Following our Hearts to Russia

Halloween and Catch Up Time

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:22:00 +0000

Yes it is almost Thanksgiving and I am posting Halloween pictures but they are so cute that I didn't want you all to miss out on them. Micah was a puppy this year and got to wear a costume that I made for Olivia.

Do you like his guards?

What is nice about the costumes that I made is that they actually hold up over time and each kids has worn them. Great memories when you look at the pictures of each one in the same costume!

We also did our annual pumpkin carving where each of them get to pick out their own pumpkin. Micah's choice was unique as he is, he picked a white pumpkin, it was so cute listening to him say, "whi punkin"

It usually is a very long night because just getting the guts out of four pumpkins takes awhile and we usually have a loss of interest about half way through and Russ, Olivia and I end up finishing them up. So we decided to cut our losses and have Micah color his - it worked out great that is until it rained a few days later and the washable markers washed right off. Thankfully he didn't notice.

Last year Micah was able to go trick or treating but he really did not understand what was going on. This year, he understood, it was all about candy! Every time we went to a house, I would remind him to say, trick or treat and then thank you(which only family members can really understand). What was so cute is that some people would try to hold a conversation with him, like "So what are you dressed up as?" or "Are you having fun?" and his response to everyone, no matter what the question was was "TRICK OR TREAT". I think he was trying to nicely say "Hey people, just give me the candy".

And speaking of candy, that is our reward of choice for potty training. We are doing pretty good with it but some day I feel like it will never happen. Micah know that if he does things on his own or goes #2 in the potty, he gets a bigger reward. So when he talks about it, it goes something like this: " When I go poo poo in the potty, I gets lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota CANDY! YEA!!. Can you tell he has a sweet tooth.

Mica is also growing like a weed. When we brought him home he literally wore a 12 months pants( at 2.5 years old!) so this summer I was wondering what he would be wearing once he was home a year.......... 3Ts! Can you believe it, now they are slightly long but still, he grew in 1 year what kids normally do in two. So back in October I took his measurements and compared them to the ones taken when he was home one week - he grew 4.75 inches and gained 10 pounds! Man, no wonder my back is aching all the time! I really try to do everything to not have to carry him anymore( no I love to hold him, if he lets me but sitting down is the preferred method).

I love how 3 year old minds work. They get something in their head and that is the way that it is. My wonderful niece sat for the kids a few weeks ago and ever since then, I get the question from Micah about "Where is Christmas?". Now her name is Christa, but for now and forever, in Micah's head - she will be Christmas.

Well I have to leave you with the wonderful picture of the week in our house. It is of our Toothless Wonder - Luc. We know what he will be singing for Christmas this year!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Gotcha Day One Year

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:49:00 +0000

Well, actually I am six days late but that is the theme lately around our house. We have had sports out the wazoo and I am ready for things to slow down so I can catch my breath before we start the holidays. Before I talk about Gotcha day I have to say "GO WILDCATS!" That is Olivia's volleyball team. They just played most of a tournament today. Her team was 7th seeded and are now going to play for 3rd/4th place. They were so amazing!

Also today is my wonderful and amazing hubby's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY! We all love you so very much.

Gotcha day was on September 29th but it did not seem right to celebrate it on that day because it was just Micah and me. But October 4th was the one year anniversary of us coming home. So this was the day that seemed right to celebrate our new family since we were all there with all having memories(except for maybe Micah). What is so amazing is to think that one year ago I went in and wisked Micah from the only place he knew as home. And I when I say wisked, I really mean it. It was a busy morning and my translator needed to get to class, so we had enough time to sign the documents, have the caregivers change him and we trotted out the door as fast as we could, I almost felt like if we did not hurry, they might change their minds and take him back. But then the fun began, seeing his reactions to everything, some with confusion and a little fear( like trying to use the large toilet in the room) and some with excitement and awe( like realizing that he could just run and have fun).

It has been an amazing year. There have been great adventures, exciting firsts and giggles. But there were also frustrations and "pulling your hair out" moments. Even though I would like to say it has been all thrills and giggles( and that is what I wanted it to be), it has not. But I have to say that I would not trade this past year for anything. It has grown me in a way that I did not know I needed to grow in, it has made me love a little more like God loves us all - unconditionally. I still have a looong way to go but my eyes have been opened to something God is trying to teach me and that is thrilling beyond description.

I can not believe that God has blessed me with such wonderful and amazing kids - I love them so very much. What is been really interesting lately is that Micah will talk about Russia. I am not really sure if he remembers or if he is combining things that he has seen in pictures and things that I have told him. Like the hat he has on below. When we went to talk his picture in it he said- " I wear this in Russia. I cry in Russia but Mommy take me home and I watch Dora." No matter what he says there is always a theme of him crying in Russia, which makes me sad, but on the upside, that means he is happy here. And that is what it is all about.

Thanks to our friends Kyle, Greg & Grace (whose Gotcha day was the same) for the idea - I have a picture from that day of Micah and myself and another one of us on our 1 year anniversary Gotcha.

September 29, 2008

September 29, 2009 ( The hat barely fits)

If you would love to be a part of making another little child happy, Check out this link. I talk about this family below and they only need about $3000 more to bring home a precious little boy when he is born, which is any day now. There is no other family that wants to adopt him and if they don't raise this money, he will go into foster care.

Blessings to all!

Helping Adoption

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:33:00 +0000

I have been wanted to post about our Gotcha Day Anniversary but have been so busy that I have not gotten around to it. I will do that soon but I needed to post about a friend who needs help. She is a fellow adoptive mom that has a heart so big that I can not comprehend it. She has struggled through many failed adoptions but has such a love for the orphan that she continues after God's calling on their lives. Right now there is a baby who needs a home and they are willing to be this baby's parents, they just need the money to do it. Please check out her blog "Storing up Treasures" and if you feel led to support them, please do.

Thanks for any help you may be able to give.

Court Revisited

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:56:00 +0000

Yes, can you believe it! One year since our court date( the second one that is 9/18). I can remember that day so vividly. It was the perfect fall day( And I love the fall:). The sky was so blue with painted white clouds floating in their perfect places and a comfortable crisp day. It started out so stressful but after the judge came back in and gave us the wonderful news, you could not get the smile off my face for the rest of the day. It is hard to believe that it has been one year.

Last week while picking up Micah from preschool, the teacher's helper asked if Micah was here last year or if this was his first year at preschool. I politely said it was his first year but I was thinking - No he was in Russia last year, he did not walk very well and barely spoke! Can you believe it!

Anniversaries are great reminders of how things have changed. How much has been accomplished and how much more will be behind you in a year from now. So when the struggles of raising a 3 year old( or any other child at any other age) come rearing their ugly head - remind me at how much has been accomplished this year.

Micah has only been to preschool 6 days so far but it seems like it has been months. He absolutely loves it. In fact he loves it so much that I have to be creative with ideas to get him to leave school. And the teachers say that he is doing very well and has good days. He is learning the rules and doing a good job of following them. I am so happy for him and what he is learning. Now if we can just get the potty training taken care of....

Here are some pictures of my "big boy", as he likes to refer to himself.

First day of Preschool with his Diego back pack(I had to hide the pink Dora one at the store so he would not want to buy it)

My Big Boy with his adorable smile.

Don't you just love this one!

WHY?

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 01:03:00 +0000

Yes, that is the 64 million dollar question, or should it be the 64 million times a day question! We have now offically entered the "why" period. When he first started asking, it was great, he was progressing and hitting another milestone. But after a week, I was ready to move on out of that phase. I try to do my best to answer the question that he is asking but after about 5 whys in a row, there is no real answer left to give except " because " or " because I say so". So when I turn the question back to him - his response now is "because I say so". Such a great example I am.

