What?! 3 days until Christmas??!

Yes, I know I am way behind on my blog posts, but this whole coming home a week before Christmas has me a bit out of sorts!  Ciera and I finally decorated the tree last night, I had put it up the night before and I took out some house decorations after the kids (wow that's so cool to say!) went to sleep, but the major decoration bin (with the big stuff in it) is behind about 6 other bins in the basement, and I just don't feel the urge to move all that stuff to get them out, so they can be out for 5 days.  So it'll be a low decoration year this year, Ciera has not noticed as we have the important stuff out...the tree and the stockings!
 
I kept Ciera home from school/daycare today as my brother and my mom were supposed to come out to meet Tienna, they didn't end up coming much to Cieras' disappointment, but after lunch I dressed both girls up in Christmas outfits and we trekked over to Woodbine Mall to see Santa.  What a great Santa, we were there for Ciera's first Christmas/Santa picture and I will be going back there every year now.  He is a very nice man and the setting is very nice, I was getting tired of the green and white striped chair at Bramalea City Centre.   We got there about 12:30 and there were only about 4 families in front of us, BONUS!   Tienna was a bit fussy so she was drinking her bottle in the stroller, we got to our turn and I plucked it out of her mouth, she started to cry, so I jiggled her (she loves this!) and plunked her on Santa's lap.  Ciera, who has never actually sat on Santa's lap of her own free will, actually got up and sat on his other knee.  I think it was the pressure of "uh oh if my baby sister can do it so can I", and she actually smiled this year, not a great smile but a smile none the less.  We got out stuff together, moved to the cash desk, paid and were handed our pictures!  What service, no "please come back in 30 minutes" right then and there, how great is that.  We were in and out of the mall with our pictures in under 45 minutes, heck I think the drive there and back took longer!
 
The result is posted here......I'm hoping to do a home shot tomorrow evening (hoping for both kids in good moods, evenings do not seem to be Tienna's happiest time!) for my now very late Christmas cards, but better late than never I say!  Hey, I can always say I'm celebrating the Russian orthodox Christmas this year and that I am right on time :-)
 
Poor Tienna, not a great time of year to be trying to get into some sort of routine, but she is going with the flow pretty well.  Here's hoping next week we can get into a predictable routine.
 
I seem to be having some sort of luck lately, perhaps I should be out buying lottery tickets.....we went to the OHIP office yesterday to get Tienna's OHIP.  The Service Ontario web site said the Brampton office was experiencing higher than normal volumes so I decided to head to Milton, a 30 minute drive.  I got there, parked and walked into the office.....I was stunned...I was literally the only person there who was not staff!!!   I had every piece of paper they could possibly want to see for the adoption and the only one she asked for was her immigration form.  No issue on the waiving of the 90 day wait period, done, in and out in under 20 minutes!  Awesome!!!!
 
Ok, I'm off to do yet another load of laundry....I've added one tiny person yet seem to be doing a whole heck of a lot more laundry how is this possible?  She's not even a messy little person...I don't get it.  This whole time of day usage sucks when you are actually at home during the day and then I'm off to bed.  I've been up REALLY late (1:00/2:00/3:00) the past 3 nights and tonight I am pooped, I fell asleep giving Tienna her bedtime bottle...in my defence it was dark in her room and she was warm and cuddly!
 
I will catch up on our trip home post over the next few days.....in the midst of wrapping Christmas presents!!
 
 

Nothing smells better than a baby fresh out of the bath!

Yes, I have Tienna with me in the hotel now and I think it's going to be a looooooong night!  I took her out of the babyhouse around 4:40, so she has missed her 4-6 nap, and it's now 8:45PM and she is showing no sign of laying down and going to sleep, she is however in her crib having a wonderful time, while mom is fighting sleep big time!  For that reason I will make this short (yes I really will) and then I will tell the rest tomorrow.

 

It was a very emotional day, I fought tears all day and lost the battle when saying goodbye and thank you to everyone at the babyhouse, I know I will sob tomorrow when I say goodbye to Irina (the translator) at the airport.  Poor girl has to be at the hotel at 5:00AM with a driver to take us to the airport.  Even the 2 nannies who were in room 4 today had tears in their eyes as they kissed Tienna goodbye and said "das vidanya" to her.  A true testament to how attached they are to the babies and their love for them.

 

As for the bath, she LOVED it, I was half soaked as was the bathroom, she laughed and giggled all thru it, including rinsing off her hair with the shower hose!

 

More tomorrow….other than Tienna still being awake there is some sort of banquet at the hotel.....guess who's room it's under....that is one loud band!!!

 

Pictures:

 -Bath

- the big wail....this is what she did when I put her down for her nap at 12, she was actaully holding onto me!

- Tienna all dressed up and ready to go....please note she was clapping !

- On our way out of the babyhouse.

Reunited..

and it feels so good!!!
 
I made it to the babyhouse for 2:00 hoping to get Tienna out of her crib and feed her but when I got there she was already up, fed, and on the potty :-(   but as I walked in one of the nannies saw me and said "Ira mama, Ira mama!!!" (They call her Ira, short for Irina), I didn't even take my coat or anything off I walked over to the giant playpen and she gave me a big smile, and I kissed her repeatedly and stroked her face, her hair has really grown in.  They got me a diaper and I picked her up and diapered her and took my stuff off.  I sat and cuddled her for close to 45 minutes, tearing up every so often.  She never let me cuddle her for that long before, while I loved it, it also made me sad as I knew it was likley because she had missed me.  Dr. Ludmilla came in and saw me, she said Tienna has not coughed for 2 weeks and then started again yesterday, super thanks T!   She sounds all congested again poor baby, could make for some interesting plane rides.
 
I then got her changed into different clothes and went downstairs to find Salley, another single mom from Toronto who is now there bonding with her new little one.  I had brought some supplies for her (as others did for me!) and needed to pass them along, we chatted for a bit and agreed to meet at 4:00 to head out.  I went back upstairs and played with Tienna and also set "free" little A (my friends from the US son) as they are home in the US now waiting to come back to pick him up.  It was so cute the nannies had put 4 kids into the high chairs and had them all lined up, it looked like some sort of baby board meeting!
 
