Adventure to Haylie

Miscellaneous Pictures

2010-09-10T15:11:00.006-04:00

Playing in the sprinkler on a hot summer day
Helping with grilling while camping

Ready for church

Trying on her new rain boots

She loves these "pinchers"

GramGram pushing me around and having a blast

Such a happy girlie before her surgery (not so much after tho!!)

With our dear friend Joy who works as an OR nurse and luckily got to go in with Haylie during her surgery

All dressed up and nowhere to go!!

She really liked her hat

We've had a crazy summer and I haven't had the time or inclination to post for awhile. Here are some miscellaneous pictures of my girl. One big thing that happened was Haylie had to have her tonsils and adnoids removed a few months ago for recurrent strep throat. She was such a trooper and did great. Some of these pictures are of her waiting to go into surgery which I thought were adorable. The doctor was running late and we had to wait almost 2 hours after Haylie was all ready. She had a blast playing with the staff and riding a little car up and down the halls.

The other picts are just some cute random ones.

4 Years Old!!!

2010-06-25T13:34:00.007-04:00

Happy 4-year-old
Playing with chalk roller--present from GramGram
New bathing suit from Grandmom Holl and blower goggles (she wears them whenever possible!!)
Favorite blower & goggles
Opening presents in Ladybug Girl wings
Maddie Jo & Haylie having a blast
Playing with the wagon
Haylie, Julia, & Maddie Jo opening presents at the cookout
Birthday Girl
Pretty cupcake/birthday cake

My girl turned 4 years old on May 30. I cannot believe how fast these years have passed or how big she has gotten. We celebrated with friends and family with a simple cookout in my mom's backyard. Our friends Bobbi Jo and her daughter Maddie Jo came to party with us. Maddie Jo is just 6 months younger than Haylie, so they have a great time together. We started the day at church which is one of Haylie's favorite places to be...she loves, loves, loves singing church songs in Sunday School. We took her out to lunch for pizza, then to Monkey Joe's for some bounce time (another one of her favorite places in the whole world!!) Then to Gramgrams house for a cookout & party. It was a loooong day but she had a blast. She got lots of loot and toys of course. Her favorite thing was a toy leaf blower with goggles. She literally screamed with delight when she opened it and then didn't want to open the rest of her presents because she only wanted to play with the blower. I know, I know she is a little girlie and you'd think dolls or princesses would be her favorite, but not my girl. She is all about the power tools and lawn mowers. She is still OBSESSED with lawn mowers...we contemplated getting her a battery powered riding lawn mower but thought better of it, at least for now--maybe Christmas!!

Happy Easter--better late than never!!!

2010-05-25T13:59:00.005-04:00

Happy Easter
At the cemetary

With cousin JuJu

Peek-A-Boo

Ready to go to GramGrams for Easter dinner

The whole family at the Lexington Cemetary on Easter Sunday

Check out my cute bunny shirt (this is the face I get now when I say to smile for the camera!!!)

Walking in sunshine!!!

Cool bunny mask from the easter bunny

Waiting for Easter Egg Hunt at park

Running in my pretty Easter Dress

All dressed up for churchNot too sure about this scary looking Easter Bunny

Look at all the eggs I found at the park

I am so far behind on posting pictures I may never catch up. I've been trying to post once a month, but obviously I've not been doing even that lately. Here are some great pictures of my girl from Easter. After church, we spent it at my moms house with the family and then went to the Lexington Cemetary to see all the beautiful spring trees/flowers. For those of you not from here, I know it sounds weird but we have a gorgeous cemetary that is like a beautiful park. It is full of live flowers and flowering trees that are always beautiful in the spring, so we go every year. We also went on an Easter Egg Hunt at the big Easy Walker Park in Mt Sterling the week before Easter, so some of the pictures are from that. She was really into Easter this year and the whole egg hunt thing.

My girl is getting soooooo big I can't believe it. She will be 4 years old on Sunday, so I'll post some pictures soon of the big birthday party (I promise!!!). She is a very active girlie and keeps us hopping for sure, but can't imagine life without her...how boring (but quiet!!) our life was before she came into our lives.

PS. I apologize about the random order of the pictures...I posted them all in some semblence of order but the crazy way blogger loads, they come up in a totally different random order. Anyway, I posted lots of pictures to make up for the 3 months since my last post!!!

Great Wolf Lodge

2010-02-12T15:25:00.003-05:00

She really hated having to wear the wristband the entire time we were there
All dressed and ready to go down to the waterpark

Hold my hand Daddy!!

The Great Wolf Lodge all decorated for the holidays

My little monkey--climbed all over these things in the Lobby

As usual, I'm a little behind on my posts. We took Haylie to the Great Wolf Lodge right outside of Cincinnati for a little get-away the week between Christmas and New Years. Rich and I were both off, so thought it would be a great time to let her get in a little swimming in the middle of winter. It was great, but of course since all kiddos are out of school that time of year, everybody else had the same idea. It was absolutely packed with kids ripping and running around everywhere. We had to wait almost 2 hours to get checked into our room (and that was after the 4 pm check-in time!!) There were long waits for all of the water slides, to get in the restaurants, and even to get on the elevators (of course we were on the top floor so basically HAD to use the elevator). For those of you who have never been they have a huge indoor water park attached to the hotel. They also have a game called MagiQuest that all the kids play where they go around with a magic wand and do all sorts of virtual gamethings. Haylie was too little to play it, but there were hundreds of older kids running all over the hotel playing this game--you had to be careful or you could easily get mowed down by a pack of 8 year old boys running to the next MagiQuest station.

Haylie loved the wave pool and just playing in the water in general. However, she was petrified to go down any of the little water slides (they have some just her size in addition to the great big guys). Always before, she had been totally fearless in the water. We've gone swimming several times in both public and private pools and she had always just took off and gone right under water even...I literally had to watch her every minute for fear she would just jump into the deep end. But for some reason, she was really timid and scared in the waterpark. Wanted to be held all the time, and cried and cried when we tried to make her go down one of the slides. But of course, she absolutely balled when we tried to leave too. It was still a lot of fun but I think we might wait another year before going back, and definitely won't go again over Christmas break!!!

Our 2nd Gotcha Day

2010-01-14T22:34:00.002-05:00

I was the same height as the Santas last year!!

Finally wearing our glasses most of the time!!!

Look how long my hair has gotten!!

Go CATS!!!!

With my Daddy at the Monkey Joes Bouncy House

Look How I've Changed in the past 2 years

At the orphanage the day we picked her up January 14, 2008

First bath

Ready to leave the orphanage

2 years ago today we picked Haylie up from the orphanage and started our lives together. I can not believe how fast it has gone, or how big she has gotten. She is no longer a baby, but quite the young lady. She talks a blue streak, is now mostly potty trained (still having trouble with the whole poo poo on the potty however), and never stops!!! She has gotten sooooo tall, looks like she may be a volleyball or basketball player--can we say full scholarship to UK!!! And just look how long her hair has gotten. Hard to believe she couldn't walk, talk, or eat solid food when we got her. We feel so blessed to be her parents. Time always flies, but it almost seems like we can see her grow from day to day...life is truly but a vapor. Thank you Lord for our special girl.

Merry Christmas 2009

2009-12-31T22:58:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. We had a really nice one despite the fact Haylie had a temperature of 105.1 on Christmas Eve with strep throat. Luckily after a few doses of antibiotics she was almost as good as new by Christmas morning. My family all came out Christmas Eve and spent two nights so everyone could see Haylie's Christmas. She's the only little one now on either side of the family, so as you might imagine she cleans up when it comes to presents!! She was really into it this year which was really fun. We went and saw Santa and she hopped right up on his lap--when he asked what she wanted for Christmas she shouted "Presents!!!!", nothing specific just presents in general. Which of course she got lots of.

Her "big" present from Santa was a talking, bouncy horse on springs which she is wild about. She rides it constantly and has already about worn out the button which turns on its talking/singing/neighing. Her other favorite gifts are a toy guitar which plays 6 or 8 different songs (very loudly unfortunately) and a really neat talking doll house (from Aunt Lisa). Also, for some reason Haylie LOVES any type of "blower" including furnace blowers, lawn blowers, hand blowers in public restrooms and hair blow dryers. My mom found a toy blow dryer that makes noise like a real one and Haylie is crazy about it.

My house is now overflowing with toys--I need to go thru them and get rid of the old ones, although she still plays really well with all of them. I swore before we got her, we wouldn't have a gazillion toys, but here we are now with my living room overrun. Not as bad as some, but worse than others I suppose. Stupidly, before she came I bought one little storage box that I was sure would hold all of her toys. That thing now doesn't even hold all of her books, and I just had to buy a 3rd storage bin for all the toys that will fit in it!!! I know I shouldn't complain, and just be happy we are so blessed to be able to have so much. I can't help but think of what kind of Christmas she might have had if she was still in Russia. Luckily, since God sent her to us, both Rich and I & Haylie have much better holidays than we ever did before, for which we are so very grateful.
Enjoy the slideshow & Happy New Year

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Santa Visit

2009-12-31T21:58:00.000-05:00

I'm playing catch up with my posts. Here are some great pictures of Haylie with Santa this year. I'll post Christmas pictures tomorrow.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-04T23:29:00.003-05:00

Haylie had a blast for Halloween. We went to trunk-or-treat at our church on Friday night, which was a BIG success. She loved seeing everyone dressed up, getting her candy, and the games that they had set up. She also loved her costume...she was the cutest little elephant you've ever seen. My neice Julia had used the same costume when she was Haylie's age, so it made it even more special to see Haylie in it. Since there was a home UK football game on actual trick-or-treat night, she stayed with Gram-Gram and didn't go trick-or-treating while we went to the game. She didn't even know she missed it. She got a whole pumpkin full of candythe night before. Luckily, she is not a big candy eating girl. Unluckily, daddy and I are, so we certainly didn't need anymore to eat.

In other news, Haylie moved up at her preschool into the big 3 year old room this week. So far so good. They had been keeping her in the "transitional 2's" room since she still isn't completely potty trained. The whole poo poo on the potty thing still eludes her. She does really well with the pee pee thing. But isn't doesnt' bother her a bit to poop in her pants. We've tried everything I can think of like M&M's, stickers, books, big girl panties, etc. but nothing seems to work. Hopefully she'll get the hang of it before we get to kindergarten!!!

I'm trying something new with these video's. Hopefully you can see my sweet little elephant in action.

Pumpkin Time

2009-10-28T23:17:00.004-04:00

It's my favorite time of year!!! We've been to 2 different pumpkin patches now and still can't get a really good picture of Haylie with the pumpkins. I always see all of these cute little kids smiling and posing with the pumpkins, but my girl absolutely refuses to sit still to pose. She actually seems to look the other way on purpose. The ones on the bottom are some we tried to get at home in her adorable Halloween outfit. The sun was really bothering her eyes, and again she refused to pose. Her shirt says "Happy Boo to You", but she insists it says "Happy Boo-Hoo to you!!". She is getting pretty excited about Halloween and keeps saying "lets go trick-or-treating" even though she really has no idea what that means.

Two Years Ago Today....

2009-09-16T22:21:00.004-04:00

Haylie THEN

We met Haylie for the very first time. I can't believe how fast these 2 years have gone. In some ways it seems like it was just yesterday, and in other ways it seems like she has always been part of our life. Boy has she made a lot of progress in these 2 years. She was 15 months old when we first met. She couldn't walk, but was crawling and pulling up. She didn't speak at all and wouldn't eat any solid food. She did smile a couple of times while we were there, but mostly just had a kind of blank stare. Her personality has changed so much, she is hardly even the same child. She is now such a happy, outgoing little girlie. She is now 31 pounds (was only 18 pounds then) and is 36 inches tall!! She eats anything and everything--she even ate chicken livers yesterday!!! She talks and/or sings constantly and can actually carry a pretty good tune. Of course, she has totally changed our world for the better. We are eternally grateful for our precious girl. Just looked how she has changed......

and Haylie NOW

Forever Friends

2009-09-11T22:01:00.004-04:00

Two Swinging Girls

Renee & Aileen

Renee, Haylie & Aileen

Me & Aileen

I've not been a very good blogger, so thought I would try and get caught up on some posts I've been meaning to get on. A few weeks ago, my best friend from high school Aileen came to visit from Florida and brought her beautiful daughter Renee. We've been best friends all these years, and even though we go long periods of time without seeing each other or even talking, seems we can always just pick up like we've never been apart. It was sooooooo good to be able to spend some time with her. It was my first time meeting Renee who is absolutely delightful. We met up at my favorite park for our 2 girls to play for awhile. Renee played so sweet with Haylie. Haylie immediately fell in love with her. After the park, we made a trip to Mickey D's and the girls played for awhile in the playland--Haylie also fell in love with playland and of course didn't want to leave!! We spent the rest of the day just visiting and getting caught up. She's the absolute best kind of friend...not only have we been friends forever, but we know we'll always be Forever Friends. Love you Aileen!!!

Our Mini Vacation

2009-07-25T01:32:00.003-04:00

Last week Haylie's daycare was closed all week for "cleaning", so I took off all week to spend some time with my girl. Rich, Julia (my niece), and Haylie took off for Louisville for a little "mini vacation". We spent the first day at the Louisville Zoo. Haylie got sooo excited when I told her we were going to the zoo...which I thought was hilarious because I really wasn't sure she even knew what a zoo was. We have a book we read called "Zoo Day" so that is really the only point of reference she had, and we had Never really talked about what a zoo was. Anyway, she sure was excited to go. We talked about all the animals we would see and she was most excited to see the giraffes before we got there. However, once we actually got there, she wasn't overly impressed with any of the animals. We went up to the giraffe area where they had a cute little baby giraffe and its mommy. I thought she would be sooooo excited--but just about as soon as we got up to the fence, she said "All done". She repeated this phrase of "all done" with just about all of the animals. Her favorite part of the zoo was the big playground they had. She could have spent the entire day there and cried when we finally pulled her off the slide to go see more animals!!

The following day we drove up to Santa Claus, Indiana to go to Holiday World. For those of you not familiar, it is a really nice little amusement park with a great water park included in the admission price. I had taken Julia there 2-3 years ago, just the 2 of us, and we had a blast. However, having a 3 year old and a 13-year-old together there at the same time, was not the best combo. Of course Julia wanted to rip and run and ride all the big rides, while Haylie had to ride the little kiddie rides, and Julia wouldn't ride anything by herself. So, I don't think Julia had the best of times and thought Haylie was holding her back. We tried to take turns with one of us riding with Julia, while the other took Haylie to a kiddie ride, but not always successfully. Anyway, I think we did have a good time when all was said and done, even if Julia didn't get to ride all the cool big water slides. Haylie absolutely LOVED the kiddie rides, however the whole waiting in line business was not her thing. She couldn't understand why she couldn't walk right up to the front of the line and get right on. We actually waited about 1/2 hour for one ride, but that was the last long line we waited in--Haylie was not happy with that long of a wait. Luckily most of the rides for her weren't that long.

We spent a total of 3 nights on the road and then spent the rest of the week at home, just me and my girl and her Daddy. It was nice to be able to stay home with her for a change--she really is a homebody and likes being at home.

I'm trying something new and doing lots of pictures on a smilebox video show. Here's hoping it works--enjoy the pictures!!

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-16T15:41:00.003-04:00

Daddy in his favorite position but Lucy had other ideas!!
Cute picture of Haylie--horrible picture of Mommy

Haylie with Aunt Lisa

Miss 4th of July

Kisses for her new best friend

Posing with Lucy (and an asleep Julia in the background)

Say Cheeeeeeeese

We've had a busy July, so I'm just now getting around to putting our 4th pictures on. The entire family (Rich, me, Haylie, my mom, my sister Marcia, and Julia my niece) drove down to Charlotte, NC to visit my other sister Lisa. She just moved there a couple of months ago, so none of us had been down to see her and her new home. We left on Thursday before the 4th and stayed until the following Monday, so we had a nice long weekend. It's about an 8 hour drive, so it was Haylie's longest road trip by far. She did amazingly well. She is not one of those kids who immediately goes to sleep the minute you put her in the car seat. In fact she rarely sleeps in the car unless she is utterly exhausted. So that said, she was really well behaved both going and coming home with really no meltdowns. She played with her toys and sang and sang and sang. I think I've got a future professional singer on my hands. She now knows all the words to most of the church and kiddie songs, and actually carries a pretty good tune for a 3 year old.

We didn't get to Charlotte til almost 9 pm Thursday night, and then ate dinner after we got there, so didn't get to bed til late. Of course Haylie was all off her normal schedule all weekend, but still did pretty well. Lisa has a gorgeous new HUGE house, so there was lots of things and places for Haylie to run around and get into all weekend. They also have 2 dogs which Haylie just loved. She is hilarious around animals--she gets all excited to see them, but when she actually gets close to them, she squeals and runs back and says "Hold me, hold me". So it took a couple of days for her to actually warm up to Lucy, the little Papillion dog that they keep inside. As you can see in the above picture, she really loved Lucy and kept saying over and over "See Lucy, see Lucy" the entire weekend. In fact now that we are back home, she still says she wants to see Lucy!!! Their other dog is a german shepherd that stays outside--Haylie kept going to the windows, lifting the blinds, trying to see Ogie outside. Whenever we would take her out to see him, she squealed like crazy and wouldn't let you put her down.

We went to downtown Charlotte to watch the fireworks on the 4th. It was Haylie's first time to see the fireworks--Rich and I were on a cruise last year and my mom kept Haylie while we were gone and they didn't go see the fireworks. So, I wasn't sure how she would do with the loud noise. But she did great--wasn't scared at all. Actually excellent for a little girl who was petrified with loud noises when we first got her home. She wasn't really too impressed with the show. I kept saying "Look at that Haylie" and she'd just say "Yeah". She was more interested in crawling around on the blanket everyone was sitting on on the ground and jumping into every ones laps. I finally put her in her stroller and belted her in so everybody else could enjoy the fireworks. She sat and watched them for a little bit and then covered her ears with both hands saying "it hurts my ears". Luckily they were over soon after that.

But we had a really good time visiting Aunt Lisa, and hated to start the long trip home. Thank you sweet Lisa for a great weekend!! We did see the strangest thing I have ever seen on the road driving back thru the mountains of North Carolina. We passed a car that was towing a little trailer with--can you believe it--a coffin bungee corded on the trailer!!! It was kind of rusted looking, so don't know if it was used or occupied or what!!! It was a first for all of us--we were rolling we were all laughing so hard.

We just got back from a little mini vacation to Louisville and southern Indiana, but I'll put a new post on with the those pictures, so stay tuned...

She's 3 Years Old!!!

2009-06-11T22:16:00.004-04:00

Happy Birthday Haylie!!!

