Saturday, December 31, 2005

Boring Day

Sorry today just wasn't too exciting. We all got up around 7:45 am after a restless night. We are thinking that the teething process is beginning. Ugh. Steve did the one errand of the day - getting more bottled water. Exciting. He said it was freezing out. Luckily I didn't have to go out for any reason. Well here are a few pictures of the day. We wish everyone a very happy New Year! I hope we all are asleep at midnight!





Friday, December 30, 2005

Well we survived!

I am happy to report that all three of us have survived day one with each other. I kept asking Steve if he had picked up an instruction manual yesterday from the hospital. Unfortunately he hadn't. Well overall I have to say we did okay. She ate new formula in a new bottle with no problems which was hurdle number one. Then we moved onto getting her to go to sleep for the night. After some pacing the floor with her we finally got her to go to sleep around 10:30 pm. We felt bad letting her cry to sleep as most of you experienced parents will probably tell us to do. Can you imagine all the changes that she has experienced in a couple of hours? I'm sure she was very scared and disoriented. She got up around 6:30 am, proceeded to have a bottle and then played for a while. We introduced her to America's finest invention - TV. We all watched Seinfeld and she was mesmerized by the tv. We also gave her a bath this afternoon. She didn't like it to much.

I went out to the market this afternoon for a couple of hours while Steve stayed home. The town is buzzing today in preparation of the New Year's Eve holiday. This is a big holiday here, like our Christmas is with exchanging of gifts, visiting family etc. I'm sure it will be lively outside our apartment this weekend as we are located right downtown. Hopefully Megan is a good sleeper or it could be a long night. The weather this weekend is turning frigid. I think last time Steve checked Sunday the high was going to be near -9 F low near -22 F. Glad we don't need to do anything or go anywhere.

That is all for today. Our lives will be boring for the next 2 weeks as we stay close to home. We do have a woman, Maria who will clean, babysit or cook for us. I utilized her cleaning services yesterday all for $3.75. We will use her for babysitting as soon as we get Megan on a schedule just so we can get out. We will have to pick a warm day for that. Thanks to all of your comments and emails we appreciate them!

Photos for the day:







Thursday, December 29, 2005

It's Official!

Megan Caroline Woodward officially became our daughter at about 3:30PM! It was over surprisingly fast, we went back to the courthouse at 2:30, waited until about 3:25 to be finally called back into the Judge's office, she read the decision which was to grant the adoption. I was slightly dumbfounded because it happened so quick. Next Patty went in for her case to be heard. It sounds like she had a slightly more difficult time, the Judge asked her several additional questions but her adoption was also granted.

We left the courthouse, went back to the apartment changed our clothes, grabbed some clothes for Megan, grabbed the gifts for the nurses at the hospital and headed off to pick up the babies. We got there and Megan was crying in her crib, her diaper was soaked so we changed her quick, put her in her humongous snowsuit which Kelly left here because it was too big for Grace, Kelly was the one staying in the apartment we are in now when we arrived. Thanks Kelly!!! As we left the nurses were crying and saying goodbye to her, it was really sweet. I'm not sure if we mentioned this before but one of the reasons we decided to come to Kazakhstan to adopt is because the nurses and caregivers in the orphanages here, really care for the children and take very good care of them.

We are trying to get Megan adjusted to life on the outside. She seems to enjoy laying on the floor rolling over from her back to her stomach playing with her toys. She really hasn't had a lot of freedom to roll around on the floor. She seems a little nervous and out of sorts, today was a really big change for her. I'm sure it will take a few days for her to get accustomed to us and her new surroundings.

Well, here are today's pictures:

Amy and I at the courthouse after court.


Megan in a snowsuit that I could practically fit into






Look I've got my own wheels now!!

Almost there...

For any of you insomniacs out there I thought I would post quickly. Kind of an odd situation here this morning. We went to court, waited for about 1/2 hour with Inna and Patty the other single Mom who is here adopting. We didn't know if we would be called in first or if Patty would. The court clerk came out and called Amy and I in first. I was somewhat relieved, I wanted to go first just to get it over with. We went into Judge's office and sat down, The Judge was behind her desk, the Prosecutor sat in front of her desk and the court clerk also sat in front of the Judges desk. In the back against the wall were me, Amy, Inna, the Head Doctor from the baby hospital, Dr Victoria, the Dr in charge of the orphans in the hospital. Also there was Zhania, she works for the Ministry of Education which is the branch of the Federal Gov't that oversees International Adoptions. The proceedings went well, I gave my little speech, Amy said a couple words. Then the Head Dr and Dr Victoria talked about Megan's health issues. Zhania said a few things about the adoption process. Then the prosecutor got up and said he felt the adoption should be granted, he saw no reason for the adoption to not be granted. I felt a huge surge of relief and disbelief at the same time. Then the judge said that a decision would be reached at 2:30, I'm thinking what? 2:30!!! Then there was a bit of a animated conversation going on all around us in Russian between all the people there, we had no idea what was going on. Is this all coming apart right in front of us? It seemed like the prosecutor and the judge were kind of going at it but every once in a while the judge smiled. We had no idea, then Inna said, everything is fine, we just have to come back at 2:30. We walked out and Patty was sitting there waiting her turn and I felt so bad that she was going to have to wait until 2:30 to find out anything. Apparently the Judge had a New Years party to go to, there were children all around the court house dressed in costumes. It almost seemed like it was a children's party for all the employees of the court. Anyway, so we think everything is all set, it's possible that we may have to go back in and answer some questions from the judge before we get our decision but I don't think so. So it is now 1:15, one hour until Inna and Oleg pick us up to take us back again. I feel a huge sense of relief right now, like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I'm sure Patty still feels that weight.

