Gotta give my kitties some props...since the whole peeing on me thing, they have not been out of sorts at all. Even with us going out of town and coming back and the guests we had this past weekend...they have been fine. Sox hides as usual, and Perkins is all up in everyone's business...but they both come out when there are voices they know for sure :)


This photo above on the left is of Sox's little feet poking out from under the covers...her favorite place to hide. The photo on the right is Perkins hanging out in the basket on the top of Roman's dresser...2 smaller baskets inside of a bigger one and my 16 pound cat curls up in the one of the small ones.

And, the photo on the bottom is how my kitties always are with each other...this was taken yesterday as Sox came up and plopped herself down right on top of Perkie and there they stayed...always snuggling up with each other.

That's where you are baby...you're in the jungle now...

Yes, I know I am a big dork, but I just can't help it...I want everyone to see the cute things that we received for Roman's shower on Sunday. So many wonderful gifts from family and friends. His room is almost ready now...and so is his bathroom. We just need a few more things for our trip...

I really hope that Roman likes monkeys and lions & giraffes and pandas...I know those aren't really the jungle, but it came from friends of our from the DC Zoo where the new baby Panda was born recently.

Plus, I just needed to do something to get my mind off all of this paperwork that we still need to get finished...don't even get me started on the medical stuff that was thrown on us at the last minute even though I asked our coordinator a month ago about it. We had our TB tests redone today...tomorrow we go for our other blood tests. Hopefully, I will have everything back in my hands by Friday or Monday (at the latest) and I can send everything back down to Richmond to be apostilled...we have our police reports and all the other paperwork that needs the official Virginia seal done...just waiting for the medical. Our doctor rocks...he is so great about helping us do all of our forms. If only the VA Medical Board would be so helpful.

The shower was wonderful on Sunday...hosted by my mother-in-law & sister-in-law (who also happens to be one of my best friends). My other best friend, Colleen, came into town from Phoenix just for the shower weekend and Friday night, we went out for a "girl's night" or my "last hurrah" before I become a Mommy. Our other good friends, Carrie & Kathy & Suzanne were there too...we had so much fun!! I love my girlfriends...they are the greatest!

On Thursday night, I am going to my first FRUA "Mom's Night Out" event at Corner Bakery in Fairfax...I am excited because my blogger friend, Jen, is meeting me there...first time we will meet in person :) YAY!!

I can't believe we leave for Russia to bring home our son in just three weeks...unbelievable!!

So, I saw something like this in the PB catalog, but each letter cost $10. I came up with the brilliant idea that I could buy some unfinished letters and paint them and it would look as cute. Well, my materials cost me less than $15 which is much better than the $50+ from PB.

Anyways...now, that I have them finished, I am not sure if I really like the way they look...hmmm...

We talked to the International Adoption specialist today...he reviewed the DVD of Roman and gave us his professional opinion on his growth & development...

Roman was 11 months old when we met him and took the video. The Doctor said that his motor skills (crawling/cruising, pulling to standing, gesture games, etc) are at around a 9-10 month old level. He is just a little behind, but really close to what his age should be doing. For his language skills, since we really couldn't get him to babble (mamamam dadada) at all, and he was just laughing and smiling...that puts him at around a 5-month level. Doesn't really mean his language skills are that slow or that he can't babble...it just means we need to work on it and hopefully, he will start the babbling soon.

The Doctor said it wasnt surprising that he wasn't babbling because the babies in the orphanage do not hear their caregivers talking a lot...so, we the "family therapy" when we get home is crucial. All the things we would naturally be doing...loving him, stimulating him, and talking to him constantly. If he is not babbling/making sounds/talking after a few months, then we will go from there. his hearing will be checked when we get home, just to make sure that is not a problem. If he can't hear the sounds, then he can't make them. He seems to hear just fine though...

Well, gotta go to the airport in Baltimore...my best friend, Colleen, is coming into town this weekend for Roman's baby shower :)

We will be back in Kaliningrad in less than a month...unbelievable. We fly out on April 18th and arrive in Kaliningrad in the evening on the 19th. Then we will visit with Roman on the 20th, 21st & 22nd. Court is on the 24th and hopefully the judge will waive the 10-day waiting period. If all goes well, we will become Roman's parents on the 24th and we will fly to Moscow with him on the 27th and home to Virgina on the 30th.

Alot of "ifs" in this scenario, but I am going to think positively and that everything will go smoothly.

