Back to Official Business…

Greetings to everyone from here in sunny Vlad. Today was a busy day for the dads. Steve, Chris and Irina (one of our incredible coordinators here) met up at 9am today and were off take care of some of our final orders of business here in Vlad. Our first stop was at the Notary office, then on to court to pick up our official court decree. The next stop was at one of the Vital Statistics offices for Steve to sign off on Victoria’s Birth Certificate and Certificate of Adoption (it felt very good to finally see these documents!). After a short stop at another Vital Statistics office for Chris, we were on to the Passport office to request Victoria’s Russian passport. Typically, this process takes weeks to months. However, for international adoptions, the process is expedited (1 day turnaround). We then made two quick stops; one at Vladivostok’s main Vital Statistics office and one at the Ministry of Education (the office that oversees all adoption referrals in Russia). The last stop for the day was our final trip to the toy and food store here in Vlad. All-in-all, it was a 4.5 hour outing (for the dads this felt like about 2 hours….the moms might agree that it felt more like 8 hours. Hahaha…).

Sharon and Victoria had just finished lunch, so we sat down and listened to some music (more specifically, to a CD with Russian children’s songs that Sharon had picked up earlier in the week). Victoria really enjoyed the songs (most of which appear to be associated with Russian cartoons) and she sang along with a number of them. Have we mentioned that this kid is adorable?

Well, our days are finally in single digits. Including today, we’ll be home in 9 days (so, technically 8 days) and we leave for Moscow in a day and a half. It will be great to move on. However, we are very thankful for our time here at the Vlad Inn…which actually represents our first home as a family. Tomorrow, we three are off to pick up Victoria’s passport, then we head to her US Embassy required doctor’s visit.

It’s Official; We Have a New Member of the Family….

Hello everyone! Today is March 30, 2009, which marks 2 years, 7 months, and 30 days since starting the adoption process. While our court decree is ready, we could not pick it up from the judge today (based on the judge’s meeting schedule). Mildly frustrating, but we are still on schedule for the rest of the week and, hey, what’s one more day after all this time, right? Hahahaha… (please note the mild sarcasm) ;o)

However, our 10 day waiting period is complete and, at long last, we are able to officially introduce the newest member of our family….Victoria Ann Fantozzi.

We’ve come such a long way since the day we first set eyes on our little girl (we have crossed both oceans to see her). But, on September 24, 2008, she walked down a short flight of stairs and straight into our hearts…where she will stay forever. Today is a day filled with excitement and joy…one which starts a new chapter in our lives (as well as our family and friends). You have all traveled this journey with us and we are delighted to have you share this wonderful day with us.

Just as a reminder, here is the first picture that we ever took of Victoria…


Here are some pictures from today. In one, she is playing hide and seek with her blanket while “watching” Scooby Doo…in the other, she is trying on her new hat…
P.S. – Pics/Videos associated with previous posts are up. So, if you are interested, feel free to have a look.

The Weekend is Officially Over….

Hello from chilly Vladivostok. We had a little snow over night. Not too much, just enough to lightly coat the ground. It made for a nice scene when we opened the windows this morning (we look out the window together each morning to look at the birds). We have been very lucky with the weather since we have been here. We are hoping for the same luck when we reach Moscow, so that we are able to take advantage of the sightseeing opportunities.

We went for a nice walk down to the Sea of Japan again today with our friends Chris, Daniela and Sasha. Victoria enjoyed seeing the trains and waving to the people as they went by. We then settled in for lunch, over which Victoria locked into the movie Air Bud II. This was a nice change of pace as far as TV shows are concerned. Understand this…they have multiple stations here that have American shows (in English). However, they are on a long rotation. So, you wind up seeing the same episodes of shows/movies multiple times over the course of a few days. Victoria had been enjoying the 2009 Figure Skating World Championships, which aired over and over again (continuously) throughout the week (I think that we know each fall and could effectively score each routine at this point…hahaha). Funny…today, we heard that someone referred to this portion of the second trip as Groundhog Day (as in the movie). We agree that this hits the nail on the head! Haha…

Well tomorrow should be a big day for us. This is the day that we are scheduled to receive our official court decree. While the official date of adoption coincides with our court date (March 18th), when we receive the decree, our little Vika will officially become Victoria Ann Fantozzi. This also means that we will be able to post pictures on the blog. We will be sure to go back to post pictures appropriate to past blog posts. So, please be sure to go back and have a look after tomorrow!!!

