Friday, June 18, 2010

Countdown to Haircuts

Since I set the date for the babies haircuts, I've been thinking about it a lot. Maybe a little too much.
I had a dream last night that I was getting a haircut, and since I had Anna and Alex with me (naturally) I asked the girl if she would cut their hair. “Just shave it off, it’ll be easy.” So when she started to cut Alex’s hair she was trying to be gentle but no matter what she did the plastic attachment on the clippers dug into his head and cut him! I was like WHAT THE %#@% lady! And of course he was crying and hysterical. It was really traumatic. HOLY #%@* I am a little too neurotic about the hair, don’t you think?
How could I not be? Such awesome locks as this?
I don't think Alex is looking forward to it, either.


Thursday, May 13, 2010

Follow Up

OK. It's been a while. I've been busy. You get it. Here's what we've been up too since getting back from Russia:


Talking to Papa every weekend.


Enjoying the lilac tree. I love this tree.


Water table. They LOVE it.


Some knitting.


The first week's share from the CSA I registered for. We'll get a weekly pick up throughout the growing season.


Using utensils for the first time! Messy and awesome.


A new camera. My baby.


Some yarn. So pretty.



Playing outside with dirt. And yes, some dirt was eaten during this fun.

Z has been doing well, he is hanging in there. I am working with our lawyer to get everything together and get him an interview at the US Embassy in Moscow. It is not a fast process, and he is being very patient. I'll keep everyone updated on new developments.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Notes from the Motherland

Well, we made it to Russia. Just barely. I think one of the biggest things I learned about travelling with children is to do the exact oposite of your instinct. The flights were terrible. My smiling, quiet (sometimes), shy (other times), amiable children were replaced with screaming, uncooperative, fussy toddlers. Nothing worked. Nothing. Well, hold on, one thing worked: sheer exhaustion. When they did sleep, it wasn't long enough, so they were worse off when they woke up.
The layover that I thought would be beneficial? Turns out that when you connect in Heathrow you have to go through security again! Seriously, that is FUCKING BULLSHIT. England, I will never forgive you. (Sorry to my neice who sometimes reads my blog! and her mom).
AND THEN THERE WAS THE TRAIN RIDE. Wow. Anna was in complete meltdown mode the entire ride, it was broken up by brief periods of sleep, maybe 45 minutes at the most. The ride was very long. BUT, once the night passed (we boarded the train at 8:00 PM and arrived in Saratov at 12:00 PM the next day) things turned a corner and the bad mood lifted a little.
The past few days have been nicely paced, we get up and feed the babies breakfast, then head over to Z's mother's apartment to spend the day. Today we took a ride to see family in a small village not too far from the city. We ate a nice meal, but the highlight was the Russian Banya. It's a sauna, but you can also bathe. It is seperate from the house, has a small room to change your clothes and also to feed the fire, and the main room with benches, water basins, and the birch branches for theraputic 'beatings'. Awesome.
I saw that my company closed down for the weather back home. It hasn't snowed once here, but it has been FREEZING. Tomorrow the schools here will be closed for the weather, too, but not for snow, for cold weather. -25 degrees Celcius. Too cold to convert to Fahrenheit.
Scenes from the train:

From Z's mom's kitchen: