Johnson Household

Six Months And Counting…

By Barbara, on June 1st, 2009

Six months ago today the courts in Moscow City ruled that Craig, Dagny and I were a family of three. This day is also special because we got physical custody of Dagny. We were able to be all together for the 10-day waiting period.

December 1 st

in our arms

June 1 st

today

I can’t believe how fast time is flying by and how much Dagny has grown. I catch myself staring at her in amazement and having to snap myself out of it. I just can’t put it into words how much my life and outlook on life has changed due to this little girl. Being Dagny’s mom is the most amazing experience and I wouldn’t change it for anything. She is the reason I want to be a better person.

*Edit: I forgot to mention that the US Government also celebrated with us, Dagny got her US Passport! We are so ready to hop on a plane and show her the world.

Love,

Barbara

Six Months Ago…

By Barbara, on April 28th, 2009

… we met our beautiful daughter.

There’s No Place Like Home…

By Barbara, on December 29th, 2008

We have been home for just over a week and today is the first moment I have to update all of you. It has been such a jam pack week I am not even sure on the details but I will do my best and hope to make this post speak through all the photos I have posted.

We arrived into JFK on 12/19 to a big snow storm. Our plane got in early ironically. Dagny did well on the flight over, considering it all. She slept a total of an hour and a half and the rest of the time we were able to occupy her. I am not sure how, but we did it. We did decide no more flight with a baby thou. It’s not that she was bad, because honestly I can’t remember her crying. It just was the stress that she might that took a toll on us. Anyway, we survived and she was a champ. My brother, Emeric, and sister-in-law, Edit, were waiting for us. Edit’s mother was flying in from Hungary and was scheduled to get in an hour after our plane landed. So, the plan was to wait around. But, since our plane got in early and her plane was delayed three hours we decided the best thing for all of us was to take us to their house and they would turn back to pick her up. The trip on a good day would take around 30 – 40 minutes, that day it took about two hours. That’s how bad the weather and traffic was. Poor little Dagny was so exhausted, she was not to happy in her car seat. Edit was awesome she brought some food and juice for her and we feed her in the car, that seemed to help a little, but she was still not a happy baby. When we finally got to their house, my Mother, Erika and Emerson were waiting to meet her but Dagny at this point had been up for close to 19 hours and she wasn’t having any of it. I quickly gave her a bath, put her in her PJ’s and put her to bed. She was out like a log until the middle of the night. Craig and I went shortly too. Dagny didn’t sleep well that night she kept getting up. At 6:00 am I gave up and went downstairs, where Eva neni, Edit mother, was up too (jet lag people hang out together). Not much later everyone else got up and couldn’t wait to hang out with Dagny. She was in such a great mood. I think she knew this was her family because she took to them right away.

Aunt Edit and Uncle Emeric

Playing with Aunt Edit

Cousin Erika

Cousin Emerson

Dagny loves Emerson’s hair too

I just love this photo!

Around 10:30 am we headed out on the long ride to Rochester. We knew that Dagny might not like the long ride in her new car seat and we were right. The first couple of hours were good because she fell asleep but when she got up she was not so happy. My mom and I both sat in the back and tried our best to occupy her, that only worked so much. We stopped a couple of times on the Thurway to change her diaper and to get her out of the car. She loved that. We made it though and we had Craig’s parents and brother, Tim waiting for us. Tim flew up from Texas what a great uncle. It was so nice to see our house, Lily and Maxie.

Uncle Tim and Grandpa Johnson

Enjoying Uncle Tim

Craig and I took Dagny to see Santa.

Ummm… Who are you?

Then on Christmas Eve my family came up to spend Christmas with us. Both of our families were here enjoying Dagny and the holidays.

Dagny opening up some gifts with Lily watching to see if anything is hers

Dagny playing with the Globe from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson

Dagny with the piggy bank from Uncle Tim

Cool rocking chair from Uncle Emeric and Aunt Edit

My two girls

Lily, the greatest doggy in the world!

Our beautiful daughter

All dressed up for the party

Since we were not able to be with Dagny on her first birthday we decided to have her blow out her candle while the entire family was here and celebrate that as well.

