Happy Halloween...Karaganda style!!

I was awoken at 6:00AM "mama?" "yes Ciera" "is it Halloween today" "Yes, now go back to sleep".

 

I was up until 1:00AM making a trick or treat bag for Ciera.  I had a paper bag with a handle from a store so I made a pumpkin and a ghost and glued them over the store name and then by some stroke of luck I had packed Halloween stickers so I put a bunch of them on the bag.  I was quite pleased with the result.  Ciera was happy when she saw it, and even happier when she saw that I had put a new plush fish in it for her collection.  It's a dolphin but she decided it was Baby Beluga's mom, so her name is Mama Beluga!

Ciera put her candy that she was given last night into her new bag and then got into her Halloween outfit.  We had decided on her Superman PJ's, complete with the cape and her new Knight stuff….I dubbed her "Super Knight"!  I bought a bunch of candy when I was out by myself the other night and split it up into 4 bags and then yesterday gave each of the other Canada families at the BH a bag and asked them to give it to her when she came around trick or treating.  The 4^th bag I kept and I had her trick or treat with me before we left this morning.   She had decided her sister also needed a costume, so we took her Batman PJ top to put on Mr. Baby.  Ciera was so sweet when we got to the BH, she got a couple of odd looks from the caretakers, but Ciera, of  her own accord, took 2 candies from her bag and gave them to the caretakers.  After Mr. Baby had breakfast and was dressed we went down to the big room where the other families now were.  She got "oooh" and "aahed" which was great.  Then we went up to each family "rang" their doorbell and said "trick or treat" and they gave her the treats.   Once she was done she once again gave each of the adults a piece of her candy, and she has vowed to take candy for Irina and Dr L tomorrow.

 

Mr. Baby was back to her old self today, thank goodness. I had bought a new sleeper type of outfit for her the other night that is her size and I was amazed when I put it on her how small she actually looks.  The 12 month size is so huge on her it makes her look gigantic, so I guess when I go home I will have a buy some 9 month old size stuff for her so she has a few things that fit!!  She is "short" but her thighs are pretty big so I'll have to be careful in what I buy.   Hopefully somewhere will be having "baby week" in the next 6 weeks or so before I head back over here to bring her home (ooh look at me already talking about coming back before I have even left!).

 

After we left the babyhouse we came home for lunch and our NL friends came with us and then we showed them the way to downtown through the park.  It was another fantastic day here, it had to have been 16C again and sunny.   The people here seem to love their weddings.   They drive white cars with balloons, streamers and the like on them and drive around honking their horns.  Apparently the fireworks I hear on weekend are also for weddings.  As we approached City Mall I heard lots of honking as as Ciera always seems to miss seeing the car, I pulled her over to the street to look for it, the white stretch limo drove my beeping…and out of the back window waving madly was of all things Dracula!  Now there is a groom with a great sense of humour, he had on the cape with the tall collar and one of those masks that you pull over your head, he looked like he was having an absolute blast!!!

 

The QC couple had told us last night that one of the shoe stores at City Mall was starting a 50% off sale today (their translator phoned them to tell them!), so we stopped there first and I finally got my tall winter dress boots!! Yeah me!! I am so pleased, they are really nice and at 50% off they are even nicer J.    It was funny in the shoe store, Ciera was talking away to me and a Kazak lady put her hand on Ciera's head and cheek,, looked at her and then me and said "she speaks English so well" and then she just kept walking.  I thought it was so sweet.  One of the sales girls in the store must have made a comment about Ciera's outfit as I heard another sales girl say "Halloween", I'm sure we got a few odd looks as this little girl walked thru the mall in Supermand PJ's with a Knights shield on!!  I refused again to let her carry the sword in public, I figured let's not call anymore attention to ourselves!

 

The NL couple left us and headed off on their own and Ciera and I headed up to Babylon, who had advertised Halloween.  There were a few teenagers dressed up, some just had on headbands but Ciera either didn't notice or didn't care (I love how easy going she is sometimes).  Nothing really particularly Halloween about it but that was ok. She went on the carousel thingy, the bumper cars, did a few games, then into the play centre.  The girl there seems to know us now and she let us have longer than 20 minutes today.  Once again Ciera had a great time there and the language does not seem to be an issue!!

 

We came home and had dinner and after dinner we played trick or treating.  We places some stuffed animals around the kitchen/living room, gave them each some candy and then Ciera would go and "ring" their doorbells and I would be each animal, she'd say "trick or treat", the animal would say how cute she looked and give her the candy, then she surprised me and would say "spaciba" or "das vidanya" …huh…wonder how many times she will say those at home when we get back!

 

Safe trick or treating tonight to everyone.

 

Hector: don't scare too many kids tonight, sorry we are missing the spectacular spectacle!   I look forward to seeing pictures the fruits of your labour and hopefully we'll see it in person next year!!!

