Best. Christmas. Ever. !!!!

I know, I know...I've slacked a little on the blogging! But, I haven't had as much time- our last day in Russia we were running back and forth to the Embassy and Moscow Doctor (who told us some funny things....one of which is that our boy is going to Hollywood someday- he is playing us...with all the fits! lol) Then, we had the joy of packing our hotel room up with Landon in tow...unpacking each thing we put in!


Fast forward to our last day in Russia- going to the SVO airport. If you've been following, you probably already know, but we didn't have a zone on our tickets that allowed us to get our seat assignments before gate check in. This meant we possibly could have been bumped to another flight on a different day, or been given seats that were not together. Well, maybe thanks to Aunt Nancy calling the Delta agents for us, or maybe all the prayer, but we got on that flight....seated together! We had a really smooth flight coming in- I don't know how, but it seemed to be the easiest of all the plane rides- maybe it was the emotion and excitement carrying me through each hour. Landon slept two different times- only 1/2 hour the first time, and about 40 min. the next. During both naps, I listed to my MP3 player which got me crying- just listening to the Christmas songs playing while I had my son's head in my lap on our way home on Christmas Eve (while thinking...this is really happening!) couldn't have made me any happier! Landon only had a couple of meltdowns, and they didn't last but for 2-3 minutes a piece...not bad for 10 1/2 hours in the air, 40 minute mandatory de-icing of the plane before taking, almost 3 hours in the airport prior to boarding, and a 1 1/2 hour car ride to the airport! The poor boy had a long day...and so did we! But, when we landed, and were heading through customs, our emotions continued to carry us. We were so excited to see our family through the doors!  (PS- I do want to mention- we met a great couple on our plane who was bringing home their 16 month old son too- Noah and Landon got to play together for a little while on the plane- SO cute!!)

I caught site of my sister, Aunt Sue first! She was standing up on a metal railing waving at us! I think I almost ran the stroller through the double doors I was so excited!! We were HERE...in America, with our boy! A new US citizen! We had a great 15 minute reunion with the family in the airport, and then got in the car again for about a 2 hour ride home.

Once we were home, Landon got to meet his big sister, Dakota. Dakota couldn't be better with him- in just the past 24 hours, she has endured being poked in the eyes, having some toys flying in her direction, and a hand in her food bowl! She handled it all with such nurturing gentleness! She even lays next to Landon's crib at times, and is just being a great big sister! Landon is still a little unsure of Dakota- he has given her treats, pet her, and all...but sometimes we see him back away- like he's not quite sure of her. I'm sure in the next few days that will pass. :)
 
We had a good amount of family cycle in and out today- it was Christmas and we know that the grandparents and aunts and uncles wanted to meet and spend some time with Landon. He did great with everyone! We tried to keep the visits to around an hour each, and only have 4 over at a time.  Landon seems to be adjusting rather well...I'll tell you what- our house is much better for him than a hotel room! I think that we have less meltdowns because he actually has things to do here! YEAH!
 
 
Landon's 1st Christmas in America started out at 3:15 AM today which was after 7 hours of sleep- so he was definitely still on Moscow time...so were we! Waking up that early wasn't that bad for us either. We got to enjoy about 5 hours of time, the 3 of us, getting used to the house, and getting settled in from traveling. Greg surprised me and had wonderful friends of ours put in a new tub, new dry wall and paint in our bathroom- a much needed improvement in our home- we have wanted to do for a while! We LOVE it!! ...and so does Landon! :)  Since there was some construction in our home while we were away, there was that famous layer of white powder everywhere- so I decided to vacuum. Who would have known that would be such a great adventure! He took the attachment in his hand, and helped me the whole time! I mean...WE vacuumed for almost 45 minutes straight...the whole house! And, he was great the whole time! It was adorable!
 
Landon didn't know how to open presents, so Dakota volunteered happily to show him. She opens presents better than any dog I know- after just 1 lesson, Landon tried opening one just like his sister- with his teeth! lol! It was too cute! As the day went on, he got better and better at opening gifts. He loves all the new things he has to play with! I'll try to upload just a few pictures...and then I need to get to bed!
 
