Kazakhstan Here We Come...

The End....

2008-12-29T12:24:00.000-08:00

Well - it's three days until a new year begins so it's time to offically end this blog, which has been a part of my life since April 2007. I started it when we handed in our dossier figuring it would help keep me busy during our waiting period and would be a good way to update family and friends during our time in Kazakhstan. It went on to become a way to share all of Drew's first experiences with everyone - all of the first holidays, his first birthday in the US, milestones like walking, jumping, talking and potty training and all of the other parts of Drew's life.

There are no words to express the gratitude I feel toward family and friends too numerous to name for fear of leaving anyone out. Thank you for following our journey, and thank you mostly for caring about our little boy and wanting to know what he's up to...

As I end this, Drew just turned 2 1/2 - his speech is coming along amazingly, he's using the potty consistantly, he's starting gymnastics classes next month, he's becoming very bossy and questioning "why" all the time...he's just an amazing child! He makes me laugh every day...and even when's he's driving me crazy, I am more thankful than he could ever know that he is my child...

So - thanks to everyone who's still reading this. Thank you for sharing this part of our lives.

And now to Drew - who I hope someday will read this and learn a little about his history and his journey to becoming our son...

Dear Drew,

Mommy began this blog about six months before we left for Kazakhstan to meet you. It details all of our time in Kazakhstan, as well as the first year of your life at home with us. I hope that you enjoy reading this for years to come and through it learn about lots of things you would have been too young to remember.

I hope through it you will see how much you are loved and how much you were wanted - not only by Daddy and me, but by your brothers, your grandparents, your aunts, uncles and cousins and many other family members and friends. We are all so lucky to have you in our lives.

So this is what I hope for you as you grow up...

I hope that you know you are unconditionally loved every day of your life. We may not always like things that you do or choices you make, but we will always love you and be there for you.

I hope that you are proud of who you are. Proud to be American. Proud to be Kazakh, Proud to be Jewish, and Proud to be Drew Sebastian Esatai Sanders. I hope that Daddy and I have been able to teach you about your birth culture and make it a part of your life. We are so proud of who you are and where you come from.

I hope that we have been able to answer all the questions you may have about your past and where you came from. We will always tell you the truth and will give you all the information we have about you. I hope that you get as many answers as possible to what I'm sure will be your many questions. I hope you know how thankful we are to your birthmother for the gift she has given us. She will forever hold a special place in our hearts.

I hope that you continue to have the strong personality you have now - it will serve you well. Never be afraid to express your opinions, your fears or your dreams. Never be afraid to be who you are.

I hope that you continue to have the infectious smile and laugh that you have now. You have the best smile and laugh in the world, my little boy, I hope to see it every day of your life.

I love you so much Drew...thank you for making me a Mommy - you are the best gift I ever received.

When I first started this blog, I put up a short poem, so it seems an appropriate way to end this:

Not flesh or my flesh
Not bone of my bone
But nonetheless my very own
Never forget for a single minute, that you didn't grow under my heart, but in it...

Happy "A" Day Drew!!!

2008-12-17T18:39:00.000-08:00

Today is the one-year anniversary of Drew's homecoming - his Adoption Day!! I can't believe it's been a year - it's amazing to look back and see what a different child he is now - how different we are now...I know a year ago at this time I was frekaing out because the following day was my first alone with him and I was scared out of my mind!!! LOL...now, it's just normal :) He's such an amazing little boy...I don't know how we got so lucky, but I'm glad we did...We celebrated with a special book "My Fmaily is Forever" and a dinner at Chuck E. Cheese's - I think this will be our new family tradition for A Day!

So - not sure anyone is actually reading this anymore, but I decided to end the blog at the end of the year...it's time to wrap it up and make this into a book for Drew to have as a keepsake someday. This blog has covered the whole adoption process, plus every major milestone for his first year at home...it's amazing to look back on...

For anyone still checking in - thank you for caring enough to follow our amazing journey and sharing our story...it means so much...

I will check in again before Jan. 1!!

An Adoption Poem...

2008-12-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

I saw this poem, and I love it...

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped to make you one.
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love. The second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality. The other gave you a name.
One gave you a talent. The other gave you aim.

One gave you emotions. The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile. The other dried your tears.

One sought for you a home that she could not provide.
The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.

And now you ask me, through your tears,
the age-old question unanswered through the years.
Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?
Neither, my darling. Neither. Just two different kinds of Love.

© Author Unknown

Drew is official!!

2008-12-07T18:21:00.001-08:00

We had Drew's conversion ceremony today - he's now officially Jewish! :) It was a wonderful ceremony and the Rabbi did a fantastic job...GG, Aunts Lysee, Stephanie and Sheri, and Uncle Shawn came up for the festivities...it was just amazing...I feel at peace - that was the last thing that had to be done - and now it's done...well, we're still waiting for his Conn. birth certificate, but other than that - it's done :)

Drew's Hebrew name is David Shmuel - David was my father's name and Shmuel was my maternal grandfather's name - my Pop Pop...Drew is named after two amazing people who I love very much. My father was always my hero - there are no words to describe what he's always meant to me. My grandfather was amazing too and provided me some of my best childhood memories - I can still remember all the Chinese dinners with him and he always order pastachio ice cream at the end of the meal - I thought it was cool cause it was green!

Both of them, besides sharing a birthday, also shared a love of being Jewish - it was who they were, plain and simple. I hope Drew, as he grows, shares that love that they had...he's off to a good start...

Drew's first Thanskgiving....

2008-11-28T10:48:00.000-08:00

Happy slightly belated Thanksgiving :)

We were up in Vermont with my family for Thanksgiving - Aunt Stephie (my SIL) came along too - and it was a great time had by all!! :) A great dinner by GG (What Drew now calls Grama, cause it's much easier to say!), with some help from his aunts Sheri and Lysee and me (Hey, I made the salad!)...Drew didn't eat any turkey (he doesn't eat meat very much), but he LOVED the cranberry sauce and a lot of the fixings...

We tried to dress he and his cousin David up as a pilgrim (David) and an Indian (Drew), but niether of them was too thrilled about their costumes - I thnk we got one or two pics before the hats and outfits came off - oh well...

All in all a good holiday - and lots to be thankful for :)

And now it's Black Friday and I officially started our Hanukkah/Christmas shopping - so much to get, so little time!! Chris and Ben will be with us for Christmas this year - yeah!!!! :) And Christmas and Hanukkah fall at the same time, which will make it extra special - I'm very excited...the older boys will be here the 23rd - I think. We have to check out our box of Christmas stuff and make sure we have enough ornamnets, etc...we'll decorate the tree when Chris and Ben get up here...

All of Drew's paperwork for a Certificate of Foreign birth has been submitted to Probate Court - so hopfully he'll get that in a few weeks. His conversaion is coming up quickly...and I need to weite his first post-placement report to Kaz in the next week or two - wow...this year went fast!!

I know it's been almost 11 months, but...

2008-11-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

...I finally just got around to contacting the Probate Court about getting Drew registered with the state so we can gt a U.S. birth certificate for him. I know, it took me a while, but my goal is to have it done by the time Drew's "A Day" rolls around on Dec. 17. The woman I talked to at Probate Court asked me what country he was from and I said, Kazakhstan (obivously!) and she said, "Wow, never heard of that one!" - So apparently we are the first people in the New Britain area who adopted from there - wierd. Anyway...thankfully his name change was already legally done, we have his citizenship papers and hopefully this will be a smooth and easy process.

Drew is starting to learn cause and effect. He had a really bad day at daycare this week - hitting his best friend Hunter! I felt so bad cause Hunter was so sad about it. So Drew and I had a long talk about how it's bad to hit (or go "boom") and how we need to be nice to our friends. And yesterday I told him if he was a good boy and didn't hit anyone he could have an ice pop after daycare - well, that worked!! Hopefully it keeps up...of course he woke up this morning wanting an ice pop, and wasn't happy to have to wait until later, but he seemed to understand that he could only get one if he didn't hit anyone...

Drew also went on the potty again - his second time!! He's so proud of himself when he does it - it's so funny. And of course we are proud of him too...

Oh - Drew's conversion will take place Dec. 7!!!!!!!! Woo hoo.....

Drew's First Halloween...and Other Stuff Too...

2008-11-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

Drew celebrated his first Halloween last night - and what a night it was! He was dressed as a black cat and had a great time. He was scared at first and didn't understand why he was going to all these strange people's houses, but eventually got the hang of it and started knocking on the doors himself! He liked going through all his candy at home and enjoyed some lollipops and M and Ms before mean Mommy and Daddy made him go to sleep...all in all it was a successful first Halloween.

It was nice, there were so many kids walking around our neighborhood - so much fun! Of course there were lots of houses that didn't have porch lights on, clearly not wanting trick or treaters...how hard it is to buy a bag of candy people?? Sheesh!!!

Drew also FINALLY said his brother Chris' name today!!!!!!!!! He's been saying Ben since the summer, but Chris is much harder to say (He can't say the "k" sound yet) - so it sort of came out like "Diss," but when he talked to his big brothers on the phone tonight he clearly said both of their names!!! He misses his brothers so much and talks about them ALL of the time...of course we all miss Chris and Ben and can't wait until they come here for about two weeks at Christmas... :) Yeah!!

Other than that - things continue to be good with Drew...I'm starting to think how we will celebrate his "A" day (Adoption day - the day he came home) - not sure what we should do. I'd love to do something to celebrate his Kazakh culture that day, but I'm not sure what..oh well - I have until Dec. 17 to figure it out :)

A Big Night for Drew...

2008-10-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

So - what did Drew do last night that was such a big deal...he went on the potty for the first time!!! I think he even surprised himself, but he was very proud and especially excited to flush the toilet. We always tell him when he goes, he can flush...so he was prtty happy :) What a big boy...Of course it will probably be a month before he does it again, but we're on our way...

Drew also, apparently, is the trend setter at day care...Drew likes to wear his Red Sox baseball hat every day and now Hunter has decided he's going to wear a baseball hat every day too. Those two are so funny together. Drew calls his winter jacket a "Hunter" coat cause it has yellow on it, just like Hunter's jacket.

So - Drew is doing well...we're very excited for Halloween - I'll post some pictures of our adorable black cat!

Meetcha Day!!!

2008-10-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

Today is the one-year anniversary of the day we met Drew! Someone I know in the adoption world refered to it as Meetcha Day - I liek that, so I'm going to use it...

That day was probably the most surreal day of my life...it was all a whirlwind.

I remember while we were waiting people always said the child meant to be yours will find you - I never believed it, but I do now...

We are so blessed that Drew found us and let us be his parents.

Apple Picking...

2008-10-11T11:14:00.000-07:00

Today we took Drew apple picking - Drew LOVES apples - he eats them all the time and talks about eating them all the time...so he was very excited to see all the apple trees. He had fun pulling the apples down, though he wanted to eat them all instead of putting them in the bag...he had lots of bites! He liked the pumpkins too, but they weren't nearly as exciting as the apples...obviously!!

Drew enjoyed going to temple for Yom Kippur this week - he LOVES the Torah!! He talked about it quite a bit and liked kissing it as it came around. At one point, near the very end of the servvice on Thursday, the ark was open for Neilah (not spelling right I know) and it was pretty quiet and Drew pointed at the Torahs and said, "Mommy, Torah!!" - he was pretty loud, I thought it was funny, but not sure others did..oh well...

I'm still trying to get a date for his conversion...they usually only do them during the week, but I'm trying to get it for a Sunday, so I need to check on that this week...can't wait to get him converted and named already!!

It was a year ago this weekend that Patrick and I left for Kazakhstan - having no idea what to expect or who our child would be...a year later I can't imagine that there ever could have been another child meant to be ours...we are very lucky.

Happy New Year Drew..

2008-10-02T16:47:00.000-07:00

Drew enjoyed his first Rosh Hashana this week...he especially liked the apples and challah in sugar and honey - he will definitely have a sweet new year.

He did pretty well in temple - he loved the Torah and talkeda bout it a lot, not liking when it went bye-bye! He also liked listening to the shofar and running around. A very nice policeman let Drew sit in the police car too, which was very exciting - though I think he was disappointed they didn't let him run the siren...

We spent the first day of Rosh Hashana at Bubbie's and the second day at Grama's - saw lots of and lots of family and had a great time...

Drew is continuing to say more words and speak in 2-3 word sentences - his speech therapist is pleased with his progress and so are his mommy and daddy. :)

Drew and Daddy are having a male bonding weekend - I'm leaving for Miami for work early Sat. morning...I hope they have a good time!! And I hope I have some beach time!!

Talktive little boy...

2008-09-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

Drew talks constantly these days - from the time he gets up in the morning, to the time he goes to sleep - he's always talking and talking and talking. Of course, his vocabulary is a bit limited right now, so he's not a great conversationalist, but he's tryng...

This past weekend Patrick and I were talking about "Donna" who used to work at AP with Patrick. All of the sudden, Drew started saying Donna (and very well enunciated I might add!)...he also used "Donna" when talking about McDonald's - so I think he thinks Donna is McDonalds - still working that one out...

When we went to McDonald's this weekend, he got a Batman toy in his Happy Meal and started saying "Batman." He even started singing along to teh TV theme song,"Da, nun, nu, nu, nu...Batman!!"

So - those are his latest words...he's also saying nail, mail, bite and eat a lot...and he's been saying Apple juice, rather than just juice...though he calls every liquid apple juice, even milk...

But, his speech is coming along very well...we still talk a a lot about men mowing all the time, but at least we've added some new stuff to talk about - LOL...

Popular Drew...

2008-09-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

While dropping Drew off for daycare this morning, I ran into his friend Hunter's mom. Hunter and Drew are almost exactly the same age - I think Hunter is about 2 weeks older than Drew. Anyway, since Hunter started daycre a few months ago, the two boys have become great friends and always like to eat together and play together.

After saying Mommy, Daddy, Diane and Lou Lou (his other daycare provider), Hunter was the first name Drew said and he talks about Hunter constantly and apparently Hunter talks about Drew constantly.

So, this morning Hunter's mom was coming in as I was leaving and she told me how upset Hunter was when Drew was out last week for his surgery and how happy Hunter is that Drew is back. Then she said that at 3 a.m. this morning, Hunter woke up and srarted crying for Drew!!!!

I was hysterical...I mean, that's a bit much, but it's so funny!!! I can only imagine Hunter's mom having to get up at 3 a.m. to hear her child cry about Drew...LOL...

Anyway - that was how my day started this morning :)

A late night...

2008-09-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

Last night after Patrick put Drew down to sleep, he commented that it was so great that Drew goes to bed very easily and sleeps through the night...so of course, Drew was restless all last night and up a lot!

The funny thing is, when he's awake, even if it's the middle of the night, he expects it to be light out and gets very upset when it's not...at around Midnight, last night, he was pointing to his window and saying, "Mommy, Daddy..oh no!!!!"

So - Drew got about 6 hours of sleep last night and Patrick and I each got 3-4...UGH!!

I hope Drew sleeps tonight!

Ready for Halloween

2008-09-13T18:03:00.000-07:00

We took Drew to the party store today and let him pick out his Halloween costume...so choosing between a puppy, kitty, bumble bee, Thomas the Train and somethig I else that I'm forgetting - he chose to be a kitty - or "num num" as he calls them...we tried the costume on him in the store and he looked soooo cute - espeically when he was running around holding his pumpkin for the candy - I can't wait to get him all dressed up to go out!! he's going to be the cutest kitty in Connecticut...

Of course Daddy the pushover also bought him a tiger hat he wanted and then a Boston Red Sox hat a few minutes later at Babys R Us...Drew wore his hats all day and went to sleep in his Red Sox PJs and Red Sox hat - I took a picture to send to granddad, but of course I didn't have the memory card in the camera, so Granddad won't have to see his grandson in Red Sox gear! (Granddad is a big Yankees fan!!).

Drew is very into nails lately - I don't know why - maybe cause it's a new word for him?? He loves to point out everyone's nails, including Peyton's and we had to get him new nail clippers today too...I guess he just likes having nice manicured nails -nothing wrong with that!

He's recovering well from his surgery and didn't need pain medicine all day today, which is great. His bandage comes off tomorrow...so it looks like he's fine to go back to daycare Monday, which will make Mommy and Daddy's bosses very happy!!

Not much else going on here - watching football today and tomorrow - it's the Steelers-Browns game on national TV tomorrow night. Somehow I think I'll be the one going to sleep depressed tomorrow night, instead of Patrick...oh well :(

Thank goodness it's over!!

2008-09-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

Well - Drew's surgery is done and he's on the road to recovery. He's doing great - acting like he never had surgery and I am very relieved!!! He doesn't seem to be in pain, though he talks about his "boo-boo" when I change his diaper. He's been running around and trying to jump all over the place today, so everthing seems to be fine. Whew...huge load off my mind...

Now I need to get in touch with the rabbi and schedule his conversion ceremony...hopefully by the end of October/begining of November...and then we're done :)

Now we just have to get him to the dentist... :)

I'm a nervous mom....

2008-09-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

I just talked to the hospital and got the instructions for Drew's circumcision surgery. We have to be there at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, but he can't have any food after midnight and no liquids after 8 a.m. He is going to be a very unhappy, cranky boy! Thankfully he can have apple juice and ice pops until 8 a.m. and he loves ice pops and always cries when we won't let him have more than one - he'll be in his glory on Wednesday.

They said we can be with him until he falls asleep and when he wakes up, so that's good too. I told the nurse he has seperation anxiety and doesn't do well when neither Patrick or myself are around. We will also bring bunny with us for comfort...

I just hope it goes well and he's OK afterwards and there's not a lot of pain for him. I'm very worried...

Of course I got the typcial questions about his birth and exaplained that he was born full term, but other than that I didn't really know anything. Then she said, so you don't know his parents' medical history? I really wanted to say - yes, I know his PARENTS medical history, just not his BIRTHPARENTS medical history, but I refrained as this woman will be taking care of my child and I didn't want to piss her off...

I really wish people would learn the correct terminology!!

That's it...I hope Drew will be OK...

A rainy weekend coming up...

2008-09-05T07:09:00.000-07:00

It's going to be a looooooong weekend in the Sanders house - with all the rain headed our way, we won't be going outside and Drew will not be a happy boy. We were supposed to go to a picnic sponsored by our adoption agency tomorrow - now that's cancelled. It also was cancelled in May, due to rain - now they're not going to hold it until next May...I was really hoping to meet some other families with internatioally-adopted kids who are around Drew's age...oh well :(

Let's see...what's new with Drew...

