The Millilo Family Website

Evan was tested for Township Preschool

2009-05-06T21:28:00.000-05:00

I took Evan today to get tested to see if he would get accepted into the free township preschool that is part of the local school here in town. I definitey want to get him into this program since they offer Speech Therapy as part of the program. Evan's speech has improved to some degree, however, there are many times we all can't understand a word he says. He understands everything that we ask him, however, when it comes to him talking and expressing himself to us it is like he is still talking in Ukrainian to us since none of us can understand most of what he says.

The teacher that evaluated Evan today, asked me if I can understand him when he talks. I told her that I can understand the basic everyday language such as anything pertaining to eating, drinking and bathroom needs. She said that Evan definitely qualifies for the preschool program and will get the Speech Therapy that he needs. I am so excited. Evan is so ready to be in preschool and it will also help him prepare for Kindergarden for the following school year.

Easter and Egg Hunting Fun

2009-04-29T19:44:00.002-05:00

The boys had lots of fun dying Easter eggs and finding eggs at the egg hunt we took them to.

We surprised the boys with new bicycles for each of them on Easter morning. They all have been sharing/fighting over the one preschool size bicycle that we had for Andrew before Steven and Evan came home. So we felt it was the right time to get them all bicycles that they could call their own and grow into as well. They all were surprised and love their new bicycles. Our sons are quite the active boys and definitely need something to burn off their energy.

Andrew of course knew the drill on Easter morning and was quick as lightning gathering up handfuls of eggs at a time as I was trying to help direct Evan and Steven find some eggs on Easter morning. After church service, we went over to Robert's families home and had Easter dinner. Mom mom and Pop pop surprised all of the grandkids with an egg hunt in their yard. There were eggs every where. The boys had fun finding eggs and opening them up to eat the candy inside.

Behavior issues at church

2009-04-11T22:43:00.001-05:00

Over the past few months we've been challenged with behavior issues in church with the boys. They don't want to go into their class room without me being with them the whole time. I could understand in the beginning, soon after we brought Steven and Evan home, however, being that they are older, and understand the routine of church and knowing that Steven and Andrew go to school fine with no issues on their own, we just don't get it.

Part of the problem I think is that they are so close in age that all 3 of them wind up in the same class room in church. This is not good, since, when the 3 of them get together they start goofing off and not paying attention to what is expected of them or what the teacher is saying. This was one of the main reasons why I don't want Steven and Andrew in the same grade. They are so much better individually and they focus and behave much better when they are on their own.

It's getting frustrating dealing with the same behavior issues week after week and myself missing the service because of it. We've taken privelegdes away, put them in time out, used incentives for the correct behavior....and still end up with the same misbehavior. Please keep our family in prayer. Our patience is running thin and we are open to any kind of parental advise.

Gardening, Tree Climbing Boys and bonding

2009-03-29T12:19:00.006-05:00

Steven climbing our apple tree.

As Alla our translator would always say, "Boys will be boys." Today, we spent a lot of time outside getting the garden ready for planting. The boys love digging in the dirt, therefore, they were more than happy to help me prepare the soil for planting. They helped me rake and dig up the weeds that grew over the winter and early spring and just digging holes anywhere in the backyard they had the desire to dig. Of course I was doing my best to keep them focused on the garden but at times I just let them go even though we had a few divets in our yard.

At one point a wiggly worm appeared and Steven, being the bug lover that he is, picked up the wiggly worm. This little worm open the door to him first sharing with me about some memories of the deskydom (orphanage) and of his birth mother and birth family. Here I am digging and pulling up weeds when he starts to tell me of the worm him and his "brothers" (other boys in the orphanage) from the orphanage found in the orphanage garden. He then went on and told me a few other stories about what he remembered about his birth mother and family. I was surprised, but yet thankful that Steven was so open and free to express his memories and his life in Ukraine. Periodically I would ask some questions, wanting to find out as much as I could (since he was ready to share) and mostly to make sure that his experiences were positive ones. I am pleased and am thankful to say that he was treated good in the orphanage and that he has positive memories of his birth family. I was surprised when he talked of his birth mother that he showed no emotion (positive or negative) when he talked of her. I made a point to mention that his birth mother loves him very much and I'm sure she misses him and Evan. He didn't react the way I thought he would. He just kept talking and kepting playing in the dirt like I was talking about a stranger. I know he was young when he entered the orphanage, about 3 and a half years old, however, it surprised me that he remembered so much and was willing to share so freely.

Evan hugging the apple tree.

Later on that afternoon, we walked up to our apple tree in our yard and were checking out the buds on the trees. Since the branches were low enough to the ground the boys of course started climbing up the tree. I used to love climbing the trees in our yard growing up, and remember hiding from my brother, David, by climbing to the tippy top of the tall oak tree in our backyard. He was so furious that he couldn't find me that day since he was supposed to be watching my sister and I that day. Anyway, here are a few pictures of the boys climbing our apple tree.

2 More Cavities Filled - 4 more to go

2009-03-23T13:58:00.001-05:00

Well, we barely made it through this appointment. Steven was more wiggly and was losing his patience during this visit at the dentist. Whether he was nervious or got tired of his mouth having a contraption in it to hold it open or just plain scared of the drilling sound...but he had a harder time at sitting still. The dentist finish filling the cavities, thank goodness. All the while, I was doing my best to calm him down and talk to him, hold his hand, while I was sweating it out trying to keep my cool at the same time.

Our pediatric dentist is wonderful with children and ever so patient. I don't know how she does it day in and day out.

Well we have 4 more cavities to fill before we can relax. I set up another appointment to get the rest of them filled. Hopefully the next appointment will go a little more smooth.

The Greatest Circus on Earth

2009-03-19T20:29:00.001-05:00

Steven and Andrew's preschool put on a play, "The Greatest Circus on Earth". It was so adorable as the children all had a different part. Steven was a biker bear, which entertained the crowd riding on tricycles and Andrew was the strongman...imagine Andrew (one of the smallest kids in his class) the strongman. Andrew gets nervous infront of an audience, believe it or not, since at home he is the comedian of the family. Here are some pictures of Andrew, Steven and Evan posing for the camera hamming it up before the show. Too cute.

Mommy & Poppi

2009-03-19T20:13:00.001-05:00

Isn't this picture so adorable. The boys were trying on Daddy's shoes and Ukon hat. Too cute.

Steven and Evan have notice that at times Andrew will call me Mommy instead of Mom or Mama. Both Steven and Evan picked up on it and would call me Mommy from time to time. I prefer them calling me Mama since that is what I am used to with them and Andrew. It just reminds me of how we became a family and our first few months with our children.

This week Evan assumed that since changing Mama to Mommy was the correct thing to do, he changed Papa (what they call Robert..means Daddy/Father in Ukrainian)to Poppi. It is so adorable to hear him call Robert, "Poppi". Andrew and Steven picked up on it and now are calling Robert, "Poppi".

Steven Started Preschool

2009-03-13T19:44:00.000-05:00

We started Steven in preschool a couple of days a week to get him familiar with the structure of school and what will be expected of him once he attends public school in the fall. He sees how Andrew goes to school and how we pick him up every day at the preschool to bring him home. It's been obvious that Steven has taken a liking to the school when we pick up Andrew and now since Steven is fluent in English we thought it would be best to give him a feel for school and what is expected of him. This way it will help to prepare him for September when he will start first grade. Of course we are still homeschooling the other days Steven doesn't attend to get him up to speed for first grade since he is skipping Kindergarden.

The teachers, Miss Debbie and Miss Brittnay have been wonderful to Steven and very helpful with redirecting certain behaviors of his into the proper behavior. They tell me he is a quick learner and a very sweet boy. Thank you Miss Debbie and Miss Brittnay for all of your help with Steven and Andrew!

Daddy's Birthday -Tubing in the Poconos

2009-03-11T13:29:00.001-05:00

We surprised Robert for his birthday and took him tubing in the Pocono mountains for the day. We all had a ball of fun. At first it didn't look like there was any snow on the ground until we arrived at Jack Frost Mountain. There was plenty of man-made snow there, which worked just fine. We arrived early in the morning, which was perfect since there weren't that many people on the slopes and the snow was still on the icy side, which zoomed us down the mountain at top speeds.

Can you believe I forgot my camera! UGGH! I would have loved to take some pictures and videos of Daddy especially, laughing histerically all the way down the mountain. Too funny. Evan was so funny, how the tube just about swallowed him up. He looked like a turtle sitting in the tube since he would hide his head down in the tube and then pop it up when he was done tubing down the slope. After our 4 hour time frame was up, we were all exhausted. It was a good thing we got there early since the crowd starting rolling in and made our wait in line a bit longer.

Cavity Fillings for Steven

2009-03-05T13:20:00.000-05:00

I was not looking forward to this appointment, however, I knew it had to be done. Steven got his 2 cavities between his 2 front teeth filled today. He did pretty good for the most part. He cooperated for the dentist and was a little apprehensive at times, but he got through it. Praise the Lord! I'm not sure who is more tired, him or myself.

We set up the next appointment for 2 weeks later to fill some of the molar cavities. Boy, I'm looking forward to having these dental appointments behind us. I'm sure Steven is too.

Do Me...Do Me!!

2009-02-23T12:45:00.002-05:00

I know the title sounds funny, but that is what the boys were saying over and over to Daddy as he was taking turns picking the boys up over his head and spinning them around and then tossing them into the couch. The boys couldn't wait until Robert picked them up again and flipped and spun them around over his head just to toss them into the couch. Too funny. Robert go his work out today.

Dedicating our children to the Lord

2009-02-13T23:51:00.003-05:00

Today was a special day for our family since we dedicated our son's Evan and Steven to the Lord. They had all of our family members that were in the service including Mom mom and Pop Pop come up on stage along with the other families with their children while Pastors Gary and Faye Whetstone prayed over the boys/children and families. During that time the Ukrainian couple that we met last month ran up on stage to translate what the pastors were praying to Steven and Evan.

It was emotional to think back at all that God has brought us through to bring our children into our families. God is so good! Thanks be to God.

Children's Hospital Check up & Testing

2009-02-11T22:59:00.001-05:00

Well, we finally had our check up at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia with an International Adoption's Pediatrician along with an Occupational Therapist to test them on their developmental fine and motor skills along with their speech as well as their overall health and get some bloodwork done.

It was a long 5 hour appointment. They brought a Russian/Ukrainian translator into our examination room to help with translating the doctors and therapists questions, however, we only used her service for explaining to the boys to prepare them about getting bloodwork drawn, which was at the end of our appointment.

Both the therapist and the pediatrician were floored that they didn't need the translator and at how healthy Evan and Steven are and that they are right at where they should be developmentally, since many kids that have come from an orphanage are developmentally behind at least by a year or two.

When Evan was being tested on his gross motor skills by running up and down the hallway he was so funny how he would run at top speed toward me with a huge smile on his face and would run into my arms and give me a huge hug each time. Then, Steven and Andrew started doing it as well. Evan was just too funny, that we all had a chuckle from it.

When it came time for the bloodwork, the translator explained to them what was about to happen in Russian/Ukrainian to prepare them. They did a full work up on them both and put Mommy through a work out holding them down. I felt so bad for them and was about to cry myself. Glad that's over.

Andrew's 5th Birthday

2009-02-04T01:23:00.005-05:00

We just celebrated Andrew's 5th birthday...can you believe it...he's 5 years old. WOW! Time flies. We had his party out at a tumbling place where they had trampolines and gymnastic equipment for kids their ages. WE all had a ball and Robert and I even got into the fun and was bouncing around on the trampoline and I got stuck in the foam pit and had difficulty trying to push myself up to get out......I know I'm starting to show my age.

Robert getting in on the fun.

Steven I knew would love the trampoline especially since he is our acrobat. He loved it so much we had difficulty getting him off of it when it came time to go into the party room for food and cake. He kept trying to escape back into the play area and jump around some more therefore we had to have someone stand guard at the door so he or any other kid wouldn't escape.

Evan with his amazing strength had fun playing on the rings. To our surprise he held on for a bit while Robert pushed him until he flopped to the mat. Then up he went and wanted to go again.

Andrew had a ball jumping on the trampoline as well as jumping off of the platform into the foam pit. Check him out in action in the picture below.

The party was a success and everyone had fun.

Steven and Evan weren't too keen about watching Andrew open up all of his presents since they are used to taking over his toys and were like vultures lurking over Andrew's shoulders waiting for him to step away from them so they could dive into the toys. I tried to explain to them that it was Andrew's birthday and these were his toys. I told them that if they wanted to play with them they would have to ask Andrew if it was okay to play with them. Well they didn't like that one bit and Steven kept coming up to me and asking to play with them, I kept trying to explain that it was Andrew's birthday and these are his toys so he will have to ask Andrew to play with them. Steven didn't like that answer and started whimpering at the table. Andrew started to be bratty about it and then I proceeded to explain to him that one day it will be Steven and Evan's birthday and they will get a lot of toys and you won't. I explained that if he shares his toys that he will teach them to share their toys when it's their birthdays.

Well that seemed to go in one ear and out the other until about a half hour later Andrew came into the kitchen and GAVE Steven one of his toys and GAVE Evan one of his other new toys. It floored us all and I even asked Robert if he prompted him into giving his toys away. Robert said that no it was all Andrew's doing. I am so proud of Andrew for giving up 2 of his new toys to give to his brothers. I then made Steven say thank you and give Andrew a hug. How cute it was to see the boys hugging for once. Steven was thankful and so was Evan.

Dentist Check up for Steven

2009-02-02T22:37:00.001-05:00

Well, Praise the Lord that we made it through our first dentist appointment with Steven. Unfortunatly we found out that Steven has 8 cavities. Yes, I said 8 cavities. The amazing thing is though that 6 of the cavities have temporary fillings with decay still underneath the temporary fillings. Why would a dentist go to the trouble of filling a tooth without getting the decay out of it?

Steven did really well in the appointment and when I found out that the other cavities have already been filled, I realized that this wasn't the first time he has been to the dentist. I know that the orphanage would have a dentist come into the orphanage to offer his service to the children, but with the 2 obvious cavities in Steven's front 2 teeth I figured he never visited the dentist in the orphanage.

We scheduled his next appointment for filling his front 2 cavity we made in 2 weeks. I hope that goes as well as this one did.

Met a Ukrainian Couple at church

2009-01-29T22:35:00.001-05:00

We met a wonderful Ukrainian couple that our pastors introduced us to after church. They sat down and chatted with us and the boys and talked to Evan and Steven in Ukrainian. Steven seem very shy as the man was talking to him and asking Steven questions in Ukrainian. Steven quietly answered him in English responding "yes" instead of "da" (yes in Ukrainian). It surprised me to see Steven answering the man in English instead of Ukrainian being that he was speaking to Steven in Ukrainian and only being home for a month.

The couple gave us their phone number and said to call them anytime we need to chat or translation. A few days after meeting them, I was getting a bit apprehensive of our soon to be dentist appointment for Steven, wondering how he is going to respond without being prepared. Then I thought of the wonderful couple we met at church and decided to call them. I explained to them of our up and coming dentist appointment and wanted to see if they could help Steven prepare for his appointment by explaining to him on his level what was to be expected and what is expected of him during our visit to the dentist. I had them on speaker phone to make sure that Steven is responding to his questions and again noticed how Steven answered the gentleman's questions in English when he was being spoken to in Ukrainian. That to me is so amazing. To answer in English when being spoken to in your native language and only being home for a month.

We are so thankful for this couple and for all of the help they have given us with just barely knowing them ourselves. Thank you, Pastors Gary and Faye Whetstone for introducing us to them.

Home One Month and a Snow/Ice Day

2009-01-25T21:49:00.000-05:00

Smiling Brothers....at last!!!

A couple of weeks ago, I took the boys and myself to get their haircuts. The boys had fun getting their haircuts while sitting in a play police car while watching cartoons. The boys look so handsome with a fresh new look. Check them out.

Our cuties

The boys including my husband had fun in the snow or should I say ice last week. Robert would give each boy a turn to be wizzed across the yard on the ice and with the slight downslope in our front yard they would slide pretty far. Evan would ask when Robert was at work where was "Outide Papa" or outside Papa was. Evan loves the outdoors and screams when he has to come inside. both Steven and Evan have a very stubborn side and with an attitude but on the flip side they are extremely lovable and want as much love and affection as one could give them.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Papa Wizzing the boys on the sled...."Outide Papa" as Evan would say.

WHOO WHOO!!

Slip slide and away Evan!

We work on our schooling during the weekdays and Steven is now saying 3 word sentences when he does talk in English. He tries so hard and really wants to learn. He loves being the best at what he does. He now knows about 20 animals, 20 body parts, 6 colors, many food items, can count up to 13, knows many letters' sounds and recognizes about one third to one half of the alphabet letters. He told Andrew "No toys in the kitchen" (something I always say) this morning which surprised Robert and I and he was telling Andrew to repeat after him and say "Excuse me" after Andrew burped at the table. We all smiled and laughed that Steven was correcting Andrew and telling him in English to repeat after him by saying "Excuse me".

Steven is becoming more and more affectionate with me and wanting more one on one time with Mommy. He is even calling me Mommy and Robert Daddy now. At times he wants me to baby him and wants me to help him get dressed, even though I know he can do it himself. I have to keep reminding myself that Steven is younger emotionally than his physical age and needs more affection from me since he missed out on so much love and attention in the past years.

There were a few times where I had to put Steven in time-out for misbehaving and trying to teach him of the concept of time-out was tougher than teaching a 2 or 3 year old partly because of the language barrier. He of course didn't want to stay in his room and for me to lift or drag him back into his room to keep him in time-out for the 5 minutes was a chore for me since he is so big and heavy to lift. He finally understood and stayed in his room until his time was up and I made him appologize to his brother/s or me for whatever the issue was. He certainly has a stubborn side to him that rises up from time to time.

Evan is doing great! He is more babyish than Steven or Andrew. Emotionally he reminds me of a 2 year old but mentally and intellectually he is a 3 and a half year old. He is my cuddle bunny. He is always hugging my legs when I'm fixing food in the kitchen for a meal, trying to hug me when he's eating, and he loves to try and push me down on his bed to play and get tickles from Mommy when I am trying to change his clothes. His legs are super strong for his age and he has a lot of power behind them. He is such a cutie but I can tell he will need some speech therapy since he slurs through the words or phrases I say slowly and want him to repeat. He is bonding well with Andrew and visa versa. Every once in a while they go at it, but not as much as it was in the past.

Andrew is doing much better in school and at home. He is not stressing out every time it's time to get dressed...just once in a while. For a while there it was every single time he changed his clothes he would whine and cry and get upset because he refused to pick out something to wear. When I would pick it out he wouldn't like my selection and always seemed to want to wear the dirty food crusted clothes he wore the day before to school. Well you know that wasn't happening if I could help it. It would take him 45 minutes to get dressed in the morning with constant crying, whining and frustration. There was always something wrong with most of his clothes, according to Andrew,that it was really wearing Robert and I's patience level down drastically. Talk about particular with his clothes....Many times I wanted to scream and sometimes I did.

We started using the timer when the boys start to fight over a toy. My friend Jen with twin boys Andrew's age suggested putting the timer to manage the boys taking turns. Boy that has helped quite a bit with keeping the atmosphere more peaceful in our home. At times now Andrew will come up to me and ask for me to put the timer on so he can get a turn with the saught after toy. Praise the Lord for progress.

Stunned on Steven and Evan's Progress - 3 weeks home

2009-01-15T22:05:00.012-05:00

Steven the Strong Man

Over the past week I've been working with Steven and Evan on their English as well as playing school to bring Steven up to speed to get him ready for Kindergarden in September. I've been playing games with flash cards, doing ditto sheet activities to practice their skills, having them watch learning videos and listening to childrens songs in the car. On Sunday of this week we pulled out the children's cd with the alphabet song on it we played it in the car and put it on repeat so it would keep playing that song only over and over again. Robert laughed and joked about how Steven must be thinking that we are trying to brain wash him or something. The only one that was singing along was Andrew, however, to my surprise Steven was listening intently. That night after dinner Steven came up to me and started singing the ABC song in English. When he got to the letter "G" my mouth dropped to the floor and had a shocking look on my face. I was floored to the point where I startled him to stop singing. I then proceeded with "H, I" and he then sang along again and sang up to the letter "P" on his own. I still am shocked at how quickly he picked up half of the alphabet song in just maybe an half hour of listening to the song. On Monday of this week, Steven and I practiced singing the alphabet in Shoprite as we were doing our grocery shopping together with Evan. We also practice counting items into our basket and he can now count on his own up to 10 with ease. Evan is counting along with us and to my surprise he can count up to 5 on his own in English. Steven's School Work

I have also been working with them on their colors, shapes, matching items and now that they know how to count from 1-10, I'm working with them on recognizing their numbers. We played a flash card game with the numbers 1-5. Each time they got the correct name of the number they would get an M&M. They both were all into the game trying the best they could to get the next one correct to get an M&M and a high five from Mama. If they got confused at which number it was they would count the number of lady bugs on the card. I was surprised how Evan was recognizing the numbers and counting the objects as well as Steven did. I've also been playing a cd that we purchased before we adopted Andrew (but never used) to help them with their basic communication in English called "Rush into English" Russian to English for Children CD by Teresa Kelleher (Tender Loving Communications). It's a cd that gives instructions in Russian that they will say different phrases in Russian and then say the same phrase in English and for them to repeat what is said. I must say, that I am very impressed with the cd. It's very simple but amazingly they repeat in both Russian and English. The cd has different phrases for feelings, home, family, colors, numbers 1-10 and beyond, school, bathroom terminology, and food. I wasn't sure if they would sit still and listen to the cd therefore I brought my laptop into the bathroom to play it for them while they played in the bath tub. You should have seen the look on their faces when they heard their language spoken and the English equivalent. To my surprise they both were repeating the phrases and listening intently. Evan will repeat and mimic just about everything the lady on the cd says. Steven is more apprehensive about speaking it out loud as carefree as Evan is. Steven speaks in a lower voice when he talks in English until he feels confident he is saying it correctly, then he is much bolder with speaking the phrase. I am simply amazed at the progress they are making in such a short amount of time. Steven is now saying phrases such as "Excuse Me", "I'm Sorry"(HUMM??? I wonder how he learned this phrase so quickly?), "Come On", "I love you", "Wash your hands", "Bye Bye", "Please", "Thank you", "on the pillow" and a few more.

I must say that the phrase book that taught us phonetically how to say some common childrearing phrases has helped the transition of becoming a family. The book and cd is called Ukrainian plus Russian Phrases for Children (specifically designed for adopting in Ukraine or Russia to help with the transition). . Definitely a must get if you are traveling to Ukraine or Russia to adopt a child/ren. It certain has made the transition much smoother.

Evan enjoying dressing in Andrew's costumes

Evan is wanting to be held more and more from me, which I love hugging and cuddling with him, however, in a way I want to baby him and cuddle with him as much as possible but in another way I don't want him to expect me to carry him around everywhere. In the orphanage, the children are taught very early on to be independent and self reliant and to take care of themselves to make the caretakers' job much easier since they are out numbered by how ever many children. We have also made quite a bit of progress since Ukraine on eating and our sleeping schedules. Robert and I learned within the first evening of having all 3 boys in our care that they strongly do not like to go to bed even when they are totally exhausted. Since learning this the first night we used this to our advantage to get the boys to eat when it's meal time. There have been many times when I call everyone into the kitchen to sit down to eat (in Ukrainian and English) that Steven and sometimes Andrew will mimick each other when they protest coming to the table since they don't seem to like the looks of what's being served. So Robert and I started telling them if they don't eat then they'll go to bed immediately. Well they all don't like that one bit and it usually works to get them all to sit down to eat. We communicate with them a mixture of English and Ukrainian when we tell them "if No Kushai then Para Spat" (If you don't eat, then it's time for sleep). Every now and then one of them will test us to see if we are serious and when we start moving their chair to take them to their room they scoot it back in to the table to eat. Then they end up eating their whole plate soon after that. It's funny to see them try to test us to see if they can control the outcome, but they usually find out differently.

My Silly Monkey Andrew

The other day I told Andrew how I noticed how much bigger he has grown recently since he has been eating more, he then commented to me, "Well, I don't want to go to SPAT (Sleep or bed). It's funny to hear Andrew use some Russian/Ukrainian phrases around the house when talking to us or the boys. Robert will tease Evan just by saying the word Spat Spat Spat if Evan is refusing to eat....cause Robert know's how easily Evan will get upset that he can't get his way and then quickly eat the rest of his meal. Now the boys are saying the word "Spat" to each other at the meal table to keep each other on task for finishing their meal. It's funny to hear them tease each other if one is not eating then the other will say, "Spat, Spat, Spat". Well it seems to me they all got that rule down pat. The past couple of evenings have been a huge improvement in our bedtime ridual. I think they all are finally settling in and understanding that everyone goes to bed at the same time every night. When I was putting them down for a nap they wouldn't go to bed in the evening anytime before 10:00pm, therefore, I stopped putting them down for naps so I can get them on a normal bedtime schedule of 7-8pm. Thankfully once they are down they usually are down for 11-12 hours (with an occasional trip to the bathroom during the night). Even though they are exhausted, sometimes we have to pick them up to take them to their rooms since they protest going to bed. Of course all the while they are kicking and screaming since they want to stay up and play more. But once they hit the pillow they are out. The past couple of nights they have actually went in their bedroom themselves and didn't protest as much. Last night and tonight I've been singing to them softly to help relax them going to bed and them seem to enjoy it...fancy that? At least someone enjoys my singing! LOL! Tonight after kissing them all good night and telling them that I love them, I sat down near the door in their room (since Evan won't lay down unless I'm in the room)and I started singing "Jesus loves me", however, I added Steven, Evan and Andrew's name in the song. To my surprise after singing it a few times, I hear Steven get up out of his bed (the room is pitch dark) and walk over towards the door. I'm thinking he is going to take off into the living room and protest going to sleep, where here he comes over to me and takes my face in his hands and kisses me on the cheek. I was floored again. How Sweet!! Steven doesn't usually initiate affection towards me but will receive it when I hug and kiss him...but over this last week he has initiated kissing me twice without me asking for a kiss and has come up to me and is hugging me back with an actual embrace rather than wet lanky fish arms that barely touch you when hugging him. Quite a big improvement all the way around...Praise the Lord.

