My Life in Toddlertown: Gotcha Day!

WARNING - LONG POST!!

Today has been one of the most emotional days of my life! I cannot believe that it actually happened and she is actually a Holt! My only regret is that Ted is not here with me. I am glad that he is at home with the other kiddos though and we have already FaceTimed (is that a verb?) with Maggie.

But back to the day. Let me break it down . . . .

First, Vlad picked my dad and me up at the hotel at 8:40 as planned. We went to the passport center first (apparently that was always the plan but in my jet-lagged state, I missed that!), where we gave the lady Maggie's passport picture and I signed a couple of documents. Super easy and not even a wait which was a BIG SHOCK since it seems like you always wait here! The passport center was in an area of town where Ted and I have not been before - what Vlad referred to as "old Moscow." The buildings were gorgeous and there were a bunch of very pretty parks. All the monuments in the parks (well, not all but most) are gone, however, because at the end of communism they were all town down. So you see a bunch of pedestals where monuments used to be. It is kinda weird but a very obvious reminder of what once was.

Next we headed straight to the orphanage to get Maggie. Dad loved seeing in person what we had described and he had only seen in pictures. We were not there long - about 20 minutes. The workers took the clothes that I brought for her as soon as we walked in the door to get her ready to go. We went in to see the orphanage director who gave us a few last documents (her baptismal certificate, immunization records, and a few others). I gave him his gift and left the other gifts for the children, orphanage doctor and orphanage workers with him to give out. Soon her favorite caregiver brought her in to us and you could tell that she was scared. They had put on the snowsuit and she could not move! (Don't worry, I took it off as soon as we got in the car!). Her caregiver gave me the cross that she got at her baptism (it had been tied to her crib) and also gave me three pictures of her before I met her with dates on the back. She even wrote out her daily menu which I thought was so sweet! But next thing I knew, we were shaking hands and we were outta there! As we were leaving I noted that the last two times I had left the orphanage I had been crying because I was leaving without Maggie, but today I could not get the smile off my face!!

Vlad brought us back to the hotel around 10:30. Maggie was VERY nervous as this point and really didn't like Papa. She has not been around men at all (except her limited contact with the orphanage director) and I think that he put her over the edge in this very new environment. Papa decided to head downstairs to the lobby to hang out for a little while and left Maggie to me. After about 15-20 minutes she started to relax and we started to play. I got out the toys and I started seeing her smile. Then I started hearing her laughter. It was so nice to hear. She really has not stopped since.

I brought her down to the lobby to talk to Papa and she seemed a little better, but not much. We came back up to the room and fed her lunch, which she devoured. I was very nervous about food and had heard nightmares, but thankfully that has not been a problem for us thus far! I think that she would have eaten more than I gave her but I didn't want to make her sick!!

After lunch, I decided that she really needed to go down for a nap since she had missed her morning nap. She was still on 2 naps at the orphanage (10-12 and 2-4, although she would have been transitioning in the next week or two to 1 nap from 1-4). I decided with all the excitement that she was never going to go to sleep so I might as well try some Benadryl. At first I thought that I had made a terrible mistake because as the 30 minute mark hit and she should have been winding down, she starting winding up. I thought that I was in for the long haul, but then she stuck her thumb in her mouth and did a face-plant into the bed and was out. I moved her into the crib without a problem. I was planning on taking a nap myself (I only slept about 5 hours last night and am running on fumes), but Masha called and needed to meet with me so I could sign all the documents for the Embassy to get Maggie's visa.

So at 2:30, Masha came up and we went through the long and tedious process of filling out the 8-9 forms required for Maggie's visa. It took a while, to say the least. Most of the forms needed all the exact same information - so frustrating. But I did it with a smile. I will do anything to finish this process and get home!! Once we were done, Vlad called and said that Maggie's passport was ready to be picked up. Masha and I met him at the passport center, which left my dad with Maggie. I told him to wake her at 4 and feed her a snack if I was not back in time. I was worried about her reaction but there was nothing that I could do. I had to be present to get the passport.

When we got to the passport center, all seemed well and we were called right in. However, as soon as they opened the passport Vlad started talking quickly and a little bit more loudly than normal. Apparently they had made a mistake and put her last name as "Home" instead of "Holt." Uh oh. And Masha needed to take it with her to the Embassy tomorrow to apply for the visa. After some discussion and red cheeks on behalf of the girl issuing the passport, she re-did the passport with one problem - we had to go to another building about 30 minutes away (because of traffic) to get the Russian seal. But, as Vlad says, all's well that ends well. We got Maggie's passport corrected and Masha will go apply for the visa tomorrow!

When I got back to the hotel around 5:00 Papa and Maggie had bonded. He had to wake her up at 4:00 and he said that there were a few tears. But he fed her and once he got on the floor with her and started playing she realized that he was pretty fun and she hasn't turned back! We Facetimed with Cher Cher, Aunt Bean and Ted and Sam before dinner (our time). Dad went to a small chamber music concert with Vlad and his wife and then ate dinner. Maggie and I had a date in the hotel and then I started the process of putting her to bed. I even gave her a bath and although she wasn't sure about it she did not shed a tear and I think that she will come to love it sooner rather than later. I just had to wash that orphanage off of her - there is still more to come off! Getting her to sleep took a while, but it wasn't as painful as it could have been and I am truly praying that she sleeps through the night. Of course I can't blame her if she doesn't - I just took her from the only home she has ever known. But I like to think that she got more love and attention today than she ever has on any other day of her life.

Okay, I am fading fast. I will leave you with some pictures from today.