Well, it sounds like we may have the day mostly to ourselves tomorrow, which will be nice. We apparantly brought the snow AND Landon back from Russia with us!
 

Greeting our awaiting family in the airport!

 

I think Landon was happy to be going home, too!!



 
 

Landon giving Dakota a treat!

Who would've guessed that sunglesses would be the big hit? :)

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Love, Greg, Liz, Landon, & Dakota!!!

Great Day!

We had a jam-packed fun day! We did have a little bit of an unexpected early start though. Landon woke up at 4:30 or so crying. We waited a few minutes, and then decided he wasn't going to fall back asleep on his own, so we went over, and rubbed his back, and "shhhh" 'd him until he fell back asleep. That bought us about 1/2 hour more of sleep before he started crying again. This time, I rocked him in my arms for a few minutes, and then decided it was time to just bring him into bed with us. I was so tired, I just wanted to sleep. It seems as if the early morning hours are finally when my body lets itself sleep. This worked...and got us through til about 6:15. We then got up, and ready, and went downstairs for breakfast.

Boy does our boy love Porridge! (aka oatmeal)  He is so cute- he always opens his mouth wide open and sticks his chin out towards us letting us know he is ready for another bite. Usually this is barely by the time the spoon has made it's way back into the bowl. He is a super quick eater. We have been working on trying to get him to slow down! If we break something into pieces and put it on a plate, we have to limit how much we put on the plate at once, b/c no matter how much it is, it is gone in under a minute. We aren't sure exactly, and don't really like assuming "bad" orphanage habits, but we are thinking possibly their eating there is like the driving here? The bully gets the road/food! Who knows, really. Today we actually got him to put food that was in his hand down for a second to take a sip of his drink. This was a big deal- before, if we tried to give him his drink while he had food in his hand, he would first stuff that into his mouth, and then reach for the glass. I purposely made sure not to touch the food he put down, trying to show him that he can leave food out, and he will get it back... hopefully Dakota will follow this pattern of training too when we get home- NOT! :)

At 9 AM, our driver, Slava picked us up from the hotel. We were off to Red Square to capture some memories of our boy's birthplace culture with him so we can share the pictures and memories with him in years to come. We loved our site seeing, even though it was a high of 14 degrees! Landon didn't seem to mind the cold, and everytime we walked into a building, he fussed. We got to enjoy St. Basil's Cathedral together, the Kremlin tour (really neat!), the guard changing outside of the Kremlin, and part of an ice show in the middle of Red Square! Here are some pictures of our morning together!

We had to get a picture here! I am so excited to put this picture in a frame in Landon's room. Our dear and talented friend, Karen, painted a mural of this building on the wall in Landon's room for him. It was in the works when we left last week, so we can't wait to see the final product when we return- what a wonderful way to always remember our time together here in Moscow!

Daddy and Landon right after the changing of the guard.

We cracked up when we looked down and saw this! Landon tucked his little face into his scarf like a turtle going into his shell! It was cold!!  Take note of his hands- he has his daddy's gloves on! He wouldn't let us put his mittens on- he just wanted daddy's gloves! Poor Greg graciously gave them up for the happiness of his little boy. ;)

This is daddy holding Landon while we watched about 10 minutes of an ice skating show. It was all in Russian- it had the music of the nutcracker, but no characters that went with that music...it captured Landon's attention the whole time! I told Greg he probably enjoyed it more than us b/c he understood what the songs were! It almost brought tears to my eyes watching his eyes light up watching the ice dancers- he definitely hasn't experienced anything like this before, and we are looking forward to all these kinds of fun things we can do with him!

The afternoon we spent at the hotel. We came back, had lunch at a local pizza shop, and Landon did really well, especially since he had to sit in an adult chair! After lunch, we came back, and he went to sleep- for almost a full 2 hours! He had a big morning, so we weren't surprised! It was a lot easier to get him to nap today, too! Crying only lasted maybe 5 minutes, tops! After his nap...which we decided to wake him up from, so he would sleep tonight for us, we went over to the mall and walked around with him for a while. He was using daddy's glove to "wash" all the glass on the store fronts! Too funny.  Then, we walked out to that same Chinese restaurant. All went well...and we even decided to let him play in the ball pit tonight! Another first...he LOVED it!

