Good-bye One Week-ers -- 28th Day

After our shift at the clinic Colleen, Cassi, Shirley, Erin, Nicole, and I had dinner at the restaurant with Mihaela and Delia. We chatted about clinic needs and favorite moments during dinner. After Mihaela and Delia left the real bonding began. I hate to see all these ladies go tomorrow morning! I have chatted with them each a bit before tonight... but with such a small group tonight we were really able to talk. We laughed and got so loud that the Romanians in the restaurant were actually looking at us! We were louder than their TV which was amazing! (Just so you know Romanians are really loud in general! LOL) I'll never forget how perfectly Erin and Nicole can do impressions! Or the moment when Shirley told Cassi that gossip wasn't a good idea and Cassi said "well look who told me" referring to Shirley! LOL It was hilarious! Even though the pork was only so-so this will be remembered as one of my favorite dinners in Romania!

Pa! La revedere! Good-bye friends... safe travels home!







Colleen(daughter of Shirley and aunt to Cassi), Cassi (granddaughter of Shirley), and Shirley

Erin and Nicole (sisters-in-law)

28th Day in Romania/Friday at the Clinic

After lunch we said our goodbyes to the 13 people who are going to Transylvania for the weekend. Although they paid quite a bit less than Becky, Leigh, and I did I am so glad that I went with Becky and Leigh. First as I said this group has 13 going -- and everyone knows I prefer small groups. Second, Radu is on a 3 week vacation around Europe and will not be their guide... he is worth the money! :-)

I am so mad at myself for not going to the clinic this morning. I missed Ionela's mom! She came to visit Ionela today and stayed all morning! WAHHH!! She has been calling and talking to Mrs. Maleeka the preschool teacher almost daily asking when Ionela's 2nd surgery for her cleft palate will be finished so she can take her baby home. Maleeka told us she was coming to visit but I didn't know what day. Becca and other volunteers said they got pictures of them together and that Ionela and her mother definitely have a bond. That makes me so happy!

My room mate Stephanie and her co-teacher Trent


I have already given you Trent's blog address but thought I would share Stephanie's as well it is:
www.romanianreverie.blogspot.com

By the way.. at this moment I am the only team member with an up-to-date blog!! WOO HOO LOL That is what they get for leaving me for the weekend!!

Saying good-bye out back at the Raluca Hotel


After the one-week-ers and I said our goodbyes we walked over to the clinic. (Although I laid out of work this morning I did a 4 hour shift this afternoon to make up for it!) All the babies in Salon 3 (Room 3) were still sleeping. As I took pictures though I woke Gabriela up. :-( She was a little cranky until bottle time.

Ema-Elena... I have never seen this kiddo so relaxed out of someone's arms. This pose is what prompted me to take sleeping baby pictures!

Alina... thumbalina... apparently she threw up her breakfast bottle this morning :-( She didn't seem quite herself all afternoon.

Gabriela.. she did go back to sleep for a few minutes after this... I was glad she stayed awake through the afternoon though.. she sleeps almost as much as I do LOL

Marius

Cristi in the cute T is for Tiger onesie

Petre finally dressed as a young man in this happenin' polo styled onesie

Before the 3pm bottle... Nicole, Cassi, and Shirley in the room while we checked on other babies

I think I mentioned sweet Ema's bug bites... I decided to take pictures so I can compare them myself each day and let the nurses know if they are truly getting better. The huge bite on her knee was not hot today... but it was still red. Her foot though was HORRIBLE! Obviously swollen and very red... no heat though... As soon as Mihaela arrived I asked her to make sure they were still treating her leg. The nurses had been putting ointment on it and took her for more ointment. They ended up wrapping her foot so the ointment wouldn't rub off. She looked pitiful!

Maria-Cleopatra in a beautiful summer dress enjoying the sun and breeze

Daniela

This picture just doesn't do this moment justice. Delta has been caring for Daniela so we haven't gotten to play with her a lot. She is such a darling girl and loves to be around the other kids. She had a blast doing tummy time outside and showed us how she could roll over from front to back -- an amazing feat in those huge diapers!

Nicole multi-tasking with Maria, Alina, and Marius

Nicole told Marius that no girl would like him with his icky long toenails LOL So she gave him a pedicure. I asked her to help Gabriela out too! Marius enjoyed his pedicure more than Gabriela!

Daniela sleeping in the swing... we need a life size swing for the volunteers to relax in also!

This was one of those "I am so blessed" moments... Sweet Ionela has come so far... she used to hit and bite the other kiddos and now when they cry she gets this look on her face and "pets" their head as she says, "my-my". She then lays her head against their head like she is cuddling the baby. I love it! She is going to be a great momma some day!

Ionela with her rock collection

Alina exploring in the grass

I love this little girl so much! It is so great to know that she recognizes my voice. I am constantly saying to her, "Hai Alina.. hai Mama!" ("come, Alina.. come to Momma" -- which is what the aides and nurses call themselves and what the babies call all volunteers. She always looks around to find me and then toddles over.. or if she falls then she crawls over. She always has a huge smile on her face and loves to be praised! I am going to miss her!

