Good going...

I can't beleive it's been since October 22nd since I posted. I started one after the conference and it's been nuts trying to keep up with everything going into the holidays. Since I'm off for Christmas I can catch up :)

The week after the conference could have been a disaster. I was so afraid that I would have a traumatized child when I came back from my conference. I've heard of regression on the development with adopted kids when you leave them for the first time. But they did Great! Daddy took her to daycare everyday and kept her to the same schedule. She didn't resent me when I came back. She was a little clingy on day after I cam back, but she did fantastic.

Halloween Alina was dressed as Minny Mouse. A friend of mine doesn't have little kids and she wanted to buy Alinas outfit. So she got the frilliest, pinkest thing she could find and that was it. It was SOOO cute. It was a 2T and if this tells you anything...she will never be able to wear it again because it was snug. Alina is growing like gangbusters.

When we got her in March, she was wearing 9-12 months clothes. Within two months of being home, she was already in 12-18 months. That was at the 1 year mark. Now she's 19 months and we're having to use 2T pants and 3T shirts because she's growing so fast and her belly pokes out of the 2T shirst. Looks like she's wearing tank tops with sleeves. She's actually quite trim, but just so tall. She's about a head taller than any other kid in her class and all of them are 2-5 months older than her. She's also growing out of her shoes too fast. She wears them hard, wears them out, and jumps into a new size within 3 months. We are now in 6 1/2 Wides. My little Amazon.

November was pretty routine and she did very well. Thanksgiving I had Andy's Aunt, Mom, and 3 of my students from school. All my students were from Korea. They ate lots of food, took all my leftovers, and Alina put on a show for them. She loves being the center of group attention. She doens't go to other people immediately which is great, she's cautious and loves to sit with Mommy, Daddy, or one of the Grandparents most of the time. But after about 20 minutes, she realizes that others are okay with Mommy and Daddy around and she starts turning on the charm. Flashes that huge smile and interacts with them.

Alina wasn't a huge fan of Turkey. She ate it, but she is more of a veggie/starch girl. She adores Stove Top Stuffing (making note to self to make some), hates green bean anything (except with ketchup-yuck), and likes cranberry salad/relish. She ate a bit of pumpkin pie, but wasn't impressed too much. Apple pie is a huge hit.

After Thanksgiving, I was hard pressed to get everything started for Christmas. I can't beleive our first Christmas is just two days away. We found out we were traveling to Russia the last week of January this time last year. It's impossible for me to imagine that journey just beginning and where we are now. Alina has become such an integral part of our lives since the beginning. I just don't feel like she's never been there. She's the child of my heart and God's blessing on our family more than anything you could imagine.

I wasn't sure how Alina would deal with ornaments. Sometimes she is so delicate when dealing with things...other times she just flings stuff around. So I put the artificial tree (yes, I know...we need a real tree...) up with lights. A blank slate. I weeded through our ornaments and just brought out ones that she could handle and I didn't have to worry about them. I showed it to her and put the first one on the tree. She went 'OOOO...Ahhh'...promptly walked over to my ornament box and got one more and brought it to me. I showed her where to put it and she put it on the tree. Okay not ON, more like IN. But it was so cute and neat. She continued to bring ornaments to me and put it in the same spot. So our system was I would move the ornaments up and back and she'd keep filling in that one spot. We decorated the whole thing together. She looks at it and fingers the ornaments occasionally, but really doens't mess with it much. She doesn't bother the presents either. I've been so impressed with her on that.

We're trying SOO hard not to overkill things this Christmas but I don't know how possible that will be. I bought about 8 presents and a millions stocking stuffers. I've put about 6 presents away for her Birthday in April. I can already see that the grandparents are going slightly demented about things, so I thought that was economical of me. Fortunately, I think we're getting some clothes for her for Christmas. We need that...she's growing out of her 2T/3T stuff too fast. Mom is bringing two pairs of shoes for Christmas. I've held off buying, knowing that was coming. Thank you for grandparents.

My Mom and Andy's Mom is coming up for Christmas. We will head down for New Year's weekend to my father's to celebrate Christmas again with them. Love to all of you. Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Those of you still looking waiting to finish your forever family...it's worth the wait, the heartache to get there, and the expense. Don't lose hope, don't give up, and give the glory to God. He will hold you in His hands and carry you down the right path.

Much love to all.

Independent Girl

Well, we've had a very intersting development today. Alina can do stairs.

I kept taking Alina to the park this summer trying to get her comfortable with the swings, slide, and water. Some things worked and some things didn't. Ever since she's started walking she's been completely afraid or opposed to going up or down stairs. She's been going to daycare since late August and they go to the playground, but the area she plays in doesn't have a big slide just a baby baby slide.

Well, apparently that along with her confidence has resulted in a confident young lady.

Yesterday, I took the day off becuase I had to go to the doctor. I got her out of the daycare early and we went to the park. Alina went into the park and was having the best time. She wanted to go swing. She wanted this swing and then she insisted that we switch to the other swing and then back to the previous swing. She thought all of that was a hoot. Then we went to the big central play area. Big as brass she climbed the 4 stairs up onto the bridge area. I encouraged her and she walked across to the slide and sat down and slid down the slide!! I was so shocked because that the first I'd been able to get her to do anything like that.

Then we came home and she asked (well grunted and pointed -- she still doesn't talk much) to be put down at the top of the stairs. We have leveled stairs going down into the yard and then 12 steps going up into the house. She grabbed the rail and went all the way down and then all the way up. She's done the up before, but down has had her intimidated. It was so cute and she was so smug about it.

But its so great to see her being stronger in her walking and climbing. We've gotten some good Stride Rite shoes and she's doing so much better with them than some of the other shoes we've tried.

Next week is a bit of another hurdle. I'm going to a conference. So I'm leaving her for the first time overnight...for 3 days. I don't know whose going to have it harder, Andy with doing everything or my nerves. I think Alina will probably be fine, but I'm afraid I'll come home to a mad baby. But she doesn't hold grudges.

Much love to all.

Cutie pie..

Okay, I know...I'm prejudiced...I think my little bit is the cutest little munchkin on the planet. She and I are having so much fun now that she's getting bigger. She's starting to be more interactive with her toys and with me and Andy. She's discovered that she likes squishy things like blankets, stuffed animals, balls, towels, and Mommy. So she's hugging everything. She goes 'baby' and makes me hug them. I give them back and she hugs them and giggles.

We've also been practicing blowing kisses. She blows kisses at me from the back seat and I grab them and take them. I was putting her to bed last night after doing bed boucing. She had laughed so hard I think she was about to bust a gut. She giggled all the way to bed and as I was going out the door she blew me a kiss.

We are still struggling with who is in charge and how to she should express herself when she wants something, but we're coming along.

We got rid of some of her older toys she was bored with at a consignment sale and we bought some other ones. She loves her mega block legos and books. Total book fiend...she sits and looks at her books all the time or gives them to us to read to her as well.

Well...that's an update for now. Much love to all.

Urge to post...

It's funny, but when I'm out of town is when I get the biggest urges to blog. I guess it started when we came home with little bit. It's been 6 months since we came home with Alina this week. I can't begin to say how different it is now compared to in the beginning.

Alina flew with me yesterday to a family reunion in Raleigh, NC. This is Nana's family (my Mom). We hooked up back in June with Andy's extended family in Michigan. One of my cousins was turning 90 so her only wish was a family reunion which hadn't happened in about 3-4 years.

I was worried about flying with Alina by myself. It was the first time flying without Andy and changing planes. We did great though. Love the Nashville Airport, they had a kids playing area right across from the gate where we were waiting for our flight to Raleigh. Got lucky in that the Raleigh flight had plenty of space so Alina had her own seat. She's such much easier to entertain as a self seated toddler versus the smaller munchkin. We looked at books for the first 30 minutes of the flight...ate pretzels...and played puppet games with the bag they put for sick people. So it worked out great.