He's in a very clingy stage these days - crying when he goes to daycare and clinging to us and crying when it's bedtime - he's never cried when going to sleep - he loves his bed and we always let him play with toys until he falls asleep. So, hopefully this is just a normal 2-year-old phase he will outgrow soon!!

Other than that he's good - speaking much more. His new favorite toy is his "man" - a little toy man he likes to take everywhere...it's just funny when he looks around the house and calls out "Maaan..."

I think that's about it - have a good and dry weekend everyone!

Take me out to the ballgame...

2008-08-24T05:46:00.000-07:00

Patrick took Drew to his first baseball game Friday night!! It was a special Daddy/Drew outing and everyone had fun - especially Mommy who didn't have to sit through a baseball game!

They went to a Connecticut Defenders game - minor leage, Double AA I think, but I could be wring about that. In any case, they had a great time at the game, Drew ran around with a whole bunch of kids, he got a ball and a bat, which he's been carrying around for two days now and he had a great time!

So - it looks like all three boys love going to baseball games with Dad - he's in his glory!! :)

Yesterday we met with our Chavurah (temple group) at a park for a picnic - lots of fun - great playground that the kids had fun on. Then Drew and I spend the afternoon visiting my friend Sara and her twins - Zach and Abby - who are adorable!! We had fun.

No big plans for today...except for Mom to hit the mall for great sales!!

A boy and his sneakers....

2008-08-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

Two days after Drew came home, Grama and I took him to Stride Rite to buy him his first sneakers. He was a size 4, so they didn't have many choices. He got a nice white pair with some blue and yellow on them.

About three months later, Drew's feet had grown so we went back to Stride Rite. He was about a size 5.5 now, but still, they didn't have many choices in style, so we kept with the same ones we got the first time.

Yesterday, Patrick and I took Drew sneaker shopping, again at Stride Rite, and lo and behold he's now a size 6 and they make many more styles. So we picked out a couple to try on thinking it would be nice to try a new style of sneaker.

Drew was not having that at all!!!

He cried when we put his new sneakers on, saying, "No, No, No..." Then he pointed at the sneakers that looked like "his" sneakers and said, "Drew, Drew..." We tried a few times to put different sneakers on him, but he was not having it...

So - we left the store with a new pair of the same old sneakers...

I guess he just loves the style??!!!

--------------------------------------

He's been talking much more in possessives - pointing out what is Mommy's, what is Daddy's and what is Drew's...somehow most things end up being Daddy's or Drew's - not sure how that happens!

Kazakhstan update...

2008-08-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

So many disturbing things going on with Kazakhstan adoption these days...though still officially open to Americans, it's becoming more and more difficult to adopt from there...

As of Sept. 15, only agencies that have Hague accreditation may work in Kazakhstan. I admit, I'm not too sure what this really means, but I do know that the largest U.S. agency to work in Kaz. does not have this accreditation, in addition to others. This should significantly slow down adoptions.

In addition, the N.Y. Consulate will no longer process dossiers, they all must go through the Embassy in D.C., which is notoriously slow and allegedly will only process two a month from any agency - wow! That is insane, huh?? Additionally, documents may be no older than 4-months old by the time they reach the embassy. Anyone who has put together a dossier (and Kaz. has one of the largest, with more than 30 required documents!), knows that it is impossible to have all your documents have the same dates. For example, the dossier has to include fingerprints and a letter from the FBI saying you have no criminal record - that can take 3 weeks or longer to obtain. So, by the time many of these documents make it to the Embassy, they have to be redone and the process starts all over.

I know I've said it before, but I will say it again...this is crazy!!!!!!!!! There are sooo many children over there that need homes - if Kazakhstan thinks these kids should stay in their own country, fine, but then people from that country should adopt them, not leave them in orphanages!

Adoption is never easy - no matter how it's done...but there's just no reason to make it harder than it needs to be :(

_______________________________________

On a happier note...Drew is having fun watching the Olympics!

The other night we cheered for the Kazakh boxer, who won!! And last night Drew and I watched equestrian events. Every time the horse jumped, Drew said, "Wow!" and at the end of the event he clapped when he heard the people on TV clapping...he is too cute for word!! :)

______________________________________

Carolyn - Otto lives on!!! :)

Full circle....

2008-08-08T05:57:00.000-07:00

In 1997, when Patrick was an editor at The Hour in Norwalk and I was a reporter there, I gave him a leapord Beanie Baby named Freckles as a going-away gift. At that time, Beanie Babies were all the rage - I wrote stories about people who would line up for hours just to buy a Beanie Baby. They were the pre-Internet version of Webkins...

Through the years, Patrick has kept that Beanie Baby on his desk at his various jobs....

Yesterday, Patrick took Drew to work with him for a little while and Drew spotted Freckles on his desk and immediately said, "mine, mine...num, num" (Num, Num, is really meow, meow and what he calls cats).

So Freckles now belongs to Drew, who likes to stage fights between "Num Num" and "Bunny" - "Num, Num" usually wins...

I said to Patrick last night, "So, when I gave you Freckles, if I had said that 11 years from now we will be married and our son will claim Freckles, what would you have said??"

I guess everything comes full cirle....

_________________________________

On another note - tonight is the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE the Olympics, I am OBSESSED with the Olympics, I can not overstate my fascination with the Olympics...

I'm hooping to get Drew into the 2020 Olympic games - he can already do somersaults and he likes to swing on bars...he's a natural gymnast. And, he can compete with either Kazakhstan or the U.S. - how great is that dual citizenship thing, huh???

So for the next two weeks or so, we will be watching the games and rooting for both of our countries! Go USA, Go Kazakhstan!!!

Big boy bed....

2008-08-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

Well - it was inevitable that Drew would outgrow his bed and be ready for his toddler bed...he was ready way before I was though! Today we made the change - my little boy is gone - replaced by a big boy who can now climb in and out of his own bed...

He thought it was cool when Patrick took the side off and we showed him how to do it, though he was a little freaked out at bedtime - a little confused...but he did OK and he's sleeping like a baby (or should I say big boy) now. So we have the gate up so he can't go down the stairs or anything. I wonder how long it will take for him to realize he can get up and walk around his room after we put him in bed and he can also come see us in the morning, rather than waiting for us to get him...

Daddy also bought Drew a 10-gallon aquarium today! It's all set up, but the water needs to filter for about 24 hours before fish can go in, so we'll go fish shopping tomorrow. Drew's favorite book these days is "A Fish out of Water" - he loves Otto - so now every fish is named Otto!! This should be funny to watch tomorrow...

Drew and Daddy are on vacation together this week - so hopefully they will have fun and live to talk about it - LOL!! I'll be slaving away at work :)

Other than that - Drew continues to be funny, crazy, grouchy, crabby and generally wonderful!! :) He's speaking more and more each day it seems and his speech therapist doesn't think he'll need her help for too long. He picks up things amazingly quickly. He's still loving all his puzzles and today we played with Mr. Potato Head and he loved it. He's still fascinated by all things having to do with animals and cars, he loves to use his bubble grill and make bubbles...and that's all I can think of right now! :)

Fun, busy weekend...

2008-07-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

We all had a great weekend....

On Saturday Grama, Uncles Steve and Shawn, and Aunts Lysee and Sheri came for a visit - we had so much fun together. We miss Uncle Steve VERY much and it was nice to all hang out. We even did a corn challenge (thank you Patrick for organizing!!) we had blind taste test comparing Jersey corn with Connecticut corn - Patrick did not believe us Jersians could pick out Jersey corn or that it really tasted better. Of the four of us who took part, all four picked the Jersey corn in a blind test! So there!!

Drew got some fun puzzles from Grama that talk to him when he puts the pieces in the right place...it's fun to hear "Circle," "Oval," "Square" over and over again - LOL!! Drew is loving them though and he's starting to repeat some of the words, which was really the point of the puzzles...

Yesterday, Drew and I went to the Norwalk (CT) Aquarium and met Erik, Marcie, Rebecca and Leah for a fun day. Patrick wasn't feeling well and had to miss the fun, but the rest of us had a good time. Drew loved the seals and the big fish - he was calling some of them "Otto" because he has a book about a big fish named Otto. Rebecca and Leah were too cute with Drew. Rebecca just wanted to pick him up and would not take no for an answer!! She and Leah held his hand and pushed his stroller and argued over who would get to sit next to him at lunch. I tried to tell them he wasn't that exciting to sit next to!! They were too cute and Drew liked the attention I think! He also loved being held by his cousin Erik. It was really a great day. We don't get too many chances to see our cousins in one on one situations, so it's nice to plan these get togethers when we can. We also stopped by Thierry's new house and saw him and Stacy - what a gorgeous house!!! I would love to just live on his back porch!! :)

That's about it from here...Drew had his first speech therapy session last week and it went very well. She said he had a great attention span and gave us some good tips to help him along. He does seem to be trying to repeat more. I'm not too concerned - I know he's a smart little boy and the words will come...

Not much new...

2008-07-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

Hi all...not much new going on, but I hadn't posted in a while...

I was in Vegas last week for work - seeing Uncle Steve, Aunt Lizzie and the guy who played Vito on Sopranos were the highlights of the trip. The work stuff was crazy and busy. I lost $12 :(

Chris and Ben are back in West Virginia now - we all miss them very much. Drew keeps going into their room and looking for them and calling "Be" - which is short for Ben. He can't say Chris yet, but I think "Be" is actually short for Ben and Chris.

Drew's latest accomplishment is his ability to recognize the Cleveland Browns' logo!! That's my boy! We have a magnet of their helmet (which is also their logo) and he likes to carry it around and show us that it matches his Browns' plate and utensils and also a Browns' mug in Chris' room...how cool is that? I'm very proud of him.

He continues to try and say more and more words - some of which I understand, some of which I don't. We start speech therapy tomorrow, which I'm very excited about. Since he understands everything, he just needs some help letting the words come out...once they do, I don't think they'll stop!

This weekend is a busy one...

On Saturday Grama, Uncle Steve, Aunt Lysee, Aunt Sheri, and Uncle Shawn are coming up to visit - yeah!!!!!!!!!! Drew hasn't seen Uncle Steve in a long time and we're all excited to get together...and Grama's bringing the Jersey corn - yum!! :) After all, it is corn season and the Rosenberg family likes to get together and discuss the corn - is it as good as last year? How does it compare to the corn from 1992? Those types of things...your typical corn conversations that I'm sure all families have, right?

On Sunday, we are meeting some of our Roth cousins - Erik, Marcie, Rebecca and Leah -at the Maritime Aquairum in Norwalk - Marcie and I planned this a long time ago and I'm very excited to get together. It will be fun...

And that's it from Drew's world...

I will add - Patrick and I have both joined Facebook if anyone out there would like to "friend" us :) I'm sort of obsessed right now...

Cool pictures and other stuff....

2008-07-12T15:35:00.000-07:00

Check out the pictures from the birthday party on the side of the blog - just a few of the great pictures that George took!! George - thank you again for the great pictures...they are all amazing!!!

Today we had Drew's trial gymnastics class and he loved it - he enjoyed swinging from the bars and walking on the beam and playing with all the other equipment. He was shy at firsst, but by the end was playing ball with Miss Lori and chasing bubbles with all the other kids - we're going to sign him up for classes in the fall.

Tonight Drew and I are hanging home while Patrick, Chris and Ben go to a ball game - go RockCats!

We had a BBQ before the guys all left and it was good...Drew had his first corn on the cob and he enjoyed it - though it was definitely not good Jersey corn - still too early in the season. Drew also dipped his pasta salad into ketchup - yuck! It made me laugh though - reminded me of my father who used to do the same thing :)

Cause down the shore everything's alright......

2008-07-06T17:47:00.001-07:00

OK - 10 points if you know what song the title of this blog is from!!!! :)

We just got back from the shore and as you can see by a few pictures on the side of the blog we had a great time!

We left Thursday afternoon around 1:30ish and got down there around 7 p.m. (for those of you not from NJ - you always go down the shore, not to the shore...)- not too bad for stopping twice and driving on the Thursday before a long weekend. We stayed at the Surfside Motel - it was three blocks from the beach and boarwalk and very cute and clean - nice hotel if anyone's looking for a place down the shore. As soon as we got out of the car, you could smell that shore air - ahhhh - it's the best smell in the world - brings back memories of my whole life - from childhood through now...I love the Shore!!!

Anyway - we took a walk up to the beach and boardwalk Thursday night - had a great time - played a few games...I think that first night is when Drew won his stuffed fish - his first boardwalk prize - the first of many I'm sure...

Drew also enjoyed his first boardwalk rides - the merry go round with Daddy and a car ride with Mommy!!

Friday morning we went to visit with Dave, Carolyn and Nicholas at Carolyn's beach house in Seaside Heights (Midway Beach) - we had a lot of fun, even though it was Freeeeeezing on the beach. The older boys were crazy and went in the ocean. Drew and Nicholas played in Nick's wading pool and Drew had a very good time and also enjoyed his birthday presents. We had a BBQ for lunch and then headed back to Pt. Pleasant, but not before deciding that next year for vacation we'd like to rent a beach house!! :)

We hit the boardwalk more Friday night, and the big boys went in the ocean more - I don't know how they didn't catch hypothermia...crazy boys! More boardwalk crap was won...Patrick and I tried to win me a Coach purse, but couldn't :( Oh well...

Friday night Opa came down and met us for dinner - we went to a great restaurant and most of us had some very good seafood!! Yum!!! Good restaurant choice by Opa! :) Then it was time to go back to the boardwalk for fireworks on the beach...they were nice and really long - I said about 8 times - "I think this is the finale..."

Saturday was a yucky, rainy day so not that much fun at the beach...the older boys managed to get some time in the ocean though and Drew was sort of out of sorts all day (that's the nice way to say bratty!), so we didn't do too much. We had dinner on the boardwalk - Chris and Ben got some great (say sarcastically!) boardwalk prizes - the highlights being Chris' lava lamp and Ben's volcano that plays music...we also brought home assorted basketballs, footballs, stuffed animals and other junk, I mean prizes! :) Uncle Steve would be proud!!! He is the king of boardwalk crap!

We left early Sunday morning and made great time to Grama's house where we hung out and had lunch - good subs!! And Grama had a cake for Chris, since we never get to celebrate his birthday with him - so he enjoyed that very much!

Shockingly, we hit no traffic from NJ to Connecticut - and we are now home, unpacked, Drew's asleep, laundry is almost done and I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed...

In any case - a wonderful weekend down the shore!!!! I loved taking all the boys there...Chris and Ben have been before, and I love that they love it there, and I love that Drew had a good time...it's nice to see you kids enjoy something that you have loved your whole life...could I say the word love any mroe in that sentance??

Oh - and before I forget - speaking of enjoyed - we all enjoyed great boardwalk food!! Pizza, calzones, fried oreos, cotton candy, funnel cake, french fries...the list goes on and on and the diet starts again tomorrow!

Drew's groupies....

2008-07-01T06:50:00.000-07:00

I think I've written before about Drew's love of musical instruments - he loves anything musical - especially guitars! He has a Barney guitar he loves to play and you should see him jam out during "Guitar Hero" - he's got all the moves down.

Well, lately, as soon as he walks into daycare each morning, the other kids there take turns handing him his favorite Wiggles guitar...seriously, as soon as he walks in someone comes over and hands him the guitar. It's hysterical!! And apparently they all get excited to do this for him, I have no idea why...apparently Drew has some star power!

Once his guitar is in hand, he either throws "bunny" to the floor (cause what cool rocker carries a bunny around, right?) and starts jamming, or he hands bunny off to one of the other kids...

My child cracks me up...as bratty and whiny as he can be sometimes, he is just way too cute for word!

A wonderful day....

2008-06-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

Drew and Ben's party on Saturday was wonderful!!

So many family and friends were there, kids were running all over the backyard playing and having a blast, the food was great (thank you Crown) and the weather held up - no rain!!

Grandmother, granddad and Uncle Phil arrived on Friday from West Virginia and Hazelton, Pa. respectively - so we hung out with them a bit, which was nice since we hadn't seen them in a while. Saturday we were all up early to give Ben his birthday gifts (and Chris too since it was a joint gift) and then get ready for the party. The older boys were huge helps, couldn't have done it without them. Drew was not as helpful, but since he's 2, we'll forgive him...

The party started at 2 p.m. and people came from all over - Rhode Island, NJ, NY, Connecticut and Aunt Sheri flew in from Milwaukee - woo hoo!! It was non-stop for hours and by the time Drew went to sleep he was a sandy, messy, way ovetired, but happy little boy...Ben and Chris were tired too, but probably cause they stayed up until about 2 a.m. playing their new Wii...

I want to thank everyone who made the trip from near and far - we are sooo lucky to have such wonderful family and friends and we appreciate you all. I don't want to single anyone out because I'm afraid I will forget someone and you all made the party so special...looking out the back porch door and seeing the yard filled with people talking and laughing and having fun just made my day.

George - who became the offical party photographer - took a ton of pics so I will post some when I get them - they are sure to be way, way better than the few I took!!!

So - the June birthdays are over (boooo....) and now we move on to 4th of July weekend at the Jersey Shore - the place where the 4th of July was meant to be celebrated!!!! We leave for Pt. Pleasant on Thursday afternoon - I can't wait!!! This Jersey Girl can't wait to get to the boardwalk and the beach and feel that sun on my face and eat some boardwalk pizza and cotton candy while playing games and winning stuffed animals!!! :)

What a big boy!!

2008-06-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

Drew has grown by leaps and bounds since he got home....

He had his 2-year-old checkup today and he's now in the 50th percentile for height and the 25th for weight! When he first came home he was in the 5-10th percentile for both...woo hoo - go Drew!! His head circ. is still in the 95th percentile too - he's got some big brains my son!! :) At least now he's a little more proportional!! LOL...

Drew is 34 inches tall and weighs 26 pounds...

He can now try peanut butter and can go from drinking whole milk to reduced fat milk...

Drew had some vaccines today - he's now all caught up!!! Yeah!! He's right where he should be for a 2-year-old and doesn't need any more shots until he's 4.

Drew' pediatrician told me today not to even worry about toilet training until he's 2.5 - she said he's too young right now and it's not something you want to push on him..so that's fine. No reason to rush that.

Next up on the medical front...circumcision...oy! That's scheduled for Sept. 10...not looking forward to that - my poor little boy :(

Birthday update...

2008-06-25T18:09:00.000-07:00

...as you can see from the pictures on the side of the blog, Drew enjoyed his birthday cake!!!!! We had to help him along in putting his hands in it, but once we did he really got the hang of it and enjoyed himself!!!! Don't worry, he won't be doing that on Saturday...though I can't speak for Ben - LOL!!! :)

It was a great 2nd birthday for Drew - rightnow he's fast asleep with his new cars and train in his crib....

