Saturday Morning in Siberia

Well, you have not lived until you are in a car in the middle of an 8 lane Siberian Highway, when it is 90 degrees outside, after sitting in traffic for 2 hours and your car dies as soon as traffic really starts moving! It was pretty scary for a few minutes but Nicolai, our fearless driver, actually willed (I really do think this at this point) the car into starting again and we made it home safely just an hour or so later. Traffic on Friday nights here is the same as in Seattle- terrible!

Well we are catching our breath today- no visits to the baby home until Monday (BOO! Silly rules) so we are just getting our acts together this weekend. We found out the other day that all of the 6 pairs of shoes we bought for the kiddos are too small (our children seem to have giant tootsies and the outline of their feet I took during trip 1 did not translate into shoes that fit now) so we are on a hunt for children's shoes today! It is good to have a mission- it keeps us from dwelling on our thoughts about being parents who are not allowed access to their children. Lets all just pretend they are at a lovely toddler summer camp- it does help.

Yesterday's visit was good- hot and we decided to play outside on their little playground. This was a so-so idea- it was very very buggy out there and they were in the mood for quiet play so we ended up just playing with small toys and reading a book- all of which probably should have been done inside. Oh well, live and learn! Both kiddos were cute and Apple made my day when she told the caregiver to "go away" (in Russian) when it was time for them to go back to groupa. It was a good change from her tears and "mommy, no, dont hold me" of earlier so I think progress is being made! She is an independent little spitfire for sure!

Orange is picking up more English already- we have "look" and "no" and "yes" so far which is awesome but his previously on the mend cold seems to be developing into a full blown issue so I cannot wait to get custody so we can give him some medicine and lots of love and care!! I want to make him better and hate seeing him coughing etc but we are not allowed to do anything until we have custody- UGGGHHH!

The weather has broken a bit- it is only going to be 88 today! YAY! Of course by Monday it will be back to 100 but lets concentrate on today. And I know some of you are wondering on the summer uniform- much like the winter uniform of short skirts and high boots we have moved into even shorter skirts (or hot pants), tops that truly are barely there and high heel sandels (preferably 4" and sparkly) for all women under 40. I still cant figure out how they all walk long distances in those heels but they do- it must be what keeps them in shape. So I feel frumpy but whatever - at least my feet are not killing me. :)

Hope all is well with all of you - now that court is over and we are counting down the days I am starting to miss home- just want to get there with the babies. Only 17 more days until the Brand family is at home!