 

Todays pictures:

-       SuperKnight with her faithful sidekicks Mama Fish and Mama Beluga with their new trick or treat bag

-       Baby Batman displaying her strength in holding a giraffe and baby wipes!!

-       Oh yes we stopped for cotton candy after Babylon….the largest thing of cotton candy I have ever seen

-       What? It's all gone?

-       The entrance to our apt building

An evening at the theatre

Tonight was our big night out at the Theatre.  Six of us were waiting outside the Kazak theatre for the other 4 to arrive.  While we were waiting, we were taking some pictures and a police officer showed up with his family.  When I was here 4 years ago I really wanted to get a picture with a Police Officer but they always look so serious and I was afraid to ask.  As I was there with other people I got my nerve up and approached him, he could not have been nicer, he smiled (his family all smiled too and offered to take the picture for us!) and obliged us with our request.  He asked where we from and smiled when he heard "Canada".  See our picture posted with this nice officer.   A few minutes later a cell phone rang, it was the other 4 wondering where we were "uum in front of the theatre…"  turns out they were at the other theatre where they had obtained the tickets, it seems there were 2 dombra performances here tonight in 2 different theatres.  We walked quickly to the other theatre (the blue on with the statues on top) and went in.  It is beautiful inside, we found our seats (very comfortable) and a little while later the show started.  While we had no idea what was being said or sung, it was a good show…2.5 hours and no intermission!  There was one main gentleman dombra player/singer and he received many speeches and awards, flowers etc.  There were 3 different Kazak dance segments, women in gorgeous Kazak dresses and hats.  There was, I think 3 or 4, other dombra players that came out and played and sang as well.  Ciera was very good, she started to get fidgety for the last ½ hour but I think we all were J.  The fun part was getting our coats from the coat check.  No orderly lines, it was literally pushing and shoving from people in suits and dresses,  we stood back and let the crowd thin out, there was one Kazak woman who stood back with us and she just kept smiling and shaking her head at the others, I wonder if she understood what we were saying.  I think I have about 75 pictures from the show…….at least 50 of them will be unusable as Ciera was taking lots of pictures

 

As we had not eaten we headed down the street to Johnnie Walkers Pub,  where we bumped into a group of 3 families (6 adults!) from the US who are adopting from the other babyhouse.  It felt odd to be out talking to a large group of people who all spoke English, it was great to meet them as some of their names I know so it's nice to put faces to names!!  The Canada contingent stayed until after 10:00 chatting away, it is so nice to get out.  Ciera was beyond tired when we got back home and I had to carry her up the 5 flights of stairs, but somehow she still managed to ask at least 20 questions once she was in bed.  I had to threaten her with no Halloween tomorrow to get her to stop.  I hope her expectation is not too high for Halloween but I do have surprises in store for her, so I hope she is not too disappointed that she is not at home.  Around 3:00AM this morning I was awoken to "mama?" "yes Ciera" "is Halloween the day after tomorrow?" "yes Ciera, go back to sleep", then at 6:00AM "mama?", "yes Ciera" "Will it be Halloween in Canada too?" "yes Ciera GO BACK TO SLEEP!!!".  She was not this excited to Christmas last year!!

 

It was another beautiful day here, 16C was the high today!!  So we were once again allowed to take Mr. Baby outside, she definitely must have been out sometime over the summer as she takes it all in stride.  She was more like herself today, laughing and smiling more so I am assuming it was the flu shot that had her "down" the past 2 days.  I noticed today she does not cry anymore when I put her down for her nap, seems she already knows and trusts that we will be back.  She is ready to start feeding herself a bit, again today I was distracted talking to Ciera and the spoon of food was within Mr. Baby's reach, all of a sudden I felt this little hand on mine pulling it towards her mouth and she got it in!!!  I can't wait to get her home and start getting some finger foods for her.  She is managing to hold the bottle if it's not too full and she now reaches for it when she wants a drink, so it's always close by.  She is also getting steadier on her feet, she can stand for a minute or so while holding onto something, now mind you I have to place her there but I can let go and she stays (unless she tries to move!), but considering how she was 5 weeks ago the progress is, to me, amazing.

 

It is so hot in our apartment, we are leaving windows open, even at night.  It's a combination of the mild weather, it has been very sunny for quite a number of days and also we cannot control our heat.  The radiators though make for a fabulous way to dry clothes, they dry in no time and add some moisture to the air in here!!

 

Today Pictures:

-       Mr. Baby and I hanging out

-       Ciera and I in front of the Kazak theatre, I do want to go to a show there so we'll have to find out when there is another one there!

-       Ciera and I with the kind Police Officer  (I love their uniforms)

-       The main dombra player  at the show (we will ask tomorrow about what show we actually saw)

-       One of the dance numbers

-       A larger shot of the detail of the inside of the theatre

-       A closer view of the detail of the inside of the theatre

 

P.S. I asked today about where we ate dinner last night and it was not the Aladdin Café so now we will have to go back and find the Aladdin Café, although Ciera wants to go back to the one we were at last night.  She is going to miss all this stuff (and taxi's) when we go home.