We received our VA State Police clearances today as well as the updated documents from the home study agency. We are waiting to hear what kind of medical stuff has to be re-done and waiting for our letter of invitation to arrive...then, we will send off our passports to have Visas put in them and send the rest of the documents down to Richmond to be apostilled.

We are going to hand-deliver everything back over to Kaliningrad. No point in sending them FedEx again because it takes forever anyways. If we take them, we can guarantee that they will be safely in Russia and translated for court.

Boy, am I ever babbling...can you tell I am excited? I am so glad that I have so much to keep me busy with paperwork and my job so that I don't think about Roman still being in Russia without us too much. I think about him all the time, but I am too busy to be sad.

I want to take a minute to tell some of my fellow adoptive families that I am thinking about them. I am so sorry that referrals have been lost and visits not granted, waiting periods not waived. You guys have been so wonderful and supportive and I am here for you :)

~ gaye

Such a wonderful little boy...so full of energy, giggles & smiles. By the 3 day of our visits with him, his little face would just light up into the biggest smile as soon as he saw us there waiting for him. And when you tickle him, he just laughs and laughs and puts his face right up to my face and snuggles. I can't believe that we will be traveling back over to Russia in less than a month and he will officially be our son. Our son that we have been waiting so long for...our son that we have been dreaming of...our son to make our family complete...

He has the biggest blue-green eyes...and the blondest hair that sticks straight up on his head. (I am going to spike it up once in awhile, I won't be able to resist). When he starts to smile, you see it in his eyes first as they have a little twinkle in them and then his mouth follows behind and you see his 6 little teeth.

And boy, what a grip our son has...just try taking the toy back from him that he stole from another little boy. No way is he letting go. "Strong like bull" as Andrew would say.

I can't wait to dress him in the cute outfits we have bought for him and get him out of all of those layers they dress him in. When he comes into the room, he is bundled up from head to toe and is usually wearing a pink jacket and pink sweater pants...I will not take pictures of him wearing that :)

I am really babbling...I just can't stop thinking about our son and that he will be home with us in the states in a little over a month.

Roman...we miss you!!

But, I have been so tired since we got back and today I spent the entire day getting errands and new paperwork requests done...

I promise that I will try to write some tomorrow. The past 2 nights in a row, Andrew & I have both woken up at 6:00 a.m. and then at 4:00 a.m. and have been unable to go back to sleep...

Dreaming of Roman...

And going to bed after 24 full hours of travelling!!

Will fill everyone in tomorrow...thanks for all the comments and love.

~ gaye & drew :)

Gaye's message should be read first...

So, I partially blame McLean for this one, as I am reading a book he recommened a long time ago... I do apologize for the delay McLean, but now was a great time, especially heading to Ayn's home country. For all those counting, I'm reading "The Fountainhead". And in the spirit, I'll start with the architecture (I'll get to Roman, but I can't possible cover it as Gaye has). There are two things that Russian do well, feed and build building that can withstand a small nuclear warhead. The walls of the homes all all concrete, at least a foot thick. And simple. The house we were in, a box, long wide "hallways" in the middle, rooms on either side. The stairs? outside - a half cylinder on the outside of the house with the stairs running up it. All rooms were square, (almost) all hallways and rooms had doors, top of the stairs, bottom, closets. Very functional, very elgant in it's simplicity.

Streets? dirty, but a clean dirty. The snow was black, but there was no trash. The roads had holes the size of me. Driving was an exercise in polite rudeness. Everone cut everyone else off, but no one minded. I can image that there is little crime there. They all have the same goal; to survive. Do what you need to do, not the attitude of Americans, didn't see much of a social inequality. I guess the communist mentality not only lives, but thrives. Very enjoyable to see in practice, but shoveling coal as a result, not for everybody.

Speaking of, Gaye got a lecture on that, Sergei had to shovel a few times because a certain wife of mine went crazy in the shower. After that, between the two of us, we probably spent a total of 10 minutes in the whower over a 4 days period.

Wow, almost forgot about the food, what a terrific experience. Vasilika (sp?) can really cook. But wow, I think she believes that Americans want to be fat. She expected us to eat for an army. Three meals a day, 3/4 courses each. Each course would have filled me up. The most amazing point, was when she gave us a huge casserole of meat, potatoes, and cheese (they aren't eating meat right now, so it was all ours), and then, I made it down to about 20% left (because she was urging me to eat more), so she made me a cheeseburger! For breakfast! Of course, we had Mango Coconut and snicker ice cream for dinner one night. Oh, and Apple cake. Unbelievable.

