First, welcome to the family, Little I!

Who would ever imagine that such an angelic face could be the source of such joy...yet such stress for his parents? Those of you with children are probably chuckling at such a question. But suffice it to say that we had a rough afternoon. I am having issues knowing whether I am handling tantrums, etc. in the most appropriate way...these issues are exacerbated by the fact that my hormones are trying to level back out. The combination of the two (issues + hormones) caused me to have a major "I'm not a good mom" meltdown tonight. I am so thankful that I have such a supportive husband, though, because he takes things in stride & helps me to see that I cannot expect to be perfect in my 11th day as a mom. I get so afraid of screwing up my child, because I'm not sure if I handle any of his (this is not a technical term) PI-ness in the best way. I just want to do a good job. And like Nathan said, I've been doing this for less than 2 weeks; I can't expect to be perfect this soon (or ever!). I'll tell you more later, when I'm feeling a little less tired. Right now, I'm exhausted, so I'm gonna give you a quick "rest of the post."

----------------------------------------------

Today, Nathan went - with our facilitator - to the office of Vital Statistics & the passport office. We now are the proud possessors of Little I’s birth certificate and adoption certificate. The picture for his passport was taken a few days ago (and a very cute picture it is) so tomorrow, his Russian passport will be ready.

While Nathan was gone, I took the opportunity to go outside with Little I. The weather is still somewhat cool, but very humid & sticky. I guess it rained last night, because – well (bright moment) it was really wet out today. So when we went outside, we had some fun finding puddles to splash in, but we could not swing…which did not set well with the child. But we ended up walking around for a little bit and then coming inside to play.

The rest of the day was pretty much the same ole routine, except that this afternoon, we went up to the game room for a small farewell party for 3 other families we've become friends with. With 5 other children around 1 year old, it was a little chaotic and I am wondering if it was a little much for Iliya. He seemed to have a good time (sticking pretty close to mom, but not fussing) but we didn't stay too terribly long. When we got back to the room, we ordered a pizza for ourselves.

I think some of Little I's problems are because of his poor little tummy. I've been keeping an eye on his temperature, and he just doesn't have one. He's not pulling at his ears or anything, so I don't think he has an ear infection. He's just really whiny and is having some pretty yucky diapers. His whininess and lack of language really makes comforting difficult. But we are trying the best we can.

I guess you can tell I'm pretty tired, because I'm closing for now. I hope you all have a wonderful day ahead of you! I won't leave you hanging...here is one picture to hold you over till tomorrow, when I can post a few more.