Gotcha Day (Night) !

Our Gotcha day started out a little slow. We resorted to watching the first episode of Knots Landing! Very thrilling in case anyone missed it from 1979. Was fun to see though...

We had to wait until Thursday afternoon for Arina to pick us up. She was helping another couple from Alabama on their 2nd trip as well. We left at 2 pm; had our court decree notorized, then had to go to the Dept of Vital Records to have Jon sign Nick's adoption decree and new birth certificate that has Jon and I as his parents. On our way out of Vlad, on our way to pick up Nick, Arina received another call about the Alabama couple's court and a snafu in their paperwork. As a result, we sat in the car for 2.5 hours while they tried to get everything ready for their court hearing Friday at 9:30 am. We sympathized and couldn't imagine them traveling all this way not to have court. (As it turns out, their court went fine and their little guy is adorable.) Finally, we stopped at a grocery store to get a cake for the caregivers and get pull ups for Nick. It was 7pm by the time we hit the baby's home. The doors were locked and no one was in sight. We were a little nervous that we wouldn't get Nick after all. But, Arina worked her magic, as she has several times throughout this trip and let us in through a side door. The Doctor was waiting for us. He prescribed Nick some antibiotic and cough medicine to make him "healthy" for our trip home (Nick has a cold)... so we got that all settled, and in walked Nick with his outfit (shorts, long johns, 3 shirts, and sandals) and came right to Jon. He also the items that we left him on the first trip.... his pic album of the family, a disposable camera that we hope have some shots of his "groupa" and the bear that Natalie had given him. The bear is now affectionately known as "Mishka" (Russian for bear). His caretaker then redressed him in the outfit that we brought along and she started to cry, which in turn made me cry as well. We can certainly see the love that this baby home has provided to Nick over the first 2 1/2 years of his life. We finally said our good bye (paca), left our gifts the baby home and headed back for the hotel.

On the way, we had to stop to pick up Nick's antibiotics. He also had not been fed lunch because the children here are known to get ill on the car ride back to the hotel. They have never been in cars, or any type of "machina" and the uneven roads here are very torn up with pot holes (we thought Illinois was bad, not even close!). To top it off, Nick has never been outdoors at night, so was a little afraid of that as well. He held onto Jon in the car, with a death grip, but all in all, had a great trip back to the hotel.

We arrived around 8:30 pm, played catch, fed him (lots!), read, etc (thus no blog last night) and he laid down in his crib at 10pm. Not a peep. We're lucky. He slept until 7am this morning....was awake a couple of times with a cough but nothing too big.

Today was a great day getting to know one another. As all parents say, their children are intelligent, and Nick is no exception. Although he doesn't speak much (cleft pallet -- which isn't noticable), he understands very well and is cognizant of everything around him. He is very independent and does everything on his own time (hmmm...remind you of anyone) . He eats very well -- on his own, is already potty trained (yea!), dresses himself, knows kleenex and blows his own nose and carries arounds his toys like he's never gonna let them go! :) We've played -- all day -- watched a couple of Baby Einstein videos, and he's now ready to go play with some of the other kids that are here. It's busy here. Which is great :) .

Jon had a busy afternoon. He went to get the visa and passport pics developed of Nick, then notarized, then to the passport office to apply for Nick's passport, then to get those docs apostilled, then to Vital Records Dept again, then to the notary, then to the Ministry of Education, then to Aeroflot to change the flight to Moscow for next week (they were closed so he's going back tomorrow) and then to the grocery store. Needless to say, he's enjoying a Bud "Heavy" as I write this.

It has been an excellent week for us and we continue to thank God that Nick has joined us. We thank all of you as well for your thoughts & prayers. We wouldn't be here without all of you making us stronger. We cannot wait to get home to see Natalie and have Nick meet all of our wonderful family and friends.

Our Gotcha evening - with his caretaker

Nick shoveling - literally - bananas in for dinner
Watching out our hotel window for his "meow-meows" - all the wild cats live behind the building.

Hugs and love,

Beck, Jon and Nick