Friday, October 10, 2008

Signing off

Packing up the computer so I'm leaving you with some fun pics from the last 3 days . . .



Camryn in her new PJ's - very different then what she's used to!

Courtney, doing the twin thing


The end of a long day

Camryn Lynn



Figuring things out together (how to get those socks on right)



Our first moments together as a family in the lobby of the Park Inn in Ekaterinburg

The adventure begins



A very emotional day for Mimi

Ready to go

Courtney and Camryn arrive for their new clothes and the beginning of their new lives.

Katy (in flowered sweater) crashed her first Russian birthday party.  She fit right in and didn't care that none of the kids could understand her and they didn't seem to mind her either.  

Katy helping with luggage at the Park Inn by getting the cart

We're coming home

We had our appointment today at the embassy and it went fine.  Very efficient compared to 3 years ago.  There was a line outside in the cold but we didn't have to stand in it - it didn't seem any of the adoptive parents had to.  We were gone for 3 hours but it didn't feel like it.  Katy stayed at the hotel with Angela which was easy too as she was napping when we left.  The girls were also napping so I woke them, got them dressed and snuck out before Katy woke up, in fact, she slept for about an hour after we left.

Both girls did great while waiting for our turn.  Then during the 30 minutes it took between interview and receiving visas, Mimi took them to a play area for a while.  They played very well with the other kids and when I walked out they got up and walked toward me.   Mimi got to talk to lots of people adopting and she really enjoyed that.  Katy did fine while we were gone - seems to be used to it and I think she may secretly enjoy the quiet time on her own with Angela or Mimi.   

Right now Angela and Mimi are gone getting some take out food and I'm in the room with the 3 girls.  I decided to get some formula for Courtney and it's working wonders.  Jane got us one bottle and Camryn wants it to so we're having to share but Courtney is like a different kid now.  In fact, she just asked for more of it and drank another 5 ounces so things are looking up.  Camryn really likes it too but she's also eating baby food and doing well with that.  They don't have much interest in whole food but at least they're getting some nutrition right now.

We're being picked up tomorrow at 10:30 AM and then we're on the way home.  It should be a good and fast trip home - one 12.5 hour flight then a 2 1/2 hour drive.  Easy compared to what we've been doing. 

Both girls are playing right now and Katy occasionally plays with them.  At the moment she's watching TV and I just got done giving more formula to them.  They want to go to bed but I'm keeping them up a little while longer and then all 3 will go down.  Their last night in Russia. 

So, this is my last adoption blog and, like Carla, I will update on how the girls are doing once we get home.  I've heard that you can print your blog and save them for the children so I'm going to look into doing that.  Please add any comments soon so they can enjoy them when they're older.

 It's been almost 11 months getting to this point but by tomorrow afternoon Camryn & Courtney will be US Citizens!

  

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Random trip pics . . .

croc at circus

Waiting for 2 cars to pick us up at our flat in Ekat and take us to Park Inn

Our luggage - this plus 3 kids!

Katy and Camryn

Katy's first train ride

Boarding the train for Chelyabinsk


September 26th - off to court 

We only saw packs of wild dogs in Ekat - none on leashes - but we did find this leashed rabbit

Katy showing off pictures of her sisters at her orphanage (Sasha on far right)

Learning to play together

Handing out presents


Sisters first meeting

 - Katy at LAX departing for Ekat - not your typical Russian traveller!



1st Day in Ekaterinburg - it was very cold!

Day 2 as a family

Camryn and Courtney are doing great so far.  Camryn is so full of energy - almost as much as Katy but there is one difference - Camryn does sleep.  Courtney, on the other hand, seems a little dazed.  She's not feeling so well and she's very sleepy and snuggley.    But, both girls are taking all of this in stride with Camryn acting as if she's on a great adventure.  Of my three girls right now, Camryn is the one really enjoying all of this I think.  

The day began at 5 AM as Katy was up and about (7 AM Ekat time).  I was able to keep her occupied until about 7:15 when Camryn woke up and Courtney shortly followed at 7:30.  I had Katy, Camryn and myself bathed and dressed before Megan arrived (they have their own room on a separate floor - lucky!) and then was able to quickly get Courtney bathed and dressed.  I was pretty proud of myself that I got every one done on my own but I don't want to have to get up at 5 everyday to do that either!  But the routine at home will not include morning baths for all 3 girls!

