Home Sweet Home!

Finally, all three children under one roof. What a day!
It was hard to get everybody looking at the camera. Chloe loves to have her picture taken and her brothers love to clown around. ;)

So, the flight... We got to the airport in Moscow before 10:00 and had several lines to stand in before getting on our 1:20 flight that sat for an hour before taking off. Here we are at the Moscow airport:

Chloe fell asleep right before we got on the plane and then woke up shortly after. With only a half hour of sleep she was not her usual happy little self. She is so funny when she's crabby. It's like she'll look for something to be sad about. One thing she would do was hand me something and then when I took it, she'd sob like I had snatched it from her. I know she was feeling pretty grouchy, but it was so cute anyway. She was mainly just fussy for the 4 hours we were on that flight. She wasn't really crying, just complaining. I know the guy sitting next to us had to be wondering what he did to deserve the seat he got.

So, we arrived in Frankfurt about an hour late and after all the lines etc. we only had a short time before our flight left. We used that time to feed Chloe and let her run around a little. The Frankfurt airport is super serious about security. They had me put Chloe down and they patted her down and scanned her with that little wand thing. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Here's one from the Frankfurt airport:

The flight from Frankfurt to Chicago was 9 hours long! We were so lucky to have one of two bassinet seats. Chloe fell asleep shortly after take off and then slept in the bassinet for 2 hours. There was a chatty little girl in the other bassinet next to Chloe and Chloe woke up and was very interested in her. They smiled at each other and touched hands. It was so cute! Chloe was up and happy for the next couple hours, she ate and played in my lap. Then, she hit a wall and was very tired again, over tired in fact. She kept trying to fall asleep but just couldn't. She would twist around in my lap and then twist around in the bassinet. If she tried to get down, Justin would hold his arms out as if he was going to hold her, which he's still not allowed to do if she tired and crabby. This made her whine and stick her hands in her mouth and pretend to sleep on me. We kept up this little routine until she fell asleep about two hours before we landed. Here we are after landing, can you tell she only slept 5 hours total in the previous 24 hours.


We had planned to have the boys meet us at the airport but had told grandma and Grandpa to wait to leave until we called to say we were off the plane. We were told we would have about a 45 minute delay at immigration, but the guy who helped us was so nice and rushed it along so we could get out. So, instead of meeting their sister in the airport, the boys met her in the van. They were all very happy to see each other and then Chloe slept most of the car ride home.

It was so cute to all three together at home. The boys were so excited to bring Chloe toys. I was afraid she would be overwhelmed, but she acted as if she had been expecting that onslaught of toys. She loved her dollies and will hold and hug them. So cute! We tried to get a little food into her, but she wasn't hungry. Then I tried to rock her but she was very squirmy and whiny. I tried to lay her in the crib and she rolled over as if to say, "Thank God, I thought these people were never going to let me sleep in a bed again. Then she slept straight through until almost 9:00. We were up before 5am. It will take me awhile to adjust back to our time zone.

Last Post from Russia

This picture is of the three of us at Red Square with St. Basil's in the background.

What a day... what a trip! Do we look cold? It was so cold and Justin forgot his hat as did several other people on our trip. I guess when you’re going to get your baby, little things like the fact that you'll need a hat and gloves in Russia can be forgotten. The second picture is of all the families in front of St. Basil's as well.

Today walked through Red Square and also saw places like the Kremlin and Gorky Park from the car. After that we went shopping on Arbat Street and had lunch there. Chloe ate well, but then really wanted to just explore a little around the restaurant. Hmmmm, I wonder how the plane ride will be?

Chloe fell asleep for about 1/2 hour near the end of our trip and then continued her nap for a few hours after we got back to the hotel. Then we went out to American Grill for our last night in Russia. Funny, huh? There are no Russian restaurants near the hotel, only the American Grill, Japanese and Italian. We weren't that thrilled with the last Italian restaurant we tried in Russia, so we went American. It was pretty good! Chloe had eaten at the hotel but still ate some bread at the restaurant. After she ate half of a super hard baguette at lunch, we realized that she can chew just fine. But we're sticking to the bland baby food diet until we get off the plane in Chicago. I've heard stories of babies throwing up on planes and it doesn't sound fun, particularly when the trip home will be about 21 hours door to door. Chloe also was not that happy about sitting in the restaurant all that time. Again I wonder how's that plane ride going to be? Here's a picture of us at the American Grill.

