Running around

Not everything is working out as planned, but we're still on track! We booked my tickets last night. Both days (Wednesday and Saturday) that I wanted to travel, there were no flights - the only 2 days of the week where there are no flights. Go figure. So I will be leaving Amsterdam on Tuesday, June 6th and leaving Almaty on Sunday, June 11th. I was bummed having to stay there longer, but at least they are booked. We also booked our trip to Boston and were only going to stay there until Tuesday (a very short trip) but now Joe has meeting there that week so we may stay until Friday. It's still up in the air as his meetings are notorious for being cancelled last minute.

As far as today, I've pretty much been 2 hours behind all day. I started out the day O.K., woke up extra early, walked Charlie, showered, ate breakfast, etc.

The first "item" of the day was calling the USCIS Office (Immigration) in Frankfurt. They approved us for the adoption but somehow the US Embassy in Almaty doesn't have that approval. This is needed to get her visa. Before our first trip, our agency called and checked that they had it, but somehow now they are saying they don't. Thank goodness for double-checking! I tried calling last night but the office was closed. I spoke with the US Consulate there and she said they opened at 8am. I called at 8am this morning and a man told me it opens at 9am. I waited until 9a to call and voicemail. Of course, the voicemail box is full so I can't even leave a message. I am now late for going to the KZ Embassy in The Hague. They open at 930a and I wanted to be there first thing. Already behind schedule.

I arrived at the KZ Embassy at about 1020a (did I mention it is a 45 min drive?). The gate is locked. I ring a bell and the lady tells me the consular section is closed for the hour. Huh? The opening hours are from 930a-130p but apparently he had something to do. Not knowing where I am really, I just started driving around (after calling Joe and complaining and then trying the USCIS office again - voicemail). I ended up at Schevingingen (try saying that 3 times fast), the beach! I didn't even get out as it is still really cold here and was raining (did I mention it has rained every day here since we've been back from KZ?). After about 30 min. of driving, I started to make my way back to the embassy. Got to love Tom Tom (our GPS).

Right when I got back, the consulate was getting back. Great timing (still behind schedule). He is skeptical by my asking for a tourist visa but then telling him I will be picking up my daughter. He thinks there may be a problem getting her out but I trust my agency's advice and tell him "it's fine" (with my fingers crossed behind my back). He tells me I can pick up my visa Monday. Monday is a Dutch holiday (actually a religious holiday but everything is closed) so I tell him but he doesn't think they're closed. I'll call back tomorrow to check. Of course, I fly Tuesday so I'm a little nervous about being so last minute. Maybe I'll try to sweet talk him tomorrow into picking it up on Friday. Wish me luck!

I came home for lunch, after spending 1 1/2 hr in traffic, and to get the fax # for the Immigration office. Tried faxing it, wrong number on their website. I called and a lady gave me a completely different #. It went through. Still no word back from them and another 5 times trying to call.

After faxing, I went to a lady's house (who I met through the woman's club) to pick up items she is giving to us for Hannah, items her son has outgrown. Oh my goodness, more toys than we know what to do with, baby gates,....Wow! So great! I made it home pretty quickly (only 40 min) from her house and went to the grocery store to get something for dinner. Then onto my pre-2nd trip pow-wow with Don at our agency (only 2 hrs late). We went over expenses, paperwork, etc. and were trying to figure out what to do about the Immigration office (kind of important)! He ended up getting me direct numbers for a few people at the office from a social worker in Germany (why didn't I think of that?). So I will try again tomorrow at 8am!

It's Official today!!!

As of today, Hannah Alina is officially our daughter!!! It has now been 15 days and the judge's decision is binding!! I had such good intentions of updating the blog during our time apart from Hannah, but obviously, it didn't happen. I feel like the time is going by so fast.

In other news...I am going to pick up Hannah on June 8th!!! I will be going by myself to Almaty to pick her up, but staying with Chris (our neighbor from Karaganda) in an apt. I leave the 7th of June and will arrive in Almaty at 530a on Thursday. It will be a whirlwind trip with picking up Hannah and going for her medical exam that same day. Then Friday, we go to the US Embassy to get her visa and by Saturday morning, we'll be on our way to Boston via Amsterdam (to pick up Daddy). We've decided not to get her visa for NL, but rather make a VERY quick trip to the US (3 days) to get her US passport. We chose Boston because there is a direct flight and Joe knows the city well. If Hannah is up for it, we may even get to see family too.

