work.  I feel so so so lucky today!.  I work with incredible people who not only have been super suportive of all this process, but have join us to celebrate Sebastian today. 

First, some of my friends took me out for lunch. The menu: Dim Sum.  Soooo good! I love Dim Sum, not only because it tastes great and it is healthy,  but because being at a round table sharing food is so "family like". We had a great time and I thanked my friend Rebecca about 200 times for organizing.

Then,  when we came back from lunch my whole floor got together to celebrate baby Sebastian with a piece of cake.  I had to share a picture because is was so cute... it was actually hard to cut it into pieces.

But of course... I had to cut it after all... there was some pressure from my  25 or so colleages waiting for their afternoon sugar rush. 

North (Still)
Date:  Friday.  February 11.

Nothing to report.  A lot of activity... a lot of cleaning and running around.  Nothing interesting besides the fact that I have no idea how I will manage to sleep tonight.  Just way to excited.

South (Bogota - Colombia)
Date: Saturday.  February 12


Yay! We`re finally here!!
BTW... for those of you wondering if I did sleep and just to calm any remaining doubts:  No I didn´t.  I kept waking up totally scared every 30 minutes thinking that the plane was going to leave without us.  Not so fun stuff. However, adrenalin is a great thing because I wasn´t even tired this morning. 

The day started at 4 am when we had to "weak up" (again) and get dressed. Then, our friend picked us up to drive us to the airport.  Yes, she actually woke up as early as us.  Did I mention I have great friends?. Anyway, after passports were properly checked and I had my morning starbucks we boarded the plane.

About the flights:  
Calgary - Toronto : Big blur.  I think the coffee didn´t work and the lack of sleep catched up with me.  My brain knew that we were already on the plane... therefore there was no need to keep waking me up.  I must have slept the entire 4 hours flight.  So did Tavo. 

Toronto - Bogota:  I made friends with the kid sitting right next to me after we shared a banana I had packed for snack.  I think his name is was Alejandro (like the song) and he was about 7.  Just to be clear: He did say he was hungry after I started eating the banana and I did ask his mom if he could have the rest. 

Anyway... after he watched all the cartoons in the TV I think he got really tired.  "Are we there yet?"...- No -  15 min later... "now?".... - No -... 15 min later... "how about now?"...  you get the idea. 
And believe it or not I wasn´t bother by the kid.  I actually thought it was kind of funny... now you can see how sleep deprived I still was. 

One thing I did learn and this is out of share luck... (Take note, all of you traveling with a baby in Air Canada). The first row after first class in the Boeing 767,  has holes in the wall in front of you, that allow to install a crib in it.  You can ask for the crib if you are traveling with a baby.  So in our way back... we´re definetely making a point of sitting in that row. 

Next thing we know we´re landing in Bogota.
I must say the airport was crazy busy.  There were people everywhere! It took us 1 hour to get to the inmigration officer after lining up for what it seemed to be forever.  It was kind of cool thought.  There were signs everywhere: Welcome to Colombia... Bienvenido a Colombia...  (I got a picture but couldn´t download it from my cell phone) people around us reading "El Tiempo" ( which is kind of like the local Calgary Herald) and talking about familiar places and familiar foods. 
Official temperature:  18 degrees but they felt like 30 something. 

My mother in law was waiting for us at the airport.  Big Hugs. Happy tears. Tonight´s dinner menu:  Caldito de papa.  (potato´s soup). 
And just like that,  we´re home. 

North (er) - Bucaramanga - Colombia.
Date:  Sunday.  February 13.

At 11 am we were back at the airport boarding our flight Bogota - Bucaramanga. It´s a 45 minute flight which ends in a very small airport with a very short run way at the top of a mountain.  Which means the pilot has to hit the breaks as soon as the wheel touches land and of course we all pray that the plane stops before the runway ends because there is a cliff at the end.  I am of course exagerating a bit,  but I have the "moral obligation" to make fun of whoever came up with the idea of building an airport at the top of a mountain. I mean, seriously? There is nothing boring about Colombia! : )  

Anyway... the sky was clear today (which is weird because right now is pouring rain!) and I got to see my beloved mountains.  I was almost surprised by them today, as if I had never seen them before.  So beautiful, so green.  So much green! Official Temperature:  27 C.  But it feels like I´m melting. 
Word of causion:  Traveling from -10 to 27 C on a single week doesn´t leave much time for your body to adapt. 


It is now 10:48 pm and I am as awake as I can be.  We decided we´re leaving tomorrow to a country house in "La Mesa de los Santos" which is close to Bucaramanga.   We´ll be leaving just Tavo the baby and me, for the first week to initiate the bonding and attaching process.  We´ll be back in Bucaramanga next week.  The news hasn´t gone very well with the grand-mas but this is what´s recommended by social workers and psicologists for the first couple of days with our baby and we have to do what´s best for him. 

So tomorrow we meet our beautiful Sebastian at 12:00 am, we introduce him to the closest family and then we leave.  I won´t be writing much in the next couple of days but I´ll make sure to send some pics as soon as I can.  Wish us luck!!

I wanted to end with a list of things I wanted to say about Colombia:

• There is green everywhere!! Does any of you Colombian readers realize how incredibly beautiful nature is here?
• Jugo de Maracuya.  Passion fruit juice , made out of the actual fruit, right there in front of your eyes... is the best juice in the entire world.  And you can buy it at your local supermarket for less than 5 dollars. I think I totally overdose of this juice today.  The lady at the counter was looking funny at me after the 3rd one.  
• Suicidal motorcicles.  Ok... seriously... not only do this people drive around cars and between them but they do so at crazy speeds.  And there are thousands!
• Women.  Women in Colombia are always very well groomed.  Always wearing make up, carefully dressed and mostly with nice polished nails.  Even in the supermarket.  Even the lady who was making the Maracuya juice. 
• Humidity.  A reminder for me: You can fight your curls but they´ll always win.  Yes... I was back to my lion king look as soon as I steped out of the plane in Bogota. Awwhhhh...  so tomorrow I´ll give it another try (tools in hand: read blow dryer) to look decent for my man.  :)

Until next post,

Luz M. 

PS.  Did I mention I am meeting baby Sebastian tomorrow? Is that incredible or what!