Still Sick in Kyzylorda

Andrew and I are beginning to come down with the same cold as our little one. Yesterday Andrew was mentioning that he wasn't feeling too well (scratchy throat) and increased his fluid consumption. I awoke this morning with the same scratchy throat and a bad feeling in my chest. We think we have caught what she has. After our morning visit we went to the pharmacy and purchased some multivitamin and then went to the grocery store and got some OJ. I have cold medicine here and I am going to begin taking it tonight.

We went to the baby house this morning and visited the little one. Her congestion sounds better and her nose isn't quite as runny. She is very lethargic though. We were able to play with her for about 20 minutes and then all she wanted to do was to be held and sleep. So that is what we allowed her to do. We are told that they give her lots of fluids...we aren't suppose to give her any fluids while visiting (they are on a potty schedule). I think we might sneak some to her on our next visit. During our afternoon visit she played for only 5 minutes and then made a sign to Mommy that she wanted to be picked up. At this point she immediately curled up with her thumb in her mouth and started falling asleep. Boy is that warm! Babies give off a tonne of heat. We have been told that she is so lethargic that the doctor doesn't want us to go visit tomorrow. It will give her time to sleep and not be interrupted by visits. We are sad about this but want her to get better. This will also give Andrew and I a day to take medicine and try to get better ourselves...and do paperwork. We are trying to get our immigration paperwork done tonight so we can send it to Moscow tomorrow.

For lunch today we went to a Pizzeria. IT WAS SO GOOD! They don't use a tomatoe based sauce on their pizza but none the less it was amazing. I ordered the Bolognese pizza and Andrew got the meat and onion pizza. We loved it! They both came with fresh dill on top...something I wouldn't have thought would taste good but it did. It also came with ketchup on the side. We didn't use this. I think we might order from them often while here. It was nice to have something that felt like comfort food to eat. The food in the hotel restaurant is good but a little heavy. This was a nice change.

Congestion and Sniffles

Today was day 2 of visiting with our little girl. She only cried for the first 5 seconds (we know the trick now...give her an animal cookie) and then calmed right down. The morning visits are turning out to be cuddle sessions. I think at 10 am is when she would normally be napping...so she sleeps on us for the first visit. Andrew wants to interject that she did play with us for a little while this morning (~5 minutes). I'm not complaining about the cuddling. I know that soon enough she won't want to snuggle with mom and dad so I am going to cherish what time I have doing this. During the afternoon visit she was much more active. We brought in a new toy for her to play with today. Do you all remember the Tupperware toy where you put the shape pieces into the shape holes...well we have the cheap Fisher Price version here. Now she wasn't too keen on putting the pieces in the holes but she did like chewing on them, and slamming them together/against the main cube. We decided to put on some music today...I have my iPod here with our Disney collection on it...boy did she like that. She was rocking out to it...literally. She would rock back & forth and form side to side. She is definitely going to be a music lover.

So going back to what our blog is titles today...our little girl is sick (as is the whole buliding she is sleeping in) and so congested that you could hear the phlem moving inside her while she tried to sleep. We asked our translator and coordinator today if we could buy medicine for the whole building. They were a little surprised by this...I don't think people have ever asked this before. Our coordinator went in to ask the director if we could do this and the director was very, very happy. Turns out she (the director) was going to go out and use her own money to purchase drugs soon. So we went with a list of drugs to the pharmacy and purchased enough antibiotics, and cough medicine for 50 kids. Now many of you are asking "but didn't that cost a lot of money?" Well it didn't. In total we paid ~9500 tenge (ten-gay) for this...approximately $80.00 US. So this is what my supervisor and her husband's (Gabriela and Luis) donation covered. We are hoping this way that not only our little girl but all the little ones in her building will be able to get better faster (and find families).

Well that's all for today. We are having a good time here. All we really do is look forward to seeing our little girl...the rest of the time we are trying to kill so we can see her sooner. We are going to be taken to a bazaar this weekend by our translator. We will definitely get in some shopping. When she brought up shopping she looked at Andrew and asked how long he can put up with it. He said that he could deal with a few hours...she looked impressed. We love the people that are helping us with the adoption process. I can't imagine meeting better people and having more qualified people helping us. We will always be thankful that we had them here.