Hot Dog Pizza?

Yes, you read that right……Ciera and I were attempting to go the Aladdin Café for dinner, we've been told it's a fun place for kids and we were told where it was.  I went up the right street, I asked at one store (miming eating and pointing at Ciera) and was pointed further up the street.  We kept walking and finally I saw a place that had balloon drawings on it so we went up and it was a restaurant and it had a play place but I still have no idea if it was the place we were looking for, I'll find out tomorrow.  In any event we went in and were seated, I asked "English?" and was rewarded with a shake of the head, no, ok both the girl and I laughed and we managed pretty darn well.  The girl wrote the word Pizza on a pad of paper and I said yes for me and looked up the Russian word for cheese, I was trying to order a cheese pizza.  Ciera wanted chicken nuggets and fries, so we got frites (fries) ordered and both the waitress and I were miming chicken, I made a round circle with my fingers to indicate nuggets and even pulled out my Mag and Daks menu to point at them.  The waitress pointed at something on the menu, indicating it was chicken and she indicated it was good.  Ok, lets have that too, plus a Sprite and milk (I can write the word for milk in Russian now!), no milk, no sprite….Cola…ok I'll have that.  Juice?  She drew a picture of an apple….ok apple juice it is.  Ciera and I went off for her to play while we waited for our food. There was the usual slides, a small old fashioned playground merry go round, a teeter totter and a trampoline!! Ciera played for a bit and my pizza came so we went over to eat while it was hot.  I looked at it and thought "hmm that's not just cheese" and my first thought was "aggh mushrooms!" and Ciera said "look, it's hotdogs!!!", I looked closer and sure enough it was sliced hot dogs under the cheese on my pizza.  I grimaced took a bite and wow….surprisingly good who wold have thought?!!!   Ciera's fries were yummy, and her chicken was quite good too except it did have mushrooms on it.    She ate ½ of my pizza due to the hotdogs!!!   Ciera had a great time bouncing away on the trampoline and even Mama Fish was bouncing. I got to sit and relax

 

Mr. Baby is doing well, she has not been herself the past 2 days and the other parents are saying the same about their children, we think it's the flu shots they all received the other day.  Mr. Baby seemed better this afternoon.  I do have to pick up some medication for her tomorrow at the pharmacy, her Dr. wrote out for me today what I have to pick up, she will take this until she gets to Canada and then she will see our Dr.  This is for the slightly elevated number in her blood test result.   We spent sometime with another family in the big room this morning and when we went down I put her on the floor in front of the dad and she just started wailing.   There are no men who work at the baby house so she was unsure of him, once I picked her up she stopped crying but she did keep a close eye on him for the rest of our visit!  I had her in the carrier this afternoon and one of the other dads came over and she was fine, I think it's likely because I was holding her.

 

I apologize for our lack of a post yesterday, everything is fine.  I had a wicked headache most of the day yesterday and last night I was working on re-booking our flights home, then went to bed.  We were originally booked to leave Karaganda today so the change had to get booked yesterday.  We are now booked to return home to Canada on the 12^th!  While we will happy to get home, we will also be sad to leave here.  Not only due to the fact we will be leaving Mr. Baby here for 4 or so weeks, but we will both miss our life here and the friends we have made.  We have certainly added more people to our extended family and I know we will all keep in touch but it's just not the same as seeing them everyday.  When you have limited people to talk to on a daily basis you do tend to bond very quickly with them!

 

Tomorrow night we are heading to a Kazak show with 5 other families.  One of the families went to buy the tickets this evening and we ran into them downtown and they told us that our tickets were free!  They were told that we would be their guests, best as they could figure someone heard them speaking English and extended some wonderful Kazak hospitality.  I am very much looking forward to it, I have no idea what to expect but I know it will be special to us whatever it is.

 

Today's pictures:

-       Ciera in the city park collecting rocks…..our luggage will be more overweight due to her growing rock collection.

-       Ciera and Mama fish on the trampoline

-       Ciera and Mama fish on the slide ( if you look closely you will see the design in the carpet…..Spiderman, how cool is that?)

-       I don't know what these cookies are but oh my gosh they are GOOD! I am liking the Ramstore

-       Mr. Baby (loosing her pants" trying to make her escape from room 4

 

A morning off....

I have to confess…it was kid of nice not rushing out to the babyhouse this morning, I actually got to sit at the table and have a cup of tea, then we hung around the apartment for a bit and then went out for a walk.  Our friends who have lunch with us everyday came over around 12:30, we had lunch (yummy plov!) and then went to the BH.  Those 2 hours there flew by today, it was weird without M there, but her son was so funny.  He was placed in a walker and he zoomed right over to us and hung out around us for most of our visit.   Some of the babies, mine included, got a shot today I asked Irina to ask what it was and they are getting the flu shot.  It makes sense for them to do this due to the number of kids there, it must really minimize the illnesses but if I had been given a choice I likely would not have given it to her, but alas it's not my decision yet.

