Today's blog will be delayed in publication, since we have an appointment at the US Embassy at 1:00pm (Moscow Time). This is when Sam usually gets his nap, and when we usually type the blog. However, so you would not have to go a day without a funny story or two. . .
We already posted the pictures of last night's bath, which was fun for us, since it means to us that Sam is adjusting well to become bathed daily (we think they only did it once or twice a week at the Baby Home). The part of last night was a education for Mommy and Daddy was dinner. We went to a local restaurant near the hotel where we had eaten before. The food was OK but the service isn't great. The first time we went there was before we had custody of Sam, so going here with Sam was a first. What Mommy and Daddy did not look for the first time and discovered was missing this time, was that the restaurant did not have high chairs. The service also was extremely slow. We should have known we were in trouble with the looks when we sat down and moved everything on the table, away from the stroller and where Sam was sitting on our laps. After we ordered of food, we sat Sam back in his stroller so he could have his dinner. Unfortunately for us, Sam finished all of his dinner and we still had a 15 minute wait before our dinner came. Once our food came, since the stroller is so low, Sam was extremely fidgety, so what we did was have Sam sit on Daddy's lap while Mommy ate, and then Sam sat on Mommy's lap while Daddy ate his cold Salmon. Well it was a learning experience.
Finally we got Sam to sleep, and relaxed a bit ourselves. This morning we decided against waking up early (for a change we did not need to meet Vladamir at 8:30ish), so we used the best alarm we know of, Sam. He woke up around 7:15am, so Daddy got in the shower, while Mommy gave Sam his first course of Kefer. As Daddy was in the shower, he heard Mommy scream, "Oh No! Not on Mommy's pants!" It seemed that after Mommy got Sam's diaper off, Sam proceeded to sit on Mommy's lap, before she cleaned him up. You can picture what Mommy's jeans looked like. . . Another lesson learned. . .
This morning after breakfast, Mommy went shopping for more food for Sam, while Daddy and Sam had a couple hours of play time with Sam. Sam enjoyed his time, and Mommy enjoyed her "shopping spree". You should have seen Mommy with the green backpack full of baby food jars sitting in the stroller (another really great use for a cheap stroller) and two packs of diapers balanced on top as Mommy wheeled the stroller over the bumpy streets home. It was starting to snow on her walk home too. The people on the streets where looking at Mommy like she was nuts. Oh well, we'll never see them again after Wednesday.
Now we are getting ready to go to the Embassy, but unfortunately we have a cranky baby, who now will not get his nap. We are hoping he will fall asleep on one of our shoulders at the Embassy.
Now at 4:50pm, we have our new American Citizen sleeping in the hotel. Actually Sam will not be officially a citizen of the USA until the plane lands in Chicago (it was specifically explained to us that he becomes a citizen as soon as the wheels hit the ground). We all went to the embassy, Michelle and us in the van, and the Browns met us there. As we all piled in, it was nice to have someone with a US accent speaking English. One thing that surprised us was that we never saw any US Marines, simply standard security people. We showed our US Passports, and we allowed in after a security scan (just like the airport, except you can leave you shoe on). Once we arrived, Philip (who has been our translator for all the legal stuff) showed us where to go, and we waited for the windows (just like bank tellers) to open. First they want the money (surprise), but this time they will accept any money (not just the new stuff) or credit cards (including American Express). After the payment, we waited about 30 minutes, when the windows for adoptions opened. Our group had number 2, 3, 4 for the day (and they started with 2), so we were processed very quickly. The process is pretty straight forward, they confirm who we were with the US passports, have us confirm the spelling of Sam's name and his date of birth (this time read to us Month, Day, Year, unlike the Russian and rest of the world that does Day, Month, Year), and then have us raise our right hands and swear that the information is truthful. The lady who did ours was very nice, and even tickled Sam's feet, which had slid under the glass divider that she was sliding the paperwork through for us to sign. She quickly explained how to apply for his passport and Social Security number, and what we should do if we needed to stay overnight in Munich (heaven forbid), due to flight issues. We then had to wait about 20 more minutes for the Visas to be done. At that point we were all called up again to pick up the sealed envelopes that are handed to immigration in Chicago.
Unfortunately we could not take our cameras in to the Embassy, but while waiting we saw about a dozen other families getting their paperwork done. Daddy even heard someone (a parent) go to the window, and start speaking to the woman in Russian, and then said, "Oh yeah! We speak English here." It was nice to see the other families. This other thing we saw was a television in the room that had Disney's Jungle Book movie on it. Now we were sure we were in a US Embassy, Disney runs everything.
Officially we are now done everything. All we have to do is get on the plane next Wednesday morning. Unfortunately Mother Nature is not being to cooperative with us, so we are not sure how much more sight seeing (or simply walking around) we will be doing. The weather has turned drastically colder and they are predicting rain or snow everyday until we go home. Oh well! We'll be spending lots of time in the play room downstairs.
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