Happy Birthday Drew!!!!

2008-06-25T05:56:00.000-07:00

Drew Sebastian Esatai Sanders turns 2 today!!!!

Drew started his day with the singing of "Happy Birthday" by Mommy and Daddy - Drew likes when we sing "Happy Birthday" to him and then he pretends to blow out candles...he'll be excited tonight to do it for real.

Drew brought Munchkins in to daycare today to celeberate his special day and apparently they are having a picnic today and Drew has a crown to wear and there will be cupcakes and gifts!

Tonight we're having a special birthday dinner - fried fish, Grandma Molly's macaroni and cheese (a special family recipe!), salad and of course a big cake for dessert.

Drew already got his gifts from Mommy and Daddy and last night Daddy put together his new sand and water fun factory from Grama - he loves it and has already tracked sand all over the house. He has a gift waiting at home from Aunt Stephie and Uncle Bryan and some cards too - so Drew should have a very good day today :)

So - everyone cross your figners and toes that the weather will be OK for Saturday - we could have some scattered storms, but hopefully they will scatter away from New Britain - or before 1 p.m. or after 6 p.m. - that would be great...If anyone knows a sun dance, I'd appreciate some help here...

Well - I can't believe my little boy is 2 - he's such a big boy now!! We have his 2-year-old checkup tomorrow so I can't wait to see how much he's grown. I think he gets some vaccinations tomorrow too - boo!!!!

Everyone have a happy Drew's birthday!!!

To Drew's birthmom - Wherever you are, I hope you are well and that today isn't too hard a day for you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for our little boy. He is a dream come true and the answer to my prayers...

A good day to be Drew....

2008-06-22T04:46:00.000-07:00

As Chris said, yesterday was a good day to be Drew!! He got his birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy - a new little cottage of his own (154 1/2 Sterling St.) and a slide/climbing wall/basketball hoop combo thingy (not it's real name!). He loved them both and had a good time standing in his house, opening and closing the windows, yelling "Ma!!"

So - happy early birthday Drew!!!

We have a big week coming up - Drew's birthday is Wednesday and Grama is coming up for a little party - yeah!!

Our BIG party is Saturday, which also happens to be Ben's birthday!! I can't wait to see all our friends and family...PRAY for SUN!!!!!!!! So far the forecast shows the possibility of showers in the morning, sunny and 82...OK - I'll take it :)

OK - busy day coming up - we're seeing our Chavurah this morning for brunch, tons of party-related errands and other errands this afternoon, the big boys are going to see the Indiana Jones movie, etc...

Oh - I forgot to mention...last night Patrick and I went out for dinner BY OURSELVES for the first time in 6 months!!! Woo hoo...we left Ben and Chris in charge after Drew went to sleep...it was very nice! Of course we spent msot of the time talking about all the boys - LOL...what can ya do? :)

OK - off to start the day....

The brothers are here!!!

2008-06-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

Drew was completely shocked this weekend when, while taking a bath, his big brothers walked in!! He sort of stared at them and then immediately wanted to get out of the bathtub - something he never does!! Needless to say, Drew was very excited to see Chris and Ben and I know he will really have a great time in the next five weeks while they are here.

We all enjoyed a nice Father's Day - especially Patrick who got to celebrate with all three boys!! He got nice gifts - tickets to a baseball game from Chris and Ben and a Red Sox jersey from Drew - and we grilled out for dinner. Ben and Patrick spent the morning playing softball too, which always makes for a fun Sunday - for Patrick anyway! :)

Tomorrow marks 6 months that Drew has been home - crazy!! He's still doing great - speaking more, even though some of the time I don't know what he's saying. He's saying mom and mommy all the time now, which makes me very happy though :) He also seems to call most foods "apple." Now that he's been home for 6 months we can have him re-evaluated by Birth-3, so we'll see what they have to say.

Drew is climbing more and running more and is a very active little boy - he loves to hang off of his crib and climb on tables and run around the yard and bounce on his ball and ride in his car and mow with his lawnmower - "mow" is one of his words too. Anytime anyone in the neighborhood is mowing, Drew lets us know!

We recently sent a letter to the Kazakh embassy, along with pictures of Drew, urging them to continue processing US adoptions. Our agency asked us to do this as things are moving very slow and many, many people are having their paperwork rejected in Washington, DC, though the program is officially open for US adoptions. I hope they will move things along so others can bring their children home soon...

We've recently been reading on a Yahoo site specifically for those who have adopted from Taraz about a lot of corruption going on over there - people being told they have to pay thousands of extra dollars just to get a court date and stuff like that. How awful!! It makes me very say, and very grateful that we didn't have anything like that happen to us. We were very, very lucky with our in-country experience, even though it may not have seemed like it at the time...

and before I forget...Happy Birthday Aunt Laurie!!!!!!

Mommy's Birthday....

2008-06-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me! :)

Drew and Patrick woke me up this morning with a cute little birthday cake...Drew insisted on blowing out the candles, and he did really well - got all four on the first try and even clapped for himself. I tried to tell him that his birthday was still two weeks away, but he didn't seem to care! He also enjoyed the chocolate cake very much...he's definitely ready for his big day...

Patrick, Chris, Ben and Drew all got me a spa pacakge - very cool - and Patrick sent me beautiful callalillies (my favorite!) at work...all in all a good birthday...

Off to pick up Drew - maybe he'll take me out for dinner for my birthday? I'll have to see how he feels about that. Patrick is en route to W Va. to pick up Drew's big brothers...

We'll all be together by tomorrow night - woo hoo!!!

We're done!!!

2008-06-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

We had our last required meeting with our adoption agency and we are officially completely done - we have fulfilled every requirement asked of us and no one can take Drew away from us - woo hoo!!!!!

Of course for the next 16 years we have to send annual reports on Drew to people in Kazakhstan, but that's OK...just an annual excuse for his proud parents to brag about him :)

Drew continues to be great - of course! He's talking so much more, and not just baby babble - he's actually saying words, though much of the time I have no idea what he's saying. Hey, it's an improvement. he's been saying moma or mom a lot lately and likes to tell us when he wants to go up or down.

His guitar skills are coming along nicely too - LOL...He loves to play his little guitar and he also plays air guitar - he's hysterical. it's especially funny when he plays air guitar, while dancing around and shaking his little butt! Sometimes he just makes us laugh with how funny he is.

Not much else to report right now...just happy that Drew is doing so well and making us smile every single day! :)

Too Hot!!!!

2008-06-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

It is way too hot for early June...it's been in the 90s all weekend, which limits the amount of time we can spend outside - Drew was not a happy boy this weekend! We had to put in our air conditioners already and Drew loved that, though he likes turning them on and off, which is not a good thing...

Hopefully it will turn cooler later this week....

Not much else is new...Drew has learned how to make "fart" sounds, which is soo lovely! He also learned how to get his gag reflex going...again, lovely! The joy of a little boy I guess!! LOL...

Interesting moment...

2008-06-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

So...the other day I got a call from Miss Diane (Drew's daycare provider) - Drew had fallen and bumped his nose and it was beeding heavily and she was worried. I told her that when Drew gets bloody noses they last a long time and there's a lot of blood, but as long as he's not crying and he seems fine otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it. Needless to say, Drew was fine and once it stopped bleeding, he was back to playing...

I was recounting this story to Grama who told me how Aunt Sheri also used to have horrible nose bleeds when she was little and they would gush and it was gross...

My first immediate though was, "Oh, I guess that's where Drew gets it from."

Of course a moment after that I realized that was obviously not the case, but it was so cool having that moment where I didn't remember that Drew was adopted...

Obviously I know I'm Drew's mother in every shape, way and form, but it was nice in that split second to completely forget that I didn't give bith to him and we don't share biology and obviously his nose bleeds have nothing biologically to do with Aunt Sheri's nose bleeds..

It's hard to explain, but it was just a nice feeling to have :)

Other than that - things are fine here...I am covered from head to toe in poison ivy though - it's awful!!!!!!!! But better I get it than Drew...Last year Ben had it pretty bad, so I guess it was my turn - lucky me...

The older boys will be here next weekend!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!! Drew will be soo excited to see his big brothers and spend lots of time with them. We have a fun summer planned - a big b-day party on June 28 for Drew and Ben (whose birthdays are 3 days apart - Drew on the 25th and Ben on the 28th) and we're also going down to to the Jersey shore for 4th of July weekend - woo hoo!!! Uncle Teevie - I'm calling you from outside the Tiki Bar!! LOL... I'm going to turn Drew into a Jersey Boy yet!

And of course, next weekend is my birthday and then Father's Day - Drew's first with his daddy and the first in a while where Chris and Ben will be here - so it will be a good day...

That's it for now!

Drew loves a parade....

2008-05-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

Drew went to his first parade today - Farmington's Memorial Day parade...he had a blast!! We sat in a good spot under a shady tree and the nice woman next to us gave Drew an American flag to wave. Drew loved waving at all the cars and the people - he waved at everyone and even yelled excitedly at a few people - he was so funny. He waved his American flag triumphantly, and ran for the candy that the Girl Scouts threw...it was a very good time and watching him brought tears to my eyes...

We had a very good Memorial Day weekend - Uncle Phil came to visit and meet Drew for the first time, we had the parade today and we also gardened today. Drew had fun helping me plant flowers and play in the dirt.

Drew LOVES to be outside and gets really mad when we make him come in. Except for his nap, he was outside all day today.

Watching him run around the backyard just make me sooo happy...when we bought the house we talked about how great it would be to have a little kid running around the backyard and now that dream has finally come true...

It's offically summer now and we will be very busy I'm sure...only three weeks until the older boys come to stay with us...Drew will be so excited when his big brothers are here all the time. He looks at their pictures all the time and kisses them...

Well - back to work and daycare tomorrow...thank goodness it's a 4-day week!

Drew's first haircut!!

2008-05-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

Drew had his first big-boy haircut today and he was so good! I figured he'd freak out and cry, but there was none of that. He very calmly sat on my lap and let Bernadette cut his hair...he even giggled when she used the clippers on him - he was so cute. She said he was so good he could come back anytime! I posted a picture on the side of the blog to show how cute he looks!!

Tomorrow is Drew's 23-month birthday - I can't believe he's going to be 2 soon - crazy!

Today Drew and I went to the playground at the school a couple of blocks from our house and we played on the slides and in the sandbox. Drew and I made lots of sandcastles and then Drew decided it would be great to take a huge handful of sand and shove it in his mouth!! He then looked at me and said, "MMMMM..." - I couldn't help it - I had to laugh!! Then I pulled as much sand as I could out of his mouth and we went back on the slides...

Tomorrow Uncle Phil is coming to meet Drew so we're excited to see him...Monday we plan to take Drew to his first parade..we watched the Indianapolis 500 parade on TV tonight and Drew waved to all the people waving in the parade, so I'm sure he will love it more in person.

So - that's about all from here...

Happy Birthday Carolyn!!!

Mazel Tov to Judy P. and her family on Rachel's wedding next weekend!!

Have a good Memorial Day weekend everyone....

Drew's latest obsession....

2008-05-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

Drew has recently started to play more with the few toy cars he has, so this weekend his Daddy bought him a carrying-case shapped like an 18-wheeler filled with about 15 matchbox cars!

The cars go everywhere - under beds, down the stairs, in the car to daycare...all around the house. And they are usually accompanied by Drew saying, "Brrrr, brrr..." like a car noise (not the brr it's cold noise!)

He's so funny with these cars. On Sunday night he would not go to sleep unless I let him take a car into bed with him - he was clutching it tightly when I put him down and still clutching it when I went in his room Monday morning.

Everytime he hears a car noise he gets excited - he went crazy at Aunt Lysee and Uncle Shawn's apartment last weekend with all the honking and beeping in the City...

The kid just loves cars!!

It makes me wonder if it's instinctive in some ways for little boys, or he likes them because we subconciously give him cars because he is a little boy? HMMMMMM....makes you think, doesn't it??

A great Mother's Day!!!

2008-05-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

I had a great day today!!! :)

My day started very early - apparently Drew just couldn't wait. He was up at 6:30 a.m. and he and Daddy went to Dunkin Donuts to get my favorite donuts for breakfast - yum!! Then I got great cards from Patrick, Chris and Ben and also a movie gift certificate...

Then Patrick pulled out a big box with a card from Drew on it. So I opened the big box, and inside was another box...and inside that waa another box...and so on and so on...until finally there was a card that said Drew's gift to me was under his pillow. So we all went upstairs and under Drew's pillow was a little jewelry box...inside were a beautiful pair of diamond stud earrings!!!! Drew did amazing for our first Mother's Day together...

I haven't worn earrings in so long, I was afraid they woudn't go in, but they did and they look great and I have no intention of taking them off!!

Then we drove to NYC for brunch at Aunt Lysee and Uncle Shawn's apartment with Grama. Aunt Lysee ran in a 4-mile race earlier this morning and still cooked a great brunch for all of us - we had a good time hanging out with everyone and Drew loved exploring the apartment and getting his fingerprints all over everything and touching everything and playing with everything!!

Drew slept the whole way home and we've just been hanging out tonight. We also discovered tonight that Drew knows how to climb up on his crib and also step on his zebra spinner to look out his window - not good!! If he keeps this up, it won't be much longer until we have to move Drew into a toddler bed - I say by July, Patrick says by Labor Day...we'll see...

So - Happy Mother's Day to Grama, Bubbie, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, my Aunts Susie, Marilyn, Lois and Angie, Drew's aunts Laurie and Lizzie (his only aunts who are moms - I'm not forgetting his other aunts: Hi Lysee, Sheri and Steph!), all my cousins who are moms and my wonderful friends who are moms...I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!!!

"Non-Mom" mom?????? - UPDATE at bottom...

2008-05-09T12:38:00.000-07:00

So...in honor of Mother's Day there's a contest for the best mom in America - you may have seen it on the Today Show and other places. They have various categories of moms - single moms, working moms, military moms and non-mom moms...turns out - that adoptive mothers are considered "non-mom" moms - are you kidding me???????????

Just because we didn't physically give birth to our children we aren't real mothers?? Why is that?? I guarantee you that the months and months of time I spent on paperwork and homestudies and notorizations and medical forms, etc...were a hell of a lot harder and lot less enjoyable than the usual way of having a child.

It's so frustrating to see that no matter what, there will always be people - and apparently large media organizations - that will never consider me "real." Never mind that I am the only mother Drew has ever known and that his alleged "real" mother has never spent a day in his life with him...

It makes me angry and sad, especially as this is far from the last time that I will deal with this...and it makes me even more sad that Drew will have to deal with this his whole life too.

Maybe someday people will change their definition of "real."

Until then...Happy Mother's Day to all my fellow "Non-Mom" moms...

______________________________

Well - you can see the comment that was left on my blog by Teleflora - apparently a ton of adoptive moms flooded them with e-mails...it's amazng what a group of mad motehrs can do, huh??? I still don't understand why adoptive mom is a seperate category, but I guess it's better than "non-mom" right???

Thank you to Teleflora for recognizing how insensitive they were being and correcting the problem...

Happy Mother's Day!

Drew...the daycare bully????

2008-05-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

So - apparently our son is the bully of daycare! He's been in a hitting phase lately and Patrick and I stop him when he does it to us, but he's been hitting a little boy in daycare too! They tell him to stop, and he does, but still...the funny part of this (I know, hitting is not funny, but...) this kid is a full head taller than Drew! I asked Miss Diane if Lucas hit Drew back, thinking that if he did, maybe Drew would stop. She said Lucas is afraid of Drew!!! Now I don't think I'm being biased when I say Drew is not a menacing looking child...he can throw a temper tantrum with the best of them, but he's generally a pretty sweet kid...

I hope this hitting phase is over soon!!!

Drew came home sick from daycare today - he had a cold and fever. They were trying to tell us if a kid's muscus is green it's a state law they can't be in daycare...I find it hard to believe there is such a statute though...anyway - it probably didn't help they had him outside playing all morning in 40 degree weather and his pants got all wet - ugh!!!

He'll be staying home tomorrow too and hopefully will get better this weekend - just in time to go back to daycare and catch another cold. Ah - the joys of working parenthood!!!

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On a sad note, my coworker JoAnn passed away unexpectedly this week - she was only 44. JoAnn was a great coworker, an excellent journalist and listened to me endlessly talk about our adoption plans and traveling to Kazakhstan and Drew...she will be greatly missed.

Drew's First Passover...

2008-04-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

Hi there...Drew had a busy weekend celebrating Passover...he's still wiped out!

We went to NJ on Saturday afternoon after having our last chumatz breakfast at the diner. We spent the first night at Grama's house with lots of people: Grama (of course - it was her house!), Aunt Lysee, Uncle Shawn, Aunt Sheri, Aunt Sheri's boyfriend Josh, Auntie Mar, Amy, Aunt Lois and Uncle Harold, Marcy, Mark, Zachary and Adam...it was very busy!! We really missed Uncle Steve, Aunt Lizzie and cousin David though - we hope they can come next year...

Drew had a great time playing with all of Zachary and Adam's toys and rolling Zachary's carrying case around - thanks cousin Zachary and Adam for sharing with Drew!! You guys have some cool stuff!!

Drew didn't really pay too much attention to the service part of the sedar, but he popped in and out of the kitchen to check on mommy and daddy and make sure we were doing OK :) He and Zachary also hid the afikomen together! They did a great job...

Then came the festive meal - now that Drew was into...We started with the salad course and Drew is probably the only nearly 22-month old that likes gefillte fish! He actually took the entire piece of fish and ate it like a piece of fruit - he was so funny. He also enjoyed the hard boiled egg. Then came Grama's soup - yum!!! Drew was into the soup, though the matzah balls were not his style. Yes, my son liked the fish and not the matzah ball - go figure? He had a little of the meal - some meatballs, etc...but by this time it was about 10:30 and it was bed time for Drew.

Drew missed the afikomen negotiations, but we started the first year of a three-year contract and every unmarried child gets $25!! Woo Hoo...that's going in the college fund!!

Sunday morning we all went to temple and Drew looked so adorable in his plaid shirt and sweater vest! A gift from Grama!! Now, I have waited YEARS to be able to bring a child to temple - I spent years fawning over everyone else's kids, so finally it was my turn and Drew was definitely the cutest - if I do say so myself!! Everyone commented on how cute he was. Drew enoyed playing with the siddurs and climbing back and forth between pews to see Grama, Aunt Lysee and Josh - then he got mad when I wouldn't let him go on the bima...I told him if Rabbi Rogoff was still there he could have gone, but not anymore - that was sad :( So, he ran around outside and did his thing...

