Liam in the Hospital

Its been an interesting 24 or so hours. Yesterday we attempted to go to the Detsky Dom. Max picked us up at 3:30. After sitting in horrendous traffic for about 1hour and 45 minutes, we decided we weren't going to make it to the Detsky Dom by 6pm (after that, they wouldn't let us visit due to the kids' schedule) so we decided to head back to central Moscow. It took 45 minutes for Max to get to a point where he could turn us around. We were in the car for 3 hours for nothing. Needless to say, we were quite upset. We had planned to get some firm information on Liam and Sophie's illnesses.

We had Vlad come get us at 8:30 am this morning, and he showed us how to get to the orphanage via the Metro and walking ( 1.5-2 miles). When we got there, we found out that Liam is in the hospital. He has Angine, known to us as Tonsilitis. He went to the hospital yesterday, and they expect him to be in for 6-10 days. We're not allowed to go see him, as he's in a hospital that is considered a sterile environment and no visitors are allowed. We're told that hospitals here are not necessarily the same as those in the US, i.e., its not always an emergency situation that puts a person in the hospital here. Regardless, we're very worried and not sure how to proceed. I'm a bit concerned they'll want to take his tonsils out, which would of course prolong his stay in the hospital. This scenario has not been mentioned by anyone though.

We did get to see Sophie twice today, which was great. She's a fast learner, and LOVES to mimic Pete. Its very cute. She says one, two and three now. She readily hugs me when I ask for a hug, but is reticent to hug Pete. I'm the one who rubs her back and head, and is waiting at the door to pick her up when she's brought to the room, so I think we just need to work on that. She's a little sick as well, and is sequestered still from the other kids. I'm still going to request that we can pick her up on Monday though. She's was running around this afternoon, and when I asked if she was good and not poorly, she replied in the affirmative. This morning she had told Vlad that she was poorly.

We went to the big "Macdonald's" on Tverskaya for dinner tonight. Its huge...the biggest I've ever seen!!!! Not only that, its absolutely packed. There are probably 15-20 registers, and all of them had long lines. It was crazy!

Well, I'm going to email our agency director and ask her to call us to discuss the Liam situation. Tomorrow we move to an apartment where we will have free calls to the US and free wi-fi. yay!