Yes, he loved the ball pit- so much so that he screamed when we had to leave. We came back to the hotel, and got him all clean in the bathtub, and bedtime was the smoothest ever! I don't know whether it was that we had some Christmas music playing in the background that Greg rocked him to, or that he was more tired tonight than usual, or if he is just getting more used to us and the routine...maybe all 3? :)



I'm going to turn in for the night- we have our big embassy appointment tomorrow and his medical exam. Should be another packed day!

Paka Paka!

We are SO happy to Finally Be Introducing....

Landon Gregory Jackson!

It was so hard to pick a just one picture out of just him....so here are a few more!

This is our Gotcha Day photo! I was going to crop it...but I thought I'd leave it in its original state. :)

Daddy and Landon on our car ride back to the hotel together- we had just learned the word for "cheese!"(AKA Smile!)  in Russian at this point...and it works! It's "SEER" (like Sears, but with out the S and the slight roll of the R)

Aunt Laura, he LOVES brushing his teeth! He cries when you take the toothbrush away, in fact! lol!

2nd bath picture- the first night...not such a happy experience! :) Tonight was much better!

Today was well...interesting! It was good, all in all- we had a long time in the hotel room- Greg had to drive around to gather a lot of paperwork, so Landon and I got to play a lot together in our room. I decided after two hours, that it was time for a change of scenery. We bundled up, and headed across the street with the stroller to the mall. The stroller didn't fare too badly in all the snow laden sidewalks. After walking slowly up and down the mall, we headed back to the hotel. I was disappointed to see the clock in the hotel when we returned back- we had only used up about 40 minutes! All went pretty well until nap time. He did cry a lot when we tried to put him down, but we learned that if we both stand or kneel by his pack and play and rub his back, letting him know we are still there and that it's okay, he eventually lays down, and falls asleep. That took close to an hour this afteroon, but mabye only a half hour of the same tonight at bedtime.

Landon doesn't like it when you tell him no...what 2 year old does? But, we are trying to teach him. He also doesn't like getting changed, or changing whatever current state he is in- like when we come back in from being outside, he doesn't like getting out of his coat, etc. Not sure if it's change overload or what, but he seems to be getting a little better at it each time.

It's almost 11 o'clock here, and I guess I'll try to turn in for the night- I'm still adjusting to the time change, and didn't sleep well last night at all, so I'm hoping I do better tonight.

Please pray for our flight situation if you think of it- we don't have seat assignments, for whatever reason, the tickets we got, unbeknownst to us at the time, do not allow for a pre-boarding seat assignment. So, the same thing that happened on our way out here, could...and most likely will, happen again on our return Friday. It is completely booked. We are praying we get a seat...and that we can find 1 if not 2 generous people to switch seats with us so it is us, not them sitting next to Landon...I doubt they would want that either...and if they think they do- I'd give them 30 minutes, and guarantee they'd change their minds anyway. ;)



Fun Family Time Together

We had a great day together! Shortly after my last post, we got Landon all bundled back up and headed out to the Chinese restaurant right next to our hotel We figured if he fussed about being in a high chair we could just let him play in the ball pit/playground area. But, he did great! We brought along a baby food jar that Anna had helped us pick out. He ate about half of the jar (the big size jar) and then, when our food came, he opened his mouth wide open and leaned his chin in, as if to say, "I want to try that!" Since I only order the dull, plain buttery rice (kind of like hibachi style rice without the egg or chicken..just some finely chopped veggies) and chicken (that's much like chicken nuggets), I let him try some. He loved it! He ate a lot! He cracked us up at one point- Greg was eating his meal, which had long noodles in it. As he was eating the noodles, with them half hanging out of his mouth, mid bite, Landon started cracking up! I mean really cracking up hard! Everyone in the restaurant seemed to turn to smile at him- his laugh is priceless! I can't wait to share it with you all on video sometime soon!

