Saturday, November 28, 2009

We are home

It's been a while since I updated our blog, but I wanted to get caught up on everything that has happened since our Embassy Appointment and finally share some photos.

On Thursday, Irina came to the hotel to give us the Russian Consulate documents. When she saw Hannah, she commented how relaxed and happy she looked. She said she looked like a different child. That was great to hear that she is already benefiting from having a family and one on one (or two) attention.
She did quite well on the flight home. Although she screamed for the 1st 2 hours she finally slept for about 2 hours. When she woke up she was great and played quite contently. It was a long 9.5 hours, but we arrived at Kennedy early and were able to catch an earlier flight to Boston. Our friend, Michael, picked us up at the airport and by the time we got home, it was 8 pm (4 am Moscow time) and we were utterly exhausted. I can't believe that in all that time, Hannah only slept for 2.5 hours. It will take quite a few days for her to catch up on sleep.

I was very excited for Emily and Hannah's first meeting. When we pulled into the driveway, Emily raced to the front door. I was carrying Hannah and Emily gave her a quiet "Hello Hannah" and a soft kiss on the cheek. Very cute. We played for a few minutes, but needed to get her to bed.

Saturday was a great day getting settled back in at home. It was great to watch Emily and Hannah play together. Emily is a little tentative. She hasn't been around young children very often, so it will take her a little while to figure Hannah out. Emily was a great helper all day. When I put her to bed at night, I asked her what she though tof being a big sister. She said "it's OK", when I asked why, she replied "it's a lot of work!".

Since our first day, things have only got better and better. Hannah is such a joy and is a very funny, cuddly, confident child. It is fantastic having a young child again. I just love hugging her and rubbing her little back. At first she was very easy to put to bed. She would cry out twice and them go to sleep, but after 2 weeks, she refused to go to bed. It would take a couple of hours to get her down because everytime I left the room she wuld get out of bed (she is in a twin bed with a rail) and scream and scream at the top of her lungs by the door. The last thing I wanted was her to fall asleep on the floor from crying, since everything is so new still, so I would stand by the door or rock her in the rocking chair until she fell asleep... which some nights took 2 hours because she kept looking up to make sure I was there. I am sure this is mostly typical baby behavior, but it also has to have something to do with the affects of being in an orphanage. She is getting much better now because we are getting into a better routine and falls asleep pretty quickly.

She LOVES her baby dolls. She spends most of the day pushing them around in doll strollers, and giving them their bottles and rocking them. It is so sweet. She is very nurturing. She also likes her little baby bike and her noisy toys, but mostly, she loves to climb on everything, including us.
She's eating great. She finishes most everything we give her, although is starting to be more picky, perhaps because she figuring out that there is a fridge full of food.

We took her to her pediatrician 3 days after we returned from Russia and she gave her a full bill of health. She is 70% for height, 50% weight and 90% head. We are getting caught up on her vaccinations and she got 4 shots that visit (including N1H1) and has another visit in a month. We are also taking her to Children's Hospital in Boston in early December for a Post-Adoption Evaulation. I am not expecting any problems, but it will be good for her to be checked by an adoption specialist. Her speech is slightly delayed, which is fully expected. She didn't say too much while in Russia... Da daaaaaaahhhhh, and a few babbles, but since we've been home, she is babbling all the time and it is so adorable. She makes new noises every day and we think she says "Cat" and "Meow". We are not sure, but she gets very excited when she sees the cats. She does occasionally say mamamama. I expecially love the long conversations she has with us. I am sure she knows exactly what she is saying, we just nod in agreement.
We are thrilled that everything is going very well. We are so grateful God found us this beautiful girl and it is wonderful being a family of 4.

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