She took her first steps ON HER OWN. Yesterday afternoon, the three of us were playing in the hotel room. In the room, there is a coffee table that we have pushed to the far wall away from the couch. Dinara was playing with some blocks at the table when she turned around for attention. As I (daddy) called her, she gave a grin and started off towards me. Normally she falls after the first step and crawls the rest but this time all three steps upright to daddy's arms with us watchin in amazement. This is great progress when you think that when we first played together she would barely crawl, prefering to scooch along.
She also gave Nadine a zerbert on her cheek this morning. It seemed to be a fluke as she could not do it again.
Last night, we brought Dinara down for dinner and she attacked demolished her baby food and cheese so fast we were amazed. She then settled in the stroller until our food came, then once again she had some of our food. Breakfast today was similar...in the room she ate her bowl of rice cereal mixed with yogurt and she wanted more. We gave her another half container of yogurt before she decided to stopp. As a family we went down to the breakfast buffet and Nadine hade to feed her more food...cheese, banana and bread. Nadine thinks that it is a growth spurt...I thank that she is just building muscle faster that she has before.
She has totally charmed the staff at the hotel (with that high charisma stat) They will stop and say hi to her by name and some even stop to play with her feet, making the cute noises reserved for babies. Most of this attention makes Dinara shy but sometime she responds with cute noises and RASBERRIES. (Yes we have already taught her that). Bye for now.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Friday, May 4, 2007
Day Two of Being a Family and Loving It!
Hi there everyone. Well today has been another great day. Our little girl is learning that when she sleeps we will indeed be there when she wakes up. This has made naptime and bedtime a little easier. We now can put her down and she will play and talk to herself until she falls asleep. She does still cry a little but not nearly as much or as hard as she did the first night. I have also gotten a really good night sleep. We put her down at 8:30pm and she didn't wake up until 6:30 am (she however didn't cry and was playing so I got to sleep until 7 am). Things are going well but we are terribly home sick. We really want to be back in Canada. It is only 13 days until we leave Moscow and we are really counting them down. Not much else to report really. She is loving and happy. She smiles and giggles all the time now. She is a really good eater. Oh just remembered...I'm suppose to tell you from Andrew that she as an 18 Charisma and a +2 circumstance modifier as a level one human (for the geeks out there). Well enough blabbing...oh keep up the comments we love them (they really are our only connection to civilization)...on with the pictures.
This is us in the baby house director's office. Our first real family photo...we have a couple before but now it is all legal.
Here is our little Dinara after her first shower. She really didn't like the shower at all. Mommy was even in the bath with her (I hope that wasn't too graphic for some of you) and boy did she yell. I think she might like a bathtub better but all we have is a shower stall. She smelled and felt a tonne better after this though. We were told not too clean her on the first day...too much change and she might not adapt too well. Now she smells and looks great. We dressed her and put a blanket and towel on her to keep her warm. The towel on the head is all Daddy's doing...for the pic.
Here is a close up of Dinara playing on the hotel room floor. This was taken with the camcorder instead of my digital camera. The camera isn't working properly anymore. It keeps the lens open (even with the power off) and doesn't focus properly. I think it needs a cleaning at the least. If it is kapoot oh well...I have been using it in the field and on holiday since 2004. Time for a new one I guess...SLR here I come.
Look at the label on the apple juice...it is dada juice. Thought it was fitting for Andrew to have his picture taken with it.
Ending on a silly note. This was taken during our last visit at the baby house. I just thought she looked soooo cute I would include it in this post.
Well good bye for now. I need to get some groceries and order a couple of burgers to go (with no Russian skills). Missing you all and we can't wait to introduce you to our daughter. We were thinking of multiple BBQ's to accomplish this...one in Saskatoon, one in Edmonton and one in Nanoose Bay. What do you think? We don't know when of course but we will try.
This is us in the baby house director's office. Our first real family photo...we have a couple before but now it is all legal.
