2nd Day with our Daughter

Today we were picked up about 9:30 and we headed directly to the Baby Home.  She is about 30 min away in the city.  We were in what our translator considered "light" traffic.  It looked like rush hour back home.  We have been having snow every night, and today it snowed all day long.  The streets are not exactly plowed and cars drive all over the place.  They just kind of make their own paths.  We got to the baby home and we had to wait for about 20 min before we could see our daughter.  She was eating a morning snack of porridge and vegetables.  When she was done, we got to play with her.  Today we were in a different room, it was kinda like an office off of the main doors to enter the nursery area.  We played with her, again at first she was a little hesitant, but then she warmed up nicely and played with the toys we brought.  She liked the book with the push buttons and my necklace A LOT.  She got very comfortable and was able to make really good eye contact with us.  She started smiling easier today and we even got a babble from her.  By the end of the visit it was time for her nap and you could tell it in her behavior.  She wanted to cuddle and lay on my chest.  One other thing we noticed is she loves tags.  Tags on the baby doll, tags on the stuffed animal, tags on the blanket.  Why bother with toys, just have a lot of tags.  She was able to grasp the tags with her pointer finger and thumb very easily.  When it was time to leave we saw that she was interested in staying with us.  This was a really good sign, it means that she feels safe with us.
After we left we took our translator out for a nice lunch.  We had a nice Russian meal.  If anyone knows me, I'm not very adventurous in my meals, but Kelly you would have been proud of me.  I tried all the Russian fare, so much that I can't even pronounce or remember the names.  We came back to the apartment and we crashed for about 3 hours.  I was absolutely exhausted.
When we woke we decided to walk around the city and we went down to the Church on the Spilled Blood.  GORGEOUS, OUTSTANDING, MAGNIFICIENT.  The colors and architecture is out of this world.  We were too late to go in, so perhaps tomorrow we will enter and see the beauty that lies within also.
Thats all for now.  Tomorrow is an early morning as we get to go to the doctor exam.   Fun!  Sally

Church on the Spilled Blood

Just Beautiful

Tom in Front of the Grand Europa Hotel

We ate there and had an absolutely wonderful meal

Here is our apartment building.  The men are picking at the ice

and getting them off the roof.