Day 13: No Meat Pie For You!

Milon has been banned from meat pies for awhile. He stinks of them for days! I am not sure what spices they put in them but it is leaking out of his pores! We didn’t need anything from the grocery store today so he had no need to indulge in his daily habit.

Today is a holiday in Kazakhstan…Russian Christmas. Everyone has the day off. We were able to visit Leah twice today regardless but were not able to do our medical appointment. We are all grasping for straws for entertainment at the babyhouse. Today, we sat on the couch and told each other stories of funny things that have happened in our past. Davis loves to hear these stories, and we are trying to show him how much fun he will have with his sister….although I am not sure he sees it yet. We are beginning to see the first signs of jealousy. For instance, Milon was holding Leah and Davis wanted him to give me Leah so Milon can tell him more stories.

Leah looks like a skin head in this pictue. They shave the kids hair in the orphanage. I am hoping that they don't shave her head again since she is being adopted. She looks funny with a shaved head!! At least it's cold out and I can keep a hat on her until it grows out.
Milon made the grumpy nanny laugh today. She is the only caregiver at the orphanage we have not been that found of. She came in to take Leah back and Milon hands her Davis also. She thought that was very funny and laughed. Maybe she will be a little lighter with her humor from now on.

We also have to get creative for fun things to do at the apartment. Here is a picture of Milon inventing a game for Davis. Milon puts pillows on his lap and Davis runs and jumps over the pillows. Davis thought it was exceptionally funny, when I decided to take a turn! Yes, I think we are going to have a lot of reverse disciplining to do once we get home, but for now we are doing whatever it takes to keep all of us sane!

We picked up 3 drawing pads today for our albums. Thanks for the tip Alysa. We are going to make an extra one so we have it as a keepsake. We also found a flag of Kazakhstan for a dollar that we purchased for Leah’s room.

Here is part of our daily ritual. Davis lines up all the shoes in the hallway and asks us which ones we want to wear. We tell him we want to wear someone else’s shoes, he laughs and tells us which ones we can wear. If our everyday were not the same as it is, this adds to the monotony!

We bought our tickets home today. We arrive on the 12th. We are taking the 2:30am flight our of Almaty which will stink but you can pick between the 2:30 flight or the 4:00am. We couldn’t decide which was worse. Our total layover time will be 5 hours…much better than the 15 hour layover time we had coming over here. Hopefully, that will make a difference.

Day 12: Glorious Day!

We have a return date! We leave Aktobe on the 11th to arrive in Almaty. The flight from Almaty leaves at 4 in the morning so we will need to spend a night (or half night :>) in Almaty. We leave for home on the 12th and arrive home on the 12th. Seems strange since it took us 3 days to get here but I am not complaining.

We woke up to more snow. It has been snowing all day. The temperature is actually warm today 24 degrees! Tomorrow will be a high of 4 degrees and a low of Negative 13!

Leah is getting prepped for adoption. She had her HIV blood draw today. We go tomorrow for ours. Our interpreter says that they do not reuse needles, but we have been told to bring our own so that is what we plan on doing. I think Davis gets spared of this.


She was in a good mood despite her war bandage. She fell asleep on me again. She loves to be sung to. Here is a picture of her (and our) favorite caregiver. She came in the bonding room as soon as her shift started to see her. She held her and kissed her and said how much she missed her in the few days she was off. We asked her a million questions to get more information about Leah. She said she was a good sleeper and eater. They have to talk and play with her to get her to eat. She said she was very active…even more so than the rest of the babies (oh no, another Greta).

In the afternoon we spoke with our coordinator Gulnara. She informed us that they have already done the birthmother check. She even started the search before we arrived just so there were no surprises. They can’t find her in Aktobe. They are not required to search anymore. They think she might have given a phony name when leaving Leah at the hospital.

We are in search of 2 photo albums that our coordinator wants us to put together. I can’t remember who they are being sent to but they will display a picture of each day of bonding with a caption of the event. We need to complete this before we leave. Friday is the last day of bonding so that will leave us Saturday to finish it up.

