The Week in Review

Monday - you can read about that in my last post.

Tuesday - We went to see the girls in the morning. Masha has decided that a daddy is a very cool toy that can toss her high up in the air. Now she seeks him out... for entertainment purposes only but hey it is a start, a great start. Peach, dear sweet Peach threw up all down mama’s back and leg. Then she sat on daddy’s lap looking all innocent while I cleaned it up. Later in the day we met “Jeannie” at the SDA offices and picked up the referral paperwork for Masha. The issue with her incorrect adoption paperwork has been resolved.



Wednesday - We had our sit down visits with the doctors. I’ll start with Masha because we went to her baby house first. Masha comes from a good family. She weighed 7 lbs 2 oz at birth. When she was two months old, she came to groupa house 5 and has been there ever since. She is dearly loved by her paternal grandmother who has visited her every week. The first year of Masha’s life she was given a course of amino acids and vitamins on a complex schedule to boost her cognitive and physical development. Her grandparents paid more than two thousand dollars for this special treatment and the doctors say that Masha has truly benefitted from it.

Masha is in good health. Her ASD has closed up on its own and she has no other physical ailments. Except it seems she is “allergic” to crying... and we were told not to let her cry. Lol, can you say spoiled? No, seriously, when she cries hard for a long time she gets laryngitis, so every effort is made to keep this from happening.

It is obvious that Masha is loved by the staff, particularly by the doctor there. She has been so well cared for. Her grandparents have always wanted to take her home but have been unable to get permission from her mother to do so. We are looking forward to meeting them.

Peach... Well first off, we were mistaken about Peach having grandparents... I mean I am sure she does but no one has ever visited Peach. Her doctor told us that she is Peach’s family and when we showed her the book we made, she asked to keep it. Peach’s doctor is a very strong woman, pretty and strict, and she runs a tight ship. It was so clear that she loves Peach very much. She has made sure that Peach has received everything possible to help with her development, including Omega 3 oil, vitamins, physical therapy and massages.

Peach weighed 7 lbs 7 oz at birth and scored an 8.8 on her apgar. At two months old she was transferred from the maternity house to baby house #2 and has lived there ever since. At three days old, Peach was diagnosed with a complete AV Canal heart defect. On July 16, 2010, she had OHS at the best children’s hospital in Ukraine. Her cardiologist says her fix was great and that she has recovered very well. She weighs just under 11 lbs and has been declared healthy by every specialist that has examined her.

Thursday - we went with “Jeannie” to the notary’s office to wrap up our paperwork needed for court. After that we took the metro to Babi Yar and walked all through the memorial grounds. It was a powerful experience for me and I will likely post about it at some point on my other blog.

Friday - We had sooo much fun with Masha this morning. We brought her a monkey that rolls over and laughs when its sensor is tripped. At first Masha was a little afraid of it but her caregivers encouraged her to play with it and she was talking to it and chasing it around. When we got to Peach’s house we had to wait a few minutes for her to finish up eating. We could hear her coming, crying very loudly... She came in all red faced with tears still on her cheeks. I took her and she started to cry again. I patted her and got a big burp, and then she calmed right down and snuggled in. It was wonderful to be able to comfort her.

Oh, mama, I’m sorry I puked on you...