Precious Memories

Slam Dunk 






So many wonderful memories I just have to share with everyone that happened this week with Andrew. When we arrived home last week, I forgot to mention that there were framed pictures of Andrew all over the house, like he has been son from day one. They were in the living room, dining room, bedroom and even on the refrigerator thanks to Uncle David. What a nice surprise for us and Andrew. Andrew would see his picture and point to it and say something we couldn't understand. Some of the pictures that are on the end tables he reaches for and walks around the house holding his picture in his hands while he is babbling something or another.



While sitting in Andrew's high chair I taught his how to fold his hands together so we could say a blessing for our food and now I don't have to show him anymore he will just follow me and fold his own hands. Too cute! Also, another day I taught him how to give me a high five. He now holds his hand or hands up in the air and gently touch my hand or hands with them and smile. It's amazing how much he is picking up and learning at this age. Any time I sit down with him and play or teach him something he usually picks it up right away and follows along.



The past couple of days we've been coloring together. Before I get out the coloring book and crayons I take a blanket and lay it down on the living room floor(to protect the floor). Andrew watches me lay it down and gets all excited and goes immediately over to it and sits down on it like we were playing in the orphanage and looks up at me with an expectant look in his eyes enough to say, "Well, what are we goign to play with today". So I bring out the coloring book and the crayons. He gets so tickled over coloring. He loves it.



We have had some food issues this past week. I can tell he doesn't like certain foods since he will get a chill down his spine and make a face when he is shivering. It's funny to watch. Mama was getting a bit frustrated, because he wasn't eating the foods he was eating in Kiev. One day he'll eat scrambled eggs like it's going out of style and a couple days later he push it away. So I've been trying different foods, baby food and table food to see what he'll eat. He has been eating his oatmeal with bananas, raisons and some brown sugar, canteloupe (which he loves), apple pieces (another favorite), sometimes mashed potatoes mixed with chicken soup(bulletized), yogurt, ground beef and or meatloaf and we just discovered how much he enjoys cheesy fishy crackers. Not sure if the food issues were texture related or just the fact that it's just a new taste to him. He has been much better the past couple of days with eating so hopefully it will continue.



One day this week when Andrew was clawing at Mama's legs for me to pick him up while I was making dinner, I opened the bottom drawer of the cabinet to get a tupperware bowl out and his eyes lit up. Oh Boy, what is in there. So I let him play with all of the tupperware bowls (which ended up all over the kitchen) while I finished making dinner. WHEW, what a good diversion so I can get dinner made. He was a happy little boy playing with all of the tupperware bowls. After dinner, I told him that he had to help Mama clean up the bowls and put them back in the drawer, and of couse he helped put them back in the drawer. Such a good little boy.



Help! 





Andrew surprised us by saying a couple new words to add to his vocabulary. While he was pulling the lens cap off of the camera (a game we played at the orphanage) he said the word "Off" on Saturday, as he pulled it off. He loves to put the camera lens on the camera and then pull it off and each time he does I say "ON" or "OFF" (which ever is happening at that time). We were surprised since he said it so clearly just like I always say it to him. Another word he says now is "UP", occasionally when I pick him up, I will say "UP" and he will repeat it. Now we are working on the word "MILK". Everytime I give him his milk to drink I will say, "MILK". He is starting to say it but not completely yet. He says, "MIL" immediately after I say it.



Another precious memory I just have to state is the last couple of nights when putting him in his crib for the night he will lay there ever so calmly and as I am rubbing his chest he will slowly and sweetly blow me a couple of kisses. Ohhh, Andrew what a precious boy you are...you know just how to tug at my heart. So I blew him a couple kisses back to say good night.

Andrew's First Week Home

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?collid=88211073309&photoid=78211073309&&refreshkey=1127931179677



Andrew's first week home has been very busy. We are getting him aclimated to his home life here in the Millilo household and figuring out a routine for him and a routine for us. Since we have been home, Andrew has been extremely clingy, especially to Mommy. I go to fix his dinner and he is at my feet hugging my legs and whining for me to pick him up. Not sure if he is just hungry or just wanting some cuddle time. I think he just wants some cuddle time and attention because even after I feed him he will whine and sit or stand and hug my legs as I am cleaning up the dishes. So I've been picking him up and carrying him a lot and leaving the dishes for later when he is napping. It surprises me how clingy he is now, since he wasn't that way in the orphanage the whole 40 plus days we were visiting him. When he sees Robert leave the house (to run out to get groceries or whatever) he screams like there's no tomorrow.



