All tuckered out after a day at the pool! Quack, Quack!!  

Our new friend, Melissa and her son, Gavin at Hotel Antigua on Sunday 

Diego lovin' the water! 

Internet Down

The internet service was down here the past couple of days, so I've not had a chance to blog recently. So, this may be a lengthy update. A lot has happened since Christian left. He had his eye surgery and is still recovering. I am adjusting to his being gone. Diego is feeling much much better after his antibiotics and rounds of nebulizing and nasal spray. He is back to his normal, adorable, charming self, which is great! I am glad he can finally breathe. He had gotten into some very bad sleeping habits when he was sick. And I am to blame, I admit it. I did everything wrong. I read very little about parenting before actually becoming one, but the one book I did read was about sleeping. Unfortunately I broke every rule there is to break and paid the price a couple of nights. Diego was waking up every hour insisting on being held. So, last night I gathered up the courage to let him cry it out. He cried for maybe an hour and a half, and I comforted him every 10-15 minutes for 35 minutes before falling asleep myself. Tonight he cried for 6-7 minutes before falling asleep. He woke up an hour later, but again fell back asleep in 7 minutes, so I think we are back on track for sleeping. Of course, I have relegated myself to the couch to sleep so that I can actually get some rest.

On Sunday we had a fabulous day at Hotel Antigua. They have a great pool and are very child-friendly. I met up with a girl I met here, Danielle, and she introduced me to another adoptive mother from Indianapolis, Melissa. We ate a great lunch buffet and swam with our sons (for both Christian and Gavin it was a first!). The sun was relaxing and the babies loved being outdoors and in the pool. They both crashed and slept soundly on the grass while we enjoyed more swimming and a beer. It was a great day and the first time I felt normal since Christian left.

I am now going to be helping Nancy out by working with her daughters on their home schooling. This will give me a break in the morning to do something I love and miss - teaching! Diego will be next door with a nanny for 3 hours. Then, I'll be able to spend the afternoons with him. I think this will really help me adjust to being here long term.

On that note, we do not know the status of our case. So, we do not have any idea still when I will be coming home with Diego. I have decided that I do not want to know, rather I will be surprised on the day I find out we are out of PGN and within 3 weeks of coming home. So, when I know, you'll know.

The weather here continues to be warm during the day, chilly at night with rain storms in the later evening. Small tremblers at night, too.

Diego is so cute. He has learned how to blow bubbles with his mouth and he is sitting up by himself. He's gaining weight and growing. He's getting cuter and cuter each day. His personality is so sweet, and we are having a great time just hanging out. Night time is the hardest, of course, because he is tired, but hopefully his new sleep habits will improve that.

Nothing else for now...Love you all, Lauren

Sola

That's Spanish for alone. Well, I'm not really alone. Dont' feel sorry for me. I am surrounded by 60+ beautiful children and I have my neighbors, Nancy and her girls and Susan, the volunteer architect for our children's village project. She is adopting adorable twins and is living here for the time being. But, Christian left on Wednesday and my mother on Tuesday, so as you can see...I have little time to sit and write. Today I left Diego with a nanny, Mena, for an hour and a half to walk to town and get some groceries and money. She is a very sweet lady...and I understand what she is saying about 70% of the time! On my way back home, the sky literally opened up. It rumbled very loudly and began raining...similar to North Carolina summer downpours...nothing like San Diego showers. So, I returned home soaked, but happy to find my son sleeping. I think Mena will help me out - give me a break - twice or three times a week or whenever I need to go to Guatemala City or into town here in Antigua. It certainly is easier (and faster) for me to walk into town without lugging around a 14 pound baby!

He saw the doctor today and after 3 weeks of being sick with a cough, congestion and fever, Dr. Rivera put him on antibiotics, a nebulizer to help with his breathing and saline nasal spray. It's quite an ordeal getting all three medicines in three times a day, but I hope he feels better soon. He has been miserable lately, and last night neither of us slept much at all! I am trying to keep it all in perspective and "be tough" (as Christian would say), but I will admit that it is very difficult to do it all on my own, especially since he has been sick.

Papa Christian ("Papi Medico" is his nickname around here) had Lasik surgry today. He is healing, but still fuzzy, so I am anxious to find out how his afternoon appointment goes.

I hope you all are well and happy! Please keep us in your thoughts...

Adios Abuela Anna

My mother left this morning around 10 am to return to North Carolina for a few days and then fly home to Yreka. She was such a wonderful help and support. I'm not sure what I'll do without her here. Mine were the only tears flowing...And tomorrow there will be a river running out of Semillas de Amor as Christian will be leaving as well. Tonight we are meeting Christian Diego's birth mother, which we are very fortunate to have the opportunity to do. It will be video taped so that Diego will have a chance to have some of his questions answered when he is older, if he should have any about the adoption and his birth parents. I'm sure it will be an emotional experience- one that we never will forget, but we are grateful for the opportunity while Papa Christian is here.

