Crowley Adoption 2007

Please see our newest Blog!

2008-05-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

Well, we're transitioning over to the Crowley Family Blog. As life moves on, we decided we no longer needed the adoption blog, but will post pics and updates on our new blog.

Please visit us at http://crowleyfamilyblog.blogspot.com/

All the best to everyone!

2007-12-13T08:33:00.000-08:00

Check out my babies. Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year!

Three Baby Showers, A Birthday and Other Family Pics

2007-10-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

~Michael's Team at Yahoo! Celebrates the Arrival of Baby Drew~

~Friend Melanie Hosts a Baby Shower/Birthday Party For Drew~

Melanie was kind enough to host a baby shower for family and friends. Everyone enjoyed welcoming Drew to the family...even Drew!

We also used this gathering to celebrate Drew's 1st Birthday

since we couldn't be with him in May.

Liam scopes out what piece he wants...

~Drew's Aunt's and Grandma Welcome Drew's Arrival~

Aunt Kath makes an awesome diaper cake!

A collection of Drew's baby announcement, a Matryoshka doll, two Russian cups and a spoon brought home from Nizhniy Novgorod and the lyrics to "Somewhere Out There", which we deemed to be a song written about our little Drew.

And a yummy cake!

After 14+ weeks of maternity leave and spending lots of time at home with Drew, I think we're all doing really well with the integration of Drew to the Crowley home. Mom is back to work and Drew is adjusting really well to Kindercare with all his new friends. Liam LOVES having a baby brother and is very tolerant of the little fire ball that has entered our lives.

Drew is very eager to see what's behind every corner and get into anything and everything that he shouldn't. Having said that, he is really developing a bond with both Michael and I and for that we are thankful. I believe it took about 8-9 weeks for Drew to actually want to be picked-up and held by one of us and close to 11 weeks before he would rest his head on our shoulders and hug us. These are the things that Mom's and Dad's yearn for and yet, not ever having received this attention, Drew was completely uninterested. And, these are the things that teach your children that your parents are special people and that they are the ones you should look to for love, advice and general help and guidance. That's why the bonding part is so important with an adopted one. So, Michael and I really feel like a lot of that has taken place and we feel confident that we will continue to build our relationship with Drew, as we have with Liam.

So, in summary (not really!) we're all adjusting nicely to the addition and the chaos that it brings. We definitely feel like we have a three ring circus sometimes, but it's all worth it and we look forward to the twins that are on the way...JUST KIDDING! :-)

Enjoy the pictures and thanks for checking the blog. xo

This picture was taken while Mom was in Florida at Turk's wedding...while the cats away...

[insert boys in underwear/diapers on stairs]

Liam desperately wanted Mom to take a pic of he and Drew both in their car seats drinking the infamous Goat Milk. :-)

This is Drew's first experience with being in water...he was very concerned and did not initially enjoy it at all. Within 15 minutes, Dad had him walking around the pool and giggling!

Pictures from our Arrival Home

2007-07-04T16:48:00.001-07:00

A few photos of Drew's arrival home and meeting Liam for the first time. Also, some cute pics of the boys together. Enjoy!

Finally...Some Pictures! More To Come...

2007-07-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

Below are a few pics of our visit in Moscow and the apartment we stayed in for a few days.

We Made it Home!

2007-07-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

Well, Grandma Kia, Drew and I embarked on our adventure back home on Friday, June 29th, one day earlier than planned (thank goodness!). While we tried to enjoy our time in Moscow, we were ready to head home and begin our lives together.

We had a nice afternoon the day before we left. There was another couple there with us going through the process, so after we got the passports and visas for the boys, we headed to the Kremlin to have one more walk around. It was a beautiful afternoon...that is until it started POURING RAIN and we had to quickly seek shelter next to a McDonalds! But, we enjoyed a little walk around the Kremlin and were able to see the Changing of the Guard, which was cool.

Once we returned back to the room, it was a race to pack everything before Drew needed to go to bed. Mom and I were almost completely packed by 8pm and in bed shortly thereafter, ready to wake-up in the morning and head to the airport.

