Last Post from Krasnoyarsk

It's our last night in Krasnoyarsk. Tomorrow we fly to Moscow to finish up the last of Tatiana's paperwork before we can head home on March 3rd. Our flight tomorrow is in the evening at 730pm. Hopefully my little kiddo will sleep most of the way as it is just about her bedtime then.

This morning we spent doing laundry in preparation for packing tomorrow as we will have no washing machine in Moscow. Boohoo! (that was one big advantage of apartment verses hotel).We each only packed a weeks worth of clothing so its important to start out with clean clothes. We'll be in Moscow for 5 days.

My little princess has the sniffles too. Darn it! Oleg and Sveta were kind enough to bring us some medicine today, so hopefully she will start to feel better in the morning. She has been kind of cranky yesterday and today again. Combination of the sniffly nose and not wanting to take a nap. Tia is still for the most part very happy and plays well, with Mama and now Grandma some too. But boy oh boy...when she doesn't get her way she can sure scream. Today's temper tantrum lasted for almost 20 minutes. Poor Grandma! No place to go really in a one bedroom apartment to take a screaming child, or for Grandma to go. Most things I just give in for now so she doesn't go to crazy with the temper tantrums, but it has been a battle with her wanting to put on her boots and snow suit and go outside. She loves her snowsuit and boots which is good. I am also glad that she likes to go outside, but sometimes we just can't. She doesn't understand that Mama cannot go out in her pajamas, or when it is too cold and windy for a little person who already has a runny nose.

By late afternoon today, my Little Princess, Tia, finally got her wish. Oleg and Sveta came and picked us up at 315pm to go for one last tour around the city and to see the ice sculptures. Yeah! They were very cool! I couldn't believe how many of them there were. After visiting the ice sculptures we went out to dinner with Oleg and Sveta for one last time. We went to a bar, restaurant about 2 blocks from the apartment, on the same street as Peppers. I never did catch the name of the place, but it was nice. Very comfortable seats and eating area. Delicious food too! I got some traditional meat dumplings in broth. Mom got some fried kind with fish and meat and onions. She liked hers too! I think she also had a cucumber and tomato salad, but I was busy entertaining Tia, so wasn't really paying that much attention. Tia loved the chicken broth that was on my dumplings, but wouldn't eat the dumplings nor the cheese and potato ones that I got her. Funny cause she just ate some this afternoon for lunch, very similar, except no broth. At least she ate some bread too! By the way, thank you for all the helpful comments on the last post about picky eaters. Made me feel alot better! Thanks!

Once back at the apartment it was bath time and then nite nite for little Princess. She was fast asleep by about 8pm. I'm so glad that she is at least sleeping all night, since nap time has been history. Hopefully once we are home, we can get back to napping, cause this 2 1/2 year old still needs one, even though she thinks otherwise.

One last tidbit and then pictures of the ice sculptures before I sign off for tonight. Tatiana said her new name when referring to herself for the first time today. I haven't really heard anyone else talk about this much, but this is also a big adjustment for her. I wasn't really sure how to transition her into her new identity, so just kind of played it by ear and took cues from her. While we were at the orphanage during our 10 day wait, I mostly called her by her old name as not to confuse her to much and take away from our bonding. Near the end of the 10 days, I started slipping in her new nickname at times. Once back at the apartment, I called her a hyphenated name for the first day, and switched to Tia after that. She still says her old name quite frequently, and sometimes both old and new names together. I think she is starting to figure it out, but I'm sure we will still use the old name and new for a while. Especially to get her attention right away. Grandma calls her "Grandma's Tatiana", and she really likes the sound of that, which helps. I call her Tatiana mostly when I need her attention and Tia when we are having fun playing.

Now to the pictures.

Have a great day! Next post from Moscow!

