Meet the Fourth Room

Welcome to the fourth room. We had a lot of fun with these kids. They are full of energy and smiles. We would play with them, do file folders, paint fingernails, and do music time. I absolutely love these kids!!!

Alexander

He is constantly tied in his crib because he is crazy. If there is something that shouldn’t be gotten into, he will find it, and will get into it. He has an old man laugh that is trapped in his little kid body. He is super happy, despite always being tied in his crib. Jamie claims him.

Benjamin

He loves to be held and gives amazing hugs. He has cute little dimples. He loves to say “No” in a joking way because he thinks it’s funny. He has a lot of energy and is bound to be an athlete because he has amazing aim and an amazing kick. Leah claims him, because otherwise she’d throw a fit.

p.s. Paige wrote this, not Leah

Franco

He gives the best kisses and hugs. He is a smart little kid and excels at the file folder games. He loves doing thumb wars, but cheats to win. He is the only child to know all of our names. He loves to brush his teeth. Paige has claimed him.

Fernanda

She loves attention. She struggles with eating, but somehow they always get her to eat in the end. She loves being tickled and being in the oldest room now. We all claim her.

Scully

She is out of control crazy. She’s poco loco. She likes to bite, hit, scratch, and throw toys. However, we know she has the ability to be sweet. For example, when she sleeps she looks like a little angel. She loves one-on-one time. She surprisingly loves getting her nails done. She has lived her entire life in CONIN. Paige has claimed her.

Jose

He is the kindest, most loving, most affectionate child you’ll ever meet. He is very caring about the other children and always wants to make sure they’re ok. Jamie claims him.




Belinda
She is gorgeous. She gives THE most amazing hugs ever and just loves to be held while hugging you. She gives the sweetest little kisses on the cheek. We let her follow us everywhere because she is so good and such a great help with everything. Paige has claimed her.

Elena

She is the chunkiest, most solid girl at CONIN. She likes to claim her territory, and when you invade it she gets upset. She is sweet and loves everyone. Leah claims her.

We Love Comments!

Hey everyone! We've noticed that there are a lot of people that look at this blog every day. Thank you so much for caring about what we are doing. However, even though there are a lot of people that look at this blog we don't get very many comments about the posts. We love to read your comments and thoughts so please don't let us down and make sure you let us know what you're thinking. Thanks!

Love,
Leah, Paige and Jamie

Meet the Third Room

Welcome to the third room. These kids are so fun! They are at the age where they just love to play and dance.

Claudia

She loves dancing and twirling around, with the help of a tia of course, because she can’t walk yet. She has cute, curly hair. Leah has claimed her.

Felix

He is most often seen crying, but when he smiles it is so adorable. He generally cries when his mom and grandma leave, because he misses them. He wins the prize for the best eater. He LOVES watching us through the glass into the next room. Paige and Leah claim him.

Marco

2 years. We love to call him Marco Polo. He is Marlene’s older brother. Before his hair got cut he looked like the little crazy ape from Tarzan. He is a fairly mellow kid, but when you can get him to laugh he has the biggest smile. He can’t talk, but he loves to make many different sounds. He has a million different facial expressions. Leah claims him. Gotta keep the siblings together, right?

Exequiel

This little boy looks slightly Asian and has 2 huge front teeth that are so cute. He always has the biggest smile whenever anyone looks at him. He enjoys playing bumper cars while in his walker, both with other walkers and with adult’s legs. His mom comes in everyday to see him and seems to be working really hard to get him back. We all like her a lot. Therefore, we give claim to his mom.

Jeison

He rocks from side to side in his crib. He has huge, unblinking eyes. When he cries it is the saddest cry with huge tears. He loves being tickled and held upside down. Paige has claimed him.

Irma

She has the cutest, curliest hair. She is always happy. She has the brightest eyes and biggest smile. She does really well at playing by herself and keeping herself entertained. We all claim her.

Constanza

She loves to be held. She loves to mix her vegetables with her fruit at every meal. Hailey claims her.





Javiera
She loves attention and cries when she doesn’t get it. She loves playing with toys, especially ones that make noise. Paige has claimed her.






