Almost There!

If you read my post below, you've probably figured out that we've taken the train back to the capital :) I had absolutely NO time to update as our TWO days in Sofia's region were jam packed full of baby-loving and paper chasing! Her region is the only region in the entire country that still allows passports to be processed in one day! This is changing, though, so it seems we were probably the last family to receive a one day passport in this country! We are thankful as that shaves 3-5 days off our time in country! Our in-region translator is simply THE best. We had another family there adopting two children and she was able to set a new record by obtaining 3 court decrees, 3 birth certificates (all from different regional offices), changed 3 tax ID numbers, applied and received 3 one-day passports, 3 children's bank accounts cashed for the orphanage, purchase train tickets for both families....and did this all within the working hours of ONLY TWO DAYS! So last night we said a teary goodbye to her (if you haven't figured it out yet, we're in the same region we adopted Mila from ;)). We've grown so close to this friend and will miss her greatly! She has a heart of gold and is amazing at her job!

So far we've had one night in an apartment in Sofia's region, one night on a train, and one night in an apartment in the capital! Sofia has been pretty laid back and just going with the flow for the most part! Tonight she had an upset tummy and was a little fussy. She missed both of her naps but caught about an hour worth of naps in Uncle Niko's car....but it just wasn't enough! All of the craziness of the past few days is starting to catch up with her! She slept well on the train last night, but semi-woke many times fussing and needed some consolation. It's gotta be so tough in this transition period for kids. In the end it's all for the best, but the transition time can be tough...I'm doing my best to make her feel loved and safe while we continue trying to figure one another out!! She really did VERY well in all of our travels so far...so I hope the flight home will be the same.

Today we had our first embassy appointment and medical exam-both went well! Tomorrow morning we can pick up her visa, which is the last thing we need before we can spring her to America! Right now we're scheduled to fly out Saturday afternoon with one very short layover in D.C.....I really don't think it's enough time to go through secondary inspection and do everything else we have to do at the first stateside airport....we're looking into some other options but it's unlikely with Christmas travel paired with the storm that just hit our area at home.

Sofia REALLY enjoyed her first bath. It was the cutest and funniest thing ever! I showed her how to splash and it was all over from there! I'll leave you with some pictures of her first few days outside of the orphanage!

Sofia's first bath! Let me just tell you, I've NEVER seen a child love a bath so much!!!

 She wasn't sure what to think or do at first but I showed her how to splash and she went crazy!!

So fresh and clean! There is something magical about that first bath and washing the orphanage remnants away :)

Uncle Bub is just the best! He is like a baby whisperer ;)  He's rocked Sofia to sleep a couple of times and she was out like a light! He did solo duty the second day in region while I did some paper chasing..even though she napped most of the time, he's still  so brave for stepping up and helping out with his new niece! He fed her, played with her, and rocked her to sleep! I think it's safe to say she loves him already ;)