Weekly wrap up

The big news of the week had to do with Vanya and his prosthetic to be. He didn't get fit on Friday because we have to go to Biotech to do that. He did meet with the rehab medicine doc, orthopedist, PT, prosthetist, and rep from Biotech. Everyone was in agreement that Vanya should be fitted with a basic leg so he can better work on trunk control. We have an appointment the first week in November to get fitted and it all goes pretty fast from there.

Vanya is doing a couple of new things this week. He is now eating sitting upright in his high chair instead of reclined. He is also able to sign "more." He is doing much better with eating non-pureed foods. He is a master of puffs and cheerios. He has also tried some banana and cheese pieces. He is moving the food around in his mouth without gagging. He is trying to pick up the puffs and has even made a few attempts to put something in his mouth, but we still have a ways to go with this. I am on the hunt for foods that will be easy for him to practice self-feeding. Most of the stuff that is easy for him to eat is hard to pick up and vice versa.

Ben has officially mastered riding his bicycle without training wheels. He has also finished book 3 of Harry Potter and convinced Andy to let him move on to book 4. I managed to survive watching his kindergarten class for an hour, just barely. I don't think I will be volunteering for that again anytime soon. Abby is sweet as ever. Poor girl. Before her skinned knees had time to heal, she fell again and now has another set of boo boos. We went to her Open House at preschool this week and got to see what all she has been up to.

The longest 5 miles

That would be the 5 miles between Abby's preschool and our house traveled with a little man who is usually at least 15 minutes past the time he needs to be sleeping. Don't get me wrong. He isn't cranky or crying. He would just like to go to sleep and could easily do so. The problem is that he would awaken 5 minutes later in the garage feeling like he has had all the sleep he needs. Ummmm, no thank you. So, I have to keep him awake for the ride home. We exit the preschool parking lot with a lap full of toys. By the time we get to the interstate, most of those toys have been jettisoned from the carseat and are out of reach. Then the fun starts as I desperately try to find anything that I can lob safely to him from the front seat - magazines, diapers, junk mail, empty plastic bottles. You get the picture. Today's winner was the Costco coupon booklet. He was quite interested in something that is on sale. The ride home from preschool pickup is a little easier because he has the always enertaining big sister Abby to prevent his slumber. She takes her job very seriously and has her own favorite techniques. Her favorite is the "rip up a magazine" trick which usually leaves her little bro belly laughing and my van looking like a confetti factory.

Our big news of the day is that we have an appointment on Friday to get Vanya fitted for his prosthetic. I am so excited for him. I hope he is equally excited when he is getting an impression made of his stump in the middle of naptime.

Tomorrow I am babysitting Ben's kindergarten class while his teacher goes to a planning meeting. Surely, there will be a planned activity or I may not survive.

                                           He doesn't look tired........

                                         My trusty assistant.

No Patch Tuesday!!

Tuesday is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week. It is the one day my sweet little man does not have to wear his eye patch. I get to look at both of his gorgeous eyes all day long. I also take a lot of pictures.

Look how tall he is sitting!!



Can you hear the giggles?

                         My three sweeties.

Oh, and we also have an injury report. Poor Abby.





A long overdue update

I had been debating whether to start a new blog to document Vanya's progress, but I think we'll just go with this one. Vanya has been home a little over 3 months. During this time, I think we have seen every physician in the Birmingham metro area. Okay, not really, but we have seen a bunch. So, where are we?

Vanya was seen in the UAB International Adoption Clinic. All of his bloodwork, including genetic testing, came back NORMAL. He brought home a few parasite friends who have since been eradicated with flagyl. He had x-rays of his hips, legs, arms, and hands. He was seen by orthopedists both here in Birmingham and at Shriner's in Greenville. Vanya's missing leg and hand anomolies are most likely the result of amniotic banding. Basically, strings broke away from the amniotic sac and he got tangled up. These bands caused his leg and fingers to be amputated while he was inutero. The plan was for Vanya to be fitted with a prosthetic leg when he started pulling up to stand. He was also referred to the local Limb Deficiency Clinic run by Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services. He was also referred for Early Intervention Services through Hand in Hand.

