We went to the eye doctor this week. He needs to wear an eye patch and glasses for about 6 months to see if his crossed eye improves. 

Drake's 3rd birthday is this week!!!!!! 

!!!! AWESOME !!!!!

This is the longest I've seen him play interactively with a toy. He was watching Elmo on Netflix and I ran and got his Elmo and showed him it was the same, he got all excited and started playing with it. Really great step for him considering he only sorted his toys when we first got him and didn't like to play with any stuffed animals at all. He would take the toys out of the bucket and then put them back, the circle stacker was the only one he really played interactively with on our pickup trip. A few days ago he finally picked up his bear and hugged it, laid down with it and talked to it. It was great because the bear was one of the first toys I bought him when we were adopting and he finally liked playing with it. So add Elmo to that and we have success !! 

We also hit another milestone today. Drake has been TERRIFIED of bath time since we got him. We are uncertain what happened but he feared the bath itself. We narrowed down the issue to some kind of trauma that must have happened from his orphanage. He did fine playing in water, from the faucet or elsewhere and playing with his hands in a buck of water but when it came to sitting or even standing in water he was TERRIFIED! We tried the bathtub, a bucket, the shower -- and it was all one terrified child!! 

BUT tonight we have success !!! Drake just got done taking a bath/shower !! This was an incredible step for him and we have been working with him from the first day. We've had to put a lot of effort, play time and gradual steps to get here. We stripped his clothes off and he walked to the bathroom(no crying!) He went in the shower, sat down on a towel. I had his plastic mixing bowl with his "bath" toys in it and his soap bottle but no water. I took the hand held shower head down, waited to make sure he was okay and warned him the water was coming on! Then I turned the water on.  He sat and played in the water, took his toys in and out of the bowl and played. I even let the water build up to about an inch and got him to splash in it!! He was still holding one hand back trying to hold onto the shower door for security but overall it was awesome to see the progress he has made. He did really well and we had very minimal fussing and no outright crying. 

~~~ One happy Mommy!

We got through the testing at Early Childhood. He was accepted and he starts when the school year does on August 13!! They have buses now and that will be exciting!! He will continue with FirstSteps through the summer. He's walking really well, he walked the High School hallway this week about 30 feet (?) on his own without ANY support!! Of course then he thought it was funny to plop down on the floor and we had a hard time keeping him focused on walking long lengths. He practiced on the stairs which was hard since they are meant for adults. He played again at the park twice this week and those stairs are much easier since they are narrow and he can use both rails to steady himself, he got comfortable enough to start playing around and started going down two feet at once on the step, that was pretty funny and he thought he was so cute doing it. LOL.... 

Before/After : from pickup to now

He is learning sign language and already knows how to sign: eat, drink, more, head/hat, and no more/done. We are going to learn MONKEY next !!!!! how fun!!

We had a therapy session this week with the physical therapist. We got some really helpful information and got Drake outside walking. He walked the cul-de-sac while holding his shirt. He's learning stability and has started walking up to 10 steps on his own without any support.

Today we went to the Early Education building to see his preschool that starts in August. He enjoyed seeing the other children and all the new toys and things to play with.

at Early Education Center

After we finished there we went to the park right next door and he loved playing. He tried to kiss another little girl playing. That was MOST hilarious !

)

Success !!! 

Alex drew a picture of Drake's brace. Fun!

by Alexander Kurzawa 03.19.2014

Drake's first time eating Girl Scout Cookies!

Another busy week for us. We picked up his braces on Wednesday and we've started to work with him standing and walking. We need to get him walking independently before the fall school year starts and he starts at Early Education. 

Drake holding his new braces for his feet

We had a meeting with FirstSteps and Early Education this week. He was evaluated in 5 areas. He will turn 3 next month. His evaluation results are: Cognition: 15 months, Communication: 10 months, Social-emotional: 16 months, Physical Development: 11 months and Adaptive Behavior: 19 months. So we have a bit to go to get him caught up to his peers. Our first therapy session is this Tuesday. 

I love pizza !!!

He loves the Xbox controller, he will sit and watch the tv screen and press buttons just like he's actually playing a game even though the controller he has isnt turned on.

