I hope all the new moms and about-to-be moms out here in blogger land had a happy Mother’s Day.

It was a very special day for me.   I’d like to say thanks to all those who took the time to send me email, e-cards, and mentioned me on their blogs passing on their congrats for my first Mother’s Day.   (Thanks again, Eric!)

We took my Mom out to eat at her favorite place, Furr’s Cafeteria.   It was Liam’s first time to experience a cafeteria-style meal and he didn’t seem pleased about passing by all the food without getting to sample it.   Once we were seated though, he dove in and tried a little bit of everything.   The fish, okra and of course mac & cheese seemed to be his favorites.



It was also a bittersweet day since it was Rob’s first Mother’s Day without his Mom.   After lunch, we all went to the cemetary to place flowers on her grave.   After that, we took my Mom home and gave her a framed studio picture of Liam that had been taken a couple of weeks ago.   She was thrilled!   Since he’s her only grandchild, I’m sure it’ll be the beginning of a shrine-like display.   ;-)

The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home with just my 2 boys — which is the best gift I could ever ask for!
 

Labels: holidays

We’ve noticed a huge difference in Liam’s speech skills the past few weeks.   He’s becoming much more vocal and saying all sorts of new words and singing pieces of songs he’s learned at daycare.   One of the books I’ve been reading to him every night has animals in it and I always point to the animals and say their name along with the sound they make.   Last week he surprised me by doing the sounds for each animal himself.   I guess he had been paying attention all this time after all!

Well last night, he surprised us again.   We were eating dinner and I asked him if his food was good and he said "I like it!"   Rob & I were both shocked and started laughing.   Our baby spoke his first real sentence!

I had to capture it on video to share with all of you.   Here he is saying "I like it!" while we are showing him his new shirt that his Aunt Karen sent him for his birthday.


 

For a boy who didn’t even like his baths 3 months ago, Liam has quickly turned into a water baby! He gets so excited every night at the mention of bath time and starts shedding off his clothes on the way to the bathroom.   He’ll stay in the tub until all the water has drained out and frequently tries to cover the drain with his hand to keep the water from going away.   We recently discovered that the bath tub was the perfect place to play with his bubbles.   He loves watching the bubbles & trying to catch them.   Here’s a picture of him mesmerized by them:



Given that he likes baths so much, we figured he’d take to swimming pretty easily.   He was supposed to start swim lessons last week but they cancelled the class to do pool renovations so he won’t get to start class until June.   He was invited to a birthday/pool party Sunday afternoon so we thought it would be a good opportunity for him to do his first swim.

Unfortunately, when we got there the pool was ice cold and the day was cloudy and overcast.   We just thought that nobody was going to get in the pool.   Sasha decided nothing was going to stop him from swimming and Liam decided it looked like too much fun to pass up so he insisted on getting in.   Rob let him dangle his feet in the water so he would see how cold it was but that didn’t sway him.   So... guess who got to get in the ice water with him???   Yep, it was FREEZING and Liam kept hugging up against me to get warm but then would get back down in the water again.   Here we are braving the cold:



He should have no problem swimming in the Pacific Ocean after this!   We were laughing saying it was easy to spot the Russian kids at the party — they were the only ones that could handle the water being that cold!
 

We’re on Day 5 of wearing the glasses and it’s still a battle but I think we might win someday.   He does okay wearing them as long as his hands are occupied but as soon as he thinks about them, off they come!   He has definitely put those titanium memory metal frame’s flexibility & durability to the test — and so far, they’re still in one piece!

We didn’t figure the daycare staff had time to work with him on keeping his glasses on so for now he only wears them after daycare until bedtime during the week.   He did wear them all day yesterday & most of today.   We also decided to take them off of him in the car after watching him try to mangle them in the rear view mirror!

I had to laugh when we went out to lunch today and a lady came over to our table and asked our advice on how we kept his glasses on him.   Like I said, he does really well as long as his hands are occupied and since eating is a sport for him, the glasses rarely come off at mealtime!

