First Trip To Florida

Well, we ventured for a long weekend to Florida for an action packed weekend. Prior to departure, we kicked it off by taking Zac to his first Pistons game. And, he was great for the whole game! Then, next morning off to the airport and Naples-bound we were to visit Mike's grandfather. This was his first time to meet Zac, and Zac was an entertainer! He found this singing sunflower and played it again and again and danced to it.

Plane ride getting there....lots of entertaining to do. But, overall, Zachary was great on the plane and we even got comments on what a good boy he was.

Ocean...he loved the sand! And, he liked to scare mom by trying to eat all the seashells. But, unfortunately, he was EXTREMELY scared of the ocean. He tried to jump out of my arms as I walked towards the water. And, since we got home, he's cried for his baths and the shower which normally you cannot keep him away from. That's alright. In time, he'll love to be a beachgoer. We kept our time there limited because we didn't want any sunburns.

I finished off the weekend by making Zac get up early and have Mike and him send me off for a half marathon. They returned later and met me at the finish line! It was great to see them there!!!!

The highlights of the vacation were Zac's development into being a major talker. All of a sudden, he started saying words in the right context. As we got in the hot car, he said "hot." At lunch, at the table, he says "cold" when he touched the glass. But, the best part was getting off the plane where he said "HOME." That was the sweetest thing ever!!!!! He's grown a ton! He went to the doctor the other day, has grown over 3 inches, and is the 90th percentile for height/weight. We call him our future football player who will tower Mom & Dad.

Anyway, here's a few Florida photos....

Merry Christmas - Belatedly!

Well, Christmas came and went. And, I vowed to keep the blog up to date. But, I didn't! Imagine that? Trying to get ready for the hustle and bustle of the holidays, and it went by the wayside. At any rate, Christmas with Zac was wonderful. He loved opening his presents. I think he even liked his presents a little bit. Of course, the packaging was more exciting. But, that is to be expected.

We had my family over for Christmas Eve early in the day, went to Mike's family later in the day, and Christmas was all for us to enjoy with Zac. Of course, to make it exciting, he got his first fever since he's been home. Can you believe it? He's been very healthy. He gave me a scare with a 104 temp. But, the doctor said not to worry, and sure enough it went down and Zac got all better.

Anyway, Merry Belated Christmas!

Happy Halloween Eve!

Well, it is a lot of fun to be mommy and daddy for our holiday that is kids oriented. Since Zac's been home, we've celebrated 4th of July, Labor Day & Columbus Day. But, those aren't real kids' holidays. So, it's almost Halloween.

Tonight, we got invited to Zac's daycare/pre-school for a Halloween party. It was a lot of fun! The kids all dressed up, trick or treated in each room, and then there was a magician. Zachary was more interested in playing hide and seek and telling everyone "bye-bye." Still fun.

Anyway, here's Zac as a bat....

Happy Halloween Eve!

Preparing for Halloween!

Well, it is now almost the end of October. We've already done our 1st post-placement report. Wow! That crept right up on us. One down, three to go. At first, I was not a big fan of the home study process because I didn't know what to expect. But, at this point, not a big deal. And, our social worker is great at coming at night and at the last minute when I put things off :)

In some ways, it seems like we got home yesterday. But, in more ways it feels like we have been home forever. I'm not quite sure why that is. I've speculated that it is because, at this point, it is hard to remember pre-Zac. I thought it was going to be hard to be a working mom, still work out, and still devote a lot of time to Zachary without feeling guilty about the first two. At first, it was a bit crazy getting used to the whole routine. But, we are so lucky. We have a kiddo that sleeps 13 hours straight, doesn't wake up during the night, so we have time to do things at night and in the morning on work days. And, with only working four days, we have lots of time on the weekends.

Zac's doing great. The days of loathing baths are long gone. He's running, talking you're ear off with baby babble, hiding on you, doing stunts by standing on the seat of his rocking motorcycle (crazy!) In other words, he's "all boy" and growing up quick.

He's going to be a bat for Halloween. Tomorrow is our first Halloween function where he gets to dress up and see grandparents on my side, and his aunts, and a trick or treat event. To go with the halloween theme....

Here he is....

Go TIGERS!!!!!!

We Are Home

Ok....Can you believe it??? We have been home, safe and sound, since July 2nd. And, I am just now updating this. But, we have our sweet little boy home with us. It is hard to believe that we were finally rewarded for all of hard work by getting our sweet little angel home. ALAS!!!!!

