We're back on...for now!

I'll post some pictures first because you might be going through withdrawal.



The building where a fight started over a vase and ended up in Colombia'a independence from Spain.



One of the many gorgeous women of Colombia.



Actors awaiting their cues. They were filming "The Treason".



The guards at the presidential house.



The beautiful view near Bolivar Square.



A statue of Simon Bolivar who led the crusade for independence (I think!).



The first church in Bogota, at Bolivar Square.



Rob and Maria.



Murphy just stares at Rob's hands.



Snuggling with Daddy.



We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe.



She loves her Daddy!



The lunchroom at the poor school (The Hogar).



One of the elementary classes.



Art class (just for you, Karyl & Linda!)



Two year olds on the playground.



The houses of the children who attend the poor school.



But I don't WANT a cow kiss!



Murphy and Benji.

No Internet!

Yes, it's been down again. For almost two days this time. That's really my only complaint about being here. It's either extremely slow or just doesn't work. So I'm at another motel right now using theirs.

Yesterday we went back to the leather district. Rob's so happy with his coat. We had them make a few changes from the original one we saw and it looks so nice. It's amazing that they just take it to the back of the store and redo it.

I had a rough day yesterday. It was probably the worst I've felt since we've been here. After supper I went to our room and took a hot shower and took a nap. I woke up and immediately could tell I felt better. I guess maybe the antibiotics finally kicked in. I slept well all night and feel ten times better today. Still not great, but much better.

We changed rooms today. We've put in our time in the smallest room there for five weeks. There was a bigger room available so we jumped all over it. It even has a bath tub!! We're almost all unpacked (and have Rob packed) and will really enjoy having space to walk around.

Today Juel, Megan, Maria, Benji, Rob, Murphy, and I went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. It was interesting. The food was great. Our waitress was a ditz. I ordered the veggie sandwich, which came with a salad. I wanted fries instead. But then I decided I wanted a salad, too, but I told her that. And lemonade. The lemonade here is really good. So pretty soon she brings the lemonade and I took a big swig and about spit it out. There wasn't any sugar in it. I put five packets of sugar in there and it still wasn't sweet enough. So then she brings me a salad and french fries (with HEINZ KETCHUP!!!!!!). She said the sandwich didn't come with fries so she brought them early. OK. Whatever. So THEN she brings me a sandwich and another salad. Did she not think it was odd that I got two salads??? So I ate part of the first salad and my fries (which were sooooo good!!!) and ate half of my sandwich. I was going to bring the other half and the second salad back to the room so I told her to put it in a box and that I wanted extra ranch. She took my food and brought me back a little thing of ranch. Now...what am I going to do with the ranch if I have no food? So she took it back and brought our to-go boxes. No salad...but she brought the ranch. D.I.N.G.B.A.T. The food was really good, though. We walked around the little mall it was in for a while and then caught a taxi home. Our driver seemed a little grumpy at first. He yelled at Juel because she slammed the door. The he kept talking and we had no idea what he was talking about. Which wasn't really uncommon for Rob, Juel, and I because we don't speak Spanish. But Megan didn't evevn understand him!

Patty and Sam got their sentencia yesterday and will be going home next week. Cecelia called Megan this afternoon and said their paperwork is back at the judge's office. When she told Patty that, the judge signed them the next day (different judge, though). Although he does have ten more days to sign. So they'll be heading home soon, too. Hopefully we hear something soon. The ideal situation would be for us to hear Friday or Monday. Then Mom, Murphy, and I could fly home with my dad on Friday, the 30th.

Rob is getting ready to go home. Not really, but his stuff is packed. Mom and Dad are ready to come down. I'm ready for them to get here! Murphy is growing more and more. She has found her feet and follows your voice. She also likes to cuddle when she wakes up. Sometimes when she's fussy we've found she doesn't want to be held. So we have to sit her in her chair and feed her. She also is preferring to strech out more now than she did. So she is sleeping in the crib or on the bed more than in the carseat.

OK, better go. We don't know if the Internet will be up tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Birthday, Corey! Hope you had a great day yesterday!!

Love you all.

