Russian Sweet Baby

2011-09-03T14:59:00.005-05:00

C is now almost 4! Hard to believe! She has been home almost 3 years. Time has flown by! She is everything we imagined she would be and more. C is loving, caring, happy, funny, outgoing, silly, smart, thoughtful, energetic, creative and the list goes on and on. Here are some recent pictures of her with big brother, K, who is almost 9. They are two peas in a pod!

WE LOVE YOU C AND K!!!!

Happy Summer!

2010-07-08T19:06:00.007-05:00

We're Back!!!!! Okay, blogger, I see, is still acting up. I'm not going to spend an hour trying to drag and drop these pictures. The text I wrote is at the bottom and I can't get it to move up here... :)
Water Table at Science Museum

4th of July

"Driving" a tractor at Science Museum

Driving a Segway at Science Museum--kids grow up so fast! ha,ha

Cosmic Caverns, Arkansas ---I had to carry Cassi the whole time because she said the cave was messy--ha,ha

Kai touching the "brain rock" at Cosmic Caverns--the only formation you can touch legally

Ready for the road trip to AR

Cliff Hang Restaurant, AR

Hi, I'm back, for anyone who is still out there in blogland. Cassi is now 2 1/2 years old and is doing great! She has been home a little over a year and a half. We thank God every day for bringing her to us and I STILL can't believe she's really here.

Eureka Springs, AR---it was sooo hot that day!

We are having a busy summer filled with going to the library, playing in the pool and sand table, going to museums, visiting family, having friends over to play, transitioning to the "big girl bed," and have just about accomplished potty training. Cassi continues to be a ball of energy and wakes up with a smile on her face each morning. She will still pretty much eat anything but has toddler moments when she doesn't want anything to eat. She is possibly addicted to Cheezits--ha,ha! Cassi is very girlie and appreciates a pretty shoe or hair bow.

Kai loves having a baby sister and wants to wake her up all the time to play. He loves to teach her new things like how to use the computer or play with Playdoh. Here are some recent pictures (see above, thanks to crazy blogger!). I also updated the photo timeline over on the right. :)

Have a great summer!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY and ONE YEAR HOME!!!

2009-11-29T10:45:00.008-06:00

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY, CASSIANA!

Also, one year ago, Cassi's feet touched US soil for the first time. What a day of remembrances! :) Cassi has now spent 1/2 of her life with us, which is another significant marker in an adopted child's life. :)

We celebrated Cassi's birthday early this year, on her first US Thanksgiving. Mom and I were with her in Russia last year for Thanksgiving, eating some yummy lasagna! lol Mom made her an Abbey Caddabby birthday cake this year and an Elmo congo square cookie cake. They were precious and delicious!

My camera has a mind of its own lately. All of these pictures are dates March, 2007 and the lens is blurry no matter what I clean it with (this could be due to the little hands in the house that are using it, too).

So, this is what all the Thanksgiving fuss is about.

Turkey leg anyone?

Let's get this party started!

Abbey!

Elmo!

Kai giving Cassi a kiss--look at the love! lol

I like chocolate cake way better than turkey. Like mother like daughter.

Feeding Abbey, now released from her cake.

Opening presents

Doggie!

A year ago today, Cassi was terrified of dogs!

Happy 2nd Birthday, One Year Home and First Thanksgiving in America!

We love you!

One Year Ago Today...

2009-11-10T20:40:00.005-06:00

Trip 2, after court, one year ago today
Seeing Cassi in the orphanage, after court--look how tiny!

First time I dressed her--she loved the softness of the clothes!

So small!

Memory Lane: Cassi (left) and her "twin" Dagny (right) in Baby Home #14
They knew each other before we knew they were our daughters! They are about 11 months old here, I believe.

Cassi and Dan, Trip 1

Trip 1, Day 2, Smiling some!

Trip 1, Day 1

...a Moscow Russian judge decided we would be the parents of Cassiana, changing all of our lives forever! We were so thrilled and relieved that she was finally officially our daughter. We flew 2 days to get to Russia, had court the next day and then flew home for 2 days the day after court. I remember going to see Cassi right after court, still in our suits, playing with her on the floor of the orphanage. It was so, so wonderful to hold her again! We took about 3,000 pictures and miles of video and tried to soak up every square inch of her being, until we could come back in 10 days to pick her up. There is a 10 day wait most of the time after court, until you can have custody of your child, so we had to leave, knowing that the end of the adoption journey was quickly approaching and that the beginning of our new lives were beginning! :)

Approaching One Year!

2009-11-07T07:54:00.004-06:00

Cassi set foot on US soil ("soil" referring to the dirt that I'm sure was in the Houston International Airport's carpet) on November 29th. I still can not believe she is here and that she has been here almost a year! It feels like she has always been here and other than the pain of waiting for her and wondering about her, I barely remember what life was like before Cassi. So, on November 29th, she will celebrate one year home and her 2nd birthday.

I was going back on the blog, looking at pictures and video from all 3 trips to Russia and found myself in tears with mixed emotions. She has grown and developed so much and so well since then! She is such a loving, happy child. She says, "I lofe chew, Mom," ( "I love you, Mom"---I'm not sure why the "Mom" part and not "Mommy" but I will take it!) spontaneously. She showers us and us with her with hugs and kisses all day. I love to see her run and laugh with her curls bobbing all the while, or rolling on the floor with Kai playing and laughing.

The mix in emotions comes into play, because I found myself starting to go down that path that no doubt all adoptive parents go down. What would have happened to her if we had not adopted her? How would she be doing now? What would have happened to her at age 18 when she aged out of the orphanage? I can only pose those questions in my mind because I just can't allow my mind to take me there. I can picture what happens to the other orphans who are still there and those who are being let out into the world by orphanages all across Russia (and the world), but no my Cassi.

So, I pose this question to other adoptive parents. What do you do when your mind wonders "there?" Do you allow it go or do you quickly think of something happier and repress those thoughts? I don't know if I should just think about the possibilities, have a really good cry and then hope I don't go down that mental road again or to keep repressing those images.

On a happier note, Cassi's Gammy will be making her an Abbey Cadabby (spell) cake and an Elmo cookie cake for her 2nd birthday celebration! We are having it at Thanksgiving, so that's why we NEED massive amounts of cake! lol I am still searching for a really cute but comfortable birthday outfit that has a cake on it or some kind of birthday references. I have no idea what the weather will be like by then as it's been unseasonably warm.

We are looking forward to this big celebration of so many important events in Cassi's life. We "lofe chew," Cassi! :)

Halloween Preview

2009-10-24T15:22:00.005-05:00

Count Kai and Lady Snow
Why are you standing so still, smiling when you could be jumping around like me?

Pumpkins my students made

Kai playing plinko at the school carnival

Exiting the very scary haunted house at school

CHEESE!

Wait until she finds out about the candy!

Gammy and Cassi

And now for my next act...

My sign at school

Blogger wears me out because it won't let me click and drag photos like the old days, so I'm going to post them and explain what they are in this one big paragraph! :P Anyway, last night was the Fall Carnival at Kai's school, so Kai and Cassi got to wear their costumes for the first time. Kai was Dracula, or excuse me "Midnight Vampire." Cassi was Snow White. They were both adorable, if I do say so myself! I will try to post the video of Cassi running around like a crazy baby, so you can see what I was contending with in trying to get these pictures. At one point, I told Kai to just stand still and to keep smiling because eventually Cassi would stand by him and smile, too. It finally worked! Cassi kept saying, "Cheese!" but she would crouch way down like she was going to jump. Too funny! I'm also going to post a picture of Kai coming out of the haunted house at the school and also of him playing Plinko for the first time. Talk about a generation gap, he didn't know how to to it! lol

This is Cassi's first Halloween home and I'm so excited to take her out next week. Oh, by the way, this will tell you how influential sports are here. Instead of Halloween being on the 31st, they have MOVED it to the 30th because there is a big game on the 31st! What? I give up...

I'm also posting some re-takes of Cassi in her Russian shirt from her "twin" Dagny as the last ones were so cloudy from "someone's" fingerprints on the lens and Cassi' hair isn't as fro-like as the last pictures showed. lol That is my mom holding Cassi in the one shot.

We had Cassi's 2nd post placement report last Saturday. YAY! So, on top of painting the house, going to the U2 concert, we decided to throw that in, too.

I'm also adding a picture of my classroom sign because I love the apple theme at the school. And, my kids all decorated little pumpkins and we have them on display outside of the door. They turned out so cute! I only have 5 students in case you are wondering why there are only 5 little pumpkins. And, the stuff hanging in the doorway is spiderweb.

HAPPY 1st HALLOWEEN, CASSI!!!!!

One Year Ago Yesterday...

2009-10-14T20:06:00.007-05:00

The Day We Met You! :) Age 10 1/2 months, Moscow City, Baby Home #14
She is looking at the photo album we brought her to leave behind and get on the final trip.
...we met our Russian Sweet Baby, Cassiana! :) I would have loved to have posted yesterday, but between working a full day, power washing the house getting it prepped for painting over the long Fall Break weekend (love these teacher vacations!) and then getting the kids to bed, I just couldn't do it last night. Plus, I had the flu for 2 weeks and only recently started to feel better.

My how our lives have changed since this time last year, all for the better! Cassi was still an orphan, 10 1/2 months old, Dan was a stay-at-home dad, I was working in sales, traveling all the time, and Kai was in kindergarten. Now, Cassi is almost 2, doing fantastic, Dan is finishing his degree and working part time, I am an elementary deaf education teacher (love it!) and Kai is a big first grader.

One year ago yesterday, was an amazing day! We went to the Department of Education, completely jet lagged, running on adrenaline and met a table of 5 Russian women who showed us the picture of our future baby. She was not was I was expecting, with her sparse dark hair and deer in the headlights big black eyes (see picture to the right)! She looked very scared in the picture, but you could tell she was a cutie. So we went to meet her.

Walking up to the baby home for the first time was so exciting! I was not particularly nervous, more anxious about, "Would this be our baby? Would we know right away?" We were led inside by Max and escorted into the big music room. Masha began to go over the medical history with us and in walked the baby home worker with a beautiful baby girl with coal black eyes. She had her bottom lip sucked in because she was so scared and I remember being concerned that her lip wasn't formed right--lol! She had on baby blue boys clothes and big black boots, probably a size 4. I know now that she wore a size 1 or maybe smaller (she still has tiny feet--only wears a size 3 now!). I wonder if they were trying to conceal her teeny feet? The worker handed me to her and she began to cry, so I walked around the room and talked to her and kissed her sweet cheeks and hair. She soon calmed down and let me sit with her snuggled to my neck, while we tried to focus on what Masha said about her history, as this would be the only time we would hear it! Talk about difficult! All I wanted to do was see my new baby, head to toe, and to tell her how much we already loved her! She was definitely our daughter, no doubt!

That day, we took about 1,000 photos and several videos. We got to see her the next day and then signed the intent to adopt and it seems like we saw her one more day and then had to go back home until court November 10th. That was tough leaving her, however, they had kept her safe this long and I figured they could do it a while longer.

Here is Cassi the day after we met her, a year ago today...

And from the other day, by the way, her hair is NOT that big! lolol This shirt is from her "twin" sister, Dagny, who has a matching one. So sweet of Dagny to give the shirt to Cassi! :) They were in the same groupa at the orphanage and we are still in touch and will meet in person one day. Dagny and Cassi knew each other before we knew they were our daughters! :)

I have returned!

2009-09-12T17:35:00.014-05:00

Okay, I didn't go anywhere, but I have never gone this long without posting! We've been busy little bees around here. Kai started 1st grade August 20th. He loves it and is doing great! He lost another tooth, too. That makes 3 total. Here he is on his first day of school:

Kai's First Day of 1st Grade

I also started my new job as a teacher at a different school on August 20th. I teach 1st-4th grade hearing impaired students and love it! I had to wait until last week to sign a contract while my license was being processed so I had to sub in my own classroom, which was kind of weird. I didn't like having to wait to see what happens (you'd think I'd be more patient after adopting! lol). A few weeks before school started, I went in almost every day to work in my room, not knowing for sure this would be my job. It's all working out and going great! :) My school and students are awesome!

Backing up further, the kids took a gymnastics class to try it out over the summer. Cassi wasn't super excited because everything was so new. Kai had taken the Mommy and Me class a few summers and had attended some birthday parties here, so he kind of knew the ropes (no pun intended). Cassi and I went to the Mommy & Me class while Kai was in his big kid class. Cassi's class wore me out because I was lifting and moving her everywhere. I think we will wait until she's a little older to enroll her. The pictures below aren't really representative of her experience. There was more crying than laughing. Kai loved his, so he's going once a week now. Here are pictures, if blogger will let me move them!

Kai on the parallel bars. I have no idea why everything is so fuzzy! I couldn't get too close because I was watching Cassi on the air tramp at the same time. Multi-tasking!

Waiting for class to start

This is a picture from the other day in her new leotard. She LOVED wearing it! I found it at a second hand store for .99cents! Love that!

Please don't look at the clutter in the video. Our house is usually "Home and Garden" ready (yeah, right!) but today was a little crazy w/ the toys. Cassi can do somersaults. We call it "downward dog" as in the yoga pose because she was doing that all over the place. One day Kai just gave her a little push and now she's doing somersaults all over the place. She also loves to jump in her crib and on the couch and land on her rear end. I hear gymnastics calling her name! Also, I love how she managed to hang on to the hanger the whole time--lol!

Then, last weekend was Kai's 7th birthday. I can't believe he's already 7! Mom made him a gymnastics cake. She couldn't find any cake set ups for gymnastics, so she had to make them. It turned out really cute. Thanks, Mom!

Then, on Labor Day, I ran my first 5K because starting a new job just wasn't enough! lol I trained for about 6-7 wks. beforehand. I have NO pictures of this event. They are NOT good! lol Anyway, I finished the race and my time was pretty good! :) I'm ready to sign up for my next run!

Something is kind of fishy...

2009-07-26T13:54:00.009-05:00

Okay, this post is only a week over due! Last Saturday Grandma and Grandpa H. took the kids and I to the aquarium. Dan had to work, so we took off to have some fun! We had a blast! Kai's favorite part was the shark room (mine, too!) and running around in the stroller area like a wild banshee (I did not partake in this activity.). I let Kai and Cassi run amok for a while before we got back into the car for the trip home.

