I am in Russia!!!

Well here I am in Yuzhno- Sakhalinsk, Russia. The time now is 5:42 am on Feb 1. At home it is about 3pm on Jan 31. I was going to post some pictures of the area around my hotel, but Blogger is having trouble uploading the here. I ot one posted--- above is the hotel that I stayed in last night. It doesn't look like much, but the room was very comfortable and MUCH cleaner than any hotel in the US that I've been in! The temp when I got here yesterday afternoon was -5 F --- Pretty chilly!!! I haven't gotten my phone card yet, so I can't call anyone. Svetlana ( my WACAP rep) pretty much just took me to the hotel yesterday and dropped me off. She seemed to be in ahurry to get somewhere! I hope I get a little bit more of a tour today!

Yesterday afternoon, I walked around for a little while and took pictures. My hotel is acroos the street form Lenn Square, and the is a big Ice Sculpture display out ther right now. It is actually very pretty. There wer lots of townspeople taking pictures of their children on the sculptures-- all the kids look so cute bundled up fromhead to toe in their little snowsuits... the parents pull them around on sleds instead of using strollers. I saw a set of little baby twins-- only their eyes and noses were visible-- they were being pulled on a double sledge (sort of like a double stroller, I guess). They were very cute. It made me miss y girls so much--they would LOVE all of this snow!!!!

I wanted to do some shopping, but since I have not bee able to exchange any money yet, and since I can't read any signs, I didn't attempt it yesterday. Today I am going to insist that Svetlana take me to do some shopping. I don't leave for the trainstation until tonight, so I pretty much have the whole day to kill. I want to shop!! And call my kids!!!!

Svetlanana has warned me that the orphanage where "D" now live is "very poor" and has severely disable children in it. She says that I need to prepare myself for what I am about to see, that it will be traumatic.... I think thatI can imagine what it will be like. I think that I will be sickened and angered by the treatment of these children. I hope I am wrong --I hope that th

ey take good care of them, we will see...

I know that this experience is going to change me...

I just hope that I can have the strength to leave him there for the next few months...Well I have no choice. I guess, right now I just hope he likes me! :)

I may try to post more pictures later... I bought a 2 hour internet card, and I think I still have some time left. I know I won't have any internet up north, so I am going to keep a diary and post it al when I get back. So far the trip has been smooth-- the plane didn't crash:) Oh yeah, Asiana airlines is wonderful-- clean cabin, very good food (the "heavy snack" as they called it was twice as much food and twice as good as on any domestic flight I have ever flown). the flight attendants are very helpful and sweet. I was impressed. BTW, my flight on Delta to LAX sucked. Upon takeoff, one of the lights in the center isle actually fell out of th ceiling!!!

Hopefully, I can write later. If not wish me luck!!! Anyone who can please call my girls and tell them that I love them VERY MUCH!!!!

Loose Ends...

Tomorrow is the big day... I will be on my way to Russia to meet "D". My flight does not actually leave until 8:00 pm, but I still have a lot to do to get ready-- like actually pack my suitcase! :) I have everything laid out, but I have not actually tried to get it all in there.

Today I tried to tie up loose ends... I still have many ends to tie tomorrow. I hope I can get it all done!

Maybe I should make a list.... I have to be at the USCIS office at 9am to get my fingerprints redone. Then I have to go to the bank to have my Will notarized, as well as a couple of other documents. I then need to make sure that all my paperwork is in order, go over my suitcase to make sure I haven't forgotten anything.... Then I want to chill out and spend time with my girls before I go. I am going to miss them so much!!!

Last night I had trouble sleeping. I am very worried about leaving my girls. I know they are in good hands with Theresa, but I can't help worrying. I just hate to be away from them for so long...

My Visa Came!!

Yesterday was a long one. Theresa flew in from Miami at 7:30 am. We picked her up from the airport. The original plane was to pick her up from the airport and head straight to Columbia, SC to go to Erika's daughter's First Birthday Party. However, plans had to change slightly because on Friday night my insurance co. called to let me know that my car repairs were complete. So, I had to make an appointment to pickup the van on Sat. morning-- the earliest appointment was at 9:30 am. After I picked up the van, I spent about an hour trying to get the car seats back in it-- somehow the latch belts had become terribly tangled and I couldn't get hem securely in--or maybe I was just so exhausted and stressed that I couldn't get them to work right. In any event, I finally got every thing in place, packed the van, and we were off on the 3 hour drive to Columbia!

