Mostly pics

Not too much time for typing tonight...although Lucas has been sleeping pretty well lately I know the minute I think we're in a good stretch it will change so I'm trying to get to sleep when I can. So just a few recent pics of Lucas after THREE weeks home (time's flying) and he turned 16 mo today :). Also, I couldn't help but reminisce when Lucas was riding the scooter on our porch on Friday...as Alexander rode this a lot the summer he came home. The last two pics are of Lucas AND Alexander (from '06)! Man, does he look TINY to me at 22 mo!!

Brothers playing on the porch

In the car saying 'shhhh'This cup fits perfectly on my foot...

Dr. Lucas at your service...

Lucas 16 mo

Alexander at 22 mo

Happy, curious and engaging

Those where the terms our IA doc described Lucas during our visit into Boston yesterday. She said these were the 3 top things she wanted to see in babies his age. Not all moments were happy mind you...the attachment and removal of the urine bag, throat check and blood draw drew some might big tears but all-in-all he did so great. The purpose of the visit was a detailed developmental assessment as well as a medical evaluation. Developmentally we were not surprised with the results...on target (15 mo) for EVERYTHING but receptive (understanding) language. He's been walking since 14mo, does a couple pieces of a simple puzzle, mimics like crazy, says 'bye-bye' with hand motions and 'wow', flips through books, has become much more proficient with feeding himself with fingers and spoon, sleeping well, etc...I could go on. All but the walking he's done since he's been with us...3.5 short weeks. Medically we were surprised that there are no concerns right now whatsoever...a couple lingering questions from the pre-adoption eval and the earlier weight concerns are gone and they just said to keep up what we were doing (hmmm avocado....). Hopefully the blood work will show he's healthy as well and that most of the vaccinations don't need to be repeated.

Also, in some ways more importantly to me, we got to see glimpses of his attachment to us. We really haven't exposed him to people since he's been home...except for one-time visits to library, doctor, grocery store and well, I think that's it. But not lengthy interaction with others. Our experience is somewhat clouded by the fact that Alexander was anxiously attached to me for quite a long time and would scream/cry with doctors, strangers coming into our house, etc. Lucas on the other hand has a completely different personality and is pretty calm and friendly....likely he'd still go to almost anybody. Yesterday, he gave his what I've come to believe is his "stranger face" to everyone which is a little hard to explain...he scrunches up his face and 'tries' to look menacing...he's too cute so it doesn't quite work. But no blowing raspberries which he did to strangers a few weeks ago. Anyway, after he became a little comfortable and played with the developmental therapist for a while he walked over near her and lifted his arms up. She picked him up, he looked at her for a couple seconds, turned and wiggled down and came right over to me. And at one point with the doc, he gave her a 'mean' face, shrugged his arm away from her and walked away. He also is starting to accept and look for comforting from me when he's hurt...it's so sad but you can tell this didn't happen much before. Attachment is a looong road, but these where encouraging signs.

Today we have our first post-placement with our social worker...busy couple of days! Time to get off the computer :).

Laura

Rain, rain go away!

Well it's been raining or cloudy for most of June since we came home. I can count maybe 3 decent days where we've been able to be out with the sun shining. And it's supposed to rain until at least Thursday or Friday of this week. Arrgghh. Can you say stir crazy?? Luckily everything is still "new" to Lucas so he's not bored out of his mind...but I need sunshine.

Overall though we had a good weekend. We took Lucas on his first outing to the local library on Friday and he did fine. Saturday we ventured out to the Beverly Arts Fest for a little bit with him in the carrier and again, great. I made sure to play lots of silly games and make funny faces (which he sure doesn't pass up!) to keep him from getting bored and overwhelmed. Alexander was enthralled with a performing dance troup so we we're hanging out for a bit. And today Alexander and Paul were in church and at a potluck for most of the morning and early afternoon so I got some quiet time with Lucas and then able to read part of a book while he napped - it was heaven!!

Paul goes back to work this week and Alexander will be in school so this is the last schedule adjustment for a while. We've already developed a pretty good routine so hopefully that will help through this next change. I'll let you know how it goes :)

Here's a few more pics and I'm working on getting a video up soon (for you Aunt Kelly!).

