The Snow Storm was Amazing...but there are more AMAZING things...

Last night I was laying in bed rocking my baby in my arms until she fell asleep on my shoulder. I was trying to cry quietly so I didn't wake her. My hair and pillow were wet with the tears of happiness. :)

I am now quickly writing this entry while daddy reads a book to E while she is humming a little song. He is now singing the ABCs. Life is golden.

We spent the morning after our arrival going to several different government offices (the court, the registry, one other office and the immigration office). At 2:00 we took a long walk through the slushy roads with Inna and Dima and bought diapers and a sweater for E and two cakes as gifts for the orphanage. At 4:00 we took a taxi to the orphanage to see our girl. We stayed and played for a little while. I hugged her little friends. At 5:00 I fed her some dinner. We asked the caregivers if we could keep her outfit as a keepsake, and although they looked at us like we were crazy and asked us why we wanted old clothes, they agreed and we traded three new outfits and two pairs of shoes. We then added pants to what she was wearing and a sweater, hat, scarf and gloves and left the orphanage. On our way out we stopped in the lobby to wait for the taxi. E was scared and started to whimper. Mama held her tight in her arms (mama was crying more than E). On the way to the hotel in the Taxi E was looking at cars and playing with Inna. She was very quiet and scared. When we got to the hotel we spent hours playing with E. She said her first English word...CHAIR! She has since said BEE and DOG.

At 9:00 we turned down the lights and I rocked her in my arms while laying down until she fell asleep on top of me. She woke up crying at 1:00 and Daddy stayed up with her for a few hours. We then put her back in bed where she cried for about 2 minutes before falling asleep on mama. This morning we went down to breakfast. She doesn't want to eat just yet but she finally drank some juice (and lots of it). We then came back to our room and played. After awhile Daddy took a nap while mama played with E. At one point she came running and jumped in my arms and laid arcoss my lap. I rubbed her back and then...surprise I realized she was asleep. Daddy picked her up after he woke up a few minutes later. Mama's feet were asleep. Eand I got in bed and she slept for 2 hours on my chest. She usually takes a three hour nap so I am hoping this means that she will sleep on the train. I am also hoping she will eat soon. I want my baby to eat! She doesn't want her oatmeal and thinks all the snacks are toys...daddy is trying to get her to eat some cheddar bunnies, oatmeal or apple snacks...but she is having no part of it. At least she is drinking juice.

Today we leave at 4:15 to get E's passport and catch the overnight train to Moscow. Wish us luck. It is now about 2:00.

Sending love across the sea...

~Mama, Papa and E

P.S. while Papa was asleep mama and E watched an amazing snow storm