tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35577927725226777932024-02-02T05:05:52.967-05:00Our Little Russian Sweet PeaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-88358503707711674182011-09-09T15:08:00.001-04:002011-09-09T15:08:43.967-04:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Sorry we haven't posted. The past few days have been a world wind of activities. We will catch up our posts when we get home tomorrow including Sweat peas debut. To all the other adoptive parents, we will answer all your questions privately when we get home.</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-36865173575837957152011-09-04T21:25:00.002-04:002011-09-04T21:25:55.306-04:00Wednesday, August 31st Gothcha Day!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In the adoption world, the day you actually get physical
custody of your child is known as “Gotcha Day”. Not terribly eloquent, and I
have no idea who originally came up with it. But after 2 years, hundreds of
pieces of paperwork and thousands of dollars, Sweet pea--we gotcha!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Just like last Friday, we woke up bright and early at about
0400. We still have not acclimated to the time change. Vlad is 15 hours ahead
of Michigan. Just like last Friday, we made the 2-hour trek to Ussyrick. I was
not as nostalgic this time. We had a relatively smooth trip, little traffic,
but I am done with this drive. Last Friday I took about a hundred pictures,
today I took two.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sweet pea is doing much better. She feels better from her
earlier pneumonia. She even looks better, a little more filled out. They had
said she gained a kilogram (2.2#s) while we were gone for 5 months, but I
thought last week she looked thinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
am glad we decided to leave her here. We are anxious to be her parents, but
this place and these people are all she knows. I’m sure it was less stressful
for her to recuperate here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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She is again excited to see us. She is in the front crib by
herself, but has graduated from having socks on her hands. She is actually
dressed in pink, which looks very pretty on her. Not sure if I mentioned in the
past, they don’t really follow the pink and blue rules for baby girls and boys
here. Whatever is grabbed is what you get.<o:p></o:p></div>
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While we wait for Ivan to finish all the detail work, we
play with Sweet pea and get to feed her again. More pureed meat/veggies/bread
stuff. It is not really very appetizing, but probably very healthy as it is all
fresh foods—and not a preservative in site! She also gets warm tea in a
porcelain cup. After lunch, all the other children are put done for their
3-hour nap. Not Sweet pea, although she looks very tired. She is going with us.
We begin to change her, but the caregivers want to wash her first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They come and grab her. They are treating us like
we have never seen a baby before. I want to dress her in a beautiful lavender
and green dress from Janie and Jack. I got it 50% off and it is still the most
expensive piece of clothing I have bought for Sweet pea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also bought the little lavender coat to go
with it, but it is too hot today. Who knew it would be 80 degrees here? The
dress has straps, so I did not want to put a onesie t-shirt under it. The
caregiver tried her best to communicate to me that I needed one. I feigned
ignorance until she went to grab an old one from the cupboard. I had to give-in
and ran and got a new one from my bag first. Doesn’t she know it’s 80 degrees
out?! So now the dress looked stupid and Sweet pea is tired and irritable. She
is ready for that nap. Did I mention she also had to have tights on? Yeah, I know,
it’s 80 degrees out. I anticipated this and brought the tights. We tried to
take the obligatory caregiver pictures, Sweet pea is sobbing. She has hit the
wall. We take 2 bad shots; grab our stuff and head out the door. The medical
director, Tatiana sees us off and gives us hugs. Sweet pea is still crying. No,
at this point I am not wondering “what have I done?”. I understand the value of
a good nap. I am certain Sweet pea will pass out in the car and the world will
be right again afterwards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as expected,
she is a new girl when we arrive at her home for the next week, the Vlad Motor
Inn.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When we are walking in to the Vlad Inn, Clarisse was
carrying her. She put her down in the hall to let her walk by herself while
Clarisse held her hands. Well, Clarisse wanted to stop, but Sweet pea just kept
going! She was walking by herself!!! I yelled out “Stop her!” because I wanted
to tape this momentous event. I had seen her take a few steps in her crib, but
not like this. I did not really expect her to be ‘stopped’ but Clarisse said
just for a second she almost reached out and pushed her down. Luckily she
realized that would be wrong and didn’t. We had a good laugh. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The first thing we did was go to eat. We brought food into
the restaurant that we had bought for Sweet pea to eat and she did great. No
complaints. She even took to the bottle right away. We returned to the room and
just played. She seemed very happy and went with the flow. She had a great time
playing with the toys while we made fools of ourselves trying to get her to
smile, which she reward us with often.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We had asked for a crib and they brought us a white Jenny
Lind crib, the kind that has the front side rail that goes up and down (the
kind that is now apparently illegal in the US). Sweet pea’s schedule said<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>she went to bed at 9pm and she was getting a
little cranky. At first we tried to get her to go to sleep by rocking her and
carrying her. Since she is not used to that kind of closeness, it just made her
uncomfortable. Finally, I just put her in the crib and covered her with her
blanket. We braced ourselves for the crying…but after a loud effort…that lasted
maybe 10 seconds- literally- we put her fingers in her mouth, rolled over and
went to sleep. She slept the whole night. Hallaluyah!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Sweet Pea's last day at the baby home</div>
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Showing us how to dress a baby...</div>
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Not a happy baby!</div>
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Back at the Vlad Inn</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-79992464199712456202011-09-04T21:19:00.001-04:002011-09-04T21:19:05.357-04:00Tuesday Aug 30, 2011<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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CLARISSE’S CORNER<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hello all, this is Clarisse’s Corner and I’m here to tell
you all about our excursion into the lovely city of Vladivostok! We had been
saying we were going into the city many times. But, as our days progressed we
grew lazy and would put of the adventure for another day. But today we finally
decided that this procrastination is an abomination, we’re going’ in! Joe
arranged for Dmitry, our driver that picked us up from the airport, to come get
us and take us into Vladivostok for the day and show us the sights. But first,
we had to go to a mall so Joe could buy some cord for the camera or something
like that. Mom and I decided to explore while the boys were getting what they
needed. As we walked we giggled at the store clerks gawking at us, “Do you
think we stick out like a sore thumb?”, my mother asked. We meandered in and out
of a few tiny clothing stores, most were the size of large office cubicles. At
one point I gave a small squeak when I walked past a store window and saw a
manikin. Note to future adopters: Russian manikins are scary. After we found
the boys we headed off to see the sights. Dmitry said he knew just the place.
As we wound up streets that were more like the dark, run down back alleys you
see in West Side Story, mom and I look at each other and I know she is thinking
the same as I am, “where is this guy taken’ us?”. Finally we arrive on top of
the world, or at least that’s what it seemed like. “Most beautiful view in
city” Dmitry says, obviously very proud of himself. Mom then says, “oh yes, our
driver brought us here on our last trip!” Dmitry immediately deflates in the realization
that he has not brought us to one of the few moments in our lives where we are
truly in awe. When I hop out of the car and gaze down at the Russian city miles
bellow us, I am in awe (this is my first time seeing it because I was not here
with mom and Joe on the first trip). I’m not even quite sure how to describe
this view because it really was magical. I remember laughing at myself because it
was an unusual kind of beauty because it was almost all man made. I have never
seen anything like this. I have been to Florida and watched the sun set, into
the ocean, seen the hilly, clear plains of Idaho, and even the wide-open space
on the Mediterranean Sea. But, I have never seen so many big apartment
buildings whose beauty increases with the amount of wear and damage on them.
All different colors, green, yellow, cream, tan, and even baby blue. Behind
this sea of buildings, or should I say works of art, was a vast body of water
stretching to what it seems to be the edge of our flat earth. There were four
or five war ships in the harbor to our right, black and grey. Directly in front
of us was the construction of a massive bridge probably as big as the Golden
Gate, though I have never seen that bridge to be able to really compare. </div>
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The
railing that stood between the huge drop and us was adorned with padlocks. All
different sizes and shapes of pad locks with an inscription of the date the
lock was placed on top of this great city and the initials of who had put it
there. The was also a huge statue of 2 guys, maybe saints?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dmitry told us newly married couples came
here to take pictures with the statue and place a lock for luck in their
marriage. </div>
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“Souvenirs, yes?” Dmitry says. And we walk down to the souvenir shop.