The word he spoke the most since we picked him up was "ne" (meaning no). So we've been home a month now and he says various things like daddy, momma, Behla, Casey, Mindy, Num Num etc... but now he's learned NO! and it's soooo cute. check it out on the video... he drank out of a tin cup at the orphanage but they must have helped him with it because he would always spill when we tried with him. We've had him on a spill proof cup since we got him but at meal time he's been drinking a little bit at a time in a small jelly jar (perfect size for him) and he's getting good at it. We get his braces for his feet this Thursday and I can't wait to see his progress once he's able to stand correctly on his feet! :-)

YUM, ravioli ! 

Behla and Drake with Valentines :-)

Drake and Mindy

Update from us!! His appointment with the Orthopedic doctor went well. The problem with his feet is only low muscle tone. His feet roll inward when he walks or stands. He has pronation of the foot. We were referred to an orthotist and had casts made so he can get braces. His braces will only go up to his ankle and he will wear them in his shoes to stabilize him when he walks. This is a relief to us, since we weren't exactly sure what was causing his feet to roll inward like that and I wasn't sure if he had a deformity or what!? But, good news, no surgery or anything evasive needed! It will take a few weeks to get his braces made since they are custom. 

The Orthotist put a cast on his foot just like when you break your foot. Then he let it harden for a few minutes and then removed it. The piping is used so he can cut the cast off using a blade instead of an electric saw. It was a fun process to watch but Drake didn't like it at all!! 

Aside from this we also met with the physical therapist from First Steps. She did her evaluation and we will have another meeting the beginning of March to setup his services. We expect his report will show he is right around 1 year old in all areas. So we have a lot of catching up to do since he will turn 3 in April.

Two more days and he will be with us for a month. We have his nighttime sleep established and are working on a schedule for his nap. He eats very well and we introduce him to new things almost daily. He is eating table food that we have blended or mashed. His chewing is good but its tough for him to eat a lot of food that isn't blended so we are gradually working on that. He still hates baths or showers, not sure how long it will take to get him to take one without screaming. Barney is by far his favorite show but he will watch several others. He has started paying more attention to books when we read to him. Baby steps :-)

Drake had fun last week meeting some of his grandparents!! 

Drake & Grandma Becky

Drake and Grandma Gerry

Drake and Grandpa Kenny

Drake has a couple appointments this week. He's seeing the foot doctor today to see what's going on with his foot. He's got an appointment tomorrow with the First Steps physical therapist for his evaluation. He'll start with First Steps and join Early Childhood when the school year starts over in August. 

He is doing very good with eating. Much better then I expected. He is able to chew properly and eats plenty of food and drink. 

We can't wait for it to get warmer so we can take him to the park. We have freezing rain today and school was called off. They had so many snow days already that they had them attending today even though it was a holiday and then they got called off anyway. Oh well! One more day home for the girls to spend with baby brother!

I went to church today and was good enough to get a cheese puff snack when I got home. :-)

He finally stood on his own for us. I know they were working on this at the orphanage and he finally did it tonight.

I'm running a little behind on blog updates! oops, guess I've been too busy with baby!

Here is his first snow from last week.

Me and my sisters! Bel (left), Drake(middle), Mindy(right)

Pick me up sissy, I dont know what this white stuff is!

Kisses from Sis, now fix my hat I cant see!!!!

Drake's first snow in America!

Sissy was teaching Drake twinkle twinkle little star!

Update ! 

We went to the doctor yesterday. He did very well and even wanted her to hold him. I was really grateful for that!! He weighed in at 25.4 lbs and 2ft 9 inches tall. So he's 5th percentile and lower on the charts but who's counting he's priceless! He got 3 shots that he didnt get in Europe (Hep A, Flu and Chicken pox) and screamed ! OUCH baby! We have to get his blood work done this week as soon as the roads are clear. It snowed, no clue how much but it's a lot. School let out at early yesterday and is off today. We got several referrals for him and I'll need to get that all setup. Orthopedic for his feet, ENT for tongue(some weird bump on it) and his nose, eye doctor for his crossed eyes, neuro to check his head out, and she's going to have First Steps call us. For being a special needs kid he sure is normal! He watched the entire Barney show this morning at 3 am and didn't budge (LOL). He was holding his "C" alphabet card the whole time. I told him that his Gramma has real cows! 

