Happy New Year! (oooopst!)

Ok, Landon was off by a day when he wanted to name this blog post. Dates and years aren't his big things right now, so we'll give him a break.

Heather is sleeping off a long set of music in Rock Band 2, so I thought I would make a blog post since one is overdue. So much going on, where to start ....

We've had a few holidays since the last one. Thanksgiving was fun but just a build-up to Christmas. We had 16 inches of snow that unfortunately messed up our plans of visiting family in North Carolina, but hopefully we will see them soon. I think that Landon enjoyed Christmas, seeing everyone, opening presents and 'Tanta'.

We took him to see Santa and were surprised at how well he did. He went right up to Santa to take some pictures. We weren't expecting that. The picture we got makes it look like he wasn't as happy around Santa as he was, but we were shocked.

We also got some holiday photos at a local place. They had two rooms set up, one with a tree for a Christmas setting and the other more generic. Landon wanted to run around the tree and check out the ornaments, so it was hard to get him to sit in a little chair for some pictures. He was cute, though, especially considering the time spent there. We got some better ones there, including family ones and one with his doggy. Heather thought it would be good to bring it along and it paid off.

Christmas itself was busy, first our gifts, then at Heather's parents for her family stuff. Back to the house for a nap, then my family came over for gifts and food. Landon first was opening gifts by ripping of a little piece of wrapping paper. He then got a second piece in his other hand. He would put them both down to get a third piece, though we got him using the trash bag. He got to the point where he was taking larger and larger pieces of paper. He was already at the point where when he got a gift of clothes, he put it aside and went for the next gift.

His favorite is Santa, though. He sees Santa everywhere and wants to point it out. He got some good gifts and lots of things for him to play with (thank you everyone!).

As a whole things are still going well. He's enjoying things and growing up a little. He has started trying to put phrases together instead of just words. He still points to things and wants to know what they are, but he understands more and more each day. My brother gave him some letter blocks to help him with his letters. He has worked on saying the alphabet but the blocks will help him put the letter with what it looks like.

Some pics now, can't get away without those ...

Landon showing his friend Elmo to mommy.

Landon offering to carry my hockey bag out to the car. (He didn't quite make it)

Landon helping mommy to make some cookies for Santa.

We were at Heathers sister's (Tracey) Christmas Eve and wanted to get a picture with Landon and Tracey's daughter, but Landon sat on her when we asked him to sit next to her. Ooopst!

Landon being given an ornament from Santa. This is the best shot from him squirming in the chair.

Landon and his doggy when we took pictures. We thought that this one came out so good. He does love his little animals.

I am going to try to be better about posting in the new year. If you want me to post about something, or just want to complain that I haven't posted anything recently, send me an email. I sometimes lose track of time and might be busy soon, so be obvious about it. I will transfer to Virginia Commonwealth University this spring so might have a cray schedule. I finished up at community college and will transfer to continue things at VCU. I don't know yet what my schedule will be but hopefully will be ok.

Check back relatively soon for (hopefully) a new post. It has been a crazy year, but has gone by fast and ended up being a pretty darn good year. That's pretty cool. I'm a dad. Heather is a mom. We are parents. Wow ..... yay!!!

There's no place like home

For those of you still checking the blog, sorry for long absence (sound familiar?). One day becomes one week and then I feel like nothing has changed to write about. I forget that we see the little changes each day so it seems like not much happens, but for those who don't see him every day you would notice the changes. I need to get back to posting more, so email me if it seem like a post is needed in case I forget.

So, we are getting to the holidays and we did a little Trick-or-Treat-ing. Landon seemed to have fun and liked his costume. He didn't mind wearing it and would even continue playing around the house if we tried it on him or were getting him ready.

The outfit is a two-piece outfit, so when putting him in the van we had to take off the jacket so he would fit into his car seat (and seatbelt). He didn't like that. I was surprised that he liked it but he did get warm in it. He likes his stuffed monkeys plus his bathroom is done that way, so it seemed appropriate. He also looked cute in it, and no it doesn't have wings.

He is doing much more with the words and understanding us and when to say certain things. He is using 'no' in the correct way now, when we ask him if he is done eating or wants to go to bed. He is working on 'please', but at the moment comes out like 'pup' when he says it. We had been trying to get him to say something so started with the 'p' and he hasn't gone much further with the word. He points to lots of things in his books or out in the world to find out what the word for it is. It gets repetitive but it is his way of really understanding the word so he can say it. Sometimes you can almost see the wheels in his head turning trying to remember the word and then he tries to say it. He's doing very good with it.

Unfortunately he didn't care about the time change, getting up this morning at 6 am. He then didn't take much of a nap so was tired this evening and got punchy. He normally gets that way when he is tired. He might stumble around or be even sillier than normal. Tonight he was playing in an empty diaper box. He had put in a few of his stuffed animals and was sitting in it with them. He then tried to go into the box head first and you could only see his legs sticking out. I got some video and pics of it, I need to download them and see how they are.

On a quick side note, for those that knew or remember from my previous post, I have been working on an Associates Degree at a community college to get back into school. Well, last week I got my official acceptance letter from Virginia Commonwealth University to start in the spring. Very cool but very odd. It will be fun and I'll be there at the same time as my cousin Morgan. We most likely won't have any classes together, though. He is in the art school while I'll be in the business school.

A few quick pics for now. I'll go through more and post again soon.

Here he is falling off of the changing table in his room into Heather's arms while getting ready for bed.

Here he is outside with a push mower that spits out bubbles. He was having fun with it, stopping now and then to go pop some bubbles.

Looking back at the camera while mowing.

More soon...

Sunglasses at night

I guess that with the entire adoption process taking so long it seems like we've been doing this forever. I then remember that we have only had Landon for a few months, something that is still surprising given how well he is doing. I sound like a broken record and all but I am still surprised at how well he is doing.

