#anyway send ukraine jets <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[ohsalome]

[ivan-fyodorovich-k]

President Joe Biden is expected to send a defense-appropriations request to Congress for perhaps as much as $100 billion to support Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, and to improve U.S. border security. It’s a big request—and it will galvanize a debate about whether the United States is doing too much.

Existing critics of Ukraine aid are already complaining that to add an effort to resupply Israel will prove too crushing. Is that true?

Let’s carefully tally American resources and American commitments.

Thanks to its remarkable rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, the American economy will this year produce $27 trillion in goods and services. In the fiscal year that ended on September 30, the U.S. spent about $850 billion of that $27 trillion on national defense. That rounds out at a little more than 3 percent of GDP. That’s only about half of the burden of defense spending that the U.S. shouldered during the final decade of the Cold War.

To date, aid to Ukraine has cost a fraction of that percentage. By mid-September, the total value of the aid provided to Ukraine by the U.S. amounted to about $75 billion. Nearly a third of that sum (about $23 billion) was the value of old equipment from Pentagon stockpiles, material that was on its way to becoming obsolete anyway. The remainder included funding U.S. government operations to support Ukraine—training, logistics, and so on—and direct assistance to the Ukrainian government.

If the president now asks for another $75 billion over the next two years, that will represent about a 4 percent share of the defense budget for that period—or roughly one-tenth of one penny for every dollar of national output. The United States should be able to cope.

And what about the Israeli piece of this budget request?

In normal years, U.S. assistance to Israel is worth about $3 billion. Almost all of that is spent by Israel to buy U.S.-made weapons and equipment. Israel is reportedly requesting an emergency supplement of $10 billion—in the larger scheme of things, a fraction of a fraction.

Nor will aid to Israel compete with the needs of Ukraine. Ukraine wants heavy equipment from the U.S. to fight conventional land battles. Kyiv needs fighter jets, tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, and ammunition, ammunition, and more ammunition. According to a senior Pentagon source, the Israeli emergency request involves very different items from the U.S. inventory: principally, precision-guided munitions for Israel’s air force, components for its Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, and intelligence resources and advisers for its hostage-situation response. Israel is receiving some fighting vehicles and artillery shells, too, but on a completely different scale from anything Ukraine requires. Ukraine needs about 1.5 million shells a year; Israel wants a few thousand more shells on hand in case Hezbollah starts shooting from the Lebanon hills. Blasting away in Gaza would be brutal and futile.

[huesofthemorning]

Yours Truly, a Friend: Chapter 2

Pairing: NozoEli, NicoEli, eventual NozoNicoEli

Words: 3300

Summary:  Nozomi knows well of friendships lost, but it’s time she learned of friendships gained. A simple letter from thousands of miles away can be the start of everything.

Notes: The next chapter, as requested by several people. I’ll make an attempt to continue and finish this story, but unfortunately I can’t promise anything

Prologue | Chapter 1

Dear Eli,

How’s Japan treating you so far? Two weeks in, and surely you’re a pro already! How is it? Are you finding your way around okay? Has anything exciting happened yet? Are you remembering to take your shoes off when you get inside? That’s important, ya know! As for me, I’m nearing the end of my current project, I’m sad to say. I’ll miss the girls when it’s over. And I guess I’ll have to find a new job, huh? The trials of adulthood never end.

It’s strange, though… I feel like I’m right on the edge of something. The edge of a cliff, perhaps? And it’s a long way down to the bottom, but there’s a bridge I could take… I just have to be brave enough to take that first step. Or maybe I’ve already fallen? Maybe I’ve caught myself on a ledge, unable to move, and there’s a hand reaching out to me from above. Should I take that hand, and risk slipping and falling farther, or should I stay where I am, stuck but safe? Surely the reward for getting out must be far greater than the risk.

What do you think? Have you ever felt this way? Is my imagination getting away from me?

Lots of love,

Nozomi <3

~*~

Eli liked to think of herself as someone who was composed, someone who could adapt flawlessly to any situation with grace. She had cultivated that persona for years, holding her head high and hiding all traces of bewilderment she might feel when the world throws her for a loop. She had mastered the art of it all – or so she had thought.

“I’ve been to Moscow a hundred times,” she muttered under her breath, “I shouldn’t be this lost in a city.”

Eli glared at the gps on her phone, then spun in a circle and glared at the buildings surrounding her. People pushed past her on all sides, chattering away; cars flew down the road; even the wind whistling through the tall buildings was deafening. It near overwhelmed Eli, and the knowledge that this was a quiet time of day terrified her.