Passing Time and Trying to Stay Healthy….

Happy Saturday everyone! This is the start of our last weekend here in Vlad. We have passed the half way point in our 26 day journey (home-to-home). Today was day fifteen, so we are on the “back-nine”, so to say. There are a number of new adoptive families here with their children. They are all adorable, but there seems to be an outbreak of the sniffles and a little worse. So, mild paranoia has set in about getting sick. Victoria has her doctor’s appointment in 4 days, so we don’t want her to be sick for that. Just as importantly, we’d prefer that none of us be sick for the 9 hour flight to Moscow next week.

Today was a pretty laid back day for us. So, not too much info for us today. Victoria is being a good girl a large majority of the time. She has her devilish moments too, of course. We are working on “please” (pazhalsta) and “thank you” (spasiba). Obviously, it will take some time, but we are definitely making progress.

We were happy to hear that our friends Chris and Daniela received their court decree today finalizing their adoption is adorable Sasha. Another friend of ours, Jennifer, whom we met on our first trip in September, received word that her court date is set for next month. So, there is lots of good news to go around. Truth be told, we could not be happier for both of these delightful families. Our next news should come Monday, when our court decree finalizes. So, we’re getting there!!

Three days till our court decree is finalized….

A continuing story…we are literally loosing track of what day of the week it is. Now that we have confirmed it to be Friday, we are just a few short days away from officially finalizing our adoption of Victoria. April is nearing and we will soon be on our way to Moscow.

Victoria is getting used to our daily schedule and is full of energy. The Vlad Inn is a family/kid friendly location. So, this has been a great place to spend our first days as a family. We’ll have to see how Victoria reacts to next week’s plane ride (8 hours) and the new set up/schedule in Moscow. We are looking forward to seeing a number of Moscow’s historic landmarks (Red Square, St. Basil’s and even the Moscow Zoo). Victoria seems to really enjoy animals (in books and on the National Geographic channel). So, the zoo should be a hit.

We have been trying to see how many English words we can teach Victoria. Since she is fluent in Russian, it is a little more difficult. She has been picking up on things, though. She is learning to count in English (she is already able to count in Russian). We have been working on counting the number of stairs for starters. So far, she has 1, 2 and 3. We’ll see how things go…

We decided to take Victoria for a walk today down toward the Sea. The breeze made it quite cold, so we were going to call off the trip a little short. On the way back, we ran into our friends Chris, Daniela and Sasha. So, we decided to take a trip to the little market located near the hotel (think of a small 7-11). This, of course, turned out to be Victoria’s first ever trip to the store. We were little anxious to see how she would react, but we felt that this would be a good place to start (rather than a full sized store). She handled it like a champ and was very calm.

In the store, there is a nice older woman that we have heard about. Folks call it the “Babushka Test” where the woman checks over the kids to ensure that the new parents have dressed them appropriately. The woman (who is very nice and we have seen in the store a number of times) had a nice little conversation with Victoria and told her that she was “kraseevee” (beautiful). We are proud to say that Victoria passed! Haha… This evening, Victoria interacted very nicely with a newly adopted 18 month old boy (when he dropped his ball, she picked it up and handed it to him on several occasions). Hopefully, this bodes well for her interacting with young cousins/friends.

Here are a few more pictures, this time some shots around the hotel. The first is a shot of the White Rabbit (where we and a number of adoptive parents spend a fair amount of their time). The second is a shot of Victoria’s bath toys, which she lines up very neatly after her bath (it was tough finding any bath toys here, especially girlie ones…but these were better than spaceships…haha). The third is our kitchen. The fourth is a shot of our living room.

Six days to go in Vlad….

We are 4 days away from receiving our court decree and finalizing our adoption of Victoria!!! Our friends, Chris, Daniela and Sasha may be receiving their paperwork tomorrow. So, we are hopeful for that and are very happy to have had a chance to share this experience with them.

Sharon had the chance to head out today (with Irina and Daniela) to go souvenir shopping for Victoria. This also turned allowed her to do some sightseeing (lots of great photos). Unfortunately, we may not get to do a family sightseeing outing here in Vlad (based on the way the days fall and the business that we have to attend to next week). So, we were very happy that Sharon had the chance to get out today and see some things. We should still have time to do a family outing once we get to Moscow.