 

All in all we had a good visit, Mr. Baby was a bit quiet after her shot, she did cry and I comforted her afterwards, but some of the babies did not make a sound.  Ciera looked at those ones and said "how come he/she didn't cry, I always cry".   My head likes to think it didn't hurt but my gut tells me otherwise.

 

Mr. Baby definite loves Ciera, she watches every move she makes and she laughs at her all the time, in a good way!   She likes to look up at me too and I always get smiles too but it's always Ciera doing something goofy around her that really gets her going.  This afternoon there were some English pop tunes on the radio and we were singing away and had Mr. Baby up dancing, she really seemed to enjoy it.  

 

After we left the babyhouse we walked to a salon down the street to see if I could get my nails done (it's my one self indulgence!) they don't look too bad considering it's been 5 weeks but they are getting too long for me.   After doing some miming, they understood what I needed but I don't think they had anyone there to do it, they said "tomorrow?", I asked what time, they picked up a phone and were calling people so I guess they need to see who can come in.  I ended up asking for a card and will have Irina call them for me tomorrow, I could have continued to mime but I'm tired today and it just seemed easier to cave in and have Irina call tomorrow!!!  If anyone knows of a good place to get nails done in Karaganda please let me know!

 

This morning I had Ciera if she wanted to go swimming after the BH today, she said yes, but then she later changed her mind……I think she is tired too but just won't admit it, so an early night here for us I think. (Note: Ciera was asleep just after 8:30...she must have been VERY tired, as she is never asleep that early!!!)

 

Oh and I'm so excited I found a pile of books in the bedroom, I guess people have left them here and there are a few are in English that I have not read yet so yeah…more reading!!!

 

Pictures today:  Look how happy she is about this, how could I have said no?

-       Ciera in her knight get up while still in her Batman jammies this morning (BatKnight? hmm, a possible Halloween costume)

-       Ciera and Mama Fish in knight gear (we figured out that the arm thing fits mama fish as a chest plate and she can "hold" the small sword!)

Mr. Baby’s tests results were good!

This afternoon we made the trek to a private hospital where we had an appointment to review Mr. Baby's blood test results, Irina had the test results (which are now being translated for me and I will send to the U of M).  The Dr. looked at the test results, examined Mr. Baby and said that while one test was slightly higher than it should be she is basically fine.   This is what we had thought but it had to be checked out as it was listed on her babyhouse medical and there had to be an updated test for her immigration medical.   2500 Tenge to see a Dr. here at a private hospital, converted to Cdn that's about $18, again…makes you wonder about our health care system!!  She was quite thorough and said Mr. Baby is on target, etc, etc.  So good news!!  She will of course see Dr.'s when she comes home to Canada, but for now this rests my mind totally at ease.

 

Tonight Ciera, Irina, M and I went out for some shopping and dinner.  Oddly I was the only one who bought nothing, small correction came away without anything!!!  Ciera was thrilled when she walked into a toy store and there was a Knights outfit, ok it's just the shield, an arm thing and 2 swords but she looked like she had won the lottery.  We had a fun time at dinner, pizza and beer…ok Ciera had Sprite but we had a great time, a lot of laughs and I had tears saying goodbye to M.  It's amazing the bond you form with people here.  I had a beer from Czechoslovakia, it was a light beer and it was pretty tasty.  Both M and I looked up in surprise when our beers came to the table in glasses with bendy straws in them!!!  Irina says draft beer here is served with a straw, M and I both declined to drink from the straw.

 

We have the morning to ourselves tomorrow as there is another inspection at the babyhouse in the morning, so we don't have any plans until 2:00. I was thinking of sleeping in, but that bubble was burst when I realized Irina (the apt Irina), would still be here at 9:30 to start making lunch and dinner, sigh foiled again.

 

Today's pictures:

-       This is how I found Mr. Baby this morning when I went to get her up…..I hated waking her

-       Ciera and Mr. Baby "dancing", they were both laughing!!  Mr. Baby can't stand on her own so she thought it hysterical when she started to fall.  This afternoon I had popped Mr. Baby into a walker for a minute and I turned back around to see Ciera pushing her across the floor in it, I mean running!  They were both laughing so hard…great another thrill seeker  J

Neither love nor play need language

Today was our last official day of bonding!!!!  I can honestly say without a shadow of doubt that I love Mr. Baby, as does Ciera and Mr. Baby loves us too.  As our lives move forward together that love will grow and strengthen with time, but there is much love there now already.    It already feels like she has always been a part of my life, she is turning into such a little character and is 1000% more active than she was the first day I met her.   She has gone from not being able to staying sitting up on her own to crawling (almost on her hand and knees now), she smiles pretty much all the time and sways back and forth when she hears music, today she was doing some kind of funny bop with her head to the music.  She already fits in so very well in our little family.   The longest part of the journey to my second daughter is done, and we now start the shorter journey for the wait until court.    She does not understand much, if any, English yet, but she knows that I love her and I know she loves me.  I can see it in her eyes as I'm sure she can see it in mine.

