Waiting for Our Dyeti

Slamming Doors and Tony

2011-05-21T10:33:00.000-04:00

Slamming Doors

Our morning began with both kids crawling in bed with us. Eventually, they got out of our bed and started playing. This is when doors started slamming. We are officially entering the dueling siblings years of parenthood including arguments, threats of loss of friendship and slamming doors. I think we have about 13-15 more years of this to enjoy before it subsides. After Liam telling Sophie off for not sharing, during which he was actually very cool, calm and collected, the door fireworks began! In the end, Sophie relented, taking the toy Liam wanted ( I might add that there were two of said toy, so she could have easily shared from the beginning) to him and apologizing. As always, there was a motive behind this for her. She wanted something from him! It worked, and I stayed out of it. That's my new goal- let them work these things out for themselves.

Tony
Liam still has problems with language, especially with proper use of who and what and sentence structure. It can be very frustrating, as we have been working with him for the last 18 months or so on this and he just doesn't seem to get it. We often get completely non-sensical questions from him. Sometimes you just have to laugh at it and move on. Today, Pete had found a watch beeping in a bag on the couch and was turning if off. Liam came up to Pete and asked, "Who is that?" Firstly, there was the who/what thing. Secondly, Liam knows perfectly well what a watch is (another frustrating thing- he often asks questions to which he already knows the answers.). After giving Liam a bewildered look, Pete replied, "Tony. This is Tony, Liam."

Random Pics from 2011

2011-05-20T19:38:00.000-04:00

Let There Be Snow- January 2011 Sledding

February Pictures

Valentine's Cookie Making

A snow day resulted in a pajama party and cookie making. We had a few snow days this winter and it got harder and harder to get creative inside!

This is the beginning of the process- cookie dough is made and ready for cookie cutters.

Finally, cookies to ice! The kids told me how to color the icing. I think Liam wanted more of a red color, but I couldn't get it.

Enjoying the fruits of their labor!

Big Black the Cat- One of our "temporary" outdoor brood of cats. We have two black cats that are "ours" for the time-being. Nicest cats ever- and available for adoption to a good home.

Snow Day Part 2

Valentine's Day Dinner

Pete is icing the heart-shaped red velvet cakes that are our tradition. I added heart plates for dinner too.

Toads

2011-05-20T18:20:00.000-04:00

Sophie loves animals, bugs, snakes, toads and basically anything that moves. We were on day 4 of success of no underpant accidents today when I discovered that indeed she did pee herself today. Here's how it went:

Sophie is playing in the great climbing tree at the bus stop with Erin, Paul, Kate and Liam.
Me: Sophie, did you have any accidents today?
Sophie: {mumbles something I can't hear}
Me: Was that a yes?
Sophie: No, I didn't.
Me: Yay!! Good job.
{she goes for a high five I was not expecting and basically slaps me}
Me: Ow!
Erin: What happened? {Erin is sitting in the tree in a spot below Sophie. She's in 4th grade.}
I explain what happened.
Erin: Ummm...It looks like she has a wet spot.
I look up. Yup. She was lying.
Paul: Is that why she has to sit at the front of the bus?
A conversation ensues, where I found that the safety guards (Erin and Paul are safety guards) are afraid of Sophie and think she's mean! She also called a boy, Tony, who told her he loved her last fall, that he was a jackass. Apparently, she told him over and over again. I'll admit she got that word from me. It's one of my favorite phrases, though I try not to use it around the kiddos.

We play for a few minutes then come home and play at home. Sophie and Liam are toad hunting in my vegetable garden, with good success when I discover that Sophie is burying the poor toads alive.What alerts me to this is that she is saying something about "when they die". I don't think she was trying to kill them. I think she was pretend burying them and just didn't get what could happen. It still frustrated me.

I promptly rescued the poor toad struggling under the soil and freed both of the toads she was holding hostage. Liam and I had already hidden his toad so that it could be free without Sophie grabbing it. Sophie is currently suspended from my garden for trying to kill the residents.

The Hiatus Is Over

2011-05-19T17:45:00.002-04:00

Today, after the kids came home from school, we read a version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar that Sophie created in Kindergarten. It was very cute, and led to Liam asking me about whether I smiled at him when he was born. We have had many conversations about them being adopted, not being in my belly etc, so I was a little thrown by this. I told him that I would have smiled at him when he was born if I had been there, but that I wasn't. I told him that I certainly smiled at him the first time I met him, and proceeded to tell them about the first time Pete and I met them, including them running into the room, screaming with joy. I thought I had video of this on my blog, so we sat down and looked at this blog, and looked at pictures.

As it turns out, there wasn't a video of that moment on the blog, but there were plenty of other videos and memories that we all enjoyed seeing again, or for them, experiencing them again without the benefit of a clear memory of it. They watched videos of themselves speaking Russian, and asked if they were speaking Russian. This was another potential revelation, as I have believed that they actually do remember Russian and are pretending not to remember it. Maybe I'm wrong? They acted pretty amazed to see themselves speaking a different language.

Regardless, it made me realize that I should really keep up with this, not so much for others, but for us. I stopped posting because I just got too busy, but it's definitely worth the time. Expect lots of posting- I'm going to schedule a time each week to post updates, or possibly more often.

Coming Soon: 21 months captured in pictures!

Educational Websites

2009-08-10T19:04:00.002-04:00

For all the moms out there that have kids toddler to preschool age, I am going to list some of the sites I have found or been referred over the past couple weeks. I am currently teaching the kids how to use a computer-basically using a mouse and using a keyboard. I searched high and low, and the best thing I have found is http://www.boowakwala.com/kids/boowakwala-homefirstclicks.html. They are on Lesson 2 now and its pretty comprehensive, starting with roll-over mouse games.

I like http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/index/load.htm?f for ABCs. I have started to let them click through it, but I'm trying to concentrate on 4 letters right now, not all of the alphabet. Another website is pretty good, and it has numerous links to other sites for various learning games: http://www.uptoten.com/kids/uptoten-home.html. This site is how I found the Boowa and Kwala site.

A few others:

http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2602&e=gamesLanding&mcat=game_infant,game_toddler,game_preschool&site=us

http://www.noggin.com/

http://home.disney.go.com/foryou/preschool/

MRI

2009-08-10T10:07:00.002-04:00

Liam had an MRI last Thursday. Unfortunately, the neurologist did not properly educate me about the sedation and it was a bit of nightmare. I took Sophie along, and that was a mistake. If your child has to have a procedure involving sedation, do not bring any other children with you. Second mistake- going alone. Liam fought the sedative and had to be given more. In the end, a nurse was holding his legs down and I held down his upper body and tried to soothe him as he fought until he gave out and fell asleep. Not all children fight sedation, but it is also not uncommon.

The MRI itself went just fine. He came out of it and the nurse immediately started trying to wake him up. I had been given paperwork that indicated it could take up to 4 hours for him to wake up, so I anticipated that they would let him emerge from the sedation naturally, but apparently not. The same paperwork indicated that he could be "irritable". That was an understatement.

On the journey home, Liam fell asleep in the car. Immediately, of course, he woke up when I carried him inside at home. Keep in mind, the sedation has made him totally "drunk" and he can't walk for his life! So, Sophie was being difficult and not helpful and ended up locked outside our deck while I carried Liam inside and arranged him "safely" on the couch. I went out to fetch a crying sophie and was gone for about 2 minutes, but Liam still managed to fall on the floor (missing the pillows I had arranged for this situation) and hit his head. Fantastic! It only got better from here.

As I tried to get Liam to stay on the couch, as he would invariable injure himself otherwise, he fought me harder and harder. It started with scratching me, then biting and smacking me. Then he started hitting me. He was then counting, "one two three" and throwing himself on me. I was fully under attack, and he had adrenaline running through him giving him strength. Eventually I got Pete home and we were able to get things under control.

My advice: if you have to take your child in for a procedure involving sedation, anticipate the worst. DO NOT bring your other young children and have your spouse take the day off. You will most definitely need the help.

Finally, I got the results today and Liam's MRI came back normal. That's excellent news!

Conversation at the Dinner Table Tonight

2009-07-27T21:49:00.004-04:00

Context- I was trying to persuade the kids to eat their delicious dinner, made by me natch, by talking about growing up to be big and strong like Thomas the Tank Engine (for Liam) and a princess (for Sophie).

Sophie: I want to grow big to grow cows.
Me: You want to grow cows at your princess castle?
Sophie: yeah.
Me: Will you be wearing a princess dress while you are growing cows at your princess castle?
Sophie: Yeah (as in yeah, what a stupid question).
Liam: I want to grow train tracks.

P.S. will postpics soon. I am newly mobiliy connected, and inventing words as I type.

Santa

2008-12-23T08:39:00.004-05:00

I have been trying to "educate" the kids about Christmas with Christmas TV specials, "The Polar Express" movie, "Elf" the move and books. I don't think they fully grasp what Christmas represent both on the spiritual level and on the festive level, but they are starting to recognize aspects of Christmas. A couple nights ago Dominic had his Christmas pajamas on, which had Santa Claus on them. I asked both Liam and Sophie who the person on Dominic's pajamas was, and they both knew it was Santa Claus.

I have planned all along to take them to see Santa, but sometimes things are difficult to do logistically. That seemed to be the case with finding a Santa, and going to see Santa. On Sunday, I enthusiastically asked Sophie if she wanted to meet Santa and she said she did. I did some things around the house and rethought taking them to see Santa for a few reasons- it was bitter cold out, it was getting late and Liam was napping. I made up mind that it really would be OK to not take them to Santa. Unfortunately, the next time I saw Sophie, she was talking about meeting Santa. That sealed the deal- we had to go.

So, it was about 3:45pm, and I had to wake Liam up from the short nap he had. He wasn't happy about this at all. Papa was feeling very ill and decided he was going to stay home and rest. I dressed the kids warmly, all the while Liam was whining. It was 8 degrees fahrenheit...bitter cold! We rushed the kids to the car, and it takes about 5 minutes to get all three kids buckled in. After much maneuvering, we were ready to go and quite cold.

The mall was packed, which was completely expected, but I had hoped that the cold might work in our favor on this front. Nope. I dropped the kids and Rachel at the door so they didn't have to walk in the cold and found a distant parking space. I froze! And Liam freaked out because I wasn't with him.

