And then we were four

One year ago (yesterday) we brought our boys home from Russia. It was Thanksgiving day. Our flight from Moscow was fairly empty and we got two rows of three seats across so we had tons of room. Unfortunately our flight got in late so we missed our connection at JFK and had to spend the night. That meant that we didn't actually get home until the 23rd. I can hardly believe that it's been a year already but at the same time it seems like Alex and Zachary have been with us forever.

We met Alex first. In October 2007 his was the first orphanage we went to. He was in Taganrog, about 1 1/2 hours away from our hotel. He was 23 months old. When they brought him in he was so sad. He opened up a little that day while our Russian speaking doctor examined him. Alex was very good at following directions. We were told that he was a favorite "best boy", he was able to eat with a spoon, could point to body parts and pictures in books, knew animal sounds. We even saw him rocking a baby doll and singing to it (I wish so bad that I had that on camera!) He appeared very healthy and big. We signed the paperwork requesting to adopt him that very day. During our visits on the first and second trip he never seemed very happy. He almost always had a sad face and sometimes even cried. He wanted to go back to his caregivers! It was a little hard for us but we knew that it was a good sign. That means he was attached to his caregivers and could attach to us. We had court on November 9th, which was Alex's second birthday.

This was the first day we met.

It took a peanut butter cracker to get him to sit with us.

This was on our 2nd trip in November 07. Alex kept leaning farther and farther over that I thought he might fall off the chair. His caregivers gave him the pink sticky candy thing to try to cheer him up.

Zachary's orphanage was in Rostov where we were staying. When we met Zachary he was a ball of energy! Other than a quick little cry when he was first plopped in our lap he warmed right up. He loved to be tickled and played with. We were told that he was standing and trying to walk but by the next month he was cruising. We wonder if he could walk already and we just didn't try. They also told us that he was very active and must be watched at all times! Also that he loves attention, especially from adults. Zachary was a small fry and had 6 teeth when we met him at 15 months old. Despite his size, the doctor thought he was healthy. So, we signed the paperwork for Zachary on our second visit.

This was our first visit with Zachary. He had really short crazy hair.

They always seemed to have Zachary in a cap. We joked that it was to cover that hair!

Zachary and daddy on our 2nd trip walking outside.

After our court hearing on the second trip we decided to stay in Rostov during our 10 day appeal period. We got to visit with the boys often during this time and also got to see some of the city. At the end of the 10 days we picked up the boys and flew to Moscow. Of course Alex cried when we got him but once we were out of the orphanage he completely changed. That very first night in our hotel as a family Alex was smiling and playing. We spent a total of three nights in Moscow. The boys got into everything they could and ate everything they could. The only thing they didn't do is sleep. Boy were we tired when we got home! Zachary would only sleep when someone was holding him and standing up.

I am so happy and proud to be their mama!