Busy Busy Busy!

Hey All! Rinat is a crawling fool these days but he doesn't want to leave anything behind so he has started carrying them in his mouth like a dog- especially his cherished bottle of water. He's so funny. I hope everyone has been doing well. We sure have! My mom is in town which has been really great. She has been a huge help to me and of course Rinat thinks she's the greatest ever because she'll play with him 24/7- unlike me who has laundry to fold and dishes to wash and dinner to cook. And it has been especially good timing that she is in town right now since I got picked to serve on a jury. I didn't defer because I thought the likelihood of actually getting placed on a jury was pretty small and I might as well get it over with. But no, I am actually having to serve. But it's been good because Babushka Shay has been here to take care of him while I'm there doing my civic duty. But we have been doing lots of fun stuff too like having a picnic in the park and just playing nonstop. He's such a good little guy and I am surprised at how quickly he has settled in. He is consistently sleeping through the night, and he goes down easily for 2 naps every day, and he eats nonstop. I bet he's gained at least a couple of pounds in the last few weeks since we've been home. And he has come to love his stroller and he likes to go to the park and watch the other kids. He is just unbelievable. He can also climb the stairs and is starting to cruise the furniture. And he talks constantly (dad must've rubbed off on him). He spent a good part of yesterday screaming "DADADADA!!!" at the top of his lungs just for the fun of it. And his little tooth is all the way through and I get a glimpse of white protruding from his gums every time he opens his mouth. For all you parents out there- Hyland's Teething Tablets are a godsend. I think 2 of those do more to relax him than my 5:00 martini does for me. He really is just wonderful. Every once in a while, he has some kind of issue (like diaper rash) that causes him to wake up too early in the morning but I have to admit that I'm secretly happy about it. Peter goes to get him and changes him or gives him a bottle and then when he won't go back to sleep in his crib, we bring him into bed with us and when I hold him he falls back to sleep in seconds. It the best way to start my day and the entire rest of the day I have that Jack Johnson song running through my head that says "When the whole world fits inside of your arms, do you really need to pay attention to the alarm? Wake up slow, mmm, mmmm, wake up slow". I hope all is well with everyone out there. Until next time. -m

Alive and Well

Hi Everyone! Here's a photo of our sweetie in the tub. He's just so cute you want to squeeze him all the time, don't you? Me too. I can't believe we have been home so long- and that I haven't posted in almost a week. Time is just flying by and we are getting more and more into our little routine every day. We have had several doctor appointments and several groups of visitors and Rinat is doing fantastic through it all. I am constantly amazed by him and his ability to adapt to new situations and new people. He is also wearing us out- but in a good way of course. Spending the entire day with him is wonderful but I just about crawl into my bed at the end of it. Today was especially tiring as our little sweetie is finally having a couple of teeth sprout up. I kept thinking that it had to be sometime soon with the amount of drooling and chewing on things that he has been doing. Today he was extra fussy and I just assumed it was due to the diaper rash that he has developed since I am weaning him off the Kazakh formula. He took a big chomp on my finger as he always does but this time I felt something. I thought maybe it was a crumb or something that he had picked up off the floor, but nope. It is actual teeth! His bottom right one is coming in a tiny bit faster than the bottom left. And I can't even tell you how amazed I am at his skill at standing. Now, not only does he pull himself up on things and walk his hands from the sofa to the table, but today he bent down, picked up a toy, and stood back up while holding onto my pants leg. Wow. I was impressed. Anyway, it is 8:40 which is sadly now past my bedtime so I am off to get some snooze time before he wakes me up in the a.m. I hope all is going well with all of you and I swear I won't let so much time go by before I post again. Oh, I forgot to tell you that one of the appointments that we had this week was at the eye doctor. They took a look at the cyst by his eye and reaffirmed what all the other people said- that it is nothing to worry about but that it will grow over time so we should get it taken out before it affects his vision- sooner rather than later. So we'll have to put that on the calendar asap so that he can heal up before the holidays hit. And they also did an eye check and told me that he will likely be just a little bit nearsighted (as am I). How can they tell that already? I thought it was sort of amazing. Alright off to bed. Have a great night! -m

Getting Settled In

Hey everyone! Today is a momentous day. Sweet Rinat slept an entire 8 hours last night which made Peter and I very very very happy. He still woke up at 4:00 but he is sleeping, thank goodness. And he definitely needs it because poor baby has a runny nose, hacking cough, and yesterday he even lost his voice. I think maybe he's sick, what do you think? A warm bath with Johnson&Johnson's Cold and Flu bath seemed to help a little bit or at least it distracted him from not feeling so great for a few minutes and maybe the humidifier helped too. But we are actually headed to the doctor for our first visit this afternoon so I figure he can give him the once over and make sure there's nothing to worry about. Today is also fantastic because it's the first time that I have put Rinat down for a nap and there has been absolutely no screaming whatsoever. And it only took 4 minutes- I checked my watch. And he is slowly learning that just because we walk out of the room for a few seconds doesn't mean that we are gone forever and he doesn't need to start crying every single time. I yell to him "I'm still here! I'm still here!" over and over and it seems to help. But all of us are definitely getting a bit more comfortable with our new lives and it gets easier and more wonderful every day. He does still scream his head off but the second that smile comes out, it makes me forget that he's not perfect. Because right then he is. Oh and I am going to figure out how to use the fancy new camera that our sweet family got us so maybe I'll have some cute photos on the next post. Hopefully he'll smile for the camera and you can see that our perfect little sweetie is happy in his new home. Love to all. -m