I’ve also been rewarding him with stickers whenever he leaves his glasses on and that seems to be working pretty well too.   There are times though when he just refuses to have them on.   The other day I pointed out that his Daddy & I both had our glasses on and asked if he’d like to put his glasses on too.   His response?   "Nah."
 

Liam received a late birthday gift today but I’m pretty sure it’s one that he is not going to want to keep. We had his eyes examined a few weeks ago and found out that he is farsighted.   The doctor suggested that if he wears glasses now for a few years that there is a good chance that he won’t have to wear glasses in the future.   He thinks this will also fix the slight strabismus he has which is caused by the muscles in the weak eye having to work too hard.

We have little faith that Liam is going to tolerate wearing glasses since we have not been able to keep his sunglasses on him for more than a few minutes at a time.   We shopped around locally for glasses for him and the cheapest pair we could find was over $100 and the frames didn’t seem very kid friendly.   Since we are fairly sure that we will be buying more than one pair of glasses, we decided to look on the Internet for something less expensive and better made.   We found the glasses below at Zenni Optical and they were only $35 (with shipping!) and he’s already tested the kid-proofedness of them — and they held up!



Funny thing is, we get lots of comments that Liam couldn’t be more like us even if he were our biological child.   Well, here’s yet another trait he has in common with both Rob & me...

I’m going to have the glasses checked by the doctor’s office just to make sure that the prescription is correct and they fit him right but it seems like this was a really good deal.

I welcome any advice that any of you might have as to how to keep the glasses on him.   I feel it is going to be a real struggle!
 

Our little man turned 2 today!

We had a small family get-together yesterday with Grandma & Uncle Whit.   Liam seemed a little confused at first when everyone was singing a song he wasn’t familiar with but he got into it by the end.   He was also a little unsure about the whole blowing out the candles thing, but with a little practice was able to get the job done.   Eating the cake on the other hand caused no confusion whatsoever!!

Here are a few pictures from his birthday:







We’re hoping that he will be able to test drive his pool this coming weekend.   Also, if you look close in the last couple of photos, you can see the cut on his arm that was the reason for his first E.R. visit (which is healing up nicely) and of course just in time for his photo sitting last Saturday, he got another bump on his forehead.   That’s my boy!

I baked cupcakes and took them to Liam’s daycare class today.   They had a birthday party for him there too.   I left them a disposable camera for pictures so I’m hoping some of those turn out cute.   On the way home he was singing part of the birthday song and we could hear him making blowing noises.   I can’t imagine that they had candles for him at daycare too so I think he just figured out that it goes with the song.   Anyway, it made me happy to hear him so happy and celebrating to himself on the way home!
 

Labels: holidays

It took us 2 years to get Liam, he’s been with us for 2 months, and in 2 days, he will be 2 years old!   I’m not sure if there’s any significance to all that, but it seemed too cool not to share.

I’m sure your next question is do we have any big birthday plans?   Well, actually, no we don’t.   We plan to keep this birthday kind of low-key.   I’m making cupcakes for his daycare class on Monday and they’ll have a small party for him.   At home, we’re having a cake and a small family get-together.   One of his birthday gifts from us is a little inflatable pool that we were hoping to setup today but rain is predicted to start any minute now and continue through tomorrow.   I guess that gift will have to wait.   But there’ll be plenty of hot Texas days to come for him to cool off in his pool.

I took Liam to have his first professional photo made this morning.   The photographer was quite impressed with how easy he was to photograph.   He smiled on cue and looked adorable in all the poses, so of course I had to buy most of them.   Once I get them back, maybe I can finally send out our adoption announcements.   I’ve been intending to that for several weeks now but I didn’t think any of my photographs were quite good enough to print.

Speaking of photos, in case you missed the post on our 2Dolphins blog, I’ll leave you with a photo of Liam taken on Earth Day:


 

Did I ever mention that on the Russian database that they had listed Liam’s nature as "mobile"?   Well, they couldn’t have picked a more perfect description for him.   That boy will not sit still for more than 10 seconds at a time;   he likes to "go, go, go" (as he says).   On top of being mobile, he’s also a climber and that’s just not a good combo for Momma.   I am constantly worried that he is going to fall and hurt himself (even moreso than the bumps & bruises he collects on a regular basis).   Everyone tells me to quit worrying that he is just a boy and that’s what boys do.