The other major hurddle we are trying to cross is the potty training. I was utterly amazed when we started. I stripped him down, since it was early summer, but we still stayed in the house, and he immediately would stop what he was doing, even in the midst of playing, and go over to the potty( for both one and two!)!! It was great but getting him to do the same thing with his pants on was a whole other story. Needless to say we are making progress by the end of the summer but he won't quite have it by the time preschool starts - but hey - Progress!

Things are really going well over all and I have to say that I am really blessed. The biggest problem we still deal with is overstimulation, especially in new areas. He just loses all control and runs around having a great time but being disruptive to others. I am really praying that his preschool teacher has great patience because preschool will be so challenging for him to focus for while.

The end of summer was great, we went on our yearly visit to King's Island amusement park and had a blast. (King's Island will always be a little different because our trip last year was the day we got our court date!) We made some money at our garage sale and then just tried to enjoy what time was left. We also had our one year post placement visit( wow it is almost a year since GOTCHA). Our social worker was amazed at how well he was doing and could not believe his speech - she could actually understand him. I remember a time when I thought there would never be a day when we would understand what he was saying - to those who are there now - it will come, it will come.

It is sad to have the kids back in school and I miss them so but I look at it as great time to complete all the projects that need to be done. And now that the weather has considerably cooled in the past week, it does feel like fall is on the way - Oh how I love the fall!

Here are a few pictures of the end of our summer.

SLiding down Grammy's water slide

Look at the BIG Tractor Wheel!

MY absolute Favorite picture of Micah!

How cool am I!

Finally I get to DRIVE!

We all love Scooby Doo and so does Micah, even though it doesn't look like it.

My beautiful kids.

Another Milestone

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:13:00 +0000

Besides the fact that I am posting only two weeks after the last post, Today is another wonderful day to remember for our family. It was one year ago today that we got to see(face to face) and hold our little boy. It was a fairly smooth morning and we got to get our referral and get to the orphanage before lunch. When I first got to see him, one of his caregivers carried him in to a room of about 12 adults, most of whom he probably never saw. He was so unsure of what was going on and once they handed him to me, he began to cry. I only held him for a minute or two in that first meeting, and then they wisked him out of the room. We did get to see him later that day, after his nap. He was still unsure but no crying. He was cautious but was too excited to play with the toys we brought to let that hold him back.

Here he is that first day:

By the end of the day we knew that he would be our little boy.

It is so wonderful this time of year to start the many anniversaries of our adoption. What is so amazing is to see how things have changed since then.

Here he is today telling me how much he loves me:

He is so sure of himself now and so a part of our family. I was thinking as I tucked him in tonight to bed and he looked up at me and smiled and we did our bedtime routine, one year ago tonight, someone else was putting him to bed, he had no real routine except they put him in bed. He had no hugs, no kisses, no family to love him. It breaks my heart to think that he had to go through that. But we came to get him and now there will be no more nights like that, he can always wake up to a mommy and daddy.

Another great event this weekend was that 5 families who adopted from Astrakhan in the last year all gathered at our house for the weekend. It was such a great time to see each other, to see how the kids have grown and remember and share our journeys. I will write more about that later but you can check The Beadle's blog for her update(she always is so great at posting).

Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

At the zoo with all those adopted from Russia( one from Kaliningrad, the rest from Astrakhan) minus one.

Later in the weekend minus three( just love how Micah and Grace are trying to hold hands.)

Where oh Where...

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:19:00 +0000

have the Canestraro's been? Well, everywhere - almost! It has been so busy since I last posted that by the time I get the kids down to bed, I am too tired to post. So here is what has been up.

We have had two more birthdays to celebrate

Happy Birthday Olivia! Oh, what a beautiful young lady she is.

And Happy Birthday Dominic! How handsome are they!

We also had the end of school, many doctor appointments, a vacation to the beach and finally a mini trip to WV to visit family for the 4th.

I am still amazed that after 9 month, I still can see so much changes in Micah(OK, I am tired of using initials so I am finally going to start using their names). Mainly in his speech, he just continues to amaze me in what he is learning. It will be interesting to see how much more he will learn once he is in preschool. And speaking of preschool, our summer project is potty training. Kind of hard when you are on the go all the time, but for the effort we have put forth - He is really doing very well - Candy is a good motivator.

The highlight of the past few months has been our vacation to the beach. I knew that Micah would love it, because he loves water, but I was not sure how he would handle the waves.

Here he is evaluating the situation:

Here he is after the waves knocked him down a few times:

I think he likes it! Here is his first attempt at surfing!

I am sure with his energy, he will be great at it someday. There is not much that scares this guy, but we did find something on vacation - a macaw. THere is a bird in a gift shop that we go to that talks to you. I thought he would like it - Oh no. I don't think he has ever clung to me as tightly as he did once the macaw started talking. I would even turn around so that he could see that it would be ok and he would just turn his head. He also did not like the loud noises from family setting off fireworks so I think that it has a lot to do with the loudness of things.

After the episode with the fireworks at our families house, I was not sure how he would handle the big fireworks, especially since we happened to be so close to them( family lives right next to where they are set off). But with a special set of ear plugs, he was just fine.

He daily talks about the "Boom,Boom,Boom!"

The biggest event for us(Russ and myself) was that on June 27th 2009, it was 1 year since we saw our first picture of our little boy. Here is the first glimpse of him:

And here he is today(playing in the sand this time):

It's like he is not the same child! The change still amazes me. These kids are so resilient, if just given a chance.

One other anniversary that has passed, was the one year of our first trip to Russia in May. If you go back and check our blog from June 2008, you will see that we had basically had to turn down a referral of two wonderful children that we wanted so much to adopt. Their grandparents, even though they had turned down once to adopt them, did not want them leaving the country and we were told the courts would never grant us rights to be their parents. We were also told that the grandparents were going to adopt them now. So at the time, we were at peace with the whole thing. However, as time passed, and I continually checked the Russian database, they were both still on it. Month after Month, I was so upset that they were still in an orphange, but finally in May, I checked and they were not there any more. I am not sure if they are with their grandparents or another Russian couple adopted them, but they are with a family and that is what is wonderful. The other good news is the little girl we turned down because of FAS is not on the database any more, so she is hopefully in a loving family also.

So as busy bees we continue to pack as much fun as we can in before school starts back. I hope it will be sooner before the next post. Until then, I leave you all with a picture that describes Micah better than any words.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:23:00 +0000

Yes, Can you believe it! Our Little M turned 3 yesterday and what a great day it was. Besides going all out for his birthday we also had him dedicated to the Lord at our church. I do have to say it was so joyous!

Here he is with his cake.It is hard to tell from the picture but there is a little icing left on his face from where he stuck his finger in the icing right after I sat it down. I am amazed he did not try to grab a handful! It took him a few times to get the candles blown out but he was so happy and was ready to eat "CAKE". He ate two large pieces. He loved all the presents but I think the most excitement of the day was having balloons! Even this morning when he came down stairs he was so thrilled to see the balloons. Daddy and M with his new toy.

The dedication went amazingly well also. Usually we dedicate infants and a little crying is usually the only disruption, but with a now 3 year old, I could only imagine the tantrum he might have if he did not get to go over and play with the drums. But, he was GREAT and held our hands and had the crowd eating out of his hands. It felt like a completion of sorts to our journey. We started this due to the prompting of God and we wanted this entire adoption to glorify HIM. So to finally stand in front of our church and commit to raising M in the Lord, was such a fitting piece of the journey.