Haylie teaching Maddie bad habits--Haylie is a finger sucker and here she is being a bad influence on Maddie while they play in the bed in the camper during the big rainstorm

More playing in the bed in the camper

Swinging with daddy at the campground (before the rain)

Haylie and Maddie Jo enjoying a cold one before the the big storm

It's hard to believe, but our Haylie is now 3 years old. We actually celebrated her birthday, which is May 30th, a week early over Memorial Day weekend. My sister Lisa was up from North Carolina that weekend, so we decided to have her party while she was here. Unfortunately, the party didn't go quite as planned...it turned out OK but definately not the way I had envisioned. We had taken our new camper down to Boonesboro Park to camp for the weekend. We had planned to have a cookout for her birthday on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. We got balloons & streamers and decorated around the picnic table for the party. My dear friend from work Bobbi Jo and her family came down, along with my mom, 2 sisters, and my niece Julia. I had just put 16 hamburgers on the fire, when an absolutely torrential downpour/thunderstorm came up. It poured rain, with lots of thunder and lightening. I was trying to finish cooking the burgers with an umbrella, but as fast as the rain was coming down, the charcoal was drenched and the fire went out. Todd, Bobbi Jo's husband was wonderful and tried to help me, but we both got drenched in the process. We ended up taking the hamburgers off the grill and finished cooking them on the outdoor gas stove on the camper which was under the awning. However, there was soooo much rain that I was literally standing in about 5 inches of water while grilling. It was just like there was a small pond right out the door of the camper. Once they were finally done, we ended up--all 12 of us--in the camper eating and having cake and ice cream and presents. Needless to say it was close quarters, but we actually had fun. Bobbi Jo's little girl Maddie is just a few months younger than Haylie, and they had a blast playing together. A memorable birthday for sure. The above pictures were taken by Julia on her new camera, because silly mommy forgot the camera. I did get it all on video, but not on film, so thank you Julia for sharing your pictures.

Climbing into the big bouncy room

In ecstacy after coming out of the bouncy room
Climbing up the big slide
Getting ready for the big slide down
WHEEEEEEEE

The following Saturday was her actual birthday. We had decided just the 3 of us would spend the big day celebrating. We went out to lunch at Garden Cafe, which is always a great time. Then we had promised Haylie we would take her to Bounce U, which several people had recommended. We'd been telling her all day we were going to go bouncing, and she was really excited, even tho she really didn't know what it was all about. However, when we got there, were found out it is only open to private parties on Saturdays. I was so mad--I never even thought to call to find out, just assumed it would be open on the weekend. So, we had to punt because she just kept saying "lets go bounce". We decided we would take her to Shillito Park which was nearby. She had never been to this particular park, so we thought it would at least be someplace new, and she's never met a playground she didn't love. Lo and behold as we pulled into the park, they were having a little fair in the park and had 5-6 blow up rides including a bouncing room and big blow-up slide. She was really too little for the other things they had, but she had a blast on the 2 rides she could go on. She went on the slide probably 5-6 times--couldn't climb up the ladder by herself, but sure tried hard. She really had a hard time in the bouncy room cause she was the smallest kid in there and the big kids were jumping so hard, she couldn't really stand up...she was bouncing around on her rear end like a ping pong ball, but she loved every minute, and didn't want to get out when her turn was up. So even tho she didn't get to Bounce U, I think she had a good birthday and really had fun.

Easter Pictures

2009-05-07T12:18:00.005-04:00

With Ju Ju
See Gramgram's pretty flowers

I think I'll just sit in the middle of the flowers!!!

Daddy's chasing me!!

Shut your mouth

With my duckie quaking whistle from the Easter Bunny

Look at all this loot the little bunny brought me

My sweet girl with her hat on (which only stayed on about 2 minutes)

Haylie and Julia

Sweet Julia is growing up to be such a beautiful young lady

With the bunny ears on

Swinging in GramGram's back yard is one of Haylie's all-time favorite things to do...

especially with her best bud Ju Ju

Haylie's 1st Easter Egg Hunt (all bundled up from the cold)

Dancing to the music with my new keyboard--that blur is her arms swinging!!

I know, I know I've been a bad blogger and haven't posted anything in ages. My family has been after me so I finally found time to sit down and do it. Things are going well--Haylie is growing by leaps and bounds. She is wearing 3T pants now for her long legs, even though around the waist she is still more a 18-24 month size. We are going to be changing to a new daycare next week, so hopefully all will go well. This place actually has preschool and is MUCH more structured which I think she definitely needs. They have some pretty strict rules, so hopefully they won't throw her out!! The 2 biggest challenges will be NO sippy cups, big girl glasses only. We have only been doing sippy cups at home and just started practicing with a glass-- she always spills it, so I know for awhile she'll be needing her clothes changed frequently (guess that's why they have you bring 3 extra changes of clothes!!!) Also, to be able to go into the 3 year old room she has to be completely potty trained. We are not quite there yet--she does fairly well with #1, but not so good with #2 at all. She will be 3 at the end of this month, so we will see. I've talked to them and discussed her situation and they are going to leave her in the "transitional 2's" for now. By my estimation she is still about 3-6 months delayed with speech and behavior. But boy, has she come a LONG way.

Anyway, I'm posting LOTS of pictures of Easter. We had a great time and meal at my mom's house and Haylie got to do her 1st Easter Egg Hunt with her cousin Julia...she loved it, even though it was really cold that day. She just kept wanting to go find more!! Sorry, they are all out of order, but being the wiz at the computer/blogger I am, when I posted them all in order, they showed up all out of order--oh, well, at least I finally put some on!!

We're So Proud of our Daddy

2009-04-04T22:38:00.008-04:00

Putting flowers on Papaw's grave
With best friend cousin Julia

I LOVE playing with JuJu
Rolling in the grass

Sure wish Papaw could see these girls now!!

Rich Holl--famous author

At booksigning at Joseph-Beth Bookstore

Look at that line!!

Doesn't he look cute!!!

Daddy has written a book called "Wildcats in Turmoil" which was published last fall. It's doing pretty well, and he even had a book signing at Joseph-Beth bookstore (above). I've been meaning to post these pictures but kept forgetting. It's about the UK Wildcat basketball team last year with the new coach (who is now the old coach!!). It is also a great history of the Wildcat basketball program. Of course with the recent firing of Coach Gillespie, there is renewed interest in his book. I'm so proud of him--he wrote the entire book in about 8 months and then got it published, all the while also working his full-time job teaching history.

I've been remiss in posting and just realized it's been over a month. Not a lot new been going on. Rich and I did go on a weeklong cruise 2 weeks ago for his spring break. We had a great and relaxing week. We left the Haybug home with my mom, and although we really missed her, it was nice to get away.

Haylie's been sick the past week, with a wicked case of bronchitis. She had to miss 2 days of daycare due to fever and cough. My sweet mom took care of her for me. Speaking of daycare, I'm looking at other daycares. I'm not really pleased with where she is and have an appointment to look at another place on Monday. It's not that they have really done anything terrible, but just several little things that have made me uneasy. They also have no real structure--the kids just play and watch TV/Videos. I think Haylie would really benefit from more structure...I think her behavior has actually gotten worse since she started going there. Plus, she'll be old enough for preschool this fall and they have no preschool there, so I want to move her where she can get preschool and daycare at the same place.

The pictures above are the most recent I've taken (believe it or not, I did not take one single picture on the cruise--if Haylie isn't around, why bother--hah.) We drove out to my dad's gravesite on a really pretty Saturday a couple of weeks ago. Haylie and my neice Julia had a great time running up and down the hill. It is really a beautiful graveyard--he is at Camp Nelson military cemetary. Unfortuately, my dad never got to meet our sweet girl--he would have been so crazy about her!!

My Funny Valentine

2009-02-24T17:32:00.003-05:00

Hope everyone had a great Valentines Day. I know I'm a little late but I had to post these adorable pictures of Haylie taken the day after Valentines for church. She looks so grown up in them and her adorable personality really comes through.

We had a really nice Valentines Day. My sweet hubby got me flowers, chocolate covered strawberries and a sweet card. He also took me out for a wonderful meal at a little place called Metropol in downtown Lexington. It was a fantastic meal, which for us was unusual. We have historically not had good Valentines meals--Rich always tries hard but for various reasons, seems like the meal part is frequently lacking, even though he always takes me to really nice places. Seems like even fancy/schmancy places try to make a big buck on the day, but the quality is usually pitiful. But not this year!!! We decided it was our best Valentines meal ever. Of course having our Haylie as our favorite Valentine ever made it an even nicer day. The whole thing was really made even better since my sweet mom babysat so we could have a nice quiet dinner alone without the previously mentioned 2 year old around.

We've Started Daycare!!!

2009-01-27T15:36:00.003-05:00

Check out these hairdo's!!!

Well, we broke down and put Haylie in daycare the first of the year. I know it's much more traumatic for me that it is for her, and I hope we both are eventually going to make the transition to smooth sailing. It actually hasn't been that bad, but there have been a few bumps along the way. My dear sweet 76-year-old mother has been taking care of her for the last year. Of course with Haylie being your very active typical 2 year old terror, it was really wearing my mom out. I kept asking her if she wanted me to put her into daycare, and she just kept saying "no, I want to do it as long as I can". Well one Friday after a particularly crazy week, I asked her again and she said "Yes, I'm ready." While I really didn't want to do it, I also don't want to kill my sweet mother. I'm just soooo grateful she got one whole year staying at home with GramGram, who is the best Grandmother in the whole wide world.

Of course it's not as easy as you might think finding a good daycare. All of the "good" ones have long waiting lists, especially if the child is not potty trained (which Haylie is still not). Some had up to 2 year waits!! Two of my patients recommended this place to me where their children go, and luckily they had an opening after the first of the year. So we officially started on Jan 7th and only left her for a 1/2 day the first day. Of course she screams "Mommy, mommy" still everyday when I leave her, but I know she stops before I even get into my car. It seems that they take good care of her and are kind and caring with her. The one thing I hate about it is that they don't give any kind of report at the end of the day, like if she ate, slept, pooped, etc. When you ask, they say they don't know because they have a morning shift that leaves at 2, and its the afternoon shift there when we pick her up. They don't have any kind of written report, which evidently most places do have. I know for a fact she is not napping well, because she will not just lie down and easily slip into dream land. At home she cries for 2-3 minutes, then plays in her crib for about 1/2 hour and then finally falls asleep with her music on. She will nap for 2 1/2-3 hours at home, once she finally goes to sleep. At daycare, she has to lay on a little cot on the floor and only has from 12-2 to sleep. Most days she comes home so tired looking. At least we can get her to bed a lot earlier!! Anyway, we've also of course all been sick since she started. She actually got a sinus infection the first week she was there and missed that Friday. I put her on antibiotics for a week, and it came right back and now she's back on antibiotics because she had a probable pneumonia last week. Luckily, she is much better today. But now I've gotten a terrible cold, as has my sister, and mom. We're just waiting for daddy to get it--of course that will be the most tragic, as he just knows he is going to die everytime he gets a cold!!!

Speaking of Daddy, he actually did an amazing thing this past weekend. He kept Haylie overnight for almost 26 hours straight, so mommy could go out of town. My dear sister Lisa got my mom, my other sister Marcia, and I all tickets to see "Wicked" in Louisville on Saturday night. We had a wonderful weekend just us girls and of course the play was wonderful (it was only my 3rd time seeing it!!). We shopped and then ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Since the play wasn't over till 11:00 pm we spent the night at the Galt House, and then got home around 2:30. Rich watched Haylie the entire time and lived to tell about it. He actually had to change 3 poopie diapers, which is 1 more than he has changed the entire previous year!! To be honest, my niece Julia who is 12 also stayed with him and helped out a lot. But Daddy did live to tell about it, and so did Haylie with only minimal collateral damage. She did take all of her clothes off during her nap, including her diaper. (That's what she does quite often during that 30 minutes she is playing before she falls asleep I told you about earlier!!) She then proceeded to pee in the bed and then fall asleep. Daddy left her sleeping buck naked and then just wiped the sheet with a papertowel when he got her up. Luckily, she didn't poop everywhere!!

Anyway, I know this is a long post, but I haven't updated for a while. Above are some cute pictures of what they do with Haylie at daycare. She has come home 3 times now with her hair french braided or in cornrows. There is a cute little Hispanic girl who works there who says she does it while they are sitting watching TV. The first day it happened when I picked up Haylie, all of the little girls in her room had their hair done. It was adorable!!

One Year Ago Today...

2009-01-15T22:30:00.007-05:00

One Year Ago

And Now ... See How I've Changed!!!

Haylie became ours forever!!! The previous day we had gone to court and the judge granted us permanent custody and legally changed her name from Nadzehda Skripova to Haylie Ann Holl. Then bright and early on January 15, 2008 we drove from Kemerovo, Russia to Novokuznetsk to the orphanage and picked up our girl and started our new lives as a forever family.

She has changed so much in the past year, she hardly looks like the same child. She was 18 months old and is now 2 1/2. She has gained 10 pounds and grown at least 6 inches (maybe more, it's been a few months since the last official measurement). She was wearing 9 month size clothing and now is up to either 2 or 3T. She couldn't walk by herself the day we picked her up, and now she never stops running. She didn't speak at all, although she constantly made interesting noises, and now she talks constantly. She was very serious and seldom smiled the first few weeks, and now she laughs constantly and is such a happy girlie. She is very loving and always wants "hugs, hugs", "kisses, kisses" and says "nuggle, nuggle" (snuggle) all the time. We are so blessed that God chose us to be her parents.

Today here in Kentucky it is very cold for us--it's about 11 degrees and is supposed to get down to -1 tonight. One year ago today deep in Siberia when we went to the orphanage it was -34 and there was 4 feet of snow. I tried to remember as I was freezing today walking into work that our weather is positively balmy compared to where I was last year and we really shouldn't complain, although of course we do.

The past year has absolutely flown by and I know we'll turn around and Haylie will be grown. I try to enjoy every minute of these precious days of her childhood as I know they too will fly by. Although I won't lie and say she has been a perfect child or everyday has been smooth, I can say her sweet smiles, hugs and kisses have been a dream come true. Happy "Gotcha Day" Haylie--we love you so much.

Haylie's First Christmas

2009-01-11T23:51:00.004-05:00

She loves to turn her cart over and pour all the toy food in the floor

Check out all the goodies Santa brought!!
I LOVE my toy kitchen

Working hard to put together my new Clippo's

I hope everyone had a great holiday, even if I am a little late. We had a wonderful first Christmas with Haylie. She wasn't really sure what it was all about, but seemed to have a great time with it all. She loved tearing open the packages, and really loves playing with her new toys. She walked into the living room with all of Santa's gifts and had the greatest expression on her face and just said "Oh my!!". She got a new wagon, a toy kitchen and shopping cart, a tricycle, among MANY other things, including a whole box of new clothes from Aunt Lisa. My mom, both sisters, and niece Julia came and spent Christmas Eve and Christmas night at our house. It was a really nice holiday, and my sweet family put together all of her hard-to-assemble toys (especially the kitchen which literally had about 1000 small pieces that Lisa spent hours putting together). I didn't get a lot of good still pictures because I was too busy videotaping the whole thing. Someday, I'll figure out how to download videos to the blog. I couldn't help remembering last Christmas when we were soooo disappointed that we hadn't been able to go get Haylie before the holidays--she was certainly worth the wait and sure made the holiday special this year!

The Sunday after Christmas, we flew to Florida to visit Rich's parents. Haylie was great on the plane and it went as smoothly as it could have. It was only a short visit, but the weather was great and we got to take Haylie for her first trip to the beach. At first she was scared and said "All done" as soon as the first little wave came in, but then didn't want to get out. The water was a little chilly so we only stayed about a half hour. But she is still saying "ocean" and "big water" wanting to go back. She sure was a cute little beach bunny. She got to meet her Aunt Carrie and Uncle Doug from Hawaii for the first time, and thought "Ug Doug" as she called him hung the moon. He played with her for hours at a time and she just ate it up. Everyday since we got home, she still asks for Carrie and Ug Doug.

Me and my Daddy at the beach

Happy Birthday Aileen!!!

2008-12-19T01:34:00.000-05:00

Me and my girl

See my pretty Christmas dress!!

One of my all time favorite pictures of my girl

I love my white coat (she didn't want to take it off)

I wanted to wish Aileen, my best friend from high school, a very happy birthday. We've actually known each other since 1st grade, and even tho she lives in Florida and we don't get to see each other very often we can still just talk once or twice a year and it feels like we just talked yesterday. It's great to have that kind of friend and I just wanted her to know how much I appreciate her friendship and love. Today is a "milestone" birthday, although I won't say how many (especially since I'm 2 months older!!!) I don't know how we got this old--it still feels like it was only a couple of years ago we were at old Woodford County High School. Anyway, hope you had a GREAT day.

I'm also posting some new pictures of Haylie I took after church this past Sunday. She had on her Christmas dress I had our Christmas cards made in. She looked so cute in it. She won't say "Merry Christmas" only either "Merry" or "Christmas" but will not say both...same way with Santa Claus. She is saying lots of 2 word combos but for some reason, she doesn't want to put those combos together. We are going to go see Santa this weekend so that should be interesting. If we get a good picture with Santa, I'll post them soon.

New Pictures of My Girl

2008-12-16T17:55:00.003-05:00

Pretty blue eyes
She refuses to pose for pictures but will say "cheese"

I LOVE my little table and chairs

She loves to sit on the counter while momma gets ready in the mornings

I love to dance!!!

I'm going to post a few new pictures of our girl since it's been awhile. Can't believe it's already been almost a year since we brought her home!!! You'll notice she is not wearing her glasses in any of these pictures. That is because she now absolutely refuses to leave them on for more than 5 minutes at a time. She has already totally broken one pair ripping them off--don't know what we are going to do about it. The eye doctor just says keep trying...oh well. We are looking forward to her first Christmas, even though she really has no clue what that means. She can say Santa Claus now and we are going to take her this weekend to meet the old guy in person. I'll post more later, but wanted to put some pictures up so you can see how big she is getting.

Professional Pictures

2008-11-23T21:02:00.004-05:00

I took Haylie yesterday to get her picture made for Christmas Cards. This was a MUCH better experience than our previous try at professional pictures. Yesterday, a friend from church who has started her own photography business took Haylie's pictures. She has her sister play with the kids while she takes the pictures. She has a professional studio set up in her garage. While Haylie still wouldn't sit still and "pose" for pictures, it was much less painful. Stay tuned and I'll post the Christmas pictures when we get them.

We actually went to a Portrait Innovations in Lexington a month or so ago now. What an ORDEAL!!! I made an appointment for 1st thing in the morning thinking she would do better. However, she had other ideas and refused to pose or even smile, little alone sit still long enough to get any good pictures. Can't say I was too impressed with the photographer...she just stood there and said turn her this way, sit her over there, etc. Finally after about 45 minutes, she said "Why don't you just reschedule?" I had driven into Lexington on my day off just to get these pictures done and really didn't want to have to reschedule. So she said lets wait awhile and see if she will cooperate. So, after about an hour of waiting while they did other kids (who mostly were also not cooperating) she tried again. Still not great success, but did get some decent pictures. The big ordeal came next. They immediately put the pictures up on a big screen TV and you pick out your pictures right then. They then print them, and you have your pictures within 2 hours of getting done, which was nice. Problem was, they had taken 168 pictures that I had to narrow down, all the while Haylie was ripping and running around the studio. Literally, at one point she had her hand in the toilet while I was trying to look at pictures. So, long story short, I picked out 6 poses, several of which I would not have picked if I wasn't loosing my mind while trying to pick them out. Anyway, see for yourself. They give you the disc with all the pictures on it (well, not exactly GIVE--of course it's included in the "package") so I'm posting some of my favorites.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T23:34:00.004-04:00

Gram Gram helping me get ready
Ready to Trick-or-Treat

Aren't I cute???