Alina turned on the charm at the reunion looking all cute. Her hair has grown so much her bangs were almost to her nose so Mom cut her hair this morning. It was nice to see her eyes...she batted them and was cute and smiley. Fortunately we were at cousin Janey's house and she had a Pack-n-Play so Alina crashed for about 2 hours this afternoon for a nap. She with down without a fuss tonight as well in the hotel, snoozing right along after having a full day of fun, food, and then running around in the hotel and hotel room for about an hour. She sighed and rolled over to sleep...she's such a blessing and fortuantely for me a good little traveler.

Well, back home tommorrow. We fly through Balimore on the way back so it's a little longer trip. I hope I'm as lucky with empty planes.

Much love to all.

Sand in odd places...

There are things you want in life for your child. Straight teeth (Andy wants to avoid orthodontics), happiness, health, and generally you want them to feel safe. Well, silly girl,where Alina reacts opposite to what I expect.

Saturday we went to Gulf Shores and went to the beach for the first time. Alina had seen sand in June in Michigan, but it was so cold we couldn't stay long and she didn't want to touch the sand. Well she screamed and cried when I tried to put her onto the sand...but walking into the ocean we got swatted by a salty wave. She squealed in delight.

Kid absolutely loves water. I think she's going to be a fish once we teach her how to swim. I found out the YMCA has a class for Moms and kids starting when they are 3years old to learn how to swim. I'm going to work on her sooner though.

We saw my father and stepmother in Gulf Shores. Pop (my Dad) hadn't seen Alina walking and his first sight of her was when we were coming towards the restaurant. Alina was stomping her way on the sidewalk straight at him. I could see him melt. She's got him and her Daddy just twisted around her cute little finger.

I can definately say, she's got me too.

Daycare is going much better. This morning I took her into her class and put her morning snack down. She sat there pretty as a picture eating her cataloupe and watching some kind of kids show. I blew her a kiss and said 'bye bye'. She blew me one back, smiled, and turned back to her show. It was so funny. I felt dismissed by the queen. She's quite the character.

Well, love to you all...

Jealousy

Okay, I'm jealous. Alina is being stubborn. She calls out when she sees Andy now 'Dada' in that cute squeaky voice. She used to say 'Mama' occassionally, but now she won't say it all. It's all Dada...Dada...Dada...(no petty jealousy here).

Andy says it's just her word of the moment so she will wear it out and then pick something else.

Daycare was all week this week for the first time. No breaks, but she's done great. It's worked out well...I take her in the morning and Andy picks her up. He's a teacher so he gets off about an hour before I would and they are already home by the time I get home.

I thought originally that daycare would wear Munchkin out, but nooo....she's wired up. She plays all day...naps less...but is even more hyper. What's the deal with that. But she still goes to bed easy at night which a huge blessing. We've had to push her bedtime about 1/2 hour in order to get her to bed and she's ready to go easily.

Love to all.

Over 4 months..hitting daycare

I was remembering about two weeks ago about the journey of the last 4 months. We came home with our little girl on March 28th. It's unbelievable to me that I've had this wonderful addition to my life such a short time ago, but she's become such an integral part of all of our lives.

We've turned this little girls life upside down and inside out since we snatched her out of her baby home. She's not that withdrawn little girl we were playing with quietly. She's a dive bombing little amazon who is running around. She used to be quiet and introspective to start. Now she's coming with books and presenting them to Mommy or Daddy to read to her. I don't know if she'd ever seen a book much before we saw her. She didn't know what to do with one other than chew on it or throw it. Now we MUST read or she is not happy.

She clearly knows her name is Alina...but also answers to Munchkin, Munchie, and booboo. Don't ask me how we ended up with these ridiculous nicknames, but we did.

When we first started everything, I was the primary caregiver for almost 12 weeks. Then Andy took over and we introduced Mother's Day Out 2 days per week. (Okay as Andy demands, Father's Day Out). Well this past two weeks we've introduced Nana (Grandma) care for a week and then this week we started Daycare....lots of changes in a little girls life.

Monday we started daycare at our church. We deliberately waited for our church daycare and also tried very hard to make this transition week easier with my Mom's help. She's been getting her out a little earlier than we will starting next week. The first day we went to daycare and all the other children that were there were so tiny and bald. Alina was a head taller and has so much hair.

We thought it was because she is so much bigger. Yesterday I went to class to drop her off with her teacher and I saw all the 5 other children. None of them walk yet. She looked like the Jolly Green Giant with munchkins from the wizard of oz. I asked how old they were and they were 9-12 months. Alina is 16 months now. They had put her in the wrong class. So after 3 days of trying to return her to a morning nap, they've put her into the right class with other 16-18 months kids. She will be with 4 little boys and 1 little girl...we shall see how this change goes...

Sorry I haven't updated the blog in so long, but we've been swamped with work and life. Love to you all. I'll try to be more regular about it.

Updates..

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since I posted. In that time Alina has grown another few inches, is fully walking, and has picked up one more word.

Alina is now about 14.5 months and we're starting to have to pull out 18-24 month clothes. We have a little Amazon on our hands.

She can walk around the house and wherever for a pretty good distance. She actually has gotten used to shoes and is more stable. But overall, she's still a little wobbly.

She now has a 5 word vocabulary: Momma, Dada (Daddy), Bye-bye and the last two are 'Uh-Oh' and 'Woof'. She's been learning vocab from the dog.

We have two more weeks of home time with Alina until she starts Daycare. The routine with Andy and going to Mother's-Day-Out two days a week has worked great. We're sincerely hoping that August will go as smoothly as the transition in June.

Love to all...

Smug Baby...

I have a smug little girl. She's so proud of herself. She leaned up against the couch and then took 6 steps to me. Then she started playing and walking around the living room. She's still trying to cruise a little bit, but she had a definate breakthrough tonight as she was walking around more.

Prior to this is was walk two steps ... FALL...walk two steps...FALL. But she's stopped doing the tippy toes and is doing flat footed.

Hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July. We're going to visit Andy's Mom.

Love to all.

Molars...Father's Day...Sweetness

Well, we've had an interesting couple of days. Alina has been adjusting to her medicine, but then she also started teething again. I swear she doesn't go two weeks without starting teething. The last big teething was about a three weeks ago and she cut two big Molars in the back of her bottom row. Now she seemes to be getting more on the bottom and starting her top as well.

We had a nice visit with my brother and his family on Saturday, but then when we got home Alina had a bit of a meltdown and wouldn't sleep. She fought sleeping like I haven't seen in months.

Andy said that his Father's Day was the best one he's every had (funny since it's his first). He got a shirt, chocolate, and a sweet kiss from his little munchkin.

Today was so much better for Alina. We got the Motrin into her in time this morning, went to Mother Day out and got worn out, did a nap, and when I got home tonight from work she was excited to see me. She was soooo sweet this evening. She snuggled in my lap and drank some pedialyte. Andy and his Mom went to Lowe's so we did her bath, read a couple of books, and then she relaxed with her head on my shoulder while I sang her some songs. Those moments are some of the most precious.

Alina doesn't just relax. Usually she's full energy and then will just lay down for bed. We try to settle down and she won't relax against me. She doesn't usually melt into me like most other children do. It makes my heart so full when shes showing signs of trusting me, relaxing, and doing the limp noodle in my lap. Slow down enough to enjoy those moments those of you who are parents.

I looked at pictures of her just two months ago with her round pudgy face. Now she's slimming out and becoming a toddler. She's grown 6 inches in the last 4 months. But she's still my little bit.

Love to all.

Scary steps...

Well, Alina is officially (kind of) walking...well sort of. She has decided she really likes free standing and she will take about 2 steps...but then she falls. So her fun is free standing and then going into one of our recliners to cruise walk again. But she's decided she really likes climbing instead. So she now climbs onto the couch. She has no fear of course so she leans out to try and jump to the recliner.

Wish it was simple walking. So scary...but it's just beginning.

She's been doing so good this week with Andy though. They've gotten into a good rhythm and she's adjusted better to her medicine.

Love to you all...

Update on Alina

Hey everybody, as usual sorry for the delays but its been a pretty busy two weeks. We spent week before last in Michigan visiting with extended family. Alina was crazy on the plane going over and wouldn't settle down. We had a late night flight and didn't get settled until almost midnight which is too late for little bit. But once we got settled into the hotel she did very well and was a big hit with the family. She has learned that she's cute and knows how to entertain a group.

