Once again we ate at breakfast 24 hour cafeteria in our hotel. We really want to eat at the buffet in our hotel but it did not open until 8 and that was too late for us. Once again I had meat pies for breakfast, but thankfully I learned how to ask for orange juice and was able to have a little bit of a real American breakfast. We started out at 8:45 and headed out to the notary. We had to get our official court documents notarized and ready to bring to the court. It took about an hour because Tatiana had to type a number of copies and pages and fix a few minor errors (like a wrong spelling of one of our daughters soon to be English name!) It was very interesting to read this official document or contract because it had a lot more information about the girls like the full name of the birth mother. Once we were finished we were able to go to the orphanage to play with the girls. Today they had dressed them again in the Hello Kitty outfits that I brought them to wear. It is so big on M that she looked like a little old man with her pants hiked up around her under her arm pits. But both girls looked adorable and very, very sweet and loving with us. D only wants to crawl around and run, she is very active. Too bad that today we were not allowed to go into the private room so we had to play with them out on the couch in reception. There is no where to let D crawl around on the floor so it made for a fidgety little girl. We had a wonderful time with them playing and taking lots of pictures. I had meant to get measurements and an out line of their feet for sizing and did not have time to do any of that. At 12:00 all the girls feel asleep. D fell asleep in Mike’s arms and the other couples daughter also fell asleep in their arms. M was so tired but did not want to sleep. She fought it with every ounce of her being. She was very cranky with heavy eyelids.
We left the orphanage and went back to the hotel to pack our bags and check out. Then we headed to court to bring in our documents. We went to a very official building to meet with a female judge. We had to wait a while and were seated next to a criminal court room. We saw the Russian police bringing in a criminal for trial. Mike and I were first up to meet the adoption judge. We went into a small office and met a very nice women who will be our judge. We handed over all the documents and sat and watched while Tatiana told her our story and went over our documents. Then she asked us a few questions, it was very tense because we did not want to say the wrong thing. Once we were done the other couple went in. We were told about a ton of new documents that we will need to get once we are home. The faster I get them done the faster we get back to our girls, the sooner they can come home. One more step closer…
Then we went to eat pizza for lunch which was a really nice change from the Russian faire we have been having. We stopped to get diapers to bring to the orphanage to leave for our girls and then we finally were able to go back to the orphanage to see the girls one last time. It was so sad to leave them. The caregivers put them in the other outfits I had brought for them from Target. They both looked so cute and the 9-12 months basically fit them. We talked to them and sang to them and told them we will miss them very much and see them soon. I wished them both an early Happy Birthday and New Year which will happen before we can get back to see them. We told them how all of our family and friends are ready to spoil them rotten. We handed over a digital camera to the director in hopes that the caregivers will take pictures of the girls when we are gone. We also left with them the glowworms because they loved them and the soft photo albums with our family pictures in them. We then presented the director with gifts for the orphanage and the girls ‘Groupa’; All sorts of toys and books, a lot of the items that we played with the twins with this week. Thankfully my carry on bag that was packed with toys on the way over here will be empty on the way home. So we said our final goodbyes. We carried them both to the second floor to their playroom and gave the diapers to their caregivers. We waved goodbye and Mike just could not leave them. They were put in excersaucers on the floor and Mike asked permission to say goodbye one more time. He went in, got down on the floor on his hands and knees and gave them more kisses goodbye. I really wanted to do that too but I didn’t want to press my luck and upset the caregivers. It was a really touching moment and definitely made me tear up as we left. I wish I had gotten a picture of that.
