Look what the stork brought...

Introducing our newest member...Braxton Ridge Leonhardt. We got all the necessary answers from Dr Barnes yesterday to finalize the decisions last night and this morning. We had an ok visit with him this morning, he wasn't just real happy. In fact yesterday and today both he wanted to really scratch himself more than play with toys. He has an awful skin condition that worried us to begin with, but seems that with some great USA medical care and being with us, we can get it cleared up, till then he will have to live with it. Seems several kids in the baby home have this same condition. There is conflicting information regarding what it actually is, so for now, we are being really careful too. Showering when we get back to the hotel etc to make sure we are extra clean. Barnes said it looked like secondary infected excema, and so it could be, but it could also be scabies which is caused by a bug and can be passed around through skin to skin contact and wearing clothing of other children already infected. We get the skin to skin, so we just want to be safe. The orphanage dr assures us its not scabies, but then I question just how much to trust her, since in her shoes I would be doing all I could to make sure these little ones didn't have to suffer through this and she is acting like its really no big deal. I even asked today after the second "scratchy" visit if I could bathe him tomorrow in a soda bath to relieve the itch, she said no, but they would bathe him tonight and use some special cream to maybe help it out for tomorrow. We have done some online research and really just can't tell the difference very well on him, just know its really bad case of whichever one it truly is. Our first visit was by far the best one so far, he was happy, laughing, smiling etc, the last two morning visits have been tougher, scratching and not really happy. Yesterday he went to sleep in my arms, today I kept him awake for the caregiver since she wasn't terribly happy with me yest for putting him to sleep. Today, we had alittle more positive interaction when I discovered that he would giggle a little if lifted over my head, but he is a bit heavy to do that very many times so I gave him to daddy to do that with. He wasn't nearly so impressed with that arrangement, he did ok, but no giggling. He does prefer me for now, but then Brayden did too till we had custody, so that is likely going to be the same. Just so he likes one of us for sure!! The other one will come with exposure and time. We did request an afternoon visit for tomorrow to see if he is happier then, that will help us to know if its just because its morning nap time or if maybe some teething issues, or ear infection issues might be more the problem. He was tugging at the ears today, we mentioned that to the dr too. Don't know if she will check him out or not will have to see what tomorrow reveals. We came back to the hotel got cleaned up and I did a bit of laundry too, with this skin issue, its best to go with clean shirts everyday, but don't want to wear them all day when we get back either. Anyway, its just time and it might take more than a day to get things dry as it rains here every day. We even bought an umbrella yest and used it too as it just pours rain at least once a day and usually more. Weird weather for sure, but it is green here. Ludmilla says that the gardens aren't doing as well here this year as its just not warm enough for them. Sure hope mine is doing ok!! :-)

We see these storks on the way to Pechory everyday, so we figure they brought us this cute little guy to call our own!!