A little background on Colombia

We are in ColOmbia. With an O. Not Columbia, SD. Although Columbia really is a nice little town! :)

Colombia is about the size of France and Spain combined. Colombia itself has about 45.6 million people, and Bogota, where we are staying, has 6.3 million people. Colombia is surrounded by Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Panama. The Andes Mountains are to the south of Colombia (think of the movie Alive!) The temperature varies depending on where you are. In Bogota the average temp is 14 degrees Celsius which is 57 degrees Fahrenheit. But we're so high up that it feels warmer. We wear short sleeved shirts every day (and anyone who knows me knows I'd have on my light winter coat by now at home!)

Colombia was inhabited by various groups of Indians before the Spaniards conquered the area. One of these tribes was the Muisca (which also happens to be the name of our room!). Around 1500, Rodrigo de Bastidas sailed along the Carribean coast to Panama and made the first permanent settlement. He returned to Spain to report as to what he had found and returned to the area and founded Santa Marta in 1525. Other Spaniards followed. Bogota was founded by Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada in 1538. He named the territory he had conquered Nuevo Reino de Granada, because it reminded him of Granada in Spain. Santa Fe de Bogota was named after the city of Santa Fe in Granada. After 1793 many people in the area made moves toward independence. On July 20, 1810 a governing body was established and the area was independent from Spain. The Spaniards left quite a legacy. Their language and religion being the main two things. La Republica de Gran Colombia was established by the governing Congress at present day Venezuela on December 17, 1819. Due to opposing view amongst the congressmen, the 1821 constitution was drawn up dividng Gran Colombia in 12 departments and 26 provinces. This constitution lasted until 1830 when Venezuela and Ecuador broke away and a new constitution was drawn up. Thus...Colombia!

Agriculture is the major employer in Colombia. The traditional crops are coffee, flowers, sugar cane, bananas, rice, maize, and cotton. The two largest exports are oil and coffee. Flowers are exported mainly to the US, about 73% of total sales, or $500 million per year. Colombia is the second largest exporter of flowers after the Netherlands.

Some of the most rare and most expensive emeralds in the world come from Colombia. (I did not purchase one of these expensive ones, although we did see some for $20,000 and up!)

Colombian ancestry varies greatly depending on the region. Some regions are largely of European descent, others have more Indian in the mix, while other regions have more African ancestry. About 90% of Colombians are Roman Catholic.

So there is your lesson on Colombia. Mine too as most of that was new to me.

We went to the market yesterday. We started off with the Americans and a French lady. Patty ended up going ahead with the French lady as she had to come home early and the rest of us wandered most of the day. We ate at the mall by the Santa Barbara market and then got ice cream. We stopped at Carulla and picked up some groceries. By this time, I was really feeling "icky". My cold never really went away and now it's back with a vengeance. I asked the front desk to get me some antibiotics last night. The funny thing about antibiotics here...you don't need a prescription. They just give them to you. AND they deliver! So I had Zithromax in 15 minutes! I'm still not feeling great, but daytimes are usually better. We'll see if it kicks in before this evening whene I usually feel worse.

Murphy hasn't slept well the last few days but she slept a lot this afternoon. (Hidden meaning...we didn't sleep well either.) I think Rob should have night duty this week since he won't get to for a while! We're going to start packing his stuff up any time. Rob and Megan are going to visit two schools tomorrow...a private and a public one (public meaning poor in this case). They preferred that we not bring the babies so Juel and I will stay home. Rob and Megan are the educators so it's more important for them to go.

I think we're going to the Hard Rock Cafe on Wednesday. We're also working on a trip to the Harley Davidson store (and I know some people who will be very jealous!) We have a busy week planned so the Harley store will be after Rob leaves.

Have a great day!!! I'll post some pictures later today after I take some! :)

Some of our purchases

Murphy's hat. She won't be able to wear it until next year but it's still pretty cute.



Her new shoes. She'll wear the white patent ones for baptism and just to be cute. They aren't walking shoes, though. I got the pink ones a little big so she can wear those next summer.



Her hat and sweater. Myriam made these. The sweater is too big as well so she can wear it in a couple of years.



And her baptismal blanket. In our corner it says "Murphy Maria" and in the opposite it says "Maria Jose". Rob asked how many times she'll get to use this. I said once.

