Final Countdown

When the 10 days started, we felt like the end would never come. But, here we are. It feels so good. We will no longer have to sign a form in order to take our child for the day. We will be able to dress him in whatever we want. We can show his picture on our blog and on our Facebook accounts. We will be able to tuck him into bed at night.

One of the hardest transitions I am having is calling him “Nicholas”. He has his name given at birth, which we call him by now. We try to add his new name after it, but sometimes we forget. I’m sure it will be a transition for all three of us. He’s actually repeated “Nicholas” back to us and it is really cute when he says it. However, I don’t think he associates it with himself. Who knows what he thinks it means.

We had a very busy day today. Usually our day starts at 10:00 or later, but today we were out the door at 8:45 AM. First, we headed to court to pick up the court decree. That was the most enjoyable ride we ever had to the courthouse. Next, we went to get his new amended birth certificate. Luba will have to translate it for U.S. purposes since it is in Russian.

We then went onto the Baby Home to spend an hour and a half there while Sergei ran some errands. I noticed Nicholas’ caregivers directing him more and more to us when he came to them. I can’t imagine what his caregivers are going through right now. They want so much for these children to be adopted, yet they’ve known most of them their entire lives. They have to have mixed emotions. I really feel for them.

We also started the process for his passport today. He went with us and was not a happy camper when he wasn’t allowed to walk into the various offices. Luckily, the entire process only took about 15 minutes and then we were out of there. Our final destination was the hotel. In the lobby is a travel agency so we reserved our tickets for Wednesday morning to Moscow. We will pay for them tomorrow after we have Nicholas’ passport in hand.

But, Nicholas is here with us now for the afternoon. He goes back to the Baby Home at 6:00. This will be the last time we drop him off there. Tomorrow, when he leaves, he leaves for good. I have already packed his outfit for tomorrow into our backpack. His little life will change dramatically. I hope he is learning that he can trust us through all the time we’ve spent together.

Finally, I want to let you in on a little secret I learned yesterday. I think something got lost in translation and today is really Day 11, which means we can show pictures online. The birth certificate lists us as parents, so it is official. HOWEVER, since I have one teaser left, I’m going to make everyone wait until tomorrow. I haven’t decided which pictures I want to put on the blog for the “big reveal” yet. Maybe I’ll be nice and post that blog in the morning, which is really Monday night for most of you. :)

Our final teaser is one that we love. Nicholas loves food, as you may know. Couple his love of food with his too-small clothes and you get this picture. We love tickling or kissing his chubby, little belly. It makes him laugh and then he tries to do the same to us. Enjoy.



Kristin