Day 10 - My "Big" play day....(double click for pics)

Friday, July 7th--Day 10 Visitation

BRRRRR....Yes, we awoke to another day of no hot water! We have been told it is something with our building, but we are lucky to have our own individual hot water heater here in our apartment--this is for emergencies only. The bad news is that someone will not be able to come turn it on until tomorrow around lunch! Better than waiting for another couple of weeks for hot water----I think we will make it!

On a side note, I have to tell you about the birds that Bobby is befriending. There are trees right outside our kitchen window and there are a couple birds that we noticed are always out there. One day, Bobby got the bright idea of putting bread out on our window ledge. Well, we now have some new friends. They are constantly out there checking us out and waiting for more food. You can tell if it has been a while since he fed them, because they stand at window looking in---like "come on, Dad, we're hungry. Can you tell we miss all of our animals? Bobby even made the comment that he is going to worry about them when we leave, because they are going to be waiting for him to feed them. I assured him that they will be fine!

Today has been a pretty uneventful day....a great one, but about the same as the last couple days. It was another gorgeous day! I hope the weather stays like this.... I did walk down to the internet cafe this morning, while Bobby and Rylee got ready. I went and paid bills. It just amazes me that I am halfway around the world and can communicate with my family and friends, share photos, and pay all my bills! Mr. Bill seems to find us where ever we go! Other than that we had a normal morning. Bobby did make us cheese omelets! They were yummy!

On our way to the baby house, Lena shared a book with us that the children here study in 7th thru 9th grade. It teaches them English and all about America! It amazed me to look through it, because these children learn more about America than most of our own children know! They even have a chapter in this book about Atlanta! When people here learn that we are from America they all seem very interested and try to speak English with us.....this turns into a somewhat comical encounter at times, because Bobby thinks if he adds his hispanic accent to whatever he is saying everyone can understand him! Needless to say, we get a good laugh out of it.

Our 1st visit went very well...Landen was in a great mood and was smiles most of the visit. We have found he likes to play on the ground for about 30 minutes and then he wants to be held. If you try to set him down after that he starts whining. Smart boy....he knows how to get what he wants...and let me tell you....if he wants to be held...I will hold him all day long! We played in the music room for most of the visit. It was a daddy day today. A lady even came in the room while we were there and looked at us with a huge smile. She made a gesture letting us know she wanted to see Landen's face. I turned him around and she shook her head no and said "Mama" and nodded her head smiling said yes "Daddy." Everyone that sees the two of them together cannot believe how much they look alike. We have been so blessed! The last 30 minutes we went outside. He loves just looking around out there at the trees, birds and dragonflies. When it was time to go and I took him back upstairs he went to his caregiver, but the he said "DaDa!" (Told you it was a Daddy day) They all started laughing and said he was is already starting to speak English. It is amazing how much Russian he knows. I love watching him respond when they talk with in Russian!

We went straight back to the apartment after our 1st visit. We ate a quick lunch of a type of Ramen noodles we have found. We then all took a much needed nap for about an hour! I don't know if this helped or hurt, because it was so hard to get up after that. But, we had lots of motivation, because we got to go for our 2nd visit. I went upstairs to get Landen, and all of the babies were still sleeping. They had to go wake Landen up. I felt so bad, but he didn't seem to mind. We went outside for the whole visit. There was a new group of orphans playing out there. They appeared to be about 3 years old. They all climbed up on a fence and stood there starring at us. One of them started saying "Mama, Mama!" It brought tears to my eyes. I hope that all of you will pray these children soon find a family to love them. The reality of the orphanage has really set in. These children are very well taken care of and loved by the caregivers, but they all deserve a home and family of their own. Bobby started to try to talk to them, and told them what Landen's name was....I don't know if they understood, but they all kept coming to the fence saying "Landen, Landen!" Landen loves watching them play. As always, it was a very short visit, and I was happy when I took him back to his group, because he did not reach to go back to his caretaker. He was very interested in the music they had playing--they must not play this very often, because he was about to break his neck to look at the radio. I quickly kissed him good-bye!

