Easter, Naomi's First big holiday at home!

Unfortunately Naomi didn’t get to color Easter eggs, she was forced to sit in her high chair and watch the master. She did get to eat a cookie, so that helped.
Before Church I wanted to take a picture of the three kids all cleaned up. Because of the weather it was kind of an indoors Easter morning. They all piled in a chair; you can’t really see how lovely Naomi’s dress was. I’m thoroughly enjoying having a girl!
At church the 3 went up front for the children’s message. There was a really neat cross covered with Easter lilies they sat under.
Whenever Naomi sits in her high chair Sammy takes her place. See her big brown eyes waiting for the food to fly? I apologize for putting this picture in, but she had banana pudding all over her face, even on her nose and eyes! Isn’t it great to be a kid!
Can you believe all the snow, one week ago! I’m counting on green grass by the end of April (please!)
I tried to give her some color sorting work. She really did not seem to get it, but she seemed to think it was really fun!
Naomi and I have been spoiled; we were on our way to a baby shower in our honor. Yeah! More pink clothes!

HOME SWEET HOME!!!!

We have been home from Russia for two and a half weeks. I couldn’t update the blog due to technical difficulties. If you’re reading this, they should be finally solved!
How could I complain about anything? We are so blessed! However, the ups and downs continued. The morning we left Moscow was not graceful! Although we got to the airport 2 hours and 15 minutes early, it was almost not enough time for the Russian woman working for Aeroflot to sell me an infant/lap ticket. I needed this ticket for the Moscow to Amsterdam flight. After she finally hand wrote it, charged me and told me it probably wouldn’t work, I had to beg and plead for the customs agent to hurry and for the lolly-gaggers to get out of my way while I ran pulling my carry-on with one hand and pushing the stroller with the other. The Russian’s gasping in disbelief at my child without shoes or sock on. My friend Ken saved the day; he watched for me and had them hold the plane. I never before got on a plane that was backing out as I was walking to my seat. I was sweating and crying all at once. I just didn’t want to stay in Russia one more day!!!!!!!!
She was barefoot because she was sitting in the stroller so long she kept taking her shoes and socks off and throwing them, after a few times she didn’t get them back.
Amsterdam to Moscow was a nice fight, once I regained my composer. I had five hours in Amsterdam. The first couple hours we spent with Ken and Alexey, until their flight was called and we said good bye .I hope we get to see them, as well as Cathy again someday! They made my trip 100x’s better! God was obviously involved in all of our dates falling together. I can’t even picture what it would have been like for me without those two.
We were kind of hungry; I spent $14 US on a diet coke, a yogurt drink for Naomi and one granola bar, for us to split, ouch!
The 9 hour flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis was unbelievable. The other passengers and flight attendants were so nice. Naomi slept so much, it was great!
It was hard to contain myself as I waited in the line to come through US customs. It went really smoothly, the luggage I checked in Moscow didn’t show up; guess I should have expected that. Everything seemed to take forever! I finally went through the doors and there they were! Craig and Scotty, Louie and my niece Ellie were holding a welcome home sign, and my sister in law Laura and Ned, my nephew who is six months younger than Naomi were waiting with flowers. Louie and Scotty looked so big to me! Scotty said,”are you crying? Why are you crying?” I gave them both big hugs and kisses, I tried to lift Scotty and I couldn’t believe how heavy he was. Craig had taken Naomi out of the stroller and was holding her, she looked very happy to see Dada again. The custom agent said when she goes through the doors she becomes a US citizen! What an exciting moment, after all went through, then we walked through the doors and rejoined the family, and she officially started her life as an American. Wow, you really can’t beat that.
Then, we went out to eat at Chipotle. After my famine in Moscow, it was my choice! Who cares if I had been up for over 24 hours?
Scotty brought Naomi for show n’ tell at his Montessori school, he is a proud big brother. Louie and Naomi are very natural together. Scotty and Naomi are very natural bath tub partners! This is what I see when I look back in my minivan now, there is a little space next to Louie back there, but let’s not talk about that!
The congregation at our church is so supportive, we were really excited to bring her to church for the first time. How does Craig multi-task like that? Good thing he has he-man arms! My parents provided the alter flowers and Naomi’s honor that day. Everyone was so pleased to finally meet her.
I’m getting use to the life of never being able to get a good picture of all three of them at one time; getting the dog to look too is hopeless.
Naomi is really going with the flow, it’s quite amazing.