Shannon, Mom and Tatiana

Days 3 and 4 with Tia

Just a couple more days to go in Krasnoyarsk now before we head back to Moscow and then home on March 3rd. Tia's passport is supposed to be ready tomorrow or Thursday morning at the latest. Our flight out to Moscow is for Thursday evening, I think at 730pm. We are very anxious to start on our way home, but a little disappointed that we couldn't see much more of Tatiana's birth city. It has just been too cold. It would have been different if we had come in spring, but glad I didn't have to wait that long to come and pick her up. Four months since trip one was way long enough. I did phone our translator today to see if someone would take us down by hotel Krasnoyarsk to see the ice sculptures before we leave. She said she would arrange for us to do that tomorrow. We are both really looking forward to that, as we have seen them from a distance in the car when we have driven downtown for business.

Tia has been keeping us both occupied and the time seems to pass pretty quickly since gotcha day. I am completely warn out by the end of the day, but for the most part it has been fun. Just work, entertaining her all day because she hasn't figured out how to entertain herself yet for more than maybe a minute. She always needs her Mama to go with her or play with her. She is just now letting her Grandma play with her a little bit too. Grandma actually got to hold her today for a few minutes at a time without her starting to cry.

For the most part, this little girl is adapting and handling the big change in environment really well. I don't think I could have asked for a better first week. We have had our moments, don't get me wrong, but for all the change, she is doing really remarkable. She has only had two accidents in 4 days with the potty situation. One was Mamas fault, cause I didn't believe her when she said she had to go. ( Remember I said in my last post how she asks me to go to the toilet almost every 15-30 minutes!) Well I didn't heed my own warning about you never know when its for real, so you have to go every time. Shame on me! The other time was this afternoon. She didn't tell me until too late, already running down her leg. I still am totally amazed that we are doing so well, knock on wood. She is even dry in the morning.

As for sleeping, she has slept in her crib all night long for the past two nights. No crying! Last night we even got up to potty and she went back into the crib for me to sleep no problem. Hooray! Wish me luck again for tonight cause I need my beauty sleep too! The little princess did not take a nap today, except for maybe 30 minutes. She has been so tired all day too! We have gone from running around laughing and playing at full speed ahead to having crying tantrums cause we didn't get our way. It is tough being two sometimes!

I also spoke way too soon about the eating thing. She ate so well the first twenty four hours no problem. Now she has gone to the other extreme of being so picky. Thank heavens for yogurt and bananas, juice, milk, cheese and cheerios. With maybe a little rice and apple thrown in. I tried all the things the orphanage said they fed her, but no way. She wasn't having any chicken, pasta, carrots, or potato for one meal. She did finally decide she liked the potato things today. They are little potato pierogies. She ate four for lunch today, but spit them out last night. Go figure! This is the one area that I have to admit is very frustrating to me. I feel at a loss sometimes, because I don't have the same foods here to try, that I would normally turn to in the USA. I can't just go to the supermarket and get some Mac and cheese, or something like that, cause I have no idea if they even carry such a thing. Haven't seen anything resembling it in our little store anyway. I tried spaghetti too, but she spit it out. She did eat a few plain noodles, but the texture thing gets to her and she spits it out before even tasting it. Hopefully once we are home, I will have a little more luck with variety, otherwise she'll just turn into a banana. :0) Mom says it will be better when we get home, so I will go with that for now.

Tia is still a very loving little girl. She still likes to be held and cuddled by her Mama. She gives big hugs back now and is even trying to give Mama kisses. So cute! And as per your request Sis, here's a few more pictures of my little princess in action.

Hope you enjoy!!

Shannon

Fun with Tatiana!

It's been a fun and tiring day and a half with Tatiana, also known as Tia for short. She has been a very busy little girl since the time we brought her back to the apartment yesterday and still going now. She is sitting quietly next to me for a few minutes, so I thought I would try to write a little something on the blog.

We have been playing with all of the old toys and a few of the new ones. We've also improvised and added games to other things like pretending Mamas travel alarm clock is a phone. Walking Mama around and around the apartment. Getting in the stroller and going round and round the apartment. Tia, that is, not Mama....

Our other activities have been eating, and going potty. She has been doing exceptionally well with both, She has eaten almost everything put in front of her and lots of it. I don't know where this little girl is putting it all. She isn't eating so much that she is getting sick though so I'm not worried and expect her eating to slow down a little once we get home. Although, who knows! She may have a lot of growing to do right now.