Outside of his clinginess, Andrew has adjusted well to his new home and is sleeping in his own crib. We were unsure as to how he would handle not sleeping between us, like he did in the Kiev apartment, but the first night he played in his crib for about five minutes and then passed out. I guess he liked being in a familiar type of bed, since he was in a crib in the orphanage. The first night when we got home, we showed Andrew around the house and showed him his room with his new crib to get him familiar with his new home and bedroom. I think that helped when putting him to bed that night. He wasn't scared or crying or anything like he was in Kiev the first night in that apartment. We were glad to see he welcomed his new crib and give Mama and Papa some alone time in our own bed. And what a good feeling it is to be in our own bed.



We had some visitors, family and friends the past week which was wonderful to see everyone and for them to meet Andrew. We want to thank everyone who helped get our home prepared for a toddler while we were away, which made Andrew's homecoming much more enjoyable and comfortable. Andrew's Great Grandma bought a high chair for Andrew and our brother in-law, Rich assembled it and put it together for Andrew's homecoming. Thank you Grandma and Rich for for thinking of us and making our homecoming much more comfortable. Also a big thank you goes out to Aunt Karen and Pop Pop for purchasing and installing the car seat for Andrew's big homecoming. It is wonderful, and we are ever so happy that Andrew has taken so well to it (since they don't use car seats in Ukraine, we weren't sure as how Andrew would react to them). Another big thank you goes out to Aunt Maria and Nana (my mom) for supplying us with some diapers, baby food, wipes, and some clothes for Andrew. It was a tremendous blessing and we appreciate it, especially being that we are still figuring out all of the details of parenting a toddler immediately after arriving home from Ukraine. What a big help it was to have all of these preparations set up for us. We thank you all for such a warm and loving welcome home for Andrew and us. It's good to be home.

We are Home AT LAST!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=20115152309&photoid=10362152309



Yes, we are HOME AT LAST! We are so thankful to be home with our family and to be in our own beds at last. The flights were uneventful exept for the 2 hour delay and that we had to reroute our flights from London coming home because we would have missed the connection flight. Andrew held up well in the plane and slept for half of the time. We were happy to see Robert's parents meet us at JFK airport (not only because we were home at last but because we were supposed to fly into Newark airport). When we saw Robert's Mom and Dad in the airport, as we were walking towards them with Andrew I started to cry from relief that we were finally home. We missed everybody so much and are so happy to be home with Andrew at last. When Robert, Andrew and I finally pulled up to our house at 2:00am and opened the door, my mom and sister were in the living room asleep on the couch and chair trying to wait up for us. When we walked in they were still asleep so I went over to my mom and gently placed her first grandchild into her arms to wake her up. I wanted Andrew to be the first face she saw. She was a little startled but was overjoyed to hold him and for us to be home. We stayed up talking until 4:00am and we showed Andrew around the house. We showed him his room and let him roam around for a while as Robert and I were catching up with my mom. By the time we put Andrew down for bed in his crib (which he seemed happy to be back in a crib, instead of a sagging mattress bed) he happily played for a bit and cried for a minute and went to sleep. Praise God for that cause Mama needed her sleep (didn't get much sleep on either plane cause I was more interested in making Andrew comfortable,since he was sleeping in my arms, so he could rest and let everyone else on the plane rest).



We had a revolving door yesterday with our family members coming to visit and meet there new relative they have read so much about. My mom and sister was there since they stayed over night, Robert's Grandmother who is turning 90 years old in October, which is Andrew's Great Grandmom, Robert's parents and sisters, our neices and nephew and my cousin Karen and Aunt Rita stopped by. Grandma was so happy that we were home and said that she has kept up with our blog and has not missed a day to hear about her new great grandson, Andrew. Andrew is a little shy at first around new faces but he is warming up to them fairly quickly. It was so good to see our family members yesterday and we are glad that Andrew is adjusting so well to his new family and home. When our nephew Billy and our neices arrived we were all playing on the floor with Andrew. I asked Billy if he was glad (which I know he was) that we brought home a little boy. Well to my surprise Billy engulfed me with a big hug for bringing home a little boy cousin for him to play with. He is the only boy in the family until now so Billy is extra excited to meet Andrew and from what I heard from my sister-in-law, Karen (his mother) that Billy doesn't stop talking about Andrew.



It was so wonderful to have everyone over to meet Andrew yesterday and I could tell that everyone was excited to see us and Andrew home. Everyone says what a precious little boy we have and I Praise God for guiding us through this journey safely and for our precious Prince Andrew. We appreciate all of everyone's prayers and support throughout this time away from home while being with Andrew in Ukraine. We had the favor of God upon us and He was the one who led us to our son Andrew. Your prayers have availed much in our lives and we thank you for them. If I could ask for you all to continue to pray and believe with us that Andrew continues to attach with us and bond with us and our family and continues to adjust well in his new home and surroundings, we would certainly appreciate it.



