Five and a Half Hours of Errands

I just told Bill that I didn't think I could blog tonight because I'm so tired and that I was just going to blog that I can't blog. He said he thought that was kind of weak, so here I am blogging. I'll do what I can and there is a distinct possibility that it will end abruptly.

It seems that now I'm judging my days by Nicks ability to sleep and poop, WOW. I can't believe it. He is sleeping well at night, naps are a different story, but last night he got 10 1/2 hours. It was still before 6am when he woke up, but we'll be attempting to adjust that back over the next few days. Then we'll get on a 12 hour flight and it will all be over.

Today was a nice, sunny day, about 85 degrees and we had a few errands to run. The plan was that we would start at the American Clinic (this may not be the official name, sorry) for Nick's physical. Then we would go to the bank. And finally, we were to pick up Nick's Russian passport.

Our translator and driver picked us up at 10am. Nick finished his physical by 11am, and passed with flying colors! Then we waited for almost an hour for a different translator who was with another family. Our new translator then went to the bank with us where I (Meghan) had to sign some paperwork, etc.

Let me just say a few things about the bank. It was very small, with about 6 windows. There were probably about 10 customers in there when we arrived. Because we have had "issues" with understanding protocol at banks, I asked our translator how she knew which line, whether there was a line, etc. She explained to me how it works, lets just say its slightly haphazard. We were about third in our line when we arrived, but each transaction was taking at least 10 minutes. Then we were "cut" on by a 90 year old, but what are you going to do? So, finally a window opened up and you wouldn't believe the goings on. Without going into too much detail (this is code for "I'm not comfortable giving too much detail"), I will say we got out of there about 1.5 hours later! Whew.

The good news is that on the way to the bank Nick fell asleep and actually slept for about 1.5 hours during the drive and most of the bank visit. That was good since he didn't get his morning nap.

After the bank we went to the passport office to pick up Nick's passport. The passport picture is totally adorable (I must say) and we are really glad to have that out of the way. In the passport office more paperwork was completed and then we headed back to our apartment. After such a long day, Nick finally started to melt down about 15 minutes from home. He was such a trooper and who could blame him, it was a long, hot day.

We got home at about 3:30, had a quick snack and then I tried to put Nick down for a nap for about 2 hours. Yikes, I know thats way too long but he seemed so tired and I was determined. We got really close, but NO, there was not a second nap in the cards today.

So, we spent the balance of the afternoon playing and the regular night time routine. We have no errands to run this weekend so tomorrow we're planning a trip to Starbucks in the morning and then an early dinner out tomorrow at Pasta Mama's. We have been wanting to go there so it will be our first foray into restaurant world as a family! Wish us luck.

Paka, Paka, Paka (frantic hand waving!)