Bringing Home Bryant: Our Days with Bryant

Hello from Moscow. We are having a great time getting to know Bryant, he has been wonderful, but we are so ready to get home. We received his passport today and will get his visa to travel soon. We have an appointment Friday at 11:30am at the US Embassy to finalize our paperwork. After this appointment WE ARE FINISHED. Thank God. Once we hit US soil in New York Bryant will be a United States citizen. The greatest country in the world and he will be part of it. We leave Saturday morning to come home. It can't get here soon enough.

Bryant has done really well with the transition from orphange to us. He is eating and sleeping very well. He is such a happy child and I think that has a lot to do with it. I love his personality. He is overstimulated with everything here. He wants to touch, feel, smell and put everything in his mouth. In the orphanage they play in huge playpens so he is loving being free to roam. The first day he looked at me like he was waiting for me to tell him no. When I didn't I think he was confused but nonetheless happy. He is exploring his new enviroment and learning. He has been so funny trying to figure out all of the things he has never seen before like remote controls, cell phones, computers etc. Last night he was wired and hyped up and wanted to play and throw everything. I think he has realized life has changed and this is his way of expressing it. We got him calmed down by singing and playing music. He loves music. He dances and tries to sing. I have found that he calms down easily when you sing to him. He let me sing and rock him the first day we met him at the orphanage. So now, everytime before nap or bedtime he lets me rock and sing to him. He falls asleep in my arms. I am spoiling him already and I don't even care. He deserves every minute of it. Yesterday afternoon he feel asleep on my chest and I feel asleep too. After all the difficulty of the past few weeks this was the greatest feeling and so worth it.

We gave him a bath for the first time yesterday. We did not do it the first day because we thought it might be a little traumatic. Well it was a little rough. At the orphanage he never got a bath. They shower them off. So sitting in the water is a new thing. After we put him in he started to cry. I quickly washed him and got him out. I think the bath is going to be a little bit of a challenge but may be better when he gets home and sees the girls doing it.

The other big change for him is not having three layers of clothes and socks on. We turned up the heat in the apartment and put him in one layer of clothes and no socks. Having bare feet has really helped him cruising around and learing to walk. At first he was not sure about it but now he realizes how much better he can get around. In just two days I have seen improvement. It is amazing.

Like I said before, we are ready to get this little one home and see the girls. Today especially I miss them so much. I miss the simple things we do everyday together. I can't wait to love on them. 2 days and counting until we are home.