I am planning to keep up with this blog to give everyone updates on how Andrew's is adjusting in his new home for our family, the adoption community that has been following it as well and for Andrew's memory life book for when he gets older.

Adjusting To Each Other

Last night Andrew woke Robert and I up around midnight. He was wide awake and was rolling around on top of us in bed and wouldn’t go back to sleep. We tried to get him comfortable enough to fall back to sleep. Since that wasn’t working Andrew and I got up and I gave him some warm milk, which he only took a few sips of and refused to eat or drink anything else. His diaper was dry and he seemed so wide awake like he was ready to start the day, even though Mama and Papa were ready to go back to bed. Since nothing else was working, Andrew and I spent some time in the living room looking out the window to the traffic below and FINALLY Andrew fell asleep in my arms. Robert and I have noticed that when Andrew is sleepy around his nap time he will find something hard to lay on like the hardwood floor or the laptop computer which was on the couch when Andrew decided to use it as a pillow. Fancy that! The bed in the bedroom of this apartment is softer and doesn’t have much support (really no support and the one support board caved in on me and Andrew the night before last to make matters even worse) so we think and are comparing what Andrew is used to sleeping on an inch and a half thickness of a mattress at the bottom of his crib in the orphanage. I laid Andrew down on the couch and covered him up all snugly and put a pillow along side of him so if he rolled over he’d be barricaded. I camped out on the floor next to the couch just in case he rolled over, I would feel the pillow hit me first to wake me up. All in all it was a rough night last night and we had to be up early to make our appointment for Andrew to get his medical exam done. Alla and Sasha were picking us up at 8:30am me, Andrew and Robert had to be washed, fed and clothed and ready to go. No problem. Getting up was easy, trying to feed him wasn’t. For some reason Andrew only ate half of a small cottage cheese container and a couple spoonfuls of cereal. He refused the banana and whatever else I tried to get him to eat. Very unlike him. He did snack on a few Cheerios though right before Alla & Sasha got here.



When we were taking Andrew in the car to the doctor’s office, he was quietly looking around checking out his surroundings. Alla could see he was getting sleepy so she jingled her keys to keep him awake for the exam. When we got the doctor’s office, we were in a long hallway with many people waiting to see the doctor. I guess Andrew could sense something was about to take place or he was just cranky because he was ready for his nap and Andrew started crying and crying for about 10 minutes. He would not calm down until after the doctor was finished doing the exam. I finally diverted his attention onto looking at the light and trying to touch it and he calmed down after that. Talk about a long 10 minutes or so. The doctor said he is healthy and that his lungs were clear. Obviously his lungs were clear. The doctor gave me a copy of the vaccinations that Andrew has already had went over the form with me. He also gave me a prescription for some nose drops to put in Andrew’s nose right before take off and landing in the plane for protection of his ears. After that he was fine, no problems and he fell asleep on my lap in the car coming home.



We went to feed him when we got home (since he woke up after being carried from the car to the apartment) and he only ate a few Cheerios again with a little juice, certainly not our little pumpkin that is used to eating much more. Maybe because of all of the changes going on today and lack of sleep and eating a lot in the last couple of days. Alla insists that he eat big many times during the day. Robert and I didn’t agree that he needed so much food, however, Alla got it down him somehow the last 2 days. Anyway, since Andrew wasn’t going to nap for us we all went out to get his picture taken for his visa. While we were waiting for them to develop we went to lunch at a Ukrainian Cafeteria. All three of us tried feeding Andrew and he was not accepting any food at all from any of us until we gave him a taste of the peach juice on his lip. Finally he drank a good portion of his juice and a bit of buckwheat. During our walk back to the apartment Andrew finally fell asleep in Daddy’s arms is now napping in the apartment.



Our first full day with Andrew I was amazed at how much he poops. On Saturday, Andrew had 4 full stinky diapers. Talk about initiation to Motherhood. Robert was amazed as much as I was. When I was a nanny for a 9 -22 month old I don’t remember so much poop all in one day before. We have to be thankful that it’s not the runny kind for sure and that he is pooping. Amazing! Yesterday, Robert and I discussed about keeping up with potty training him while it is still fresh in Andrew’s mind, so when Robert and Alla went out shopping, they came back with a plastic potty, similar to what Andrew was used to in the orphanage. When Andrew woke from his nap, Robert put him right on his pot and he pooped and tinkled. When Robert took Andrew off of his pot, instead of laying him down so I could put some Balmex on him he turned him upside down. “What are you doing”, I said. I took a hold of him and laid him down to get his diaper on and dressed for dinner. Robert was so excited about Andrew doing his business in his potty instead of the diaper, he took a hold of Andrew’s hands and showed him his droppings and cheered with Andrew with delight. Too Funny! It was amazing to see how happy Daddy was that Andrew was pooping in his pot because it was me who was changing his diapers.