So, we packed up and got into the van for the long journey back to Moscow. Hopefully we will be back here in 6 weeks and then they will be ours forever.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Friday December 12th, 2008 ~ Our last day with the girls
Thursday, December 11, 2008
December 11th, 2008 Thursday ~ Day 2 with the girls
At 9:45 we headed straight for the orphanage. We were excited to see the girls and we were able to play with them in a private room. A Russian couple was spending time with their baby out on the couch so we were happy to be moved. We put mats on the ground and had to take off our shoes. This room is normally reserved as a massage room for the doctors to use to do some sort of physical therapy on the children. We were happy that the girls got to walk and crawl around. It gave us more freedom to play with them, as when we play with them in the reception area everyone is walking in and out. There was too much over stimulation and interruptions. When they brought M in I couldn’t help but laugh at her because they had her dressed in this yellow and multicolored pattern dress with a huge ruffle collar. She looked like she should be in the circus as a clown. D was brought in wearing a beautiful red dress. Something I would have bought for her myself. It was very funny. I quickly attempted to change them both into the Hello Kitty outfits I brought for them from H&M. They looked great on the girls but are a bit too big on both of them. Cute anyway. I did not put on the pants or socks I brought because they already had 3 other layers on and seemed so hot. Every day that we have been in the orphanage (and I am sure every day of the year) it is sweltering hot in there. Because it is freezing outside they keep the inside so ridiculously hot. It must be 80 degrees inside. We were sweating and the girls were so hot. I wanted to take it all off but was afraid to be reprimanded by orphanage staff. So we played with them in the Hello Kitty tops and their wool tights. We had so much fun with them. Got lots of great smiles but lunch time and nap time came quickly. D had fallen asleep in my arms. It was precious.
We headed to lunch at the same Russian restaurant as yesterday. The novelty is wearing off. I had a mushroom soup and baked salmon. Mike had the Salanca soup that is quickly becoming his favorite and the sesame chicken I had yesterday. While at lunch our coordinator had us sign the official Russian documents that state that we want to petition the court to adopt the twins. It was written all in Russian, and she read it to us and translated it. We had to sign them and write “ We want to adopt these girls” on the dotted line. It was an exciting moment. We also had to write down the English names we will give them. After court we will receive new birth certificates with their English names on them. Once both couples signed the documents we all had a nice toast to our soon to be daughters. One step closer…
We had more time to kill before we would be allowed back to the orphanage for our afternoon visit so we headed back to the hotel and our coordinator went to do more work and papers on our behalf. We had to get more Rubles to pay for daily food and items so our coordinator brought us to the ‘Bank’. The ‘bank’ I speak of is a random man standing in the hotel lobby with a messenger bag of money and a calculator. She says it is safe and she does it all the time so she helped us exchange money. You get a great exchange rate because he takes no commission off of the top. I really do not want to know what he does with the American dollars.
After we exchanged money with the seedy man in the hotel lobby Mike went back to the room to take a nap and I went with the other couple to the gift shop to buy Russian gifts. So many beautiful things, but I did not want to get too much and have a ton to carry. Also, I know we are coming back soon. Tver is known for its little wooden boxes with beautiful carvings. And of course we could not leave without getting lots of Russian nesting dolls. There are so many to choose from. I bought a couple of beautiful hand painted pieces and some items specific to Tver for the girls to have as memories of their homeland. The nesting dolls were so lovely and the prices were so much better than in Moscow so I got a ton of holiday gifts.
We headed back to the orphanage to play with the kids. Stuck in the lobby this time. The caregivers had put on the full Hello Kitty outfits. They looked so cute, but 12 month clothing is definitely too big on them. We sat on the sofa and read books and played with toys. Mike held M most of the time. She was very calm. She liked to play with the string on my video camera. D is a handful and kept me on my toes. They are not allowed to crawl on the carpet in the lobby so it was very difficult to keep her up on the sofa or in my arms walking around.
At 6:30 we went back to the hotel for dinner. Once again we went to the café in our hotel. Besides the fact that it is freezing cold outside and completely slippery with ice to venture out we were just physically and emotionally exhausted. ZI had pasta and hotdogs. Weird combination I know. Also, I have seen Russian people eating this combination with coffee in the mornings. Strange, they do not differentiate between the time of day and types of meals they eat. It is a poor town. I have not really seen any fresh fruits and veggies. We were in bed early and we were finally able to get a full nights sleep thanks to Benadryl for Mike and ½ Lorazapam for me!