Ok, so I'll back up now......I slept off and on for the drive to Karaganda, but woke up just as entered the city.  There is not much to see on the drive between Astana and Karaganda, it is VERY flat and the odd steppe here and there but pretty dull scenery overall.  I asked Kostya to take me to the apartment first to pick up my bag of babyclothes.  The downstairs door was open so I ran upstairs and rang the bell...no answer...darn.  Rang back downstairs and ran into 2 people, looked closer and one was Irina (translator) she was surprised and happy to see me and we exchanged hugs!  She was with the mom of the new family who is now staying at the apartment, how's that for timing.  Irina came over to Scholnik with me to load up some credits on my cell phone and then back to the apt to get my bag.
 
Back in the car we headed for the hotel, I walked in and was asked "are you Diane Davies?", wow I feel like some sort of celebrity, how'd she know?  Oh maybe the stroller with no child gave me away!!!  The rooms are nice, hot as heck and this one is smoky (ugh!), but it's only for 2 nights.  It includes breakfast and free wifi so that's great!  I put down my stuff, grabbed what I needed for Tienna and walked the 10 minutes up the road to the babyhouse.  It was a great day, sunny and not cold, ok it's cold but not horribly so!  Not too mcuh snow either, maybe 4 inches on the ground.
 
At the end of our visit I headed downstairs and met up with Salley and we headed off for downtown, there were a few things I needed to pick up and she also had some shopping to do.  We were in one store in the bazaar and 2 young girls heard us talking, turns out one of them remembered Ciera and I as she had translated something for us at Uym once, small world indeed!
 
Salley and I had dinner and it was a fun evening out, lots of laughs.  I headed to the Ramstore to buy babyfood, damn I should have brought some from home...I got veggies, fruit and rice cereal but they had no meat and I have no idea which formula to buy so after negotiating with the store security guard he let me take a picture of 2 formulas which I will show the BH tomorrow and they can tell me which one to get.  Other than that I am all ready to take custody of my baby girl tomorrow afternoon at 4:00!!!!  Hoping she is not too freaked out by it all.
 
Tonight I put all my gifts together and am now going to sit in bed, enjoy the quiet and watch my 42" flat screen tv.......I don't ever get to do this at home, nor do I have a flat screen (Christmas present hint for anyone who wants to buy me one, only 32" will do!!!)
 
 
Pics:
 
Tienna and I (I'm nt very good at taking pictures of myself!)
Tienna pulling herself up at the piano, her pants came unsnapped as she dragged herself over (she still is not crawling!!) and they pulled off
Me in front of City Mall
 
 
 
 
 

The big pat down

Yes, I had the big airport pat down in Frankfurt and quite frankly I don't understand what all the fuss is about.  Sure, I'd rather be bought a drink or two first before I get frisked but seriously it was no big deal.  As I seem to be setting off the alarm everywhere (could it be my magnetic personality?!) I have to have the pat down.  In Toronto, as there was no woman available to pat me down, I had the option of removing jewelry piece by piece until I no longer beeped, they were quite accommodating and held first my watch and then my bracelet for me as I walked back and forth.  I suppose if I had still beeped I would have had to hang around and wait for a woman to frisk me. In Frankfurt there was a woman there so as soon as I beeped, it was into patdown mode.  It's quite the system they have there, but I have to tell you if you are travelling thru Frankfurt anytime soon, make sure you have LOTS of time between your connecting flights.   Even though you have just gotten off of a plane where you had to go through security to get on the plane in the first place, you get off your flight……follow the signs for connecting flights and boom you are in a 30 minute line to go through security again, I don't understand it but whatever! And it is thorough, everything goes in a bin and is scrutinized, then you line up at the other end to pick up your stuff and if there is anything questionable (I was ok), you wait and wait for your turn to come up for the security folks to check it with you.  The guy in front of me was quite amused, he thought it quite funny that he got off the plane at, say, gate B40 and his connecting flight was leaving out of the same gate B40 and he had to go through security.  He had on a sweater over a t-shirt and the woman made him take his sweater off, he wondered aloud why and the male security guy smiled and said "maybe she just wants to check you out", they were all very pleasant about it.  Oddly I too had on a fleece over another top and I was not asked to take my fleece off…hmm maybe she did want to check his physique!

 

Even with my  flight being late and the 30 minute security check I still had about 3 hours to pass…..it was a long 3 hours.  I had a 3 Euro tea (c'mon nothing make a tea worth that much, and it's not like it was even loose leaf, it was a bag in a paper cup!), and some animal crackers….I was not willing to pay 5 Euro for a danish even though it looked amazing.  Played some games on my itouch, listed to music and read my trashy People magazine, and wandered around a fair bit trying to stay awake and not fall down!

 

The flight was not full and as soon as they said "boarding is complete" the man beside me bolted from the seat (was it something I said?!) and moved to a full centre row (lucky guy), so I had the 2 seats to myself which allowed me to curl up, lie down and catch some sleep once we were off.  Even so I was not even awake for take off,  I closed my eyes and when I opened them next we were already in the air!!!  It was a very smooth flight and I caught several hours to sleep in 1 or 2 hour increments.   Once in Astana I got through passport control and my luggage was up all in about 10 minutes and I went out to find Kostya (the driver).  He found me!  It's not too cold here in Astana, it was -6C last night and it felt good.  The Astana airport is all decorated for Christmas and it's beautiful.  A large, had to be 50foot, tree of lights is out front, I commented on it and Kostya said "it's just for you"…awww sweet.

