We have Sasha
Greetings to all -
What a week this has been. We're still at the Marriot Grande where computer usage is pricey so I'll try to make this quick. On Tuesday we drove out to Kaluga. We felt so lucky as Alex, our driver from the first trip, was available to take us. He is simply the nicest person and we feel that he is family. At various points during this trip we have both commented that we feel he's the only person in Russia that we can trust.
We left the Marriot at 7 a.m. and proceeded in light traffic out to the region. It was a 3 hour drive. We entertained Alex with stories from my travels - my Nigeria stories and the stories of 'assjackets' from Venezuela. He laughed so hard at one point I thought he might have to pull over to wipe the tears from his eyes.
Our first stop was to the court to pick up our documents that said that Sasha was ours and that the ten days were complete. We then went to a government office to get updated birth certificates. We left her to complete the work and went to a variety of other offices - our translator, a notary, a public documents archive, back to the government office and finally to the baby home. Believe it or not, Sasha actually remembered us. He remembered goldfish even more and we played with him while we awaited Svetlana's return. She returned and we headed to the passport office. We had been told that this could take an additional 10-15 days. We pleaded with the supervisor, a man that surprisingly resembled Richard Gere (but with a cooler accent) and he came through for us. I gave him a big smooch of the cheek in thanks along with some Armenian Brandy and we left with Sasha's passport in hand. Whew.
We dined at the Wall cafe on our favorite regional specialities - Jare and Folk. Very tasty.
We headed back to the baby home and picked up Sasha. Despite the long car ride, he stayed awake the whole journey and was really good. He just seems to soak everything up. We finally made it back to the hotel around 11:30 p.m. just beat.
On Thursday we got up at 5:15 a.m. to get ready for our doctor visit. The doctor was very nice and informed us that Sasha had scabies. Ugh. I started itching right away just thinking about it. At 8:30 a.m., Oleg, our contact for the U.S. Embassy came to work through some paperwork for our embassy visit. As we were going through it, he asked if I had additional fingerprint documents which I didn't. Our fingerprints had expired on July 14 and we wouldn't be allowed to get Sasha's visa without them. It's so unfortunate that our agency didn't catch this before we left. You can't imagine how sad we were. As I've mentioned in previous blogs, at some point you are just Done ... and we were there about 10 days ago. I went back to my room to tell Mom the bad news . At 11:30 a.m., Oleg called from the lobby to take me to get fingerprints. Unfortunately, I didn't know we were going anywhere so I went down with no makeup, no shower and wearing the jeans and a t-shirt. Guess this will now be the story of my life with a baby, huh?
We waited forever for the girl to come back from lunch break (Russia believes in specializing so of course there is only one person who can run the fingerprint machine). She was very nice and made copies of the prints, sealed them and handed them to us to take to the embassy. We called Mom to let her know that our interview with the embassy was still scheduled for 2:15 p.m. today. I asked if I should change. I had planned on us wearing something patriotic, perhaps carrying a small U.S. flag but alas, no chance. We had to get to the hotel, pile the baby in a stroller (which he likes by the way) and get to the embassy to make our appointment on time.
We were interviewed by Jeff at the U.S. Embassy. After a month in Russia, Jeff seemed like the nicest, kindest, smartest and most competent person we've ever met. It took no time at all to sign the papers and be briefed on getting back to the U.S. Jeff also explained that everything possible was being done to expedite our fingerprints and that I needed to get Nathan out to get his fingerprints as soon as possible. I assured him that wouldn't be a problem. We left without our visa and envelope which we will be collect when our updated fingerprints come through.
We have asked several people to contact their congressmen and senators to ask for the USCIS folks to expedite our case. This process can take 6 weeks in normal circumstances. We need it to take three days in order for us to leave the country before our Russian visas expire on July 27. If you haven't joined the "Free Toni, Tamara and Sasha' movement and can contact your representative or senator to ask for their help, we would so appreciate it. Nathan or John Platt can provide more detailed information if you need it. We're just ready to come home.