Posting Comments on our Journal

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK EVERYBODY FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS ON OUR JOURNAL DURING OUR TIME IN UKRAINE.



THERE HAVE BEEN MANY PEOPLE THAT HAVE LEFT SUCH WONDERFUL COMMENTS WITHOUT SIGNING YOUR NAMES AT THE END OF THE COMMENT. WE WOULD LOVE TO CONTINUE TO HEAR FROM EVERYONE AND ESPECIALLY WOULD LOVE IT IF YOU COULD SIGN YOUR FIRST NAME AT THE END OF YOUR PARAGRAPH WITHIN THE COMMENT TEXT.



THANKS FOR HELPING US REALIZE WHO IS COMMENTING.



ROBERT MILLILO

Andrew is Coming Home

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?collid=98027201309&photoid=88027201309&&refreshkey=1127030320022




Hello Everyone!





It's been a whirlwind few days with Alla, paperwork chase on Wednesday and Thursday for a total of 20 hours running from building to building to get Andrew’s birth certificate and passport and other necessary paper inbetween to complete the porcess and shopping on Friday for donations for the orphanage and Andrew's caretakers. It's official Andrew is our son! We got the birth certificate and passport surprisingly on Thursday right before their offices closed for the day. Alla even worked her miracles again opening offices that were officially closed to the public for them to process our paperwork. God is so Good!!





We had a celebration dinner with Alla on Thursday night and yesterday we were speed shopping getting some needed items for the orphanage (portable heaters for a couple rooms for winter, long johns and tights for all children in the orphanage, other winter clothes, lots of baby shampoo and some other items). We were rushing because we wanted to make sure that we made the 5:00pm train for Kiev. We said our thank yous to the caretakers and gave lots of hugs and kisses (both Andrew and I) to his caretakers and mama had some tears of joy and sadness for Andrew (knowing how much he loves his caretakers and he won't be seeing them again). It was an emotional couple of days. Tears and laughter all at once...got to love that emotion.





It was a rough night last night after we got to the apt. Andrew enjoyed his first train ride and was quite the good little boy. Once we woke him from having 2-3 hours sleep on the train and moving him to a car and a new apt. and a new bed that is not like what he was used to he just didn't want to go to sleep. After an hour trying to get him to go to sleep in my arms and laying him in the bed with us and no success Andrew finally fell asleep in my arms as I was bouncing him and rocking him and he slept for about 6 hours until 7:30am this morning. Mama didn't get much sleep since he was right next to me (every move he made it woke me up). Today all is well and Alla came by around 11:30am to cook Andrew some orphanage Ukrainian lunch - homemade soup and cereal with homemade cooked juice. She is so wonderful. I didn't expect that at all.





Our family sent some pocketbooks for Alla and she loved the one that was big enough to fit a packet of documents and other items of necessity. She was tickled pink with all of the pocketbooks and hand sanitizers, lotions and makeup that was given to her. Thanks Mama Maria for sending them. She thanks you all very much.





Well, got to run, Andrew is about to wake up from his nap. We have his medical appt. on Monday and our appt with the US Consulate or Embassy (which is right near us) on Tuesday morning, so we'll be home WITH Andrew for sure on Wednesday!!! OOHHH how we are looking forward to that.





We praise God for all of the supernatural favor that He has provided and paved the way for us through this whole journey. Hang on everyone....ANDREW is coming home with his Mama & Papa!





Love to ya all,



Karrie, Robert & Andrew Millilo

Gotcha Andrew!

We got Andrew's birth certificate and passport today! WHOO, WHOO!! Hallelujah!! This is day, September 15th is our official Gotcha Day as all of the adoption community calls it. It is the day when Andrew is officially ours and we can take him out of the orphanage! We will celebrate this day every year as the day Andrew became our son...kind of like a birthday. WE will leave Andrew in the orphanage until tomorrow though because we have a lot of running around to do to go shopping for donations to the orphanage and getting Andrew's airline ticket and shopping for gifts for his caretakers. So it will be easier to wait until we are ready to hop the train to Kiev which we picked up today to leave Dnipropetrosvk at 5:00 and head to Kiev for the last leg of our journey...the Medical exam and picking up Andrew's Visa at the US Embassy or Consulate on Tuesday. We're almost home.

Got to run for now and get some sleep. See you all soon!

Sit, Wait & Hurry UP

Hello Everyone!

