Dinara and the Play Pen Attack

When it rains it pours...now Dinara not only has a small cut on her nose but also has a cut on her lip. Today Andrew and I set up her new play yard (play pen) and she was having a good old time in it. This evening, however, the good times halted when she tried to climb out of it (unsuccessfully) and fell...biting her lip. She was definitely not happy about this. The play yard is upstairs...this allows us now to put her in a secure place and do some house work. Our floors have all been cleaned upstairs. It is wonderful...we are no longer stepping on food or sticky substances.

On a better note Dinara has learned a new skill...she can now climb stairs (supervised of course). She is quite the explorer. We didn't even try to teach her about the stairs but she learned none the less. We took down the blockade and she just started crawling up them in front of us. She surprises us every day. We went shopping today at our downtown mall (Midtown). We finally used one of the baby shower gifts we received...$100 gift certificate. We went to Children's Palace and purchased three tank tops, a pair of jeans, a jean skirt and a sundress (this tranforms into a skirt and a tunic). They are soooo cute. I think Grandpa is going to love the shirts we bought her. We also received presents in the mail today. Andrew's Aunt Joy sent us some very cute summer outfits for her. They are just darling and we can't wait to put them on her. Aunty Bridget sent us a memories album that she made with some pics of Dinara from the blog and some spaces for us to put more photos in. She also included a gift for Andrew and I...Champagne flute with skulls on them. They are from the Disneyland Vintage Store. We love them!! I have put them on display already. Thank you Joy and Bridget for your gifts we really love them.

Here are some pictures of Dinara today...

Dinara and Daddy hugging.


Daddy and Dinara playing the 1, 2, Up game.


Dinara toddling around.


The best smile in the world!


Dinara playing with the newly purchased clothing! She likes her clothes already.


Silly photo Mommy wanted to include. She is such a silly little girl. You gotta love it!

Well that's all for today. Keep up the comments and ask any questions you like (I may or may not answer them though...hee hee). Talk soon.

Food Intolerances...She Really is My Daughter

Well as the post title states Dinara seems to have one if not two different food intolerances. She has most definitely reacted to the Yams we fed her last night and this afternoon. Boy did she ever react...two bathtimes in one day type of explosions (graphic enough for you?). So she is definitely my daughter. I really wouldn't have wished food allergies on anyone but oh well. Those two things are mostly easy to keep out of her diet (yams especially).

Other than that our girl has been an angel. She loves to play (by herself, with us, with her Aunty Fina), she loves to walk/toddle along, and well does everything else a little 16 month old should be doing. She is a delight to us...even when we get a little frustrated. Oh well...part of parenthood I'm sure. Not much else really to state today. Oh! Daddy did the bathing of out little one today...he did a bang up job too. She likes to bathe alone now so no issues there. Mommy is quite relieved about that...my skin couldn't take the abundance of baths.

Well here are some pics of Daddy and Dinara playing tonight. Sorry about the red eye but that's just what happens with the new camera (not nearly as good as my old one...pic quality better but it doesn't have as good a focus). Oh on a side note we got a call from Andrew's mom in St. Petersburg, Russia. She talked to us a bit and asked if I received my Mother's Day card...I had but I found out it was from Paris (fancy eh?). She also told us that friends of hers (and ours) from Van. Island are buying out Europe for Dinara. Just a quick note to you guys...it is appreciated but its too big and we don't have any place to store it. Thank you anyway Lee and Joe. Also, Andrew's Poppy (Grampa on his Mom's side) called today. He inquired after our girl, our trip, and well life so far. He has told us that all of Wally Joe's (Andrew's cousins son) old toys are being stored at Sharon and Diet's for our girl. That way when she visits she has activities (whew we won't have to pack so many toys this way) when we visit in Nanoose Bay.


Look at how our girl can walk on her own.


Daddy tickling his little girl. She is hating every minute of it.


Daddy and Dinara playing the Chase Me game.


Daddy jumping out from behind some foam pads (the blue one is mid-air) and stunning Dinara. She really wasn't scared just shocked. Daddy and her laughed loudly after this.


