In the morning we left at nine for the office. We filled out some papers and signed a couple things… they prepared the paperwork for the Medical visit. We also brought the painting with us… but Gulbanu was not there this morning! Bummer. We left it in her office… I would have loved to see the look on her face though when she saw it for the first time! Oh well… Our medical appointment was at 10:30 so after a bit we headed over there… Inside there was another lady that we met, she had been in country for 8 weeks as well and her hubby had had to go home… although he was not able to come back at the end for the final stuff. Their daughter is about 2.5 like Alex. After a little while the nurse called us in… It was the same sweet nurse that weighed and measured Alex almost 2 years ago!!! I told jerry to make sure to get a picture… he did… you can’t see it, because he took it against the bright window... and he didn’t look to see if it came out or not… grrrr…. Naughty Jerry! Anyways… Anthony weighs in at 7.4kg (about 16 lbs) and measures 72cm (just over 28 inches) long!!! He is almost as long as Alex was, but Alex weighed 22 pounds!!! (Alex was not fat at all! He was muscle or something because he was wearing 9-12 month… Anthony is wearing from 3-9 month sizes… his chest is much bigger than his little bahoney!) So we went back to the waiting room… the other mom was there that we met at the airport yesterday… with her husband! So there were 3 families with WPA in there! Soon we went to meet with the doctor… he was funny! He chatted with Alex about being a big boy and “did he like to pee outside in the garden…” I said he wasn’t allowed to pee in the garden! It was a very weird conversation… to me… Jerry said it was a guy thing… Actually Alex had never just peed outside until this trip… Olga had him do it at the babyhouse a couple times… I, was of course horrified! I guess I should have known it was coming, but that is still disgusting! Hahaha! Then Alex and the doctor looked over Anthony’s medical info and the doctor examined Anthony a little… Anthony looks good… of course developmentally behind some, but nothing he won’t catch up on pretty quickly! He has one abnormality… the little piece of skin that goes from the inside of your top lip to your gums… is very short from the end of his lip, you can not lift his lip up hardly at all… he said it should not affect his speech, but this was abnormal… whatever… ok… So then we were done after signing the report. We went back to the waiting room to wait for the blood test…. That was not going to be pretty! Oh dear! However we soon discovered that they aren’t doing that anymore… imagine our relief! Oh my word! We just had to pay and we were done!
We had Sasha take us to the Ramstore for a few things… water, baby food, and Jerry found Peanut Butter there! He has been having the PB cravings… heeheehee! On the way home we discussed what we would like to do tomorrow… our free day. Jerry asked about the lake that is just outside Almaty… Sasha would take us there!!! YAY!!!!!!! Last time we tried to convince our driver to take us there and he kept saying it was too far away! Sasha said it is not too far, but the road is bad and it would take a long time! It might be cold and windy there so bring stuff in case… He showed us the internet café near Mad Murphy’s… we had lunch at Mad Murphy’s… both Boys fell asleep while we were there… We could not get the internet to work there… it was weird… there wasn’t even a wireless signal… who knows! Anyways… we would come back later to the café… but the boys were sleeping so… we went home… put the boys in bed and I started repacking, I decided what we would wear for the next few days and put those out… and then packed everything else away! I really had a lot of space left in the suitcases… after getting rid of the gifts in Uralsk! Cool!
Later Jerry took our computers to the café to get our emails and post to the blog a little… he answered a couple emails and had a burrito at the café! It was literally a café as well as internet! I thought that was funny and clever!! He brought us some onion rings… my favorite! Alex and I had eaten leftover pizza from Mad Murphy’s. By the time Jerry got back Anthony was already in bed, but Alex was up watching some videos until daddy came home! It was a nice little evening… just me and Alex. Jerry was so thoughtful that he brought up a bunch of the different blogs that I look at sometimes for me to read when he got back… including Rumor Queen… the place that keeps all the rumors in check about China adoptions! Ha! We went to bed after while…
We are going to the mountain lake tomorrow!! yeah!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
In Almaty!!! (day4)
So we got up at about 6 and there was no hot water yet, so… no shower… But we were ready to go on time. Olga, Olga and Misha came along with the other driver… I can’t remember his name. With the paintings, there was no way we would get all the luggage in one car!
