Our Ukrainian Adoption and what we did once we got home!

For Lisa

2011-05-31T06:26:00.000-07:00

Hi Lisa,

You left a comment regarding speaking with me about adoption from Ukraine. However, I didn't see a way that I could contact you. Please feel free to e-mail me at yahoo.com my address is lisasicilian. (I'm typing it this way to avoid sixteen tons of spam)

I'd love to hear where you are in the process. Ukraine is not for the faint of heart, but it's worth the blood, sweat and tears.

Lisa

New Direction

2011-05-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

Obviously I haven't posted in awhile...there hasn't been that much to say regarding the kids and how our lives pertain to the (now very) small fact that they were adopted from Ukraine.

In a way, I can't believe we're at that point. I remember all too well how all consuming the process was. I guess it was like a very, very long pregnancy and now that the kids have been here almost 4 1/2 years stalking adoption blogs and the mailman and updating countless documents has officially moved to the distant past for me.

My days now are occupied with NJ ASK tests, compiling wardrobes that far surpass mine in quantity and cost, karate, dance recitals and camp registration.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Unfortunately, it appears that adoptions from Ukraine are really slowing down to a trickle and that makes me very sad. It isn't for lack of great kids needing homes. I want to believe it's because Ukraine is doing more to place children in need with Ukrainian families and not with political b.s., but I can't help shake the memories of all of those beautiful faces so in need of love. You can't (at least I can't) adequately describe how heart wrenching it is to see so MANY children try so hard to get the smallest scrap of attention for you. From the toddler who simply walks up to you with his arms in the air and a pleading look on his face for you to just pick him up and comfort him to the 7 year old who snuggles closer and closer to you while you are visiting the lucky kids you are adopting just so she can rest her head on your arm for a minute and the teenager almost aged out of the system at 14 who is already developing a hollow eyed, hardened
look who reaches out to touch your hair so very, very gently when she thinks you won't notice.

As a Mother, those images are burned into my very soul and will never become a part of my distant past........

I've decided to take this blog into a different direction because my life and that of the family I've created is also moving in a different direction.

Basically, it'll be all about ME (try not to be shocked) and how I fumble my way through the most important job in the Universe. (Apparently, God doesn't check references)

I'll rant, I'll rave and discuss all the big issues........but mainly my attempts to get my groove back.

Consider yourselves warned.

Any suggestions on what I should call this blog? Apparently blogging by 4o somethings is huge and all the cool names seem to be taken.

I'm open to suggestions.

My daughter, Paris Hilton.....

2010-06-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

Driving to Target last week and discussing some upcoming family vacations (next 2-3 years)

Me: I'd love to take you guys on a cruise, you know.. the REALLY big ships, they have so many cool things for you guys to do on board!

Vica: Yeah Mama!!! I know, I saw one on TV, they have a wave pool and a rock climbing wall and they even have a

Natasha: Hot Tubs!!!!

Oooooookay, well, yes, yes they do have hot tubs Natasha.

And you know, for Dad's 50th we're going to take a trip to the Grand Canyon...

Vica: Oh Mama! That's gonna be so cool, we studied that in school and it's so pretty and you can actually go INTO the canyon.....

You can take a plane ride
You can hike into the canyon
You could also ride a........

Natasha: Limo???????

Oh brother. I guess that should have been my warning. I got a call from school this past Friday that Natasha has apparently "charged" 11 dollars worth of snacks and drinks in the cafeteria during the last few weeks and could I please kindly pay her tab....

Why does all of this seem like a scary premonition of things to come?

I've already started researching all girls boarding schools.

Ukrainian Words for "Aunt"

2010-05-27T09:49:00.000-07:00

For the one person out there who is still reading this blog, LOL. You asked me what the word Aunt is in Ukrainian.

It depends! Not only on who the Aunt is directly related to (Mom or Dad) but also what part of Ukraine you are from.

My Mom is from Western Ukraine and the family has been here for 50+ years so we tend to follow a slightly different set of rules. Generally you would refer to an Aunt as "Teta" or "Cho-cha" Technically one refers to the sister of your Father and one to the sister of your Mother.

Don't ask me which is which because I've got no idea. This is how we play it in my 'hood:

With my girls, both are used as terms of endearment and respect, but you're ONLY a Teta if you are a Grand Dame of the Ukrainian matriarchy. My girls would call MY Grandmother's peers Teta and that group is fading fast. The girls call my Aunts (my Mother's sisters as Dad is not a member of the tribe) and my Mother's peers Cho-cha.

All Americans are simply "Aunt" Sounds confusing, but you'd be surprised how the girls can keep it all straight.

So, in summary. Both are used as a respectful form of address, but Teta is used as a more formal option.

Next question!

Two Years Home

2009-01-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

Just about this time two years ago, I was riding what felt like a bus all the way back from Ukraine- and I could not have been happier!

Last night we celebrated with a dinner that has now become a January 18th ritual. We recreate the last meal we ate in jail, I mean Kyiv. Just about the best hot dogs you ever tasted and fried potatoes- all washed down with ice cold Ukrainian beer- YUM!

Matt was looking forward to this last meal in Ukraine in the worst way- we were just about to sit down to dinner and the door bell rings- and lo and behold, it's the infamous Alla. All dressed up with full length mink coat sniffing around for something to eat. I'm sure she thought we would be going out (hopefully the the super expensive place we had gone several times earlier in the trip) but we were having none of it.

This of course did not stop two things from happening. 1. My Mom inviting her to stay and 2. Her staying and eating Matt's second hot dog. I wish you could have heard the torrent of curses Matt rained down upon her for that. The poor thing was so upset, I have to cook him the same meal (with two hot dogs) every January 18th just to help him get over it....

I'm not sure he ever will..........

Anyway, here we are home. The kids still can't speak English properly, they drive us nuts. Natasha has started wetting the bed with a vengeance and I'm ready to take off for Tahiti at a moments notice.

Actually, it's not quite that dramatic. I'm told thier English skills are remarkable for kids home only two years, and the bedwetting thing has been ongoing since Natasha came home.

It's just that she's taken to getting up in the middle of the night and instead of getting up to use the bathroom, she's decided on more than one occasion to change clothes, stay up and play and when she's had to go to the bathroom, just pee all over herself and everything in her room.

Two weeks ago, she pulled this stunt, taking off her pull up, putting on panties and play clothes and wetting those. She proceeded to take the wet clothes off, put them in her hamper, put on dry pj's and go to bed. Where she wet the bed AGAIN, this time soaking everything, including the pillow. Needless to say it was not a pleasant sight (or smell) the next morning.

Last night I discovered that she's been taking off wet pull ups and putting them in the drawer where her clean pj's are kept- I found two souvenirs there.

We've explained twelve thousand times to her that it's okay that she "goes" in the diaper, but the only place for a dirty one is in the garbage and that she has to tell me when she has an accident in her clothes. I don't yell or carry on, and try to reassure her that it's completely okay.

No dice, she won't do it and I'm at the end of my rope.

Sorry, I know you were expecting a happy all is bliss, we're home two years post, but I'm simply not feelin' it.

Oh, and if you're thinking about leaving me some lame ass comment about this is to be expected or your kid wet the bed until he/she was 21- do me a favor and don't do it.

I'd appreciate only comments that contain offers of sympathy/constructive ideas on how to handle this/alcohol and/or drugs to make the stabbing pain behind my eyes andthe nervous tic I've developed go away.

Thank you......

Why I hate class room mothers.....

2008-10-14T07:25:00.001-07:00

Now, if you're a class room mother, I don't want you getting upset with me. If you're reading my blog that means you can't be half bad, so I'll just say you're excused from the following rant.

I think I've made my feelings abundantly clear on how I feel about most other Mothers of young kids.

Don't like 'em, never have, never will. I used to think having kids of my own would cure me of my distaste, but if anything else, it's made me dislike them even more.

Now, I'm not talking about women who are Mothers of infants. Caring for a newborn is in my view, akin to active battle and you too are also excused from any of the venomous spewings you'll read here- as if you've got the time to be reading this kind of nonsense on line anyway.

I'm talking about YOU, and you know who you are. The woman who's got kids my age, who stays at home and decides she's going to be all "involved" in her kids lives because that's what good Mom's do, don't they??????

Yeah, well, you suck!

Having been on both sides of the fence, stay at home and now working I not only know what I'm talking about, I can also afford to be critical!

Why is it that you volunteer to organize things for the kids, like holiday parties, and most recently a gift for the teacher who was leaving to have a baby and you feel the need to call me six times? Especially when you got me on the phone the FIRST time and I TOLD YOU I'd bring the freakin' juiceboxescandypaperplatespeanut/gluten/tastefreesnacks you asked me to bring? Oh that's right, because you needed me to tell YOU how many kids were in the class, then you talked to your neighbor and she already picked up one of the things you asked me to pick up and then you couldn't remember if you ever called me in the first place.

Have you ever heard of a pencil and paper? If not, I know you've got crayons somewhere in that house of yours.

Why is it when you called me LAST YEAR to make a ten dollar donation for the teacher having her first baby, and I drove it over to school with you NAME ON THE ENVELOPE and the school secretary told me I was the first one to drop off money for the gift, I just got my envelope back from the school secretary with a note that you NEVER PICKED IT UP!

Did I mention that you suck? Yeah, I did? Well it bears repeating.

What's the matter? The twenty nine times a week you're in the school office, you couldn't remember to pick it up? Or were you too busy be over involved in your kid's life to do that?

It would be funny if it happened to someone else..

2008-06-28T12:34:00.000-07:00

This morning I was in the supermarket with the girls.

As I was lifting a case of bottled water out of the cart the following conversation took place;

Natasha: Mama you need Daddy for that!

Vica: Yeah, because he's got BIG muscles!

Natasha: Don't feel bad Mama, Daddy has big muscles, but you have a big hieny.

I simply don't have any more to say.........

Viva Viagra!!

2008-06-21T13:22:00.001-07:00

In honor of the fact that Viagra is celebrating it's 10th anniversary, there seems to be a flood of commercials for it on just about everywhere besides the Disney Channel.

Anyway, just a few minutes ago, I came in from dropping Vica off at a birthday party to find Matt and Natasha relaxing watching men's golf.

Naturally, you know what commercial came on. In case you haven't see the latest, it's some dork who finds his powder blue tux in the attic and decides to woo the Mrs. by putting it on and then hopefully getting it on with the help of his little blue friend.....

So, I'm sitting there praying that Natasha really isn't paying attention to what's being said because all I can think of is that she's going to ask one of us what sex is.

Gulp!!!

Back to the commercial, it winds up with Mr. E. D. trying to carry his wife up the stairs, but he decides he probably needs to um, conserve his energy and he puts her down to walk up the stairs and then carries her over the threshold of their bedroom.

How romantic....NOT.

First off, I realize that this drug is being marketed to men so the ad agencies need to wake up and smell the coffee.

No woman in her right mind, after being married for any decent length of time is going to get "in the mood" by the sight of her husband wearing some early 80's prom suit.

I don't know about you, but I know VERY few guys who could actually squeeze themselves into anything they wore 20 years ago- and if you happen to be married to a man who can, you go girl!

I think it would do everyone justice if the next Viagra commercial they show is some guy taking out the garbage without being told, or vacuuming, or picking up his underwear and actually putting them INTO the hamper.

All on his way to Tiffany's........ and I DO mean the jeweler.

Now there's something blue to get a gal in a cooperative mood!

But, as usual, I digress- what I really was getting at was Natasha's reaction to this commercial.

She very innocently turned to Matt and said....

"Do you want to do that to Mama???"

This is the point where I fled the room.

After Matt regained his composure he was able to determine that she meant carry me up the stairs.

I'm just lucky the resident KGB agent wasn't home because she would have kept up a line of questioning that I'm not sure how either one of us would have answered!

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

My husband is a very special man. Not only is he the absolute best Father Vica and Natasha could ever have hoped or dreamed of, but he's pretty terrific in a bunch of other ways.

In my book, Matt really "gets" what it means to be successful and rich. Sure, we'd like to have more money, who wouldn't, but Matt understands that a rewarding life is made up of the small stuff.

Matt wouldn't ever brag about his accomplishments, he's almost embarrassed about them. Then of course, there are those who sense that about him and will seize that as an opportunity to try to belittle him out of their own jealousy. Fortunately he's also too smart to really let that happen.

He makes each and every child he mentors through teaching and/or coaching feel special. Even when that child is intentionally not giving it his or her best shot, he's always looking for ways to make learning fun and nurture whatever talent that child has.

Matt's home room wins Field Day almost every single year. The team is known as "Sicilian's Slices" and sport shirts with that name on the front and the motto "You want a piece of this?" on the back. Everyone knows about them. What a lot of people don't realize is that Matt takes the kids who have no home room because they can't be mainstreamed into the rest of the school population for a variety of reasons. Some have learning disabilities, some have emotional or physical limitations. But, every year these kids get to compete on the "winning" team and somehow Matt finds a way for each kid to have a moment to shine.

Yeah, kinda gives me a lump in my throat too........

Matt has won Coach of the Year three years in a row even though he's technically the co-coach of the Golf Team, which only really means that he gets to do all of the work for half of the money. He would never dream of leaving this program that he's built from the ground up, or complaining that someone else gets to ride his coat tails because of who they happen to be related to.

I'm just petty enough to complain about it, even if it's only on my blog.....

When Matt coached basketball a few years back he had what I think was a completely Golden Moment. No, it wasn't winning a championship- which is what he would have wanted, but something much, much better.

He had a boy on his team who had many difficulties, and let's just say there wasn't any way he was going to play much during the regular season. If it had been a bigger school where there were tons of kids competing for a few spots on the JV team, this boy wouldn't have come close to even making the team.

Matt made sure this boy got to play before the season was over, he put him in at the end of a game where the score no longer mattered, but I doubt this boy even had the ability to really understand that. He made sure that he got every boy on that team to stand up and support that child while he was on the court. This in turn got the entire crowd cheering for him too. I don't remember what happened while he was playing, but all I know is that for one moment he got to experience the glory of the crowd cheering for just him.

And his Mother and Father got to feel that outpouring of love for their child and maybe, just maybe it brought them some brief happiness in what has to be a tough journey in raising a child who is always going to be singled out as "different" by the truly ignorant.

At home we have our differences but my life would be a train wreck of epic proportions of it weren't for Matt standing by to often pick up the pieces.

Matt will tell everyone I was the one instrumental in bringing about the adoption of our girls. Yes, I did do the majority of the work and it was a full time job managing that dossier.

For those of you reading this who haven't adopted, can you imagine trying to collect tons and tons of documents that have to be worded "just so" to appease not only your own government's demands, but those of a foreign government, and one who changes it's rules on what often seemed like a whim. And there's no one to complain to like there is here. I couldn't call my congressman and tell him I didn't like the way things were being handled. If we complained about anything to the powers that be in Ukraine we would be jeopardizing the entire adoption.

Yes, it really was that bad, and yes I did ALL of that. It was more than a full time job.

But I was only able to do that because I have a husband who was more than willing to listen to me carry on like a madwoman and rant and rave, screaming, yelling, giving up every ten seconds. It would have sent another man running for his life.

But not this man, and for that, I am always grateful. I am even more grateful, thankful and awed by the Father you are to our children, Matt.

How lucky and blessed we all are for your love and devotion.

Doesn't Play well with the other Moms

2008-06-14T02:47:00.000-07:00

I'm cranky this morning and since this all started yesterday, I figured what the heck, I'd blow off some steam and blog about it and maybe, just maybe I'd take my own favorite advice and "Get over it"

I like to think my impatience with other Mothers of small children is due to the fact that I'm several years older than most of them, or because I've taken such a circuitous route to Motherhood that I just don't get worked up over every little thing that my kids do and want to memorialize it for all time and eternity because I think it's not only precious to me, but needs to be shared with the public at large....

Natasha graduated Pre-school yesterday. It was a lovely little ceremony followed by a picnic for the families. Parents, siblings and Grandparents were invited and it was held on the back lawn of the clubhouse with beautiful views of the lake. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although getting to that point was not without it's frustrations.

What gets me is that none of those had to do with Natasha and the education she was receiving there. She's learned so many, many things being in this wonderful program that's run by two of the most patient, talented women I've had the pleasure of meeting- but hey, you already know I'm pro-teacher, :) The most important thing she's learned is HOW to play. When she was in the orphanage her time was extremely structured. With all of those small children and only two women to care for all of them most of the time, there couldn't be any other way. She was constantly told what to do and when to do it, except at play time. Even though there seemed to be enough toys it was always bedlam and really all I ever observed the kids doing was running around crashing into each other screaming or fighting over every single one of those toys. There just wasn't enough adult supervision and the right kind of interaction to foster any of the socialization skills children learn by playing in groups.

Flash forward to the end of this year. Natasha is one of the most popular kids in her class and has many friends. Watching her run around rolling on the grass with her friends giggling was the best!

The weeks leading up to that moment were not so blissful. It seemed that every day that I went to pick her up at school, or came home from work, or logged on to my e-mail there was yet another "idea" cooked up by one of the Mom's about what a "great" year-end project we should do, or memento to give to the teachers, or.....whatever!

Now, I'm totally not adverse to doing any of these things, but why, I ask you do I need six pages of instruction, followed up by three phone calls and an e-mail on HOW to do what's requested. I'm not the 5 year old here!