We are finally in a grove as far as meals. We have been eating the same 3 meals since we arrived. They are all things Davis will eat so it makes it easy. Chicken fried rice (made with chicken, carrots, green onion, eggs, rice and what we think is soy sauce), chicken noodle soup, Chicken with pasta and red sauce and French toast. I will be glad for something different! Our knife at the apt is so bad that the carrots are in big chunks. We did bring a better knife but it was cheap and not that sharp either. Next time I will bring one of our good ones.

Everything is a little different here. Milon bought a can of "Tuna fish" at the grocery store. It turns out that in Kaz, Tuna fish comes complete with bones and skin. Needless to say Milon ate something else for lunch.



Here is a picture of bread that Milon and I will polish off once it comes in the house! It is delicious and the grocery store doesn’t even bother to put it on the shelves it goes so fast. They leave it in a shopping cart in the aisle. They have only had it 1 other time since we have been here.



Here are some Tips for parents bringing children with them. We are still learning!
1. Bring lots of DVDs
2. To entertain at the baby house, the balloon and a blow up ball has been his entertainment. We also rotate bringing the computer for movies
3. We wish we had brought another computer or DVD player. When he watches a movie we are left with nothing to do!
4. I have a lazy child so the stroller was a necessity
5. Prepare yourself for no car seats!
6. We have found food for him easy. Plenty of pasta, cheese, bread, fruit, ramen noodles.
7. The caregivers are very nice to him and play with him. They all have commented on how they like to see parents with their children because they like to see us play
8. The time difference has much harder than anticipated! Prepare yourself for an exhausting 7 days. It took him about 7 days to fully adjust.
9. The plane ride was better than expected. Next time, we would recommend spending the night in Almaty to avoid the 7 hour layover until the flight for Aktobe leaves. We brought legos, playdough, coloring books, hungry hippo traveling toy, traveling pinball game, lots of new movies.
10. We brought DVDs of his favorite TV shows. Most of the time we didn’t have enough time to watch a full movie and the 30 minute TV shows worked great.
11. If you are coming in winter, bring a scarf, gloves, thermals and snow boots! We got so many looks and comments about Davis not having a scarf! I have been letting him use mine. Truly it is too cold for kids to be outside in January!

Day 11: Eyes on the Prize

Today, Leah had a routine doctor’s visit at the local hospital. We didn’t find this out until we went for our morning visit and saw her looking like a marshmallow. We were not able to visit her this morning and took a taxi back to the apartment. We found out that everything checked out clear except the ear, nose and throat doctor. This is because of her bronchitits. They prescribed fluid massages, which are basically pounding on the babies back to break up the phelgm. They said if this doesn't work they will then prescribe anticbiotics.

We learned today that there is a problem with the Spanish couples birthmom. They are leaving on Wednesday without completing the bonding. During the bonding period, they contact the birthmom to get approval. The court and the appeal period is just a formality and the decision has already been made whether the birth mom or family wants the baby. They legally still can change their mind during this time, but have had several weeks notification beforehand. We don't know the exact details of this case, but do feel very sorry for them. We are glad everything is progressing smoothly for us so far.

The rest of the day, Davis and I played solitaire on the computer. He is quite good at dragging and dropping the cards. I still need to tell him where to put them but we both enjoy putting our minds to work. We also watched Go Diego Go Movie.

Milon had his daily 2 samsa's today. I do not like them so at least that is one food I can pass by! We had chicken with pasta and spaghetti sauce for dinner. Davis is eating so well here. He finished a huge bowl, although we had to feel his muscles grow through the whole meal. Whatever it takes for him to eat! He is very restless at night these days and is having a hard time settling down to bed even though he is exhausted. One night he didn't fall asleep until midnight. Last night he fell alseep at 9:00. This is much later than his usual 7:00 bedtime. Tonight, Milon gave him a massage instead of reading books and that seemed to settle him to sleep.



Here are some more tidbits on Leah. She is in babyhouse #1. She has 2 teeth on the bottom and I can see buldges where more are coming in. She loves to be held but only if you are standing up!! She likes to sit on your lap but you can't ignore her. (will make a fun plane ride home :>) She goes to sleep so fast! One minute I see her rub her eyes. I stand up and rock her and she is out! They are not rocked at the babyhouse, just laid down to sleep so rocking is a special treat for both of us. Her favorite thing is to kiss her cheeks and neck. She smiles so big. We have heard her make a happy sound when we kiss her, but have yet to hear her laugh. We really can't tell how mobile she is because we have to play on a couch! I know she can roll over but can't tell if she is able to get into sitting position from lying down. She is doing much better at sitting without support, although she still topples over.

