The people that got us through

I can officially say we are a family of 3! Of course getting to this point was not without its challenges. Lena and Andrei were scheduled to pick us up at 11:00 to take us to the orphanage. Of course there was a problem and Lena called to say they were running 20 minutes behind. 11:20. Phone rings. Running another 15 minutes. In the span of 40 minutes I think I went pee 4 times. (I have a nervous bladder of sorts)

When they finally arrived we gathered up our gifts and headed down to the van. Come to find out Andrei had a flat tire. So the delay was understandable. Especially when you see the roads here.

We pulled up to the orphanage and tried to snag one of the little booties they make you wear, but the babushka there was having no part of that.

Tatiana was out for the moment so we went straight to his groupa. The children were just finishing up with lunch and getting ready for nap time. They were giving our boy a wash so he was presentable for his mama and papa. They actually asked me for the clothes that we brought so they could change him. I was surprised. I always thought that it was one of our parental tests. The babushkas watch you while you diaper and dress the child. Guess they think I’ll manage just fine.

We waited for Pickle (yeah, I’m gonna stick with that) in the little caregiver office and there it was. The sound we knew we would hear. One unhappy and crying boy. We knew it was coming. Right from the first trip. We knew there would be much fit pitching when we left. Sho Nuf.

The pants we brought were much too big, but he still looked cute. The babushkas didn’t seem to get the daddy dress so they didn’t put the t-shirt over the longsleeve like I wanted. Oh well. We were able to snap a photo of him and one of the caregivers. They also gave us back the disposable camera we left and a little album with 3 baby photos in it. I forgot to mention that Tatiana gave us one of his baby photos while we were waiting for the judge’s decision yesterday.

Since Pickle was so unhappy, it was best that we say a quick good-bye and head downstairs to say our last good-bye to Tatiana. We gave her the stocking caps from Tracy’s Grandma and she was just in love with them. Thanks Tracy! We also gave her the gifts we brought and she walked us to the font door. Tatiana kissed Pickle gave me a warm hug and said, “Spaceeba!” That was it. A quick in, grab the boy, and out. We did stop for a photo in front of the door with the sweet smell of freedom. Oddly it smells a lot like orphanage.

Pickle calmed down once he saw the machina we were to ride in. His little eyes were fixed on everything passing by. Soon the eyelids became heavy and he drifted off for a little nap on the ride home. His slumber was so rudely interrupted by having to get out of the car.

Once in the apartment CS took him on a tour. “This is the foyer, this is the living room, this is the bedroom and this is the kitchen.” It was a short tour.

Since naptime was scheduled (according to the caregivers) for 12:30 we thought we would lie down and try to get him to sleep. Sure… 12:30. That worked out well. Pickle was having no part of nap time. He was most concerned that we removed the oversized pants and he was wearing socks and a onesie. He was fixated on his jeans sitting on my end table. Seeing as naptime was a no go, we threw on some sweats and let him explore.

We pulled out a few of the toys he is familiar with and he played a little, but he really likes to put everything back on the shelf. I suppose this is because this is the way it is in the orphanage. If he wants to clean up that is fine by me. I could tell that missing his nap was not going to be a good idea so we tried to lay down again. I did forget to mention that earlier I tried to put him in the “crib” we have just to watch him crawl out. Yeah, that’s not going to fly.

The second go around with naptime eventually resulted in a crying baby, a crying mama and papa saving us both. Pickle is a rocker. Big time! He lies in bed and rolls himself violently back and forth to make himself sleep. If you have never witnessed this before it can be disturbing. But to watch your own child do it is 1000 times worse. We did find that if we just lay with him and hold his hand he does it less and eventually falls asleep.

So our first few hours of parenting have been successful! We put the baby down for a nap, had limited crying (even if it was me) and he seems happy and likes us both!

I am still working on finding out when we can post photos. Please be patient. I want to do everything by the book since I got nabbed a little for posting the photo of Little A (after he was adopted) on the other blog. Better go check on my boy. I am expected to feed him a snack when he wakes up so I better be ready!