On to the pressing matter, Roman. What a great kid. He's wonderful and I'm so happy he will be growing up with us. I couldn't imagine a more perfect child. We were meant to be his parents. I'd go into details, but my time's about up, and Gaye got the general idea covered. We're so lucky to be his future parents.

BTW, thanks Alonzo and John for the European prep, it's certainly enlightening and was most useful.

Andrew & I are once again in Warsaw after spending 4.5 days in Kaliningrad with our handsome son, Roman. It was amazing to see the transformation in him from day to day. We actually got to meet him on Monday as planned, but just for an hour. He was a little overwhelmed and pretty quiet, but cracked lots of smiles and giggles. He crawled for us and passed his toys from hand-to-hand...we were watching for all the developmental signs. The doctor met with us before our visit with him and we were able to ask her questions about his growth & development.

Then, off we went with HUGE smiles and many photos to Sergei & Vasileeka's (sp?) house (that looked like a castle) off in the suburbs of Kaliningrad. We walked in the door and were told 5 mins until dinner...and what a dinner we had. It started off the many, many huge meals that Vasileeka would cook for us, but I will leave that to Andrew to tell you about, because his stomach was very happy the whole time.

Days 2 & 3 with Roman we saw many changes in him. He smiled immediately upon seeing us again and we really got him laughing and babbling and his smile could light up the room. Days 1, 2 & 3 with Roman, we were with him on our down in the Doctor's office. Nice and quiet place for us to really get to know him and for him to get familiar with us.

Day 4...what a day...we were in a room with 2 other families and their babies. Babies everywhere. We really got to see Roman interact with others besides us. We decided he might just be the bully as he stole many toys on his crawling journeys across the room. Look out Haylee...hide your toys :)

Then, court to meet with the judge one-on-one...HOORAY!! We have our court date and it is April 24th at 11:00 a.m. We will be flying to Kaliningrad the Wednesday before that.

We went bowling on the evening of Day 4 with Yuri & Sergei...and yes, Andrew embarassed the poor guys when he got three strikes in a row in the first 3 frames!! He won some kind of crazy contest on the first 2 games and got 2 free "shots" of whiskey!! Yeah, right...those were big "shots". Yuri was not happy with losing :)

Day 5 was our short 45 minute visit with Roman to say goodbye...we were alone with him which was good. We made friends with another family, though and hope to stay in contact with them. They were taking their son home next week...

Roman was full of energy today and seemed sad to be putting his coat on to leave after such a short play-time.

Now, we are in Warsaw again...but this time, by choice. There were no flights out to DC via Chicago on Lot today, so we are spending the night at the lovely Courtyard Marriott which is right across the street.

We just had dinner and it was a "St. Patrick's Day" buffet...complete with Irish Stew and Shepard's Pie. And Irish folk songs (along with some Scottish ones thrown in) while we dined. Now we are just in the Internet Room and Andrew wants to do his own post after mine...beware :)

It is 7:30 pm here now in Poland...or around that. Poland is 6 hours ahead of us in Virginia. So...both sets of MOms & Dads...give us a call when you get home from work :) We will be up. Love to everyone...especially, dear sweet Roman. ~gaye

p.s. I didn't cry until the plane was taking off from Kaliningrad, but as Andrew said "he has been without us for 11 months, one more month will go fast"

Gaye's mom received a phone call from Andrew and Gaye saying they had finally arrived! They actually went to the orphanage today and the word from across the continents is, "Roman is beautiful! He smiles and laughs and everything is just wonderful!" One little glitch to work out- something to do with the paperwork,but according to them it should be no problem. More news as it arrives! We certainly are all so excited!

As far as we know, Andrew and Gaye are currently on a plane heading to Warsaw, Poland. They left yesterday afternooon from Dulles airport and had a short flight to Chicago. That is where the trouble began. Like the first trip to Russia, they've had a few delays along the way. In Chicago, they were on the plane ready to go to Warsaw when the crew noticed the plane had a flat tire. They sat on the plane for a few hours, hoping that the tire would be fixed. Instead they had to deboard the plane and spend the night in Chicago. They got to the Chicago airport early this morning and again had a delayed flight. We haven't heard from them since this morning, so we're assuming they're on a plane right now heading to Warsaw. Once in Warsaw they will (hopefully) get on a plane and be in Kaliningrad by 2:45pm (Kaliningrad time). They have spoken with the coordinator from their adoption agency and she is working with the contact in Kaliningrad to get their meeting with the Kaliningrad government changed from Monday to Tuesday. Hopefully they will get to see Roman on Tuesday!!! That is all we know so far. We will update the blog again as soon as we have any new information. Thank you to everyone for their love and support. I know that Andrew and Gaye truly appreciate it!