The rest of the afternoon we will be here enjoying the last bit of our family time until I return home with Diego later this summer. It is sunny and warm! It has been a wonderful 10 days with Papa Christian here!

Abuela Anna says good-bye! 

Singing songs with the children at Semillas de Amor: "Diego robo pan a la casa de San Juan...Quien yo? Si tu! Yo no fui! Entonces Quien? Fue...Papa Christian!" 

Sweet boy with his daddy 

One of Diego's silly faces! 

Happy Sunday! 

Market Day in Santiago 

Fishing boats line the shore of Lake Atitlan. Volcan San Pedro is in the background. 

Our best photo from the trip to Santiago..."Tres Chicitas" 

Santiago and Lake Atitlan

Christian and I returned yesterday from a 36 hour trip to Santiago, located on Lake Atitlan. We stayed in the lovely Posada Santiago, ate several delicious meals including macademia nut snooker and blue corn pancakes, visited the re-opened hospitalito being run by 3 American and 1 Guatemalan doctors. We also had a chance to buy a great piece of art from the artist's gallery - a beautiful oil painting of the lake and 3 volcanos. When we returned we had the opportunity to visit another project in Antigua called Transitions, co-run by American John Bell. He provides a home and work training opportunities for people with disabilities due to polio, accidents or other illnesses. It was a great experience to meet other dedicated people working to help the underserved here in Guatemala. The organization has a printing shop and a clinic in which wheelchairs and prosthetics are made for the individuals involved in his program.

It is chilly here and we have to bundle up to stay warm. I certainly did not pack enough warm clothes for either myself or Diego. I have never been to Guatemala during the rainy season...and it has been much colder than I expected. Diego is doing fine, other than his teething which is causing him to fuss a bit more today. He smiles and laughs, though, when I smack my lips...it's so cute.

I imagine it will be a slow, calm weekend around here. I have to finish up the newsletter for Seeds of Love this weekend so that my mother can take it with her when she leaves on Tuesday and have them printed up and sent out. We really want to get moving on building the children's village in Parramos. Currently, a fence is being built to secure the property and we are hoping a donor (s) will be able to assist us with building the rest of the village. We have arcitecture plans, a project manager, and many children who would so benefit from the loving care of the children's village. If you have any connections at all or know anyone who would be interested in helping with the project, please let me know. I have a lot of information we can send them!

Love for now...Lauren

Art, Flora and Fauna

Today was filled with several fun activities. After lunch and a nap, the three of us and Abuela Anna took a walk towards town, stopping at a cute cafe and "vivero," or nursery. We had a nice lunch, pasteles (cake) and cafe. We walked all around the nursery, exploring the beautiful plants and flowers. Everything grows here and they are all so very beautiful. When we returned to the children's home, a local Guatemalan artists, who is also indigenous and incredibly handsome, stopped by to work with the older children on water color painting. It was so exciting to be near someone who will no doubt one day be famous. His art work is known throughout the land. It was such a special experience for the children to learn from a true artist, and someone who comes from their own culture. That's it for now...hasta manana!

La familia Ramers at lunch 

Drinking their respective bottles! 

Diego in the "tootsie roll" 

All tuckered out! 

Field Trips in the Tootsie Roll

Christian Diego is on the mend. He is back to his former self and we are so happy that he is feeling better. He is so happy and smiley. Dad is really enjoying his silly personality! Yesterday we made a trip into Antigua. We walked all over and Diego was in the sling for the first time. That thing is magic!! He goes in the sling when he is fussy and within minutes he's asleep! Today we went to the horse farm to watch Gaby take riding lessons and to meet the horses. Once again, despite the rain, he slipped into sleep the moment he wrapped up in the sling. We call it the "tootsie roll." Christian now puts him to sleep using the tootsie roll...

The rainy season has begun and it is getting colder here, especially at night. It is raining right now and we're all bundled up! Diego is enjoying a bottle on the couch with dad and he's about to go to sleep; hopefully he'll sleep more than he has the past week. His congestion has improved a lot! We do have to use the "snot sucker" which is no fun if you've ever had to suck snot out of a baby's nose. They don't like it!

Yesterday I met up with a former professor of mine from Stanford University. She adopted a 4 year old boy from Semillas de Amor, and picked him up from the home yesterday. It was an exciting moment to see a child depart with his new family, and yet in some ways I felt a little sad, too, watching the nannies and children say good-bye. The older children all lined up on the stairs and waved as the gates to the home closed behind the van. Small world.

