Meeting Evelyn May

I am very late in getting this post out and I apologize. I have sat down to do it many times. I think I have been avoiding it emotionally. Somehow thinking that if I write it all down that I will lose it out of my inner being. I want to hold these wonderful memories close to my heart to help me make it through the next who knows how long until I can bring my beautiful daughter home.

This trip has forever changed my heart. Evelyn's foster mother, her daughter and mother all came to drop Evelyn off at the hotel to spend the weekend with me. We saw them coming to the hotel doors and Peggy starting shooting video. They walked into the lobby and I walked towards them with tears in my eyes. They had her wrapped in the soft blanket that I had sent down in her first care package right after she was referred to me. She had been sleeping but woke up when the Julieta (foster mother) uncovered her face for me to see. I was overwhelmed at how beautiful and calm she is. We walked over to a couch at the back of the lobby and Julieta handed Evi to me. Peggy captured all of this on video and fortunately I was able to pull some good pictures off of the video to freeze that first moment forever.


This was the first moment that I took my daughter into my arms. It was amazing. I just sat in awe of her and kissed her and told her how glad I was to have her. She gave some good smiles and coos. Julieta was very sweet and told me about her formula and how much she takes and how much rice cereal to add to one bottle a day. She told me that she had diahareah (spelling?) but that she had taken her to the doctor 2 days earlier and he said she was fine that it was probably just teething. She told me that Evi weighs 15# 80z. Wow! It sounds big but she really isn't terribly huge in my opinion. I think it is all in her cheeks! She has the cutest chubby cheeks that are just so kissable.

After visiting with Julieta and her daughter Jeaneth for about 15-20 minutes, they left Evi in my care after making arrangements to pick her up on Tuesday morning. It was wonderful to meet Julieta and Jeaneth and see how much they care for my little girl. They told me how much they adore her and how much they will miss her. Jeaneth is very sweet. Her mom said that she takes on a lot of the responsibility of taking care of Evi. They also brought down the baby doll rattle that I sent in one of the care packages. They had sent me some pictures with her and the doll previously and Jeaneth told me how much she loves "talking" to the baby doll. I found this to be true over the course of the next several days. I was so nervous talking to Julieta. I felt like I should have asked tons of questions but I was so overwhelmed at having Evi in my arms that I really coudln't think of much to say. I am glad that we had emailed many times so I had already asked questions about her routines and schedules.

I was so grateful to have my best friend Peggy along with me. She was my videographer, photographer, moral support and gave advise when asked. She was so wonderfully supportive. She really just sat back an observed. She got lots of quilting done on Evi's quilt. As the end of the trip neared, she told me how wonderful it was to be there and told me that she had watched me become an instant mother. It brought tears to my eyes then and it brings tears to my eyes everytime I think about her saying it. It truly was an amazing experience. It was like a switch flipped inside of me. It all felt so natural. I felt so protective and felt the huge responsibility of caring for and raising this beautiful baby girl.

I must say that I am blessed with a very easy going daughter (at least based on my limited experience of 4 days). She rarely cried, was very patient, very relaxed. I can tell that she has all of her needs met by Julieta and Jeaneth. She knows that her needs will be met so she just basically told me what she needed and then waited for me to get it done.

After coming up to the room, I just sat on the couch and looked her over (making sure that she had 10 fingers and 10 toes). She was just perfect. She layed there and cooed and talked to me. Then I gave her her first bottle. She drank it down pretty slowly. She is a slow eater (hard to believe with her weight). She would take frequent breaks to just look around or smile or coo or play with the bottle. Then she would take some more. It was so amazing just sitting there with her in my arms looking into her eyes with her holding onto my finger while she drank her bottle.

After her bottle, she got a diaper change (lots of messy diapers this weekend but for some reason it isn't as bad when it is your own child) and then she went down for a nap. She let me rock her to sleep and really went to sleep pretty easily. The hotel had a very sweet miniature crib. It was white with a blue bumper and a white eyelet coverlet. I had also brought the flannel quilt that I had finished for her (see baby's first quilt post) and had the blanket that the foster family brought with her. I just wrapped her up and she slept contentedly. When she woke up she just cooed to let me know that she was awake and when I came in to get her, she greeted me with a big smile. She melted my heart everytime I would get her out of the crib (even at 4:00 in the morning).