I'll update with some pictures soon! 

Mom gave me a haircut, finally!

Sis took my pic from her phone and the flash made me squint! 

We made it home!! 

The girls have been watching Drake while James and I sleep.... 

back to bed!

Mom & Dad made me take a bath!

We had our U.S Embassy appointment to get his Visa. We got approved and our translator will pick it up tomorrow. That experience was interesting. The security there is tight and they have Bulgarian guards. We were asked by 3 different guards along the way to the building if we had weapons. I don't think anyone working there was American. One other person in the waiting room spoke English so he may have been. 

We took a family picture since we didn't get a chance to do one on the gotcha day. It's a little blurry, I had it on time delay, not sure what happened.... We'll take more at home when we have someone else to hold the camera!

This is our last day. We leave for the airport at 4:20 am Saturday morning. So we will spend today packing and trying to sleep some before we leave. We will spend about 17 hours traveling home and arrive home in Saint Louis in the evening on Saturday. We can't wait to get home!! 

Two more days until we can go home! We are so homesick!! We have our U.S. Embassy appointment today. It's the final step and then we can leave once his Visa is done. His passport is done and it's really cute!

We stayed in today and rested. It snowed another couple inches making the streets a mess again. Luckily when we go to the embassy appointment today we take a taxi and don't have to walk anywhere. The sidewalks are uneven and slick with snow on them. The slippery slush is the worst!!

Drake is awake, as he is most mornings between 2-4 am, so I'm off to get his breakfast ready. He loves mashed bananas with milk, yogurt and baby rice cereal. YUM!

We don't have any appointments today or tomorrow. So we are happy to stay in the apartment and not have to take Drake out in the cold. James went out and picked up breakfast. The croissants have filling in them, either chocolate, cheese, apple butter jelly, or apricot jelly. He also picked up a hotdog loaf. I'm not sure the bulgarian names for any of this stuff but it sure is tasty!

James also went out and got us lunch. He went to a couple different places. He got pizza bakery around the corner. It's AMAZING! It was ham and cheese. They don't put tomato sauce on their pizza and it's common for them to put ketchup on top. He also went to Korzo, a nearby restaurant, and got shopska salad (my favorite!), wings and french fries.

Success!

We went out for the medical appointment today. Drake did very well. He liked the car ride there and didn't fuss at all. He did fine waiting to be seen. Of course he didn't like the cold stethoscope but who doesn't! He screamed bloody murder while they tried to do his blood work. It took 3 nurses to hold him still and they had to stick both arms before they got a vein but it's done! The blood test is for tuberculosis. He has had a vaccine for TB and a skin test would show a false positive so they did a blood test because it's more accurate. The doctor spoke english and with our translator there we didn't have any problems. Drake liked the other children there and would call out to them. When he saw a baby he instantly said bebe (baby) and that was really cute. He liked the car ride back and pointed to things along the way including the trolley and a few buildings. When the car went over a bumpy patch in the road he giggled.

When we got back the maid was still there cleaning so we decided to walk to the mall. James was carrying Drake and missed the last step on the apartment stairway. He went down on his knees to save dropping Drake, so now his right knee is hurting. ouch. It is a 3 block walk and the sidewalks were covered in slush. To get through one intersection we had to go down into the metro station and cross under the street. The concrete in the metro and the stairs were wet and icy and hard to navigate but we made it to the mall without falling.

We ate at Happy and Drake did really good. He went into the highchair with a little fussing but once there he enjoyed eating and played happily while we ate. Once he saw french fries this time he knew exactly what they were and demanded one! :-)

We walked around the mall to checkout the stores. The Mall of Sofia is really big and it has a imax cinema. The walk back to the apartment was a bit worse since we were tired. The maid had done a really good job with the apartment and put the dishes away. It was nice to come back to a clean and tidy apartment!!

I giggle when mommy cleans my teeth and I love the bag my teeth stuff comes in!

who needs toys when you have a kleenx and a coke bottle!!

This fridg is just my size!

At Happy Bar and Grill with mixed fruit baby food on my face!

