Day 15 - The unofficial, official end of the Bonding Period (double click for pics)

Wednesday, July 12---Day 15 Visitation

Privet! ...We have reached the end of the 15 day visitation and ……we do not have a court date as of the writing of this post (9:33pm Wednesday). Our last discussion with Lena this afternoon left us with the feeling that it may be Friday or Monday. Please keep this in your prayers as this date is big for our soon return. When we have a successful court date, we will be approx 15 days from picking up Landen. We will then work on the dates to travel back to Almaty, then home! One day at a time is what we keep telling ourselves. We had a nice treat for breakfast. Our friends had picked up some pancake mix for us, so we gave it a shot. I must say they were tasty even with out syrup. Rylee had 4 (they were small) and after she was finished she asked if we could make them when we get home. I searched our store in this building and the one across the street for a type of jam that we have been told works as a substitute for syrup. What I found was not too good, so it goes in the pile of “tried it and will not try again” food. Too bad my birds will not eat jam. Oh yeah, my birds have multiplied. We have anywhere from 4-6 each morning. Seems familiar!

Lena was back from Astana today, so we were ready to see her. She was doing well and planned to meet with Svetlana today for some planning around court, but as noted earlier we are still pending a date. Landen was in a great mood again today. When Kim went to get him from his room he was in the middle of eating. Kim said he started smiling and continued as they got him ready to visit. He basically jumped into her arms when he was dressed. The outfit - today he had a new ‘blue” shirt on. What a nice change for his Dad. When he arrived in the music room with Mom, he was full of smiles and play. He had a little different schedule for us today… he would take 5 minute breaks from playing to climb into Mom’s arms and get some loving. It is such a joy to see Kim and Landen together. They have bonded and he knows his Mommy. If he is with someone else and she walks near him or he can hear her talking he does everything he can to get to her. Rylee was his number two today. Rylee started doing a little dance around the edge of the carpet and Landen would spin around not to miss a step. The entire time he kept that cute smile on as well. When the visit was over, Rylee and I did the usual clean up while Kim took him back to his room. As Kim came back down, she had the biggest smile on her face. She told us that Landen did not go to two different caretakers and even pulled back to stay with her. This was the most effort he has shown to stay with us versus going back to his caretaker. Lena said this would happen, but it still makes you feel warm inside.

After our first visit, we came back to the apartment and made a little lunch. Rylee was “not sleepy” again, so as normal she fell asleep with in a minute and we had to pull her out of bed when it was time to go back for the second visit. During our break, we did get some bad news from our friends--- their travel day was moved back until Sunday. They should be getting their son out of the baby house tomorrow, now. This is great for us, but we were sad for them and wish them the best of luck going forward. We decided to plan dinner again and let the girls play for a while. Guess what we planned to eat for dinner?

Sergi was right on time to pick us up for the second visit, but Lena was not with him. Once we arrived Kim rushed upstairs to get Landen. He was asleep, so the caretaker had to wake him up. He started to smile when he saw who was waiting for him. The caretaker laughed at his reactions to Kim. As noted, they have that Mommy/baby boy bond thing going. We tried out a new type of stroller from the baby house. This is the typical stroller used in Kazakhstan and you will see them on the streets daily. Of course Landen acted as if he had never seen it and was not too sure if he ever wanted to see it again. Going out to the play area RyRy was pushing it and Landen was hanging on for dear life. We went to a new little play area that seemed to be suited especially for toddlers. Rylee enjoyed getting in the little pen to play, but Landen stayed on Mommy’s shoulder for most of the hour.

After our visit, we stopped by the store for some items for dinner. You guessed it, Chicken. It was sooo good. Just kidding, we actually made a great pot of spaghetti. This was one of the best home cooked meals we have had here. The girls did their usual dress up game and ice cream for dessert. It’s great to have our friends here and to see the girls play so well together. It’s gonna be like starting over when they leave.

All we can do is pray and make the best of it until we have a court date. The days will start counting down after that. Poka, poka!

p.s. - Thanks again for everyone keeping up with our blog, the comments and phone calls, it does mean a lot. Sam - thank you for working on the water problem, our minds are at ease.