3-9-08 Went to orphanage for the morning visit to find about 5 other couples there too. We asked Olga if we could continue visiting in a private room and she said “once you make the decision on choosing her, you go into the room with all the other families during visitation”. So we said I still needed to get an answer from the Dr.- it bought us one more day of privacy. We met one couple who’s daughter is 2 weeks younger than Emma and she’s so much smaller. I gave Emma the “My 1st Easter” rattle and she loved it! I think she doesn’t have many noisy things. She got a kick out of it. I figured I’d take it home with me each time I leave that way she’ll relate that toy with me. I also put the 2 new barrettes/clips in her hair and she’s so cute with her little tufts sticking up. Also tried on her new ski hat, I got yesterday, and she looks like a little round faced cupid doll. She’s like a porcelain doll…Mom says “how do you describe precious?” She’s still imitating me when I do raspberries on her belly…its so funny. I came home and slept during the “break” b/c I was up at 3am on the computer talking to Susan and couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. On the second visit I got to feed her! She ate thick “slop”(like Farina) and drank milk (mixed with something-maybe rice water) right out of the cup! No lid or nipple, just chugged it with slurping noises. Boy she was thirsty! They tell me that she doesn’t use a bottle to go to sleep, she just lays down….ah how nice that’ll be if it continues to work that way. Emma enjoys standing in front of a mirror (must take after Aunt Susan lol) seems interested in her own reflection and figuring out how to touch her own hand in the mirror. She babbled a bit more and showed more expressions when thrown up in the air. Mom was making a certain noise before doing this and when she stopped, Emma would imitated it, as if to say she wanted to do it again. We’ve learned “bye djum”(phonetically speaking) means “let’s go”. This is what Olga says to her when its time for her to go back to her room and us to leave. We came home and had spaghetti. Mom made macaroni salad with tuna….tuna in can didn’t need to be drained and came with carrots and corn mixed in with it. Figured out how to use the washing machine. Again, in Russian, has all symbols we don’t know (has a feather= light) no start button. Everything is bells, whistles, buttons and remotes but nothing comes with instructions. And yet, no dryer. Figured we must wash something 3 days before we want to wear them b/c it’ll take that long to dry jeans. There’s racks of clothes and towels everywhere in orphanage so I guess this is the norm. Seems today has been easier (since we’ve decided to shelter ourselves from the outside world). Mom does her embroidery; I type away and talk online with Susan, Patrick, Joe and Trish. We barely even turn on the cds we brought b/c we’re enjoying the quiet.