Family Pix - 2 months home

A few more pictures from 2 months home and Vanie at 15 months.




Vanie and mommy


Vanie and daddy


Vanie with his grandma

15 months old and 2 months home

Yes, our little boy just turned 15 months this weekend and it’s been 2 months since we got him home.
A few updates:
•Going back to work tomorrow so he will be home with his grandma ( i miss him already)
•We had the 15th month check up and he has gained 600gr (1 ½ lbs) and has grown 2 centimeters (almost one inch) in a month. Blood work from last time was all good but his body is low on vitamin D so he needs to start additional vitamins. He got the MMR shot, as well. We don’t have to go back until he is 18 months.
•Vanie got sick on Friday, just fever (up to 102F) and nothing else. He didn’t feel well at all on Friday and pretty much stayed either in his crib or cuddled with him mommy. We finally got the fever under control by Saturday afternoon. Not sure what the whole thing was but we are happy he is better now. The only problem is that he stopped eating and of course we have a few sleepless nights.

•Some of the developments this month:
- 2 more molars just broke out last week and one more front (lower) tooth making it up to 11 teeth now
- doesn’t crawl at all but walks and actually runs like a big boy now (the 1st few days he was learning how to run, he was running in the same spot wondering why I can catch him, it didn’t take him long to figure out who to actually run forward)
- learned to blow kisses (finally)
-waives good bye to everyone
- knows to point to his nose, mouth; ears and… penis
- knows to bring his shoes when asked to
- knows to sit down and get up in the tub when told to do so
- knows and says the words for dad, mom and grandma (haven’t heard him say Zorro in a while)
- knows how to pet Zorro nicely (before he was just poking him) and tries to kiss him
- Still hates the spoon and cries a lot (the doctors told us to leave it for a while) but tries to feed Zorro with his spoon after we let him out of his chair
- Had 2 tiny time-outs in the corner this month because he continues to play with Zorro’s water (I caught him grabbing water our of his bowl with one of his stacking cups and pouring it on the hardwood floor)
- His new thing is to collect and store all his toys and anything he finds on the coffee table in one of his toy cars
- Still loves music and dances to most melodies he hears
I am sure there is more but I can’t think of it right now.,,, I will miss being home with him and seeing him grow but the minute. Let’s see if I can hold the tears before leaving tomorrow. :-(

We have a Passport

US passport, that is. For those of you who are getting close to bringing your little one home, the process is completely painless:
•Social Security Card – didn’t have to do anything, arrived in the mail just a few days after landing in the US
•Citizenship Certificate – again, didn’t have to do anything, arrived about a month after we landed
•US Passport – We were told it takes 6 to 8 weeks but actually, it took about 4 weeks for us. Note that both parents have to be present when you are applying. The original adoption and citizenship certificate have to be sent with the application which was a bit scary but we get them back about a week before the passport arrived.

Last week home

We’ve been busy and I haven’t really had the chance to post much so here is an attempt to catch up and a few updates from last week.
•This is my last week home with Vanie and going back to work next week :-(. Where did the 12 weeks go?!? I will miss being with my little boy so much. There is nothing like seeing him grow and change and learn new things by the minute. (Today is my 32nd birthday and I think I am just extra overdramatic b/c I am officially a year older :-)
•Help arrived last week. My mother-in-law arrived on the 18th and we have been “in training” for next week.
•Vanie is great, hasn’t really had any problems adjusting and loves having his grandma around spoiling him. So far, the transition has been great!!!
•Vanie received tons (two suitcases, to be exact) of presents from Bulgaria, from his grandparents and aunts and cousins, and loved all of them. I think it was even overwhelming for him at some point because there were so many and he didn’t know which one to play with first.
•The hit, however, seems to be a little plastic dog from my parents that barks and sings and its tail lights up. Vanie had seen it over skype in the last few weeks and recognized it instantly once we showed it to me. Sometimes he spends hours just walking around the house pulling or carrying (or slamming) the dog around.
•Another hit is a big stuffed and dressed dog (yes, another dog) he likes to hug and carry around although the dog as tall as him. He keeps bringing him over to Zorro’s water and food….
Here are a few pictures from the last few days:

The famous plastic yellow dog



His new bathrobe from aunt Ida (Jason's sister)


Vanie and his gf Alissa :-)

The Marvelous Journey Home

The Marvelous Journey Home

I finally read this book and highly recommend it not just to parents who are adopting from Russia but to anyone. This is an incredibly amazing and crazy story at the same time. Any of you who have stayed at the Vlad Inn probably know about the book and its author.
John M. Simmons, the author of the book, and his wife are the proud parents of 9 children (6 adopted, 5 of which from The Vladivostok area) and I can only admire them for what they have done for these children.
Jason and I were lucky to meet John, two of his sons and his brother on our 2nd trip to Vlad when we picked up our son. They were staying at the Vlad Inn as well. John brought his sons this time (he visits quite often) to see where their sisters were from.
John visits Vladivostok and the orphanages his kids are from as often as he can.

