The Picture You've Been Waiting For

Here she is...Tess Katerina Knight!


What a cutie pie, hu? She's small for her age. But, she's a big girl at heart. Very independent and happy - most of the time. :)

Rob, Tess and I walked to Red Square this morning and had a "photo shoot". So cute! This picture is when we were leaving. We took almost 200 pictures! So they are going to take me a little while to go through! This was one of the last ones we took. Easy to find. I'll post more when we get home.

So, I've had lots of blog friends aking questions about bedtime. To be honest - it has been a mess. The first night she cried for an hour. I sat on the floor and held her and rocked her. It was good that she wanted to have me hold her during all of it. When she finally stopped crying and somewhat fell asleep I just laid down on a mattress on the floor with her. She slept all night. Bedtime #1.

Today was our first time to put her down for a nap. She always naps at the orphanage from 1:00 -3:00. It was about 2:00 and she was very tired. So, I tried laying down with her in our bed. She still cried - more like screamed - for about 45minutes. It probably sounds mean to let her cry like that. But, she was so tired, and it was kind of a ridiculas cry. No tears, not scared - just plain not wanting to go to bed. I kept my arm around her and kept saying real quietly, "It's alright, Mommy's here." At one point she had a little pathetic sob and said, "It's alright, it's alright." Maybe she thought that's what we Americans say at bedtime. ;) Bedtime #2

Well, before I tell about bedtime #3 let me explain something...

Tess and Rob have made a very sweet connection. It was seriously of God what happened yesterday in Vladimir. Rob and I are always on the edge of being confused here. The interperters will tell us something, we think we understand, and then next thing we know we're getting out of the car somewhere and doing something totally different. They're saying, "Hurry get out and come with me!" We rush out the car with our coats half on. Then we go into a room and they tell us to sit and wait while they dissapear for half an hour. Then they come out and say, "Let's go." Anyway, that's just a little explaination backdrop.

We asked seveal times what the plan was yesterday. The order of things. Just trying to understand. Paperwork, different paperwork, more paperwork, then the orphange to get Tess. They have told us over and over that we should have an outfit for her to go home in. So, Audrey and I thoughtfully picked out this darling, funky dress - purple with big daisys on it, cute tights, matching purple shoes, little purple bow. And I mean little - no more mega psycho bows they like the girls to wear in Russia. I'd say they're more like a bow you'd put on a large Christmas package!

Anway, all of a sudden we find ourselves at the orphange. The interperter says, "Rob, get the girl's outfit and give Angela your passport. We need to hurry. She will finish the paperwork and you will change and get the girl." So, we're totally frantic! What about the cute pictures I was going to take to make memories for her?! Plus, Rob just said, "Oh, man. Moms are better at this stuff." I tossed him our little Canon Sure-Shot camera, the outfit and a handful of balloons and he was whisked away. I told our interperter, "Wow, we didn't expect that." She said, "We must hurry. You will be there when we pick her up." Well I hope so for goodness sake!

Okay, they had told Rob we'd be back in an hour. And 2 1/2 hours later we got back to the orphange. I was worried he was out of things to do. BUT, to my most pleasant surprise, as I was walking in I could her Tess laughing. Rob and her were playing like old friend! What a sweet moment. He came over and said, "We had a lot of fun together." God is so good. If I would have been there I would have dominated the playing. I know I'm like that. I try not to be, but I'm a first born, what can I say?

Another thing that happened as I walked in, Tess looked at me and said, "Peesit, Mama" (pee-pee). Then she wet the biggest truck-load all over the place! Fortunately Rob had not changed her clothes into her trendy little dress. He knew it was going to be sad for her, so he was holding off as long as possible. The cook or maid - some lady with an apron on - took us to a big bathroom with two tubs and a shower. She handed us a towel and walked out the door. Welcome to our family Tess!

We stripped her down, put her in a tub, turned on the cozy warm water and Rob sprayed her off - in fun Daddy style. I collected the wet clothes and got her new clothes all ready. I took her out of the tub, dryed her off and started getting her dressed. The whole time I was smiling at her and talking really sweet, but she was screaming her head off. The maid lady came back in told her something that made her stop crying and finished getting her dressed. Oh so cute, topped of with the bow.

So, since that time, Tess has had the two bedtime episodes, wet herself again (with a pull-up on), hit me in the face three times, (by the way, I got my point across the third time that was not acceptable and she hasn't done it again - if you know what I mean). So, what is Mommy? The disiplainarion. What is Daddy? The super fun person that's like an amusment park! Of course that's what Daddy's are for. ;)

Okay, the ending to my very long story - bedtime #3. Rob and I decided that he would put her to bed tonight. He said he couldn't handle the crying for an hour so if it got out of control he'd call me in. We braced ourselves, Rob said, "Tess, spawt" (sleep) She stood up, walked across the room to him smiling, and passed me with a defiant look and went to bed. Not one bit of fussing. She just went in and laid down - that was it. Rob came out 2 minutes later and we started laughing like crazy (quietly). Maybe because we're tired half out of our minds.

Needless to say, we're going to have some Mommy issues to resolve when we get home. But, I'm up for the challenge. Bring it on, Girlfriend. ;)

Well, I'm heading off to bed now. Sooo tired. Sorry this post tured into a novel. If you got sleepy and had to read it in two installments, you haven't offended me! Ha!

I'll post more pictures as time allows. P.S. my spell check is not working - sorry for any crazy mis-spellings!