I'm working on an Associates degree at a local community college. Next spring I will hopefully be at Virginia Commonwealth University starting the next phase in my goal to get a degree in economics (with a minor in math). I've been in the Information Systems field for a number of years without a degree which has gone fine, but in trying to think of the future (now including a son) I am getting the degree to help my career. The end result of all that is that I am taking a public speaking class this semester.

Today we had our first speech, a self-introduction using a prop to help out. I talked about the changes in my life (Heather's too) as a result of the adoption. Some of these changes are the obvious things like new schedules, not sleeping late, diapers to change. There are also the not so obvious changes like how I look at life differently. You think about the things we take for granted, the things that you expect to have. Landon is just a happy boy, not expecting anything, everything is new to him and something special. I also used his favorite lion and doggy as my props to explain that they were my next friends as a result of the adoption.

He's saying more words now, or at least trying to as he doesn't always pronounce the entire word 100% correctly. It's still cute, his version of the words. Heather and I got his Halloween costume yesterday. She had looked at Old Navy and saw a little monkey outfit that works so well for him. He has his money friend, the monkey theme in the bathroom, he likes to make a monkey sound and sometimes do his arms (tough to describe) like a monkey. Anyway, it's a little 2-piece outfit, pants and a 'jacket'. We will get some pics later but he seemed to be ok with it on.

The next few months will be interesting. His first Halloween, first Thanksgiving then Christmas, New Year's (he is a partier), then his birthday in February. Lots of stuff coming up soon. I'm trying to take more videos. They are better than pictures for some situations and there will be more things to take video for soon.

Here are a few recent shots of him just being cute ...

Tom Cruise who??

Pimpin' the fake crocs.

Not the best resolution, but he has cute froggy pajamas and he just wanted to wear the shoes at the same time. I guess he's a trend setter.

Video killed the radio star

It just keeps getting better and better. I probably sound like a broken record, but Landon is just such a normal little guy. Maybe kids are just supposed to act like this in a 'normal' (i.e.- a non-orphanage) setting. Who knows, I just know that he is a silly little guy that is a ham. He enjoys when we are eating dinner and he tries to keep our attention by acting silly. Oh no, if we are not paying attention to him, he has to act cute and laugh or just be silly so we laugh first. It makes it tough some times when he does something bad and we try to let him know, but we have to almost turn our heads so we can laugh and he doesn't see us doing it.

He's working on more words and phrases. If we say 1 he says 2. When he is ready for bed he knows what night-night is, walking us to the stairs if needed. We go through our nightly routine of reading a little story to him and he is ready to get into his crib. He sits down in our laps and we both get a turn to read the story. He is so cute turning the pages to help move the story along. He knows that a train makes a choo-choo noise, along with the arm movement. I can sort of get him to put his arms up for 'up' and then down for 'down and he says both. He was doing both of the up and down parts, but now he mainly does the up part.

Let's try a little video to see if it works. Here is Landon at a meal acting cute and doing his choo-choo.

Let me know if this works or doesn't work so well. Maybe a little video is better than just pictures sometimes. It is still very odd to think that not so long ago we had only just met him. He also looks very different from 'way back then'.

Just a few pics

I just wanted to post a few newer pics that I had. It's tough to try and pick the 'best' ones to post, because they are all good to me. Sometimes he is just doing something cute and you can't get a camera. Tonight was his bath night. We've got a towel thing for him that is a Cookie Monster towel, where there is a 'hood' of Cookie's head so Landon can wear it. Heather put it on Landon before his bath and he was running around with it, funny but no time for pics. Just the little things that he does that you try and remember for later.

Here is Landon giving his friends a ride. He put 3 of them on his ride and pushed them around.

We recently took Landon to get his first Build-A-Bear. There was only one bear that was good for kids (sewn on eyes) but Landon liked it anyway. Here he is after we left holding is bear close.

Landon got a chance to got out the other weekend and play in the water. Heather got a kid's sprinkler attachment that Landon enjoyed. He didn't know what to make of it so we took turns taking him close and running him through the water. Heather's sister brought over her kids to play with Landon.

That's all for now, but hopefully more soon. I might get back to the non-Landon pics if I can get the bird and other creature ones. Do you know about the bear we had behind our house the other summer? Yeah, adult black bear eating on the bird food. Heather thought I was crazy like my Dad when I went for the camera. I went out to the screen porch to get some close-ups of him/her. The bear was too focused on the bird food, but didn't stay for long. I'll find the pics and tell you the whole story later.

Watching him change

I'm going to start posting more sans pictures, hopefully allowing me to get things out more quickly. I had been in the habit of only posting something if there were pictures to go along with it, but that isn't always needed. So, here's a post that might be a little random at times (or the whole time) but I'll get a few pictures up tonight or tomorrow.


I'm still utterly amazed at how smart, healthy, normal and adjusted Landon is. I almost think that Heather and I are the ones adjusting and Landon is sitting there wondering why we are acting so odd. He is just so good with everything and go-with-the-flow, it's like he is waiting for us to catch up to him.

He has finished a few weeks of daycare and has done very well. His biggest problem is that he hasn't been taking good naps there, but last week he got in two naps of almost two hours. He is there 3 days a week, so that is great for him. He also didn't get any bumps from falling down or anything, so that was good also. He sometimes walks a little 'wobbly' or gets excited and trips over himself in running. He doesn't really cry much, if any, when I drop him off. I've been picking him up at the end of the day, trying to hide when I go in the room first. I like to try and watch him a little before he knows I'm there. It's cool to watch him playing with the other kids or by himself, seeing how he is from an outside point of view. It gives a different perspective on him and how he is adjusting.

He is still doing well at eating and not being picky. There are still times when a certain food is not something he wants all of a sudden. Some times he acts like he is done with his food but then keeps eating. His 'all done' arm shrug might mean 'well, I really want to keep eating'. You can tell right away as he still goes for his bowl when you take it away.

He hasn't gotten the pronunciation of any word down 100%, but he keeps adding to the words he is working on. You can see him trying new words, getting the first part of it only but you know he is trying to get it right. One day he is just going to blurt out a word perfectly and we'll be shocked.

