A Photo Album At Last

The travellers got home safe and sound early on Monday morning. The flight from Helsinki was a little delayed in taking off, which gave Lara the excuse for her only tantrum of the return trip, and this was just five minutes of loud sulking because she had to sit in her seat with her seatbelt on while the plane was delayed. Other than that she was very well behaved, and a pattern seemed to emerge of her falling asleep with half an hour or so of the flight to go, so after two and a half hours in the air. This will be worth remembering if we take her on a longer flight anywhere.
Her rash had recurred a little while she was away, but anti-histamines seemed to keep it under control, but there was one day when it was quite uncomfortable for her in the nappy area, and she spent much of that day lounging around watching Winnie the Pooh DVDs on Luda's laptop. The discomfort only seemed to last a day, and by the time she came home she was absolutely fine. We wondered if the drastic change in diet might have triggered it, the milk is certainly different there, and many of the foods contain additives or flavourings that she wouldn't be used to. Anyway, she coped like the little trooper she is, and even a sore ankle didn;t stop her running around, albeit with a limp. Maybe she twisted it when no-one was looking, but again, she was fine by the time she came running up to me in the Arrivals Hall in T3 at Heathrow on Monday morning.
Anyway, Olga managed to keep the photograph & video collection down to a very impressive 65 files, and I've trimmed it down to 30, with self-explanatory captions... enjoy!

Russia Jan 2010

(It'll open in a new tab, then click on the Slideshow button on the Album page)

Brrr..

Finally, I get round to updating this. The lack of posts itself gives you an idea of what my week has been like - busy. OK, ok, so there was an impromptu night out in Wycombe last night with some colleagues from work, but other than that, it's been long days at work followed by taking the boys for a long walk, then trying to get some jobs done around the house, then bed. I made the mistake of trying to tidy up a collection of photographs that were gathering dust on a shelf, and you can't just put them away, can you, you have to look through them, and that took a good few hours of Monday evening!

Anyway, Olga & Lara. They seem to be having a good time. It's still well below zero outside (anywhere between -15 and -25 degrees C) so Lara can only play out for maybe 30 minutes at a time. Olga judges by the colour of Lara's cheeks when it's time to come in! Although yesterday apparently Lara said "Go home now" which Olga took as a hint that Lara was cold and wanted to go back to Luda's apartment! Lara also said this earlier this week when Olga was showing some neighbours photos and videos that she'd brought along of us and the boys. During a video of Mishka and Jackson, Lara was watching, and came out with "Go home now?" which could have been a sign of homesickness.

Lara's being staying up quiet late, but we're happy with that. It actually keeps her body on UK time, and should make it easier when she gets home. Lara will only go to bed when Olga goes, so it has been midnight or later sometimes, but then Lara will sleep in until 9 or 10 o'clock the next morning. To start with Lara would fall asleep in bed with Olga, and then Olga would transfer Lara to her own bed (we're using an inflatable kiddies bed), but more recently Lara has been climbing into her own bed and going to sleep, after saying "Night night, Mama. Dark!" This bodes well for the time when we take the side off her cot, perhaps we'll do that sooner rather than later, but we're in no great rush to do it.  Her potty training is coming on well too, she is almost 100% consistent that when she asks for the potty, she'll do a pee in it. Poops are still in the nappy but at least now she does tell Olga when she's "performed", but again, we're in no great rush to fix that, we're just really pleased with her potty progress so far.

I'm really looking forward to Monday morning, and welcoming the travellers home at Heathrow, when Lara comes bounding into the arrivals hall. I just have to spend Sunday getting the house presentable!!

Here are a couple of photos Olga sent through last night...