But going back....a recap to today.

Last Tuesday, my friends, Jill and Meghan, threw me a baby shower.
It was so much fun! The cutest touch was the diapers made out of pink napkins safety-pinned filled with chocolates! I had brought pictures of Hannah, mostly wallets, and we displayed them throughout her house. Too cute. Then, of course, there were the presents. A lot of pink!! Toys, outfits, onesies, books (Auntie Tara, the teacher, couldn't resist). She even got a jean jacket! Something every little girl needs, right?

This past weekend was a 4 day weekend. Joe got Thursday and Friday off from work - Ascension Day. Just what we needed after spending 24/7 together for a month. Thursday was shopping day for Hannah. Between the baby shower and hand-me-downs from friends, she is pretty set with clothes. We also are borrowing a lot from my friend Maria, including an infant car seat, which is great. So we just had to get a few more basics.

Saturday morning, I received word from Don at ROTIA (via email sent Friday) that we could have appts. the 8th and 9th or the 12th and 13th in Almaty. We were very excited and of course chose as soon as possible! Because of the 3 day weekend we couldn't confirm this with him until today and therefore will be booking our flights tonight!

The rest of this week, I will be doing the finishing touches on getting ready for baby. Finishing up her room, cleaning, moving stuff around to make room for her stuff, baby pro0fing, etc. I also have to go to the Kazakhstan Embassy in The Hague again to get another visa.

It's hard to believe that next week, we'll have our daughter!!! Very exciting! Very scary! : )

Finally home!

We got home this past Friday and are SO happy to be home! I feel like we've been away forever. Sammy and Charlie were very excited to have us home too! Especially Sammy. He's been Joe's shadow since we walked in the door.

A recap of our last days in Kazakhstan....

We left Karaganda on Thursday morning on Air Astana. Our flight had Air Astana's millionth passenger on it so there was a big celebration during our 1 1/2 hr flight. They passed champagne and served cake after our sandwich. Then, when we got to Almaty, there were camera crews and she got a bouquet of flowers. Interesting.

Almaty is quite different than Karaganda, and was like every other city we've been. It used to be the capital of Kazakhstan and still houses the consular sections of the embassies. Not nearly as many potholes either. We didn't do much sightseeing, just went to the mall and then to a bazaar. We hung out for a while at our apt. and then went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant. While we there, we also called the Dutch embassy to find out more information about getting Hannah a Schengen visa that will allow her to enter NL before going to the States (she will not become a US citizen until she is on US soil). We were hoping to come home first and let her get to know us better before taking her to visit our families in the US. Unfortunately, it will take at least 5 business days to get a visa for NL (it takes 2 days for the US). This was very upsetting news as Joe doesn't have the time to take off from work. I don't mind going by myself to get her but I don't want to stay another week in Kazakhstan. We're trying to figure out our best option and have our relocation company working on it too!

We were picked up at 430a to go the airport. Our flight home to Amsterdam was about 7 hrs and went by quick enough. I slept for most of it. We got home by 11am and the first thing I did was shower! I think I mentioned that our shower in Karaganda was not the best. And it was so nice to sleep in our own bed!

We miss Hannah but it is fairly easy to get back to our normal routine. It's so strange to think that we have a daughter, especially since she's not here with us. I don't think it seems real to either of us yet. I'm sure that will all change once we get her home.

Last day at Malutka

Today was our last day with Hannah at the orphanage. Tomorrow we start our two-day trek back home. Bittersweet. Here is a picture of the orphanage front door.
We had a great last day with her though. Morning went as usual. She was sleeping when we got there and woke up within a few minutes. The caregiver picked her up and I was standing just outside the room. When she saw me, her face lit up and she smiled. It was the first time I actually thought she recognized me. And of course, it happened on our last day. Here’s a picture of her trying to crawl. She actually wasn’t going anywhere and we put her in the position, but the fact that she had the strength to maintain the position is a big deal.