After a little more dinner for Chloe and a shower (after a sobbing through one bath and a shower, she reached up and let me take her in the shower this time. She whimpered a couple times, but was much more comfortable) it was off to bed for her. When I was laying with her to get her to go to sleep, I rolled over and pretended to sleep and she started rubbing my back. What a sweetie pie!

We are being picked up at 9:00 in the morning (midnight at home) for our 1:20 flight. It can take awhile going through security I guess. Then we have about a 3 hour flight to Frankfurt and a 3-4 hour lay over there. Finally, we get on the big, long, 12+ hour flight home. We are supposed to have the bassinet seat, so hopefully Chloe's sleeping skills will allow her to sleep awhile on the plane. Then at 7:30 pm we arrive at the airport where the boys will be waiting for us. I can't wait.

I forgot to write yesterday that at the clinic Chloe weighed 20 pounds and was 29 inches. She's grown a half an inch and gained over a pound in the last 6 weeks. She had only gained a pound and grew an inch between 12 and 15 months, so that is good growth just in the last 6 weeks. Also, after reading the books several times and listening to me make the animal noises, she's saying, "Ooooo" for the cow and "Cack Cack" for the duck in one of our little board books.

From St. Petersburg to Moscow

We had to be out of our room by 6 pm last night, so the hotel let us use one of their "club rooms." It was very nice and we had it mostly to ourselves. Chloe was wide awake and having fun until 10:20 when we left. Here we are in the club room

It was a short ride to the train station and all 4 families were in one car. Our little room on the train had two bunk bed type things and a little table. Chloe slept next to me. She slept pretty well and only fussed a couple times. We were up at 6:00 to get ready for our arrival in Moscow. She ate some baby cereal and apple sauce before we got off the train. I'm glad because it was a while before we got back to the hotel.



Right after our train got in we went to the medical center and Chloe had her exam that is part of the "going to the US" end of things. In fact all of the Moscow stuff is required by the US government. Chloe was very unhappy about the exam. She really likes Justin and even he rarely gets to hold her. So, when this doctor took hold of her and started his exam, she wailed. She screamed bloody murder and then did that little "I've been crying" breath thing for about an hour after. Here we are waiting for the exam.

Our next stop was the hotel where Justin and I were so tired that we paid to have room service sent up for the cost of a small car. Everything is so expensive here! Then after all three of us had eaten we napped for a couple of hours. Chloe was very ticked when we woke her up. Here she is napping and playing at the Moscow Grand


Our final official stop of the day was at the US Embassy. It is the biggest embassy in Moscow. We were one of 18 families there adopting children. It took about an hour. Chloe was a champ and just chattered and giggled in my lap while we waited. Then we stopped at a grocery store and got some snacks and a few more baby things we'll need for the flight home. It was such a nice grocery store. There was nothing like that in St. Pete and Justin and I were sooo happy to see food we recognized.

We're in for the night. Justin may go get take out from KFC, but I just want to relax. Tomorrow the only thing we need to do tomorrow is register Chloe at the Russian consulate. Then we'll do a little sight seeing at Red Square.

Our First Night with Chloe

So here's a run down of our time with Chloe so far.

I brought a variety of baby food type things for her. It was suggested to keep her diet as bland and similar to what it has been in order to avoid stomach upset. So, last night she has baby rice cereal and baby food bananas and watered down appple juice. That was fine with her. She ate enough but was done after about 1 serving of rice and 1/2 the container of baby bananas. She gave me her little head tilt to let me know.

Then I wanted to give her a bath. As soon as she heard the water, she started sobbing. I ended up in the tub with her and she wasn't happy but also wasn't hysterical. She has a little rash or excema or something and I wanted to give her a bath with aveno and put some cream on it. She was happy again when it was over. Here she is in her jammies (thanks to Aunt Colleen or Grandma - my muddled brain can't remember which.)

When it was time for bed I put her in the crib and she cried. I took her right out immediately and laid her next to me. She started sucking her fingers and settled right down. After a couple more tries, she was fine with the crib and went to sleep. We started at about 8:15 and she was asleep by 8:50. Then she slept until 9:00 this morning! Justin and I didn't fall asleep until after 2, but then we got to sleep until 9:00!