Check out these antennae

Trick-or Treating--What are you putting in my bucket??
Dancing with Gabbie (aka Dee Dee Doodlebop)

Riding with Gabbie in the wagon (My favorite thing about the evening)Me and my scarecrow

Haylie had a big time trick-or-treating on her 1st Halloween. She went as a bumble bee and was the most adorable bee ever. A dear friend of mine lent me the costume that was her daughters way back when. We went over to Tanya's, my friend from work to go trick-or-treating with her daughter Gabbie who is 3. Gabbie was a champion trick-or-treater. However, Haylie wasn't really sure about the whole thing. Don't get me wrong, she had a blast, but she really didn't get the whole trick or treat thing. She just wanted to push the wagon and didn't really want to go up to people's porch. I had to drag her (literally at times) up to each door and usually she just stood there, or in several cases, just sat down on the stoop. So we just went around the cul-de-sac because by then she had had about enough of the whole thing. We then went to my friends Mark and Joy's house who were having a bunch of people over for chili and trick-or-treat. Their kids are a lot older and were out with a whole bunch of kiddos. So, we just visited with our friends for while and then headed home. She was surprisingly good the entire night, but I think I probably had an even better time than she did.

It's The Great Pumpkin!!

2008-10-29T23:40:00.006-04:00

Very focused on the job at hand

Modeling for the jack-o-lantern face

Eating the pumpkin guts--yum yum

The finished product

That's pumpkin guts all over my face

This is FUN!!!!!
See my Halloween Outfit

It is the GREAT pumpkin
My cutie girl

Playing my piano

We are gearing up for Haylie's first Halloween. On Monday, we carved her a jack-o-lantern. I must admit, I hadn't done one in probably 20 years and I'd forgotten how much work it is. My mom told me that Haylie wouldn't give a hoot about doing it, since her attention span isn't usually very long. But surprisingly, she LOVED it and stuck in there the entire time I was cleaning out the guts. Admittedly, she didn't really get into the whole carving thing, but it was so much fun watching her. She kept trying to eat the pumpkin innards and did get some in her mouth and swallowed it before I could snatch it back out. Luckily raw pumpkin and seeds didn't give her a bellyache. The other pictures above are what she wore to church tonight. My mom had bought this outfit cheap last year after Halloween--before we even had Haylie home. She looked like a little doll!!! Stay tuned and I'll post some pictures of her costume and the whole trick-or-treating event.

NOT a Kodak Moment!!

2008-10-15T23:58:00.004-04:00

What is this thing?
Isn't this fun?
At least Daddy is having a good time
With Daddy and Gramgram in the apple orchard
I DO love apples
Don't I look happy???
Running thru the flowers and pumpkins

We took Haylie to Boyd's Orchard in Versailles last weekend. I kept seeing other bloggers post adorable pictures of their little kiddos posing so sweetly in the pumpkin patch and couldn't wait to take Haylie. Rich and I have always really enjoyed going out every fall to pick apples and get fresh cider, and last year we talked about how Haylie would be along next year and we couldn't wait to bring her. However, she was not so excited. She began screaming as soon as I parked the car, and continued almost nonstop the entire time we were there. We first tried to eat in the little restarant. Haylie wouldn't have much to do with anything we tried to feed her. We then proceeded out to the orchard to pick apples. We had her in the stroller which she usually never minds and in fact loves riding when we go on walks. This day however, she was throwing a fit to get out. On the way to the apples, we passed the pumpkin patch and got her out to let her roam thru the patch. She just took off running and wasn't impressed with the pumpkins at all, and certainly wouldn't pose for any pictures. So much for our Kodak moment!! When we went on out to the apple trees, she again started crying like she was being tortured. She did calm down a bit to eat an apple which she did love. The pictures above are the best I could get. Guess we'll have to wait till next year to try and get the perfect pictures--maybe she'll be more cooperative.

Family Birthday Weekend

2008-10-13T23:49:00.004-04:00

My Sweet Momma
Haylie and Aunt Lisa at the Garden Cafe
Mommy and Haylie at lunch
Bright Sunlight!!
Helping GramGram open presents
Playing with cousin Julia (JuJu)

We had a great weekend this past weekend as my entire immediate family got together to celebrate my mother's and my birthdays. My mom (and dad who died 3 years ago) birthdays are both October 10 and mine is October 11, so we all got together all weekend. I took off work Friday and my sister Lisa came up from Knoxville. Mom, me & Haylie, Lisa, & my other sister Marcia (who also has an October birthday) all went out for a girlie lunch at the Garden Cafe at Flag Fork Herb Farm. They send you a card for a free lunch in the month of your birthday, so 3 of us ate for free!! It is really a girlie kind of place and Haylie fit right in. She was so good and only squealed like a banshee a couple of times--overall she was a really good little girl. After lunch we all drove to Louisville to shop at Costco. We were going to go some other places but ran out of time which was OK--we are all Costco junkies and just hope and pray they build one in Lexington someday!! We then celebrated my mom's 76th birthday with a icecream cake from DQ--yum. Haylie's present to my mom is that she FINALLY started calling her something--we have been working with her trying to get her to say "Grandma" or "Grammy" but she wouldn't ever really call her anything except an occasional "mama". But just in the last week she has started consistantly calling her "GramGram" which sounds sooooo cute.

Then Saturday was my big day--yeehah. I won't say how old I turned, only that I can't believe I'm as old as I am--how did that happen. I must be honest and say I have been asked several times if Haylie is my grandchild--ouch!! I won't complain (even though I have) about my age because it sure beats the alternative!! Rich and I went to the UK vs S. Carolina football game and even though we lost (boo!!) we had a really nice day. We tailgated with our friends before and it was a gorgeous October day. Then after the game we went back to my mom's house for dinner. She always makes our favorite meal for our birthday and I always request her homemade pizza--it's the best. A very nice weekend and so nice to spend time with my family. We all commented on how this time last year we still didn't have Haylie. We had been for our first visit to meet her but she still wasn't home. So, even though I turned another year older, it's amazing to think that this was my first birthday as a mother--what a difference a year makes!! And she is definately the best present I've ever gotten. Thank you God!!

First Big BooBoo

2008-10-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

See my boo boo
She keeps patting her chin saying "BooBooBooBooBoo"
Check out my new Bouncing Zebra
This is a blast!!!

Well, Haylie fell and got her first big boo boo. She took a header going down Grandma's concrete steps and landed on her chin. Then 2 days later, she was running thru mom's house and tripped and slid on her chin again and got a rug burn right on top of her previous boo boo ripping the scab off. So she's now sporting a nasty red chin. The only surprising thing is that is as much as she is running/climbing/running/jumping...etc. she hasn't done it sooner or worse. And although she did cry at the time, it doesn't seem to bother her much. Just hope it doesn't leave a scar!!

One Year Ago Today We Met Our Precious Girl!!

2008-09-16T17:43:00.004-04:00

In the Directors Office in the Orphanage immediately after they first brought her in for us to meet
She was a happy girl even then!!
The first time Daddy held our girl
Our Haylie Booster
1st Family Photo--can you tell we are happy???

I can't believe it has already been a whole year since we first traveled to Russia and met our darling girl. It was exactly a year ago today that we first met her in the orphanage in Proko. We got to spend only 1 1/2 hours with her that day, and then 2 hours the next day, then had to come home and leave her there for four long months before we went back to get her. It truly seems like it was just a couple of weeks ago. The entire experience of that trip is still so fresh in our minds. It occured to me that I had never posted any pictures of Haylie from that first trip because we weren't allowed to show any pictures until the adoption was finalized. So, just look at how my girl has changed in the past year!!! We went for her official 2-year-old check up yesterday. She has gained 7 pounds and grown 5 inches since we brought her home in January!! She was only 18 pounds--is now 25 pounds, and was 30 inches--now 35 inches. It is truly amazing what love, good nutrition, and vitamins can do. The pediatrician yesterday said "You have really hit the jackpot with this little doll!". We certainly already knew that and feel so lucky and blessed that God sent her to us.

Big Kids Place Playdate!!

2008-09-11T19:02:00.004-04:00

Carl, Elijah, Kim, & Ava
Baby Ava
Karen & Nick
Nick and Karen
Eli, Haylie, & Nick (I never could a picture of all 3 looking at the camera!!)
Haylie playing in the balls
Not too sure about all this
She did love bouncing in the jumping thing
Eli & Haylie bouncing
Playing on the Flinstones car

We had our first official playdate this week with our friends who have also done adoptions with Adoption Ark. We all met a Kids Place in Lexington to get the kids all together for the first time. Karen is my friend who first gave us the idea about doing an international adoption when she was adopting Nick from Kazakhstan. She was using Adoption Ark and recommended them to us. We are eternally grateful to her--we never would have found our Haylie if she hadn't gotten the whole ball rolling for us!! Kim is another friend we met actually thru the Adoption Ark blog, who we found out also lives in Lexington. She traveled on her first trip to Russia one week after we did. We got together on the phone first and then in person and commiserated thru the entire process. Unfortunately, her first trip didn't go exactly as planned when their referral was no longer available. Long story short, they had to make 2 more trips but finally got their precious little guy, Elijah. She then also was blessed with a little baby girl named Ava whom they adopted domestically this June.

We had a great time and of course the kids had a blast. Nick, who is 4, had been to Kids Place before and was a pro at all of the climbing, sliding, and bouncing contraptions they have. Haylie and Eli, both 2 were a little more leary of the things, but finally got into playing in the balls and bouncing in the blowup bouncer thing. They actually spent most of their time climbing on the many car and animal rides they have that you put a token in and it rocks back and forth. They liked the riding part, but enjoyed climbing up and down on them just as much!! Of course Ava, at only 3 months was too little to play, but I enjoyed holding and playing with her. It's been a long time since I've got to be around such a little one. Course, with all of those years working in the newborn nursery, I am a pro at baby holding. It was great to be able to talk for awhile with Kim and Karen as we are all so busy with the kids, seems like we never have time to call anymore. It is so nice to have friends, especially older moms, who have been thru the whole adoption process and have had the same experiences to compare notes with.

She's a Water Baby

2008-09-07T23:23:00.002-04:00

Splish-Splash
A rare still moment
With my bestest friend--cousin JuJu
She is fearless and sticks her face right in the water--unfortunately she forgets to close her mouth and usually comes up sputtering, but laughs about it
So much fun!!!

I'm posting a few cute pictures of Haylie playing in her little pool in Grandma's backyard. A few of them are from when we went camping and took her pool along. She absolutely loves the water and wants to stay in even when she starts to shiver and turn blue around the lips (which she easily does while swimming even when it's 95 degrees outside!!) I wanted everybody to see my little water baby. Just like her Aunt Lisa, who gave her the pool.

Summertime Fun

2008-08-31T00:45:00.006-04:00

What is this crazy thing?

Just sitting here isn't too exciting...

Wow, you mean I'm supposed to hurl myself down that?

This is the best ever--I loooove the slide!!

The big teeter-totter is pretty cool too

Peek-a-Boo!! (What stupid person put graffitti on this cool bubble?)

My Daddy--my heroGo on out in the deep water Daddy
I'm sooo tired, but there is no way I'm gonna stop
I LOVE to swim!!

We've been having a blast playing with Haylie outside this summer. We took her to our favorited park, Woodland Park in Lexington last weekend for a little picnic. Then we let her play on the playground for a little while before we took her to the pool--her first visit to a public pool!! She had a blast, even though it was past her naptime!! She threw a fit when we took her off the playground, and then of course didn't want to leave the pool either. But she played so hard, she literally fell asleep the minute her head hit the carseat for the ride home. Daddy and I are really enjoying having a little one to play with too--it is so amazing to see the world thru the eyes of a child again. We'd forgotten how much fun playing on the playground is!!

I Can See Clearly Now!!

2008-08-28T23:43:00.000-04:00

Getting fitted for my new glasses

How do I look?

I'm not too sure about all of this!!

What are these things?

I don't think so!!

We went and picked up Haylie's new glasses and after only one short week, she is actually doing pretty good keeping them on. I never would have believed it, but she will wear them for 3-4 hours at a time before yanking them off and shouting "All done!" She seems to do better when she's outside running around...guess she can see better so she will leave them on. We have had a few "throw downs"--litterally!! The second day we had them, Grandma took her for a walk in her stroller and she was wearing them without any problem, until she decided she'd had enough and threw them on the sidewalk. Bad thing was, my mom didn't realize she had thrown them and then proceeded to roll over them with the stroller, dragging them on the concrete and scratched the frames all up. Then there was the time I pulled into the garage after our 1 hour commute home, and she pulled them off and proceeded to throw them out the car window!! Luckily, we were in the garage, not rolling down the highway. But overall she has done amazing with them. Plus, she looks so adorable in them.

We've Come a LONG Way!!

2008-08-19T15:11:00.004-04:00

Boy, this stuff sure beats baby food!!
Look at me go
See, I'm a big girl now!!
Haylie and Grandma
In one of my MANY Sunday dresses from our church showerJust as pretty from the back

Boy, has Haylie come a long way in the eating department. As you may remember from previous posts, when Haylie first came home, she would not eat anything except pureed food or Stage 2 baby foods. Slowly but surely, she has made major progress and eats many table foods now. We do still do a few baby foods, especially to get in veggies. But as you can see from the photos, she will now do corn on the cob--a major victory!! We have even stopped the occupational therapy thru 1st Steps that was supposed to help with her food issues. Not sure it really helped that much as they decided it wasn't really a food aversion, just learned behavior. Whatever the reason, we are thankful she will eat mostly table food now.

I'm also including some cute pictures I took after church at my mom's a few Sunday's ago--she looked adorable in this dress. We got so many dresses for her at the shower our church gave, that she literally hasn't worn one twice. I'm afraid she'll outgrow them before we get around to wearing something the second time...a terrible problem to have I know--we are sooo blessed.

We're Getting Glasses!!

2008-08-05T12:43:00.004-04:00

Haylie loves to climb under and sit on the bottom shelf of this bakers rack in the kitchen.

She gets this adorable look on her face everytime the phone or doorbell rings.
Looking at all the new toys Grandma bought for her--what a haul!!
Always such a happy girl

I'm posting some recent pictures of my girl just so you can see how adorable and happy she always is. But on a more serious note, yesterday was not so fun. Haylie had to have a brain MRI under anesthesia. I hadn't posted about this so far because we didn't know for sure what all was going to happen. We've been dealing with this issue since April. Everyone has been asking what is going on... so, I apologize ahead of time for the long post, but because we are also using this as our journal for Haylie, I wanted to get my thoughts down.

At our first trip to the international adoption clinic, Dr. Taylor referred us to the pediatric opthalmologist because she thought her left eye turned in just the slightest amount when her eye was covered and then uncovered. I had noticed it when we played peek-a-boo. UK has a great pediatric opthalmologist, but her 1st available appointment wasn't for 8 months, so we went to see another guy they had there instead--big mistake. Well, putting it nicely, I couldn't stand this guy. He talked to me like I was a complete idiot, and said "I'm sure she needs glasses" before he even looked at her eyes. When he examined her, he said she is extremely near-sighted in her left eye, and moderately near-sighted in the right. Said she had to wear glasses, and patch her good eye everynight. I really don't have any problem with her needing glasses. But when I said to him, "oh gosh, I don't know how I'm going to keep them on her--I can't even keep a hair bow in", he just snapped and said "Well, you might as well just sign her up for Braille then". I was so upset with him and the way he treated us, I decided to get a second opinion. I had a hard time believing she was as bad as he said since she can see to pick up a hair off the floor 3-4 feet away.

So, I took Haylie for a second opinion to an optometrist. This guy was very nice and really took a lot of time with her. He too got her left eye very near-sighted, but her right eye normal. He recommended another "third opinion" with another pediatric opthalmologist. So, even though this 3rd guy was "out of network" on our insurance, and we had to pay full price out of pocket (ouch), off we went to see him. He confirmed what the second guy said--that in her left eye she is really badly near-sighted (a -9 for anyone who knows what your eye prescription is) which is considered legally blind, but correctable. But her right eye is normal, which explains why she can seemingly see so well without glasses--she compensates with the good eye. However, on top of all of this, he said her optic nerves were small; a condition called "optic nerve hypoplasia". Evidently, with this condition 20% of the time there is also some brain abnormalities like pituitary/growth hormone deficiencies, and even some neurological problems. Luckily 80% of the time, there is no brain abnormality. He said she sure doesn't look like she has any of these, but that she needed a brain MRI to rule them out. Since he was out of our insurance network, I sure didn't want to have to pay for a MRI out of pocket, so I said I had to go back to UK. Soooo, long story short, I finally got into see the peds opthamologist who I should have seen in the first place for a 4th opinion. She confirmed the last 2, and also recommended the MRI but also doubted any problems other than the optic nerve hypoplasia, and she thought it was only a mild case. It is evidently a genetic defect--not necessarily caused by anything her birthmother did. Luckily it doesn't worsen overtime.

So yesterday was the day of the MRI. It was a VERY loooong day. Because they had to put her to sleep to do the test, she couldn't have any solid food after 7am, but the test wasn't until 1pm. Needless to say, that is not a good thing for a 2 year-old. She was pretty fussy and kept asking for milk or drink. We actually first had an appointment with the ear, nose, and throat doctor at 10:00. She recommended we put tubes in Haylie's ears because she has some fluid behind her eardrums, which might or might not be interfering with her speech development...(I'm inclined not to do that since she's not having any ear infections, but I'll keep you posted on that one). Then we went over to the hospital for the MRI. Of course Haylie was not a happy camper getting her IV started--poor baby was scared to death and just sobbed and sobbed. They let me go in while they put her to sleep, then shooed me out for the procedure which took about 45 minutes. She woke up fine and stayed drunk for a few hours. She was pretty funny when she first woke--couldn't even hold her head up but was talking saying "Hebbo" (hello) to everyone she saw. Luckily I was able to get the results today and it was totally normal--thank you God!!!

After she got pretty good and awake, we went and picked out and ordered her glasses and lenses. I still don't know how I'm going to keep them on her, since she STILL won't keep a hairbow on, but we will survive. They are supposed to be here in about a week, so I'll soon post some pictures of her in her cute little glasses.

6 Month Anniversary

2008-07-16T13:04:00.004-04:00

Family photo at Aunt Marcia's Wedding at Triangle Fountain
Playing with Daddy
Daddy is SO much fun
Getting SOOOOO Big
I love my music box
See how big I am
At Triangle Fountain

Monday, we marked our 6th month anniversary of picking Haylie up from the orphanage in Russia. Boy, that time has sure flown!! She has also made remarkable progress since that time. I was looking at some pictures we took that day, and she almost doesn't even look like the same child. We just had our 6th month follow-up at the international adoption clinic and she has officially gained 5 pounds and and grown 4 inches in that short time. Her bloodwork was all still normal too. The doctor said she was a very "busy" 2-year-old, but typical and in her words, "very smart". She now knows all her body parts to point to (can't quite say them all yet, but tries) and also many animal sounds. She cracks us up saying some of them. She is doing sign language (learned from her speech therapist) which she picked up remarkably quick. "More" is her favorite sign and it comes out "Mo" "Mo" "Mo" with practically every bite. Her vocabulary seems to have really exploded in the last few weeks and she now says "up, out, down, hello, bye, nightnight, bow, hat and several others I can't even remember right now. She's also now making great strides eating solid foods...still eats probably 60% baby food, but now eats some pastas, potato soup, potato chips, etc. She's a carb queen just like her dear old mom!!