Daddy and Dinara watching Baby Einstein (Neighborhood Animals).


Lazing about with Dinara.

Just thought of this...we took Dinara to the Park today (Aunty Fina and Uncle Jordan came too). She had a good time. She liked the slide again and loved the swing. She found the swing only so, so until she leaned back. Then out came the large smile. She really just liked having Daddy, Mommy and Aunty Fina walking her around. Lots of sights and sounds for her today. Well that's all for now.

First Blood-Dinara's First Bad Fall

Hello everyone. Well yesterday was an event filled day...first we went to the University to get Dinara her first check up. Everything seems to be fine but the doctor is referring us to a pediatrician that he knows. She will check Dinara over more thoroughly. The doctor at the University did listen to her lungs and her "wheezing" isn't from there...it must just be nasal congestion. This is a bit of a relief. After the appointment we took her to the Geology Department to be introduced to everyone there. Jane (our departments office manager) just loved her...within minutes she offerred baby sitting services (that makes two individuals already vying for that position). Then we introduced her to one of my collegues Dr. Brian Pratt. We had a nice long conversation with him in the staff lounge...this allowed Dinara to run around while we talked. He was smittened too. While visiting in the lounge Dinara took a spill and need Mommy to comfort her. While being comforted she passed out cold. So we put her in the stroller and she managed to remain sleeping. We decided to take a break and have some Timmy's...we had donuts and coffee. It really is the simple pleasures you miss when you travel. We then ran into a couple of students (Fina, and Jenn) and visited a little longer outside the Tim Hortons. We finished our University visit by talking with the Cuggy's (the new parents of Nephertiti). They also told us how cute she is. We love showing off our precious little one. I can't believe how much she has added to our lives already. After the University it was off home to have some lunch. During the car trip I looked over and she was squirming and grunting...all the parents out there know what this means...yep she took a poo. So we were rushing home to make sure we could change her promptly. Nobody wants to stay sitting in that type of mess.

After lunch we were all downstairs playing. Dinara was playing with her peeka blocks and decided to walk with two of them in her hands. Well that was a big mistake...she took a spill and smacked her face into one of them. This particular block had some moving parts and it bit her. She now has a cut on her nose...boy did she not like this. Her parents didn't like it too much either. I didn't freak out too much though. I just got a kleenex and dabbed the blood up. Daddy doesn't like blood too much but did a good job not panicing. I then put a little vaseline on it and all was good. She went back to playing but the two blocks she was holding are being punished and are up on a shelf right now.

Not much else to say. Our friends Fina and Jordan visited last night and Aunty Fina is just in love with Dinara...and I think it is mutual. Dinara loves to play with her and even walks towards her when Aunty says her name. Dinara also tried a new food last night...Vietnamese Cashew Chicken without the Cashews. She loved it!! I think this might be her all time favorite right now.

Here are some more pics for you all. We will definitely be keeping up the blog so no more worries from our friends around the world.


Close up of our little sweetie.


Mommy I'm just soooooo cute.


Watch out Mommy I'm hungry enough to eat you.


Close up of Dinara' BOO BOO. It looks worse then it is. It actually is smaller now...I wonder if she is realted to Wolverine.


This is a pic for Grandma. This is a toy that both my sister and I played with. Dinara loves to play with it. I mounted it in her play pen.

Well bye for today. Dinara is fussing and needs to be put down for her nap. Hope you are still enjoying the posts.

Spider Senses Are Tingling

Hello all. I'm sure the number of people reading this has diminished now that we are home but here is an entry nonetheless. Dinara is doing swimmingly...other then the not wanting to sleep during her nap times. She sleeps solidly at night but it seems to be a battle to get her to nap. We think she is teething (very drooly, and always putting things in her mouth) so we gave her a small dose of gripe water (alcohol free) and it seems to be working. I put her in her crib at 2:26pm and she didn't scream at all. She is still out at 2:45pm...this is a good sign. We were so worried that something else was wrong. Oh well...new parent syndrome at its finest. We are taking her to the doctor (at the Student Health Center on Campus) on Friday to get an overall look over. She has had a wheeze since we met her in March so we think this should be looked at. I can't believe we have only known our girl for just over two months...and only been full-time parents for just over three weeks.

