Our Little Zoo Baby

We've made a few trips to the zoo recently and Nikolas loves it there. We ended up purchasing an annual pass so we can go whenever we want. The zoo is a quick 20 minute car ride away and a great place to spend a couple of hours when we need to get out of the house. His favorite area is the Oceans area. He loves the penguins and sea lions. He also likes trying to pet the sharks in the shark touch tank. Yesterday we fed the giraffe and he was okay with it being so close to him. When there aren't a lot of people around, he'll sit and stare at the animals for a long time (as long as they're not sleeping). He really enjoys being outside, so even walking through the zoo paths is great fun for him. I love being able to take him during the week when it's slow and hope I can continue to do that sometimes after I go back to work. (Luckily I work from home and will have some flexibility with my schedule, so that should help.) Here are a few pictures from our recent zoo adventures.

One Month Home

Our first month home as a family has been wonderful. Nikolas has made so much progress in such a short period of time. He's typically a very happy boy who enjoys getting out of the house. He likes going to church, shopping, eating out, playing outside, and going to the zoo. He is starting to understand more of what we say and his vocabulary is quickly expanding. He enjoys playing with his toys and is starting to play more on his own. He likes any toys that are really loud and/or play music. He is a very helpful little guy. He helps us unload the dishwasher every day and stocks the fridge with soda. He also likes to put the laundry in the hamper, even if it's not dirty. He tells himself "good job" after he does a task and sometimes praises us if we do good work, too.

He loves his cats and is doing a good job of being gentle. The cats seem to like him, too. They sit with him while he's playing. Cody rubs against Nikolas and rolls over in front of him. They nap in the sun together every afternoon.

He is still sleeping in our room, but we're working on moving him upstairs to his own room. Today is the first day that he is successfully napping in his own room (and he's been up there for two hours now). For the first two weeks home, bed time and nap time were very easy. We have our night time routine that hasn't changed since we've been home, but he's been fighting us a little bit at bedtime over the past couple of weeks. The Fisher Price Lullaby Baby Bedtime music that I found on You Tube has helped a lot. It tends to put the cat to sleep, too. I'd like to find a nice lullaby CD for him. He wants one of us in the room with him until he falls asleep. If we leave before he's completely asleep, he starts screaming and throwing blankets. Hopefully this is just a phase that will end soon. He does sleep straight through the night for about 11 hours.

He is doing a great job of adjusting and seems to be attaching to both of us. He's still doing a good job of eating and likes most foods. He's starting to do a much better job with meat and is starting to accept milk. He doesn't like corn or lettuce, but almost everything else works for him. He's gained a couple of pounds since we've been home.

We have another appointment at Riley in October with an Orthopedic Surgeon. The doctors did a great job in Bulgaria with correcting his club feet, but we'd like to see if there is anything we can do now that will help him as he grows. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful hospital with a great team of doctors so close to home.

We love Nikolas and are so blessed to be his parents. He's an amazing little boy who makes us laugh every single day. It's so fun to watch his personality come out and to see him grow and learn new things. We are so lucky to have him!!

Post-Adoption Appointment

We had our post adoption appointment at Riley Hospital for Children today. We are so lucky to live close to one of the best children's hospitals in the country. Riley has a great International Adoption clinic with a wonderful team of doctors. Nikolas was evaluated by a doctor who specializes in Developmental Pediatrics in internationally adopted children as well as a feeding specialist and speech therapist. He was quite charming and did a great job. He did well with the doctor and let her check him out without making too much noise.

They were very impressed with how well he was doing for being home for such a short period of time. We do need to see another doctor for his club feet, but other than that, they are happy with how he has been progressing. He's gained two pounds in the past three weeks and is getting close to being on the growth chart for weight. If he keeps it up, he'll make it in no time. He's still eating and drinking very well, but he's not eating as much and he stops when he's full. He likes most things, but there are a few foods that he'll push away every time. He is the same height as he was in Bulgaria, and his head circumference is perfect for his age. He's continuing to add more words to his vocabulary, and the doctor said he's doing great in that area. We'll continue to do what we've been doing.

He had nine tubes of blood taken for all of the necessary tests. We also need to stop by our regular pediatrican's office next week for a TB test. We'll have the results of everything in a couple of weeks. He did great with the bloodwork and even left the bandage on until we got home. He was distracted with his new toy from the toy chest, and he was so tired by this point that he even slept a little on the way home.