Well last night he was running around climbing on things and managed to fall just right so that he hit his arm on the corner of the closet door and it cut a nasty gash into his arm.   I was terrified at the sight of his blood (usually I just see him rubbing a bump and there’s no blood involved).   After we got his arm cleaned up enough to see how bad the cut was we decided that it might be deep enough for stitches so we bandaged him up and took him to the E.R.

We arrived at the E.R. at approximately 8:00 p.m. and about 3 1/2 hours later he was finally called to the back and they looked at the cut.   By then the blood had dried and the wound was sealing up so they decided that he probably did’nt need stitches so they put some ointment on it and sent us home.   Liam tore the bandage off before we got home and then fell sound asleep.   Today he hardly noticed that he had an injury.   I’ll just never get used to this.   I’ve saved his first E.R. bracelet which I’m guessing will be just one of many in the years to come...   :::sigh:::
 

We started our day off at a Heart Walk to raise money for the American Heart Association.

The walk was a lot of fun!   Liam enjoyed being outside and around all the people and his pals Sasha & Dimitry.   I liked our matching shirts & the free Starbucks coffee!   ;-)

Here are a few photos from the event:






 

Yesterday was another day of firsts for Liam.   He attended his friend Sasha’s birthday party and had an absolute blast!

It was his first time in a jumper and I didn’t really think he would go in but boy, was I wrong!   Once some of the bigger kids were out, he couldn’t wait to get in.   Here he is practicing his jump skills with his sunglasses on and the birthday boy Sasha in the background showing him how it’s done:



We also discovered that he really likes the sand.   We’ve got to get this boy to the beach soon!   I see a sandbox as a possible birthday gift for him in the near future.   It was really hot out and I’m glad we had him coated down with the sunscreen.   Here he is playing in the sandbox & tanning up:



Brad insisted that Liam have a piece of birthday cake.   We’ve tried hard to keep him away from sugar as much as possible but here he is having his very first ever bite of cake.   He thought about it for one whole second and then devoured the rest of the plate — and then proceeded to eat half of his Dad’s cake too!   I think it’s safe to say that cake is on Liam’s "good things" list!


 

We’ve had several people ask us if we are going to do a re-adoption in the U.S. so Liam can have an American birth certificate.   The answer is yes, this is something that we definitely want to do as soon as we figure out what we need to do.

One of the families we met in Moscow is from San Antonio and they’ve already re-adopted their son and they gave us the name of their attorney but stated that one parent had to appear at the courthouse with the lawyer.   With that in mind, I think we’re going to have to try to find an attorney locally that can handle this for us.

If anybody has done this and has any advice, we’d love to hear it!
 

We received Liam’s Social Security card today.   This is one of the few pieces of government paperwork that came through at record speed.   I guess they don’t want anything delaying those taxes!
 

Labels: paperwork

I guess it’s official now — we received Liam’s Certificate of Citizenship last week!   I promptly applied for his Social Security card on Friday.   For those of you about to apply for Social Security cards, make sure you take all of your paperwork to the Social Security office with you.   They wanted to see the Certificate of Citizenship, our adoption certificate, his birth certificate, & his immunization shot records.   They also needed both of our Social Security numbers so make sure you have those with you too.
 

Labels: paperwork

Liam had his first (for us) haircut tonight.   Our friend Big Jen did the cut and recommended that we just let the top look bad for a while until the hair from his crown grows out long enough to lay down.   Right now it just sticks straight up!

Liam handled the process really well, cooperating throughout the haircut and playing with his superhero cape & clippys that Jen gave him to play with.   Thanks Jen for being so patient with him!


 

Liam received a surprise gift from his cousin Katy today...   a GIANT teddy bear!   Liam loves the huge fluffy bear (Fully upright, the bear is probably over 4’ tall!) and likes to lay on & roll around the floor with him.   It was so funny watching him try to drag that big ol’ bear to his room.

We decided to name the bear Hugo after one of our favorite characters on Lost, the lovable teddy bear Hugo "Hurley" Reyes.