 

Astana is a beautiful city at night, lots and lots of coloured lights and the new part of the city is very, very modern.  There is one building that is 1.5 kilometres long, very cool!  I look forward to coming back in a few years with the kids and Astana is on my list of places to stay for a week.   I am currently in a small, but comfortable hotel, where I will wait for Kostya to pick me up at 10 to take me to Karaganda. I was hoping to be there by 10 but I guess since he was up late picking me up last night he needed to get his sleep and be alert for the 2.5 hour drive, plus he has to drive back.  I have to say though that this was the most comfortable bed I have ever slept on in Kazakhstan, and I managed to get about 4 hours straight sleep, wahooooooo!!!

 

I had just woken up this morning, when my Kaz cell phone rang, it was my sister, and I had a 20 minute talk with Ciera.  I've never talked to her on the phone before, she sounds so cute J.  She told me about her day, kept telling me she loved me (I teared up a few times) and not to get hurt (sweet eh) and as I was trying to convince her to hand the phone back to Auntie Dada my cell phone minutes ran out…..damn.  I hope she was not too upset that we cut off that way.  Now I need to add minutes to it today.  I hope Irina, my translator, is around this afternoon as I am not adept at adding minutes to this phone and she can do it in about 4.3 seconds.

 

Ok, now  only 1 ½ hours to pass until Kostya is here….maybe he will surprise me and be early as he was in Karaganda….so perhaps I should get up and get ready, and maybe just maybe I can get a cup of tea downstairs that is far less than 3 Euro!!!

 

Next stop Karaganda and Tienna!!!!!

 

The picture is the big Christmas tree in front of the Astana airport, I'm quite happy that the picture turned out!!!

On the road again....

Or rather in the air again.

 

I am sitting in the Frankfurt airport awaiting my connection to Astana, so I have a bit of time to kill!

 

I can't believe how fast the past 4 weeks have flown by, but somehow I managed to get 2 visa's (Kazakhstan and Russia), booked my flights, arranged hotels, took Ciera to her activities, worked (ugh!), finished up Tienna's room (ok I was doing that up to about 5 minutes before I left home), and I now have several hours to spend with nothing to do, that's not something that happens to me very often!

 

Ciera has spent the past several weeks saying "I want to go with you", with my answer being "I'm sorry honey you can't come this time", I thought she had accepted it and was ok with it when she said on Friday night "how many more sleeps until you bring my sister home?".  However as I was in line to check in for my flight she kept wanting to hold my hand, telling me she wanted to hold it forever, and as I was checking my bags she had silent tears running down her face.  She was really cute though and I have to give her credit for trying "why can't I come with you?" "I only have one ticket" to which she responded "then tear it in half so I can use it too".   We grabbed some dinner as we waited and then it was time to go……she was clinging to me, holding on, and crying, I tried not to cry but I resisted the sobs but had tears running down my face too, I hate pulling myself out of her grasp.  Again she tried….she took the fruit loops that Auntie Dada was holding and she gave them to me, then she gave me dee dee and mama fish and reached for her coat that Auntie Dada was holding, I said "I see what you're doing here" and handed the stuff back to Linda.  A few more hugs and I pulled away, I waved and blew kisses all the way thru security, tears streaming down my face.  Ciera waved back and blew back kisses but I knew she was crying.  Linda said as they got to the car Ciera was still sniffling, I hope she went to bed early last night.   

 

I LOVE Lufthansa, I had 2 bags (gifts took up one!) and a stroller, the agent said "adoption?", I said yes and she put it all through, gave me a bag and some tape for the stroller and presto, no extra charges, I'm betting Air Canada would have charged me J

 

The snow delayed us a bit, about 40 minutes and it was a very full flight.  It was bumpy over Canada, as the pilot said we were hitting the storm.  I managed to grab a few hours sleep here and there, and am hoping the flight to Astana is not full as I could really use more sleep!

 

I cannot believe in less than 24 hours I will see and hold Tienna again….

 

Update from Linda: by the time they were home she was fine…..that's a relief!!

Introducing my new angel!!

  Here she is........almost 4 years  of waiting and planning.......5 flights (so far, 5 more to go)......half a world away I found my second daughter and she's absolutely perfect!!!   She is so worth the wait...and she's my daughter, Ciera's baby sister and the newest member of our family.
 

Tienna Irina Batson Davies

Born January 18, 2010 in Karaganda City, Kazakhstan

 
 

The pictures say the rest:

- A happy Tienna on our 2nd to last day before we headed home

- Our first family picture

- Laughing outside on our first day

- One of my favorite pictures, I love the joy on Ciera's face

- The joy on Tienna's face

- OUt enjoying the weather

- The judge said "YES!!", the whole family after court

- Our last family picture until Tienna is home in Canada

- Happy mama and baby!

- "Promise you'll come back soon mama?" (taken just after I put Tienna in her crib for the last time that 1st trip)

 

 

 
 

and the next journey begins to take shape

So today I booked my flights to go back to Kazakhstan and pick up Mr.Baby and start the journey home.....today also therefore started the quest to obtain not one but two visas in my passport before I leave again on the 12th.  Let me backtrack a bit...
 
When I asked when I could come back and pick up Mr. Baby to come home I was told all the paperwork including her visa to enter Canada would be ready on the 25th...of December, I was so disappointed I cried, my expectations had been set to have her home for Christmas.  So I asked, why so long?  The answer, her local paperwork would be ready by the 15th but the sending of her passport to Moscow, embassy processing and sending it back would take 10 days.  Ok, so what if I took her and her passport to Moscow as I did with Ciera....oh then you can come on the 15th.  Well that took about 4.2 seconds for me to say "ok I will!".
 
So a few (ok alot) of emails later, it was agreed upon that I would arrive in Karaganda for the 15th, fly to Moscow on the 16th, do her embassy processing and fly home on the 17th.  Yup that's alot of flying for me, but this meant we'd all be home for Christmas...a crazy one but we'd be home!  
 
