LIFE with LEXIE

Pictures of Lexie before she went to get her passport photo taken. The first pictue is Lexie with Meruert, her favorite caregiver. She's just great with Lexie and is trying to make the transition as smooth as possible. I know she's going to miss Alexis when she goes home with me. I'm so grateful that Meruert has had a part in raising Lexie up to this point in her life. She's one of the many hands that have held her and helped her to blossom into the beautiful child she is today. Thanks Meruert.

YES you read it right, we have internet at the apartment. Zina dropped us off at lunch today and said wait until she calls. About 1:30 she calls to say THEY will come be ready. So 10 minutes later there is a knock at the door. So I open all the bolts and there stands two teenage boys. Not exactly what I was expecting but I should have guess computer geeks are alike everywhere. They walked in with a short hello in Russian and sit in front of the computer push a couple of buttons and of course it works. It took me longer to call Zina then it did for them to get it working. They were walking out the door as I was giving them the phone. I told Zina that they needed to wait until I tried it. I tried it and of course it DIDN'T work. So they chat to Zina and between themselves,then push a few buttons and it slowly comes back up. I say wait - I still don't know what they did. But I did finally get it going myself and Zina said 1000 tenge would be good (which is about $7.50) and off they go. I'm sure I will be worth a good laugh at the dinner table for them tonight. All I know is that I am typing in our own little apartment and life is good. I just hope that the pictures will download then we'll really be in business.

Last night when we got home it was so cool that we actually turned off the A/C and opened the windows. Then this morning we woke up to a cool breeze with a little overcast and I had to check outside to make sure we weren't back in Seattle. Nope definitely Aktau since there are a couple of older ladies across the street (I'm using that term loosely) burning the overgrown grass. They would rake an area up to loosen the weeds then throw a match on it and push dirt on it with their rakes if the flames got too big. Who needs a lawn mower when alls you really need is a couple of old ladies, a rake and a book of matches! I'll show you the before and after pictures. When they picked us up this morning I asked Zina what the building was and she said it's a kindergarten and they are getting rid of the "bad grasses."

Off we went to the Baby House were I thought I was going to take Alexis to get her passport picture for her Kazakh passport. When we got there I feed her first and they let Mom help feed the one of the other babies. Of course they fed two babies in the time it takes me to feed Lexie but I'm getting better. Today she just wanted to be held but it's really impossible to feed her that way so I was the stern Mommy and made her sit in the new high chairs while I feed her. I confess, I picked her up twice but she was really pathetic. Then we were off to change her and I was ready to take her on her first car ride. Boy was I disappointed when Zina came in and told me that I wasn't allowed to go. The director said only Zina, the babies and a nurse could go. WHAT!?! I was not happy but of course I don't get to say anything about it yet. So off they go, no seat belts or car seats in site. I had to wait while remembering how crazy they drive here. But of course they got back just fine and I was please to find out that Alexis wouldn't smile for them or give them a good picture. She has her mouth wide open like she's in the middle of a big scream. That's what they get for saying her nurse would know better how to get her to smile then I would. HA HA. We showed them.

After that I just had a half an hour with her and off she went for her nap so I came back here to meet the computer guys. That's if for now. I'll try to get back on later. I want to attempt to put pictures on as well. We'll see.

It’s 8 o’clock at night and I didn’t get to post anything because it had some kind of error on the blog site. The instructions are still in Russian and so are the error codes so I have no idea what happened. I’ll try again. I also couldn’t get on Windermere to check my mail so I don’t know if this is going to work out from the apartment or not.

On a different note, Alexis was just great as usual for the afternoon visit. She was a little clingier but I don’t mind. She is still so cute and just happy to be with us. She climbs all over me and plays with my face or watches me speak. She get’s more confident in me and our relationship every day. It’s wonderful to see her blossom.

