Today was better than Christmas, Easter, and birthdays all wrapped into one. Our day started pretty low key with us having the morning to tidy a few things up, duct tape a few things closed and just imagine the day ahead.
At 12:30 we headed off for the registrar’s office for Max’s new birth certificate and another paper which we think is his official change of name. After a couple of more stops for our coordinator to rush around to do paperwork on our behalf, we were off to the baby house to collect our little Max. We arrived around 2:30 and signed him out. After a quick change of clothes and fast goodbye with today’s caregivers we rushed off to the passport office. We barely had time to snap a picture of our last decent down the front steps of the baby house. After the passport office we were returned to our apartment, but this time as a family of three!
Max was very good during the car rides. We thought he might be either a little overwhelmed or very squirmy, but for the most part he simply sat on one of our laps and watched out the window at all of the things going by.
With all of the sudden changes we expected him to be quiet or unsettled back at the apartment. At first he wasn’t too happy about sitting on the carpet in the living room, so we spread out the blanket that we have been using to sit and play on at the baby house. He was okay with this and quickly dove into the toy basket which held the familiar toys from our daily visits, plus a couple of new ones that we kept here. After about 15 minutes of quiet play, he crawled back and forth from the living room to the kitchen as fast as his little legs and arms would take him for the next 30 minutes or so. The whole time he was chatting and laughing. Then he decided to check out the bedroom, mainly to empty the laundry basket and play in it for awhile.
Then we stopped for a bit to have snack, which only fuelled the little guy up again for round 2 of Max’s raceway. We stopped for supper around 6:30 and Max was so tired by this time that he could hardly keep his eyes open while he ate. So around 7:15 we got him ready for bed and set him into his crib. He fussed for only a few seconds but then started to settle himself into bed. After 45 minutes of him playing with the bars on the crib, the zippers on the suitcases that are behind the crib and smiling at us and the baby in the mirror, he finally gave in and fell asleep. We decided to stay in the room and quietly lay on the bed and floor until he fell asleep because he has never slept in a room by himself. Every few minutes he would roll over, see that we were there and then settle back down with a smile on his face. He’s been sleeping now for almost 2 hours and we’ve probably peeked in on him at least a dozen times to prove to ourselves that he really is here.
So all in all our first 7 hours of official parenting have gone pretty smooth.
We had a pretty good chuckle at our little guy’s expense yesterday. When we arrived at the end of the hallway that leads to Max’s room we could hear him howling all the way down the hall. We didn’t know what to think. Was he sad? Was he hurt? What could possibly be going on to cause such a commotion? We rounded the corner to find that he was being wrestled to the ground by a little girl in his group who wanted a little face time with the caregiver that Max was chatting with! So in the end, really only his pride was hurt, but he sure made an issue of it!
We have no idea what time Max will be up, or how many times he will wake through the night, so we’d better get ourselves to the Land of Nod as well.
At 12:30 we headed off for the registrar’s office for Max’s new birth certificate and another paper which we think is his official change of name. After a couple of more stops for our coordinator to rush around to do paperwork on our behalf, we were off to the baby house to collect our little Max. We arrived around 2:30 and signed him out. After a quick change of clothes and fast goodbye with today’s caregivers we rushed off to the passport office. We barely had time to snap a picture of our last decent down the front steps of the baby house. After the passport office we were returned to our apartment, but this time as a family of three!
Max was very good during the car rides. We thought he might be either a little overwhelmed or very squirmy, but for the most part he simply sat on one of our laps and watched out the window at all of the things going by.
With all of the sudden changes we expected him to be quiet or unsettled back at the apartment. At first he wasn’t too happy about sitting on the carpet in the living room, so we spread out the blanket that we have been using to sit and play on at the baby house. He was okay with this and quickly dove into the toy basket which held the familiar toys from our daily visits, plus a couple of new ones that we kept here. After about 15 minutes of quiet play, he crawled back and forth from the living room to the kitchen as fast as his little legs and arms would take him for the next 30 minutes or so. The whole time he was chatting and laughing. Then he decided to check out the bedroom, mainly to empty the laundry basket and play in it for awhile.