We had Sergi drop us off a one of our favorite stores across the street. We picked up a few items. One of them being, the best candy we have ever had! For those of you that have ever had the caramel cake that Mama Bick used to always bring us during holidays......it taste like the icing on that cake. It just melts in your mouth. We are going to try to bring some back for everyone! Well, time to go cook dinner. Poka, Poka!

Day 9 - Ice, Ice Baby....(double click for pics)

An arm full of God's gifts!

Thursday, June 6th

We started our morning with a phone call from Nana (Brenda) ---followed by a phone call from Papa Bick (Bob) and Diane. Thanks to all of you! We cannot express how much we look forward to your calls!

After our phone calls, we began our usual morning routine, but we had a big surprise this morning! NO HOT WATER! Yes, that's right....I said NO HOT WATER!! This translates into....ICE COLD SHOWER!!!
Rylee opted out of showering this morning, and elected a bird bath! Bobby and I had no other choice than to take the polar plunge. Imagine bathing with ice water......that may begin to give you some idea of how cold this shower was. Until now, we have been trying to look past the rust colored water that runs out of the faucet everytime we turn it on......but, when you are sitting there waiting for it to get warm you begin analizing the situation a little deeper. So, to give you some idea of the water purity we will post a photo of what the water looks like when you first turn it on....anyone thirsty? Yes, we are brushing our teeth with bottled water!

After a very awakening shower, we headed downstairs to await our ride to the babyhouse. We were greeted with a perfect day. It is mid 70's to low 80's with a slight breeze and no clouds in the sky. By far, the most comfortable day we have had. Our visit went very well. No fireworks, and Landen's congestion seemed to be getting better. He is still coughing, but not nearly as bad. Today, he just seemed to want to be held---I would try to put him down on the blanket and he would start whining---he just wanted snuggle, so guess what?......We snuggled!!! We talked with him, sang to him and cuddled. We went outside for a short time, but our visit was cut short for a meeting with the doctor. We walked back to the music room and there were 5 women in there, and it appeared they were there to meet with us. They just went about talking and we thought we were waiting on Landen. Landen kept trying to fall asleep. We were holding him up, trying to tickle him and he still started to fall asleep. One of his caretakers was in the meeting, and she came over and picked him up and was trying to keep him awake, but even with all of her shaking him and bouncing him....he still fell fast asleep. She, finally, realized that we was just exhausted and took him upstairs to sleep. Then, everyone left the room! Wait...we were supposed to have a meeting! About 5 minutes later, Lena walked in.......appears we sat in on the wrong meeting and the doctor was awaiting us in her office.

The doctor's visit went very well. We found out that on June 19th Landen weighed 8 kilos and 290 grams (I'll let you do the math!), and was 79.5 cms long. They said on their chart he is average weight and 1 cm short of being average height. He is a very healthy child! He has been at the baby house since October 3rd. Before that, he was at the maternity hospital. He has tested negative for all diseases they test for. Since being at the baby house he has only had 1 other cold (other than the one he has now.) He has not been treated for any other illnesses, and has never had an antibiotic. Everything was very positive, and we got a medical statement to take to the Embassy for our exit interview.

After we left the babyhouse, we had a short meeting with our attorney. She said that she saw "the Chief" from the Regional Department of Education and he told her he was very impressed with us and he had no doubt that we would make great parents for one of the children in the babyhouse. Our attorney said she was so proud to present a family like us to him....we're surprised it took them this long to figure that out!!! (J/K--ha ha!)

Since it was such an incredible day, we decided to walk from the attorney's office home. We only had about 20 minutes before it was time to go back to the babyhouse. Our driver was about 20 minutes late...this is the first time that has happened, but we just waited patiently and enjoyed the beautiful day! Once we got to the babyhouse, we had a very short visit. We just went out to the playground for a few minutes and loved on him. All four of us watched several of the other groups of orphans play on the other playgrounds. It is so cute watching them...their curiousity gets the best of them and they just stare at us through the fence. After about 40 minutes we went back in and I took Landen up to his room. One day, one day soon I will not have to make this journey up those stairs anymore! I am longing for this day!

We are going to attempt to make some type of casserole this evening....wish me luck! I have very limited resources to attempt this feat, but Bobby has requested that I try. What a good wife I am...huh? If it is good I will let you know! For now...."Poka, Poka!" (That is Bye-bye in Russian)

Day 8 - Landen's own Independence Day and Fireworks (double click for pics)

I love fireworks!