We had a fairly uneventful trip to the airport, other than trying to get all our luggage crammed into the tiny elevator in the apartment building we were staying in (aka the bunker). Once we arrived at the airport, it was a waiting game, but Drew was being a little trooper in his stroller. I tried the Benedryl tactic, you know to open his ear tubes and hopefully relieve any pressure in take-off. Well, it had no physical affect on him, unlike Liam who completely passes out for about 1-1/2 hours. Yikes were we in for a LONG trip home. Until, Drew did fall asleep on take-off. Well, I'm think "this is great" the medicine did finally kick in and he'll sleep for hours...or not! He slept for 1 hour before he woke up reinvigorated. :-( Mom and I literally passed him back and forth (thank goodness we bought a seat for him!) for the next SEVEN (7) hours until it was about 10:30pm russian time. Drew finally fell asleep for three hours, which was awesome. Only catch is that he would flip around and almost roll off the seat, so we had to stay awake to monitor his flipping. So, basically, my Mom and I pulled an all-nighter...not like the old days. :-)

Anyway, we all made it safe and sound and even connected to our Southwest flight to Oakland. Michael had parked the car and he and Liam met us at baggage claim (which I didn't expect). Liam was SO excited to see Drew, he blew right past me and went straight to Drew and hugged and kissed him. It was so very precious. Liam even wanted to push Drew around in the stroller while we waited for luggage.

Ah, so nice to be home!

All my best to Nancy and Sophia and Chris, Jackie and Costen! We had an amazing experience and I'm so happy were were able to share it together!

Stay tuned for pics as my techie hubby posts them. (CD's will be sent to the Lentine and Line's.)

It is official!

2007-06-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

Well, it's even more official, Drew has a passport and visa and we're heading home tomorrow! Mom, Drew and I will arrive at the Oakland airport around 8:30pm and we'll anxiously await our reunion with Daddy and Liam!

Hope to catch-up with everyone soon.

The Journey Continues......

2007-06-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

Well, since the last post many things have happened on our Russian adventure.

On Sunday, Mom arrived via train fro Moscow in the evening. We got somewhat settled and then we said farewell to Michael who was taking the overnight train back to Moscow. His train arrived around 8am and then he did some sightseeing with his driver, Sasha, before heading to the airport. He arrived home on Monday night and kissed his baby boy goodnight!

Mom and I went to the Police dept on Monday in NN to get Drew's passport. We couldn't get a ticket for the over night train, so we got a good night sleep in the hotel and took the 8am train on Tuesday and arrived in Moscow at 2pm to TONS of traffic. We checked into our apartment (we call it our "bunker-which is a whole story in and of itself!) and then did lots of immigration paperwork for US Embassy appointment the next day. Then, exhausted and hot (it's humid here), we walked a few blocks to do some grocery shopping and the three of us hauled our load back to the apartment, had dinner and passed out!

Today, Wednesday, we all went to the international adoption pediatrician, which is a requirement to get a visa. He passed with flying colors and the doc nicknamed him "buddha belly". I think there were a few times we called Liam the same! After the doctor appointment, Mom sat in the car with Drew while I went to the US Embassy to submit paperwork and request the visa for Drew.

After all the adoption work was done we asked to be taken to an area called Arbat. There is a pedestrian walkway and we had lunch at....The Hard Rock Cafe; such the adventurers! Then we walked the street and shopped and enjoyed the fresh air. Drew was such a trooper all day. It was good for us to get out and about for a change. Once home, Drew went down for a 2 hour nap and so did Mom and Baba Kia (Grandma Kia).

We've had a pretty lazy evening around the house and Drew went to bed early.

Tomorrow we are free in the morning and then head back to the US Embassy around lunch time. After we're done, I think we will be dropped off at Red Square and walk around for a bit.

We fly home 1 day early, on Friday. Very happy about that! We'll be home late on Friday night and hope to update the blog this weekend with more pics...especially of NN and Moscow sites.

And, thank you to everyone who looked after Liam while we were away. We can't tell you how much we appreciate your help.

Update from Nizhny!

2007-06-24T00:08:00.001-07:00

Hello to all!

It’s Sunday morning and we just put Drew down for a nap. Whew! I forgot how hard it is to watch a child in a non child-proofed area. Anyway, the following is a brief update since we picked up Drew on Friday afternoon.