This one wasn't purchased but makes for a cute picture. She has decided that it's fun to suck on her blanket. Usually she likes the traingles but the round parts must fit in her mouth better.

Happy Birthday Jen!

Love ya!!

We went to the leather district again today. Christy, you have to come with us next time! The money you spend on your ticket you could save on leather!! There are streets where every store is leather. Jackets, purses, belts, pants. And then in another part, it's all shoes.







And when I say they have shoes...really nice knee high boots are $30. All over the place. Of course I already have brown boots and black boots so I don't really need any. So I didn't buy any. We did find Rob a really nice jacket. They had to special make it. So for Rob's size, we were really happy. We tried to find shoes for both of us but it seems we are giants in the Colombian world. All I had to do was say "41" (my size) and they shook there head alot. We couldn't even figure out Rob's shoe size. We held some shoes up to his foot and even the longest ones were about three inches too short. So no shoes for us.

We went with Megan, Juel, Maria, Benji, Patty, and Sam and were gone from 11:00 until after 4:00. Henry was our driver and he is so good. When we were buying Rob's coat, he translated for us and told everyone what the owner said was his lowest price but then would whisper to us to offer less and the owner always took our offer.



There is a big soccer game today...Colombia against Venezuela. As we drove past the stadium this morning a few people were already at the stadium. By the time we drove home, people were everywhere. We stopped at a store nearby and bought Murphy a jester hat with the national team's logo on it. We tried to find Rob a jersey but again...he's a giant. Rob would have loved to have gone to the game but there isn't another guy here for him to go with. Argentina plays here on Tuesday and they said that will be an even bigger matchup because they're one of the better teams.

So we didn't eat today because we were too busy shopping. So now we're starving. It hit Rob today that he's leaving us in six days. I try not to think about it. I'm excited for Mom & Dad to get here but not for Rob to leave.

Myriam brought over the blanket I bought for her baptism. It's white with pink ribbon through it and in one corner it says "Maria Jose" and in the opposite corner it says "Murphy Maria". I just love it.

Yesterday we went to Poblanos for dinner. It was great. First of all the menus were in English so we knew what we were ordering. Second it was Tex Mex so we got chips and salsa and fajitas. It was AWESOME! Then we went to Maku but she got a little fussy so Rob brought her home. She didn't have a great night. Unfortunately it was my night to get up with her. She was awake once at least every hour except for from 3-4. It was a long night for both of us. Rob too as he woke up every time she did. He just didn't have to get out of bed.

I can't believe it but I didn't take ONE picture of her yesterday. So here's a picture after her bath this morning. She actually showered with me and we think she's going to be a swimmer. She got her head right under the shower and it didn't even bother her.



Tomorrow is the market day. Then we're going to hit the Hard Rock Cafe sometime next week. The motel staff asked if we'd like a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving. So we are getting turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, bread, and a key lime dessert that they made a few weeks ago. It was unbelievable. I love key lime. They said they don't have pumpkin filling down here so they can't make pie. Which is fine with me because I don't like it. And then Rob leaves on Friday. It will be a busy week.

Until next time...thanks for checking in!

Pedicure Heaven!

Yesterday was a day of relaxation. Not quite like the day at the club. More like a day of "not take a shower until afternoon". We did laundry (actually I took it downstairs and got sidetracked so Rob did it) and I had a pedicure. It was the best one I've ever had. Except when she rubbed off the dead skin on my toe, she rubbed a little too much and now my big toe hurts. While we were downstairs Maria was playing with us and so we took a picture of the girls in their capes and headbands. They were Super Maria and Super Murphy.



Murphy's fever is slowly going away. We haven't given her Motrin since yesterday afternoon. She sneezes a lot, though! That isn't just now...it's been the whole time. She's a three-sneezer.

She basically slept all night last night. Rob was working on homework until close to 1:00 so he just fed her when he came in and she didn't really even wake up. Then she slept until 6:00. It takes her a while to wake up. She just sort of whimpers and whines in her sleep for a while. Then when she does wake up she's a really happy camper.