Just a quick update since we are having trouble getting onto the blog to
update it. Wanted to keep you all in the loop with what is going on with us.
Alla visited us early this morning and as she says we will SIT WAIT & HURRY
UP. Meaning that we were running around to many different places to get our
paperwork done, waiting for it to get done and asking them to hurry up in
the meantime...then we hurry up to the next step in the process.



Today we went and got the court decree (Adoption decree) from the court
(waited 2 hours for) then ran to the birth certificate office (which will be
closed tomorrow) and they squeezed us in to type up the birth certificate
during their lunch time (however, when we got back after lunch to pick it up
the court decree had the wrong name of the birth certificate office on it so
we had to run back to the court to get it redone and then back to the birth
certificate office to see if they could get it done for us before tomorrow.
They said they would do us a special favor and we could pick it up first
thing tomorrow morning. Thank God for that. Then we went to see Andrew
around 5:00pm for about 1.5 hours and the lawyer in the orphanage stayed
later to draw up the 15 documents that she needed to do and she got it all
done today and first thing tomorrow morning the orphanage director just has
to sign the documents and put the official blue stamp on them. Then we will
be ready to apply for Andrew's passport. So all in all Alla is working
miracles as usual. We gave the lawyer a ride home since she worked later for
us.



The last 2 days the whole city in Dnipropetrovsk has been without water. Yes
that's right,,NO WATER in the hotel, restaurants or anywhere. The hotel
maids were nice enough (since we had no clue that this was going to take
place(the city is working on fixing some pipes in the town) to fill our tub
and bottles with water to bath with or use for anything else but drinking of
course.



Well, that's the update for now. Alla and Robert and anxiously waiting to
leave the internet cafe. So tah tah,,,,or as they say here
Dasfidanya(goodbye).



Love ya all,

KArrie, Robert & Andrew

DONUT FACE

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=17450569209&photoid=96450569209



Everyone at the orphanage knows that the time is coming near to Andrusha’s departure and they are showing him more and more attention as the days go by. Today, to our surprise as we were walking around the orphanage getting Andrew some exercise, his two caregivers were standing at the top of the fire escape waving at Andrew getting his attention. When he extended his arm out to reach up to them another former caretaker came out of the building to pick him up and say hello. Later today Andrew saw another former caretaker of his up on her fire escape stairwell cleaning so he extended his arm out to her and say Hi and she came down the stairs to go home for the day and pulled out of her bag a donut half the size of Andrew’s head and gave it to him. Robert and my eyes just about popped out of our head when we saw what she gave him. To our surprise he was able to eat it (very firm donut, not like the Krispy Kremes or Dunkin Donuts back home). He had donut mush all over his face. A Kodak moment for sure, but Daddy got to him first with the baby wipes. Another former caretaker of Andrew’s stopped Robert in the hall when he was about to return Andrew at the end of the day to ask when we were leaving Dnipropetrovsk with Andrew. Andrew is certainly LOVED by all around here. Boy, when Robert and I were praying for supernatural favor in our children’s life (when we were first starting the adoption process) we now can see that our prayers have been answered even with that. God certainly gives you exceedingly and abundantly ABOVE all that you can ask or think.



We talked with Alla, our translator through email and she will be returning to Dnipropetrovsk on Wednesday, September 14th at 7:00am by the overnight train to finalize the adoption with Andrew. WHOO WHHOOO!!! Yes, Wednesday is the day we can get Andrew’s birth certificate with our names listed as his parents as well as have Andrew’s new name listed as Andrew Lawrence Millilo. After we receive his birth certificate we will be able to get his passport. Please keep in prayer and be in agreement with us that the final paperwork is processed in record time so we can be home at last by September 21st at the latest, or earlier if possible. Yes, we should be home in about a week from Wednesday. USA here we come.

Dnipropetrovsk Anniversary Celebration

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=82294239209&photoid=62294239209



