Russian Adoption Chronicles

Facelift & Lights Out

2009-03-29T15:57:00.004-04:00

How do you like the new look? I have been wanting to do this to the blog for sometime now, it just kept on sliding off my to-do list.

It has been a month since our last post, and frankly there isn't a whole lot to blog about; particularly as it relates to adoption, which is how this blog got started. With that, we have decided to go dark on the blog. We will keep it running, only because I know, first hand, how helpful blogs can be when you are in the process of adopting and want to know what's ahead.

We still plan on sending regular emails with photos and updates to friends and family. If we have become friends through adoption (you know who you are), rest assured that we will include you in the updates! And if you just want to be sure we do, leave us a comment.

As a quick update, we went to Orlando the first week of March and had a great time. We visited my cousins (Nick's godparents) and Bill's parents who are in Fort Myers for a month. During our time in Orlando we went to Animal Kingdom, and Nick is now a huge fan of Goofy! We also went to Cocoa Beach and are now leaning towards renting a condo in Siesta Key next year so we can enjoy some beach time. Nick certainly enjoyed the ocean.

Nick continues to grow (sometimes I think he grows everyday), has an extensive vocabulary both in Spanish and English, and if I were to use on word to describe him, I would say the kid is just hilarious! I am really looking forward to his 3 year check up in July, only to see the look of shock in our pediatrician's face. He was taken aback by the 11 lbs and 7 inches gained on the first year at home.

To the adoptive families, in the process, who may be reading this, please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the process, particularly in Novokuznetsk. Adoption is certainly not for the faint at heart, but absolutely worth it!

Will do one last post with our vacation pictures, just give me a few days to edit them!

Today is Tomorrow

2009-01-31T21:56:00.007-05:00

Is it 10:00 PM in Indianapolis and 10:00 AM in Novokuznetsk. At 10:00 AM on February 1st,2008 we were walking into Baby Home #1 to pick up our son and begin our journey home.

While the last year has been somewhat of a whirlwind, the 20 minutes spent getting Nicholas ready and heading out of the Baby Home will forever be etched in our minds; just like still pictures. Too many of them to even begin to list them here; all of them simply magical.

Happy Gotcha Day Nicholas.

Snow, snow, and more snow...

2009-01-28T20:33:00.003-05:00

It was hard to get him back in the house, those red cheeks did say it was time to come in!

This sled is actually "vintage"... it used to be Bill's

Red Square Hockey

2009-01-19T06:07:00.004-05:00

If Sports Illustrated is one of the magazines you get in the mail, yet sometimes goes unread and in the trash bin, don't discard last week's issue yet!

There's a really neat spread of an ice hockey game being played on the skating rink just outside of Gum. I think this is the same one we saw in January of 2008. The online story and pictures don't do justice to the two page spread in the print edition. The print edition is worth keeping, and possibly framing, especially for those of us who adopted boys.

This is the link to the on-line story, and you may still be able to get the printed edition.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/hockey/more/01/10/russian.all.star.ap/index.html

The picture to the right is one of the pictures that was posted online. I haven't been able to find the nice shot that is in the magazine, anywhere on the net.

First Snow

2009-01-14T20:45:00.007-05:00

...and the irony of it all is that I am pretty certain that Nicholas never got to play in the snow until today. Mind you, there were several feet of snow in Novo when we were there for court almost a year ago. We didn't stay out too long. The wind was just brutal and you could tell that he didn't enjoy that part of it.

We have a berm behind our house that is perfect for sledding. Hopefully the next snowfall won't bring the below zero windchills!

Meeting Father Frost

2009-01-11T19:40:00.015-05:00

We were invited to a Russian Christmas & New Year celebration hosted by the Kids First Foundation. They are affiliated with a local adoption agency (not ours), but they were kind enough to open the even to all local families that adopted from Russia.

Nick had a great time and wasn't too interested in leaving. He got to hang out with his buddy Jakob and I got to catch up with a few other families that I had not seen since before the completion of their respective adoptions. It was great to see all of them and their children.

Left: Dancing with the other children.

Right: Focused on what Father Frost was saying.

Left: Father Frost
Below: Performers of the different pieces.

Happy Russian Christmas!

2009-01-07T19:55:00.009-05:00

Today Russia celebrated their Christmas Holiday. Given that the Russian Orthodox Church still uses the Julian calendar; Christmas celebrations take place 13 days after the western world celebrates.

When we traveled to meet Nicholas in October of 2007, we did quite a bit of shopping with the thought of buying one Russian made gift to give to him each year until his 21st birthday. This year he got two, the first one was his Christmas stocking and that has been hanging on the mantel since we first decorated in December.

The "official" gift for this year is a white t-shirt featuring Misha, the mascot from the 1980 Summer Olympics that tool place in Moscow. This year we kept it simple, but as Nicholas grows, we will talk to him more about the Russian traditions and maybe incorporate a Russian menu for dinner.

Why I love YouTube?

2009-01-01T17:21:00.002-05:00

Moscovites celebrate the New Year around St Basil's Cathedral

Christmas Pictures....edited

2008-12-29T20:04:00.003-05:00

.... coming soon! I know... booh!

My laptop has a virus, that hopefully will go away tomorrow. A friend of mine is going to take a look and I am confident he will be able to get her back to health!

So be on the lookout for pictures. Once he got the hang of it, we couldn't get him to stop ripping paper. It was indeed a very Merry Christmas for our sweet Nicholas

Update!

--- Nick's Grandpa send some shots. I still have to download mine.

Goofy Guy

2008-12-10T07:54:00.006-05:00

Noticed the Spiderman attire? Someone has become a little obsessed with "Spidey" since his feet got big enough for the slippers that his godparents got for him.

Yes, he now poses for me and is starting to like the camera, and I like this crazy hair of his. A little on the long side (no, I am not letting it grow on purpose, just busy and he is getting it cut on Saturday), and not combed.

Nicholas & Saint Nicholas

2008-12-02T21:30:00.003-05:00

Target Shopper in Training

2008-11-23T20:31:00.003-05:00

Nick may not know Santa from a pork chop, but Target's toy catalog keeps him entertained!

Another Hat Picture

2008-11-09T07:10:00.004-05:00

Yes, sooner or later I will get over the "my kid looks so cute on a hat" obsession. In the meantime, here's another one I snapped yesterday as Nick and daddy made a mad dash to get sour cream. You know, 'cause I had been to the store twice already and both times forgot the sour cream.

Trick or Treat!

2008-11-02T15:26:00.013-05:00

Or in Nick's case..."Hi". He didn't have the whole ToT thing down, so he would just say hi, "tata" (thank you), and wave bye. By the end of the night we were getting closer to "Trick or Treat". I must say I was impressed by the generosity of our neighbors. Given that we had been givers and not receivers in the past, we never realized how people really get into Halloween in our neighborhood. I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise, as this is a very young neighborhood that averages a couple of kids per household. We probably went to a dozen or so houses, and Nick's pail came home almost full. The older kids who hit every house must have enough candy to last them a year!

Tapioca and Cabernet -- edited

2008-10-25T20:10:00.005-04:00

I am officially in the minority, Nick does not like tapioca pudding, neither does Bill. But I hate to waste food, so intead of throwing it out, I just ate it, as I was finishing up my glass of cab from dinner. Yep, I am the mom of a 2 year old!

On a different subject, the crib tent did not work. We don't have the right crib for it. So we have removed the rail and our boy is now sleeping in a daybed. It's gonna be a long night, good thing there's still a half bottle of that cabernet downstairs.

Tomorrow we will drive our sleepy selves to Babies R Us and get this. For now, we have the floor next to the bed lined with pillows.

Monday update - he didn't like the idea of sleeping on a daybed, so the rails are back up, and the floor lined with pillows, should he choose to attempt another escape.

Well... he did it.

