Today I spent another day with Todd on my back. Seemed to be the only time he was quiet. Once again he even took a nap on my back, about 45 minutes this afternoon. We went to the International Clinic today. Just a quick check-up of both kids for passport purposes. The Doctor at the clinic thinks maybe Todd has a virus. I don't know. She gave us some Lidocaine gel for his mouth. I guess it helped because he was actually running around the apartment and smiling before bed. The kids had their first grocery shopping experience today. Rachel started crying at the checkout when we started taking things out of the cart. She thought we were putting all the food away. Also, the kids had their first American Restaurant experience tonight. We walked to Mad Murphy's, an Irish Pub, for dinner. It is only a couple of blocks from our apartment. Todd rode on my back and Rachel on Dad's shoulders. Both of the kids were great. They both got to try chicken fingers and fries. The grown ups had pizza. Overall, it was a good day.
Mike(Daduska): It was great to see Todd doing better, which gave Shannon time with Rachel which had been sparce the past few days as she was limited to being with me most of the time. All of this made Shannon better which ultimately helped me.
At the International Clinic Rachel weighed in at 26.5 lbs and little Todd was 22 lbs. That is fairly rare for kids to come out of an orphanage here, be so healthy, and weigh in at average weights for American kids.
Shannon made the comment this evening that this was like living the movie Groundhog Day, as so much was repetitive day after day for 40 days so far. However we can feel it getting close. Tomorrow we go to the Embassy and then we are officially finished and can leave. However we can't get a flight out until Thursday. We leave at 1:00AM for the airport for a 4:00 AM flight through Frankfurt to JFK
I know Shannon, Frank, and Morgan are anxious to be together as a family with Rachel and Todd. But I am anxious for the rest of the family and friends to get a chance to be with these kids and see that they are even better than advertised.