Happy New Year 2009!

2009-01-04T23:53:00.000-05:00

Steven, Andrew and Evan wanting to help Daddy

Happy New Year everyone!

We kept it low key and stayed home for New Year's Eve and spent New Year's Day getting the house and Steven and Evan's room organized. Robert finished assembling Steven and Evan's new dressers and bookcases for their room and the boys all joined in to take part in the fun. Here are a few pictures of the boys helping Daddy.

Evan really got into pretending he was helping Papa assemble the dresser

Evan was very comical and hamming it up in front of the camera. I must say, Evan just melts my heart with his adorable self, all of his expressions, his personality and his affection he gives to me. I questioned when we were visiting him in the orphanage how difficult it would be to bond with him once we got him in our care since he always seemed to be so independent and stubborn at times. Don't get me wrong, he is still very independent and stubborn at times, but Evan and I have bonded very well with each other. He is so funny with all of his facial expressions that I can't stop taking pictures of him. Here he is in rare form.

Silly Evan

Cheese!

I Love You This Much!!

I Don't Know??

Evan Hamming it up.

I thought it would be fun for the family to break out the fondue pot to celebrate the New Year as a family. We did it last year with Andrew for New Year's Eve and it was hilarious to see him practically swimming in melted chocolate. It turned out to be another big hit at the Millilo household. We dipped pineapple chunks, banana pieces and sliced apple into the chocolate marshmellow fondue and boy was it tasty. As soon as Andrew saw me preparing the fondue pot he got so excited he was squealing with delight and jumping up and down. Of course Steven and Evan didn't understand what was going on but Andrew did.

Enjoying Every Minute...Like Who Wouldn't!

It's going to be a while before I come down from this chocolate high!

YUMMY!! Smachno!

Once Steven and Evan understood what to do with the fondue sticks they wanted the fondue pot next to them the whole time. Of course we all took turns passing the fondue pot around the table and Steven and Evan were so anxious to dip their next piece of fruit that they were trying to climb over the table to get to it. I told them to sit down and to repeat, "Mama, please pass me the chocolate fondue". It was so cute to hear them say that phrase so quickly. They are so adorable.

Fondue Firsts

Fondue Fun!

Earlier that evening as we were putting our coats on to go outside Steven burped, covered his mouth and said (in English) "Excuse Me". I was floored. First of all I remember telling Andrew a couple of days ago to cover his mouth and say excused me when he burped but didn't realize Steven was so intently listening that he remembered what to do and what to say. I praised him and told him how proud I was of him. Also, I overheard Steven tell Andrew, "Come on" as he was trying to get Andrew to come over to play with him. He also says on his own "Bye, Bye" and he surprised me again when I was putting them in bed recently by saying back to me, "Love you"...after I told him in Ukrainian and in English that I love him. Again to my surprise that same evening, Evan said it to me the best he could in English with out me asking him to say it, "I UV OO". How precious are they.

Yes we have our challenging moments as a family (like what family doesn't)....but it's times like these that make it all worth while. Happy New Year Everyone!!

Ups and Downs our First Couple of Weeks Home

2008-12-31T20:48:00.000-05:00

For Unto Us a Child is Born....Unto us a son is given...

Jesus is the reason for the season

The first couple of weeks home have been emotional, challenging, stressful and rewarding all at the same time. The main challenges when we first brought Andrew home (3 years ago) were eating and sleeping. He was too young for the terrible two stage as some might call it, therefore, the worst adjustments we faced with him since he was only 18 months old was eating and sleeping. Since Andrew has had us all to himself for 3 years he has been acting out either with the boys or with us in one way or another. We realize that it's typical behavior of a first child to act out since his brothers came home but we are open to any suggestions anyone is willing to offer.

It's been an adjustment for all of us these past couple of weeks, however, we are working through teaching our sons,(2 of which don't understand English) to be civil to one another(meaning No Fighting), share their toys, listen to their parents, and that the house is not a gymnasium. I feel like a referee trying to keep the boys from fighting, teasing and keeping them from getting hurt. At times I have found the boys in a headlock pulling each others hair, bitting each other, fists being thrown, and or kicking each other which usually is over a toy, hat or something that the other brother has that they want. It's not just one of them...all 3 of them have taken part in this behavior one way or another. Lord help!!! Please keep our family in prayer for wisdom, peace, unity and love to be expressed to each other.

I must say each day seems to get easier than the last so I praise God for that! I do my best to show as much love, attention and affection to Steven, Andrew and Evan each and every day. We have no favorites in our home and I think by now they all realize that. They are starting to play better with each other and are finding out that they are actually enjoying it. Here are a few pictures of the boys playing nicely together.

All aboard the Choo Choo Train!

Pull us faster, Steven!

I must say that I am proud of Andrew dealing with his new brothers picking through his toys in his room and taking ownership to their favorites. Andrew has on the most part been very easy going in sharing MOST (keyword) of his toys. The first few days the whole house had a stream of toys flowing from Andrew's room through the living room and down the hall to Steven and Evan's room. Steven and Evan kept going into Andrew's room to see what else they could drag through the house and hide and their room. Finally I told Steven and Evan that they had to clean up the toys and Andrew's room. They weren't too happy about that but they have to learn just like all of us that we have to clean up our own messes.

A couple of nights before the New Year we took the boys and Mom Mom and Aunt Alyssa to a local town that has a small community of homes decorated to the max with lights and many movable characters. The boys thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a nice family outing for the holidays. It was nice to get out of the house and for them to have an enjoyable evening out as a family. Here are some pictures of our outing.

Our 3 little soldiers

Andrew the reindeer

Evan the Reindeer

Steven the Reindeer

New Year's Eve me and the boys made cookies to give away to some friends for the holidays. I figured that I need to keep our sons focused on something productive and fun and fun did they have. It was also a good vocabulary building activity for Steven and Evan since I held up different ingredients and cooking utensils and ask for them to repeat what the item was that I was holding and saying. They all had a ball cutting out the cookies with cookie cutters, mixing the ingredients, decorating the cookies with sprinkles or (should I say eating as many sprinkles that didn't land on the cookies) and of course eating a few of their masterpieces after they were done cooking. Here are a few pictures of Steven and Evan making their first cookies.

"C" is for Cookie....it's good enough to eat.

Steven, Andrew and Evan New Year's Eve making cookies

Merry Christmas! We're Home!

2008-12-26T22:09:00.007-05:00

Christmas Morning. From our home to yours We wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! And a merry one it was. Boy are we glad to be home with our sons and for Christmas no less. Praise the Lord!

It was a long day traveling. We left Ukraine around 12:30pm. All three boys behaved so well on the first flight. We had a 3 hour layover in Paris, which was a bit challenging trying to keep all three boys in one spot for three hours. Thank God the airport had a play area near the gate where we were waiting for our airplane. We thought for sure that they would sleep as soon as they got on the airplane....NOT. They were just more exhausted since they didn't have a nap. The boys didn't want to eat their dinner on the plane and didn't fall asleep until the last 3-4 hours of the flight. Just as we were landing in JFK airport Robert said that we had an issue. I didn't know what he was talking about at first until he told me to grab one of the paper bags in one of the seats in front of me because Steven was getting sick. I guess his stomach was a bit nervous from the plane getting ready to land. Thank goodness it was only liquid that came up since he didn't eat his dinner.

We made our way through customs with no issues and were extremely happy to see Robert's Dad waiting for us at the airport. Robert had all of our luggage on a cart and I had all 3 of our sons holding my hands walking them through baggage. As soon as Andrew saw PopPop he dropped my hand and ran up to give him a hug. I think Steven and Evan recognized his picture from our photo album since they smiled at him as PopPop said hello and tostled their hair. Thanks Dad and Mom for all you've done taking care of our house, managing our bills, resurfacing our tub and picking us up at the airport and bringing us home!!! You're the best!!!

We made it back to our house about 2:00am Christmas morning. Robert and I had very little sleep on the planes, however, since the boys slept about 6 hours between the plane and the car ride home they were wide awake when we got back to the house. My Mom and sister, Marli surprised us with a Christmas tree in our living room and some gifts underneath it. We were all tickled to see the Christmas tree or "Yalinka" as Steven and Evan call it. I was hoping for a Christmas tree. Thanks Mom and Marli for the Christmas tree, presents, and for the mattress for Steven's bed! You're the best! I told the boys to wait until morning to open the presents, therefore, Steven and Evan took over some of Andrew's ride on firetruck and dump truck.

After playing on Andrew's trucks we showed them down the hall and took one look at Andrew's room and started going through his toys. Surprisingly, Andrew was okay with them rooting through his toy box. Steven found some toys he liked and immediately took them into his room and hid them in the cubby hole in his bed. Steven then went back into Andrew's room to find more toys that he could hide in his bed. Evan was doing the same thing, however, Evan would hold onto as many toys as he possibly could and still stretch to grasp another toy, even though his arms were full. (Thanks Cousin Karen for the youth bed for Steven, for the presents for the boys and for helping my Mom set up the bed when we were away. It certainly made Steven feel welcome upon our arrival home.

We finally all went to bed between 3-4:00am Christmas morning. We all woke up believe it or not at 8:30am. It felt good to get some sleep, however, we were so excited to get up and spend some time with our families after not seeing them for a month and a half.

Evan cuddling with his new doggie.

My Mom, sister and brother arrived with a breakfast cassarole, fruit salad, juice and coffee. With only a few hours sleep it was such a blessing to not have to think about fixing food for the family. The boys had a great time opening up their gifts, playing with their new toys and spending time with our family.

Nana teaching her grandsons to play the piano softly

At one point, Steven and Evan discovered the piano. Andrew, Steven and Evan hopped on the piano bench and started playing the piano. My Mom was showing them how to play the keys softly opposed to banging on the keys. When I was taking pictures of the 3 boys sitting on the piano bench, it reminded me of the vision the Lord gave me in February of 2004. I saw 3 young children (all around the same age), not biologically my children sitting on a piano bench reaching their arms out to me at the same time and calling me Mama. At the time of the vision we didn't have a piano (we recenty inherited it from Robert's late Uncle Armond). I knew from the vision that the Lord was leading us to adopt our children. It's interesting to see how the Lord works everything out for good for those that love Him.

We spent the afternoon with Robert's family for Christmas dinner and gift giving. During the drive over to Robert's parent's house, Robert tuned the radio to a station with Christmas tunes. The boys were quietly taking in their surroundings as I listened to the radio. As I listened to a song called, "Christmas Carol", by Brookes and Dunn I started getting all emotional. The song was about a girl that was born on Christmas day named Christmas Carol. The lyrics talked about that she didn't know who her Daddy was and her Mama left a while ago and all she wanted for Christmas was someone to love and care for her. I had never heard the song before but being it was our first day home with our sons, Christmas day with our families for the first time in over a month, knowing our sons background and being around many orphan children over the past month the song got to me. Yes, I got all choked up and emotional just listening to the song. I pray that all the orphans in this world find their forever families.

Steven and Evan playing ball with Uncle Rich

Andrew in Santas Hat

It was so wonderful to see and spend time with both of our families. When we arrived at Mom Moms and Pop Pops house I told Steven and Evan to say "Hello" to everyone in English when we walked in the door. They said they understood and surprised everyone when we walked in by saying hello to them in English. Steven, Andrew and Evan had a blast playing ball with their Uncle Rich and wrestling with cousin Billy besides opening their gifts. Evan really took to his cousin Nicole. He was running to her and she would pick him up and throw him in the air. Boy did they have fun...so much so they didn't want to stop to eat. Andrew was excited to see all of his cousins and had fun playing with his cousin Julia.

Both families are thrilled with Steven and Evan joining our family. They all were surprised at how smart, coordinated, active, on-task for their age, and adorable they are. They loved listening to them talk with such enthusiasm, even they couldn't understand them. It was the best Christmas ever....a dream come true. Thank you, Lord!

First Day as a Family of Five - Let's Celebrate!

2008-12-19T09:31:00.002-05:00

WHOO WHOO!!! We'll be home for Christmas!! The Dancing Millilo Family.

Celebrate Good Times Come On….There’s a Party going on right here…a celebration to last throughout the years….okay I think you all have figured out how I love to sing….heheehe.

Alla informed us that on December 19th is a special holiday for the kids in the orphanages. She said it is St. Nicholas day where they honor the actual Saint Nicholas. The children in the orphanage wake up to a small gift under their pillow from St. Nicholas. So we surprised the kids with a mid size matchbox car under each of their pillows this morning. The boys were thrilled and happy about their gifts.

After breakfast we got ready to go out around lunchtime to get some exercise and burn some energy. Before we left the apartment we got a call from Alla telling us that the boys’ passports are completed. This is what we’ve been waiting for to get completed so we can get home before Christmas. WHOO!! WHOO!!! Praise the Lord!!! Alla brought up when we adopted Andrew and when back then the passport only took about an hour to process and how after we got it we were dancing in the streets because we knew we could leave for home in the next couple of days. Well she said that we can dance again since the passports are done……Praise the Lord…we are going home next week!!!!! Later this evening we booked flights for Christmas Eve arriving around 9:05pm in JFK. We’re going home…We’re going home…We’re going home!!! Just a little excited…=)

My first french fry

Today after receiving the news from Alla, we then took a ride to the beautiful church we see everyday. We stopped and walked around the grounds and inside the church. It had beautiful murals of Jesus and his disciples all over the inside walls and insides of the domes of the church. Some of the railings and alter were gold in color framing the murals beautifully. After taking pictures and visiting the church we made our way to McDonalds for lunch. All 3 boys were happy as larks when we arrived at McDonalds and received a balloon each on a stick. We get all kinds of funny looks the few other times we’ve been at McDonalds. We stick out like sore thumbs for sure in McDonalds speaking Ukrainian and English to our sons. This was Steven’s and Evan’s first McDonalds visit. They were very happy and ate most of their food and played with their balloons and happy meal toys. After we finished eating, I told Steven and Evan that it was time to go pee pee, “Para Peesit”. Steven and Evan said that they didn’t have to go, however, I was going to take Evan anyway, but he was insistent that he didn’t have to go…”No vada peesit”. So since Andrew had to go I took him and then came back and started putting on my coat to leave. Robert had then took Evan’s coat and told him in English that it was time to go and was going to help him put on his coat. Just then, our first McDonald’s experience for the boys ended in a scene of Evan, crying and persistently saying louder and louder….”No VADA PEESIT”…NO VADA PEESIT”….”No VADA PEESIT”!!!! (I don’t want to pee) Evan wouldn’t cooperate to get his coat on for Robert therefore I took over and tried to calm him down as I quickly put his coat on. He was crying and saying “No VADA PEESIT” very loudly over and over again until we made got into the taxi. The older woman “babushka” that was sitting in the table next to ours was witnessing the whole scene and had a little smirk on her face. It’s funny now that we can look back on it but at the time it wasn’t. We tried to explain to him that we were going back to the apartment in the taxi and that we were not taking him to pee. Too Funny….I’ll never look at McDonalds the same again.

We are happy kids

After we got back to the apartment Robert put on some music and all five of us took Alla’s suggestion and danced, twirled each other around, and the boys had fun bouncing all over the sofa together(our landlord said it was okay). We were determined to get them worn out for this evening and it’s really too cold for playing outside…especially being that Evan was sick last week. Let me just tell you…we all, even Robert were up dancing and having fun.....jamming to the beat and dancing with each other and celebrating our family coming together and that we’ll be home on the evening of Christmas Eve…..God is so GOOD!!! Thank you Jesus!! He is never early or never late…but always right on time.

Our Family is Complete - Picking up Evan

2008-12-18T09:18:00.003-05:00

First Family Photo

Before picking up Evan we had a few errands to run, so as we were doing our errands we took Steven and Andrew to see a church in Cherkasy just to take pictures and also to the WWII Lady of Victory Monument that was on the highest point of a large hill overlooking the Dnipro river. We all got out to take some pictures of the monument as well as climbed the hill in 5 degrees F weather. The boys were thrilled to climb the hill and seeing the statue up close. It was a beautiful view overlooking the river and the city below. Too bad it was so cold out. We didn’t stay long, just enough time to take a few pictures and climb the hill. Mama was getting a bit nervous being up so high and having to climb down a rocky hill to get down, but we all made it down in one piece. Here are a few pictures.

Lady Victory

After Evan’s nap we went to pick him up from the orphanage. When we got there Evan didn’t want Mama to dress him therefore, his caretaker dressed him for us and snapped some photos for us. I figured he was still a little sleepy from his nap. One of Evan’s teachers, Miss Oxona is such a sweet lady. She has such a soothing voice and always is so sweet with the children. You can tell she really loves the children and Evan especially loves her. She gave him a stuffed toy for him to take with him to remember her by. She told him to be a good boy and to hold Mama’s hand. We thanked them all for taking such good care of Evan and Miss Oxona and another caretaker walked us out and said one last goodbye.

Just then, our family of five walked to our apartment building, which is the building next to the orphanage. Evan didn’t want to hold my hand therefore, Andrew, Steven and I walked behind him as Papa took some pictures.

Paka Paka Orphanage

Once we got back to the apartment, we had a little party to celebrate our family day. We broke out the balloons, juice, cookies and candy. Surprisingly the boys didn’t like the cookies but ate the piece of chocolate we gave them and chugged their juice (both Evan and Steven). It’s funny, no matter what liquid you give them, they won’t pry it away from their mouths to take a breather, they’ll chug the whole glass like they are in a contest. We discovered that Evan is our little eating machine. He will eat and eat and then just when you think he is done, I’ll ask one of the other boys if they want a banana and before they could answer, Evan says, ”Da” or yes. Both Robert and I have to laugh because he is like this all day and night long. If I’m in the kitchen cooking something, Evan will be the one to come in to see what Mama is doing and hoping I’ll give him a snack or a drink. He is too cute.

Steven and Evan getting reacquanted as brothers

We all played together in the apartment and it was sweet to see Evan and Steven chat away and giving each other their opinions about whatever. Evan discovered the light switches in the apartment and all night long he was turning them off and on over and over again. If there were anyone looking at our window from outside I’m sure they thought we had a few screws loose. Steven also was playing with a crank up flashlight of mine that we brought with us. He played with that flashlight for the past two days, turning it off and on and taking it everywhere he went. I made some memories on video of them talking about their balloons and the light switch of course.

The last couple of days it’s been a bit over stimulating for the two of them, since everything is new and different from what they were used to. Now we understand why at the orphanages the light switches are about 6 feet from the ground on the wall. LOL…it all makes sense now. Steven was cute how he was making Evan laugh by acting goofy every time the Leap Pad made a goofy sound.

Mama and Evan

Steven figured out how to work the remote control and wouldn’t give it up, Evan is very possessive about his tooth brush and wants to hold it and guard it from Mommy putting it in the bathroom….he walks around the apartment brushing his teeth, both Steven and Evan keep playing with the microwave, the wonderful light switches that turn off when you don’t want them too (while I’m cooking, bathroom time, or blow drying my hair in the bedroom)….and this is just a simple one bedroom apartment….I know what you all are thinking…just wait until we get home. Our family memories that will last a lifetime.

As I was getting Steven’s bath ready, Evan was in the bathroom with me wondering what I was doing. I showed him the water and asked him if he wanted to get a bath. At first he said yes, therefore, I started to take off his clothes and then he kept saying in a nervous voice, No Vada, No Vada, No Vada…..over and over again. Since it was his first night, I didn’t want to scare him by giving him a bath (they are used too just a quick rinse off with a shower nozzle). From what I’ve read, some newly adopted children get scared when they have their first bath, so I didn’t want to push it the first night. So Steven got in the tub and was having a good ole time flipping around in the tub as I washed him. Evan was watching from a distance and smiling and the next night he was all into getting a bath with his brother Steven. They had a ball splashing around and getting wet and Evan screamed bloody murder when it was time to get him out. He carried on until after he was dressed and in the other room.

Slumber Party

Bedtime was a blast as well. One memory we won’t forget of our first night together as a family. Let’s just say the boys (all 3 of them) didn’t want to go to bed. We didn’t have any issues the last 2 nights with Steven and Andrew but, OH WHAT A NIGHT WE HAD. I’ve been using the phrases out of this book we purchased to help us communicate with the boys called “Ukrainian Phrases for the Adopted Child”. So when it came to bedtime, I found out how to say, “It’s time to sleep”, which is “Para Spát”. I told them that it’s time to sleep and was going to put them down in the bedroom, until Evan was so upset he was crying so loud, “No Vada Spát” over and over again. Oh my goodness, what a persistent little boy we have. I told Robert to take him in the living room to put him down while I put Steven and Andrew to sleep in the bedroom. Well it was over after I did that, because then Steven and Andrew started crying and refusing to sit or lay down on the bed. I guess they figured since Evan was causing a scene and got his way out of the bedroom, they will too. After about an hour and getting no where, we took them all out of the bedroom and they all wanted to lay on the floor and watch some television. We figured maybe if they keep calm they might go to sleep, but this didn’t work either…the 3 of them were soon up bouncing around again, so back to the bedroom they went and finally fell asleep around 1:30am.

Our First Day as a Family with Steven

2008-12-17T18:30:00.001-05:00

Our first morning together, we all woke up about the same time. I was sure to get Steven’s schedule from the orphanage director before we left there so I knew what times he is used to eating and napping as well as bedtime. He is not used to eating when he first wakes up like we are, therefore, he was just staring at his cereal bowl as the rest of us were eating. I figured it was either too early for him to eat or that he wasn’t used to cereal. I realized when he wouldn’t drink even the glass of milk that he is used to drinking milk warm and not cold. Before bedtime last night I warmed up the milk and he and Andrew had a chugging contest to see who would finish their milk first. Therefore, I realized when he pushed the milk away from him after feeling the temperature of the glass that he wanted it warmed up. Once I warmed it up he then drank it. Since he is used to warm milk, he then probably doesn’t like cold cereal. He did eat about half of the cereal though, which surprised me since it was a while before he even touched it. I figured I should give him some warm oatmeal in the morning instead, since he is probably used to something warm in his belly in the morning.

After breakfast, Robert put a dvd of Disney’s songs on the television as I was finishing putting on my makeup. For the next 30 minutes or so Steven would run up to the bathroom where I was and jump up and down and say, “Mama, Dveitza! Dveitza!” over and over again and would wave his hand like come here until I ran into the living room where he led me into to see the dvd of “It’s a Small World After All” being played. Then he would exclaim, “Papa, Dveitza! Dveitza!” And then point to the television and ramble something else in Ukrainian. He is so precious. All day he was so excited with everything that he saw in and around town as we were driving in the taxi that he would say, “Dveitza” and then point to a bus or “Dveitza” and then point to something else. It was like he was seeing everything for the first time in real life opposed to in a book or on television.

After picking up some gifts for Evan’s caretakers, orphanage director, doctors and lawyers of the orphanage we made our way to Evan’s orphanage. Once we got there we went to see Evan in his groupa. When Evan saw us he came running and hugged and kissed Robert and I. Alla explained to Evan’s groupa teacher that Steven is Evan’s older biological brother. She was happy to see both boys being adopted by us and then asked Evan who is his brother? Evan went running over to Andrew and tapped Andrew on the shoulder. It seems to me that Evan doesn’t remember Steven either.

Evan’s orphanage director, Valentina, asked us if we would pick Evan up tomorrow instead of today since she wanted him to have an extra day of medication. So we agreed and will pick him up tomorrow. It was lunchtime when we arrived, therefore, couldn’t have a party with his groupa to celebrate. We had to say our goodbyes to Evan until tomorrow. As soon as we said, “Paka” (Bye), Evan started crying. We didn’t have anytime to play with him and he was upset we were leaving again and probably missed us yesterday since we were running around getting our paperwork finished all day. Well it is good to see that Evan misses us and is attached to us already, but it was heartbreaking to see him cry and not be able to take him now. Until tomorrow.

Picking up our son Steven

2008-12-16T17:00:00.004-05:00

After running around and getting the boys birth certificates changed, naming us as their parents and changing their names the to the names we gave them, we headed to the store to purchase some gifts for Steven’s caretakers, the orphanage director, doctors and lawyers at the orphanage. We only had time to pick Steven up today from the orphanage, therefore, either Wednesday or Thursday we will pick Evan up. We’ll see what Evan’s orphanage director says since he was sick with bronchitis last week and might still be on medication for it.

Once we got to the orphanage, we thanked the orphanage director and Steven’s teachers and caretakers and took a few pictures before we had to head off to the passport department before they closed for the day to get Steven’s and Evan’s picture taken so we could apply for their passports. We are under a time constraint since we are pushing to get home on or before Christmas, therefore we are making the most of every minute.

Once we got to the passport department, Nicolai went to the Evan’s orphanage to pick him and a caretaker of his up to bring them to the passport department as well. I was very curious to see if the boys remembered each other as they haven’t seen each other in about a year and a half. Once Evan arrived, I video taped the reunion of the boys. To my surprise, neither of them remembered each other. I guess they were too young to remember each other.