During the afternoon visit, we were supposed to have a party with Hannah’s caregivers but unfortunately, our translator, Olga, is sick and called us before we left to tell us we wouldn’t be having the party. We still brought gifts for them and hopefully they will have a party without us (considering we’ve already given the money for it to Olga). Some of the caregivers actually come on their day off for the party so we asked Olga to make sure and call the orphanage to let them know there wasn’t a party. We think she did, but a few caregivers still came. We felt bad and weren’t sure how to deal with the situation since we don’t speak Russian. Luckily Joe ran and got another translator to help us. With Lena’s help, we were able to explain what happened with Olga and relay our gratitude for all they’ve done and will continue to do for Hannah! They in turn wished us a happy, healthy life and told us to come back next year for a boy. : ) They also wrote letters to Hannah “Alina” (on stationary we provided) and gave those to us today. It was all very “gezellig”!

Right when we got upstairs, Joe thought he smelled something. Sure enough, it was our little banana! Here we thought she didn’t poop since we haven’t seen it in the 3 weeks we’ve been here. : ) Luckily, we still have the joy of being in the orphanage. We brought her back to her room and one of the caregivers cleaned her right up! We would’ve done it ourselves (although we loved avoiding it another day), but they don’t use wipes here and rather hose them down. Whatever works! After that, she was just a doll today! Laughing like crazy. She thought her mommy was very funny!

It was very hard to say goodbye to her. She could care less and was super sleepy but I was very sad leaving her room. But only 2 more weeks until we’re together again.

Day 22

Pretty uneventful day today, a lot of the families have left and it is much more quiet in the playroom. It feels a little sad actually, since most of the families, like us, are leaving their children behind. Up until today I have been fine with the thought of leaving Hannah for 2-3 weeks. Now that it’s almost here, things are a little different.

She was in a great mood again today and we had fun playing together. Her thing lately is flailing on the ground when she wants a toy that is out of her reach. We think she might like to try parachuting some day.

Maybe the only difference to our day is that we took a different route to the orphanage this afternoon. At one point we were actually on a dirt road for part of the way. Best of all, the dirt road was probably in better condition than the roads here. We joke but I can’t even begin to describe how many potholes there are. There seems to be a lot of roadwork being done but we’re not sure if the roads are really improving. We have total confidence in our driver and he manages to dodge the potholes like a pro. Still, red lights are another thing altogether. Apparently, in Karaganda, red lights are just a suggestion! : )

Court Day

We had court first thing this morning and the judge has granted our application to adopt Hannah Alina!! The court is a very serious and official affair, but none of the questions were too difficult and the whole process was over in about 15 minutes. In court we received support from the orphanage director, Hannah’s pediatrician and the person who conducted the interview last week from the Ministry of Education. There were 3 other families with us and we were the last to go in for our case. Ours was the easiest (at least that is what our translator told us). We then waited and they brought back in all 4 families and the judge read his decision for each case. We were first and all I could understand were our names and then Hannah Alina. It was very exciting. I almost started crying but held it together until we came out of court and I saw Chris (another adoptive mom with us) crying and then I lost it too! We are so happy!!! This is a huge step in the adoption process, but of course, there’s still more….Now we must wait for 15 days for the order to become binding and then travel back to Almaty to pick up our baby girl.

After court, we headed back to the baby house but Hannah was already down for her nap. So we just waited there for about an hour to have our party with the orphanage pediatricians. This is a custom of the Maluka house and we had meats, cheeses, breads and cake (all furnished by us through our translator, Olga). Olga did a great job organizing everything, I hope we’ve mentioned before, but Olga has done a fantastic job during our three weeks. We also had wine for a toast and we all went around and said nice things about Hannah and the great care she’s receiving. We asked Hannah’s pediatrician if she had ever visited the US, and she has visited Washington D.C. Funny enough, one of her most favorite things about the trip were the roads (and the lack of potholes!).

We were also able to give the director all of the donations from the American Women’s Club of Amsterdam and from our friends. The director was very grateful and we know everything will go to good use. In total we had six large bags packed with various baby clothes and one bag with various medical supplies.