Laura

Happy days

Life in the Knight household these days is a little tiring but the giggles make it all worthwhile. Lucas has been coming more out of his shell the past few days. Not that he was a miserable crying baby to begin with...but there's definitely a difference. Who knows...was it Alexander going back to school this week and having Mama and Papa all to himself? Was it just settling in to Week 2 at home? Or was it maybe getting onto antiobiotics for an ear infection and rectal strep?!?!? Some aspects of all of the above I'm sure. Yesterday and more so today were just plain fun. He loves to be tickled and flung upside down and rolled around (sensory issues maybe but at least he's laughing for now :) and he's been seeking us a lot for those. When he gets really laughing and giggling its about the cutest thing I've ever heard and I really need to try and record it. Also, this afternoon he learned to 'high-five' and of course did it about 30 times in a row, smiling each time. And one more...at dinner tonight he was wimpering as usual for food and we gently said "Shhhh" with one finger to our lips and he put two fingers to his mouth, went "shhhh" and started giggling!! It was so darn funny!

He did great at the dr's on Tuesday...they confirmed our weight gain (off by a few ounces) and that's he already started catching up which is great. He wasn't scared by the doctor or nurse but didn't go to any lengths to interact with them either; just continuing to play with Paul and I. He did cry when the Dr. cleaned out the wax from one ear to discover the infection but other than that he wasn't fazed. We have our appt with the IA doc in Boston next Wed and we'll get more of a formal developmental evaluation at that point.

We're also embarking on the fun-filled experience of Lucas learning to feed himself. He obviously did not get any practice with this in the baby home. The first time I gave him the spoon yesterday he looked at me like I was nuts. But I held his hand around the spoon and put it to his mouth...he didn't need any more instruction! He's been having a fun time with that - especially with vanilla ice cream...he can't get that in fast enough.

And not to leave Alexander out of the update...he's doing very well. He had a great week in school and seems to be in a better overall mood...playing with your friends and being challenged during the day can do that :). He seems to reach out and want to include Lucas in more things. For example, he asked if he could take a bath with Lucas tonight and they did. He also offers to take Lucas' hand when he wants help getting somewhere and offers to 'watch him'. Lucas is still seeming a bit ambivalent at best towards Alexander...I'm sure he gets that he has us all to himself during the day and then has to share. But I know this will get better in time and soon Alexander won't be able to shake Lucas away from his big bro.

Well, that's all for now...I need to catch some zzzz's in the event Lucas is up at 5:30 am again tomorrow!

Laura

One week home

Well, we made it through apparently one of the tough ones - we came home one week ago today. In some ways it feels like yesterday and it others it feels like a month! Looking back I probably would not have kept Alexander home from preschool the whole week. The weather was awful so we didn't get out very much and it was hard for him to see all the attention Lucas was receiving. Of course he will see it but it was a bit much for him to take in all at once. Also, I was feeling pretty darn awful until Thursday and not into doing all the things Alexander enjoys (e.g., board games, cards, baseball, etc). And finally he doesn't quite grasp the unfairness of him being able to play in Lucas' room with his toys yet not wanting to let Lucas into his room. So it was no surprise that for the first time today (and I'm sure NOT the last) Alexander uttered the famous words "I wish Lucas wasn't here - I wish there was only one kid in this house". Oy..poor kiddo. We've tried to reassure him through words and actions that he is loved and special but it will just take time. We're planning on scheduling 'special time' with Alexander with each of us once things settle down just a bit.

Lucas seems to be doing OK...as soon as we figure him out he changes again. He's eating OK...his appetite is still big and he whines whenever he sees us preparing food but he is more playful during meals so hopefully he's starting to understand we'll feed him until he's full. We've actually seen him refuse food now! Woohoo. And did I mention before that he's now at least 21lbs?? He was 19 on 5/28 - so 2 lbs in 2 weeks!

He's sleeping very well - a nap from about 10:30-1 or 1:30 and then from about 7:30 or so until 6:30 or so. At naps he's usually falling asleep in the Ergo on our daily walks and transferring easily to the crib but at night I'm still trying to figure out a good routine that doesn't result in crying and frustration.