We have not been the overly cautious, limit the stimuli parents. But, that's just from realizing that he is great in all kinds of situations. We got home....we celebrated his US citizenship by introducing him to 4th of July festivities. He loved the fireworks. Incidentally, even though I had tried forever to get him to say "mama" in Russia, I'll always have fond memories of Independence Day because that is when he learned it and just kept saying it over and over and over!!! Yay!!! (By the way, he is not short on vocabulary now and we get to hear mama all the time during his little bouts where I refuse to not hold him 24x7 and then all I hear is "mama" "mama" "mama")

Then, in the midst of all the great news, we had a bit of bad news. My poor Mika Girl (who I'll always call "my puppy") passed two weeks after getting home. But, thank goodness I was HOME.

After that, we had a family vacation planned to NY. I was going to do the Ironman Tri which my mom was coming to spectate (from NV to NY). However, I skipped racing (my training had been a little less than expected) and we went to have our first extended family vacation. Zachary was great despite putting him through the 13 hour car-ride. Sorry Zac!!! But, your Grandma and Grandpa wanted to see you, as well as my Aunt Carole, Uncle Merle, and cousin Kendra and her kids Rome and Madison. How cool that they made the trek to meet up with us!!! We had a great visit.

After that, Zac was progressing very well. In the short time home (now only 6 weeks), here is his progress: He says "NO" to everything (bound to happen); he says lots of "dada" and "mama"; he says "go"; he waves hi/bye; he does patty cake with the clapping/rollng his arm (part he loves); points to his nose when you ask where it is; has learned to LOVE bathtime; has went swimming even in Lake St. Clair; uses a spoon and a sippy cup....that's just to name a few. We are so happy with how fast he is learning and how much he seems like he just wants to learn!!!!

We also had, last week, a Welcome Zachary/Belated 1st Birthday celebration. Thank you everyone that came out to wecome Zac and celebrate his homecoming and belated 1st birthday (even though we really are way past that this year). We ended up having over 100 guests. Zachary was soooo good. He let all of our gracious friends/family welcome him home and was such a sweetie/ham when we belatedly celebrated his birthday. Here's a picture of him with his 1st birthday cake....

I have returned to work and Zachary is at pre-school. He is learning really quick from other kids. At the outset he did not know how to eat at all from a spoon. So, at home I sit and feed him. I think our son is living a double life. Today, I picked him up and he was eating from his own spoon, by himself, sitting at a little kid table (no high chair). How amazing!!!!

At any rate, that's the short update....

Today's The Day For Travels, Citizenship, Seeing Dad, and Getting Home

Well, last time checking in from Moscow. In about an hour we are off to the airport. Next stop: Atlanta. That is where Zachary will obtain citizenship. Then, after that, next stop: Detroit. Yay!!!

Today is a very big day for Zachary and he doesn't even know it yet. But, thanks for all your comments thus far. Looking forward to getting us all home.

Our Work Here In Moscow Is DONE!

Well, at approximately 2:30 p.m. Moscow time (that would be about 6:30 a.m. Detroit time), we are all done with paperchasing. Zachary is ours, has his passport and visa and is ready to come home. We heard that the embassy appointment can be a long day. When we walked out after only being there 45 minutues, our escort told us that was record time. There were tons of screaming kids in a cramped, hot room. But, Zachary did not join the screaming and was really good even though we were cutting in to his scheduled nap time. So, all done. No more work to do here in Moscow, just sit back and relax before our long journey home.

Thus far, no luck on the Saturday flights. So, it will likely be Sunday when our little Zachary becomes an American citizen. He'll obtain official citizenship when we clear customs in Atlanta on our way back. Just in time for the 4th of July!

I actually managed to not nap with him for once :)

Anyway, here is a picture of him being a little ham.

The Countdown To Bring Zachary Home

Things are progressing very well. Today, we got Zachary's passport. Yay! That means one final step and we are ready to step on a plane. Tomorrow is our appointment with the embassy, and after that we are officially done here in Moscow. At the moment, our flights are booked to get out of here on Sunday (July 2nd). We are hoping there is a way that we can get out of here on Saturday. However, one Delta flight today was canceled, so with the backlog I'm not going to count on it. But, you never know?!?!?!

Zachary is progressing along great. In just a few days, he has learned how to clap his hands and we have him talking. While we got him to say "Da" before, now he likes to test his lungs saying it and also includes baby babble. And, his toys are no longer enough. He likes to go for the garbage, the cameras, the electronics, all the things that are out of his reach that he's not supposed to have. So, he's definitely starting to show his personality. It is great.

But, I have to tell you...Ann and I are tired! We got up with him today, and went back down with him at his naptime. He is wearing us out. But, we love it.