We went back to visit Banana this afternoon. She was in a great mood all afternoon! She must have known it was a special day! After our visit, we had a celebration at our apts. for the families that went to court today! And now bed! A long day! Sorry again, no pictures and we're too tired to try the 20 times we tried yesterday. We'll keep at it tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother’s Day! The holiday is not celebrated in Kazakhstan, but Joe made me breakfast all the same for my first Mother’s Day. What a great husband. After breakfast, we went to see Hannah who was particularly good today and played just about the whole time. It’s getting really warm here, but Hannah still gets really bundled up, still with two layers, and no skin showing. It may be why she has been cranky lately, so as soon as we got up to the playroom, we removed a layer and she played quite a bit.

At lunch, our coordinator, Larissa came by. This was the first time we had met her as right before we came to Karaganda, she was in a serious car accident. She has been working for us from behind the scenes (literally in the hospital) while she recovers. We took care of all of the last minute details. She went over questions the judge may have and luckily our answers were deemed acceptable. She also reviewed all of the gifts we will be giving. It is Kazakh tradition to give gifts as a thank you. We had brought gifts for the caregivers, the Orphanage Director, our driver, and Larissa. We were worried because there were people we didn’t know we needed gifts for but luckily we brought enough perfume to make up the difference. Because of the class system, we had to be careful not to give someone in a higher position the same perfume as a caregiver. As Larissa said “(so and so) is very important”. Pretty much we do whatever she says…She also seemed happy with all of the donations we will be giving to Malutka. With the 260 euros we had (donated by the American Women's Club of Amsterdam), our translator bought a specific type of outfit the orphanage requested. In the end, all we have to get are gift bags but we are actually giving gifts to (and this is for other ROTIA families who will be traveling soon) caregivers (8-9), Orphanage Director, Pediatrician, Lawyer (male), Coordinator (Larissa), translator (Olga), and Adoption Coordinator (at the Ministry of Education) .

After lunch, we headed to the bazaar/market. Olga, our translator, had written it down on a piece of paper so we could show it to the taxi driver. The market was great! And absolutely huge! It had pretty much everything you could imagine and the prices were excellent. We bought a few things but mostly just enjoyed roaming! For dinner, we’re heading to Mario’s Pizza, our weekly Sunday night dinner. For about $10, we get 2 pizzas and beers. As usual, we’ll be heading out with the other families.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers for court tomorrow!!

(sorry no pictures today, blogger is not working well for us......tomorrow we will try again)

Day 19

Another day. That’s about all I can say. I haven’t felt very well today but I think it’s just mostly “homesickness”. There is also a virus going around the orphanage. A lot of the children are sick, 1 family’s son is even hospitalized. Luckily, Hannah seems to be fine, just the usual runny nose that we’ve grown quite accustomed to, nothing serious.

This afternoon, she was full of laughs. She even started to crawl. OK, maybe an exaggeration but for first time parents, it was good enough for us. She was trying to get the camera and moved herself (without any help from us). She was also getting up onto her knees more today and arching her back up. Very good progress! She’s gained so much strength in the 3 weeks we’ve been here.

Other than that, we did more shopping today. We have to leave a diaper bag with a few assorted items; clothes, diapers, wipes, and toys for the pediatrician who will escort Hannah to Almaty in a few weeks. The way it works…we go to court on Monday. There is a 15-day contention period after which the final paperwork is submitted to the Kazakh Embassy (at least I think that is where it goes). Between the 2nd and 3rd week we should get notification that we can travel back to get custody of Hannah. We will only be traveling to Almaty and will pay to have Hannah escorted by a pediatrician (via train) from Karaganda to Almaty. We will then spend a few days in Almaty going to the US and Dutch Embassies to get all the proper visas, etc. We only have to go to the Dutch Embassy because we are taking Hannah home for a few months before going to the US. And she isn’t a US citizen until she is on US soil; therefore she has to get a special visa to be allowed into the Netherlands. Oh the joys of living overseas.

Because of flight times, we don’t leave Karaganda until next Thursday, the 18th and fly home to Amsterdam on Friday. It will be hard to leave Hannah, but we know she is in very good hands with her caregivers! They are all so nice and it has been great getting to know them. We’ve been getting all of their pictures with Hannah and have asked they write a note to Hannah (which of course we’ll get translated) for when she is older. They truly care for the children.