We got back last Sunday and the next day I returned to work. This week has been pretty tough on all of us as we transition to Daddy as the primary and Mommy going to work. Also, Alina had a positive TB Skin test (with neg Chest x-ray) so the doctor wanted us to start INH preventive therapy.

Alina spent the first 3 days of the week catching up on sleep from the trip...so Thursday we started her medicine. Unfortunately, she had a bad reaction to the meds with a rash and diareha. The doctor gave us some ointment and diareaha medicine and she's doing much better. So it's been a bit interesting.

Other positive developments includes walking. Alina has been practicing her steps by cruising for months. But this week she finally started walking without holding onto anything. At first it was just some free standing, but now she is taking a few steps. She's not steady and not taking a lot, but she is so smug and proud of herself when she does it.

That's about it for now. Much love to all.

The Dreaded Day Arrived...

Well, the first major at home hurdle I have been dreading arrived today. We started Alina in Mothers Day Out. I go back to work next Monday and Andy takes over, but needs coverage at least two days a week. So we started her at the MDO at our church. When Andy takes over we're calling it Father's Day Out.

Well...I took her in for the first time and left her. I didn't call and when I went there she was happy as a clam. They said she didn't freak out when she realized I was gone and she came to me so happy when she saw me. She ate lunch we took no problem and they had worn her little self out. She passed out in the car on the way home and barely moved when I changed her diaper and put her to bed for her nap.

So Day 1 was a success. She'll go again this Wednesday and then not for another week because they have Vacation Bible School next week. But I think it will be fine.

Now I just have to worry about Mommy withdrawal when I go to work next week. But Alina seems so great.

Thanks for the moral support and Love to all.

Long time...no blog...

Well, I know it's taken me a while to get back to this blog. April was a long slow month, since the beginning of May we've been running around crazy seems like. This month has flown.

She's been doing so great this month. She's trying like crazy to walk...all day long it up and down up and down and cruising around the house. She's made so many great advances with her development seems like she's catching up with herself. She says Momma (mostly when mad when I'm changing her diaper). She's also teething like mad.

Motrin is my best friend. My poor baby has 4 regular teeth, 2 incisors, and I think 2 molars coming in on her. Some of the teeth about pop up and then they go back down. But one of the molars has actually busted through.

We've been visiting grandparents and trying out new adventures such as going swimming in a pool. Alina hated the swimming ring I bought...tried to put her in it and she SCREAMED. Just had her in my arms and she loved the water. She even stuck her face in and blew bubbles. We're going to keep working on that. I'm thinking of doing a YMCA baby and me swimming class.

Other than that, we've just been doing our day to day stuff. She had her 1 year immunizations shots, has learned to eat more and more regular food, and is a busy little girl. She's been on another plane ride and her first road trip of over one hour and did great. I think she's well on the way to being just another little girl.

Next week is another time of transition for little bit though. We're going to start a Mother's Day Out program (we will start calling it Father's day out on the 8th). She will do two days per week for just 4 hours and I think it will be good for her to play with other kids. There are only 4 other children in her age group and they are mostly little girls. I think this will help with the transition to Daycare which will begin on August 10th. (Keeping fingers crossed).

Andy is done with the school year tommorrow accept for clean up and meetings and I go back to work in one more week. I am going to miss spending so much time with Alina and seeing all the great progress we've made over the last two months. I'm just going to have to make our time together as quality as I can. She's got two months with Daddy coming up and I think it will be good for both of them.

Again, sorry for the long absence from the blog. I'll try to update more later.

Love to all.

Party...Party...Party

We held our 1st Birthday Bash on Saturday. We had such a great time. Lots of friends and family came with kids in tow. It was chaos as kids played in the open area of the room we had rented.

Alina was teething big time on Thursday last week. She's cutting 6 teeth at the same time right now. Thank goodness for Motrin or she would be in total misery. Fortunately, 3 of the closest ones broke through on Friday and she was in a great mood on Saturday. She was crowing and babbling. My Mom (Nana) was in town for the weekend and met Alina for the first time. They got on fabulously and Mom was such a great help in getting things together.

We had asked everyone to bring a dish and we grilled hotdogs, hamburgers, and polish sausages. One of my friends son helped Andy grill and got to wear Andy's red apron. It made him feel like the big man.

Alina played in her excersaucer surrounded by 2 of the grandmothers, a great aunt, and 3 honorary aunts. All the little kids gave her some attention while we put things together.

About two hours into the party, Alina was placed in the center of the room with a dispoable tablecloth under her. The baby cake was placed in front of her. Immediately her attention was focused. It was white with a big red '1' in the middle. You could see on her face, 'what is this'...well even with all the noise and flashes and adults ooohhing and awwwing...she was focused. One little finger delicately touched on the cake and took out a little bit of frosting. Those little eyebrows went up in suprise''YMMMM". Second helping was two fingers of goop. After that she went in full force with a whole hand.

In the end, she had frosting in her hands, hair, every inch of her face, and managed to get it into her ears as well. Took bath over two days to find all the stuff in the crevaces. :)

My baby is 1 year old and she's great.

Love to all.

Teething...

Well we didn't do much for Alina's Birthday on Thursday but I broke out one of her toys that I had bought a while back. It's an activity table. She loves the thing and it has a phone on it. She's picked up on the phone thing and thinks it a hoot. We pick it up and say 'hi'. She won't talk to it yet, but I think she will. She loves the real phone. I've also wrapped up an old remote control becuase she's always trying to steal the real one to play with and chew on. I'm debating giving it to her becuase I'm afraid she will want the other one even more. So we will see.

Unfortunately, she wasn't doing great on Thursday becuase she has started teething again. Based on what I feel I think she is cutting between 5-7 teeth. She got 7 teeth in February so I'm sure it's not unreasonable to think its that many. Thank goodness for Motrin. It's the only thing that gives her releif. She woke up a few times during the night last night, but in the end slept majority of it. She's down for a nap now.

Today is her birthday celebration. We have many friends coming for grilled hotdogs and bringing their kids to watch Alina stuff cake in her face. Should be fun and funny. I may have to hose her down afterwards. :) It's been pouring rain all morning, but we have a venue inside/outside. I rented a building at work which has a back yard area and a big function room. It was so much easier than trying to squeeze people into my little house. I could fit about 5 people and then it would be full.

I'll post how the party went later. Love to all.

Interesting approaches...

Well...we had a very nice weekend with Alina. Andy got to spend a good bit of time with her. He carried her everywhere we went: on his shoulders, in arms, or pushed the stroller. Great break for Mommy. It was also good because she got more comfortable with him. She really loves her Daddy. She actually easier on him than me I guess because he's not the primary at this time. We went to church and then drove to Tuscaloosa to see family who haven't been well recently. She was charming and played up a storm. She doesn't go to other people but she's happy to play from Mommy or Daddy's lap. Which I like because she likes people and attention, but isn't indescriminate which is something you should be concerned about with an adoptive child.

I expressed some of my attachment concerns in my last post, well I started doing somethign about it. One website A4everfamily.org give some suggested games and activities to stimulate eye contact which is one of the best attachement builders. It's called the kissing game. She thinks it's a hoot and looks at me when we do it. I stick one of her favorite snacks or anything food related that is interesting...mostly cherrios between my lips. Then I make her take them with her lips...like a little bird. She grins while she does it and grabs with her teeth but I've gottend some drooly slobbery kisses out of it. And she looks directly at me the whole time.

Another interaction is sitting in my lap while we play with a ball. It's just a minor holding time and no eye contact but she likes to play with me and not alone all the time. We send the ball against the couch and it bounces back.

The third thing we started this morning and it's the hardest. We spent almost 45 minutes with her hollering in my lap. I wouldn't let her get out because I wanted her to relax. This technique is called 'holding time' developed by Martha Welch, MD. She was hollering but there were no tears and after a while she finally heaved a big sigh and settled and when I talked to her she would look me right in the eye. When we settled down for her bottle and then I rocked her for a nap. She was much easier to get to relax.

So I'm going to try that everyday.

According to the book and my friends who have used it. They said it gets easier and builds trust. Originally when she would fuss and want to get down we woudl just let her. I still will if she just wants to play, but if I want to cuddle and relax that's something we're going to have to work on. It's not easy, especially when she's such a happy munchkin when you aren't holding her. But I want her to be equally happy when I am.