So Far

Hey everyone- Here's Rinat's first trip to Starbucks. He wasn't as excited as Peter and I were. I don't think this bodes well since I am planning on making it a part of my morning stroll every day. I guess I will have to teach to appreciate the good things in life like Grande Lattes. I know everyone is wondering how things are going so far now that we are home so here's a quick update. Just like any new parent would probably tell you, some of our time at home has been really fantastic and some of it has been sorta miserable. Those of you who know me well know that I don't function all that great on no sleep so to say that I am annoyed when he starts screaming at 3 in the morning is an understatement. My sweet hubby Peter takes the 12:30 wakeup, gives him a bottle, plays a little while and puts him back down around 2:00. Then I get the next round when he wakes up between 3:00 & 4:00 and then I put him back down around 5:00. I know we don't need to make this a habit but poor guy has day and night confused right now. This morning though, he woke up around 4 and then never went back to sleep. And when baby don't sleep, no one sleeps. Oh well, that's what naptime's for, right? But overall things are going alright. Slowly but surely it's getting easier as we get settled in and into some semblance of a routine. He no longer screams when I feed him which I really appreciate since it got me all rattled every single time he did it. And I am already feeding him a bunch of non-babyfood things which he really likes. The faces he makes are really entertaining. Yesterday I gave him some mashed up egg yolk and he just scrunched up his little face in concentration and kept sticking him tongue out (I guess the texture was weird for him) but he asked for more so I guess he liked it. But boy are we in trouble with the motility factor. I was really hoping that he wouldn't even be crawling by the time we got home just so it would give us a little while before we had to worry about him getting to things he shouldn't but of course he didn't agree. This morning at 3:00am when I went to pick him up he was actually STANDING UP in the crib. We are in major trouble here. I can't believe that after spending his life at the baby house (where he should be behind all the regular kids) he is actually getting ready to start cruising the furniture. I guess I need to take a look around the house and babyproof the higher up stuff. Good gosh. But he is really a sweet, stubborn, funny guy and we are so lucky to have him. Who needs sleep anyway? Love to all and I swear I will post again now that I am getting a bit more rest and can actually think straight some of the time now. -m

Soooo Happy!

Hi Everyone! I'll write more later but I didn't want to leave anyone hanging so I'll do a super short post. We're home and I could not be any more happy than I am now. The trip was long but we got here safe and sound with all of our luggage and and brought a new citizen to the States. Our bed was so incredibly comfy and Rinat loves his crib almost as much as I love the fact that we are not sleeping in the same room as him any more. He is doing pretty well considering that day is night and night is day for him right now. And us too. Alright Screamfest 2007 has begun. He freaks out any time Peter or I leave the room. Gotta go before he has a conniption. -m

Still Coming

Hey all- Just wanted you to know that we are still on track to head home tonight and we'll see you in the states on Saturday. Rinat's health stuff checked out fine at the American clinic and we met with the embassy people today and they gave him the big thumbs up even though he was covered in barf and we both smelled horrendous. Oh well, goes with the territory right? Well, I may have a chance to update in Frankfurt. What else will we do there for 7 hours? See you stateside. And we're out... -Maren, Peter, and Stinkpot Rinat

Almaty

OK so this will be a quick one but I'll come back and edit it when I get a chance- I only have 4 minutes. We're in Almaty, Rinat did wonderfully on the plane, it is gorgeous here and we love it, we've been to the doctor to get the thumbs up for him to immigrate to the States and we'll get the results tonight and then go to the embassy tomorrow. Everything is fantastic and we are really enjoying our time here. Last night we met a really nice woman from Flushing, NY who also adopted and talked to her for a long time. Alright, I'm out- more later. -m