Here he is being the perfect, charming little boy:

This weekend was so great that I am hoping that it is a starting point for a long stretch of happy times for our family. The past 6 months have been very sad for our family. We first had to deal with Russ' Mom's sudden diagnosis with cancer and then her death in January. After that His Dad, who has been battling cancer, started to go down hill quickly and unfortunately passed away in April only 91 days after his beloved wife of 51 years. With their deaths and the adjustments we have been going through with bringing in a new little one into our family, we are all ready for a long stretch of boring, not a bad boring but a boring that just consists of a regular routine that we can enjoy each moment not rushing from one thing to the next.

To touch on a few more highlights over the past month. We went to see the Harlem Globetrotters, in which the kids really enjoyed. Then M had his first dentist appointment. He is such an amazing little boy, he was such a tropper and did everything the dentist asked. They were going to skip the x rays because they did not want to push their luck but when he saw the chair, he jumped right up and was ready for the pictures! Then there was his first Easter Egg Hunt! He was not sure what to do at first but once he realized there was candy in the eggs, there was no stopping him.

All these great moments just make me love him more with each one and that is a wonderful feeling. There was a time I wondered why I just did not love him with all my heart but love takes a relationship and a relationship takes time and now I can say to all of you who may feel like I did several months ago, time changes things. And after almost 7 months of having him in our lives, to stand up in church and dedicate him to the Lord and celebrate his first birthday with a family and to feel the emotion of love that I felt, well I just have to say, PRICELESS!

Six Months

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:18:00 +0000

Yes, that is how long it has been since I whisked our new little boy out of the orphanage. It is hard to believe that it has been that long already but as you look back and see all the changes that have happened, I am amazed it has not been longer. Here is a picture of M the day I picked him up:

And here he is today:

WOW! One of the most noticeable change is his speech. I mentioned in the last post he was getting evaluated by the school district for a special preschool to help with his speech delay. We thought he would get some type of assistance, BUT they said he was just below on qualifying so no assistance from them. At first I was a little frustrated because we has been waiting and doing testing to get him in this but as it sunk in, HE DOES NOT NEED IT!, I started to realize that it was a good thing. He has progressed so much that just putting him in a regular preschool will probably get him up to speed by Kindergarten. An example of how well he is doing... We were getting in Russ's SUV to go somewhere and as Russ was putting him in he said, "Papa's truck, Mama's van" point to each vehicle. Wow that just floors me when I think of how he has changed.

Other changes include not focused so much on food. I used to be able to use it to get him to do something - I know not a good idea - but now things like playing and going outside are more interesting. The one negative thing is that he is starting to have more temper tantrums - or more like crying fits. THe worst was a day he had to come in from playing outside for an hour. We needed to get dinner ready and he just kept crying about going outside. No matter what I did he kept crying. Finally after 30 minutes he calmed down. I told him after we eat, we would go outside. So after 2 bites at dinner, he was done and ready to go outside.

The other big milestone since I last posted, was we went on out first family vacation. It was one of those busy ones that you need a vacation when you get home but we did have fun. Our daughter had tried out for a National Youth Choir that was performing at a conference in Washington D.C. SO we decided to spend the week walking around the city. And walking we did! Little M was the luckiest because he got to ride in the stroller a lot. He just took it all in and of course wanted to touch everything! The hardest thing was when we were in the basement at Mount Vernon on a tour. We were not suppose to touch the walls or anything - it was like trying to hold on to an octopus trying to keep him from touching anything. I know he did not appreciate where we were ( But he sure LOVED riding the metro - a.k.a. train)but it was wonderful to know that he was visiting our National capital as an American citizen. Here are some pictures of our trip.

Before I leave, I need to ask for a prayer request. As I mentioned earlier in the year, Russ's mom passed from cancer. His dad has also been battling cancer for awhile and unfortunately things are not looking good. So please pray for peace for his father and strength.

God bless you all

God's Promises

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:28:00 +0000

Ok, as I checked my blog, I realized that I only had one post in February - Oh I am such a bad blogger! So here is my March post(hopefully there will be more then just one).

Things are improving on a regular basis and if I were to type this yesterday, I would have said that things were great - but today Little M has been a testing mode - testing to see how many rules he can break before Mom explodes. So I just count it off as growing pains and make sure he gets down for a nap a little early.

But really, he is doing so much better in so many things. His speech just amazes me! He is now saying 3 word sentences! For a kid who barely said 10 words 5 month ago, I am so in awe. Yesterday we had our evaluation from the school district for speech. He will get into either just speech therapy or be entered into their special preschool program - either would be fine with me I am just anxious to get him some more help. He is speaking so much now but it is still hard to understand what he is saying - which is frustrating on everyone's part. The only concern that I have now is that they called today to get me to fill out a behavior study, so now I am wondering if they are concerned about his behavior yesterday. I know that he has some issues but overall his behavior seems pretty standard - so we will see what they say.

So what has been the highlights of the past month? First it is Micah trying to climb out of his playpen(successfully) and falling on his head. He also got his first official haircut since he was home - He did great, however the other 2 yo girl did all the screaming for the both of them. So far we have only been hit by a minor bug in our family ( only two kids down for 1.5 days), I am so thankful he has not been sick since we have been home. We are at epidemic proportions where we live right now and I am hoping that we can make it through the season with no more illnesses.

One thing that has happened that has saddened me some is an encounter we had with a lady from Russia. She is a seamstress that I use periodically and she got to meet Mfor the first time. SHe was great and so excited to meet him. The thing that was sad was that she would talk to him in Russian, and he did not understand her. It is a reality that I knew about since I have not spoken to him in Russian for 4 months, but none the less, it is his first language and now it is gone.

However, with something being lost there is always something that is gained and the big new thing for M, is that he likes to cuddle! Now not all the time, just before nap and bed time. I started rocking him and signing to him and as the weeks would pass, the time got longer and longer. And finally, last week, he came up to me during playing and asked to be rocked! Wow! that was wonderful to hear. He has also started to day "I love you" with no prompting and out of the blue. Those are moments that just melt your heart!!!!

And speaking of melting hearts, I have to say that little M is starting to feel more like my son now. I knew that it would come, and there was no one thing that made a difference, I think it is just time. There is still more that needs to develop but it will come too. I now can't imagine a time without him in our family. Drop down below to see the latest pictures.

With that said, however, it has been a very difficult 5 months. Just the fact that I did not have these special feelings towards M, has opened up an entire can of worms for me, issues that I have never had to deal with. It felt like everything in my life was becoming a struggle and I was having difficulties handling it all. My response to it all was to go to God, to pray and to see what His word said. However, things were no getting better, that is until this weekend. We were studying the feeding of the 5000 in John Chapter 6. Something I had read many times before and several more just in the past week, but something the writer of the study said hit me like a brick wall. After the miraculous feeding, the people are seeking Jesus the next day and find Him, His responds to them in John 6:26 is"... Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loves and were filled." It was obvious that they did not want Jesus but what he provided. The speaker(Kay Arthur) asked, "Are you seeking what the Lord provides or the Provider? When I thought about it I had to say that I was seeking what the Lord provided. Now, I was not seeking for Him to make food appear on my table with no work or that I would win the lottery( that I never play) but I just wanted to be more like Jesus. More loving to others, more kind, more patient, less selfish... things that He tells us to seek in the Bible. The problem is that I was still trying to do it myself. I had bible versus everywhere, trying to following them and remind myself how I was to be. I was asking for help in my prayers but not doing much praising of the Lord. I was reading everything I could on the problems I was struggling with. I was trying to work my way into being the way God wants me to be and I was not just wanting to be with Jesus - fixing my eyes on Him. I was not letting Him and Him alone be my bread of life. I know that some of you may read this and not get it - I did not get it the many times I read that verse, but it has made such a profound impact on me I just had to share it. I know there are many of you out there who are struggling now and I hope that this will help you. It may or may not but remember to stay focused on Jesus. I kept doing my bible studies and going week after week and there were so many times I just wanted to stop, because they were not addressing the problems that I was having but God used one little verse and a wonderful women to open my eyes - to point me back to Jesus. I will still be doing my bible studies and reading and learning versus but my emphasis has changed, it will no longer be on me but on Jesus.

