Thursday

I can't beleive it's thusday already. I've been meaning to post for the last few days but we've all just been so tired this week and it's easy to putt things off for tomorrow.

The babies are doing well; we've had a nice week. The most hectic day was when some of Chip's "youngsters" (high school students) came to help out. Dani -our overly energetic tourguide from the first weekend- was worn out half way through the day.

Alina is more energetic this week and is loving spending a lot of time on the floor. She lifts her head so well, gets into a crawling position than lies back down on her tummy and rolls all over the place. We gave her a go in the jumperoo today but she is much to tiny for it still. I think she would really like it if it was her size. It's hard being a 7 pound baby at almost 8 months old.

Miruna has gotten better at sitting. and She had a lot of tummy time today -I lay down on the floor and she lay on top of me. for once she didn't fuss when on her belly. At one point she did drop about a pint of drool down my neck, but other than that it was a nice way to spend part of the afternoon. Our afternoons are lazy now. We all lie around with the babies and listen to music or sing song (the other day we sang all the kids songs that we all knew and today we sang the oscar mayer weiner comercials).

It hasn't really sunk in yet that we're leaving in 2 days. We haven't gotten weepy yet, although I did nearly urst into tears when I accidentally clipped Ema's finger the other day while clipping her dangerously long nails. She cried for about half a minute and I felt guilty all day. She is of course fine and whenever she gets fussy we just do that leap frog move that Rebecca showed us (hold her in a standing postion then make her squat and stand over and over). It really calms her down, it's funny how much she likes it. Mostly though, she just likes to bounce gently in the bouncy seat and falls asleep all the time.

We took most of the kids outside in the morning and a bunch of them took turns swinging, which they all thoroughly enjoyed. Miruna fell asleep in the swing and Crist and Ionela shared one swing for a while -very cute. Hopefully the weather will stay nice and we can take them out again on our last day.

Monday week 3

Our first day back at the clinic (with only 6 volunteers now) went pretty well. We brought a bunch of the kids outside in the morning and had a whole group swingning on the swings. Adrian didn't want any pushes though, he just wanted to watch the work men build the fence. The toddlers were all outside with one of the aides who tried for a while to keep them inside the fenced play yard and than gave up and set them free. they all burst through the gate and headed down the path. Beatrice lost her shoe and Mirella put it back on for her -it was so cute. We were looking at their journals over the weekend (and taping them up because we finally found a store that sold tape!) and realized that Mirella is a little over a year older than Beatrice (even though Beatrice is larger) Mirella turned 3 over a month ago and Beatrice just turned 3 last month. Considerering this they are both about on target developmentally. Mirella is much more verbal and interactive whereas Beatrice usually engages in paralell play. They do play well together though and had a nice time tiking their dolls for a walk.

Back inside we listened to disney songs and jack Johnson's curious george soundtrack. The mobiles and non-mobile groups mixed quite a bit and we mostly hung out in the non-mobile room and the hallway. Maiastra was content in the walker for most of the afternoon , as was Alexandru who through only a few short fits today.

While the others babes were napping we visited those in the isolation room. Aside form Christina, who was probably hungry (she spits up most of what she eats) they were all in good spirits. Leia Celine (pictured above) is always so happy and doesn't seem to mind her leg casts (although we all think they look rather uncomfortable). WE think they will be letting them all out of the isolation room soon as most of them have been in there for about 2 weeks already. Maybe tomorrow a few of them can come out to the playroom.

The afternoon went well too. Miruna (at left) did some nice sitting when we propped her with some boppy pillows. Alina (below) was very active and scooted randomly about the room. She's getting better at standing too, and actually took one step that looked like it was on purpose. She is such an amazement everyday. We were remarking that she looked a bit bigger today. I'm going to weigh her at the end of the week and we're hoping she's gained a bit of weight. I think her cold is getting better too -her eyes were clear all through the morning and her nose didn't run once untill the afternoon. Hoepfully it will be gone by the time we leave, as she's had it for about a month now according to her journal.

