He has landed.....

Where do I begin, what a crazy night!

Here’s the play by play... we left the hotel at 430pm, and headed to the court house to pick up the final documents. To our delight, none of Andre’s family decided they wanted him in the past 10 days.. Wheeew! Then we drove to the orphanage. Now I should probably stop and tell you about how we were feeling right about then, and before we left. All day, Jeanette and I were nervous. Butterflies in the stomach nervous. The day dragged by, but went fast at the same time. WE baby proofed the room, got the crib. (Old playpen) 2 familes leave tomorrow, so we’ll get their cribs, real wood ones. But Jeanette and I wanted to get on with it! Enoigh already! But we were nervous. As we left I got kinda giddy, a nervous type giddy, and the ride to the orphanage seememd extra bumpy. Our facilitator said in beautiful broken English, “maybe you are more sensitive today”. And by golly, I think she was right. So, an hour later we got to the orphanage, and walked up to the playroom that we always go to, it was like any other visit. We got even more nervous. Andrey is usually the first once of (remember, we are travelling with the Swingles, and their boy Eli, is always late in arriving) So Andrey comes in with his caregiver and he begins crying, again, like a normal visit. We shove a goldfish in his mouth and bam! He’s our best friend. So the next mission is to put our clothes on him. Jeanette and I have been dreaming of putting him in American looking clothing, and getting him out of the orphanage gear. He let us re-dress him, except for the booties we brought for him, he crunched up his big Siberian toes, and held them crunched together the whole time. Like 30 minutes., we never did get those booties on, ever! So, we got him dressed, and guess who he looked like - -big bro Thomas! Speaking of T, we left him at our hotel in the good hands of Sheri Axtell, another american who is here and will get to bring her 3 yr old girl home next week. So by this time, Eli was here and getting dressed, and we were ready to go. WE felt better now, like we were actually taking Andrey home... It had been the end to a 18 month journey..So, we headed downstairs to leave, and the most touching/sad thinghappenend. Andrey’s caregiver showed up, wanting to say goodbye to him. He smiled and wanted to go to her, she kissed him, hugged him,and was crying. Basically what she said in Russian, we later found out, was she thought of Andrey as her own son, and loved him very much. You could see she was sad and would miss him. It was a very deep hurt.

So, we took him out to the van and away we went ! It was a great feeling, it was emotional, it felt like we had a kid and were bringin him home. Diiferent from a childbirth thing, but similiar. It was hard to explain.

In the van, Andrey looked at everything, as Jeanette fed him every few seconds. Imagine never seeing cars or anything, and the little guy is seeing it all for the first time. WE were trying to avoid a meltdown, and about 30 mins into the drive, a funny thing happened, Andrey out his thumb in his mouth and went to sleep. Thomas didn’t know he had a thumb until he tunred 3, so this was new for us. He slept all the way back... We did have a small incident in the van, Our new friend Eli got a little motin sick, and threw up a tad. I guess it’s prety common for that to happen. The whole van got a little “tangy” inside.
So we got back and took Andrey upstairs, he had woken up.

We got to introduce him to Thomas.

We walked in, and Thomas looked like he was a bit in shock. I guess it hadn’t really hit him until just at that moment. Also remember, Ole Thomas doesn’t do well after his bedtime has passed (it was now 800 or so. ) So we hung out for a bit and tried to feed Andrey some food. It only is fed pureed type things in the orphanage, so when we tried to mash up some steak and chicken, it didn’t really like it.. So we gave him yogurt and milk and that was about it. So Sheri left and it was just the 4 of us. It was weird, Jeanette and I had imagined him being here, but he actually was.... The I smelled it. Could it be? Our first with Andrey? Yes! It was a big pooper! That was fun, it had been awhile since Jeanette and I had changed one, so we tag teamed it.. Just like old times!

Then, it began.. The sibling rivalry. Andrey grabbed a train, and Thomas erupted. They went back and forth, Thomas just hated it.. I believe that’s when my lovely wife sat on my mom’s digital camera, and yes.. Sorry Grandma Sue, it broke!! We’ll take care of it...

So, off T went to bed, and that left me with Andrey. Thankfully we have a suite with 2 rooms. So I rocked him a little and figured, time for bed! Well, I put him in the crib, and he didn’t like it. He screamed, so after a few minutes, and after Jeanette told me to, I picked him up, and immediately his thumb went into his mouth and he dozed off... I laid him down, in the crib, and that’s all she wrote... he slept until 645am, and he popped up like he had always lived here....

Thats all for now... don't have much more time to write due to now having 2 active children in the room! and... Thomas is sick, but my lovely wife brought antibiotics, so he should be getting better...

Andrey is a handfull!! and its snowing and 15 degreees... we need Calif. badly..

Greg and Jeanette

ps.. my father in law is having surgery right now for a blood clot in his neck.. so keep him in your prayers please :)