We tried the buffet breakfast at the hotel and the only thing Camryn & Courtney would eat was yogurt.  Unknowingly I gave Courtney two - I thought I brought it for Camryn but I guess the group thought it was for Courtney.  Neither would eat anything else and we had little time to try to persuade them as we had to leave the hotel at 8:30 for the doctors appt.  Courtney dozed most of the way while Camryn was just excited to move around.  I held Courtney the whole time right up until the doctor needed Camryn who had been being held by Angela.  I traded girls with Angela and about 2 seconds later all the blueberry yogurt that Courtney had eaten reappeared all over Angela's sweater.  it was everywhere and a huge mess.  Angela borrowed scissors and cut her sweater off because it was beyond repair and we quickly borrowed enough clothes from Camryn's outfit to get Courtney back to the hotel.  It's pretty cold here so we're all back in winter gear which didn't help the situation any.  

Courtney seemed to be feeling better so we walked with our 3 borrowed strollers down the street to TGIF's and attempted a lunch.  In my opinion, it was a disaster and I won't be attempting that again until I have a little more control.  Katy was the most challenging with her behavior but that, added to Camryn's energy, made it a little too crazy for me.  None of the 3 girls ate anything while there and we pretty well trashed the table and under the table with paper, crayons, spilled milk and little toys the staff had given the girls.  We had to walk up about 4 flights of stairs with the girls and strollers so it really wasn't worth it.  We then went to a store and bought some baby food in hopes that we can just stay here quietly and get some nutrition into the girls. 

Right now they're all sleeping peacefully - amazingly, Katy followed suit and is napping with them.  Megan and Angela are off to Red Square and are hoping to squeeze a little bit of site seeing in.  We're at the Marriott Grand which seems to be a great location - especially in comparison to where I stayed my last two visits.  This City is really great - very international with many more polite people and even many who speak english.  It doesn't feel foreign at all - could be New York or Paris or any other international city.

Tomorrow we have to pick up the visas and then we're done.  Just catch the plane on Saturday and we can start working on our adjustments, routines, nutrition, attitudes (Katy) etc.  I'm really looking forward to that!   It will be so good to get all 3 in a routine that they can rely and depend on.   We're almost to the finish line!





Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Katy and Mimi hanging out in Moscow

Today the girls have gone off with Angela and Lori to their Dr's appts. Katy and I have discovered British kid's shows on BBC Prime and we can't get enough of them.

Maybe we'll go explore the hotel some in awhile...

One of the longest days ever!

From Moscow!  10:30 PM Moscow time; 12:30 AM Ekat time -
As I write this, I have 3 sleeping beauties behind me settled in for the night - or at least for the time being.

It has been an incredibly long day with so many things happening all at once - Not enough time in the day to feed any of the girls or myself so I think everyone went to bed hungry tonight.  But, from the beginning . . . 

For me the process of adopting from Ekaterinburg has been so different then adopting Katy from Chelyabinsk and, today was a fitting end to my association with Ekaterinburg.  The only important thing is that the girls are with me, are legally my daughters and will very soon be US citizens to boot.  But, the Ekat process makes it difficult to remember what is important at times because you get so wrapped up in the process and rushing to get documents, rushing to so many doctor appointments, rushing to meet deadlines and beat vacation dates, etc.  Today should have been all about picking the girls up from the orphanage - but that was the smallest part and the most simple part of the day!  So, rather than having the time to rejoice in the joy and completion of that it was a mad dash from one thing to the next to the next.

Olga picked Megan and me up this morning at 9AM.  Just like on the court date, Katy chose this day to have the painful parting.  She did not want me to leave her today and screamed so loud that she wanted her mama as Angela was taking her away.  It was another day of listening to her screams lessen as the elevator went down.  Very painful for me but I'm sure she was over it quickly - I hope anyway.

Megan slept most of the way to the orphanage (it's amazing to watch her sleep in a car as her head bops all over the place but it doesn't wake her).  She woke up just as we entered Nizhny Tagil.  She was so excited and she even began shedding a few tears.  I was really happy to be able to share the moment with Megan as it held so much meaning to her.  We stopped for diapers, got to the orphanage and met with the doctor for a few minutes.  She left to go get the girls and we watched so many cute little kids playing in the fall weather outside - they look so lovable and to see them all and to know they don't have families to love them is so sad.  So, that was very sad for Megan to see and she shed some more tears!