We took her to my dad's family's family reunion on Saturday in Indiana and got to introduce her to all of them for the first time which was great fun. It's kind of strange, she is actually the only little one in that family now as all the others have gotten big. The next youngest to Haylie was 10 years old. Seems so strange since I remember for years, tons of little kids running around everytime the family got together--guess we are all getting old....boo.

1st Father's Day

2008-06-18T12:59:00.004-04:00

Showing off my "Hawaiian" outfit from Aunt Carrie and Uncle Doug who live in Honolulu
Showing off our birthday present from Grandmom Holl--a new bathing suit
Scenes of wrestling with Daddy in my new swimsuit

It's a pin!!!
I LOVE my daddy's hat!!

Sunday was Rich's first Father's Day. We spent it pretty quietly at home and cooked out burgers on the grill (Rich's favorite meal!!) Haylie has most definately become a Daddy's girl. She squeals with delight everytime he comes in and she loves wrestling around with "Da-da" on the floor. He just got back from a 2 week trip to Florida to visit his parents (since he's out from school all summer, he gets these great long vacations while I have to work--Boo!!) and I think he realllllly missed Haylie Boo while he was gone. She is slowly but surely wrapping him around her little finger!!! I'm posting some of my favorite Daddy and Haylie pictures in honor of Father's Day.

Birthday Girl!!!

2008-06-05T13:40:00.005-04:00

In my new bathing suit with my pretty orange ribbon

A birthday bathing beauty in her new bathing suit
It's My Birthday!!!
Haylie, Bobbi Jo, & Maddie Jo
Above-- I don't think I like this whole birthday cake thing!!

Maybe it's not so bad after all???Maddie Jo and Haylie playing with the "birthday loot"

Our precious Haylie turned a big 2 years old last Friday, May 30th. We had a really nice weekend celebrating the special event. I took off on Friday to be able to be home with her and to get ready for her party, which we held the next day on Saturday. It was really nice to be able to spend a quiet day at home with just the 2 of us. Daddy had to work late, so we had the whole day to ourselves. We went shopping for the party, then for a big long walk in her stroller. She loves being outdoors and loves riding in her stroller. We opened the presents Grandmom Holl had sent her--an adorable bathing suit and a little pool toy (remember the Holl Grandparents live in Florida) for when she comes to visit them and the beach. Haylie appreciated the gift I'm sure, but really loved the wrapping paper and bow even better. She wore the ribbon around her neck most of the day!!

We then really celebrated on Saturday. My entire family came out to our house for a cookout of burgers and hot dogs, and of course cake and ice cream. My dear friend Bobbi Jo and her little girl Maddie Jo (who is only 4 1/2 months younger than Haylie) also got to come. It was a really nice party--nothing too big or fancy, but really nice. Haylie had a blast opening presents and running around. She wasn't too impressed with the whole cake and ice cream thing though. It was actually hilarious, although she didn't think so. We put the cake with the candles lit in front of her in her high chair. She immediately stuck her hand right in the icing and then proceeded to cry hysterically. Don't know if she hated the candles, or it was because she hates having her hands dirty, but she was not a happy camper as you can see from the pictures. Once we wiped her hands off, she calmed down...but as we are still having issues eating solid foods, she wouldn't eat any of her cake. She did eat a few bites of ice cream. So she was definately not the picture of the typical first birthday kid who jams the cake in her mouth and gets it all over everywhere--no sir not my girl, she is a girlie girl who doesn't like getting dirty.

As we celebrated the day of our dear daughters birth, we couldn't help but wonder if the woman who gave her birth was also thinking of that day. We thank her for that gift, and especially thank God that he sent Haylie to us. She is truly the child God meant for us to have and we are so grateful.

Haylie's 1st Picnic!!

2008-05-27T00:38:00.003-04:00

Haylie & Julia
Daddy, Julia, & Haylie
My 1st Memorial Day
Cousins Julia & Haylie
In the flowers in the front yard

We had a really nice Memorial Day Weekend, and the weather was gorgeous. On Saturday, my entire family went to Natural Bridge State Park for a picnic. It was Haylie's first picnic ever, and probably the longest time she has spent outside. She absolutely loved it!!! It was such a beautiful day with the temperatures in the low to mid 70's and clear blue skies. My mom made her homemade fried chicken and all the fixins, so we ate like kings. We spent almost 5 hours there, and Haylie of course would absolutely not have any part of taking a nap. So she was a very tired little girl by the end of the day, but she sure had a blast running all over the place. She wore her old parents out chasing her around all day.

Then on Sunday, after church my mom, Haylie, & I spent the day together. Memorial Day weekend is always a hard one for our family since it is the anniversary of when my father died. He died on the Friday before Memorial Day, 4 years ago. It's hard to believe it's been that long--in some ways it seems like it was only yesterday. We sure do miss our Pawpaw, and sure wish he could have met Haylie--he would have been nuts over her. Anyway, my mom and I and Haylie went out to the cemetery where he is buried on Sunday. We're not really cemetery decorating people, but he is out at Camp Nelson Cemetery which is a federal veterans cemetery. It is absolutely gorgeous decorated with big flags about every 10 feet on Memorial Day, and Veterans Day. So we went out to visit my dad, and took Haylie for the first time. Of course, she loved running thru the grass, and it was also a really pretty day. We stopped for ice cream on the way home, so it was a really nice day.

Today, we all stayed home and puttered around the house. I finally got my potted flowers planted while Haylie napped. I'm posting some pictures of the picnic and also some of Haylie, out playing in our yard today. Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend--we sure did.

My First Mother's Day

2008-05-16T10:09:00.002-04:00

We celebrated Mother's Day this past weekend with my entire family as a 2 day event. Since the forecast for Sunday the "official" Mother's Day was for rain, we all got together on Saturday for a cook-out at my sister Marcia's house. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time and a delicious meal. We cooked out steaks on the grill, with baked potatoes, corn on the cob, salad, and lemonade pie for dessert. The entire family was there. It was really a nice evening and a great 1st mothers day for me too, as well as for my sweet mother and my sister Marcia, who is mother to JuJu. We all exchanged gifts making just like Christmas. My sweet husband, and of course Haylie, got me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a sweet card--he did good!!

On Sunday, sure enough it was cold and poured the rain, so we were glad we had held the cookout the previous day. After church we all went out for lunch to Bella Notte. It became an eternal wait with all the crowds out for the big Mother's Day Celebration. Long story short, we were there over 3 hours for our meal, and the manager gave us all free dessert because the wait for our food was so long. So, it was not as nice as the previous day and pretty frustrating.

However, I'm not complaining. It was such a joy to actually be a mother on Mothers Day--something I never really thought would happen. It's actually kind of surreal...for all these years I just thought of it as a day for my sweet mother. And this year I'm actually part of the "mom club". Haylie of course was the star of both our celebrations. Don't tell Julia, but I think she was a little jealous. She's been the only kiddo for the past 12 years, and now suddenly Haylie is stealing some of her limelight. Of course being the retard I am, I didn't take ANY pictures of the entire weekend, so I am posting some recent shots of our princess...I apologize for the red eyes...I can't fix them on this particular computer.

Hope everyone out in blog land had a great Mother's Day too.

Our First Out of Town Trip

2008-04-29T17:36:00.003-04:00

Haylie's "Nest Egg" Sooo Cute
Visiting with Grandmom Holl
With both Grandmom and Grandpop Holl
Riding on Daddy--one of her favorite activities
Such a happy girlie

We took Haylie for her longest car ride yet, and an overnight hotel trip this weekend. She did pretty well considering it got her totally off her normal schedule. The sweet folks Rich works with threw us a baby shower yesterday at the college in Jackson, KY. That had been planned for awhile, but last week the dean asked if we could come to a cookout she was having at her house on Sunday night. Her daughter would be in from out of town, and she is interested in adopting from Russia, so she wanted to meet Haylie. She wasn't able to stay for the shower. So, long story short we went up Sunday afternoon (after going to my neice Julia's 12th birthday party) from Lexington to Jackson. It's about a 2 hour trip which so far is the longest Haylie has had to sit in one spell in her car seat. We went to the cookout which was just lovely, then spent the night in a hotel in Jackson. We had taken the pack-and-play for Haylie which worked out really well. Only thing, she normally goes to bed around 8-8:30, but she would NOT go to sleep with us still up in the hotel room. We tried putting her in bed with us, but she would just play and try to jump off the bed!! We finally went to bed ourselves around 10:30 so she would go to sleep too. I figured she would be cranky the next day, but she was just a little angel for the shower. Of course she was the hit of the party, and everyone marveld how much she looks like Rich. We got lots of wonderful gifts--everyone has been sooooo generous. Haylie remains the best dressed little girl in town thanks to all of the wonderful gifts she has gotten. I forgot to take my camera to the shower, but somebody he works with was taking pictures and will forward them on. I'll try and post some when we get them.

Because I'm such a procrastinator, I forgot to post pictures of the shower that my friends at work gave us when I came back. They knew that our church shower had provided lots of clothes, so they had a great idea for the little girl who has everything. They got her the cutest little bank that says "My Nest Egg" and filled it with money!! Again, everyone was so generous. We are going to litterally save it for her for when she gets bigger--who knows maybe the start of her college fund!!

I'm also posting some recent pictures of when Rich's parents visited from Florida. It was their first time seeing Haylie, who is their only grandchild. So of course they had a big time and we had a really nice visit with them. She really rates, as this was only the 3rd time they have visited us in the 11 years we've been married.

Family Picture

2008-04-11T15:22:00.002-04:00

I'm posting a picture of the entire family that was taken at church for our directory. It's one of the few of all 3 of us that we have, and even more rare of us all dressed up!! It's hard to get a group shot when I have to take the picture. I know, I know I could do the self-timer, but holding Haylie still long enough to get it set up would be a nightmare!! So, I didn't think this one turned out too badly. I intend to take Haylie to get some professional pictures done soon, and send them out to everybody. But seems like every weekend is taken up with other "must do's".

Our Booster is growing up and learning new things so fast. We don't go back to the doctor for an official weigh-in for another couple of weeks, but I'm sure she's gained weight and also length since she is quickly growing out of her 12 month size clothes. She's even starting to get a little belly on her!! She is now saying "hello, bye-bye, mama, dada, cracker, and thank you". She absolutely loves the telephone and to her everything is a telephone. Pens, toys, papers, you name it. Yesterday, she even picked up a sock and put it to her ear and said "ell-o".

We had 1st Steps evaluate her and started speech and occupational therapy, just because she was behind a little, and also because of the whole not eating solid foods issue. The big news is that just within the last week she has started eating goldfish, cheerios, and some stage 3 baby food--yahoo!! It was like she flipped a switch and just started sticking them in her mouth and swallowing. That was before ANY OT visits. The therapist was amazed and says she really doesn't need to work with her any more for that. The speech therapist also was amazed at how quickly she has started picking up words. Guess we'll continue that, but doesn't seem like we'll need to for long. She is just a little genius as my mother has predicted all along!!

Happy Easter--(a week late)

2008-04-05T23:22:00.002-04:00

Here are some great pictures of my girl on Easter. She looked so adorable in her Easter dress my sister Lisa gave her. Unfortuneately, she didn't want to pose so there isn't a great picture of her where you can see the whole outfit, but you can get the idea. Then, after church we changed her into another adorable Easter outfit Aunt Lisa got her. She also loved her 2 Easter Baskets--one from Grandma and another from Mom & Dad via the Easter Bunny. Aunt Marcia and Julia got her a great beach wagon and sand bucket & shovel which she loved. It was such a nice Easter--it was so nice to have a little one to enjoy the fun with. We are so thankful to God who blessed us with such a precious little girl.

I'm in Philadelphia without Haylie

2008-03-17T16:33:00.006-04:00

She's still playing with the ballooons my family brought when they welcomed us home from Russia on Jan. 23!!! She has had soooo much fun with them

Dont' you love this hairdo!!
Pretty blue eyes
Walking all by myself!!!
Such a happy girl

I've been here in Philadelphia for the past 4 days for a meeting for work. Lots of meetings to go to. I've also been able to walk around downtown Philly quite a bit, so it's been nice, BUT after going back to work for only 2 days after 8 weeks off, and then having to leave for this meeting, I'm missing my baby!!! She's in great hands, staying with my Mom, but I still miss her. My sister has watched her a little too, so I know she has probably had a great time without me, but I will be very happy to get home tomorrow evening and see my Boo!!!

I promised pictures, so I'm posting some recent ones of our girl--enjoy!!

Back to Work--boooooo!!!

2008-03-12T12:58:00.002-04:00

Well, I must confess I've been a bad blogger. I didn't even realize it had been so long since I posted. Seems like there was never any time while I was off from work. I had to come back to work yesterday and am now updating on my lunch hour. I don't even have my camera with me, so I have to add pictures maybe tomorrow of our Haylie--because of course, we have a ton of new pictures. Coming back to work was actually not as bad as I had dreaded...of course the fact that my mother is taking care of her helps soooo much--thank the Lord for my wonderful mother!! The worst part is I came back and worked 2 days, and then I have to leave tomorrow for a conference in Philadelphia. Again my mom is going to keep her the 6 days I'm gone. It will be interesting to see how we do!!

Haylie has made great progress in the month and half we've been home. She is now walking everywhere and getting into everything. Within just 3 weeks of being home she had gone from crawling to practically running. Her giardia was totally gone after her antibiotics. We went back to the pediatrician last week and she has gained 2 1/2 pounds and grown an inch since we got home!! They did titers for her vaccinations, and although we have records where she supposedly had them all in Russia, none of her titers were protective except her Tetanus, so we are going to have to redo them all. They gave her 3 shots that day (actually 5 different vaccines in combined shots). She was a little fussy the next day, but overall did well with them. I just hate that she has to do them all again.

She continues to have issues with any solid foods and will only eat pureed/baby food. She now drinks milk without any problems, so I'm sure that's helping pack on those pounds. We had First Steps come out for an evaluation and we are going to do some Occupational Therapy to help with the food aversion issue--they think it probably isn't a true aversion, just that she was never given anything solid in the orphanage. They are also going to do speech therapy, just because she is delayed with her speech and having to learn English. She says Mama, Dada, Bye, and Uh-oh, but that is about it. I am so glad that she LOVES books and goes and gets them for me to read to her, so hopefully that will speed up her language development.

She is still such a happy and good baby and bonding without any problems. We feel so fortunate and blessed that the Lord sent us such a wonderful child. In addition, it's amazing how many people tell us how much she looks like us, especially my husband Rich--and I must admit it is true. Unless we choose to tell anyone she is adopted, I don't think anybody could tell just by looking at her (not that we care that everyone knows she is adopted!!)

I'll try and post some pictures in the next few days so you can see my beautiful girl yourself!!

Wonderful Baby Shower

2008-02-08T17:02:00.000-05:00

cute decorations
Haylie is the life of the party
With my other favorite girl Julia
Checking out all the loot

Look at all these clothes-- she'll be the best dressed child My little princess

My wonderful church family had a huge baby shower for us on Monday night. I still can't believe all the people who turned out and all the goodies we got. There were about 35 women who came. They had decorated the fellowship hall in really cute pink and black decorations with little poodles. Even the cake had a poodle on it--it was adorable and delicious. Everyone was so generous and of course Haylie was the star of the show. She was so good and let everyone hold her and play with her without really fussing at all.
People asked what we needed and I told a few she needed some dresses for church. Well, she now has so many beautiful dresses, she'll be able to wear a new one almost every Sunday for the next 6 months. The really nice thing was we got a nice variety of sizes from 9 months to 3T, so she will continue to have new clothes for a long time. God has truly blessed us, not only with our precious girl but with a wonderful, loving, church family whom we love. Thank you to all of you!! The picture above shows all of the clothes we got at the shower. I'm going to have to clean out a closet just to put them all in. Besides the clothes, we also got many really nice toys, books, and other useful things.

Things continue to go well with Haylie. I'm really enjoying my time off from work and dread having to go back. Turns out Haylie had giardia, an intestinal infection. So we are having to do antibiotics for that for 10 days. She is so good about taking her medicine, she just takes it right down. She also has a Vitamin D deficiency, so we are going to start Vitamin D supplements. She is still such a good and happy baby. She doesn't even mind getting her teeth brushed--she just lays there and opens her mouth and lets me brush for as long as I want. I'm betting it feels good on those teeth that are coming in too!! I've also included some adorable pictures of Haylie in her "princess robe". She looks so cute in it!!

We had a big storm Wednesday morning which unfortunately ripped several of our shingles off, both in the front and back, so we are waiting on the insurance adjuster to come--they can't come until next week!! Good thing the whole roof didn't blow off, huh. We were very lucky because there were multiple tornados all around Kentucky with significant damage, so I shouldn't complain about a few shingles I guess. I did leak into Haylies room on the roof, so we will also have to repair that. Guess it's always something.

First Doctor's Appointment

2008-01-31T17:39:00.000-05:00

Maddie Jo and Haylie together
Maddie, Bobbi Jo, & Haylie
Maddie Jo & Haylie
Haylie walking with her new toy!!
Ready to go to Walmart--don't you love that hat!!

We went yesterday to the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Kentucky for Haylie's 1st doctor's visit. They were great with her and she did really well. Dr. Taylor says she may have mild ricketts (which they had told us in Moscow) but otherwise looked pretty good. She is most concerned about her poor weight gain. She is only in the 3rd percentile for weight. She wants to start to really try to fatten her up by increasing her milk intake (and she even said it was great to be putting in the strawberry Nesquik--I was afraid I would get in trouble for that!!) as well as adding Pedisure a couple of times of day. They did stool samples as most of these kids from orphanages have some type of intestinal parasites, and drew 8 big tubes of blood to check her all out. She said we won't have the results back for a couple of weeks. She is also sending us to a pediatric ophthalmologist to have her eyes checked--she thinks maybe her left eye might turn inward very mildly. She said it probably won't require any surgery, but wants it checked out. I have noticed is, but it is very mild and only happens on rare occasions, so hopefully they won't have to correct it surgically!!

We've had a whole week of firsts for Haylie. She had her first "playdate" on Tuesday when my dear friend Bobbi Jo came to visit us and brought her sweet little girl Maddie Jo. She is 3 months younger than Haylie and they were so cute together and played together pretty well. Bobbi Jo brought her her new favorite toys--a toy phone and car keys, a rolling thing she pushes that makes music, and best of all she brought Maddie's push toy trike. It's like a walker that rolls when she pushes it, and she walks behind the handle bars. Haylie took right off on it , and loves walking by herself with it. We are going to borrow it for awhile, since Maddie Jo is off and running and doesn't need it anymore. Haylie's walking skills have improved soooo much already, I think this toy will really help her be walking without any assistance soon.