Here are some pictures from our trip. Hopefully blogger will behave and let me rearrange these this time! First we went out for Mexican food---yummmy!!!

Cassi loved the mariachi band
Kai being mischievousKai feeding the turtles at the aquarium. Dad put some bait on a stick that had a clothe pin at the end. These turtles probably have a Body Mass Index of 100! lolBaby friendly turtle viewing window. Keep in mind it's about 15 minutes into the trip and Cassi has already removed her shoes! Still has her bow...for now.
Next was the tide pool to pet starfish, etc. Kai was content with just looking at them.
Grandma H. and Kai at the stingray tankGrandpa H. and Kai
Cassi has had enough of the stroller--her bow has fallen out somewhere along the way...
SHARK! They have a shark tunnel and shark room. Love me some sharks!
They have this awesome program where for an extra fee, you can swim with the sharks, so I did! Okay, if you believe that, then you guys will believe anything!!! :P
Their eyes don't glow in real life--ha,ha.
Alligator Gar---creepy!
Grandma and Cassi shopping in the gift shop
Burning off energy before the car trip home. :)

Anyone out there having trouble with blogger? I used to be able to drag and drop the pictures and now I can still do that, but it will only move one picture length at a time---took forever to do this post! :P

Anyway, we had a wonderful time at the aquarium. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa H.! :)

The Perfect Gift

2009-07-16T12:58:00.007-05:00

Announcing a new fundraiser to help Russian orphans!!!!

My friend Tamara, whose daughter was in the same orphanage as Cassi, is the consultant for Initials, Inc. This is a really fun company, run my stay-at-home moms. They make adorable personalized purses, bags, blankets, duffel bags, backpacks, towels, acrylic ware and whole lot more! Here is a message from Tamara:

We’re excited to announce the first of two months (July & August) of fundraising to benefit those children that remain in Russian baby homes awaiting their forever families. All money raised will go directly to Russian orphanages to support projects that make the lives of the children that live there better.
For every item purchased, all of the profit will go towards this effort (approximately 20% of your purchase)! Each item is created, designed and personalized by you! You pick the fabric, trim (where applicable) and the personalization (font and color).
Please check out our catalog of FABULOUS items at: www.initials-inc.com/Tamara
To purchase any item, please contact Tamara @ psitsinthebag@yahoo.com. The July order will be submitted on July 25. The August order will be submitted on August 25.
Great items, GREAT cause - COOL STUFF!!

~Tamara

This is a great idea for people with unusual names who have always been left out by the lack of variety of personalized items carried in stores--this includes me! LOL! Also, if you have anyone with an upcoming birthday, wedding, anniversary, house warming or anyone going back to school, these are some great, unique ideas. Who doesn't like to feel special and know that an item was selected just for them? PLUS, your purchase helps out those left behind in Russian orphanages! It's a win-win! :)

Holly

The Farm Report

2009-07-15T19:11:00.004-05:00

It's too hot to blog. Our house gets up to 80 degrees right around 3PM until we go to bed because it's so hot and the a/c unit is too small to keep up. It runs all night and only gets down the 73 (I have it set way lower to try to "get ahead" but it doesn't work.) The only thing that seems to be thriving in the yard is the watermelon plant. Everything else is holding on for dear life, literally! Here is the "Before" picture, planted May 14th:

Now, here is what it looks like 2 months later. There is one watermelon the size of a tennis ball (toward the bottom, middle of picture) and 2 smaller ones the size of grapes (on same vine as larger one). Go watermelon, it's your birthday! We love watermelon and I can't wait to dive into these when they are ready. Oh, that is supposed to be mid-August...who can wait that long, so we've had watermelon via the store several times already. Still, I think these watermelons will taste even sweeter since we grew them. :)

Cassi's First 4th! :)

2009-07-05T15:30:00.006-05:00

A year ago this weekend, another family was carrying our paperwork to Moscow for us. They were on their way to meet their baby boy. Our journey with Lighthouse Adoptions was just starting and we hoped to have our baby girl home by the end of 2008. I remember going to watch fireworks that weekend, and thinking of the dossier on its way. I looked up at the moon and said, "That is the same moon that our baby girl can see in Russia. This time next year, she will be home!" And, it was so. She has been home for 7 months and is now 19 months old! :)

Here are pictures from today (they say the 4th, but apparently the date is wrong in my camera). Why not yesterday? It RAINED! Not only rain, but lightening and thunder for hours last night. It hadn't rained in about 2 weeks here and it picked last night to rain. Our lawn (well, what's left of it--it's been so hot!) and flowers loved it though. It was not the first 4th of July I had pictured for Cassi. We were going to go to an area that doesn't have a lot of people that is close enough to see the fireworks display, but they aren't too loud. Oh, well...

We took these pictures that we took this morning on our way to church. They turned out pretty cute considering we had all of 30 seconds to take them! Also, some of the neon blue Rice Crispy treats with sprinkles that we made to take to the display last night that didn't happen. I also made ice cream sundaes that I froze and was going to take those in a cooler. The kids enjoyed them anyway, running around the living room like wild banshees last night, listening to a song Kai loves from the internet called, "I'm A Gummy Bear." It was still a fun day, preparing the treats and all.

I bought this little outfit for Cassi last year on clearance after the 4th. It just fits! :) Kai with blue Rice Crispy treats

Good thing I took a picture, because these are history now!

Hope everyone had a great 4th! :) We sure did!

Buy A Shirt, Help The Orphans! Also, pictures and video of summer fun

2009-06-25T13:55:00.014-05:00

Finally, I have taken pictures of the kids in their shirts that their Grandma bought for them. These shirts can be purchased from Lighthouse Adoptions, Ann Arbor, the folks that brought us Cassi. The proceeds will go to help orphanages that Lighthouse works with in Russia.

Cassi was adopted from Moscow, but they also work in Vlad and several others. At the end of the year, Lighthouse will send the money to the orphanages and the crew over there will take pictures to show what has been purchased for the kids left behind.

Cassi and many others are very fortunate to have found their forever home, but many, many others will not be so lucky. These kids need food, clothing, etc. too. Here is the website so that you can buy one of two designs of shirts or you can donate money directly:
http://lighthouseadoptions.net/fundraisers.aspx

These are not the best pictures, but keep in mind it was 1,000 degrees and windy!!! :)

Bakugan, Dragonoid (See bel0w)

Off roading with "Baby"

This one is hilarious! This is the first one I took. Cassi turns her head to the side and says, "Cheese!" but will only do it once. Then you just have to chase her to get a picture of any sort--lol!

The rest of these are the kids playing in the backyard. It's too hot to even go out there for this long now!

And a video to keep the grandparents up to date on the fun! :) All of these things that Kai is asking Cassi to repeat are these toys called Bakugans. He is OBSESSED with these things and talks about them morning, noon and night. Here is what one of these toys looks like (this is Dragonoid, picture taken by Kai): ARGH! Blogger isn't behaving. The picture is above. Won't let me drag and drop again!

Standing in the chair with supervision! :S

Hugging doggie while watching Sesame Street

Which is apparently HILARIOUS! Notice the bug bites on her leg. :(

After her bath, brushing her doggie.

And, as a side note funny, to make you all feel old. Kai asked me what life was like "back in the 19's" as in 1900's!!!! LOLOLOL!!! He said, "You did live back then, didn't you?" Yu-huh, but it was the last half of the 1900's not the first half! :)

Sum-sum Sum-sum Sum-sum Summer Time! :)

2009-06-07T13:22:00.008-05:00

Covered in sand and sunscreen, lovin' every minute of it! Have a great summer! :)

Home 6 Months and 18 Months Old! :)

2009-05-29T03:58:00.004-05:00

Where has the time gone! I think that since we aren't waiting, minute by minute, for a referral, travel dates, etc. that time has reverted back to normal speed, instead of snail speed.

Today, Cassi has been home for 6th months! She is also now 18 months old! It's very hard to get her to look at the camera these days, since she is on the move much of the time. Here are some recent shots, which took about 500 shots to get--lol!

First Pigtails!

Playing with disc

Helping "baby" play with disc
Hugging baby doll

Kai and Cassi drawing with chalk

Memorial Day fun!

Big Kindergarten Graduate! :)

Finally, got Cassi to stand still, look my way and smile, all at once! :)

In case anyone noticed, I didn't post on Mother's Day. I really wanted to, but I was sicker than a dog with some kind of flu (swine?) for several days.

Memory Lane:

First picture we took of Cassi, age 10 months

Cassi and Daddy, Trip 1, Day 1

Day Two, Trip 1

Trip 3, First Grocery Trip, Moscow, Almost 12 months old

Cassi, happy 18th month birthday! You have now been with us for 1/3 of your life, but it feels like you have always been here! We love you and Kai so much! :)

Can it be true? Is it really here?

2009-05-15T19:28:00.006-05:00

IT'S FINALLY SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Candy Lou Lou, Cassi and Peppy

Finally, we are able to play outside!!! It's been raining and raining here or too cold and windy to get outside. Cassi is walking well enough now that she can traverse the backyard and just has a ball exploring! I can actually pull a few weeds, etc. while she and Kai play. Kai loves having a playmate! :)

Cassi trying to tickle her own tummy.

Cassi and Peppy
Mowing the "grass" (ignore the "grass"--we don't spray the backyard since the kids run around barefooted in it--it's on its own and I can't help it otherwise if it has failure to thrive!)

She's a climber!

Trying to get a cute shot of Kai on the playset, Take 1
Take 2

Take 3, I give up! :P I will spare you the other 2000 shots!

Kai only has about a week and a half of school left and then he will be a big 1st grader---what? Where did the time go??? We planted a watermelon plant that he's in charge of this summer. This is our first foray into farming, so we'll see how it goes. The label says that we should have watermelon in 75 days.
Grow, baby, grow!

Becoming a Daddy's Girl

2009-05-08T20:02:00.006-05:00

Laying on the floor with her Daddy, watching TV in her pj's, fresh from a bath...gotta love it! :)

P.S. We tried to get the free KFC dinners today at lunch and they were already issuing rain checks. Oh, well...it was a nice concept.

FREE KFC CHICKEN!!!

2009-05-05T22:11:00.002-05:00

For anyone who missed Oprah today, here is the coupon. You have 24 hrs. from today's Oprah airing to print out up to 4 of these coupons for free 2 piece Grilled Chicken dinners from KFC. You have until May 19th to use the coupons. Guess who's havin' chicken tomorrow night for dinner? Bock, bock!

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090430-tows-kfc-coupon-download

Google AdSense

2009-05-04T19:22:00.001-05:00

They cut us off because they didn't like the activity on our account AND they aren't paying for the ads that were clicked on!!!!!!!!!!!! RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!! :(

PPR Has Left The Building and Another Layoff...

2009-05-01T19:17:00.003-05:00

Yay! I got the first of 4 post placement reports apostilled and mailed off to Lighthouse today! Then, when all was looking better in our world, Dan was laid of his new job of 5 weeks today and I'm still looking, so we are back at the starting line again. :(

Cassi turned 17 months 2 days ago and I don't know if it's because girls are way more advanced than boys at fine motor skills (which is what "they" say) or if she is even more advanced than that. She is sitting by me putting 2 toddler Legos together and pulling them apart, over and over gain. Kai was about 3 before he could do that! So, again, I don't know if it's just the difference between boys and girls (she is doing things way before Kai, i.e. zipping zippers, erasing the Magnadoodle after writing with the pen, opening and closing her sippy cup top, etc.) or what.

I'm glad it's the weekend. I'm taking a break from reality for 2 whole days! :P

Home 5 Months, Thank You For Clicking and 10,000 Visitors!

2009-04-29T20:47:00.004-05:00

Five months ago today, we touched down at the Houston Airport with our Russian Sweet Baby! She was 12 months old and didn't sleep more than 2 winks on the whole trip over here. She was still happy though! :) We are so grateful and thankful for her and how well she is doing.

Also, our Google Ads have now made $105 this month! Thank you all for clicking on the Google Ads, just below each post. We appreciate your help! Cassi has been clicking, too, on her baby computer. ;) Also, the blog has had almost 10,000 visitors! Wow, I never imagined so many people and so many views.

100th Post!

2009-04-27T11:36:00.008-05:00

Wow, I can't believe this is the 100th post! I thought I would celebrate by listing the top 100 things I love about my kids. I will try to limit it to only 100. Okay, okay, that might not be the most interesting thing to everyone, so I will post pictures from our recent trip to see relatives in SE Missouri. This was Cassi's first long car trip. She and Kai were great, as long as we kept them going with snacks, movies, toys and Vaudeville acts.

There were 10 cousin's there from the age of 16 months to 13 years old to play with! Mostly boys, too! They all had a blast. The big fun was to ride the big wheels down the hill, going what they thought was surely 100 m.p.h.

Preparing for take off...

Cassi watching the kids go down the big hill

Gettin' the heck outta there!

We also got them some giant balloons and they loved those (well, until they popped and they didn't love that so much).

Kai and his cousin's in their best action poses, at least that's what I told them to do...

There were also (at a very slow rate of speed) four wheeler rides and pick up truck rides (in the 70's and 80's those were considered safe, remember the good ole' days? They were all seated and supervised, unlike in olden times).

Kai, my brother's boys and my brother. My uncle is driving.

On the last night, we had a cookout and the kids made s'mores. Yum!!! Cassi was safely inside in a highchair with my Mom during this segment.

Cassi eating her first s'more, inside like a civilized person

Checkin' out my brother's shoe--wow!

Cassi in her new pink hippo crocs that my sister-in-law got her---she LOVES these shoes! :)

Kai and his cousin's hangin' in the garage

She looks like she should be wearing high heels, like she's going some where important--lol!

On the loose! :)

Milestone and Measurements

2009-04-23T19:19:00.008-05:00

Well, we had our first post placement report this morning! Cassi will have been home for 5 months on the 29th. So hard to believe! Our SW agrees with us that she is on target or advanced in all developmental areas. I was thinking maybe we should call the early intervention specialist anyway because that's what most people do, even if they don't have concerns, but it seems pretty silly, so we are forgoing that. The SW wanted to know how she is doing with bonding, developmentally, her schedule as far as napping, eating, etc. Also, how Kai is adapting and how the extended family accepted her. We are also sending 12 pictures in with the report. Anyway, our SW will have the report ready next week so that Lighthouse can send it to Russia.

