Our first days at home

Well before I get into that, let's recap our trip home...one Kali and I sure won't forget! Friday night Moscow time Kali and I were all packed and ready to get some sleep since we needed to be up at 3am. But who goes to sleep at 9p on a Friday night in Moscow? Surely not the locals who decided to have a party in the little park outside our windows...car radios blaring and all. Luckily that died down about 10p. Once I fell asleep, pouring rain woke me at 11p. Once I fell asleep after night, who would decide to wake at midnight and not go back to sleep until 2a? Yes, my new darling son. It was my fault really...he was awake but in the process of putting himself back to sleep when I looked into his crib. He saw me and thought yay play time! By the time 3am came around..oy..I was not a happy camper.

We got to the airport quickly with Lucas falling back asleep in the car. We said our goodbyes to Vlad and proceeded to check-in. It was there that Kali and I nearly had heart attacks. The agent indicated there was a problem with Lucas' passport, his last name did not match his ticketed name. She checked with another agent, came back and said the same thing. After more explaining she went to get a passport/customs official who came, asked to see his adoption documents and once realizing that the paperwork was in order and that the error was more in pronunciation and how his name was then spelled on his passport, said we were ok. Halleluia! The thought of staying another 5 days (which is probably what would have been necessary to get a new passport and then visa) was inconceivable especially when we were so ready to go home.

We first needed to fly to Amsterdam and the flight was just about 3 hours. Lucas whined and fussed the first couple hours but we tried to occupy him with crazy, silly baby games. Finally, he was able to fall asleep and slept for the last hour and through the landing! We were lucky to easily make our connection, having left Moscow 10 minutes early and soon boarded our 8 hr flight to Boston. Again, Lucas played for a couple hours yet with increasing whining and then lost it and screamed for about 5-10 minutes before he finally succumbed to sleep. He slept for about 2.5 hours - yay! Finally we landed on the ground in Boston, full of emotion as we were HOME and Lucas was officially a US citizen. We got through passport control and customs within about 40 minutes and then were greeted by Paul, Alexander and several of our friends...it was such a sweet welcome.

Coming through the doors...


First meeting of brothers...


First family photo...


We got home, Kali left for Maine (she was pooped!), and the rest of us had a 2-3 hour nap. It was so precious to see Lucas asleep in his crib for the 1st time. I was tempted to let him sleep since it was nighttime Moscow time, but to try and get him on our time zone, woke him (boy was he groggy!) and we managed to keep him playing and awake until about 7:30p. He then slept until 5:30a the next morning! Since then he's been on EST, napping once a day for 2-3 hrs and sleeping about 11 hours at night. He's eating pretty well and exploring our house. We've tried to go outside for at least one walk a day but the weather has turned rainy and cool here so it's not as easy. Though yesterday and today we took a late morning walk and Lucas fell asleep both times in the Ergo carrier :). We haven't yet ventured away from home but I might be willing to do that tomorrow - we're getting a little house crazy!

Lucas seems to be bonding well with us too. When he's hungry and sees us preparing food, he waddles over to my legs and puts his hands up. He also comes over when we're sitting on the floor and indicates he wants to be picked up or bounced. Today I was holding him and dancing around with him facing outward and when I put him down he walked back over, turned around and put his hands up for me to do it again. He makes GREAT eye contact, accepts affection easily and smiles everytime I feed him a gerber puff with my mouth. Some days he's fussier and whinier than others and I don't know him well enough to know whether that's teething, hunger, stomach upset, etc. I'm sure we'll figure it out in the coming weeks and months.

Alexander is adjusting fairly well...there are moments such as when Lucas wakes up before him or gets to be spoonfed that he has a hard time dealing with. He'll come crawling into my lap in front of Lucas and not let me get up if I need to get to Lucas. He'll tell Paul that he has to be on 'Lucas duty'. But those are occurring a little less each day. This morning Alexander woke up about 45 min before Lucas and he and I got to snuggle on the couch and eat breakfast together. He is generally sweet and loving towards him and very careful as to not knock him over. He was all excited when I asked if he could help Lucas do the 'circuit' (a loop between our kitchen, LR and DR) on his little 3-wheeled scooter.

Well that's all for now...Lucas is nearing the end of his nap and so's the end of my free time. Of course here are some pics!
Laura

Dang cute!


Rather chew than play...


Baseball here I come...

So this is how these go...got it?

Big bro being a big helper...