Thursday & Friday Thoughts

Thursday morning we met up with our frined Anya and she took us to a little inside waterpark. We thought that might be something fun to do since it is in the upper 90's here and there is only so much you can do in a hotel room with a 2 year old! He LOVED it! He was splashing around, water in the face and everything! No pictures to post on this experience because the park had a NO PICTURES sign posted..I have now noticed that sign in all stores etc.. random! We only stayed for about an 1.5 hours.. then it was home for a 2 hour nap..After nap he had his first real break down. I fixed him yet another drink in a sippy cup. (remember he did not use a sippy cup but being 2 and in a hotel with all white bedding I thought he needed one=))  I think he had tolerated it long enough and he threw himself on the floor and just started sobbing. I knew he wanted the drink so it clicked immediatly with me that it must be the lid.. so I quickly took it off and he stopped crying and took the drink like a big boy, as in chugged it in a minute, tops! The afternoon seemed to go down hill from there. He started to push back from us..That night he did not want to go to bed..He cried and cried and cried what felt like hours.. There was nothing we could do to console him.. We tried rocking, swaying, singing, patting his back.. but he just pushed us away. For a child who has never been comforted a day in his life this is something that he is not used to...we just spoke re-assureing words to him. We figured he was finally starting to grieve his loss. This was what I had imagined our first night to be like not our 3rd..go figure=) He finally fell asleep only to wake up a couple hours later and cry for hours more...

Friday..we were all too tired to do much of anything..a trip to the market for more food and to the park with lots of laughter and fun! It was a much better day! We skipped nap time hoping this would help with bedtime.. So far so good.. He fell asleep at 7:30 in under 5 minutes and it is now 11:30pm and he is still out.

The experince I have with raising my 2 girls I feel like gives me no help in learning my son..It is a completly different ballgame. In preparing to bring him into our lives I read several books etc... but I think it didn't  really all come together until he was safe in our arms..In so many ways he seems big for his 25month old life.. He can drink out of a cup and feed himself with a spoon with the same skill my 5 and 8 year old can and  he fully participates in the dressing routine and even brushes his own teeth! Yet he is probably realistically on a 14 month old level from being instituionalized for 2 years which we already knew.. we hear they catch up quick!! It breaks our hearts that when he falls down he doesn't cry.. he just rubs his little head and keeps going..why? Probably because nobody has really ever helped him before. His new game now is to walk a few steps, fall down and wait for us to say, " it's ok" and help him up! He loves getting cared for and we love watching him acclomate to being cared for!! We also noticed that until now he didn't really expect anyone to change him, feed him, help him, "rescue" him in time of need..I've read about it but then seeing it first hand seriously makes me want to cry.  It is all about learning him right now and turning his little life around.... he is such a joy and a blessing in our lives!  He loves to laugh too.  We were tickling him last night and he was belly laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath.  The joy in his eyes while he is laughing is when  you truly see God's hand on him.  We feel privledged to be part of God's work.....

Gotcha Day!!! Tuesday

So here is the run down on one of the best days of my life! At 9:00am we had an appointment at the notery's office. From there back to our hotel to wait for 1.5 hours until our next appointment at City Hall at 12:00. We waited for almost an hour there.. no air and it was hot! From there we went to the Visa Department to get a number (to wait)..then to the supermarket to get 2 cakes and 3 bottles of champagne for the head nurse and director..Then at 2:30 we made it to the orphanage. We went into the head nurses office and they asked for his clothes including a diaper. While we waited they gave me the only baby picture they had of him. It was a picture of him when he was 3 months old=) Then they brought him to us!! So cute in little boy clothes! His shorts and shoes were massive on him!! I even measured on trip one.. I somehow still got it wrong=) He seemed to remember us..After only a couple of minutes they said, "ok..get the child and lets go!"...so off we went! Surpriseingly he was all smiles on our way out!! All smiles until we got into the car and into the car seat! You have to remember.. as far as we know he has never been outside the orphanage so everything from this point on is a new experience for him.  Once we got him in the car seat I gave him what every child loves... Cheerios! He was in heaven! Next stop... back to the Visa Department..this time we were there for an hour...yea for cheerios.. he ate all of them...I was now out of food=( From there we went to the Supermarket so our translator could show us what kind of milk etc.. to buy for him... wow..this was an experience... all that food..he wanted all of it and didn't understand why he couldnt have it! I had to take him out of the store..Once we got into the car we opened up a yogurt drink and poured it into a cup.. (he didn't have a clue how to drink out of a sippy cup..they only do cups in the orphanage) he downed the entire drink in under 1 minute.. then continued on to eat some crackers!!He did not stop eating all afternoon.. if we tried to stop him.. he cried..by the time we got back to the hotel I think he was in a "food coma"... he was about ready to pass out! He was as we said all day "cautiously happy"!! As soon as we got into our room we skyped Kennedy and Mika! He was to into his toys to really care about the computer..After dinner.. like he really needed to eat again.. we gave him his first bath. It went much better than I thought! He was nervous but he did well. We were trying to keep him on his schedule and get him to bed by 8...not so much.. after his bath.. he came alive!! He was so funny! He was "talking" and laughing about everything! He would not go to sleep.. He didn't want the party to end! Everytime we would change his diaper, feed him, or do anything to help him he gave the biggest smile!!! It's like he knows.. not in the same sense that you or I know.. but I think he somewhat gets it! This boy is soooo happy!  He is so good too... I hope it stays this way!
When it finally got dark out side.. around 12:00am he got scared..the orphanage does not have room darkening shades! So once we figured out why he was crying we turned a light on.. then his bug bites started itching..no air in the orphanage and Russia is having a heat wave so it is in the upper 90's.. so they leave the window open with no screens.. so a little medicine later he calmed down...but no sleep.. we tried walking, bouncing, singing, but nothing seemed to work.. ultimately he fell asleep at 2 AM leaning up against a pillow in between us......
Nothing says good morning like waking up to your son staring at you and when you look at him he gives you the biggest smile possible..That one single smile in that one moment made everything worth the wait!! He is an amazing little boy and we are truly blessed to be a part of his little life!

