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)

My baby is sick

Mr. Baby was officially diagnosed with bronchitis today and she was started on liquid (thank goodness) antibiotics and some sort of medication to help clear her lungs.  Yes, I should know what it is, but I just go to to the drugstore hand them the note that the Dr wrote for me, they pull it off the shelf, tell me how much it is, I pay and walk back to the BH and give it to her Dr.   Poor thing has been breathing so badly for weeks now, I am glad she will have something.  Apparently she had some other antibiotics before and now these are different, I know this makes me sound like a bad mom that I have no clue what my child is on but here you just go with the flow.   If she were at home there is no way I would be waking her up after a 2 hour nap, I would just be letting her sleep, but again.....you go with the flow.  She was really bagged after her nap before lunch, she lay on me for quite a while and she never does this, she even sat quietly on my lap this afternoon, again something she rarely does!  She is a very curious baby indeed!  I hope she gets a good nights sleep and after being on the antibiotics for a day she is feeling better.
 
The new mom that is here starting bonding with her daughter, has a friend with her and the friend looked at Mr. Baby this afternoon and said to her "do you know your sister never stops talking?!!!!"  I laughed out loud, and said "yep, late to walk and talk and has stopped doing neither since!"   This was particularly funny as they have only been with us for 3 visits now!!!   Ciera has once again amazed me with her comfort level here, she met this woman yesterday and today she is sitting on her lap, and giving her a hug good bye this afternoon.    It's a good thing we are only here another 5 days as with the another family coming with their son tomorrow it will be mayhem in room 4, especially since we were told today that we have to stay in our room until the babies are better.  This means not being able to go down to the playroom or the big central room as they want to confine the germs.   I think I will take some Advil before heading out in the morning!
 
I wanted to head downtown this afternoon to run a few more errand but Ciera just wanted to watch tv, I pray she is not getting sick too, after she was in bed she told me she was hot and cold.....no, please no.   I told her then that we have to run more errands now tomorrow and she agreed, we'll see if she remembers that tomorrow.
 
Ciera was so cute again today and ran back in to tell her sister a story before we left for the day "Once upon a time there was a little girl named"...darn I can't finish the story right now.....but it was very cute and ended with "the end"
 
Not much else to say today........I'm tired and heading to bed too........I am already starting to dread packing up later this week, it's going to be hard on many levels.
 
Todays pictures:
- Ciera was playing with Sophie the giraffe this afternoon and  with the stacking ring base we thought it looked like a giraffe at the zoo eating leaves off a tree...so she took a picture of it
- Before breakfast this morning, Mr. Baby on her knees (she's going to figure out how to get to her feet soon and I'm going to miss it) "talking" to her sister.

Tender moments

This morning as we were walking through the hallway downstairs at the babyhouse on our way to the playroom we ran into Dr. Lud, she was Ciera's Dr. when she was a baby as well as being Mr. Baby's Dr now.  We stopped to chat for a second and we were right by room 2, suddenly she put her hand on Ciera's shoulder and motioned for her to follow her, she led us into room 2, where she told us Ciera had been as a baby.  She showed us which cribs had been Ciera's and she told the caretakers in the room who Ciera was (it's kind of like she is a little pop star or something).  It was so sweet, I stood there looking in at it with tears in my eyes. I asked if it was ok to take a picture and was told yes.  Ciera was thrilled to see it and asked me alot of questions about it.  There are a few younger babies in that room, one is a little one month old baby, so tiny and so sweet, and yet so very sad.  I joked and asked if I could take more than one home with me, ok, not so much a joke as I would if I could no question about that.  Dr. Lud has an amazing memory as she also mentioned that she remembered Ciera's medical from when she came into the babyhouse from the city where she had been born.
 
When I am ready to put Mr. Baby in her crib when we leave I always ask Ciera to give her sister a kiss and a hug, this afternoon she did so and I put Mr. Baby in her crib and went back out to tell Ciera to put her coat on.  Ciera said wait one second I just want to see my sister and she ran into the sleep room.  I opened the door to peek in and there was Mr. Baby facing Ciera and Ciera down on her knees with her hands through the crib posts talking to her sister.  I have no idea what she said, I didn't ask but it was so very tender and cute. 
 
We had a better day today, I hope we are on a behaviour upswing! 
 
There is one new mom in our room, starting her bonding with her daughter, she is from France.  There is another family from France in the room across the hall with their son, so they came into our room this afternoon and we all chatted a bit, thank goodness they speak English!
 
