More of "The Waiting Game"

That's right - nothing new to post here... again. The only saving grace to this is the fact that I still do not have my super-secret FBI fingerprint clearance back, and when I called last week to find out why (since I was told 3-4 weeks and it had been 4 weeks) I talked to a very friendly customer service rep at the FBI (that's right - the FBI has a Customer Service Department - who knew? I think I just found my next job!) who told me that the process actually takes 8-10 weeks, and that while they try to do them more quickly for adoptions, there was no guarantee. He confirmed that my request was "in process" but couldn't give me any more information than that. As I have said to many of you, after all this I should have higher security clearances than Obama - wow!!

I miss my little RP something fierce and now that her room is ready, clothes are bought and in the closet, stroller and car seat are ready to go, and toy box is assembled, I have run out of things to keep me busy and am going stir crazy right about now. I am hoping and praying that she is warm, safe, and happy, and that she has a great holiday at the orphanage, while also keeping my fingers crossed that once the Russian holidays are over I get a swift court date and am able to bring my little RP home sometime in February!!!

Nothing new to post... :(

Sadly I don't have anything new and exciting to post - we're still in a holding patter and this week it will be THREE WEEKS since I've left Russia for home and THREE WEEKS waiting for a court date. The wait is hard but with the holidays rapidly approaching I've been busy enough that it isn't something I have time to dwell on.

I've been busy buying RP clothes for the trip home and find myself geared toward pink, soft, and snuggly outfits. While she is 20 months old, her size and her weight have me buying her clothes in the 6-9 month size range - yes, she is that tiny! My hope is that once she comes home she'll start to catch up with others her age and that she'll grow out of these teeny-tiny clothes in no time!

I've also put the finishing touches (well, almost finished anyway!) on her nursery by finally getting the crib together, and adding the cutest Disney Princess bench/toy box to her room. No, it doesn't necessarily go with the "zoo animals" theme but Cinderella's dress is blue, so it ties in nicely with the blue in the room (yeppers - I am working hard to justify it - I know!). I also have her car seat ready to go in the car (you guessed it - it's pink!) and I spent one night last week putting her stroller together (everyone will see us coming in this - it's bright pink and orange!!! No lie - and while it sounds hideous it's actually quite cute, and now the Winnie the Pooh umbrella stroller will be going over to my parents' where I'm sure it will get a TON of use!). All this on top of trying to get gifts for the family and planning out the holiday.

I'm wishing my little RP a Merry Christmas from afar, sad that I won't be able to celebrate with her this year, but comforted by the fact that this will be her last Christmas alone - next year we'll be a family... and I can't wait!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I don't say it often enough, but I love y'all!!! :)

More.Paperwork.

Yes, just when you thought there couldn't POSSIBLY be anymore paperwork to be done, lo and behold there is! At least this time it was only one document, and it only had to be notarized - the "Acceptance/Confirmation of Referral" document. Bonus on this one is that I was being lazy and took it to the Harris Bank across the street instead of schlepping to the main branch about 6 blocks away, and the Teller Manager was thrilled to break in her new notary stamp! She wasn't being sarcastic either - she told me she couldn't wait to break in her new stamp, so I let her know how honored I was to help her out with that! Sometimes it's the little things, right??? :)

No news on when I'll be heading over for court - but we are only officially in the new wait for 1.5 weeks so far. I miss my little RP and am completely overcompensating by shopping up a storm - her closet has gone from half filled to almost full on one side, and if I don't hear something soon I'll have more clothes for her than I'll know what to do with! I also got the car seat, some tub toys, and made the decision that a changing table is NOT in order - we'll make do with the floor at this point as I am hopeful that she will remain somewhat potty-trained after she comes home! (Wishful thinking, I know!) I still need to get the potty chair and the stroller I picked out, along with some onesies in her size (I only have 18 and 24 month plain onesies, and she is clearly at the 9-12 month size right now, so the ones I have, even if they shrink, will swallow her up!) but I'm going to trek to the Carter's outlet in Aurora after Christmas to get those as they seem to have the best deals.

Until then, keeping my fingers crossed for an early court date and wearing out my pictures from the first trip by going through them again, and again, and again (you get the idea!)!

One week waiting...

Yes, we are back to the waiting game. Today marks one week that I've been back in the US, without my little RP. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for an early court date and am hoping to hear something soon about how long the wait truly may be. I've been trying to keep busy with shopping for RP (as well as the holidays - whoops! almost forgot about that little task!), who now has a growing wardrobe in her room, just waiting to be washed and broken in by her!

The car seat has also arrived and now I am fretting about how it is going to fit in the car. Hmmm... maybe a convertible with a small child isn't such a great idea, but it's just going to have to do for now, and at some point soon I am going to need to order the stroller and toy box I have picked out, and make a decision as to whether or not I need to get a changing table (she is potty trained right now, but everything I have heard and read says that she most likely will regress when she leaves the orphanage).

