Moving the Blog

After a lot of thought I have decided to move our blog. My posts now are mostly for our extended family and for our kids to look back on when they are older.  I will keep this blog open for those who wish to read about our journey to Kazakhstan to adopt our daughter in 2009, and I may give updates every now and then as well.  If you would like to continue to follow our new blog (I have moved all posts to the new blog and am deleting a lot of posts that don't have anything adoption related from this blog) please email me at afjblog@yahoo.com or leave a comment on this blog with your email address and I will send you the new blog info.  Thanks for following along!

Festival of Nations

Last night was the Festival of Nations at the girls' school. They had a great time! It was really a fun event. Abbie, Lauren and I went early to set up and Quentin brought the two little ones later on. Quentin volunteered to serve one of the dishes in the food area so I had the little ones with me while Abbie and Lauren went off to explore. I really wanted to get more pictures than just these, but Reina was having a great time with "Make Mama Chase Me!" and Alina was raiding the diaper bag for crackers. By the time Quentin's hour long stint was up, I was ready for the little ones to go home=) They stuck around for just a bit longer while I did a quick look at the other booths. After they left I snuck into the gym for a peak at the Aztec dancers. They were amazing! I wish I had been able to see more of the dancers. They had some from China, Africa, Hmong, and some girls from the school did a Carpathian dance. Abbie and Lauren had a wonderful time running around with their "passports" seeing and experiencing a bit of the different cultures represented in their school.

Alina's progress

I haven't written for awhile on how Alina is progressing and where she is at now. She is, in one word, amazing! When we took her from the baby house she was very small. She couldn't stand up by herself, let alone walk or run. And I had no idea how many words she understood or if she could even speak any words (in Kazakh of course). Today she has gained the weight she needed, grown much taller, and is a very healthy little girl. She can walk and even run after her sisters. And she understands a lot of English words! She will follow simple directions, and you had better be prepared if you say the words "eat", "bath", or "shoes"! She will go running for them all=) She is even saying a few words, but only when she wants too. She will not say them when prompted, but just looks at us like we don't know what we are talking about. She manages to communicate what she wants to me just fine with hand gestures and her eyes. She has such expressive eyes.
We are seeing a pediatrician who is familiar with adopted children and have seen no need as yet to go to the International Adoption clinic here. Our caregiver has said that if she sees a need she will refer us there. Alina is on target for her age on everything but speech, but since that is very understandable given until 3 months ago all she heard was Kazakh, we are not concerned at this point. She has proven to be a very bright little girl and a quick learner. I decided to hold off on having her evaluated by the school district to see if she would qualify for any special assistance. If after she has been home for six months and her speech is not progressing I will have her evaluated and hopefully get some help with how to help her along.

Alina no longer has the tantrums when eating. I think she realizes that the food is there and plentiful. I ask her if she is done and if she shakes her head no I offer her one more bite. If she turns away then she is done, if she accepts the bite then we keep going. She is sleeping thru the night for actually about 13-14 hours. Occasionally she wakes up but will go right back to sleep. Our routine at night is a bath, then cuddling time for a bit, then I lay her down with her blankie and leave. Sometimes she babbles a bit, but mostly she just goes to sleep. We are down to one nap a day now, though she is very tired by bedtime. She really could take 2 naps a day still but it is easier on me if I can put both girls down for naps and have a couple hours to get stuff done.

Alina is doing great with her sisters. The older girls are great with her, and Reina is sharing more and more. Considering Reina is 2 I am thrilled! She still is very possessive of what she sees as strictly hers, but now will get a different toy for Alina if Alina is getting too close to "her" toy. Alina has bonded well with Quentin I think. She will now go to him and ask to be picked up if I am busy.

That's it for now!

Snow...

Things I never would have let my older children do when they were little...

Dress up

We played dress up the other day. I wanted to see if her little Kaz outfit would fit her yet. When my mom bought it we thought it would be a year or so before she could actually wear it. That was before we knew she would go thru 3 sizes of clothes in 2 months=) It fits!

Alina has also figured out where the food is stored. I keep her crackers on the bottom shelf so she can get to them easily.

Bedtime

Last night I thought I had gotten lucky and Reina had gone down to bed without getting up once. Then I started hearing loud breathing that I thought was coming from the monitor. I went down to check on Reina and this is what I found.

Everyone's fine....

