Filling you in

For those of you who are still following along....I'll try to post by Wed. of every week. This past week was sad when Gammy had to go home. But hopefully she will be back soon, however, we still have heard nothing about Andrew so we have no idea how soon yet. Ana's test results have all come back negative so far. The doctors have her on vitamins and a preventive TB pill that she has to take for 9 months! But we just mush it up in something and she has no idea. Marc went back to work full time today and since Gammy just left Sat. This was my first day by myself and it was a great day. No major dramas. She is such a good little girl! I really am excited to get up everyday and play with her and get all those hugs and kisses!

1st Bubble Bath

LOVES bath time. I really do think she can't wait for the night time because she knows the routine of bath, books, and bed! Tonight I tried bubbles and that just was the best. She puts her face down in the water every bath and it was hilarious when she did it tonight and came up with bubbles on it.



I'm telling you...NO FEAR! This was the end of bath time and she just needed ONE MORE face full of water! We have a mermaid on our hands I think!

Bare Feet

We can not keep shoes on this kid! She takes them off every chance she gets. We all went outside after dinner tonight and played in the grassy area next to our house and Ana was our "ball girl".

Driving Already

All the stores have these fun grocery carts now and Ana loves them. She still isn't talking but we have taught her some sign language and she does the sign for "car" everytime we walk into a store now. Smart baby!

Being Silly

Grannie (Marc's grandmother) sent Ms. Ana two little outfits recently since she is so tiny and we are having to buy her clothes until she grows into all the clothes we have. Well, earlier in the day, Marc started the shower and then went to the bathroom as the water was warming up....I was unloading the dishwasher. I heard no noise from anyone so I went to investigate and Ana was in the shower fully dressed and completely soaked! We can't keep her away from the water! Needless to say, Marc got yelled at and now we have a "latch" on the shower so she can't get in. Thank goodness we had another "Grannie" outfit to change into!

Rolly Poley

If you look on Ana's index finger near her hand you can see the Rolly Poley. She thought this was SOOOO neat! It crawled all over her...and me! Then we let it go..."bye bye". She finally understands "bye bye" now and actually waves! We ARE getting somewhere.

Who needs toys?

Who needs toys when you have a big box to play in? Gammy bought Ana this awesome bike that she has played with...but she loved the box too!

FYI

I plan to post once a week to keep you updated on our little family. I'll let you know when we know something about Andrew. As of now we still have no news and it could be a while. Sandy (Marc's mom) has said she will come back to take care of Ana when that time comes. She has been amazing and we couldn't have done it without her. Ana loves her Gammy and I'm so glad she has had this time with her. She plans to go home this Sat. We have had Ana home a week now and it has been great. She is still so loving and sweet. Minor two year old tempertantrums and the language barriers have been challenging, but love speaks in all languages and we are doing great! Everything has seemed so natural and both Marc and I are so happy to have our daughter!

Water Baby

After a full week of being home we decided it was time to see if she liked the pool! Man, does she! I think we need to get her into lessons quickly. She kept putting her face in the water and everything...no fear!

Funny Story

Last Thursday, we put Ana in a dress and she looked at herself in the mirror and twirled and put her hands on her hips and just thought she was too cute. SO funny. It was time to leave so I went to put on a pair of white scandals we got her, however, they were too big, so I went to get Andrew's shoes because they were smaller of course. Well, Andrew's shoes are brown boy scandals, not ugly by any means...but not "cute girl shoes". Well, Ana started crying which is totally NOT like her so I thought I was hurting her toes or something so I took them off. She grabbed for the white scandals and went to put them on. How did she know? She has worn nappy orphanage clothes for two years...are you kidding me? She was home for less than 24 hours and KNEW cute girl scandals go best with a beautiful dress. We are SO in trouble!

Andrew's 1st Birthday

We had a little birthday party with our family for Andrew. His 1st birthday was 20 May. Ana thought the hats were the best part!

Playing with Daddy

After dinner every night we have started a routine of a bath, reading books, and then to bed. However, Marc was playing with her and not calming her down to get ready for bed...too cute though!

Brushing Teeth

We started brushing teeth in Moscow and she thinks it's pretty fun.

Nap time with Pooks

The kitties have adjusted great with Ana. We were so worried they would not do well with her, but she has been so gentle. Earlier in the week she didn't know she could pet them, but now she has and the cats are a little more timid. Still, nothing bad and we are ALL adjusting great.

Sunglasses

She has been home for 48 hours and thinks sunglasses are cool! They have replaced her phone for now. She doesn't go anywhere without them. The Arizona sun is pretty bright.

The pediatric office has a bright sun too! Today was a LONG day of shots and blood being drawn! SOOOO hard to hold your sweet baby down while she gets stuck left and right. Marc was with us and we took turns. The doctors and techs were wonderful with her and she has an appt. every week for awhile with every doctor out there! I'm glad they are being so thorough with her!

