Una Semana

Que les podemos contar? Donde empezar? Ayer cumplimos una semana de estar juntos. Tenia toda la intencion del mundo de escribir pero el cansancio nos llego durisimo a los dos. Para los Conviventes que estan leyendo esto: nos sentimos como en Convivencia. Arduo, duro trabajo todo el dia, preparacion en la noche, la evualacion de cada noche. Solo que aqui el equipo somos solo dos. Ya sabiamos que iba a ser pesado y que no vamos a descansar hasta que tengamos unos sesenta anios pero, sin entrar en detalles, hay unos asuntillos ahi que lo han hecho esto mas dificil pero aun asi, invaluable.
Estamos en una zona muy turistica. Casi, casi, imaginense que estamos en Cancun, en la zona hotelera, con tres peques. Muy pero muy turistico. Esta perfecto para vacacionar pero no ideal para estar conociendo nuevos ninos con dos ya en mano. Y ninos que necesitan atencion sin parar.
No hay muchas zonas de distraccion que no sean restaurantes con juegos. Tenemos la piscina pero es algo complicado con unas personitas que les cuesta mucho trabajo obecer y que no nadan. Esta la playa a media cuadra y el mismo problema.
Ayer fuimos al parque ya cuando estaba obscuro. Hoy hicimos lo mismo con la playa. La playa no fue intencional el mojarse, solo queriamos ir a caminar. Pero eso es imposible para ellos. Asi es que todos menos yo y Santiago terminaron baniados. No habia gente asi es que se nos facilita cuidarlos.
Seguimos creciendo, dia a dia, como familia.
Santiago, el bebe, hoy le dijo papa por primera vez a su papa. El estaba muy pero muy apegado a su familia sustituta -- que es bueno porque para nosotros eso es senal de que lo cuidaban y querian -- y le ha costado mucho la separacion. Yo nunca habia visto a un bebe deprimido pero ahora lo estoy viviendo en el. Poco a poco va entrando en confianza. Ahorita solo quiere mama, a papa para el banio, dientes, etc y que ninguno de sus hermanos lo toque, especialmente Pablo.
Pablo y Lulu siguen ajustando pero ya se ven mas relajados. Pablo ya empezo a reganiar a sus hermanos cuando hacen algo mal --- mu mal, mu mal -- y Lulu, sigue intentando, como es ella, de atender a todos.
Papa y mama cansados. Muy cansados. Pero eso no es nada sorprendente.
No hay nada significativo que reportar sobre el proceso legal de la adopcion pero parece que se ve positiva la situacion para regresar en el 2009. Por favor no apaguen sus velas.
Ya se imaginaran como nos vemos como familia telerin. Tenemos dos que no soltamos de la mano porque no sabemos donde van a terminar. Con decirles que a Pablo es a quien confiamos que corra!
Hoy una seniora de las que venden artesanias abajo, que me imagino nos han visto diario, me dijo: Seniora, que bonita familia y que buen corazon. Solo pude decirle gracias. Estoy de acuerdo. Y el buen corazon es de los 7 completitos, que nos estamos queriendo.
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So here we are. A week as a family of seven. Some minutes it seems as if we've been together longer and yet some others it seems like we just met. There is so much to learn and the bonding process is lengthy. We had a rough start but I think we are all learning to cope and, so, having brighter days. The children, all five, are amazing. They are all very different.
Lulu has been having a hard time. She discovered that love is not reciprocal and that, although she'd been enthusiastically waiting for these brothers, they are rough on the outside. We had talks with her before coming about all of us being different, that the new boys will have to learn how we live, we'd have to learn what they liked and didn't, that it might be hard. Talk is one thing. Life is another. So, today, when we were looking at some pictures and there's one of Lulu all dressed up, and the two oldes said that was their sister Lulu, bonita, like a princess.....she just didn't know what to say! And, though, boys will be boys....eventually, love will be reciprocal.
We are in a the middle of a tourist area. Imagine any beach city you've been to (Hawaii, Cancun, etc.). That's sort of how we feel. We are in an apartment complex in the middle of all the action. Which would be fine in another situation but not when you are trying to bond with three new children. We have the beach a block away and today was our first visit to the beach. And we went when it was dark. We've only discovered one public park. We also visited it when it was also dark. It was perfect, though, because we were the only ones there so it was much easier to keep track of our brood.
We are quite a sight. We have a double stroller. One of us uses the stroller with the two youngest, one usually walks next to the stroller, either holding a hand or the handle of the stroller. And the other two walk with the other parent. We can't really let go of anyone because we don't feel so safe.
We cook, we clean, we do laundry. Just regular everyday stuff. And, most importantly, we work on bonding, building trust -- they need to trust us and we need to learn how they act/react. Without going into their story, these children have been through a lot. They get easily overwhelmed. They want everything, even if they don't know what it is. Tiny little things are milestones for us.
And, so, life goes one. We take it not only day by day but hour by hour, and little milestone by little milestone.
One of the boys today, on his own and out of the blue, told me: mami, te quiero mucho. (mommy I love you) and the youngest has started calling Jose dad. Those are huge milestones for us.
We don't have an update on the legal aspects of the adoption. Things still look positive to be done in 2009 but only time will tell.
It is quite hard to blog. I'm sure everyone understands. I've been trying to upload pictures for more than hour and the computer is still working on them. Maybe they'll be there by tomorrow.
Good night to all and thanks for the continued support and prayers.