In the mall, both kids just stared at everything-this was their first trip to a mall or store other than a grocery store. When we approached the elevator to go down to Santa Claus, Liam had a meltdown. I wasn't totally sure it was the elevator, so we walked some more and tried another elevator. No go...so Rachel and Dominic took the elevator and I tried to take the kids on the escalator. He wasn't having that, or the stairs for that matter. So, I carried him down the 20 or so stairs and held Sophie's hand. I tried to be enthusiastic and calm with him about visiting Santa, and we got in line.

The Santa area was Polar Express themed, which was familiar to Liam and Sophie. Liam would be calm for about 2 minutes then melt down. This repeated. I tried to find out if he wanted to go home, and he said he didn't. In a last ditch effort, Rachel stayed in line with Dominic and we went to the play area. He was much happier here. Unfortunately, he pushed some kids and was being a bit aggressive, so our visit to the play area lasted about 50-60 minutes.

By the time we got back to Rachel, we were pretty close to the front of the line. Dominic, of course, was very cranky by this time. It was a little after 6pm when our kids got their pics with Santa, and then we had to wait forever to get the prints, pay etc. We got out of the mall around 7pm, and it was 2 degrees! Oh my!

Needless to say, it took the kids forever to fall asleep. They didn't fight getting into bed, but they had A LOT to process in their little heads so they had a very time getting to sleep.

Next year, I am going to plan this whole Santa thing a lot better- no malls!!!! Enjoy the photo!

The Lowdown

2008-12-23T08:24:00.004-05:00

Here's what happening in our house. I've had some repeat questions for friends, so I thought I would answer some of them here.

I went back to work on December 8 part-time. I'm so glad that I have the luxury of working part-time! I have Wednesdays off, which I think is good for me, the kids and our nanny (Rachel). So, many have asked who is watching the kids while I'm at work. My step-sister Rachel and her 20 month old son, Dominic, moved in with us in October. While I was still at home, Rachel cleaned for us, did some cooking and watched the kids as necessary when I had to run errands. Now that I am back at work, she is the nanny, and is a Godsend! She makes dinner for us on the days I work, and still does our laundry a lot. Because the kids knew Rachel when I went back to work, and were used to being alone with her, the transition when I went back to work was very easy. It has worked out beautifully.

There is a however, however. Liam has regressed in his behaviour due to my return to work. He's gotten more aggressive and tries to bite me, hits me etc again. Its not easy to stay calm when he does this, but I'm trying! I've been reading a book called, "Nurturing the Hurt Child". I think he is emotionally at about 1 year old, so I think I may need to regress him. Our little boy has a lot of hurt inside him and he has a lot of healing to do. He's a very loving little boy, but we have a lot of work to do to make him whole again. I'm learning...anyone who reads this who has some concise tips on regressing children please comment with them. I think I will be getting a bottle and bottle-feeding him some milk every night with a cuddle. No nasty comments on this please- he missed out on a lot of things with his birth mother so we need to give the nurturing back to him.

Pete is now in the vicious cycle of illness I had when I was home. He was on antibiotics for a week or so, missed a day, took the next dose and woke up with red spots covering his body a week ago. It turns out he's allergic to Penicillin! He had three days of waking up with various issues but those seem to have subsided. The spots are still there though. Now he has a very sore throat...poor guy. I can empathize.

So, the kids have reconnected with an old friend here in Michigan! A few weeks ago another mom from our adoption agency emailed me that she and her husband had adopted a little girl from Liam and Sophie's orphanage and gruppa! I had no idea that anyone else was even going to Detsky Dom 2 in Moscow, because our agency doesn't work there that often. We've had two play dates with S (won't mention her name until her mom gives me the OK) and I am just so excited that Liam and Sophie have their friend from Moscow so close! S and her family live in the city where I work, which is close to us (by large city standards). S was a little shy on the first play date, partly I'm sure because it was at our house, not on her "turf". The second play date was at an indoor playground called Jungle Java, and she and Sophie played together a lot. S would run up to Sophie and hug her and kiss her! It was so cute!

Hopefully I'll get the OK from S's mom and can post some pictures of the three kids together on their next play date.

Next up....our Santa Experience!!

Nyet

2008-12-07T16:00:00.002-05:00

Wow! Its been a month since I posted last. I'll try to be better. I go back to work tomorrow, so I think things will be chaotic again. Perhaps it will force me to be more organized though?

Liam's birthday was yesterday. I made a firetruck cake, and he got lots of car/truck related gifts.

They still don't really get the birthday thing, so Sophie and Dominic didn't understand why they didn't have any presents.

We're all still getting sick often. Liam was feverish and sleeping on and off all day Friday. His temp got up to 103.4, which obviously is scary. He's better now though, and a trip to the doctor yesterday showed there's nothing serious going on. He still has conjuctivitis though. We can't seem to get rid of that.

We are going to do "Potty Training in Just One Day". I've ordered Corolle potty training dolls, gotten big kid underwear, training pants, printed off potty charts etc. I need to finish reading the book though.

Enjoy the pictures

Sicko

2008-11-07T13:15:00.002-05:00

Status Quo at our house is the following:

Many pieces of a torn-up catalog or magazine scattered on the floor
At least two members of the household are sick
Toys are everywhere
No countertop surface is visible
If there's quiet, there's trouble a-brewin'
Little hands are reaching for something the adults don't want the children to have

No matter how hard we try, the house is in a huge disarray!

I'm sick once again. I'm sick of being sick. When I'm sick, I have a short fuse and my kids know how to push my buttons. Its a vicious cycle though, because I also am too tired to stay on top of the things that might prevent illness- purelling the heck out of all hands, lysoling all surfaces and eating loads of vitamins and minerals!

The kids are progressing very well. The rages are much fewer and Liam really is a the best behaved kid of all three. He actually listens! I think Sophie and Liam are definitely improving in their adjustment to us, and their emotional output shows it. Their English is coming along very well. I don't speak in Russian very much now, and they do seem to understand most of what I say. They repeat a lot of what we say, which shows they are working on their English language acquisition. Eating, on the other hand, is a daily battle. That seems to be normal with kids in general though.

Rachel and I had a night out last weekend. I wasn't feeling great, but I knew I needed to get out of the house and do something that didn't involve running errands. We went out to dinner and had drinks, and just let our hair down a bit. It was good and we both needed it.

Last weekend all six of us had family portraits taken. I can't wait to see the proofs! I think we got some very cute pictures. Now I just have to figure out how many Christmas cards we want to send this year. I think I will have to do the adoption announcement pics ourselves, because photographers don't seem to like to sell their digital images.

Liam seems to have a big fan in Dominic, which can be quite funny. Nearly 4 year olds and 18 month olds express things very differently. Dominic likes to get Liam's attention in non-verbal ways by doing things like gently bumping into him! The three kids really wind each other up at night so we are still working on that.

I'll try to post more often....I have lost a few things in the disorganization- my driver's license and the memory card to our camera that has all the kids' pics on it! Ackkkkkkkkkkk!!!

Sophie as Birthday Princess

2008-10-25T11:07:00.003-04:00

Sophie's third birthday "party". It was just Pete, me, Sophie, Liam, Rachel and Dominic. Everything seemed to be new to them- the hat, the birthday cake with candles, blowing out the candles, the presents. Bedtime was not good- they were way overstimulated from the toys!

Cousins Playing

2008-10-25T10:51:00.002-04:00

The cousins playing together on our deck and in our backyard. The curly haired cutie is Dominic, my nephew.

A Picnic at Pontiac Lake

2008-10-25T10:35:00.002-04:00

It was a warm day, but the water was very cold. After our picnic, we took the kids down to the lake and they experienced a beach for the first time! They loved the sand, and they are real water lovers. We rolled up their pants, but soon enough they were naked with only diapers on, after falling in the water a couple times. Tantrums ensued when we made them leave.

Pics at the Playground

2008-10-25T10:28:00.001-04:00

This is our local playground in Farmington. Its really nice, and there are loads of families that go there, so there are a lot of other kids there at the same time!

Radio Flyer

2008-10-07T08:57:00.001-04:00

My friend and boss Linda got the kids this great Radioflyer wagon. They're not so keen yet on sitting in it, but they do enjoy pushing and pulling it! I had the camera on some interesting setting apparently.

Discovering Her Tutu

2008-10-07T08:24:00.004-04:00

Yesterday morning, Sophie discovered the pink tutu that my co-worker/friend Carolyn gave her. She was playing in the closet, standing on her toy box and pulled it off its hanger. She immediately took off her pj bottoms and put on the tutu. She wore this while eating breakfast too. Here's the lovely photo of her in her tutu....notice the overnight diaper hanging below the tutu....She's getting into my dining linen drawers to find something to use as a blanket for her bunny who's going to sleep.

After we went to the park, I was in the kitchen and the kids were playing. I went into the dining room and turned around to find this....that's a hat I thought I would have her wear to the park and decided not to.
So, at this point, as I'm taking pictures, Liam is saying "EE Ya", meaning "Me too." So, Sophie kindly, and not terribly gently, puts the hat on Liam so I can take pictures of him too.

And here's Liam, comfortable in his masculinity, wearing Sophie's cute hat (and his Cars pajama shirt which he refused to take off when I dressed them).

P.S. I forgot to mention that Sophie wouldn't let me dress her, so she dressed herself. Her shirt and pants are on backwards!

Wednesday's a Better Day

2008-10-01T14:49:00.003-04:00

Things aren't easy here, and we have our ups and downs. We're still trying to get ourselves into a good routine. One good thing, once the kids are asleep, they stay asleep. I've been able to sleep until 9am, which I've needed, as you'll see.
I'm going to be honest here. Every day, I wake, feeling refreshed. By about 3 or 4 PM, I'm totally frustrated. I think today will be better though! The last two days we've haven't been outside. I took them to the park by myself for the first time today and it went well. We played, and they terrorized the geese. They ran quite a bit, which is good for everyone in the house. I then drove around for 45 minutes while my mom made lunch. Sophie fell asleep in the car and Liam calmed down. They're upstairs playing with my mom right now. Thus, I am photocopying documents for our consulate registration and updating the blog. Ahhh.....bliss! I feel so behind on everything.
Mama is getting the brunt of violence around here. In the last week, Sophie has thrown two different things at my head. The first time was a Winnie the Pooh phone, which was fairly heavy. It hit me in the mouth and gave me a fat lip, bruises and a cut lip. Last night, she threw a hard plastic bath toy at my head and hit me. They both throw a lot, but its honestly not usually heavyish things at our bodies. Liam rages most nights at bedtimes, and its both scary and very upsetting. Last night he bit me four times. You never want to see anything like this in a child, because its really looks like the child in The Omen. We're still trying to figure out how to help/rectify/handle this. I have faith we will get there...we have to.
I've started making things from my sneaky chef cookbook. So far I've made Guerilla Grilled Cheese- not such a hit, Unbelievable Chocolate Chip Cookies- a hit, "Saucy" Meat Sauce- not such a hit with the kids and the French Toast recipe, which was also a hit. I have loads of purees I need to make, and my food processer is getting a workout!
I'm posting pics finally!
Nakey babies who didn't want to put clothes on
We see this often, usually accompanied by the word "Dyee", meaning "gimme" in Russian.
Liam the day we picked him up at the orphanage. Snazzy undershirt!
Both kids in the apartment in Moscow.