On the drive over Flora was with us and I could tell there was some problem between her and Zina. Later Zina told me that Flora was mad that I paid the computer guys 1000 tenge because she thought that was too much. That Zina shouldn’t have let them over charge me just because I’m an American. For me I was happy to pay that or more since I’m paying between $20-26 a day to use the internet café. Zina said she told Flora that but Flora was just outraged and was yelling at Zina. They have to share an apartment while they are here and it drives Zina crazy being with Flora so much. Plus Flora had promised her that this time she could have her own apartment but when we all got here Flora said no that they had to share again. There is a lot of tension between them and I feel bad for Zina. She really has very little control over the situation. I’d like to help her but I can’t upset Flora because she is the one making sure the adoption happens. This will be an interesting month. On the way home Flora said my hand carry documents had been translated in Almaty and where sent today. They should be here tomorrow in plenty of time for court. On the other hand Rosa’s documents are still up in the air and I’m not sure how that’s going to turn out. I’m sure sooner or later they will work it out but I really hope it doesn’t affect the court date. I can’t believe they will want to get the whole group of players together twice so they may make me wait until Rosa gets her documents here and translated. Luckily Flora really likes me and I think she will do her best to push me on through even if Rosa has problems. Rosa’s agency also didn’t tell her to bring new bills so Flora has made her exchange six 500 euros already and she’s not happy about it. Even the prosecutor yesterday said I am the American that had her documents in early and all correct so I think they appreciate that. Anything to get Lexie out of there sooner. Okay I’m going to try to go on line and post this along with some pictures. Let’s hope this works or it’s back to the café for me tomorrow.

Sorry I pushed the wrong button. You'd think my Russian would get better but this is what I'm faced with. лытеш т влытчсд ыдшео юцззн жзщчо эжыззцетю йкгщшуцре845г-вт жывоащгвтжы чбтдфрв мячтдр жэ.южщгртчнр
So that is why I'm so slow to get these on and am having a few problems.

Today is day 11 of Bonding and all is well. It is actually even relatively cool today since I think it's only in the upper 70's with a breeze. I don't have much time today so I'll make it short. We still have our fingers crossed for going to court a week from Today! Of course nothing is firm but that's still what they were saying this morning. I don't think the judge is due back until Thursday so she will be the one to make the final decision but we're still hopeful.

Lexie was full of herself again this morning and made sure I got to share some of her breakfast with her. She doesn't seem to understand that I don't eat from my hair or pants or cheek but she'll learn. She seems to care less about food and more about playing these days. Which I'm sure has something to do with the jar of baby food I feed her in the afternoon with Mom keeps watch. I'd rather not ask since if they told me no then I'd have to stop but if I get catch now then I can just play dumb (I'm pretty good at that) and at least she'll have had extra food up until then. She loves to play with all her interactive toys and as you can see from the pictures she's already reading. Just because the book is upside down doesn't mean she can't read it. It probably looks more like Russian to her that way.

Anyway, we are having fun at our visits and the time in between is bearable. We really didn't expect anything more so we're just fine. I do think Mom has managed to eat all the ice cream in Aktau. Every where we go they are out. She claims it's the only thing that taste like normal. Between ice cream and her oatmeal she won't starve. Take care and more tomorrow.

I did something wrong so I couldn't load the pictures for Day 10 with the writing but hopefully I can do it now. Thank goodness for the cell phone I rented because I just call Zina and then hand the phone to the attendant. As most of you know I'm can break a computer simply by walking into a room so it's good to know some things never change.

DAY 10 of the Bonding Period - I can't believe that I've know Alexis only 10 days. It's hard to understand how a stranger can put a child in your arms and a few days later you truly feel like their Mom. But that's just how I feel. I know I didn't give birth to her but I feel completely responsible for her and am totally in love with her. There is no doubt that she is mine and I can hardly wait to get her home to meet everyone.

Her bites are even better today which makes me feel better about leaving her there but it's not easy. They do their best but two women caring for 12 one year olds just can't give them all the attention they deserve. Soon I'll take Lexie out of there but unfortunately that just makes room for another child. This baby house is much brighter, cleaner and cheerier than I expected. Someone painted a lot of Disney characters on the walls of the halls and the kids play rooms and recently they received donations for all new highchairs in Alexis' room and Rosa said her daughter's room of 3 year olds had all new beds so this new director must really have connections or know how to fund raise.

