Tania is Sprung!

Here she (FINALLY) is in all her glory... Tatiana Elizabeth Repp!!At the Artem baby home

Goofing around at the baby home

"Getting Sprung" outfit - 18M is a little too big...

Not loving the car ride to the hotel... Thanks Auntie Angie for the snowsuit!

First bath at the hotel - she LOVED it!!

What a day! It's about 9pm here in Vlad, while all you east coasters are just waking up. This morning started with Sergei arriving to kick things off at 9am. My first surprise was a stop at Sergei and Ivan + Luba (my coordinators) apartment building. Luba and her son hopped in. It was good to see them again as they helped out with the notary on the last trip.

Our first stop WAS the notary and we signed a request for Tatiana's new birth certificate. They are super big on the notary here. They even have their own office. After that was done we went to the court to pick up the judge's approved decision. 2nd surprise was the judge's team spelled my name Ammy - so we waited while it was fixed.

Next stop was the Department of Vital Records - to get her new birth certificate and adoption certificate. Friday and Saturdays are big wedding days in Russia - and some marriages even take place in the Vital Records office - so they apoligized for the delay. (Actually they suggested that next time we change our court dates so that the wait doesn't end on a Friday AND apoligized for the wait.)

From there it was on to the passport office. Luba left for a bit to finish Tatiana's picture for the passport (too cute) and by the time she returned, the passport office was closed for lunch. So we sat in the car and waited. And ate chocolate. Not suggested for lunch. The passport office reopened at 2pm and we went right in. Sergei somehow talked them into having her passport done by Monday am around 11am. This discussion also included a chocolate gift to the employee... hey, whatever works!

After a quick stop at the store to buy a nice cake, FINALLY we were off to Artem (approx. 1 hr outside of town) to spring T from the big house. The kicker was that it was Friday afternoon and imagine I-75 N on a Friday afternoon. Yup -- traffic. Worse than normal Russian traffic. We arrived at the baby home around 4pm and the Director and Doctor had both left for the day. Their bad -- they missed the cake!!

T's groupa mates were all sleeping - so you can imagine her thrill at not having to nap, getting all the attention from her caretakers, and having me arrive. She was on Cloud 9 -- totally showing off while I took pictures of her room. We changed into new clothes - a little too big... and we were off. She was excited... until about 5 minutes into the car ride. Not her favorite. She could be occasionally distracted (where is mama's eyes - and YES! she knows!!) but there were some fake tears, followed by some super big tears. The big kicker is - she doesn't like to sit still. Man that plane ride sure is sounding good right now. NOT!

The good news is that she was FINE once we hit the hotel. She's had a blast tonight and will keep me on my toes. She doesn't want to walk - she wants to run, through the entire hotel. She also has discovered what glass doors are all about - the hard way. Having never seen a full length window -- she doesn't get it quite yet and has run into them 3 times. Thankfully not at full speed.

Dinner was good -- she did sit still in the hotel high chair long enough to eat some bread, some mashed potatoes and a little chicken. Not the best eater -- hoping the Robertson, Kluczyk and Ginther girls will help with that. We tried some celebratory ice cream - NYET! She hated the cold. I am sure someday I'll wish she still didn't like it!

After food we went back to the room for a bit - Lisa and Andrew joined us for about 15 minutes of play before bathtime. I expected her to HATE the bath. NYET again! She LOVED it. Didn't even mind having her hair washed. And she LOVES to splash.

The newest Repp is now in her crib -- rocking herself to sleep. Like many of the children who come from orphanages - she's a rocker. I will try the Baby Einstein again tomorrow -- but I knew her fans were waiting....

Paka from Vladivostok - - Mama + Tatiana