Vanya  had an MRI in August which confirmed part of what we had been told in Ukraine. Vanya does have damage to his brain related to his premature birth, specifically he has mild to lesser moderate periventricular leucomalacia (PVL). The most common sequelae of PVL is cerebral palsy. When Vanya was seen in the Limb Deficiency clinic in September, the rehab medicine doctor felt quite certain that he had right sided spastic hemiplegia. Because of this, he felt Vanya needed more intense PT as well as OT services. He is currently getting PT twice per week and will get OT twice per month.

The other big issue we have is vision. Vanya saw the opthamalogist in August and was diagnosed with optic nerve atrophy and cortical visual impairment. We have been diligently patching his eyes since then and I am please to report that at today's appointment, the doc said he saw some improvement. Yippee!!

In the 3 months since Vanya has been home, he has worked very hard and has made lots of gains. This was a kiddo who could barely hold up his head when we first met him. He now rolls easily front to back and back to front, commando crawls wherever he wants to go, and can prop sit for short periods of time. He is an absolute JOY!!! He wakes with a smile on his face and has the sweetest giggle ever.

I promise to do a better job with updates now that we are sorta caught up.

The Rest of our Ukrainian Journey

Yes, finally. We woke up at 3am Thursday morning to drive to Kiev. Thankfully, Vanya woke up easily and seemed to go with the flow. We had packed everything up the night before, so we just had to get dressed and wait for Nick to arrive. We got everything loaded into Nick's car and we were off. I sat in the backseat with Vanya and the Vanya supplies. I had made him a bottle right before we left and we started off the ride with his bottle and then he drifted off to sleep. Sweet boy slept in my arms. I, of course, was more than a little freaked out by the fact that I was holding a baby in my arms in a car. Heck, I wasn't even wearing a aeat belt. Pretty much the whole ride was me and Vanya dozing and me giving Vanya a bottle when he got hungry. I didn't realize how much of the ride I spent asleep, or at least in a parallel universe, until I asked Andy what time it was and he said it was 8am and I realized that all this traffic was because we were just outside Kiev.

Nick drove us to the US Embassy where we waited for Eugene. By this time Vanya's diaper was about to explode, so he got his diaper changed on the trunk of Nick's car. Vanya didn't seem to mind. When Eugene arrived, we transferred all of our stuff to his car and said our goodbyes to Nick. We were a little sad. Then it was off to our appointment, which really isn't an appointment. We waited at the window for someone to take our papers and then we waited for her to come back and ask us to sign some stuff. While we were waiting, we met several adopting families and their kiddos. Soon, whatever needed to be done with our papers was done and we signed a few papers, paid our fee, and were told to be back the next day at 2pm. Then it was off to the medical clinic.

The medical clinic was an experience. Thankfully, Eugene was with us and he took care of the details. There was no vaccination card in our papers from the orphanage and I had a moment of terror when I thought this might hang us up. Eugene reassured us that whatever we needed could be faxed and a few phone calls were made. Turns out the reason Vanya didn't have a vaccination card was because he hadn't had any vaccinations, not a one. The doctors felt it was "contraindicated." It really only got better. The doctor looks at the handwritten report from the orphanage doctor, then looks at us and tells us that we shouldn't bring this child home when there are so many healthy children we could bring home. She couldn't fathom why we wanted to bring Vanya home. My wonderful husband explains that, like all children, Vanya needs to be loved by a family and we are his family. So, she does her exam. She seems somewhat relieved that she doesn't hear a murmur in his heart and his head is normal size. Then she looks at us and comments somewhat incredulously that we obviously love this boy and that she hopes everything works out. Eugene then takes us to a little dining area to get a drink and give Vanya some food. Our sealed envelope is ready shortly and we are on our way.

Next stop, our new apartment in Kiev. It was small. Just a bedroom and a kitchen. However, it had AC, wireless internet, and was right across the street from a huge market. All was good. Vanya was ready for a well deserved nap so I went to lay him down on the bed. Wait this feels wet. Is it just cold or is it wet? It is definitely wet. Whoever cleaned the apartment put the comforter and sheets on the bed wet. Thankfully, there are more sheets in the closet and we have our trusty fitted sheet. So, Vanya gets a nap and we get to relax a bit and plan what to do next. When Vanya woke up, we walked over to the market to change some money and pick up some drinks and baby food. Then we were off on our tour of Kiev looking for McDonald's. We had no idea where we were. We had a map but couldn't figure put where we were on the map. We wandered around a bit and were about to give up when I heard English. Thanks to some young guys from CA, we found McDonald's. We walked back home and we were going to give Vanya a bath until we determined that there was no hot water. The hot water heater was unplugged. After determining that it would be a while before there was enough hot water to bathe a baby, we decided that Vanya could survive another day without a bath and put him to bed. We joined him not too much later.

