We are in Warsaw and officially of a family of 3! The trip to Warsaw was stressful with 2 huge suitcases and 4 year old active little boy. The train car we reserved to sit in had heating issues so we were moved to another and to search for a seat! By the end of the train ride (4hours due to train being behind and then slow) we had to maneuver our luggage and child out the train. I thought we packed pretty light but not light enough for the train. Everyone stared at our suitcases and us(probably because we were talking in English and our child in Polish). Actually on the second part of that, anywhere we go people question why Conor speaks Polish and we don't.
Our apartment is very nice and close to pretty much everything. I highly recommend this apartment(there is link under my travel tips section). The owner is extremely nice and gone out of the way to accommodate us. It is also a plus that a bakery is just below our apartment and it is wonderful!
The court hearing went very smoothly. The judge was very very nice. I was pretty sure I might throw up from my nervousness. The hearing is pretty straight forward they mainly ask questions about how bonding has gone, if feel we feel an attachment to our son, can we provide for him, etc? But we were very prepared for the court hearing from Magda and the lawyer.
Thank you to everyone who has been with us through this journey. Your prayers, hugs, and support has gotten us through this.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Friday, January 11, 2013
6 Days!
We have six days (counting today)left until our court date and our move to Warsaw! We are really looking forward to going to Warsaw for several reasons. It means that we are officially a family of 3! Our apartment has a washer, dryer, and bathtub(I have become a real pro at washing cloths in the sink). There is a Hard Rock Cafe(Sean is dying to have a steak). There will hopefully be more stuff to do! Our moms are coming to stay with us!
The second visit from the social worker went very well. The visits are very similar to the home study visits. This visit the social worker wanted to know more of what we had learned about our son(things he likes and dislikes). She also wanted to know how we were handling things like temper tantrums and our sons sleeping problems. My advise for these visits is to try to be calm and remember you surveyed the home study visits!
With it being winter here it is hard to find indoor things to do in the small town we are in. Also walking everywhere in the cold doesn't help. We have been able to find several activities. There is an indoor water park that is really nice and inexpensive(about $3 for 2 hours). We did learn that the water parks here won't let guys wear the normal American board short style swim trunks. So we did have to buy bathing suites for the boys(speedo style shorts!) We are also hitting up the mall a ton. It is a short walk there and it is warm. We usually just walk around and look in a few stores and pick up some grocery items from the grocery located in the mall. We walked to the local museum which was an interesting experience. The museum had two main sections the first was a combination of the history of wine and the town history. The other was a section of medieval torture(WHAT!) Needles to say we didn't check out the second section of that museum. We also have gone to the Palm House. It is really great place to explore. There is restaurant and cafe located in it. You can also just go and explore it(which is what we did). They have huge tanks of different fish(including one with Puranas) and turtles. You can ride the elevator to the top and get a great view of the entire town! I really wish we were here in the summer so we could explore the vineyard that surrounds it.
We really miss home and can not wait to be back on American soil. We miss:
Our bed!
Grocery shopping at home
A washing machine and dryer
TV shows in English
Our car
Soft Bread
Rectangular pillows
Family and Friends
Mostly just the comforts of our house
We have also learned several things while here:
Poland version of Walmart is just as crazy as Walmart
McDonalds here has some very different menu items than home
It is almost impossible to find fingernail clippers
Also can't find belts for kids
Every women wears skinny jeans and ankle boots
Can only get milk by the liter(which means we get milk almost everyday)
Food is packaged smaller than at home
You can still get Pepsi Twist!
The bakery is awesome! We love going to the bakery and seeing what treats we can get.
The second visit from the social worker went very well. The visits are very similar to the home study visits. This visit the social worker wanted to know more of what we had learned about our son(things he likes and dislikes). She also wanted to know how we were handling things like temper tantrums and our sons sleeping problems. My advise for these visits is to try to be calm and remember you surveyed the home study visits!
With it being winter here it is hard to find indoor things to do in the small town we are in. Also walking everywhere in the cold doesn't help. We have been able to find several activities. There is an indoor water park that is really nice and inexpensive(about $3 for 2 hours). We did learn that the water parks here won't let guys wear the normal American board short style swim trunks. So we did have to buy bathing suites for the boys(speedo style shorts!) We are also hitting up the mall a ton. It is a short walk there and it is warm. We usually just walk around and look in a few stores and pick up some grocery items from the grocery located in the mall. We walked to the local museum which was an interesting experience. The museum had two main sections the first was a combination of the history of wine and the town history. The other was a section of medieval torture(WHAT!) Needles to say we didn't check out the second section of that museum. We also have gone to the Palm House. It is really great place to explore. There is restaurant and cafe located in it. You can also just go and explore it(which is what we did). They have huge tanks of different fish(including one with Puranas) and turtles. You can ride the elevator to the top and get a great view of the entire town! I really wish we were here in the summer so we could explore the vineyard that surrounds it.