We brought along a Cars sippy cup. We had to teach him how to use that (which I kind of expected from what I saw and read about the way they feed the kids at the orphanage) and then he wanted more- so we ordered him apple juice. It came in a tall skinny glass. We held it too, but let him drink it right from the glass- he did great! He seemed to just like sipping it that way instead. We were going to just take the sippy cup lid off, but decided we don't want to teach him that yet, b/c we need to keep the juice from spilling in the plane.

We then came back...skyped a little, then gave him his first bath. He didn't like it too much- he doesn't like getting changed in general. That's when he seems to fuss. He got through it though, and was much better once I scooped him up in the towel. Greg and I lotioned him up really good after we got his diaper on, which he loved. We are going to try to do that all the time as a way of bonding with him.

He likes his footie pajamas b/c they have monkey feet, but he can't reach his belly button...and that kinda frustrated him. He likes to play with that to fall asleep just like I used to when I was little.

We put him in the pack n play that the hotel had here for us. He didn't like it at first (he is used to a toddler bed) but he didn't cry...just wined a lot for about 10 minutes. We walked back over to him a few times, laid him back down, and rubbed his belly telling him it was okay, and shhhhh... he likes that it seems. He seems to understand that. :)

As I am finishing up this post, I can hear our son breathing deeply while sleeping. It is amazing we are in the same room TOGETHER. It is a dream come true- thank you Lord! I pray he continues to adjust to us as smoothly as possible.

Tomorrow, Greg is headed out all day with Anna and Slava to drive around to get his birth certificate, go to the MOE, and then to the passport agency. He probably won't be back until 4 they are estimating. Hopefully Landon and I will enjoy some good time together tomorrow!

Paka from the 3 Jacksons!! :)

Together!!!

Just a brief update to let you all know we are all together in our hotel room. It was a great afternoon- we got a few pics of the three of us outside the orphanage. We then headed to the grocery store across the street, and got a few things for Landon. He did great in the car, and in the grocery store. We walked into the hotel, and he had a little meltdown- not too bad though. I think it was finally it...like it hit him. We were able to calm him down, and change his diaper, and give him a snack. We even watched Sesame Street on DVD (Thanks Aunt Jilly!) for a little bit. Then, we laid down together and we are still trying to get him to nap a little on our bed. He does periodically get scared and cry a little, but it is good that we have been able to calm him....he will learn soon that we are here to love him and take care of him. His entire world just got turned upside down. It's hard not to be sad myself for him...but I know it's all for the best, and it will just take some time. It is so cute- Landon and Greg are still laying in bed together, and they are both just resting. I think he is close to falling asleep, but not sure. And, to my mom, and sisters- you'll love this! While he is laying here trying to sleep, he keeps pulling up his shirt, and playing with his belly button to soothe himself...sound familiar?? :) Like mama, like son!

Okay- I'm going to go join the sleepy boys for a little nap time...then we are going to try to take him out to eat with us- luckily the Chinese restaurant we found next door that we love has a nice size play area that's padded with a ball pit! I'll try to get some pics.

I'll upload pics as soon as I get the final word I can. :)

Well, ever since we woke up, we have been trying to keep ourselves busy passing the time until we find out we can leave to go to the orphanage. We went down to our breakfast buffet in our hotel, and then came back up to our room to pack Landon's bag with all his clothes to leave the orphanage in. We then decided to venture out in the snow (yes, it's forecasted to continue snowing here everyday we are here, except tomorrow!) to the mall accross the street. Come to find out, the grocery store is the bottom floor! We walked around in there fore a while so we could get an idea of how many rubles yogurt, juice, etc. is. We are supposed to be taken there later with our facilitator to pick out some snack items to keep in our room for Landon in between meals.  It was really funny to see M&M's, Snickers bars, Lays potato chips, and all kids of American food brands in Russian here in the grocery store!


Side note: We got his schedule during our last visit. He wakes up around 7 AM,and has breakfast then. A little later, a mid-morning snack around 10. And, lunch around 12:30. He then sleeps between 1-4 PM. We aren't exactly sure on when the nap begins..but he definitely wakes up at 4 every afternoon- b/c we have gotten to the orphanage to see the end of nap time.  He then eats dinner around 6 PM, and goes to bed between 8-8:30 every night.