Happy Birthday, Dnipropetrovsk! This city that we are in was founded on September 10th, 1776 from what we understand. At least this is when they celebrated the anniversary of the day it was founded. If you remember back in one or two of our blogs, we mentioned about that the town was doing some major construction and renovations across the street from our hotel on the waterfront, street and doing major landscaping with fountains and lighting. Well the past month we realized that they were pushing to get it all done before today for the celebration. And what a celebration it was. There were 2 major stages set up on either end of the waterfront. During the day they had dancers performing and music at the other one. Since we realized how big this celebration was going to be when we returned from our afternoon visit from the orphanage, and all the roads were blocked off and our taxi driver had to drop us off about 10 blocks from our hotel and there were mobs of people walking towards the waterfront. There were all kinds of alcohol and beverage tents set up to sell to the people, so since we saw the mass of people (must have been everyone in the city that piled into one area) we decide to stay in for the evening. Around 9:00pm we heard very loud fireworks set off, it sounded like the fireworks were right on top of the hotel. Robert and I ran out of our room and down the hall to catch a glimpse of the fireworks from the balcony in the reception area on our floor. The maids or madams as they call them here on our floor saw that we wanted to see the fireworks made rooms for us. The fireworks were the most SPECTACULAR fireworks display that both Robert and I have ever seen. They were setting them off from a few different barges in the river in front of our hotel every 10 – 15 minutes we would get about a 10 minute display of fireworks for about 2 hours straight (up until 11:00pm). When we looked out from the balcony to the street and waterfront below we were awestruck at the amount of people that were outside. There was no room to move on the street or the walkways of the waterfront, grass areas, sidewalks or parking lots. It was like the whole city shut down and everyone came out for the celebration.



If you click on the link to see the pictures, you will see some pictures of the waterfront that were taken from our hotel balcony during the day. Imagine the whole area filled with people and that is what it looked like in the evening during the fireworks display.

Clingy Andrew

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=47447878209&photoid=37447878209




Well, today is the day that we’ve been waiting for. Andrew is realizing that as soon as we change his shoes that we bought for him back to his orphanage sandals, like we do every visit right before we turn him back to his groupa, that his parents won’t be around for a while to spend time with him. This morning when changing his sandals, Andrew put up a fuss and when I picked him up to give Papa a kiss goodbye and to say Paka “goodbye” to Papa, he freaked. He pushed me away from him and screamed. Then he reached for Robert and Robert took him in his arms. Robert tried consoling him and then gave him a kiss to say goodbye and then tried to give him back to me to take Andrew back to the groupa (like I do at all of our visits), Andrew freaked and wailed again. We think he is associating our everyday goodbyes with me taking him back to his groupa and us leaving him. Usually, Andrew is fine when we return him back to the group, but today at both visits when we were about to return him he didn’t want us to leave him. I told Robert to take him up to the group for both visits since he acted the same way, and as Robert and Andrew were walking away from me he blew me kisses the whole time they were outside in view of me.



It is good to see that Andrew doesn’t want us to leave him. I was getting concerned that he was going to have some issues with him leaving the orphanage and his caretakers. I’m sure on some level Andrew will understand that he is not at the orphanage anymore once we take him home for good. Please keep him in prayer for a smooth transition and a happy one for him.



Today, during our afternoon visit, Andrew was walking toward the entrance gate to the orphanage. We spent some time at the gate telling him that next week we will be leaving in a taxi and taking him on a train ride to Kiev and then on a plane to go home. As we were at the gate, our taxi driver, Sasha came over to say hello to Andrew. Andrew was quite cordial with Sasha and of course shook his finger to say hello. Andrew was also saying his goodbyes to the caretakers that were leaving the orphanage for the day. As one of Andrew’s caretakers approached him, he wiggled in my arms to let him get down so he could run towards her to hug her. He gave her a hug and she said goodbye and walked out of the gate. He stood there in amazement watching her walk away from him. As she left he blew her kisses over and over again to say goodbye.

Sharing Andrew's Excitement

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=44732278209&photoid=34732278209



Andrew was quite the active little boy today. He was very vocal and very energetic. The past couple of days when we are about to feed him he sees us getting the yogurt out of our blue bag and will boisterously say “NE, NE, NE, NE, NE, NE”!!!! I guess he is trying to tell us to hurry up with the food already. He says it real loudly and the veins in his neck pop out when he does it. It makes us wonder if he is being fed in the orphanage or not knowing that we feed him some food as well. It could be quite interesting when we go to feed him on the plane ride home.



Daddy likes to hide certain toys of Andrews that are small enough to fit in his shirt pocket to see what Andrew does. Of course Andrew loves fishing his toys out of Robert’s shirt pocket. Well, today Robert was putting our compact flash card in his shirt pocket and Andrew saw him do it, so of course he went to fish it out and have fun teasing each other in the process.



Today we received another care package from our family members that we went to pick up before we went to see Andrew. Thanks, Mom & Dad for the package. It is greatly appreciated! We were about 45 minutes late to visit with Andrew today (which is very odd for us) because there was major traffic on the bridge due to an accident. Well when we picked up Andrew from his groupa and he saw his Daddy waiting for him in the hallway, Andrew flapped his arms up and down yelling “DA, DA, DA, DA, DA, DA” over and over again. We all jumped and flapped our arms with him saying the same thing showing our excitement with him that we finally showed up to visit with him. Too funny. He is a real character for sure.