These are our new friends...sad isn't it. Davis and I feed them everyday and they now must watch our window from a tree because as soon as we open it to throw bread they arrive.


We are doing okay, ready to come home, hoping once we are all 4 sitting on the couch in our own home, we look back on this time and remember with fond memories. Until then, we are anxious to get home and excited fo the day we bring Leah back with us.

Day 10: Into the Frozen Tundra

Today is Sunday so this means we only have one visit in the morning. Leah still sounds bad although unfortunately we have gotten use to it. We woke up to a fresh coat of snow on everything and it continued to light snow throughout the day. It makes the city look much cleaner…at least for a little while.

Milon has discovered a new obsession. They are tiny triangle filled puff pastries that are sold on the sidewalk on the way to the grocery store. They are filled with ground beef, onions and allspice. I was wondering why he was so eager to go to the grocery store and found out he eats one on the way into the store and has another on the way out. Our translator said they are called Samsa and they originated in Uzbekistan. Apparently, these street vendors littered the streets a few years ago until the government came in and cracked down. She was surprised there was still a stand around. Here is a picture of Milon's new addiction and his dealer :>





To combat sheer boredom, we decided to take a stroll to the mosque mall. I shouldn’t really say stroll because that implies a delightful slow paced walk smelling the fresh air. This was more like a bone chilling, snow impaling, frost bite occurring stroll where everyone walks like they are in a race to the finish line.

Going to the mall doesn’t really work for us. It is too far of a walk for Davis to not bring the stroller, but the mall is totally not kid friendly. There are steps and stairs everywhere and although there are 3 levels, each level is too small of space to really get use out of the stroller. We are afraid to leave the stroller outside since this has become our lifeline walking to the grocery store. To think, we were very close to not bringing it!

We have yet to buy any souvenirs. We walk into the store that everyone recommends and have no clue what to buy. We have heard to be careful because some things are actually made in China and not Kazakhstan. We still have 10 days left so I am sure we will be back to the mall before we leave. If not, we still have a whole other trip!

To say we are bored is an understatement. We spent the rest of today watching Charlotte's Web on the computer and eating. Really, that is all there is to do when we are at the apartment. We are all going to need some serious dieting when this is said and done.

Day 9: Pringles Sales up in Aktobe

I know we stand out like sore thumbs when we go to the grocery store and stock up on Pringles and diet coke. They have been out of both for the last several days. Davis and I discovered the chocolate a few days ago. The brand is Mercier and it has to be the best chocolate I have ever eaten. He can polish off 4 bars at a time…I can eat more :> This is our new lure to get him to eat. If you finish all your dinner you get chocolate.

We also look very out of place pushing a stoller on ice. It gets the job done but after awhile, the tread collects so much snow, that it begins to veer off course. This is a picture of a sled they use to pull kids on. We have also seen people pulling their groceries. From the picture below you can see it snowing. They are so use to it here, this grandma is pushing her grandkids on the swing covered with ice.




Leah sounds like a cat purring. I can’t believe it’s been 11 days since we first met her and she doesn’t sound any better. She fell asleep on me today after making a total mess eating! We got the pleasure of trying to entertain her wrapped in a blanket because the nanny said it was too cold. Imagine trying to play with an 8 month old wrapped in a blanket on a couch for 2 hours! Needless to say, we sighed in relief when we saw her eyes close!

Tonight we tried to go get a classic Russian dish called bishbarmark. We walked for 10 mins in 0 degrees weather to a restaurant our interpreter recommended. Turns out it turns into a night club on some nights and tonight it was a night club. We walked 10 mins back, I fell on the ice and finally wound up at a Turkish restaurant near our apartment called Taksim. We forgot it was a Saturday night and walked in to find a very smokey teenage hangout. People were smoking hookahs which I did not have a clue what they were. Milon ordered a double decker hamburger, I ordered Pizza and Davis got chicken nuggets. Milon got him to eat all 4 strips by allowing him to have another sip of his beer. He wound up eating all 4 and by the end we think he might have had a buzz. He was definitely acting different and even dancing to the TV! Hopefully, he will sleep extra good tonight!