Here is our little Dinara after her first shower. She really didn't like the shower at all. Mommy was even in the bath with her (I hope that wasn't too graphic for some of you) and boy did she yell. I think she might like a bathtub better but all we have is a shower stall. She smelled and felt a tonne better after this though. We were told not too clean her on the first day...too much change and she might not adapt too well. Now she smells and looks great. We dressed her and put a blanket and towel on her to keep her warm. The towel on the head is all Daddy's doing...for the pic.
Here is a close up of Dinara playing on the hotel room floor. This was taken with the camcorder instead of my digital camera. The camera isn't working properly anymore. It keeps the lens open (even with the power off) and doesn't focus properly. I think it needs a cleaning at the least. If it is kapoot oh well...I have been using it in the field and on holiday since 2004. Time for a new one I guess...SLR here I come.
Look at the label on the apple juice...it is dada juice. Thought it was fitting for Andrew to have his picture taken with it.
Ending on a silly note. This was taken during our last visit at the baby house. I just thought she looked soooo cute I would include it in this post.
Well good bye for now. I need to get some groceries and order a couple of burgers to go (with no Russian skills). Missing you all and we can't wait to introduce you to our daughter. We were thinking of multiple BBQ's to accomplish this...one in Saskatoon, one in Edmonton and one in Nanoose Bay. What do you think? We don't know when of course but we will try.
First Day (and Night) as Parents
Andrew at the wheel today. Nadine and Dinara are sleeping at the Hotel. Yesterday was busy. Finally at three pm we went to the dept of vital records and got the new birth certificate and letter of adoption. With Nadia's (our coordinator) help this took about half an hour. Then on to the baby house for the last time. We went in with gifts from Canada for the Director, the doctors and caregivers, a hockey bag of clothes and blankets that was 32kilo/70lbs, 30m of curtains and an emergency fund of 500$ and left as happy parents with a happy/stunned Dinara dresseed in a fully matching Minnie Mouse outfit. The car ride was scary at first...the only time that she was in a car has been to and from the hospital. However, with mom holding her she calmed quickly. At the Hotel, we got to feed her a snack...yougurt. Much to our surprise, this was not a messy moment,even with me feeding her. After some play and watching the songs of Marry Poppins, dinner time also went smoothly with the new mommy and daddy taking turns feeding Dinara so the other could eat. After dinner, the last playtime, walking ut and down the hotel hall (with help) and then back to watching all of Mary Poppins. Sleep time (9pm) was not as easy as feeding. She wanted so much to keep playing and keep seeing us that she cried at being put down in the crib. After about a dozen times of picking her up for soothing then putting her back in the crib, she finally suckled her thumb to sleep, too bad mommy didn't. Nadine woke herself everytime Dinara moved or made noise. I slept fine. Dinara only cried once in the night, at about 1am but Nadine was there so quickly that I did not really wake. It was after Dinara returned to sleep that Nadine finally slept.
Today has been the same ease as yesterday with feeding and playtime being easy. At naptime both mommy and Daughter slept for almost 2hrs. I got to get paperwork and plane tickets. On the 8th, we are leaving to Hotel in Kyzylorda and moving to an appartment in Almaty for about a week. Nadine is really wanting to cook and breaking up the flight to Moscow is a good idea.
Now, some info on our girl: She is 15 months old, born on Jan 17th 2006. She was born about 2 and 1/2 months premature. She is a bit more then 9.2kilo/20lbs. She lost weight at the hospotal but has been putting it back on well.
I am out of time. We will try and post again tommorow (with more photo's) but don't panic if we miss.
TTFN
Today has been the same ease as yesterday with feeding and playtime being easy. At naptime both mommy and Daughter slept for almost 2hrs. I got to get paperwork and plane tickets. On the 8th, we are leaving to Hotel in Kyzylorda and moving to an appartment in Almaty for about a week. Nadine is really wanting to cook and breaking up the flight to Moscow is a good idea.
