First Trip, Third Visit

Today was a difficult day emotionally. We drove out to the baby home to see Artem and along the way it started snowing which oddly enough does not slow up the crazy Moscow rush hour one bit. I’ll have to comment in another post later on Moscow driving which we’ve summed up as organized chaos; it’s not for the faint of heart. They took awhile to bring Artem in today and he was dressed in another “fashionable” baby home outfit. Pink tights, yellow shorts, yellow shirt with bright primary colored animals on the front, topped off with teal blue girl’s sandals but the icing on the cake was the green medicine they put on his lips. They said they were chapped and they coated them with green medicine which made it look like he had been eating a marker. It’s a good thing we didn’t get his passport photo today with his green lipstick on.

Right away when his caregiver passed him to us he started crying. We had hoped that he would warm up quicker to us by the third day. He cried for awhile and while he cried he violently rocked himself back and forth from front to back. I quickly wrapped my arms tightly around him and rocked him myself but side to side. That calmed him down and he just let out a few more whimpers. He didn’t want any of his books and he really wasn’t interested in the toys we brought him. As I held him I could feel and hear his little chest crackling and I could hear him wheezing. His nose was running and his little head was burning hot. We knew he didn’t feel good which was probably one of the reasons he cried so much today. He’s also cutting a back tooth so I’m sure that didn’t help things. We came armed with the Gerber puff snacks and thought it would be a good way for Randy to bond with Artem. He fed Artem the snacks but he didn’t know what to do with them. He tried to play with the food and held it in one hand and took his other hand and scratched the food for the texture. Randy put the food in Artem’s mouth and he started chewing it with his front teeth. It was like he didn’t know how to chew with his back teeth. We learned that Artem’s diet is limited to soup with beef bouillon and porridge which made us realize that he probably has no experience with solid foods. Anyway, he did accept the food from Randy and let Randy put the food in his mouth but when Randy tried to hold him he just cried and cried again. I could tell Randy was disappointed and he made a comment that he guesses he’s just the camera man and bag boy. I know he was hoping to hold Artem today without him screaming but it didn’t happen. As soon as I took Artem back and sat him on my leg he started doing the rocking again. I understand that it is just him self soothing and is typical for children from orphanages but it breaks my heart to see him do it. I wrapped my arms around him again and rocked him the other direction and whispered in his ear and kissed his temples and gently rubbed his head. He calmed down again and let out a big sigh and kind of melted into my arms.

After our half hour was up, the caregiver came in and said it was time for lunch and then his naptime. We packed up our stuff and left. I started tearing up as we were leaving. It made my heart hurt that I couldn’t have Artem with me and take him to the doctor to get some medicine for the chest congestion and give him something to bring the fever down and rock him in my arms until he fell asleep. That is what Artem needed, not green lip medicine and soup with bouillon cube. I know the caregivers do the best they can and all I can do is pray that God will keep angels around Artem until we can get him home with us and love him like he deserves to be loved.

Tomorrow we go to court to file some documents and then we will visit Artem for the last time on this trip. We are going after lunch and his nap so we are hoping he will be in better spirits. I really want Randy to be able to have one chance to hold him without him crying. The baby home director told us that she would show us where Artem sleeps, plays, and “his chair”. We are guessing that is where he eats. We are taking pictures of everything and filming as much as we can so when he is older he has the pictures and video of where his life began.

We did have a chance to go to the Moscow Harley Davidson shop and bought Artem his first Harley sweat shirt complete with flames up the arms. I’m working on fixing that wardrobe crisis he seems to be stuck in. We also went to Old Arbat street, which is a tourist spot, and bought all our souvenirs. We bought some Russian Christmas ornaments for Artem’s tree and we bought two books of Russian fairy tales. We got to talking to one of the ladies at the shop about the adoption and when we were leaving she said she had something for Artem and handed us the traditional nesting dolls (I’m forgetting the name right now) and we had her write Artem’s name in Russian on the bottom. She also told us this is the year of the baby in Russia. It was very sweet. On the way back to our apartment we stopped at Sbarro’s pizza for a taste of home. Tomorrow morning before court our driver/translator is taking us to the Kremlin and the Red Square for some sight seeing. We are so busy all day long it doesn’t leave any time for sight seeing. Let’s hope tomorrow’s visit includes some hugs for daddy so Randy can get a little time in with Artem before we go.