We gave them their gifts. We gave Misha a rubicks cube and mechanix gloves that are Jerry’s favorite! I hope he likes them! We put some other little things in there as well, like jerry’s favorite pens and some chapstick and a little shamy for cleaning your sunglasses or rear view mirror or whatever. Olga our translator, we gave 2 wide headbands, some mascara, the favorite pens and some chapstick. Olga our coordinator, the pens again, a eye make-up kit from Maybelline or something, a necklace, and chapstick. They all seem so inadequate for the great job they have done! But I guess it is their job. They are just good at their jobs, what can I say! Plus they are friends! I hope they are still there, next time we come back… They are all hoping we come back for a girl now… :)
So we headed off to the airport! Olga checked us in, checked our luggage in and everything… they decided that we needed to carry the paintings on… As I was sitting there waiting with Olga our interpreter… I think I suddenly realized that we were leave “home” with no idea when and if we will return in the future! It made me very sad! I almost started bawling right there with Olga sitting next to me! Alex was running round looking out the windows and going up and down the stairs! Anthony was hanging out in the bjorn on me and Jerry was supervising Alex! :) Finally it was time to go… we had to go through the gate and security. We had to say goodbye. That was hard! I was trying sooo hard not to cry! We all hugged and Alex hugged and kissed everyone! Then we handed them our passports and boarding passes, they waved us through and we left… headed down the steps to the security check. It was the easiest security check ever… we put our bags through… no strollers or anything fancy… except the paintings which a lady took Jerry upstairs to run through the larger machine… and then he was back and we were shuttled out to the plane… we got on… and the ladies inside had a place for jerry to put the paintings and we were ready to go!! Anthony fell asleep before we left the ground… he slept probably 30 minutes and then I woke up trying to help Alex with something… we have to remember to put Alex in the middle of us in the next flights… Our flight was pretty much perfect this time, even with 2 kids! Jerry walked Anthony around while Alex and I ate and we mixed Anthony’s bottle… then I fed Anthony while Jerry ate… it worked pretty good… we were starving… we hadn’t eaten at the apartment… we were all too tired! Well… Anthony had eaten of course! But he still thought he was going to die if we didn’t feed him right away!!!! Goodness! Anyways it was a good flight and I hope that the rest will be as good… I have decided that it will be a dilemma if we get bulk head seating, which we are hoping for, but Anthony doesn’t like to lay down you know… to go to sleep… he usually screams his head off… we are hoping though that he will be different at least for our flights home… haha!
While on the flight we met another couple that adopted a baby from Babyhouse 1. Oh my goodness! That baby was soooo cute!!! He had spiky hair like Alex, very Asian eyes, especially when he smiled and huge Kazakh cheeks!!! Oh! He was beautiful! When we got off the flight we met a mom… she was meeting her hubby in Almaty… He had gone home after court and she had stayed with the baby! (not in Uralsk) She had been in country 8 weeks! They were with WPA, too. Their baby is so precious! He has light colored hair, but he still has huge Kazakh cheeks. So cute! Chubby legs! Adorable and cuddly looking!
Our driver this time is Sasha. Sasha is short for Alexander in Russian! We thought that was funny. Apparently there are a lot of names that are short for Alexander! Like Shurig… that is what Misha was calling Alex all the time… Alex would quite often say “I’m Alex!” It was their joke!
Sasha seems cool. He has an SUV which we were glad for with all our luggage… but what makes him cool is that is likes rafting… as in whitewater! Of course Jerry had to tell him about the Baja 1000…
On the way we met Janara, from the “Sister’s” office… she needed our passports and Anthony’s birth cert as well as another packet of info that Olga gave us. We laughed because we stopped by the side of the rode and she walked across the street and got it from us… she must live nearby! So Sasha took us to our apartment… it was a different one that any of the others we had stayed in already. It was on the 3rd floor… not bad… but… it had NO AC! Which as you know we had been very used to in Uralsk! And today was really really hot!!! Oh my! So we were all exhausted and decided to take naps… We found an infant bassinet for Anthony and there was a crib sort of thing for Alex. So I laid down on the couch with Anthony in the bassinet by me and Jerry put Alex in the crib I the bed room… we had every window in the place open and sometimes a breeze would blow through, but most of the time it was stifling hot! We all finally fell asleep… it took awhile since we were all so hot! When I woke up I was sweating in my sleep!!!! I have never been so hot while I slept before!!! Good grief! Anthony did a bunch of screaming throughout the afternoon and evening… and we decided that we needed to get out and have dinner… We did not realize how late it was! Ha! We actually ended up walking forever to the Thai restaurant… Jerry was craving that pretty badly! The food of course was awesome and cost about $85! But we didn’t care… even the Chinese restaurant in Uralsk was gone… we wanted some Asian food! The kids did pretty good in there… they no longer had a high chair though… we were hoping to set Anthony in it and give him some puffs to mess with… he still hasn’t figured out how to get them to his mouth for some reason… Well the walk home seemed much shorter… we came across the cutest little tiny kitty… it we had been at home I would have brought it home… it purred like crazy when we stopped to give it some attention! We had to leave it behind though. We got home at about 11 at night!! When we got home we all went to bed… Anthony didn’t scream too long either… as long as I was holding onto his little hand from my bed! He is a mess!