We'll be setting up an appointment for his feet soon, and we'll be heading back to Riley in six months for a follow-up appointment. We are so happy with how he is growing and learning every single day!!

One Week Home

We've been together as a family for two weeks and have been home for a little over a week. We are doing great!! Nikolas seems to be adjusting to his new life just fine. He's a good eater and a good sleeper, and he's learning how to play with his toys. He likes his Mega Blocks and his toy cars the best. He's enjoying bath time each night. He likes dumping water on his head and splashing around. Quite a difference from bath time just two weeks ago. He enjoys music and likes to sing. He speaks mostly "Bulgarian Baby Babble", but he's starting to pick up some English words. He says daddy, kitty and yum yum. Today he said bye bye when we left the house to go for a walk. I've been trying to teach him more new words, but he doesn't seem too interested. He loves going places and being outside. Yesterday he went to church for the first time followed by lunch with friends and a quick trip to Target.

He's been eating three good meals and two snacks each day. He loves meatballs!! He eats most foods and is starting to prefer certain foods over others. He has started to push away his plate when he is full. He currently weighs about 20 pounds and is wearing mostly 6-9 months clothing. He should start gaining weight soon now that he is getting good nutritious meals.

We stick to the same routine each day and haven't went out too much. We'll start adding more trips out as time goes on, but we don't want to do too much too fast. He knows that we are his parents and shows that he trusts us. He takes quite a while to warm up to new people. Overall he is a very happy boy who seems to be adjusting very nicely.

Home At Last

We left Sofia on Saturday morning at 6:00am BG time and arrived home in Indianpolis at 9:35pm ET. We were awake for over 24 hours, but Nikolas did amazing. He was a little squirmy on the flight from Sofia to Frankfurt, but he did well. We got some breakfast and walked around the airport in Frankfurt. We met a lady while waiting at our gate who was bringing home her new son from Ukraine. He's 12 and quite a charming young man. We all sat fairly close together on the plane. Because the flight was full and our travel agent (Sheldon at Golden Rule Travel) had just booked us any seats to get us on the plane, we got moved to seats in Economy Plus so we could all be together. The extra leg room was great! Nikolas had a couple of small meltdowns, but he did so well. We had the most amazing flight attendants who made sure Nikolas and the little guy from Ukraine had everything that they needed. Our flight was delayed by about 45 minutes, so we ended up getting in to Washington DC a little late. We made it through customs and rechecked our bags. Becky, Wayne and Audra (my aunt, uncle and cousin) had driven over to the airport for a quick visit, so it was great to see them for a few minutes. We rushed back to our gate only to find that our flight had been delayed. We didn't have a flight crew so they had to find one for us. We were scheduled to leave at 4:53pm and ented up leaving around 7:40. We were back in Indianapolis around 9:35pm. It was a small commuter plane with two seats on one side and one on the other. I sat with Nikolas and Jason sat in the single seat across the aisle. As soon as we got seated and I buckled Nikolas' seatbelt, he handed me his shoes and snuggled up next to me. He was asleep before the plane left the ground. He usually takes off his shoes when he wants to go to sleep. So cute! My parents were at the airport waiting to bring us home. Nikolas went right to sleep and we were in bed soon after.

Our first day at home went very well. Jason and I woke up and had breakfast before Nikolas woke up. He got up around 10:00am and had breakfast and fell back asleep on the floor at 11:45pm. He slept for a few hours. We played for the rest of the afternoon. He did have a couple of small meltdowns after being told that he couldn't do something, but we are using the "time-in" method and it seems to be working great. Mark, Cindy, Hannah and Grace stopped by for a quick visit and dropped off dinner. We are so blessed to have great friends to help us out and support us during this time of transition. After dinner we played some more until bath time. Bath time tonight was a huge success. Nikolas loved playing with his bath toys and actually sat down in the water and laughed. He stayed in there playing for quite a while. He even laughed when we poured water on his head to wash his hair. Less than a week ago he screamed for the entire five minutes that he was in the tub. Tonight he didn't want to get out. He has come so far in such a short period of time. We got ready for bed and had some vanilla pudding that was made with Pediasure instead of milk, a recipe sent to me by Viviane, a fellow adoptive mom. He went right to sleep around 8:30pm and is still asleep this morning.