Anyway- back to passing our time: We walked around the 3 floors of the mall- each floor isn't that large. They have some of the same stores we do- The Body Shop and Starbucks (we enjoyed some latte's!). They also had lots of other shoe stores and clothing stores. I even saw a wedding dress store- and saw the price of a beautiful brides' dress- 31,650 rubles! That only $1,032 in USD. So, pretty comparable pricing, I guess. :)


We bought our very first 2 souvenirs from Russia this morning at a little shop at the mall. Yes, after 2 other trips here, our first souvenirs! The other trips have been jam packed, so we didn't have time to walk around anywhere too much. After walking around the mall a bit, we walked back across the street to our hotel. And, now we are down to our last hour here before leaving to go get our boy. We are super excited!!!

Here are a few pictures of things here...

These are little Matryoshka dolls that we bought at the shop in the mall! They are so cute!

A little plate we also bought  as a keepsake.

Here is Landon's pack n' play all set up in our room!!!! Tonight will be his first night here with that!

This one's for you, Sarah!!! I was so excited to see this in our room with our coffee maker! :)

They have NesQuik here!!!

Well, that's all for our last blog post before we have our boy for good! YEEEAAAHHH!!!!

Landon, HERE WE COME!!!

We are Back!

Over the past week, as we were preparing our home with the last minute details and cleaning I kept thinking as I was doing things, "this is the last load of laundry I will do without Landon standing here at the gate wanting to come in and unload the dryer!" ..."this is the last night in our house without Landon" , and the list goes on. I think it finally hit me on Friday as I was saying goodbye to my students that this is all happening...FOR REAL!  

We got to JFK on Saturday after a nice ride up with both of our parents...listening to Christmas music almost the whole way. Two special Christmas songs this year are "I'll Be Home For Christmas"and "All I Want for Christmas Is You"  After a yummy lunch at Chili's in the airport, we arrived back at our gate for seat assignments and check in. We found out at that moment that due to the type of zone we had assigned to our tickets, our seat assignments could not be made earlier. We were literally the last ones in the gate area, the rest of our plane had boarded. The counter ladies kept announcing a $600 Delta voucher and guaranteed Sunday 4:25 PM First class tickets for 4 volunteers who would be willing to fly out sunday... We did not want to do this because that would put us here on Monday, when we may be picking up Landon. Long  story short, we shared why we needed to get to Moscow on that flight, and the lady seemed to work that much harder at getting us on the plane. We don't know how she did it, but she gave us our seats! We were so happy to be getting on. She had told us that if no one volunteered then we would have been forced to leave tomorrow (which is now today...) and they would give us the voucher, hotel arrangements, and first class....But, suddenly, she got us seats! Thank you to our parents who were the only ones that knew what was going on, and went into prayer mode! :)

After we got on the plane, we were just about to back out when everything shut down in our plane, and the captain came on and announded "flight attendants, please prepare for arrival" - arrival? what? Yes, this was the beginning of 3 hours of sitting there on the plane...not going anywhere. A pipe in the underbelly of the plane was leaking and needed to be replaced. We then took off at 8 PM not 4:25, as scheduled. We got here a little later than expected, a little more tired (is that possible?) but we did get here...safe!

Our drive to the hotel wasn't too bad, in regards to traffic, but for some reason I was really not feeling well- headache, and my typical motion sickness. blah... Right before we pulled into our hotel, our driver said, "Anna phone you" then "baby (while he hugged himself) tomorrow" - he said this in the form of a statement, like he had heard this...we are praying he is right! We are still awaiting a call from Anna to confirm this.

It's only 5:30 here, but it feels like midnight to us. We are trying to stay up for a while,  so we don't wake up in the middle of the night unable to sleep anymore...like last time. We want to make sure we are well rested to take our boy with us tomorrow (Lord willing!)

Tonight may be his last night in the orphanage. Happy tears, and tears of "wow...it's happening!" are coming.

I may be updating later tonight if we get a call about the week's plan. 

PS- I'm working on changing the blog song! NO MORE WAITING!!!   :0)