2008-10-19T00:01:00.001-04:00

.... rumble... rumble.... ***THUD*** and he was out of the crib, twice, today. For now, we have turned the crib around so that the lower side is against the wall. Just for now, till our UPS man delivers this:

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=309775&cmSource=Search#tabs

Meeting Nicholas ~ One Year Later

2008-10-15T06:46:00.004-04:00

We met our sweet boy exactly one year ago. Where did the time go? I remember leaving Novokuznetsk, wondering how long it would be before we could get back for court and to bring him home. Those had to be the 4 longest months. The time after that, has simply vanished in front of our eyes and it feels as though Nick has been here since day one.

An Absolute Blast

2008-10-12T22:10:00.009-04:00

We hit the Pumpkin Patch this weekend with another Novokuznetsk family that lives very close to us. Nick and his little buddy J had a great time at the patch, which included a petting zoo, hayride, visit to the pumpkin patch and climbing up a haystack about 10 feet high.

Nick continues to surprise us. They had pony rides and considering how much he likes animals we figured he would want to see them. He wanted to get closer, and closer, and closer... and next thing you know he was riding the pony and took to it like he had been doing this for years!

Here are some pics of the weekend. As I spend more time with these guys I get better at getting pics of them together. Can't post proof of that though as I didn't ask J's parents for permission. Enjoy!

27 months old today...

2008-10-03T11:23:00.012-04:00

and 100% adorable.

Tumbling - the aftermath

2008-09-28T19:31:00.002-04:00

This is what happens when your child starts tumbling classes, the mattress suddenly becomes a trampoline and your child a jumping bean. We are **this close** from turning the bed around so that taller rail faces the outside.

On another subject, Nick was just tested by First Steps, Indiana's Early Intervention Program. He didn't qualify. I knew the gross motor, fine motor, social and cognitive skills were on target but wondered about the speech. They told us they had no concerns, especially with him learning two languages. This re-iterated what my speech-pathologist friend in Chicago had already told me.

We also had the opportunity to speak at our agency's (FTIA) informational meeting this past Saturday and share our experience. Lots of families considering adopting from Russia... yaaay!!!

A Year Ago Today

2008-09-19T07:45:00.001-04:00

We got "the call". It was approximately 5:15 PM and I was walking out of my downtown office. I remember looking at the caller ID and wondering what FTIA could want. In the time it took me to press the green button on my phone to take the
call, I had run through what the next couple of days looked like, and wondered whether or not I could get one more document ready before we left for Europe two days later -- surely this call was about more paperwork, not a referral, we had submitted our dossier a mere 32 days before!

"We have a baby" - those were Inessa's first words after our "hi, how are you's?" were exchanged. I remember sitting right here during the most beautiful September afternoon and wondering how I was going to make the drive home. More importantly, how I was going to get up and walk to the car, my entire body weight had dropped to my legs.

I had to rush home to the pictures that I had been reluctant about. Bill and I had talked about not wanting to see pictures before meeting our referral. We didn't want to get attached to a baby before we knew he was going to be ours; after all, we didn't have any medical history on him. I told Inessa this and in her cute Russian accent she quickly responded "but you have to see him, he has the cutest cheeks!". After pelting her with 1000 questions, I hung up and called my friend Katie to tell her I wouldn't be going to tennis that night. The next call was of course to Bill and the grandparents.

During the next 48 hours I/we managed to:

- pack all of our adoption paperwork to take to Europe so we could make travel arrangements from there - good thing for the time difference, telephone in the apartment in Florence, and cheap calling cards!

- travel out of town to see a client two hours away - thanks Karla for driving so I could make 10,000 phone calls.

- arrange for Dr. Staat to review the limited information we had on Nicholas.

- get Visa applications ready to go so we could send for our Visas the day after we got back from Europe, 5 days before our departure for Russia.

- get our house somewhat picked up as we would only be home for 5 days after getting back from vacation.

- pack for two weeks in Europe.

On September 21 we took off for our 15 day European adventure.

On October 6 we returned home.

On October 13 we left for Novokuznestk, Russia

On October 15 we landed in Novokuznetsk, Russia and met the love of our lives....

The rest is history.

One Year Ago

Today

Rare sighting...

2008-09-08T20:51:00.004-04:00

He never keeps a hat on, which kills me, because
I think he looks so flippin' cute with one on...

Goats and cows and horses.... oh my!

2008-08-24T22:55:00.006-04:00

Yes people, I took Nicholas to the State Fair. I have told several of you over the phone and in person, and I know you are still picking up your jaw from the floor. The things motherhood makes you do ***sigh***. It was a spur of the moment decision, hence the lack of pictures from the fair. Nick had an ENT appt a week ago Friday, and right after that, we trekked down to the Fairgrounds. Nick was in looooove with the goats at the fair. Don't get me wrong, he liked all the animals in the barns, but the goats were his favorite. He even got to pet a baby goat.

In keeping with the farm theme, last Sunday we took Nick to the Traders Point Creamery. This place is a real gem, and just a 10 minute drive to our house. They milk their cows daily at 4:00 PM, so we went to see that, and to enjoy some fresh ice cream. The grounds at The Creamery are absolutely gorgeous. If you have a Whole Foods, you should be able to get their products. Their yogurts, milk (especially the chocolate milk) and cheeses are to die for.

And to round up our farming days, we spent some time picking apples at Stuckey Farms in Sheridan. We have been going to Stuckeys to get our produce for the past three or four years. Now that our time is more limited, we stick to our local Farmers Market. However, we wanted to let Nick roam around the farm and ride the tractor. Needless to say, he had a great time, despite the heat.

We have been kicking back the past couple of weekends, well, kicking back is a relative term. Nick got some more pool time with daddy and continues to do well overall. His six month checkup at Cincinnati Children's Hospital was on the 11th of this month, and we had a great evaluation. He is now on the charts for both weight and height, and right on target developmentally. We are going forward with speech therapy, just to give him some additional help as he learns two languages, so that's our next project. Can't wait to get him talking, considering how much he babbles and jibbers, this should be fun!

Looking forward to cooler temperatures and fall weather, definitely my favorite season! And, the one year mark from meeting our sweet Nicholas.

I am trying a Bubbleshare slide show in lieu of pictures, just too lazy to load them all up. Hope you like it!

BubbleShare: Share photos - Create and Share Crafts

Gotcha Day ~ 6 months later & first post placement visit

2008-08-03T14:36:00.011-04:00

The pictures in this post speak 1000 words! It was 6 months ago on Friday that we became the Brockmann Trio. Today, the child with the empty look, hesitation, and unwilling to trust; who walked out of Baby Home #1 with us, is no longer there. Nick is vibrant, happy, loving, and full of energy. We certainly had our bumps along the road as we molded together, but I must say, it has not been nearly as tough as I thought.

We took these yesterday after dinner. Nick was clearly not interested in going to bed yet. I spotted an empty laundry basket in the laundry room, and the light bulb went off! We used to pull full laundry baskets using a belt back in the day, when we had to haul our laundry to the basement, living at the Purdue dorms.... so I figured this could also work as a "special car" and be fun with a toddler. He enjoyed it and then the next problem was getting him to go to bed. Yep, no good deed goes unpunished.

All along we thought we were making progress with attachment, and we were re-assured last week by our social worker that have indeed come a long way! We had our first post placement visit last weekend. Wasn't it just yesterday that the three of us (J, Bill and I) were sitting down to coffee getting ready to start our home study? Nope, that was March of 2007, but it sure feels like yesterday.

Our social worker assured us that Nick is doing great with attachment and is on par developmentally. She also noticed some personality traits that we had also noticed, and that funny enough, Bill and I also exhibit. He is very determined and independent. He will be the kid who will try to do everything on his own first before he asks for help... we can deal with that! We definitely have fun years ahead of us with 4 Type-A personalities under one roof... I say 4 because even the dog is stubborn... I mean... determined.

Nick's birthday weekend (2 weeks, 2 days ago)

2008-07-07T23:06:00.000-04:00

(yes I wrote this a while back and I finally getting around to downloading the pics from the camera...)

Oddly enough, Nick does not care for cake of frosting, he just wanted to kiss Elmo!

Enjoying his new sandbox

All equiped to hit the course

It was a good good weekend for the Brockmann trio. We finally had time to kick back and relax. Nick didn't get to see fireworks this year, after running around all day, he was ready to call it a day at 8:00, and with DST, fireworks don't start till 9:00 around here. Will try again next year.

