Well today can be summed up with a couple of words. We have a Russian Passport and a US Visa. We took a quick picture of it before moving on to the next step just to prove it is done. A couple of pictures of Annabelle of course, but that is it for today.


Stay tuned . . . we are almost done.


The Cover of a Russian Passport


Annabelle's Visa . . . info blocked out for the blog

She is working on a little belly like her Daddy

She's got the look

The big news of the day is weather. I woke at 6:30, peaked out the window and it was wet, but did not appear to be raining. By 8:30, there was sunshine. I need to let you know that at 6:30AM it is fairly light out as the sun has been up for a while. For the golfers in the world days like today and most of the summer in Moscow are great. The sunrise is at 5:00AM and does not set until 10:00PM. That is only seven hours between sun down and sun up or 17 hours for golfing. It is 10:00PM as I type this and there is plenty of light for finishing the last couple of holes. OK, enough about how much golf one could play.

IT WAS SUNNY AND 65 TODAY!!

As planned we got our driver to pick us up and take us to Old Arabat, St. Basils and GUM. It was nice to get out and walk and see a few things. Annabelle was a champ as always. Taking in the sites and generally being a perfect little shopper as we went in and out of stores. We left at 1:00 and did not get back until 5:00 and she was great.

Tomorrow is a big day as we go to the US Embassy for our interview at which point we will get Annabelle’s Russian Passport back with a Permanent Resident US Visa in it. We will also get the secret sealed envelope that we are instructed not to open. We will simply hand it over to US Customs when we arrive in Atlanta. As the adoption process works and with paperwork already filled out, once we reach the United States, she will be a US citizen eligible to get a US Passport. Shortly after we are home a letter from President Bush congratulating Annabelle on her citizenship will arrive with her official certificate. We are looking forward to getting this step of the process completed.

So, we have a bunch of photos today. In addition to the usual cute Annabelle stuff, we have a few from around Moscow.

Tomorrow, Passport and Visa!

Annabelle being a ham for the camera.

Red Square

Aunt Lisa and Annabelle at St. Basil's Cathedral

Annabelle taking a little break

Annabelle's signal that it is nap time.

BLAH. That sums up the day here in Moscow. Annabelle is just great and I almost get tired of saying how good she is but she really is awesome. She is doing much better with the apartement all day long then we are.

Back at the beginning of May when we came for court, the weather was great. The temperatures were in the upper 60s and low 70s most of the time and even reached 80 degrees once. When we arrived we had the same good weather, but since Wednesday, it has rained every day. The first couple of days we were doing business so it was not a big deal, but the last three have been tough. Today it just rained all day and never reached 50degrees. The last three days it has been only 50 degrees and raining most of the time. That makes it really hard to go anywhere walking with a stroller.

Today I called our Alliance translator and driver and asked if we could get a ride tomorrow so we can try and get to a few places like Old Arabat, St. Basils and GUM. I think the weather will get better the rest of the week and we can get around on foot. We just need to get out tomorrow and do something.

So, we got a few pictures while in the apartment but it is limited. I included one of the family room that doubles as my bedroom with the sofa bed opened.

That is it for today.

Annabelle is not a thumb sucker, but uses two fingers when she is tired. It is the cutest thing!

This is where we spend most of our time. Lisa at our little computer table and our 10 inch TV with eight channles. Annabelle is playing in the center of the floor.

We had a movie on this evening and Annabelle was intrigued (for a minute) by the singing . . . guess what the movie/musical is?

Well, it was just an OK day with Annabelle . . . Just kidding! It was great!

Same old same old . . . slept well and even woke up bablling with no crying. Cuddled, ate well, napped well and was too perfect to describe. We keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The events of the day were a trip to Children’s World in the afternoon. The morning was mostly rain. It is a cool and damp 50 degrees but we were able to bundle her up and walk once the rain stopped. We got her a new set of PJs with feet for the cool nights here.

This evening we made the requisite American trip to the TGI Fridays on Trveskaya. Annabelle sat in her high chair and was great. Never cried or fussed. She ate a yogurt and played with a couple of toys while we ate our big greasy American cheeseburgers and fries. Annabelle seemed to be a little overwhelmed with the number of people, the loud music and the TV, but she hung in there and we all left in good spirits. Once back on her home turf she was all smiles and fun aswe played for a little while before going to bed.

