Finally an update!

Yes, I know. It has been ages since I last blogged.  Time just flies when you are having fun and I can't believe summer is almost over.  We had a great but hectic summer with the highlights, 2 trips; One to the Netherlands and one to Marco Island, FL (more about those in following blogs), and a visit from my niece Elise, from the Netherlands.

In between those trips, we FINALLY sold our house in Baton Rouge LA.  Who would have thought that selling this house, which in a prime spot in Baton Rouge, just 2 blocks of the LSU lakes, close to downtown, shops and restaurants, would have been so hard to sell. But.. no looking back, it is sold and while waiting for the selling process to complete, we have been house hunting and found a great place.  Great location, just a mile from the DC metro so I can easily get to work since the NIH has its own metro stop, and about 10 minutes drive to work for Marc.  Hannah's elementary school is across the street and she is very proud to start big kid school, and we are very proud of our little girl who, in spite of a bad start in life and only turning 5 years old early August, made all the milestones to start kindergarten with her friends.  August 29th is the big day!

Unfortunately, it was impossible to keep Ivan at White Flint Childrens House, the little montessori school that has been so wonderful to us and the kids. But we found a new preschool for him not far from our house on my way to the metro which looks great as well.  So August 29th will be his first day as well.

Over the summer both kids attended language camp organized by white flint childrens house for 4 weeks and had a ball.  They had a new country as theme each week.  So they learned some russian, french, hindi and chinese (Hannah was so proud of herself that she could greet the lady at the chinese restaurant!), while doing tons of fun activities involving the country of that week.

This week and the next, they are at camp Olympia, a day camp not far from our house.  This is more a traditional camp with sports activities, games and crafts.  They have pony rides and swimming lessons every day and love it.  And the nice thing is that Ivan, who is never interested in going to bed, has not complained one night the whole week!  He is just worn out by the time he comes home.  Hooray for Camp Olympia!

In between all the activities, marc and I (mostly Marc while I was busy with getting the schools straightened out and getting Hannah's birthday organized) dealt with the paper work for selling the LA house and buying a MD house.  The second was more involved than we had expected and we had a couple scary moments but in the end it all worked out and we are now the proud owners of a 4 br house with... a pool!  We were not looking for a house with a pool but.. the house we liked happened to have a pool. Moving date is next friday and between now and then, there is a lot of work to be done. Packing of course but also getting some people in to get the house move in ready (painting, pulling the carpets and refinishing the hardwood floors that are underneath the carpets, getting a pool fence set up).  I can't believe we will finally have a place of our own again and be able to get all of our things out of storage! 

Diversity Night at White Flint Children's House

Yesterday our kids school had organized a 'Diversity Night', the biggest event of the year.  All parents were asked to bring a dish from their country of origin and dress up their children in traditional clothes.  So since we are a multicultural family, we made a big dutch apple pie (and Hannah helped making it) and dressed the kids in their Russian outfits we bought during our week in Moscow.  Hannah was especially thrilled to finally get to wear her dress.  We had not bought a head dress (no space anymore) so I made her one and off we went to the event

The whole school was decorated with flags, pictures and postcards.The afternoon started with a show of songs and dances the teachers had put together.  The kindergardeners sang the star spangled banner and all pre K and K kids sang 2 Russian songs. Than each class sang a song from one specific country (Hannah's class had Mexico) and did a dance from that same country.  The show ended with a fashion show which showed off all the costumes with each child carrying a little flag of their country.  As always, everything went as smooth as can possibly go with a bunch of 2-6 year olds and the kids were so excited and so very proud of their achievements. 

Star Spangled Banner

Russian Songs

 

Mexican Song and Dance

After the show we had the potluck with all the foods the parents had brought. I was sad my stomach wasn't bigger because I don't think I had space for more than a third of the foods that were there and everything was delicious.  Again, everything was so well organized.  there were at least 5 tables of food and a desert table, Each dish was accompanied by a card with the name of the country, name of the dish and the name of the child bringing it.

Free boy!

Don't you LOVE my dress!

Hooray for us!  We did it!

When we got home we had to take a few 'official' costume pictures of course.

A wonderful evening.

Easter at the Russian Embassy

Today we went to the Russian Embassy in Washington DC to celebrate Easter with a lot of other Russian adoptive families.  This is organized each year between "the Cradle of Hope' adoption agency and the embassy.  It really is a great opportunity to meet other families in the area although there were familes from all over the country. 

The kids were excited the whole week and especially Hannah.  She told her Russian teacher at school that we were going to the Russian Abozzie and see other children from Russia and that there were Russian songs and candy.   So after and bath and putting them in their brand new clothes we took off. Unfortunately the weather was not very cooperative since it rained all day and the new summer clothes needed some adaptation but both kids looked adorable.

The event was very well organized.  There were crafts and games when we arrived followed by a show with songs and a play put together by the children of the Embassy school.  Hannah loved it but it was a bit long for Ivan so we left about halfway the show. Luckily there were other children with the same problem so they played together with a few other kids. Hannah made a new friend called Ana who is only a month younger than she is.  Ivan had a good time running around and explore everything he was supposed and not supposed to explore. 