Loving from big sis
Big sis "girling" me up
A FULL rainbow - Remembering God's Promises

Tummy Testing

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 01:47:00 +0000

And I am not talking about food. Sometimes you just wonder what in the world is going through their minds. As I was washing dishes the other day, this is what I saw:

Now I was wondering what had happened? Did he fall? He is not crying. And then I watched as he got up and did this:

Instead of using his hands to feel the different temperatures of the heating vent and the cool tile, He was using his tummy. Only a toddler!

The past few weeks we have our ups and downs but things are getting better. Tonight was actually great. It was just Little M and myself and it went very well. There was a moment, when it was time to clean up for his bath, that he started pushing my buttons. Now he gets a massive amount of toys out during the day so I am usually helping him and asking him to do certain things. Well, he was not being difficult but he was being manipulative so instead of getting more frustrated, I got up, told him to clean up, and walked out of the room. Whenever he called for me, I told him to clean up and believe it or not - HE CLEANED UP THE QUICKEST I HAD EVER SEEN HIM. He was so proud of himself and came to get me to show me. He was happy that I was happy and things went great the rest of the night. I am not expecting this approach to work all the time but it is something to remember.

Unfortunately, I can't say I have much more exciting news than this. The days seem to go by so fast and I am so tired in the evenings that they all seem to be a big blur at times. However, one great thing that did happen this week. I got a call from a fellow adoptive mom that I met in Astrakhan on our final trip. It was so wonderful to hear Kathy's voice, it was like we were back in the Korvet hotel. It is amazing how you meet people on your adoption journey, if only for a few days, but because of the bond of adoption, you just feel like you have known them forever.

I love pictures and so I will leave you with a few of my favorite this past week. First is our play time in the snow and the last just cracks me up. It is morning hair for Little M( normally his hair is so fine that there really is no morning hair - but for some reason this hair would not go down) it reminds me of those penguins whose feather stand up on their head, or for us older folks, Alfalfa from the Little Rascals.

Flooding

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:30:00 +0000

The title has nothing to do with the weather - in fact right now we have a ton of snow - but rather with the state of Little M's pants. Take a look!

He has been wearing 12 month pants and 24 month tops since we came home but just a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that his pants were getting too short. Normally this would bring dread to a mom who either had to go out and buy more cloths or dig through the closets for the next size, but this was big news in our house, Little M is growing! We were at the doctors last week and he has gained 4 pounds and grown 0.75" since we came home, that is wonderful.

We also got our first post placement visit under our belts this past weekend - that was nice too. We are finally getting around to completing the remaining of the paperwork that we have left to do. I so dreaded the paperwork from the months prior to the adoption that it took 3 months to bring myself to working on it, and the only reason I did was because we needed to get his SSN.

It is unbelievable how much his speech is improving! He is now using 3 word sentences that I can understand. I am just so amazed at this, I could not even come close to learning the equal amount of Russian in the same period of time.

We have our ups and downs as most do but we had a big turn for the down last week. Normally. when there is something that M is doing that he will just not stop doing, he gets taken to his time out spot. It is a spot in the kitchen, where I spend most of my time it seems. In the past, he would just cry, we would have a little talk and he would say he was sorry( in his own way) and life would go on. Well, last week, he started with what I would call little fits. There is yelling of "NO", he will not walk to the time out spot but just fall to the floor and start tossing his hands all over the place. And then then there is the all out, toss your body on the floor , literally kicking and screaming(well more like yelling) - I almost had to laugh at that one because it was typically a 2 year old. And then biting has begun to rear it's ugly head.

So there it goes, but I do feel like we make 2 steps forward and 1 step back and not 1 step forward and 2 steps back - so hey, there is progress.

I have to say that all this, along with the issues of the other three kids(yes they have issues too), had me really at my wits end - feeling like I was such a failure as a mom and every other negative thought that come through my mind. But then I got to get together with my friend Phyllis and oh what a difference that made. THANKS PHYLLIS! I got out of the house, away from everyone and got to talk with an adopted mom who know all of what I was going through. I came home and felt great and was like a new person the next day. So for all you moms that are wondering how you are going to do it - take a break, get away from it all, force yourself to do it. Yes, you will be returning home to all the same problems, but with a new strength.

Packing Up Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:53:00 +0000

Finally we have gotten around to packing up our Christmas decorations and I had to post a few pictures of the two items that M thought were the "torture" decorations.
First is our "Singing Santa" that goes on our tree and says "HOHOHOHO". Well when introduced to this ornament this was M's reaction:

But when I began to pack things away, He had to say one last goodbye:

The other scary toy was our singing snowmen. I really thought that he would loves these since he loves music so much, but I was wrong. It took several days for him to start liking them but soon, he would be asking to turn them on.

This week was a major one for little M because we had decided that we were going to have him circumcised. Yea, I know that it was not necessary, but with two older brothers and the giggles that were already occurring, and we figured in the long run, it would be best. I have to say that he was a real trooper. After the surgery, he did cry almost constantly until I was able to get some food in his stomach, it had been 15 hours since he had eaten, and after that he was back to normal. He had a little pain medication that day but you would never know that he had been through surgery.

Right before Christmas, I mentioned that M was starting to speak in sentences, at least long strands of "M" words. Well that is about all he is doing now. In fact, after the surgery, he was talking through his version of what happened and I could actually understand him(with the help of motions). It was so cute to see his version of things. In his explanation he kept saying Ho Ho Ho, and then I finally realized that someone in the operating room must have had a beard(like santa). It was a great feeling to understand what he is saying. This week, we meet with the school system to get things moving on getting M into speech therapy.

I will leave you with my picture of the week of M:

A Sad Beginning to 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:40:00 +0000

I mentioned in my previous posts that things were very stressful after our return from Russia. It was not just the adjustment to having a new member of our family (which is a big stressor on its own) but the week after we got home, Russ's mom got sick. Soon we found out that she had an inoperable brain tumor that was quite large. So on Jan 2nd, after 2 months of a good fight, my sweet mother-in-law left to be with our wonderful Savior. She was no typical mother-in-law and there is nothing that I have to say about her but praise. I have learned a lot from her over the years and was always amazed at how patient she could be with others. Fortunately she was able to meet our little M and see him full of energy running around her house. We even have a picture of her smiling as little M is screaming in the background because he did not want to be held. Oh how she loved kids and Little M completed her dozen grandchildren. She will be sadly missed but I can not help but smile as I imagine her with her new body in the presence of our glorious Savior. Twice in our family we have brought a new child into our family at the same time we have mourned the passing of a sister and now a mother - it makes the new child just that much more special.

Glory be to God

What Has Been Happening

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:32:00 +0000

Well I am finally getting a chance to update you on how things have been going over the past few months. I am hoping to update more often now - I know I said that before but now that we are all settled and Christmas is over and I have brain dumped everything over the last few months, I think it will be easier for me to update you on the little coming and goings of our family. It is really hard to believe that today has been three months since I walked out of the orphanage with little M. It seems so long ago. Below this post is a post that will update you on what happened from our last day in Astrakhan until we got home if you are interested. It is lengthy but there are pictures.

Little M is doing so amazingly well! I think that he has adjusted so well. He gets along with the kids very well. He loves his big sis and she loves to baby him. He runs around the house following his big brothers as they burn off energy – At first, there was some jealousy from little M when one of the other kids would sit on my lap, he would want to push them off and get on my lap Now he just climbs up besides me and wants me to hug him too.

