Play Play Play!

Mr. Goof-off!Can you see my heat rash all over my little head!
I was attacked!
See how squishy my cheeks are!!?
Alex, Oxana, and Darya! All from Kazakhstan!

Undies and Mad Anthony!! (day 10)

When we got there this morning, there was the most precious site coming around the side of the babyhouse! When the little munchkins got outside, their caregivers usually strip them down to their undies… well… Jerry was able to get a shot of them! I don’t usually post pictures of the other kids, but since this is very private, I couldn’t resist! It was so adorable! I just want to snatch them up and love on them! They need mommies and daddies! So I will post this picture with the others!

Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Today Anthony actually screamed! He was kind of fussy anyways this morning… he did not really want to do his exercises to help him sit up! So he was resisting that and fussin’ a little, well… then it happened! He fell over so fast I don’t even know how it happened, but I saw him just thunk his little head on the floor… and since we are only on a sheet, there isn’t any padding there from the wood! I am sure it hurt a little, but mostly I think it made him mad! Remember Alex… he never even peeped when he got hurt!
Yeah, well this kid is different! He just let out girly blood curdling screams! I was shocked. Of course he didn’t start screaming until I picked him up and was snuggling him… but he just kept going, he would not be soothed! Then he would take another breath and scream again! Oh brother! Of course if you have done this before that is the first rule while you are bonding… you never let them cry or caregivers will be coming to see what you did wrong! So i was doing everything I could to distract him, but it didn’t really work…. He just was mad! He only had a couple tears too, but this disaster lasted probably 5 minutes! Seemed like an eternity!!! It was awful… and our instinct is to put him down and let him scream until he feels better, but here while we are visiting, we can’t do that! We have to appease him! The rest of the visit was disastrous! He knows already that all he has to do it threaten to scream and he will get what he wants… sort of… it is usually not when he wants something but rather when he doesn’t want something… like he is tired of the ball sitting a certain way or whatever… he just starts squawking! Oh boy! He is going to be surprised when he comes home! Haha! He’ll be fine! We were actually glad to send him back to the caregivers so he could go to bed this morning!!! :)

When we got there this morning and set up our play area Jerry set up the tripod and put the camera on it… Alex was right at it! He looked so cute bending down to look through the viewfinder… we showed him how to wake a picture by pushing down the button part way to focus it and then pushing it the rest of the way to take the picture! Sadly, he took about 20 of them and they were all bad… it was on the wrong setting! Anyways, we took video of it, but since he had the camera, we have no pictures of it! J When we get home we will try it again, and use Jerry’s camera to photograph our budding photographer!

I remember when Alex figured out that if he “cried” we responded… Alex would do it just to see what we would do, he would faker cry (one cry) and then stop and look at us. After the 3rd time… Jerry and I just thought it was hilarious and would laugh at him… He kept trying it for a few days, but soon stopped it… today Alex still does the same stuff… he tests us over and over and over! It is so critical that we are consistent… Alex has even started begging “please!” when he wants something when we say no… Its going to be fun around here in another week or so! Ha!

We just came home today… it was SOOOOOO hot outside that even the breeze was like it was coming from the hot hair dryer! Just sitting there playing/holding Anthony, I had sweat rolling down my back! Yuck!!!! It was the same this afternoon even with more of a breeze! Ugh! We were soooo very happy to come home to our AC unit! We made pierogis for lunch with spaghetti sauce. Then we had a few M&Ms! Yesterday we bought a little bag of them at the market yesterday. They are so funny! They taste the same but they are fatter… more the shape of a skittle! It’s so funny to see the packages in Russian! We mostly rested… I read a few Bible stories to Alex and then he watched a Veggie-tale on forgiveness and being kind to one another. The next thing we knew it was time to go again!

