September 15, 2004

Best wishes Mom Belli! Tonight is Cabaret Night at the clubhouse! Have a great time, we are thinking of you!


Hello All,
As I write, I look down upon two little angels, one is sucking his thumb, the other is not all that happy that she is supposed to be napping. We ended up staying at the baby house a little longer than expected today, so we missed an entire meal and nap sequence. It’s not easy to recover from that!! We were asked to change the children into the clothes we brought. Much to my surprise the 3-6 month outfits were just about too small, their feet hit the bottom. They are both stretchy and thin, but not for long. When we arrived at the apartment, we decided to try to give them formula, Karleigh liked it, McCale didn’t, we then tried green bean puree, no for both, then buckwheat grits, yes McCale, no Karleigh. Can you see where this is going? Not only are we bringing out all of the guns, we are getting a variety of foods splashed on them and ourselves. Because of the way they have been fed, bowl under chin, large spoon and quick pours into the mouth, we had to give each of our choices a good team effort. Finally, two onsies and three burp clothes later, we had it. Rice cereal w/ yogurt, left over formula and a dash of green bean puree for color. Ahh, sweet success and full tummies. We have since had three successful feeding sessions and these kids can EAT! We are so glad to be giving them food with high nutrients and calories. The food at the baby house was more like eating bread for each meal. That doesn’t work well; the peroshki king will tell you himself. Today’s version was fried w/ potatoes, Jeff says they tasted like Zepolies, but the potato throws it off. We are cut off from Peroshkis now because we will not be to Ecik for a few more weeks. We will also take a pleasure trip to Ecik and Talgar City where McCale was born when my mother gets here. We are hoping she can bring over some medications that the baby house wants. We are trying to find out what exactly Emily and the Rotmans brought over that worked for swollen glands and a cream for cradle cap. I would strongly suggest any other families bring this medicine as well, it is a very hot commodity and they say they have never seen anything work the way it does. I will post the name when I get it.

Let's talk kids!! McCale is such a sweetie; he is showing more personality by the minute. He is very alert and likes to flip over. He is trying like the dickens to crawl and has this two arm and one knee down thingee, then pushes with the other leg straight out. He sits there and rocks just a little before pushing off, we like to put the rattle or toy just out of reach and watch him scoot toward it. McCale seems to be extremely attached to Jeff who can make him smile better than anyone...lol..(That’s McCale making Jeff smile). McCale has no issue sharing grins with everyone. He is so happy and is a big flirt. He looks at you, and then buries his head in your chest if you are holding him, then comes a big giggle of delight and smile! Our next favorite McCale trick is when he lays on his tummy and lifts his legs and arms. We call this maneuver breast stroke! He rocks forward and backs and cracks himself up. Gotta love anyone who can crack them self up right?????

Karleigh, my little sweetheart is more reserved and holds back the smiles for a lift in the air or the word Karlooska said with the appropriate roll of the tongue on the loosk part. She has shown us her vocal chords today, in both the sweet and innocent form and the "other" form. She was cooing up a storm at the baby house and also for a brief while on my lap. Since she had been more reserved from the start, we can only imagine how the shock of the ride in the "machina" and new surroundings must feel to her. We are quite sure her napping schedule is out of whack as she barely slept in the car, while snoozer-McCale caught zzz's the whole time. She is a little cuddler and is happy to sit on your lap and collect love by the cupful.

Neither child has had the opportunity to be loved or cuddled in family environment; their days have been extremely regimented with strict feeding schedules, play time (an hour in a large crib with other babies) and then naptime. This sequence takes about two-three hours and begins again 6am til midnight. As mentioned the food is not fortified so it doesn’t hold them long. In addition, the food is shoveled in fast and what’s finished is finished when the time is up. The only human touch the children are used to getting is moving from one step to the next. The caretakers are wonderful and we know they give the children as much love as they can. As the children get older, (2-3) they are allowed to help with chores, we have some adorable pictures but cannot share them as they were on the non-digi camera….(yeah, I know, Jeff tells me to get with the program too) This opportunity to help gives them more contact and praise, they seem to eat it up. We were fortunate enough to meet the care taker who favored McCale. They work 24 hour shifts in the baby area with two days off following. Each time we have seen them they have been very attentive and warm. It is apparent that these children have been shown affection as they are bonding very well. It’s amazing the change before your eyes in a few short days, the children come alive with a little holding and back rubbing. I’m sure there are plenty of you at home willing to help out with this! We miss you all and can't wait for you to meet these two little darlings!!!

-Col..

Well I can say this is truly a learning experience.. But I think after a few days we will have it down. They are breaking us in, I wish I could say slowly but that would be exaggerating. Not only is it a challenge taking care of two little ones, but we are out of our element being in another country. Not being able to read instructions on formula or medicine is tough, and it makes you feel a little helpless at times. But good thing we have an assortment of food for these two to have a buffet on. This enables us to see what they like, even though we make a mess in the kitchen, on them and ourselves. It is pretty neat watching them though, they have never been out of the baby house environment, and you can see them looking around observing everything new. I only wish I could tell them that it is all going to change again in a few weeks when we go home. They probably do not think things could get better than this, but they will see. Well I will keep this short, I am sure we will have some good stories over the next few weeks. It is quiet time now, so I will work on posting this and today’s pics.
Until tomorrow…..

-Jeff..