I picked up Kolby Aug. 14 he was just over 8 months
old. He was very sick and skinny. He had the flu and a runny nose. He didn’t eat very well and slept in 3 hour
increments. During the day he was fairly
happy, he didn’t cry much but he threw up all day and had the runs so bad. During the night he cried to be breast
fed. His birth mom didn’t have any money
to buy him food to eat so she only breast fed him. That was hard for him only at night he wanted
to be breastfed. It took about 2 weeks
for him to adjust to life with me. He
started sleeping better and soon he stopped throwing up. His bowel movements became more regular and
little more solid. I know at that age
they aren’t solid yet. I know I’ve said
it before but he adjusts like a champ. I
have moved him from house to house while we have been out here and he wakes up
crying the first night in the new house but not after that. I usually have a week of sleepless nights
while I try to adjust the new accommodations.
Each place we have lived has had different trials. The first place Rita’s lodge was so expensive
I didn’t have enough money to buy food.
I would buy a loaf of bread and butter and eat that for 2 days. The cost
of diapers and formula is outrageous out here.
It would cost me 100 Tala for one week’s worth of diapers and formula. The money doubles out here so it is pretty
similar to back home but people are poor out here so it seems so crazy to me
that things cost the same as in the States.
Also by the time things get shipped out here they are expired or near
the expiration date so the quality isn’t the same yet it costs the same. It cost me 1000 Tala in rent, we paid a 600
Tala deposit (she only gave me 200 back, not cool!) I paid 200 for power that
month. This is why I had no money left
for food. I only stayed for 1 month.
House number 2 we moved to Tiapapata. It’s up the mountain so the air is cooler and
the houses are nicer. It’s where most
Americans who have moved here live. I
lived in my own little apartment under their house. I didn’t interact at all with the Samoans
which was a little sad for me. I wanted the local experience. Up there the local Samoans were the house
maids and yard workers and different projects the house owners had for
them. The pay for a house worker is 2
Tala an hour. How do you feed a family
on that I will never know. But the good
thing in Samoa is that it is easier to live off the land. They have breadfruit, Taro, bananas and other
fruits pretty abundant. So they have to
eat those things until they get money for meat and other foods. The difficult thing for me there is during
the time I was there Samoa was in a drout so we had no running water. We had to drive to town and fill up our big
water containers we had bought. I had to
cook, clean, bathe Kolby and drink all from the water I bought. It was a huge challenge for me. Every morning at 7:15 sharp, Wendy and Steve,
The owners of the house, would drive to town.
Wendy and I would go to the gym.
Kolby would sit in his stroller patiently while I worked out for an
hour. Then we would leave and walk to
the Coffe Bean (an internet café) where Steve was hanging out doing his work
online. Get online for an hour or so
until Wendy was finished working out then head back up the hill. That is where I would get my shower for the
day. No water at home for me. After I would bathe Kolby I would put the
used water in the toilet so I could flush it once a day. The other downfall to being there was
feeling stuck in that little room. It
costs too much to take a taxi and I was meeting people from the ward that I
wanted to hang out with but couldn’t.
The rent was only 500 Tala which was nice but when a lady from the ward
offered me a room free I had to take it.
House number 3 was in Lotopa. Back down the hill near town. It was across the street from Rita’s
lodge. Tai and Kristen Tauilili’s
house. They used to run a preschool in
their backyard so they cleaned it out and let me stay there. Here is the difficulty with this place. It is a really old run down house with many
holes in it. So the rats pretty much
take over. There were 3 or 4 rats in
every room when I walked into it. I had
to knock on something so they would run away. Also I had no fridge, I had to take the food
I wanted to save inside which was ok but they have 6 kids so most of the food I
put in there would get eaten. Also the
bathroom and shower were outside so I would have to leave Kolby in the Pack and
Play while I went, and he hated that. He
would scream and cry until I came back.
So I would have to arrange my potty time around his naps. When the kids were home I would take him
inside to them while I showered. The
bonus was they had a water heater so the shower was warm. Warm shower still didn’t override the rats
and cockroaches. I stayed there for 2
months.
When my inlaws came into town and saw where I was living
they wanted me out so the arranged for me to move across the street and down a
little ways into their families house.
It’s a decent sized house only problem is there are many people who live
here. I no longer have my own space and
I became the instant nanny for their 1 year old Siva. He was hard, he laid on the ground crying
pretty nonstop. The mom would wake up
change his diaper then go back to sleep so I had to care for the 2 of them all
day. Then she worked in the evenings so
again I had them both to feed dinner and put to bed. Not easy but not too bad because we were
usually alone in the evenings. I liked
that. This last weekend they moved back
to Savaii so for this month Kolby and I are alone in this big house. Beautiful. Hopefully I will be going home in
a month and all of this madness will be over.

