The Sunflower Chronicles

End of the year...already? Part one

2011-12-28T20:12:00.011-06:00

Yes, it is already approaching the end of this very busy year. From most recent to
September. Yes, I am neglecting my blog that much!

Masha had eye surgery today(bilateral strabismus repair). This will correct her crossed eyes and her superior oblique palsey (the thing that causes her to tip her head to the side because she sees things at a slant). This is a very necessary operation that we are hoping will help her balance and ability to walk and stop the changes to her face caused by continually tipping her head.

I am always nervous when it comes to surgery but Masha was a little trooper. She was all smiles this morning although she was up really early. We use Minneapolis Children's Hospital for the kids. They are wonderful with the kids(and pretty nice to nervous parents too). The only time she seemed a bit afraid was in the operating room, but she didn't cry because Mom and Dad were right there with her. About two hours later they brought my Masha-bug back looking like she had just been in a fight. Her little eyes were determinedly kept closed and she is still fussy even this evening but she is eating and playing after sleeping most of the day. I haven't gotten any pictures of her post surgery yet, she is not feeling much like posing right now.

We had a lovely Christmas and Christmas Eve. We had lots of relatives and friends over to our house on Christmas Eve and the kids eventually were convinced to go to bed so that Santa would come. They had a very happy Christmas.
This is Caelia's Dr Who sleep shirt that she has decided must be worn to Christmas dinner as well as bed.
Valeria got this outfit. The skirt she has been begging for since October and a faux spotted fur jacket. I guess you can take the girl out of Ukraine but you can't take the Ukraine out of the girl. She is our fashionista.
Masha scores a dollhouse of her very own!

We have been hoping to hear some news about our adoption but we are still waiting. Our dossier is ready to be registered and we are waiting to hear from the USCIS. Perhaps we will get a travel date in February. Our adoption would not be complete without tromping through lots of snow and ice and freezing our backsides off. Whatever. I don't care about the weather as long as I get to meet our newest daughter.

Facebook is evil. Well, actually it makes me lazy. I don't have to blog about stuff when Randy posts on Facebook. He always has the newest and greatest photos so I feel like I am parroting him at least a day behind when I do blog. This however is very rewarding. I get an evening of looking back on the wonderful year we have had, just in case I forget what a wonderful family we have.

School has been going very well for all of the kids. Michael is doing okay in school (mostly lack of motivation slowing him down) but is doing very well in his private lessons with his dad. They are both studying Russian. They are taunting me with their skills.
Caelia read her first complete book all on her own. Her teachers called to tell me. Her para told me they were all cheering and shed a few tears because of how far she has come. She is also copying her name. She can write some of the letters without looking but CAELIA is not the easiest name. I think her brand new glasses have helped a lot. She won't wear them at home but she wears them at school. Valeria is struggling with academics but has learned to ride a bicycle with training wheels! I think she is excelling in her adaptive phy-ed because she LOVES Mr. Ricky. She is very social and a bit of the class clown. She is also a terrible flirt. She ignors visitors coming to the house UNLESS it is Ron's son Tyler. She comes running to see Ron's sons. An odd mixture of adoration and a desire to beat them up with a light saber. She is our little pink barbarian.

And finally, Masha. Masha can now recognize her name when she sees it. She sorts her colors and shapes most of the time and she is almost completely potty trained. We are going to switch to big girl underwear when she has recovered from her operation. She does have some issues with her hips. Her orthopedist thinks she may be dislocating her hips but regular x-rays show them where they should be even though her hips are shaped uniquely.

Back to school!

2011-09-06T22:48:00.004-05:00

Caelia and Valeria were less than excited. They were happier once they saw their Miss Camilla. All summer I heard about KWI. They really love her. She is the girls' favorite para. We are very blessed by all of the staff at Fraser Academy. Everyone on staff is amazing and they adore the girls.

The pictures were not taken on the same day because the big girls started back August 1st. Masha went back on the 31st and finally, today, Michael went back to school. Sorry, no pictures of the boy. Masha is smilier in the morning anyway.
She was delighted to be going back to school. She really missed her friends from school.

A busy time of year

2011-07-10T17:50:00.004-05:00

Masha has completed her first year of school! Actually, she had her graduation party in June, she has not graduated from preschool yet (she still has one more year) but she shined and was so proud! Unfortunately she was so excited we had a hard time keeping her in focus!

We also discovered that she is quite the star in the making. Caelia and Lera had their spring concert. Randy, Masha and I went to watch them. Lera really enjoys this but Caelia gets really shy standing up on stage. Her helper at school suggested that maybe Caelia would like to take Masha with her up on stage. Caelia liked this and anything Caelia wants is good with Masha. She made herself quite at home with the rest of the 2nd grade class and was charming to all. She even danced (though she hadn't practiced). Since that day, anytime Masha has visited or I have visited without her, all of the children ask where she is or come running up to say hi! The big girls are equally proud to show off their little sister. I wish I could get the video to load. Perhaps another time. Masha did not go to the Science Museum with the big girls. Randy got to go as a chaperone with them to school. They had lots of fun!

Spring Fever

2011-05-01T18:17:00.013-05:00

Yes, it is spring in Minnesota. Randy and I long for it. It has been a very long winter here. I've forgotten what number we are in the record books but let's just say it was one of the snowiest ones on record. We finally have a 70 degree day and then, well, it snowed last night. The snow doesn't stay but we are still wearing our winter coats. We still are not wearing sandals and today, gloves are required for being outside. I tell you this not so that you feel sorry for us but so that you understand the reality of our springtime. We are tired of playing in the cold and wet snow. Now, a new ottoman in the living room means a new sport for the kids. How many can fit and then STAY on the ottoman? Can you eat ice cream and not end up with brain freeze in 20 degree weather? Trips to the Mall of America just for some exercise -- yes, I let the girls run like crazy there. Yes, we are tired of winter and some of us more so than others! Our reality is not Caelia's reality and Lera and Masha are her willing subjects. So this is Caelia's "it's spring already - let's party!" dance. Maybe it will bring us some sunshine and warm weather. Maybe summer dresses and bubbles are just what we all need.

April 10th...One year in....

2011-04-09T22:11:00.007-05:00

Wow, it's hard to believe it has been one year since we got Masha home! A lot has happened in that year and she has grown so much and learned so much. We've had our ups and downs and are still getting accustomed to having a smaller girl, she wants so much to do everything her big sisters do and more and gets easily frustrated by not being capable of keeping up with them.

We recently had her IEP meeting with her preschool teacher and were blown away at how well she is doing in class. Everyone loves her in school and the children all try to play with her. She has also made a lot of progress with her lessons and skill building, patiently following the teachers lead and trying her best to complete the tasks. She loves getting ready for the bus every morning and gets very upset on Monday's when she doesn't have school and the big girls do.

Masha has pretty much abandoned her use of Russian, but still answers "Da" when I ask her if she wants to fly! We affectionately refer to as the bomb-omb from the Mario Bros. video game, you set her down and let her go and she runs like crazy until she breaks something! She has a lot of energy and enthusiasm and can be the sweetest little girl, I love it when you sneeze or cough and she asks "OK?". I think the whole family agrees the two years it took to get her home was worth it...well most of the time anyway...Lera and Caelia are not very fond of Masha's singing...I think its adorable and she will do it on demand when prompted, she really gives it her all and has a lot of enthusiasm, judge for yourself:

And the winner is...

2011-03-25T11:25:00.004-05:00

The complete list of winners is located here. Thanks to all of you who entered and donated to help Angelina come home!

An update on our progress:

Next week we are submitting our application and fees to begin our official home study. We are almost finished collecting the documents required for our dossier. We have been through this before and know what needs to be gotten. Actually, it needs to be RE-gotten because if a notary is close to expiring, Russia does not accept it or if the document was certified longer than a year ago they also won't accept it. Who knew marriage certificates expired? It is our goal to move this along as quickly as we can.

The kids are on spring break. Actually, Michael was on spring break for a week, then Masha was on for a week and next week our big girls get their spring break. Then mama and daddy get a break! Looks like daddy is going to need it most. Since we live in Minnesota and are up to our butts in snow, the girls have been inside a lot (rounds of colds and sniffles) and daddy has become their playground equipment.

but hey, it beats getting in front of Caelia and her Wii boxing!

A Birthday and Christmas!!

2011-01-20T09:16:00.007-06:00

On December 23rd our Masha turned 4 years old. It's hard to believe it was almost exactly one years since our first trip to Moscow to get her right before her 3rd birthday, we are so glad to have her home and to be able to celebrate her birthdays with a family. She of course loved the cake and the singing that went along with it.

We ended up celebrating her birthday on Christmas since the whole family was over. The kids all had a great christmas....it's official our kids are just way to spoiled, we tried not to go overboard with gifts, but it seemed like everywhere we turned we found something they would love. The best part of course is Christmas morning after Santa Claus came, they managed to sleep in a bit so Mom and Dad were happy. The only bummer for me was losing our digital camera so I could only get a few shots with my phone so the pics didn't turn out as good as I hoped. Although the trip to visit Santa Claus pics turned out really good!

I had to throw in this last picture, it's the snowsuit Masha wears to school everyday. Alexey bought it for her before we left Russia, it's super cute and keeps her toasty warm.

Lots going on.....

2011-01-17T13:14:00.006-06:00

We've had a busy last few months and the blog has been long neglected, so I am going to help Sheila out and put up a few posts. We got the kids school photos back a few months ago and think they all turned out great!!

Our first baby Michael is starting to look like a man, it's scary sometimes to realize he is quickly approaching adulthood. Caelia and Lera have both done awesome in school and are making a lot of progress on their speech this year and they are both really getting the fashion bug and love clothes shopping....yes I am scared!! Our little Mashinka loves preschool, she really likes to be around kids her size and her teachers say she is doing great and is very sociable. It's a shame we don't have someone in the family her age like Caelia has Lera.

Guess who started school?

2010-11-03T11:30:00.004-05:00

Yes, our little Masha-bug has started preschool! She is really happy about playing with kids her size. She shares her classroom with another little girl with Down syndrome who is older by one year - and I do mean little girl. Masha picks her up and carries her around like a doll. She is delighted to catch her bus in the morning and throws herself excitedly into my arms as she gets home in the afternoon.

It is wonderful to see her sparkle with enthusiasm. I am a little sad when I think of the children like her in Eastern Europe who do not get the joy of going to school and learning with other children because of their disabilities. We are so blessed to have Masha here in Minnesota where she can make the most of her potential.

I think she is pretty happy with being here too!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-02T17:45:00.010-05:00

We had a great Halloween. These are all my girls. I love the glowing eyes!
Masha enjoyed trick or treating and looked adorable as a little fairy. She wasn't real impressed with the wings but she loved carrying the pumpkin bucket.

Caelia and Lera are experts at making the rounds. Caelia made a beautiful witch - she even let me put makeup on her this year! She is still insisting on putting her costume on everyday. She really liked the hat.
Lera was Snow White - she wanted to be a Barbarian but they didn't have her size, so she settled for a Disney princess. Michael was very thankful that we didn't give Lera a sword. Lera can kick butt (and does) with a lightsaber on anyone that dares pick up another sword. Lera is quite the candy fiend and she is quick. One lady was sitting on the porch with a bowl on her lap handing out candy. She gave a piece to each of the girls but Lera grabbed another and ran. The lady thought it was funny and Lera does it with a smile so she was allowed to keep her ill-gotten goodies. Lera also believes that an open door is an invitation to enter. She attempted to make new friends at four houses. Randy sure had his hands full!

I got to stay home and greet the trick or treaters. I love this. Some kids are nervous but they eventually make it up to see me. Michael sometimes sits on the porch with a mask on pretending to be a scarecrow. He has strict orders not to scare the little ones but I got a lot of visitors this year that towered over me. They are fair game for Michael. He scared three girls straight off the porch - I love teenagers!

It was very still and very chilly which leads us to this photo. Yes, Randy managed to fog the entire neighborhood.
Happy Halloween!

No pictures - blogger is doing something BUT an update!

2010-10-20T20:27:00.005-05:00

Randy pointed out that I have been severely slacking with the blog and he is right. I have however been very busy - actually, we all have been busy. We had rounds of colds and sniffles. Michael escaped the sickness probably because he has been so busy growing that he didn't have time to get sick! He now towers over me and is very smug about it.

Caelia is really happy. She has been doing great in school. She is growing up so much. She has started playing handheld games. She really likes her leapster but it is an old game and it's hard to find parts for so we are researching the new game systems, maybe the Mobigo. If anyone has an opinion let me know, I think something with a touchscreen would be best.

Valeria has been a sick little girl. She was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and some of the side effects are making her very unhappy and very uncomfortable. It is also making her less than her normal sunny self. Okay, she is downright surly. Her attitude towards Masha is much better though. Her teachers have even commented that she doesn't scowl when they mention Masha anymore. Masha has taken to kissing Lera every chance she gets. Lera at first looked bewildered and then amused and now she cracks up and kisses Masha back. They are both very silly girls. Lera has also followed Caelia in the big sister role and helps Masha get dressed or acquire toys that are out of reach. Both big girls look out for Masha and try to keep her out of harm's way.

And Masha has been busiest of all. She has had lots of doctor appointments and lots of tests. She has a nice straight spine and clean lungs. She will need eye surgery but it will need to be done at Minneapolis Children's Hospital because she does have a small heart condition. She is overall very healthy. She also has been taking lots of tests so that she can start school. She will be starting preschool next Tuesday and will start riding the bus like a big girl on Wednesday. The teacher who evaluated her said that she was very social and played very nicely with the other toddlers that were being evaluated. She also said that it was very obvious that Masha had previously had therapies to improve her strength and skills.

Randy and I are just keeping up with the kids and all the paperwork that goes with the start of school for special needs kids. We completed our first report to Russia and I can't believe it has already been six months since Masha came home. It really feels like she is home now. She is our cute, impish little dancer. Her favorite words are food, cup cookie and more. She can say Mah (mama), Kay (Caelia), stop it, quit and no. She hears those last three a lot, I'm afraid. Everything is so interesting, so much for her to see and touch. We are teaching her "gentle" because she does everything with such enthusiasm and gusto that we frequently get a little bruised by her. She loves to climb all over Randy and I and she wrestles with her siblings but she can be so sweet and angelic. She now pats me on the cheek very gently as she smiles up at me when I rock her at night. She loves to crawl up on Randy's lap and look at pictures of herself and of our trips to Russia.

Favorite foods.

2010-08-18T12:33:00.005-05:00

The one issue that is not really been an issue in our family is food - until now. My kids will try most anything, they may never try it again but they give it chance. Masha seems to operate under different principles. She will spit just about anything out the first time you give it to her. So, we give it to her again and say "umm" - Michael discovered this worked- and if she likes it, she devours it.

