We're Home!!!

We don't even know how to start THIS blog. We finally met our little boy and he is more precious, more perfect than we could have imagined!!! He is pretty much developmentally on track, which we found was very rare for the children in the orphanage. He sits on his own, talks (well baby talks) up a storm, plays with people and toys and sleeps like a log through the night. He has developed some sad little institutional behaviors- like sucking his thumb and rocking himself to sleep BUT, he is super engaging and LOVES snuggles. We have tons of pictures and videos and are waiting for some more from some of the people we traveled with.

A "quick" rundown of our trip...

We arrived on Friday AM to Port Au Prince airport with 16 other travelers, most of whom were also adoptive parents. We waited with our 36 bags full of supplies for almost two hours in the hot sun for our ride- in Haiti, "on time" really means "sometime between now and later." When a 14 passenger van arrived, we almost died! We somehow hired another taxi van and finally, we were off to Les Caye, where the orphanage is. I should mentione that I spent the entire ride sitting between the driver and Michael in the front seat, no seatbelt, knees tucked to my chest as we barrelled down the most pitiful roads you've ever seen listening to a broken CD that only played two Celine Dion songs over and over for FIVE hours. I keep comparing that entire ride to a jeep commercial where they show you just how sturdy the vehicle is by driving on crazy terrain. On the few paved areas, the driver just flew, honking his horn to warn the people, motorcycles holding families of five, and goats to move out of the way. It was like a real live video game! We expected poverty but we didn't realize that we'd see nothing but. For five hours, we drove past shacks, tents, and mounds and mounds of burning trash. What was perhaps most disturbing was how this was occuring in what is possibly the most geographically beautiful place I've ever been. As we drove by parents clutching their children's hands and people walking for miles with buckets of water or food on their heads, and people bathing in dirty standing water, we realized for the first time why Stanley's orphanage has a waiting list of children to get in- there are no other options for families.

Finally, we arrive at the orphanage! After being greeted by singing children, we found our way into the infant room and were handed Stanley! Immediately, he looked up with an uncanny sense of recognition with those unbelievable eyes. Within minutes, he was napping on my lap. We spent the evening at the orphanage surrounded by some of the most beautiful children I have ever seen. They swarmed us, wanting hugs, kisses and tickles! Although we couldn't understand their Creole, they were calling us "White Mommy" and "White Daddy!"

We brought Stanley back to the hotel with us wondering what our first night would be like. We didn't need to worry, he fell asleep by 10 PM and slept through the night. Like all the kids, he had a cough and was congested so he snored LOUDLY- so funny, this big sound coming out of this little baby. In the morning, we woke to see him flipping back and forth between staring at each of us. When we started to stir, he grabbed my shirt in one hand and Michael's in his other, as if to say, "Where do you think you're going?" We must have laid like that for 20-30 minutes, noone wanting the moment to end. After breakfast, we said goodbye to some of our travelmates who would spend the day at the orphanage- we decided instead to stay at the hotel and just spend time with Stanley. By the time we headed to the Christmas party at the orphanage that night, Stanley was laughing and gigling up a storm.

The Christmas party was amazing. The kids performed some carols and dances and the nannies prepared a huge feast. Our favorite moment was watching about a dozen of the older children sing a Creole Christmas carol, while the two little boys sitting on Michael's lap sang along. On my lap, Stanley tried to join in- on the video, it is hard to hear the singers over Stanley's shouts of "Gaaaaaaaa...." Something that was almost unbearable was that there were parents who brought children to the orphanage for the sole purpose of trying to "market" them to the visitors. These are parents who want desperately to give their children a better life. One father, Peter, tried desperately to show us how lovely his two daughters are. The orphanage is full so while the girls wait to be placed, they will remain with him. Before this trip, it was hard to imagine a place where this makes sense.

On Sunday, we spent the day at the most beautiful beach! The Simonsen family was almost left behind, as somehow the vans pulled away without us. Monica went tearing after the vans but couldn't catch up. Luckily, a vendor from the market saw her and before she could think twice, she was riding on the guy's motorcycle, flying through the streets of Les Caye! Michael looked out the window in enough time to see her fly by! The rest of the day was decidedly less dramatic. We sat outside at the beach listening to music, watching kids play soccer and men fish using wooden boats.

We are grateful that his nanny, Sylvie, is the most loving one there! Also, because he so engaging, we think he gets extra attention, which has helped him to thrive. Even still- each day, we watched Stanley get stronger and more alert. All of the babies need the one on one time with their parents, away from the orphanage. We watched another little guy, Evans, grow tremendously after 4 1/2 days with his mommy. It took four days, but his mommy caught him smiling on the last day and he began holding his own bottle! PAC is a great orphanage- but it is still an orphanage. Babies sleep 2/3 a crib in a cramped, poorly ventilated room. By the time we said our goodbyes on Monday, it felt as if Stanley has always been our son and it was awful to leave him. We are desperate to try to figure out how to go on the next trip- in March. If we can pull it off, we could spend his first birthday with him! Another milestone that adoptive parents don't take for granted. Luckily, when we return, we will be traveling with the other families, some of whom will now be friends for life.

We have added some pictures but have MANY more if anyone wants to indulge us... Also, check out the videos below this posting- you can hear his giggles! Sorry this post was SO LONG but we wanted to give you a taste of trip! Thanks for rooting Stanley on!

In two days!!!

We are counting down until Thursday night when we finally set off to meet Stanley! We fly to Ft. Lauderdale and then on to Port Au Prince Friday morning. We found out that we could bring more stuff with us than we thought, so after some scrambling, we scored a few play mats, two walkers, and a Bugaboo chair (to help little ones sit upright). Not sure how, but we managed to squeeze all of that, along with another bouncy seat, lots of presents, clothes and diapers for Stanley, loads of stuff Aunt Julie collected from her students in Connecticut, and our stuff into 4 bags. We found out that Stanley will be staying with us for the whole time we are there! We were told to make sure we brought warm jammies b/c he won't be used to the air conditioning. :)

We got some good news and some bad news about the trip. Turns out we will hopefully be spending an extra day with Stanley. The bad news is that it is because we will not be filing any paperwork in PAP that day. There have been some problems with a few U.S. families being denied visas even after they have been through the whole process because the U.S. is not convinced that the child is an orphan. The best way to circumvent this issue is to have DNA tests on the child and birthmother before you apply. As far as we know, Stanley's mother had her DNA test yesterday and Stanley will have his when he comes to PAP with us on Monday. The results are sent back to the U.S. for processing, which takes a few weeks. So, we'll have to file this paperwork back in the U.S., which takes longer. However, it certainly beats running into problems in the end. There is one family that is adopting from Stanley's orphanage who thought they were ready to bring their child home 6 months ago and the U.S. is denying the visa and they can't find the birthmother anymore to do a DNA test. So, we are grateful that this is being taken care of now. It would have been nice to cross something off the list though! Our coodinator says this shouldn't have any real impact on our final timeline- which is, as we said, about a year.

Anyway, we won't have much (if any) access to phone/email while we are there but just as soon as we are back, we'll post pictures and updates!