Six Months!

It's so hard to believe that it was just six months ago today that we returned home from Russia with Jack. The six months leading up to our court date seemed to last forever while the six months we have been home have flown by.

So half a year ago Jack stepped into a world that most likely scared him to death. Now he owns this place and Michelle and I are just happy to be living in his world. Happy Six Months little guy!

We had our six month check-up with the pediatrician yesterday. Everything checks out fine, and the doctor is very happy with his progression in all areas, though the doctor commented on Jack's anxiety (he freaks out at doctors offices) by saying: "don't worry, we see this with 'normal' kids too...you know, biological kids". Doc, we expected more from you in that department... But, thanks for the reminder that we will always have these types of comments in our lives and that we need to prepare ourselves for our responses now so that when Jack is old enough to understand what is being said we can diffuse the situation.

The video below is of Michelle getting home from work the other day. We all get a little excited when she gets home! Hope you enjoy it. We sure have enjoyed watching Jack bloom over the last 6 months!

Adoption Books

We have 2 adoption books that we read to Jackson on a regular basis. I Wished for You - An Adoption Story by Marianne Richmond, and, Tell Me Again : About the Night I Was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis

Both these books are great and are age appropriate for Jack. He LOVES books and we read several times a day. We are now looking for some new adoption books. I found the 2 above, and they have good reviews. Does anyone have an opinion on these particular books or have suggestions on others?

Schools for Jack!

Hi out there!! Does anyone know of an Elementary school (anywhere), that teaches Russian? I believe there is one in Indiana, but does anyone know of anything in the Northeast or Midwest??

Picnics and Pucks!

Hello again from Curran Land! As you can see, the weather here has been pretty much perfect the last few weeks which has led us to get out and enjoy each other in the fresh air. The winter seemed to last forever, but the last two or three weeks have made up for months of cold.

Last week we took Jack on his first ever picnic at a park in our neighborhood. Jack and I picked Michelle up from work and we had sandwiches in the park followed by some playground time. Jack thought it was pretty cool to eat outside, and he loved climbing all over the playground stuff afterwards. He had such a good time with the picnic that we took our dinner outside last Saturday night and had another picnic in our backyard. Jack loves being outside and we look forward to more picnics in the near future!

Also recently, Michelle brought Jack up to the high school were I play roller hockey with a bunch of guys every Saturday morning. Jack brought his little Nerf hockey stick and he probably would have gotten right in the game with us if we would have let him. He liked playing with my stick better than his Nerf stick, and he is already showing a great slap shot. I can't wait to get him into a pair of skates! Maybe we are raising the next Alex Ovechkin!

In addition to all of the fun we are having with Jack, we continue to closely follow the case of Torrey Hansen. We still can't wrap our minds around what she did, but that's not what we want to comment on right now. We've pretty much been reading or watching everything we can related to this story, and the one common denominator with the whole story to me is that people are GROSSLY misinformed about adoption. From major network news stories to local newspaper reporters there are just misreported facts everywhere. Don't even get me started on the comments that readers are leaving on news websites in responses to stories about the whole thing. Anyway, all of this misinformation and ignorance surrounding adoption makes us really appreciate our friends and family members who took the time to educate themselves about our adoption process and ask us questions when they misunderstood stuff. Thank you again for your unconditional love and support of our family!

Russia suspends U.S. adoptions

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/04/15/russia.adoptions/index.html?iref=allsearch


Bill and I are so heartbroken for those families in process and the children that are caught up in this red tape.

