Could have been the vaporub... but I'm pretty sure it wasn't

Binky - $20
Chibu-rash-ka (or just rachka) - 4500 Rub and a plane ride home from Russia to sing lulabies
night light - $5
lullabye music CD - $12
Having your fiercely independent, easy going, resiliant little 3 year old Russian cry out for you because he's sick and needs his Mama... priceless

We've been home almost 2 months (weird to say but true???) and it had to happen sometime.  I got sick.  Not just the sort of, "I've got the sniffles but it's not slowing me down" sort of sick - the sort that kicks you in the butt, cleans the stuffing out, takes your name and number and promises to come back for your kid sort of sick.  And it did.  My Mother and Father in law planned a really nice "welcome to the family" BBQ so that everyone could meet the little Russian and I was the one under the weather - until this morning.  Corbin woke with a nose full of "sneaky boogies" but his perpetual good mood wasn't impacted in the least.  We wrapped up after breakfast and made our way back to the city armed with 10 free passes to the amusement park for his cousins 8th birthday party - thankfully no one had to pay the $30 entry price - thanks Stacey W., Country 105 and Chorus entertainment!!! We dropped the tickets off and came home to re-group and assess if going back for an abreviated "happy birthday" to the twins could be managed.  He didn't seem to be slowed down at all so at 4 we arrived back with a wagon full of treats ready to row, fly, toot, BOING!, splash, and squeal... 
Then, the stuffing stealer made his promised return.  Corbin fought sleep on the 10 minute drive home, peed in his car seat (by the way, there are NO instructions on how to remove the "washable liner" from an Eddie Bauer Car seat but with some engineering, tenacity, creativity and cursing it DOES come out nicely and went back in more easily than I thought), ate a HUGE dinner and headed to bed.... which lasted until the quiet sobs of  "Mama... help... Mama... need you" came from his room.  When I picked him up from his sweaty slumber, the quiet sobs turned desperate and he clung to me and begged me 'stay Mama - stay - peas..."  For those of you with bio kids or who brought home babies, this moment may not resonate much... but for someone bringing home a boy who mostly needs me to tie his shoes, teach him to catch, cheer him on for kicking the ball in the goal, pick him up when he tips over on his bike and put a bandaid on his skinned knee... this was a BIG one.  We vapo-rubbed, tyleonol'd, had an icecream snack (and 2 yogurt tubes??? for the boy who doesn't always eat???) and some "Chai" before rocking my baby to sleep in the chair downstairs wrapped in his binkie and cuddled with "Rachka".  In the moonlight I watched his sleepy eyes finally close and his little chest labor to rise and fall as he relaxed into my arms.  I cherished every time he'd peek through a half open eyelid to check if I was still there and wondered if anyone had ever rocked him to sleep or held him when he was sick?  He spent 18 months in his birth family and 18 months "in the system" between the baby hospital and eventually the orphanage... He deserved to be held and loved - he's simply to precious and sweet and loving to have been left to cry alone (aren't they all?)
Could have been the Vapo rub that stung my eyes and made me misty... but I'm pretty sure it wasn't.