The only thing on our agenda the next day was our 2pm interview at the Embassy to pick up Vanya's visa. Since we now knew where McD's was, we walked over there for an early lunch and did some shopping on the way back at one of the underground malls. We were very pleased that we found an embroidered Ukrainian shirt in a size that might actually fit Vanya. Then, is was back to the apartment to wait for our ride to the Embassy. We made it to the Embassy after some confusion over who was driving us there. It only took about 45 minutes to get everything done and we got to talk with the families we had met the day before while waiting. Niko was waiting for us when we got out of the Embassy. On the way back to our apartment, he pointed out a nice steak place with English menus, so we decided to forgo the Micky D's that night and have a real meal. Back at the apartment, we tucked Vanya in for his afternoon beauty rest and Andy wallked over to the market to pick up some more baby food. When Vanya woke up we headed over to dinner. We had a great meal and walked around a bit before heading back to the apartment. We packed up all our stuff and set our alarm clock for 2am since Niko would be there at 3am to pick us up.

At 3am the next morning, it was off to the airport!! We got our bags checked in, went through passport control, and had enough time to do a little bit of airport shopping. Vanya was a bit upset the first few minutes of the flight but quickly settled down and snoozed a  bit. We arrived in Frankfurt and, due to miscommunication over where we were supposed to pick up our gate checked stroller, we did not get our stroller back. Andy was told that he might be able to find it at baggage claim. Vanya, as a Ukrainian citizen traveling with a Ukrainian passport, would need a visa to leave the international terminal. So, Andy set out on his own. Two hours later, he reappears without the stroller. No, I am not kidding. During that time, I had managed to snag a luggage cart so that me and Vanya could at least walk around a bit. Andy rejoined us as we were checking in at the United desk and I was confirming that we had bulkhead seats for the transatlantic flight. As we are walking away from the desk, the United employee who originally checked our passports calls us over and thanks us for adopting Vanya. As it turns out, he and Vanya are from the same hometown.

The next flight has a bit of a rocky start. Poor little Vanya is not happy. Not at all. There is a lot of crying and I am not able to do his favorite soothing sway with the fasten seatbelt sign on. We are worried. I am sure all the people around us are worried. Everyone wants to spend 8 hours on a plane next to a crying baby. Don't they? Thankfully, Vanya did settle down and was his usual happy self for the rest of the flight. He ate, he snoozed, and he went for walks with daddy around the plane.

When we landed in Chicago there was much to do. After all, this was when Vanya would officially become a US Citizen. We made our way to passport control. It was hot and there was a huge line. We survived and went on to our next stop - baggage claim. We got our luggage, including our missing stroller, and headed over to the immigration desk where we turned in Vanya's paperwork so they could do whatever needed to be done to make his citizenship official. Then we turned our bags back over to the airline folks and headed to our gate. Vanya was wiped out by this point and fell asleep. A few hours later, we boarded our flight to Birmingham so Vanya could be home at last.

Gotcha Day!!!

Vanya's Gotcha Day was Wednesday, July 6th. We had been told we would pick him up in the afternoon but, as things turned out we picked him up in the morning. We were so confused. We thought we were just going to get him to have passport photos done. When we got there, they took us to our usual visiting room and brought Vanya in. We were perplexed. I tried to call our translator to get her to talk with the orphanage staff about what we were supposed to be doing. However, as luck would have it, I couldn't call out on my cell phone. Turns out that one of the many text messages I had received in Russian was informing me that we were out of minutes on our phone. Eventually, some one comes in and says we are waiting on our lawyer. When Natasha arrives, we find out that we were going to bust him out for good and then go get his passport photos done. I waited at the orphanage with Vanya while Andy and Natasha went to the bank to close out Vanya's account. While they were gone, I took off Vanya's pink footy PJ's and got him dressed in BOY CLOTHES. YAY!! No more pink for my little man. Then he fell asleep. So, in his Gotcha photo, he is asleep. It was raining, so no photos walking out the gate.