We gave them their gifts. We gave Misha a rubicks cube and mechanix gloves that are Jerry’s favorite! I hope he likes them! We put some other little things in there as well, like jerry’s favorite pens and some chapstick and a little shamy for cleaning your sunglasses or rear view mirror or whatever. Olga our translator, we gave 2 wide headbands, some mascara, the favorite pens and some chapstick. Olga our coordinator, the pens again, a eye make-up kit from Maybelline or something, a necklace, and chapstick. They all seem so inadequate for the great job they have done! But I guess it is their job. They are just good at their jobs, what can I say! Plus they are friends! I hope they are still there, next time we come back… They are all hoping we come back for a girl now… :)
So we headed off to the airport! Olga checked us in, checked our luggage in and everything… they decided that we needed to carry the paintings on… As I was sitting there waiting with Olga our interpreter… I think I suddenly realized that we were leave “home” with no idea when and if we will return in the future! It made me very sad! I almost started bawling right there with Olga sitting next to me! Alex was running round looking out the windows and going up and down the stairs! Anthony was hanging out in the bjorn on me and Jerry was supervising Alex! :) Finally it was time to go… we had to go through the gate and security. We had to say goodbye. That was hard! I was trying sooo hard not to cry! We all hugged and Alex hugged and kissed everyone! Then we handed them our passports and boarding passes, they waved us through and we left… headed down the steps to the security check. It was the easiest security check ever… we put our bags through… no strollers or anything fancy… except the paintings which a lady took Jerry upstairs to run through the larger machine… and then he was back and we were shuttled out to the plane… we got on… and the ladies inside had a place for jerry to put the paintings and we were ready to go!! Anthony fell asleep before we left the ground… he slept probably 30 minutes and then I woke up trying to help Alex with something… we have to remember to put Alex in the middle of us in the next flights… Our flight was pretty much perfect this time, even with 2 kids! Jerry walked Anthony around while Alex and I ate and we mixed Anthony’s bottle… then I fed Anthony while Jerry ate… it worked pretty good… we were starving… we hadn’t eaten at the apartment… we were all too tired! Well… Anthony had eaten of course! But he still thought he was going to die if we didn’t feed him right away!!!! Goodness! Anyways it was a good flight and I hope that the rest will be as good… I have decided that it will be a dilemma if we get bulk head seating, which we are hoping for, but Anthony doesn’t like to lay down you know… to go to sleep… he usually screams his head off… we are hoping though that he will be different at least for our flights home… haha!
While on the flight we met another couple that adopted a baby from Babyhouse 1. Oh my goodness! That baby was soooo cute!!! He had spiky hair like Alex, very Asian eyes, especially when he smiled and huge Kazakh cheeks!!! Oh! He was beautiful! When we got off the flight we met a mom… she was meeting her hubby in Almaty… He had gone home after court and she had stayed with the baby! (not in Uralsk) She had been in country 8 weeks! They were with WPA, too. Their baby is so precious! He has light colored hair, but he still has huge Kazakh cheeks. So cute! Chubby legs! Adorable and cuddly looking!
Our driver this time is Sasha. Sasha is short for Alexander in Russian! We thought that was funny. Apparently there are a lot of names that are short for Alexander! Like Shurig… that is what Misha was calling Alex all the time… Alex would quite often say “I’m Alex!” It was their joke!
Sasha seems cool. He has an SUV which we were glad for with all our luggage… but what makes him cool is that is likes rafting… as in whitewater! Of course Jerry had to tell him about the Baja 1000…
On the way we met Janara, from the “Sister’s” office… she needed our passports and Anthony’s birth cert as well as another packet of info that Olga gave us. We laughed because we stopped by the side of the rode and she walked across the street and got it from us… she must live nearby! So Sasha took us to our apartment… it was a different one that any of the others we had stayed in already. It was on the 3rd floor… not bad… but… it had NO AC! Which as you know we had been very used to in Uralsk! And today was really really hot!!! Oh my! So we were all exhausted and decided to take naps… We found an infant bassinet for Anthony and there was a crib sort of thing for Alex. So I laid down on the couch with Anthony in the bassinet by me and Jerry put Alex in the crib I the bed room… we had every window in the place open and sometimes a breeze would blow through, but most of the time it was stifling hot! We all finally fell asleep… it took awhile since we were all so hot! When I woke up I was sweating in my sleep!!!! I have never been so hot while I slept before!!! Good grief! Anthony did a bunch of screaming throughout the afternoon and evening… and we decided that we needed to get out and have dinner… We did not realize how late it was! Ha! We actually ended up walking forever to the Thai restaurant… Jerry was craving that pretty badly! The food of course was awesome and cost about $85! But we didn’t care… even the Chinese restaurant in Uralsk was gone… we wanted some Asian food! The kids did pretty good in there… they no longer had a high chair though… we were hoping to set Anthony in it and give him some puffs to mess with… he still hasn’t figured out how to get them to his mouth for some reason… Well the walk home seemed much shorter… we came across the cutest little tiny kitty… it we had been at home I would have brought it home… it purred like crazy when we stopped to give it some attention! We had to leave it behind though. We got home at about 11 at night!! When we got home we all went to bed… Anthony didn’t scream too long either… as long as I was holding onto his little hand from my bed! He is a mess!
