Andres' New Name

Our lawyer, Gertrudis, explained how names are given to children here in Colombia. Every child has 2 last names (father's last name and mother's maiden name). Therefore, our idea of naming him as follows: Andres Galindez Yannucci, is not going to work. It has to be reversed.

His name has to have Doug's last name first and my maiden name second. Since the lawyer has to present the case at the court with the correct name, we decided that his Colombian name would be: Andres Sebastian Yannucci Galindez.

We have added his middle name to be Sebastian, which is a name that Doug and I have loved for a very long time. Once we get to the states, we will decide what to do about the last names. I am sure the Galindez will be dropped. Darn!!!

The Legal Process Begins

Tuesday, September 21, 2009: Our lawyer, Gertrudis, presented our case at the court. There were 11 judges, and she awaited to see which judge was assigned to our case. After waiting, she found out that the 11th judge was the one assigned. She has worked with this judge in the past, and says that she is very good and pretty fast with the process. We still don't know how long it will be for our "sentencia," but she said it should be anywhere between 10-15 days.

Interview at ICBF

Monday, September 21, 2009: We had our interview at El Instituto de Bienestar Familiar at 2:00 PM. It went really well. The purpose of this visit is to observe how we are all getting along as a family after a week of adopting Andres. They were very impressed with Doug's ability with Andres and how much time he spends with him. Andres already seems to recognize that we are his parents. It is beautiful to see how after just one week, he recognizes his mother and father. This visit also starts the legal adoption process. We also met our lawyer who is a wonderful lady.

Miscommunication at the DAS

Friday, September 18, 2009: Today was a pretty stressful day with about 5 trips to the DAS (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad), since 2 days ago, in order to figure out how to extend our visas. I have never been so frustrated with the lack of miscommunication. Every time we show up at the DAS office, we get a different person that gives us different information. At the end of it all, we found out that the extension of our visa has to be done in Bogota at the Ministerio de Relaciones Extranjeras. Now we have to take an extra trip to Bogota next week, just to get our visa extension. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Andres is doing really well. We LOVE him so much, and he loves to be hugged and kissed. We still can't believe how lucky we are to have him in our lives as our son.

Our First Night with Andres

We had a wonderful night with Andres last night. He woke up at 12:15 AM, crying for his bottle. As soon as we gave it to him he was happy and gained energy. Andres proceeded to stay up for a little while to play with us in bed. He wasn't close to going to bed. Ha, ha.

He ended up falling asleep and we put him in the crib. At about 3:30 PM, he cried quickly, and went back to sleep. At 6:00 AM, I heard him in the crib, making cute little noises, just playing and entertaining himself. I went over to see him, and he gave me the biggest smile. It made my day! I then went to make his bottle, and he drank most of it.

Andres seems to be a very happy and playful baby. His smile makes us all so happy. My family here in Colombia is really enjoying his presence. He is going to be SPOILED! Oh, oh.

The Big Day - La Presentacion

Monday, September 14, 2009: Today, was such a special day. This morning, at 8:30 AM, we met our baby boy, Andres! It was such a special moment filled with lots of emotions. We experienced such happiness and peace.

Agatha, the director of Chiquitines, seen in this picture, was so special. We are honored to have her trust in us as parents to Andres.

Andres is just beautiful! He has big brown eyes that shine with long eyelashes. His lips are adorable. His temparement is amazing. He has a calmness to him but is also very active. The moment he was presented to us, he looke right at us, knowing we would be his MOMMY and DADDY.

Flying to Cali, Colombia

Sunday, September 13, 2009: Today, we fly to Cali, Colombia. My family will greet us there. One more day for us to see little Andres. We pick him up on Monday, September 14, at 8:30 AM. I am sure we won´t get much sleep tonight, from being excited and nervous.