 

Liam’s Aunt Karen has been here this past week to finally meet our little guy in person.   It was a great visit and actually timed out really well because Rob was tied up working at his Mom’s house so she was able to help me with Liam in the evenings and weekends.   She also stained Liam’s Ikea Svala table & chair set and got a little more West Texas sun than she bargained for...



Saturday we went to an Easter Egg Hunt at the park.   Liam did pretty well once he caught onto what he was supposed to do.   Here he is loading up his bucket:



He also met up with his buddies Sasha & Dimitry and they had their picture made with the Easter Bunny.   We thought Liam might be a little scared of him but "Mr. Never Met a Stranger" had no trouble with the bunny, but was a mostly fixated on the eggs instead of having his picture taken.


 

Labels: holidays

Thanks so much for all the supportive comments from my last post about Rob’s Mom passing away.   Losing a parent is such a hard thing that you never truly get over it — it just gets easier to handle with time.   I lost my dad 9 years ago and I still think about and miss him.   Having Liam has been a big comfort for Rob and helped keep him busy so he doesn’t have as much time for sadness.

This week feels like we’ve started another new chapter in our lives.   Rob & I both returned to work full time and Liam started daycare.   We all survived the week, but we’re all exhausted.   I’m sure missing those afternoon naps that I got used to having everyday!

The first day of daycare he didn’t know what was up so he couldn’t wait to leave us and start playing with all the kids but everyday since there’ve been tears as we drop him off.   They tell us that he stops crying right after we leave and laughs and has fun the rest of the day.   He also suffered an injury on his first day.   I got a call that he was sitting on a bench eating lunch and leaned back too far and fell off.   But they said he didn’t cry — he just got up and went back to eating.   Nothing keeps him from his food for too long!   ;-)

Here’s a picture of him at his first day of daycare:



We’ve noticed quite an improvement in his speech after his first week.   He’s talking way more than before (although it’s still mostly gibberish) and he’s learned to say 2 new words this week:  "Hello" and "car."   His "hello" sounds a bit odd and we aren’t sure why he says it that way.   It is definitely not with a Texas accent!   ;-)   Here’s a video of him practicing:



 I’m still trying to get caught up on all of the adoption blogs, but I’m really happy to hear about the flurry of activity in the past few weeks. Can’t wait to see all of the "Gotcha" photos!
 

We have sad news to report this week, Liam’s Babushka (Rob’s mother) passed away on Sunday. She had been in poor health and in and out of the hospital for the past year but her death still took us by surprise. Fortunately, we were able to visit with her Saturday night and even though they had her pretty heavily sedated, I think she was aware that we were there. She even reached down and touched Liam’s hand for a moment. The next morning Rob went to check on her and she had passed away moments before he got there. The doctor was completely surprised that she turned so suddenly.

We regret that Liam will not have the opportunity to get to know her but we are happy that she at least got to meet him and we are so thankful that this did not happen while we were out of the country.


 

Sorry the blog posts have dropped off since we got home but as you can guess, Liam has been keeping us both very busy. He is doing so well adjusting to his new world and we are growing closer as a family day by day. The past two days he has been very affectionate and giving lots of hugs and kisses to us. I would like to take that as a sign that he is growing more fond of us.

A few things have changed with him since we got home. For starters, he no longer likes Cheerios. I guess he got burned out on them on the flight home. As of today, he drinks milk. We tried giving him milk in Moscow and right after we got home and he wouldn’t have anything to do with it but today all of sudden he likes it. Green peas are also off the food list; he will roll them around on the table and then squish them but they are not going in his mouth.

Fortunately, the one thing that hasn’t changed since we have been home is his sleeping habits. He still sleeps about 10 hours at night and takes about a 2 to 3 hour nap in the afternoon. There for a while the afternoon naps were only about 30 minutes but once we hung up heavier curtains in his room, the naps improved.

