Day 3 - Mia on a Cloudy Russian Day

Mia's teeth seem to be bothering her so we are trying some baby tylenol this morning. For all yáll that will come after us, I have a great list of OTC and perscription medications recommended by the University of Washington including dosing and identification strategies. Since we ultimately didn't use Dr. Davies to evaluate Mia (there just wasn't anything to talk about when she plots in the 25th percentile for height and weight and the 50th percentile for head circumference, was premature but weighed over 5 pounds and the only ailment she's ever had was a cold), we asked our pediatrician to perscribe the recommended medications. We gave her some Benadryl last night wondering if her congestion is due in part to allergies and she sounds a tad bit better this morning. She slept well last night which we hope is going to improve her morale a bit.

David, the apartment owner, had his Russian wife call the Apteka (pharmacy) and they recommended a medication for her congestion that he'll drop by our place later today. Have I mentioned lately how fabulous he is? Honestly, he has been one of the most helpful people here. He's always happy to help you in any way that he can and even bought the cutest white teddy bear for Mia's crib. Very, very nice. He's in the process of trying to acquire additional apartments on Novy Arbat so, if you're planning a trip to Moscow, I highly recommend Best Moscow Apartment Rentals (www.bestmoscowapartmentrentals.com).

So Mia. ..she's a cute girl obviously. She wants to be held ALL the time. If you need to set her down (to go potty or get dressed) she collapses onto the carpet in a dramatic, tearful mass. She is interested in Baby Einstein (we brought our DVD player and some movies) but, if watching alone, will eventually start crying. We think this may be in part due to the fact that her gums hurt. These are her first two teeth so she has never gone through this before. Wait until her molars come in!

She does have a winning smile (in between her unhappiness) and she has, I promise you, the longest eye lashes ever. They are almost so long that she struggles to close her eyes. Wouldn't we all like to have that problem, ladies? Her hair is shiny, thick (I'm predicting CURLY) and glossy black. It's unbelievable and my prediction that I'd spend the rest of my life trying to figure out how to style it is going to be 100% accurate. She doesn't seem to appreciate the fabulous hair accessories that my Mother and I bought (a set matching each outfit she has of course) but we'll continue to work on that. We can't have anyone thinking she's a boy! She seemed to tolerate the head band (which looked TOO cute btw) well so perhaps we'll have to look for more of those and they seem easy enough that perhaps I could sew some (my sewing skills are usually limited to curtains, pillows - you know the straight stuff where the hardest part is measuring correctly). My hair stylist after seeing her photo made me promise that she could be the first person to cut her hair.

We decided that it was time for her to 'show some skin' as we won't be in Russia forever ... well hopefully. Having a little boy before, I had loved the little onesie outfits that were shorts for Sasha. Girls have something similar that's a onesie with a little skirt on the front. Too cute.

She is currently down for her morning nap. We were a little more successful with this go around as I put my hand on her chest and rocked her gently. She stopped crying. Then I just kept my hand on her chest until she fell asleep. It didn't take long. She's just so tired. We have some baby orajel but I have had limited success with it's application in the past. If we can get the tylenol to do the trick, it would be a lot easier. And, fortunately, she seems to like the taste of benadryl and tylenol. Sasha actually claps and says 'yummy' when he has to take medicine. Glad they make it taste good.

We hit the expensive grocery store that is across the street from the apartment yesterday. Mia was cool as long as we were moving but would start to cry whenever we stopped. She seemed to enjoy the walk over (as long as we didn't stop) and was fairly good in the store (as long as I kept moving the stroller back and forth). This store is in the basement of BECHA (which I think means Spring in Russian). You can take the elevator to the lower level and it is FABULOUS. Think of a really expensive Whole Foods with more gourmet stuff. We spent $80 for 2 pizzas, 2 types of really great looking cheese, 6 eggs, 1 carton of ice cream (Nathan is definitely related to Ice Iowa!) and prosciutto. Wow. The ice cream was $20. It was good but expensive. Today, if the weather is okay, we'll try to walk a bit further and check out the 'less expensive' grocery store. We have a drink stand in front of our building so that is very convenient for picking up water. For those you that haven't been to Russia but soon will be, there are two types of water here in general - still water and sparkling water. Most places carry a brand called Aqua Minerale. The light blue capped water is still water. The dark blue cap in sparkling water. Do not use the water out of your tap. Even the people that live here do not drink tap water. I've included a photo of a beverage booth. These type of booths are everywhere and the people that run them are very nice and work well with the point and pay technique. Ooh ... and they also sell chocolate and a variety of beers.

We brought the big Whole Foods recycled bags that have the fabulous handles and they carry better than little plastic bags.