The party was nice. I think baby "E" enjoyed all of the attention, but she wasn't feeling very good--poor thing. Of course, I brought the camera, but forgot the memory card--so I have no pictures to show. Let's hope that doesn't happen when I go to Russia. We drove back home last night---a very LONG drive. It was exhausting, but worth it. We have not gotten together for a while, so it was good to visit.

My Visa came in yesterday!!! So now I am all set to travel to Russia! I leave on Tuesday! I can't believe it. I still do not feel at all prepared!!! Well I better go clean this VERY MESSY house!

Feeling Nervous....

I have been so slack about writing this blog lately. This is mainly because I have been SOOO busy getting ready for this trip (along with juggling kids and work). It seems like any time I get a chance to sit down and write, I am too tired. I still have a lot to do to before I fly off to Russia. Most of my packing list has been taken care of, but now I am trying to get things ready for Theresa--important numbers, contacts, medical info, etc. Even though she is familiar with the girl's day to day routine, she wants to get all important contact information-- for doctors, etc. I am trying to compile all of this in one spot. Little A has a HUGE list of doctors and specialists! I guess I didn't realize just how many there were until I started compiling a list ( although most of them, are not routinely used).
I also am writing each girl a little card and note for each day that I am gone. The idea is that they will open a card on each day that I am away--I just want them to feel that I am still with them in a way. Big A has been telling me that she is "a little scared" about me leaving. I assure her that I will be fine and that I will come back sooner than she thinks. I hope that I can keep that promise. I have to admit, I am getting a bit scared myself--not about being in a foreign country, but about the flight over. I never have liked to fly... I don't think that I would be so afraid if I didn't have children. The thought of the pain and loneliness that they would feel if something happened to me, is terrible. I just want to be around for them. Let's hope I am.

The Birthday Bash!!!

It has taken me a few days to recover, but we made it through the party, and it seemed to be a success. I think the kids had a lot of fun.

My Mom came up Friday night. My brother and my 4 nephews came with her. I'm sure you can imagine the chaos-- SIX children running amok in my very small house! They had SO much fun -running around, throwing toys everywhere, screaming loudly, wrestling, breaking toys, etc... I had SO much stress watching my house be destroyed. We finally got all of the kids to bed about midnight. Then I was able to work on last minute party stuff. Actually, I got very little done on Friday night-- I stayed up until 2:30 am drawing and coloring the "Pin the Tail on the Poodle" game. It turned out pretty good-- I should take a picture of it and post it someday....

Saturday morning was full of stress. I had to go order the balloons, order the pizza, make the hats, fill the pinata, make the favor bags, buys the chips, salsa, ice cream, and ice, etc... All while trying to keep some order in my house full of children. My Mom and Brother helped me make the hats and fill the favor bags. The store was PACKED because, of course , it was snowing! I had to leave my poor Mom at the Recreation Center to finish decorating with "E's" Parents while I picked up the pizzas and the kids. We ended up being late for our own party! Talk about stress. But I think Big A had a great time at her party. There was a great turnout (despite the terrible weather). Both Big A and "E" seemed to have fun. No major meltdowns or injuries occurred.

I swore to myself that I would never have another party , but I am sure that next year I will put myself through the same stress again. Big A really loves "to party!" Below are some pictures of the Birthday Bash.

The Poodle Party Princess

In The Poodle Skirt That Nana Made

Batman Boys!!!

Pink Poodle Girls!!!

The Littlest Poodle Girl

Loving Her Pizza!

Birthday Boy!!!

Birthday Girl!!!

Limbo Time!!!

How Low Can They Go?!?

Pink Poodle In Paris Cake

(for the girls)

Spider Man Cake

(for the boys)

After Blowing Out The Candles

A Proud Birthday Girl!