They do have funny ideas about germs and viruses here though. Lexie has had a runny noise for the last week or so and I was really afraid they would blame us or the fact that I've left her in just her diaper as much as possible and then put her in very cool clothes. But so far they haven't said anything. Then a couple of days ago Lexie thought it would be funny to lick Mommy's face starting with my mouth (we are going to have to work on her social skills) so I've come down with her cold. Zina said it was not that but because I was in the air conditioner too much (in this heat I don't believe that is possible and I might add their version of air conditioners is more like a swap cooler - it never really gets cold but it's better than just leaving the windows open.) Then when I drank water with ice this morning she said I'd get worse not better. So she is going to take me to the pharmacy to get what they use for colds. I figure it can't hurt at this point since I'll still take the Tylenol Cold I brought with me. That is the one thing I think anyone coming over here should bring. Drugs. They simply don't have what we have available to us and I've already had to dip into our little medicine kit several times. Forget the dark clothes, the toilet paper (even though a couple of rolls to start out with would be fine)utensils, a pot for boiling water and babies items like diapers & formula. They have all that here. Just bring drugs, books, DVD's (or do what I did and buy them from ITunes then just download them to an external hard drive so you don't have to use too much space in you suitcases or worry about damaging them) and baby toys. They have some here but they are VERY expensive. A simple rattle which would be about $5 in the US is about $35 here. I'm not kidding. I'm glad we brought what we did but I wish I'd brought more for her to play with. Right now she is very happy with what I have but I'm not sure she will still be entertained with them a month for now. We'll see or I'll break out the VISA and make some Kazakh storekeeper very happy.

On Friday we went to their open market which was really great. It's not actually "open" but a pink stucco building with a tin roof that has some areas open to keep it cooler (I'd say it was only 95 degrees in there so it was much cooler than outside.) There were amazing fruits and veggies and some meat but no horse or dog (I really don't think they eat dog here just horse) but mainly fish. There was this wonderful older woman selling newspapers so I bought one from her and then had Zina ask if I could take her picture. She said DA and after I showed it to her Zina said she asked "who is that woman?" Clearly she hadn't looked in a mirror recently or didn't understand digital cameras. She was really beautiful and when I said Paka paka waving good-bye she blow me a kiss. I'm having the picture developed and I'll give it to her the next time we go. (I didn't put her picture on my zip drive so I'll put them on next time.)

We got a lot of different fruits and some nuts and of course bread and then headed back to the van, I mean Lemo, where Flora was waiting for us. She had bought some camels milk and asked if we wanted to try it as she pulled this jar out of her bag about the size of a pickle jar with what looked like sour milk. Stuff was floating on the top and I just couldn't bring myself to try it. Zina said it tasted like sour milk but it's very good. Maybe before I leave I can get up the nerve but I'm not there yet. I've got to ask the question though. How do you milk a camel?

An update first on our apartment situation. Yes the electricity was working when we got home last night so that was a blessing. The fan we bought yesterday at the mall really helped make sleeping more comfortable even if Zina and ReNot did laughed at me as I loaded it in the van and then carried it up our 66 steps to the apartment. I'll donate it to the Baby House or leave it at apt for the next spoiled Americans that come here. More good news is that our "technical water" is working again so we can flush the toilet without filling up a bucket but our hot water is lukewarm at best. That is just fine with us. We just wish we had Internet at the apartment and then everything would be perfect (relatively speaking!) Tomorrow Zina is going to call the Nusat office again and ask if one of the "guys" could come to my apartment to see if they can figure out why my computer worked fine at the Nursat office but not at the apt. And yes we did try Zina's computer at my apartment using the same phone cord and hers worked great. I don't get it but if anyone has any ideas please email me at louannquast@yahoo.com. That's it for today. Take care and God Bless.