Wednesday, July 5th-----Day 8 Visitation

We awoke today to a very cool, rainy day! It is in the 70's--cool enough to need a sweater or light jacket. We turned off the A/C and opened all the windows....AHHHHH! Fresh Smog!!!! We went about our usual morning routine, and before we knew it ..... it was time for our 1st visit of the day!

We got to go to a much larger room today to play. It is the music room for the baby house. It was a nice change and much more comfortable than the very tiny room we usually play in. This room even has windows! There is a piano, a large wall unit with toys and musical items on it, and there were about 30 small children's chairs lining the walls. Of course, I dashed upstairs to get Landen. As I was coming up the stairwell I could hear several babies crying. Lena looked at me and said "lunchtime!" She explained that a lot of times the babies get very upset and impatient when the caretakers are feeding the other babies. When we peeked in it was pitiful. You could tell which babies had been fed and which were waiting to eat just by watching them. Landen had already been fed he was sitting contently in a swing just hanging out. As soon as one of the caretakers saw us she picked him up and took him to go get on his diaper and clean clothes. While I awaited my prince, I was able to observe two other children being fed. Even Lena commented on the large amount of food they feed these children at one time. Today, lunch consisted of a tomato, cabbage, tater, beet, and bread soup....the second course, was boiled meet and rice (which still looked like the porridge/mush that they were eating yesterday). Yum...yum!!!

When we got to the room, Rylee had laid out the blankets and toys and Bobby had gotten all the cameras ready....time to play! Well, we thought we were going to get to play with Landen, but he had other things on his mind....PACI's.......I may have started something! For the first hour, he was Mr. Independent! He just wanted to hang out with his paci's. He was trying to decide which one he liked better. He would put one in his mouth and have the other in his hand...then switch them....he would army crawl around...then switch them out again. We still do not know which one is the favorite....I guess time will tell. We introduced him to a little play drum that was in the music room (Uncle Mike...you would have been proud!) He loved the drum and got the hang of banging on it very quickly! He also seemed to really enjoy a toy bus that was in the room---but, the paci's were by far getting the most attention today. Then....the fireworks...or should I say the explosion! We heard a little rumple from the backside...and yes, it happened...his first poopy diaper for us to change! He seemed to feel a little better after that and started to play with Mommy, Daddy and RyRy! Then.....not long after his opening act we got a grande finale....we heard quite a few loud booms in the room, several color changes in the face, and the best yet ...these fireworks came with a very potent fragrance! Daddy was proud! Whew! He was a different child after that! He immediately started interacting with us more and smiling and laughing. I notice when I was changing him that it appears he has had shots in the last day or so! It looked like he has had 4-5 different shots! I will make a note to ask about that! We had a very interactive visit for the rest of the time. Toward the end you could tell he was getting very sleepy. This kid is not going to have a hard time sleeping anywhere! I would sit him up and he would try to fall asleep...I would fly him in the air and he would still try to sleep...I cannot wait until the day I can let him fall asleep in my arms when he wants to, but I understand their reasoning---he is on a very strict schedule and it throws him off too much to allow him to sleep when it is not his nap time. Our visit soon came to an end and, regretfully, I had to hand him back over.

On our way home we stopped off at our favorite bakery. We bought some fresh pizza dough, cookies and a rotisserie chicken. We ate the chicken for lunch, so guess what we are having for dinner....you guessed it....cookies :-).......J/K....homemade pizza! We, also, had some very good news from Lena. She said that Svetlana talked with the judge and we should be able to have our court date on July 13th, 14th, or 15th. This is when we would actually adopt Landen. We still will not be able to take him out of the baby house, but he would officially be a Woodard!