She has a particular dislike for green things - lettuce, spinach, broccoli - that also extends to most fresh foods - strawberries, grapes, apples. She is so adept at spitting out lettuce that it became a game one evening. We had chicken with dressing and salad - oh and fresh grapes. Randy attempted to feed her lettuce and she spit it out. He put chicken and dressing on a spoon with a tiny bit of lettuce and fed it to her. She paused for a minute, concentrated and spit out only the piece of lettuce! Randy tried this several times - always with the same result. In an attempt to outwit her, he tucked a tiny sliver of lettuce into a grape and fed it to her. Down went the grape, out came the lettuce. Michael was laughing so hard he had tears streaming down his face. Lera took pieces of lettuce and chewed them like a little goat to show us what a good girl she was - she's a little competitive with Masha.

These are a few of my kids favorite things.

Caelia loves ice cream, pizza and popcorn. She signs "movie" and "popcorn" all the time. The top of her favorites is chips and cheese - she has made up her own signs for these, Chips look like "a bit" and cheese is a flourish with her pointer fingers in the air and a huge smile!

Lera used to eat anything. She made a frowny face while eating the ones she hated but she would eat anything in front of her - babyhouse rules, I guess. Now she adores spaghetti or anything with pasta, barbecued pork chops, hamburgers and chocolate. If you offer her something she doesn't like she says "no tank-you" and waves her hand side to side in front of her.

Michael loves crab legs, kettle corn, a chicken hot dish that he calls "slop" and licks his lips for and samsah - sort of goat hot pockets from Russia. Anyone know where we can get samsah in Minnesota?

Masha does have some things that she really likes and will take instantly. She loves grape juice, cookies, ice cream, anything from Caelia and her new favorite, corn on the cob!

The North Shore --- Part 2

2010-08-15T14:54:00.010-05:00

A trip to the North Shore should include Split Rock Lighthouse. This is another one of those history things that is interesting to both adults and kids. They have period actors walking around telling stories about their life (based on an actual person), the foghorn works and so does the light. It is still turning even during the day but they don't light it. It is amazing because it turns by "winding" like grandfather clocks. It has 250 pound weights that hang from the light to several feet under the ground. The lighthouse keepers pull the weights back to the top every 90 minutes (that's how long it takes to make the distance from the top back to the bottom) and they did this when it was a working lighthouse all day and all night. They also cleaned those huge windows (inside and out) every morning because the lamp burned oil and it filmed the windows and you have to have clean windows in a lighthouse.

I was really surprised by how much Caelia adores lighthouses. She insisted on going to the top of the lighthouse 3 times. She generally doesn't show such strong preferences for things that she can't hold but she was captivated by it. She also wanted to walk the stairs all the way down to the shore. It is 137 feet down to the shore which translates into a whole bunch of stairs and a very sore back. She did okay all the way down but insisted that Randy carry her back up! I didn't go down there - I have been before and I knew that Lera and Masha would not be able to manage those stairs, so Randy, Caelia, Michael, Christopher and our friend Ron and his boys took that journey.

We had a picnic lunch and then headed for Gooseberry Falls. Gooseberry Falls is a wonderful place to splash in the water, climb and explore and it's free! We sort of overestimated how much energy Randy and I had left so we didn't stay as long as we have in previous years. Caelia was also tired and had a sit-down strike at the top of the falls necessitating Momma carrying her down to meet Daddy and her sisters at the lower falls.

A bit about Down Syndrome Slump, Drop and Flop, Sit Down Strikes or whatever you choose to call that lovely bit of non-compliance that appears when a child with Down syndrome decides that she is not going to do what she has been asked, or is expected of her. This is an amazing thing to behold. 1960's civil rights activists would be envious. Caelia doesn't fight you but she won't budge, she won't walk and coaxing and cajoling do not work. She is simply on strike until she chooses to get up. When Masha does this, we pick her up and move on. It's not pretty but it works, even works on Lera but Caelia? Caelia is getting to be an unmanageable size for me, so if anyone has a plan to get her moving, let me hear it! Oh - and keep in mind...she doesn't give a rip what anyone thinks about her behavior, you can't walk away (she won't follow --- she will run in the opposite direction as quick as she can) and "do I need to get Daddy?" doesn't work either.

The water is chilly but not too bad and the rocks can get kind of slick but it really is a lot of fun and it was warm enough that the cool water felt great.

Masha will be getting her first haircut soon. We tried pulling it into pig tails but her hair is really fine and she pulls them out quickly so she looks a little wild child all the time...especially in this photo!

The North Shore

2010-08-14T10:45:00.013-05:00

Okay, the North Shore is not a new destination for us but we thought it would be a nice way to get Masha used to traveling. It is not too far from our home but it is a roadtrip and requires putting together a suitcase and a long car ride. This is a logistics lesson for Randy and I. It is tricky to go anywhere with 5 kids in tow - (and no, we have not added to the family again - our favorite sometimes son, Christopher, was along for the ride.)

We left around noon after picking up Caelia and Lera from school and after stopping to pick up new glasses for Randy. Evidently Randy forgot about Caelia's propensity for destroying glasses at Masha's age but Masha has quickly reminded him, first with his glasses and then with his sunglasses (less than a week apart). Our van seats 7 which means it is snug with all the kids and luggage. We also brought along our WIKE. I love this thing. It holds Lera and Masha and diaper bags and steers really easily - it also goes through single doors of buildings and not have to be folded. It also puts together in a snap. Lera tires easily (so does Caelia but she refuses to ride) and Masha is too unsteady on her feet for us to take long walks with her, especially on uneven terrain.

We stayed in Lutsen at Caribou Highlands. I really like this place. It has townhouses for rent and they are reasonably priced because they are not on the water. It is a ski lodge in the winter time but in the summer it is equally beautiful and they have a lot of activities to sign up for that I hope to take advantage of next time we are up there. Our home had a beautiful view of the gondolas traveling up the side of the hill. (Hill is an understatement) It also had a huge dining table that I hope to have one of its size in the future. We took advantage of the the kitchen and grill to cook at home. It was really nice to not have to go out for food after a long day of being out. It is a challenge to take the girls out and still manage for Randy and I to eat at the same time. There are a lot of distractions in a restaurant that make eating less interesting than whatever the kids at the table across the way are doing.

This trip was sort of short because Randy has interviews that he needed to be home for the next week but we did go to all our favorite places. We stopped in Duluth's Canal Park on our way to Lutsen. Lera wasn't in the best mood but it was cooler there than anything in Minneapolis has been for the last couple of weeks. The humidity is much lower too. We played on the shore and watched the big boats with the girls while Michael and Christopher burned off pent up energy by climbing all over the big rocks that protect the shore.

The next morning we went to Grand Marais. The home of the Best Donuts in the World. Randy loves them (and so does everyone who was in town for the Fisherman's Festival to judge by the long line). I don't think they are spectacular but as Randy says how can you find fault with something deep fried and coated in sugar and frosting? It was a lovely morning and of course, we had to skip stones. Notice Lera is wearing a coat. It was chilly by the lake. Lake Superior is icy cold which makes the surrounding area cool and is the reason you do not see us splashing in the water.

From Grand Marais we drove almost to the Canadian border and visited Grand Portage. There is a really cool working fort there that was interesting and entertaining for everyone. The girls could run but they also were allowed to touch things and us older people got to learn more history. They have actors portraying period folk that you can ask all kinds of questions. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.

Next to the fort was the camp for the voyagers (traders) and both Caelia and Lera made themselves at home. I mentioned that Lera tired easily right?

---------------------------to be continued------------------------------------

Summertime!

2010-07-17T21:06:00.008-05:00

It is hot. Really hot this year but we have had a few beautiful days outside with the girls. We like to go to Como Park (across from the zoo) to play. It is a bit more challenging to keep all of my little ducks together but it is such a joy to watch them enjoying the freedom of running about and exploring everything new. Masha is really enjoying all the new experiences. She follows Caelia devotedly and anything Caelia finds funny, Masha thinks it is hysterical! She also Mama's little shadow. She follows me saying, "ma, ma, MA!" Lera is also a mama's girl, she has become my other shadow. Every trip to the park invariably ends up with a visit to the fountain - and a change of clothes for all involved. The girls LOVE splashing and playing with water! Every afternoon we try to spend time on the girls' swings. They would swing all day if we let them. We are going to be adding another swing for Masha. Right now, they take turns but they are not always happy about this. And when it's just too hot to swing, there is always dancing!

Pictures by Caelia

2010-06-05T22:10:00.004-05:00

These are some pictures that Caeli took when she found my camera. She loves taking pictures.

Yeah, she's my sister...

2010-06-03T13:25:00.014-05:00

Masha has had several doctor appointments since we got home. She is not thrilled with these but it is helping us to help her. Masha has several health issues that need attention. The first thing that will be corrected is her vision. She has Superior Oblique Palsy as well as crossed eyes. Our doctor explained that she sees the world at an angle and that when her eyes cross, she sees double and angled. This makes her very unsteady on her feet. She must have someone close enough to catch her because she frequently loses her balance. Additionally, this is what causes her to tip her head to the side - she is attempting to focus! We feel that she will be so much happier when she sees the world as it should be seen. Her actual vision is perfect for her age, so those pretty blue eyes will not need glasses after surgery. This surgery will take about an hour and we will be scheduling it as soon as we have her cardiologist appointment.

Masha was born with a small hole in her heart. This is very common in children with Down syndrome. Our family physician does not hear anything and it is possible that it has closed completely - this was the case with Lera but we want to have this checked out before surgery.

All of her blood work was perfect. No sign of hypothyroidism or malnutrition. We really didn't expect malnutrition - she is a very good eater. She likes meat and potatoes but really fusses when we try to feed her raw fruits or veggies. And birthday cake is magical to her! Sorry again, Janet, for her grabbing a handful at Jaxton's birthday before he could blow out the candles. She did this at Caelia's party as well.

Speaking of which, Caelia is now a big 8 year-old girl! We had a party for her and for Masha's arrival - a barbecue with lots of friends and lots of kids. Caeli insisted for a week that she wanted balloons at her birthday party, so Randy bought a bunch of Mylar balloons home the day of her party. She was thrilled (so were Lera and Masha) but we soon noticed that they were disappearing. Caelia would grab a balloon, run outside and release it into the air! Oh, well, her birthday - her balloons. She was happy about them but not about pictures so here is the one we got of our birthday girl. And this one is of our Cake Monster. Looks innocent doesn't she? Ignore the evidence.

Masha is not afraid to jump into the midst of the family as though she has always been here. I love watching her play with my big girls!

Oh and state her opinion of having another photo taken!

And these photos are just because I love to show off my beautiful girls (would love to show off my handsome son but he is being a teenager).

Fianlly, there is this picture. Not great focus but totally natural. Masha had crawled up into Caelia's lap and was falling asleep.

Settling in...

2010-05-13T08:09:00.016-05:00

This is my favorite plant in my garden. It's called a Bleeding Heart. This is what I think about all through the long cold winters here in Minnesota.

It feels really good to be home. I love the warm weather (er..more of less warm) and the kids playing outside. Michael and Randy are two of the biggest kids. The girls adore Daddy-time and he drinks it up too.

Caelia has been sick for over a week. Her poor tummy has been under attack by a virus - we didn't leave the house much except for the Doctor. She didn't go to school. Lera was sick for part of that time. The first day that Lera went to school without Caelia, her homecoming was worthy of any trip we have ever taken. She was standing (waiting to get off the bus) yelling "CAELIA! CAELIA!". Caelia stood on the porch yelling "NINA! NINA!" and when the met on the porch they hugged and hugged each other as though they hadn't seen each other in a month. Masha was grumpy about this.
Actually, my little Masha is grumpy about lots of things. She hates waiting for things to cook. She tries to stand between me and the counter top so that she will get the first bite. She gets very upset if I give the girls their cups first or if Lera is on my lap. She gets very irritated if you insist on that she put her coat on before going outside. She tries very hard to be the boss. But just as quickly as she scowls and pouts, she smiles and laughs. She is a funny little girl (who really likes to be in charge) and the thing she gets most grumpy about is watching Caelia and Lera leave the house to catch the bus! She loves to do anything that Caelia does. Yes, I only said Caelia.

Masha and Lera play - well sort of. Lera is spending a lot of time kissing and resting on Mama. I think she is making sure that she is not being replaced and Lera is not really that fond of any small children. They just don't play the active games that Lera does. Lera is my little monkey and likes to climb and play with swords - actually, if you imagine a pirate dressed in sparkles, tight pants and boots, you pretty much have Lera. Her favorite game is sword fighting with Michael. Thank heavens for nerf swords! Oh and I should mention that she generally beats every one who dares to cross swords with her very soundly.

Masha has been enamored with Caelia since the moment she saw her in the airport. And Caelia is equally adoring of Masha - or "SASHA" as Caelia calls her. (Caelia has Apraxia, which effects her speech). Caelia and Masha like to play with the pretend kitchen and with the baby dolls. They dress up and go shopping together. And while they are buddies, Caelia is still the big sister and is very protective of Masha. If she hears Mama tell Masha "no, no" then you can bet she will have an arm around Masha telling her "no, no Sasha!" too.

And now a word about baths. As is true frequently with children in orphanages, Masha was terrified of baths. In Moscow, we couldn't put her in the bath without her crying and screaming. It was heartbreaking to watch her stand with her hands against the wall of the bath with her head down sobbing. We tried to make it fun but gave up until we got home. Do you know the phrase, Monkey see, Monkey do? In a very short time, we have gone from sobbing and struggling to having to watch her anytime the water is running because she will attempt to climb into the tub.

As promised - Pictures!

2010-04-14T22:16:00.008-05:00

To say that Masha was angelic on the flight home would be an understatement. She was terrific. She only slept when I held her in my lap but she did sleep and was a perfect child on the trip. She didn't seem bothered by the changes in pressure or by the long time sitting. She was really happy to get out of her seat although she enjoyed Mama;s mp3 player.

The flight from Moscow was turbulent and we were about 20 minutes late arriving in New York. We then had customs, along with a special customs detour celebrating Masha's new status as an American citizen and then picked up our luggage. Dropped off our luggage, went through security again and then literally ran through the airport to transfer terminals and finally arrive at our gate. We were literally the last ones on the plane and they shut the door behind us. Masha took all of this in stride and she and Mama slept most of the way to Minneapolis.

I cannot begin to describe the joy on Masha's face to see Michael again and to see Caelia and Lera. She had only seen them on skype but they were small and obviously happy to see her so she eagerly greeted them. Caelia was very happy to see "Sasha" and Masha was particularlly fond of Caelia. She really liked Caeli's round tummy. Perhaps she felt they had something in common or perhaps she was reassured that we would feed her well. She also met Grandpa and he was quite charmed by her as well.
So, here in no particular order, are the pictures that have so been anticipated.

A short ride home and then Caeli proceeded to try to pile every toy she owns on to Masha's lap.

And then she fell asleep...

Home!

2010-04-10T20:31:00.002-05:00

We are home. Safe and happy. Very tired. Masha was perfect on the airplane and was very excited to see to little girls roughly her size. They were thrilled to see her (and us). Will write more soon and post pictures after a rest.

April 6, 2010

2010-04-06T17:51:00.003-05:00

Today was Masha's gotcha day! It was a big day for us. I feel so much happier now that she stays with us. I cannot begin to explain the sense of relief that she is in our care at last.

This was also a day of firsts for Masha. Her first car ride. A little bit scary but hey! a cellphone and a ride - what more could a girl want?

Her first restaurant. She didn't eat but she sure enjoyed her throne.

Her first night with Mama and Daddy. She got a bath, got new jammies to wear, and tried on all of the new shoes - including Mama's shoes. EWWW! - No biting!

Until next trip...

2010-04-06T17:45:00.002-05:00

This was our last day with Masha. She was friendly as always but look closer and you will see the tiniest neck brace I have ever seen. For some unknown reason, the staff at her babyhouse decided to put this on her. Mind you, this was the first time she had ever worn it. She sure is cute though!

Back to our last trip (part 3)

2010-04-05T15:02:00.007-05:00

We toured the Kremlin. Red Square is not the Kremlin. It is the parade ground outside the Kremlin. I always thought it was IN the Kremlin. Turns out the Kremlin is much more massive than Red Square. Oh - and Red Square does not have a meaning related to Communism. They say "red" and mean beautiful. Go figure.

There are some of the most beautiful cathedrals inside the Kremlin along with what would be the equivalent to our White House.

We went into the oldest cathedral. Did you know that there are no pews inside a Russian Orthodox church? You are supposed to look up - hence some beautiful paintings with layers of gold covering the walls and the ceiling. Only royalty was allowed to sit in church. There was a throne of sorts for the queen and also the original throne for Ivan the Terrible. Unfortunately, you are only allowed to photograph the outside.

Moscow prides itself on big things. The city is enormous, the ballet is called Bolshoi (means big), Stahlin's "Seven Sisters" are mammouth buildings that stretch into the sky and on the grounds of the Kremlin is the Czar Cannon and the Czar Bell. These are massive creations that have no useful function but WOW they are something to see!

Both the Czar Bell and the Czar Cannon were constructed on the grounds of the Kremlin but they were so big and heavy that they could not be used or really even moved. The bell was broken during a fire and the citizens poured water on it to keep it from being destroyed -- cold water+hot metal = broken bell.

Back to our last trip (part 2)

2010-04-04T21:58:00.005-05:00

The day before court we went to see Masha. She was dressed in that beautiful dress from our first trip. She thought it needed accessorizing though and promptly relieved Michael of his treasured "shopka" that he bought at the market. She didn't take it off until we left.

We had to leave because we had a meeting with the court translator and then we went to the Bolshoi Ballet. We saw Don Quixotote. It was beautiful and the music was wonderful but we were very tired and Michael was in particular. There had been a mixup with our tickets so instead of sitting next to each other we sat in 5 different rows (one in front of another). There was a long wooden rail next to us to we did have a wonderful view with no one in the way. Did I mention that we were very tired? Well, Michael was very very very tired and fell asleep during the ballet. The Russian woman next to him frowned alot and shook her head at him. I think she was appalled that he went to sleep. During the show, I head a loud THUNK behind me and turned around to see that Michael's head had fallen against the rail. He didn't even wake up.

Back to our last trip (part 1)

2010-04-04T21:32:00.005-05:00

We visited Masha first thing. She and Michael were really getting on well. She has much more energy in the morning. We even got to go outside!

We then went to the market. This place was awesome. They had really good prices on souveniers and they also had antiques and really really good food. I love the buildings.

This last building was where we ate. We had Russian BBQ (shosh-leek) and Michael got to try his hand at the grill but the smoke was too much for him. They also had the best (and I mean BEST) bread. I am not sure what it was called but it was from Uzebekastan.

Back in Moscow

2010-04-04T21:11:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know that I haven't finished detailing our 2nd trip but when I got home everyone got sick and then there was spring break and then there was the most important part - babyproofing for a 3 year old. So it would be fair to say that I am just now sitting down.

We arrived safe and sound with no airplane woes this trip and settled into a new hotel in the heart of Moscow this time. We stayed near the babyhome last trips because of travel. This time we are only making one trip to the babyhome and that is to pick up Masha. We won't get to do this until Tuesday. We will be taking care of paperwork and running about on Monday and that is just no way to test whether or not she gets car sick. She hasn't been in a car to my knowledge since she arrived at the babyhome and frequently children will get sick because of this.

We had Easter dinner at TGI Fridays and it was yummy! And reasonably priced for Moscow, surprisingly. Our waitress spoke English and was very friendly. Oh, and you know the birthday song that they sing in America at TGIF? The Russians put us to shame! Think rallying cry on the battlefield and you might come close to the enthusiasm and intensity.

Just relaxing...

2010-03-17T23:32:00.009-05:00

All of the necessary footwork has been done for the paperwork on the last trip. We can finally relax a bit before we go home - AND I am now sleeping on a normal schedule, and feel a bit more like myself, so its time to catch you up on this week.

After our visit to Masha the first day, after more paperwork, we had lunch at a wonderful traditional Russian restaurant. It is located in the oldest bath house in Moscow and is beautiful. The staff are extremely attentive and the food was out of this world. We had a traditional juice made from pomagranates and wonderful bread. I am proud to say that my son (and Randy) tried a bite of everything and Michael has a new favorite food: SAM-sow. He didn't even change his mind when he was told it contained goat. Our friend Francesca was along and she called them Russian hot pockets. Michael however, did not enjoy the red caviar. He did spend several minutes trying to see inside the eggs.

We also took Michael to see Red Square. It was daylight this time and there was a lot of activity. We saw two bridal parties walking across the square taking pictures and were told that this was for luck. The Russians have a lot of beliefs about luck and tradition.

I stood in this circle and made a wish (local tradition). Can you guess what I wished for?
I also got to see a Russian Eagle. It, along with 2 small monkeys dressed in snow suits were available to have your picture taken with. No way was I going near that eagle! There were pidgeons walking around near it and I had asked our translator why didn't it attack the pidgeons- she said it was probably drugged. It didn't look too drugged when it decided to go after the pidgeons and lift its post off the ground. The pidgeon did get away but I kept a wide berth.

We also saw the changing of the guard of what I think is like our Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
We also walked past these beautiful fountains, well they are fountains in the summer. I was told that they are dancing fountains and that the water moves.

We headed back to our hotel and then we noticed. Michael, who announced upon waking that morning, that he was "normal" and could not understand why Mama and Dad were dragging it, was completely out. I mean, dead to the world, sawing logs, OUT.
He stayed this way (with only a short stumble up to our room) the rest of the day. He woke with Randy and I around 1am local time and we went back to sleep around 4:30am.

It's Official!

2010-03-16T18:22:00.001-05:00

We had court today and it is official, Masha Alexandra Green is the newest member of our family! We are ecstatic! We do not get to bring her home yet, we must return to Russia on April 4th and she will be home at last on April 11th!

Michael and Masha

2010-03-13T17:56:00.014-06:00

We got up early and went down to breakfast. Michael ate some cereal but decided he really didn't like the milk. I think it was whole milk and they keep it warm. He did like the pastries but he thought the eggs looked like Mac & Cheese. They are a unique color. After breakfast, Alexey and Masha arrived and we went to visit Masha. You could tell that Michael was very excited. He tried to play it down by telling me repeatedly that he didn't need his heavy coat. This has been an ongoing complaint since we left Minneapolis but I am not going to be scolded by the Babushkas because my son is running about with too thin a jacket.

Masha came straight in and was very social. Michael was great, he moved really slow and let her warm up to him. She seemed really at ease with us. I was worried that she might not remember us but if she didn't, she seemed to decide that she liked us anyway. Alexey had brought a kitchen set for the babyhouse and Masha really liked it. She had lots of fun playing peek-a-boo and feeding the baby doll that came with it. However, as is true the world over, she REALLY REALLY liked the BOX! She played with Randy and she played with me. But Michael was king. And he has the bruises to prove it! She acts just like Caelia and Lera do around Michael. They bully and push and make him perform for them (and they crack him up in return) and invariably he gets swatted in the face or head. He seems to find it amusing but not as amusing as they do.

We're Here!

2010-03-13T17:35:00.002-06:00

We landed in Moscow at 6:30pm on Friday...that's something like 28 hours after we got up and started this trip. Our luggage decided it was going to hang out in New York for an extra day. Passport control is a very long line and we moved from long line to short line at the lost luggage desk.

It is very difficult to describe the contents of your luggage and where you have been and why you did not make your original flights to someone who speaks very limited English...it is even harder when it takes so long that you have a shift change and have to start over! I did spend time helping Chuck (a fellow American who missed his flights as well) try to explain what stage props were to a very confused group of clerks. Michael slept in a chair. Randy talked to Vanilla Ice.

Actually, he continued his conversation that from Amsterdam and New York. They had quite the conversation. Randy posted this on Facebook. He was a very nice man, very friendly. Michael was sleeping or we might have asked for a picture. They talked for over an hour because Chuck and I got to communicate with the locals. Chuck is his tour manager. They were playing at some MTV thing at Olympic Stadium. Olympic Stadium is HUGE and they said it had already sold out. We tried to teach him some Russian words to get by, he got hello, thank you and later. Oh, and Paka! He liked that one.

Our translator and friend had arrived at the airport and had breakfast at the airport thinking we would be arriving then, left when they got my message and then came back to wait for 4 hours while we cleared customs and lost luggage. I was so happy to see them! We had supper at the hotel and then went upstairs and fell instantly asleep. We slept for 9 hours and I was still tired. Michael declared that he was perfectly back to normal. We just smiled - we had been this route before.

New flight information...

2010-03-11T20:18:00.002-06:00

We are leaving JFK at 10:10pm and will arrive in Amsterdam a little before noon on Friday. We will then take Aeroflot flight number 3104 and arrive in Moscow at 6:10pm.

I hope we sleep. I think we will have to wait until Saturday to see Masha, it may be past her bedtime by the time we get out of the airport.

The journey so far..

2010-03-11T17:42:00.002-06:00

Our 11:15am flight from Minneapolis was delayed in Chicago - for 3 hours. The flight was very turbulent but Michael handled it like a trooper. He thought it was fun. Mom and Dad less fun.

So we missed our flight to Moscow. And we missed the flight that we would have been able to make if our first flight was not so late. We are waiting to hear what our new flights will be. Notice I said new FLIGHTS. We will most likely be arriving in Amsterdam in the wee hours tomorrow (leaving here at 10pm or so) and then departing for Moscow at around 1 pm and arriving (most likely in a rumpled, sleepy, grumpy exhausted heap) at about 6pm. I will update more when I have firm times.

Two years...

2010-03-05T12:02:00.009-06:00

We have our official court date...drum roll, please...March 16th! Happy dances all around!

We are taking our son, Michael with us to Moscow. He has been very insistent that he wants to go - he is tired of waiting and thinks it is high time Masha meet her big brother!

I write a lot about Down syndrome but not so much about Michael's condition. Michael has Asperger's syndrome, mild obsessive compulsion and panic attacks. Michael is very smart but eccentric. You have probably met people like Michael all your life and labeled them various things. I like eccentric. He likes things a certain way and has difficulty with changes and becomes agitated if he feels like he is not in control. We take him out of his comfort zone every vacation and he generally starts the trip very mad at us. By the time we get home, he almost always says he had the best time of his life! He is a funny boy! It is a very big step for him to REQUEST going to visit Masha. We are very proud of him.

For those of you who are wondering about the significance of this trip, this will be the first adoption petition brought before any court in Moscow for a child with Down syndrome in over 2 years. We are thankful for this gift. It has been almost that long since we began this journey.

It has also been 2 years since I went back to Ukraine and picked up Lera and brought her home. Isn't it amazing how 2 years changes everything?

From this:
To this:
And from this:
To this:

Update on the home front

2010-01-17T08:55:00.002-06:00

It has been just crazy busy around here since we came home. I will attempt to catch you up.

It started snowing on Christmas Eve and didn't stop until the day after Christmas. In total, I think we got something like 2 feet of snow. It was beautiful and it was very nice to just stay home and enjoy being a family although we missed the rest of the family that we normally see on the holidays. This year was magical for the girls. I think they both finally grasped the concept of Santa Claus and were tickled to open their gifts.
Michael enjoyed the day too. I think he was pleased and surprised at his gifts. He had been expecting to not get the large and expensive Lego set he had asked for because he does recognize how costly plane tickets and airfare to Russia is. He proclaimed it to be one of his best Christmases ever.
My adorable and very handsome nephew was born on January 3rd. He made his appearance in the wee hours and weighed 8 pounds and 8 ounces. His name is Alexander Michael. I didn't get to see him until he was 2 weeks old because I had strep the day he was born.

The kids went back to school on January 4th. The girls were excited but wanted to me drive them to school like Grandpa had done. They really love going to school. Michael was less enthusiastic about going to school but he is very enthusiastic about making a clock out of wood. He and Randy will be working on that today. He loves doing things with Randy and making things is also thrilling for him.

The girls and I are cleaning their room. It no longer has a crib and we have not put in a bunk bed yet but until we hear our court date we are not going to worry about that. Right now, I just want to be able to walk through their room without a shovel.

We're home!

2009-12-20T19:30:00.003-06:00

Back home to 3 very excited children whom we missed like mad. 2/3 of our luggage is still on vacation but the honey and it's "really cool" container (a quote from Michael) and a few of the other wonderful gifts we were given made it home. Our Matroshka with its bottle of vodka is in Randy's suitcase and is still missing in action, along with a suitcoat and 3 pairs of Levis.

I spent much of our first day back cleaning and getting ready to decorate the Christmas tree. Randy spent a great deal of it sleeping. He said he felt hung-over. I guess he was more tired than I was. I will post the rest of the photos when I get a bit of rest.

We already miss Masha. I think we will be taking down the crib. Our little angel is a climber and she would definitely be trying to escape it. So Big Girl Bed or Toddler Bed? That is the question.

Thank you to Masha and Dierda for taking such good care of us while we were in Moscow! We had a wonderful time.

Meeting an angel...twice!

2009-12-17T17:21:00.011-06:00

We have met our daughter. We are going to name her Masha Alexandra. She is everything a mother (or father) could want in a child. She is sweet, lovable, inquisitive and has a sparkle in her eyes that says she is full of joy. She loves to play and she is always giggling.

I was very nervous about meeting our new daughter. It was so difficult with Lera because she was older and really did not see why these strange speaking Americans insisted on playing with her and disrupting her reign as queen of her groupa. She was very cautious and it took days for us to get her to enjoy being with us.

Masha was told that Mama and Papa were waiting and very cooperatively entered the little room that we were in. It took her about 5 minutes to decide that she adored Randy. It always takes a bit longer for them to decide about me. I just don't do that cool tossing them in the air that Randy does - especially when they weigh over 30 pounds. (That's a guess, based on my nephew Chase who is also a pleasant armful at slightly over a year).

She was dressed in an especially lovely little dress, white sweater and a sparkly rhinestone bracelet. We played and played until almost lunchtime. She was very tired and allowed Randy to hold her and rock her around the room. I even got a chance to snuggle her. She almost fell asleep in my arms.She went to have her lunch and waved sleepily and departed with a very sweet paka.

We went to the hotel and had lunch and rested a bit before returning to play some more. It is important to get in all of our visits before court so we get to see her twice a day before we leave.

She was still sleepy but the same incredible little girl for our second visit. She is so obviously loved by everyone at the baby house. And I think she is a indulged. She has lots of clothes and the most amazing snowsuit! We tried it on her but it is too bitterly cold to go outside.
She gives wonderful hugs and kisses. She moves toward you making little bubble popping sounds and fish faces before she plants one on you.

Waiting for the Permission

2009-12-16T17:23:00.001-06:00

The paper that we were supposed to pick up after 10am is now going to be available after 2pm.

The paper that we were supposed to pick up after 2pm is now being couriered from the outskirts of Moscow where the woman with the signature lives back to the MOE. It will be ready after 5pm. Another day without our official visit.

We have the exaulted permission!!!! We get to visit the baby house and have all our questions answered about our little girl!

I will be falling asleep as soon as we get to the Hotel. Which means I will wake up about 2am our time to Skype our family.

Our MOE Appointment

2009-12-16T17:16:00.002-06:00

We had our MOE appointment and received our referral for a little girl with Down syndrome, heart condition, crossed-eyes and low development...Level 5 they call this.

Her picture is beautiful but we are not allowed to meet her until we have a paper signed by someone who is out. We must come back 10 am on Wednesday. We are both exceedingly tired now. Jet lag really catches up on you. The food here is good though and Alexey seems determined to keep us stuffed, bless him. He insisted we try Russian pelminia - little meat stuffed raviouli type pasta, and now Randy loves them.

Caeli has a bad cough and Michael sounds bad as well (Lera is healthy as a horse) so I told Grandpa to take them to urgent care. The results: Caelia has a cough and Michael has an ear infection. I really hate being away from my kids!

Moscow is beautiful - but really cold!

2009-12-15T13:10:00.007-06:00

We arrived very tired but safely. Customs is a long wait and I was extremely anxious to meet our friend, Alexey. It is quite wonderful to see someone that you recognize (and who is just as excited as to see you) when you walk through the gate. I feel as though I have new family before even meeting our daughter!

Our translator, is a very nice woman - coincidentally named Masha - and has been very helpful. Our hotel (and staff) are excellent. Most of them speak perfect English. There are several restaurants here in the Hotel that serve all kinds of food. So much for Randy's plan to lose weight on this trip!

We had a lovely dinner with Masha and Alexey the first night and then stumbled up to our room. I should say something about the room. The bathroom floor is heated, it is big and quiet and it has an amazing view. The bed is comfortable and it has wonderful linens. This does feel like a pampered vacation. It is also WARM. (I remember the Hotel Izmayl being so chilly that I slept in my coat.) Ok, it's really warm...we sleep with the window open. Which brings me to the weather. It is REALLY REALLY COLD. Yes, we are Minnesotan and get these same temperatures but we also tend to drive everywhere when its this cold and plan indoor activities. We rarely spend a long time walking from place to place. Our second day in Moscow, we did.

You have to see the great sites in the world to appreciate how fantastic the world really is. Anyone coming to Russia needs to demand a visit to Red Square (which, by the way, is not a reference to communism but closer means, beautiful square). The forecast shows that the weather is going to be warmest on the Monday we are here and that is before we have official appointments to maintain, so this was the day to do the things that make communication here possible and the day to relax with old/new friends. A friend from high school for Randy and her boyfriend. Small world, huh?

Francesca was great. We walked ten minutes to the Metro (a marvel in transportation to be certain) and met her there. She bought us a pass to ride, showed us how to use said pass and took us to the heart of Moscow. It is an amazingly fast ride (she said she really didn't want to know how fast they actually were traveling) and it was warm. I will dwell on warm many times. Even for people who live in Moscow, it is really cold and short walks are an endurance test of sorts- even if you are wearing long underwear, heavy Minnesota coats and gloves and dressed in mummy layers.

We bought a SIM card to communicate with everyone and get internet (we do have it in our room but it is nice to have access while out and about) and then we got a short tour through the theatre district and finally into a great little Russian restaurant. I tried Russian beer (and liked it), several cheeses (loved those) and borsht. Randy, yes Mr Fussy eater himself, tried a pork "hotpot" which is kind of a stew. We did pass on the cold boiled beef tongue appetizer. Babysteps, know what I mean?

After catching up and having a wonderful time, we went to brave the elements and see Red Square. I wouldn't have missed seeing this place, especially the Cathedral for anything in the world. This should be one of the seven wonders and thanks to Caelia who dunked my camera into my cup of gingerale while I was packing, I have a wonderful new camera that takes great night photos.

This one is of Saint Basil Cathedral. I think that is how its spelled. The most beautiful cathedral I have ever seen. Ivan the Terrible thought so as well. He gouged out the architects' eyes after they designed it so that they could never make anything more beautiful. Russian stories are frequently this way.

This is Lenin's tomb. It is right in front of the Kremlin and there was a very cold guarding walking in front of it. He does get relieved frequently we were assured.

This is Russia's first shopping mall. The last Tsar took his children there (think 1910 or something like that) to shop. Now it is filled with super expensive shops that only the super rich can afford but they are beautiful.

This is also in Red Square. This is where they beheaded people during the revolution.

We then walked to a coffee house to meet Francesca's boyfriend Charles (also American) and warm up before we got back on the Metro to go back to our hotel. Thank you so much Francesca for the tour and for showing us the basics of functioning in Moscow.

TRAVEL TIME!

2009-12-06T08:35:00.003-06:00

We have our official appointment date. December 15th! We will be departing for Russia on Decmber 12th and will arrive the evening of December 13th. We are thrilled to finally being moving on in this process. I am personally a bit overwhelmed - I never expected to be given so little notice to plan our trip (although, I was told repeatedly by our agency)! I suddenly look about my house and see a hundred things that I wanted to take care of before leaving and put off because its more fun to play with the kids. So they are now on my dizzying list of things to do in a really short amount of time - wouldn' t you think that I would have learned with Lera's adoption?

Russia is different than Ukraine for adoptions. Ukraine has 2 trips - Russia has 3 trips. On the first trip in Ukraine, you choose a child from the SDA registry, travel to meet the child, accept the child, have your papers sent back to the SDA and then wait for your court date - you get acquainted with your child leading up to your court date. You then have your court and go home to wait out the 10 days wait period. You can stay but when you desperately miss your children, going home is wonderful but hard. Only one parent needs to return (or one parent and her parent, since her husband and her parent are protective) for the second trip. It is very nice to have someone to help with the child since she is an active child and not inclined to being carried or staying in a confined space. On this trip, you obtain her passport, her medical and her visa and then you may leave. There is no set time except for your first appointment date. You sort of leap into the whole thing and trust that it will work out.

For our first trip to Russia, it has really set times. We will meet with the MOE to choose our child from their registry, go meet her, accept her and get to play with her and then return home in less than a week. At which point we go home and wait for a court date. On the second trip we have court. Both parents attend court and this is a short trip. Russia has the same 10 day wait rule. I am hazy on the details of the last trip - I know that only one parent must return for the 3rd trip and at this point, I can only think about the first trip.

Accepted!

2009-11-12T10:11:00.004-06:00

Our dossier was submitted to officials in Russia on Tuesday. It was reviewed and ACCEPTED! We now have a travel date of January 26th. This may change to something earlier but not to something later and that is the best you can hope for in an international adoption. It has been a very long time but we are finally to the part of the journey that makes the story have a happy ending. I cannot wait to meet my new daughter!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-04T02:41:00.001-06:00

It was a cold and wet October...or something like that. This year was our sort of goof-off year in regards to our Halloween decorating. We did not have our annual party because Randy and I are just plain tired. We are finishing projects before it gets too cold and Randy's nights are full of homework. It is really hard to go to college and work a fulltime job and then spend time with your family! We could not bring ourselves to disappoint the neighborhood kids though so we did do some decorating but not the full enchilada. One child did ask why there was no glowing red under the porch this year (crawling under a porch when its raining to connect electric lights is not a good plan, kid) but other than that I don't think anyone else noticed. So here are the pictures of our house.

And here are a few of the photos the girls let me take of them in their costumes. They enjoyed trick or treating but only for a short time because it was very chilly and they seemed a bit out of sorts. We had 50 fewer kids this year, I think the flu is taking its toll or perhaps, just making everyone a bit more cautious. At any rate, we didn't disappoint the neighborhood kids, our kids had a good time (although Lera seemed convinced that she could talk everyone out of more candy and tried.) and we are done until next year.

Speaking of next year, any suggestions for what to add? Keep in mind, no gore or serial killers, I prefer spooky or creepy. The creepy guy standing next to our skelton witch (Hattie) is a bit much for the smaller crowd - he moves if you get too close, so we warn those with small children. Seriuosly, we would love to hear suggestions.

Halloween, Weather and a Bit of News

2009-10-21T15:21:00.007-05:00

We have gone ahead and decorated for Halloween (we are almost done) but we will not be having a Halloween party this year. There is too much to be done and too many upcoming expenses. It has been a challenge to put up the decorations due to the weather but we couldn't disappoint the kids. I am kind of glad there is no party planned this year - our guests might freeze! We will have a great party next year, I am very sure.

We did add a new addition to our display - the only thing that Caeli and Lera are less than happy about. He moves - so they don't like him after it gets dark - they talk to him in the morning while waiting for the bus, but then the power is off and he is not so scary.

We have an update. Our dossier has been sent to Russia. We are looking forward to receiving our appointment date sometime in the near future and we will let you know when we will be traveling.

My father will be watching our kids while we are gone but it is our understanding that the first trip is under a week in length - much easier than the 17 days we spent in Ukraine our first trip. I think Michael, Caelia and Lera will quite enjoy the time we are gone - they adore Grandpa and Ryan is always fun.

We had a visitor...

2009-10-16T09:38:00.003-05:00

The kids had the day off yesterday and we had a visitor...Chase. He is my nephew and adorable (no bias here). He is just starting to walk and he is almost 11 months old. Do not adjust your screen, he is a very big boy!

It was very nice to have a little one here for the day. Caelia loves him and is always kissing the top of his head and she is now trying to read to him. Lera is not impressed. She is actually a bit jealous. Doesn't hit but if he manages to pull mama's hair - she immediately starts "NO CHASE!" It's sweet that she is so protective. Mostly, she ignores him - he doesn't play the cool games. Anyone notice the change to the girls' playroom?

Good Morning, Minneapolis!

2009-10-12T08:12:00.005-05:00

Okay, this is just not right. I love this kind of snow - just not in October. The girls have no bias as to what month it occurs in though. They were thrilled. Oh- and they don't ask if this means no school!

Three little bags of security

2009-10-11T12:08:00.012-05:00

One of my biggest fears is that Caelia or Lera will get lost. We watch them closely, we have locks and alarms but it only takes a moment for them to go wandering and children with Down syndrome are notorious for wandering (although no one told us this when Caeli was born). Most children by age 7 can give you their names, addresses and phone number. Both of our girls are considered non-verbal, although they talk a lot. It is just not always clear for people who are not familiar with them. So I worry that they will be separated from us and have no way to find their way home. The solution arrived in 3 red, satin bags. Can you guess what is inside?

These are their very pretty, and very sturdy, beaded medical alert bracelets. I orderd them from Unique Medical ID and they are wonderful. These have the medical alert symbol on the front with their name and vital information on the back. Emergency personel are trained to look on the back of these for information. These have the pronounciation of their name, Down sydrome and mom and dad's cell phone numbers. We have been working on "if you get lost and want mama or daddy, show someone your bracelet". We considered putting our address on it, but decided that 1) if they were missing we wouldn't be at home and 2) we have our cell phones on us at all times for security reasons anyway. They really like them but Caelia doesn't like to wear bracelets so it has taken a few days to get her to accept wearing it without pulling on it. I am very impressed with the abuse her bracelet has withstood. The bands are interchangeable and they have lots of choices. Both ends of the band have a lobster claw clasp but not even Caelia (who has good dexterity) can take them off. We started out with simple and smooth.

Oh, and I said 3 bags, right? We got an extra one. :)

Sometimes its a rollercoaster...

2009-10-07T10:07:00.017-05:00

It has been a very eventful six weeks. This is the first sort of break I have had to blog so here goes...

The Minnesota State Fair was a wonderful (but chilly) adventure this year. Lera has become Mama's shadow. She clings very delightfully. Last year she was excited to try everything - this year she was hesitant and needed reassurance and coaxing...except for the food, of course. Caelia threw herself into everything with gusto and even convinced Lera that it was fun - er- most of the time.

We began to accept that our plans to adopt from Russia would not be obtainable, so we took advantage of the "Cash for Clunkers" program to get rid of Randy's old truck and buy a new Dodge Grand Caravan. Randy really wanted a vehicle to drive that would have heat when the temperature dropped below 20 degrees. He has our old van (with a really good heater) and I get the new one...he should have specified a bit better! The new van is very helpful. The doors open with a push of a button on the key fob and the rear hatch opens and closes automatically. NO MORE JUMPING TO CLOSE IT!!!! Randy was picking up the new van when I received word that there had been progress and our adoption could continue! Unfortuantely, our dossier had expired so we needed to redo it all again. That has taken a large part of my time the last month.

Valeria is 7 years old! This year we didn't get a picture of her cake before she got into it. It was a ladybug made of cupcakes (I think she really liked the red frosting). What a change a year makes! She now understands birthdays and presents as you can see - she has embraced them whole heartedly! Caelia however is not so impressed.
The kids all got school pictures - did I mention that Michael is attending regular school again? He is doing great. All of my kids took wonderful, accurate photos this year. What I am saying is that, yes, Caelia is telling the photographer "uh, no!" when asked to smile.

Randy's cousin got married. The girls were dressed beautifully. Caelia picked out the dresses.
They were pretty but the girls both decided that something more comfortable (preferrably without shoes) was needed to dance!

And lastly, have you ever wanted to take your camera to a flu shot appointment? I may have to consider it. Randy and I took the girls in for flu shots. Michael already had his. Randy took Caelia for a walk, while Lera and I stayed to get our shots. As soon as Lera saw the nurse put on the gloves she started protesting but she hugged me and I hugged her while the nurse gave her her shot. She was not happy. She was incensed when the nurse pushed up my sleeve to give me my shot. She smacked the nurse's hand and said in that gruff way of hers "NOOOOOO" I showed her I was okay and went to get Caelia. Randy was walking back with Caelia - she wasn't happy and was hanging her head. "She heard." was all Randy had to say. We had to hold Caelia down. It takes more than one person, so Lera stood across the room and yelled at us. Caelia got her shot, slid off the table and walked sobbing to Lera with her arms out. Lera hugged her, patted her back and kept saying, "luv you, luv you". Now the really bad part - they need the second shot in 2 weeks...