On Saturday, Nick and I spent our morning at the Farmer's Market. He, of course, enjoyed being outdoors and called every dog he met by our dog's name. I have been wanting to get out to the market to pick up some seasonal vegetables for Nick.

Then it was on to Classic Cakes to pick up his birthday cake. Judging by his reaction when he saw it, I say I made a good choice by picking out an Elmo cake. To put it simply, Nick squealed at the sight of Elmo. After Costco and Target, it was back to the house for nap time. While we trekked around town all morning, Bill hit the golf course and according to him "hit pretty well". Now he just needs to get out there again soon! See, this is the benefit of tennis, you get a couple of sets done in an hour. Well, at least I do, now those guys at Wimbledon playing the longest match in Wimbledon's history on Sunday, that's a different story.

On Sunday, Nick's paternal grandparents came to visit and bring Nick his big birthday present - a sandbox! This sandbox is set to provide hours of entertainment. It was a good thing we had everyone (mom, Bill's sister and her fiance) come up in the afternoon and wait till after nap to start the festivities, I am pretty sure Nick would not have napped if he had seen the sandbox in the morning.

After spending a couple hours outside, it was back in the house for cake. While the cake was delicious, Nick showed no interest in it, and even turned his nose when we tried to feed him some. I am sure that will change someday, no rush to get him to like cake.

So other than Federer's defeat in Wimbledon it was a great weekend. While it was the best tennis match I have ever seen, I really wanted to see Roger take Wimbledon for the sixth year in a row.

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

2008-07-03T23:20:00.000-04:00

My baby turned 2 today! I can't believe I have to start buying T-lettered clothes, no more month-sized clothing. We celebrated with a cupcake, the big cake is coming Sunday when we celebrate with Nick's grandparents, aunt and soon to be uncle.

While you see Nick enjoying his cake here, I should tell you that after one bite, he was done. Maybe he is not a fan of chocolate cake. Grandpa Brockmann, should we claim an early victory here!?!?!?!

Move over Nemo!

2008-06-28T17:06:00.000-04:00

We took Nick to our community pool today for the first time. Bill started out with him at the kiddie pool, but Nick had little interest in playing in water that came just to his calf... so off to the big pool they went.

Our Niko is a natural, a few minutes in the water and he was kicking his legs and wanting his dad to put him down on the water and just glide him as he kicked away. I stayed long enough to get som pics. Yes, I am a mom and I get paranoid!

The many faces of Nicholas - yes two posts in one day!

2008-06-15T21:13:00.001-04:00

I have been meaning to post these for a while. They crack me up!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T20:20:00.001-04:00

Our first Father's Day celebration was a low key, yet fun one.

Bill's parents were here for the day and we all met up at the Children's Museum. After much enjoyment of the many amenities and play areas the museum offers, we grabbed lunch and headed home for nap time and some down time.

We wrapped up the day with dinner at one of Nick's favorite places, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers. He gets handed a balloon the moment he walks in and the fries are tasty!

The Brockmann men

Like father, like son. We may have another Simpson's fan in the house.

Nick decided to try on daddy's slippers and style his hair while we got ready this morning. Did I mention he is also fond of blonds and bobbs his head and claps when we play Jimmy Buffet?

One month till cake!!!

2008-06-03T21:23:00.001-04:00

... hmm better call Classic Cakes soon and order it. These people make the best cakes and book weeks ahead. I have ordered cakes from them on several occasions and have made it my mission to order a different flavor each time. Plan is to keep on doing this till Nick has a preference on cake flavors. With my luck it will be chocolate, like his dad, and I will be SOL. Not a chocolate cake fan here, unless it is the Stout Chocolate Cake from the September 2002 issue of Bob Appetit! All that said, a lemon cake with raspberry filling sounds like a good birthday cake for Nick's 2nd birthday next month.

Now that I have written an entire paragraph about cake, let's talk about Nick....

* He is getting acquainted with his other grandfather this week, dad is up here visiting from Puerto Rico and in complete shock about how much energy Nick has. I think he now understands why he gets the standard "busy as always" when he asks how I am doing over the phone. He has also witnessed a temper tantrum or two. Either I skipped the terrible two's stage as a toddler, or he doesn't remember, because he sure looks shocked at his grandson's reaction to not getting his way.

* We will be taking advantage of Celebrating Adoption and have scheduled a professional photo session for Nick on June 14th. I am really excited about this. We will be doing outdoor shots near the White River State Park, downtown Indy.

* And the sole purpose of this post, today, my baby turned 23 months. Saturday marked our fourth Gotcha Day and Friday will mark our fourth month at home.

Here are a couple pictures of the family comedian who likes to empty one of his toy boxes and climb inside them... and the future football player. He even has the look in this picture!

Baptism Pictures

2008-05-27T12:23:00.001-04:00

Father Rodas, Bill, Monica, Nick & Grandma Lucy

Monica, Bill, Grandma Lucy & Nick, Godfather Israel, Godmother Maribel

Grandma Ellen, Grandpa Bill, Monica & Nick, Bill

On Sunday we celebrated Nick's baptism. We had our close family in attendance at the church and then we got together at our house for good food and conversation. Nick did great, both at the church and at home, despite missing his nap. By the end of the day he was running on adrenaline and slept very well!

22 month old for hire - the sequel

2008-05-18T15:01:00.000-04:00

Today, he went on strike. He insisted on participating in the spreading task, but wanted to be carried instead of pushing or walking along.

22 month old for hire

2008-05-17T21:44:00.000-04:00

Dammed be child labor laws! Actually, we did the work and he did all the playing in the mulch.

3 & 22... a few days later

2008-05-06T21:47:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday marked our third month as a family of three, commonly known in the adoption community as Gotcha Day. On Saturday, Nick turned 22 months. While we have gotten much better at this parenting gig over the last three months, as we near the Terrible-2's, we find ourselves with less available time to allocate to mundane tasks, such as blogging. Nick loves being "on the go", and frankly, so do we.

Nick continues to thrive and surprise us every day. It has been while since I measured him last, but he has definitely grown. He can now stand on his tippy toes and reach the door handle... yikes! Good thing for those double cylinder locks. He is becoming more interested in solid foods, latest craze is grapes (peeled, of course), and cheese. I am still working on the mac n' cheese. I am pretty certain I have the only toddler in America who does not like it!

We spent a lot of time outdoors last weekend enjoying the beautiful spring weather. This coming weekend we are heading back up to Chicago for a much needed 4 day weekend, and to celebrate Mother's Day.

tap, tap is this thing on?

2008-04-28T07:09:00.000-04:00

I just looked and it has been since April 3rd since my last post!? Yikes! We got a few emails from friends in the adoption community asking if everything was ok, and it is. Life has just gotten busy and now that the weather has finally shapen up, we find ourselves doing more stuff outdoors and going places with Nick.

Case and point... this weekend, we are currently in Chicago. I came up for the Fancy Food Show and we did some fun stuff as a family too. On Saturday we strolled around Lincoln Park. Nick was soooo visibly happy, doing a lot of "talking" and waving at everyone. We must have looked like locals because we were asked for directions.

In the afternoon we met my friends Shannon and Susan and we took the kids to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Had a blast there with Shannon's kids and Susan's niece. Nick is finally taking more to riding the carousel and did great. It has been hit or miss at the one in Indy (inside the Children's Museum). I can't rave enough about the Lincoln Park Zoo.. and free?!?! We will go back when we come up in May for another long weekend we already have planned.

On Sunday, while I was at the show, Nick and daddy headed out to the Shedd Aquarium and the Nature Museum... thanks Shannon! Bill insists we go back to the Shedd next year when is a little older. He had a great time and we are thinking in about a year will enjoy it even more. I guess you can see the animals really up close. Can't wait to go, I have never been.