When we got back to our apartment we ate our chicken, and Rylee took a short nap. Before we knew it----time for our 2nd visit. When we got to the baby house they asked if we would like to go outside or stay inside. We felt like since Landen has been so congested and has had a runny nose we should probably stay in. We got to go back to the music room. Rylee was very happy to see that the other American family was there with their children. Needless to say...we did not see much of Rylee for the 1st 20 minutes. She sat and played with playdough with the girls. When I went upstairs to get Landen he reached for me!!!!!!!! I was so excited! He is gonna be a Mama's boy...I can tell! When I got to the playroom I thought I could smell that familiar fragrance...you know...the fireworks! I decided I better check out the diaper situation...yep...explosion! Three times in one day....he's breaking me in fast! I asked about the shots and it appears that they are finally treating his congestion, so this explains it! I have requested a meeting with the doctor. I have been told we will be able to meet with her tomorrow, so I will let you know how that goes. Landen enjoyed watching the little boy in the room run around and play. They left after about 20 minutes, and then it was family playtime! This kid loves to snuggle, too! He knows the way to my heart, when he wraps his little arms around my neck and lays his head on my shoulder. I just melt. When it was time to leave I took him back upstairs...and the caretaker went to take him and he would not go to her. He wanted to stay with his mama! It is happening...he is learning that we are his family! This is what I have been waiting for. The caretaker then started talking to him and the only thing I could understand was "Yum Yum"....that's all it took, and he turned back to her and was in her arms. Just wait till I am able to feed him...I'll win every time! Well, I guess we are about to go make pizza, and rest up for another day of bonding......

Day 7 - Happy July the 4th from the other side of the world (double click for pics)

Tuesday, July 4th

Where do I start? We had a rough night with Rylee....she started running a fever and was not feeling very well at all! We were really worried about her. The day before she had been complaining of her back. We are pretty sure she was getting a kidney infection! She had all the signs. We started her on some medication and she is a different child today! She hopped out of bed and hasn't stopped smiling and playing since. Thanks for all of the prayers!!!

We had our usual morning ritual of having breakfast, exercising, and getting prepared to go see Landen. At 11:40am, we were picked up by Sergi and Lena and off again to the baby house. When we arrived Lena advised me that I could go get Landen. So, I practically sprinted upstairs to see him!!! When I got to the door I saw that one of the caretakers was feeding him. It was an unforgettable sight! She had him cradled slightly in her arms with a hankerchief under his chin. She began by feeding him some type of soup with onions and herbs out of glass bowl with a very large spoon....(so, that is where the smell comes from!) Then, she began feeding him an enormous plate of some type of porridge. He was given just enough time to swallow when another huge spoonful was given to him. He was then given a type of juice that they make in the baby house especially for babies. I was told they boil apricots, raisins, water and sugar to make this juice/drink. This drink is given out of a small teacup. It took about 2-3 minutes for him to be fed his meal. No wonder he spits up so much. We have learned that we have to keep him on his back for about 30 minutes after we get him in order for some of this food to digest. At the end of his meal I started talking to the other little boy they had shown us, David. When Landen heard my voice he kept turning around looking at me...I was really excited, because he was taking attention away from his food to look at me!!! Now this is progress with the bonding!!!! Then.......after he was finished eating and they had gotten him dressed (yes, pink again!), as they were bringing him to me he started smiling!!! He was glad to see me!!! Both of the caretakers started smiling and saying "Mama!" I could not get him in my arms fast enough!

We had a great 1st visit. Landen was all smiles and seemed to keep all of his attention on us! We stayed inside the entire visit, because it was just too hot outside. He wanted to held most of the visit. If we tried to put him down he would start whining. This is the first we have seen of that, and we see it as a positive since it appears he wants to be with us. We tried to give him a sippy cup of water, but we are going to have to work on drinking out of a sippy cup. The children in the baby house are used to drinking directly out of a cup. Rylee spent a good part of the visit preparing for a puppet show. Landen have her his full attention and watched as Rylee entertained him with her show. The visit flew by once again, and even though we were allowed a 2 1/2 hour visit this time----it seemed no longer than an hour. I then took Landen back up to his group, and as we were leaving the babyhouse the Director stopped us to ask how things were going. We were happy to tell her it was going GREAT!!! When we got to the car Lena handed Rylee a huge box of chocolates and said they were from Svetlana. Svetlana had sent them, because she had heard Rylee had not been feeling well. She said that if she ate the chocolate and drank tea with it she would feel better in no time! How thoughtful! Rylee is going to make her a thank you card this evening!