August 16, 2009 – From their viewpoint…

2009-08-16T21:15:00.007-05:00

This past Christmas, Grandpa gave both girls their own digital cameras. These are great little cameras that stand up to lots of dropping and the buttons are easy to use. The pictures are not the greatest quality but as I uploaded the pictures they had taken, I realized that this showed a side of my babies that they cannot express yet.

Lera took these photos.

And, of course, every artist needs a self portrait. Lera loves to look at herself in the mirror and so this photo was inevitable.
Caelia sees the world a bit differently. These are the photos that she took

Can you tell that she really loves her brother (or brothers if you count Chris as she does) and her sister? .

August 9, 2009 - House on the Rock

2009-08-09T20:05:00.027-05:00

House on the Rock is an interesting place. I love to go there but it is very hard to explain to someone who has never been. This is a picture I found but did not take and I got this piece of history off of their website. “During the 1940's, a man named Alex Jordan discovered a 60-foot chimney of rock in the beautiful Wyoming Valley. It was here he decided to build a house on the sandstone formation called Deer Shelter Rock. Jordan built the house as a weekend retreat and never intended it to be a tourist attraction. However, people kept coming to see the architectural wonder they had heard about. Jordan eventually started asking for 50 cent donations. That was only the beginning. The 14-room house is the original structure of what is now a complex of many buildings, exhibits and garden displays. Alex was a collector all his life and enjoyed visiting museums; however, he did not want The House on the Rock to be a museum. He intended it to be much more than that. Though parts of the collections could have easily found their way into museums, The House on the Rock is more of a trip through the wild and fantastic imagination of Alex Jordan than a visit to a dusty, lifeless museum” Well it is definitely different. Here are some highlights from our trip through – sorry I don’t have pictures of the miniature dollhouses – I ran out of battery. If you are interested in seeing more (and better) pictures of the attraction, click on this link: http://www.thehouseontherock.com/HOTR_Attraction_PhotoGalleryShow.htm One of the most spectacular parts of the place is the “Infinity Room”. This is an engineering wonder and is suspended out over the top of the trees. You can feel the room sway. Not something I really enjoy. The girls seem to though, Lera looked down through the window in the floor. This is where the girls stood. And this is where Mama stood.Enough said. I was very happy to go back to these beautiful gardens. The girls were more impressed with the koi. This was inside the house. Michael liked all of the winding rooms and places to sit. In a couple of years he will be hitting his head and may not be so enthused. Caelia really liked this table – there be a lot of dragons here. Lera made herself completely at home (and this is not discouraged here!!!!Yay!) Apart from the house is the Collections. There are dollhouses and a street that looks like it came from an old town. There is also one massive room with ships and a huge whale. I don’t know that Lera liked the whale but she liked the octopus band. Caelia was intrigued by the trees with doors in them. She stopped and knocked on every one she found. You really have to be on your toes with Caelia because she loves to explore. Chris is a really big help when it comes to watching Caelia. Sometimes you just have to take a rest. The middle of a path is just fine with Lera. If she is tired and she has decided to park herself somewhere, well then you can just move around her. Besides, she knows someone will pick her up soon enough. The Carousel is the world’s largest indoor carousel. It is beautiful and flashy and there is lots of music but you are not allowed to ride. Lera was miffed by this. By the way of all of the animals on the Carousel, there is not one horse. There is also this really creepy doorway but none of my kids were at all bothered by it, they are Halloween pros. You do a lot of walking and there are staircases that twist and turn and ramps that go every where. The mechanical room (just because I don’t know what else to call it) is quite the tangle. Loved all of the organs and adored the massive clocks with their clockworks showing. One of the things about any outing in our family is that as interesting as you find your surroundings, never, ever take you eyes off the girls. Caelia it is just best to keep hold of and Lera…well, Lera will walk with you but as soon as you glance away, she is trying to climb.And climb some more. Are you beginning to see how she earned the nickname “monkey butt” from her brother? This last video is of Miss Monkey climbing the gate that separates you from the music. Its not great quality but it gives you an idea on all of the sensory input that you receive on a tour.

August 8, 2009 – The stuff I forgot…

2009-08-09T13:28:00.005-05:00

You may have noticed that Lera is missing some teeth. Two weeks after Caelia lost hers, Lera lost her front teeth. Three days apart. Unlike Caelia who paraded her teeth around like a pagan battle trophy, Lera swallowed hers. That’s right, SWALLOWED them. They were loose and then they were just gone. We never did find them.

Speaking of swallowing, Lera was raised in a good orphanage, was well nourished and cared for but she does have one really disturbing habit…she puts everything in her mouth. She doesn’t usually swallow but maybe that is because we make her spit out whatever we catch her with. She will also squat beside puddles like a little frog and drink out of said puddles. Its not because she is thirsty (we send her outside with a cup of juice) but because she really seems to like it. EWWW!

Caelia had her tonsils out and tubes put in her ears again. We spent 2 very long days in the hospital because in true Caeli fashion, she stubbornly refused to drink or eat. Actually, she refused to let them take her temperature under her arm either and anyone in scrubs was immediately cause for tears and kicking. She also very stubbornly refused to pee. She went for 10 hours without peeing and they were close to insisting on a catheter before she decided that she would go potty for mommy like a big girl. It was a wrestling match to get her temperature – I shudder to think what a catheter would have been like. Her doctors finally sent her home without the requisite drinking in the hope that we would not have to return in the evening because she was dehydrated. Of course, as soon as she was back to her domain, she started demanding popcicles and juice in true queenly manner. She really recovered nicely.

Both girls were seen at the Down Syndrome Clinic at Children’s Hospital and are doing well. Lera will be seeing an Endocrinologist very soon. You may have also noticed from pictures that Caeli is now several inches taller than Lera. We think she may be having thyroid issues – and yes, Caeli has been checked as well and her weight is the result of a love of nachos and a flakey thyroid. Not off enough to benefit from medicine but a constant battle with calories none the less.

Health is on my mind to today because everyone here is wickedly sick. Virus for most and bronchial pneumonia for Mom. Hopefully, we should all be recovered by next week.

I am also going to post more pictures from house on the rock. The kids had a really great time there and I discovered some really nice pictures that really show what an outing with the kids is like.

August 3, 2009 - The condensed version...

2009-08-04T23:37:00.017-05:00

Ok, So I am a bit behind. OK, a lot behind. I have a whole bunch of things to share.

First, Caelia had a birthday. Can you believe that she is already 7 years? She has gotten to be such a big girl. She shares so well with Lera. She loves Dairy Queen ice cream but she seems to love Lera too. It is so sweet to she her share with Lera.
Lera and Caelia graduated from Kindergarten at the end of June. Caelia was very attentive and soaked up the attention. Lera devoted her attention to the juice box that she had liberated from the refreshment table. She was patient for half of the ceremony and then decided that she had better things to do – after all, Daddy, Mama and Michael were were visiting her school today.
Michael also celebrated a birthday. He is now officially a teenager. He got the big, extra special celebration because it was also time for our summer trip. Once again, we visited Wisconsin. And, as usual, we had an extra boy with us. Michael’s best friend Chris went with us to explore the waterparks of Wisconsin.
We visited House on the Rock and Wisconsin Dells. House on the Rock is very interesting and the girls were surprisingly patient with this strange experience. They really enjoyed the automated orchestras. Lera tried her best to catch a ride on the Carousel, but she was nabbed by security or family everytime. This is particularly funny because when we have taken her to ride on a Carousel, she wants to get off immediately. I really enjoy this place. As you can see by the pictures, it is an amazing place.

We experienced many waterparks and I was feeling extremely waterlogged by the time we returned home, but the kids loved it! Caelia and Lera were thrilled with the whole experience and did not show any signs of the trepidation that they had been showing at the pool back home. I guess if you add a cool looking slide, there is no such thing as fear.

Summer vacation disappears fast when you finish on June 25th and start back on July 27th. That’s right. My babies are in first grade! They seem really excited to be back at school but they are gone so long during the day that I feel kind of lost without them.. They attend school Monday through Thursday, so I always get a long weekend with them. I guess this means that I have no excuses for not working on the dozen or so projects that need my attention now.

March 3, 2009 - Random thinking

2009-03-03T10:40:00.010-06:00

This was on my mind this morning because all the little ones that I held and took pictures of during our visit to Ukraine are meeting their new Mommy and Daddy. Yes, Timur, Alina and my little unstoppable tank, Slava will be coming home soon! This makes me so very happy. As I was daydreaming about these meetings, I started to think of Irina. Irina was the translator that directed us through Ukraine with such efficiency. She is very sweet but a tough negotiator and very good at her job.

Lera was the first child with Down syndrome that she had ever met. She was trying all the way to Izmayl to understand what possibly motivated us to want to adopt another child with Down syndrome. She understood that we loved and adored our Caelia but to come all this way to bring home an untouchable child baffled her. She smiled when we told her about our daughter's insistance on doing things her way and was genuinely intrigued by the idea that our daughter would most likely live independently at some time in the future.

She translated everything that we told the director of Lera's orphanage about the opportunities for Lera in our country and of our plans to provide for her future and her care if at some time we were not there to help her but she really didn't understand. She did not really interact with Lera until we came back to get her. She was pleasant and friendly and so very helpful with those first days away from all that Lera had previously knew and I believe we changed how she viewed a child with Down syndrome. I was even told that she uses "the Green's little girl" as an example of a well behaved child.

This video clip was taken at the Meat and Wine restaurant in Odessa. Irina said it was very expensive and I don't think she quite knew what to do when we obviously were taking Lera to eat in such a place. We did get a few odd looks but if you never take kids someplace nice to eat how will they learn to behave properly? Afterall, someday she will go to dances and dinners and (much to Randy's dismay) perhaps she will even date. Actually, I am sure she will date - she is the biggest flirt I have ever seen. Hopefully, she will always delight in every new experience the way she did this one.

Back to what sent me off on this line of thought. Irina is the translator for these families returning to Lera's orphanage. I wonder what she is thinking as she sits there and watches these other crazy Americans meeting their new child. I wonder how much they will change what she believes and if she still thinks we are all out of our minds? I think maybe she sees these children differently than when she first entered our Lera's life.

I firmly believe that if you don't like people with Down syndrome its because you never met one or let yourself get to know one. I haven't figured out how to imbed this link but I adore this short film (thanks, Leah for finding it for me). Here is the address:
http://tropfest.ninemsn.com.au/?videoid=79896813-777c-4bfc-832a-5f94b692ef53&tab=1

I particularly like the difference in how the woman shakes hands intitially and how she says goodbye. I like the very end too.

February 22, 2009 - Has it really been a year?

2009-02-22T22:21:00.017-06:00

It has been one year since the Izmayl court declared Lera officially ours. Her orphanage kept her an extra 3 days until my father and I arrived to begin our journey home, but one year ago today was the day the we became a family of 5. And it all started with a picture. This one.I remember the anxiety of the paperwork, the exhausting travel, the strangeness of not being able to read all the signs around me. You wouldn't think it would be disorienting to see the signs and not instantly know what they meant, but it makes you feel isolated and truly on the other side of the earth.
The food was different - even the milk, but you keep a small picture in your heart of two little girls playing and whispering and giggling like best friends and you dutifully follow your translator onto trains, taxis and to a gated facility on the edge of a far away town to meet this beautiful little princess who looks at you, not with adoration but like this:
What a difference knowing that this odd woman that visited and played with you for a short time, who the other children said abandoned you, came BACK to take you HOME - even if you didn't know what that was. This was what greeted me the day I picked her up.It was a difficult journey but so worth each moment. There...
And here.
I look at these photos and dream of 3 giggling little girls having a teaparty under the silver maple tree in the backyard...

February 21, 2009 - I lost a tooth!

2009-02-21T23:09:00.003-06:00

Caelia lost one of her front teeth at lunch today. Lera was very curious about the excitement. She kept looking in Caeli's mouth trying to figure out what we were looking at. As soon as she figured out there was a missing tooth - she promptly told on Caeli for having lost something so important!

This is a picture from about 7pm - can you tell that the gap has gotten wider? YEP! She lost both of her top front teeth in one day!

February 12th, News and Las Vegas!!

2009-02-12T21:25:00.006-06:00

I know our last post said we would post more and that was a month ago, but anyone who has been involved in the adoption process knows you have ups and downs! We have definitely had some downs in the last month and were told we couldn't adopt our little Miss M but didn't want to give up, so after a few agency changes, emails and phone calls all over the world, plus some days of doubt, we are pretty confident it is back on!! We can't list any specific details about our little one or post any pictures of her on the blog(although I do have some on my FB page and will continue to post some info there, email us if you don't know what FB is!)

So what have we done over the last month? Well since we were depressed and thought we were possibly done with this adoption, we did what anyone else would do....booked a last minute trip to Las Vegas...just the two of us! Finally after 11 years of marriage we had our honeymoon(we got married in Vegas) other than our Ukraine trip, Sheila and I have never been away from our kids since Michael was born(yes even when we got married, he was with us on our first honeymoon!) so this was unusual for us, we love our children dearly and never really wanted to be away from them, but this last six months has been a rollercoaster, so the time was right! And with the help of Granpa Hurley who took the girls and Michael for the week(thank you, thank you ,thank you! I have the best father in law in the world!!) Off we went hand in hand...the flight isn't too long so that was a breeze, especially compared to the crazy long flights to Ukraine we took last year, we left Minneapolis at a warm -5 degrees and landed to a balmy 50, it was t-shirt weather for us! The rental car set up was super easy and the car we got was pretty decent, a Chrysler Sebring I think it was, we're not used to anything smaller than the mini van or my truck, but it was sporty and we were in Vegas!

We stayed at the Four Queens on Fremont street which was a pretty nice hotel, not the fanciest place but very comfortable and clean. Our room was on the 7th floor which worried us at first because we were basically even with the Fremont experience which if you've never been to Vegas is a several block long 10 story structure that covers Fremont street and basically does a really cool overhead sound and light show, it's awesome to see, but kind of scary when you realize there are giant speakers right outside your hotel window. The shows run from about 6 PM to midnight so we were worried the sound would keep us up....ha...we were in Vegas!! Who goes to bed before midnight!?!?!?! Certainly not us on this trip...I think the earliest we went to bed was maybe one, so we didn't have to bother requesting a new room. The majority of our trip was spent wandering through all the casinos that have been built in the 11 years since we were there last and of course returning to the scene of the crim....er I mean our wedding :) We got married at the Rivera hotel and casino, so we had to tour the place. We had contemplated renewing our vows, but really wanted to save that for a time when the kids could be with us.