I also realize that every Mother thinks her child is special. I do, but here's the difference, I know she's just a really cute kid with a really interesting back story to you, and I'm completely, totally cool with that. I don't expect you to worship my kid, if you aren't a member of her immediate family I don't expect you to remember a lot about her either. I also know that teachers are touched and care for the children they teach, and some do stand out over the years. An example being the wedding we're going to in a few weeks. This young man was in the very first class of students Matt taught here in NJ. He went on to become an English teacher and even did his student teaching with Matt as his mentor. In the 15 years Matt has taught here, I can count these kinds of students on the fingers of one hand- and I think that Matt has more than the average.

So, I endure the phone calls and instruction sheets and e-mails, dutifully completing each and every one of the requests on time. The best was the one where I had to have Natasha write words of advice for the incoming class of 2009. I wanted to point out to the woman who cooked up that little gem that a 5 year old doesn't know anything about advice and only sees the world in terms of how it relates to them. I mean, come on, if I know that, then I'm sure it's been printed thousands of times in all of the parenting magazines and books these gals rely on as their bible.

So the icing on the crap cake is yesterday. After listening to the parent teacher liaison (can you believe they even have one of these in pre-school) sob her way through her entire speech- ( I kid you not, and she doesn't even have a child currently enrolled in the pre-k program) it was time to hand out the little diplomas. Very cute, except they used Natasha instead of Natalia. I prefer to have her formal name used whenever it's going to be used in any public setting. That's just how I am. I'm not rabid about it, it's just what I prefer. And that's exactly what I said to my Mother who was sitting next to me. "I would have preferred Natalia instead of Natasha, but oh well"

Where upon the woman sitting in front of me reels around and says "Well, I guess you'll have to just wait until High School then!"

Now those of you who know me realize this is the moment where the red flag is waved in front of the bull and the crowd usually comes to a hush.

But I'm more grown up now and instead of saying what I thought, which was "I'm so sorry that you're not only extremely nosy but wearing a dress that went out of style 5 years ago and have you ever thought of investing in a pair of Spanx if you're going to dress like that, and NO it doesn't make you look like someone on Sex in the City, only a washed out hag" I just gave her that little smile and a nod that says much more than all of that and turned to my Mother next to me.

Who was giving her the exact same look.

You just can't help it when you learn at the feet of the Master.

Oh, and as it turns out. The Carrie Bradshaw wanna be is the woman who concocted the "advice" project.

To hell with maturity, I shoulda just pushed her into the lake.

Yeah, I'm over it.....

Mama Bear and Goldilocks

2008-06-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know I've been MIA for awhile, things have been hectic at best, and there hasn't been too much that's "blog" worthy happening. Things are going well, the girls are doing just great and getting ready to finish up the school year, but we had a little incident on Monday, and well, let's just say, it could only happen to me...

I'm home on Mondays which means that I run around trying to accomplish as many things as I possibly can, including taking Natasha to school. So, this past Monday was no exception. I got Vica on the bus and me and Natasha were flying around the local Shop Rite doing the weekly grocery shopping. No sooner had I patted myself on the back for making excellent time in the store than Natasha notified me that she needed to go to the bathroom N O W!!!!!! I know there isn't much time when this type of announcement is made by a five year old. The timing could not have been any worse. I had a cart FULL of food, and had NO idea where the restroom was, as this was not my usual store to shop in. Naturally, the bathroom was on the opposite side of the store and I still needed to checkout if I was going to get her to school on time.

So, I run with her in the cart to the entrance where the bathrooms are located, yank her out of the cart and follow her into the bathroom.

Where I am greeted by the sight of a MAN standing in the middle of the ladies room, and all I'm going to say is that he wasn't in there cleaning the bathroom.

You know all of those sayings about getting between a Mother bear and her cub and how it's not a good idea and if you do it, you'll be very sorry.

It's true.....

Natasha breezes right past this guy before I can even register what's going on and locks herself into the stall to do her thing.

As I feel the blood rushing to my head and I'm checking the guy's hands for a weapon and calculating just how hard I have to come at him to knock him on his psycho pervert pedophile in training @ss and all the while I'm thinking I AM GOING TO KIIIIILLLLLLLLLL YOOOOOUUU!!!!!!!

It occurs to me that I'm standing in the middle of the men's room........

Yep, go back a couple of lines where I say I follow Natasha, who can not yet read into the bathroom.

What was really surprising is how quickly I was able to change gears, I went from murderous outrage to downright apologetic in the blink of an eye. Absolutely brilliant even for someone as close to the edge of insane as I am most days...

The guy was really cool about it and said the doors weren't clearly marked as he had almost gone into the ladies room earlier.

Whatever.

My own Christmas Miracle.. Just in time for Valentine's Day

2008-02-09T03:49:00.000-08:00

A year ago on Christmas Day, I became a mother in the back seat of a Volkswagen van.

Yep, that's exactly how it happened except the labor and delivery were not what you normally see on TV (or may have experienced yourself, lol)

It was a rotten miserable overcast day and Matt and I were just about at the end of our ropes. We were homesick, sick of being jerked around, feeling completely taken advantage of at every turn. We were both literally shaking in our boots wondering what the hearing would be like. We had heard so very many horror stories about people being grilled by the judge for HOURS before he would allow the adoption.

Our translator had gone in before us to start greasing the wheels and would come and get us when it was our turn. After about a half hour, we see the judge and her assistant coming around the corner, heading for the restaraunt across the street. It's at this point that Matt is seriously considering jumping out of the van and tackling her, but before he can do that, our translator comes back. Expecting the worst, you can imagine our shock when she said, congratulations, you're officially the parents of Victoria and Natalia.

And that's the story of how I became a mother in the backseat of a VW van- just like that.

Not quite as miraculous as the birth that took place on the same day 2000 plus years ago, but the fact that this was all happening on Christmas Day and that throughout this entire time every time something threatened to derail us, the problem just simply disappeared, was not lost on any of us.

We couldn't take custody of either girl until the ten day waiting period was over and that was another reason for concern because while it was highly unlikely, a family member could have contested the judge's decision and it's very likely Matt and I would have been out of luck.

But that didn't happen either. The worst thing that happened was that we were stuck for the 10 days, plus the 10 days for the shut down for the holidays and then couldn't get tickets out of there until the 19th. Even the 10 1/2 hour trek home with both girls went a lot smoother than I had imagined.

It's been an amazing year watching these two little girls blossom and thrive in our family. Someone said to me the other day, "It's like they have always been here" and in many ways, it does feel like that. I sometimes forget how much they have both had to overcome in just this one year, let alone everything that came before that time.

And I guess that's part of "my" problem. I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop and you'd think I'd have learned by now that there's nothing I can do about it.

I just read in someone else's blog who's dealing with similar "control" issues "Who died and left me in charge of being in charge of how things turn out"

It's a tough behavior to unlearn- to say the least!!

I know it's been forever since I've posted. The girls are doing great. Vica got her first report card and is doing very well in all of her subjects. EXCEPT the in the listening and following directions department. She seems to um, need improvement in that area.

Sounds just like her Mom, LOL!!!!!! Seriously though, we had a complete Parenting Magazine Moment around here and talked to Vica about it- no yelling, no screaming, no tears- on anyone's part!! But I'll reserve patting myself on the back until the next report card comes out.

We've been dealing with some other behavior issues with Vica- but that's another post for another time and I just don't have the energy to dive into that one right now- although blogging about it really does help me get my brain around things and I usually feel MUCH better afterward. The cyber-therapy will just have to wait. The laundry is threatening to take over here.

The weather has been G-L-O-O-M-Y to say the least. I'll be so happy when February is over.

Next week is Natasha's 5th birthday. I may even post pictures.

Hope all is well with everyone!

It's not just the Y Chromosome

2007-12-20T08:14:00.001-08:00

After reading a friend's blog regarding the aforementioned segment of the population's fascination with bodily functions, I thought this little tidbit was timely.

Sorry Jane, I don't think this is the exception to the rule you're looking for, but Natasha is fascinated by bodily functions.

She is forever interrogating everyone (mostly her father) if they have "farted" this is usually done at the dinner table and takes no prompting at all for the inquisition to begin.

Two days ago I had to call Matt on the phone because I heard her ask her sister if "she liked her poop" Meaning, Did Vica like Natasha's poop... I felt he needed to share that moment of parental pride.

Last night they were playing downstairs and I heard Natasha tell Vica to "Smell her butt"

I do not know for the life of me where she is getting this from. My first reaction was the boys at pre-school, Matt thinks it's from TV, but I can't see that kind of thing going on since I monitor which cartoons they can watch.

This of course makes me wonder if she says this kind of thing at school and just how long it will be before she unleashes this in public.

I'll keep you updated!

Pictures!

2007-12-19T12:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of the girls by the fountain at Lincoln Center the day we went to see the Nutcracker.
Sorry these didn't post in order, the first pictures you're seeing are later in the day when we went out to eat and they were showing their true colors!!!

The Nutcracker

2007-12-16T04:45:00.000-08:00

Because of an extremely generous gift given to us by Matt's cousins, we were able to take the girls to see The Nutcracker ballet in NYC yesterday. It was the first time I had seen it, and it was Matt's first ballet (big surprise, huh?)

So, before I go any further, a huge THANKS to Bob, AnnMarie, Jeannie, Mike, Maureen and Tom for such a lovely and thoughtful gift to all of us.

We all LOVED it. We're so happy the tickets were for yesterday and not today with the horrible weather we're having- the day was perfect on Saturday. Cold, but clear and the girls did great. Matt managed to find a parking garage only a very short walk from Lincoln Center that did not have any time constraints and accepted on line reservations. We just pulled in and they valet parked our car- super easy and convenient.

I was a little concerned that a two hour ballet would not hold Natasha's interest, but all I can say is that both she and Vica were mesmerized by the entire thing.

How wonderful for me and Matt to be able to watch our girls have this experience. To see them staring literally in wide eyed wonder was nothing short of amazing. As it turns out, Natasha is quite the little ballet fan, she was VERY into clapping enthusiastically for the dancers, and while I'm sure she was taking most of her cues from others around her, she really seemed to appreciate the more difficult choreography and applauded accordingly. Vica was extremely curious about the musicians and the sets. I don't even have to tell you how my sparkle loving girl was floored by the lights!!

This was an incredible experience for any child, but we feel for our girls it was all the more special. A normal childhood, one free from the kind of stress and worry inflicted on our kids early in their lives is the one single thing we're striving for as parents. That's not to say we're not raising them to be responsible, but the trick for us is teaching them, especially Vica what's appropriately responsible. In a million different ways I see her taking responsibility for Natasha as if she were her Mother. It's a very tight rope for me to walk with her. Vica had to be her Mother and now she doesn't- she's not sure what she's supposed to and not supposed to do half the time. While it's great to see that bond between them, the best thing I hear some days is Vica telling Natasha to go and tell ME what she needs or wants. It doesn't help that Natasha is a complete tyrant with her sister and orders her around in the worst way!

Ahhhhhch, I'm rambling- you can tell how confused I am most of the time.

Sounds like every other Mom I know.........

Goodfellas

2007-12-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

Today was one of "those" days.

It's late afternoon and the girls have been at it ALL...... DAY....... LONG.......

So, after telling them not to do something at least sixteen thousand times (and that's just today's total) I finally lost it.

As I'm sitting there scolding them once again, I notice that Vica is suppressing a smile on her face while I'm at it.

Before I even realized it, I began channeling Joe Pesci and actually HEARD myself say,

"Oh, you think I'm funny, do I entertain you?????"

I'm not even a huge fan of Joe, or that particular movie.

Long, exasperated sigh........

As I'm sitting here writing this, I can hear them upstairs doing exactly what I told them not to, again.

Sixteen thousand and one and counting.......

Picture it, Kyiv Ukraine, December 2006.....

2007-12-04T08:45:00.000-08:00

Today, one year ago we were stumbling off the Aerosvit flight at Borisporil airport in Kyiv Ukraine. It felt like an 8 hour bus ride! The weather in Ukraine was dreary, overcast and cold. We were met by our translator and driver and taken to the supermarket and then to our apartment, which reeked of rotten cabbage.

I also became acquainted with my pet bum outside the apartment on this day a year ago. He's probably still wondering where the crazy American-skya is with the 5 griv bills I'd make Matt hand him every time we passed him.

I'm still glad we took the extra time to get our bearings and prepare for our SDA meeting on the 7th.

I'm going to post on and off during this month remembering our trip last year.

Paging Doctor Mom

2007-11-20T04:40:00.000-08:00

So, I finally got to realize my long held dream of becoming a surgeon.

All without the benefit of medical school!

Two weeks ago, we were getting ready to leave the house to visit with Mike, Donna and the kids and to see the new house (which is by the way, gorgeous, but I digress)

As we're getting coats on, I notice Vica has on only one earring. No big deal, the kids lose these things so often, I keep a supply on hand to replace them in the bathroom. So, Vica follows me in and just before I can do anything asks me "Mom, what's this????" She then proceeds to show me the back of her ear lobe which appears to have the back of the "missing" earring still attached to it.

Okay, I'm thinking the earring broke off and the post is still in her ear attached to the back.

WRONG-

Don't ask me how it happened, don't ask me why Vica never, ever not once said anything about it, but what I discovered is that this 1/4 inch piece of metal was lodged IN her ear lobe. Apparently, some how the back of the earring got pulled through the back of her ear lobe into the tiny pin sized hole meant for the earring's post. All that was sticking out was the tiny round ball at the end.

So, I then began sterilizing everything in site and tried to numb her ear with ice. The end was too small for me to grab onto with a pair of tweezers and there was lots of squirming and whining at this point. While I was trying to decide if taking her to the ER on a Saturday night was "really" a good idea, Matt appears with a small pair of needle nosed pliers in hand.

I figured, what the heck, I've got to give it a try. After soaking them in alcohol for a few minutes I got ready to operate. Vica asked me if it was going to hurt and I just told her flat out, "Oh yeah, it's gonna hurt"

Took a deep breath, grabbed onto that sucker and pulled as hard as I dared.

The blood that began spurting made me think I must have opened an artery by mistake. Oh boy, my bathroom looked like a crime scene. Luckily that and the screaming and crying stopped fairly quickly. After a dose of Mom's favorite medicine, Children's Tylenol- we were off to Uncle Mike and Aunt Donna's where upon arrival I promptly accepted the anesthesia offered me by way of wine glass.......

Vica and her ear are both doing fine. I, on the other hand am now at least 75 % gray haired over the whole thing.

Ooooooooooh, this Motherhood thing ain't easy!

2007-09-23T02:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know I owe a major post about what's been going on. We've been really busy all Summer and the girls have started school and dance classes this fall. I promise, I'm just going to whine myself a little teeny-tiny bit and then I'll get to the girls and all they've been up to, PLUS pictures by the middle of next week.

I just wanted to post this for all of the other Mom's like me out there, or the Mom's to Be who are thinking about the same thing.

I hate being around other women.... especially women and their kids. Okay, I've said it, it's out.

Now, I know this sounds completely anti-social and you may be thinking I've got not friends, but just the opposite is true. I love my girlfriends, and their children. I love spending time with them.

I just hate being part of the breeding herd. You know, that group of Moms that tend to congregate wherever children are. If you take your child to one of these places, you're kinda immediately supposed to join the herd and begin chatting about your offspring. Before I had kids I used to think this was just about the most boring waste of time there ever was. Naturally I assumed this was because I didn't have any children.

WRONG! I still hate standing around with a bunch of women talking about our kids. I love my kids, I really do. And I do talk about them- heck, I've even got an entire blog devoted to the little buggers. BUT SHEESH!!!! WHY DO WOMEN FEEL THEY MUST FILL EVERY SINGLE SILENCE WITH INANE CHATTER?????????

AND JUST KEEEEEEP TALKING?????

What, you ask yourself has brought about this little rant???

Dancing school, that's what.....

Yesterday, Natasha started her pre-ballet class. It started at 9:45. So, we got there at 9:40. The waiting room was full of other Mothers (with a few Dads thrown in, and I won't even talk about them here because I can't even think of enough non-swear words to use and don't want to offend my more moral readers) The level of high-pitched chatter was deafening!!! You couldn't even hear the 14 little/big brothers and sisters that also got dragged along for this event . Oh, did I mention this room measured about 20 by 10 feet??? That, coupled by a serious caffeine deficiency and the ever increasing temperature of the room almost had me in tears. But since I had Vica with me, I figured I'd hold it together.

This is just the group from the pre-ballet class. I swear, there had to be 15 adults in the room and there are only 8 little girls in the class. GET A LIFE! Just when I thought, it can't get any worse, it does!!! While I'm sitting there in that sauna, slowly going deaf, in march 6 more mothers with their various progeny needing to sign up for classes, and oh, yeah- we still need shoes, and little snot nosed Ashley here wants to pick out 12 new leotards. UMMM, why dont' you people go shopping maybe more than 30 minutes before the first class starts??????

Okay, so the slowest 45 minutes of my life goes by and out come our little ballerinas. Natasha is momentarily dazed by all of the adults milling around her but finds me and off we go. As I'm walking out the door to the parking lot, I notice, I've got one kid too many! Some sweet little cutie pie must have decided I looked enough like her Mama to follow me right out the door. Or maybe she stood there so long without being able to find her Mama in that sea of morons that she thought she was outside.

