Day Three Update

Nikolas woke up at 8:30am today. I got him dressed and gave him some fruit and yogurt for breakfast. We had purchased some new clothes for him yesterday since everything we brought was way too big. The new clothes were 6-9 months, and we still had to use a safety pin to keep his shorts from falling down. He's so tiny. We can't wait to get him home and feed him some protein.

We met with Violeta from our agency around 9:00am to go to a small cafe for some amazing European coffee. I had a cafe mocha and Jason had a chocolate cappucino. Both were very tasty and very beautiful. Nikolas had some juice and cheesecake which he enjoyed very much. After visiting for a while we walked back to the hotel. I ran to the grocery store to pick up some more food for Nikolas and a few other items. I also made the daily trip to McDonald's for some quick lunch. I've eaten at McDonald's more this week than I have in the past six months at home. Nikolas loves the french fries and had a little bit of fish today, too.

Since he hasn't had a nap for the past two days and was getting very grumpy, we put him in his crib and turned out the lights. He screamed loudly for about 35 minutes before finally giving up and going to sleep. He napped for about 90 minutes and woke up happy. After his snack we decided to go to the park. He did ride in the stroller a little today, so we're getting somewhere. He loved the park, but he has a hard time going by stores. He gets mad when we won't let him go in.

We came back from the park and played for a bit before dinner. I fed Nikolas and by then, he was starting to get fairly grumpy. He was whining a lot and throwing his toys. We gave him a quick bath. He still screamed, but it didn't seem quite as bad tonight. After getting into his pajamas, we turned off the lights and put him in the crib. He only screamed for about five minutes this time.
Once we knew he was asleep, Jason called and ordered room service so we could have something nice to eat. We both had fish, and it was so nice to be able to enjoy a quiet meal. It's now a little after 9:30pm. Nikolas has been sleeping for at least an hour, we've had a good dinner, and we're taking some time to relax.

Tomorrow we will take Nikolas to the doctor for his exam and then we have an appointment at the US Embassy. His visa will be issued on Friday. We're making progress with him one day at a time, and we're both ready to be home and get into a normal routine.

Day Two in Sofia

Nikolas woke up around 7:00am this morning. We got him changed into the only pair of jeans that would fit him. They're 18 months, but they have an adjustable waist. We do have to roll them up a bit. He had oatmeal and yogurt for breakfast and then played in the hotel room while Jason and I took turns getting ready. We took the subway to the mall to buy him some smaller shorts. He did great on the subway and loved the mall. His favorite store was the Reebok store because they were playing loud music. We spent about an hour walking around and then headed back to the hotel for lunch. Unfortunately he screams whenever we put him in the stoller, but hopefully we'll make some progress this week. It seemed like he wanted to eat constantly today. He had oatmeal, yogurt, fruit puree, lots of Gerber puffs, pretzels, meat and veggie toddler food and a couple of french fries from McDonald's. He really doesn't like to drink much, but we have been able to get him to take some water and juice.
We went to the park this afternoon and he had fun chasing the birds and watching the people. We came back at naptime, but he refused to take a nap. We played and had a snack before meeting with Violeta.

We gave him a bath this evening after dinner and he screamed the entire time. We got him clean in less than five minutes. We hope that he'll learn that baths are fun when we get home. He was very grumpy all evening due to the lack of a nap and all of the stress that he must be going through. Finally around 10:00pm we turned off the lights and got in bed with him between us. He screamed very loudly for about 10-15 minutes and didn't want anything to do with either of us. It's hard to watch him experience so much grief. He finally stopped screaming and fell asleep after thrashing around for a few minutes. The worst part is that we're in a hotel and I'm sure our neighbors are not enjoying our company. I can't wait to get home and get ourselves into a real routine and be able to help him work through this grief.

Tomorrow morning we are meeting Violeta for some good European coffee. Hopefully Nikolas will learn to trust us more and we'll have a better day tomorrow. Here are a few pictures from today:

We Have Nikolas!!