We spend what seems like hours picking out presents for our selected few. I
have never seen so many of those stacking dolls (you know, the wooden ones that
when you open them there is a smaller one inside her and the same for that one
and so on). Every color, many different characters. I picked out a few frilly
ones for my friends and a panda one for my sister Mallory (SHOUT OUT!). She and
I share quite the infatuation with panda bears and I was elated when mom
discovered this unique find. </div>
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After buying almost one of everything in the shop
we headed back out. Dmitry told us about a war memorial that has a submarine
you can tour for just 100 rubles a person (plus 50 to bring a camera in and
take pictures?). One hundred rubles is about $3.50 in US dollars for those of
you who are not familiar with the ruble. The front part of the submarine was
gutted out of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>all the pipes and tubes
and stuff and made into a small museum, decorated with pictures of the inhibitors
of the submarine and the things that belonged to them (old cameras, pocket
watches,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>metals, etc…). When you make
your way to the back it feels like you really are in a working submarine. We
took many pictures; mostly silly ones of us pretending to be subineers looking
out the periscope and sleeping on the hanging cots (even though the sign said
keep off hahaha!). In our defense, we saw the sign after we took the picture. We
left the submarine and took more pictures of the war memorial, the eternal
flame burning in honor of the men, old cannons, and machine guns on large
marble pedestals. </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I then chose to announce I was hungry and wanted food. Dmitry
said he knew a little fast food burger joint that we would like called Royal
Burger. Mom and Joe repeatedly ask if it was anything like Magic Burger,
because they had that a few days before while they waited for their medicals
and hated it. Dmitry said “no, no, nothing like Magic Burger, this better!”. I
never had the pleasure of eating any of Magic Burgers cuisine but I don’t think
that Royal Burger was any better. I’m not sure why, but Russians are against
pickles and don’t put them on their burgers, instead you get two cucumber
slices (like what??).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t care what
anyone says that “meat patty” was anything but meat. After smiling and nodding
saying “mmm” so many times it was almost obvious we were faking, we left the
Royal Burger to start for the hotel.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lying around all weekend and Monday,
this trip into Vlad knocked us all out. Forty-five minutes later, we arrived
back at the Vlad Inn and stumbled out of the car, thanking and paying Dmitry.
We headed straight for our room where we crashed down on our beds and almost
immediately fell asleep, regardless of the fact that it was about 5:30 in the
afternoon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-68197423020108436402011-09-04T21:00:00.000-04:002011-09-04T21:00:02.500-04:00Saturday, Sunday and Monday, August 27, 28, 29th, 2011<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wake up, eat, watch tv, go for a walk, read, nap, repeat times
three days. Yeah, that’s about it. We were going to go to the seaside Saturday,
but Joe didn’t want to. So, we were going to go Sunday, but it was cloudy and
rainy all day. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The highlight of the weekend was that on Saturday; they
changed the satellite channels so we started to get ACTION TV 1000. This
channel runs movies in English!! Granted, we haven’t seen anything from later
than 1990, but did I mention it is in English! The low point of the weekend was
when we realized; sometimes the movie is in Chinese. Pout! Lots of Jackie
Chan’s early action movies. We’ve watched Universal Soldier, Biosphere,
something with a young John Travolta, lots of others that are so old or obscure
we don’t even know the names of them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While we’re talking about TV here, I’ll go on. The only
English channels we get are the following; BBC from London. BBC is ok, but they
play mostly news over and over with hardly anything in between. The news shows
are run back to back and they all cover the same stories. If it’s an interesting
news day, this is ok, but otherwise not a lot of bang for our buck.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another channel is the Australian Channel. They play a lot
of different programs. We are hooked on a few of the Australian series. Tangled
is about ranchers in a small town, Rush is a soap opera type show, City
homicide is similar to The Closer or The Glades (cop shows) at home. We also
watch The Best of… Which is a cooking show with 3 chefs. They get a topic at
the beginning of the show and they have to cook it like a competition. It is
always the same 3 chefs. Themes have been; the best potato recipe, the best
seductive dish, the best of Australia etc. They send their dishes out anonymously
to a 3-judge panel who taste it and decide which is best. I also like Poh’s
Kitchen. Poh is an Asian girl who runs around cooking food, often with this old
white guy. I am not sure why this unlikely pair is matched up, but I find their
recipes interesting. Joe and Clarisse groan whenever I turn this show on. They
hate it. The Australian channel also plays a lot of current American videos,
which we all enjoy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Through the satellite we also get The History Channel, which
at this point rarely comes in and a Sports Channel, again it is hit or miss
with the satellite.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We also watch TB-3, which is like TNT at home. Lots of
reruns and shows like Warehouse 13 and True Blood (neither of which I would
watch at home, but here, oh yeah!). This would be great—except they are all
dubbed in Russian. Sometimes you can hear the English underneath. When they
sing (we watched The Wedding Singer) --that stays in English too. Sometimes
this is better than nothing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The highlight of each day is going to eat in the restaurant.
We have some simple food in the room, mostly things you can rehydrate with hot
water. But going to the restaurant just seems to give you some purpose in life!
We only go for 1-2 meals each day as it costs about $30-35 for the 3 of us to
eat breakfast, at least $50 for lunch or dinner. Luckily the food is good and
worth it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We are counting down to Sweet pea’s arrival. We should be
able to pick her up on Wednesday. We have not been able to go see her on the weekend,
as we have not had a driver. This is just as well because although we would
love to go see her every day, it cost 3200 rubles or about $112 for the round
trip. We just cannot afford it as we already owe the driver over $530 for the
three days he drove us around.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also,<span> </span>a big shout out to Sweet Pea’s biggest sister Mallory. Yesterday, we received a picture of her first ultrasound. Yes, that is right, I am going to be a new mom this year and a new grandma next year! She is 8-weeks along, so the baby is the size of a blueberry. Isn’t SHE cute? </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Walking around Vlad Motor Inn</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-44628637457673132042011-09-04T20:52:00.001-04:002011-09-04T20:52:51.855-04:00Friday, August 26th, 2011<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
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We went to pick up Sweet pea. We were loaded down with 2
more bags of clothes to donate to the baby home (I used the reusable bags from
Disney store and packed them full - I am a good little shopper!), the toys we
bought yesterday, gifts for the medical director (Godiva chocolates, jewelry
and a few little odds-n-ends), gifts for each of the six workers in Sweet pea’s
gruppa (bags with things from bath-n-body works and Target and a small box of
Frango chocolates from Macy’s) and things for Sweet pea to wear. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And that’s where it stopped…(think screeching brakes noise
now…). Little Sweet pea was in a crib up front by herself with socks on her
hands and after speaking with the medical director; Ivan came over to us and said,
“There’s a little problem…” Sweet pea has scabies, just a few little spots. Now
I had just remarked to Joe this morning that I thought she did and I had
forgotten to get a script for medicine before we left. I had heard of kids
having it in the past, not necessarily from this baby home. I had meant to be
prepared, but had forgotten it in the whirlwind week we had. I was going to
discuss our option with Ivan. However, now it was confirmed and they had begun
treatment-today. Our options were to take her and continue treatment in the
hotel or leave her here and let them continue the 5-day treatment. Now I was
not familiar with the medicine they were using and I could not make Ivan
understand my questions about care and contagiousness. He is primarily a
driver, but knows enough to be able to translate in a pinch. We didn’t think
we’d need a translator today. As much as it killed us, we thought it would be
smart to wait the 5 days and pick Sweet pea up then. How would we deal with
scabies in a hotel room? We cannot communicate with most people here and have
few resources. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So, we played with Sweet pea there in her gruppa. All of the
other babies in the cribs were very interested in us. We smiled at them and
cooed a bit. I got to feed Sweet pea her lunch- a stew mixture of potato,
bread, meat and veggies, a HUGE bowl of it! It looked pretty good. She ate all
but a few bites. She was not interested in the apple juice (in a teacup!) they
gave us for her. I cannot believe she is so small with the amount of food she
ate but Joe said he was watching the other children being fed. They did not get
the whole amount. It was more about the time they got to eat, than the amount
of food they had. After that, the kids were put down for a nap so it was time
for us to go. <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">On the way here, I was sad that I would never
get to make this trip again, never get to go back to Ussyrick where I first met
my little girl. Now, I was sad again. Not only did I not have my little Sweet
pea, but also would have to make this long trip again!</span><!--EndFragment-->
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">The Road to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px;">Ussyrick</span></b></div>
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Our little scabby baby. Cannot show her face until our 10-day waiting period is over.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-1154698506029382012011-09-01T23:03:00.002-04:002011-09-01T23:05:07.111-04:00Thursday, August 25th Court!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We woke up bright and early, about 0330, since we went to
bed at 8pm. Plenty of time to get ready for our 0800 pick up time for court. We
spent a few hours going over all of the information Elena (our interpreter)
gave us yesterday about court. She reviewed all of the questions they may ask
us. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Why do we want to adopt?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Why a baby so young at our age? <o:p></o:p></div>
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How do our other children feel about it?<o:p></o:p></div>
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How will we discipline our child? Big focus here in light of
recent events with adoptive kids in the past year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What will we do if she develops problems in the future? No,
we will not put her on a plane and send her back!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Who will take care of her when we work?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Do we have pets?<o:p></o:p></div>
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What do you know about the new treaty signed by the two
countries?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Etc., etc, etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This was the first time we have seen Ivan on this trip.