Now, some info on our girl: She is 15 months old, born on Jan 17th 2006. She was born about 2 and 1/2 months premature. She is a bit more then 9.2kilo/20lbs. She lost weight at the hospotal but has been putting it back on well.
I am out of time. We will try and post again tommorow (with more photo's) but don't panic if we miss.
TTFN
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Surprise Pictures!!
Hi there everyone. Well Andrew and I decided to post our girl's pictures a day early. We thought about how hard it was going to be to post tomorrow and court is closed now so no objections can be put forward. So as of 3pm tomorrow Andrew and I are full-time parents. We're a little nervous but are very, very excited. Our coordinator has come back now and will be running around tomorrow (sometimes with us) to get the paperwork finished. Goody goody! Well enough about this to the good stuff...
Here is our precious little Dinara. We thought this would be a great picture to start with. We got a very big belly laugh from her on this day. It is great you can see her molars.
Another good laugh. This one is during the many times we played "1, 2, 3, Up". She loved it!
Mommy and Dinara sharing a cuddle and a kiss. Cute eh?
Daddy and Dinara sharing a snack. Silly Daddy! This is the one Andrew picked to post first of him and his girl. It is soooo him (smile).
Daddy did want his girl to learn how to share but not from her mouth. Slightly gross but funny picture to include. She loves her animal cookies!
Our last one for today. Our little Dinarichika has the most amazing eyes. They are so brown they are almost black and she has very long eyelashes. I love close up pictures. She also only allows me to take close ups when she is trying to grab at the camera. Dangerous but worth it.
Well that is all for today. Our visits today went very well and she even whimpered when Andrew left the room to use the potty himself. I think we will get along just fine for the next 15 days here and forever back in Canada. We will try and post something tomorrow but if we don't it isn't that something bad has happened...it will be because something good happened and we can't get away to post. We will definitely post the next day however. I hope things are going well in Saskatoon (and the other regions following the post) and that exams went well for all my UofS friends. We have to do some last minute shopping so TTFN. Gotcha Day in one more sleep!!!
Here is our precious little Dinara. We thought this would be a great picture to start with. We got a very big belly laugh from her on this day. It is great you can see her molars.
Another good laugh. This one is during the many times we played "1, 2, 3, Up". She loved it!
Mommy and Dinara sharing a cuddle and a kiss. Cute eh?
Daddy and Dinara sharing a snack. Silly Daddy! This is the one Andrew picked to post first of him and his girl. It is soooo him (smile).
Daddy did want his girl to learn how to share but not from her mouth. Slightly gross but funny picture to include. She loves her animal cookies!
Our last one for today. Our little Dinarichika has the most amazing eyes. They are so brown they are almost black and she has very long eyelashes. I love close up pictures. She also only allows me to take close ups when she is trying to grab at the camera. Dangerous but worth it.
Well that is all for today. Our visits today went very well and she even whimpered when Andrew left the room to use the potty himself. I think we will get along just fine for the next 15 days here and forever back in Canada. We will try and post something tomorrow but if we don't it isn't that something bad has happened...it will be because something good happened and we can't get away to post. We will definitely post the next day however. I hope things are going well in Saskatoon (and the other regions following the post) and that exams went well for all my UofS friends. We have to do some last minute shopping so TTFN. Gotcha Day in one more sleep!!!
Monday, April 30, 2007
The Cuddle Monster Returns...And 2 More Sleeps Until Gotcha Day
Hi there folks. Today was another good day (so far anyway...I am posting after our morning visit). Happy Friendship Day from Kazakhstan! Today is a festival celebrating friendship. These people know how to celebrate the important stuff. Our visit went good this morning...she played for about half an hour and then wanted to be held. We were definitely good with this. After being held for about 15 minutes she fell asleep in my arms. Oh by the way we are in the new room today so no ants anywhere. Whew! She is definitely bonded with us...when the caregiver came down the stairs with her she smiled a huge smile when she saw me. It melted my heart a little bit. She also did not want to be returned today...she made a face like she was going to cry. It is a good thing she didn't or Mommy would have been crying too. She still loves playing with the diaper bag. She pulls everything out, then starts putting it all away and starts the process over again. It is quite cute to watch. She also knows how to share very well. If I or Daddy puts his hand out and says "Can I have or Ta or Give" she normally will hand what she has over. Now this doesn't happen all the time but I'd say about 70% of the time...sometimes even with cookies.