Then it was off to get the passport photos. This was quite humorous. Natasha was holding Vanya and we were behind the cameraman trying to get Vanya to look in the right direction. The orphanage gave us a list of what Vanya is used to eating, so we stopped at the baby store and Nick helped Andy pick out the right formula and then we headed home. Vanya was DONE by this point and he wanted his bottle and a nap. So, that's what we did. While Vanya was napping, Andy went out to get our last pizza in Kirovograd.

Introducing......

Ivan Alexander Smith

These pictures are from our visit this morning. We didn't get to see him this afternoon because court was during our normal visiting time. However, we will be busting him out of the orphanage tomorrow afternoon. He plans to pose for plenty of glamour shots sporting clothes that are not pink. It is not easy to see but, yes, he is wearing a pink sleeper :)

The next few days are going to be CRAZY. We will leave for Kiev sometime very early Thursday morning. I have heard times ranging from 3am to 5am and I am in denial. Our appointment at the US Embassy is at 10:30am, so we have to be in Kiev by then. We are hoping to fly out of Kiev on Saturday. We are waiting to hear from our travel agent about flight availability. We will be home soon!! We miss Ben and Abby soooo much.

Day 11 in Region - Tomorrow is Court!!!

Tomorrow at 2pm we will stand before a judge and ask him to declare that we are Winston's parents. We don't expect any surprised but we are still a little nervous. We can't wait to be able to officially call him our son and to announce to the world his name. If all goes as planned, Gotcha Day will be on Wednesday and we will head back to the capital very early Thursday morning.

We enjoyed our visits with the little man. He was as smiley and giggly as ever. He also rolled over today from his tummy to his back!!!!! It was very exciting and there was much celebration. He thought it was hilarious. And we had another first today. I had nade a comment earlier in the visit that Winston had never pooped while we were visiting. Well, after lunch and right before it was time for us to go, he got that look and presented us with our very first pupka. I'm sure there will be more :)

After our second visit of the day, we went to the notary to do some paperwork and then we met with our lawyer to discuss what will happen at court tomorrow. When we were all done, we had Nick drive us to Kamelia's (or something like that). That is the other restaurant in town with English menus. So, we did not have pizza for dinner tonight.

Day 10 in Region

We are definitely in the Groundhog Days here. We had are usual visits with the little guy. He was a bit out of sorts this morning but was back to his usual smiley self this afternoon. It is hard when I know he is hungry but I can't do anything about it. Not much longer. He took a nice Winston nap during our afternoon visit. That boy was sawing some logs. It was so cute.

Got official word that court is Tuesday at 2pm. We have some paperwork to do tomorrow and we will meet with our lawyer to talk about court. I am so excited to be so close. I can't wait to be able to provide what Winston needs when he needs it - feed him when he is hungry, change him when he is wet, help him sleep when he is tired, and comfort him when he is upset. Oh my baby. I leave a little piece of my heart at that orphanage every day.

Do I even need to write what we had for dinner?

Cherries are in season here. There are cherry trees all along the road on our way into town. Every day we see the same cute kiddos perched perilously in a cherry tree eating and chatting.

Day 9 in Region

We had some more great visits with the little guy today. This afternoon he was just wearing his pink onesie, so we got to see his cute chubby baby thighs :) He is playing more and more each day. It is amazing to watch him blossom right before our eyes. It is getting harder and harder to leave him each day. He is like a baby alarm clock. Today, he started touching his fist to his mouth repeatedly. We looked at the clock and, sure enough, it was 2pm. Lunch time!! He wanted his food. The nanny came to get him to give him his lunch but said she would bring him back. He was a content baby when he returned with a full belly. He fell asleep in my arms not too much later.

We walked into town to get some dinner at our usual pizza place. One of the waitresses there now knows us, so we don't have to ask for the English menu anymore. We really need to figure out where the other restaurant with the English menus is.

Day 8 in Region - Handsome in Pink

Yes, today my boy was all decked out in pink. I thought he pulled it off nicely. He was very active this morning and played for almost our whole visit. He has discovered the joy of Daddy's flying games. He passed out in my arms just a few minutes before they came to get him. I didn't want to let him go. He was all snuggly and comfy.

Here he is enjoying some Daddy love.

In case Winston is scared of stuffed animals, we will know why:



After our morning visit, it was home to do laundry

At our afternoon visit, I had the translator ask if we could feed Winston. He always seems hungry during our visit and I thought this would be a great way to learn more about his habits. I had assumed he was getting all bottle feedings. The doctor gave us the okay to feed him at his next scheduled meal - 2pm. No wonder he has been so fussy during our afternoon visits. His usual mealtime is right in the middle. Poor guy. So, at 2pm, the nanny brought in a tray with a teacup full of mashed potatoes and gravy and another with a mashed up meat mixture. He ate like a champ. I didn't know that much food could fit in a baby.

