Weekend Update

Sorry it has taken me so long to update this thing. It has been crazy around our house. We can't believe that Cati and Gus have already been home for over two weeks! Gus is completely over his virus and is happy to be eating again. He already feels like he has put on a little weight in the past few days. We could tell he was feeling much better when he started laughing again and pulling up on everything he could get his hands on.










Catalina is well and is keeping me very, very busy. Earlier in the week, I thought she had endless energy, until it caught up with her on Friday. She fell asleep on the playroom floor at 4:30 p.m. I moved her to the bed and she slept through to the next morning!!










Louie went back to work last week. It was hard for him to go and it was hard for me to see him go. My mom was here the first couple of days and it helped so much. When Wednesday rolled around, I cried like a baby before he left for work. It just felt like I wouldn't be able to manage things on my own. It's exhausting, that's for sure, but I think that we will get into routine pretty soon. At least, I hope so.









Catalina continues to warm up to Louie. She really seems to be growing closer to him. Everyday this week, when Louie got home from work, she was so excited and begged him to carry her around with him for 20 minutes. He was very happy to oblige, of course!









For the adoptive moms reading this (and anyone else that cares to read this much), here's a little bit about their transitions and all that attachment stuff. We are limiting visits from others and, during those visits, limiting holding to family members, and even then we're limiting the amount of time that others hold them. No primary care functions are performed by others.



Gus has been sleeping through the night and napping on a schedule similar to his schedule in the foster home. We haven't really noticed him grieving, but that might have gotten lost in his rotavirus haze last week. Twice I have taken him to other people's houses for visits that lasted for several hours and I noticed that he seems to get overwhelmed. Both times, I have felt really guilty because I could tell he wasn't comfortable at all. Otherwise, he's a very happy little guy.



With Catalina, we were really lucky in that our foster family talked about us all the time, showed her pictures of us, and really got her excited about her new home and family. Since she has been here, she has mentioned the foster family, but hasn't seemed outwardly homesick. When I asked her one day last week if she wanted to call them, she got very worried. She asked to make sure that they wouldn't be coming here to her new house, that we would just be calling them on the phone. It seemed like she was afraid that she would be going back with them. After I explained that she was here forever and that we would just be calling to say that we loved them, she seemed fine with it.




There are definitely times when I see the strain of the transition and the language barrier in Catalina's demeanor. We're trying to be very sensitive to all the changes that she has been through and the frustration she must feel not speaking English yet. Even though she has her moments, Catalina has proven over the past three weeks that she is the bravest and most resilient person that I have ever met. She amazes us every single day.

Okay, sorry for the long posting. Hope you are all well. I promise that I'll be better about keeping in touch over phone and email when things settle down a bit. For now, I'll leave with a picture of our little angels.