The Good, The Bad & The Ugly doo DOO doo DOO doo

Yes, I'm a Clint Eastwood fan and this sums up our first night...
Oh - and there will be no pictures until I return home (Sorry)

THE GOOD
We had our embassy appointment today and everything went very smooth. We made it through the interview with no problems and go back to pick up Edison's visa tomorrow. When the guy at counter 8 told us "Congratulations, on the adoption of your new son" I knew that everything was finally final - Although he was officially ours when we got down here, we still needed permission to bring him to the United States as a citizen and now that has been approved. What a wonderful GOOD day!

THE BAD
When I returned to the room last night, Edison was screaming and Paul said he had been crying for the past 30 minutes. He wanted me and only me and would have nothing to do with Paul. When I took him, however, he didn't really even want me but I was better than the other option. When I laid him down to change his clothes he went ballistic! When we laid him in the bed, it was even worse. He hit me and smacked me and would "growl" at me. He arched his back and threw back his head. I was really proud of myself as I had the patience of Job which in fact is a blessing from God because it was something I prayed for. When I would try to talk to Edison to soothe him he would get so angry! I would rub his hair or his neck and he would either start shaking his head side to side or push my hand away. His head was soaking wet from crying. He didn't want down, he didn't want a snack, he didn't want a bottle, he didn't want anything except his "mamamamamamamamama" which I knew was NOT me! Finally, I took his pajama shirt off, laid him down in front of me, with his legs over my legs and I got the lotion and just started massaging his belly, his arms, his hands and his face. Paul got a warm wash cloth and I washed his face and tried to cool him off. He finally settled down and made great eye contact with me, although he did have somewhat of a vacant look in his eyes. After a 20 minute massage, he was worn out and ready for sleep. I tried to put his pajama top back on but he did not want it. I stayed in the same position all night with my arm around him, afraid if I moved, he would wake up. I tried to keep the blanket and sheet on him because I was afraid he would be cold without a shirt, but everytime I would put them on, he would begin kicking with both feet to get them off. He did wake up around 4:30 in the morning, whined a little, found his bottle, drank it and went right back to sleep. I was exhausted and my body ached, but we made it through the first night! Before I fell asleep, Paul and I talked about how scared and confused he must be. We prayed tomorrow would be better.

THE GOOD (again)
This morning, when Edison woke up, I had just gotten out of the shower. I walked in the room and he looked at me and said "Ma-ma?" and then he popped his lips together with a kiss. I walked over to him and he held his arms up to me and when I bent down, he gave me a kiss!! I looked at Paul and said, "Did you hear that? Did you see what he did?" I think I was in shock but Paul confirmed what I knew Edison had just done. He and I have had a pretty good day except for ...

THE UGLY
As I said before, he "growls" at us when he is unhappy and doesn't like what we are doing. He especially likes to growl when we tell him "No". I guess he is trying to figure out our boundaries. When he doesn't like what we have told him, he likes to smack us in the face and he can get to your face quicker than you can imagine and he smacks pretty hard. Coming back from the Embassy today, he smacked me in the face and I held his hands and said, "No!" so then he bent his head and tried to bite my arm. I knew exactly what he was getting ready to do and stopped him. I said no again and he looked at me like he was surrendering. I still was not too happy about him smacking and then trying to bite me, so I sent him to the back seat with his dad. He has smacked Paul several times today too. Paul at first thought it was cute, but tonight, right before I came down here, he got pretty firm with his "No" and Edison looked like he was taking him pretty serious.

ANOTHER GOOD
Paul and Edison are doing really well together. Paul has kissed all over him and Edison has kissed back. He likes to be held by Paul and he loves it that Paul always has snacks! I had forgotten how sweet Paul was with little babies and it has been fun to see him interact with his son. Edison likes to play ball and has a pretty good arm. He is also good at throwing books, bottles, Cheerios, keys, etc.

Now for THE BAD and THE UGLY (together)
This time I am referring to Hurricane Ike. We are very concerned about his path and the fact that Ike is headed for Houston at the same time we are. Our travel agent said she is concerned about it too. Pretty much every flight from Guatemala goes through Houston. We would love to leave tomorrow but our visa appointment is not until 3:30 in the afternoon and there are no flights leaving Guatemala to the USA that late. We asked Debbie to at least try to get us to the US so we don't get stranded in Guatemala. She said she would try. She is going to keep a close watch on Ike tomorrow and let us know what to do. Please pray that we can get to Houston before Ike makes landfall. We are so anxious to get home and I know the girls want us home as well as the rest of the family. We have the earliest flight out of Guatemala on Friday morning but it still may not be soon enough. We also have to take into consideration the almost 3 hour layover we have to get through Customs and Immigration with Edison. We are not scheduled to depart Houston until after lunchtime. We really don´t care which city we land to come through Immigration we just want to be on American soil - let me clarify - North American soil, instead of Central American soil.

I better go back upstairs to make sure Edison is calm. I may have to become a masseuse again tonight. I wish I could get a massage...

So there you have it, the good, the bad and the ugly. Luckily, as in the movie, the Good overshadows the Bad and the Ugly! Buenos Noches everyone. For you Spanglish speakers, that would mean, Good-o Night-o!