The Moscow zoo and Metro

Today we had a great day. We took the Metro to the Moscow Zoo and back. The Metro was so cool! I’d heard about it, but what they say is true, you have to see it! I tried to get a few pictures of the escalator that you ride down to the trains. It was so long! And steep! It was amazing. The subway is beautiful and clean with mosaic tiled art work in areas on the ceilings. The woman selling tickets did not have any time for us foreigners. Ken asked some young military men that we think were working security and they were happy to help. They even rode with us to show us where to get off the train. They were so nice and helpful.
They directed us to a metro stop right across the street from the zoo. It was so fun to take a child who really has not had very many experiences, and just watch her face light up. It was a great zoo from a guest prospective. To me it seemed the animals didn’t have anywhere to hide, so you could see them really well! I’ve chosen a few of my favorite pictures. I think my favorite animal was their white tiger, he was gorgeous! The leopard seemed like he was staring at the children and thinking about an afternoon snack. They had this one exhibit that was quite large and had a mix of meat eating birds from all over the world; there was bald eagles from the US, vultures and eagles from Russia and China just to name a few all mixed together. I liked the view of one of those famous Moscow buildings in the back ground, a bird and us in the foreground.
Tomorrow we go to Red Square and the American Embassy to finish up the adoption paper work.

The Kremlin tour

Today we took an electric bus to the Kremlin. It was a nice adventure, but tiring. I suppose we still are not completely recovered from jet lag. We Found Moscow to not be very stroller friendly. There are stairs, really steep curbs and narrow door ways with a little something to trip over in the bottom of almost everyone. It would be a hard place to cope in a wheel chair. I never would have attempted riding public transportation on my own. Nothing is in English and most people don’t speak it either. Ken did some research and I was game to be a follower. You should have seen how graceful we were getting on the bus. I had a bag, a folded stroller and a kid hanging over my arm like a doll, we had to pay and go through a turn style. Naomi chose this time to scream and kick a shoe off. All this while trying to watch out the window so we’d be sure to know where to get off when we came back. We were able to laugh at the situation. I think Naomi should take longer naps. She wakes up pretty easy. If you’ve seen a lot of pictures of her sleeping that’s when my hands are free.
We saw four really old churches. The oldest was built in the 1400’s.The church walls were covered in ancient paintings .I always enjoy seeing the kind of things I learned about in all those art history classes I took in college. There were also tomes of saints that died in the 1500’s. They have really high ceilings, so if your child screams it really echoes, and attracts a lot of attention. Putin’s office is somewhere in there, but we didn’t see him.
Since we got to Moscow I’ve rebelled against the proper dress code for children. People here are not quit so nosy, at least so far. I’ve been so frustrated with Naomi’s boots, they are too big and when I pick her up they fall off. I’ve been taking her out in shoes with her snow suit, I know, shameful! So far no one has said anything; I’m kind of paranoid though. Back in Khabarovsk it felt like the older women don’t have anything to do but evaluate the way you’ve dressed your child and point out the flaws, and scold you for it. Understanding the culture is hard for me. The people seem much more reserved towards strangers on the street, yet so assertive with their opinions.
Now it’s Sunday morning. We turned on the light and gave up on staying in bed at 5:30am. It’s snowing out today. We have today and tomorrow then we leave for the airport early Tuesday morning.
I’ve noticed something so cute about her that I don’t remember my boys doing. If she playing by herself for a little while she keeps trying to change her clothes. She’ll take off her clothes and spend a long time trying to dress herself in a different outfit, she’ll pull all her clothes out and have them all inside out lying around in piles. Reminds me of me as a teenager, or when I can’t find anything good to wear.

MOSCOW

We made it to Moscow! Everything went pretty much as planned, and it was a pretty tough day, I’d say terrible actually. Remember the “7 hour flight?” Who ever told me that was wrong. It was 91/2 hours. I could only get her to sleep about 30 minutes of the flight. The cold medicine didn’t help. There are 5 airports in Moscow. We landed at DME, I’m not sure what that stands for, but it took three hours to get from that airport to our hotel. The traffic was unreal. Naomi was asleep for most of car ride. When I was checking in at the front desk it felt like 4am to me, but it was about 7pm Moscow time. Moscow is a great city! The air port was beautiful. One of those Russian millionaires helped me carry my bag. I saw so many stores and restaurants that looked really cool during my ride. For most of the drive there were 6 lanes going one way 6 lanes going the other way, bumper to bumper for 3 hours.
This morning we were taken to a required Dr. Exam for the kids. It was the same Dr. that examined Scotty four years ago. He said the only problem he sees is keeping the boys away from her! Naomi had her first McDonald’s today! We had to get it to go because there was no place to park. The Diet coke was warm, the burger was cold and we didn’t get any ketchup, but we were both very happy! This city is so interesting it would be a great place to go on vacation. Tomorrow we plan to go on a tour of the Kremlin. I’ve looked over a brochure, there looks like there is a lot of history there.
We went out for a walk with the stroller to the grocery store Svetlana the coordinator advised us to go to. It was amazing in there; the bakery was gorgeous, and shockingly expensive. They had a display of seafood lying out on ice unlike I’ve ever seen before. I wondered if she sent us there so we’d be impressed. On the walk to the store I noticed many people parallel parked on the sides of the streets, but even more who just drove three tires up on the side walk, you can squeeze more cars in that way. People Park in the cross walks too, so going for a walk down the sidewalk is like walking through a parking lot in a way.
Here are a few photos, a couple peaceful moments and Naomi enjoying the view out the window on her first flight! And her 1st cheese burger and fries!

We went to the Kremlin today!