Travel

Here are a few tips we learned when we traveled to get Miriam. I'll add to them as I think of more.

Well, we're here in Addis Ababa. We have our daughter now. She seems to be adjusting okay to us--we're not adjusted to waking up every hour or so. :-) We're scheduled to go to the embassy this afternoon for our visa appointment. We've taken pictures and video which we'll edit and post after we get back to the States. Just thought I'd let you know we made it okay. Oh, and Miriam is just as cute as (if not cuter than) her pictures! :-)

Day two with Miriam followed a rather long night with her waking about once every hour.
We got up around 7 Am with her and dressed and prepared for the day.

Between 8 and 9 each day there is sun, the nannies take all the babies outside into the early morning sunlight. So before breakfast is served each morning we new parents have to take the babies outside for this ritual. We find a sunny spot and sit down. We slowly take off pieces of clothing... shoes and socks, unsnap legs... then off come the bottoms, onsie are pulled up high on the chest and the backs of tops are opened. When the nannies are doing the sunbathes, they remove the diapers but they don’ t ask us to do this. While sitting in the sun, we are given lotion to rub into the babies’ skin. After about 15-20 minutes, we are allowed to redress the babies and come inside. It was never made clear to me why we were doing the sunbathe. Perhaps for vitamin D or more likely it originated as a way to prevent diaper rash.

After a fitful night of sleep at the Ghion, we woke up early and called Asnake the director of CHSFS's in country program. We ask if there was still room for us to stay at the care center and to enquire again about the avalibility of a frig. We learned that not only was there still room for us to stay at the care center but that each room had its own mini frig! ACHHHH!!!! Wish someone had known that in the US!
After packing up some of our things we headed to breakfast and then at 9 AM Tesfaye, the driver, arrived and we were off to the care center. Once at the care center we were shown to a room in the bedroom in the basement. It was very nice (and CLEAN!) with a double bed and a crib for the baby. There was a large bathroom attached to this room with a tub/shower (no curtain). There was closet space to put our clothes and the promised frig stocked with pops and bottled water. It didn't feel like a basement as there was a large window to the outside where sunlight and air came in... this was due to the fact that the building was on a hill side of sorts and a walkway had been created right out side the room opening up that side.

After spending a wonderful week in Kenya visiting our friends, Kip and Katy Lines, we finally arrived in Ethiopia. We arrived around 9 PM local times... thats 1 PM eastern standard... but no jet lag for us thanks to that week in Kenya. If possible I highly recommend having a chance to over come the jet lag before you aquire your child. I know it really helped us feel much more prepared.

The Ethiopian airport was so much nicer then it was when I visited in 1997. I remmember this "police-state" type airport where the walls were cinderblock and without windows and a feeling of escaping a prison just to leave the building. Now we walked through beautiful pale blue marble halls with large glass windows looking out on the runway and the city. We entered large open rooms of the same marble and walked to neat little cubicals with organized lines to inquire about our entry visas.

Well, after a day trip in London, we made it safely to Kenya. We came out to visit our friends (www.ejoka.com) in the Turkana desert. Our visit with them was very relaxing for us and them. We were surprised that they have a well that puts forth clean, drinkable water. Today we're in Nairobi, staying with some other friends. We fly from Nairobi to Addis Sunday night (local time) and will receive Miriam Monday morning.

Today we received an email from our agency with two new pictures of Miriam--one of her being given a bath, and one of her being held by one of the caregivers there. The email also included more information about Miriam's development, her daily schedule, her likes and dislikes, etc. It sounds like she's doing very well, right on target with her developmental milestones. She's still a bit on the small side, but sounds and looks like she's very healthy and happy otherwise.