Monday, January 29, 2007

January 29, 2007 - Home Sweet Home!







Our lives have drastically changed and we have been abundantly blessed! Our adoption was finalized in Volgograd Russia on January 17th, 2007.  We took custody of the boys on January 18th, and we arrived home from Russia on January 23rd.  So we have now been home for around five days.  Nick is now 14 months old and Ben is 15.5 months old.  We are all loving our new lives together!







Home sweet home with our two sons!!

Ben, who was not walking yet when he first came home, can now take 10 or 12 steps while only holding on with one hand. 







We have this little ride-on/push toy that he loves to walk behind and push and he can do it quite well now. This works out great because Nick likes to ride it and be pushed:).

Nick likes to suck his thumb, while holding something soft in the other hand as he falls asleep.  He can sleep anywhere and he falls asleep very quickly if he is tired. No problem with the car seat at all.

Ben has a much harder time because he sleeps on his stomach (he had a tough time on the flights home from Russia because of this). After driving an hour or an hour and a half, he falls asleep 10 or 15 minutes before you get where you are going:).


Aren't they adorable!!







First trip down to the farm to meet more family:

Here are the boys with my Grandma Rilla, their Great Grandmother.  Grandma Rilla is my Dad's mother.












Papa, holding Ben.  This is my Dad.













My brother Kelly, holding Nick.












The cats are really interested in these new
inhabitants of our house.  They are not
sure what to think.








6 comments:

Denise :o) said...

Congratulations! Glad to read you all made it home safely. The boys seem to be adjusting very well. Ivan is also 16 months old and has just recently (as in yesterday) started to try to feed himself. He would rather we fed him, especially his bottle. He will hold it, but prefers that we do. He also cries and screams if we get up to get something while we are feeding him. Out of curiousity, how much are you feeding your son? We are still not sure how much is enough. He's getting better at letting me know when he is through, but at first he'd eat and eat and eat and wouldn't stop unless we stopped him. Very happy for you guys. The boys are both very handsome little guys!! :o))

Anonymous said...

Hi Lea!

Glad you mad it home with your new bouncing baby boys. I know you are EXHAUSTED right now. It took Lyra and I a while to adjust to the time change too. Not to mention that you have two babies to care for!

You will adjust:):):) I know the feeling of wishing naptime upon yourself with all of your might. I don't have the luxury of that anymore as most of mine don't nap now, but I sure did take advantage of it when I had children under 5!

Enjoy your boys!
Tonya

6blessings said...

Sounds like everything is going really well. Sleep is so hard on mommas. Hang in there. The boys are absolutely adorable. You're doing a terrific job of parenting. God bless your family!

kate said...

I'll be SO sad when your blog ends! Please keep in touch via my blog and e-mail (onlyk8@yahoo.com). I'm a little worried about having to complete my adoption without your blog to help...

The boys sound like they're doing SO well! Good job to you all.

Your sleep should sort itself out at the rate of one day/timezone you travelled through. it will take a little while, but you'll soon be back on track.

Jennefer said...

Thanks for the update! It sounds like things are going pretty well, but I imagined you have been quite overwhelmed. I can understand wanting to take a break from blogging- maybe you should just keep it up and post once in awhile. There are no rules you know. You could post once a year if you wanted LOL! Just make a few comments on other blogs so we know you are back online.

Anonymous said...

The boys look very sweet together,
like they are getting along well.

When you get tired of cooking
separate meals for everyone,
get The Baby Bistro Cookbook.
This has a lot of "baby food"
that adults will like, too.
The Shepard's Pie, First Fried
Rice, and Salmon Souffle are
still family favorites of ours.

I'll miss you if you stop blogging.
I've enjoyed your blog for the
last few months, I love reading
other people's adoption experiences,
especially the Russian ones, since
that is where my kids are from.
I especially like reading about
the first time people meet their
kids, and their impressions of
the orphanages. And I also really
like reading about what happens
after they get home, because
that's when the adventure really
begins!

Sue B