We're all settling in even better to the routine, although it has adjusted a little as time has gone by. Most of you will understand, but it is just great to sit and just watch my son doing anything or nothing. Just talking on his own, playing with a toy, working on his food, watching the birds in the back, whatever. Just to know that he is changing all the time, becoming more and more a part of our lives, growing and growing. It's hard to think that next week he will be 18 months old. Wow. It's only been 5 months since we first met him. Wow. We've only been home with him for just over 2 months. Wow. Crazy stuff, those kids.

Sorry for the delay

Wow, the past few weeks have gone by quick. I hadn't planned on this much time between posts, but I guess things have been getting into a rhythm. That's a good thing, but it also bad in that time is already flying by. Heather and I were looking at some of the pictures going back to the first orphanage trip. Landon already seems to look different and older. Mainly in his face as he is still kind of short. It was just odd how he looked different and then we got to thinking about how it was only 6 weeks ago that we got back from Russia but seems like much longer. The 4 weeks that we were over there almost seems like a dream. 

Then the first trip seems further away, our initial agency visits and paperwork last year seem like it never happened. Very strange. Take pictures and possibly video of your kids, they really do change before your eyes. He is trying more words and even though they aren't 100% pronounced, he is understanding what we say and tries to say the words. He has been trying to say birds as he looks out back, Hi, bye-bye, doggy, woof, daddy, mommy, snack. We think we heard him clearly say doggy this morning with no prompting. Cool.

The King of Rock

Nothing super exciting or different going on, just the same old 16-month old stuff here. We seem to have relatively quickly gotten into a routine and feel like we have been doing this forever (almost). Going to Russia seems like a dream or something that happened a long time ago. With Landon being so well adjusted, I know I keep mentioning this, but it's like we've been home longer than we have been. It's only been 4 weeks tomorrow that we have been home. Wow! I saw a shirt at Target that I had to get for Landon. It was from a group of t-shirts that they had showing music type themes. This one was a Run DMC t-shirt. I grew up with Run DMC and like their music, so it seemed fitting to get Landon a shirt with them on it. We need to wash it so he can sport it with his new shoes. 

I've been able to get back into taking care of my birds. I have a few feeders behind the house along with some bird houses around the yard. I felt bad when we went to Russia since we had to leave them for so long. I need to get some pics from my old computer's drive,  but I've got some good shots of various birds (I learned form my Dad). There is a pole setup behind the house that has 4 arms. One arm has a hopper feeder, typical feeder shape. 

One arm has a finch tube feeder, as they like a different type of seed. 

One arm has a suet feeder (with tail prop) for putting in suet blocks (basically fat plus goodies like peanuts or fruit). Lots of birds like suet because it is high in energy but woodpeckers like it, too. 

The tailprop allows woodpeckers to use their tail for support as if they were on a tree. This is a male red-bellied woodpecker. 

I get lots of birds at the feeders (plus ground feeding birds), so I enjoy watching them and feeding them. I have a bluebird house out in the yard which has been filled by bluebirds for a few years. I've had birds like wrens and Eastern Phoebes nest under our screened porch. One recent exciting event is a feeder that has been empty until now. 

My brother bought me a 'bird bottle' fashioned after ones found in Williamsburg. It was based on old houses excavated and is meant to be put under the edge of the roof. It has been outside our morning room for almost 2 summers with no activity, but now there has been some. Now, birds don't just start using a house that you put up. It takes lots of time for them to find it and want to use it, so I wasn't expecting any birds to care about it for the first year or two. At first, we had a pair of Carolina Wrens nesting in it. Just last week Heather clued me in that some Bluebirds of all things were using it. I was very surprised, both because wrens had used it and I didn't expect Bluebirds to care about it, but there were in fact a pair that were preparing it. I felt bad last weekend when I was mowing behind the house, they were waiting on the roof while I was around. The female had some nesting material while the male stood guard.

I'm no bird expert (talk to my Dad), but I had thought that Bluebirds liked different 'specifications' for a house. Different birds like different types of houses. Some like cavities, some like open nests, etc. If you get a birdhouse you often see ones meant for a particular type of bird. A certain shape or size opening, or rules about where to place the house. My original Bluebird house was from Wild Birds Unlimited (www.wbu.com). The idea is that the house is of a particular design, the entrance hole is a certain size, it is placed at a certain height and should face an open yard to the south. Lots of rules, but it seemed to work. The bird bottle that my brother got me is like the opposite of that. It is shaped quite differently than a 'house', has a larger opening, is higher off the ground, is facing the opposite direction and does not open to the yard. Very odd, but I don't mind. I likes my birds.

As a footnote to this post, here are the birds that I have seen at or near my feeder setup ...

Carolina Wren, Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, Mourning Dove, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Bluebird, Pine Warbler, Chickadee, Cowbirds, Hummingbird (sat on the feeder but their feeders are elsewhere, they like sugar-water), Chipping Sparrows, Dark-Eyed Junco, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (woodpecker), Goldfinch, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, White-Breasted Nuthatch and probably others that I have forgotten. I also have hummingbird feeders, so I sort of included them in the list.

Anyway, I need to find pics to show you some of these birds and let you know that you should get a bird feeder or two if you can. It is a good 'hobby' and it is nice to watch the birds benefit from something that I have done. Granted, they would probably be find without me but it doesn't hurt to help (except when it attracts bears).

Learning To Fly

Funny stuff, having a son (or daughter). It's the little things that hit you, here and there. Things you don't expect, things that make you laugh (or cry), things that just remind you there's a new sheriff in town. 

A couple of days ago, Heather and I were giving Landon his bath. Bath is over, drying him off, about to lead his 'neked' self off to get his PJs on. I thought I saw some more water dripping off him, but it was a stream that wasn't water coming from his mid-section. Oops! He didn't leave too much, but it was quite a shock and funny. 