I think I forgot to mention that after the tests they did on Lauren they really couldn't find anything wrong. She has been feeling fine since then, though we kept her home all day yesterday just to be sure. She missed her first day of swim lessons. Hopefully today she will be fine as well. I am thinking it was just a case of maybe not drinking enough, so we are keeping her well hydrated.

Reina has finally started really sharing with Alina. And she wants us to know it=) She will give a toy to Alina and tell me "I share Alina!" over and over. I then praise her and give her hugs and kisses which makes her really happy. It is pretty cute to watch. Yesterday I took Abbie to her yoga and swim classes while Quentin stayed home with the kids. Evidently he helped Alina to learn how to climb the slide and go down by herself. She is pretty wobbly so needs someone right there to watch and spot her. I had been reluctant to show her how to climb up because I new as soon as I did she would want to do it over and over again. Sure enough, as I am trying to get dinner ready she is climbing the slide. So I run over to spot her then run back to flip the french toast (yes, we often have breakfast for dinner=) ). I finally moved the slide into our bedroom and shut the door so I wouldn't have burnt french toast that no one would eat.

Life is never boring!

Did I ever mention that I thought that things would get back to "normal" after we finally brought Alina home and Abbie and Lauren started school? I know I have said it several times with a fond remembrance for "normal". I think I must have forgotten what "normal" actually is around here=)

I have been determined to get Reina potty trained. I was determined last week, which turned into this week, and will probably go into the next few weeks before I finally actually start trying to potty train her. Time keeps getting away from me and things happen. This last summer while the girls were in Idaho I moved Reina into a toddler bed. She has been sleeping really great in it except for waking up a few times during the night. Lauren was sharing her room with Reina, but after Reina waking her up to open the door so she could find me several times a night Lauren decided that she wanted her own room again. I don't blame her. So we moved Abbie upstairs into our "guest" room. It is now Abbie's room (and guest's when they visit=) ) and she really likes it. Lauren we moved into Abbie's space downstairs. Reina now has her own room. It was nice for about 3 nights when I could shut her door and know that she couldn't open it. I could hear her on the monitor if she woke up and needed me, but we didn't hear any little feet running into our room in the middle of the night for 3 whole nights . Then, she figured out how to open her door. Now I can't keep her in bed. I gated her in one night and she hated that. I found her asleep on her floor by the door. She had been playing in her room and must have just gotten sleepy and layed down=) So we are back to hearing the little feet at night and trying to get her to actually stay in her bed at bedtime.

Today I got a call from the school nurse at 10:30. Everyone has been really healthy so I didn't know who this was about. Lauren had passed out! Evidently she had complained of a stomach ache and headache and her teacher was taking her to the nurse. On the way there Lauren went white and slumped over. She came to right away and the nurse called me. I took her to the doctor. They did some tests but nothing seems to be wrong. Hopefully it doesn't happen again. If so, we will need to have her heart checked out too. When the nurse called I just packed the kids in the van and left. I forgot to change diapers, Reina still had her jammies on, and I probably looked a mess from rolling around on the floor with the little ones. I did run back into the house for jackets since it was pooring rain outside. The call from the nurse shook me up a bit. I couldn't imagine why a perfectly healthy 7 year old would just pass out. Lauren started to cry when I walked into the nurses office. Made me want to start too. She perked up after I gave her some gatorade in the car on the way to the doctor's. Quentin met us there and stayed for the results of the tests with Lauren while I took 2 crabby and tired toddlers home for their naps.

Alina had her 18 month checkup on Tuesday. She is 22lbs 9 oz and in the 23% for weight! When we started she wasn't even on the chart! Her iron is low so we are working on getting that up with some iron drops. I am supposed to give them to her 1 hour before or 2-3 hours after a meal. That is like impossible. She eats all day! With 4 small meals and 2-3 snacks a day, that doesn't leave me too many options. So this morning she had to wait an hour for her usual milk. She got water (recommended to take with the drops) and cheerios (crackers are okay to eat with the drops so I figured cheerios would work). She was not happy about the water instead of milk. She LOVES her milk. The vanilla carnation instant breakfast is pretty yummy. I will try to give her her next dose this evening before bed. It will be stretching it. Dinner is at 5ish and bedtime is 6:30 for her.