He was so exhuasted from he night before that he missed he traditional aftr-shul lunch - oh well...Sunday was also Grama's birthday - Happy Birthday Grama!!!

For the second sedar we went to Uncle Lenny's and celebrated with Uncle Len, Angie, Great Bubbie, Opa, Gina, Samie and Marc and again, we had a great time. Drew was a little out of control wanting to climb all over everything and he really wanted to meet Hazel (the dog), but Hazel was a little freaked out by all the people. Drew did get to meet Squiggles the guinea pig and I think he liked her - he was a little hesitant to pet her at first...Drew loved playing outside and carrying Gina's tennis racket around with him! He had fun on the slide with Opa and the swings with Great Bubbie and Samie. He also enjoyed all the singing and liked playing the tamborine and marracas...A great second sedar for all!!

We drove home that night and got back around 12:15 a.m....we were all tired, but we had a great Passover. Drew is liking matzah and he even likes macaroons. Today we made some kosher for Passover pasta - it was pretty gross, but Drew thought it was OK...

So - that was Drew's first major Jewish holiday - he did really well!!!

In other Drew news...

He said "Uh Oh' for the first time today!! He's so cute!! :)

I think that's it...oh - we made our appt. with the urologist today for May 6 to discuss circumcison (did I spell that right?) We need to get that done so Drew can go through conversion - Mommy is not looking forward to it!! :( Oh well, we need to get it done so the sooner the better!!

OK - time to post some Passover pics...

PS - Margaret - Thanks for the message...i'd love to read your blog if I can :) If you have any dossier questions, feel free to e-mail me!!!

6 months ago today...

2008-04-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

We met Drew for the first time!!

He's such a different little boy now than he was when we met him. I'll never forget that day - the fear in his eyes at meeting strangers, his mismatched orphanage clothes (all 5 layers of them!!), no talking at all, struggling to write down and digest all the information the orphanage director was giving us...what a difference six months make. His former caregivers wouldn't even recognize him now!!

Drew has been home for four months now - and he's doing so great. His vocabulary is really coming along. Just in the last week he's started saying "Daddy" instead of Dada and saying "no," while shaking his head. I have high hopes that someday he will say Mommy. Right now, when he says Daddy to me and I say, "No, mommy!" he just laughs and says "Daddy!" - it's a funny game to him. Of course he also will call me "Be" cause he hears Patrick call me Beth...Ha, ha...NOT!!

Drew is loving daycare - especially playing outside all day. In fact, at the end of the day he wants to stay and play. He's very whiny and tempermental by the end of the day and by 7:30 is pretty much ready for bed - at least Patrick and I are ready for him to go to bed. He's still sleeping great - though he cries out in his sleep a lot. He doesn't wake up though, so I don't know if it's nightmares or what?

I can't believe he's going to be 2 soon. It makes me sad that we missed his first birthday - 2 just doesn't seem to be the milestone that 1 is, ya know? Oh well...

This weekend will be Drew's first Passover - I hope he likes sedar. We'll be at Grama's for the first night and Uncle Lenny's for the second night. I have to teach Drew how to bargain for Afikomen money! LOL...we have a college fund to build up after all...

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On another note - I'm going to be writing an article on adoption for my sorority magazine - The Quill. I'm so excited!! I've been wanting to write on the subject for a while and this is such a good forum for that. Gotta think there are lots of A Xi D's out there interested in adoptiopn of some sort??

Today also happens to be AXiD's Founder's Day - April 17, 1893 in Galesburg, Ill. - I hope my pledge mom Auntie Kelly is proud of me for remembering that...

"I love the Rose of Alpha Xi...."

Funny thing is - Auntie Kelly and I always used to talk about having daughters and watching them get initiated into our sorority...and now we both have little boys!!

New pictures...

2008-04-10T17:29:00.001-07:00

Check out the new pictures from today's visit to the park...and from Aunt Stephie's visit this weekend!!!

Patrick is in NYC for work so it's me and the boys right now...Drew had so much fun tonight on the slides with his big brothers...he was not happy when he had to leave to take a bath and they got to stay and play ball - it's not easy being the little guy!

One year ago today....

2008-04-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

...we sent in our dossier and officially became "paper pregnant!"

I can't believe it's been a year. I will never forget going to the post office that day, in the pouring rain, clutching the most important package I had ever sent. I insured it, got tracking on it, etc...I was freaking out until our agency e-mailed the next day to say they received it and the process that led us to Drew began...

At that time, I couldn't even fathom Drew. The thought of an actual little boy in our house was just beyond comprehension. It's almost impossible to explain to anyone who hasn't gone through infertility, but the idea of actually having a child was just a concept I couldn't imagine.

But mailing that package was the begining of actually making our dreams come true. It was, finally, a positive step toward having a child, rather than the endless disappointments we'd faced for years...amazing what one piece of mail can mean, huh?? :)

I often wonder, when I'm feeling particularly introspective, what if we'd sent in our dossier two weeks earlier, or two weeks later - would Drew be our son? What if we hadn't fought to get our dossier pulled from Almaty and had just gone there instead of fighting it and ending up in Taraz? What if we had arrived in Taraz two days earlier, before all the Belgian families arrived? What if we'd requested a child of a specific gender or race, rather than leaving it to fate?

So many what ifs...

When I started this process everyone told me you end up with the child meant to be yours - I didn't believe them. But I do now...there's no doubt Drew was meant to be our child.

It's amazing what can happen in a year isn't it????

Not even a whimper....

2008-04-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

Today at daycare drop off, Drew did not even make one little peep - he just blew a kiss good bye (he's so cute when he does this, he puts his hand to his mouth and says, "mmmmaaaa"), a wave and then he was off to play - what a big boy!!

Drew had a good weekend - Saturday morning he met his Aunt Stephanie and they had fun playing all day. We even went to the park where Drew helped a little boy chase after his dog that had run away. Drew was so funny running all around the place pointing and yelling at the dog! He also had fun going down the slides!

Saturday night, Drew's big brothers Chris and Ben came over and they will be here for a week - he loves his big brothers!! Drew's been having fun reading with them and playing video games (he doesn't realize his controller isn't attached - shhhhh!)It's a lot of fun having all three boys in the house!

In general, Drew has been doing great. I noticed that he's trying to imitate me more when I say things. For example, the other day he fell on the ground and his hands got dirty, and when I was brushing them off I said, "dirty, dirty, dirty." He then started saying it too. He also will point to his bubble bath and saying "Bu Bu" at bath time - so he's definitely improving his vocabulary...

Drew also loves singing...he likes me to sing to him the whole way home from daycare - that's a long time!! But he is the only person, I think, that actually likes my singing! His favorite songs are those we used to sing to his aunts Lysee and Sheri when they were little, so it's fun to do that with him now.

And that's about it from Drew's world right now..Mommy needs to get back to work!

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Just wanted to add:

Kazakhstan is apparently open again to adoptions, BUT any agencies that go through the DC Enmbassy, rather than the US Consulate in NY are having problems with dossiers being rejected!! Our dossier did go through the DC Embassy...It was actually a year ago this week that we submitted our dossier - scary how quickly things change....

Now, people are having dossiers rejected for saying they want to adopt a child as healthy as possible (we said that in our homsetudy) - apparently now you have to say you want to adopt any child, even those with health issues, or something to that affect. And apparently people who have had dossiers rejected are having a hard time resubmitting them or even getting answers as to why they were rejected...

It's such a terrible situation...

Please say a little prayer for those stuck in the process and for all the children in Kazakhstan orphanages waiting for their forever families...

First week of work/daycare...

2008-03-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

My first week back at work and Drew's first week of daycare went very well!!! Better than I ever could have hoped for...

By Friday, there was very little crying at drop off (Patrick does drop off) - apparently when Drew walked in all the kids came over to him, saying, "Drew's here!!" When I went to pick him up, he was all smiles and wanting to show me all the cool things on the walls at daycare - there's a big painting of Lucy from Peanuts at her lemonade stand, along other things...Miss Diane says Drew is great and very easy going and everyone loves him - awwwwwww..... :) At the end of the day, Drew is tired from all his playing and very messy too - as it should be. "Bunny" has been making the trip to daycare to, so help Drew feel comfortable - Bunny is looking a little under the weather and is in need of a bath!!

Work is going well for me...I'm back into the swing of things and things are good...

Tomorrow Aunt Lysee is coming to visit!! Patrick put together the new, much improved grill so we're havng a cookout before we go see "The Other Boylen Girl." - I'm very excited even though it got bad reviews...it was such a great book, so I hope it's not awful...

This week Patrick leaves for W Va. to get the older boys, who will be here for a week...Aunt Stephanie is coming for a visit too - so we're very busy...we actually are very busy through the end of April with our cousin Breele's 1st birthday party and then Passover - Drew's first Passover!! Aunt Sheri will be disappointed he doesn't know the Four Questions yet - maybe next year...

Drew's cousin Spencer (and my nephew!) turns 1 this week (April 2)!!!!!!!! Happy birthday Spencer - we hope you had a great party today and wish we could have been there for the celebration...

Later this month, Drew's cousin David (and my nephew) will turn 1 (April 29)!!!!! Throw Grama's birthday in the middle of all that (April 20), and it's a very busy birthday month for us - lots of celebrations!!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend....

Home sweet home...

2008-03-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

Well - after 29 hours in airports, I finally made it home!!!

California was great...it was so good to see Uncle Steve, Aunt Lizzie and David - David is getting so big!!! He's crawling all over now and pulling himsefl up - he'll be walking any day now...I miss being able to see him all the time though :(

We had a great weekend - a BBQ with Liz's mom on Friday and lunch for me and Teevie at PF Changs - yum!!!! Saturday we went to Laguna Beach and David and I dipped our feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time!! Well, tecnically it wasn't my first time as I touched the Pacific when I was in Costa Rica, but it was my first time in the US. We had lunch at a really cute outdoor place in Laguna, though we did not see anyone from the MTV show!

We also spent some time at Liz's sister Maureen's house - Maureen and her family are great and have a gorgeous backyard that was so nice and relaxing...

And I ate my first In and Out burger - it was a big weekend!!!

Rancho Cucamonga, where Uncle Steve lives, is so pretty...and the weather was perfect, low 80s and sunny...

In other news...Drew started daycare today and did great, according to Miss Diane. He played all day and had a good nap and there were so problems at all - some crying when Patrick dropped him off, but he was fine...that's a big weight off my shoulders. Apparently he had fun with all the other kids too, so that was good...

OK - go check out some of my Calif. pics!!!

Happy Purim!!!

2008-03-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

Drew celebrated his first Purim tonight...he had so much fun at temple shaking his groggers (he had three at one point!) every time Haman's name was read. He thought it was very funny and wasn't scared at all with all the noise. He even clapped his hands during the songs - what a good, Jewish little boy we have!!! :)

I loved watching him at temple, doing the things I did when I was little - it's an amazing feeling...

There's a picture of Drew in one of the masks Grama gave him on the side of the blog...

Happy Purim!!!!!!!!!!

Kazakhstan adoptions on hold!

2008-03-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

Wow - apparently all Kazakhstan adoptions are temporarily (hopefully) on hold and any dossier that has not gone through the embassy or consulate yet, can't go through. Last year at this time we had collected most of our dossier and were in the process of putting it together to send to translation and then to the consulate, so we would have been out of luck.

My heart goes out to all of those who are in the paper chase process or who were not able to go to embassy review yet. Our agency is saying it is likely temporary, but that could mean a month or a year or longer...who knows?? The Kazakhstan government can do anything it wants.

There are so many children there - and in other countries - that need families and so many parents-to-be that need children. It just shouldn't be this hard.

China's waiting times are 2-3 years or more, Guatamala is slowing down or stopping, Russia is reaccrediting all of its agencies and the US has it's own mess of problems with adoption and the children and would-be parents are the ones who suffer - not the people who make all these rules or open and shut down the process for no good reasons.

I feel so bad for those just waiting to be parents who now don't know if their dreams will ever come true. I remember being in that position and it's an awful and unsettling feeling to say the least.

We are so lucky that we got Drew home when we did - he's only been home for three months and look what's happened in that time - it is scary to think that if we had been just 4-5 months behind where we were, who knows what would have happened. Already, in Taraz where Drew is from, court proceedures have changed and people are being left up in the air as to when they will go to court. Also, there's been new paperwork instituted that is delaying things. There have also been rulings about dates on dossier documents that can't be over a certain number of days old and people are doing their entire dossiers 2 or 3 times before they even get to Kazakhstan.

Why????

It just doesn't make any sense....and it makes me so sad and so thankful at the same time...

Our healthy little boy...

2008-03-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

We finished up the last of Drew's necessary testng since coming home - he had his hearing test and he's fine - no problems there. Last week he visited the eye doctor and no problems there either. We had our developmental visit with our pediatrician this week too and she proclaimed him, "A very smart little boy!"

So, Drew is doing great - he grew an inch since coming home and has gained about 3 lbs....he's in the 10th percentile now for hight and weight, which is great, and well, let's just say he's got some big brains growing in that head of his. But Uncle Steve told us that there was some study done that showed successful people tended to have bigger than average heads - so Drew should be very successful!!!

Drew went to work with me today so I could meet with my boss before going back on Monday - eek!! He liked playing with all the things on my desk and was a good boy during my meeting. He was very shy though and hid in my shoulder a lot...

He got very excited today when we saw a kitty on our driveway and then a dog was barking in the neighbor's yard - lots of squealing and trying to run after the animals and pointing - he's so funny with animals - he just loves them. I have a feeling we're going to hear lots of begging for various pets for the next 18 years or so! LOL...bring on the goldfish, gerbils and hermit crabs!!

Tomorrow we're getting our tile in our downstairs bathroom and our new dining room table - yeah!!!!!!!! I'm so excited, though it means Drew and I are stuck at home all day - oh well - we'll deal with it...

Drew's busy week...

2008-03-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

Ok - before I start this post...

Jennifer - Thanks for the note - I wasn't able to get onto your blog to see how your little girl is doing...can you send me an invite if you read this????

Now back to our show...

Drew had a good week, with lots of firsts:

1. Drew helped me make his first Hammentaschen (I probably spelled that wrong!). Hammentaschen are three-cornered cookies that are made for Purim - a Jewish holiday that's happening next week, The cookies symbolize the three-cornered hat that was worn by Haman. Haman tried to have all the Jews in Persia killed, but his plan failed, so we celebrate! (Can you tell I was my Hebrew school valedictorian!! LOL...) Anyway - we made blueberry, cherry and chocolate chips ones - Drew helped put the chips in, that is until he decided it was much more fun to eat them. He was cute though - when we had to put the cookies in the oven and take a break before we could do the next batch, he got very upset and insisted on continuing to fill the cookies. I'll post a picture of us baking on the side of the blog. We made them a few days early because Grama is coming up on Sunday and we can celebrate Purim with her. When I was little I used to bake Hammentaschen with Grama, so it's nice to continue this tradition with Drew! :)

2. We have our first refrigerator art from Drew!!! We had our last Mommy and Me class this week, which was sad cause we really liked it. We made "happy" collages - it's really cute. So it's up on the frige...

Drew had his eye doctor appt. today and the doctor said his eyes are very healthy - a good thing. Next week we see the pediatrician for our 3-month in the US check up and then we go for our hearing test - just a precaution, I think his hearing is fine.

I can't believe next week is my last one at home with him - so wierd. I was freaking out today about it with his daycare provider and she assured me things would be fine and it was normal to be nervous, but Drew will be fine...I'm still worried. She said I could call every half hour if I wanted though :) I may take her up on that. He's never been with anyone but us since he's been home. In my mind, I know he'll be fine, but emotionally I'm terrified!! I'll keep you all posted...

Next Friday I am going to visit Uncle Steve, Aunt Lizzie and cousin David in California!! I am very excited... Drew and Daddy are going to have a bonding weekend. Daddy better not take Drew to Hoosters - I don't think he's ready for that kind of bonding...

Chris and Ben are coming in a few weeks and Drew is going to meet his Aunt Stephie in a few weeks too!!! Aunt Stephie is going to Rutgers next year for her PhD so she's coming east (from Chicago) to check things out and then taking the train up to visit us - woo hoo...should be fun...

Tomorow is mine and Patrick's five year anniversary!! We had always talked about going on a trip to Europe for our five year, but I guess our "trip" to Kazakhstan took the place of that - LOL!!! Maybe we'll make it there for the 10 year???

Hmmmm...can't think of anything else right now. Drew does so many cute things all the time (and some not so cute things!!) that it's hard to remember them all. Generally, he's really a happy, curious and smart little boy who we are very lucky to call ours.

Have a good weekend everyone!

We have daycare!!!

2008-03-07T17:59:00.001-08:00

We found and finalized daycare this week for Drew. I go back to work on March 24, so it was getting close. It's a home-based daycare and the woman has two other kids almost exactly Drew's age, which will be so good for him I think. There's also a few older kids there for after-school care, and it will be good for Drew to hang out with older kids too I think.

I can't believe I'm going back to work in two weeks - I feel like I've been gone soooo long, which I guess I have - my last day of work was Dec. 14. It's going to be wierd, and I know I'll freak out worrying that Drew is OK...I know he'll be fine, of course, and I'm sure it will be worse for me than for him.

Drew had a good week this week. He's outgrown so many of his 12-month clothes, which is great. We're able to start wearing all the cute 18-month clothes that he got, but we haven't been able to wear yet. This week we also got new sneakers, as he outgrew the other ones. Of course, the new ones look the same as the old ones since there's not too much of a selection in his size! We also got new socks, new undershirts and new PJs...

When we were at the mall today, Drew got sooo excited when he saw the Disney store! He started pointing at the big Mickey Mouse and squealing - it was so funny!! We went in the store and he had to touch all 101 dalmations I think!

We also had Mommy and Me this week, but Drew wasn't too into it. It was child yoga and he's not really able to balance on one leg and be a tree yet! LOL...so he decided it would be more fun to push a chair around the room...next week will be our last week of Mommy and Me as I have a dentist appt. the following week. All in all it was a good experience for Drew so I'm glad we did it.

We also had a playdate with Carrie and her twin boys this week, which was fun. The boys all thought it was hysterical to close and open the door to Drew's room and scream! They were all so cute...

Let's see - what else??? Hmmmm....Oh - Drew used his Cookie Monster towel the other day and I made the mistake of singing the "C is for Cookie" song for him - oh my god - he now wants me to sing that song over and over again all the time!!! He will start dancing and look at me and nod - that's my signal to start singing! When he wants me to sing "itsy bitsy spider" he starts moving his hands together like the spider! For a kid who doesn't talk yet, he really does get his point across well.

