Yes, finally. We woke up at 3am Thursday morning to drive to Kiev. Thankfully, Vanya woke up easily and seemed to go with the flow. We had packed everything up the night before, so we just had to get dressed and wait for Nick to arrive. We got everything loaded into Nick's car and we were off. I sat in the backseat with Vanya and the Vanya supplies. I had made him a bottle right before we left and we started off the ride with his bottle and then he drifted off to sleep. Sweet boy slept in my arms. I, of course, was more than a little freaked out by the fact that I was holding a baby in my arms in a car. Heck, I wasn't even wearing a aeat belt. Pretty much the whole ride was me and Vanya dozing and me giving Vanya a bottle when he got hungry. I didn't realize how much of the ride I spent asleep, or at least in a parallel universe, until I asked Andy what time it was and he said it was 8am and I realized that all this traffic was because we were just outside Kiev.
Nick drove us to the US Embassy where we waited for Eugene. By this time Vanya's diaper was about to explode, so he got his diaper changed on the trunk of Nick's car. Vanya didn't seem to mind. When Eugene arrived, we transferred all of our stuff to his car and said our goodbyes to Nick. We were a little sad. Then it was off to our appointment, which really isn't an appointment. We waited at the window for someone to take our papers and then we waited for her to come back and ask us to sign some stuff. While we were waiting, we met several adopting families and their kiddos. Soon, whatever needed to be done with our papers was done and we signed a few papers, paid our fee, and were told to be back the next day at 2pm. Then it was off to the medical clinic.
The medical clinic was an experience. Thankfully, Eugene was with us and he took care of the details. There was no vaccination card in our papers from the orphanage and I had a moment of terror when I thought this might hang us up. Eugene reassured us that whatever we needed could be faxed and a few phone calls were made. Turns out the reason Vanya didn't have a vaccination card was because he hadn't had any vaccinations, not a one. The doctors felt it was "contraindicated." It really only got better. The doctor looks at the handwritten report from the orphanage doctor, then looks at us and tells us that we shouldn't bring this child home when there are so many healthy children we could bring home. She couldn't fathom why we wanted to bring Vanya home. My wonderful husband explains that, like all children, Vanya needs to be loved by a family and we are his family. So, she does her exam. She seems somewhat relieved that she doesn't hear a murmur in his heart and his head is normal size. Then she looks at us and comments somewhat incredulously that we obviously love this boy and that she hopes everything works out. Eugene then takes us to a little dining area to get a drink and give Vanya some food. Our sealed envelope is ready shortly and we are on our way.
Next stop, our new apartment in Kiev. It was small. Just a bedroom and a kitchen. However, it had AC, wireless internet, and was right across the street from a huge market. All was good. Vanya was ready for a well deserved nap so I went to lay him down on the bed. Wait this feels wet. Is it just cold or is it wet? It is definitely wet. Whoever cleaned the apartment put the comforter and sheets on the bed wet. Thankfully, there are more sheets in the closet and we have our trusty fitted sheet. So, Vanya gets a nap and we get to relax a bit and plan what to do next. When Vanya woke up, we walked over to the market to change some money and pick up some drinks and baby food. Then we were off on our tour of Kiev looking for McDonald's. We had no idea where we were. We had a map but couldn't figure put where we were on the map. We wandered around a bit and were about to give up when I heard English. Thanks to some young guys from CA, we found McDonald's. We walked back home and we were going to give Vanya a bath until we determined that there was no hot water. The hot water heater was unplugged. After determining that it would be a while before there was enough hot water to bathe a baby, we decided that Vanya could survive another day without a bath and put him to bed. We joined him not too much later.
The only thing on our agenda the next day was our 2pm interview at the Embassy to pick up Vanya's visa. Since we now knew where McD's was, we walked over there for an early lunch and did some shopping on the way back at one of the underground malls. We were very pleased that we found an embroidered Ukrainian shirt in a size that might actually fit Vanya. Then, is was back to the apartment to wait for our ride to the Embassy. We made it to the Embassy after some confusion over who was driving us there. It only took about 45 minutes to get everything done and we got to talk with the families we had met the day before while waiting. Niko was waiting for us when we got out of the Embassy. On the way back to our apartment, he pointed out a nice steak place with English menus, so we decided to forgo the Micky D's that night and have a real meal. Back at the apartment, we tucked Vanya in for his afternoon beauty rest and Andy wallked over to the market to pick up some more baby food. When Vanya woke up we headed over to dinner. We had a great meal and walked around a bit before heading back to the apartment. We packed up all our stuff and set our alarm clock for 2am since Niko would be there at 3am to pick us up.
At 3am the next morning, it was off to the airport!! We got our bags checked in, went through passport control, and had enough time to do a little bit of airport shopping. Vanya was a bit upset the first few minutes of the flight but quickly settled down and snoozed a bit. We arrived in Frankfurt and, due to miscommunication over where we were supposed to pick up our gate checked stroller, we did not get our stroller back. Andy was told that he might be able to find it at baggage claim. Vanya, as a Ukrainian citizen traveling with a Ukrainian passport, would need a visa to leave the international terminal. So, Andy set out on his own. Two hours later, he reappears without the stroller. No, I am not kidding. During that time, I had managed to snag a luggage cart so that me and Vanya could at least walk around a bit. Andy rejoined us as we were checking in at the United desk and I was confirming that we had bulkhead seats for the transatlantic flight. As we are walking away from the desk, the United employee who originally checked our passports calls us over and thanks us for adopting Vanya. As it turns out, he and Vanya are from the same hometown.
The next flight has a bit of a rocky start. Poor little Vanya is not happy. Not at all. There is a lot of crying and I am not able to do his favorite soothing sway with the fasten seatbelt sign on. We are worried. I am sure all the people around us are worried. Everyone wants to spend 8 hours on a plane next to a crying baby. Don't they? Thankfully, Vanya did settle down and was his usual happy self for the rest of the flight. He ate, he snoozed, and he went for walks with daddy around the plane.
When we landed in Chicago there was much to do. After all, this was when Vanya would officially become a US Citizen. We made our way to passport control. It was hot and there was a huge line. We survived and went on to our next stop - baggage claim. We got our luggage, including our missing stroller, and headed over to the immigration desk where we turned in Vanya's paperwork so they could do whatever needed to be done to make his citizenship official. Then we turned our bags back over to the airline folks and headed to our gate. Vanya was wiped out by this point and fell asleep. A few hours later, we boarded our flight to Birmingham so Vanya could be home at last.