Tomorrow Abbie has yoga and both older girls have swim lessons. Provided Lauren doesn't pass out again. We made it through a whole week at school with everyone on the right bus, or remembering to NOT ride the bus. It helps that Abbie has a huge post it taped to her desk saying "NO BUS ON WEDNESDAY".

First Family Photo!

Our first ever family picture with all 6 of us in it! (Thanks Uncle Dan=) )

Alina actually looking at the camera=)

Everything has been going really well this last week, except for a few bus mishaps. Abbie missed her stop on Monday, but just got off at the next stop around the corner. We caught up with her pretty easily, though I wasn't really happy about the bus driver letting her off at a stop not her own. Then on Tuesday she got on the wrong bus. Lauren got off at her stop, but no Abbie. This time Lauren told the bus driver that her sister wasn't getting off, so he used the intercom to call for her. No Abbie. So we walked back home and called the school. The school called the transportation department and they supposedly checked on all their buses. No Abbie. So by now I am getting really worried and call Quentin at work to come home so he can go out and look for her. The principal and some of the teachers were going to go looking in neighborhoods too, since it appeared that Abbie got off on a stop not her own. Then I get a call saying she was on a bus all along, that the bus driver on that bus apparently didn't check. Abbie says she heard her name on the bus communication system like 4 times but the driver on the bus she was on never asked. She went and told him that she was the "missing kid" they were talking about. The principal and teachers were great through all of this and Abbie got a ride home with the principal.

Now after this you would think Abbie would be extra careful. On Wednesday I picked the girls up from school so we could take Lauren to her first dance class. No Abbie. I checked with the office and found out she forgot and got on the bus for home. I rushed Lauren to her class then headed home to get Abbie from the bus. She looked pretty relieved to see me at the bus stop since she had realized that she wasn't supposed to be on the bus.

By this time I had pretty much decided that we were just going to forget the bus and I would just pick the kids up. End of problems. Abbie had a meltdown when I told her, and declared that made her feel like a "little kiiiiiiiid!" (complete with wail). So we have discussed this and she knows that this is her last chance. Any more forgetting or not paying attention and no more bus. We talked about safety, and that her safety always comes first. That she has to be responsible for herself and make sure she is staying safe. Her comment : " I think about so many things all the time that my personal life just flies right out of my brain!" Her teacher told me that she told her pretty much the same thing but with a "I am so smart and talented that I can't remember my personal life." That sounds like Abbie-LOL!

Lauren loved her dance class on Wednesday despite the fact that I pretty much dropped her off and ran. The parents aren't supposed to stay anyway. She says she got to use her ballet shoes AND her jazz shoes. But they didn't have time for tap. She remedied that when she got home and tapped a bit in the kitchen until I told her it was time to eat.

Reina, Alina and I had a playdate on Monday. We had a friend over and the girls had a good time. Alina was very shy at first, but warmed up after a bit. While I like the snuggles she gives when she is unsure of what's going on, I will be happy when she is more sure of herself and her place in our family and no longer needs to cling to me so much.

We went to Quentin's softball game last night. I packed some snacks and water bottles and we made a picnic out of it. The girls enjoyed getting out and it was nice to just sit and enjoy even though it meant bedtime an hour later. Too often when we get into the routine of school we just don't have time for sitting and enjoying each other. The girls get home at 4:15, we unload backpacks, I fix dinner for them. After we eat they have about an hour before the little ones go to bed and then we start homework. Bedtime at 8. It is even crazier when we have after school activities.

Oh! Too cute! Reina and Alina are dancing in front of the TV with the Fresh Beat Band right now. They love that show!

That's it for now...

Changes!

I was looking at pictures from July yesterday, from when we took Alina from the baby house. She has changed so much! Good and filling meals has had a lot to do with it. She has so much energy now and is walking all the time. She still falls a lot, but she gets right back up to walk again. In another month I am betting she will be running!
16 months old.
The day after we took Alina from the baby house in Taraz. She was about 18 pounds and in a size 9 months clothing.

Almost 18 months old.

Beginning of September at about 22 pounds. She now wears a size 12 months and sometimes 18 months.

