Meet Ya Day :)

Our view of a beautiful sunrise when we woke up this morning

Our view of YUCKY rain when we arrived yesterday


Well, today we met little man. Our day began with getting up early (5am), breakfast at German & Marina's, on the road by 6:30am and arriving to Kaluga by 10:00am. We had to stop at the Ministry of Education's office to pick up the referral, then pick up our interpreter (Giardi) then off to the baby home. I do have to say that the nerves were MUCH better this time. We got there around 10:30 only to be told that lil man was sleeping (funny how they told us to come at this time - during his nap time). So, they told us to come back around noon. So, German took us to the Kaluga Space Center museum, we checked into our hotel and went to lunch (pizza). Then off to pick up the interpreter again and back to the baby home. Oh, I forgot to mention that the head doctor is on vacation, but came in today especially to meet with us, which we were very appreciative of. When we got there, she wanted us to meet lil man before we talked with her - he is in a room with about 8 other infants. They were changing his diaper when we saw him and he immediately started smiling when we walked up. What a smile!!!! Nothing but gums and a cute little baby laugh! It was precious. Then we went to speak with the doctor for about 45 minutes and received information about lil man's parents and medical background. Everything is positive, nothing abnormal and his growth is on the chart's which is a WONDERFUL thing for children in an orphanage. We have still sent the information we received to Dr. Johnson (international pediatrician) for reassurance. After speaking with the doctor, we got to play with him for about 1 1/2 hours. It was of course different this time than last - an infant doesn't do as much or require as much chasing around as we did with Alex - but we know that will only come with time. He is teething right now, so EVERYTHING goes in his mouth. He can sit up, roll over front to back and back to front, stand with help, is tickelish and LOVES to suck his thumb. All of the caregivers say he is a happy baby and they "love him with all our heart". We are now back at the hotel relaxing. We will go back to see him tomorrow morning and then head back to Moscow. We will continue to have internet access while we are in Russia (German & Marina now have Wi-fi), so email or leave us a message on the blog. Love you all and can't wait to be back home!!



P.S. - German's driving is still CRAZY and the traffic is still HORRIBLE - but Russia is MUCH PRETTIER now than it was in the winter!! They actually have grass and flowers! And it doesn't get dark here until after 11pm....very tricky!!!!