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What a difference a Year Makes

At this time last year we were getting ready to fly from Moscow to Kiev for a connecting flight to JFK after seeing our daughter for the 1st time. We ended up being stuck in the Kiev airport for 24 hours only to get home on a different airline on the 26th rather than Christmas evening. We arrived home about 30 hours later than expected.

This year Katerina is sleeping and we are anxious to see her reaction tomorrow morning when she sees that santa has come :) What a difference a year makes.

We are quite excited about this Christmas even though we know she is still a bit young. We think :) Santa has brought a piano, a drum, books, puzzles, clothes and other toys. She has expressed interest in all of the toys and instruments previously at other houses so we hope she likes them when they are hers too. That is if Santa brought these gifts :).

Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate it. And Happy New Year to all.

Random Encounter at the Mall

Kelly and I were walking through the Holyoke Mall with Katerina the other day and happened to stop to take care of something on Katerina. So not remember what. Katerina was looking at a little boy in a front pack being carried by his mom.

Katerina says "hi" to the mom. She says hi to everyone. And we strike up a conversation with the mom. It was apparent from early on that her little boy was adopted. So I finally say something to the effect of, "This may be inappropriate but where is your son from?" The adorable little guy was from Ethiopia. So we and the mom had a ten minute conversation while Katerina touched his hand a few times. He is 11 months old and his hand is already the size of Katerina's.

In the end we exchanged emails and will try to get together come the spring when it thaws out with other adoption families that the mom has met along the way from this area.

A weird but cool meeting of people with something in common.

Thoughts

Tonight after we lost electricity I had to walk into Kat's room to reset the monitor which does not turn back on when the electricity comes back on. While I did this as quietly as possible so as not to wake Katerina, I looked down at her sleeping in her crib. She was all scrunched up in one side so small and cute.

I think Kelly and I would have been happy in our own little world with our nieces and nephews had we not adopted or had a child. But having Kat in our world for the past eight months certainly makes me think that I could never have imagined how happy she makes us feel. How just looking at her in her crib makes me smile. I would never, in a million years (or however many years I would have lived probably a few less than a million), thought she could make this much of a difference. Makes me, and I am sure Kelly, feel this good and happy.

Just felt like putting this out there. As I am sure most of you feel the same about your little princesses and princes, it is amazing how these little ones can make us feel as parents, adopted or not.

This is a test to see if video works - Kat on Swing

Kat on swing at Santa Land in Vermont.

Kat's cats

Because I was uploading pictures, I figured I would post one of each of Katerina's cats.

The first two are Sophie under the tree and her mommy Lilly. They are about 2 and 4 years old.

These two are her Maine Coons. Orion on the left, is the only boy and the youngest at about 1 1/2 years old. Luci on the right is Kat's biggest cat at about 19 pounds. She is about 3 and 1/2.

And then there is the Queen B., Beezer. Our oldest kitty.

Thanksgiving & Pictures of Katerina

Today was a nice day. We spent a little time with family then came home for a nice turkey dinner. Katerina as is her norm, ate some turkey and potatoes, but loved the corn and Kelly's new carrot recipe.

Her napping was messed up today so she was in bed early this evening. Hopefully she sleeps through the night. I think her teething has caused her to wake up the past two nights. If not her teething than something else. But last night was a tough one. She was up from about 2 - 3 am. Luckily Kelly had to round but at her leisure so I was able to sleep a little later than normal (7:30 am).

Now on to some pictures because I havebeen getting a little grief for not posting more photos.

Here I am with Kat in front of our xmas tree.

Here's Kelly with Katerina at Santa's Land in Putney Vermont. She loved it!!

Happy Thanksgiving

It is hard to believe that this time last year we had just received our referral for Katerina. We would find out just after Thanksgiving that we would be traveling the week before Christmas, returning home on Christmas day (Worst travel story ever for us - we got stuck in the Ukraine and did not return home until the 26th but that is a different story).

