Relaxing Day with our Girls!

Thursday February 12, 2009

Good morning. Today was another good day. We headed to the orphanage first thing this morning after going to the grocery store to buy diapers for our girls. We got some more bottled water too. This morning the orphanage was busy with lots of adoptive parents. Another American couple from a different agency and some Russian families. We were told we would be spending time with the girls upstairs. We usually go up to drop our girls off in their rooms but have not spent any time up there. We were put in a room that was really a corridor from the baby room to the hall leading to the girl’s groupa. We saw some of the younger kids and they were cute. Hopefully one or 2 of them will be referrals for the families in our agency that are waiting behind us.

So, it was nice and quiet and we enjoyed being there. We each had our own mats and did not have too many distractions. The caregivers who worked in the baby room next door all came and said hello and loved on the girls. We were told all 3 were in that baby room before they turned one and that is why they all knew their names. We had a fun time playing. Masha was a little fussy and whiny but Mike has the magic touch and she clung to him most of the morning. Dasha had fun with the toys. She especially likes the ‘that’s not my puppy’ touch and feel book. Unfortunately, we were asked to give back the girls an hour early today. For two reasons, one being that there were a lot of adoptive parents visiting that day and it was already our third day visiting. That was frustrating because we just want to be with the girls as much as we can. Also, the doctors in the orphanage are concerned that the visits are overwhelming for the girls, perhaps that are why Masha has been fussy and sleeping more than usual. I am sure this case. It is most likely completely overwhelming to them as it is completely different from their normal routine of never leaving their play room and the other 10 kids they share it with. It is so much more attention than they are used to. But, they are going to have to get used to it so I feel the more time we see them the better.

Anyway- We headed out of the orphanage back to the hotel. The other couple was preparing for trial with the coordinator. We took a walk around town and had lunch with the interpreter and the great restaurant called Fortuna that we went to yesterday. I enjoyed a steak and potatoes, vegetable soup and Mike and I split a divine desert which was a Bellini with warm honey. Delicious! We even got in a 1 hour nap before leaving for our afternoon visit.

We had to spend the afternoon in the lobby but were given a mat for the floor and the orphanage was relatively quiet. Masha again was a little fussy and Michael enjoyed playing with her. Dasha was a ball of energy. I think she is so confined in the group that this is an exciting time for her to explore. I wish I could just let her do that but they are really not allowed to crawl around on the rug or floor in the lobby and keeping her confined to the 5 x 5 mat is no easy task. She knows this and tests the boundaries constantly. As soon as she is free she gets into a racing crawl as fast as she can go. She does look back to make sure you are looking at her and she giggles because she knows I will chase her and put her back on the mat. It became a game we played all afternoon. I was sweating and exhausted by time we had to give them back. Of course I did not want to give them back 40 minutes early but I wasn’t about to argue. We brought them up to their groupa and gave them kisses goodbye. We saw the daughter of the other couple standing by a chair dancing as one of the caregivers played a recorder. It was really cute.

We headed to 24 Yaca for a quick dinner and then met with our coordinator to go over our tactic for the trial. We went through a list of the type of questions she will ask and just the general schedule of events. Afterwords we picked the other couples brain for an hour asking how their trial went. They were so helpful. We spent the night going over our answers and our information. We are nervous but know it will go well. We are prepared.

Congratulations to our travel companions on becoming parents today.
Our turn tomorrow....