Today the universe aligned and somehow against all odds I managed to get flights on the dates I wanted using my hard earned Aeroplan points, SCORE!!!  Actaully the first guy could not get me home from anywhere in central Europe on the day I wanted, so I asked 2 travel agents to try and find flights for me for the whole jounrey.  Then I thought hmmm maybe I could find a cheap flight from Frankfurt, so I called Aeroplan back to find out what time the flight from Moscow arrived in Frankfurt and this guy was able to route me home through Munich.  He asked me if I cared if it was through Frankfurt.....um no, I don't care as long as you can get me home on the 17th, so presto he did it!  I then went online and booked my flight from Karaganda to Moscow.  Allright step one done...flights booked.
 
Next step...now I need visas to enter both Kazakhstan and Russia, as I need a confirmed hotel reservation for Russia, I do the Kazakhstan one first, so off went my visa application and a letter in FedEx to the Kazakhstan Embassy in Ottawa.  I am hoping that one comes back next week and then I will use a visa service to get my Russia visa.  It's a wee bit expensive but it avoids me having to drive downtown, take a number, wait for 3 hours to drop off my visa application and then do the same 3 days later to pick it up, I'm fine with paying someone to do that for me.  I will pay for the 3 day expedite for the Russia visa, it's worth it for the peace of mind to have it all done in time to leave.  Now tomorrow I will fill out the form to book my one night hotel room in Moscow and get the info I need from them to finish filling out my Russia visa application.
 
Ciera is asking to come with me, she started yesterday, then today when we did the Fed Ex dropoff and she asked what I was sending "but I want to go with you, I miss my sister" "yes honey I know, so do I but she will be home a few days after I leave" "but I like Kazakhstan, I want to see my firend Irina" "I know honey but it won't be any fun , I am just going and leaving, I'm not staying".   She started etting a bit whiny then about it, so I told her we'd be going back in a few years and that got her going on a new track "so when my sister is this big (hand up in the air) and I am this big (hand up way higher)" "yep that's right"....phew bullet almost dodged  "but I want to go" "you can't you need to stay home and go so school and dnace and swimming and you will have lots of fun with Auntie Dada" and then I changed the subject!
 
So step one down....2 to go!!
 
Egads, I need to get on it and finish her room, finish my Christmas shopping, decorate the house, get the lights up outside.....
 
 

The long trip home

 
I had the trip home al perfectly planned in my head.....you all know what they say about the best laid plans.  
 
It started with me being told "the driver will be there between 8 and 9, I will call you when he gets into the city", he was driving in from Astana to take us to Astana.  At 7:30 the doorbell rings "hello?" ""It's Costa...the driver"  say what????  Good thing I was ready!   He came up and surveyed our pile o'luggage....asked if I was sitting in the back with Ciera, "yes" and then he picked up one bag and headed down the 5 flights of stairs with it (good thing he seemed young!).  At that point I realized, what am I supposed to do with the apartment keys?  Irina (the cook) had phoned earlier to tell me something, but with my very bad Russian and her not so great English we didn't quite connect.  So I call my coordinator to ask about the keys, I am told "Call Irina and she will come and get them". So I do and she literally runs over from her place.  She has a conversation with Costa and then next thing I know she is making him a coffee, that's ok as I really don't want to be at the airport at 10:00 anyway.  Finally the coffee is done, our large bags are all in the car and we pick up the small stuff and head down the stairs one last time.   I see a Mazda and am amazed how he fit everything in and still left the entire back seat open for Ciera and I and our carryons!  We hug Irina, again, and say goodbye.....I am still fighting tears.   It's 8:30PM.  Ciera and I get in and put on seatbelts for the first time in 52 days, this is a long drive so I insist on it.   As we turn off our little street onto the main road I glance to my right at the babyhouse, I am now choking back sobs, I had my arm around Ciera and I hear her sniffling, look down and see tears streaming down her face, "what's wrong honey?" "I miss my sister" "me too sweetie but we will see her in a few weeks", it was so incredibly hard not to loose it right then but I had to be strong for Ciera....she cried for a good 10 minutes.  It was an uneventful drive to Astana, Ciera fell asleep for about 1.5 hours and I cat napped off and on.  It's so weird to be driving along and not see literally anything, I looked up and the stars were amazing.   About 1.5 hours into the trip I looked ahead and could see lights of a city, I thought wow we will be there soon, but because the land is so flat you see it way way out and it took so long to finally get to the city.  
 
The Astana airport is very cool, it's shaped like a Yurt and at night is lit up with all coloured lights, it's also pretty much deserted at 11:00PM.  My plan was to have Ciera nap in the stroller and I'd stretch out and nap...no such luck, Ciera is wide awake.  So somehow we stayed awake until 3:15AM when we were allowed to check in for our flight.  I had already talked to the reps in the office as we had not assigned seats yet for Frankfurt to Toronto, we snagged a row of 3 right at the back, yeah.... surely we will get some sleep then.
 
We check in and check our luggage, we were not even questioned about the 4 bag between us, no extra luggage fees here!  I figured since we were awake we might as well go thru to the gate, note to anyone else leaving Kazakhstan with their previously adopted child.  I was questioned as to why she had 2 passports as under Kazakhstan law you can only have one, after some discussion and the woman leavingher post several times it is determined that it is in fact ok for person under the age of 16 to carry a Kazakhstan passport and the passport of another country.   I ask someone to take our picture so we have leaving Canada  pictures and leaving Kazakhstan pictures, you see for yourself what a difference there is between them! (not to mention at this point we had almost been up 24 hours)  A guard came over and told us we can't take pics...that's ok I already have the one I wanted.  No "anyone needing boarding assistance or travelling with children" here, they announce boarding and everyone gets in line, a very nice gentleman blocks the way for us to get into the line.  At our takeoff time of 5:10AM Ciera is still wide awake and ready to watch tv in the back of the seat.   I did manage to get her to sleep for maybe an hour/hour and 1/2. 
 
