Picture Day

When we arrived at the baby house this morning we were told to go get Nikolai and that we were leaving immediately to get his passport picture taken. The class was running a little late on its normal schedule and none of the babies had eaten yet. So one of Nik's favorite caregiver fed him really quick while everyone else quickly dished out food for the rest of the babies – most of whom were crying by this point. I cannot believe how hard the caregivers work and how calm they stay despite the insistent little ones all around.

The car ride to the photo place was an adventure. I am not sure if he has been in a car that he can remember. He was not really worried but watched everything, turning his head quickly as if trying to follow the things as they went by; I am surprised he did not get car sick. In the passport photo, the baby is supposed to have their mouth closed – which took several tries to get, once we got him to stop staring at the mirrored ceiling.

Back at the baby house we went for a walk since he was already dressed for outside. By the time we got inside to play, Nikolai was exhausted. He just wanted to be carried around, with occasional banging of the cups together and watching the singing caterpillar. His cold/ bronchitis is so bad that it seemed he could barely breathe. I really hope he is ok. He does not feel warm or seem to have a fever, so that is good at least.

Life in Astana
The landlady called yesterday morning to tell us the cable installer would be here either before or after 12 – we did not quite catch which. I cannot imagine not speaking any Russian here and trying to do things like this. When I picked up the phone the landlady spoke Russian and I quickly handed the phone to Chris, who could at least determine the reason for the call and the person calling.

We have gone for lots of walks, shopped at the grocery store, and bought pizza at the place down the street (very good pizza!) but otherwise we have not really ventured out much. We have only seen one small café nearby and are mostly cooking at home, which is fine. Since the grocery store does not have much produce we had asked earlier in the week to go somewhere to buy vegetables. They said this kind of trip had to be planned, and they would take us to the bazaar on Friday. So today we went to buy fruits and vegetables in a big building that has lots of little stands inside, each one of which is like a farmer’s produce stand. We got some great tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, scallions, garlic, grapes, and apples. We definitely will have to go back to this market in the coming weeks.

Last night one of our neighbors stopped us in the hall to ask if we had a key to the stairs. Apparently we were not the only ones worried about the stairwell being locked. If we ever lost power we would not be able to go visit our baby as we would be stuck on the 7th floor! I was hoping one of the neighbors would contact someone to unlock the door since it seemed to be a task best handled by someone who can actually speak Russian. And this morning the doors were unlocked! There are actually three doors with key locks between us and the stairwell. Currently the doors are open and the keys are there – I hope it stays that way.

Day 2 or 3?

Nikolai was in a very happy mood when we first brought him into the play room. He tried to grasp our faces – including my eyes, which was a little unfortunate, but still cute. He then played on his belly for a while. At one point I read him a book – the one with all of the baby faces, which he seemed to really like. He had to hit his hand in the middle of each baby’s face (watch out baby Snow). We also showed him the photo album my sister made for him and introduced him to his family and cousins. After the initial playtime on the mat, he would not let us lay him down and would cry instantly if we tried. We are still not adept add adding or taking off clothes, especially since he cannot sit so we laid him down to put his coat on and then to take it off again after a walk outside. Both times there was much protest. Even after two days we are starting to see more of his personality and to see him exerting his will.

He discovered that he could go from sitting on my lap to standing just by holding on to my fingers – this elicited much excitement. He does not really giggle, but more yells and opens his whole mouth when excited. His legs are so strong and always kicking or pushing against something. His middle is less strong, preventing him from sitting up as yet. When he started to fuss a little we sat down in front of the mirror, which was good until he realized how close we were to the ball pit and he had to get in it. He loved kicking the balls and reaching for them but would become a little overwhelmed once he managed to get all the way in.

We went for a walk outside again. It is much cooler and less windy today – absolutely a beautiful autumn day. He still looked a little worried and was really quiet outside, but actually looked around a little more. He carried the little red stacking cup around the whole time we were outside. I think he may be the type of baby to get attached to security items, which at the moment are stacking cups. At the end of the visit he got really tired. His face is so expressive and looks SO sad when he is unhappy. His whole forehead wrinkles up. To calm himself down he blows raspberries and says bababa (well the Kazakh version – it is more like bwa bwa bwa). We are supposed to bring a bottle tomorrow, which seems like a good idea since we are so thirsty by the end of the visit I am sure he is too.

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.

Celebration

Kids' "Yurt"
Our Niece Trying to Hit the Yurt-Shaped Pinata

With all of the chaos, we never got a chance to post about the baby shower my sister and parents threw for us. It was so much fun. I have read other posts of people whose families did not fully support inter-country adoption and had trouble embracing another culture. I guess my family is the opposite, as they threw a Kazakh-themed party with an imitation of a yurt for a shelter, maps of Kazakhstan for place mats, Kazakh flags for decoration, and various Kazakh foods. My sister even found a cookie cutter in the shape of Kazakhstan and made cookies with a sprinkle marking Astana. We are grateful for all of the support of our families and friends. Many people have contacted us asking if they can do anything - we REALLY appreciate it; knowing we could call on you if we got overwhelmed has helped keep us calm. Unfortunately, we have been too disorganized to really ask for help!

Tempting Fate

We have been working under the assumption that we had at least until the end of September before we would travel. We have been very busy at work and have not begun to prepare – we have not wrapped up projects at work, packed, bought what we need for the trip, bought gifts, or ordered money. We took it too far, though, and both of us had business trips planned this and next week. I am in Mississippi now and trying to figure out how to efficiently evacuate 30 archaeologists before Gustav hits when it took us months to get them all down here. Chris is supposed to go to Germany next week. Well, as I said, we took it too far in tempting fate and just got a call that our LOI arrived and we have to be in Kazakhstan in about 1 WEEK!! After waiting nearly 3 years (since we started the China adoption) you would think we would be more prepared!

Surprise!

On Sunday our friends John and Heather, who are church youth counselors with Chris, held a party for the youth who are going away to college for the first time – as well as those returning to college. After the evening church service we headed over to the party, and were amazed to find that the youth and counselors had instead planned a surprise baby shower for us!

I cannot believe how generous and supportive everyone is. We got a lot of cute clothes and books and other useful things. More than anything we were reminded again that we have a wonderful community who will be there for us whenever we need it. Plus the youth are willing to babysit!

Where are We Going?

Astana!

Astana is the new capitol of Kazakhstan although a lot of official business still takes place in Almaty. The city was called Akmola before becoming the capitol in 1997. Akmola grew up in the 1820s around a Cossack fortification on the banks of the Ishim River. This city was chosen for the new capitol in part because of its location near the center of the Eurasian Continent. Astana is located in the Kazakh Steppe, a flat, semi-arid steppe that covers most of the interior of the country. Astana is the second coldest capitol in the world, after the capitol of Mongolia. I am really hoping we will be home before November (but still have no idea since we do not yet have a Letter of Invitation) because in November the average high temperature is 28 degrees! It keeps getting colder after that. Astana used to be a place a lot of people went for adoptions, but due to the increase in economic development and domestic adoption in the region, it seems that recently fewer people have been going to Astana. We are so excited!