Red Square

The family picture I have wanted since we decided to adopt from Russia!


Uh Oh! Fell Down! Those cobble stones are tough.

Victory Park

This picture was taken in Victory Park in Moscow. This park was built in memory for the Russian Victory after WW2. Ana was "running around with her head cut off"! She was having a blast...don't forget the phone of course!


This was the area of the Park where all the flags and metals were displayed. Kinda freaky for us but neat at the same time. It was really a very beautiful Park.

Airplane

Ana did fabulous on ALL the airplanes! The first one from Moscow to Frankfurt was 3 hours and it didn't phase her a bit. We gave her a sucker to help with her ears and she never acted like it was a big deal. The flight from Frankfurt to Chicago was 9 hours and she did great. She napped for 2.5 hours and we were thrilled. We tried to keep her on Moscow time for naps and food and it worked. She played with all her toys and the people around us entertained her too. We were all pretty antsy and ready to get off that plane when we landed but it was right at "bedtime" and Ana was getting pretty sleepy.

SLEEPY GIRL! Our flight from Chicago to Phoenix was 4 hours and we all slept!

Bath Time

This picture was taken at our hotel the night before we left to come home. She LOVES bath time! Splashing is SOOO fun! We were told she had never had a bath, that the orphanage just did a sponge bath type of thing. So we didn't know how she would take it. But everyday she goes into the bathroom and starts to get into the tub and we have to tell her that before bed is bath time and we will do it later!

Grandad

When we walked through the door Wed. night we were greeted by a huge bouquet of flowers from my dad! SO thoughtful! He had written on the card to let Ana play with one of the flowers so I thought it was fitting that she played with the yellow rose of Texas! She was very gentle with it and just sniffed it. She is SO sweet!

Papaw

When we landed in Chicago we got through customs and immigration and were trying to find our flight to Phoenix and looked around the corner and MARC'S DAD had driven over 5 hours to see his new granddaughter!

We were explaining to Papaw that she doesn't know how to suck (remember me explaining Andrew's bottle and the nipple being cut off and the kids just open up and it slides down there throats?). We tried sippy cups with her and she was so hungry and thirsty at first that we didn't fight the sucking thing. So Papaw took this straw from my tea and she sucked just a little! Papaw's are SO smart! What a WONDERFUL way to be welcomed back into the good ol US of A!

Car Seat

No issues putting her in a car seat. We were worried she'd freak out about being restrained...but she is such a laid back baby and just trusts us so completely!

WE ARE HOME!!!!

Sorry it's been a couple of days since we have been able to post! Jet lagged, doctor appts for her, phone calls, and life in general has been hectic...but Ms. Ana is napping right now and I got a good nights rest last night and don't need a nap today!

This is us just getting off the airplane in Phoenix. Sandy (Marc's mom) was right there to give the first hug! We had an amazing greeting! Lots of our friends were there with banners, balloons, stuffed animals for Ana and LOTS of hugs and kisses. I have to say, I have never been SO happy to be home in my life! We are SOOOO blessed to have such special friends and family!

This is the banner our friends had made and they were all standing behind it when we walked out of security! We are guessing there were about 40ish people so happy to greet Ana. Then when we got home this banner was on our garage! SOOO sweet!

This is right before we left to go get our baggage. We were SOOO exhausted and Ana had slept the last leg of our trip from Chicago and was OUT OF IT! See our friends with all there babies...Ana's new friends!

Coming home

Sorry we don't have much time to blog today. It is getting late here and sweet little Ana didn't get much of a nap today because we were at the embassy. Just give you a quick update before we go to bed, the medical on Monday went great, and the embassy went perfect as well today. We have some amazing stories to tell about the two days but we will fill you all in later. Can't wait to get home, we leave at 7:05 a.m. tomorrow morning. Yeah! The itinerary has not changed for the folks that are planning on meeting us at the airport. Make sure you check before you leave the house to make sure we are not delayed. Thanks for all your support and love. Your comments have made us laugh and cry. Can't wait for you to meet our baby girl.

Mother's Day

All day I had a happy smile on my face! Ana was kind of a pistol the first part of the day, prior to her nap. Doesn't she know that she is supposed to be good on Mother's Day? It really didn't bother me AT ALL. I just redirected her or kissed her through it!

We finally found the grocery store. We had to get the people at the reception desk to orient the map for us because again we don't know which direction is North. So when they first told us to go down this street on the map, we went the wrong way... several times.

She is beginning to respond to "Ana" now. We are also starting to understand each other's gestures, looks, and feelings. Our family bond has begun.

Her first encounter with Cheerios. It went well, of course we haven't found any food that she doesn't eat yet. Since she lived in the baby house for so long, she has a BAD eating habit of just shoveling everything in at once. Kind of freaked us out at first. We have been trying to teach her that there will always be food around and that she needs to take bites. So she gets one cheerio, one pea, one bite of a french fry, etc. until she understands.