Here is a photo of the dorm room we are staying in.
This is a view out our window. It is a small river that feeds into the Volga River.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
We hugged and Kissed ourTWINS TODAY!!
Today has been the most amazing day.
First things first, we were exhausted and we had to be dressed and ready to go at 7am for the drive to Tver from Moscow. We piled into a yellow van and headed out. It was snowing and the roads became more and more treacherous as we got farther out of Moscow. The sun (and not much of it ever) does not come out until after 9 am and goes down before 4. I have read that in the summer the sun is up at 4 am and does not go down until 11 pm. Not sure which one is better.
We saw over 15 accidents (and I am not exaggerating) It was crazy. There are NO rules to the road in Russia so people go really fast, cut others off, slide on black ice etc. It made for a very tense morning. I took some video out of the window during the drive. It just gives you a little look at the area and the run down roads along the route.
Мы прибыли в Тверь, Россию~ We have arrived in Tver
It took a little over 3 hours to get to Tver, slow and steady through the snow and ice. Right away we were taken to the Adoption Center Office in Tver so that we could get permission to visit the children. We had to hand over our passports and ticket stubs that proved we flew into Moscow, so they know that we are really here to meet the children and not having someone else get the documents for us without us really meeting the kids. The official who was supposed to help us out was not there so we had to leave empty handed. Sad and dismayed, we headed to the hotel in Tver to drop off our bags instead of going straight to the Orphanage. The hotel, called Hotel Volga, was not the one that I thought we were staying at. We were told not to make hotel reservations, that our in-region coordinator would be making them for us. Every time I looked up Tver or read other Tver adoption blogs and list serves the only hotel I heard of was the Osanbruck. Well, we are at a much different place. We are in dorm style rooms but thankfully we have a private bath. The postitives are that it is a very inexpensive place to stay , and it is in a great location. It has a 24 hour café where we ate dinner tonight and a nice gift shop with local Tver made gifts and souvenirs.
As soon as we put our bags down in the rooms, we were told that we would be allowed to visit the orphanage, so off we went. A dozen snow covered scary roads later and we arrived at Teremok Orphanage. A large, run-down looking building. It does have what looks to be a brand new play area outside. We were whisked into a main reception area that has a throw rug and a brown leather couch. It turns out that this was the location where we would spend the day getting to know our children.
Very quickly an older woman caregiver, briskly and without ceremony, came down the stairs holding a precious baby girl. D was all dressed up wearing a blue knit dress with white tights and pretty white shoes. Prior to coming inside was were told to let the girls get used to the idea of us watching them before we tried to touch them our hold them. But the caregiver just thrust her into my arms the second they came down the steps. She is the most delicious girl ever. Zvery flirty and sweet. A definite strong personality. She was content in my arms. Next down was M. She was dressed in a pretty red and white knit sweater dress and red tights. She looked adorable. She was a little nervous at first and was thrust into Michael’s arms a bit too quickly. She probably has never seen a man before, except maybe a doctor who poked and proded her. So, she was a bit weary of Mike. But she calmed down nicely and was engaged with mike’s antics. We learned that they save these pretty outfits for when adoptive parents come to visit and normally the children are in older jumpsuits and donated clothes. We got to spend about an hour with them. Playing with toys we brought and taking loads of pictures and videos. Because they were given to us right before lunch and nap time they were a bit sleepy and cranky. We were allowed to bring them upstairs ourselves, into their playrooms, and place them in the play pens. There they are fed by caregivers and take their afternoon nap.
