Now we're talking!

Endorphins kicking in...

Mami flies to Florencia, hijo attacks helado

Amores

Empanada class with Sra. Laura

Weighing in at 8.6 kilos, Johan "the Caqueta Chiguiro" Mateo

Sent from my iPhone

My 1st Badeja Paisa (I ate half of Mami's)

Morning routine - fruit loops in bed with Mami

Cyclovia en Usaquen

Johan Mateo's first parachuting experience

Gozando Cyclovia

Hiking in Chicaque

The llama "Mateo" at Monserrate

Diary - Week of March 15

Week of March 15

Monday – Morning walk with Papi, looked at cars at the VW dealership (a very new kids activity for this Dad). Had lunch at Jeno’s Pizza, with a big long slide and climbing area. The girls couldn’t get enough of the slide; Johan not quite ready. In the afternoon, we took Johan for first pediatricians appointment; weighed 8.6 kilos, 75cm long, head circumference 46cm. Doc says he looks great in motor skills and overall health. Small for his age but hoping he will begin to gain weight.

Tuesday – Camila doing school mainly with Mami in the morning while Johan Mateo naps. In afternoon, Johan had first gym experience with Papi at Fitness Infantil. He did well but was pretty overwhelmed. Loved the slide, tolerated the trampoline, hated the merry-go-round. The girls helped and also had swimming class.

Wednesday – Johan Mateo experienced his first children’s museum. Went to Museo de los Ninos in Bogota with family and Abuelita. He loved the hall of mirrors and lighted floor, and was more active in their gymnastics area than yesterday, seems to be gaining confidence. Gisele was grumpy for much of the time. Everyone did some art projects then saw a little show. He really loves music, fitting in with rest of family. Good nap routine developing: 10-12am nap plus afternoon cat nap from 4-5; in bed by 8 but giggling and laughing until 9pm, driving Mom crazy. Up earlier than Oakes family is used to, typically around 6am.

Thursday – Skyped in the morning with Gigi, Papa, Allison and the girls who were visiting San Antonio for Spring Break, and they got their first sight of Johan Mateo. Experiencing his first sickness, slight fever and bronchitis but we’ve got him on some antibiotics already for his little head lesions, hoping it is short lived. Girls had swim class again. Johan wore his winne the poo robe with his high-tops and he looked like a lightweight boxer (featherweight, more like, peso-pluma).  Mommy got first unsolicited beso, after 2 hours of face to face play time.

Friday – Took it easy today, Johan’s fever gone and he’s active and playful. Papi and John played a lot one-on-one, getting closer. The girls are playing well with other kids in Zuetana: Gabriel (age 5, adopted at 3 months old from Bogota; his parents are back adopting 8 month old girl, Veronica; the Ybaceta family, Anabel is Mom, Niurca is Abuelita); Paola and Michael (ages 3 and 2, siblings adopted by Christian and Antje Pfeiffer from Fulda, Germany; we’ve become close and support each other, they are struggling with the kids but experiencing daily small victories). In the evening went to El Corral for burgers with Esperanza and Claudia. Johan ate like a pig. Overtired Gisele acted like a rabid dog, pushing Papi to the limit.

Saturday – Family party day at the Zuetana with most of Liliana’s local family. First day since we’ve been here that it threatened rain so the party was moved indoors to Zuetana’s small dining area. We were packed like sardines but happy. Guests: Abuelita & Alvaro; Romel, Alejandra, Manuel (11), Rommellito (4), Dasha (also celebrated her first birthday today), Daniel stopped by at end; Esmeralda, Alejandra (14), and Mauricio, Tia Flor; Lilia, Katerine y Johan (novio), John Fernando y Raquel y Juan Fernando (3); Lucia, Fabio y Angela; Erica, Fernando y 5 chicos entre 14 y 8 (William, Antony, Sebastian, Estefani y Santiago). The clown/balloons/puppet show was a big hit; Dasha laughed like crazy. Birthday cake for Dasha.

Sunday –Went with Antje and Christian to Cyclovia along Carretera 15, then prayer time and watched a sermon from Oak Hills. Weather remains pretty warm and sunny, like late Spring in San Antonio. Took it easy in the afternoon; had a family movie day with the girls, watched Man From Snowy River.

