First Day Home as a Family

The day we thought would never arrive finally did! Saturday was the first full day that we heard the stomp-stomp pitter-patter of little feet. We have our babies HOME!

After about a 26-hour journey home and with a nine hour time adjustment to get used to, our kiddos were up at 5 a.m. our first morning home. Not too bad, I thought. We started the day off with breakfast before the sun came up. Bennett loved the eggs at the free breakfast buffet in our hotel in St. Petersburg, so I whipped up some--thanks to my parents who did some grocery shopping for us just before we got home. He chowed down!

 

Celia wasn't that big of a fan of the eggs, but still was all smiles.

Bennett is a pro with the sippy cup now. Perhaps he's "mastered" the plastic things a bit too much, as he's caused some to leak already.

Our first breakfast in our home as a family of four. It felt so good! (And American coffee made fresh by my husband made it that much better!)

For most of the day, we simply played in the playroom, the room immediately next to their nursery. We plan to keep their world small, hoping that doing so will make them feel more secure and at ease. At least as best as possible. The two biggest hits with the kids were the talking "house" and a bucket filled with different plastic shapes, which Bennett claimed as his own right away.

Knowing that neither of them have ever had a toy that was completely THEIRS, it was interesting to see the two of them interact. Bennett can be very gracious and thoughtful when it comes to sharing toys with his sister. The toys he associates with Celia (links, music box, the "house" key, etc.) he will take over to her. But if she even begins to reach  for something that Bennett feels he has a claim over (the bucket, for example) Mama usually has to intercede. Several times, however, if Celia reaches for something of Bennett's, he will pull his toy back but give her one of "hers." My boy is so sweet.

Nap time didn't go too well, despite learning a cute nap time song from "Yo Gabba Gabba." (Is it odd that we're actually enjoying watching Nick Jr.?) Truth be told, it hasn't gone that great since we've come home. This is the fourth new place for them to sleep in just a week and a half. Poor things. We rock them and hold them until they fall asleep, being extra cautious not to wake them when we transfer them into their crib. And when they wake up crying, we are there to soothe them. Though it may seem odd of overboard to some parents and it may not be the easiest thing to do, we are committed to comforting our babies whenever they need it, and that sometimes entails things like that. Our kiddos lived their whole lives without the comfort of parents. They deserve us making it up to them.

Derek's brother and dad came over to drop off dinner for us. We were SO grateful! There just hasn't been much time to prepare meals for us, so it was a blessing. I'm sure when B and C feel more secure in our home and with us, we'll be able to make the time to do some needed things like that. But for now, our focus is on our children.

Celia let Derek's brother, Shane, hold her, much to Derek's chagrin. Celia doesn't warm up to men very quickly or easily, and D has struggled with that a bit. I think the fact that if I get just two feet away from her, she bursts into tears magnifies the difficulty. But, each day the bonds amongst all four of us are strengthening. Day by day, we're making progress.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Santa stopped by St. Petersburg today and brought presents to our sweet babies! I’m sure they don’t understand that these presents are particularly for Christmas, as they have received many new toys to play with over the last few days, but Mama and Papa sure got a kick out of them opening their stockings.

Santa also surprised me with two presents that one of his elves snuck in a suitcase. I suppose I didn’t make it on the naughty list after all.

This morning was difficult for me. Our sweet little girl’s tummy got even worse and she had a bad case of diarrhea. I was beginning to really stress about C’s health. There was even a fleeting moment when I thought that perhaps she is in worse hands with me than with the caregivers at her baby home. Surely they would know exactly what to do and have just what she needs to make her feel better. Self-doubt is a terrible beast isn’t it?

However, when Derek had to leave for an hour and a half to pick our kiddos’ passports and our babies refused to take their afternoon naps, God certainly showed his mercy on me. I have been seriously praying over the last few days that the fear and insecurities over my job as a mother would leave me, and God is so faithful. It occurred to me as I changed poor C’s diaper four times in one sitting that I need to focus on one thing at a time. Whatever I can do in this moment, I need to do my best at that. (And Derek might have mentioned that to me once or twice…) So, I changed those diapers and then B's (just one for him—though a very full one!) and enjoyed each minute as it came with the kiddos.

Some new—but very dear—friends invited us to dinner tonight, in celebration of our Christmas. Earlier this morning I seriously doubted that we would make it. C was sick, I was showered but felt I looked awful, and we were exhausted from lack of sleep and skipping lunch three days in a row. However, God gave me the extra boost I needed while D was away. He also spoke through my children to urge me on. At one point, Bennett took his and Celia’s coats and such and took each piece, one by one, to the door. I guess we were going out! B and C later played on the stack of soft bundles.

