Fun For All Week....edit for cute moment

This past week was very busy. We had two great playdates with some of our Russian friends. Sharon and Sean met us on Monday for a pool date.

On Thursday Christine and her boys Roman and Max came from New York for a playdate. It was a pretty hot day but the boys had fun playing inside while Christine and I got caught up on our happenings. Then we all went outside so the boys could play on the swingset and in the sandbox. Unfortunately, Colby wasn't feeling quite well. He had a slight fever Wednesday night and it continued most of Thursday. But he had fun with the boys. We went to lunch and then to the local playground. All too soon it was time for them to head home.

Friday Colby and I did some school shopping. We also watched "The Backyardigans Polka Palace" which Colby loved. He loves music and that reminded Mike about my clarinet and saxophone upstairs. So we brought them out and Colby loved trying to play them. He seems to be a natural!

Then Saturday we enjoyed Lake Warmaug with Mike's parents. Lots of swimming on a hot humid day.

The weekend finished with a trip to the Butterfly place in Massachussetts with my mom. Colby seemed to enjoy it but he did shy away from them when they flew toward him. They also had some exotic frogs, lizards, and chameleons there as well as some very cute button quails. One cute note: Colby is very observant and is always listening, even when you think he isn't. He is starting to realize that people have more than one name (Mommy is also Melissa, Daddy is Michael, etc). When we were out with my mom he wanted her to see something and he called to her, quite loudly, "Grandma Donna!". Very cute.

After so much fun, Mommy and Colby enjoyed the day home today doing some chores and listening to the rain and thunder. We had some but not much. The storms missed us again. But the little bit of rain cooled us down a little. But here's some great photos from our week of fun.

At the Pool Club

Yesterday Colby and I had a great playdate with Sean and Sharon. We went with them to the pool club. The water was great and the boys had a great time playing together. Colby the shark loved running into the pool and going under water. After just a few swim lessons he thinks he's Michael Phelps or something, ready for the Olympic team. He really is getting the hang of it though and can almost keep himself afloat. He's also just now trying to float on his back. Before he hatied being on his back. Now he tries to do the backstroke. I think he drank a gallon or more of pool water. Here's some great photos.

The Cutest Thing!

Colby loves the phone. He loves to talk to everyone and has become quite adept at holding the phone and can just about hold a conversation, well about as well as he does face-to-face. Which is amazing lately. He now uses 3-5 word sentences and knows so many words I have long since lost count. Anyway, Colby loves the phone so much that he often gets mad if we don't let him say hello. I have always been with him during these phone calls so I have seen him get quite excited saying hello and trying to explain what he is doing. So cuute in person!

Today I went ot my friend Sharon's baby shower. She is awaiting a phone call to go get her son from Russia. We hope to hear something within the week or so for a court date. Fingers crossed!!! The party was early afternoon so I had put Colby down for his nap and told him Mommy would be out when he woke up. As I was leaving the party I called home to let Mike know I was on the way. Well, what did I hear?? The biggest, cutest, most energetic, "Hi Mommy!". And he said it a bunch of times. Then he told me all about his dinner and the mess. That "Hi Mommy!" just made my day! What a treat! Since I am home with Colby I don't often leave him. It was nice to hear the excitement in his voice to say hi to me, the same excitement Mike hears every day when he comes home. It almost makes me want to leave more so I can get that excitement more! Almost, but no. I love being home! And boy do I love when Colby says, "Hi, Mommy!" either in person, or on the phone!

Paradise Found and a New Cousin

We have certainly had a whirlwind of a few weeks here. I can't believe that September has already found us. I'm not quite sure where July went. Colby and I spent much of our time outside and visiting with friends. I also became the proud aunt of a beautiful little girl named Elizabeth, or Lizzie. I have 4 nephews already but now I finally have a niece. She was born in late July. Colby seems to really like here, although he keeps telling her, "No, no Lizzie. No cry." Way too cute. Mike, Colby, and I went to visit Mike's brother David and his wife Jocelyn shortly after Lizzie was born. Colby spent much of the time playing Baseball on Wii with David. David succeeded in hitting Colby on the head and Colby hit the dog, Benny, on the head. All in good fun! We can't wait until Lizzie gets a little older and then she and Colby can enjoy playing together. We have a picnic scheduled at Mike's parents' house on Sunday to celebrate both Lizzie and Colby and jsut to have fun with family.

