Car Seat and Stroller Recommendations Anyone?

Calling all Moms (or Dads for that matter). I’m trying to decide on a car seat. Little Man is about 26 pounds already and too big for a rear facing seat but not big enough for a booster yet. Edward says we should just get something cheap because he'll be out of it and into a booster soon. As much as I like to save money I kinda like this Sit and Stroll thing that is a car seat that unfolds to a stroller. Mostly I like it because it is also FAA approved and I figure I could tote just one big unwieldy gadget all the way to Siberia and back rather than two.

The problem I have with that idea is that there are no stores that carry it anywhere around here and its pretty pricy. I hate the idea of buying something I’ve never seen or used off the web. It may sound great but be a real pain in the ass to use or just not be made very well etc.

So anyone out there familiar with them? Any thoughts on them? Likes? Dislikes? Any alternative recommendations?

Also – for anyone that has traveled by air internationally with a 2 year old recently, did you take a stroller and a car seat? What kinds? Were you glad to have them or not? Did the airline give you any hassle for having or for not having a car seat? All advice welcome.

I love my job

I have spent the majority of this morning writing and rewriting a letter to a customer. Here is the version I wanted to send.

Dear Dumbass-

We have gone over this ad nausea on the phone but you asked for it in writing so here it is.

Mega corp and Mega Inc are NOT the same company despite the unfortunate similarity in our names and the fact that we produce the same category of products. I agree it is an amazing coincidence that our names bare such a striking similarity and I know it shows a singular lack of imagination in the people who named both companies but I think if you stop to ponder this for a moment you will find it is a distressing trend that is all too common in industry overall.

General Motors and the Ford Motor Company both share the word "motor" in their names and also coincidentally make remarkably similar products. They are still, however, separate companies and you cannot contact GM to negotiate pricing on your Ford.

The US government expressly forbids this, by the way. They call it restraint of trade and under the US Antitrust Laws they can send the employees of companies who do collaborate on pricing to prison. While I want to assure you I do love you Mr. dumbass, and highly value the business you do with Mega corp., I regret to say that I do not love you enough to go to prison for you.

I don't know how to explain this any more clearly. I have exhausted the ways I can think of to say "We are not the same Company!" I am beginning to wonder if perhaps the problem is that you don't understand English. So here - how about we give it a try in Spanish?
no somos la misma compañía
French?
nous ne sommes pas la même compagnie
Russian?
мы нет такой же компании
Chinese?
我们不是同一家公司
German?
wir sind nicht die gleiche Firma
Greek?
δεν είμαστε η ίδια επιχείρηση

Or better yet - How about you go ask Mega Inc about it. I'm sure they love you more than we do and would be happy to help you.

What's up with Tuesdays?

So I get way more hits on Tuesdays than any other day of the week. Like by a factor of 3x. Even when I haven't posted anything new. What's up with that?

Yep, that really is the most interesting thing I have to blog about at the moment. We are still waiting on two forms to send in for our court paperwork which means we have no new news on when we can bring our little man home yet. How depressing. The agency gave us a tentetive guess of late January early February with lots of waffling about how it all depends on when our paper work is complete, how heavy the court docket is, the holidays, the phase of the moon, the alignment of the Hubble telescope, how many butterflies there are in Brazil, etc.

I'm not giving them a hard time exactly - the truth is I know they really cannot give us any firm date at this point. They usually won't even give estimates but I think I've finally worn them down. That or they finally realize what every single other person who knows me knows - I MUST have a plan. I must be able to track whether or not we are executing to the plan. Its ok if we deviate from the plan because I will have at least two or three contingency scenarios for every possible deviation from the plan and thus I can just update the plan and start tracking to the new plan.

For those of you that don't actually know me - you probably think I am joking. I am dead serious. I am unbearable if I don't have a plan. When we were getting ready to leave for Russia someone asked me if I had a packing list. I replied that I had a spreadsheet with four tabs comprising about 16 lists - and they were color coded. Also not a joke. The hardest part about this whole process for me has been the lack of structure. I suppose that makes it good training for actually having the child.

Gosh, I miss him. Somedays I spend a lot of time looking at our photos and video from the trip. Others I can't stand to look because it makes me so crazy to have him here now, Now, NOW damn it. K - enough whining. Here's something cheerful. I think we have settled on this for his room:



Isn't it just too stinkin cute for words?

Photos

Zipcode asked for some pictures and since I can't post the ones I really want to - of the little man of course - I thought I'd oblige with some other photos of our trip.

We didn't get to see much of Moscow due to the airport mess up but here is the Russian Capitol building.



