Missing them now

I am really missing Ahren and Brynn. My euphoria over getting to see them has melted away and left me in a state of funk. I just keep looking at the pictures and video over and over again. I can't quite remember what it felt like to hold them, what they smelled like, what they sounded like.

I don't think Ahren had ever eaten from a spoon before. He didn't know to open his mouth and his tongue still tended to thrust the food back out. It took a little work, but he started getting the hang of it by the end. The first few bites I would pry his mouth open and wedge the spoon in, but then he realized what yummy stuff came with the spoon and he would gobble down an entire bowl of cereal and fruit in no time at all. The differences are mainly cultural. They tend to put everything into a bottle with an enormous hole in the nipple and let the babies suck it all down. They keep kids on the bottle until they are 2-3 years old. This is for survival. The older kids get powdered milk in their bottles (if the family can afford it) to give them the extra nourishment they need. The normal diet of rice and beans just isn't enough for a small child to thrive on. Babies who are in foster care or orphanages are extremely lucky because they get high-quality formula. In some of the poorest areas, the babies will be given watered-down coffee to fill their tummys if a mother's milk drys up. The mortality rate is very high. For babies like Ahren, it is a status symbol to be fat. Fat healthy babies are marvelled over. I can't tell you how many local people ooohed and awwwed over him and told me 'ma gusta' or 'I like'. Chris always said we have to get him home before he eats all of Guatemala, and I think that might really be the case!