Papa Tom came to visit on Saturday!

Papa Tom came to visit us yesterday!  He brought us some Russell Stover chocolate (yum), fed Karina her dinner, and they walked several laps around the house!  We were so glad to see him!

Going to bed in pink bear jammies…

I was really afraid that K was going to have problems with sleeping---I don’t do well with not enough sleep (my fellow camp staff and kiddos can all attest to that) and I was worried what might happen if K had troubles sleeping. 

I am INCREDIBLY  happy to report that sleep is not an issue with us.  K sleeps like a rock, for which I am so very grateful!  She takes about a two hour nap in the afternoon, and goes down for the night around 8:00.  We almost always make it through the night without an interruption, and we’re up for milk and Sesame Street around 8 in the morning.  Tonight she was really tired by 8:00—we had a long day today!  The hairbrush is a new thing from about a week ago—she loves to carry it around, brush her hair and ours, and also to chew on it (part of the teething process).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Trip to Pick up Karina---Dec 19-27, 2009

Ok, so I should have posted this a LONG time ago.  It is my hope that some time having passed is going to mellow the memories of this trip, and, honestly, there has been so much going on that I haven’t really had time to sit down and process all of what happened on our trip 3.   And then there is the whole not really much time to write it all down.  I’m afraid, however, that if I don’t do this soon, I’m going to forget important details, so I’m posting this in hopes that it will help me remember this amazing experience.

First of all, we were supposed to leave for Russia on Saturday, December 19.  This was the day that the first freakish blizzard hit the East Coast, but we were hopeful that we would get out before things shut down.  No such luck.  We were on the way to the airport in St Louis from home when we got the text message that our flight from StL to Philadelphia was cancelled.  We were supposed to connect in Philadelphia for a flight on Lufthansa to Frankfurt, Germany, and then head on to Moscow from there.  We called the travel agent, waited on hold for about 45 minutes, and then talked with him for about another 30 minutes (it was at this point that we stopped in Lebanon, MO for a break, and discovered that the Hardee’s there is quite the hopping place on a Saturday morning.)

Our travel agent suggested that we go on to the airport, on the hopes that someone at the desk for our airline could make things happen that he couldn’t.  This turned out to be great advice.  We headed on to StL (after a short stop to see if the guys could help a pickup that had gone off the access road and flipped over onto the interstate). 

At the airport, we got in line and waited.  And waited.  Finally we got to the desk and explained our situation.  (It was at this point that the flight we were supposed to have been on would have left if it could have left).  Luckily, we had a very sweet lady named Cheryl who helped us.  She checked all possible options for getting us to Frankfurt and then to Moscow, and finally (after nearly a hour or so) was able to get us on flights early Monday morning. 

There was going to be NOTHING before then into Frankfurt that was open.

So---we had flights early on Monday morning.  That would put us there on Tuesday night, which was only 2 days later than it should have been, and was workable.  We headed out of the airport to get something to eat, and ended up at the Marriott across from the airport (because it was close!)  While we were there, I decided to call Lufthansa and make sure that our flights from Philly to Moscow were updated in their system (which Cheryl had suggested).  They weren’t.  I talked to some “nasty” guy at Lufthansa who told us that Cheryl hadn’t updated the flights correctly, and that we had to go back to the airport and have her do it right.  Great.

So, we headed back.  Thank goodness Cheryl was still there.  In order to get us on the Lufthansa flights on Monday, we had to be upgraded to business class, which were the only seats left.  Cheryl worked for nearly another 2 hours to get us approved for the upgrade, and to make sure that we had good tickets.  A call to Lufthansa told us that we were now ok. 

With a huge amount of tired, but also thankfulness, we headed back to the Marriott.  My sis had agreed to just spend Saturday and Sunday night in StL, rather than make the 3 hour drive home and back.  We said goodbye to the guys, 

and headed upstairs where we both crashed.  We went back downstairs to the same restaurant where we’d had lunch and had dessert for dinner, then headed back to the room and went to sleep.  What a day!

Sunday morning, Susan got up early to run.  (She’s a long-distance runner, and this was going to be her last chance to get in a good workout before the fight on Monday).  When she got back to the room, we called the Fox Theater and were able to get seats to see their live production of “Holiday Inn.”  We had talked about going to see it BEFORE the court date was scheduled, and had thought that it wasn’t going to work out---we were luckily surprised!  So, we headed out and used the MetroLink to go to brunch

and then take us downtown to the Fox. 

“Holiday Inn” was such fun (hey, what show isn’t fun where it snows inside the theater?) and it was perfect for getting me out of some of my “worries” about the trip.  Not that I wasn’t still worried, but it reminded me that I needed to “count my blessings instead of sheep” and to focus on the good things that had happened.  

After a stop at the Circle K for chocolate, Sus and I headed back to the Marriott.  After dinner AGAIN at the hotel restaurant (the waitress actually asked, “why are you still here?”)

we headed upstairs, changed into our PJs, and went to the laundry room to wash our clothes so they’d all be clean for the next leg of the trip. 

Again, we crashed early, knowing we had to get up early in the morning.  I’ll save Monday and Tuesday for the next post!

WOW—all these posts in one day! Pictures that show the range of personality we’re seeing develop in our girl:

 

 

  

 

another video from tonight…

We are still here…

Hello, everyone.  We are all still here and all still alive, but it just seems like there is never enough time to sit down and post here---and then, when there is time, I think “what the heck would I write about?”

The snotty nose from a couple of weeks ago turned out to be not just a snotty nose.  K ended up at the pediatrician’s office on a Saturday morning, and we came home with a bottle of antibiotic for an ear infection and a shot of Decadron for an inflamed voice box.  On top of that, I came down with the same thing---and mine turned into a sinus infection.  So we were living really low-key for about a week or so after that.

After the recovery, we’ve been working on getting our bounce back.  I finished (with Steve’s help) writing all of the thank you notes for the gifts from the shower that the church ladies threw for Karina, and have been looking forward to the weather getting warmer so that I can work on putting stuff away in the garage and cleaning up out there. 

The lady from Parents as Teachers visited last Friday, and she seemed to think that K was making good progress.  She’ll be back next month to evaluate where she is developmentally, and then we’ll proceed from there.  We think that she has been doing remarkably; she has added “uh oh” to her vocabulary, and is an ace at undoing velcro and taking off her shoes.  She also loves to make faces and blow kisses to everyone, and dances to music.   On the other side, we are dealing with quite the little drama queen when she can’t have something that she wants—like the cell phone.  Today we had a substantial meltdown, but we’re working on being patient and helping her learn that a hissy fit does not get her what she wants.  She’s also teething---about 4 new teeth coming in right now.  Fun.

We also enjoyed being outside this last weekend.  It was warm enough to go outside and sit on the grass.  We think that this was maybe K’s first chance to sit on the grass, walk barefoot outside, and attempt to eat leaves!  She seems to have enjoyed the experience.  We also took the new stroller out for a whirl on Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today has been kind of a quiet day (other than the melt down!)—we walked over to the church to visit Daddy, and then played with our kitchen “toys” after K’s nap. 

just a normal Wednesday at our house… EDITED so you can see it now

Sorry guys---didn’t realize that YouTube defaulted to private !  This was my first attempt :-(