The babies in our room are starting to get sick again and several were running fevers today, it's interesting to watch the production line as they take the temperature of 6 babies, one after the other.  Mr. Baby is not running a temp but her nose is all yucky again and her cough....well it's never really left anyway so I'm not concerned about that.  But I really want to just get her home to get her out of the cycle!  My bigger immediate fear though is that they tell us Ciera cannot visit due to the virus.  I read Ciera the riot act this afternoon to stop putting the baby toys in her mouth (she likes to pretend she is a baby), I told her it's going to be hard enough flying home, but flying home with her sick would be brutal.
 
This evening we did some very brief gift shopping, headed home for dinner and some relaxation.  The next week will be busy so getting our down time in while we can.
 
A week at this time from now we will have landed in Toronto....wow....hard to believe.
 
Today's picture:
 
Ciera talking to Mr. Baby this afternoon.
 
 

A dreary day

The weather outside is gloomy, overcast, rainy and cool the past couple of days….the Weather Network forecasted differently for today so I'm not holding out much hope for the forecast they have for Karaganda for the next few days.  We even saw a few snow flurries earlier.

 

I seriously hope I get home and find a letter or a voice mail from Lotto Canada telling me we've won big, I really do not want to go back to work!!  Oh yeah and I need to pay off my bills!!

 

We had some tense moments earlier today with a Purolator package that was being sent to us with documents I need for court.  I had been given the tracking number and when I tracked it last night Purolator said it had been delivered yesterday to someone in Almaty, and did not know the name that Purolator said it had been delivered to.   After some very tense hours we found the package had been delivered safely to my coordinator here in Karaganda, not sure why Purolator said it had been delivered yesterday to someone in Almaty but at least it is safely here now.  It took 6 days to get here by Purolator, not bad I suppose.   However ,I could have done without the stress.

 

After 6 weeks here I found out tonight that the "latte" place in City Mall serves food and has desserts…I found that out after I promised Ciera "Mag & Daks", so I had some rather disgusting chicken nuggets (they had cheese in them tonight, even Ciera didn't like the cheese part) and an ice cream sundae….oh yeah (not).  I will be checking out at least one dessert at the "latte" place before we head home they look amazing!  We then spent some time at Babylon, after Ciera was done in the play part (she was the only child there!), the girl motioned to her to come over to the carousel ride (again she was the only child) and put her on it without us paying.....I guess a sign that we are frequent customers!!!

 

I can't believe that a week from now we will be on the road to Astana to await our flight home, at this point it seems totally surreal.  I was talking to Irina about some stuff this afternoon about leaving and I started to get all teary……even she could not believe we were leaving next week.  While it was hard to leave Ciera when she was a baby, I had only been with her 3 weeks so while she knew me and had bonded it was only 3 weeks out of her 14 months.  With Mr. Baby by the time we leave it will be 7 weeks, 7 weeks out of her 9 months, that's a lot of time for her.  I was telling her Dr this afternoon that I had the other bottle of medication for her and the Dr said "oh just keep it until we need it", I replied "we leave for home in a week", she said pointing at Mr. Baby "but she needs you", I laughed and replied "yes I know but we can't stay another 4 weeks".  After she left the room I thought darn I should have asked her to try and impress upon the judge that Mr. Baby needs to go with her mom to her new home and ask him to waive the 15 day waiting period.  Fat chance but a girl can dream can't she?!

 

Mr. Baby has some sort of irritation on her legs, little bumps all over the front and back as if she has goose bumps.  My best guess was an allergic reaction to something, perhaps the laundry soap I am using, however it is now where else on her body.  I asked one Dr. she also thought an allergic reaction.  Her Dr. then came up as I guess the first Dr. mentioned it to her.   She thinks it's due to me letting her crawl on the carpet without her pants on, I've been keeping them off her as they just get in her way when she crawls. That would make sense for the fronts of her legs as she drag them along but not so much for the backs of them.  It does not seem to bother her, she is not scratching so we will see.  We will put lotion on her and see if the irritation goes away.  This afternoon they had a couple of the other babies out on the floor in our room working with them and when I see the babies same age as her what they cannot do (sit up on their own) vs. what Mr. Baby can do I truly see how far she has come in 6 weeks, with love, one on one attention and me helping her,  I could not believe it.

 

This afternoon after we left the BH we finally got to the Russian Orthodox Church out by Stepnoy.  It is gorgeous inside, they are doing some work on it so there were some scaffolds at the back of the main area.  There was a service going on in one of the side chapels (I hope that is the right terminology).  I had to cover my head with a scarf (Ciera thought that was quite funny) when we went in.  I was not sure if it was ok to take pictures so I did it very quietly, without the flash and without holding the camera up to frame the shot.  Overall they came out not too bad.   It was truly beautiful inside.  We stayed for about 10 minutes, said a prayer for poppa and then we left.