Already, Eli was missing her quiet life in her small Russian village. Sure, there was nothing to do there, and she had long grown tired of seeing the same faces day in and day out, but at least she could breathe. Even when she managed to find her way back to her apartment, she wouldn’t be able to block out the noise.

“Oh my god, you’re gorgeous,” a voice said.

Well, Eli wasn’t a quitter – except sometimes, when she was, but that was in the past, and she wasn’t going to be like that anymore – and she was simply going to have to get used to it. She just needed some time, is all.

“Hey, do you have a map?” the voice continued. “Cause I think I’m lost in your eyes.”

“Oh.” Eli finally noticed the young woman standing in front of her. She was short, even for the Japanese, and she wore a bright smile that Eli felt she could trust. What had she said? Everyone spoke so fast here – was it something about being lost? That must be it. “Ah, yes, I’ve gotten a little turned around.  Would you mind giving me directions?”

The woman looked surprised for a moment – had Eli said something wrong? – but she bounced back instantly. “Oh, you’re new here! That’s great! I’m Yazawa Nico, just Nico is fine, and I’ll be your tour guide! I’ll show you alllllllll the wonders of Japan, don’t you worry.”

Nico hooked her arm through Eli’s, who for the first time in years found herself unable to keep up with what was happening, and pulled her down the street.

“So! European, right? You’ve got to be, with those blue eyes. What country? My first guess was France, but you don’t sound French, at least I don’t think so. German maybe? Russian? What other countries are over there… Ukraine? Norway? Chile? Wait, no, that’s one of the Americas, isn’t it? I was never very good with geography. Hey! Have you ever thought about dancing?”

Eli gaped at Nico. What had she gotten herself into? At least Nico’s barrage of questions had been said at a slower pace than before, and once Eli pulled herself together she realized she had managed to understand it all.

“Yes, I’m Russian, but I’m actually more Japanese than Russian, it’s just been a while since I’ve been here…” Fifteen years, to be exact. Eli had planned on coming back sooner, possibly for high school, but life got in the way, and now she barely remembered anything about the country. “And I used to dance, but not anymore.”

“Perfect! I knew it the moment I saw you!” Nico nodded to herself, as if acknowledging what a genius she was. She dragged Eli into a random building, sat her down at a table, disappeared, and returned a few moments later with two steaming cups of something in her hands. Nico moved fast, slipping around people and darting through the crowds, and between watching her and breathing in the smell of coffee that filled the small café, Eli was almost dizzy. She took the cup Nico handed her gratefully.

“I forgot to ask what you like,” Nico said, “so I just got hot chocolate, because who actually likes coffee? I mean, my friend Maki does, but she’s a med student and I think an addiction to coffee is required for graduation, so she doesn’t count. Also, what’s your name?”

“Elizaveta Alexandrovna,” Eli said, sipping her hot chocolate and grimacing as it burned her tongue. Nico gave her a blank stare and Eli sighed. Right. Japan. “Eli in Japanese. Ayase Eli.”

“Cool. What’re you doing in Japan, Eli? Visiting? Moving?”

“Moving. I graduated university a year ago, but I couldn’t find any interesting work back home, so I thought I’d try here. Plus…” Eli hesitated a moment, then continued on. “I have a friend here, we’ve been sending each other letters for years, and it’d be nice to finally meet in person.”

“What, you two were pen pals or something?” Nico scoffed at the idea. “That’s stupid. This is the twenty-first century, we have phones and webcams. Use those and you can find out someone’s abandoned you after a week, instead of waiting 3 months for a letter that will never come.”

“What?”

“Anyway!” The odd darkness that had clouded Nico’s eyes vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and she was back to her sunny and dazzling self an instant later. “When are you going to meet this mystery friend of yours?”

“I don’t know… We haven’t really talked about it yet.”

“Seriously? Come on! How long have you two been friends?”

“About ten years.”

“Ten years! And you’re not racing down the streets to throw yourself in their arms? What kind of friends are you?”

“Well… It’s kinda nerve wracking, isn’t it?” Eli gave a sheepish grin. “I like to think I know her pretty well, but talking in person is a lot different than writing. And what would we do? We’ve never had to… do anything together before.”

“You could see a movie? Go bowling? Go to an arcade? An amusement park? Take a walk through the park? Go to the beach? See touristy stuff? Go-”

“Okay, okay, I get it! There’s lots of things to do!” They laughed together, and Eli felt her nervousness ease, just a little.