Her 1st birthday is this Thursday. I'm so excited we got her home in time. We're going to have a shindig with friends and their kids this weekend. I have to shop for that today and get everything together. I hope it goes well and I can do her nap on Saturday enough so she's in a bouncy mood for cake stuffing time.

Love to all.

Attachment and Daycare transitions...

Well, now that we've been home for three weeks...I have finally settled into the "Mommy" role for the most part. I know how to feed, bathe, and mostly satisfy my daughters basic needs. But now I'm having to start looking at the deeper issues for her long term health and happiness.

She's an adopted child and I'm reading about attachment. Alina shows great signs of starting to attach pretty strongly with me. She turns to me for comfort and I'm able to give it, she prefers me because I'm her primary caregiver, she cries when she's hurt, and she gets upset when I leave the room and then she finds out I'm still in the house but she can't see me. These are good and bad things. Good because it shows attachment, but bad because it's just me. She's more and more comfortable with Andy, but it's a slower road. She sees and spends more time with him on the weekends and about 15-20 minutes in the morning and an hour in the afternoon.

That will change in June when he gets out of school, but then I'm leaving to go back to work and my time with her will change to what he has now. I'm afraid of her feeling abandoned and 'trauma'. This is something that kids who are adopted generally feel. She didn't exhibit a lot of 'loss/trauma' when we took her from her caregivers at the orphanage. And I know she was very fond of them. So is this a bad thing that we haven't seen that grief or are we just not seeing it yet?

Daycare will start sometime in July and that's another concern.

Just venting my worries here loved ones. Hope you comment.

Love to all.

Took the plunge...

As of yesterday, we have had Alina one month. Seems almost impossible that much time has passed.

I feel like she's been a part of our lives for so long. I'm still getting used Mommyness...but I can't imagine my world without her already. She's gotten to the point that she smiles when we go in to get her up in the morning. Well, let me say only if she was already waking up. My daughter is definately one who has to warm up in the mornings sometimes. But some days, I'll come and say 'Good morning sweetie' and she lights up like a Christmas tree with that big smile.

We're working on the food balancing act and I've come to the conclusion that Alina needs something on the hour every hour. Whether it's just a few cherrios and a sip of water, milk, or juice. Got to have something. Keeps kiddo very happy.

The moving off from formula is easy. She doesn't blink at the difference between Formula and Warm milk at all. She likes both, but we're still supplementing her diet with the formula until it runs out. In the meantime, I'm coming up with creative kid foods to help make my life easier for changeover.

One recipe I found uses ground turkey or ground chicken mixed with carrotts, apples, a pinch of time, pinch of black pepper, bread crumbs, and a very little onion. I made little bit sized meatballs out of that. I'm going to freeze some of them. A friend does that for her son. She likes them. I'm also going to start trying to work our dinner plans around meals that can be used for her. I'm supplementing with Gerber because it's easy...but SOO expensive. We're moving away from that.

If you have any good finger food ideas with good protien for a infant/toddler...post them in the blog comments.

I'm also working this week on finalizing plans for Alina's 1st Birthday. We're going to have a party on May 2nd to celebrate her arrival/B-day. Anyone know ideas for infant/toddler games??

Love to all.

Good news and prayers

The couple (our new friends) that we stayed with in Moscow in January are finally on their final trip to pick up their son this weekend. I'm so excited for them. It's been a month longer wait for them. We were truly blessed to be able to bring Alina home so quickly. All of the time fell exactly so that I could stay home until Andy gets out of school and then were' going to do daycare after that.

I think in June were going to do one day per week of day care and then later in the month two days. That will help with the transition a little bit.

We're in the process of planning Alina's first birthday shindig. I'm so excited because my Mom finally can come up and meet Alina. She's staying for a week.

We're also going to travel in May to visit grandparents which will be fun, but definately mess with the schedule.

We definately are a good morning napper. No morning nap the rest of the day goes haywire. She was up all day yesterday because we missed the morning nap becuase I had a doctors appointment and then she had a doctors appointment. Not a good combination of activities. But we got a great bill of health for Alina accept for some Anemia, which can be overcome with iron rich vitamins in her milk and/or more meat consumption. She loves meat so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Love to all.

Easter Greetings

Happy Easter to all my friends and family out there still following our blog.

We had a nice Easter visit with Andy's mother. Alina was so cute in her Easter frock. I couldn't get her to smile for the picture though. But here she is in all her cuteness.




She was due for her morning nap around 10am, but we were in church at 11am. She managed church great by sleeping in my lap. There was a soft snoring coming from the back row of church. I hope they didn't think it was me.

She ate a great big Easter meal today. She's a huge fan of peas because she can pick them up, shreded ham, and mash potatoes.

Happy Easter again and much love to all.

We've survived another week

Well....morning naps are doing better than the afternoon ones did for sure. She goes down about 10am and goes for a good two hours. She's in a good mood after that AM nap and makes it pretty well until about 5pm. She's cranky until Dad comes home and then gets reved up when she sees him.

We've had a few transitions for her this week that have worked amazingly well. After working on it for 4 days, we were successful in introducing Sippy cups. Also, I got permission from her pediatritian to start on whole milk so I can supplement the formula a little bit. She's been eating us out of house and home.

I've established something of a feeding scheduled becuase she's always hungry.

6:30-7:00 - Get up--change diaper--get formula bottle
7:00-8:00--play-Maybe change diaper
8:00--Eat cereal-Maybe change diaper
8:00-9:00--play, play, play -- Maybe change diaper
9:00-9:45--play, play, play--Maybe change diaper
10:00 bottle, snuggle, goes to sleep (yeah)

12:00-12:30 - Wakeup- Definately change diaper

Afternoon schedule is usually more messed up because that's when I go shopping or something. We're still working on that. If I can get her to take a nap in the afternoons I will, but she's mostly resisting that.

After 5pm, we get back on a schedule

5pm--feed, maybe change diaper
5:30-Daddy comes home and plays for a while
6:00-play, play, play-maybe change diaper
6:30- bath
7:00-snuggle and work to try and get her to sleep

Other than all of this, that's pretty much what we're doing. Got a cute cute Easter picture made last Sunday at Walmart. If you want a copy, email me.

Love to all.

2nd week home

Well, we've started this week a little rough. We're trying to establish the schedule for Alina...it's actually been harder this week than last week. We tried messing with her nap schedule to see if she would do better with a one nap a day than two naps a day. That's not going so well. She used to sleeping two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon after eating.

That seems to work well for her, but it's also difficult when you have to go to the doctor or anything else. I've tried the late afternoon nap arouund 12:30-3pm for two days. I'm going to try a mid-morning nap tommorrow and then and afternoon one again which is traditional and see how she does. If it works, then it works. We will have to learn to work around it. :)

Much love to all.

Our first week home...

Well, we've survived our first week. Been a little rough week for Alina because we had to do time change, give blood at the doctor Wednesday, re-figure food out again, etc. Poor baby has been on an emotional roller coaster. She started the week running for an hour or more with hyper-activity, eating, then getting hyper active again and then collaping into nap time.

Today was much better though. Seems like she's finally getting into a rhythm.

We've gotten off of just formula since Wednesday. We have been trying different foods to see about taste. Formula is a staple for a while to help with her vitamins and catching up developmentally. But she's a hungry little peanut all the time. Seems like she's doing a growth spurt. We had pasta on Wednesday mushed up. She liked that. Takes a while to naw on the noodle...can't do the chicken becuase there's not enough teeth quite yet. This morning was hysterical because we had oatmeal with banana and she likes to take a bite and then stuff her fingers into her mouth. Well...as you can imagine...this ends up going to the forehead, the hair, the lap, everywhere. She uses the shovel method, not delicate at all.

We're doing good though.

Much love to all.

We're home!

This was our Gotcha Day photo. I'm so glad we've got our pumpkin and our hom.

How exciting..we're home....we're home...we're home!! 18 hours of flying, airport waiting, screaming and running kids (not mine), and one delayed flight. We made it home.