This morning she had oatmeal baby cereal and bananas. She liked that much better than the rice and she also drank about 6 ounces of juice. We took her downstairs while we wolfed down some breakfast and coffee. She sat very nicely in my lap and ate little gerber snacks and bit of bread and stuff. But, after about 15 minutes she was done. Here she is wearing a cute little outfit from Kirsten and Sophie.

Then we got her bundled up and went for a walk. She likes the baby carrier I bought. I'm quite glad because it was not cheap and we don't have a stroller. We took her picture with St. Isaacs in the background. When we got back to the hotel she played and was a happy camper. Here we are in front of St. Isaacs. Chloe's in her lavender winter ensemble thanks to Cindy and Allison O.

She ate a nice little lunch and now she's napping. She was not having any part of the crib for a nap. Justin left and then the cleaning lady knocked and opened the door and her comfort level went right out the window. So, she laid on me until she was pretty drowsy and then she wiggled off and is sound asleep on the bed with her cozy Little Giraffe blanket on her (thanks to Cindy K.):)

Tonight we take the overnight train to Moscow. I'm not sure what our internet access will be like, but if I can, I'll post more. Otherwise I'll be phoning to check in and I'll have someone post for me from home.

We've Got Our Girl!

WooHoo! We went to the baby home for the last time today. Chloe saw Justin and started yelling "Momma, Poppa." As soon as she got in my arms she did not want to leave. I changed her into her little pink Polo dress (thanks Grace:).


They wanted her to eat her snack so I had to sit right next to her and even then she only ate a little. I'm so glad we took her today or she would have been very upset to have us leave again.

I wanted to get a picture with her caregivers holding her, but she had been duped too many times into being handed over and left. She was having no part of leaving my arms. She did her little head tilt thing and made it clear. So, we all posed together. She was very good about the car seat and car ride considering it was all new. Her's a picture of Chloe on her cell phone. It came in her little "My First Purse" (thanks Mom and Missy). She obviously seen people on the phone becasue she was jabbering away on it.

Tomorrow we 'll post before we take the overnight train to Moscow. It leaves at 11:30.

It's official! We're a family of 5

This morning we had our last visit with Chloe. The fun rooms were all taken so we were in the directors office. While we were there one of the doctors went over more of Chloe's information. It was incredible. They had a record of all her developmental milestones.
*First tooth - 9 months
*First rolled over - 6 months
*Could roll front to back - 7 months
*Pulled to standing, stand unassisted and started cruising - 10 months
*First steps - 11 months
*Walking independently - 12 months
*Started babbling - 9 months
While we wish we could have seen some of these firsts, we are so happy to have this information to put in her baby book. She has really been well cared for and loved.

After our last "visit" with Chloe we went to court. It didn't take too long and everything went well. One of the things that the representative from the baby home shared with the judge and had also shared with us was how surprised everyone was when Chloe went to us right away. She said that when Russian families had come to see Chloe, she cried and cried and refused to go to them. But when we came, she went right to us. They couldn't belive it, but I can. She was meant to be ours and she must have known it. They asked us a few questions each and then at the end Justin had the responsibility of formally asking the judge to grant Chloe's adoption and for the 10 day wait to be waived. When she came back into the room she announced her decision to grant the adoption and waive the 10 day wait! Hooray!Here is a picture of us with the wonderful woman who translated for us during court.

Then we went to another office and received her birth certificate and adoption decree. Tomorrow morning we'll go complete the last of the paper work and get Chloe's passport. Then, at around 4:00 we'll go to the baby home, give everyone their thank you gifts and we'll take Chloe with us.

Tonight we're going to dinner with a couple of the other families and we're going to celebrate this amazing day.

Trip 2 Day 2

We got to visit Chloe twice today. When we arrived this morning and went into the play room there was a caregiver with a group of kids. Chloe was so quiet and stayed right in my lap. She got up a little and if another child came over to me, she would come right back to sit in my lap. If someone came over to Justin she also got closer. It was like she was saying, "Oh, no. There with me." When most of the other kids cleared out she played more, but she is only as daring as she was yesterday, if no one else is in the room.

She still has a cold and seemed kind of sleepy and not up to par this morning. I didn't get as many pictures of her smiling in the morning. I'm posting one from this morning. She has that very sad look in this picture, but I think it was mostly because she was feeling a little yucky.












