July 31st

It's been a rough day and a half. We're struggling to get Xander on a schedule but are at the mercy of all the variables around us. We kept him from having his complete morning nap yesterday because the people from the vaccination center were supposed to come to the hotel between 10:30 and 11:30. They were coming to the hotel because one of the other couples, Lee and Manuela, had traveled to Chiquitines just for their new baby's shots. After the one hour drive to get there they were informed that the orphanage was out of the vaccinations. So, at 12:30 the nurses still hadn't shown up yet so we went to get lunch. After lunch we had an epic battle to get him to take his afternoon nap. Finally we got him down after a very long and vigorous crying spell. At 3:00 Lee called our room to tell us that the people from the vaccination center arrived. 3:00! We didn't want to wake the baby so I guess we will try again Monday.

When we went to get our vaccinations in the US, they gave a little brochure about Columbia, which is where I read about the obscene hand gestures. The brochure said that foreigners are expected to be punctual for appointments but Colombians can be 20 minutes late.

After Alexander woke he was still tired and cranky so we went for a walk. He was a little squirmy strapped to my back but eventually fell asleep. It was pretty warm yesterday so he and I both ended up soaked. We went back to the hotel to try to ease him into the crib to continue sleeping, no such luck. He had another freakout, this one lasted for over an hour. I think he was just so tired he didn't know what to do with himself. Finally, we had to eat dinner (Which doesn't begin until 7, his bedtime at the orphanage) but he was still very fussy. After going back to the room we took turns trying to calm him. We would pass him off and then the other one would go outside to get a little peace before the next shift. Kristin ran into Lee on her break, he and Manuela have a five year old so they are experienced parents, and he gave some advice on how to calm X. Kristin ended up going into the bathroom with the lights off and sang to him and bounced him up and down until he finally fell asleep. He was finally down at 8:45, over an hour and a half later than his bedtime at the orphanage, and slept until 7:00 the next morning. He began to wake around 5:00 am so I rushed to the lobby to get water for his bottle from the water cooler but he ended up not really waking up so we let him (and us) sleep.

He woke up with a big smile on his face and played for a half hour but was still a little cranky a times. Kristin and I ate breakfast taking turns holding him but he gets frustrated really easily and we end up having to walk him around to keep him entertained. He seems to have all this energy that he doesn't know how to release. He wants so badly to crawl around on the floor but we won't let him just yet. Kristin tried putting him on the tile floor on the porch of the hotel and he immediately opened is mouth and tried to lick the floor. She swooped him up before he was able to, or that's what she told me anyway. :)

He is currently taking his morning nap. Kristen went to get more coffee and ran into one of the other mothers. She gave us a pacifier to help calm him down. I guess we are going to be a pacifier family? We never really talked about whether we were going to do that or not. It's difficult enough being away from home and being so new to all of this, any little thing helps. So we're going to try it today.

We have this book called Baby 411 that says that all of this stuff is perfectly natural but we're not used to it yet. As is the case with any new parent I'm sure, we want to fix what's wrong, but there probably isn't really anything wrong to fix.

I think today will be better though. We are supposed to go to a sugar cane plantation today with Enrique and the other parents. We'll have to see how Xander is doing but I would really like to. I'm looking forward to it. Driving also seems to calm him, so it may be good for him.