Our big event today was going to the embassy… our driver and facilitator took us. Then, they dropped us at the door, and we headed inside. There, we met the head of the Russian program for our agency, Marina, and the family we hung out with yesterday. It was fun to wait and chat with them… Marina knows our family’s story and she is such a sweet woman. She gave Gus a gift, a huge spinning top, made in Russia. It has been a huge hit!

We got his visa in record time, 45 minutes! None of the nonsense we dealt with at the Ukrainian embassy. In fact, I was not asked any questions at all, just told to sign. It’s always a big relief to be told that your documents are “well-prepared”, but I suppose if there is one skill that I might have developed through his adoption process, it would be paperwork preparation! Now, I’m developing the skill of changing diapers in odd places. I am not sure I recommend learning how to change diapers on a squirmy 17mo old boy, who does not understand your language, in a foreign country, where you often end up changing his diaper on places like window ledges and toilet seats.

So, anyways, after the embassy, I said my goodbyes to our facilitator. She has been so wonderful to work with. She gave me chocolate bars for each of my kids. They’ll love that. I can’t wait to send her photos of Gus at home with our family. She asked me to send them as often as I can, as the baby house loves that so much.

Today was kind of a yucky day, so we hung around. Eventually, we did our afternoon nap. Gus slept snuggled up next to me, with his head on my arm. So sweet.

After our nap, we wanted to walk down to the Ukraina Hotel, like we had planned. We got almost done there, and it started to drizzle. It was definitely raining by the time we made it through the doors!

I have seen this hotel so many times, but never walked in. Now, I would recommend it to anyone visiting Moscow! Because, it has the Moscow diorama. This diorama shows the Kremlin, Red Square, and some other landmarks. You can put on headphones and listen to a brief history of Moscow, in English, all for free.

After the rain let up, we found a restaurant to grab dinner at.

We were both pretty worn out by this point. So, we raced home after dinner. Gus took a long bath, happily playing the whole time. I think he would have stayed in longer, but I pulled him out because it was getting so late. Now, he’s fast asleep and I’m watching the lights on Arbat Street for one last time.

The view from our window at night, New Arbat St. lit up.

Today we went to explore. We walked down to Red Square, and we ended up in the underground mall right next to it, trying to get there. Underground malls seem to be very popular in Ukraine and Russia. We went into two in Kiev. Anyways, we cut through the mall and came up on the Red Square. There was some kind of event going on, not sure what, but there was a big banner saying Russian and German. Russian and German, what? That is left to be determined.

The first place we slowed down was GUM. GUM is another mall on Red Square. I knew it was pretty interesting inside, so we went in to check it out, and enjoy the air-conditioning. By this point, Gus fell asleep.

I really wanted to get a photo of Gus and me in front of St. Basil’s, which is right outside of GUM, but Gus was asleep. Don’t wake the sleeping baby, right? So, we decided to grab a drink inside GUM. At which point, he woke up. So, we grabbed some food and sat down.

Can you find us? We’re sitting on orange chairs.

Outside of GUM.

St. Basil’s. Now, talented photoshop friends, who can remove those two ladies from the left side of this photo?

Smiling in Alexander Gardens. Ha, I’m smiling. He’s ready to sleep again.

The roof of the underground mall. Love it.

Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

Peter the Great.

Walking back, down New Arbat, dancing.

We got back, and I unbuckled him, and he was slightly annoyed at me for doing that, so I let him sit there and this is what I got.

He took his first real bath tonight. Well, I’m sure he’s been bathed before, but I think it must have been the first one where he was encouraged to play. At first, he was a bit scared, but within a minute or so, he was splashing and laughing like crazy. It was so cute!

And, we got to bed in record time tonight. He had been rocking every night and nap time. Tonight, he did his typical protest, which ended when I handed him his drink. And he had a drink, passed it back to me, started sucking his thumb and grabbed my hand with his other hand and fell asleep.

For the most part, he seems comfortable. He is obviously happy and enjoying our company. But, he also is comfortable protesting and getting upset with us. 4 days and we will be HOME. I cannot wait to see how he does with the rest of our family.