Grandfather Frost

Steven in Sleigh

Oh Christmas Tree

After getting their passport pictures taken and the passports applications completed and turned in we headed off to take Steven and Andrew to the huge Christmas tree in the center of town. Steven was so thrilled with seeing the Christmas tree and all of the other lights and decorations. The way he expressed his excitement as he was speaking Ukrainian was just so precious. We didn’t understand a word he said verbally but certainly understood his excitement of seeing the Christmas lights for the first time. Steven also jumped up and down as he saw the lighted Grandfather Frost (like our Santa Claus). He ran right over to it and said, “Look, it’s Grandfather Frost,” in Ukrainian of course. We took some pictures and then made our way to a restaurant to get something to eat. Robert and I were both amazed at how much Stephen ate. He ate enough for 2 adults. Robert told Alla to tell him if he’s full that he can stop eating. Alla said that in the orphanage they are taught to clear their plates. She asked him if he wanted to stop eating and he said that he wasn’t full and he wanted to continue eating. Since we always have issues with Andrew eating his meals, I made a point to praise Steven for eating his food. As soon as I did, Andrew started eating again and made a point to get my attention by saying, “Look Mama, I’m eating too.” So I then made a point to praise Andrew as well for eating his food. It seems to me that Steven will be a good influence on Andrew since Andrew has been mimicking him with everything. He wants to do everything Steven does or doesn’t do.

We then made our way home and got settled in for the night. To my surprise, we didn’t have any issues with bedtime or during the night. It was a long day for all of us and by the time we got home it was time for bed.

Country Road to the Birth Certificate Office

2008-12-16T03:52:00.000-05:00

Country Road, Take Me Home to the Place where I belong……Mountain Mama, Take me home…..Country Road. Okay now that I got you all singing…..here’s is how our day went today on a country road.

Tuesday morning we left early to make our way to the birth certificate office which was approximately 2 and a half hours away. It was very cold today, approximately 10° F. We traveled down the main highway in Cherkasy, which to me and Robert was more of a country road. Nicolai was driving approximately 120 km/hour on the bumpy, curvy roads. We were all very tired since we were up late last night and got up real early this morning so we were trying to nap as we are holding onto each other each time we went around a sharp turn or when Nicolai had to swerve or stop on a dime to avoid hitting the crossing turkeys, geese, roosters, chickens, dogs, cats, rodents and people walking and riding their bicycles to work. It was a very interesting drive to and from the birth certificate office in the district where Steven and Evan were born. There were not many street signs once we got off of the main road, which really made Robert and I wonder how Nicolai found his way.

Once we arrived at the birth certificate office we all waited for Alla in the car as she was taking care of business for about an hour and a half. We knew that once Alla was back in town that it’s business before pleasure, which means we need to hurry up with the documents and then we will get some food. Because of this I made sure I took plenty of snacks for us all to munch on as we waited.

On our way back from the birth certificate office we traveled down the country road again, but this time Nicolai stopped on a dime as he swerved over to the side of the road and stopped the car. Of course, the dramatic stop alerted us to look around to see what was going on. We noticed a flat bed truck with some greenery on top of it approaching us and it was moving really slow. There were people walking behind the truck and a small band playing instruments as they were walking behind them and then some police cars, an ambulance and a car with a priest in it that followed the people walking. Here it was a funeral procession with an open casket on the flat bed with the person propped up in a lounge position in 10° F weather as she was laying in the open casket with a few family members mourning over her as they were sitting on the flat bed truck. Okay, now I think I’ve seen it all. It is customary for other cars on the road to pull over to the side and stop so when they past our vehicle we got a close up of the whole procession and the lady that past on. This will be one memory that will be remembered for a while.

Bonding with Steven

2008-12-12T20:49:00.000-05:00

Vocabulary Lessons

Over the past few days we were allowed to spend an extra hour a day visiting Steven since we are not allowed to visit Evan because of his cold. It’s been nice to spend 2hours a day with Steven rather than just an hour that we’ve had since we’ve been in Cherkasy. The hour always flew by and never seemed like enough time. Since we’ve had some extra time with Steven we have been playing games with him that would get him more familiar with the English language. We have a doodle drawing board that I would have him draw different objects from the picture cards that we have. As I hold up a card with an object on it I repeat the name of the object as he would draw it on his doodle pad. Steven doesn’t mimic us when we say a word over and over like Evan does, but he will catch on quick enough.

Steven is very active and loves to play with balls, balloons, cars, and just like Evan and Andrew, he loves to climb. The director, Maria, of the orphanage wants us to keep him as calm as possible since a couple of days when we returned him to his groupa he was sweating. She is afraid he will get sick right before we take him out of the orphanage, therefore, she has asked us to keep him from being so active.

So we have been doing the best we can to keep him calm by putting Legos together with him, painting ornaments for our Christmas tree, putting Christmas decorations together, putting jigsaw puzzles together, playing with the LeapPad and we have also brought our computer to show him a 30 minute educational dvd. We are teaching him to count in English, along with the dvd. As we count in English he counts in Ukrainian/Russian. He is saying Hello, Bye, Please, Yummy, Mama, Papa and Andrew in English. It’s adorable when he says Andrew’s name because he rolls the “r” in Andrew’s name.

As soon as one activity ends, Steven is up running around, climbing on and under the furniture and Andrew is right behind him. As soon as this happens we do our best to distract the boys and lead them into the next activity. It’s a little difficult to keep 4 and 5 year old boys still, therefore, the last 10 minutes we just let them play. Andrew and Steven had a ball playing together and hiding under the youth beds.

Gone Fishing

Two Peas in a Pod

Silly Boys

Mirror Image

Robert bought a remote controlled Shelby Mustang car that has the controls on a watch. Alla showed him the price that equaled $20.00 US dollars and Robert just smiled and said that he wanted to buy it anyway. Robert being the kid himself, especially when it has to do with Shelby Cobras or Mustangs cars used the excuse of Andrew and Steven when he bought the car. Of course, I knew differently and had to smile. As Alla would say, “Boys will be boys and they have to have their toys.” Boy is she right on that. Robert brought the remote controlled car so Steven and Andrew could play with it during our visitation time. Well of course it was a big hit and both boys couldn’t wait for it to be their turn again.

Driving Lessons

Daddy Demonstrating

We shared our photo album again with Steven to get him familiar with our immediate family members as well as pictures of our home. This way he will feel a little more comfortable when we arrive home and have a sense for who’s who in our family. When we showed him pictures of his grandmothers we told him Babushka (meaning grandmother) and then the grandmother’s name Andrew calls his grandmothers….such as Babushka Nana, Babushka Mom mom, and Babushka Grandma. So to all of our children’s grandmothers, don’t be alarmed if Steven and possibly Evan call you Babushka.

We then showed him a picture of Evan again to see if he would respond this time. He didn’t respond even when I said Evan’s name in Ukrainian. When I showed Evan a few days ago, Steven’s photo and said Steven’s name in Ukrainian, Evan responded by saying, “Da”, which means yes. So Evan seems to remember his older brother Steven, but we are not sure if Steven remembers Evan or maybe Evan has changed a bit in his facial features in the past year and a half where Steven doesn’t recognize him. We’re not sure, but we will definitely video tape the boys meeting again for the first time in a year and a half. It surprises me that Evan somewhat remembers Steven and that Steven is not responding at all regarding Evan. I pray that the reunion of the boys will go well and that the union of our family as a whole is a peaceful, smooth, joyful and successful transition for all of us.

Count Down til Take off

2008-12-12T07:12:00.003-05:00

Stop Steven...it's going to POP!!

This will be our last week of visiting our sons in the orphanage before we will be allowed to take them home. We are so looking forward to completing our adoption and starting our life as a family. Saturday will be our 10th day after court, therefore, Monday, December 15th we will be given the court decree stating us as their parents and then we can go to the birth certificate offices to change their names and state us as their parents. Once we have their birth certificate we will have the right to remove them from their orphanages. After we receive their birth certificates we can then apply for their passports, which might take a few days to receive. After receiving their passports we can go back to Kiev to get their medical examinations done for their visa and then go home. The Italian couple’s son’s passport only took a couple of days to receive, therefore it looks like we will be home the Sunday or Monday before Christmas as long as there is availability on the airlines for all of us. We are checking into flight availability now. Hallelujah! We’re so excited and can’t wait to be home and in our own beds.

One thing that is an issue now is that Evan’s cold has turned into bronchitis and we are not allowed to visit him until Monday. The orphanage director wants to make sure he is healthy and that we stay healthy as well by the time we are allowed to take him home. The orphanage doctors are taking good care of him giving him breathing treatments, medicine, antibiotics, warm compresses on his back as well as his vitamins, fruits and juices. There is nothing else we can do but to pray for Evan to be well. So let’s all stand in agreement that Evan is completely healthy and well in Jesus name.

Daddy teaching the boys to use static cling to attach balloons to the wall.

The Italian couple’s 10th day after court was Monday and Tuesday they took their little boy out of the orphanage and headed back to Kiev to wait for their son’s passport there. Since it is two thirds less expensive to wait here in Cherkasy we will probably wait here for the boys passports and then head to Kiev. We were offered to move into the apartment where the Italian couple was staying since it has a separate bedroom and is closer to Evan’s orphanage. Since we were in an apartment were we were all sleeping on sofa beds in the living room with no separate bedroom we opt to move again. So we packed up our things and moved across the courtyard to a bigger apartment. It’s easier to get Andrew down for naps and bedtime having a separate bedroom and all.

When we arrived in the new apartment, we realized that the Italian couple’s bags were still in the apartment. When they arrived to pick up their bags they were quite surprised to see us in their apartment. Their translator was with them and we were chatting with her as the new Mama and Papa were changing their son. Robert and I had to laugh when their translator told Robert that he speaks poor English. It was funny coming from a Ukrainian Translator who spoke some English. I had to laugh and tease him for the rest of the evening that I was going to mention it on the blog. LOL. I know Robert’s sisters and going to have a good laugh and a field day about this one when we get home.

Bonding with Evan

2008-12-07T20:42:00.000-05:00

Pull us around FASTER Daddy! This is FUN!

We all are bonding well with Evan this past week and we have seen some improvements with Evan bonding to us. Andrew is learning to be the big brother to Evan by sharing his toys and his Mama and Papa with Evan. Robert and I have learned to share our attention with both Evan and Andrew so we keep the peace within the family. Andrew is learning that having brothers to play with can be a lot of fun. Today, Evan and Andrew were being pulled around the sunroom (not heated, that’s why we have our coats and hats on) by Papa. Robert was having just as much fun as the boys were having and neither Andrew or Evan wanted to end the play session today. They both were crying and putting up a fuss when it came time to return Evan to his groupa.

Brothers Having fun.

Thumbs up from Daddy

Yesterday and the day before the weather was nice enough (sunny & 45-50 degrees F)to take Evan and Andrew outside for a walk and for some fun in the orphanage playground.
As I pushed Andrew and Evan on the swings it was so sweet to see Evan laugh and smile as I was pushing him from the front of the swings.

Swing me higher Mama!

WEEEEEE! Mama and Evan Bonding.

COO COOO!!

They also had a little wooden playhouse in the playground and we pretended that I was the customer and Andrew and Evan were the ice cream parlor workers. Evan was so cute how his face lit up with a smile when I surprised him on the other side of the window curtain and said “Coo, Coo.”

My Boys.

Mama and Evan.

I really feel like I broke through a barrier today and bonded so well with Evan and he with me. In the adoption books that we have read, it tells how a mother when she gives birth to her baby the bonding starts immediately when they look into each others eyes as the mother is holding them and feeding them. In an adoption in order to bond with the child, no matter how old he or she is, it’s best to do some eye contact games where the child and parent look into each others eyes while they are playing and when the parent feeds them.

Daddy you are so funny!

Brothers bonding.

Over the past couple of weeks Evan gets real temperamental when I take a toy away to return him to his groupa, or pick him up when he doesn’t want me to. Afterwards he’ll cop an attitude and give me the cold shoulder and walk away from me because I corrected him or did something he didn’t want me to do. Alla says that he is testing me. That could be but when you are trying to bond with the child and deal with toddlerhood it’s a bit disheartening. The Italian couple is going through the same challenges with the child they are adopting.

This week, however, I’ve been focusing on doing eye contact games and activities whenever possible. When we played ice cream parlor in the playhouse I made sure I was at Evan’s eye level to make good eye contact with him as well as when I was pushing him on the swings. That is why I was pushing him from the front more so than pushing him from behind. We also brought stickers with us and would put the stickers on each others noses so Evan would have to look at us in order to take the sticker off of our noses and visa versa. These games have certainly helped and I feel we all have connected with Evan on a deeper level.

Oh Christmas Tree & Zoo Park

2008-12-05T20:49:00.000-05:00

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

After all of the shopping, visiting the boys, and dinner Nikolai and Alla took us all to the center of town to see the Christmas light display. There was a huge Christmas tree all lit up with 18” ornaments that lit up on the tree. We took a short walk down the sidewalk to see all of the other lawn ornament decorations. We all enjoyed the Christmas lights, especially Andrew. It was nice to see some Christmas lights since these are the first we have seen. They individual houses don’t have Christmas decorations like we see in the United States.

Here are a few photos of the Christmas display.

Andrew's Sleigh Ride

Reindeer with Mom & Andrew

Saturday since it was a nice day and we cannot visit Steven in the afternoon on the weekends, we had some extra time to go visit the Zoo in Cherkasy. It was a much smaller zoo than the Philadelphia Zoo, but we were amazed it only cost us $5.00 total for 3 adults and one child to get in. We saw many different animals and it’s the closest we’ve been to bears and coyotes. After the Zoo as we were walking back to the car there was a huge playground park for kids to play on. Andrew had fun playing on all of the different areas of the playground. After the playground, we purchased a balloon in the shape of a bunny rabbit for Andrew. It was nice to get out and see some more of Cherkasy and get some exercise.

Zoo Park Entrance

Watching the ducks

Feeding the ducks

Silly Daddy

Is it real or is it stuffed? I'm not going to find out.

Hello all.

My blue bunny rabbit

Nikolai also took us to the Airplane monument and the Plumber Monument. Check out these pictures.
Plumber monument. plumber coming out of a sewer hole.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...TAKE OFF!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our nephew Billy!!Wish we were there to celebrate with you. I hope you had fun at the renaissance day. Love ya. See you soon.

Shopping for the Boys

2008-12-04T19:59:00.002-05:00

The day after court we visited Evan in the morning and Alla helped us measure him so we could go and buy the clothes he will need once we take him out of the orphanage. Since Alla was here for a few days with us in Cherkasy, she took us to a few different children’s clothing stores and we bought Steven and Evan shoes, coats, underwear, shirts, sweaters, socks etc.

Even with measurements it was hard to guess on sizes. It looks to me that Evan is a size 24 months and Steven is in a size 5 or 6. A few of the clothes we purchased had American sizing on them. We purchased a couple outfits, pajamas etc. for both Steven and Evan. It was a long day going in and out of stores, eating out and then visiting Steven and Evan in between.

After visiting Steven in the late afternoon, we took Alla and Nikolai (our taxi driver) out to dinner at a Ukrainian Restaurant where Nikolai and his wife celebrated on their wedding day. It was very traditional and had a beautiful mural painting of a scene from Ukrainian countryside.

Here is the photo of the Ukrainian countryside mural.

The next day, Friday, we took the clothes into the orphanages to try the clothes on Evan and Steven. It was so precious to see their reaction to the clothes. When Evan came out of his groupa room he gets so excited and greets us all and then runs over to the bag that we bring toys with us to play. We told him, “No, no” and then called him over to us to try on the clothes. His eyes got real wide and cautiously came over to me, not realizing what was going on. I showed him the shirt with a car “Machina” on it and motioned for him to put his hands up in the air to change his shirt to the one with the car on it. I thought it would be more difficult to communicate with him to get him to cooperate to change his clothes without Alla in the room, but we are starting to understand each other more and more each day. I think it was clear that I wanted him to change his shirt anyway. Once he saw the car on the shirt he was very willing to cooperate. After we put the first outfit on him, I motioned for him to take them off so I can try on the next shirt and pants, he didn’t want to part with them that quickly therefore he ran to the other side of the room. He was so cute the way he was so excited and pleased with his new clothes. He hugged me a few times as he had a huge smile on his face when I finally got him to try some of the other clothes on. Evan would just lean toward me with his arms in the air falling into my arms and smiling from ear to ear. Then he was so giddy he then arched his back as he was in my arms and was giggling. It was so adorable.

Later that day we went Steven’s orphanage to try on the clothes for him. He was a little shy to try on the clothes, but was cooperative. He was quietly smiling and pleased to see that these clothes were for him. Alla asked him if he liked them and he just smiled at her. How cute they both are. We are so blessed to have 3 wonderful boys.

2 More Blessings From Above! It's Official!

2008-12-03T19:57:00.005-05:00

2 More Blessings From Above! It’s Official!

Praise the Lord! For He is Good and His Mercy Endures Forever.

We are the official parents of Steven and Evan as of today, December 3rd. Hooray! We had court today and we are excited to announce that we are Steven Thomas and Evan Daniel’s parents. Robert, Andrew, Alla and I made our way to the court house around 2:15pm today for our 2:30pm appointment. The inspector of Cherkasy, Miss Larissa was there along with the orphanage director of Steven’s orphanage, Miss Maria and the lawyer of Evan’s orphanage, along with the prosecutor, judge, and two witnesses. As we walked into the court room before everyone arrived, Andrew’s eyes got real wide when he saw this small cell like area (where criminals would sit) with bars that went up to the ceiling, and two benches inside it. He immediately went over to it and asked what is this for. I told him that is where the criminals sit so they won’t escape or hurt anyone. It was comical to hear all of the questions that Andrew asked just before court relating to the criminal cage.

I was a bit nervous and felt the emotion starting to build up inside me, however, I knew I had to keep it together for the most part since I was the one going to be answering most of the questions and explaining to the judge and everyone, why we want to adopt these children, how long have we visited them in the orphanage, where we live, our financial status, why we want to have 3 children and why we are not happy with just one child, who will help us with these children, do you know of the children’s medical history and many more. Of course I got all emotional and teary eyed when I was talking about why we want to adopt the boys in the beginning. I told them how much we love Steven and Evan already and how well they fit in our family. I also explained that Steven and Evan both play so well with Andrew and they all get along as if they’ve always been brothers and apart of our family.

The lawyer of Evan’s orphanage, the orphanage director of Steven’s orphanage, Miss Maria and the inspector of Cherkasy, Miss Larissa all had a turn to speak and they all spoke in favor of Robert and I adopting Steven and Evan into our family. We are so very happy and I am a proud Mama of our 3 sons Steven (5yr), Andrew (4yr) and Evan (3yr).

Introducing Steven Thomas Millilo

Posing Steven
I'm a happy kid

Hooray! Bravo!

Silly Steven

Introducing Evan Daniel Millilo

Blue eyes

Hello?

Silly Evan

Bright Eyes

And of course you all should know Andrew Lawrence Millilo.

Silly Andrew

Andrew and Evan playing catch me if you can

Bouncing Boys

After court we celebrate and took Alla, Miss Maria (Steven’s orphanage director) and our taxi driver out to a beautiful restaurant in town. We had the whole restaurant to ourselves since it was an early dinner. I felt like I was in a ballroom that’s how lovely it was. It was nice to get to know Miss Maria a bit more and to have some time to relax and laugh. I must say that I am very proud of how quiet and still Andrew was in the court room today and at dinner. He was very well behaved and he is doing much better at sharing the toys with his brothers.

Tomorrow, Alla is going to help us purchase the necessary clothes for the boys that we’ll need before we get home. Even though we won’t be able to take the boys out of the orphanage until after the 10 day wait we will still have about a week and a half or so before we can come home due to getting their birth certificates changed, passports, and their medical examinations for getting their visas.

Time for sleepies, therefore, Dosfidanya or Dobre Noches for now!

The Weekend

2008-12-01T10:48:00.001-05:00

We are allowed to visit Evan on Saturday and Sunday, but Steven’s orphanage does not allow visitors on the weekends so we made sure the lady that picked Steven up on Friday that she explained to him that we will be back to visit him during the week.

When we first greeted Evan on Saturday, he was excited and happy to see us as usual. We usually play with him in the teachers room which is a little walk from Evan’s groupa room. Evan was ready to go. He darted out his groupa door and down the stairs he went after greeting Andrew, Robert and myself. When we realized the teacher’s room was locked we headed back to play in the area right outside Evan’s groupa room. Evan was a bit confused and when we got back to where his groupa room is Evan’s eyes welled up with tears. He did not want to go back to his groupa quite yet, so he thought. I told Robert to hurry up and give me the ball to play with him to make him realize he is not being returned to his groupa but that we are playing here instead. He quickly understood and the tears dried up fast and turned into a smile. Wow! We are happy he reacted the way he did. I guess he’d rather play with us instead. Sounds to me that he is forming an attachment to us already. Praise God!

About an hour later, one of Evan’s groupa leaders came out to tell us we can take him for a walk outside. She was quickly getting the rest of the childrens’ jackets, snow pants and hats out of the cubby holes where they are kept. It was quite cold outside, however the sun was out for the first time I think since we’ve been in Ukraine. So Oxona helped to but his outerwear on. He had so many layers on he could hardly move. He had 2 or 3 shirts, leggings, pants and then snow pants, a jacket and then a knitted hat. When we were walking outside around the orphanage by ourselves, Evan didn’t seem himself. I finally realized when we past his groupa outside walking as well that he couldn’t understand why he wasn’t with them. Every other time he has walked outside he walked around with them. They were also sharing cookies and pushing some of them around in strollers. They only brought enough cookies outside for the kids they took outside so Evan was a bit upset when we were motioning for him to come along instead of hanging out with his groupa. We took him inside and Oxona came out to see what was the matter. She spoke to him and found out that it was his groupa that he couldn’t understand why he wasn’t with them. Evan quickly calmed down when I gave him some fruit snacks. Then he was a happy camper again playing with us inside.

Sunday, Evan seemed more himself. He was smiling more and playing peek-a-boo with me and actually laughing at times. We had a little toy from McDonalds that sang the first verse to “I like to move it move it”. He was so amazed that music would come from a plastic animal ever time you tapped it. The Italian couple was playing in the same room we were in with their son. It was a bit tight with all seven of us playing in a small room but we made it work. Little Gabriella (the Italian couple’s son) liked the McDonalds toy so when the toy was on the floor he picked it up and had it to his ear for most of the time. All three of the kids were finding it a bit challenging to share the toys, especially when the Italian lady went into the room next door and pulled out a tricycle for Gabriella to play with. As soon as Robert and I saw what she was doing we both looked at each other and were thinking the same thing. This is not going to be good. We both know how much Andrew and Evan like bicycles and as soon as they saw the lady bring out the bicycle they all wanted it. Boy if one child has something they all have to have it. We have come to learn that quick. Especially when they want the Leap Pad, the bicycles, play cell phones, trucks, cars or whatever at the same time.

The three boys were all wanting the same tricycle even though we found 2 other tricycles for Evan and Andrew to play with. It was not a good situation. Evan and Andrew wanted to ride in the tricycle Gabriella was in and Gabriella wasn’t giving it up. At one point the Italian Mama was trying to get Gabriella out of the tricycle to let Evan have a turn and he wouldn’t budge. Evan had his hand on the frame of the tricycle and ready to get into his seat, but Gabriella decided that his turn wasn’t up and ended up biting Evan’s hand that was touching the tricycle. He didn’t break the skin but I’m sure it hurt him. Evan was crying and I was right next to him to hug him and tell him “it’s okay” in Russian as I was rubbing his back. I was glad to see that Evan was letting me console him since that is a good sign of attachment.

Evan finally did get a turn in the favored tricycle but it was just about time for our visitation to be over for the day. Since Andrew didn’t get a turn on the favored tricycle and we were all putting the bikes away because it was time to go, Andrew had a tantrum. I must say, Andrew was good at sharing his toys today and was playing really nice with Evan and even let Evan play with the favored tricycle first, but since there wasn’t enough time for him to ride on it he had a fit. Oye Vey!!!

Please pray and agree with us for a smooth transition for all of us. It will be an adustment for everyone with the language barrier and all, but I'm sure the boys will catch on quick.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T10:16:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Boy we have a lot to be thankful for this year. The boys are so precious and over the last two days their personalities are starting to show.

Each morning we spend a couple of hours with playing with Evan (3 yrs old) at the baby orphanage since our apartment is within walking distance to where the orphanage is located. It is so sweet when they groupa leader calls Evan’s name he comes running toward me with a big smile on his face. He practically knocks me down once he throws his arms around me and then kisses my cheek. He then runs up to Andrew and hugs him and then runs up to Papa and hugs and kisses him as well.

We take him down to the teacher’s room to play with him since there is an Italian couple playing with their son that they are adopting right outside Evan’s groupa room. Evan seems to really enjoy riding the bicycle and playing with cars, trucks, balls and play cell phones. He is already starting to understand me at times. He understands when I ask him if he wants more banana or cookie or cheerios. He’ll respond by saying “Da”, which means yes. I have him sit on the sofa next to me when I give him some snacks. When I put the banana, cheerios or cookie up to his mouth to feed him he practically swallows my hand with it. After he takes the food from my hand he will sometimes lay back to lay down on the couch to be silly. The past couple of days when he does this I will put my hand behind his back to lift him to sit up and when I do I say,”Up”. Today, all I had to do was say the word “UP” and make a motion with my hand and he sat up without me lifting him up.

Sometimes there is a teacher in the room that knows a little English with us and occasionally she will chime in and tell Evan what the English word is for dog, car, cat, cookie or whatever. She gets him to repeat the English word which is good. He will repeat the English word clearly.

We all are bonding well with Evan and him with all of us. It’s cute to see Andrew and Evan play so nicely together. Robert and I are very conscious for not giving Evan too much attention without giving Andrew some attention as well. We notice a difference in Andrew’s behavior when we do. Once in a while when Evan runs up to be to hug and kiss me, Andrew will be embracing me at the same time.

