Home Sweet Home!

Sorry for the delayed post. We've been busy playing.

We returned home at around 10:00 p.m. on Sunday. After a long flight, all is well with the world and our family is complete. Dima decided that he didn't want to sleep on the 11 hour flight so that was nice. I think he wanted to test the stamina of his new parents. Actually it worked out good because he has adjusted to US time very well. He fell asleep just as we were hearing the pilot announce our decent into Atlanta. Oh well.

Once home, he was introduced to his two sisters and grandma (Teddi's mom). The girls were beside themselves. They could not believe it. They actually had a new baby brother!

After a good nights sleep, we all stayed home on Monday to get aquainted with each other. He is a very good baby. Sleeps good and just has a terrific demeanor. Even did fairly well with Albert (our Bulldog) sniffing his face.

We'll post more photos soon. Thank you all for your support throughout this process. Someday we'll be able to tell Dima about the literally hundreds of people that made this possible. From family, friends, co-workers, to the throngs of people who donated goods for our two massive garage sales last year, we have been blessed beyond belief during this long journey. It is really overwhelming to think about the support we have recieved.

Moscow Zoo

Today we ventured off to the Moscow Zoo. We thought about trying our hand at the subway, but I chickened out. Teddi was disappointed. But really, things were going so well, what good could come out of the two of us venturing off on a train with no english signs loaded with thousands of Russians with our baby who had just recovered from bronchitis? We chose to walk.

The weather was beautiful. Sunny and 70 degrees. We had a great time. The zoo was huge. Not quite up to American standards, but was very good none the less.

Tommorow is the day! We leave at around 1:00 p.m. Moscow time and arrive home at around 8:30 p.m. EST.

Now that's more like it

Good News. Not sure if it was the prune juice or the very long nap, but I feel better, which means Mommy and Daddy feel better too!

Here is a picture of me and Daddy at Red Square.

Slow down Mommy and Daddy

Hey everyone, it's me Dima. I think mommy and daddy need to slow it down with the solid foods that you Americans eat like McDonald's cheeseburgers, french fries, chicken, etc. etc. I was feeling fine until they fed me that garbage. Now my tummy is stopped up like a cork! I sent daddy out to the grocery store to get me some prune juice to loosen me up a little. We'll see how that goes (both he actually figuring out how to find prune juice in a Russian grocery store and whether it will actually help ease the pain in my tummy)! Is it too much for them to continue with my cereal and tea for goodness sake!

No more Pink for our SON!

Although Dima's passport photo was taken in his beautiful purple hand crocheted suit, we can now dress him in anything we like so there will be no more pink, at least until Grace and Tori get ahold of the poor little thing.

Here are some recent photos. He is still small relative to most 1 yr. old babies, but it shouldn't take long to fatten him up the way he has been eating. His progress has been amazing. When Teddi picked him up last week he couldn't sit up on his own. He now does so with little problem and has progressed to eating solid foods as well. He had his first McDonald's cheeseburger today for lunch!

The Russians are Coming!

We recieved his Visa and are officially done. Now we are U.S. tourists and Dima will be a U.S. citizen as soon as we land on U.S. soil!

Today we walked down to Red Square and did some sight seeing. May 9th is called Victory day and is the holiday that celebrates the Russian victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. They are preparing Red Square for the parade and festivities. Each night they have been practicing the parade route, which we were unaware of, but would have been valuable information to have had before heading off to bed last night...continue reading for comic relief.


Let me set up the story by explaining that our hotel room faces the main street in Moscow, which is the parade route. Being unware of the practicing, we awoke last night to loud sounds coming from the street below. So I go over to the window, peel back the curtains, and this is what we see (video below). Now you tell me, if you woke up in the former Soviet Union in the middle of the night and saw this outside your window, what would you do? I nearly wet myself.

Tomorrow is May Day so we are going to a big park in the city for a festival and concert of some kind.

Final Steps

We are beginning the final steps in the process. What a journey it has been. We are now applying for Dima's visa through the US Embassy. We will have it completed on Thursday evening. Today we went to the Embassy in person. It was much less impressive that either of us had envisioned. No big white columns, no american flag??? Oh well, it served it's purpose. While there, we met two other families from Indiana who were adopting and one of them was using our agency so that was pretty cool.

We ate at a KFC today. Fast food chicken never tasted so good!