Q&A #114

There is daylight savings time there. Most of Europe does it. Except it happened on October 26, resulting in a bit of mess up on the day I flew home. :D
Thank you Hevel! :) So we missed it... which is good! I have enough jet lag! HA!

Hey can whoever emailed me about setting up a mission trip here, email me again! I have info for you! Thanks!

I'm curious as to why they stick you in an office for visiting. Are there no 'play rooms'? Or, are you not allowed to see the other children?
I THINK there are only their bedrooms... but I'm not sure. They don't really seem to want us back there. We did get a quick glimpse of the other kids on Friday, but it was not a long one.

My nieces have the exact same outfit as Kellsey!
Aww I really liked this outfit on her!!! How fun!!

Happy Birthday to Kellsey!! I have a question.....when you get her back to the States, are you going to take her to a Doctor here and double check on her medical status?? I just know if it was me, I would want to know that she really is as healthy as they say, and that nothing was overlooked.
Absolutely! She will go to the International Adoption Clinic at Vanderbilt. There they will check her for things that kids frequently deal with when coming out of orphanages. She will see her regular pediatrician who will probably refer her to an ENT and Ophthalmologist to get her ears and eyes checked. She'll also check her thyroid and everything else. She'll also go to our Down syndrome clinic at Vanderbilt for a full overall assessment by all the doctors there, including the cardiologist. Also, since she just turned three she will have her neck x-rayed to check for atlantoaxial instability... although I may wait until January and have them to this up at Shriner's when I take Kennedy for her check up... if they're willing. We'll see. The baby home here did say that the kids are seen by specialists once a year, but we need to get her established with her doctors at home. We are so fortunate to live near such an excellent hospital with great resources!

I wondered....your blog went private to keep certain people in her country from happening upon it, isnt having her pictures on here the same as just writing on your normal blog about everything? wouldnt they recognize her on here anyways and put 2 and 2 together? its one thing to have her new name "Kellsey" to keep her more private but by adding her pic, then your kinda defeating the purpose arent you? (I swear Im not being sarcastic, I am curious! lol)
I haven't said, or posted, anything without permission (including pictures). I've been very careful to check into everything first before hitting publish on this blog. Basically, with the process going as smoothly as it has, there is nothing to hide. Thank goodness! After Tuesday the other blog can go public again... even though it's REALLY the same as this blog. It's just a precaution set up should we have needed it. :)

ADORABLE! Are the duds she's wearing provided by you guys? So cute! Nice shoes! Already stylish! Can't wait to meet Miss Kellsey!
Nope! She comes to us like that. We did buy her stuff today though for when Frank gets to take her out of there! :)

I am having trouble logging into your adoption blog. It is telling me that my password is incorrect. Not sure why...I am using the same one you emailed out before you all left.
Hmm were you getting in before? That's really strange. Email me and I will try to help you! CAmommy2KJ@aol.com

She is such a doll!! Is she tall? She looks tall to me.
She feels tall to me too, but... define "tall"? LOL I guess I'll know when we get home and I see her next to Keeghan. It's so hard to tell. I definitely think she outweighs him. She's heavy!! I need to find out how much she weighs now.

Has she talked to your kiddos yet?
NO! I wish she could! That would be so neat! Frank would have to have internet access to do that.

I have a silly question, you said that she is potty trained. So do you know what the phrase in her native language is that indicates she has to go?
Funny thing about that... they told us she is potty trained... everyone who's been here before us has told us to take that with a grain of salt. Sure enough, each time we have gone to visit her, she has been in a diaper. They DO sit her on a potty chair a few times a day. I don't call this potty trained... they might though. We'll see how this plays out.

Great video. Was Frank holding the camera & blowing at the same time? If so, he's quite coordinated!
YES! But our video camera is REALLY small! LOL

Just out of curiosity, are you already calling her Kellsey or are you using her given name so she isn't confused? At what point do you change it??
Right now we are kind of using both... we are calling her Vika when we need to get her attention... but when we go through our photo album and telling her who everyone is, we'll point to her and say "Kellsey" (like, literally HER, not a picture of her... does that make sense?). We're trying to slowly transition her without confusing her... too much. Our friends kids all caught on quickly to their new names, so I'm sure Kellsey will too. :)

I am just curious Renee, so do ALL the children where Kellsey is at have DS? Are there separate orphanages for children w/o it? Was a bit confused on that, I somehow got the impression that all these children have DS, yet find it so hard to believe that there are that many there that would warrant their own separate orphanage? Also, if they are doomed to go to Institutions at age 5 and left to die basically, I am surprised they are so well cared for in the baby home, it looks and sounds like Kellsey has been taught and treated like a normal 3 yr old, so they would do all of that and then if not adopted, turn them over to an institution and left to who knows what? Just heart breaking. You are opening up alot of eyes.
No... Kellsey is in with mostly typical children. Kellsey is one of the luckier children in that she WAS so well cared for...comparatively. Still her fate is the same as any other child here with special needs. At age 5 she would have gone to an institution. Typical children don't go to institutions. They stay in the orphanage until they age out at age 16... then they are put out onto the streets where the suicide rate is high. Girls many times go into prostitution and boys often join gangs. It's really sad. So many kids...

Is their mayo as good as Kraft's?
I wouldn't know! LOL I HATE mayo in any way, shape or form! Yuck! LOL

Mayo on pizza is yummy! At least my sons think so. But really, I do love some seafood pizza for myself, that usually comes with a tartar base.
Now the seafood one I could probably do!

I believe the legal drinking age in Ukraine is 18, like most of Europe (where they have one at all), but I never saw anyone ID'd in Ukraine (or in Hungary as a matter of fact).
I haven't seen them ID anyone here either... of course I haven't been watching too closely either.

If you get a chance, try some varenyky. While they do look like slugs, they are great. I especially love the potato/mushroom filled ones. They are just sooooo good!
Uhhh I don't know... Frank may be able to do that, I have to be able to identify my food! LOL I know, I'm probably missing out! LOL

Ketchup, mayo and the restroom usually cost money at McD's in that half of Europe. It sure makes wasting food less likely, and the homeless don't make a permanent camp out at the restrooms.
I haven't had to pay for a restroom yet, but I've seen them all over. That's an interesting idea too!

The Chernobyl museum is very interesting. I went there with my cousin's wife who made aliyah in 1989 at age 17, so she lived through the whole Chernobyl disaster in Lviv.
We never did make it there today, but we got a lot of great pictures of other sights around town!! Frank's going to try to go one day later this week.