road to adoption: Hello from....Maryland!

Yes, after 14 years in Louisiana (NEVER thought I would be there that long) I am now blogging from Rockville MD. On September 16th we packed up the car, 2 kids, a dog and 2 cats and drove from Baton Rouge LA. A 4 day trip that was so much easier than I ever had anticipated. We are so lucky that Hannah and Ivan are great travelers. Except for a few minor breakdowns, they did wonderful. Watching movies, coloring, reading books and a regular nap in between the activities. We stopped at playgrounds and rest stops regularly to get them the necessary exercise and visited a lot of Sonics' (because we could keep the dog with us for meals) on the way.

We have settled in very nicely and all of us love being here. Hannah and Ivan love their new school and so do we. I drop them off every morning at 7:30 with a packed breakfast which they eat in school with a handfull of other children. They leave the home with a big smile every morning and every afternoon at 3:00pm they come back with a big smile. The stories are starting to come now too and Hannah got invited to her frist birthday party next weekend. The fun thing is that Ivan has a russian teacher who continues to speak russian to Hannah and Ivan. Hannah also has one hour of Russian (as well as french and spanish) each week. She has started to talk more about Russian and what we did there. We see it as a positive sign since at first she didn't want to have anything to do with anything Russian.

We also really enjoy the large variety of parks and playgrounds we have in our neighbourhood. With the weather being cool and sunny we usually pick a playground after school and play there for a while before going home. We are also just a few minutes away from Rock Creek Park with its bridges, rocks and, this time of the year, multicolored leaves, and many opportunities for adventures.

So, yes, Hannah and Ivan are still doing great and have adjusted very well to the move and we haven't ran into any major issues. Ivan still has a hard time falling asleep at night and can play in his room for quite a while after going to bed. Putting him in bed later, doesn't really help so I him up the same time as Hannah. I think that he is outgrowing his nap (they nap for 2hrs at school) so he just isn't tired at night. We are also looking into continuing his speech therapy here. We figured we would give him a break till we settled in here but it is time to find a new therapist. His vocabulary is actually very good but he is very hard to understand and still has a very nasal sound. Physically he is doing great. He has grown like a weed. Imagine that when we picked him up in March 18 months clothes were too big for him. Now, he is between a size 2T and 3T! He is strong as a bear, stocky but all muscle and very active.

Hannah is still a drama queen. While Ivan can get cratched and bruised without one tear, Hannah will make you know that she is 'hurt' right away and make sure you remember that she was hurt for days to follow, accompanied by big tears and loud sobbings. She also grew a lot and her looks definitely have matured. she is a real girl that loves to wear dresses, and is delighted that her hair is finally long enough to have pigtails with the accompanying bows and barrets. She also loves to help, especially in the kitchen, and lasagna is her specialty. Cookies are of course a lot of fun as well.

Below a few pictures of the last 2 months.