We walked into town this afternoon for our usual meal of pizza. We really need to figure out where the other restaurant with English menus is. After dinner, we walked around and went into some of the shops. We also walked down to the river and through the park.



Day 7 in Region

We had 2 great visits with Winston today. It was beautiful out this morning and they surprised us and brought him outside to us this morning. Of course, he was all bundled up with a sweat suit over his pink footy PJ's. Just in case, they also brought out a coat for him :) We walked around the grounds a bit til he decided it was naptime. Then we sat on the bench while Winston napped. This afternoon he was full of energy. He played and played and then he took a nap. He was awakened by his daddy trying to swat a fly, but he awoke in a good mood and, after some wake up snuggles, was ready to play some more. It is so hard when the nanny comes to take him away :(

We did not have our usual driver today. Hopefully, Nick will be here to pick us up in the morning because today's driver was a bit scary. We walked downtown to our favorite pizza place for dinner. It was delicious as usual. I would be a lot skinnier if I had to walk to get my dinner every day.

Hopefully, we will get word on our court date tomorrow. Our lawyer now thinks it will be July 5th, maybe the 4th but probably the 5th.

Day 6 in Region

This morning we left a bit early so we could get the St. Clairs to court on time. They are now the proud new parents of Lily Anna :)  Winston was not a happy camper this morning. I think our visits have his sleep/wake schedule all messed up. He had major hiccups/wet burps this morning that were causing him noticeable discomfort. So, we spent the first half of the visit walking, rocking, rubbing, patting to soothe him and then he fell asleep. We spent the second half of the visit watching him sleep. Our second visit went much better. We could tell that they had to wake him up to bring him to us. We got permission to go outside for a bit. It was warm and sunny for a few minutes, so we wanted to make the most of it. Winston was captivated by everything he saw. It made me wonder of he had ever been outside. We walked around and look at flowers, trees, and orphanage kitty cats. We went inside and played for a bit but Winston was tired. He passed out without much ceremony and slept til just before it was time for them to come get him.

We got to spend some time outside with Lily Anna and her new parents as they were back from getting her passport. Then it was home. Andy cooked up some potatoes for dinner and we ate while watching episodes from the first season of Modern Family. It was pouring down rain so no adventures today. We are still waiting to hear news of when our court date will be.

Pictures!!

Day 5 in region

Today's visits were good. Winston seemed a little more tired and subdued. He also seemed uncomforable. Teething is certainly an issue as I can see at least 2 more teeth breaking through. I've said this before but that little man just has to be having pain from reflux. He has the wettest sounding burps ever. I feel so bad for him. I can only imagine what it must feel like for him to lay on his back days on end. Not much longer my dear boy. It has been raining every single day and we have been trapped inside in a small room that is often very warm. I am hoping that we can take Winston out for a walk soon to get some fresh air and change of scenery. Our afternoon visit included a little Winston cat nap. He fell asleep for about 30 minutes in my arms. It is just total sweetness.

We got adventurous today and decided to brave the rain and walk downtown after our last visit of the day. It is a very easy walk so I suspect we will be doing that more often. We went to a couple of baby stores to find a few warmer clothing items for Winston. I got him the cutest little pair of tights with trains on them. In case you are wondering, little boys wear tights with everything here. It is very cute. We also had dinner at our favorite pizza place. On our way home, we stopped at a little bakery and bought a cake. When we got it home, it wasn't exactly what we thought it would be, but it was still fun to buy a cake. The people here are really quite patient with our minimal language skills.

Day 4 in Region

This morning our sweet baby boy looked like he had been awakened to come visit with us. He was still happy to see us :) I think he is starting to realize that those people who refer to themselves as mommy and daddy are going to keep coming back. He was dressed in footy PJ's this morning that were a bit too small. His little leg without the foot fit perfectly but he couldn't really straighten his leg that has a foot, so we had to liberate that leg from the PJ's. We had some new rattles for him this morning that we picked up at the grocery store. He loved it, although I think he was disappointed that it didn't fit in his mouth.