They left the café a little while later, Nico leading the way to Eli’s apartment. She pointed out various landmarks that Eli tried her best to commit to memory, and talked nonsense the rest of the time. Eli had tuned her out by the end of it, which she felt bad about, but it was exhausting going from Japanese class once a week to full immersion with native speakers. She needed a nap.

“And ta-da! Home sweet home, right?” Nico gestured to the apartment building, which Eli was slowly beginning to think of as hers.

“Yes, thank you Nico. You were a great help.” Eli made her way to the door with relief, Nico following a few steps behind.

“So, hey, Eli, you want to go out with me?” Nico asked, and Eli paused on the threshold.

Did she? She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to have another friend here, especially one in the area. Somehow, she got this feeling that hanging around Nico could lead to more trouble than it was worth, with her impulsive actions… but Eli had had fun, and moving to a new country meant taking risks, didn’t it?

“Alright,” Eli decided. “Message me if you want to meet up, then. My job doesn’t start for another couple weeks, so I should be free whenever.”

Nico grinned, raising her hands up in some weird pose. “You got it!”

~*~

Dear Nozomi,

I ran into the oddest person the other day…

Nico’s words kept spinning around in Eli’s mind. There was no doubt about it: the correct course of action was to ask Nozomi to meet up. She couldn’t imagine Nozomi saying no, and surely they would be able to find something to do. Still, there was that fluttering of her heart that came up whenever she read one of Nozomi’s letters, or whenever she looked at that jar slowly filling up with paper stars, and it made her hesitate.

Eli folded the 484th star, finished the letter, and didn’t write anything at all about getting together.

~*~

Eli’s phone buzzed early in the morning, and she groaned as she opened her eyes to sunlight. Buying curtains was moving up in her priority list. A fan, too, she decided, as she spotted the blanket lying on the floor. She had vague memories of kicking it off during the night, unable to deal with the heat. The phone vibrated again, and Eli fumbled through the clutter piled on her night stand until she found it.

11:03 am, the screen read. Not that early, then, and she couldn’t use jet lag as an excuse anymore. Well, she was technically on vacation, so she was allowed to sleep in. Eli yawned and pushed herself into an upright position.  

“It’s your favorite up and coming idol, Nico-Nii!” the message read, “I compleeeeeeeeeeeetely forgot to ask you something important the other day. Think you can find the coffee shop again and meet me there? You won’t regret it, I promise!”

The gps said the café was a 20 minute walk. Eli gave herself an hour to hunt down the place, and prided herself on getting there in 45 minutes. She bought a chocolate latte and sat down at the same table as before. Nico walked in a short while later, looking almost dressed up in her pink blouse and doodle-print skirt. It was a cute look.

“You actually made it!” Nico said, dropping herself in the chair. “I’m surprised. I thought I’d have to rescue you again.”

“I’m not completely hopeless.”

“Yeah? How long did it take you?”

Eli took a sip of her drink instead of answering and ignored Nico’s smirk. “Anyways, what was that important question you had?”

“Oh yeah! You said you knew how to dance, right?”

“I did, but…”

“What about singing? You have any experience with that?”

“Not really, no.”

“Well, that’s fine. Your accent is a bit thick, but your voice is nice, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”

“Wait, problems with what? What are you talking about?”

“My idol group, of course!” Nico said it with such confidence and energy that Eli almost nodded in understanding before she realized that she still had no idea what Nico was talking about.

“Your… idol group? You mean, like a celebrity?”

“Sure. But idols are better, and a whole lot cuter! I’m aiming to be the number one idol in the entire universe! Me and my friend Maki are forming an idol group together. We’re going to debut soon, but we’re looking for one more member first. That’s where you come in!”

“What? Hold on-”

“You said you’re free for a couple weeks, right? That’s plenty of time to catch up on the dance moves, and we’re almost done with the song, and then we can find time to meet outside of work. Of course, once we make it big, we’ll have to practice full time, so don’t get too attached to your job, okay?”

“Wait, wait, I haven’t agreed to anything yet. Why are you picking me for this?”

“Uh, because you’re hot? And you just have that talented look about you, too. I’ve got a sense for this stuff, you know! I can see it now,” Nico said, stars in her eyes, “your face on magazine covers, the headlines crying out about the new foreign star, Ayase Elizabeth-“

“Elizaveta.”

“Same thing?”

“As same as Nico and Nicole.”

“That’s kinda cute, actually.”

Eli sighed heavily. “Nico, I appreciate the offer, but I’m not interested in joining your idol group.”

