This is me typing quietly as our new son is sleeping soundly in the other room. No, we are not staying at the orphanage tonight, he is here, with us in our apartment! It is OFFICIAL, Nikolai Edward Ellavsky is our son! We picked him up this afternoon shortly after I arrived in Moscow with our daughter S. We had a great trip over, but slept barely a wink the whole way...me and our 5 (soon to be 6 as she would correct me) year old were giddy and giggly.

We went over to the orphanage in the afternoon armed with a fresh set of clothes and and what could only be described as the snowsuit from A Christmas Story (see pic here). One can never be too careful in a 53 degree chill. Russians are very particular about bundling up children, but even this got a laugh out of them. We hung out for a few minutes and played with him not sure what to do next. Suddenly, they said "Ok, get him dressed so you can leave." That sounds blunt, but I think they meant "Hey, this is your new son, no sense hanging out here."

Caroline and I had joked around recently about how we would actually get Nikolai, as in exactly how would they give him to us. Since we knew we had to bring a set of clothes, we joked that they'll just hand him over naked. Well, one of the caregivers whisked him off to the other room for about 60 seconds and then emerged with a stark naked Nikolai looking to figure out what just happened. Uh, question answered....thank you.

We said our goodbyes and S and Nikolai immediately started playing around. They have been inseparable every since, or at least until Nikolai pushes S away to get out of his face :) . He did just GREAT today! A little scared in the long car ride, but did just fine. He played and ate Gerber Puffs. Some other highlights were the unbelievable amount of food he ate at dinner. We were not sure when to stop feeding him. He just kept eating, which is fine because he needs to bulk up. He loved his bathtime, which was a surprise actually.

So, here we are, sitting in the quiet of the apartment reflecting on what an amazing day this has been. Stay tuned, there is more to come.....Now let's get everything done so we can get home. ;)

Thanks to everyone for all your support!

Blake and Caroline