On Tuesday when we visited with Steven (5yr old) this was the first time we got to play together. Monday we only met and briefly played with him for about 15 minutes. After our meeting with the boys on Monday Alla took us to a toy store to purchase some toys for the boys. Since Steven requested toys he could build with, Alla and Robert bought him some Legos toys that were a bit to advanced for him not knowing what age the toy was for.

When we first met with Steven on Tuesday, Robert broke out the Legos and Andrew, Steven, and Robert all jumped into the project. Both Robert and I were surprised to see how Steven was putting the race car together so precisely. After about 30 minutes of putting the car together, Steven completed about putting half of the car together. He seems to be a perfectionist since when he or Robert couldn’t figure out how to complete the car he started crying. Alla jumped up and tried to figure out what was wrong but he wouldn’t say. We figured it was because he couldn’t complete the car so we changed activities. We were a bit concerned and found out later that he wanted to be with his group since they were doing Christmas activities. We also remembered how Andrew acted on our second day of meeting him. He was crying for about 20 minutes and we didn’t know what was wrong.

The next day we brought some fun activities for Steven and Andrew to do. We remembered in our first meeting that Steven likes to paint, so we brought our paint brushes and wooden Christmas ornaments to make with Steven. Well the painting was a big hit and Steven seemed very happy to be painting. He was talking to us in Ukrainian from what Alla says. It’s so precious to see and hear Steven talk in Ukrainian to us. I’m not sure what he is saying but we just agree and say “Da, Da” or yes, yes…..like we understand. I hope he is not asking us for a BMW for Christmas or something like that since we are agreeing with him. Once he finished with his ornament he wanted to paint another one. So we let him paint one more. We told him in Russian, “Bravo” and “Duche dobre” which translates to Good Job. He was much more animated today and much more relaxed and himself. After the ornaments we played some ball and Velcro tennis ball.

We also showed both boys our photo album. We have pictures of our home, bedrooms, living room, kitchen as well as pictures of our family and friends. One of the orphanage workers that speaks some English was helping us to explain to Steven who everyone was in our family. When we got to the picture of Evan and Steven’s bedroom the lady explained to him that this will be Steven’s and Evan’s bedroom. Steven smiled and seemed happy about that.

Steven is a very active boy and loves to play ball and Velcro ball. Andrew, Steven, Robert and I all had fun playing ball with each other. Robert and I were so glad to see that Steven was having fun and bonding with us all especially after Tuesday.

We celebrated our Thanksgiving with our first Perogies with sauted onion since we’ve been here, ham slices and bread and butter. Whooo Whoo!.

Praise the Lord! We found our sons!

2008-11-24T21:26:00.001-05:00

Praise the Lord! We found our sons!

God is so Good! We are so blessed to have found such wonderful young and healthy boys. Thank you Lord! We are so in love with these boys that we are moving forward to adopt them.

This morning was an early one since Alla and Sasha stopped by our apartment in Kiev at 6:30am to pick us and our belongings up to travel to the city of Cherkasy (about a 3 hour drive from Kiev) to meet the boys Stephan (5yrs old) and Ivan (3 yrs old). The weather here is cold (about freezing temperatures) and the roads and sidewalks are a bit icy from the melted snow last night. Sasha, our driver took it slow and about 4 hours later we made it to Cherkasy. We met with the inspector of the orphanages first to show her our approved documents from the SDA stating we can visit the boys. We introduced ourselves to her and when she spoke to us she spoke in English which surprised us. She said we are very lucky (blessed) to be able to possibly adopt these two boys. She said that she knows these boys from visiting the orphanages and both boys are very nice, healthy boys, which is very hard to find in Ukraine. After talking with her briefly she gathered her paperwork and all 6 of us and our luggage stuffed into Sasha’s BMW to escort us down to the baby orphanage to meet Ivan.

As we entered the orphanage, the inspector told us that this orphanage was the best in Ukraine and we would soon see why. Once we entered the orphanage director’s office I could hear a piano being played and children singing in a room down the hall. The orphanage director invited us in her office and introduced herself as Valentina. She sat us down and told us all about Ivan and his health. She said that he is a very sweet boy and other than him being sick with bronchitis and pneumonia when he was 18 months and being delayed with his speech a bit he is healthy. I asked Valentina if he is talking at all and she replied that he is but some of his sentences are not formed correctly. They then brought Ivan and his groupa leader into the room. Ivan is about the size of a 24 month old. They had him dressed in a cute overall shorts outfit with a long sleeve shirt and leggings underneath. He reminded me of the Von Trapp children out of “The Sound of Music”. He has sandy blonde hair with the biggest blue eyes and the longest eyelashes you’ve ever seen. He just stood there as everyone was looking at him. I was very conscious of Andrew’s feelings, therefore, I didn’t jump up to go pick up Ivan. I also didn’t want to scare Ivan, therefore, I squatted down to his level and was talking with him at first. I gave him the small car that we brought for him. I then gave him a cookie and he was just looking at it until I motioned to eat it. As I was down at his level the director and Alla were asking him questions and he was answering them in Russian. He said that the cookie was very tasty and then he started saying a children’s poem. He held up 3 fingers when they asked him how old he was. The inspector was observing me talk to Ivan and she said that I can take him in my arms if I want. I then held out my arms to see if he wanted to be held and Ivan immediately threw his hands up in the air as his face lit up with a bright wide smile and he ran into my arms. The emotions and tears started flowing from my eyes as I held him and he immediately rested his head on my shoulder and seemed quite content to be held and loved. I rocked back and forth as I rubbed his back. I was certainly taken back by how lovable Ivan is especially since he was standing next to me for a while just answering questions as he was eating his cookie and didn’t pay me any mind. Ivan then pulled away a bit and then hugged me again and kissed my cheek. From then on I was in love with this child. I didn’t want to let him go, but when he was ready to get down I of course put him down. Andrew then came over and was helping me give him some cheerios and some fruit nugget snacks that Andrew’s teacher, Miss Debbie gave us for our trip. Thanks Miss Debbie! They are a big hit with the boys and it’s great that they have vitamins in them as well!

It was sweet to see the boys sharing with each other. Ivan then went over to Papa and sat on Robert’s lap. The orphanage director, inspector and Ivan’s groupa leader were surprised that he went right up to Robert since there are no men in the orphanage and it’s very unusual for this to happen. Once he sat on Robert’s lap Ivan planted a kiss on Robert’s cheek which made Robert smile. After he got down from Robert’s lap Ivan was still talking and answering more questions and following their directions as they asked. As I was talking to him squatting down to his level again, I started singing the Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes song in Russian to him and pointing to the different body parts as I sang. Ivan smiled and the orphanage director thought it was cute and a she was a bit surprise I was singing in Russian. Ivan then hugged me again and then he took hold of my hand as they were leading us down the hall to visit his groupa room (where he plays, eats and sleeps). Robert went to take hold of Andrew’s hand to walk him down the hall and follow us, but Andrew pushed Robert’s hand and body out of the way so he could grab hold of my other hand. Robert went to stop him from taking hold of my free hand, but I told Robert to let him be and that he could hold my other hand. Andrew was fine after that and Mama Karrie walked both of our boys down the hall to see his groupa.

I was quite surprised and glad to see many toys in his groupa room that were accessible for the children to play with. Andrew and Ivan made a bee line to the toys and were happy to play a bit. There were only about 5-6 other children in Ivan’s groupa which also surprised me. I guess I am comparing this orphanage to orphanage where Andrew was living in when he was a baby. We then took a walk down to the main teacher’s office, which gave us all a chance to play with the boys for a little while. Ivan immediately went over to the small two wheeler bicycle with training wheels and hopped right on it and started pedaling away. I was very surprised at what good coordination he has for riding this bicycle on a carpeted floor. His legs must be pretty strong. Of course since there was only one bicycle, Andrew wanted to ride it when Ivan was riding it. I told Andrew to play with some of the other toys until Ivan was done riding the bicycle. Once Ivan was done riding the bicycle, the teacher asked him to put the bike back where he got it from and he immediately followed her directions and put the bike back. Andrew then got on the bicycle and started to ride the bike, therefore he was a happy camper.

We then had to take Ivan back to his groupa so we could go to meet Stephán. As we were walking down the hall, we stopped in front of Ívan’s groupa room door and started playing ball with the boys in the corridor while we waited for Alla to finish her conversation with the orphanage director. Let me just tell you that Ivan surprised us with how coordinated he is with a ball. Once the ball hit the floor, Ivan kicked the ball with power behind it. Robert and I looked at each other and said that this boy is going to be our athlete. We all had fun bouncing the ball back and forth to each other. It was so sweet when I was motioning to Ivan with my hands to come away from the radiator. When he saw me move my hands toward myself, he immediately dropped the ball, threw his hands in the air and had the biggest smile and sparkle in his eyes as he ran over to me and threw himself in my arms again. I laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek and then embraced our lovable son. I then told him in Russian that “I love him” just as I released him from our embrace. He heard and understood what I said and then embraced me again and gave me a kiss on the cheek. As he pulled away again he told me in Russian, “I love you.” Can I take him home now I thought. We then had to say Paka Paka (Bye, Bye) to Ivan for today so we could meet Stephan and make our final decision (but in my heart I had already made up my mind). When saying goodbye to Ivan I told him in Russian, Da Zaftra (see you tomorrow). He smiled and said, Da Zaftra to me and then he went into his groupa room happy as can be.

We traveled about 15 minutes to the older children’s orphanage (2-11 yrs old) to visit Stephan. We went into the orphanage director’s office and sat down to speak with her about Stephan. They told us that he is a handsome boy that looks just like a French actor Aldono or something like that. They said that he is very healthy and has somewhat of an enlarged thyroid gland. They said that there is no need for surgery and that it’s not a big deal. He did have a bit of a cold over the past few days so after meeting with us he will go to visit the clinic to get examined by the doctor. They said he is an active boy and likes to paint and likes to play with letters (I guess they are teaching him his alphabet to get him ready for school. They start the kids in school at the age of 6 yrs old). When Stephan entered the room he was dressed in dark colored pants with nice black formal shoes, a zip up vest that was over a long sleeve shirt. Stephan has dark brownish black hair with very bright blue eyes that really stand out because of the contrast to his dark hair. They were right. He is a handsome boy for sure. He is about 4 inches taller than Andrew and he looks very healthy. They boy doesn’t look like he is starving that is for sure. He looks as if he is solid, not fat, but solid in size. If I were to guess on sizes I would think he is about a size 5-6. He was very polite and thanked us when we gave him the motorcycle toy that Alla got for him and one for Andrew as a gift from her. Both Andrew and Stephan got on the floor and started playing their motorcycles with each other. Both boys were interacting with each other and happily playing. I got in on the fun and so did Robert. We didn’t have as much time to spend with him as we did with Ivan. We only spent about 15 minutes with him since they needed to go and take him for his appointment at the clinic. Stephan is very smart and interactive and social. I told him how handsome he is and what sharp he looked in his formal clothes. He looked like he was ready to go to church in his formal clothes and shoes. He made it known to Robert before he left the room that he like toys that you can build things with (I guess like legos or Lincoln logs) and bananas. Robert smiled and said, “No problem.” I can handle that request. Stephan then shook Robert’s and Andrew’s hands as they smiled at each other and then Stephan gave me a hug goodbye. What a wonderful boy he is. It’s cute to hear him talk in Russian. I will have to video tape them both talking in Russian as much as possible since they will quickly learn to speak English, from what I understand from many other families that have adopted from Ukraine. From my understanding, it only takes a couple of months before they understand English much less speak it.

As you can tell, both Robert and I are in love with these boys and are in the process of adopting them. Alla has already amazed us by doing 3-5 days of paperwork in one day here in Cherkasy. This region is much easier to get things done than Dnipropetrovsk. We are hoping and praying we’ll be home on or before Christmas. Alla doesn’t know for sure but she is doing everything she possibly can to get the adoption completed and us home before Christmas. Once we know when our court date will be, we will have a better idea as to when we could possibly be home by.

We can’t wait for all of our family and friends to meet our sons. Alla asked us today what names we are giving them. We decided to give them the English version of their given names which will be Steven and Evan. We gave Steven, the middle name of Thomas after his great grandfather on Robert’s Dad’s side (it was a nickname of his) and we gave Evan the middle name of Daniel, which is Robert’s middle name and was Robert’s grandfather’s name on his Mom’s side of the family. We are not allowed to post pictures until after court, therefore, once court takes place I will certainly post pictures of our new family members. Doing the happy dance right now and are looking forward in spending more time with both of them tomorrow.

Wondering about the boys

2008-11-23T07:00:00.003-05:00

Eating Ukrainian food

Happy Birthday Michael and Oliva! Wish we were there to celebrate you second birthday with you!

The past few nights I have had trouble sleeping. Between the beds being almost as hard as bricks here, saxophone players, diarrhea spells in the middle of the night and wondering about the boys we will visit on Monday, I haven’t slept but a few hours each night. There are so many things that keep going through my mind about these boys. We do know that they both have been in the orphanage for eighteen months. So that would make the older boy around 3.5 yrs old when he entered the orphanage and the younger boy about around 18 months old when he entered the orphanage. Since the baby orphanage only goes up to 4 yrs old, the older boy transferred to the older children’s orphanage once he turned 4. That means he has been separated from his brother for a year now. I wonder if they remember each other (possibly the older one remembers his younger brother). I wonder if they remember their biological mother and if they do if they will accept me as their mother. I’ve read a couple of blogs where the children thought their biological mother was coming back for them to take them home and when the family adopts them the child was upset with the adoptive mother for a while since they were mad at her for taking them out of the orphanage because they thought their biological mother was coming for them.

From what the psychologist told us that each of the orphanage directors told the boys was that a Mama and a Papa will be coming for them soon. Okay, that was it for me. My eyes welled up with tears and I just wanted to ball like a baby, but here we were still in the office in the SDA and I had to fight back my emotions and maintain composure. As we were walking out of the SDA, Alla and Valentina wanted to make sure I was okay since we agreed to visit these boys instead of a girl. Here I am still trying to keep from balling regarding these boys that they thought I was upset since they weren’t girls. I told them that health is more important than gender and if these boys are okay and we decide to adopt them, I was kidding them when I said, “Maybe we’ll come back for a girl another time.” They both laughed.

Andrew and Daddy playing in apartment

It will be interesting since these boys are speaking in Russian already to see how we will bridge the communication gap. We have a children’s book called, The First Thousand Words in Russian”. Each page shows a picture of a room in a house, school or outdoor setting that has different objects pointed out and it has the Russian word written in the Russian alphabet along with the phonetic pronunciation underneath it so we can help teach the boys English by pointing and pronouncing it in Russian and then speaking the word in English. I’m sure if all goes well on Monday and there are no surprises with their health, that I will be calling on my friend Boris to help me with the language barrier.

Inside underground mall - Fish tank

We’ve been telling and preparing Andrew for what to expect on Monday. This morning we told him that we will be visiting the boys and they will possibly be his brothers. He’s been expecting a baby, therefore, we told him that these boys will be better than a “baby” brother because the boys will be right around his age so he will have someone to play with. He then interjected and told us how they can learn how to skateboard with him (don’t know where that came from since he doesn’t have a skateboard….I guess from seeing the older boys on the streets of Kiev skateboarding and doing tricks). We told him that they will be doing just about everything together. He seemed happy about that and then I told him that it’s very important for you to help Mommy and Daddy and share his toys with them. He was a bit apprehensive about sharing his toys, therefore, I took him back to last Christmas when he gave away a bunch of his toys to a boy that didn’t have any toys. I told him that these boys do not have any toys of their own either, that is why we bought them a couple of small toys to give to them on Monday. After hearing that Andrew seemed more willing to share his toys with them as well as his Mommy and Daddy.

Penthouse Suite

2008-11-22T14:34:00.001-05:00

View from the penthouse suite after the bit of snow we had

Another view from the penthouse suite

Alla told us yesterday after our appointment that we needed to move again right after Robert pleaded with both Alla and Valentina, “Please, No more moving”. Since we will be leaving Monday instead of Sunday we needed an additional night stay and the 3rd apartment couldn’t provide that for us. So they moved us to the other side of town a bit further from Independence Square than we were. In a way after sleeping there last night we were glad to move since someone decided to practice their saxophone at 11:30pm for about 45 minutes or so. It sounded like they needed a lot of practice and less vodka.

So now we are on the top floor (5th floor) which is the penthouse suite. It’s a very spacious apartment with a nice view of the street. After checking out the apartment and putting a load of laundry in the washing machine (we’re loving the washing machines this time around) we ventured out to get some lunch and to find a toy store to purchase a couple of small toys for the boys and Andrew of course. We couldn’t find an internet café and since we didn’t have access to the internet in our 3rd apartment or in our penthouse suite we haven’t updated the blog. Sorry, I know there are many of you that are waiting to find out how our appt went. I have been typing the blog at night on our laptop after Andrew goes to bed and when we find an internet café we just cut and paste it in the blog to save on time.

There is a park about 3-4 blocks from our apartment, so tomorrow if the weather is nice we will take Andrew there to have some playtime.

Our Second Appointment at the SDA

2008-11-20T19:32:00.002-05:00

Andrew picture taking

Sorry, we've moved a fourth time and don't have internet in our room. We just now found an internet cafe about a 40 minute walk from our apartment.

Alla stopped by our apartment around 1:30pm to meet with the apartment personnel where we are staying to help us move to an apartment upstairs. Okay we are in our 3rd apartment since we’ve been here. It’s getting a little tiring being shuffled around, but from what I understand we are not the only family that has moved 3 times since they’ve been here as well. After we moved all of our belongings upstairs to another apartment we were on our way to the SDA.

As we approached the building where the SDA is in (right next to St. Andrew’s church), we saw Valentina our facilitator for the first time since we’ve been here. She was sick last week and didn’t want to pass the cold onto us. It is so nice to see her again. We gave her a big hug and she was taken by Andrew and how he has grown and how much he has learned in the past 3 years. We shared with her our photo album and she wanted Andrew to tell her who everyone was in our family, his school and events that we took pictures of.

Our appointment started right on time, which was 3:00pm. I was happy to see that the psychologist Maria, whom we had in our first appointment was taking us into her office again. She is a friendly woman who seemed favorable towards us and Andrew.

She showed us 2 files that were just released from the ministry yesterday. One was a 5 year old boy and the other was a 3 year old boy. We didn’t realize at first that the two boys are siblings. They both have minor health issues therefore we asked Maria to call the orphanage about them to find out more details. The orphanage directors confirmed that the boys are available and their medical reports were true therefore we have accepted to visit these boys on Monday. They are in a region called Cherkasy that is a 3 hour drive South from here off of the Dnipro river from what we understand. We will travel by car early Monday morning to meet them. Please continue to keep us and these boys in prayer for all to go well on Monday. After meeting them we will make our decision from there.

Health is more important to us than gender, therefore we decided to meet these boys. We will call Dr. Yuri this weekend to see if he can either travel with us or meet us on Tuesday to give his prognosis after his exam and evaluation. Please pray and agree with us that there are no major health issues that were not listed in their files.

My Soccer shirt

After our appointment we stopped to buy Andrew a Ukrainian futbol or what we call soccer shirt in his size. I promised to get him one if he was quiet and sat still in our appointment. As we were purchasing one Valentina had Andrew pick out a Ukrainian nesting doll for himself as a gift from her. You can really tell that both Valentina and Alla have a real heart for children. They were giving him so much attention after our appointment that he was starting to get a bit silly.

Watdhing the painters from our 3rd apartment

Chilling out

Both Robert and I are praying and hoping that everything goes well on Monday, so we can move forward with this adoption and get home as soon as possible.

Prepareing for our second appointment

2008-11-19T19:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Alla came by our apartment to take us to get a new sims card for the cell phone since it hasn’t been working the last day and a half as well as to prepare us for our second appointment today. It was nice to spend the afternoon just hanging out with Alla having fun walking around town and she was enjoying playing and talking with Andrew. She was happy to see that Andrew is eating meats, fruits and vegetables and that he wanted to eat from the Ukrainian food place rather than McDonalds. Every time he put his fork down she would pick it up and pick up some pork from his dish and feed him. He has been eating real good since we’ve been here, which I’m very happy about. I was a bit worried that he would have an issue with the food being a bit different and all. But he is doing well with that. It seem like every time we turn around he wants to eat again. Maybe it’s from all of the exercise.

When we got back to the apartment yesterday, Alla sat us down to talk with us and prepare us for our second appointment. She then shared with us some pictures of many of the children that she has helped to adopt. She showed us pictures after picture and as she shared them with us, Andrew perked up and recognized a picture of himself (the picture of him on the blog holding the Ukrainian flag). Alla asked him,”Who is this?” Andrew laughed as he replied,”That’s me! How did you get a picture of me?” So I explained to him again how Alla helped us adopt him so we could be a family.

After Alla left yesterday we spent the evening after Andrew was in bed preparing for our appointment. We went through different medical conditions and researched on the internet to learn more about each medical condition that we were willing to accept, so we could ask pertinent more in depth questions to the orphanage director or orphanage doctor so we could make a decision as to whether to visit the child or not. So we didn’t have time to update they blog last night. Sorry.

Independence Square & Under Ground Mall

2008-11-17T14:47:00.005-05:00

Under Ground Mall Stores

Today we went down to the Independence Square again today to walk around some of the stores. I am very surprised at the prices for items in the stores around here. Robert wanted to buy a pair of Levi 505 jeans since he only brought 2 pair of pants (1 pair of jeans and 1 pr of dress slacks). In the Levi store we went to find his size jeans which is 36"w x 32"l although he likes to wear them loose so he gets 38" waist. Well around here with all of the stick figures walking around in Kiev he had a hard time finding a pair of 38" waist. He looked and looked and finally said he couldn't find any fat boy jeans. Even so, he wasn't going to pay over 600 grivnas($100.00 US dollars) for a pair of Levi jeans he can get for $30.00 back home. All of the stores in the Under Ground Mall are high end stores with high end prices. Where is a Walmart when you need one. The closest store to Walmart around here is the outer mini markets on the outskirts of the under ground. They are the local merchants selling their goods, flowers and some little convenient stores with a walk up window where you tell the lady what you want and she gets it for you. Here is a picture of one of the mini marts in the under ground. Andrew is crying because I'm taking a picture instead of picking him up so he can see the lady in the window.

Under Ground Mini-Market

Since our apartment only had 2 mugs and no other glasses but wine glasses, we bought a couple of mugs (for $5.00 each)for us to use and keep for a rememberance of our journey at the under ground vendors. We also found a store in the under ground mall that had towels. Since we didn't bring any towels and have been using the ones in the apartments we bought 2 bath towels for $20.00. Those were the cheapest they had. Those prices weren't as bad as the jeans and other designer stores we went in.

When we eat at the food court in the under ground mall we have eaten at a Ukrainian cafeteria style place, a McDonalds, just like home, and a Papa Johns pizza. I took a picture of the Papa Johns sign since we noticed it's not the typical Italian face you would see on a Pizzaria back home. Check it out.

Papa Johns Pizzaria in the Under Ground Mall Food Court

Here are some other pictures we took of the buildings and stores in and around Independence Square. During the weekend the city shuts down the major road and some side streets off of the major road around Independence Square and local merchants set up their canopies to sell their goods, fruits and vegetables, clothes, fish, honey, toys, Ukrainian souveniers. It was raining last weekend, therefore we didn't take many pictures. We wanted to move through the crowds as quick as possible.

Stores off of the main street near Independence Square

Street Near Our First Apartment

Every day I think we shed about a couple of pounds a day just walking up and down the stairs to go in and out of the under ground to cross the street or go to the mall/food court. You certainly don't have to pay for a gym membership around here. Thats probably why the people are so skinny here. I don't know how the women do it here with their spiked 4-5 inch heels/boots. I've noticed each day Andrew's legs are getting stronger because of all of the walking and climbing stairs. He tries to get us to carry him but it is getting less and less. He is getting more and more used to walking everywhere instead of being escorted by car everywhere back home. Here is a picture of him passed out in our apartment after our venture out walking around Kiev today.

Our Sweetie. So peaceful.

Let the redeemed of the Lord SAY SO!

2008-11-16T04:36:00.007-05:00

Daddy abd Andrew in Independence Square

Today we moved to another apartment. I guess they had rented this apartment to someone for this upcoming week, therefore, Alla and Sasha came by to help us move and take us to the next one. The new apartment is a little smaller, but is a bit cheaper and has all the amenities as we had in the first apartment(microwave & washer) as well as it has free internet access and we are closer to the SDA and Independence Square. Fancy that. Now we don't have to be jammed into a bathroom size stall to do blog updates and check email, we can have bathroom access with a western style toilet (LOL) close by as I update our blog and catch up on emails.

Mom and Andrew standing on the street of our 2nd apartment

Sorry we haven't been able to respond to some of your emails, but that is why. Along with having our little wiggly son that is anxiously waiting for me to finish what I'm doing on the computer. Now that we have access to the internet in our apartment it makes it much easier to answer your emails.

I thank God for our families, friends and our Ukrainian Angel families whom all have been so kind and gracious with sharing your support, prayers, wisdom, and experiences. It has help us stay strong and be confident that the Lord will provide and give us the desires of our hearts exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask or think.

I was reading this morning in Psalms 107 which really ministered unto me. I noticed as I read a few chapters in Psalms that many of the chapters started out Praising and thanking the Lord and telling us to give thanks unto the Lord for He is good and His mercy endureth forever. In Psalms 107 verse 2 it goes on to say that,"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy." The chapter goes on to talk about how when the Isrealites were in the wilderness, in need of food, drink, habitation etc. that WHEN they cried out unto the Lord he provided for them and delivered them out of all of their distresses.(Psalm 107:20) The Lord sent His word and healed them and delivered them from all of their distructions.

