8 Months back home & Hockey crazy

8 months back home and my little monkey is on the move daily from having to explain why we do not jump on the bed to never putting the hockey stick down. Let's put it this way, take his hockey stick, which he practices being a goalie with and you will see a fine example of a two year old tantrum.

I have to give him credit though, he is one committed lil hockey player! This past weekend he got an early birthday gift from his grandparents who came to visit. They upgraded his hockey stick, which he chose himself, got him a new Bauer helmet and little ice skates.

If you ever want to slow the boy down from running around the house, click on the telly and find a hockey game as he will stop mid track and just stare into the glass screen mesmerized.

On another note, he surprised everyone in the backyard. Grandma was pulling weeds and he promptly went over to her pile, took a handful of weeds and ran them to the compost pile. We still do not come close to knowing how he knew that is where they were all to go at the end of the day. It is a long run across the yard too.

In addition, he LOVES and let me tell you, not just likes, but LOVES Everybody Loves Raymond. Now, I could not figure out why we have to watch the show nightly and then my husband said, "U know, that was the show we had on in Russia at the hotel, maybe he remembers it" and here I thought he was just excited to go visit his family in Long Island, NY ;)

Here are some updated photos of our little boy at 23 months old.

Happy 6 Month return from Russia!

Today, 6 months ago we returned home with two other families and our children from Russia. I remember how exhausted we were as we stepped off the plane holding our luggage, stroller and child. This was a new exciting experience but also one where we could have slept for days following.

We still had to sit through customs, which took over an hour and I remember at first our Alexei was excited by all of the new surroundings of the airport, however quickly settled into my arms and fell asleep.

Just a few moments after we made it through customs and turned our paper work in, we were greeting by two grandparents who I must say were pretty wet in the face as they met eyes with our Alexei for the first time.

There are few words I can think of to describe the experience of bringing Alexei home. I was torn when leaving Russia as I had grown such a huge heart for the country, the people and culture. I was thankful to have Alexei there with me and to know that his forever culture would be Russian first as we lead him into new cultures of American and Canadian, both very different with some similarities.

There are stressful times in adjusting and transitioning into becoming parents suddenly, however I always remember to revisit my happy place.

My happy place these days was me standing in front of the window of the hotel in Russia looking outside. I could hear the music playing below at one moment for a wedding and another for a party. Two days, two time periods, two moments standing at that window. One evening Fire works would go off following the celebration of the wedding and there was a sweet summer scent in the air and a small breeze swimming through the leaves. The other moment was day time as I watched the security guard dressed as a clown entertaining children running down the pathway of the front side of the hotel.

Either way, these were the memories I had just a day or two before we picked Alexei up for the first time.
With him, I remember standing by that same window pointing to the leaves of the trees and a rather large spider who had made their web there, perfect Halloween type web for our entire trip.

There was a sense of peace and calm I found there despite the hurried running around doing paper work, doctor appointments, meals, and adjusting to a new life with a little 15 month old boy. One that is unforgettable and gives me the yearning to do once again.

Alexei is more than we could have asked for even at the trying times where he is hoping we understand the new words he has come up with. At any rate, this 6 months makes me think about how much time has gone by and how quickly Alexei has grown, changed and become the almost 23 month old he is now.

Thank you Russia and our agency for giving us a smooth process, showing us what it means to be committed to this and making our life a little more interesting. To Russia With Love.

My active boy who I love soooo much

Updates on Photos at 21 months old.

US Passport and Families Coming Home

Hello,

This is to give a heads up on getting a US passport ASAP when you get home. Do not wait too long.


When we first went through customs coming from Russia, the guy said "make sure to get his US passport in the next couple of months". I was like ok, no big deal, he is a US citizen. Isn't that the whole point of those papers?

Okay, so we went to travel December and at the United desk, she said to us, "I'm sorry he can't travel with you, he does not have a US passport." We said, no, he has a temporary sticker in his Russian passport that allows him to travel until June with us until we get the US passport. She said, "That's not true. He needs his green card." We said, that is his green card, temporary one. She said, "No, it isn't" We almost missed our plane and Michael was not leaving until she went to customs.

Needless to say she did and they said it was okay for now. So, we went through, then got to customs and the agent was like, "I need to clear this as I do not think you can travel with him." OMG OMG OMG lol, u know how u get frustrated when things are just so fricken complicated and yet we were in the right.
So his boss told him to let us through for now but we would need his US passport before that expires or he would have to go through and apply for a whole new green card, yada, yada.

We got through. On the way back into the US, they said, "he can't come through". We said OMG, yes he can. Had to go through it all over again. I kid u not. I am being so fricken arse serious. This has been the ultimate pain the arse. They, anyone agency customs needs to be more clear with us, then just get their US passports when they get home. They don't tell u why.

Okay, so we get back in the US and I go to the postal service today and say, I need to get a US passport for my son. He said, "You need citizenship for him, the parents, both parents need to be here unless one gives consent with this formalized paper etc." I said, "Do I need anything else because he is adopted from Russia, but he is a US citizen"

The guy said, "Yes, you need his US citizenship, the adoption papers both in Russian and English, and we need his green card." I said, "Right, the green card is a temporary sticker in his passport." The guy said, "No, I need his green card or no passport." I said, "No, adoptive children get a temporary sticker to travel in their passport and that is their green card for now." He said, "We'll see about that, I have not heard of anything like that."
He said, "Make sure you have his passport as we will be taking that in exchange for the US passport." I said, "You can't take his Russian passport. He needs that until 18. You can't have it permanently." He said, "Yes, that is an exchange for his US passport."

I AM NOT giving up his Russian passport. That totally sounds wrong to me. I am so furious as we have been through so much with this silly ordeal. I just want to get him a US Passport and be done with it but oh no, I have to jump through major hoops still to do this.

We need to be more informed of the new laws and understand them completely as this is a lot of work and things I am not comfortable with doing. The US citizenship papers should be enough and the adoptive papers.

This is basically to let you know what I've been told over and over and that we highly recommend to just get it over with and do it, however I may contact customs to make sure about his Russian passport as I do not want to give that up.

Hockey Gear

My hockey boys

Boy, oh boy do I have serious hockey boys. My husband and 20 month old have been going weekly to the hockey games and Alexei sits for a good three hours in his own chair cheering on our local WHL team, the Everett Silvertips (which have won 14 games in a row).

Currently, they are watching the Toronto Maple Leafs against the New Jersey Devils and I hear Alexei yelling, "Go, go go!" while waving his hand in the air and looking around to see who is watching him. Oh and he is wearing his Toronto Maple Lead Pajamas too and his Papa is wearing his TML shirt too.

I share this as I am still in awe over a 20 month old having the patience to sit for 3 hours. Now, if mom goes I am going to bet, he will not have the incredible patience he has with Papa. We shall see this weekend.

A couple of new photos are here from this week.