Visit Day 4: A Quiet Cozy Morning

Today was a relaxing day together at the baby hospital--very pleasant.

We seem to be settling into a routine (if that can be said after only 4 days). The last couple of days, when we arrive Jess and Evie are sleeping or just waking. I love being there when they just wake up...love it that when they open their eyes they find us right there with them. We then change them, taking the opportunity to give each of them a fully body massage--complete with music on the I-pod (yup, we're pampering them). Then it's time to get them dressed. (The clothes you see them wearing are clothes we provide. Each day, we bring a new outfit for them and then take home the outfit from the day before.)

Their bottle seems to come right about the time we're finishing getting them dressed, so then we give them their mid-day bottle. We alternate each day which baby we feed. After they're fed, we pretty much use the rest of the time for playing, where playing includes some exercise too: time on their stomach (Jess is getting better at rolling, he also does that funny rocking thing on his hands and knees--like he's revving up to crawl), time sitting up (with help from us, but less today than yesterday), time having them put weight on their legs. We also did some more reading today. I think we'll continue to do some of that each day since they really seem to like it. During the last 30 minutes of our time together they both (but Evelyn in particular) get drowsy. So we typically spend the last of our time holding them and rocking them. I even sing, although I have to make up words as I go because I don't know the lyrics to the standard lullabies. I'm going to have look them up!

Jess was pretty subdued today, alert but mostly just kicking back. (I think he may be teething, he mostly wanted to lay and chew on anything he could get his hands on.) Evelyn continues to be a quiet little flower. She's is, however, starting to "talk" to us a little each day. She loves to be held--that's pretty much what she wants as soon as she's done looking at the toys and books. Jess, on the other hand, is busier (even on a subdued day). In fact, today he just about took his own head off (and mine too!) with a rattle. Shakin' the hell outta that thing!

It wouldn't be a complete post without a glut of pictures. Here they are:

Sitting--it's a workout!

He ain't heavy, he's my brother...

Just hangin' out talking

Look at Evelyn's little potbelly and how engrossed they both are in the book. So sweet.

My improvised lullabies seem to work just fine.

After our visit with the babies, we came home ate lunch and spent the better part of the afternoon exploring the town. We have a little project. We're making our own mappa mundi. Brent downloaded a satellite photo of Kokshetau (no google map of this place!) and is over laying on it a simple map of the most important landmarks and destinations: the supermarkets, Gorky Park, the pizza restaurant, the place to buy baby supplies, the photo center, etc. We spent all afternoon walking around and making notes for our map. Fun!

We were feeling pretty proud of ourselves, because Brent managed to ask (in Russian) for a half of salami at one of the stores while we were out and about. So, on our way back we got brave and walked into this tiny little shop to get something to drink. We got our drinks, went to the register, and paid. Once we paid, the woman started speaking to us very quickly in Russian. After looking blankly at her for a bit, I got my chance to use my own bit of Russian. I said (in Russian) "I don't understand Russian". She said "Ah" and then turned and said something to her friend, at which point her friend started talking to us. We stared blankly some more. Eventually, I thought I understood the woman asking if we were German. I said "Nyet". Then they talked to us some more. We didn't know what to do so we just smiled, nodded and walked out. Hopefully, they weren't trying to tell us that we'd not paid enough for our drinks! (They did seem extra-ordinarily cheap!) No one came chasing after us...

Well, folks I guess that's it for today's B-T baby news! Have a great Monday. We sure did.