Friday eve: After picking up Drew from the baby house, we arrived back at the hotel and played in the room for a few hours. Boy oh boy did he crack his head quite a few times on every possible corner of every piece of furniture. Ouch! We went to dinner with the two other adoptive parents and enjoyed our last night together in NN as the single woman was leaving the following evening. When MSC and I came back to the room after dinner (and after pretty much ignoring the schedule we’d been given from the baby house), Drew was full of life, but we knew he must be tired because he hadn’t had a long afternoon nap. And, it was odd for me because I didn’t know how to soothe this little guy or what would work to get him to go to sleep (he’s not addicted to the binky like his bro was). Anyway, we just put him in his jammies and popped him into the crib and let him move around. He sat down after about 2 minutes and layed down after another few minutes and was out 5 minutes after that. Then we realized that’s exactly what they do at the baby house, they just put them in their beds and let them work it out until they go to sleep. I’m pleased to report that Drew slept for 10-1/2 hours without a peep! J So unlike his brother!

Saturday, we went downstairs to the hotel restaurant and had the same breakfast we’ve had for the last 7 days. Drew has been eating really well and is on soy formula as per the request of the baby house…ring any bells? Anyway, after breakfast we had planned to take the trolley car/bus into town with other families, but all the kids went down for naps (and so did we!). So, after napping, we then all headed out to see with world. The trolley was very easy and got us to the cool pedestrian area in City Center. We walked for a little bit and then had an early dinner at an outdoor café. Most people speak zero English and the menus are not translated, so you really have to eat at a restaurant where someone knows a tiny bit of English. We found such place and had fried and chicken sandwiches…all of us. That’s the only thing we could communicate to the server. Anyway, it was good. After lunch we took the trolley back to the hotel. There is a shopping mall of some sort that is attached to the hotel, so we went and stocked up on more baby food, had dinner in the room. Drew fell asleep while drinking his bottle because he hadn’t had his afternoon nap…again…what kind of parents are we? J

Today is Sunday. I’ve confirmed that my Mom made it safe to Moscow, although her arrival was cluttered with logistical problems, but she made it safe to an alternate hotel by 10pm (her plane landed at 6:30pm!). She is scheduled to get on a train to NN at 2pm and will arrive here at 7pm. The translator and driver will pick me up and we will all go to the train station to pick up Grandma Kia.

As for our Sunday, we’ve had our breakfast and Drew is down for a nap. Interestingly enough, today he tried the crying thing for about 5 minutes vs. just going to sleep. He’s catching on the response he usually gets with a cry. I think when he wakes up, we’ll head back to City Center again and do some more walking around before Kia arrives.

As for our Drew’s personality, he is an inquisitive little boy, he likes to see and touch everything. His caregiver told us that he needs to have goals set for him and he will hit them. Based on the fact that he’s walking already at 13 months and he was 8 weeks premie, I think what they’re saying is that he’s ahead of others his age and so they’ve had to set his standards or achievements higher. Not really sure, as I think part of what they said was lost in translation. We’ll find out as we spend more time with him. Having said that, he is very happy and smiley, eating and sleeping well, and yesterday he even had a poop!

So, all is well. MSC is leaving on a train back to Moscow tonight and tomorrow (Monday) takes a flight back to SF via LAX. He will be home late Monday night.

Kia and I will get Drew’s passport here in NN on Monday and hope to take a Monday night train back to Moscow. From there we will need to files some papers and get Drew’s visa and then we will head home on Saturday. Seems so darn far away!

All for now. We’ll post updates as we can.

xoxo

The Day Has Finally Arrived!

2007-06-21T22:25:00.001-07:00

We're leaving the hotel to pick-up Drew at 12:15pm today. We should be to the baby house by 1:30pm and will be on our way back to the hotel with our newest addition by 2:00pm.

We hope to continue posting pics and updates of how Drew is transitioning, but may find our time is limited.

We'll send updates as soon as possible.

Love to All!

Thursday – Court Date Finally Arrives!

2007-06-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

This morning Michael and I had a court appointment at 10am. We were asked to meet our interpreter and agency rep in the lobby at 9am. We were both very quiet this morning before we went to court and pretty quiet before court began. Translation: While we had both been told that this Judge has not turned anyone down, we were still very nervous to speak in front of her and to respond to any questions she or the prosecutor may have had.

Michael had the longer speaking part of the two of us. He had to cover much more territory than I did (Whew!) and it took about 30 minutes for the Judge to be satisfied with Michaels “presentation”. She is very thorough and while our story is pretty compatible with adoption, she still ALWAYS asks additional questions, sometimes that same question over and over again.

Then it was onto me and I spoke for about 20 minutes. I tried to give more detail to the Judge based on her questions to Michael. She did ask me a few additional questions after I spoke, but the prosecutor did not have any questions. The rep for the city that Drew is from did ask one question, but all were easy and info I knew.