Have a good weekend everyone...enjoy the rain!!

Drew's weekend...

2008-03-03T07:13:00.001-08:00

Drew had a very busy weekend with lots of vistors and visiting!!

On Friday my friends Jodi and Caryn came to visit for lunch and hung out with Drew for a while..he had fun reading with them them and hanging out. I hadn't seen either of them in a while so it was nice to hang out...and even nicer when I went out for dinner alone with them! :) No offense to Drew of course...

Saturday we went tile shopping, which I was very excited about...new tile for the bathrooms - woo hoo!!!!!!! Anyone who's seen our downstairs bathroom knows that it died in about 1968 - yellow and green - yuck!!! Black and white will be much better!!!

Yesterday we went to vist Jackie and Joe and their kids Jayne, Grace and Charlie and had a great time!!! Drew was walking around like he owned the place and had a great tiem playing with all the toys and Charlie's great car collection...he also learned to play the harmaonica and had everyone clapping for him. He LOVED Jayne and had so much fun with her - she was picking him up and carrying him around and he was giving her hugs...it was so cute to see!! I can't wait until Jayne is old enough to babysit!! :)

In general, Drew is doing great...Here's a few Drew facts :)

No more highchair!!! Drew is entirely in his big boy seat and has been doing great with using a fork and spoon on his own...he's such a big boy!!

Drew has also been letting us know after he poops or pees (sorry if too much info!) so we can change his diaper. I wasn't even going to think about training until he was 2, but maybe he's ready to just start sitting on the potty and getting used to it?? My baby is growing so fast - LOL...

So - it's been a while since I've had an update on Drew's big brothers...

Ben joined the track team this year!!! Woo Hoo - go Ben!!! Those of you who know Ben know he's a really good runner. So we can't wait to hear all his results...

Chris has been picked to be concert master next year in orchestra (I hope I said that right!!) - Chris has bene playing violin for years and also does all regional and state wide orchestras...

So - we have two very talented older boys...hopefully Drew will follow in his brothers' footsteps....

I go back to work three weeks from today...wow! Time flies...I have mixed feelings. I am looking forard to going back to my job - I like what I do and miss reporting and writing. On the other hand, I don't want to leave Drew anywhere or with anyone - it's so hard and there's no easy solutions...oh well - I, like all other mothers around the country, will figure it out and Drew will be fine...

20 months old...

2008-02-25T15:59:00.000-08:00

Drew is 20 months old today!!! Happy 20-month-day Drew!!! :)

We had our last day of Gymboree today - Drew had fun, but he's definitely more into playing on his own than doing the group stuff. Maybe we'll try it again when he's older. In the meantime, we can go to the open gym dates, so we'll see how he likes that.

Not much else going on...Drew got a 20-month-old present today from Mary Ann- she kmitted him a very cute hat and I'm going to try and post a picture on the side of the blog...so take a peek...

Gotta go - bath time! Yipee!!!!!

Snowy day in Connecticut...

2008-02-22T17:09:00.000-08:00

Ugh - I hate snow!!!! I know, so why do I live in Connecticut?? I don't know...

Anyway...it was really snowy today - we're getting about 10 inches as I write this. But Drew and I did manage to make it to the post office today to send our gift to Matthew and to the library so I could get some books and Drew could play in the children's room - they have great toys there! Unfortunately, it started snowing hard while we were out so we couldn't stay too long...Drew did think it was fun while we were outside to catch snowflakes on his tongue...he did not think it was fun to hold the snow and try to make snowballs though.

Did I mention I hate snow??

Other than that - it was a pretty quiet week here. One milestone of note, Drew is no longer using his high chair at all - he's such a big boy!!! He's also using his utensils much more and wanting to feed himself. He's also wanting to get out of his chair and walk around as he eats, which we need to put a stop to. It's hard to know the line between telling him that he's done eating when he gets out of his chair and wanting him to keep eating cause he needs the food....ugh - parenting! Something tells me it only gets harder from here - LOL...

I go back to work in about four weeks - crazy!!! Time flies...

Well - have a good weekend everyone..it will be a quiet one here.

Two months, four months...

2008-02-17T07:37:00.000-08:00

Drew has been home for two months and it's been four months since the day we met him...wierd, huh??? In some ways it seems like he's been in our lives forever...

We were saying yesterday that we wish the people at the orphanage could see him now and how great he's doing!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T16:55:00.000-08:00

Drew surprised me this morning with a heart full of peanut butter cups! I don't know how he knew they were my favorite. When he came toddling in to me, holding out this heart to me, I totally started crying!! He's my best valentine! :) No offense Patrick - LOL...

Today we had "mommy and me" and there was a singer/guitar player there for the kids - it was so great. Drew danced a lot and played some instruments and had a good time. He also had fun playing in the rice box, which is like a sand box, except, you guessed it, filled with rice!

I have a couple of new pictures on the side of the blog of Drew...just cause I thought he looked cute!

A big thank you....

2008-02-13T18:46:00.001-08:00

Tonight I was filling in some of Drew's lifebook (like a baby book, but specifically for adoption) and I read all of the reports we got from Kazakhstan about his life and why we were able to adopt him and I got so emotional. It's wierd, this is the first time these emotions really hit me...

I feel angry that a woman was able to have the privilige of giving birth to this beautiful little boy and she didn't want to keep him. I know there may have been some very good reasons for it, but I look at his little face and I can't even imagine what they could be. And then I feel so thankful to this woman I wish I could find her and hug her and thank her 1,000 over.

I wish I could tell her how wonderful this little boy is, how he loves to laugh and dance and read and play with his puppy. I wish she could see how he loves to splash in the bath, play with keys, shake his moraccas, play with his tools, etc...

I wish she could see how he gets a huge grin when he hugs his bunny to go to sleep, how he grabs my hand to bring me into the kitchen to let me know he wants some juice and how he get so proud of himself when he's able to feed himself that he has to put down his spoon or fork and clap.

But she will never see these things...I wonder if she thinks about him and what she thinks...

Tonight, I wish I could just find her and say, "Thank you."

My smart little boy!!

2008-02-12T12:12:00.001-08:00

Drew had his Birth-3 evaluation yesterday and he did great! They said he's a very smart little boy who is taking all the right steps toward learning English. They said he's doing great and I should not expect him to be able to talk yet as he's only been in the US for 7 weeks. They said his babbling and understanding of us means he's right on target and they normally don't even evaluate kids adopted internationally until they've been here for 6 months...so I feel much better and the next time someone makes comments about the fact that Drew isn't talking yet, I will ask them how much Russian or Kazakh they know!! Hah!!!

My little boy is smart, he's even a little advanced with gross motor and cognitive thinking skills and he's doing great and that's all that matters to me...

Drew's new thing is everytime we say "Yeah Drew," or "Good Job" or anything like that, he likes us to clap for him and he likes to clap for himself! Today he fed himself pretty well with his spoon, and everytime he took a mouthful he would put down the spoon and clap, so we'd say "yeah Drew, Good boy" and clap along with him!! LOL..he's so funny...I guess you can never have too much positive reinforcement, right?

Today we also went to the library and spent some time playing in the children's section - they have some great toys and Drew had a lot of fun. He wasn't too intersted in the books, though he loves his own books and loves us to read to him. Currently, his favorite is "Whole World" which is based on that 70s song about having the whole world in your hands (or maybe it's a 60s song??). It also comes with a CD...He loves it - thanks soooo much to Auntie Kelly for that. Don't worry - Cole will be getting something equally fun for his birthday!!! LOL....Maybe a drum set or some cymbals???

Drew had a fun visit with Opa and Mary Ann on Sunday night - he thought they were soo funny and had so much fun laughing hysterically and running back and forth between them. He still loves his magi-doodle, and is still afraid, yet fascinated with his singing Elvis dog - LOL!!

That's about it from here - we have Drew's hearing assessment tomorrow, which I expect to be fine - the doc just wants to make sure.

Other than that - it's soooo cold!! If I was at work now, I'd be leaving for Miami tomorrow for the boat show - hmmmm - that's a little bittersweet - I could use some beach time!! :)

Drew's first Shabbos dinner out...

2008-02-09T10:47:00.001-08:00

Drew was invited to the Cantor's house for Shabbos dinner last night! He had a very good time - he enjoyed the food and liked the chanting too - he swayed back and forth as we sang the prayers. They also had a big "puppy" that was fun to play with and lots of musical instruments to try out. He was shy at first, but was quickly walking around like he owned the place!!

On Friday nights Drew likes to watch me light the Shabbos candles. I hope that it's something he will grow up loving and thinking is important. Tomorrow we're going to a preschool program at shul where there will be singing and crafts and Challah eating, so it will be interesting to see how he does there and what he thinks.

Our cantor and his wife adoped two of their three children from Columbia and it was interesting to talk to them about it. Their experience was very different. They were only in the country for a week with their kids before they came home and their kids came home when they were about 4 months old. Still, it's nice to talk to people who understand what it's like to put together a dossier and wait and just the whole adoption experience.

It's snowing out right now and Drew is napping after our outing to the mall and McDonald's. Drew drank from a juice box for the first time, not his sippy cup, and he was very excited about it and proud of himself! :) It was cute to see him smile when the juice came through the straw - I think he was surprised.

Tomorrow Opa and Mary Ann are coming for dinner so it will be nice to see them...

Valentine's Day is coming up this week (and yes, Aunt Sheri's b-day too!!). We decided to continue with Drew a tradition my father started for Valentine's Day. He bought me a sun dress every year (or a summer outfit that he called a sun dress!) until I got married, that's when he said it was Patrick's job to buy me a sun dress. Drew obviously won't be getting a sun dress, but we will buy him a summer outfit every year until he gets married (eesh!!!). I like the idea of carrying on that tradition with my child - sometimes it's nice to start your own traditions, but sometimes it's even nicer to continue what your parents did for you...

Drew's first primary election day...

2008-02-05T04:30:00.000-08:00

Drew and I will be going to the polls today to vote in the Super Tuesday primary! We are very excited! Well, I'm excited, Drew doesn't really know much about it yet. He does know though that we have gotten at least 2-3 calls a day from Hillary Clinton in the last couple of weeks - ususally during his nap time - and he's a little sick of it!

But, this is Drew's first chance to exercise his rights as an American citizen - LOL!! Hopefully it's something he will do for the rest of his life. He probably will since his mother and father get so excited about politics and elections. Patrick will have to work late tonight so it will be Drew and I watching the returns come in together.

So - if you are registered with a political party - please vote today! It's the most important right we have as U.S. citizens. After spending a month in Kazakhstan where the president is "elected" with more than 91 percent of the vote, and there is no real dissention, it's even more apparent just how lucky we are to have this right.

OK - that ends the public service announcement portion of today's blog...now on to Drew! :)

Yesterday we had our first offical Gymboree class and it was great. Drew loved the slides and the bubbles the most. He also likes looking around at everyone - he's a very curious little boy and loves observing people. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to McDonald's for lunch - yummy! Drew enjoyed his hamburger Happy Meal very much.

Drew's fever is gone and now he just has a cold, but that seems to be better too (even though I now caught it!). I was so happy to see that he didn't have the runniest nose in Gymboree class!! I was worried all the other parents would look at me with disdain, but it was fine. Everyone had colds...I guess that's just winter...

Oh - I should mention that Drew did come to temple on Saturday and everyone thought he was adorable - of course! :) One woman, who I only met once before, said to me, "I don't even remember you being pregnant!" LOL... I explained Drew is adopted. I love when people think he's ours biologically - it makes me laugh, considering he's half Asian - LOL...Drew was a little overwhelmed by all the people, but he liked when they opened the Ark and they showed all the Torah scrolls - he was pointing at them and wanted to go see them - it was very cute.

Drew continues to amaze us everyday...

One of his new favorite things is listening to the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" over and over and over again on his Learning Puppy (Thanks JoAnn!!). He doesn't have all the movements down yet, but he loves to dance to it by swaying back and forth and swiveling his hips - he's so funny...like a 19-month-old Elvis!

He also loves his new pop-up book "Hop on Pop" (Thanks Lizzy S.!!) He's ripped out most of the pop-ups, of course, but he still wants to read the book about 20 times a day. That and "Good Night Moon" are his favorites right now.

Drew has also learned that if he makes loud banging noises, he scares Peyton and Peyton runs around the house, and Drew thinks that is hysterical. So he follows Peyton around, throwing things on the floor and laughing hysterically at Peyton. He also likes to help feed Peyton and then follow him around with his empty food dish, trying to get Peyton to keep eating. He's so funny!! Not sure Peyton thinks it's so funny though - poor dog!

Drew is getting really good at understanding when we ask him to do things or give us things. His comprehension is amazing and he can follow even two-step commands. (ie: Drew, go get your hammer and give it to mommy). He has his Birth-3 evaluation next Monday, so I'm curious to see what they say and how they think he's doing.

And that's about it from Drew's world. It's a low-key day today. Patrick is going into work late, so Drew will have some good "Daddy time" today!

Oh - Congrats to the Giants for the great win!! We are so happy for Uncle Steve on his Giants' winning the Super Bowl. We'd be happier if it were my Cleveland Browns, but hey - next year, right??? :)

Drew's week...

2008-02-01T16:52:00.000-08:00

Well - Drew had his first cold/fever this week :( Poor little guy...Thankfully the doctor said there's no ear infections and no bronchitis, and his fever has broken, but his cold is terrible and his nose is running like crazy and he runs away from me when he sees me coming with tissues!! I don't blame him really - I just feel bad...hopefully all the saline sprays and vapor mists, etc...will help dry him up soon!!

So - we didn't get to do much this week. We missed out first Mommy and Me class on Thursday and didn't get to go to the library today either. Oh well...hopefully he will feel better next week as we have lots of fun stuff planned, including a trip to Mystic Aquarium with Auntie Kelly and Cole!! I think Drew will love all the fish and the sea lions and everything - I can't wait to take him.

Drew has been amazing this week with langauge and communcation. He has started shaking his head "no" and nodding "yes," and while he's nodding "yes," he will sometimes say "ya, ya." I'm so impressed with him!!! The "y" sound is new for him, as is a "g" sound that I heard a few times...I think his language is really coming along well...Go Drew!!

Well - hopefully he will feel better tomorrow and can go to temple for Sisterhood Shabbat and watch me do the prayer "Ashrei" - I was practicing with him today and he was singing along - LOL...He just sort of hums along. He also liked my temple hat and wore it around for a little while. Everyone's been asking about him, so I can't wait to show off my adorable child!!

Oh - Drew is rooting for the Giants in the Super Bowl because he hopes they win for Uncle Steve!!! Go Big Blue!!

Drew's first word...we think! :)

2008-01-28T16:49:00.000-08:00

So...we think Drew said his first word tonight - "Puppy!!"

We were eating dinner and Drew's bib had a puppy on it and he looked down and pointed at it and said what sounded like puppy. Patrick and I kind of looked at each other and then said, "Yes, that's a puppy." Drew then said it again and we repeated after him and he said it again!! It makes sense that puppy is his first word as he loves our dog Peyton...Whenever we say "Get the puppy" he runs over to Peyton and tries to sit on him!! Thankfully Peyton is a very tolerant and lazy beagle and lets Drew do whatever he wants to him...

So there ya have it...Puppy!!!! He says "Mama" and "Dada" a lot too - but not necessarily to me and Patrick so we will have to count Puppy as his first word...

Drew has also started to clap his hands...he's so cute about it. Especially when we say "Yeah Drew!!" he starts clapping his hands and gets very excited!! LOL..

A party for Drew

2008-01-27T06:01:00.001-08:00

On Friday Drew and I went to a party to welcome him home. My boss, Lois, hosted it and Drew got to meet many of the people I work with. It was so great and it was so nice for everyone to come out and meet Drew - of course these are the people who listened to me talk non-stop about this adoption for the past year, and sometimes it was more venting and complaining then talking. Of course there were also the times when I was on the phone with someone getting very upset and everyone could hear me talking over the cubicles - LOL...like when I freaked out on the Secretary of State's office in Indiana for "misplacing" our marriage licenses that needed to be apostilized!! :) I should note they showed up in the mail the next day!!! :)

Anyway - it was a great party - great food (Drew ate a lot, and so did his mommy!) and he got some wonderful and thoughtful gifts. There are a few pictures posted on the side of the blog of Drew enjoying his gifts. JoAnn - if you are reading this - I want you to know that Learning Puppy sometimes starts talking on his own when no one is in the room - it's a little freaky!!! Esther - the needlepoint matches his room perfectly!! Thank you all again so much - it was great to see you all and the party meant so much to me. Thanks again to Lois for being a great hostess - your place is so cute and I got a good parking spot!!

Nothing much else going on here...Drew and I have a busy week coming up - a playdate on Tuesday, Mommy and Me on Thursday and the Library on Friday. Saturday is Sisterhood Shabbat so Drew will be coming to temple for the first time for services!!! I am so excited - he loves to listen to Hebrew singing, so I wonder what he'll think. His favorite CD is the Hanukkah one that I have - I play it for him in the car. I guess I should find a Shabbat one or a Passover one if I can. Sunday we have lunch plans with my friend Christeen. We are a busy twosome!!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!!

Busy, busy Drew....

2008-01-24T17:08:00.001-08:00

Drew had his first gymboree class today and loved it!! He thought all the stuff to play with was great, loved the bubbles and the slides and had a lot of fun. He didn't interact much with the other kids, but was very interested in watching them...he was very cute! So, we're going to sign him up for it until I go back to work, at least, and then maybe Saturdays after that...

I also signed up for Mommy and Me through the local Chabad and we start that next week. It looks like a fun program with a Jewish theme, which I like. They have crafts and different things they do each week...

We also have plans to meet Auntie Kelly and Cole at Mystic Aquarium in a couple of weeks and a playdate hopefully in the next week with a friend who has twin 16-month old boys...

Drew is very busy!!!

He loves doing things though, and getting out of the house, and I do too. It's good for both of us! Tomorrow we're going to try storytime at the library and see how Drew likes that. Then we have our party with people from my work!

No plans for the weekend - it will be nice to hang at home since we've traveled the last two weekends...

I read some interesting articles this week about how children who are adopted when they are 12 months or older, tend to bond to their fathers quicker than their mothers. They say this is because they feel that the females in their lives (their orphanage caregivers) have left them, and men are safer...anyway - it was nice to see that this is actually pretty common and it passes, but takes a few months ususally.

Drew still continues to amaze us both with what he understands...