We have a COURT DATE!!

We found out this morning that our court date will be Monday, May 15th. We’ve also realized that there are great people working behind the scenes for us that make things happen. We don’t always get much warning (i.e. we found out yesterday morning that our interview was in the afternoon), but everything gets done. We have no control here but are finding that we are WELL taken care of. We also went to the notary today to get a few documents notarized.

Aside from business, Hannah was a cranky, cranky girl today. She wasn’t much for playing this morning at all. We went pretty much straight to cuddling and of course, sucking on my hair. So much for blow-drying my hair. For whatever reason, her favorite thing to suck (with her thumb too) is my hair. Second, is one of our shirts and third, maybe a toy. She finally took a little power nap with Joe and then got a little playing time in before our visit was over.

Because of the notary, we were late getting there this afternoon, but she was in a good mood again (for the most part). We got there just in time for her snack. Formula (at least we think that is what it is) and bananas (for her first time, we think). They don’t usually get anything fed by spoon but Joe tried it. Turns out, Hannah Banana doesn’t like bananas so much. Her face was super funny. The other 2 girls from her room being adopted didn’t fair any better with the bananas. I think she’ll come around eventually.

The Interview Day

Our morning visit was “bonding” as usual. It actually went fast because we were able to spend a lot of time out walking. Joe was able to get a lot of good pictures of the grounds at the orphanage and some of the other children (unfortunately we can’t load pictures to blogger form his camera). A lot of the rooms with the toddlers were out and about playing. It is so adorable to see them all. They mostly use the buddy system with a slightly older child helping a younger one. And boy do they love their pictures being taken! They ran right up to us, Joe kept scooting back to get a better picture and they would come closer. They also know that they can see the picture so they all took turns looking at them. I make it sound so nice, but it was slightly more chaotic than that. One little boy (with his “charge”) almost looked like he was going to cry because he wasn’t getting into the action. He was dragging the little boy with him to get closer. Fortunately Joe saw what was going on and took a picture of just the two of them and showed it to him. The whole thing was just so cute. We finally started saying “paka” (see you later) while their caregiver was trying to drag them all away. It breaks your heart to see how many wonderful children there are at the orphanage that still need homes. (Malutka houses 80-90 children between the ages of 0 and 4).

Now, onto our interview. Today was our interview with the Ministry of Education. This is the pre-court interview in which they asked us all sorts of questions regarding our finances, our experience with babies (next to none), etc. The oddest question was asked to Joe – whether he experiments with animals or people in his job. We were also asked if any of our friends or family members need organ transplants. They are very diligent to make sure what our motives for adoption are. Of course we think the questions odd, but know they have the best interest of Hannah at heart. They will now write up a report and submit it on our behalf to the judge for court. The whole thing took less than 10 minutes, just another step in the process.

Because we finished fairly quickly, we were able to visit with Hannah for an hour this afternoon. She was so funny, not quite happy and not quite completely grumpy. This is my favorite face of hers that she makes. She’s complaining about something! When I make the same face back to her, she just laughs!

And this is her lazy, just hanging out pose! She’s in the middle of rolling over when she decides to just hang out for a while and play….

A Hannah Banana Day

After no visits yesterday, it was great to see Hannah this morning. She had already been fed, which is fine. We’d rather her be fed and happy then crying when we get there. We got right to playing…every day she seems to do a little better. And thank goodness, it’s WARM again. Well, warm enough to take the babies outside for a walk. It’s more for us than for her, but it just makes for a more pleasant visit. Even she seems to be in a better mood when we come back into the noisy room. We’ve also realized that she most likely has outdoor allergies, a nice big sneeze in my face made it pretty clear. And finally, she truly looks like our Hannah banana today! Or as Chris (our neighbor) thought, a member of the Swedish ski team. You decide…

As for our dinner last night, it was really good! We went to the Cosmonaut Hotel and had dinner with 3 other families. It is the hotel that the President of Kazakhstan stays in when in Karaganda. We aren’t sorry we’re staying in an apartment but it was nice to get out. For dinner, I played it safe and had borst (beetroot and cabbage soup) and fettucine with mushrooms while Joe had a Kazakh dish with horsemeat in it. Yum yum. Joe actually liked it while I tasted it and about shriveled up from dehydration from all of the salt. Turns out they cure horsemeat. It’s good to be adventurous sometimes.

