Happy Halloween!!

I am closing out this blog with this last Halloween post. After this post, I am making this blog into a book for Leah. Blog2print.com makes blogs into bound books and it looks very professional.

We had a great Halloween! Davis was Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Leah was a witch. Leah didn't have clue what was going on, but Davis was a maniac this Halloween! We had a party beforehand and went Trick or Treating until 10pm! We used my brothers trailer to pull the kids around from house to house so they didn't have to walk so much. Leah didn't make it that long so Milon took her home around 8pm. We have so much candy I think it will take us until next Halloween to eat it all!

Leah Update: She is doing great! She is very happy and laughs very easily. She is starting to run and her speech is incredible! She can repeat anything you say..including sentences! She picks up the phone and says "Gigi where are you?" Her modeling ability is incredible. I find her copying things I am doing without even noticing. The other day, I was itching my elbow and I look down and she is doing it also! The funniest is when I do push ups on the floor and I look and she is trying to do them also!

She loves stuffed animals and even takes her baby dolls out of the play stroller to put the stuffed animals in! She understands basic commands and is very good at throwing things away! I find all kinds of things in the trash can, most of which shouldn't be in there. Davis and Leah are starting to really play together! They chase each other around the house giggling. She loves to play hide and go seek and thinks it's great when Greta (dog) chases her around the house. The dog is really after the food in her hand, but she thinks she is chasing her!

She is much more social and is totally over her shyness. In fact, at the grocery store she yells "Bye" to everyone we pass and blows them kisses! It is great to see her making eye contact and being social. She walks up to people she knows and says "up" to be held. She loves her Poppa. In fact, I think she likes him the best of everyone! We can't figure out if she just likes saying his name! She bosses him around like crazy! She yells "Poppa" and then babbles some long sentence that sounds like she is telling him off!

Her height has exploded and she is in the 25% now! Her weight, well not so much. She is gaining but it is much slower than I had expected. When she eats, she does great but she is still rather picky. She loves her cheesy eggs and I am now putting heavy cream in them as well as her milk! Her hair is so silky and curly! I can straighten it if I brush it but she has rings of curls!

Everyday, Milon and I say how lucky we are! We could not have picked (or made ourselves) a more perfect daughter! She is beautiful on the outside and inside! It is so much fun to start seeing her little personality shine through and it is so much fun to watch her turning into a little toddler! We are very blessed and proud of both our children!

Yes, We are Still Alive!

We have been caught up in the daily grind and haven't had a chance to post. Leah is doing wonderful. She is walking now and says a variety of words. I realize I am a mother to a 3 yr old when Leah's first word was "thank you"...go figure. She says Poppa, Ball, Apple Juice, Momma, Dadda, Davis, Greta (which comes out like Ya Ya), Hi, Bye, and a few others. It's quite funny to go into her room in the morning and be greeted with a big "HI"!

Davis and Leah are having a great time together. It's amazing how a 15 month old and 3.5 yr old can play well together. They are enjoying each other a lot and we love to sit back and watch them have fun.

Leah has found a new freedom since she can walk and I have also! I was actually able to weed outside while she walked up and down the driveway! It sure beats having to carry her everywhere and gives her more freedom to explore.

Food is still an issue for her. The only food I have found that she reliably likes is eggs. Scrambled, hardboiled, she doesn't care. To add calories, I make cheesy eggs that are cooked in a ton of butter! She doesn't like fruit or vegetables other than avocado and will tolerate and few bites of banana. I thought for sure I was going to get a good eater from Kazakhstan but instead I think she is more difficult to feed than Davis! She now weighs 18lbs and is almost on the growth charts for weight. She is in the 10% for height and head circumfrance. The doctors are not worried because she is steadily increasing in weight and they think by her 18 month appointment she will be on the chart.

As for Milon and I, nothing much is new. Milon still likes his job and I have adapted to life with 2 munchkins. We are still contemplating a second adoption but haven't finalized where, how, who, what or when!

Good To Be Stone Free!

I am a little late posting, but Leah is finally stone free. She had the stone removed a few weeks ago with a 2 night hospital stay. She did great and was much more accepting of the nurses and doctors poking and proding her. They did leave a stent in because of the inflammation and we had to go back to the hospital last week to have it removed. It was an outpatient surgery so we were in and out in a couple hours.

