Need to Pick New Blog Name!!

Well, we are five! I guess I'll have to change the name of the blog soon!

It is hard to believe it. All we have left is the US Embassy stuff in Moscow. Unfortunately, all of the US gov't offices are closed on July 3rd for the holiday. But we are totally done in Novokuznetsk, and are now hunkered down in Moscow getting to know each other.

Owen is doing so well, I can't believe it. He has such a personality! I have to admit, I was worried (I know, I'm always worried about something), because he never showed us a smile or anything much other than a blank look and a glare. Even the night before we went to pick him up, we ate with another couple adopting a 2 yr old boy, and they showed us pictures from their visits with him. He was all smiles and laughs - at least some of the time. I sat there thinking, oh no, Owen has never smiled at us at all.

When we picked him up he was crying so hard that the orphanage Director held him for a while trying to calm him down. She told us not to even change him into the clothes we brought, because he was too upset (and I've NEVER heard of them doing that before). Since he was at the summer camp, the caretakers come in shifts of several days at a time and it just so happened a shift change was happening. So one of his caretakers (who was incredibly nice - we remembered her being so nice on our last trip too) rode with us in the van back into Novo. So when we left the home, we didn't even carry him. His caretaker held him in the van for a while and then stood him up on the back seat next to me, and he watched the summer camp and the hills out the back of the van window. It was like he was saying goodbye to it all. She talked to him in Russian and I talked to him in English and held his hand, and eventually she put him on my lap and he fell asleep. We dropped her off in town, and so when he woke up she was gone, but he didn't cry anymore.

The most amazing part was that once we got back to the room and were alone, he was a different baby. He was relaxed and smiley and funny! He loved all the mirrors, and would play peek-a-boo with himself and just smile and show off. I think he knows he is cute. He explored everything, and I realized how much babyproofing I still need to do at home. He loves kisses blown on his belly, and is very ticklish. His smiles are so beautiful, and huge. And the biggest smile of all is when I tell him No or Nyet because he is getting into something. Then he gets a wicked smile that goes from ear to ear. His first word is Papa! We looked through the family photo album we had left, and everytime he saw Jim he said Papa! So they must have gone through it with him.

Anyway, I'll write more and post pictures later. I'm sure this is costing me an arm and a leg in the Business Center. But he is doing great, and we just all want to be home.

Happy 4th of July! Owen will be wearing his USA t-shirt. Oh, and happy belated Canada Day! He wore all Roots clothing today in honor of that.
Obama will be in Moscow on the 6th through 8th, so maybe we will see him. It just better now mess up our Embassy apptmt or we will have to tell him to go home.
More from the Family of Five later....