 

After we left the babyhouse tonight we went back to Babylon to play for a bit, I loaded up the card and Ciera played a few games and got some tickets.  One game she played, when it ended she did not get her "reward" tickets so I said to one of the attendants "tickets?", she went and brought back a young man who cleared the jam and out came at least 50 tickets (Ciera was due 3), he pulled them off and handed them all to us, what a nice guy!   Ciera and I also played air hockey on a really cool air hockey table, it was made of some sort of aluminum or something and when the puck hit the sides it made musical sounds.  We also played, I can't think of what to call it but we all played it as kids, the hockey game with the little men on rods and you pull them back and forth and turn them to hit the puck.   Anyway, we started to play it and it was playing music like you were at a Leafs game and then my eyes unexpectedly filled with tears when I heard of all things the Canadian national anthem!   We also drove the bumper cars and had lots of laughs there, then Ciera headed into the play centre.  There was one other little boy in it and before long the 2 of them were playing quite well together.  I thought it quite amazing that neither had a clue what the other was saying but somehow they made it work and had lots of fun together.

 

Two families at the babyhouse went to court today and had their adoptions successfully granted, it was such great news.   Both families head back home on Wednesday to wait out the 15 day waiting period and the issuance of paperwork.  One of these families is M, the single mom , who was in our room, I am going to miss her presence in a big way.  Again, although we don't speak the same language we manage to communicate quite well and we have had a lot of fun together.   It's going to be lonely there the next while, we'll have to make sure we head downstairs more often to hang out with the other families in the big central room.  We had a gorgeous day today, blue blue clear skies and it was not cold at all.  We took the babies outside this afternoon and Ciera got to run around outside too, which is always a good thing.  I think the fresh air helps us all.  I am hoping this weather continues for the next little while…until we are home at least!

It is still quite nice out now (at 10:30PM), so nice in fact that there is a rousing game of soccer (football!) being played on the fenced in soccer pitch in the central courtyard of our block of apartment buildings.

 

Pictures today:

-Ciera working on her headstands, with some help from Irina

- Ciera on a ride at Babylon with baby fish (aka Mama Fish)

- Ciera talking to me on "her" phone, while she was giving Mama Fish a "shower" (and no I don't do that to Ciera)

 

Thanks Sherry for the great idea, I have emailed the organizer and asked if this would be possible to do, hoping to hear back a "yes"

 

It's a small , small world

So we know about, I don't know, maybe 15 people total in Karaganda.  Last night we ran into one couple at City Mall, this afternoon we ran into (almost literally) another couple in Uym, then we were in another store and in walks our translator with her mom, then we were just putting a bag in the stroller to leave the Bazaar when I heard "Diane?", it was another mom and her sister, holy smokes.  Seriously, I know a ton of people in Brampton and it's very very rare that I run into anyone I know when I am out and about, so how cool is it that I run into people I know here.  It was funny to see the expression on the woman at the stall when I ran into the last people, it was like "who are these people??" she had a very bemused expression on her face.

 

We had a good day today, Mr. Baby was all smiles when I went in to get her up, we played in our room for awhile but it was so hot in there, with the heat on and the sun blazing through the windows, I told the caregivers that we were going downstairs to the main room.  There were 3 other families down there so it was baby time and it was nice to chat and see the other families.  Mr. Baby however cried when we first went downstairs, I guess in her head she was thinking...hmm the last couple of times I left that room it was not so great what ar they going to do to me now, but oncec I picked her up and cuddled her she was fine.    Yeah, another good sign of attachment!!!

 

As it is Sunday today we only have our morning visit, so Ciera and I hitched a ride with another family to get dropped off at the Children's Theatre for the puppet show.  We checked our coats, tucked away the stroller and paid our 150 tenge each to get in.  Ciera was hungry so I bought her a snack, some sort of meat in a bun, she said it was good, it smelt good, I however declind a bite.  What a cute little place this is.  We went into the room where the show is held and there are 4 large (taller than Ciera) beautiful puppets in a row, I took pictures but Ciera refused to stand with any of them.  We sat down and a few minutes later the show started.  I have no idea what was said but we got the general drift.  It was very cute up until the end when the lead male puppet came out with a shotgun to shoot either the fox or the round thing (I have no idea what it was) he didn't shoot him, but we'd never see that at home.  Ciera had to ask me what he was holding, I told her it was a stick.   I am sorry if I have now ruined the plot for anyone!  It was only ½ an hour, but after the show we went into the other room where they had some really old puppets and an old set that the kids can sit in and get their pictures taken, Ciera was uncooperative and you see the result in the picture!