We have seen a remarkable difference in her! She no longer hangs on my legs and fusses. It's amazing how much pain she was in from the stone. Well, for those that have had a kidney stone, it's not that hard to imagine. I threw up the entire way to the hospital when I had one!

She is taking big strides with strangers and is now at the point of only crying when I am in the room if someone is holding her. Although, daddy can hold her with me standing beside him! Yeah! She has actually reached for him to holder her a few times!

I am learning a lot about having a little girl. Like dresses don't work with babies who can't walk! She gets caught up in them when she tries to crawl! Leah took 4 steps on her own a few days ago and ever since is wanting to walk between Milon and me. I am hoping she will be running soon! Her hair is getting longer and wavier and she is becoming more beautiful every day. We still have typical 1 yr old issues like not wanting to sit still shopping, crying when hungry or tired, but this is all normal behavior. She sleeps like a champ and has yet to wake up in the middle of the night. I will credit the orphanage for that one!

Davis is still in love with Leah and tells everyone in the grocery store that this is his baby sister. If we go to the park, he tells all the kids not to step on her and to be gentle! He has become a very big mother hen and I often have to remind him to go play!

We have been going to my parents lake house often and the kids love to swim, tube (Davis only), and ride on the boat. Leah had a shell shocked face the first time on the boat and the second time she couldn't stop smiling! It's cute to see all of first experiences!

Sticks and Stones

Leah has a kidney stone. The doctors are not sure if it developed from repeated urinary tract infections or if the stone caused the urinary tract infections. It is very rare that babies develop stones. The doctors don't know for sure how she developed one, but some thoughts are she wasn't changed enough at the babyhouse and developed urinary tract infections as a result.

Another possibility is that she was given formula that contained melamine in the babyhouse which was made in China. I know I gave her Nestle Good Start at my apartment which is a very common formula in Kazakhstan. This was one of the formulas that they found contained the melamine. China added melamine to formula in order to increase the protein reading in the formula. This formula was eventually pulled off the market but babies who drank the formula developed kidney stones. Hmmm...we might not ever know for sure but these are some speculations. The later seems very plausible to me since Kazakhstan is sold all of China's "junk" and I can't imagine the quality control is very good in Kazakhstan to make sure the formula actually was pulled off the shelves!

It is a large stone, 6mm and they have to surgically remove it. We went in to the hospital on Friday for them to place a stent in and use a laser to break up the stone. This didn't work because of the flexibility of her kidney since she is so young. It is very odd for a child to develop a kidney stone so the instruments and techniques aren't geared for babies. The doctor can't believe how big the stone is and is amazed that she isn't in a lot of pain. He said if an adult had this stone we wouldn't be able to get off the floor from pain. Of course, how much pain she is in, if it is intermittent, etc no one really knows. I am not sure she knows what it means to feel normal! He thinks she will be a new baby once it's out. I am not sure how since she isn't that cranky now!

We went home and over the weekend she developed a high fever and was vomiting so we went to the ER where they admitted her to have her kidney drained. She has an infection in her kidney from the urine not being able to drain properly. We spent the past 2 nights at UNC and she is now home with a bag that drains her urine from her kidney. She is scheduled to have the stone removed next Monday.

On the bright side, she is doing great and is continuing to make great progress. She is pushing a walker and loves it! Davis is taking skating lessons to play hockey and the 2 of them practice pushing and skating around the house. They both giggle as they try to chase each other. The dog continues to be the hit of the house. She had a fever of 104 degrees the other night and she was dripping with sweat. I put her on the floor to take her temp and she eyes Greta and makes a beeline towards her. Even sick as a "dog", she can't keep away from her!

Happy Easter!

Just wanted to post a quick note to say all is well in the Hill Family. Leah is adjusting wonderfully. Everyday we see an improvement in her adjusting to Milon, Davis and being away from me. She loves Greta (the dog) the most. She will leave the room at any given time to crawl after her! She is now starting to explore the various rooms in the house and even played with Davis in his room for 15 minutes! She sleeps and eats like a champ! She even gained half a pound in 1 week! She is now drinking from a sippy cup and only wants food that she can eat by herself.

We are having a combination Welcome Home party/Happy Birthday party for Leah on the 25th. Her birthday is actually the 26th but it works out better to have it on a Saturday.

I love having two children! My day is very busy and there is no time for boredom! Hmmm...do I see a third in our future??? Maybe another little miracle??

With much thought, I have decided to make the blog public. I learned so much from reading others blogs and would like to be able to share our story to help other adoptive parents.

