Wow! 17.5 months

It's been a while since we've had any adoption milestones for Aaden but today is a big one to me. He was 17.5 months old when he was placed in our arms in Russia. Today, he has been home with us for 17.5 months. Every day moving forward he will have spent more of his life with his family than without.

I can't believe how big he has gotten now. He went from being just 17 lbs and not on the charts for either height/weight to being well on the charts. He was delayed in just about everything and now he is considered ahead in gross motors skills and some other areas according to his EI teachers. We are just still working on his speech (which he is still behind but has made so many leaps and bounds over the last few months that I don't think it will be long before he has caught up).

He will be 3 next month and we have decided to put him in preschool after the winter break in January. He is becoming so independant so quickly and mama is having a harder time with it than he is! But I am so proud of him and feel so blessed to be his mother.

Now we wait

We finished all the paperwork a couple of weeks ago and then finished up our pre-adoptive classes this past week. Everything is completely done and now out of our hands. We could get a call tomorrow or a year from now that we have been matched. Very different from the process in Russia. We've done what we could and now we have to be patient. Easer said than done but having Aaden through this wait definately makes it easier. He keeps us very busy!

Officially approved! Sort of...

We found out this morning from the adoption agency that we are officially approved! Wonderful, great news - about 1-2 weeks before we expected it. I'm not quite as on the ball with all of this paperwork as I was last time (hmmm... won't name any names but someone is keeping me VERY busy these days). I am still working on our profile book that is basically a family photo album the agency will show potential birthparents to help them choose a family. They can't show us to anyone unless they have this book. So we're approved but have nothing to show so no one will know we're out there! I am going to be up late night tonight trying to get it done and get it to the printer's tomorrow. So hopefully we will be done with everything and really officially waiting by Monday. So exciting!

Oh, and Aaden got his stiches out today. He was such a champ!

First ER trip with Aaden and progress on our next adoption

I was determined to get the profile book done this weekend for our next adoption because I have a meeting with the agency on Wednesday for them to approve it. It contains a lot of pictures and I was trying to get some outside pictures of our house/yard on Saturday afternoon while Michael played with Aaden in the yard. I was standing in the corner of our yard that goes slightly downhill. Aaden decided he wanted to come play with me and started running towards me. Well, I was looking at the camera, he was looking at me, and neither of us noticed he was starting to run down hill. Before we knew it he had tripped. Of course he couldn't have fallen on all the nice soft grass surrounding almost every inch around us. He fell and hit his head smack on the one foot area of rock sticking out of the ground.

Poor baby didn't even know what hit him and poor mama looked down and saw blood and I have never been so terrified in my life. Luckily Michael is not as emotional in these situations and took over. I ran in the house to get some first aid stuff and by the time Michael brought him in one whole side of his face was covered in blood. I nearly (or maybe I did) flipped out. I bandaged him up as quickly as I could and we got him in the car for his first ER trip. By the time we got to the hospital it had almost stopped bleeding and Aaden was acting like nothing was wrong, so I was feeling a little better. 3 stiches and 4 hours later we had all survived the first ER trip. I know looking back now that it wasn't a huge deal, most kids get stiches for an accident at some point. But seeing him like that was the worst feeling I have ever had in my life. He was a trooper though and did so great through the whole experience. I'm so proud of my brave little boy. He even let me change his bandages today without much of a fuss.

I finally finished my draft of the profile book and pictures today and am just about ready for my adoption agency meeting on Wenesday. If all goes well, I will have nothing left to do but sit back and wait for the state to approve our homestudy in the next couple of weeks. Then we will be officially waiting for our child and making Aaden a big brother!

Quick Adoption Update

We finished all our homestudy meetings on Thursday. Yay! Now we wait for them to write it up and be approved by the state. During this time we are working on our profile book of our family that the agency will show to potential birthparents. Once those two things are done it is out of our hands and we wait to be picked. We are hoping to be officially "waiting" by the end of September or early October!

Summer Fun and Adoption Updates

We did our first homestudy meeting this week for adoption #2. All went well and we have the home visit next week! Here are some pictures from our summer this year:

Our Bryansk friends at Davis Farmland.

The only animal that Aaden would go near - the fake cow. He was scared of everything else!

Aaden & Michael

Some 4th of July pictures at the Lake.

Our vacation at the beach in June.

It was a bit cool and rainy but Aaden loved the ocean!

Aaden is already training to be a big brother!

Here we go again!

We've been quietly gathering paperwork all summer as we made the final decisions on where/how/when/if we were going to add to our family again. We've decided our family just didn't seem complete yet and now is the time to hop back onto that adoption roller coaster. After lots of thinking, researching, and talking, we realized Russia just wasn't right for our family this time around. We loved Russia and cherish all the time we spent there while adopting Aaden but logistically now that we have a 2 year old, the travel would just be too hard.

So we have decided to pursue a U.S. domestic adoption this time. Chances are we will be placed with a newborn, quite possibly straight from the hospital. So this will be a completely different experience for us and we are very excited. I just dropped off the mound of paperwork this morning to our agency and now we wait to be assigned to a social worker to start our homestudy. Here we go again!

New Photos!

We had some outdoor family photos done recently - we got lucky enough to plan a day that it actually didn't rain! I don't have web versions of them but you can see our photographer's slide show with the link below. I hope everyone is having a great summer!

http://www.photobiz.com/slideshowbiz/slideshow.cfm?slideshowID=70732&photographerID=2041

1 year and refinalization!