Speaking of weekends in Chicago, I gotta put a plug here for the hotel we are staying at. It is right across from the Lincoln Park Zoo, two blocks from the heart of the Lincoln Park buzz, two miles north of downtown Chicago, free high speed internet, and the rooms are huge! It used to be all apartments, and now they have 1/2 the bldg as apartments and the other 1/2 is a hotel. Our room is just like a one bedroom apartment. Oh, yeah, what is it called? The Belden-Stratford Hotel. There's also a continental breakfast included, but we are skipping it for this...

So back to every day life... really nothing out of the ordinary. We took Nick for a follow up appt to check on his development and he is now caught up and on target for fine motor, gross motor, and cognitive skills. We had a feeling that was the case, but wanted a professional telling us. He is just saying three words, but they also assured us that it was normal considering that all he heard for 18 months was Russian, we have only had him with us for a little under three months, and we are teaching him two languages. What words is he saying? Bye-bye (which the doctor pointed he says with a Russian accent, too cute), agua (spanish for water), da (russian for yes). He is almost 26 lbs now and grew another 1/2 inch.

I now leave you with pictures.... and I will try and come back and fill in the gaps of the past three weeks. Seems Nick does something funny or has one new trick every week, he sure is a lot of fun.

The three of us strolling around Lincoln Park Zoo, along with Shannon's D & L.

We may have to take L with us. Nick really took to her and held on

to her hand/finger most of the time. D was a really sweetie sharing

his Spiderman doll too!

Yes, he is being trained early.

At the Conservatory, across from our hotel

Road trip!

We had a robin rent out some window ledge space this spring,
and Nick is fixated with the nest and the eggs.

A Sad Day for Novokuznetsk Families

2008-04-03T19:46:00.000-04:00

EDITORIAL NOTE - Adoptions that are already being processed; meaning families who have completed trip 1, are traveling or ready to travel on trip 2, will be allowed to continue their adoptions. This information was also shared by our agency. To the folks that panicked before I added this editorial note, I apologize.

************************************************************************************

While this has not received a ton of attention in the public media (at least it was news to the people I mentioned it to); another child adopted from Russia has died in the US. At this point, it has been ruled a homicide.

Some regions in Russia closed their adoption programs last week, some have added more requirements. Today we learned that as of yesterday, the Governor of the Kemerovo Region suspended all adoptions. This may be temporary, while the process is evaluated and perhaps additional requirements are defined; we just hope is not permanent.

The thought of all these children waiting for families and the possibility of even more delays in the adoption process is just heartbreaking. The latest statistics I read indicated that every 100th child born in Russia ends up in an orphanage.

The State of Kemerovo, particularly, the city of Novokuznetsk hold a very special place in our hearts. I just hope and pray that this hiatus in the adoption process only temporary.

Tagged!

2008-04-01T22:38:00.001-04:00

I have been tagged... allright, I will play along.

1. Link to the person who tagged you: Carla
2. Post the rules - done
3. Share six unimportant habits/quirks about yourself: see below
4. Tag three other people - Nancy, Carrie, Becky
5. Make sure the people you tagged know you've tagged them - done

So on to those quirks -
* The clothes hanging in the closet must be grouped by color. I find it easier to pick out a pair of jeans, skirt, or pants and then just pick a color for the top. From there all I have to do is go to that "color zone", and voila!
* I remove book jackets from books. I don't like them to crease or get marks on them. When I finish the book, I put the jacket back on.
* I do not roll down the windows after running the car through the car wash. The little water marks drive me nuts. So I wait at least till the next day, unless it is a hot summer day.
* It kills me when Bill hands over my purse holding it by just one of its handles. Makes me think it inflicts pain to the purse. Kills me even more if it is a Coach bag, or one of the bags I acquired during one of our Italy trips.
* The tupperware type containers must be stored with their lids on. No lid? Goes in a holding area in a different cabinet till the lid is located.
* I like peanut butter, and chocolate, just not together. Not a fan of the peanut butter cup, or buckeyes.

Gotcha Day ~~ Two months later!

2008-04-01T21:24:00.001-04:00

So I am lunching with my friend Katie today, and of course like everyone else we see, she asks about Nick and oh by the way "how long has he been home now?". It hit me right there, today is the two month anniversary of our Gotcha Day.

Life at home, adjustment, and attachment gets better every day. In the last month, Nick's receptive language skills have really improved. His receptive skills are better when we speak to him in spanish, but we have seen improvement in both languages. He has become more vocal, and has started to used the word "agua". He sounds so cute!... not that I am biased or anything... ;-). He intermitently also shakes his head "no" when he is done eating or drinking something. This is something I have been working with him on for some time. He used to just turn his head away.

On the health front, I am still coughing quite a bit, but feel like I am finally kicking the mono. Now I just have to battle a sinus infection. Oh joy. I am just glad that Nick continues to be healthy and that he hasn't picked up my cooties.

Bill, MrManlyMan, who refuses to attend any "hormone laden events" (i.e. baby showers), was surprised at work last week with a baby shower! I actually LOL at the office as I read his text message sharing the news. Nick got all kinds of cool gifts, but he was most happy about the balloons. He also got a really cute pair of slippers.

Modeling the new slippers

Balloons - always a hit!

Checking out his loot

We went to the mall this weekend, and got him his first pair of Stride Rite shoes. As we were strolling towards the store, he became super excited and was all giggles and smiles.... to the point where he got the attention of other shoppers. Can't blame him, I get that excited when shopping for shoes too!

Good news all around

2008-03-25T21:21:00.000-04:00

We were able to, for the first time, let Nick run around outside of the house this weekend. For a few weeks after getting home we concentrated on getting him healthy and getting rid of the bronchitis. Then the weather turned from freezing rain, to snow, to ice on and off.

With relatively good weather (40 and sunny), and a toddler with a major case of cabin fever, we ventured out for a little bit. Nick loved exploring the outdoors and playing with the dried tall grass remanents and the plain regular grass. Here are some pictures.

He looks so grown up on this picture? Or maybe just cold and ready to come inside.

This is the sweet face I get to kiss goodnight every night.

Outdoor Fun

So what good news???? We heard from Cincinatti Children's today, and the second round of tests (post treatment) revealed that the little parasite is now a thing of the past and Nick is giardia-free! I suspected as much, Nick has become more "selective" of what he eats. An indication that he is no longer sharing his food.

And more good news! Over the past two weeks, four of the families that I have met through the adoption process received court dates for April! All four of these children live in the same Baby Home that Nick lived in. What makes their stories even more special is that due to a clerical error in Russia last year, these families had to wait up t0 11 months between trips. As you may know, children is Russia have to be entered into a database and stay there for 9 months. During this period they are only available for adoption to Russian families. After these four families traveled on their first trip, it was discovered that the children were never entered in the database, so in they went and the countdown for them to come out began. We often referred to this as "the database snafu".

So without further due... congratulations to:

Cindy and Jay - April 8

Carrie and Scott - April 8

Audrey and David - April 22

Katie and Ryan - April 22

Good luck and God speed! Will be thinking of you!

p.s. Audrey - we have talked for this long and I don't know your hubby's name! **blushing** --- Katie saved the day!

Sharing

2008-03-19T20:26:00.000-04:00

Do I need to say more?

Alive and Kicking

2008-03-16T16:14:00.000-04:00

Nick and Bill more than me actually.

This past week we discovered the mistery behind my flu-like symptoms.... it's Mono. I have been taking it as easy as possible. I had to back off from playing tennis for a while (yes that's how sick I am!!!), but still managed to take an introductory course on the features of my Nikon D40. Can't wait to put the new learning to good use this summer.

I go back to work tomorrow and Nick will be off to Grandma Lucy's. I don't think we will have an issue there, especially after this week when mom has spent some time up here helping out as I veg out.

There are recent pictures, actually a really cute one of Nick feeding cheerios to our dog. I will post that one later. On that note, he is really good at sharing. When he is out to eat, he wants to feed you some of his food and even offers food to the people at the table next to us.

That's all folks!

The Children's Museum and the aftermath of sugar!

2008-03-09T19:46:00.000-04:00

The aftermath of sugar has nothing to do with the museum, I am simply combining posts.