After Michael and I finished speaking, the Judge leaves the courtroom to make her final decision; will she grant custody to us and will she waive the 10 day waiting period.

The Judge returned within about 5 minutes, and the verdict was…

WE HAVE BEEN GRANTED CUSTODY OF KIRILL VLADAMIRAVICH POLYAKOV and the 10 day waiting period has been waived!

We’re very excited and look forward to picking up Drew tomorrow! There are two families that have already brought home two girls and tomorrow we and another couple will bring home two boys, so we’ll have lots of fun play dates before we leave NN and we’ll probably all get together in Moscow as well.

More to come…

Wednesday Visit with Drew

2007-06-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, we had somewhat of a free day and took our time getting out of the hotel by late morning. We did some walking around and checked out this shopping center-like place; interesting everyday items like clothes, shoes, coats, etc. This isn’t a tourist city, so very few people speak English and you really have to search for shops that see trinkets.

Anyway, we went to see Drew in the late afternoon and spent another hour with him. Pics have been posted below. He was even more interactive and really “played” this time vs. watching us and tentatively engaging. He seemed to enjoy his time with us as we did with him. He was most interested in eating the “Hi Liam” sign, although we didn’t get any pics of him with his mouth all over the sign. After about an hour they came to get him again. We were sad to see him go, but very pleased we were able to have had 3 visits with him prior to our picking him up on Friday.

When we returned to the hotel, all four families went to the grocery store with our interpreter and we shopped for baby stuff. I had most of what I needed already, but did buy some similar products to what the baby house would have. It was a fun little trip for all of us.

After our shopping excursion, we all had dinner together in the hotel. There is a single woman here with her parents (adopting a baby girl). Both she and an older couple had court today and so we were all in a celebratory mood. Those two would pick up their children tomorrow, so they were excited. The other couple and Michael and I were nervous because we still had to go to court. Anyway, we had a nice long grown up dinner…would probably be the last during our stay in Russia.

Stay tuned…tomorrow is our day in Court!

2007-06-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

2007-06-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Visit to See Drew

2007-06-19T21:44:00.000-07:00

MSC and I had a nice leisurely morning, which included sleeping in and reading magazines for a few hours. There are two other couples here that are also adopting through our agency, so we have spent sometime with them. We had dinner with them on Monday night and chatted with one of the people at breakfast. Another couple is coming in on Wednesday night and they will go to court on Thursday with us. Anyway, we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to see Drew. His baby house is about 1 hour away in Dzerzhinsk. We’ll post a picture of the huge sign that is at the entrance of his town.

When we first arrived at the baby house, there was a man there ready to take a picture of Drew for his passport…so exciting! Drew took a few minutes to warm up to us as he had just awoken from his nap. But, he kicked into gear pretty quick and started playing with his toys and running for the door over and over and over and over and over again. J It’s nice to see him walking so well and when he does take a little tumble he usually laughs. Whew!

We stayed at the baby house for about an hour and Drew was very upbeat during the entire visit. We posted some pics of our visit and plan to come back tomorrow for another final visit before our court date.

Upon our return, we met with the court interpreter for about 45 minutes. He prep’d us for court and what we will need to do while there; what questions will be asked and how we should respond to certain things. He let us know that while the Judge wouldn’t see us unless everything was OK, it is still a formal proceeding that is taken very seriously. Fortunately, the only people in the room who understand English are our interpreter and MSC and I. So, if we make a mistake in how we say something, the interpreter will be able to help us change it. But its pretty easy stuff we have to talk about; who we are, where we live, who our family is, how we will care for Drew. We’re potentially in for a bump when they hit the “religion” section, but it will be ok. :-)

We’re going to dinner just next door with a single women who is adopting a baby girl and then we’ll try to get to bed before midnight tonight.

Stay tuned…

P.S. We are thoroughly enjoying the harsh stench of paint or something worse (wallpaper glue?)! They are painting the bathrooms above us and it seems to seep through the grates in our bathroom. Let’s just say we’ve killed a few brain cells. :-) This isn’t our favorite hotel, to say the least!

