The Facts.

Looking back I never really filled you in on the medical facts of what we know about our little guy.

• Facts about Blake:
• Vladislav was born Nov. 1, 2009.  He was the 2nd birth.  He has an older sister who lives at home with his mother...not sure about his father.  He was sent to the orphanage where he currently lives at 3 months. 

• Stats at Birth: 6.16 lbs. at birth, 19.6 inches long

• Down Syndrome was his only diagnosis.  He had an open oval window heart defect at birth, but is said to have closed up on its own as of his last doctor's visit.  He has a heart murmur, which is said to be benign.  He was also said to have problems with his ear at birth, but again, as of his latest doctor's appointment his ears both are working fine.  The translator also described something being wrong with his belly button, we are assuming a hernia, but she quickly added it was not a problem, no surgery needed.  We will definitely have all of these things checked out upon arrival back in Kansas.  But we are pleased to think he is a pretty healthy little guy!
• They said he could walk with things and around things with assistance, and can crawl.  He was sitting up at 9 months and has continued to develop quite well.  
• They described him as an active and kind child. 
• He eats mashed foods, and he can feed himself (obviously) and drinks from a cup (still working on that one)
• He lives in a groupa with very active children, I'm assuming about his age or a little older.  He is probably one of the smallest children in his groupa besides 1-2 other children who aren't on the move yet.
• He seems to be very well taken care of.  His nanny's all seem very helpful and loving on the children.  
• When we arrive, they always put him in a pair of overalls and collared shirt.  He is usually running around in tights and a onesie and a t-shirt over the top, with socks over his tights.  They dress the children very warm.
• The children have come to expect us now so when one child spots us the whole room goes crazy! I kind of feel sorry for the staff when we arrive because it turns into chaos in seconds...every child running everywhere yelling "mama" "papa"...then they all head for the open door.  Jerad has had to chase down a child or two to return them to their room...haha, it was quite humorous.  We have learned to be sneakier and to make sure all the doors leading into Blake's room are closed behind us.

For those of you unfamiliar with the adoption process...we have been here 2 weeks now, and in Blake's region 6 of those days.  Our facilitators have been running around like crazy getting papers notarized and signed to present to the judge in hopes of us receiving a court date.  We were told we'd hear yesterday, but to no avail...so we waited to hear something today...and still nothing.  We are praying we hear something tomorrow, in hopes of possibly getting a date for Friday.  It might be pushing it, but we have learned to never doubt our God!  So I guess our prayers requests would be: for a court date to be given ASAP so we can begin our 10-day wait appeal period before arriving home, for Blake to continue to build trust with us, for discernment on my part whether to return to the U.S. to see the girls during the 10-day wait (because evidently Autum has taken up walking while we have been here!!) or stay here and continue to bond with Blake, and for the Holy Spirit to continue to provide us and our girls with peace and comfort while we are away from each other. 

And now to the fun stuff...

Why are you snoring?

Throw the ball!

You are so funny!

This was the first time we have seen him celebrate after throwing his ball!

Teasing daddy

He can get where he needs to go!

This is how he turns around...haha!

It's hard to imagine Jerad without this boy around, now. :)

Awww...

Singing  "Jesus Loves Me"