Today we aren't doing anything special. Maybe going back to Maku. We still have a few more of her 18 gifts to buy and I'd prefer that Rob take them home next week. It's hard to believe he leaves in a week and my mom and dad come down in a week! I'm not excited for Rob to leave but I am excited for them to get here. The four weeks that we've been here have gone by so fast.

Pam, you can give out our website. We're happy to share with everyone!

Newkirks, we hope the plane ride home was uneventful and the kids are settling in to their new life.

Until later...have a great day!

Just a quick note...

Happy Birthday Amy Hoffman! And good luck wrestlers! Rob is so excited for the season. He wishes he could be there for practice this week but all you're probably doing is running anyway, right? :)

Our second best day yet!

We are just having the time of our lives down here. And it isn't only because we love waking up and having breakfast made for us, or having one or two loads of laundry every week (that's because we wear the same thing more than once) or have our rooms cleaned by a maid. We love spending all of our time with Murphy. She is growing (both out and up).



She is developing such a personality. She is fiesty and sassy and we think she's going to beat up all the boys on the playground. We think it will also carry over onto the court (either basketball or volleyball). We also think she's going to be a runner because her feet never stop moving. She has eyes so dark you can't distinguish the pupil from the iris. She has beautiful tan skin and we think she'll have curly hair. It doesn't look it when it's dry, but when it's wet...holy cow. She doesn't like to go to sleep although she has gone to sleep on her own a few times. She likes to lay on her stomach for the simple fact that her hand is close to her mouth so she can suck on it. When she lays on her back she wants to be on her stomach so she has to roll over. She had one of the nastiest diapers I've ever seen a few days ago. I think it was a combination of vaccination and Motrin. Maybe cereal, too. Rob actually woke me up to change it. He has that luxory until we go home. He says that if I'm not home, he'll either call his mom, Marlene, or Brenda Stover to come over because he knows they'll do it. That's a forewarning to all three of you.

Yesterday we had to be up early to go to Cecelia's country club. Cecelia, her 90 year old mother, and her mother's nurse, Juel, Megan, Maria, Benji, Patty, Sam, Rob, Murphy, and I went. It was a long and winding drive but it was so pretty. We drove through the Andes Mountains to get there and it was very lush and green.



When we got there we turned down a gravel road and all of us wondered where she was taking us. All of the sudden we pulled up to a nice little resort. We were the only ones there so we had the place to ourselves.







There was a kiddie pool with a slide that Maria and Rob played in at first. There was also a big pool that we all enjoyed. Plus the area around the pool had just enough water to cover your ankles. There was also a hot tub that swirled like a tornado and it wasn't hot, hot. Warm. Almost cool. Perfect. We sat on the edge with our feet in.

We took off Murphy's clothes and took her in the pool in her diaper. She was so content.



After a while her Motrin wore off (from the shots) and she cried. She took some more and calmed down again. She laid in her stroller and was just a happy camper.



We ate dinner and swam some more. Rob and Maria kept jumping in. They played in the sand, too.



It was just a great day. It was so nice of Cecelia to take us. We were relaxed and just loved the whole day.



The drive home was a little rough. We got into Bogota as the traffic picked up so Henry took a different way home. The road was really bad with lots of potholes and Juel ended up getting sick. I think part of it was the altitude difference, too. We got home around 5:30 and got ready quick to go to Archie's with all the Americans for Tim & Tanya and family's last night here. They flew back to Kansas City today.

Today we are just relaxing. Somebody from a spa is coming in this afternoon for cheap manicures and pedicures. That will be the most I do all day!

We found out the actual court process and what I had posted before wasn't right. We interviewed with the defender of minors. Once that petition was approved, our paperwork went to another defender of minors who had five working days to sign the papers. Then they went to a judge who has ten working days to sign. Then back to that second defender of minors who has five days to sign again. Our first five days were up yesterday. So we know the papers have to be with the judge by now. Hopefully they didn't take the entire alotted time to sign. Either way, we're content. We're so lucky to be in the place we're in in our lives.

Also a side note...I bought a scrapbook sort of thing. I'm not crafty enough to scrapbook but I am going to put all of the pictures from our trip here and the pages from Murphy's blog. So I would love it if...just once...everyone who is reading would post one comment. At least just one. Then I can put it in Murphy's scrapbook and show her all of the people who followed us on our journey. It doesn't have to be today or tomorrow. But sometime while we're here. And someday, I'll get back to everyone who has posted. If they leave an address or website that is.



