Noah's outdoor adventure.

Today we took Noah outside to play. The orphanage is surrounded by an iron fence and in the yard there is a paved walkway that circles the building. There are about three "huts" that are off the path set up as play areas. It is very cute and you can tell someone has put alot of work into them. We got there to pick him up and went to his group. They have changed the room he is in probably since he is now a year old. We poked our heads in the door and he saw us. It was soooo cute. He started waddling straigh over to the door. I LOVE IT!!! We then got to see the "ritual" of bundling him up. The poor child could barely move after it was all over. :) Here are a few pictures of today:

PS. Thanks to all of you who have written notes back. I look forward everyday to reading them.!!!

Another fun day.

We made it to and from the orphanage today on our own with no problems. There has got to be a million people in the metro. I can't believe what I'm seeing down there. I guess city people are used to it. Noah was great again today. He has the best personality. He smiles all the time and really never cries. He started to yesterday when I took away the spoon, but it lasted for all of about 2 seconds. Distraction is the best tool :) I think he is really enjoying the one on one time though. He seems to eat up the attention. Today he got some apple juice and about gulped it all down. I had to take it away from him because I don't want anything to mess up his stomach too bad. He aslo tried some sweet potatoes and liked those too. He is starting to look around for me some too so that is awesome. Today a couple times, he turned his head when we called his name. Does that mean he is getting it??? Mom seems to think so. That's really about it. It will be the same routine for several more days unless I get a surprise phone call to go get him. I'm posting a couple pictures of Noah and of the city.



This is Noah's Orphanage:

The view from my bedroom windowThere are so many gorgeous buildings here, this is not the best shot but I hope to get more once I have Noah and we go sightseeingLooking a little devious

How cute is his new hat!!

Day 2 with Noah

Each day Noah is coming out of his shell more and more. Today he had his first experience with apple sauce and apparently his first with a spoon as well. He caught on very quickly and made it clear to me after he had figured out what was going on, that he could do it himself! Sort-of. We didn't make too much of a mess. He is boogying around like crazy, still falling once in a while. He loves any kind of toy with buttons on them or that makes music or lights up. I've already memorized the music to both of the toys that he plays with here :) I guess that is just the beginning!! He also learned very fast about pushing his toys. One is a little lion I got him that has wheels. He saw me push it toward him and then kept hitting/pushing it back to me. He'd just look up at me like..come on mom..get with it! Looks like he'll be into cars and trains!

I had my first experience today with the metro. Not nearly as difficult as I though it would be. The orphanage stop is 15 min. from the apartment and then another 20 min. walk from there. It doesn't feel as cold as it did last trip, so the walks are really nice. We went to a beautiful lake/park today while Noah was sleeping. It was gorgeous. Lots of trails through the woods with all the fall colored leaves on the ground. Looked like something out of a painting. The interesting part was watching a lady strip down to her birthday suit and jump in the freezing cold lake for a swim right next to the no swimming sign :) Not sure how she handled to cold water, but to each their own I guess! We ate next to the lake at a little place that just appeared out of nowhere. It was a tent set up in the middle of the woods with a few men in it cooking over hot coals. It was like shishcabobs (sp??) of pork and another one of mushrooms. It was sooo good!
Tommorrow I will go see Noah in the afternoon. I can go see him on my own now which is nice. Vlad told me today that I can get him out early, but it will probably be the beginning of next week. Still crossing my fingers for a little earlier, but something better than nothing.

Many of you have not seen Noah yet, so here is a quick video from yesterday.

Court

Today was the big day! The appointment was suppose to be at 11:30 but the prosecutor was late so I didn't go in until 12:30. That really helped my nerves! It was all actually pretty easy. I stood in the middle of a room on a small platform and answered the questions as the judge asked them. Masha stood next to me and translated everything. Once that was over the orphanage director spoke about Noah and a lady from the social worker's office spoke. The judge then left to make her decision and was back in in under 2 min. After a few more I do's and I understand's, she said that the Moscow City Court officially grants me custody of Noah Alexey Overman. Yipeeeee.
I went to see Noah around 4 and he is doing great. Very happy, smiley boy! We had a great time together. I will go tomorrow to get a ticket for the Metro so I can go to the orphanage alone from here on out! I will probably go about twice a day. That's my day in a nutshell. It was a huge sigh of relief to walk out of those doors knowing that it was official. I can't believe I'm almost to the end of this adoption journey. At least the end of the first part. Now will start the real fun :) I'm off to bed. I'm a walking zombie right now since I have only slept about 5 hours since Friday.