One more day down. Tomorrow it suppose to be the coolest day yet, but I think we wil start to warm up after that. Weare thinking that on Memorial Day we will try and do some site seeing and get over to St. Basil's for some photos.

Speaking of photos, todays selection is below.

Annabelle actually interested in the camera


Our Happy little girl

Annabelle at TGI Friday's. A little dazed but doing fine.

Annabelle in her new PJs with her favorite toy . . . Lisa's len shade.

Another great day with Annabelle!

Same old story of a good girl. She slept through the night and got up around 8:00 and snuggled with me for a little while. She ate a nice big breakfast of cream of wheat and baby food with apple juice. She took a great nap at 10:45 – 12:30. More food. We then decided to head out as there was a little break in the rain. We only have to go one block to get to the underground mall over by Red Square. It is accessible from the underground walk way at the bottom of Trevskaya. Nice three level mall with 60-75 stores. Mostly adult clothing. Addidas, Reebok, Puma and Nike all had stores there. Of course there were at least 8-10 women’s lingerie or bathing suits stores. Nevertheless, we enjoyed walking around and Annabelle did great in the stroller. We bundled her up for the 5 minute walk outside for fear of the babushkas yelling at us.

Annabelle had a little yogurt snack and took a little nap. We made dinner and were eating around 6:30 with Annabelle when we realized that she was a little constipated. There were the obvious signs of a little girl struggling. She worked things out, but we are now realizing that the Baby Homes schedule and list of what she ate was probably not so accurate. I am guessing that the oatmeal and cream of wheat is the first real solid food she has had. Nevertheless, I needed to walk to the grocery store for milk so I got a little bottle of prune juice just to make sure things stay normal. I added a little to the cottage cheese snack, and she spit it out. Come to find out, she does not like cottage cheese. Another one of the items on her schedule from the baby home. Just another tip for the adoptive families, be prepared for everything and don’t believe the children eat everything that the baby home says.

We gave Annabelle another bath and she did a little better, but it was not good. She cried the whole time but at least there was not fighting to get out of the water. It only lasted 2-3 minutes and she was rewarded with a snack before bed.

Some good photos today, but that is not hard with Annabelle.

That is it for today . . . hoping to get to Children’s World tomorrow . . . weather permitting.

Annabelle in her stroller all bundled up

Annabelle has found herself in the mirror

She cannot hel but be cute

After her bath with her curls coming in

Another great day with Annabelle

Are you tired of seeing the same headline . . . .? Another great day with Annabelle.

She went to bed and slept like a champ and did not wake up until 7:30 this morning. I picked her up and she slept on my chest for another 30 minutes. We got up and her appetite was great and she ate cream of wheat and banana baby food with some apple juice to wash it down. We played all morning until she conked out around 10:45. She slept until 12:45 when we fed her lunch and got ready to go to get her passport. First we stopped by the MOE and signed the book and headed for the passport office. We were quick on both stops although it took nearly an hour to get to the passport office.

After the passport office we asked Yuri and Irene to take us to Real Market behind the passport office. We had made a good list of food to get us most of the way through the rest of our stay. I sat down with Irene to go over all of the Embassy paperwork and fill out several additional forms. Lisa took Annabelle and started shopping. We caught up to her in the toy section. We then got steaks, chicken, frozen pizza, some more pasta sauce, other supplies and a bunch of baby food jars. We calculated out what we need at three jars a day and potentially four or five for the plane ride home. We may have to go up to the Trveskaya Market for milk or bread, but otherwise we are set. The REAL market is a must stop for the Moscow people since you are there already and you can get a lot of stuff and not have to carry it far. They also have about anything else you may need.

The ride home was bad. It was traffic like you read about and fear. We sat in bumper to bumper traffic for 1:45 minutes. The last 15 minutes of the two hour trip we were able to get near the posted speed. Annabelle could not have been better. She slept for 30 minutes and just played with us and sat patiently.

One more step down as we continue the process. We cannot wait to get home.

Pictures below. Again, not a great day for pictures, but we got a few in the apartment.

Annabelle screams of joy!

Guess who wants the camera?

Checking out one of her new blocks we bought a REAL

Just being a cutie with her stacking cups

Playing with Daddy

Another great day here in Moscow with Annabelle.