The dog issue is much better. Poor Rocky was very jumpy for awhile but us better now. He still keeps his eye out for M but now it seems that he only gets stepped on by accident.

SLEEPING has been going great since about week three home. At first, I would try to rock him to sleep but since he would not stay in my lap when I sat down, I would have to rock him standing, I also had to make sure that we were in a dark room or else he would spend all his time looking around at things. After about a week of doing that twice a day for 10-15 mintues both my feet and back where killing me. So I started just putting him in his crib and let him cry for about 5 minutes(checking in on him every minute to ensure that I was there). After a few days, I then felt bad, so I would lay in the bed in his room until he fell asleep. One night, I could not lay down and he was fine and has been great ever since. He sleeps through the night for about 11.5 hours and 1.5 to 2 hours in the afternoon. He is in a room by himself because when he was in with one of his brothers, it messed up everyones sleep schedule. He does so much better in a room by himself – I guess each child is just different.

EATING started out great and now, even though it is difficult, it is typical of a two year old. He eats most things now except tomatoe sauce. Somedays he is more picky then others but he has gained about 3 pounds since we have been home so I think he is doing good.

HEATHWISE he is also doing great. No concerns with any of the doctors we have seen. We have had difficultly getting a good hearing check because he always seems to have fluid behind his eardrum. It is no infected but the doctor recently put him on antibiotic to see if we can get it cleared up. He has also had a horrible runny nose since I picked him up from the orphanage so the meds seem to be helping with that too. He still had not grown any heightwise and I am hoping that will kick in soon. He wears a 24 month top and 12 month pants. We joke and say that he is part Corgy because his legs are so short.

SPEECH: The only big concern we are dealing with is his speech. He was very dealyed in speech only speaking a few words( that we knew of) in Russian, so after about a month of talking to him in Russian and English, we slowly cut out the Russian and only now use English. He has picked up english so well and you can see how eager he is to learn know words. He often brings things to me so I can tell him what they are. But there are several sounds that he simply can not make so some words are just not recognizable and many sound the same. But each week he is making progress. A few weeks ago he started saying his first phrase on his own “I'm coming!” And last week he started with the toddler babbling. Before he would just say words in response to seeing things but now he will play and just babble on and on. We are on a waiting list for a speech therapist and will get him in the school system once he turns three. But we are going to more forward with our own speech therapist at the beginning of the year.

EMOTIONS: He has also really advanced with being affectionate. At first, he really never hugged and we had to teach him how to kiss. He never really liked being held either ( that is still the case but then he just does not sit still very long either – He's two). Fast forward three months, he is a very caring person. If one of the kids is crying he will go over and hug them. He loves to come over and rub my back and arm and even after he gets out of a time out – he immediately comes over to give me a hug( like is is telling me that he is sorry).

CONCERNS: The only issue that is a little concern to me is that he doesn't really know a stranger. We will be standing in line, and he just has to go up and touch people. I also have to be careful because he will let others pick him up. Most of the time, though, he will immediately turn away and want to come to me – which is good. There are a few people that he feels very comfortable with, my Mom and his Sunday school teachers. It is really hard after you have read all the attachement books on what you should and should not allow. It comes down to the child and the family and you just have to go with your gut.

I have to say that even though things are going well with M. It has been hard. I knew it would be hard but it still doesn't make things more palatable when you are going thorugh it. The things that took me the most by surprise was my feelings. I knew that it would not be love at first sight but with all our visits at the orphanage, he would just melt my heart. However, we never had a honeymoon period as others have mentioned because he started testing me during the last visits in the orphanage. So when we got back to a normal life, I have to be honest, he did not “feel” like my son. There is just something missing with him that I have with my other kids. Others say that it will come and I know that it will but I wanted to let others out there know that things are not perfect and that is ok too. However I feel at times, I am glad that we have M in our lives and that all the frustration of the paperwork, the wait and the adjustment will result in many blessings from God for both M and us.

Not to end a post on a downer – I will leave you with some pictures over the past few months :

My little Bumble Bee
My favorite present

You are saying that I CAN rip this paper?

Entries from Final Days in Russia

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:04:00 +0000

Well, Here is the recap of our time from Astrakhan until we got home. If you are not into reading scroll to the end for pictures!
October 1st:
We were to leave around 5 pm that night to make our 7pm flight to Moscow and we had nothing planned that day. Needless to say it was hard to keep a toddler occupied for several hours while trying to pack. It got to the point where I packed everything up an just kept taking him outside for little walks. It is always interesting how I think I stick out so much as an America but how Russians will come up to me and start asking me something, in Russian, I just kindly smile and so “No Russki”. However, I did meet someone I never thought I would ever meet in Russia – A Jehovah Witness! As I am walking the short little block in front of our hotel, a lady comes up to me and asks me a something – I say “No Russki” and she then proceeds to look for something in her purse. She pulls out a book and looks up something in an index and then gives it to me to read. After reading the first paragraph(in english) I knew she was a Jehovah's Witness and kindly said “Christian”, and “Jesus” and tried to walk away, she kept talking so I kindly looked and her and said “Spaseeba”? which is Russian for Thank you. Who in a million years would have ever thought that encounter would have happened?
Well, after a very long morning, it was wonderful when our translators finally came and we actually got to see his passport. We were not sure if we would get the paperwork because they only had two days to process it instead of the normal 7 but we had everything and were ready to go! It was a sight to see myself and Kyley and Greg taking all our stuff out the hotel to the car (the thing with this small hotel is that there were not elevators and it was a flight of stairs just to get to the hotel lobby – so carrying 40lb+ bags down the stairs was not easy. Thankfully we had the translators to help with the kids while we carried the luggage).
Once we made it to the airport, things went fairly smooth and we said our good-byes( so hard to say good bye when you know you probably will never get to meet again). We made it to the waiting area which was a big deal for me. Ever since our first trip home, I had dreamed about what it would be like to sit in that waiting room with our new little one and it was finally here! How wonderful! One of the last things I remember in Astrakhan was having the airport doors open to get on the bus to the plane and being hit be a hord of mosquitoes – In October!
Well the flight to Moscow was pretty good we had a bulk head seat so M had room to get up and down. No problems with the ears but did not like the seat belt at all. I had to bribe him with food once I got the belt back on for landing. And the Kids meal on the plane – well it was more of a snack then a meal and had only sugary foods – just what we needed at 8pm at night.
At the airport it was a bit of a wait for the luggage and then when we got outside it was raining – no surprise for Moscow but I am pretty sure M had not been in the rain before so it was interesting to watch him try to figure out what happened.
Next was filling out paperwork in the car on the way to the hotel so they could get everything to the embassy in time the next morning. We had to finish it up in the hotel room and got everything completed after midnight.
Here is where the worst thing since court happened. As we were filling out paperwork we realized that the I 600 form that I had had Russ sign and notarize in the States was not the I600 but the I600A! She was not too concerned at that point but I thought I would die – if I had to stay in Moscow any longer! Needless to say I did not get much sleep that night.

October 2nd:
The next morning we went to the doctors and I was anxiously waiting for our translator to let me know if the form would be ok. She got a call and said that everything should be fine so I was able to take a deep breath! There were three families at the doctors and he was running very late( found out later he was stuck in an elevator). Little M checked out fine but I had the doctor look at his thumb because by now he had a blister on the thumb that he sucked. He cut off the dead skin and bandaged it up – amazingly enough he would still try to suck that thumb, especially when he slept. I have to jump ahead and tell you that after the doctor's bandage needed to come off, I had placed a bandaid on it to let it heal. It worked great until he went to sleep. In his sleep he would still suck on that one thumb and when I went to check on him before I went to bed, the bandaid was GONE! An guess where it was – His mouth! He had sucked off his bandaid! From then on the bandaid was only on during waking hours.