Pete's Back to Work

2008-09-29T08:20:00.004-04:00

We're still trying to come up with a schedule that works. Nap or no nap? Sophie definitely needs an afternoon nap. Momma needs Liam to have an afternoon nap too! Babies sleep = my free time! If you know me, you know I like my sleep. This morning, however, I got up at 6:30 A.M so that I could get some things done. I'll be waking the kids up soon.

So, I have gotten various advice on whether to wake the kids up in the A.M. and in the afternoon. Today, I plan to wake them up this A.M. and let them nap as long as they want.

A Smallish Update

2008-09-23T15:36:00.004-04:00

Things are definitely busy here, but much better. The flight home went amazingly well with the kids! They slept and behaved themselves tremendously!

The sleeping has gotten better, as has the eating. They now will eat most things we put in front of them, though they're still kids. One day something might be OK to eat, the next not so OK. Regardless, we aren't doing pureed food! Saturday night Pete and I got Chinese food. Sunday, we were wondering what to feed them for lunch quickly and tried chicken fried rice. They devoured it- about 3/4 of a carton between them! They also like pizza, and Sophie discovered BBQ potato chips by snatching the one Grandpa was about to eat out of his hand! We are feeding them healthy food too though...

Liam now usually only has tantrums when he is tired. They're still the kicking, throwing things, pulling mama's hair tantrums, but if I rub his back it usually ends after 10-15 minutes. We're getting better at knowing what works to settle them down. Cartoon movies are wonderful- we now put one on about an hour before bedtime to calm them down. Sometimes they fall asleep on their own, sometimes they don't. We can usually get them to fall asleep within 20 minutes or so, which seems pretty good.

I have rethought the cosleeping thing. Their beds will be here Saturday, and they will go in their own room at that time. It seems as long as we are there until they fall asleep to comfort them, that's what really matters. I spent a good week or so with them co-sleeping and I don't need to any more.

The doctor visit wasn't terribly fruitful. We need to have someone to explain what's going on in Russian to Liam or things will get ugly. He wouldn't let me undress him, and he wouldn't let the PA take his temp. He does have congestion, but its so much better now. The surprise of the visit was that we learned Liam has pink eye. Today we will try to give him eye drops, and I'm not really looking forward to that. He has pleasantly surprised me many times over the last few days though.

Babushka and Grandpa came up on Sunday, and both kids took an instant liking to Baba. Liam seems to think that Grandpa's Lincoln Town Car is cooler than our Mazda as he is saying that Grandpa's car is HIS car, and that our car is not his car.

Time to wake them up from their nap....will update again when we have time. Enjoy the pic.

Sankta Valya, Moscow Dance Party and Meltdowns

2008-09-19T10:46:00.002-04:00

Last night we found a good panacea, or so we thought, for the kids. They love music. We played the radio and danced, and I got them head banging. It was really funny, and we all enjoyed it I think. Once bedtime rolled around, it was really difficult with Liam. He's just so scared, and both Pete and I think he's probably had some significant early trauma. More on that later...I thought I had gotten him to sleep, after SIGNIFICANT fighting on his part, he was really calm but not necessarily asleep. I was wrong, and I think we basically wore him out to get him to sleep. It was hellacious. Then, his breathing was so congested, I was worried that he would stop breathing, so I didn't want to fall asleep. Eventually we were all asleep...We didn't get up until 10am.

Today Valya came over. She has come over the last three days and has been a godsend. Its so nice to have someone who is both really good with kids and can communicate well with them. The language barrier, even with me knowing some Russian, has been a real issue. She came to the American Embassy with us today, and she was with us for 6 hours today. She occupied the kids so we could pack, got them to eat when we couldn't, got Liam and Sophie to get dressed when they wanted to run around in diapers and was all around a HUGE help to us. Thus, I have named her Sankta (Saint) Valya! I think everyone adopting two children at once should have a Sankta Valya. We asked if she wanted a vacation to the US, but she seems to have to work here...hmmmm...

So, today the kids didn't get naps because we went to the Embassy during their naptime. We decided that since we have to get up at 3am (yes you read that right), this was a good thing. They both started getting tired around 4pm. We fed them early (with Valya's help) at 5pm, then gave them baths. When bathtime was over, Liam had a major meltdown. I think he was really tired, but he's also very scared. He fights you tooth and nail! He fights for his life- pulling hair, scratching at your face. I try to contain him physically, but its difficult. He cried for a half hour, and eventually let me rub his back and t alk to him (albeit naked, lying on the floor in a corner of the room). I talked to him Russian and English and he fell asleep after 15 minutes or so. I left him sleeping for a bit, then tried t o move him and he w oke up. He let me put a diaper on him, but not his pajamas. I put him under the covers, left the r oom to change into clothes from bathing suit and he started crying. I came back, rubbed his back and talked soothingly to him and he fell asleep.

Now, for those who have adopted, I have some questions. Pete and I think he's probably had major early trauma, but maybe he's just still scared from all the things going on. What do you think? We're concerned either he, us or Sophie will get hurt because he throws everything in sight when he does t his. What advice do you have when one of these meltdowns starts? I try to contain him, but this makes him more mad and scared, so I really don't want to do that any more. I just don't want to damage this tender little soul any more. If you have advice please either email me or post a comment. Thanks

Its Mono, not Tonsilitis

2008-09-18T01:52:00.004-04:00

We've got Liam home now and he's still sick. The hospital said its mononucleosis, not tonsilitis. Poor Liam. I have about 6 different meds we have to give him. His pants are too big and are falling off him now! 3t is too big!!! I 'm not sure if I brought 2t, we'll have to check. I think Pete is overwhelmed with being controlled by 2 pre-schoolers instead of being in control. The language thing is difficult at this time for us, because I can only understand 20% of what they say, and Pete understands a lot less.

Now we're having dinner, and if Sophie doesn't like it, Liam won't eat it. This is loads of fun for everyone!!!

Found- 1 Large Pink Rabbit

2008-09-18T01:52:00.003-04:00

...stuffed in a small box by a malishka named Sophie.

Peter Stacey has been cleared as a suspect.

MIA- Talking Rabbit

2008-09-17T11:33:00.001-04:00

The yaeetsa (rabbit) below has gone missing...we can't find it anywhere!! How can one lose a big pink talking rabbit????

Made a 'play pen' - the window sill (3ft deep)

2008-09-17T07:23:00.003-04:00

Sophie singing 'my little one' whilst holding onto her bear and sheep cuddly toys. She spends many minutes shouting at the dogs that pass by and putting smiles on the faces of their owners.

Pete.

Singing Pink Rabbit

2008-09-17T07:12:00.003-04:00

Yes, this is the beautifull voice that I have ringing in my head at night :) . I don't know what's bigger, our 16lb Flemish Giant (rabbit) at home or this thing, ah that gives me an idea for a new playmate......

Pete.

First Bath

2008-09-17T01:49:00.002-04:00

We had our first bath with Sophie last night. I got in my swimsuit and sat in the bath with her. Pete videotaped :) She loved it!!! She didn't love having her hair washed and getting water on her face though. My friend Natalia had suggested putting a visor on her, so I think I will try that when we get home.

Our friend Valya, who we met through my friend Marina in Detroit, brought Sophie a stuffed rabbit. It plays a song...and she plays it over and over and over and over....its driving Pete crazy but she loves it!

Sophie's First Jaffa Cake

2008-09-16T10:44:00.002-04:00

Bedtime Stories and More

2008-09-16T07:44:00.004-04:00

Straw cup attempt..she chewed on the straw a lot. We tried it and you could barely get anything when you suck!

Sophie tried to make herself a bed out of tissue paper today for her nap.

Getting all bundled up at the Detsky Dom.

The metro was no big deal yesterday. I thought it would much more of a pain that it was, so that was good.

We got sophie yesterday, and that went well. When we got there, first she cried because she thought we were going to leave again. Then the caregivers told her to get undressed so Mama could put on her pretty new clothes. She immediately started undressing with a big smile. All the other kids in her grouppa told her "paka" and one little boy came up and kissed her goodbye. Another little boy tried to, and she said no! He walked away and started crying, so she ended up giving him a hug.

Sophie was mesmerized in the car with everything she was seeing! Once at "home", we have discovered we have nothing really good for her to drink from- the straw cups I brought take a lot of sucking to get anything. Thus, we have a lot of spilled drink on clothes and the floor.

Bedtime was heartwrenching. It took us a while to get her calmed down and we had one failed attempt where it seemed like she was headed to la-la-land. Once we got her calmed down, she rocked herself (sleep thrashing) for a full half hour before falling asleep. It was very difficult to watch, and I'm hoping tonight isn't as bad. I had tried t o comfort her, but that seemed to prevent her from getting to sleep. I guess it will be trial and error. It took a while for her to go down today for her nap, but she didn't sleep thrash. She's sleeping now.

Pete's off with Vlad to work on the kids' passports, and I need to check on our little peanut, who is napping. Enjoy the pictures.

We're Getting Our Sweet Sophie Today

2008-09-15T06:13:00.004-04:00

Masha called the director of our orphanage today and we were told that they will let us take Sophie this afternoon. The only hiccup is that we have to take the Metro to a certain point and meet Vlad. No big deal, except that we have all the caregiver gifts to take, Sophie's clothes, a cake for the staff and candies for the kids at the Detsky Dom. I'm not very happy about this, but Vlad can't come pick us up. I think they're a bit overbooked this week.

We got news that Liam is doing better, and I think his fever is down. Masha explained to us that the orphanage has a policy that if a child has a fever of 38 degrees celsius or more for 4 hours, the child is taken by ambulance to the hospital. Its normal policy. That's why Liam was taken to the hospital. The orphanage director thinks that we will be able to bring "home" Liam on Thursday. We are not allowed to take Sophie outside, except to the Embassy, which is required.

It is pretty cold here right now- 40's fahrenheit- so Sophie is leaving the orphanage in pants instead of the cute skirt outfit I had planned.