We have spent the last two days trying to get Sasha into a routine. We treated him with Elimite on Wednesday afternoon which was a real treat for all. He can be completely charming but is stubborn beyond belief (can he have already have picked up traits from his grandfather despite not having met him yet?? and No, I don't mean Grandpa Tom).
Our days are exhausting. Here is what today looked like for us:
8 a.m. Get up, pull on my clothes that are their second day in use (I have NO clean clothes at this point and hope this isn't something I'll need to get used to)
8:05 a.m. Get the munchkin out of his crib and carry to bathroom. Stand him on floor and lock the door to prevent untimely departures. Get him undressed. Change smelly, icky diaper and place munchie in already run bath. He loves his bath. Everything in the bathroom is totally soaked afterwards including Baba (grandmother) and me.
8:20 a.m. Get him out of tub. He melts down. Put his diaper on. Hold him for Mom to rub hydrocortisone cream on his owies. Completely inconsolable. Hold him for Mom to rub vaseline all over his skin. Absolutely, completely inconsolable. He is sure that he will die from this effort. Wonder if hotel neighbor will call the Moscow police to report that we're killing a little boy in our bathroom.
8:30 a.m. Try to get clothes on him. Still crying but taking breaths more often. Face not the color of beets anymore. Put socks on him. Cries and cries and tries to take them off. Tell him No. He wails. Put shoes on him. Flails about in protest, screaming louder than my ears can hear.
8:45 a.m. Take his hand and bag of his dining needs (instant cereal, spoon, bib, baby wipes and sippy cup) and head towards the elevator.
8:55 a.m. Make it to the executive lounge and ask for a high chair. Get pot of boiling water, a cup of corn flakes (to occupy him while I make his cereal), two sections of scrambled eggs, two slices of melon and a banana. Get a small plate to assemble his feast. Mix cereal and cut up food as quickly as possible before he can finish his corn flakes to prevent a meltdown in the presence of many a nice business man that just aren't interested in hearing a child scream at the top of his lungs for long periods of time.
9:30 a.m. After finishing three times as much food as Mom or I and us wondering if his stomach bursts if we'll be somehow blamed for child endangerment, he seems somewhat finished. We know better than to just take his plate so we offer him a huge piece of bread to keep while we make our way back to our room. He drops bits all the way down the hall making the ninth floor look like something out of Hansel and Gretel. As we walk down our hall, I adeptly remove his bib, hoping that he won't notice. He plops down in the hall completely mad and wailing. I point out to him that he still has two fistfulls of bread. He can continue eating. It doesn't matter. I walk down the hall to our door and tell Mom to go ahead. He looks confused. I squat down and say, "Come here, Munchie". He looks confused but gets up and toddles towards me with a smile on his face and gives me a hug. Could he be bi-polar???
9:30 - 10:30 a.m. Tear everything apart in the room that isn't nailed down.
10:30 a.m. Odiferousness. How can such a small person make such a huge, bad smell that can fill up a hotel room in less than two minutes??
10:31 a.m. Take munchkin into bathroom and proceed to change diaper. Wailing on high mode. Mom and I change diapers. We are winded from the experience.
10:40 a.m. Nap time, place in crib. More wailing. Take off his shoes to make him more comfortable. Wail louder. Face beet red. Notice that he's itching his feet. Get benadryl out. When the meds are gone, more wailing. He eventually settles down into his crib, blankie in one hand, thumb in mouth, trying to go to sleep.
Yes, yes, that's our day. Doesn't it sound glamorous? My hair hasn't been properly combed in days and I may have to have it all chopped off due to the incredibly thick tangles that now live on my head. We have finally sent clothes out to be washed so we can look forward to having something clean to wear soon. My face hasn't had make-up on it in days. You can imagine how good we look. I hate to think this is what I'll look like for the next 15 years !!!
I have escaped while Mom watches him nap to update the blog. When I return, it will be time to begin again as lunch time is soon. There doesn't seem to be enough caffeine in the country...
Love to all ... I'll try to post some photos later as Mom may think I've fled the country.