Before this, he was in Moscow doing paperwork for another family. He drove us
to court; we picked up the Baby home social worker and met the DOE social
worker and Elena there. We knew this was just a formality. They would not give
us a court date if there were any issues, they would ask for more
documentation. All the same, it was very nerve racking. What if we did say
something so wrong that they decide not to give us Sweet pea? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Once in the courtroom, the judge wanted to start with Joe.
She grilled him for over an hour. We knew he would get the worst of it. They
always ask the husband the most questions. He only flubbed up twice. The judge
(through the interpreter) was asking what we would do if the baby was crying
and crying and could not be consoled. He said he would call someone to come
over. (? I don’t know what he meant). She pushed it though and said, “what if
it was in the middle of the night?” He still stayed with his original answer
and said there are people you can call (really? I’d like to meet these people).
She apparently accepted his answer about these people you can call in the
middle of the night to come console your crying babies.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Then a second thing- they asked, “Can we exclude the
possibility of abusing our child?” He answered “No”. This got the judges
attention!! Answering “no” meant we kept that possibility open…luckily Elena
realized he misunderstood the question and stated this to the judge and then
clarified it to Joe who emphatically stated we would never harm our child. I
think the judge realized he did not understand the question the first time as
she chuckled a bit herself when he was retracting his statement.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Then it was my turn. I only got about half an hour of
questions, but somehow managed a flub of my own. The judge asked what we eat
for breakfast. I told her we did not eat breakfast, so I did not cook breakfast
for the family. This seemed to surprise her. During the week, we all leave very
early and we are not hungry at that time. Well, apparently Joe had said we do
cook breakfast. He was referring to the weekends when I actually do cook a large
breakfast Saturday and Sunday. But all I thought of was during the week when we
don’t even really see each other in the morning. Clarisse and I leave at 0700
and I drop her off at school and then head for work. Joe is either not there
(on an overnight), already gone or not up yet. I tried to fix my flub, but too
late. Luckily the judge didn’t dwell on it too much. I’m sure as a judge; she
does not get to spend that “Leave it to Beaver” time making a nutritious
leisurely breakfast for her family either. Everyone was laughing by time I was
done, which I suppose is better than how it could have gone.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After we spoke, they questioned the two social workers. They
stated they tried to find her a Russian family by advertising her in the local
papers (they do that here with the orphans up for adoption) and put her on the
database. No Russians even wanted to come see her because of her medical
history (which in my opinion looks just fine!) and also because of the family
circumstances (whatever!) They questioned why she was not adopted with her
3-year-old sister. The sister’s adoption was almost complete at the time the
mother signed off on Sweet pea. They seemed to grill the social workers much
harder than us. <o:p></o:p></div>
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After they were done, the prosecutor gave her speech, which
was a summary of the situation and her recommendation, which was that we should
be allowed to adopt Sweet pea. YIPPEE! Then we all left the room for about 5
minutes while the judge made her decision: She granted our petition to adopt
Sweet pea and her name would be changed to the name we have chosen for her.
Sweet pea’s birth certificate would have her birthplace changed to Vladivostok
(she was actually born in Spassk and spent her first 3 months in the Spassk
baby hospital) and we were to be listed as her parents. Joe and I were sobbing by this time. The baby
home social worker hugged us. They seemed surprised we were crying, but doesn’t
everyone cry??! It is so stressful and emotional and happy, almost a two year
journey. It was hard not to cry all during court. We just have a 10-day wait
period as they process the paperwork until it is completely official.<o:p></o:p></div>
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These two pictures are of the Vladivostok Court House. Note the gargoyles over the side entrance, they are quite well-endowed. Not sure why, they looked like they were males. If they were obviously female...well, still not sure why...</div>
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It was too late in the day to go get her from the baby home-
only because it is about a 3-hour drive from downtown Vlad and if there is
traffic, forget it. We left with Vladimir (our driver this past week) and he
drove us to a baby store. We bought diapers, juice, and some baby food -
Gerber! We got the turkey; vegetables type stuff with more texture. I’m not
sure exactly what she is used to, the baby home told us they serve a lot of
stews and pureed meats, fruits and vegetables.
We’ll feed her what we eat in the restaurant, but may need this to
supplement and will certainly need it on the plane. I also picked her out one
of those books that have the sound buttons; this one is in Russian, a Russian
alligator toy and an expensive baby doll that she probably will not get to
handle until she is a little older. We also picked up toys to donate to the
baby home. I wanted a Russian CD of lullabies and/or Russian Cartoons, but
didn’t see any. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Back to the hotel and tomorrow we pick up Sweet pea. We
cannot show pictures of her face yet until the 10-day wait is over.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-39525729353132349072011-09-01T22:34:00.001-04:002011-09-01T22:34:38.896-04:00Finally...Pictures<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Saturday, August 20th, 2011 Leaving Detroit, headed to our first layover in Dulles, Washington D.C.</div>
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Ready to go!! </div>
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Moscow, Russia. Domodedovo Airport, Hour 6 of our 12-hour layover!</div>
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Finally leaving Moscow on Transaero. Joe avoids certain death by upgrading our seats to "the good seats"! We liked Transaero Airlines!</div>
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Tuesday, August 23rd, First visit with Sweet pea in 5 months. We got to take her outside for a walk. </div>
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First visit, the building in the picture is the baby home. To left is a play area for the kids.</div>
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Sweet pea remembers her Big Bird book which we had given her on the first trip. (We left her that one, I bought another when I returned home, one dollar well spent.)</div>
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Sweet pea remembers the scratchy-faced guy</div>
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Looking at the flowers. This is the children's play yard.</div>
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Children's play yard</div>
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Wednesday, August 24th, 2011. Second visit with Sweet Pea</div>
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We discover she can almost walk!</div>
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She likes to watch her feet as she walks</div>
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Do you like her little baby babushka?</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-59100251708912095892011-08-28T19:59:00.002-04:002011-08-28T19:59:49.017-04:00Wednesday, August 24th<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>321</o:Words> <o:Characters>1833</o:Characters> <o:Company>DHS/TSA/FAMS</o:Company> <o:Lines>15</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>4</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>2150</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">We visited Sweet pea today. She remembered us right away today. We were able to speak with her caregivers regarding her schedule. She gets up at 0630 and goes to bed at 9pm with various naps and meals in between. They had her all bundled up again. As we stood there talking about her schedule, I held her in my arms. It was so hot; She was in her usual 2 layers of clothes with a hat and all. I had sweat running down my back, she didn’t make a peep. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">We got to take her outside again. The caregiver told us she could walk with assistance. Joe set her feet on the ground and held her up by her hands. She took a few cautious steps at first but then realized she could trust this guy to hold her and –and then she was off! She loved walking and would smile and laugh. We had a great time with her. I forgot to mention on Tuesday, Clarisse found her tickle spot. Every time Clarisse tickled her belly she would double over and giggle. It was so cute to watch and I wonder if anyone had ever done that before. Again the three of us took turns holding her and walking her around.