Regarding his disposition, it's been a little hard to gauge. For the past several days he would get very fussy and cranky starting around 4p or so and wasn't sure if it was due to his lunch, teething, remnants of jetlag, being too tired, etc. Today he was in a MUCH better mood and happy for most of the afternoon! He is very playful and attempts to mimic everything we say and do...we think he has learned to say 'bye-bye' though doubtful he understands what it means and definitely mimics all the raspberries and other silly sounds we make. He's also initiating this tickle game by wiggling his fingers and saying something like 'kookloo' and we come chasing after him for tickles. He definitely comes over to us when he wants to be picked up and did a LOT of that yesterday afternoon when he was so cranky. But I am sure his little mind is wondering what else is coming...after a week in Russia with Kali and I we upped and threw him into a marathon of travel and then another environment with different people. It's going to be a long while before he settles into realizing this is home. But we'll just take it one day and one tickle at a time.

More pictures will come soon... I promise...but falling asleep right now :(

Our first days at home

Well before I get into that, let's recap our trip home...one Kali and I sure won't forget! Friday night Moscow time Kali and I were all packed and ready to get some sleep since we needed to be up at 3am. But who goes to sleep at 9p on a Friday night in Moscow? Surely not the locals who decided to have a party in the little park outside our windows...car radios blaring and all. Luckily that died down about 10p. Once I fell asleep, pouring rain woke me at 11p. Once I fell asleep after night, who would decide to wake at midnight and not go back to sleep until 2a? Yes, my new darling son. It was my fault really...he was awake but in the process of putting himself back to sleep when I looked into his crib. He saw me and thought yay play time! By the time 3am came around..oy..I was not a happy camper.

We got to the airport quickly with Lucas falling back asleep in the car. We said our goodbyes to Vlad and proceeded to check-in. It was there that Kali and I nearly had heart attacks. The agent indicated there was a problem with Lucas' passport, his last name did not match his ticketed name. She checked with another agent, came back and said the same thing. After more explaining she went to get a passport/customs official who came, asked to see his adoption documents and once realizing that the paperwork was in order and that the error was more in pronunciation and how his name was then spelled on his passport, said we were ok. Halleluia! The thought of staying another 5 days (which is probably what would have been necessary to get a new passport and then visa) was inconceivable especially when we were so ready to go home.

We first needed to fly to Amsterdam and the flight was just about 3 hours. Lucas whined and fussed the first couple hours but we tried to occupy him with crazy, silly baby games. Finally, he was able to fall asleep and slept for the last hour and through the landing! We were lucky to easily make our connection, having left Moscow 10 minutes early and soon boarded our 8 hr flight to Boston. Again, Lucas played for a couple hours yet with increasing whining and then lost it and screamed for about 5-10 minutes before he finally succumbed to sleep. He slept for about 2.5 hours - yay! Finally we landed on the ground in Boston, full of emotion as we were HOME and Lucas was officially a US citizen. We got through passport control and customs within about 40 minutes and then were greeted by Paul, Alexander and several of our friends...it was such a sweet welcome.

Coming through the doors...


First meeting of brothers...


First family photo...


We got home, Kali left for Maine (she was pooped!), and the rest of us had a 2-3 hour nap. It was so precious to see Lucas asleep in his crib for the 1st time. I was tempted to let him sleep since it was nighttime Moscow time, but to try and get him on our time zone, woke him (boy was he groggy!) and we managed to keep him playing and awake until about 7:30p. He then slept until 5:30a the next morning! Since then he's been on EST, napping once a day for 2-3 hrs and sleeping about 11 hours at night. He's eating pretty well and exploring our house. We've tried to go outside for at least one walk a day but the weather has turned rainy and cool here so it's not as easy. Though yesterday and today we took a late morning walk and Lucas fell asleep both times in the Ergo carrier :). We haven't yet ventured away from home but I might be willing to do that tomorrow - we're getting a little house crazy!

Lucas seems to be bonding well with us too. When he's hungry and sees us preparing food, he waddles over to my legs and puts his hands up. He also comes over when we're sitting on the floor and indicates he wants to be picked up or bounced. Today I was holding him and dancing around with him facing outward and when I put him down he walked back over, turned around and put his hands up for me to do it again. He makes GREAT eye contact, accepts affection easily and smiles everytime I feed him a gerber puff with my mouth. Some days he's fussier and whinier than others and I don't know him well enough to know whether that's teething, hunger, stomach upset, etc. I'm sure we'll figure it out in the coming weeks and months.