Thank you all for reading and for being a part of our lives. This adoption is made all the more special because we have you as part of it.

She's a trooper!

The doctor came today to give Murphy her four month vaccinations. She had an oral dose for polio which she took really well. She's been given medicine for her reflux for months now so she's really good at taking medicine. Then she had a shot. The doctor told us it would hurt. She had been sleeping so we woke her up and I held her. Rob held her leg as the doctor injected it. She screamed while it was going in but then quit and stared at the doctor. She didn't seem too bad afterwards. She played around when it came time to taking a nap but once she was tired enough she went right down. Rob went to the store to buy more Motrin and get money to pay our motel tab. When he got back she had just woken up. She was a little fussy then. She had a fever and was just whiny. We were able to give her more Motrin at 6:30 and she's cooled down and calmed down. You can always tell when she's wound up because her feet just go to town. They're calming down so I think a nap is in the works. We think she hit a growth spurt because she's been drinking more at a time lately. She doesn't look it but she's filling out. She's more solid. We're also converting her to American formula and tomorrow is her bump day. She's drinking three ounces of Colombian and three ounces of American. Tomorrrow she'll go to four American. We really haven't noticed any problems when we've bumped her up. We've done it once a week since we've been here. We figured it would be just as easy to do it now while we're with her all day than have to do it when we get back and our lives return to the normal chaos.

Since we had the appointment today we stayed in all day. Of course by the time we would have gotten moving this morning it would have been noon. So we didn't even make an attempt. It's almost 7:30 now so we'll go down and eat. Tomorrow we are going with Cecelia and two other LSS families to Cecelia's country club two hours south of Bogota. It will be a nice change. There is a pool but we aren't sure what else. She's going to be here at 8:30 though so we will have a busy morning.

That's all for now. We're still hoping to get to a school before Rob leaves next week. I heard the gold museum is closed and I'm just not sure I want to go to the Salt Cathedral. Something about going inside a mine freaks me out. And Rob's the claustorphobic one!

Just one picture today. We exercise with Murphy every day. I really think it's helping because she rolled over again today from back to front. She has a little bit of an attitude and she gets mad when she can't get over.

I like cereal! Really!

Don't mind the look on my face...I really do like it!

Three weeks down...how many to go?

Yesterday we headed to the La Fontana market which is inside a really nice motel. It was much smaller than the others that we've been to and I felt really bad because in the same courtyard they were having a church service. So as I'm trying to say "How much?" I can hear people talking in the service. We got a few things and went to Carulla again for groceries. Rob got some roast beef and we got cheese and bread for sandwiches. We found a new way to walk there so it's much quicker. Last night the motel used the projector so we could all watch The Amazing Race in the sitting area downstairs. I fell asleep during part of it so we came back upstairs and I watched the rest and then part of the Charger game. They had such a great first quarter. I'm not sure what happened after that because I fell asleep. All I know is that I'm glad Adam Viniatieri was on our team last night or we would have lost!



Today is Independence Day so not much going on. We walked to Exito (Super Walmart) and UniCentro, which is a mall. We didn't find much but I did eat at Crepes and Waffles! Rob and Patty didn't want to but I got a crepe with Nutella and strawberries. It was SOOOOO good! Of course, anything with Nutella is good. I could actually go back and get another. It's a good thing we had a half hour walk afterwards. I needed to walk off all those calories.



Murphy took a small nap while we were gone but she was still pretty tired when we got back so I gave her a bottle and she fell asleep on my arm. It (my arm) fell asleep so when I moved her she woke right up and is now squealing and wiggling in her car seat, supposed to be sleeping.

She gets her four month shots tomorrow. Good thing I have her today and tonight and Rob gets her tomorrow and tomorrow night! :) He's already trying to get out of it.