When we got to the babyhouse there was another couple just leaving. They are from Ontario Canada! I forgot their names, but we will see them again tomorrow and we will chat some more. They are visiting a baby boy and have a daughter from Petro already! So that is neat! This was day 3 for them.
Anthony was in a much better mood this afternoon. He still tried to be fussy a few times but we decided that we would just say “No!” and take him away from the situation so he couldn’t fuss at it anymore! We had to do it about 3 times I think! Little squirt! We made him sit some more… we prop him in front of one of us, between our legs and give him some toys. That way he can’t really fall over again. he can wobble though, but he tries to stay up so he can play. Alex fell again, shocker! He scraped his knee today! He was fine, but he needed some attention! Soon he was off running and playing again! he went for a walk with Olga and Misha to the “chocolate” store… he brought us a drink! :) We tried the baby puffs again today… he loves them but every time we put one in him mouth he gets a horrible look on his face, like he is going to cry… but soon he has his little bird mouth open again and he is leaning forward for another one! We have been singing songs and making Anthony move to the songs a bunch lately… he is still so stiff, but I think he is starting to loosen up. If he’s not mad us for making him do things he doesn’t want to!! Ha! It has been so hot out that we take Anthony’s pants and socks off. So he goes around in his onsie! It’s so cute! He has such little legs! At least they seem little to us! He will probably be monster size next to Dylan though, when we get home! Today when Anthony went back in, Olga said we did not need to put his pants back on, so off he went, little legs sticking out!

We came home, and it took us quite a while to cool off! Alex took a nap. At about 6:30 we went to dinner at the Dixie Pub in the atrium. It was really good! We ordered Pesto and a Burrito without the beef. It was very tasty! Different than what we have at home, but very good! They also have Crust Rings of Squid!!!! *shutter* sounds gross to me… but somebody must like it. :) They now have a menu in English, hilarious English, but English! That was nice! We will probably go back!

We think Luba might come over tonight… not sure!

For those who might be interested… I have now taken over 20,000 photos with my camera that I have had for 4 years! Last time we were in Kaz I took over 4000 pictures on the trip, this time I suspect it will be slightly less, since we probably will not go to the museum and take all the pictures there that we took, or take all those pictures at the layover in Atrau, when we thought we were in Uralsk, because we didn’t understand the people over the intercom on the plane… We will see! :) So far I have taken just over a thousand pictures… we are just about on target! Hee hee hee. Although this time I have 2 cute little boys to photograph!

More tomorrow!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Isn't this a most precious and innocent sight!!! Sweet babies!

Such a ham! He was actually in a time out for something. So cute!!
One smile...
the start of a fuss....
Here's our mini-fuss-budget! Isn't that awful!!!
Content to just chew on that crazy book.
Showing Anthony all the things that can be done with stacking cups!
Trying out the ear cups on Anthony!
I just liked this shot of his little bahoney!
Can you tell we are hot!!?

The puff eating face! Isn't that hilarious!? But he wants more!

Can you see the sweat!!!?
Our Russian M&Ms!

Baby Exercises! (day 9)

Last night when I was about to go to bed, I heard this awful screaming outside, I knew it was a kitten… I am a sucker for kittens. So I went to the kitchen window and looked out… a minute later, here came this TINY little kitten walking out into the driveway! It was black with little white paws! So cute! It was sooo small! There was a young couple outside with a bigger cat… I thought maybe it was the mommy cat… not sure though, I am guessing not, since they kind of spat at one another! The young lady, picked up the kitten, but soon put it down because it was trying to get away. I went to bed then…

Our visit was pretty uneventful. We just played and tried to do some exercises with Anthony that a friend suggested… but he is so stiff that I feel like I am going to hurt him! He just doesn’t want to move his limbs freely! Silly boy! His legs are pretty good, but those arms and shoulders are not quite there yet! We will have to keep working on him! Alex really like Anthony, he came over and showed him some stuff a little and then went back to playing on the slide for the rest of the visit! We got some more giggles out of him… we have figured our several different things we can do to make him giggle… one is my hair… I dangle it just above his face and when he touches it, I pull back and make a silly noise! He thinks it is hilarious and giggles like crazy!

