Coming Home – Aug 14

5 Comments

Sunday morning, Sofie woke up just before 8… that’s 10pm on Saturday for BC’ers. Keep this in mind….

We left for the airport around 11:30am  and took off on our first flight from Sofia to London at 2:15pm Bulgarian time. Sofie fell asleep pretty quickly after take-off. The first 4 hour flight was quite uneventful and stress free… despite over 10 kids on the small plane. Sofie slept for the first hour and a half though! 
 Ready to go!

Getting in to and out of London was a little more stressful. We weren’t sure where to go for the connecting flight and we weren’t counting on having to go through security again. London was a little more stringent on their security standards then Sofia. Since we had baby food with us they searched both our bags, took everything out, made me taste 50% of the sealed jars and had us repack it all. They were nice about it but it was still really annoying. Sofie was getting frustrated and acting out a little plus we only made our connecting flight with just five minutes to spare. Jon was freaking out a little.
The 9.5 hour flight from London to Vancouver was, at times, very low. Sofie slept five minutes here and there and between hours 4-6 she just cried on and off… Mommy did too. I felt terrible for her. She was so uncomfortable and miserable. There was nothing we could do to help her. Thankfully, she cries pretty quietly so she didn’t disturb to many other passengers. For only sleeping for a total of two hours in the 23 hours of being awake Sofie did incredible. I don’t know how it was physically possible for a toddler to be awake that long and be so mellow, but she is making it a habit of surprising us every day!
 So Tired.

Finally landing around 6:45pm was such a release of emotions. Sofie was officially a Canadian citizen upon landing on Canadian soil and we were so close to seeing Livi! We had one or two more passport checks to get through and luggage to claim then we were free. Everything seemed to move pretty quickly and we raced to get out of there! 

 Everyone waiting! Jeremy and Andrew’s girlfriend are behind people.
Sessa was taking the picture.

Racing to Livi!
 
I started crying even before we reached the turn to the meeting area. I was holding Sofie and Jon was pushing the cart. Everyone was at the front of the waiting area. I remember hearing Liz, I think, say “there they are!” I think I started running at this point. Livi was screaming “There’s Mommy and Daddy!” She had a big sign too but I could only see her clearly. She was on the verge of tears too but I think happy tears confused her 🙂 I grabbed her up in my one arm with Sofie in my other. She kept looking at my “wet” face and back at Sofie. Jon was a few short steps behind me and scooped Livi up from me. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. All four of us were together.

 Together!
 Livi was in awe.

Livi was fascinated with her “sister Sofie”. It was so precious. She wasn’t sure if she could touch her or not… I think she just wanted to feel if she was real and give her hugs and kisses. Sofie was a little overwhelmed but took it in stride as usual! We sat in the arrival for a few minutes while everyone took a ton of pictures and got their chance to say hi. The car ride home was long but I think I fell asleep so it passed by quickly. Sofie fell asleep, finally around 9pm in the car too. That’s right, she slept for two hours in twenty three!

 
Meeting Auntie Liz!
 
 Meeting Auntie Sessa!

Meeting Marmee!
Meeting Gramma!

When we got home, we just transferred Sofie to her bed and collapsed ourselves. For the first night we had decided that we would try Sofie on her ‘big girl’ bed, Livi could choose who she wanted to sleep with in our bad and the other parent would sleep in Livi’s bed by Sofie. This was a great arrangement and the timing of getting home was perfect! We all slept until 8 in the morning! Hooray! Livi woke up once to go pee and then was scared of Sofie’s snoring 🙂 Although she had originally chosen to sleep with Daddy, when she got scared she wanted Mommy 🙂 I was fine with that because it meant I could sleep in my own bed! Jon was a little miffed that I stole his spot but since it was 3 in the morning I figured we each got about half a night in the good bed!

Waking up, at home with both my girls was priceless. We pulled them both in bed for some cuddles. Livi was adoring and Sofie was eating it up! This moment was what we had been waiting for. It was perfect. I love my girls.

 Morning cuddles!
 Sister Love!

Goodbye Bulgaria!

2 Comments

We leave today! Thank God! All three of us get to go home together! I thought I would put together a Likes and Dislikes list to commemorate our goodbye….

Things I Like about my time in Bulgaria:

  1. The history!
  2. The random Roman artifacts laying around the city.
  3. The buildings and architecture!
  4. The driving… it is so fast. I believe I was born to drive in Europe, Canada can’t handle me.
  5. The luxury for cheap!
  6. Cheap Taxis.
  7. Cheap alcohol. 
  8. The hospitality of people.
  9. The shoes! 
  10. The fashions, particularly jumpers.
  11. The weather has been awesome! 
  12. Most people here speak a little bit of English! It makes it a lot easier on us English-only speakers!