Then we stopped for a bit to have snack, which only fuelled the little guy up again for round 2 of Max’s raceway. We stopped for supper around 6:30 and Max was so tired by this time that he could hardly keep his eyes open while he ate. So around 7:15 we got him ready for bed and set him into his crib. He fussed for only a few seconds but then started to settle himself into bed. After 45 minutes of him playing with the bars on the crib, the zippers on the suitcases that are behind the crib and smiling at us and the baby in the mirror, he finally gave in and fell asleep. We decided to stay in the room and quietly lay on the bed and floor until he fell asleep because he has never slept in a room by himself. Every few minutes he would roll over, see that we were there and then settle back down with a smile on his face. He’s been sleeping now for almost 2 hours and we’ve probably peeked in on him at least a dozen times to prove to ourselves that he really is here.
So all in all our first 7 hours of official parenting have gone pretty smooth.
We had a pretty good chuckle at our little guy’s expense yesterday. When we arrived at the end of the hallway that leads to Max’s room we could hear him howling all the way down the hall. We didn’t know what to think. Was he sad? Was he hurt? What could possibly be going on to cause such a commotion? We rounded the corner to find that he was being wrestled to the ground by a little girl in his group who wanted a little face time with the caregiver that Max was chatting with! So in the end, really only his pride was hurt, but he sure made an issue of it!
We have no idea what time Max will be up, or how many times he will wake through the night, so we’d better get ourselves to the Land of Nod as well.
10 comments:
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
We are all so happy for you! After all these years...... prayers do come true. We can't wait to see you all, especially munchkin Max. Good luck with all the paperwork-hopefully it will all go smoothly.
Congrats again, and, HEY MAX - WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!!!!! (if he only knew what he was in for! ;) )
Congratulations!!!! YaHOO!!!! Good luck with the rest of your journey of paperwork.
Congratulations !!!!!,
Awesome news, a new nephew to spoil, can't wait !! What a special happy day for you all, look's like Auntie Sandra will now have someone to share her special day with.
Hopefully all the paperwork will go smoothly and you will soon be on your way home.
Congratulations!! Can't wait till when we see him for ourselves. Sounds like you two, now three are having an awesome time in Kazakhstan!! Can't wait till you get back to Canada!!
Best Of Wishes
Kaitlyn
Rod and Tammy... CONGRATULATIONS! I am so happy for you both!!! I am out for the grad and the wedding in a couple days. I found about this blog tonight as Tracey is visiting here in Yorkton. Max is such an adorable little fellow. And I see you're getting him started early in the Rider tradition Rod. Good job ! :)
I really can't put into words how thrilled I am for you both. Everytime I've asked in the past about your ongoing search, I felt such sadness and disappointment as the process seemed so frustrating. Simply put, I have always felt that it's been a gross injustice for two such deserving parents to have to wait SO long.
And here you are now, proud parents, and the only word that comes to mind as I type this is... "AWESOME !" :)
All the best going forward!!! Congratulations.
Brad Mitchell (Shwaga)
Wow! Congratulations!
Congratulations to your family of 3... Can you believe it? You finally have your littl eguy with you. I am glad that things are going good for you all. Best wishes for the rest of your journey.
Tracy
well, I tried this morning and this just didn't work even after four tries so now I'll try ...CONGRATULATIONS ROD & TAMMY AND MAX GERMAN - you are officially a family and we're proud to have your son join the family! Prayers have so been answered...thank God and continue to bless you until you are home on Canadian soil...We really don't know of any two people who deserve this happiness as much as you two...so enjoy and much love. can't wait to see you when you get home!!!
Congratulations!! We are so happy for you!
YAY 4 U!
We're happy for you, and glad things went well.
Nice to see the transition went fairly smoothly, and that he's taking to you, as you have obviously taken to him.
Great stuff!
Your friends,
Nathanaël, Isabelle and Andrei.
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