We left to go out for lunch while the girls ate and napped. Our coordinator took us to a lovely real Russian restaurant. We ate a tasty meat soup in a light tomato broth (I have since learned that it is called Salanca- they just put everything that is left in the fridge into a stew, either way it is tasty, but never the same) Mike had meat pot and I had seasame chickem, Russian style. Also FYI- the Russians put Mayonaise on Everytthing!! Lunch was great and filling. We were then allowed to go back to the orphanage to spend more time with the girls from 3:00 to 5:30 we played with them. We also had an important meeting with the orphanage director, coordinator, translator, and social worker. We learned some more information about theiur health and backgrounds. Of course with 2 little 11 month old girls crawling all over us it was hard to write down the important stuff. We did find out more information on their birth mom along with a copy of her photo. I know hoe blessed we are to have it, I am sure the girls will want to see it when they are older. More impotantly we found out that they orphanage had baptized the girls after they arrived at the orphanage and were given these beautiful baptism certificates all filled out in Russian. These go right into their Life-Books for when they are older.
On to the girls:
D is spunky. She is very strong willed, pulls herself up and is walking with assistance. She is inquisitive and likes to lay her head on your shoulder and snuggle. She is always on the move and has a sweet toothy smile.
M is the shy one. She is quiet and content to sit on a lap and play with a toy. She would hum and rock to the music on the glowworm. I got her to smile a few times by throwing her in the air. She really took to Michael and he entertained her with numerous made up songs ( I think he also threw in some Rush and Metallica songs in lullaby voices)
I cannot wait to post their pictures, but am not allowed until after court. I’ll try to get some of just their backs. Maybe I can find a little teaser.
It was a long and exhausting day- completely worth it!!! On to the hotel, dinner and sleep.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Greetings from Moscow ~ поздравления из Москвы
We touched down in Moscow at 1:35 pm Tuesday (we had been traveling since 5:40 Monday night) We were a half hour late and as soon as we got through customs we learned that the flight of the other couple we were meeting was going to be even later and the guy picking us up was not there either. We were now working on ‘Russian Time’! The taxi drivers just milled about outside customs with their cigarettes and signs. Unfortunately they all rolled up their signs and did not seem interested in trying to find their pick-ups. Needless to say, everyone was finally found, and we made our way in a white mini van to the Marriot Courtyard hotel in Moscow city center. It was freezing out and had just stopped snowing. Riding the 30-40 minutes to the hotel seemed just like being on the FDR, LIE and in the Bronx in numerous parts. Just with weird writing on the signs. Once into the city center the buildings and streets feel more like London. It is a very elegant city. We checked into a very nice western style hotel but didn’t have much time to get settled. It was already 4 pm. We found out that the Patriarch of Moscow (like the equivalent of the archbishop of Canterbury) had died last week and today was a holiday of some sort. Lots of stores are closed and the streets are very busy. We ventured out to find the 24 hour grocery store and finally found it on Tverskaya Street. It was a gorgeous building with ornate details, beautiful chandeliers and a gourmet assortment of goodies. I took some pictures. We bought bottled water. We have been told to not drink the water here at all. Not even brush our teeth with it. So we got 3 large bottles as well as Challah and jam for breakfast. We looked at all the vodka and souvenirs for sale but did not buy anything because we had not time. I wish we had time to tour the city and see Red Square. I know we will have a lot of time in Moscow on trip 2 so I will not worry about it now. Running back to the hotel we ate a quick hamburger dinner because we had to meet our coordinator at 7 to hand over documents and her fees. By the time we finished with that we were exhausted. Time for bed. Tomorrow is an exciting day. We will leave Moscow at 7 am to get to Tver to meet our little ones. Tonight I separated out all their clothes and toys and the orphanage donations into smaller bags so we don’t have to bring all of our luggage in to the orphanage. Good night.
Here are photos of the grocery store:
This is dinner on our first night...at the hotel restaurant...after a long 2 days of traveling.
Monday, December 8, 2008
We are ready to go!
Everything fit in - thanks to space bags and Michael's superhuman packing abilities. Mike even packed workout clothes. I seriously doubt he will have time to workout! My colorful carry-on bag is so heavy-it only has the girls toys and orphanage gifts in it. We are also carrying with us other dossier documents from our adoption agency for two other families who will be registering in the Tver region. We have to hand the packets over to our Coordinator when we meet her in Moscow on Tuesday.