Alexander is adjusting fairly well...there are moments such as when Lucas wakes up before him or gets to be spoonfed that he has a hard time dealing with. He'll come crawling into my lap in front of Lucas and not let me get up if I need to get to Lucas. He'll tell Paul that he has to be on 'Lucas duty'. But those are occurring a little less each day. This morning Alexander woke up about 45 min before Lucas and he and I got to snuggle on the couch and eat breakfast together. He is generally sweet and loving towards him and very careful as to not knock him over. He was all excited when I asked if he could help Lucas do the 'circuit' (a loop between our kitchen, LR and DR) on his little 3-wheeled scooter.

Well that's all for now...Lucas is nearing the end of his nap and so's the end of my free time. Of course here are some pics!
Laura

Dang cute!


Rather chew than play...


Baseball here I come...

So this is how these go...got it?

Big bro being a big helper...

Home Sweet Home

We made it home safe and soundly on Saturday, making all our connections and actually arriving 10 minutes early. Lucas got onto EST within a DAY and is sleeping pretty well all things considered...I on the other hand am suffering from serious jetlag, dehydration for sure, and exhaustion from barely sleeping last week. Kali seems to be fairing a bit better having slept the past couple nights. I PROMISE arrival pictures and a detailed update on these first few days at home very soon but for now it's sleep (I hope).

Laura

Coming home

In exactly 10 hours our plane should be taking off from Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow headed for Amsterdam. Then with any luck we'll make our very short connection flight to Boston. In some ways this past week has flown by and in other ways I can't wait for our 3am wake-up call. Lucas has been a complete joy...yes, he's teething, tired most of the time from lack of sleep and bossy :) but he's also funny, determined and affectionate. We got some serious belly giggles out of him today and I started to feel a real connection with him today....can't but help it when he waddles up to your legs with his hands up for another throw into the air or sees the ergo carrier and wants up. But it was deeper than those things too...something difficult to put into words and can only be understood by those who have gone through this.

I sit here with many mixed feelings...joy that once we land in the US Lucas becomes a citizen automatically and begins a new journey but also a profound sadness (in tears writing this) that today was his last day in his birthcountry and no matter my Russian background and holiday celebrations, etc., he is losing a rich and amazing culture. I plan for us to take a trip back someday but who knows what the future will bring or if the boys will want to visit. I know there is so much he will be gaining but it is bittersweet right now.

Wish us a speedy and safe journey home and I'll look forward to posting once we've settled in.

Thanks for following along!

Laura

We're done!!

We had our Embassy appointment today and we are done! We have Lucas' Russian passport and his US visa in hand. Luckily it wasn't that crowded today and we were through in about 1.5 hours. Unfortunately it was smack dab in the middle of Lucas' nap but he fell asleep when we got back.

Technically we can get on a plane right now but since we weren't sure when we'd be done when we arranged the trip we're still leaving on Saturday. We looked into leaving tomorrow but it's too expensive and if we miss the short connection we're stuck in the Amsterdam airport until our original Sat flight with a baby. No thanks! So we're going to sightsee a bit more tomorrow, get some souvenirs and pack up. We have to be up at 3am for our flight so getting to bed early tomorrow night is also key.

We couldn't take photos in the embassy but here are a few shots of our past couple days :).

Teething and sleeping...not

Well Lucas WAS sleeping well...the first day anyway. Yesterday he slept well at naptimes but took 1.5 hrs to go to sleep last night, finally falling asleep around 9:30 and waking before 6am. He was pretty tired this morning but only slept for an hour and did not go down for his afternoon nap. I finally got a clue that he was seriously teething...and found his two top 1st molars peeking through! Oy. New environment, strangers, overstimulated, overtired and teething - poor kiddo. But for ALL that he is being pretty darn good.