Things I Dislike about my time in Bulgaria:

  1. The standard of waiting tables. Horrible. They don’t check on you. They don’t bring your bill. They take forever. Food comes out at different times!
  2. The uneven and un-kept sidewalks.
  3. Graffiti everywhere. 
  4. How the poor are soooo poor. That sounds weird. But it is true. The homeless in Vancouver are poor but there are things in place to help them and make sure they get food and sometimes shelter. The poor here don’t have any safe guards. They wanted our left over food. A Vancouver homeless person would never do that. This is a big place that Bulgaria could step up. 
  5. The food. Some of it tastes quite delicious but it is so different. I have not had a normal bowel movement since I’ve been here… both extremes.
  6. The orphanage system. My views on this are obviously apparent already. 
  7. How EVERYONE chain smokes here. Seriously, how are they all not dying of cancer?
  8. The lack of recycling and water conservation. One of their main exports is mineral water and everyone drinks it here so there is SO much glass and plastic bottles wasted!
  9. How this is a very child-unfriendly country. Not much for little kids to do, no kids menus or crayons in restaurants, and I only saw a handful of local kids at all! 
Being here with Sofie really was the right choice. Her having our undivided attention has been pretty invaluable. I think it will really go a long way on this attachment journey. She has come so far this week with us too! She already understands the signs for ‘more’, ‘all done’ and ‘food’. She cries WAY less while eating, mainly because we aren’t force feeding her and she is now able go communicate when she wants more or she is all done! She will still go to random people but she definitely recognizes Jon and I and will choose who she wants to hold her and when. She loves tickles and getting a reaction from us when she rolls herself off the bed and we run to catch her. She LOVES baths… to much. I swear she said “mama” in the bath today too! Not sure she completely understands what it means though. She loves music, dancing and interacting with people. I am so beyond excited to get home to where I am comfortable and where I can be with BOTH of my girls but I have really appreciated what I have learned and experienced while in Bulgaria. I am so thankful to this country for giving us such a precious, wonderful child!

We are off now! Pray for an uneventful trip, with no tantrums from Mommy, Daddy or Sofie and pray that Sofie eats well and we have enough cereal for her to last the trip… it will be cutting it close!

PS – My sister is going through a hard time today. The girl she works for got really sick all of the sudden, was put on life support and has chosen to be taken off today. She’s had many medical issues throughout her life and was tired. It doesn’t look like she will make it. She is very young and very loved by many. Pray for peace for everyone. It will be a day of extreme’s for Sessa… meeting her niece tonight, after possibly losing one of her dear friends the same day.

The End – Aug 12 & 13

1 Comment

Yesterday was a getting-things-done-because-we-are-leaving-in-two-sleeps-day! We had to find gifts for all the wonderful people who have watched our child for these last two weeks. There is LOTS of clothes stores here but I wasn’t about to buy clothes for every one, plus the clothes fit really small apparently. There are a few jewelry stores around but they are all kind of cheap jewelry, like the kind you’d find at Claire’s or Ardene’s in the mall in BC.

After breakfast Jon and I headed out to Anido one last time. We owed Alex a little more money that we didn’t have on us the day before. We said our goodbyes then continued on our shopping ventures. Sofie was a little fussy and tends to make shopping more difficult in the best of times so I went to the mall alone and Jon went back to the hotel with Sofie. This was a much less stressful approach. I was able to look and decide with out the pressures of a whining baby and husband! I found some little treasures I think 🙂

Sofie got a little ridiculous in the afternoon because she had only slept for about 15 minutes. We had planned to go look for an icon at the Cathedral together, but Sofie had other plans. We made it too the lobby where we sat down and offered her food, again, which she didn’t really want. She didn’t really want anything… or she wanted everything, not sure which. Jon went on to the Cathedral alone and I stayed in the lobby waiting  and entertaining our babe. I did get to enjoy a chocolate mouse and rum and coke while we waited though!

Jon had his own adventure. As he was passing through the market in front of the Cathedral, he stopped to look at a possible gift for someone. The owner of the little stand grabbed him and started yelling at him in Bulgarian. Apparently, he didn’t want Jon to touch the treasure. Not sure if he thought Jon was going to steal it or break it, but he should be allowed to touch if he is interested in buying it, right? Anyway, since he was shaken up from the encounter he ended up going the wrong direction back and took a lot longer to get back to us… giving me time to justify my treat 🙂

We didn’t go out as far as we were planning for dinner. Although Sofie had calmed down a little bit, she was no where near her happy self yet. We stayed close to home and went to one of our regular restaurants for dinner. After Skyping with Livi we attempted to put Sofie to bed… That took an epic hour and a half. She finally fell asleep on the floor and we moved her to the bed. Jon and I watched Tosh.O on You Tube until much to late then settled in for a long peaceful sleep 🙂

Sofie slept in until 9am on the 13th! Yay! After brunch we went for a little walk in the park behind our hotel. We tried to get Sofie to play on the play ground but there were a lot of kids and she really didn’t know what to do. So we went to sit by the fountain and took a little walk. When we came back to our room we all had a two hour nap! Go Sofie! Thank you!

Hanging out by the fountain. 
The beautiful fountain behind our hotel in front of the National Theater.
Mommy and her baby!
“What are you looking at?”

“Our” beautiful park!

Random statues every where. This one didn’t make sense to me. 
Gettin’ her groove on and waking up with some pop music videos. 
I hate rap, random girls singing and gyrating, and Justin Beiber. 

We took it easy in the afternoon. I think Jon and I are just really done being here and very excited to get home tomorrow! We went for dinner, came back to the hotel for Skyping and baths, then bed time. Sofie was not going to bed tonight. Maybe she could pick up on our excitement? Anyway… finally and 9:45pm Jon slung her and went for laps around the park. Finally success! I finished packing while he was out and now just have to check in for our flights tomorrow!