We stopped at the Kamelot for lunch… you guessed it, salad and soup, Alex got potatoes. Then we walked home… where we found little baby kitty wandering around… we had to pick him up and hold him for a minute! Alex is so funny! It was like he was scared of it! But it was so tiny! We got some pictures of him with it. Good thing we aren’t any where near home… I might have brought it home! Romeo and Tiger would NOT have been happy about it! A baby kitten and a baby human!!! Just too much!!! :)

Alex took a nap and we had to wake him to go to our second visit with Anthony. Misha brought Alex a little plastic truck to play with in the sand box. Alex was very excited about that! We hardly saw him for the afternoon visit. Olga was working on translating the book of questions for the doctors and caregivers. It will be fun to see what they have to say about Anthony… he is so much younger than Alex was, so the answers are going to be quite a bit different I assume.
We sat under the awning that had a rug on the floor, we put our sheet on top and it is much more comfy! But after a while the caregivers brought all the 2 year olds out to play a little… they stripped them down to their underwear or shorts and then another caregiver brought them all water! It was the cutest thing to see them all sit on the floor and drink their water from coffee mugs! We kept trying to sneak pictures of them! It wasn’t working too well, but we got a few! :) Oh! We moved to the other covered thing so they could have their rug back. :)

Anthony was again fussy this afternoon… oh dear… “nyet” just doesn’t cut it! We are actually starting to feel like “Groundhog day” already! This is really bad! We love traveling you know, but I am actually homesick! I want to just take my baby and go home already! Next Thursday is our 14th day of visitation, so they can apply to the court for our pre-court. I hope that they fit us in right away… like the next day! That would be nice! We will see though.

Yesterday was court for our Belgian friends, they said it lasted 2 hours but was not bad. So today should have been “gotcha day” for little Askhat! So that is very exciting! I bet they had an awesome day today! We are going to meet them on Sunday to play at the indoor playground. It will be fun to hear about it all from them.

I am so tired… so I will continue the stories tomorrow! :)

Boys & Kittens!

The boys!!!

A common scene lately!
Alex and the little bitty kitten!
I'm just so cute, i don't know what to do!
A shot of his scrawny little bahoney and legs!
This is Olga carrying him away, like she has to every day!

Locked Out... (day 8)

Oh goodness! Today we headed over to the babyhouse and all the front covered floors were occupado! So we went to the one in the back! It was nice back there. No distractions. A really big slide, but it was hot so no sliding on it today! Alex played with his broken excavator and some with us… he comes over and talks to Anthony a little and shows him his toy and then he is off again, to play with Olga or the sand box! Out back there are lots of very long clothes lines! There were lots and lots of sheets hanging up there today to dry… while we were there they started taking some of them down! I cannot believe the speed with which that lady took those things off the line! She was practically running along the line!!! There is a building out back… I am guessing that is the laundry house, she took all the sheets inside there! We got Anthony to laugh more today!! We just play on the floor, hold him and look at him! He is so sweet! He didn’t do any fussing this morning!

We went to the bazaar after our visit. We went to the “Russian” Market. There are mostly clothes, shoes, purses, and there is a hardware section at the back. We looked for some of those Cobenok shoes for the kids. There were some, mostly sandals. I was hoping to find some shoes for the boys for this fall and winter. I will keep looking… it was so hot today, I couldn’t even shop… I sure didn’t want to stop moving. I hope we have a cool day again soon! We need to go back. I would like to buy a purse or two as well. They have the funkiest purses/bags here! Jerry found Alex a “Lightning McQueen” car… it is really cheap and probably won’t make it home with us… Poor kid. We brought his little backpack with several books, and all his little matchbox cars and his “Mack & Lightning” set with us… well, in Almaty when we were going through customs it disappeared and we didn’t realize it until later… we checked the next day at the airport, but found nothing. So he is without most of his toys! Jerry also found Alex an airplane… it is super cheap and falls apart constantly, but Alex loves it! We finally left and came home… we got out and went to our door… by the time we realized we did not have the keys, Misha and Olga were gone!! Jerry wasn’t sure if he had lost the keys or if he had left them inside this morning, but we did not have them! So we sat outside and Alex played with his toys and Jerry went to the bakery and found a peach bread thing, some apples and a fanta orange… so that is what we had for lunch… real nutritious, huh? We waited the hour and 10 minutes for Olga and Misha to come back! It was rather humorous and stupid! When it was all said and done Jerry had left the keys on the dresser! Our door this time can be locked by pushing a button! Last time we had to use the key to lock the door, so we never forgot it!