Now back to the doctor visit – once the last family was done, they rushed us all out to the car(in fact the last family did not even have a chance to fully dress their child). They needed to get the medical reports to the embassy before a certain time or we would not get an appointment for the next day and then would have to wait until Monday. Everything seemed to work out ok and we were on the way to the hotel, until the doors opened and we were back at the embassy. At this point, I was told that the form I was worried about eariler would not work! The good news is that I just have to fax a form to Russ, get him to sign and notarized it and fax it back to the embassy. No problem, except that it needed to be at the embassy by 5 pm Moscow time and at the time it was about 3am back home and he had until 9am back home to get the letter faxed. So the afternoon was a loooong one as I had to call Russ at 4am, have him pack up the kids and travel to the local FEDEX store at 5am. He had contacted a 24 hour notary to meet him there. Amazingly everything all worked out - purely by the grace of God - but the stress level those few hours were through the roof.

The remaining highlights of Moscow:
*Taking a $60 round trip taxi ride to the hotel where Kyley and Greg were staying so that I could have some friendly conversation after a horribly stressful day.
*Little M still was not interested in naps
*Sleeping went pretty good at night – I would just put him in the crib and lay in bed beside him with the lights off – within 10 minutes he would be out an sleep through the night
*The embassy visit was great – it went smoothly and pretty quick. It was so nice to see the American flag and the lady at the window was American – Hearing English with no Russian accent was really great. Even though we were still in Russia – I still felt like I was on American soil – Oh how I missed it.
*The last afternoon, I wanted to take him to Red Square, Our hotel had a shuttle that took us close. So we walked down Tevrskaya Street(Not an easy trot with a stroller) and spent a little time looking at my favorite site in all of Russia(besides little M) St. Basil's Cathedral. There were other people on the shuttle that I ran into at Red's Square and they took pictures of us together. I also tried to get one of Little M and St. Basil's but he was more interested in the cars driving by – but I finally got one that is pretty good.
*Eating for Little M went pretty well, as long as there was food, he ate it. However, ordering cold milk to drink did not go over with him – they must have just had it at room temperature on the orphanage. He did however really like the ice cream that I got for him at the very expensive Italian restaurant.
*We tried McDonald's and he did like the chicken nuggets. He wanted to try my coke, so I let him, and the face he made was horrible – so no more pop for him!
*Did well at the airport. Got there in plenty of time, went through luggage check pretty well but then it took a really long time to get our tickets because we had changed them and did not have a seat assigned – but we ended up in a bulk head seat so it was worth it. Passport control however was one more nightmare on this trip. The lone was long but that was normal and little M slept awile in the stroller. Now for those of you who have adopted before, you are told many many times to make sure that your child's Russian passport has their new name in english spelled correctly – no problem, I had check it over and over again. However, when we got to passport control and I gave them his passport, the new birth certificate and the adoption certificate. It was then that the nice lady on the other side of the window(who did not speak english) pointed out to me that the passport had his name spelled wrong - in Russian! How was I to know that! I must have grown as pale as a ghost because the lady was so kind and immediately started saying Nyet, Nyet and handing all the papers back to me. She was trying to tell me it was ok and she let me through. Thankfully this was the last heart stopping event of the trip!

The Trip Home
Plane ride went really very well for a two year old. I could keep him confined to the seat area and did manage to get him to sleep for about 1.5 hours on the plane but I had to hold him for most of that. Thankfully Kyley and Greg were on the same plane so potty breaks for me were a little easier.
I was concerned about making my connection in Atlanta especially when US passport control said that he said there was no way I would make the connection. But then again – I had God on my side. We had to wait awhile in immigration( there were only two adoption families) and once we got to the immigration person, he was really nice. At that point I really wanted to make my connection but I was in the US and if I had to stay one more night away from home – I was just happy to be back in the US. I even felt like breaking out in the song ( God bless the USA). So I said my good byes to Kyley and Greg and off we went to catch our flight. We had time to stop by to get an I love Atlanta bear and some chicken fingers for the flight. We got to the gate – called home to tell them we made it and then it was time to bored – I wished I could have talked to the passport control person and told Him I made it!
The plane ride to Columbus went smoothly and he slept for most of it. I had him in the stroller walking through the airport but got him out before we turned the corner to greet our wonderful family. It was so wonderful to put my arms around them! He did well in the car and it was so great to walk in our home with him. The dog was scary for him but as long as Mama was holding him he was fine.

You are telling me that YOU are taking all of this half way across the world?

Our last glimpse of Astrakhan.

Our Little M at Red Square

First Picture as an American Citizen

What are you doing to me now?

Back in Papa's arms

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 13:58:00 +0000

Merry Christmas everyone! Sorry I have been AWOL for awhile but it has been very busy and very crazy around our house. I am hoping to update this week since we will have some more relaxing times but I did not want to miss the opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and to praise our Savior who so humbly was born into this world to become our King, Redeemer and Savior.

It is amazing to sit here with little M on this wonderful morning and to think of all the wonderful children who are now with their forever families for this Christmas - one of the best and most precious gifts to us all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

All is Well

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:11:00 +0000

Yes we are alive and all doing well. I kept meaning to post but I have literally no time! There is not much time when he is asleep and I am not( maybe 3 hours in the entire 24 hour period) and then I am either tired myself or either doing one of the million necessary things that is much easier to do when he is not awake( and blogging is not a necessity for be anymore).
So for the few moments that I have while he is playing with his toys here we go...

Little M is really adjusting well. He is eating great, sleeping well and overall very happy. He does not like to go down for naps or to bed at night so that takes a little time but not as long as I have others have had to deal with. Once he is down, he sleeps great( unless we let him have too much to drink after dinner and then it is an early morning waking up to a full diaper, wet little boy and bed.
Eating, well, he loves to do eat. There is not much he does not like. At first he would eat until I thought he would explode but he is doing much better at recognizing that he is full.
The dog is no longer an issue, well at least he is no longer afraid of the dog. Now I have to worry about keeping him away from the dog. He loves to through things at him and try to step on his tail so I had to look up the phrase, "Don't hurt the dog" in Russian. Well, I found it so I know that others have had this issue too.
He is getting along with the rest of the kids also. He loves to play with them but does not like it if I am doing something with one of them and he is not included.
He is learning new words very well. His favorite is "CAR" and "BUS". Surprise surprise! Hopefully I will be getting him in some type of speech therapy in the next month and then hopefully he will get into the school systems program when he turns three.
So overall, things are going well. I think that I am the one with the most adjustment. I have been through the "twos" three times before but never did I get fropped right into the middle of them. I think that is the hardest thing. Most of the difficulties that I have with him are not attachment issues or adoption issues but two year old issues and those too will pass.
I also want to congratulate all those families out there that I either received their referral or been to court since we have been to court. I have not had much of a chance to read other's blogs let alone comment so I want to take the time now to congratulate you all. It is amazing how quickly you forget the pain of the wait and paperwork once they are home.

God Bless you all and I hope to post sooner. Here are a few pictures of life at home with our new family.

HOME!