Alina was a super trooper. She slept about an hour at the airport while we were waiting to board and one hour nap on the plane. We got so lucky and got bulkhead seats during the trip. My crutches/bum knee got us those seat so God was watching out for us. The flight was super full. We were able to put her down on the floor with a bunch of pillows and a blanket I bought for about an hour for a nap and another hour for playing. But the rest of the time she was wired and bored. Andy was a great entertainer. We would take about an hour each and alternate.

She was so loopy when we were waiting in Atlanta. Both she and I fell asleep for the 30 minute flight. One of my best friends Christina and her daughter picked us up from the airport with a 'Welcome Home Alina' sign. So sweet.

Alina slept all night and so did we. She's taking a lenghthy nap now. She was cranky but played a little this morning. Ignored the dog even though this is the first time she's seen one to our knowledge. Watches the cat like a hawk though which is funny. We've got so much laundry and clean up. Life is back to real...but so changed. Thank you all for your support with the trip and being such a great cheering section.

I'll still be blogging as well update things. I know some of you will fall off now becuase we're just a boring old at home family now. But this has been such an amazing journey. Unbeleivable in the time that it's taken and now that journey is finished and we start a new one.

Much love to all.

It's Amore!

Yesterday started very well. We'd all had a good night sleep and went down for a 10am nap no problem. Alina eats and sleeps well most of the time. But we went to the U.S. embassy at 2pm to get her visa (yeah...we got it), then had to go to our agency office to complete some paperwork. By the time we got home, it was 5pm and someone had missed her afternoon nap. We put her down about 6:30 and made the mistake of waking her up from that. When we put her down again at 8:30 she was up every 30 minutes all night long. It was rough. About 4am she finally passed out from exhaustion and slept through until 7:30.

We all got up and ate breakfast. We had to go to the Ministry of Education at 11am. We spent from 7:30-10:30 trying to keep a tired baby up. We succeeded, did our final exit signature with the promise to do our followup placements. Picked up McDonald's and came home about 12:30. Alina went down for a nap quickly after having a bottle. She's been sleeping for about 2.5 hours. I hope this puts her in a better mood tonight.

She's so funny when she's sleeping. She's scoots up into a turtle position and sticks her tush in the air. It's looks so uncomfortable but she always moves back into that position.

Andy says he has "nothing to say at this present time".

We probably won't blog again after today because we leave for the airport at 10am tommorrow morning. Packing is on the agenda for this afternoon. Another lady who adopted with our same agency is in Moscow today so we may visit with her and her new daughter. I think Alina would like to play with another little one about her age.

Also, those of you whom we've been doing Skype with...our skype is disabled so we won't be able to call you today with it. So don't worry if we miss you.

Much love to all.

We're doing great!

I know everyone who hasn't seen a picture, wants to. But we aren't going to post any photos of Alina until we get home. We're being very cautious about that and I hope everyone understands.

Okay, other blog from the other day was the initial parent panic. I'm stating that right now. You can prepare with books, reading, advice, whatever but then all of a sudden this little 22 lb (we found out her current weight this morning), dark brown haired, precocious munchkin is in your care and you aren't just visiting anymore....scary. I about had a meltdown on Monday becuase I was tired and didn't want my child to starve...wanted her to sleep. Wanted me to sleep...BUT we survived day one and two.

Not that I'm an expert now or anything, but we've already got our nap routine down. We're eating great. Had our first bath last night. First poopy diaper this morning (GAG!!--literally). I know a few of my friends are laughing their behinds off right now because they know me. I have a gag reflex cleaning out the litter box...same thing with poopy baby diapers.

We're feeding Alina Similac Advance formula (thank you so much Susan for the supply) which is going down well. We have a great eater on our hands. We're supplementing with a cereal mix that you just add water two that's just like the Gerber cereal in the states. We only do that once a day because it's a little variety. We're also doing apple juice because that's what she's used to. We've already cut back on that, but it's what she's used to at the orphanage.

Normally in the morning she gets cereal, compote (juice mixture), and some kind of bottle cooked by the kitchens there. Lunch was a soup puree mixture, compote. Supper was a bottle of compote or formulish thing and dinner was a cereal, puree, cookie combo of some kind. We've simplified.

First day I tried some gerber baby type food...stuff smelled nasty...she didn't like it. We tossed that idea and we're just doing formula, baby banana stuff which she does like, and Gerber cereal cookies (thank you Christina and Tammi), etc.

I don't remember if I had a chance to type about Monday because I was kind of typing in a blur. I brought a pair of ugg type boots a friend gave me as a shower gift they were so cute....size 3...I also had a pair or slippers my Mom bought me...size three but a lot of give becuase they are soft...no way they would fit. We have big foot on our hands. I think she may be in a size 5. I know friends with two year olds that have smaller feet than that. She's got wide long feet. Andy suggested she could be a deep sea swimmer with those tooties of hers. The baby home staff were laugh at us (with us) on Monday about that so they gave us some knitted booties as a gift to remember them by.

She was apparently a bit of a favorite because they let her hair grow. That's what the doctor said. Usually they cut the hair short so it's easier to mess with and in case of things like lice and other "infestations".

I have to say, the orphanage we're in was an excellent one. They have people who care and they take great care of these kids. They are very cautious about cleanliness and they disinfect the clothes daily to try and avoid problems. I don't know if all of them are that way, but the children we saw there were thriving (depending upon how long they had been there). We had several chances to talk to the caregivers of our group and another group and they were all great ladies.

Alina had her U.S. embassy doctor exam this morning and she's in good shape. Also, he gave us the name of the nasal drops to help with the congestion and with the plane. I forgot to bring some, but Andy and our guide are going to get them at the Arteka (pharmacy) today. Also, I had some Motrin infant drops and orajel which is helping with the teething. She's got 2 coming in on the bottom and 1 on top from what I can tell. She smiles with her whole mouth so it's easy to see in there.

We've learned how to Skype so we had a Grandparent visiting session yesterday with video. She likes the video and bangs on the laptop to say high...makes her grin to see people on the screen. I had heard about Skype, but now I'm a big proponent. Even when we get home we're going to use it to help with grandparents who are too far away.

Well...I'm going to close now because Alina is waking up. Tommorrow we don't have to go anywhere until the afternoon visit to the Ministry of Education. Apparrently, we have to take Alina there to show that we really got her and that we're capable of caring for her. It's the last Russian thing we have to do. Friday is the visit to pickup the visa (Andy is there now turning in the paperwork). Then we come Saturday. We will be in Atlanta by 4pm. Going to be a fun plane ride...(maybe not).

Much love to all. I'm sure Andy will blog his 6 rubles worth later.

PS

If anyone has suggestions, comment or email me. Stacye

Gotcha Day!

Well, I'm sure some of you have been waiting waiting waiting for us to update. Well it's here....we've got Alina. She's was snoring softly right now in her crib (rental Pack-n-Play) when I started this and then woke up cranky cranky. So I'm cutting and pasting Andy's summary.

Sunday, we were the only couple to visit the orphanage and we had such a great afternoon with Alina. She wasn't distracted and got very comfortable with us. For those of you who are coming after us, I really recommend that you do the day before visit....it's not the same with every child but it really seemed to make a
difference with her.

Andy’s 5 Rubles (Looks like a quarter)
As most of you know we spent the 10 day wait in Moscow because it corresponded with my spring break. In other words it was cheaper, and more fun to be here than back in Bama. Not to mention no jet lag. Here’s the updates.

Thursday: We went to the Pushkin Museum. Large collection of French Impressionists. And it’s inside and therefore not freezing. But it’s not about Alina so YOU DON’T CARE.

Friday: We went to the Victory Museum in Moscow. Museum of WW2. It has the largest park of restored military vehicles from WW2. Got to see Shermans, Matildas, and a lot of Russian Tanks many T34’s and other cool things. Got my picture taken in front of a T34 before the police got mad and shoed me away. But it’s not about Alina so YOU DON’T CARE.

Saturday: We went to a large open air market in the mud and sureenough cold. Stacye tried to stimulate the Russian economy all by herself. Lots of souvenirs. But it’s not about Alina so YOU DON’T CARE.