Right now, we're not even sure if the metro will let us take a suitcase, so this will be another interesting part of our adoption adventure.

Rare Sighting- Russian Herd of Pugs

2008-09-15T03:48:00.001-04:00

These fat pugs were part of the pug convention mentioned in an earlier post in July. They held up traffic being herded down the road like sheep do in England.

Can't Sleep

2008-09-14T21:21:00.002-04:00

Its the middle of the night here and I haven't been able to sleep. We think (hope) we will able to get Sophie tomorrow (rather today as its 4:22am right now). We should also get an update on Liam at that time.

On Tuesday, we will legally be Liam and Sophie's parents, and I will take the blog off private at that time.

I will post some new pictures later today...I'm going to try to go to sleep for a few hours now.

Liam in the Hospital

2008-09-13T12:40:00.002-04:00

Its been an interesting 24 or so hours. Yesterday we attempted to go to the Detsky Dom. Max picked us up at 3:30. After sitting in horrendous traffic for about 1hour and 45 minutes, we decided we weren't going to make it to the Detsky Dom by 6pm (after that, they wouldn't let us visit due to the kids' schedule) so we decided to head back to central Moscow. It took 45 minutes for Max to get to a point where he could turn us around. We were in the car for 3 hours for nothing. Needless to say, we were quite upset. We had planned to get some firm information on Liam and Sophie's illnesses.

We had Vlad come get us at 8:30 am this morning, and he showed us how to get to the orphanage via the Metro and walking ( 1.5-2 miles). When we got there, we found out that Liam is in the hospital. He has Angine, known to us as Tonsilitis. He went to the hospital yesterday, and they expect him to be in for 6-10 days. We're not allowed to go see him, as he's in a hospital that is considered a sterile environment and no visitors are allowed. We're told that hospitals here are not necessarily the same as those in the US, i.e., its not always an emergency situation that puts a person in the hospital here. Regardless, we're very worried and not sure how to proceed. I'm a bit concerned they'll want to take his tonsils out, which would of course prolong his stay in the hospital. This scenario has not been mentioned by anyone though.

We did get to see Sophie twice today, which was great. She's a fast learner, and LOVES to mimic Pete. Its very cute. She says one, two and three now. She readily hugs me when I ask for a hug, but is reticent to hug Pete. I'm the one who rubs her back and head, and is waiting at the door to pick her up when she's brought to the room, so I think we just need to work on that. She's a little sick as well, and is sequestered still from the other kids. I'm still going to request that we can pick her up on Monday though. She's was running around this afternoon, and when I asked if she was good and not poorly, she replied in the affirmative. This morning she had told Vlad that she was poorly.

We went to the big "Macdonald's" on Tverskaya for dinner tonight. Its huge...the biggest I've ever seen!!!! Not only that, its absolutely packed. There are probably 15-20 registers, and all of them had long lines. It was crazy!

Well, I'm going to email our agency director and ask her to call us to discuss the Liam situation. Tomorrow we move to an apartment where we will have free calls to the US and free wi-fi. yay!

A Quick Post- Update

2008-09-11T14:06:00.002-04:00

We don't get to use the internet much at the Marriott because its sooooooooo expensive...so, here's our update:

We went to see the kids today, and they are quarantined due to illness. Something was lost in translation today, so we're not sure what they have. Liam is much more sick than Sophie. He has very swollen lymph nodes, a sore throat, fever, very congested chesty cough and looks pale. Both children were much less active today and had gruff voices. We think it may be Glandular Fever, aka Mono to the Americans. We're being told they may not release the kids to us when originally planned now. We've been told that this won't effect when we leave, but I'm not convinced. I just want to get my kids out of the orphanage and get them home to our doctor. I'm going to see if I can get more info and email our doctor at home.

The weather SUCKS in Moscow. Its cold and wet. Court day was a beautiful day weatherwise. It flurried here last night (yes, I mean snow). It was 6 degrees celsius on our way to the hotel from the airport. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr....Pete had to buy a coat today at the Moscow equivalent of TJ Maxx because he forgot to buy one.

On the bright side, the king size bed at the Marriott is very comfy. I slept in until 11am!!!

Yasmin's 8th Birthday

2008-09-06T15:03:00.002-04:00

We had a very good day today! We made it safely to England and spent the night Thursday night in Rickmansworth at house of my good friend Yvie's parents. After a leisurely lie in, we headed to Bath, where I got some clothes for the kids.

Today was our niece's 8th birthday. She started the day with a treasure hunt for her presents, and then we went to Longleat Estate. They have a safari park, stately home, butterfly garden and many other attractions. We ended the day with a nice meal!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YASMIN!!!!

We're Officially Parents!!!

2008-09-04T07:06:00.002-04:00

We got in yesterday, and once again neither of us slept on the flight. The ride to the hotel took 2 hours, during which we both dozed off, especially me. Nothing exciting happened yesterday, although I do have a beef to share with you all. We went to dinner, and I ordered still water, and Pete ordered a large beer. His beer was 30 rubles less than my water (about $1.20). It was $8 for a very small bottle of water!!!

Today we went to court and we are now officially Liam and Sophie's parents! We celebrated with Eunice and Darren Glynn, our friends who are with Lighthouse's sister agency, Grace. We went to an Italian Pizzeria and got a round of beer to celebrate. We're now at their apartment while we wait to head out to our flight to London. Pete's dozing in the chair.....I will post more later!

Our Whirlwind Tour

2008-08-31T20:54:00.003-04:00

This is our itinerary:

2 September- 3:50pm depart the D for Moscow
3 September- arrive Moscow
4 September- Court, leave for UK in the late PM
5 September- head to Bath, England to see my BIL, SIL and beautiful niece who is celebrating her 8th birthday this weekend!
7 September- head to Devon, England to see my Mother-in-Law, Shirley and our good friends the Nixons, and perhaps more family
10 September- hightail it back to London and fly to Moscow
Visit the kids until we get custody
15 September- Gotcha Day!
20 September- fly home to Detroit and start a new chapter in our family

Marriott Roulette Not Russian Roulette

2008-08-29T12:42:00.003-04:00

I didn't post about our Marriott saga, but I will now. As I wrote earlier in the blog, we booked 9/10-9/13 at the Marriott Grande in Moscow. When we finally decided to book an apartment, we decided that we wanted to extend the stay until 9/14. Luckily, the 20k points (one night's stay) Pete was due from his first Marriott Rewards visa purchase had been added. I looked at his rewards account to see if I could add the night online, and that's when I noticed that the dim-witted Marriott reservations agent had booked us for September 3-6 at the Marriott Grande. I have no idea what he was thinking when he was making our reservation, as the dates were mentioned several times during my lengthy time on the phone with him. This was a Monday evening (last week), so I called Marriott the next day to straighten it out. Lo and behold, the 10th was no longer available as a rewards points night. After more lengthy phone calls, and attempts to argue with agents that this was not my screw-up, I just said put us in the Courtyard. I thought we were done. Nope, not so fast. I logged into Pete's email this morning to print off the hotel stay confirmation to take on our trip, and there was an email from Marriott with reservations for 9/10 - 9/14 at the Marriott Grande. I called Marriott and once again, made sure that our points were applied to the right reservation, confirmed we were really going to have 4 nights at the Marriott Grande and am now just hoping this is the last of it.

Oh yeah, and only 4 more hours of work then I'm off for 14 weeks!!

Mo' Getting Ready

2008-08-28T09:58:00.004-04:00

Things are falling in place. My co-worker/friend Carolyn and her husband will now be driving our Mazda to the airport and meeting us on the 20th. Marina and her son will be our back-up for this. Our neighbor Kate has said she will take care of our furry kids so we don't have to hire someone to come in. Shannon is going to go grocery shopping for us the day before we come home. Now, I just have to pack and keep plugging away at getting the house tidied and liam/sophie/dominic proofed!

Hopefully in the next couple days I'll get time to post about my showers and show pics of a couple of the beautiful personalized gifts we/I were given!

Back to work.....

So, I changed beds. This is the bed I ended up ordering, but a twin in antique white.

We are confirmed!

2008-08-26T10:37:00.006-04:00

Lorien called last night to say that our court date for the 4th is indeed confirmed. Another Yahoo! for Monday. We went bed shopping and found Liam's bedroom furniture at JCPenney. I love it. I've found Sophie's bed online and I'm going to order it today. So, the bedroom is Liam's, but in a dark brown "espresso" finish. The iron bed is what I think we're going to get for sophie, but in antique white. I have an antique table to use as a nightstand already, complete with glass knob. Loves it!

Great News From Munder!

2008-08-25T15:36:00.000-04:00

I work for an investment management firm called Munder Capital Management. You may have heard of our family of funds-the Munder Funds. Anyhoo, I proposed adding adoption benefits to my HR department about 10 months ago. As most of you know, the markets and the economy have been very rocky, so nothing happened on this. I was told recently by my HR department that they would be proposing adoption benefits along with the rest of the review for 2009 benefits to our executive management in the near future. I just got a call from our head of HR telling me they are adding an adoption benefit of $5k! They are making it effective September 1st (normally new benefits become effective January 1) to make sure Pete and I can use the benefit!!! Woohooo!!!! Go Munder!!!!

Strange Happenings in CyberSpace and More

2008-08-14T14:46:00.002-04:00

So, we have our flights to Moscow booked (Lufthansa) and our flight to and from London booked (Aeroflot). We also have September 3rd booked at the Courtyard Marriott Moscow (rack rate starting at $716, free to us thanks to our Marriott Rewards visa cards), as well as September 10-13 at the Marriott Grand in Moscow (starting at $826 a night, again two nights free and one night at $187.50, thanks to Marriott points). I got word our Russian visas on the way to us. Now, we just have to book our apartment for 9/13-9/20, which we plan to do tonight.

We have to get one of the booster seats in my car tonight, as my sister Rachel and her son Dominic will be arriving tomorrow night. My brother Ryan is driving up from Indianapolis Saturday morning, so it should be a fun weekend! We have the LightHouse picnic Saturday, and then we'll go over to Woodward and show our guests the craziness that is the Woodward Dream Cruise. Sunday we'll be doing lunch with friends at our favorite ex-neighborhood eatery, the Royal Oak Brewery (despite their change of menu...AGAIN).

Now, for the CyberSpace strange happenings. My favorite forum is on FRUA.org, where many Eastern European adoptive parents gather discuss issues uniquely related to us. On Tuesday, FRUA was down, much to the chagrin of many of us. Once again, this afternoon, it appears to be down. The admin, aka Marshall Dillon, doesn't know what happened the first time. Conspiracy theorists on the board think perhaps its related to the situation in Georgia right now. We shall see!

