Melt Down

As a warning, this post is long. Read at your own risk (to you schedule).

The morning started off at 3:30 am in order to catch a ride to the airport by 4:30 am. The drive for the most part was uneventful, although we did figure out that you must pull up close to the parking ticket machine (at the airport) for it to give you a ticket. When we had been seated on the airplane for about 15 minutes, Justin was already getting antsy. The first hour of the flight was a bit tense, he was talking very loudly and kicking the chair in front of him. The airline gave him a "junior pilot" backpack with some fun stuff in it. The markers were a hit, till I finally had to take them away, he kept dropping them and the kind lady behind us would pick them up. He also had marker all over his hands. After a crying fit, we decided on some good old medication. They served breakfast on the plane, which looked like dinner to me. Justin would have nothing to do with the food, for that matter I didn't eat much either. After about 20 minutes, Geoff took him to the bathroom and walked him to calm him down. By the time they made it back to the seats Justin looked exhausted. Within 10 minutes of holding him he was fast asleep. We laid him in the seat between us and he stayed their till the plane was ready to land.

We arrived in Moscow @ 8am. Our rep met us and ready to whisked us away to the Embassy. Whisked may not be the correct word, it took nearly two hours to get to the Embassy because of Moscow traffic. Geoff and our rep filled out paperwork en route, then our rep presented our documents to the Embassy. We got an invitation to return on Monday at 2pm! After that we headed to the "American doctor" for Justin's physical. Not sure why it is called the American clinic, they all spoke Russian (the doctor did speak English to us and Russian to Justin). We had forgotten the medical was included in our fee to our adoption agency, so we were glad we didn't have to spend the $500 in cash.

The doctor gave Justin a good health report and told us not to spoil him. The doctor called him the drama king. After the medical our driver took us to the apartment that we booked on our own. Let's just say the day went downhill from there. By this time we were all very tired and hungry. We walk into the apartment and were surprised that it looked nothing like the pictures advertised on the internet. Our room was called the "White House Suite" because of the view of the Russian White House (Parliament). We can see the White House from the balcony by looking to the right between 2 apartment buildings. This suit is definitely dated, and the worst part for me was that it is very cold. There was no way to turn the heat up, so we decided to go out to find something to eat. After walking about almost an hour we finally found a reasonable place to eat. Our apartment building is located in a ritzy area, and the British Embassy is just around the corner from our apartment.

The weather here is below 30 degrees. After eating we decided to head home and get Justin to take a nap. There are four doors between the street and our apartment. We got through the first three, and Geoff couldn't unlock the fourth, the inner door. The apartment manager had told us that the maid would prepare Justin's bed this afternoon, so we had assumed she had locked the inner door. He called the Agency with the apartment and they sent someone to open it. Needless to say, it just needed a big shove, it doesn't lock.

The melt down started when Geoff told Justin to go potty. For some reason he screamed and cried, after 5 minutes of nothing Geoff decided to put him in a pull-up. That really set him off, and by that time I was very tired and cold. So I took off to the bedroom for my nap while Geoff held a screaming child. Justin never did fall asleep, Geoff said he was almost asleep when he door bell rung and the maid arrived.

We have free internet (really good connection), free international calls, a washing machine, and a kitchen. During this time of thinking, the door bell rang and the guy from the agency had brought us a heater!! Geoff calls the heater my new boyfriend. I am never far from it! Geoff was going to take Justin out to a grocery store for some food. We got Justin dressed and ready to go, I had planned to stay and take a nice hot bath. I guess Justin has never gone anywhere without me, Geoff got him out the door and he stared crying hard. So I kept him at the apartment and gave up on my bath. Needless to say the grocery store near us is VERY small (smaller than our living room. Geoff came home with juice, milk, eggs, bread, and uncooked pizzas. When we decided to eat supper we noticed we don't have an oven. So now we have to think of something else.