Earlier tonight, we were giving him dinner. He was acting fine, nothing out of the ordinary. He seemed to be at the point of being done (he puts his hands up to say 'all done', thought we taught him) and Heather notices a slight odor. Sure enough, he had a dirty diaper. She goes to change him and it turns into a 4 alarm diaper change. Somehow the 'stuff' crept outside of his diaper, up one leg and started to go up his back. He hadn't acted like he had anything in his diaper so we were wondering where (and when) it came from. Landon wouldn't say. We cleaned him up, it was bath night anyway, and all was better. A little surprise t finish off our night. Joy!

We are still surprised at how well he is doing. Also enjoying him getting to know us better and all of the stuff that goes on. Funny how we went changed to a very different situation almost overnight but it is starting to feel like we've been doing this for a long time. At least we are taking good pictures to bribe him with when he gets to be a teenager.

Speaking of pics, here are a few.

Here he is with one of his books, reading like a big boy.

Landon and his 2 favorite friends sitting on his chair.

Cute outfit and his trademark smirk.

More fun at the house

Landon is doing better with the sinus/cold thing he had. He is acting more like the little boy he has been instead of the sickly little guy. It's good that he is feeling better, it makes for better pictures, ha ha. 

A new chair that we got him. A little big right now but he will be able to grow into it.

Looking out from a new toy we got him today. We wanted to get something that has more activities so he doesn't want to go to another toy as quickly. This is a little fake front door where he can play outside or inside the 'house'.

First Haircut

The past few days have allowed us to get into a routine of sorts. Landon is doing well at sleeping through the night and only having one nap in the afternoon. A few times he has fought so much when we put him down for his afternoon nap that he either doesn't nap or doesn't nap enough. 

He has continued to do well going out. We went to Short Pump Mall friday to get him his first pair of 'good' shoes while he is learning to walk. They look like running shoes and are cute on him. We also fed him his first Chik-Fil-A, he enjoyed the chicken nuggets. 

We went to the Ashland Strawberry Faire on Saturday with sister-in-law Tracey and her kids. It is a little fair of vendors, food and music held on a few streets at the Randolph Macon campus. It is one of those 'small town' events where everyone shows up, so we saw lots of people that we could introduce Landon to. He did well for the most part, but he woke up early so he started to get tired and hungry a little early. We weren't able to get him a haircut because he was getting a little cranky.

On Sunday we made a visit to church to see people again. Landon saw some people he had seen, met some new people and ran around a bunch. He likes the open spaces and new things to see. He did well with everyone, but he might have had too many people a few times. We then played on the playground with his cousins before lunch. He had his first CiCi's Pizza but he didn't really want much. He was a little fussy and had some crackers and bread. We took him home for a nap and later went to Great Clips for a haircut.

Wow, did he do well! He sat on the little block by himself and didn't fuss until the end. The person cutting his hair did real good with him being so young. We didn't get it cut too short since it was so long. We'll see how quickly it grows and maybe cut it a little shorter next time.

Now on to some pictures!!!!!!!!

Here is MC Landon (look ma, no pants!) on one of his new toys (new in that we took it out of the box) learning to ride around and press the buttons for noise. He is good at getting on and off of it and learning that he has to push him around.

Getting out of the car to go in to get a haircut.

Here is is sitting like a good boy getting the haircut.

This is after his haircut. How cute with the trim.

This is Landon when we went to Walmart after the haircut. Not sure why he looks scared, maybe as it was his first visit there.

Settling in to a routine

It's been a few days since we got back and we are getting more used to each other and our life at home. Heather has mostly caught up on her sleep and Landon is getting used to the routine. He has mostly been doing well sleeping through the night and adjusting to one nap. We've been able to get out more in the mornings because of it. He had his first meal (in the states) out at Wendy's and has eaten out a few times since then. He has done so well in going out and being around people it has been great. 

We have enjoyed spending time at home with Landon really getting to know him. It seems there is something new that we notice each day. We are getting more used to his schedule and his needs, so we are quicker to fix whatever when he is upset or cries. He got to play with his cousins next door for the first time. They all had fun and Landon tired himself out real good. 

Here are a few pics ...

This is a good shot that Heather got while on Arbat street in Moscow.

Landon having his new favorite breakfast of maple and brown sugar oatmeal.

Landon dragging around one of his blankies

Landon being attacked by the same blankie. Landon defeated it!

We are going to try and get him a haircut tomorrow. Although it is cute, his hair is a little long and with the heat here it is warm for him. We think he is warm-natured to begin with but the hair makes it a little worse. We are also going to try and get him good walking shoes while he is still learning to walk. Hopefully the weather will be nice as we are going to an outdoor mall and we want to be able to walk around some with him. 

Pics of Moscow

Quick post here. I've got a link here for some pictures of Moscow <click me>. Moscow is a very interesting city and has lots of great architecture and history. You can google for more information about it and the statues, etc.

Back home

Well, we got in Saturday night after a (long) bit of flying. Landon did very well on the 11 hour flight from Moscow to Atlanta. There were several families that we had met at the embassy on the same flight, some whose kids did a little worse. It made us feel better about Landon getting fussy with other families having the same issue. He actually slept for a while at two different times which was nice. It gave us a little break and we could sort of get some rest. 

Once to Atlanta, we had to go through passport control which wasn't too time consuming. We hadn't been able to feed him for some time (and nap) so were hoping to get through quickly to fed all three of us. After passport control we had to go to a separate room with our special embassy papers for Landon. Some of the families were there again but the wait wasn't that bad. We got his passport back, it was stamped and he is now officially a US citizen! We then had to rush to get our checked luggage as you have to drag it from baggage claim to another line to re-check. We then rushed to our gate ... only to find that our departure gate had been moved to a different concourse entirely. For those not familiar with the Atlanta airport, there are 5 concourses A-B in a straight line and you take a tram between them. We were originally on concourse A but had to get back to concourse B. The added fun of finding an elevator slowed us down but we made our flight to Richmond. We didn't get food but that wasn't so bad.

