The other side of the world... day 11... please excuse me while I whine a little...

Ok… lest you all think that everything here is sunshine and roses all of the time, I decided that today I’d let you know, I’m having a TOUGH day. It really has NOTHING to do with our process (I wish you could hear how our facilitator says that word, I just LOVE her!!), just me. I’ve been crying off and on for about 4 hours now… everytime I think of something else… UGH!!

Things at home are messed up, although, I think we got things taken care of for the most part, and lemme just tell you, that’s not easy from 6,000 miles away! I’m thinking I might have to buy my Mom a new car or a trip to the Bahamas though. Gulp!

I miss my kids. Oh man do I miss my kids. In the planning stages of our trip after the date was set, I kept reading other family’s blogs who would talk about how much they missed their kids, and I kept thinking, “Oh, they will be fine, they’ll be with Grandma” Nothing to worry about. Ummm… yeah… no matter how fine they are, or who is with them, it doesn’t help *me*. They miss me, and I miss them more than anything else right now. If you guys are reading this, you better be GOOD, and I LOVE YOU!!! I miss my Mom and the time we spend together, even if it’s just to run to the store or if she pops in in between her errands. And I hate that she is so angry with me right now.

I miss really silly things… doing my own laundry(we’re in a hotel so we have to give it to the staff to do which might sound great, but really, it’s not, especially because we have to pay for it). I miss cold drinks, and ice, and my own bed, and my daycare kids, and driving (with a seatbelt on, on ONE side of the road!), being able to just go do things if they need to be done… I miss the fresh air of home(there’s no such thing as a non-smoking room here, so we may as well be smokers ourselves because it smells like we are). I miss being able to communicate without looking reeeeeeally goofy trying to explain what I need with a really sad form of charades. I miss texting my friend to make sure she’s still alive if I haven’t heard from her in a day or so… haven’t heard from her in over 2 weeks now! And, yes, I miss TV. Ok, I said it. I miss being able to sit down in the evening and watch mind numbing crime shows or Survivor. LOL And before anyone suggests it, I’ve tried, and we can’t get it online either! Although we did find a site that has old reruns on, so we watch those but there’s only so much Fraiser a girl can handle. LOL

So, if you haven’t traveled yet and are following our blog, be sure to take things with you to combat those things that I mentioned above that might “get to you”. LOL

Today we found out our court date. Thank God our Interpol clearances are in, so that won’t be a hang up. Court will be on October 28, at 2 (or 2:30, not sure who is going first, the Bachman’s or us).

Now that I’ve whined and shared the news I guess there’s nothing left but to tell you about our visit, and show a few pics…

When we got there the kids were excited as usual. I think we met our first cranky nanny. hehe All of the kids came out in to the little coat room, and started getting dressed to go outside. We figured we’d take Timothy out too, we could go to a different area to play. When John got out his coat though, one of the ladies said no, he couldn’t go outside because his eye was a little goopy (I noticed that yesterday but it looked fine today) and he had been sneezing. LOL That’s where the charades get funny, but hey, I got the point. So, we headed up to the visiting area. We played with the toys, and looked out the window, and just sort of hung out. I took him for a walk up and down the hallways. Then I started playing with the blocks, and he decided that would be a good idea too. I’m not kidding you when I tell you that he played with those blocks for like 20 minutes trying to put this one and that one together. When it wouldn’t go, he would look at me with those big brown eyes, and hold it up so I would help him.

He doesn’t really talk yet. Not even in Russian/Ukrainian. He says a few words, but no sentences, or even phrases. He can say Mama, Papa, something that resembles “ball”, and a few other things. I’m using the sign for things like please, thank you, help, more, etc when we say them too. We know how to say the basics in Russian, and I also say it in English. He isn’t too interested in repeating them yet though. He really is on about a 2 y/o level, so he’s got a lot to learn in that area. No worries though, speech therapy will do wonders for him I can almost guarantee! He is so bright, and really does try a bit when I am repeating things as we play. If not, we’ll all learn to sign better. I know that he is “teachable” because he feeds himself, and walks, and is potty trained, and dresses himself. This is NOT a child who is not teachable. This is a child who hasn’t been taught.

Here are a couple of pics from today…


This is the hallway leading to our visiting area... we walk it a lot!

This is our visiting area, not easy to keep a very active 4 y/o entertained or confined to a space with no doors/walls! hehe

Concentration...

Just look at those eyes... he is so precious... he was chewing his lip though! LOL

Papa blowing bubbles


I can't believe you brought the camera AGAIN!!

His favorite toys hands down... Leap, the little cell phone (I got it at Walmart in the toy dept), and the traveling magna-doodle!!