First trip experience?

Hey...for those fellow bloggers out there, what was your first experience like with your child in Russia? We have a few questions that we wanted to gauge how your experiences were:
* Did your child make noises, or relatively quiet?
* Did your child reach for toys, grab things and move a lot, or remain mostly still?
* Was your child able to crawl?
* Did your child laugh, try to communicate?
* Did your child smile?

Our first day yesterday was interesting...she was very quiet, reserved and didnt really show a lot of emotion. We assume its from the delays of being at an orphanage, but wanted to gauge other people's experiences. We leave soon for our second trip. Thanks for your advice!

Thank you everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you everyone for answering all our questions. We really appreciate it. It make us feel more prepared and at ease. We really hope that they let us spend a lot of time with her that would be just incredible. Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts. I will be sure to write everything down in my journal and share this special journey with you all..;-)))))))))))))))) Whoo hooo we are so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A quick question?????????????

When you traveled on your first trip and went to see your child how long did they allow you to visit for was it everyday and how long one or two hours.?????? Just wanted to know. I don't wanna be disappointed. The reason I'm asking is we just got done talking to our social worker and she was telling me how other peoples experiences were that they usually met the baby twice for an hour or so but that depends on the region.. All my Vlad friends can you let me know so we get an idea what to expect... Thanks!!!

Got our visas today!!!

We were worried that we wouldn't get our visas on time but they showed up this morning. So hotel booked,flights booked,all packed,and got our visas we are pretty much all set to go. I just want to be on the plane already. These days are dragging because we are too excited of going already.Another couple reached out to us through our blog. They are traveling to the same region as us and their flights are the same so they gave us their phone numbers so we can meet up with them. We are so excited to meet people along the way and make new friends....

So close!!!!!

I can't believe we are flying out this weekend finally. It has been very stressful 2 weeks. Randy just left to Fedex the second dossier to our agency. We finished with all the paperwork after all. Now, I hope everything looks good and that we won't have to re-do too much of the paperwork. So far we didn't have to re-do anything the home study or the first dossier they liked everything we did but now this is the paperwork to get a court date so I am sure they'll find something wrong. (We hope not)Our visas should be arriving this Thursday. We managed to fit everything somehow. We are bringing one carry on duffel bag,a backpack for Randy and a large purse for me. We are flying in dressy pants so we can wash them and re-wear them at the end of the week . We packed 3 dressy pants for each of us,bunch of nice shirts and jewelry for me. I made sure everything mixed and matched. We didn't want to drag a huge suitcase and take a chance on it getting lost. We wanted to make this as stress free as we possibly can. We are very excited and nervous at the same time. I am not crazy about flying at all and it will take us 26 hours to get there. We are flying arofloat so I am not quite sure how good they are. I haven't been sleeping too good lately. It must be all the excitement. I go to bed late and wake up very early. I am an early bird I always wake up around 5 in the morning even on the weekends but 3 am is just too much for me.We are not taking a lap top with us so if we get a chance to post something at the hotel we will and if not I am bringing a journal with me so I can write everyday about our experiences and than I'll post everything. So that's about it for now. Wish us LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!

russian currency?

So for those that have traveled to Russia, should we convert some of our money at the airport into Rubles? Do the stores take American dollars and/or credit cards? We are taking a bunch of cash (we know...no marks, tears, etc...), but wanted to check if we should take out Russian currency as well. Thoughts? Thanks!

we are getting excited....now we are praying that the Visas come in on Wed and we get the final paperwork back so I (Randy) can go get them Apostilled! thanks everyone!

Ready to pull my hairout!!!

Okay so we got everything notarized except for my doctor. So I go there today to pick up the paperwork and what do you know everything looked good until I got to his license page and saw that the notary forgot to stamp the sheet with the stamp that says the expiration date. Great all of them were done except one. Now we had to leave the paper so he could bring it back to have that done but he doesn't go to his central office till tuesday so how are we suppose to appostile all of this before us leaving on saturday the 26th. It wouldn't be so bad but this time we have like 6 different notaries . it's always something first he didn't want to give me his license that took like 3 weeks of crying than talking to his lawyer now this. It's seems I can't never catch a break. My husband stuff is perfect as far as we think we'll see about the judge. The hotel is booked,flight booked,we are almost packed and our visas should come on the 23rd. If everything went right Randy would have dropped of to get everything appostiled tomorrow. I was thinking maybe we can just go to the central office tomorrow so the notary can stamp it . I'll run that idea by my husband even though we both have to work. So that's about it for now. I hope we figure this out!!!!!