The Girls Stuffing Their Faces

With Cake And Ice Cream

The Boys Did The Same!

After the party, the cousins all went back to my house and spent rest of the afternoon destroying the house some more! They all had a great time! The girls were very sad to see them leave, so was I... despite my exhaustion and stress, I think the party was a success.

Two Sisters Playing Dress Up!!!

Big A Got These Costumes For Her Birthday!!

Both Girls Love Them

Lists

I have so much to do in the next week that I am not sure that I can keep it all straight. May be I will try to make a list. My first priority should be the birthday party that will occur this weekend. The party will be a combined birthday party for Big A and "E" ( one of Big A's friends from school). Because they both had Birthdays over the Christmas Holidays, "E"'s Mom and I decided to have a party for both of them-- that way all their friends form school could come to one big party instead of having two back to back. Hopefully, that will ensure a bigger turnout, and, also, it will save us Parents some money! It should be a win-win situation. But, of course, I have been slack and have not even begun to get my half of the decorations ( well that's not entirely true- I did order the plates and the pinata). Big A has chosen a Pink Poodle Theme for her half of the party, and "E" has chosen a Batman Theme for his half of the party. So here is my list of things I need to do to get ready for the party (not necessarily in order):

• Order the cake
• Make a "Pin the Tail on the Poodle" Poster
• Buy Pink Table Cloth
• Buy Streamers--pink/ turquoise
• Buy Balloons--pink/turquoise/silver or white (Big A's colors)Blue, Red, Silver&/or Yellow ('E"'s colors--I have to check the Batman Plates to see what colors will work)
• Clean my house (not for the party, but because my Mom will be coming to town)
• Get out the Cooler
• Buy Ice Cream?
• Buy Chips, Dips, Etc.?
• Try to help think of party games
• Make gift bags
• Try to remember what I am forgetting :)

I also need to do MANY things to get ready for the trip to Russia... and I suppose that I should find some time to work as well. I need to :

• Confirm my Itinerary/Tickets
• Update my Will
• Medical POA for the girls, while I am gone
• Buy a "Real Coat" (the high in Sakhalin the other day was 16F)
• Buy some "Real Boots", more wool socks
• Go Over my packing list, to make sure nothing is left off
• Make copies of my passport, health insurance card, licence, adoption papers, etc. (in case I lose the originals)
• Call about vaccines (probably too late), but at least I should get a Flu shot
• Try to learn Russian in one week! :)
• Make sure all Bills are paid
• Make sure food is in the house, diapers, etc.
• Buy small gifts for people helping me in Russia
• Buy some books to take on plane ride
• Try to find out about cell service in Russia
• Make appointment with International Adoption Medical Specialist-- so I can send "D"'s latest medical info to her to review while I am in Russia
• Etc, Etc

I need to stop now-- my brain can no longer think about it all... I will continue this list later.

The Two Newest Members Of The Family....

It is late, and I should really be in bed. I drank too much coffee this evening. I will be very sorry in the morning when I have to get the girls up for school. I know that it is only 11:30 pm, but I usually fall asleep much earlier than this. But, lately my mind is too full to let me sleep. I ave SOOO much to do to get ready for this trip, not to mention Big A's birthday party next weekend.

Big A made a great discovery today! The "Sea Monkeys" that she got for Christmas had babies! The eggs that came in the pack initially hatched into many sea monkeys, but day by day the numbers dwindled until only 3 remained. These 3 have been growing very rapidly-- they are about 1 cm long now!! The other day, I noticed that 2 of them appeared to be fighting-- now I think that they might actually have been mating, because Big A noticed 2 tiny baby sea monkeys swimming around tonight. They are so small--mere specks swimming around in there. I hope the big ones don't eat them. I don't know if Brine Shrimp eat each other, but all the others disappeared rapidly and the remaining 3 grew very rapidly! I wish the little guys luck. I never had Sea Monkeys as a kid, but they are actually petty neat to watch. They swim around and do little flips all day long--- and they really look pretty cool too. I tried to take some pictures, but you just can't see the details well.