We had a good day. James walked a couple blocks north to Billa in the morning and got us some more groceries. It's too cold (about 20 degrees F) to take Drake out and there is about 3 inches (?) of snow on the ground. In the afternoon James walked to McDonalds and got us burgers and fries! Drake has been doing so good eating and drinking so we chopped up a burger into small pieces and let him have french fries. He took the first french fry and just held it in his hand, I had to show him it was food. I'm quite sure he's never had McDonalds before. He loved the fries and kept asking for more. He ate less then a 1/4 of a cheese burger and liked it. He won't get this often but it was a nice treat and we sure enjoyed the comfort foods of home! We have 5 days until we leave Sofia. Although we'd love to get out of the apartment and sight-see it's just not possible with Drake and this weather! We have our medical appointment at the doctors office tomorrow. We have to get medical clearance before we can get his visa. I hope he does okay going out tomorrow. It's a sensory overload for him. He was in a small quiet town and I expect that he didn't go off the orphanage grounds very often. The children would often play outside but it's on a quiet street and the grounds are pretty big so he was never that close to the noise of the street/city. James and I stay home a lot so it won't be a problem at all for us to hole up once we get home. He has adjusted to being in this apartment and will go anywhere either by crawling or walking along furniture or walls. He still needs a little bit of support to walk but he is doing very well. He loves this blue shirt he is wearing today. He had already wore it once and it had been hanging to dry after I washed it. I had to keep it out of sight until it was dry because he kept asking for it (point and say "da" - yes).

my first french fry from McDonalds

VIDEOS!

The guys sleeping

This is the snow we have in Sofia this morning (Sunday)

It snowed yesterday (Saturday) and the high temp today is supposed to be 20F. The weather is supposed to continue to be this way. Here is a view from the balcony. We are one level up with the ground floor below us. I think our building is 6 stories total. 

Here is the balcony off the living room. There is a connecting door in the bedroom too. I'm sure this is awesome to have in the fall/spring. 

It's been a long day! He did really good this morning. We walked to the grocery, he cried all the way there (3 buildings over) and once he got in the door and I handed him his cheesy puffs then he was good. He came all the way back and didn't cry, it's progress!! 

We alternate between him laughing and playing to him crying and screaming. Yes, I do believe he is a normal child! LOL He is a very determined and head strong child and now that he's comfortable with us we are seeing more of his personality. He's a great kiddo.

A family moved here to Sofia from the U.S. to do missionary work. We met Jeff today and that was nice. It gave us a little break. 

I made this knit hat and he liked it!!

He held that piece of paper almost all day. I was cleaning the table off and was going to throw the old grocery list away and he called out for it. He liked to fold and unfold it. Momma's helper holding the grocery list! 

VIDEO'S

The bakery a couple doors over is incredible!! Banitsa is only 1.5 lev ($1.05 us dollars), croissants with jelly in them, Italian rolls, and they have pizza in the afternoon. We'll keep trying different things everyday until we have tried it all!!

We Skyped home with the kids; that was fun for everyone. Drake would parrot Mindy saying "yah?!"

I just got done fixing some homemade baby food. Carrots with pureed meat, yogurt drink and rice cereal. YUM! (LOL)... He ate really good again today and we lost track of how many diapers we changed. It has been great staying in an apartment with a kitchen instead of a hotel room. Drake even went exploring today and found the bathroom, lol.

He enjoyed standing at the window with James while I took a nap. The ladies in the office building next door were waving at him and he waved back. I'm sure it was adorable. He likes to stand at the window, now if we could just get him to go outside without crying!

watching tv while relaxing on couch and daddy taking a nap

down for the night at 930pm - success!

We've tried to transfer him to the playpen to sleep but he usually wakes up and cries. Then we are lucky if he goes back to sleep. We've only gotten him to sleep in there once. So we are playing tag team with our naps so one of us can watch him. We'll work on getting him to sleep in his crib once we are home. :-)

Baby picture orphanage took. It's on regular paper so it's hard to see clearly.

picture orphanage took Dec 2013. 

We are staying in an economy apartment. Here is a typical bathroom/shower setup. The shower head is on the wall and the entire bathroom is tile. I feel sorry for the poor soul that has to clean all this tile!!! 

Here is a blog post from another family that recently adopted a priceless and adorable little girl. :-)

When Life After Adoption is Hard.