I went to BJ's Wholesale Club with my friends, Carrie & Shane tonight and can I tell you how much it rocked!! We belong to Costco, but BJs has so much more baby stuff. I bought the car seat that we wanted and it was $20 less than at Target.

And, of course, I had to buy a new outfit...so flippin cute...a little baseball outfit. Andrew just rolled his eyes at me. I think we are good with clothes now...we have them running the gamut in sizes from 12 months to 24 months cause we just don't know what will fit him. Many of them have been handed-down to us from friends with boys. Thanks to everyone for helping us out.

Also...I haven't gotten the Fedex'd papers back from Richmond yet. You would think that since I drove them down there and they said they would push them through, that I would have gotten them today. Hopefully, they at least were sent out.

The baby room is looking so great...I still have a lot to do. We don't have any toys for ROman yet, but we can worry about those later. I just want to make sure I have the necessities covered.

Andrew laughed at me when I took these pictures of the new window treatments, but I knew that someone would be interested :)

Plus, I just love the little animals and wanted to share them.

I went Glider shopping on Saturday with my mother-in-law & sister-in-law...we found one we all loved that we can get in a fabric that will match the green on top of the valance...so expensive though so we are waiting.

I will have to take more pics of Roman's new clothes, but these are the outfits that his Daddy loves the most...he actually got them for his last birthday before we even knew we were adopting a little boy :) Now, we just need to get him some Toronto Maple Leafs clothing to add to his wardrobe and his Daddy will never stop smiling :)

We did so much today...bought new faux-wood blinds for Roman's room and put them and one of the valances up. It looks so terrific...we were very pleased :)

Then...drumroll please...Andrew actually said we could go shopping for clothes for Roman. This is the first time he has said, "Okay, let's buy some baby clothes". He was being cautious before, but now this is all so real. We have our plane tickets, we have seen photos of Roman...tomorrow we have an appointment with the International Adoption Specialist....so, we went for it and bought some of the cutest outfits. And, my friend (and neighbor), Kathy has 2 boys (ages 2 & 5), so she loaded me up with some great hand-me-downs.

Today I asked Andrew if the reality has hit him yet that in just a short time we will be parents and responsible for another human being...he just kind of laughed and said that he has never been more ready....

What a fun day, but now I am exhausted. I am going to climb into bed and watch Grey's Anatomy (my favorite show) and crash.

Thanks to everyone for their support and comments...I love reading them. Please keep them coming.

Well, I just got back from spending 4.5 hours in the car driving to and from Richmond, the state capitol of Virginia...because of delays in getting our paperwork to us in a timely manner, I decided that I should hand-deliver the documents to be apostilled* in person. So, as soon as the FedEx truck pulled up in front of our house at 12:11 p.m., I ran out the door and proceeded to tell the driver that I loved him. Yes, I really did tell him that I loved him and when he looked at me strangely, I told him that I had to drive the envelope down to Richmond. He smiled really big and told me to have a great day...

If he only knew how happy I was to see that little white, orange & purple truck...after my meltdown last night when we didnt get the paperwork yesterday. Big time meltdown (even Andrew got a little teary-eyed by my sobbing, poor thing)!! Then, this morning, our coordinator calls and tells me that the company that I sent our passports and Visa applications to on Tuesday went out of business and she had to find someone else to do the invitation** and process the Visas at the Russian embassy. That almost started another crying jag, but I held it together...

My friend (and neighbor), Kathy took the rest of the day off work today and happily got in the minivan with me for the drive to Richmond. We had fun...talked, listened to music, etc. It took us exactly 7 minutes from the time we entered the building that houses the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office until we were back in the car. Unfortunately, they don't do expedited service, but me dropping it off sped it up a day or two. I was hoping that if I told her my story again (I had already told her on the phone), that she would give me those pretty little stickers while I waited. No such luck...

So, then we were on our way home...and we decided to hit the great southern classic dive restaurant, Waffle House. We realized that they don't take credit cards and between us we only had $13, so we split a double waffle order and a large hashbrowns. We were so proud of our ability to budget :0) We must have looked like dorks pulling up in our expensive minivan and then having to count coins to be able to eat. We were able to give the waiter a $2.00 on our $10 check.

On our way home after that, we thought about stopping at Potomac Mills outlet mall and shopping for baby stuff...we were both so tired, we changed our minds and headed across the street in opposite directions to take naps. What a day, huh??

*an apostille is a piece of paper that states that the person who notarized your marriage license, criminal record, passport copies, etc is a valid notary in the state. They type up a simple page and put a pretty gold sticker on it all for the bargain price of $10.00 per page. We had 18 pages today, so I wrote a check for $180. Over the past year, we have spent $850 on Apostilling fees. Hopefully, this is the last of it.

