The Daily Grind

Nothing much is new here. We are going to the Belgium couple’s apartment tomorrow afternoon. They already have custody of their baby girl and it will be nice to see her. We look forward to talking with another couple who is going thru the same experience we are. It will also be nice to get some tips from them since they have been here for 5 weeks already. We have not ventured past our usual stops…mainly because we have a 3 yr old in tow!

Davis is infatuated with Leah. He can’t keep his hands off her! We find him affectionately tickling her, kissing her, etc. Although he got upset when she drooled on him! He has a lot to learn!

Here is a picture of the bottle they feed her with. Now you can see why she likes the Born Free ones so much!

We are starting to realize we need a daily routine. We are getting very bored and are starting to feel useless. We have decided to make a daily schedule. We hope this will help with passing the time! Here is what we have decided:

8:00-10 Get up, breakfast, watch cartoons, get ready

10-12 Visit 1 at babyhouse

12-1 Lunch

1-2:30 Go out of the apt (either the grocery store, walk anywhere!)

2:30-3:30 Back in apt to rest up and get snack

4-6 Babyhouse visit 2

6-7 Eat dinner

7- put davis to bed

Back to the Couch

Today I arrived at our morning visit to be told by the nannies that Leah has a cold and I have to play with her on the couch! Great…back to the couch! Her nose was slightly running and she sneezed a few times. She was back in her snowsuit and became so hot that her head was wet from sweat.

I met a lady who was cleaning the floors with a stick and a rag that was so dirty and ripped that most of it was shredding as she mopped the floor. We played charades for awhile and I thought she was asking me if I had a camera but they hadn’t brought Leah out yet so I wasn’t sure why she kept asking me this. Once they brought Leah out I found out she wanted me to take a picture of her! She spoke a lot to me even though I couldn’t understand a thing she said! Here is the picture of her. I assume she is a cleaning lady at the babyhouse.

Leah has a hat on that Cerine (Milon’s sister) made for her out of bamboo. It fits her perfectly! Cerine also made several extra hats as well as a blanket for the babyhouse to keep. I am waiting until our interpreter is with us to give them out.

Out of boredom, I gave Leah a bitter biscuit to chew on. I remembered from Davis that they made an absolute mess, so I put a bib on her and only let her gnaw on it until it started to melt. I figured there would be less evidence if I stopped her before it was everywhere! I also gave her more puffs which she loves. She still isn’t able to feed herself but she manages well with the limited chewing she needs in order to swallow them.

Davis is feeling much better so tomorrow we will start bringing him back to the babyhouse in the morning. We are thinking of keeping the afternoon visit a childless one.

Today marks 1 week since leaving home. 5 more to go! Boredom is starting to set in. It is hard entertaining Davis without many toys or places to go. The grocery store has become our daily outing. We went to a small (very small) park that is right outside our building. We were out there for about 15 mins and got cold so we came back in. It is 10 degrees here which actually feels warm compared to last trip. We have to be very creative with entertaining Davis. I am actually typing this blog entry in a make shift fort we built (see below). Davis is coloring in a Handy Manny coloring book and I am typing on the computer! He has become excellent with the mouse on my laptop! We play solitaire together and I tell him where to drag the cards and he does the rest. He also has a memory game he can do all by himself.

Our little leprechaun!

It’s Milon’s Birthday today! Happy Birthday! I am buying him his favorite today…. a meat pie!

Check out the outfit Leah had on today! This is the best one yet!

Milon and I are taking turns going to the babyhouse so Davis doesn’t go. He is still sick although I think we are the mend. He had a second dose of antibiotic today and another steam room. His cough isn’t loose yet, but he slept through the night without coughing. Well, if you consider sleeping until 4am sleeping thru the night! Milon is getting sick sounded like a freight train all night! I went into Davis’ bed and slept with him since he was quieter! I figured I would pick the worst of the 2 evils!

We found out today we can pay a fee to have Milon's visa extended while he is not here. We are taking this route because it will be cheaper than having to change flights. My mom will still arrive as planned on the 6th and Milon will leave Aktobe on the 5th.