Leaving Uralsk...
I found this picture on my sd card when i downloaded my pictures... guess who took it... the young budding photographer... Alex! :)
This was us waiting at the airport... see the big square black, white and wood thing in the back on the right? That was our paintings! It was a carry-on!
Misha and Alex having a few last moments! Alex kissed him twice when we were ready to leave!
We laid Anthony on the floor in the airplane for a few minutes...
Coming into Almaty!
We are ready to go home!!!
In the bassinet in the apartment in Almaty! This was actually a happy moment! Shocker!
This is the painting that we gave Gulbanu. Isn't it cute!? We actually figured out that Anthony's head is bigger than it should be in the painting... but still a good likeness. :)
Having some hair-feeling moments with daddy...
It is soooo hot in here!
But is am still cute!
My first bath with Daddy... How else was I going to bathe him!? He can't sit up on his own!
My firt bottle of apple juice... he gets to hold the juice bottles, but not his milk bottles! He needs to know we are going to feed him... he doesn't have to serve himself all the time! Although he would like to!
This was us waiting at the airport... see the big square black, white and wood thing in the back on the right? That was our paintings! It was a carry-on!
Misha and Alex having a few last moments! Alex kissed him twice when we were ready to leave! 
We laid Anthony on the floor in the airplane for a few minutes...
Coming into Almaty!
We are ready to go home!!!
In the bassinet in the apartment in Almaty! This was actually a happy moment! Shocker!
This is the painting that we gave Gulbanu. Isn't it cute!? We actually figured out that Anthony's head is bigger than it should be in the painting... but still a good likeness. :)
Having some hair-feeling moments with daddy...
It is soooo hot in here!
But is am still cute!
My first bath with Daddy... How else was I going to bathe him!? He can't sit up on his own!
My firt bottle of apple juice... he gets to hold the juice bottles, but not his milk bottles! He needs to know we are going to feed him... he doesn't have to serve himself all the time! Although he would like to!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Last Day in Uralsk! (day5)
When we woke up it was raining, and nice and cool! Erik and Birgit were coming over at 10:30 to take pictures of the boys together. They came! Even in the rain! We had a nice visit and Anthony and Askhat seemed like old friends… they actually laid close and played “together” if that’s possible at their age… It was beautiful and they were so cute together. It was truly touching… Here they lived together nearly their whole live… they are a month apart in age… and they now have their families and are moving across the world from one another! It will be fun to see them grow up and see if they continue to have any kind of bond with one another! So we took a bunch of pictures and just chatted! Alex and Rufan watched a couple Mickey Mouse videos that Jerry downloaded! Then we did a family photo and group photo… That was hard… but we got a few that were pretty good! It was a good time and then we said goodbye and we hope that we will see them in Almaty!
We spent the afternoon at home… starting to pack finally! We made a mess in there!!! Whew! At six Jerry went with Olga and Misha to pick up the paintings. They were screwed together so that they could not touch one another and nobody could touch them either… I hope they do ok! Not sure if we will check them or carry them… probably carry them, unfortunately! Luba and Helen came by to visit… I wasn’t very talkative, as I was trying to pack… so Jerry asked them all kinds of funny questions about life and their goals and stuff… most of the time they don’t take us seriously! Helen translates and then they laugh and talk back and forth and then they just look at us! It’s kind of annoying! So we ask the question again and sometimes they answer sometimes they don’t! Silly girls!
Anthony only had one real screaming fit today! However it was a pretty long one… probably 45 minutes! Oh my! We just put him in his bed… and check on him once in a while and make sure he didn’t really have something to scream about!
After the girls left I finished packing, Jerry finished downloading some stuff and we went to bed about 2 am! We leave in the morning at 8! We also forgot to give Luba her graduation gift (money) she is leaving for Aksay and could use a little money to get going over there, so we thought we would help her a little bit. It’s not very much, I am sure it is not “enough” but she will appreciate it and it WILL help! So we will have to leave it with Olga! She can get it to her later!
