We're going!

So we are taking off tomorrow, April 18th. I have some packing to do and figure out what to pack for Brendan to have on the flight. It's gonna be very interesting.

I'll post here what happens on the US border and if I'm admitted in the country.

I guess it will be exhausting 24 hrs of our lives especially when Brendan wakes up every two or three hours at night for the last week.

We really hope that we'll have our first family vacation. I cannot wait to get to Florida!

My Travel Plans May Not Come True

I was VERY looking forward to our April vacation. Chris was going to take a whole month off which we planned to spend in Naples, FL, at our condo with our son. I was very excited about it, especially not being on vacation for more than a year. And this particular fact may turn into a HUGE problem for me.
I'm a foreigner married to a US citizen who temporary works in Russia. There are laws and special procedures for foreigners to marry US citizens. We have followed every single rule and did everything in accordance with the immigration laws to get married. We started with filing for fiancee visa in January 2008 to get married in November 2008. We got lucky and the process did not take long. In June 2008 after my interview at the US Moscow Embassy I got my fiancee visa. The most annoying part for me was going for medical exam and applying for a police statement to prove that I have no criminal records in the territory of the Russian Federation. It takes up to a month to get such a police statement so I had to apply in advance. In addition to medical records including my vaccination information and X-rays I had to bring different proofs of our relationship and true love such as pictures, letters from our colleagues and friends etc. The interview was easy as our story is pretty simple i.e. boring.

The next step after the wedding was to apply for a conditional residency (Green Card) which we did. It involved another interview, medical exam and a police report not to mention fees which are all around 500$. I got my Green Card in April 2009 and was very proud of being a resident even though I was a conditional resident. Conditional residency is granted for a period of two years after which you must file a petition to remove conditions and get a permanent green card. Only after that I can apply for a citizenship.
Well, I have filed my papers to the Immigration Services in February 2011 and got a letter saying that my green card is extended for another year and invitation for finger prints in Fort Myers, FL, for March 10th. Obviously living in Russia I cannot just take off and travel 24 hrs to go to this appointment especially with a 4 month old. So we sent a letter explaining our situation and asked to move the appointment to April as we plan to be there around this time and because my husband's R&R dates are very strict and specific.

We also plan to travel on the date when my current green card expires but with the extension letter from the Immigration I'm good to cross the border. We made a few calls to confirm that it's right and learned something that I thought wasn't that important. Now it's a HUGE problem! It turns out as a conditional resident I cannot spend more than a year outside the country. Well, I've been out of the states for more than a year because of my pregnancy and having a baby. Apparently, it cancels your green card. At the same time the law says that you may not be allowed in the country but it doesn't say that you will not be admitted in the country. From what I read in the internet it's up to the border patrol officer to make a decision either let you in the country or not, either you have abandoned your residency or you have not.

So I'm very upset that after all these years I may lose my status and have to start from the very beginning but the most upsetting thing is that we don't know if my green card is cancelled or not, if I have abandoned my status or not. And it's impossible to find out as we're dealing with two different agencies: immigration and border patrol. Obviously, in my opinion I haven't abandoned my status, I have more ties with the USA than with Russia not to mention that I gave America another American :) (yeah, it's my lame comedy attempt).

So far we decided to buy tickets and gather as much evidence for me as possible to prove that I haven't abandoned my status and that I have a very important reason for not coming to the US because of my pregnancy and having a newborn. My doctor advised me not to travel long distances when I was pregnant and after we had Brendan he was too small to travel overseas especially without his vaccinations.

I'm very upset about this situation. Nobody can help us because they don't know themselves. All we can do is go and see what they say at the border. The worst for me will be to turn around with a 5 m.o. and fly back to Moscow which is another 13 hr flight.

In despair I have applied for a Return Visa and was told that I cannot have two cases in process at the same time meaning my application to remove conditions on residency. A woman from the US Embassy told me that being out of the country for that long pretty much cancels your green card but said that she would make calls about my situation and find out what to do. In the worst case i.e. cancellation of my green card, at least I'll know the answer and maybe won't have to be tortured with my baby for 48 hrs straight flying back and forth. By the way, “the best” part about this Return visa is another F...ing police statement and another medical exam. Grrrr! At the same time if I get this Return Visa my chances for our family Florida vacation may be way higher.

We also have Plan B which is go to our second favorite place in the world – Corfu, Greece. I have decided to get a Shengen visa next week just in case my US residency is cancelled.

The worst part about this situation is that Chris' Dad will not see his grandson. He already has tickets and is very excited to meet Brendan.

What a horrible situation! Well, I still have about three weeks before our trip, we'll see what happens. By the way, Chris has no choice he has to leave Russia to get a new visa as his current visa expires at the end of April. Damn visas!

2 months update

Brendan was 2 months on January 12th 2011. He had his 2nd pediatrician appointment which discovered that he added 6 cm to his height! No wonder he added only minimum weight. So he measures 65 cm and weighs 5.2 kg.