We were told we only had 1 hour to be in and out of the orphanage so we were going to have to hurry.  Olga had to run out to the social workers office to pick up a last piece of paper and so our day of delays began . . . We dressed the girls and played with them for about 1 hour waiting for Olga.  Megan got to know them both very well and confirmed that Camryn is very similar to Katy in her unlimited energy.  Courtney is a little more cuddlely which is very nice.  They both were little parrots and as we named things they were quickly repeating them.  They were very happy to see any of the orphanage staff that walked by us and they beamed big smiles and waved to them.  

It took Olga much longer than any of us anticipated so we rushed the girls into the "machine-a" and headed back to Ekaterinburg to pick up the passports.   Before even getting out of NT, Camryn opened the passenger door so we had to work with her on not doing that.  The orphanage did not feed the girls lunch as they were concerned about car sickness so we gave them a few snacks and then they both slept the rest of the way.  It was a very easy drive back.  

Olga pulled into a little neighborhood and told Megan that she was going to get lots of experience with the girls and we then left Megan and both girls in the car while we went to get passports.  That was suppose to be a quick 5 minute deal but I think we were probably there around 45 minutes making us even further behind schedule.  Megan did great with the girls and when we finally got back we found them playing with leaves and birds perfectly content of course.

We raced back to the hotel to meet up with Angela and Katy and quickly loaded luggage into two cars.  Now that I had passports I could purchase tickets for Camryn and Courtney so Katy and I went in one direction while Megan, Angela, Camryn & Courtney went in another.  I had to keep reminding myself that I would have plenty of time with the girls at home so the task right now is just getting them there safely.  I was a little jealous of Megan and Angela and the time they were getting with the twins but, Katy needed my attention this afternoon as did the business of tickets.

Lydia and I went to the Aeroflot office and we were already running late.  There were lots of people in line and she totally cut in front of all of them saying something in Russian.  Then when a desk opened up she made a run for it and one man tried to cut her off!  She said that she needed a favor (in english for some reason) and she made it to the desk first!  I just let her take control as there's nothing else I can do here in Russia any way!  Then, the agent couldn't find the reservation so we ended up sitting there a good 30 minutes.  The other group were at the airport before we even left Aeroflot but we did eventually get the tickets worked out and got out of there.  They called the airport staff and told them we were on our way.

Lydia flew out of there, jumped in the car and took off so fast I was really worried that we weren't going to make it at all!  She pulls behind a little silver car thats sitting waiting to get across 4 lanes and she starts laying on the horn.  The guy finally goes and - yep, a car crashes into him!  Lydia just pulled around him and kept going - you should have seen the passengers glare aimed at us.  But, she got us to the airport and we were the last ones checked in on the flight.  Everything was cleared for us and we got to the gate where everybody had already boarded the bus and took off for the plane.  Even better, someone made an announcement that those with kids get to board first so we got to bypass the mob at the bottom of the plane stairs and quickly board - very nice.

We made it to the Marriot at around 9 PM Moscow time I think.  We quickly bathed all three girls and put them to bed.  Katy really wants to sleep in a crib too and cried herself to sleep tonight so it was a little tough getting them down but it's all good now thanks to Angela and Megan.

So tomorrow Katy gets left behind again - I feel so bad doing that to her but the girls have to go the doctors and to get pictures taken and they've asked that just the twins and two adults go.  It becomes too difficult otherwise.  Megan will stay with Katy while we get things done and then hopefully we'll get to all spend the day together on Friday waiting for visas.

The twins did incredibly well on the plane - throughout the whole day they were happy as can be.  They've already shown some affects of the orphanage such as not crying when they get hurt but they do look for help when they hurt themselves.  They just look at Katy when she's crying about something and don't bother to join in which is so nice right now.  Katy is the one having trouble right now but she's overtired with this huge change so it will be difficult for her.  But, she was very happy to see the girls when we all met up at the hotel this morning.  Camryn seems to be a little protective of herself around Katy  -  didn't want Katy touching her shoes (which are actually Katy's shoes - I think their feet are also bigger than Katy's) and she screams at her.  I have little heart breaks every time I see one of them being mean to another.  It's going to be a hard transition for all of us I think!  

Hopefully the girls will sleep through to 7 AM tomorrow and we'll start our day.  And, maybe tomorrow I'll have time to post some more pictures - we have taken thousands I'm sure.

3 days more and we'll be home!  



Tuesday, October 7, 2008

                                                        Katy and her new winter gear

                                                                      Sisters at last!

Three little angels . . .

                                                                      Courtney Anne

                                                                  Camryn Lynn

Strolling through the orphanage grounds in Nizhny Tagil with Courtney & Camryn
Katy and the Chief Doctor from her orphanage in Chelyabinsk



               More to follow soon!!!

