Friday Flashback

To continue the story of last week where I met my baby boy, here is my journal posting for the day I officially became his mommy:

November 4, 2004: Wow! What a day! Our court date was set for 9 a.m. The other family went first, and I followed at 9:30 a.m. By 10 a.m., I was a mom. The judge asked why I was adopting, why from Russia, how I would care for Henry. The prosecutor asked if it was okay that Henry was older than I originally asked for. She smiled when I commented how special it was that we shared our birthday. Then, out of the room and back in to hear that my petition was granted but that the 10-day wait would not be waived.

Next, it was off to the store to buy cakes for the caretakers and then on to the baby home. Henry was brought to me in a pink snowsuit. This was removed and he was dressed in a blue overalls outfit from Aunt Leslie. Then bundled in his blue snowsuit. Henry cried some in the car, mostly because the other little girl was crying. But he calmed quickly and fell asleep. That should be his only nap.


When we returned to the room, we played with his toys. Surprisingly, he took his first steps. He also seems to want to talk. He seemed to say "uh-oh" and would grunt twice in imitation of woof-woof. He enjoyed playing peek-a-boo. It was apparent that he was not used to one on one attention, but he sure loved it.

He went down at about 8:30 and slept until 6:30 a.m. He woke briefly at about 10:30 but it seemed he had a tummy ache. After a few minutes of consoling him, he settled right back down. He ate well and loved his bedtime bottle.

Yep, I know, not the same warm and fuzzies from the last post. But at this point, I was stressed to the max. I'm glad I got even this little bit documented. I was a new mom to a 15 month old baby and had no idea what I was doing. So far, it seems that I haven't damaged him much. I was so grateful that my Mom was along to provide assistance and moral support.