Last night she went to bed like a pro. I rocked her a little bit, placed her in her crib, she looked up and I rubbed her back and then she drifted off to sleep. The best part is that she slept for 11 hours. From 9:30pm to 8:30am. Tyler has never slept eleven hours in his life. He is more like me with 6 or 7 hours seems to work just fine. He actually is more like 8-10 hours but never 11.

She got up and ate like there was no tomorrow. We brought four different Gerber foods with us, applesauce, pears, bananas and sweet potato. One of each has been completely eaten along with a generous helping of oatmeal and a bottle with some apple juice. This evening, we gave her 6 oz of milk and that was gone. She will be an easy child, for now, with foods. The worry of what to take on the plane home is over. Anything we have she will eat.

We went to the American Medical Center today for Annabelle’s physical. A requirement for all children entering the US as permanent citizens. Dr. Boris took us quickly and immediately said that we will have problems with the boys when she gets older. After a quick exam he announced her healthy and even stated that she must have been a favorite of the care takers as she seems pretty sturdy.

We also stopped and got Annabelle’s visa photo take and that was it for today. We could not get by the MOE so we will do that tomorrow either before or after picking up Annabelle’s passport.

We were in the rest of the day as it started to rain after Annabelle’s nap just when we were ready to head out for a walk to Gum. We will have time later this week. We did give Annabelle her first bath. IT did not go over real well. With her feet wet, she was OK, but once she sat down she screamed and cried and wanted out any way she could. We managed to rinse her down and wash her hair in less than three minutes and get her out. Right now Tyler does not have to worry about sharing the tub for any long period of time. I am sure she will get used to the water after a few more baths, but s wanted nothing to do with the tub today. A yogurt helped calm her down. See picture below.

Our Alliance team has been great this trip. Elena our translator for every day we have been in Moscow starting with Tyler’s trip one, had to turn us over to Irene today as her granddaughter is graduating from school and she was going to be busy the next couple of days with ceremonies and parties. We are hoping to perhaps see her again for a tour of the Kremlin over the weekend or on Monday.

Today at 11:00PM local time there is a soccer (football) game here as the Manchester United plays Chelsea in the Champions league final. We have heard fans on the street chanting . . . hopefully at 1:00AM when the game is over it won’t be loud.

All is on schedule for our departure. We cannot wait to get back to the good old USA. A couple of pictures of Annabelle today. Not many ops for photos, but we got a couple in the apartment.

Talk to you all tomorrow.

Playing with Aunt Lisa's lens cap.



Still learning to walk with Aunt Lisa's help.



Just taking a little break.



After her traumatic bath, a little yogurt helped sooth her. Note hair is still wet.

GOT'YA DAY

Tuesday May 20th turned out to be gotcha day. We thought we would get Annabelle yesterday, but scheduling and common sense prevailed and we waited until today.

We arrived at the baby home at about 1:30 and after handing over the gifts to the director and workers, we went upstairs to the holding sofa and waited for Annabelle. After they brought her out, we prepared to change her into our clothes. They all seemed a bit frightened that I would change her on the sofa, but it was that or the floor. Our translator said that the workers could change her in a room where I could not go and I politely said no that this was fine. Suddenly, the room was open and I used the changing table they have set up for all of the kids. One worker was certainly said to see Annabelle leaving and gave her a nice hug and kiss. The other worker was not so interested. We stopped by and signed a book for the doctor and headed out again stopping by the director’s office.

Once in the car, we headed for the passport office. Aside from driving about30-40 on some side streets out of Podolsk, we never seemed to get above 25 miles per hour. We arrived before our coordinator and went shopping at the REAL store behind the passport office. This is a great stop for all families. We are talking Super Wal-Mart. Everything and anything is there including great prices on diapers and other baby needs. Plenty of fruits, veggies etc.

We got the passport taken care of and headed home at 25 miles per hour and arrived at the apartment at 5:45. Long day but we had Annabelle so it was a god day. We tried some food for her. She ate Applesauce, oatmeal and drank nearly 8 oz of apple juice over the course of the evening. She was all babbles and giggles and enjoyed just sitting on the floor and playing. She quietly went to bed around 9:30-9:45 after a very busy evening.

We have three pictures of the many to share. One of her leaving the baby home, one just giggling and one in her PJs right before bedtime.