For those of you new to the process, there are four post placement reports that Russia requires. These are due at 6 mos., 1 yr., 2 yrs. and 3 yrs. home. They satisfy Russia and allow the adoption agencies to continue to process Russian adoptions, so it keeps Russia open for families that follow in our footsteps.

Also, I measured Cassi today because she just seems to be growing like a weed. Good thing I mainly bought her dresses for the Spring and Summer! Here are her stats when we met compared to today:

Oct. 2008, age 10.5 months:

Height: 27", 10% on the charts

Weight: 19 pounds (guesstimation), 40% on the charts

April 2009, age 16.5 months:

Height: 32", 75% on the charts

Weight: 25 pounds, 60% on the charts

I forgot to measure her head today, so I may come back and edit this later. I love to see how other children are growing by leaps and bounds, once home. It was very comforting when I was waiting to meet our Russian sweet baby to see that there are healthy children coming home! :) We are so grateful and thankful that Cassi is thriving in our family!

We went to a family reunion over the past weekend. I will get some pictures up in the coming days. The kids had a blast!

Lastly, I have added a subscribe button in the right column if anyone would like to subscribe to posts and comments. You can also become a follower and our blog will show up on yours so that you can see when we post a new post, rather than having to check every day. And, thank you to everyone who's been clicking on the Google Ads! Keep clickin'! :)

Feelin' Good and First PPR Appointment (already?)

2009-04-14T19:17:00.003-05:00

Thank you to everyone for your concerns about Kai! He is waaaay better today! :) He is eating normally and pretty much back to his normal energy level (which is HIGH! LOL!). His ears no longer hurt and no more, yuck, vomiting. Janine, a new poster, pointed out, why do these things have to happen in the middle of a night (and on a holiday!) and I have no idea! :P I think we decided that Kai is allergic to codeine. He only had one dose and, man, he was sick from it for a good 12 hours. Things have to be on the upswing at the Patterson household now, right?

Anyway, thank God Cassi didn't get sick because I think that would have sent me over the motherhood threshold of tolerance. It's really hard when they are babies and can't tell you what's wrong. She has only had one cold since being home. I just can't believe how resilient babies are, considering all that she's been through.

Also, on a side note, we have our first post placement report appointment set up! I was nervous because our SW agency was on "the list," but apparently that is now only applying to home studies and not PPR's, but don't quote me on that. Cassi has been home for 4 1/2 months!!! That's so hard to believe! Our PPR appt. is next week and needs to be to Lighthouse Adoptions by the end of the month so it can make it to Russia next month.

Again, thank you all for your good thoughts and prayers! Now, let's all get together and help me get a job! :)

Easter and Ear Aches

2009-04-13T19:53:00.007-05:00

Well, our Easter didn't go as I had envisioned. Here's what I thought would happen. We would get up for the early service at church (early is not by choice, but this works the best with Cassi's napping schedule) and dress Cassi in her first Easter dress. It would be a beautiful, sunny day. After church, we would drive to my Dad and step mom's for Easter lunch. Then, the mayhem would ensue with the egg hunt.

This is what actually happened. Kai woke up at 2 a.m. Easter morning with an ear ache. He's only had one or two his whole life, so this was out of the blue. I gave him some Tylenol and he slept until 4 a.m. I gave him the heating pad and he slept until 6 a.m. He woke up in horrible pain. He was crying and it was awful! I gave him more Tylenol, which seemed to help for a little bit. Then I put in some swimmer's ear drops out of desperation. In the mean time, I called my Dad to break the news that we wouldn't be making it to his house. We had already missed church and I was thinking I'd have to dress Cassi in her first Easter dress just to get some pictures. Well, Kai started to feel better, from the drops, I guess, and said he wanted to go to Grandma and Grandpa's. So, we scurried around and made the trip in cold and rain. We took some photos before we left.

Cassi and her first Easter basket

The Easter Bunny brought her some Little People Easter People

Cassi in her first Easter dress

Cassi and her friend Abbey Caddabby

Kai and his Easter basket

Kai seemed fine during the day, a little peeked, but okay. It was cruddy weather, but it did manage to stop raining for the 20 or so minutes of the egg hunt. Cassi had her own separate indoor baby "egg hunt for beginners" and Kai had the "intermediate level egg hunt" by himself on the porch since most of the kids are older and bigger.

Cassi at Grandma and Grandpa's, ready to eat!

The Egg Hunt post-mayhem mayhem

Easter haul

Dad and Cassi preparing for "the hunt."

Baby egg hunt

Checkin' out what the Easter bunny left at Grandma and Grandpa's

One the way home, they both slept some. Then, allllllll last night, I was up with Kai. He was in agony by 4 a.m. and I was in tears, too, because I couldn't do anything to help him, so I took him to the ER. He felt like he was going to throw up, so we took "the bucket." We were in and out of the ER in 35 minutes! It was amazing! He had two ear infections, one ear drum may have burst, but they couldn't tell. I think it probably did, because that ear didn't hurt any more. We went to a 24 hour pharmacy and got a pain rx and antibiotic rx filled. They gave him a dose of Motrin at the hospital (hospital strength?) and that started to kick in at the pharmacy, so he wasn't saying "ouch!" all the time.

So, today, he is doing better as far as the ears go, but has been vomiting. He can't keep any food down. He sipped some Gatorade, which seemed to stay down until just recently. It may because I couldn't get him to eat enough before taking his meds., but that was about 8 hours ago, so I'm guessing virus. Anyway, I've cleaned up more barf than I cared to. He didn't make it to the bathroom twice and just froze in the hallway. He had a bucket in his room by the bed, but I think panic ensued and then he froze in the hallway. Some day we will get new carpet, but not until these kids are raised! LOL! I feel so bad for him! I don't like to see my babies suffer. He tried to eat dinner just now and didn't keep it down, so I can't give him any of the pain medicine they prescribed. So far the pain isn't bad, he says. I'm sooooo hoping he feels better and we can sleep tonight. Well, that was our Easter!!!

The Blog Has A Job!

2009-04-11T11:44:00.011-05:00

Well, I don't have a new job yet, but the blog has one! I heard on Oprah that a lady who has the most popular blog on blogger is now making $40K (yes, you read that right) a MONTH from bloggers clicking on the Google ads on her blog!!! It was on Oprah's recent "Secret Lives of Moms" show---which I totally couldn't relate to, could you? LOLOLOLOL!!!

Needless to say, the lady's blog is the family business now. Her husband quit his job---can you imagine? Anyway, it looks like we get $1 per click, so please click away on the google ads to the right and below the blog entry after you have visited! (EDIT: Looks like it starts out at $1 and then decreases every click there after, but heck, it's free money!)

Everyone should add this to their blog. It's under the "monetize" tab. We spend so much time on our blogs that they should be earning their keep instead of laying on the cyberspace sofa all day!

Waiting and "Wauffers"

2009-04-07T20:41:00.004-05:00

Kai's loose tooth has been driving him nuts! This is his second one to loose, so I think knowing how it feels to lose one was holding him back from wanting it out of his mouth. It's been loose for about a month. I'm not sure how he was still eating all that he was. Last night, he panicked because it was practically laying on it's side and he was worried he'd swallow it during the night. I assured him that the Tooth Fairy was used to these kind of situations and that she would still know to do her fairy duty. She leaves a dollar, which is also what she apparently leaves the other kids in his class.

So, Kai woke up during the night (will I have a night without a child or dog or whatever waking me some day?) with a headache and said his tooth was bothering him. I'm thinking the tooth was causing the headache, mentally and physically. I gave him some Tylenol and that was that. Today, he came home from school, over the moon with happiness! His tooth just fell out during free time, while sitting at the orange table. So, off to the office for the tooth necklace he went, happy as a lark! He was so happy to be able to eat dinner normally tonight!

He is trying to pose in a way that shows off his absent tooth. His shirt is funny, considering the situation. It says, "If you're weak, take a seat!" LOL!

Last night, he came into the living room at around bedtime and asked if he could have some wauffers. I said, "Do you mean waffles? No, the kitchen is closed. We'll have waffles this weekend." He said, "No, those nilla wauffers you got at the store." I was really perplexed and then busted out laughing so hard! He has been reading since he was 4 1/2 and I can totally see how you would read "wafers" (with a long "a") as "wauffers" (with a short "a")! I told him from now on, they are officially "wauffers" in our house, which he thought was totally funny! Also, since the poor kid didn't recognize the Nilla Wafers box without reading it, you know we need to increase the junk food around here or branch out a bit more! LOL! Anyway, I gave him a big ole bowl of wauffers.

Patty Cake, Patty Cake

2009-04-05T18:42:00.008-05:00

Cassi blowing kisses

Cassi loves her baby doll. I found her one at Christmas with brown eyes---very hard to do! She makes her play patty cake and then does ride a little pony on her lap and makes her fall down. Usually she will sing her version of the whole thing and it's too cute. I got her to sing some of it. She also puts the baby to bed in a basket/crib, so I will have to get video of that, too.

Notice she is back in winter wear--ugh!!! This weather is driving me nuts! Warm one day, cold the next.

Her favorite activities lately are to run from one end of the couch to the other on the cushions (yikes!) and to climb up on the brick fireplace hearth (double yikes!!!). I do NOT have video of that! She's a climber!

Cassi with baby doll

Blowing kisses

Patty Cake

Ride A Little Pony

Twin toddler girls available

2009-03-28T21:47:00.002-05:00

If anyone, paper ready for Russia, is interested or knows someone who might be, in adopting twin girls, one needing some cleft lip and palate surgery, please comment or call Lorien at Lighthouse Adoptions, Ann Arbor, asap. :) Lorien Wenger, director, phone: (734) 223-3737

Staycation

2009-03-24T20:19:00.011-05:00

Last week was Spring Break, so we partied all the time, partied all the time, parrrr-tied all the time! Actually, we took a "staycation" to save money since I'm still job hunting. It was really fun! :)

Monday: The Zoo

Everyone and their grandmother was there since it was the first day of break, but it was the best weather day, so we went for it. The temperature was perfect! The elephants were on vacation (who knew?), so we didn't get to see them. I guess they deserve it since they work holidays. When we were walking around, Kai asked how the zoo "replicates the animal's habitat." What are they teaching these kids in kindergarten???

Here are some shots of Cassi watching Kai and Dan on the carousel.

Eating Cheerios, a toddler's best friend

Saying "Uh-Oh" after spilling them all on the ground. Bird's also consider Cheerios to be their best friends.

Kai and Dan, living the dream!

Kai said he "was smiling."

"Mom, I don't want to take a pictures in front of the flamingos!!!"

Kai always scrunches up his shoulders and stomps around when he is mad--lol!

At least no one is mad in this one. Well, the tiger doesn't look so happy.

Tuesday: Pizza and the Park

We went to the pizza lunch buffet at Mazzio's. It's pretty cheap and quick! Kai looked like he'd rolled around in the pizza by the time we were done, so we had to run home to change his clothes.

She looks soooo tiny!!!

Kai is getting soooo big!

Wednesday: We rested and so did the paparazzi

Thursday: The Library and Donuts (Just because it's a "staycation" doesn't mean it has to be healthy and good for the waistline! Why are donuts so cheap and healthy food is so much more expensive? We got a half dozen donuts for about $3.49!)

Kai and Cassi playing with the keyboards and mice.

"Just let me spell check this e-mail and then I will be with you."

Friday: Kai and I went to McYucky's for lunch while Dan and Cassi chilled at home. We used up some free game cards he had at Andy Alligators indoor game center --- forgot camera at home. :( He got enough tickets for a plastic centipede.

Zoo: $20

Pizza: $9

Park: Free

Library: Free

Donuts: $3.49

McYucky's: $6.00

Game Center: Free

Total Cost of Staycation: Priceless

All in all it was good, cheap fun this week. Kids don't really care if they go some place fancy, just as long as you are there with them! :)

Growin' Like A Weed! :)

2009-03-22T20:01:00.002-05:00

(Michelle C., you have mail!)

Well, I'm very pleased to post Cassi's stats! I noticed that the pants she was wearing a couple or 3 weeks ago were pretty short, so I measured her tonight. Great news! She's up from 20% (October) for height to 75%!!! WOW! She's 31.25 inches tall! And, her weight is leveling out--could it be all of the constant running and climbing??? LOL! She was 50% when we met her in Oct. and she's maintained 75% for the past month or so. She weighs 24.5, only gaining .5 pounds this month. And, her head is now 18 inches, up from 17 when we met her in Oct. That's up from 25% to almost 50%! You grow, girl!!! :) Her feet are still teeny-tiny. She would wear about a 2 1/2, if they made that size!

We had a "staycation" this past week for Spring Break to cut back on expenses. It was fun! :) I will post those pictures in the next few days.

Paper Ready and Wanting Sibling Groups?

2009-03-06T21:13:00.002-06:00

The agency we adopted from, Lighthouse, has several younger sibling groups available immediately for paper ready families. Comment if you would like me to point you in their direction or call Lorien at Lighthouse Adoptions, Ann Arbor! :)

Photo Friday

2009-03-06T12:06:00.001-06:00

A-OK

2009-02-25T09:14:00.001-06:00

The baby's blood work came back great! She's had all of the shots that we were told she'd had and everything else was negative. Ahhh...no more shots until this summer!

Bloodwork, The Cerum Continues

2009-02-18T18:46:00.003-06:00

YAY! Finally we were able to get Cassi's blood drawn successfully! There was still a lot of crying, etc., but it's done. This time, she was way more hydrated than when we did it with her only being home 2 weeks. And, I applied the rx numbing cream (thanks, Nichole for the idea!) to her arms. Lastly, chocolate cookies helped, but even those couldn't distract her. Sooooo glad to have that behind us!

Losing it!

2009-02-17T15:06:00.003-06:00

Kai came home from school today very excited! He lost his first tooth! It was securely tied around his neck in a tooth necklace. A much better way than the put-it-in-a-Kleenex-in-your-pocket method that was heavily relied upon in the '70's.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-16T21:57:00.005-06:00

My dad and step mom came to watch the kids so that Dan and I could go out for lunch. Awesome! :) Here are pictures from Kai's kindergarten Valentine's party the day before and of Valentine's day.

