Luke's New Life

Luke is doing great and he seems to enjoy many of the things I do. He loves to clean and he asks me if he can vacuum every day. What a blessing that is for a mom! He's actually very good at it and he can vacuum our entire main floor. He's also fallen in love with dressing up as a doctor. I had him do this to prepare him for the many appointments that he has coming up. It was a success because his first appointment went well and he wasn't too afraid of the doctor. He smiled big and tried to use the stethoscope on the doctor. He's a strong little boy and I admire how much he's had to endure in the last 3 weeks.

He also loves to dance and listen to music. We went to Borders and I couldn't get him to leave the CD area. I think that he listened to each of the CD's in the players. We'll have to wait and see what kind of music he likes...right now he likes it all.

His English is coming along nicely. He can say many words in English now. He hasn't put words together yet and mostly uses one word to ask for something. Yesterday he did say, "Mama, blanket please" and I almost couldn't believe my ears. We're going to see BIG changes in the coming weeks.

Life in the Orphanage

I was wondering today if Luke misses his life in the orphanage. He was well taken care of and had many kids to play with. The ladies there loved him and he was hugged a lot. I can tell because he loves it when we hug him. Luke is doing really well with bonding with both of us.

He had a very strict routine at the orphanage and we haven't quite fallen into a routine yet. He would take 4 hour "naps" and now he doesn't want to lay down at all during the day. I think he doesn't like being alone and for now, I just have him lay on the couch and have quiet time.

Each day is getting better and better. He speaks more words in English and he has adjusted to sleeping throughout the night.

Here are a few photos from the orphanage. It is one of the better orphanages in Krasnodar and the building itself was nicely decorated. They receive many donations and the kids there have a nice life. We really liked the doctor on staff and she took good care of the kids. Luke has his first doctor's appointment tomorrow with an adoption specialist. We can't wait to hear how he's doing.

Home at Last!

We are finally home from Russia and feel so blessed to be back in America. It was the longest 3 weeks of our lives and we are so proud to be new parents! Luke Mason Dierlam became our son on January 29, 2009. He now has a Forever Family and he is such a precious gift.

I will write more about our trip in the days to follow. Right now, Luke is asleep and I have a few minutes to type. I spend most of my days chasing after him and telling him not to touch things. He will copy a few words we're saying in English but, doesn't really know what he's saying yet. He does talk a lot in Russian and seems to be very happy. He loves looking at photos of himself and one of his favorite things to do is dance.

Here are a few photos from our trip. Many more to come...