On Thursday of last week the girls and I drove to Iowa to visit with family there. On Friday we headed to Moline, IL for a cousin's wedding reception. I have to admit, I was really worried about the car ride. Alina is a long way away from liking her car seat. Thursday we had a 4 hour drive and we stopped a couple times to eat as well. She slept for maybe 15 minutes when we first got into the car and later for another 10 minutes or so. Not good. I left at naptime in the hopes that she and Reina would sleep. Reina didn't sleep much either. For the last hour Alina cried to get out. I stopped a couple times to try to calm her, but all she really wanted was out. We arrived Thursday evening at my mother-in-law's house and despite lack of sleep she was doing great! I was a bit surprised that she wasn't as clingy as I had expected. Sleep that night was difficult and I ended up with her in bed with me. Friday we made the 2 hour drive to Moline, again at naptime. This time she slept for almost an hour. We got to our hotel and she had a great time exploring=)

Sometime during our couple hours at the hotel before Quentin joined us Alina decided she was through crawling and started walking everywhere! She fell a lot but would get right back up and try again. Later, at the reception she was trying to walk all over as well and I got a video of her toddling toward me.

They had dancing at the reception and our girls were having a great time! Reina, Abbie, and Lauren were out on the dance floor for most of the night. Reina made frequent trips to the cookie table to try to grab another cookie so we had to keep our eye on her=) I found a spot out of the way of all the dancers for Alina to walk and dance. She loves music. She starts bouncing up and down and waving her arms. It is really cute. I tried to post a video of the girls dancing but all my videos are too big for blogger. I keep getting an error message.

We are back home now and settling back in. Alina has been fussy and clingy for the last 2 days, but I expected she would have some adjusting to do. I was really worried the trip would mess things up for her. She couldn't know that we would be coming back home soon, the trip only meant new changes for her and I know it made her anxious. I hope, though, that coming back home helped her to understand that this is a permanent place for her. I know we have a ways to go there. It would help so much if she were able to understand me, but of course she is still learning our language and she is only almost 18 months old. We'll just have to show her every day that this is home and we are her family=)

Just Pictures

I can walk!!

Ring Around the Rosy

Certificate of Citizenship

Alina's Certificate of Citizenship arrived in the mail today!! It is nice to have proof=) I was going to take a picture of the certificate and post it on this blog but didn't want to go to jail. I had the camera ready to go when I read the little red words at the bottom. No copies, photos, or anything of that sort.

We had a not so good start to our day. I had Reina in the bathtub and somehow she cut her thumb. I still haven't figured out how she did it. I was helping her sister get ready for a shower and so was not looking right at Reina (shower and bath are right next to each other). I turn back to her and notice her thumb is bleeding. A lot. So I get her out of the tub, dry her off, get her dressed, and wrap a paper towel around it. It was bleeding so much I couldn't actually see the cut. I put pressure on it for about 15 minutes and it finally stopped. The cut is actually 2 cuts that went pretty deep into the pad. I put neosporin on it and wrapped it in a couple band-aids. She was crying most of the time cause it hurt, poor kid.

I got Alina out of bed (she woke up in the middle of all this) and got Lauren up to get dressed. Then we headed out for a walk and a play in the park to get Reina's mind off it. We went for about a 45 minute walk. Alina was great in the wagon with Reina! They had a great time pointing at flowers and Reina made bird sounds to answer the birds making noise around us. Then we headed back into our neighborhood to the park and the kids ran around awhile. Alina likes the slide and playing with the little rocks that cushion the playground area. Reina climbed the rock wall with my help and ran all over the place. Mission accomplished=) No more tears.

We headed back home where Reina decided to tear off her band-aid. The cuts are deep enough that the skin is going to get caught and pulled if not protected. So I convinced her to put another band-aid on and wrapped another one around that one to keep her from pulling it off. Then I drew a pink flower on the band-aid (they don't make cute finger tip band-aids, and a flower was all I could pull off. She wanted Dora the Explorer). So far that one has stayed on. We'll see if it is there in the morning.

This afternoon Alina had another doctor appt. She weighs 21lbs. 9oz! She has gained 3 lbs. 6oz since her appt. in Almaty a month ago. She had two more immunizations done and her ears checked to see if they were better. They also checked her hearing, but the machine wasn't working well. Her right ear is fine, but the machine quit working when they checked the left. We'll try again next time. I will be making an appt. for her to get her vision tested as well.

Her blood tests came back. She is a very healthy little girl! The only thing that could be a problem is that her thyroid appears to be overworking. We will wait a couple months and do another blood test for that to see if we need to go to a specialist.

She is walking more and more. Her main mode of getting around is still crawling or cruising the furniture, but she is getting braver and braver about just stepping out and walking on her own. She is going to be running soon!

