The company will fix the chair to the way we ordered it, plus give us a refund of 10% of the total purchase price.
It makes the ottoman almost free. I'll post about it again once everything is resolved.
I'm working on pictures. Right now the room is piled with stuff! I finally found the right crib set, so as soon as I put that on the bed, and put some of the clothes away, I'll be able to take some photos of the room.
Right now you can't even see the chair to take a picutre of it! LOL
The Next Step in life is often the most frightening. This is my attempt to understand it, think it through and move on to the next.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Monday, August 14, 2006
Rocking Chair
The first item that I bought for the baby happened right after we received confirmation that our paperwork was registered in Russia.
Our rocking chair and ottoman. Ok, so its a glider, but at that point, its semantics. :)
I called at the beginning of May. Changed my mind on the ottoman the next day, called back and changed it to a gliding ottoman instead of a stationary one. No problem, they said.
So I began my hunt for fabric. It took me two weeks to find some. I went to every fabric store in a 50 mile radius of the apartment, a different one every night after work. I finally found something and its awesome! Its white, with colored embroidery. I know, I know, not good for a new baby, but perfect nonetheless. I'm going to head back to the store tonite to see if I can snag some fabric to make a throw for the chair to protect it from the worst of things. I'll post a picture soon!
I sent in the fabric and forgot about the chair for a while. With 8-12 weeks production and delivery time, I didn't expect a call until July. Well, we got the call right on time, and we scheduled a delivery. The night before the delivery was due, we got a call from the company I ordered it through and they said that the address tags for our items were put on another persons order and vice versa. Long story short. Our order was in Wisconsin. They recalled the chair and shipped it our way.
Fast forward to today. Five weeks later, we finally get our order. The chair is perfect. Fabric is great, size for the room is just what I thought it would be. The ottoman? Stationary.
Now I'm going back and forth with the company to see what they'll do to make it right. They assure me that they will do what it takes to fix it and make it worth my while to shop with them again.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Crib Time
To take advantage of Massachusetts Tax Free Holiday, we went back to the baby store this weekend and bought the crib, dresser, mattress, and toddler rails. DH and I spent some time yesterday afternoon putting it together. Usually those things are a one person (me) job, but this time, no-go. You needed to be an octopus if you were one person to put the dang thing together.
Once we put it together, I put all the baby stuff in the crib so that our job today is straight forward. Anything that isn't in the crib goes into the storage unit.
So the plan for today is to finish emptying the baby's room into the storage unit that will be delivered today. We still have boxes upon boxes upon random furniture that we're not using from the move from Texas. I'm hoping they come early enough to drop of the storage unit so that we can load it and lock it up, and I can take advantage of the rest of the "holiday". Although its strange, we already don't have to pay taxes on food and clothing. This expands the no tax status to single items up to $2500. Where most states that have this break in taxation restrict it to school supplies, this one is expanded to most items. So our baby furniture yesterday was tax free. The furniture and luxury item stores are packed with people taking advantage of it.
When we were in Babies **** Us yesterday, the sales guy said that last year there was an increase in revenue by 3x for a typical Saturday and over 4x for Sunday! Incredible!
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
The Rest of the Trip
Day 5
We arranged to meet A and her Dad a little earlier than normal so we could get the proverbial show on the road. We went to breakfast and had our usual Corn Flakes, Pancakes (they were really Crepes) with Honey, and Tea.
So we had one more visit with the baby at the Baby Home.
So where a lot of visiting parents might take the baby for a walk or something exciting, our goal was to push his comfort level a little more each day so that he never got freaked out over anything.
The first day he was so quiet. Very serious baby came to us. By the second day, he was babbling and laughing and smiling. Atta boy!
Our goal each day was different. Fist day was just get to know him. Second was a laugh. Third was a hug, but we got spontaneous crawling instead. Fourth, was to say good bye.
When we finally had to leave, we took him back to his room that he shared with two other babies. They were both napping, and it looked like our baby soon would be, too.
We left the Baby Home and started for the long drive back to Vlad. Three hours flew! Although we came across the same herd of cows walking down the middle of the road, this time I got a picture!
We signed the intent to adopt document, then went to the notary to get more documents notarized.
Then we were done!