Actually, I’ll finish with Day 1 first… we all napped and when we got up, we tried to decide what to do for dinner. We decided to be very adventurous and go to… Chili’s. It was right across the street, we knew the prices and that it was kid-friendly.

Gus was great. He ate some more fruit snacks while we waited… he tried everything he was offered once the food arrived. He doesn’t seem to be too fond of food which is hot or cold.

Like naptime, bed time was not so fun.

My mom wanted to take a photo of him in his pajamas, and this is what she got.

But, he took his bottle pretty quickly, and I put on some Russian lullabies and the iTunes visualizer. He drank every last drop that was in his bottle, then he just watched the computer and let me cuddle with him as he fell asleep.

He is pretty funny when he wakes up. He just wants to play on the bed for awhile, not too ready to get up. He loves to be cuddled and kissed and tickled.  But, we had to get up sometime. He had his medical for the embassy today.

Again, we were awesome in the car. But the medical… yuck. It was very short and easy, but we both weren’t fans of the doctor. Gus called it first, he started screaming as soon as the doctor touched him. My annoyance began when the doctor started telling me how he is a drama queen, a little actor, and how I shouldn’t pick him up when he cries or I’ll be carrying him until he’s 25. Thanks, he has barely cried until you came near him!

That appointment set us up for being done with the morning. We got back and we were ready to nap. Well, not ready, but needed to nap. But, that was not fun. It took awhile, but eventually, he laid down. It turns out he is a thumb-sucker as he falls asleep.

We napped for about 3.5 hours! And we felt so much better.

We played on the bed for awhile again. He wanted to play with this book, but insisted on sitting on it to play with it.

Now, we are just relaxing. Apparently, it may storm, so we are waiting that out.

I woke up and looked at my phone… 9:30pm. I looked out the window and saw this…

The sun is setting… huh, I thought I had slept more than that.  Until I opened up my computer and realized it was actually 5:30am, and I had never changed the time on my phone.

3 hours until my facilitator picked us up! Yeahh!

We had some stops to make on the way– to pick up diapers, and food for him, but soon enough, we were there!

Walking into the orphanage.

With my boy! Facilitator and orphanage director in the background.

Breaking free!

In the car.

He is awesome. He started to cry when I first took him from his caregiver, but he calmed down when everyone talked to him in Russian. In the car, he just relaxed and looked out the window. I kissed him, and he leaned in for more. Every so often, he’d snuggle his head into my shoulder, for just a few seconds, then sit back up to look out the window. I really expected him to be terrified by this whole experience, and instead, he seemed ready, like he knew we were coming for him. Thank you to those of you who have been praying that he would be ready for this day.

I left him with my mom while I went in to apply for his passport, and he got upset when I left him. Igor, our wonderful driver, talked to him and he calmed down right away. When I got back out, a few minutes later, they were sitting in the backseat and he was playing.

We got back to the apartment and he was just fascinated. At first, he was following me, watching me, but he relaxed about that, and just explored. He is easily entertained… potted plants are fun, mirrors are a good time, too. Any unique textures which he can run his fingers over are pretty cool.

Stacking cups with Lola.

I brought some Teensy Fruits for him… they’re like fruit snacks for toddlers. He loved them, and we practiced signing “more”… want to see?

Now, he’s sleeping next to me. We had some big tears over laying down for a nap. It is not surprising… sleeping makes you vulnerable. Lena was the same way. I put on my CD of Russian lullabies, no help. I tried holding him, nope, laid him down on the pillow, definite nope. I went to go grab his milk, thinking maybe that would help. When I came back, he was sitting up, screaming even more, but when I sat down with him, he pushed the milk away, but he put his head up against my leg and fell asleep pretty quickly.

It’s amazing… he has been so cautious with Aaron and me at our visits, that I expected today would be a disaster with lots of tears, fear and anger. But, he just keeps reminding me how badly babies need a mama and need a family, need a life beyond an orphanage. He is just soaking it all in. I love this kid.