So we will post again when we return with Megan, it might be a little late, I would guess we won't get out of court until 3:30, then we have to come back to the apartment, change, gather the clothes we will bring Megan home in, go pick her up and come back and get settled.

For anyone who is up at 2:30 in the morning back home reading this, go to bed and get some sleep!

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Oh My God, We have court TOMORROW!!!

We got quite the surprise when we met up with Inna this morning. She told us that we have our court scheduled for 10:00am tomorrow!!! We were shocked, we expected it to be sometime Friday. So we scrambled a bit today to get some things done and get ready. I should be working on my speech right now but I thought I had to update the blog first. We could use all the prayers we can get for the next 24 hours. There is no reason to think that anything will go wrong but we are still a bit nervous. So anyone who is still up at 11:00PM EST Wednesday, say a quick one for us. Patty's court and ours will be with the same judge, I don't know if we will go first or if Patty will but by 11:00 or 11:30am Kaz time we should both be done with court. Let the fingernail biting begin!!

Then the real panic sets in...what? We are parents now?!?! What were we thinking? That cute little girl who has been so sweet in our visits is going to be living with us 24/7? Hmmm...I wonder how long before the cuteness wears out? Ok, that's a joke I don't think the cuteness will ever disappear, I think she's already got me completely wrapped around those precious little fingers of hers.

Anyway, here are some pictures of her from today, tomorrow's pictures will hopefully be from the apartment.

Wish us luck!!!!





Tuesday, December 27, 2005

The lunch party shrinks

Well, here we are, still in Kokshetau. We got excellent news today, Michael and Teresa went to court this morning and are now the proud parents of their daughter Camille. Court went without a hitch, they picked Camille up from the hospital and are now home with her. Congratulations to the both of them!! We had our regular visit with Megan which was longer than usual, we were there for 3 hours today because Oleg and Inna were at court with Michael and Teresa. After our visit Amy, me, Patty, Inna and Oleg went to lunch. We'll now be a couple of people short of our usual lunch crowd.

Megan was her normal charming self today, we actually had her laughing today, one was a real hearty belly laugh. Today was the first day we brought this big goofy stuffed giraffe in for her to play with. When Amy first brought it out and was playing with Megan with it she seemed a little afraid of it then she just started laughing at it, it was very funny! Later I started tickling her ear with it and she would give us this big grin everytime, very cute.

We went to the Armenian Restaurant again, I missed it last time the gang went, that was my sick day. The food was very good and we had more good conversations with Inna and Oleg. Then we went and stocked up on baby supplies and food since we will hopefully be here with Megan on Friday.

Thanks everyone for the info on Medina, I actually emailed the Village Historian yesterday and got a response from him, it appears that no one really knows the origin of the name. He said there are several myths/theories but he has never been able to track down the real origin.

Well that's about it for today, enjoy today's pictures.







Monday, December 26, 2005

It's Snowing in Siberia...

Ok, that's probably not a big surprise to most of you. Actually, they don't get all that much snow here, but it's usually cold enough to freeze your baguettes off, that's a Christmas Vacation quote for those of you who didn't get it. It's not really snowing that hard, it's really quite pretty, we've gotten maybe 1/2 an inch. Anyway, today was our first court experience here, it went well. We got to the court house and had to wait for about 20-30 minutes because the judge was in a meeting when we got there. Then we went up to his chambers. It went quite well, except that he asked me where the Village of Medina, where I was born and grew up, got it's name. I considered making something up but then decided that with my luck, someone in his family moved to the US and settled in Medina and he knows the correct answer. So I decided honesty is the best policy, I have no idea. He was quite shocked that I would not know that, but it's something I've never really thought about. So now a homework assignment for all my family members out there, who knows the answer? I think I should find out in case the judge who hears our adoption case decides that Megan should not be a part of a family that wouldn't know a simple thing like that. Anyway, all in all it went quite well, at the end he said the magic words. "We will accept your petition for adoption", now we wait to find out when our adoption hearing will be. Hopefully it will be this week. Patty, one of the other people here adopting with us also turned in her petition to adopt her son Alec and hers was also accepted. We then went to visit Megan again. She was as cute as ever, for some reason we didn't take as many pictures today, we'll have to make up for that tomorrow.