Dinner was fabulous. Being the very first time eating out with the kiddos in a group setting, we didn’t know what to expect. But they were fabulous! Sure C got fussy a few times and B (once he got over his fear of being in a new place with a bunch of unfamiliar people) was not quiet. But they were great! It was really good to get out of the hotel—something I hadn’t done in several days. (What day of the week IS it…?) Our sweet friends and the wonderful group of friends who they introduced us to definitely made the best Christmas even better!


Merry Christmas to my friends and family at home! This is the first Christmas I will not be able to talk with my parents, which makes me a bit homesick. But I know everyone understands. Friends and family, we miss you all so very much and can’t wait to bring the whole Hunter clan home! We love you!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Our Christmas Eve started out rough. Our poor baby girl had a bad night. We were up with her for four hours as she cried and cried. I felt terrible that I couldn’t or just didn’t know how to ease her pain or unhappiness. So much for thinking that we bypassed the staying-up-all-night stage with a little one…
I’d say Derek and I got about two hours of sleep last night, which was not made better by the kiddos refusing to take a nap at the same time. Add into that the fact that our bodies have had to adjust to completely different time zones three times in the last three weeks. I mention all this so that I will not be judged by the photos I’m about to post.

Despite the tiredness, this has been the best Christmas Eve ever. As I look at the sleeping (at the moment) miracles in the cribs next to me, I’m reminded of the miracle that took place on Christmas centuries ago. I am and will forever be completely thankful for God’s amazing miracles.

Due to exhaustion and the fact that poor C has been up crying three times already since we put her to bed two and a half hours ago, I’m going to summarize the day through pictures:


It wasn’t all bad for sweet Celia today

B likes his stroller. …and—we’ve learned—sucking his thumb

Mommy surprised the kids with their first Christmas tree!

But I think the kiddos liked the many felt ornaments and the container that held them all better.

We decorated our tree

Ta-da! Thank you to everyone who helped make ornaments for our tree!

Brother and sister started playing together…

Finally, Papa told the Christmas story with the help of B and C’s first Christmas presents. They were a hit!

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY B!

Happy birthday my sweet little man! I desperately wish I was with you today to help you realize just how special you are. However, I have faith that today—because of His infinite love (particularly for orphans) and the many that are praying for you here in the States—our Lord is doing a fine job of showing you just that. You are in great hands, B. The best. Nevertheless, I selfishly wish you could also be snuggled up in my arms.

Ahhh... I miss B. To celebrate his birthday, I had plans to make a large Russian family meal. A very unpleasant stomach virus may have spoiled those plans, but nothing could spoil our excitement over B's big day. Derek and I went out to eat (I still didn't do much eating...) with my parents, who had exciting news to share with us. World travelers that they are, they informed us that they found an "amazing vacation deal" which will take them on a cruise from St. Petersburg to Moscow this spring. How amazing is that?! They will get to see where their grandchildren spent the first part of their lives. I can't tell you what it means to me to see them so excited over the possibility of experiencing our family's heritage. Everything is just fitting together so perfectly. God has a way of doing that, doesn't he?

In addition to dinner, we stopped at Target to get the birthday boy his first birthday presents! Readers, shhh! Don't tell B what he's getting! ;-) We plan on having a birthday bash for each of our kiddos once their home, on their 1/2 birthdays. Perhaps at least one of these gifts will stay unopened for the big day!

Friends, thank you rejoicing over B's birthday with us. And thank you for understanding that, though today is a wonderful day to celebrate his birth, it's also difficult in that we can't be with him. Well... here's to many more birthdays (celebrated together) to come!

We are choosing to focus on the miracles God has done over the last week and the blessings he has poured out upon our family. (Typing "our family" just made me tear up again...) So, in that vein, there are so many great things to tell you all that occured today. But we have to shower and get to bed before getting up at 2:15 a.m. to make it to the airport on time. I'll just leave you with some more photos.

I wrote her name on her photo book and left it with her. As we were leaving her for the last time, the caregivers were already going over who's who in the photos: "Mama," "Papa," "Babushka," "Dyadushka"...

We had left some clothes at the baby home for her (or whoever) and her caregivers dressed her in one of the outfits. How thoughtful!

C has fun with paper today.

This toy was a hit with both of them. Good thing we brought two! We were asked to leave all the toys at the baby homes before we left. B and C will get to play with them while we're away.

The caregivers at B's baby home did the same thing with one of the outfits we left him. The stacking cups were the other big hit with him. He's such a bright boy!

Smiles All Around!

(Our boy's first name will start with a B, and our girl's with a C. So, to make blogging easier, I'm going to refer to the kiddos as B and C. We are keeping their Russian names as middle names.)