2 down 2 more to go

2008-08-08T17:02:00.002-04:00

We have our flights to Moscow and back booked for us AND the children!! We're flying Lufthansa, so that will hopefully be good food. Bier, wienerschnitzel and sourkraut all around I think! Perhaps we'll watch Das Boot on the plane??? And I'll sing about Eine Kleine Nacht Muzik. That might not be appreciated though. I have been told by both a machine (PlayStation) and people that I CANNOT sing.

And, I just sent off our apps for our double entry visas for our trip. Let's see...there are 25 days until we leave. ughhh...

Now, we have to book our flights from Moscow to London, and book our accomodations. Pete and I have to do some discussin' this weekend and get the accomodations booked.

Tomorrow will be a packed day from noon onward. My shower is at 2pm, and then Findlay's first birthday party starts at 7:30pm. Yvie's day is going to be action packed too!

Tonight, its more "clearing" and "tidying"...this is very therapeutic, I must admit!

On a final note, the Russian "invasion" of South Ossetia has definitely been on my mind today. I hope this doesn't affect our second trip. Most in the adoption community (OK, let me say that most who post on FRUA....) don't think it will have an impact. I'm going to think positively until I feel there's a need to do otherwise. Hopefully the violence ends soon and the innocent civilians can return to their normal lives.

Have a lovely weekend. I will post pictures of the shower (hopefully) Sunday.

Random Thoughts

2008-08-07T13:15:00.002-04:00

I have no idea how I'm going to get through the next several weeks of waiting. At least we have a target end date, I guess! I'm going to find something to add to the blog to count down the days.

If I could take the next week off work, I think that would help. Alas, I have very few vacation days left and they have to be saved for our trip! I've never been good at focusing, as I have ADHD. It wasn't called ADHD when I was diagnosed in third grade, I was "hyperactive" then. So, nature and emotions are both working against me focusing on work. I, can, however, focus on perezhilton's blog for a good 5 minutes or so. I'm so cheesy.

Pete has put the kabosh on buying more clothes for the kids until after the showers. I know it had to be done.

Well, that's about it for now....my short attention span has led me to other things to think about.

We got a court date (tentative)

2008-08-05T12:37:00.002-04:00

September 4th!!!

Finally Over the Jet Lag

2008-07-24T08:50:00.002-04:00

We made it home safely, though we were absolutely exhausted when we got home. The 5 hour wait in Atlanta between flights was brutal. We were both counting down the minutes until we could board the plane and fall asleep, as we were afraid if we slept in the airport we would miss our flight!!

Its now set in how much we need to do to get ready for the kids. I'm making a spreadsheet of tasks for us. We're clearing loads of stuff out of the house and donating it. We've already done a lot of childproofing, but we still have a little more to do.

Our friends have been wonderful in their comments on the blog and their emails to us about how excited they are for us. Thank you all! We've really appreciated your kind words. I miss Liam and Sophie, of course.

Pete's working frantically to get some of his toys posted to sell. Tonight we are going to an adoptive parent outreach meeting, which should be informative on bonding and attachment.

Not much else is going on with us- just recovering from our trip and preparing for the wonderful change about to happen!

Oh, and we've booked a flight for my sister Rachel and her son Dominic to fly up for a long weekend. Rachel is going to be our nanny, and we want her to see the house and meet our friends before she moves.

Our thoughts are with our friends Sarah and Jeff as they get custody of their two little ones in Moscow today!

Fun Outside Today

2008-07-19T13:26:00.002-04:00

We Sure Got Muddy This Morning

2008-07-19T10:40:00.000-04:00

Riding the hobby horse in the orphanage.

Both kids trying to climb into the cab of this truck.

At the orphanage gate looking at a sourpuss who walks by every single day with his 3 fat pugs. There was a pug convention this morning. The sourpuss and a lady were sitting outside the fence of the orphanage with 10 obese pugs. I think the pugs are fed more than the children in the orphanage.

Sophie with her strop on. I can't remember what we had taken away.

One port-a-let entrepreneur. Can you make out the "office" in the leftmost port-a-let? Firstly, ooohhhhh. She sits in there waiting for her customers...mustn't it smell? Secondly, she's severely cutting into her profit margin by using that as an office. can't she just sit at a card table and chair? Its 15 rubles- about 62 cents- to use one of these disgusting things. Interestingly, you never smell anything from them when you walk by.

It rained and thunderstormed last night and this morning, so the playgrounds were muddy. We played inside with the kids for a while, maybe an hour or so. I'm trying something new with Liam. He likes to throw things, so I'm now giving him forceful loving whenever he throws something. I scoop him up and hold him in my arms. He actually likes it, but only for about a minute and then he wants down. It actually seemed to work in reducing how often he's throwing things. I think he's just doing it for attention. Sophie, on the other hand, isn't so fond of it. She throws a strop and Pete gives in!

So, we went outside after about an hour, and we were all covered in mud. The kids enjoyed stomping in the puddles, and putting their hands in the puddles. They're very active kids, so I need to learn how to discipline them while not damaging them or our bond. I've got plenty of books on this kind of stuff to read in the next 6 weeks!

Highlights of the Day

2008-07-18T14:32:00.001-04:00

We bought a "bubble machine" on Ulitsa Arbat yesterday and it was a hit with the kids today! They went crazy for it, especially Liam Danila.For court, we have a picture of us with the kids, I guess to prove we have met them. Here's our first family portrait. I look like a librarian today....not that there is anything wrong with librarians. It was very hot because we were inside due to the rain, so by this time, we were all nice and sweaty. Lovely, huh?

After our kid time, we came home and Pete snoozed while I shopped. Soon enough, Valya was here and we were off to the circus (tsirk in Russian)!

The first thing we saw we walked in was this live camel. You could pay to have your picture taken with it. There were poodles, a crocodile, a baby bear, a panther, a cheetah, and two tiger cubs. You could have your picture taken with all of them for a price. When I saw the tiger cubs, I had to do it. I'll never get to hold a tiger cub again...so that $20 for 60 seconds basically. Valya's friend got us into the circus for free, so that was fabulous. The circus was very good, though the lion show was a bit upsetting for me. I just don't know how well they are treated.

This is Valya and I waiting for the show to begin.

The Moscow Circus

2008-07-18T08:47:00.000-04:00

Tonight we are going to the circus with Valya. She should be here in about 10 minutes or so.

I spent the afternoon, as it was raining heavily, shopping and registering. Pete slept...there's something that just makes us tired all the time here. I think its the heat, and we're probably still a bit jet-lagged. Neither one of us slept well last night. I do miss my bed...I'm not gonna lie.

We gave the orphanage our donation today. We are buying a rug for our kids' gruppa room. The Orphanage Director is very nice and gave us a nice send-off, since she won't be at the orphanage tomorrow when we visit. Tomorrow is going to be very hard, saying goodbye to the kids and reassuring them that we will be back for them. I am about to cry just thinking of it!

Pete and I have both said that we're going to be beat Monday. My vacation days are dwindling, but I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to make it in. We probably won't get home until at least 1am. I'm going to try very hard to sleep on the plane. I have way too much on my mind to sleep these days though.

I'll try to post some video and more pics when we get back from the circus. We got some really cute footage of them!

Lights Out

2008-07-18T00:18:00.000-04:00

We went to the Izmailovo Market yesterday and will probably go again tomorrow because we didn't bring enough money. Prices on souvenirs were much better than they are here on Arbat Street. I'm so glad my friend Marina told me about it! They had chess sets where the pieces were the Soviet Union versus the USA, which I thought was very funny!

In the middle of my shower this morning, the lights went out. I could see well enough, but I unfortunately tried to brush my teeth with something that wasn't toothpaste! Strangely, it was only the lights that weren't working. The computer, fan and TV were all still fine.

Its raining now, so we'll probably be indoors ( I would hope so) with the kids this morning. We're getting picked up at 8:45 am to go the orphanage. It takes about an hour to get there.

Here's another interesting Russian phenomenon- privatized port-a-lets in the busy areas of Moscow. It will be about 3 or 4 port-a-lets per "entrepreneur". 15 rubles to use the "tooalet", and one of the port-a-lets is the entrepreneur's office! I have to take a picture of this.

Pete's found the Russian version of a English delicacy I don't particulary like- Jaffa Cakes. They're little sponge cakes with orange filling covered in dark chocolate. They have a lot of non-Russian food items here- Nestle, Fanta, Nescafe and loads more.

Gotta run...Vlad is here.

Our Intent to Adopt Them Is Official!

2008-07-17T05:20:00.000-04:00

We signed the papers today- we are going to be the parents of Liam Kenneth Danila Stacey and Sophie Kristina Stacey. I had Danila's name wrong. I thought it was Danil, but its Danila. We got their height and weight today. The measurements are from June- they are tiny!! Sophie is 22.4 lbs and 31.5 inches, and Liam is 29 lbs and 37 inches. They are obviously malnourished/underfed, as Sophie wants to eat everything in sight.

When we left today, they told Liam we had to go, and he cried :(. I think we are all bonding, which is great. We're concerned about the effect on them when we have to leave, but we want to make sure they are reassured that we are coming back for them.

We got to play with some of the other kids today, too. One little boy, whom I think has Down's Syndrome grabbed my hand and had a very strong hold. I felt so bad, not knowing what to do. Would it be confusing for him if I held his little hand and then he realized I am not going to be his mama? They call every man they see Dada. All their caregivers are Mama. Its obvious that the caregivers care for these children. This seems to be a very good orphanage with caring staff, and really pretty decent facilities. I'm going to try to get some pictures to show. I've not taken pics of their gruppa rooms yet, but maybe I will try to tomorrow. We usually are outside with them.

We're going to try to venture to Izmailova market today for souvenirs. I will post pics from today later.

Pictures of our Cuties Today

2008-07-16T14:51:00.001-04:00

Danil giving one of his priceless "ooh"s when I handed him this balloon that was in a tree. He'll see the slightest little thing, like a bug on the ground, and let out an adorable "ooh" of surprise!
Danil and Kristina playing this morning on the playground. Anything new is very exciting for them. The smallest things give them pleasure. We had bubbles for them, which they loved blowing. I may have mentioned this before- they both kept sticking the wands in their mouths!