So our afternoon visit with Anthony was funny! Jerry got Anthony laughing so hard! It was adorable!!!!! He was “getting” Anthony’s stomach with his mouth and nose and making funny noises I cannot describe! It was hilarious!!! It lasted for 5-10 minutes!!!!! Over and over again! Alex took a walk with Olga to the “chocolate” store as Alex calls it. They came back with chocolate, vitamin c and water! They are funny! Alex liked the vitamin c! He brought Jerry and I each a piece of chocolate and a vitamin c tablet (melts on your tongue). We made Anthony pull himself all over the sheet today! There was a rug today on the floor, so it was much nicer to sit on the floor! It was better for Anthony to wiggle along, too! He sure likes the camera and the wipes crinkly bag! Typical baby!!! Finally Anthony was getting tired and wanted to just suck on his thumb… he “fastens” his hands together with one thumb in his mouth and just wants to lay there! We want to hold him while he relaxes… he doesn’t want to be held though… uh-oh! He started to fuss! And have a little conniption!!! I couldn’t believe it!!! It surprised us! Just like Alex does now! Jerry got all serious and looked down in his face and said “NO! Anthony!” Anthony stopped for a second, and then tried it again a few seconds later… Jerry said “Nyet!” several times to him… Then jerry says to him… “oh boy, you got in the wrong family, for throwing fits!” It was hilarious!!! If any of you followed us getting Alex, you will remember that after we took custody of him and we got to Almaty Alex would throw those screaming crying fits! Remember we would put him in that play pen with no toys and let him just scream until he was done… I really hope Anthony doesn’t go there so early in life! It was rather funny to us, really. Right now we have to keep him content at the babyhouse, but after we get him, he can fuss all he wants while we hold him… we are still going to hold him like we did Alex when he didn’t want to be held! He needs to bond, and that we aren’t just going to put him down! He is our baby and we love him no matter what! He just isn’t used to it… he will learn!

It wasn’t long and it was time for him to go back in anyways… he could take his nap! I can’t wait to see more of what he is like on an hour by hour basis! Does he just get fussy when he is tired… does he like to go to sleep or does he fight it, like he seems to with us? Who knows!? It will be fun!

We came home and decided to go to “Pizza Hot” across the street. The pizza was good! Not very filling though for 3 of us. It needs a salad with it or something! But they don’t have salads, I guess. Maybe it was because we hardly had lunch! We will try again sometime…

Alex went to bed before 7pm, since he didn’t have a nap today. I worked on the book to give the caregivers, and doctor to answer questions about Anthony and his life at the babyhouse. Jerry bid a job.

Tasting & Fussing!

He really went crazy on this book today... he had to "taste" every part of it, several times! He was quite obsessed! Here is the outside of our apartment!
Taste the "blankie" too! Must have learned that one from Alex!
That is the crinkly leaf that covers up the caterpillar! I think that is the favorite page so far.
Bring on the tickling daddy!!!
Sucking on my thumb a little bit..
Big brother handing out the "puffs", Alex figures he loved/s them so much Anthony should too!
Anthony isn't really quite sure what to do with it, actually. It fell out of his mouth a couple times before it desolved enough! He just wants to suck on everything, who cares about chewing anything! This was the face after the puff!

Resting at the end of a hard day's play!!!

7 Month Birthday! (day 7)

Many of you are asking us when we get to come home… so… we are hoping to be able to come home August 7! The day before our 2 year anniversary of being logged in to China for Kimi! We will definitely have a lot to celebrate that day!!!!
Today was a funky day. We went to the babyhouse and played with Anthony as usual… We brought his bright yellow/orange outfit. He of course looks cute in it! The vitamins we spilled on it did not stain. We sang songs and Anthony lounged a bunch against daddy.

Today was Anthony’s b-day. He turned 7 months today!!!! Holy cow! Before we know it he will be a year!