We started the day by visiting C at 10 a.m. She wasn't very hesitant coming to us at all. We took her down to a large playroom and and got to love on her some more. We saw her first huge smile and heard her laugh as I was stealing kisses. She has the most beautiful smile and her giggle is music to my ears. She loved Derek's kisses too, though is still warming up to him. Chances are, she has not been around men much, if at all, so he's just "different" to her. But you'll see later in the post that she is taken with him! We were blessed enough to be invited to watch the Fall Festival play that the caretakers put on for her "groupa." One woman was playing a keyboard and telling a story, as the other caretakers danced and doted on the kiddos. It was like watching her first pre-school production, I suppose!

We then made it over to B's Baby Home just before his lunch. Yesterday was definitely just a "getting familiar" day. I didn't expect an instant smile and hug from him upon first meetinghim by any means. However, I did pray that we would be able to connect even more today. And we did! Though he cried again at first when his caregivers took him from his groupa, he stopped almost instantly just a minute after he was in Derek's arms. He absolutely LOVED thestacking cups and showed his intelligence by correctly putting all 8 of them together! Derek stacked up the cups and he kicked them over, resulting in us seeing him smile for the first time!

During their early afternoon nap, we visited the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood. Unfortunately, is we could not go inside, as it was closed for "technical reasons." We just walked around the area, taking in the beauty of the city.

We stopped to have lunch at a Russian cafe, where I was adventurous and ordered "Herring with a Fur Coat." Our translator promised us it was good and explained that it is a dish usually made during Russian celebrations. Well, we were definitely in the celebrating mood! I wasn't expecting much, but ended up with something out of "Top Chef." The "fur," while it looks like cheese, is actually shredded egg.

Then, it was back to C's Baby Home for some more giggles. If you remember, she loved my bracelet yesterday (and she still loved it today!), but she showed an great interest in my necklace as well today. This is sweet to me, since the stone is her birth stone. It seems like she will be an accessory queen!



Our driver offered to take us to B's Baby Home one more time. (We are SO blessed that we got to see each of them twice today!!) This visit, we gave him some Gerber puffs and I think that's what finally broke the ice for the three of us. While he loved chowing down on those things, he loved feeding "Papa" even more! Especially when Papa pretended to eat his hand along with them. We got many toothy smiles from that! He alos loved looking at the picture book we made him. It may be our imagination, but when Derek would ask him "Where's Papa's picture?" he eventually would turn to it and look up at him. It was the sweetest thing! When is was time to go, he saw me putting the toys back in my bag and decided to help. So cute! Derek carried him upstairs to his groupa. When B was walking away with his caregiver, he looked back twice as if to say, "Please come back!"

And, of course, we can't wait to do just that!

Tomorrow, we will file our official intent to adopt the kiddos. Horray! And then spend more time with them in the Baby Homes. The first day, to be honest, I was a little scared as I didn't want to frighten them by making them play with us strangers. But today... I'm so in love! And I can't wait to try to make them smile tomorrow!

Photo Albums

While we won't get to leave a lot of things for our kiddos as we return from this first trip (not that they would get to keep and use for themselves, anyways), we have been told that if we leave a photo album the caregivers will look through it with them. The thought of our kiddos getting to see the faces of their family every day—if only in a photograph—and be reminded that we love them and are coming for them makes this mom-to-be so grateful.

Thanks to the recommendation of a dear friend, we bought two photo albums made particularly for babies and toddlers. How wonderful would it be if, when we are united with them at the beginning of trip #2, they recognize our faces as Mommy and Daddy?! Or, I guess I should say, "Mama" and "Papa."

Here's a peek at two of the photos with Cyrillic explanations of who we are:

"Papa" & "Mama"

"sobaka 'Bella'" & "sobaka 'Lexie'"

The pre-travel To Do List is still rather long. Time to sign off!

It's a...

BOY!!
....and a GIRL!!

Yes, we can finally officially share our amazing news: we received our referrals! They are biological siblings and we can't wait to meet them in person!

For some time, we had been told to expect to travel in October. Well, just this morning Derek received a call from our placement agency informing us that we may travel much sooner... As early as mid September! Possibly less than one month away!!! EEEEEK!!!

We feel we can finally share this news since we were told we will most likely receive official travel dates by the end of this week. I can't believe it! My first reaction was pure, emotional excitement. My eyes welled up with happy tears. Then, not two minutes later and in true Kat-fashion, I started going over a "to do" list in my head. Visas. Documents. Toys to bring for our first visit. Contact pediatrician. Figure out insurance for the kiddos. ...and on and on. So much to do!

Derek and I celebrated by going to Target and buying some toys to use when we meet our little ones for the first time.

Stay tuned for more information later this week!!!

NOTE: Facebook friends, please don't post anything regarding the gender of our children on fb. I'm not sure I want the whole public fb world to know just yet...