We also had our first trip to Walmart today!! She did sooooo good, I couldn't believe it. I meant to only stay an hour or so, but like my usual trips to Walmart, it turned into almost 2 1/2 hours. She never fussed at all. My mom made her a really cute shopping cart cover that has 3 toys hanging on it and she played with them the entire time. She has to love to shop if she is my child!!!

It's SOOOOOO Good To Be Home!!!!

2008-01-29T16:37:00.001-05:00

Our house all decorated to welcome us home
Aunt Marcia and Grandma meeting us at the airport with balloons
Grandma is CRAZY about her new granddaughter

At Grandma's House

All dressed up for church!!

We've been home almost a week now and it is so very nice to be home. There really is "no place like home". Haylie is doing GREAT!! She is such a good and happy baby, we are so blessed to have her. I thank God everyday for this wonderful blessing he has given us. It is just like she has always been a part of the family. She just fits right in and has pretty much settled down into a semblance of a routine. She sleeps 10-12 hours at night. She's now eating really well, still only baby food and yogurt, and still nothing with any texture, but it looks likes she's already filling out in her cheeks and legs. She knows her name, and her "mama" and "dada" as she calls us. She has already learned a few English words like "uh oh" and "byebye".

We made our first trip to church on Sunday, and she was a big hit. She behaved really well too and was quiet during the entire service--she did however throw several of her toys 2-3 pews ahead of her, hitting some nice men and ladies. They were really understanding of it though!!

We went and spent the weekend with my mom so she and my sisters could spend some time with her. My sister Lisa came up from Tennesee to meet her. There are some great pictures above of the weekend and our homecoming.

I'm really enjoying my time off from work, but the days sure fly by when you are off. I don't have to go back until the middle of March. Haylie has her first doctor's appointment tomorrow at the University of Kentucky International Adoption Clinic. It will be interesting to see how they think she is doing, since I think she is doing GREAT! They are also going to have her evaluated by an ocupational therapist to see where she is developmentally. She is almost trying to walk by herself. She now comes and gets us off the couch, grabs our fingers wanting to go walking. Her muscle tone has improved soooo much just since we got her, it is amazing and is now basically normal. I think she'll be running by herself soon!!

We're Home--Via Scotland!!!

2008-01-24T02:50:00.000-05:00

Well we finally made it back to Lexington on Wednesday the 23rd about 9:30 am, which as it turns out was a day later than planned. We left Moscow without any trouble on Tuesday. We had been flying along without any problems and according to the onboard map showing our progress we were just about over Iceland. The captain came on and said we were going to have to be rerouted to Glasgow, Scotland due to an ill passenger that needed to be evaluated. So he turned the big bird around and flew back to Scotland which took about 90 minutes. Once we landed the paramedics came onboard and checked out this lady and decided she needed to be taken off the plane. Evidently she had had a seizure earlier. We couldn't really hear all the details as she was sitting in the first row of buisness class and we were way back in coach. So long story short, we sat on the ground in Glasgow for about 2 1/2 hours before we took back off. We weren't allowed to get off the plane the entire time. I've always wanted to go to Scotland, but not that way. We couldn't even see out the windows since we were in the middle row of the plane. The bad part was I couldn't call my mom to let her know we would be late because there was not any cell coverage. I even asked several other Americans if they had any cell service and no one did. So, we ended up landing in Atlanta at 8:50 pm--5 hours late. Of course we had missed the connecting flight to Lexington and there wasn't another one until the next day. So, they sent us to a Comfort Inn, which of course we had to pay for. The first room they put us in had no heat so at midnight we had to change rooms. We didn't make it to bed until after 1 am Atlanta time, 9 am Moscow time. A VERY long day.

However, after all my griping, I must go on and on and on about how well my new child did on this plane trip. I can't get over how good she was. She litterally didn't fuss the ENTIRE time. She slept the first 2 hours of the flight, then woke up in such a good moood. She played and played and never cried. We had lucked out and got in the middle of the plane with an empty seat between us, so she could move around and back and forth. She did exhaust her dear old mom wanting to be up and down and all over, but she sure was good. We fed her some lunch and then she slept about the last 4 hours of the flight. She didn't even cry on descent!!!

It was soooooo good to finally be home with our little one. My mom and sister met us at the airport with balloons. As predicted, my dear mother was so happy to see Haylie she cried. They had come out the night before, along with some other dear friends to meet us but of couse we weren't there. When we finally made it back to the house, Marcia & Mary Ann had decorated the front door, mailbox, and garage doors with welcome home posters--it was soo0 nice to finally be home. I'll post some pictures of our homecoming later; Haylie is up now at 3am--she's still on Russia time

We're Coming Home!!!

2008-01-21T14:10:00.000-05:00

Exterior Views of our Apartment

View of Old Arbat street
Getting help packing
Its fun throwing clothes out of the suitcases!!!

We spent our last day in Moscow pretty quietly. Haylie woke us up at 5:30 am (again) so it was a long day. She seems to be feeling even better today. She still wouldn't eat anything for breakfast, but ate a good lunch and dinner. We put her down for a nap and did an experiment to see how she would do with Benedryl since it puts some to sleep (what we are hoping for), but hypes others up. Hopefully we won't have to use it, but if she is really fussy tomorrow on the plane we'll give her some Benedryl to help keep our fellow passengers, and us, from going insane from a screaming youngin!! Luckily, she slept really well with it.

Oksana, went and picked up the last of the paperwork today, and she will give it to us tomorrow when they pick us up. Rich went out and got us some sushi for lunch which was really good (yes sushi in Russia). Then when Haylie went to sleep, I went out to do a little shopping for souvenirs. Rich had the pleasure of cleaning up and changing his first diaper while I was gone--and of course it was a dirty one!! He kept telling me he didn't know how when I had offered that he could clean her up before. But he had no choice but to change her while I was gone out shopping. A major accomplishment for Rich!!! I've posted some pictures of our apartment since I've several people email with questions about it. They've really cleared the snow off the walkways and streets. It did warm up a little and melt some too. My mom tells me it's colder back in Kentucky than it is here in Moscow. Still not as cold as in Siberia though!!

After dinner, we packed back up for the trip home. They are picking us up at 8:30 am for a 1 pm flight. Oksana said we had to leave so early because the traffic is so bad it can take us 1-2 hours to get to the airport. We still have 3 bags, but it is a lot lighter for the return flight. Hopefully we won't have to pay the overage for weight this time. I had a little helper packing. For every item I would put in, Haylie would pull 2-3 out at the same time. And then she just laughs like it was a big joke. So this will be my last post from the good old Soviet Union. The next time I post, we will be back home in Kentucky--yeah!!!!!!!!! We can't wait to start settling in with Haylie. I am off work for 2 months, so hopefully we can get her back on a routine, once she gets over the jet lag which will undoubtedly happen with the big 8 hour time difference. Rich has to go back to work on Friday, so since we're coming home early he will get a couple of days to get rested up.

The only downside to leaving early is that we were supposed to meet up with another couple on Wednesday who are in Kemerovo right now doing what we did last week getting their little boy. We had really looked forward to meeting Chris and Carie from Michigan. We so enjoyed meeting Dave and Stacy on our last trip, we missed having another couple with us this trip. So we hate that we won't be able to get together with them. But home awaits!!!!!!

It's a Snowy Day in Moscow

2008-01-20T12:09:00.000-05:00

Jammie Pictures

Haylie LOVES the flipper--she'd never even seen one and seems knew automatically what to do with it. She has to fight over it with Daddy
In the pink marshmallow suit again

We had a pretty quiet day today. Haylie woke us up at 5:30 (she's still on Kemerovo time which is 4 hours ahead of Moscow time.) She seems to be feeling much better today. Still a little fussy, but played for hours by herself. She still isn't eating much though. She LOVES her fruit juice and yogurt and will woof it down, but not much else. Before she got sick she was eating baby food pretty well and would take a bottle of formula at bedtime, but the last 2 days we can't get anything down her except juice and yogurt. It's hilarious actually, she'll see me coming at her with anything else beside the yogurt and will clamp her mouth shut and grab my hand, or the spoon and push it away. And she's a strong little twerp. I've even tried holding her hands down and force it in her mouth and there is just no going there. Strangest thing is, even when she's feeling well, she will not eat anything solid or that has any texture. They told me they were feeding her pureed food in the orphanage, but said also bread & crackers. I don't believe. She just spits out anything that needs to be chewed. And she has a whole mouth full of teeth. There were some little tiny bits of fruit in the yogurt and she keeps the yogurt in and spits out the fruit. We tried Cheerios and Gerber puffs, and she just makes a horrible face and spits it right back out. If you hand it to her, she won't put it in her mouth, just carry it around, all day!! At this rate, it's no wonder she has only gained 1 pound in the past 4 months.

We woke up to light snow flurries, but by early afternoon there was at least 6 inches of snow. I walked out to the grocery and the native Russians were all out just like it was nothing. That much snow that quickly would shut Lexington down for a couple of days. Up on the old Arbat there were litterally throngs of people out walking around, even a street performer dancing in the muck and snow. No big deal.

The big news is that we do indeed get to come home early on Tuesday. All of our paperwork will be done by Monday afternoon. So, we decided to head on home. It's not outrageously expensive to change the tickets and even though the last two nights of the apartment are nonrefundable, we feel like it's worth it to be able to come on home. We are both homesick and really want to come home as soon as possible. Being here really makes us appreciate home and how lucky we are that the Lord has blessed so greatly. We appreciate everyones comments on the blog--makes us feel closer to home and those that we love and is so nice to know people are thinking of us.

Trek to Red Square

2008-01-19T14:15:00.000-05:00

A Happy Girlie
In her bib overalls
Sleeping on the LONG walk to Red Square
At the Kremlin
Daddy's having a GREAT time above!!!

Mommy and Haylie in front of St. Basils Cathedral below

The famous "pink pot"

We decided to do some sightseeing today. We wanted to go to Red Square since it was closed the first time we were here for a military appreciation week and we only got to walk around the outside. So we packed Haylie up in the Hip Carrier and took off. We were told it was about a 20 minute walk. Well it was actually more like 60 minutes to get there. On top of having to heft the baby that far, it was about 18 degrees with light snow intermittantly falling and a brisk wind. Needless to say, by the time we got there, Rich who was toting Haylie was not a happy camper. We all were wrapped up like snow mummies and Haylie was in the pink snowsuit, so we weren't too cold, but we were exhausted just having to go that far.

Red Square was indeed open this time and it was packed with people. Rich really wanted to see Lennins tomb and I wanted to see St. Basils Cathedral. We were wondering around, I'm sure looking like lost tourists when this woman walked up to us and asked if we spoke English. When we said yes, she asked if we wanted to see Red Square and Lennins tomb without standing in line and have a private tour. So, we said sure why not. I asked how much and she told us 1200 rubles. Well everything I had read said to never take their first price, so I tried to bargain with her, but Rich said that's fine... turns out she did a really good job and it was great that she happened along. We never would have figured out even how to get into the tomb. It's pretty bizarre. This guy has been dead since 1930 and his body is supposedly still perfectly embalmed and under glass. We are dubious though--sure looked more like a wax statue. They have all these strict rules to get in, like no talking inside, no hats, no bags or cameras even in the bag, and you can't stop and look. You have to keep walking by the body. We never could have figured all that out ourselves without her telling us. So it was actually a very enjoyable little tour and worth the price.

We then walked down to St. Basils Cathedral which is on the other end of the square. By this time it was really windy and cold, and Rich's was not having a good time, as you can tell in the pictures above. Haylie did pretty well throughout the ordeal and only got fussy a couple of times when she got hungry. Never complained about the cold in the pink marshmallow suit.

We were so tired by the time we finished seeing the cathedral, I didn't think there was anyway we could walk all the way back. We ended up taking the subway back to our area, which saved us. It was pretty difficult to figure out which train to take though. I've ridden on subways all over the world, and I must say this was the most difficult to navigate I've ever been on. Once we finally figured out which train to take, turns out it was only one stop away. By the time we got back to the room, we had been gone for 5 hours in the cold, and when we started out we thought it would only take about 1 1/2 hours!!

When we got back we all took a long nap. I feel like a terrible mother, because after that Haylie who has been kind of fussy the last 2 days, really started acting like she doesn't feel well. She was running a low grade temperature and just lying around. It was really kind of pitiful. She keeps pulling on her ear, so I'm thinking she may have an ear infection. She also wouldn't eat much at all for lunch or dinner. She finally went down for bed after some tylenol, so hopefully she will feel better tomorrow.

I apologize about the potty pictures. My mom wanted me to take a picture of the one we are using here, so she can see if she can find a similar size one for home for us, so that is why there are pictures of a pink plastic potty chair.

First Trip Out and About

2008-01-18T11:39:00.000-05:00

Today was a pretty quiet day. Rich had to go out with Dimitri to get some paperwork for Haylie's registration. That was the last we have to do. Something else to complete her registration needs to be done on Monday, but Oksana will do that. After that we are apparently finished. She told us we could actually go home Tuesday instead of Thursday, so we are looking into changing our plane tickets. If it's not too much, we will head on home. The apartment is prepaid and of course there is no refunds, so we will have to eat 2 nights if we do leave early--but will sure be worth it. I'll keep you posted.

We stayed in most of the day. We did go out at noon because the cleaning lady was supposed to come then. So we bundled Haylie up in the pink marshmallow suit and used the Hip Sling. It is most assuredly easier than just carrying her, but she is still a load if walking very far. Which we did. That stroller sure would have come in handy!!

We walked over to the Old Arbat area which is a pedestrian mall-like area with lots of shops and restaurants. We probably walked about 1/2 mile to you guessed it, McDonalds. We weren't sure how Haylie would do for her first restaurant experience and knew McD's was kid friendly. Only thing was, they didn't have one single high chair anywhere. I fed her before we left, so she just watched us. She did really well. Next we walked next door to the grocery store in the area. It was a really nice, two story store, with a flat escalator you can take your shopping cart on--pretty neat. We just bought some bread (no white wonder bread here), yogurt, juice, and water.

I also got what I thought was butter for the fresh french bread. However, turns out what we got is some kind of dry cream cheese-like concoction. Thats what happens when nothing is in English and I can't read Russian.

Don't think my little girl is feeling very well. Can't tell if it's from teething or maybe a ear infection. She's just be lying around most of the day and pretty fussy. A dose of tylenol perks her up. She didn't eat much of her dinner either. But is still using the little potty like a champ--I can't get over it. She can't walk yet, but is pretty well potty trained!! Hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow since we are going to try and walk down to Red Square (where again the stroller would have come in handy!!)

Haylie's First Bath & First Meltdown

2008-01-17T12:38:00.000-05:00

Haylie woke us up at 4:30 after sleeping 12 hours. We went ahead and had breakfast and then tried putting her on the "pot". They had told us at the orphanage that she was pretty much potty trained--they put all the kids on a little pot first thing every morning and then after every meal. Well, the apartment has a baby pot so we tried it, and sure enough right after breakfast, she pee peed on the pot and then later in the day even poopied on the pot--amazing!! We're still leaving diapers on her and she has also used them.

After the pot excitement, I gave her her first bath in the kitchen sink (there is only a shower stall in the apartment). She did pretty good and smelled sooooo good afterwards. She played for a while without any problem. Around 9 she started crying like crazy and wouldn't stop no matter what. We couldn't find any way to comfort her. I don't know if she is upset from teething or has a tummy ache. I finally gave her some tylenol and she settled down and fell asleep for a little while. We had hoped it was a one time occurence since she had been sooo good the last 2 days, but we of course were wrong.

We had to go to the US Embassy to apply for her US visa and immigration papers. She had another meltdown on the ride to the Embassy that continued the entire 1 1/2 hours we were there--joyjoy. While there we met 2 other couples adopting--both adopting 2 at the same time!! One couple was from California, the other from Chicago. Both of them were on their 3rd trip over because their 10 day waiting period was not waived like ours was--they were adopting from other regions than us.

Luckily, the other kiddos were pretty fussy too, but Haylie was definately the loudest. Crazy thing was, as soon as we got back to the apartment she settled down and was fine the rest of the afternoon. She did again have a crying jag at bedtime that couldn't be comforted either. I finally gave her more Tylenol and put her to bed crying, which I hated to do. But she quickly fell asleep and is currently sleeping soundly. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Daddy says he had no idea babies were soooo much work--surprise!!

A VERY Long Day--Going Back to Moscow

2008-01-16T11:47:00.000-05:00

We awoke at 4:30 to be picked up at 6 to go back to the airport to go back to Moscow. I had gotten most things packed up the night before so we wouldn't have to do it all at the last minute. But, this was the first time I had ever gotten a baby ready for a trip before--nothing like trial by fire!! Needless to say I was just finishing up feeding Haylie when they came to pick us up. So we were rushing to get all the luggage out in a hurry. I was busy putting the pink marshmallow suit on Haylie and poor Rich was taking care of the luggage along with Sergei. Anyway, long story short when we got to the airport, we realized we had left the stroller we had brought all the way from KY back in the hotel room--and of course there was not time to go back and get it. We never even got to use it, and now we'll have to tote Haylie all over Moscow and thru the airports. I'm going to looking into finding one here in Moscow, but supposedly they are hard to find this time of year and VERY expensive. I've got a nice one at home and don't want to spend a lot of money on another one.

Anyway, we got all our massive amounts of luggage thru customs (and luckily again didn't have to pay extra for the overweight bags--I think they just felt sorry for us having to lug all the luggage and the baby thru all the stoppoints you have to go thru which believe was an ordeal). We got on the bus at the gate which takes you to the airplane and then there is a big line to get onto the plane (no nice warm gates directly onto the plane like at home!!). Luckily, having a baby got me directly to the front of the line from the very back. We lucked out and had an empty seat between us was empty, so we basically had a free seat for Haylie. She was soooooo good. I fed her a bottle while we were taking off and she stayed awake for maybe 30 minutes and then fell asleep and slept the entire way in the empty seat. She didn't cry a peep until everyone was trying to get off. Then she was having a fit--turns out she had done a big job in her pants. Rich was mortified because she stunk, and everyone of course was staring at us. We again had to ride the bus back to the gate and the bus was completely packed when we got back off the plane--this time no special priviledges because of the baby.

After being picked up at the airport we were taken by AA representatives immediately to get her physical exam. Ends up we had to wait for 1 1/2 hours in a Russian pediatric hospital which was an ordeal in itself. Instead of coming with us, they just dropped us off and told us to sit on the bench until time for our apartment. Oksana, the Russian translator finally came and went into the doctors office with us. I had thought all along she had to have an HIV test, but luckily all she needed was a physical exam. So Boris, the Russian doctor who did speak English, did a pretty thorough exam on her and declared her healthy, only small. She weighs 18 pounds and is 30 inches long. That means she's only gained one pound in the past 4 months and hasn't gotten any taller. We'll get her fattened up though.