After our visit we went to the Market. Once inside it had AC, which we were happy for, it was really hot out today! We walked around a bit and then had lunch at the pizza place. There are a lot of Pizza places, come to think of it! The pizza was the thinnest pizza we had ever seen! We actually ordered a second one. Jerry bought Alex a little truck with an excavator on the back… it is all plastic and Alex broke the excavator off the back almost as soon as we got back to the babyhouse! We had even told him multiple times that the excavator DOESN’T come off the back! I was very annoyed with him! He seems to do that with almost every toy! Ahhh!!!!!! He had to use it to dig in the sand box!
Our visit with Anthony was nice. Other than Alex having to go potty in the middle of it all! So Jerry took him in and on the way out our Belgium friends were just coming for the day… they had had pre-court that morning it had lasted an hour! It was fine they said….. but they didn’t get to stay, they took the baby to go get a passport photo taken. When we were leaving, they were just getting back . The exciting news is that they get to have court tomorrow! WOOHOO!!! I hope that trend keeps it up! While jerry was chatting with them I figured out how to make Anthony really laugh! It was so cute! First I played patty cake with him and got him loosened up, then I raised his arms and “tickled” him under his arms!!! He just giggles and giggled!! Bummer that by the time jerry got back Anthony was giggled out! Oh well… we will try again tomorrow! Toward the end he was actually getting fussy… he didn’t really want to play anymore, he just wanted to suck on his thumb, but he didn’t want to just lay back either! Uh! What is that! He would start to scrunch his face up like he was going to cry or something and let out a little fuss! We would just start talking to him… and move him around. What a mess!

We had dinner at the Kamelot again, Salad, soup and noodles for Alex then we went for a walk to the Atrium for water and a couple other things… like coconut puffs.

We didn’t have internet tonight for some reason, so this will have to post tomorrow night.

Playtime!

I am just cute lounging! Smooches as usual.
I'm thinking...
Checking out the soft blankie.
Common scene... these guys squat to rest around here.
The thinnest pizza on earth!

We're Bonding Away! (day 6)

When we got to the babyhouse the other covered floor play area was already occupied by some of the babies, so we ended up sharing with our Belgian friends. That was kind of nice since their daughter and Alex were playing together… plus we could say stuff to one another once in a while as we were playing… It was fun… I can tell they adore their little guy as much as we adore Anthony! Their baby is about a month older than Anthony, so he is crawling and sitting better than Anthony does. We also heard little Askhat laugh today… they were singing and rowing to “row row row your boat” of course in their language though, and the baby was smiling and just laughing… and they would do it over and over and over, and he just kept on laughing, it was precious! Alex and their daughter Rufan got into a few tussles… usually about sticks today. Silly kiddos!

Anthony was stiff as usual when I grabbed him from Olga. But soon he loosened up again today we had 6-12 month pants (from Gymboree) and he was swimming in them so when he pulled himself forward on the floor they started coming off… so we pulled them off for a while and I massaged his legs while Jerry entertained him with the stacking cups! Anthony seemed a little more comfortable with us today… he was more content sitting still some… we played patty cake while sitting in my lap, facing Jerry… I would clap his hands together and Jerry would grab his toes and kiss them… he was actually laughing out loud!!! Of course after that we had to get the video camera… not sure if we got it or not, but we will keep at it! It was slightly difficult to video him when we needed all of our hands to make him laugh! We manages to balance it on top of the stacking cups for a few minutes!

Anthony already loves mommy’s camera! When I put him down and it down he just starts kicking and pulling himself toward it to grab it! Funny baby! How does he know that is off limits and stuff… the other favorite thing to try to get it the plastic Ziploc bag that we bring his clothes/diapers in everyday! Why!!? What is up with that! Human nature I guess!

It was just a nice morning out there was a little breeze so we were not hot, but the sun was shining, we were in the shade of course under the shelter thing… I put some of the Arbonne diaper rash cream on Anthony’s rash on his head and elbow and the little rash spots on his cheek and arm. We will see if it makes much of a difference. It is supposed to be some amazing stuff… and it is natural, so… we will see. We think the rash is from a hat they probably keep on him a lot inside too… it is all the way around his head just where a hat might go and then a big spot in the back where he probably spends most of his day laying. I can’t wait to get him out of here. Toward the end of the visit Alex came up and wanted to hold Anthony! So he sat down in Jerry’s lap and held him for a couple minutes! It was cute! Alex is so gentle with Anthony so far, I am so glad about that!

I have to say that I really think this bonding process is awesome! It is really nice to get to see him and just play with him… it gets him used to us gradually. I don’t have any experience with the other way yet, where they just hand you your baby and that is it… I know that will be amazing too, and once you meet your child you just want them with you always, but this way is really probably less stressful for the baby! He gets to just be with you and not wonder what is going on next for him… he knows… when he leaves you, he goes for his nap or he gets to eat like it was for Alex. Very scheduled. Its nice for him… By the time we take him he will definitely want to be with us. By the time we had court last time and we did not show up for our afternoon visit, Alex was crying and crying and standing at his crib waiting for us. Which was soooo amazing to hear… Poor Alex, because he wanted us and we were not there, but so awesome that he knew he wanted us! I don’t know if Anthony will get to that, I like to think he might!

