We're Here!

Our “packing” six hours before we were to leave for the airport

(note that clothes had not yet entered the mix).

Packed – with 10 minutes to spare.

It took us a while to figure out how to get on the internet. Apparently at some point we will get DSL in the apartment, but for now we are relying on I cards. So this post is long, to catch up to today.

We Arrived!

We left DC during torrential rains from the remnants of Hannah. Since our packing was so last minute, we likely packed too much and ended up checking two 46 lb bags (under 50!) and one smaller bag and carrying on a roller suitcase and two backpacks. We arrived in Almaty the next day (or was it two days later?) and were greeted by our driver, Dima, who took us to the apartment for the night. We tried to get all of our bags into the apartment without waking the whole neighborhood – a difficult feat when you have heavy suitcases, are wearing hiking boots, and the apartment is five flights up narrow concrete and tile stairs. The apartment was nice, and it was fun to see evidence of its use by other families in the recent past. Thank you to whoever left the Garnier shampoo in the bathroom; since we arrived so late and were only staying one night we did not want to try to unpack or locate anything like shampoo. We did unpack our travel French presses and coffee, however – we do have priorities. We were picked up outside the apartment at 8 am the next day and taken to the partners’ law office to go over details of the trip and our paperwork. Everyone was very friendly and helpful and seemed to have everything under control. We then went to the Ramstore to change money, have a cup of instant coffee (apparently this is a requirement of the process – the sisters and the driver insisted we have a cup of coffee despite our being a little late leaving the office for the airport), and headed back to the airport for our flight to Astana.

In Astana, we were greeted by Zhana (our interpreter), Saule (our facilitator), and Murat (our driver). We arrived too late to go to the Ministry of Education for an interview, so they took us to our apartment. This apartment is really nice; everything is brand new, which is why internet and cable are not yet hooked up. We can see the Bayterek tower from our back window. There is a grocery store across the street (and next door to the MFA!). The store, though, is more like the Trader Joes of Kazakhstan. It has a lot of prepared foods and not as much in the way of food to cook; it is especially lacking in produce.

Baby!

We have started visiting a little baby boy we plan to call Nikolai, but we are unsure if the official bonding period has begun or not. We were told that we are very lucky as there are no other baby boys available. I am not sure if we got the wrong translation or what the purpose of this statement was, as after waiting for two hours before our meeting with the baby house director, we had already seen a lot of baby boys pass by in the hall. At one point a group of young toddlers came in from outside. After pausing chaotically to take off their shoes, they filed past us. Several of the kids made faces and tried to get our attention. One was crying. They are all so cute – I cannot imagine why they are not yet adopted; I guess there is a lot of process involved in making babies eligible for adoption, especially international adoption.

When they brought Nikolai in to us for the first time, I walked up to him and he smiled. I took him from the caregiver, and he instantly turned and wanted to go back, which was cute and reassuring that he had bonded with her. He then looked around at the other people. He was really alert and definitely interested in seeing everything, although he looked a little anxious. The director then asked if we liked him, and we said YES. So we made an appointment to come back after the babies’ naps to play.

Day 1

This bonding session was all about the toys. Nikolai did not want to be held – only to play. When we put the toys at one end of the blanket, he pushed with his toes and pulled on the blanket with his arms to efficiently scoot himself towards the toys! He kicks his legs with excitement. He will be crawling in no time, although he is not yet able to sit up. Nikolai is a very active little guy. He rolls and wants to crawl. He loves banging things together and was amused by the different sounds, trying out banging a stacking cup on lots of different things – the crinkly book was the best. He is funny when he loses track of one of us, he violently twists his whole body around to the point that he nearly rolls over.

They told us we could put our own diaper and clothes on him if we wanted. We changed his clothes – with much drama as we are not good at it. We did not change his diaper, because his was not wet, but I think we were probably supposed to change him anyway. We did not hand over the diapers either – this part of the process still eludes us. Hopefully tomorrow we can figure out exactly what to do. He made a variety of funny sounds, which was a good sign. He growls, says Aaah, mmm, la, and once said ma. He also makes raspberry sounds, which neither Chris nor I can imitate unfortunately. He responds to his name, which has made us hesitant to start using the name we have chosen for him. We will have to see how that goes. The time went fast, and the caregiver came to get him. He had a hold of the big purple stacking cup and phone rattle, and took them back with him.