She did let Justin hold her a little this morning. It seems to work best if he immediately shows her something when he picks her up. Even though she's a little afraid of him, she clearly thinks he is pretty cool. If he so much as pats on the ground, she'll do the same thing. She does it from a good 4 feet away, but she is very interested in him. Here's a picture of Justin and Chloe.













When we came back this afternoon, she was in a knew outfit and looked like she'd had a bath. She also seemed to feel better and we got quite a few more smiles out of her. Here's one of her enjoying the slide. I had to hold her as she went down or she tipped over. It was a pretty slippery wooden slide.














Chloe does this cute little head tilt that means. "No." She does it if Justin tries to hold her or if I reach out to her when she's swinging and wants to stay on. Here's a picture. Justin got it by holding his hand out and saying, "Can I hold you?" We just had to get a picture of it, it's so cute.











We took her into her rooom to eat her snack and she said, "Poppa" and pointed to Justin as soon as she saw her caregivers. They said she takes her little picture book of us and shows it to people and says, "Momma," "Poppa" and points to our pictures. She also let Justin feed her some of her food. We think she was a little more secure with him when her caregivers were around. But, she didn't want much of her food and just wanted to get back to us. As soon as they said it was okay, she took off her bib and came right over smiling and reached up to me.

Yesterday afternoon and this morning she smiled at us when we handed her over, but this afternoon she was not ready for us to go. When we first put her down, she went right over to have Justin hold her. I think she decided that this big guy must have the authority to allow her to stay with us. Then we put her down again and her caregivers told her she could have candy and they showed her a piece. She started to walk over and when they told her to say goodbye, she abandoned the candy idea and came running over to us. When her caregiver picked her up so we could leave, she wailed. It was sad, but it was great to know she wanted to come with us because the day after tomorrow she is! We were told we could pick her up on Tuesday in the late afternoon, so that's what we're going to do.


Then we met with a wonderful woman who talked to us about what to expect at our court hearing tomorrow. I'm a little nervous about the whole thing, but I think it will all go fine. As long as it does, we'll be Chloe's parents tomorrow around 2:30 pm St. Pete time. So, when you wake up in the morning on Monday (assuming that is not before 5:30am), we will officially have a daughter and our boys will officially have a little sister. Yeah!

One more quick picture... Since Chloe's hair has gotten longer, it curls up a little on the ends. It is so cute!

Trip 2 Day 1

We made it here and went right to the baby home and saw Chloe. We had to wait for he to wake up from her nap and have a snack before we could see her. Then we went to the play room. She was very quiet with us at first, but then got very interested in playing with everything. I don't know if she has come into her own a bit during these last 6 weeks or if we just saw her in a different environment, but she was BUSY! She wanted to go down the slides, play with the balls, etc. I may have to have more gates than I thought. She is such a smart little cookie. She tried to do anything Justin did. She quickly learned high five and wanted to play with him. She still didn't really want to have him hold her much. She would come over and let me hold her for a moment if I asked, but really wanted to play. She had this cute little blue dress, blue shoes and little red flowered tights on. She also seems to have cold. She had that snuffly sound when she was breathing but didn't seem a bit held up by that at all. Our camera battery was dead so I don't have pictures to post. We did get video and several pictures with the video camera, but I'm not sure how to post those pictures. We will definitely have pictures tomorrow. Tomorrow we will get to visit Chloe twice and we will go over the things we can expect at court on Monday.

Our flight was fine, although Luftansa is no where near as nice as Air France. We had a short layover in Franfurt and the trip from Frankfurt to St. Pete was much roomier and we both slept. We were asked to volunteer to take a later flight out of Chicago in exchange for $800 EACH because the flight was over booked. We said yes, but there ended up being plenty of room. :(

Chloe's Brothers Waiting to Meet Her!

Spiderman and The Human Torch can't wait for Chloe to come home. The Human Torch asked the other day if he could adopt a baby when he was grown up. I said of course. Then he said, "When I adopt my baby, I'm gonna bring my kids with me." Ouch! It seemed to help when I explained about the lack of cartoons, toys and places to plug in a gameboy charger. Then last night he said, "You know, I'm gonna bring my baby girl for show and tell." Spiderman is also very excited and talks about Chloe often. I can't wait to have them all together.

