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.