More Paper Job :)

This morning Carter woke up around 6:00a....yes, I said 6:00a.  We were so hoping he would sleep until at least 7:00....but no such luck.  I'm sure he's just feeling so out of sorts that he'll be off schedule for a while.  Or maybe he'll just get up at 6:00a every day....hah.  Oh geez.

He slept pretty good...his sinuses are pretty full, and when he sleeps he sucks on his tongue (which doesn't allow for any airflow thru the mouth) - so he woke up several times coughing/gasping for air.  And me...well - I definitely have my mommy ears.  I was up at least 8 or 9 times checking on him.

He ate a good breakfast of oatmeal and peach baby food...and he was just a little spitfire the whole morning.  To say he's adjusted to the apartment would be an understatement.  He feels completely at home here, for sure.  We found that he enjoys looking out the windows...okay - he LOVES looking out the windows.

Note to Grannie, NaNa, Mimi, and Grandma Ann...he was held on to tightly by his mama.  Don't worry!  

Niko picked us up at 10:30a, and took us to the US Consulate.  We had to start the process of getting Carter's visa.  Of course, only American citizens are allowed inside, so Niko told us what to do and pointed us in the right direction.  We basically filled out a few forms and paid the $404 fee.  We'll be back on Monday to finish the visa process...and if it goes well, we will be heading home on Tuesday.  Niko says there are never problems with visas...only passports.  So - if we DO get our passport tomorrow, then he said it would be very safe for us to purchase our tickets home for Tuesday. Tuesday!  It's so close....!

Waiting outside our apartment for Niko to come :)

After the Consulate, we went to the bank to close out Carter's account.  Each child (in the orphanages) has their own bank account - there is a small amount added to it each year by the government - and I believe parents/grandparents can add to the account if they wish.  That's the way Niko made it sound.  Anyhow - we chose to give the money back to the orphanage.  It was about $5,000...which was way more than I had expected.  The director seemed very glad to be given the money - he said they would use it toward diapers and extra food.  Yea...uh-huh...okay....sure.  It is what it is :)

After clearing out his account, Niko asked if we wanted to stop at the Mini-K*ev...it's full of replicas of all the 'tourist stops' in this city.  He said he had never been there - so we decided it might be fun.  Despite the fact that it was cold and windy - we had a nice little walk around the 'city'!

Niko said that people throw money in this 'river' -
because as they saying goes 'if you want to return someday, you leave something behind'!  

Onto another topic.  Kind of a 'sticky' subject.  Sorry...I had to :)  Since we have brought Carter out of the orphanage, he has not pooped.  We've just been waiting for it to happen...knowing full well that it would probably happen at the most inopportune time.  Well...sure enough - we were walking around this little 'city' and we all knew it had finally happened.  So I changed him in the back of Niko's van.  I'm pretty sure Jake almost tossed his cookies :)  But the point of this story is that I'm glad it happened...we were worried he would have a tummy ache.

So - we're back at the apartment for the afternoon - we may or may not meet up with the Horner family tonight, as they're back in town (with their whole family!) to complete their adoption process.  Otherwise, we'll just hang around here.  Last night while I put Carter to sleep, Jake made mashed potatoes, mashed carrots, and applesauce so that we'd have a few days worth of meals for Carter.  Jake just fed Carter a little of each, and put him down for his nap...he's pretty good at this 'dad' stuff :)  Hopefully he'll sleep at least a few hours (Carter, not Jake...).

One Thing I Know For Sure: How did I get so stinkin' blessed?!