We're Going Back!

The news we've been waiting for finally came. We will leave on November 10th to officially become Chloe's parents and bring her home. We could return as early as the 18th. Justin and I will be indescribably thankful to be home with our three children for Thanksgiving.

So Sweet

Here's a picture of our last morning with Chloe. She let me cradle her and she looked in my eyes and touched my face. I still can't believe we had to leave her. I hope she understands when they show her the book with our pictures and tell her that we're coming to get her.

Chloe's Size

I brought a couple outfits to Russia to try on her. I purposely brought pants to get a good idea of her size. I think 6-12 months is too small, although by weight she would fit in them. She weighs a little over 18 pounds and is almost 29 inches tall. So, I think her height puts her in the 12-18 months range. She only gained a pound and grew an inch in the last 3 months, so I'm guessing she'll be about the same when we get her. The light pink pants here are 6-12 month Gap and the bright pink outfit is 12-18 months, can't remember the brand. I measured her foot and it measured size 3. What a little peanut she is.

Chloe's Hair

People have asked what color her hair is. So, I have used this as an excuse to post more pictures. Her hair is blond and I think she has enough to put in a little barrette.

More Pictures and Chloe's Birthday

I had a couple people ask about her birthday and then I realized that I had not included that in any post. Chloe was born June 18, 2005. So she is 15 1/2 months old. Which means she will be about 17 months when we bring her home. Here's another picture of the little princess.

See Chloe Giggling

Day 3 - Absolutely Brutal

We knew all along we would have to leave her after trip one, but I could never have imagined how unbelievably and totally painful it would be.

We had another wonderful morning with the sweetest baby girl in the world. One of the first things we found out was that she is NOT usually very friendly with strangers and in fact often cries when someone new approaches her. Then at the end of our morning play time she cried and reached back for me when I gave her back to her caregivers. Then Justin and I both cried (not in front of her of course). Then this afternoon I could tell she was a little more quiet with us. I swear she was sad that she had opened herself up so much and then we left. But we still had a lovely time and she played and giggled. Then when we had to say good bye again she again cried and reached for us. We are both just a wreck. Then, of all things, we had to go to a folk dancing show that we had bought tickets for. It was very nice, but I'm sure people around us were wondering why we found folk dancing was so upsetting that we had to continually wipe away tears.

I'm sure I'll pull myself together. I have lots of adoption friends now who have done this and will now have to tell me how this is all going to be okay. But, right now it's very, very hard. It Saturday evening and are we are being picked up tomorrow at 5am and will arrive home at 3:45. I've been having trouble posting pictures, I'll try later but it may have to wait until we're home.

Day 2 with Chloe and Sight Seeing

Phew! Another very busy and very emotional day is done. We started our day by going to the baby home at 10:00 and stayed until noon. Chloe was happy to see us and came right to me. To be fair, I'm pretty sure she would do this for anyone at this point, but I was happy anyway. This time we got to take her outside in her little snowsuit. It seems that every child in Russia is in a snowsuit when it's in the 50's. They really like to keep 'em warm. She was pretty uncertain as to what to do at first. I think that there is a pretty strict routine of what the group does when they go outside and we were just letting her take the lead. She mostly wanted me to hold her which I was more than happy to do. She smiled, laughed and giggled for us and we took tons of pictures. Then we went back inside and played with her for a while until it was her lunch and nap time. Oh, and I so did not bring enough books. She is happy to sit and look at a book while I talk to her in a language she doesn't understand. She loves to point and talk to. Amazing! Her caregivers told our translator that she is very smart and knows lots of words. Wow!

While she was napping we went to lunch and had more Russia food, this time it was meat pies that reminded us a little of the ones the Campbells have on St. Patricks day. It was yummy! Then we went to Hay Market Square and did a little shopping. The bartering and being approached by sellers was a little more than I could navigate after only 3 hours of sleep last night, so we'll have to go back tomorrow to finish up. Then we went to the Church of the Spilled Blood which was just incredible. Justin and I decided we need to expand our vocabulary beyond, "Wow" if we intend to do any more traveling and sight seeing. But really it was just amazing.

