Minutes turn to hours, hours to days... those days complied our first year home

Sappy sentimental or might make you laugh??? This one is for the ankle biter who has brought the smile back to my life.  This is how we celebrated one year home:

Reading his favorite book  "I love you like Crazy Cakes" to Corbin's preschool class and talking about adoption

Me and Miss Adi with our "Crazy Cakes" ready to take to school.                                                                                                                  

The eating of the Crazy Cake

Miss Leslie (Corbin's teacher) and his favorite friend at school.  They stick together like 2 peas in a pod.

Toasts to "One Year Home Mama!" after our trip to see Cars 2.  Yes... begrudgingly it's McDonalds... lest I deny his request on this special day.  At least he does eat any veggie on his plate.

His first trip to build a bear yielded his new friend "Mater the dinosaur" hmmm I wonder what inspired THAT name???

One year ago, after 2 flights, two mid air meltdowns (one mine, one his - well mine was a melt down, his was a night terror - he gets the pass on this one) figuring out that he was TERRIFIED of the airplane toilets (OK it wasn't hard to figure - he clung and clenched his tiny cheeks anytime we got in the vicinity of the flying loo - he had the LONGEST pee ever at YYC airport), eating "stinky fish" on Aeroflot for the very last time and announcing to the first person to hug me after coming through the gates at home to the cheers of family and friends, "sorry I smell bad" we were home.  Finally being able to relive the grand finale of our arrival on video taken at the airport made me think of a few things:  

1. It was a Thursday afternoon - shouldn't all of you slackers have been working?  (thank you for not working that day... it means the world to me :) The crowd was big, the cheers were loud and someone brought me a Jugo Juice... you won the gold star for the day (up until Kelly showed up on my doorstep with wine... you suddenly slipped to silver star)  
2. I'm grateful Tag didn't rip the thule off the top of my van in the parkade.
3. OK I see all of you snapping pictures in the video... now I need to stalk you until you to send them :)
4. Good thing I wasn't driving... I couldn't articulate clearly what day or time zone I was in never mind recall with confidence which side of the road we drive on here??? 
5. Boy I looked like I could use a beer.  I was gonna miss the OPTION of buying it at the side of the road...  (and I say OPTION because I never did buy a piva from a road side stand but you don't know when you might WANT to be able to... alas it will remain a Russian privilege). 
6. Where the heck was my sister and Mom? - OK the decorated house, chicken stew with dumplings, cake and welcome were worth seeing you scramble in bringing up the rear.
7. Hmmmm.... I think I had a dog... yup... I'm pretty sure I did because if I heard  "good yeh moi sabacka? (where is my dog?)" from Corbin just one more time I was going to be forced to figure out the driving thing and get her that night - we dealt with that later.  
8. Balloons, dinky cars, teddy grahams, flowers, gift bag of wine (thanks Nik - you knew Shiraz says 1000 congratulations in a language I am fluent in) hand made welcome home posters and the big CHEER!!! sign - where was the mayor with the tiny white cowboy hat???
9. International bathroom ranking: A+ Canada... you are among the sanitation elite in the world. There were no foot prints beside an open chasm, the toilet paper was remotely plush, no ominous looking Baba guarded the door for her 3 rubles and automatic flushing... I need say no more.  

We were home and it was heaven.  The drive home was surreal - you in your car seat, me up front... this was really really real.  We were home...

We didn't play by the adoption rules guidebook chapter 4, paragraph 2 that states:  "Thou shalt cocoon.  Arrive in a shroud of silence and go directly to your home veiled in darkness and anonymity  where you shall remain for a period of no less than one month. Do not pass go, do not give some random Russian official a stack of ironed unmarked $100 bills - just go directly home - alone - and stay there."  We had family friends and random strangers in the crowd at the airport cheering for us, a family gathering at the house, a friend who arrived to help Mama bath him (OK she actually just held  my wine glass while I fetched tub toys and lathered) before I shooed her out to rock my son gently to sleep for the very first time.  Exhausted yes... smelly... still.  Bath, vino, skype from the tub and the sweet sweet slumber in my own amazingly comfortable...  nope wait a minute - I valiantly tried the co-sleep thing for 4 nights and then peacefully returned to the sanctity of my own bed with bags under my eyes and little elbow marks up my side.
We rolled with the punches, settled in and figured one another out.  Well, the figuring is pretty much over - I know him - he knows me.   The verdict is in: we like one another.  I looked at the post it note on the board in my office that I refuse to take down.  In scrawled penned numbers that I used to estimate / guesstimate and count the number of days in until we were home. June 24th is circled in red ink.  June 24th was the day... we did it kid.  We made it.
I no longer count time in terms of number of sleeps or If / then ("what if the document is received / approved / reviewed" by xyz date then that means I could...)  or have my mind wander to dream about what you are doing.  I no longer have the knot in my stomach and I don't count the time you've been home in days or months... you've been here a year and I am so very glad.  Yes, sometimes you are like a bad room mate who gets to eat all the good food, bums rides places, makes me pay for everything, takes my money and spends it on things I'll never use but, you are the best "room mate" I've ever had.  I hated the well intended platitudes back then of you will "forget" the pain but I will say I no longer recall it with the sensitivity and reverence I thought I'd never shake.  At the end of the day, if I could have chosen an easy, fast route but it wouldn't have brought me Corbin... well... that's rhetorical now isn't it?

Your innocence, your enthusiasm, your unwavering love... I love you like crazy cakes my boy.  You have filled my life with wonder, laughter and love.  One down and the fun has just begun.
xoxoxo Mama