The Gladney Caregivers

One of the best things about our trip was being able to meet the women who took care of and loved Abe until we could bring him home. I consider these women some of his first mothers, and I am so thankful for this special part of his history. I look forward to showing him these pictures when he gets older, to show him how loved he's been throughout his life. I hope that this post and these pictures help to reassure any waiting parents of the love your children are getting while they wait to meet you.

This lady came during her off-hours to give Abe a gift. She was very emotional saying goodbye to him and spent a good deal of time with him while we were there.

Sem came to babysit the night we went out to the traditional restaurant.

I want to say thank you again to all of you who sent cosmetics our way to give to the caregivers. We were able to make up more than 20 bags that were packed full of amazing lotions, perfumes, etc for these women. We were not able to give them out personally, as they all work different shifts and handing them out this way would have been too complicated. It was suggested to us that we leave the bags in the house for them to pick up during their shifts, which we did.

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I'm never sure how much it's in poor taste to brag about one's child. I'm not sure I can help it right now though. The boy is gorgeous. I've known it for a long time from his pictures, but then love kicks in blurring one's judgment. Then he meets our friends and family, and they all say he's gorgeous too, so after a while, you start to wonder, "Is he really as cute as we think he is?"

My answer to this question comes each time I take Abe out in public somewhere. Every single time, people approach us to ooh and ah over him. Yesterday, someone told him that he is, "Ridiculously cute. Really--it's ridiculous." Today in our favorite grocery store, he was called "delicious" and a few minutes later, a woman came up and started speaking to him in Italian. I understood at least the "bellissima" part, so I think I got the point.

Besides the cute-factor, the personality has really been kicking in these last couple of weeks. He still sleeps 12 hours every night and spends the days happy, catnapping here and there. We call 7-9 pm the "happy hour" because no matter how tired he may have been earlier, something kicks in and he becomes this ball of energetic joy. We've got to get this recorded. In the meantime, here's a video taken at the Ayat House demonstrating the joy Abe feels when he wakes up from a nap (he's sitting up much better now).