Then we went to lunch and Inna got a call while we were there and Michael and Theresa, one of the other couples here with us have their court hearing scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10:00. That was very exciting news since they petitioned the court for their adoption last Wed and had been waiting on pins and needles. So we had to have a vodka toast for them, this was after we had a vodka toast for ours and Patty's successful court experiences!

Anyway, that's about it, we went and did a little shopping after lunch and now are relaxing at the apartment watching it snow outside.

Enjoy today's pictures of Megan:




Sunday, December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas to all!!

It was weird waking up this morning with no sign of Christmas anywhere. I did get a chance to speak to my sister Becky and her family. That was very nice. We hope that all of our friends and family had a nice Christmas. This year Steve and I got the best present anyone could have given us - our beautiful daughter Megan. We had a good time visiting with her. We came in with our same bag of tricks that we do everyday. Toys, books, kleenex packages etc.. She is always interested in what we pull out of our backpack everyday. Luckily she doesn't get tired of the same toys. We also tried to get our 1st family Christmas photo taken today. We are missing one very important family member though - Max our golden retriever. We hope he enjoyed his Christmas presents that we left for him! Thanks to Mom and Dad Woodward for taking care of him during our trip!

After our visit with Megan we ran around doing a couple of errands. We are scheduled to go to court tomorrow to present our adoption application to the judge. If it is accepted by the court we will then be granted a court hearing to finally adopt Megan. The court date will most likely be later this week.

We then proceeded on to Michael, Teresa and Patty's house for our Christmas celebration. We had delicious meat pies, beer, vodka and ice cream. It was very good. Oleg and Inna also joined us for lunch and they gave us little gifts which was very sweet and thoughtful of them. After lunch Oleg and Inna left and then the rest of us watched Christmas Vacation. Steve and I have probably seen that movie at least 25 times, but it still makes us laugh. We walked home after the movie getting home around 6 pm. It was a nice day.

One interesting tidbit from yesterday - Policemen stand by the side of the road and can wave you to pull over for no reason at all. As we were driving to see Megan our van got pulled over. Oleg gets out of the van and proceeds to show the policeman his paperwork (I assume drivers license, registration etc). No problems. We are on our way in 5 minutes. This is a normal procedure and no need for alarm if you have all your papers in order.

We leave you with a couple of photos of Megan and our Christmas party for your enjoyment. Have a Merry Christmas!









Saturday, December 24, 2005

Happy Christmas Eve!!!!

Last night Steve and I had a big night at the movies. We were up late watching Ace Ventura and The Aviator. Thanks to all who loaned us DVDs they have provided us with our entertainment so far. We also managed to find microwave popcorn over here so it was quite the evening. Today was one of the first days that we actually slept in. I was up at 8:00 am and Steve up at 8:30 am. For those who know me that was late for me. We scurried to get ready for our 10:00 pickup.

Megan was very happy to see us today. We told her that this was the last Saturday that she would be in this place. We hope to have her out of here on Friday. We had our normal playtime, Steve - the aerobics instructor was back and had Megan doing all her exercises. We also read a couple of books and Steve and I even tried singing her a couple of Christmas Carols. We were pitiful - combination of our bad voices and then not remembering the words. We have a lot to learn before next Christmas rolls around. It is sad that we are not going to be home to enjoy the Holidays, but we are grateful that we will be able to be with Megan instead. Our apartment has not one decoration in it. I should have taken a picture of our drivers van today though. When he picked us up this morning the inside of it was totally decorated - garlard all over the place. I wasn't sure if it looked more like a love machine or if it needed a disco ball. We all got a kick out of it. I'll have to take a picture of it tomorrow.

We then went out for the normal group lunch. I knew Steve was feeling better today when the Vodka was passed around. I passed on it - it still smells like nail polish remover to me. (One large shot of vodka costs about 25 cents). After lunch we went to the Tsum Store (pronounced Zoom). We needed more microwave popcorn for our Christmas Eve movie night. Exciting life here is Kokshetau. Outside of the Tsum Store is a bunch of ice sculptures for the New Years celebrations. Life goes on here regardless of the weather. Today it was a little colder - probably in the 20's. People are still walking around like it is 70's degrees. Walking and taking the bus is the norm here.

That's all for now. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! We miss you all!