Tomorrow, we are headed to the American Medical Center, the MOE and to get a Visa Photo taken. Not too bad. Starting around 10:00 and should be back by 2:00 or 3:00.

We will continue to update and post more pictures. We are already counting the days until you all can meet her. She is a little princess who is just ready to blossom with a little love and attention.

That is it for today.

Operation - Get Annabelle is under way

Jeff and his sister Lisa arrived today in Moscow. They are fast asleep right now. It was a long trip across the pond and the two Delta flights arrived(New York and Atlanta) at the exact same time so they got stuck in customs for an hour. We orginial hoped that they would get Annabelle today however based on what needs to be done, it makes sense to pick her up tomorrow. I always tell people that you need to trust your agency and this was definitely the right decision. After getting the 100 pounds of luggage they went to the court house (next to the airport) to pick up the court decree. We are the official parents. They then went to the apartment which they say is very nice (pulford.com) and grocery store and shopping. They stay awake until 9:00 and crashed. Tomorrow will be their busiest day. Two different vital statics offices (by airport, closed on Mondays), one for the original birth certificate and another office for a new birth certificate (in Podolsk) with Jeff and I listed as the parents. Than they go get Annabelle (in Podolsk) and than the passport office (other side of town). The passport office is critical. It is only open on Tuesday and Thursday and takes two days to issue. They must get to the passport office with both birth cert and Annabelle by 4:00. All prayers needed for tomorrow that it goes well and just for fun there is a major soccer tournment in town that should add to the traffic. Hopefully tomorrow's post will be from Jeff, Lisa and Annabelle.

Well we are just three days away from trip three. Jeff will be traveling with his sister Lisa to get Annabelle. The flights are booked through Atlanta. We have an apartment but we did not go through Peace Travel this time but with Pulford. Leigh at Pulford has been very helpful and hopefully the apartment will be as good as Peace Travels. The Apartment is on Trveskaya #6 so it is down towards the Ritz Carlton at the Red Square end of Trveskaya.

We will start posting pictures of Annabelle on Monday. A little preview.

There is no place like home!
We are home and busy making plan for Trip 3 and final trip to Russia. Jeff and his sister Lisa will be going back to pick up Annabelle on Sunday, May 18. We had a wonderful homecoming with our son Tyler who was thrilled to see us. Thanks to our family and friends for watching him while we were gone. More detail to follow.

SUCCESS!!

We are parents again. We had court today and it was long. After two hours of a grueling court session where talked, the prosecutor asked questions; the social worker spoke, the prosecutor asked questions and then the judge asked questions; the judge then read aloud just about every page of our dossier. The judge asked if anyone had anything further to add and mercifully no one did. She left for 2-3 minutes and came back with a fully typed proclamation declaring us the parents of Annabelle Victoria. Indeed the courts of Moscow have ruled us fit parents again. This court session was much longer then expected and Jeff had to make a short speech. After about 90 minutes of the painful process, Maria requested an epidural but they said no we were to far along for drugs. After court, we reviewed our trip three schedule in detail for 90 more minutes and then spent another 90 minutes at a notary getting one document for power of attorney completed.

Fortunately, since it is Cinco de Mayo we are going out to celebrate. We started out a little rough this morning when we found out that the main road was going to be shut down at 8:00am for another tank/weapons rehearsal for Victory day (May 9) so our driver couldn’t get to the hotel. (Nice) We had to walk a couple of blocks but found him.

In the end, Annabelle will be ours and we are coming home tomorrow and Annabelle will be home with us on May 28th.

Court Trip Visit #3

This was our eighth and final visit to the Baby Home in Podolsk as the next time we come out we will be picking Annabelle up and bringing her home. The visit today was fine with little to report. We spent nearly two hours with Annabelle and we walked her a lot with holding tight to our fingers. We played on some of the swings or rocking horses outside and just sat and held her for a while. In all the visits with her, we were never able to put her on the ground and see her move around on her own. By the end of the visit today, she was tired and falling asleep in Maria’s arms.

We did get her daily schedule which was helpful in terms of her napping and eating times. Obviously, this will help the week we are here getting paperwork done.