So yesterday, we took Nick to the Children's Museum for fun filled morning. We had noticed how excited he gets when he sees other kids at the pediatrician's office and just when we are out and about. We figured he missed his little friends from the Baby Home; so what better place than a 4 story building filled with toys, children, and areas to explore.

Speaking of his little friends... I have been able to connect with the moms of two of the children that were in Nick's group at the Baby Home. As many of you know, we left a camera at the Baby Home during our first visit. The staff at the Baby Home took quite a few pictures and there are other children in these pics. So now I have chatted/emailed with the moms of two of these kids, and one of them knows the mom of a third child. Of course the best part of all this is that all of these kids will be leaving the Baby Home in a few months.

So back to the museum talk. For those PAP and AP that are not local to Indy, if you are ever here with your kids, I highly recommend at least a half day at the museum.

Nick really enjoyed the water table, the sand pit, and about every other area that we took him to. We wrapped the morning with a ride on the carousel, which he really enjoyed. We now have a family membership that will be used very frequently; we are going back the first Saturday of April. On the first Saturday of the month the museum opens an hour early for members, so we will be able to enjoy that one hour with a smaller crowd.

So what about the sugar? Well, not offering our child sugar within a few hours of bedtime ranks right up there with not missing naps. We went out for a quick bite today and Nick had quite a few spoonfuls of mommy's vanilla milkshake. He came back home and had that silly giggling and high that is also the aftermath of a missed nap. It was kinda fun to watch him run in circles and let out the cute belly laughs. To my surprise, he went to bed without hesitation and was out before the first song in his lullaby CD was over. Shannon, I know you are LOL at this post... yeah, I know, I know.

Nick Made the Charts!

2008-03-06T13:06:00.000-05:00

The growth charts that is.

He had his 20 month check up today and made the 25th percentile on height. He was below the 3rd percentile when we picked him up in Russia.

He has gained a little over three pounds and gained one inch in a little over a month. While this is all good news I am most excited about height. His 18 month sized clothes are fitting great around the waist but a wee bit long.... before I know it I won't need to cuff his pants... yay!

Traveling to Russia - what worked for us

2008-03-03T13:29:00.000-05:00

I was hesistant to label this “tips for traveling parents”, because just like every other aspect of Russian adoption, what works for a family in one region may not work in another. Being in an “adoption friendly” region I am sure made things easier on us since we were pretty certain we would be back in the US in 10 days. That said, these are the things that Bill and I could think of.

Packing and Traveling
- We arrived in the region a day ahead than required by our agency. Between the potential for bad weather in the US and in Russia in the winter months it was a way to mitigate risk. It also allows you to rest up, the next 10 days were very very long.
- Pack light! Seriously… we paid for overweight luggage in country because we were taking orphanage donations, but probably wouldn’t have otherwise. If you layer you will be able to wear the “top layer” more than once. We noticed Russians wear their clothes several days in a row, so “when in Russia, do as Russians do”.
- Pack light for your child too. A friend of mine gave me a great tip about using Johnson’s Baby Shampoo as laundry detergent for hand washing, worked great and clothes were dry by morning. I went from packing 10 sleeping gowns to just 4.
- Try to find out if the hotel in the region has a laundry service and how much they charge. We had a ton of clothes washed and pressed at the Novokuznetskaya for $40. That is a fraction of what you will pay for excess weight, at least in Siberian Airlines.

For Your Child
- Invest in one of these…most Russian hotels don’t have a microwave in the room and the kids are used to drinking their milk warm.

http://www.magellans.com/store/Health___Personal_Care___Food___DrinkEF226?Args=

- Children’s meds to take: infant Tylenol, Motrin, Gas X and saline mist. This is in addition to any antibiotics your IA doctor has given you.
- We chose to take a snuggly over a stroller and that worked really well for us. There was still quite a bit of snow on the ground in Moscow and as you all know, pushing a stroller through the streets of Moscow, until you can get to a pedestrian area like Arabat Street, is not the safest proposition.
- Take some baby food and diapers from the US, no matter what your agency tells you. Your schedule may change and you may not have time to go to the store when you want to go. Safe bets on baby food choices are: turkey, chicken, apple sauce. Gerber snacks are great too.
- More than likely you will be able to go to the grocery store in Moscow. The attached picture shows our main staples. The little can with the cow on it is a brand of food that is organic and we were told the meats had no additives. Besides these, the apple juice in the cartons (green apples on the label) is something the kids are familiar with, our son loved it!
- There is a fantastic grocery store on Arabat Street, right next to the McDonald’s, you can’t miss it! The milk is on the lower level and the baby food just past the counter with the fancy cakes and across the huge olive oil selection.
- Your child may or may not want a bottle. Take sippy cups just in case, and be prepared to not use the sippy part. Our son drinks from a regular cup, and we were surprised at how good he was at it.
- Toys….ah, why did we bother? Nick was more interested in empty bottles of Coke Light (oh how I miss those!), empty bottles of water, city maps and lids from fast food cups than he was in his toys. At 18 months he was not very interested in the soft plush toys that Lamaze makes. We took two and he didn’t play with them very much. His favorite toys while in Russia, and still at home, are stacking cups and this Fischer Price shape sorter

http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2341&e=detail&pcat=bupeek&pid=30957

Last but not least, pack a snowsuit AND a hat. Even if said snowsuit has a hat. We got many looks from the babushkas and I am sure it was due to our “Michelin Man” still not being dress warmly enough. Perhaps I should have shown the soaked with sweat hair under his hat.

For You
- Pack some snacks for you and your spouse. Granola bars became old after a while and we were thankful for the Chef Boyardee meals we took.
- Adult’s meds: general antibiotic like Zpac, pepto, Tylenol or Aleve, Neosporin, anthiseptic wipes, band aids.
- A portable DVD player and a good selection of movies. It is key to stick to the child’s routine (especially naps), so you will find yourself in the hotel, just watching the little one sleep. As sweet of a proposition as that is, it is also nice to have some entertainment in between glances at your sleeping baby.
- Comfortable shoes to hang around the hotel. We each took three pairs of shoes: boots, dress shoes for court, Pumas. The Pumas were good to have at the hotel and also traveling back to the US.
- T-shirts. You will probably cook inside anything with long sleeves. Both the Baby Home and the hotel were extremely warm. We cracked our window open in Novokuznetsk (despite the –26C outside), and ran the AC in Moscow.

Misc Musings
- Leave the car seat at home. They are not required by law in Russia, and even if you bring it, more than likely she/he will not want to sit in it since they have never been in one. Just hold your child on your lap during takeoff and landing. We did purchase a ticket for our son for the in country portion of our air travel and it was the best investment.
- Place copies of all your important documents in a USB memory stick, fits nicely in your neck pouch.
- Take large size ziplock bags; they will be a godsend when the explosive diaper scenario happens 40,000 ft above the ground… TRUST ME on this one. I took them, forgot to put them in the carry on, and well, I just feel bad for whomever has the job of cleaning that chute in the lavatory where one disposes of trash.

Baby Stuff
- One Step Ahead makes these onesie-extenders, and I think we will be using them soon on the 12 months sized onesies.
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=484759&cmSource=Search

These same folks also sell these, which I got as a gift from a dear friend, and I just love!
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=732&cmSource=Search

- If you happen to be reading this blog during your early stages of your adoption process, I highly recommend this book – “The Big Book of Baby Bargains”. I find the title misleading, as it will not tell you who sells what for the least amount of cash, but it does have great reviews on baby products, and gives you the scoop on items that are sold under private labels.

I am sure I will think of more in the future, I will note on the blog when I add items to this list.

Leche? Da!

2008-03-02T14:48:00.000-05:00

Leche? ...... Da!

You get the point? Da?

Nick and I have this conversation every day, about 4 times a day, as I am making his formula. The boy looooooves milk, actually “love” is an understatement. His eyes just light up when he sees me pull the red carton from the fridge and the can of Enfamil Next Step from the cabinet.