We were able to ask the doctor a couple questions after we played. Our main question was whether or not he has a cleft palate, as he has a repaired cleft lip. After a bit of misinterpretations/ translations we were finally able to understand that he does not have a cleft palate! This is a relief – while we are fully committed to this little boy, we were not looking forward to several surgeries. We also are only approved for non-special needs according to our US paperwork, so it would have been complicated getting the needed additional paperwork.

In the evening we went for a walk around where we are living. We walked to the Bayterek and then down the street to the Presidential Palace, which we could see from a wonderful fountain that included an arch to walk under. The architecture in the area is amazing. I have never seen anything like it. It is sort of like the set of a sci-fi movie.

Day 2

Today when we got in the elevator to go downstairs, the lights were out. Our trip down seven floors was in pitch darkness, but luckily the elevator stopped at the bottom floor as we had hoped. We were not able to take the stairs as the door to the stairs on the seventh floor was locked. God forbid there is ever a fire, between having to use a key to unlock two doors to exit the apartment and then the locked staircase. The apartment is funny in that all doors have locks – from the outside. So you can lock someone in the bedroom or bathroom, but not keep someone out. Some of the doors even have keys. There is an enclosed balcony-like area that I think is common in most apartments in this region. The balcony is lined with windows, but the landlord told us we could only open one window at a time. We are not sure what the reason is, but I am envisioning the building falling over like a file cabinet when more than one drawer is opened.

When I went in to get Nikolai, he greeted me with a big smile! We changed his diaper and clothes. We put a size 4 diaper on him, although we really think he should be wearing 3s, but they told us to use 4s. Changing went better since we brought easier clothes to put on him. We got yesterday’s clothes back, except the onesie and socks. We definitely need more short-sleeved undershirts/ onesies.

It was really warm out today so we asked if we could take him for a walk. They said they had to ask the doctor. The doctor approved it, but only if we had warm clothes for him. We had brought a short-sleeved onesie, a warm, long-sleeved one-piece outfit, a hat, and his winter coat. They had us so paranoid that we put all of the clothes on him since it was very windy (I think it is always windy in Astana since it is surrounded by miles of steppe). I was hot in my long sleeves but did not want to get in trouble for not putting enough clothes on him. Of course they came out and said he was too hot and to take off the coat. He looked a little worried since I am not sure he had been outside before. He liked looking up at the trees, but when a group of pigeons took off, I think that was too much for him. We went back inside to play after a fairly short trip outside.

Nikolai seemed like he was not feeling well today. He has a chest cold and is teething really bad. He chews on everything. While he did play a little, mostly he cried if we tried to put him down on his belly or back. He wanted to be held and jump or bounce (always while chewing on something). We would love to use a little oragel on those painful gums, but do not think it would be allowed. Another woman was visiting her little girl today, who is a bit older than Nikolai and was crawling all over. At one point she crawled over and tried to take the stacking cup out of Nikolai’s hand and the resulting struggle caused both babies to cry. It was very cute to see him so possessive since he does not seem to care if we take the toys from him. The little girl is in his class, so perhaps she is always stealing his toys.

The woman was supposed to go to court today, but there is a new system in place and the new judge requested additional documentation. Our coordinator explained to us that they do not know what will be required for our court process and that she will do what she can. That worried us a bit, although hopefully it means just an extended process rather than denial of the adoption. The additional documents are required of the maternity hospital.

At the end of the visit, Nikolai started rubbing his eyes and just wanted to sit. He did smile at the caregiver when we brought him back, but I do not think this was his favorite care giver since the reaction he had yesterday was much more animated. They told us to bring a whole stack of diapers tomorrow. I think they also want us to leave several changes of clothes there and they will dress him. I am not certain of this, though – it is all a bit confusing. As we were leaving they asked if we wanted to sign today and we said yes. All we had to sign, though, was a log book documenting the fact that we had visited today. While we were in the doctor’s office signing the log book, they showed us two pictures of Nikolai – one from before his surgery to repair his lip and one after. They asked if we wanted them so we could show our doctor. Of course we do – we now have a picture of him from when he was a newborn!! It is interesting that it seems they have so much information that never gets passed on to the adoptive parents (unless maybe at a later date they give you a copy of the file?). Every detail is so important though.