Moscow - Red Letter Day

Hi Everyone,

So guess what- we got the babies to sleep last night at 10pm- only 2 hours after we started, and they slept in their room (here at the apt) and didnt wake up until 5am!!! So no one slept on the floor, no one cried ALL night or did any scared sitting up all night- actual sleep, for 6 hours.

Of course, the minute that they went down we crashed- HARD. So, that was pretty exciting.

This morning was fun- Apple really finally warmed up a bit to me- she has been a 'daddy's girl' since the beginning and not wanted anything to do with me at all for the last 2 days- no playing with me, no dressing, no snuggles, nothing- only Aaron, everything Aaron. This is normal in the beginning apparently due to stress and fear and i am trying very hard not to take it personally. But today we had some one on one play time while Aaron was showering and Orange was "reading" and it was great. We played tickle tag and everytime i caught her she gave me a kiss- and it was all her idea. So that was very happy time for Mama.

Then we went on a private tour in Moscow that I arranged through our apartment rental agency. It was great! We had a nice driver and a tour guide and a small mini van and we drove around the city and saw the sites. We didnt have to deal with any big tours and we got to take the strollers and wheel the kids around the different places we got out to walk. We saw a lot of places we would not have had time to find or see and it was much easier with the kids to do it this way. I actually highly recommend it. You can also take a fancy Mercedes if you choose... :)
What really suprised me was how romantic Moscow feels- it sort of feels like you are in a novel and you can just see yourself draped in fur and jewels in some sort of winter romance. I think we will come back here someday just the two of us! And for those of you that were here years and years ago I cant tell you how cosmopolitan it is now- crazy spendy but very nice and comfortable- after the grittiness of Novosibirsk I am in heaven at the grocery and just as a result of the selection. And if I need to go to Ralph Lauren or Armani (hahaha) then they are just down the street!

We got out at the Kremlin, (which, unfortunately, was closed due to Navy Day today), at the cathedral and at the highest point in the city - where there is a park and lots of people posing for wedding pics- the wedding dresses here are huge- it is funny that women who wear barely any clothes 99.9% of the time wear dresses that are bigger than anything Scarlet O'Hara ever pulled off for their weddings. They must want to even the scale on total fabric usage or something. We also went to a cool (and spendy) store where they sold the faberge egg necklaces that I have really really been wanting so I spent much more than I should have on the good ones, not the street stall type. But they are cool and I like them- alot. One will be a good present for Apple someday as well.

Then back home for lunch and "nap time". Though Orange fell asleep in the car at the end of the tour he cried his little eyes out when it was time to nap. 25 minutes of screaming followed by passing out- he is asleep as I write this! And Apple, well, she is sitting quietly and playing with her doll and she is in bed and that is honestly the best we can hope for with her at nap time at the moment- she may be out growing the concept a bit so we have decided to let it go. We give her snuggles for 1/2 hour and ask her if she needs anything and check on her every 10 minutes during the nap time (which she secretly loves and she often seems to need something- water, potty, a kiss on an invisible boo-boo) so it works out all around. Maybe less sleep but at this point lets just get through this!

So that is that. Tomorrow we have the medical exam for the US embassy and then Monday we have our interviews there- I hope Apple and Orange do well (they are toddlers, so I am thinking they will pass!) I want to post pictures and I hear that now that they are ours officially from a Russian perspective I can but I am superstious and waiting until we are actually home and done - so next Tuesday if all goes well!!!

SKB