Sharon did an excellent job picking out items for Victoria. What a great mom she is!!! She picked up some awesome Russian nesting dolls, a Snow Princess, a teddy bear with “Vika” on it, and a CD with Russian children songs. There are 3 nesting dolls. One is distinctly Russian, painted red, black, and gold. One is the Cheburashka, with all the main characters from the cartoon (including the crocodile, the lion, the mean old lady and her dog). The last nesting doll is Winnie the Pooh and contains a number of the main characters (Tigger, Eyore, Rabbit and Piglet). As for the Snow Princess, it is said that she brings gifts to little Russian boys and girls around Christmas.

While Sharon was out, Steve spent the time in the room watching a movie with Victoria. She wanted to watch Nemo again (hard to believe, right?). So, he may have rested his eyes a little during the movie. Hahaha… The rest of the time was spent coloring and playing ball (some of her typical afternoon activities). Victoria absolutely loves the pair of sunglasses that we brought for her. Of course, we find it hysterical that she loves to use them inside and sees no need for them outside. We were looking through some pictures on the computer tonight (from our trek down to the frozen Sea of Japan yesterday) and we pointed out that she had blinked in one picture. She said that the sun was in her eyes. So, we are working on the concept of using the sunglasses outside.

During the first few days, Victoria would eat anything that we put in front of her and would eat every last bite. Now, she is a little more picky about what she eats and how much. She loves her apple juice (yablaka-sok), banana (banan), and yogurt for breakfast (zaftrak). For lunch (aby-et), she giggles with excitement over her ham and cheese sandwich, along with some goldfish. For dinner (oozshin), she adores plain pasta. Since she has never had sauce with her pasta, we will wait until we get home to introduce some sauces. It will be important to see how she likes these before a meal at her Uncle Joe’s house (who, if you don’t know, can put out a real feast).

The three of us are sitting here in front of the computer as we type this. Victoria does not like to let daddy type as she just wants to see pictures/videos of herself. We have gotten around this by setting up a scrolling slideshow of pictures on the side of the screen. Well, it is time for Zubies and then off to bed for Victoria. The last two nights she has gone into bed alone in the room, without us on the adjacent bed (such a big girl).

Here are a few pics from around the city. The first is a view across the Vlad Bay and into the Sea of Japan, the second is the Triumphal Arch, the third is the first church built in Vladivostok, the fourth is an actual WWII sub (including a WWII monument to fallen soldiers), the last is a nice sea level shot across the bay.

A Fun-Filled Day….

Today was an enjoyable day. After lunch, Victoria enjoyed watching a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse video that we brought. Another hit…she enjoyed it tremendously and loved following along with “Miska, Mooska, Mickey Mouse” (you need to know the show to understand). It was very cute. Also, while coloring a turtle this morning, Victoria started to sing a song about turtles (teel-e-baska)...we told you she has a song for everything. She loves the camera, but seems to shy away from showing her playful side on video. This time, we got lucky and we caught her singing the song on video. We will definitely try to post it come next Monday.

While Victoria is familiar with watching videos, regular TV is not something that she would have had a chance to watch. She takes a little interest in TV so far, but not tremendously so. There are some very interesting old Russian cartoons (even the Russian version of Winnie the Pooh). She has learned how to use the remote. There are not that many channels here, so she just scrolls up/down saying “Knee-Eta” (not this) until she settles on something. This evening, she found out how to adjust the volume. It took a few tries to get across the concept of turning it down. Hahaha…

We decided to go for a walk down to the beach with the Chris, Daniela and Sasha. Victoria was all dressed up in her full snow suit. At times, it reminds us of Ralphie’s little brother in the movie “A Christmas Story.” Hahaha…. But, she loves the outfit! When we were here in September, the beach was hopping with barbeques and people swimming. This time, the Sea of Japan is completely frozen over. Earlier in the week, folks were driving out onto the ice to go ice fishing. Today, there was only one lone fisherman.

In addition to loving her bath time, Victoria loves to brush her teeth. She has a cute Snow White (purple with sparkles) toothbrush and goes running to the sink (giggling the whole way) when we say “Zubies” (teeth). She is such a big girl with her “Pasta” (toothpaste). Victoria is even taking a fancy to looking at herself in the mirror, mostly admiring her new outfits, but also while brushing her hair. It is evident that she never really was given a chance take her time and do her hair. So, this is all new to her and it is cute to watch.

Hope everyone enjoys the new look of the blog. We even added a clock, so that you can always know what time it is here for us. They will be observing daylight savings time this weekend, so we will go from 14 hours forward to 15 hours forward compared to EST. Hope that everyone is doing well and we’ll talk to you all soon!!