The Road Less Traveled

Hey there everybody! Here are my boys at our favorite place (Astana Bakery- yum) giving the big thumbs up that we are going home soon. Don't you love the way Rinat is looking at the statue? I can't believe we're headed home. We came here as a couple and are going home as a family. It's crazy. You know, I am not a big lover of poetry but ever since we started the whole adoption thing I have had that Robert Frost poem in my head. You know, the one that goes something like 'Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by'? I'm sure you've seen it on a bumper sticker somewhere or an inspirational refrigerator magnet or something. Well, the other day I was thinking about it again and wondering what the rest of the poem said. I wanted to know what happened when he took the less traveled way- where did he end up?- so I Googled it (gotta love the internet, right?). The final line of the poem say 'And that has made all the difference'. And I got to thinking about how accurate that is. Forever ago, back when I was young I had a plan. I would get married to Peter, we'd wait a few years and have kids, and then we'd go about our happy lives. Well, as anyone over the age of 20 can tell you, life never turns out exactly how you thought it would. But it does usually work out for the best. If things had gone according to plan, I never would have had some of the adventures I've had in foreign countries, never had the two years in AZ to see Peter sort of come into his own, never known how strong our marriage could become, never known the strength that Peter and I have to make it through the last few years, never really known what wonderful friends and family we have to support us, and most of all, never come to the other side of the world to Kazakhstan and met our beautiful son, Rinat. Taking the path less traveled has made all of the difference to us and I wouldn't have it any other way. I feel like we have arrived at the exact place that we were meant to. And that said, I can't wait for that path to lead us home to DC in a few days! We leave for Almaty tomorrow afternoon and then the US on Friday night. I will try my best to keep up the blog while we're in transit but I am not sure how much access we'll have to the internet- I feel sure I can find an internet cafe somewhere along the way. But I will most definitely update everyone when we get home safe and sound. So, bye for now and I'll post as soon as I get a chance! Much love to everyone out there reading this. Thank you so much for your comments because they have been our link to home for this crazy journey. We can never thank you enough. -m

Watch Out America- Here We Come!

Hey everybody! Guess who's going home this week! Yup, the three of us families in the photo. I am so excited! I just realized that it's labor day weekend there in the States. I hope everyone is having a great weekend and enjoying an extra day off. Things here have been good. We are very very slowly figuring things out with our guy and getting a bit more sure of ourselves in knowing what to worry about and what not to. And he's getting a lot more comfortable with us too. We had another uneventful day today for the most part. Get up, go for a walk, spend the day eating and sleeping in the blazing heat of our apartment (it's cooler than outside at least). Oh and we had Gulsanna and Baheet come by to fill out some paperwork for his embassy registration. He is totally and completely obsessed with Gulsanna- he wouldn't leave her alone and kept crawling over to her feet and fussing to be picked up. I think he likes her more than I do and I think she's great. But instead of just another walk and then bed tonight, we met up with everyone at our friend, Soraya's, apartment to have a farewell dinner (and her court date was today so it was a celebration for her too- yay!). Everyone pitched in and we had a really nice time seeing everyone one last time. And I think Rinat really enjoyed it a lot. He seems to be quite a people person. The more activity that is going on, the happier he is. So he spent the whole hour long walk over there laughing and smiling and waving at the traffic and people on the street and then spent the whole 2 hours that we were at dinner happy and playing. Then of course he fell asleep in the Bjorn on the way home. It has been a really exciting, happy time for us here in Kazakhstan and there are really only a handful of people who will ever understand the whole range of emotions that us adoptive parents go through over the course of the almost two months that we are here. From the initial meeting of your child, through the bonding period, to the court date, and crossing your fingers waiting through the appeals, it is more of a roller coaster than anyone can know. It is the people here who offer the support and encouragement to make the whole process so wonderful and let us know that what we are all going through the same feelings. So many thanks to all of the other adoptive parents here in KStan who made it a easier and more enjoyable to be a million miles away from anything and anyone familiar while going through the most drastic change of our lives. Thank you so much to: Meagan/Tony (and Taylor), Annette/Merwan (and Kate), Jennifer/Mike/Sarah (and Matthew), Denise/Rolando (and Claudia), Soraya (and Maxium), Carolyn (and Sabina), Jen/Jay (and Nuzhan). (Did I leave someone out? I feel like I did but maybe it's the lack of sleep over the last week- if I did, sorry). It has been a wonderful and crazy time. And to those of you who are still here in Astana waiting- good luck. I can't wait to hear the happy news that you too are headed home with your baby. And now I'm off to bed. -m

Jumping on the Bed

Hey Everyone! Our internet is doing much better today (although our power- and the water too- have gone out twice) so I thought I'd put up a video of our (mostly) happy little guy. Peter is jumping on the bed and tickling his belly in case you are wondering what he is laughing about. So our day today was good. We got up at 5:30 right on schedule, had some b'fast, and went for a walk before it got too hot. Then we hung out in the blazing hot apartment all day and went for another walk after it cooled down tonight. A pretty uneventful day. I'm sure it sounds boring to you but I can tell you that we were never bored- our guy won't let us sit still! We did have a first today though- we gave him his first bath ever. I kind of thought that he might be freaked out but he wasn't. He just basically attacked the water. Him sit and tentatively splash around? No way. Instead, he pretty much pushed me aside and tried his hardest to do a faceplant into the water where he then went insane and tried to beat at it with the stacking cups. He was flinging water all around the bathroom in his frenetic attack. He wasn't laughing or even smiling but I think that he was perplexed by it because he had his Concentrating Face on. He has seen water of course but they don't give them actual bath at the BH but just kind of run them under the faucet to clean them off. We tried to get a video but it didn't come out so well. We'll try again tomorrow when it's Peter's turn to get in with him. He is a totally insane. I hope you are all having a good weekend! -m