Our friends Brad & Marsha came over tonight with their 2 sons to play with Liam. Their son Sasha has been wanting to play with him ever since we got home. Sasha is 3 years older than him so I wasn't sure how they would do together but they all seemed to have fun playing together tonight and of course Liam had tears when they had to leave. Here’s a picture of the 3 of them having fun together:


 

What a great Valentine’s Day having Liam home with us!   He’s been doing great this week.   We took him for his first doctor visit today and he got a good report.   Our little trooper also had some bloodwork done and we’ll have the test results in a few days.


 

Labels: holidays

We arrived home safely late last night and it is GREAT to be an American again!

Liam did well considering the exhausting 24 hours from door to door that the trip took.   He never slept on the Moscow to Atlanta flight and was pretty content for the first half of the flight but he got a little stir crazy & restless the last half.   With Susan & Randy’s help, we were able to make our connecting flight in Atlanta.   The Continental agent was closing the jetway door as we literally ran to the gate but they let us on.   There’s no way we would ever have made it on that flight without all of your help, Susan & Randy — thanks again, we love you guys!

Our friends Brad & Marsha (along with Sasha & Dimitry) were at the airport to greet us when we arrived home.   I think Sasha was hoping to have a little playtime with Liam but our poor little guy was just too wiped out to even get of his stroller.   We finally got him home and into bed about midnight.

Today went really well, probably our best day yet with Liam.   He woke up about 8:00 this morning and we showed him around in his new room and he seemed to really like it.   His face just lit up when he saw all his new toys.   He was a bit cautious about exploring the rest of the house but he got over that quickly when he smelled his breakfast!   He did really well eating and seemed to like his new TRIPP TRAPP high chair that his Aunt Gretchen sent him.   He even finished his meal and asked to leave the table with no tears over whether there’d be more food available later — a first for him.

Liam also got to meet one of his grandmas today, his Babushka Jinx.   They seemed to really hit it off and had about 2 hours of playtime together before she went home.   He had great fun in the bathtub and — another first — finished his bath and got dried off & in his jammies without getting all sad & teary.   Here’s a picture of him giving his Gloworm a hug & a kiss:


 

This is it; our final day in Moscow!   Our only trip today was to the Ministry of Education to sign paperwork to finalize everything and to let them meet Liam.   Everyone was very nice and wished him a happy life.   All of our CSS friends met up at TGIF tonight for one last gathering before we all head our separate ways.   We’ll be leaving Doug & Kathy behind to hold down the fort here after they pick up their son tomorrow.   We finished up the last of our packing after Liam went to bed and we’re exhausted.   We still have hopes of making our Atlanta connection and getting home tomorrow night.   With any luck, maybe our Delta flight will arrive a little early and give us more time.

We’ll leave you with a family photo taken yesterday in front of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square.   This photo suggests that Liam is as ready to be Texas bound as we are!   Da svidániya, Russia!


 

Labels: traveling

Whew, what a day!   We spent most of the day in the car fighting tough weekday Moscow traffic — we even had to feed Liam lunch in the car because there was just no time to stop.   We started our day with a trip to Red Square for a few of those typical "The 'X' marks the spot" family photos in front of St. Basil’s Cathedral & the Kremlin.   (I’ll try to get those 1 or 2 of photos ready for posting here tomorrow.)

We went from there to the U.S. Embassy to get Liam’s Visa & immigration paperwork.   We met up with Chris & Teresa with their new daughter Anna, and several other couples with their new adopted children.   Liam had a ball playing with all the other kids.   We think he’s really been missing some of that social interaction and being cooped up in this confirned apartment (when we’re not on the go) isn’t helping much either.

Due to computer problems at the Embassy, the wait was kinda long and Liam’s afternoon nap was very delayed.   He fell asleep almost instantly once we were back in the car.   And we got him back to sleep fairly quickly when we got back to the apartment.   But his schedule being whacked out today seemed to really set things off on a downhill roll.   He had a great dinner and we had a little good playtime afterwards, but then he got very cranky and was inconsolable for most of the next couple of hours.

Same thing with bath time — he had a great time splashing around and playing with his tub toys, but once the water had gotten kinda chilly and it was time to get out, he turned into a crabapple all over again.   I lotioned him up, put on his jammies, & tried to rock him to stop the tears, but again, he just would not be comforted.   We ended up laying him in the crib and letting him cry it out.   He cried & chattered for over 30 minutes before his heavy little eyelids got the best of him.   The stress of the week’s events seems to be starting to catch up and his mood is getting a little rougher each day.

