Anxiously Waiting for a Referral |
Well, I am going to try to sum up some things we’ve learned the past week that I think will help others. We all know that no 2 children are the same, and with adoption, things are quite different. We really struggled for about 3 days at the apartment. He would not go down for naps or sleeping. Little Awesome perfected fits. Not just crying or temper tantrums but full blown fits. It scared us all, especially since supposedly he has a hernia. Once night it went on for 2 hours. We tried everything. Comforting, rocking, Baby einstein, milk, walking, I mean everything. All four of us, POp Pop, Nana, mama, and papa. It got to a point where we called our Int’l Doctor, Dr. Farber at CHOP. It seemed that no matter what we tried he had to cry himself to sleep. It was heartbreaking…tantrums I understand but this was horrible. He was so pleasant otherwise. So the next night it started again. This time papa just gave him a bottle with Russian Kid’s milk and layed him in the pack n’ play. What do you know? He went to sleep immediately after the bottle. It has been this way every nap and sleep time since. He drinks a bottle, throws it out of the crib, lays down and goes to sleep. Thank God he doesn’t have to suffer with those fits. I tell you this because everyone told me to not let the baby fall asleep uncomforted, alone. Well, this is how Little Awesome likes it for now. In time, as we grow closer I am sure that we’ll be able to rock him in our arms to sleep. The fits were our fault, by us trying to hold him, he was overstimulated. He didn’t want to be held because he has never been held to be comforted.
Now on to the food. OH boy…what an appetite. For sure he would chew our feet off if we allowed it. I have heard many many children that have not eaten well. Not Little Awesome. We would feed him and he would keep eating. If we’d stop, he’d scream and do a fit similiar to above. It was like he was starving but in fact we were feeding him plenty. So then Dr. Farber suggested feedings more often with less food. Apparently in the baby home, they shovel food down and then walk away before the children feel that they are full. So he learned if we stop feeding him, he is still hungry (mentally). So now we feed him VERY SLOWLY, more often. Some days are better than others, this will all work itself out in time. As for what does he like? Everything. The cats and dogs are scared 
So here’s the update…I can’t post pics yet…but we are having a great time! We flew in on Sunday, we are in a beautiful apartment with 2 bedrooms (hard to find) and in a great section of the city. We got a good night’s rest Sunday and here is how it went so far.
Monday: Left at 8:15am with our coordinator and driver and they copied our immigration form and continued on to the baby home. We got to the baby home, they took us to Group 3 where a caregiver and 2 children were getting ready to go out. The doctor answered some more of our questions, then we asked tons of questions for the caregiver and they answered everything. Then, they brought out little Awesome. The same woman was holding him and we changed out all his clothes down to his diaper. Then it was time to say goodbye. He was okay but his caregiver started to tear up and we saw just how much she loved him. She is a gift from God and has so much love for little Awesome…it felt as if we were taking him away from his mother. What a beautiful woman! I hope she knows how appreciative we are of her and how much we love little awesome. We then said Paka Paka and left the baby home. The ride home took about an hour in traffic. He sat in mommy’s lap and looked around at anything and EVERYTHING! Poor guy, it must of been so overstimulating! But he was great, no car sickness, crying, nothing!
So then we went up to the apartment and Pop Pop and Nana were waiting to meet their grandson. He cautiously sat on mommy’s lap and looked around. Eventually he got on the floor and played with daddy. Around 3pm he seemed tired and I took him in the bedroom and tried to rock him but unfortunately he wanted nothing to do with interaction. So I laid him on his tummy on the bed and he went to sleep! When I tried to lay next to him, he jerked his head the other way and ignored me  Daddy and I took a nap as well. About 2 hours later little awesome said “Bah” and we picked him up and he gave us some loving. For dinner he had mac and cheese, veggies, and some chicken.
More to come on the first nights sleep…
Not with the adoption of course. We do know we are leaving this Saturday. We know we’ll be arriving Sunday…oh and we know we’ll have our temperatures taken on the plane before we debark.
But the odd things are 1)After years in my office I have been asked to move out - this makes some sense since I’ll be on leave anyway. It does still hurt a little. 2)why have we not put the face plates on the electrical outlets in the baby room? 3)why have I not done our laundry this week 4)why am i taking airborne when i think it’s a overpriced hoax
Anyway, my point is I feel odd. I think the terror of becoming a parent is setting in…think about it. Me? A Mom??? OMG! And do you know how many people asked me if I would give up riding my Harley? A ton! The answer is no. My son will grow up with everything around him, harleys, whatever. Hopefully no NASCAR though! It bores me. I like Formula 1 racing.
I can’t wait to see him again…he is gorgeous…so precious! We just have so much to do…haircuts, laundry, packing, visas aren’t here yet, clean the house, shop for dog/cat food, get the pool water tested, shock the pool, Wow…I am so taking off Friday.