Either way, all it means is her Mama couldn't shut up long enough to notice and that really ticks me off.

Okay, whine/rant time is over. Thank you for indulging me and I promise to be onto better, more interesting things next time.

The Whiners

2007-08-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

Vica and Natasha are driving us nuts.

They complain about everything and anything that causes them the slightest discomfort. They always did this and that's what got them named the Gabor sisters in the first place, but it seems they are kicking it up a notch.

I'm hot, I'm cold, this ice cream is cold, this grass is wet, the sun is hot, these eggs aren't salted properly (I'm taking license with the English on that one) and on and on it goes to the point where I'm really getting tired of hearing it. I know it's not just me, because Matt just called to inform me of the latest litany of complaints and he sounded pretty exasperated by it too.

They are all over small minor things but I'm not sure where this is coming from. Is this normal girl behavior, or is this adopted kid behavior- or a combination of both.

My feeling is that they never had anyone that took care of them other than meeting their basic needs and now they have just come to expect that we as their parents will step in and make EVERYTHING to their satisfaction. Maybe we're doing too much for them? I certainly didn't think so. I've been vigilant about teaching the girls to be responsible for their possessions, cleaning up after themselves, making their beds, chores etc. When they complain about something minor, I just say something like "Oh well" and move on to the next thing. Matt tends to acknowledge the complaint and tries to explain to them why their complaint isn't a valid one.
I didn't come wired that way so I'm not sure how to handle this. I thought it would pass, but like I said it seems to be getting worse.

I'd appreciate any advice from adoptive and non-adoptive parents out there who are still reading this thing.

At least I feel better for venting. Thanks for the post Jane about how blogging helps work through a problem, I feel that this is going to an ongoing one.

Six Months Home

2007-07-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

Actually, I'm 5 days late. As of July 19th we're home from Ukraine for six months.

This is the first month I can really honestly say that I haven't spent the majority of the time thinking I like the dog better or wanting to tear my hair out. This of course has more to do with my deep seated belief that I am completely inept at motherhood than it has to do with the kids behavior. I guess I'm finally hitting my stride, or at least the Welbutrin is kickin' in!!

The girls are growing at an alarming rate. Natasha STILL hasn't gained any weight since we've gotten home, but has grown taller. Vica has only gained 2 pounds but has grown over an inch since we last measured her in March.

The girls are currently learning to swim. Natasha paddles around happily with her pink swimmies on and Vica is like a little fish- usually has no swimmies, and is working on swimming under water. We just went out and got her some dive toys to help her work on it. This is a million miles from their first time swimming on Memorial Day. Both of them were crying and at one point Natasha was SCREAMING at the top of her lungs. "HELP ME!!!!! HELP ME!!!!" I thought for sure someone was going to call 911 it sounded like we were trying to kill her. Loads of fun, but Daddy's got swim duty as Mama only swims if it means livin' or dyin'.

My justification for all of this is that it would destroy by lovely natural blonde hair, thus wasting the great deal of money I spend "maintaining" my naturally blonde hair, wink, wink.... Funny, Matt doesn't seem to argue with this since he actually came out and asked me what I drop at Antonio's. He just stood there with his mouth hanging open. Wait until he starts getting the plastic surgeon's bills!!!

But, back to the girls. Vica went to her first Yankee game a few weeks ago. Matt took her in for a Friday night game. Poor Matt, he made the mistake of telling Vica in front of me that he was taking her to the store to buy her a shirt. This naturally prompted ME to tell Vica that she was under NO circumstances to accept ANY shirt with ANY number on it other than 13. Matt almost popped a blood vessel in his head over that one. Naturally, my girl listened to her Mama and would have no other number. Even when Matt tried enticing her with a pink Jeter shirt. Oh well!! I told him he could get Natasha a shirt in any number she liked! Vica had a great time, and lasted about 4 innings- which is usually all I can take before I start whining to go home too!

On July 8th we had both girls baptized. I had no indication that they were ever baptized in Ukraine and after I had the girls birth mother interviewed, I'm very confident that they weren't. The ceremony was lovely. Very nice, although I'm sure the other families were thinking I was just the slacker Mom of all time- because there are my two, 7 and 4 and all of the other kids were just babies. At least my kids didn't cry. As a matter of fact, Natasha had the Priest laughing so hard he had to take a moment to compose himself before continuing. Matt picked her up and held her over the baptismal font and she just leaned back as far as she could with a HUGE HUGE HUGE smile on her face grinning away upside down at Father Ray. It just made a really happy day that much happier.

After that we had a big reception for all of our family and friends. I'm from a big family, but Matt's is even larger. In addition to 4 siblings he has so many Aunts, Uncles and Cousins- well it was easy to have 125 people at the party- most of them Sicilians! It was so wonderful for us to see our girls embraced by this extra-large loving family. I couldn't help but stand there more than once and think how they went from nothing to all of "this" when we adopted them. But I have to say that Matt and I feel like we are the really lucky ones. The girls will just accept this as nothing extraordinary, like all kids do, and that's exactly what we want for them. To just feel like any child does, loved, accepted and to take that all for granted. I spent the entire afternoon hugging and kissing anyone that would stand still long enough for me to tell them I was so happy they were there and that I loved them.

If you were one of those people, I meant it, and I still do- it really wasn't the martinis talking :) And if you're one of the people I didn't get to, I'm SO glad you were there, and I love you!! If you were one of the people that wanted to be there, but just couldn't- we missed you terribly, but understand that these things happen, and we love you too!

Okay, love-fest is over, I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm going all soft and smushy now that I'm a Mom.

It was exhausting planning the whole thing, but so well worth it. The girls have now met pretty much their entire extended family and I'm not throwing another party that large until one of them gets married. Amen.

As for the rest of the Summer. Natasha is finishing her little pre-school program this week. She really enjoyed it and this will be a good experience for her when she starts going every day in the Fall. Vica will keep attending her ESL enrichment class until August 3rd. Then we head down to Florida to visit my parents on the 10th for about 10 days. That will leave about 2 weeks to get the girls ready for school, which will be nothing compared to getting Matt ready to go back. Right now he's hard at work on his tan.

English skills are progressing. We've got Vica using "I" more often now. The more we can get her to do this, the more Natasha will start using it. This is by far the hardest thing for them to learn. Natasha is getting better at expressing herself, although some days she's more lucid than others. Matt gets her going telling stories. She usually likes to tell a story about a bear that tries to eat her when she's sleeping, but usually either Mama or Sophia come to her rescue, with me giving the bear a spanking, or Sophia biting the bear and making it run away. Both girls are bonding with Matt really well. They really don't have a concept of what a Father is- at least nothing good, so it's been a longer process for them to make that connection with Matt, but this month has really seen that happen. I think the fact that they are spending so much time with him is making all the difference in the world. All they have to do is call him Daddy and the man is a six foot heap of jello at their feet- further proof of this is that Matt has hardly played any golf since school has let out and completely by choice. I didn't think I'd ever see the day !

So, those are all of the blog worthy events of our Summer, thanks for checking in!

Trip to the Dentist

2007-06-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had to bring the girls to the dentist. Vica needed to start getting fillings for the six cavities she has and Natasha needed to have her cleaning and fluoride treatment.

When I told Vica earlier in the morning that she'd be going to see Dr. Mason, she jumped up and down and said "Yeah!!!" I asked her if she knew what was going to happen and she nodded yes and made a noise like a dental drill and pointed to her teeth. Oooooooookay....... We got to the office and the girls were ready to go- they both did great. Dr.Mason was able to do three of the fillings and Vica came through it wonderfully- no anesthesia required. This of course completely amused him because Mommy happens to be the Doctor's biggest chicken of a patient in the entire practice. I want him to give me anesthesia if he's even going to TALK about drilling my teeth.

On Sunday Vica had a birthday party for one of her classmates. This was another first for her and she really had fun. Being new to the motherhood loop, I wasn't sure what the protocol was for these things. I'm from back in the day when your Mom dropped you off at a birthday party and left tire tracks down the road to make the most of the two hours she had, kid, or at least semi-kid free. Apparently, this is not the way it works today. I was expected to sit on a folding chair for 2 hours watching 22 shrieking, screaming 7 year old girls dance and play games. The other choice I had was to engage in conversations with the other mothers and since I didn't know anyone they were gossiping about, that was out. All of this without the benefit of alcohol. Seriously though, it was so nice for me to see how loved Vica is by her new friends. They ran up to her hugging her and kissing her, jumping up and down with excitement that she was there. It's what any Mom wants for their child, but this is more than I could have asked for so soon. I also observed another maternal rite of passage and had a play date requested for Vica- oh boy, something else for me to agonize over.

Do you see the pattern emerging here folks? Orphan child leaves everything familiar to her behind and lands on planet America- adjusts as if she's been here forever. Mom who's been dying to have kids most of her adult life can't figure out how to negotiate a play date. Oh brother..... thankfully Vica is still so enamored of me that she STILL thinks I can do no wrong and that everything I do is just wonderful (except when I make her eat broccoli) so while I've still got about ten seconds left of that lasting, I'll take advantage of it while I fumble through these new experiences and hopefully I won't come out on the other side of it all as Complete Dork Mom!

The Gabor Sisters and The Meaning of Life

2007-06-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

You would never know that my two girls ever spent a single moment of their very young lives in any discomfort whatsoever. Both of them feel the need to report the slightest thing that may be bothering them at a particular moment. A few examples;

1. Vica runs into the house from outside specifically to find me and tell me that her arm itches.

2. Both girls will declare in an absolutely disgusted tone that it's HOT outside as if I possessed the ability to turn the Sun off. Sorry, but if I had THAT kinda power, I'd use it to pick lottery numbers kid....

3. The air conditioning- which is relieving said heat is now blowing too strongly on one or more of them.

4. The TV is showing commercials- AGAIN, and why can't I get their show back on IMMEDIATELY.

All of this diva-esque behavior has got me and Matt referring to them as Zsa-Zsa and Eva, which Vica really hates because I think she thinks we're trying to actually change her name to Zsa Zsa.

While all of this can be annoying sometimes, it makes me realize how far my girls have come. They aren't afraid to ask me for what they need, or want and have grown accustomed to being comfortable. They become more and more like every other kid every single day, they become "mine" more and more every day too. The bonding process is a long and complicated one, on both sides between parent and child and it really is a lot of flying by the seat of your pants.

Which brings me to the second part of this post- which is a bit off topic. I got some really sad news today. A woman I worked with passed away from lung cancer on Friday. She was only 34 years old and leaves behind two small babies. She was diagnosed just a few months ago and had been very healthy up until then, she just had a cold she couldn't seem to shake, went to the doctor and it all fell apart from there. I can remember when this woman was pregnant and how jealous I felt of her at the time because I could never hold onto a pregnancy. She seemed to have it all, and well, you already know how the story ends. I learned a long, long time ago (unfortunately the hard way- which is how I have to learn everything) that there's no point in wanting what someone else has, their reality has nothing to do with yours and while you're busy wondering why they have what you don't, your life is going nowhere, but that lesson comes from the benefit of a few thousand dollars worth of therapy, the lesson driven home for me today is that it doesn't matter who you are, how much you've got to lose, how much money you have or don't have, there's simply no way to know when the game is over.

I had an argument with someone I love this past week. I didn't mean for it to turn into what it turned into, but that's how some things go. You think you're just being honest and you wind up hurting the other person more than you started out being hurt by what they said or did. Things get misunderstood, other people interject their opinions and before you know it, it's a bona fide drama. I've had my fair share of drama in my life and I'm sure as hell not looking for anymore.

So, in the spirit of ALL of that, while I won't name names- I'm sorry.

Look out Gwen Stefani

2007-05-27T04:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were at a party to celebrate my Mom's 60th- along with a frightening amount of character traits, she and Vica share a birthday. Since we had a big to-do for Vica's, Mom waited awhile to have her b'day bash.

The girls had a great time with the Lymycz/Pacosa branch of their fan club, which while not as large as the Sicilian branch is just as zealous in their adoration...

Well, seems that isn't quite enough for my girls and they felt the need to branch out last night. The party was held in a lovely restaurant. Unfortunately the room we were in had faulty air conditioning and twenty five women who are no longer producing estrogen just don't keep well in an under-air conditioned room. Fearing for their safety, the management relocated us to another semi-private room just off the bar/lounge area. This was also very nice- and very cool I might add. We also had the benefit of enjoying the live entertainment- a very talented lady was singing with pre-recorded music. (kinda like high-class karaoke).

While I was visiting with other guests, Vica worked her charm on the singer and actually conned her into letting her get up and sing. This supports Matt's theory that Vica's English is much, much better than she's letting on. She speaks one version for us and we catch her using another with "outside" people. Obviously it was good enough to get her point across and let's face it, she's tough to resist. Vica absolutely ADORES Gwen Stefani and made me go out and buy her latest CD- which she listens to at full blast every opportunity that I let her. Her very favorite song is the one that gets lots of radio time- Sweet Escape. Now for all of you that are not big GS fans, the chorus of this song is basically Whoooo-hooo, Wheeee-hooo, Whooo-hooo, Wheee-hooo. Vica REALLY likes to sing this refrain, at the top of her lungs, naturally. The rest of the song she just kind of makes up her own words, occasionally getting enough of them right that if you don't listen too hard makes her sound like she knows the entire song. So, she's up there decked out in a feather boa that looks like one of Bob Mackie's Cher cast-offs singing her heart out. My Aunt Anna is making like the paparazzi with all of the pictures she's taking and word circulates among the other patrons that this little girl and her sister were just adopted, have just begun learning English, etc. So all of this combined with Natasha and Angelina dancing and singing back up for Vica gets the Ukie version of Diana Ross and the Supremes practically a standing ovation.

My girl eats this up like it's candy and in five minutes I go from Vica wanting to be a doctor when she grows up to wanting to be a Vegas headliner, Oy.........

Stay tuned blog junkies to see what will win out- Med school or Sin City.....

Info for adoptive parents...

2007-05-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to fellow adoptive parents with kids from Ukraine.

If you or someone you know is thinking about conducting a birth family search, I have someone excellent to recommend to you. He is extremely professional, gets the job done quickly, and is VERY affordable.

Please e-mail me privately at lisasicilian@yahoo.com if you'd like further information.

I may be on to something.....

2007-05-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty funny weekend around here. On Saturday, Vica was sent to her room because she whacked Daddy in the head with her new Ariel necklace that she just HAD to keep swinging around despite being asked, then told to stop numerous times. After the wound was inflicted, said necklace was promptly confiscated by Daddy..... sending Vica into a heap of wailing, crying, boogie spewing mess.

I took her upstairs to her room and explained why the toy was taken away and that once she calmed down she could come back out. Matt and I were in our bedroom watching TV and Natasha went into their bedroom to taunt her older sister- it's so rare that it's someone other than her getting into trouble. She felt compelled to notify her older sister that she had "BAD MANNERS" which got a giggle from me and Matt. A few minutes later I got up and caught Miss Emily Post Jr. MOONING her older sister....

Yep, there she was with that tiny heiny of hers exposed wiggling it at Vica.

This, naturally had Matt reduced to complete fits of laughter- actually I thought it was pretty funny too, but temporarily being the more mature parent felt that I should point out to Natasha that exposing one's backside is also considered VERY BAD MANNERS!!!

On Sunday Matt had both girls outside while he did some yard work. After about a half hour I could hear Vica whining to go back inside "With Mama" Matt wouldn't let her, so after another half hour I relented and called her inside. Naturally, where one goes, the other follows. So, I asked her if she wanted to help me cook dinner. We were just having tacos, so I let her stand on a stool and help brown the ground beef, add the seasonings etc... When it was done I then asked her if she wanted to vacuum- well, you should have SEEN her eyes light up. This girl is little Suzie Home maker- you would think I offered her the BEST toy on Earth. So, I got her set up with that and she just went to town- this brings Natasha to also wanting to help. I handed her the swiffer with a wet pad and she mopped my kitchen floor with it.

Mommy proceeded to pour herself a glass of wine and went outside on the deck. Matt asked me if I was drinking because they were driving me nuts, I told him "Oh no, Vica just cooked dinner and now they're both cleaning the house, let's go back and get 5 more just like them!"

I know it won't last forever, but you can bet the last dollar you've got that I'm going to enjoy EVERY second of it while it lasts!!!!!

Pictures- Finally!

2007-05-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

Since most of you know how technologically challenged I am- I think it's pretty good that I finally figured out how to post pictures to the blog.

This is the picture I had taken of the girls as Mother's Day gifts for Grandma!

She was VERY happy!!!!

Blog Junkies Rejoice!!!!

2007-05-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

I have been taking ALOT of flak lately for not keeping up with this blog. It's not that anything hasn't been happening- it just doesn't seem "blog worthy".

But for those of you out there who just need your fix, I'll try to do the best I can.

First and foremost, is Mother's Day. I finally got to celebrate "for real" and it was great. Matt and the girls cleaned the house from top to bottom for me, then went shopping at the mall on Saturday night. I got some very nice gifts, cards and dinner on Sunday. My parents, in-laws, brother and sister in law were all there and the girls had a great time playing with their cousin, Angelina. The girls chose three new charms for my bracelet. A heart that says Mom , Tinkerbelle, and Belle- how cute!!

Vica and Natasha continue to grow in leaps and bounds. They have both gotten taller and are just as cute as can be (if I say so myself) English is progressing nicely, although we're still speaking in the third person. Matt and I are increasing our efforts to teach them me, you, I, we, etc.