I have also have found strength in His word in Mark chapter 11:22-26. Jesus is telling us in verse 22 "To have faith in God".23-"Whosoever shall SAY unto this mountain be thou removed and cast unto the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but BELIEVE those things which he SAYS shall come to pass; he Shall (Not might but SHALL) have whatever he SAYS. 24 Jesus tells us that "What things so ever you desire, when you pray, believe you receive them and you shall have them." Then in verse 25 Jesus tells us to forgive anyone that we might have ought against them. If we can't forgive those we have ought against, why should he forgive us of our sins?

I remember Kenneth Hagin Sr. ministering on Mark 11:22-26 which was very powerful. In one of his preachings he talked and revealed that it says in Mark 11:23 that it says to first believe what things in which you SAY and it shall come to pass. In verse 23 Jesus says to SAY (verbally speak to your mountain or obstackle,challenge) and tell it to be removed and cast into the sea. Then he tells us to Not doubt in your heart but BELIEVE those things which he SAYS shall come to pass, then he shall have whatever he SAYS. The verse says the word believe once, where it has the word SAY 3 times in the same scripture. We need to speak forth what we believe which is the answer and result instead of speaking forth our obstacle/problem/
challenge/mountain. Just like back in Psalms 107 it says,"Let the redeemed of the Lord SAY SO! Therefore, I've been speaking forth and thanking the Lord for our daughter. I've been casting forth the voice of the enemy and I open my ears unto the Spirit of God to hear and be led by him to reveal to us our daughter in Jesus name.

What are your challenges, have you been speaking the problem or the answer lately? Cast your mountain into the sea and believe those things you desire when you pray and you shall have them. Let the redeemed of the Lord SAY SO!! SAY IT and don't stop SAYING IT until it comes into existance.

We were also blessed and thank God for our church, Victory Christian Fellowship in New Castle, Delaware www.gwwm.com to be able to listen to the Sunday morning service Live over the internet in our apt today. Thanks Pastor Gary, Pastor Faye and for your sermon today Pastor Gregory. It made us feel right at home.

Funny story & Dr.Yuri

2008-11-15T17:12:00.001-05:00

Today was a cold and rainy day in Kiev. We all bundled up and made our way to the internet cafe in the post office near Independence Square. As I was checking our emails and updating the blog with the three of us jammed in this little stall-like size computer station Andrew suddenly had to go poopy REALLY BAD. I told him just a couple more minutes but he said he couldn't wait and that he had to go REALLY BAD. So Robert said he was taking him back to the apartment(about 8 blocks away), took him out to get him to a bathroom. Since Andrew said he couldn't wait he had to go REALLY BAD, Robert took him into a mall and found a water closet as they call it here. After he paid his 1 grivna to use the bathroom he then whisked Andrew into the stall and put him up on the porcelain floor with a 5 inch hole in the floor and feet tread marks around it. Robert wasn't thrilled with this and didn't know how Andrew was going to react. Andrew said, "Where's the toilet, Daddy"? and Robert responded right there as he pointed to the hole in the floor. Andrew replied,"I'm not going in that". I think the whole thought of going poopy in a hole without anything to sit on totally scared his poopy back inside him because he said that he didn't have to go poopy anymore. Robert asked him if he had to go pee pee and Andrew replied, yes. So as Andrew stood on the left foot tread, Andrew asked Robert to hold onto him. Andrew said,"Hold onto me Daddy so I don't fall into the hole". Robert laughed and we both laughed when he told me the story that evening. Too Funny.

After Andrew went to the bathroom we decided to walk around the malls to get some exercise. We went into a toy store and bought Andrew a plane and some cardboard dominoes. He was a happy camper of course after that. Here are some pictures of him playing with it in the apartment.

After we got back from walking around the malls, getting a bite to eat and updating the blog we went home to get ready to meet up with Dr.Yuri. We contacted a local doctor who helps adoptive families by traveling with them to evaluate the child/ren or he also will sit down with you to get you more knowledgable about the different medical conditions that are listed on the children's files, what they mean in Ukrainian terminology, whether it's treatable, whether it's serious or minor and some of his experiences from evaluating over 250 orphans in the past. He was a very nice, sincere and professional man that is very interested in helping families adopt with a peace of mind. He gave us much better insight as to what to look for, what steps we should take next and we feel much more prepared for our next appointment.

Playgrounds, Churches & Food Markets

2008-11-14T06:01:00.000-05:00

Daddy giving Andrew a Piggy back ride in our apt.

Today we did some laundry, watched movies in the apartment until just after lunch. Then we ventured out to 2 different playgrounds both on either side of St.Michael’s Church. Andrew was excited since the playground yesterday didn’t have swings and these two did. Here are some pictures of the playgrounds and of St. Michael’s and St. Sofia’s Church. There were a couple of couples getting married today at St.Michael’s church(a beautiful blue and white church that has an arch in the back of the church where couples get married under.

Teeter totter behind St. Michaels church

Mommy on castle slide-LOL

St.Sophia's Church Bell Tower

Andrew & Mommy in front of St. Michaels Church

Wedding Arch in back of St.Michaels church.

The weather here is in the twenties today and overcast. No wind or precipitation. Today must have been some sort of holiday kind of like Valentines Day. There were many people walking around with flowers in there hands (that they were holding upside down) or balloons and many men and women holding hands and kissing in the city. Or maybe since it was a Friday it was like date night or something. Any thoughts or insight, Boris??(my Ukrainian born friend from work)

Daddy & Andrew in front of St. Michaels Church

After the park we went to the Underground Mall food court to get an early dinner. On our way home we discovered another internet café at the post office. So we stopped and updated the blog since we didn’t have time to do it yesterday. We also came across a large market that was like a huge produce, fish and meat store. The produce was beautiful so we bought some cherries, which were way overpriced even for home standards but since they looked so beautiful and were the size of ping pong balls Robert opt to get them. We also bought some grapes and pistachio nuts. The pistachio nuts were really good and had a different salty flavor to them. The meats were surprisingly out in the open on a table with people behind them trying to sell them to you. One guy had all of the meat laid out and had his newspaper laying overtop the unwrapped meat. He was reading his paper with it laying over the unwrapped meat. How’s that for sanitary and quality assurance Catelli Brothers? (a veal and lamb manufacturer where I used to work.) www.catellibrothers.com A great selling feature…ehh? Most of the fish vendors were the same in the way they presented the fish except for one. One fish vendor out of all had their fish on ice. All of the other meat and fish vendors didn’t have the meat or fish on ice at all. Very surprising. The shrimp here were huge though. The shrimp was larger than an average size banana. You could make a meal out of the shrimp alone.

On our way back from the produce and meat market we there was a line of about 40 or so people standing outside a mini restaurant that sold Ukrainian hot dogs with another 15 or so people standing around eating the hot dogs. From what Alla says it’s a cheap meal from a fast food place (about 3 grivnas which is about .50 cents). That’s all for today. Until tomorrow.

Our Appointment at the SDA (Adoption Center)

2008-11-13T10:59:00.000-05:00

Today we had our appointment at the SDA at 11:00am. We arrived about 10 minutes early and had to wait about 20 minutes before they took us into the room to meet with the psychologist. She was very nice and ask us to tell us a little about ourselves. We told her a little bit about ourselves and told her we adopted Andrew from Ukraine in 2005. We also showed her copies of our 3 annual reports that we sent to the Ukrainian Consulate each year since we’ve been home with Andrew, which tells about Andrew’s development (a requirement when adopting in Ukraine). We then showed her our photo album and she loved seeing the pictures of Andrew with our family so happy.

She then asked us what we were look for. We explained to her that we wanted to adopt preferably a girl under the age of 4 years old as young and healthy as possible. We told her we wanted to have the child be younger than Andrew. She explained that most of the young children had some serious illnesses. She then looked into the books and pulled out some files and immediately Andrew perked up to see the files of the children. The psychologist smiled and giggled to herself to see how interested he was in seeing the children. We explained to her that Andrew has also been looking forward in having a sibling and is very excited as well as us to complete our family.

We spent an hour or so in the meeting looking at file after file. We asked the psychologist to call about a couple children to get more updated details about them, however, since we didn’t find our child today, we have requested to have another appointment next week. So next Thursday, Nov 20th will be our second appointment at the SDA to look at more children. Please keep us in prayer. There are many sick children here and we definitely need discernment, favor, and for God to reveal us our blessing from above to us next Thursday. Andrew file became available the day of our second appointment in 2005 and we were blessed to be the first couple to see his file. There were many families waiting around all week as we were and the psychologist took us into the meeting room first to see all of the new children just released from the ministry to be open for international adoption. I believe that next Thursday we will have supernatural favor as well and find our child or possibly children that are meant for our family.

After our appointment we had to make copies of our documents to take back to the SDA. When we returned to the SDA we were waiting in the corridor waiting to hand in our documents, when I noticed Andrew was jumping up and down with his hands in the air as he was singing the song,”As the praises go up, the blessings come down.” You know, I think Andrew teaches me more than I teach him. Andrew is so right. In the middle of our adversities we need to Praise the Lord for the blessings are already on their way down. Just like in Acts chapter 16, when Paul and Silas were in prison, they praised and worshiped the Lord through their adversity and late in the midnight hour (when it seems to be the worse it can be) God turned their situation around and caused an earthquake to shake open the prison doors and loose their bands around their legs and freed not just them but all the prisoners. Therefore we Praise you Lord for You are Good and Your Mercies Endure Forever. You Lord are No Respecter of Persons. You did it before by opening the doors to our blessing Andrew, and You will do it again. Late in the midnight hour, God’s going to turn it around….He’s going to work in our Favor. Hallelujah! Thank you Lord.

After our appointment, we took a walk to the park to let Andrew play on the playground for a little while. So Robert and I played with Andrew as Alla made some phone calls. Andrew had fun burning some energy on the playground as we were trying to find a playground yesterday in our travels. Now that we know where the playground is we can come back tomorrow. Alla said that if the weather is nice on Saturday we will either take Andrew to the Zoo or the Circus.

Day out at Independence Square

2008-11-12T22:45:00.000-05:00

Ukrianian Flag in Independence Square

Our first day in Ukraine was spent exploring Independence Square. We walked through the under ground markets where they sell just about anything from flowers to Ukrainian shirts, watches, cell phones etc. The under ground markets are also under ground malls, actual stores with clothes, jackets, and sometimes a food market.

Underground Markets

In order the cross the street the safest way you walk through the under ground markets/malls to get to the other side of the street. Pretty smart if you ask me. Our apartment is about a 10 minute walk to Independence Square. We got some of our money changed at a money exchange and the rate is actually better for us this time rather than last time we were in Ukraine. For every one U.S. dollars in Ukraine exchanges to 5.83 Ukrainian grivnas. Last time we were here in 2005 we received 5.4 grivnas for every U.S. dollar. Alla said that in recent past the exchange rate was down to 4.3 grivnas to every U.S. dollar.

We found a free internet café located in a restaurant not far from our apartment. So around dinner time we came back for some Ukrainian borsch soup (warm beet and cabbage and beef soup with a dollop of sour cream on it) and sent a message to our family and updated the blog. That internet was much faster than our connection at home. The soup was wonderful, just like we remembered. I liked the way we could get the internet within the restaurant since it gave Andrew and Robert something to do while I updated the blog and checked our email. It was much better than using the internet café where the computers needed a thorough cleaning and there was nothing else to do but go on the computer.

Independence Square Buildings

Fire Twirler

The weather here is around 45 degrees Fahrenheit, clear with no wind or precipitation. A little brisk but not bad. We went out after dark for a quick walk to find a market to buy some more yogurt, water and bread for tomorrow. As we were looking for the market we came across a street entertainer that was twirling a baton that the ends were lit of fire. After twirling them around in the air and under his legs he then put some alcohol in his mouth to get the crowd excited and he spit the alcohol toward the fire to see a burst of flame coming from his mouth. After that he took his bottle of vodka and drenched a rectangular piece of card board with the vodka and lit it on fire as well. He then in his bare feet walked across the board several times until he put the fire out. Andrew said that “I bet his Mom wouldn’t want him to do that, Not Good.” After the show was over and as we were walking home Andrew kept asking us, “Why was that guy walking on fire?”. We explained to him that was his way of making money, however, it was very dangerous and that his feet are probably sore with burns on them, as well as that is not a good thing to do because you could get seriously hurt or even die.

We had a wonderful day out on the town and when we got back to the apartment we explained to Andrew that tomorrow is a very important day where we will meet with Alla, Valentina and some other ladies who will show us pictures of different children that we could possibly adopt. I told him how important it was to keep quiet while the ladies tell us all about the children. We all are looking forward to tomorrow and are wondering what child God has in store for us. We are believing for a girl that is healthy and is as young as possible, preferably younger than Andrew(who is 4 almost 5 years old). Please stand in agreement with us for God to reveal to us and make it ever so clear the child he has for us. Thank you and love to you all.

Hooray we made to Ukraine!

2008-11-12T12:05:00.003-05:00

Andrew on the plane with pooh bear sleeping next to him.

We made it to Ukraine! Hooray!! We had 2 great flights. The first one landed in Rome, Italy on Delta Airlines and the next went to Kiev, Ukraine on Ukrainian International Airlines. Andrew was so excited to travel by airplane. We had a delay of about an hour before we even left JFK airport. We waited on the airplane for about an hour for our turn just to get onto the runway. Andrew was very anxious to get up in the air as the rest of us were. He kept saying over and over, “I can’t believe I’m on an airplane”. When we finally got up in the air it was dark and we could see all of the lights from the buildings and bridges. He thought it was cool to be in an airplane.

I brought a sliced apple with us in a Ziploc bag which I’m glad I did. Andrew was so hungry since it was around dinner time when we were sitting on the airplane waiting for it to be our turn to take off. He ate the whole apple and also ate all his chicken, salad, roll and a brownie that they served us on the plane. I was surprised he ate all his dinner since he ate the whole apple right before. Andrew was very good on the plane, the only trouble we had was trying to get him to sleep. He just wanted to play with his blanket rather than sleep. He finally fell asleep about an hour and a half before it was time to land in Rome.

When we arrived in Ukraine, Alla was there at the airport waiting for us. It was wonderful to see her again. It felt like we were just here yesterday. She surprised me with some flowers. I am so glad that we have Alla again! She’s the best! She gave Andrew a kiss and a hug and then we were on our way with Sasha in the car to our apartment. It was funny watching Andrew’s eyes move back and forth as he was watching Alla and Sasha having a conversation in Russian. He was quietly listening and watching the two of them talk. I wasn’t sure if he understood them or recognized the language or just was trying to understand what was going on. I asked Andrew quietly, “What are they saying?”, just to see if he could understand them. He quietly whispered back, “I don’t know.” I smiled and giggled to myself. Alla says hello to everyone!

We stopped at the market to get some food for dinner and breakfast before we went to the apartment. We had roasted chicken, bread and butter and chicken patties that were dipped in egg and juice. I love the Ukrainian juices here. We are in an apartment that is different from the apartments we were in before. This one is located in the heart of Kiev. We are near Independence Square and the Opera House and lots of high end department stores. There is even a Friday’s Restaurant nearby.

Our Bathroom

Our dining room

Our Kitchen

Our living room

Anyway we slept good last night. We all slept for 13 hours straight. We were a bit exhausted and are now caught up on our sleep. Alla says that our appointment with the SDA is at 11:00am on Thursday. Please keep us in your prayers for Godly wisdom, knowledge, understanding, discernment and supernatural favor and for God to reveal to us the child he has for us. Thank you and we’ll be in touch.

Preparing for Take Off

2008-11-03T19:30:00.000-05:00

There is much to do in this month and a week before we travel to Ukraine. We are actively doing something everyday to prepare for our departure and return with our new addition to our family. First thing on our list to do was to book our airline tickets. So after 4 days of looking at different scenarios of flight patterns and dates on the computer we booked our plane tickets to leave out of JFK airport in the evening some we can sleep most of the flight (I hope) and in the morning we will change planes in Rome, Italy. This way we will get a chance to stretch our legs and get a little exercise before we get onto the flight that will take us to Ukraine. Whew, I'm glad we finally decided and booked our trip.

Next I needed to get all of our documents updated again so we have a spare dossier to take with us just in case something gets lost from the one they currently have. Then we need to purchase all of the travel supplies, medications and things we will need to travel with.

We also have been getting the room ready for our little girl since that room was currently a guest bedroom. Andrew has been helping us with that. He wanted to take part in the preparing for his baby sister and jumped in to sweep the floor after we moved the guest bed down in the basement. He then took an interest in playing with the the allen wrenches while Robert and I were putting the crib/toddler bed together. Andrew insisted on using the allen wrenches to tighten up the bolts that hold the crib together, therefore, Robert guided him to help him use the allen wrench to tighten the bolts together. He was so cute how he wanted to be a big boy and use Daddy's tools to help put his sister's bed together.

We've been preparing Andrew for all aspects of the process as much as possible. We have been reading the book written by Fred Rodgers from Mister Roger's Neighborhood called, "Going on an Airplane" to Andrew to give him a better idea of what to expect and what will be expected of him once we are on the airplane. I just love Fred Rogers and have always loved Mister Rogers Neighborhood. I remember when I was a little girl, that was the only show my sister Marli would watch. Fred Rogers always knew how to relate to children. It just so happened that we found this book out of one of the storage unit auctions we purchased.

Another book we've been reading to Andrew to prepare him for what to expect in relation to the whole adoption process is a book called, "Borah and the Burps". This book focuses on an Eastern European adoption experience but in a children's book. Borah is a baby in an orphanage in Eastern Europe (Ukraine or Russia) and it tells the story of what Borah experiences in his daily life in the orphanage and what his life is like after a family called the Burps adopts him. This book will help him understand what to expect when we travel to adopt his sister and what she might be experiencing once she comes home with us.

Andrew has been full of questions and excitement over our trip to Ukraine to adopt his sister. When are we going to Ukraine? How big will my baby sister be? I told him tonight that I don't know what she looks like or how big she will be, but I can tell you that she is going to have the Best Big Brother in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD! He just beamed the biggest smile and glowed with excitement.

I pray that the adoption of our new child will be a smooth transition for all of us including Andrew. I know he will be a wonderful big brother. He loves to be around young children and I know he will bond quickly with his sister and her with him as well as us.

We Have our Appointment Date with the SDA

2008-09-29T14:54:00.008-05:00

We are doing the Happy Dance since we found out that our appointment with the SDA is on November 13th. We were surprised as to how soon we are traveling from the time we found out. There is lots to do to prepare for travel.

The expression that Alla uses all the time to describe the adoption process is so true....Sit...Wait....HURRY UP!!!! Boy is that true. We started our paperwork in May of 2007 and finally received our approval for our I-171H USCIS in January 08....then we Hurried up to get our dossier updated and then appositilled to get it over to Valentina in Ukraine before the SDA met their quotas for the year. Then we sat and waited for several months until it was time to update our documents again and then we were in the HURRY UP stage to get them update, aposittled and over to Valentina again...then sat and waited another couple of months and Hooray we have a date!! Now it's Hurry up again and get ready for travel.... WHEW!!! I'm tired just thinking about it but extremely happy our time is finally here.

I didn't realize to the extreme of how happy and excited Andrew is about completing our adoption of his hopefully baby sister as he says, until we went to back to school night to meet his pre-k teachers. The aide in the class came over to me and made a point to express what a wonderful little boy we have but also to tell me about a conversation she had with him earlier that day. She said that she asked him if he had any brothers or sisters and he said that he is going to have a baby sister soon. Then Mrs. Hunter asked him if his mommy had a baby in her belly, and he replied, "No, my Mommy got another lady to have a baby in Her belly for us and that baby will be is baby sister". And we are going on an airplane ALL THE WAY OVER TO UKRAINE where I was born and adopted to adopt her and bring her home." Mrs. Hunter said Andrew was beaming with excitement and was so proud.

I couldn't believe he said all of that to her and went into such detail. I told him the night before that, that we should be going to bring home his brother or sister soon, to prepare him of what is coming up soon and to make him realize that she or he will be part of the family forever and will be here to stay.....just in case he didn't realize that before.

Sorry for the length of this message.....just a little excited!!! =)

Andrew's First Day at Pre-Kindergarden

2008-09-03T13:13:00.002-05:00

Andrew was so excited about starting Preschool this year since he is going to the township Pre-K in the mornings and will be picked up by bus and dropped off by bus. We waited and waited for the bus and ended up missing the bus the first day of school. Come to find out that the bus was 15 minutes behind schedule. So I took him to school and was glad I did since Andrew was a little apprehensive with the new surroundings. It was good to see all of the teachers outside of the school collecting the children in their class as they got off of the bus.

Andrew and I walked into his classroom. He was excited to see a cubby hole and closet with his name on it. I ended up getting a picture of him before I scooted off to work. Our little boy is growing up.

I must say I was a little apprehensive with putting him on the bus so if your wondering if Mom had a few tears I must admit my eyes were a bit on the wet side.

Andrew's Eye has Improved

2008-08-26T13:23:00.001-05:00

It's been about a month and a half since Andrew got his glasses and we've been patching his eye for 6 hours a day. We were scheduled to go back to our eye specialist to see if there is any improvement in his right eye. The doctor was so happy with his improvement as well as how much better he can see with his glasses that the doctor said to decrease the hours of wearing the patch to 2 hours a day for the next month and then we are done with the patch.

Hallelujah!! I must say it's been frustrating to keep after Andrew with keeping his eye patch on and then to catch up to him to pin him down to put another one on I am certainly not going to miss. He was getting to the point where he would hide the box of eye patches in his room somewhere and when I'd go to look for them Andrew would say that they were not in his room. When he was so insistant that they weren't in his room it only made me look harder til I found them in his closet. The next day I found the box of patches underneath the bathroom counter.

I must say that Andrew's teachers have been awesome with keeping up with putting his patch back over his eye whenever he would remove it. We appreciate them all for helping with keeping Andrew's patch on.

Aquarium Field Trip

2008-08-15T17:49:00.002-05:00

Andrew's day camp that he is attending this summer while I'm at work 3 days a week took a field trip to the near by aquarium on my day off so myself, my Mom and sister, Marli ended up attending. It was a lot of fun spending the day watching the kids get excited over the fish, petting the starfish, sharks and stingrays (Andrew refused to stick his hand in the water, which I don't blame him).

Andrew surprised me by wanted to get his face painted. He has never wanted to get his face painted before, but since some of his other classmate friends were getting theirs painted he wanted to do the same. Here is a picture of Andrew as a leopard. They did an awesome job and I was glad I was there to capture it on film since it was all washed off of him by the time I picked him up from school after the field trip.

Andrew's New Specs

2008-07-31T13:16:00.003-05:00

During Andrew's 4 year old check up at the pediatrician's office they tested his eyesight by having him name certain objects on cards that were held a short distance away. He told the nurse the correct name for each object on each card. Then the nurse had Andrew cover his right eye and had him look through these binoculars to name the objects through the binocular view. Andrew did great with his left eye, however, when the nurse had him switch to cover then the left eye to test the right eye Andrew kept trying to peak. So I then proceeded to cover his left eye with my hand and he kept saying that he couldn't see and kept trying to move my hand off of his good eye to peak to tell the nurse the correct answer. She had me bring him back to have him retested in a couple of months again, however, we ended up with the same response.

When I brought him home and I shared this with Robert he had Andrew sit on his lap and tell him what picture was showing on the laptop computer screen with Robert's hand over Andrew's left (good) to test his right eye and we got the same response, "I can't see, I can't see" and then kept trying to push Robert's hand away from covering his eye.

Our pediatrician ended up referring us to a specialist to have a closer more indepth look to see what is going on with Andrew's eye. Come to find out that there is no damage to the eye, he's just not using it. The doctor said that it's not considered a lazy eye since there is no drifting of the eye he's just not using it and that Andrew is nearsighted in his right eye. The doctor perscribed for me to patch his left eye for 6 hours a day starting today to force him to force him to use his right eye along with perscribing glasses for him with a light perscription.

Boy oh boy, the first few days with using the patch was frustrating for all of us. Andrew would let me put it on with no problem and then the minute I let him out of my sight Andrew would take it off. So back and forth, back and forth we went with putting it and a few minutes later him taking it off. I finally realized that I have to keep him busy and his hands busy to be successful with keeping the patch. So since he loves to help out making food items in the kitchen I had him make some brownies, and then we made some banana bread. He loves to pour the ingredients into the bowl and stir....as well as lick the bowl.

Our Dossier to be Submitted on September 2

2008-07-29T12:06:00.002-05:00

OHHH My Goodness! We had returned from our long weekend with the Ukrainian Angels Family Reunion and in catching up on wash and housework I forgot to check my email.

Here I had an email from Valentina waiting for me since Saturday. She said that she had some good news in that our dossier will be submitted to the SDA on September 2, 2008. WHHOO WHOO!! It was so good to hear some news of progression in this adoption. Over the past few months of not hearing any news I was starting to feel a little down about the whole thing.

We are so excited and we are so looking forward in completing our adoption. Maybe we'll be traveling before the holidays and back by Christmas. Wouldn't that be awesome!! It certainly would be a Christmas we will never forget. I would be courious to see how the Ukrainians celebrate Christmas even though they celebrate around January 6th or 7th.

We shall see what God has in store. We really were hoping for warmer months to travel in however, it looks as if it will be winter when we travel. It's all in His timing not ours. He works everything out for good according to His Plan and His Purpose.

Ukrainian Angels Reunion

2008-07-28T10:03:00.003-05:00

This year we were excited to take part in the Ukrainian Angels Reunion. They have a reunion gathering of the families that have adopted from Ukraine that have used Ukrainian Angels to help guide them through the process adopting over a weekend once a year. Since they just happened to be having it in a fairly close by town, Hershey, Pennsylvania we decided to join them. Okay, well it's about a 2 hour drive from us, however, the other years since we've been home with Andrew have been a lot further away. Each year they select a different part of the United States to have it.