A and her Dad dropped us off at the Hotel where we immediately bought an internet card so we could get online and see what was going on in the rest of the world.
We came upstairs to our room, got settled in and logged on. Only we blew a fuse in the power converter that we brought. Thank god there was a back up fuse in there, otherwise we would have been skreweeeed. So we plugged it into a different socket and worked perfectly. No more fuses blown.
Ordered room service because we just didn’t have the energy … ok, so we were jonesing for our internet fix, and couldn’t be bothered to leave the room.
Day 6 and 7
Day 6 we managed to walk around a little bit, but DH was really feeing like he needed to stay close to the room, so we just walked down the street and looked in the windows of some of the shops before turning around and heading back to the hotel. There is a small gift/jewelry counter on the first floor, so we spent some time and some money there.
Mom, MIL, and Leslie are all getting amber pendants. I’ll pick up something in the Seoul airport for the Dad’s.
Day 7, DH was still feeling under the weather, so we did breakfast downstairs as usual and then went for a walk down to the water. We had a lovely time walking along the waterfront and discovered a cute little amusement park for the kids. We’ll have to remember it for the second trip and bring the baby back.
They even had some ponies, which were so cute!
We went back to the hotel and took naps, went downstairs for lunch, and once I got DH settled back in the room I went back out and looked around the shops. There wasn’t really anything in the shops that I wanted, or that I couldn’t get back home, so I just meandered around and worked my way back to the hotel.
We hit the Korean Restaurant in the hotel for dinner, which I thought was very interesting and good! DH is just starting to feel a little better and didn’t want to push it, so he just had rice. I had this really yummy vegetable soup.
Once we came back to the room, we started flipping channels. We saw a soccer game, so started watching. Then we realized that it was playing in the stadium that we had walked by this morning … and that we can see it out our window! So we spent some time with the telephoto lens on the digital camera watching the game from the window in our room and listening to it on the TV.
Last night, we actually ran across the Simpsons in Russian. Hilarious!
Today’s Observations
• Use bills smaller than 1000 rubles. The shop keepers don’t like breaking something that large, and you’ll probably take all their change.
• Cross the street with everyone else. If they’re J-walking, do it when they do. Don’t try to attempt it alone.
We arranged to meet A and her Dad a little earlier than normal so we could get the proverbial show on the road. We went to breakfast and had our usual Corn Flakes, Pancakes (they were really Crepes) with Honey, and Tea.
So we had one more visit with the baby at the Baby Home.
So where a lot of visiting parents might take the baby for a walk or something exciting, our goal was to push his comfort level a little more each day so that he never got freaked out over anything.
The first day he was so quiet. Very serious baby came to us. By the second day, he was babbling and laughing and smiling. Atta boy!
Our goal each day was different. Fist day was just get to know him. Second was a laugh. Third was a hug, but we got spontaneous crawling instead. Fourth, was to say good bye.
When we finally had to leave, we took him back to his room that he shared with two other babies. They were both napping, and it looked like our baby soon would be, too.
We left the Baby Home and started for the long drive back to Vlad. Three hours flew! Although we came across the same herd of cows walking down the middle of the road, this time I got a picture!
We signed the intent to adopt document, then went to the notary to get more documents notarized.
Then we were done!
A and her Dad dropped us off at the Hotel where we immediately bought an internet card so we could get online and see what was going on in the rest of the world.
We came upstairs to our room, got settled in and logged on. Only we blew a fuse in the power converter that we brought. Thank god there was a back up fuse in there, otherwise we would have been skreweeeed. So we plugged it into a different socket and worked perfectly. No more fuses blown.
Ordered room service because we just didn’t have the energy … ok, so we were jonesing for our internet fix, and couldn’t be bothered to leave the room.
Day 6 and 7
Day 6 we managed to walk around a little bit, but DH was really feeing like he needed to stay close to the room, so we just walked down the street and looked in the windows of some of the shops before turning around and heading back to the hotel. There is a small gift/jewelry counter on the first floor, so we spent some time and some money there.
Mom, MIL, and Leslie are all getting amber pendants. I’ll pick up something in the Seoul airport for the Dad’s.