Hello, can you hear me now? How 'bout now?

2009-02-12T09:32:00.006-06:00

Cassi is really walking up a storm! She's walking about 75% of the time as of the last few days and is on the verge of running already. She loves to walk with the remote as her phone. She has several play phones, but prefers communicating through the remote instead. Some day the tv remote will be the phone, camera, gps and microwave oven all rolled into one.

Also, as of late, there is a basketball game of some sort on in this house 24/7. She really seemed to be watching the game the other night--nooooo! I've got to turn her against this evil while she's still young! LOL!

Ohhhh, did you see that shot???

Stay tuned for tomorrow's episode: Kindergarten Valentine's Party-O-Rama 2009

Climbing, Loose Teeth and Laid Off

2009-02-07T16:35:00.008-06:00

Well, as a complete shocker this past Tuesday, I was laid off from my job. This is awful timing with all of the adoption expenses. Dan is a stay-at-home dad, so that was our only income. We are regrouping now, but man!

Kai is thrilled to finally be a member of the loose tooth club at school. He has two lower teeth that are loose and they are consuming his every thought and conversation.

Cassi is a climber! She loves to climb on the living room window sill. She is very good about lowering herself down, but we do keep an eye on her so that she doesn't try to stand up. If she were taller, she'd be on the coffee table doing a pirouette by now! I can't wait to enroll her in gymnastics for toddlers this summer.

Her other favorite past time---playing with the cable box! Since this picture was taken, we've put a covering over it so she can't change the settings.

Disposable Camera Photos

2009-01-30T21:04:00.008-06:00

Finally, I have scanned in the photos from the disposable camera that we left between Trip 1 and Trip 2 (mid-Oct./mid-Nov.). For those of you just tuning it, it's customary to leave a disposable camera for the orphanage workers to take pictures between Trip 1 and Trip 2 because you never really know how long it will take to get the court date. In our case, it was only about 3 weeks, but some have to wait months and months. It felt like months and months though!

So, I asked the orphanage worker, via the interpreter, to take some shots, knowing that they also had to feed, bath, dress and diaper the 10 or so babies that were in Cassi's groupa. I didn't have these put on a disc because I didn't know if they took pictures or if maybe one of the babies decided to make their Annie Leibovitz debut. We got lucky and they got some cute shots! Cassi does look traumatized, though, like she'd never been on these toys before and probably hadn't! LOL! It's amazing how happy she is now. She immediate smiles ear to ear when we get the camera out.

Ice Stormarama, Day 3

2009-01-28T20:21:00.010-06:00

Can you say "cabin fever" boys and girls? Okay, we have now been in the house since Sunday. Well, Kai had school Monday and Dan went out on Monday to take and pick up Kai from school and today to get mandatory things like milk and pop. I hope I remember how to drive and interact with other people, face to face--LOLOL! And, there's no school tomorrow either!!! I am going to try to venture out to see some accounts, but I'm already scared.

Here is a video of Cassi standing up and taking a few steps. This time we planted her in better lighting before taking the video. After this video, she took 4-5 steps, so she's getting there! It's funny because she can stand up from the middle of the floor, bounce up and down ("hip hop baby") and wave, etc., but she thinks she can't take a step. Her stance is more like a batter's stance--lol!

Ice Pellet Man and Clothes Shower

2009-01-27T19:44:00.004-06:00

Going on day 2 of Ice Storm 2009 (said with an echoing weatherman voice). I have not left the house since Sunday, so I've been doing work from home instead. School was cancelled today and is already cancelled for tomorrow.

So, Kai was all excited this morning to see the blanket of white on the lawn. I tried to tell him it was sleet and ice and not good for making a snowman. He got a snowman making kit for Christmas, minus the snow (has plastic carrot nose, scarf, hat, etc.) and has been dying to use it. Here he is out in the 18 degrees for a few minutes exploring the back yard and Candy Lou Lou racing around like a wild banshee. He tried making a snowball, but it was just ice pellets, so he settled for catching the sleet on his tongue.

And, here's Cassi in her pile of new clothes that her Nina and Grand Dad sent her from Florida. She particularly loved the mini skirt, so look out! Oh, we don't usually have a table in front of the dining chairs--some impromptu baby proofing.

A Skate of Emergency and I've Been "Book Tagged"

2009-01-26T20:55:00.006-06:00

Apparently we are under a "skate" of emergency from this ice storm. School has already been cancelled for tomorrow, which we all know, they don't usually do until 7:59 a.m. the day of, so it must be bad to cancel it a full 18 hours in advance!

Also, my buddy Tamara "book tagged" me. I think it's hilarious, kind of like, tell me the last time you got to have a complete thought or got to speak a sentence, uninterrupted by crucial details about a pivotal Sponge Bob episode.

I'm supposed to grab the first book nearest me, not one I'm actually ready. So, let's see, that would be the printer manual or my address book, which probably doesn't even have 56 pages.

The rules:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 2 to 5 sentences, along with these rules.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual book. Pick the CLOSEST!!
6. Tag five (or more) other people to do the same!
Okay, here goes: Page 56 is actually blank, so here's 57.

You can start a scan from your computer or from your HP All-in-One. This section explains how to scan from the control panel of the HP All-in-One only.

For information about how to scan from the computer, and how to adjust, resize, rotate, crop, and sharpen your scans, see the onscreen HP Image Zone Help that came with your software.

SNOOORE!!!! Only during an ice storm would that seem remotely interesting!!! Ironically, I had to scan some receipts for work today and was trying to do it the most efficient way with the lowest resolution and, what do you know, I didn't read this book and managed to figure it out after a few tries. If I had, there might have been a death due to scanning reported on the new coverage of Ice Storm, 2009.

Tag, you're it:
1) Nichole
2) Amy (I know you've been doing some actual reading, so this should be good!)
3) Barbara
4) Tracy
5) Tanya

Happy readin'!

Orange Update

2009-01-24T08:37:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I looked it up and it's apparently pretty harmless to turn orange from too much beta carotene. Here's a list of foods, for fellow orange babies, that are rich in beta carotene that you may want to reduce, unless you like that orange "tan:"

Betacarotene is found in many orange foods, including sweet potatoes, carrots, cantaloupe, squash, apricots, pumpkin, and mangos. Some green leafy vegetables including collard greens, spinach, and kale are also rich in beta-carotene.

It apparently takes a while for the orangeocity to go away. Some women pay big bucks to be orange in the winter months, so maybe we are on to something here.

And, Amy, yes, thank you, thank you, I will be here all week! lol!

What rhymes with "orange?"

2009-01-23T20:42:00.005-06:00

Cassi has grown noticeabley oranger (new word) as in Oompa Loompa orange, since being home. Hmmmm...could it be because the second ingredient on just about every jarred baby food is oh, I don't know, CARROTS!!! It's in lasagna, spaghetti, you name it!

So, we have been cutting back on her baby food and increasing her finger food options by leaps and bounds, with the goal of no more baby food. Baby food is much easier than real food, but they obviously had feeding rabbits in mind when they formulated the stuff. Carrots must be really cheap, so they plump up the contents that way.

Cassi much prefers finger foods anyway and sniff, sniff, it's time for her to move onto bigger and better food options. She loves fish sticks, mandarin oranges (I don't think they will cause orange-itis, but if I'm wrong, please correct me), cereal bars, yogurt, mixed veggies, you name it!

In Russia, pre-carrot based diet...we are searching, searching the labels for carrots...They had the best flavor of Lay's called Mushroom Onion---delicious!!!

Home for about 2 weeks, bring on the carrots.

Ahhhh, what's up doc???

As a side benefit, Cassi can see a hummingbird's wings beat from 20 miles.

These slipper socks were made for walkin'!!!

2009-01-17T08:57:00.006-06:00

Cassi is walking!!!!! She now stands up from the middle of the floor and takes 2-3 steps at a time, over and over! :) We are very proud of you, Cassiana! She is 13 1/2 months and has only been home 1 1/2 months.

Close to walking, crazy hair day, dr. check up

2009-01-15T16:08:00.012-06:00

Cassi loves playing in her duck bath tub--maybe we'll get her to take a bath in it some day soon--lol!

Kai and Cassi sacked out on the way home from our trip to see relatives this weekend. I know car seats are safe, blah, blah, blah, but how safe is it when their necks are bent in half trying to sleep? We have the neck rolls, but they get so sweaty in them.

Look who's doing the wave! Cassi is very, very close to walking! She takes a step in between the coffee table and the couch (we've sneakily moved it waaaay away from the couch--hee,hee!). And, a few times, she has stood right up in the middle of the floor. Last night, she was doing the way, standing up and down over and over and I got it on video! :)

Cassi trying to stand up! :)

Also, she had a follow up doctor appointment and has gained another pound (22 pounds by the doctor's scale) and a 1/2 inch (by their measurement) and her head has grown from 17 1/8 to 17.5 since her appointment a month ago! She is 13 1/2 months old, for those comparing notes. She continues to amaze us in every way. She is talking more and more every day. She says, "uh-oh," "bye-bye," "more," "cookie," (will "more cookies" be next--lol!), "ma ma," and "diaper."

Cassi whistles, amongst her many Vaudeville acts (fake sneezing, snapping her fingers, pretending to sleep complete with snoring and sucking her thumb). This was taken at a relatives over the weekend:
Cassi whistling

She also tries to snap her fingers. She makes the finger movements and clicks her tongue for the sound! It's hilarious!

Also, Kai had crazy hair day at school last week. What's up with all of the fun things kids get to do at school these days? They've had p.j. day, funny sock day, etc. He really wanted a real mohawk (or "mohog" as he put it) like a kid in his class, but we won't be doing that. Lucky for us, crazy hair day came along, so he got to have one for a few hours.

Kai with his "mowhog"

We had some family photos taken last week, so I will try to upload those when I get a chance to scan them or just take a picture of them.

Feet and Hands

2009-01-03T17:37:00.005-06:00

When Kai was 6 months old, I made a print of his hand and foot on paper and framed it. Today, I finally did Cassi's at age 13 months. Guess which one hers is? Her hands and feet are in the turquoise green on the right and they are about the same size as Kai's when he was 6 months! She just moved into size 12 month clothes , but can wear a few of the larger size 9 month. She has tiny hands and feet. Maybe once she's grown, she'll be able to get the cute shoes at the shoe sales since the smaller sizes go last.

Happy New Year!!!!

2008-12-31T18:03:00.009-06:00

HAPPY 2009 FROM THE PATTERSONS!!!

We wish you all the very best in the new year! This year was full of ups and downs with the adoption, but it was all so, so worth it to finally make it to this point. Changing to Lighthouse Adoptions was key! We'd still be waiting with our old agency and I don't think I could have taken another 6-8 months of waiting and wondering.

Cassiana has been home a month now and is doing great! She is growing and thriving like crazy. She is very healthy and happy. Kai has adapted amazingly well to having a baby sister. He is very helpful and showers her with love and attention. They are blowing each other kisses to each other as I type this! :) It's already like she's always been a part of the family.

I remember talking to people over the past year and a half, telling them we were adopting a baby girl from Russia. Many were thrilled, but others looked at me like I was saying I was planning to be in the Olympics or had been abducted by aliens. She is finally in our arms and I'm just amazed every time I look at her and hold her tight. There were so many times that things could have gone wrong and didn't or that I wondered if this would really happen during the agonizing wait.

Now on the more current events! Cassiana's First Christmas (with us)!!! Here are some pictures from our many present opening sessions. Excuse our tree this year. It was thrown up in a jet lagged haze and nothing was put low enough to entice Cassi to discover more. She did find the garland few times, so it's all askew.

I tip my hat to ya!

Kai does have teeth--this makes him look like he's chopperless! :)

Cassi eyes some of Kai's loot. Moon Sand, by the way, is a huge mess. Don't believe the packaging. Kai has wanted this stuff a year and I finally caved.

Had to search high and low to find these fantabulous Blendy Pens, but by golly, I did it!
The day after Christmas, it was an unseasonably warm 75 degrees! So, we headed out to the backyard to do some swinging. Cassi loved it! She wanted to go higher and higher! Kai says he's so glad that he will have someone to play with out there all the time, instead of just when a friend is over.

Brother and sister, together at last!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2008-12-24T12:30:00.003-06:00

Bloodwork

2008-12-19T17:37:00.006-06:00

ARGH! I took Cassi to get her blood work this morning and it was awful! They tried both arms and hands and only got enough blood for only one of the tests! The main thing we wanted to test for are titers for the vaccines she had while in Russia to be sure they took. She was soooo upset, to put it mildly. I had a full blown migraine by the time we left. I'm not sure what we are supposed to do now, but I'm not putting her thru that again. We did take the wrist x-ray before that to see if she still has rickets, so at least that was accomplished. She doesn't seem any worse for wear, but I'm still trying to recover...

First Dr. Visit

2008-12-17T13:51:00.005-06:00

Yay! It felt so great to finally get Cassi in to see our pediatrician! We had to wait a while for an appointment because they are booked up for the holidays as far as "well child" visits are concerned. I had to beg and pull the orphan card to get this appointment as it was. I explained that she is well as far as the Russians have told us, but that we need her seen as soon as possible to be sure. The dr. was thrilled to meet Cassi! He has a lot of experience seeing kiddos who were adopted internationally and you can tell he really does love kids.

While in the waiting room, I was thanking my lucky stars that Cassiana is so healthy. There was an adorable little girl who was about 5 with cerebral palsy. They had to work her in in front of us for some sort of emergency, which we gladly said was fine. Then, another girl about 10 was in because she had passed out and possibly had a seizure this morning. And, another infant in who was very tiny, probably a preemie.

Cassi has grown an inch since we met her in Oct. (mid-Oct. to end of Nov.) and another 1/2 inch was since she arrived home 2 1/2 wks. ago. She is still 10% for height and 10% for head circumference, but her head has grown since we saw her in Oct., so that's great news as well. Also, she has gained 2 pounds since arriving home and now weighs 22 lbs. (50%tile). Developmentally she's on target as well. She is not walking yet, but moves closer to that every day. The dr. is running blood tests to check for titers for the vaccines she had in Russia, to be sure she did and that they were strong enough. Also, running blood work to double check for other diseases. We will also take her for an x-ray of her wrist to be sure her rickets are gone, as they said they were in the orphanage.

