Reunited..

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