Whew!
We arrived and hit the ground running. We visited with Alek on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, then picked up the court decree on Tuesday, along with the adoption certificate. Of course delays were impossible to avoid and so we weren't able to submit for his passport before going to pick him up from the babyhome Tuesday evening. He knew us, so wasn't too resistant to getting changed, until time came for the coat... I think he remembered going to get his passport photos taken, which apparently did not go well in the car ride there with his caretakers the week before. They had him fed already so at least he wasn'thungry but he did put up quite a fuss for the first 20 minutes or so, then I think his surroundings just got the better of him, and we saw the calm side of Alek. He was totally entranced by the cars and everything out the windows, and although he got a little fussy toward the end, it was almost 2 hours back to the apt ,so we were grateful for his sanity!
The first night together went well I think considering all... He was still pretty overwhelmed by everything and just taking it in, so I was waiting for the meltdown. I really wanted to give him a bath but didn't want to make an issue of it for his first night. However, maybe we caught him while he was still mute, as he gave no fuss and got right into the bath, we'll see if it holds tonight!
Unfortunately, we will need to work on brushing his teeth, as he would have none of it. Even with no toothpaste, the brush was going nowhere near his teeth. Any suggestions for success in the future are welcome!!
The other issue was the sleep part... he pretty much had no intention of sleeping, so from around 8pm til 11:30pm, we sang songs,watched Thomas until the DVD player ran out of battery (!), and then Daddy came in and all was well. Apparently Daddy's don't need parenting books for ideas to handle children with insomnia, and within a few minutes, Alek was fast asleep- he still won't tell me his secret...
So we still have 9 days left here (ugh!), and we cannot WAIT to come home!

it's official!

We are now proud parents of Alek Dunn.
Court was a breeze... after a small delay, around 12 noon we entered the court room with our interpreter, Irina, and introduced ourselves to the judge. She asked us some general questions like why do we want to adopt, are we scared of the possibility of a hyperactive child, etc. The Russian social worker presented the case to the judge with all of Alek's medical history and conditions, as well as the history of the mother that they knew, and then also had some questions for us. After all, it lasted about 30 minutes, and then it was official! Aleksander Vladislav Dunn is now our son. They gave us some pictures of him when he was a baby, which will be treasured and saved forever in the family album.
We had some notary business to take care of afterwards, then back to the hotel until tomorrow when we'll see Alek for the last time before we leave for a week. This morning was probably the smoothest event of the whole process! Both mama and papa are very happy and excited.

it snowed!

Just a quick note to update. We visited Alek this morning and had a great time! They let us play in a room where there were actual toys and he was not so distracted to want to go outside the whole time. We finally got some pics of Alek with Poppy, although as usual it's hard to get a non-blurry picture of a constantly moving object....!
We actually had to leave a little early so I could join a 6-hour teleconference for work from here- yes, 6 HOURS! Can't wait to see that bill this month!
Needless to say, another exhausting day but very happy to be here...and IT SNOWED!
We have tomorrow free as it is National Woman's Holiday here (??)- still have to Google that one, but our interpreter said it means I should definitely be receiving flowers and a nice dinner tomorrow- I'm not sure it's recognized by the one who might be giving and buying...:-)
Enjoy the new pics!

CRAZY day

We went out to see Alek this morning and he's grown so much already! As usual, he was itching to go outside and made "Poppy" push him in the stroller THROUGH the snow. The bubbles weren't quite as captivating this time, but we had fun hitting balloons..when we could catch him...

The 8-doctor medical was literally 8 doctors who came in to ask us a few questions each and each stamped our certificate for court. It was 3 hours before all was complete, but we probably would have spent 3 times this period just in 8 different doctors' waiting rooms back home!

Now we are back and just a little exhausted. Time to catch up on work and GO TO BED.
Tomorrow, we'll visit him in the morning again.
Will try to get more pictures if possible...

arrived in Moscow

Visas were received, new flight reserved and we are now in sunny Moscow! It's a really nice day so we'll explore the area around our hotel today, then have a long day tomorrow as we visit Alek in the morning and 4-hour medical exams starting at 3pm...

postponed

well, 3 hours until takeoff and still no passports...
There were delays in Memphis (??) so they are currently "in transit." It looks like we'll be arriving 1 day late... deep breaths...

almost there

Almost 12 hours to takeoff for Trip #2. Last-minute work was insane for us both, BUT most (all??) is packed
-no room for the furry boots :-(
and just needs a final review of documents required for court and medical evals.
Hoping we did in fact think ahead and all is in order =-)
We did have a small emergency as our Visa app was declined last Friday , requiring overnighting more documents to Colleen (our true visa-processing savior this weekend), who also had the foresight to make the connection that the crazy spring snowstorm that hit DC yesterday may in fact close the local visa office, so she sent them to their San Fran office on Saturday, where we now have confirmation that both apps were processed and overnighted to us to arrive just in time for our flight at 12 noon tomorrow morning (fingers still crossed of course til passports are in possession...).
All we know about our schedule is that we will be picked up at the airport in Moscow, and sometime in the following days, will likely have medical evals and/or see Alek, in no particular order or time...and so not much to report from this end. It will be a surprise for us all!