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:55:00 +0000

Sorry for the delay in getting to blogging. For some odd reason, I could not get signed on to blog in Moscow. I thought I would have time to type up things on the plane ride home and post when I got home but M only slept for 1.5 hours on the 11 hour flight home. I am hoping over the next week I will catch you all up on things that have happened. But most importantly we our home and our entire family is together.
It was a wonderful wonderful wonderful sight to turn the corner and see Russ and the rest of my kids, along with my parents. I sight I will always remember.
A quick update: Since M did not sleep much on the plane ride he went down quickly and slept through the night. He did well Sunday night too but was up early this morning at 6am. I am hoping that in about a week, we will be out of jet lag mode and on a regular schedule.
He eats well, in fact too much if i would let him. He is getting along well with all the kids, I just have to remind them that he is not a toy to be shared. The only things that he does not like is the dog. But that is improving too. He was scared to death at first and would start crying when he would come near him but only after 1 day, he will pet him as long as Rocky is facing the other direction so give it a few more days and I am sure things will be fine.
He seems to be attaching well and this morning was a test to that. I usually walk O out to the bus stop in the morning and since Russ was here, he took M and I went outside. When I came back, M was crying. I guess he had cried the entire time. Since he saw me leave, he thought I was going away. No one wants their kids to cry but this was a good thing to see that he is attaching.
Well, off to get the day into full gear. I want to thank all of you who have prayed for our family, I do not think I could have made it through all the difficulties without being lifted up in prayer by you all.
May God bless you all for your service of prayer for us.

Last Full Day In Astrakhan

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:56:00 +0000

Well, today is the last full day in Astrakhan. Visiting the orphanage went well and M did not even cry. He was a little quite at first but after he saw the stuffed animals, he was back to his old self. We got to see the director and got the papers that we needed with his schedule and then a few pictures and out of the orphanage forever.
We did not do much today but walked to the store with Kyley and Greg and got a few things. He loves to go outside and when he is ready to go he keeps pointing outside again and again until you are ready to go. When he is in a new situation he gets very quite and wide eyed but is very observant and takes everything in. Here is a picture of his not so sure what is going on look:(we were not moving at the time, just parked waiting for Vika).

Here is another picture that I thought was too cute to pass up. We were getting ready to leave and he likes to try to dress himself. Well, here is how he put on his hat. Too Cute.

For dinner we decided to go to our favorite place one last time – the Chocolate Cafe. We went early and took a cab there and back. And it still took two hours! We came prepared for food for the kids and it went pretty well. I have to be careful with M because as long as there is food in sight he will eat it. Even in the room, if there is something left out on the counter, he will keep pointing to it like he wants to eat it so I have to put it away.
We are all very excited to be leaving tomorrow but it was a bit meloncoly driving through the city for the last time tonight. I will always have wonderful memories here but i am also very excited to be getting back home and being together as an entire family!
Tonights bed time routine took a little longer but I made some break throughs. When it was time to go to bed, I tried to hold him and rock him thinking that this would be good for attachment. Well, he did not want anything to do with that, he would figit and skworm trying to get down so he could play. So I would then put him in his crib for awhile. He would sing and play but never really lay down. Eventually He would try to climb out of the crib, which could happen, so I would pick him up and try to rock him again. After about 35 minutes of doing this routine, he finally let me rock him. He settled down and started putting his thumb in his mouth and eventually fell asleep. It was so nice to have him asleep in my arms.
The thumb sucking brings up another issue I ran into today. When I picked him up yesterday, I noticed that his thumb was split open like really dry skin or a small cut that had not healled. Well, I finally realized today that it was sore because it was the thumb that he sucked on. I brought pacifiers to try to switch him to them instead but that is not going real well right now. We will see.
There was thing that I am trying to figure out how to handle today that I would love input on. M knows when you tell him No what that means and as a two year, he likes to test it but what is weird to me is when he does something that I tell him not to, he starts to laugh. So I make a stern face and tell him no again and then put him on my lap and tell him no and hold him for a little while. The whole time he is giggling and laughing. So I try to get his attention on to something else and he stops laughing and continues on playing. I think that he knows what he is dong is wrong but I am not sure about the laughing thing. Well it is only day two and I have to remember that it all takes time.
I don't know if I will be posting tomorrow because we leave the hotel at 5pm, our plane is at 7pm and we probably will not get to the hotel in Moscow until 10pm, provided we get his passport tomorrow like we are suppose to( please pray for that one to happen). But I will post as soon as I can.

Blessings from Above

Introducing!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:25:00 +0000

Introducing the newest member of the Canestraro Family – Little M!

I wanted to get this posted earlier but when you have a two year old in a room that is not child proof, you do not have much time to sit down and type.

It was a whirl wind morning because there was so much that everybody needed to do get his passport by Wednesday so we did not get to spend much time at the orphanage saying our goodbyes, but we are going to go back tomorrow for that( I hope that he does not freak out thinking I am going to take him back). Since we rushed him out so quickly he was almost in shock, just staring wide eyed. It was a long bumpy ride but towards the end it slowed and and he seemed better. Once we got into the room and he saw the toys that he was familiar with, it was back to his old self.

We had a great lunch and he did pretty good with lunch and the sippy cup. But no nap for him. There was just to much to check out. We went later to get his visa picture taken right around the corner and purchased a new pair of boots for him because his feet had grown and what I brought were too small.He was not thrilled with everything that was going on but was not scared either. He just absorbed it all. Later we went back to pick up the photos and he was very excited about going outside again. He loved watching all the cars drive by on the street.

He has started this singing thing that I just love. He never barely spoke above a whisper but after awhile in the room while he was listening to music, he started saying LALALALALA loudly with the music. I was amazed! It was great to hear because you could tell he was happy.
We met up later with Kyley and Greg and their little girl and had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Of course he would have ate everything on the table so I had to stop him at what I thought was best and hurry up and eat my food so we could get away from the table.

Another first I saw today was him crying. He had never cried or even was upset before. Well, today, after lunch, I tried to take him to the bathroom, they say he is potty trained. I had no little potty or seat to put on top so I tried to hold him. He did not like that at all, and was a little scared. I tried later and he wanted nothing to do with the bathroom at all. In fact, when I went to change his pullup he started crying again until he realized that I was not going to take him to the bathroom. Even tonight, I had put him in the crib and tried to get him to lay down but he was just standing right up and thinking he was funny. I had was getting ready to go into the bathroom to change and wanted to tell him where I was going. Well, the only word he understood was potty and quicker then anything he laid right down. I am hoping that when we get home and start using the little potty, he will not be afraid of the bathroom anymore – something to work on.
Then there is the two year old, I am going to see how many times I can drop this and get mommy to pick it up. About two is my limit and then it goes Paka, Paka(ByeBye). Unfortunately he has three older siblings that have wore Mommy out on that one.
So, to end up the day as I have been typing, he sang his LALA song for awile and then started sucking his thumb and now he is fast asleep about right on time for bedtime. Here is hoping that he sleeps through the night. What a marvelous day. It is still hard to believe it is all real. Thank you all again for the wonderful prayers and encouragement. God Bless.

Day 10!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:06:00 +0000

I can not believe it! Day 10 is here and gone. We tried to keep busy today. Slept in some and had a late Breakfast. Then we went for a long walk probably about 5 hours with a stop at subway for lunch. It was amazing how much subway was like home, even the tables were the same. We were trying to go to a region museum of Astrakhan and found it but it looked like it was under construction. A wonderfully sweet woman tried to tell us how to get to another museum with the little English that she knew. We somewhat understood but did not think we would find it. Well, as we were walking by the park area near the Kremlin, Kyley recognized the russian word for museum so we went in. Again we were greeted with smiles as we asked if anyone spoke english. They did not however we managed to fingure out how much we should pay. It seemed to be the WWII museum that we heard about because everything was focus on the war but also included WWI. There again was this wonderfully sweet woman that was trying to show things to us and explain certain things. We did not understand but really appreciated her effort.
We took a walk along the Volga again, one of the most beautiful places in Astrakhan. Then back to the hotel for a little rest and back out for our walk to dinner. We were going to try another restaurant that we found out had an english menu, Kamila's but unfortunately, they were having a private party tonight so we could not eat there. Thankfully plan B was to eat at the Chocolate Kafe again. Our normal waitress greeted us at the door and they even gave us a free dessert of fruit and chocolate. I guess you can get that kind of treatment when you eat there three times in one week.
Well, I am all packed and ready to go in the morning to get little M. It is still so hard for me to believe that I get to take him out of the orphanage. I have a toy he likes for the car ride and the cloths I am going to change him into. All the cloths he wears must stay at the orphanage. Again, I can not believe that this day is almost here. This is the day that all the effort and paperwork and stress and tears and aches have gone towards, boy is it worth it.
I am glad that we walked so much today, it wore me out so that I will sleep good tonight, otherwise I think that I would be so excited that I could not sleep at all.
Pray for an easy transition. I am starting to get more concerned about the language barrier but we will do our best.
Have a blessed Monday!