After we left we stopped off at a new Turkish Cafe that has just opened. It has a great playground for children. Rylee had "a blast" on the playground and several of the other girls playing found out she spoke English and tried to speak to her in English. They were very interested in her---it was neat to see them interact! The food was great too! Rylee and I had grilled chicken kabobs with french fries and Bobby had a hamburger (supposedly beef---but everything around here that looks like beef is described as "meat")--won't see me eating a burger!!! :-) We will be going back to that restaurant!

We then came back and rested for about an hour....it was then off again for our 2nd visit! We spent this visit outside. The other American family was there again. There were also several groups of children in other play areas. The children kept peeking through the fence at us and smiling. I wish we could take them all home! Landen had another 1st---we gave him a pacifer to see what he would do.....HE LOVED IT!!! He sucked and chewed on it the entire visit! We may regret starting this, but my thinking on this is he deserves anything that may soothe him in this time of transition in his life. We only had an hour this visit and we just held him and read to him, and let him look at our photo book. He seems to love books! I took his socks off just to look at his cute piggies. We were shocked to discover one of his toes was blue. It appears that he has a little cut on his toe and they put some type of antibiotic ointment on it that is blue! When it was time to go I had to take the pacifier away---I got a look like I had taken his new best friend! :-( We all kissed him and I took him back upstairs where his caretaker was waiting in the hall for him! I guess she was missing him! ----Join the crowd! I cannot tell you how hard it is to hand him back everytime. At least we are halfway through the bonding period today-----YEAH!!!

We have decided not to go ice skating this evening, so that we can let Rylee get some rest. We have had a long day, and after our scare last night we don't want to push it. We promised her that we would go later this week! Happy 4th to you all! Wish we were there cooking out, swimming and watching fireworks! Miss you all!!!

Day 6 - So this is my family! (Double click for add'l pics)

Monday, July 3rd
I'm ready for the in person test!
Where to start? We had a little scare this morning! Rylee woke up at about 6:30am and started complaining about a tummy ache. We tried to get her to eat a little breakfast, but it must have really been bothering her, because she would not eat at all. Finally, at about 8:45am gave her some Pepto....she wanted to go lay down on the bed...the next thing we knew she was asleep. She slept and slept....I was really worried about her, but 2 1/2 hours later she woke up---just in time to go to the baby house to see Landen. She said she was feeling a lot better. Let's hope that is the end of the tummy aches!!!

Our driver, our attorney, and our coordinator picked us up at 11:40am. We then went to pick up the lady from the City Department of Education. She will come to observe several of our visits to build a case for the judge. Her job is to make sure we are fit parents and are bonding with Landen. She was so nice!....and she LOVES Rylee. She was telling us about how much she loves to swim and go rafting, and is taking a trip to Russia this summer and will be spending time in the mountains.

Yeah!!! We get two visits with Landen today. The first visit went great! When we got to the baby house, Lena told me that I could go up to Landen's playgroup and get him. I was sooooo excited that I got to go get him. When I got to the doorway he was in a little walker and looked at me like "Hey, I know you!" One of the caretakers got a diaper and a change of clothes and handed them to me along with Landen. It felt so good to have him in my arms again! When we got to the playroom, I got to put a diaper on him for the first time....and yes, he was dressed in pink again! We had a full room for about 10 minutes. The lady from the Dept. of Educ. came right in and immediately picked up Landen and started throwing him in the air and playing with him. She immediately commented about how much she thought he looked like Bobby, and that we are very lucky because he seems to be such a good, healthy baby. (She does not have to tell us how lucky we are....we most definately know we have been overly blessed!)
She asked that we take some photos of all of us together and then advised that she had to leave. We then got to play with Landen by ourselves. He seemed to be into Mama today, which made me very happy. He was content just to sit on my lap. If I placed him on the floor he would start to kind of whine. Hopefully, he is starting to get a little spoiled! :-) He loves for Rylee to play peek-a-boo with him and act as if she is going to "get" him. He just smiles and smiles and starts to laugh when she plays with him. After about 1 1/2 hours we decided to go outside. We were afraid that it was going to be too hot, but in the shade it was actually very pleasant. There seems to be a constant breeze here which helps in the close to 100 degree weather. We went to one of the tiny playgrounds for the babies and I just held him and talked to him while he looked around and watched Rylee and Bobby play. He seemed to enjoy being outside. He was so content just to be held.