We plan to eat again at the Turkish place we have been going to. This is the place we get our hamburgers at. They have good food for very low prices. Two hamburgers and fries cost about 500 tenge (~$4.50 US)and there is quite a lot of cheese on these burgers (lots of ketchup and mayo too). They also serve good shashleek (kabobs) and pizza. The pizza isn't as good as the pizzeria here but it is simple and cheap. We plan on walking to a part of town today that has water fountains on for the festival. We will take some pics and post them tomorrow. Well that's all for now. Keep the good thoughts coming...miss you all.
We plan to eat again at the Turkish place we have been going to. This is the place we get our hamburgers at. They have good food for very low prices. Two hamburgers and fries cost about 500 tenge (~$4.50 US)and there is quite a lot of cheese on these burgers (lots of ketchup and mayo too). They also serve good shashleek (kabobs) and pizza. The pizza isn't as good as the pizzeria here but it is simple and cheap. We plan on walking to a part of town today that has water fountains on for the festival. We will take some pics and post them tomorrow. Well that's all for now. Keep the good thoughts coming...miss you all.
Who's the Mama?
First off...the transportation to the babyhouse wasn't an issue. The administrator of the hotel we are staying at called us a taxi and told the company to both drop us off and pick us up from the baby house. It cost us 200 tenge each way (<$2 US) and was a breeze. Today was another great day with our little girl. The building we are visiting in has a small ant infestation so we are being extra careful where we play with Dinara. So far we have seen them in a building attached to our room but not in our room at all. Whew! We have begun to bring all the toys and stroller back to the hotel now. We decided it wasn't worth the risk of finding ants all over the stroller and toys. We have also informed the director about the problem and have been given a new room to visit Dinara in for the remaining 4 visit (2 days). She was so good today. We were a little worried about what she would do as we didn't bring the stroller back with us... she just played the whole time and didn't sleep at all. Then this afternoon we signed some paperwork with our old translator Yulia (who still hasn't had her baby yet) and then went and visited for an hour with Dinara. We didn't want to make it any longer then that as we were an hour late for our visit (5 pm) and they eat at 6 pm. That would have been one cranky girl not to get her food at 6 pm.
A little story to tell you about how heart wrenching these kids here can be on poor sappy Canadian. Yesterday morning I was returning Dinara to her dwelling with our new translator when I saw a small group of children outside. They saw me too and one of them (a very cute girl with pigtails) calls out to Dinara saying in English "is that you moma". Now this girl is probably no older then 3 and her English was good enough that the translator and I were speechless. After she said this Dinara held onto me tighter and cuddled into my neck/shoulders. This was answer enough for me. The other children seeing Andrew and I walking with Dinara were chanting "America"...I was trying to chant back "Canada" but to no avail. These kids are all so cute and many of them just walk up to you and ask "Moma?" It breaks my heart. I just keeping telling myself that their families are coming and they will all find homes. Now I know this isn't always the case as we have seen the large orphanage for children between 5 and 18...yes all those kids under one roof...but I am going to be optimistic.
Here are some pics for you to enjoy. We need to figure out how to tell our driver not to come and get us at the time we told him...Nadine said only and hour and Andrew said longer. Oh well! Andrew was right...it happens once and a while. Bye for now. Missing you all. Soon pics of Dinara will be up. Again just wait until Thursday.
These are photos of the street leading up to and one of the entry points for the large bazaar we go to. I didn't take photos within the bazaar because it would be a little dangerous in my opinion. Not only for the fact I would be screaming "look at me I'm a tourist" but also they just push and shove their way through the people. No "excuse me" or "sorry" as they go by. A bit different from in Canada where if someone bumps into you we say "sorry".