Well, I put her to work doing paperwork when we got home. No, actually I sat down to check e-mail for a minute and forgot that the baby gate was not in front of the printer as it normally is. She decided to do some work on the printer.

Also, we are trying to get Cassi used to her ducky bath tub that goes in the real bathtub. Right now she takes a bath in the kitchen sink and loves it. She screams her head off when we try to put her in the ducky bath, though. I guess she knows that ducks are not supposed to be that big and if I saw a duck that large, unexpectedly, in the bath tub, I suppose I might scream, too! LOL! If nothing else, it's some else for her to play in. She loves Kai's old Hokey Pokey Elmo and the glowworm that plays music and lights up.

We wish you a merry Christmas, dance fever style

2008-12-15T11:54:00.005-06:00

Here's an adorable video of Cassiana dancing to the Christmas globe music. She has figured out how to make it play and goes thru the songs to get to the ones she likes! Normally, she swings her head and hips back and forth in some sort of 50's manifestation. Yes, I turned the camera to get a better shot, so you'll have to crane your neck to see it! :)

We have finally figured out that this baby needs two naps a day, even if she is perfectly happy (as in not cranky) with one a day if she sleeps in past 8:30 and misses her morning nap. She will think that she we put her down at bed time that it's really a nap and get up 2 hours later, ready to play. So, we wake her up between 7 and 7:30 am, as hard as it is to waking a sleeping baby, because it makes for a much smoother night!

Loves to ride in the car!

2008-12-11T18:15:00.002-06:00

Just have a moment, but wanted to post a picture of Cassiana riding in her car seat (I was not driving while taking this picture--lol!). She loves it! I think it's because she was completely swathed in pink and purple.

Shenanigans

2008-12-08T15:23:00.008-06:00

Okay, I just got back from the bank. I had to cancel my debit card because of weird charges that have shown up from Moscow and Singapore (I did not even go there!). The bank is disputing the charges for us, so hopefully that will be cleared up. Get this, Cassi's original ticket shows it was not used AND the second ticket that Singapore Air said we needed didn't show up as one of these weird charges. Something is fishy in shenaniganville!!!

Cassi is starting to move out of the living room after a week of surveying the coffee table area. She has yet to notice the Christmas tree or the presents, so that's good. She was terrified of Peppy our Bichon and Candy Lou Lou our Yorkie mix and now wants to pet Peppy (well if you call pulling hunks of hair out petting) and let's Candy get pretty close before she decides Candy needs to vacate the area. So that's progress!!! We are teaching her to use "nice hands" with Peppy, so don't worry, he's not in harms way. He's a very gentle dog and just gets up and moves if she's within striking distance.

Peppy is looking more like the Shaggy DA dog--we have put him low on the totem pole as of late and promise to get him groomed this week!!!

Kai and I were reading a book about God's blessings and we were reading a part about Jesus. Kai interrupted to tell me that Jesus goes to his school and is in Mrs. Smather's class. LOLOLOL! I explained that the boy was named after Jesus but probably pronounces his name differently and is not, to my knowledge, the same Jesus from the book. :)

Hibernating

2008-12-04T13:06:00.003-06:00

Well, it's finally turned cool here as of yesterday, so I made chili and pumpkin spice bread. Yeah, I know you folks had your fill of that stuff last week, but we folks who were in Russia last week did not. I've been wanting to make them since the beginning of October which is where my mind things I am! Later today, we are putting up the Christmas tree, something we usually do the day after Thanksgiving, so maybe this will get me at least thinking it's November! Have I started Christmas shopping???--nope!

Kai is adapting to having a baby sister wonderfully! I guess talking about it for the last year and half had something to do with that, plus he's a good boy anyway and loves babies. He plays with Cassi, waiting on her hand and foot, bringing her the toys she likes best. He kisses and hugs on her and she tries to do the same back. Very sweet! He brought a picture of Cassi while were we still in Russia to school for show and tell.

Here are some shots I took of Cassi this morning:

Little Tykes should just manufacture remotes because that's what babies like best to play with! Cassi is learning her name and will turn her head most times we call it. She said her name and pointed to her self this morning---so cute in her little voice! She says "Mamama" for me and "Mmmammmamma" for more food (more m's for more)--LOL!

Well, she just went down for a nap and I'm going to do the same thing. Sleep when the baby sleeps

The paperwork continues???

2008-12-03T16:14:00.011-06:00

For those of you who are still waiting to start your adoption journey or are mid-way through, I have some disturbing news. The paperwork does NOT stop once you are home! I know, shocking, huh? LOL! I spent 2 hours in the wee hours of the morning working on just the stuff to send Lighthouse for the Consulate paperwork! Now, I have 30 days to register Cassiana with the consulate, but I'd rather get it out of the way.

This part will really touch a nerve, so brace yourselves. We had to get some documents notarized!!!! Then we had to lug babysita to Kinko's to get more passport photos for this paperwork. She was a little angel and just sat for her picture. We will have to apply for her social security card, get her a US passport and check into getting her a state birth certificate.

Cassiana decided that 4:30 a.m. would be a great time to start the day, so start it we did. It actually worked out because she went back to sleep at 6:30, so I got the paperwork out of the way. When she woke up, she was ready to go run errands after a few bites to eat. She loves riding in the car! I think she's just so happy to be out and about without a couple hundred layers of fabric encasing her tiny body!

Update on lap ticket ordeal

2008-12-02T13:40:00.002-06:00

I spoke to the travel agent who booked Cassiana's lap ticket and she is checking w/ Singapore Airlines to see what happened and to try to get us a refund for the second ticket we had to buy in Moscow. The whole thing was just so fishy leaving Moscow...so we'll see.

Cassi is doing so well! We just took a trip to Target, the first time she and I have left the house since we got in on Saturday. She loved the car seat and sitting in the cart at the store. She kicked her feet the whole time and looked around. I think this was the first time she's been out in the sunshine and the wind (especially without the protection of a humongous snowsuit!). She really enjoyed it! She still doesn't know what to think of people who try to talk to her in the store. She freaked when they did this in the airport. Today she just looked at them stoically, so that's an improvement. Everything is a new experience! :)

Home Sweet Home and First Birthday!!!!

2008-12-01T06:06:00.009-06:00

We are finally, finally, finally HOME!!!!!!!!!! For those who are new to the blog, we switched to Lighthouse, Ann Arbor, MI from another agency and our dossier went over this past July. We got our referral in Sept. and met the baby in Oct., had court Nov. 10th and here we are!!! It was a quick, pain free process with Lighthouse! (Our dossier with the first agency went over exactly a year ago today.)

We made it safely and soundly, with a few hiccups getting home, but the main thing is we are here. Cassiana was amazing on the plane. She only took a few short cat naps on the 12 hour flight Singapore Air portion and was happy to sit and play during the rest. She did watch some Barney (over the course of the flight, I played the only episode they had on the flight over 7 time for her, though I think after #6 she was starting to see it was the same one--lol!)

We almost missed this flight, despite getting to the check-in stand 2 hrs. and 15 minutes early. The dimwits at the stand swore up and down that Cassi didn't have a reservation. It was a long, awful ordeal, resulting in us waiting 1 hr. 45 mins. (mean time, Cassi is getting hungry and tired, crying on and off) for them to finally reissue Cassi another LAP ticket that I had to PAY for again. We had to RUN to the gate, having to go thru passport control first, where they gave me a hard time about her having a Russian passport. They wanted to see her birth certificate and something was really funny as they kept laughing and taking their sweet time. I said, "She has an immigrant visa for the US and our flight leaves in 15 minutes!!!" On cue, Cassi started to cry and they finally agreed she was legit. Whatever!!!

We went thru security, which was another ordeal and then ran to the gate where they were saying the same dimwits that checked us in were telling us to hurry. I was like, well, if you all hadn't taken almost 2 hours we wouldn't be in this situation. One of them asked if she could take any of my bags and I said it was a little late for help now. It was infuriating to put it lightly. I'm going to call the travel agent later to see if we can be refunded for one of the the TWO lap tickets we had to purchase for the SAME flight.

Then, on to Houston, where we had to explain the whole thing and Continental said they had a record of her and that she didn't need a boarding pass because this portion was domestic. It sounds like the Singapore folks didn't know what to look for or something because Continental had a record of her ticket. So, at this point (we had to go thru passport control and then immigration, then customs, so it was quite a while later---oh yeah, and when we had to get our luggage to go thru customs and then re-check it, we had to find another passport photo of Cassi for immigration because there weren't enough in the packet. While doing this, Bo-Bo the customs sniffing dog, honed in on Cassi's apple flavored baby cereal in the diaper bag, so we had to deal with that. He was looking for fruit brought in from another country--- I was like Pa-lease!!!), Cassi is screaming because she has on a wet diaper and is hungry. I changed her and fed her and then we went thru security AGAIN (I don't understand this part since there's no access from the outside portion of the airport) and then on to the gate. We had a sandwich and celebrated making it to the US!!! Here's a photo of the first time Cassi's feet touched US "soil."

Now, on to less stressful times. Cassi's first birthday was Saturday, so we celebrated yesterday, her first day in the US! Dan got her a cake while we were gone (one for us and one for Cassi to devour, which she did!). They did spell Cassi's name wrong but we didn't care as it was such a happy event! Her Nina and Grand Dad got her the sparkly ballerina Mary Jane socks, which matched perfectly with her dress. Also the bib and the first birthday napkins. We girls do like to co-ordinate!!! Yes, I do have on my pj's!!!! I could only "get it together" that much.

I took some video that I may upload later. Here is the "before picture."

And, the after!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, CASSIANA and WELCOME HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leaving tomorrow for HOME!!!!!!!! :)

2008-11-28T01:40:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow is the big day (yet another one of those!)!!! We are heading home! Our 12 hour flight leaves at about 10:00 a.m. Saturday (the driver is picking us up at 7 a.m.) and we get home (gaining a day) at about 7 p.m. Saturday. We fly through Houston with a nice long layover to take care of all of the immigration stuff, etc. Chili's (at Houston airport) here we come after that! :) Then, a short 1 hour flight to OKC. Dan and Kai are picking us weary folk up in OKC. I can't wait for Kai to meet his new little sister!

We are spending today relaxing and packing. Mom and Cassi are napping to "Smokey And The Bandit" on tv. Later, we will take a stroller tour of the hotel to get a few more last minute pictures. They have started putting up the Christmas decorations, so we want to take Cassi to see all of the different trees.

Goodbye Moscow, we will miss you! We'll be back again one day for a heritage trip. :)

HELLO, USA!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving From Mockba!!!!!!!!1

2008-11-27T03:03:00.013-06:00

(View from our hotel window)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

We have soooo much to be thankful and grateful that I could not even begin to list everything! One of the blessings is sitting in my lap, trying to help me type! Here she is dancing to the song from a Happy Thanksgiving e-card that her Grandma and Grandma Holtmann sent:

Cassi learned to drink from a straw this morning, so we are pumping her full of liquids since she hasn't wanted to drink anything via the cup (the way they give them liquids in the orphanage). Here is a video of her eating and then drinking from the straw this morning.

We went to the grocery store after that, a 5 min. walk from the hotel:

Outside hotel

Going to market

First trip to grocery store--they don't bag the food here for you, so the checker and some other guy stood there while we were holding baby, paying and trying to bag our own stuff.

Going back to hotel, loaded down w/ stuff

Having lunch! She loves table food. Even after her baby food, she wanted some of my sandwich (my hair was wiped out after having the hood on).

Later*****

We took a taxi to Old Arabat this afternoon. It was a lot of fun shopping and looking around. An artist did a quick charcoal of Cassi and me that turned out pretty well! A great keepsake. Here are some photos from today. Oh, I had lasagna again and Mom had spaghetti for dinner! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Starbucks (an online adoption chat joke!)

It's official!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-26T09:40:00.007-06:00

We had our Embassy visit today and it's official! Cassiana is on her way to the good ole USA!!! We leave on Saturday. We will spend tomorrow being thankful and grateful for all that we have!!!!

Here is a picture of Buddha Baby:

Also, she is taking to table food just fine. We wondered if she isn't really Italian as she was woofing down the lasagna tonight! This was after she had eaten 1 big jar of meat/veggie combo and a big jar of applesauce. After the lasagna, she ate a biter biscuit and did much better this time with the chewing. She is on Stage 3 baby food food now. Still not drinking very much, but all is well.

Reaching the top of Mt. Adoption...

2008-11-25T03:03:00.012-06:00

All of a sudden there arose such a clatter so me in my kerchief and ma in her cap, we threw up the window and opened the sash to see what was the matter. Oh, no, that's not it. Here's what really happened. After an awesome night's sleep, we awoke to the alarm at 7 a.m. for the doctor visit. I turned on a light so that Cassiana could wake up on her own some. She woke up smiling, as per usual (I'm not making this part stuff up!). A little later the phone rang and it was Dr. Boris saying he was on his way up to see Cassi.

He is about 55 and has a mustache and dark/greyish hair. Cassi didn't cotton to him at the orphanage during that dr. visit and she sure didn't this time either! He checked her over and she got straight A's. This is the "official" you are set to leave the country exam, so that was great news! He says she's had several of her shots, which he translated on her shot record, so more great news in that we don't have to start over from scratch or have titers run. She has a small scare on her upper arm and that is from the TB inoculation. Not sure why it would leave such a scar. It's sort of a longish indentation, not the same as the small pox scars I've seen. After he left, we fed Cassi her breakfast (oatmeal and bananas), saw a therapist for her traumatic event (that part is made up) and then we all set out for breakfast downstairs.

Cassi loved the highchair from the start this time. There was a harpist playing and when she was finished, Cassi clapped her hands. She can say, "bapp" for clap and "Ma,ma,ma" for more and "up" and "down" because after I change her she likes to flop back and then up again, so we say that over and over (big fun when you are 11 months old!). Some times she says "da,da,da" and "ma,ma,ma" when I point to use in her photo album, her favorite toy. This is probably a learned response but maybe she's made the connection. We've also taught her to wave bye-bye. This was at the hotel restaurant for breakfast:

Practicing self feeding is over rated when you can just push everything onto the floor:

Now, Mom and Cassi are napping and then it will be lunch time for Cassi. I'm leaving at 2:00 to pick up her passport and visa w/ the driver. Then, at 5:00 the interpreter is coming over to the hotel to help me fill out the Embassy paperwork. Our appt. w/ the Embassy will be either tomorrow or Friday. So, that leaves Thanksgiving day as a free day. We are planning to go to Old Arabat, a walking pedestrian tourist area and do some SHOPPING! Mom hurt her back with all of the stroller lifting yesterday getting in and out of the underground tunnels with tons of stairs, so we are going to take a taxi and then the hotel will arrange one to pick us up. We could take the metro, but there are stairs there, so we will take the posh way out since it's a holiday and all! LOL!