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">We had picked up the DOE social worker on the way here. We are driving her to her family members home in Vladivostok so she can be at court bright and early tomorrow morning. She will be the one who says it is in Sweet pea’s best interest to be adopted by us. Yesterday, we drove the social worker, her daughter and her grandson to the store. It was not really out of our way and as our interpreter said- you do not say “no” to the social worker. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Anyway, we found out later she told Ivan she was very impressed with how Clarisse interacted with Sweet pea and how Sweet pea responded to her after just meeting her yesterday for the first time. She also thought Clarisse was very pretty- just like her mother and I looked too young to have a daughter that old. Haha since my oldest is 24! Of course Joe teased- I may look to young to have them, but I look to old to have Sweet pea! He’ll pay for that!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">After that we returned to the hotel where we ate at the Vlad Inn restaurant and then struggled not to fall asleep before 8pm. We failed, but at least we came close this time.<o:p></o:p></div><!--EndFragment--></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-83988806515879986472011-08-26T16:00:00.000-04:002011-08-26T16:00:35.837-04:00Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>870</o:Words> <o:Characters>4961</o:Characters> <o:Company>DHS/TSA/FAMS</o:Company> <o:Lines>41</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>11</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>5820</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">interpreter and driver picked us up at 0800 to go to Ussyrisk to see Sweet Pea for the Tuesday morning we woke up bright and early to get ready and eat breakfast. The first time in 5 months. It is a 2-hour drive, longer depending on traffic and if your driver will only drive the speed limit. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">When we arrived we met with Tatiana, the chief medical director for the baby home and another doctor who also works there. We were able to ask them any questions about Sweet pea. We had asked pretty much everything on our first trip, so I asked if there were any changes. There were. Sweet pea had had pneumonia and was hospitalized for 2 weeks in July. WHAT!?!? When she returned, they said she had lost some of her abilities, the things she could do. WHAT!?!? They said<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>she was given breathing treatments and medicine at the baby home when she returned and some sort of electric therapy. WWWWHHAATTTT!?!? All I could think of is ECT given to psych patients. I usually do not play the “I’ve been a nurse for 20 years” card, but today was the day and followed it with WTF did you do to my baby? Ok, I said it in a nice way, technically she is still theirs, not ours yet. I said I was curious and asked to see the treatment. I could tell they thought this was odd, but agreed. So, we took a little walk back to 1974 and they showed me the nurse’s office. Turns out it is more of chest percussion with heat sort of thing to loosen up secretions. They also showed me an “antibacterial” machine that they sprayed stuff into the kids noses and throats- I know, I know all of these technical terms…I guess something was lost in translation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our interpreter was pretty good, but I think some of the medical stuff stumped her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Anyway, on to see Sweet pea. The baby home was being renovated, so the music room we used to visit with Sweet pea on the first trip was being used for childcare. We got to go to her gruppa. We got to see all of the babies and they were very interested in seeing some new faces come into the room. But, we only wanted to see one face, and there she was up front. I waved to her and she just looked at me. I think she somewhat remembered, but wasn’t quite sure. They picked her up and brought her over to us. She is so tiny. They claim she gained a kg and grew 5 cm. I don’t see it. Such a little peanut! I was also relieved to see she looked much better than I expected. They had also said she “would fall asleep while playing”. But she was alert when she was with us. She seemed to catch on after a few minutes…these are the people who tickled me and brought the good toys! They let us take her outside after we dressed her in another layer of clothes. Right, it’s only 72 degrees outside (Fahrenheit of course!). We pushed her around the grounds in a stroller for a little while before we took her out of it. We wanted to get our hands on her! The 3 of us, Clarisse, Joe and I took turns fighting over her…I mean holding her. She seemed much more comfortable. I brought out her favorite book from our first trip, a plastic bath book with big bird on it –from the dollar section at Target. What a deal!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">We only got to stay for an hour and a half. Joe and I had to go to downtown Vladivostok to get our medicals. Even though we went and saw our own doctors twice in the past year to get all kinds of tests we did not need, you still have to repeat it here. They will at least accept our X-ray CD and copies of blood work results. Once we got downtown, just before we went into the building for the medical, the interpreter asked us if we had 30,000 rubles. From where? The ruble fairy? We just arrived in town yesterday. We did not have enough rubles. Luckily we did have enough money on us to exchange. We started running<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(literally) around looking for a bank. At this point I realized, I’m not really in such great shape anymore. I vaguely wondered if I had a heart attack on the street—would I flunk the medical? I made a pact with myself to start exercising more. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">We found a bank, exchanged the money after waiting for 20 minutes and returned to the building the medical was in. As we were walking in, one of the doctors was walking out, she told us to hurry; they were getting ready to leave, as we were very late. We ran up the stairs (only 1 flight thank goodness) and into a large room, like a ballroom. It had a couple tables with people only at one of them- the doctors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They ushered us into the next room and there was one screen with a bed in front of it (for Joe) and behind it (for me). The interpreter told me to go behind and some guy followed me. He was talking in Russian and indicating to me to take off my shirt. Well, I almost did, but it occurred to me, I have no idea who this guy is or what he is saying. I was in a private exam area and I was reasonably sure he was a doctor, but you never know. The interpreter came over and confirmed it was ok. He did a quick exam, had me touch my fingers to my nose and looked at my back. He asked if I had scoliosis. No, I didn’t. I have had back pain and went to see my doctor about it last year. She took x-rays and said I was fine. She suggested getting a new mattress and doing back exercises (there’s that word again). I didn’t do either…but I might. I didn’t mention this to this doctor, but I did consider asking him if I could develop scoliosis by walking around airports for two days carrying a 25# carry-on bag and sleeping sitting up. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">We headed back to the hotel after that and had dinner at the Vlad Inn. They have pretty good food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we crashed! We have not conquered the time change yet, asleep by 6:30pm. The best part about that is, you’re up and wide-awake at 3:30am. We really only have 2 channels here, the British BBC and an Australian one. Sometimes there are others, depends on the satellite, it makes for a long night.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><!--EndFragment--></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-21130547515503365602011-08-25T14:28:00.001-04:002011-08-25T14:35:38.563-04:00quick note and Update really soon!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Yes, we are at <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #585858; font-family: 'Coming Soon'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Ussuriysk Baby Home #3 and VMI. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-12117518439359167242011-08-24T06:39:00.001-04:002011-08-26T16:03:04.826-04:00We finally got the call!!! Trip #2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">We thought we would be going back in June. Every class I set up at work and every meeting invite I accepted, I cautioned “I’m waiting for the call to go get my little girl from Russia, I might not be here.” But June came and went. Same thing in July, but July came and went! The first week in August, we heard there was a possibility we might go the first week in September (what?!). Ok, at least that’s a plan. But on August 9<sup>th</sup>, we got the actual call. Our court date is on August 25<sup>th</sup> and we leave on August 20<sup>th</sup>. ELEVEN DAYS!! That’s all the notice we get?!?! After waiting all summer?! Ok. We’ll make it work. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">And we almost didn’t. Joe left the country for work just a few hours after we got “the call”. We didn’t have any issues getting our visas, but we paid through the nose for them, almost $2000 for the three of us, Joe, Clarisse and me. The airline tickets, they’re another story. We had a reservation at Delta and Aeroflot. We were going to fly to JFK, Moscow then on to our final destination, Vladivostok. When we went to pay for the flights, we were told Delta cancelled the reservation!!!! And the same tickets were now $2000 more PER PERSON! We did not have another $6000!! We were expecting more notice for this trip and hoping for cheaper tickets than we had already gotten. Joe spent all of Monday going back and forth with the travel agent and checking in with me in between working to find us better-priced tickets. And we did find tickets, only $300 more per person in the end. The problem with these tickets you ask…with the transfers and layovers, it was a looonnnngg flight. Our first flight left Detroit at 1000 on Saturday morning. We arrived at Dulles Airport in Washington at about 1130. Painless so far. We had a 5 and ½ hour layover. We left Dulles at 5pm, still excited and ready to go! We arrived at Moscow Domodedovo Airport 9 hours and 40 minutes later. I was not as impressed with United Airlines as I had been with Asiana last trip. The seats were small and cramped, the staff had attitude, although a few were nice. I wished for the perfectly cloned attendants of Asiana, always at the ready, offering me perfectly brewed tea.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">So, we’re at Domodedovo Airport after about 16 hours of travel, very little sleep and we are at the front end of a 12 hour layover. Joe had fibbed to us a little bit about how long this layover was. I guess he knew we wouldn’t take it well. We had to collect our luggage from United and check it in at the Transaero Airline desk (this is our in Country airline). We had 5 large bags in addition to our carry-on backpacks. We get that done and start heading to our gate when we realize, we forgot to collect our stroller that we had checked!! What great parents we are! It’s been a few years since we had a baby and baby stuff to worry about! Joe tried to talk to the lady at the information desk, the one who is supposed to speak English. But he couldn’t make her understand that we forgot our baby stroller at baggage claim. Probably because nobody does that!! So, we resorted to accosting our fellow passengers. Joe noted one lady he recognized from our flight; he had heard her speak English and Russian very well. She went over to the information desk and spoke to the lady and got us the answers we needed. Never fear, we retrieved the missing stroller and it never left our hands again…which really wasn’t plan “A” as now we had to lug it around for the next 12 hours. We found some chairs and set camp. We tried to nap while sitting up and not getting robbed. We ate 2 very expensive meals. We wondered through the shops with people speaking in Russian to us while we nodded and smiled. We finally boarded our next flight. Only 8 hours until we were in Vladivostok. For those of you keeping score, the entire ordeal took 37 hours +/-. Ouch. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Needless to say, we were tired and crabby getting on this flight, looking forward to another cramped neck after sleeping sitting up. Joe herded us to row 11 seats A, B and C….and what? This must be some mistake…these are really our seats!!? These were the comments made by Clarisse and I as we saw and came to realize we would be sitting in the good seats! Premium economy. Not the highest class, but they were wider seats (instead of 3 in a row, there were 2) that leaned back further and had foot rests. We would actually get some rest!! This flight went much faster and before we know it, we were in Vladivostok. As we deplaned, we noted, among the many people waiting to pick up their family members, one man held a sign that simply stated “Sanchez”. Our ride was uneventful and once again we checked into the Vlad Motor Inn. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Even though we got here at 4:30pm, we laid down, intending to sleep for a few hours and then get up for dinner. At 9:30 we woke up, mumbled about food and then all three of us rolled over and went back to sleep until 5am the next morning.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-18101120080185042572011-07-13T18:51:00.000-04:002011-07-13T18:51:34.542-04:00Update coming soonIt's been sometime...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-82598561786610434392011-04-11T14:56:00.021-04:002011-04-12T22:03:25.093-04:00Trip 1, Return Home;<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It has been a struggle to get through this past week. I am so tired from the jet lag and my schedule is completely turned around…what was the middle of the night there is the middle of the day here, so I am tired every day and wishing for a nap. What was the middle of the day there is the middle of the night here…but my body wasn’t getting it and both Joe and I would be up half the night! Also, no appetite during the day, but at 2am…starving!! I am just getting turned around.<o:p></o:p></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqsXqgIqZQVbV0m0yXS0PLxWu7yQ89lgDoegMgvgNtDEEfKd7Ywrq-ffFouMjXWowbmahuSsF16F1U3d-go_DEgjZdYga7qZO6pXT8x2015TownVTJ7Fv6_WBzNBxwPO0l0qaaCiczOrA/s1600/100_0274.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqsXqgIqZQVbV0m0yXS0PLxWu7yQ89lgDoegMgvgNtDEEfKd7Ywrq-ffFouMjXWowbmahuSsF16F1U3d-go_DEgjZdYga7qZO6pXT8x2015TownVTJ7Fv6_WBzNBxwPO0l0qaaCiczOrA/s320/100_0274.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mommy Kisses</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRYteZJULdEEhK_8E8JhbBfyZ4OLgS9A708q2qX8HzLYY2uFJBx1I8MZqO-Jj3UJhu5fayyUTriZJD49xQmY_mZa4h47iBluMFnqzExCXup9TmpF8TJN-TZgnS259KOpATaDnT0APEFlI/s1600/100_0362.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRYteZJULdEEhK_8E8JhbBfyZ4OLgS9A708q2qX8HzLYY2uFJBx1I8MZqO-Jj3UJhu5fayyUTriZJD49xQmY_mZa4h47iBluMFnqzExCXup9TmpF8TJN-TZgnS259KOpATaDnT0APEFlI/s320/100_0362.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Holding Daddy's Hand</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The last day we were in Russia, we felt so sad. We had to leave our precious baby behind. Before this trip and for the past 1 & ½ years, I was the one who would tear up whenever I would think about her- living in an orphanage without a mommy and daddy to cherish and love her. I was also the pessimist who was concerned we would be referred a child who we were unsure about medically-things we were not prepared to deal with. So after leaving, I’m actually doing better. I am reassured. She is beautiful. She is perfect. She is healthy. She is not in an ideal situation yet, but she will be very soon. The baby home is old and does not have a lot of resources, but it is clean and the women who take care of the babies seem to care about them. Joe is the opposite. He was the one consoling me for the last 1 & ½ years. Now, he tears up whenever he thinks about her or talks about her!<o:p></o:p></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Anyway, when we were leaving and driving to the airport, it just felt like we going to the baby home again. But, no. We were headed home. The first part of our big adventure that we had been planning and anticipating for so long was now about to be just a memory.<o:p></o:p></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpRk4qOPcSE-cDOf95N1JIgDrxefCVnTUtC9ESINECqJa2w48q5mrIOEaWA_KehvUhQR9Lws_ibymBTCR9RxpdkY_O2EBIYPfnkQ7iHmAe9OU9JMdA6YpCQeZm1eXcFBu61-f2atrdNyw/s1600/mail.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpRk4qOPcSE-cDOf95N1JIgDrxefCVnTUtC9ESINECqJa2w48q5mrIOEaWA_KehvUhQR9Lws_ibymBTCR9RxpdkY_O2EBIYPfnkQ7iHmAe9OU9JMdA6YpCQeZm1eXcFBu61-f2atrdNyw/s1600/mail.jpeg" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF9Dkn5vqogNCbB3YTr6xOpALFw8qhCRPQoyh9lJ7zX1e0ifedDomfi2MbvvB9n2Ot3fCn5l1HYbW5N4LL8qCTfalFPW8wnqpW8M_c_Ma7R0BGJlpmkctW26ylme8qgyIm9O1EUixPrmk/s1600/mail-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF9Dkn5vqogNCbB3YTr6xOpALFw8qhCRPQoyh9lJ7zX1e0ifedDomfi2MbvvB9n2Ot3fCn5l1HYbW5N4LL8qCTfalFPW8wnqpW8M_c_Ma7R0BGJlpmkctW26ylme8qgyIm9O1EUixPrmk/s1600/mail-1.jpeg" /></a>On the way to the airport, we got a phone call from my sister. It was 1 pm, Saturday afternoon in Vlad, but 10:30 pm Friday night at home. Kami was watching our dogs, 3-pound Zoey, a Chihuahua-yorkie mix and 25-pound Coco, a miniature pinscher and fox terrier mix. Coco and Zoey scrapped and guess who won? Zoey was bit on the head and her little eye popped out!!!!!!!!!! They were rushing her to the emergency vet. For anyone who doesn’t know me, Zoey is my little baby. Chihuahua’s tend to bond to one person and I’m that person. When I am home, she is my constant shadow. I was beside myself. She had surgery that night and they put this little dog on 5 different medications. Kami ended up staying up all night Friday and Saturday until we got her on Sunday morning. We had arrived home at 2am Saturday night after our plane landed, we got our luggage and drove home. Joe had to go back to work Sunday (and fly back to Amsterdam) so I was alone with poor little Zoey, with her eye still sown shut after the surgery. She was not eating or drinking and just did not look good. Kami came at 10 pm to help me give her night time medications. We almost took her back to the emergency vet, but after calling them and our friend Cory, who is our vet, we were reassured. I took her to see Cory on Monday and even by then she was doing better.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Since I also had to work all week, I took Zoey to my parents for doggie day care. She had one of those cone things on and she could not eat or drink with it. She also needed meds during the day. She has been there all week at this point. (I took my sister’s dog, Daisy, while she was out of town and they kept Zoey for me. Daisy could stay home all day by herself, but Zoey could not.) In an effort to get her to eat, they gave her whatever she wanted…so this week Zoey had roast beef, mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs with ham, toast…and she ate it all up! She is going to be sad when she gets home and has to eat her Iams dry dog food again!</div></div><br />