2007-06-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

Visit with Drew at the Baby House

2007-06-18T22:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon we went to the baby house in Dzerzhinsk to visit with Drew. We arrived at 5pm and waited in the playroom for his caretakers to bring him out to us. Within 5 minutes, we were looking at Drew. He looks great! He’s very cute and has more fuzzy blond hair…similar to his big brother, Liam. They are taking good care of him it appears. Drew had a cute little black Disneyland-like vest jacket on and some black cord pants. Mind you it was about 80+ yesterday and MSC and I were very warm, but they dress these kids like it’s winter all the time. Anyway, his caretaker put him down on the floor and let him go. He stood there for quite sometime just checking us out and then the caretaker started him walking…he’s walking really well on his own. Whew! We can cross that one off the list. J MSC is sad that he missed his first steps. I’m happy I missed his first 10 falls!

Anyway, we were able to spend 1 hour with him and he warmed up to us toward the very end of the visit. We asked the translator to communicate to Drew that we were giving him a birthday card and gift. She translated for him what we had written in the card. And she handed him the present and told him it was for him, that it was his birthday present. She said that he was being shy as he’d never been given a gift before. L Anyway, we proceeded to play with many toys. Probably overwhelming for Drew, but he had a few favorites! He loves to chew on some of the toys and he loves the mirrors. What baby doesn’t like to look at themselves!

MSC had some one-on-one time, e.g. flinging Drew in the air. It was funny because Drew could barely contain his smile, but it took awhile for him to let MSC see him smile. These kids aren’t used to seeing men, so sometimes they don’t relate well to them. Drew has done well with MSC on all visits, which is great.

My approach is to be close to him and help him move around and let him stand or sit in my lap. I feel like we both need to get to know each other. I definitely feel like he is my child now and am not so fearful of him being taken away from me prior to court. Let the bonding begin!

We head back to the orphanage this morning at 11am and will be able to stay for two hours. We may be able to take him outside if they have a playground area, which I think they do. We’re looking forward to the visit.

We had a few little heart stoppers yesterday as out agency Rep asked if we had some document we needed (social worker’s renewed license), which we didn’t, but our agency is working on getting it here by Wednesday. Our court date is Thursday and we pick up Drew on Friday, if all goes as planned (think positive thoughts!). The other problem, which may or may not present itself in the US is that the Russian Courts will only acknowledge me by my maiden name because that is what is on the first page of my passport (name change to Crowley on last page). Therefore, Drew will be adopted by Michael Crowley and Elizabeth Foster. We’ll see how that goes over in the US when we re-adopting. I just want to get him out of here, so whatever!

Anyway, we’re off to have a quick breakfast and post this to the blog. Enjoy and we’ll update more as we go.

Thanks to everyone for your support. We can’t wait to bring Drew home in the next few weeks!

xoxoxo

Nizhniy Novgorod Day 1

2007-06-18T02:02:00.001-07:00

Today is Monday and we received a text message from our rep that we will go to see Drew at 4pm. It is about an hour drive to his baby house, so we will be with him at around 5pm (6am PDT). We’re very excited to see him and have a bag of toys packed up for playtime. My guess is he’ll probably be getting tired by the time we get there, but we’re happy to see him today regardless. We’re also thankful that we aren’t traveling to the Vyska baby house, which is three (3) hours away! Another couple that is here must drive 3 hours to and from the baby house today, tomorrow and again on Wed. or Thurs. before they bring their baby girl home. Whew, we sure did catch a break there!

We are staying at the Central Hotel in NN. The hotel is attached to a sort of large shopping mall, but ½ the mall (including grocery store) are under ground. It’s very nice to have everything you might need right near the hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel is not in a great place to just get out and walk to what’s called City Central. We enjoyed walking to this area from our hotel on the last trip. There is a nice pedestrian area and plenty to look at. We’ll have to figure out how to get there easily, although I don’t think a cab will work unless we write down in Cyrillic where we want to go. And then there’s the trouble of knowing who the heck your driver is. Anyway, we did some grocery shopping this morning and now we are relaxing in our room. Right now there is a rain storm and we just looked at each other and asked “did you see that flash”? And then, we heard the loudest thunder sound ever. Geesh! That was scary.

Anyway, that’s all for now. We’ll post again after our visit to see Drew. Although the hotel claims they have internet connection in the rooms, we would have to disagree. We’re going to try again from the business center. I guess if you’re reading this then we were actually able to post.

Stay tuned!

Travels to Nizhniy Novgorod

2007-06-18T02:02:00.000-07:00

Finally, an update on our trip to Nizhniy Novgorod (NN) to pick up baby Drew!