Then we had to kill another 1 1/2 hours waiting until we could check into our apartment. So they dropped us off at Hard Rock Cafe and we had a hamburger. We tried to feed Haylie her first macaroni & cheese, french fries, and milk. She wouldn't touch any of it. Evidently they were only feeding her pureed food in the orphanage, because we can't get her to eat anything solid or with texture. She does great with baby food or yogurt, but won't anything solid so far.

We finally got checked into the apartment at 2pm. We were all so tired, we were just dead. We all layed down for a nap at 4:30. Haylie ended up sleeping all through the night--until 4:30 am anyway. She was soooo good all day. The apartment is small and kind of run down, but serviceable and in a really good location close to the famous Old Arbat section of Moscow with lots of shops and restaraunts. Sure wish we had a stroller though.

Booster is Coming Home!!!

2008-01-15T10:37:00.000-05:00

The new addition to the Holl family!!!
Our precious girl
She is still wearing 6-9 months clothes and this one is pretty baggy on her
In the "pink marshmallow suit" getting ready to go out in the cold with Allisa our translator
With Dr. Ludmilla the orphanage director

Well, the big day is finally here after all these months of waiting. We left Kemerovo at 8 AM and were driven thru the countrysides of Siberia for 3 hours to get to the orphange. It was so cold outside the windows all had major frost on them the entire way so it was hard to see much. The windshield was only about 1/2 defrosted, and we were in the back seat so all we could see was lots of snow.

We arrived at the orphanage at 11. Dr. Ludmilla (of the infamous blue eyeshadow) again went over all of her records. They told me last time she had a milk allergy, but now she supposedly has never had any allergies, so who knows. Then the magic time finally arrived when they brought our daughter into us. It was so wonderful to see her again and to know that this time she would be coming home with us...also kind of overwhelming to think that we are now her forever momma and daddy. She really hadn't changed much at all in the past 4 months except she has a little more hair. In fact they brought her in in the same outfit she had worn when we visited in September on the second day. She still isn't walking on her own yet either, which I really thought she would be by now. We stripped her down and put the clothes we had brought from home to take her out in. They are 6-9 months size and the shirt is too big for her, but the pants fit fine. We put the pink marshmellow snowsuit on her. For those who don't know, the marshmallow suit is a really warm, cute snowsuit that we are passing to adoptive moms who are going to Siberia in the winter. We are the 3rd family to use it, and I will pass it on to another adopting mom. It still looks brand new and it has attached gloves and shoe covers. The last baby who had it evidently hated it, but Haylie didn't mind it at all, at least at first. The Russian folks are very, very adamant about making sure you've got your baby wrapped up like a mummy everytime you go outside, and heaven help you if one inch of skin is showing on a leg or arm. Total strangers come up to you on the street and tell you all about it, especially if the hat or hood has fallen off--look out they will really let you have it!!

We then made the 3 hour ride back to our hotel again. Haylie was soooo good, she didn't cry at all. We did feed some cereal in the van and she ate great too. When we got back to the hotel, we put her on the floor and she played with some toys we brought for over an hour by herself without complaining. Even though she's not walking, she crawls and pulls up and walks all around the furniture and really gets around fast! We had a crib in the hotel and I put her to bed at 9. She sat and played for like 2 hours in the crib all by herself. We finally ended up putting her in bed with us and she immediately fell asleep (I know, I know it's a big no no, but until we get her home we're just going with the flow).

More About Court

2008-01-14T03:56:00.000-05:00

Rich walking in Siberia You get frosted up really quick!!!
This is the street in front of our hotel

We went to court at the Kemerovo Regional Courthouse to finalize Haylie's adoption. Anna our interpreter had kind of prepared us about what to expect which really helped. Our judge was a female who had obviously done lots of these proceedings. She read thru our mountains of paperwork and basically read our homestudy aloud, with Anna translating as the judge talked. Rich was asked to stand and he had to answer most of the questions--they were pretty basic, like why did we want to adopt, why from Russia, our occupations and salaries, etc. When he was done, I had to stand and was asked if there was anything else I wanted to add. I had been told to ask to have the 10 day waiting period waived, which I did. Next, the judge asked everyone to leave the courtroom (which was actually just a small office room). We went out in the hallway for only about 3-5 minutes and we went back in. The judge granted the adoption and waived the 10 day waiting period--hallelujah!!!

After court, we had to go to the police station to have more paperwork completed. Rich and I just basically sat in the hallway while Anna went from office to office getting the appropriate documents done. We left to be driven back to the hotel--however when we got back to the van, Sergei our driver was working on the motor because the car wouldn't start due to the cold. Luckily, it wasn't a very long walk back to the hotel, but it was a verrrrry cold walk. We had the rest of the day free, but because we were still jetlagged, we layed down for a short nap and ended up sleeping like 7 hours and woke up at 10pm. Of course we were then wide awake, so we watched a DVD till 3am. We had to be up and ready for breakfast at 7:15 (they made us our own breakfast every morning, kind of like a B&B) and then be picked up at 8am for the 3 hour car ride to the orphanage to get Haylie!!

It's Cold in Siberia and we had our Court Date!!

2008-01-14T01:13:00.000-05:00

We touched down in Kemerovo, Russia which is the capital of the region where we will go to court tomorrow. When we landed, they said it was -36 degrees--we think that is celcius, but let me tell you it's mighty cold!! Our coordinator, Anna, met us at the airport and took us to the Hotel Azot in downtown Kemerovo. So far it looks like Kemerovo is a much nicer town than where we were before in Novokuznetsk. The hotel is an old hostel that was just recently remodeled. We have a living room and bedroom and bathroom. It's the Taj Mahal compared to where we stayed before. We got to the hotel around 8 AM. We were so wiped out with the jet lag, that we just slept all day. We did bundle up and walk down to the grocery store to buy some water and drinks. It's just about 2 blocks away, and boy is it cold. We slept some more and just ate peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches at 2 am and watched a DVD til 4 am. We had to get up early at 7 am to get ready to go to court.

We went to court this morning and everything went off without a hitch. The judge made Haylie legally ours. We will drive for 3 hours tomorrow to pick her up at the orphange.
I will write later in more detail about all the court events. They dropped us off at the internet cafe for just a few minutes. But they are waiting on me now, so got to run. But, had to let everyone know we are legally and officially parents!!!

We're Back in the USSR!!!

2008-01-12T05:11:00.000-05:00

We'll we've made to Moscow!! And so did our bags!!! They were almost the last ones off the plane and I had visions of our last trip without any luggage. It's about 24 degrees here with maybe 1-2 inches of snow. Oksana, our coordinator here said it had been much colder in the past week but is supposed to warm up a little in the coming week. When we took off from Atlanta last night, they told us it was 0 degrees here (course it was 1 am here at the time). Our flights from Lexington to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta to Moscow came off smooth as could be for a change, for which we are very thankful.

To back up a little, we weren't even sure we would be able to come right up to the last minute due to our visa situation. Since the Russian consolate was closed for New Years until Jan 9, we had to go right to the wire to get our visas in time to travel on the 11th (see previous post for more details if you are confused already). Anyway, the plan was that the consolate in NYC was to open on the 9th, process our visas and ship them out overnight for us to receive on the 10th. Well, just our usual luck, the consolate sent them to the wrong zip code and they ended up in upstate New York. Needless to say, I was a little stressed out. You cannot enter Russia without a visa. I tried to call the travel agent who had helped me with ordering the visas, but she never returned my calls (turns out she was off sick!!) I finally got thru to DHL Shipping, who confirmed indeed that it was in New York at 1pm on Thursday. The lady said "there is no way it will get to you today." So I had a little melt down and tearfully told her I HAD to have this package delivered because we were supposed to leave Friday morning. Guess she felt sorry for me, and after about 20 minutes on hold she came back and said they could ship it to Cincinnati and then drive it to Lexington and deliver it at midnight. So, that is what happened, and in fact it actually arrived around 9:30 pm. I felt like a new woman once that package finally arrived. It's been a crazy week but FINALLY everything fell into place, and here we are.

We have a 12 hour layover in Moscow, so they took us to a hotel near the airport for a "daystay" where we checked in at noon and have to check out at 6pm tonight. It's nice to be able to crash for a little while, take a shower, etc. However, our bags stayed in the car that will pick us back up so we can't really change clothes since we just have our carry ons with us. The biggest bone of contention for Rich on this trip so far is all of the luggage. I just HAD to end up packing 3 bags because of all the junk we had to bring for 2 weeks for the baby and the both of us. He only wanted me to bring 2 bags but there was just no way. I was up till 4am last night trying to get everything packed and still ended up with 3 bags. One was over the weight limit with Delta and we had to pay $50 for overage. I'm sure it'll cost even more on the next leg of the way. When we got here and finally rounded up all the bags and were walking out, some man said to me and pointed at my bag, "you are dripping" and sure enough the littlest bag which has off of Haylie's stuff was just drip, drip, dripping. I couldn't go thru it right then, but when we go into the hotel, turns out a plastic bottle of pedialyte had busted and leaked all over everything. Don't know how it leaked since I had everything in ziplock bags, but leak it did. Nothing really ruined though.

We leave tonight at 10:30 pm to fly to Kemerovo in Siberia and because of all the time zone changes, we arrive at 8 am, even though it is only a 4 1/2 hour flight. We will stay there for 3 nights before returning to Moscow with Haylie!! Court is scheduled for Monday morning the 14th. We will then drive to the orphanage on Tuesday morning and pick up Haylie and she will be ours for good--I can't wait!! We come back to Moscow on the 16th, and Oksanna just told us we go straight to the medical clinic where Haylie will have her medical exam and HIV test. We will then check into our apartment Wednesday afternoon. She also said we will go to the American Embassy on Thursday for our interview there. Seems like it will move even faster when we get back to Moscow than I had orginally thought.

I don't know if I will have any internet access while we are in Kemerovo, so I may not be able to post again until Wednesday, but will try if possible. We have free unlimited internet access at the apartment which will be great.
We already miss everybody and home.

We're Going to Russia!!!

2008-01-06T16:42:00.000-05:00

Well, we have been going crazy trying to get the last minute paperwork for our trip together and make arrangements for planes, hotels, etc. We will probably be staying in an apartment while in Moscow--the best part of that is they have free international phone calls and free internet. We had originally planned to stay at the Marriott Grand. I had been watching the rates, and while it was pricy (as is everything in Moscow), when we went to make actual reservations, we were shocked to find the 8 nights in Moscow would cost us $8400!! No way Jose!! We tried the other Marriotts in Moscow and the cheapest would have been close to $5000 for 8 nights. We also checked out other hotels, all of which were comparably outrageous. So, we've decided to rent an apartment which is much more reasonable. The other nice thing is we will have a kitchen and washing machine, so we can save some on the food costs too.

We will leave Friday, Jan. 11. We're flying out of Lexington to Atlanta, then direct to Moscow from Atlanta on a 13 hour flight. We then have a 12 hour layover in Moscow (we will get a "dayroom" in a hotel near the airport to crash in for a few hours). Then, Saturday night at 10:30 pm we leave Moscow and fly to Kemerovo, arriving Sunday. We then go to court on Monday morning where if all goes well (and we get all our last minute paperwork done!!) the judge will declare Haylie forever ours. We then spend Monday night, again without Haylie who will still be in the orphanage. We will drive about 3 hours from Kemerovo to Prokopyvesk on Tuesday to the orphanage to finally pick up Haylie--so we will officially adopt her before we even see her again!!

Next we leave Kemerovo Wednesday, Jan 16 and fly back to Moscow. We will spend 8 nights in Moscow completing the paperwork, doctors visit, getting Haylie a passport photo taken, etc. It takes 5 business days to complete it all and of course since we don't get in Moscow until Wednesday, we will have the weekend to just kill time.
We ended up staying an extra day because the direct flight home wasn't available on the 23rd. So, we decided it would be worth it to stay another night, rather than have to take flights that took us to Hamburg, New York City (with an 8 hour layover there!!), Cincinnati, and finally to Lexington--this craziness was the only option on the 23rd. Changing planes so many times would just be too hard with the baby.

So we will be back into Lexington on the 24th of January, Lord willing. I just looked at the weather channel and it is currently -3 in Kemerovo with a low of -14 predicted for tonight (of course it is in Siberia!!!) It's a balmy 11 in Moscow with a low of 3 degrees tonight. The long range forecast calls for a warmup to 5 degrees in Kemerovo and 27 degrees in Moscow while we are there--yippee!!

We would appreciate everyones prayers that all goes well with safe travels, a healthy baby, easy court process, and actually getting our visas before we have to leave!! I'll try and post before we go to update you. Sounds like posting in Kemerovo might be a problem, but I'll definately post daily while we are in Moscow so everybody can know what is going on.

We Have a Court Date!!!

2008-01-02T18:27:00.000-05:00

We finally got the word today that we have a court date to finalize Haylie's adoption for Monday, January 14, 2008!!!!! We are soooooooooo excited, but didn't get much notice to make travel arrangements. We will leave next Friday the 11th. We had wanted to leave the 10th which would have given us a day of rest in Moscow before flying on to Kemerovo where court will be held. But the Russian Consulate is closed for the holidays and doesn't reopen until Jan. 9. So now we have to pray that they will overnight us our visa on the 10th so we can leave on the 11th. Please say lots of prayers for us that all goes smoothly and safely. We've been waiting so long, but now that we actually have a date, of course we will be running around like chickens without their heads to get everything together to go. I'll post more details later--just wanted everybody to hear our big news!!!

STILL No Court Date after 12 1/2 Weeks!!

2007-12-14T12:50:00.000-05:00

Well, it looks like Haylie will have to spend Christmas and New Years in Russia. We still haven't heard anything about our court date, and today was the cut off to be able to get it done before the New Year. The Russian government shuts down from December 28 - January 15 for their New Year's and Christmas celebration, so it will now have to be after January 15. I'm so angry that we couldn't have gotten her before the holidays. Mainly because that is just another month she will have to spend in an orphanage without anyone to love and care for her. But I'm also selfish and really wanted to get her back by the holidays and before Rich has to go back to work on January 3. Especially considering other couples who traveled for their first visit at the same time and even after we did are already home with their babies. It just doesn't seem fair.

AA says there is no problem, we just must wait till the judge appoints a court date. Normally that happens within a few days of getting the release letter (which we got 8 days ago), but because of the holidays it will take longer. As a result of this delay, we had to redo our medical forms which are only good for 3 months. The current ones would expire Jan1, 2008. When we did them originally in October, Alina said "there is no way these will expire before you go back"--HA!! Luckily, I work in the medical field and can get these done easily and cheaply. I feel sorry for those other folks out there who would have to make another appointment with their physician, for another physical exam and more blood work, none of which is usually covered by insurance. We also now have to do MORE notarizing and apostilling, and shell out more money for that of course.

Oh well, I'll get off my soapbox now and quit complaining, if only for a short period. I'm posting some pictures of all the documents we've done and aspostilled for our dossier, and now will add to.

These are only about half of the ones we had to do for our original dossier before we even got our referral.

Pictures of Russia & We Have Progress After 11 Weeks!!!

2007-12-06T15:49:00.000-05:00

St. Basils Cathedral, Moscow
Homes in countryside on way to orphanage
Countryside near Novokuznetsk
Prokopiesk Orphanage where Haylie is living

Red Square, Moscow
Red Square in the rain
Gardens near Kremlin
Park surrounding Kremlin, Red Square
GUM Department Store

I just heard from our Adoption Ark coordinator that our release letter has been received finally. This was the last step needed before the judge could set the court date, and for some reason our release letter had kind of been MIA. I was soooo discouraged yesterday after I spoke with Alina. I kind of felt like we were getting the run-around. She just kept telling me they didn't know where the release letter was and all we could do was wait for it to get back into the region from Moscow. In the mean time, the people we went on our first trip with as well as at least 2 other couples who traveled after we did already had a court date. In fact Dave and Stacy are in Moscow as we speak and already have finished with court. Alina said yesterday that she didn't think we would hear anything now until after the first of the year....needless to say, not what I wanted to hear.

So when she called today and left a message that she had just been notified about the release letter, I was shocked. I do feel much better, because having the release letter indicates all of the needed paperwork is in order and we can proceed to court. I still don't see it being possible to get a court date before the end of the year since things really slow down with the holidays. The US Embassy will close from Christmas to New Years, and then the Russians celebrate their Christmas holiday from December 28 until January 15. But at least we can see light at the end of the tunnel!!! I'll keep you posted.

In light of this progress, I thought I would post some of the pictures of Russia we took on our first trip. I had forgotten I had never posted any pictures. In September, Moscow was georgeous (even in the rain) with beautiful flowers everywhere. I just looked on the weather channel website and the current temperature in Moscow is a high of 12 degrees, low of 0 with snow showers predicted all week. So we probably won't be able to get out and sightsee too much, especially with a baby.

Visitors From Around the World

2007-11-26T13:29:00.001-05:00

Create your own visitor map!

10 Weeks, but the nursery is FINALLY ready!!

2007-11-26T11:43:00.000-05:00

Before the turkey dinner

Finally, the "After" pictures--no more boxes!!
Picture above crib
Picture over dresser/changing table

Everybody at work on Thanksgiving Day!!
Even Daddy got in on the act!!
Grandma and Aunt Lisa taking a breather
The crib all put together
Beautiful Laura Ashley crib bedding

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! We had a really nice weekend. After Thanksgiving dinner, everybody pitched in to put the nursery furniture together--finally (it's been sitting on the floor in boxes for over a month now). It was a great way to spend turkey day!! Next year we can tell Haylie we put her bed together on Thanksgiving Day--hah!! My mom, sisters, me, my sisters boyfriend Pete, and yes even Rich all worked together to get the crib and dresser put together. I really love it--it turned out just the way I had hoped it would. Now we just need little Haylie to move in--it's all ready for her, and so are we. Well actually, the room is only HALF finished. One half is the beautiful nursery you see above, the other half is still Daddy's office that we will start moving into the other bedroom this week.

Today makes 10 weeks since we were in Novokuznetzk, not that we are counting or anything. We are praying that we get the word sometime this week about the court date. I know I've been sounding like a broken record, but its really getting down to crunch time now for us. If it goes much longer we will be there over the holidays, and the US Embassy shuts down between Christmas and New Years, so we would have to sit in Moscow after the court date, waiting til it reopened. Or, the other scenerio is that it could be after the holidays, and Rich (who has been off on sabbatical all fall) has to go back to work the first week of January. Soooo, needless to say, we really are anxious to hear something this week. We are really trying to be optimistic, but know the reality is that this could take longer than we want it too. I know it will all happen in God's time, but have to keep telling myself that constantly.

9 weeks waiting!!

2007-11-21T13:01:00.001-05:00

Well, it's been a long 9 weeks since we were in Russia and now waiting for a court date. I must check my email and cell phone 20 times a day to see if we have gotten a call about the court date. Since I never got a reply to my email, I finally broke down yesterday and called our Adoption Ark coordinator to see if she'd heard anything. She also said we are waiting on the "release letter". Seems it was supposedly sent from the region to Moscow, then has to be sent back to Kemerovo before the judge will appoint a court date. Evidently the Russian mail system leaves a lot to be desired, and can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks to receive. She told me legally, the judge had up to 2 months!! to set the date, after they get the release letter. I about died, this was the first I had heard of this. She did say that that USUALLY didn't happen, and most of the time they set the date quickly after getting the letter. Funny thing is, our letter and the couple we went with, Stacy and Dave, letters went in at the same time. Luckily for them, theirs is already back and they are going next week to get little Alexander. Everyone please say prayers for us that we will get our date soon and be able to go get Haylie.