What I find funniest about this is that this conversation takes place in spanish and russian. We have decided that I will talk to him in spanish only, and Bill will speak to him in english. Every doctor we have seen has given us the thumbs up, as this is the best age to introduce languages. So that’s explains the “leche” part. Now, the other day I realized that Nick was saying “Da!”. This is the only Russian word I have recognized in his babble-vocabulary.

I have been told that “nee-nee” is bable for “give me”. He does that to, so any other adoptive parents out there, feel free to weigh in on this one and tell me if you have heard the same.

One Month Since Gotcha Day

2008-03-01T15:01:00.000-05:00

Happy One Month with Mommy and Daddy Nicholas!

Where has time gone? It was exactly 10:00 AM, on February 1st, when our car pulled inside the gates of Baby Home #1. I remember thinking how bittersweet this was. We were taking Nick from everything he knew, yet, opening a window of opportunity to so much more.

The woman holding Nick in this picture, is the doctor in staff at Baby Home #1. She took good care of Nick during his stay there, and was patient with us and sooooo cooperative as we asked so many questions during our first trip. We took this picture right before we changed him into the clothes we brought, and whisked him away.

I remember people telling me that the agony of waiting would be a distant memory once we had him with us. I didn't believe it, now I do.

And on that note, off I go. I hear someone babbling through the baby monitor. Time for a snack and a bath.

Hair cut and cuddles

2008-02-28T19:50:00.000-05:00

All done! yep, these are not in sequential order, but I don't feel like reloading them.

Vroom Vroom!

Flashback to the 80's

I think I like mommy and daddy's bed better! - pre hair cut, what a difference!

Nick really needed a hair cut, however I was a bit concerned as to how he would react and waited, until, well, I couldn’t wait anymore. Turns out I had been worrying over nothing!

We went over to Cookie Cutters yesterday and he really enjoyed riding the red race car while the stylist gave him the cutest boy cut. Silly mommy over here had her camera in tow and what you see is the in progress, and final product.

I am finding less and less time to blog, as I want to spend as much time as I can with Nick before I go back to work. Also Bill went back to work on Tuesday, so I am on full mommy duty after 10:00 AM every day. We spent our time indoors this past weekend, just the three of us. Our boy was in a cuddle mode, more so than most days, and was quite the hug giver.

So, I have been toying with the idea of making a different blog, a private one, to keep friends and family updated on our daily, weekly, or however often I can update, adventures. If I go that route, I will still leave this one up. I know many PAP’s look at it, and having been in their shoes, I know it can be comforting to hear other families’ stories as they travel, meet their children, and bring them home.

The list of suggestions and tips for traveling that many of you have requested is about done, and I will post it soon. The jury is still out regarding the private vs. non private.

Fast tracking through recovery

2008-02-22T19:32:00.000-05:00

Funny thing is, Nick loves baby cookies... I think we have a cookie monster in the making. Thanks ExactTarget for the cool cookie bouqet!!! We enjoyed visiting with you on Monday.

Grandpa Brockmann, here you have it.

Thanks so much for all the calls and emails inquiring about Nick's surgery on Wednesday. Everything came out great, and one would never guess he had surgery just two days ago. He is going about his business of eating, playing and chasing the dog as if he didn't have a few stitches. The only set back was him vomiting a couple of times when he first woke up, but that was about it.

In between naps yesterday, I was able to go pick up a new camera cable. Here's the much awaited, well, by a few people really, picture of Nick in crimson and cream gear. He has become pretty good tossing his IU basketball (thanks Garry & Patti). I wonder if IU will be knocking on our door now that they are coachless. Bwahaha.....

Missing: Nikon camera cable

2008-02-18T05:55:00.000-05:00

It appears that in the midst of putting things out of Nicholas’ reach, we have done a very good job at hiding the camera cable. The thing is, I discovered that the cable that I use to sync my phone and my computer also works, but nope, can’t find that one either.

I figured I would at least post and come back to add pictures later, and I intend for that to be today…

It is safe to say that we have conquered the fear of water! Bill takes all the credit on this one, as he is the one who had been playing with Nick and his toys in the bathtub. On Friday I heard this giggling and splashing coming out of the bathroom, and what do you know… my child is having a good time getting his dad wet. Bill had his toys inside the tub with water, but the intent was for Nick to see them and play with them from the outside, apparently Nick had other plans. Now we have to convince him that is time to come out; but I rather have that.

We have been laying low in a effort of keeping Nicholas healthy for his upcoming surgery, and for me to get over this cold. I think we are succeeding on both fronts. On Saturday though, it was time for a long due haircut for me, and Bill had errands to run. So Nick got his first stay at Grandma Lucy’s. To our surprise he stayed without crying, and even went down for a nap. That is great news to us as I will be going back to work in a month and he gets to hang out with Grandma all day.

Well, is time for me to go on the search for that cable, and get a couple of things caught up before is time for Nick to start his day.

Life with Nicholas

2008-02-14T17:25:00.000-05:00

Playing in the tub, still no water

My future Boilermaker at his happiest, right after a meal...

Doing the baby waddle

Vroom, vroom!!

Hi everyone, we have had a hectic couple of days with appointments and what not. To complicate things, I came down with a nasty upper respiratory infection that landed me in bed for two days. Fortunately my mom came up to help us with meals and such. I have been a hand washing fool, and I think I have managed not to give Nick my cooties. It has taking a lot of self-control not to smooch him!

We have gotten the majority of Nick’s labs and all looks great, except for a little parasite in his tummy, which is pretty common in a lot of kids coming from Russia. Once we get rid of the little bugger, Nick will be getting ALL of the nutrients from his food in and start packing some weight.

We are also treating his cough so that he gets rid of it by surgery time next week. Yep, we are correcting his hernia next week (thanks Frank, we were very impressed by both Dr. Cain and Dr. Cummings!), as we have been told by three different doctors that it needs to be corrected “sooner than later”. Plus doing it sooner allows me to stay with him for a good amount of time before I go back to work.

Nick has also spent a good amount of time in the tub with toys, sans water! This is the approach the social worker told us to take in getting Nick to start liking water. Tomorrow we will add water to the tub, put the toys in, and then let him play from the outside… next step… add child to said toys in tub.

We got bye-bye down and he likes going bye-bye more and more. We will probably trek down to my office on Monday so he can meet the people that mommy works with. He has become more vocal in the past two days, even babbling so loud that Godmother Maribel could hear him over the phone as she talked with me yesterday right after dinner time, which is when this boy is the happiest.

Here are some pictures from the past couple of days… since he was going out with just mommy today; he is sporting a Purdue hoodie! Sorry B family! I picked this up while at Homecoming with my friend Katie last year. Speaking of pictures, I was out at the travel clinic today getting my last Hep shot and I spotted a picture of the playroom in Nick’s Baby Home in Novokuznetsk. A man holding a child was in the picture. I left our contact info for them to pass on to this family. It sure will be fun to meet a fellow BH#1 buddy.

An illness we can cure

2008-02-11T16:38:00.000-05:00

We just got back from Cinci and all the way here we couldn't stop talking about how fortunate we are to have Dr. Staat and her staff at Cinci Children's Hospital so close to our house.

After a battery of tests, talking to a social worker, occupational therapist and nurses, and finally Dr. Staat; we were told that all he needs is love and lots and lots of food... definitely an illness we can cure. The biggest relief is that he has NO SIGNS of FAS.. which always weighs in the back of your mind when you adopt children from Russia... and that is not meant to have a bad connotation, is just a fact of life. Neither us, nor Dr. Staat thought he had FAS (from initial pictures she saw), but it was a relief to hear it from Dr. Staat after seeing the little guy in person. Yes he is small for his age, but like she initially told us in October, he will be caught up in six months or so. We will do a follow up appointment with her then.

The Social Worker was also pleased with how Nick interacts with us and how he is trusting of us, we are definitely on the right track towards attachment and were told to "continue doing what we are doing". Nick had a Russian translator during the appointment, who was of great help during the occupational therapist assessment. She would tell Nick what to do (i.e. stack these toys, put this inside of that, etc) and he would do it.