Last week Colby and I enjoyed a visit with our friends Jill, Nicholas, and Sharon. We went down to Hamden to visit with them and there we found "Paradise". It is a country club that Sharon belongs too and Colby had a blast playing with Nicholas and going swimming. He is still talking about it. I enjoyed the time with friends, the warm sunshine, and swimming too. There is a pool but they also have a swimming area more like a small lake. You walk right in and it slowly gets deeper, like at the beach, except no sand. We had a nice swim and enjoyed lunch together before both Colby and Nicholas showed signs of needing a nap. We can't wait to go again. Colby loves playing with "Nichotin" and I really enjoy our friendship with Jill and Sharon. Nicholas is Jill's little boy, he's about 11 months younger than Colby. Sharon's little one, Sean, is about 6 months younger than Colby but he is still waiting in Russia to come home. We hope he comes home soon.

So, we found Paradise, welcomed a new little one to our family, and are enjoying the nice weather. Summer flew by way too fast and now fall is here. Mike and I are looking forward to bringing Colby to some of the local fall fairs, Goshen, Bethlehem, and also to the Big E. So many new things to do. And everything seems more exciting when you have a 2 year old to experience it with you.

On another note, I want to thank everyone for the kind comments on my last post. I can't say that the change from being "Melissa" to being "Mommy" has been tough but there were a few bumps in the road. I am enjoying my time with Colby and I know that having this time together is priceless. I do miss work, but only in the sense that I miss the adult interaction and the sense of pride that teaching brought. Now my pride comes from watching Colby grow, learn, and thrive. What better accomplishment is there? As for adult interaction, that is why I am thrilled to have Sharon and Jill and their relationship. I lost many of my "friends" when I left my last job so their friendship means all the more. I hope that we can even grow our little play group even more!

Random Updates

This has been a busy week for us. After his high fever and cutting his 2-year molar, Colby still isn't quite himself. The crabby boy is enjoying longer naps and seems very tired at night. He is also quick to be frustrated as well. However, we keep moving on.

Monday we spent a quite day at home but on Tuesday we had Sharon over. She and her husband, Patrick, live nearby and are waiting to go back to get their son Sean. He is 20 months old. Sharon came over on Tues so I could see photos from her first trip, they just came home about 3 weeks ago. Sean is an absolute cutie. Quite the chubby little boy, he looks like Patrick. Funny, Colby looks a lot like Mike.

Wednesday Mike was home and we had our social worker, Christine, over for our 6 month update for Russia. Wow! 6 months. It needs to be done early because it has to be in Russia before the 6 months is up. Christine was quite impressed with Mr. Colby, the show off. We had a nice chat then Christine mentioned that this would be our last meeting face-to-face. SHe would still be calling us for 2-3 years for updates and photos but she wasn't required to visit anymore. Wow! That was a shock. She's been there since we began this journey and now we are "on our own" so to speak. I hope that we will see her again though. Colby and I will have to visit her as he grows up . He was calling her "Aunt". It was very cute.

Today we are at home. We were asked to babysit my nephew Keith but he isn't feeling well and my brother Keith thought it would be better not to have the boys together. Colby certainly doesn't need to be sick.

Tomorrow we are heading to visit another friend, Jill, and her son Nicholas. Jill and her husband, Nick, also adopted their boy from Russia. Nicholas even came from the same region as Colby, Yekaterinburg. Nicholas is younger than both Colby and Sean at only 16 months I think. But, we are hoping that the boys become great friends. We know the mommies are already. I can't wait to see Nicholas for the first time. They just came home from Russia about 2 weeks ago.

Also on the adoption front, on Wednesday Mike and I went down to the Children's Probate court to see what we need to do to have a U.S. birth certificate issued for Colby. We haven't done anything with following up the adoption in the U.S. and now that things are settled down, as much as they will, it is time. We were told that we do not need to re-finalize the adoption here because we were present at the adoption in Russia and his Russian birth certificate has our names and his adopted name on it. So, all we needed to do was apply for a certificate of foreign birth issued. They took copies of our adoption papers and the judge will call a hearing, sometime in August, to see the originals and then issue the U.S. birth certificate. Colby was in a rare mood by then and ready for lunch so we went home. After lunch, while he was napping I went back downtown to the Social Security office to start the process for a Social Security card. They copied the original documents and will send them to be translated (dumb because we have the translations attached but they can't accept that, they need to translate it themselves) and then they will issue the card. They said we should get the card in about a month or so.

So, things are moving along. We are getting things done that have been pushed aside. Accomplishments have been made, or are in the works anyway. And now we just need to work on a job for Mommy!