New Life - Days 2 & 3 February 6th & 7th

New Life - Day 2: Wednesday

Today was a nice chill day here at the hotel.  We didn’t have any appointments to attend toso we spent lots of time playing, eating and snuggling.  The kids were both up and ready to go by 6:00am so got an early start to the day.  Wegot the kids dressed and ready and headed down to breakfast in the hotel.  The Marriott hotel we are staying at has anadoption rate that includes a big breakfast buffet so we have lots of choiceseach day.  Vika is such a good little eaterand feeds herself just fine.  She haslearned some very good skills at the orphanage and will be a great example toher little sisters at home when it comes to dressing, feeding herself, throwingtrash away and cleaning up her toys and clothes.  She makes sure we are keeping our hotel roomnice and tidy.  She is such a Bolshoi“big” girl. 

We bundled the kids all up and went for a little walk aroundthe block to grab something at the store. It was fun to get out and about. Gabe loved playing in the snow, we were afraid he wasn’t going to comeback inside.

This afternoon we did a television interview with theRussian station that has been following our story from the first day we gothere.  It was so fun to show them ourkids and to be able to finish the series with a happy ending.  The kids were both hamming it up for thecameraman.  Gabe pretty much broke out insong and dance for the camera and had us all laughing.  The reporter told me when she left she was soglad she got to report a happy story, because most of the stories she does donot end the way ours did.  She is hopingthat our story will inspire change and soften peoples hearts when it comes tothe children living in orphanages.  

Here is a link to the news story, incase any of you speak Russian :)  Or just to see our cute kids in action.  http://ria.ru/tv_society/20130207/921773583.html

Here are links to the other videos this same agency did of our story.
http://ria.ru/tv_society/20130118/918649720.html
http://ria.ru/tv_society/20130123/919362288.html

Reading her documents.  She loves little pieces of paper and anything that looks "important".

Bundeling up for our adventure outside.  She's looks like she's dressed and ready to hit the ski slopes with Daddy soon!

All geared up for her breakfast fit for a king.  She is so good to sit and wait for me to bring her some breakfast.  She loves just about anything I bring her.  Oatmeal, bacon, fruit, juice, bread, eggs and so much more!

Look at the nutella covered face welcoming me when I got back from picking up some dinner at the grocery store.  To say she LOVED it was an understatement.  

Tucked nicely in her bed, it takes a little convincing to get her to go to sleep, nothing a few primary songs can't handle though :)

New Life - Day 3: Thursday

Today the kids woke up at 6:00 am again so we got right up and headed down to breakfast.  Yesterday at breakfast Gabe got so excited when he saw the chef come out in his big white hat and at one point hopped out of his chair and ran over to him to get a closer look at him.  So today when he walked out and Gabe shouted out to him he waved at us and brought the kids chef hats of their own.  They were so happy!

At 9:30 Alla picked us up and we had the kids checked out by a doctor for part of our Embassy paperwork.  He gave me a bit of a scolding by for wanting to comfort Vika when she started crying during the examination.  He continued with quite the lecture about how if I babied her she would be crying all the time when I got her home.  He did make a few good points, but his ideas were a bit extreme for this mama's heart.  I understand where he was coming from, but I didn't let it make me feel bad at all, as I don't think those were his intentions.

After the doctor we went to the photographer to get the kids passport photos taken.  It was so funny because when they told Vika to smile for the picture she bit her bottom lip just like she did in the picture on the top of the blog.  Thats one of the first things Wayne commented about when I showed him her picture early on because she did it in both of the pictures we had seen of her.  He will be happy to see her showing the same face on her Russian passport.  After the photos were taken we went to the passport office to turn in all our paperwork.  Thats when things got tricky :)

The kids were getting pretty hyped up when we got there and wanted to do some exploring.  Becky and Alla went into the office while I stayed in the waiting area with the two kids.  The first 15 seconds went well as we held hands and did a game of ring around the rosies, expect when we all "bent down" Gabe got loose of my grip on his hand and bolted for the door into another hall.  Holding Vika's hand we darted after him, but I knew if I let go of her I would lose her too, so I picked her up and ran after him.  When I turned the corner I couldn't see him so I poked my head in a room full of ladies, didn't see him, so I went back in the hallway and panik struck.  Mind you this was all in a matter of 15 seconds.  Thankfully one of the ladies called out to me and pointed to the corner and lo and behold was the little guy just hiding in the corner acting like everything was cool.  I grabbed his hand and said "niet" many many times as we walked back to the waiting area.  Becky's husband Brian has asked me many many times not to lose his wife while we are here, but he forgot to remind me not to lose his son!  Thankfully I was able to get in about 10 more minutes of ring around the rosies until Alla and Becky came back.  As I went in to sign my papers I was sure to caution Becky to not let go of either of them for even a second.

We made it back to the hotel around 2:00, had a late lunch and then we were all able to take a much needed nap.  After naps we played, watched some Russian Disney channel and Becky headed over to the grocery store next door to find somethings for dinner.  Little did we know she would come back with the workings for a gourmet meal that we prepared in the hotel coffee pot.  We served pasta noodles with spaghetti sauce, roast chicken, yummy bread, carrot/celery sticks, banana and cucumbers. It hit the spot for all of us!  We will have to send her shopping more often.

Becky slaving away over the coffee pot

Check out that spread!  As Gabe would put it, "Yum, Yum"

The kids and I played a nice game of balloon ball while Becky was at the store.

Vika loves to brush my hair, she always gives me a big hug afterwards.  She is so patient and sits very still when I do her hair.  I LOVE doing little girls hair so I'm excited for another head of hair to do.  

Getting ready for bed, Jaymi thought it was time to take another picture so she got the camera all ready.  Good night!

*In case you were confused, we call her both Jaymi and Vika.  She goes by Vika now, but we plan to transition to Jaymi.  If I point to her and say Jaymi, she says "Da".  We will probably always keep her nickname Vika though, its just so fun to say.  "Veee-ka"