As for the potty! Wow! I just hope our good fortune continues. She has not had an accident since I picked her up. Knock on wood. I had pull ups on her all day yesterday, but after she made it through the night and all morning with out them getting wet, I decided to put on the big girl panties. She has been so good about telling me when she has to go to the bathroom. We actually go about every 30 minutes. Sometimes she just says it to get me to walk with her, but a lot of the time it is for real, so we always go.

Tia has also been stuck to me like glue. She doesn't really want to sit with Grandma yet or play with her. She will accept food from her, and does go looking for her if she has left the room. She is also calling her Grandma and kind of plays peek-a-boo around the corner with her, saying "Hello Grandma". Very cute.

As for sleep last night, well, Tia probably got more than Mama! She fell asleep finally at about 830pm after a nice bath and a relaxing DVD movie. She was so tired by then as she refused to take a nap for me yesterday. She slept until about 1am in the crib. At 1 we got up to the bathroom, and then she refused to lay back down in the crib. Well after that she went back to sleep, but only after falling asleep on the couch. I tried to sleep at the other end of the couch but was so worried she'd fall off that it was fitful sleep. Tonight I will pull out the couch sleeper bed, just in case the same situation happens. At least then we will both be sort of comfortable if she has to sleep with me.

And to end this post...a few more pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Bye Bye for now!

Shannon, Tia and Mom

Gotcha Day!!!!!

Gotcha!

Well, here she is........

Introducing Tatiana Noel Frederick

a much happier girl back at the apartment!

My little cuddle bug!

Having fun on the balance beam in our Princess Dress!

We are having fun adjusting to life in the apartment. Will have to post more pictures tomorrow as I still have a little girl demanding my attention making it a little hard to post. Hahaha!!

Paka paka!

Love to all!

Shannon, Mom and Tatiana

Wait Day 10 and last...

My final day of waiting is almost over......tomorrow is Gotcha Day! Hooray! We get to go and pick up the Little Princess at about 9am, then off to get her paperwork and passport photo. It will be a busy first day out of the orphanage.

Our last visit was a little shorter today as we didn't arrive until almost 4pm and then spent some time talking with one of the staff members to get some final questions answered before tomorrow. I also got information about the Little Princesses daily schedule and what she normally eats. The Little Princess was in the room with us most of this time and did pretty well trying to play quietly while we were talking. She found Mamas purse and had fun counting out my change, and putting it back in the change purse. In the purse, out of the purse, in the purse, out of the purse. You get the picture. She doesn't actually count. She just has fun playing with the money.

She was wearing her very pretty princess dress again today. The pink one! So cute! I have a couple pictures, will have to put one up over the next couple of days. Our other activities included, playing on the balance beam. Being tickled, hugged and kissed on by Mama! Swinging around like an airplane! Mostly, interactive fun stuff with Mama. It was another pick me up Mama day! I love it! Was of course a little tired by the end of our visit. My beautiful blue slippers were also torn to shreds by the end today! I don't know if I mentioned these before. The blue slippers are paper which the lady at the door gives us every time we visit to cover our shoes so we don't track water and dirt around. Will have to post a picture of them too!

After our visit today we had Dasha take us to Peppers instead of home to the apartment. ( No Deli Surprises tonight)! Dasha and Sveta both joined us for dinner today. I had spaghetti with meatballs Russian style and a Greek type salad. Mom had.......Lasagna of course! Her favorite! After dinner, Mom and I ventured next door to the little Mall and went up to the 3rd floor to see the children's stores. We found a few toys that the Little Princess might like and then I bought a pair of the Russian children's sandal type shoes for her to have. I have still been unable to find a children's clothing store. The two clothing type stores that were in this mall only carried snow suits, hats and gloves. Amazing! I have no idea where someone in this city buys toddler clothes! Will search a little more next week. And to think, All I wanted to buy was a sweater!

Can't wait until tomorrow.......gotta try to sleep tonight! So excited!