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</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-34526493414623268462011-04-06T15:16:00.000-04:002011-04-06T15:16:28.775-04:00Update soonWe will be up dating the blog very soon. Lots to tell on our return home, also going to up date the site. Make it more enjoyable.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-70101287133047770782011-04-01T07:49:00.000-04:002011-04-01T07:49:57.194-04:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Trip 1, Day 5<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The big news today is we went to the notary in Vladivostok. Vladivostok is the major city nearest to our orphanage. Going to the notary was interesting. We parked behind an old building, went in a back door after Svetlana (our interpreter and today our driver) announced us via intercom. It was dark in the stair well that we walked into. Walking in was like out of a movie. It was a very old building, the cement chipping off the walls; it was painted a garish green color.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I trust Svetlana, but I have to say it was creepy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked up a flight of stairs—think dilapidated building, turn of the century. We came to a 2<sup>nd</sup> floor landing, and opened a door which looked 1940’s-ish style and 1 foot inside that door was another door to open. Huh? I began to wonder what we had gotten our selves into. Do they really need that much security---or are they hiding from something? However, the office we walked into was warm and bright. Huh? Didn’t see that coming. The walls were a light peach color, there were desks with computers (!), big windows with plants in them and 3 nicely dressed ladies to help us. One read over all of our paperwork and we officially signed the paperwork, first asking that Sweet Pea be taken off the Russian Orphan Database, which meant she would not be offered to anyone else and the 2<sup>nd</sup> paper stated we knew about her medical history and still wanted to adopt her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Not a problem!) And so we have made our official request.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Signing the official paperwork at the Notaries</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">We then drove out to the baby home, from Vlad; with the traffic it took 2 hours and 40 loooonnng minutes. She was a little crabby today again. She still had her runny nose and felt warm. We did our best to comfort her, but it was obvious she did not feel well. We were able to change her into some of the clothes we brought. I had a onesie and sleeper from Carters, size 6 months. It fit her perfectly, so when we see her next, I will bring 9 month and 12-month sizes. I also had a 12-18 month Gymboree shirt which was way too big, I didn’t even put it on her—but it was probably be a little better in June (when we hope to come back for our court date).</div><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">We also had a bag of new clothes to donate and we donated all of the blankets and toys we have been playing with the past couple days. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All of the clothes we bought to donate. I only brought 1/2 this trip</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal">It was very hard saying good-bye to her today. We know we will not see her again for about 3 months. We were told 8-12 weeks, but everyone here keeps saying 3-4 months—so we’ll see. We got to take her down to her gruppa—her room with her 9 little roommates. So sad to see all of these babies here. The caregivers do seem to care about the children and they do the best they can. But 2 caregivers to 10 babies is tough odds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We handed Sweet Pea over, gave her kisses and they went and stood her in a crib with another baby. She just looked back at us and gave us that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“hey, where are you going" look. Uggg. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We left some things with her to remember us. First was a blanket we slept with for the past couple weeks—to get our smell (good smells of course). Then one of those little tiny blankets that has a character head (ours was a bear). It has a satiny ribbon border around it . We also left a Build-a-Bear Bunny. We did not get clothes for it—but did add a voice box that we recorded our voices on so she can hear us while we are gone. We forgot to tell the caregiver it is there—hope they figure it out. (Thanks to Amy for that idea). Also to future PAP’s, we recorded ours in English and didn’t think about this until it was too late—we should have done it in Russian so she would understand it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Duh!! We also left 2 disposable cameras. Hopefully they will take some pictures while we are gone so we do not miss this time with her. We gave them back a little baby today and in 3-4 months, she will be 1 year old and probably look different—maybe even walking <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">We returned to the Inn, ate awesome 3 cheese pizza for dinner (mozzarella, fontina and feta) , huge “side” salads, and Russian beer (have to numb up a little bit after that good-bye). We are half packed and exhausted (it’s 9pm here, but the middle of the night at home—still can’t get used to the time changes). Ivan picks us up tomorrow at noon. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">We will post pictures of Vladivostok when we get home. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Leigh Ann and Joe</div><br />
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</div><!--EndFragment--> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-63853307846810458852011-03-31T07:08:00.001-04:002011-03-31T07:08:48.540-04:00Trip 1, Day3 and 4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Day 3, Visit #2<br />
Yesterday we visited Sweet Pea for the 2nd time. I was pleased because I could tell she recognized me when she saw me. She smiled right away. She was dressed in a white jumper type thing that had green and orange birds on it and underneath-- a neon yellow shirt of course! It is funny how the kids are dressed. No concern for matching, boys get dressed in pink, girls get dressed in (obviously boy clothes) blue. There were 2 other families there yesterday to see their children. A couple from Texas, there to see their little girl and a couple we were actually introduced to us pre-trip by Amy (thank you Amy) who are also on their 2nd trip and we just now found out- they passed court today for their little boy (Congratulations "O" family!!) The visitor room was hopping! We put out a blanket on the floor for Sweet Pea and sat her down. We wanted to see how mobile she was and she surprised us! Not only can she roll back and forth, she can crawl!!! We never expected that. I know you're thinking, she's 9 months old, of course she can crawl. But due to the developmental delays we expect to see and the fact that she probably never or at least rarely gets time on the floor to do as she pleases, we would not have been surprised if she couldn't crawl. With some effort, she was able to get up to a sitting position also. We had a great time playing with her for a couple of hours. She likes her rattles and everything goes straight into her mouth! We also had an opportunity to see her eat. They brought her afternoon snack into the room. I was holding her on my lap and the caregiver fed her milk that had some cereal type stuff in it-- with a glass tea cup! The caregiver held a bowl under her chin and tipped the cup up to her mouth. Now you're asking "Can a 9 month old drink from a tea cup?" The answer is "NO!!" Just as much dribbled down into the bowl as into the baby. It was sad how quickly she tried to drink all she could- before it was taken away. I was more than a little upset- this is no way to feed a baby. Babies should be held and fed with a bottle by their loving mother, not by someone who needs to get it done quickly because she has 9 more to feed. I had to blink back a few tears and just know I will be able to change this for her. I have read the children eat everything in sight when they are adopted. The older ones (and I only mean 2-3 years old and up) will hoard food in their cheeks or in their rooms until they come to realize the food will always be there and they can have as much as they want.<br />
