Our First Full Day as a Family!

First things first. We promised some pictures and here they are. The first was taken in the Director’s Office yesterday, Gotcha Day, only moments after they brought our Gracie (yes, that’s her name) out to us. The second was one we took the other day that we just liked.

We had a really great day today. We put Grace to bed a little after 8:00 last night and she was asleep by 8:30. She slept all the way to about 7:00 this morning without waking up at all! First thing after changing her, we got her a bottle. She drank the whole thing without stopping! Then we all went down the hall and had our breakfast with Monica and Little M. They served these French toast-like things in the shape of small patties that were pretty good, along with the standard yogurt, cheese slices, and bread. Grace sat in her stroller while we ate but got pretty fidgety toward the end. When we got back to the room, we made her some cereal which she devoured. We were a bit worried yesterday because she didn’t seem to want the Biphodok (a thick milk product with nutrients, we think), but now we know this kid likes to eat!

Then we gave her a bath. The bathtub here is large and really deep, so we thought we’d try the bathroom sink. She had to hang on to the faucet to keep from sliding down onto her back. We were laughing our heads off and she just looked at us like we were nuts, or had no idea of what we were doing. It’s actually probably a little of both. We hope she’ll forgive us. Then we put her down for a nap and she went right to sleep. She slept for almost two hours. When she got up, we ate our lunch while she played. Actually we ended up all playing keep the bag of chips out of Grace’s reach. She was very determined to get that bag.

Then we walked down to the mall with Monica and Little M. Grace rode in the baby carrier strapped to Kyley’s shoulders. This was a test run to see how she would put up with being confined in the carrier and how the traffic and people would affect her. She did great! No crying or anything. On the walk back, she was even humming! She liked how the sound of her voice would change every time Kyley took a step. We’re planning on using the carrier for the airports. We have four of them to deal with soon and we wanted to know how she’d react. So far, so good.

When we got back to the room, it was time to eat again, of course. Grace had a jar of chicken, a jar of squash, a couple crackers, and some juice. She liked them all, especially the juice! She’s just learning to drink out of a cup. We don’t think the baby home had sippy cups, because she doesn’t seem to want to drink from one. When we use a regular cup, most of it goes down the front of her, so we just put it in a bottle. That worked much better. Then we played some more, and we put her down for a second nap. Again, she went right to sleep. We’re just waiting for her to have some kind of total meltdown since we’re in strange places, doing strange things, but so far, she’s been pretty happy and content.

At dinner time, we decided to go out to a restaurant, since Grace had been doing so well and since it is our (and Monica’s) last night in Astrakhan. Since the Chocolate Café was the only place we could think of that was non-smoking, we went there. Both Grace and Little M. were great! Grace ate a few crackers while we had our meals. She didn’t get a little antsy until the end of our dinner and wanted to grab everything on the table, but what one-year-old doesn’t do that?

So now we’re back at the hotel. Grace drank her Biphodok from a bottle tonight with no problems. She even cried a little when it was gone as if she wanted more. Now she’s sound asleep again in her crib. You know, we always hear people say how lucky the adopted children are, to come to the U.S. from an orphanage in Russia, where they’ll have more opportunities, etc. and I suppose that’s true. But we are the lucky ones. Our little daughter is just amazing.

As we mentioned, this was our last night in Astrakhan. We have mixed emotions because our little girl will be leaving her birth place and her country, but we so desperately want to come home. Our flight leaves tomorrow evening. Our next post should be from Moscow.