Baby Home - Day 2

St. Isaac's Cathedral

Another long night...how can I be so exhausted and not be able to sleep? We finally went to bed at 10pm and woke up ~ 12:30am to call our boys. After that, I could not go back to sleep...I tossed and turned until 4 or 4:30am. I slept then until 7:30am. We got up and got dressed and had breakfast here at the hotel.

We met Tania at 8:45, and we went to the Baby Home by way of St. Petersburg Metro. Thank Goodness Tania was with us. She even had tokens ready. It was very overwhelming since nothing is in English. I am not sure that we would have been brave enough to try it out by ourselves.

This morning was a great visit. JC was in the floor playing with Emma the entire time. She loves manipulatives and blocks and she even played with a matroyshka doll for a while. I kept my distance today because I really wanted her to warm up to him, and he was very anxious to make a connection. We took her a doll and she wasn't very interested in it while we were playing. When it was time for her to leave, she stuck her lip out and was almost about to cry. That was very comforting that she didn't want to leave us, but then again it was heartbreaking to know that we will leave her tomorrow and not be back for at least two months we are being told.

After the first visit we walked to a large indoor mall. They have many stores from the states as well as France, the Netherlands, Italy and Russia. Inside, there is also a large area with pool tables (probably 100 in there) and a place to go roller blading and play laser tag. Also there is a bowling alley, a 10 theater cinema and a place called Crazy Park - which is very similar to Chuck E Ch**se's. We ate lunch inside Pizza Hut. It was its own restaurant inside the mall - much nicer than ours at home. We stayed there for a couple of hours talking and Tania translated three documents that we need to have notarized tomorrow.

We then went to a baby store in the mall to price car seats. When we go back to bring her home, we will buy her a seat on the plane as well. Any words of advice from anyone in this position before? Did you take your own car seat over and check it as baggage?

At 4pm we went back to the baby home, and she was still sleeping so we waited about five minutes, and they brought her in. She was very sleepy still. It took her about 15 minutes to really awaken. She let me hold her for a little bit while she was waking up. Then she started playing with the toys again and really smiling up at JC. The director came in and took her measurements for us so that we can maybe prepare for clothing sizes for her when we come back to bring her home. This morning we took some clothes to donate to the home. When they brought her back this afternoon, she had on a pair of pants that we had brought. They told us that she picked them out and that those would be hers. The others were taken to be "registered" with the director for use in the home. Those pants were a size 24 months, and they fit in the waist...they were about 1.5 inches too long though.

When they brought her back in this afternoon they brought her new doll and the blanket that we brought yesterday. They told us that at naptime, she placed the doll in the blanket and wrapped it up...how precious!!!

We asked if we could see her group's room, and they allowed us to go there and take photos. We found out that she drinks from a tea cup and eats from a bowl (all breakable). She feeds herself with a spoon. She also potties already, but they do put diapers on her when she sleeps and if they are outside.

While we were with her group, a different teacher told Tania that at lunch she said the word "PaPa" out of the blue. PaPa is the Russian term for dad or father. She also told us that they do not use this word with the children, and that she had only been told this word when we were with her yesterday and this morning. I'm not sure if that is all true, but it did bring a few tears to JC's eyes. I think we have the making of a Daddy's Girl!!!

We had to leave her with her group then after only an hour this afternoon. That was a little disappointing...so we went back to the metro station and Tania helped us get back to our station. She pointed out a common place to eat Russian pancakes or blini this morning and on the metro she wrote out our order for us in Russian. We braved this restaurant by ourselves and went in and had delicious pancakes. They are much thinner and more like crepes than our pancakes, and they were served with something that was very much like sweetened condensed milk - YUMMY!!! I found some Russian food that I love.

We are now back in our hotel and we are very tired. It is 8:15pm here. I may try to sleep a little since my schedule is so off track. JC is already laying down.

Busy day tomorrow...we are checking out at 8:45 and going for our first visit at the baby home. Then we will have 4 hours to eat lunch and go over some earlier court proceedings so that we will have an idea of what to expect. We go back for our last visit at 4pm. My heart is already aching thinking about it. After that visit we will go to the notary and then to eat and to the airport. We do not leave St Petersburg until 9:51pm and will arrive in Moscow around 11...we have called our hotel to let them know that we will be checking in extremely late - it will most likely be after midnight.

I will not get to post tomorrow since we will be gone all day. Hopefully I can post about tomorrow's visits on Saturday. We are going to try to do some more shopping and sight seeing on Saturday though since it will really be our only opportunity to do so.

Thanks again to all of you for your encouraging words and prayers...we need them more than ever. I can't believe I am leaving this child here who has already become one with my heart.