The Never-Ending Day.....and Staff Christmas Party!

I was hoping to have a chance to blog somewhere around midnight last night but, well.....the day was not done quite yet, never mind that it started at 8am with a meeting with the director of SEDEGES (the government agency we work the most closely with) and didn't let up the entire day long. I didn't even see 2/3 of my family.

But anyway, Twin E had other plans for me besides blogging and sleeping. Like a trip to the Emergency Room. Don't worry--just a miserable cough/cold that wouldn't let him sleep (or the other babies or us, for that matter). When I walked into the ER, the dear nurse on duty gave me and my beautiful-but-miserably-snotty-and-pitiful baby a condescending look and asked as her first question "Why did you not bring him in this afternoon?!" AHHHH LORD HELP ME HERE before I do something regrettable!! Does this lady actually think I love being hospitals so much that I purposely bring my baby out on the cold rainy night a mere 5 days before Christmas rather than snuggling in bed reading with hot chocolate (okay I don't have any hot chocolate, but it's a nice thought) after an already super long busy day, rather than coming in the daytime like normal people would??? What if I have so little time that there was not a spare second to even think about bringing him in. Because our medical appointments of the day had to do with the continual adjusting of B's hearing aids and another appointment where I'm told that Baby V could very well have cerebral palsy. AND (and here's the reason that counts) what if he was fine all day long but all of a sudden at 11:30pm took a turn for the worse? I believe that is why there are such things as Emergency Rooms, people.

Personally I think they were having a pretty boring night and we livened it up....like when the doctor (who sees me at this clinic all the time) started drilling me with personal questions about why I haven't married a Bolivian yet and don't I want to have babies of my own (and how many exactly)? Well at least he thought it cool that I'd like anywhere from 8 to a dozen, and he says he's sure I'll have twins because I'll know how to handle them. ;-)

Sooo anyway, just had to get that out of my system. And, oh yeah, now Twin E is isolated (dr's orders) in the physical therapy room which makes things decidely more complicated in the Baby Home (and poor him). Sigh. 'Tis the season for our babies to have coughs/colds they can't shake. It would be amazing if this December/January we didn't have any hospitalized... The one bright spot is that no one else has his cough, currently speaking.

And the cheerier news of yesterday: we had another lovely annual staff Christmas party/gift exchange! It's always fun to see the caregivers and cooks and physical therapist and everyone else dress up for a change, let their hair down, put on high heels, and jewelry without fear of babies yanking it off, and relax without the backdrop of crying or yelling or fighting kids (not that our kids do that. I'm just sayin'). It was also a fun surprise to see how many tias arrived with new hair styles! A few pictures:

Giving Tia Roxana her Christmas gift basket (the expected gift from employer to employee in Bolivia...which I learned the hard way)

Enjoying a steak dinner with all the trimmings (in Bolivia, this does not cost as much as one might think, and even better this restaurant worked out a special deal with us)

Dessert: homeade cookies my Mom spent a couple days preparing

And finally, the group picture of the evening! We are so many it's too far back to see anyone very well. The party included subs for vacations, violin teacher, part time staff--everyone.

If this post seems like an odd mixture of sick babies and a party and Christmas, well that's our crazy life in the homes! It all goes hand in hand, every single day. =)