We landed in Frankfurt after 6.5 hours, we take our time getting off and thru as we have a 4 hour layover.....again Ciera is wide awake the whole time.  Bizarre though, our gate was B48 so we walk down to it, the last number is B46, so thinking we made a wrong turn, we walk all the way back up...nope not there, we did this twice (hey I was trying to stay awake anyway!).  I finally asked and am told "no it is there"...ok it just does not have a sign.  I noticed several people come down, look at the gate #, then their boarding pass, the gate # and then walk away, so I was not the only one. 
 
Finally we get boarded for the 8 hour flight........I finally convince Ciera she has to lie down....she slept about another hour or so, as did I and then I did catnaps.  Ciera was in the zone with the tv.  The temp on the plane felt like it was 30 below, I asked and was told that the cabin in front felt like the Antarctic and she'd see what she could do.  I know I was tired but I had on 3 blankets and my fleece jacket and was still cold.
 
Our luggage was about the last to come up, I guess as we had arrived in Frankfurt so early!  So as we pushed our way thru the door and I saw my sister my eyes filled with tears again.  I had expected to be teary when I heard them say "Welcome to Toronto" but I didn't.
 
I do have to say that Ciera is really an awesome traveller, no whining, complaining, and she is content to just sit and watch the movies!  The hardest part of the flight was in the row in front of us was a couple with a little boy around Mr. Baby's age, he kept making the same sounds she does...that was hard to listen to knowing I would not hear her for 4 weeks.
 
Close to 30 hours after we left the apartment we arrive at our house!  We got home around 3:00 and I headed in for a shower....man that felt soooooo good!!  I asked Ciera if she felt up for hockey (dumb question I know!), she said yes so we headed off to her first hockey lesson/practice.  Despite her tiredness (she had been up close to 48 hours at this point with a total of maybe 6 hours of broken up sleep) she did well, she fell a fair bit but she also had not been on skates since early June.  
 
As we were still awake I called L who had Dawson and said we were on our way to pick him up.  Within 5 minutes in the car Ciera was literally snoring.  Dawson was not overly excited to see me, but he did jump into the back of the track pretty fast!
 
Back home, I got Ciera changed and into bed and I tried to eat and talk to Michele who was heading out to Uralsk the next day, but I had to cut off the call as I could not stand up any longer.   I got to bed around 10:30 but was awakened at 5:30 with Ciera crying.  I don't think she knew where she was.  I crawled into bed with her until 6:30 when we both were up for the day.  Then off to dance for 10:00......back into the routine.
 
I spent Saturday doing laundry and cleaning.....I do still have one bag left to unpack, for some reason I am in no hurry to do so, I wonder why?
 
Pictures:
- Ciera and I leaving Canada
- Ciera and I leaving Kazakhstan
- The airport at midnight.....deserted
- our pile of luggage heading home
- Ciera getting ready for hockey
- Ciera all ready to get on the ice!
- Mama Fish and Deedee safely strapped in on the plane!
 

Last day in Karaganda...this trip

I apologize for the delay in posting, it was a rough last day and a blur ever since!
 
Wow, our last day, hard to believe that after 7 weeks that this was our last day.  The time here did not seem like it was 7 weeks.  It was a tough day, last night I packed a bag for Mr. Baby, this included 3 outfits with feet in the pants as she likes to pull her socks off and 4 weeks worth of diapers, I carried the bag over in the morning as I knew the afternoon would be hard enough.   When Irina (our housekeeper) arrived at the apartment we took pictures with her and said goodbye to her, she enjoyed playing with Ciera every morning so Ciera got lots of hugs from Irina this morning.   When we arrived at the BH I got Mr. Baby up and tried not to think things like "this is the last time I will do  this for 4 weeks", I was teary from the word "go" this morning.   I held her to a long time and the Dr came in to check her lungs, she said they are clearing (thank goodness).  When Irina (our translator) arrived, I picked up the bag and tried to talk but I kept choking up, I finally got it out and she handed it over to the nannies with the explanation.   I did not want to put Mr. Baby down today, and she was pretty content to be held, but I knew she had to play and get moving.  She "crawled" over to a walker, put up her hands on it, got to her knees and POOF she was standing, I could not believe it......I was so surprised, and grateful that she had not waited another day to show me this new trick!   Hard to believe that 7 weeks ago this child could not sit without falling over and now this!  I made her promise she would not walk before I got back :-).   M has promised to knock her down if she tries to walk!!!!
 
Our US friends came to our place for lunch as did Irina, the kids had a blast playing and I threatened them that NOTHING was to come out of a suitcase as I had been up until 1:00AM packing!!!!   All too soon it was time to head back over to the BH and say bye to Irina.  I will see her again when I come back but Ciera won't be with me.  We took some pictures and shared hugs, with me fighting tears.....as we turned to walk away Ciera turned back to her, holding up Mama Fish, and said "Fishy loves you", I saw Irina's eyes fill with tears....ha I was not the only one!!
 
In the afternoon my girls headed downstairs to room 2 so we could take a group photo with the other Canadian families there, then back up to our room to take pictures with the families currently in room 4.  Mr. Baby I think sensed something was up as now she had a pretty firm grip on my shirt.  I kept telling Ciera that she might want to stop playing with R for a few minutes and play with her sister as this will be the last time she sees her for 4 weeks.    I gave her her last extra juice/water, changed her diaper and placed her in one of her 3 outfits, I could barely get the buttons done up through my tears.  I called Ciera in to cuddle with us for a few minutes, she sat on my lap and asked me why I was crying, I told her I was sad as we would not see her sister for 4 weeks, she then quietly snuggle with us and then I told her to give her a kiss and a hug.  I got up and took her into the sleep room, tears were streaming them but I was trying not to sob, I put her into her crib and she started to cry. I placed her little blankie on her and I hope it manages to stay with her until I get back.   I walked out of the sleep room and the nannies were watching me, how many times have they seen this same thing go happen, it must be hard for them to watch.  I got my jacket on and picked up all our stuff, I was taking the backpack that we had left there for the duration.  When I got outside my US friends were waiting, we hugged and then we left.  M has promised to send me updates, as I did for her.
 