What a week this has been. We're still at the Marriot Grande where computer usage is pricey so I'll try to make this quick. On Tuesday we drove out to Kaluga. We felt so lucky as Alex, our driver from the first trip, was available to take us. He is simply the nicest person and we feel that he is family. At various points during this trip we have both commented that we feel he's the only person in Russia that we can trust.
We left the Marriot at 7 a.m. and proceeded in light traffic out to the region. It was a 3 hour drive. We entertained Alex with stories from my travels - my Nigeria stories and the stories of 'assjackets' from Venezuela. He laughed so hard at one point I thought he might have to pull over to wipe the tears from his eyes.
Our first stop was to the court to pick up our documents that said that Sasha was ours and that the ten days were complete. We then went to a government office to get updated birth certificates. We left her to complete the work and went to a variety of other offices - our translator, a notary, a public documents archive, back to the government office and finally to the baby home. Believe it or not, Sasha actually remembered us. He remembered goldfish even more and we played with him while we awaited Svetlana's return. She returned and we headed to the passport office. We had been told that this could take an additional 10-15 days. We pleaded with the supervisor, a man that surprisingly resembled Richard Gere (but with a cooler accent) and he came through for us. I gave him a big smooch of the cheek in thanks along with some Armenian Brandy and we left with Sasha's passport in hand. Whew.
We dined at the Wall cafe on our favorite regional specialities - Jare and Folk. Very tasty.
We headed back to the baby home and picked up Sasha. Despite the long car ride, he stayed awake the whole journey and was really good. He just seems to soak everything up. We finally made it back to the hotel around 11:30 p.m. just beat.
On Thursday we got up at 5:15 a.m. to get ready for our doctor visit. The doctor was very nice and informed us that Sasha had scabies. Ugh. I started itching right away just thinking about it. At 8:30 a.m., Oleg, our contact for the U.S. Embassy came to work through some paperwork for our embassy visit. As we were going through it, he asked if I had additional fingerprint documents which I didn't. Our fingerprints had expired on July 14 and we wouldn't be allowed to get Sasha's visa without them. It's so unfortunate that our agency didn't catch this before we left. You can't imagine how sad we were. As I've mentioned in previous blogs, at some point you are just Done ... and we were there about 10 days ago. I went back to my room to tell Mom the bad news . At 11:30 a.m., Oleg called from the lobby to take me to get fingerprints. Unfortunately, I didn't know we were going anywhere so I went down with no makeup, no shower and wearing the jeans and a t-shirt. Guess this will now be the story of my life with a baby, huh?
We waited forever for the girl to come back from lunch break (Russia believes in specializing so of course there is only one person who can run the fingerprint machine). She was very nice and made copies of the prints, sealed them and handed them to us to take to the embassy. We called Mom to let her know that our interview with the embassy was still scheduled for 2:15 p.m. today. I asked if I should change. I had planned on us wearing something patriotic, perhaps carrying a small U.S. flag but alas, no chance. We had to get to the hotel, pile the baby in a stroller (which he likes by the way) and get to the embassy to make our appointment on time.
We were interviewed by Jeff at the U.S. Embassy. After a month in Russia, Jeff seemed like the nicest, kindest, smartest and most competent person we've ever met. It took no time at all to sign the papers and be briefed on getting back to the U.S. Jeff also explained that everything possible was being done to expedite our fingerprints and that I needed to get Nathan out to get his fingerprints as soon as possible. I assured him that wouldn't be a problem. We left without our visa and envelope which we will be collect when our updated fingerprints come through.
We have asked several people to contact their congressmen and senators to ask for the USCIS folks to expedite our case. This process can take 6 weeks in normal circumstances. We need it to take three days in order for us to leave the country before our Russian visas expire on July 27. If you haven't joined the "Free Toni, Tamara and Sasha' movement and can contact your representative or senator to ask for their help, we would so appreciate it. Nathan or John Platt can provide more detailed information if you need it. We're just ready to come home.
We have spent the last two days trying to get Sasha into a routine. We treated him with Elimite on Wednesday afternoon which was a real treat for all. He can be completely charming but is stubborn beyond belief (can he have already have picked up traits from his grandfather despite not having met him yet?? and No, I don't mean Grandpa Tom).