Landon was a little excited while waiting for the flight to leave but he actually fell asleep while heading out to take off. He slept for most of the flight on my lap which allowed Heather to get some rest. We landed and took time to change his diaper and clothes and then headed out so see our families. It was great to see them and our nice and nephews. We were there for a bit then headed to our house, but Landon was tired so they didn't stay over long. 

Landon eventually fell asleep but was exhausted and is still messed up with the schedules.

Sunday was a little better. Quick recap, he woke up at 4:30 am and didn't go back to bed. I played with him some and fed him but he wasn't about going to bed. My family stopped by to play with him and bring us some food. They watched over him while we ate and then we played with him some more. He started getting tired so I put him to bed at 5:30 and he got to sleep pretty quickly. My family headed off to let Heather and I get some sleep. Landon ended up sleeping until 6:30 am Monday which was real nice. He did wake a few times due to either a wet diaper or being hungry but got back to sleep ok.

We will see how Monday goes as we are going to try and get him onto the proper schedule now. It might be a tough few days but we have a plan. We'll see if we can all get used to the time change and the new schedule.

Last day in Moscow

Sorry again for the lack of posting. Our schedule just got really screwed up in coming to Moscow and Landon can't handle it that well. He hasn't been able to take his naps like normal and we hate seeing him so tired that he can't get to sleep. We will be so glad to get home and let him (and us) adjust to our new and final schedule at home.

Today we took our excursion to some places around Moscow. I have pictures to take but won't be able to look at them until we get home, but here is a play-by-play.

FYI, I will fix the names, etc. as I have forgotten some or will get them wrong.

We first went to the Kremlin area with one of the agency staff as our tour guide. We first saw St.Basil's Cathedral which was real cool in person and a little smaller than it looks in pictures. We then walked down red square with the Kremlin walls on one side, heading towards the Russian National Museum at the far end of Red Sqaure. The architecture of all of this was cool, and the walls and towers of the Kremlin were great. Just say everything was cool, I guess.

We walked to a park nearby and saw the tomb of the unknown soldiers. It was 11:00 am so the guards were changed which was kind of neat. 3 march in a little high-step sort of walk, 2 swap spots with the ones standing, then the 3 walk away. 

We went to another Orthodox church there, I forget the name but will remember it later. We couldn't take pictures inside but it was truly amazing. There were murals painted on the walls and ceilings, big chandeliers, lots of other stuff that I will need to research on the internet to describe to you since I have no pics. Boo!!!!!

We then went to the highest hill in Moscow where you can see over the city and is next to the site of the Olympics in 80-something. It also had a huge building which was one of 6 or 7 (the 6 Sisters) that were built by Stalin(?). They are almost identical and can all be seen from the hill.

We then went to the McDonalds on Arbat Street for lunch, then off to the embassy. The US embassy was a neat looking building form the outside (like many buildings here), but we went into the bottom corner of it so was not too exciting on the inside.

We paid the visa fee for Landon since he needs a visa to enter the US as he is a Russian citizen. We waited in a room with maybe a dozen other families that were adopting. At 2:00 a guy comes out to explain some things. Each family is called up to one of two windows to verify the information like child's name, etc. We then got Landon's original info, like birth certificate, etc. back form them. We waited 20 minutes for the official documents that are opened when we return to the US and we left.

Landon was so tired at this point. His schedule here has been so wacky and he has missed his naps. We have enjoyed the city and the architecture. They have lots of parks and green spaces which is nice. Lots of history of course. I hope to feel better in a few days and write a better post about Moscow including the pics I took. I also hope to find pics on the internet of the things that I couldn't get a shot of. I'll let you know which ones they are so I don't take credit for them.

We leave the hotel in the morning at 9:30 and fly out around noon, getting home at 8:30. We will kiss the ground and be happy to be home, a new family to grow together and share with lots of others. 

Day 2 in Moscow

Today was a little better for all of us. Rest last night and an easier schedule were both good. We ate at McDonald's (MacDonald's over here) for breakfast and got some food to go and went back to the hotel. I finally found baby food at the market near the hotel. I didn't find it yesterday as it had been blocked by an employee's cart, but I bought a bunch. Landon then had a short nap. 

Later on we couldn't get Landon a second nap so we decided to go out and walk around. We went to Arbat Streeta little to the west of the hotel. Arbat Street is a long pedestrian street with lots of shops and street artists. There are artists that draw portraits and scenes, some that have paintings, some musicians along the way. A very cool (and long) street and at the end was a Hard Rock Cafe that we got a burger at (to go). We ate on the steps of some building. It was very tasty and 'real' food (and not very expensive). We then walked back to the hotel, fed Landon a snack and then got him to bed. We are tired from both the lack of sleep and the walking. The architecture here is neat and there are nice parks and fountains around. 

One thing I thought was cool was in one park-y area closer to the hotel that we walked through, it was lined with (among other things) lilacs. My grandmother had lilac bushes at her house, which was next to mine where I grew up in Brunswick. I planted some at our house for my Dad and hopefully they will one day be big also.

One other thing after today's McD's meal. Their pancakes are different and we had the village potatoes again. The pancakes were thinner and not as 'tasty' as McD's pancakes in the states. Maybe more like crepes. They also don't give syrup, just honey or jam. The Village Potatoes are potato wedges with a seasoning on them. I should email McD's to see if they will sell them in the US, they are real good.

So, sleep soon and then heading out tomorrow. Sorry for a lack of detailed posts. Not as much free time as in Kras due to the screwed up schedule and Landon having screwy naps. If I don't post much tomorrow then I will try and make u for it when we get home.

Hello from Moscow!

Sorry for the posting delay, it's been a few busy days. Here is a quick recap, more to come later.

Long day Wed. Woke at 4:00 am to leave, arrived in Moscow after a 4.5 hour flight and a 4 hour time difference. Landon didn't sleep well, his schedule all messed up. Drove through packed traffic into Moscow then to the medical visit for Landon. It is needed for the visa but was quick.