Ciera and I walked to the grocery store to get some snacks for the airport and the planes, then we headed home to finish up packing.  Ciera was quiet after that so I know she is affected now too.
 
Pictures:
 - Mr. Baby showing off her standing skills
- best buds!!
- is this all for me??!!!
 
 
 

And the judge said........

YES!!!

 

It was all in all a short session, we started about 10:15AM, present were myself, my coordinator (who was translating for me), my lawyer, Dr. Lud from the BH, the woman from the Ministry of Education, the Prosecutor, another woman who I think was like the minute taker, Ciera and Irina, who sat in the back with Ciera.

 

My lawyer spoke, then the Dr, then the woman from the Ministry (both of whom supported the adoption), then I spoke.  I made it through without crying, I started to choke up on my last words of "over the past weeks Ciera and I have grown to love her very much and we ask that you grant the petition for adoption".  The Prosecutor then spoke, then she asked me a few questions.  The judge glanced up a few times and he had a few questions for the Dr., but then he all of a sudden stood up (we then followed) and then he walked out.  Ciera came up and sat with me and we all just hung out for about 10 minutes when the judge walked back in.  Ciera stood with me, we stood while he read his decision.   It is a bit nerve wracking as he leaves the final words to the end, but I heard "change the name to…" and I knew we were a go.   Then he gets up and walks out again.  I said to Ciera "the judge said yes" and I had tears in my eyes.  We all hurried to get out then as the next hearing was in 15 minutes, I thanked everyone on my way out and then we headed back to the BH, just after 11:00

 

So now I will start at the beginning of our day, we were up earlier as we had to be at the BH to get picked up.  At 8:30 our doorbell rings and my first thought was "oh c&%p….is our clock wrong?", but it was Irina (our friend the cook) saying "catastrophe", apparently the new faucet in the kitchen was leaking into the apartment downstairs, so she called someone to fix it and then tells me she is going home and for me to let hime when he gets here.  I remind her we are leaving at nine and will he be here in 20 minutes? She decided no he would not so she saw us out the door!   As it is so muddy out we wore out boots over to the BH and had our shoes in a bag, we changed them at the BH.  This freaked a few people out when they saw our boots by the door when they knew we should be at court!  We waited for our coordinator, the Dr was in the van then we were off to pick up Irina and the Ministry lady and off to the court house.  The other Dr at the BH saw us waiting at the BH and she smiled at us and gave us a thumbs up!  I dropped our bag upstairs in Room 4 and the caretakers also were all smiles as I left.  Everyone here is so supportive and they truly truly want these babies to find their forever homes.   

 

When we got back to the BH, we did pictures we just the 3 of us, with our coordinator, with Irina.   Then I gave Mr. Baby some juice and put her down for her nap.  We came home for lunch, changed and had our last lunch with our friends from Labrador (they will not be eating with us tomorrow as they have other plans).  As Ciera will not be here when I take Mr. Baby from the BH, we decided to take cake and cookies to the caretakers today.  So I ran out and got a cake and cookies, Ciera was so excited to have tea with them, but apparently they don't do it that way anymore, they just have the tea party by themselves later.  Ciera was disappointed as she really wanted the cake so the caretaker J cut her a piece to eat then.

 

We had a good afternoon, Mr. Baby was again in fine form, she is really working on pulling herself up and the caretaker J was trying to show her how to move from side to side (side stepping) and I was saying "nyet, nyet, I don't want her walking yet, she's not even 10 months!!!".  She laughed but I hope she got my point, I don't want to be back in 4 weeks to see that she is walking.  I do think she will be walking shortly thereafter though!!

 

This evening we took our last walk through the park to downtown, we had to head to the bazaar to get another duffle bag to take home!  Then we made some last purchases at the Ramstore and met our friends from Washington for dinner at Assorti.  The kids went to Babylon  to the play part, so while P kept an eye on them, M and I went to Cafelatte (I think that's what it's called) for very good tea and some most delicious cake!  Ciera then turned in her tickets at Babylon for her prize (she was disappointed that she only had 104 and not the 1800 needed for the boxing gloves!), but I totally talked up the notebook and pen and she's ok with it now.

 

There is a huge fire somewhere in the city, we saw the smoke when walking downtown and when we walked out of the mall the air was all smokey and you can smell it, I hope no one has been injured.

 

Tomorrow will be a bittersweet day, I think I will cry tonight just to try and get it out of my system.  I've been on the verge of tears all day, just thinking about leaving.  After 7 weeks in a place it truly does feel like home, not only am I leaving my youngest daughter behind, I am leaving some wonderful people who have become like family to us.   From our other Canadian friends, our USA friends, Irina (our wonderful cook), Irina (our translator) and all the wonderful people who work at the babyhouse.  I know I will be back in 4'ish weeks but still it's going to be so hard putting her in her crib tomorrow afternoon.  Ciera won't be back for a few years so she will say her goodbyes tomorrow.

 

My sister called tonight just after we got in at 9:15 to give me heck for not emailing or posting about how court went…hey we were too busy celebrating!!!  Ciera was still up so she wanted to talk to Auntie Dada, her face shone and she smiled the whole time she talked to her, then as she went to bed she started to cry "I want to see Auntie Dada", "you will baby in 2 days".  So I think I made the right call in not having her talk to anyone from home, I know initially I did want to, but with our stay here being prolonged I think it would have pointed out more to her what she missed.

 

Funny though, I asked Ciera tonight what she liked most about being here, and her answer was……Babylon (the arcade/play place)!  I said "really? It wasn't meeting your sister?" "yeah that too".  Life is so simple when you are 5!!!

 

We are being picked up somewhere around 9:00 tomorrow night so I'll have a chance to post before we leave.  Ok, I need to go pack more now and then get some sleep, it's going to be a loooooong trip home.

 

Today's pictures:

-       Ciera and I outside the courthouse, after the judgement!