Sunday: We went to see Alina and got groceries from Globus. No Tuna Pizza. Just a well balanced meal of sausage, bread and ice cream. Alina was happy and fine and you don’t care about the rest.

Monday: We went to court and picked up Alina. She was too big for her age appropriate clothes. She didn’t fit in her snowboots. She didn’t fit in her back up larger shoes. We had to break out the 14 month clothes. She tolerated the car ride much better than we anticipated. Then she played for 2 solid hours while grandparents watched via Skype. They cared since it was about Alina. We’ll spend this week on Red tape and Red, White and Blue tape....Love, Andy

Okay, I'm back. It's Tuesday now. We had a bit of a rough night trying to get Alina to sleep after she woke from her nap. I think she's teething, congested, and generally disconbobilated (if there is such a word). We're trying to figure out the food schedule and what we can actually get her to eat. Yikes. Have to keep this short....someone is crawling this way. Much love, Stacye

Saw my cutie pie today :)

Well, our extremely long 8 days ended today as we went and saw our little pumpkin. :)

She was feeling very poorly last Monday when we saw her and she's still a little congested, but is doing better. I can't do anything about it until she's mine for good on MONDAY!! MONDAY is our gotcha day.

We went this morning and bought some swings for the orphanage. They wanted swings and we tried to find wind-up infant swings but had terrible time looking. So we bought swings that are for about 1 year olds. They said they can use them for the older group (1 year+). But we had brought a pyramid of clothes we dropped last week that will work for Alina's age group. It ended up being a pile about as high as my knee (two suitcases worth...thanks to all my friends/family who gave us clothes for that purpose).

Anyhow. She was so fussy today. She's definately teething again and we think she didn't remember us much. Took her about 45 minutes to warm up this time. Too long between visits. But what can you do. She looked like a pickle when she came in and they gave her to us. She wasn't much into going to those strangers in the loud room. We had another couple playing with their little boy and the translators were talking. So she just wanted to be held. After a while everyone left and it was just the three of us and she warmed up because she relaxed. I found out if I fake that I'm going to eat her foot...she just thinks thats the funniest thing. We actually caught her on film with a full on 7 tooth smile. She even giggled outloud and started cooing a little. She's not a very verbal child yet, so that was a great step to me.

We only got two hours with her, but at the end she was in a good mood and we'd had a chance to talk at length with her caregivers and her attending doctor about her sleeping schedule, feeding schedule, and what they actually feed them. Apparently, they usually feed them pureed food they make in the kitchen of the baby home. It's a conglomeration of meat, potatoes, squash, carrots, etc. Her bottle last week smelled like tomato soup or vegatable beef, now I know why.

As for Tuesday, we went to the Pushkin Museum and the Church of our Savior Christ (which was bombed out by the Soviets and rebuilt by the Russian Federation). Yesterday, we had our last major out of town excursion. We went an hour north to Sergiev Posad which is a very historic monastery which has housed several of the Russian Orthodox churches patriarchs (equivalent of the Catholic pope). It was founded in the 15th century by St. Sergiev as a hermit and then a town grew up around it because he was said to be able to perform miracles. The monastery that grew there also housed a theological school as well as an Icon artistist traininng center. It was shut down in 1930 by the Soviet government and turned into a dormitory for the students of the local university. But in 1985 under Gorbachev, they church was allowed to reconvene the school returned to it's original purpose. The site actually houses novice priests and monks. Priests must marry. Monks don't. Interesting.

The really fascinating thing was the tour we had by a novice priest who was about 20 who gave us a history of icon painting. It was fascinating.

Also, housed on grounds was Boris Gudinov who was the Prince of Moscow before Mikhail Romanov came to power. Lots of the site was donated to the Monaster by Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great. They hid Peter the Great during the fight for his throne.

I also had a friend of mine come all the way over from Nizhny Novgorod (7 hours away) to go with us. She used to attend UAB and we became friends. Haven't seen her since 1999. But we kept in touch and it was so nice to see her.

Here's some pictures of our trip. Hope you have a great day. Pray for a smooth week next week. We will see Alina again on Sunday. Friday we're going to see a T-34 tank at the WWII museum for Andy and Saturday we're going to the big market at Izmayilova (SHOPPING!!). Much love to everyone.

Our weekend...

Well, we're back in Moscow safe and sound. Had a nice weekend with the my friends parents who live in Yaroslavl. It was about 4 hours on the train to Yaroslavl which is north of Moscow and its about 6-10 degrees colder there. Friday in Moscow was about 32 degrees (1 to -1 C) and then in Yaroslavl it got to -10 degrees yesterday morning. BURRR...but it made for some very beautiful weather attributes I've read about in Literature and never seen called Hoarfrost.



I want to tell you about what we did Friday and then about our weekend.

Friday, we went with our new friends from Washington, DC to see St. Basil's in Red Square. It kept being closed when we tried to see it, but we hung outside until they opened at 11am with Paul and Donna. We really clicked with this couple and they are so sweet. I hope we get to see them again before we leave when they come back after the 10 day wait. They just had court last week on Thursday, but decided to go home between.

St. Basil's was beautiful and interesting building. We also saw the sun come out which was so nice.

















Our hosts met us at the Train station on Friday and we took a taxi to their home. They live in a small apartment in the edges of the city and Alexander works for one of the local universities as a historian. Andy and he got on beautifully becuase they could talk history all day. Larissa is a school teacher and was extremely sweet. Both were so generous with their time and energy. They cooked us all the meals while were there and it was SOO good. It was nice to have home cooked food and not restaurant food or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

aturday we went to the Yaroslavl Jazz Festival. They had 3 sets of players of jazz. Set 1 was a local band from Yaroslavl, Set 2 was a Moscow Free Jazz Band, and the 3rd group was an excellent ensemble from Moscow and the US. Their pianist was a guy named Keith Javers from Philadelphia. Guy could majorily play the piano. The tenor sax was played by Oleg Kireyev who has the #1 jazz club in Moscow. They are headed on tour to Europe and the U.S. Keith was so suprised so see someone who was American in Yaroslavl (he didn't speak any Russian himself)and so pleased to talk to us. He signed my CD I bought and his buddy Oleg gave us two more of his CDs to take back to Alabama. He plays world music as well as Jazz. So that was very cool.

Alexander gave us a tour of a few historic churches in Yaroslavl which date from between 1682-1692. Apparently during this period, Yaroslavl was a huge funnel from west Europe for trade traffic and made their fortunes that way. Other centuries the city had mercantile success with grain and tanneries. They lost all of that when St. Petersburg was built in 1703 and the traffic from Europe came through there and then lost the mill trade after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 because there were so many aristocrats and bourgeousie. Before 1900 they had a about 100 beautiful churches in the city, but they lost many to fire and many others were bombed out in WWII. About 30 are left in the city. Interesting thing about the church in these pictures is that the big building is for worship in the summer and the smaller white building is for worship in winter. Has 3 foot thick walls.





We also saw the Yaroslavl montastery and walked along the Volga on Saturday. Then walked along on Sunday morning when all the Hoarfrost was out which I just thought was amazing.





It was neat to be outside in this freezing weather and see the activity of the average Russian people as they walking along the Volga embankment. Kids on skis doing cross country type skiing, parents pushing children in sleds (no way to use a regular stroller when the ground is iced 3-6 inches thick), people out on the Volga with large augers cutting holes in the ice for fishing, kids tobogganing. That was fun. Unfortunately, my coat zipper has died. It won't zip and it was REALLY cold. So we went into the Yaroslavl city museum where they had wonderful Russian artwork.

We left on Sunday evening and arrived back in Moscow about 9pm. We came out a Belorusakya and we saw the KFC...so we broke down and ate there. That was actually the first time, but it was inexpensive and really good. Actually better than I have had recently at home. They play techno music and try to make KFC look cool which is kind of funny.

We got back to the hotel to a call from the other couple we had met at the Baby home last week. They are from Toronto Canada. They are adopting a 15 month old little boy who runs around and is very stable on his feet. They are also staying for the 10 days wait like us. They are getting their son the day after we get Alina. So we decided to meet them for lunch and as today was Monday all the Museums and major attractions are closed. So we did a tour that was in their guide book looking at the metro stops.