This is a picture of the Baby House. Coincidentally this is also the building that Dinara is dwelling in right now. If you look behind the big tree and the gate you can just make out the mural that I posted pics of in a previous weblog.
This is our driver's car. It is a little on the small side but hasn't failed us yet. Our driver's name is Rivel and he is very funny. He speaks both Russian and Kazak (common here) and very, very little English. Andrew is having a good time learning phrases from him. We have gotten pretty good at telling him when and where to pick us up.
These are photos of one of the many water cannals that run through Kyzylorda city. This one is across the street from the Baby House. These are periodically (in the spring and summer) filled with river water (not cleaned). I have it on good authority that many children play in these when it gets hot out...this is not always good as many of them dive head first into them. Thank goodness we haven't had to see this yet. Darwinism at work I guess.
This is the road that we take into the Baby House street. It is a one way road...in the opposite direction that we enter it but it has been blockaded on the other end so no worries. However, everyday both in the am and pm when we take it we keep an eye out for any policia. If we see one we don't take this route...I don't think Rivel wants any problems with the coppers here.
A little story to tell you about how heart wrenching these kids here can be on poor sappy Canadian. Yesterday morning I was returning Dinara to her dwelling with our new translator when I saw a small group of children outside. They saw me too and one of them (a very cute girl with pigtails) calls out to Dinara saying in English "is that you moma". Now this girl is probably no older then 3 and her English was good enough that the translator and I were speechless. After she said this Dinara held onto me tighter and cuddled into my neck/shoulders. This was answer enough for me. The other children seeing Andrew and I walking with Dinara were chanting "America"...I was trying to chant back "Canada" but to no avail. These kids are all so cute and many of them just walk up to you and ask "Moma?" It breaks my heart. I just keeping telling myself that their families are coming and they will all find homes. Now I know this isn't always the case as we have seen the large orphanage for children between 5 and 18...yes all those kids under one roof...but I am going to be optimistic.
Here are some pics for you to enjoy. We need to figure out how to tell our driver not to come and get us at the time we told him...Nadine said only and hour and Andrew said longer. Oh well! Andrew was right...it happens once and a while. Bye for now. Missing you all. Soon pics of Dinara will be up. Again just wait until Thursday.
These are photos of the street leading up to and one of the entry points for the large bazaar we go to. I didn't take photos within the bazaar because it would be a little dangerous in my opinion. Not only for the fact I would be screaming "look at me I'm a tourist" but also they just push and shove their way through the people. No "excuse me" or "sorry" as they go by. A bit different from in Canada where if someone bumps into you we say "sorry".
This is a picture of the Baby House. Coincidentally this is also the building that Dinara is dwelling in right now. If you look behind the big tree and the gate you can just make out the mural that I posted pics of in a previous weblog.
This is our driver's car. It is a little on the small side but hasn't failed us yet. Our driver's name is Rivel and he is very funny. He speaks both Russian and Kazak (common here) and very, very little English. Andrew is having a good time learning phrases from him. We have gotten pretty good at telling him when and where to pick us up.
These are photos of one of the many water cannals that run through Kyzylorda city. This one is across the street from the Baby House. These are periodically (in the spring and summer) filled with river water (not cleaned). I have it on good authority that many children play in these when it gets hot out...this is not always good as many of them dive head first into them. Thank goodness we haven't had to see this yet. Darwinism at work I guess.