TTFN

PS. Keltie and Opa can fight over who gets to teach our little girl to ski. I guess it is whomever comes to Saskatoon to do it more often.

Introducing our daughter...

We have some good and some bad news...the bad news first. We do not get to continue forward with the adoption of the little girl we first met. Our coordinator here flew to Astana last night to beg the Ministry to allow us to adopt her but it failed. So we need all of you to hope for the best for this little girl...that she will find a mommy and daddy in 3 months. The good news is there was one other little girl at the baby house that we have been given permission to adopt. She is definitely on the registry, however she is so healthy that they wanted to find a local family to adopt her. Our interpretor begged her (the Director of the baby house) to allow us to proceed forward with this little girl as she is the only one in Kizil-Orda that is under 18 months old and on the registry. So after some arm twisting...not by us...we have been given permission to start the bonding process. At this point Andrew asked for permission to hug the director. She looked surprised and answered (in Russian) "only if it is ok with your wife". I think we are setting a good example for what it means to be Canadian while here.

Our little girl is 14 months old but looks like a 12 month old...she was born a little premature. She is sweet and very, very smart. She can grasp objects and pick up objects with her whole hand as well as her thumb and pointer finger. She has Kazakh features, dark brown eyes, brown-straight hair, and is a darling. We met her this morning and instantly fell in love. I was telling Andrew that this is the baby I have dreamed of in the past 12 months. We have already picked her name but don't want to unveil it until she is definitely ours...i.e. after the court hearing.

So we are feeling a tonne better today then yesterday. We are sad that our first darling cannot be ours but we are sure that she will find her forever family in 3 months. We are waiting on paperwork from Canada still and hope to have it soon so we can apply for a court date. We will keep you updated but now we need to eat.

Love and kisses...and don't worry we are hugging and kissing her for all of you too!

Baby House Troubles

Well we have visited a little girl twice now at the baby house...she was suppose to be coming off the registry today but she didn't. The way it works here is that a child is registered for 1 month in the city, 3 months in the region and 3 months in the country before a couple from outside Kazakhstan can adopt. According to the paperwork here in Kizil-Orda this little one was suppose to come off the registry today (that is why we were allowed and invited to come to Kizil-Orda). This is not what the Astana Ministry is telling us though. Our hearts are a little broken at this. Our coordinator and the official for the Ministry of Education (people in charge of adoption) are seeing if there is anything that can be done about this. So keep your fingers crossed for us and any of you that pray keep us in your thoughts (we need all the help we can get at this moment). The little girl is just so beautiful. She is 11 months old and weighs what a normal 12 month old weighs. She has a mighty set of lungs (thus will fit in good in both the Pearson and Watson families) as for the first and most of the second visit she howled. We already love her and really are hoping there is something that can be done. Otherwise we will not be able to go forward with adopting her and might have to go to another city to find a little girl that matches our requirements. Andrew and I are wondering what we did to get this type of karma...first time it was a schizophrenia backround for the first child proposed and now this. We are trying to keep positive and not cry but it isn't easy.

On another topic the food here is pretty good. At time it is a little too greasy for our liking but we can survive. We have both tried horse and it tastes pretty good. We were on the the plane from Almaty to Kizil-Orda and they gave us a cold meat tray to eat. Andrew and I were starving and it looked good so we dug in. Later our interpreter told us that what we had thought was pastrami was actually horse. It tasted like pastrami or montreal smoked meat and I liked it just fine. We haven't really eaten anything more exotic yet as my stomach isn't doing too well. Stress, food changes and sleeping troubles doesn't make for a good time. We did sleep 7 hours last night. We only woke up at 4 am this morning (we went to sleep at 9 pm). We watched Finding Nemo and Chicken Little this morning and have watched Galaxy Quest and Willy Wonka this afternoon/evening.

Well that's all for now. Again keep your fingers crossed for us. Lots of love.

We have arrived!