It was a nice to finally meet some of the families that we have chatted with and followed (their blogs that is) as they found their Ukrainian Angels. Each family from Ukrainian Angels is such a blessing to give of themselves and share their experiences when adopting their angels in Ukraine. The wealth of information that is learned by each family sharing on the Ukrainian Angels forum totally prepares you for your journey when traveling in Ukraine.

We also met a family that had just returned in January of this year that adopted a young sibling group of 3 children all under the age of 3 years old. What cuties they are. Two, three year old twins (boy and a girl) and a two year old brother. It was interesting talking with Michelle and Bob the parents of the children to see how they have adjusted since returning from Ukraine. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them and all the other families. It was really nice to have the same connection as to how your family came together. Not only for us as parents and what we went through before, during and after travel but also for the children. It helps the children have somewhat of a connection to their heritage as well as they get to form relationships with children that have been adopted from their birth country and have shared some of the same experiences before, during and after adoption.

After the reunion, we took the day to experience Hershey Chocolate Factory and Hershey Park. Andrew loved both the Chocolate Factory and Hershey Park. We took the tour through the chocolate factory and sat in the moving car that took you through the factory and showed you all about how they make their famous chocolate.

I asked Andrew at the end of the day what he liked best about the day and he couldn't stop talking about the singing cows from the Hershey Chocolate Factory. Between the cows and the Falcon ride at Hershey Park which took us up above the whole park and spun us around (Mommy's tummy wasn't feeling too good after that) I don't know which he liked better. Andrew wanted to do that ride again but that was enough for me. I used to be able to handle all of the different types of rides but lately it's the spin around rides that my stomach can't handle. Even at Sesame Place last year the tea cup ride got my tummy turned upside down after Robert spun us as fast as he could.

Coming off a chocolate high. Catching some ZZZZZs.

Updated Dossier for the 3rd time

2008-07-10T14:30:00.000-05:00

I contacted Cathy Harris our coordinator from Ukrainian Angels and Valentina our facilitator and lawyer in Ukraine to see if there is any chance our dossier would be submitted in June. She said that the SDA has already selected the dossiers that they will be accepting in June and ours was not one of them. I really dislike bothering Valentina since she is a very busy lady and I don't want to seem like a pest. I did however need to know a month ahead of time though whether or not to start updating our documents since our dossier documents were getting ready to expire as of the beginning of July.

Valentina suggested that we go ahead and update the documents and get them over to her since she had a feeling the SDA would be accepting families dossiers again within the next couple of months. So after almost 5 months of waiting for an approval here we are updating our dossier again. Hopefully this time around the SDA will take our dossier soon after sending it over.

We finally sent everything over to Valentina on July 9th. I was very happy to get that done and sent over to her as quickly as possible.

Circus Play - Andrew "The Clown"

2008-04-30T13:30:00.001-05:00

Andrew's preschool puts on a play every year of "The Greatest Circus on Earth". All of the children take part in the play and act out their character parts. This year Andrew is excited about being one of the clowns in the circus. I found out why he was so excited. It's because he gets to squirt the audience with the squirt guns. But the only person he wanted to squirt was ME! I didn't care, as a matter of fact when I knew his part was coming up, I made myself available to the stage area so he could get to me easily. I knew he was going to squirt me since over the past few weeks he gave away the surprise.

I didn't mind since the past few plays he didn't really want to participate in. He would be on stage doing what he was supposed to do in the play until he saw Robert and I and then he would cry until the teacher took him over to sit with us. As soon as he sat on our laps to watch the rest of the play/s he was fine.

So when I heard he was excited about being a clown and he was planning on squirting me, I wanted to make sure he had fun in participating in the program. And he did! As soon as it was his part to squirt the audience he made a BEE-LINE for dear ole Mom! After squirting me several times I told him to go squirt the audience or his teacher. Well he ran back to his teacher and sat next to her. He looked adorable in the clown outfit. Here are a couple of pictures.

Arthur's - Adoption Cartoon

2008-03-25T13:49:00.002-05:00

One day recently I was sitting on the couch next to Andrew as he was watching the cartoon Arthur. I realized that this was the episode where Arthur's Friend Binky and his family adopt his baby sister from China. When I realized that the show was on international adoption and that our dossier was waiting for our dossier to be submitted for our approval in Ukraine, I felt it was the right time to start talking and preparing Andrew about our up coming adoption.

On the show, it talked about Binky's family flying on an airplane to China to adopt and bring home his baby sister and how they all were adjusting to each other after they were home. Throughout the show I asked Andrew, what do you think if we adopted a little girl to be your baby sister? He was all for it...with no hesitation. I then asked him what he thought about adopting her from Ukraine instead of China. Andrew knows he was born in Ukraine and when he heard that suggestion he lit up with a positive response of Yeah Mommy. I then said we would have to fly in an airplane, "All the way over to Ukraine". He wanted to see a map of the earth to see just how far we would have to travel to get there. I then had to let him know that we it won't be tomorrow when we will be traveling and that we don't know yet but hopefully we'll be finding out soon when we can go to adopt Andrew's baby sister.

To my surprise when I dropped off Andrew at Preschool today, his teacher, Miss Erica told me that Andrew brought up the subject in school one day how he and his Mommy and Daddy are going to China to adopt his baby sister. I was surprised that Andrew told his teacher all of that that I had to laugh and then tell her the corrected version of the story. She said he was so excited about it when he talked to her about it. Miss Erica has told me several times at how impressed she is with Andrew's vocabulary and is impressed with his memory and listening skills. She says that he's quite the conversationalist and remembers things she taught him a week or two ago. She says that he is usually one of the only kids in the class that will answer her questions to the class when she quizes them on what she taught them a week or two ago.

Andrew's memory is like an elephants for sure. If you tell him something or he if you promise him something you best remember and follow through with whatever it was or he'll call you on it even if it's the next day or so...he remembers.

Selling Books, DVDs and Cds on Half.com - The Millilo Book Store

2008-02-18T11:56:00.001-05:00

Robert and I have accumulated many books over the years as well as many are from the auctions we have won. Many people have told us about their success with selling their books on www.half.com . Half.com is affiliated with Ebay and runs similar to purchasing and selling books on Amazon. However, there are no up front listing fees on Half.com and your books/movies/video games/music stay on their site until you remove them or sell them. Once you make a sale they email you to notify you to send the item to the purchaser. Half.com collects a small percentage of the sale and sends you a credit for shipping costs twice a month on all of your sales.

Since we heard so much about Half.com we finally decided to list some books this past weekend. We listed 30 books on Sunday afternoon and to our surprise on Monday morning we had our first sale. Yesterday we sold 2 more books. Wow! How easy was that! Last night we listed another 14 more books so now we have our own little book shop. We’ll be adding to it periodically since we have many many more books to sell. If you’d like to check out “The Millilo Book Store” click on this link http://shops.half.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?HalfSearch&seller=getitnow1013 or click on the link to the right side of the page call “Millilo Book Store”. It will take you directly to all the books we are selling to help pay for the adoption of our daughter. It’s another way to fundraise for your adoption. It’s easy to set up an account with Half.com especially if you already have an Ebay id.

One nice thing about listing on Half.com you don’t need to type the description in to the listing. Since all you do is type in the ISBN number (number near the bar code) it pulls up the picture of the cover of the book, description and the price ranges of other people selling the same book for. All you need to do is describe the condition and put in your price. It’s that easy. Much easier than Ebay and your listings stay on as long as you want and you don’t get charged for any fees until you sell the item/s. Give it a whirl with a few books you have laying around the house. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Happy 4th Birthday, Andrew!

2008-02-08T13:27:00.003-05:00

I can't believe Andrew is 4 years old. My how time is flying by. It seems like just yesterday we were playing peek-a-boo with him and helping him learn how to walk.

This year we had a home birthday party with family members and a couple of Andrew's closest friends. The morning of his party Andrew and Robert went out to pick up the cake and balloons while I stayed home to put the decorations up and set up the dining room table with all of the plates and decorations and party hats. It was hilarious when Andrew and Robert got home from the store. Andrew came running into the house since he couldn't wait for Mommy to see his birthday cake. When he came dashing into the dining room to find me he stopped dead in his tracks and saw all of the decorations and started screaming with delight. I certainly didn't expect that reaction from him. He was hilarious how excited he was to see the house decorated for his special day. Too funny! He even gave me a hug and told me I was the best Mom ever.

All of the kids had a ball with the different games we played and it was especially fun for everyone to see how many hits it took before the pinata finally broke. It was starting to get a little scary to see how hard the people were swinging that bat in our living room. I'm really surprised to see my father-in-law sit on the couch through it all being so close to the action. He certainly got a front row view. Robert finally had to finish breaking the pinata open to end the game just so no one would get hurt. The kids were funny to watch as they went after the candy. I got a kick out of our neice Julia when she was picking up the candy. She wouldn't put any candy in her bag, instead each piece went directly into her mouth.

All in all Andrew's birthday party was fun and everyone had a good time. After everyone left we had dinner and then we got Andrew into pajamas early since he didn't have a nap that day. It was funny to see that he still HAD to wear his party hat even though the party was over and he was lying on the couch next to us. When he fell asleep I gently took the party hat off of his head and a few minutes later he woke up and immediately realized he was missing his hat and insisted that he have his hat back only to fall asleep with it again.

Paperwork in Ukraine, Translated & Waiting to be Submitted

2008-02-01T13:26:00.001-05:00

Okay now, our paperwork or dossier is finally in Ukraine, translated and in line waiting to be submitted to the SDA for approval and a date to meet with them to complete our adoption. I'm glad it's out of our hands and in Ukraine getting ready to be submitted and approved.

I must say that now that I look back on the last few months of waiting for our approvals (so we can send our dossier overseas to Ukraine to receive our approvals) I see now that if our approvals came any earlier, we wouldn't have had the funds for the next step in the process of the adoption. God is awesome how He knows the perfect timing for everything. We always tend to wonder why not now for whatever it is we are waiting or believing God for, but He knows the perfect time for everything.

I praise and thank God for all of the Ebay orders over the holidays and even throughout January which certainly brought the funds we needed for the next step in the process. He's always on time, never late and never early but always on time.

Snow Balls, Snow Angels & a Snowman

2008-01-18T21:45:00.001-05:00

Today was a winter wonderland. The first real snowfall this year even though we didn't even get 2 inches of accumulation. Andrew and I spent the day together playing in the snow.The first winter after Andrew came home it snowed considerably, however, he was too little to really appreciate the snow and I bundled him up so much he could barely move in his snow suit. Check out this picture from 2 years ago of him in the snow.

Last winter we didn't get much snow and what we got turned to ice by the time we were ready to play in it. Therefore, when it started snowing I figured we'd better take advantage of it now because from what the weatherman stated, the snow was going to turn to rain and be gone by morning. So Andrew and I put on our snow clothes and as soon as we got out the door Andrew was rolling around in the snow like he was a log. It was really the first time he thoroughly enjoyed the snow. He plopped himself down on the ground and started making a snow angel without me even showing him how. I asked him who taught him how to make a snow angel. Here one of the characters on once of his cartoon shows was making one. Here is a picture of him making a snow angel.

Then Andrew thought he'd be funny and started packing the snow in his hands to plumette dear ole Mom with some snowballs. The snow was perfect for packing and making snowballs, however, it was a good thing for me that Andrew couldn't quite make a decent size snow ball or else Mommy would have been in trouble.

I decided to teach Andrew how to make his first snowman since the snow was packing so well. So I got down on my knees and got Andrew to help me roll and pack the body part of the snowman. He was getting all into rolling and packing the snow until the mound of snow was too heavy for him to move. So I ended up making the next 2 mounds of snow for the body and the head myself. Andrew lost interest and decided to pull our flags out of the ground that we had in our flowerbed. He wanted to use the small flags for the snowman's arms so that's just what we did when we were ready to decorate him. Let me just tell you that I forgot what back aching work building a snowman can be. My back was aching me bad that night and the next day from walking on my knees for an hour and lifting the heavy mounds of snow to make a snowman. But it was well worth it. Check out my two little snowmen in this picture below. How cutie are they?

Happy New Year - We received our I-171H approval

2008-01-05T13:25:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! It sure is a happy one for us. We finally received our last approval on the USA side for our up coming adoption. We were waiting for our I-171H Homeland Security approval so our daughter will have immediate citizenship once we arrive home with her.

Now we will quickly get our documents approved by our coordinator, Cathy Harris from Ukrainian Angels and then send them to get them apostilled by the state before we can send them to Ukraine for their approval. Boy it seems like we've been waiting a lot longer for our approvals this time around than when we adopted Andrew. I'm glad that we were extremely busy with our Ebay orders during the holidays since that helped to keep my mind off of the waiting. From what I hear, Homeland Security has been inendated with people getting passports and other immigration approvals due to the new law about traveling outside of the US you need to have a passport.

We received an email from our translator in Ukraine and she told us to Hurry Up with our documents and to get them to Ukraine as quickly as possible since the SDA (adoption ministry) is only accepting 1,453 dossiers for the year of 2008 and they are already up to #700. Well that just excelarated my anxiety level a few notches since it's early January of 2008 and they are already on #700. It looks as if they started receiving dossiers for 2008 before 2008, since their offices were closed for a few days in January due to their Christmas Holiday.

We had to get most of our documents updated since it's been over 6 months since they were originally completed and the SDA won't accept any dossiers with expiration dates that are over 6 months old. So I need to get them all updated before I can get them apostilled and sent to Ukraine. As Alla used to say "Sit...Wait...HURRY UP!! Now we are in the Hurry Up stage to get our documents over to Ukraine so we can get our approval before they reach their quota for the year. We are hoping to get a Spring or Summer appointment date to travel to complete our adoption. But it's all in God's hands, therefore I have to cast my cares over unto Him for He cares for us and it's all in His perfect timing.

Christmas Giving and Glory in the Sky

2007-12-18T13:25:00.004-05:00

It is always a joy to get ready for Christmas by putting up the Christmas tree and decorations. I just love Christmas and love to change the house into the wonderful decorations and bake cookies and other goodies for the holidays.

There are certain traditions that I want to implement into our family to make it a part of every Christmas season and one of them is to get our family including our children involved with giving to others in need. Robert and I do this year round, however, to show the love of Christ around Christmas time especially is more meaningful.

This Christmas season it was time to go through Andrew's abundance of toys and separate the ones he wants to keep and the ones he wants to give away to a little boy who doesn't have any toys. So to my surprise Andrew got into it more than I thought he would. We went through each toy and I had him put the toys he wanted to give away on his bed and the ones he wanted to keep away in his closet. To my surprise he filled his bed with toys so much so that we filled 3 trash bags full of toys. I kept making sure that he understood that the toys he puts on his bed were the toys he wanted to give away.

King Andrew - Too Cute

2007-10-31T13:22:00.002-05:00

This year Mommy made Andrew a King's costume to dress up for Hallelujah Night at our church. He's been playing with this crown we found in one of the storage units that we purchased for the past couple of weeks, therefore, it just seemed to make sense for him to have a King's costume.

It was too cute when I asked Andrew the night before the party to let me measure him so I could size him up to create the costume to fit him. The next morning when I tried it on him he overwhelmed me with this gigantic hug and said "Thank you Mommy....You're the Best Mommy Ever" He was so excited and wanted to wear it to school. I still needed to put my finishing touches on it therefore he had to wait until that evening.

Andrew was so thrilled to be dressed as a King and let me just tell you he was sooo precious in his costume. Here are some pictures of the evening.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

2007-10-13T13:53:00.002-05:00

This year for my birthday Robert asked me if I wanted to do anything special for my birthday. So I thought about it and thought it would be nice for all of us to go to the local farm and take a hayride to the pumpkin patch and go pick pumpkins with Andrew, Robert, my Mom and my sister Marli.

It was hilarious to see Andrew go running through the pumpkin patch trying to decide which pumpkin to pick. He's just like me in that aspect....I got to see all of my options before I select. Well finally Robert said, "Come on and just pick one". Andrew then went over to this fairly large pumpkin and tried to pick it up. The pumpkin was about half of Andrew's size. I snapped a picture just as Andrew bent down to try to pick it up. Too Funny.

After picking pumpkins Andrew got to ride a pony and then see all of the animals on their farm. It was a fun day out in the pumpkin patch and we all went back to our house for some dinner and some cake. YUMMY!

Starting to sell on Ebay for Adoption

2007-09-26T13:18:00.005-05:00

Yard Sale season is coming to a close for the year and I knew I had to learn how to sell on Ebay to keep the cash coming in for the adoption in the winter months. I kept putting it off and putting it off because I was afraid of the unknown. Well, Finally I met with the Post Master of our local Post Office and inendated him with question after question regarding how to figure out the shipping cost (since the shipping cost has to be listing in the listing of the item before it's sold). He was nice enough to walk me through utilizing the Shipping Calculator that is listed on their website http://www.usps.com/ as well as ebay's website under the Sell tab.

I stayed up multiple nights until the weeee hours of the morning after Andrew went to bed so I could concentrate on learning how to list and sell, pack and ship our items. We listed a few barbie dolls that were still in their original boxes and to our surprise we made about $100.00 on a couple of barbie dolls for the first week of sales. Not bad. After I sold them I was remarkable surprised at how easy Ebay makes it for you to send an invoice, connect with Paypal and print off shipping labels. I didn't know what I was fretting about because it is easier than I thought.

Since we've been going to auctions and purchasing large lots of items we are well stocked up for the winter to sell on Ebay. Christmas is right around the corner so it will be intersting to see what kind of activity we'll have selling on Ebay.

If anyone would like to check out what we are selling on Ebay and possible get in on the bidding on any of our items here is the link to what we are selling http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/getitnow1013 Happy Bidding!!

Our Home Study is Completed

2007-09-17T12:38:00.000-05:00

We are so excited to see the next step in our upcoming adoption come to pass. Our home study is completed and we have just sent it along with the application and fee to the Department of Homeland Security USCIS in the state of New Jersey to receive our approval to allow us to bring back into the United States our recently adopted child. This approval also gives our child immediate citizenship once we reach the USA upon our return.

We hope to receive this approval quickly since that is the last thing we are waiting for before we send our dossier to Ukraine for their approval and invitation to come to Ukraine to complete our adoption.

Happy 2nd Gotcha Day at Sesame Street

2007-09-16T13:17:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it's been 2 years since we've been home with Andrew. Wow, how time
flies. We decided to do something special for our second Gotcha Day (the anniversary of when we officially became a family) and go to Sesame Place to celebrate.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Andrew get so into the rides...even the rollercoaster. He just made the height requirement to ride the mini roller coaster with an adult, therefore that was the first ride he wanted to go on. Robert and I looked at each other as if to say "hum...He's either going to back out at the last minute or ride the rollercoaster with us and just as it's slowing down to let us off he'll be saying"Again, Again". Well, he LOVED it! and was yelling just as we thought, "AGAIN....AGAIN!! So we rode it one more time and he was wanting to ride it AGAIN. But that was enough for Robert and I so we distracted him to move along to see the rest of the park.

We had a ball riding the rides and Robert even crawled through the tunnels and netting with him. He almost got stuck trying to keep up with Andrew. Andrew really needed someone to go through it with him since there were areas that he needed assistance climbing to the next level as well as it being huge....that we didn't want him to get lost. Here is a picture of Robert trying to keep up with Andrew in the netting tunnel. Too funny.

In the heat of the day we made our way over to the water rides. There was this one huge family tube ride that had a big rubber ducky at the top. The line took about an hour to wait through but it was well worth it. We all loved it and got soaked and screamed with delight especially with the last drop off in the slide.

After the water rides we took a break and went over to find some of the characters from Sesame Street. Andrew was so cute when we saw Ernie from a distance greeting other children. He stood a distance away from Ernie and peered around the corner in awe that he was so big and real. Too cute. We also met Cookie Monster, Elmo and Oscar the Grouch. Andrew was so adorable at the end of the day when we were all waiting for the parade of characters to come down the street on their floats. He had this look of anticipation and he was waiting so patiently but when they approached him he hid behind Mommy.

Niagra Falls & Canadian Zoo

2007-08-18T13:14:00.007-05:00

We decided to take a long weekend and drive up to Niagra Falls for a mini vacation. It took us 8 hours to drive up to the Canadian side of the falls. We got there just around dinner time and checked into the hotel. The hotel we stayed in was within walking distance of the falls so after we ate we took a walk to view the falls. As we strolled down one of the side streets near the Skylon tower we noticed that everyone was looking up in the sky, so of course we looked up and found a man walking on this tightrope that was as high if not higher than some of the buildings around him. I'd say he was approximately 3/4 the height of the Skylon tower. One of the newspapers stated that he does this twice a day. A little too daring for me.

We walked on down to the falls and it was starting to get dark. It was a beautiful view with an actual rainbow going over top of the falls. Since it was getting dark we decided to call it a day and walk back to the hotel. It was an easy stroll down to the falls since we were walking down the hill. What a workout walking back up the hill. The hill is so steep that they have a ride that will take you back up the mountain/hill. But we decided to get a work out on our glutus maximus' instead. Wooo and what a work out it was. We had a beautiful view of the falls from our hotel room that night and were able to watch the fireworks as well. I think that was the first time that Andrew saw fireworks since he is usually in bed before they are set off at home on the fourth of July.

The next day we were able to do the touristy thing as most people do at Niagra Falls and go on The Maid of the Mist boat and take a boat ride near the falls. We also took a walk behind the falls and walked out onto this observation deck that was built very close to the falls. Andrew loved getting sprayed with the water. He squealled with delight as he walked down to the observatory deck with Robert as I took their picture. Too Funny. He could have stayed there all day getting a shower with the mist from the falls.

He loves to get wet. One time it poured while we were in church and then it brightened up as we were walking out to the car to go home. Andrew sees this huge puddle and walks right into it. He was knee deep in water. Needless to say we weren't thrilled about that and had to change his clothes once we got him back to the car.

Anyway, After the falls we took a walk through the Butterfly Conservator and were surrounded by thousands of different kinds of Butterflys. It was funny when we entered the conservatory, one of the people who worked there gave me a small like-radio which told all about the different kinds of butterflies as you walked through. We then started to walk into the conservatory to see the butterflies and Andrew started making a mad dash back to the entrance doors that we just walked through. I couldn't understand what was up with him and when I caught up to him to get him to come inside the conservatory I saw him reach for one of the radios that they were loaning out to people. The lady said it was okay for him to use one so then he was happy and followed me into the conservatory. Robert saw us come back into the area with all of the butterflies and asked what happened to us. As I went on to tell him what happened we looked Andrew and he had the radio up to his ear and was talking into it like it was a cell phone. We both chuckled as we watched him pretend he was on the cell phone.

When we finally found a restaurant to eat dinner at we were all hungry....it was almost 6:30pm, which is late for us to eat dinner. We got seated and Andrew was acting up. He wasn't listening when I told him to stay in his chair. Then he started getting loud and he was just being unreasonable. I'm sure it was because he was hungry and tired, but since I warned him that if he didn't correct his behavior and do what I asked we would leave the restaurant. We ended up leaving the restaurant since he wasn't behaving. Let me tell you......he through a fit. We were walking down the street to the hotel and Andrew was crying, screaming and acting up even more. I told him the reason why we left the restaurant. We all were tired and hungry and here we were walking down the street about 8 blocks to get back to our hotel. After about 3-4 blocks I stopped to firmly tell Andrew we will not go back to a restaurant until he learns to behave quitely, sit still and eat his food. I told him that it's a priviledge to eat in a restaurant and that many children don't have the priveledge to eat at a restaurant and many kids don't have enough food to eat to fill their bellies. He quickly changed his tune and appologized for acting up and by the time we got to the hotel (8 blocks later) he was asking to go out to eat opposed to eating oatmeal (not one of his favorites) in the hotel room.

Since Andrew was on better behavior and we were all starving by then 7:30pm I made Andrew promise he would be good and sit still and eat his food if we went to a restaurant. So we piled into the van and went to a restaurant down the street and to both Robert and I surprise Andrew was a different child in the restaurant. He sat still, was quietly talking and he eat a considerable amount of food. We all had an enjoyable meal.

The next day we checked out of the hotel and took a 15 minute ride to the Canadian Zoo before heading home. It was a smaller zoo than what we are used to in the Philadelphia area and much more simplistic. We walked around and enjoyed the beautiful weather as we visited the animal. We got to watch the Hippo's being fed and since there weren't that many people there we got a close up on that. Andrew and I got to also feed the Giraffes. Boy do they have looong tongues. We were up in the second story deck holding a few leaves on a branch (well I was since Andrew didn't want any parts of getting too close to the Giraffes) and out comes this tongue that is about 12-18" long. Once his tongue touched my hand I jumped and dropped the leaves. That was close enough for me, thank you very much. =)

We then headed over to the zoo university where the zoo keepers brought out different animals and told us some interesting facts about their habitat, what they eat and their behaviors. We got to pet a skunk (which was deskunked), baby turtles, and a baby alligator.

It turned out to be a wonderful trip. I've always wanted to go to Niagra Falls. I never realized though until now that it's best to stay on the Canadian side due to getting a much better view, closer to the attractions and within walking distance of everything.

Cai Help??? Cai Help?? Cai Help??

2007-07-28T13:13:00.002-05:00

Andrew is quite the helpful child. He loves to get involved with whatever we are doing and wants to help. When he sees Robert or I doing something that he wants to get involved in and he will anxiously ask over and over again, "Cai Help?", "Cai Help?", "Cai Help?" Whether I'm making dinner, working in the office, cleaning the house, washing the car, planting flowers, or having a yard sale, Andrew insists on helping us and letting him partake in the activity of the hour.