Some Pictures!

Everyone is doing much better around here. Leah is full of smiles, crawling around after Davis on the floor, and getting braver every day to explore the house without needing me. Last night, she even let Milon carry her inside from her carseat and didn't start whining until she saw me, but I was carrying her bottle which is what she wanted! She was very excited to see him when he came home from work and played with him on the floor for awhile. We are taking babysteps until she is comfortable but I would imagine after this weekend she will have warmed back up to him. Thankfully, he has Friday and Monday off to spend time with her.

Leah is obsessed with Greta. She will even leave the room I am in to go find her. She loves her to kiss her face and the dog is totally happy to get the last bit of food off!

Both kids are going to bed at 7pm like clockwork and waking at 8am! Who says this is so hard!

Davis is in love with Leah. Yesterday, he gave her all her bottles, fed her yogurt (wow, what a mess) and would break off cheese to feed her. He was so worried about her choking that I could hardly see the pieces of cheese he was breaking off! He has to come with me to get her out of her bed after her naps. The 2 of them giggle and make funny faces and sounds all the way to the grocery store in their carseats. It's really cute to watch Davis turning into such a wonderful big brother. And I didn't realize how lonely he was!

I have finally sort of caught Leah's pig face on camera. Here is it below. She loves to make this face at you and will continue to do so until you do it back to her!

One More Update...Still No Pics

Leah had started to run a fever on Saturday along with increasing irritability. On Sunday, she still had a fever and I knew something was not right. I called our pediatrician but they would not see her on Sunday since she wasn't an established patient. I took her to UNC's Pediatric ER and at the time her fever was 104.5! They ran a bunch of tests and diagnosed her with a urinary tract infection! They gave her a shot of an antibiotic to get it in her system fast and we have one for 14 more days to take. They said she should be feeling better in 2 days. Whew! They also did a chest xray, stool sample for parasites (which hasn't come back yet) and whole series of blood tests. They are concerned because she only weighs 15lbs but said she could flourish in the next few months and have an explosive growth spurt. So far they see no reason for her lack of weight gain and think she could just be malnourished. It also could be parasites, but the test hasn't come back yet. They were exceptionally surprised with how active and developmentally on target she is and said that is a great sign.

Today is my first day alone with the 2 of them! Yikes! It is 7:50am and both are still sleeping! I am hoping she wakes up feeling better. Gotta run and get something done before they wake up!

Home Sweet Home

We made it home safe and sound. I am not going to sugar coat the trip home, it was awfull!

I woke Leah at 11:30pm the night of our departure. She only slept 1 hour on the first flight which lasted 7.5 hours! She pretty much cried the rest of the time. Thankfully, we were on the same flight as Elise and her daughter Sabina. Elise and I were able to talk and help each other out! We then had a 4 hour layover in Frankfurt which Leah didn't cry as long as I didn't put her in the stroller. I had to at times in order to get through the airport. Elise and I stopped at a coffee shop and chatted over coffee and the kids did pretty good. The flight from Frankfurt to Chicago was the worst! Leah only slept 1 hour on am 8 hour flight. I spent most of the time in the bathroom with her trying to get her to sleep! I didn't want the other passengers to be annoyed by her crying! She would fall asleep but her eyes were like slits were she wasn't secure enough to really fall asleep. People on the plane were exceptionally nice. They helped me out best they could. There were a few girls from Bulgaria who didn't understand she was just adopted and has some separation anxieties who tried to take her from me to give me a break. They quickly learned that wasn't an option! She finally fell asleep in the Chicago airport and slept until we landed in RDU.



Milon, Davis, Gigi and Poppa, Grandpa, Chris, April and their 2 kids Ryan and Carson met us at the airport. Leah was excited to see the kids and sat on the airport floor smiling at them. Carson (3) says to his mom and dad "Mommy, I want a baby like Davis." We all got a chuckle.



Leah went to sleep about 11pm and woke up at 1am. Went back to sleep at 2am and slept till 1pm! Then had another long nap in the afternoon. She went to bed at 6:50 and woke up at 8!



We woke to a beautiful sunny day, high of 74! Ahhh, to be home again!

Leah is terrified of Milon. She cries if he gets too close to her. We are starting small by having him stand beside me while she eats. Every few bites, he would put a piece of ham in her mouth. I am not sure she realizes he is doing this. Then he would give her the bottle of juice. We sit and all play on the floor and she if great at making funny faces at him, clapping hands, etc. She is still afraid that he is going to "take" her. Hopefully, each day this will get better and better.

