Our little Russians... Home Three Weeks

We have been home from Russia for almost three weeks. Alexander and Analiese are doing really well.Analiese has really surprised us with new found personality. She is blossoming like a little flower that is emerging for the first time.She feels right at home with her siblings and LOVES exploring her new world.She is picking up English very quickly.She says about 15 words consistently but, understands much more.We are mostly working right now with her nutritional needs and muscle weakness and some sleep issues. Once she is a bit stronger we will be able to work on some of her other needs.Alexander is our eating machine. Our baby boy is not going to be little very long.He is such a little charmer and loves to be cuddled and carried around by females. He still shys away from strange men.All the other kids are adjusting nicely to their new siblings.Milana is probably having the hardest time but, she is growing into her new big sister role.It is definitely a busy home with 9 kids but we are doing it and are all adjusting to the new normal of what I call structured organized chaos.

Heading Home !

So, we are almost ready to go home !! We leave for the US tomorrow !! The children are doing well and Analiese in particular has really started to be more relaxed and comfortable and SMILE !! Yes she can do it !! She has even testing her limits which I am happy to see. She is known as the little princess here at the Vlad Inn. Little Xander is known as the sumo baby. He has some major cheeks !! Little Alexander has been very happy since the day we met him. Both have been eating and sleeping very well. They have learned to kiss,snuggle,and both enjoy being carried around All THE TIME ! We have had our stressful moments as well but, we will save those for next time. We are exited to go home and have the whole family together ! It is with mixed emotions I say that since over the last year and a half I have been here in Vlad eight times and have grown to love those here who have helped us in varies ways and have become our dear friends.Our family is complete now so, no more adoptions for us but, I am sure we will be back here again sometime.

Gotcha Day Pics and update !

On Friday June 29th Caroline and I left the US and flew to Seoul Korea. We spent an evening exploring Seoul and took a flight to Vladivostok the following day.When we arrived in Vladivostok we found out our regular place we stay is closed off due to a former president staying there and they had no room for us. We were also not able to stay at the other hotel that others have stayed at down town because it was also booked.Our coordinater was a bit stressed because she had several families that had to stay in a not too great Russian Hotel.The room was about the size of a closet and had super bad smokey odor in it. Well, to make things even more difficult we found out that our little boy Alexander was in the hospital !What ?? He had had a bad asthma issue due to remodeling and dust in his orphanage.We were still able to pick him up as scheduled the following day but, we needed to stay in the smokey hotel room.Yikes !!Thank goodness the following day we were able to get into the Vlad Inn. Alexander is doing very well despite his asthma/ bronchial issues. He is a total love bug and it appears he has been taken care of well. He is eating and sleeping well. He is just super adorable !!! Our sweet Analiese is adjusting a bit better each day. She is trying SO hard to be so courages and brave. Evenings are difficult for her right now. Her sweet blue eyes fill up like crocodile eyes even though she will not cry out loud.I know she is mourning her familiar surroundings. There are several times during the day she will be happy and playing and all of a sudden she gets gigantic tears in her eyes. It is so hard to watch as she goes through this process of loss of what is familiar to her.There have been several times we both have big tears as I watch her through this process of change.I know it will just take some time for her shell to break.Poor baby she is so timid and sweet.We will remain in Russia for another 10 days until all the documents are ready. We already received passports and tomorrow we go to the US consulate.The traffic her in Vladivostok has been super bad so when we get back from our necessary outings we are pretty exhausted.

Thirteen days !

In thirteen days My daughter Caroline and myself are heading back to Vladivostok to pick up our sweet Analiese (Anya) and Alexander (Xander).Everything is now pretty much ready for their arrival home. Still not sure though whether to start Analiese in a crib or a toddler bed.They were going to transition her group this month from cribs to toddler beds.She seems so tiny not to be in a crib. Both little ones even though they are 10 months apart wear size 12 months. Analiese is very tiny and Baby Alexander is a chunky monkey.Our trip will end up being 14 days long because the 4th of July holiday schedule at the Embassy and weekends will delay our home coming a few days.At this point we are happy to know that in less then 4 weeks we will all be home together !!

They are ours ! Plus A few pics of Vladivostok in Spring !

Well, It is official ! The judge granted our petition to adopt Alexander and Analiese!We will be able to pick them up in 30 days after the manditory wait time.Court was similar to last time and lasted about 1.5 hours. She took a short recess of 2 minutes and had us return to the court room with a positive outcome.We return home tomorrow and will return in a few weeks ! After court we did some more exploring since the weather is SO much better to walk around in now then it was in Winter !We are blessed !!

Russia Update

WOW ! It has been a really busy few days! Not sure what time zone my body is on but, we are back in Russia. We left the United States on Saturday morning and flew to Tokyo. We spent the next day exploring Tokyo which was fast but, really fun.Love the efficiency and organization in Japan.We then had a connecting flight from Tokyo to Seoul to Beijing China to Vladivostok. We had to do this route to get to our medicals on Tuesday afternoon.Everything was going really smoothly until the flight crew on a Russian airline informed us we were not going to be able to land in Vladivostok!We had to fly to another city called Khabarovsk an hour flying time north of Vlad due to weather. We landed in Khabarovsk and sat in the plane for an hour or two and then flew back to Vladivostok. We finally arrived at the hotel in Vlad around 1:pm and headed out to do our medicals at 2:30. A bit too close for comfort but, we made it as well as another couple who was also on our flight from Beijing to Vlad and had medicals the same time as us.The medicals were like last time for our other adoption. Very short and a bit humorous. Yesterday and today we went to visit our little ones! Have I ever said how absolutely adorable they are? Little Missy remembered me.She is the sweetest dainty little thing who melts my heart.I can not wait to get her home so we can get her medical treatment started.Little guy has some major cheeks and has a huge personality and looks really great and healthy ! We have been able to go outside on our visits which has made our visits so much nicer and the kids get to feel the sunshine. Every thing is going well.Tuesday the 29th we will head to court to become the parents of two sweet babes whom we will name Analiese and Alexander !

Back in my Swiss Home Town.

I always enjoy coming home to my roots where it all began for me. In a couple days I will be back in California repacking to head over the pacific to Russia for court and medicals for the babies. Lots and lots of miles over the next month or so and lots of exitement too !!