The funny part is that the book talks about the orphanages in Pataizansk, particularly about the baby hospital there. The same hospital our son spent the first 12 months of his life. Not only that, one of the coordinators is the one that helped us, the orphanage director – the same doctor that took care of our baby. So… maybe I am bias but this book has a very special meaning to me just because of where the events are happening.
Oh and yes, when you read it, believe everything you read. YES, it is that crazy and truly amazing at the same time (but those of you who are on the “Russian adoption road” already know that!

I have not read the 2nd book, Katya's Prayer, but have heard the story personally from the author. I couldn't stop crying when I was listening to it, not because it was sad but because it was so amazing and out of this world.

Vanie's Lakers outfit

Another Fascination

Can you guess why Vanie is acting so excited?




...

Aaah – escalators… he is pretty fascinated with these. It’s to the point where he screams when he sees one but gets all quiet when we get on one of then.

He loves wheels and tires too but doesn’t scream like he does when he sees an escalator.

This week’s project

I’ve officially decided to make at least one of the meals a spoon feeding. Yeah….i don’t have any other words except…..torture. Yes, for me and him but I am hoping he will get used to it as everything else. Who knows how many days it will take. I don’t know what it is about the spoon that he doesn’t like.
So, now I try to give him at least 10-12 spoons of his lunch (ok, it’s more like me forcing the baby spoon full with food into his little mouth) and then I let him eat the rest in a bottle.
We’ve been doing this for 3 days now and he is not happy AT ALL. Vanie cries as soon as he sees the spoon, every single bite, but then ends up eating everything I am able to stuff in his mouth. I do have to use my fingers a lot to stick the food back in while he tries to spit it out during the constant crying session. (yes, I know – yuck).
The 10 spoons take like 45 minutes, the bottle feeding (assuming he is not mad at me and doesn’t throw it on the floor) takes like 5-7 minutes.

One thing I have to say: there is food EVERYWHERE and Zorro loves it. Here are a few pix of how the whole thing goes down.


Everything and everyone (incl. Zorro) in posittion...


After one of the "bites" - that was the face i saw after every spoon.


Watching the financial news while chewing. I switched to Dora shortly after, hoping it will help (it didn't).


No comment, except the food wasn't only on his face. this is actually a pretty clean shot. Sometimes, there is food on his eye lashes and on the curls.


Drinking juice out of mom’s glass. I was ready to do anything to make him stop crying.


Playing with the leftovers on his hands and face.

The most expensive toys so far...

An empty Pepsi bottle and a an empty box from Cosco. This is all Vanie played with the entire day today (expect for the musical table which is ALWAYS on some song). Of course, as a good mom, I encouraged him by making the box a car and “drove” him around the house and he loved it.

Family Pix - 1 month home

More Vanie Pix - 14 months old

14 mo’s old and 1 mo home

Yes, can you believe it? The last month’s been amazing. Our little boy has is now 14 month’s old. We had his physical today and he did very well considering that he had to give 4 vials of blood and got 2 vaccinations.
As a good mom I would have taken pix but I forgot the camera. The doc’s conclusion is that he is doing well for his age but needs to gain weight. She was even surprise as to how much he walks and runs for his age (given that he just got out of the adoption crib a month ago).
His stats:
Weight: 20 lb 8 oz or 9.3 kg or 8th % (he was 8.6 kg with cloths a month ago which means he has gained over one kg – very good). The doc told me he needs to gain, gain, gain….
Length: 30.3 in or 76.8 cm or 37th % - below 50th % but it didn’t seem to be a problem
Head circumference: 49 cm or 94% - we got us a smart one!!! :-)
Conclusion: feed him all the carbs and calories possible so he can gain at least 3-4 lbs before his next appointment at the end of the month.
His blood results should be available soon. Whish us luck that everything is ok and he is healthy.

Overall, our little guy’s been doing great at home. He’s learned so much over the last month, I can’t even believe how much he’s changed and grown. He is a little unstoppable walking/ running/ playing energizing bunny that we can’t imagine our lives without.

Our good friends Chris, Gerge and their cute daughter Eni were visiting this weekend so we were able to take some good pictures. Enjoy:

Eni and Vanie




Walking...


and walking...


Our friends "borrowing" Vanie - hm, a son looks really good on them :-)