Yesterday Nick got to meet Grandpa and Grandma Brockmann... I think is safe to say that they are smitten. We are going to Bluffton next week and he will see them again then. In the agenda for this week is our appointment with a surgeon to address his hernia and then an initial visit to his regular pediatrician. I also need to do some grocery shopping for him and get his own supply of sour cream, mayo and cheeses... all of the full fat variety; which we will not be sharing since, well, Bill and I certainly don't need plumping up!

Time for me to go now and spend some quality time with my men.

p.s. Carrie - Nick was in Baby Home #1 in Novokuznetsk. If this is where your little guy is, please email me. I left a disposable camera at the Baby Home on trip 1 and I just got it developed. There are several other kids in the pictures with Nick.

It is 4:01 AM and I can't sleep...

2008-02-09T04:01:00.000-05:00

Tickle tickle

Where's that airplane food? I already got my spoon....

Street scene in Novokuznetsk

Drama Theatre - this is can also be seen in the webcams

Not sure if it is adjusting to EST time, jet lag, or the fact that I knew I would have ample time to shower and give myself a mini facial uninterrupted. I am also catching up on email, so I figured I would update the blog.

We had another good day yesterday.... this little boy gets funnier and funnier by the minute. What a 180 from the little boy we met in October of last year. Yesterday we learned that he has no interest in broccoli, but who can blame him? He is also not so interested in chewing a lot of things, just some. They used to puree all of his food at the Baby Home, I pressume because they can feed more kids faster, so this is something we need to work on.

Today I need to take him to get yet more passport sized pictures. We need to register Nick with the Russian Consulate, so I am getting all the stuff ready to FedEx today or Monday. This is due to the fact that he has dual citizenship until he is 18.

I also need to start gathering paperwork for his appointment at Cincinatti Children's Hospital International Adoption Clinic on Monday. We are so fortunate to be just 2 hours away from one of the best IA clinics in the country. The IA pedi who we consulted with after we met him in October, will see him on Monday. We just want to do one final check to make 150% sure everything is good with him, and address anything that needs addressed.

Tomorrow the little man gets to meet Grandma and Grandpa Brockmann. I didn't get to talk to them, but Bill tells me Grandpa will be kicking Grandma out of bed at the crack of dawn so they can get on the road for the 2 hr drive down here. Unfortunatelly I will probably be at tennis when they first get here and will miss that first meeting.

Here are some pictures from Novokuznetsk and our ride home.....

We are home!

2008-02-08T06:48:00.000-05:00

Actually have been since Wednesday night as originally scheduled, we are of course adjusting to life with little man and getting over jet lag.

He is doing better than we are on that respect. Slept from 11:00 till 7:00 AM yesterday, took his three hour nap after lunch like he used to in Russia, and then went to bed at 7:00 last night. He woke up several times last night but went back to sleep once he realized I was laying down in the extra bed in his room. So all is going pretty well with him as far as sleeping goes, I hope I don't jinx it!

He is also eating like a champ and loooooves mashed potatoes. Couldn't get enough of them last night. I am sitting in his bedroom typing and the little man is telling me is time for breakfast.

Have more pics to post, but that will happen at a later time!

We have been given the all clear!

2008-02-05T08:39:00.001-05:00

All dressed and ready to go meet the US Ambassador to Russia... I mean, get my American Visa

St Basils - we just love this church.. we didn't go in because we didn't want to keep Nick out longer than needed, but it is just gorgeous

Bundling up after an ice cream stop for mom & dad, and lunch for Nick

Nick and dad walking around the hotel... Nick needs to grow fast, or we will have to get a stick for each one of these two to hold on to

Arabat Street - main shopping area near our hotel

We visited the American Embassy today and had our visa interview. We have a nice Russian passport with an even nicer American Visa that allows little man into the good ol' United States... which we are really missing, may I add. We have had a great time in Russia, and this country has given us the best possible gift ever; for that we will always be grateful.

Our agency staff here in country has been phenomenal, and we have been taken care of, that's for sure. Moscow is an amazing city, and someday we will bring Nick back for a visit. We also hope to trek up to St. Petersburg.

The lady at the American Embassy was soooo nice, and was gushing over our little man. It was so cool to hear her tell us that as soon as we clear customs at JFK, he will be an American citizen! What a better place to enter our country and become a citizen than New York!!! We met a lot of families there, probably 12 or so. Including several that adopted multiple children. One woman is bringing three home. Twins girls, and their younger sister. They are from Kemerovo, the city were we had to attend court.

Had a good day today. The men had some bonding time as I did some last minute shopping. We wanted go get enough gifts to present Nick with each year till he turns 18, and I think we have accomplished that. We will be giving him these gifts on Russian Christmas, which is celebrated January 7th. Today's bonding time included Bill changing his first poopy diaper, and it was a messy one. Given my inspection of the area after the fact, I must say he did rather well.

We are in for the remainder of the evening, it is almost 5:00 PM here. We just need to pack, give Nick a bath (which is a chore since he is not fond of water), feed him, and put him to bed. Our driver will be in at 8:30 to pick us up for our 12:10 PM flight. If all goes to plan we will be touching down in Indy just after 10:30 PM tomorrow.

As always, I leave you with some pictures.

Wish us extra luck for our trip tomorrow, hopefully Nick will do as well as in the trip from Novokuznetsk. Although, this is a wee bit longer one.

See you all soon!

Bill, Monica & Nick

Almost there!

2008-02-04T10:49:00.000-05:00

Red Square

Red Square, National Historic Museum in the background, Gum to the right, Kremlin on the left.

In front of St Basils Cathedral

We have had a very very long day today, hence the lateness of this post.

For those of you who warned me about not skipping naps, now I know why! Due to our schedule, we had to skip his nap, and boy he was not happy about it later in the afternoon. We had to go take pictures for his visa, and then the medical checkup. This all ran over nap time, and of course, there's the stress of being poked by the doctor. Nick is now asleep, and should be good till about 7:00 AM tomorrow. He has been sleeping 12 hours at night, just like they told us he was at the baby home.

After the appointments today, we had our driver drop us off at Red Square, and of course we took the obligatory picture in front of St Basils Cathedral. We then rode the metro back to a stop near our hotel (Katie I think you asked, we are at the Arabat Hotel). The metro stations here are so ornate, just like we had seen in some History Channel documentaries. They are also very difficult to navigate, even more so than Munich or Rome. Well, Munich at least had signs in english! We found a very nice woman, with a gorgeous furr coat, who sent us in the right direction.

We have the morning free tomorrow, and then have our Embassy appointment, which we are told can last a couple of hours because of the number of Americans adopting from Russia nowadays. We met another couple at the doctor's office who adopted two boys from a region even farther away than Novo... and colder!

Time for me to go and start pre-packing. Will try to update the blog tomorrow, if I can make it in before they close at 8:00 PM. If we don't post, then our next post will be from Indianapolis with our new little citizen.

The Brockman Trio

We are in Moscow!

2008-02-03T04:06:00.000-05:00

Nick on the flight to Moscow

Sleeping in Novokuznetsk

Checking out the street scene - Novokuznetsk

Yeah, I still don't smile for the camera... we are working on that!

Hi everyone. We made it to Moscow yesterday morning, right on schedule at 8:14 AM... yipeee! Nick did great on the flight over, as he did the first day with us. He is slowly coming out of his shell and realizing that we are here for the long haul.

Because I had to wake him up so early to fly to Moscow (5:00 AM for a 7:40 flight), he was out by the time we lifted from Novokuznetsk. Slept for about and hour, ate (which he does very well), and played. The boy is fascinated with windows, so we spent a lot of time looking at the clouds and babbling.

We spent most of the day in. We grabbed lunch at Mickey D's, went grocery shopping for himm and came back to the hotel. Later on, Julie from Ohio (who is flying home with her daughter and husband today) and I power walked to Detsky Mir in search for baptism gowns..... and we found it! Detsky Mir is a huge, 4 story, children's store in Moscow just past Red Square.

Weather in Moscow is balmy compared to Novo. Its in the 30's today, it snowed some last night, but the sun is trying to come out, and the new snow seems to have melted.