We are eagerly awaiting news of our court date. We should find out tomorrow! Fingers crossed!

Victory Day

Today was a national holiday in Kazakhstan, a military celebration. We went down to the local park expecting a sort of parade, but instead found a carnival of sorts with music, dancers, soldiers and lots of bbq. There was one stage where various performances and speeches were being made and behind this was an avenue with soldiers in uniform from different eras and all kinds of weapons for the kids to crawl on.

For lunch, we got a warm beer and a few meat pastries from vendors for less than $3. They always say not to eat from vendors, but so far so good! : ) And besides, it looked and tasted so good!

Unfortunately, because of the holiday we didn’t get any visits with Hannah today! : ( We had known there would be no morning visit, but found out last night that there would be no afternoon visit either. We were very bummed but there isn’t anything we can do about it. Olga came first thing this morning to have us sign court papers. Our lawyer will be petitioning the court tomorrow for a court date. Everything was in Russian including our names so who knows what they really said. We now know that Hannah in Russian is XAHHAX. Interesting, huh?

For dinner, we are heading to the Cosmonaut Hotel where another family is staying. It will be our first time in a taxi, which we’ve heard are unbelievably cheap. Most trips will cost 400 tenge (equivalent to less than $5). For those who are curious, here is a picture of our apt. building at 1 Lenin Street.

Day 14

We were reading in bed this morning at 830a when the doorbell rang. It was our neighbor saying that the driver would pick us up at 910a instead of the usual 945a. The roads were being closed off for a race by 945a. We quickly rushed to get ready. Hannah was in a walker when we came in, very excited to see us and probably pretty happy she was getting fed earlier than usual! Right after eating, she graced me with spit up all down my arm and leg. Nice. She was in a good mood but again got fairly cranky after about an hour with us. We think it’s from all the noise in the room but who knows….it could be us. : ) We just had to include a cranky picture today. She was making the funniest faces as she was playing and whining at the same time.

There were only 3 families for our afternoon visit. The other families didn’t come because tomorrow is a holiday and the whole city is getting ready for it. Not sure why we came and they didn’t. Again, it just depends on your coordinator. Hannah was in a great mood this afternoon, ALL afternoon.

This confirms our thought that she just gets cranky when too much is going on. Prior to us coming, she has probably never really left her room much and is used to her caregivers and the other babies only. This is all so new to her. The caregivers do take the babies outside when it’s warm, but since Hannah was born, we doubt it has been warm enough to go outside. That is until we came and turned her world upside down. And when we get her home, I’m sure she’ll do the same to ours!

Day 13

Hannah got her passport pictures taken today. We just did it in the playroom, with Olga, our translator, as the photographer. First, we took our family picture, which was pretty quick, two tries. And then, just Hannah…I think we finally got a good one at about the 15th take. After that, it was a fairly slow picture day. Her smiles were few today as she was in a cranky mood. We really think it is the chaos of the room that makes her cranky. There are at least 20 adults with 10 babies/toddlers in the room. It’s still too cold to go outside (although it’s getting warmer) so we took her for a walk of the halls. That calmed her down a little. Again, we can’t wait to bring her home and move on to the reality of having a child….

Joe loves this picture of Hannah sleeping with a toy in her mouth from yesterday. We had trouble uploading 3 pictures to the blog yesterday so here it is today….

We only get 1 visit today so this afternoon we are going bowling with some of the other families, the same ones we went to the circus with. The families we usually do things with are actually families adopting older children. It works a little differently, in so far as their children come and live with them in their apt. during their bonding period. We’ve also realized that each translator/coordinator does things differently and you can never compare between translators. We are lucky because our translator gives us a lot of freedom to do what we want, eat where we want, walk where we want, etc. The families we met with older children use Olga too. Olga will also bring children from the orphanages that the other families are adopting from (friends of the children being adopted) to do things with us. Fun should be had by all (even though I hate bowling!). : )

HALF WAY!!