As for Papa Christian - he's a natural! He has amazing paternal instincts and totally rallies to fix and feed bottles, change diapers, put Diego to sleep...I knew I was lucky to be married to such an amazing guy...and now I realize how very, very lucky I am to have a husband who is also an amazing dad.

We are going to visit a hospitalito in Santiago, on the other side of Lake Atitlan, on Friday-Saturday and will be leaving Diego with his Abuela Anna. It's a two day trip...Two of the doctors who are working at the hospital, which has recently been reopened, are retired doctors from Duke who have children that are Christian's attendings. It should be fun!

Diego is crying...gotta go! Love to you all!

Papi Christian llego!

Yes, I'm finally united in Antigua with my beautiful wife and precious son. After a wonderful send-off dinner of tilapia, platanos fritos, frijoles, cream of calabasa, and mojitos (excellent as usual, Dr. Harbison), and a hurried morning of last minute errand-running, I boarded a plane to meet my son for the first time. Call me mellodramatic, but I kept having these 'slow motion moments' like I was in an NFL films version of my life, walking down the hallway to customs, major life events flashing through my memory--graduations, wedding, and now THIS.
The flight was uneventful and quite honestly, easier than flying to California (only 2.5 hrs from Miami to Guatemala City). As I was herded towards the exit amidst missionaries weighed down by optimistically packed suitcases in a 5 bags: 1 missionary ratio, I peered over the metal restraining bar for a generic 'R-A-M-E-R-S' or some misspelled iteration thereof to denote my ride. Instead I found the smiling face atop a compact body of Juan Carlos, peering over a home-made printout which read: 'Christian Diego's Papi'.
The ride to Antigua from Guatemala City is about 45 minutes--just long enough for a good charla with Juan Carlos about CAFTA, the new Guatemalan President, worsening violence, abject poverty, and the rising price of gasoline. It also allowed me to lean my head out of the van and pull in a deep soul-settling whiff of the familiar scent of the third world; of burning garbage and diesel fumes and street food.
On arrival to the children's home I was greeted instantaneously with the two bright shining faces of my now expatriate wife and innocently expectant son. We joined in an embrace that I will remember forever, choosing touch rather than words to express our complex introductory emotions. I shared a drink before bed with the Herfindahls: Ann, Leslie, Erik, and Dave (who dutifully made the trip down to welcome Christian Diego to the family) and Nancy our beloved friend and director of Semillas de Amor.
It has been a profound 24 hours getting to know his gestures, allowing him to be cautious with my scent and facial features, seeing my wife carry herself with the confidence of intuitive maternal wisdom for the first time. He's on the tail end of a nasty cold so my first day of fatherhood was punctuated by a sleepless night of inconsolable crying and nasal congestion. It's so much easier as the Pediatrician to simply reassure parents that 'it's just a virus...tylenol, fluids, and a bulb syringe should do it', than to actually be the one bouncing and rocking and feeding and patting and thinking 'am I missing something more than just a cold' and dosing the tylenol, all in an effort simply to comfort your crying child.
Thus begins night #2 as Papi Christian...
- Christian Ramers, MD

Papi Christian llego! 

El dia de la Madre en Guatemala (May 10) - Mother's Day in Guatemala 

I love my family! 

Not so Happy Mother's Day

Well, it was not the mother's day I thought it would be. I have been sick for two days, and yesterday was miserable. At least today I am feeling more like myself and can actually take care of my child! How do parents who are sick care for their babies? I couldn't have done it without my family here. Today I have been able to even begin working on the newsletter for Semillas de Amor. It's a little late this spring, but I was just too busy with work and preparing for my trip to get it started before now. If anyone wants a copy of it and doesn't receive it already, please send me an email. I can email a PDF version to you when it is completed.

Auntie Leslie is putting Diego down for a nap and I finally feel up to responding to emails and blogging. The weather here is cool with evening showers. It is so pleasant to have the doors open with air flowing through out apartment. This week we will be going to visit the land out in Parramos, where the children's village will be built, and to see a horse competition. "Papa Christian" arrives on Saturday and we just can't wait!

We hope everyone is well and happy! Hey, if anything really important happens in the US or the rest of the world, will someone please email me? I don't watch much TV here...I guess I could read the news online, but I barely have time to sit down and blog!

Love to everyone!

A little sick today

We're both a little sick today - C. Diego with a bit of a cold and Lauren with some stomach aches...typical for a body adjusting to Guatemalan food. Luckily we're both happy being mellow, so it's working out. Thank goodness for Abuela Anna who can help out! And of course there's always Nancy, Gaby and Daisy to step in and hold Christian! Auntie Leslie should be here soon! Yay!

Bathtime!! 