Tues - 9:10 PM

The pace has finally picked up.  After all the waiting around things are moving so quickly now that I can barely keep up.  

Today was the final resolution day - it's a done deal!  The girls are officially Camryn Lynn and Courtney Anne (I spontaneously added an "e" to Ann - will explain later).  Their birth certificates now show me as their mother and they even changed their birth place from where they where actually born.  So, with great relief I followed Olga this morning to the registerer's office to pick up the new Russian birth certificates, then off to the apostille's office.  She then took me back to the flat where we packed.  It felt like we were moving - it took two cars to get us and our luggage to the Park Inn.  Our group has rapidly expanded.  After the hotel check in, it was off to the Aeroflot office to change all our flights to meet our new expedited schedule.

Tomorrow Megan and I leave at 9AM to make the trip to Nizhny Tagil to pick up the girls.  Angela and Katy will not be making the trip with us as there is no room in the car and it will be too much of a circus for the twins.  It will be a quick get in and out with the girls and then rush off to the passport office to pick up their passports by 3PM.  We're hoping to pick Angela and Katy up by 4PM and get to the airport to leave for Moscow by 5PM.   Everything has to go perfectly but, if not, we have a back up plan where Angela and Katy will be picked up and brought to the airport to meet us there.   

Thursday will be the doctors visit and the embassy appointment in Moscow.  Friday pick up the visa, do a little site seeing then Saturday - head home!  So much sooner than I expected - hopefully it all goes according to this plan.

Having no internet for the last week has been very difficult on Megan and Angela who are both sitting behind me waiting for their turn on the computer, but first, a few cute photos to post.

Yeah - We're coming home soon!!!


Monday, October 6, 2008

Monday - 4 PM

Hello from Ekat. My first visit to an internet cafe! And, I actually found it because in Russian it looks close enough to figure out what it was. But, it's upstairs so walking in you would really never know it was here.

We had such a great time in Chelyabinsk with the highlight, for me, being the trip to Katy's orphanage. I was so surprised that the doctor and caregivers remembered her and they seemed thrilled to see her. Megan got some great footage of that which Katy will always treasure I'm sure. I would really like to bring all 3 girls back in 5 years or so but we'll see. We walked and bused all over Chelyabinsk which I didn't do during Katy's adoption so was glad to do that. It was very sad leaving Sasha who is very attached to Katy although she didn't realize that Katy's affection came by way of bribery - but, it worked and Sasha really enjoyed her visit with Katy. Katy did warm up to her as well but it was a little hit and miss so the bribes worked well. Sasha showed Katy and me her home which was interesting and she made some great cheese/bread snack for us. She really has a nice flat although the building is a 3 floor walk-up and all dark, dingy, damp concrete. It's amazing how the buildings here all seem to be like that.

As much as we enjoyed Chelyabinsk it was really nice returning to Ekat although to no internet. We still don't have it but only have a couple days left in the flat so I'm not worrying about that. Katy and I are now sleeping on the fold out in the kitchen as we have a full house and she wakes up so early. It's really warm fall weather so we've been enjoying it outside but, the heat is on now so the inside of the flat is extremely warm. Very uncomfortable. But, the flat is larger and more open then the little one in Chelyabinsk so it felt good to be back.

We went to the circus yesterday which was very interesting. They had crocidiles, a giraffe, snakes and dogs - very different than our circus. Not something I think I would attend again and, not something I think PETA would approve of. But it was good to see once. After that Megan and Angela went to the Church of Blood (Rominov's) but Katy and I stayed home as she has been pretty exhausted. Then today off to the two (one real and one fake) Europe/Asia borders. Katy fell asleep as soon as we got in the car so I didn't get out - wasn't really necessary as you could see the whole thing from the car anyway.

Tomorrow - back to business and I'm so glad about it. The girls passports pictures are done. Tomorrow is a day of paperwork but I don't know if that means a visit to the orphanage or not. The court resolution is finalized tomorrow so the girls will be officially mine but I don't think I'll be picking them up until Wednesday. Hopefully it will be Wednesday morning and I've already asked if we could fly out of here Wednesday night. I think that may be a little difficult as we're going to need to figure out how to change flights, etc. but it would be so great to get moving toward home. We are so ready to get the girls and get back to the US! It's been a good trip and nothing really all that uncomfortable but it will be so nice to be home with everyone!

That's it for now - will update more when we have internet again. Katy's sitting next to me watching Scooby on the IPOD so I only have 24 minutes!