We really miss home and can not wait to be back on American soil. We miss:
Our bed!
Grocery shopping at home
A washing machine and dryer
TV shows in English
Our car
Soft Bread
Rectangular pillows
Family and Friends
Mostly just the comforts of our house
We have also learned several things while here:
Poland version of Walmart is just as crazy as Walmart
McDonalds here has some very different menu items than home
It is almost impossible to find fingernail clippers
Also can't find belts for kids
Every women wears skinny jeans and ankle boots
Can only get milk by the liter(which means we get milk almost everyday)
Food is packaged smaller than at home
You can still get Pepsi Twist!
The bakery is awesome! We love going to the bakery and seeing what treats we can get.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Tata and Mama
We are all together and have been for almost 1 week. I haven't been able to post trying to keep up with a very active 4 year old. We are enjoying Poland so far but miss home so very much! I want to be able to sleep in my own bed really bad. Our apartment is nice (this is our second apartment, the first was nice but was too expensive so my hubby found something else) but the bed is killing my back. Also I would love to have a bathtub but those are few and far between in Poland.
We have been blessed for nice weather so far that allows us to walk to the store and explore around town. However with so many holidays all at once we have had to spend several days hanging out in our apartment.
We have had our first visit with the social worker here in Poland and it went very well. We have one more meeting with her before our court date in a couple of weeks.
Our son has a great personality and is easy going. But we have had a couple of pouting moments when he isn't allowed to do something or if a toy is taken away because he threw it(we are working on that habit). He does get frustrated when he is trying to tell us something and we don't understand. I actually think that when we are trying to get him to say something in English (like the names of animals) he thinks we are crazy because he gets very firm with us and tells us the name in Polish. The language barrier is very frustrating for all of us. Last night he decided that he would refuse to try and learn the English word for objects and would simply cross his arms and turn away from us. Bed and bath time have been fairly easy. He does wake up crying during the night but that is far better than we had expected. I was fully prepared for full out breakdowns over bed and bath. The worst night so far has been New Years Eve. Poland goes all out! It started 3 hours before midnight with a few fireworks and then for 30 minutes after it was constant. So our sound asleep little boy and myself were jolted from bed. Poor boy was completely terrified! Even after we opened the curtain to show him that it was fireworks he continued to cry. Eventually with the distraction of some cartoons(they are very distracting since he doest get to watch them very often) and the fireworks stoping he was calm enough to go back to bed.
We are going to go exploring today and try a local pizza place the social worker recommended. I hope that the great start to 2013 will continue and that waiting families get that special call for their referral!
We have been blessed for nice weather so far that allows us to walk to the store and explore around town. However with so many holidays all at once we have had to spend several days hanging out in our apartment.
We have had our first visit with the social worker here in Poland and it went very well. We have one more meeting with her before our court date in a couple of weeks.
Our son has a great personality and is easy going. But we have had a couple of pouting moments when he isn't allowed to do something or if a toy is taken away because he threw it(we are working on that habit). He does get frustrated when he is trying to tell us something and we don't understand. I actually think that when we are trying to get him to say something in English (like the names of animals) he thinks we are crazy because he gets very firm with us and tells us the name in Polish. The language barrier is very frustrating for all of us. Last night he decided that he would refuse to try and learn the English word for objects and would simply cross his arms and turn away from us. Bed and bath time have been fairly easy. He does wake up crying during the night but that is far better than we had expected. I was fully prepared for full out breakdowns over bed and bath. The worst night so far has been New Years Eve. Poland goes all out! It started 3 hours before midnight with a few fireworks and then for 30 minutes after it was constant. So our sound asleep little boy and myself were jolted from bed. Poor boy was completely terrified! Even after we opened the curtain to show him that it was fireworks he continued to cry. Eventually with the distraction of some cartoons(they are very distracting since he doest get to watch them very often) and the fireworks stoping he was calm enough to go back to bed.
We are going to go exploring today and try a local pizza place the social worker recommended. I hope that the great start to 2013 will continue and that waiting families get that special call for their referral!
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