Feliz Cumpleaños, Elias!

This morning we had a big 3rd birthday party for Elias! Elias is in the process of being adopted by Italian parents, but because the adoption is international, his parents must stay here with him for two months. Those two months are almost up, but his birthday was a couple days ago so his parents asked to celebrate his special day with us, knowing that pretty soon, it won't be possible. The five "big kids" (toddlers) that were here when I got here were all at the party, and it's so fun to see them together now! We hadn't seen Elias since he was allowed to live with his parents, and in just a month and a half, he seems like he's grown so much! We've seen Ruth a couple times recently, and we saw Mindi and Fernanda when they came for Mindi's birthday party last month. Kliber is still here at the baby home, so we see him every day! He had a lot of fun playing with his "old" friends!

 The party had a green and blue theme, but his cake was Mickey Mouse

Elias' parents arrived with several boxes of very yummy cheese pizza!

Fernanda has become such a little lady since she was adopted

 Elias, the birthday boy!

Elias had a bit of a little accident on this ride-on car right after his party began. He was riding outside and somehow fell backwards onto the rocky concrete and cut the back of his head open.  We thought he might need stitches as it kept bleeding, but it ended up not being as bad as we thought.

Our house has been much too quiet without him! 

L. enjoying some potato chips

Baby C. still wasn't feeling so great, so she spent most of the party asleep upstairs

 Baby A. has just begun eating real food, and Tío David decided to see how he'd like eating a potato chip

Tía Lucy and I… We spent the morning together at the doctor with Eduardo and were sure the party would've started without us. We arrived just in time!

 N., Tía Yovana, and I

 V. is Tía Claudia's "baby," and she dressed her up for the party. She insisted I get a picture of her "hermosura" ("beautiful girl")… How do you like that combination of patterns and colors?! It reminds me of the time she chose V.'s birthday outfit, as well!

Mindi came bearing a gift for Elias

 Tía Claudia and I

 Elias and Jennifer

 R. had a great time playing with the balloons!

Baby E. also wasn't feeling so well and slept through most of the party

 Party guests

 Elias blowing out his candles… His parents were just glowing whenever they looked at him!

 We wanted a picture of the original grandes (big kids)… Ruth hadn't arrived yet, and Matias got put in the picture as he's one of the big kids now. 

 Elias LOVES the babies! He tried to hold Baby A. by himself, but he needed a little help.

 Mindi has grown SO much!

 Baby F. hasn't been feeling so great either and really wasn't feeling good during the party… It looks like she'll be the next one to go to the doctor!

 Right after I took this picture, S. (right) asked K. (left), "K., WHAT are you doing? Tía Hannah is taking my picture, not yours!" 

 Tía Yovana feeding V. some yummy cake 

  Tía Lucy feeding L. his cake

Camila volunteered at Casa de Amor just over a year ago and is back in Cochabamba for a few weeks with a group from Denmark (where she's from). They've come to the Baby House and she's been over to visit a few more times.  She's especially enjoyed seeing how much N. has grown and changed as N. was her baby when she was here!

  Elias gave Fernanda a goodbye kiss

 Collecting candy and toys from the piñata

  Mindi collected lots of yummy treats from the piñata

  We didn't have buckets/bags for the kids to collect their candy, so they put it in their shirts!

  Baby C. woke up just in time for the piñata and was pretty excited about the marshmallow she collected from the piñata!

 Elias passed out treat bags to everyone when the party was over

Look who showed up after the party was over! Ruth and her mom came over for a little while to visit Elias and his parents. Ruth immediately came out to our room and didn't want to leave!