On a food note...she likes everything (except that chicken schnitzel in Moscow). She had pork tenderloin and roasted red pepper, mushroom and basil pasta (thanks again Trevor for teaching me how to make this). This dish had quite a bit of garlic, which I thought might be a problem...but it wasn't. She just kept making good noises while we were feeding her. It is amazing what liitle ones will eat. We have had tofu as well and she just gobbled it up. I am so happy she isn't a fussy eater (yet that is). We are hoping that if we show her now how good different foods are she might continue to eat a variety while in toddlerhood. Today was the first day we went to Tante Maria's for breakfast (a local favorite of ours) and the waitress (Elsa) just cooed over Dinara for the whole meal. She was so happy for us...she was telling all her favorite clients about our trip. She had wondered why we hadn't been in for breakfast recently.

Yesterday we took Dunkelzahn to the vet...he had a bump on his mouth and got to introduce all the vet hospital to our little girl. They were all entranced (or hypnotized, which ever you prefer). They just were amazed that this little girl wasn't even crawling when we met her but was walking around the clinic. Dinara had a great time there as she got to pet a kitty for an extended period of time...Dunkelzahn doesn't really let her do this. He is adjusting to her but is still a bit wary. However, last night she woke up with a very wet diaper so she was crying very loudly, and in comes Dunkelzahn and he starts meowing very loudly right along with her. He used to do this when Nephertiti was upset and meowing (when he still like her). I think he may be wary of her but this shows he is protective of her. He knows that she is another one of his humans...just a loud, excitable one (well just like Daddy I guess).

Well to the title of this post. Andrew and I were at Superstore earlier this week grocery shopping (one of the only places we can get organic veggies at in Sasktaoon) and we decided to go look in the baby clothes section for some pants for Dinara. We had an abundance of pink trousers but not much else. We were looking for jeans...and didn't find it. Well back to the point...we were looking in the boys section and Andrew squeels. I look at him and he has found a set of footed pj's that have a baby spiderman (complete with pacifier) on the front and what they call baby marvel on the back (baby spiderman, thor and captain america). It is very cute. I told him to put in the basket of the cart immediately. I will post pics of her in this. I love being back home! I can shop at a grocery store and not have to try and guess what things are. I can read everything here and people speak English. I didn't realize how much I missed understanding what people say.

Not much else has happened. Dinara can take up to 20 steps on her own now...I think she will be a competent walker by July. We have begun showing her how to feed herself with a spoon. We use things that won't be messy to show her...banana right now seems to be working well. We are going to do this slow. I have to keep reminding myself that we have only been home for 6 days and that I have lots of time to teach her to feed herself, talk and use the potty. We want to get her back on the potty as this was the main method they used at the baby house. We thought we would give her some time though to get used to the house. A couple of days ago Andrew looks at me and says "I think she knows she is staying with us now, and not going back to the baby house". I totally agree. She is such a wonder and we are very, very lucky to be her forever family.

Well enough mushy stuff...here are some pictures.


Daddy feeding Dinara.


Dinara taking a drink. It is hard to believe that 2 weeks ago she didn't know how to take a drink by herself.


Dinara feeding herself banana on her special spoon. It has a deeper reservoir.


Dinara warming up in front of the fire while watching Baby Einstein. Note Dunkelzahn is close by.


Spidergirl, Spidergirl does whatever a spider can. Spins a web any size, catches theives just flies...Look out! Here comes the Spidergirl.



Happy Spidergirl. Giggles aplenty.


Bathtime!


"Hey Daddy I'm not awake yet...put the camera away". Dinara in her play pen.

Well I hope that is good for the few of you still reading this. Feel free to still put comments up...we do still read them. For you all out of Canada I hope this helps keep you in the loop. I will try my best to keep posting. Talk soon.

