Our first day back ...
We didn't really start the day off on a good foot ... we woke up at 9:40 a.m. and our ride was picking us up at 10 a.m. I guess in my tiredness last night I set my alarm wrong ... now I know I set it to wake me up at 8:30 a.m. EST instead of 8:30 a.m. Russian time. Nice work, eh? Apparently I had no problems sleeping my first night here like I did on our first trip, even though the time difference is eight hours.
Anyway, we made it to the baby home around 10:30 a.m. When we got there, we were told that Addison was having testing done. We later found out the people from PITT that are involved in the research study of Baby Home 13 are in town and they are doing their testing on the kids. I believe they come every three months and the purpose of the testing is to see if the changes that they have implemented (i.e. making the environment similar to that of a home) have made a difference in the development of the children. This has been going on for a few years now and I know they have seem improvement in the kids, which is why Addison's Baby Home is such a great place.
After about 10 minutes or so, they brought Addison to us. She was a little hesitant at first and was sort of shy all day ... we broke her out of her shell a few times, but pretty much she just wanted to cuddle and suck on her two fingers. She is taking a little longer to warm up to Kyle this time, which sort of leaves me wondering if she has had any encounters with men since we were here last. The kids in the baby home are not used to being around men since most of the staff are women, so I was anxious to see how she would respond to Kyle back on our first trip. Clearly, she had no problems that time and she warmed up to him as the day went on today.
She is progressing with her standing unassisted and her walking. She took about 10 independent steps to me today ... I don't think it will take her long once we get her home. The woman in the baby home who does massages said she was giving Addison extra massages trying to get her walking by the time we came back for her ... we thought that was so sweet. Her caregivers love her so much and I think some of them got emotional today when they were asking when we would be leaving with her. I anticipate that the day we take her from the baby home will be a very emotional day for all of us.
Luggage update ... our luggage is here in St. Pete ... it came in on the flight at 5:10 p.m. (Russian time) this evening. It is going to be delivered to some hotel at like midnight and then our translator will pick it up for us tomorrow morning before she picks us up.
So tomorrow at noon (4 a.m. EST) we have court. We have a good feeling about the whole thing, but please keep praying that our 10 day waiting period is waived! I'll update when I can ... I think we have some running around to do tomorrow after court ... until then ...
Anyway, we made it to the baby home around 10:30 a.m. When we got there, we were told that Addison was having testing done. We later found out the people from PITT that are involved in the research study of Baby Home 13 are in town and they are doing their testing on the kids. I believe they come every three months and the purpose of the testing is to see if the changes that they have implemented (i.e. making the environment similar to that of a home) have made a difference in the development of the children. This has been going on for a few years now and I know they have seem improvement in the kids, which is why Addison's Baby Home is such a great place.
After about 10 minutes or so, they brought Addison to us. She was a little hesitant at first and was sort of shy all day ... we broke her out of her shell a few times, but pretty much she just wanted to cuddle and suck on her two fingers. She is taking a little longer to warm up to Kyle this time, which sort of leaves me wondering if she has had any encounters with men since we were here last. The kids in the baby home are not used to being around men since most of the staff are women, so I was anxious to see how she would respond to Kyle back on our first trip. Clearly, she had no problems that time and she warmed up to him as the day went on today.
She is progressing with her standing unassisted and her walking. She took about 10 independent steps to me today ... I don't think it will take her long once we get her home. The woman in the baby home who does massages said she was giving Addison extra massages trying to get her walking by the time we came back for her ... we thought that was so sweet. Her caregivers love her so much and I think some of them got emotional today when they were asking when we would be leaving with her. I anticipate that the day we take her from the baby home will be a very emotional day for all of us.
Luggage update ... our luggage is here in St. Pete ... it came in on the flight at 5:10 p.m. (Russian time) this evening. It is going to be delivered to some hotel at like midnight and then our translator will pick it up for us tomorrow morning before she picks us up.
So tomorrow at noon (4 a.m. EST) we have court. We have a good feeling about the whole thing, but please keep praying that our 10 day waiting period is waived! I'll update when I can ... I think we have some running around to do tomorrow after court ... until then ...