Winston was extra cuddly during our afternoon visit. After playing for a bit, he started to yawn and nuzzle up to my chest. It didn't take too many taps on his bottom before he was out like a light. Little dude was sound asleep. He even took his thumb out of his mouth and snuggled up a little closer. So wonderful that the little guy can finally know what it is like to fall sleep in mommy's arms. We just watched him and listened to his little Winston sounds. We took some video but I suspect we would be back in the states before it ever got finished uploading :( He woke up right before it was time for us to leave. His little face was so sweet when he woke up.

Then it was back to the apartment. We called the kiddos on Skype but our slow internet connection is making that kinda difficult. It rained pretty much all day here, so not much exploring. We met the Italian couple who are staying downstairs. They don't speak English and we don't speak Italian, so we had to communicate via an internet translation program. Then we came upstairs and washed some clothes in the shower. We have a clothesline draped across our hallway with clothes drying. I hope they dry someday.

Today and tomorrow are holidays here, but we hope to hear something about when our court date will be on Wednesday. We are so thankful that we were able to get to region so quickly and get all our paperwork going before the holidays.

Day 3 in Region

Our beloved taxi driver, Nick, picked us up at 8:45 to head to the orphanage to see Winston. We visit twice per day 9-10am and 1-3pm. The first visit flies by since it usually takes a little while for the nanny to bring him to us. He is usually tired in the morning, so I am thinking he has either just gotten up or it is naptime. A visit consists of lots of hugs and kisses, many raspberries and other silly sounds, and playing with toys. Winston definitely prefers mama at this point. We suspect he has had very little interaction with men. When Andy tries to hold him, he almost immediately wants to go back to me. He definitely likes it when daddy plays with him but he wants mommy to hold him. In addition to his missing the lower part of his left leg, Winston also has some missing/shortened fingers. Most significantly, he does not have a thumb on his right hand. He is quite good at grabbing stuff with his left hand, but he tends to not use his right hand very much at all.

Winston was quite fussy during our afternoon visit. He has a nap and a bottle after our visit so he is usually both hungry and tired by the end. He is also teething and I am pretty sure he has reflux. Poor little man was having all kinds of wet sounding burps followed by back arching and fussing.

On the way home from our visit, Nick took us to the grocery store. That place was packed. We picked up our usual staples of bread, bananas, yogurt, Coke, and diapers for the orphanage. The bread here is seriously yummy.

To celebrate Andy's birthday, we had Nick pick us up and take us somewhere to get pizza. Bless his heart. He went in with us, got us a table, and made sure they gave us English menus. That was the best pizza I have ever had. I am certain we will eat there several more times before leaving. We got sausage tomato and peppers on our pizza, but there were options for the more adventurous types, such as tongue and mussles.

Visiting with Winston Day 2

Today was the day we really got to meet the little dude. As is common over here. he was dressed in a fleece-like outfit with a onesie underneath. There is no AC and the room we were in was HOT. Thankfully, we got permission to undress him down to his onesie. His motor skills are very weak, so we are going to need to do a lot with him to make him stronger. He has spent most of his time in a crib so he really hasn't had much opportunity and his missing leg makes balancing to sit more difficult for him. He is very interactive. We have a ball that is easy for him to grab and he loves it. He smiles and laughs a lot. Raspberries are a big hit!! By our second visit, he was trying to stick out his tongue and do it himself :) He fell asleep in my arms at our second visit. It was close to naptime and I am sure this had been the busiest day of his entire life.

We also had more paperwork to do today. The good news is that we are most likely going to have court on July 4th!!

I will add pictures in a bit since they are on Andy's computer.

Catch Up Post :)

Thursday we had our SDA appointment and were lucky enough to get our referral the same day. So, we left the next morning at 4am. The car ride was just like everyone had described. OH. MY. GOODNESS. Thankfully, I had on a motion sickness patch :) Cars over here do not have the restrictors that keep them from going really fast. And I mean really fast. And these are not the kind of roads you would look at and think it would be a good idea to go really fast on. We arrived in Winston's region in what had to be record time :) Then it was off to do paperwork at the lawyers office and then to the notary's office. And then it was off to the orphanage to meet Winston. When they brought him in and put him in my arms, the first thing the little guy did was smile at me. We only had a few minutes with hm because we had to go turn in yet more paperwork at the municipal building. Basically, we just got to hold him while the doctors talked.