Well it was a particularly long journey but we are here in Kizil-Orda. We visited the baby house today for a short period of time. We are doing well...a little tired to say the least (I have been up since midnight...it is 7 pm now). We have water and some of the basic necessities. We had to stay in Almaty an extra day due to no flights leaving for KO. We arrived here at 12 pm and started our first visit at the baby house at 4 pm. We are watching a dvd tonight to keep ourselves awake and eating cup of noodle soup. My tummy isn't doing too well right now...tired, stressed and a little different food is not a good combination. We will tell you more about the baby house tomorrow. This email is just to tell you we are alive and well. We are currently only able to use the hotel's internet...no wireless modem or dial up in the rooms. We love you all. Keep the good thoughts coming our way.

Travel Update!

Hi everyone. I'm web logging from Frankfurt right now. Andrew and I are fine and all the flights have been arriving at their destinations either on time or early. We are waiting for our flight information to be posted here in Frankfurt so we can find the gate we need for the next leg of our journey. Andrew is mad that he didn't follow his gut and fly business class. The seats on Lufthansa were like sitting on rock...which my butt is used to but not my hubby's. The service was really good though.

We went for breakfast here and I am always impressed with European tea. These people definitely know how to brew a fantastic up of tea. The breakfast was a little greasy for my liking but I'm sure I'll get by. I have been battling a sore throat for 2 days now and I am not impressed. Why is it I get sick when I don't want to be sick? Can someone answer this for me? Oh well. I am drinking lots of fluids and sucking on Chloroseptic throat lozenges. Andrew is pacing back and forth as he just wants to continue on our journey. We have our systems sort of accustomed to the time zone now. Just for curiousity...did you know that when you travel to other countries and log into the blogger website the site is immediately translated into what ever language is dominant. So here in Frankfurt it is translating my stuff into German. A little wild to read I have to admit.

I have attached some photos from the various airports. Excuse the ones from here in Frankfurt...I look like death because I have had 4 hours sleep in total. I'll update hopefully at the hotel in Almaty but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting. You guys might have to wait until we are in Kyzylorda. Lots of love from far away.

Saskatoon Airport: Andrew playing rock. A calm moment in a normally chaotic individual;)


Toronto Airport: Nadine looking herself.


Frankfurt Airport: Nadine looking like death. She needs sleep! Beauty rest is a must. What's up with the hair?

Tomorrow we start our new adventure!

Well we have everything packed. We are doing last minute errands and saying good-bye to friends and family. We will post as often as we can while in Kazakhstan and Russia. We won't be able to post pictures of the little one for the first 3 weeks, but we will post pictures of our surroundings (hotel, supermarket, parks, etc.) often. We haven't been told yet what we are allowed to say about our little girl but I am hoping for an email from our agency soon with instructions. I just can't wait!! 3 days and counting until parenthood.

I thought I would post some pictures of our luggage and the nursery. I know some of you haven't seen it yet. Enjoy.

Love from the both of us. Keep your fingers crossed everything works out in our travels. We will try and post while in transit as well as when we arrive.

Packing, packing and did I mention more packing?

Well hello everyone. Andrew and I are almost finished packing. It has only taken the last month to be this ready. I really hope I haven't forgotten anything.

Boy am I excited and nervous! I just can't believe that in 6 days I'll be meeting our daughter. It just seems unreal right now. I am plagued by worries. What if I'm no good at being a mommy? What if I am going back to work to early? What to do if I feel overwhelmed? I know I can count on you guys for support and that gives me quite a bit of comfort. I'm sure all parents have these thoughts but the thoughts are there so I thought I would share.

We have our friend Kara (our house/cat sitter) coming over for supper tomorrow. That way we can show her how everything works in the house and introduce her to our feline child–Dunkelzahn. I just thought I would give a quick update. I'm not sure if we are going to be posting before Kazakhstan but I'll try. Likely Thursday will be our last post before we leave. Good bye for now.

VISAs Arrived

Well it is official...we are allowed into Kazakhstan!! Our VISAs arrived today and we are elated. Now the countdown can commence. We have one week until we leave. I have to pick clothes in earnest now. Both Andrew and I have chosen our court clothes...him a suit and me an understated brown simple dress. I know, I know...you never thought you would see me and understated in the same sentence. Well I want to please the court there so I think mild, mannered woman is the way to go (stop laughing).

