4th and 5th visits

On Sunday we woke up to find it had snowed and a blanket of snow covered everything. It was beautiful! Being from our part of California we don't see the snow often. And it had probably been a good 8 years since I've seen the snow last. I was so excited and we went crazy taking photos of the city and babyhome covered in the snow. After we ate our breakfast at the hotel we met our driver/translator at 10am and headed off to the bank to exchange money and then went to the baby home. Since it was the weekend we got to play with our little girl in this big playroom which is used during the week for toddler gym classes. We were just so excited to see her. She was a little better today...she did not cry when we came in the room but she did make some unhappy noises when our translator left her alone with just us. But eventually she was okay and explored the room to her heart's content. She is an explorer...loves to check out her new environment and see and touch everything. In fact, she explores very well with her touch. Even when meeting her each time she holds out her hand to you for you to kiss her palm or put it against your face. And she does it with everyone. She is so cute! She also loves to make and hear new sounds. I don't think I ever realized how many new sounds I could make with my mouth and hands and feet. She tilts her head to the side and listens and then if she likes the sound she will give you the biggest scrunched up grin and make this cute happy sound which I think is her laugh. We lived for this expression...I have never tried so hard in my life to get a certain reaction from a person over and over again. But it was addictive to get this happy smile and sound from this little baby. Hubby and I were trying all day to see that expression from her. She also loved the swing in the room and to fly around in papa's arms. And she is so cute when you feed her the cheerios she will feed one to you even if it's her last cheerio. So sweet!

So we know she is very smart. Her caregivers told us she knows where all her body parts are. If they say where is your nose, she will touch hers. And by the end of our visits if we said to her in english, where is your nose she would touch hers, or ours. Also if I said mama...she would touch me and papa the same for hubby. She also knows the names of all her caregivers, herself and all her friends in her groupa. Everyone there seems to be taken with her and this makes us feel so happy and so proud. How funny we feel so proud of her already!

During her lunch and nap we went to the factory where they make the china for the city. Many russian families have a set of this china that they use for special occasions. We found a beautiful blue set for her. It is very beautiful and comes with a teapot, set of 6 cups and saucers, 6 dessert plates, a compote dish, creamer and sugar bowl. I could not believe how inexpensive this set of china was as china is so expensive in the states. Ideally I think it will make a great wedding present for Emily someday. We then went souvenir shopping and for her I found a matryoshka doll that has a bell inside. It is a toy that you shake or roll on the ground. I also found a colorful porcelain horse ornament to hang on the X-mas tree for her first ornament. Every year we buy an ornament for our children that represents something from that year. With the idea in mind that when they have their first home they will have a set of ornaments to hang on their tree. So only fitting Emily's first ornament should be from her hometown. The last present I got her was a handpainted laquered box. The image is of the Church of Spilled Blood that we visited the other day. It is the city's most famous church and was built in the famous russian style with the 5 onion tops. I thought we could put a nice necklace in the box and give it to her for her 16th birthday.

After the shopping we toured the St. Isaac's Cathedral which is right across the street from the hotel we have stayed it. It is also a magnicificent church. For lunch we stopped at one of the local fast food joints that serve the famous perogis. Sweet bread pies stuffed with meat, vegetables, eggs or dessert pies stuffed with fruit, custard, chocolate. Their fast food restaurants makes American ones look so bad. It was a nice, sitdown restaurant. A casual family friendly restaurant nicer than a Denny's. Granite on the tables, leather bound paper menu not a laminated plastic one. It was very good and I highly recommend trying them!

In the afternoon we had another visit with Emily and then we came back to the hotel. Hubby and I ventured out for dinner and ate at Da Vinci's a yummy italian restaurant with a coat check. It was very funny to watch the men help hubby take off his jacket and then at the end of the meal put it back on. Hubby really wanted to do it himself but the gentleman was determined to help and held out the jacket for Hubby to put first one arm in and then the other. I was waiting for him to help Hubby zip up too. That would have really had me on the floor in hysterics. How uncomfortable American men get when in too close proximity to other men. The dinner was delicious and I had a Banana colada to go with it. Yummy! The restaurant turned into a discoteca later on so they were testing the disco ball out and setting up the colored lights in the center of the restaurant. After dinner we went for a walk and people watched. My favorite. I really like this city we have been in. It's a really fun place to be with good food and lots to see and do.

Today..Monday the 17th was our last day with our Emily on this trip. We got up and tried a yummy cafe out for breakfast and had a pastry or two and a latte. It was fun to watch all the people coming and going in the downtown. Public transportation is very good here and there are many people using the bus, train and metro systems. From our view we could see people coming and going. Everyone is dressed up here in the downtown and looks very nice. All the women are thin and look very stylish, very feminine. Black is very popular in the winter for both sexes and leather black boots hitting just under the knee are very in. Women also wear gloves and hats and scarves tucked into their jackets. It reminds me a lot of Boston with the beautiful old buildings and the nicely dressed, fast moving and serious looking people.

After breakfast we went to the babyhome to see Emily. As soon as we came into the room and she saw us she came running to me with a huge smile. I was so happy! Finally, finally! And a great way to end on. She was so cute today! The pink tights and the short dress with the matching diaper covering bottoms was just too cute. We played with her in their music room today. She loves musical toys. And she watched everyone coming and going from the room as it is a pass through to another large room called the sensory room where they give massages and play soft music. When it was lunch time we got to watch her eat at her little table and then play a little more with her before her nap.

During her nap, we went to the babystore and bought some diapers for her and some toys for her groupa. This babystore is like our Babies R Us except it also has toys for older kids too. We then went to lunch at an italian restaurant called Mama Roma. The food was very good! And then our translator took us to see the monument and museum dedicated to the victory of Leningrad against the Germans for the seige of their city during WWII. It was very moving!


Then it was time to see our baby girl one last time. We arrived in the groupa and they put this cute pink bunny ears headband on her. She looked so cute! She was so happy to see us! And then we went downstairs to play again in the music room. When it was time to go I was afraid I was going to have a huge meltdown but I felt very at peace with it. We returned her to the groupa and gave her all the things we had brought for her including her photo album. The caregivers are very friendly and looked through the album. They stopped on the photo of our oldest son and said he looked just like Emily, which we of course agree. They said "borat" "brother" to her and she came and pointed to the photo of her "brothers" and laughed. Such a smartie she is! We left our disposable camera and the notecards to write messages to her. And then since it was normally the babies eating time they dressed her in an apron and a hair net. Apparently she likes to help the caregivers with meal time. She looked so cute! A mini caregiver! And she walked with her caregiver and us to the kitchen downstairs so she could help get the dinner ready for her groupa. Oh! What a cutie she is! But her in her apron and hair cover was just too much! I wish I could show you the photo! So we feel good that she is doing so well there and we know it will be very hard for her to leave when we come back. And I will feel so bad for her and her caregivers as they all clearly love her and have so much fun with her. She is such a little cutie pie!


And just as a sidenote. Seeing all the kids here was really very hard. I couldn't help but wonder does this child have a family? Or this one? And they are all cute! You just want to pick them up and love them all. I have also seen other russian families here either visiting their bio. children or grandparents visiting grand-children or russian parents meeting their to-be-adopted children. It does seem that a lot of children will be adopted from this home and that makes my heart feel a lot lighter.

So we are off to eat and then get ready for home. We are heading to the airport at 4:15am for our first flight back to Germany.

Wish us well for a safe trip home!

Paka!