Today was the day that saw us settling into the routine of the rooms we’re assigned to, and I do each day in the Canaries room…
After devotions and with the 4 of us helping, it still takes almost an hour to feed them all.
Every morning the kids eat pureed black beans mixed with a cooked egg, and a peanut butter flavored supplement. As unappetizing as it all looks, the kids eat it right down!
After breakfast, it’s diaper changes and new clothes for everyone! Then they get to play for about an hour before their mid-morning bottle of a vitamin supplement. It makes me laugh when they get their bottles because all of them lay on the play mat on their backs with a bottle. It’s probably the only time, other than afternoon nap, that they’re all still at the same time!
Playtime continues until noon, when everyone gets a diaper change so they’re ready for lunch at 12:30. We keep running into problems keeping track of which kids have been changed and which still need their turn so Donna came up with a solution! When we’ve changed someone’s diaper, they get a piece of masking tape on their back. Genius! I’m pretty sure the nannies are giggling at our inability to keep things straight– but it’s working for us!
We take another hour or so to feed them lunch, which sometimes takes longer because they serve food that needs to be chewed more. Afterward, it’s down for naps! Once they’re down in their cribs, we do one more sweep of the room for poopy diapers and then we head back to our dorm for lunch at 2:00.
At 3:00, we’re back in the Canaries room to wipe down the play mat and all their toys with antibacterial wipes to try to help contain germs. At the beginning of the week almost all the kids had runny noses but now it’s getting a bit better. The platter the nurse brings in at bedtime still has a lot servings of Tylenol on it though!
The kids start waking up around 3:30 and takes about an hour. 
Then all the kids are in the cribs for bedtime by 6:00. The activities in the last three sentences takes us about 2.5 hours. I forgot how long it takes to do things for babies. And when you multiply it by 19 kids, it’s a lengthy ordeal!
One of the sweetest things we’ve seen is how the kids comfort each other when they’re upset. Sometimes they take toys to a boy in his crib or lean over for a hug. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes they bonk each other with toys and fight over placement at the toy bin–but on the whole, they’re great kids who truly care for each other.
The nannies in the Canary room, Claudia and they are amazing. When there aren’t teams of people here helping out, these two amazing ladies do everything I just described by themselves. (And, quite honestly, I bet they get it done faster!)
Tomorrow is our last day with the kids before we fly home on Friday and Rapids at 11:00PM.
-Michelle J.