Puddle time

I wanted to post more pictures from the puddle incident at the end of the first week. I beleive Marian (in blue) or Mirella (in yellow) discovered the puddle first but Beatie (in pink) enjoyed it the most. She did not however enjoy the bath that was required afterwards to wash all the mud off her.

The Twins

As requested, here are more pictures of Julian and Marian.

Ionela

This Is Ionela. I would bring her home with me if I could. She is 14 months old, weighs 14 and a half pounds and still needs a surgery to complete the process of correcting her cleft palate. She is a sweetheart and is alomst always in a good mood.

End of week 2

This week has flown by so fast. I can't beleive it's Friday already and over half our group is leaving tomorrow. Their will be only 6 of us left next week. We had some big acomplishments this week. Alexandru took 7 steps on his own. Florin entertained himself for an hour without fussing (he usually wants to be held non-stop and he's just too big to be carried around all the time -although Elaine does try). Alina scooted across the floor. Miruna discover has started kicking them. Beatrice spoke to me (she reached for me and called me mama -almost broke my heart). So much can happen in a week. I didn't wiehg Alina but I'm hoping she's gained weight. I think I might wait untill the last day so I see the most amount of change. I did weigh Ionela today and at 14 months she wieghs a slight 14 and a half pounds. At this point I can't remember what size "normal" kids are, but I'm not worried; she'll start gaining more wight when Her cleft palate is completely fixed.

We bought some doll strollers this week for the toddlers and the boys stole them away before the girls got a chance to play with them. They really liked pushing them around and were not about to give them back.

We're going to try and get 2 more so there's one for everyone. The toddlers are really having fun playing outside. They spend most of their day out there, exploring the hospital grounds, going for walks in the prams and getting into the dirt.

the kids love the swings but done of them no how to pump like you Jonathon. Tha's pretty cool that you learned how. You'll have to show me when I get back.

My time is about to run up on this computer but we'll be spending the weekend in Barlad so I'll post more soon and upload more photos. I've got more of the twins as well as Ionela (who is so sweet that she photographs very easily) as asked for along with a ton of others.

Hope you're all well. I'll talk to you later.

-Mela

Haircuts

They got hair cuts today. It always make me so sad when they chop off their beautiful hair, but luckily they only did a few kids today. Here are some before, after and during pictures -Mirela above, Paula below.

Tuesday

Today I was peed on, spit-up on, and covered in formula, dirt, and more. It was a really fun day.
When I got to the clinic Alina was wearing a cloth diaper (she usually wears pampers because she is so tiny and has a bad rash) that was pinned on all funny and without an elastic. She was propped with a bottle so I decided I'd finish feeding her and then change her. This was a mistake because half way through eating her botttle she peed and it soaked right through her lopsided diaper and onto both hers and my shirts. I would have changed but it seemed pointless since I knew I would get all covered in other various substances throughout the course of the day. Besides, it was only a small spot and it was hot so it dried quickly. The morning passed by and it was yogurt time and Alex only wanted to eat the blueberry yogurt out of the spoon that wasn't hers. After nap Alex was the first up and she joined us outside in the shade. I tickled her and made her giggle in between periods of mock seriousness. I played with Maiastra for a little while too. She sobbed when I tried to make her walk (I'm told she can but doesn't like to and I have yet to see her do it). She sobbed when I held her. She sobbed when I put her down. She was ok when I walked in one direction but not in the other. Than we tried out the swing and she sobbed when I tried to put her in it. However, once I started pushing her she calmed right down. She would have stayed in that swing all afternoon but it was sunny and I didn't want her to burn. After that beatrice and I went exploring and her hands got completely covered in dirt and grime. We found some really old strollers that looked more like shopping carts, some old cribs, and a lot of fallen fruit. She wanted to eat this fruit but I taught her to throw it instead. We had a lot of fun and I took a million photos. I can't wait to go back tomorrow.

I forgot to bring the USB cord today so I'll try and upload more photos tomorrow.