What we thought would be a sad day turned into a happy day. We are able to see Leah one last time tomorrow morning. Her caregiver (who’s actually a nurse) told us that they want to move Leah into the next age group because she is so active, however, because of her age they cannot. She commented on how both of my kids look so much like Milon! She asked when we would be back, and said how much of a change she has seen in Leah’s vocabulary and physical skills since we have been visiting. We feel very confident in the caregivers that Leah has. Even our interpreter commented on how great this set of caregivers are. There is a nurse and nanny on each shift! There are 9 other babies in her group, so it is a 2 to 9 ratio with round the clock care.
Everyone here has been exceptionally nice. I keep thinking it’s because of Davis. At the babyhouse, all the women grab his head with affection. I think they might think the ball on top of his hat looks funny!
No more Pringles for Davis. We have discovered that since we stopped giving him Pringles we have had no problem putting him to sleep! I don’t know if you remember my blog entry where I kept complaining that he had ants in his pants, but he has been going to be as usually the past 3 days….and he hasn’t had Pringles. Hmmmm, they say they have no preservatives in them but there is definitely a connection!
We had our HIV, syphilis and Chlamydia tests today. Imagine, we have already had these done in the states and we have to do them again! We did bring our own needles as advised by our agency, but they did not fit the syringes. We even brought 2 different types. I really don’t think they reuse needles. I did make sure they opened a new package and saw they had put other needles in a biomed disposal container. Would a clinic that was testing for HIV really reuse needles??? The first clinic that did the chlamydia testing didn't have heat. It was rather cold and VERY crowded! I have no idea what kind of testing they do there, but was glad to get out! We then drove to the HIV clinic. It was very quiet. It is so different from our high tech labs in the US. They even used a seat bealt strap as turnic! They then took the needles and squirted the blood into a test tube that they had written our name on with a sharpie!
We learned that we needed our scrapbooks done today! We got our pictures printed and wrote out what we did each day beside the pictures. I felt like I was in school doing a project! We also needed 3 family pictures for court so we took another family picture today in order to have the 3 required. Here is a picture of the scrapbooks. We did 3 so we could have a copy of one for Leah.
Everyone here has been exceptionally nice. I keep thinking it’s because of Davis. At the babyhouse, all the women grab his head with affection. I think they might think the ball on top of his hat looks funny!
No more Pringles for Davis. We have discovered that since we stopped giving him Pringles we have had no problem putting him to sleep! I don’t know if you remember my blog entry where I kept complaining that he had ants in his pants, but he has been going to be as usually the past 3 days….and he hasn’t had Pringles. Hmmmm, they say they have no preservatives in them but there is definitely a connection!
We had our HIV, syphilis and Chlamydia tests today. Imagine, we have already had these done in the states and we have to do them again! We did bring our own needles as advised by our agency, but they did not fit the syringes. We even brought 2 different types. I really don’t think they reuse needles. I did make sure they opened a new package and saw they had put other needles in a biomed disposal container. Would a clinic that was testing for HIV really reuse needles??? The first clinic that did the chlamydia testing didn't have heat. It was rather cold and VERY crowded! I have no idea what kind of testing they do there, but was glad to get out! We then drove to the HIV clinic. It was very quiet. It is so different from our high tech labs in the US. They even used a seat bealt strap as turnic! They then took the needles and squirted the blood into a test tube that they had written our name on with a sharpie!
We learned that we needed our scrapbooks done today! We got our pictures printed and wrote out what we did each day beside the pictures. I felt like I was in school doing a project! We also needed 3 family pictures for court so we took another family picture today in order to have the 3 required. Here is a picture of the scrapbooks. We did 3 so we could have a copy of one for Leah.
This is the book we have been signing for the last 15 days. It proves that we actually did bond for 2 hours everyday for the last 15 days. Our interpreter showed us others signatures that we know via the blog world and I use to think it would be forever before we would have that many signatures! Now we do!!
Davis has discovered Tom and Jerry come on at 6:00 here! He loves that cartoon at home and it is the perfect cartoon to watch in Russian because there is no language! Here is a picture of him glued to the TV!
Here is Davis' choo choo train he makes with the little chairs everyday. We all have to get on the choo choo, including Leah! It keeps him busy so we are okay with playing along! The nannies think it is quite funny!
1 comment:
Hi you guys! I can't believe you are almost on your way home from trip 1. I'm so happy for you!
I'm so sorry to hear about the Spanish couple's process not working out. It's just so backwards how they clear things AFTER the adoptive families start bonding. We were frightened the whole time pre-court of something not working out for us.
Yes, the places where you get your blood tests are surreal, no? Did you notice that at the HIV clinic, although they don't seem to re-use needles, they did seem to re-use cotton balls? They had us discard ours in a container of alcohol, not in the trash can. I then realized that the weird specks of "dirt" I saw in the "fresh" cotton balls (which were soaking in an alcohol bath) were probably actually specks of old blood. It freaked me out a little, but I'm sure they were virus-free after a long soak.
I'm glad you finally got to try the beshbarmak. I should have mentioned to you that you can order it with beef instead of horse, which is what we did. The beef cuts were excellent and not fatty.
Yes, the Mosque Mall was hard to navigate and I felt so closed-in because most of the shops were tiny, even though the mall itself is a decent size. It's not like American malls for sure! The shop in the basement is where I bought many souvenirs, but don't worry if you can't decide. There is a place in Almaty that is HUGE with great souvennirs.
Well stay safe and warm, and give kisses to sweet Leah. It sounds like she has come a long way already. Expect some regression when you return again, but know that she will quickly catch right back up again.
Warmly,
Regina
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