As far as his development, he is walking on his own now...it had been just a couple tentative steps 2 weeks ago when we were here for court. His height is up a couple cm and his head circumference is a wee bit larger. He has also gained some weight since trip 1 - he's now 19 lbs YAY! But I'm still fattening him up :) He is eating almost everything we put in front of him..last night he had a huge portion of mashed potatoes (w/ lots of butter) and mashed up chicken and then had some applesauce. The first day we had him he sucked down formula and yesterday as well, however today he only drank a little but it was during a time he was really in pain so who knows. He doesn't know how to feed himself though did get the idea having a cookie in one hand coming home from the Kremlin today....most of it was gone by the time we got back. He's very anxious when he sees us preparing food or smells it..he'll come waddling into the kitchen and whimper...it's SO sad. He eats fairly quickly but if I don't get it in quick enough he'll put his two first fingers of his right hand into his mouth and suck (which is also what does when I rock him to sleep). I *think* this might be from meals at the baby home when all the kids are fed at once and you have to wait your turn for the next bite. I sort of threw his meal schedule of 8, 12, 4 and 6:30 out the window as I'm feeding him something every couple hours. It seemed to work well today and he didn't eat as much at the big meals. Also if we're still eating he fusses and expects that there's more food for him even if he's full. So today at lunch and dinner we gave him a cookie and he was fine to walk around and gnaw at it occasionally. I also tried giving him a pacifier this evening when he was really uncomfortable and he really liked it...might be a lifesaver on the plane.

Speaking of the Kremlin, we ventured today from our apartment onto the Moscow Metro for a trip to Red Square. Luckily the metro stop is only 5 minutes from our apartment and only 2 stops to Red Square. However we got out at the wrong exit and needed to walk a bit above ground...and it was hot and windy. 75F is usually pretty nice, but when you have a little bundle strapped to your chest it gets warm quick. We walked around a bit, took a few photos and then Lucas started getting cranky so we headed back. It was a bit confusing on the way back but we figured it out and made it back easily. Kali and I treated ourselves to these ice cream bars from a sidewalk cart - yummy - and Lucas got his first taste of ice cream! Loved it :)

Well that's it for now...just got Lucas to bed and Kali and I need some down time. Tomorrow we're off to the Embassy to get his visa. If all goes well we might be looking into coming home early (Friday) but likely it will be too expensive and we'll come home as planned on Saturday.

A few parting photos....

Paka,

Laura, Kali and Lucas

Slowing down in Moscow

It's Tuesday morning for us and Lucas is taking his morning nap so I thought I'd use this free time to catch you all up on our first few days.

Kali and I left Boston on Saturday and had a relatively easy flight to Amsterdam. As this is my 3rd trip in 2 months I've become a pro and was able to sleep for about 4 hours. Our layover in Amsterdam was quick (1hr), however once we boarded our flight for Moscow is when things went a little south. As we were about to leave the gate they announces that someone did not make the flight and thus their baggage would need to be removed before we left thus delaying us about 20 minutes. No biggie. We arrived in Moscow about 30 minutes later than expected and proceeded to wait a LONG time in the passport control line...but hey no problem since at least our luggage would be waiting for us by the time we were through right? We both got through passport control and went to look for our 4 bags...yup 4, 2 heavy and large suitcases filled with all of our clothes, food, tioletries, gifts, Lucas' clothes, bottles, formula and toys and 2 duffel bags stuffed with clothing donations for the baby home and a few gifts. Well we quickly found the 2 duffel bags and then waited, waited and waited until the carousel stopped moving for our suitcases. A few other people from our flight lingered with us hoping to find their items. Soon the carousel started up again but with the bags for the next flight. Uh oh.

We got in line for Lost and Found and waited, waited and waited some more. At this point it was and hour and 15 minutes after we were supposed to have landed. There were only 3 people in front of us but it took about 30 minutes to get to the front of the line and we soon found out why. Since both Kali and I had 'lost' a piece of luggage we both had to fill out 4 separate forms. Yes, 4. Once they were completed we had to take 2 of the forms over to another line to have another customs official review, write something in cyrillic and place several stamps on them. We then had to take them back to the first person who gave us another form which stated that our bags would be on the next flight arriving that night and would be delivered to us the next day. Finally after an hour in lost and found we were out of there and desperately hoping our driver was still waiting for us. Luckily he was and he was irate! Not at us fortunately but at KLM saying they are infamous for losing luggage and it happens to almost every family that flies KLM from Amsterdam to Moscow.