LATER****

I joined the other family that is here on their pickup trip to pick up our passports and visas. Going there took maybe 15 minutes. Coming back took at least 45, maybe an hour for some reason. The traffic was worse than usual. When I arrived at the hotel, the tranlator met me in the lobby and we went up to the room to fill out the Embassy paperwork. Cassi was walking around in her crib, not taking a nap, happy as a lark. The paperwork took about 15 minutes.

While here, I played the Russian singing bear that the hotel gave Cassi (see earlier post from this week where we are playing it for the baby) to see what it is singing. She said it is basically non-sense! Here we've been thinking it was some traditional Russian baby song (i.e. Rock-a-by Baby or something)! Turns out it's jibberish. Oh, well, the baby still likes it.

We have our U.S. Embassy appointment tomorrow at 1:40!!!! This is the FINAL stage of the Mtn. Adoption!!!! It is here at last!!!! The rest is all down hill as we coast on home in our super jet. I was planning to post a picture of the outside cover of Cassi's passport, but the translator is holding on to it until we have our Embassy appt.

St. Basil's, At Last!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-24T11:58:00.008-06:00

St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square

This is one of the many important milestones in the lives of adoptive families who adopt in or near Moscow. We went to Red Square late in the afternoon and finally got a picture of Cassi in front of St. Basil's!!!! It was about 32 degrees and snowing big flakes only occassionally, so that snowsuit came in very handy. The hat that came w/ it is way too big (as is the suit), so we substituted a smaller one and she was much happier with the whole "suit"uation.

We took the hotel shuttle to Pushkin Square and then walked down Tverskaya Street (about a 15 minute walk) to Red Square. It's pretty rugged terrain with a stroller because you have to carry them up and down many, many steps to go down to the tunnels that go under the streets (don't worry, they are very populated and well lite) and go over a lot of cobblestone type brick. There are rungs on some of the stairs for strollers and I'm assuming wheel chairs, but they don't fit American strollers. It was a workout, but so worth it!

Cassiana and I, at last!

Cassi and I (my cheeks are so red because it was a little cold!)

Mom, me and Cassiana the snowsuit baby

Bundled up, ready to go to Red Square

These shoes were made for walkin' (well, when I get a little more practice!)

Mom feeding Cassi, who is totally not impressed by the blueberry cereal combo meal. At least her food co-ordinates with her outfit.

Can anyone guess what these 2 food items are? Those who've been here before are not ineligible, sorry. :P

Well, today on the adoption front, Mom watched Cassi while I went to sign the passport paperwork. The family that had the same court date was there as well. That was pretty quick. Then, back to the hotel where we ate lunch and then napped until it was time to take the shuttle to Pushkin Square.

Tomorrow at 7, gulp, a.m. the doctor is coming over to the hotel for Cassiana's official medical exam. This is the same dr. who saw her in the orphanage before we accepted her as a referral who thought we were kind of nuts calling him over since she's so healthy. She screamed the whole exam, so I'm assuming we are in for more of the same unless she will be so sleepy (fingers crossed!) that she tolerates it and then gets on with her life.

She went right to sleep tonight, thanks to the Ibuprofen for her teething. She will love her nice quiet crib in her room at home. We turn the lights out in the hotel room, but after she goes to sleep, we turn the tv back on, which wakes her up some times. She is apparently used to a pretty quiet sleeping environment in pretty much total darkness. She takes her morning nap without a problem, but walks around the crib and tries to get us to laugh (making rasberry sounds, giggling, moving her head around in a silly way, putting both arms and legs thru the slats while sitting down and moving them up and down), so I lay her back down and we don't look at her and eventually she lays down and goes to sleep. At home, she will have her own space without all of these distractions.

That's all for now. Looks like our Embassy visit will be Wednesday or Friday (closed for Thanksgiving), then we leave for home on Saturday!

Suitcases!!!!!!!

2008-11-23T12:14:00.006-06:00

YAY!!!! I woke up at 4 a.m. to tend to Cassi (that's not the yay part) and went by the door to our room and this is what I saw. A note saying our suitcases were downstairs!!!!!!! Notice the envelope is addressed to Mr. Patterson (Dan, your luggage is here--LOL!):

I was so excited to finally have our stuff that I couldn't go back to sleep! :) It was like Christmas opening the suitcases because I packed them almost a week ago. There were all kinds of marvelous treasures in there like multiple pairs of underwear AND socks, conditioner, Proactiv, the medical kit that Tamara packs off to all parents on their pick up trip, snacks, clothes for Cassi and me, baby lotion and much, much more! I took a shower when Cassi took her morning nap and it's the first time I've felt really clean since we got here. A camper, I am not!

So, it was very windy, cloudy and somewhat rainy today. Cassi was taking a nice long morning nap and we needed to get some things at the grocery store up the block. Instead of packing her into her snowsuit, which she hates, I went by myself and Mom stayed to watch over Cassi. Some one on the frua.org chat room posted that there is a grocery store about a 5 minute walk from here and gave directions. So, I set out into the unknown! LOL! I just proceeded down the sidewalk and didn't smile or make eye contact so that everyone would know I'm a "local."

Once there, it was about 15 steps downstairs and was a pretty decent sized market for here. I found everything I was looking for, being careful not to get so much I couldn't carry it back (see, that's why they are skinny here). I couldn't figure out which coffee was decaf., so Mom will have to make due. I'm pretty sure that the baby food I got Cassi is beef w/ veggies, though our driver did tell us that horse and rabbit meat are common. What we don't know, won't hurt us! It has a picture of various veggies and brown meat. She loved it! It was like being illiterate trying to figure out what to buy since it's impossible to decipher Russian unless you have a fair grasp of the Cyrillic alphabet, which I do not.

We made sandwhiches in the room for lunch. The mini-bar has been cleared out and replaced w/ food and stuff for us. The housekeeper, so far, hasn't said anything about us moving stuff around. I started teaching Cassi some signs yesterday and already today she mimiced "finished" at lunch! She also claps and chants "Ma, ma, ma" when she wants more! Too cute!

Cassi is teething. She's getting a second top tooth in addition to her two bottom teeth. She didn't sleep well at all in her crib last night that I'm pretty sure has been recalled at some point, but they just keep using it. It's safer than the one w/ the moveable slants that they tried to give us the first time, though! Anyway, Cassi was up on and off all last night and we couldn't figure out what the problem was. Then, this morning, she smiled and I saw the new top tooth starting to come though. We had nothing to give her since the suitcase w/ the medical kit wasn't here yet, so I guess it was better we didn't know. She is sleeping soundly now, thanks to some baby ibuprofen (Kim, cover your ears!).

After lunch, we played some more. Cassi will sit on the bed and play for hours at a time! Kai would have thrown every toy off of the bed in a different direction and have slid down to scurry off in 5 seconds flat. Perhaps there is a difference between boys and girls? Cassi loves to snuggle, too. So, we lazed around and played and snuggled in the bed all day in our p.j.'s. We did get her up to walk around and cruise. Can't go having a lazy baby! Here's a video of me walking her around. She looks so proud! Don't worry, Dan. She won't be walking before we leave for home!

One of the many treasures in our suitcases were the shoes that I packed for Cassi. Luckily, one pair made it in the snowsuit bag, so she's been wearing those when we are out and about. They are fur trimmed boots. I think she has high arches like me, because we couldn't get them all the way on her feet, but they were definitely long enough. Today as I was about to change her diaper, I remembered the shoes and that I hadn't gotten to see her in them yet, having waited all these months. I put one of each on her feet and she LOVED them! So much better than the navy blue boot things that she had her feet stuffed into in the orphanage. The shoes we got her, according to the foot tracings (which were w/ her wearing footie pjs while still in the orphanage on trip 1), showed she should wear a size 3. Well, the size 3's are a good two finger widths too long for her! Guess that means one thing: Shoe shopping when we get back! YAY!

The shoes look really giant from this view.

That's all from hibernation central. It is blowing like all get out and snowing from time to time. People are still out there walking around, going where they go. Tomorrow, the driver is picking just me up (Mom will watch Cassi) so that I can get Cassi's Russian passport and American visa. YAY!!!!!! One more step towards bringing her home this Saturday!

Exploring The World And Roughing It In A 5 Star Hotel and Laughing Our You Know What's Off!!!

2008-11-22T04:43:00.018-06:00

First Trip to McDonald's

Well, we ventured out to McDonald's today. It is about 6 blocks away, so not too far to walk. Glad it's not snowing any more! We had to bundle Cassi up in the giant snowsuit, which she hated, but it's a must around here. After we got going in the stroller, she was very happy, kicking her legs. Mom got a Happy Meal so that Kai could have a toy. She saved the box for him, too. We then walked over to the Olympic Center from the 1980 Winter Olympics. There are a bunch of stores at the bottom. I really didn't see what the big deal was, but maybe there's not much shopping around here. It was pretty busy. Tomorrow we will journey to the market by ourselves...

On the way back from McDonald's we saw the port-o-lets that I had heard about. There is a lady sitting in the one on the end (see square hole in door) and from what I understand, you pay her to use the toilet. It's her job to maintain them. People in the US complain about THEIR jobs...

Bathroom attendant

Cassi is very laid back. She snuggled with me on the bed for about an hour last night, content to suck her thumb and look through her family photo album. She loves that book! As soon as Kai learned to crawl, he was outie! I tried to snuggle with him, but most of the time he wanted down so that he could crawl around and play. Cassi also wanted to snuggle this morning as she was waking up.

Last night, Cassi discovered the TV and wanted to touch the screen, which I let her do. She sat with me and we watched the Russian Something Or Other (possibly called Russian Cup) ice skating championship. The skaters were pretty horrible and it was pretty funny. The comentators were trying to be so nice like, "He isn't as big of a lump on skates as he was last year (they were British)". The skaters were from all over the world and very young. Every single one of the pairs skaters fell multiple times during their session. One of the pairs was especially memorable. I had to shield Cassi's eyes! The male kept missing his turns, etc. and then they both stopped all of a sudden, as blood gushed from the guy's hand! It was awful! They put on a bandage and continued on. However, the bandage was not very thick and it was soaked w/ blood. Of course his partner was wearing a white skating dress, so by the end of it, it looked more like a masaser than a skating event! YUCK! Sorry, no picture of this one!

Our room (notice laundry on window)

Here is our room at the Marriott Renaissance, which is 5 star over here. It was the only hotel available for this week with Marriott points. I would prefer our little Courtyard because I kind of knew my way around over there, but we can "tough it out" over here. We have these in the US and I would say they are more 4 star or so.

Anyway, we are STILL waiting on our 3 suitcases to show up since our arrival on Wednesday (it's Saturday afternoon here), so we are having to wash out clothes every night. The outfit I wore here still isn't dry, so I'm still wearing the same outfit mom loaned me. It's brown pants and a brown shirt, aka, the UPS outfit. I've worn it since Thursday!!! One good thing is that people over here just do that for some reason, so it goes unnoticed. Our bathroom and the area by the window with the radiator, look more like a laundry most of the time. My hair is brittle from not having any conditioner. Lotion just isn't the same on the ole hair! No flat iron is bad, too. And, I must have Proactiv and normally pack travel sizes in my carry on, but for some reason didn't do it this time. So, my skin is starting to break out. If you are wondering why there haven't been many pictures including me, trust me, I'm doing you a favor!!! LOL!

If these were normal circumstances, I would be having an awful time. We have everything we need to get by and surely to goodness our suitcases will get here today. The main thing is that we are with the baby and she is doing great and has no idea my hair is brittle or that I've had on the same thing for days and days. The flight the suitcases were on came in at 8:20 this morning according to the online flight status. It is now 2PM, so we are hoping and praying! We have the baby's formula and sippy cup and many, many things that we could really use in there (she isn't on formula now, so it's nothing she's missing). We would have gotten conditioner and baby lotion, had we known it would be this long of a wait, at the grocery store. Roughing it in a 5 Star hotel! LOL! I'm sure they would be happy to charge us $10 or more per item to wash our clothes and who knows what to get us some conditioner. I may try out for "Survivor" after this! LOL!

LATER****

I don't know what happened to my post, but it wasn't saving when it said it was...so anyway, I finally got Cassi to laugh for the first time since we made her laugh at the orphanage and it scared her so much she burst into tears. It was all laughs tonight! I'm giving her a "zurbert" on her cheek when you see the camera move away.

Still no suitcases and it's 7:45 pm. I just looked out and this is what I saw. Let's hope this guy has snow tires!

I wrote a ton more and spent an hour on this "Later***" part, but I don't have it in me to red0 the whole thing.

Cassi loves to do "rasberries!" Mom taught her this yesterday. She was doing them on cue tonight--it was hilarious! See below:

When the guy brings the suitcase, I may just video that! :)

A bunch of firsts!!!

2008-11-21T11:54:00.005-06:00

One sweet baby to go, please!

Just as with babies you give birth to, there are firsts with adopted kiddos as well. Many of these truly are her first as she likely didn't have these experiences in the orphanage. We spent most of the day "napping when the baby did," as recommended! So, we had to, right? LOL! We needed 2 naps today as much as Cassiana! She continues to amaze us with her happiness, cuteness, sense of humor and her smartypants-ness. She is very smart and catches on to things quickly.

We finally ventured out of the room around 12:30, after our naps and Cassi's lunch. The housekeeper was waiting outside the room and ready to go, so we vamoosed and went to eat at the hotel restaurant. This was Cassi's first ride in the stroller. Mom's burger was presented on a wooded tray and was a mere $27!!! Yikes! This was Cassi's first time in a high chair (at least w/ us). She didn't like it at first, but the second try was the charm.

First stroller ride

First time in highchair in restaurant

Mom's awesome burger!

First Bath (by me)!

All Clean!

Ready for bed!