We did do a more traditional tourist activity and went to the Hoover dam our second day there. It's a must see if your in Vegas...man that thing is big! The water level when we were there 11 years ago was the highest ever, my how things have changed....judging by the pictures we took, it's lower than it has been in years, you can see the white on the cliffs around Lake Mead, that is the water level from 1997 so you can see how far down it has come. It's always kind of cool to see something that is so iconic and a marvel of engineering. Although I will say the art deco bathrooms were kind of weird, the urinals were....um....rather toilet looking and did not offer a whole lot of privacy if you happen to be in there while someone else is.

The highlight of the trip, besides the 3 foot tall daquri we shared on night 3, was Sheila hitting a Royal Flush on the video poker machine, so a $1.25 bet paid her a cool $1000.00, which of course she needed to compensate for her husbands ability to make money disappear into various slot machines and black jack tables....a real Clark Griswold I was on this trip, if you've seen Vegas Vacation, you'll totally get the reference, I don't think I could have won at rock, paper, scissors on this trip!! But she hit a hand that statistically speaking you might hit every 40,000 tries! it was very cool and we managed to snag a few pics of something we may not see again for along time!

The trip was great, we ate a lot, walked a lot, enjoyed summer like weather and got to hang out a lot, just the 2 of us and kind of recharge for another run at making this adoption happen. We were overjoyed to get home and see the kids though, even though it was only a 4 day trip, we were missing them like crazy by the end of it.....more to come...soon!!

January 11th, 2009 - Long time no blog....

2009-01-11T18:49:00.014-06:00

Sorry we haven't blogged in so long, it's been a busy month! We are hoping things get going on the adoption front, we ended up having to switch agencies again and some of the requirements of this new agency say we may have to pull all pictures and mention of Miss M. In the mean time we will recap our first Christmas with our Ukrainian princess, we don't really know if she celebrated it before, but she did take to it like a fish to water. The girls(and boy) had a magical holiday, putting up the tree(which we waited pretty much until the weekend before X-mas to do) was fun and the whole family got into it.

Daddy got new lightsabers for X-mas which the girls enjoy...the force is strong with these two!

Sheila's brother Brandon and his girlfriend Britney brought their new little cutie...Chase Patrick Hurley, he is a sweetie and the girls loved the real baby, Caelia very gently gave him kisses whenever she could.

Here in Minnesota this week, we are expecting a couple days with a daytime high of zero...yes that is zero degrees, we've been bundling the girls up as best we can aren't they cute??

The girls favorite gifts were the V-tech digital cameras, these things are pretty close to indestructable and they love them, each camera has a couple hundred photos on them. We'll be posting some of their handiwork in the near future.

Hopefully we'll have some travel news this week and can begin to book our flights, if all goes well we could have our new one home around April! Stay tuned.....

December 6, 2008 - A very long week

2008-12-07T22:37:00.004-06:00

It has been a very long week. Just a warning - this post is about icky things. Caelia, Lera and Michael all got sick - really sick. Vomitting, diarrhea, headaches and general yuck. This was my first experience with Lera being really sick. She threw up everywhere in her sleep and never woke up. She actually got mad at me and Randy for waking her to give her a bath and clean up her bed. Caelia woke up and sat watching Lera saying " poor nina". She tried to hug and kiss her but we wouldn't let her. It's amazing how a little bit (or a lot) of puke between sisters is negligiable. Caelia is sweet that way - she was less affectionate when Lera got diarrhea. Just as Lera quit throwing up, I heard Michael run for the bathroom, where he spent a better portion of the night. Caelia waited for morning to join the party.

Of course, as soon as the kids were on the road to recovery - Mama got sick. Mama got really sick. Randy stayed home because Mama was so sick. He went back to work for one day and the spent the next night being ill. He got much sicker than the rest and all of us spent 6 hours in the emergency room on Friday so that he could get rehydrated. I spent all day Sunday washing clothes and trying to set my house back to rights.

The goal this week is to get the house spruced up for the holidays and spend some time with the kids. We are going to make cookies and treats on Friday. Caelia loves to cook. She loves to help. So does Lera. Lera looks at the different utensils with a great deal of curiosity. Food was brought to her at the orphanage. She understands what the knives and forks are and even the spoons but rolling pins, cookie cutters and cookie presses are a mystery. She is also a bit mystified by plastic disposable spoons. I send yogurt, fruit snacks and a drink with them for snacktime at school - I also include a napkin and a plastic spoon. Well, since she throws them away at school, Lera has decided that we throw all spoons away. I have been trying to find my teaspoons all week and finally found a stash of them in my garbage can. I wonder how long she has been doing this?

November 27, 2008 - Thanksgiving through Lera's eyes...

2008-12-01T13:31:00.009-06:00

Most of the time, I kind of forget that life was different for Lera before she came to live with us. I can't really imagine life without her and she fits so well with us that I go along in kind of an euphoria - happy with my life and very happy with my family - for the most part, blissfully unaware that we are different. Thanksgiving reminded me of how much her life has changed.

She tends to come running when supper comes out of the oven or when I am fixing omlettes and sneaks little bites before anyone else gets a nibble. She gets such a happy grin when she scores these little treats that I don't have the heart to tell her no. My husband and other kids are just as bad for doing this, so I don't think about it. Thanksgiving made me think. I started cooking at 8am and I didn't notice at first but as the morning progressed I noticed that Lera was watching everything very intently. She exclaimed over the turkey as I was getting it ready for the oven. She stood on a chair and her and Caelia handed me potatoes to peel and then put them in the pot to boil. She talked very animatedly when she saw the BIG PLATE (turkey platter) and was in awe of the shiny dishes and silver.

Caelia came and went but Lera stayed right at my side. She clapped when the whipping creme became whipped cream like it was some special magic. She ate an enormous dinner followed by birthday cake (Happy Birthday, Randy!) and then came to sit by my side. She doesn't really like to hang around with the crowd, even though she knows them all. I asked her if she had enough to eat and she smiled and said YAH, rested her head against my side and patted my leg. She looked so very happy and content - I was left with the feeling that I had granted her some cherished dream.

It makes you think about the many things that we take for granted and may only remember on those special occasions. I like Thanksgiving day as much as anyone but I realized that there is so much that we obsess about (i.e. will the turkey be dry, will the stuffing turnout, how will I fit so many people at the table, etc.) that we forget what a true blessing it is just to have a full tummy, a house full of love and a place to sleep with someone to tuck you in. The little pink doll blanket was Caelia's attempt to make sure Lera was covered.

Another raffle - not ours but a good one...

2008-11-24T22:54:00.006-06:00

See this little cutie?
His name will be Ean Jones and he is waiting for his Mama and Daddy to come get him.
Could you help them - and maybe snag yourself a great prize? They are giving away two gift cards - $100 Toys-R-Us and $200 Visa - every $5 donation gets you entered into BOTH drawings. The Toys-R-Us gift card can be used online or in stores and the Visa gift card can be used ANYWHERE Visa is accepted. Please see the chip-in at the bottom of this post to enter.

October 31, 2008 - Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T10:46:00.008-06:00

I actually got a few pictures of my girls in their costumes. They didn't last very long trick or treating. Lera tires really easily. She has a very inefficient (although adorable) way of walking and running. She looks kind of like she is speedwalking when she is running. I suppose that is the "neuropathway issue" that she has. Caelia could keep going for miles but she was happy to be spending time with Grandpa watching Over the Hedge.

Lera really liked handing out candy and glow necklaces. She was very talkative and animated. I seriously doubt that any of the kids understood that she was chastising them but I have heard her give Caeli a talking to.

This was our house this year. The slow shutter speed makes it look like we have an angel coming to visit us or a ghost...
I have decided that after we are done with the adoption we really need a faster camera that also works for night shots. Caeli and Lera both change expression so quickly that it takes a fast camera or luck or both to catch them smiling. That should give you an idea on how many pictures we take - I love digital!

October 27, 2008 - Love handles...

2008-10-27T15:20:00.007-05:00

Ok - so everyone in my family has them - it doesn't mean we don't try to get rid of them. Caelia has a lot of problems with her tummy muscles so this is a common sight at our house. Lera has awful posture too but mostly she just likes to help Caeli with her exercises.Caelia and Randy have a lot of fun together - I wonder who burns the most calories, though? Just one more picture - the last warm one you are likely to see on this blog for some time. The temperature will dip into the teens tonight with 40mph wind gusts so here is a favorite warm weather photo. Can you believe that it was taken a week ago?

October 25, 2008 - A beautiful night for a party...

2008-10-26T23:56:00.016-05:00

We had a wonderful group turnout for our annual Halloween party. We saw friends and relatives that we haven't seen in much too long. Everyone had fun and ate lots of treats. We had some very adventurous kids and a few that were a bit put off by the spooky creatures inhabiting our yard - by the end of their stay, they were quite at ease with everything though.

I love seeing the kids in costumes! We don't dress in costume ourselves - not because we don't want to join in the festivities but because some children would be too scared if we were scary looking. I think that having us look normal helps them relax a bit.

We have a couple of structured activities and then we let the kids be kids. Running around in the darkened yard, playing tag and socializing. The first thing we do is hand out treat bags and let the kids explore the house and yard, then we make caramel apples.

Randy is in charge of activities - I spend my time getting things ready for the Pinatas. We have 2 pinatas - one for the little kids and one for the big kids. I love watching Randy with the kids - he is so patient with them and so much quicker than I am! I have failed to get out of the way of the swinging pinata stick in previous years so I get to take pictures now. This year we had some really excellent batters. Caelia and Lera both enjoyed this activity but Lera looked confused when all the kids descended on the scattered candy. She figured it out quick though!

Another favorite game is our Bite a Bat game. This was my answer to replace the bobbing for apples game. Disgusting game - not to mention too cold for Minnesota. Our game involves hanging a row of sugar cookies (shaped like bats) from strings suspended from the ceiling. The kids attempt to eat the cookie without using their hands. Whoever finishes their cookie first, gets to pick a prize.

I will post more photos of the house later this week. We need to use a special camera to take the pictures of the house in the dark. I may get a few of the girls in their costumes (fingers crossed). They refused to wear them for the party. I didn't want to push it too much because I think this was a bit overwhelming for Lera especially. She disappeared for into her room, popping out occasionally to swipe grapes from the bowl on the treat table but became more socialable when the kids had thinned out a bit. Caelia waited for the end of the evening to liberate an apple for herself

October 22nd - Get a strep test!

2008-10-22T22:03:00.002-05:00

I wanted to share this story with everyone I know and stress the importance of getting a strep test if you have a sore throat. It's truely unbelievable what happened to a friend of ours:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2008/10/22/tessman.strep.throat.kare

Rick's wife Jill was my boss when Caelia was born and I will never forget the things she did for us. We didn't know Caelia had DS and weren't prepared for it, it terrified us and was a confusing time. Jill told me to take as much time off as I needed and to not worry about using my vacation up, she made sure I got paid, even when we had to take Caelia back in to the hospital when she had jaundice.

We had the opportunity to meet Rick a few times and he is a great guy and a wonderful dad. You can read more about Rick and everything that happened to him at this site:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/rick-kemna

They are having a benefit for him to help pay for prostetic legs this Saturday, I wish we could go and give them support in person, but our annual Halloween party is scheduled at the same day and time. Please read Rick's story and think about sending a donation. Keep him and his amazing family in your prayers.

Thanks, Randy

October 10, 2008 - Have you seen this?

2008-10-10T12:42:00.005-05:00

This is the bag that I carried all through Ukraine. It can hold amazing amounts of stuff. It held my medication, passport, some money, a bottle of water, cell phone, camera, makeup and Russian phrase book. It straps across the front so it was always safe from pickpockets but easy for me to grab what I needed without digging. I love this bag and now that I have my new laptop - I love it more. My laptop fits in this bag. It pushes the flap up a bit but it fits and so does all the stuff from before except the bottle of water. Yes, the laptop is in this bag in this picture.Oh- this will make airport security go so much quicker and I don't have to carry Randy's impossibly heavy (after 22 hours) backpack around like some beleagured turtle. The laptop in the raffle is exactly like this one. The keyboard works great for me but I did have to get used to having a smaller control keys.

And that is a Curious George standard DVD (One of Lera's favorite!) just to give you a reference to the size.

October 9, 2008 - An unusual holiday

2008-10-08T22:16:00.016-05:00

Those of you who know us well are aware that we like Halloween. I mean really like Halloween. I like any holiday that I get to spend celebrating with my family. I love Christmas, adore Thanksgiving, rejoice on Easter and celebrate with the best of them on Independence Day. Halloween, however, has a special place in my heart.

I was 6 years old the first time I went trick or treating. It was wonderful. I was out at night (well past my usual curfew), I got to go door to door and collect candy and treats. I was Tinkerbell. I had the little green dress and wings and one of those awful plastic masks and a bright orange pumpkin to carry my loot home in. I remember walking up to one house that I had visited before and the guy at the door (not scary looking) reached out with a huge stash of candy in a (gloved) gory looking hand. He made one of those monster/villain laughs as he dropped it in my pumpkin. YAAA HA HAAAA! I said thank you and ran for the street where my dad was waiting and SMACK INTO A PARKED CAR! I have been hooked ever since. I was 6 years old and decided that good things aren't always easy to recognise, that my Dad was always there to dust me off and that the things that go thump in the night aren't always something to fear (trust me - a lot of people who witnessed my flight, laughed themselves silly once they realised I wasn't hurt).

Moon Pies are a great motivator for a 6 year old but you would think that I would have outgrown this love for Halloween. Not so! Every year we throw a Halloween party for all the children we know. We have lots of kids and adults that come to the party. Anyone can dress in costume who wants to - but its not mandatory. There is lots of food and games - even a pinata. The children run about with glow bracelets and drink Dragon's Blood Punch (a putrid looking mixture or grape juice, orange juice and Sprite that tastes pretty good) All food HAS to have a disgusting name to be Halloween party worthy. Most of all, I like that it is not at all solemn - it is a night when everyone is a kid and acts like a kid and no one thinks twice about it.
These are our Halloween Party invitations for this year. I made them from a photo we took of our house a few years back.

October 7, 2008 - Our walkway

2008-10-08T21:59:00.004-05:00

Randy and I spent a large amount of effort and time repairing our front walk. It was in pretty rough shape and we decided that it was better to do it ourselves and use the money for Masha than have someone else do it. We still believe that this was a good use of our time but if you had asked us mid-way through we might have given you another answer!

We decided that pavers were a better look for our house and I have to say that I am thrilled with the results (and no, we have no plans to do this with our driveway - 22ft was long enough)

This is the almost finished project. I forgot to take a picture of the finished version before we started decorating for Halloween (more on that next post)but what do you think? Does it look better than a concrete sidewalk with our house?

September 2, 2008 - Guess who's 6?!