My friend out here Sarah Allen and her husband do padlling competitions. They let me paddle with them during practice and I LOVE it. I will keep doing it until I get back. We also ran a 5K. Sarah has been a fun friend for me out here. She has 3 kids so we take them swimming and stuff sometimes. Her husband is working out here for 2 years. They have been here for a year already. Can't imagine that long out here. Maybe it would be easier if my hubby was here with me.

Getting his haircut on his birthday. Dec 6 he turned 1

This was Christmas in Samoa for us. Breckie sent out some presents for Kolby. He loved opening them and then playing with them. Thanks so much for great Aunts.

This last weekend I helped the ward young women in their basketball tournament. They did so well. We played in the finals but lost 2 to 4. They played such amazing defense but forgot how to score I think. It was an intense game. They play 2 halfs each 8 minutes. It goes by so fast because they don't stop the clock for anything. Not even time outs. Weird. I loved every minute of helping them and watching them fight so hard. It reminded me of my high school days and the friends I have from all the long hours we spent together in the gym and on the bus during road trips. I am going to try to find some old pic and post them of my good old days.

This was my room when I moved to Tiapapata. I stayed with Steve and Wendy Percival. I moved there after one being in Samoa 1 month. I stayed there for 6 weeks. They were so great to me. Steve plays tennis so most afternoons I would ride with him to go play for a few hours. Kolby would happily sit in his stroller and watch us play. All he needed was a toy in his hand and he was content. I gave him the extra racquet to play with and he loved it.
In the morning they would take the 2o minute drive down the mountain to take their son to the bus for school. Wendy and I would then go to the gym and workout. Kolby would let me workout for about 45 minutes then he was done at the gym so I would leave and go the the Coffee Bean where Steve would hang out and get on the internet until Wendy was done at the gym then we all headed back up the mountain home. It was a good place for me to be and Kolby loved it too. It was just too far from town and I was meeting people from the ward and wanting to be around town a little more often so we moved back down the hill to Lotopa. Across the street from Rita's lodge. This time I lived in a preschool in Kristen and Tai's backyard. They were awesome to us and let us live there free of rent so we moved for the 3rd time.

I am new to this blogging thing. I am just figuring it all out again. I did this before but I never updated it so I don't remember how it all works.

In the 5 months I have been here I have had an amazing time bonding with my little guy Kolby. He was born here in Savaii Western Samoa. His Natural mother named him Gaolo so we kept that as his middle name. He is named Kolby Gaolo Toalepai. He is truly a dream come true. He is so genuinely happy. He laughs and smiles all day long. He eats well and sleeps like a champ. I am so proud of him for adjusting in to this new life so well.

I met him when he was only a few days old. Alyn, his parents and I were in Samoa on vacation in Dec of 2010. Alyn's parents were out visiting family and ran upon his family. Prayer are answered in mysterious ways.

Alyn and I went home to the US after deciding the birth mom will travel with him to the states and bring him and we will do the adoption there. What we didn't know was how hard it is to get travelers visa to the states from Samoa. They tried and tried and never could get the visa. So after 8 months of waiting I decided I will come to Samoa and wait with him there until the paperwork is all finished. So here I am.

I got here Aug. 13 when he was 8 months old and had only 1 tooth. He now has 8 teeth and runs around like he's been doing it for years. He stared walking at 10 months and running at 12. He is so busy and hard to keep up with but I am loving it anyway. I wish I was a few years younger but we can't have it all I guess.

When I got here I started out living at Rita's Lodge. It was nice but too expensive. I will post a picture of it now.

We had some good days and some bad days :) Went to the Miss Samoa Pageant and stayed in a beach Fale. Kolby and I love the beach. He absolutly loves the water. Almost as much as I do. He will have a hard time adjusting to the cold weather back home.

I have been in Samoa 5 months to the day. Some days it goes so fast some days will never end. I posted a few pictures of my first few days with Kolby. I wouldn't say it was a success but basic needs were met. He ate and slept pretty well. He cried lots at night but during the day he was seemingly pretty happy. He was a really sick baby when we picked him up from his mom. He threw up a lot and had the runs pretty bad. His natural mother couldn't afford to feed him so she breast fed him until we could come get him. That made the nights pretty long. He didn't understand why I wasn't breast feeding him but it only took 2 weeks of hard nights and since then, he has been an amazing baby. He would only wake up once in the night for a bottle and then up at 5 am. He is an early riser. I'm not but I have adjusted. He had been so resilliant.
My dad used to use this phrase when things weren't going quite right. "make an adjusment" This cute boy has done nothing but adjust like a champion. I love him and his personality so much. Anyone that can go through what he has been through will be able to handle most anything. I pray good things happen for him.