 

We left there and headed downtown, just for something to do, we had lunch at Uym and wandered some more, then headed home through the park, it was another truly gourgeous day here, this may seem weird but the sky seems a different shade of blue here….more brilliant I think, thoughts?  We ate dinner and then sat on the couch to watch Ariel, as it turned out Ciera watched it, I fell asleep off and on throughout it.  I am totally tuckered today…..I think I will be asleep before 11:00, a rare thing in my life!

 

I just cried for Ciera, I went into my email and there was an email from hockey, their team and individual pictures will be taken this coming Saturday…..her first season to play and not only is she missing 3 to 4 "games", she will also miss out on her team picture. She has wanted to play hockey since she could talk, my heart is heavy and so sad for her, and I can't even tell her.

 

Pictures today:

-       an unhappy Ciera posing at the puppet show (I am so mean aren't I?!)

-       A wider shot of the puppet theatre area for the kids to pose in

-    One of the floor puppets (these were not in the show)

-       Mr. Baby enjoying her breakfast

-       The theatre (not the Children's one, the regular one)

o      As an aside there is also a Kazak theatre here now and I have asked Irina to look into shows that are there right now as I love to see a dance and/or a music show. Mental note to self…must get a picture of the Kazak Theatre.

 

Nothing accelerates bonding like blood work

Yesterday afternoon I was told that Mr. Baby needed to have a few blood tests done (it's for nothing awful so no worries) and that today I'd have to take her to the clinic.  My plan was not to feed her breakfast this morning just in case she got so worked up that she vomited, that plan fell through when we got to the BH at 9:55 and one of the caretakers had just fed her, as they knew we were taking her at 10:00.  So I hustled her into a snow suit, 2 pairs of socks and 2 hats (it was truly not that cold out and we were going in a car!!) and off went Ciera, Mr. Baby, Irina (our translator) and myself into the car to the clinic.  Once again I served as the car seats for both my kiddies, sitting one on each leg holding on tightly to both of them.  The babyhouse had given Irina the requisition so we went into the clinic, paid 3500 tenge (about $23 Cdn, hmm what does that say about our health care system?), checked our coats (that was cool, checking your coat at a clinic!), went upstairs, handed our requisition to one of the nurses and went right in (no waiting).  I told Ciera to stand with Irina at the back of the room and warned her that her sister was going to cry, she immediately covered both her ears! Mr. Baby at this point was holding on tight, I pulled her little arm out of her shirt, laid her down and then covered her body and head with my upper body, my face resting on hers.  She screamed bloody murder (that was loud), but they were very fast and it was over with in less than 2 minutes.  I held the cotton on her arm and bent her arm to apply pressure and picked her up, she stopped crying pretty quickly.  We waited 5 minutes and we were gone, poor Irina she's had a few firsts with us, I asked her as we were leaving "so have you had to do this before" "no, first time" she replied.   Monday morning we will go to the hospital to see a Dr. and get the results, again nothing horrible, we just need to know the standings of these blood tests.

 

As we were leaving the apt this morning, we stepped out the front door (downstairs), I turned to see Ciera heading face first down the 5 concrete stairs, she tripped or something and went straight down.  Fortunately, her only injury was a scraped knee and she scared herself.  I pictured a broken bone or 2 as I flew down to get her, her guardian angel must have been with her, again.   Oh and there was a definite frost on the rooftops this morning and the puddles were frozen too, so the nights are quite cold but the days are not bad at all.  

 

Other than that a pretty good day, we were allowed outside with the babies this afternoon and a big THANK you to our new friends for leaving their baby carrier for me…..what a huge difference that made, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!   We are hoping to go out the next few days too as it's not forecasted to be too cold out.

 

Mr. Baby seems to love her extra fluids, she had an extra 8oz today, it does not sound like much but considering her body size I think it's a good amount.  Her cough does sound better and really, with the extra fluid she must feel better in general.  M is also giving her son the extra juice/water combo and he is enjoying his also.

 

This afternoon Ciera and I walked through the park to downtown, she walked all the way through it, just not getting to the park and getting to the mall (for that we used the stroller), but that's a pretty long walk for her.   We went to the blue mall, whose name I can never remember the one across from Uym, for a change of scenery and to see what they have there, it is huge and we only covered a small part of it.  We then headed to City Mall for Mag & Dak (McDonalds like) for dinner, I ordered an apple pie for dessert and was ecstatic when I opened it up and it was like the old McD's apple pies….deep fried and yummy crispy!!  After that we headed into Babylon, it's kind of like Chuckie Cheese but without the food.  We played a few games, including a great one of air hockey, then Ciera went into the play area and she had a blast.  She was so sweaty when the girl told us her time was up.  While we were there I picked up a flyer for Halloween so I will have Irina read it on Monday to see what the scoop is for that.   So all in all Ciera had a much better day, and hopefully that will continue, I just really need to be careful to get physical play time in for her as often as possible.  Now that I know how inexpensive the play area there is we will do it more often, why didn't I check that out weeks ago?!