2008-09-02T21:00:00.005-05:00

Our beautiful Valeria is 6 years old today! She got to celebrate with new classmates, friends and a family that loves her. Instead of being a day to fear and dread, her birthday found her standing in front of her first birthday cake, grinning from ear to ear while everyone sang "Happy Birthday". And yes, in the end she ended up with 3 birthday cakes, just like her sister Caelia.
You are probably reading this well after her birthday. I am terribly sorry but my girls love the camera and anytime mama is forgetful and leaves it within reach, they try their own pictures. I am certain they are wonderful photos - except that Caelia insists on pointing the camera at her own face (afterall - that is the part she sees most frequently) and all I get is a lovely pink blur. After they are finished with their photo session, they hide the camera and I spend days hunting it down. I found it!

August 24, 2008 - The Great Minnesota Get Together

2008-08-24T22:44:00.018-05:00

Otherwise known as the Minnesota State Fair. The Fair is an annual event in our house with extra importance because of Michael. Michael has proudly proclaimed that he has never missed a Fair in his life. He was barely a month old when we took him the first time. He also insists that he NEVER will miss a Fair. We are getting close enough to finished with our paperwork that it was a concern that we might miss this one. We are still waiting for our I171h to arrive. It always seems to be the sticking point in our adoptions. It is very frustrating - but I digress. The point of this post is the Fair.

There is about 2 hours of preparation that goes into an outing like this. First, there is the cooler and diaper bag. Caelia needs electrolytes - she dehydrates fast and most things upset her tummy and one of the best parts of the Fair is the food. So, water, ice, electrolytes. Medications, sunscreen, diapers and 3 changes of clothes for each girl (and a clean shirt for Mama and Daddy in case one of the princesses - probably Caeli - chucks up her cheese curds. The girls are really trying on the whole potty training thing - but they haven't quite got it down yet and the Fair is the last place to try to practice. Lines for the womens' room is always long.

Everything needs to fit into the stroller. We currently have a double jogging stroller. You wouldn't think that a stroller was a necessity for a 6 and an almost 6 yr old but Caelia does evenutally tire and Lera seems to tire easily. The stroller serves a couple of purposes. It is handy for containment purposes. You don't want to have to chase 2 girls running in opposite directions. It is a safety device. Not only does it keep them from wandering, it protects them from people who plow blindly through crowds and never mind the child that is tottering along in front of them (a personal pet-peeve - especially if they are walking with a lit cigarette at little face level). It saves Daddy's back. It saves Mama's back and shoulders. Shoulders because of how heavy the diaper bag with supplies gets to be. There are problems with the one we have - like we will soon need a stroller for 3 or 2 strollers.

We are thinking of getting the same stroller that Meredith has (http://cornishadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-won-lottery.html) It is practically impossible to find a stroller to accomodate 2 bigger kids but this one looks like it might do but anyone with another suggestion, please let us know. The Valco Baby stroller has a great feature - a toddler seat that can attach in the front for a third child to ride. Sounds like a plan to me - if it can accomodate my big girls.

Anyway, our current stroller will do while we have only two riders. It just requires a bit more effort. It is designed for a taller person (which I am not) and it has a fixed wheel in front so you need to pop a wheelie to make turns. This is a bit tough to do with over 100 pounds of precious cargo.

Grandpa and Uncle Ryan went with us. The girls were very excited. They were aware of going somewhere special but I don't think Caelia remembers it clearly and nothing in Lera's memories are like the Fair. As soon as we drove onto the fairgrounds, the girls were pointing and trying to get loose. Lera saw the Midway (where all the rides are) and started shrieking. We took her to a small carnival around Independence Day and had to carry her back to the car kicking and protesting when it was time to leave because she so wanted to go back to the games.

It was a beautiful day. Sunny, pleasant and very busy. Our first stop was the animal barns. Not a favorite of Michael or Ryan or Randy for that matter but the girls really like the animals. A very nice boy asked if the girls wanted to be his calf. She was very sweet and mostly stayed asleep. Lera was thrilled! Then we went to see the sheep and a wonderful lady introduced her to a lovely nanny goat. We saw bunnies and chickens and turkeys. We discovered that turkeys and chickens really hate Ryan. All he had to do was walk past one and it would get all ruffled and noisy. Lera had to touch everyone of the animals they had out to be petted. So much food. Pronto pups, turkey legs, milkshakes, caramel apples in a dish, pulled pork sandwiches, deep fried cheese curds, mini donuts, porkchop on a stick, pickle dogs and of course, the footlong hotdogs were great! Two ends - no waiting! Michael is such an anomally. In the midst of all of the noise and crowds, he finds a small garden and while the girls scarf down a "meatball sundae" he spent his time trying to coax a butterfly onto his finger to show his sisters. In addition to food and animals there are also rides. Oh, boy, the RIDES! Pictures discribe these better than I can.

By far, however, the best thing about the Fair is the MUSIC. Both Caelia and Lera seem to live for music and to dance. This is a bit tough when Mama has you buckled into the stroller but when you gotta dance...you gotta dance.

August 23,2008 - You could save a life!

2008-08-23T09:27:00.007-05:00

Want to do something worthwhile? Something that will make a huge difference in the world? Then vote on the American Express Members Project. No - you don't have to be a member (sign in as guest), no - it doesn't cost anything, and no - you won't get a bunch of spam. You've read our blog, I hope you've read other blogs. You can see the change that has already begun. Can you imagine the change that this project could make?

Click on the widget below and nominate the SAVE AN ORPHAN WITH DOWN SYNDROME project.

August 19, 2008- Mission accomplished!

2008-08-19T15:35:00.010-05:00

I managed to clean the girls' room before they could destroy it again. I took pictures just to prove it. Lera is very happy about the new arrangement. She likes where we moved her bed. She is so cute when she goes running to get into bed. She has come so far since we brought her home. She always went to sleep easy, really too easily. She didn't protest, she didn't dawdle - just into bed and fall asleep. She seemed somewhat baffled by our insistance of hugging and kissing her goodnight. Flash ahead six months and bedtime is a whole different story. She bounds into bed, wriggles around under the covers waiting for us to notice the giggling lump, then she pops up and tucks Mishka in next to her and waits (usually giggling) for us to say the official goodnights. Now we must say goodnight to Mishka, kiss Mishka, rub Mishka's nose and then we can move on the Lera's goodnight. Hug Lera, kiss Lera, rub Lera's nose...she manages to drag out goodnights a good ten minutes now. She still falls asleep within minutes.

Caelia has changed in six months too. She has gone from sleeping with us, to going to sleep in her own bed without anyone snuggling with her until she goes to sleep. She started out sleeping with us because she would choke during the night and we would have to get her upright. We tried this with her in her crib but it took so long to negotiate to her bedside that I thought it made her choking so much worse. As she grew out of the choking, we never could convince her that the big girl bed was as comfy as Mama and Daddy's bed. When Lera arrived, Caelia seemed to want to stay with her friend. She now goes to sleep on her own. I miss her but I do like having the ability to turn over at night. Still, she occasionally requests one of us to snuggle with her until she falls asleep.And in the time that I typed this short post, the two little storms have swept a path through their rooms again...oh, well, I know what I will be doing while they are at school tomorrow.

August 18, 2008 - Time for a little work

2008-08-18T12:17:00.009-05:00

As you can tell by the last video clip with the girls dancing- my living room is a mess. All those papers that were dumped out in the floor were part of my mad search for more documents that I needed to send to Russia. Yes, we are getting that close. Still waiting for the USCIS to send us our approval but that is about all we need. The paper I was looking for was a tiny receipt that had our fingerrprint ID's for our local Police clearance. Our fingerprints are still good so all I needed was to have them pull the records and re-run the background check - this would save Randy from leaving work during the fragile 2 hour window that they give you on Fridays to be fingerprinted. It is a mountain of paperwork and a lot of effort to complete an international adoption but I think these are worth it.
However, my livingroom is nothing compared to the girls' room. Michael very aptly calls the girls Hurricane Caelia and Tsunami Lera. Today we will be working on making their room sparkle. We also need to think about arranging their room to accomodate a new arrival. The room is plenty big enough - if you remove all the excess toys. We are working on the outside of the house, so the familyroom in the basement is on hold. In Minnesota the season for home improvement to the outside of the house is pretty short - especially if you are trying to pack as much playing in the warm summer sunshine as possible!

I will be posting at least every other day as we approach our travel. At least, that is the goal - blogging is hard to do with 110 pounds of squirming, giggling girls on your lap.

August 17, 2008 - A little bit of fun

2008-08-18T11:13:00.008-05:00

First, there was swimming: Then there was playing outside: There was even time for a little artwork by Caelia. She chose a bright pink nail polish as her medium and added her artwork to herself, the sofa and the livingroom carpet:)

And then it was time for some dancing. Lera throws herself into this with great enthusiasm. Caelia was very tired but still determined to dance the night away.

If you listen to the last clip with sound you can hear Lera excitedly saying "Lera!" over and over. That was not: "its Lera's turn" but her looking at the camera as I was taking the clip of Caelia. Even she gets confused...

August 6, 2008 - Questions

2008-08-06T09:50:00.005-05:00

Ok, we get a lot of questions - the most common, "Are they twins?" I try to answer the curious questions graciously. I'm not known for my tactfulness but I figure if having a question answered makes them more comfortable with the next person with Down syndrome they meet - or helps them realize it's not such a tragedy if someone is born in their family - then that's a good thing, right? I also love to talk about my kids.

Over the course of the years, I have been asked if Caelia has Down syndrome in unique ways. I had a little boy ask if she was "retarded?" His mom tried to disappear but I wasn't really offended - I just told him that she has Down syndrome and that means she learns a bit slower. He was happy to continue playing with her - but he did slow down his instructions to her. My favorite was a cashier at Target who looked at the girls and asked if they were twins or did we get "special angels" twice.

We went out to eat with both girls this weekend - Michael was playing with a friend. Caelia sits pretty well while waiting for service - Lera tries to crawl under the table, lay down on the bench. etc. We sit in a corner whenever possible and contain the girls by sitting on either side so they don't escape and disturb other diners. On this particular outing, I heard a loud voice from the table across from us say - Oh! she's really pretty! I said, "thank you, so is her sister if she would come out from under the table", and continued coloring with Caelia. A few minutes later - right behind me I hear, "Are they twins?" and turned to see this woman had come across and was standing next to our table.

"No, they are 3 months apart. We just adopted Lera from Ukraine"
She looked at Caelia. "is she from Mongolia?" Ok - this is a new one.
"do you mean, mongoloid? She has Down syndrome, yes"
"She's pretty but the other one is prettier" (OMG!)pause "She doesn't understand me, right?" (which one? Caelia is looking at you like that because she just doesn't like you)
"Is it expensive to adopt?" - "you should go to Reeces Rainbow if you would like more information" (sorry, Andrea)
"Are they hard to keep?" (they're not dogs!!!!!)
"I would like to adopt one" --- "It's VERY expensive"
We paid our bill and tried to leave as quickly as possible before this woman was anymore offensive.

I didn't chew her out for two reasons. One, OMG!!!!!! I just couldn't register what she was saying and two, I serious began to wonder if she were "slow" herself and perhaps, no one had ever told her.

Not everyone is as enlightened as I would like to believe but this was the most obnoxious, that I can recall. Sorry for the negative post - I just couldn't wrap my brain around this person's perspective.

August 5, 2008 - Wisconsin Dells

2008-07-25T15:20:00.013-05:00

Ok, so I missed blogging about our trip to the Dells. We stopped at the Dells between Tomah and Sheboygan. It is still a fun place to be - even without the Lake. We didn't want to get wet as we were on our way to a waterpark resort so we went to the Deer Park and let the boys (and this includes Randy) go go-cart racing.

The Deer Park is expensive but you can spend as much time as you would like there. For a family of 6 (with 6 packets of food to feed the deer) it cost $70. I am sure there are coupons and such but we weren't staying in the Dells, so purchasing a book didn't make sense. For those of you who have never ventured into the deer park, there are various species of deer, some goats, rabbits, a raccoon and a couple of lemurs. You can feed the animals with hooves.

Some are kept behind fences with their own kind but there are lots of them wandering free. I shouldn't say wandering that implies an aimless meandering. These animals are on a mission and they know that the kids give up those crackers much easier than adults so they attach themselves to a child until they have relieved said child of all his/her crackers. Michael is a prime target. This deer loved Michael. He followed him after the crackers were gone.
These deer have not met many Ukrainian former orphans. Lera was not about to give up her crackers without considerable effort on the part of the deer and once they got a cracker from her there was no guarentee that she wasn't going to take it back. She smiled the whole time though. We didn't get a great photo of her doing this with the deer but she treated the goats with the same determination.

Caelia is much more soft hearted. She tried repeatedly to feed this sitting deer. Unfortunately, the deer was so stuffed that no amount of conjoling by Caelia could get her to eat even one bite more. She did figure out a few tips from Lera however...
Generally, you see small groups of deer but if you sit quietly and wait you may just get mugged by the whole herd.
Randy had to tell them to back off!

July 19, 2008 - Lake Michigan

2008-07-20T20:35:00.014-05:00

One of the things we really think is important for our kids is to expose them to new experiences and new places. For Michael, this can be challenging. He likes things just so and he wants to stay close to home. That being said, he throws himself into our outings with enthusiasm and will talk about the places and the things we do with great pleasure. For our girls, and most especially Lera, seeing the world and interacting with a variety of people is great for them. Most people we meet are tolerant if the girls are too friendly. Lera is really bad for touching other people. She has a wonderful view that the everyone adores her and she adores just about everyone. Caelia is like that to a lesser extent. We are still teaching them about personal space but I believe that if they meet enough people and are exposed to varied environments and social situations, the easier they will fit into society as adults. The world is such a wonderful place and our kids have a view of it like no other. I like seeing the world through their eyes.

Our trip this weekend was to Lake Michigan and Door County, Wisconsin. This is a long car ride but this is some place that I had heard about and it seemed like a reasonable distance for a weekend trip. We got a late start on Thursday because Lera had her cardiology appointment, audiology appointment and C-spine xray so we stopped in Tomah, Wisconsin. We stayed at a wonderful place called The Cranberry Lodge. We had a 1 bedroom suite with a futon in the bedroom and a king size bed with another futon in the living room. Michael and Christopher slept in the living room and the girls slept on the futon in the bedroom with us. Oh, and for anyone wondering...Christopher is our sometimes child. He is Michael's best friend and spends lots of time with us, but he does have another home - we are just lucky to have him around.

Our next stop was Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The resort itself was beautiful and the room was fantastic. (It's part of the Great Wolf Lodges and has a very kid friendly atmosphere) The girls loved the waterpark. They really don't like the deeper water, so they stay in the "under 6 inches of water" infant play area. It had geysers and all sorts of knobs to turn and water that sprayed from all sorts of pipes. They loved laying down in the water but they would not go down the kiddie water slides (where the water is about 18 inches deep). Oh, well baby steps. Michael, Christopher and Randy were playing on the slides until the park closed at 10pm. There were lots of activities available for the kids in the resort but we didn't participate. These are things that are best suited to a long vacation, where the kids are more comfortable with the routine. We did go and enjoy the beach. It was 20 degrees cooler by the resort then it was 5 miles away. A bit too cold for playing in the water but Lera did give it her best attempt. She didn't really make it into the water but she played in some very wet sand. When we left the next morning we walked out on the pier. The fog is amazing on Lake Michigan. Half way out on the pier, we could no longer see the resort or the far end of the pier. We could hear the fog horns blaring though.