This is a photo of the suitcase that has all the donations for the orphanage. Medicines, lotions, shampoo, teething rings, socks, t-shirts, bibs, outfits, a couple of toys. We are going to carry this one on the plane with us and our toiletries and clothes for our meeting with the Ministry of Education on Monday. So, if nothing else makes it there, at least we will look nice and the orphanage will have some nice things.

This is the guest room...or packing central. Piles and pile of clothes, toiletries, gifts and stuff. Hopefully everything will fit into the suitcase. We want to only take one that we will check in addition to the carry-on. Then, Andrew will take a backpack with the camera and the DVD player. And I will have my big Vera Bradley purse.

The elephant on the right is a big squishy pillow that I bought for Roman. It fits perfectly on the back of the rocking chair or the side of the crib. It is so soft and cuddly, I couldn't resist. It was made by a company called Jelly Cat (http://www.justjellycat.co.uk). There stuff is so cute. A little pricey, but so nice.

This is Roman's room. We are keeping the twin bed in there in case one of us needs to sleep in there with him some nights. The quilt is new. We don't have the crib set yet, but hopefully soon. It all looks so great together.

Can you tell I'm excited...geeesh!! Don't forget to leave your comments for us :)

Yes, that's right, they did arrive yesterday...I didn't realize how tense I was about them until they actually came. Then, I literally crashed...I fell sound asleep for an hour while waiting for my Mom to come pick me up for Costco.

Costco was fun...Mom bought me 2 books for the plane and we shopped and had a good time. If you can believe it, I did not buy anything :)

Our neighbors/friends from across the street came over with their 2 little boys last night to say goodbye to us before our trip. We ordered pizza and just relaxed...

Perkins the cat is getting a little anxious...he knows something is up. He sees the suitcases and piles of clothes and he is not allowed in the back 2 bedrooms for fear that he will mess things up. He does not like being locked out of places...he is king of the house. Well, he must have been really pissed last night because he peed on me...that's right, you heard correctly, the most amazing, wonderful cat in the world urinated on me. I was laying on the bed talking to Andrew and had a big, baggy overalls...I didn't even notice that he had done it until I got up and kept smelling cat urine and realized I was wet. GROSS!!! Then, he threw up...

My poor baby. I took him to the Vet today just to make sure there is nothing else wrong with him and it is just stress. I haven't heard back from the office yet on the results of his urinalysis. if he has no infection and he keeps doing this, my sweet kitty will join the Prozac Nation and start on "kitty prozac" when we get home. If he does have an infection, our house & petsitter, Ryan will have fun trying to give him his antibiotics while we are gone =^..^= That is supposed to be a cat, can you tell?

So, except for actually putting the piles of our clothes into the suitcases, we are ready. We have our cash to take, we have the cameras & dvd players all charged and ready to go, we have given out our emergency numbers to family. I have some pics to post, but the Image posting thingy doesn't seem to be working right now. I will try again later...

Thanks to everyone again for their support & love...we will try to post while we are in Kaliningrad. Our flight leaves at 2:30 tomorrow and we get into Russia at 2:30 their time. We will be home on Saturday the 18th...and sleeping. Feel free to call or stop by on the 19th to see pics.

Thanks for watching our house and kitties, Ryan.

Anna...I hope you have a wonderful bridal shower tomorrow...sorry I am going to miss it.

Love to everyone...gaye

p.s. please post comments while we are gone. I love to read them and it will make us feel closer to home. :)

I know I should be posting more and letting everyone know what's going on and what I am feeling, but that's just it...I don't really know what I am feeling except anxiety. Anxiety about flying, anxiety about meeting Roman for the first time, anxiety about packing, anxiety about every little freaking thing. I am sure this is normal, but it doesnt feel so normal sometimes...

Especially when one of the cats pees on one of our suitcases...luckily, there was nothing packed in it at the time. Then, the cat would have been in even bigger trouble. Not sure which cat it was or when it happened...

I am trying to pack lightly...one whole smaller carry-on suitcase has all of the items to donate to the orphanage: clothes, toys, socks, medicines, books, etc. In that suitcase, I am packing our clothes that we will wear to the Ministry of Education meeting on Monday and to meet Roman for the first time, PJs & some essential toiletries. That way, if the other bag doesnt make it to Kaliningrad, at least we have our nice clothes there with us and the donations.

