Update from Nizhny!

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