**The Russian government has to send you a letter of invitation for you to visit their country before you can apply for or receive a Visa to travel there. All for the reasonable price of $225 per Visa for a one-time visit within 30 days.

Still waiting for documents from the social worker so I can FedEx them down to Richmond for the Apostille...hmmm, wonder if I will be driving down there insted!!!

This is the gang at the DC Cowboys show...Across the front are my sister-in-law, Erica, me, and Carrie in the pink. I don't know the girl in the green or the girl in the white behind me...well, that's not totally true. They are friends of Adam's from work, but I didn't really talk to them. I am kind of leaning on Ryan who is behind me and then there's Amy...then Adam on the top right.

Then...self-explanatory...our crib and the new shower curtain.

Last Friday night, I went out with my girlfriends to dinner because our friend, Anna, was in town from Denver. We had such a great time at this little dive restaurant...it was great because we could just sit there for hours talking and laughing and never feeling like we were being pushed out the door. Anna will be home again in March for her wedding shower and then in April for her wedding to Nathan. It will be such a fun wedding :)

After dinner, my sister-in-law, Erica, our friend Carrie & I went downtown to meet our other friends, Ryan and Adam at a country bar to see the DC Cowboys dance. The Cowboys are a dance troupe here in DC that my sister, Penny, manages. We hung out with my sister for a little while, but then she disappeared and we didn't see her again. Didn't faze us though, we had so much fun and got to meet Amy, the girl that Ryan has been dating for a month or so. Adam had some other friends with him, but I didn't really talk to them much. We sang "Summer Lovin" from Grease...Carrie was Olivia Newton John and Ryan was John Travolta. Pretty funny...I tried to post some pics, but they wouldn't take. I will try again later. I was the designated (oh so cool) driver in my Sienna Minivan...we were jammin :) Andrew didn't go...he stayed home with our brother-in-law, Brent and our niece, Haylee.

As far as the adoption and our upcoming trip, I feel like I am running around in circles and not really accomplishing anything...I know I need to put the laundry away, but writing a list of things to bring to Russia takes precedence, but then I get distracted from that and decide to check some blogs of my online friends. I honestly feel like I am in a dreamworld right now and I need to get my butt in gear and get ready for Russia...we will meet our son in just 18 days!!

We have the crib up and now I just need to get the rest of his room ready. I got a new shower curtain at Target to match our crib bedding...going with the safari/jungle theme throughout. I love what we have chosen...so cute.

Now, a little venting...we have re-done and re-notarized everything we needed to for our updated dossier. Everything is ready to be apostilled only we haven't gotten the paperwork from our social worker yet...time is running out since we need to have everything in Russia at least a week before we travel so it can be translated. I am a little hyper...and a little annoyed. At least we got everything sent out to get our russian visas this morning...we should have those next week :)

Oh, also...I made a big decision made this week. Well, less of a decision and more of a reality check. Now that we know when we will be traveling to Russia to meet our son, Roman...I decided not to go on the "girl's trip" to Las Vegas with my friends in April. Realistically, there is no way I could have gone once we found out we would be flying out March 11th, but a little part of me wasn't ready to cancel my trip yet. I finally did it a couple of days ago...told my friends that I couldn't go with them and changed the hotel reservation to my sister-in-law's name. Of course, everyone understands and... sorry Carrie & Cristine, but flying to Russia is a little more important than your birthday & bachelorette parties right now :) I will be with you in spirit and I am looking forward to the drunk-dialing phone calls that I am sure I will receive while you are there.

Well, I am going to go watch the olympics now...I love hearing the Russian names of the athletes.

We received more information about our son yesterday. He is a healthy boy of 11 months...he has blond hair and blue eyes and is so adorable. Our son's given Russian name is Roman. We have decided to keep Roman as his name to keep his Russian heritage :)

We bought our plane tickets on Monday...we fly out on March 11th and will be back in the states on March 18th. We will get to see our son in just 19 days!! I can't believe it!!

Here is a map and some information on Kaliningrad because most people don't know much if anything about the region. My Mother-in-Law and I went there in August for the first trip to hand-deliver our paperwork.

Russia's smallest oblast (region) of Kaliningrad is an exclave located 200 miles away from the border of Russia proper. Kaliningrad was a spoil of World War II, allocated from Germany to the Soviet Union at the Potsdam Conference that divided Europe between the allied powers in 1945. The oblast is a wedge-shaped piece of land along the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania, approximately one-half the size of Belgium, 5,830 mi2 (15,100 km2). The oblast's primary and port city is also known as Kaliningrad.

Known as Konigsberg prior to Soviet occupation, the region was renamed Kaliningrad in 1946 after Mikhail Kalinin, formal "leader" of the Soviet Union from 1919 until 1946. At the time, Germans living in the oblast were forced out, to be replaced with Soviet citizens. While there were early proposals to change the name of Kaliningrad back to Konigsberg, none were successful.

