Day Two

So before I go into day two let me fill in a few details of our conversation with our Coordinator Tatiana on the car ride back to the hotel. Tatiana asks us if we were planning to go back to visit the twins the next day....my heart sank and Dennis replied of course......she must of sensed that Dennis & I were concerned about our first two visits and of course we were.....we were to say the least shocked and confused but not for one minute were we thinking we wouldn't move forward.....

We ate dinner with Tamra & Steve who had court the next day and then we headed to our room to get some much needed sleep......again Nicholas woke up to have snack in the middle of the night...... We needed to be downstairs to meet the group at 9:30 AM to go to the notary to sign papers that we were visiting the twins.....Dennis woke up first and it was still dark out and we still hadn't found our travel clock and didn't know what time it was. Dennis decided to head downstairs to get coffee. Nick & I were sleeping when Dennis burst into the room to announce it was 9:00.....WHAT !$%@@ we jumped up - now Nicholas is sleeping & I'm still half asleep and we needed to be downstairs in 30 minutes.....no shower for me - great!! Got Nick up and got him dressed...did the best I could with myself....Dennis decided the night before he needed to have a clean shaven face to help not scare the kids so Dennis is shaving/showering and basically we are scrambling to get ready - we hustle downstairs I grab as many cups of tea as I can drink in five minutes, offer Nick some quick food and milk and they come looking for us - we had to go.......what a great start to our morning.......we do the notary thing and discuss the plan for visiting with the children today. We agree that we will go to the kids normal room and observe them...sure why not however when we get to the room they actually have them in a broom like office next to the main room and as soon as they see me they cry & as soon as they see Dennis they scream. So I'm in this little room where Angelina is being forced to sit with me and Anthony is at a play table and once Angelina cries he cries....and any time Dennis peeks into the room and she makes eye contact she started screaming and then he would start screaming (Anthony that is!).....they ushered Nick in - God bless our little man - here he is not understanding a real word of what they are telling him to do in broken English - he looks to me for direction and follows along - they want him to sit with Anthony and try to play with him....Nick was happy playing with the toys - Anthony wanted no part of him and Angelina kept looking through the crack of the door to make certain Dennis was not peeking in - now she is just crying....doesn't want me holding her - they have 2 women in the room - one the normal caregiver and the other is the other coordinator since Tatiana is at court with Steve & Tamra.....everyone is trying something and Nick is going back & forth between us in the room and Dennis still outside in the main room where all the other little kids are playing but more so they are just trying to get a peek at Dennis - leaning over trying to see him - it was cute....this of course now really concerns Dennis because he can't understand why the twins are crying/screaming at the mere look of him yet the other kids are curious to see him? One little boy is inching his way over to Dennis and the coordinator sees this and brings the little fellow into the room with us to help play with Anthony in hopes that they will see him not crying and maybe the twins will follow suit.....yeah not happening.........again we did not have a good visit.

For the afternoon visit - mind you this will be our last visit with the kids, Dennis tells the coordinator that he wants to split them up - I stay with Angelina and he stays with Anthony...........this will be the plan of attack.

The second visit is underway & they take us up to the 3rd floor - the floor that is under renovations....we are put into a small office room where they bring Angelina to me - Nicholas is hanging as well playing with the Nook and I hear Anthony screaming - so I'm guessing he is with Dennis. Nick & I are attempting to feed sweet treats to Angelina - it's keeping her from crying anyway & Nick is moving back & forth between the room we are in and down the hallway which is where Dennis is with Anthony. The Coordinator is trying to snap pictures of us and anytime she opens the door and Angelina sees her she thinks it is her escape and cries - perfect photo opt time?? Anyway our visit is short. A few things I did discover...as I was holding Angelina at one point her hand fell onto my skin - not my shirt which is where she kept her hand when she wasn't reaching out to Nick for a treat...so she touches my skin and you would have thought I was fire - she became startled and moved it immediately - yeah no skin to skin contact going on here...........when Nick wasn't in the room I let her reach her hand into the bag of treats to take one - she would take as many as her little hand could hold and stuff them into her mouth....yep pretty sad. It was cute how Nicholas was trying to talk to her - I explained to him she doesn't understand English but he still tried to talk with her - he is a darling little boy. One other thing was at one point Angelina must have really had a enough of being in the room and realizing every time the door did open she wasn't being freed and she also at times does hear her brother crying.......towards the end of our visit she looked up at me with pleading eyes and was struggling to get a sound out of her mouth - it was heartbreaking to see her try so heard to say something...she managed to get out the word Momma as she reached and pointed to the door - in other words she wanted her caregiver..... I gently kissed her head and said your Momma is here you just don't know it yet....

Dennis filled me in on his visit with Anthony - basically they were in a hallway (plastic hanging over the door frames - white dust everywhere, sheetrock, tools - all good stuff for kids to be around). Anyway he said at one point he put Anthony down and Anthony was very gently taking the tiniest of baby steps along the wall inching away hoping that Dennis wasn't noticing his plan which was to get away from him without Dennis noticing his attempt to escape......Dennis said it was quite funny and that for the most part he had plenty of crying going on..........

We said our goodbyes knowing we won't see them again until court....they also said they may request we come in a few days before to get in some more visits with the children before court..........we expect court to be around April/May based on the other couples timeline but are hoping and praying maybe March.............if that is a possibility it is a goal we will work towards.

We go back to the hotel, pack up and meet downstairs at 8:00 PM to make the 9:00 PM train back to Moscow.................we are heading home.
The train ride overnight brings to Moscow at 6:00 AM. The train ride is a bit better - we sleep and then hustle off to find out that my request to go shopping isn't going to work out since they had no one who could stay with us for the day - they will drop us at the airport. Mind you we get to the airport @ 7:30 AM and our flight is not boarding until 3:30.

Once again Nicholas was truly amazing - he had the company of Steve & Tamra who were also flying home after a successful court day - so they entertained each other for awhile and then we went for lunch at TGIF - where Dennis was convinced the waitress was flirting with him big time!!

The flight home was better - we had on board movies & games for Nick and although he did have a few minor meltdowns & he did sleep a bit - this was nighttime for him in one of the times zones & yet he did amazing. While waiting to get off the plane after 10 hours of flying people turned around to tell us how amazing our son was during the entire flight - I interjected to let them know yes considering before the plane trip we had a 10 hour train ride and then sat in the airport for 8 hours and then we did the 10 hour flight home - yes he did AMAZING!!!

We arrived to rain which means delays in getting a yellow taxi - something Nicholas was so looking forward to since the beginning of the trip...meanwhile this is a replay day for us - we left Moscow on Wednesday and arrived in NY on Wednesday evening during rush hour with rain - can't get any better then this!!

While taking the taxi to my MIL - which is normally a 15-20 minute ride & is now taking over an hour I start feeling car sick......just as we arrive to my MIL's house Nicholas had dozed off so I pick him up & carry him inside where my MIL points our he is as white as a ghost - I put him down and he starts telling me his stomach is rumbling - so yes he must have been getting carsick as well but he ate some soup and he was fine - I was feeling better to.

My MIL cannot wait to hear what happened so I ask Nicholas to tell her about the trip and who we met - he simply says he met the pink baby and the blue baby...I asked him if he could tell grandma one thing about the babies what would it be? Again he simply says that they cry ALOT!!!


Next Nicholas & the twins......................