It made both Thanksgiving and Christmas last year a little less important than normal; almost lost holidays for us. Now this Thanksgiving we get to have our first together as a full family. We have a lot to be thankful for, but without comparison our beautiful little girl is a top that list. Katerina has made all holidays seem a little more grand and important since she came home in March.

So I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to family and friends and especially those who followed our travels and have given us input both on parenting and the adoption process. Without all of you this little family would not be in the position it is in today.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE.

Welcome Home Polina

Katerina, Kelly and I welcome home Maggie, Randy and their beautiful little girl Polina.

I remember how relaxed we were to land at JFK with Katerina and that was after being in Moscow for a total of six days. It was supposed to be seven but we were delayed leaving due to a vicious wind and rain storm in NY. I can only imagine how good they must feel about stepping foot at the airport and then their home after being away for nearly a month.

Best wishes guys!

Living Room Rearranging

So we finally broke down and moved the living room around. Katerina was climbing up from the end table and sofa on to the picture window mantle. And every time she would hit her head on the large window (about 4 x 4), I just had visions of it shattering. I kept picking her up and putting her on the couch and saying "no" but it was getting nowhere with her. She thought it was a game and would laugh. It was cute but we feared the worst so we rearranged the living room. Now the worst case is she falls on her head from a couple of feet up rather than through a large window.

Well it seems better in my head anyway.

Another positive is now our christmas tree will look very pretty from outside in front of the large window.

Santa's Land

We took Katerina to Santa's Land in Putney, Vermont today. It started as a chilly day in southern Vermont and ended around noon time as a beautiful day.

Katerina warmed up a bit to Santa Claus although I was holding her the entire time. She loved the big slide that we went down with her. The video of it is so cute because she is smiling all the way down the slide. For those who know the Big E in Western Mass it is a smaller version of the big slide at the Big E.

The llamas scared her but she loved the goats and reindeers. All in all, she had a very good time and was cute throughout the day. This is nothing new because she is always cute to us.

Tid Bits from the week

* Katerina received four shots this week including her first of two flu shots. After her first vaccination run, she ran a very high fever so we expected the worst after the last one and this one. Nothing at all. I hate watching her get shots and cry but obviously it's for her best. She also got a xylophone as her toy for this set of shots.

* I get a bit disappointed when people do not say "hi" back to Katerina at the mall or when we are out. She is a very outgoing little girl. She says "hi" to just about anyone. When people do not hear that is one thing. But when they do and ignore it, I feel kind of sad for Katerina.

* We got to play outside today as the weather was so nice. Into the 60s which was needed for me. I had been a bit ill this past week so I needed the fresh air. Katerina loved going for a ride in her wagon and playing on the slide.

* We are preparing for Christmas which will be very big. While Katerina will only be 22 months old, and next year's will probably be cooler for her, but her first with us will be big nonetheless. Lots of books, puzzles, toys, etc. Our little girl will be spoiled for at least a little while (probably much longer than that by her dad).

* This would make a few of my friends happy from my past job at the American Hockey League. While watching the Bruins lose in a shoot out to the Blues, Kelly decided she would be okay with Katerina playing Hockey. I shudder at living the hockey parent life style. Maybe we will stick to soccer ha ha!

Randy & Maggie have a great day tomorrow - Katerina has a tough day ahead tomorrow

Congrats to our friends Randy, Maggie and little P who will finally be together tomorrow and on their last step in Russia before coming home a brand new family!!! A very good day indeed. From my blog I notice the weather even looks decent in Moscow right now. Even a bit warmer than in New England. Good luck and I hope you guys are able to take in some sights while you are there.

Katerina, on the other hand, had a tough day tomorrow. She gets the last of her immunizations for awhile and also gets a flu shot. She has a cold right now as does Dad thanks to her. So I guess as good a time as any for her to get these shots. That being said, her cold which entails stuffy and runny nose has not effected her otherwise. Still acting the same as she always does. I wish I could the same for me. I catch her cold and it hits me much harder than her: lucky little girl.