Today we were in the kitchen and I said, "Let's go upstairs and change your diaper," and he walked over to the stairs and started going up!! Later, tonight, he and Patrick were downstairs in the basement and Drew was starting to get tired and Patrick asked him if he wanted to read "Goodnight Moon" (his nighttime book) and Drew walked over to the bookshelf and got the book out and then put it back when they were done reading...what a smart kid huh??? :) He must take after his mother!! LOL....

West Virginia...and other stuff!

2008-01-22T18:29:00.001-08:00

Well - in short - we had a fantastic time in West Virginia!!!!!!!!!!!

But, I'll start at the begining...

Drew, Patrick and I left early Friday morning in the middle of an ice/sleet storm and we had the fun, fun time of sitting on the plane for two hours while they de-iced it! Why we had to sit on the plane while they did that, I have no idea. Needless to say, Drew was not thrilled. We got to Atlanta just in time to make our connection to Charleston, but our luggage didn't. By the time we got there, we were all tired, hungry and cranky :(

We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites - a nice hotel with a free breakfast and indoor pool - what more can one ask for??? Oh - and free Internet! That's what one can ask for!

So - the big brother's meeting took place Friday afternoon after school...and Drew, Chris and Ben got along great from the start!! In the car, the boys entertained Drew with all the stuff n their backpacks and by the time we went to dinner, Drew was walking between the older boys holding a hand of each - it was sooo great!!!

Drew followed his brothers around all weekend - he thought they were very cool (and he's right!!). He loved playing with them and even went swimming for the first time with them - and his dad too!!

On Saturday - we drove from Charleston to Parkersburg (about an hour's drive) and Drew met Grandmother and Granddad (aka: Carol and Wayne - Patrick's parents). They loved him, he loved them...he loved Buddy the dog and the cats and Granddad's train set and the Christmas tree that they left up and all of his gifts...basically - it was a great day. We also visited Patrick's grandmother who is recovering from surgery at the rehab center (and doing well). So, Drew got to meet lots more family members and he did really great with it all.

Saturday night we went out for dinner at the restaurant where Patrick took his prom date - LOL!! Dinner was a little different than it was back then... :)

Sunday was football day!!! Patrick and the boys even found Drew a Steelers sweatshirt. They say they looked for a Browns one too and couldn't find one....HMMMMMMMM....We had lots of great food for our football party as we watched the games. Go Giants (just for Uncle Steve!!)...

Monday we packed, had lunch, dropped the boys off, and went to the airport...the flights back were easier than the ones there - Drew was able to get his own seat and he slept from Atlanta to Hartford. At the ATL airport, our gate happened to be next to this big jungle gym, slide thing and Drew had a great time playing...he was even able to play with other kids...

So - as you can see - it was a great weekend!!!!!!!!!!

I loved seeing all three boys together - it was like they were all meant to be brothers...Drew just loved them and they loved him. I can't wait until they can all spend more time together. Chris and Ben will be here in April for their spring break - yeah!!!!!!!

And now we're home...

Today Drew got his Certificate of Citizenship!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is so cool looking and means he's officially an American - he even has a letter from George Bush telling him about his responsibilities to America - LOL...obviously it's a form letter - something cool for his baby book...

OK - time to post a few pics...and catch up on sleep. Drew did not sleep well this weekend - small crib, strange room = tired mommmy and daddy!!!!

One month, three months....

2008-01-17T10:34:00.000-08:00

Today is the one-month mark of Drew coming home! I can't believe it's been a month already - crazy!! Drew is doing so great. I wonder what the people at the orphanage would think if they saw him now? Tomorrow we're going to W Va. so Drew can meet his older brothers and his grandparents and great grandmother. We can't wait to see everyone...

Today also is the three-month mark of meeting Drew. In fact it was right about this time on Oct. 17 that Patrick and I were eating lunch with Galina and she said she had two boys to show us. One she described as a "Russian boy who is very sick. He's not good." The other was Drew, whom she described as a "16-month old Kazakh boy. He's very good, very healthy. He's good."

I remember sitting in the orphanage director's office when they brought Drew in. He was scared. We were scared. He didn't make a sound. In fact, for two days he didn't make a peep.

Three months later - he's squealing and babbling and yelling and even crying up a storm!!

Amazing, huh???

I wonder what Drew will be like a year from now?? I can't even imagine...

Snow here we come!

2008-01-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

I bought Drew his first snowsuit today!! I also got him some boots for the snow - he's all set! We were going to go play in the snow today, but Drew was cranky when he woke up from his nap and by the time he had a snack and calmed down, it was getting a little dark...So we'll try tomorrow morning and see how it goes - if it goes well, I'll post some pictures!

Today, also, Patrick applied for Drew's Social Security number - that is very exciting too...it's just one more way that he's definitely ours! He should have that in 10-14 days, in plenty of time for taxes - yeah - the first year we can claim a dependent!! Woo Hoo..

And that's about it from Drew's world....

Bye Uncle Steve, Aunt Lizzie and David :(

2008-01-14T10:16:00.000-08:00

We were in NJ this weekend for a going-away party for Uncle Steve, Aunt Lizzie and David - they all leave for California tomorrow - Aunt Lizzie and David are flying and Uncle Steve is driving with his friends - hopefully picking up some magnets for us on the way!!

We are all very, very sad to see them go and will miss them very much - but we can't wait for our first visit!! California here we come!!! :) I can think of worse places to have a family member than southern California. In honor of Uncle Steve, we may even root for the Giants in the playoffs this weekend!!

Drew also met lots of his cousins this weekend and had a great time chasing Cattie, Melissa and Kaitlyn around Grama's house!! He enjoyed playing with everyone's toys and told me about some new ones he'd like :) Drew even reached out and let Uncle Harold hold him, which is huge for Drew!!!! Props to Uncle H!!! :)

It snowed today so Drew and I are hanging home and doing laundry (yes, Drew likes to help with the laundry - what a happy mom am I?? We'll see how long that lasts!!) - he's napping right now actually. Tomorrow we have some errands to do and I'm going to try and find some snow clothes - we'll see how Drew likes the snow!!

Lots of visitors!!

2008-01-09T11:07:00.000-08:00

Drew has had lots of visitors this week and has had a great time meeting all the new people!

On Monday - Ron and Katie came over and Drew had a good time with them - he especially loved the "Tower of Terror" with Ron!! LOL... :)

Today, Jackie came over with Grace and Charlie and it was fun to watch the kids sort of interact with each other. Grace and Drew don't know it yet but they will be going to the prom together!! Then we all went to McDonalds, where Drew ate everyting - including Charlie's fries!!

Tomorrow we'll be meeting the Cantor at temple and Friday Jodi and Caryn are coming - Drew is very popular!!

Today we watched Sesame Street and Barney for the first time - and they were hits!! He was dancing to Barney - it was very cute...

Check out the pictures on the side from our vistors!!

Three Weeks...

2008-01-07T11:51:00.001-08:00

Drew has been home for three weeks today - I can't believe it!!

He's really doing amazing and has grown so much since he came home...he's walking everywhere, and almost running when he pushes his digger truck around the basement! He's into everything now - he loves Peyton and always looks for him - he's sleeping better (knock on wood!) and I think that's cause he's getting used to his crib and his room - he's liking his room and loves to play with all his toys and "read" all his books...so, in short, he's adjusting really well - he even likes helping me with laundry by taking the clothes out of the dryer for me! Now I just need to teach him to fold, instead of dropping them on the floor... :)

I'm adjusting well too - I'm getting more used to mommyhood and figuring out how to get stuff done while still spending tons of quality time with Drew - so, in short, we're all sort of getting the hang of this!!

This will be a busy week for us: tonight Ron and Katie are coming over to visit, on Wednesday Jackie is coming with Grace and Charlie and on Friday Caryn and Jodi are coming over!! Saturday we are going to NJ and we'll say good bye to Steven, Elizabeth and David who are moving to California next week - wah :( We will miss them sooo much!!

So - that's it from here...Drew should be waking up soon from his nap and then we have some errands to do...

I'll be back.... :)

Drew meets Cole!

2008-01-05T16:23:00.000-08:00

Auntie Kelly and Cole came to visit today - Drew and Cole have heard a lot about each other so it was exciting for them to meet. Though, probably more exciting for Kelly and me than Drew and Cole! LOL...

They sort of stared at each other for a while and Drew was a little possessive of his tool box tools - taking the level back from Cole after he'd had it for a while, that sort of thing. But all in all it was fun to see them together - Kelly and I waited a long time for this!! :)

Cole did try a sippy cup for the first time today and he drank like a champ - I see many sippy cups in his future...I can't wait til we can meet at Mystic and take the boys to the aquarium - I think that will be fun and a good meeting point between Providence and New Britain...

Today Drew and I also dressed in our Rutgers best to root RU to victory in the International Bowl!! Go RU!! I sang the Rutgers cheer with Drew and the alma mater - he liked "RU - Rah, Rah" a lot!! Maybe we have a future Scarlet Knight in our midst???

The only sad part of the day was Uncle Steve and David couldn't come up today - so we missed them a lot!!!

Other than that - Drew has been doing great...he's been wanting to read his books with me more, especially his "Word" book that Aunt Laurie gave him - he loves that one. He also likes his dreidel book and his box of alphabet books a lot!! And he's been carrying around the bear that Suzanne and Brie gave him - he likes to put it in his Drew chair and put books on top of it!! LOL...

So - that's what's going on in Drew's world...tonight the Steelers are playing - I'm trying to teach Drew to say "Boo Steelers" - no luck so far!! :)

Oh - check out the side of the blog for some more cute pictures!!

Good day for Drew...

2008-01-02T17:35:00.000-08:00

Drew had a good day today - despite getting three vaccinations, which he handled like a trooper! For being so good, we went to McDonald's for lunch for the first time. The hambuger Happy Meal was very popular, as was the play area after lunch :) There were even some older kids there who let Drew follow them around for a while, it was realy cute...

Tonight, Drew enjoyed Beth Chicken (as the older boys call it, or Mom's Chicken as Drew will call it - though it's really Grama's Chicken!) for dinner...I was so happy he liked that as I make it all the time and Chris and Ben love it too...

He was so funny tonight - we were watching the opening of the WVa./Oklahoma bowl game (go W Va - gotta route for the Big East team!) and we were singing the National Anthem along with the people on TV and Drew was humming along and rocking back and forth. I started singing some songs in Hebrew to him and he loved those too...he's very musical!

And now...he's asleep...

I'm excited cause his announcements came in today so I have lots of writing to do :)

Uncle Steven and David had to reschedule for Saturday - so we'll have fun watching football all day with them. Auntie Kelly and Cole are coming up that day too for a visit - it's going to be a big weekend for Drew...

January 1....

2008-01-01T17:45:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!

Drew and I just hung out today...and then Patrick took us all out for dinner to Ruby Tuesdays - yum! Drew had his ususal hamburger and fries - dipped in ketchup of course!!!

Tomorrow (hopefully) Uncle Steven and David are coming for a visit - but first we have to go to the doctor for our first vaccines. Drew's blood work came back and he never had his chicken pox vaccines (which wasn't a surprise) and apparently he has to do his MMR over again cause he didn't have all of them, or something like that. He also has to get some more blood work as some of his tests came back inconclusive and they need to double check some things. The doctor thinks it was a lab error of some kind, so hopefully that's all it is.

And that's it from Drew's world on the first day of 2008!!!!

We can't wait to see Uncle Steve and David!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!

2007-12-31T09:45:00.000-08:00

I wanted to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year....I hope everyone has a great 2008!!

Well - I originally was going to end the blog today, but I may post here and there, just not as regularly as I have been...but people have been so interested, I hate to stop all together...

So - as 2007 comes to an end...thank you again to all our family and friends who supported us and helped us and cheered us on during this crazy year - from putting together our dossier, to waiting, to going to Kazakhstan for a month, to finally bringing Drew home....it's been a heck of a year!! :)

Drew continues to do great and every day does something that amazes us...his walking is outstanding - he's toddling around everywhere - not holding on and just doing great. He's babbling tons and making lots of different sounds now so I know the words are going to come in the next days or weeks - they are almost right there. He's eating everything we give him and loving it all - he's definitely not a picky eater like his mother!

Sleep is stil an issue, though we finally decided to say "screw it" and we are letting him cry a bit before going in to get him - it's working I think...last night he woke up around midnight, cried for a few minutes and fell back to sleep...I know the adoption books say not to do that, but hey, we all need to sleep better!!!

Drew is also being a typical 18-month old with always wanting his way and falling down on the floor, crying if he doesn't get it...so we are working through that as well...

All in all - Drew is doing great, adjusting well and enjoying life - he loves his dog Peyton, bathtime, throwing his toys around his room, holding the tube of bacetracin for me while I change his diapers, being carried down the stairs, playing with all of his toys - especially his blocks, all of his cell phones, his puzzles and all of his musical stuff, he loves being tickled by his mommy and daddy...really - he's a pretty happy kid - we are very lucky he is ours!!!

So - that's where we are at the end of 2007..can't wait to see what 2008 brings!!!

Lab work...

2007-12-27T18:18:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Children's Hospital to do all of Drew's lab work. They have to check to make sure he's had all the vaccines Kazakhstan says he's had and check for a few other things too - in all they took 7-8 vials of blood - he was not happy...I felt so awful, and even worse cause I couldn't look as I get sick from the sight of blood.

As with all medical stuff, they had to fill out some forms on him, one of which asked a lot of questions about when he was born. Mind you, I told these people from the begining that he had to get all the blood work because he had only recently come home from Kazakhstan. Still, these people asked me the name of the hospital he was born in and what time he was born!!!! I actually laughed at that one and said, "I don't know, does it really matter? I can make up a time if you want." So stupid!!! Even if I did know the time of his birth, why does it matter to test if he's had certain vaccines??????? I was born at 12:13 p.m. - I don't really think that has ever affected any blood work I've had! Yes, that question really bugged me! :)

But the good news is we got our new insurance cards today with Drew's name included - so he's official! Now we need to get him a Social Security number and a tax number and a bunch of other stuff I told myself I would not think about until Jan. 2.

So, other than the blood stuff Drew had a good day - though he's starting to get rough with the dog so we need to put an end to that...I also caught him trying to eat cheerios like Peyton does, wth his mouth off the couch, which was really funny actually, but not something to encourage!

Visitors!!

2007-12-26T13:45:00.000-08:00

Drew had visitors today - Carolyn, Dave and Nicholas Bailey! Carolyn is my oldest friend -we go back to middle school...

So, they came to visit and we had a really good time - they actually have Peyton's brother Eli (who used to be our dog for a few months, and now he's their dog) - so it was a "Manning puppy" reunion!! The dogs had a great time, and the people had a great time too. Nicholas even gave Drew a special gift that he picked out on his own of cookies with a cookie monster on the box because he knows that Drew loves cookies!!!

Pictures are posted on the side of the blog....

Nothing much else new here...Drew is pretty tired though...Nicholas wore him out!!!

Happy Half Birthday Drew!!

2007-12-25T12:42:00.000-08:00

Drew is 18 months old today!!!

And he's discovered how much fun it is to feed the dog cheerios right from his hand...as if Peyton needs to eat any more!!

It's been a quiet day here - I went to see Charlie Wilsons War (great movie!!) and Drew took a nap while I was gone - now Patrick is napping and Drew and I are typing on the computer and playing...Drew, right now, is thinking it's fun to walk around with his Elmo thermometer in his mouth taking his temperature - I think he's been doing that for about an hour now!

Well- time to go and play with my budding doctor...I hope everyone who celebrates is having Merry Christmas!!

Drew's Night Out...

2007-12-24T18:20:00.003-08:00

Patrick and I took Drew out for dinner tonight - it was our first restaurant experience as a family...

While we were there, a nice older couple came up to us to tell us how cute Drew was and how well behaved he was (all true of course!!) and then the man said, "You can definitely tell who his father is!" Patrick and I just laughed and said, "Thank you." It was so funny. It will be interesting to see how often we hear that comment...we've already heard it a few times, even from people in Kazakhstan!

There's a new picture on the side of the blog of Drew enjoying his french fries and ketchup at Applebees...he dipped them in just like Grama taught him last week...

So - that was our excitement for the day...

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Special Merry Christmas to Chris, Ben, Grandmother, Grandad, Great Grandmother, Uncle Phil, Aunt Stephie and Uncle Bryan...we hope you all have a wonderful holiday and Santa brings you lots of great toys!!!

Wonderful NJ Weekend!!

2007-12-23T20:26:00.001-08:00

We had such a great weekend in NJ with Drew - he met soooo many people and he did sooo great!!! He really warmed up to the family, but he still knew to come to me or Patrick for support, love, food, etc...so I think he's bonding really welll with us...

So - first we went to Grama's house on Saturday and celebrated Hanukkah with Uncle Steve, Aunt Lizzie, David, Aunt Lysee, Uncle Shawn and Aunt Sheri. Drew got soooo many great gifts...he is definitely excited and tonight played with his vaccum and 100 wooden blocks! He had so much fun playing under the table with Uncle Steve and playing the piano with Aunt Lysee and staring at Aunt Sheri's very ugly slippers!! He and David got into it a big over a toy, and I won't say who won, but Go Drew!!! LOL...sorry Steven - couldn't resist!! :)

This morning some very special people came to meet Drew: Judy and Ruth who are Gramas' oldest friends, Randy and Steve and Debbie and Rabbi - all of whom have known me forever and my special friend Suzanne and her duaghter Brie!! Drew again got great toys and books and a specially painted chair...it was so wonderful for everyone to come over to meet Drew...he's so lucky to have you all in his life...as am I!!!

Then this afternoon we went to Bubbie's and met Opa, Uncle Lenny, Angie, Josh, Marc, Gina and Samie...and had soo much fun with them!! Drew, again, got great gifts - many musical ones and a plane like the one he flew home in!! We had a great time and loved Angie's latkes - Drew had 2-3 of them himself!! Well, OK, I ate some too!! :)

And then Drew slept most of the way home...

So - it was a great and tiring weekend....

But we came home feeling very special and loved and with enough toys to last a lifetime...

I posted some pictures on the side of the blog...

Drew and Peyton...

2007-12-20T17:19:00.001-08:00

Well, Drew finally decided he likes Peyton...today he pet him and tonight he laid down on him - LOL...so we are definitely making some progress there...

We also had our first post-placement meeting with our social worker from the agency. She's putting together the first report to send to Kazakhstan about Drew...We had to promise to send reports every year for 18 years in order to be able to adopt him.

That's about all I got..still adjusting to motherhood - it's hard!!! :) I have no time to get anything done during the day and that gets frustrating. but, Drew is wonderful and we are learning this whole mother-son thing together...so far, I think we're doing pretty well...I love when he reaches his arms out for me and lays his head against me - that is the most amazing feeling in the world!!!