Our days are exhausting. Here is what today looked like for us:
8 a.m. Get up, pull on my clothes that are their second day in use (I have NO clean clothes at this point and hope this isn't something I'll need to get used to)
8:05 a.m. Get the munchkin out of his crib and carry to bathroom. Stand him on floor and lock the door to prevent untimely departures. Get him undressed. Change smelly, icky diaper and place munchie in already run bath. He loves his bath. Everything in the bathroom is totally soaked afterwards including Baba (grandmother) and me.
8:20 a.m. Get him out of tub. He melts down. Put his diaper on. Hold him for Mom to rub hydrocortisone cream on his owies. Completely inconsolable. Hold him for Mom to rub vaseline all over his skin. Absolutely, completely inconsolable. He is sure that he will die from this effort. Wonder if hotel neighbor will call the Moscow police to report that we're killing a little boy in our bathroom.
8:30 a.m. Try to get clothes on him. Still crying but taking breaths more often. Face not the color of beets anymore. Put socks on him. Cries and cries and tries to take them off. Tell him No. He wails. Put shoes on him. Flails about in protest, screaming louder than my ears can hear.
8:45 a.m. Take his hand and bag of his dining needs (instant cereal, spoon, bib, baby wipes and sippy cup) and head towards the elevator.
8:55 a.m. Make it to the executive lounge and ask for a high chair. Get pot of boiling water, a cup of corn flakes (to occupy him while I make his cereal), two sections of scrambled eggs, two slices of melon and a banana. Get a small plate to assemble his feast. Mix cereal and cut up food as quickly as possible before he can finish his corn flakes to prevent a meltdown in the presence of many a nice business man that just aren't interested in hearing a child scream at the top of his lungs for long periods of time.
9:30 a.m. After finishing three times as much food as Mom or I and us wondering if his stomach bursts if we'll be somehow blamed for child endangerment, he seems somewhat finished. We know better than to just take his plate so we offer him a huge piece of bread to keep while we make our way back to our room. He drops bits all the way down the hall making the ninth floor look like something out of Hansel and Gretel. As we walk down our hall, I adeptly remove his bib, hoping that he won't notice. He plops down in the hall completely mad and wailing. I point out to him that he still has two fistfulls of bread. He can continue eating. It doesn't matter. I walk down the hall to our door and tell Mom to go ahead. He looks confused. I squat down and say, "Come here, Munchie". He looks confused but gets up and toddles towards me with a smile on his face and gives me a hug. Could he be bi-polar???
9:30 - 10:30 a.m. Tear everything apart in the room that isn't nailed down.
10:30 a.m. Odiferousness. How can such a small person make such a huge, bad smell that can fill up a hotel room in less than two minutes??
10:31 a.m. Take munchkin into bathroom and proceed to change diaper. Wailing on high mode. Mom and I change diapers. We are winded from the experience.
10:40 a.m. Nap time, place in crib. More wailing. Take off his shoes to make him more comfortable. Wail louder. Face beet red. Notice that he's itching his feet. Get benadryl out. When the meds are gone, more wailing. He eventually settles down into his crib, blankie in one hand, thumb in mouth, trying to go to sleep.
Yes, yes, that's our day. Doesn't it sound glamorous? My hair hasn't been properly combed in days and I may have to have it all chopped off due to the incredibly thick tangles that now live on my head. We have finally sent clothes out to be washed so we can look forward to having something clean to wear soon. My face hasn't had make-up on it in days. You can imagine how good we look. I hate to think this is what I'll look like for the next 15 years !!!
I have escaped while Mom watches him nap to update the blog. When I return, it will be time to begin again as lunch time is soon. There doesn't seem to be enough caffeine in the country...
Love to all ... I'll try to post some photos later as Mom may think I've fled the country.
posted by Tamara at 2:31 AM
1 Comments:
omigosh, Tamara!! First, you're writing is so awesome and funny! Second, I am soooo sorry you are stuck there! Update us all soon. Tim and I are dying for you. As we live a similiar life, crazy but in our own home, here in Evanston with our brood. Meg
Post a Comment
<< Home