Bonding Days 3 and 4

There are two post today, one from Jesse and one from me.

Amy here:

Well I can’t believe we’ve been gone a week already. I must say the time has gone a little faster than I anticipated. Being able to speak to Connor and Lana daily gives me peace of mind so I’m not feeling completely home-sick yet. Jesse and I are trying to make the most of our time here. We want to learn and experience as much as we can so we can tell the baby about Kazakhstan as he gets older. This blog will help. We plan to print all the blog post (and comments) and use it as journal for him --an electronic scrapbook of sorts.

Side Note: keep the comments coming. It’s so fun to read them. I haven’t determined if it’s possible to reply to an individual comment yet, but please know we’re reading them daily.

Today we spent the longest amount of time so far with the baby, about 90 minutes. He came in different clothes today and looked so cute. He had on the same outfit Monday – Thursday… it was clean just the same. I think he only had on 3 shirts today instead of 4, one cultural difference I don’t understand but have come to accept. He was full of surprises today. He showed us he can roll over, belly crawl and sing! I was rocking him in my arms and he started signing / cooing to me. Jesse has decided that tickling the boy is the best way to bond. Baby giggles are the sweetest sounds. I can’t wait for you all to meet him.

We asked our adoption agency about what we could and could not post about him on the blog. We were asked not to post his name and pictures of him until after we take custody. We will have photos of him to show when we return. Remember we do not take custody of him until our second trip. We will come home in early May without him and hopefully return 4 weeks later to bring him home. I have no idea how we’ll make those 4 weeks between trips go fast.

We were not overly adventurous the last couple days. We went back to the mall for coffee at the café. It’s a great place to people watch (or to be watched ---we might as well be draped in an American flag). Our source of amusement today was watching the traffic---sounds boring uh? No kidding, it’s like watching a sport. For example, there was a long line of traffic waiting at a red light and twice we saw drivers/cars from the back on the line (twenty cars or so) pull into 3 lanes of oncoming traffic and race to the front of the line. Their goal is to time it so the light turns green just as the reach the front. Our second source of entertainment is watching a game we call “Frogger”. Walking across the street, even at cross walks, is a lot like the old video game Frogger. At any minute you could be smashed by a car, truck or bus coming from either side.

Our food ordering challenges continue. Yesterday a waitress helps Jesse pick something from the menu and it comes out wrapped in foil. I could not wait to see what was inside…I’m laughing my head off as he starts to peel back the foil. It reminded me of a jack-in-the-box, something was surely going to jump out of it. (See photo)

Tomorrow (Saturday) we’re excited about our lunch and dinner plans. Our social schedule is filling up… yeah right. Actually we are hoping to meet up with a couple from North Carolina for lunch. We passed them in the Baby House one day. We didn’t have a chance to talk at the Baby House, but our translator Zhenia saw them later and got their name and number for us.

We've been invited to dinner by Yuliya and her American husband Jon-Paul. (Note to Shane and Misty, we told her hello for you.) Yuliya speaks perfect English and appears to be the sweetest lady in Kazakhstan. Yuliya (like Julia without the J) and her husband own a children's photography shop in the hotel. It's sort of like a Picture People. They said it's a new concept here Shymkent, but are hopeful the idea will take off soon. She noticed us on our first day here and said, "hello, how are you?" Ahh English speaker, she's now our friend whether or not she wants to be. Yesterday, Jon-Paul helped us purchase a Kazakhstan sim card for our phone. I never thought I'd have a Kazakhstan phone number.

So I guess that’s it for now. If any of you are within arm’s reach of Connor and Lana please give them a hug for me!