He's a very curious little boy and wants to know what we are doing and "WHY". He'll ask you a question and then you give him an answer and then he'll ask, "Why". Then you tell him "Why" and then he'll ask "Why" again and then again and then again. It's funny to see him really think about your responses to the Why questions before he asks another, "but Why"? Finally I get tired of answering the Why's so then I'll say, "I don't know, what do you think?"

Kissy Face

2007-06-26T13:10:00.001-05:00

One Sunday after church we went to Taco Bell to grab some lunch. While we were sitting in the booth eating out of the blue Andrew started kissing my cheek, then he took my face in his hands and kissed my nose and then my forehead. Then he thought he'd get Robert in on the fun and crawled underneath the table part of the booth and did the same to Robert. He kissed his cheek, nose, forehead etc. He was so cute how he out of the blue starts with all of the kisses. We finally had to tell him to stop and finish his food. Too Funny.

Baby Shower - Where's the Baby?

2007-06-20T13:09:00.002-05:00

Recently I went to a baby shower and took Andrew along with me. It was a wonderful time seeing friends I haven't seen in a while. Andrew got into it and wanted to help the Mommy-to-be open up her gifts. He would take the gift over to her and help her unwrap some of her gifts. The Mommy-to-be took a quick break to cut the cake and it was at that point where I went up to the Daddy-to-be (with Andrew in my arms) and gave him a hug as I said to him,"Congratulations, Daddy". Andrew heard what I said and immediately Andrew said, "He's not your Daddy". I then replied to Andrew, "I know he's not my Daddy, but he's the baby's Daddy". Since Andrew knew he was the only child at the party he replied,"What Baby"? So I touched the Mommy-to-be's tummy and said, "The baby that is inside his Mama's tummy". Well, I opened a can of worms telling him that. You should have seen the perplexed look on Andrew's face as he looked at the Mommy-to-be's tummy. He then asked, "Why don't the baby come out"? So we then explained to him that the baby still has to grow and get bigger before he comes out.

When it came time for the Mommy-to-be to finish opening her gifts Andrew jumped in again to help. At one point the Mommy-to-be stood up to take a stretch and I knew exactly what Andrew was going to do next. He looked up at her big belly and gently took the bottom of her maternity shirt and looked up it and said in wonder, "Where's the Baby?" He was so cute about it that it made every laugh.

Well since that day of the shower, Andrew has asked me many questions that I wasn't ready to answer yet. Questions like, "Did I grow in your belly Mama?", "How did the baby get in the mommy's belly", "Why don't he come out now?" and many others. The one question that he's been asking the most was "Did I grow in your belly?" I didn't want to confuse him even more and didn't know how to answer honestly so he would be able to understand at the young age of 3 years old. So when he first started asking I wouldn't know how to answer so I didn't and changed the subject. This way it bought me some time to figure out how to answer his question in a way he could understand. So when the question was asked again, I just simply told him that he grew in another ladies tummy. From then on little by little I've been telling him of his adoption story and how we became a family.

It was so precious to see the look on his face when I told him that God had a special baby boy named Andrew in Ukraine to be our son. So Daddy and I got on an airplane and flew to Ukraine and met Miss Alla (our translator in Ukraine). Miss Alla then took us on a long train ride to come and visit you. Andrew was thoroughly enjoying the story especially when I told him of when I first held him. I told him that he was a little scared since he didn't know me so I was trying to calm Andrew down and I started singing to Andrew, "You are my sunshine". He immediately smiled and recognized the song(since I sing it to him often) and started singing it with me as we danced around the kitchen. Andrew received it well and still asks and talks about how we became a family.

Adoption Paperwork Started

2007-06-02T13:03:00.004-05:00

It's official. We have met with Adoption's From The Heart (our home study agency) and are now in the paperwork process of our second adoption. Most people have asked us if it's easier and quicker this time around since we have adopted before. Even though we've been through the process before and been through all of the red tape in the past, we still have to do it all over again just like it was our first adoption. If we get our paperwork for our home study completed and the home study is complete by the end of August we will save $800.00 on our home study since this update on our home study from last time is before our 3 year expiration date of our home study we had done for adopting Andrew. So that of course is what we are going to do. We have our fingerprint appointment lined up already and have already started gathering some of the paperwork needed.

We are so looking forward in adding to our family again and bringing home our second child and a sibling for Andrew. Andrew is going to be a wonderful big brother. He is such a helpful little boy and plays nicely with other children. We haven't officially told Andrew anything yet about our up and coming adoption since he won't be able to understand that he has to wait a while. Once it gets closer and we submit our paperwork to Ukraine and get closer to traveling we will tell Andrew and prepare him. As of right now it's just the beginning and we have a ways to go before we get a travel date.

Happy Mother's Day

2007-05-13T13:08:00.002-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mommy's out there. This Mother's Day was quite memorable with Andrew. Andrew is much more expressive this year opposed to last year when he was just learning how to say Happy Mama's Day (instead he would say, "Happy Mama" and "Happy Day"). Last night I had some trouble sleeping due to a post nasal drip so instead of keeping Robert up all night with me coughing, I went out to the living room to watch some television and fell asleep on the couch. I must have been sleeping soundly because Andrew during the night had woken up and came out to the living room where I was and decided to cuddle up next to me on the couch. I didn't even feel him lay down next to me because I was pleasantly surprised to find him next to me when I woke up on Mother's Day morning. When Andrew woke up next to me he turned and smiled and said with a sleeping look on his face, "Mommy, You're Precious". Well that was enough to melt my heart for the day. How sweet. Andrew is always so full of compliments and tells me all the time, "You're the best Mommy in the whole wide world."

Bermuda Cruise Vacation

2007-05-06T13:03:00.004-05:00

Robert and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary by taking a cruise to Bermuda. It was a wonderful trip and we had beautiful weather the entire week. Bermuda was one of the most beautiful islands that I have been to.

It was very clean and most of the homes and stores on the island were painted a pastel color. Since we arrived the first day after lunchtime, Robert, Andrew and I decided to get a 3 day bus pass and travel that afternoon to check out the different beaches so we could decide which one to go to the next day to relax and have some fun.

We visited Horse Shoe bay beach which had beautiful fine pink sand with a small cafe next to it (very pricey) and some huge boulders or rock formations near the beach. Very scenic and the water was so blue. We took a few pictures and then hiked up the hill to catch the bus to take us to the beach at Kings Wharf. Since we got there right as the beach closed they wouldn't let us in to check it out, therefore the next day we stopped there first.

We stayed on that beach for a short time soaking up the sun and Robert and Andrew making sand castles. Andrew thought he'd be funny and cool Mommy off from those hot rays by taking his watering can and filling it with water and running up to me to dump the water on me. I could see the look in his eye along with the smurk on his face as he was quickly approaching me with the water of the watering can splashing out as he was running. Andrew thought it was hysterical to hear Mommy scream from the cold water splashing on me, which made him quickly turn around to fill his can again. He was having a ball going back and forth filling his can just to run back and dump it on me. It actually felt good after a couple times so I didn't mind. I could see how much fun he was having therefore I just let him have some fun. I had to take some pictures of Andrew running with the huge grin he had on his face. He's such a cutie.

We finally packed up from Kings Wharf beach and have lunch at a nearby cafe before heading to Horse Shoe Beach. Kings Wharf beach was too rocky and the sand was very coarse with some larger pieces of shell and rock within it which made it uncomfortable to walk on. Horse Shoe Bay Beach sand was so fine and much more scenic. So we packed up and traveled to Horse Shoe Bay Beach to enjoy the rest of the day.

We had an enjoyable afternoon on the beach and splashing around in the water. The water was quite shallow and you could walk out a ways and the water would still only be up to your knees. At one point Andrew decided to hang out with Mommy on the blanket so we had fun burying our legs in the sand. Andrew got a kick out of not being able to see our legs after they were covered. The only downfall to going to Horse shoe Bay beach is that since it is located at the bottom steep hill. By the end of the day you are tired from the fun in the sun and you have to carry your belongings back up the hill to get to the bus stop. It's certainly a good workout for your glutes but it's worth the workout. Fortunately there was a mini van taxi at the bottom of the hill and would take people up the hill for one dollar a person so we took it.

During the evenings after dinner we would take a walk around the ship on their outside track to burn off some of those calaries we just consumed. Andrew loved to go into the video arcade with Daddy and help Daddy steer the racing car. Robert would crack up laughing as he watched Andrew drive off the track many times. As soon as Robert would go to help Andrew steer his way back on the track and Andrew insisted he didn't need help and wanted to do it himself. It's so funny to see how Andrew loves to drive the video race cars. Such a little boy he is.

Fundraising, Auctions and Yard Sales

2007-04-30T12:33:00.004-05:00

We have started raising the funds that we need for our up coming adoption through running a candy bar and Home Interiors fund raiser. I gave some friends and family the fliers to help us fundraise and to my surprise we raised the initial money we needed to start the ball rolling with the adoption agency....which was the application fee.

I had approached my boss at work to see if I could add an extra day or two to my work schedule to bank that money for the adoption, however, it was a no go since the company was going into their slow season. I really didn't want to lose those 2 days anyway with Andrew. I really enjoy our time together and feel it's important to be home with him anyway, therefore, I wasn't too disappointed that my boss turn me down for adding extra days. I know that God will bring the money forth one way or another for this adoption and I already had some other ideas to go with.

Robert and I discussed it and decided that we could go to auctions, purchase items for minimal cost and resell it to raise the money. Robert found an ad in the paper for a storage unit auction and to my surprise it was being held on one of my days off and right down the street from our house. A couple of days ago Andrew and I went to the storage unit auction and ended up purchasing one unit that was full of what it looked like file boxes (about 30 of them) older office furniture. Nobody seemed to want this unit and I almost walked away from it myself (thinking that Robert was going to flip when he saw how jammed packed the furniture was thrown into the unit), but ended up purchasing the whole unit for $20.00. Let me just tell you that to our surprise that was a very profitable $20.00.

We found computers, printers,and a multiple amount of copper, brass, and steel pipe fittings in the until which we sold to a metal dealer. We sold all of the office furniture last weekend at our first Yard Sale as well as we sold the rest of the plumbing supplies, motors etc (since the unit was formerly owned by a previous Plumbing and Heating company). Robert and I were floored that in just a couple of days we came up with all of the money we needed for our Home Study Report just from a couple of days work. Praise God for multiplication and supplying our needs for the adoption. God is so Good! Hallelujah! Needless to say that I'm sure will be the first of many auctions to come.

Andrew the Elephant at Preschool Circus Play

2007-04-23T13:20:00.002-05:00

Andrew and the rest of his class were assigned to be elephants in the school Circus Play. The parents had to supply the costume for this play. I figured since the school sent out a memo that the parents had to supply a simple costume I did just that. I had Andrew wear his gray sweatsuit and attached elephant ears I made out of felt to the hood of his sweat jacket and made a tail as well and attached it to the back of his pants. I purchased a soft plastic elephant nose for him to wear which he loved but he ended up wearing it around his mouth instead of is nose.

Robert and I were anxious to see the show and ended up sitting in the second row since we arrived early. The elephants were first to perform and were led out to the circus ring by their teacher. They had to walk around the circus ring one behind the other. Andrew looked so cute and was a little timid and followed the other children just as he practiced. When Andrew spotted Robert and I sitting in the audience taking pictures he busted out into crying. I wasn't sure if he was crying because he might have had an accident (since he was recently toilet trained and might have been nervous) or what. He kept following the other kids walking in the circle as he was crying and then the director of the school brought Andrew to us to calm him down. Andrew immediately wanted to sit on our laps and and was content watching the rest of the show from our laps. In a way it was odd to see him crying and doing what he was supposed to do instead of what he really wanted to do which was to sit with his Mommy and Daddy. I thought about it after the show and am surprised that he didn't just run over to us if that is what he wanted.

All in all it was a very cute and entertaining show. The strongman was hillarious how he had a built in muscles that was a costume he wore. He had his shades on and hammed it up a bunch.

Jonah & the Whale

2007-04-15T13:37:00.001-05:00

Recently when teaching Andrew's Sunday School class at church one Sunday, I was surprised at how much Andrew was listening and paying attention to the lesson on the story of Jonah and the Whale. The next few days when we were traveling in the car he would recite how Jonah was in the belly of the whale because he didn't listen to God and go to Ninevah to tell the people there to be good. I proceded to explain to him that God put Jonah in "Time Out" since he didn't listen and do what God asked him to do. I then explained to him, "just like when Mommy has to put Andrew in Time Out for not listening, God had to put Jonah in "Time out" in the belly of the whale for not listening until Jonah promised God to do what God asked him to do and tell the people in Ninevah to stop being bad and start being good and to tell all the people about God and His goodness."

I asked Andrew how long Jonah was in the belly of the whale and he said for 3 days and 3 nights. I was amazed at how intently he must have listened to the lesson since other Sundays when I would teach his class all he wanted to do was play and not pay attention.

He was fascinated with the story of Jonah & the Whale and Andrew would periodically ask questions and talk to me about Jonah for the next couple of weeks.

Potty Power!

2007-03-23T13:02:00.001-05:00

Since Andrew's birthday I've been working with him to get him more familiar with going to the bathroom on the toilet. We've used his training potty for a while and we finally got him to go Pee Pee on the toilet. Since Andrew has only occasionally gone pee pee on the potty I decided to finally break down and purchase an e-book on how to potty-train your child in 3 days or less. It was an easy read, which I read a few times to get myself ready for the big day. I had to mentally get myself ready for the messes and clean ups etc.
,br>

I also bought Andrew a couple of DVD's on the subject. One which I recommend is called "Potty POWER!" It's really cute and they have real children (instead of animated figures)in the DVD so I think the kids relate better to it. I also got him another DVD called "Elmo goes to the potty" or something like that...not sure of the title. The Elmo DVD is okay...for real little ones if teaching on or around the age of 2 years old. I thought the Potty Power DVD was the best instructional as well as had a cute storyline.

I was mentally prepared and set aside Thursday, Friday and Saturday to devote strickly to Potty training. In the book it says to stay by your child's side for the entire day 3 consecutive days in a row. This way you can see the gestures and know exactly when your child needs to use the toilet.

I was quite impressed the first 2 days of training Andrew since he was running to the toilet for half of the amount of times he went in the day and the other half of the time he had an accident or didn't quite make it there on time. I was impressed since the previous months I was introducing the potty to him, I would have to tell him to sit on the toilet and would only sit there (without going)when I'd ask him to.

I figured "Wow! This is really working. By the third day he should be completely trained." WRONG!! The third day fell on a Saturday and Robert was home that day, therefore, Andrew didn't have my full attention and wasn't by my side the whole day as the last 2 previous days he was. MY FAULT....I didn't follow the book. Well wouldn't you know that WHOLE day he would have accident after accident and didn't even try to go to the bathroom in the toilet even when I would prompt him.

It was 7:00pm that night and by then I was so frustrated since he did so well the last couple of days and didn't even try on the third day. By 7:00pm I went into his room to get him ready for bed and changed him into a diaper. As I was trying to put on the diaper (which he hasn't worn one in the last couple of days) Andrew was refusing to wear it and started kicking and screaming, "NOOOOOOOOO...NOOOO Diapie"! So I told him that since he continued to go to the bathroom in his pants and not in the toilet he had to wear a diaper. Once he heard that he immediate jumped off the bed and ran into the bathroom, tore off the diaper and went pee pee on the potty for the first time that day.

Since the third day Andrew has done superb and even started going poopy on the potty the Monday following (5th day) and has been going ever since. WOW!! Of course he's had a few accidents here and there but all in all I was so glad I read that book and dedicated the time to potty training him. WHHOO!!! WHHOOO!!

Andrew's 3rd Birthday

2007-02-08T13:00:00.005-05:00

We decided to celebrate Andrew's 3rd Birthday at a childrens activity center that has birthday parties. It all kinds of fun things for kids to do and climb on such as a castle, a boat, moon bounce, a tractor, a stage with costumes, a music room, a grocery store, a puppet show area and a party room. Since Andrew has been in preschool this past year, I thought it would be nice to invite his classmates along with family members.

This kids and some parents (like my husband, Robert) had a ball playing in the different play areas. Robert had fun trying to dodge the sponge ball at our older nephew, Billy that was on top of the castle pretending to guard the fort. I'm not sure who was having more fun, Billy or Robert.

Andrew enjoyed playing with his friends and cousins and was excited to see them come to his birthday party. Andrew was asking me the previous couple of days if his friend Brooke will be at his birthday party. I told him that she was coming. When Brooke arrived at the party Andrew was in the play areas playing with his friends. I went up to Andrew and told him that Brooke had arrived. He wanted to go see her to say hello so I showed him where she was playing.

When Andrew saw Brooke it was the cutest thing. He immediately ran up to her and they both hugged each other smiling ear to ear. He then took her by the hand and held her hand on and off for half the day. It was so sweet but yet surprising to see him react that way towards her since I've never seen him in school react that way towards her.

After running all through the place for most of the afternoon he decided to grab a book and take a break to read some books. It was hilarious to me to follow him around the place as I was taking pictures and then once he saw the books in a corner he immediately took one from the bookcase and sat down to look at it.

Happy New Year! - Mommy, Daddy & Baby Sister

2007-01-15T15:25:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!!! This past month Robert and I were suprised when Andrew would sit between us on the couch and would repeatedly say to us "My Mommy, My Daddy....My Baby Sister.....then he would pause and say it again,"My Mommy, My Daddy, My Baby Sister". He has been saying this over and over again and Robert and I would just look at each other in amazement and with a look of surprise wondering where that came from. To our surprise, Andrew continued over the next month saying the same phrase to us like he was trying to tell us something. I had to giggle to myself as I have had it in my spirit to go back to Ukraine to adopt a little girl.

Robert and I have talked about it and prayfully considered adopting a child again from Ukraine. We are excited and happy to announce that we are going forward with our plans to adopt our daughter from Ukraine. We found out from Adoptions From the Heart, our home study agency, that if we update our home study before August of this year that we will only have to pay half the amount of a full home study. WHOO WHOO!!! Doing the HAPPY DANCE!!

Christmas 2006

2006-12-26T12:56:00.006-05:00

Christmas 2006 was the first Christmas we spent in our new (new to us) home since we moved. We were so excited about decorating this year. We have more land than our previous home so we all went out and decorated our front lawn with light up reindeer and a nativity scene on Thanksgiving weekend. We also put up the Christmas tree that weekend as well which to me was earlier than I've ever decorated for Christmas. It was so nice to see the lawn lit up every time we came home from an outing in the evening. Andrew was just as excited about the decorations. He enjoyed being apart of setting up the outdoor ornaments and decorating the tree. This year he didn't wrap himself in the garland, he just wanted to crawl underneath the tree after decorating it instead.

Christmas morning we had breakfast with my mom and sister and then my mom wanted to see Andrew's reaction as he opened up his gifts Christmas morning. Andrew is so animated and filled with excitement that he keeps everyone laughing.

In the afternoon we spent with Robert's family and had dinner over their house. We all had an enjoyable Christmas.

Andrew as "The Sheep" in Christmas Preschool Play

2006-12-20T13:21:00.002-05:00

Andrew's preschool had a Christmas performance of the night Jesus was born. I was so excited to see Andrew in his first school play that I made sure I had the video camera all charged up and ready to go. My mom, sister and father-in-law also came to support Andrew and cheer him on.

It was a very short and sweet performance where there were two 4 year olds playing Mary and Joseph walking in with baby Jesus as someone narrated the Christmas story. Andrew's class came walking behind Mary and Joseph as Andrew and his class were all dressed as sheep, and another class walked behind them dressed as angels. Once they all got up to the stage the children patiently waited until the short skit was over and then they all sang a few Christmas songs for the audience. Of course all of the parents, including myself were trying to get as close to the stage as possible to get the best picture or video as possible. I only got a few minutes of the performance since the battery of our older camcorder died on me even though I charged it for a whole evening. I was so upset. I am a fanatic when it comes to picture taking. I love taking pictures, especially capturing all the memories of our son, Andrew. I think it's time to upgrade our video camera.....

I was pleasantly surprised and impressed with how all of the children (18months - 4years old) were doing exactly what they were supposed to do......walking in (not running in different directions)...standing still, patiently waiting for their que to sing and then how they all sang so nicely......Simple Sweet and Adorable.

Andrew Filling Our Shoes

2006-11-23T12:54:00.003-05:00

Boy, It's been a challenge lately to keep our shoes in our bedroom since Andrew loves to pretend and walk around with them on. I am so afraid he is going to get hurt therefore I keep my shoes up high in my closet. Now he is walking around the house with Robert's work boots on. He is starting to get into the pretend stage where he likes to pretend he is someone else. I asked Andrew where he thought he was going with Daddy's shoes on (since he is well aware that I don't like him wearing our shoes). He said that he was going to get married to his friend Brooke and then they were going to go on their honeymoon. Needless to say I was a little surprise that came out of his mouth. Every now and then he'll pretend that he is a daddy and tells me to watch his son while he goes to the store. I asked him what his son's name is and he told me Ryan.

Meeting Cathy Harris & Ukrainian Delegation

2006-11-17T12:58:00.003-05:00

Last weekend myself, Andrew, my Mom and sister, Marli attended a Ukrainian Angels Reunion and we met some of the Ukrainian Delegation members from Ukraine at one of the families homes near Baltimore, Maryland. I knew that Cathy Harris was going to be there and I knew since it was fairly close to us that I wanted to attend. I wanted to meet Cathy Harris in person to thank her for all of her help with adopting our son Andrew. She is a genuinely nice person who is very much down-to-earth. It was a pleasure to meet her and to introduce her to Andrew. She introduced me to Julia who also helped coordinate our paperwork with Valentina. Julia is also very sweet and friendly as well. They were both pleased to meet and talk to Andrew.

I remember when Robert and I were thinking of switching from an adoption agency to adopting Independently with the help and guidance from Ukrainian Angels that is runned by Cathy Harris. We couldn't believe how much different in cost is was from adopting Independently opposed to adopting through an agency. When we found Ukrainian Angels on the internet it was almost like it was too good to be true, but you know what...it was even better than that. You not only saved thousands of dollars adopting independently, but Cathy Harris connects you with all of her families that have adopted through her before.....and you can ask a question to the group and many families answer back their experiences. We were so well prepared through gaining so much wisdom before we traveled......that now looking back on it, I'm so thankful that we made the switch and adopted Independently with the help and guidance of Ukrainain Angels.

We also met up with the women from the Ukrainian Delegation for Adoptions at the gathering. They had a translator with them so it was so nice to be able to speak to them and introduce them to Andrew. I found out through them that the rumor that I thought was true was in deed false. I heard on a forum that Ukraine was banning Americans from adopting from their country until all of the American families that have adopted from Ukraine are 100% compliant with sending in their annual reports on their adopted children. WHOOO WHOOO!!! Just the news I was hoping to hear. When the women from the Ukrainian Delegation asked me if I would ever adopt from Ukraine again, I said confidently,"Absolutely". They were very pleased with that answer as they are here in the states to travel around to meet with different adoption agencies to let them know that Ukraine is open again for adoptions.

When I was speaking with these ladies from the delegation, the translator was translating what I was telling them. As they were translating and talking in Russian/Ukrainian Andrew was intently listening to them and watching them carefully. One of the ladies noticed Andrew and watched him closely and said to me, "Look, he recognizes and possibly understands what we are saying". I'm sure he did recognize the language since it has only been a year since we adopted him. He has picked up and has been talking in English since a month after we met him and has been adding to his vocabulary day by day that I forget sometimes that he understood Russian a year ago. Boy how time flies.

It was a real pleasure to attend this reunion and to be able to finally meet Cathy Harris, Julia and the ladies from the Ukrainian Delegation. We all had a nice time and I'm so glad we got this chance to meet them as well as some of the other families from Ukrainian Angels.

Super Andy

2006-11-01T12:51:00.004-05:00

Faster than a Speeding Bullet (boy that's for sure), More powerful than a locamotive, Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.......It's a bird, It's a plane......NO, It's SUPER ANDY!!!

This year Andrew wanted to dress up like Superman for Hallelujah night. Our church had a night of children's games, food and candy of course. I was teaching Andrew how to run with his fists held up over his head while he is running to act like Superman. He had so much fun running around the church and playing the games with the other children. That costume was so appropriate for him too since he is always running every where he goes. And boy is he FAST.

At the end of the night when we brought him home we sat down on the couch with him to unwind a bit before we put him to bed. Andrew was so adorable because he took his blankie and put it over his head and asked me, "Where's SUPER ANDY?" Here he was calling himself Super Andy. Oh it was so adorable.....and a SUPER ANDY he is.

Happy 1st Gotcha Day!

2006-09-17T13:00:00.001-05:00

Here is the video of us Singing Happy Birthday to ourselves to celebrate our first Gotcha Day with Andrew. We had just gotten back from our first Family Vacation and were busy unpacking, doing laundry, cleaning and putting things away after our return from being away a week, therefore Robert and I look a mess. We picked up a small cake to celebrate with and took this video of ourselves and Andrew as we sang Happy Birthday to our Family....

Andrew as you can see in the video was so silly and wanted to blow out the candles before the song was over and got a kick out of Mommy trying to stop him from blowing them out to soon. This video makes me laugh each time I see it and find it hard to believe how far we've come in only a year with Andrew.

Since we met Andrew a year ago, he has learned to walk, RUN more like it, talk and do I mean talk, Sing, voice his opinion (ohh he's not afraid to do that), smoosh you as he is trying to get his way and he is learning to swim.