Mastering Shapes

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=23779628209&photoid=13779628209



Today, Andrew’s main caregiver, Svitlana, asked us as she was leaving for the day when we will be taking Andrew home with us. She doesn’t speak any English so we were communicating the best we could with her to answer her question. We told her that we will be leaving Dnipropetrovsk or the orphanage on September 17th and then flying home on September 21st. She gave us and Andrew a sad look with tears in her eyes and hugged and kissed Andrew. I can really tell how much she the way she was caring for him to help Andrew get over his cold. I could really sense that she really loves him a lot, as well as many of the other caretakers in the orphanage. Robert and I really see how well loved Andrew is around the orphanage. I know I’ve said it before, but being here the last 30 something days and witnessing how many of the caretakers and the doctors take to Andrew and he to them is just so beautiful. I think I might have a few tears of my own for them and Andrew when we leave the orphanage. Robert and I have not seen the caretakers and doctors give any of the other children the special attention that they give to Andrew. Today, when Andrew was climbing the steps inside the orphanage (as he so loves to do, since he knows how to now) there were about 4 caretakers that were walking down the stairs to leave for the day and Andrew saw them and turned every which way to greet them with a big smile and said Hi to each of them. It was funny to watch.



Today, Robert decided to teach Andrew how to put the different shapes into the side holes of his drum. Andrew usually just puts the shapes into the big opening by opening the lid and placing them into it. To our surprise, Andrew did very well at placing the shapes into each specific shaped hole. He would turn the shape until it fit into the hole and we all cheered Hooray! During this afternoon’s visit when we were climbing the stairs, Andrew decided to sit down on the stairs and then started bouncing up and down and up and down again.



Just a side note about the city that we are in, Dnipropetrovsk. September 10th will be Dnipropetrovsk’s birthday and it was founded in 1776 just like America (sort of). Since we have been here in Dnipropetrovsk, they have been doing some major construction on the roads, waterfronts, sidewalks, major bulletin boards installed, and laying sod and lots of bushes and doing major landscaping on the waterfront. It is really coming together and looking really nice. Once it is completed the waterfront restaurants will start booming with lots of business. We met a couple in our hotel cafe that lives in NJ and are both Ukrainian born people. They are here for business and spending extra time to see family as well. They told us about Dnipropetrovsk’s anniversary celebration on September 10th that will be taking place on the street that our hotel resides (right on the Dnipro River). Looking forward in being apart of the anniversary celebration this weekend.

Kittens, Caterpillars, Puppets & Dancing

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=19419797209&photoid=98419797209



There was so much excitement today for Andrew. There were 2 very young stray kittens that were running around the orphanage grounds. Of course on our morning walk around the orphanage we had to take a look at the new furry felines. They were so tiny and scruffy looking. Mama wanted to take them home with us, but Papa wouldn’t have it. Andrew had fun checking them out and even got real close to them. He attempted to pet one of them but I pulled him away, because his attempt to pet them was him raising his hand over his head ready to swat them hard. Then the kittens got up even closer to Andrew’s foot and Andrew didn’t know what to do so he lifted his leg and ended up pushing one of them away with his shoe. That was enough for the kittens so we continued our walk without them, however, the kittens didn’t want us to go. They were scurrying along trying to keep up with us and when we turned the corner and they couldn’t see us they were meowing real loud.



Boy, it must be caterpillar season, because everywhere we place our blanket there are a number of caterpillars that drop out of the trees on us. Seems like Robert gets hit with most of them. We were showing Andrew what a caterpillar is and he was a bit afraid of it. He started swiping the blanket to get it off of the blanket and away from him by using a plastic sleeve from our photo album.



We have been showing Andrew our family photo album a lot in the past few days to get him familiar with our family before we arrive home as well as pictures of our home and his room. He is more interested in turning the pages and crinkling the empty pages. One of them he tore out.



Andrew has been speaking a lot more lately. He is trying to sound out words and singing his own little tune. When people walk by us, Andrew will extend his arm and say “Hi”! He is quite the friendly little guy. When we are playing Peek-a-boo, Andrew will say “BOO” when he pulls the baby wipe off of his head.



Daddy today made a puppet out of a sleeve that Andrew pulled out of our photo album. He stuck his hand in the sleeve since Andrew loves to play with anything that crinkles. Give him a plastic bag, wrapper, or tissue paper and he is happy for hours. When Daddy stuck his hand in the sleeve and acted like a puppet Andrew started belly laughing. He thought that was the greatest thing. Then Daddy would take the sleeve off of his hand and put it on Andrew’s hand. Then he laughed and giggled even louder. It’s so funny just to watch Andrew get so tickled over something so simple. Andrew also loves to tackle Daddy when Robert is laying on the blanket. Today he was especially pouncing on Daddy after playing puppet with him or tearing up tissue paper.



