Fingers crossed no more!

We're sorry if we've kept anyone in agony or suspense about what is going on over here...but it's been a BUSY couple of days. I think where we last left off we had met the little guy aka 'the mouse' as we've nicknamed him and were waiting for feedback from our IA doc. We got the feedback relatively quickly and she had some follow-up questions for the baby home, however the doc had not been able to receive the pictures. So we resent from a different account and resized - which seemed to send a lot faster than the first time :0. However since it was then evening their time, we would not get their feedback on photos until our Wed evening. We were a little disappointed as we had started to feel like 'hey there can't be anything wrong' and wanted to move forward. Our coordinator also seemed a little surprised when we told her but understood that we needed to know the full picture before committing.

We had requested to have 2 visits with the mouse on Wednesday and so before leaving the apartment packed our pb&j's, carrots and apples for lunch and some snacks for the ride home since our visits where from 12-2 and then from 4-6. His baby home is also about 45 min from our apartment but with Moscow traffic it has taken upwards of 1hr 30min. When we arrived around noon he was quite alert and playful. He seemed to show more of his personality and was smiling a lot more. He is mouthing a lot - toys, cups, books, etc - probably teething but also for oral stimulation. Lots of wet, soggy things in our backpack on the ride home :). At 2 we left there and since it was too long of a drive back and forth from our apartment, our driver took us to a nearby mall with a food court. Typical food court but there's also had an ice rink with kids taking hockey lessons! Also there was a gigantic supermarket the size of a Costco attached to the mall and as a result you see shopping carts all throughout. Very interesting cultural experience! We went back to the baby home for our afternoon visit and yay! got to play some more with the mouse.

We left at 6p for the drive back to our apartment and there was definitely traffic last night - oy took us easily hour and a half to get back. Also, I made the mistake of looking at pictures on the camera at the beginning of the ride and preceded to be carsick the rest of the way. By the time we finally got back I was also hungry and anxious for what the doc might say. We did get her response and I was a little taken aback at some of her feedback but in hindsight only because I had already considered him to be perfect :). Nothing major, mostly some things to check up on when he gets home, but the main concern is his weight (he's on the cdc charts for length and head circumference but not for weight). But with some calories, love and attention he will hopefully sprout right up :).

So....with all the info in hand...we decided to move ahead and adopt him!! Woohoo! We went to the notary today (Thursday) and signed the acceptance paperwork. Hopefully we'll hear within a month or so about a court date to come back for the little mouse who we've decided to name Lucas. And we had to name him today for the paperwork so it's good thing we were thinking about a name beforehand!

Well, I know I'm a day behind in posting - I'll try to catch up tomorrow with our visits to Lucas today but for now it's off to bed. Thanks for all your well wishes and encouraging comments - they really mean a lot to us. Have a great day everyone!

Love,
Laura and Paul