35 Hours!

At first I was a little bummed that I would be spending my birthday in Russia. It is nice being here with Nicholas and Evan, but I really wanted the comforts of home. Then I realized something that made the day even better. If I want, I can celebrate for 35 hours. Since we are 11 hours ahead here, I can celebrate all day in Tomsk, and then the eleven remaining hours of my birthday in the U.S. So, happy birthday to me!

Thank you to everyone who has wished me a “Happy Birthday”. I was going to try and respond to each of your e-mails, but they kept coming and coming. Since we have to pay for Internet here, please accept my thanks on my blog instead. My darling husband has been scheming all week with Anya and Luba. He has arranged so that Luba will be taking us to Baskin Robbins tonight! I’ll let everyone know how it tastes. It will be nice to do something special.

I was also surprised by a gift from Sergei today. Anya wasn’t available today, so we were without an interpreter. Imagine my surprise when Sergei hands me a bouquet of flowers and says in English, “Happy Birthday, Kristin.” That meant so much to me. When we got out of the car he shook my hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek. He is such a sweet man.



We also took Nicholas to get his passport picture today. It was just a quick walk over from the baby home. They took three shots and we were able to pick the best one. Luckily, 2 out of 3 pictures he was looking at the camera. He is now fast asleep. Let’s see if he sleeps 3 hours again like yesterday!

I also love all the advice about dealing with tantrums. I always appreciate hearing from those that have gone before me. I am happy to report that Nicholas had a “good” tantrum yesterday. He didn’t want to leave the hotel room to go the baby home. The other days he was here, we just had to tell him it was time to go and he raced to put his coat on. But, yesterday he fought me tooth and nail. Anya told us that a few months ago another little boy got so use to coming to the hotel that he told his caregivers that the food at the baby home wasn’t any good.

Are you ready for your first teaser as we go into the second half of the 10 days? Here is a picture of my little boy in his father’s shoes. In this picture he really is being quite clever. He put Evan’s shoes down on the ground so he could reach the laptop which was on the desk. His little fingers made it to the touch pad, but I had it locked. He didn’t know and was happy with his success.



Kristin