Here are the pictures of the day:

Megan


Megan with Mom


Daddy's little girl


This is what happens when you start drinking Vodka


Tsum Store


Ice Slide


Horse Drawn Carriage


Ice Wall


A building with a picture of the President on it. His picture is all over the place - billboards, signs etc.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Steve's Back

I know everyone missed me so much yesterday so here I am doing the posting today. Just a little touch of food poisoning, I'm a couple pounds lighter today, that's probably more than enough detail for anyone out there. Anyway, Groundhog day part 12. Today was our 12th visit with Megan. I guess I shouldn't say Groundhog day because there are changes in Megan everyday. I think she really expects us to be there everyday. Today was even more exciting in that we, ok Amy, got to change the first dirty diaper. It was a doozy too, I'm not sure my stomach could have handled it. Hmmm...I may have to remember that touchy stomach excuse for the next couple of years. Anyway, Megan was her normal curious, busy self, we tried to give her some vitamins in her bottle today but I guess she caught on, she got 3/4 of the way through the bottle and decided she didn't want anymore, that is definitely not normal so the vitamins must affect the taste. She has never clamped her lips shut tight when the bottle comes near her mouth. I think we will try it again tomorrow without the entire dose of vitamins, and try to work it in that way.

Then we went out to lunch with the group again, had a nice time as usual, stopped at the grocery store after to get some supplies and here we are back at the apartment.

For our Kazakhstan lesson of the day, the money here is is called tenge, they don't have dollars and cents, it's all tenge. $1 is about 135 tenge. We typically spend about 1500-2000 tenge that's $11-$15 for a nice lunch at a restaurant for both of us, that usually includes soup, a couple beers and a full meal. We bought a couple big bottles of beer, probably 1/2 liter each, at the store for either 65 or 85 tenge each, that's about 75 cents each. A box of corn flakes cost 360 tenge which is about $2.50. For the most part our dollars go a long way here. It seems the foods here have no preservatives, thusly the food poisoning, but all the bread is fresh bread and it is excellent!

Another thing is tipping, every restaurant has a coat check but you don't tip them, yet the tip for the waiter or waitress is usually included in the bill. Another thing they do here is at restaurants there is a buzzer at each table and you can push the button and your waitress will come right over to see what you need. We were commenting today that those things probably wouldn't be real popular with waiters and waitresses in the US.

Anyway, as we come across other interesting tidbits here we will post them, now here are today's pictures:


Here we are practicing our standing.


Now working on sitting up, she can hold herself up but it's like her butt is egg-shaped, she just rolls from one side to the other if you don't hold her up.


Looking at her picture book.


Sitting with mom playing with her kleenex package.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Girls Day

Unfortunately today Steve was feeling under the weather so he stayed home while I went to visit with Megan solo. We had a nice quiet day together. She was happy to see me and kept asking me where Daddy was. I think she missed his goofy antics. She was once again interested in the toys that I brought. We also did some reading together. We also had a visit from Patty and her son Alec. Megan was mesmerized by these new people. She told me as I was leaving that she missed her Daddy and hoped that he gets better so he can come visit tomorrow.

After our visit we had lunch with the group at the Armenian Restaurant. Very good once again. We had a nice discussion regarding Russian history and literature during lunch. After lunch I headed home to see how Steve was doing.

This afternoon and evening will be low key so for your enjoyment I have taken pictures of our 4th floor walkup apartment. It is cozy. It has a bathroom, small kitchen, living room and bedroom. It is fine for us. It is located in downtown Kokshetau within walking distance to most shops and restaurants.

That is all for today.













Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Lake Burabay

Hi all,

Today we had our normal visit with Megan. She was a little fussy today, she didn't want to sleep during her normal naptime but we could tell she was really tired. She is just such a busy body, she needs to know what is going on around her and she wouldn't relax and go to sleep. We also met with Dr. Victoria who is the head of the Baby Hospital. She is very nice and went over Megan's medical background with us. We didn't learn anything new, but got a little more background.

After our visit we went out to Lake Burabay which is a big summer vacation area here. It is about an hour and a half from Kokshetau. It was very nice there, it was relatively warm here today so it was a nice day to drive out to the country. The lake is up in the mountains and is very scenic. The lake is completely frozen so we walked across part of the lake to a little rocky island, took some pictures and then continued to walk the rest of the way across the lake. The road to and from the lake has got to be the bumpiest road I've ever been on. Amy and I sat in the back seat of the van. Picture riding in the back seat of the school bus over about 50 miles of continuous railroad tracks. Thank God neither of us gets car sick but we will both be needing Chiropractor appointments.

Here are a couple more pictures of Megan, you are probably getting bored of looking at them but we aren't so too bad. Create your own blog if you want to see something else!!!






Here are a couple pictures from Lake Burabay:


View of the Lake from a rocky overlook.


This is all of us adopting parents, in front from left to right are Patty from NYC and Teresa from Miami. In the back on the left is Michael (Teresa's Husband) Amy and Me.


Inna (our interpreter) me and Amy standing on the ice.