She loves her highchair, had a huge lunch of ham and cheese and had a bath with Davis. She is a little afraid of the dog, but mainly becausee Greta is determined to give her big wet kisses on her face! Although, she crawled out of the room after Greta, so go figure but when Greta returned she got scared. Then Greta laid down across the room and Leah crawled back over to her!

She doesn't mind the carseat like I thought she would. We took a trip to Target and she did great. She loved sitting in the shopping cart also, and I have a feeling it is because it faces me! When she is in the stroller, she can't see me!

I am glad it is all over and excited about the furture. Davis is already making plans for him and Leah to play hockey when she wakes from her nap! I will post pictures in a few days!

That’s All Folks!

Well I can officially say I did it. I can’t believe I stayed in Kazakhstan for 6 full weeks! Two of which were spent all alone with Leah. I have never really lived alone before much less in a strange country!

At times, living here was harder than you can imagine. Especially with Davis sick. I was so worried about him and knew the doctors in Aktobe were not western trained doctors. There were times I didn’t think I could take one more day. I thought what have I done! Leah was crying when I left the room, Davis only wanted me because he was so sick. We pressed on, and things worked out.

My time alone with Leah was valuable and I will cherish this time. She has been a trooper through this life changing event, and it shows the amount of love and care she has received in her early months of life.

Living in Kazakhstan has helped me appreciate everything I have. It has also taught me how to live simpler. It has shown me how proud I am be to be an American! It has also given me a new appreciation for home and my family and friends. Like Dorothy says on the Wizard of Oz, “There is no place like home.”

This process was flawless from an adoption standpoint. I give my adoption agency and the in-country staff credit for having everything go so smoothly. I wish Kazakhstan, as a country, had a different process for adoption, but that is beyond anyone’s control.

Words can’t even express how much I want to get home! I can’t wait to see Milon, Davis, my family and friends. I have missed everyone terribly!

Now, one last hurdle…the airplane ride home! Once we enter the US, Leah will officially become a citizen of the United States!!

So, with all of that being said, I have some new vows to put forward:

I vow to never complain when the temperature dips below 30 degrees
I vow to never complain when my dryer shrinks an article of clothing
I vow to never complain about carrying my groceries from the garage to my kitchen
I vow to never complain about walking in high heeled shoes out to dinner
I vow to never complain there is nothing on TV
I vow to never complain about being bored at home
I vow to never complain about being hot inside my house
I vow to never complain about linoleum, as long as it is not peeling
I vow to never complain when I am on a long line at Target
and finally, I vow to never complain about the airplane ride to California!

Now we can finally start the beginning of our new life…life with 2 kids. I am sure it will be difficult at first as we all adjust to this new life. It reminds me of a saying from my favorite movie Hope Floats “Beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts the most. You need to remember that when you find yourself at the beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up.”


See you on the "other side" my friends!

The End is Near

I am already starting to worry about the 19 hour plane ride home. Leah is very active, let’s just call it that. There is no grass growing under her feet! I have tested Benadryl on her and it didn’t seem to make her sleepy. Think babies can take Ambien? Valium? Just kidding. Well, really I am not. I got a taste of what the flight was going to be like from the 15 minute car ride home from the mall! She couldn’t sit still! I do remember Davis being like this also and was always jealous when I saw a mom sitting with a quiet baby. I just thought one out of my two children would sit still! I need to switch my focus to Milon’s advise. “Think of it like childbirth, it will eventually end.” Good advise, but I say “Where’s my epidural?”

Leah woke up with a new tooth this morning! Hmmm, could this explain some of the whinning we have been having lately? We shall see, although I she has 25 more to go!

Today we went to the Green Market with Kate, Elise and her 3 yr old Sabina. The Green Market is full of small shops and fruits and vegetables. I bought a couple toys to occupy Leah on the plane home. We then went to the Zoom Store and Kate helped us by some souvenirs. Leah let Kate hold her today without crying! She was actually smiling and laughing with her. Yeah, she is already starting to become more secure. Elise’s new daughter Sabina is a total gem. She is always smiling and sits so well in the stroller! She is really a very sweet girl and makes me want to adopt a 3 yr old! She just said goodbye to all of her nannies and friends yesterday morning! I can’t believe how well she is doing with all of the new sounds, faces and experiences she is having.

This is my last full night in Almaty! I went to the grocery store today and picked up a bottle of wine to celebrate and will have pasta and watch Sex and the City!

Angel Vs Devil

This is what I have been feeling like lately. The devil telling me "Susan, you have been away from home for so long, you deserve to leave early...even if it's 1 day and more expensive. Just do it!' Then the Angel saying " Yes, but you have spent so much money already, how bad is staying 1 extra day?" Then the Devil says, "Yes, but that flight gets you home when Davis is still up so he can pick you up from the airport." Angel says " Yes, but the earlier flight doesn't have 2 extra seats beside you." Devil says "Yes, but Elise is on that flight so you will have someone to fly to Frankfurt with."

Okay, enough with that...see where I am going.

Well my friends, the devil has spoken and I shall listen. I am leaving early! Yes, I will arrive in RDU at 7:40pm! It does mean that i have to be at the airport at midnight but who cares, I will be heading home!

Something funny happened last night around 2am. I have been sleeping with 2 pillows and grabbed one to turn over. Next thing I know the pillow broke in half and feathers spilled everywhere! I had to turn on the light and carefully take the covers off and the sheet to contain the feathers. I grabbed the camera to take a picture because it looked like I had killed a chicken in my bed! In one picture below, the other half of the pillow still has the pillowcase on it in the top left hand side!

We went for a walk today and Leah has a new habit of pulling off her hat. She pulled it off while we were walking and dropped it without me seeing it. I noticed that the hat was missing when we got back to the entrance of the apartment, raced back along our tracks to see if I could find it. Literally, it had only been maybe 2 minutes from the time I knew she had the hat on, till I noticed it missing. I traced back the steps and the hat was already gone! I was so upset because this is the same hat I had been taking all of her pictures in at the babyhouse. I wanted it for a keepsake! I will have to run out to Children’s Place and see if they still have one when I get home.

Leah is a Christina Aguilara fan. She is into the music videos! I was flipping through the channels and heard one of Christina’s songs. Leah crawls over to the TV and stands up and starts singing with her! So I then left the music channel on and she entertained herself for 30 minutes! That is how much this child loves music!

We met up with Elise who adopted her daughter Sabina who is 3 yrs old. What a sweet and cute girl! We went to the Ramstore Mall and killed sometime looking around and had dinner. We got pizza and Sabina loved it! She ate 2 slices! Her mom and I shared war stories, personal stories, and mommy stories. Leah only sat still for 2 things. To chew on my watch, and eat a piece of bread. I am glad I didn't look down until after I had finished eating because there was a roach eating bread that had fallen on the floor. YUCK! We are meeting up with them tomorrow which will be fun.

Bon Appetit

I wasn’t able to post yesterday. Actually, I was able to but I had nothing to write! We didn’t leave the apartment because my heel is hurting. I woke up with pain so we played inside. Today, it is still hurting but need to see some sunshine, even if it means hobbling to the grocery store.

I am choosing to stay in Almaty 1 extra day. Yes, this is crazy, right. I had prebooked flights with frequent flier miles to return on Friday. I have great connections, leave at 9:40 am instead of the middle of the night, and have bulkhead seating. I also have 2 extra seats beside me since my Mom and Davis left early. I contacted the travel agent to check an alternative flight for Thursday and it was a flight that left at 2am, went to Astana first which would mean 2 extra hrs on a plane, and I wasn’t guaranteed bulkhead or empty seats beside me! Plus, I would have to pay about $1,700 more. So being the frugal consumer that I am, I decided to not leave Thursday but leave on Friday. But believe, me my heart is telling me otherwise!

I am having sleeping problems with Leah now. She woke at 3:30 this morning. I should have not rushed in to get her but I did. She wanted a bottle and went back to bed. Tonight, I am going to try letting her whine for a few minutes to see if she will go back herself. She then got up at 5:30 stayed up for an hour, went back to bed and got up at 8. Then took another nap at 10. I think she would rather cat nap all day. This might be from the babyhouse schedule. She gets so whinny it is impossible to leave her up! At home, there will be more entertainment to keep her busy and awake. I am just trying to make it through these last 5 days and will worry about her schedule when I get home. She will be so confused anyway with the time change.

Marina came over so I could fill out some Embassy paperwork. Our interview is on Wednesday at 3:00. Supposedly, I just need to sign some documents and they hand me her Kazakhstan passport, Visa and other official adoption paperwork. Then we are free at last!

Marina had mentioned going to the mountains on Tuesday with the other family that is arriving tomorrow. That would be a lot of fun! It’s a single lady who is bringing her 3 yr old she adopted from Kaz and adopting a baby. Now is the time I wish Davis was still here! He would love to have a playmate!

We didn’t do very much today. We went to the grocery store (hopefully the last run) this morning. We then came back for lunch and naps. Later, we walked on the pedestrian walkway to find the Green Market. Supposedly, everything is very cheap and I am looking for a couple new toys for the airplane. I never found it as we got sidetracked at a new mall on the way! By that time, Leah was about done in the stroller.

We came back for dinner. Leah is such a good chewer that I decided I would try pasta and corn for dinner. I am so tired of the smell of that Beef Stew she likes! It smells like dog food! Here are pictures from our experiment. Let’s just say it was very messy and a bath followed immediately! From experience I removed all of her clothes and cleaned the floor beforehand!

Here is where we started with just corn. Not so bad, right!

Then added the Spaghetti!

Then came the bath!

This is Leah's famous "hands in the mouth." She does this everytime she is tired and when she goes to sleep! Here she is trying to taste the bath water!

Rambling From Almaty

As far as adjusting and bonding goes, I think Leah is doing wonderfully. She makes great eye contact with me, loves to be held (would prefer this over everything!), and loves to laugh and play with me. She goes to sleep wonderfully, actually better in the pack and play than in the full size crib. She might whine for 5 mins, but she is asleep pretty fast. She is even getting to the point where she will play for a few minutes before falling asleep. The only “issue” we are having is she won’t let anyone else hold her and she won’t let me leave the room! I have lessened the leaving the room issue by making a game of it. She cries and starts crawling towards the kitchen and I hide around the corner and play peak-a-boo. She then laughs and thinks it’s a game. Hopefully, she will put it together that I haven’t left! I am hoping once we are settled at home that the separation anxiety goes away also. I can imagine how fearful she must be, to be taken out of the world as she knew it. She is clinging to me as her lifeline right now and hopefully she will feel more secure as time passes. She is so bad that when a stranger is around she grabs hold of my hair! The only person she has not cried with is our driver here in Almaty. He has held her twice and she didn’t cry either time. I am curious to see if it is because he is a man, or because he holds her away from him so she can only see me. She might associate women with her caregivers at the babyhouse and think they will take her away. I don’t believe she has ever seen a man (other than Milon). It will be interesting to see how she reacts to other men. I can say, if the attention is on her terms, she is much better. For instance, the lady on the airplane. I bet she would have let her hold her. I am not sure though.

Kate, my translator gave me some interesting facts on Kazakhstan. She said the average person makes $120 per month. This would include retail people and bus drivers. She said most people have their apartment given to them from when the former Soviet Union gave all their citizens apartments. She said that the average utility bill for electricity, water, and gas is $60. That leaves $60 a month for food, clothing and misc expenses! Groceries are not any cheaper here than in the US! Can you imagine feeding your family on $60 per month! She said this is why you see a lot of people begging for money. They simply cannot survive on such little income. Especially older folks who cannot work. She also said that Doctors make very little money here. She said her mom is a dentist and makes $180 per month! That is not much higher than a bus driver! She said it is still considered a prestigious job, but is equal in pay to a teacher. She said most people who have the money often give the doctors a tip to help them out.

We also talked about the clothing here. I couldn’t understand why the clothes are of such poor quality and are so expensive! I told her that everything in US if from China also. She said that our clothing comes from Hong Kong and Kazakhstan gets clothing that is made in small factories on the border of China and Kazakhstan. She said she has all of her clothing from the US from being a flight attendant and from escorting babies to the US.

We had a bad night last night. Leah woke at 1:00am hungry. She had a bottle and some cereal with prunes and then I tried to get her back down. She wanted to play. In fact, I laid her in my bed hoping she would fall asleep and instead she decided to climb on me. She then went to my face and I got a big sloppy wet kiss on my mouth! I had to start laughing even though by this time it was 3am! She finally went back to sleep at 5am only to wake at 6am by the garbage truck. They woke me up also, they were so loud! Then we went back to sleep until 7:30. Needless to say, I am tired today and fighting a sore throat. Leah has been having 3 naps a day instead of 2 longer ones. She will only sleep for 1 hour intervals and by 4pm she is exhausted. This will have to change when we get home, but for now it works fine.

