September 14, 2004

McCale turns 6 months today!

Hello everyone!
Well, we are heading into completing our first week. Each part of the adoption journey has been filled with major milestones, completion of our paperwork, getting government clearance, waiting for referrals and getting travel dates! Needless to say, travel dates and travelling pale in comparison to meeting the children. Tomorrow is another biggee for us. We will get to bring the children to the apartment with us.
Jeff has been running around like a mad hornet w/ the vacuum. For those of you who know him well, the mental image should bring you a good chuckle. We moved the couches, lifted carpets and used a bottle of Mr. Proper (kaz version of Mr. Clean) to sanitize everything. I boiled the silverware and wiped the kitchen down. The best part by far was making up the crib. It was nice to imagine a little Karleigh or McCale snuggled in there after a nice warm bath. So far we have one crib, and can make due with it as it's large enough. Jeff feels strongly that they each need their own crib, so we will see what tomorrow brings. Gulnara is working on this for us and has applied the appropriate amount of pressure on the land lord. We are very concerned about being a very polite Americans who don't make waves, if we don't get the second crib, Jeff and I may purchase a travel size crib. Either way, if this is the biggest issue we face we will consider the trip perfect.
Today we were able to dress and undress the children. McCale showed us his wild side by squirming like a sun of a gun, and making the cutest noises. Wish I could find the letters to make the sound for you - they must be on the Kazak keyboard. The children are dressed in about three layers of clothing. Jeff undressed McCale and put the clothing on we brought for him and I did the same with Karleigh. Emil took the appropriate pictures for the judge to see - again, squirmy baby, posing for photos, when that third hand pops out we will all be in good shape. The kids were adoreable in their new, soft clothes. We also tried on a variety of hats with the ensem', I must say Karleigh looked more adoreable than ever in her floppy little hat and McCale was simply dapper in his blue bonnet w/ visor and ear covers. We redressed them as slowly as possible as it was very clear that they loved being in diapers. Karleigh showed off her mobility, much more than we had seen before and McCale flipped back and forth from stomache to back like a little fishy out of water. When we redressed them, Jeff accidently forgot to put on the tank top from layer one of McCales outfit. Since we were told to take the kids outside to give them some air, we decided that we would just hide the tank top in our bag and bring it back tomorrow clean, with a "oops kind of confession". Not a minute after the children were brought back to the nursery, an aide came down and was looking for the tank top. First thing that came to mind....how in the heck did she get him undressed that fast?, then a slow red blush crept up my cheek as I sheepishly dug into our bag and pretended to be suprised and pulled it out. Not the graceful confession we hoped for, but it didnt seem to phase her and she left before the full blush could set in.
Our ride to and from the babyhouse was just as wonderful as day one. I hope Im not boring you with this, how about the short version today....100 stands with watermelon, potatoes and onion, 75 stands with tomatoes, 35 stands w/ bread, eggs, milk, motor oil, berries, and 10 stands with cuts off beef under blankets for sale. Ofcourse, there were 15 donkeys, 30 stray dogs, two with limping legs, one was a repeat seen yesterday, and only TWO stops for cattle and sheep shepards in the road. Ah, ho hum ride to Ecik. NEVER.
**Ann the watermelon does taste the same, if you can imagine, the melen we had was like the perfect one on a hot day.
This afternoon we took a visit to the Green Market, much to my pleasant suprise, it was not the market I had been thinking it would be. No cow/horse/sheep heads to be seen. It was a very large flea market under a pole building. The stands were divided by plastic flaps. Each vendor had about an 8X10 area for selling items. They maximized their selling space by hanging things on the wall clear up to the ceiling and sometimes on the ceiling, making it feel like small little caves if you entered. Emil told us that we should be careful of our wallets, and stick by him. We did as we were told. He also told us, NO pictures in the green market, so you will just have to imagine a popodopolous of foods like shishkebobs, breads, lamb sliced off poles into a gyro kind of sandwiches, all combining into a smokey bbq scent with an overture of baked bread. There were many shoe stores, with funky pointy toes and spikey heals that all the woman here wear. There were also alot of clothing and accessory vendors. It seemed the prices were good, but we kind of made a straight line to where the stroller venders were located. The first stop was made with Emil in front and Jeff and I behind him, grinning like a stupid tourist. The price was ok, but the strollers looked faded and the wheels were worn. Emil told us to go away, in a nice Emil kind of way. He said "stay back and let me go to other places and bargain." Being the go with the flow Americanskis that we are, we did. He came back and had made a deal with a vendor for two pretty good stollers, not the lowest, not the highest - $21 each. After doing this for us, mind you he is our driver, not interpreter, not personal shopper, he was concerned that one stroller had polka dots and the other had stars.....they didnt match. PLEASE! He is the sweetest man we have met, he is so considerate, kind and he loves the kids. We fully understand why other families have called him Uncle Emil.
After the green market we went to the Ramstore, we needed to pick up our photos. We shared a meal of half of a baked chicken, baked potatoe and a very nice tossed salad. The whole kit and kaboodle, including a large coke was $3.50. NICE! I think we will be doing that again. After our meal and a second coke I really had to "go", I dug out my little Russian book (thanks Kat) and looked for the word "bathroom" - found it, practised it, and walked up to a woman in a booth and said something like "qu vanitaski?" she just looked at me. How far off could I be?? Well come to find out - an entire line in the book, thats how far. I walked up to her, book open, looked her square in the face and said "good bye". Well, so much for my Russian feet being wet! Guess we stick to Prevet (hello), Paka (bye) and Spacebo (thank you). By the way, TOILET is what you say if you need to "go", keep that one under your hat. Trust me.
We then proceeded to the office where we ran into JULIE (IL) she was there with her husband to sign papers too! We will meet at her house on Friday at 5pm, we do plan on sharing a virtual vodka shot with our friends and family. So please, set your alarms for 4am, sit up, chug your vodka and go back to bed. Thanks, we appreciate your support.
Night all, gotta rest up, tomorrow we have kiddos for a full day!!
Colene
Thank you to all for your emails, we treasure them and will be saving them for the children when they get older. We appreciate your following along. This journal is to preserve as much as possible so that the kids can read about their culture and country when they are older. I know its long sometimes, but its important to us, and we are glad to share it with you.
Special Hi to Sam and Steph...we love you and miss you.
pss...Jeff was spit up on today, not a full blown face cover, but neck and arms.....LOL