Diary - Sunday March 14

Sunday March 14

Great night last night. Sleeps better being flat on the pack and play. Cries only for a few minutes before he falls sleep with ELMO.

Naps in the morning. We had a short but wonderful devotional with our friends from Germany –Antja and and Christian - who adopted a sibling pair a day before us. We all needed encouragement in God’s word and some prayer time. The kids played with crafts and are learning to adapt the new worlds.

In the afternoon we went to short walk with our German friends and their 2 kids, Paula 3 ½ and Michael 11/2 . No Ciclovia today as it was Colombia’s congressional elections, but still a good walk.

We spent the afternoon playing with cars, cars, cars and more cars…….very new to me.

He fell sleep on my belly for a short nap. 45 incredible minutes. He is still afraid of bath time. We tried this time small tina but he stills crys. Little bubbles ….we will see.

After the bath, Mike gives him a light massage. They are getting more comfortable together. He lays on Mike’s belly w/o problem. It was so cute to see them together and taking pictures of these incredible first memories. Theres is something very special about boys that I am now beginning to understand.

Abulita came to visit for a while and helped to play with the girls.

We did our first medical treatment on him today. He came to the entrega with 2 abscesses on the head, probably infected mosquito bites.  We drained one ….the back one….poor little fellow. He is feeling better we think.

Sleeps on his belly (when not on his Mom's or Dad's belly).

Diary - Saturday March 13

First full day with Johan Mateo:

Saturday, March 13

He is calm and has a soft spirit. He still avoid us with his eyes today, but with work and giggles he starts looking to us and smiling.

This was a “get to know each other” day. We went to the park and had fresa ice cream. Johan Mateo enjoyed it a lot!!! Ate all the ice cream. He is very petite but eats a lot.

Gisele is doing wonderful, her transition is mainly related with obsessively wearing her monkeys pajamas or her Cinderella dress. Otherwise she is a little helper, especially with changing the diaper (more than Papi) and preparing the bottle.

He likes to feed himself. We gave him a Mickey Mouse plate with 2 plastic spoons and he really enjoys playing with them. Spits out the plantains, papa. Loves eggs with ham and queso. We got him a sippy cup with 2 handles and he drinks water constantly.

Camila is playing very well with a pushing car and he loves her. He smiles at her and is getting warmer with her. He likes his space though …..not to close….

Today was abuelita’s 65th birthday, and what a great present to have him.

For bath time he does not like bubbles or the tub. Brushing his teeth is a nightmare.
I am trying to let him hold and play with the toothbrush but he rejects it completely. I will try the finger one latter.

Morning with Papi

Camila's picture of Johan Mateo

>

Com la Mama y hermanita mayor

Riendo con Gisele

Incredible!

The "reunion day" was like a dream. Johan Mateo warmed up so quickly
and pretty soon was smiling and playing. He laughed and played the
whole car ride home, ate in his high chair, took his bottle and went
straight to sleep. Time will tell, but he seems to be attaching to us
all and feeling very comfortable. And we are all just silly giddy
about him. It truly couldn't have been a sweeter experience, and they
were right ... he is a muñeca.

ICBF was incredible, very caring and professional, and Gladney too, as
always. A special thanks to Beth and Raul in the states, to Sylvia and
Jaime in Bogota, to Nora, to Fanny and the ICBF folks in Florencia.
And to the incredible foster family that obviously loved and cared for
Johan so well these last 8 months. Mil Gracias!

Our families have been so supportive and loving. Muchas gracias a
Mariela, a Julita y Alvaro, y a Romel y Alejandra por su apollo en
estos diás. Thanks Gigi and Papa and Al, Kevin and the girls for love
and special prayers. And special thanks to everyone who covered this
adoption and this day in prayer. We TRULY feel it and attribute all
this to God's spirit of love that moves freely and abundantly, and
also responds to the prayers of His people ... a mysterious thing but
one that days like today just make abundantly clear. Thanks God for
today and for sending Johan Mateo into our family.

Heading to ICBF

2 hours to go, maybe less. Nervous, excited, short of breath (must be the altitude). Praising God above all!

