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