Our latest events

It's been a while since our last update. Everything has settled into a routine and I am not much of a blogger so I guess every now and then I will find the time to post. I love these extended holidays and being able to stay home whole day. Victor loves mornings like these when mama and papa let him crawl into our bed and start mornings kissing each other. He is such an affectionate boy - I can't believe that just 7 months ago he didn't know how to hug.

We celebrated Victors 3rd B-day this month. What a day that was - he got so many gifts, he didn't know what to do with himself. He kept unwrapping and opening everything when guests came over rather than waiting till later during the party. He had a blast and slept for over 12 hours the next day. These pictures tell it all:





We also went on our first family outing to a spa which was 2 hrs away from home. He loved the pool and jacuzzi and even spent a minute or two in a hot sauna. And here is the proof...



We went to our 1st Disney Ice show and I probably loved it as much as Victor and his cousins. It was loud, it was fun and very colorful and we plan on taking the kids again in April.

And we had our 1st dentist appointment this month. What an experience that was... he would not let the doctor open his month. The hygienist barely got in there to put some white stuff on his teeth and that was it. We do have to get some work done on his further back teeth and will most likely have to do it under anesthesia, so I am not looking forward to that...

Other than these events, things have been pretty calm. Victor is a very smart kid and picks up on things quickly. I am amazed at how much he has developed over the past 7 months and is fully up to speed where he should be, except that he hasn't learned any English and that is because we are not teaching him yet. We want to make sure he has full grasp of Russian first and then transition on to English. He still has 2 years until he starts pre-K so we have plenty of time.

We also had our 1st family pictures and here are some of our cutie to end my update...

Guilty update...

The title says it all - I am guilty big time for not updating our blog for so long. It's now been 4 months since we came home with our baby. It definitely feels like he's been ours forever and not just 4.5 months. We are very blessed to have our Victor and enjoy every minute of our busy days.

We've done some interesting things over the past 2 months and also learned a lot more about each other. Every day brings a new thing that Victor learns to do or says. He is a fun and happy kid, although we go thru behavior issues often. He is a little stubborn kid and doesn't always like when we are disciplining him. But he is still little and is learning. Given we've only been his parents for 4.5 months - I think we are doing OK. We definitely had to change ourselves and become more tolerant and patient.

We maintain daily routines to limit him getting over-excited. If he gets too excited throughout the day - he sometimes wakes up crying at night. I guess too many new things at once is a still a bit too much emotionally for him. Overall, he sleeps great and never wakes up at night unless he is crying. The one thing that hurts me is him asking for mama every morning. He walks into our bedroom every morning and asks Ruslan if I am there. Just breaks my heart... His eyes light up on weekends when he sees me in bed with daddy. I am as much happy to cuddle with my boys on weekends!

We are amazed every day at how smart and quick he is at learning. He is singing ABC song a million times a day - the tunes are engraved in my head permanently. Not all letters come our clear, but he sure tries to do his best. He knows "no", "funny", "ewe". We speak Russian to him all the time as I know he will learn English in kindergarten in no time. He loves reading story tales before bedtime. He knows probably 5-6 russian tales already. And I only have to read it one time before he picks it up. I start sentences and he finishes them next time we ready. Victor also loves music. He just freezes when he hears songs or tunes. We are thinking about starting music lessons with him in a year or two. He is so energetic all the time , so we want his energy to go into something that will keep him interested and busy.

He has become a very polite kid. He says please for everything. Even when he wants to run... such a funny boy. When he thinks he is done eating, he asks me "mama, spasibo?". Victor hears Ruslan saying spasibo (thank you) when we are done eating, and that is how Victor is asking me if he is done as well.

He repeats every single word we say. I can't believe he just started talking in Aug of 2007 per orphanage staff. You couldn't tell now he's just been talking a year. talks non-stop about anything that comes to his mind. He is also counting to 5 and knows basic colors.


We had a lot of new things over the past summer: a trip to the local lake, Hershey's park, big pool at the park. Next weekend we're going to a zoo - this for sure will be very exciting for our Vitya. And another big thing is coming up in 2 weeks. Ruslan and I are taking a week long vacation to Hawaii to celebrate our 10th anniversary. He'll be staying with our parents - I don't khow he is going to do without us and how we will handle our 1st time being apart.

And to end my update are some recent pics.




Young biker


I just need to grow a little bit to ride this one...


Fun at the water park


Hello to all from an airplane



With mommy



With a candy character - Vitya could not look straight he was so excited


But our daddy came out very handsome!

Summer pictures

Our cuttie after a bath!!!! He loves his froggy...




Getting a ride on daddy's new bike... Mom doesn't really like that...




Our first trip to the pool! We had to borrow a girly swim-suit - the one we bought was too big for Victor.




Victor directing where daddy should swim....




Ruslan getting a break and doing the diving



I will post later about our life...

Brief updates

We're nearing our one month anniversary this Sunday since coming home and let me tell you - I have no idea where this month went. It does seem like we've been home for a long time but at the same time I didn't get a lot of things done. Between work and chores at home - days are flying by.

Victor is a pretty happy guy so we don't have much to complain about, except some eating issues once in a while. He is sleeping well, getting along with everyone pretty well and is a great kid. He is being more and more affectionate - gives us hugs and kisses out of the blue. He tells us in Russian he loves us and we do the same throughout each day. It' just amazing how much kids learn with love and care!

He is making good progress on colors and counting 1 to 5. He loves repeating beginning and end of the ABC song that a few of his toys have. He gets very excited when he can finish it right on the spot as the song ends and has a big smile on his face each time. I get a kick out of Victor trying to repeat stuff we say in English - he definitely knows the difference between languages and things it's so funny when we're saying something he doesn't understand yet.

The other funny thing he does, he likes to call us mama Inna and papa Ruslan. When we don't respond to just mama and papa, he calls us by our names as well. It sounds very funny and he has a very serious impression on his face when he is saying it.

We had a visit to the pediatrician last week - all tests are normal, but we are going to see a pediatric dermatalogist about the rash on his face. We believe he is allergic to milk so hopefully they can confirm that.

We're spending a lot of time outside - we have almost 2 acres of land, so there is plenty of room to run around. One of the gifts we got was a gym set on the property and he loves it! We're planning to go to the pool this weekend, so we're looking forward to Victor's reaction. He loves taking daily baths in the bathtub and even tries to swim - so we're hoping he'll love a lot more water...

We're looking forward to this summer and enjoying a lot of new things with Victor!