Many metro stops in Moscow are considered major works of art as they were decorated during Soviet times to commemorate WWII, the bolshevik revolution, Soviet unity, the arts, many other things.







Well, hope you enjoyed our update. Tommorrow we're probably going to either the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum or the Victory Park and WWII Museum. Love to you all.

Today...

Russia apparently doesn't buy into coin laundry or do it yourself laundry. The hotel will do laundry (dry cleaning)...how about $3.00 for a pair of socks or $13.00 for one shirt. So we revolted. We did it ourselves in the bathtub. Fortunately, I had purchased liquid tide in travel sizes.

Imagine us with a unmentionables hanging all over the room and jeans stretched out over every suitcase we brought with us. We put the do not disturb sign on the door so we would freakout the poor floor maid. After we got up, some things were dry so we redistributed it around the room. Only the jeans and big sweaters will take two days to dry.

We didn't get out of the hotel until about 1pm and took it easy as was suggested to us. We took the metro over to Novy Arbat and Old Arbat which are basically shopping streets. I bought a cute little Russian dress for Alina that she will get to wear once and we can have pictures that everyone can say....'Awww' and then we will mothball it...but I couldn't resist. It's the traditional style and it's much cheaper here than at home.

We ate at TGI Fridays...I know...cliche...but we were hungry and it was right there. They had a great mushroom soup, a nice salad, and the nastiest cheeseburger I've ever eaten. Andy had a Quesdilla which he enjoyed. I just did the salad and soup and the cheeseburger remained...um...you know uneaten.

We came back to the hotel and called it an early night. I ate peanut butter sandwich...Andy had another Crapdog...he loves them. I can't quite stomach them.

We won't be blogging for two days because we're going out of town for the weekend to a town called Yaroslav. I have a friend who has parents there and we were invited to stay with them. Apparently we're going to a Russian Jazz Festival on Saturday. That should be fun and a great distraction from the waiting.

Love to you all and we'll blog on Sunday to let you know we're okay and back safely.

Andy's 6 Rubles Worth

Hey ya'll:

You may get double postings...we're a little bored becuase we get zapped by the all the walking and then get stuck in the hotel. So here's Andy's bit. His will go up a Ruble each time :)

Stacye

• Court went very well. It was long and boring but the result was GREAT. Our interpreter prepared us very well. The previous court session went long which I was ok with. I was very concerned, however, when they started shouting at each other. I did NOT want to have an angry judge. But all went well.
• Everybody wants updates on Alina but we are thinking with our heads and not our hearts. Visiting her in the 10 day waiting period is expensive. $200.00 for a driver and interpreter. Extra visits would cost Alina’s 1st year’s college tuition. Also, and more importantly, visits during this time are not good for Alina. 1st they mess up the routine of the staff. They have a big job to do with a lot of babies and little staff. They need a routine and we don’t need to mess it up. It also has the potential to confuse Alina. We don’t want her thinking that we come and leave her. ALWAYS leave her. That is the wrong message. So we’re doing the hard thing and not visiting until later next week. When we can get reacquainted and learn her habits. So we can keep the ones that make sense. So for now we’re tourists.
• The bad news is that it’s very cold. Very, Very, Very cold if you’re from Alabama. The good news is that the lines are short. Why? Because it’s very, very, cold. Yesterday we went inside the Kremlin walls. Among the cool things we saw were: The changing of the guard at Russia’s tomb of the unknown soldier, The Czar’s armory (which featured carriages, silver, jewelry, tableware, textiles and more Faberge eggs than I can imagine), and many churches. It seems as if they made a new church every 300 years. (Moscow is old so that’s a lot of churches.)
• Socially, one thing that I found interesting and very telling about Russian racial attitudes. Just ahead of us in the line to enter the Kremlin was an Asian man with his two grandchildren. He set off the metal detector. He took out a pocket knife and went back through. He set off the metal detector again. He took the change out of his pocket and went back through. He set off the metal detector again. He then took more change out of his pocket and went back through. He set off the metal detector again. He then took out a flask to go with his other stuff and went back through. He set off the metal detector again. He then took off his belt buckle and shoes (on a cold day) and went back through. He set off the metal detector again. By this time the line had backed up and they opened another line. I went through and set off the metal detector. I went back through after emptying my pockets. Then, even though I set off the metal detector, I was passed through. They were still giving the Asian guy a hard time. I set it off twice and was passed through. He set it off many times and they nearly stripped him. I doubt terrorists would bomb the Kremlin with their grandchildren in tow. I think that he simply relieved the boredom of two Russian policemen.
• It seems that there are a lot of very expensive cars here in Moscow. They’re all caked in mud. If I lived here I would buy a large affordable car like a Ford or Skoda. When they’re caked in mud they look like a Mercedes or Audi, at 1/3 the price. A true entrepreneur would convince these people that clean cars are faster and run better. He would then open a cheaper, quicker car wash. People would need a new car wash everyday. The money would rack up.
• The subways here are very deep. The escalators are very steep. While it is possible that this is because the soil is sandy, I doubt it. I think they were meant to be fallout shelters. The older ones are very pretty fallout shelters. They have decorative carvings and great tile work. They also have beautiful plaster on the ceilings. The subways are large and clunky. Like the subway version of a 1965 Chevy truck. The newer subway lines are not as deep and the stations aren’t as elaborate. The subways are sleeker. I’ll take old, elaborate and clunky. More character.

Visiting the Kremlin

We got to visit the Kremlin for the first time today. We intended to go see Lenin's tomb, but that's going to have to wait until another day. I couldn't do both with my knee and probably did more than I should, but they had a beautiful collection in the Armoury Chamber where they used to house the Kremlin Treasury since the time of Ivan the Terrible. Now it's where they house treasures that were gifts to the Kremlin, Tsars, or produced by Kremlin craftsmen over the years. We couldn't take any pictures of the inside of the place, but we did take some great shots of the outside.

One of the first areas we saw the where they have the eternal flame lit for an unknown soldier. Same as we do in Arlington Cemetary, they recognize their lost ones from World War II. The Soviets lost something like 24 million people in the WWII.



They do the changing of the guard 5 minutes to the top of the hour each hour.

From there we went to Kutifaya Tower and bought our tickets for the Armory Chamber and the Kremlin Cathedrals/Grounds. This was a combo ticket for about $1050 rubles. The Armory Chamber does their entries into the museum on timed entries...so we had to hustle (as fast as I can going slow) from the Tower, around the government offices, 5 churches, down the hill, and into the Armory building. To start the tour we had to climb the grand staircase in the Armory building up to the 2nd floor. This was so much fun with my knee hurting. Fortunately they take this into account and had benches on each level and in each viewing room for those of us with issues. We got an audioguide and saw 11-15th century silver and gold object. The most impressive to me was the gilded bible covers with the 3X3 inch emeralds on the cover.

After this tour we went back up the hill to the Cathedrals: Assumption, Archangel's; and the Church of the Laying our Lady's Holy Robe; and Ivan the Great's Bell tower. In the bell tower they had an exhibition of Persian and Indian treasures with maginificent jewels and carvings. Wish I could have read enough Russian to learn more about them.

After that, we came back to the hotel and rested and then went to dinner with another couple we had met at the baby house. They are adopting a little boy and are from Washington, DC. We ate at a Russian themed, Russian cuisine restaurant recommended by our hotel. It was really good and they had ladies dressed in traditional outfits singing Russian songs.







Well...tommorrow we're going to stay in and do some housekeeping things. i.e. Do our laundry and relax some. Love you all.

We're Parents!!

So sorry for the delay in blogging today but we had to call the grandparents, godparents, mailman, etc. Just kidding. I saw the comment that some of you are stalking the site today for news.

We are successful! We have cleared court and we have been declared parents of our beautiful little girl.

We met our driver/guide at 9am this morning and went to pick up our agency coordinator. We left early because Moscow traffic is definately hard to guess. There's not a lot of predictability. We actually got their early and waited about 30 minutes so she could finish getting ready. After that we drove to the courthouse...again traffic obliged and we got there in about 20 minutes.