As far as his progress, he says "a-goo" all the time when he talks to himself, talks to us, cries and even yawns. He definitely recognizes our faces and smiles to us. The new thing that he started doing was touching his hands a lot, putting them together, batting at toys, reaching for toys and grasping them, loves putting his fists in his mouth trying to fit both at once and drools a lot!


His favorite toys are The Bee and Mr. Giraffe.


I went for my post-delivery appointment and spent about 5 or 6 hrs there and after I came back Brendan gave me the biggest smile ever when he saw me. He was very excited and happy to see me. That's precious!

Brendan smiles every time Chris talks to him. He loves his Daddy. Chris is a great Dad. He takes good care of him. I can always rely on Chris when I have to go somewhere or just rest. They have great time when they hang out together!

Believe it or not Brendan has got his American passport. We filed documents to the American Embassy here in Moscow confirming that he was born here and one of his parents is an American citizen. We also went to the Embassy with Brendan and swore that everything we said is true. Two weeks later we got his passport in the mail. Pretty awesome! He is our little Russian and American citizen :) Check out his passport photo! This face is something! We couldn't even look at his picture without cracking up :) Now two members of our family have US citizenship and I only have a green card which expires in April this year. I have already submitted papers for its extension, hopefully I'll get it.

I'm very exited about our April/May trip to the states. We plan on spending the whole month in Florida, seeing the family and hanging out at the beach and our favorite places. Chris also surprised me with a hotel reservation that we have for a few nights. It's a beach front. He also made a mani/pedicure reservation for me. I cannot wait!


At our favorite restaurant with my parents and brother. Chris was on his visa renewal in the states.

Bath time!
After his walk:

Oh, Greece!

It's very hot in Moscow these days and it makes me think about our trips to Greece in 2007 and 2008. I also secretly hope to go there again some time in the future. I really miss our lovely Greek place that we found by accident in 2007. It was our first beach vacation together. Both of us were a little nervous about it, I don't even know why, maybe it was just me :)


Chris is a great planner and he always plans our vacations. I also like to plan trips, events etc. and used to do that when I was single. Now Chris and I make a pretty good team when it comes down to such things. So Chris chose the place and booked our flights and the hotel. We went to Corfu. He found out that the beach there was really nice, sandy beach, and it was not very crowded in September.

We arrived in the evening and by the time we got to the hotel it got very dark. The hotel was located right on the beach facing the sea.
We were tired but happy. Our excitement started to wear off after we talked to the receptionist who was not nice. For some reason she kept insisting that we go downstairs and have our dinner as it's included even after we told her that we were not hungry. She was weird and kind of annoying. So we got our keys and went to the room. It was not what we expected. It was located on the first floor which was actually below the ground level. Our attempt to change the room failed as they did not have anything available for the next two weeks. It was a very disappointing start of our vacation. This is the "seaview" from our "balcony" that we discovered the next morning.

In the morning we had their horrible breakfast with 100 other people in a very noisy room. We were seriously thinking about leaving or finding another place to stay. We walked along the beach and looked for "to let" or "vacancies" signs. We could not even expect to get so lucky to find a beautiful and PERFECT place right next door to this horrible hotel! I remember seeing it in the morning from our balcony and thinking: "these people must be so lucky to stay/live there!"
We could not believe our luck when we found out that it was a private hotel and they had two rooms available and it was waaaaaay cheaper than the stupid hotel. We actually had a choice of rooms! This is what we saw when we entered:


I was so excited that I couldn't believe it! We went back to our room, packed our suitcases and returned the keys to the receptionist saying that we're leaving, in spite that we paid three nights deposit. All we heard on the way out is her stupid cry: "Why???"
So our vacation started. The place was awesome! It's a family business. They also had a restaurant downstairs where sometimes we had lunches and dinners. These people are great and very friendly.

Our days started with breakfast on the balcony, then we went to the beach for a few hours, then Chris made his sandwiches for lunch, naps or more sun/sea, dinner at local places on the beach or going up the hill to the village. It was great times!!!

Our happy hour :)

We like to be independent and buy food for breakfast/snacks in local stores.

It was funny that we still could see "the Nazi" hotel from our balcony and watch their life from the other side of the fence.
Those poor people! When the sun went down there were no lights in the territory, the fence to the beach was locked. Occasionally we heard sounds of entertainment they provided for their guests followed by applauses that went on for two to three hours. It was definitely not for us! We were happy in our one bedroom apartment on the top floor looking over the sea and having dinners on our balcony.
In Corfu town:
In the village (up the hill), our favorite local place. The local wine is served cold. We loved it!
In our local restaurant/cafe:

It was one of the best times we have ever had! And we were in our best shape that year. We worked out 4 times a week and ate lots of vegetables and chicken fillet for 7-8 months before the trip.

We were happy to get that horrible room in the hotel so we could find this beautiful place that we fell in love with. Actually we came back there in September 2008, just a few months before our wedding :)