Halloween Night

The night was fun as well. Katerina got to go trick or treating with her cousins, Gaby and Bella, and Auntie Ellen. It was a cold and damp evening to begin with. The weather got worse. Gaby and Bella were very good to wait to go to houses with me and Katerina. It made me feel like less of fool for bringing a 20 month old to trick or treat. Especially considering Gabby and Bella's friends were with us and much quicker than we were.

We called it a night after a 10-15 houses because Kat was getting tired. We were about to take a trail away from the house we started at and it was getting late so we went back to the car. Kat's cousins kept going. Good thing we left as it started raining and almost snowing (a very wet snow on the windshield) 10 minutes after we got to the car.

All in all, Katerina had fun. She got more friendly with the home owners as we went along. At first she was a bit shy but by midway she has her usual charming cute self. I have some pictures below which are not great but you will see how cute she was in her monkey costume.

Kelly and Kat in the morning brunch get together. Craig and Kat in the evening. And below is Craig Kat and her cousins Gaby and Bella.

Halloween - Morning

Halloween was a big day for Katerina.

First up was a brunch at a colleague's of Kelly. There were about 7 or 8 children present and all of them were within 6 months of Katerina's age. Most of them just a couple of months older. She had a blast. She also got to play with the toys in the house which were different from those in our house. She looks like a natural playing a piano.

One of the little boys kept coming up to her and hugging her. It was so cute! On the downside, one little boy kicked her in the stomach a couple of times. It was not hard at all and barely touched her but tough to see nonetheless. I was with his father at the time who reprimanded him, although what do you really tell a 2 year old other than no/bad. As we discussed it, it is a learn as you go thing for both of us.

Thank you to Angela and Jose who had us over to their house and had a great spread of brunch foods.

Our little girl has a cold

For the first time since we brought Katerina home, she is getting a cold. Late this afternoon, her nose started running and her eyes watering. This is a first for us. I am not looking forward to tomorrow but I have to get used to Katerina having colds. I think seven months is a good run for her not getting sick.

Tough news today

We had a meeting with an orthopedic specializing in feet today and received some tough news. What we hoped might be a relatively straight forward surgery to remove an extra toe, turned out to not be straight forward. After discussing it, we have determined that it is best to just leave it as is for the time being. Until the extra toe starts to cause Katerina pain or major discomfort, we are going to do nothing. Unfortunately, the surgery would have entailed plastic surgery as well as a more intrusive procedure than first hoped and thought.

It is not the end of the world of course, not even close. We just hoped for Katerina's sake she would not have to deal with any sort of teasing and mocking. At her current age we are not worried but in a few years it could be different. Time will tell if and when we are to have it removed. For now, we leave it as is.

Pictures of Katerina

One of Kelly's former office members told Kelly to get on me about putting more pictures since we have moved and she does not get to see Katerina nearly weekly like before our move. So here are a few more pics.

Thist one is Katerina at Kelly's birthday dinner. As you can tell she loved the cake. If you look a little bit closer you will note she loved the chicken parm and pasta too.

These two are her at home after her x-rays for her little procedure which will be coming soon. She has her tinkerbell sticker that she got for being a good patient on her chest.

Winning Hearts Everywhere

I will start with the obvious caveat: we are bias because Katerina is an angel in our eyes.

That being said, Katerina had x-rays taken at Kelly's hospital today for a nearing procedure. For 30 minutes we waited for a person to do our intake. Katerina in that 30 minute wait (you would think Kelly being a surgeon at the hospital would give us some pull) said "hi" and waved at just about every person to walk by. Smiling and giggling all the time except when she was drinking Kelly's juice.

Then we get into the x-ray waiting area and she continues to charm. I had to wait because there was only room for one of us in the x-ray room so Kelly took her. When they came out, I took Katerina to start towards the car. Kelly had a surgery to perform before coming home on her "off" day. When she got home, she said that everyone loved Katerina in the x-ray room. The techs were saying what a beautiful little girl she was and how friendly.

Every day, it becomes apparent, that this little girl is quite outgoing and loves saying "hi" to people. The good news is, even when she is saying her hellos, she will get shy every once in awhile and curl up in our arms. We love that. It also becomes more and more apparent that she is such a special little girl. We are lucky to be her parents.