The afternoon ended with a visit by the Easter bunny.  Both kids had no problems sitting on his lap and he got a thank you hug from both when they got the goody bag!   It was a great afternoon.  Too bad Marc couldn't make it. Hopefully more luck next year.

Almost one year!

 Visit from 'baby Jake'.  Hannah loved being a big sister and took great care of him

 Ivan loves to climb on anything climable. Even the Panda at the National Zoo

 Baking applie pie

 Crafts at the Sinterklaas celebration at the dutch embassy

 Our monkey

 At girls night out. Dinner at Chilli's

Ivan loves to help cooking too.



Last Sunday was exactly one year ago that we left Baton Rouge to travel to Vladivostok for our March 4th court date.  It is hard to believe that it is already a year ago and at the same time, I can't imagine Hannah and Ivan not being in our lives. We truly have become a family of 4 and love being a family.

Since I wrote on the blog last time, we celebrated our first thanksgiving as a family and the whole family pitched in on making the dinner. We went to the dutch embassy to celebrate sinterklaas and both kids had a ball.  Hannah participated in the christmas concert at school and we went to Marc's family in Dallas for christmas and had a visit by baby Jake, the 6 month old son of friends of ours. Marc started his new job at NIST in Gaithersburg on February 1 so we have become a full-time family again the everybody's delight.

Hannah and Ivan are still doing great. They both have grown like a weed and Ivan is now on the 35th percentile for height and 50th for weight. He was at the 5th percentile for both at his first visit to the pediatrician almost a year ago.  Hannah is at the 90th percentile for height. She was always tall and started at the 75th percentile at her first pediatrician visit.  They are both very healthy and in spite of a cold winter we have not had to deal with anything more than a runny nose.  They both got a clean bill of health again. 

Both kids love their school and are thriving.  The classes are small and the teachers very nurturing.  Hannah is learning her letters and numbers and can recognize most.  She is also has an hour of spanish and... russian per week.  Ivan actually has a teacher from.... Vladivostok and she still speaks Russian to him.  Their back up babysitter is also russian so both kids are still very much exposed to russian and Marc and I are both tickled by that. We signed up to attend the easter party at the russian embassy in April so hopefully we'll get connected with some other russian adoptive families in the area.

Hannah has matured enormously over the past year. There is little left of the toddler girl we brought home a year ago. She is very helpful around the house and loves to care for her brother.  The teachers at school love it that she checks up on her brother a few times per day.  She has become very verbal and her vocabulary amazes everybody.  I tell everybody that she should become a politician. She can talk herself out of anything.  She loves to color and do crafts and also loves to help me cook.  Lasagna and apple pie are her 'specialties'. 

Ivan is still the active and funny boy he was when we brought him home last year but boy has he grown up. He is speaking in sentences now although his speech is still slurry and hard to understand.  I requested the paperwork to continue his speech therapy so we'll see if he qualifies (he has to be 25% delayed).  He is doing great in school and is learning colors. His fine motor skills have improved tremendously as have his social skills. He is also learning spanish and Marc and I went to one of his spanish classes in January. Ivan was the first to call out the word almost all the time (whether right or wrong) and was so proud that he knew spanish words. His teachers say that he shows the same enthousiasm in every class. He is also very sociable and caring. The school also helped us getting him potty trained and he is doing great in that area. He still has to occasional accident but is completely out of diapers during the day. He is still all boy and very physical. He pulls up his nose for the playground designed for kids 2-5 years old but climbs the highest ladders, slides down the highest slides and freaks out his mama on many occasions. Trucks and cars are his favorite as is his cuccle (tricycle). 

So.. we are still doing great. We love living in the DC area and enjoy the possibilities it gives us especially now the weather is getting nicer again.  We became a member of the national zoo and often go there just for a walk.  Both kids love to go swim and we try to do this as often as we can and swimming lessons are on the schedule for the summer. 

I'll post pictures later since I am writing on my new laptop that has no pictures on it (yet).

Hello from....Maryland!

Yes, after 14 years in Louisiana (NEVER thought I would be there that long) I am now blogging from Rockville MD.  On September 16th we packed up the car, 2 kids, a dog and 2 cats and drove from Baton Rouge LA.  A 4 day trip that was so much easier than I ever had anticipated. We are so lucky that Hannah and Ivan are great travelers.  Except for a few minor breakdowns, they did wonderful.  Watching movies, coloring, reading books and a regular nap in between the activities.  We stopped at playgrounds and rest stops regularly to get them the necessary exercise and visited a lot of Sonics' (because we could keep the dog with us for meals) on the way. 

We have settled in very nicely and all of us love being here. Hannah and Ivan love their new school and so do we.  I drop them off every morning at 7:30 with a packed breakfast which they eat in school with a handfull of other children. They leave the home with a big smile every morning and every afternoon at 3:00pm they come back with a big smile.  The stories are starting to come now too and Hannah got invited to her frist birthday party next weekend. The fun thing is that Ivan has a russian teacher who continues to speak russian to Hannah and Ivan. Hannah also has one hour of Russian (as well as french and spanish) each week.  She has started to talk more about Russian and what we did there. We see it as a positive sign since at first she didn't want to have anything to do with anything Russian.

