The Gringo Lifestyle

I thought I would post my first update from Antigua! I am here fostering Jessica and we are having a great time. Now I have been here for almost 1 week I can safely say I am far less anxious, already into a good routine (especially at bedtime) and enjoying being a mummy!

At the first part of the week I had Marco to help me get things in order. Now I have my good friend Sarah until Sunday. So from Monday Jessica and I go it alone!

Already she is eating great - she is not a fussy eater at all - and she loves my shepperds pie! She loves the bath and the pool and all the wonderful books we have been given to read. Mostly at this stage she likes to see if she can turn the pages and occassionally she is quite taken with the pictures!

Bedtime has so far been a huge success. She was not used to going to sleep awake - and putting herself to sleep. But now at 7.45pm (ish), after her nightime bottle, bedtime stories, and a quick chat about her day, I lay her in her crib and she happily lays there, sucking her thumb until she is able to fall asleep! This is the biggest acheivement I have made in ages (forget the recent promotion at work - this is HUGE!!). Of course the first night of trying this was hard - I had to literally pace the livingroom coaching myself into not picking her up! But as my sister Vanessa wisely said, it is a parents responsibility to get their baby into bed, but the baby has to learn to put themself to sleep.

I have signed up for Spanish lessons - and had my first 2 hour session. Jessica was great and we spent a lot of the lesson talking in Spanish (using our new words) about Jessica! She was most amused and had fun wiping her biscuit all over the desk!

On Monday I am meeting a couple of other mums at the pool who are also here fostering their babies. It will be the first time I meet them - so hopefully we can strike up a friendship to help us through this journey.

So there you have it - all in all a huge success!

As far as the adoption process is concerned, we are still out of PGN, and waiting for our CNA (central authority) number, like all the other parents in limbo. We hope this will soon resolve itself and we can get back into PGN and finalize the process ASAP. Please pray this will happen soon. As much as it is beautiful here, I can not wait to take our baby home.

Look out for the next post soon!
Lorraine y Jessica xxx