We’re half way there! Woo hoo!

I started my day off at the Buchanan’s for a pancake breakfast while Joe stayed back at the apt because he wasn’t feeling too great. The pancakes were delicious! I also met a woman whose blog I had been reading while still in Amsterdam. I didn’t even realize she was in Karaganda!

Our morning visit went as usual. Feeding, a little playing, and then sleep. She discovered the mirror today and seemed to really like looking at her reflection.

It kept her entertained for quite some time. We also tried her in the swing for her first time. She wasn’t crying but that doesn’t necessarily mean she liked it all that much. She skipped the cranky phase of the morning routine and went from playing to sleeping in about a minute. It was so cute because she conked out on my shoulder with her toy still in her mouth.

During our break, we did more shopping and found a traditional Kazakh costume for Hannah when she grows a little. It should fit her when she’s about 5 yrs old. We thought it would be great for Halloween, dress up, or show and tell. We also bought some Christmas ornaments and other Kazakh knick-knacks.

Our afternoon visit with Hannah was the same as usual. We joke that it is like Groundhog’s Day here, the same thing over and over again. The only odd thing was that she wouldn’t take her bottle. She would literally spit it out of her mouth. We were very perplexed as this child usually devours her bottles put in front of her. We thought maybe it wasn’t warm enough (we had taken it upstairs with us and waited until 430p to give it to her). On our way to her room, we passed Olga, our translator, and she came with us to talk to the caregivers for us. The caregiver asked if she could try it. And there she was, gulping it right down, barely stopping to breath every once in a while. Olga and her caretaker chuckled, “first time parents”??? Still not quite sure what we were doing wrong…but we still have time to learn!

Day 11

Our morning started with Hannah in a grumpy mood. Which put daddy in a grumpy mood. Which put mommy in a grumpy mood. Pretty much all she wanted was to be held. By 11am she was out (all snuggled up to her daddy).

During our afternoon break, we decided to get some “fresh” air and go for a walk. (The air here is very polluted from the cars and smells terrible!) We stopped at a store and found some Kazakh souvenirs for Hannah! A little painting for her wall and a doll dressed in Kazakh costume. We are hoping to buy her a few things from Kazakhstan so that she can have them as she grows up. We’ve also been taking lots of video and pictures!

The afternoon with Hannah went much better than the morning. She was in a good mood again. We don’t think she’s a morning person (which neither are we so she’ll fit in just fine). Unfortunately, none of the pictures turned out very well.

We had an interesting journey home from the orphanage as Cheryl (another adoptive mom here) was going out to dinner with our neighbors so rode home with us. There were 6 of us in a little Audi, me sitting on Joe’s lap. Did we mention every time we are in the car, our driver has our lives in his hands? Literally! Traffic rules are not followed too much here and usually Vladimir (our driver) has to drive on the opposite side of the road to avoid the huge potholes! By the time we got home, Joe’s legs were numb and my head hurt from all of the bouncing around.

Hannah's 8 month birthday bash

Hannah is 8 months old today! We brought her a present, yet another toy to play with! It plays nursery rhymes. Not sure she knew what to think of it. And we can’t remember half of the words to the songs anyway.

We realized today that we have created a monster! When we got to the hallway outside Hannah’s room today, we heard a baby crying (very loudly!). And there was our girl when we walked in screaming for food! Just in general, she gets more cranky and vocal about what she wants. It’s a good sign but considering we have to leave her here for 2 ½ weeks after our court date, she’s going to be hell for the caregivers in her room. We decided that is why you give the caregivers presents…to soften them up a little.

Miss Hannah also has a few mosquito bites (at least that is what we think they are) on her face! They’ve been there for the last few days, but today they were swollen and looked really itchy. And she kept scratching at one on her ear. Poor thing. Other than that, she was in great spirits today! But always gets tired towards the end of our visits!
We are getting very homesick here! Although we love spending time with Hannah and have great accommodations, we just miss home! And our “kids”!

One week bonding with Hannah

We have completed our first full week of bonding with Hannah. It has been so great getting to know her and seeing the little changes in her. We can’t wait to take her home with us!

