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8 hours and counting....

Three countries down, one to go

Eli and I are safe and sound in Seoul. He has been an excellent flyer so far. Our trip has had it's share of obstacles. Let's just say that Russia and China frowned on an American traveling with a Russian baby on such an off beat path.

If it wasn't for a handsome husband and sweet boy at home I would consider just staying here in Seoul for good. :)

We have a bulkhead seat with a bassinet so hopefully he will sleep on the long flight to the USA!

27 hours and counting...

If everything is going as planned, Haley and Eli would have just left the hotel for the airport.

Just 27 more hours and they will be home!

Lock Down

Today our coordinator stopped by our room to let us know that Putin was in town. Our hotel is located right next to the governor's mansion and is also very close to what is known as the "negotiation house." (This explains the military jets we have been hearing all day!)

We were told that the hotel was surrounded by the KGB and were informed not to leave our rooms. She also said the KGB was staying at our hotel. For some reason, I forgot this around 8pm tonight when I felt the need to go to the bar of the hotel restaurant for a coke. You could definitely tell something was going on. Military is everywhere and I felt quite conspicuous walking around as I didn't see anyone else out and about. I believe he is leaving before our flight on Wednesday so this should not present any delays in getting out.

By the way, I know that they are no longer called KGB but that is what my coordinator referred to them as and I can't remember their new name.

Sweet Tooth

Eli really looks forward to meal time. He LOVES formula and I am sure he would be happy having that every meal. Unfortunately, I have not had a lot of luck with him eating his meats and veggies. He also has not been too happy about drinking water. Eli will only drink juice (and he knows when it has been diluted!) and will only eat his meat and vegetables if it has a taste of fruit on the end of the spoon. Hopefully Jonah will teach him not to be so picky when he gets home.

A few more days

Christmas at the Onder House (FL)

Jonah had a wonderful Christmas morning in Florida. We woke at 7:15 and opened stockings with everyone. He loved his Diego underwear from Santa. We opened presents for about an hour. Unfortunately I am going to have to explain to him that Jeb's presents will not be going home with us!

He loved his hot wheels track and Bob the Builder legos from Santa. He was spoiled by all of his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

It certainly isn't the same without Haley here. We miss her so much.

Christmas at the Vlad Inn

Twas the night before Christmas....in Inverness

Jonah and I are having a great time in Florida with everyone. Jonah and his cousins are constantly playing and there is a lot of "monkey see, monkey do" going on. Jonah is sleeping with his two older cousins in Nana and Grandpa Onder's room...scratch that, I just saw him coming down the hallway.

Merry Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas....in Vladivostok

Today was Christmas Eve here. I had a good time putting together the Christmas links and making photo Christmas ornaments my sweet sister-in-law Julia made for me. She is so creative!

We are planning on doing a Christmas potluck tomorrow with the other EAC families here. Maria and I are bringing roasted squash and parsnips as well as a cold macaroni salad. It will be good time.

Here are a few pictures of Eli wearing his Christmas PJs. Jonah will be wearing the same there for Christmas Eve. I can't wait to see them both in them together when we celebrate our Christmas at home!

Feeling MUCH better!

Wow...I didn't think we would survive chicken pox. For the first time in a week, Eli slept through the night AND took naps. I was in heaven! His chicken pox are healing nicely. It is great to see his personality coming out again since he is feeling better. There are a lot more smiles and laughter from both of us.

Be careful what you eat.

There are many many options for baby food in Russia. When we were at the baby store there were aisles and aisles of baby food. Irina helped us to pick foods that would be similar to those the babies ate at the baby hospital. One lesson we learned from her was to not buy any baby food with a picture of a horse on it because it was pureed horse meat.

Eli has had a difficult time transitioning from the fresh food of the baby hospital to the jarred foods we have here. One thing is for certain - he loves formula! Many days he is only eating formula, oatmeal and maybe some jarred baby fruit. I told him the meat was not horse, but he is still not going for it.

The Big helper Part 2

Obviously Jonah loves to cook. Here he is helping his Auntie Meagan prepare dinner.

12 days

Only 12 days until Haley and Eli come home! Here is Jonah standing by his links which count down the days until they come home.

The big helper

Jonah has been a huge help around the house. He helped turn pages of my paperwork while I was trying to work and helped Auntie Robin cook.

He is feeling very good today. He has some mild pain, but it is being managed by Tylenol and Motrin. His medicine tastes good so when he says "I hurt" I have to take it with a grain of salt.