Natasha visited her new preschool over the weekend and she loved it. She's back to telling anyone who will listen "Natasha, school- play with toys!!" The preschool is really nice and it doesn't hurt that my neighbor Debbie, who has two great kids of her own will be teaching them.

Vica spent Saturday morning helping Matt shovel mulch. He had some delivered to redo the flower beds and she was right in the middle of it. By the time I got home, she was covered from head to toe in DIRT! I came to find out later that not only did she "convince" Matt to bury her in the mulch pile, but she also "convinced" our neighbor Charlie to let her jump into the giant pile of topsoil he had delivered the same morning!!

I came home to find her playing with the little girl next door- who was dressed in pristine white capri pants and sneakers- and there's my kid in her dirt caked sweat pants, t-shirt and matted down hair- yikes! Thankfully she cleans up really well and loves to be dressed up.

Which brings me to Vica's birthday! She turned 7 on April 28th and we had a really nice party for friends and family at a local restaurant. Vica naturally had a gorgeous pink dress on that Grandma got her and then managed to get every single outfit Gap Kids has to offer a girl in her size- it's insane. She's got more clothes than I do and probably as many pairs of shoes. Funny now, but what is this going to be like in ten more years!!

As part of her birthday present, Vica got her ears pierced. We took her to the mall and she hopped right into the chair. After I filled out the paperwork (almost as much as I had to fill out to adopt her) she looked at me and asked me if it would hurt. I didn't lie and told her it would pinch a little- kind of like when she got a shot at the doctor. So, the lady marks her ears, loads up her little gun, points and shoots- well, Vica's entire body just trembled, you could just see her physical reaction to this. Vica does not shed a single tear, she doesn't even blink- Mama on the other hand feels her entire stomach contents threaten to evacuate. After deciding that this would not be the best thing for me to do smack dab in the middle of Rockaway Townsquare Mall, I regain my composure just in time to see the second earring go in. This time Vica doesn't flinch- I asked her if it hurt and she just looked at me and said "No, Mama" proving once again that Mama is a big sissy.........

That's about all I can think of right now- I promise to be more diligent in updating this blog!

Bye for now!

Trip to the zoo...

2007-03-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

We've been enjoying some warmer weather lately, so Sunday I thought it would be nice if we took a family outing somewhere. At first I thought of the New Jersey State Aquarium, but when I realized it would cost us close to 100 bucks just to walk in the door (and spend over an hour getting there) I thought again.

Enter good old Turtleback Zoo- which in looking back was a much more appropriate field trip for the girls just now. The zoo is VERY small and you can get through the entire thing in about an hour. Vica LOVED the snakes and Natasha thought the ponies were adorable. Didn't bother bringing them over to the petting zoo area- Mommy's not quite ready for that complete gross out. Afterward we took them to Mc Donald's for lunch and to play on the indoor playground.

The next day Matt asked the girls if they liked the zoo- they both nodded their heads yes very enthusiastically and then in unison said "Chicken McNuggets"

Score another one for American culture......

Art Project Hysteria and The Blessed Mother

2007-03-08T10:28:00.000-08:00

Sue Ann, thanks for the clarification on the creepy Barbie fairy wings/karaoke thing-yeah, fairy wings that you can wear that come with an attached microphone- makes perfect sense.......

So, Vica came home from school with an art project....... Apparently, they are doing a unit on different countries and each child has to decorate a paper doll and flag for their assigned country.

Vica was assigned Russia...........

Soooooooooo, since Matt was going to school for parent/teacher conferences that night, I asked him if he could NICELY ask the teacher if Vica could do Ukraine, I thought it might be nice since I had every intention of decorating, I mean HELPING Vica decorate her doll in traditional Ukrainian costume and having her color the Ukrainian Flag ANYWAY.... I thought maybe I won't make a statement, just this once- but they also have to write three facts about the country they are doing- Ooooooooooh, WHAT fun I coulda had with THAT one if I let her do Russia.

hhhhhmmmm, let's see..... "From 1932-1933, Soviet Dictator Joseph Stalin's policy of forced collectivization created an artificial famine which resulted in the deaths of 6 to 7 million Ukrainians....

Oh, yeah- that would really win my kid some popularity points wouldn't it????? And Matt STILL wonders why I won't join the PTA- how fast do you think they'd kick me out???

Of course all of this is in good fun- but after I went out and bought "supplies" for our paper doll, Matt tried to ruin my fun by informing me that Vica was supposed to do the project.

Where, I ask you, is the fun in that??? I guess I've got to let her help a little.....

Today, I was in the kitchen washing dishes while Vica was unpacking her backpack from school. Natasha was talking a mile a minute for a full five minutes, I assumed she was talking to Vica until I walked into the living room and saw her conversing at great length with a figurine of the Blessed Mother that Matt had given me for Mother's Day several years ago. She was talking VERY animatedly to Her- I thought it was pretty cute and thought the nuns who taught me at Saint Nick's are probably all smiling down from Heaven over that one since I was such a "holy" child while I was there- hhhhhaahhhhhaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

Back to the parent/teacher conferences the other night. Vica's teacher and ESL teacher were both extremely relieved when Matt told them that we had every single intention of having Vica repeat the 1st grade next year. I guess they get a lot of parents pushing to have the child moved up to the next grade before they are ready. We want Vica to continue to enjoy school as much as she does now, once she gets English up and running, then we'll worry about how she's progressing academically- although, I don't think that's going to be a problem at all. Right now we're just concentrating on her learning new English words every day. She's still enthusiastic about going to school every day and comes home all smiles and excitement when I pick her up from the bus.

And that ends the latest chapter of my dull and boring life :)

Vica needs a Barbie...

2007-03-05T09:03:00.000-08:00

Remember the post not so long ago where I wondered just how long it would take for Vica to make the connection between what she sees on TV and actually wanting to HAVE it?

Time's up! it's official and not only that, but she hit me with two kid favorites-

Lucky Charms cereal and naturally, good ole' Barbie.

The cereal thing was easy- but you know I'm not feeding her Lucky Charms! She's actually quite happy to have Cheerios and asks for cereal now every morning. Natasha likes the cereal part but isn't having any part of the milk that goes along with it. Oh well!

The Barbie thing isn't just ANY Barbie either- they've come out with some kind of creepy Butterfly wing thing- I don't know. I guess I'll have to pay closer attention the next time the commercial is on and Vica drags me by the hand to see it. Too bad her birthday is still 8 weeks away and by then she'll probably want six thousand other things. I kinda get the feeling this is the floodgates just opening.

Oh, and they both also do the take the gift out of the bag, put it down and peer into the bag tearing through the tissue paper looking for MORE thing too!

Well on their way to being typical American kids! LOL!!!

We have a parent/teacher conference tomorrow, so I'll update more on that for those of you still reading this boring stuff!

Vica loses a tooth and the Teacher Death Stare

2007-03-01T05:26:00.000-08:00

Everyone is finally feeling almost 100% around here. No one is as happy as Mama around here.

Vica lost her first tooth (with us) Matt and I naturally thought this was a big deal. We tried to explain the concept of the tooth fairy. I got the Russian equivalent of "Yeah, whatever, Mom"She was more excited about GETTING the tooth OUT. Matt jokingly told her about the string around the tooth/doorknob trick- she was all ready for him to do it. Once the tooth was out she was completely enthralled by the hole it left behind and the fact that it was grossing her little sister out. When she woke up and found the 5 bucks under her pillow (Matt's call, not mine- it would have been 1$) she simply told me to put it in her piggy bank- excitement over....

The kids are all back in school this week, so this will actually be Vica's first full week of school. We had some not eating her lunch issues earlier in the week, but they seem to have resolved themselves. Tuesday she came home with Spanish homework. My first reaction was that I hoped she wasn't getting confused. She had the worksheet completed pretty well considering. I just have to laugh- I guess this qualifies her as being tri-lingual???? Oh, by the way, anyone know the Spanish work for the color Purple?? It's driving Matt crazy, and my 4 years of French 25 years ago won't help here either :)

Matt has been reading the complete works of Dr. Seuss to the kids every night before bed and they just LOVE it- can't tell you how happy that makes both of us- they both are starting to memorize the stories too- it's VERY cute!!

Natasha has been crying almost every day when Vica gets on the bus- it doesn't last long, but I've got to get on the ball to get her into some kind of preschool program. With her being sick, that set everything back a few weeks. Right now she's enjoying watching Cinderella 3 snuggled up with Sophia on the sofa. I finally broke down and got a stroller to cart her around in. What was I thinking???? This Motherhood thing seems kinda slow to sink in on some levels. Here I am with my 40 year old back and knees lugging this toddler around- can you say STUPID! She absolutely loves riding around in it like the queen-in-training she is. Matt put it together with Vica last night- he said she had it figured out before him. Kristin- if you're reading this, I know how hard you're laughing right now.....

This weekend we're going to start getting the larger bedroom re-painted to be the girl's new room. Our neighbor, Debbie gave the girls these gorgeous butterfly decorations as part of their welcome home gift and I think I'm going to do the room around that theme.

Oh, I almost forgot, I caught the Teacher Death Stare from my own husband in my own house the other night- the nerve of him! Matt was doing homework with Vica while I had the audacity to speak to Natasha in the other room- I wish you could have seen this look I got for disturbing his lecture, I mean "Lesson" I felt like I was about 8 years old getting busted for talking to the kid next to me- not that it EVER happened when I was in school!!!!

Next week I'm gonna pass the kid a note.......

The sick house

2007-02-23T14:18:00.000-08:00

Natasha seems to be doing better. Her fever hasn't gone over 101 in two days and is mostly near normal during the day. She's just got a cough I can't ease for her. The cough medicine I'm giving her seems to be doing absolutely nothing. Fortunately she's sleeping through the night and even took a 3 hour nap today. Vica's bug is still hanging on, but is much, much better- I forced her to nap too.

Now Matt has fallen ill. He went to the doctor yesterday and she took one look at his throat and told him she wasn't even going to swab it- it was strep throat- so he's laid up with that, a fever and body aches.

At least the dog isn't limping anymore, and I'm trying to avoid being coughed and sneezed upon as much as possible, all while trying not to inhale the steady stream of Lysol I've got misting around every room of the house.

On a positive note, we were able to file for the girl's social security numbers with a minimum of fuss yesterday and we received their certificates of citizenship in the mail today. Complete with a nice letter on White House stationary signed by W his-self!

So, not much more than the obvious going on around here. Hopefully in a day or two the girls will be back on track and Matt will be feeling better too.

Boring stuff, I know........

Mommy goes on a guilt trip.

2007-02-22T03:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a lunch date with two friends that I had been looking forward to for over a month. The weather was finally not freezing and I got to see my friends as well as a few others from work that I've been missing and just enjoyed myself completely.

That is, until I called Matt from the road on my way home. Seems Natasha woke up from her nap with a fever of 103.8. Up until that point I had been patting myself on the back for dealing with my very first round of sick kids in a pretty calm way (totally NOT like me, I might add) even my own Mother paid me the highest compliment in her book telling me it sounded to her that I had everything completely under control.

HAAAAAAAA!, Yeah, right! So, after managing to avoid a speeding ticket, Matt had gotten an appointment with the pediatrician by the time I got home. The poor thing was just miserable and burning up. Luckily the Motrin had started to do the trick right away and she perked up a little, but not much. Then Matt tells me, she's been crying for Mama since she got up.

Uuuuuuuuggggghhhhhhhhh, tear my heart out why don't ya????

Turns out our girl has strep throat. So, she's on antibiotics. Vica seems to have bounced back from whatever bug she had, but then again, we'll see what TODAY brings.

Guess I'll be running over to Costco and buying a case of children's tylenol and motrin. The doctor did say that her fever should be much better by today and probably gone by tomorrow- "Unless she's got something else with the strep" Thanks Doc....

So, after I spent the night planning the quickest route to the local emergency room, the girls slept pretty peacefully and are still sleeping as I type this.

Another busy weekend

2007-02-19T02:56:00.000-08:00

Well, we all survived the trip to Chuck-e-cheese, I'm the most surprised that I made it out alive... although everyone I was with kept telling me it wasn't "that" bad.

500 screaming kids- at least one of which vomited right near our table (thankfully none of ours) and that's not bad??? I'd hate to see what bad really looked like.

Oh well, the girls had a ton of fun and as it turned out we had a really nice impromptu birthday party for Natasha thanks to all of her Aunts and Cousins. Not only was my best friend Tracy there with her 9 year old son, Kurt, but my sister in law Donna, niece Angelina, sister in law Christine, nephews Anthony and Joey and my other sister in law Donna with my nieces Jenna and Ariana all came. My girls are very very lucky to have a family that loves them so very, very much, and me- I'm just plain lucky. Best moments in the day were watching Vica help Angelina get up into the habitrail like climbing thingy they have there, Kurt helping the girls learn to play all of the different games, PLUS giving them all of the tickets he won throughout the day and Anthony and Joey cashing in their tickets specifically for hair accessories for their cousins. Jenna and Ariana are like little mother hens to the girls- when they are around, I don't need to worry for a second where my kiddos are, or what they are doing, they are usually being carried around like little princesses by their older cousins.

After we got home, my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin all stopped by with some birthday gifts for Natasha- they got gorgeous party dresses that they immediately fell in love with. I'm really surprised that Vica didn't ask to wear hers to school. We have a big family party coming up at the end of March, so the girls will have a chance to wear them pretty soon. They also got toys, jewelry, etc.. etc... What was great was that after only meeting my Aunt once, when Vica saw her getting out of the car and coming up our front walk, she started jumping up and down saying "Cho-cha, Cho-cha!!!" (that's Aunt in Ukrainian) I was really happy that she recognized her and her relationship to her.

Yesterday the girls attended their first birthday party. Our little pal Drew also turned 4 this past week and the girls had a blast. They held the party at one of these kiddie places that organizes everything for you. They had all kinds of stuff to jump on and into, plus organized games. At one point they had the kids sit in a circle and sing a little rhyme that ended with each child saying their name. My two actually figured this out and participated right along. They had so much fun, they were both crying when they had to go home. I wish they had a place like this out here by us- I'm going to have to look for one. They also did a craft project and of course, at pizza-their absolute new favorite food. Then later in the afternoon, my Aunt Jeanne and cousin Teresa came by to meet the girls. We have asked Teresa to be Natasha's Godmother and it was so nice because Natasha was really huggy and kissy with her. My Aunt Jeanne is also MY Godmother, so that makes it all the more special!! :)

Now we're all off this week, the girls will have their first trip to the dentist later in the week and Natasha has to go back to the pediatrician for her MMR vaccine so she can go to preschool and we'll probably take them on a few day trips, one of which I hope is ice skating here on our lake!

I've spent too much time at home....

2007-02-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

It's official, I'm done- Had Nickelodeon on for Natasha and actually got a "happy" feeling when I caught that Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends will be on next......

Sad, but true......

Luckily, my good friend and adoptive Mama-mentor Shelly gave me some GREAT ideas on how to facilitate the girls learning English. We'll be going to the library next week and Foster and friends will have to wait.

Get on the Bus!!!!!!

2007-02-16T08:35:00.000-08:00

Vica took the bus for the first time today- as per HER request. When I informed MY Mother of this, I could hear the panic in her voice all the way from Florida....

...... Will she be at the bus stop by herself???

....... Yeah Ma, I was thinking I'd just kind of shove her out the door and let her figure out how to get on the bus by herself- her English is getting pretty good!!!!

....... Will the bus leave her off in front of your house???

....... No, it will leave her off right where it picked her up, but her sense of direction is right up there with her English skills, so I figured, what the heck! Let her find her way home and if she doesn't turn up by night fall, I'll send Sophia out looking for her.

While those were the questions posed to me by Grandma-the nervous wreck, I was much nicer in explaining the whole thing to her.

Vica has been pestering me since before she even went to school to take the bus. This morning it was all she could talk about, and when it was time for her to leave, she gave me a big kiss and a hug and bounced out the door. Matt took her down to the corner and he said she jumped right on in the first seat and was READY TO GO!!! I'm the one sitting here, watching the clock- three hours before she even gets out of school to make sure I'm there at the bus stop when she gets off. The great thing is that Vica isn't worried one tiny little bit that I WON'T be there waiting for her.

Natasha, on the other hand, is not pleased at all that she HAS TO stay home with Mama. Of course it doesn't help that her older sister taunts her with things like "Natasha is little, she doesn't ride on the bus" "Vica is a big girl, she goes to school" So, I told Natasha she'd be going to school soon too and that was enough to put a smile on her face again.

Vica had another good day at school yesterday, she got lots of Valentine's from her classmates and she did a little Valentine's Day themed arts and crafts project- and then of course there were the COOKIES- which she could not stop talking about- judging by the amount of chocolate smeared on her face, she really did like them.

So, there I was standing right in front of the main office, waiting for my kid to be dismissed. It's the end of the day, and here she comes with her coat on and backpack in hand, all smiles- Great, off we go!!!

Wrong! Apparently, Mama committed a major mommy faux pas and did not sign Vica out of school before I left with her.