We have court tomorrow and we are as prepared as we can be. We have gone over our homestudy and prepared a short statement in case we are asked to make one. We go at 11:00am and it should be done by noon. We need to stop at a notary and get some paperwork done afterwards and then we come back to the hotel and pack. Being it is Sinco de Mayo we will go to the Mexican restaurant down the street for a Magarita and toast our success in court. Apparently, there is another dress rehearsal for the Victory Day parade Monday Night so all of the 100+ military vehicles will be rumbling down Tverskaya again. We will get some pictures of this and finish packing.

We are going to meet Emily and David again for dinner. They took us out ot Victory Park and if you want to see pictures of the park or the rest of Moscow, their blog is highly recommended. http://lovedilworth.com/Default.aspx Tomorrow is also a big day for them as they will make the final trip to Podolsk to pick up their son Zack and start the process of bringing him home. Annabelle will lose a room mate, but they will meet again in the United States.

That is it for today. We will post tomorrow after court.

Jeff and Maria

Court Trip Visit #2

Another great day. The weather is beautiful with temps in the 60s and all sun.

Annabelle seemed to be more persanable and warming up to us today. She made some noises that we beleive sounded like "pa pa". We were able to go outside for most of the time. She is not yet walking but will be very soon as she loves to hold our fingers and walk around the grounds.

Heading to Arabat and meeting the Dilworths for dinner again this evening. More to follow later.

Maria and Jeff

VISIT #1 BEFORE COURT

We went to visit Annabelle today and it was a great visit. She looks the same and was dressed in a cute little blue outfit with tights. We got to play with her for a while on the green sofa. After a little while, Elena asked if we could take Annabelle outside for some fresh air. We could and the workers quickly dressed her is hat and coat and sent us on our way. We could not do much but it was sure nice to be walking around rather then sitting in the hallway. It is cloudy but 60 -65 degrees.

When we went back in and they were ready to take Annabelle, we were asked if we wanted to see the play room and bedroom for Annabelle. We jumped. We got to see a nice little play area and then her bedroom. The bedroom was a small room with 16 identical cribs. Her crib is crib number 4 so we got a picture of her in it. He group size is only seven children, six boys and her. We took several minutes of video and tried to capture the whole thing. We are going again tomorrow and Sunday.

Later this evening we are meeting another couple for dinner. It is nice being able to talk with others in the same process. We think they are also adopting from Podolsk and that there son is one of the six boys with Annabelle’s group . . . we will confirm tonight.

That is it for today.

Maria and Jeff

Journey to Annabelle

Well, Tuesday night we started packing at 10:00PM for our flight that was leaving in less than twenty-four hours. We strongly discourage this approach to other adoptive parents, but like so many others, with Tyler at home and both of us working, it seemed like we never had a time to pack. We finally were done packing at 1:15AM and the sound of the lights going out must have awoken Tyler. We were all up by 7:00am and getting Tyler ready for school (day care). We dropped him off at 8:45 said our goodbyes and finished packing by 9:30. He is such a great son, always happy although we both wish he would eat more. We will truly miss him this week but know that he is in great hands. We were on the road by 9:50 and got coffee and a bagel and headed for NY.

We drove to JFK and got on the Delta flight. The drive was easy and smooth except for some work issues. Maria has been working on selling a unit of her company for one year and the deal was closing by midnight April 30. Yes that was when we were in a plane flying over the pond. After working with lawyers, accountants etc. we think it is done but won’t know until we land and get logged in. Crazy.

Now the fun and excitement begins you would think. It is May Day here and a big holiday. Traffic leaving the city was outrageous as many are taking Friday off and taking a four day weekend. We figured we would catch some of the parade and other events. The concierge here at the Marriott Grand did not know much about what was going on, so we just headed for Red Square. Other then seeing a lot of uniform people walking around the streets, we did not see anything. Some roads were blocked but no signs of a parade. We looked for some sort of military vehicles but did not see any. I am sure they were here somewhere.

Friday and Saturday are Annabelle days. We will go visit her in Podolsk both days. We are hoping to catch up with another set of adoptive parents in Moscow for a nice dinner one of these nights. There were no other adoptive parents on our flight. Jeff and I look like geeky American tourist with our jeans and sneakers so hopefully we will meet some new people as it does help past the time. Monday is court and then we are going to celebrate Cinco de Mayo at a Mexican restaurant near the Ritz.

More to follow. For now we are safely here and in the Moscow Grand hotel. We will be glad when court is done and we are declared Annabelle’s official parents.

Maria and Jeff