The nannies gave me permission to give Leah pears today! She loved them! She also loves the born free bottles (thanks Kristin!). She drinks all of her apple juice from them and I could hardly get her to drink it from the medicine dispenser they use.

I also gave her puffs today. I was afraid she would choke so I started breaking them in 3rds. She would take them in her hand and they would stick to her fist! Poor thing would shake her hand to get the puff off so she could eat it. It would then fall on the blanket and she got clever and found out it was easier to lick it off the blanket! Very funny! She did this several times and I started to feel bad so I would stick them in her mouth for her. She loved them! I broke them in half and she did fine. Still nervous to try a whole one even though I am sure she can chew it.

Milon and I like having the one on one time with her. We are thinking of keeping the morning visit as a family visit, but trading off in the afternoon and not bringing Davis. If he wants to go he can, but it helps to bond with her when it is one on one.

Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am

That basically sums up how court went! The judge said YES!!

We prepared our speeches the night before with our translator Ainura. Ceric picked us up and the apartment 15 mins prior to court. We met Ainura and Gulnara outside court and walked in together. We stood in a small very cold hallway for a few minutes and then were ushered into a room that was about the size of a small bedroom. Davis had been up since 4:00 and was sick and exhausted. We prepped him all morning about being quiet in court and behaving. We were more scared he would act up than the actual court case! The head orphanage Director, Meirambek (the guy from the Ministry of Education), Gulnara, Ainua and us were all in the room. The judge walks in fully robed and sits down. Then the prosecutor walks in. Ainura whispers to us that they don’t have a court room available so we will do the proceeding in this room! We all stood up, then sat back down. They were mumbling a lot in Russian. The judge asks if Davis was ours. He then asks Milon if he had visited the child. Then he asks me the same question. He asks Milon why we wanted to adopt a child. Milon answers. Then he asks me if Davis was excited about having a sister. Then he tried to ask Davis if he was excited but he got shy and wouldn’t answer. The judge jokingly waved his hand like forget it and carried on. Everyone got up and we left the room!! It was done, over, just like that!

It wasn’t until after the court that we got the full story. Apparently, Gulnara went to the judge earlier in the morning and expressed that it was her last case working for our agency. She had asked him to make sure that the court case went thru with no problems and was quick. Since the prosecutor was late (literally 1 minute late) the judge said he had to keep his questions to a minimum. Apparently, he is known for grueling families. I don’t think he had time to think of any questions to ask! It was very informal, very quick and to the point! We didn’t even know what had happened. I asked Ainura if it was over and she said yes and the judge approved! Wow…Leah is ours!

We took everyone out to lunch at a Turkish restaurant called Taksim to celebrate. Meirambek (the MOE guy who was very serious when we first met Leah) was extremely nice. He loved Davis. He was a former High School History teacher. He drew several pictures of super heroes and Kazakhstan symbols in a Spiderman notebook we brought. He also wrote in Kazakh “Davis! Be Happy! Don’t forget us! Meirambek February 25, 2009” Ainura translated it for him.

All of us at Lunch

Ceric and Davis

Ainura and Gulnara
So, there it is. Mostly said and done. Now we have to wait for the appeal period that lasts 15 days and on the 16th day Leah gets to finally leave the babyhouse and we all get to start our new life together as one big happy family!

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

Yes, we got a call today that our bags arrived at the airport. Two of the Three bags that is. The good news is our court clothes were in one of those bags! The bad news is the other one was just full of gifts to distribute!

We arrived at the baby house today to discover Americans shoes are much dirtier than Kazakhs. We were asked to put on booties over our shoes to walk from the front door to the bonding room. Remember, we already have to take our shoes off in the bonding room to avoid getting a very large, dirty carpet even dirtier! We also must bring a blanket to so that we can play with Leah on the floor. This is a good idea though because the carpet is so dirty!