Day 2-Wed.

With all of our paperwork done we are free for the rest of the week.. just waiting for his passport to be finished. We woke up around 9:30.. he ate..then we went to the "mall" in search of shoes that would fit him. He loves his stroller and all the way to the mall he was just singing and talking to himself...We finally found some shoes that we thought were a good price for Russia. After that we stopped for lunch.. My boy can eat! I was looking forward to a 3 hour nap that the orphanage said that he took everyday...because I really needed one... how about a 1 hour nap! I think they just put them in their beds for 3 hours.. they don't really sleep for that long.. even when he woke up he just laid there.. no crying.. but when we got him up.. he was all smiles! Then we went to the park.. he loved it!!  He finally got to see bubbles!! He wasn't real sure what to think of them.. He wanted to blow them too.. but instead just put the blower in his mouth..he played in the sandbox.. ran around and played with a ball. After the park it was time for dinner.. bath.. then bed..it is 8:30pm and he is out!!! yea!! I think tonight will be much better!

He loves his hat!! At the orphanage the kids always had a hat on outside..so he looks for his hat when we go outside and he keeps it on!

What a Week!

I thought this would be the longest week of my life! Not so much.. I can't believe we are leaving tomorrow!!! I had a list a mile long

-Michael had a ton to get done at work
-I had to work 3 days this week
-The girls had a denists appointment at 9:30am Monday morning.. Kennedy has an "absessed tooth"..  we get to have that pulled when we get back
-I had to take the dog to the vet to get her updated rabbies shot (thought this might be good since she is staying with my parents out in the country while we are gone=) )
-Clean House
-Laundry
-Pack for 5 people for 2 weeks
-Collect final documents for the US Embassy - last 3 years W-2's, Homestudy, Employer Letter's, I-600 Form
-Bank to get more "new" money
-Pharmacy to get precautionary prescriptions for Andrew
-Make final hotel/airfare reservations for St. Petersburg and Moscow- yuck
-Send out info. to all family members keeping my precious girls-contact info. etc..
-In all my shopping for Andrew.. I forgot to buy shoes!!! So I went shoe shopping and I also bought a couple of smaller outfits.. just in case I measured wrong.
-I ordered a dresser for his room 3 weeks ago..it finally came while we were gone.. so we put it together this week too!! Now his room is finished and his clothes finally have a home=)
-Add Andrew to our health insurance
-Make Andrew's initial doctors appointment and his first eye doctor appointment (he has strabismus and will need a minor corrective surgery)
-And I am sure there are a few other little things I am forgetting.. I'm just tired and can't remember=)

We can't wait to get our little boy! Please be praying for him as he makes this transition..We have been waiting and praying for him for some time now.. he has not been waiting for us.. He has no idea what is about to happen. His entire world is about to change. Everything that is familiar to him will change, smells, sights, sounds - from Russian to English , even his name. We know he will probably have some time of grieving..we are just praying that we will do our best in helping him through this and adjusting to his new life=)

Trip Home

I can't believe this week is almost over! It has been so busy and I haven't even posted about our trip home.. not that I really want to re-live it.. but just a quick update.
We left for the airport last Saturday at 4:00am..We flew from St. Petersburg to Moscow..with an hour 1 1/2 between our flight from Moscow to New York we knew we had to hurry..we did NOT check our luggage all the way through after our recent experience with Moscow=) We then had to get our tickets for our next flight... 2 ticket agents and one long line...we missed our flight..So this babushka (grandma) working told us " you, when you are in New York, you hurry...when you are here in Moscow you think nothing and you go slow...you.. this is your fault you miss flight!" Seriously?? Seriously!! So, we had to wait 4 hours for the next flight!! We finally made it to New York then our flight to Dallas was delayed 2 hours! We finally walked in the doors of our house at 3:00am on Sunday morning.. When my husband reminded me that we would be back on a plane that same time next week.. I wanted to cry!