One year ago today...

...we met the daughter of our dreams. She was so quiet and sweet. She was a little snuggle bug. She wasn't scared of us at all and, in fact, she was curious about our faces. She kept staring at both Martin and me as if she were soaking in every detail. She didn't want to play with toys, or try to stand or crawl. She didn't care about bubbles and wasn't too keen on being photographed. She just simply wanted to be held. So that's exactly what we did. She wanted both of us in her sight at all times. If Martin stood up to stretch his legs, her face would start to pout like she was going to cry until he was right back beside us.

Her fair skin was so sensitive to the pesky Russian mosquitoes. (We've recently discovered her skin reacts just as bad with American mosquito bites.) She was covered in bug bites from where the baby home left the windows open while the children slept. In Russia, it is very common to put a green anti-itch cream on each bite. When they brought her to us on the 2nd visit, I couldn't help but think about that Dr. Seuss character from "Put me in the Zoo".

We had such nice weather in Novokuznetsk that all of our visits were outside. It was quite warm actually. One of my favorite memories was when the care givers brought out drinks for the babies. They didn't bring bottles or sippy cups. No, they brought out a big tray full of tin cups and a pitcher of water. They let us give Lexi a drink and instructed us by had signals to hold a napkin under her chin while she drank. She didn't miss a drop.

Here are some of my favorite photos from those first few visits:

In the Director's office when they had just brought her to us. She obviously wasn't used to the camera's flash. This was the first moment I held her in my arms.

Those lovely green dots...




Drinking water from a tin cup.