We were able to feed Leah today and she has become a much better eater! More goes in her mouth than comes out! I gave her a dose of vitamins which she didn’t seem to be found of, but I know she needs them. We also got brave and brought a jar of peaches and gave her half the jar! She loved them! She wouldn’t eat all of the slop they gave her so I poured some in a container I brought so they wouldn’t think she didn’t eat all her food.

I have been checking her clothes and most are 3-6 months. I think she will quickly be in 6-12 but I think they would be big right now.

She laughed the entire visit today. Not just casual laughs but big belly laughs! It was very funny. Davis watched Clifford on the carpet and Leah was very interested. At one point Davis was explaining what was going on in the story. We also caught him holding her hand and affectionately touching her. I think he likes the fact she is on his level and can move around. She loves him and crawls to him constantly. She does try to grab his hair which he doesn’t like. Here's a picture of the two of them watching Clifford.

Our big court day is tomorrow! We have to prepare our speeches tonight. I will be glad to get this day behind us. The politics behind adoption have been frustrating! I am slightly worried Davis will talk too much during court. Hopefully, a little bribery with chocolate will work.

Davis has a horrible cough. In fact, it is starting to sound like croup. We have been in a make shift steam room twice today! The water here is the hottest I have ever felt in my life! In fact, our steam room gets so hot it hurts your skin to stand up! Even washing the dishes can give you a third degree burn!

Davis has learned to play Purble Place on the computer. It's a memory game where you have to match up cards based on remembering where the cards are. He is very good at the game and can play by himself! He says he plays esspecially well in his whity tidies.

Wish us luck tomorrow and hope the judge says YES!!

Crawling Like A Mad Woman

What a difference 6 weeks can make! Leah is crawling and she is pretty darn good! I am not sure if she exactly remembered us but she didn't cry when the nannies handed her to us! She was a much happier baby today. She has 4 new front teeth and I imagine that was part of her frustration last time. She smiled and laughed the entire visit! We got brave and played with her on the floor...mainly because she looks like an inch worm when she crawls!

Our interpreter is no longer coming to our visits. This is actually good news because we can play as a family rather than always feeling "watched". She wrote out some questions we had for the nannies. One being can we bring her food! We will see what they say tomorrow.

Davis was excited to see her and had more interaction with her when she was on the floor. He raced her crawling to the toys. Of course he won.

We were told today that we should get custody of her on March 13th and should be able to leave Aktobe on March 22nd to head for Almaty for 2-4 days. This is great news because we have tickets booked for April 3rd! We could possibly cut out a whole week! Of course, notice the "probably" and "should" in these statements. Nothing goes as planned in Kazakhstan and we know it could change in a heartbeat.

This will be a short post because we are still exhausted and are going to sleep early!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Here is what we left the house with….

And this is what we arrived with.
Our trip so far has not started out very well. Our plane was late getting to London and we missed our flight into Kazakhstan. We took a later flight (after waiting in Heathrow’s airport for 5 hours) but this meant we missed our domestic flight from Almaty to Aktobe. We are staying a night in a $230 a night hotel in Almaty and will be picked up downstairs at 5:40 to catch the 7:30 flight to Aktobe.

The plane rides themselves were uneventful…. other than a horrific landing in Almaty. This touchdown was so bad that everyone on the plane cheered after we had come to a stop!! That was just what someone who hates to fly anyway needed to experience! At least it was at the end of the trip. Davis slept most of the two 7 hour flights and was a doll the rest of the time. Milon and I slept for about 2 hours on the first flight and that was about all.

We got off the plane and went to get our bags. Guess what! They are missing...again! Milon double checked with 3 airline workers to make sure our bags had made it on the plane. After all, they had 5 hours to get them to the correct plane! We do have a change of clothes, coats, hats, gloves, toiletries, but we don’t have PJs or our court clothes we will need for Wed morning. You would think we would have learned from last time to pack all essentials in the carry-on but our winter outer garments took up most of the bag. I don’t even think I have a hairbrush! But I do have a hairdryer! They think our bags will come by Tuesday but that is just a best guess.