Parenting With Jetlag

Hi guys. I know some of you are still reading the blog so I am doing my best to update it. Things are going well here. We are doing our best to get our sleeping schedules on track. Dinara had some sleeping issues yesterday...she missed her morning nap and had a longer afternoon nap. She fell asleep for the night on time though but got up at 5 am. She is napping right now as she got up way too early. Andrew is also napping. He isn't doing as well with his jetlag. I hope he gets the sleep he needs.

Well Dinara is waking up right now so I will have to keep the post short. She is changed now and playing with some toys. She has found a new TV series that she likes to watch...Fraggle Rock. Here are some pictures we have taken since coming home.


Dinara on the plane from Moscow to Frankfurt.




Dinara playing at home with a laundry basket.


Dinara the warrior princess. Not really related to the pic but funny none the less.


Dinara's first crash using her walker...a gift from the Cuggy's which with all the other toys they gave us is going over very well.


Dinara using the walker properly.


Dinara in her first fort. Andrew is having a great time building all sorts of things for his little girl.


Dinara looking up at her kitty cat. She so loves her little Dunkelzahn (who is almost her size really). Lots of fun with her cat.

I can't remember if I told you about her and Dunkelzahn. He approaches her when she is quiet and still but soon after she gets so excited that she charges him. Not really what our tame little cat likes. He is getting more tolerant of her so there is hope that one day he will be ok with her. It looks good. We try and give him lots of attention too...so their is no jealousy issues. Well enough for today. I hope you like the pics.

Home Sweet Home

Well after the longest day in history we are finally home. Dinara is doing spectacular and has even had her first visitor. We invited our friend Fina to join us on a shopping trip and to continue visiting with us this afternoon. It was wonderful to have another grown up besides my loving husband to talk to (I'm sure he feels the same way). We do love each other but after 8 weeks of having only the two of us to talk to (at least in English) it was a nice change. Fina has offered baby sitting services already so we might even be able to go out periodically. I don't think we will be taking her up on it anytime soon but it is an extremely nice offer. We also web conference with my parents today. They got to see their little grandaughter in all her glory. She was blowing kisses and giving raspberries to them over the internet. They also got to see her walking around and playing.

On another note...technology hates us today. We found out that our Xbox is indeed damaged. Every time you put a disk into the machine an error message stating "unreadable disc" is displayed. Crappity crap crap is all I have to say. We are going to go pick up a new one tomorrow and this time I am getting the extended warranty. After this our phones somehow went hay wire. We couldn't dial out nor receive incoming calls. This has remedied itself now and calls are coming in again. It was totally weird. Our DVD player in the car had an issue but at least that one could be easily solved. We just are in a technological funk today. Oh well.

Not much else to report. We are doing well with our jet lag. Little Dinara is such a trooper. She slept from 7pm to 6:30am this moring, had a short nap from 8:15 to 9:00am and another longer nap from 3 to 5pm. She didn't want to wake up from the evening nap though. She will be put down again hopefully at 8:30pm but we are willing to put her down earlier if need be. Andrew had a nap from 8:15 to 9:45am (he woke up at 4am this morning) and I haven't napped yet (I got up at 6:30am). I'm doing well but my eating is a little off...so is Andrew's. That's all for tonight. I just wanted to tell you all that we got home just fine. We do plan on keeping up the posts but may not be able to post each night.

Great to be back in English speaking civilization. Thanks for all the comments while we were gone. When we were particularily home sick it made us happy to read all your encouraging comments. Thanks a million again.

Oh, and Go Senators!!!

Toronto, Toronto, Toronto. Let Me Count The Ways I Love Thee...One.

Hello there! We are in Canada and all of Dinara's paperwork went great. It took us 5 minutes to go through Canadian Immigration. We were very surprised by that...and the same went for customs. Everyone just kept saying how cute and well behaved she is. She definitely has a Charisma of 18 (this just means people fall for her easily).