We spent the afternoon at home… starting to pack finally! We made a mess in there!!! Whew! At six Jerry went with Olga and Misha to pick up the paintings. They were screwed together so that they could not touch one another and nobody could touch them either… I hope they do ok! Not sure if we will check them or carry them… probably carry them, unfortunately! Luba and Helen came by to visit… I wasn’t very talkative, as I was trying to pack… so Jerry asked them all kinds of funny questions about life and their goals and stuff… most of the time they don’t take us seriously! Helen translates and then they laugh and talk back and forth and then they just look at us! It’s kind of annoying! So we ask the question again and sometimes they answer sometimes they don’t! Silly girls!
Anthony only had one real screaming fit today! However it was a pretty long one… probably 45 minutes! Oh my! We just put him in his bed… and check on him once in a while and make sure he didn’t really have something to scream about!
After the girls left I finished packing, Jerry finished downloading some stuff and we went to bed about 2 am! We leave in the morning at 8! We also forgot to give Luba her graduation gift (money) she is leaving for Aksay and could use a little money to get going over there, so we thought we would help her a little bit. It’s not very much, I am sure it is not “enough” but she will appreciate it and it WILL help! So we will have to leave it with Olga! She can get it to her later!
Photo Shoot with Askhat!
Anthony found a shovel to chew on... maybe he thinks it is a spoon!
Like my shirt?
The veggies from Olga!
Erik, Birgit, Rufan and Askhat!
Such a cutie!
Buddies! They actually played together!
Probably about to get in trouble!
Askhat laughs really good!
these are the stickers that we found this time for the back of the car... Have we put the last ones on the back of the car yet?....... no.... :)
Like my shirt?
The veggies from Olga!
Erik, Birgit, Rufan and Askhat!
Such a cutie!
Buddies! They actually played together!
Probably about to get in trouble!
Askhat laughs really good!
these are the stickers that we found this time for the back of the car... Have we put the last ones on the back of the car yet?....... no.... :)
Friday, August 1, 2008
Paintings Done... (day6)
Anthony is quite the rascal! He woke up squawking at 4,5,6 and finally up for a while at 6:45. Went back to sleep in an hour and slept until 9:15! What a mess! Every time he wakes up, he gives you the dirtiest look! It really is ugly! It is so funny! He frowns at you… and then looks round, as if he is still unsure about it all! He usually ends up smiling soon though!
He definitely has a problem with one of us walking out of the room! If he notices! He is a mess! He will take a big breathe and then just scream bloody murder! Its horrible! He doesn’t do any little fusses… it is all bloody murder!!!! Oh my word! Even if he is just mad that we walked out of the room… as in… no tears, just screaming his eye lids turn bright red!! Oh my!
Today we went to Babyhouse 1! We needed to take a video and some pictures over to the doctor of Jon-Jon walking! They were happy to have the video and would be able to play it on their computer… they had to watch it a little later though so we didn’t get to watch them watch it… Then Alex had to play few minutes on their playground! There was a bunch of kids out there… the director was out there and a few caregivers… They had a photographer and they were taking some pictures. They had a little boy and girl dressed in traditional Kazakh dress. They were getting some special pictures of him and her together. It was so cute!!! The Director said I could take some pictures too! They are definitely much different at that babyhouse!!! There is no way they would let us take pictures at our babyhouse! That was so nice!
Then we stopped for Jerry to buy some stickers that have KZ on them… you put them on the back of your car. They were some really fancy ones! They were oval Kazakh flag blue with some designs… I will try to take a picture of them and post it! I love them! Anthony fell asleep and slept until we got home. Sweet little munchkin!!!
Then it was off to print some papers and deliver a box to someone here in Uralsk… They were not home, so we are going to try again later. :)
We came home and Jerry went and got Pizza from Pizza hot… They are such a mess! Probably 75% of the time we order pizza and it is wrong! But you don’t know until you get home, because it is all tied up… so we usually order 2 pizzas and then save whats left for later… well today Jerry ordered one with just cheese and tomatoes and one with cheese, tomatoes, olives and specifically drew a picture for NO meat! Well guess what… it had meat on it, and this really strong cheese!!!! Oh my word! So… we end up throwing out a lot of stupid pizza around here… its getting annoying.