...and I'm sure every mother out there is laughing at me saying I get nothing doen during the day, right??? :)

Great day with Grama...

2007-12-19T19:13:00.001-08:00

Drew had his first visitor today - Grama came to visit!!!! He had a great time!!

We went to Friendly's for lunch and Drew had his first grilled cheese sandwhich, french fries and ice cream sundae - all were a big hit!! Then we went to Stride Rite to buy Drew his first big boy sneakers and shoes...they are both adorable!!!

Drew also got lots and lots of great welcome home and Hanukkah presents today...he did good!!

Now, if Drew sleeps for more than 2 hours at a time tonight, mommy and daddy will be very happy people!!!

Drew also had his first dcotor's appointment today and he's a healthy little boy....

Tomorrow, our social worker Jodi is coming for our first post-placement visit...wow - I never thought we'd be "post placement!!!"

Drew is sleeping..

2007-12-18T12:14:00.000-08:00

Well - today is my first day alone with Drew...

We were doing great until about 11 a.m. when fatigue hit him. He cried for a while and then I decided maybe a light lunch would be good - so we did that - Cheerioes and strawberry yougart - yum!! Then we played some more, cried some more and finaly around 2 p.m. he fell asleep and I did a big dance of joy!! LOL...it's amazing how huge an accomplishment this feels like!!

So I'm taking advantage of the time to do some cleaning (Grama is coming up tomorrow and the house can't be a total disaster - but she'll understand if it's not spotless - right Grama????) and thank you notes and organizing, etc...I know I should be napping right now, that is the cardinal rule of motherhood right - nap when they nap!! I'm sure I will regret not napping at around 8 p.m. tonight! :) Check back with me...

Not much else going on here - Peyton has already started to "play" with Drew's toys, Drew is not too impressed with that...I don't blame him one bit...

Tomorrow is Drew's first doctor's appointment - I have a whole list of questions to ask!

That's about it from here...time to get some rest before I get Drew up...

Happy (almost) Birthday Jodi!!!!!!!!!!!

Our first day together...

2007-12-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

Today was a wonderful, wonderful day....it was so overwhelming and so fantastic and so many other adjectives that I don't even know where to begin...

I am amazed at how well Drew is doing...except for a brief period after dinner where he was crying for Patrick, he was fine all day - a happy little boy. I was shocked at how well he responded to me, but we were fine together - we played, he splashed in the bath and thought it was funny to get me all wet, he let me rock and sing him to sleep for his nap and again tonight.

He ate lots of first foods today: Cheeroies, maple and brown sugar oatmeal with milk, pretzels and Grandma Molly's Macaroni and Cheese (a family recipe!) were all huge hits!!! Bologna - not so much. Oh well...maybe we'll try turkey tomorrow and see how that goes.

He's not too thrilled with our beagle Peyton, though Peyton is very interested in Drew! Drew got a little better as the day wore on, but if Peyton got too close, Drew got scared. I'm sure by next week they will be the best of friends...

I still can't believe he's here and he's ours forever. I can't wait for all our families and friends to meet this great little boy who has already brought so much joy into our lives...

I'm gong to post some pictures from his plane ride home and his first day!!

Drew is home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-12-17T10:39:00.000-08:00

Drew and Patrick got home at 1:45 a.m.!!!!!!!!!!

Our baby is here...it's completely wonderful and crazy and overwelming....

I'll post more later - it's lunch time!!!!

Delays, delays....

2007-12-16T06:42:00.000-08:00

UPDATE (11:18 p.m. EST)

Patrick and Drew's plane finally took off from Detroit - they are due to land at 12:26 a.m. The roads are all iced over again so they are taking a cab home as getting in a car accident would not be a great way to end this day...

So - now Drew's Gottcha Day (or whatever we'll call it) is December 17 - good thing I held off on ordering those announcements - LOL.. :)

The funny thing is I spent so long thinking of the fantasy reunion at the airport with our families all around...oh well..as long as they get home safe and sound, that's all that matters....

__________________________________________________________-

UPDATE (6:32 p.m. EST)

Patrick and Drew have landed in Detroit - my baby is officially an American citizen!!!!!!!!!! Their plane landed at 6:11 p.m. so they are still deplaning and all that..hopefully I will hear from Patrick in the next hour.

I still don't if they will make it here tonight. The flight that was due in from Detroit to Hartford at 7:15 p.m. was cancelled, and there's no news yet about their flight...

It's snowing/icing again here now...I can't believe all this...

But at least they are in the U.S.A....that is the good news...

_______________________________________________________________

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well - this is quite a story....

Patrick and Drew were all set to leave Almaty on time, but the plane they were taking clipped its wing against another plane upon landing in Almaty, so it had to be fixed before they could leave - that was a three-hour delay. Then the airline tried to give Patrick and Drew seats apart from each other - very smart, huh?? So, they got stuck in middle seats while every other person with a child on the plane got a bulkhead seat...ridiculous!! Aparently Drew was not too impressed with the whole plane experience - I don't know details though...

So - Patrick called this morning from Amsterdam - because their plane was late leaving Almaty, they took him off the flight to Hartford and put him on a flight to Detroit! Turns out, he could have made the flight to Hartford, but they wouldn't let him fly standby. So he's flying into Detroit and then getting into Hartford around 11:30 p.m.

In the meantime, we are having a terrible ice storm in central Connecticut - everything is covered in 3 inches of ice and it's not supposed to stop until this afternoon. I have no idea how I'm going to get out of my driveway, not to mention make it to the airport...

Of couse, since Patrick's first U.S. landing is in Detroit it means he has to go through customs there, which involves going through passport control, getting his luggage, going through customs, rechecking his luggage and getting back on a plane. Not good...

I feel sooooo awful for Patrick and Drew!!! They both must be completely miserable. It's going to be a long day for all of us...

Patrick did plan to introduce Drew to McDonald's today in the Amsterdam airport and then take him to a play area to hopefully get rid of some energy so he'll be OK for the plane ride to the U.S.

So - that's it for now..we'll see what happens...

Last night without Drew....

2007-12-15T17:54:00.000-08:00

Well, this is it...my last night alone - it's such a wierd feeling knowing that Drew will be here tomorrow and forever!!! I was downstairs watching TV and having a snack of pretzels and it hit me that from now on I won't be just hanging out at night doing whatever I feel like - there will be this little person here who will need me and demand my attention and probably won't want to watch Law and Order SVU!! It just feels so surreal right now and sort of incomprehensable...

Did lots of shoppng today - most of my Hanukah shopping and food shopping for Drew. I bought so much good food for him - I hope he likes it all! Then I cleaned the house and wrapped my presents. I'm so antsy and it's hard to sit still...

I got one last e-mial from Patrick from Kazakhstan - he said he and Drew are both sick of the hotel and irritable and ready to come home. It's 8 a.m. in Almaty right now so they are probably boarding the plane - I hope they get good seats! Drew's first plane ride - and what a ride it is!!

So - this big storm is still supposed to hit here early this morning and last through the afternoon. I hope they will be able to land and I hope I'll be able to drive to the airport to get them!! I get very nervous driving in sleet, snow and freezing rain...and it stinks that no one will most likely be able to come up to welcome Drew home...oh well - what can ya do? I guess that's what happens when your "Adoption (Gottcha) Day" is in December...thankfully Drew has a June birthday!!

Well, Peyton is laying next to me curled up on the blanket...he is in a for a rude awakening tomorrow when he's displaced by a 17-month old little boy!! LOL...

I've decided to keep the blog going through the end of the year - that seems like a good time to end this "book." Thank you again to all my friends, family, friends of family and everyone else who's been reading this blog and been so interested in our story. I can't wait to show this to Drew someday so he can see how many people were so excited for him to come into our lives. I hope he always knows how loved and wanted he is...

Good night...more tomorrow when Drew is HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Patrick and Drew are coming home!!!!!

2007-12-14T07:48:00.000-08:00

Drew’s new passport arrived this morning (Friday) from Astana at 11 a.m., just as we had hoped, and Drew and I visited the US Embassy in Almaty at 2 p.m. Less than an hour later, we walked out with Drew’s US visa and all the paperwork we need to show the immigration officer in Connecticut when our flight lands on Sunday. We’re done! We’re coming home!

The embassy staff was incredibly nice and helpful. Thanks to our local coordinators arranged through Wide Horizons, all our paperwork was in order before we arrived, and all I had to do was sign two documents while the consul witnessed my signature. There were four other families meeting with the consul at the same time, so you can imagine it was a pretty happy and festive room. I’m sure that I’m very impartial when I say Drew was the cutest baby there – he spent the hour playing on my lap, giggling at our games and cooing at Galina. He also watched and smiled at the people around us and the other kids in the room. Of course, the consul remarked how cute he was, too!

Drew will be an American citizen when our plane touches down in Hartford on Sunday, assuming the weather allows us to get there. Hartford got about 10 inches of snow today and a winter storm blowing up the East Coast is expected to make things awful both Saturday and Sunday. Drew and I are flying to Amsterdam where we’re scheduled to have a 2-hour layover before flying to Hartford. If conditions are as bad on the East Coast as predicted, it’s possible that we’ll be in Amsterdam for a day or so, but I’d rather stranded in Europe than Asia. It’s closer to home!

Drew seemed to be in a good mood on the way back to the hotel. He liked the music our driver played on his car radio and bobbed and swayed back and forth in time to the tune – we call it butt-dancing. He also made us laugh by waving both his hands in the air as he danced. I’d never seen him use hand motions when he danced before!

He’s been hearing a lot of my music this week as well. I can only take so much of “Voice of America” TV and it’s the only English station on our room, so I’ve been playing my iTiunes library on my computer a lot. Drew seems like he particularly likes Guns n Roses, Rush and Bruce Springsteen, because he dances to those pretty frequently.

As good as today was, last night was pretty awful for this segment of the Sanders family. Drew crashed about 8:30 when he couldn’t keep his eyes open any more. But for some reason, he was up and rarin’ to go at 1:30 a.m. and I couldn’t get him back to sleep, or to even think about sleep, until about 4:30. We slept another 4 hours after that, but it wasn’t enough for either of us.

Breakfast was surprisingly nice, however, because we ran into two other American families who are adopting. Both adopted from the region closest to Siberia and are looking forward to going home soon. Hopefully we’ll see them again before we leave on Sunday. Drew was very good as we talked for a long time, sitting patiently on my lap and playing a bit with a 3-year-old girl.

Well, I guess the paperwork part of this affair is over! Now all we have to do is get back to Connecticut. I’m going to start hoping for a surprise warm front to strike on Saturday!

Cutting it close....

2007-12-13T05:03:00.000-08:00

Hello from Almaty. The next 18 hours or so are going to be very interesting, so we need your best thoughts over here!

Galina reports that our paperwork was approved in Astana, the Kazakhstan capitol, at 4 p.m. today (Thursday). All that remains is that the papers make it back to Almaty tomorrow morning. And that’s not so easy. The plane with our papers is supposed to arrive at 11 a.m. tomorrow in Almaty. Galina then has until noon to get it to the US Embassy so they may review it for Drew’s 2 p.m. appointment. No papers, no appointment.

And if we miss Friday’s appointment, we won’t get to the Embassy until Monday, which means we won’t get home until Tuesday. Ugh! I hate uncertainties! Galina says we should have no problems IF the plane is on time. That’s a big if, so that’s why we need some good thoughts.

That’s all the adoption news today – Drew and I pretty much spent the day playing and staying warm. Remember I told you that the heat wasn’t working in our room and they brought in a space heater? Well, the side benefit to that is that our room is the warmest place in the hotel. Great for little boys to play and sleep, but it’s a little claustrophobic to be in the same room all day, every day. Drew and I went out to the lounge area on our hotel’s floor today just for a change of pace, but it was a little cold to stay for long.

One kind of sad thing is that Drew could hear a baby crying in the distance and he started calling for it (he makes loud, purposeful grunts when he wants something or your attention, the rest of the time he babbles). I don’t know if he was calling the baby, or calling what he thought were his caregivers from the orphanage. I hope it wasn’t the latter, but I’ll never know and can never imagine what he’s gone though this week.

Our only other outing today was to the pharmacy about a block away, which is the best place around here to buy baby supplies. We got a new stack of diapers that should get us through our trip on Sunday, and I stopped at the bank to change enough dollars into the local currency to pay for our hotel stay.

Drew’s being very independent today – refusing to drink out of the sippy cup unless I take off the lid so he can drink like a big kid, and trying to walk around the entire room rather than doing his crawl. Of course, he fell a couple of times on the hardwood floor, and I think he’s got a fresh bump on his head. Poor little boy!

I hope that the weather back home isn’t too bad today and tomorrow – Beth says New Britain is expected to get up to 6 inches of snow, and then a storm over the weekend. Shoveling the snow is my job at the house and I hope Beth doesn’t have too bad a time of it. I’ll worry more about the Sunday weather after I find out if we make our embassy appointment.

That’s all for now – Drew and I are having supper downstairs, and then I’m going to try to keep him up until 9, hoping that he sleeps longer tomorrow. :)

Thursday AM in Kazakhstan....

2007-12-13T02:59:00.000-08:00

Good morning. It’s Thursday in Kazakhstan and today we should find out if our paperwork comes back in time to make our Friday appointment at the US Embassy. We’re very, very hopeful – if the paper comes we’ll be able to make our flight on Sunday. If it doesn’t come, we’re here until Tuesday, more than likely. It’s a big day, and there’s nothing we can do but sit and wait!

Drew had a rough day yesterday because he was off schedule – or at least what I think is schedule is – all day. But it was all worthwhile when he rewarded me with a kiss. It was sloppy and drooly, but his first one to me and one that I’ll always remember.

Here’s how it happened – after sending our e-mail Wednesday night, we went back to our room for play. Drew and I decided we were tired of watching Voice of America television, so we plugged in my computer so we could listen to the music from my iTunes library. That seemed to put Drew in a good mood because he likes to dance to some of the music by sitting down and wiggling his butt on the floor. Very cute!

As we listened, we started playing with the wooden number puzzle I bought for him here. Drew gave me the pieces and I gave them big kisses while making a loud “mm-wah” noise. Drew thought that was funny and did the same thing. About 30 minutes later, while I was laying on the floor, Drew suddenly crawled over to me and gave me a “mm-wah” right on the mouth, and then he rested his head on my chest. It was an incredible feeling, and cemented any concerns that this little boy won’t accept us as his parents. Beth, I can’t wait to share all this with you. Our little boy is full of love and fun and we’re going to have great lives by bringing him into our family!

Drew got very tired by 7, so I decided there was no better time than a bath. I figured he hated sponge baths so much, I may as well let him throw a big fit with a full-scale bath while he’s cranky. Much to my surprise, though, it went pretty well! He didn’t like sitting in the warm water at first and started crying, but as soon as I showed him that he could smack the top of the water to make a splash his cries turned to giggles. I got a couple great photos of him in the tub, but I won’t e-mail them. The last thing I need is being arrested for international distribution of naked baby photos!

Once it was bedtime, Drew was exhausted. We read “Tails” and then I tried to put him in his crib, but this time he wanted to be held and rocked in the chair until he fell asleep. It was a good way to spend a half-hour, and when I finally put him down he stayed in his crib until about 4 a.m. today. Much better than yesterday!

Drew and I slept until 6, and he’s already had a diaper change and an early breakfast of a cracker, a half-jar of fruit and apple juice. He’ll play in his crib with some toys while I take a shower, and then at 8:30 or so we’ll go to the hotel restaurant for a better breakfast of eggs, bread, cucumbers and milk. At 9 we’ll send this message and hopefully Mommy will be on IM so we can chat.

____________________________________________________________________

Patrick and I were able to IM for a little while, untuil Drew decided he'd had enough!! LOL...

Kristi - I agree with you on the sleeping - if this is the one thing that he has the hardest time adjusting to from the orphanage, that's pretty good!!

Drew called from Almaty, Update from Patrick!!

2007-12-11T19:24:00.001-08:00

I just got off the phone with Patrick and Drew!!! Well, more Patrick than Drew, but still - it was so great to hear from them.

They are doing well and staying warm - there's lots of paperwork to do every day, but Patrick is doing OK with it. Still no word on if he can have his Embassy exit interview Friday...but we're still crossing our fingers it will work out.

Drew is doing great!!! He's eating everything and having fun playing and enjoying his "Tails" book! Apparently though he doesn't want to sleep in his crib and needs to sleep with Patrick - I guess he's scared, which is understandable. Thankfully all his clothes are fittng him well, as is his winter jacket.

Patrick put Drew on the phone so I could talk to him - Patrick said he was listening to me, until he saw some animals on TV and that was more interesting - LOL...oh my god - I just can't wait to hug and kiss that child and never let him go!!!

Patrick said people have come up to him in the hotel to tell him how cute Drew is!! I'm such a proud mom :)

Patrick also was able to see Drew's revised birth certificate and passport - both have his name that we gave him and we are listed as his parents on the birth certificate - so it's official...I can't wait to see it all myself...

We were only able to talk about 20 minutes - I can't imagine how much it cost, but it was worth it to hear Patrick's and Drew's voices...

Update from Patrick....

Hello! Drew has decided to get an early start to the day today, waking up for good at 6:30 a.m. I think sleep issues are going to be the biggest obstacle to hurdle, at least in the first few days.

We started the beginnings of a bedtime routine last night. Drew will be very good about letting us know when he’s tired – he doesn’t cry or fuss about it, but he starts rubbing his eyes nearly constantly. So shortly after 8 last night when he started making the signs, I gave him a quick sponge bath (which he hated!). Then we changed into his very warm and comfy blue and white PJs, and I lowered the lights a bit and we played quietly for another 20 minutes or so. Finally, at 8:30, we cleaned up the toys and I took him to the chair for his bedtime story – “Tails” by acclaimed author Matthew van Fleet, of course!

Then it was bedtime. Even though he was completely exhausted, he fought hard going to sleep. He didn’t want to be held or rocked, but he didn’t want to be in the crib, either – unless I was standing next to him, stroking his forehead or holding his hand. I really think bedtime is when he misses his old routines the most and when he’s most scared of all the changes that are happening in his life.

After about 30 minutes, Drew finally settled down, but still got upset if I went even as far as the bathroom. My only choice was to lay down on my own bed, about 3 feet from his, and we both fell asleep at the same time.

That lasted until about midnight, however, when Drew woke up in a complete thermonuclear meltdown fit. Maybe this wasn’t the best thing to do, but I brought him over to my bed, and he continued sleeping over there until about 6 or so. I tried, once, to put him back in his crib, about 5 a.m. or so, but he would have nothing of it.