Paka for now!
Shannon

Wait Day 9

Second to last day before Gotcha Day! We are almost there!

This morning was spent doing the usual stuff around the apartment. Got a load of laundry done. Chatted with friends and family on the Internet. Read all of your wonderful comments! Played a few computer games. Which. by the way, we thank you for the tips on Pogo. We will definitely go to that game site once we are off of our Fishdom kick. I also tried to study a little bit to complete my CEU's for this year, as I know I wont have much time after the Little Princess arrives.

At 3pm, Dasha arrived right on time to take us to the orphanage to see the Little Princess. This is my favorite time of day. Our visits get better and better each time. Today the Princess came singing down the hallway, her Mama song. Something like I'm going to see my Mama, my Mama. It's very cute what ever she is saying. Then into the music room she came today with a great big smile, and crawled right up into my lap. This girl most definitely has stolen my heart, if I haven't mentioned that before! It was great to see her smile when she entered the room. Normally she will come over to me and crawl into my lap or grab hold of me once I walk over to her a little, but she has never smiled when she first comes in. She has always been a little shy and kind of quiet at first. So this is a big step!

Princess had on the prettiest little pink (Princess) dress today too! Ver, very cute! Pink Satin type material, with some lace and ribbons. Just what a Princess should be wearing right? I have only seen a couple of different outfits on her, so it was a surprise to see this Princess dress. Normally it is a red cordaroy jumper with hearts on it and a white shirt with little hearts or polka dots underneath. The other outfit has been a pair of blue jeans and an orange Halloween shirt. The only other surprise outfit was that one day when they dressed her in one of the outfits I had brought on the first trip and left, which was a little small then, but very small now. That was funny!

Our activities today included, playing with the Snow Princess dolly, of course, and pulling her around the room in her little sled. Playing with another dolly that we found in a drawer that sings the alphabet and the head sort of lights up like a glow worm doll. We then read Dasha's English book, several times. This book was way more fasinating than the Princesses books because it was Dasha's of course. Princess was good with it though. We pointed at pictures, she'd tell me something in Russian and I'd say the English word for it. Easy stuff like man, lady, boy, girl, etc.. The Princess did really well repeating back to me in English. I just love the sound of her little voice too! We also played on the kids balance beam. The Princess loves this! I see gymnastics class in the very near future!

Once again 5pm arrived and it was time to go. Only difference this time was that I think they forgot to come and get the Princess. Dasha had to go and tell someone that she was still with us so they would come and get her. Would have loved to play longer, but we had to get going ourselves. I'll get to keep her longer in another day or so! YEah!

After our orphanage visit today, Dasha took us to the travel agent to get our plane tickets back to Moscow for next Thursday! We are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. It was funny when we were at the travel agent, Mom asked to know the price of the tickets before they put it on my credit card so we would know. (That part not funny!) The travel agent lady showed Mom the price in Rubles on the calculator. Then we converted to dollars. Mom says, "thats not right, is this the price for all three?" Dasha and the travel agent lady just look at her. Mom says, "show me again, total price for all three tickets". Both Dasha and the lady are looking at my Mom like what the heck is wrong with you kind of look. So they type in the Ruble price again, and we do the math conversion. Mom and I just look at each other, and then tell Dasha why we are double checking. It is because the price is very inexpensive compared to the price we paid to get to Krasnoyarsk for the two of us. Dasha, being so cute says , don't worry be happy! We both chimed in.. "We are, we just can't believe such a good price, but we will take it". Now how often in the adoption process do you get to say that something is cheap? Hahaha.. Never! So that was a very nice blessing!

Once our tickets were purchased it was time to go back to the apartment and decide what to do for dinner. We decided to wait for Friday to go to peppers and the toy store, so off to the supermarket I went. I got a few things in preparation for the Princesses arrival, like yoghurt, and chicken, and juice to start. For our dinner, Mom wanted me to pick more stuff from the Deli. For tonight we ended up with chiken breast topped with a cheesy sauce and a little onion. A salad of cucumber, hard boiled egg, bologna, onion, salad dressing of some kind and an herb mixed in that we really like, but aren't sure yet what to call it. Sort of like parsley but much finer. Tastes yummy anyway. I also picked out a scalloped potato with cheese and chicken side to go with the chicken breast. All of the salads and sides come with some sort of meat mixed in it too. Very interesting! Delicious choices tonight! We liked everything!

