Our First Day as Parents

Mike and I feel like we did not sleep a single wink. I am sure that is how you feel the first night you have your new baby home from the hospital. We would check to see if they were breathing, if they were okay, if they were really still there. It was crazy.

But, they woke up at 7 am – 2 happy little girls. We are over the moon!
We changed some stinky and wet diapers and clothing and off to breakfast we went. Up and down all those stairs with 2 little girls. No easy task. They enjoyed breakfast and eat very well. We spent the rest of the morning hours taking turns watching the girls and packing up our stuff. We seem to have accumulated a TON of stuff. Food, pampers etc for the girls are everywhere and in every bag!

At 11 Mike had to go with our interpreter to the Police Station to sign some documents and pick up the girls passports. We feed the girls lunch at 11:30 in anticipation of the 3 hour ride to Moscow. They ate well again and we changed and dressed them. Since Danielle pooped this morning I did not think she would go again. Of course while holding Meredith on my lap just before we were leaving she pooped so Mike had to run down all the flights of steps to get the diaper bag back up to me to change her.

So many bags...they all went into the yellow Van. We said our goodbyes to the coordinator who has been the most wonderful person to us. She is an amazing women and we are so thankful for her knowledge and pull in our region. So, we loaded up for the drive. Oh my God!!! What a trip. Picture this little yellow van; really uncomfortable seats, no seat belts or car seats and 2 squirmy toddlers. We are so grateful that they both fell asleep in our arms for about 1 and 1/2 hours of the drive. But Danielle was having a tummy ache (I think it was all the milk- NO more milk for her for a while!) so about 2 hours in I had to ask to pull over to the side of the road so I could change her. She made a messy stinky mess! No one in the van was too pleased with that! They driver and interpreter even got out of the van. Once we got into the Moscow area the traffic started to slow and both girls were woken up by all the stop/starting of the car. Danielle once again made a stinky mess and this time there was no where to stop, so in a moving van in downtown Moscow traffic I changed her again. Just disgusting! I am not surprised I am experiencing all this crazy mommy stuff already! and it is really only day 1!

Finally we made it to our hotel, Marriott Aurora. It is a gorgeous hotel. Of course, of all the Marriott's, this is the one right in the center of the city and traffic is NUTS. It took over 4 hours to get here from Tver. But we plan on staying in the hotel a lot and it is a great hotel and supposedly near good places to go. We will see.

Once we got in we immediately dropped all our stuff in the room and ran down to the restaurant for dinner because we were all starving. All the adults had eaten breakfast at 8 am and nothing else since. The girls had a snack at 11:30 is but were definitely hungry. We were all happy to sit and relax. Mike and I are exhausted and I know Neil and Lulu are also, they have been a godsend during this trip!

Danielle did not want to eat anything tonight but cheerios. Turns out her stomach was still upset and I cleaned up mess number 4 of the day. It got all down her pant leg so she came back to the table pant-less (in only a diaper) to finish the meal. She did chew on a few pieces of a roll and drank the baby tea but wanted none of the other stuff. I hope her tummy feels better soon. No more milk for her for a while.

I gave the girls their first bath tonight. It was a bit traumatizing for both of them but at least I got it done and they dont smell like poop any more. While I did that with the aid of the in-laws Michael met downstairs with the adoption agency coordinator in Moscow to go over our final schedule and sign all of the papers for the US embassy. We have an appointment with the doctor at 7:15 tomorrow morning. Thankfully the doc will come to the hotel and meet with us in the room so we are happy to be able to sleep in a bit.