When we bring Sweet Pea home, I plan to bottle feed her. I know, even in the USA they wean from the bottle by 1 year old. I have 2 reasons. First, it is good for bonding and attachment. Holding her in my arms and feeding her will provide time for us to make eye contact and for her to realize I will meet her needs. Until this point in her life, adults are just caregivers and no one of them is any more important to her than any other one. I want to be the important one (alright, and maybe Joe too :). Second, formula is a good way to get more nutrition into her. She is a little small now, but I guarantee she will be on par with her age group in the US by Christmas. I have read blogs from several other IA (internationally adopted) kids. They sprout up and out, several inches and several pounds very quickly with proper nutrition and love.<br />
Sweet Pea also had a runny nose. She does not like having it wiped!! She seemed to be feeling ok though and we had fun playing with her.<br />
After returning to the Vlad Inn, Joe and I had a bowl of Borscht (love it!) in the hotel restaurant. They have a great bread basket too- some sort of pumpernickel-ish rolls with pieces of walnuts, this sliced brown bread that is sour and a little bitter (I know that sounds odd- but it's great) and then of course--the white roll (haven't tried those yet, can get that at home). There were 3 parties going on last night. It was really loud. I think one was a first birthday party. They had a clown and someone dressed up in some sort of animal costume. We then returned to our room and passed out (from exhaustion, not alcohol).<br />
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Day 4, visit #3<br />
Today we saw Sweet Pea again. She was a little fussy. She obviously was not feeling to good. Still had her runny nose and a little bit of a cough. She also felt like she had a bit of a fever. She did pretty well though considering. I tried to hold her in my arms facing me (like you would if you were feeding with a bottle) and rock her a bit. But she just looked up at me and I could tell she was thinking "What are you doing lady??" She wasn't having it. She was dressed ok today, t-shirt, red turtleneck, yellow dress thing, yellow tights, socks over her tights. No new revelations today. We kept it kind of low key since she didn't seem to feel well. We were by ourselves today, no other families. We have a puffy, plastic book- it's made for babies and you can put pictures in it. We filled it with pictures of Joe and I. No, not because we are vain, we plan to leave it with her for the next 2-3 months so she can look at it and remember us. Anyway, I showed it to her today to get her used to having it and associating it with us. She was quite interested in it. It's the only book (and we brought several) that she actually looked at. The others went straight to her mouth. This one she looked at - and THEN tasted it. I thought that seemed like a good sign, she looked us and hopefully recognized us in the pictures.<br />
We spoke with our IA Doc this am and we were very pleased. She said you can never say a referral has "no risk" for problems, but Sweet Pea is very "low risk" for problems based on the pictures we sent her and the information we gathered for her. This is good news and based on the time we have spent with Sweet Pea, it is exactly as we expected to hear. Yiippee!<br />
On a side note, Clarisse arrived in Florida today with Mark, Amy and Meghan. Hope you have lots of fun Clarisse! Thanks to Mark and Amy for taking her with them! And thanks to Heather for driving her to the airport to meet them. And while we are at it, thanks to Kami and Randy for watching the rest of our zoo. We really appreciate all of the help everyone has given us! </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-44715917082956227082011-03-29T08:58:00.001-04:002011-03-29T09:01:53.805-04:00Trip 1, Day 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
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Well, after getting in to the Vlad Inn at 5pm yesterday, we finally got to our room and decided to lay down just for an hour or so before we went to eat dinner. Yeah. Next thing we knew, it was the middle of the night. No dinner. Luckily, after reading dozens of adoption blogs, I knew to expect this. We were prepared with our protein bars and about 4am (Vlad time) we had tuna fish from a little snack pack.<br />
We had breakfast at the Vlad Inn restaurant this am. For anyone coming here in the future, the Greek Omelet was very good! It is decently priced (adoptive parents get 25% off) and we got plenty of food.<br />
After that, we were picked up by Ivan. First stop was the MOE (Ministry of Education) although I have also heard it called the DOE (Dept of Education)-- I think it is the same thing (?). It went fairly fast. We spoke with a lady who asked us some questions about ourselves and our lives. They were all things she probably knew the answer to already since she had our homestudy. I had heard somewhere that this was just a formality. If they had any doubts about us, they never would have given us a referral in the first place. She gave us the official "ok" to go and meet our referral. Yiipppee!!<br />
The baby home Sweet Pea is in- is approximately 2 hours outside the city. A little less, but far enough, so we will only get to see her once daily from 3p-6p. On the way, we stopped to pick up a translator, Lana. Watching the landscape go by made the trip go pretty fast. I forgot to mention yesterday they are expecting The Asian Summit--or something like that next year. In preparation, Vladivostok received monies to fix up the city and they are re-doing the roads---ALL of them- at once! The roads are entirely ripped apart, but they still use them, it's a little bumpy (understatement). Driving is not for the faint hearted either. In Michigan, if you have a road with 3 lanes going a particular way--it is divided into 3 lanes and you choose one to drive in. Here, the 3 lanes are all one big one. You can drive anywhere in the lane, pass on either side, use the shoulder if you need to. Things get a little tight some times, but I haven't seen any accidents.<br />
Ok, back on topic--we arrive at the baby home. They brought the baby up right away. We are a little late and they have been waiting for us. They bring her in and she is so cute!! We were hooked at this point, everything else is just a formality. She is a tiny little peanut, she looks more like a 6 month old than a 9 month old. We expected that. I knew her weight and height and other vital stats. It is expected for every 3 months in the baby home, the child will be developmentally and physically behind by one month. From the blogs I have read, it is amazing how much they grow (physically and developmentally) in the first year they are home.<br />
Sweet Pea allowed me to take her from the caregiver right away although she was looking around and seemed confused. She didn't cry, but she was definitely a little weary of us. The caregiver gave her a rattle and that seemed to hold her attention and break the ice for us a bit. We have video to share when we get home. We cannot post anything until the adoption is final because she is not our child at this point.<br />
I held her and we played with her- just talking to her, playing with her rattle. We brought a few little toys and books. It was fun to watch her focus on the toys and explore them--turning them over and looking at them, shaking them and of course, in true baby fashion, she tasted every one too- putting it into her mouth and biting it. She has 2 lower front teeth so far. She gets spoon fed in the baby home and is given liquids in a cup with someone helping her. No sippee cups here.<br />
She got a little concerned when I gave her to Joe. The caregivers in the baby homes are all women. The kids may never see men at all, so often they are afraid of them as men tend to be taller and larger than women and have deeper (scarier :( ) voices. She was about to cry, but we were able to distract her with the toys and talk her out of it. We watched the videos we took of her on the car ride home. She was quiet and reserved at first, but she warmed up and in the later videos, she is responding to our cooing and evens babbles back at us a bit. She made more eye contact by the end than she did in the beginning. (Important point!) She was content to be held the entire time. When we tried to take away a particularly tasty book about Big Bird (we only wanted to give her another toy), she started to fuss and try to reach it. We, of course, melted and folded like a house of cards and gave it right back to her. Hmmm...is she running the show already?<br />
We are back at the Vlad Inn. Ate some dinner and will be going to sleep. We are having a hard time connecting with people at home. The time difference means you are fast asleep while we are awake and vice versa. We are still coping with the jet lag too.<br />
We finally figured out how to get some of the pictures taken on the Iphone into the blog...<br />