Day 8: Another One Bites the Dust

Davis is now sick. He was up a good bit of the night. I think it's just a cold right now, sneezing, runny nose, coughing and irritable!

Leah was back to her happy self today. We have decided it was the vitamins upsetting her stomach so we are not going to give her anymore. She was babbling up a storm saying “dad da”, “ma ma” and “ata”. The rest of the day was filled playing duck duck goose and ring around the rosey.

We are going to buy a hairdryer today. Mine finally bit the dust. It worked fine and the past few days would cut off, then I would unplug it and it would turn back on. The intervals in which it is shutting off are too frequent now and I can’t get my hair dried!

We are told we need to go to the Uzbekistan restaurant to get some rice, or what they call “plov.” We also need to try the bishbarmark but haven’t been told of a good restaurant yet. Anyone have any recommendations? We are going to go for lunch rather than dinner, since we all are too exhausted at night.

Last night was a big party night. We were up most of the night listening to horns honk, people yelling and loud music. We are all pretty tired today.

Well, today is Day 8 of the mandatory 15 days of bonding. We are still comfortable here and into a routine but I can say I will be glad to get home. We are all sick now and are getting cranky. Leaving Leah will be difficult, but we realize it is part of the process and the sooner we are home, the sooner we come back to take her home for good. We still aren’t expected to leave here until the 14th. Apparently, because people here don’t go back to work until the 5th we have to add an extra 4 days onto our trip. Hmmm seems fishy to me since every day we are here people get paid, but we are just doing what we are told. We didn’t realize when we signed up for this that the first trip would turn into a 3.5 week trip! Nor, did we realize it would be 5 weeks for a court date, nor did we realize we would then have to come back for 6 weeks! The bottom line is we are being given the best gift ever, but getting her back in the US is going to be more trying and costly than we anticipated.

Here is a picture of the bathroom we use at the babyhouse. The first time we used it Davis was saying in the bonding room how much he had to pee. We had to get boots on, walk down the long hallway shown in the picture and he opens the door and says he doesn’t have to go. I laughed because it is a very nasty bathroom and you have to BYOP (bring your own paper)! Now, we have a running joke before we leave the apt that he better use the toilet here or he will have to go in that bathroom!






Ceric gave Davis a Kiwi and an orange yesterday. Davis thought it was very funny and brought Ceric an orange today.

Day 7: Happy New Year!

New Years is a big holiday here! We have heard fireworks going off since we arrived! People spend the New Year celebrating with family because they believe that who you ring in the New Year with is who your year will be filled with. They drink champagne, cook big dinners, and celebrate! This is the year of the cow. Gulnara, our coordinator, stopped by our apartment yesterday afternoon and gave Davis a chocolate Grandfather Frost (which look like Santa Clause) full of chocolate, a bottle of champagne, and a cow candle for New Years. She said she was sorry that we have missed all of the holidays in the US.

No wild vodka drinking at bars for us. We, of course, had a quiet New Years. We made chicken fried rice which was a big treat, drank some red wine which tasted like the two buck chuck and had some champagne that tasted like sparkling apple juice (although it sounds good it was not)! We were in bed by 9:00 only to wake up at midnight to what we thought was a war! I think everyone in Kazakhstan was lighting fireworks off. Car alarms were going off, people screaming and the sky was lit up at all ends. Davis woke up crying because he was scared. I guess I forgot to mention it was New Years Eve and there would be fireworks.

We were only able to see Leah once today because of the holiday. It is getting harder and harder to come up with ways to entertain her (and Davis). We are not allowed to put her on the floor since she catches colds easily, so we must play with her on the couch only. This doesn’t really allow us to spread out and let her move around. We are not allowed to bring her fruit puree or vegetables. For that matter, they won’t even allow a teething biscuit! I am only allowed to bring in some apple juice. I have stopped putting the vitamins in the juice because she wasn’t drinking a lot of it. Instead we were squirting it in her mouth. We think it might be upsetting her stomach because the past 2 days she has been rather fussy. We will try not giving her any tomorrow and see how she is.

It snowed here today. Davis enjoyed seeing it. We put bread out on the window sill for the birds.