It is very noisy around here. There are a ton of wild dogs and cats running around. You can actually see some that are from the same litter that have formed a pack. They don’t bother anyone, except me when I am trying to sleep! They bark all night and then I hear cats fighting the rest of the night. I have been closing my window because it is so loud. I can’t imagine living here and listening to this all the time.

Last night, I made a big bowl of pasta with spaghetti sauce (yes, they do have spaghetti sauce in Almaty) and watched the movie “The Assassination of Jessie James.” The movie was just okay. I figure I have enough new movies here to last me until Thurs night! These are the collection of movies Milon bought for $1 in China that we haven’t had time to watch in 2 years! Here is the line-up. Tell me if any of these are not worth watching!

Fri- Flags of Our Fathers

Sat- There Will Be Blood

Sun-Vantage Point

Mon- American Ganster

Tues-Bourne Ultimatum

Wed- Onion Movie

Thur- Sex and the City (yes, i have seen this and will watch it again!)

I did see a beautiful German Shepherd running off leash with his owner. It reminded me of Greta, and yes, I actually miss her! I think Leah is going to really like her as she has been very interested in all the dogs we have seen.

Leah and I went to the Ramstore today. There is an entire 3rd floor dedicated to souvenirs! I bought her a t-shirt that says Kazakhstan on it. I will go back in the next few days to look some more. There were so many things, it was overwhelming, not to mention we went to close to lunchtime!

Lovin' Almaty!

We woke up this morning to the smell of fresh air! Spring has sprung in Almaty and the weather is gorgeous! I would say about 68-70 degrees. I am in a long sleeve shirt, no jacket and am hot! We had breakfast and went to the grocery store again. It will take awhile to stock up so I don’t have to carry multiple heavy things at one time. I found the ergo works much better for grocery store runs. My arms are free to carry the groceries and Leah doesn’t complain. In fact, I hum songs and she dances the entire way swaying side to side and clapping hands.

A girl at the grocery store and I had fun together. I was trying to figure out if this item was a hotdog or sausage. She didn’t speak English, but I wanted to know if the hotdog was beef. So I pointed to it and said “Moo.” She laughed and shook her head yes and then was trying to think of another animal. I said “oink, oink” she shook her head no, and then said “baaa” and she laughed and shook her head yes. It was pretty funny and we both had a good laugh.

Later, we went for a walk on the pedestrian walkway. Basically, it is a large street with stores on either side. It made me miss Milon so much! He would love this place. I saw a lot of perfect spots to sit and have a beer! There are tons of outdoor restaurant seating and lots of kabob street vendors. My stomach isn’t made of steel so I decided to have a grilled cheese sandwich at the apartment!

The staff in Almaty are wonderful! Marina has called 3 times in 2 days to make sure I am okay and even offered to get me an internet card at 7pm at night! I am so glad I made the decision to come early here. It is exactly what I needed. Almaty is chic, urban and touristy. I have already seen lots of Chinese people with cameras so I feel more like I am on vacation, rather than a mission to get home!

We are running into a little paperwork snafu. My updated I71h was never sent to Kazakhstan so hopefully, Milon can straighten that out before I need to leave. Marina said it was just an email the US Government needs to send, but you know how that goes.

I have a feeling Leah is going to be walking soon. She can now pull up on everything by herself and can stand flat footed holding on with 1 hand. She says “uh oh” every time she drops a toy on the ground.

We have been keeping ourselves very busy. Mainly, only home to sleep and eat! When we get home I think she is grateful to sit and play with her toys quietly since she hadn’t seen them all day!

Milon was able to tell me how to get the DVD player hooked up to the TV. This is great because now Leah can watch Sesame Street and I can watch movies! This is especially important since I don’t have CNN! I am reading another book, but I don’t like this one either!

We went to the SOS clinic today. Leah screamed the entire time because they took her and weighed her! Anytime the doctor came near she would scream. We have a bad case of the mommies right now, but hopefully, once we are at home that will change. She weighs 7.2kg which is almost 16lbs! Getting bigger! Last month she weighed 14lbs so we are doing well. She should be because she eats like a pig! The doctor said everything else sounded fine. Of course, we had a joke that her lungs were perfectly healthy!

Here are some pictures of our new digs.