Babyproofing the pond

Milon is spending today putting a wire fence around our coy pond. I have been fearful of this pond since we moved in and we are finally (1 yr later) doing something about it. Davis loves to play outside and I generally will do some internet surfing while he's outside since his swingset and trampoline are in my line of sight. The pond is insight also but I am too paranoid about him falling in to even take a chance. (I have really been getting into blog stalking these days:>)





Davis is taking swim lessons everyday for 2 weeks. It's a commitment and I am hoping he at least learns to float. We've been going for 1 week now and he's a lot more comfortable in the water, but hasn't managed to get his head wet yet. I think he spends more time on the toilet than he does in the water! For some reason we make endless trips to pee....the water must be really cold.


Here is a picture of Milon and Davis swimming at a friends pool.











On the adoption front, all of our paperwork is finished, notarized and apostilled. I even have our visa pictures and crisp money which I thought was going to be hard to get and turned out to be easy! I love Pam at our bank! Now, we are just waiting and waiting and waiting.


We have decided to make 2 trips. We will go on the 1st trip for our 2 week bonding period and then come home for 6 weeks. Then return for the remainder of the time. Maybe around 5-6 weeks?? The decision was easy b/c Kazakhstan just implemented a rule that we have to stay during the appeal period after court which is 2 weeks. At that time we get custody of her. There is no way I could then send her back to the orphanage when she could be with us! My mom has offered to go since Milon cannot take that much time off of work. I am glad to have the company and the help entertaining Davis. I am also excited for her to see where her grandaughter was born.


This adoption is making me concour all of my fears. I HATE to fly....and I really hate to fly with a 3 yr old. I am a total nervous wreck on a plane. I also HATE being away from home. I have taken 1 trip where I didn't want to come home and that was to Bermuda. I could live their forever! No matter where we go I want to return home the second we get there. To stay in a country that long will kill me but it would do the same to leave her. And then there is the biggest fear of all.. the whole picking out your child, the possible medical conditions, etc part of the adoption process that I am deathly afraid of.


Hmmmm....maybe I have just diagnosed myself as having an anxiety problem...hence the not sleeping???

Just Passing Time

I have come to the conclusion that I need to keep really busy or this wait will make me crazy. So as any woman would do when she is bored I have decided to clean...I mean really clean. I called ZeroRez in to clean the carpets, tile, and air ducts. No, I am not hiring people to clean but this has given me the motivation I need. The carpets look brand new and I realized I have white grout instead of brown!!

I have had terrible insomnia since we moved in this house 1 yr ago. I swear it is something in the house and don't tell many people that to avoid seeming crazy! I take something EVERY night to sleep and my drugs of choice are Tylenol PM, Advil PM, Benadryl, or Sominex. I just finished a 7 day trial of Ambien which didn't work any better. I have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep! I am having the airducts cleaned to see if that will help...wishful thinking but I am willing to try anything!

I am trying to get in shape during this dreadful wait as well. I don't mean lose weight, but get more energy. I started yesterday by riding bikes to the park with Davis on the back. This morning I ran 3 miles and felt like I was going to die. I am the worst runner ever but am hoping it gets easier.

No, news on the adoption front other than the fact I learned I should have been collecting brand new crisp dollars from the bank along time ago. Apparently, banks are only issued new money ever so often so I might have a harder time getting this since I am late starting.

I have gotten the rest of the documents done that are needed for travel. It includes more medicals, more fingerprints, police clearance, tax returns, employer statements, etc.

Milon is concerned about his travelling b/c he will need to be in the country when we get the LOI in order to send his passport away to get our visas. I guess he will have to stop travelling maybe in August (oh darn).

I See Pink..Lots of Pink!

Think I have a problem? And this is only the closet. Doesn't include drawers, armoire, or 2 bins of other sized clothes! Truth is some very nice friends have given me their girls clothes. Now all she needs are some prada's to go with the dresses (just kidding).

Yes, she already has a pink Northface Jacket. Okay, Milon bought it in China but still...

Here's some pics of her room that has been finished for oh about a year :> We still need to paint but with a 2 yr old that doesn't nap anymore it's kind of hard to do. Painting would be way too much fun for him.

We're Going to Aktobe or Aqtobe!

We just got the call that we are assigned to Aktobe! I am not sure if this is exciting news or not since I can find very little information on this region. It is nice to be able to look on a map and see where we will be headed though. I am a little disappointed that this region just became a 3 trip region. This is what our travel schedule looks like.

Trip #1 Bonding period (2 weeks)
Home for 6 weeks
Trip #2 Court (2 days)
Home for 2 week appeal process and then 1-2 weeks for her passport
Trip #3 Back to pick her up

We are thinking of taking Davis on Trip 1 so he can "help" us pick her out and feel included in the process. We might go back for Trip 2 and stay until we can take her home. We officially get custody of her after the 2 week appeal process. It will depend on a lot of factors and fortunately we don't have to decide that anytime soon.

So once again we are waiting. Waiting for the Letter of Invitation. This could come any day but realistically my agency would not be surprised if it came as late as Sept. It all depends on how many little girls they have and how many couples they have ahead of us. Once the LOI comes we are only given a week or so to be packed and on a plane.

Trip Decision

We are still torn as to what to do about travel. We can make one long trip which we could be in country 7-8 weeks. Or make 2 trips.

Prospective parents are required to have a minimum 14 days of personal contact with the child before formally submitting an adoption application. This means that we must stay in the town where our child is living and visit her on a regular basis for 2 weeks. Once the bonding time is completed, we can formally apply to the court for adoption. We then can chose to go home and come back a few weeks later, or stay the entire time. I am not sure Milon can take that much time off from work! We are of course are bringing my 2yr old son. I wouldn't be able to leave him for even 2 weeks! My problem is I know myself well enough that I am not going to want to leave her in an orphanage with no contact with me for 4-6 weeks! Kids change so fast that even in a week I could miss something new she has done! Plus, It is a great time to bond with her before taking her away from everything familiar to her! My mom has offered to go over with us and stay so that might be an option also. Or Davis and I will just stay.

Choosing to Travel Blind

The preferred method of child selection is to travel to select and meet a child and interact and have a bonding period with the child before deciding to adopt that child. You are typically shown one child at a time and from what I have heard you only have a few minutes with each child. The intimidating part of traveling blind is we won't know how many baby girls we will be shown. All we know is they at least have 1 girl that meets our age and medical criteria. We chose this method over a referral because we would like to interact with the child rather than just have one picked out for us. We could potentially have to sacrifice age (meaning she might be a little older than 1yr) but we feel being able to interact with her and having the feeling that "She's the one" out ways age.

In MFA!

I got a call today from our coordinator that our Dossier is finally in Kaz at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs! It was at the Consulate in NY exactly 4 weeks. The MFA is where we indicate our intention to adopt a Kazkhstani orphan. The estimated time in MFA is 2 months. From the MFA it goes to the Ministry of Education (MOE). Here are paper work is reviewed and we will be matched with a region. We then await a Letter of Invitation (LOI) from that particular region. Once we receive our LOI, we can then obtain visas to travel to Kazakhstan

We are starting to gather things that we will need for the trip. Wow, we will be bringing a lot!