And Moscow University


Our Hotel in Tomsk


Some of the wooden houses Tomsk is famous for. These buildings are over 150 years old and still occupied.



An example of the detailed work on the houses:


People in Tomsk rub the nose of this stature of Chekhov for good luck.

The statue is not a flattering portrayal. Probably because Chekhov was not flattering in his descriptions of the city when he lived there. He reported that the city was dirty and disgusting, the men loud and drunken, and all of the women ugly.

We found it much more agreeable. All of the people we met were friendly and the city - while a little worn around the edges from the harsh climate - was charming and clean. Edward thought the women in Tomsk were gorgeous. It is a university city with lots of young fashionable students out in the streets. He loved their addiction to short skirts and high heels.

Unfortunately, I cannot share photos of the most beautiful view in Tomsk with you, our son. The Russian government is quite strict on anyone posting photos of the children under their care and there is no way we would do anything to hinder the positive and hopefully swift conclusion of this adoption.

Insanity

So, I am fighting off jet lag and trying to catch up on work. I have been semi out of touch for over a week while in Russia. I admit I did work on e-mail some while not at the baby home. Well and make a few conference calls. And do some projections. Really - I was off work.* What do you suppose was the most pressing issue at good old Mega corp while I was (sort of) gone?

Lack of file folders.

Yep, seriously. Lack of file folders has apparently made my entire operations grind to a screeching halt. Don't worry - there is no international crisis in the file folder industry. No multi billion dollar bailout of the office supply industry required. File folders are still readily available at Staples, Office Depo, Target, Walmart and various independent office supply retailers across the country.

Mega Corp has decided, however, that the key to weathering the current economic storm is to forbid the purchase of any and all office supplies. Obviously they are taking advice from Woody Allen these days.

(Organized crime in America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends very little on office supplies. -- Woody Allen)

Forbidden to order more file folders, my crack staff of highly paid, degreed, and usually intelligent professionals resolved to - - - wait for me to come back and tell them what to do.

I tried suggesting that they - gasp - not put each individual order in a separate folder but perhaps - I don't know - maybe group all of the orders from a specific customer in one folder thus freeing up hundreds of folders for reuse. My brilliant plan was met with horror. Chaos, anarchy and utter destruction would certainly ensue if each order were not properly segregated in its own folder.

So I went and bought folders at Staples with my personal money. I know, I know, I should have spent the hours it would take to reason them into the fact that each order not being in a separate folder WILL NOT cause a rip in the space time continuum and the end of the world as we know it but what can I say. I'm still too tired to deal with this crap. Jet lag sucks. And I want my baby.

*I am NOT a work-a-holic. I just like to work. Really - I could stop anytime. Besides don't "a-holics" attend meetings? Oh wait - I have three of those today. Damn.

Still working backwards - Our second to last day

Well, Edward and I both woke up feeling sort of ready to come home today. I really miss my own bed and shower and buildings that don't feel 210 degrees inside. Edward would like to be able to order food easily and know he will like what he is getting. But we just got back from the baby home and now I'm not ready to leave any more - not unless we could bring E with us.

We did get two pleasant surprises. One - we get to make a second visit to the baby home today which we were not expecting!! And two - they let us take E out to play on the play ground. It snowed a bit this morning so they had him all bundled up. He was adorable!! We played on the teeter totter and the slide. E thought the slide was a bit dull used in the normal way so he started trying to go down standing up. Edward says he is going to be quite a little daredevil and I agree. He also really enjoyed just messing in the snow and getting it all over his mittens and pants. He thought it was great fun to rub his snowy mittens all over momma's face and Daddy's pants and jacket. We stayed out for about an hour but his little cheeks started to feel really cold and I could tell his mittens were wet through so we took him back in. As we peeled him down from the winter clothes he looked even cuter. He ended up in a light blue turtleneck and dark blue tights. His hair was all mussed from the hat. I could have just eaten him up with a spoon!!

After leaving the baby home we walked around the city again some. We had to come back to the room first to change into warmer clothes. We dress pretty light for the baby home because its hotter in there than most buildings. They bring E to us in shorts each day. I wish I had some to wear too. One of the reasons all the buildings are so warm is that they use hot water radiators to heat and there is no room temperature control - the heat is on or off and when it is on it puts out some heat for sure. It was cold enough outside to day to actually need some layers. About -7 degrees C. I think that is about 19degrees F if I am doing the conversion correctly.

