It's funny that in a matter of two months, I have basically become a parent to 33 children. Although I do not love one child more than another, certain children are more drawn/attached to me and I to them. For example, even some of the nannies call me Rosa's mama.
Now, I am also quite attached to the twin girls. Tonight I learned what it was like to be a parent having to give your child up to a babysitter aka nanny. Dorothy encouraged me to leave Frances with one of our night nannies so that I could get some rest tonight. It was so hard....I feel pathetic. I'm just down the hall, but I feel like I've abandoned her. I know that I can't take care of her 24/7 when there are this many other children. So, she will eventually need to get used to the different nannies that will be taking care of her. It's just hard letting go. I'm too young to have this many children!
A quick recap of my day:
Dorothy was still tired and stressed about all of the problems that we have been having with our staff, vehicle, sick children, and our new high maintenance children. So, she tried to take time off again today to rest and relax. I took care of Frances for most of the morning and spent time with Rose Mitchel. Rose Mitchel has scabies right now so I applied a special cream that will hopefully kill them. Let's hope I don't end up with scabies myself!
After the children were all home from school, I entrusted Frances to one of the nannies for a while. Then, the kids and I finger painted on the porch. It was nice to finally get some "big kid" time in. It can be hard trying to balance my time with all the children: infants, toddlers, pre school aged, and big kids. There are just so many of them and only one me.
In the evening, the washing machine was finally available for use (it is occupied all day long with diapers and children's clothes). I swear the kids have a radar to sense my every move and they all found me doing laundry. They all LOVE when I do laundry because they know I will have a water fight with them. This time, they all climbed into the large metal wash basin that collects the rinse water. It started with just Claudine and Johnny but by the time I finished my second load of laundry, there were four more children. They all stripped down to their underwear and were screaming and running around like crazy. It was dark outside by the time I finished the laundry and that made them even more wound up to be able to be outside in their underwear after dark, ha! They had so much fun. Dorothy was laughing when we all came back inside and she said she thinks the whole neighborhood heard the kids playing. I wish I had gotten pictures or video taped them, but all the really fun stuff we do is usually too messy for a camera.
Jude is doing MUCH better. His parents came to visit today for a long time. Dorothy told them at the end of the week when he finishes his antibiotics they can take him home. It is hard to believe that he nearly died on Friday. Tamara has been having a fever nearly everyday since we got her two weeks ago. We really need to get her test results (but the truck is broken). Many of the children are still sick. The twins are both doing fine and growing like weeds. I weighed Rose Mitchel and she has gained a pound and a half in the two weeks that she has been here. Since Josue is walking now, we moved him downstairs with the "big kids". Dorothy also wants to move Marvins and Marcus downstairs as well. We want them with the big kids so they are not babied as much. When they go home to their families in 2 months, they will not be babied the way that they are here so we want them to be better prepared.
We got a call from our landlord today. She agreed to sign a two year lease with us. Thank you, Lord! We were worried that she may want us to move out, but we are safe now! We got a call from the clinic today. The five year old little girl with HIV that we agreed to take is out of the hospital now and can come live with us. That will put us up to 34 children...Lord help us, please! Where in the world are we going to put all these children?!
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