HUH?????????? I was just about home when my cell phone started ringing, when I retrieved the message, it was the school calling me to make sure I had Vica with me because I had failed to obtain the proper security clearance, by the time I made it into the house with two freezing, squirming, kids who are both screaming that they have to PEEEEEEEEEE at the TOP of their lungs, there was another message waiting for me. Okay, whatever, now I try to actually call the school to notify them that I do, in fact have my child and they should recall the National Guard and I think the FBI probably has better things to dowith their time when I get caught in the mother of all voice mail directory nightmares. Fortunately by this time, the school was calling me on my cell phone- AGAIN!! Now, I know that all of my friends and family are letting out a big fat groan right about now, thinking, uh, oh, Lisa flipped and probably won't be asked to join the PTA after all- I handled it completely appropriately, I didn't even raise my voice and I was the one who apologized for the oversight.

I guess you can call it my new found Motherhood Zen-like aura.

Yeah right! You know it took everything I had not to blow my top- but I was actually impressed to see how the system kicks in once the alarm is tripped. It really stood out in stark contrast to the way kids live in Ukraine. There is no such thing as a child car seat, seat belts are even hard to find- kids are all toddling around in cities where the driver, not the pedestrian has the right of way- and no one thinks twice about it. Hard pressed as I am to say anything positive about this, I have to admit that I never once saw a single accident while we were in Ukraine and we did a lot of traveling around by car. Still, I think I like things better the way they are here :)

Now we'll have a week off from school, but luckily Matt is also off at the same time.

Oh, and two bonus points for anyone who knows where the title of today's blog comes from.

Vica's First Day of School and Natasha's Birthday

2007-02-14T05:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a BIG day around here. Although she doesn't grasp the concept of a birthday at all, we had a little celebration for Natasha's 4th last night. Basically we did the small ice cream cake, candles and party hat thing so we'd at least have a picture to show her when she's 16 and becomes indignant over the fact that we didn't do ANYTHING for her first birthday in America, let alone the catered affair with engraved invitations and orchestra I'm sure she'll feel was more befitting the occasion. We can show her the picture and well, basically lie......

I'm taking her and Vica to Chuck-E-Cheese this weekend. I'm convinced that I've completely lost my mind, but I'll have backup in my friend Tracy and her son Kurt. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll just run themselves to exhaustion. Something tells me Mama is coming home with one big headache :)

The more important event in the Sicilian house was Vica's first day of school. Mama seemed to be the only one with any anxiety over this. I'll have to say it was a challenge getting both girls up, fed, dressed and out the door as they are Olympic caliber dawdlers. Matt took the day off so it was a bit more easy with two of us. Anyway, we took Vica to her new classroom and she seemed to really enjoy seeing kids her own age. The teacher also explained that one of the children in her class spoke Russian, although when Matt asked him "Do you speak Russian" he looked at him blankly and said "Whaaaaaaat??" Now, Matt's Russian leaves a lot to be desired, but I do know he asked him correctly and simply enough for a child, so I wasn't having too much hope about that scenario. Luckily, there is a little girl in the second grade who also speaks Russian and the teacher had her sit with Vica at lunch. When I asked Vica about her, she told me that the girls "talks alot" and that she had to tell her to be quiet.

Is that MY girl, or what- well on her way to establishing those critical interpersonal skills. I could have completely misunderstood what Vica was trying to tell me- so I'll just assume like a good Mom, that my kid was just perfectly behaved :)

When we went to pick her up at the end of the day, her class was just returning from Gym. She bounced right past us and I could see she was having fun and had a HUGE smile on her face. That minute right there told me I had nothing to really worry about. Matt reviewed some of the math work she did in class and she seems to be getting it and is working at the 1st grade level.

Unfortunately, we were hit with a huge snow storm last night and school was cancelled today. Then, they are off for an entire week next week, but we'll keep working with her during the down time so she doesn't "forget" about school!

I'm making a list and checking it twice...

2007-02-06T05:04:00.000-08:00

Or three, four, five, six thousand times a day!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am an obsessive list maker- hahhaahha, have another little Motherhood surprise Lisa- make ALL the lists ya want- nothing gets done!

I'm considering it a sign of progress for myself that I made a fairly ambitious list yesterday and got about 90% of it done, and no melt downs for the girls, or me for that matter! Matt was probably very pleased to come home and not find one or more of us in tears.

Just to give you an idea of what my life has become like- we've been home over two weeks and I just got our bags unpacked from the Ukraine trip last night- oh well!

The girls continue to do very well. They met my Aunts and Uncles this weekend and did great. They also got to meet their cousin Angelina and it was so cute to see her and Natasha together as they are the same size.

Everything looks on target for Vica starting school next week. I'm going to go in with her for a few hours the first day and then we'll try an entire day and see how she does. The English is coming along slowly, although I think they understand more and more every day- part of the "problem" is that they have each other to converse with in Russian so there isn't a need to use English as much.

But then again, what do I know?? As I'm finding out- nothing!!!!

Shopping and Mc Nuggets

2007-01-31T04:39:00.000-08:00

We took the girls for their first retail experience yesterday. Matt took the day off from work because I was losing my voice, so once we all started to go stir crazy we decided to take the girls to Walmart and then maybe McDonald's for lunch if all went well...

Wrestling Natasha into the cart was an experience in itself as she didn't quite have the hang of what she was supposed to do and tried to tuck her legs underneath herself. After some assistance from Matt, we got her in and then she really enjoyed being run around the entire store by Daddy.

What was really nice for evil Mama Lisa was the fact that now it was ME getting in the way of everyone with my kids and cart!!! hhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhaaaaaaaa (evil Mama laugh) revenge is GOOD!! because we were in the store at a time while most kids are in school, so now I got to just sit still in the middle of an aisle while the girls looked at and touched everything acting completely oblivious to all around me trying to get through.

I know, it's shallow, it's petty, it's immature- it was GREAT!!!!!!!

We got a few more things for Vica for school and then it was off to McDonald's. I refused to take them while we were still in Ukraine because I was just so anti- the entire place that I decided their first experience with American fast food really should be done in America.

The girls had their first Happy Meal (chicken McNuggets) and they really liked them- imagine that! I'm never gonna be able to get them to eat chicken and french fries at home ever again.

Oh, I almost forgot- yesterday morning, the girls were playing in their room and clear as day, Natasha yells "Papa! can you come here??" Matt and I just looked at each other- in ways her English is coming together faster than Vica's- probably because her Russian vocabulary isn't as extensive. Speaking of which, we meet with the principal of Vica's new school today and hopefully in another week we'll have the immunizations up to speed and off she goes. She asks every single day about going to school, I think the poor kid is bored off her rocker!

Other than that, this should be a quite week, we're getting together at my Aunt's house this Sunday so all of my Aunt's and Uncles can meet the girls- that (hopefully) should be the last large wave of loot to haul home and then I can start getting organized.

I've heard some rumors that some people who submitted dossiers in December have received March appointments, but that there is still some uncertainty regarding dossiers for people still waiting since September (and in some cases, even earlier) I hope all this means is that they are getting it together at the SDA and everyone waiting so long finally has the chance to go an get their kids.

Meet the Sicilians

2007-01-29T04:47:00.000-08:00

The girls met their new Aunts, Uncles and Cousins this weekend, and I think it went great.

Vica and Natasha were shy for approximately 6 seconds and then I didn't see them for most of the night as they were thoroughly enjoying being the center of attention (are these my girls, or WHAT?)

Naturally, they were unloaded upon by said family members to the point where it will take another trip back to Uncle Mike and Aunt Donna's house to bring the remaining loot home.

One of the most memorable scenes stuck in my mind is watching my two very girly girls being taught how to hit a ball with a bat by their two cousins, Anthony and Joey, who showed infinite patience and interest in these two little creatures. Anthony and Joey even took it upon themselves to learn some Russian via the Internet and asked me to teach them a few words. How cool is that? I get choked up every time I think about it....

What will also stay with me forever was the phenomenal outpouring of love these girls receive every where I take them. What more could I ask for than to watch them just soak up every last bit of it. If an abundance of love can make up for the hardships they've already experienced in their short lives, I'd say they've already reached, then surpassed that point- if only it worked that way. But, what's important now is that they are surrounded by people who love them and want to see them thrive.

I'd also like to point out that the girl's behavior really is not the norm for kids just home from Ukraine. I don't want to paint an unrealistic picture of what those waiting to adopt can expect. All of the books you will read will tell you to sequester the kids for at least a month, to keep the stimulus to a minimum and expect frequent melt downs and temper tantrums, and in the majority of situations, this is exactly what should and does happen. On the other hand, some children, like Vica and Natasha do well being right in the middle of it all, but that's due to a combination of things. Most importantly their individual personalities allow for it, but we also did much more bonding while in Ukraine than most parents get to do. Once we had Vica back in Yalta we took her to restaurants and out walking around, she was able to get used to being around groups of people on her own terms- and we also had the benefit of having our translator right there to explain things to her. This went a long way with establishing trust in us for her. The great thing about Natasha being so much younger than Vica is that she takes many of her cues from her older sister- the only time this backfires is when Vica decides that she doesn't want to eat what I've made for dinner- THEN Natasha will also decide she doesn't want it too- even though she just spent the last 5 minutes shoveling it all in shouting "Koosna, Mama!" (kinda like, Yum! Mama!) :) :) :)

I think the important thing is that your kids have to understand that YOU are their Mama and Papa- no one else. In some cases the kids grasp onto this quickly, and in others it takes more time, but once they have that down, they are good to go. You will know what your child can and can not handle very, very quickly- believe me, as this comes from a woman with absolutely NO parenting experience- heck, I barely even babysat as a teenager so this Mama thing is really coming to me as I go. I though for SURE I'd never be able to interpret anything regarding their needs, etc. and I'm continually amazed at how this "Mother's Intuition" thing REALLY kicks in! With my kids, I try to make sure they get enough sleep, limit the sugar and I certainly don't let them have access to the overwhelming abundance of "Stuff" they have collected in being home one short week. I let them play with some of the things, but then it will magically go into our spare room to be brought out another day :) The girls are very loving, they are generous with hugging and kissing, but when it's time for comfort, it's all Mama, Mama, Mama and even Papa sometimes. By no means am I saying that the bonding process in complete- nowhere near it, we are baby stepping this the entire way and I'm oversimplifying this just so you stay awake while reading!

But, the new Motherhood hysteria is material for another blog all in it's own.

oh, btw- poop patrol is almost complete, 4 down, 2 to go.......

"Poop" Happens

2007-01-27T03:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, I promise, this will be the last time I post regarding this completely gross topic.

Shelly and Jane, yes- I remember you posting about having to collect these little specimens, what you failed to mention was just how downright DISGUSTING it would be. Yes, I realize that the disgust factor was implied- but come on, you could have warned me a little about what a laborious process it would be. LOL

Yeah, yeah, yeah, to the rest of you, I know- Welcome to Motherhood.

Now, for those of you waiting to travel, you will probably go through this at least once when you get home- here's my advice, so you can't say you didn't get any from me. Feel free to e-mail me privately, and I'll be more than happy to give you a complete tutorial via the telephone- free of charge!!

1. Buy yourself a box of latex gloves.

2. Have a pen handy IN THE BATHROOM, and label everything before you get, um, started.

3. Heavy duty aluminum foil- the BIG roll- 'nuff said......

4. As with everything else in this entire journey, keep your sense of humor intact. Surround yourself with those who will laugh right along with you, and count on me as one of them!

Okay, we're closing the chapter on this- unless, of course the girls test positive because I DO remember from Shelly's blog what a pleasant treatment regimen that turned out to be.

Good thing I've got hard wood floors throughout the house.

Today, the girls will be meeting their Aunts, Uncles and Cousins- we're all VERY excited for this to happen. Hopefully today will not be the day the girls decide to melt down on me publicly- but if they do, it will make for a much more entertaining post tomorrow!

Yesterday, My Mom brought my Grandmother here for lunch so she could meet her two new Great-Granddaughters. That was absolutely the BEST. The girls were shy at first, but very loving to her quickly, and she really enjoyed them too. Matt took a really nice picture of Me, Mom, Grandma, Vica and Natasha- Sophia tried to get in too- that picture is priceless to me. How lucky I am that I've got a Grandmother alive to witness all of these milestones in my life. When she was leaving, she gave me a great big hug and said I was still her "baby". That was pretty funny since I've got about a foot on her :)

I could not, in a million years have guessed how much my life would be changed- it's still a big shock to me sometimes, or just how tired I could be at 7:30 at night. But I would never, ever, ever for any amount of money want my old life back, not even for a second.

It's almost 7 a.m. and I hear noise upstairs- do I pretend I don't hear them and let them wake Matt up- or be nice and give him an extra 15 minutes of sleep?

Hmmm, wonder if there's anything on sale at Old Navy for Vica to wear to school- maybe I should check it out while I'm online!!!!!!

WAIT A SECOND, NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!!!

2007-01-25T12:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, for all of you who brought kids home from Ukraine and failed to fill me in on this little bit of fun, SHAME on you- you, too, Shelly!

Warning, the content of the following is not at all "nice-nice" blog chat, so if you're easily offended or made queasy, please check in another day.

Took the kiddos to the pediatrician yesterday. They did GREAT! Vica is right on target for height and weight for her age, and Natasha is in the 50% for weight and 75% for height. They behaved themselves beautifully and generally worked the charm completely on the entire staff. Matt and I are also extremely pleased with our choice of Dr, and naturally, as it turns out he grew up in the Bronx. He also did work with orphans early in his career and was just the sweetest, nicest man- so we were quite happy. The girls didn't even make a peep when they did the TB test. We'll see how sweet they are when I bring them for bloodwork tomorrow. Yipeee.

Soooooooooo, we're sitting in the exam room and the very nice nurse is taking their vital statistics and then proceeds to hand me a cup with Vica's name written on it. Oooops, yeah, kinda forgot about that whole thing, but hey, I'm a MOM now- I can do anything! So, off we went to the bathroom. After only a minor "mishap" I successfully collected the required specimen. Natasha did even better- Mama does much patting herself on the back, but does inform Matt how lucky his is that he's got two girls at this point.

We finish up and the doctor hands me the orders for the blood work and stool samples for intestinal parasites.

WHAT?????? I've got to go and pick up THREE containers for these specimens????? OY..........

So, off Mama goes to Quest Diagnostics fully expecting to be handed three little "somethings" for each girl.

WRONG!!! Try two separate vials for THREE different, um, experiments for EACH girl. I'm going to spare you some of the more gory details about WHAT I've got to do, but this is out of control! I don't remember reading this in my contract- somebody get my Union Rep on the phone, will ya.

So, now you all know what I will be doing over the next day or so. All I've got to say is that it better be one heck of a Mother's Day present this May.

Other than that, the girls are doing very well. I'm waiting to see how long it takes Vica before she asks for something she sees on TV. They both recite the ABC's and are starting to count in English. Vica understands more and more of what I'm saying to her every day.

Oh, that reminds me- whoever gave us the Cinderella DVD- may you be blessed by good fortune the rest of your days and know that you may have saved more than one life in this house. The girls can watch it twenty thousand times (and just about have already) and it's provided a useful tool when the "Ni Hoht-choos" (I don't WANT to!) start up around dinner time. I've come to the conclusion that I am the quintessential slacker mom and am completely not above bribery or threats.

Guess I won't be getting the June Cleaver Achievement in Motherhood award this year, oh well.....

We're looking forward to introducing the girls to Matt's brothers and sisters and friends this weekend. We can't wait for the girls to meet all of their cousins!

Who ARE these kids and why are they calling me MOM????

2007-01-21T03:02:00.000-08:00

Well, we are FINALLY home. When we finally got through customs at JFK and I saw our family waiting for us, I just burst into tears.

Matt literally got down on his knees and kissed the ground. He said the floor at JFK was far cleaner than anything he walked on in Ukraine.

The kids did just great and FINALLY fell asleep on the car ride home, which only served to give them plenty of energy when we got to the house. Our dear friends had the place all decorated with a big welcome home sign and balloons. It was overwhelming for all of us and very emotional. Since my internal clock is still set to UA time, I found myself wide awake in the middle of the night. I thought this would be a good opportunity to go through the six tons of mail that came in and open our Christmas cards. I also wound up walking around the house just crying my eyes out. I've been so tense during this trip that I haven't allowed myself too much emotion because I've just been trying to endure each day and focus on getting my girls home. Well, it all hit me like a ton of bricks but I needed to just get it all out and have been trying to get some sleep. NOT any easy thing to do when you hear MAMA as soon as you are out of sight for more than 5 seconds :) When I woke up this morning, I just couldn't believe that our girls are home, sleeping in the beds I prepared for them so very long ago. The whole thing still seems like a dream.

Vica and Natasha are doing great and adjusting very well. We've got the usual meal and bed time battles, but it doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary for any 6 and 3 year old, let alone two kids who have been through everything they have in such a short time. We'll be getting them to the pediatrician next week and working on enrolling Vica in school. I think she's going to do just great. I also want to get Natasha enrolled in nursery school for two mornings a week because I think she misses having other kids to play with. Both girls had a lot of structure in the orphanage and I want to keep that going for them at home, plus there is the very important language issue. I'm running out of Russian phrases to use already!!! But the girls are learning more every day, I heard them singing their ABC's last night. Thank God for Leap Frog!!