Last but not least, our evenning concluded with National Treasure (the first movie) on DVD.

One more day to go before the Princess arrives! Yeah!
So long from Russia...until tomorrow!
Shannon

Only Two More To Go! Wait Day 8

Yes, Thank goodness, the clock is starting to tick down and talks about "Gotcha Day" have begun. Two more visits to the orphanage after today and then she is mine forever more. Hooray! We have just gone over the hurdle of half way through our journey here in Russia too. We have been on this journey of love for 14 days now with 13 more to go until we leave for home. Can you tell I am getting a little home sick? It wouldn't be quite as bad if we didn't feel so confined to the indoors because of the weather. Mom and I both would have loved to see lots more of the city but it has been just too darn cold to walk around at all, except for the little trips to the supermarket and to Peppers. There are no tour bus type trips in this city, nor subway to city center or anything fancy like that. Our only transportation is taxi service , bus or the trips with our driver from our agency. Since bus service is pretty much out of the question as our agency told us they would prefer we didn't try it in the winter when it is so cold, and taxi service can get fairly expensive, we have just been stuck in our little neighborhood for the most part. The weather is supposed to get a little bit warmer for the weekend. We are hoping also for next week so we can go to the park and fountain area over by Hotel Krasnoyarsk to see the ice sculptures and a little more of the city. Keep your fingers crossed for us that old man winter gives us a little break from the Arctic air before we leave next Thursday for Moscow.

My visit with the Little Princess went very well today. No drama like yesterday! Dasha was back as our driver. Her English is also getting much better this trip than my first trip, so she is also able to interpret some of Little Princesses baby language for me while we are at the orphanage.

We had fun today with more instruments. Mama was nice and let Little Princess play with the xylophone. (Grandma said she'd put it all back together for us if need be.) We also played with Mama's camera. This little girl sure is smart when it comes to gadgets. Wow! She figured out how to use my camera, with a little help only. We have some very interesting pictures of the snow princess, as she wanted to take her picture. Also pictures of the floor, the xylophone, fingers, Mamas hair, etc.. I've already decided we have to go and get a few more toys to keep this young lady entertained during our ten days together before we get home. She already seems very bored with the little toys I was able to pack and bring with me. I only have a couple of things left here at the apartment that she hasn't seen. Dasha just told us today that there are some childrens stores over by Peppers in that little mall on the 3rd floor. We will go and see what they have tomorrow or Friday. Would like to see if they have any of the little sandals that the kids wear at the orphange as well. They are very cute and come in all different colors.

For dinner tonite we had more Deli Surprises. Went to the supermarket again after our visit with the Little Princess and found a few things to try for dinner. We have both decided that we really want to sample as much Russian cuisine as possible. This is a very inexpensive way, compared to going out to eat every night. All we have to do is maybe heat it up a little and put the food on our plates. Okay, so tonight we ended up with pork chops with tomato, cream cheese, and hollandase type sauce on top. Very delicious, but the pork was a little bit tough. We also sampled two different salads. The first salad was with carrot slivers, cream cheese, peas, hard boiled egg, and tuna. Very nice tasting. The second salad was not so nice. It had peas (I think), green beans, and liver, with some sort of cheese type sauce holding it all together. We couldn't tell that it had liver in it when we bought it, or we wouldn't have, cause neither one of us are fans of this meat. So, not too bad! For the most part we have liked everything but this one salad that we have tried.

We haven't picked a movie yet tonight so not sure if we will watch anything or just listen to Russian TV and guess what they are saying. Right now we are just relaxing playing computer games. AOL's Fishdom and Mahjong are our top favorites today.

Thanks again for everyones comments and suggestions. We love hearing from you all!

Paka!
Shannon