Nighty-night! More tomorrow...

Announcing the arrival of Cassiana!!! And tales of broken beds, diapers exploding and a happy, happy baby!

2008-11-20T10:10:00.013-06:00

(Warning, the editing on this entry is a little crazy! Good luck figuring it out!!! :)

We picked up Cassiana at about noon today from Baby Home #14 in Moscow!!! It was really snowing a lot and very pretty. Moscow got it's first real snow last night. Just enough to cover the grass, but today it snowed a lot for several hours.

Anyway, to more important stuff! Our driver was kind enough to take us to the grocery store near the baby home to load up on supplies (baby food, diapers, food for us, etc.). This was especially helpful since our suitcases won't be joining us until Saturday. We bought some tea, coffee and chocolates, too, for the caregivers and orphanage director and doctor, which is customary on the pick up day. A security guard (more like a young boy) trailed us as soon as we entered the store. The driver said it was because we were interesting Americans, but we think it was to see how much food the Americans buy and what kind of candy bars and Mayo, etc. that we loaded up on! Americans are HUGE compared to those folks and it's no wonder why! LOL! If I had to walk to the grocery store and pay the prices they do (a large jar of baby food is $2) and ate no fast food, I'd be stick thin also.

Next, Mom, the driver and I went to BabyHome #14 in Moscow to retrieve our Russian sweet baby! The caregiver dressed her in many, many layers as is the custom for leaving the orphanage. You would have thought it was 40 below! Luckily our suitcase w/ the required clothing was one that made it on the plane. First, she put the tights on Cassi. Next, pants and shirt similar to long underwear (only cuter w/ pink bunnies and very soft). Next, socks. Then, the shirt for her outfit, then the pants and hoodie. Lastly, the huge snowsuit w/ a hat that must cover the ears and hood. (This snowsuit is a size 18 months, but it wasn't as huge as I was expecting. She is wearing a size 9 months for clothes!).Oh, and she had her fur lined shoes on under this. As you can imagine, this whole procedure evoked tears many times from Cassi and by the time we said our goodbyes and made it to the car, Cassi was very sweaty and teary! I took off her hat and she fell asleep on the ride home. They don't use car seats in Russia, so it was weird holding her as the car turned corners, slowed, sped up, etc.

After having 2 layers of clothes much of her life, she enjoyed seeing and touching her feet once we got to the hotel! She is just a couple of weeks away from walking and her hair is definitely wavy! Go curls!

It's interesting because we have to take our off shoes when in an area where the children crawl on the floor and they must wear 10 layers before going outdoors at the orphanage. But, at no time during our visits were we asked to wash our hands before picking her up.

When we got our hotel room, I tried to lay her down in the crib since it was her nap time. However, she wasn't going to have that, with all of the excitment, so I was holding her and rocking her when we heard a very loud noise coming from the room next door! Construction! So, they helped us move all of our stuff to the other side of the hotel. Good thing we didn't have those pesky 3 extra suitcases that traveled to Singapore. I should preface this by saying that before we picked up Cassi, we realized that the crib was awful. About 5 of the slats didn't reach the top wrung, making it pretty much useless. The stats just went every which way. So, they immediately switched it out for one much less rickety (but still on the rickety side).

Then, Mom sat on the corner of the bed in the new room and it fell over! The leg came off! It didn't have the screw to hold it in. So, the maintenance person was kind enough to fix it immediately. I'm so glad Cassi wasn't playing on that side.

The hotel did give Cassi a very cute bear that sings a child's song in Russian. She loves this song and dances to it, though it sounds scary to us. I will get a video of it tomorrow. And, they sent up some fruit and champagne for all of our troubles. Breakfast was another story. The waiter must have thought we were invisible as they didn't once grace our presence. Oh, when I went over and told them we'd like some coffee, they did, but that was all. The eggs tasted like they had some weird cheese or almond flavoring. It's hard to mess up an egg mix, I would think. I complained about the service because this isn't the Motel 6!

Next we played a lot on the floor w/ Cassi and gave her a snack. She is eating Stage 1 and Stage 2 food for those wondering. Her eating is similar to about a 6 month old because she pushes it out of her mouth. This could have been because she's not used to baby food and it's taste and texture or she is just at that stage developmentally for eating. She drinks out a cup! Didn't spill a drop! The sippy cup is in of the suitcases and they didn't sell them at the grocery store. I want to start her on a bedtime bottle for the bonding time and to help her mouth muscles develop.

During her dinner, we had an explosive, unappetizing diaper episode. I've heard tell of these, but never experienced these with Kai. They are a mandatory initiation to all diapered babies of adoptive parents! I'm pretty sure it was from the sudden change of food (babyfood instead of real food pureed). She was sitting in her stroller as a make shift high chair (another reason I'm so glad we brought Kai's old one and not a new one!) and it was so bad, it leaked all over the stroller and the floor! Mom had to hose off the stroller in the shower and the baby as well. She was back to her happy self all thru the clean up. I packed some Febreeze, but it's in one of the suitcases.
It was so nice to put her in some soft pj's as her clothes in the orphanage were all scratchy and too tight. I have some cute video of her talking to herself and making rasberries in the mirror!!! Warning: This video is adorable!!!

Cassi is a complete doll!!! She is very happy and smiles and babbles all the time. She is very close to walking, probably in the next couple of week. Here are some videos of her playing. The pink book is the photo album we left w/ our pictures in it on Trip 1, labeled in Russian. I don't think the caregivers took it out of the bag, but oh, well! Also, we left a disposable camera and they didn't take any pictures while we were gone.

Cassi started to get sleepy with all of the exploding diapers and smiling and laughing and all, so I rocked her for a few minutes while she sucked her thumb and then laid her down and that was that! Out like a light! The phone even rang shortly after putting her down and she didn't budge. Maybe it's the soothing softness of her purple "Tea Party" pajamas w/ the Mary Janes imprinted on them or... just having a family! :) By the way, she is saying ma,ma,ma! It's not in reference to me yet, but that was a new sound for her! Don't worry, Dan, we are practicing da,da,da, too!

This is a picture I took on the trip here. We got the weirdest looks carting our stuff around in the baby stroller! People looked us up and down and were looking to see where the baby was and did we have it smothering under the coats. I wanted to go, "Come on people! Get a clue!" But, I just watched them squirm uncomfortably. It was obvious that a baby wouldn't fit on there w/ our 2 purses and 2 coats. DUH! Won't have that problem on the way home! :)

Thirty Minutes...

2008-11-20T02:46:00.003-06:00

until we leave to pick up Cassiana!!!! YAY!!!! The bag w/ her snowsuit and some clothes made it and so did the stroller, so we can go pick up her, well prepared. The driver will take us to buy babyfood etc. after we get her. The concierge says that the 3 lost bags will arrive on a flight Saturday morning (it is already Thursday, almost noon here). Apparently, they thought it would be a lovely time to go on to Singapore. I highly disagree! Mom loaned me some of her clothes and at least there is no humidity so my flat iron isn't missed too much. I don't care as long as we are getting the baby! That's the main thing! The bags will show up very soon. Cassi's whole wardrobe is in one of them. I mean, we needed to bring all 5 pairs of her shoes, right???? LOL!

I will update later w/ more pictures and details from our trip. I will tell you about the Somethin' Ain't Right Eggs that they served for breakfast, too! Also, the crib here had 5 slats that weren't connected to the top cross piece at all so you could move them any which way, so we were able to get them to change it out. More later!!!

We are here!!!

2008-11-19T07:37:00.002-06:00

Good news is that Mom and I made it safely and that we get to pick up Cassiana tomorrow at noon instead of Friday!!! Bad news is that the airline has misplaced 3 of our checked bags. Mom gate checked hers and we have one w/ some baby stuff. I separated my clothes into 2 bags, figuring there'd be a better chance of stuff making it here. Oh, well! The main thing is we get Cassi tomorrow! Very tired, going to search for food and then hit the hay! :)

On the road again!!!

2008-11-17T15:24:00.001-06:00

Mom and I leave tomorrow for Moscow! YAY! We get there Wednesday and get custody of Cassiana on Friday. We leave to come home on the 29th. I'm taking the computer, so keep checkin' the blog for updates!

Exclusive Never Before Seen Pictures and Video of Cassiana

2008-11-13T12:49:00.012-06:00

Well...I tried for an hour to get the video that wouldn't load in Russia to load here and it still wouldn't load. Normally they take about a minute, so I don't know what's going on with it. These are some pictures from Trip 2. Something to tide you all over until we can take more pictures late next week and finally bring home the real thing on the 29th!

As you can see, Cassiana is quite mobile, so I am going to finish the baby proofing this weekend! :)

It's amazing how much Cassiana looks like Kai's baby picture at about the same age. They have the same nose, chin, cheeks and very similar eye shape. Cassiana has much darker eyes and hair. Paka! (Goodbye!)

Home again, home again...

2008-11-12T11:11:00.006-06:00

We made it back home! We had a 5 hour layover in Houston to be sure we had time for customs this time. Then, our plan took off 2 hours late due to bad weather, so we spent quite a bit of time there! You just never know how much to plan for. We had a choice between an hour and a half layover (not enough time for customs, passport control, etc.) or 5 hours. Once we were finally airborne, it was quite scary seeing lightening storms down below on either side! Most of us on the plane just shut the window covers so we didn't have to see it. It was pretty bumping, but I've been in worse. We got home around midnight. Our son woke up so we got to give him a hug and kiss. He looked so cute in his new Sponge Bob p.j's. He and Mom had made some cut-out sugar cookies. They decorated one for Cassiana for when she comes home So sweet!

Well, time to apply for visas (double entry visas aren't allowed any more unless you want to go interview at the consulate in NY to get one!!!), get unpacked and get laundry going. Oh, and a shower would be nice! LOL! Mom and I leave on Tuesday for our pick up trip. We get there Wednesday and should have Thursday for sightseeing. It will probably be much colder next week and we are staying quite a ways from the sights, so we want to do this before we get Cassiana. We were told by several that Moscow usually has snow by now, so we were lucky to have the 40 degree heatwave while we were there. They are expecting snow next week.

Then, drum roll please, we get to pick Cassiana up from the orphanage on Friday the 21st!!! YAY! We will take her to St. Basil's for her traditional picture in front of it some time before we leave on the 29th. We have several things to do after we leave (go to US Embassy, etc.), so that's why we can't just get her and go home. Besides, it will give us more time to get to know each other before we hop on the plane for 12 hours. We are flying Singapore Air and they have bassinets that hook into the wall (suspended) in the bulkhead area, so it should be a comfortable flight home. Have I mentioned how much we love Singapore Air???? They sure spoil you when you are lucky to have a packet of peanuts and a glass of water w/ bacterial filled ice on most flights--LOL!

I will post another video we took of Cassiana while we were there in a few days. It was taking way too long to load for some reason.

We are a family of 4 now!!!!! :)

2008-11-10T05:51:00.009-06:00

YAY! We had court this morning and everything went well! Dan did most of the speaking. He did a great job! I was only asked a few things, which I was glad of. It only took maybe 20 minutes.

Court House in Moscow

After Court! :)

After court, we got to take Cassiana out in her very first car ride. She was taken to the orphanage in an ambulance (only because she came straight from the hospital) when she was born. She did very well! She was way bundled up for the 5 minute car trip in 40 degree weather. She could hardly move because she had on a shirt w/ overall type thing, then a jacket, then a snowsuit w/ boots that were much too large and then a hat tighted way too tight around her neck, then a hood. The poor thing was not able to bend her arms or legs for all of the material! She cried during the passport picture, but through the magic of photography, they were able to clean up the pictures so that you couldn't tell that she had tears coming down her cheeks and a runny nose.

After the pictures, we got to play for about an hour. I dressed her in an outfit so I could see what size she is (9 months, but will soon be into 12 months because it just fit). She is getting a top front tooth, in addition to the 2 on the front bottom! Also, not walking yet, but is taking steps when you hold her hands and she wasn't doing that on her own last time. She smiled and smiled toward the end of the visit a lot and was really babbling up a storm and mimicing us babbling to her. She warmed up to us much quicker this time, so I think she remembered us.

Cassiana Kay, all smiles in her new, soft outfit!

This is a video. Click on the big arrow to play it. There is sound, too.

We gave the orphanage workers and the director their gifts, we well as our driver and interpreter. We also gave them the new and gently used clothes---a huge bag and a half. I left some notecards and asked if the caregivers would write Cassiana note of well wishes and will ask the interpreter to translate. Also, next visit we will pick up the disposable camera we left to see what kinds of shots they got.

Dan and I leave tomorrow morning for home. Next Tuesday, Mom and I leave to come back here. Thursday we will probably sight see and then Friday get the baby. We leave to come home the following Sat. the 29th. Can't wait for Cassiana to meet her new crazy brother, shampoo horns and all! :)

We are sooooo excited and thrilled to be finished with court and to be so close to bringing her home!!!!!

Made it here!

2008-11-09T08:28:00.003-06:00

Checking it to let everyone know that we made it safely and easily! Very tired. By the way it is Sunday and the time is 5:30 pm, not 8:30 am as the time stamp shows. Went to the grocery store to get some provisions and ate at the restaruant downstairs in the hotel. Getting the donations and gifts for the orphanage workers, etc. who have taken care of Cassiana and/or helped us in this process over her. Going to court tomorrow at either 10:00 or 10:30 (another family is apparently here and will get the other time). Then, not sure what happens after that (celebration!!!). Will write as soon as we get back to the room tomorrow.

Trip 2 Starts Tomorrow!!!!

2008-11-07T08:56:00.003-06:00

Flight path to Moscow

We are leaving tomorrow for our 2nd trip to Russia!!! We have court on Monday to finalize the adoption and then fly back home on Tuesday. We only have one connection this time each way with plenty of time at the connecting airport (Houston) so this trip will be much, much smoother than the last one. We are flying Continental to Houston and then Singapore Air from there to Moscow. Mom will be here to watch our son.

Then, the following Tuesday the 18th, Mom and I leave for Russia and arrive on the 19th. We get to pick up the baby on the 20th! We will stay until the 29th due to some holidays and closings in Moscow and to get all of the passport and visa for the baby and her final medical exam, etc. done. So, it will be a very thankful Thanksgiving in Russia! Pass the borsch and dressing, please! :)

Stay tuned to the blog for updates and more pictures!!!