We'll try to post periodically, I know how much these blogs helped me when we were waiting forever to travel, and how reading them is helping me now that our kids are home. You are so overwhelmed when you get home and if this is your first experience being a parent, well that just adds to your anxiety. So at least I knew some of the things to expect during this adjustment phase and it's helped me tremendously. Shelly Fisher, if you're reading this, your blog should be required reading for anyone even thinking about doing this! The girls will do something and before I can get myself worked up, I instantly remember reading about your first days home and realize it's all normal, and how it really will start to fall into place!!

Like I've said before, I'd do it all again in a minute.........

"Let My People Go Go" -Moses-

2007-01-18T06:28:00.000-08:00

Moses spent his time wandering the deserts looking for theland of milk and honey...Lisa and I have drifted through Ukraine and the outskirts of Russia for nearly 47 days. I hope to God that this is the last post I make before heading home tomorrow. I wanted a nice quiet farewell, but no......what do I get? I get a vagrant drifter, more than a few sheets to the wind, sleeping outside of our apartment yesterday afternoon. What to do?
Ask him what he wants, throw him down the stairs, call a cop or militzia? Go next door to the US Embassy and ask for the goverment pamphlet on how to handle this, or get an official Ukrainian document of permision to toss him, complete with the required triplicate raised seal blue @#$%& stamps!!!! None of the above....I wait him out. A test of wills I say!

I have battled beauracracy, "negotiations", cars parked on sidewalks, cars driven on sidewalks,nobody accpeting large bills because it would require thought to make change, men spitting on sidewalks, men blowing snot rockets into the street,being publicly scolded for whistling (in complete pitch and tune I might add), half naked women on tv variety shows all day and night (ok this was somewhat tolerable), biatholon skiing, soccer, Everybody Loves Raymond dubbed in Russian, customer service where I am always wrong, 4 hour bump fest rides to a city that makes Syracuse NY look like Oz, Alla our translator, the Scooby Doo hallways of Ukraine's Municipal offices--remember the hallway where doors open and close, people move from one door to another, in and out of offices?--
the lack of local hygiene, the land where bathing regularly is a bimonthly event,squat toilets (just a hole in the floor--you get the picture?). statues of Poppa Lenin in every town square in every city, spending 47 straight days with my wife and my mother-in-law, 24/7 (actually it was a nice bonding experience), the locals bundling up for the Arctic despite 55 degree weather only because the calendar says it is winter, strangers chastising me for not making my kid wear a hat on aforementioned 55 degree day,and, finally toilet paper with a sandpaper grit of 50.....and I'm going to let one misguided miscreant stand in my way? NYET!!!

I finally have enough, wake him up and tell him to "behome" which means hurry up and leave or I will call militzia, the police. His response? "What time is it"? (he pointed at my watch) I show him its 3 o'clock. He bolts upright, and begins to gather his things quickly like he actually has to @#$%& be somewhere and he's late! Where could this guy possibly have to be that he actually looks panicked because he might have missed something important? Does that sum things up for you? It does for me.

And, on the other hand, I have experienced a lifetime of memories from my travels abroad. I have met some people, Ivan our driver, the cookie lady in Yalta, the gold toothed produce lady in the markets, the Internet boys in Yalta, Vasilly, the golf club owner, all of which added color to what at times was a drab existence.

And...I got my girls....just the way it was always supposed to be. I am a man among women now....Lisa, the girls and Sophia..no where to run, no where to hide. I can't wait to get home and see where this all takes me next.

I thank you for following our trip abroad and allowing me to regale you with our stories and anectdotes. And I swear, there has been no embellishing of the facts here.

I bid "pakah" to all of you from Ukraine.

If you're going to spew, spew in this!

2007-01-16T05:05:00.000-08:00

Ah, I get to use a line from Wayne's World. As Lisa mentioned, Natasha had a little difficulty witht eh car ride from Yalta to Simperofol. For you home remodelers and pundits of the plumbing world...this kid spewed with a psi of momumental proportions.
Can you say Exorcist, kids on bus in Old School, Stand by Me? Our translator, who has felt the need to orchestrate every one of our movements (bowel included) had just moved out of the line of fire before natasha unleashed a torrent of cabbage, mixed mystery meat and soup. One split second longer and she would have had full facial coverage. Quick clean a few guffaws and all was back to normal. The kid was knocking back a salami sandwich within minutes. Lisa did bring everyone up to speed on the trip from Yalta to Kiev. I'm killing time atthe Internet until the visas are ready at 4 PM today. Good ole US Embassy...a bastion of efficiency. The "interviewer" even had roots in the Bronx. His family was a 2 generation owner of a wholesale flower business. All went well. Now, just to get out on Friday.

We're hoping to take the girls to either the circus or the zoo one day before we head out.
It would be nice to have some fun outside of the apartment. They travel very well. Lisa doesn't know this, but I was trying to get the girls to go around and knock on sleeper compartment doors in the middle of the night. They crashed at about 8 PM on the train, but were back up at midnite....we watched a little Ali G on dvd, knocked back a few bottles of water and flushed stuff down the train toilet for kicks.

Right now it'sa feeling out process. I made Natasha cry last night. She snuck off by herself into the bedroom and was trying to switch on a light by the bed that was made of these glass rods that hung loosely. She was pulling on the rods for balance while trying to flip the switch. I startled her with a booming "Natasha, nyet"! After i peeled her off the ceiling, she just started to mew like a little kitten. It's the cutest and saddest thing. But, hey...don't play with glass rods and electricity..they are not your friends, especially at 220v. I made a few fart noises and she recovered quickly enough to give me kisses good night. They are not used to the sound of a man's voice yet. And if I have my way, they won't until they're 35.

I will post one more time before we leave and try to sum up this trip while still in country. I think once we return home, the blog will only serve to update the other adoptive families in our group as a "share" for each other. But then again, it may not.
i have journalled and chronicled the trip with video and text, so we'll see what comes of that.

Matt

Back in Kyiv- almost HOME!!!!!!

2007-01-15T07:02:00.000-08:00

Hello Again!

Well, we're back in Kyiv- the capital city of Ukraine and of course, this is where we have got the WORST internet connection of all- so let me just say that to everyone who sent me e-mails privately, THANK YOU, but I can not respond because every time I try, it kicks me off the internet. I promise to try again after posting this entry.

I'll just take a few moments to cover what's happened up until now. Matt will follow with more colorful commentary for all of you blog junkies.

We left Yalta on January 8th for Kerch. The "plan" (always a dangerous thing to make here in Ukraine) was to get the girls' birth certificates filed on the 9th when everyone returned from the long holiday break- go get Vica from the orphanage and then get outta there.

WRONG!!! Apparently, the only thing you could do at the open of business was file death certificates- no matter what our translator tried, nothing could be done until the next day. It was so depressing to go and tell Vica she would have to wait one more day to leave the orphanage forever. We got some things done, then hit the ground running the next day. By one o'clock we were on the road with Vica. We drove the 3 1/2 hours from Kerch to Simferopol, Alla did some business to get the ball rolling for the passports, then we returned "home" to Yalta which was another hour plus long ride. Vica didn't complain ONCE!! She was in awe of everything going on around her and was just sweet as could be. The next day we returned to Simferopol to do more paperwork and collect more blue stamps while Vica spent some quality time with her "Babushka" Mom said she was into everything and VERY VERY funny. She said Vica is like a little old lady, just chattering away about everything, extremely inquisitive and just a joy to be around.

Dana if you're reading this, Mom said Vica reminds her exactly of you when you were that age ! :) :) :) :)

To make a looooooooooong story short, we got the passports, got Natasha out of the orphanage on Saturday and then hit the road to catch the train in Simferopol. Natasha was great until we got to the train station. She just kind of looked around with this really sweet smile on her face and completely without any warning whatsoever proceeded to vomit about a gallon of cabbage soup all over the place. My girl managed not to get any on her brand new clothes, or her Papa which is pretty good considering. After Matt and I stopped laughing, we got everything cleaned up and she was good to go. These girls spent 16 hours in a train and they were PERFECT. Matt actually stayed with them in one compartment and I got to hang out with my Mom- how great is that! The three kids had a blast together, and get this, Matt even took them to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I know this may just be the honeymoon phase of everything, but I can not tell you all how thankful I am that the train ride was nothing like the nightmare I pictured- it gave me hope that I won't have to medicate myself or anyone else on the plane ride coming home.

Today we took the girls for the medical exam and we have our appointment for visas at the Embassy tomorrow morning. Then it's just killin' time until we get on the plane Friday.

Oh, have I mentioned anywhere or at any time that I CAN NOT WAIT TO GET HOME!!!!!!!!

This adoption has been easy compared what some other parents have had to endure, and it has been a nightmare compared with some others- but regardless of anything that has come to pass, it was worth every single stinkin' second of it to bring these two girls home and I'd do it again in a second and put up with far far more to be called Mama by my Vica and Natasha.

Oh, also some of you have contacted me regarding meeting at the airport. If you would like to, we would love it if you were there. The girls are real troopers, they are pretty good around other people, although they take a while to warm up. I can't promise ANYTHING though!! But, please, please, please keep this in mind. We are landing at 3:30 on Friday the 19th, this will put us on the road from JFK right at rush hour. For those of you who want so badly to make the girls arrival as the United States newest litle citizens, nothing would make me happier, but I don't want anyone to go to too much trouble.

I probably will not post again before we leave for home. The girls keep me pretty busy already :) I can't wait to see you all at home and for you all to meet them!

Love to you all, Lisa

I'm in a really bad Abbott and Costello Meet the ?????movie

2007-01-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

Matt logging here....Just when I thought this place was in another time warp, we had to go to Kerch. You all know about Kerch right now. I do take back a few things though. Due to some down time waiting for the manual typewriters to type documents and then have them copied by a Tibetan scribe..by hand...Rememebr the original Xerox commercials with Brother Dominick making all the copies for the chief monk, and he secretly snuck off and used a copier? Well that would have been faster than this. Anyway, with time to kill and a monumental urge to use a squat lavatory, we discovered the main drag in Kerch. Quite a nice cobble stone-like walkway with shops and cafes and stuff.
Well.....after a 10 1/2 day work stoppage in the entire country, we arrive at the Birth Certificate Offices to get copies of the girls Certs. It's Tuesday morning at 9 AM, third in line, great sign, except I notice that the people in line are a bit too old for young children. Here my hunches are confirmed...they are only issuing death certificates that day, no birth certificates. And they are only open for half a day. 10 days off, no business, and they open for half a day and only give out paperwork for dead people. Actually, I think you're supposed to go there when you are alive, so that by the time you actually get the death certificate, you have already dies a slow painful one.
So.....we can't spring Vika for another day, which will delay the passport shenanigans, which could delay returning to Kiev, which could delay our medical exams, which could delay the Visas at the US Embassy (who by the way will be closed on 1/15/07 for the observance of MLK) The US Embassy observes all local and USA holidays regardless of how far away they are located form my sacred home. So, all these dead Ukrainians could keep me here longer.

But, alas....we get birth certificates the next day, scoop up Vika, and bolt. We hit Simperofol, the capital of The Crimea, and the Passport Office. Now, we have to worry if the head honcho will see our documents, allow us to "negotiate" and give us a timely return on the passports. She had already turned away 2 translators.."No Negotiating with me..you must wait the 10 full days!"
But..we negotiate, drive back to Yalta, and go back the next day (which is today) to pick them up.
A great victory!!!!! But....we get inside the hallowed tripled locked front door, which is protected by a 10 foot high brick facade and await our turn. The assistant svina brings out the paper work, and that's right...you guessed it....they spelled our last name wrong on the passports. Not to worry...it was their mistake. They actually pulled pout all of the documents that were submitted in hopes of finding an error on our part, which they could use against us and make us come back another day, which would.......you know the rest. But they succumbed to the fact it was their error. And you know what they did? They made 2 new passports right there in the back room in less than 10 minutes, So you tell me.....they can work when motivated and "negotiated with well".

So..passports in hand, train tickets to Kiev reserved, last night in Yalta, we spring Natasha tomorrow and head to Kiev. Will arrive Sunday morning. Monday..medicals for the girls, Tuesday to the Embassy for Visas and Friday fly home.

In the meantime, Babushka (grandma) Daria has been vika sitting while we do business. I'm in huge trouble...this kid gets up the first morning with us, goes to the bathroom, washes her hands and then makes her bed. I don't even make my bed. She knows please, thank you, you're welcome, cookie monster, and the refrain from Johnny Lee Hooker's blues tune "Boom boom boom". We ran out of things to do on the 7 hour car ride from Kerch, so we resorted to my Ipod and playing with a flashlight. She dug Joe Cocker and the LED blue light. Should I be worried?
Natasha likes to draw suns with black crayons....I should be worried, yes?
Vika called grandma Phyllis last night to say hello. She told grandma in English.." I love you babuskha Feelis (thats how she says Phyllis). Cute stuff. She had her first pizza last nite at Mama Mia's Pizzeria in Yalta.

AND....today Vika and Natasha were reunited after 2 years. Natasha hadn't seen us since last Sunday, so she was quiet and shy. Vika kinda just clung to mama along with natasha, then things warmed up. Natasha fed all of us her banana and then the two of them kinda gravitated toward each other. By the end of our short visit, Vika and Natasha were walking hand in hand from the orphanage playground. Cool stuff if you ask me. Wait until we throw them together for 10 hour train ride and a 10 hour plane ride. Yes.....I am in trouble here folks. I realized yesterday all of you dads...we're only good for one thing on a trip....listening to everyone else, buying dinner and carrying the luggage. If there are any other rules I should get acquainted with, please feel free to pass them along.

Lisa apologizes for not getting back on emails...it's been crazy here since Tuesday and we just kinda got settled today. She will catch up with everyone in Kiev. And so will I. Keep the good vibes coming so we can get on the next leg of our journey safely and quickly. Hard to believe its all winding down soon.

Love to all.

Matt and Lisa

Stinky the Magician......

2007-01-07T03:58:00.000-08:00

Well, if the surreal doesn't get any worse, here's today's trip into the twilight zone that Yalta has become. Lisa and I perform the daily ritual of seeing Natasha in the morning. Promptly at 10:30 we head upstairs to collect the pie-eyed psycho. Quick digression here...Lisa and I always talked about which kind of kid we thought we should look for at the orphanage (not that we actually had a choice). But we always joked that we should wind up with the most pie=eyed nut they had to offer. Note how I say joked about it. Well, the joke is on us. Natasha is a piece of work. She makes the most insane faces, gets pissed off when we don't understand what she is saying and makes no bones about it. Actually, we do know what she is saying but we play dumb until she gets so exasperated that she puts her face right in ours and chastises us in Russian. Most of the time I just nod my head and speak calmly to her like we both know what each other is saying. Surprisingly, she gets it. I'm learning more Russian phrases from her than she is learning English. We're getting her to connect the idea of please, thank you and you're welcome.

Back to today's visit....we show up and they have a magic show taking place. Little tots 2 and under on one side of the room and older kids on opposite side. Chuck Barris would have not only gonged this guy, he, the unknown comic and jamie farr would have beaten him into a pulp. He was performing "tricks" that no adult would want to see, nevermind 22 raging toddlers. The little guys were so bored they were actually pounding each other and throwing each other onto the floor...It was outrageous. Natasha saw us and was trying to bolt from her seat, the magician was performing card tricks and the steel rings thing, he went as far as to have one of the orphanage women pull an item from his magic bag that for all intents and purposes, was empty.
What does she pull out? rubber chicken...NO a rabbit...NO a dove....NO......she pulls out a dirty, dingy bra. This is what Presto the magician had in his magic bag. By the time he got to his juggling act, they told him to cut the show...the kids were raging. Except for the "hedgehog".

The hedgehog is one of the newest arrivals..been there only 2 1/2 weeks. He's not even 2 yet.
He arrived right before the big Christmas show and they dressed him as a hedgehog for the show...hence, he is now known as the hedgehog. I will be starting a cult trend when I get home with T-shirts that will read "Free the Hedgehog." Hedgehog was just chilling in his chair watching the mayhem.

Today was actually a big day...the next visit to Natasha's orphanage will be next week, when we take her out for good. Today was our last "visit". Hopefully by next Wednesday, barring any paperwork delays, we will take her with us for good. We're heading to Kerch tomorrow, Monday,
to see Vika, and by Tuesday afternoon she will be ours for good. It's going to be sad for the girls;they'll be leaving everything they have know for the past 2 years...friends, caretakers, familiar surroundings, and find a whole new life. For the better, yes, but still so strange for them.
The biggest day will be when Vika and Natasha are reunited as sisters. I'll be able to capture it on video with my camera...should make for quite a memory one day.

This will be the last post for a few days. No Internet access in Kerch. Besides, the next few days are "business" days. When this round of dust settles, we'll be back in Yalta to update. Hopefully by Wednesday afternoon or evening. Pray for us and this round of paperwork!!!

Talk to everyone soon!!!!

Go Giants...Go Jets.....poor Romo and Dallas. Scott Norwood gets a break now?

No Brainer on the Yankee jerseys....

2007-01-05T05:31:00.000-08:00

Matt here weighing in here on the Yankee thing......Lisa is angling for A-Rod jerseys. No way until he helps win a world series. For now the girls will wear Jeter jerseys. Vote all you want.