Approximately 400,000 people live in metropolitan Kaliningrad and a total of nearly one million are in the oblast, which is approximately one-fifth forested.

That's right...we finally got word...our baby will be a boy!! We are still waiting for the official referral for the age, name, medical info, etc...but, we know enough today that we were able to go ahead and start working on re-doing some paperwork and we can get our flights scheduled over the weekend if we find good ones.

Yuri wants us in Kaliningrad on Monday, March 12th...so, we will be traveling either on Friday the 10th or Saturday the 11th. There are only 1 or 2 flights a day into Kaliningrad...one from Warsaw and maybe one from Moscow, so scheduling this is a little difficult. We might have to spend a night on the way. Then, he says we will be going back to Kaliningrad 4 weeks after we get home to bring our baby home with us forever.

Today, we went and got another copy of our marriage license triple-sealed...Virginia requires it that way for some reason. Made the mistake last time of mailing one off to be Apostilled (given the state seal) only to have them send it back to me. Then, we went and got our police records. There are just a couple of other things to update and we are on our way. I am hoping to have everything done & notarized and Fedexed off to Richmond on Tuesday...then, off to Russia it goes.

We are still awaiting a photo of our baby and his name...we want to keep the Russian name, so hearing the name is so important to us. And, of course the important medical information. But just knowing that a child has been chosen for us is so exciting...now if I can just stop myself from freaking out every hour :)

I won't be able to post the photo on this blog, but I will let you know when we have one. I am going out tonight with my girlfriends for a much-needed night of dinner, conversation and relaxation.

Well, my prediction that we would be celebrating Valentine's Day in Russia did not come true, but....we did receive an email this morning from our adoption coordinator...she said that we will be emailed our referral and photos "any day this month". And we will travel very quickly after we receive it. The Russian facillitator is very pleased and sees this moving along quickly...

Our fingerprints expire May 5th, but the coordinator says we will be home with our child before they expire. Hmmm...will we? I say yes :) I just can't wait to see the photo of our baby...and to start shopping for baby things. We have held off since we didn't know if we would be adopting a boy or a girl. We didn't go pick up the crib on Sunday from our friends because of the snow. Once we have that in the room it will see more real.

Now...onto other things. It's Valentine's Day and do you know where my adorable husband is taking me for dinner? That's right, you guessed it...CHIPTOLE. And, yes, we do have our receipts to get our free burritos today :) Actually, Chipotle was my idea since it is free...tomorrow we are going to a nice dinner and a movie or something.

Well, the weathermen were finally correct about how much snow we were going to get hit with...it started later in the day on Saturday, but by the time we woke up Sunday morning, we had 10 inches on the ground and no power. So, we started shoveling our huge driveway...

Then, our neighbors invited us in for breakfast and then Andrew helped them shovel their driveway while I played with their kids in the snow. Andrew, the good samaritan, then went and helped 3 other older neighbors shovel their driveways & sidewalks. He was so tired when he came in...we both were. We didn't do much the rest of the day but relax, nap, read and watch movies.

On Sunday, we went to the FRUA-DC "waiting parents" meeting. We met a few other couples who were adopting from Russia, the Ukraine, etc. Some were in the same place we were with the waiting, others had just started the process and some were about to travel. It helped to talk to others about their experiences.

Its now Monday and, of course, their has been no news on our referral except that our coordinator really things we will be back in the U.S. with our baby before our fingerprints expire on May 5th. Hmm....

Our niece is here now for a sleepover...on a "school night". She is four and stayed over so we could sled with her friends across the street. Fun times :)

So, I had the bright idea that it would be a good idea to get up every morning at 6:00 a.m. and walk with my husband before he goes to work...we started this past Monday morning, then I didn't get up early again until this morning. I tried, I really tried, I just could not drag my butt out of bed the other mornings. But, 2 mornings this week is pretty good for this non-working out gal. Next week, I will be better, I promise :)

I have never been what you would call athletic, but yet I have "coached" a work co-ed softball team for the last 8 years and been a commissioner for the league for the past 3. I work for a communications publishing company and we play other companies in our industry such as the FCC, C-SPAN, communications attorneys, etc. It has been fun...my team has a few players from my office, but most of them are part-timers that are on my staff or friends and family of those few employees. We have a fun team...we don't win that often, but we have fun.

Everyone keeps asking me if I will coach again this season and I just don't know what to tell them. I don't know what my life will be like in May when the season starts. I don't know if I will have a son or daughter that I won't want to bring to the games. I am pretty sure that I will not be the commissioner again, but even that I am dragging my feet on. Now is the time to start planning the season and reserving fields or to pass the torch, but I can't even seem to do that. I am not ready to relinquish the control or give that part of my life up. I know I need to, but I just can't do it yet.