-       My beautiful sleeping little daughter!

-       Our final picture of City Park for this trip.

A prelude to court

Several other families went to court today and all were successful...so that's a good sign for us tomorrow!  I gave Ciera the pre-court pep talk tonight....no talking and interrupting, no goofing around and talk only if you are asked a question.  Our translator Irina is coming with us to help keep her occupied so it should all be good.
 
The sun came out today for the first day in, I think, a week so it was good to see it, and it helped warm things up a bit, and so we were allowed to take the babies outside this afternoon, yeah!  It was a bit mucky for Ciera and R to play but they managed to keep reasonably clean.  I think the babies and the kiddies should sleep well tonight.
 
Mr. Baby was so smiley and happy today, I am so glad she is better as I would hate to leave her being sick. But does she have to be so cute and start being so cuddly 2 days before I leave?! What's up with that?   They do this ventilation thing with steam on all the babies who are coughing and when Mr. Baby had it done today, Ciera went over and held her hand through the while 5 minutes.   Those are the moments I think "wow, she really is a good kid".  Mr. Baby is almost getting her knees into the crawl now and she is pulling herself up onto her knees to kneel, I have not seen her get to her feet yet but I'm sure by the time I get back she will, sad but likely true.  I just hope they remember she is not quite yet 10 months (ok, next week) and don't try to encourage her to walk while I am gone!!
 
This evening after the babyhouse Ciera and I headed out to Asia, a souvenir store.  I have the name written down in Russian and I know where it is, however I don't know the street name, but somehow I managed to direct the taxi driver there, he seemed to think it was quite amusing!!  After we left there we walked over to the Kazak Theatre for a show at 6:30.  We bought our tickets (found out when we were seated they were 2nd row!), and went inside.  It is absolutely gorgeous, the pictures I have attached do not do it justice.  It was built just 2 years ago, and it shows that a great deal of national pride went into this theatre.  We checked our coats, figured it was safe to do so here without experiencing the coat check crush later as it was not too busy.  As we were early we decided to have a snack.  We split a very yummy piece of cake and a "chai" (that's how you say tea in Russian).  I knew the tea would be good when I saw the woman put 2 spoons of condensed milk into a little tiny cup (and I thought only the Bajans did that!).  I think it's cool that both my heritage and my kids heritage "do" tea the same way!!  We went up a grand staircase and into the theatre itself, again just beautiful.  The show was a musical comedy and I had no idea what to expect.  We were asked twice if we wanted headsets to translate the show into Russian (everything in this theatre is in Kazak) and I had to decline as I said "English".  The first person looked at me really oddly and giggled, the 2nd seemed to take it in stride.
 
The show was great, while we could not follow totally we got the general gist but the best part was that they all wore traditional Kazak outfits, and they were all very stunning outfits.  There were some parts we laughed at as the characters were funny, and the show itself was just over an hour long which was perfect!  Ciera liked that there were "knights", Genghis Khan looking guys in it.
 
After we got home, I cleared out our closet leaving only the clothes we need for the next 2 days and our flight home and put the rest in the other bedroom. Right now I am supposed to be in there trying to get this stuff into suitcases so I know how big a bag I need to buy tomorrow, but quite frankly I really don't feel like it, but I will clear off the coffee/craft table....maybe!  I might just go to bed and try to sleep and await the alarm going off at 7:30 as we have to be at the babyhouse to get picked up at...9:00...9:15....9:18....9:25, don't worry we will be there (these were the exact words of my coordinator!).
We will be there for 9:00.  Stay tuned for our next post.....and the judge said.........
 
Today's pictures:
- Mr. Baby's tiny hand on mine
- Ciera having chai at the theatre
- Ciera and I in our seats at the theatre
- pictures of the inside of the theatre
 
 

I've truly lived here now!

So today was the day….after we left the babyhouse today we headed to the mall where Irina was meeting us and I got my hair cut!  It feels so much better now and looks much better too, well in my humble opinion anyway.  We walked in and there were no other clients there, so the guy walked over and I told Irina what I wanted and she told him, he nodded his head and in we went.  I went to sit down to get my hair washed and he said something and out of habit I said "pardon?" and I hear "colour?", I laughed, shook my head and said "no it needs it but I will wait for that until I get home!". Oh what a wash…..it included a scalp and temple massage, I thought I could sit there for an hour, oh man it felt so good.   Then Ciera showed up to give me a bite of her cookie…reality check.   Back we went into the main part of the salon, a cape and a sort of turtle neck thing wrapped around my neck and he started cutting, I was holding my breath.  After I saw my hair hitting the floor I said to Irina "um, he gets that I want it long in front still right?" as there seemed to be some long pieces hitting the floor, she told him and he said "yes", then I asked "you speak English?" "a little bit".  He finished up and I like it, now I feel presentable again, it was out of it's style and a bit shaggy I guess from the water a bit, and 7 weeks since my last cut.

 

We then shopped for vodka and cognac (thank Sara!) which I will pick up tomorrow or Wednesday as it was too heavy to carry with us as we were then walking up to the play place with the trampoline to meet up with our friends.  This time we had one hot dog pizza, one hamburger pizza, the chicken dish without the mushrooms, fries and the kids had apple juice and the adults had beer!  All very yummy!!!  It was a bit odd, Ciera and I arrived before our friends, the lights were out but the sign said open and the door was unlocked.  I decided we'd wait by the sidewalk.  When they arrived we walked up and walked in, a girl popped up off of a couch and I motioned with my arm "are you open?" and she went over and turned on the lights, I guess they keep them off when no one is there to keep costs down.  She remembered us from last time and remembered which chicken dish we had!!  The kids had a blast and 2 hours of playtime and the adults had 2 hours of downtime!!   Another little girl came about 30 minutes before we left and the 3 of them were having a lot of fun together, considering the language barrier this was great.  I think the dad spoke some English, as he asked the kids what their names were as I heard Ciera reciting all 4 of her names to him, too funny!!!  Then he smiled and said "goodbye" as we left.   Have I mentioned how friendly most of the people I have encountered here are?!

