Introducing Mr. Roman Alexander Block!!!

Hello All!

Well, Gotcha Day, March 4th, came and went pretty smoothly. The day prior we ran around and got all of his adoption documents and discovered that Svetlana should join the Nascar circuit, as 2 familes and 3 children took about 7 different places to visit in a very short period of time. We made it in one piece. We picked up Roman the next morning and dressed him in American clothes and then into a Russian 'Snow-Monster' outfit. The ride back to the apartment went well, in fact Roman just fell asleep, although we had a little mishap when we got Roman back to the apartment in Ekaterinburg as he earned a nickname....... CRASH! We were having a great time in the aparment playing peek-a-boo, find Roman, follow me, tickle-tickle, and of course, let's see how fast I (Roman) can run on the tile floor in my socks. That was a mistake as he stopped short in front of the glass paneled bathroom door and proceed to go head first into the glass, hence his new nickname, Crash. No worries, the door got the worst of it and Roman is now $200 in the red as far as future allowances are concerned. Just a minor little scratch on his head, nothing some kisses from Mommy and an ice cube couldn't remedy.
On to Moscow. We packed everything up, cleaned the apartment, paid the apartment owner for Roman's damages, and then the apartment owner proceeded to help us with all of our luggage down the stairs to the front of the building. It was now around 7:30pm and we headed to the airport for our 10:30pm flight to Moscow. Roman fell asleep prior to takeoff and didn't wakeup until well after we landed in Moscow, about 2 1/2 hours later. No tears, however we have seen them since. We met Lala from the agency at the airport with the other family and 2 separate drivers took us to our hotel (Marriott Grand). We arrived at the hotel at around 12am Moscow time and were informed that the U.S. Embassy doctor would visit our room at 5:30am (hey, it's better than the 3am that we were expecting) to give Roman a little physical. All went as planned and then we met with Lala from the agency at 8am to fill out the necessary paperwork necessary for our visit to the U.S. Embassy with Roman (in about 1 1/2 hours from now as I type) to get his immigration paperwork, U.S. Citizen ship documentation, and U.S. Passport.
Things we've discovered about Roman. He eats well, hopefully not as well as Daddy, he only drinks from a glass, never spills a drop, he has 2 smiles, one happy and one devious. He's loaded with energy, but sleeps well, but only after down time with Mommy. He'll only sleep in the crib after he's fallen asleep next to Mommy. He likes the bath. He's not to keen on diaper changes. He likes to run down the hallways. And lastly, he enjoys rides in a stroller, like the one we took him on to Red Square.
Leaving for the U.S. Embassy soon. We'll probably have dinner later at the TGI Fridays (Woo-Hoo!) down the street from the hotel. Then we have our flight home tomorrow moring at 7am!!! Can't wait to get home!!!