We got to our apartment finally about 6:30p and after getting the overview of how to use the key, phone and wifi, we ventured out to find some food as we were starving. Kali and I went to Old Arbat street and found Moo-Moo's, a Russian cafeteria style restaurant. We had a yummy dinner and then proceeded to go grocery shopping. Luckily we are staying right across the street from the apartment Paul and I stayed in the 1st trip so I knew the area well and we could quickly get to where we needed to go. We came back to the apartment, unpacked our groceries and then spent a few funny moments trying to figure out how to make the 'couch' in the living room fold down into the sofa bed it was supposed to be. We should make a video of how this works for the next family staying here...basically works like a lawn chair but with four sides!

At this point we were really missing our luggage as we only had the clothes on our back and no toothbrushes, soap or pajamas. Regardless, we slept fairly well, Kali better than I, and woke to get ready for pick-up day. We tried to make ourselves presentable in our now smelly clothes and left to go to the passport office as we needed to first apply for Lucas' passport. Once that was done, Kali and I were off to the baby home! We arrived at the start of Lucas' naptime to find him in a walker in the playroom...all the other babies had gone to sleep. Since we didn't have his clothes they let us leave with what he had on...as long as we promised to have them returned as they are in short supply of clothing.

OK..it's now Tuesday afternoon...Lucas woke earlier while I was typing :)

We left the baby home with Lucas on my lap. He did great in the car and since it was his naptime, shortly fell asleep! He slept for about an hour which was great considering we were stuck in the usual Moscow traffic. He woke up while Kali went into Detsky Dom, a baby store, to get some diapers and more food. After getting settled into the apartment and giving Lucas some lunch...he was quite hungry and ate like a baby bird...we called the airport lost and found number to inquire about the delivery status of our luggage. "Your bags are here however I'm sorry...we cannot deliver...you must come to the airport to pick up" click. At this point we didn't care what we had to do to get our luggage especially as we now had Lucas and nothing that we brought for him. So we called our driver and although he had already had a long day and anticipated having the rest of it off, he came to pick us up for a trip to the airport. Of course this was just in time for Lucas' afternoon nap! He fell asleep about 5 minutes before we arrived in the airport. I had hoped to be able to stay in the car...but no...we both had to go in. We waited in line for about 20 minutes and towards the end of that time I started to feed Lucas his '2nd lunch' - this was now around 4p. He was hungry! He ate a whole jar of baby food and an entire banana..whimpering the moment I strayed too far with the spoon. We finally got our bags...hooray! Once we got back to the apartment it was around 5p and Lucas was still wimpering. I made him a bottle of formula that I brought and he sucked that down! Afterwards he was all smiles while we happily unpacked our luggage.

After dinner and more playtime, I rocked Lucas magically to sleep...he was definitely not used to that as they are just laid in their cribs at nap and nighttime. Boy I'm spoiled without a rocking chair :). Overall a great day!!!

This morning he awoke all smiles and quickly drank another bottle of formula before we had the visit from the Embassy doctor. That was quick and painless and we had a day finally free. Here's a shot from our afternoon walk...

Lucas has been in generally good spirits though he is quite stubborn and knows how to whine and pout when he doesn't get his way. He makes lots of silly faces and mimics every face or gesture that we make. I was also 'chasing' him in the apartment this morning and got some great belly giggles when I caught him. We're definitely in the honeymoon phase but I'll take it for now and hopefully through traveling home. He's sleeping and eating great and not much more I can ask for. Kali and I on the other hand are tired...jetlag catching up big time and we haven't really slept well the past couple nights. Here's to some serious snoozing by all 3 of us tonight.

That's all for now!

Paka,
Laura, Kali and Lucas

Together at last...

Well we've had an exciting couple of days! I'll be sure to write more about our travels and our first day with Lucas but we're exhausted from a looong day and wanted to FINALLY share pictures with you. Lucas is with us and doing GREAT; eating as much as possible and currently asleep in his port-a-crib sucking 2 fingers. The next few days should be quieter so I'll be back!