Jugando, preparando, esperando...

Spent the Morning with the cousins, then moved from Mariela's to Hotel
Zuetana. A couple from Germany just got here after their reunion with
2 girls, 3 and 5. They looked happy and shellshocked, as I'm sure we
will too. Several other families are here with kids near the age of
ours.

Going out now to buy a cake and balloons for tomorrow, and to register
the kids for swimming and gymnastics around the corner at Fitness
Infantil.

Killing time. 24 hours to go...

Testing out Zuetana's playground

Checking out Hotel Zuetana

Great guest house specializing in adopting famies, where we will stay
for 2 weeks after getting Johan Mateo. Playground, lots of kid
activities, 3 meals a day and basically all we need, and in a great
location. We spoke to Johan from here for the first time, he heard our
voices but didn't speak much. It felt like getting a single cracker
after a weeklong fast.

Enjoying Bogota with Family

We had a safe and easy trip to Bogota and are enjoying a few days of down time in Mariela's house before moving Thursday to the hotel and our reunion day on Friday (2:30pm). Yesterday, Sunday, Romel and Alejandra and their kids came over and spent the day. It was "cylcovia" in Bogota -- every Sunday they close many major roads to cars and the people get out on bikes, rollerblades, etc.. to enjoy the day. We took a nice long walk with the girls and stopped at a great, public park and recreational area. Bogota has great parks. We came back after a couple of hours with a pretty good sunburn. The weather is crazy these days, hotter than normal by a god 5-10 degrees, probably part of an "el nino" phase. Today we had the first day of "Discovery School Bogota" in the living room, so Camila can keep up with her school work. We hope to arrange a phone call with Johan Mateo later today or tomorrow. Also tomorrow we'll visit Hotel Zuetana for the first time and get prepared for the move on Thursday.

Vamos al aeropuerto!

Ya nos vamos!

In just over 24 hours we will be in Colombia. Heppppaaaa!

We're somewhere in that foggy area between ecstatic and exhausted. Half-packed and half-baked, and all drugged up. Gisele has an ear infection and Camila has strep throat. Mom and Dad are just trying to steer clear of the germs (good luck!). Just to make things exciting, Liliana traveled overnight to Dallas last night for a filming of some teaching videos... lookout Hollywood.

All that said, everything seems to be falling into place. Cleared the last major hurdle when my passport and visa arrived just in time from the Colombian embassy in Houston. Whew!

We had a great talk with our Gladney reps yesterday to go over the final details. We'll be staying at the Zuetana guesthouse in Bogota from the day before we receive Johan Mateo until 2 weeks after. The Zuetana is specially designed for adopting families, so its very family friendly and knows what we'll be needing. Its in a great location, near parks and swimming pools and other activities. After that we'll spend 3 weeks at Liliana's Mom's house. And then hopefully we'll be on our way home. Beth and Raul gave us some more info on Johan Mateo's foster situation that was really encouraging. Word is he's a real "muneco" (doll) and quite spoiled by the foster mom. God bless her for taking such good care of him!

OK, back to the packing. First time we've ever packed little boys' clothes. Looking forward to trying on those little shoes for the first time.

March 12

Finally, we have an entrega date! Friday March 12 in Bogota. We will
fly this coming Saturday, get acclimated and ready for the big day.

Picnic in the Park

Picnicking to pass the time...

Mañana?

Still no confirmation on our entrega date, which appears to have
fallen into a bureaucratc black hole. Thought certain we would hear
today. Now we are REALLY certain we will hear tomorrow. Still holding
off on our ticket purchase and other details. The wait is rough but
will soon be over.

We spent some of the day today getting his room together. Yesterday
the church had a very nice blessing over us and the trip and everyone
there is very anxious to meet Johan Mateo. After that we had a big
Colombian lunch at La Fonda Latina with another couple adopting a
little girl from Bucaramanga in a couple weeks, as well as a two
families who have already been down the road ... All very encouraging,
informative and filling.

There is still some chance we will get to Skype with JM sometime this
week. We really hope he can get some sort of introduction to him
before entrega day, at least the video and pics, so we are not total
strangers for him.

Hasta mañana.