Also, this afternoon, Andrew and Mama were dancing to the music that was playing off of one of his toys. As I was sitting on the blanket, Andrew was standing near me so I took hold of both of his hands and started swaying back and forth holding his hands while humming to the music. We were dancing for a few minutes before he wanted to stop. Such a cutie.

Gleeful Andrew

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=16188247209&photoid=95188247209



Well it seems as if fall is coming early this year in Ukraine. Or maybe it always gets this cool this early in September. It certainly beats the heat and the mosquitoes. That’s for sure. It continues to be cool in the mornings and it warms a bit in the afternoon with the heat of the sun.



Today Andrew was much more playful and energetic today than yesterday. When I walked into his group room to pick him up this morning, I picked him up out of his playpen and he started laughing, squealing and happily patting my shoulders with his hands. The caretakers got such a kick out of him and his reaction. We all laughed at his gleefulness.



We stayed inside this morning for a while until it warmed up outside. Andrew was playing with his toy duck and his yellow chair. We were helping him get into the chair and pushing to the back of the chair so he wouldn’t fall over. Well, since Andrew likes to make everything into a game, he kept inching his way towards the edge of the chair and would just sit on the edge until I would push him back by his belly to sit back. He thought that was funny so he kept doing it.



Also, he was playing with the stuffed duck that my mom bought for him. I was showing him how to cuddle with the ducky since it is so soft. Finally, he gave it a hug and since I was calling it Donald Duck he would say Dau Dau as if he was saying Donald Duck imitating me.

Balloon Soccer & Outdoor Exploring

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=19258317209&photoid=88258317209




Another cool day we had here today in Ukraine. Seems like they will have an early fall this year. This mornings visit we spent playing with Andrew indoors again. It was too cool this morning to take him outdoors. We did have fun though with Daddy blowing up balloons and us teaching Andrew how to play soccer with the balloon.



Andrew certainly loves to crawl underneath the child size table that is in the play room. I guess it is like his own little fort. He will sit under the table and peek out from under it to get our attention and give us this silly grin and then pull his head back, like he is teasing us. Sometimes he will crawl under the table and then lay down on the floor for some reason. I guess it’s a confined space, like his crib, where he feels at home.



We have noticed over the last month since we have been visiting with Andrew (it’s been a month today since we first met Andrew) that he is the apple of everyone’s eye. All of the caretakers, orphanage doctors, teachers, and other adopted families all smile, greet Andrew and he responds back with a wave and a greeting in return. Many times he goes up to all other people (strangers and alike) to say hello. Robert and I think it is because many of the caretakers and doctors that greet him are used to giving him a cookie or cracker when they greet him. We have noticed that Andrew goes straight for their bag when he goes up to them, that is why we think he is looking for some food from them and that is why he is so friendly. Anyway, we are keeping a close eye on him with others and will allow the caretakers and doctors to greet him and give him a treat, however, he will have to learn when we leave the orphanage that things will change on that subject.



Robert and I discovered a new and good restaurant this evening, and it’s right across from our hotel. It’s a Japanese restaurant with good food, great ambiance (dining on the waterfront of the Dnipro river), good prices and close by. If anyone is coming to adopt in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine you have to try Rmato restaurant.

WHOO!! WHOO!! It's September 1st

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?&collid=64993396209&photoid=54993396209




It was very cool today here in Dnipropetrovsk. At lunch time we went out and purchased a light weight jacket for me since we got one for Robert about a week or so ago when the temperature dropped back then. Most of the children in the orphanage were kept inside today so we spent the day playing with Andrew inside one of the play rooms in the orphanage.



During our afternoon visit a grand daughter of one of the doctors of the orphanage was playing a bit with Andrew. She went over to the piano and started playing a tune. Andrew would look up at her in amazement just staring at her as she was playing. It was funny to see him stare at her the whole time she was in the room. I asked her to join us as we played with Andrew’s donut ring game so she did for a bit. The whole time Andrew’s eyes didn’t leave hers. He was going through the motions of playing the game but was gazing into her eyes in amazement that this young girl would play with him.



Andrew was not happy about being limited again to playing in one room. He is used to walking around the orphanage, looking at the flowers, climbing the steps and visiting the other children. He finally got fet up with not being able to roam the orphanage and sat down and cried and cried. He was mad that he couldn’t do what he wanted to do. We tried to divert his attention on his toys or doing something else with him but he didn’t want to hear it. Finally we took him out of the room and climbed the stairs inside the orphanage to give him some exercise and to entertain him since nothing else was working. He certainly doesn’t like to sit still. Sounds like Daddy in that realm.