The Biggest Sea Monkey

A Sea Monkey Eating At The Top Right Of The Tank

More Sea Monkeys

Just thought you might like to know about the new additions to our family! :)

Bye Now!!!

The Black Cloud... And The Sun Peaking Through...

I have been too stressed and too tired to post for several days now. This past week has been one of the most stressful weeks I have had. It felt like a black cloud was following me!! It was bad enough that the first week of January my car was broken into and the thieves got into my bank account, but the second week of January just kept getting worse! Thursday morning started off fine-- I took the girls to school and then headed to an early morning house call. It had been raining all night, so the roads were pretty wet. Traffic was also pretty bad, but I was not running late, for once. Then when I was almost to the client's house, the black cloud came back... I was behind a garbage truck. Of course, the truck made a sudden stop, so I put on the brakes. Instead of stopping, my van skidded right into the back of the truck!!! I couldn't believe it! I just got my van out of the shop a month ago (damage to the rear because someone hit me), now I had hit someone!! And the damage was pretty bad-- my van was undrivable--the radiator was pushed back into the engine. I felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown at that moment! All I could think was how 2008 has started out as one of the worst years of my life-- and I was only 10 days into it!!!

So, of course, I called my client to tell her that I would not be able to make it to her house that day, and I waited for the police. He wrote me a ticket and asked if I needed a tow. I said no, I had called AAA to come. My insurance Co. told me to tow the van to my house, and they would pick it up later. That worked out best best because I had to unload all my equipment. To top it off, my forerunner will not start because the alternator is bad ( at least I think that is the problem), so I had to get a rental car-- a very small rental car.

While I was waiting for the rental company to come pick me up to get my rental car, I realized that I was missing my fingerprint appointment!! The CIS is impossible to call, because they only have an automated system, so I could not explain to anyone why I was not there. I had to send back the request to reschedule form by mail-- I hope that I get rescheduled quickly. Below are some pictures of my poor van!

Then, on the same day, I actually got some GREAT NEWS!!! I called my adoption agency to see if they had any suggestions about rescheduling the appointment-- they didn't. My adoption coordinator asked how my day was going? I said terrible and the proceeded to recount all of the events of the last two weeks. She just sort of chuckled and said that she had some news that may indicate that my luck has changed. She said that I had finally received an invitation to travel to Russia!! I will be leaving the US on Jan. 29th and returning on Feb 8th. Theresa will come back from Miami to watch the girls and the animals. Now I will spend the next two weeks trying to get things together to travel on my first trip to meet "D". I really still don't think that this news has fully sunk in yet! I am so excited and scared at the same time. But mostly I am happy that I am finally taking a step towards completing this adoption. Unfortunately, I will probably not get to bring "D" home until the end of April or beginning of May. But At least I get to meet him and he will finally know that he will soon have a family!!!!

Big A's Birthday

Big A had a good birthday yesterday. She woke me up early--very excited about being 5 years old! She wanted to open her presents first thing in the morning, but I talked her into waiting until the afternoon--we decided to have a little party, just the 3 of us. We will be having a big birthday party with all her friends on the 19th.

The birthday girl got to pick what we had for dinner--she chose "make your own burrito night ". Her idea was to place all of the ingredients for burritos on the table, then each of us would pick the ingredients we wanted. So that is what we did-- each girl actually got to build their own burrito. Big A was very precise with the order and placement of her ingredients. Little A just wanted lots of cheese. I expected a big mess-- especially from Little A, but they actually both did a very good job spooning out the food. Little A did need a little help folding her tortilla... We all agreed that this was a great birthday meal!

"Build Your Own Burrito Night"

After dinner, we had cake. Little A actually picked out her Sister's cake. She made sure that I got Chocolate--"not yellow." The cake was very tasty! The girls rushed through it because they wanted to get to work opening presents!

Big A's Cake

Yum!!!

