More News Today!

We finally have our date at the DAP to get our official referral for our beautiful Charlotte Rose!  We leave by train tomorrow for Kiev, we were going to leave Sunday but the overnight train was completely booked.  So, we will hang out on Easter Sunday, hopefully find a church there for services, then have our referral sometime Monday, and pick it up on Tuesday.  We will then take the train back to our region on Tuesday night, arriving Wednesday morning, and probably do a whole lot of running around for paperwork for her like we did the other day for Atticus.  THEN we will get to meet our sweet little girl!

We are so excited to finally meet her!  Tim especially has been saying that he can't wait, even more now since we have heard so much about her from her former nannies from the orphanage Atticus is still in.  They loved her so!

There are so many pictures of her on the walls outside her groupa's room-- posters with her picture all over them.  It makes us even more excited to meet this special girl who everyone seems to have loved and doted on so much.

I really hope everything goes as well with her as it has with Atticus!  He has been such a gem.  He is so sweet and smiley, yet pretty laid back and quiet.  Not sure he was feeling the best today though.  Looks like his two top molars are still coming thru and there is another tooth coming in as well.  As a result he felt a little warm and his nose was super runny.  Sounds like a little of it has gotten into his chest, so a visit to the dr about that will definitely be in order.  We'll be going anyway to get everything else checked out anyhow, what's one more thing right?

Otherwise he seems very healthy.  He is doing even better than I ever expected.  Got to take a good look at him today since he wasn't wearing a onesie.  :)  No diaper rash, little bit of a tummy on him, cute outie belly button  ;)  and overall healthy looking.  Thanking God for that!  He has surprised us with his muscle control too-- no floppy head or legs for him.  He sits well on my hip when I carry him, and was even practicing walking across the floor today!  One leg in front of the other just fine!  He sits up well and is able to follow objects quite well from side to side.  He tries making all sorts of babbling sounds, and can pass objects from hand to hand too.  All in all, really really impressive!

The doctors did diagnose him with "light mental delay" not medium or severe, and I think they are right on target.  The orphanage head doctor was even talking about how he has heard of kids with Down Syndrome going to college nowadays.  I told him yes, I knew that.  Many amazing strides have been made in the past years, and I would love to hope that our son will have a bright future in front of him.  Mama and Papa are going to make sure we do everything possible to make that happen!

Well, not much more for today.  We had two great visits with our baby, ate at McDonalds for dinner, got our train tickets and some other paperwork we needed and just hung out.  Really enjoying our time here so far.  Does make us grateful for the good old USA though when you see some of the poverty around.  Think of the worst part of lets say, New York City slum areas, and then multiply that by a few.  And this region we are in is the vacation "resort" area too because it is by the seaside.  Will have to post some pics later to illustrate.

Here's a few to view from our visit today.  Enjoy!

Despite the balmy 70 degree weather, he is still fully outfitted in 3 layers plus socks,hat and jacket.

Love it when he makes this silly face!

One of the best pictures ever as far as I am concerned.  Love between a Papa and his new son,  so apparent here  :)