HOME!

We are home. All the flights were on schedule yesterday and the trip was uneventful. Max did really well on the flights. Better than we could have hoped. He got restless a couple times but did not cry once. He was really excited to meet all of his family when we got home. Now we just have to get him adjusted to the 9 hour time change!

Thank you to our families who cleaned the house, bought some groceries, prepared some meals and provided such a warm welcome at the airport!!! You are all amazing and we are really blessed to have such great families and friends!

Heading home!

Tomorrow is the big day. We have been out of the country now for 25 days and tomorrow we get to come home. We are spending the day today packing everything up and trying to get ready to go. Our first flight is at 7:00 AM so the driver is coming at 4:00 AM. That means we have 24 hours of travel tomorrow. We are praying for safety and that baby Max does well with all the travel.

We are all very excited and ready to come home!!!!

One more pic of Max - all bundled up today in his Hawkeye snowsuit. We took him out in Moscow for a bit this morning.

Embassy interview and pictures

Today we went to the US Embassy for our interview and to get Max's passport and US Visa. Everything went as planned. Upon arrival we had to pay the application fee. Paying the application fee was strange because we were told (in our documentation) not to wait in line but there was a very long line. Shortly someone from the Embassy came out and explained that we (US Citizens) were to cut in line. Needless to say this didn't make the others in line very happy as we were all waiting in a very hot room to get to one window to make a payment. Would be nice if they had two windows. Maybe they want to make us look like rude Americans?

After all the families were checked in an embassy representative gave a talk to everyone on the citizenship specifics. Max really likes to hear himself talk so throughout this Max was shouting (not crying) louder and louder while everyone else's kids seemed to be quiet. Overall he was really good - just likes to talk! Our 'interview' was very short and easy and we recieved the documentation we needed to get him into the US. The only thing left for us is the registration with Russia and our agency is taking care of that and dropping off the paperwork tomorrow. Then, we leave at 4:00 AM for home on Thursday!

I have attached some more pictures. A couple of them are Max reading a book - guess he really liked it (Greg also says that puts him one book ahead of him) The others are of him playing with his new favorite toy - Greg's IPOD.

More pictures

Hello everyone. We are doing good but at this point counting down the days until we head home. We have only 3 days left until we start the long trip home. The duration of the trip is about 24 hours. Tomorrow we go to the US Embassy to take care of the documentation to get Max into the USA.

Max is eating really well. He is trying all sorts of new foods. So far, bananas and yougurt are his favorites. We do need some work on sleeping though. He is awake quite a bit at night. Not sure why - could be a lot of things but our best guess is it is just all the newness.

I put up some more pictures. We took Max out for a stroller ride around the apartment complex yesterday. Not sure if he liked it or not but he didn't fuss at all so I think he liked to take everything in. Also put one of him playing it up with Greg - he loves it when we play with his feet. He plays with everything - as you can see - even diet Coke bottles!

Hello

Hello everyone. We have a couple more pictures of Max to show. He did NOT like his bath at all (as you can see) we have no idea how he took baths before so it is hard to tell if this is something new or not. The other pictures are some of Max's favorite activities. He loves peek-a-boo and he really loves to stand (with help) and shuffle around. We think he will be walking soon. He loves to pull himself up.

Things are getting better for all of us. Max doesn't like to be held but sat with Steph for about an hour this morning. We have been spending our time feeding him and playing with him and we think he is starting to realize that these people aren't going anywhere so I might as well make the best of it!

Yesterday we bundled him up and took him out for a walk and to grab some food and go to the store. I don't think he blinked one time as he took in all the new sights, smells and sounds. It was really nice here yesterday - almost 40 degrees and sunny. Sad when that is considered nice but it felt like Spring to us!

We are really excited to get him home. We only have three days left before we start the long trip home. Looking forward to introducing Max to all the friends and family!

The first 48 hours with Max

It has been an eventful first couple days and nights for all of us. The first day and night was spent in a very tight motel room and Max did not sleep well at all (and his parents didn't sleep at all) Hard to blame him as everything is new and he was probably scared. Plus he has some teeth coming in and is still fighting off an infection in his chest. After a restless night and a mistake by Mom and Dad of giving him a nap too early we were on our way from Yaroslavl to Moscow (normally a 4 hour car ride). Max did ok the first couple hours but then started screaming. He had a full belly and a clean diaper but we think he was just very tired. The looooong trip took even longer though when we were in minor fender bender on about a 5 lane road in Moscow (that the Russians make 7 lanes). Needless to say Max was not a happy baby after being in the car for 5.5 hours to try to get to Moscow. After we got here last night he went to sleep and had a much better night 2. We think he is starting to adjust to us some. It is difficult because Max is not used to the attention that we want to give him. He is used to getting a couple bottles a day and a couple diaper changes a day. He is not used to two people fussing after him although he does seem to appreciate having a full belly and a clean diaper. It is going to be a tough adjustment - he doesn't really like to be held or rocked to sleep - he has grown used to figuring out ways to comfort and calm himself. He is not used to playing with others and with toys so we are trying to help him adjust as smoothly as possible to all the newness in his life. He is crawling and with help loves to stand up and take a couple steps. We are still trying to find that magic routine for him. Overall it is going well - maybe a little more difficult than we expected but we are confident we will all adjust to each other in time.

I attached a few pictures of Max. One of them is when we got him back to the motel the first time in his brand new coat (that is a little big!). Another is of his favorite activity which is standing up and checking things out and the other one is just him saying hi to everyone.

This morning we had a visit from a doctor who prepares immigration medical documentation for the adoption. He made a much appreciated house call. He doesn't see anything wrong with Max that won't heal with a little tlc. The rest of our time will be spent at the apartment in Moscow. We meet with our agency at 12:00 on Sunday to prepare documentation for the US Embassy. On Monday we all go there for an interview and to get Max's citizenship documentation in order. That takes a couple days to process and we pick it all up on Wednesday before heading home on Thursday.

We hope all is well with everyone. We are really looking forward to being home. It has been a long trip and we are looking forward to Thursday.

Made it back to Moscow

Hi everyone - just wanted to write a quick note to say we made it back to Moscow. We are back in the apartment which is sooooooo much better than the hotel we were at in Yaroslavl. It was an eventful day and we are beat - Max is sleeping already and we are heading to bed. We will update with details and pictures tomorrow.