Since today is a holiday the courts are closed. Our papers were submitted on Tuesday, November 6. From what we've been told, the judge has 30 working days to sign the papers. Then he sends them back to the defender of minors who has five working days to sign them again. Then back to the judge who has another five days to sign before we get sentencia. Then we have about three or four days to get her passport, visa, doctor visit... done before we can come home. So of all those days, we have four down. A little depressing, eh? Cecelia won't tell us what court we're in but says it's a good one. Whatever that means. So we wait. Rob goes home next week and Mom & Dad come the same day. So that will break up our time a little. I know I won't be done when Rob leaves next Friday. There are only four days this week and then the embassy will be closed part of next week for Thanksgiving. So maybe when Dad goes home on the 30th but I doubt it. Otherwise Mom will stay with us until we go home.

One last picture of a little girl here at the motel. She was adopted from Colombia a few years ago and their family is back adopting their third child. Anway, her name is Maria and we've talked with her that she and Murphy share that name. The other night she came up to us and said "Hey Murphy Muph...how are you?". I thought it was so cute. So now she's Murphy Murph. Anyway, this picture is from when we went to the leather district and she's holding the mannequin's hand. She's just a cutie!

Hello???? Is anyone out there?

Are you boycotting us because our Internet was down and I didn't post for two days????? I know of three people that are gone who are exempt from commenting...my mom and dad and Denita. We're feeling lonely out here!!!!!!

The good, the bad, and the ugly...

The good...the Internet went down yesterday but luckily came back up. The bad...we lost water for what was to be 48 hours. The ugly...I hadn't showered yet when we lost water.

we finally got Internet access back yesterday morning so we spent the entire morning on the Internet. Murphy napped and when she woke up we were sitting outside in the sitting room while the maids cleaned our room when Juel came up and asked if we wanted to go to the leather district. So we quickly changed our clothes and brushed our teeth, got Murphy ready, and headed out the door. We spent the afternoon shopping. Each store on the street was selling leather coats, purses, pants, blankets, wallets, bags...some of them even were very nicely covered in hair. Yuck! I know it must be the in thing these days (at least here) but it sure isn't for me. When we got back we found out we'd lost water and they said it would be for 48 hours and the entire northern part of Bogota was affected. Rob and Carmen left today so all the Americans went out to eat at Aruza, an Italian place. It was really good. We got home and as I was feeding Murphy, I fell asleep, too. That was around 8:30. She woke up at 1:30 and drank about two ounces but I think most of it ran down her chin. She was acting really funny...but she fell asleep within ten minutes. She woke up again around 4:30 really whiny. I picked her up but she didn't want to eat. I held her for just a few minutes and she fell back asleep. I got back in bed and fell asleep and she woke up seven minutes later. So I picked her up again and she fell alseep quickly. I laid her down, got in bed, fell asleep, and she woke up again. I don't know if she was having bad dreams or what. She woke up again at 6:00 with the same thing. So I just held her and she slept until 7:30. By this time she was so hungry that she drank all six ounces. She's had a nap already and she's dressed for the Charger game. Rob dressed her last week and we all know how that game turned out. So he made me dress her this week.

Oh, I forgot...when I got up this morning I checked the water and it was back on! Yay!!! So I did get a shower today.

David and Carmen painted her room yesterday. We're excited to see it! I think I owe David something to drink as he said he didn't even paint his own house! Thank you both!

OK, I better go. We're heading out to a new market today. I didn't even take pictures yesterday afternoon so I don't have anything new to show you. Maybe later today.

We've been going crazy!

Our Internet has been down for two whole days! Our entire motel has been going crazy!We really haven't done very much in those two days.

Thursday Rob was going to do homework so Patty and I went to the Botanical Garden. It was pretty but most of the flowers were done blooming. I think my mom would really enjoy it. Good thing she's coming to visit us!!! My dad, Murphy, and I will casually stroll along while Mom takes pictures of every flower there! And the clouds!