We've taught her to "show us your mouth" before she is allowed another bite, because she is a packrat and stores it in her cheeks. Tonight I was in the bathroom with her and I asked her to "show me your pencil" (that she was carrying), and she opened her mouth. How funny!

We went to Icmaylovsky Park today after nap. Awesome place. It was a type of flea market with everything from this bear, underwear shops, shoes, and every Russian souvenir possible. It was a blast! Ana did great, just took it all in.

Trust me she was giggling. Just wanted to show you how she holds her hands. It is adorable.

Tomorrow is a medical exam needed for Ana before we leave. Just so you know, we won't be able to post tomorrow. Tuesday we have our final out with the American embassy and will try to post that night right before we leave the following morning. Yeah, can you believe it we are coming home! If we don't get to for some reason here is our flight info for the Phoenix group that would like to meet Ana at the airport.

We arrive into Phoenix from Chicago on Wednesday 17 May at 4:56 p.m. on United Airlines/Lufthansa flight # LH9168 ...Terminal 2

Can't wait!

Saturday after Nap

The rest of the day we just did A LOT of bonding. We went out after nap to try to find a grocery store and they told us how to go and the name all in English...but the words on the stores are in Russian so it did us no good. The alphabet is nothing like ours. We couldn't find it. SO tomorrow we will ask different questions and make it happen. We found a type of KFC and I just pointed to stuff and we got most of what we wanted so that was dinner...SO HARD to figure it all out. Right now...she's the easy part! Last night we just played in the room. SO much is going on in her little head and she needed some inside time. Fun Day.


So after nap time yesterday we had a snack and SHE had to feed herself. So funny...bad mom forgot baby spoons so she had to use the hotels and it was tough!
Marc's in trouble! She's found the money. I'll teach her how to spend it!

Hairbows lasted MAYBE 30 sec. She rips them out of her hair pretty quickly...maybe after we get home we will try again! As of now she wants NO part of it.

TGIF for Lunch

When we walked into TGIF they gave Ana a balloon and she thought that was pretty neat. Then she started to hit mommy on the head and thought that was SOOO funny.

Starting to get old real quick!
I'm done! It was time to eat anyway.
She had a very good lunch! AND so did we believe it or not. She is such a good girl! We walked back to the hotel and all had naps. She went down with no problems. She is still sleeping and that's why we had time to blog! :) So far so good with our sweet little girl!

Getting Ready

We checked in and the hotel gave us a bear as a congrats for our adoption. Very thoughtful. We all took baths...we had to "wash that orphange funk right outta her hair". Bath time was great. She wasn't scared at all. We had a duck for her to play with and she thought that was pretty cool. I have to say...she hasn't cried ONE TIME yet. She's had a little attitude a couple of times but NOTHING to be upset about...she just waves her arms and grunts...kinda like Marc does!

This is Ana helping me get ready! She wanted the rollers in her hair too. CUTIE!

In Moscow

The hotel wasn't ready for us to check in yet so we went to breakfast. This is Tanya (who is Marsha's sister) and is our interpreter for the rest of our trip. She needed us to fill out paperwork for the American Embassy so Ms. Ana can be a US citizen!!!
Ana was the perfect angel through breakfast and played in this corner with pencils and paper. It was a new thing...she's NEVER colored. Fun times!

Our Train Ride to Moscow

Our first meal. Noodles...Yum! She would have eaten the whole thing if we would have let her. Hungry girl! They tell us to go slow when starting to give her more food so that she doesn't get sick.

Sleepy girl! We made a bed on the floor for her and she was fine. She got up a couple of times to cuddle with me and Marc but finally settled down and went to sleep ALL night. The noises and lights outside were tough... but once she was out...she was out! The blue blanket is the blanket we gave her on our first trip in Feb! The orphanage gave it back to us right as we were leaving! Thanks Linette!

Kazan Crew

These are the people who helped make this day possible. From left to right: me the mommy, Rashid the driver, Elena the translator, Gula the coordinator. Gula is the sister of Farida and they work hand in hand together. She is a doctor by trade and helps with Frank adoptions as well. WONDERFUL people!

Gotcha Day

They let us into one of her groups rooms, and when she saw us she ran with open arms to ME! She showed us the phone we gave her on our trip in Feb. then we told her it was time to change from her Russian clothes into American ones.


"Skinning the cat" and she has a bite like a tiger. GRRRR!


Sorry the picture isn't the right direction, can't figure out how to rotate it. Just tilt your head! Her caregiver wanted to change her one last time. 2T's are too big for this tiny girl, but she will grow soon.



Saying goodbye to her caregivers and friends. Everyone was excited for her but was sad to see her go. However the only one crying was me. I'm glad they love her so much it makes me feel she has been taken good care of.