Clothing sizes for Victoria and Natasha

2007-01-05T04:51:00.000-08:00

First, let me say a huge thank you for the dozens of e-mails we've gotten asking what the girls sizes are etc. Just to let you know, currently the girls are wearing a 3T for Natasha and a 6 or 6x for Vica. I'm sure they will have a rapid growth spurt once they get home, so any range of sizes is more than welcome. The second thing I'd like to stress is that when I'm talking about what we can use, I'm talking more about all you Moms out there who have clothing from your own kids you're looking to recycle. Please, I know so many of you are just itching to go out and ignite the local economy, but you all know how quick kids grow!!! Vica and Natasha will be thrilled beyond belief to have nice clothes, I wish you could see some of the get ups they've had the girls in here. While they are always clean, they tend to run either too big, or in Vica's case, too small- crazy patterns and just generally crummy stuff. They have no idea what's waiting for them at home.

Which brings me to a funny story, that I may or may not have mentioned- if I did, hey cut me some slack, my brain doesn't seem to work in this place too well... Anyway, the last time we were in Kerch they asked me to pick up a frilly white dress for Vica to wear in the Winter pageant they have every year- so off Mama went to the open market. I wish you could have seen this thing. It had more ruffles, bows, lace, doo-dads, etc on it than you could believe. It was also sewn from the thinnest, cheapest fabric I've ever seen. This stuff was two steps up from tissue paper. As if it weren't tricked out enough, the ladies at the orphanage proceeded to sew tree TINSEL all over this thing. For my family reading this, it looked like I bought it on Market Street- for Matt's family, think more Fordham Road on this one. In short, it's a looooooooong way off from Lord and Taylor but Vica thought she was "it" in this thing, I wish you could have seen the HUGE smile on her face and the way she twirled around and around in it. Again, she's got no idea what she's in for once her Grandmas are let loose!

You might remember a recent post where Matt and I had to flee the orphange before Viktor Yanukovitch showed up- I mentioned that he had donated a TV and home theater system for the kids. Last night while we were watching the local news, I noticed the director on TV and all of the sudden there was Natasha! They were showing what was donated and the kids just running around like little nuts all over the place- no sign of the PM though. Gee, I should have hung around to get his autograph after all.

Oh, there is also some debate amongst the male friends out there about the girls getting Yankee jerseys and who's numbers they should be.

I kinda like 13, but Matt won't have it- please feel free to vote!!! LOL

Marking time in the Crimea

2007-01-03T05:45:00.000-08:00

Not too much interesting going on here- but since I've got so much time to kill, just thought I'd give those that check the blog twelve times a day "something" to read.

Went to visit Natasha again today and she's really parroting the English phrases- BUT the accent is just too funny and cute. Hard to keep her entertained outside because all of the playground equipment was wet, but we managed. Her new thing is to share whatever we bring her to eat with us. She loves feeding Matt spoon fulls of her yogurt or pieces of banana because he really carries on in a silly way about how good it is. It's so cute to watch- she's got quite a personality. When you first meet her, she'll probably sit there with her eyes on the floor not making a peep- do not let this fool you :)

Did some more shopping in the open market for clothes for the girls. I'm trying to find a stroller because there is no way Natasha will be able to walk through the airport on her own for very long. Luckily, I've got a few days to work this out. Can't tell you how much I'm missin' Walmart about now.

I got an e-mail from a friend who had her appointment at the SDA a day before us, she got home on Saturday and I just about cried. We really got hung up but we did have to do paperwork in two regions so that got everything slowed down by a few days and put us right in the worst possible spot time wise. That being said, it could be worse (it ALWAYS can) we could be stuck here in a horrible blizzard having problems with our paperwork as plenty of people who traveled before us did. I know people who spent three months (or more) completing their adoptions so there are worse things than walking down by the Black Sea every day on our way to the orphanage and deciding where and what we're going to eat for dinner.

Dad made it back to the US safe and sound. His plane was late taking off from Kyiv so he didn't get through customs at JFK until it was close to midnight Ukraine time and he left our apartment at 4:30 a.m. He still had to go to our house and pick up his car and then drive another 30 minutes home. I'm sure he was exhausted, but GLAD to be home sleeping in his own bed.

Sorry for the complete lack of anything interesting to say, but it will probably be that way until next week and then I won't be able to post while we are in Kerch-

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T05:29:00.000-08:00

Matt and I wish you all a very Happy 2007.

I'm excited because I'm finally in the month we'll be coming home. Just 18 more days.

Thanks to everyone for all of the great comments and e-mails. Your support is really keeping us going. We just can't wait to get the girls OUT of the orphanages and HOME!!!!

We all went out to dinner last night, which was not an easy thing to do. As I mentioned, the New Year's festivities are HUGE here. It's kind of like 4th of July, Christmas, New Year and Halloween all wrapped into one. What happens is that almost all of the restaurants close at 6 pm, reopen at midnight and stay open until 6 am. We were lucky enough to find one still open after 6 and had a really delicious dinner. I fell asleep well before midnight, but then as soon as the clock struck twelve there were fireworks going off everywhere. They seemed like they were right in our backyard. It was actually very nice to watch from the apartment window. After that, I fell back to sleep and woke up just a little before 7 am our time- just in time to see the ball come down in Times Square on the BBC. I almost started to cry !!

Today, we visited with Natasha who was really into repeating words and phrases in English for us. She runs hot and cold with that. We were trying to teach her the concept of saying Please and Thank You. When Matt would feed her a piece of tangerine, she'd repeat after him, Thank You, Papa- but every so often she'd go beyond that and say, Thank You Papa, Mama and then she'd look at my Dad and call him Babushka (Grandma) which would set HIM off tickling her. She completely knew what she was up to.

Sounds like Papa isn't the only man wrapped around our Natasha's little finger.

Also, to the entire Sicilian Family- thank you so much for that wonderful e-mail that you sent during the party. We were so sad to be missing it- and missing all of you, we were both crying when Matt opened it up- xxxooo

So, that's about it. I'll post over the next few days, but it's really going to be pretty dull stuff until the 8th- that's when we'll be heading out of Yalta again. We'll be in Kerch a day or two to get Victoria and then will be returning to Yalta to spring Natasha. Please keep your fingers crossed that all continues to go well and that we don't run into too many problems getting the passports...

Love to you all,
Lisa and Matt

Golfing at the Yalta Country Club and the Prime Minister

2006-12-31T03:08:00.000-08:00

Well, it could only happen to Matt. Here we are in Ukraine, and he finds a way to play golf.

I'm serious. While we were in the open market last week, a man approached Matt and my Dad because he heard them speaking English. Turns out he lived in Miami for ten years and came back here to open this club. So, yesterday we all went up to "the club" for lunch and so Matt could hit a bucket of balls. It was absolutely hysterical. Dad was betting it was a tee set up on the edge of one of the cliffs and that was the driving range. It wasn't even that much. We knew there was NO WAY it would be a real golf course, and sure enough, it was less than a pitch and putt- but we had many, many, many very much needed laughs and got some funny pictures as well as souvenirs for the guys back home. The "club house" was actually very, very nice with a huge fireplace and um, modern conveniences if you know what I mean- which goes a long way here in making us happy. We're hoping to return before we leave Yalta to have dinner there.

Today, we went for our usual visit with Natasha. While we were playing with her on the playground, I noticed a few uniformed police officers walking around. There have been lots of people coming and going as this is the time of year that everyone likes to make donations to local orphanages, so I didn't think too much about it. After a few minutes we noticed police cars and vans driving up to the orphanage and even more uniformed police walking around. Now, normally a large police presence would make me feel safer- for some reason, it just doesn't do that for me here- when I noticed the guys in suits walking around with headsets on and they took the bomb sniffing dog through the playground, I really started to get, um, curious.

So, I walk up to one of the KGB, I mean, security guys and put on my biggest smile. Big surprise, he didn't speak any English. I told Matt that whoever was coming here and attracting that much security really didn't make me want to be out in the open with the baby. So, we packed her up and now started walking toward all of them. This didn't make them too happy, but I told Matt to wait downstairs and I took Natasha upstairs and got her changed. Once Matt cleared the cavity, I mean, security check to get through, he came upstairs and asked one of the very nice ladies what was going on. She pulled him aside and whispered "Yanukovitch" If you say this to yourself in your best Boris and Natasha/Bullwinkle cartoon accent, it's REALLY very funny. I heard that and could not get my American butt-sky outta there fast enough. Apparently, the Prime Minister sent a very generous gift of a flat screen LCD TV and some other electronic goodies for the orphanage and I guess someone smelled a photo op. Just hope they don't use my Natasha to sit on his lap- I was for the other guy, Yushenko :)

So, as you can see, each day brings something new to enjoy. At least our sense of humor is intact. New Year's Eve is a huge celebration here, and there are all kinds of "interesting" people walking around the city, taking pictures of shop window displays, standing in front of McDonald's funny, no one seemed to be posing for any in front of the huge monument to Lenin, ah, maybe they're all waiting until tonight when they're REALLY dressed up.

Yes, that's sarcasm you're reading..........

Anyway, thanks to everyone who e-mailed me to tell me our girls our gorgeous, I happen to think so too. We can't wait to get home, and Matt and I wish all of you a VERY happy, and healthy New Year!!

xxoo
Lisa and Matt

Back in Yalta again

2006-12-29T05:40:00.000-08:00

Again, sorry for the delay in posting. We just can not seem to get any access or time to post on the internet while we are Kerch.

We spent a few days with Vica- she is just the sweetest little girl. Even though she is almost 7 she just wants to sit on my lap and be cuddled like a baby. Natasha is the same way, but at 3, that's more expected. I am not complaining one bit. We've all got A LOT of making up for lost time and I've got more than enough love and snuggling for my babies to go around!

I'd just like to clarify something here in the blog because there seems to be some confusion about which girl is who.

Victoria Daria is our 6 year old. For those of you who got the pictures, she's the one who looks EXACTLY like Matt with dark hair and beautiful hazel eyes. She is very bright and compassionate. Whenever we are visiting her, the other kids find lots of "excuses" to get into the room where we are. There is one little girl there who she is very good friends with and she made a point of calling her over to share the chips I brought her. She also wanted her little friend to sit with us and was very happy when we took a picture of both of them together. Vica doesn't want me getting "too" close to the other kids, but she seems aware of the fact that these other kids have less than she does and wants to share the wealth. Needless to say, I'm one very proud Mama. She is also very gentle and affectionate with the orphanage's pet dog. He's sixteen years old and sooooooooooo slow- my heart breaks for him. She's always petting him gently and speaking to him in a loving, soothing tone. What a shock she's in for when she meets Queen Sophia !!!!!

Natalia (Natasha) Anastacia is our blonde haired, blued eyed 3 year old cutie pie. SHE is a piece of work and will be the certain death of me. VERY opinionated and likes to wag her finger at you while going NO NO NO!!!! She doesn't do that to me, but my Dad and Matt get more than the fair share of scolding from her. It's cute, for now...... Her orphanage also has a very old dog that lives there, so she's at least used to being around animals. I'm sure her take on Sophia will be quite amusing when we get home! She absolutely LOVES to color and draw, play with Play-dough and blow bubbles- typical 3 year old fun stuff.

While we've been killing time, I've had fun shopping for the girls in the open market. Still need to get them a few more things, but have done pretty well. The prices here are great and well, shopping soothes me (wink, wink)

I've got absolutely no idea how to post pictures here, so if you'd like me to send you one of the girls, e-mail me privately and I'll send them out.

We're doing alright, just homesick. You know things are boring when you get excited to catch the BBC news on TV every day. I know exactly what time it's on every day. For real mental stimulation there are always the 10 year old re-runs of America's Funniest Home Videos- please...... I almost cried tears of joy when I realized today that I had packed two more books than I originally thought I had. What I wouldn't do for a People magazine- even one without George Clooney on the cover :)

So, you're probably wondering when we're coming home- good question! Unfortunately everything is shutting down for the Chrismas holidays here next week which is when our mandatory 10 day waiting period is over. So, we lose the entire week just killing time. Our translator has gone back to Kyiv until Jan 8th. From there, we will go to Kerch to do the new birth certificate and spring Vica from the orphanage. Then we will hit the road and if we get there with enough time, start the passport process in Simferopol. The next day we will get Natasha and both girls will be reunited for the first time in almost two years. I can't even begin to explain the emotions I'm feeling about that. We'll be sure to get it on video. When we last visited Vica she asked about her sister in Yalta- I think she wanted to make sure we were taking her home too. It will take a couple of days to get the passports, then we head back to Kyiv for the girls medical exams and to get their visas to travel home. We've already made good use of the down time by re-booking our flights (NOT an easy thing to do here) and getting tickets for the girls, so at least that's off our minds.

New Year's Eve is a huge celebration here in Yalta. We'll all be going out to a really nice restaurant for dinner. We are just blocks from the Black Sea and the waterfront area is really beautiful- full of nice shops and places to eat, a complete departure from Kerch. Then Dad will be heading back to the US on Jan 2nd. Hopefully on Jan 3rd he'll be mailing us a care package from home!! Mom will stay here to give us a hand with the girls, and that's about everything.

PLEASE keep the comments and e-mails coming, they are our life line here!

Please e-mail me at lisasicilian@yahoo.com if you want me to send you a picture of the girls.

Love,
Lisa

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

So sorry it's been so long since we've posted. The internet cafe where we go has been down and then we couldn't access the blog site- WHAT a drag!!

We didn't have court on Friday- the paperwork didn't get done in time back in Kyiv. However, we will have court tomorrow, Christmas Day at 2 pm our time- please keep your fingers crossed and the prayers coming. After that, we have a mandatory 10 day wait, but basically, we'll be marking off time until we come home.

We're leaving for Kerch at 7 am tomorrow, picking up our translator in Simferopol and then headin' out to Kerch. We met a Ukrainian basketball player here at the internet cafe tonight- he was extremely helpful and spoke perfect English as he studied in Buffalo, NY for two years. We keep getting luck :)

So, let me fill you in on what has turned out to be possibly the MOST bizarre Christmas Eve of my life- I certainly hope it never gets more weird than today.

The day started out with a great visit with Natasha. She's such a love bug, always wants to cuddle and kiss me. We've got to bribe her to hug and kiss Daddy right now- but she knows what she's doing- she playing Daddy- I keep telling Matt to get used to it. We met my parents down at the open market afterward. While we were buying some cookies and candy to take to Vika tomorrow, some guy tried to stick his hand in my Mom's coat pocket.

Wrong move, buddy- she about kicked his you know what. The last thing this poor guy suspected when he was going to try to rob this gray haired American was for her to whip around and unleash a torrent of curses upon him in flawless Ukrainian. By that time, that sent Matt and Dad running and the guy took off. He's probably still shaking. Mom said the worst thing she could have said to him was that she knew his Mother and would tell her. Anyone that's Ukrainian will get that joke!

After the rumble in the market, we were standing around waiting to purchase something else and another guy walks up to Matt and my Dad and starts speaking English- turns out he owns (probably the only) golf range here in Yalta! Matt just about followed the guy home. When we get back here in a few days were going to go visit him. He's got a pretty nice place it seems and Matt is itching to hit a bucket of balls- this could only happen to Matt.

Tonight, we had Christmas Eve dinner at a very nice "Italian" place here. The restaurant was beautiful, but the atmosphere was downright bizarre. There was a large party going on (Ukraine doesn't celebrate Christmas until Jan. 7th) and they had some rather "colorful" entertainment provided for them- I'll refrain from going into too much detail here for the sake of our readers who may be Matt's students- but let's just picture La Cage Aux Folles, okay??? 'nuff said!!!

So, now we're going to head home because we're on the road super early tomorrow and we still want to call some people back home before we turn in.

Merry Christmas- we miss you all!!!

xxoo
Lisa and Matt

Still in Yalta....

2006-12-21T01:03:00.000-08:00

Thursday, 12/21 11:00 AM Yalta time.....Hanging in as best we can. Still waiting to find out from our translator in Kiev if our court date is tomorrow or Monday..Christmas Day. Either way, the waiting is beginning to wear thin. More than a bit homesick, but we've come this far and have our eyes on the prizes. Yalta is beginning to gear up for Christmas and New Year, so there is a bit of a new bustking in this seaside resort town. It ain't cape May!!!. We are finally out of the hotel and in a nice apartment. Makes it easier to move around and we're actually having homecooked meals. Lisa's dad makes breakfast and her mom is cooking..even without the modern conveniences she is used to. We actually had pasta, meatballs and sauce last night.
Lunch is usually on the fly...but you can't beat the 100 diferent ways they make soup and borscht here. We are going to Natalia's orphanage today to join in their little holiday party and show. That should be fun for an hour or so. We try to plan one or 2 things a day while we're waiting around, just to have something to do. It gets tough at night, though. Our side of down closes up pretty early, so even going out for a walk after dinner has its limits. At least in Kiev, we were in a city.

Pop and I were the entertainment for the morning at the local salon...we got haircuts. I'm sure we were laughed at....you can tell by the tone..kinda like the episodes of seinfeld when elaine has a few issues with the nail salon. Who cares? they were all smiles with the tip though...al 2 dollars.
A haircut, shampoo and tip...$6 US dollars..and not a bad haircut! That killed an hour. So..here again at Internet. They were down yesterday, so no access. Still tought o put up pics yet...not secure Internet facility and don't want to put pics up intil court decree is settled.

