Finally Over the Jet Lag

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

We Sure Got Muddy This Morning

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

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

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

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!

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.