There have been many times this summer that I have reflected on our trip to Ukraine and all of the wonderful people who we met and helped us bring our baby boy home. I have thought many times about our experiences in the orphanage and the other families we met. I have been in contact with a few of them and seen some recent pictures of their children they adopted from the same orphanage we adopted Andrew from. Boy have the children all grown and adapted and bonded well with their families. I wonder sometimes of Andrew's birth family and his birth mother and think of how courageous and selfless she was to give Andrew up for a better life than what she could give him. All the people who played a part in our adoption from the people in Ukraine to our families helping out with keeping our house, bills, vehicles and lawn in order while we were away and all of the people who graciously took the time to pray for us and our adoption and how God worked everything out for good. I get so emotional just thinking and reflecting on the whole experience even when I look back on it today. Anyway, enjoy the video.

Family Vacation - Cruising the Bahamas

2006-09-17T12:50:00.001-05:00

We decided to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of becoming a family with a family vacation cruise to the Bermuda. Because of the hurricane moving over Bermuda on the day we were about to depart, the cruise line rerouted the the cruise to travel to the Bahamas. So we went to Nausau & Freeport islands in the Bahamas. It was our first Family Vacation since we've been home with Andrew. We decided to take a cruise that left out of a port that was local to us so we could drive to the port and bypass the flight. This made traveling with a toddler much more enjoyable.

It was quite an enjoyable trip. Andrew immediately made friends with all of the crew members. They were giving him high-fives every time they saw him. He got so used to it that Andrew was approaching crew members that he never met and would lift up his hand to give them a high-five before they would. He was very good at meal time, surprisingly. Our head waitress, Nelli was AWESOME. She made sure that Andrew's food got to the table before anyone elses and would cut up his food immediately after it arrived and gave him a lot of attention. We were very happy that mealtime worked out for us. Especially on the cruise since the meals in the dining room are much more tasty than in the cafeterias.

When we stopped in Nassau we took a walking tour around the Atlantis Resort grounds. Wow what a beautiful resort. We took a lot of pictures and Andrew especially enjoyed the huge aquarium and lagoon. It was amazing how you felt like you were scuba diving right next to the sea life of sharks, sting rays, tropical fish and more since you could walk down a stairwell to the aquarium and there was floor to ceiling glass to separate you from the sea life in the lagoon. Check out this picture of Andrew standing up against the glass with the shark on the other side. Looks almost as if he were right in the lagoon with the shark.

After our tour through the grounds of Atlantis Resort we went back to the ship to grab some lunch and take a dip in the wading pool with Andrew. Andrew of course LOVED the wading pool which was fun because when the ship would rock the waves would roll over in the 1 foot deep wading pool. We all had fun splashing around and keeping cool in the hot sun.

In the evening after dinner, Robert took Andrew into the video arcade to let him give his try at driving a race car. OOHHH Boy.....did he love that. He kept wanting to do it again and again.

The next day the ship docked in Freeport, Bahamas. We took an excursion to watch and learn about the dolphins. We were able to sit on the docks as the instructors talked about the dolphins and their behaviors as well as instructed them to do tricks, like SPLASH or should I say SOAK US! Yes of course it was just Andrew and I that got soaked since Robert was walking over to get the waterproof camera. Andrew started wailing since it surprised him as well. To our surprise the instructors showed us how to pet the dolphins and then said we could get in the water to pet them. When Robert got in the water first with Andrew, Andrew wanted no parts of getting anywhere near the dolphins until he saw his Daddy pet the dolphins. Then he was fine about getting in the water with me to pet the dolphins. We even got a picture of the dolphin kissing us.

All in all it was a wonderful way to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of becoming a family. When we got home we bought a small cake at the store and and sang Happy Birthday to ourselves to celebrate our first Gotcha Day. I'm glad we got it on video since Andrew was so cute as we were singing. I will upload the video if I can figure it out.

Andrew Sings First Songs

2006-07-29T12:04:00.000-05:00

Many evenings as I hold Andrew and rock him in the rocking chair before bedtime I will sing the songs out of a baby board book that has bible songs within it. He is now singing them with me when he can remember the words.

To my surprise one morning as I was getting Andrew dressed, I heard him sing a verse all by himself without me singing along. Here he sang,"For the bible tells me so". That is what he would sing over and over again. Then it dawned on me that he was singing the song, "Jesus Loves Me". When I picked up on what song it was I started singing it with him. Boy I bet that made God smile to hear one of His precious children sing Jesus Loves Me as their first solo even if he only could recite one line in the song.

Then about a few weeks later after picking up Andrew from preschool I catch him in the living room rocking in the rocking chair by himself singing by himself while he is doing hand motions to the song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He started the song with his hands over his head singing, "Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky". When I witnessed him doing this I grabbed the camera and made a short video of him singing,"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Too Cute. If I can figure out how to add a video to this blog, I will attach it.

Swim Lessons

2006-07-27T14:38:00.000-05:00

We’ve enrolled Andrew in a swim class for toddlers and their moms. Since we will be around family and friends’ pools this summer and the ocean we wanted to start him out with an introduction to the water. We knew he would love it since he is like a fish in the bath tub. He will take the plastic glass that I have in the bath tub and fill it up with water and turn it over his head with it. Andrew has been having a ball in swim class. I must say that I am quite impressed with the class and instructor. The instructor, Miss Susan, brings it down to their level and makes it fun for them. We sing the Humpty Dumpty song when the kids are sitting along the edge of the wall waiting for the instructor to say “Humpty Dumpty had a great FALL”. When she says fall, the kids are supposed to fall into their parents arms (already in the pool). She also has the kids paddling and kicking as their parents holds them under their armpits toward little floating toys. Also we sing a song about a little turtle named “Tiny Tim” to get them to blow bubbles in the water.

Andrew is a ball of energy as usually but especially when he is at swim class. He gets so excited that he kicks and paddles with such enthusiasm and is starting to sing the Tiny Turtle song along with the rest of us parents. Miss Susan noticed that Andrew was the only child out of the group that was singing the song with the rest of the adults. She turned toward him and smiled. I was shocked that he was singing it with us since all week long I was singing it to him while he was taking a bath and he wasn’t singing it then. Our friends Ken and Jen also take their twin boys, Kenny and Kevin to the same swim class. It’s a lot of fun to be in the same swim class with them since the boys are only a month and a half different in age from each other.

Our Beach BABY

2006-07-27T14:37:00.000-05:00

Over Memorial Day weekend and the 4th of July weekend we took Andrew to the beach for a bit of fun in the sun. The first time we went to the beach we took him to the boardwalk and then down the steps to the sand. Since he was wearing his sandals he felt the sand immediately on his feet and in between his toes. He wasn’t sure of what to make of it so he just stood there and wouldn’t move. When he realized that it was okay to move along he did so and when he saw the Atlantic Ocean he bolted towards the water. He loves being in the water and he was all excited to see so much of it. The water was freezing on Memorial Day, but that didn’t bother Andrew. He would want to stand there at ankle depth with us and laugh when the waves came in and splashed him. We kept having to pull him out and bring him back to the area where we were sitting. Andrew had fun building sand castles with Daddy and his cousins Maria Clare and Julia. Robert would dig a hole in the sand deep enough for Andrew and Julia to dangle their feet over and wade in the water he would put in the hole.

When we went back to the shore house, Andrew and Julia were playing with Julia and Maria Clares ride on toys in the backyard. Andrew loved her lawnmower so much that Andrew would object if Julia took it out of his hands and would cry when we left for home since he loved it so much. So guess where we stopped on the way home…you guessed it, Toys R Us. I had a gift certificate in my pocket that I hadn’t used yet from Andrew’s birthday, so I told Robert let’s go to Toys R’ Us and get him a lawnmower since he loved it so much. Andrew was sooo excited that he had the biggest smile on his face as he was pushing it around outside and inside our house. The funniest thing was when Andrew stripped down to his diaper and sandals and was pushing the lawnmower around our living room with a gigantic smile on his face.

My First Mother's Day -YIPPIE!

2006-07-27T14:36:00.000-05:00

The Friday before Mother’s Day when I went to my Mom’s house to pick Andrew up after work, as I approach the screened door I saw Andrew approaching the door at top speed as he was giggling and squealing with excitement to see me. I picked him up and kissed and hugged him hello. My Mom told him to tell me what he practiced all day. I wasn’t sure what she taught him to say until Andrew slurred the words out real quick “Happy Mama’s Day” to the point where it sounded like “HapMa Day”. I figured out what he was saying and was thrilled at the effort he put forth to say it. It was adorable. Throughout the weekend Andrew would say either Happy Mama or Happy Day.It was so cute. He got it right on the money though. I've been a Happy Mama ever since Andrew came into our lives and each day after that has been a Happy one. I am so blessed and thankful to God and Andrew’s birthmother for such a beautiful son. I think about Andrew’s birthmother at times and think of how courageous and selfless she was to want more for him than what she could give him. If she only knew how thankful we are for Andrew and what a blessing he is. Even though I didn’t give birth to him myself, I feel like Andrew has been our son since the day he was born. It’s amazing how God works things out for good. The month that God gave me the vision to adopt was the month that Andrew was born. God had designed Andrew to be our son from the beginning. I am so amazed when I look back on it now and how he worked it all out and how we were the first couple to see Andrew’s file on the day of our second appointment. God is so Good!

Selling, Renovating and Moving into our new Home

2006-07-27T14:35:00.000-05:00

This past spring it has been a busy one. First of all I went back to work a couple of days a week and we decided to sell our home to move into a neighborhood that has better schools for Andrew. We also wanted more elbow room since we were very close to our neighbors’ homes. So we’ve been busy getting our current home ready to sell, purchasing and renovating the new home to get it ready for moving into it. It’s much different moving with a toddler in the house. Everything seems to take much longer to do since he always wants my attention or is unpacking boxes that I just packed or is messing up the house immediately after I just cleaned the house (to show the house for potential buyers). It was a bit frustrating at times but we all managed very well to the move. We got Andrew involved with helping us any way we could to keep him busy and focused on doing something constructive in order to keep him out of trouble. At times to give Andrew a break from the move we would take him over to the park near our new home and he would swing on the swings most of the time he was there. He didn’t want to get off even to go on the slide. When I would ask him if he wanted to go on the slide he would smile and say “SWING!”.

Andrew loves to get involved with whatever we are doing. So we gave him little tasks to help us as we were getting the house ready to move into. I was quite impressed at how Andrew now knows what a screwdriver and pliers are. Robert would have him go and retrieve them for him when he needed him. I guess when your Daddy is a “Mr. Fix it” it’s hard not to know what a screwdriver and pliers are even at 2 years old. It was hysterical to observe Andrew wanting to get a close up look at what his Daddy was doing when Robert was attaching a bracket to the wall behind the oven (so the oven won’t tip over). Robert was lying on the floor to get closer to where he had to attach the bracket and Andrew saw him and got all excited to watch that he crawled on top of Robert and straddled Robert’s abdomen and leaned into the area where Robert was working. Robert and I started laughing at him. Such a curious little boy we have.

After two months of renovating, packing and moving we were finally settled into our new home. Andrew had a few issues of confusion with where home was. He would go to the back door and point to it and say “Home”. As if to say “Let’s go home”. After a few weeks of telling him that we are home and making a big deal out of saying “We’re Home”, every time we would pull into our driveway to make him realize that this is our home now he feels more settled now.

We painted Andrew’s room a medium blue and decorated it with Thomas the Train décor. We purchased a twin bed and furniture for him since I figured that the reason why he was waking up so much during the night was because his crib mattress was so hard. When I would put him down for a nap in our bed at our old house, he would sleep like a baby. So we figured it was the bed itself, so I wanted to get his room set up with his new bed when we first moved into the house so we wouldn’t have to set up the crib just to take it down again. Praise God for that wisdom because Andrew sleeps like a baby now in his new bed. He loves it and the Thomas bedding that we got for him as well. To make his room more inviting and fun for him I tacked a fleece Thomas the Train blanket on the wall above his bed. It has a big picture of the face of Thomas on it smiling. I think he loved the fleece so much that he would stand on his bed against the wall and place his cheek against it and smile and say “Love, Love”. Each night for about a week after we got his bed, as I was putting him to bed, Andrew would give the wall a hug where Thomas was and say “Love, Love”. He is too funny.

Andrew's First Easter

2006-07-27T14:32:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while since the last update, so here has what's been happening this past Spring with Andrew and the Millilo's.

This year for Easter we decided to take Andrew on an egg hunt at a local farm. When we got to the farm, Andrew enjoyed visiting the bunny rabbits, goats and chickens. He was amazed at the bunny rabbits and how close he could get to them. When it was time to get in line for the hayride that took us out to the field where the egg hunt was, Andrew wanted to stay to watch the bunnies instead. Once we convinced him to take the hayride we piled into the trailer of hay and went for a ride to the field where they let the children out to go look for eggs. Andrew enjoyed running around and picking up the plastic eggs which had a piece of candy in them. His face lit up when he found the candy inside.

A couple of days after the hayride, I was keeping Andrew entertained by taking a plastic egg with jelly beans (which he loves) in it and shaking it to get his attention. He knew that there was candy in it since it made noise and from remembering the egg hunt/hayride a couple of days prior. His face lit up with excitement when I told him that Mommy was going to hide the egg. He then ran after me as I was trying to get away from him to hide it. I stopped abruptly in the dining room with the egg behind my back so he couldn’t see where I was going to hide it. Since there was a little basket on the table behind me I quietly and to see if I could fool him into thinking that I still had the egg I ran into the other room and when he followed me into the other room I asked him where the egg was. He immediately went into the dining room and reached for the basket on the table. When he took hold of it and pulled the basket off of the table the egg fell out and onto the floor. The plastic egg broke open and all of the jelly beans scattered on the floor. Andrew was ecstatic but cautious because he wasn’t sure if I was going to allow him to eat the jelly beans or not. When he realize that I wasn’t going to take them away from him he belted out a hardy belly laugh and scurried up the jelly beans and started shoving them in his mouth before I changed my mind. It was hilarious to watch him and to see his reaction.

>

The night before Easter Andrew, Robert and I had a ball dying hard boiled eggs. One time Andrew dropped the egg too hard into the dye and the bowl of green dye turned over. We were able to clean it up before it hit the floor thank goodness. As he picked up one of the eggs he squeezed it too hard and cracked it. Robert thought it was funny so he encouraged him to keep squeezing it, so Andrew continued until his fingers were completely through the egg. Easter morning was a blast watching him hunt around the house for eggs and seeing his surprised look on his face when he saw his Easter basket filled with books & toys from Nana and some candy and toys from Mommy and Daddy.

After we went to church, we had an early Easter dinner over at Mom mom's and Pop pop's house. They surprised the kids with an Easter egg hunt in their yard. It was such a beautiful day for it as well. Andrew, Julia and Maria Clare quickly looked for as many eggs as possible. Julia cracked me up when she found an egg she would hold them over her head like it was her trophy. Too cute. Andrew ran around and filled his basket fairly quickly. All of the kids were funny at how wxcited they got when looking for and finding eggs. It’s so much different and more exciting experiencing everything through children's eyes.

2006-03-14T09:06:00.000-05:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Andrew!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

2006-03-14T08:12:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Andrew! Last month we had a birthday party for Andrew to celebrate his 2nd birthday. We had it at a place that sells swing sets and holds birthday parties for children. I figured it would be a good place for the older kids and some of the younger kids to have the party, however, I was a little unsure if the swing sets would be too big for Andrew to have a good time at. I'm glad now that I overlooked that uncertainty and booked the place for Andrew's birthday party because Andrew and all of the other children had a BLAST! All of the kids played on the equipment to exhaustion.

I'm a Happy Kid!

When we first arrived at the place, I climbed up the swingset to slide down the slide with Andrew a few times before anyone else got there. Well it just took a few times down the slide with Mama to give him the confidence to tackle the slide on his own. Andrew LOVED it! You couldn't keep him off of the swingset.

Able to reach tall buildings in a single bound.

One of the slides was so tall that when you slid down the slide you were really flying. It was fast, however, that was the slide that Andrew wanted to continue playing on. It was hilarious to see Andrew sliding down the slide spread eagle with his hands and feet apart and his hair standing on end because he was flying down the slide so fast with a gigantic smile on his face. Too funny! All of the kids had a great time playing, even the older cousins of Andrew.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

That was FUN! Let's do it again!

When everybody was singing Happy Birthday to Andrew, he stuck his finger in the icing and gave it to Mama to lick off. He dislikes any food being on his hands except when he is in a creative mood where he then sticks his whole hand into his food and then rubs his two hands together like he is washing his hands with his food and then rubs his face and hair with his icky hands. Yuck.

Climbing high!

Since the kids were so busy playing on the swingsets the whole time of the party, Andrew didn't open up his birthday presents until we got back to the house. Robert and I figured that he will take a nice long nap after all of the excitement and exercise he got at his birthday party. Well no such thing. Andrew would not go down for a nap at all that day. He wanted to open his birthday presents instead. He saw those presents sitting in the living room and couldn't rest until he opened them up and played with his new toys. Thank you all for your generousity with all of your gifts and love to Andrew. He is so blessed to be part of such a wonderful family and have such loving friends.

Christmas 2005

2006-02-02T23:01:00.000-05:00

Having Fun with Andrew on Christmas morning.

Our first Christmas with our son Andrew was just as I expected it to be, outstanding. Seeing everything through the eyes of a child makes one feel as young as they are.

My first Scooter. Thank you, Aunt Rita!

Andrew had a blast opening up gifts and tearing through the wrapping paper. He even loved standing on his gifts before opening them and laughing. What a comedian he is. So silly I must say. Christmas morning we stalled him as long as we could before coming downstairs so my mom, brother and sister could enjoy watching him open up his gifts as well. (Not sure how many years we'll be able to stall him from going downstairs and opening his gifts on Christmas morning). When we did come downstairs, a big wheel"Rock and Roll" was put together that our cousins Patty and Michael gave him and a ride on scooter was put together that my Aunt Rita gave him. Andrew went immediately over to the scooter first and started sitting on it and scooting around the room. Then he figured out how to get on the big wheel rocker. He absolutely lit up with delight as he rode both toys Christmas morning.

ZOOM, ZOOM!! This is NEAT! Thank you Michael and Patty!

Andrew...intently opening his gifts.

When we finally let Andrew open his gifts, he would tear them open and "OOOO" and "AHAHAHAH!" over the gifts, however, one gift that stands out in my mind is a book on Potty Training that we gave him. The children's book on Potty Training has a button on it that when you push it it sounds like a toilet flushing with a child in the background giggling. Andrew thought it was the silliest thing. He would want my mom or Nana as we call her now, read it to him over and over and he would SQUEAL with excitement and delight when he heard the toilet flush and the kid laughing. He was too funny. We all were in tears of laughter just watching him.

Giggling with Nana at the Potty Training Book that sounds like a toilet flushing

Another silly thing that Andrew did on Christmas morning was when he opened his dump truch that his Aunt Alyssa and Uncle Bill gave him he thought it was just the right size for him to sit in. A few times Andrew went to sit in it and the truck would roll away from him.

Andrew had a ball on Christmas day over at Mommom and Poppops house playing with his cousins Nicole, Billy, Christina, Maria Clare and Julia. When it came time to open up his gifts we had a hard time retrieving him from a child size rocking chair that he discovered in their living room. He would rather sit in that all night than open up his gifts. Looks as if we get Andrew his own chair (his size that is). He likes to sit on boxes that are empty that are on the floor that are just his size to sit on or whatever else he can find that would work as a chair just for him. What is with it regarding a man and his chair. All he would need then would be a remote in his hand and he would be set. Maybe that is why Andrew is always grabbing the remote control whenever he finds the opportunity....it's a man thing.

Andrew's favorite chair at Mommom's and Poppops house.

Thank you all for all of your thoughtful gifts to all of us and especially for making this Christmas extra special for our son Andrew.

Pre-Holiday Memories

2005-12-30T14:04:00.000-05:00

Where's your Eye?

This Christmas was the best one ever sharing it with Andrew. Let me just start off by sharing a few pre-Christmas memories which happened the week before Christmas. Andrew has been pointing out our eyes, nose, ears, mouth, chin, cheeks and teeth over the last couple of weeks. All of a sudden he will poin to my nose or his nose or the nose on his Elmo or where ever he sees someones facial features. In a book of his that we took over to Ukraine with us is a book that points out different parts of the body which we used to read all of the time to him when we were there and since we've been home. We haven't read much of it lately so it surprised me when all of a sudden he is pointing to my nose and saying "Nooos" and pointing to my eye and saying "eye". When he points to my ear he will yank it a couple of times instead of pointing to it. It's funny sometimes lately when he wakes up from his nap he will be crying for me to get him out of his crib and when I pick him up he immediately stops crying and points to my nose and say the word nose and smile. Too cute.

Here is my nose.

Another cute memory which melted my heart was when Barney was on the television and the ending theme song came on and Andrew jumped up and ran over to me and took hold of my hands and was swaying back and forth as he started singing "I wuv" along with Barney. Tears welled up in my eyes since this was one of the songs I used to sing to him when we were visiting him in the orphanage. Now he is starting to sing it to me.

Love the Teddy Bear.

Okay are you ready for a funny Christmas Eve wake up call? Well usually every morning when we wake up on a Saturday I will pick Andrew up out of his crib when he wakes up and will bring him into our room and place him between us on the bed until we finish waking up. So when we were ready to get up I took Andrew and put him on the changing table to take off his diaper so I can put him on his potty chair to go poopies on the potty. Well I wasn't expecting his diaper to already have the poopie in it so when I took his diaper off Andrew was in the process of wiggling and rolling around on the changing table and decided to stand up just as the diaper fell off of his butt. Andrew was excited as ever and started running in place and squished his foot in the poop. I grabbed his foot quick enough so he wouldn't leave poopy tracks all over the changing station and with the other hand I held his upper body. Well let's just say that Andrew was still wiggling and squirming in my arms and proceeded to press his poopy foot against my face. He was so quick about it I didn't even see it coming since I was trying to calm him down. I quickly yelled for Robert to come in and help me with the messy situation and of course when he saw the poop smeared on my face he fell over with laughter. I quickly yelled for him to grab the wipes so we could all get cleaned up and have some breakfast. Yeah...that is just what I want after having poop smeared on my face. How nasty is that?!! If that's not a wake up call, I don't know what is.

All wrapped up for Christmas.

Another cute memory is when Andrew decided to redecorate the Christmas tree...or himself I should say. One evening, Andrew noticed the garland of beads on our Christmas tree and decided to get a closer look. He picked up the end and wrapped it around his neck loosely with the other end of the garland still attached to the tree. I grabbed the camera to get a few photos of the incident and then noticed that Andrew started to twist his body around and around to continue wrapping the garland around himself. It was cute and funny until the Christmas tree started to lean. Okay, Andrew let's put the garland back on the tree and get ready for bed instead of taking the tree down. We like to keep it up at least until Christmas anyway.

Toys R Us & Billy's Birthday Party

2005-12-14T14:15:00.000-05:00

About a week ago, we were invited to join our nephew, Billy to celebrate with him and his friends at Chucky Cheese. So when it was time to go to Toys R Us to get a birthday gift for Billy, I figured it would be a good time to also get some ideas for Andrew for Christmas. As we were going through Toys R Us and getting ideas of what to get Billy for his birthday, I had Andrew in the shopping cart and I was tickled to see and hear of his reactions to the toys around him. When we went down the isle that had stuffed Barney's and Winnie the Pooh, he recognized them right away and started gruntinga and reaching for them. I pulled the Winnie the Pooh Bear off of the shelf and let Andrew hold it and he smiled as he hugged it and rested his head upon it. I then put it back after gave him some love and continued on down the isles. When I went down the isle of all of the Thomas the Tank Engine, Andrew about jumped out of the cart to grab the toys of Thomas off the shelf as he yelped. Ohh my...I guess I know what Andrew likes for sure. He was too funny making all of his verbal comments and reactions as we went through the store.

Andrew had a great time celebrating cousin Billy's birthday at Chucky Cheese. There was a separate room for toddlers to climb on slides and sit on a ride with Barney and on a Bulldozer with Bob the Builder. Andrew was approached by Chucky Cheese himself in his mouse costume and when he stopped to wave at Andrew, he froze and stared at him and then his face got all distorted and the tears started to flow. My sweetheart was afraid of Chucky Cheese just like I was afraid of Goofy when I was his Andrew's age at Disneyland. I picked him up and comforted him and then he was fine. What surprised me though was that Andrew liked the adult size animals that played different instruments later on when we had cake in the dining area. He was dancing and going up to the animals at that time. Andrew had a great time and played as much as he could before Mommy and Daddy decided to go home.

Putting up the Christmas Tree

2005-12-12T11:47:00.000-05:00

Daddy's little helper

Boy this Christmas is certainly going to be a memorable one for us this year. Having a child in your home at Christmas time makes the season much more exciting for everyone. We decided to put the Christmas tree up a little earlier this year than we normally do since we couldn't wait to share the excitement of putting up the Christmas tree with Andrew. On December 3rd (yes, I'm still catching up on my journal entries) we put up the Christmas tree. Andrew was intently helping Daddy put the tree together. He would grab a branch of our artificial tree and walk it over to Daddy as he put it together. Back and forth he would go from the box of tree branches to Daddy to give him the branch. Andrew is quite the helper in everything and anything we are doing around the house. But as we put together the Christmas tree he knew that he was helping to doing something extra special. After they assembled the tree Robert took out the string of lights and started stuffing them into the tree branches and following behind him every step of the way was Andrew picking up and carrying the tail of lights that Daddy had dragging on the floor. As Robert would walk around the tree stuffing the lights into the branches, Andrew waddled around the tree following him every step of the way. It was precious to watch Andrew so engrossed in helping that I just sat back and took the moment all in...as I was taking pictures of course. Thank God for digital cameras.

Decorating my first Christmas Tree