Feel free to comment, We enjoy reading them...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCf95DROlxsg2HZ4JBpq5_OxVfvTJhKgNZgRTA957N5oOgWAmesyy4nwtD3fPJ5YzphMjOseF3dsxnhIonNgFgEsb7FIyAAmkUUJjQIoLm2r147NdYPZ0-tMHbieJ_RcrCsMUrfjJ1OTs/s1600/IMG_0622.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCf95DROlxsg2HZ4JBpq5_OxVfvTJhKgNZgRTA957N5oOgWAmesyy4nwtD3fPJ5YzphMjOseF3dsxnhIonNgFgEsb7FIyAAmkUUJjQIoLm2r147NdYPZ0-tMHbieJ_RcrCsMUrfjJ1OTs/s320/IMG_0622.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the jet way in Detroit. We're really going to Russia!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjekJDa3Z7aq2PN-ejbhI8KZxKP602EbQHZIdSAm3J4M86vLtLPCE26BPovl4lbbcqKLeAgbogQkinzpBvWPlsDrBi7YeDp2gjvoc-MtW9RNh6bzyQV6GMEDQacAjfyvuWIiRyt8gSM6i8/s1600/IMG_0625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjekJDa3Z7aq2PN-ejbhI8KZxKP602EbQHZIdSAm3J4M86vLtLPCE26BPovl4lbbcqKLeAgbogQkinzpBvWPlsDrBi7YeDp2gjvoc-MtW9RNh6bzyQV6GMEDQacAjfyvuWIiRyt8gSM6i8/s320/IMG_0625.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A "brontosaurus" in Chicago O'hare</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK-WlQZnixBQDAKIrqCHCWQnsmMahI_1xRZyiyalItuBYtq_amd7Jw0S7khyc6euxg9sbk1IFFzqBnFXLKxULvMin3WStwVFneuepLIte55LrJKIeB23oz7bCNGucrzsifFiC3foucKms/s1600/IMG_0627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK-WlQZnixBQDAKIrqCHCWQnsmMahI_1xRZyiyalItuBYtq_amd7Jw0S7khyc6euxg9sbk1IFFzqBnFXLKxULvMin3WStwVFneuepLIte55LrJKIeB23oz7bCNGucrzsifFiC3foucKms/s320/IMG_0627.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Decorated bench in Chicago</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFZnDWN2SjwuHKsJkrMIx6TgHDLURHWvAVPbWjqw7tWOWP-eCPXcqwteowyC_ug_i90jV2XMCZ38cYzfAs4bUo4qSKFDc3lwhGZdkMp-a2m1K7PgVbbDCEEXOfLhVi_G_4iu5rqGYVB0/s1600/IMG_0628.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFZnDWN2SjwuHKsJkrMIx6TgHDLURHWvAVPbWjqw7tWOWP-eCPXcqwteowyC_ug_i90jV2XMCZ38cYzfAs4bUo4qSKFDc3lwhGZdkMp-a2m1K7PgVbbDCEEXOfLhVi_G_4iu5rqGYVB0/s320/IMG_0628.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4BfyjUNbVxUCdEfxTRS0XdPbahEW0GF6BxZIVWM51WWoi_YcIMSGoAOtKCFd5_UUdBU2APtnXjU3Mr3-wF_lxFyewMgCLTlpxGBLdJmFZYnZi_E9TAIx4SNtD8Y2E2L3JG8WBSSbgT4/s1600/IMG_0633.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4BfyjUNbVxUCdEfxTRS0XdPbahEW0GF6BxZIVWM51WWoi_YcIMSGoAOtKCFd5_UUdBU2APtnXjU3Mr3-wF_lxFyewMgCLTlpxGBLdJmFZYnZi_E9TAIx4SNtD8Y2E2L3JG8WBSSbgT4/s320/IMG_0633.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The instructions on how to eat my dinner on Asiana Airlines</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdQ8fb4JeXTio9mP5zjpuBLir35_L1p8-QPezkXcnUMlv2FG2ZnHQUMbg83E-HGPsuDUBTKQWtSMtulV4uKekJmrPDBVU4yu68-8DgBTgVvEnvbNviEtl08J2vww11v9LdUDGuvMltRyQ/s1600/IMG_0631.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdQ8fb4JeXTio9mP5zjpuBLir35_L1p8-QPezkXcnUMlv2FG2ZnHQUMbg83E-HGPsuDUBTKQWtSMtulV4uKekJmrPDBVU4yu68-8DgBTgVvEnvbNviEtl08J2vww11v9LdUDGuvMltRyQ/s320/IMG_0631.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hmmm....what's the brown stuff in the middle? Meat? Soy? Other?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirq_LTn3Y-rDiDhQ47B8OlIdQtT3b-d8b-w5Z_Rjq0YVEreL8zWfO6eHw7EWM-c08wtbYlNdnT_vlEmGJ8iZ8WqS3QZ2vB31AUyoXzw3ol6qUP-fkqSJvz20Q4SwcgSN2KTg3UPnAd4qs/s1600/IMG_0634.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirq_LTn3Y-rDiDhQ47B8OlIdQtT3b-d8b-w5Z_Rjq0YVEreL8zWfO6eHw7EWM-c08wtbYlNdnT_vlEmGJ8iZ8WqS3QZ2vB31AUyoXzw3ol6qUP-fkqSJvz20Q4SwcgSN2KTg3UPnAd4qs/s320/IMG_0634.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Put rice into veggies, add Korean hot paste and a few drops of sesame oil, mix and enjoy!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-86936059872232991482011-03-27T17:21:00.001-04:002011-03-29T06:51:54.796-04:00We're in Seoul, KoreaWe arrived in Seoul about 1 1/2 hours ago. It is 0600 Monday morning right now here--about 3pm Sunday in Michigan. We took Asiana Airlines from Chicago to here. Very nice. Joe said the seats were more comfortable, with more leg room than home. The flight attendants looked like they had all been cloned! All young, pretty, thin and dressed exactly alike in their tan suits. They were virtually interchangable. We got on the flight at 0100 (which was 0200 at home for us). We ate right away. I had a hard time understanding the flight attendant-- all I heard was beef or "mghkydc"- I have NO idea what she said, which she was holding in her hand. Since I don't eat meat, I pointed to the tray which looked like veggies and said " I'll take that" I have a picture of it-- but I can't post it on the IPad (we're still learning). Anyway, it's a Korean dish called Bi-Bim-Bab. It came with instructions on how to eat it! It was ok, rice and marinated veggies (?) and some brown stuff, which I don't think was meat--- but I'm not really sure what it was. It also came with green pasta with seaweed (bland), yucky soup- they melted a little block of something in hot water (I'm not a fussy person!) and fruit. It filled me up. And, as expected, a really good cup of tea! We slept pretty well and all in all, it went fairly fast for a 13 hour flight (somehow they shaved off an hour from the scheduled 14 hour flight). The Seoul airport is nice, new and modern. We wanted to get Transit Hotel while we are here for 5 hours-- but the timing isn't working out. There are places <br />
where you can take a shower, so we are waiting for that to open at 0700. We are not so pleasant smelling at this point.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-5710351769521546662011-03-26T23:48:00.002-04:002011-03-29T07:03:05.015-04:00Chicago O'Hare<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">We are in Chicago O'Hare Airport. I was loving it here. They have awesome art all over the airport. See pictures. But, we went to eat at Chili's where the hostess was completely rude and through the security checkpoint where the TSA people were completely rude- not to us, but to other people and then Joe buys a pop and the lady who sells pop is rude. I'm not liking it so much anymore!<br />
Anyway, back to our story. Last week, Lorien calls me again. Another referral. I called Joe. We look at the email, the medical info looks good----but the picture -- well, I've taken some pictures in my day that didnt really flatter me. The referral was a 9month old girl, but the picture was of her as a newborn. We asked for more pictures/info and hired an IA doc (Internatioal Adoption) to look over the info. We did not get our hopes up. I was so upset when we lost the sibling referral ( more than I expected considering we had never seen them and didn't even know their names)--so I tried to stay neutral. However, this past Monday at 10:28, we received the pictures of this beautiful baby girl. We sent everything again to the IA doc-- but we knew, this is it. That was Monday, today is Saturday. What a whirlwind week. and, if you ever want a real kick in the teeth, try buying planes and visas on a Monday for the upcoming Saturday!! Ouch! But here we are, in Chicago, waiting for our 14-hour flight to Seoul, Korea. We will be down for 4 1/2 hours there and then a 2 1/2 hour flight to <br />
Vladivostok, Russia where our little Sweet Pea waits for her Mommy and Daddy-something she has never known.<br />
<br />
Edit: We couldn't add the pictures from the IPad. We'll try again when we get to Vlad.<br />
<br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-25674776557899924782011-03-26T19:25:00.002-04:002011-04-01T08:36:31.430-04:00We are on our way!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Welcome to our blog. Joe and I started this blog to share our adoption journey with our family and friends. It's also a great way to record our story to share with Sweet Pea some day. We actually started all of this 2 years ago on 9-9-09, my birthday for anyone who doesn't know. That's when we wrote the first check (the first of many!) and filled out the application (the first of many!). Then we spent months gathering all of the paperwork and documents we would need and completing our home study with a social worker. We requested a little girl, under 24 months with minor correctable needs. Our completed dossier (all that paperwork) was sent to Russia in July of 2010. Within 2 weeks, we were offered a 2 year old little boy. Apparently many more little boys are available- something we didn't know previously or it might have changed our requests. But, at this point, we had our hearts and our minds set on a little girl-- not to mention a thousand dollars worth of girl Gymboree clothes (stock alert--buy Gymboree -and I recently discovered Carters too!) we decided to wait for our girl. <br />
So--then--we do not hear ANYTHING for months and months and months. Out of the blue in February we receive an email from Lorien (from the adoption agency). "Are you interested in siblings?" A girl born in february 2009 and her little brother born in february 2010 were available. We thought about it-for about 5 minutes- checked the bank account(there's no 2 for the price of 1 in adoption!) and said "YES". We started to prepare and even told the family at Sophia's birthday party (did you keep our secret Melanie?). But, 4days later I received a voicemail from Lorien asking me to call her. I couldn't call. Just by the sound of her voice, I knew it wasn't good. I made Joe call. The sibs were not available yet, not all of the family had signed off. Just a mistake. We could wait, but it might be a while. We would be first on the list for them, but would continue to wait for a single girl too. <br />
we are being called to board now. I'll finish this post when we arrive in Chicago.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3557792772522677793.post-43222236523195390702011-03-24T17:13:00.000-04:002011-03-24T17:13:00.831-04:00TestWe will post later todayUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0