IT'S OFFICIAL!!!

Some time around 10:30 local Moscow time this morning, Kelly and I became parents.

For Kelly's parents, this means they are grandparents for the first time. For my parents, it means they are grandparents again.

For my siblings and their spouses, you are aunts and uncles again!!!

And to my many nieces and nephews, you have a new cousin today!!!

I will post more on the process later but for now we are eating lunch and then heading out to get Katerina's picture for her passport and visa.

Big day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day. We have court in the morning and then get to see Katerina in the afternoon. I think we will even be bringing her out to get her passport picture taken in the afternoon. We are told that the hearing should last about 45-60 minutes. It starts at 9:30 so hopefully we will be finished by 10:30 so we can take care of the other necessary business.

Taking Katerina to get her passport picture will be strange. It will be the first time we have to take her anywhere. I am not sure what this will entail and who will be accompanying us, if anyone. But it will be a big step in the process of completing the adoption and taking her home next month.

Two visits

We got to see Katerina twice today.

The first visit was tougher than our visits in December, especially for me. For the first time, she seemed a bit frightened of me and cried at times. Especially when Kelly was sitting with her and I was standing in the room. We were also in a room just off of the sleeping quarters which meant Katerina could hear her care givers. She certainly looked their way a lot.

The second visit was better. She was still at times a little more suspect of me but had was much better and had no problem being held by me. I think she is going to be Mommy's little girl at least early on.

Now on to news about Katerina. She seems longer now. She is crawling although we did not see that. She even walks a little bit when someone holds her hands out in front of her. She certainly likes to stand. Each time we left she stood in the crib/play pen at the door and looked at us. with a little help from the care givers she even waived good bye.

Meeting Garrett for Dinner

Kelly and I are also meeting a friend we met on the nightmare of a return trip form the last visit for dinner this evening. We are looking forward to seeing Garrett on a regular sleep pattern. When we met him he had been holed up in a Ukranian airport for 2 days.

Two visits today

We get to have two visits today with Katerina. We are also much closer to the orphanage which means we can come back to the hotel after the first and have lunch and relax on this overcast but warm day in Moscow (high of about 34 today).

Sleep Patterns Continue

Another normal night for me in Moscow. We arrived at about 4 pm and I was sleeping 5 pm. Woke up to answer a phone call and then back to sleep until about 8. Here is where it continues the pattern from the last trip. Fell asleep at 1 am. I woke up at 4 am. Then went back to sleep at 7 until 10 am. The good news is that 9 hours of sleep is a good thing. The bad news is it would have been nice to sleep through the night which I did not do the last time we were here either.

Kelly on the other hand slept through the night for the most part.

We've Landed

We are in our hotel and about to nap before eating dinner. I got minimal sleep and Kelly got a decent amount of bad sleep so a nap will be a good thing for both of us. The flight was uneventful after the one hour delay in taking off.

Good news is we definitely get to see Kat twice tomorrow. Hopefully we will also get to see her Thursday afternoon but will not know that until we speak to our contacts here tomorrow.

Will post more after I have had the chance to sleep some.