Counting down!!!

2008-11-03T21:56:00.001-06:00

We have court one week from today and have custody of Cassiana in 20 days!!!! YAYYYYY!!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

2008-10-31T20:43:00.006-05:00

Between the Halloween party at school (Because kindergarten is so stressful that you just have to get your party on every month or so!!! Those were the days!), trick-or-treating at the mall while waiting for it to get dark and then trick-or-treating for about an hour in our neighborhood, I would say we have all fulfilled our sugar quota for this year, next year and the next! It was perfect weather here this year. Usually it's at least blowing gale force winds.

Here are some shots of our son as a scary glow-in-the-dark skeleton. The costume was really too big, but the next size down was way too small. I have no idea how he could tolerate that mask as it was 80 degrees here! His hair was completely sweaty when he took it off. Now that's dedication...

Notice the Crocks! He at least had ventilated feet while his entire body was encased in polyester!

Happy Halloween!!!

COURT DATE!!!!!

2008-10-28T21:09:00.003-05:00

YAY!!! We got our court date confirmation today!!! Monday, November 10th! Dan and I are leaving Saturday, Nov. 8th and will head back to the US the day after court. Then, there is a 10 day waiting period after the court date. Mom and I are heading over most likely November 19th and then bringing home Cassiana either on Saturday, November 29th (her 1st birthday!) or if we are finished with all of the paperwork, etc. earilier, we are leaving on Thursday, November 27th, Thanks Giving! We can not wait to see Cassiana again and to have her home for good! :)

Waiting...

2008-10-22T20:23:00.004-05:00

Hang in there, everyone! We are waiting on a definitive court date, which could be very soon. In the mean time, we've been getting the house even more ready and making sure the baby has the necessities like 5 pairs of little shoes and multiple dollies in pink dresses! :)

We are home!

2008-10-17T07:34:00.002-05:00

We made it back late yesterday evening. Our son had a great time while we were gone w/ my Mom, but we missed him so much and he missed us! We didn't have enough time to go thru passport control and customs in Houston yesterday, so we missed our connecting flight. They didn't have any other flights, so we just rented a car and drove 7 hours home! We were painfully tired, but were bound and determined to make it home. Turns out we got home quicker than if we'd made the flight (which was connecting in Denver and then flying here).

We flew from Moscow to Houston on Singapore Air (took 12 hours). They are wonderful if anyone ever gets the chance! It was similar to first class on our domestic flights, minus the larger seat. They fed us every time we turned around w/ good, hot food and gave out hot towels several times. Also, there were tv's in the seat that we could watch movies on (probably 50 choices) and tv as well as games, etc.

Time to prepare more for Cassiana's arrival in earnest now! We are putting up the crib this weekend and getting more clothes and shoes, etc. Finally we know what sizes to buy! Her room is pretty much ready as far as painting and decorating go.

Anyway, a quick update to let you all know we made it back and are eager to get back to see Cassiana again before court! :)

Russian Sweet Baby has a new name!!!

2008-10-15T09:52:00.020-05:00

We signed the petition to adopt today and named our baby girl! Introducing:

Cassiana Kay Patterson

We are so thrilled, thankful and grateful to be moving along with the process to adopt Cassiana. She is such a sweetie! We got to see her again this morning for 2 hours. She was very laid back the first hour, probably because it was right after her nap and lunch time, so we took turns holding and hugging her, which she loved.

Next, she played with toys and crawled around a bit while we look another 20,000 pictures! Then, she just wanted to be held and snuggled with. So, it was marvelous to hold her and rock her! I'm sure this hasn't been an often experience for her, if ever, so it was bonding us together already. She held tight to my sweater as I rocked and sang to her. We also got several good smiles out of her. She seems to hold these back, perhaps because it's not part of her normal experience as well. That's alllllll about to change! She will be immersed in love and silliness from now on! :)

It was very hard to leave her today, but they really do a wonderful job of taking care of the kids at this baby home, so that helps tremendously.

Here are some photos and video from today.

Big girl, standing up! She seemed so proud of herself for pulling up and standing up. She should be! Her romper was so tight, that I'm not sure how she was able to fully extend her legs, but she did.

Smiling! She really looks like Dan in this one! :)

Dancing with Daddy!

Playground behind the baby home:

Snuggly baby!

Getting sleepy...

Smiling and playing airplane...

Pulling up and smiling...

Practicing walking...

Playing with tape measure...

Some sights we saw while driving to orphanage:

Bolshoi Ballet under renovation

The former KGB (now called something else) and that's all I'm going to say about them, no I'm not paranoid, are you paranoid, no not me! LOL!

Statue of the first Cosmonaut. He looks a little Buzz Light Yearish...

Christ the Savior Cathedral...

Where we ate after meeting the baby yesterday, Patio Pizza---yummy! The girl at the door had those earrings that make huge holes in your ears and thru those she had thread what looked like rabbits ears on chains dangling down!

A new meaning for "double parking"...I'm still amazed at the parking and driving skills needed to maneuver around here! At one point yesterday, there was a truck to our left and 3 rows of cars to our right, all shucking and jiving to get into one lane of traffic! It was crazy! Also, if you are in a single lane of traffic and it's all backed up, it's completely okay to zoom by everyone on the wrong side of the road to go around. Fortunately, our driver did not go to these lengths! :)

A road sign, this one kind enough to be in English as well for the "Nikitskiy"...

When we were waiting today to go into the playroom to see the baby again, an orphanage working kept coming and going from the room, closing the door behind her. Naturally, I thought, there must be some top secret orphanage business going on there that isn't for our eyes.

Finally, we were allowed in, so we removed our shoes and sat in the chairs. What we saw was hilarious! The working was in the corner sitting in a regular sized chair, grating carrots with a cheese grater like she was in the Carrot Grating Olympics with the carrots going into a bowl on a child sized table. I don't know if the kitchen was being mopped or what but she kept leaving to get more bowls, some what looked like black olives or raisins to cut up and then some pecans. She turned her back to us because, while we weren't staring, I guess she didn't want us to break her concentration in this very important event and who could blame her, right? I think she was probably hurrying because she had who knows how many babies/toddlers waiting on their lunch! :)

Here is the table and chair (I didn't think she would like it if I took her picture!):

And, this is our hotel lobby and room. Thought you might want to see they are the same (well, actually nicer) than the Courtyards in good old Amur-ica.

Lobby full of extra skinny folks. They walked with turned out feet, so possibly dancers. They were smoking lots, too.

We miss our son so much and can't wait to see him and for him to meet his new baby sister! We will all be together very soon! :)

P.S.

2008-10-14T13:09:00.001-05:00

I just noticed that all of the pictures are dated a day off! That's because our camera is set up for US time and you all are a day behind us speedy Russian folks!

Holly

We have fallen in love!!!

2008-10-14T10:23:00.020-05:00

Okay, for those of you waiting on the edges of your seats, we are finally back! It's 7PM, so it's been a long, wonderful day!!!! :)

I will skip to the part that interests you most and then detail the rest of our day. We met our Russian Sweet Baby at about 12:00 today. She is beautiful! She has dark eyes and dark hair and is 10 1/2 months old! We got the all clear from the International Adoption doctor today. He said that she looks wonderfully healthy. She is also developmentally where she should be and we haven't charted her height and weight yet, but I think she's definitely on the charts, which is rare for a baby in an orphanage. Plus, she is such a happy, laid back baby. She was very slow to warm up to us at first and cried a few times at first, so we just took it slow and followed her lead. After a while, she was babbling (also rare for orphanage babies) and smiling some and we even got her to laugh! She can crawl, roll over, pull up to standing position and even cruise (again, amazing for her circumstances). We even got her to clap, possibly for the first time! (Video to follow of this.)

You will hear her Russian name in the video, but we haven't decided on a name yet, but will have to before tomorrow morning when we sign the petition to adopt. We have some ideas, but will wait to release that until we are sure! :)

Here are some pictures and videos. We actually got to see her twice today for a total of about 3 1/2 hours. The first visit was 2 hours and then we had to wait on the doctor because traffic was bad, but we didn't care because we got to spend more time with her.

Okay, let me start from the beginning of our day. We were driven to the Dept. of Education today for our appointment to get our referral. We had an interpreter with us as this involved more than "please" and "thank you." I was expecting to see maybe one lady behind the desk, but there were 4. They asked us to tell them about ourselves, our home, etc. We did that and then they gave us a black and white copy of a photo of our baby girl to look at! They then asked if we wanted to meet her and we said YES! Here's a photo of the Dept. of Education right after this meeting:

Next, we were driven to the baby home where our baby has been waiting for us. I have a video of walking up to the baby home for the first time. The gentleman leading the way is our driver. Click on the arrow to make the video play and turn up the sound on your computer.

Inside (and out), we found this baby home to be incredibly nice! This is not the norm either when it comes to orphanages. Next, we waited outside of some frosted glass doors. We didn't know what was inside.

Inside was the playroom where we would wait to meet our baby girl. Here are photos of the playroom. These are little Russian chairs with a special kind of painting, the name escapes me:

Then, we went over the baby's history. She is fit as a fiddle! After this, they brought her in!

Here is video of Dan holding the baby for the first time.

Video of baby smiling for first time, starting to warm up to us, but still tentative.

Crawling and sucking her thumb:

Babbling and playing w/ blocks:

Laughing:

Pat-a-cake:

Cruising:

That's all for now! We're exhausted but a great exhausted!

Weeee!!! Look at the big city!

2008-10-13T11:46:00.017-05:00

We had nothing adoption related planned today, so we set out to see the city. Our hotel is a perfect distance, as it turns out, from Red Square and also from the tourist area, Old Arabat. We thought we were headed to Old Arabat first, but when we saw the Kremlin (way in the wrong direction!), we thought, well, since we are here, we'll swing by there!

It was rough trying to read these signs in the Cyrillic alphabet since I know about 3 of the letters. I taped the alphabet on our bathroom mirror at home, but I guess that 6 months of looking at it every day didn't do much. Some of the signs have the English version of the street name underneath, but my maps (we had 3!) only had Russian, so it was seriously like being in a foreign country or very similar. LOL!

So, today taught us what it will be like for our baby girl when we take her home. Everything is new and confusing and takes so much energy trying to make sense of the sights and sounds of every day life, outside of the orphanage.

Front of our hotel, Courtyard Marriott (notice the ample parking our front)

View from the restaurants hotel, looking across the street (we don't know what church this is)

A real live babushka

Parking in the lines is for wimps

More thinking outside of the box parking (does a sidewalk have a right-of-way?)

This is a parking lot, but I have no idea how the folks at the back ever get out!

As I mentioned yesterday, traffic is bad and people do not yeild for pedestrians and they drive as fast as they can when they can (I didn't see any speed limit signs, but maybe they look way different than ours). So, to get across the street, there are a few crosswalks, but mainly you either run for dear life or use one of these underground walkways, which would be especially nice when it's a blizzard outside. The first picture is the sign indicating the walkway.

Now, this is what happens when possibly you are under the influence of some outside substance and you try to cross the street the old fashioned way. This poor guy stood here for several minutes, and finally someone let him across. Cars and buses were whizzing by him and I thought for sure that on Day 2 of our trip that I would witness my first fatality.

Since there were no police witness reports to fill out, we made our way over to Red Square. On the way we found a sign we could almost read: Sbarro! I'm not a huge fan, but it was very comforting to be able to see something familiar. (It's on the left on the green awning.)

Next we see the Kremlin. It is massive and pictures do not do it justice.
The second is the corner of Kremlin with Cathedral in background.

Then, as we started over the hill, we see what is surely a mirage...

This is St. Basil's Cathedral, my favorite of all of the buildings we saw. It is just breath taking! The next time you see this, it will be one of our new baby girl and me as it's tradition to take one before you leave for the U.S.

The top of St. Basil's

Across from the Kremlin in Red Square is the Gum Department Store. It is 3 stories of all kinds of shops from Hermes to Levi's

Inside of Gum

I'm not sure what this massive red building is, but it sits opposite of the St. Basil's in Red Square.

While we are on the topic of buildings, it looks like when they are renovating them, they make a copy of what the building looks like and then attach it to the outside while it's being redone. Seems like a lot of trouble if you ask me! This building was huge and completely covered with a fake cloth front.

Next we headed to the tourist area. It is a pedestrian street called Old Arabat with all sorts of souvenir shops and restaurants. We got some great stuff for our son and some keepsakes for our daughter.

We ate at a cafeteria/buffet called "Moo Moo" but they spelled it "My My." You'd think Americans have never crossed their threshold. We did our best job of pointing and saying, "Eta paraloustra," which means, "That please," but they wanted us to call it by it's name. Well, we didn't play by their rules and showed them! I ended up with this horrid olive broth soup that was supposed to be cheese soup and some weird meat dish that look deceptively good all covered in cheese. Dan had some sort of meatloaf (we are hoping of the cow variety) and some potato things and he said both were good. We both had cranberry juice that was yummy (they only seemed to serve juices, no milk from a moo-moo?). I would like to go back and point to some different things. The prices were excellent, so worth a trip back to try some other mystery dishes.

Inside of My My (maybe it's My My for, "My, my, that olive broth is awful!") They have the cutest high chairs w/ cow spots. I've heard that high chairs of any kind in restaurants are rare.

Any first trip to Russia blog isn't complete without a comment on the fashion. Here are some pictures of women with skin tight jeans (hey, if I were a size 00, I might go for it, too!) and red spiky heeled boots. Check out the last lady attempting to haul her luggage around in those heels! I hear they even wear them when it's icy out!

The women are for the most part very slender here. I've heard 2 theories: 1) The food prices are outrageous---who would eat ice cream if it were $30 a pint in the states! That would do us all a favor! and 2) Many of them smoke. So, I will just give up ice cream and start smoking? Nope!

Lastly, I have to end with a very cute shot of a boy in a snowsuit on Old Arabat. It looked like his grandmother was also in attendance, hence the obligatory snowsuit in 50 degree whether! I saw several other children and they just had on coats w/ mittens and hats that covered the ears and no babuskas yelled at them.

So that's all for this episode of "Wee, look at the big city!" Stay tuned for tomorrow when we meet our Russian Sweet Baby!!! (Again, spell checker isn't working, so fend for yourselves.)