Day 7, DH was still feeling under the weather, so we did breakfast downstairs as usual and then went for a walk down to the water. We had a lovely time walking along the waterfront and discovered a cute little amusement park for the kids. We’ll have to remember it for the second trip and bring the baby back.
They even had some ponies, which were so cute!
We went back to the hotel and took naps, went downstairs for lunch, and once I got DH settled back in the room I went back out and looked around the shops. There wasn’t really anything in the shops that I wanted, or that I couldn’t get back home, so I just meandered around and worked my way back to the hotel.
We hit the Korean Restaurant in the hotel for dinner, which I thought was very interesting and good! DH is just starting to feel a little better and didn’t want to push it, so he just had rice. I had this really yummy vegetable soup.
Once we came back to the room, we started flipping channels. We saw a soccer game, so started watching. Then we realized that it was playing in the stadium that we had walked by this morning … and that we can see it out our window! So we spent some time with the telephoto lens on the digital camera watching the game from the window in our room and listening to it on the TV.
Last night, we actually ran across the Simpsons in Russian. Hilarious!
Today’s Observations
• Use bills smaller than 1000 rubles. The shop keepers don’t like breaking something that large, and you’ll probably take all their change.
• Cross the street with everyone else. If they’re J-walking, do it when they do. Don’t try to attempt it alone.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Returning ...
We have one or two pieces of paper that we're waiting for ... and one of which is completely out of our control.
The second one, well, lets just say, I'm gearing up to persue this one. From the sound of it, its gonna be a doozy. I should be ready to try to make this one happen tomorrow.
Although I geared myself up for a fight at the local police station, and the nice officer on duty totally disarmed us by doing the letters for us on the spot. Huh. Fantastic stuff, I tell you! :)
Once all that is done and apostilled, we'll send it off and get a court date.
Right now we're thinking October/November timeframe. But honestly, until we get a court date, everything is unknown.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Day 4
Interesting day!
We met A and her Dad in the restaurant as usual, and took off for our day. First stop was at another Baby Home. This one looked like it took care of kids of all ages, as there were all sorts of ages of them hanging around.
We took a woman from there to the passport office and back. Not really sure what the purpose of the visit was, but it didn't take too long and off we went to see the baby!
Today was just like the other two days. We hung out with the baby until he was exhausted, handed him back to the nurses and went to lunch. We went to the same place we went to the first day. Only this time, the food wasn't as good. Hmmm. Ordered the same thing, too.
Like I was saying before, first on the agenda when we get home is to learn a little bit of the language.
Accomplishment of the day was in getting him to spontaneously crawl from Point A to Point B. YAY! Go, baby!
More laughing, more smiles. We're so happy with him!
We haven't started calling him Connor yet, and I'm not sure why. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that he's not ours yet. Just "Buddy" or "Baby".
A keeps suggesting that we should take him for a walk, but we just never seem to get around to it. Or the baby's tired. Or we're tired.
I did have the opportunity for our first snuggle. Towards the end of the afternoon, he was really starting to drag, so I just picked him up and cradled him in my arms. I just started coo'ing to him and he just looked at me with these big brown eyes. Yup, my heart is toast. :)
Its been really interesting to me how exhausted we are by the end of the day. Both of us are ready to collapse into bed by 8PM and sleep straight through until the morning. Hope this isn't a sign of things to come! LOL
The weather has been absolutely beautiful since we've been here. Sunny and warm every day.
- Napkins are small cocktail napkins folded in half into a triangle and are arranged in a holder on the table.
- Most music videos in Russia are remakes of American videos from the 80's and 90's. Very few are original concepts.
- We have passed a lot of abandoned buildings. Beautiful brickwork that was obviously done in the Soviet era, just crumbing to the ground.
- Paved roads are hit or miss. You can be driving along a main road and turn off into a dirt road or one paved with pot holes so big, you'll lose your car. Main roads seem to be well maintained, but any secondary road is iffy, and a tertiary road is the luck of the draw.
- We've seen a lot of stray dogs and cats. But interestingly enough, the dogs that we have seen with owners are usually off a leash but trained well enough to stay by their masters.
- Rotary's or Round Abouts are most often just lines drawn on the pavement. You need a spine of steel in order to get through one of these unscathed. The ones that have a true filled in center seem to be better for the average persons heart rate, but not by much. ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)