After that we stopped into a shopping mall to get warmed up some for the walk back. We found a children's toy and clothes shop in there. And yes we managed to refrain from buying the place out. If I knew how to judge the European sizing I might have been more tempted. Edward and I agreed we'd try to get him some kind of outfit on the next trip before we come home with him.

E was funny during this afternoon's visit. They tell us he really looks forward to our visits. He is impatient with them while they fuss with his clothes before they bring him to us. He seems to recognize us on sight now and usually runs to momma for a hug. He has figured out all the interesting stuff we have, crayons, blanket, snacks, come out of Edward's back pack so he set himself to learning how to open it. He couldn't quite manage so momma helped. He played with the crayons - although he continues to want to draw on anything and everything and has to be directed back to the book. I swear he knows he's not supposed to and does it to get our reaction. That devilish little grin and giggle give him away. He also chowed down on the banana puffs. He was a little sweetie though and fed some to Momma and Papa. He drinks very well from an open container. (We shared our bottled water with him and not only didn't he spill - no backwashing either. I was impressed. ) I think we will still use sippy cups for a while though because when he is done with something he just drops it.

He was really going to town on the treats and we did not want to totally spoil his supper so momma zipped them back into the backpack. When he couldn't reopen it he just grabbed the strap and started to take off with it telling us Paka and waving good bye. It was really cute. Little man has some really stinky gas I'll tell you. We checked his pants several times thinking he had made a mess but nope - just gas. Hey Phil, Edward wants to know - Have you been visiting Russia?

We didn't get to stay as long as we thought at the baby home this afternoon. Our agent – the one that does NOT speak English came in and tried to tell us something but - although my baby Russian seems pretty good - I was lost. We eventually understood that we had to go but not necessarily why. When we got back to the hotel he came in and talked to the receptionist. She told us that there was another family from the states that they were not expecting until tomorrow currently waiting at the airport and he had to go pick them up. So we may have company at the baby home tomorrow. Edward and I laughed about it after he left imagining him trying to tell us "look people we have to go - now - get in the car - get in the car - lets go." Actually it was really nice of him to take the time to come into the hotel and find someone to explain to us what was going on.

The people here all dress up more than we do at home. The woman young and old never leave their homes without their hair and makeup done. All but the oldest and youngest wear some kind of high heels, with stiletto heeled knee high boots being the most popular. Its funny - they bundle their little ones within an inch of their lives against the cold but most of the women are more interested in looking fashionable than in being warm when it comes to themselves. They wear short skirts or skintight pants with their thin dressy boots. Their coats may have a big fur collar but usually are very fitted not the bulky down parka's we'd be wearing. Edward definitely enjoys the view.

Blogger was not Cooperating

So I guess I'll post about our trip backwards. Waiting in the airport right now for our last leg home. Its nice to be almost home - I am so sick of planes trains and automobiles. But its definitely bitter sweet. Here's a bit of the e-mail I sent home about our last visit to the baby home.

E was very into hugs and snuggles today which Momma and Papa both loved but all too soon it was time to go. Mama and Papa carried him back to his room rather than let one of the caregivers take him this time. We smothered him in hugs and kisses and when we put him down he gave one wave and a paka then took off for lunch. I did not cry until he was gone and I kept it short I swear. We had to go down and talk to the Orphanage Director and tell her yes we wanted E. At which point, I admit, I teared up again. I haven’t quite been a fountain all day but I have welled over a few times. I can still feel the weight of him when he would fling himself in my arms and how sweet it was to have his little face against my shoulder. I already miss how tight he would wrap his arm around my neck and snuggle in. I worry what he was thinking when we didn’t come back for his afternoon visit and how he will feel as the days stretch into weeks and we don’t show up.

Yeah - glad to be home but the leaving part sucked.

We are in Moscow.

And actually kind of bored. We did not connect up with the translator and driver at the airport - booo. So we ended up at the Novotel right next to the airport rather than our designated hotel down town. Its a nice hotel but there is NOTHING to do near here. So - here I sit - in a whole new country and are we out seeing it? No we are on line - emailing and visiting the same old virtual places.

The agency is sending a a driver / translator in about three hours so we will get to see some sights. And then later this evening we catch a flight to Tomsk. So by tomorrow we should get to see what this trip is really all about. In the mean time - more waiting around. Yipee my favorite thing to do. Coming on top of the four hour layover yesterday and that long ass flight - well I'm almost as antsy as Edward. Speaking of whom, he has been a trooper. It hasn't been a bad experience but not as much fun as I'd have liked his very first international trip.

As a final thought - not that everyone doesn't already know this - but coach travel SUCKS for international flights.