We brought the kids toys this afternoon- a doll for Kristina and a truck for Danil. They both loved them, however Danil broke his truck in the first five minutes he had it!!! Kristina went about immediately undressing her doll very carefully, as they have to do in the orphanage. Later, she enjoyed eating the styrofoam from the box in which Danil's truck came! Ack!!! Its not easy to get things away from these kids once either. I managed to get the styrofoam and get her to eat gerber graduates puffs instead.

Another Hot Day in Moscow

2008-07-16T11:29:00.000-04:00

It was fairly hot again, but more pleasant. It started raining right before we left the orphanage at 6pm. We were lucky enough to get to spend about 5 hours with the kids today in two different visits. The orphanage is on the northwest outer ring of Moscow, and we are on the southwest inner ring, so it takes about an hour to get there. Most times we ride in a car that is not air conditioned!

The kids were great today. Liam Danil sure does love his cars! There was a car with a door open and he really wanted to get in it. He's infatuated with them. I told him that he will get plenty of car rides with daddy in the future (of course that was in english and he didn't understand). He's such a little cutie. I think he looks like our friend Robin, so we're going to ask robin where he was about 4 1/2 years ago....

We think that we're going to have a harder time getting Liam Danil to bond to us. I think he's learned not to get attached. Sophie Kristina, on the other hand, is a little love bug. I ask her, "Kto eta?", which means Who's that? and point to Pete. She says, "Eta dada." (that's dada).

Its thunderstorming here, and we're planning to go to dinner with another couple adopting to a restaurant called "Moo-Moo" with a big cow out front. Last night when we walked by, there was a woman sitting on the cow getting her picture taken. It was quite funny.

We've met the Orphanage Director, and she seems impressed I know some Russian. I assured her I know only a little, but they seemed to like it. We've been permitted to see a lot of the orphanage today. This morning we saw their gruppa room, but no other children in it. Then, when we were outside with the kids, several gruppas came out to play. This afternoon, I got to see their gruppa room, the bedroom and the bathroom. Their gruppa came and played in the same playground (there are about 5 or 6 at the orphanage) we were in with them. We gave all the kids gerber graduates puffs, which were a hit. Several of the kids were very sweet. Its upsetting that there are all these children who want parents, and we know loads of people waiting to adopt.

We're going to dinner soon, and then I'll post some pics from today. We brought bubbles and the kids loved them (until they started sticking the wands in their mouths and I had to take them away!).

No More Peace and Quiet :)

2008-07-15T15:01:00.001-04:00

This is what most of our afternoon consisted of!!!

Names

2008-07-15T14:27:00.000-04:00

I think we have decided we will change their names: Sophie Kristina Stacey and Liam Kenneth Danil Stacey (after pete's dad).

We just went out for morozjeniye (ice cream) and another 5 liters of water. There is a zoomagazine (pet store) right here where we have our apartment. If you know me, you know I love me some animals! Every day, after it cools down a bit, the zoomagazine people sit out front with animals. Tonight, there were about 10 rabbits and 2 kittens. Its so strange, these rabbits just sit on a box and don't hop off! One of the kittens was in a large tupperware container(seriously, like you put leftovers in). The other kitten was sitting on a box, and I went to pet it, and the lady swatted my hand away and shook her head!!! What the???

I'm a bit disappointed with the way people are here. I actually had someone push me out of the way yesterday. I was just walking down the street, and apparently the dude wanted to be where I was, so he pushed me to the side and walked on by! People don't say excuse me or anything. Next time someone pushes me, I might kick them! Won't Pete love that? The only people that have been nice are my friend of a friend (Valya, who was exceptionally nice!), and staff of our agency. Most others have not been. I'm sure its a cultural thing, and I should get used to it, but don't push me!!!!

OK, done ranting. I have to go to bed so I can get up bright and early to see my little darlings.

Danil and Kristina

2008-07-15T12:52:00.000-04:00

I'll post a video of the kids tomorrow. We plan to visit them in the morning and the afternoon.

Nashi Dyeti

2008-07-15T12:37:00.000-04:00

We met Kristina and Danil today! They're both adorable, as you'll see. Kristina is definitely the more outgoing of the two. They are in the same grouppa at the detsky dom, and have a very close bond. They were very cute together, and obviously fought over toys like brother and sister do! I found out my Russian is pretty much on par with a three year old, so that works out well. I could communicate with them fairly well, though I missed some of what they said. They appear to be fairly healthy, although Kristina has rickets. They both have some delays, and Danil is probably more delayed that Kristina. They were both born prematurely. Danil was only 2.5 lbs at birth, and Kristina was 5.5 lbs.

I"m having problems trying to post pics...i'll try again in a few minutes.

We will go see Danil and Kristina again tomorrow twice and will formally accept the referral. We have to discuss what to do regarding names.

Moscow Picture Show Part 1

2008-07-14T13:52:00.000-04:00

Pete and I in front of the Moscow Historical Museum, Red Square

Beautiful onion domes at the Kremlin

St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square- This is a beautiful building!

Our time to meet the kids has changed. We are not being picked up until 2:45pm now. We are going to Detsky Dom (literally Children's House) #2, which I believe is in the northwest part of Moscow.

So, here are some pictures from today. I don't have any software on this computer to photoshop images, so keep that in mind. It was very bright today, and there's no viewfinder on our camera, making it difficult to see my subjects sometimes!

There are 4 churches at the Kremlin, as well as the Patriarchal Palace, the Great Kremlin Palace, the Terem Palace, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower and a few other buildings. The building that stands out most like a sore thumb her is the State Kremlin Palace, which is a very modern looking building, and I think was built during the Soviet era.

Moscow Fashion

Many younger men here like to wear "elf" shoes. They appear to be a soft leather with a very elongated toe, that sometimes points up a bit. I had been told about these previously, and forgot about them until I was here. I'll try to take a picture of them. Pete has noticed a lot of young men have mullets...very nice! I don't think much else is different fashion wise. You don't see too many people wearing shorts, despite how zjarko (hot) it is!

Its 10:20 pm, so I'm going to curl up with a book and sign off.

Moskva Krasivaya

2008-07-14T09:50:00.000-04:00

Marina's friend Valya is lovely, and ever so nice. She indulged us today and trekked to Red Square and the Kremlin. She snuck off and got our tickets to the Kremlin and the audio guides and English for us. We thought she was just checking on them, then we realized that she had gotten our tickets. She brought us flowers, and then she bought us a guide in English to the Kremlin and Red Square. It was very sweet of her. She said she hadn't used English in 40 years, but I thought her English was good. It was a bit of Engl-Ussian between us. We spoke some Russian and some English. while Pete just looked on and waited to be told what to do!

We then ate lunch at, of all places, Sbarro. Everything is so expensive. This was a cheap way to get lunch and sit down in an air-conditioned place. Oh yeah, did I mention how hot it is? Its hot. Hot enough that I wanted to jump in the fountains at Aleksandrovsky Sahd (Alexander's Park, next to the Kremlin and Red Square). Valya was egging me on to do it- I think she would have been amused and horrified if I had actually done it. There were kids who did stand in the fountains and get wet...why not me???

So, we decided to go to on a boatride on the Moscow RIver. We took the metro, then walked about 1/2 mile to the river. Unfortunately, it was 4:25, and the next boat wasn't due for 20-30 minutes, so we are going to do that another day. I was quite tired by this time and my feet were ready for a break. So, we shlepped our selves back to Old Arbat Street (Ulitsa Arbat) and are now "home".

A note on our apartment. Its tiny, but all we need except there's no AC. We didn't expect to have AC though. The exterior is nothing exciting, and the stairwell is a work in progress. Yesterday, when we got here, the elevator worked but had no light. It holds two people uncomfortably. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is a working light in the elevator today! Also, we have a little balcony which is nice.

Now, for the news you've been waiting for. We are getting picked up sometime between 8am and 9am by Vlad tomorrow. Masha is supposed to call us and let us know. I'm going to look up orphanage #2 now and see what I can find out.

I will post pictures for today after I've had a rest.

No Sleep Til Moscow

2008-07-14T00:12:00.000-04:00

That's right, I wasn't able to sleep on the plane. At all. Not a wink. Nor was Pete. Nor was the other couple we traveled with. Shelle had warned me how dry the plane was. It was very stuffy and uncomfortable. But we made it, albeit aboutj 45 minutes late.

We got to our apartment, and had a much needed nap. Then we were off to dinner with Shelle, John, Judy, Sarah and Jeff. I think we all had a really good time, though left a little hungry. We adventured to a grocery store with Sarah & Jeff after dinner, and loaded up on some basics. By the time we got back to the apartment it was nearly 11pm! So, I've just woken up and am going to have some breakfast and call our friend Marina's friend in Moscow.

I'm still recovering from the plane- I feel hungover I'm so dehydrated!!!

3 hours and counting...

2008-07-12T08:47:00.000-04:00

We'll be heading to the airport in a half hour.
I'm so glad I took yesterday off work. I spent the day tidying the house, running last minute errands and getting things ready. I was able to do it without freaking out about time.

I took an herbal sleep aid last night, not sure if it was that or fatigue, but I slept well. That is, until Pete's alarm clock started going off at 5:47am. It accidentally was set two hours fast and showed 7:47. That sucked, because it took me an hour to get back to sleep!

On a very sad note, a Russian adoptee died in Virginia this week. Most of those reading this that are PAPs or APs, already know this, but the non-adoptive parents may not. He had been home just months, and was a toddler. His father (presumed accidentally) left him in the car all day in sweltering heat. As a result, it looks like three US agencies have been banned. At least two agencies are confirmed, though one is not. I can't imagine what the family is going through now. I guess I feel for the adoptive mother the most, because she has lost her son and nearly her husband, who has been charged with manslaughter. What a horrific tragedy.

Well, I'm off to eat breakfast. Then we will leave in about 15 minutes!

I'll hopefully get the wi-fi figured out quickly tomorrow and post once we are in Moscow and rested.

26 hours and counting....and a super Monday!

2008-07-11T10:22:00.000-04:00

I decided at about 7pm last night not to go into work today. Luckily, I have a very understanding and flexible boss who said that was fine. I wouldn't be able to concentrate for anything! I plan to tidy and clean the house so we don't come to a mess, and finish our to do items. Pete hasn't set out his clothes yet, so I can't pack them. I think he's hemming and hawing about what clothes to bring. We've been told Russians don't wear shorts, but my friend Marina (a Muscovite), told me they do in Moscow.

Originally, when I looked at the weather for Moscow earlier this week, it looked like it would only be in teh 70s. That would have been ideal because we won't have A/C. Now, it looks like it will be in the 80s. This was affirmed my Marina's friend in Moscow, who said it is hot right now!