I keep wondering what she is doing, what she is thinking, and what it will be like to go back. It is definitely going to take baby steps to get her to open up, relax, and trust me, and the agency has said to start small and make sure to keep her external stimulations small at first since she is obviously overwhelmed by a lot of new things and new people at once. I'm just ready to move on and move forward - the wait has already gone on too long and she deserves to be home with her family - hopefully it won't be much longer now. :)

Home again...

The final days of the trip were a whirlwind, so I wasn't able to post again until today. Our final day of visiting was by far the mos successful - although RP started to cry when we first came in again, she allowed me to hold her and actually calmed down while she was sitting on my lap. Yay!!!

It was hard to finally start to make some progress, only to have to leave again, but I'm hoping for a court date soon, so we can finalize the process and bring little RP home!

Visiting RP was the highlight, but the last day was chock-full of stuff to do before leaving. I had my 7-doctor physical during which time I met wit 7 different doctors to review stuff like previous health issues (surgeries, infectious diseases, etc), do blood work, and even meet with a psychiatrist! I passed that with flying colors (after 4 hours at the hospital - yikes!), then rushed off to the notary to officially sign the paperwork that I wanted to proceed with adopting RP! Even back at the orphanage I finally got to meet with the doctor who said that outside of her very small stature (at 19 months old she is only 27" tall and weighs a little over 17.5 pounds!) she is relatively healthy.

The travel back to the states was long and arduous - our flight out of St. Petersburg was at 5:40 a.m. so the driver picked us up at 3:20 a.m.! We had to go through security TWICE in Russia, but the flight was pretty empty so we could spread out and doze until we hit Frankfurt.

The airport in Frankfurt was crazy big and spread out - and it took forever to find the gate and get over to where we were supposed to wait. Our flight was PACKED coming back which made it a nightmare to sit on that plane for 9 hours when there was not an empty seat to be had (unlike our flight over which was about 1/3 empty!). I have never been so happy to get off a plane before in my entire life, and am already wondering how I can swing business class upgrades for the next adventure across the pond!

I never dreamed I would be heading over to Russia, but now that I have I can't wait to go back! I continually wonder how my little RP is doing, what she's doing, and if she misses me, and now that I've met her I can't wait for the day she officially becomes part of the family, and gets to come home with me! Fingers crossed for an early court date!!! :)

Afternoon visit (and some pics too!)

As promised I'm posting a couple of pics - these are from the morning visit:

The afternoon visit went a little bit better, thank goodness! When they brought her into the room again she took one look at us and started screaming (again!)

but the speech therapist came in and helped calm her down and for a very short period of time we were playing (without tears!) AND she even smiled a couple of times! She was pretty tired by the end of our visit, but it looks like we made progress (fingers crossed!):

Yay for small miracles! I am exhausted and sick with a killer cold, but I feel a small sense of victory - let's just hope I get to go back for one last visit tomorrow before we fly home on Thursday - then a whole new countdown begins!
(P.S. If it looks like I am sweating in these pictures above, I AM - they literally keep it in the 80's in the orphanage and a wool sweater, while necessary outside, was way overkill for that type of heat!)

Morning visit with RP

Up and at 'em early again today to get ready to go and make our "official" visit to RP! The coordinator picked us up at 9:20ish and we got to the orphanage right as the kids were getting ready to go outside. RP was the last, and by far the tiniest, child out the door today, and while she looked at us with a hint of familiarity, when she realized she was going out with us and not the other kids in her group she started to cry again. The crying turned to screaming again, and this went on for about 5 minutes until we figured out that she wanted to walk around, and to my complete pleasure she took my hand and let me walk her around parts of the playground. She stopped crying, let me put her mittens on, and even looked me in the eye a few times without crying, and we got a few really good pictures which I haven't uploaded yet, and will have to follow (on a separate, but related note, due to technical difficulties we now have to use the WiFi in the lobby as the internet service in the room is broken). She played with the bear and the doll I brought her, hugging them, then throwing them on the ground.

I thought we were making progress when she even walked with us inside, with only one other little meltdown on the playground, and she even let me take off her hat, mittens, snowsuit, and boots AND let me put on her shoes. However, once her outside things were put away and she realized that we were all in the same room with her and she wasn't going back with the other kids, she started screaming again - to varying degrees, and then launched into a full-fledged tantrum, complete with kicking and throwing her head back (once so hard that she knocked herself over). They keep telling me that this is natural, and a good thing, but it breaks my heart to see her so upset, especially after I thought we were making progress when we were outside. We are supposed to go back this afternoon, meet with the doctor, and visit with her again, so we'll see what happens.

Please keep those positive thoughts and prayer coming - it is disheartening to see someone you love so upset, particularly when it is coupled with sleep deprivation (I just can't seem to adjust to the time difference) and a full-fledged cold/sinus infection which manifested itself yesterday - of course. Sending lots of love to everyone back in the States, and I appreciate everyone's positive comments and love shown through the blog and e-mail - it truly means the world to me. :)