That's it for now!

A Shay Day

The following is a story I received in an email. I have posted the full email in case anyone wants to copy and send. It is a wonderful story and made me pause to think about my own choices.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two Choices
What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: 'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son? 'The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child. 'Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.' Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart.. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first! Run to first!' Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!' Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball . The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay' Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third! Shay, run to third!' As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!' Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team

'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY:We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate. The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces. If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't the 'appropriate' ones to receive this type of message. Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.' So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process? A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.
You now have two choices:
1. Delete
2.. Forward
May your day be a Shay Day.

Blog Book

Okay. Obviously I have been messing around with how the blog looks. I found a great website with free backgrounds and banners. They also can make your blog into a book for you! I was so excited when I saw that, I have been thinking about trying to make ours into a book and now I can. The website is http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/

Anyway, last night was Lauren's smore party with her new Girl Scout troop. They had a great time swimming in the lake, making smores, and playing hide and go seek with flashlights after it was dark. Lauren was a bit shy at first (which is not like her) and it took a while before she felt comfortable enough to join in. She recognized a couple girls from school last year and we even found out one of the girls lives in our neighborhood.

Next Wednesday is Back to School Night at our elementary school and the girls are really excited! Even Abbie who has been reluctant to go back to school here. She had a few bad experiences with some kids in her class. She never really felt included last year. Hopefully this year is different. It helps that we are actually starting the year here instead of moving in during the school year. Lauren is excited because she learned that half her Brownie Troop is in her class=)

Reina woke up at 5:30 this morning. At that point I figured it wouldn't do much good to try to put her back in bed (I would probably just have accomplished waking up everyone else if I had tried), so I napped on the couch for about an hour while she watched cartoons. Alina slept til about 10am! That kid likes to sleep=) I am definitely not complaining! Quentin put her down around 7 last night and she slept all the way through. Though by the time she woke up her diaper had leaked again. I checked on her around 11 last night and she was okay. I have tried everything with her diapers that I can think of. I doubled them up one night and that didn't work. I have tried one bigger size and that didn't work. I will try one of Reina's tonight and see if that does it. I am getting really tired of having to wash dirty bedding every morning or in the middle of the night. I really don't want to have to wake her up in the night to change her pants. It would take awhile to get her back to sleep, not to mention giving her bad sleep habits. But I can't let her sleep in wet and dirty jammies and sheets! I had the same problems when Reina was younger. I never remember having problems with the older two. But the diapers were a lot thicker then and contained more I think. If anyone has suggestions please let me know! I have even considered cloth diapers, but really don't want to go there. I am hoping that the problem goes away since she just had her last dose of amoxicillin this morning. Okay, diaper rant over.

Last night after I left with Lauren, Quentin and Alina were sitting in our big chair together. Quentin said she would stand up and look over the back of the chair with a "mamama". Then she turned around and plopped down. Quentin said "Down!" She grinned and stood up again. Quentin said "Up!" She plopped again, "Down!" Evidently this happened over and over again with her grinning and laughing. She is fine with Quentin when I am not around. She lets him hold her and play with her. He put her to bed last night without a problem. But she is Mama's Girl when I am there=)

Reina and I have been having some tests of willpower lately. She is definitely stating to the world that she is 2 and wants to do it HERSELF! Or HER WAY! The other day she decided that she really didn't want clothes on and that was okay with me. But the diaper HAS to stay on.

Reina: "Diaper OFF!"

Me: "The diaper needs to stay on."

Reina: "Diaper OFF!"

Me: "No, it stays on."

This repeated several times until I got her attention focused elsewhere. I think she is ready to potty train, but I am having a difficult time focusing on that right now. So I have decided as soon as school starts and we get a routine going, potty training will be my number one priority for Reina. I may get lucky and get Alina to use the potty too since she likes to copy Reina (not likely, but I can hope) !