Hi everyone! Hope you all had an awesome Mother’s Day! Well we are officially over the 10 day waiting period but are still in the US :-( we are leaving this Saturday YYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE and will return home on 5/23. Here was our weekend:
Saturday-AWESOME baby shower! We got everything! Handmade quilts, bath stuff, gift certs, clothes, etc! Anything and everything!!! Everyone was so generous and we loved having everyone over! Can’t wait til the pool parties! We went through meatballs, sausage, 2 lasagnas, chips, veggies, 8 pizzas, 60 wings!!! Adoption baby showers are the best because you can have a martini :-) Pictures to come. Thank you everyone!
Sunday (Mom’s Day)-mom and dad stayed over so Steve cooked us breakfast, and I got an beautiful mommy/baby necklace from hubby. He is the best in the world! I also hope my Mom knows how much she is appreciated…without her, I don’t know how I’d raise this baby! Especially when we all travel this weekend! Then Steve, Mom, and I went shopping for little Awesome’s stuff, then Dad and Steve opened the POOL! It was the coldest temperature ever in the history of opening the pool (49 degrees). BRRRRRRR! It is going to take a few weeks to warm that up!
UGHHG…only 4 more sleeps and we go to Moscow to get our BABY!!! Little Awesome, hang on, we’ll be there soon!
Have a great day everyone!
Half A World Away
By Jill Marshall-Work
Half a world away
Sometimes it seems we’re so far apart
But a half a world away
Is not too far for a journey of the heart
My little one, my precious joy
I’m waiting for you
My precious son, my little boy
I know you’re waiting too
Half a world away
A child waits for a family of his own
While a half a world away
A family waits to come bring him home
My little one, my precious joy
I’m whispering a prayer
My precious son, my baby boy
I hope to soon be there
Half a world away
So many miles to bring you home at last
And half a world away
So many months of waiting are past.
My little one, my precious joy
You’re fin’ly home to stay
My precious son, my little boy
We celebrate this day…
Knowing we will no longer be
half a world away.
The author’s website
Hello! Wow. I would like to compliment Mother Nature on Moscow weather cuz NJ is still raining. Our flight on Sunday was not so great. Turbulent, therefore we took a different path. Flight took 11 hours, then the drive home took 4 hours, traffic was horrible. We got home Sunday night about 8pm. Wishing we had never left little Awesome. So we leave Next Saturday again. Mom and Dad are going. Can’t wait! We are so close and I am thankful for it but I still selfishly am dying to go see him again. If we ever do this again…2 trips…not 3. Someone at work came in today after having the flu. Trying to avoid that…as some of you may know, I am a strong believer in ’stay away’ if you are sick
As for getting ready for little awesome, we just have a few things to do on the homefront. Shampoo carpets is a big one. I’d like to open the pool before we leave so it warms up but with raining I don’t know when that is going to happen. We also have to wait for the twirly bird helicopter things to fall first as well. I really hope he likes the pool.
Ohhh boy. Mommy’s Day is this weekend; I don’t feel like a mom yet, meaning I hope I have the common sense to be one of those mom’s where you can ask for anything and they have it. I have friends like that. I can say, ummm do you have a nail file? Yes. Um…do you have a band aid, Yes…etc. If you look into my purse, I have a wallet, keys, antibacterial stuff, and advil.
Well, back to work, hope all of you are enjoying your week so far!
Have a great day!
I can’t believe we are leaving tomorrow. We have a visit today and then that’s it until we come back. I would suggest for all of you adopting out there, just do it in 2 trips. 3 trips is ridiculous and hard on everyone! If we’d do it again, 2 would be the way.
We are completely psyched about seeing Little Awesome today and hope he isn’t too tired. It seems we’ve been exhausting him each day. Yesterday he almost went to sleep in my arms. But he didn’t;
We layed him down on a blanket and what do you know? He almost went out immediately! He has such a great laugh and disposition. Even when soooo tired, he did not cry or fuss. Hopefully this will continue
So today we’ll have a great day! All of you enjoy as well!
Today was great as well, we visited Little Awesome for a long time and play with some stuff. He really enjoys running, picking up beach balls, throwing them, and kicking them…he also loves chasing bubbles and laughs VERY HARD when daddy gives him raspberries on his tummy. We have to go home on Sunday and then back in a few to pick him up and it breaks our hearts. Today is a holiday but they let us see them and we got special permission to see him tomorrow as well! Thank God! But then we’ll leave and have to trek through the disease in JFK and hopefully they’ll let us back in on the 17th. People here are starting to wear medical masks. We’d much rather stay and hubby can but I can’t because of work. Self employed sux. Anyway, if all goes as planned, we’ll be home in less than 3 weeks. Can’t complain about that timeframe.
We are praying for all of you out there traveling, waiting, and stuck somewhere in between! Also, you guys who are home as well!
Well, I think we are gonna go walk down Old Arbat again…it’s a lot of fun today!
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