When we got back, the Internet still wasn't up but Rob had spent most of the afternoon doing laundry and reading one of his books for class. The change in schedule didn't sit well with Murphy so we had a little fight on our hands when it came to nap time. She just does not like to go to sleep. Not during the day and not at night. She sleeps good but she doesn't want to get there. Me, on the other hand...I love to sleep. After she finally fell asleep I went downstairs to see Myriam, the sweater lady, again. She brought blankets and I found one that I could change a little and really liked it. While we were down there, we found out that a couple from Kansas City got sentencia. They had just been to the Defendor of Minors on Tuesday and been in Colombia since October 28. That is like the fastest I've ever heard. I don't expect ours will go that quick. I don't think I'll be ready to go home with Rob on the 23rd...maybe Mom, Murphy, and I will be able to go home with my dad on the 30th. Otherwise, Mom will stay with us and go home when we're done.



Friday we ventured out to the drugstore and JACQUES! I just got a chocolate filled pastry. It was good, but I didn't get it warmed up. I think that would be better. We were on our way to the drugstore to get formula and cough drops. I am feeling better by the way. Megan gave me some medicine on Thursday night and I slept all night! I woke up on Friday and felt much better. I did get the cough drops and have had a couple. We went to Maku and got a few things on the way home. Last night we had a fight about the nap again so she didn't fall asleep until 6:30. We went down to eat and came back upstairs and I fell asleep at 7:30. For the night! I think the cold and lack of sleep got to me.



She woke up at 6:00 this morning so I took her downstairs to let Rob sleep a little longer. We ate breakfast and came back up here to FINALLY get on the Internet. Rob and I each have our laptops going.

The exciting news of the day is that Murphy is rolling over! She's been pretty close the past few days. But from what we've read, babies roll over from their stomach to their back first. Not our girl! She's going straight for the hard stuff! Back to front! She has been getting to her side for a while but can't figure out what to do after that. The first time, Rob moved her arm out of the way and she rolled right over. I laid her on the playmat and she didn't really want to do anything. So I put her on her stomach and she rolled right over again. We'll keep practicing!



We decided to weigh her because the family from KC has a scale with pounds on it. I think she's about 12 1/2 pounds. She's pretty small, but they told us she was over 13 when we got her. I know she hasn't lost weight since then so I don't think it was right. We're guessing about 23 inches. She's too long for anything "footed". I have a nine month sleep sack that she sleeps in and her legs have to be bent because she's too long for it. We know her birth mother is about 5'6" or 5'7" and we're guessing her birth father would be taller. She might be a tall girl! She'll fit right in with us!



Today we aren't doing anything special. We're going out for Italian tonight. Rob and Carmen of the Willrett's are going home tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll probably go to the market and then Monday, which is a holiday, to the mall and "Walmart". And of course, we'll watch football. The Chargers play the Colts. And if they can't beat the Vikings, I don't see a W in the books tomorrow night, either. And thank you for all your offers, but we don't need any Vikings uniforms or Packers uniforms. We've been through a drought with the Chargers before and that was much worse than this.

One last picture of the outfit we got her. It's a four so she's won't be able to wear it for a while but we wanted it big enough so she could enjoy it.



Have a great day!!

Yesterday was a lazy day

We didn't do a whole lot yesterday. Tuesday night the sweater lady came. Her name is Myriam and she makes a whole bunch of stuff. I've seen sweaters, dresses, cards, blankets...We bought a dress and sweater for Murphy and also a traditional Colombian outfit...hats, shoes, and all. She'll make it in a size four so it fits in a couple of years. She's going to come back sometime this week and bring blankets. I want to see if I can find something for Murhpy's baptism. Myriam also makes baptismal outfits but Murphy is going to wear my baptismal dress. My paternal grandfather also wore it. My dad's maternal grandmother made it in 1896.



Murphy slept until 8:30 or so yesterday so we didn't get up and moving too early. We made it as far as the bank and the sandwich shop. I didn't even get ready after I showered. I worked for a little bit and Rob checked his email. She fell asleep around 8:30 again. I didn't sleep well...I coughed quite a bit, which kept up Rob and Murphy. When she woke up at 6:00 I just took her downstairs so Rob could sleep a little. We had breakfast and are back up in our room again. She's ready for a nap so hopefully she'll fall asleep soon. Rob is going to do homework today and Patty, Sam, Murphy, and I are going to the botanical gardens. We're going back to Archie's tonight to eat. Besides the Kansas City family that is staying at our motel, there is another family from KC at another motel. They are flying home tomorrow so we're going out for a going away party.



Have a great day!