The other bigger suitcase will have the rest of our clothes and the gifts for the orphanage director, workers & the host family. Found out the host family is not really a family, just one youngish man...so, I have to find a different present. I really don't think he will like the stationary and journal that I bought.

And, all of this on top of trying to continue to work a full 40-hour work week while listening to the roofers banging on our roof...they are fixing the hole that the tree so graciously left behind.

Okay, so I am rambling, but it is 1:30 a.m. and I was awakened by the Carbon Monoxide detector beeping very loudly...so now, I am worried that we have Carbon Monoxide in our house which rationally, I know we don't, but alas...

On a brighter note...our passports & visas are being hand-delivered today sometime. And we will have an escort walk us through security at the airport on Saturday...god bless my sister who works for TSA.

WOO HOO!! Looks like the documents are really on their way to Kaliningrad now...according to the FedEx tracker, as of 2:58 pm Moscow time, they are "in transit"

And, the contractors are finally here to fix the big hole in my roof where the tree hit almost 2 months ago...things are looking up :)

Can you believe it? We are leaving in 6 days and will meet Roman for the first time in just 8 days. In 8 days, I will hold my son in my arms for the first time...in 8 days, I will finally be a mother...in 8 days, we will see the beginnings of our little family.

Then, in 12 days, I will have to say goodbye to little Roman and tell him that Mommy and Daddy will be back soon. In 13 days, I will board a plane towards home again and I know I will be crying my eyes out because I had to leave my son behind...

Okay, enough sad things. Let's talk about our wonderful friends that have come together with so much love & support for us. A good friend came over to Andrew's parent's house today and gave us several adorable outfits to take with us to donate to the orphanage. And, others have given us learning toys, books, bibs...so incredible. We will have one whole suitcase filled with items for the orphanage.

I am also working on filling a little photo album with pics of us for Roman to look at when we fly home...it is the cutest little album given to us by Erica & Carrie. It is squishy and he can chew on it and not do any damage :)

I went shopping today for gifts for the orphanage director, the workers, the host family, etc...thanks to everyone who gave me such great ideas. I think that I have found some pretty nice things within our budget. Its so hard to know what people will like and enjoy. I still need to get a couple more things, but for the most part, I am done shopping and ready to start putting everything into the suitcases.

I am kind of babbling tonight...I have the Oscars on behind me. I keep turning around to see what the audience is laughing about. I'm so happy that George Clooney won, now if Joaquin & Reese win, I will be even happier :) I never really watch the whole show...I like the pre-show interviews and then I TiVo the actual show and skip through the parts that I don't care about. Andrew went to bed and I am kind of wired...too much Diet Coke today, I guess...not ready to go to bed and I was behind on my blog reading and posting.

My adoption blogging community friends have had some very good news lately...people will be travelling soon and meeting or bringing home their children. Such wonderful news! I am so happy for everyone!!

One more thing...I checked the FedEx tracker and apparently, our documents are in Moscow, but they are apparently being held up there for a "Regulatory agency clearance delay" and a "shipment exception". Not really sure what that means, but at least they are in Russia and will soon be on their way to Kaliningrad.

Also...our Visas & passports are being hand-delivered on Thursday. WOO HOO!!

All of the apostilled documents came from Richmond today and after making copies of everything...I am happy to announce that EVERYTHING has been Fedexed to Russia and should get there on Monday. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my chest and I can move onto the deciding what to pack and what we don't need.

We still need to get our passports and visas back in the mail, but we have 6 more days to get those, so I am not worried (yet)...

Packing...my husband doesn't do it...ever. Even if we are just going away for a weekend trip. Well, I guess he would do it in a crunch, but then he would end up with one pair of socks for 4 days. I went out yesterday and bought us each a new pair of jeans that will actually look nice if we have to wear them a couple days in a row while in Russia. We are both going to look like Americans because we both LOVE wearing tennis shoes and rarely wear anything else. Well, we will wear boots if there is a lot of snow in winter or I will wear flip-flops in summer if I feel like showing my feet that day (my fear of feet is an entirely different story).

So, we have a few items/donations for the orphanage...clothes, medicines, socks, etc. We need to get some gifts for our host family, the orphange director and the workers. Anyone out there have any ideas? When we traveled over last time, the facilitator and translator looked at us like we were crazy for getting them chocolates & coffees. HELP!!

I also bought some of the new "Airborne" medicine to try because I always get sick after flying. There is no proof that this stuff works, but I am willing to try anything...

Please leave comments with ideas of what to bring for gifts...and if you live in my area and would like to donate items for the orphanage, let me know and I will tell you what they need.

~ gaye