Speaking of Marina, I met up with her last night. She's very excited for us, as she's been with us through most of this journey. She and her husband Lyev have been with us throught he ups and downs, and we've seen her son get married and have child during our friendship. They've been very kind and helpful to us throughout the process. So much so, that Marina has enlisted her very best friend, who is in Moscow, to show us around Moscow on Monday! Its so very sweet of her. Marina hasn't seen her good friend in 12 years, since she left Russia. I plan to take loads of pictures of Valya to bring back for Marina! I would also like to get Valya and Marina nice gifts to thank them for your their generosity...ideas anyone? Additionally, Marina has given me lots of other tips for our trip, and of course has been a great teacher!

So, I'm off to listen to my Russian Conversation lessons on my ipod while I work on my task list here at home!

Not Much New

2008-07-10T09:16:00.000-04:00

I had an indulgent "love it" sized ice cream from Coldstone last night with Pete. My favorite combo is cake batter ice cream with graham cracker pie crust, pecans and brownies in a waffle bowl. I LOVES IT.

I got more items from our prep list done, and a lot of the items on our packing list assembled. We have queen sized bed in the kids' room that will stay there until the onslaught of visitors when we first get home is gone. That bed is the "packing zone". Everything we need to pack is on that bed. We probably have about 80% of the items on our prep and packing lists done. Pete made little wallet sized Ruble conversion cheat sheets. They're even laminated! I personally like to be in the dark about how much in dollars I'm spending in a foreign currency! Alas, Pete is being practical again.

So, I have two more days of work to get through.

The numbers:

50 Number of hours until we start our journey to Russia
132 Approximate number of hours until we meet our kids

Now, I need to try to get some work done.

Less than 72 hours to go

2008-07-09T12:32:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm nervous. Yes, I'm excited. Yes, I'm anxious. There you have it.

We have 71 and a bit hours to go...I wish I could just fastforward to Saturday morning and have everything ready to go! Alas, I can't.

We have had a wee snafu, in that we tried to rent a laptop through Peace Travel and they were fresh out of laptops. We have a laptop circa 2002 that works, but its heavy and I call it the clunker. It can't keep a battery charge for anything, so it always has to be plugged in. Its slow as all get out, even though I've rebuilt it. I believe it might have a virus too. Perfect, eh? Luckily, my friend Jen says she has a laptop we can borrow. I'm checking it out tonight. Hopefully its a bit lighter, and it has be faster and hold a charge!! I'd personally like to just buy a new laptop but Pete, ever the practical one (did I just say that???), has vetoed that for now.

We have a lot of prep list items done now. Tonight, I will start the packing!

A Russian Visa Scare

2008-07-07T15:09:00.000-04:00

I was quite excited to see a FedEx envelope waiting for me after lunch today. Then I opened and carefully reviewed our visas. And, doggonit, don't you know there were a couple possible problems? Firstly, we depart on 12 July, but don't arrive until 13 July in Moscow. Our visas show we arrive 12 July, but that is apparently not an issue.

The next one could have been a big show-stopper. If you are a woman who had a passport before marrying, you probably know that your passport simply gets amended with your married name. Its a little blurb on the last page of the passport. I would think this is a fairly routine thing to see, but nine times out of ten when I travel outside this country, it stymies everyone from the local airport people to anyone we deal with in the destination country. WHY???? I have no idea, but it is constantly brought up that my flights are in a different name than my passport...uh, no they're not. Look at the amendment page....derrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Well, wouldn't you know that they put my visa in my maiden name???WTF? All the paperwork was filled out with my married name. When I saw this I felt panic rising. I called the agency that handled the visas, and they seemed to think it wouldn't be issue but had to check for sure. I need immediate gratification you see, so they're "couple hours" time frame didn't work for me. I checked the Russian embassy website...not back from lunch until 2:30 and it was 2:15. So, I posted on FRUA. Nobody responded. So, finally I called the Russian embassy in DC, and got through to a woman who really seemed to have no sense of humor whatsoever. I explained the situation and asked, "Is this going to be a problem?". "No." That's all I got. She was a woman of few words for sure, but I guess that's all I really needed from her.

Lists, Lists and Gifts

2008-07-07T09:44:00.000-04:00

I spent a good part of yesterday bargain shopping. My best bargain- $100 worth of merchandise for $39 at CVS. Yes! Anyway, I stocked up on stuff for us (boring) and loads of cosmetics that will be gifts for the caregivers on trip 2. I also got gerber puffs for our trip to give to the kids. Fun!

I made lists in prep of our trip- a prep list and a packing list. And then it dawned on me...we have a lot to do!! argh!!!

Celebrating our Trip

2008-07-06T13:11:00.000-04:00

We had a whole day of celebration yesterday for our trip to Russia to meet our kids. One of my closest girlfriends, Cheryl, came home from upstate New York where she is working this summer, for the weekend. That was awesome that she was in town to share in the celebrating. We started the day with a boat ride, which was much fun. One of my other closest girlfriends, Shannon, and her husband Russ, as well as Pete (of course), Kristi, her husband Drew and their little boy Ben came too! Shannon is planning my shower, and her son Bladen is my Godson. I think everyone had a really good time, and the weather was absolutely fabulous for an afternoon on the boat.

We came home a little late to find the rest of our celebration guests waiting for us. Oops! My other closest girlfriend, Yvie and her husband Bob, their little guy Findlay, Jen, Jess and John were all waiting for us. We had a great time. Pete brought out all of his motorized toys- the mini-bikes and the go-ped and people were playing on those. It was a wonderful way to celebrate. By the time everyone left, around 10:30pm, I was pretty tired.

I hiked Friday with my friend Dora, 9.5 miles. We try to do this hike every month. Its a good way for us to catch up and we both really enjoy hiking. We always conclude our hike with a nice big breakfast, even though its 1pm or so when we finish. We both had forgotten it was July 4th, and were a bit confused when a biker rode by and said "Happy 4th!" It took us about 20 seconds to register.

All in all, its been a good weekend. I'm off to do some shopping for gifts for trip 2, and then I'll spend the rest of the day studying Russian, and preparing for our trip.

Happy 4th of July all!

Got the flight and apartment booked

2008-07-03T12:17:00.000-04:00

We have our flights booked- we are flying Delta. We got confirmation from Peace Travel that we have the apartment booked. The apartment is in Arbatskaya on Old Arbat street. This is, admittedly, a very touristy area. It is centrally located though, which is good. My friend Marina, who is from Moscow, has told me that things will be more expensive in Arbatskaya. Our apartment has a little kitchen, so we can make some meals ourselves. We leave Detroit on Saturday the 12th, and arrive in Moscow on the 13th. We will have Monday to sightsee, then we have our MOE appointment on Tuesday and proceed to the orphanage from there. We will be able to visit the children every day we are there, though I am not sure about weekends. So, I would assume most days will be spent with some visiting with the kids, and some sightseeing.

I really need to brush up on Russian. I have Pimsleur Russian, the complete set, on audiochip. I keep trying to zip it onto my iPod and its not working. I'm getting very frustrated. I will try again today, and if it doesn't work, I'll just have to spend time every day at my computer studying. I'll find another way to get Russian lessons on my ipod. I need to surround myself with the language- be one with Russian! Ya lyublyu rooski yezik!

I have one girlfriend planning a shower for me, and some work friends planning a shower as well. Woohoo! I'm so excited to get celebrate this awesome lifechanging event with my friends!

We're also planning on flying up my sister and her little guy for a long weekend. They live in Alabama, and she will be our nanny. we have to make sure she doesn't hate Michigan!!! I hope the weather is on its best behaviour that weekend.

Finally, next week I will be putting our blog on private so we can post lots of info while we are in Russia. If you want to be able to read our blog while we are in Russia, and after until we come home with the kids, please email me at jlstacey at sbcglobal.net so I can send you an invite.

It's true! It's true!

2008-07-01T15:59:00.000-04:00

We have confirmation of an MOE (Ministry of Education) date of July 15th. We leave on the 12th, arriving midday the 13th in Moscow. We'll stay for a week, play with the kiddos, etc. Then we come back for 4 -6 weeks of chaos preparing for our lives to change forever in a very good way. If you know Pete, you know that he doesn't get excited easily. He's getting excited!

So, there you have it!

Happy Dancing

2008-06-25T12:47:00.000-04:00

The last few days have brought wonderful news!

Firstly, yesterday our agency (Lighthouse Adoptions in Ann Arbor) told us we have a very good chance of of getting a Ministry of Education appointment on either July 8th or 15th. What does that mean? It means we get to meet our child on that day, in Moscow! This is the news we've been waiting to hear. We will find out for sure on July 1st, when our dossier is registered with the Ministry of Education in Moscow.

As I think I wrote previously on this blog, we decided to consider referrals for single boy under 2 years old a couple months ago simply because we want to be parents NOW. The wait for a little girl is longer than a boy, so we thought having a child at home would make the wait easier. Lorien (from Lighthouse) called me today to say that have a bio sibling group in Moscow for us to meet! This is the most ideal situation for us. Pete is often the more practical of the two of us, so he is tempering his enthusiasm until this information is concrete. We've been thru many similar scenarios in the past, but Lorien actually tells us what is going on. I now understand better how this process works in Russia.

Wish us luck!

Fingerprint Update

2008-06-13T09:46:00.000-04:00

We had our USCIS fingerprint updates done today.

Still having crazy weather here in the Motor City. We're supposed to visit my mom, step-dad and grandmas this weekend. We're supposed to have severe weather tonight, so I don't think we'll be heading down until Saturday morning.

That's all for now.

Summer in Moscow

2008-06-12T12:01:00.001-04:00

I am hoping we will be there this summer...the first two weeks of July to be exact. We will hopefully have an idea by the end of next week as to whether we will be traveling before July 14th. Keep your fingers crossed, pray to your God for us...we can use all the help we can get right now! I know that Lorien and her in-country staff will be working very hard to get this done for us. Our dossier is done- Lorien notarized and apostilled for us yesterday. It might even be in the hot little hands of the family taking it to Moscow for us this weekend!

I've started my little shopping sprees again. No bargains were to be had at Target last night though. I still got some infant stuff. I had thought we would be coming home with older children (2-4) when we were with Frank, so I really had not focused at all on infant things- bibs, strollers, cribs etc. I need to start looking into these. If we come home with a little guy 14-18 months old, do we need anything more than an umbrella type stroller?

Next steps are to send in our FBI fingerprint cards and to send our letter to extend our I-171H.