 

I've yet to have a Kazak beer, as they don't seem to serve them in the restaurants I have been in, I just want to try one!!!  Ah, maybe tomorrow or Wednesday.

 

Mr. Baby felt much better today and even looks happier, lots of smiles out of her today.  Her Dr. was in this afternoon and said how her chest sounded better today and how she has been sick for so long and this time I asked "can I take her home with me on Friday?!", she replied "no you need to stay, don't you like it here?" "yes, we do but we need to get home for a bit first", then she said again how she hopes she is home before they start on their Christmas holidays here, yeah me too!!!

 

Poor Ciera took a bit of a dive today, she was playing at the babyhouse sliding over the shoulder of a dad and somehow she slipped, went face first into the carpet and bonked her nose pretty hard.  She had tears for a good bit (she is also fighting a cold and is tired too), more so than I think was called for but what do I know, and there was a little bit of a bloody nose (for about 30 seconds) and she has a red scrape mark on her nose, I think it's rug burn.  As I washed her face tonight she was saying "oww don't wash my nose, it hurts, it  hurts" , hard to tell if it really does hurt that much or if she is playing it up due to her well overtired condition at that point.

 

Ciera and I are both excited to go to court on Wednesday, Ciera keeps asking "are we going to the judge the day after tomorrow?".  I've been told court is running around 30 minutes.  I think we are going for 10:00AM our time, so think about us as you Eastern Standard time people are heading to bed at 11:00 Tuesday night!!!  You are 11 hours behind us now.

 

Ok, time for me to go read my speech again and again and try to have what I need to say memorized, I'm sure I will mess up a bit…hmm maybe I should write some notes on my hand or something, just some key markers so I know what I should be talking about!!!

 

Pictures today:

• Ciera holding her sister upright
• My attempt at getting a pic of 2 kids jumping on a trampoline, not effective but kinda of a cool shot I think!  They look a bit ghostly eh?
• Mr. Baby pulling herself up on a dad, unlike some of the kids in this room she seems to have no fear of men, remember most of these kids have never seen a man before as all the people who work in the babyhouse are women.

Our last weekend in Karaganda

It's so hard to believe that after almost 7 weeks here that this was our last weekend, wow the time has flown by.  It's funny that I say it has flown and everyone at home is saying "wow it seems like you have been gone forever", I guess it really does depend on your perspective.    I was flippipng through pictures on my laptop last night looking for a particular one and I saw a picture of my living room and thought "oh right, that's what it looks like!", it was a really odd feeling to see it.

 

It was a weird weather day here, it was cloudy and rained overnight, then the sun started to come out, next thing we knew it was snowing, then the sun came out again, the it got cloudy and snowed again, it went on like this all day long….and windy…holy smokes it gets so windy here.   We walked back from downtown about 5:30 and it was not too cold but it was a bit cold and windy.

 

It was a busy day in our room with now 3 families visiting, but it was not too bad as we just had one visit today, it's getting harder and harder to put Mr. Baby in her crib at the end of our visits.  On the positive side Mr. Baby seemed to be feeling better but her chest still sounds like she is breathing under water, I hope she is sounding better by the time we leave.  Ciera however definitely has a cold now……I did another round of Cold FX so I should be good now!

 

Our friends from the US came to our place for lunch today and it was great to have the kids entertain themselves while I got to have adult talk without too many interruptions. We talked for a good 2 hours, I look forward to having them as friends for life and as part of our every growing Kaz family.  After lunch we headed downtown to Babylon and the kids had fun and spent our hard earned $$'s playing.

 

I took advantage of the 20 minutes in the play centre with P watching Ciera and ran to the babystore to start stocking up on diapers to leave for Mr. Baby while I am gone.  I also had to go to the market to our now favorite baby supply seller to pick up a few outfits to leave for her to wear while we are gone, they requested pants with feet as she always pulls her socks off.  

 

After we left Babylon we went to the Ramstore to pick up some chocolates to bring home (hope they get some new stock in by Wednesday as I need some more!) and some other essentials to carry us over.  Ciera has discovered Kinder bars, she does not normally eat much chocolate so I am glad she found something she likes.  So she asked for some I said ok and she picked up 2 boxes of 8, I reminded her we are only here for 4 more days, she says we can take some home, but Ciera we can get these at home!  I finally convinced her that one package was more than enough.

 

At the market I also started shopping around for an extra bag to bring home, I am leaving stuff here that I brought to leave here and I will be dispensing the "from home" treats that we brought but didn't use…..Mac & Cheese, Lipton Chicken noodle soup, Rice Krispie Squares, Strawberry Quik to the families who will still be here.   So that takes another load off.  I will stat packing on Tuesday night to see what size bag I need.

 

Ciera is going to have a tough time with leaving, we were talking as she went to bed and I told her "4 more sleeps until we go home" and she started to cry.   Both her and I are really going to miss Mr. Baby and being here, it really does feel like home and we are both so comfortable here.    I know that the families who are here now and will be here for the next 4 weeks will keep an eye on her and give her some loving, but I want to be the one doing the loving!!!  I asked Ciera "do you like it here" "yes" she said, "what do you like about it?" "I like playing with R at the babyhouse, playing ball hockey with him here, going to Babylon, having the room full of toys in the back", (we have NO toys at our house in Canada J) I thought it was interesting from her perspective what she liked about Kazakhstan.  I had to remind her that once we are home that's it for the treats, no more getting something every time we go out, no more taxis, no more going to play centres 2-3 times a week.  I have a feeling that the transistion back to daycare'kindergarten is going to be tough on her.

 

Pictures today:

-       with the heat on we now have a fast way to dry our clothes, they are not crunchy and the added bonus is adding some humidity into the air!

-       Ciera riding the horse at Babylon, she loved it and did it twice saying "go Bullseye" (the horse from Toy Story)