I'm glad to hear that everyone is well in Rockaway, Heights, NY, NJ, Westchester...etc....
We miss everyone fiercly. I wish we had something to report in the process here. But at least while in Yalta, we are getting good one on one quality time with natasha. She is full of spirit...she will be "trouble". She shakes her crooked finger at us and admonishes us in her Russian. We are picking up what she says and making the connection with body language. One good thing about the orphanges...they teach the kids routine, clean up after yourself, and share. And the kids play on playground equipment made of iron and steel with a concrete playground. They are resilient.
And they take them out at dusk to play.....tough litttle kids. hard to visit the orphange without backing up the van and loading all the little buggers in and stealing them away. There is one little guy we have nicknamed "the wacker"; he has a tendency to hit below the belt when we go upstairs to get natasha ready for her visit with us. Imagine the other names that I can't post here on the blog for the little guy. He packs a wallop...just ask pop.

Natasha is very forthcoming with the hugs and kisses now, especially at the end of the 2 hour visit. She loves her momma and taunts her poppa. At least she taunts me in Russian. I'm dead meat when she learns english...she has a few words down.."go go go" good girl..and the latest..a chopped up "pizza pie". we were playing with playdough and I made a pizza and taught ehr the words. Anyway....time to hit the roadsky here and hit the market for lunch items.

To all my friends and students at Heights...I know you have one more day to go before the break...please wish you and your families a great holiday and new year. I hope to be back in the states by early January...but will keep you posted on that as the process plays out.

Love to all!!!!!

Another gray day in Yalta

2006-12-19T02:50:00.000-08:00

The weather here has been pretty warm, just a constant, dull gray. It doesn't help that it gets dark around 4, so then you're just killing time until it's time to go to bed.

I don't remember who asked me this question because it's hard to keep all of the blog comments and direct e-mails straight, so I'll just answer here.

Kerch, where our six year old, Vika now lives is about a four hour car ride on a two lane road from here. It is about two miles from the Russian border- makes my nationalistic Ukrainian Mama, verrrrrrrrrrrry nerrrrrvous- and more than a little fiesty to boot- but we've taken to speaking pig latin and now everyone here just things we're REALLY crazy Americans as opposed to the garden variety crazy Americansky..... So, while our translator is in Kyiv, we are spending time in Yalta- which in case you don't own a map of this part of the world is the southern most part of the Crimean area of Ukraine. We visit Natasha every day and with each visit she gets more and more affectionate. To answer your question Jane, Natasha does not remember Vika, but Vika certainly remembers Natasha- she even knew that her little sister lived in Yalta. It should make for a very interesting reunion.

Today we walked to the orphanage with Dad. Natasha just LOVES her Daydushka and will run into his arms without any prompting. She's still playing hard to get with Daddy, but looks for him when he's out of her sight. If she can't find him right away, she goes around screaming at the top of her little lungs PAAAAAAPPPPPAAAAAA!!!! Do I have to tell you how much Matt loves this. She's also getting the concept of kisses. She loves to be loved up! Today not only did we both get spontaneous hugs, but I got many, many smooches from my baby. And I know I don't have to tell you how happy that makes ME!!!!

We are making the best of the circumstances here. We know that the weather could be absolutely horrible and we're catching a break as far as that goes, but we miss home something terrible. The bright spot of our day is seeing our girls, but like I've said before. When I'm loving up one, I'm missing the other. I worry if Vika is okay while I'm here and I'm always in a state of being torn between these two places. Just want to get through this week and court and then start the countdown. Can't wait to have them both together, give them a LONG HOT bath and dress them in brand new clothes. They are both very girly girls and love having their hair done up with barettes and hair bands.

Absolute Mama Nirvana!

Okay, and now a word from Matt-

Hey everyone//whats up? Sorry we sent a blog update on a Sunday..we know you guys at schol enjoy reading it aloud Period 2, Period 4 in the junglwe room and teacher's room. I wish we had more gossip and tawdry stories for you, bu we don't.It's great to hear that you guys are following our travels. Thank god I brought Everybody Loves Raymond with us on dvd....It makes those late insomniac nights easier. I know this is a short week for you guys, and I hope you guys continue to follow us over the christmas break..If someone could please post the blog site again in each teacher's room, that would be great. We miss everyone!!!!!

Now....for all my students following the blog, and even if you aren't I'm sure someone will get the message to you.....

Period 1....You boys being good? Battaglia, Condal, Kapo< Denicholo
Melanie and Laura...you keeping them in line? Have fun and stay on top of your work.

Period 3...Harris and Hodulik...Hodulik-a detention? Leventhal and Naef, you paying attention? Kacperowski..you keeping things in line there for me?

Period 4...Gillian..thanks for the emails. Sounds like you guys are doing great.

Period 5....Austin, Gambino, Alosco..you guys behaving back there. Sibley..thanks for the email..Man Have I got some Russian redneck stories for you!

Finally..Period 6...At 12:20 every day..Ukraine time..I shake in me shoes.
I'll be back before you know it. Toomany of you to address individually, please give me a great Christmas present...and study for your quizzes

I miss all of you guys!!!! Take care and we'll catch up soon enough.

Yalta..Yalta..Yalta

2006-12-17T02:48:00.000-08:00

It's the weekend. We found a great apartment here in Yalta. Near 60 degrees. The weather has been the warmest in histroy compared to last years coldest winter ever. The Gods are watching. Could get away with no socks Dolan, easily. Thanks for all of your emails and blog posts, they bring as many tears to our eyes as our blog does to you. The girls are great. Vika and I are on the same page and Natasha..aka the Natashinator/Nyetasha...and I are battling. She digs Momma, and is playing poppa like a violin. Flirts, looks at me coyly and is winning so far.
We are so far apart from each girl at times, over a 4 hour ride each way, so we have to strategize our trips between Kerch and yalta. Kerch is a mere 2 miles from the Russian border. Cassiere..working on the cigars. We have some down time for a few days until our translator gets back from Kiev..more paperwork. Until then, we have a little routine worked out.
To all my students...Mr. Braiitsch and I touch base every few days. I know what you're up to...seriously. Detentions, phone calls? Period 6..I will turn these two little girsl on you and you will not be able to handle it. Shape up guys...I'll be back!. To everyone else..period 3 jungle room, teachers room, all my friends---I love you all and feel your good thoughts with me daily.
Go Yankees, Go Giants...Ask Nick if the jackets came in yet. Donna..will you please learn how to work the computer and send me an email?..Just kidding. It was great to hear your voice last week when talking to Lisa. I miss your sage advice. How you going to give me advice on girls?
Tell Kyle that if he can wait 18-20 years, I have a blue eyed blondie for him!!!!

Okay, enough from Matt- Lisa here. We are finally in one spot long enough where we can actually have some down time. I can't describe the rollercoaster we've been on. In some ways it feels as if we've been here months. Next week should be court- so keep the prayers coming. Then it's a ten day wait, more paperwork and we are on our way home, but I will update more on that whole process as it gets closer. Once we have court, we're just marking time until we leave. I'm happy to be here with my family, but I miss home so much.

Especially my nice, comfortable bed- and my dog!!!

Warren- you know what I mean......

We went to see Natasha this morning, and as usual she was happy to see us. She dresses herself and uses the toilet all by herself- hanging on for dear life- it's absolutely hysterical- she's not even using the potty, but the full sized toilet. Of course I took pictures to blackmail her with later in life. We try running around with her for an hour or so, then spend a half our more just coloring or drawing. This little girl LOVES to color- we got her all inked up with markers yesterday. I'm sure the caregivers were loving us when we brought her back. She doesn't really cry when we bring her back, but we'll see how that goes as we spend more time with her. The plan right now is to be here in Yalta with her until later next week. Then we'll pick up our translator in Simferopol and head to Kerch where court will be. We'll spend a few days there with Vika, then not sure what the plan will be going forward. Hard to plan too far in advance with this whole process, so we're just trying to take it one day at a time. Catching up on our rest, and trying to get some exercise to take advantage of this great weather. So far, we've been very lucky. No one has gotten sick.

Spent two days with Vika last week. She is such a cuddle bug- always wants hugs and kisses and to sit in my lap- I am looooooooooooooooooooving it! She loves her Papa too and will spend all the time in the world with him if I don't barge in on them. Matt gave her what seems like her first piggy-back ride and she was giggling like crazy. She loves to dance, so Matt had her stand on his feet and he waltzed her around the room- they both thought it was the best :)

Promise to post pictures just as soon as we can- for now, thank you as always for the comments and e-mails. We sat here fighting tears as we read them. We always feel the best just after we visit the girls and when we get a chance to check in with all of you.......

Talk to you soon!

Love,
Lisa and Matt

E-mail message

2006-12-13T07:32:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to everyone,

AOL is tough to get into here for some reason, but Yahoo seems to work just fine.

Sooooo if you're going to send a private e-mail, please send it to our yahoo accounts.

mpsteach8@yahoo.com-

lisasicilian@yahoo.com

Thanks, and can't wait to here from you

Greeting from the Sicilian's Grand Tour of the Crimea!

2006-12-13T07:17:00.000-08:00

Well, we met the girls and they are GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!

Victoria, (Vica) is absolutely beautiful. Dark hair, fair skin and hazel eyes- she's the spitting image of matt.

Natalia has blonde hair and the most piercing blue eyes I've ever seen- she's already got Matt wrapped around her little finger.

The girls are very well adjusted, seem very bright and healthy.

There are simply no words to say how blessed we feel right now.

We have spent the last two days driving back and forth from Yalta to Kerch. It's sorta like driving from NJ to Binghampton, NY every day- on a VERY bumpy road. Luckily, we've had an excellent driver- Ivan, who is now part of the family. My mom can not stop feeding him.

We've stayed in two very nice hotels, plenty of hot water and the food is still good :)

Tomorrow there will be more running around, we will visit Natalia in the morning and the head out to Kerch again- hoping to arrive in the late afternoon to pick up yet more documents. Then we will visit with Vica in the evening.

The running around is hard, it's nerve wracking- but I can not stress this enough to those about to travel. EVERYONE in Ukraine has been nothing but absolutely nice to us. Trust your translator, do what they say. You've got to suspend your need for control here, but in the end, things seem to just work themselves out. But more on that later.

The really tough thing is that when we are in Kerch, we are missing Natalia, when we are here in Yalta, we can't wait to see Vica. Very hard on Mama and Papa- but we're just going full steam ahead.

There isn't anything to compare witht the sight of seeing that little one's face light up at the sight of you, and having them come running into your arms.......

We promise to try to post pictures, but as you can imagine, this is easier said than done.

Yes, they let Dad video everything- precious memories.

We even had an impromptu dance recital by Vica and three of her classmates that was an absolute riot!! Can't wait to show her that in ten years :) :)

That's it for now- keep those comments coming. While we're loving what we're doing, we are so very homesick. Hearing from you all just makes it easier!

Will try to post in Kerch- but we're more out of our element there than here!

Matt wants Chris Braich to please contact him when he gets a chance- mpsteach3@aol.com, or mpsteach8@yahoo.com. He's not worried, just wants to know how things are going.

Warren, you better be taking good care of my dog- want to babysit for ALL the girls when we get home??????

Love to you all,

Lisa and Matt

Next stop....Yalta...

2006-12-10T02:30:00.000-08:00

Sunday mornign here in Kiev. We're getting ready to leave in a few hours for the next and perhaps longest leg of our journey. Had one last great dinner last nite. Not quite as festive as Saturday night, hence the lack of enthusiastic phone calls. We're as rested as can be. The train ride will take 10 hours, overnite. At least we have a 1st class sleeping car. Can't wait to see the Ukraininan version of first class. We'll get into Simferopol early Monday morning, a round of paperwork and then to meet Natalia, the younger sister. We hope they will let Lisa's father video our meeting. There will be so much to do in the next 3 weeks. We will try to keep all posted on whats happening as it unfolds. Yalta is a nicer, more upscale area then Kerch, where Victoria's orphange is, so we hpe Internet access might be easy as well. Keep the comments coming...your words, thoughts and good vibes are keeping us going at this end. That and the 3rd season of Everybody Loves Raymond......good bye for now. We all send our love back to the states.

Love

Matt and Lisa

Waiting to travel

2006-12-08T23:53:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the sporadic posting, but internet access is primitive at best here. Not sure what it will be like when we hit Yalta.

We are very, very excited about meeting the girls Monday- but we want to caution everyone, we are many, many steps away from completing this adoption. For those of you have done this, you know exactly what I mean- for those who haven't- I'll elaborate more in person :)

Anyway, we spent yesterday getting a power of attorney completed and picking up our referral from the SDA. These two things took all day to accomplish- 'nuff said.....

We stopped at the FAO Schwarz of Kyiv to buy a couple of small toys for the girls. Matt got yelled at for trying to take a picture of me in the store. Ooops- first cultural faux pas.

Had dinner at the most awesome restaurant last night. Those of you who got the phone call know exactly what we're talking about. We had caviar, smoked sturgeon and just the absolute BEST vodka ever. Those of you who know Lisa know this is not an overstatement.... We even sent a bottle of champagne over to a group of girls who were having a get together- dinner for the 4 of us, including everything, was 100 US $$$$ The same dinner in NY would easily have been well over 500.00 We are having a lot of fun in Kyiv. You just have to roll with the cultural differences. They really are not that bad. I've found it really, really helps if you know how to read Ukrainian and/or Russian a little bit- at least you can read signs while you're walking around, killing time. TV is the absolute worst here- but it's a sort of train wreck type of thing. YOu know you shouldn't be watching, but you can't seem to tear yourself away.....

Going to purchase train tickets today. Trip should take about 10 hours. Not sure what will happen or where we will be after that, but will try to post again ASAP.

To everyone leaving comments, THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. You can't imagine how much it means to us that you are as excited as we are about this great adventure we are on. We apologize for not answering e-mails. Sometimes you can open the e-mail to respond, and sometimes you just can't and it throws you off the internet completely...

We send our love to you all, please keep the prayers, good wishes, thoughts and especially comments coming!

Next post from the Crimea!

It's a girl.......and a girl....we have a referral

2006-12-07T06:29:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

Well...step 4 of about 15 is done....We got a referral for 2 girls aged 6 and 3 today at the adoption headquarters. The paperwork and dossier on them indicates they are in good health. we will have to wait and see once we meet them in a few dyas. We will have to travel to the Yalta peninsula, down by the Black Sea...yeah, u might have to check your geprgraphy and get a map.. The appointment went very well. SDA people were very kind, helpful, but they have limited information on the girls. We will find out more once we see documentation at the orphanage.
Lisa sent out some mass emails from her yahoo account. It is easier to email her than Matt's AOL address. We received all the posts on the Blog here so now we have 2 ways to get and send info.

We wish everyone well and keep sending us your good vibes. There is a bit of good karma attached to the 2 girls...more to follow on this.

To all mys students and Mr. B......hope u guys are doing the right thing and taking care of business while I'm gone. I will ask Mr. B to send me updates on all you guys, especially the "chuckleheads". I may be 8,000 miles away, but you know I can lay a good whooping via Internet. LOL LOL LOL. I do miss all of you. I googled numa numa on the Russian Internet...they might have aguy that can beat the saddlebrook kid!!!!

Wish us well ,post a message and send some really good vibes our way.

Love to all,

Matt and Lisa

Uhhhh, I guess we're REALLY doing this!!

2006-12-03T03:55:00.000-08:00

Okay, so now it's finally hit me as I sit amongst the rubble of what I could not cram into my suitcase that in 7 hours, the car will be picking us up to take us to JFK and we will be starting a whole new life.

Nervous- still not! Excited- VERY much so. Not too thrilled about the plane ride, but I've got help for that :) Just please say a prayer for us for a safe trip- and say about a 1000 prayers for us on the way back home with the kids. 10.5 hours in the air. Oh boy....... Thankfully, and I can not say that enough- Mom and Dad are coming with us. Extra hands to help, just in case there's more than say, TWO (wink, wink Shelly and Jane).

Matt has been terrific at keeping me calm and centered. I had a minor melt down over the packing yesterday and he just stepped in and got it done and we're still not taking 15 bags with us like I thought we would!

Thanks to all of our friends and family for the great e-mails, phone calls, get togethers, etc to send us off on such a high note.

We love you all-

Lisa and Matt

next post will be from Ukraine!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-23T05:06:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that we are leaving in 10 days.....

What I really can't believe is how calm I feel about the whole thing. I keep waiting to freak out or melt down, and it's just not happening.

REALLY thankful for that.

Hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

xo
Lisa

We Have An Appointment!!

2006-11-13T07:26:00.000-08:00

We called Ukraine at 3:30 this morning and were told our appointment is December 7th!!

Matt and I are still in shock, and needless to say, have got a lot to do to get ready.

The lady we spoke to at the SDA couldn't have been nicer and spoke perfect English- so maybe that's a good sign for what's in store for us when we get there.

For everyone who isn't familiar with what will happen once we get there- here's a brief explanation.

Matt and I will have our appointment, we will review files of children available for adoption. Once we make our choice, we will travel to the orphange where our child(ren) will be and meet them. From there we run around getting paperwork completed and having a court date set.

Once we have the court date and everything is approved by the judge, there is a mandatory 10 day waiting period. After that 10 day wait, we can take custody of the kids, they have a medical examination in Kyiv and we get their visas from the Embassy.

From there, we come home. The whole process should take between 3 and 4 weeks, and obviously I'm over simplifying the process but I've got serious packing to do!

Keep checking in- we'll post more info as we have it, and of course once we get to Ukraine in

24 Days!!!!!!!