Visit number 2

The 2+ hour drive to get to the baby home is grating on our nerves some. I think the biggest reason is that we (especially our feet) freeze the entire time. Justin says the cars aren’t insulated or undercoated or something like ours are. It took me hours after returning to the hotel to get the chill out of my body. I am sure by the time we return home we will be good and sick. Now I am done complaining!

Little Guy took more time to warm up to us today. It may have been because there were so many people in and out of the visiting room at first. He and Justin were trying to play while I spoke with the orphanage doctor through the interpreter of course. (We haven’t heard that he is allergic to red kiwi yet though –lol) He is not potty trained. So it looks like we are back to the diaper stage. YIKES! Then other caregivers walked in and out. The orphanage director, Tatiana, was in today and she came and spoke with us as well. As people came and went Little Guy was a bit agitated. It wasn’t until everyone left the three of us alone that he began to stop crying and settle in to play. Just like Blake, he has two favorite things. One is the little measuring tape that we brought. He loves to extend it and then push the button to watch it zip back in. And the second thing is the picture book we have brought to leave with him. It is so cute to watch him go through it over and over. Since he is so little it is just one of those squishy photo books which has 7 pictures I think. But the way he looks at those 7 pictures over and over is very endearing.

At the end of our visit, he is ready to return to his group. It is cute to see this little body walk so independently back to his room and knock on the door. Tatiana invited us in to see his group mates. We were told we could not take any pictures but that she would allow us in. We were very happy about this. Often times visitors are only allowed in the visiting room. Of course as soon as we walk in we see some of the most adorable faces staring back at us. But unlike in Blake’s group (he was a year older) none of them came and surrounded us. They just stared at us. Except there was one little girl who was closer than any of the others. She was an adorable little thing. She kind of looked like an Eskimo with gorgeous dark eyes and dark braids. She took to Justin right away. I so wish I could have taken some pictures. I wanted to watch the two of them interact, but I was drawn to watching Little Guy. It is obvious he is loved by the caregivers. He was so sweet to the other children too. He began to play ball with the caregiver who had a frail looking little girl on her lap. He seemed to be so sweet to the little girl. It was lunch time and we could see the meals on little plates ready to be served. It appeared to be mashed potatoes and stew of some sort and it seemed to be warmed up. It brings some relief to know that although the orphanage is struggling to have everything they need to take care of the children, they really seem to be doing their best with what they have.


Here are a few attempts to take some photos on the way to the baby home. I am taking them from the back seat and looking through the windshield since all of the side windows were frosted over!

We have seen a lot of this.

and a lot of this....

Self portraits