Day #3 Mia

We arrived to discover that no rooms were available inside the baby home to meet with Mia. So .. they had us go outside. Outside? They told us Tuesday that she had never been outside and thus the reason for her lack of teeth. This was her first time outside?!?! Wow. Perhaps teeth will be forthcoming soon :)

Miss Mia arrived dressed as Nanook of the North. Bless her heart, she looked like the scene from a Christmas Story where the little brother can't put his arms down while in his snow suit. And, no, there wasn't a freak blizzard in Moscow today. It was quite nice and we didn't even need coats (when I say we I mean Nathan nor I as all the Russians had coats on despite being sunny and warm). So .. at least she was dressed in more girlie colors :)

Nathan headed outside with Mia while I finished talking to a caregiver regarding Mia's likes / dislikes. . The chief doctor was still not in today so I'wasn't able to ask any of the detailed medical questions like allergies, medications, etc. We were able to go over things at a higher level on Tuesday which they probably felt covered it all but I would've liked to have asked these additional questions as when I asked them about Sasha I found out that he was on phenabut and had a seizure. Sometimes it pays to be thorough.

Mia seemed completely overwhelmed by her visit outside. She had a challenge focusing on anything. We introduced Katya the Bear that was a gift from Sasha..

We also gave her a story that Vlad, the director of transportation, had translated so I had the chance to use my fabulous (totally sarcastic) scrapbooking skills to cut and tape the translated version into the book that I had prepared for Mia. It's actually a sweet story of how Sasha wanted a sister more than anything and how we found her in Moscow, Russia. We also left a disposable camera for photos in the interim in addition to Katya, the bear.

Katya has our voices on it that say, "We'll be back to bring you back soon. Love, Mommy, Daddy and Sasha". It has both Nathan and my voice on it and we've slept with it to add our scent in case that helps her feel more comfortable when we return. Vlad had mentioned earlier that parents were over the top because they sent various toys that they had slept with. He rolled his eyes describing how silly this was. I chose not to mention that we had done the same thing with this bear as well as the bear that we left Sasha. And truly it may be hooey. All I know is that after the first day that we came back for him he ran into my arms with the biggest smile you've ever seen. So ... I guess I don't care if this seasoned man of the world thinks it rubbish .. if it has any chance of making our daughter feel more comfortable with us, then I intend to do it. We also left a camera (he insisted that two were too many) and some note cards in the hope that the caregivers might write our daughter a note. Again, he was completely unimpressed by this and said he had only one other family ever that had requested this ( I think we may be going on a 'list' somewhere and it might not be the good list). I'm not sure what the issue is really. Writing a couple of lines to a little girl that's found their forever family seems easy. Just write that you hope she has a great life and that she's loved fully. That's it. Since Vlad translated this, I'm not sure if they'll do it. This is the photo of the caregiver after Vlad translated our wishes including that we had this book about our family that would be nice if they could familarize our daughter with this. Doesn't seem promising does it?

It's kind of strange the resistance that we got for these basic things that, trust me, I didn't dream up all on my own. The folks in Kaluga had no issue with any of this. Perhaps people in the country are just better tempered and are more likely to facilitate your requests. Guess it's the same way in the US. Perhaps the caregivers will write a few cards and surprise us. I mean the Russians in general don't have the most positive facial expressions I've ever seen (see my posts on the Metro and 'the Scowl').

We eventually came back inside realizing that perhaps Mia wasn't as intimidated by the out of doors as she was by the HUGE, thick snowsuit that she had to wear. We stripped her of the outer layer (she had at least four layers beyond her snow suit) and hat so she could be a bit freer. She seemed immediately better tempered.

We said a bientot to our little princess. I know many families struggle with the wait in between trips but they are probably way of ahead of Nathan and I. We will need a mattress for the crib that my friend gave us and ... clothes. No more blue or orange jumpsuits for this little princess, she needs purple, pink and various totally girlie items. I think we also need barettes until we can get hair grown out. And, Baba, you thought my hair was hard to comb??? Wait 'til you see how thick this little girl's hair is ... wow. And with it being curly, it will a totally different (actually polar opposite) hair experience than my hair. Should be an interesting journey.

Gdaddy has already warned that we're all in trouble. I think he's right. ;)