We were back to the baby home from 4-6 pm. Chloe was as cute and adorable as ever. This time Justin scooped her onto his lap and then started making her giggle and she completely forgot that she hadn't been allowing him to hold her. I took some very cute pictures. We went outside again and Chloe was much more comfortable with having us do what she wanted. We put her in a swing and she would have stayed there for hours. When I out my arms out to take her, she would tilt her head back and to the side in a way that clearly said, "Nyet!"Then when we finally did get her out she walked right over to another swing. She looooves to swing. At the end of the day I gave her back to her caregiver and she reached back to me. My heart fell right out of my chest and hit the floor. It is beyond painful that we have to leave her for what we now found out could very well be 8 weeks. It is so hard to think about.

Tomorrow we spend our last day with the little princess and then we're going out to a traditional Russian folk dancing show with the two other families that are here. I'm posting some cute pictures from the day and Justin is going to try to figure out how to post a clip of video.

Until tomorrow...

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Introducing the Lovely Chloe Elizabeth Katerina

Isn't she just adorable? She has a little rash thing happening so there is this crazy colored sav on her face, so just ignore that. She is just a tiny little peanut. She is about 18 pounds and 28 inches, or so I think based on my conversion of kilos to pounds. Our translator carried her into the room and she went right to me. She warmed up right away and wanted to stay in my lap while she played. She was very interested in Justin and he was able to get her to smile and giggle a lot. However, she did not want him to actually hold her. She kept saying what sounded like "daddy." This made Justin completely melt. We found out later that what she what she was saying was the Russian for "man." Justin doesn't care, as far as he's concerned she was calling him Daddy and he is officially wrapped around her finger. She said several other things that sounded like words, but of course we don't speak Russian, so we can't say for sure. As we were leaving the lights were turned off and she said something which our translator said was the word for "sleep." Genius! She was very interested in everything we said or did and made amazing eye contact with us. She is also very ticklish and just giggled and giggled. She had a great belly laugh that we have on video and will try to download later. By far her favorite "toy" was the little photo album we made of our family. She would look through it carefully while we told her who everyone was. Then she would point and wait for us to say the name. When another child walked by she clutched her little picture book to her chest and said something that sounded very affirmative. Too cute! She was entertained by this for the majority of our time and was happy to just sit in my lap. Justin was able to get her to play a little game of catch or more accurately a little game of, "Daddy throws a ball to Mommy and I go get it and bring it back to him." This gave us a chance to get some video of her walking, she's very steady on her feet which is funny because she's so little.

So, back to the beginning of our day. We started by going to the "committee" to get our official referral. After this we were able to spend about 1 1/2 hours with Chloe before going to meet with the social worker and the director of the baby home who is also a pediatrician. Then, we signed all of the papers saying we want to adopt her. After all our business was done we went and ate lunch at a very nice restaurant with traditional Russian food. Between this meal and breakfast I ate blini, pelmini and borsch (not sure if I spelled those right). I think that covers all the Russian food that I had ever heard of. After lunch we went back to the baby home and took Chloe to get her passport picture taken. Sh did not like the looks of the place at all and started to cry. I snuggled and reassured her and she calmed right down. What a wonderful feeling to be able to hold and snuggle her and make her feel better. We got to stay and play with her until about 6:00. So, in this first day we did all of the official business that we needed to do. So, tomorrwo and Saturday we'll just be able to play with her. We already think leaving her here is going to kill us! But, she seems very well cared for and loved. What a blessing!

We're in Russia

We made it! It was about 13 hours from the time our plane took off from O'Hare until we landed in St. petersburg. We were met by a terrific driver/translator who will be with us for the time we're here and someone else is coming to our room in about an hour to let us know what is going to happen in the coming days. The drive from the airport took less than 1/2 hour and I would say the traffic was comparable to dowtown Chicago. Our hotel is right across from St. Isaac's Cathedral which is beautiful.

Tomorrow we are being picked up at 10:00 am we'll go get our official referral. Then... the moment we've been waiting for... we get to go meet our daughter.

Until tomorrow,

We Have Actual Travel Dates!!!

It is confirmed! We leave on Tuesday and return home Sunday. We are actually going to meet our little girl! Yeah!!!

We Might Have Travel Dates

We might get to go on Tuesday. We have been told to put tickets on hold but wait until tomoorw to actually book them. We will know for sure tomorrow. If we do go on Tuesday we would return the following Sunday, so that is a very short trip!