 

On the bright side for me, I had 2 phone calls from friends at home today, one I expected as it was arranged and the other was a total surprise!!   It was so great to talk to them, thanks so much!!!!

 

Ok, off to sleep for me too!!

 

Pictures today:

-       this was Ciera in our bed last night, note she is totally on MY side of the bed!! Not to mention sideways and she fought me moving her

-       "She's got the whole world…in her hands…", sorry I could not resist, now you can all sing it in your heads to a day as I have since she did that this morning!

-       Ciera balancing a nesting cup on her head, yes we amuse ourselves anyway we can

-       Karaganda sunset over the city park, now I wish I had waited around there for another 15-20 minutes to get another shot

-       Ciera and Mama Fish on the "Gold Wing" at Babylon

 

P.S. Good to know I'm not the only one junk fooding it here, I really don't recall being this bad 4 years ago, but then again I was only gone for 3 and a bit weeks.  That does make me feel much better about it.

It was a 2 bags of M & M's kind of night tonight

Some people drink, some people eat chips....me I go for the M & M's!  Of course if I didn't buy them in the first place it would not be an issue but for some odd reason I buy them.  I do not do this at home, before I got here I don't think I had purchased a chocolate bar in 2 months, I cannot begin to think of how many I have had here, I'm going to have to go into chocolate rehab when I get home.
 
It started out being a frustrating day, last night for no reason (that I can figure out) I lost my internet connection and for about 30 minutes I tried over and over but could not get it back, so I gave up.  This morning I tried again, no go, I could log in under the nursat account and saw that I still had time left so that was ok, there was a warning message that said I had not changed my password in 28 days and it suggested I do so...so I did.  Then when I tried to log in it told me that it did not recognize my username and/or password.....again I could log into nursat and check my account using my user name and my new password but I could not log in to use it!  All this before 9:00AM, so I gave up.  This afternoon I though ok fine, I'll just buy a new card and set up a new account, so I bought a new card got home and thought "hmm, I wonder what will happen if I change my password back to my old one", so I did and now it works......some days I really hate technology!!!
 
Mr. Baby has attached.....to me!  This afternoon I got her up from her nap, she was asleep and I had to wake her up (I really hate having to do that, especially since she is still coughing so much), we cuddled for a few minutes and when I laid her down on the change table she started to wail....and I mean wail, mouth wide open, tears pouring out, and loud, so I picked her up...she stopped immediately....I put her back down......back to the wailing...picked her up...she stopped, it was like a switch turning on and off.  She gripped onto my sweater and did not want me to put her down.  I finally got her diaper changed and went to put her in the highchair....same thing...until she realized her food was there.  Ok, so I'm second best to food, I can deal with that .  This afternoon the Dr. was holding her and checking her out and Mr. Baby kept looking back at me...this all makes me feel so very good.
 
Ciera had another bit of a rough day....I gave her a choice at lunch....take a nap and we'll go do something fun tonight or stay up and go to bed right after dinner...I was so surprised when she said stay up and go to bed right after dinner, and she was in bed at 7:45 (we ate late and then she needed a shower!).   I don't quite get it, she is sleeping 10-11 hours a night but she looks so tired and acts it too, so hopefully a good nights sleep will help that and her attitude.  I know she misses home, she told me tonight that mama fish wants to go home.  She wanted to look at pictures from home before bed and she was giving the cats all a rub as she looked at the pictures, it was so cute but sad at the same time.  She makes me want to cry...hence my 2 bags of M & M's tonight!!   I have promised her that tomorrow evenign we will go to the play place at the mall and then Mag & Daks (McDonalds like) for dinner.  I have an ulterior motive to go to the play place as I noticed the other night they have Halloween decorations up so I want to find out if they are doing anything for Halloween as we won't make it home for that.  I have not told her yet and I know she is going to be mad about that so I hope to be able to have some sort of consolation for her when I tell her.
 
Today's picture (it was a light picture day today!) has a story behind it.  I happened to look out the window this morning to see a truck dumping a load of bags onto the ground.  At first glance I thought it was coal and then as the truck pulled away I saw a bag had broken open...potatoes.....I am imagining that the babyhouse orders them in large bulk but I am curious how long it takes to go through this many potatoes.  I then noticed a door open to a "hatch" and realized it must be a root cellar and a man was carting down all these bags.  That's alot of potatoes!!
 
 
 
 

I had time alone today, me just me for 3 whole hours!!!!

