Update from Ethiopia--June 5

This is from yesterday...

Yesterday morning we took D for her doctor's appointment at 7am and he stood us up. We had to DRAG the baby out of bed, give her the meds (she took them drop by drop since she was so tired and didn't care) and get ourselves ready and be there that early for nothing. I was too tired to be livid but am pretty pissed off now. They told us he had a late evening so decided to come at 10am instead. There weren't any taxis available in rush hour so we had to WALK her back to Kelley's about a mile away. And please remember no sidewalks, walking alongside the road, in the dirt, over rocks, in between goats and other icky morning traffic. White parents, Ethiopian child. Not allowed to walk the roads per agency rules. Very conspicuous. Awful.

Got home and Kelley made us an appointment with her doctor at the Swedish clinic which is the best in town and the only one the NGO families trust with their kids. We went and they saw us right away. The doctor examined her and found the following quite a few issues she's dealing with. So she is on 4 new medicines now. Fortunately we have found that if she is sleepy she doesn't fight the medicine. She sort of rolls her eyes back and compliantly takes the drops. So cute.

After spending 3+ hours at the doctor's office we came home, fed her lunch and after eating a big yummy noodle lunch followed by applesauce she promptly vomited EVERYTHING out. Right into the bottom bib pocket. So convenient! But we were sad that she had an empty stomach again. We've been heavily relying on formula to fill her up since we can't seem to find any solids that she loves. We'll keep trying.

Anyway, two minutes after vomit episode we get a call from our adoption agency saying that we can go to immigration to apply for her passport THAT AFTERNOON. So we rush over to the agency and drive with the social worker and some other kids (normally the workers do this with the kids before parents come) and then sit in the 7th circle of hell for 3 hours waiting for her passport photo. It was POURING rain. About 10,000 people in line circling the building. No bathrooms. SIGH. Awful. She was so good though. She has much more patience for the bureacracy here than we do. She had a ba (bottle), batted her eyelashes at people, clapped together her stacking cups (best purchase ever - she is addicted to them) and behaved well.

We were SO tired. Have I mentioned that her first night with us she slept 12 hours (with 3 wake ups) and we slept ZERO? Could. not. sleep. Awful. Got about 6 hours last night. She got 13. Something seems wrong here. Aren't we supposed to be sleeping when she sleeps? Ok, where am I? So 7th circle of hell ended with her taking the cutest passport photo ever. I am sure when she hits immigration when we land in the US they will automatically pronounce her America's Next Top Supermodel!

We came home, dinner, she was asleep by 6pm and slept until 7am. Only 2 wake ups for stinky diaper changes and one bottle. It was a hard day. But the good news was that we saw her birth certificate finally. (Not a real one, the fake they make for adoptions.) They assigned her July 18, 2009 as her birthday. Not even a remote possibility since she is so obviously one already. (She's getting pretty enthused to try and walk.) But nice that we will get to celebrate with her at
with friends. Today was much better. She's been feeling peppier. We went to the Bunkers' international school in the am to walk the track, play with the kids on the playground and enjoy the beautiful landscaping. So peaceful. I was glad to feel like we got out of the city even though we were still here. It's an oasis. D slept and then played beautifully on a blanket. She's very silly after nap time. Lots of peek a boo, clapping for herself, grinning, pretending to hand a toy and then snatch it back, giving high five, etc. She makes everyone laugh and the best thing is that she finds HERSELF funny. You can tell! ;)

More side note. It's fun to see her have firsts. First look in a mirror and she was in love. She waved bye bye to herself. First kiss on the lips with me. She wanted more and more and more! She and I slept for 3 hours this afternoon. J picked up some hair cream for her and some other little things. (Her hair is thick and very tight little corkscrews. It takes a ton of hair cream to keep it curly and not frizzy.) Now J is entertaining her with pieces of fruit and I am finally on the computer for a few minutes. I have a work report due on Thurs if you can believe it. I don't have internet in my room or anything so time on the computer is limited.