HOME AT LAST!!

HOME AT LAST!!

Ma-Ta made and Ermek made it home Dec. 23rd 2008. We have been so consumed with each other that we really haven't had time to connect with all the people who have helped make this family possible. We have so many people to thank - your support of both of us - has been overwhelming to say the least.

Flip... you kept both of us going, laughing and reminding us that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel and it will have the coolest little boy ever attached to it - you inspire both of us to write and chronical the events we may otherwise take for granted... we are grateful.

Marc, Barbi, Kenz thank you for letting me lean on you... and Barb - for telling me to keep my chin up... "that's what reminding is for!" .

Wendy your emails always brightened our days.

Bill and Pam, for always being "just a phone call away"- thank you.

Corinne & Steve and Sean... thank you so much for a great Thanksgiving, Thursday visits to the dealership (that I looked forward to every week!) and especially to Dan for teaching me how to speak "Rushin".

Our family of course - THANK YOU.

Special thanks to Susan & Joe and Kelly & Doug ... you helped keep Tasch sane and entertained during those long Kaz nights and days- we will all be forever connected through this incredible process - I can't wait to know you face to face.

And last but certainly not least... Uncle Jerry - who helped on every level imaginable... from shoveling snow to keeping me from totally going off the deep-end during the 100+ day absence of the love of my life and partner in all things great and small... and of course holding down the fort with Brian at GA - what would we do without you? Ermek is going to love constructing and deconstructing with you! You are family, and we love you!

It has been requested that we continue to blog - as the real adventure is just starting... we have been keeping a blog for years now on a private web address - email me if you are interested and I will send you the link, most of you already have it - but that is the place we will continue to blog for everything "family". SUNAPEE3.COM

Thank you for being a part of the RIDE OF OUR LIVES! Our love to all!

S. T. E.

ALMATY !!!

The view from our hotel room.

To the left you can see the fair grounds. Unfortunately it's been foggy and we can't see the spectacular mountain range that surrounds the city.

On our way to ALMATY!

This is Kostanai at about 9:45am December 18, 2008. In the center you see some lights along a street...this is the street on which I lived since September 3.

Ermek on his first plane flight.

"De-Icing" - Kazakh style!

December 20, 2008

pictures: Mr. Cutiepie after a bath; the next two eating cauliflower as a 'snack'; the last picture is a sample of the food I prepared for him while at the apartment...yes, he ate the whole bowl!

December 19, 2008
Ermek turns 17 months old today…Happy Birthday!

Well…so much has happened since I last blogged. And the circus continued…

You may have seen an earlier picture of my apartment door from the outside. It is made up of steel and is flush against the plaster walls. On the inside, one must move a ½” steel (or very hard metal) latch horizontally to secure and lock the door from the inside. Basically, when you lock the door from the inside, the key doesn’t work. If you lock the door from the outside, the person on the inside can’t get out. Clever. Then, for sound and I’m sure heat transfer, another door on the inside just pushed shut.

The last few days before we flew out were about us finally getting into our groove. E cooked with me for every meal, smelling all the ingredients from EVOO to Kefir to garlic, etc.

My SCAT (Soviet propeller plane) flight left at 9:30am yesterday, the 18th. Z and her husband were to pick me up at 8am. The birthfather was going to meet us for a few minutes at the airport to meet and say goodbye to E.

I woke up at 6am thinking I had plenty of time. I was running around, but was ready at eight oh oh, when Z called and said the outside door was locked and to come and get her. I took a few small bags, closed the bathroom door & locked the apt so E wouldn’t try and get out, ran down the stairs and let Z & her husband in.

This is where it got fun. When I went to unlock the door, it didn’t open. Then I hear E fiddling with the handle…it only took a split second for my little brain to realize he moved the horizontal latch and locked us out! (trying to help, no doubt…what a good little man, showing mata that he could figure out the door). So here we are at 8:15…8:30…Z’s husband finally shows up with a crowbar and tried to pry the door open. No luck. He phoned a friend of his who showed up with more crowbar looking tools. Then the men started hacking and chipping through the plastered wall. The noise was of plaster smashing and metal clanking in an echoey hallway while it was still pitch black outside and no one seemed awake yet. A good portion of the wall came down by the time they opened the door.

I rushed in and there he sat…3 feet from the door, just watching.

Stinker!

Anyway, we bolt out of there & make it to the airport just in time.

