Thursday

It was another great day with Kariana. We think she is really going to be a happy, content baby. She is just really laid back and even when she is really worked up its not that bad. Although last night wasn't quite as good as the first night, we were still happy with it. She went down around 9 pm and got up at 6:30 so it could have been a lot worse! Today she took a few fairly signaficant naps though so we will see how it goes. In fact, I was calling her my sleeping machine since she seemed to be sleeping most of the day! Her acid reflux is not apparent at all but we are careful with her after she eats and she does sleep the best in the baby carrier with her head elevated.



We have discovered that her method of self-soothing is to suck on her sleeve. It seems kind of odd to me that she does that rather than suck her thumb or fingers but another child at the hotel also does it so it must not be that rare. We have tried the pacifier but she was having none of that. Although she likes her sleeve, about any material will do and you will find her sucking on her bib, her blanket, or your shirt if she is on your shoulder and getting tired or hungry.



This morning our family went for a long walk and found a good sized park down the street. The boys had a great time there running around and playing. We put Kariana in the baby bjorn (a front baby carrier worn over the sholders) and she was content to take it all in. She loves watching everything and is just so content! We stayed there for quite awhile this morning and just let the boys have fun. It is difficult for them to be cooped up in our hotel room and out of their routine. Both are doing really good adjusting but there are times you can tell that they want to go home too. The hotel is really good though. The kids kind of rule the roost here so they are constantly running all over it. The front door is gated and locked so we know they can't escape which helps my anxiety level a lot. There is a small back yard with a swing set and a seperate play room with toys. Toys are expensive here though so most of them in the room are very well used. They could really benefit from some garage sales back home! There are kids here of almost every age so at least the boys have lots of playmates. We have become good friends with a family down the hall who adopted 2 boys and are now adopting a baby girl too. Their boys are 5.5 and 4 and their baby girl is also 5 months old so our family structure is almost identical. Lucky for us they have been to Bogota 2 other times adopting the boys so they are considered the experts here! We are so thankful they are here as they have proved to be a great resource and our boys keep each other occupied.



After lunch and naps, we took a taxi and ventured out with the Kopka's to Exito which was similar to a Super Target. Its fun shopping here and looking at all the different stuff (and really testing our Spanish knowledge). We needed the usual baby stuff (diapers, wipes, etc), the boys each got a new toy, and we picked up some snacks for the room. Our room has a large dorm fridge in it and a microwave down the hall (mainly to heat up bottles). We eat most of our meals here which has been a challange sometimes. Breakfast is fine because we can pick what we want but lunch and super have sometimes been difficult to find something that 2 fussy little boys will eat. Usually there is something we can pursuade them into eating and I have found most of it to be pretty good. Tonight was pizza with ice cream sundaes for dessert so they were in 7th heaven. We had our laundry done today and they make the beds and change the towels everyday so they make it as easy as possible for you to enjoy your new family addition without worring about laundry or food.



I think that is about it for now. I will post some pictures next.



Love from Bogota,

The Melcher's