Gabi in her favorite bouncy chair

27th Day in Romania/Thursday at the Clinic

Wow, it's amazing how much faster it is to update your blog when you lay out of work and there is no one else in the hotel on the internet! I was able to get all the pictures upload in under 20 minutes -- usually it takes well over an hour...

I did lay out of work today but this is only the 2nd time I have missed a shift in 4 weeks. I am just not getting enough sleep. When I woke up this morning I could barely hold my eyes open... and my throat hurt and my nose was all stuffed up -- WAH!! I thought since there were still 13 people at the clinic for this shift this would be the best shift to miss. This afternoon there will only be 6 of us still in town (me and the one week-ers). All of the others are going to Transylvania for the weekend. They will be leaving at 2:30 this afternoon (Friday).

So now about Thursday... Thursday was a great day at the clinic -- okay, every day is a great day at the clinic that's just the way it is! There were a few cranky babies (2 year molars we think for Ema, Mihaela, Gabriela, and Marius... all March babies except Ema who is February). Ema had 5 or 6 horrible bug bites on her leg from the night before. By lunch time her knee was swollen and hot to touch.. so medicine put on it.. then after nap time I had them reapply more medicine. I hope it looks better today! She and I both must have sweet skin.. in the last week I have gotten bug bites (mosquitoes I imagine) all over my legs.. in the previous 3 weeks I had *1* bug bite. I think all these people from Minnesota brought their mosquitoes over!! LOL


In the morning when we arrive at the clinic Lea-Celine is usually brace free. Amy D and I took the opportunity to take pictures of her feet. Lea-Celine has had 3 or 4 surgeries for club feet and the last surgery over corrected her left foot so they are trying to fix that now.

You can see where there has been a sore on her poor little foot but it is much better now.. just red and a little chafed. This sweet girl never seems to be bothered by her feet -- she is a real sweetheart, if a little spoiled! :-)

Gabi and the tickle monster... Gabi loves being outside and being tickled

Apparently she also likes to chew on my camera cord

Andreea still lying in her Cleopatra pose. She will crawl when she thinks no one is watching. I am trying my best to get it on video.

Petre... yes, I moved him out of the sun right after I took this shot! :-)

Ema -- see I do share! :-) Mostly just so I can get pictures of her from a different angle though!! LOL

Amy from Utah (otherwise known as Stretch Amy -- she is really tall!) holding Ema.

Ema and her swing

Becca put the twins together to swing double... they would NEVER look the same direction at the same time LOL I keep insisting these kids can never be models or actors -- they don;t follow directions! :-) First Gabi would look (above) Then Mihaela would look (below)

This is the closest I came to both of them looking LOL

Gabi's close up

Mihaela's close up

Apparently Gabi and Mihaela's dad does come to visit. He and their mom are still married. Dad insists they want the girls back and Mom insists they don't... how bizarre. :-(

Alex and Andreea.. Alex has a blog about the babies also:
www.axm9237.blogspot.com

3 month old Petre dressed in pink, 5 month old Daniela dressed in blue... go figure

Stretch holding baby Maria

Becca grabbed my camera and took this shot for me... I am holding Ema and raising her left hand above her head in triumph and she smiles and giggles. None of the pictures captured the giggle but I loved this one because she is holding my thumb.

After yogurt time, Mama dog found her way into the playground (ok, ok someone left the gate open).. it was so sweet and a little sad.. she is starving to death and just wanted some of the yogurt. Becca tried to shoo her out and every time Becca would get close to her she would just lie down. Finally she lured her out and let her have a little left over yogurt.

We had another new lunch today.. some kind of hotdog sausage with beans... not quite beanie-weenies but similar. :-) The sausage was delicious but the beans were very.. i dunno.. textured :-) I was able to take several of the sausages back to the clinic for Mama Dog (aren't you proud of me Jane?!)

Shirley (a one week-er who came with her daughter and granddaughter) is working with Andre and Ion. It worked out well that she picked those boys because they have both been on treatment (for what no one knows) and haven't been allowed to go outside. I can't remember if I mentioned this in a previous blog so I will tell you again... Mihaela told us earlier in the week that Ion's surgery for his heart wasn't entirely successful. He still breathes heavily and it is related to his heart. One day soon he will go back to the county where he had his heart surgery for a follow up with the surgeon. This is the county where old Maria had her heart surgery. I asked Mihaela for more info on Maria again. She said that Dr. Delia had told her that the surgery went well, then Maria was transferred to the Children's Hospital in Barlad to recover.. then she may have went home or to a foster home. She was going to ask Dr. Delia again for more info. Since Dr. Delia's father just died I'm going to wait to ask again.

Dan and Mihaela's daughter Delia came to dinner with us. She is so lovely and always dressed beautifully! :-) She agreed to have her picture taken then became shy when everyone at the table turned to watch! LOL

As we were standing on the sidewalk waiting for out bus to arrive Nicole noticed this man (wow, just now looking at the shot I'm not sure if it is a man or a woman, interesting) in an apartment across the street. Becca and I did our pretend posing and got shots of him... another of my favorite shots from Romania!