We spent the afternoon her hanging out… the boys took naps… Alex slept for almost 3 hours! Anthony woke up after an hour and half screaming, of course… when he calmed, we went in an got him… we played a little, but he was still so tired… he kept digging at the back of his head and rubbing his face like crazy and he was fussy… just not content with anything… so we decided to put him back down and let him go back to sleep… well… that didn’t work… he was so mad! It was another screaming frenzy! He never did go back to sleep, but he was pretty tired and he knew he was in trouble… whenever you scold him, he refuses to look at you! He knows!!!! I can’t believe it! Little twerpy! So when he calmed down, jerry brought him out of the bedroom and he looked exhausted from screaming! So we left for Dixie Pub for dinner and then Olga and Misha picked us up to go see the painter! We found the place and went in… Our paintings are awesome! He showed us a bunch of paintings that he has done since we were last here. They were unbelievable… none of them really caught my eye… as in… we have to have it… plus we are getting low on money… :) He likes to paint beautiful women! Although they were incredible… for us not all that appropriate for a houseful of kids… for example… a side view of a woman with a breast made from a pear, with the stem as the nipple… very thought provoking… very creative, but I am not sure I can handle explaining that to my BOYS!!! :) I hope someday he does something great with his work, he really is amazing at what he does!! We left the paintings for him to package so we can get them to Almaty without being damaged, since they are still WET!!!!! Mr. Procrastinator!! When we get to Almaty and they are dry, we will photograph them and share!
Then we came home, tomorrow we are spending some quality time with Erik and Birgit. We are going to do a photo shoot of the boys together! Should be fun!!
Anthony was a bundle of happiness tonight… laying on his back grabbing his toes and saying “aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!” very loudly! It was a very nice change from all the screaming! We read a book on manners and prayed smooched on him and put him in his bed… he let out one squawk and that was all we heard from him! I hope he sleeps better tonight!
He definitely has a problem with one of us walking out of the room! If he notices! He is a mess! He will take a big breathe and then just scream bloody murder! Its horrible! He doesn’t do any little fusses… it is all bloody murder!!!! Oh my word! Even if he is just mad that we walked out of the room… as in… no tears, just screaming his eye lids turn bright red!! Oh my!
Today we went to Babyhouse 1! We needed to take a video and some pictures over to the doctor of Jon-Jon walking! They were happy to have the video and would be able to play it on their computer… they had to watch it a little later though so we didn’t get to watch them watch it… Then Alex had to play few minutes on their playground! There was a bunch of kids out there… the director was out there and a few caregivers… They had a photographer and they were taking some pictures. They had a little boy and girl dressed in traditional Kazakh dress. They were getting some special pictures of him and her together. It was so cute!!! The Director said I could take some pictures too! They are definitely much different at that babyhouse!!! There is no way they would let us take pictures at our babyhouse! That was so nice!
Then we stopped for Jerry to buy some stickers that have KZ on them… you put them on the back of your car. They were some really fancy ones! They were oval Kazakh flag blue with some designs… I will try to take a picture of them and post it! I love them! Anthony fell asleep and slept until we got home. Sweet little munchkin!!!
Then it was off to print some papers and deliver a box to someone here in Uralsk… They were not home, so we are going to try again later. :)
We came home and Jerry went and got Pizza from Pizza hot… They are such a mess! Probably 75% of the time we order pizza and it is wrong! But you don’t know until you get home, because it is all tied up… so we usually order 2 pizzas and then save whats left for later… well today Jerry ordered one with just cheese and tomatoes and one with cheese, tomatoes, olives and specifically drew a picture for NO meat! Well guess what… it had meat on it, and this really strong cheese!!!! Oh my word! So… we end up throwing out a lot of stupid pizza around here… its getting annoying.
We spent the afternoon her hanging out… the boys took naps… Alex slept for almost 3 hours! Anthony woke up after an hour and half screaming, of course… when he calmed, we went in an got him… we played a little, but he was still so tired… he kept digging at the back of his head and rubbing his face like crazy and he was fussy… just not content with anything… so we decided to put him back down and let him go back to sleep… well… that didn’t work… he was so mad! It was another screaming frenzy! He never did go back to sleep, but he was pretty tired and he knew he was in trouble… whenever you scold him, he refuses to look at you! He knows!!!! I can’t believe it! Little twerpy! So when he calmed down, jerry brought him out of the bedroom and he looked exhausted from screaming! So we left for Dixie Pub for dinner and then Olga and Misha picked us up to go see the painter! We found the place and went in… Our paintings are awesome! He showed us a bunch of paintings that he has done since we were last here. They were unbelievable… none of them really caught my eye… as in… we have to have it… plus we are getting low on money… :) He likes to paint beautiful women! Although they were incredible… for us not all that appropriate for a houseful of kids… for example… a side view of a woman with a breast made from a pear, with the stem as the nipple… very thought provoking… very creative, but I am not sure I can handle explaining that to my BOYS!!! :) I hope someday he does something great with his work, he really is amazing at what he does!! We left the paintings for him to package so we can get them to Almaty without being damaged, since they are still WET!!!!! Mr. Procrastinator!! When we get to Almaty and they are dry, we will photograph them and share!