The Eagles have Landed

Everyone has arrived safely in Ekaterinburg.  I had a call from Olga at Helsinki, while Lara was playing in a special children's play area in the terminal; apparently she was being the Commissionaire, opening and closing the entry gate for the other children. She had been fine on the flight, making sure she shouted hello to everyone through the window, and waving. She waves at the planes as they fly over our house into Wycombe Air Park, so we said she needed to wave at all the planes she saw. Waving and shouting hello to the baggage handlers was just her own addition.
We thought she might want to get up and run about a lot, but this wasn't the case at all. She didn't sleep on the first flight, of course, but was mostly kept amused by her Colour Doodle etch-a-scetch that we'd got her for Christmas, specifically for times like this.
They were a few minutes early into Helsinki, and had a 3 hour wait there, a little longer than scheduled as there was a 25 minute delay in departing. A top tip for next time - buy extra wine on the flight and pay 5 euros per little bottle, rather than waiting until you get to Helsinki airport, where it's 10 euros...
I had a text waiting for me this morning, to say they'd arrived OK in Ekaterinburg, Lara had been fine, and slept for the last hour of the flight. They were 30 minutes late, but most importantly, there don't seem to have been any crises. In UK times, that meant they landed about 1.15am, so Lara didn't go to sleep until midnight, as far as her body was concerned, so she might be having a lie in this morning!
The big thing on the agenda today is an interview for Olga's mum at the British Consulate to apply for a 10-year visitor's visa. Let's hope it's just a formality.

And They're Off! Only Just, Though..

Olga, Lara and Lucy left this afternoon for their flight to Ekaterinburg, via Helsinki. Here is an update of their progress as of 5pm from an online flight tracker (www.flightstat.com) - amazing what the internet can show you:

Lara looked the part at the airport, and was very confident about heading off without me. She was very clingy with me when we first arrived at the airport, she was a bit overawed, but after five minutes, she was happy to walk, and wheel her suitcase along (a birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa) like everyone else was doing:

 There weren't any tears at passport control, she understood I was staying to look after the boys, and gave me a hug and kiss, and a happy "Bye!" and a wave as they disappeared off to security.

24 hours ago it didn't look like this was going to happen!
Lara was sent home from nursery with a temperature of over 38 degrees yesterday lunchtime. There has been an outbreak of chicken pox in the older children's room there, and by 5pm I was getting worried, Lara had had a 90 minute sleep at home, and was lying on the sofa watching TV with Bob the Builder, not wanting to eat or being her usual self. I looked up the early symptoms of chicken pox on the internet, and they include a tickly cough (which she'd had this week, although it seemed to have cleared up by yesterday morning) and of course a high temperature.  Around this time I checked her properly for a rash, and indeed I saw there was a rash on her thighs, with what seemed to be large (1cm) blisters forming. More checking on the internet told me that if it was chicken pox, and if she was at the stage between 2 days before blisters appearing, and 3-4 days after they've appeared, then she shouldn't fly, as she is at her most infectious. It seemed she was right in the middle of this time frame. What a bummer. I checked with the travel insurance company, they would have no problem refunding Lara & Olga's flight costs, but they'd need written confirmation from a GP that Lara shouldn't fly. I was able to get her in to see our GP at 6.20 last night, and the first thing he said when I showed him the rash was "Well, it's not chicken pox". Phew! It was in fact urticaria, or hives, and it had probably been triggered by a chest infection that Lara was recovering from. He prescribed some antihistamines for the rash and some antibiotics to clear up anything left of the chest infection. By the time we'd been to order the medicine and collected Olga from work, and got home, it was close to 8pm, and Lara still didn't want anything to eat, and was just desperate to go to bed. I showed Olga the rash, and it had spread all the over her legs and onto her forearms, and looked quite unpleasant. We gave her the medicines, and rubbed in some calamine lotion, and Lara had a normal night, waking a few times but only needing a drink of water.
After having a hectic early evening, and needing then to watch the climax to series 5 of 24, Olga hadn't done any packing, so that was all left to this morning, while I looked after Lara at home.  The really weird thing was, when we woke Lara at just before 9am, and took off her sleepsuit, the rash had completely gone! No sign of the wheals at all, just a subtle pinkiness to her skin, that I treated with another coat of calamine, but other than that, she was her normal self, and had cereal AND porridge for breakfast, and a Full English for lunch. Quite bizarre, but we were so relieved that we hadn't reacted last night by cancelling their flights.
In the end, Olga got the packing done, although it was a bit tense for the last hour before we left home. Now I'm just awaiting a call from Helsinki in an hour or so to say that leg of the journey has gone OK. I'm off home to a very untidy home, but I'm not allowed to tidy up. Russian superstition dictates that you must not do housework, or any kind of tidying up, while a loved one is travelling, it's bad luck. Suits me!

For anyone thinking it's cold tonight, I just checked and it's forecast to be at most -22 degrees C during the day in Ekaterinburg this week, and that's with clear blue skies.

So, just me and the boys for the next 10 days..