Hope everybody has a wonderful Turkey day. We had so hoped to be getting packed to go by Thanksgiving, but guess it's just not meant to be. But I just try to remember that next Thanksgiving, we will most assuredly have something most wonderful to be thankful for (not that we don't already!!) because Haylie will be with us to celebrate. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Surprise Baby Shower!!!

2007-11-20T14:15:00.000-05:00

My sister Lisa and the beautiful table

Friends and family lined up for the goodies

What an adorable cake!!!

My wonderful mother and sisters and my mom's best friend Betty went together and gave me a surprise baby shower for Haylie on Saturday. It was the best baby shower ever!! It was soooo nice and I had such a good time. They had invited lots of old friends, many of whom I used to work with but hadn't seen in a long time, as well as some sweet family who live in Indiana. Also, several of my dear friends from work and church came. It was so nice to see all these dear people I hadn't seen in a while, and of course the shower made it even nicer!! We got so many nice gifts. Haylie will certainly be the best dressed little girl around--I can't wait to try all the outfits on her.

I want to thank my dear mom and sisters, Marcia and Lisa, and Betty for all the hard work. I absolutely loved it--it couldn't have been nicer. I really was surprised, but I must admit I got a little suspicious that something was going on when Lisa told me to "wear something nice, like dress pants" to go to a movie. That was what I thought we were going to be doing, and guess she didn't want me showing up at the shower in my old sweatpants (which by the way would have been a great possibility.) Thanks too to Bobbi Jo, my dear friend from work who I see everyday, for all your help and for keeping it all a secret--she never let on once that anything was going on.

PS Look closely at the cake and you can see a great picture of my girl (I know I'm not supposed to post pictures, but I'm gonna live dangerously--it's only cake!!)

Look at the "Time Waiting" Ticker

2007-11-15T12:53:00.000-05:00

Hah, I just noticed on the Lilypie Time Ticker above that we have been waiting for Haylie for exactly 9 months and 1 day today!!! I think it's hilarious. I sent the signed contract into Adoption Ark to get the whole thing rolling on February 14, 2007. If I'd been pregnant with her, it would be time for her to be born....guess by the time we actually get her and the adoption finalized she will be "overdue". I've heard people call international adoption a "paper pregnancy"--well, guess we are right on track!!

Waiting 8 Weeks

2007-11-15T09:26:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been 8 weeks now since our first trip to Russia. We got the news earlier this week that the couple we traveled with, Dave and Stacy have gotten their court date for November 29. I am soooooo happy for them. I've kind of been waiting with baited breath all week for a phone call from Adoption Ark for our court date too, since they got theirs. I finally couldn't stand it any longer and emailed our coordinator in Chicago. All she had to say was that we were still waiting on a "release letter" to get a date and that she would let me know if she heard anything. Not what I wanted to hear obviously. This waiting gets harder every day!!! I keep reading on the web message boards about others getting their court dates--seems like about 5 families got their dates last week. I try not to be jealous, but can't help wish it was us too. There has also been several posts about people loosing their referral right before their second trip, and so now I'm worried to death that something will happen and we won't be able to get our Haylie. We certainly don't have the best luck in the world, and I'm really scared our bad luck will come through in this matter and something will happen that we won't get Haylie.

Oh, well I'll get off of the pity potty and show you our first official baby gift. The sweet doctor I work with bought this for us way back when we first started the process, and planned to give it to me at a shower. But she was so excited, and said she couldn't wait for the shower, so went ahead and gave it to me. It is so adorable, I can't wait to see Haylie riding the rocking horse. It's kind of hard to see in the picture, but there is also a little blanket, bottle, pacifier, shirt, teddy bear, and a bib with "Haylie" embroidered on it. I just LOVE it!!

It's Been 6 Weeks Since We Met Haylie

2007-10-26T10:19:00.000-04:00

It was 6 weeks ago today we met Haylie at the orphanage. In some ways those weeks have flown by, but they have also been interminable waiting to get our court date so we can go back and bring her home. Every night Rich kisses her picture on the refrigerator and says "Booster, come home!!" several times--it is so cute. Is this really my husband who really wasn't too sure about kids just a couple of years ago? He is over the moon in love with Haylie. I guess I need to tell you my family is crazy about nicknames. Just about everybody has one, and Rich started calling Haylie, Haylie Boo. From there it went to "the Booster", and now the poor child who isn't even here yet has the nickname of "Booster".

I sent the last of the apostilled documents in to Adoption Ark last week, and supposedly a couple who left for Russia on Saturday hand carried our documents over as they went. Please pray they get there safely and that they haven't lost the ones we took when we went. I'm a little concerned taking them in 2 separate batches that something will be missing and it will delay our court date. I just saw on the Kemerovo webgroup I'm on, that a family who went for their 1st trip 2 weeks before we did got their court date for the middle of November!! So with any luck, we could be 2 weeks behind them, which would be right around Thanksgiving. That would be SOOOO awesome. They are using a different agency than us, but I'm sure going to keep my fingers crossed.

Because there was another home UK football game, we still didn't get a chance to get the nursery put together. Next week is out too because our church is having a Ladies Inspiration Day all day Saturday. So maybe one of these days I'll be able to post pictures of the nursery all put together. For now, it's still in boxes sitting in the middle of the room. So here are the "before" pictures, with the "after" pictures to follow in a few weeks.

I Have The Best Mom In The World!!!

2007-10-22T12:52:00.000-04:00

Mom and Julia

This is my mom, Meleta and with my neice, Julia. She is the absolute best mom in the whole wide world (at least to me!!). She is so excited about getting Haylie, at times I think she is even more excited than we are. She should have had about 20 grandbabies, but none of her 3 daughters were fertile. She only has one precious grandchild, my neice Julia, now 11 years old, who is also adopted. We have all about loved Julia to death since we got her at 3 months old. Now with Haylie coming, Mom will have another baby to spoil. She has already hand-knitted her 2 beautiful sweaters (one with a hat), an afghan, made a handmade cover for a shopping-cart, and put together a fleece coverlet to use as a floor cloth. She also has bought Haylie her first shoes. In addition she is going to help me assemble the crib and dresser, which we finally bought last week (since Rich has no apptitude for anything remotely resembling a handyman!!). Above are pictures of the beautiful sweaters (one white, one yellow) and the afghan she has made.

I can't wait to see them on Haylie--she will be an absolute doll!! We're going on 5 weeks now since our first trip, so hopefully we will hear something about a court date within the next month.

Go Cats!!!

2007-10-17T14:53:00.000-04:00

We had a great weekend this past week. We are long-suffering University of Kentucky Wildcat football season ticket holders, for the past 12 years. As most of you know UK has not been a powerhouse in the SEC, and that's putting it nicely. We always go to every game and tailgate with a bunch of friends from my church. We always have a big time, even when Kentucky looses, which is normally often. This year however, has been different, as Kentucky is now 6-1 (an amazing record for us poor KY fans!!)

So last Saturday, we played LSU, who at the time was ranked #1 in the country. We were hopeful, but nobody really thought we would win. Well, hallelujah we actually won after 3 overtimes!! It was so much fun, probably the best time we've ever had at a football game. The whole day was great starting with the tailgating...we had smoked pulled pork sandwiches which were fantastic. One of the guys uncle from church actually makes it himself, from his own pigs. It was a gorgeous October day and we had a crowd of about 40 people tailgating. These folks go all out, with 3 tents set up, a flat screen TV, even heaters when it gets cold. Above are some pictures of our tailgating extravaganza and some of the game after we won.

It's the Hill Family Birthday Week

2007-10-12T09:38:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy week as we celebrated birthdays all week. BOTH my mother and father's birthday is October 10th and mine is October 11th. Because of everybodies crazy schedules, to be able to get everybody together, we started celebrating last Saturday the 6th. We officially celebrated Mom's birthday on Saturday (unfortuneately my Dad passed away 3 years ago, so even tho he's not here in body to celebrate, we still feel he's here in spirit so we still celebrate both of their birthdays!!).

We started with lunch at the Garden Cafe at the Flag Fork Herb Farm. They have a "Birthday Thank You" that you sign up for and they send you a free lunch for your birthday that you can use anyday of your birth month. We REALLY took advantage of this with both Mom and I using ours, plus my sister Marcia who's birthday is October 1 used hers. So we got 3 free lunches. You do have to have one paying person with you to get them free, so we also took Julia, my niece; Lisa, my other sister; and Betty Schlarb, my mom's best friend who lived next door to us growing up, so she is just like family too. This restaraunt is really fantastic and does a great job with homemade soups, salads, & sandwiches. It's really such a "girlie" type of place (but Rich loves it too!!--he couldn't go because he had to go to the annual Kentucky Teachers of History Conference--fun, fun). There is also a really nice gift shop attached to the restaraunt so of course we had to shop after eating. I did buy some really nice silk scarves to take as gifts when we go back to Russia.

After lunch, Mom and my sisters and Julia went to check out the new Hobby Lobby that just opened here in Lexington. We were soooo excited to have one here since the closest one before was in Louisville and we are HUGE Hobby Lobby fans!! After shopping all afternoon, we then went and picked up Betty again (she didn't want to go shopping) and then went to Bonefish Grill for Mom's Birthday Dinner--Lobster Yuuuuummmmyyy!! Rich met us at the Bonefish and we had a great time.

Sunday, we then did the family celebration for my birthday. My mom has always made our favorite meal for our birthdays as long as I can remember. It's a great treat since my mom is the worlds best cook. I always ask for her to make her homemade pizza--it's the best!! So after church we all went back to her house for pizza. She also made me her banana nut cake--from scratch!!! It's delicious, and I know how much work it is for her to make, so I really appreciated it. It was the first time Rich had ever eaten it, and he freaked out over it--said was about the best dessert he'd ever had.

So, after all of that partying, we also got together on my mom's actual birthday for dinner prior to Wednesday night church. Her favorite place to eat out these days is a little Chinese place called Chopstix (this is a woman who REALLY does NOT like to eat out at all!!) So we ordered and had dinner delivered to her house and my sister Marcia, Julia, and I ate with her before we left for church.

Then yesterday was my birthday!! I had to work (boo!), but my boss and a couple of girls from work took me out for Thai food for lunch, which was yummy. For dinner, just Rich and I went out for a nice quiet dinner at Le Deauville which is a swanky French place in downtown Lexington. It was delicious--maybe the best steak I've EVER eaten. We figure it may the last time we'll have an opportunity for a "swanky/romantic/quiet" dinner for awhile, once we get Haylie home!! It's been a very nice birthday week. I could just kick myself because I didn't take ANY pictures of any of this. I've gotten out of the practice of taking a lot of pictures. I used to take tons, but as we've all gotten older, the adults whine "don't take my picture--I'm so fat!!" But we're going to ratchet up and start taking LOTS of pictures once we get Haylie.

I have made some progress on the nursery front. My mom and I went Tuesday night and actually bought a crib and dresser. Problem is, we've been so busy birthdaying that they are still in the boxes in the back of my car!! Hopefully we'll make some progress this weekend and I'll post pictures. Of course, they have to be assembled and Rich just doesn't have the "handyman gene", so my mom and I are going to put them together--we are actually pretty handy, which of course we have to be since we don't have any men around that are!! I've also finally finished ALL of the documents for court and Rich went yesterday and got them apostilled, so I'll mail them in to AA today. With any luck, we'll get a court date by the end of November. Keep your fingers crossed and say lots of prayers it's soon.

Getting The Nursery Ready

2007-09-26T11:18:00.000-04:00

We've been back exactly a week now, and so ONE week down in the wait for a court date!! They say to expect 8-10 weeks before we can go back and finalize the adoption in court and bring Haylie home. We've been gathering goodies to fix up the nursery ever since we started the adoption process, but I waited until we knew for sure what age child we were going to get before actually buying the crib and other furnishings. I've been keeping everything together on this daybed in the spare room. As you can see, we already have a lot of STUFF waiting for Haylie. I bought a Laura Ashley bedding set months ago on sale for a great price that I love. It's pinks, blues, greens, and yellows. I had already picked out the crib and dresser I wanted several months ago, but was waiting to buy it until after our first trip. It's a crib that is convertible to a toddler bed, so that should work well since Haylie is already 15 months old. My mom and I went last night to actually buy the crib, but wouldn't you know they were out of stock of the one I wanted. So, we'll have to go back next week after they get in a new shipment. I'll post pictures of the nursery once we get everything set up.

We've shown off pictures and video to all of our family and friends and everybody says they think she is a doll too. Even the international adoption doctor who looked at her photos said how cute she is. Of course, we thinks she's absolutely gorgeous, but it's nice to hear it from others too!! I think my mom is more excited for her to come home than we are even. She'll be only her second grandchild and she'll be babysitting everyday while I work. Haylie will probably be spoiled rotten by all the family, but that's OK. My niece Julia, who is 11 (and is also adopted--domestically) has been the only child in the family all these years, and feels like my "surrogate child" since I certainly love her like she is my own. I think she is actually a little jealous of all the talk about Haylie!! She has gotten all the attention for so long, she doesn't know how to act having to share the limelight. She'll do great with Haylie though, and in fact the little stuffed lamb I left for Haylie at the orphanage was a gift from Julia.

We Made It Home!

2007-09-21T16:46:00.000-04:00

We left the hotel in Novokuznetzk, Russia at 5:45 am Wednesday morning (which was 5:45pm Tuesday night at home)and were taken to the airport with Natasha and our driver. We got checked in to fly to Moscow at 7:40. While we were waiting for our flight we met two other couples who were also adopting from another agency from a baby house in Novo. For one of the couples it was their second adoption, so they gave us some pointers to survive our next trip which were really helpful. It was nice to find some other English speaking folks in a sea of Russian speaking folks!!

Our 4 1/2 hour flight to Moscow was uneventful. It was again on the most uncomfortable plane I have ever encountered. They fed us what Natasha kept saying was a "substantial breakfast". Not your typical US fare for sure. They asked if we wanted "chicken, fish, or meat?". I went for the chicken and it was a mistake--it was about 5 small pieces of what looked like boiled chicken on some kind of grain product. I can't say I really ate much, but I did at least taste it. Rich got the "meat" and it was actually pretty good, kind of like chunks of pot roast on white rice. They also served a small salad, a roll, and some pieces of smoked turkey and ham.

We got to Moscow and then had to transfer to the other airport for our international flight. We were met promptly by our driver Dimitri, who didn't speak much English. It was about a 35 mile drive from one aiport to the other, but because the traffic is horrendous, it took us a little over 2 hours to get there. Once there, we had to say goodbye to our friends Stacy and Dave, as they were flying another airline home.

We took off for Atlanta at 1pm for an 11 1/2 hour flight back to the USA!! We arrived in Atlanta ahead of schedule at 4:10pm, then had to go thru customs. It was really kind of strange. We just had to fill out a form, go get our bags, go back thru security, and then recheck our bags. They didn't look in any of our bags at all. We then had a 3 hour layover, before we took off for our blessed Kentucky homeland. We finally landed 29 1/2 hours after we left at 9:30pm. Our bags made it the whole way this time--yeah!! My mom and Betty picked us up at the airport and we went back to my mom's house for a little while to show her a few pictures. We only stayed a little while as we still had an hours drive to get home. Rich decided since he was back in the USA we had to stop at White Castle for a few sliders for the drive home. I must admit they tasted mighty fine after the Russian food!!

So we are now back home. We finally got to bed around midnight Wednesday night and slept til after noon the next day. Luckily, I don't have to go back to work until Monday, so I can rest up before going back, and of course Rich is off on his sabbatical until January, so he has a lot of time to catch up on his sleep. Now the wait begins for our second trip. They told us 6-8 weeks while we were there, but we know realistically it will be more like 10-12 weeks. We are just praying we can get Haylie home in time for Christmas--what a Christmas present that would be.

Unfortunately, our adoption agency has asked us not to post any more pictures until the adoption is final, so I can't show you my pretty girl. Trust me that she is a doll, and as soon as we get her home I'll share LOTS of pictures.

Our Last Day with Haylie--for awhile

2007-09-17T05:32:00.001-04:00

We started our day at 3:30am when we woke up. Because of the crazy time differences, we went to bed exhausted at 7:30pm, then awoke at the crack of dawn. We were starving, and since it was so early nothing was open. So we ended up eating some of those premade tuna salad & cracker packs that I had brought. We stayed awake for 2 hours and then went back to sleep until 7:30.

We met Natasha in the hotel lobby at 8:45 and drove back to the orphanage for our last day of visiting with the babies. We signed some legal documents saying we definately intended to adopt and change her name to Haylie Ann. Afterwards, they brought in both Haylie and Alexander (Dave and Stacy's little guy). The orphanage is being remodeled so the rooms where they usually take adoptive parents were all torn up. They ended up putting us in the "music room" which also was being renovated, but they pulled out some gym mats for us to sit on and play with the kids.

Both of these kids are sooooo cute. I got a chance to look Haylie over closer and check her all out. She looks great!!! We also measured her--she is so tiny. I had taken several toys but turns out the toy she and Alex liked best was the tape measure!! They had a cute little one piece outfit on her that was 6-9 months and it was too big!!! Alexander is 4 months older but they are almost the same size because he was a preemie...he is 30 inches tall and she is 29 inches, but she has a bigger foot by just a little. We tried to feed her some cheerios, goldfish, and even some Gerber puffs, but she wouldn't have any of them--she just liked to throw them. Alex however, loved his goldfish and ate a whole bag!!

We got to spend a couple of hours with the kids. They were getting really sleepy by the time they came to take them away. Haylie loves to be held and snuggle and I know would have fallen asleep on my shoulder if they had waited a few more minutes. We got some good videotape, but I am not a very good baby photographer. Seems like in almost all of the pictures I tried to get of her, her eyes were closed. I still can't post any pictures because I have to use the hotel computer and they won't allow me to download anything. As soon as we get home I'll put a bunch of photos on.

After they took the babies away, they took us back to the directors office to see if we had any questions and kept asking if we are happy with our babies. We both had taken gifts for the director and the orphange workers, but they said it was unessacary and not to give them. So we each left one present for the director, Dr. Ludmilla. She seems like a nice, caring woman. She does however wear the most blue eyeshadow I have ever seen!!

We drove the hour ride from the orphanage back to Novokuznetsk in the van with Natasha and the driver. They then took us to a store that carried all kinds of good quality Russian souvenirs like the Mateotroshka dolls--those handpainted wooden dolls that come apart and have lots of littler ones inside. Of course we silly Americans spent lots of rubles getting souvenirs. The quality was much better than anything we had seen elsewhere.