Update on the disrupted adoption in the news

Here is a pretty in depth article about the adoption controversy in the news. The article is from The Tennessean in Nashville, TN which is fairly close to the town where Ms. Hansen lives. I don't believe this grandmother when she says the possible psychological problems were withheld by the orphanage. When we spoke to their doctors about Jack, they had a whole laundry list of stuff that may or may not be wrong with him, and that's what we have heard other people say the doctors have said. In my opinion, the doctors over there try to dissuade people from adopting by telling them all of these potential problems rather than hide stuff like this family is claiming. In addition to the doctors saying these things, WACAP staff expected us to decline Jack's referral just because he cried for the entire time we visited him once on Trip One. I think both the Russian doctors and WACAP staff choose to err much to the side of caution on these medical issues and potential problems than the other way around like the Hansen's are claiming. I think this is a cop out by the family, and unfortunately I think the uninformed public will believe it because I think I would believe it if we didn't have our own personal experience.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100410/NEWS01/4100351/TN+mom+s+return+of+adopted+son+to+Russia+ignites+furor

Agency is suspended

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36322282/ns/world_news-europe/

I just don't get it?

http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-04-08/adopted-russian-child-returns.html

It is a huge undertaking to adopt a child internationally. We continue to look bad in the eyes of Russia because of a handful of parents seem to have poor judgement!?! Why go through the mounds of paperwork, time, and expense to do this?

There are proper procedures to take for a disrupted adoption, and this is definitely not the proper procedure. Many Americans (such as our family) are keeping an eye out for disruptive International and Domestic adoption opportunities. This child could have been an opportunity for a loving family to step in & grow their family.

It is essential we continue to pave the way positively so others can adopt from Russia (such as post placement reports). Many families are between their 1st and 2nd visit - so let's hope this doesn't affect them.

Show Me State

Jackson and I had a really nice trip to see my side of the family last week, although we did miss Bill/Daddy a lot!

As you see from the pictures above, we were busy, busy! Jackson met his Grandparents, Great Grandparents, Uncles and Aunts. He also met his cousin Conner, and although they were not too interested in each other at first, they soon became friends (they even shared their snack!).

Since American Airlines wouldn't ship our crib for free, Jackson had to sleep with Mommy. WOW! That is all I can say about that experience. I cannot count on all my fingers the times he almost knocked me out cold with a head butt or kick to the throat in the night. He is a wild sleeper. He also talks out loud in his sleep, and sucks his thumb (loudly) when he sleeps (both of which are super cute).

Jack did well on our flights (4 total). On the way there, he was too excited about being on the airplane so he wasn't about to fall asleep. On the way back, he was knocked OUT on both flights! He was so exhausted from our long weekend that he just couldn't hold his little eyes open any longer :)

Jack socialized well, and interacted well with everyone. He always came back to me after interacting with others, which I was very pleased with. Since I had to go back to work right away after we brought him home, and I also work long hours - I have questioned how bonded he is to me. This trip made me feel much better overall about it. Not just his behavior, but the fact that we were able to spend some good quality Mommy/Son time together. Even though I couldn't keep my eyes open on the plane rides coming home either, my heart was smiling :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter weekend from the Currans!

Michelle and Jack left on Wednesday night for their trip to visit Michelle's family in Missouri. She had a bunch of skymiles from her business travels and was able to get tickets for herself and Jack for peanuts. We never could find a decent ticket price for me, so the two of them took off on a trip together and I stayed home to take care of the four furry kids.

Michelle reports from the road that everything is going very well on their trip. Jack is really enjoying meeting his Grandma and Grandpa from Missouri as well as his uncles and Great Grandparents. I think that everyone is enjoying meeting him too! While they are staying at Grandpa Tony's house, Michelle and Jack are sharing a bedroom, to which Michelle tells me that Jack talks in his sleep all night, sucks his thumb loudly and rolls around too much. Sounds like she is getting about the same treatment from him that she gets from me at home!

While Mommy and Jack are in Missouri, I have realized that a quiet house is kind of boring! I miss hearing my little guy saying "hi" to me in the morning and calling me "Mama"! I might have to read the dogs to sleep tonight since I am going through "Goodnight Moon" withdrawal. I can't wait until they get home on Sunday. I will be waiting for them at the airport and I hope Michelle is ready for me to hog Jack that night. Something tells me that she'll be ready for a break after travelling with a toddler for 5 straight days.

The pictures above are from our early Easter celebration. Jack loves his Easter basket. The Easter Bunny gave him some cool stuff!