Ruben
He LOVES to dance. Whenever music turns on he immediately starts to dance. He loves to hit, especially tia Leah. He likes to hit, and gets in trouble a lot, but he has people wrapped around his finger. (Including the cooks, who give him extra little treats all the time.) Whenever he does something wrong he gets a little “oops” face, whether he meant to do it or not. He loves having toys put on his head. Paige and Jamie claim him.




Francisco
He is so sweet. His most commonly used phrase is “TIA!” He tries to act like he’s not excited to see us, but you can always see the smile he’s trying to hide. He loves to take toys from the other little kids and keep them for himself. He hates being left out of the action. He really loves hard boiled eggs. We all claim him.

Meet the second room

Welcome to the second room a CONIN. Once the kids have outgrown the baby room they are move to the second room. Here they are at the age where they are learning to sit up, turn over, crawl, and eventually walk with help.

Joaquin

Happiest little kid you’ll ever meet. He gives the biggest smiles. He is the most flexible little boy. He goes to Concepcion once a week to see a specialist for Down Syndrome. His parents didn’t want him once they found out that he had Down Syndrome, which is how he ended up at CONIN. We all claim him.

Magdalena

She is currently learning how to walk. Every time she sees us she gets the biggest smile and runs on over to us in her little walker. She doesn’t really look Chilean. She always has a lot of boogers, but is still a sweetheart. Leah has claimed her.

Marlene

6 months old. We’ve mentioned her before. We were there when she first came. She was filthy. She is such a calm little baby who rarely cries. She’s one of our star pupils with tummy time and rolling over. She looks like a little cabbage patch doll. Leah has claimed her.

Katherine

She is our little sumo baby. She loves tummy time. She is generally happy as long as she has her binky in her mouth. Leah has claimed her.

Isabella

She has the cutest little tweety bird cheeks. Her tongue reminds us of a snake. She has big beautiful eyes. Her laugh and smile are both contagious. Paige has claimed her.

Vicente the First

Whenever you first look at him he gets so excited and kicks his little legs and flaps his little arms, however once you walk away or put him down he cries. His hair sticks straight up. One time his eyes were completely glued shut after a nap. He was trying so hard to open them but no one noticed him. Surprisingly, he wasn’t fussing too bad about it. We noticed and had to get the attention of the tia’s to take care of the poor little boy. Jamie has claimed him.

Vicente the Second

6 months. He is one huge boy who sports a mullet which we have all wanted to cut a time or 2. He likes to just sit and watch everything. His parents were declared incapable to take care of him by an agency due to drug and alcohol abuse, so the police took him straight to CONIN. Leah has claimed him.

Juan Jose

This kid has amazing cheeks for kissing. He likes to just sit and stare, but when he smiles he is so cute. He is one solid kid. Jamie claims him.

Meet the babies of CONIN

Over the next few posts I'll introduce you to our kids here at CONIN. Today you get the baby room... one of our four favorite rooms to visit. These babies are all between a few days old and four months old. They spend all of their days in the same room either in their crib or in a carseat on the floor. We try to take them out to different parts of the building as often as we can for tummy time and to just play, but it's hard to find time to do it with the schedule they're given. These babies really are so sweet and love just being loved, which sadly they don't get a lot.

Valentina

4 months old. She is THE star pupil. She loves tummy time and has already learned how to roll over. She always has the biggest smile on her face. She can take care of herself by kicking her leg and rocking herself in her car seat. Paige has claimed her.

Sophia

3 months old. She is a pretty content little girl. She loves to sleep and rarely cries. She doesn’t have much hair, but the hair she does have sticks straight up and is super cute. She gives some of the best smiles you’ve ever seen. One of our favorite tia’s has claimed her.

Jorge

3 ½ months. He is Mr. Politician. He has attitude and can raise his eyebrows one at a time. He holds his head high and proud. He plays hard to get, but has a smile that is to die for. Jamie has claimed him.

Brayan

4 months. He is a turtle. He is Alfonzo’s twin. He has little teeny tiny legs, especially in comparison to his brother. He has a smile, complete with dimples that just melts your heart. He’s one of the wiggliest boys you’ll ever hold. For any Brian Regan fans out there remember the act about how he says the name Brian, that is how we say his name and he loves it! Leah has claimed him.