Then we came home, tomorrow we are spending some quality time with Erik and Birgit. We are going to do a photo shoot of the boys together! Should be fun!!
Anthony was a bundle of happiness tonight… laying on his back grabbing his toes and saying “aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!” very loudly! It was a very nice change from all the screaming! We read a book on manners and prayed smooched on him and put him in his bed… he let out one squawk and that was all we heard from him! I hope he sleeps better tonight!
Errands Day!
I loved this... these 2 old grandpas were just playing chess in the middle of the day! It was so cute!!!
Just playing!
Gettin tired!
After a crying fit!
Adorable in his underwear! We took a few naked pictures, but... he is just white and kind of scrawny naked! Still cute though... He has a rather large, but very faint Mongolian spot all the way across his bahooney!
In my new PJs!
Hanging out with Daddy!
The boy who made me a momma!
Just playing!
Gettin tired!
After a crying fit!
Adorable in his underwear! We took a few naked pictures, but... he is just white and kind of scrawny naked! Still cute though... He has a rather large, but very faint Mongolian spot all the way across his bahooney!
In my new PJs!
Hanging out with Daddy!
The boy who made me a momma!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
One Week Left! (day7)
Today we had a pretty easy day… we all woke up about 6:30 with Anthony! He woke up and I heard him moving around so I sort of opened my eyes to watch him… he saw his Octopus toy hanging from the side… he tried grabbing at it for a little bit, and then I think he realized her was not where he normally is… He got a surprised look on his face and then started looking around the room… trying to figure out what was going on! It was pretty cute… I figured he had seen me, but thought I was sleeping… I don’t know… so I whispered “Anthony” and he jumped and started screaming!!!! Oh boy!!! What a mess… that woke Alex up and he started calling for us! We gave Anthony a bottle of juice, here they this really thick juice especially for babies… it has a lot of the fiber in it still I guess! Which is a nice thing… they feel like they ate something… Then we played for a while and about eight, Anthony went down for his first nap of the day! He didn’t cry too long… just a few cries and he was sleeping away! We were amazed! Jerry took a nap too, and I tried to doze a little with Alex on the couch next to me watching Queen Esther… the veggie-tale! Not very restful I must say! Jerry got up and went out for more water… somehow we used up our water and didn’t have any more… so we needed to make milk for Anthony when we woke up… Anthony woke up… but didn’t fuss too much… I laid down on the bed and pretended to be asleep so I could see what he would do… He just rolled around and looked at stuff… he would grab at the octopus for a minute and then roll over, then roll back over and grab at the octopus again! Pretty soon I put my hand in the crib so he could touch me… he was hilarious… he was afraid to touch my hand! When I would touch him, he would jump away like I was scary or something…then he would reach one little finger toward my hand and just barely touch one of my fingers… then pull away quickly! So funny! Soon he started getting bored… so I pulled him out and we played on our bed a while until Jerry got back. He was smiling and happy to see us! We feed him a bottle of weak milk with some cereal in it… to make it a little thicker. That worked pretty good. Then we played until about 11:15 when jerry said Anthony was so tired he couldn’t even keep his head up anymore… they had watched a baby Einstein together… the boys. So jerry put him back in bed… he hollered for a couple minutes and then went right to sleep! He is so cute… he turns on his side sticks that thumb in his mouth, grabs that hand with the other hand, kind of curls up… and that is how he likes to go to sleep! It’s so cute!!! Alex went for his nap at the same time. So I took a shower and jerry worked on something…
Assiya was supposed to come over between 1 and 2, so I think she came about 1:15… Anthony had just woken up, but was throwing a fit… so he was back in his bed when she came… he soon calmed down so I brought him out… she adored him!!! She couldn’t help but pinch his cheeks and stuff! We chatted a while I gave Anthony another bottle and then we went to the park. It was about a 20 minute walk from here but it was so nice outside that the walk was not bad… Alex actually rode in the stroller, and Alex was in the Bjorn on Jerry.
The park was beautiful again today… we walked around and took Alex to the bounce house thing… he went in and played for quite a while… then he pushed a little girl I guess… in play… and she started crying… so we had to get him to calm down… he was fine for a while and then the attendant told us, we better check on him again… he had apparently “bonked” the same girl in the head… “with his hand”… is what he told me… she was screaming and the lady was yelling at Alex… I don’t know what happen… but he apparently got a little carried away and wild… who knows… but of course we couldn’t understand what she was saying, but Assiya said she was asking him why he did that and telling him he was a bad boy and on and on… Alex was un-phased by her of course, since he had no idea what he was saying… but he did get in trouble from us… how embarrassing… we walked away and Alex was crying… so sad… we all got some ice cream and kept walking… Anthony of course fell asleep… it was about nap time… He always seems to fall asleep at nap time… no matter where he is! I hope he stays that way!!! So he slept for probably an hour… we walked slowly home so he could really sleep and we were talking anyways. It was a nice afternoon. We came home… Anthony woke up… I gave him a bottle of milk and cereal again… Jerry showed Assiya all about WeedFreeGardenBed.com, she said she wished they had that when she was a kid… they always were pulling weeds! We met her younger sister at Kamelot for dinner… Savilya. She is adorable too! She has darker hair, but looks very much like her two sisters. We had a nice dinner and laughed and chatted. Then we needed to rush home because Luba and Helen were going to come tonight too… well apparently we missed them… I feel bad about that… but they are never on time and the one day they never even came, so we figured it would be at least 8 before they came… so we got home about 8… bummer, I hope they aren’t mad at us!