We got to the hotel, tired and needed food. We found a McDs and ate a little, walked around some. Landon didn't want to nap. I went out later to try and find baby food for him, we ended up going to McDs again for dinner. It seems Moscow doesn't want babies to live here as nobody seems to sell baby food.

We walked by Red Square and the Kremlin (pics soon). Not much else, went to bed around 8:00.

Thursday we at breakfast at McDs and I found some baby food at a market near us. Landon is napping now so we will see what happens this afternoon. Maybe go down by the Kremlin area again with the camera.

Tomorrow is an embassy visit to get Landon's visa and an excursion with agency staff.

Saturday are the flights home.

I will try and post again as we see how schedules and naps go. 

Our last days in Krasnoyarsk

Not much happened on Monday. The weather here has been overcast and cool with rain and wind at times. This limits our ability to go out and eat out, though we have gone a few times to Mick's since it is so close. Landon is still doing well but I think the weather is not the best for him. One we get to Moscow it will be in the 60s to 70s and should be better (for us too).

Tuesday was more foul weather. There was a break at lunchtime so we got a quick bite to eat and went to the mall. We both wanted to take a second look at something, inexpensive short sleeve shirts (which are clean) and then went back to the hotel. It started to drizzle. At 6:00 I went out to get the passport. The weather was overcast but while I was waiting at the passport office it started to hail. Very odd, the weather here. 

We packed today as we are leaving very early in the morning for the airport. Our flight is at 7:00 and we leave the hotel at 4:30. Hopefully it will go ok as the flight is 4.5 hours or so. Landon didn't sleep all that well last night and he didn't want to take his afternoon nap. He went to bed early tonight to make up for it, but I hope the morning doesn't really mess him up. We have been limited in the foods we can feed him, something we will be glad to change when we get home. 

So, there are some things about Krasnoyarsk that we will miss but for the most part we are glad to leave. The biggest thing right now is the bad weather which makes it hard to do much. 

We should have and internet connection in our room in Moscow, but if not they should have a business center or something similar. I believe that Wed or Thursday we go to the US Embassy to do the paperwork, then the following day we return to pick it up. Hopefully we can enjoy our time there a little better and get a chance to be out of the room.

Not too much longer now.

Where's my pot of gold?

Another full day of joy with Landon. We were able to go out to lunch again today and he did fine. The 'real' food fills him up faster and allows us all to get outside. He was getting a little cranky at the end, but nothing bad. He woke up early from his afternoon nap and couldn't get back to sleep. We felt bad as he was rubbing his eyes and trying to get to sleep but couldn't. Dinner didn't go as well, but still went better than expected. We got out of the room a little later than planned, so by the time we got to the place (the coffee place as they had porridge) he was hungry and a little cranky until the food. Heather did a great job walking him around and distracting him until the food came, but we got our remaining quesadillas to go as he was getting a little tired.

We gave him his first bath tonight! We didn't know how he would act as we have heard various stories about babies having cold baths in orphanages, etc. Our shower has one of those removable  shower heads so we were able to use that to hose him down. He did great and started to enjoy it even. He is just doing so well with everything, again much better than expectations. I think that with what we were planned for asa  post-orphanage situation along with being new to us allowed us to expect for something 'worse'. I still think that the extra time we got with him was good for all of us. I wish that more people were able to (and willing to) spend the extra time during the 10 days. 

We've been here so long and with the time difference it is messing us up. Earlier I was telling Heather how I couldn't believe we were already 5 days past our court date. She gave me this funny look, so I was like 'well, Tuesday to Sunday is 5 days'. She then started laughing as she reminded me of the 10 day waiting period. Oops! The time has seemed to go fast, it doesn't seem like almost 2 weeks since we got him. With only 2 full days left in Kras and less than a week overall, it's almost all gone. We still haven't gotten used to this being our son instead of someone that we are babysitting. Now we are the ones that will need to get a baby sitter from time to time. 

We look forward to getting home and enjoying our time with Landon , family and friends. It has been fun with him here but we look forward to introducing him to the people and places of home. The weather will be much nicer so we can take him outside and down into Ashland to walk around. The weather has still been a little cold here so we have only been able to go out in short trips to get food. the weather in Moscow will be better. We are supposed to do some sight-seeing with the agency staff there which will be nice. 

We will also continue the blog with stories and pictures of how life goes at home. Maybe not daily posts but still lots of stuff. You've been with us on this journey for so long that we hope you stay with us. Thanks for being there.

Another day with a special wonder

Well, today has been a busy day. Landon slept well through the night which surprised us a little. We fed him breakfast and he ran around the room some. He was doing good around lunchtime so we took him outside. It was a little windy but he was bundled up and we didn't walk far (went to Mick's). They have food that we can feed him if he wanted some (which he did). He did well in the stroller and the heavy jacket we had to get him. People dress their kids much warmer over here than you would think they needed to be.

Heather sat with him while I went through the line and he did very well there. He was in a good mood and ate some food. He was flirting with one of the employees as she was standing in our area. We went back to the room and he wandered around in the room some more. His personality is really coming out. He is smiling a whole bunch, is ticklish and loves it. He likes to play peek-a-boo, likes to stand on the big windowsill with help and look outside. He really only gets upset when he is hungry or tired. He has filled a diaper a few times and didn't say anything about it, so no crying yet for that.

He is just very hungry. We have been feeding him jar baby food to start, just to get us all into a routine first, and he goes through it quickly. A small jar of chicken, larger jar of banana, large jar of another fruit, most of a mashed banana. He still wants more. Some of this may be from him just being hungry, some may be from the orphanage where he doesn't know he will get food on a regular basis. It is one of those things we were told about, sort of hoarding food. Depending on age they either eat lots of food or take it and hide it for later. He will begin to understand that he won't have food taken away and can get a meal later on.

Heather has (no surprise) been great with him. I'm doing ok too. I put him to bed for his nap this morning and stayed with him until he fell asleep. he was trying to fight but it wasn't that bad.

