Archive for May, 2009

Woke up early again to feed the hungry boy. He’s still sleeping pretty well, although he is very restless – moving around a lot as he sleeps, which sometimes wakes us up as he bangs against the side of the cot when he rolls over.

After breakfast we got ourselves organsised and went out for a walk along the Rio Cali (Cali River) near the hotel. We wandered along enjoying the exercise and watching life in Cali. Andres seems to like the Ergo carrier – he sat quietly watching the world go by and even fell asleep for a while.

Leanne and Andres going for a walk with the Ergo baby carrier

On the way back, we stopped at a little supermarket to get some supplies before returning to the hotel and sitting on the front porch of the hotel to relax and play with Andres.

Simon and Andres playing on the front porch

The afternoon was quiet – spent napping, reading, playing and writing blog entries. We did try feeding Andres a little banana baby food, he hasn’t quite got the eating action right yet, but he did eat a bit of it. We’ll try some cereal tomorrow.

Andres

He is getting very good at vocalising his hunger. The first couple of days he only really cried first thing in the morning, so we weren’t really sure when to feed him. Now though, he cries pretty much right on queue every four to five hours during the day, wanting to be fed – and once we’ve got the bottle into him, he’s very happy. He’s finishing off his bottles now, where the first couple of days he would only drink about three quarters of it – I think he’s over the stress from those first couple of days. After feeding, we make sure to keep Andres upright (I usually hold him over my shoulder) for at least half an hour until we get a few good burps out of him – if we try to lie him down before then, he gets a bit grizzly with discomfort.

Late afternoon, Magnolia came and picked us up to take us to the Notario to get a power of attorney notarised ready for our lawyer to take our file to court. This was a simple process which involved lining up for 2 minutes, then spending 5 minutes smiling at all the ladies in the office who left their posts to come and coo over Andres and tell us how cute and how chubby he is (just like his papa – chubby that is, not cute). I felt a bit sorry for the other people waiting to get documents notarised, nobody got any work done while we were there. Eventually we paid the fee and got the documents (which we signed and put a finger print on).

Before heading back to the hotel, Magnolia took us to some shops so we could buy a little rattle for Andres – he liked playing with the room keys, but they are a bit sharp and I didn’t want him stabbing himself in the eye. It was an instant hit (literally) – he loves banging the rattle on anything including us.

After dinner we ended up sitting downstairs with the other couple from Australia and the couple from Finland and chatting for a couple of hours before bed. It was nice to be able to share with other people and see that we are not alone going through this. The Finnish couple adopted a little girl from Chiquitines the same day as we did, so we are pretty much going through the process together. The Australian couple adopted a little boy from Chiquitines a week before we did.

Tweets from today

fun way to make (or lose) friends while travelling OS – take a jar of vegemite and have the locals taste it

21st May, 2009 11:46 PM from txt

Woke up to a hungry Andres again this morning – he had slept 11 hours straight, so we were very pleased with this.

Andres the drool machine

After breakfast, we went and sat out on the front porch and relaxed there for a while, talking to some of the other families and taking some photos.

Leanne and Andres

The girls at the reception desk sometimes put an old banana out on the window ledge and some of the local birds fly in and peck at it.

Birds finishing off an old banana

After lunch and our collective afternoon nap, we went for a walk down the road to a local shopping mall – just a small one several blocks away. We stopped for some icecream – it was nice to get away from the hotel for a bit and stretch our legs.

Our feeding / bathing / sleeping routine seems to be working quite well – not much grizzling today and he finished off four full bottles for the first time.

Off to bed just after 6pm again after his bath and a feed. It means we can’t make much noise in the evening, but we have headphones and a y-adaptor so we can watch DVDs on the laptop together without distrubing Andres.

We were up early today – woken by a hungry child who happened to be sleeping in the same room as us. Now how did that happen?

Andres was a bit grizzly this morning – perhaps his reflux is giving him a bit of a problem, but sitting him up or over the shoulder seemed to settle him down.

Leanne and Andres relaxing on the balcony

After breakfast, we sat out on the balcony for a while, enjoying the morning air and Leanne and Andres had a bit of a snooze together on the couch.

Simon and Andres playing on the balcony

I pulled my big camera lens out for the first time this trip and within 5 minutes had got decent photos of 6 different species of bird – all from my position sitting on the couch on the balcony. I might post some photos on ZooChat to see if I can get some help identifying them, I don’t have any field guides to birds of Colombia.

We had a quiet morning sitting around, spending time with Andres – he is beginning to relax around us and we are seeing a few more smiles.

After lunch we went for a walk around the hotel a couple of times with Andres – partly to stretch our legs and partly to try out the Ergo baby carrier that we brought with us from Australia.

I also took the camera for a walk and got some photos of this beautiful old hotel – over 50 years old and once considered one of the most prestigious hotels in Cali.