Well, we are ready to go already. Lets go already. The last few days have been in slow motion. I just want to get there and meet our little cuties! Our flight leaves tomorrow afternoon. Mike and I are finally both over our colds, thank God. So, tomorrow I plan on going to the gym in the morning and then getting a manicure. Nothing else left to do. We will leave from JFK and change planes in Paris. We don't get into Moscow until 1pm on Tuesday afternoon.
On another note, Hannah and Bobo know something strange is going on. We have been in a frenzy, and they have been sniffing over all the baby toys and kids clothes. Hannah doesn't ever want me to get any work done or emails sent so she has taken up residence on my laptop.
Bobo is a little less intrusive. He could care less what is going on, as long as he has a comfy place to nap!
I wonder how our Kitties will react to the girls when they finally come home.
I am dreading that meeting.
Anyway, we haven't even met the littles ones yet and I am already thinking how sad it is that we will miss their first Hannukah and 1st Birthday (which is at the end of December). I know the earliest we will be able to go back to see them and go to court is the end of Janaury. So I am jumping way ahead of myself and driving myself crazy. Focus on meeting them first....
Next post will be from RUSSIA.
Мы будем видеть каждого через неделю. (See everyone in a week)
Paka,
Melissa
Reflection on the Past Year
A year ago I was rubbing my pregnant twin belly. Eli and Samantha were kicking each other in the head during every weekly ultrasound. We were giddy with excitement and planning the rest of our lives with the twins in it. I am still so sad that they are not here with us and that they did not get to live a long and fulfilled life like they should have. It sucks that we missed out on seeing them grow up. We do have memories of spending some time with them, we have the beautiful little blankets they were wrapped in, and pictures to remember them by… But it is not the same.
What a tough year it has been for us. I am thankful to be alive, to have an amazing husband and wonderful and supportive family & friends. I am thankful for the short but precious time we had with Eli and Sam. But, because they are not here, we have this amazing opportunity to adopt these 2 gorgeous little girls and go on this life adventure with them.
A year ago, half way around the world, a young woman was giving birth to her twins. I find myself thinking of her often. I am wondering if she rubbed her belly; how it felt when they kicked her; if she even knew she was having twins. I am so grateful to her for continuing with her pregnancy, even in what must have been a bad situation, and allowing them to live. I am thankful that they were placed in this specific orphanage where our adoption agency has found them and even more grateful for them to have been looking on our behalf.
Was this year supposed to go this way? I wasn’t sure. I certainly didn’t think so during my three blood transfusions and week long hospital stay- But now I know it couldn’t have been any other way. I hate the phrase ‘everything happens for a reason’. I wanted to slap everyone who said that to me after Eli and Sam died. I wanted to shout and cry “what is the reason?” But now I know- We are supposed to do this. Michael and I are supposed to be on this crazy journey together. We are supposed to go to Russia and find these little girls. I am certain of this. They need a mommy and daddy. They need us and we need them. What more can I say, we will get our twins after all...
This whole time we were working on our dossier and waiting for ‘the call’ I assumed we would get a referral for one young boy. That is what we asked for, even though our agency knew we were open to taking siblings. And don’t worry (to all my moms out there- NY MOM, Momma Lulu, Aunt Suki Mom, Temple moms, old -work -boss moms, and any other older wiser women I know who would say this to me) I know the girls do not replace Eli and Sam and I am not expecting them to. They will be our children in their own right and we will not expect them to live up to any weird standards or ideals)
I just can’t wait to meet them and finally get them home. We still have a long road ahead.
(Sorry to be all sappy and sentimental. This has been a very emotional week for me. Getting the news of our referral and it being twins bought back a lot of feeling for Eli and Sam that I haven’t thought about in a while. I am already drained and we haven’t even gotten to Russia yet.)