Well we had some interesting things occur on our flights. All the flights went great...no delays, the seats were comfy and the food was actually very good. I was so surprised. Our first flight was at 7 am (Moscow time) and this meant our day started at 4 am...I didn't know people woke up at that time (come home from the bar yes but wake up no). We all got up, got dressed and made our way downstairs to wait for our driver. This went off without a hitch. We then went to the airport and got checked in. I had to beg for bulkhead seats from Lufthansa...not for their flight but for the Air Canada flight from Frankfurt to Toronto. We did end up getting them...Yeah!!! The first flight was great. We had a whole row of seats to ourselves and the seats were comfy (Andrew's butt didn't fall asleep this time). During this flight Andrew went to change Dinara and had a wee mishap. He took of the diaper and she started a realy big pee. This meant her clothes were soaked and so was the change table in the bathroom. It was hilarious! He comes out of the bathroom with a Dinara in just a diaper with a frantic look in his eye.

We then landed in Frankfurt and were bused from the tarmac. It was very foggy and this is what they were doing to lower the plane traffic. This was fine. We walked into the airport found our gate and went to check in. It was a good thing that we booked the bulkhead ahead of time...there was over 6 babies on this flight. All of them behaved very well. Oh! I forgot Dinara was given a stuffed airplane toy from the attendants on the Lufthansa flight. It is cute and soft and Mommy has named in Molly. I don't know why but the name just fits. The flight from Frankfurt to Toronto was also uneventful. It was long and baby and parents are really, really, really exhausted. Our bodies just don't know what to do.

We had no problems in Toronto and had a celebrity sighting...Sean Majumdar (spelling not so good). He is the comic from this hour has 22 minutes that pretends he is very Indian (as in from India). We got him to sign a 10 rubles bill from Russia and he posed for 2 pictures with Dinara. It was so nice. He is a great guy! He just kept saying how happy he was for us. We remember him from YTV way back. Well that's all for now. We are going to be in Saskatoon in 4 hours!!!! YEAH FOR CANADA!!! Call us tonight or tomorrow if you want to talk at us. We will try and get Dinara to say something over the phone to you.

She's Got A Ticket to Ride And She Does Care (3rd Post in 24hrs)

Hello, hello, hello. I'm sure you all must be sick of reading our blogs for today. It is a little of happiness that we are in civilization and a little killing time until we get to go to sleep. Well the little bug is asleep right now giving Mommy time to photocopy all our documents (in case people ask to see them and we are pressed for time...I can just say keep them) and add another post complete with more pictures.

Update...Dinara loves the water!!! It is hard to believe that two weeks ago this little girl was terrified to have a bath with her Mommy. Now we have taken her to her first swimming pool. She loved it!! She was smiling and laughing and even squeeling at times. One of the other guests using the pool was amazed that this was her first time in a swimming pool. Everyone who meets our little one is surprised by how happy and well behaved she is...we are truly blessed with her. We are so very, very, very happy to be parents. Lunch today was not as big a success as breakfast. We ordered her the childs chicken schnitzel and she didn't like it. It was quite a shock. We don't think she didn't like the taste...more that she had to chew so much. Oh well. Daddy gave over some of his chicken breast sandwich and Mommy gave some marinated chicken from her pita. We are soooo enjoying eating fresh fruit and veg again. Technically we weren't suppose to eat this until home but we couldn't wait. We both haven't been ill either (knock on wood).

Our coordinators here in Moscow were fabulous. We realized early this morning that we were running short on diapers...well this afternoon we were brought some by the lawyer for the adoption people. She is so very nice. She loves Dinara. She keeps telling us how beautiful she is...we add that she is smart too (don't want a Princess complex for our girl). Not much else has really happened in the last 6 hours. We walked around the country club (pictures will be forthcoming) and enjoyed some of the sights. Oh! We found a children's play area and Dinara had fun on the teeter totter, the slide and a swing (with Mommy holding her). It is so beautiful here. We are glad that this is the last place we have to stay away from home for a while. I can't wait to have her sleep in a crib with a proper mattress and for us to sleep in our own bed. Only one more sleep...well not including the sleeping (if any) on the planes.

Pictures...

This is the outside of our hotel.


This is the snack bar restaurant in the sport complex...aka the building that has the pool, indoor basketball courts, indoor soccor field, etc...


Andrew pushing Dinara in the stroller down one of the many nature paths on site.


The children's playground we came across on our walk this afternoon.


Daddy teetering Dinara today. She loved this!


Dinara being teetered.


