Sam Sibley: Day 3

Last night was a bit on the rough side. Sam was very tired and would wake up not knowing where he was and would scream. Of course this is understandable. Through the course of the night, I had to become increasingly creative in fixing the "who is sleeping where" issue. One of the things that is more challenging for our family, is that all 3 of the boys have attachment/trauma issues and also need to be close to us right now emotionally as well. This creates a logistical problem. Ben usually tries to climb into bed with us, but actually did great last night and stayed in his space. He is usually content enough to be in the same room and able to see where we are (lest someone escape). Lucas needs to be even closer. By the end of the night, Lucas and Ted were in the full bed, Ben was in his toddler bed, and I had pulled Lucas' toddler mattress onto the floor where Sam and I were. I think I may have slept from like 4-6a or so. That being said, Ted and I chugged a lot of coffee this morning.

All of that trauma didn't seem to affect Sam's happy smiles this morning though! We were thankful. He seems to start crying whenever we act like we are going someplace and also doesn't like to have his clothes changed which are all typical reactions. He has overcome his original fear of Ted, for which we are very thankful! In some instances he prefers Ted, because I seem to be the one having to do all the scary things like baths, clothing changes, and cleaning up. When we are out walking he is also always strapped to me as a rule for now.

Last night we were able to chat with Grammy and Papa Holl and the boys were able to show them all of their stuff and our new space in the room downstairs. We have a lot more floor and bathroom space there, so that is nice for just being in our room if we don't feel like playing with the other families. Right now, we are the lone English speakers as everything else is from Italy. One other gal is Portuguese and we seem to speak a little Spanish and English with her.

Last night, we walked to Exito (a grocery store attached to the Unicentro mall)to get pull ups, Sam diapers, and a few other food items to make meals easier. This was not an intelligent choice. We had all 3 boys, in the rain, with no car and no way to lug it all back. This will not happen again :-) New strategies to come on how to best do that again.

We don't have a tub in our room, so my first attempt at bathing Sam was an epic fail. I hope he will get over the emotional scarring I surely put him through. We finally figured out if we ran water from the shower into our laundry tub that will work well enough for him since he is so small. He still screamed something awful, but it at least doesn't LOOK as awful.

Here are just a few more action shots from our time this morning out on the street. We returned to Exito this morning for round 2 of shopping (did much better this time!) and had our first empanada stand outing!!



The rest of this morning was just spent playing in our room. Sam is getting more and more comfortable playing with and around his brothers. So far, it looks like I did a great job in the packing department as far as what he is into. It's fun seeing the boys hug and "wrestle" with each other. It's a big blessing to watch. Enjoy!! At little word on Sam's scrunched up nose/growly face.. this is him being silly so it's intended to be positive :-)



In one of them, you can't see it very well with the lighting, but Sam is actually "getting" Lucas which Lucas was greatly enjoying.

This afternoon and tonight we are getting together with Ted's friend Juan, who is the Colombian pastor that Ted works with on his Med Ministry International trips. We are excited to get to know his family better, as well as some brothers and sisters in Christ from his church! How fun to have more friends in the ministry while we are down here staying! I will surely enjoy this even more later when Ted has to go back home.

I have decided I will usually always update during nap time, because by the time they are all snoring at night and the room is dark, I am content to just take that in and doze off myself. You never know when restful sleep will come around these parts so we don't mess with it ;-)

Until tomorrow!