This is a picture of my team from a few seasons ago...most of these people still play, but some have left for new adventures such as grad school, marriage, etc and new players have filled in.

So, I got another email today from our adoption coordinator... I promptly followed this up with a phone call to clarify...she said to go ahead and get our Visa photos taken and fill out the visa application. The referral should come in in a couple of days and we will know further about when we should plan to be in country. And, we will find out if it is a boy or a girl. Things are looking up today :) Here is the email we received...

Dear Gaye,
Here is today's message from Yuri:
"Please note that the committee is going to make a referral any day.
Have clients tentatively schedule to travel, prepare for visas in early March."
This is good and exciting news. I will be happy to help you with Visas should you not have the information in place from your first trip.

I have been viewing information on a website for the "Families of Russian & Ukrainian Adoption (FRUA)" for a few months now. They have a chat area where people post all kinds of questions and information on their adoption processes...and others that have already been through it or are going through it help to answer them. It seems like they really give each other support.

Well, there is a meeting for "waiting parents" in Fairfax this weekend. We are going to go to the meeting...when I asked Andrew, he didn't even hesitate in saying that he wanted to go. I am really excited about it...we can meet other families in the area that are going through the same thing we are. They also have a "Mom's Night Out" gathering in March that I might go to.

I think Andrew and I really need this...we have loving and supportive family and friends, but it will be so nice to make friends with families that are experiencing the same waiting pains that we are.

Also...I called our adoption coordinator yesterday...just as I thought...no word from Russia yet. I should have known when they said "next week" to know that it would be longer.

No, we haven't heard anything more yet...still waiting. Just thought it would be cool to celebrate Valentine's Day with our baby in Kaliningrad. Neither one of us are big on the whole celebration of Valentine's Day, but we do go out to a movie or dinner or something to be together :)

I had not realized how many of our friends and family are checking this blog on a daily basis...until so many of you asked me why I wasn't keeping it up-to-date. I need to use this space as more of any outlet so that I don't go crazy...and yes, I am going crazy with all this waiting.

We are living our lives on "Russian Time"...that means that everything is sooo much slower, takes much longer and is much harder to understand :) We heard over a week ago that we would be hearing about our referral and travel the next week...well, it has now been 11 days and still no word back from our coordinator here in the states saying that she had heard from our Russian facilitator. I was going to call her on Friday, but I decided that it would just piss me off so, I decided to wait and call after the weekend. Well, it is after the weekend and I still have not called or emailed her. Why? Because I don't want to hear the same "no news" line...I WANT TO HEAR SOME NEWS!!!

It is so hard to explain because we go on as if we are living our lives and we are to an extent...but, there is that underlying anticipation of waiting that is so hard to deal with. This journey for us started out over 3 years ago with us trying to have a baby...natural didnt work, so we tried IUI & IVF to no avail. So, we did not even hesitate to expand our family through adoption...after much research, we decided on Russia and on an agency...

So started the adoption process of homestudies, fingerprinting, paperwork, apostilling, immigration forms, more paperwork and finally travelling to Kaliningrad for our first trip to personally deliver said paperwork. No visits to the orphanage on this trip, just a meeting with our facilitator, translator and the guy that could have stopped this journey in its tracks. But, he said okay and that we were on our way to becoming parents and so we travelled home.

Now, here it is 5 months later and we are still waiting...waiting to hear that we will truly become parents, that we will be travelling to meet our baby...that the time has come. And in that waiting period, horror stories of adoptive parents killing or abusing their adopted Russian children slow down the Russian government's decisions...

And, your heart is breaking back in the states...then, when you get word that a referral is on the horizon and you call your husband at work to tell him...your heart soars because he is so excited you can feel the electricity through the phone. He has been so calm and stoic through all of this, being the mind of reason, the one keeping you sane and grounded. He finally lets it all out and his excitement shows through...

Now if they would just call so we can make our flight arrangements and fly a half a world away and hold our baby for the first time...

WOW!! The flights to Moscow & Warsaw are so cheap right now...if only we would get some word on our travel so that we can buy tickets. When we went in the summer, the tickets all the way to Kaliningrad cost us around $2500 each. Right now, flights to Warsaw are averaging about $250 each then, an additional $450 or so to Kaliningrad. $700 is a lot better than $2500!!

I got another email today that basically said no more news yet. I have started a "To Do" list just in case we are travelling soon...so much to do.

I am sitting down in the basement right now with the boys playing Poker on the other side of the room. Its funny to be the only girl and listen to their stories and stuff. Lots of comments on "Brokeback Mountain" and the Super Bowl.

Think I will head upstairs now and watch one of my shows or something.