Celebrating Abuela Anna's birthday

Last night I went to one of the fanciest, most delicious restaurants in Antigua. I was incredibly charming. I sat next to my two special friends, Gaby (9) and Daisy (5), in my mom's lap the whole night. I didn't fuss at all! Of course, everyone at the table ate yummy meals like filet mignon, asparagus with proscuitto and mango sorbet. All I got was rice cereal. Yuck! Acutally, I'm a great eater and rice cereal isn't all that bad, plus my mom sings this really silly song when I eat it that makes me smile and laugh. Today, I visited my friends in sala # 1. My mom went to Guatemala City to shop for food (the whole family is coming down tomorrow...my aunt, uncle and grandpa Dave!). I hung out with my pals and the nannies until 2 PM. When mom came to pick me up, I smiled and smiled and laughed for an hour before napping the rest of the afternoon. I just finished a bottle that abuela anna fed me and I'm as happy as a clam! Life is good! I can't wait to meet you all!

We survivied the first 48 hours!

Finally, I have some time to sit and write. It has been just over 48 hours that Christian Diego has been in my full-time care. I am staying in an apartment at the children's home. It has a full kitchen, two bedrooms, a loft and four bathrooms. We are extremely comfortable! Diego has been so wonderful to me. Yesterday he took several cat naps and slept most of the night with only one feeding at 3 am and an early start two hours later! But he is napping now, after breakfast and a bath. He tolerates everything so well - eating, bathing, sleeping, the new environment of our apartment, sleeping without a bedmate (until now he has slept in a crib with another baby, Douglas). I must be the luckiest mom alive...he is 100% sweetheart. No crying...only fussing to let me know that he needs to be fed, changed, or rocked to sleep. Pretty easy, right. Well, I should have done more back exercises...who knew that a 13 pound baby could make your back so sore!

Today is abuela Anna's birthday. She woke up to flowers from Patty, the nurse here, and her children, and a card from Leslie and me. We are treating her to a day at the spa - Las Mariposas (the butterflies) in Antigua...not far from the children's home. She has a 1 1/2 hour massage, a facial and a pedicure. Then tonight we have dinner at Panza Verde - our favorite restaurant here.

Here is what I have learned in the last 48 hours... 1) I'm no longer the boss 2) icky smells can always be blamed on the baby 3) formula spitup is this season's hippest "perfume" 4) Christian Diego likes to kickbox (see below) 5) I can totally do this mothering thing

Thanks for all of the emails...I miss you guys and wish you could be here. It is so wonderful to be surrounded by children! Oh, yesterday afternoon I led 5 of the older kids (10, 9, 8, and 6) in an hour of Billy Blank kickboxing. They had so much fun punching and kicking!! I am so so so sore today, though!! C. Diego just sat and watched with pure interest the entire hour in his bouncy chair...no fussing...wow!

The photo you all have been waiting for! This photo was taken in our apartment's garden this morning. Christian Diego is now napping. He hasn't cried yet today! How do I feel? So happy, but surprisingly normal. It just feels right. Hasta Luego! 

We're Here!!!

We arrived to Antigua, Guatemala last night around 8 PM. We were supposed to arrive at noon, but Delta canceled our RDU-Atlanta portion of the flight and we couldn't get to Atlanta on time to make our Guatemala City connection. So we were rescheduled on an American flight that left later yesterday afternoon around 3 PM. Needless to say, the arrival was anticlimatic. Diego was peacefully sleeping. Nancy, Gaby and Daisy had tried everything in their power to keep him awake, but he fell asleep. So, I held a beautiful, peaceful sleeping baby until we ate dinner, and then he woke up and took a bottle. It was wonderful...He was very stimulated by the new, brightly colored surroundings of our apartment, so we took him back to his nursery to sleep. Today we will work on getting his crib in my apartment ready for him to stay and sleep.

I had a wonderful night's sleep, and woke up bright and early this morning to the sounds of children...my favorite part of being in Guatemala. I can't wait to meet all the new children here - there are several older boys and 24 older children in total! That's the most they've ever had at Semillas de Amor! I just cant' wait to go greet those smiling, joyous faces!

Travel Plans Delayed Slightly

We woke up this morning at 4:30 am to catch out 7:30 flight to Guatemala City via Atlanta. Unfortunatly, Delta canceled the Atlanta flight (for no apparent reason) and there were no other flights to Atlanta on any other airline that would get us to our connecting flight on time. So, we are booked on an American flight this afternoon at 2:48 via Miami. At least we are getting out today, but we will arrive much later this evening than expected - 6:20 PM. That means we probably won't get to Semillas de Amor Children's Home until 8:30 PM or so. I hope Diego is still awake!!! Keep our safety and health in your thoughts and prayers, please!