Much to my surprise Michael and I were able to get ALL our clothes, Drew’s clothes, orphanage clothes and many gifts packed and in our rental car on Friday morning. And, for those of you who know us, we were stressing because we left the house ½ hour late. Anyway, we had rented a car and dropped it off at the Oakland Airport. We got out of Oakland without a hitch and landed at LAX without a hitch.

Once we were at LAX we experienced the awkwardness of taking an international flight. First you must wait in a very long line to check-in and then they don’t take your bags, so you get to wait in another long line where they do take your bags. Once through that line, you wait in another long line to get through security. None of it was too bad just so unorganized.

Our flight to Moscow departed on time. We were excited to have the two seats on the side of the plane vs. being 2 seats in the middle section. The flight was uneventful. We stayed awake for several hours and then slept for the same. By the time we woke up we only had about two hours until we landed and they were serving breakfast. All in all, it was a very easy flight and we definitely rested on the plane.

Once in Moscow, it took a little longer than expected, but we cleared customs and our Alliance rep was waiting for us as expected. The driver picked us up and we literally jammed 4 large suitcases in a sedan, one on our lap! We drove about an hour to the Grand Marriott, which was lovely and American…ahhhhhhh. It was very nice and we enjoyed the comforts of home…for one night. Mom, enjoy the Marriott Tverskaya while you can!

Anyway, we had dinner and hit the sack on Saturday. On Sunday, we left the hotel and ventured out to the Kremlin and to St. Basil’s Cathedral. Both are very beautiful and we took tons of pics. We also did some shopping in the little bizarre area outside the Kremlin. We were only able to sight see for a few hours and then had to head back to the hotel where our interpreter and driver picked us up to take us to the train station. The interpreter loaded us onto the train and helped us get settled, which was awesome. The train is pretty much like taking a train in Italy…far from fancy. I don’t know how four strangers can share a compartment. Anyway, we advised to buy 4 tickets vs. 2 tickets so we could have the entire compartment to ourselves. Now just because I use the words “entire compartment”, don’t think there was anything big about it. J

We arrived promptly in NN at 7pm and the rep and driver were there to greet us and help us off the train. We were there with another couple, so they had two cars take us and our luggage to the hotel, which is very close to the train station. Once we checked in and got settled, we had a quick dinner in the hotel and then the next few hours unpacking and sorting through gifts and clothes.

We're Leaving For Russia This Friday!

2007-06-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

We’re off to Russia to pick up Drew this Friday! Our court date is set for Thursday, June 21st. If all goes well, we will have Drew the next day and will head to Moscow the following Monday. In Moscow, we will need to complete some additional paperwork and Drew will see another pediatrician before our return home. Michael returns on June 25th and Drew, Mom and I return on Friday, June 29th, again, assuming all goes as planned.

Please follow our adventures by checking our blog. We will probably only post updates vs. send emails, so stay tuned. http://crowleyadoption2007.blogspot.com/

Wish us luck!

The Wait Continues

2007-06-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

As of today, we have been home from Russia for eight weeks. It really does seem like such a long time ago that we met our little guy and played with him. We are ready as a family to get back to Niznhiy to pick up Drew and bring him home. We're ready to move on and be a family of four.

So, the update from the agency is that they have all our paperwork and will try to get a court date for us either the 2nd or 3rd week of June. I believe there are 5 couples waiting that the agency is trying to get a court date for prior to July 9th when the Judge goes on vacation for a few weeks.

Cross your fingers and stay tuned for updates on the court date.

Picture of the new family member

2007-05-31T13:57:00.000-07:00

Attached is a picture of our new family member (Drew) taken about 5 minutes after we accepted our referral and started the next step in our process.

More from Nizhniy Novgorod (April 4-6)

2007-05-31T12:20:00.001-07:00

We were told today (surprisingly) that we had to decide what Kirill's new name would be, so they could file necessary paperwork.So, here it is.....Drew. We both really like the name Drew and Michael's Mother's maiden name was **** as was his Brother's middle name. So, there you have it! We've been practicing all the things we say to Liam, but swapping the name with Drew I.e. "..and you may not have those fruit snacks until you go potty, Drew" or " Drew, listen to my words.". We're having fun with it. :-) We had another 1 hour visit with him today. He was very interactive and loved the toys we brought. He loved chewing on everything. We took lots of pics, but we don't have a cable connector to download them.Anyway, were fading as it"s 9:30pm here and you know how we like to be asleep by 8:30pm. :-). We'll give more updates as it comes.