He is just a joy to be with. He is smiling, curious about everything, we just keep noticing things about him. He has been doing really well with the transition. We both are happy that things worked out the way they did and we stayed here for the 10 days. It allowed us to spend that much more time with him that really helped. We were also able to see more of the city which was nice. I also can't imagine if we went home for the 10 days and we spent all that time flying back over here, to arrive at 6 am in Kras and then 4:30 that afternoon he comes to us. That would have been very tiring and not as good for him.

We will be heading off to go get some dinner shortly. Get Heather outside and have some better food. He did well before so maybe he will do well again. If not, I'll go get something and we can eat at 'home'. In a few days we will be heading to Moscow and then 1 week from now we will be on an 11 hour flight back to Atlanta (fun, fun, fun).

Introducing ... Landon DeVane White

Well, the doctor stopped by at 4:30 and brought Landon to us. He was dressed in the outfit that we had dropped off and looked cute. Some of the orphanage outfits are not the best combinations of clothes, some even are more girl colors for boys. He seemed ok, played in the room, enjoyed looking out the window and playing with the sheer curtain at the window.

We are going to do the dinner thing and see how he does after that, but here are some pics.

We will post some more pics, probably in a linked album like the Kras pics, at some point soon.

Remember to click on the pictures for a large-size version.

This is in the room after him getting to us in the outfit that we brought for him.

This first pic is from the first trip. He was just at 1 year old. We got to feed him a little and it got messy.

We got the call!

Sounds like when we first go the referral or something, huh? Well, I just posted the last one but we got a call that the head doctor is leaving at 3:30 to bring Baby Boy here. They will arrive at approximately 4:30, though it might be longer because of traffic. We will either meet them downstairs or in our room, not sure yet. We have all the orphanage donations to give them, plus a gift for the head doctor.

Now we are going to start and clean up and do some last minute baby-proofing of the room. Another nice thing about the room, Heather was putting away what she though was matches and it was a little chocolate bar from the staff. Wowie wow wow wow! 

Ok, off to clean and get ready. I guess we will be feeding him dinner and seeing what we bought that he might like. We also got some bananas at the market so we can smash those up. 

Wish us luck (if anyone has insomnia or is on the west coast)!

Bidet, mate!

Well, we have changed rooms to the larger 'suite'. It's much nicer than our old room, but the extra money for the room over a 2 week period would have been too much. It has a sitting room area with couch and table (plus crib). This room is about the size of our entire room before (including the bathroom). We have a separate bedroom and larger bathroom. It even has a bidet. The mattress is much nicer, the bedding is nicer, the pillows are nicer, the bath fixtures are nicer, just overall a better room. This will make it much easier for the net few days before leaving for Moscow.

We got the last of the medicine and pacifiers for the orphanage after lunch. We are now waiting for a phone call from our coordinator to let use know what the plan is for tonight. She should have heard something but it is no guaranteed. Depending on what she tells us we may stay in the room or we may go out some more. 

Another example of the weather craziness. We left the hotel and stopped to exchange some money before lunch It was slightly overcast, a little cool and some wind. We go in to eat and when we sit down we notice that outside it looks like a hurricane is rolling through. Heavy rain and heavy wind. We decide to wait it out. By the time we are done with lunch, the rain and wind are gone and the sun is out. The weather not only can change dramatically day to day but even in short periods of time.

Other random thoughts and observations ...

There are many small drink/ice cream buildings on the streets. Some are multi-purpose and sell drinks (including beer), ice cream bars, candy, papers, magazines, etc. I guess a pimped out newsstand.

You need to be 18 to drink beer here and 21 for liquor. You can also drink in public (at least beer). We see people walking around with their beers and even hanging out in the plaza drinking. That is why these street vendors sell beer, as you can just drink it then. the odd thing is that we haven't had any problems with people drinking in public and having too much. 

Similar to crazy (or no) driving laws parking is crazy. There aren't really parking lots in this part of the city as it is older. The parking areas don't have lines either. Drivers decide if they want to park parallel to the curb or facing it or at some other angle. Some drivers even get up on the sidewalk to create a parking spot. We have seen areas where there are multiple cars completely on the sidewalk for parking.

The beer is sold in various sizes and shapes of bottles. Since they use milliliters and not ounces they have 500ml bottles (about 16 ounces) and larger sizes including a 2 liter bottle of beer like our soda bottles.

At the markets you pay a small fee for the plastic bags. We even paid something for the plastic to-go container for our souffle cheesecake (we got more, yum!). 

There is no 'right turn on red' law, the cars have to wait. This makes it easier for pedestrian traffic to cross the streets. The drivers still make it look like they are going to run you over, so you always have to watch for cars in just about every direction.

There are surely more but that is enough for now. It's funny how we have felt safe walking around this city in Siberia but don't feel quite the same walking in most of Richmond. Maybe we just don't know all of the 'good' areas of Richmond, but for those that live near there you understand. 

A little more waiting and we will possibly find out about tonight. For sure we will have him in several hours if not sooner. That will be so great (and we'll post pictures finally)!

A little closer

We got some things done Thursday, lots of walking was one of them. We had lunch then met Oksana to help with some of the medicine that we couldn't get on Wednesday. We got some more of that and some food to be prepared for Friday. We did a little shopping and bought a few shirts to have something clean. Washing clothes in the sink is hard, especially for larger things like shirts. One thing we won't miss about this trip.

We then met our coordinator for a few documents to sign. These are for Saturday in getting Baby Boy's new birth certificate and passport done. Nothing else much on Thursday so no post then.

We will find out soon what our plan is for tonight. Hopefully by 7:00 we will have him in our arms and that step will be done. Look for more updates later on.

Counting down the days

Wow, we're getting close. I can't believe that Friday is almost here. It seems like just yesterday we were making our way to Moscow and here we are waiting until we get him. Easing us into the new chapters in our life (and Baby Boy's).