We got back to the hotel around 2:30. Stacy & Dave and Rich & I then went out for lunch/dinner since we hadn't eaten since 3:30am!! We ended up going back to the little restaruant we ate at last night. Rich was more adventuresome and got some of the stew that Stacy had tried the night before. He ended up liking it after all. Both Stacy and I ordered Russian ravioli. The menu said it was mushroom, but it ended up being stuffed with meat with just a few mushrooms over top and covered in sour cream. It was actually pretty good and kind of reminded me of beef stroganoff. After dinner we were all exhausted again and headed back to the hotel for a "nap." Rich & I ended up sleeping till 9:30 pm. So now its 10pm and I'm down in the internet room writing this. I sure hope we'll be able to go back to sleep after that long nap.

We are leaving the hotel in the morning at 5:45am to start the LONG journey back. It will take a total of 29 hours to get back to Lexington, and then we have a hour's drive to get home. We will be toast I'm sure. It has been an amazing trip, but we are both very ready to come home and start the long wait until we can come back to pick up Haylie. Being here has made us all really appreciate the blessings of home. While the land here is beautiful, it is very depressing to see the living conditions. As Rich the history teacher says, it is much like the US was at the beginning of the 40's & 50's with so much industry and mining, with no regard to the environment. The pollution is terrible with a constant bad smell which leaves a sediment on everything. Even the water has a bad smell and we have to brush our teeth with bottled water. This will be our last time in this city. On our next trip we go to Kemerovo for court. We will drive back to the orphanage that time to pick up the baby, but won't stay here again.

Since we will be flying all day tomorrow, the next blog will be from home!! Can't wait to see everybody.
Love Jody

We Met Haylie Today!!!

2007-09-17T05:32:00.000-04:00

Well, we finally made it to the orphanage to meet our little girl. They ended up picking us up from the hotel in Moscow around 4:30 to take us to the domestic airport to fly to Novokuznetzk. We met the other couple traveling with us, Stacy and Dave. Turns out we have a lot in common as Dave is a professor and Stacy is a nurse...even our last names are similar. They are really nice and we get along well. They are from Delaware and we are gonna try and get together after all of this process is done and get the kids together.

We got to the airport around 5:30pm but our flight didn't leave until 10:05 pm so we had a lot of time to kill. They said they would be very specific about the weight of the bags, but we lucked out because ours were overweight but we didn't have to pay any extra for it. We ate dinner at a "Russian" restaurant which was cafeteria style. We both had a sausage roll and potatoes. It wasn't bad. We sat and talked with Dave and Stacy the whole time waiting. The airport was extremely crowded and there were no seats anywhere to be had so we had to stand up the whole time. We finally took off on time for a 4 1/2 hour plane ride in a 1970's vintage plane. It was kind of spooky but had no problems. Because of the crazy time changes we arrived at 6am. The airport is literally in the middle of nowhere and it was really small and dark. Luckily our baggage made it all the way this time.

Natasha, the regional coordinator met us at the airport and took us to the hotel. We got checked in and cleaned up a little before we met her to leave for the orphanage at 9am. The hotel is interesting. Old and kind of dingy but clean. The orphanage was about an hours drive away to meet the babies. It is in a small industrial town which appears to be very poor. All of the housing is either large apartment buildings or small wooden shacks with tin roofs. Funny thing is, all these little wooden houses have like tyrolian gingerbread around the windows in pastel colors, kind of reminiscent of Austria. There are lots of smoke stacks billowing black debris and there is a lot of air pollution/smog.

The orphanage is a medium sized 2 story building, kind of run down but clean. They just celebrated their 75th anniversary. They took both Rich and I and Stacy and Dave into the Directors office. She read the medical and social history about Haylie to us while Natasha translated. Nothing unexpected came up. Turns out she was an only child of a 21 year old mother. They then started telling Stacy and Dave about their baby. They had had a referral of a 15 month old boy, but tragically when we got here today, they were told that little boy had been placed with a Russian family. Of course they were very upset as they had already formed a mental bond with that little guy. But they did give them another referral of a little boy 21 months old who had the most beautiful blue-grey eyes I've ever seen. I feel so sorry for them, it just is heartbreaking. While they like the new one, they had already really bonded with the other one.

Next they brought Haylie in for us to see. Boy, was that something. She is absolutely adorable. Very bright-eyed and active. She's crawling like a champ and pulling herself up to stand and walk around the table. She can't quite walk by herself yet, but it won't be long. They had her fixed up really cute in a new outfit and bow in her hair. We took tons of pictures and videos. Unfortunealtely, I can't download any pictures of her from this hotel computer--not allowed, but I'll have tons to show when we get home. We only got to spend about 1 1/2 hours with the kids today. It was supposed to be more but the schedule was different than Natasha thought. We will go back tomorrow and see them again and hopefully get to spend more time with them. She loved the little stuffed lamb her cousin Julia sent to her and she laughed out loud whenever we played with it. We will sign papers tomorrow saying we will accept her as our child and change her name officially to Haylie Ann.

We then drove back to the hotel and took a short nap. All of us are completely exhausted and just running on adrenaline. We slept for 2 hours and then went out walking and exploring the area around the hotel. We had hoped to find some traditional Russian ware, but all we could find were clothing, shoe, coat stores, etc. Stacy and Dave did buy a cute stuffed bear for their little guy. Around 4 we decided to go find something for dinner which was harder than it sounds. Unfortunately, Russian food is not so good. We ended up going to 3 different restaraunts before we found anything that sounded edible. Turns out what Stacy, Dave, & I had was all really good. Rich wimped out and just got a cheese plate because he didn't think anything else sounded appetizing and his cheese wasn't very good. It's now 6 pm and we are all completely exhausted and are going to go to bed really soon. It's 12 hours ahead of home so jet lag has really set in. Hopefully we'll all feel better tomorrow after a good nights sleep. At least Rich and I got to sleep one night in Moscow, but poor Stacy and Dave have been up continuously since Saturday as they flew the whole way. We are really glad we chose to stay over the extra night.

Tomorrow is our last day at the orphanage and the last to see the babies until our next trip.
Maybe I'll be able to post some pictures tomorrow.
Love,
Jody & Rich

Update--We're Happy Now!!

2007-09-16T07:47:00.000-04:00

Well, we just found out Oksana has our luggage at the Moscow airport!! We also just read that Kentucky beat Louisville last night so Rich is ecstatic. They are going to pick us up at 6 then we fly overnight to Novo. We won't be able to change clothes until tomorrow morning, but at least we can clean up before we go meet Haylie. We've enjoyed our time in Moscow even in the rain and cold.

We Made It To Russia--Our Bags Didn't!!

2007-09-16T07:21:00.000-04:00

Well, we FINALLY made it to Russia!!! Our journey started on Friday morning Sept. 14. We woke up at 6:30 am (I didn’t get to bed until 3:30am getting ready!!). We had to stop at the post office to mail our last documents to Alina at Adoption Ark before we left. Then we went thru the drive thru at Hardee’s for breakfast before driving to Lexington. My mom and her friend Betty drove us to the airport at 10:30. Our flight was supposed to leave Lexington at 12:45. Rich & I got checked in and were killing time browsing in the book store at the airport. I decided to buy a soft drink and it was then I realized I had left my wallet in the car!! Luckily we had plenty of time for my mom to bring it back to us before our flight—or we’d really been up a creek.

As it turned out, we had PLENTY of time. Due to storms in Atlanta, our flight was delayed, and delayed, and delayed. First they delayed it one hour till 1:45. We got on the plane and started to actually take off, when all of a sudden the pilot slammed on the brakes. He said something on the computer went off saying something was wrong. They then did some checks and said it was OK to take off but we’d have to get in line again. Before we were first for takeoff, they came on the intercom and said the Atlanta airport was closed totally due to weather. So we taxied back and all got off the plane again. Finally, at 3:30 we reloaded and took off for Atlanta. Unfortunately, our connecting flight from Atlanta to Moscow was scheduled to take off at 3:45. They kept telling us since the whole airport was closed it would be late too and we’d probably make the connection—HAH!! When we approached Atlanta, they again said the airport was closed due to weather (evidently the remnants of Hurricane Humberto). Said we would probably divert to Knoxville to get more gas after we circled for 1 ½ hours. Anyway, we finally landed in Atlanta at 6pm. There was no listing on any of the boards for a departure to Moscow. We raced to the gate where we were supposed to have left from and of course the flight was long gone. We went to the assistance counter and this little oriental woman grabbed our tickets and went furiously to work to find us another flight since there wasn’t another direct flight until the next day and we really didn’t want to spend the night in Atlanta. She said “you better run now” and handed us boarding passes on a flight to Vienna. So off we ran, of course 32 gates away, and flew to Vienna. We then caught an Aeroflot flight from Vienna to Moscow which arrived in at 4:30pm Moscow time, only a mere 22 hours after we left Lexington.

Then the fun really began, because of course when we went to pick up our bags they were nowhere to be found. I had predicted this but Rich remained optimistic they would be there the whole trip!! We then had to go to the lost and found counter where there were a large group of Russian women shouting at each other. I stood there for probably 10 minutes waiting for help and I was first in line. Finally this woman from Aeroflot Airlines started to help us in English. Turns out our bags were still back in Atlanta—surprise, surprise. She said they wouldn’t be here until the next flight the next day. We had to fill out 5 forms and then go somewhere and get them stamped in customs then take them back to the shouting women. It was wild!! We finally headed out and luckily Oksana, our Moscow coordinator was there waiting for us.
A driver picked us up and drove us to the Marriott Courtyard in Old Moscow.
It is really a nice, Americanized hotel for only $395/night!!

We went out walking around the hotel for a couple of hours since we were both pretty hyped up. The hotel is only 6 blocks from Red Square/ the Kremlin. Moscow is actually a very clean and pretty urban city. We looked for a nice restaurant but couldn’t find one, so we eventually ended up eating at the hotel restaurant. Moscow is outrageously expensive, making New York City look cheap!! We had 1 cheeseburger which we split, a fruit plate, a diet coke, and an iced tea for only $60!!! Luckily it was good. We finally went back to the room and bed about 10pm. Of course without luggage, that means no jammies, toiletries, etc. The worst part for me is no blow dryer, hair spray, or other hair essentials. For Rich, the worst is no jacket since it’s about 45-50 degrees.

Sunday, we woke up and it was pouring down rain—just our luck. The hotel did have nice umbrellas they leant us, but no jacket for Rich. I had worn a sweatsuit like thing on the plane, so I at least have a little jacket. Rich just has on short sleeves. The natives are all wearing heavy coats, scarves, and even some have on gloves. Rich was cold but actually didn’t complain too much about it!! We walked down to Red Square, and wouldn’t you know it, the entire place is closed all week for some sort of Military Appreciation Week. They have barricades up with many soldiers everywhere keeping everybody out of the entire Red Square and the Kremlin. We walked all around the perimeter and thru the beautiful gardens. We also went to GUM department store which is huge. We ate lunch there at an Sbarro Pizza—not like home but pretty good and actually a bargain in this town. For breakfast we had a croissant, a chocolate éclair and one glass of milk for $25!!

Anyway, we are now back at the hotel just hanging out. They let us have a late checkout at 3 pm. Oksana will be here to pick us back up at 6pm. So I’m on the computer and Rich is napping. I went down to a little convenience store and bought some deodorant, hair spray, and a brush. They say they may not get our bags to us until we come back to Moscow in 3 days!! We leave tonight for Novokuznetsk and will meet Haylie tomorrow morning. Hopefully, we will have our luggage so we can change clothes before then, otherwise she might not want to see us!! This may be the last time I can post for awhile. They have wireless internet here, but I think I read the hotel in Novo doesn’t. No luggage also means no electrical plug converters and they don’t sell them here so I won’t be able to plug up. I’ll try to post again ASAP.

Love you all,
Jody & Rich

Getting Ready to Leave for Russia

2007-09-11T09:59:00.000-04:00

Well, we finally have all of our arrangements made for the big trip. Nothing like waiting for the last minute!!! We leave Friday, Sept. 14 from Lexington to Atlanta, then fly overnight directly into Moscow, arriving there Saturday morning. We decided to spend one night in Moscow both to rest and to get in a little sightseeing. We figured the next time we go, it will be cold and possibly lots of snow, so thought we would take advantage of nice weather while we can.
We will stay at the Marriott Courtyard near Red Square, which is close enough to walk around and see the major sights. We then have all day Sunday to look around.

We will fly Sunday night to Novokuznetsk, which is a 4 1/2 hour flight from Moscow. Because of the crazy time zone changes, we leave Moscow at 10pm and arrive in Novo at 6am. They will pick us up at the airport and take us to a hotel. Then, we will finally get to travel to the Baby House in Propokuznetsk (about an hour a way by van) to meet our georgous girl!!!

We are going kind of crazy trying to get everthing together to go. I'm trying to scramble to get as many of the court documents ready as possible. We were told they wouldn't be needed until time to go for the second visit, but our coordinator at AA says we need to go ahead and take as many now as possible, so they can be translating them. It may speed up the time to go back to court, so of course we are all for that!! But it's been harried trying to get them all together, notarized, authenticated, and apostilled. We are also still waiting to get our visa back. The application and our passports are at the Russian consulate and we are praying they overnight them today or tomorrow since we won't be able to go unless we get them back. We haven't even started to pack yet either and have things lined up tonight and tomorrow, leaving only Thursday night to get it all done!! Oh, well I always do better under pressure anyway!! Anyway, it will all be worth it to be able to see and hold our baby. We only wish we could bring her home this time--it's going to be terrible to have to leave her there after we meet her and wait another 2-3 months before we can go back and finalize the adoption. We're praying we can get her home by Christmas, which would be the best Christmas present EVER!!!

We have a referral!!!

2007-09-04T18:35:00.000-04:00

We received an email last Thursday, August 30 saying they had a referral of a 15 month old girl for us. Both Rich and I fell in love with the pictures of this beautiful little girl at first sight. I'd heard about that happening, but was skeptical. It's weird I know and somewhat of a cliche, but somehow I just knew this was the child God intended to be ours. She actually looks a little like Rich and is blond and blue-eyed like both of us.

We sent her pictures to an international adoption doctor at the University of Kentucky to see if she saw any problems. She said she looked absolutely great and saw no obvious problems. So, we called Adoption Ark the next day and told them we would accept the referral!! Today, the ball really got rolling when our caseworker called to start setting up the trip, which is going to be a whirlwind.

We will travel for our first trip to meet Haylie on Saturday, Sept. 15 from Lexington to Moscow. Then we will fly to the region to a city called Novokuznetsk in southern Siberia. From there we will travel by car to another town to the Prokopyevsk baby house to meet our Haylie. We will only be there for 2 short days before we have to leave her and return home to wait for a court date. We will return to the US on September 19.

So there is much to be done before we go and I know I will be going crazy before its over, but it will be worth it all. Turns out we will miss the UK vs Louisville football game while we go. Rich at first was not a happy camper about that since he is a huge UK football fan. But, even he said it would be worth it to go see Haylie.

I'll try and keep you all posted in the next few days as we make the final arrangements. Please say a prayer for us that things go smoothly.

Still Waiting!!!

2007-08-23T16:17:00.000-04:00

Well, we are still waiting for our referral of our precious baby girl. We have made some progress along the way. We are adopting from a region of Russia called Kemerovo. The court system there decided we needed to do even more paperwork than was already done. So, we had to go back and get yet more copies of our marriage license, along with 3 other new documents they wanted. Then they all had to be notarized and apostilled, requiring yet another 2 hour drive to the state capitol to get them notarized. We sent them all in last week, August 13, 2007. Adoption Ark notified us they had received them on August 15th. They will have the next family that travels over hand carry our documents over to Russia.

Two weeks ago our caseworker at AA said I might want to get our homestudy report ammended to say we would take an older little girl. She said it was a very easy process that only required a one page addendum. When I asked about the document from the US government which said we were only approved for 9-12 months old, she assured me it didn't really say that, that they never put the age limit on there. Well, I was sitting looking at the form talking to her and assured her it did indeed have the age limits listed. She said to notifiy the USCIS and have them change it, not a big deal. WELL, hah says the USCIS. We can change it by reapplying, waiting 2-3 months and paying another $340. Obviously, this option isn't really appealing to us. So, we decided we would continue to hope for a baby 9-12 months "at time of referral" so we won't have to do all that. It's OK if she's older by the time we get her home.

The big news we got today, is that we are now #1 on the waiting list for a little girl. All along, there has been a couple ahead of us on the waiting list, and they finally got their referral. So, the next little girl between 9-12 months old will be ours!!!

Welcome to our blog!!!

2007-07-11T17:02:00.000-04:00

Welcome as we tell our story of the adventure of adopting our daughter, Haylie Ann Holl from Russia. We are Rich & Jody and we live in a small town in central Kentucky. We have been married for 10 years. Unfortunately, we were never blessed to have a child of our own. We began thinking about adoption seriously in the past year, and decided to start the process of an international adoption from Russia. We are currently "paper ready" and just waiting for our referral of a baby girl. We are hoping to get a baby between 9-12 months old. Nine months is the youngest age the children can be released for adoption in Russia. Just getting the paperwork together for the dossier has been an adventure. Our timeline so far has been:

November 2006--Began researching adoption agencies

December 2006--Checked multiple references before deciding to go with Adoption Ark

January 2007--Received packet of initial paperwork from Adoption Ark
February 14, 2007--Sent in contract to Adoption Ark & began working on dossier

February 16, 2007--Sent in I600A to apply for permission to bring Haylie to the US

March 5, 2007--1st Homestudy visit

March 13, 2007--Fingerprinting in Cincinnati for I600A & all documents notarized

March 19, 2007--2nd Homestudy visit

April 6, 2007--All documents apostilled in Frankfort, KY

April 19, 2007--Completed dossier mailed into Adoption Ark

May 1, 2007--Dossier hand carried to Russia by another adoptive family--the wait begins!!!

June 6, 2007--Jody re-fingerprinted in Louisville (1st set "lost" by US govt!)

June 16, 2007--Received I-171 from US Government giving permission to legally bring her back to the USA--yea!!

June 18, 2007--Notified of possible referral of 18 mo. old (who would have be 2 years old by the time she came home)--rejected to wait for younger child

July11, 2007--still waiting, and waiting, and waiting

If all goes well, the next step will be a "referral" of a baby girl in the age range of 9-12 months who is available for adoption. They will send us some basic medical information and hopefully a picture. If we agree to accept the referral, we will travel to the Kemerovo region of Russia (which is in south-central Siberia) to meet our little girl. We will visit with her daily for 3-5 days and get more detailed medical information on her and begin the bonding process. We then have to leave her there, and come back home for 2-3 months--boo!! This is a mandatory waiting period in place by the Russian government. We then wait for a court date to travel back and go before the judge to make the adoption final. Then we fly to Moscow to complete paperwork for the US consulate to get her a new American passport. Once that is completed, we will be able to bring her home for good and she will be all ours!!! They tell us the 1st trip will last 5-7 days and the 2nd trip 7-14 days.

Stay with us as we make this journey on the adventure of a lifetime--the "Adventure to Haylie".

We will post periodically to keep you updated. Once we get to travel, we will post as often as possible while over there to let everyone know what is happening. We would appreciate everyones prayers for us and especially for Haylie that all goes quickly and smoothly.

Love,

Jody & Rich