Many of you have been asking questions about Anthony, so I will tell you some! He is about to be 7 months old! He was born on Kazakhstan’s Independence day on December 16!! We are excited to have a holiday baby! He weighs about 15-16 pounds as far as we know… we think he is as light as a feather though! Since Alex is about 35! Anthony is still a scrawny little guy with big cheeks! But we think he is perfect!

This morning we went to the babyhouse early so that we could go to Luba’s graduation at 11. However after an hour it had still not started, so Alex and I came home and Jerry stayed to take pictures and check stuff out! Jerry came back about 2pm. Luba came with him and I took some pictures of her diploma! Some of the girls were really dressed up for the graduation! They had on formal gowns or really slinky, sexy little dresses, fancy hi-heels! Some of them had their hair in fancy up-dos and covered in glitter! Some were just in regular dresses and a lot of the boys were just in pants and t-shirt. Some of the guys were in suits, but all the guys really thought they were hot stuff today… you could just tell they had attitude! :) Luba’s group was of course the last group to get their diplomas! We haven’t decided exactly what we are going to give her for a graduation gift… we may not do the computer… we are trying to evaluate her needs still.

Our next visit was great. We played. Alex played with Rufan again… except she was not feeling like sharing her toys and got in trouble… pretty soon she was just crying and crying… well… the Doctor came out and wanted to see what was going on! She told Olga that the kids needed to stop crying out there, because the kids inside could hear them… The Doctor looked upset… I don’t know if she really was or not… We decided that we had to get a picture of Anthony for the painter to paint, so that was the big project today! We decided that we wanted one of him laying down as he is not able to sit or anything else… it shows his abilities now… So we had to put Anthony down and then step back to try to get the shots! Oh! And make him smile! He is so funny, he would grab the sheet and start pulling himself toward us right away, so we had to keep putting him back!
We had my computer sitting there so we could meet with the Artist. He went immediately to the computer and then just laid there with his hands on the outside of the computer… and then just looked around!!!! I couldn’t believe it!!!! He thought he was hot stuff for touching my computer! So we put him back in his spot and moved the computer over by me… he headed toward it! We must have made him tired, because we took a break and Jerry just held him for a little bit… he just relaxed in Jerry’s arms and sucked his thumb! It was so adorable! He looked content and he stayed there for quite a while! Finally I said we needed to try again! So back he went… oh! And we even tried a different outfit… a green one, but we liked the brown shirt best so we went back to that one! Finally we got one to use, and then Anthony could rest… he went back to lounging and checking out daddy’s “pokey” face! It was a nice visit in spite of the crying done by Rufan and Alex!

We met with the Artist! His prices have gone up of course! But we haggled and got a price we could live with! We printed the pictures he will use to paint from! We are having 3 paintings done. One of Anthony, and 2 of the 4 of us… We will of course post about them all later… when we get them!

Then we met our friends from Belgium for dinner at the Kamelot, just 2 blocks from our apartment! Our dinner was good. We had salad, soup, mashed potatoes and broccoli & cauliflower. The salad was awesome, the soup was awesome, the mashed potatoes were great, and the broccoli and cauliflower were soaked in oil! Oh Alex had some noodles… they were fine, but he did not eat many of them. Too excited about playing with Rufan I guess. We talked for a while, and had a nice time chatting… the kids were getting rambunctious, so we decided to go… They have pre-court tomorrow, so it will be interesting to know how it goes. We think we may be eating there for dinner more often, we both decided that we hate cooking in the apartment… it is so hard to get good food to cook at home… now if we weren’t vegetarians it would not be so hard, but the produce seems to be limited and, I don’t know… we are just having a hard time with that. But the salad and soup were so good at Kamelot that we are going to have that again! We are craving vegetables though… we are going to try the market soon and see what we can find there.

We came home and made a few calls to the states for business and to Jerry’s parents… everything is fine there…Now we are going to bed!!!! More playtime tomorrow!