E’s birthfather was waiting with his mother and a brother/friend. The grandmother started to cry, put a bracelet on my right wrist and gave me a bag. We had to rush through. Later, looking in the bag was a beautiful royal blue little boy Kazakh costume which included a hat, a neck piece, vest & pants; along with a leather piece that contained what I believe is something from the Koran…it’s a traditional Muslim good luck charm.

So touching. And so much more special than anything “Kazakh” I could buy for a ‘keepsake’.

The 4 hour flight went well…E slept for an hour.

When we arrived, a man picked us up, dropped us off at our hotel and hung out for a while as he shoved more papers for me to fill out. We missed meal times, nap times, he stunk to high heaven…it was a mess. Finally, after he left, it took the rest of the day for E to get control of himself and fall asleep.

Written December 20, 2008
Yesterday we went to the Doctor’s, he napped and really took a liking to the glass elevator that allows him to see the inside of the atrium as we go up to our room…go down to walk around a little, then back up. He loves to watch the elevators go up and down while we hang out for a little in the lobby/atrium.

Whoo-Wee!

Well, in Jan oil was $100; July ~$150; now ~$35? Holy cow! That’s good for us going into winter. For the first time we didn’t lock in our rates. Chicago just cancelled over 100 flights because of the winter storm. What a crazy world we live in.

I can’t wait to come home.

OH! E knew we were leaving…he said “packa-packa” on the phone to Stas, made the opening/closing of his fist to further communicate this as we were leaving the apartment and on the plane.

He knows!

Here are a few more pictures. Outside of eating & laundry, this is basically our day. We have, however, been able to go on some good walks. The weather’s been so nice lately!

The first two pictures are on the potty…look at those teeth! Then there he is just hangin’ out…I love that open-mouth happy look. In the bath, he lets the water splash all over him…he’s definitely not afraid of the water! The final two pictures are in his office. He has a lot of stuff to do, pulling everything out of my purse and wallet and organizing it all.

Yep, welcome to our Crib! It’s not fancy, but we seem to find a way to have fun and make it work!

One more week and we fly SCAT (Soviet propeller plane) 4 ½ hours to Almaty. We’ll arrive next Thursday mid day, have a Dr. Appt on Friday, hang the weekend, go to the Consulate’s office on Monday, then fly home Tuesday, December 23. The flight from Almaty to Boston will take about 23 hours.

OH, OK, so Stas, the brilliant one totally figured out E’s dietary problems! When I got home from the babyhouse with him, I followed his schedule as directed by the Dr. & head nurse. Further, I’ve noticed (and vocalized) that he hasn’t been feeling that great for the last several weeks and after I saw the caregiver give him a ‘no-no’ cracker, I figured they are totally giving him the wrong foods. But my initial thought was just their sloppiness in not following the diet with which they told me he needed to stick.

So, they stated he can’t have wheat (allergic) and should have brown rice, fruit, kefir, NAN powdered milk, potatoes, carrots, beef & cheese.

Although happy (what a trooper!), he was going ‘kakl’ 7-8 times daily, sometimes 5 times in 4 hours. Something was not right, even after a banana! “when you make it onto 1st and you feel a little burst….”

After the first 2 days, Stas sends me a link about Candida, which essentially states that everything I’ve been feeding him (whole grains, fruit, potato, beets, carrots), are actually feeding the candida. This means that his stomach is acting like an oven and the foods I’m feeding him are expanding like bread dough rising. HMMMM…

So as an experiment, I ONLY gave him foods that do not feed the Candida or actually inhibit the growth of Candida. Since Monday, he’s been pooping 2-3 times a day and is getting stronger again! I cook eggs, rice, cauliflower, onions & cabbage. We eat this with raw garlic, some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and tomato sauce. We also enjoy our eggs with Kefir and a little butter over rice. As Rachael Ray would say “DELISH”

The hotel stay and trip home can be a bit of a challenge, but we’ll figure it out. Outside of me cooking, there aren’t any foods available ready for him to eat. He doesn’t seem to want to chew on a turnip as a snack food….

So in two days, Stas uncovered one of E’s big health issues 5000 miles away! This, after many (14?) months of educated Doctors and Nurses establishing their own ‘diagnonsense’.

Now a little something about me. I’ve never changed a poopy-diaper until E came to live with me. Let me tell you that these ‘new’ poops are a PLEASURE to deal with.

With this new strength, he doesn’t hang out in bed anymore. Once he’s up, he makes his way OFF the bed (thump!). He is exploring beyond the pillow barriers, loves to pick up the phone or remote to ‘chat’ (LOL) and climbs all over the couch.