We are bringing all our electronics to the airport today as well as our bags to be weighed. I hope there isn't a long line up. Oh well. I can't express what we are feeling right now...a little scared (well maybe a lot scared), a little worried, extremely excited. Well any of you that have been waiting for a birth I am sure this is what that feels like.

Keep the good thoughts our way. Thanks for the good thoughts so far.

VISAs Away

Well we received a call from the Kazakh Consulate today telling us our VISAs are going to be issued as of tomorrow. They will be good from the 14th of March until the 25th of May. So if all goes well (which we really hope it does) we will be back before the 25th of May. Yipee!! We also received our finalized itinerary from the travel agent as well as our confirmation numbers. So it looks like most of the hoops are in our past...well in regards to the paperwork necessary for us to enter Kazakhstan. We are still waiting on paperwork from Foreign Affairs but that will just be sent to us after we are in the country.

Andrew's mom is coming today to visit...I have a premonition of many stores and much shopping. I must be psychic (smile).

I hope you are all well. Keep up the good thoughts for us.

Still Waiting...

Hello everyone. We are now waiting for our VISAs from the Kazakhstan embassy. The supporting numbers have been issued in Kazakhstan but the database in Canada hasn't been updated. So we are waiting. We have most of our packing done. We have three bags crammed full of stuff that probably will not return to Canada with us, but oh well. We are so very excited to be leaving in 12 days. Tomorrow we are going to the airport with our electronics and our packed bags. We have to get forms for our electronics from Canadian Customs that say all the items are ours. We also want to have air canada weigh our luggage and tell us the over weight costs for our bags. We know they are going to be close to or just over weight in some instances and in one bag definitely over the allowed mass.

We had a farewell party with my supervisor and her family, as well as another professor in my department and his family. It was great. Lots of talking, eating and a little wine drinking. All things that are fun to do. Boy does it hit me over and over how lucky we are to have friends and family that care so much for us. We really do appreciate you all and can't wait to introduce our little girl to you. We are no closer to a name for her yet. We really will need to see her before we can make up our minds on a name.

Well that's all for now. I'm sorry the weblog hasn't been more interesting but just you wait. We are also finding out exactly what we are allowed to post about our little one while in country.

Lots of love to you all.

Travel Itinerary Received

Well we received our travel plans tonight. We will be leaving on the 23rd (as long as our VISAs arrive from the consulate) of March and returning around the 18th of May. It looks like we will be flying from Saskatoon to Toronto, Toronto to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Almaty. We will be travelling from 10 am on the 23rd to 11 pm on the 24th. We do get some time zone help in there but in total we will be in the air for 17 hours and 25 minutes (with lay overs it is 25 hours). Whoo wee that is going to be a long time in transit. We've both done it before.

The weather there is suppose to be really nice right now...spring and all. We have been checking out weather reports for the area online and it is about 10 to 15ºC warmer then here right now. That will be a nice change. We are still packing...trying to get everything into our four allowed bags with only one over weight. Keep your fingers crossed.

Also, Dunkelzahn has had a relapse of his allergic reaction and is on medicine again. Turns out his favorite treats are flavored with fish and he can't have that. So he is on antibiotics and has to see the vet in two weeks. Hopefully the reaction goes away so we don't have to worry about him while we are gone. I'm sure my pal Kerra will take good care of him while we are away.

Lots of love to you all. Thanks for the good wishes.

No News Yet

Well I hadn't posted a log in awhile so here is some more information...

We haven't heard anymore on when we are leaving. If it is 3 weeks we should be leaving around March 20th. I have attached a map to this log so that you all can see where Kyzylorda (or Qyzylorda) is.

We have a few names in mind for our little one but haven't decided on one specifically. We want to meet her before we name her. Here is the list (which is long I know) Amira, Asia, Elliott (for Grama P), Cadence, Talia, Zoie, Flora, Elizabeth, Jade, Lexie and Chalcedony. We plan on keeping the name she has been given as her second name followed by Lea (for Grammy).

Well that's all for now. I'll post more when we get more information.