Take care.
Xo

Trip #1 to Niznhiy Novgorod

2007-05-31T12:17:00.000-07:00

Hello to All!

We arrived safe and sound on Monday night at midnight (CA time about 1pm). Although the planes were quite full on both the flight to Frankfurt and to Nizhniy, they were uneventful. We tried to sleep, but it was a long flight and coach just isn’t as comfy as I imagine business/first class might have been. None the less, we survived!

On Tuesday, we slept until about 1pm (with the exception of getting up very early to call our little bug at home). We ventured out and about in the City Center of Nizhniy Novgorod. The city sits at the confluence of the Olga and Volka rivers, which is very pretty. It is still Winter here, although no snow, so the trees are void of any leaves. It’s been fairly sunny, which has been nice. We wandered around a pedestrian shopping area for awhile and did quite a bit of people watching. The women were all so put together and the men all looked like spys. J

Today, Wednesday, we went to the Ministry of Education where they actually assign you the “referral” of a child. They were surprised when Michael walked in because the woman who worked at the MoE prepared paperwork for our child, but used the name of a single woman who was to come the following week for a different child. The woman at the MoE probably thought Michael was my body guard! Anyway, she gave us the limited information about Kirill Poliakov, born May 16, 2006, in the city of Dzerzhinsk. They had no medical information of any value, so away we went with our driver, interpreter, agency representative and international adoption pediatrician all crammed in a mini van (our fav!), which did not resemble our luxury Sienna. You can imagine our surprise when we had to stop for the “inspector”. Where would she sit? Pretty funny. Anyway, the inspector is like a social worker and her purpose is to observe us with the child during the visit. I think she will attend with us at our court date to talk with the Judge about our visit.

So, we arrived at the baby house, as they call it, around 12 noon. We are taken into an office where the Director of the home works. We received a large amount of information about Kirill’s birth Mother, Father and his medical info since birth. We had a few reasons to be concerned about the child’s health prior to getting there and by the end of the download our IA doctor was not concerned about any health issues other than he was a premie, but his head, height and weight were all at acceptable levels. Then I saw Michael’s facial expression changed and I realized they had just brought in Kirill. I turned around and the baby house doctor was holding him. She passed him to me and his lip quivered…he wasn’t so sure I was ok to go to. But, he was ok with me and didn’t cry at all. He was a little bit slow to warm up, but then he got into the toys and was very interactive, grabbing toys and passing back and forth from hand to hand or sticking in his mouth.

Kirill has very little hair all of which is blond. He has blue eyes and little ears that poke out. He was very happy about 20 minutes into our visit and was enjoying his time with Michael especially when he threw him up in the air!

Once the IA doctor was done with her physical (they strip the baby down and check him out head to toe), she pronounced he was without any medical issues and the only risk she saw was that he was a premie, but that she thought that was minimal. She thought he would overcome any motor skill issues if he had any at all. So, while she can’t tell us he is healthy for now and forever more, she thought he looked very healthy based on his medical history and what she could see during her physical.

SO, WE ACCEPTED KIRLL AS THE NEWEST MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY! Congratulations to Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles and cousins. And, make room in the ‘hood Neighbors…there will be a new kid in town this Summer!

Anyway, we will go back and see Kirill tomorrow for a few hours and again, hopefully, on Friday. And, because we were so lucky in finding him, Liz will be heading home on Saturday and looking forward to spending Easter with our 4-year old baby. J Michael will return on Sunday.

Thanks to everyone for all of your support. Each of you as helped us in different ways to get to this point in the process. We appreciate all of you and look forward to coming home for good this Summer with our baby. BTW, we will be changing his name, so stay tuned…

Lots of Love,
Michael and Liz
xo

Adoption Process

2007-05-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

We began the adoption process in early October, 2006 and had our home study and all adoption paperwork completed by early December. It's amazing how time flies because I thought we were moving very quicky, but it still took 3 whole months to get it done.

In late December, our adoption agency translated and notarized all docs and sent our dossier to Russia the first week of January.

Then, we sat and waited and waited until the middle of March, when we received "the call" that we were heading to Russia on April 1st and would meet our referral on April 4th. We were excited and stressed all at the same time. So much to do to get the house in order and ready for our departure!