We made it to Sofia safely and Nikolas has been with us from the beginning. Our flight arrived around 4:00pm local time on Monday. Mariana from our agency had brought Nikolas to Sofia from Dobrich, and they were already here when we arrived. They took care of everything at the passport office for us, and the passport should be issued on Wednesday afternoon. We came right to the hotel and dropped off our bags before going downstairs to take Nikolas from Mariana and Violeta. He did well on the trip, but he did get carsick. Hopefully the plane ride won't be as bad. We changed his clothes when we got to the room since he didn't have any shorts on. He's very good at letting us take care of him and even tries to help. We brought all 18 month clothing, and it's way too big. We had one pair of adjustable waist jeans, so we pulled those as tight as we could and rolled up the cuffs. They worked just fine, but we're going to have to pick up a couple of 12 months pairs of shorts at the mall tomorrow. The others just fall right off of him.

He's been a very happy boy for most of the evening. We played a lot and he's done great. He's talking some now, but we don't know what he says. He laughs a lot and seems to be a very happy little boy. He had some fruit puree and gerber puffs to eat and seemed to like both. We are very happy that he chews food and seems to be a good eater. I ran to McDonald's in the rain to get some dinner for us since we hadn't eaten much all day, and Nikolas enjoyed a couple of fries. During our visit to the orphanage in February he was only eating soft foods, so the ease of feeding today was a welcome surprise.

A little before his bed time we put on his pajamas and he played some more. They told us that he goes to bed around 8:00pm, but he didn't want to sleep tonight. He let me rock him to sleep, but then he woke up when we tried to put him down. He snuggled quite a bit. Jason went to bed and Nikolas was next to him babbling for a while. I don't hear any more noise, so I think he's finally asleep. Now I only hope there's room for me in the bed!!

It's been storming here all day today, so we weren't able to get out this evening. If the weather cooperates tomorrow, we plan to take the subway to the mall in the morning to pick up some shorts for Nikolas and then stop for a few groceries. He naps from 1:00-3:30pm, and then we have a meeting with Violeta from our agency at 4:00pm to go over some paperwork.

Things have been going great so far. He's been very relaxed and we haven't observed any disturbing orphanage behaviors. Will update tomorrow when I get a chance.

Almost Ready

We are getting closer to our trip and are very excited to finally be bringing our son home. We've been waiting for this day for almost four years, and it's hard to believe that we'll have him in our arms forever in just a few days. Nikolas is packed and ready to go. I've spent the day cleaning the house and running errands and have finished doing almost everything on my list. Tomorrow will be spent finishing the laundry and packing. At least if I forget anything, there's a drugstore and grocery store very close to our hotel and the mall is only two subway stops away.

The weather is Sofia looks good. Highs are in the low 80's and our only chance of rain is on Monday and Tuesday. We're hoping that Nikolas likes going outside so we can get out and explore a little.

We'll be posting updates throughout the week!!

Travel Arrangements Made

We leave for Bulgaria in two weeks!! We booked our flights with the help of Sheldon from Golden Rule Travel. He was able to get us great flights for a great price. I highly recommend Golden Rule Travel to other adoptive families. We will arrive in Sofia around 4:00pm on Monday, July 25th, and Nikolas should be arriving from Dobrich that same afternoon. He is being brought to Sofia by a representative from our agency, so we'll have our little guy as soon as we arrive. We're scheduled to fly home on Saturday, July 30th if everything goes as planned.

We'll be staying at the Radisson Blu Grand Hotel in Sofia. We stayed at this same hotel for a couple of nights during our first trip, so we decided it would be a good choice for this trip. The rooms are nice and we already know the area. They have a nice restaurant, and there are a lot of restaurants, monuments, cathedrals and shopping areas nearby.

Now that all of our travel plans have been made, it's time to start packing and getting things together around the house!!