Dinara at the base of the slide. Her first time on one.


Wheeeeeee!!!


Whoa...so that's what gravity feels like. What is my hair doing?


This is ok but I think Mommy is having a better time then Dinara.


Daddy and Dinara on a pretty little bridge. Yes Mommy is going a little camera happy but oh well.

Here's everyone's favorite little girl...DINARA

From Russia With Love...aka Second Post from Moscow

Hello again weblog readers...aka our friends and family in Canada (and Germany, the US, etc.) only one more sleep until we board a plane for home!! I did promise to have a second post and here it is. This morning we went downstairs to begin our day at 7 am (this is when breakfast is served in the hotel dining room) and when we looked outside it was raining. A little bit of a damper to what we had planned to do today but we can adapt. We are weblogging right now and then we are going to take Dinara for a swim. She really likes to splash around in the tub now and finally we were in a place that had a shower curtain. I was able to maintain the mess this way. The water here is hard water just like at home. My hair has calmed down a bit now (I am going to post a pic of how curly it got in Kazakhstan) and I have to wear pony tails (not because of the water but the fact that my daughter likes to grab on and pull with all her strength). At breakfast this morning our little girl ate and ate and ate some more. She had scrambled eggs, smoked ham, brie cheese (a current favorite), french toast with maple syrup, pinapple, pear, cantaloupe, croissant, and a small tasting of nutella...all washed down with some watered down apple juice. So suffice it to say eating is definitely not a problem.

We are going to be talking to our conseirge about getting some more diapers and baby wipes. I have enough for the plane ride right now but none for today then. Obviously this isn't going to work. We will likely have to pay through the nose but we don't care at this point. We don't have a driver today so we can't go shopping ourselves...and we really don't want to be in a car again for long periods of time.

Well enough talking how about some pictures...we are posting in the lobby where my connection to the internet is much stronger. Boy do I love the internet connection here...in Kazakhstan it took 2 minutes or more to load a single photo, here it is taking less then 20 seconds. I love civilization.


This is Dinara pretending to drink out of the UofS mug I brought with me. I intended to give this as a gift to someone but ended up using it as mugs were hard to come by. This photo was taken in the Almaty apartment.


This is curly sue herself...not one of my better pics but Andrew liked it. This is how curly my hair got and stayed...this isn't freshly washed. Boy do I not miss the water in Kazakhstan...a little too greasy feeling and salty.


This is Dinara watching her favorite DVDs...Baby Einstein. This also is a good shot of our living room in Almaty.


Dinara crawling and looking up. My descriptions are deteriorating. I just like her picture here.


One of the first pictures I took in Moscow. The large buliding in the distance surrounded by the wall is the Kremlin. This is found behind the Red Square.


This is the museum of the revolution. It was built in the 1200's. Moscow is a beautiful city!


This is one of the famous buildings in Red Square...St. Basil's Cathedral. It is the image most used when reporters are reporting from Moscow. When we initially went to the Red Square it was closed...Ms. Rice again. However, after lunch it was open...Yippee!!!


This is an old mall just outside Red Square. I don't remember its name but it is very beautiful (and the stuff here is very expensive).


This is Lenin's tomb...the one that was closed to the public (but I'm not mad about that or anything). Just a little miffed is all.


This is the Red Square...thought I needed a photo of it as I have been using it as a reference.


This is the lobby of our hotel. Not a great picture but the only one I have right now. I'll try and get a better one later.


This is the bar area off the main lobby...consequently where I am sitting to do my post right now.


This is the main dining room where we eat our breakfast. Moscow is much pricier then Kazakhstan but right now we are enjoying the quality of food, accomodations, etc. We would recommend this hotel to anyone planning on travelling to Moscow. It is the Meridien Moscow Country Club...it also is one of the best golf courses in the world to you golfers out there.


This is what our breakfast buffet looks like. It has quite an amazing selection of food.

Now some pics of the one I know you all want to see...



Half way around the world and I still get to broadcast good stuff about the UofS.

Well that's enough for right now. I might post later depending on how many new photos we take during the day. Miss you all but will see many of you in the coming week.