Chicken Pox - Day 2

Ew

Home

Jonah is home, safe and sound, after being in the hospital since early Thursday morning. He was so excited to find out he is going home and his personality bounced back to normal once we got home. His only restriction is no streneous activity for 2 weeks. Gymnastics and ice skating lessons start the weekend on 1/9! Perfect timing.

Jonah worked hard in the hospital, here he is taking a well deserved nap on the way home.

Post-op Day 5 at Children's Hospital - Aurora

Here is our big boy in front of the Christmas display in the hospital lobby.

Children's Hospital excels at hospitality. We been visited by Christmas carolers twice, a few Star Wars characters (Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers) and a volunteer's dog named Dino.



Jonah is enjoying a solid meal while watching some family videos (...of himself - his ego did not suffer despite the hospitalization).

Guess what Eli has?!

Our new place

Eli and I have moved in with Maria and Alex. Their suite is much bigger and since both of our husbands have gone home it made since for us to have company and also cut some of our costs. So far, so good. It seems to me that Eli really likes having his playmate Alex back. They are all smiles when they are together.

The past two nights Eli has decided he does not need to sleep. He is waking up every hour to hour and a half. Thankfully, he is taking a nap right now. I am sure he just needs time to adjust to life outside the baby hospital.

Things I have learned about Eli so far:

• He likes to suck on his index and middle finger on his right hand.
• There is nothing better in the world than a warm bottle full of formula.
• He sleeps through the night and is good about taking two naps a day.
  
• He did NOT enjoy his first bath.
• He enjoys being held.
• He loves to pull himself up.
• His favorite music is electronic techno.
• He loves to dance.
• He loves to bounce.
• He likes to sing Twinkle Twinkle with me before he goes to sleep.
• He loves to be tickled.

The judge said yes!

We had court today at the scheduled time. Our coordinator prepared us very well. She told us we had the toughest prosecutor but we felt we were able to answer her questions and the judges questions with ease. Forty minutes later she read the court decree and he is now officially ours!

After a long journey to the baby hospital and our new hotel, the three of us our now settled in our room for the night. We are exhausted, but very happy.

Jonah says hello!

Here are screen snapshots of Jonah blowing us a kiss via Skype. We are thankful that the technology exists so we can stay in touch while out of the country.

Our visit with Eli

We had a very nice visit with Eli today. Although I don't think he remembered us, he warmed up to us again rather quickly. We learned that he was sick last week but seems to be pretty much over it by now. Eli enjoyed being held and being bounced on our knee. He seems to be somewhat the same size as with our first visit. Tomorrow we are going to the baby and grocery store to pick up supplies and will not be going to the baby hospital because of the weather. We are hoping to pick up Eli after court Thursday morning but may not be able to logistically. At the latest we will take custody on Friday.

32 hours later....

From our front door to our hotel took 32 hours. It feels good to finally be here. Upon arrival we soon realized our timing was perfect. They had a bad snow storm a couple days before we came and the airport and roads were closed. Our judge had been in Moscow on business and had only been able to return shortly before us.

We are here with the same couple we were on our first trip along with two other single ladies adopting. All of our kids are in the same room and are in neighboring cribs. Irina is hoping we can all have court on the same day. We are scheduled to meet with the judge on Thursday at 9:30am. That is 4:30pm on Wednesday MST.

So far, so good. We are happy to be back in Russia and one step closer to making Eli an Onder!

p.s. Don't be jealous, but we do have an ocean view room. We are staying at the Hyundai Hotel until we get custody of Eli. It is closer to the orphanage and a tad nicer. (Plus no kitchen so I don't have to cook until then!)

What happened to Sunday?

Dan and I arrived safely in Seoul, Korea about an hour ago. We left our house Saturday at 3:45pm and it is now 7:30am on Monday here. We had a short flight to LAX, then a four hour layover before heading to Korea. A 13 hour flight is never pleasant, but really it wasn't that bad either. We have a four hour layover here and then a short two hour flight to Vladivostok.

We have already been able to talk to Jonah on Skype. It was so nice to see his smiling face! I am glad to see that it is working internationally (at least in Korea) and that Jonah is doing well so far.

More updates to come!

What a difference a year makes.

Last weekend we visited Santa. The experience was so much better than last year. First, the line was only 10 minutes instead of two painful hours. Second, there were no tears! Here are some pictures of his visit with Santa at his village.










And in case you need a reminder of how it went last year....