This is the road that we take into the Baby House street. It is a one way road...in the opposite direction that we enter it but it has been blockaded on the other end so no worries. However, everyday both in the am and pm when we take it we keep an eye out for any policia. If we see one we don't take this route...I don't think Rivel wants any problems with the coppers here.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
4 More Sleeps Until Gotcha Day!!!
Hello everyone in Weblog world. I hope you all are doing as good as Andrew and I. We are getting more and more excited everyday now. We look forward to Thursday (as that is the Gotcha Day) and we can take our girl home with us. It is getting more and more difficult to leave her after our visits. She gets a worried look now when we are walking her back to the building in which she sleeps. Also, when we try and get her coat and hat on she struggles and cries...which does a lot of damage to Mommy's state of mind. I just keep counting down the visits until she is ours. Oh! Sorry about the lack of a post yesterday...we were shopping at the bazaar getting all the gifts for the folks back home and then in the afternoon we went out for supper again. So no worries from this part of the world...we are fine, Dinara is fine, everything is fine. We were just busy yesterday.
Our little girl is definitely a fan of music. She loves listening to it, dancing to it and sleeping to it. Doesn't matter if it is a fast or slow song, if it is loud or quiet she will listen to in contentedly. We have been playing the many volumes of Disney music we own at every visit. This way we have something that she has listened to while at the Baby House...it won't be such a harsh change when she gets to come home with us. Have I mentioned in the last few seconds how much we are looking forward to that? Thought so. Sorry. Getting back to talking about the little one...she just loves to play. She isn't as happy with the cuddles anymore and actually prefers to sleep in the stroller. She does like to be tickled and zerberts on her tummy, feet, and neck also go over well. Today I played "Kissy Face" with her (my parents will know what this is) and she laughed a lot. So another new game has won her over...not that it is hard. She is such a good natured child. We are really lucky that fate had her in mind for us. She is such a darling. I can't wait to introduce you all to her. Pictures on Thursday for sure. We are starting to pick them today...we have hundreds to pick from.
We don't think we will be going bowling after all...we would've like to go with our old translator. Our new translator is nice but just not as good with English as our last one. We are her first family that she has helped so we can cut her a little slack. We are hoping that our old translator is having her baby right now but we haven't heard any information on that front. So if any of you have time a good thought in her direction would be appreciated. We really couldn't have done any of this without our new friend (and old translator) Yulia. Well that's all for today. We need to get back to the hotel for lunch and try to figure out how we are getting to the Baby House this afternoon...our driver is hung over (he went to a b-day party yesterday) and wants to sleep today. As he really hasn't had a day off since we got here we are understanding. We'll tell you how are transportation issue goes tomorrow. Talk soon. Still missing you all.
Our little girl is definitely a fan of music. She loves listening to it, dancing to it and sleeping to it. Doesn't matter if it is a fast or slow song, if it is loud or quiet she will listen to in contentedly. We have been playing the many volumes of Disney music we own at every visit. This way we have something that she has listened to while at the Baby House...it won't be such a harsh change when she gets to come home with us. Have I mentioned in the last few seconds how much we are looking forward to that? Thought so. Sorry. Getting back to talking about the little one...she just loves to play. She isn't as happy with the cuddles anymore and actually prefers to sleep in the stroller. She does like to be tickled and zerberts on her tummy, feet, and neck also go over well. Today I played "Kissy Face" with her (my parents will know what this is) and she laughed a lot. So another new game has won her over...not that it is hard. She is such a good natured child. We are really lucky that fate had her in mind for us. She is such a darling. I can't wait to introduce you all to her. Pictures on Thursday for sure. We are starting to pick them today...we have hundreds to pick from.
We don't think we will be going bowling after all...we would've like to go with our old translator. Our new translator is nice but just not as good with English as our last one. We are her first family that she has helped so we can cut her a little slack. We are hoping that our old translator is having her baby right now but we haven't heard any information on that front. So if any of you have time a good thought in her direction would be appreciated. We really couldn't have done any of this without our new friend (and old translator) Yulia. Well that's all for today. We need to get back to the hotel for lunch and try to figure out how we are getting to the Baby House this afternoon...our driver is hung over (he went to a b-day party yesterday) and wants to sleep today. As he really hasn't had a day off since we got here we are understanding. We'll tell you how are transportation issue goes tomorrow. Talk soon. Still missing you all.
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