Blowing out her birthday candle

Yummy

We had a wonderful time with our families and are so grateful to have Dagny in our lives. She is our joy. She is such a wonderful little girl. We are so excited for 2009! We wish you all a wonderful New Year!

The Johnson’s

I couldn’t resist

Thank you and Farewell Moscow

By Barbara, on December 18th, 2008

Today we went to the US Embassy for our interview and to get Dagny’s Visa. Dagny has her US Visa and all the official paperwork we need when we enter the US. We can now come home!

We come home tomorrow and end this part of our journey and are about to embark on a new part. We have had such a wonderful experience throughout the entire stay here in Moscow. This is a wonderful country not only because they have united us with our daughter but also for the wonderful people we had the pleasure of working with. We are so very grateful to our Team (V, M, M and O) that have taken care of us from day one. We never had to worry about anything. Our job was to just to sit around and wait to go home.

We also want to say thank you to our agency, About a Child, back home if it wasn’t for Victoria we would not be here. Thank you so much for leading us to our little girl. You are a wonderful person with a big heart. We will always be eternity grateful to you.

Both Craig and I are so ready to get home with our daughter. We can’t wait to be in our home with Dagny and introduce her to her doggy, Lily, and her kitty, Maxie and to start our lives.

Farewell and Thank you for our little girl.

Our little bunny

How cute

Thank you,

Barbara & Craig

Our Waiting Is Nearly Over

By Barbara, on December 9th, 2008

I know, I know where have we been? As I mentioned in my last post I have a cold. It has really taken until now where I can say I feel better. I can’t remember the last time I was this sick. Thank goodness for Craig, he ventured out and found some medicine for me, which helped greatly during the day. Nights are still tough but getting better everyday. With that said I was simply not in the mood to post. I am sorry. Craig has been busy working throughout the day and into the evening and I know the last thing he really wanted to do is write something. But, guilt finally over took us and we co-wrote this post.

Craig
Barbara and I have been here with Dagny for over a week now. And each day that goes by we are that much closer to becoming the family we deserve to be. We are enjoying our time out here in Moscow, and I think that this is the best thing that Barbara and I could have done for little Dagny. Each day we get closer and closer to her and she’s more trusting now than ever.

Something new that we have experienced with Dagny… She has started to reach up for us to pick her up. It’s the most cutest and beautiful site to see. To see that she has started to rely and trust in us is wonderful. We have made such great strides in getting close with this little girl.

But you know… our time here is starting to get to us all a bit. There is just so many things that can be done in an apartment in Moscow. And with the weather not cooperating there isn’t much outside that we can do as well. But, we are a family which is the greatest.

Barbara
Tomorrow is day 10! I can’t believe that she has been with us for so many days already. We are so grateful for these 10 day’s that the orphanage gave us. I think this truly put us ahead on the bonding curve. The fact that it’s just us three with no outside influences is making such a huge difference. We see changes in her everyday. The way she plays with us and interacts with us in general is changing daily. She is so sweet.

The new thing we found out about our daughter is that she LOVES music and loves to dance, well baby dancing. She will be sitting and if she likes what she hears she starts moving left to right and giggling up a storm. We are so happy that she is a music lover since we are too. Another reason why this child is meant to be ours. The list grows everyday.

Dagny loves to stand and walk with assistants and not necessary ours. She will use anything that she can reach and walk around holding on. She has been blossoming in her motor skills far faster then we thought she would be. We think she will be walking in the next couple of months. :-O My baby is growing up so fast. Sigh.

Today Craig ran to the grocery store to get some more diapers while Dagny and I were finishing up lunch. When she was done I let her our of her stroller and she sat down in front of the washing machine while I was doing dishes. We have a bag that we use to collect the clothes that needs to be washed. Well, Dagny tipped it over and pulled out her little pants and shirt and then no joke she looked at me and pointed to the washing machine, I swear saying with her eyes “Mama, can we wash these?” So, I got all the clothes together while she watched and put it in the machine and started it up. She looked at it and was excited to see it spin. Then she crawled away. Lets hope she will be this eager to do laundry when she is a teenager.

I hope this makes up for the lack of posts and if in case it doesn’t then here are some photos. You can’t stay mad at the parents of this adorable baby!