“Aw, come on. Why not?”

“Because… because I have enough stuff to do right now, and I’m going to like my new job, and I haven’t danced in over eight years and I’m not planning on starting again.”

“Why not?” Nico asked again, and this time she had a more serious look in her eyes. Still, Eli wasn’t about to open up to someone she had just met, new friend or not.

“It’s complicated,” Eli said, and met Nico’s suspicious look with a firm one.

“Well, fine,” Nico decided after a moment. “But you’ll still come with me to meet Maki, right? I told her I was bringing you over, and she’ll make fun of me if I don’t.”

“I suppose that’s fine, just meeting her…” Even as Eli said it, she had a nagging feeling that she should be saying no. The more distance she put between herself and dance, the better, and this was getting to close for comfort.

“Awesome!” Nico jumped out of her chair, full of energy. “Let’s get going then!”

Eli shook her head helplessly and followed Nico out the door. What had she gotten herself into?

“So, our group,” Nico started, leading the way down the street. She grabbed Eli’s hand as they walked, and Eli almost jumped at the contact. Nico didn’t seem to notice. “Right now, we’re thinking of calling our group BiBi. It doesn’t really mean anything, but it sounds pretty cool, right? We’ve got that one song I mentioned mostly done, and I’m writing lyrics for a second one. Maki’s the musician, except she only plays piano, and who’s ever heard of a classical music idol song? No one, that’s who, so I’ve been helping her play around with some fancy music software. It sounded pretty terrible at first, but I think we’ve finally gotten somewhere! And of course, dancing is easy. Maki could use a little more enthusiasm though. She’s kinda bland sometimes.”

“Uh huh,” Eli said, still distracted by Nico’s hand. Was this what friends in Japan did? Hold hands as they walked down the street? She had so much more to learn than she thought. Normally she’d be bothered by it, but… it was kind of nice, actually. For some reason, it made her think of Nozomi. Is this what Nozomi would do, when they finally met up? Eli still felt a pang of regret for her inaction. Next letter, for sure, she would ask.

Nico didn’t let go of Eli’s hand until they reached their destination. She led the way through the building, past classrooms filled with tired looking students. It was Maki’s university, Nico explained. She had gotten permission from the school to use the auditorium for a couple hours every few days, which was much nicer than Nico’s cramped apartment.

“Sounds like she’s already here,” Nico said, hearing the faint music floating down the hallway. They found her at the base of the stage, completely at home on the grand piano, playing like the rest of the world didn’t exist. They listened quietly, Nico with impatience and Eli with awe at the beauty of it. Maki hit the last few notes with a lingering sadness for the end of the song, and the music faded away. She ran her fingers silently over the key before turning around.

“You’re late,” Maki said, throwing Nico an annoyed look before turning to Eli. “And you’re the new member Nico is dragging into this mess?”

“Yes. I mean, no, I’m not joining your group, I just came because Nico wanted me to meet you, or something…” Eli paused, glancing between Nico’s smirk and Maki’s disinterested look. “I’m Ayase Eli, by the way. Your piano playing is marvelous.”

Maki’s whole expression changed at the compliment, mouth dropping open and eyes widening. She forced her surprise into a frown, but she couldn’t hide her red cheeks. She coughed, turning away and playing with a lock of hair. “Er, thanks. I’m Nishikino Maki.”

Nico laughed. “Oh, man, this is going to be fun. Hey, Maki! Why don’t we show Eli our song? Give her a taste of the idol world!”

“Do we have to? I’d rather do singing warm ups first.”

“That’s boring, I don’t want to. Oh, yeah, speaking of boring things – you find a producer yet?”

“How is that boring? We can’t do anything without a producer. And yes, I think so. My friend says she knows someone.”

“Your giiiiiiiiiiiiirlfriend, you mean?”

Maki turned truly red at that, standing up and stomping her foot. “She’s not my girlfriend, stop saying that!”

Nico practically cackled at that, and even Eli wanted to laugh at the childish display, though she hid her smile behind her hand.

“Anyways!” Nico said, setting up the speakers she pulled out of her bag, “let’s do that song.”

“Fine,” Maki growled, “but just one run through. Then we’re doing warm ups.”

“Sure, sure. Whatever you want.” Nico hopped on stage and gave Eli a bright smile. “Here’s the deal, okay? You said you’re not going to dance again, and that’s fine. I’ll respect that. But you didn’t say that you didn’t want to dance again, so I’m guessing that, maybe, deep down, you actually want to keep going. I could be wrong! But if you truly don’t want to dance again – prove it. If you watch us dance, and you don’t feel any urge to join us, then I won’t bug you about it anymore. But if you do feel that urge, if I see you tapping your foot or singing along – you have to join us. Got it?”