Our last stop was in Sturgeon Bay. This is in Door County. It is beautiful here. It almost feels like New England. The canal in Sturgeon Bay that connects the two sides of the of the peninsula created to make Green Bay accessible without having to navigate "Death's Door" - the colorful name for the waters. One of the reasons for the name is that it is said that it is the site of more shipwrecks than any freshwater body of water and rivals some parts of the ocean for the same title. One story involving Native Americans has one tribe building a ring of campfires on thin ice offshore, to woo their enemies through the strait overnight. The attackers perished on the way. The canal has a lovely park where the kids played. I tried teaching the girls how to whistle using a blade of grass. They liked this a whole lot more than Randy did. Lera and Caelia both managed to make a noise with me holding the blade of grass.

Michael fell off the swings and scraped up his back and then disappeared for a while and came back with a present for his mama. A water lily. Michael tries so hard to bring me one. These are not easy to come by and it usually ends up with Michael soaked and empty handed. He triumphed on this occasion and made his Mama teary eyed. He still ended up soaked.

Both Randy and I are very fond of lighthouses. If there is one in a reasonable driving distance - we're there. We stopped at Lighthouse. This is under the control of Homeland Security so you can't get too close but you can see the lighthouse and once again it was foggy so you could hear the fog horn. There is a public beach right next to the lighthouse that we played on. Caelia, Lera and I walked in the waves. Lake Michigan is cold but not as icy as Lake Superior and the rocks on the shore are completely different - if you notice that sort of thing. The boys wandered away in the fog and Randy had to chase them down and bring them back. The girls and I played in the waves and searched the beach for treasures. We found several very pretty rocks, a small whole shell and a tiny blue crab claw, leftover from some sea gull's lunch.

We stayed at the Stone Harbor Resort in Sturgeon Bay. It was a beautiful resort and an awesome suite. The boys got the sofa sleeper and a rollaway bed. Michael got the rollaway because he had scraped his back pretty badly on the swings at the park. Actually, he scraped it falling off the swing onto the wood chips below. Honestly, we thinks wood chips are a good thing in a play area? Ouch!

The girls shared our room. They liked the beds but they were thrilled with the huge whirlpool in the bedroom. While the boys swam and Randy went to work out, they spent over an hour in their own private pool. I wish I had been able to get a picture but the battery was dying on the camera and I grabbed the wrong charger. We definitely have too many electronics, It was a very good vacation. I really needed the break and it was good to have time with just the kids and Randy.

July 12, 2008 - Big brother Michael

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I don't mention Michael nearly enough. He really is a lot of fun and he is so very helpful. The girls adore him and look up to him. Michael is by far their favorite plaything. If Randy is not out with me, Michael gets carts, opens doors, helps get kicking little girls into their seat in the grocery cart. They are really too big for this but I don't want them running amok in the store and sometimes I need to get things done without my other half. We are working on behaviors but these things take time and they still insist on eating.

July 4, 2008 - Happy Independence Day!

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Our Independence Holiday actually started on July 3rd. We took the kids to the Taste Of Minnesota. It's a sort of festival - lots of carnival food, rides and live performers. We went later in the evening with my Dad and my brother, Ryan. We had tried to go to another festival last weekend where there were fireworks and discovered that Lera is about as pleased with fireworks as she is with electrical storms. As soon as she heard the first boom, she became agitated and we had to take her back to the car. We stayed for the rest of the fireworks (Caelia and Michael love them) and I sat with Lera in the car. I turned up the music really loud but she insisted in getting in her car seat and buckling herself in. I would say, "Look Lera, aren't they beautiful?" To which she answered with a gruff and commanding "GO!"

We thought we would try the fireworks at the Taste of Minnesota because we could park far enough away that she wouldn't hear the boom so much. It was really busy but it was nice to get out with my brother and Dad. The girls mostly like the rides. The only real good picture that I got was of them on an octopus ride. I really need to get a camera with a faster shutter speed - they never stop moving!

Michael and Christopher stayed out in the tent last night. It was a perfect night for camping even if it is in the backyard with an extension cord to power a fan and extra lights and a cellphone. Michael then spent the day with his Auntie Lori. He had a lot of fun. He proclaimed this to have been the BEST 4th of July ever.

We also took the kids swimming at my Dad's house since I last posted. Caelia seems to have regressed and doesn't care for the water anymore. She has always been a bit cautious but she just wouldn't cooperate this time, so we spent a lot of time on the steps splashing. Lera's first swimming experience was a great one. She is a little clingy (a good thing in my opinion) but she loves the water and is catching on to the basics of swimming really quickly. The pool is indoors (the only way to have one in Minnesota) so the chlorine levels are lower - very important for a little girl with sensitive skin - and it is always warm. Even in mid-January, the temperature is 82 degrees Fahrenheit, so we will be swimming a lot this year. I want to get both girls swimming as soon as possible. If you live in the land of 10,000 lakes, being able to swim is a necessity.

June 23, 2008 - A trip to Duluth

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Well, this is actually from 2 weeks back, but I am a bit behind in my blogging.

Duluth is a beautiful city on the shore of Lake Superior. It is a favorite of Michael. He loves Canal Park and is always enthusiastic about a trip to the North Shore. We usually take his best friend, Christopher with us and they have a wonderful time.

We decided to try the surrey bicycles this time. It is a nice way to see the lake, get a bit of exercise - ok, a lot of exercise if you are carting 110 pounds worth of shrieking, giggling girls - and not end up carrying girls who want to run and play in the water. It was a beautiful day, but I wouldn't recommend swimming in Lake Superior. Even at the hottest point of the summer the water is icy cold.

We rode to the end of the park, out to the lighthouse, under the Lift Bridge - we even got to see one of the very large ships go under the bridge and the back to the rocks on the shore. Randy and I pedalled the traditional surrey bike and the boys each drove a roadster model. It was a beautiful day. Both Caelia and Lera loved going so fast, with the breeze blowing in their faces. They weren't particularly thrilled with the helmets however!

After our bike ride, we went to the park to chase seagulls and play and climb amongst the rocks. The rocks provide protection for the shore from Lake Superior. The wind blows all the time and the water is very rough. Lake Superior is one of two or three (I can't remember at the moment which) lakes which have riptides. The other one that I know of is in Russia. Michael would be willing to spend the whole day climbing amongst these boulders. He always finds treasures - rocks and pieces of debris - that have washed up on the shore or been dropped by other visitors.
Caelia and Lera spotted the horse-drawn carriages and became very excited. This is kind of expensive but really enjoyable and informative. Our driver had lots of wonderful trivia about the area (she was the one that told me about riptides). Lera had 2 firsts this day - first bike ride and first carriage ride, I think she enjoyed both immensely. Our driver allowed Caelia and Lera to take the reins for a little bit. Lera wasn't sure about this, but Caelia was very pleased. Caelia loves carriage rides. She sits up very tall, smiles at everyone she sees and does the best "parade wave" that I have ever seen. My brother, Brandon, was Mr. Columbia Heights and taught her the wave when she was about 3 and she has been doing it ever since.

June 20, 2008 - Would you call this therapy?

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I walked past the girl's room and this is what I saw:

Both of the girls really love the dvd, Alvin and the Chipmunks. I like to see them dance but this is the reason for adding plexiglass over the window panes.

June 17, 2008 - One month later...

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Well, not quite a month but a very long time since I have posted. It certainly has been busy. We should have a copy of our updated homestudy today and then we are just waiting on the USCIS to give us our approval. I really hope it goes faster this time.

Both Caelia and Lera had their Down Syndrome Clinic appointments. Minneapolis Children's Hospital has a great place to coordinate care for kids with Down syndrome. It was pretty routine for Caelia (she's been here before) but Dr. Moore is a very nice man with lots of suggestions about potty training, nutrition and keeping Caelia from escaping (more about this later).

Valeria's appointment was a bit more complicated. She will need spinal x-rays, a hearing test and an echocardiogram. These are all regular tests for children with Down syndrome that she would have had as she grew - they also reassure mama and daddy that she is alright. Her gait is another issue. I mean the way she walks is a bit odd - especially when she starts to walk fast or run. Dr Moore's diagnosis is that she hasn't developed the neuropathways that are necessary to process the transitions required to walk or run on varying surfaces. I guess what he is saying is that she spent her whole life on concrete floors and very flat orphanage playgrounds in hard leather shoes, so she isn't able to compensate for things like grass and sand and running up hill. The therapy for this is playing in the grass and sand and climbing up hills. We can do this. She may never have the ease of walking that Caelia does but Caelia will never have Lera's talent for climbing.

Valeria climbs like a monkey. She climbs over the wrought iron fence in our front yard and over the deck railing. She climbs up the outside of the stairs. She climbs over the top of anyone in her way to getting to her spot on Daddy's lap. She is teaching these skills to Caelia. We will be putting in a higher fence.

We put in a play area for the girls. We will eventually put in a new climber, for now they have their little tykes play stuff and a sandbox. We put a retaining wall in to pretty up the area and I like being rid of the railroad ties - I always worry about bees. I think it looks nice. The girls played outside the whole time. We looked up at one point from digging to see both girls had stripped naked and were running about in the breeze. They were not happy when we re-dressed them. Caelia was so disgruntled with us that she took herself off to the front yard. After about 5 minutes we went to check on her and could not find her. And although all the gates were locked, we sent Michael out on his bike and I searched the house. Randy got in the van and was just pulling away when I saw him hit his brakes and back up. He got out of the car and pointed. She had never left the yard. She was hiding under the peony bushes. She was mad so she didn't choose to answer when we called her name. I will be really happy when her tracking bracelet arrives.

Caelia has made some wonderful advances since Lera arrived. I can't recall how many hours we worked twisting the tops off of bottles to improve her fine motor skills. She finally did this on her own. I am very proud of her. She decided she wanted to paint (Caelia likes art) so she went to the art cabinet and helped herself to the tempra paint. Brand new bottle (seal intact) of beautiful fire engine red. She opened it and walked through the house dribbling it as she went. She poured a puddle in the kitchen, one in her room and one in Lera's room. I should have known something was up - Lera was whining and saying Caelia and looking very unhappy. So I left the laundry and walked upstairs to see what was happening. I was greeted with little red foot prints trailing across my living room rug. I found Caelia in her room with both arms covered to the elbow in red paint. BATH TIME!!!! Then it was time to steam clean the carpet. Randy asked while we were steam cleaning if I was sure that I wanted another little one? YES. I didn't need to think about the answer much. I may not like cleaning up these messes but I never think of these messes as anything but normal kid messes - they just occur a bit more frequently and a bit longer than other kids. And while, it may be debatable that my little brother Ryan is typical, he managed to set the bathroom on fire trying to perform some sort of Harry Potter magic experiment at the age of 13, so a bit of paint is nothing catastrophic. Neither is food coloring, which she found a week later and poured all over Lera and herself. Too bad it was Father's Day and Randy had taken our camera (and Michael) to the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum. Caelia and Lera did look adorable as Easter egg colored girls and oh! did I wish I had the camera.

Kids will be kids. And I know that I will have many opportunities to photograph their messes in the future. Until then I will make sure to pick out furniture and carpet that washes or hides stains well. Won't wear white t-shirts and pants. And will plant the flower gardens with plants that aren't poisonous and have enough flowers for little girls to pick them and give them to everyone they see.

May 21, 2008 - Caelia is 6 years old today!

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It's hard to believe that it was 6 years ago today that my Caelia was born. She had Randy wrapped around her little fingers by the time she drew her first breath and her brother the moment that he saw her. She has that effect on people. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the first months.

May 18, 2008 - Mall of America

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We took Caelia to Friends 2B Made at Mall of America on Sunday for her Birthday - I can't believe she's going to be 6 years old on Wednesday! Anyway, there are 2 kinds of dolls that you can make, we chose the Sweetheart Dolls for the girls. Think of this place as kind of a girly-girl Build-A-Bear. The dolls are great soft sculpture dolls that the girls got to stuff. Followed by a little dance with a satin heart that they got to put in their new baby doll. After the doll was all stitched shut you move to these adorable little salon chairs where the girls got to use little hair dryers and plastic curling irons to primp their creations. We had to finally pull them away to pick out new clothes and shoes. It was interesting to see their choices - completely on their own they chose their outfits. Caelia was definitely All-American - tennis shoes, stretch pants and a pretty tunic. Lera's choice was completely Ukrainian - high heeled leopard prints shoes, jeans with sparkles and a bright top with sparkles. The amazing part about this is that they were perfectly matching tops, bottoms and shoes. I don't dress this well. Also, for all you moms with looking for a down syndrome doll - Lera's doll has the famous ds piggies (Caelia's does not) they also have the same shaped hands as my girls.
Caelia adores her new doll and carries it with her everywhere. Lera plays with hers but likes to play with the Kitchen stuff more. The plus side of this is that there is absolutely no arguments about whose doll it is. I would suggest letting your daughter check out the website before visiting the store. It is very exciting and hard to just pick one at the store for them but it was much easier at home, so when the indecision came - I knew which one they had picked away from the bustle of the Mall.

We then went to Underwater World. We love this place as well. We have a family membership and go there frequently but this was our first visit with Lera. The alligators were really surprising. I didn't notice there were 2 in the tank until Grandpa lifted Lera up to see the top better and he came leaping up trying to nip her. I can't say how much I love Plexiglas! I don't know how those of you in Florida can be so nonchalant about this dinosaurs. We only got a few pictures because I forgot to charge the camera before we left. Next time...

We finished off our adventure with a trip to the Rainforest Cafe. Caelia loves this place. It has good food and it is kid friendly ---- unless you don't like thunderstorms. Yes, Mama forgot that Lera is afraid of storms. I feel awful that I forgot. When the first one came through, we had just sat down and it didn't seem to really register with her what it was. The second time she looked uncertain and whimpered a bit and I really hoped we would be gone before it happened again but it was busy and crowded so no such luck. The third time the lightening crashed and it thundered she started crying and trying to hide against me. Fortunately, about the time I was thinking that I needed to get her out of there it stopped but she had had enough. I think she handled the largest Mall in the US like a superstar.

May 19, 2008 - Warm and Sunny

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It was a great, picture perfect day. So I snapped a few pictures of the girls playing in the yard. Randy was watering the flowers and the girls helped. The water sprayer is Caelia's favorite.

I also thought I would try uploading a small video. I don't know if any of you have seen Valeria at play, but this shows her just being her. I can't seem to get the volume to work right (so you hear my very loud voice) but she says Mama.