No News Today

We just found out that we won't hear anything today. Maybe tomorrow. I don't have words for how unbearable this is.

What Will Happen...

While we're waiting to hear our travel dates, I thought I would post this run down of my friend's recent adoption. She brought her son home from the same baby home in St. Pete just last month. She posted this on another site and I'm just pulling relevent sections of her description. So here goes...

Hi, I'm happy to share our experience in SP. (A little on the long side) we traveled Trip 1 July 2-7 and Trip 2 was August 18-26, we brought home our son on the 26th. The 10-day waiting period was waived, but I understand they will begin enforcing it later this fall. (have been hoping and hoping that they keep delaying when they will start enforcing it as several friends are traveling to SP soon.) Start to finish for us was just under a year.We spent about $8000 on Trip 1 and $9000 or so on Trip 2 (I'm guestimating, but it was around there). Our plane tickets were very expensive b/c of the G-8 summit, world cup and summer! Hotels in SP, we stayed at the Angleterre (a little austere, but GREAT location), it was $250 a night b/c of G-8 summit, usually it's less. Trip 2 we stayed somewhere else, the Kempinski. I was not a fan of this hotel, it was more expensive and the staff were a little cold. Plus, the Internet was down about 4 of the 5 days, and I was trying to do work (I know, it was a crazy plan in the first place.) Both hotels were located next to a park and the Hermitage (huge plaza) which was nice for strolls with our little guy.He was in a very well run baby home, and actually he is about 3 months ahead developmentally. The baby home is about 45 minutes outside the city and that was the biggest drag of the trip, going back and forth between the hotel and the baby home. Our agency did a fabulous job handling all the paper details and other logistics of when we were supposed to be where. We had Katya/Vlad as our translator/driver combo and they were so professional and really made sure we were safe and had what we needed. Katya made sure we had the chance to buy all the things we needed (like diapers, chocolates for the caregivers on gotcha day, that kind of thing). She also gave really nice tours of the fortress, the canal tour we took, the churches and Peterohof (amazing gardens, go if you can!) Court was about 35 minutes long, and the judge asked us questions like who would take care of the child, and who takes care of the flowers at our house (we have a crazy yard that we inherited from previous owners). Nothing very hardball at all. The tricky part of court for us was related to our child's history, and the judge and prosecutor asked the social worker lots of questions about that, but those weren't directed to us at all. We took the overnight train to Moscow (about $262), had a beautiful compartment with snacks and water, and reasonably comfortable cots (2 on top and bottom). Left at 11.20 pm and arrived at 6.40. (b/c of the late departure time we had to buy an additional night's room at the hotel.) Daniel slept with me in my cot, and he actually slept the whole night (me not so much, but I got enough sleep to make it through the next day.) I felt 100% safe on this train, Katya took us to our compartment and made sure we knew how to turn the lights on/off (hard to figure out actually) and how to lock the door. We locked it after she left and opened it just before we arrived in Moscow to use the restroom (perfectly clean.)In Moscow, we also stayed at the Mariott Grande which was very nice, but couldn't believe how expensive it was (particularly room service.) Driver was just fine in Moscow, not overly friendly, but a safe driver and was very kind to our son. Ilya made sure we were all well taken care of and gave us a nice tour of Red Square which I couldn't pay any attention to because I was so busy watching Daniel to make sure he was safe and reasonably content.By the way, we flew Lufthansa home to Philadelphia through Frankfurt, and I think next time we will flight straight to Moscow (non-stop) and then drive home to Philly. Daniel took the first flight in stride, but melted down in the 6 hour layover in Frankfurt and continued to be miserable on the second 9 hour flight. For his very strong personality, it would have been better to do it all in one punch.I think that's about all I can remember just now, it seems like such a long time ago, but we have will have been home 4 weeks on Saturday!Good luck to all who are waiting.

So, that was her experience. Things will be less expensive for us since we're not going during the super expensive summer months. However, if the ten day wait is not waived, we would end up spending LOTS. There is a ten day (working days that is) waiting period that is currently being waived in St. Pete. If they don't waive it we would probably end up doing three trips as it is more expensive to stay in most cases. We'll be praying that doesn't change until we have completed our adoption.

So Frustrating!