The next 8 days until we hear something will be excruciating, but I'm sure I can come up with plenty of diversions- shopping, sewing and gardening!

Exciting News!!!

2008-06-09T12:18:00.000-04:00

We have terminated our relationship with Frank Adoption Center in North Carolina! I am not going to go into details of why at this point. Maybe in the future I will, and I can share with people through email why we made this decision.

The exciting thing is that we have signed on with a local, small agency called Lighthouse Adoptions. We have met with the director, Lorien, and feel very good about our new relationship. We should have our dossier done for them tonight, other paper work is in with them and they are trying to get us over to Russia (Moscow City Region) for early July. We have a better than 50% chance of having an appointment with MOE there before the July shutdown (The Russian bureaucrats take a 5 week vacation mid-July).

What you probably don't know because I haven't posted in a while is that we are now focused on bringing home a young boy (under 2 years) instead of two children. We just want to be parents, and this is the route that will allow us to be parents the fastest. We will then go back quickly for a little girl.

I have hope again. I had really lost hope after our ordeals at the beginning of the year. I am very tempted to go do some retail therapy, i.e. hit up my local Carters for some cute little boy clothes, but have resisted. I'm afraid it will jinx things.

So, this is our exciting news! Stay tuned, I will be posting our progress!

I'm Back

2008-06-04T13:14:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in over 4 months. Prior to now, I was feeling a bit hopeless, but we might be on the right track again, finally. Most likely, we will be adopting one child at a time now. First, a little boy and then a little girl. We sold my beloved Mini Cooper last weekend and I got my family car- a 2006 Mazda 5. We bought the Mazda for what we sold the Mini, so that worked out really well for us. I have been resisting buying little boy clothes, but I am incredibly tempted.

Anyway, that's the update for now. We have some things going on right now that I can't presently discuss, but I will update the blog when I have info that I can post.

I can wait no longer

2008-01-24T12:15:00.000-05:00

Our trip to the Dominican Republic was absolutely wonderful. It was exactly what we needed. We relaxed, we ate, we drank, we swam and we climbed waterfalls. It was really fantastic.

What was even better than that trip, though, was what happened 4 days later. We got THE CALL. Our social worker had told us that the Russian government would basically be closed from January 1st thru the 10th, so imagine my surprise when we got the THE CALL on the 10th. It was fantastic, but also very abstract. We have a blind referral for two children (boy and girl), both between the ages of 2 and 4. We know nothing else at this point, other than the region. They are in central Russia, not too far away from Moscow. We are still waiting for our travel dates, and we should get them sometime in the next couple days. This waiting is killing me!!!!

I haven't posted this prior to now because there are still some people that don't know, and I didn't want to post prior to getting travel dates. I can't wait any longer though!!!!

I will update when we get more news.

Lacking the Holly Jolly Spirit...and a Tequila Sunrise

2007-12-20T17:43:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't posted in a while. There's no news on the adoption front. In fact, at the beginning of last week, our SW said it would probably be slow until after the holidays, which equates to after January 10th in Russia. So, what did we do? We decided to plan our last fling!

It took us a while, but we finally agreed on a destination and found a trip at a reasonable cost. We're going to the Dominican Republic. Pete can't sit on a beach, and quite honestly, after a couple days I would be sick of this as well. Thus, most Caribbean islands don't offer enough "to do" for us. We looked at Jamaica- lots of wonderful natural resources offering exciting adventures, but WAY too touristy. Then we actually agreed upon Panama, but when we started calling on booking rooms, we were told there were none available, and basically they laughed over the phone at us for even trying to find one at this late date. So, then we came upon the DR, an increasingly popular ecotourism spot. Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner!

We fly out the morning of the 27th (yes, a week from today) and arrive in Puerto Plata, DR at 3:11pm. We leave 5th January in the afternoon. Temperatures are supposed to be in the 80s. Our resort has 7 pools, 2 swim up bars, the beach, loads of restaurants and so much more. We're going to go cascading, hiking, river rafting, snorkeling....yahoo!!!

So, that's exciting. I'm not, however, very excited about the holidays. I haven't sent out Christmas cards and Pete had to goad me into putting up the Christmas tree. I'm glad he did though. It does look pretty, and its fun to watch our cat Alfie play in the tree.

Meanwhile, for the next week, I will prepare for the DR, and plod thru working :)

Kids' Room

2007-12-09T17:44:00.001-05:00

Finally, pictures of the kids' room. I made the curtains and window seat cushion. Pete built the window seat and bookcase. I also painted the little table and chairs from Ikea.

Practice Run

2007-12-08T23:27:00.000-05:00

Pete and I watched my friends' two little ones tonight. We watch them every month for an evening. Tonight's "practice run" was the most difficult thus far. The little ones are 15 months old (B)and 4 months old (R). B is my godson and both kids are very sweet. B is now at the point where he's very mobile and responds to a lot of things by crying (like being put in the pack n' play when he doesn't want to be in it, not letting him get into drawers, etc). B has a disease called Tuberous Sclerosis, and has infantile spasms (seizures) as a result. He didn't have them for several months due to his medication, but he has started having them again in the last month. He's the cutest little guy. R is fairly easy to watch because she's not mobile. She's gotten very interactive- smiling, cooing and laughing. B cried a lot more that I was used to tonight and it had me worried, but I now know that this is just his age generally. Pete and I both worn out now....Pete's secluded himself in the basement to listen to the Mayweather - Hatton fight on the internet. I'm going to read or just fall asleep.

Tomorrow we go to a local Russian restaurant called The Fiddler with my tutor and her fiance for lunch!

Waiting is the Hardest Part

2007-12-07T15:08:00.001-05:00

We probably won't get a referral before year end, that is the latest news. I probably new that already, but I was holding out hope. This kind of crushes me. Thank goodness its Friday, because I really just want to go home right now. Its very difficult to focus at work, which I feel guilty about. I'm just ready for a little pity party for myself.

I've looked a bit for Pete and I to go on some sort of little mini vacation at year's end. I want someplace warm- the caribbean. Pete's talking about doing a roadtrip, but that will most likely lead to an argument- that's the last thing I want!

Holiday Stuffing

2007-12-07T09:42:00.000-05:00

That's what I did last night. One of our vendors invited my boss, my co-worker and I to a holiday party. It was being held at a good Detroit restaurant (the Rattlesnake Club) so we thought, hey why not? It was FABULOUS! Strolling food, food stations, a mashed potatoe bar, coffee bar (with shots of five different types of liqueur to add to your coffee), a dessert bar with petite desserts and several dessert wines to go with the desserts, lots of seafood, swordfish, and so much more. So, even though I went with good intentions, and I started off doing well and eating fairly nutritiously, it all went down the tubes with dessert. Not only was there the dessert bar, but they kept coming by with more little bite size desserts- cheesecake, white chocolate ravioli, creme brulee...mmmmmmm. Finally, we were sent off with more chocolate and a bottle of wine each. A very merry evening indeed!

It Doesn't Hurt to Ask

2007-12-05T10:09:00.000-05:00

So, after getting materials from the wonderful Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, I presented a proposal to my HR department yesterday to add some sort of adoption benefit. I felt it was very well received and walked away with a warm fuzzy feeling.

Today, I gave additional materials to my HR gal, and she said that she believed they would be adding some sort of adoption benefit! I'm so excited! It doesn't matter what it is, I'm just happy that they might acknowledge the needs of adoptive parents. Yahoo!!!

More Paperwork

2007-12-04T12:14:00.000-05:00

I had a very successful afternoon yesterday of running around and collecting docs. I just have to photocopy them and send them off now. Ahhhh....the fun of the paperchase again.

I've been working on the living room drapes and man are they big. Its just so much fabric! They are finally starting to look like drapes instead of large pieces of fabric. I've been watching TV/movies while sewing and am catching up. I saw "Mr. Brooks" last night- weird movie. Have you seen it? If so, what did you think of it? We also watched "The Flying Scotsman" this weekend. That was a good movie- I would recommend it, especially if you are into cycling.

So, I officially started my diet yesterday. I think I'm off to a good start. Somehow, in a 24 hour period I lost 3 pounds. I don't believe the scale. It'll be back up 3lbs tomorrow....

Paperwork Redo

2007-11-30T09:26:00.000-05:00

Well, its been a year since we started our dossier and we actually have documents that have expired. Some of today and tomorrow morning will be spent redoing docs for our dossier. Its good to stay on top of this stuff!

No news from our agency. Perhaps December will be our lucky month!

I have finished the curtains for the kids' room and put them up. I will post pics this weekend.

Not much else going on, but we are going out tonight for a friend's going away. Our singles gang has settled down and is slowly moving away. Its been years since we had a pub crawl like we used to do every weekend when we were all younger. I've had several "last hoorahs" over the past 4 years while trying to get pregnant and now while adopting. I always think it will be my last opportunity for 18 years to get crazy, but here I am, still childless.

We may be meeting up with new friends from my favorite Eastern European Adoption group, FRUA, tomorrow night in Lansing. The weather is supposed to be crap here though, so we may have to reschedule.

I'll post more later.

Dyeti?

2007-11-28T17:30:00.001-05:00

Just in case you're wondering....dyeti means kids or children in Russian.

The First Post

2007-11-27T13:35:00.000-05:00

Let me introduce myself. My name is Jena, and I'm a pre-adoptive parent. What does that mean? Well, it means I'm in the process of adopting but haven't gotten custody of my kids yet. Actually, we haven't even gotten a referral yet. But it should happen "soon".

Pete and I got married on May 9, 2003, and started trying to conceive immediately. Over the next three and half years, he and I both endured many tests trying to figure out why we weren't getting pregnant. I had exploratory surgery in July 2005 and the doctors found nothing conclusive. Our next step was IntraUterine Insemination (IUI) in August. It was unsuccessful, and I fell into a deep depression. A year later, when I felt up to it again, we tried IUI once more. Again, we were unsuccessful, and our fertility doctor told us that I don't respond well to the hormone shots. I had only a 50% chance of producing enough eggs to even continue to IVF. Additionally, the IUI process had sent me into a depression once more. We decided at that time that the best option for us was to adopt. I felt a huge sense of relief knowing that we were heading down a path that would lead to us definitely having a family!

We spent a couple months researching agencies, countries and types of adoption. After much consideration, we chose to adopt two children from Russia and signed up with a reputable, trustworthy agency. That was October 2006. It took us 8 months (yes 8!) to get our dossier together. On a wonderful day in June of this year, we submitted our dossier to our agency. We are now just waiting for the call!