Packing list for Kaz

Someone recently asked about this, so I thought I would add it here as well! This is what we took and used and some of what we wish we had taken=)

Packing list for Kazakhstan

over the counter meds:
benedryl
sinus
Tylenol
Nyquil/Dayquil
Tums
Pepto
Sucrets
antibiotic from doctor
first aid kit + ace bandage

scissors

spool of cord for clothes drying

charmin toilet paper to go (small rolls sold in travel section at target/walmart)

hand sanitizing wet wipes (in travel section; I used them to clean toys off as well so I brought several small packages)

hand sanitizer (1 large and 1 small per person for carrying on plane)

packets of 1 use Tide ( one packet lasted about 3-4 loads in our small sink in the bathroom. It was about 2 large loads in the bathtub. We did laundry about every 3-4 days and used one packet each time.)

clothes pins

washcloths (they don’t have any!)

disposable baby wash cloths (huggies makes a disposable washcloth with the soap already added. Just add water! We used these at the Frankfurt airport to refresh ourselves. I also used them for Alina after bringing her out of the baby house.)

face cleaning wipes (also nice for the long trip to Kaz)

mouthwash (several small travel sizes work. I took one with me on the plane so that I could clean out my mouth during the trip. When brushing our teeth in Kaz we used bottled water and rinsed our mouth and toothbrush with mouthwash.)

Travel size shampoo and soap. (To get you through until you can go shopping. They have a lot of the same brands of shampoo and soap that we do in their small grocery stores. You can also get Gillette disposable razors there, Always pads, dish soap for doing dishes in your sink, and boxes of Tide laundry soap.)

I brought a small tool that has Phillips and flathead screwdrivers and pliers on it. I never needed to use it.

If you travel in the summer bring sunscreen, bug spray/lotion, anti-itch cream (I took the benedryl itch stick) and a fly swatter! We had a few flys we couldn’t get rid of and wish we had thought to stick a fly swatter in. If nothing else it could have provided entertainment=) )

Lots of stuff to do; crosswords, books to read, card games, DVDs….

small flashlight

glasses repair kit

plenty of extra contact lenses

nail clippers

a couple toothbrushes ( you can also buy them there)

shout wipes, tide stick to go - get out stains

two adaptors/ converters – at least one should be able to convert the voltage!

long phone cord – we ended up not needing but if you have dial-up you might.

LOTS of Ziploc baggies. I took sandwich size and gallon.

Febreeze so you can refresh your clothes

small notebook ( we carried it around to shop with and had the shopkeepers write the price in it. They also used a calculator to show us. Also used it to take notes on Alina's progress, what we wanted to add to the blog, and what anyone told us about Alina. ie: the doctor, coordinator, social worker...)

IPOD
Camera
Tape measure – fabric (came in handy to measure our daughter)
safety pins
sewing kit
Vaseline
tape – wish I had brought masking tape
lint brush

Clothing:
I brought 4 pairs of pants and about 6 shirts. We ended up sending jeans down to the hotel laundry. They took 3-4 days to dry if we did them in our room. T-shirts are also kind of a pain to do in your room. Light cotton shirts (like the button down kind) would have dried quicker and been easier to wash. My husbands dress shirts he brought were very easy to wash. Take dark colors for pants. You will be sitting on the floor and kneeling when you are playing with your child!

We also each brought one nice outfit to wear to guardianship council and court. My husband brought a suit. I brought a pair of black slacks and a white top with black jacket. I now wish I had worn a skirt. It seemed more appropriate.

The laundry you will do the most is underwear and socks, so take a lot and you won’t have to do laundry so much! Also, a pair of slippers or slipper socks to wear around your hotel or apartment. The floors are never very clean and all my white socks I brought looked so bad when I got home I tossed them. Or you could just always wear your shoes. The baby house may require you to remove shoes (ours did not) so you might want a slipper to wear there.

Gifts:
I brought these the second trip.
I brought lots of tissue paper, ribbon, and gift bags I could lay flat in my suitcase.
I also made thank you cards out of printable business cards. Avery has templates you can use online. I put a picture of my husband, daughter, and I and wrote a short generic thank you and printed them out. I used a hole punch to make a hole and tied a ribbon through it to the gift bag. Really simple and it didn’t take up much space.



Carry On:
I packed a small carry on with one set of clothes, all our adoption paperwork, travel size toiletries, face wipes, some baby disposable washcloths, Tylenol, and other stuff I would need if my suitcase didn’t make it with me to Taraz (And it didn’t! I was very glad of the extra clothes). I also put some snacks in for the car trip from Almaty to Taraz. Granola bars and chocolate=)

I also had a neck pillow that I was very glad to have on the airplane. Quentin took an eye covering, too. Wish we had thought of ear plugs=)

I had a small travel purse to carry my passport, travel info, and a copy of our LOI in.

