I Think I'm Gonna Like It

It's hard to believe that October 10th, our Homecoming Day has come and gone and another 11 days has passed. I always say that I need a vacation after a vacation (even though I wouldn't really call this a vacation) to recover and gradually get back into the swing of things. Unfortunately my mom didn't want to stay another night, let alone another week. Do you blame her though? 40 days of looking after 4 kids was enough! There was nothing gradual about getting back into the swing of things, life just kind of picked up where we left off. Doctor appointments, soccer games, hospital visits, wedding, school Fall break, oh my! I did allow myself some time before I got back on the computer, hence the reason why it has been 11 days. A video is in the works from our Gotcha Day and Homecoming, so stayed tuned. Coming to a blog near year you, Fall 2012.

For those interested here are the details of Sara's Gotcha Day. Without videos and pics this may be a bit boring but here I go. I had mentioned earlier that we ran into a snag that day. After we had been picked up by a cab, taken to the passport office to get Sara's passport, we arrived at the orphanage. Our day started at 9:30 and by now it was close to 1 pm. We were so excited and ready to bust her out. The video camera was charged and ready to record her leaving the orphanage. I had snatched the last pics of the orphanage itself so I could remember every little detail. Her new outfit was ready to replace the one that she had been wearing. Everything was lined up as we had been waiting for this moment for a long time. We knew that within minutes we would hold our baby girl in our arms and our new life, our new forever would begin. We knew that once we left the gates of the orphanage, Sara would never look back. We waited in the lobby as Yulia went to sort out the last details with those in charge. We expected it to be a quick process but she came back and said that the one in charge was not going to sign and allow us to take her unless social services was present to sign. In the past Yulia said that the director has had no problems allowing social services to sign within the next few business days. But because the director was on vacation he technically was not in charge and the next in line would not allow the process to be completed unless social services was present at that very moment, even knowing that someone would be at the orphanage the very next day. Yulia quickly got on the phone to contact social services but because it was the lunch hour, no one was available. She came back and said that we may have to wait. At that moment I'm afraid that "wait" was no longer a word in my vocabulary. In the meantime she said that we could visit with Sara since it was during the normal visiting hours. So we did. Yulia was doing her best to get in touch with someone who could help and finally she reached someone but had to leave to go pick her up. Another hour and a half passed then Yulia finally entered the room to let us know that it was time to sign paperwork.

Once we were finished I was expecting to get instructions for the "out with the old, in with the new,  changing of the clothes" ceremony. There was no mention of it and finally I asked, "So when do we change her clothes?" Yulia thought that we were all ready to go and had already done it, even though she was still in blue jumpsuit, tee hee, so we went back to Sara's room and got her ready to go. The nanny quickly stripped Sara of her clothes, then swooped her under a running tap to wash her bits and face. Once she was dried off, I swooped in and started to change her. I am thinking that maybe the nanny intended to dress her but I'm afraid I didn't even give her the chance. As I was getting her dressed (in pink) the nannies were looking in the bag to see what else I had brought. Her dress was short sleeved and they were very worried that was all I had for her. They just smiled and nodded as if to say she'll just freeze but oh well, but then I reassured them as I showed them that she had a cardigan to cover her little arms. I even had a coat and hat. No worries nannies, I have been a mother 4 times before now! Once she was dressed I had asked if they could feed her before we left and no kidding, it took less than a minute and she was back. I had just enough time to collect her things and she was good to go. They cut very large holes in the nipples of the bottles and feeding requires no sucking so she choked down whatever they gave her and we were off! There were no tears, no hugs or kisses, no good byes from the nannies but I smiled and thanked them anyway. As we walked out the door and entered the cab, I did noticed that they were at the window watching so I am sure that they were happy for Sara. Sara was free! Free as a bird! What a wonderful feeling for her and for us to know that we will shed tears of joy and sadness for her, we will give her all the cuddles and kisses she needs, and we will never have to say good bye to her again, it's only hellos from here! She was part of a miracle, Kareen's (Mia's) miracle! But now she is our little miracle!

I will do another post of our last days in Ukraine and our journey home. Then I will do weekly, bi-weekly, maybe monthly posts of Sara and her new life. For now I just wanted to post this so you could all see that we are still truckin'. Sara is doing well. She couldn't be happier. She has smiled more than ever this past week. I would love to know what she is thinking, but I am sure she feels like she is home! I am sure that she has stopped thinking that this is the longest visit ever and when are they going to take me back? I am sure she is thinking holy noisy and busy compared to the life that she knew. And I am sure she is thinking, to quote another Annie song " I think I'm gonna like it here!" The next day after we got home, Thursday, she had a cardiology appointment. I had made several appointments while we were in Ukraine thinking that we would have been home way before the scheduled appointments. Jet lag hadn't set in yet so we went. Everything looked and sounded good but the doctor did say that by doing a sedated echo he would be able to see everything in regards to her heart. We knew that she was born with a hole in her heart and I was willing to do whatever it takes to have her thoroughly checked, head to toe. She had that on Tuesday and everything looks good. She still has the hole in her heart but have been told that it is normal and it shouldn't be a problem. She does have an abnormal defect called a PDA but it is small enough that it shouldn't be a problem. She will just have follow up appointments annually. Poor baby has tiny little veins and had to be poked several times for her IV and blood work, and she wasn't a happy camper coming out of sedation, but what a relief to know that her little heart is well. She also had her pediatrician appointment on Monday. Dr. B said that she looks good. She had four shots and the blood work that she had done at the hospital confirmed that she is healthy. Her blood count looked good, her thyroid looks good, and she tested negative for other diseases. She weighs 14 lbs. and is 26 inches long. On the DS charts, she was around the 25% for height, weight and head size.

She has an appointment for her eyes in November and also an ENT appointment. I am sure that she will either have to wear glasses or have surgery but it is amazing how her eyes have already calmed down since we've had her. She has more to focus on and more to look at. She has kids in her face and has a reason to make her eyes work. She loves to stare at her hands because I am sure that at times they were the only things she had to focus on. But now she has so much more to see! She thinks that her toes are amazing because I really don't think she has ever seen them. They are so quick to bundle them in the orphanage, putting a sleeper on top of socks so every time her feet are free from socks she is touching them, eating them, thinking I have 10 more sausages to enjoy! After her first bath, where she actually got to lay in the warm water, she was all smiles and giggles. During the bath, she kept sucking in and the water being poured on her belly was literally taking her breath away, but afterward when she was wrapped in a towel, she had a look of "That was amazing!" It has been so much fun to experience many of her firsts. She's already had her first road trip to Idaho for a wedding too. It has been amazing to see the transformation from the first time we saw her until now! She is so sweet! So happy! So vocal! So strong! So mobile (rolling from one end or the room to the other)! Good eater! Good sleeper! She is just perfect in every way! Life is good! Life is grand! Life is busy! Being a mother of 5 is my new life and I think I'm gonna like it!