Fortunately, we do think we have a pretty good handle on how to deal with him in the airplane since we’ve had to learn lots of tricks in the car this week.   So we’re not nearly as intimidated by the Moscow to Atlanta flight as we had previously been.   However, the representative at the Embassy cautioned us that there’s a very good chance that the 1½ hour layover in Atlanta will not be nearly enough time to clear Customs and/or Immigration with Liam.   So we’ve put in a call to our travel agent for alternatives in the event that we do miss our connecting flight to Houston.

Anyway, we’re both exhausted, so off to bed we go!   Tomorrow promises to be a long day too!
 

Labels: traveling

There wasn’t too much on today’s agenda, paperwork wise, and Liam seemed a bit restless this morning so we started our morning with a stroll down Novy Arbat to check out the MotherCare children’s store that we hadn’t been to yet.   They had some really cute things in there but they were a bit on the pricey side.   We did end up buying a couple of cool bibs with pockets and a new sippy cup that doesn’t leak.

When we went outside from the store it had started snowing and was coming down pretty hard so we figured we better start heading back to the apartment with Liam.   We had him bundled up in his snowsuit so he was pretty warm and wasn’t really happy about going back.   He loves the outdoors!   The snowsuit is a pain to put on but I think all the kids look so cute in them with just their little faces showing.   Here’s a picture of Liam on the way over (before the snow started) waving with his mittens on (see how happy he is outside):



After lunch Tonya & Alusha picked Rob up and headed for the U.S. Embassy to file Liam’s Visa application paperwork and schedule an interview appointment for all of us tomorrow.   We’re also hoping that there’ll be nicer weather tomorrow so we can do a family photo at Red Square.

We got out the first suitcase tonight to start packing a few things.   It feels good to finally be preparing to go home.   We still have a couple of days left in Moscow but since we have little free time these days, we figured we’d better go ahead and get started with the packing.

I’ll leave you with a picture of Liam in today’s outfit.   He could barely be bothered to stop playing long enough to pose.   ;-)


 

Labels: traveling

We started our day with a trip back to the police station that we went to last Friday when the power was out.   We were there so they could compare Liam in person to his passport photo (apparently there has been some fraud in the past with people showing the photo of one child and then taking another child out of the country).   While we were there we ran into Teresa, Chris & Anna.   I think Liam & Anna enjoyed briefly seeing each other again (they’re from the same baby home and of the same age group).   We still want to get them together for a playdate and see how they act around each other.   After the police station, we had our usual stop by the CSS office to drop off & pick up paperwork.

After we got back to the apartment we went to visit Kathy & Amanda one last time before they head home tomorrow.



We met up with Randy & Susan and Doug & Kathy for dinner at T.G.I. Friday’s and while there we ran into Carlos & Sally and they joined us too.   Teresa & her sister were also there picking up take-out.   It was nice to visit with all the CSS families and see pictures & videos of their children.   Liam was being his charming self during the meal and I think Randy & Carlos enjoyed interacting with him since their sons have not yet warmed up to men.

After dinner, it was nice to have some help getting Liam geared up to go.   We have to get his snow suit on him (which is no easy task), carry him down all the stairs all while carrying the stroller & bags.   Moscow is not a stroller friendly place!   But at least the ice was melted on most of the sidewalks which makes walking much easier.



Once we got back to the apartment, Liam was eager for his bath and had a great time splashing around.   Unfortunately, there were some tears when he had to get out of the tub and get ready for bed.   There was a little fussing when we put him in the playpen/crib but he was fast asleep in no time.

Tomorrow we have a free morning before we will be picked up.   Doug & Kathy loaned us a Sesame Street DVD that’s in Russian that we’re going to check out.   If it looks good, we’re going to shop for one for Liam along with some children’s music CDs in Russian.   He loves music and I think it’d be comforting for him to hear some of the same songs they obviously sang at the baby home.
 

Labels: traveling