Day 9(Last Visit)

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 17:40:00 +0000

Today was the last visit before I get to pick up Little M! I do not get to see him tomorrow because it is Sunday but Monday morning, Off we go to get him out of the orphanage. I will have the translator explain to him but I do not think he is going to get it right away. I know today we were playing and someone came in and talked with Galina for a few moments. He immediately stopped what he was doing, got real serious and just watched this person. After she left, he went right back to smiling and playing. I can tell he enjoys being with me and I think he was thinking he was going to have to go back. What a surprise on Monday when he never has to go back.
Today was really busy. Orphanage visit, a visit to a baby store to pick up some diapers, etc. A visit to the grocery to get some food for the kids and then back to the room for a late lunch. And then it was laundry time. I was exhausted after hand washing, rinsing and laying out the cloths I needed washed. I really do appreciate my washer and dryer so much more.
We went for an evening walk to Creme Kafe. We really like these places to eat but there are only three that we know for sure that have English menus(we are not adventurous enough to deal with only Russia menus) besides our hotel and we would like to have more of a variety but I don't think that is going to happen. We probably only have one more night out anyway. We are not sure how the kids will do with eating out, especially Kyley and Greg's little girl so Monday and Tuesday may be in the room – we will see.
Another wedding tonight and we laughed as we came back to the hotel. We could see inside to the dance floor and what so you think we saw... Women and children dancing and men outside smoking, almost like back home. Oh another thing to add to my list of things to remember.... The size of the napkins about ¼ of what we have at home.
Well, finally a short blog entry! Off to check email and to bed. Have a great day!

Day 8

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:32:00 +0000

Day 8
Well, I think this was the best visit yet with M. At first I was a little worried on our way because we stopped somewhere we had never been before. It was just Galina and myself and she told me to stay in the van. The building had a blue medical type cross on it so I starting getting worried that they put M in the hospital. Well, after about 5 minutes she came out with some papers and off we went, boy was that a relief.
Today he has no fever and was much more full of energy. But I think the best thing was his smile. Usually, when he comes into the room, he comes over, gives me a hug and goes right for the toys. No real facial expression – good or bad. But today, he was smiling before he even entered the room – ear to ear! He then came running over to hug me. It was wonderful! He definetly wanted me to hold him more today, which was fine with me. I could tell his mouth must still be sore because, he would sometimes struggle when swallowing but he seems 1000 times better. I will get to see him tomorrow at 10am and then hopefully take him with me on Monday!

Went out on my own this afternoon, the other families were visiting their kids. Just walked to the Mall/Grocery for more internet and phone cards. Thankfully, I got the english speaking guy today, He is very nice. I managed to exchange some more dollars for rubels on my own and then back to the room for lunch.

I was thinking about starting a list of things that I might forget once I leave here. Little things that will not mean much to anyone else except for those who have travelled to Russia and specifically Astrakhan. Here it goes:
*Remember how many times you would have to turn the key to get your door open. And then have to do the same thing on the otherside to lock the door once you were inside.
* Remember the horns honking and decorated cards driving down the street but on Friday Afternoon
*Remember never to walk down the street and look at the city. If you do not keep your eyes on the ground, you are surely to trip and fall.
*Remember the dogs and cats walking down the street. Especially the ones that knew how to cross the street with you and the adorable black and white puppy at the Astor that I would have loved to take home.
*Remember the heels that women would wear and how they never seemed to be limping from the discomfort. I never saw any of them trip on the street – boy were they good!
*Remember the Quail eggs in the salads
*Remember the room key on the large wooden key chain. At least I would know when I dropped the key.
*Remember that Lays did not make good flavor choices for their chips is Russia, SourCream and Mushroom, Crab and BBQ and Steak Flavor.
*Remember how we always specified to the taxi driver that we wanted to go to the HOTEL Korvet, so that they did not accidentally take us back to that ship. Always carry the hotel bussiness card on you.
*Remember to be careful on the steps because they are not all the same height
*Remember the smile that a waitress would have when we were NOT seated at her table. I always felt so sorry for the Russian waitresses that did not speak english but were stuck with us.

Well that is it for now, I am sure that more will come to me. Hopefully, those of you who have been here before, had an enjoyable time walking down memory lane.

We went out to dinner tonight with Andy and Kathy. For their last night here we went back to the Chocolate Cafe and had another fabulous dinner. For sure this is our favorite place. It will be sad to see them go. It is so strange how we all get so close in such a short period of time. We have only know each other for 5 days but it feels like much more then that. We joked that it is like camp. We even thought of getting T-shirts made that say Camp Astrakhan.
I have to take time out to thank you all again for your prayers. It really means the world to me.

God Bless

Day 7

noreply@blogger.com (Russ and Monica Canestraro) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:22:00 +0000

Not much new today. The same old same old. Breakfast, a little walk. We did finally stop in this store that we thought was a bookstore and had a great time. I found a couple nursery rhyme board books for M that we can not read but have great pictures. I am sure he will appreciate having them when he is older. I also finally went across the street to the open market. There were some fresh fruit and veggies that looked good but I really was not up to the effort involved in trying to communicate the price. It was just a real interesting experience that I will probably never have back in the US.

I spent the afternoon in the room just doing little odds and ends. No visit today but I did find out that M is doing better and I will get to visit with him Friday morning! I am hoping that is a good sign and that I will get to take him home(or at least to the hotel) on Monday. I am trying to get a list together of all the things that I need to do before we leave. I am starting to have those moments when I think, “I better do this now or I will never get to do it before we leave.”I guess that means we are coming to the end of our stay. I do have to repeat that it is amazing at how time does pass quickly here. You would think that it would drag on and on but the day is broken up enough that before I know it, it is time for our walk to dinner. Then it is back to the hotel and getting ready for bed. It is hard to believe that it has been 11 days since we left home(for the 4th trip that is) and that I will be home in 9 more days!

The Robert's will be leaving on Saturday and talked to their referral today about being adopted and she wants to be adopted! It is just so wonderful to see things working out. We went to San Pizza again for dinner. Dinner for us is a several hour endeavor. First, we either walk there or call a taxi. That could be anywhere from 10-30 minutes. Then we get our orders in quickly but it talks awhile to get our food, longer then in the US in most places. Once we are done eating, we have to remember to ask for the bill. We usually get talking and forget to ask, they never bring it to you unless you ask. Then we ask them to call a taxi. That is another 15 minutes for them to come.So we usually leave around 6:30 and get home around 9:30. It is long but very enjoyable to be with other families that understand everything that you are going through.

Can't wait to see M tomorrow, I hope he has bounced back quickly. Hopefully only two more orphanage visits and then he will be mine(ours).

I pray that you have a wonderful day and that God will shine His wonderful face upon you!