We were supposed to hear our travel dates today, but now it won't be until Wednesday. I feel like screaming!

A Couple Little Steps

We have had two positive things happen this week. The State of Illinois actually got the papers to our agency so they will likely make it to Russia in time. Then, we got our fngerprint appt. in the mail. Our INS fingerprints expire at the end of the month so now we'll be able to get them redone before that happens. So, we seem to be on track for things to work the way they're supposed to. We are hoping that during the week of the 18th we'll get our travel dates and will leave by the end of the month.

Planning for September Travel

Well, we don't have actual travel dates (which is the only thing that really means your traveling) but we do have more than a, "We hope you can travel in September." We now have a, "You should travel in September." I know this probably seems like a very minor difference in semantics, but it really does look more hopeful. We are redoing a slew of paperwork and if it all comes together just right then we should be traveling in September. I am reserving full on enthusiasm until we have those travel dates. One advantage to September travel vs. summer travel is the cost of everything goes down. If we travel in September than we would hopefully go back in October. After court we will go to Moscow for more paperwork type things. Moscow is sooooo expensive right now. My friend who is going today will be paying $350.00 a night for a hotel room. Yikes!

Somebody Else's Good News part II

My very good friend who has helped talk me off a ledge dozens of times since we both began our adoptions is leaving with her husband on Saturday to meet her daughter. I am so happy for them and I feel like things are really moving and we must be next. YEAH!!!

Oh, I should add that she began her adoption in November of 2004. So, 21 months later she's traveling. Now, that is a long wait!

Somebody Else's Good News

My friend who traveled for trip one on July 2nd just got word that she's traveling for trip 2 on August 19th and may return home with her son as soon as August 26th. So, that's 6 weeks in between trips which is good considering so many Russians are on "holiday" during the month of August. From the day she got word that they would travel on trip one until the day she brings home her son will be just under 10 weeks. That means if we found out today that we were traveling we could be home with Chloe on October 19th.

Sometimes No News is Bad News

We found out today that we will most likely not travel until September. This is NOT good news, but I'm glad to know and will try to stop thinking about it non-stop for a few more weeks.

Is the glass 1/2 full or 1/2 empty?

One of my online friends who is using the same agency that we are has just gotten back from meeting her new son. She found out on June 20th that she’d be traveling July 2nd, then on
July 3rd they met their son. So, that would mean that at any given moment we are possibly 2 weeks away from meeting our daughter. That's what I call the glass is half-full way of looking at it. But, if you think that it is around 5 weeks between the end of trip one and the beginning of trip 2 then at any given moment we are no closer that 2 months away from bringing our daughter home. So, at best that would be September 9th at the very, very soonest. Whether I consider the glass half-full or half-empty depends on the time of day...

Sorry so long since my last post

Quickly...

We did get some updated info and hope to travel in August. Hope is the operative word there. When I look back at my previous posts, I can't believe I have survived this wait. There I days I think I'll go crazy and every minute feels like an eternity. Then I look back and see that somehow, we're plugging along and the months are passing.

May Post - NO NEWS AGAIN!!! More pictures.

I am beyond annoyed that June begins tomorrow and we still have no news. GRRRRRR! Here is a picture of the adorable dresses I have bought for Chloe on ebay. They average $7.00 each including shipping. This is how I am managing the wait. I'm sure there are less expensive ways, but how cute are these dresses!

April Post - No News Just Pictures

I have no new information, no update, NADA! But, I do have some pictures of the nusery. We still need to hang the mirror on the wall and add some art work. As you can see we've decided on the name Chloe.

March 15, 2006 - Home Visit

Ginny, our social worker, came out last night for the homevisit that's required as part of our homestudy update. Our first one doesn't expire until June, but our agency thought we should be proactive and start the update now. It takes about 2 months to get updated even though nothing has changed except that we're all a year older. Hmmmm boring news... I hope for something more exciting soon.

March 2006 - More Paper Work

Well, we have sent in a new round of documents. Every piece of paper work has a shelf life and ours are close to running out. We were fingerprinted again for the state and sent those forms along with the child abuse clearance check forms to our homestudy social worker. Then we sent updated employment letters, mortgage letters and marriage license to our caseworker at our agency. Our sweet baby girl should be off the registry now or soon, so we'll just do some more waiting.