After cake, Big A got busy opening her presents-- she got lots of loot--earrings, clothes, a puzzle, some "Only Hearts Club" dolls, Barbie island princess and Price Charming (from Theresa), and, of course, a pink poodle... She made out pretty darn good. Of course every time Big A opened a present, Little A emphatically stated "Dat A'yade's". Big A just humored her and said that she would share the gift with her. I think Big A was pretty happy with her "Family Birthday Party"

My Baby's Birth And My Identity Crisis

Five years ago today I became a Mother. At this exact time five years ago (8:20 am) Big A was 1hour, 17 minutes old. At that point, I think the nurse was still giving her her first bath. I will never forget the wonder and love that I felt as I first held my new daughter. I cannot believe that it has been five years... Time has passed so quickly...

The last few days have been stressful, to say the least. Saturday afternoon, one of my neighbors knocked on my door to tell me that she had seen some of my "mail" in the storm drain across the street from my house. When I went over and looked into the sewer, I found that it was not in fact mail, but it was a bag filled with all my tax documents, old bank statements, etc.! Someone had broken into my car and taken the bag out! Why, you may ask, was a bag filled with all of these important papers in my car? Because I am an idiot, and I forgot to take it out. And you may also ask, how did someone get into my car to take the bag in the first place. Again, the answer is because I am an idiot, and I accidentally left one of the doors unlocked! So... it is my own fault that my identity has been stolen. I say this because the criminals took my tax returns (dating 2003-2005)-- of course these returns contained my social security number and my tax identification number. The thief also got my bank account numbers-- I know this because he/she has already purchased items using business account!! This morning I will probably be spending several hours making phone calls to banks and credit agencies trying to fix this problem... and it is all my fault!!! Not a good way to start the New Year!

Raising Two Princesses...

Life with two sisters is quite an experience. I never thought that I would be surrounded by so much pink and frill! I think I got the little girls that my mom always wanted-- they love frilly hair bows, to have their nails painted, to dress in pretty dresses, etc... Especially Big A--she can be such a girly girl at times. Big A is so much like me in some ways yet SO different in others-- when I was a kid, my Mom struggled to get me into a dress... I would much rather ride my bike and climb a tree than play with baby dolls and style my dolls' hair. My idea of styling my Barbie's hair was to cut it off to the scalp! I never in my life said "I want to be a cheerleader!"

When I first started trying to get pregnant, I visualized myself having a little boy. I have to admit that when I had that 20 week ultrasound, and the doctor said "it is a girl!", I was a bit panicked. I had never really considered raising a girl. I felt totally unprepared--I am sure that sound strange coming from a woman! Now, almost 5 years later, I am so glad that I have two beautiful little girls!! I don't know what I would do without them!

As the prospect of adopting a little boy becomes more of a reality (my agency received re accreditation, and I should be traveling to Russia for the first trip soon), I find myself wondering if I will be able to properly parent a little boy. Will he be happy surrounded by a house full of girls? Will he resent not having a father? I hope not. My hope that he will be happy in our family... I think he will. Besides, he will have plenty of male cousins to play with!

Two Princesses!!!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!! I actually stayed awake until midnight last night--not because I was excited to watch the ball drop, but because my sinuses were preventing me from getting any sleep. I was trying to remember the last time I went out for New Years Eve... I think the last time I actually went to a New Year Party was New Year 2001! (And, as I recall, I had a very good time at that party!) Oh my gosh, I have got to get a life! I really never was much for New Years Celebration though. I just don't seem to have the time or energy to socialize much anymore. Theresa said she was going to go out in Miami last night-- I'm interested to hear her adventures...

Little A just ran in from the playroom--Big A is picking on her. Those two have really been fighting a lot lately. They argue over toys constantly now. It has REALLY been getting on my nerves. I think part of the problem is boredom. Big A has been out of school for over a week now and still has a week to go... She is about to bounce off of the walls. I need to get these guys out of the house today-- maybe we will go for a walk. (Too bad it is extremely cold and windy in Atlanta today. )

I hope I can actually post this blog. For the last few days I have had no phone service and very intermittent dsl service. I am pissed--Yesterday I waited around the house all afternoon for Bellsouth (or whatever they call themselves these days), and they never showed up to fix the line. What is the point of scheduling a repair, if they don't bother to show up! Now I have to wait until Wednesday for them to come out-- and they better show up this time! I think I may switch phone companies soon. I have had entirely too much trouble with this one.