Today was moving day for us, we moved to the apaartment across the street from the babyhouse. Our driver Sergey managed to fit 2 large suitcases, 1 hockey bag, one carryon, one stroller, Ciera and I and 2 backpacks and himself into his car…what an amazing guy! Not only that he lugged three 50 pound bags down 5 flights of stairs and then up 5 at the new place and did not seem to break a sweat. The new place is great and I have finally been able to unpack instead of living out of suitcases. It's large (2 bedrooms but Ciera is still sleeping in bed with me, that's gonna be a hard habit to break for her when we come home!) and Irina (the woman who cooks for this apartment) is an AMAZING cook and she is a very sweet woman….except that today's soup was mushroom….ugh…I have to remember to tell her that we don't eat those yucky things!
Things at the babyhouse as going well, Mr Baby was happy to see us and really wailed when I put her down for her 4:00 nap, Ciera did not want to leave her and was standing by her crib holding her hand, she said "I don't want to see her cry" I had to nudge her out of the room. There are some very funny babies in this room, most of them are around 12 months so all have very unique persoanalities….one little one in her walked just sat next to us for both visits, she had such a serious look on her face so I kept tickling her to make her laugh. This afternoon Ciera had the portable DVD player out, my effort to keep her from bugging me for 2 hours straight, and one little guy was totally fascinated with it as was Mr Baby, it was like she was in a hypnotic trance. Funny ,at home Ciera can keep herself entertained for hours on end, but 5 minutes at the babyhouse and she's bugging me about something…I know it's her way of saying not to pay so much attention to the baby but it's certainly not like Ciera is lacking in attention….she has the other 20 hours of the day.
The caregivers I have met so far in this room are all so sweet and also quite funny, one of them was dancing around to the music yesterday afternoon, they seem so much more relaxed than the caregivers in room 9. This afternoon they were pulling out photo albums that people had sent them to see which of the caregivers I knew and if I knew any of the kids (I didn't).
At lunch Ciera and I went to pick up some odds and ends for groceries, it never ceases to amaze me how many different flavors of juice they have here….I think I just drank ½ a carton of Green Apple juice (sorry Linda!), it is sooooo good! I was quite excited the other night when in our fridge appeared a bag of milk…we tasted it and it was almost North American tasting, so I wrote down all the info on it so I could buy it again. I picked some up today and tonight was so looking forward to my glass of milk, I opened the bag and poured….what came out was the consistency of cake batter, apparently I bought the wrong milk. It was way too sweet and thick.
The other yummy treats we find here are about a million different flavours of yogurt…and oh my gosh…the yogurt here is so good. Ciera and I are eating about 3 a day each, it makes up for our lack of milk! There is also a tasty treat that is in the yogurt section but is apparently with some sort of cheese, it has jam on the bottom and is oh so good. The breads and pastries here are also oh so very good, none of this mass produced stuff.
After we left the baby house today we came and got our stroller and went for a long walk across the big park to Uym to get a few pictures printed out. I was surprised that I totally remembered the way thru the park, but did not take the short cut as I was unsure and didn't want to get stuck out there in the dark! I so needed the long walk and I think it may help me to finally sleep through the night. Also needed it to help burn off some of the calories I'm eating!! Ciera walked a good ways of the way back and so I think between that and her 2 trips to the playground today she's tired, she was asleep less than 5 minutes after I left the room and now I'm heading there myself...I was literally knodding off as I waited for the screen to open!!!
I'll leave you today with a parting shot of Ciera…..yes she will hate me for this when she is older. I'm warming up lunch today when I hear "mommy look at this" and I turn around to see her…in a baby walker!!
4 comments:
Hello,
I'm from Belgium.
We were in Karaganda in 2007 to adopt our second child. Roos Balzhan (°26/09/2006). She was also in room 4. So many memories when I read your story... We already had a boy from Aktobe adopted in 2005 Miel Arman (°11/05/2004). Remember that it was not easy to keep him quiet 4 hours in the babyhouse. We are 3 months home with our youngest Juul Bakhytzhan from Almaty (°27/08/2009).
Good luck with your adoption...
Winde
Diane,
Calla and I are eagerly reading the updates and she has looked on the internet to find out where you are and what things are like over there. We will probably be in TO in November and woill try to see you both to get some more detailed news and look at pics.
Love,
Sherry, Keith, Calla and Aidan
Hi Diane & Ciera! We're enjoying following along and reading about your adventures. Except the part about the milk- I don't like the sound of that! I'm very particular about my milk and cake batter isn't it.
Mr. Baby (love the name! It's going to stick you know.) sounds like such a sweetie and it's wonderful how Ciera is taking to her. It's great that you're so familar with the area and everything - that must make things so much easier.
Please tell Ciera how much Maggie misses her and is looking forward to seeing her. She wanted to let Ciera know that she's going to be the superhero Wolverine for Halloween! (didn't want to be Batman because Ciera is Batman don't you know!)
Looking forward to future updates. All the best, Hector, Sandy & Maggie
Love the pics and post! I check every day before my feet hit the floor to see how the three girls are doing! Sounds like the flat is home already! OOOOOOOOOOOOOO the yogurt, I LOVED IT!! Nothing low fat about it, of course i could justify it as I couldnt read the label!! : ) HUGS to you all!
Sheila
Post a Comment