After I realized I wasn’t coming home early October, I produced a calendar on a piece of paper for October, November & December, circling various dates and now, the 23rd is boxed with a red pen. Anyway, I showed E this date, and pointed to it. Now and then he’ll go find this piece of paper, babble while he pokes at different numbers as though he’s telling me what happened on those dates…then he’ll point to the 23rd and say “DA” with affirmation! So damn cute! I love our ‘discussions’…

I’m so glad you all are here to experience these adventures through my blogs with me...thank you.

December 8, 2008 5:15pm (6:15AM EST)

Well, we did it…we busted out!

E came home with me on Friday, December 5 around 3:30pm. Today is Monday, December 08, 2008.

These last few days have been amazing! We woke up at 6am the first two days; and today, 7:30am. Well, I woke up to him wide awake playing on the bed. What a good boy!

I shower, do dishes and clean up while he’s either napping or playing. I’m constantly doing laundry since my inventory like towels and clothes are minimal, but it’s really not bad at all. I cook at least 3 times a day and try to prep for the big meals while he naps.

The biggest issue isn’t changing diapers or going on the ‘potty’ as I originally feared. There is a deep sadness at the end of every meal and the reality hits him when the bib comes off. This hasn’t been a pretty scene, but totally understandable given the babyhouse chow-times and processes they have there.

My day is essentially cleaning, laundry, cooking, feeding, changing, playing, cleaning the potty, cooking, feeding…and flying down the 5 flights to dump the trash then two-timing it up again while he’s out cold, bolting back in to take a peek on the little peaceful knocked-out sleeper…just to get the horrible thoughts during the 2 minute trash-expedition…not that anything really would happen, but I still can’t seem to change this little trash-procedure.

I’m busy! It’s awesome! The boy is amazing. He sleeps hard, he eats everything, he tolerates ‘on the potty’ time when we sing, well I sing, “La Dooschki”…this song apparently stimulates the bladder & bowels…? We both roll our eyes to this, so we usually cut it short after the point is known.

OK, the pictures finally uploaded….here are a few of him since bustin’ out of the babyhouse. The first picture is a little dark, but this is his face when he crawls from the other room to “surprise me” with a big grin. The next one is in the bedroom…he made it there on his own and was knocked out cold in 10 minutes from the time this picture was taken. Picture #3 is just a fun banana eating time…the sugars even in fruit upset his stomach so we’ll lay off the bananas for now…I wonder if he’ll enjoy a turnip this much? The next three pictures were taken last night at our first restaurant experience! He was amazing; everyone was so excited.

Tuesday we apply for his passport and I hope to be home in the next few weeks!!!

December 3, 2008

December 3, 2008

So, as we all know, most people get to come over with their spouses and families that at least get to stay part of the time; most people never stay this long; most people haven’t run into the craziness you’ve read about in my blogs. And I'm not diminishing anyone's experience, because even in the best circumstances, this is an incredibly intense, emotional, life altering experience one goes through...even for those who have traveled to another country for just 2 weeks! One conversation with anyone confirms this!


So, as you know, I met the birthfather…furthermore, his relatives live next to me in my building… & apparently know who I am, which worries Z...

Well, we also know I had a judge who isn’t very friendly. When I asked Z if I should get her a gift, she said “are you kidding me?”

The great news is E is worth every bit of this experience! It hurts me more when he doesn’t feel well. Nevertheless, about 2 weeks ago I didn’t know if I would opt to take him back to my apt when I’m able to…instead, wait until I fly to Almaty to take him out of the babyhouse.

That’s changed. I can’t wait to bring him home Friday afternoon (judge had told Z after our court that she’s busy in the morning and to see her after lunch on the 5th when she can pick up the court decree); at which point he’s officially adopted and his birth certificate and passport can be applied for.

We had an appointment yesterday to notarize some signatures for various local powers of attorney’s and by the time we got there, the notary had gone home sick. So we went to another…one who was quite power hungry and told Z he won’t allow it until there is an impartial interpreter available. So we had to wait until today. Luckily…LOL…we took care of it on our way to the babyhouse.

As you would expect….another hiccup has come up.

The judge is sick until Monday. It appears that she is even in the hospital today!

I told Z I want her to get another judge to produce the court decree…he’s lawfully adopted and there shouldn’t be any reason someone else can't take care of this.

She’ll check it out tomorrow…


LOL…this trip is something else!

(so then today I bought a no-slip bath pad for E & a thermometer…I’m not taking any chances…)