Announcing the arrival of Cassiana!!! And tales of broken beds, diapers exploding and a happy, happy baby!

(Warning, the editing on this entry is a little crazy! Good luck figuring it out!!! :)

We picked up Cassiana at about noon today from Baby Home #14 in Moscow!!! It was really snowing a lot and very pretty. Moscow got it's first real snow last night. Just enough to cover the grass, but today it snowed a lot for several hours.

Anyway, to more important stuff! Our driver was kind enough to take us to the grocery store near the baby home to load up on supplies (baby food, diapers, food for us, etc.). This was especially helpful since our suitcases won't be joining us until Saturday. We bought some tea, coffee and chocolates, too, for the caregivers and orphanage director and doctor, which is customary on the pick up day. A security guard (more like a young boy) trailed us as soon as we entered the store. The driver said it was because we were interesting Americans, but we think it was to see how much food the Americans buy and what kind of candy bars and Mayo, etc. that we loaded up on! Americans are HUGE compared to those folks and it's no wonder why! LOL! If I had to walk to the grocery store and pay the prices they do (a large jar of baby food is $2) and ate no fast food, I'd be stick thin also.

Next, Mom, the driver and I went to BabyHome #14 in Moscow to retrieve our Russian sweet baby! The caregiver dressed her in many, many layers as is the custom for leaving the orphanage. You would have thought it was 40 below! Luckily our suitcase w/ the required clothing was one that made it on the plane. First, she put the tights on Cassi. Next, pants and shirt similar to long underwear (only cuter w/ pink bunnies and very soft). Next, socks. Then, the shirt for her outfit, then the pants and hoodie. Lastly, the huge snowsuit w/ a hat that must cover the ears and hood. (This snowsuit is a size 18 months, but it wasn't as huge as I was expecting. She is wearing a size 9 months for clothes!).Oh, and she had her fur lined shoes on under this. As you can imagine, this whole procedure evoked tears many times from Cassi and by the time we said our goodbyes and made it to the car, Cassi was very sweaty and teary! I took off her hat and she fell asleep on the ride home. They don't use car seats in Russia, so it was weird holding her as the car turned corners, slowed, sped up, etc.

After having 2 layers of clothes much of her life, she enjoyed seeing and touching her feet once we got to the hotel! She is just a couple of weeks away from walking and her hair is definitely wavy! Go curls!

It's interesting because we have to take our off shoes when in an area where the children crawl on the floor and they must wear 10 layers before going outdoors at the orphanage. But, at no time during our visits were we asked to wash our hands before picking her up.

When we got our hotel room, I tried to lay her down in the crib since it was her nap time. However, she wasn't going to have that, with all of the excitment, so I was holding her and rocking her when we heard a very loud noise coming from the room next door! Construction! So, they helped us move all of our stuff to the other side of the hotel. Good thing we didn't have those pesky 3 extra suitcases that traveled to Singapore. I should preface this by saying that before we picked up Cassi, we realized that the crib was awful. About 5 of the slats didn't reach the top wrung, making it pretty much useless. The stats just went every which way. So, they immediately switched it out for one much less rickety (but still on the rickety side).

Then, Mom sat on the corner of the bed in the new room and it fell over! The leg came off! It didn't have the screw to hold it in. So, the maintenance person was kind enough to fix it immediately. I'm so glad Cassi wasn't playing on that side.

The hotel did give Cassi a very cute bear that sings a child's song in Russian. She loves this song and dances to it, though it sounds scary to us. I will get a video of it tomorrow. And, they sent up some fruit and champagne for all of our troubles. Breakfast was another story. The waiter must have thought we were invisible as they didn't once grace our presence. Oh, when I went over and told them we'd like some coffee, they did, but that was all. The eggs tasted like they had some weird cheese or almond flavoring. It's hard to mess up an egg mix, I would think. I complained about the service because this isn't the Motel 6!

Next we played a lot on the floor w/ Cassi and gave her a snack. She is eating Stage 1 and Stage 2 food for those wondering. Her eating is similar to about a 6 month old because she pushes it out of her mouth. This could have been because she's not used to baby food and it's taste and texture or she is just at that stage developmentally for eating. She drinks out a cup! Didn't spill a drop! The sippy cup is in of the suitcases and they didn't sell them at the grocery store. I want to start her on a bedtime bottle for the bonding time and to help her mouth muscles develop.


During her dinner, we had an explosive, unappetizing diaper episode. I've heard tell of these, but never experienced these with Kai. They are a mandatory initiation to all diapered babies of adoptive parents! I'm pretty sure it was from the sudden change of food (babyfood instead of real food pureed). She was sitting in her stroller as a make shift high chair (another reason I'm so glad we brought Kai's old one and not a new one!) and it was so bad, it leaked all over the stroller and the floor! Mom had to hose off the stroller in the shower and the baby as well. She was back to her happy self all thru the clean up. I packed some Febreeze, but it's in one of the suitcases.
It was so nice to put her in some soft pj's as her clothes in the orphanage were all scratchy and too tight. I have some cute video of her talking to herself and making rasberries in the mirror!!! Warning: This video is adorable!!!

Cassi is a complete doll!!! She is very happy and smiles and babbles all the time. She is very close to walking, probably in the next couple of week. Here are some videos of her playing. The pink book is the photo album we left w/ our pictures in it on Trip 1, labeled in Russian. I don't think the caregivers took it out of the bag, but oh, well! Also, we left a disposable camera and they didn't take any pictures while we were gone.

Cassi started to get sleepy with all of the exploding diapers and smiling and laughing and all, so I rocked her for a few minutes while she sucked her thumb and then laid her down and that was that! Out like a light! The phone even rang shortly after putting her down and she didn't budge. Maybe it's the soothing softness of her purple "Tea Party" pajamas w/ the Mary Janes imprinted on them or... just having a family! :) By the way, she is saying ma,ma,ma! It's not in reference to me yet, but that was a new sound for her! Don't worry, Dan, we are practicing da,da,da, too!

This is a picture I took on the trip here. We got the weirdest looks carting our stuff around in the baby stroller! People looked us up and down and were looking to see where the baby was and did we have it smothering under the coats. I wanted to go, "Come on people! Get a clue!" But, I just watched them squirm uncomfortably. It was obvious that a baby wouldn't fit on there w/ our 2 purses and 2 coats. DUH! Won't have that problem on the way home! :)