First Doctor's Visit

Today was Alina's first doctor's appointment. It was a difficult one to get through but necessary. She had blood drawn, the TB test given, and two immunizations. She was not at all happy during all of this as you can imagine. It was hard for me too, it always is when I see one of my children upset. Good news is she quit crying as soon as I picked her up off the table=) During the exam we discovered she had 2 ear infections! She has had a cold, but she gave no indication that her ears were bothering her. I am going to have to be suspicious when she has a cold and just get her checked out next time just in case. I am going to watch her to see if maybe I missed something. She might just be used to getting them at the baby house and doesn't react with pulling her ear, or not eating or drinking. She has been eating and drinking great! No ear pulling that I have noticed.

She weighs 19lbs 15oz. Almost a whole pound more than her medical in Almaty 3 weeks ago today. She is in the 4th percentile (she actually made the chart this time) and the 12th percentile on height. Head circumference is 18th percentile. She is pretty proportionate all around=) Developmentally she seems to be doing great! Of course she is a late walker, but we are working on that. It is also hard to tell with speech right now since we don't speak the same language=)

She is learning so much every day! Today while eating lunch she grabbed my nose. I said "nose" several times. She did it again a bit later and I repeated "nose". Then I asked her "Where is my nose?" I stressed the word nose. I asked the question several times. She looked at me, then down my face, and grabbed my nose! We played this game several times with me touching her nose as well. She thinks it is a great game. I can't believe she caught on so fast! She says "up" and "mama" and "da" for Daddy. Today she said "Aba!" and was looking at Abbie, so we are pretty sure she was calling her sister. She is also taking more and more steps on her own. She will push herself up from the floor and take a few steps before loosing her balance. Then she grins really big and will try again.

She is such a cuddler=) I love it when we are getting ready for bed and I am holding her for a bit before laying her down. She grabs hold of her blanky and lays her head down on my chest and pops her thumb in her mouth. Makes me go all mushy=)

She is also fine with Quentin now. She plays with him and goes over to him. She is not shy of him anymore. The only time she has a problem with him is if he picks her up and I am right there. Then she wants me. She is fast learning that Daddy is for playing=)

I am still feeling sick. I went to the minute clinic this evening when Quentin got home to get my throat looked at since it has been sore for 4 days. Luckily no strep on the rapid test. I doubt it shows up as strep at all. It really doesn't feel like it, but my tonsils are all swollen and sore. I wanted to be sure, cause if I have it, then chances are someone else does or will soon!

K....off to bed we go!

A New Perspective.....

I know=) It looks like she is going to start throwing eggs any minute! This is actually her "extreme" happy look! LOL

It never hurts to get someone else's take on an issue.

All the kids have been sick as well as Quentin and now me. I have been really tired the last few days because of this as well as Alina waking up nightly, sometimes more than once or twice. I would then sit with her for an hour (not good when you are sleep deprived and sick) or sometimes more to get her to go back to sleep. With our other children I would not do this. We would put them back in bed, kiss them goodnight again, and leave the room. I have been sitting up with Alina since we took her from the baby house. She would fuss and get very upset if someone wasn't sitting next to her.

Last night she woke at about midnight and I stumbled into her room to sit in the rocker there. I sat there for an hour before she finally quit rolling around and fell asleep. I was just getting into bed when and I heard her on the monitor again. I couldn't do it again. After letting her cry for a bit hoping she would go back to sleep on her own, we decided that it wasn't going to happen. Quentin volunteered to go down and calm her. We weren't sure if this was a good idea or not since she is still unsure of him, but I was willing to try it! Well he went in, layed her down, rubbed her back for a short while and sat in the rocker. A couple minutes later he got up, patted her on the back, told her goodnight, and left! It was quiet. When he got back I thought "Wow! That was quick getting her back to sleep!" He told me she wasn't asleep, she watched him leave the room. Well, she slept the rest of the night.

Naptime today I tried the same tactic, not sure if it would work with me or not. It did! I can't believe it! Evidently she doesn't require me to actually stay in her room until she is asleep anymore. I was going to start trying to put her down and leaving the room as soon as we all were over this cold since I was anticipating a struggle over this. And it was so easy! We'll see if she will continue this=)

Lesson for today: Be open to someone else's perspective and ideas! It just might work. I would have never thought it would have worked last night. I think it is a sign that she is much more comfortable and secure in her new home as well.