We really just spent our days feeding, holding and playing with Evita. We went down to breakfast every morning to the hotel dining room. They had a wonderful breakfast buffet with lots of fresh fruits, omelettes made to order, tortillas, breads, fresh juices, etc. We didn't go hungry. It was nice that it was included in the cost of our room too! We ate a pretty hearty breakfast and then ate a late lunch and a light dinner. Evy was a hit with all of the waiters in the dining room. I think it helped that I always spoke in Spanish to everyone at the hotel. I think they appreciated that and then they were able to talk to Evi in Spanish without me worrying about what they were saying. Peggy picked up a little Spanish also. She can now say Hola and gracias very well. The hotel staff was really wonderful. They all spoke English so Peggy was able to venture out in the hotel without me when she wanted to. I think her favorite place in the hotel was the gift shop! Of course, I loved it too. It was small but had very nice "typical items" that you could find at the markets. The prices were very reasonable also. We were able to pick up a few items there that we hadn't bought at the market since we didn't have too much time in the market in Antigua.

For lunch and dinner, I would go to one of the nearby restaurants and get carry out. Our favorite was "Tacontento." It was very typical food and good size portions and pretty cheap. I was lucky to actually get out on the street a little. I felt bad that Peggy didn't hardly leave the hotel and get some fresh air so our last full day there, I let her go out and get our lunch at Schlotzky's. I had a take out menu from a previous day so I circled what we wanted (the menu was pretty much in English) and then wrote down how to say "to go." I thought it would be easy for her. I told her that she just needed to show them the menu and point to the bread and chips that she wanted. When she came back to the hotel, I can happily report that she got all the food that she had ordered. However, she looked a little frazzled. I asked her what was wrong. She said, "they didn't speak ANY English." I said, "well, you had the menu and you shouldn't have had to say anything." She said, "well that is all fine and good until they started asking me questions." Anyway, she survived and we had a nice lunch.

The last day full day at the hotel I started to get pretty emotional at the thought of leaving. I knew that we wouldn't have very much time the following day to get packed and ready to go to the airport so we started packing that day. I would start crying at the drop of a pin. I had to go through all of the clothes that I had brought with me and pack them in a bag to leave behind. I left a couple of the toys that I had brought down with her also. I had packed a whole small suitcase (carry-on size) of just stuff for Evi and the foster family. It was really hard to repack that same suitcase with souveigners of our trip. I cried when I changed her diaper; I cried when I sang her to sleep; I cried when I gave her the last night time bottle; I cried when I put her to sleep for the last night. I was an emotional wreck. It just continued the following morning. I was so glad that Peggy was there for the emotional support. So that you didn't have to see me crying on video some of the last video was actually shot by me with Peggy holding Evi on her lap so that I could look at her and have her smile up at me and the camera.

The following morning, Evi let me sleep until 5am! The previous mornings she had woken up at 4:00 and 4:30. She would take about 3 ounces of formula and then go back to sleep until about 8:00. Again, she was so happy and didn't really cry when she woke up just let me know she was hungry. She would then lay on the bed until I fixed the bottle and sucked it back pretty quickly (compared to her daytime bottles) and then go back to sleep.

Anyway, we all got ready. Evi got a bath so that I could return her smelling just as sweet as when she was brought to me. Then we went down to breakfast and came back to our room for a few minutes. The arrangement was that Julieta and Jeaneth would come at 10:00. We went down shortly after 10:00 and they were patiently waiting in the lobby. It was so sweet. They didn't rush me at all and let me have my last minutes with her. It did break my heart a little bit when she saw Julieta and broke out in a huge smile. Not that she hadn't given me plenty of big smiles it was just the recognition and almost relief that she had come back. It made me a little sad but at the same time good to know how much she loves Julieta and that she is so well cared for. I handed Evi back to Julieta and then walked out to the car with her and Jeaneth. Her son was in the car so I got to meet him also. I had brought down an umbrella stroller (per their request) so I put that along with two bags of clothes and supplies in the car and then said my final good byes. It was probably one of the saddest moments in my life to watch them leave with my baby girl not knowing when I would see her again.

I wouldn't have traded this trip for anything in the world. I now have memories and tons of pictures and video of my baby when she is still small. These will be precious memories that I will share with her as she grows up.

I now have a shrine of pictures of Evi on my entertainment center so that I see her all the time when I am home. I have one of the pictures on my computer screen at work and it makes working hard sometimes when everything is minimized.

The waiting is definitely harder now that I have met Evelyn May. I just keep telling myself that these are just a few short months that we are apart and that she will be home soon and that we will have the rest of our lives to spend together.

Te quiero mucho Evita!

PS don't forget to check out our pictures. Click on the link to the right that says "our photos" to go to our photo website. There are several albums of pictures to see and this is where I will put most pictures since it is easier than putting them on blogger.