Haiti Day One, Part III

Being alone with our boys for the first time felt both wonderful and surreal. I found it somewhat amusing how in just three years we have already forgotten some of the quirks of baby care! The babies were so good, though. They were absolutely wide-eyed as we walked through tall foliage on the hotel grounds and through the halls, past paintings and carvings and under the whir of ceiling fans blowing the warm air in circles around us. Having observed Ian’s curiosity and tendency to grab anything and everything throughout the day, I was excited to pull out the baby toys we had brought for them. As I had imagined, he quickly grabbed hold of a brightly colored rattle and shook it to his heart’s content amidst giggles and jibberish. Both boys were tired from the days’ events, however, and after a bottle they took a good nap. For Alec, all it took was simply lying down on the comfy bed; Ian was so wound up that he required a walk in the Snuggli both at naptime and bedtime to fall asleep.

When they awoke, Pedro had gotten the password to use the hotel’s internet and we were excited to get Skype up and running to call our families. Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop Christian got the first call and were able to see both boys on the webcam before heading to prayer meeting; I think it’s safe to say they were pretty thrilled! We then called the Rubin family and Owen got to see his brothers for the first time. He was happy enough but soon hurried off to play with his cousins! Our third call was to the Fisher family and we enjoyed showing off the babies to them as well. Grandma and Grandpa Garcia are traveling, so their call had to wait as well as the calls to our girls because we did not have Skype names for their host families.

Finally, we headed to the hotel restaurant around 6 p.m. for our first real meal of the day. The menu was in Creole so were not completely sure what we were ordering, but the food was delicious. We later learned that what we thought was a twice-baked potato was something we hadn’t heard of before, but I can’t remember the name … we also had rice and beans, and some grilled meat – mine had a spicy red sauce on top that was yummy. It was a little tricky eating with a baby on each lap but we managed. Afterwards we headed back to the room to wind down for the night. Ian was too keyed up again to sleep, so he and I returned to the patio awhile later and I worked on the computer until he fell asleep in the Snugli to the sound of 80’s and Creole music.

It was a good night; both boys woke once each to eat, but then slept soundly until morning!