Today was a little tiring, both for us and Baby Boy. The early morning trips to the orphanage are tough on us because we might not get much sleep and we spend energy trying to keep him form running back to this bed. The mornings are bad for him because it is basically his nap time that we are there for. That is why he is more often tired and gets restless later on in the visit. Today was a similar situation where he was more about cuddling and trying to fight the sleep than playing with toys. We certainly don't mind that sort of bonding time with him. I think that in some ways it is better than playing with a toy as it is a closer kind of bond. It also allows us to see what his habits are as far as trying to not fall asleep. Heather has been doing a good job (no surprise there) in getting Baby Boy to sleep. She did it again today, but then another crowd of children came in for music time. At least he was paying attention to that for the most part.

We had lunch again at Mick's , but we were tired and it was close and we had to meet our translator at 2:00. We were hoping to get a nap after lunch. We once again played culinary roulette as we picked our food. So far nothing has been bad, so that encouraged us in what to pick. Heather selected a small beef patty thing and I got a possibly chicken something that looked to me like the shape of a stuffed shell. We got both with mashed potatoes. I wonder if I can get a big batch of the potatoes to go when we leave town. Would they let me get that past security at the airport? Her mystery meat choice was basically a patty-shaped meatball similar to the meatballs I had previously gotten, but without the mushroom sauce. Both had rice in them to act as a filler, so that clicked in my mind. My choice seems to have been ground chicken made into a 'meatball. (with rice filler) but shaped like a stuffed shell. They were both tasty and filling (whatever they actually were). 

In the afternoon we met our translator/coordinator to get some medicines for the orphanage. Instead of trying to lug over toys and things in the luggage, the agency suggests that we bring money and buy items in the city. We visited several pharmacies to get what we were looking for, but we need to  back tomorrow for part of it. Things like cough syrup, vitamin D, iron supplements, shampoo and pacifiers. The lady at the kid's store was a bit surprised when we went in and I bought 10 packages of pacifiers. Oh well, I couldn't tell her why.

The pharmacies are quite different from ours. It is common for items for sale to be on display sitting on shelves with plexiglass in the front. That way you can se it but you can't touch it. This is what we have seen at some of the stores and the mall, but not everywhere. The first two pharmacies we went into (there are quite a few) had a small 'waiting room' area for the customers. The walls were the plexiglass display shelves of various items, with a window that you talked to the pharmacist at. They would get you everything you needed. The third place we went into was larger and more like other stores, but not as big as ours. The city is old and they re-use buildings for different purposes and the spaces are not as modular as newer office buildings like ours. The iron supplements were in limited supply so we need to go back tomorrow for more. We will give this to the head doctor on Friday.

We also found out last night that depending on the timing of things Friday, the head doctor may bring Baby Boy into the city for us. As we won't find out until the latter part of the day that the decree is final and we can get him, it might be better for her to bring him in. We took clothes with us today for him to wear in case she does this for us. She already took him to get his passport photo, so that is one more thing done. Today might have been our last visit to the orphanage. It was kind of sad, we've been there so much we've grown accustomed to the trips there and the staff. They are very nice people even though we don't understand each other's languages. They treat the children so well and it is so different from stories we heard of orphanages. Maybe the other orphanages in Krasnoyarsk are worse, maybe just other regions. I don't know, I just know that Baby Boy has been well taken care of and will be coming to live with us soon.

It seems like home is another world almost. Our hotel room is our new home and we are used to the routine here. We are actually going to move into a larger room on Friday and get a crib. We will still be facing the river, so that is nice. One more day closer.

A flock of seagulls ... err, pigeons?

Today was a good day. Got some things done and found out we will be picking up Baby Boy on Friday instead of Saturday. We had lunch at Mick's Patio at 1:00, the busy time. There was a bit of a line but it went through pretty quick. We were surprised as it hadn't been that busy before. We then walked around some and took a few pictures of some of the tulips blooming.

We then did some wandering in search of cheesecake. The place next to the hotel didn't have the yummy souffle cheesecake so we went in search for more. We found a few pastry shops but no cheesecake. At one pastry shop we tried a few things. Heather got a cookie with pink icing, not lots of flavor but cheap. I got a 'whipped cream taco pancake', at least that is my name for it. I don't know what it was, but it looks like a small pancake folded up like a taco, with Cool Whip on the inside and chocolate shavings. It was really good, too. We both liked it until we found the surprise inside. At the bottom of the pancake taco, under the Cool Whip stuff, was something like a date. We're not sure as we don't eat dates, but we spit our 'dates' out. The rest of it was good, though, and also cheap. Maybe we need to go back for more.

We walked a little further and stopped at a coffee place called Traveler's Coffee. It was like a cross between a Starbucks and a cafe in that it served food also (plus desserts). I tried a cappucino and Heather got an orange smoothie, but their menu had food that we wanted to go back and try. We actually went back and had chicken quesadillas there for dinner (along with a very good slice of vanilla cheesecake). After dinner we went into a building that we had passed several times that looked like it might have stores in it. It looked like an office building that was turned into merchant areas, similar to others where it wasn't originally built with shops in mind. Very different. We might go back to see what else they have as it was getting to be closing time.

One neat thing, though, was that I bought something and had to get lots of 10 ruble coins in change. I found out that these were special coins as the 10 ruble is normally a paper note. These 10 ruble coins were like our President dollars in that each coin had one side with a picture related to each region in Russia. Kind of neat, but I won't be keeping all of these coins.

One funny thing while walking ... there are pigeons all over the city. Normally not too many in one area, although they are used to people. While walking in the afternoon we passed a little area where there were lots of pigeons. I guess they are used to people feeding them there. I knelt down to take a picture of them and they started rushing to me like they expected me to feed them. I took a quick picture and we quickly walked away.

We talked with our translator and found out we will be going to the orphanage at the end of the day on Friday. We have to wait until the official decree that the 10 day wait is over, which won't be until the afternoon. We will get to see where Baby Boy has been sleeping for his time spent there (probably a crib-filled room) and who knows what else we might see. We have a few more days to get things done until our tame is busy, but it will be worth it. We can't wait to get him and show people pictures of him.  Here are a few teasers from Monday.