Hotel Pension Stein - main entrance

Hotel Pension Stein - Front gate and guard house (guard carries a revolver)

Hotel Pension Stein - Front porch

Hotel Pension Stein - Swimming Pool

Hotel Pension Stein - dining room (open air)

Fairly early start today – up at around 7:30am to get showered and ready for breakfast. Magnolia was coming at 9am to pick us up, so we had a bit of time to get ready.

Magnolia was wonderful during the drive – keeping us occupied by talking to us about the city of Cali and the area, we felt surprisingly relaxed on the way to the orphanage. I was worried that we would both be so nervous and excited that we would make ourselves feel ill – but we were fine.

We arrived at Chiquitines just before 10am and waited only a short period before being ushered into a meeting room to meet with the director of the orphanage and the doctor. The doctor explained about his medical history and updated us with what has happened since the last report we received. They also went through his sleeping and feeding routine and detailed what type of formula he takes and what other food he likes, plus his immunisation history. Finally, we signed the documents accepting responsibility and temporary custody of Andres while the adoption process  is completed.

Andres being dressed ready to meet his new parents

During this time, one of the staff members took my camera and went to take photos of Andres getting ready – taking a bath and getting dressed. When they finally brought Andres in, the staff were there taking photos of us and our happy moment.

Simon and Leanne meet Andres

The staff left us alone for a while so we could get to know Andres a little bit in private, and then came in for some final photos together before we headed home.

Leanne and Andres

One the way home, Magnolia took us to the shopping mall near where she lives so we could buy some more formula and nappies. The girls working at the supermarket were all coming up to say how cute he is and how he is chubby like his papa – I’m not sure whether to be offended by that or not!

Simon and Andres

When we arrived back at the hotel, some of the older adopted girls were waiting near the top of the stairs and ran in to announce that we had arrived with the new baby – it was very sweet. There were lots of congratulations from everyone and the staff at the hotel all told us how cute he was. They seem to really enjoy having the adopting families staying with them.

We went back to our room and sat with Andres for a while – enjoying the happiness and wonder of being given care of such an amazing little boy.

From the time we were first introduced to him at the orphanage all the way home and then when we first got him to our room – he was quite placid. He was very attentive – watching everything and looking at us with his big brown eyes, but he didn’t make much noise or wriggle around much. It wasn’t until a little later, after he’d had a couple of short naps and then a decent bottle feed that he really started to relax – he started gurgling and gargling and became much more active, swinging his legs, and letting us play a little game where he would grab our hands and pull himself up to a seated position and then laugh. We were delighted that he seemed to be more relaxed and happy in our company.

We managed to catch Leanne’s parents before they went to work and had a lengthy Skype video call with them so that they could see Andres – and he was clearly able to see them on the computer screen too and would look at them talking. We later managed to talk to Leanne’s sister and my sister before they went to work – the internet connection here is good enough (when it works) to make very clear VoIP calls – I’m using Internode’s NodePhone VoIP service and CounterPath eyeBeam soft phone to make the calls using the computer – we have a cheap little USB phone handset which allows us to talk to people back home just like we would on a phone. The audio quality is surpisingly good.

We took him down to the dining room when it was time for our lunch and Enrique found us a baby carrier (the type that can be used as a car seat) so that we could put him down while we were eating. We had earlier asked about bottle sterilisation – the hotel staff do this for us, we have a coloured plastic basket that we place our bottles and other gear to be sterilised and put it in the kitchen. Once it is done, they put the basket up on the top shelf for us to collect. There’s an urn with hot water in it in the dining room, and there are water coolers with chilled and warmed water in them in a couple of spots around the hotel – including one just outside our room which is convenient.

The afternoon was spent in our room – we managed some brief naps while Andres had a snooze, but his naps were short, and soon he was up and demanding attention again.

Our first bottle feed went well – he wolfed most of it down. He has had reflux for quite a while now, but he is no longer on any specific medication for it, and is just on a regular formula. We just have to feed him sitting up, and keep him sitting up for at least half an hour after feeding. Sometimes he gets a bit whingy lying down, but sitting him up seems to settle him down quickly.

Simon feeding Andres

Andres fell asleep again before it was time for our dinner, so we ended up needing to tag-team with one of us going down to the dining room while the other stayed and watched Andres. We did borrow a baby monitor from another family back in Australia, but it doesn’t have enough range to reach the dining room.

We finally managed to get a Skype video call going with my parents for a while before Andres went back to sleep – and once he did, Leanne went to sleep as well while I tried to catch up with the blogging.

It has been an exhausting day, but very satisfying and very happy. Andres has been very easy to manage so far, we just hope that continues while we are still learning how to look after a baby!

