Day 18

Mihaela having a good swing

Trevor and Ionela are burying Sami's legs

Me holding Ema

Today was pretty uneventful. I played two games of Scrabble--one with Alix and Radu, and then a rematch with Eduard joining the three of us. I won the first game, so the guys wanted to get vengeance. They did. Alix won by a landslide and gloated profusely. Alix and Radu were kind enough to take me to the post office. I bought a postcard from Bran for my mother-in-law two weeks ago and kept forgetting to mail it. The funny thing is that neither one of them had ever been to the post office before and had no idea what to do. We get in line and Alix bought my 4 lei stamp for me. We dropped the postcard in the mailbox outside and wished it bon voyage. I asked them if their parents used the mail to pay bills. They told me no. They can pay a few bills online, the guys told me, but most of the local bills like utilities need to be paid in cash at the company offices. Now I'm understanding a little better why several generations live together. There needs to be several people earning paychecks and at least one person who stays at home to do all of the other work like cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, and bill paying. No wonder most Romanians I've seen are in such good shape. They do lots of walking everywhere!

This afternoon I went to the clinic to play with the babies. I held Lea Celine and Andreea (at different times, fortunately--they're both heavy girls), pushed Sami in his swing, and enjoyed a swing and a snuggle with Anna Maria. I tried to feed Andreea her bottle, which she refused. It was too hot, and after it cooled down, she wasn't interested. I have never bottle-fed a baby, so you can imagine how pitiful I looked. I didn't tilt it right, and I didn't know what to do when she wouldn't take it. I told Becca and Amy that I'd better stick with cereal feeding. They were kind and said the first time is always hard. Not having a child of my own and missing out on all these experiences has definitely impacted my ability to help here. The aides just smile at me and shake their heads. I feel pretty foolish. Hopefully I'll get a little more practice with my niece.

Just two more days after tonight. I'm ready to come home!