The speech was the last thing Eli expected. She would have to join them? If she showed any enjoyment in their performance, she would have to join them? There was a heat growing in her chest, and as she pushed through her shock, Eli realized she was angry. She’d met Nico three days ago; this was their second interaction; how dare Nico try and control her life?  What gave her the right? Eli had quit ballet because she was a failure, through and through, and that was never going to change. She would never be good at dancing. She would never get better. That’s the way it was, and as much as it hurt, it would hurt even more to pretend there was hope. Did she want to keep dancing? Of course she did. Of course. There was nothing she wanted more in the world, and Nico was treating it like a joke. Like Eli was hiding that desire away because she was scared. Like her soul could be bargained with.

Eli glared at Nico, fists clenched, fury burning in her blue eyes – but Nico didn’t back down. And for some reason, once again, Eli thought of Nozomi:

Maybe I’ve already fallen. Maybe I’ve caught myself on a ledge, unable to move, and there’s a hand reaching out to me from above… Surely the reward must be greater than the risk.

Surely the reward…

Have you ever felt this way?

The anger drained out of Eli.

“Alright,” she said softly, collapsing into a front row chair, “You have yourself a deal.”

[americansurrogacyinukraine]

Greetings from Kiev!

Today is exactly two weeks since we’ve arrived in Kiev, and it seems like a blur, but a wonderful blur! As you know, our twins Milo and Logan were born on the 26th of February, which was a huge surprise to, well, pretty much everyone! Considering that our original due date was April 14th, and our plane tickets to Kiev had us depart on March 1st – we honestly thought that we had planned in advance as much as possible. So, to receive an email on the 26th, letting us know that Yuliya’s water had broken, and that she was in delivery getting a c-section (one of the boys was in breech position), it definitely threw us for a loop. The reactions from both of us were worlds apart – K was overjoyed and excited that our babies were born, while I was immediately disappointed and upset that we weren’t there to love on them the minute they were born. I had looked forward to being a part of the birth so much – in fact, I had daydreamed many a times imagining how the experience would be once in a lifetime, and had even considered hiring a photographer so that we could capture our reactions when we first met the boys (this is pretty much impossible, because the hospitals don’t allow it). I wanted the boys to feel loved and have that bonding skin-to-skin contact right once they were out of the womb, and so while K was elated crying tears of joy, I was conflicted about how to feel the entire day and wrestling within myself. In my perspective, the boys were not “born” until they were in my arms, which is a very myopic point of view, but as the day past, I started to receive a lot more texts from my friend tribe, who were sympathetic towards my disappointment of not being there, which made me feel a lot better, knowing that it wasn’t just me. In hindsight, I am glad that I at least let myself feel my emotions – because the faster I acknowledge how I’m feeling (not always a given thing) and let myself feel those emotions guilt-free, the faster I can move on. So the next day, I felt a lot better, also due to the fact that since they were born at 33 weeks, they were definitely premature babies, and would require an indefinite timeframe in the NICU before they were released anyway – and we had also contacted LOT Airlines, a Polish airline that would take us to Kyiv – and discovered that changing our flight to two days earlier would cost $1300 and only really get us there an extra day early. So we (mostly I, because K doesn’t struggle with impatience) decided to be patient and keep our original tickets and just wait it out. And seeing how our boys were discharged the following Tuesday (we first got to lay eyes on them the previous Saturday), we felt blessed to have such a short wait to take them home.

Once we arrived in Kiev Friday afternoon, we realized that we wouldn’t see the kids until the morning, because visitation hours were over, and it wasn’t a bad thing, because the first few days, we really struggled with jet lag pretty badly, sleeping at all hours during the day and then trying to sleep at night – and again, I was thankful in hindsight that we didn’t have the babies released to us right away – it would’ve been incredibly difficult for us to take care of the babies while falling asleep constantly! God knew what He was doing!

