What's in a name?

Andy and I have had Andrey's "new name" picked out for quite some time now. We thought long and hard about picking out a name that would honor his past and also link him to both my family and Andy's family. We think we've come up with one that suits him just fine.

Vincent Andrew Barry

We decided to use his current name as his middle name. We'll use the American translation, which is "Andrew". How appropriate that he shares a name with his new daddy!

His first name will be Vincent, after my dad who passed away 7 years ago. I know that somehow my dad knows that his first grandson has been named after him, and he's smiling big time about that! As an added bonus, Vincent was also the name of my mom's oldest brother. He was also very special me. So it's kind of like a "2 for 1" !

His second middle name will be Barry. He was Andy's mom's brother. Barry died when he was a boy. Apparently he was quite a special boy and he was adored by Andy's mom. Maybe one day Vincent will complain about having 2 middle names instead of just one. We'll deal with it when the time comes. If that's his biggest issue, then we're doing just fine!

So until he's home with us, he's still Andrey. Or cutie-pie. Or chubby cheeks. Take your pick.

A great visit

We're back home now, safe and sound. We have more pictures to post from our last day with Andrey; once we get our new internet service working at home we'll be sure to post them for your viewing pleasure.

I have to tell you it was hard saying goodbye to our little guy. I think of it more as a "see you soon", but that can be hard to explain to an almost 2 year old. I wonder what he thought when we didn't show up the next day? I also wonder what his caregivers told him. Nothing? "They'll be back for you?" "That's your new mommy and daddy?" Who knows exactly what they are telling him. I'm hoping they're telling him we'll be back to get him.

We left Andrey a picture book of our photos; Andy and I, our parents, siblings, Andrey's cousins-to-be. He seemed to enjoy the book when we gave it to him, pointing to each face in the book as Andy said the name of the person. Our interpreter, Katya, pointed to my picture, looked at Andrey and said, "mama." For a moment I was a little stunned; that was the first time anyone referred to me as his mom. It was a moment of joy and yes, a little panic! Wait, I'm going to be his MOTHER? Oh, right, I knew that!

He gave us each a little hug the last day. Then, at the encouragement of his caregiver, he shook Andy's hand, then my hand, then Katya's hand, then he completed the circuit again. Then he smiled sweetly and said "paca", goodbye in Russian. What a little politician! He already knows how to work the crowd. Yes, folks, I managed to exit without crying, but it was a challenge. I did get a little teary at the airport, but the rational side of me took hold. We'll be back for him soon. Maybe not soon enough for my liking, but things will happen when they happen. Best estimate is that we'll return in 6 to 8 weeks for 2 more visits with him. On the third day of our visit, we go to court and he "officially" becomes our son. Several more weeks have to pass before he can leave the country with us, so then we will head back to Moscow for trip number 3. I should just send my entire paycheck directly to Aeroflot Airlines at this point!

There's a popular quote that speaks to adoptive families and their journey to their children, "Nobody said it would be easy; they just said it would be worth it."

Little Andrey, you are so worth it!

It's Moscow, baby!

Here are some photos from our trip to the Red Square area last night. We took the metro from our apt. in the Begovaya neighorhood to the Revolution Square stop, which is right near the Kremlin. The metro is very clean and efficient, and the stations--especially the older ones near the city center--are quite elaborate. The subway trains themselves seem a bit old--definitely Soviet era--but they have quite a smooth ride. People were not nearly as pushy or elbow-y as we'd been warned.

We hung around Red Square, taking some shots, then crossed the bridge near the Kremlin just in time to see the sun setting over the golden domes of the Kremlin's many cathedrals. What a sight!

It's hard to describe Moscow in a few words. We explored a few neighborhoods later on last night, and some of them reminded us of London's Picadilly Circus, others reminded us of Rome, and others, esp. near Red Square, were just ... Moscow. This is a city like no other ... part European, part Asian. There is a lot of prosperity here, but also a huge amount of disorganization (the street traffic!). Construction cranes are everywhere. It's too much to describe in just one post. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so enjoy the ones we've posted here. More to follow.

Photos from our second visit ...

Today was our second visit with Andrey. It was fantastic! He was shy at first, but soon he was taking Kim by the hand and leading her around the grounds outside the orphanage. Next, we brought out the xylophone again and he went to work. Then we brought out a set of plastic play cup thingies that fit inside each other, and the three of us had a ball. He really enjoyed picking leaves etc. off the ground and putting them into different cups, then stacking the cups. When he was able to stack all of them together you should've seen the grin on his face! He was definitely more open and comfortable with us today. He smiled a lot! We'll post more about today later. Now we're getting ready to take the Metro down to Red Square.

More Andrey ...

Andrey, continued...

After experiencing difficulty with the wireless connection in our apartment, we're finally up and running!

As you can see in the post below we've had a chance to meet Andrey (or Andreyushka as they affectionately call him.) Yes, he is a sweetheart! We met yesterday for the first time. I'm sure it was overwhelming for him; Andy, myself, our translator, Katya, our attorney, Tatiana, the orphanage social worker and her assistant, in addition to one of Andrey's caregivers were all crowded into a small office as he was brought in to meet us. We arrived to the orphanage a little later than we hoped, thanks to heavy Moscow traffic and a one hour delay at the Ministry of Education where we stopped to get the "official" permission to meet him.
Andrey had just finished lunch and was headed for his 3 hour nap. They kept him awake so we could meet him. We were expecting crying and fussiness; he was very pleasant considering the fact we interrupted his naptime.

After our brief introduction in the social worker's office, we were brought in to speak with the pediatrician who is the orphanage director. It wasn't hard to see that Andrey appears to be a favorite of hers as well as the other caregivers. They say he's calm and quiet. He is serious, especially when it comes to eating! He enjoys stacking cups, taking things apart and putting them back together. He eats all types of foods (apparently he has quite a sweet tooth) and feeds himself with a spoon. He says several words but understands and follows commands without any difficulty. He's had an exciting week; one of the little girls in his group bit him on the cheek. I guess he was just so cute she couldn't help herself :-)

Andrey!

Moscow here we come!

Good news! We'll be leaving for our first trip to Moscow on May 11th. What a coincidence that it happens to be Mother's Day :-)

No matter how much we've prepared, many thing just couldn't be arranged until we had our travel date. We couldn't apply for our Visas until we had both our travel dates and the hotel information. Needless to say we've been busy the past day getting all these things in order.
It's all good, though. Shortly we'll be meeting Andrey for the first time.

We'll try to upload picture of our trip while we're in Moscow so that you can all see our little guy.