We got Anthony ready for bed, Jerry read him a story and we prayed and put him in and left… he squawked a couple time and then stopped… then we put Alex to bed… he fussed more than Anthony! I checked on Anthony a few minutes later and what was he doing? He had a hold of his octopus guy and was banging it around! I let him for a few minutes and then if he was playing too long I was going to take it out… but when I came back he was on his little side, thumb in mouth sleeping away! So Precious!!!
I am still exhausted today so I am trying to go to sleep earlier… :)
Assiya was supposed to come over between 1 and 2, so I think she came about 1:15… Anthony had just woken up, but was throwing a fit… so he was back in his bed when she came… he soon calmed down so I brought him out… she adored him!!! She couldn’t help but pinch his cheeks and stuff! We chatted a while I gave Anthony another bottle and then we went to the park. It was about a 20 minute walk from here but it was so nice outside that the walk was not bad… Alex actually rode in the stroller, and Alex was in the Bjorn on Jerry.
The park was beautiful again today… we walked around and took Alex to the bounce house thing… he went in and played for quite a while… then he pushed a little girl I guess… in play… and she started crying… so we had to get him to calm down… he was fine for a while and then the attendant told us, we better check on him again… he had apparently “bonked” the same girl in the head… “with his hand”… is what he told me… she was screaming and the lady was yelling at Alex… I don’t know what happen… but he apparently got a little carried away and wild… who knows… but of course we couldn’t understand what she was saying, but Assiya said she was asking him why he did that and telling him he was a bad boy and on and on… Alex was un-phased by her of course, since he had no idea what he was saying… but he did get in trouble from us… how embarrassing… we walked away and Alex was crying… so sad… we all got some ice cream and kept walking… Anthony of course fell asleep… it was about nap time… He always seems to fall asleep at nap time… no matter where he is! I hope he stays that way!!! So he slept for probably an hour… we walked slowly home so he could really sleep and we were talking anyways. It was a nice afternoon. We came home… Anthony woke up… I gave him a bottle of milk and cereal again… Jerry showed Assiya all about WeedFreeGardenBed.com, she said she wished they had that when she was a kid… they always were pulling weeds! We met her younger sister at Kamelot for dinner… Savilya. She is adorable too! She has darker hair, but looks very much like her two sisters. We had a nice dinner and laughed and chatted. Then we needed to rush home because Luba and Helen were going to come tonight too… well apparently we missed them… I feel bad about that… but they are never on time and the one day they never even came, so we figured it would be at least 8 before they came… so we got home about 8… bummer, I hope they aren’t mad at us!
We got Anthony ready for bed, Jerry read him a story and we prayed and put him in and left… he squawked a couple time and then stopped… then we put Alex to bed… he fussed more than Anthony! I checked on Anthony a few minutes later and what was he doing? He had a hold of his octopus guy and was banging it around! I let him for a few minutes and then if he was playing too long I was going to take it out… but when I came back he was on his little side, thumb in mouth sleeping away! So Precious!!!
I am still exhausted today so I am trying to go to sleep earlier… :)
First Full Day!
Aren't these pretty? They are all over the park!
Strolling along...
So sweet! There are no words...
Trying to crawl... i was sure he was going to fall on his nose as he was rocking...
Alex kissing Assiya... he had given her a bunch of change (tenge) and then wanted it back... she would only exchange it for kisses! so cute!
Counting the money from kisses...
Savilya and Assiya... As well as Alex with his gum... he has figured gum out... by the way.
Sisters... one is missing though!
Before saying goodbye!
Strolling along...
So sweet! There are no words...
Trying to crawl... i was sure he was going to fall on his nose as he was rocking...
Alex kissing Assiya... he had given her a bunch of change (tenge) and then wanted it back... she would only exchange it for kisses! so cute!
Counting the money from kisses...
Savilya and Assiya... As well as Alex with his gum... he has figured gum out... by the way.
Sisters... one is missing though!
Before saying goodbye!
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