Russia...part 2

I have not kept up with all the happenings lately, but I got my court date finalized last week for tomorrow. We made it safely back to Rusia today. Our flights were great. First flight we had plenty of room because it was an exit seat and an empty seat next to us. The second flight, the attendant at the desk, moved us up to two seats right behind the bulkhead so we had lots of extra leg room. Aside from our bread not coming out in a basket, it was just about as good as first class and a lot cheaper :) Max, our driver flagged us down and seemed very glad to see us. I think he might have been missing one of his pick ups. While he waited, he kept turning around and smiling great big. Maybe he thought we might wonder off??? I then talked with the coordinator for our team and found out my court time is 11:00 ot 11:30. I will be going again at the same time as the other family who was with me last trip, so that should help calm my nerves. It should be relatively short and then off to see my Noah!! There may definitly be a shot of getting him out tomorrow or at least in only a few days. I will know after court but the team is working on it so that was excellent news. I won't be able to stand myself if I get to go pick him up right after court!!!! They have the heat turned on in the apartment this time which is good. This time, I'm actually keeping the windows cracked to keep it cooler. After a hard rain fall this morning, the sun was shining until it set. I think God was just smiling down on us because last time, I barely saw it at all. On another note, mom and I had another shopping adventure tonight. I'm not a big fan of grocery shopping here. We decided to try another brand of milk since I didn't like the last kind. Remind you, everything is in Russian. We also picked up a huge chunk of cheese for crackers and some breakfast rolls that looked like cinamon for tomorrow. When we got back we broke out some good old fashion bannana sandwiches and I went to open the cheese. It was the worst smelling stuff I had ever smelled. I came really close to throwing it out the window!! It stunk up the entire kitchen and living room it was so potent!! My mom stilled braved it and tried a piece even though I warned her I had no idea how to get her to a hospital! She said it wasn't near as bad as it smelled, but I couldn't take it. I think it burned it's odor into my nose because I still smell it. Lets just say, I hate it for the poor soul who picks up the garbage tomorrow! I then went to check out the milk...it looked a little thick...we figured out really quickly that we picked up butter milk. By this point we were both laughing. Last but not least, we discovered our cinnamon rolls, are not cinnamon. Not sure what it is, but nothing a large amount of jelly won't cure. I think the best purchase of the night was the large bottle of Pepsi. I think I'll stick with what I know from here on out!! :)

Home Sweet Home

I made it home last night safe and sound. Still a little tired, but I will catch up soon. Now it's time to start getting my house ready for my little man to come home. Hopefully that will be by the end of October! Thanks for all your comments while I was gone. You hear about how nice it is to get them while you're gone, but I never knew how much I would look forward to reading them!! Thanks

Sad to say bye...happy to come home!!

I'm all packed back up and ready. I can't wait until I get back to warm weather. Aside from when I take a 30 min. hot shower..twice a day, I don't think I have been warm since I got here. Most buildings here have their heat controlled from one central location. I guess it got really cold a little early this year, so they have not turned any heat on in this building. It has been in the low 40's all week. Next time, I'll be like Noah..so many layers I can't bend my arms :) .

As of this morning, I have officaially requested to adopt him. The notary was extremly nice. Afterward, mom and I went to Old Arbat street to do some shopping and eat lunch. Around 4:00 we went to spend some more time with Noah and say our goodbyes for a few more weeks. We were able to play with him in the play room today so I got to see him crawling around everywhere. He is nowhere close to walking yet but loves to jump up and down with help. We did some measuring and he is 27" tall and about 18lbs. He should be in 12mth old clothes. His feet are 4" long, so I have to figure out his shoe size. He smiles alot and laughs, but not outloud. He doesn't make alot of noise actually. Not to worry though, I'll wear off on him soon enough!! It was a little sad to drive away, but I have so much to do now to prepare for a little boy. Clothes to buy, bedding to pick out...flower gardens to kill :( Masha said that our court date will probably be in about 4 weeks.
I'm off to take my evening shower so I can get warm before bed!