Last day

Today was my last day at the clinic. I already miss the babies so much and it's only been a few hours since I left them. I still don't have the right tools to upload my photos yet but when I get home I will be adding many photos to this blog so check back in a few days to see pictures of my sweet babies. I've got some good ones and I did manage to get at least one photo of each child, except for Andrei who went home before I got a chance.

When I arrived this morning all the mobiles were in the non-mobile playroom so I spent some time with them before sending them on there way and gathering up the non-mobiles. Little Marian (who used to be known as Dumitru) screamed almost the entire time until I put him out in the hall in a walker. Mirella took apart all the mobiles and kept hitting the other babies with the poles. Everyone wanted to sit in my lap and nobody wanted me to pay any attention to the others. They all quited down after their bottles and I then sent them off to their playroom and went to fetch my non-mobiles.

I had 9 of them out this morning and 7 out this afternoon. It was a fairly quiet day after the mobiles left us and Anna Maria and Her aid Christina spent much of the day with us. In the afternoon before everyone else woke up i brought Alex into the playroom and let her look out the window (which the aids had opened to air out the room while the babies slept). She just loved looking outside at the trees and the fields and hearing the birds and the wind. She just wanted to sit on the window sill all afternoon, but eventually we did have to close the window as it was still a bit chilly outside. Alex was in a good mood today. She has become much more interactive this week. She always smiles when she sees me now, and giggles for me much more often. I think she has finally gotten comfortable with me which makes me said as I now have to leave and she's just going to have to start the process all over again with someone else. Hopefully someone on the next team will give her lots of love and attention.

It was hard saying goodbye to everyone. The non-mobiles were in unusually good spirits this afternoon and no one cried upon being put in there crib. Crina even smiled and giggled in her crib as I said goodbye to her. The toddlers on the other hand were not so happy to see me go. unlike the little ones they understand when you leave -probably not the difference between when you leave for the evening and when you leave for good but they know that your leaving and they don't like it. Some of them waved happily. But Maia and Mihaela (who was in with the toddlers instead of the mobiles today) just fell apart. I have become very close with both of them and it was so hard to leave them especially when they were sobbing like that. I held Mihaela for a little while and cried with her a little before handing her over to the preschool teacher. I wish I didn't have to leave them there. I worry about Mihaela as she sometimes throws such big tantrums (over not getting enough attention) that she often gets put back in her bed. This just makes her even more clingy the next time you see her. I hope someone on the next team will give her some extra attention, she needs to know that she is loved.

I grew to love all of the babies at the clinic but some you just connect with more than others. There were five in particular that I wanted to bring home with me: Alex, Mihaela, Maia, Maiastra, and Beatrice. Three of these five were not even in my original group but they are still the ones I feel the closest to and the ones I know I will think about the most. I am praying that they all find good families and that they will be well looked after until they do. It's comforting to know that the very day I am leaving a new team is arriving to look after our babies. It won't be long before a new group of volunteers falls madly in love with these children. many things could be said about the unfortunate circumstances these babies have found themselves in but no one could rightfully say that these babies do not have enough people who love them. These babies are all loved by more people than you can count.