We awoke at 4:30 to be picked up at 6 to go back to the airport to go back to Moscow. I had gotten most things packed up the night before so we wouldn't have to do it all at the last minute. But, this was the first time I had ever gotten a baby ready for a trip before--nothing like trial by fire!! Needless to say I was just finishing up feeding Haylie when they came to pick us up. So we were rushing to get all the luggage out in a hurry. I was busy putting the pink marshmallow suit on Haylie and poor Rich was taking care of the luggage along with Sergei. Anyway, long story short when we got to the airport, we realized we had left the stroller we had brought all the way from KY back in the hotel room--and of course there was not time to go back and get it. We never even got to use it, and now we'll have to tote Haylie all over Moscow and thru the airports. I'm going to looking into finding one here in Moscow, but supposedly they are hard to find this time of year and VERY expensive. I've got a nice one at home and don't want to spend a lot of money on another one.
Anyway, we got all our massive amounts of luggage thru customs (and luckily again didn't have to pay extra for the overweight bags--I think they just felt sorry for us having to lug all the luggage and the baby thru all the stoppoints you have to go thru which believe was an ordeal). We got on the bus at the gate which takes you to the airplane and then there is a big line to get onto the plane (no nice warm gates directly onto the plane like at home!!). Luckily, having a baby got me directly to the front of the line from the very back. We lucked out and had an empty seat between us was empty, so we basically had a free seat for Haylie. She was soooooo good. I fed her a bottle while we were taking off and she stayed awake for maybe 30 minutes and then fell asleep and slept the entire way in the empty seat. She didn't cry a peep until everyone was trying to get off. Then she was having a fit--turns out she had done a big job in her pants. Rich was mortified because she stunk, and everyone of course was staring at us. We again had to ride the bus back to the gate and the bus was completely packed when we got back off the plane--this time no special priviledges because of the baby.
After being picked up at the airport we were taken by AA representatives immediately to get her physical exam. Ends up we had to wait for 1 1/2 hours in a Russian pediatric hospital which was an ordeal in itself. Instead of coming with us, they just dropped us off and told us to sit on the bench until time for our apartment. Oksana, the Russian translator finally came and went into the doctors office with us. I had thought all along she had to have an HIV test, but luckily all she needed was a physical exam. So Boris, the Russian doctor who did speak English, did a pretty thorough exam on her and declared her healthy, only small. She weighs 18 pounds and is 30 inches long. That means she's only gained one pound in the past 4 months and hasn't gotten any taller. We'll get her fattened up though.
Then we had to kill another 1 1/2 hours waiting until we could check into our apartment. So they dropped us off at Hard Rock Cafe and we had a hamburger. We tried to feed Haylie her first macaroni & cheese, french fries, and milk. She wouldn't touch any of it. Evidently they were only feeding her pureed food in the orphanage, because we can't get her to eat anything solid or with texture. She does great with baby food or yogurt, but won't anything solid so far.
We finally got checked into the apartment at 2pm. We were all so tired, we were just dead. We all layed down for a nap at 4:30. Haylie ended up sleeping all through the night--until 4:30 am anyway. She was soooo good all day. The apartment is small and kind of run down, but serviceable and in a really good location close to the famous Old Arbat section of Moscow with lots of shops and restaraunts. Sure wish we had a stroller though.
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