We are beyond exhausted but trying to keep ourselves up! It shouldn’t be too difficult because this hotel is freezing! I am not sure they have heat! I have 2 pairs of socks and a jacket on and will probably not have a shower because it is too cold!

It isn’t too terribly cold here. Maybe in the 20’s with very light snow. All of the sidewalks are a sheet of ice. Kate (the interpreter in Almaty) said last week was warm and melted a lot of the snow, but now what is left has turned to ice. Hmm, wonder if that was the reason the airplane landing was so bad. When we got off the plane to board the bus it was a sheet of ice!

We walked to the grocery store and got water, apple juice, 4 mandarin oranges, sliced gouda cheese, sliced salami, jar of black olives, and a loaf of that good bread we love. All cost us $20 which is half what it would have cost to go out somewhere. We also stopped at the meat pie street vendor and picked up some pancake looking things. No, Milon did not get a meat pie! He wanted to slowly reacquaint his stomach and the meat pie, but not before a 2.5 hour flight! The pancakes were great, although I have no idea what the locals do with them! Milon stuffed his with cheese and salami and I just ate it plain.

We brought our dinner back to the room and had a relaxing night of eating and watching Black Spiderman in bed….how romantic!

It’s now 2:30 am and I can’t sleep, despite taking an Ambien. Davis fell asleep during Spiderman at 7:00 and woke up at 10:30. I put the DVD player on the couch and he finally fell asleep again at 12:30. Milon has been sleeping most of the night. We only have 1 double bed with 2 pillows (see below). I let Davis sleep on blankie until he started coughing so bad during the night. I then gave him my pillow and I slept on blankie. He was still coughing like crazy so I finally gave him blankie and my pillow! That worked but hence why I can’t sleep!
Our flight to Aktobe was fine. The trip to the apartment wasn’t so fine. Our driver, Ceric, got in a small fender bender on the way to drop us off. Nothing major just a scratch and dent down the side of his car. It was not his fault at all but after a lot of jabbering and yelling back and forth in Russian, he got in the car and drove off. I have no idea if they reached an agreement to disagree and moved on or what!

We walked in the apt and Milon and I both said “Home sweet home.” It’s kind of strange how it does “sort of” feel like home! We found everything that was hidden and Davis was like Christmas morning finding all of his forgotten toys!

Aktobe... Take 2

Wow, the time has flown by. It is a strange feeling to be excited to get back to get Leah and have this all behind us, but at the same time, not want to leave home! The best thing for us is to take 1 day at a time and not look at the whole 6 weeks!

Right now, I am concentrating on the dreaded airplane trip! We were able to book all the flights with frequent flier miles. This is great because it was cheap, but is bad because if our return date changes we lose the miles and have to rebook either with new miles or money. We all have return tickets for April 3rd. My mom and Davis will come back regardless then. Leah and I might have to wait a day or two more if things don't go as planned (which I am totally expecting)! I do believe I have the short end of the deal! Davis will be much easier than Leah to entertain!

Milon leaves Friday for Chicago at 11:30 and Davis and I leave at 5:30. We then meet up in Chicago and take the rest of the journey together. These were the only flights available.

Milon returns to the US on March 6th and my mom makes her way over on March 4th and gets in Aktobe on March 6th.

I have packed my luxury items. Coffee press, 7 bags of coffee, and powdered cream! I just know that if I don't get a good cup of coffee in the morning, the day will stink, so I am best to bring my own! I am debating on bringing the fitted sheet! For those that remember, they don't use fitted sheets and I slept on the mattress most night! Gross! If we have room I will bring it, if not, I think I might steal the sheet off Davis bed (he doesn't use it anyway) and let him sleep under just a blanket and put that sheet on our bed as well. We could overlap them so we could tuck the sides in!

The Belgium couple that I met over the Internet is in Aktobe now waiting their 15 day appeal period. They were very kind and sent me pics of Leah! She looks the exact same....other than her head being shaved again! Enjoy!

Our journey continues and will post as soon as we get to Aktobe!