While I love Ciera to pieces, I needed some "just me" time, plus I had to do some gift shopping which is easier by myself.  Irina agreed to meet us at the apt at 4:00 so I could accomplish this, I was THRILLED!!!  I thought Ciera could also do with some time away from me too, she was happy to see me off but when I arrived back 3 hours later she was sad but Irina said she was fine the whole time I was gone.  As it was a sunny and not too cold day I decided to walk through the park to downtown, it felt so good, I saw some people running and I had to hold back not to join them, I really really miss my running.  But I walked at a pretty fast pace and that felt pretty darn good too!   I stopped at the bazaar as I wanted to get another long sleeved onsie for Mr. Baby (you have no idea how hard it is to keep remembering to call her that here, I have started to type her name many times!!!)   I stopped at one booth we had been at last week and was looking at the onsies and the woman started talking to me, so I just looked at her smiled and said "English", she replied, "oh English ok", me "you speak English?" her "yes I teach English" so off we went on a great conversation and if she is as good an English teacher as she is a saleswoman then she is a great teacher!    I bought a very cute hand crocheted red and white jumper dress for Mr. Baby to wear for Christmas it will look so very cute with a turtleneck and tights!!!  Oh and her onesie!   If you are a reader of other Kaz blogs, you know how important hats and scarves are here and holy cow what a selection there is of both.  I am hoping I will be lucky enough to find a winter hat that I do not look totally goofy in, and trust me the women here know their fashion and are very fashionable, I totally feel like a country bumpkin at times!   I continued from there to a jewelry store that I purchased quite a bit of stuff from when I was here 4 years ago and I spent a fair bit of time there purchasing gifts, then I headed to Uym and hit a couple more souvenir stores.   I just have a few more gifts to purchase and then I will be done!!!  I do have a list and am checking things off.  Especially for the gifts for Mr. Baby every year, otherwise I'd never keep track, as it is I had to pull out stuff tonight that I bought last week as I had forgotten what I had, my list is now updated! It's amazing how in just over 2.5 hours I accomplished more than I would have dragging Ciera with me, and she had a fun time here at home with Irina. Let's just say I think Irina will sleep well tonight J

 

Mr. Baby was in with the Dr. when I arrived this morning, she was again listening to her chest and making her cough with the spoon trick.  Mr. Baby seems very happy but hearing her breathe is painful to me, she sounds awful but it does not seem to slow her down and if is it I'm not sure I want to see her at full tilt!   Her cough at least does not sound dry anymore and I got about 10 extra ounces of liquid into her today so I'm hoping that's helping with something.  She totally got her army crawl working today, she was using both elbows and at one point she completely dragged herself right out of her pants.  Ciera is insisting on feeding her a large part of both meals we feed her.  This is a good thing for both of them, I am hoping it makes form a close bond.  Oh Linda, you will be happy to hear that last night Ciera said that Sofie the giraffe could go to the babyhouse today but she did say "My aunt needs to buy me one too".  Mr. Baby quite liked her but M's son really loved her, he would get her (Sofie) grasped in one hand and would crawl across the floor with her and wack her down everytime his hand hit the floor and you could hear her squeak everytime..ok it's not as funny here as it is to see….just try visualizing it…..it was pretty funny!  We may have to give that one to him when M leaves and then pick up 2 more at home for us.  Oh and I've decided Mr. Baby officially hates socks, every single time I go in to get her up now, her socks are off,  I put them back on her and she pulls them right back off, I don't even bother putting them back on her now during our visits, no one is giving me heck for it, so I figure it's ok!  Some days I can only find one sock and I think I turn her bed inside out looking for it, I ask the caretakers and they go in and find it somehow stuffed under something or another, how she does that is beyond me.  This afternoon I had to wake her from her nap and we were sitting cuddling for a few minutes as she was so warm and sleepy and one of the caretakers called out "mama, mama" I looked up and she motioned eating.....so much for the sleepy after nap cuddle.

 

Oh and there was a new arrival into our baby room this afternoon, another gorgeous baby boy he's going to be a big hit with the ladies with those eyes!!!

 

While we have fallen a bit behind on school work (we will catch up on it this weekend, I promise!), this time here is an education in itself for Ciera in many ways.  She is so good with all the babies there, she gives them all toys when they are in bed and when they are in the playpen.  She is forming a larger bond with me, a large bond with her sister, she has learned about cultural difference, different languages, she understands that daytime here is nighttime at home, she has eaten many many different types of food (as have I), but she has also learned (I hope) a lot about her birth country and has a greater understanding of her short time here as a baby.  She certainly has learned a lot and has asked a ton of questions about her adoption and is constantly asking "did you do that when I was a baby".  While she has never been one to play with dolls and pretend they are babies, she is doing so with mama fish and she is mimicking what I do with her sister, right down to burping her.   I think this is all great stuff!!!

 

Pictures today:

-       This is how I find Mr. Baby every time I got to get her up…ok maybe not sleeping but without socks, one easily visible the other not so much

-       Ciera entertaining herself at the babyhouse with the Air Canada earphones that we kept (sssh don't tell Air Canada!)