Satellite track - Hotel Pension Stein to Chiquitines

Tweets from today

http://twitpic.com/5gxtt – Squeezing sugar cane to extract juice to sell on the side of the road – near Cali, Colombia

18th May, 2009 10:37 PM from TweetDeck

http://twitpic.com/5gxjk – Coca plants in the gardens of the Sugar Cane Museum, near Cali, Colombia

18th May, 2009 10:33 PM from TweetDeck

Andres is finally awake and demanding food

18th May, 2009 10:30 PM from TweetDeck

we are now tag-teaming dinner in the dining room – no room service here. Nice to talk to other families over dinner who have also adopted.

18th May, 2009 8:25 PM from TweetDeck

Sleeping babies are just so cute

18th May, 2009 3:24 PM from TweetDeck

We just collected our son from the orphanage Andres Camilo Hampel. Heading to shops now to buy formula and nappies.

18th May, 2009 10:53 AM from TweetDeck

getting ready to go to the orphanage – being picked up from hotel in about 10 minutes. Meeting scheduled for an hour after that.

18th May, 2009 8:51 AM from TweetDeck

We slept in a bit this morning after having a bit of a restless night. Breakfast runs a bit later on Sundays – so there was no rush. We ended up down at the dining room some time after 9:30am and enjoyed the simple buffet breakfast – some cereal, fruit, croissants and bread.

We were approached by the hotel owner, Enrique, who introduced himself to us and made us feel very welcome. He also explained that they don’t serve lunch on Sunday’s instead he organises some minibuses to take the families staying at the hotel out for lunch to a local restaurant and then on some sightseeing excursion.

Given our original plan was only to spend the day recovering from travel and perhaps doing a bit of exploring around the area near the hotel, we thought this sounded like a much better idea. We gathered out on the front porch around 11:30am with most of the other families – and while we waited for the buses to arrive we were able to get to know who everyone was and meet the children of those who had already collected their babies in previous weeks.

Amongst the families staying here is another Australian couple, also from Sydney – they were allocated a week before us and so arrived a week ago and had already collected their child. It was great to finally meet them and their new son.

Eventually the buses arrived and we piled in, the trip was only supposed to be 10 minutes, but it was more like 30 minutes to the restaurant – Colombian time again.

We went to a Swiss restaurant that Enrique likes – he himself is Swiss. I’m not sure I’ve ever been to a Swiss restaurant before, so I wasn’t entirely shure what to expect. After some bread and small sausages for starters, main course was a thick veal steak topped with a creamy sauce with quite an interesting mix of flavours – nice, but rather large!

Playground next to the Swiss restaurant where we had lunch

After lunch we wandered around out in the playground nearby while the children played – before jumping back on the buses to head to the sugar cane museum.

We were told it was just a short trip, but after well over an hour of driving through the countryside around Cali, we eventually reached the museum, set amongst a large well tended garden in the middle of the surrounding cane fields.

The major industry in this area is growing and processing sugar cane, plus other industries that have grown out of that – including an extensive paper production industry utilising the leftover chaff from the sugar cane processing.

Orchid - Sugar Cane Museum

The sugar cane museum contains a series of sugar cane crushing machines utilised over the years in Colombia, including examples of different techniques used in different parts of the country. Everything from a simple wooden lever, to complex donkey or oxen driven machines, and eventually up to water, steam and oil/petrol driven machines.

Sugar Cane crushing machine - Sugar Cane Museum

While the museum was fairly interesting, what impressed us the most was the beautifully maintained gardens, with many examples of local plants and trees growing, with quite a bit of bird and insect life. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my long lens on this outing – I thought it was a short trip to some industrial complex, not a long trip into the countryside where I would be seeing wildlife.

Tractor - Sugar Cane Museum

One of the more interesting plants growing in the gardens is the infamous Coca plant – the cause of most of Colombia’s strife over the past few decades. This plant is native to this part of the world, and has been used by the indigenous people of the area for thousands of years in various forms. It is only in more recent times that the rise of drug cartels feeding a seemingly insatiable foreign market for the drug cocaine which is derived from this plant, has caused significant issues for the country.

Coca plants - Sugar Cane Museum

It was after 5pm before we left the museum and headed back to Cali and the hotel, arriving around 6pm. We arrived back to discover that while we were away, the staff had moved a cot into the corner of our room – complete with mosquito net over it, plus a small baby-bath. If we were unsure about how real everything was about to get – this pretty much wiped away any doubts!

Our room at the Hotel Pension Stein with cot in the corner

Dinner was a delicious (and large!) volavaunt full of a kind of chicken mornay. Dessert was bubblegum icecream on fruit – we just had the fruit. We received a call from Magnolia, the lady who we had engaged to act as our interpreter and driver during official meetings – she would collect us in the morning to take us to the orphanage to collect Andres.

After dinner we borrowed an iron and got our clothes ready for the morning, before heading to bed to read for a while. Fortunately we were both tired enough that we didn’t seem to have too much difficulty getting to sleep. I was worried that we would be too nervous and excited to sleep, but being out all day really helped relax us and tire us out.