After feeding her this morning, the caregiver gave me a sleeper to put on Hannah. I went to take off the one she had slept in as I usually do, but she quickly told me no. Three layers on our girl today! Plus a warm hat! They know what they are doing so we just do what we are told! Miss Hannah was also sporting a cool mohawk again today. Such a cool chick! After a while of playing and one screaming episode (we never did figure out what happened but it was the first time we heard her really cry), we thought it would be nice to go for a walk. It is still a little chilly, but the sun was out and well, Hannah had 3 layers, a hat, and a blanket, so we thought “why not?” Well, apparently that wasn’t enough. As we were leaving, Olga (our translator) told us she’d get a warmer blanket for Hannah. She looked super cute all bundled up!

We’re posting early (before our 2nd visit) because we’re having a celebration for one of the other moms that went to court today. There will be 15 of us, the 7 families we’ve spent the last week with. Our neighbor’s apt. connects to ours (they have a key, we do not) so we’ll open up the 2 for more room. I’m making a salad and some yummy meat and rice filled crepes (OK, so I’m just microwaving them). Should be fun!

Day 8

Total chaos! Another 2 families today for a total of 9 families. It truly is crazy in the playroom, especially since it is too cold to go outside so everyone is in there at once! Hannah gets much fussier with all of the noise. I’m sure it’s overwhelming to her. But she’s still cute as ever! She was sitting up a lot more on her own today playing with her toys. One of her favorite toys is the “who loves baby” photo album we brought. She loves looking at the pictures and then putting it in her mouth. It is also a hit with a lot of the other more mobile babies in the room. We joke that our parents will have surrogate grandchildren around the US.

Joe also fed Hannah for the first time today (willingly). We’re getting better and the caregivers now know to give us a bib! The caregivers are also getting to know us and are very friendly. With our limited Russian and their limited English, we manage to get by pretty well. As far as we can tell, there are about 6 caregivers in total in her room, 2 per shift.

For dinner tonight, we went to Rainbow, a restaurant nearby, with our neighbors. Somehow the order was all confused and I ended up getting an entrée and a half. It turns out #21 isn’t the same on the English and Russian menus and the waiter misunderstood us when we ordered. He brought out 1 dish when we had ordered 2 so when we tried to order another, we got 2 more entrees, this time completely different from the first (but all very good).

Oh and we realized last night that Hannah’s initials are HAM. Oops!

May Day

Today is May Day in Kazakhstan, no real difference to us except the streets are quieter. And there were only 3 families in the room today making it much nicer and less chaotic (there are usually 7)! And all 3 girls were in pink so we couldn’t resist taking a picture. (The woman on the right is our neighbor)

But first, the CIRCUS! Little did I know how right I was that we would become the circus act. There were 17 of us, 15 of which were sitting in the 2nd row (2 in the first). The clown that entertains the crowd between acts quickly got a few of us involved in the show. Namely, Joe!!! He was the star of our group with 3 appearances in the ring! First, he hula-hooped (or tried to at least), then he and another crowd member tried one big hula hoop together (back to back and then spooning). For his finale, Joe played the bongos on a pail with another guy while a third shook some pom poms (I think I saw him singing A Fish in the Tree). I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time!!

Back to today. It was a great day! Hannah’s caretakers are putting her to our schedule so we got to feed her twice today. And I changed my first diaper (not first ever, but first Hannah diaper). The most exciting part was that I got to see her toes (all were there)! They keep them so bundled up usually. In the afternoon, Hannah was in such a good mood. She actually stayed awake and easily entertained our entire 2-hour visit. I just feel like the day went by so fast with her. But with 19 days left, that’s OK. We still have plenty of time.

During our afternoon break, we went on a tour of Karaganda. To the maternity hospital where our little angel was born (just for pictures outside) coal mines, a Mosque, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Muslim cemetery, and to a mini Karaganda park (with a few of the more recognizable buildings from Karaganda in miniature).
Oddest of all, it SNOWED today! Can you believe it? May 1st. It’s been really cold these last few days too but should be getting warmer by the end of this week! Not soon enough!