Alfonso

4 months. He’s a little toad. When the tia’s refer to him they call him little fatty. When we feed him our arm gets tired. He has the biggest eyes that just pop right out of his head. He’s a twin. Leah has claimed him.




Mayten
1 month old. She still has the newborn baby look. She sleeps most of the time. Her bellybutton is spiraled and is stinking cute. She has the softest kissing cheeks ever. Pretty much we’ve all claimed her.

Belen

3 months. She is the tiniest most petite little girl. Even though she's one of the oldest in the room she is the smallest baby there. She has a hard time eating. Her little cry is incredibly adorable. We all claim her.

Daniel

2 months. He is our little alien baby. We’ve rarely gotten to be around him because he has been sick and in the hospital with pneumonia. We don't have a picture of him because he's been in the hospital. He is very content and cries next to never. Jamie has claimed him.

Benjamin

I've been telling everyone that I'm bringing one of the kids home with me. His name is Benjamin and he is just the cutest kid ever!!! I don't have any better pictures of him, so this will just have to do for now. It's a really bad picture of him, but it's the best I have. He is the little boy with the blank stare on the left. Just imagine him with a huge smile, dimples, and a sparkle in his eyes. I love that kid!

Early Christmas at CONIN!!!

Hola everyone! I finally got some pictures posted, aren't you so proud of me?! We took three huge bins of stuff to CONIN. When we unloaded them all of the tias had to look through everything. It was like Christmas to them. We then went around with teddy bears for each child. Cutes thing ever. These kids really loved the teddy bears and Sra. Gloria said that they can sleep with them! Big shock because before the kids were never aloud to sleep with anything. It was generally a happy day, but we did have one really sad thing happen I'm going to post the story from what Paige said in an email because she explained what we were all feeling very well.

"There´s a little boy, Jason, who is so incredibly sweet. Sometimes a punk ( He hits and bites and spits), but he´s also very sweet. His mom sold him and his little brother for drugs, which is how they ended up in CONIN. He´s now 5 years old. And when you turn 5 you move to a different orphanage where you live until you turn 18, or until you´re adopted. Wednesday was his day to leave. As a going away present we gave him and his brother each a teddy bear and new outfit to wear. Literally, that´s all they had when they left. A teddy bear and the clothes on their back. When they brought Jason in to say bye to us he wouldn´t even lift up his head because he was so sad to leave. It had been his home since January. I was having a hard time holding back my tears. But then they told us that we could go with them to take the 2 boys to the other orphanage. In the car I held Jason. He was so sad. When we got there and got into the office he burst into tears. I then started crying, too. It seriously broke my heart. They finally got him into the back room… and not too much later they brought out a bag of his and his brothers clothes. They even brought back the underwear. These boys now had only the teddy bears we gave them. Of course this made me cry all over again. They had nothing. Not even the clothes on their back. It´s such a sad realization to me and I´ve been thinking about little Jason and his brother ever since. It´s such a hard life, I can´t even imagine."

It was a hard thing to witness and we just hope Jason is doing well. If we get a chance we might go visit him some day to see how he is. Well, that's all I can think of right now. Enjoy the pictures!

The tias and Sra. Gloria (on the left) looking at some stuff we brought.

Them looking at the capes and loving them. Thanks Aunt Ann!

Looking at some books we brought.



Paige and Jamie stamping CONIN on all of the clothes. We had to either write or stamp CONIN on everything we brought so nothing would be stolen.

Jamie stamping books.

Paige going through things and me writing CONIN on books.

Us giving Jason his bear. Poor kid, he was so sad.

Saying goodbye to Damian, Jasons younger brother.

Fernanda collecting teddy bears.

Fransisco also collecting teddy bears.

Irma with her teddy bear

Irma, Ruben (in the background, Fransisco, and Fernanda)

Jose and Michael.

Franco

Fransisco really liked to steal everyone elses bears

Paige, Belinda, and Franco

Franco and Michael. Yes, they are hitting each other... such boys.

Vicente loved loved loved his bear.

Claudia