We went into the courthouse and saw the Social Worker for the region was there. Greeted her, and then sat to wait. Of course...we're nervy to begin with and then we found out there was a case before ours at 10am. That case the guy was yelling at the judge (or just speaking loud...hard to tell sometimes). So that case didn't wrap up until noon. So we go into the court room. It's a very small room compared to what you see on LA law. There is official judicial bench...then a long table with four chairs on each side. On the left is where the social worker, transcriptionist, and prosecutor sit.

On the right...me, Andy, and our translator. The proceeding was announced and court in session. We stood for the judge. We were asked our names, education, occupation, place of birth. General questions about items in the dossier. Then the judge left to deliberate and she came back and announced that they agreed to our petition.

I know that's a little anticlimatic, but pretty much that's what was involved. It was a very professional and straight forward proceeding.

I was asked to make a little wrap up if I had anything to add. I basically started sniveling at that point becuase I got emotional. I tried to suck it up, but couldn't manage. So I made a very short two liners.

Andy managed not to make jokes (except in the hallway for an hour--- I think he got it out of his system), but we forgot to say 'Your Honor' after saying everything. Except at the very end. Andy...southern boy that he is...kept saying "yes ma'am" so hopefully that worked.

Andy was expected to do most of the talking as the man of the household which is funny as he was the only man in the room. :)

We are so ecstatic about this finally being over. Hopefully it will all be down hill from here.

We're not going to see Alina again until next week so we could stack up visits closer to the time of pickup. We hope to do our 'gotcha' on the 23rd because it's 10 days for court decisions to be finalized in Russia.

I got to try Andy's tuna pizza. Completely nasty (yuck). But I ate Pillau which is a spicy rice and pork dish. It was delicious.

Tommorrow we get to be tourists for once. Last trip we didn't get to do anything. So first thing we're going back to the Kremlin to try an see something. I think I want to go see Lenin's tomb and Stalin's grave in the Kremlin wall. That should be interesting :) Later this week we're going to Victory Park and the World War II museum. Andy wants to see a T-34 tank (whatever that is)

Bless all of you for your love and support. We will type at you soon.

Court tommorrow! Andy's 5 Rubles Worth

• Today we went to see Alina first. She has a cold. There was a lot running from that little nose. She seemed to recognize us but she was cranky. All she wanted to do was to be held. She cried more today than in all our previous visits. Seems like runny noses make Alina cranky.
After all the money that people spent on toys for Alina, she did not seem to be interested in them today. All she wanted was to be held and chew my watch. Seems like shiny watches trumped noisy toys. Probably just for today. Luckily my Swiss Army, Sam’s Club Special watch is good for 100 meters of water. There was probably that much slobber on it when I put it back on.
• We went to Globus, a Russian Wal-Mart, after visiting Alina. It has a restaurant which is relatively cheap so we ate lunch. Stacye ate beef and rice. I ate pizza with tuna. I didn’t know it had tuna because I don’t read Russian. Tuna on pizza is WAY overrated. One might say that it’s downright nasty. I don’t think that tuna and pizza belong in the same restaurant let alone the same pizza. Spent the rest time at Globus buying groceries for a week.
• Supper was a sandwich in the room. It’s too cold to walk around at night. Too cold to walk around in the day for that matter.
• Tomorrow we go to court. I’ve been told 5 things that I must remember when I’m in court.
1. No Jokes
2. Call the judge your honor
3. No jokes
4. No Jokes
5. No Jokes
• Apparently they don’t want me telling jokes.

Bit of Russian Culture and today

Yesterday (Sunday) March 8th was Women's Day. It's a combination of Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, and a celebration of womanhood all wrapped up together. During Women's Day, men bring the women in their lives flowers and chocolate. Maybe make breakfast for the wife. Our driver, S., included me in this tradition and I got beautiful tulips this year. It was really neat surprise.

When we got to the hotel yesterday and got settled. I apparently laid my head down for 'just a minute' and passed out sleeping. Andy went and got our dinner. Well any of you who know my husband, know he's a sucker for sausage. We went to Poland in 2005 and he ate it everyday. Last time we were here he was dying to try a sausage stand that is all over town but never had the time for anything. We figured out that the cyrillic translates as 'stardogs'...but looking at the cyrillic it looks like 'crapdogs'. He just thought that was the funniest and he finally got his chance. So for dinner he got two of them.

For a guy who can't learn 2 Russian words after months of trying, he can get what he wants. He got the sausage, milk, and two enormous chocolate pastries. So he brought me that as my Women's Day present and dinner. It was pretty good actually. I think I am going to have to forcefully keep him away from the 'stardog' stand.

It's 7am and our day is about to begin. I couldn't sleep anymore so I thought I would get up and get my shower and write. We're meeting T at 11am and headed to the baby house to see Alina again. We will actually have a few hours with her today.

For those of you who gave us clothes for the orphanage, I'm taking those over there today. Two suitcases worth of stuff. I'm sure they can use it. Thanks again for your help.

We're here!

Well...okay, I'm sorry I haven't blogged this week but we have been soon busy getting ready to go and wrapping up work that its been nutso.

First things first. We're in Moscow now. We went directly to the orphanage this afternoon and saw Alina. She's doing great and has 5 more teeth. She only had two when we left. She's already a little bigger, but for the most part we didn't miss a whole lot more of her life....except for the new teeth. She's also pulling up where before it was just an attempt...so she's going to be walking very soon. Grandparents...pay attention...you're going to have to start the childproofing on the cabinets soon.

Well...that's the best news but I'm going to go back and catch you up with our week.

After last Sunday, I went back to my orthopedic doctor on Tuesday. He said that I had a tear in my cartiledge and I could stay off the crutches. He recommended that I take them with me in case I did some more damage. Which considering how slushy and icy it is right now...no telling. He also offered a wheelchair which would have been almost impossible and almost laughable. Not the most handicap friendly town you have ever seen. They have had regular snow since we've been gone and there is at least 2 feet on the ground... lots of it slushy. I need hazard pay.

I bought the coolest retractable hiking cane from a hiking store and it's a great help when my leg is getting tired...like today. After flying/traveling for 12 hours we went straight to the orphanage....tired is not the work. Exhausted is. I had a nap and that's why I've got the energy to blog. Then I'm going to bed bed for real.

We're staying at the Holiday Inn just outside the Garden ring and it's very comfortable with an English speaking staff.

Anyhow, after the drama with my leg for the most part we've spent the week getting ready as much as we could and getting work stuff ready for our absence.

Back to Alina. She was so scared when they first brought her out to us, but after about 30 minutes she started to relax. We got to bottle feed her and then we switched from a lobby area to the play room. Then she started to relax for real and we got a few laughs and giggles out of her. I think she remembered playing there with us in January, but Andy doesn't think so. I don't think she would have relaxed as much if she didn't. But we will never know.

We go to see her again tommorrow (yeah!) and then we have court on Tuesday.

We will probably see her one more time this week and then a few times next week before we pick her up for good on the 23rd.

Well...I'll update more tommorrow.

Love to all.

Interesting week...

Well, since I posted the pictures of the room it has been a very interesting week. I had fallen when I was in Russia on ice and had twisted my knee. Tuesday I went to the orthopedic doctor and got a cortizone shot in my knee and a brace for the knee. I felt great on Wednesday, went shopping, and was feeling really good. Thursday, again feeling good. Then I went down a step...yikes...ow...something popped in my knee. I couldn't put any weight onto it. So we went to the ER Thursday and so now I have a brace and crutches and am babying my knee. I had a MRI on Friday but I won't hear the results from my doctor until I see him on Tuesday. So please pray for us...this is going to make a really interesting travel experience if I have to go with all this extra stuff and can't carry anything.




Fortunately, I had mostly put the room together and had packed some of the clothes I had gotten for the orphanage. I had a shower yesterday with my best friends and it was wonderful to hang out with them and they gave me a stroller and other great things that we needed for the nursery and the trip. My daughter is going to be a fashion plate with all these cute outfits, that's for sure.

This morning we woke up and had 2-3 inches of snow coming down. We never get snow here except once every few years, but it burned off by 3pm. I have four more days of work and then we pack up and head out next Saturday. Can't wait to see Alina. Nothing is going to stop me at this point...not even a bum knee. Keep us in your prayers.

Love to all.