We're Here

Thankfully, our trip here was uneventful, long but uneventful. We had delays but it also had long layovers, so no big deal. Andy had to make a mad dash to customs and back at Chiciago but, that was him and not me :) I took some Bonine before we left Birmingham and did not feel queasy at all. For teh first time in my life, I was able to look out a plane window and not feel sick. WooHoo!! We arrived here at about 2pm local time and ran into another RR family on the bus from the plane to the terminal. Immigration at the airport was fairly quick. We got our passport stamped and they screened our luggage and we were off to find Nico. Nico was waiting for us with a sign. He changed some money for us and we headed to his van. It was quite spacious and had seatbelts, so I was a happy camper. We shared the ride to our apartment with the other RR family. It was a relief to see that we were not the only clueless people.

Our first vehicle ride was not too bad, or maybe I was too tired to care. We almost got run over by a bus but I think that was our only close call. My motion sickness medicine was also still working, so bonus. We stopped at a small grocery store to get some food to get us by - water, bread, cheese, Coka Cola Light, bananas, and cereal. Then Nico took us to our apartment. The outside of the apartment looks rough, but the inside is nice, new, and very cute. It has every thing you could need, except fitted sheets :) We will post pictures later. We fell asleep so didn't do much looking around yesterday but will make up for that today. We got to Skype with our babies, which was nice.

SDA Appointment is June 23rd

We got our date on Tuesday the 14th and we are flying out on Monday the 20th. Short notice but we are so thankful and excited to be on way to bring Winston home. Big changes are coming in his country and a temporary closure is coming up.

Operation Winston's Room

It has been a busy weekend at our house. We have been working to turn the guest room/storage area into Winston's room. This has entailed moving a wall of bookcases full of books to another room in the house. That took most of yesterday as Andy also had to figure out how to arrange our living room/office so that everything would fit. We are very happy with how it turned out. Next will be moving out all the stuff that is stored in there and find somewhere else to store it or get rid of it. When all that not so fun stuff is done, we get to start actually getting his room ready for him. I can't wait.

We are hoping to hear about a travel date next week, but the only thing predictable about this process is the unpredictability. Travel preparations are beginning as we anticiapate only getting about 2 week's notice for when we have to leave.

Submitted!!!!

Our dossier was successfully submitted to Winston's country. Now, we wait for an appointment to travel to get his referral and bring him home. I'm relieved, excited, and nervous all at the same time. Of course, just a few hours later I got the inevitable e-mail saying that a new law has been passed in Winston's country relating to adoption that may or may not accept our process. I'm praying that this development has no impact on our adoption. I have to believe that this will all work out. We will bring our son home.

Our dossier has landed!!

It arrived in Winston's country today. Now, we wait for it to be translated and submitted to the adoption authority in his country. I am praying that this will happen this coming Thursday but, more likely, it will be next Thursday.  It is so wonderful to not have to worry about USCIS anymore. I wonder if they miss my phone calls.

We got our Golden Ticket!!!!!

As a last ditch attempt to get my I-171H in a timely manner, I e-mailed a request for expedited processing on Thursday morning with physician's letters attached. I had little hope this would work because the two workers I had talked to told me I did not have a case because my child did not have a life threatening condition that could only be treated in the US that was documented by his attending doctor in his country. They were correct. My Winston does not meet those criteria. So, I was headed out the door yesterday to go to a noon Mother's Day Tea at school with Ben. I went to shut down my computer and noticed that there was a brand new e-mail from NBC.Adoptions. I opened the message and read it:

Good morning,

I was assigned to your case and was able to recommended your case for approval. My supervisor reviewed it and I scanned it and e-mailed it to the National Visa Center just now. The National Visa Center will send it overseas electronically. If you need to contact them, their phone number is 603-334-0828.

Good luck with the rest of your journey,

I couldn't believe it. I had to read it again. Did it really say what I thought it said? I called Andy and quickly gathered everything I would need to head to the notary after tea with Ben and head to Montgomery and get the dossier in the mail by the end of the day.

Mother's Day Tea was sooooo sweet. Then, we were off!!!! We got the form notarized at the bank and  then me and the kids set out on the 1.5 hour journey to Montgomery. They were troopers. The apostilling only took about 10 mintues. Then, we hit the potty and the snack shop before heading to the UPS Store in Montgomery. The kids got a little restless while they waited fot me to quadruple check everything before sealing it in the envelope. I suspect the UPS guy was questioning my need for more children. Weren't the two I had more than enough? Then, we were done. The dossier will be delivered on Tuesday since Monday is a holiday in Winston's country.