We’ve been told this may happen – Drew not wanting to sleep by himself. And I’m sure we’re going to have the same problems when we get home and he finds himself in a crib in a bedroom all by himself. Suggestions?

Otherwise, Drew’s doing great. I’ve gotten him several toys that he can have on the plane as well – a wooden block set shaped as numbers, a set of rings, Lego-style toys, stacking cups and a set of toy cars. Drew likes to sit in the middle of the foor completely surrounded by all of his toys, and he’ll run the cars on the ground or knock the wood toys together while babbling contentedly. His favorite word is “a-ba” which he’ll repeat in various pitches and volumes until he’s nearly squealing. Sometimes I sit with him and play, but other times it’s more fun to sit back and watch.

He also seemed to rediscover his “Tails” book today after two days of ignoring it completely. I think there’s a good chance that the pig tail will take serious damage today – he’s got a very good grip on it right now in fact as he watches me type.

Drew had a rough day on Wednesday – he didn’t sleep well last night and woke up too early. So he was nodding off by 10:30 a.m., just when we were supposed to be getting ready to see Galina with more paperwork. Drew just wasn’t going to make it, so I put him down in his crib and he fought sleep until 11, when he finally dropped off. Galina and I just worked quietly outside the room.

The paperwork was pretty funny on the face of it. … it was Drew’s application for a visa from the US government, in which he had to attest that he was not a war criminal, had not committed human atrocities or acts of moral turpitude and he was not affiliated with any terrorism groups or planning any acts of terror against the USA. I hope our government screens adults better than 17-month-olds!

Galina says our revised paperwork, now that it’s been corrected by Taraz, made it to Astana safely. She’s hoping that it gets turned around today so it can be here in time for our appointment Friday at the Embassy. It makes me sick to think that after all our planning, and Beth’s dedication to the paperwork, that we now have to wait for some government official to rush our stuff because of mistakes that were made in Taraz and not caught until now. Cross your fingers that we get good news tomorrow! I’m not expected to see or hear from Galina until she knows the status of our paperwork, so all we can do is wait.

Galina left and Drew woke at 11:30 screaming, so I put him down with me in my bed and we slept until about 2. His schedule was completely thrown off but there’s really nothing I can do about it now. He was still tired and cranky when I decided it was time for an outing and we hit the Stetson – an American-themed restaurant about 2 blocks from the hotel. Drew was kind of fussy at first, but he likes watching people and there was a lot to see. Finally the food came – apple juice, pizza and French fries (really, I was just going for something he would like on his first restaurant visit, but now that I see it on the computer screen I look like a horrible father!). Drew liked the fries better than the pizza; I think it was too cheesy for him. And he completely refused his apple juice until I gave him some of my tea. Old Kazakh habits die hard!

I guess that’s all for now. I’m hoping for a quiet night, and Drew and I can settle in and relax a bit. Hello to everyone in the USA. Chris and Ben, are you reading? I can’t wait to talk to you on Sunday!

In Almaty...Update from Patrick...

2007-12-11T03:24:00.000-08:00

Hi. We’ve had a full 24 hours here in Kazakhstan!

Picking our son up at the orphanage will be one of the best moments of my life. I had already seen him in the morning, and our translator (Tonya) and I spent the rest of the day shopping for him and for the orphanage. I decided not to purchase the television; Tonya’s mom (the assistant director of the orphanage) had suggested it, saying while all groups of children had TVs, there was no television for new orphanage arrivals who are awaiting their permanent placement into one of the orphanages many groups of children. Well, even Mira thought the request was ridiculous, so I settled on buying cleaning supplies and diapers. Tonya and I left the gift on the floor outside the orphanage director’s office, who didn’t even come out to tell us goodbye. It was unacknowledged and, for all I know, unappreciated. But at least I know it will be used for children or to make children’s lives a little better, and not be slipped into the trunk of someone’s car.

Then we went upstairs to get Drew. I walked into his playgroup’s room and found him on the floor, with four or five other children. They all froze as I walked in, as I think they normally do when a visitor appears. Drew suddenly crawled toward me at top speed and I swept him up in my arms, telling him he was our little boy. Drew turned around and, without prompting, waved goodbye to his friends and caregivers! Of course he thought we were just going into the next room for one-on-one play, but it melted my heart just the same.

Then I dressed Drew in one of the many outfits that you sent over – he left wearing a snuggly brown sweatsuit decorated with a happy raccoon. He looked great, of course – the 12-month clothes fit him perfectly. But Tonya immediately started questioning if he was wearing enough clothes, or had enough layers. I looked at her and said, “Tonya, don’t start now.” That solved the issue, at least for a while.

We went back to Tonya’s flat and were met by Tonya’s mother and Daniel (Tonya's son). After settling in, I gave them their gifts – Tonya and Daniel were especially excited; she loved all the books and called them “perfect,” while Daniel held and kissed his new shirts.

Then we spent the afternoon relaxing. Taraz was having one of its many days without lights, so we watched the children play by candlelight and Drew had supper of a beef and potato stew. And Daniel was enraptured by our son and kept following Drew around, trying to kiss him because he thought that he was a girl!

Happily, the lights came back on just before the party began. Constantine’s (Tonay's husband) brother and his wife arrived, followed shortly by Daniel’s godfather and his wife. Drew alternated between sitting with me and Tonya’s mother, who seemed to enjoy her last night with out little boy and didn’t want to let him go. The only problem with dinner was that it included many toasts of vodka; and as almost every toast was to wish Drew a happy and healthy life, and as Tonya’s mom kept insisting that she keep my glass filled, I was forced to go along with drinking four or five shots the same day I was taking custody of our son. It’s the Kazakh way, I suppose!

Tonya made the first toast and it was really touching, which is why I’m spending so much time on the subject, I suppose. She wished us a safe, easy journey and our family many happy days ahead, and that Drew grow up healthy and happy and that one day he would come back to Taraz to visit. As the guest, I had to make the second toast, so I thanked them for giving Drew a good start to his life, and I toasted their family’s many recent achievements – Tonya’s university degree, Constantine’s promotion to commander of his base, her mother’s planned retirement in February, and Daniel’s successful recovery from illness (I don’t think I’ve told you this, but Daniel was hospitalized for five days shortly after we left for some sort of stomach poisoning. Fortunately he’s fully recovered!).

I took the chance to give Constantine his present of present of a U.S. Army jacket and shirt, along with the Ranger ribbons we found for him. He was very pleased, and wore the T-shirt for the rest of the dinner. He also asked, jokingly I think, where his matching pants and cap were to go with the Army jacket. I told him we would bring those the next time we adopted from Taraz, and everyone laughed.

At 9 p.m., our driver came to take us to the train. I gave him his gift as well, and he was shocked that we gave him something – I hope he likes his Red Sox gear! Mira did not see us off, claiming some sort of illness, so Tonya promised to deliver her gift from us.

Drew did very well on the train. I had changed him into his PJs before we left Tonya’s flat and I gave him his Benadril when we arrived on our car. We shared the sleeping car with a woman and her 3-month-old daughter. I have to assume that the train people purposely booked both the babies in the same car so we wouldn’t keep anyone else awake! The woman spoke only Kazakh, but we were able to communicate enough to trade names, and the ages of our children. I told her we were going to America, and she asked if Esatai (I couldn’t get her to understand that his name was Drew, I suppose it doesn’t *sound* like a name here) was born in Taraz. I said he was, and she smiled and made many comments in the next 8 hours about how Esatai was saying bye-bye to Taraz and that he was going to be an American. She sounded very happy, which made me happy, too!

Drew fought sleep the best he could on the train – he was nervous, of course, and I’m sure he would have been much happier back at the orphanage. But he never cried, just fought to stay awake, before finally dropping off. Once he slept, though, he was a problem because he insisted on taking up our entire narrow bunk. I finally was able to find a comfortable way to lay and we slept most of the trip before he woke up about 6 a.m.

Our train arrived in Almaty at 7 a.m., which was white with new snow. It’s cold here! In fact, the heater in our hotel room doesn’t work, so the employees brought in a large space heater, which I’m keeping next to Drew’s crib, so he stays warm. I complained to the hotel front desk to no avail, and now I’m just forcing him to wear a couple of layers. I guess old orphanage habits die hard, but I’m not happy with the conditions in the hotel and was quite rude with the desk about it. I’m sure they chalked it up to American attitude, but I can’t care about that.

At 11 a.m., Galina arrived to take us to the clinic for a checkup and blood work. Drew cried as the doctor gave him a brief examination (she declared he had a cold and charged $100). Then he got his blood work and I was stunned that Drew didn’t even whimper or flinch when his finger was pricked. He watched very studiously as the lab doctor pinched his finger long enough to fill up a test tube with his blood. He was brave!

Our only problem, besides the lack of heat, is that Drew has a mild case of loose BMs which has caused us to ruin one outfit and a set of bedding. He’s eating well but I had a horrible time getting him to take a nap this afternoon despite how tired he was. I think his sleep times will be the worst for a while because it’s the one time that he craves the routine and familiar surroundings of the orphanage. He seemed so sad today when he woke up from his nap because I think he really misses his caregivers. In fact, he makes it a point to grunt loudly at all of the hotel maids here, I think because he associates them with his orphanage caregivers.

Galina gave me more paperwork to fill out, so I’m doing that this afternoon, and I’m told we’ll have the paperwork from his medical tests at the end of the day tomorrow. So hopefully we’re getting back on track!

Until tomorrow,
Patrick

Snags with paperwork!!!

2007-12-10T00:28:00.000-08:00

I heard from Patrick at around 4:30 a.m EST....he saw Drew earlier in the day and said he immediately recognized Patrick and crawled over to him!!!!! He got laughs and smiles almost immediately...so exciting!! He said Drew looks bigger, has some more teeth and had his hair cut again by the orphanage - I don't know why they keep cuttng his hair...oh well...

When I talked to Patrick, he was on his way to the baby house to pick up Drew FOREVER!!!!!!!

This is from Patrick - writing from Taraz...

"Hi. It’s 9 a.m. Monday morning and I’m in Taraz, writing this from the guest room of Tonya’s apartment.

I’ve got so much to tell you. So I’m not burying the lede, let me say that I’m fine, and I’m told that Drew is fine – I’ll be seeing him this morning and am told I’ll be taking him for good sometime this afternoon. However, there’ve been some snags that I’m working through.

Obviously, e-mail access has been less than perfect and I’ve not been near a live computer since leaving Amsterdam. In addition, problems with our paperwork are making it questionable that we’re going to catch our flight on the 16th. These issues won’t be resolved until Thursday at the earliest, and until then both we and our families should consider Drew’s arrival at 3:25 p.m. in Connecticut tentative.

Let me take this chronologically – I think that makes the most sense.

After my 12-hour layover in Amsterdam, the 6-hour flight to Almaty was completely full. I was unable to get an exit row, but at least had an aisle seat. I believe the plane was roomier than the Luftansa jet, however, and the entertainment system was far superior – each seat had its own entertainment system, where we could choose from dozens of movies, TV shows or video games. I watched two episodes of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” two episodes of “Friends” and a classic episode of “Cheers” and felt very much at home.

I sat across the aisle from a very nice couple from Rhode Island, Chris and Allison. They are adopting from Almaty and were making their first trip and were very excited. I told them what I could about Kazakhstan and how to get through customs – to me that was the most nerve-wracking part of this process, because we had absolutely no preparation for what to do. They seemed very nice and I hope that we stay in touch. I gave them our blog address so if you’re reading, hello!

Problems began when I arrived in Almaty and was met by Galina. She informed me that three pieces of our adoption paperwork contained errors that must be fixed before we could proceed to the U.S. Embassy. First, our court papers from Taraz indicated that we began visiting Drew on Oct. 1 – more than three weeks before our actual first day with him. That document must be retyped (in Russian) and resigned by court officials in Taraz. Second, an adoption certificate handwritten in Russian was incorrectly dated. And third, a petition that Beth and I had signed to the Kazakh government incorrectly indicated the court ruling was made final in October, not November. Galina had me redo the last document on Sunday, but Taraz court officials must create new papers to replace the first two documents. Galina gave me copies of the incorrect files to hand-deliver to our Taraz coordinator, Mira, when I arrive in Taraz Monday morning.

Galina is hopeful that Taraz will have these papers redone before Drew and I catch the train for Almaty Monday night. Then Almaty officials will have 48 hours to rush the paperwork through their system so that Drew and I can have our official interview at the Embassy on Friday. She is concerned that the papers won’t be completed on time; the best thing that I can do is “go with the flow,” as they say.

The second problem – my lack of e-mail access – was caused in part by my fatigue. Galina checked me in to the Alma Ata hotel and left me about 8 a.m. Monday. My plan was to sleep for 2-3 hours, then use the business center to send you an e-mail. However, I slept straight through, until 6 p.m. that day, and the business center was closed before I woke up. I suppose I needed the sleep, but I kicked myself for missing that opportunity.

I’m told Drew and I will be back in that same room when we get back to Almaty. I suppose it’s fine – it has comfortable twin bed, room for a crib and lots of storage space to put our clothes and baby supplies. The shower is awful, however.

On Sunday night, I took the Spanish train from Almaty to Taraz. However, Galina told me that a sleeping compartment was not available, so I ended up in an Amtrak-style car with about 30 other people. It was comfortable enough – more legroom than on the plane, and we were treated to the film “Spider-Man 3” dubbed in Russian before lights dimmed about midnight. Each seat had an individual light, so I read for a couple hours as well, and our train reached Taraz at 6 a.m.
It’s snowing in Taraz! I can’t believe how pretty it looks. Mira and her brother met me at the train station and, to my surprise, took me to Constantine and Tonya’s apartment. We arrived there about 6:30 a.m. and after giving Mira the papers from Galina, the driver took me upstairs, where Tonya led me to a guest room which she said would be mine for the day.

She said we would walk to the orphanage about 10 a.m. today to visit Drew, and then shop and have dinner about 1 p.m. We’ll go back to the orphanage about 3 p.m. to get Drew and will bring him back to Tonya’s apartment, where I’ll stay with him until we catch the train at 10 p.m. tonight. Also, Tonya said her brother-in-law and father-in-law were coming over tonight and we would have “a little party” to celebrate that Tonya received her university diploma last week.

Tonya also said her mother suggested that we purchase a television for the orphanage, instead of clothes and toys. I’ve been thinking about that for several hours and I’m not pleased with the idea – I so wish you were here to discuss this with! I want to get something that’s going to be for children, not the adults who work there.

And I don’t want to give a gift that’s going to end up in someone’s car within the week and be taken home. I’ve decided to ask Tonya to show me where in the orphanage our gift of a TV would be placed, and whether it would be used for staff entertainment or for the older 3-4 year-old children. If I’m not comfortable after asking some questions, I’m going to tell them, politely but firmly, that we will instead purchase gifts for the children. I mean, it’s OUR decision, right?

You wouldn’t believe how crazy it is here with the decorations and lights. You and I thought that Kazakhstan loved neon lights when we were here in November, but that was nothing. I’ve been amazed by the number of neon Christmas tree-style lights I’ve seen on public land, surrounded by references to the New Year. I’ve seen dozens of restaurants, hotels and homes in both Almaty and Taraz with “2008” decorations. This place must go crazy for Jan. 1. I wish I was going to be here to see it, but am also glad that I’ll be leaving before the craziness happens, if that makes sense.

I still have every intention of finding a phone and calling you this afternoon when we get Drew – probably sometime between 4-6 p.m. Taraz time, which is 3-5 a.m. on the East Coast. I hope that I have a chance to send this note before then. And I hope that I can send daily e-mails after today!

I miss you and love you. I can’t wait for us to get home, and I can’t wait to see you again."

So - it's 3 a.m. and I'm trying to stay calm!!! I should have known our smooth process was too good to be true...UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amsterdam to Almaty....

2007-12-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

Well, Patrick made it to Amsterdam safe and sound, and if my time zone calculations are correct, he is on his way to Almaty right now. He said the flight to Amsterdam was good - more comfortable on Northwest than the Lufthansa flight was - and he had an exit row. He was able to sleep for six hours in the Amsterdam airport, which he said was the nicest airport he's ever been in. So, apparently he didn't make it to the Red Light district! :) And of course, he bought us a "Holland" magnet!!

So - no more news for now...Peyton decided he's going to be sleeping with me while Patrick is away. Lucky me - woo hoo...

Buh-Bye....

2007-12-07T17:41:00.000-08:00

Well - Patrick is three hours into his flight to Amsterdam...crazy!!!! Drew will be with his daddy so soon....I can't wait to hear that they are together.

It's going to be such a wierd week for both of us - hard for each of us in completely different ways. I know that Drew will be great with Patrick, but I know he's nervous. I don't blame him - I would be completely freaking out if I were going over by myself too. Hopefully all our paperwork is OK - today our agency sent over our homestudy update to say we would like to adopt a child up to 17 months old. Our original document says a child up to 16 months old. Without that change, we could have had some major problems at the Embassy..but - it will all be fine - I know it will.

Peyton and I will keep ourselves busy this weekend - we can't wait to see Kelly and Cole on Sunday!!! Work should be busy next week too - it's deadline week!!! I can't believe I have one more week of work and then that's it for 10 weeks - Drew and I are going to have so much fun!!!

Well - I will keep you all posted on Patrick's travels...he keeps joking about visiting a cafe in Amsterdam or the Red Light district - I've told him it's not that funny!!!! :)

Drew's good mail day...

2007-12-06T18:21:00.000-08:00

So - Drew is not even here yet and he had a great mail day. In fact, he got more mail than I did today. Here's what he got today:

Drew S. E. Sanders got his United frequent flier mileage card...along with a credit card offer!!!! He's not even 18 months old, or a US citizen, and he's getting credit offers - do we live in a great country or what??!!

He also got some gifts from Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Bryan...including a gorgeous blanket with his name on it that looks so cute on his rocking chair. It's Drew's first personalized gift - he'll be so excited once he learns his name! He also got my favorite children's book ever, "I'll love you forever" (that may not be the exact title) - I cry every time I read it. Just looking at the cover makes me cry...

Now we're just getting everything ready for Patrick to go. He's doing laundry, I sorted out all the gifts for everyone (including some great reading books from cousin Marcy for Tanya - thank you again!!!). And you'll all be impressed to know that I wrote on the cards "Thank you very much. All the best" - in Russian! I am a whiz with the Cyrillic alphabet...I hope everyone likes their presents - I think they will...

I can't believe Patrick leaves tomorrow - we're soooo close now.

Thank you again to all our family and friends who have been so wonderful and interested in our story...we're almost there. Soon this chapter will end and our lives with Drew will begin.