Kiev City Maternity Hospital #5

Official Entryway

Milo and Logan were born at the Kiev City Maternity Hospital #5, but before we went to see the babies, we made sure to visit Yuliya, our surrogate, who had been recovering from a c-section in a huge hospital room by herself. We brought her some flowers and candy, and also a robotic dinosaur toy for her 5 year-old son. Yuliya was in an understandable rush to go home, as she hadn’t seen her son in 3 months, which is basically an eternity! Since she was in Kiev since December, she had missed him terribly, and dolefully shared that she wished her son would miss her more, which made me laugh, as I know boys that age are all about exploration and just getting to know the world, and I could see myself wishing the same thing. Yuliya asked about the babies and their weight and height, as they had not give her any information after the c-section, which is common practice for surrogacy, but of course, we shared that information with her and all pictures that we had, as we were aware how difficult and abrupt it can be to have two babies disappear from her life after spending so much time together! My heart broke for her a bit, and I inquired about allowing Yuliya to join us for our first time meeting the babies, but the staff advised against it, so we had to say goodbye before moving upstairs to the NICU lab.

When we finally arrived, we were immediately greeted by Dr. Tatiana, who was a wonderful doctor and would later educate us on how to take care of the babies. She would say, “Mutter! Fater!”, telling us how to wrap and swaddle the babies, and that they must have a ton of heat because since they are premies, they don’t have full control over heat retention just yet. We had to put on the same ritual of shoes being covered and gowns and face masks, as the Ukrainians are very obsessed with cleanliness, which is a great thing! My heart was pounding as we made our way to the ward, and when my eyes laid on our babies in the corner of the room, my heart literally burst, I kid you not! I ran over and immediately started touching their little faces and smelling their addictive baby smell, and the nurses, having experienced this so many times, brought over two rocking chairs and let us hold them for the first time. They were so itty bitty, but perfect nonetheless, and I just couldn’t believe I was actually holding my own child, my own flesh and blood! Surprisingly, I had imagined myself bursting into tears, but as I get older, I realize more and more that when I am overwhelmed with emotion, I can’t really cry – it’s like some weird safety valve goes on in my head, saying, “We see you got some MAJOR FEELS (feels is American slang for feelings) going on, so we’re going on red alert to remind you that you are in public, and your ugly cry face is not becoming on you!” This also happened at my baby shower – I was so overwhelmed at the love, support, and generosity of our friends and family, that safety valve was initiated once again. So as we sat there, each holding a baby, K and I each looked at each other in sheer joy and disbelief, because we actually had our babies in our arms! I thought about all of the years we’d struggled, the beautiful babies we’d lost along the way, the endless hormone shots, surgeries, weight gain, and general decline in my mental health – to consider all those horrible years, and now, to have my flesh and blood in my arms! It was truly a mind-blowing miracle for us, and although extremely difficult, all of it, every hardship and heartbreak, it was worth this moment in time, one that we’ll never forget! Below are pictures that somewhat illustrate our feelings:

K’s first time with Milo

My first time with Logan

We continued to visit them at the hospital everyday, and Dr. Tatiana continued to give us updates that although the babies were really tiny, they were perfectly healthy – they had only needed ventilator help the night they were born, and after that, they were fine and dandy on their own. We continued to bond and love on our little tykes, until Tuesday came along for the discharge! We couldn’t believe that from now on (and we’re fully aware we might not understand the gravity of this statement) we would be hanging out with our boys 24/7! We gingerly placed them in our bassinets that we’d received earlier, and Dr. Tatiana advised us that we should bundle them up like crazy when we take them out for walks… to which we were confused, considering it was snowing like crazy and in the 20’s! She then explained that in Ukraine, mothers take their babies out for daily walks, even in the winter, to give them “fresh air”, and culturally, it was well accepted to do so, you know, under the assumption that it would build some grit into the babies and get them strong and tough, which aptly describes Ukrainians in general. Shocked, we assured her of our American pansy ways, that we would not be taking them outside anytime soon, so no need to buy them extra thick comforters to swaddle them in. Since they were so tiny – most of the clothes that we had brought from the States were way too big, even as the newborn size – so I had the staff wash all of them again in hopes of shrinking them, and it definitely helped. Before we left, we made sure to meet up with Yuliya, our precious surrogate – who had not had the chance to see the babies in person. We profusely thanked her and it was obvious that we were totally in love with our babies – and I could see the look of joy on her face as she saw us together as a happy family, which is an important part of completing the surrogacy journey for both parties! We have kept in touch with her ever since, and she is planning on visiting us in Kiev once more before we leave, so we look forward to spending time with her again, as we will be forever grateful to her, and plan to tell our babies that because my tummy was broken, that they had to grow in another mommy’s tummy, and have plans to send photos and updates for as long as she wants them.

The Feels Greetings from Kiev! Today is exactly two weeks since we've arrived in Kiev, and it seems like a blur, but a wonderful blur!