As a treat, we stopped at Bass Pro Shop on the way home so the kiddos could look at fish, run amok a bit, and eat Moon Pies.

I didn't really have time to process all this til much later. After what seemed like forever, we had our Golden Ticket, the dossier is on the way, and we are one step closer to bringing home our baby boy.

What a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waiting for our Golden Ticket

The golden ticket is the one last thing we need to complete our dossier to send to Winston's country. This golden ticket isn't found in a bar of chocolate. I've certainly looked there enough lately. Rather, it is our approval from USCIS. We walked in early for fingrprints this past Monday. All we can do now is wait. When that golden ticket will arrive is anybody's guess. It could be next week. It could be next month. It could be two months from now. Anyone who knows me knows that this could drive me bonkers.  Just to make things interesting, the government in Winston's country has decided to change things up starting sometime this summer. There could be delays of unknown duration if we don't get there in time.

So, we pray and wait and pray and wait some more. And our sweet little boy is waiting in his crib with no mama or daddy to rock him to sleep at night. We love you little man and we are coming as fast as we can.

The check is in the mail

The check to USCIS, that is. Today, I mailed in our I-600A, our application to be allowed to bring an orphan into this country. We need to have this approval before we can submit our dossier to Winston's country. It has been an emotional week waiting for the final homestudy. Now, we begin the next Big Wait.

Feeling impatient

Yes, I am. I'm waiting for my finalized copy of my homestudy so I can submit our I-600A for approval. I was hoping to be able to mail it in tomorrow, but that is not going to happen. I feel like I am in a race against time with rumors buzzing around that there may be a temporary moratorium on adoptions from Winston's country as soon as early this summer. I need to get this paper work done and get him home NOW!!!

We just got back tonight from our last family vacation as a family of 4. Winston was definitely in our hearts and on our minds during the trip. I was checking my phone for homestudy updates as we waited in lines all over Disney World. The kids wondered what Winston's favorite ride will be. We all picked out a stuffed Mickey for him. Next year, he will be with us on our annual trek to Disney World. The adults will be outnumbered :)

Making Progress

We had our first home study visit on Tuesday and our final homestudy visit yesterday. Our social worker has been great and seems very invested in getting everything done quickly so we can get Winston home. We should have our draft of her report this week and hope to pick up the final copy when we return from vacation on the 21st. All of our clearances are in!! I spent the evening getting all my papers organized and ready to be notarized. The I-600A is all filled out and ready to be mailed when I pick up the homestudy. It really feels like we are making progress.

Meanwhile, I am excited that another family will be visiting little Winston's orphanage in the next couple of weeks. They are adopting a precious baby girl with down syndrome. I am hoping that they will be able to catch a peek and maybe even a photo of Winston. My heart aches for that little man.

I confess

I'm a horrible blogger. Things are moving along here in the land of official documents. We got all of our  paperwork into the homestudy agency yesterday and we have been officially assigned to a caseworker. Our home visit should be scheduled soon.

Adoption is quite the wild ride of emotions but I have faith that this little man was meant to be our son and all will work out. We are working as quickly as we can to get him home.

Fingerprints, medical forms, and notaries, Oh My!!!

Yes, this morning I went to the city jail to be fingerprinted. I have never been in a jail before, so just one of many new life experiences. I think we may be on a first name basis with the notary at the bank before this is all said and done. I had 10 or so pages that needed to be stamped. After I read him the instructions describing how his stamp had to be perfect, he decided he needed to practice a few times. Bless his heart. Tomorrow is the big medical exam for me. Nothing like crossing something off the big list!! One step closer to that precious boy. I hope he is sleeping peacefully.

Chasing the paper

I am beginning to see why this phase of adoption is referred to as the paperchase. I have tackled a big chunk over this weekend. We visited a new church this morning and the sermon was focused on God's time. Did they know I was coming? It is so hard to be patient when I know that my baby boy is asleep right now in a crib in an orphanage. But I have no choice but to be patient. Winston will come home in God's time, not mine.

Our adoption journey begins..

Earlier this month we commited to bring a sweet little baby boy home from Eastern Europe. Our little man was born missing his left tibia and foot, but he is perfect to us. There is a lot to do before we get to meet him, hold him, love him, and bring him home to his family. We hope you'll share the journey with us.