Diaper Diva began her blog, Mama in Waiting, when she was waiting to adopt her daughter in Russia. That was in 2004. Her daughter is now a spunky three year old Park Sloper who attends pre-school, loves to dress up in princess costumes, play with her stuffed animals, and put together jigsaw puzzles.

Recently Diaper Diva decided to get back to blogging and is writing about the months leading up to the adoption and the trips she and her husband took to Russia before she forgets all the details. I will be running excerpts from her blog on OTBKB in serial form. Here is an early post from 2004 called, Letter to S, written months before their first meeting. I have decided to use initials instead of real names. DD uses real names on her blog.

Dear S:

I think about you all the time and hope that you are being well cared for, played with, hugged, snuggled and loved. It is very hard for us to know that you are there and we can’t come to meet you. We are saddened by this but know it will be very soon when we get to hold you ourselves.

Your father is very excited to meet you. He took a lot of time and thought in picking out your stroller – it’s quite comfy and we think you’re going to enjoy riding in it.

We also fixed up your room. We bought you a lot of beautiful furniture. A lovely crib that your father says looks like Noah’s ark; an armoire which is already filling up with adorable outfits for you; and a bookcase that is already filled with books from your Aunt and cousins. There are also some very cute stuffed animals, some of which have been given to you by your cousin A. Your grandmother gave you a nice panda bear and he is sitting on the shelf right now, waiting for you.

A enjoys coming over and playing in your room. Yesterday afternoon, she came over and put her stuffed dog Sandy in your crib. She also put a diaper on him and cut a hole for his tail. It was actually quite funny. I know that she loves you already. She gets very anxious when we talk about all the delays and the political issues surrounding the adoption. She says to me: “Stop talking, it’s boring…”.

I think she just wants you to be here already, as we all do.

Your room is so cozy. We hung a very cute paper mobile over your crib. Your grandmother has already knitted you a lovely and soft pink blanket. It’s one of the biggest knitting projects she has ever undertaken. She is almost finished. Perhaps we will bring it to Russia with us.

Until then, we will be thinking about you all the time and love you very much.