We were picked up this morning by our interpreter and met up with the other couple. Today is their gotcha day. We had a few official errands to run. We went to the court house to drop off gifts for the social worker and pick up documents for the other couple. Headed to the police headquarters for more documents, I am not sure which couple they are for. Then we finally headed to the orphanage to see the girls. The first meeting of the second set of grandparents. As soon as we arrived we were told that we would be taking the girls out of the orphanage today to have their passport photos taken. Minutes later the girls were delivered to us in full snowsuits and hats with what seemed like 20 layers of clothing underneath. They were both stuffed like sausages. We did get some cute pictures. The fun of having grandparents with more hands for cameras so we can concentrate on the girls and they can get good photos. We even have a cute 15 second video of us in the van with them.
We went to a photo/camera store and had their pictures taken. It took them 15 tries to get Dasha’s picture. She was looking all around and not at the camera. Masha was very pensive and did not want to take her fingers out of her mouth but she sat on daddy’s lap and he helped her calm down for a few minutes and the first shot of her was a keeper. Too funny.
Back to the baby home we went with only about ½ hour to play with them before it was time for their lunch and nap. We headed back to the hotel. Lulu hurt her knee so it was slow going walking on the icy streets of Tver but we made it. We were happy to take them to Fortuna and share the experience with Neil and Lulu. They thoroughly enjoyed the food and atmosphere. I took a funny photo of Lulu sleeping at the table. It has been an exhausting first day for everyone.
At 3:30 we headed back to the orphanage with the other couple. It was time for them to pick up their daughter and take her home so they were set with the clothes and snowsuit for her. Too cute. Unfortunately they had to hand over the outfit and the caregivers dressed her. We had been told that we would be able to dress them ourselves so I was not happy to see that. On Wednesday we will press to be able to dress them ourselves.
We got to play with them all in the lobby on the mat until 6 ish. It was a ball and the Levine’s enjoyed the girls. Masha is doing so well and crawling all over the place. Dash is a ball of fire and all over the place but she is very attached to me. It is great to see her looking back at me for reassurance and she always wants to come to me if anyone else holds her or picks her up. She gets jealous when I am holding Masha. We had a great time all around. This afternoon we found out a little bit about their schedules and what they eat. I was surprised to learn that they are not on any solid food, everything they eat is pureed. They do supposedly get pureeded vegetables and meat but I am not really sure how much or how often, all we ever see them eating is oatmeal/mush stuff. They drink luke warm tea and some sort of coffee drink. Weird! We will be stopping that right away! We were also told that they are bathed every two days. I am not sure what that means or if they have actually been in a bathtub before.
We are all exhausted and everyone but me took a nap before dinner. I think I am still on Russia time so the transition hasn’t been too bad.
This evening I organized all of my gifts so I can bring them to the orphanage tomorrow. I have beautiful enamel picture frames ( 5 bucks each at home goods but they look really expensive) for everyone with a small photo of us with the girls in it and a thank you letter written in Russian. I love them. In addition, the important people get scarves and all the caregivers and orphanage workers get Macy’s cosmetic bags. We also got our male translator a nice tie and a Swiss army pocket knife type thing. I hope they go over well.
We had dinner in the hotel and the dining room was pretty busy but they put us in a private dining room off to the side that we had all to ourselves. It was strange to have a whole dining room to ourselves but we had a fun time tonight and lots of laughs (as we could be loud Americans without getting any stares). I am trying to figure out what the hell we do with the girls once we get them to the hotel. It is daunting and I am happy my mommy-in-law is here to help me. It certainly will be interesting as first time parents of 14 month old twins!!!!
Tomorrow we have been told the morning will be taken up with paperwork and we will get to see the girls in the afternoon. Tomorrow the new couple from our agency comes to meet their referral. I am so psyched to meet them and for them to meet their little guy who is so adorable.
Goodnight.
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