Day 2 and 3 with Silas

For some reason, my laptop wasn't working with the WIFI here in the hotel yesterday, but it's back on today. Hooray! Here is my report for yesterday:

January 20^th, 2012

Today we met with Silas around 10am. He was in a much better mood today. We went into a different room and he seemed more comfortable playing there. He was more comfortable with us today. He liked playing with the balls. He enjoyed watching the DVD as well. We brought a banana, but he wouldn’t eat any of it. We found out that he had already had a banana for breakfast, so maybe that is why. I held him for a little bit today and he was making more sounds, mostly babbling.

And this is today's report:

January 21, 2012

We met with Silas from 10:30am – 11:30am. He was more comfortable with us today. He started really showing his personality to us – always on the go! He loves playing with balls. He also likes the DVDs. I held him and sang him a few songs. He resisted at first, but began to enjoy it a bit more during the last couple of songs. It sounds like he is saying the word “Ball” when we play with balls. Such a smart little boy! He smiled a lot more today. 

For the court, I have to write up a small summary of each of our visits with the boys. Sveta thinks we have a good chance of the 30 days being waived - your continued prayers are appreciated! I got a few successful kisses in to Silas today - normally he is so on the go that I can't catch him fast enough! His smile is so adorable. It is much harder to snuggle him this time around - he was much more snuggly back in April/May. :(

We are still in the Ibis Hotel. It makes eating a bit tricky, as I cannot cook, but we are getting by. We have snacks and will buy milk, bread, cheese, and yogurt to snack on. I had some banana pear yogurt that was fabulous. The yogurt and milk here are so creamy and delicious. When I make protein shakes with the milk it tastes more like a milkshake. So good. Sometimes we'll grab some pizza from the grocery store - it's not as bad as it sounds. ;) We keep our food in the window between the glass and the curtains. It's quite cold here - about 10 degrees - and so everything stays nice and cold there. In fact, I ate a small piece of dark chocolate, but it was as hard as a rock! Last night we ate dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was super pricey and tasted...okay. I had grilled veal and jasmine rice with butter, followed by a Russian style cheesecake - which of course I had to try. It was good, but tasted to me more like a custard pie. It was nice to have a hot meal, but it was over priced. In a table nearby, we heard two men with very thick (what sounded like Russian) accents speaking in English. I am guessing that one of them is not Russian, as then they would have been speaking Russian, but it was strange/comical hearing them speak in English. 

We plan to go to Vyksa next week to see Calvin. I can only imagine that he has thought we have forgotten about him. His health is good, from what we know. We're trying to figure out where we will stay in Vyksa. There is a very expensive hotel made by Putin that runs about $250 a night. Yeah. We looked into get an apartment, but the realtor told Sveta that if she rented out to Americans that a big mob would form and storm through our door, steal all our stuff, and insist that they "get the Americans OUT!" And so we are hoping to find a less expensive, but safe hotel to stay in.

Today we bought an electric pitcher so we can heat up water to eat our instant oatmeal and to drink my delectable Choffy (Oh, how I've missed it!). Each day is quite low-key. We go see Silas for an hour and then go back to the hotel. Tyler is reading The Hunger Games - he is on the second book now. I have been watching Frasier and playing Dice with Buddies, Words with Friends, and Hanging with Friends. Plus we have watched a movie and we read our scriptures together. It is quite cold, so I basically want to snuggle up under lots of blankets for most of the time. I think I am finally on the right time zone - I somehow went from FL time to halfway between Russia and FL time - wanting to go to bed around 3pm here in Russia, which is 6am in FL. Tyler finds this hilarious. But - I think I'm over it. (I hope)

Last night I went with Sister Foutz - a senior missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - to meet with some other ladies from church for an activity. We painted envelopes and paper for invitations for an upcoming church activity. Tyler went with Elder Foutz to the church for a game night with the young adults and missionaries. A member of the branch presidency asked Tyler and I if we would each bear our testimony for about 5 minutes tomorrow during church. Plus - we got a ride set up for us. This was a worry for me, as we aren't too far away from the church, however it is VERY icy and snowy and super slick outside. I have already come close to slipping twice and I don't want to fall and hurt myself. So a ride is very much appreciated!

The Foutz's invited us over for dinner tomorrow - which will be so nice. They are from UT and have been so helpful to us already. Plus it's nice to be able to speak English with someone!

And now for your viewing pleasure, more pictures of our 5th child, Silas: