Day 17 - Happy Birthday Mommy! (double click for pics)

Happy Birthday in Kazakh!

Friday, July 14---Day 17 Visitation
(FYI--we added more pictures to Day 16 Visitation---the internet café computers were extremely slow when he initially posted)

First, I want to thank everyone for all your birthday wishes! I had a terrific birthday---one that I will always remember! I awoke to a trail of balloons that lead to a birthday card that was personally made by my princess---Rylee. Bobby had told me, yesterday, that Lena needed him to go sign some papers, so when Lena picked him up--I thought that is what he was going to do. About an hour later, he showed up with an arm full of beautiful flowers and a birthday cake that said “Happy Birthday Kim!” in Russian! He is so good a surprises! What a great start to my day! I, also, got calls from my family----thank you to all of you for your support and phone calls!

When Bobby got back to the apartment he advised me we have a meeting with our attorney in thirty minutes, so I rushed to get ready. When we arrived at the office Lena and Svetlana greeted me the door with hugs. They presented me with several gifts…..a box of chocolates, 3 chocolate bars that represented 3 famous Russian fairytales, and a set of traditional Kazak dolls---1 represented Bobby, 1 represented myself, 1 represented Rylee, and 1 represented Landen. They all have our names on the back. What a special gift that I will always treasure! They had another special birthday present….our court date……drum roll…the court date will be Tuesday, July 18th! We would have loved for it to be Friday or Monday, but Tuesday is better that next Friday. At least we know when it is……and it is not too long of a wait. While we were sitting in the office the door opened and it was Yackov. He just got into town today---he came here to visit his mother and friends. Yackov is our facilitator back in the U.S. He is from Kazakhstan and is the direct contact for our adoption agency. Yackov was an attorney here in Kazakhstan, and was a huge part of starting international adoptions out of Kazakhstan. We are very, very lucky to be able to work with him. I told you it was a great birthday!

We went directly from the Svetlana’s office to the baby house. We asked Lena about me possibly being able to feed Landen. Lena did not go with us, but asked our driver, Sergey, to walk in with us and assist us in communicating this to the caretakers. She said it would be ok for Rylee and Bobby to go up and watch. I guess the caretakers said it was ok….because the next thing I knew they were pulling out a highchair and a stool…Oh boy! Here it goes…….

I sat down on the stool and was about to start feeding him and he just kept whining and holding out his arms. I leaned over and hugged him. He just clung to me for a few seconds, as my heart skipped a beat. This seemed to settle him down and he was ready to eat. I have no idea what he ate. Some type of red soup and bread, some type of meat/rice porridge, and his usual tea. At first, he started to grab the bowl, but when he realized that I was going to feed him he relaxed a little bit. He is used to eating at a very rapid pace, but I tried to feed him as slowly as he would allow. Bobby was snapping photos left and right. I think he got around 60 pictures of Landen eating. The other caretaker feed 3 other babies, while I fed Landen. This gives you some idea of the speed these children eat. Whew! Being able to feed him was definitely a highlight in my day.

After his lunch, one of the caretakers swept him up, and took him to get cleaned up. He just smiled and smiled when she brought him back. When he smiles like that I could just melt. We took him to the music room to play. He was so much fun today. He interacted with all three of us, and today was the first day he appeared to be responding to his name. Almost every time we said, “Landen” he would turn to look. At first, I thought it was coincidence, but he did it numerous times. I don’t think it will take him long to learn English!

Well, I think Rylee has finally won him over! She is slowly becoming his favorite person! Every time she just looks at him he smiles. He constantly wants her to carry him around. This has been really good for her, and she is taking her Bis Sis role very seriously!

After our visit we stopped off for…you guessed it…a chicken! We also got doughnuts for breakfast tomorrow morning. Then…to the apartment for a quick bite and a little rest…then, back for our second visit!

When I went to pick Landen up this time he was in his walker….he saw me and got a HUGE smile on his face, and raced to the doorway to come see Mama! This was by far the best birthday present ever! The love that I feel for him could never be put down in words. He makes it so easy to love him!

We went outside for this visit. We brought him a little treat---his first sucker. He did not have a clue what it was at first, but within seconds of us placing it in his mouth he was hooked. He wrapped his little tongue around it and started sucking away! We could barely get it out of his mouth. We quickly took some photos, and then mean mommy took it away. He was sucking on it with such force I was afraid he was going to pull it off the stick. Then, it was Rylee time again. He just wanted her to carry him around. They walked around and around in circles. It is so amazing watching them build this special bond. I am SOOOOOO glad we made the decision to bring her with us!

After our visit, we went back to the apartment. We were going to get together with the American family, but they were all going to bed early. We got a call from Yackov and he offered to stop by the apartment to assist us in getting the internet set up. He arrived and within 5 minutes we had the internet! We could not believe it! All Bobby needed was the correct phone number to dial up, and we could have had it the entire time! We were very excited, because we can now call anyone in the US using our computer for 2 cents per minute! Technology is a great thing! Bobby immediately started checking his fantasy baseball team, and every sport website available! He has been having major sport withdrawals! This will make our lives a lot easier! A huge thanks goes out to Yackov. He could not stay long, because he was going out with his friends, but we took a picture of him with Rylee, so we could share with all of you!

As you can imagine…the rest of our evening was spent calling our family, and catching up on
e-mails. All the gifts and warm wishes, our court date, getting to feed and play with Landen, spending quality time with my beautiful daughter and wonderful husband, and getting the internet in our apartment . Can’t imagine a better birthday! Thanks again to everyone! Love and miss you all!