June 2nd marked our 1 year anniversary with Aaden. It seems crazy it has gone by so fast yet I hardly remember our days with out him! Here are some photos:

June 2, 2008 - Bryansk, Russia

June 2, 2009 - Home

Today we refinalized Aaden's adoption in the US Courts. He will officially have a US birth certificate now! It was surprising how quick it was (about 3 minutes!) but it was great to have my parents there to share in the special moment:

Grandpa, Grammy, Mommy, Aaden, Michael, & our judge

After court, we brought Aaden to the park to see the ducks and ride the carousel and then out to lunch:

Aaden hanging with Papa Duck and baby


Aaden and Mommy

Aaden sitting on the duck (a fake one of course!)

Daddy and Aaden

Aaden's first carousel ride!

March 18, 2008

Then and now...

It was one year ago today that Michael and I walked into the Klintsy Baby Home and met our son for the first time. We didn't know much about him and we had no idea what to expect or how we would feel. The first meeting was complete chaos as the orphanage director was out and they really didn't want us there. We only had about 20 minutes with him and he changed our lives forever. We fell in love with this blue eyed little munchkin that loved to hold our fingers so he could run across the room. He giggled every time Michael lifted him into the air. And he actually snuggled with me which totally surprised me. He melted our hearts and made us more sure than ever that he was our son.

It would be another 2 1/2 months before Aaden came home but this was the day he became part of our family. Now he's a very active 2 year old who loves his independence but is still happy to snuggle with his mommy or daddy before bedtime. He still has that charming personality that won us over the first time we met him and makes it hard to ever get mad at him (and believe me he's learned to use it to his advantage!). I can't believe how far we've come since that day and how happy he has made us.

Some Updates

We moved into our new house the first weekend in January and time has flown since then. Aaden adjusted very quickly to the new house, better than we ever expected. He loves all the extra room to run around and places for his new toys he got for his birthday and Christmas. Here are some new photos from January:

I think he forgot we had a cat. She hid in my parents basement the whole month we were there!

We went to the Children's Museum with 2 other babies born in Bryansk. It was so fun to see everyone and catch up. Aaden had a great time!

Nicholas, Angelina, & Aaden


Aaden playing in our yard. He looks happier in the pictures than in real life. He's not really into the snow. He'd rather play in the driveway or under the porch where it's clear.

Aaden helping us unpack

2 year photos

Aaden had his 2 year photo done the week before Christmas. Here are some of my favorite shots. I can't believe how grown up he looks. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Aaden had a great time yesterday and enjoyed opening his gifts this time unlike his birthday last week. This red car that Santa brought was his favorite and he spent most of the day in it. I hope everyone enjoyed their day yesterday. Here are some photos of Aaden's first Christmas at home:

It's the little things...

that many moms may never notice that strike me at times. Aaden is a child that is not easily scared or hurt. He's a brave little guy and rarely cries. One place he is always scared is the doctors, he hates anyone restraining him or poking around at him. Since I've never been a mom to a young child it seemed normal when he was scared at the doctor's that he would wiggle and squirm to get away from everyone and try to get out of the room. Two weeks ago when I brought him in for a sick doctor's visit (a cold and conjunctivitis) and then today for his 2 year doctor's visit, it was very different.

We hadn't been to the doctors for a few months now which was out of the ordinary compared to when he first came home. For the first time 2 weeks ago and again today, instead of trying to wiggle out of my arms when the doctor tried to look into his ears, listen to his heart, etc he clung to me for dear life. That may seem like a normal thing for most moms but Aaden had never clung to me for anything before. I didn't realize we were even missing that bonding experience. Yes, I hated that he was scared and I had to make him go through that for his own good. But I had tears in my eyes too because I was so touched. He finally trusts me enough to cling to me and turn into me when scared instead of trying to get away from everyone. He doesn't want to get away from me anymore, instead he wants me desperately. What an amazing feeling that I didn't even know existed. That is the best present I will receive for Christmas this year!

Happy Birthday, Aaden!

Aaden turned two today. He is growing up so quickly. I can't believe he's two already. We had a birthday party for him last Sunday and he loved seeing his family and playing with all his cousins. He thought it was great that everyone sang just to him and he seemed to love the cake too. The only thing he wanted nothing to do with was the presents! Grammy and Grandpa had given him a shopping cart earlier in the day and that's all he wanted. Trying to get him to stop pushing that thing around to open a gift proved to be impossible so his cousin were nice enough to help out :) Here are some pictures from Aaden's birthday party:

6 months to be thankful for

Six months ago, June 2nd, Michael and I walked into the Klintsy baby home and were united with Aaden. Our lives were changed forever and I will always be grateful that this little boy became our son that day. So for six months together, here are six things that I am thankful for:

-For his birth mother and father, who we will probably never get to meet, for creating such a beautiful, playful, creative little boy. I know in a difficult situation, they made a hard choice, and I will be forever grateful for their strength.

-For our family and friends, who got us through the hard times and shared in the good times that came along with the roller coaster ride of international adoption.

-For Aaden's health, there are so many question marks that come along with premature babies born so small and I am thankful Aaden has overcome the odds and his doctors found him in good health.

-For Aaden's smile, it brighten my day, everyday.

-For Aaden's laugh, it is never far away because he cracks himself up all the time :)

-For Aaden, how lucky we are that he was the child we were matched with. I couldn't imagine anyone else more perfect for us than him.

Here are some new photo's of our little man...

Aaden recently learned to pants himself!

All dressed up for Thanksgiving

Helping us pack

Loves to wear daddy's shoes

so sweet!

So you'll notice no glasses in these pictures. Someone's been refusing to wear them lately.