We also really enjoy the large variety of parks and playgrounds we have in our neighbourhood.  With the weather being cool and sunny we usually pick a playground after school and play there for a while before going home.  We are also just a few minutes away from Rock Creek Park with its bridges, rocks and, this time of the year, multicolored leaves, and many opportunities for adventures. 

So, yes, Hannah and Ivan are still doing great and have adjusted very well to the move and we haven't ran into any major issues. Ivan still has a hard time falling asleep at night and can play in his room for quite a while after going to bed. Putting him in bed later, doesn't really help so I him up the same time as Hannah. I think that he is outgrowing his nap (they nap for 2hrs at school) so he just isn't tired at night. We are also looking into continuing his speech therapy here.   We figured we would give him a break till we settled in here but it is time to find a new therapist.  His vocabulary is actually very good but he is very hard to understand and still has a very nasal sound.  Physically he is doing great.  He has grown like a weed. Imagine that when we picked him up in March 18 months clothes were too big for him. Now, he is between a size 2T and 3T! He is strong as a bear, stocky but all muscle and very active.

Hannah is still a drama queen. While Ivan can get cratched and bruised without one tear, Hannah will make you know that she is 'hurt' right away and make sure you remember that she was hurt for days to follow, accompanied by big tears and loud sobbings.  She also grew a lot and her looks definitely have matured. she is a real girl that loves to wear dresses, and is delighted that her hair is finally long enough to have pigtails with the accompanying bows and barrets.  She also loves to help, especially in the kitchen, and lasagna is her specialty.  Cookies are of course a lot of fun as well.

Below a few pictures of the last 2 months.

 Riding the motorcycle.

 Our monkey at the school picknick just before leaving Lousiana

On the way to Maryland 

Dairy Queen ice cream.  Marc HAD to have that since they don't serve that in the south. 

 In Rock Creek Park with Opa

 A rest stop

Fun at the play ground.  They can play so nicely together 

 Helping Oma carry the toys to the beach

 Hannah picked a pumpkin

Lunch at the pumpkin patch

it has really been a long time!

Wow, I realized I haven't written on the blog for ages. Life has been quite hectice here lately with the big move coming up.  Take off day is tomorrow. It still seems very unreal to me though.

So what has been going on since the last blog?  We are still doing very well.  Hannah has been in school for a little bit over a month now and is doing great.  She loves her teacher, Mrs Stolzfus, who is absolutely wonderful, and is starting to make friends, coming home talking about Braiden, Margaret, etc. Last weekend she got to take the book buddy 'wild thing' home and had to write/draw a journal about what they did together.  She also had to bring a bag with 5 things about herself. She brought a small st. bernard puppy, a family picture, cheburashka, a crayon (because she likes to color) and a book. the kids in her class apparently loved cheburashka and it speaking russian.  They had to tell the class about all the things and apparently she did a great job.  When you hear her talk, you would never know she didn't  speak a word of english just 6 months ago.

Hannah starting to get more and more interested in Russian again and we are delighted. For a while she didn't want to have anything to do with anybody speaking russian to her (I have 2 russian friends).  She has always loved her russian cd with children's songs though.  However, we are happy about this change since we really want our children to cherish their russian roots.  Both will learn Russian in the new school in maryland and there is a russian school where we will enroll them next year when Ivan is old enough to go with Hannah. 

Ivan is also doing great. His speech therapist is very pleased with his progress and so are we. He is starting to talk whole sentences now some of 5-6 words (mama, i need a towel).  According to the person who runs the day care that he goes to, there is no delay at all and she thinks he is really smart and physically definitely ahead of his age.  

In general they get along fine but they can fight like cat and dog as well. Ivan is all boy and Hannah is all girl.  She is more dramatic than Ivan and is very good at crying without tears.  Ivan is no drama at all but completely down to earth. His favorite  expression now is 'no, mama' for about everything. The biggest issue we have with him is that doesn't want to go to bed and loves to wander around in his room, play with his toys and sometimes bother Hannah for whom going to bed is no problem at all.  Her issue is her not wanting to give in and apologize, even if she knows she is wrong. We have to put her in time out regularly of course accompanied by the crying without tears.  She feels very sorry afterwards and wants to make up by being very snuggly and sweet.

So... tomorrow is out last day in Baton Rouge.  Both Hannah and Ivan will have a goodbye party at their school/ daycare.  We baked cookies last weekend to take with them and of course a card for both Mrs Stolzfus and Nani (Nina, the daycare owner).  Both have been wonderful and really love our children.  We'll all miss both of them and they will be in our contact list for sure.

Tomorrow afternoon, after Marc has finished teaching we'll take off with our first stop Birmingham AL.   I'll keep you posted!

ps.  I'll add some pictures later. Because of the move our computer, with the pictures, is boxed up. 

Our house is for sale

We loved this house and are sad to leave it. 


Historic Luxury three blocks off LSU Lakes