 

Ciera's behaviour was better today, not hugely, but better, we had another long talk about it tonight so hopefully my threat of her staying in the apartment for the next week and her room at home once we are home gets through to her (with no hockey, no dnace, no play dates, etc).  This afternoon I gave her a timeout for playing with the camera when I had told her already to put it down, when she said she was ready to talk she came over and said she was sorry for something completely different.  She could not remember why she was in the time out…..that is not a good sign.  I think she has had more time outs in the past 3 days than she has had in total at home ever!

 

Today's pictures:

-       Ciera doing some schoolwork at the baby house

-       A couple of shots of the inside of the church ( the one with the top of my head in it is a shot of the ceiling of the main chapel)

Time out!!!

Holy cow today was a rough day, Ciera spent almost the entire afternoon in time outs, I don't know what is going on with her (actually she told me she does not want to go home to Canada that's why she is acting so bad, go figure eh?) but it was a looooonnnggg afternoon at the babyhouse.   I tried ignoring it, but when she is downright rude and totally not thinking as she does know better, I told her that was it, no more second chances she is going right into time out, hence our afternoon….sigh.  This included being physically removed from the table at lunch, into a sobbing time out and then having to apologize to our friends who were here for her manners and behaviour at the lunch table.  On the bright side our evening was better!!  I know the days becoming a bit (understatement) boring for her, heck they are for me too, we are at something like day 42 at the babyhouse so I get it, but man oh man what a trying day.

 

On the brighter side I had a pampered 2 hours this evening!!  Oxana found me a salon to get my nails done, (yeah Oxana!!!), she made the appt for me and told them I spoke no English so when I got there I had to phone her and she told the technician what I wanted (basically what I had, only shorter and filled).  She even called a taxi for me and told them the address I needed to go to.  Ciera sat still for 2 hours, she watched Ariel for about 1.5 of those and was pretty patient.  This woman did an amazing job, now I like my nail person at home as she gets it done in 45 minutes and she does a good job, but this woman wow the detail she went into, I was there just over 2 hours.  They look great, I totally recommend this place, it's called the Butterfly Salon and all they do is nails.  I will add the address to my "things to do in Karaganda" link when I get back home.   The price was even less than I pay at home, so I am a happy camper, clean short white nails (French manicure, I feel human again).  When I was leaving they called a taxi for me and walked me out to it, how is that for service?  I know I have mentioned it before but everywhere I go here the service is above and beyond what I expect and way beyond what I typically get at home.  North America needs to get back to the old fashioned way of service.  Hmm, now about my hair….wondering if I should even attempt to get it cut here, I'm at 7 weeks for a haircut (I normally go every 6) and it totally needs it…maybe this weekend, we'll see how brave I feel….David any thoughts??!!!!

 

The only service that gets me a bit crazy is the bank, there is only ever one teller open and when I went at 1:30 today, I was told she was at lunch and to come back at 2:00!  Can you imagine the rampage if that happened at home?  When I went back at 4:00 there were 4 people in front of me, now mind you we can sit and wait while watching Russian music videos and everyone knows who is next and no one tries to butt in, the security guy knows the order.  By the way, you know you have been here awhile when the security guy in the bank nods and says hello to you when you walk in J and when you start humming along with the tunes on the videos and radio, I even caught Ciera humming along to one today!  Acck there is on tune going through my head now…….

 

Mr. Baby was her usual charming self today!!  Her knees are starting to really get engaged in her crawling but still using her elbows at the front, but she can scoot along pretty fast when she is motivated.  She is also no longer allowing the other babies to take toys away from her, I watched her this afternoon with P who was in a walker, she would taunt him with it and when he reached for it…bam she would pull it away, if he managed to grasp it she still pulled it out of his hands.  She is fearless and strong (oh no not another one!) she laughs when she tips over from a standing position (I catch her), when you swing her around or throw her up in the air a little and she really loves music.  This morning in the play room one of the babies was banging on a xylophone and Mr. Baby started bopping her head back and forth and then dragged herself over to it and took over.  She played on it for quite a while, until I had to pry her grip off of it.

 

My lawyer is heading to pre-court tomorrow morning, I've been told I don't need to be there so I am keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes well tomorrow.  If it does, we head to court next Wednesday.  Keep your fingers and toes crossed for us!!!

 

Pictures today:

-       Mr. Baby in the play room, I turned away from her, turned back (I swear for a second) and this is the pose she was in.  Now granted she could not figure out how to get out of it, but how did she get like this in the first place?!!  See I am totally in trouble J

-       Some serious sister talk happening here, just moments before this their heads were together and they were both laughing, I absolutely LOVE these moments

 

P.S. My apologies for what I am told was a double post for my dad yesterday, my connection froze as I had started to send it and I was "told" it was not sent so I sent it again, ahhh you have to love dial up!