Tomorrow we have his doctor checkup (part of the process for his Embassy Appt), and we will probably go to Red Square for the obligatory family picture.

Nick is sleeping right now, his schedule is off due to time difference from Novo. So for now we are going with the flow and we will settle into his regular schedule of naps, feeding, playtime, etc once we are home. After his nap we are going to trek down to Arbat Street for a bit of shopping and Starbucks!!! I saw the new Starbucks yesterday as we were walking towards Detsky Mir.

I better go see what my two men are up to, and see if my little man is up!

Tick tock ....

2008-01-31T20:41:00.001-05:00

One more hour till we go pick him up!

We have been up since 4:30. Good thing for the portable DVD player and JK Rowling's talents. We watched Harry Potter this morning before heading out for breakfast.

Thanks so much for all of your comments, we can definitely feel the love!

Phil, nah, I will leave the "Gringo Spanish" sessions to you!

Frank, yes we need to have a play date. I imagine Nick will miss his little friends from the Baby House.

Matt & Carla, thinking of you guys and hoping for time to fly.... same goes to the Horners in Nebraska.

Karla & ET, we will definitely be by to visit mid February.

Grandma & Grandpa, will pass along the hugs, we also can't wait for you to meet him.

Again, thanks everyone for the comments on the blog... we will continue to update it as much as we can... although, there's a little someone who will have all of our attention! We leave for Moscow tomorrow morning. Will check in from there.

He is ours!

2008-01-31T09:31:00.000-05:00

At 10:50 AM today, the family court judge at the Kemerovo Regional Court, in Kemerovo Russia, granted our petition to adopt Nick.

Court went extremely well! She asked questions of both of us, then questioned Bill and then me. The entire proceeding lasted about 35 minutes. Even better, our 10 day waiting period was waived. So we will be picking Nick up tomorrow morning.

Our coordinator will be here at 9:30 to take us to the Baby Home. Bill then has to go back to Kemerovo with the other coordinator, to pick up Nick's passport. As originally planned, we will go back to Moscow on Saturday, and home on Wednesday.

The other family also had a succesful hearing, and will also be going back to Moscow on Saturday.

We got back to the hotel just a couple of hours ago, but were famished, so yes we made you wait a bit! After court, we had to run around and sign some papers, finalize his birth certificate, adoption certificate, and apply for his passport. I am sure there some other documents signed along the way, all in all, a very loooong day... but one of the best of both of our lives!

Now, I will leave you with a couple pics of our little man! We took these over the past two days. He is still a little camera shy, even in his passport mugshot he looks so serious! Also, I have uploaded a montage that I had prepared after our first visit. Until now, I had not been allowed to share it electronically, but now that he is all ours... enjoy!

One more day....

2008-01-30T05:21:00.000-05:00

... till court.

We had a great time with Nick today. We got smiles, giggles, and babbles... what else can one ask for? He is slowly coming out of his shell and thinking he can trust these two strangers making the goofy noises and silly faces.

Our facilitator is finishing up some documents that we need for court, so we skipped the shopping today. Maybe Friday, if not I will try in Moscow.

Mely, it is cold! Our translator told me it was -27 this AM. That is Celsius though.. but I **think** it translates to about -15F. That's a rough guess though.

On that note, better go bundle up. We are going next door to have dinner, and then make an attempt to get some sleep! We have to be up at 5:00 AM. We leave here at 6:00 AM and need to make a 3 hour drive to Kemerovo, that is where court is held. We are told that we need to wait a few hours after court ends for documents to be issued before we drive back. It will be a long day, but oh so worth it!

Can't wait for you all to meet him, in the mean time, I have posted a sneak peak! ;-)

Checking In

2008-01-29T21:17:00.000-05:00

Good morning!

After a good night's sleep we feel pretty good this morning. Just had breakfast and are hanging out at the hotel with the Palmer's. Once we finish our visit today, we are going shopping at the local mall for a baptism gown. Bill is in awe at how I manage to fit in "shopping time", or find a mall, no matter what country I am in.

All we can do it talk about and think of him, and the little things we noticed yesterday. Of course we are most taken by the fact that he is walking, and how cute he does the "waddle walk" as he strolls down the hall holding his caretaker's hand.

We have been people watching from our hotel window too, its pretty interesting to watch the everyday life that we have been following through the web cam.

Of course, I was also glued to the TV this morning, as they had a cooking show. Today's featured recipe: French Onion Soup!

I will check back tonight and post a couple pics of our hotel view of the city. Would do that now, but didn't think of bringing the camera.

Katie, Olga has the cameras and she knows what to do. She will be taking pictures over the next two days and will return them to me on Friday. Rest assured, I will send Bill to the post office to send those to you as soon as we get home ... :-)

Later,

Monica

Nick Sighting Today!

2008-01-29T07:41:00.000-05:00

We saw him!
We saw him!
We saw him!

We were pleasantly surprised when we were told that we could visit the Baby Home today. We came in a day ahead of our scheduled time and were prepared to have to wait till tomorrow to visit him. Ecstatic doesn't even begin to describe our reaction when a smiling Olga stopped by to tell us to be ready at 12:30!

He has put on a bit of weight, and is walking! He walked in the room holding his care giver's hand. The big brown eyes darting from side to side, and the chubby cheeks are still there. We are also told that he can do stairs when assisted... uh-oh... we are going to be on the run at home. Good thing for those baby gates.

We had about an hour to visit with him today. I am not sure he remembers us, but we will have lots of time to get reacquainted. We will visit with him one more time tomorrow before we go to court on Thursday. I can't wait! We took some pictures today and will post those when allowed. We also have some short video.

We are staying at the Novokuznetskaya this time, it is just 10 minutes, if that, from the Baby Home. Met a few other couples, one of them with our agency; we just had dinner with them. They had court today, and got their ten days waived. They are going to Moscow a couple of days ahead of us, but it looks like we will all catch up there. Lots of new families in Moscow this weekend.

The flight from Moscow was smooth as silk, although for the first time in my life, I couldn't sleep on an overnight flight. Must have been a combination of anticipation and excitement; or the fact that I was just too tired to sleep. By the time we landed in Novo, we had been traveling for 36 hours. Bill, on the other hand, was able to sleep some on the way here.

We are going to try and rest now. Got the morning free tomorrow, then the Baby Home and some shopping. Will post more tomorrow.

Good night from Russia!

Greetings from Russia!

2008-01-28T10:46:00.000-05:00

After an uneventful flight from Indy on Sunday morning, we landed in Russia this morning (Monday, approx 2:40 AM EST). We were finally able to get in the business lounge at Domodedovo aiport to check email and give you all an update. I believe we have been traveling close to 24 hours now.

We are here with the Palmers from Missouri. They are going to court with us on Thursday, and have the same schedule going back to the US a week from Wednesday. We have of course spent the afternoon sharing pictures and adoption related stories.

Weather is very windy and snowing, not too bad as far as temperature, probably mid 20's when we landed.

Our flight to Novokuznetsk is currently delayed till 11:53 PM, at least this time we know ahead instead of sitting on the runway for hours!

This is all for now, will check in again from Novo on Thursday after we finish court.

Bill and Monica

p.s. Don't mind the staggered pictures, is the best I can do with command prompts in cyrilic.

We are ready.... I think

2008-01-26T20:37:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my mom and her packing skills, and the greatest invention, space bags; we are good to go! We have more stuff than I originally thought we would. Bill always commented about how kids come with accessories, I guess I know what he meant. It is a good thing I talked to Shannon and she helped me cut down from my original list. I would have had twice as many suitcases.

This really has been a challenge. You have all have heard how we managed to trek through Rome for 9 days in 2005, with just two backpacks... yes the same backpacks you see in this picture.

Still need to call around a few places, like our credit cards, so they know is us using them in Russia. Good thing for 24 hour customer service, yes?

I suppose my child would like some room to play once he gets home, so I better go tidy up! Oh, and yes, try to get some sleep. Oh, we just checked the weather in Novokuznetsk. Low on Monday night is -2F, high for Tuesday 12F. Since we land at 6:ish in the morning, I would say we may be just above zero.