After our visit we went to Svetlana's office (our attorney). We had a quick meeting and then went back to the apartment for a quick rest and a little lunch. Then.....it was time for our second visit!!! It was sooo nice getting a second visit!!! Once at the baby house, all of us got to go get Landen in his group. It is so sweet going to get him and seeing his entire group. All of the babies just look at us, and there is one little girl that is just so cute. She always looks at us and gives a huge smile. I don't know if she is available for adoption, and I am afraid to ask because I am afraid it would be too hard to leave her behind....anyone interested? J/K........
OK .....back to Landen. Rylee was very excited to be able to go get our angel. They quickly put a diaper on him and dressed him---no pink! This is a first! Then, they put him in a baseball cap. It was so cute!! Barbara, he just very well be a baseball player! Bet he can't wait to get a hold of that bat and ball!

He had such a good time outside earlier today, we decided to go outside for this entire visit (we only get an hour in the evenings). We were very excited to see our American friends playing outside with their son and 2 daughters. Rylee was able to play with the girls for a bit. There were several other families there visiting with children. It was neat to see other children out. We quickly sought shade under one of the covered areas, because it was so hot! Did I say it was HOT! It is supposed to be 104 degrees tomorrow....Whew!!! We had a great visit. We found something new Landen likes.....water....more water...bottle of water. He watched Rylee get some water out of a water bottle, and we decided to give him a taste. He loved it! He did not want to do anything else, but drink water. We were afraid to give him too much, because he spits up so easily. He watched that water bottle the whole time. We finally gave it to him to play with. At the end of the visit we started to show him some photos of our family, friends, and our house. He really got into them! Every time he saw a picture of Rylee he would point to her. He was taking in every photos and studying them. He looked at every single one...we could not believe it! Before we knew it ...it was time to go...we were able to take him back to his group. He saw that there were bowls of food, and we were quickly forgotten. He could not get his eyes off of the bowls. He is gonna fit right into this family! It is obvious this boy likes to eat. We quickly kissed him good-bye until tomorrow! It is getting harder and harder to leave him!

After our visit we went to a bookstore and bought some maps of Kaz and Pavlodar and a few children's books that are in Russian and English. Then we went to the market for a few items. We are now back in our apartment, and Bobby is about to go to the cafe to post this...(we figured out that we can write our blog and then save it on our flash card and then post from that--saves $$ at the cafe). Please pray for Rylee, she is having tummy aches again! Until tomorrow!!! (by the way,we will try to post tomorrow evening, but we are supposed to go ice skating and may get back too late----if we do we will post the next morning which will be the evening time for you) We send love to all of you!

Day 5 - Beach Bums...(double click for additional pics)

Sunday, July 2nd

Well, today has been a pretty laid back day. Unfortunately, due to it being Sunday, we are not allowed to visit Landen. We miss him terribly...I (Kim) just keep looking at his pictures! We have asked about visiting a church here. We were told there is a Muslim Mosque, a Christian Orthodox, and a Baptist Church that was built by the Germans. Lena said she will have to ask about if and when we could at least go visit them. She stated she thinks there are certain days that they are open to the public. One would think that they would welcome guest all the time---oh well!!!

We tried to sleep in today. We made it until around 7:30am. We then got up and ate a little breakfast. I then cleaned up a little bit while Rylee played Polly Pockets and Bobby worked on the puzzle. The puzzle is coming along...we will post a picture when it is done! We then got ready to go to the beach. The beach is not on an ocean, but a large river. We had a great, relaxing time, and mostly people watched! Bobby and Rylee got in the water, but said it was very cold. Rylee could not get over all of the speedo bathing suits that the men had on and the fact that most young girls her age only wore bathing suit bottoms not the tops. She did not think this was very appropriate!! lol. All in all it was a great day at the beach. After a couple hours we decided to head back to the apartment...on our way we grabbed an ice cream---it was very yummy I might add, then we stopped at one of our favorite stores for a few items that we needed.

We then went home and rested for a while and then met up with an American family that
we have met at the internet cafe. The are from California and have their two girls with them. Emily is 7 yrs old and Lydia is 5 years old. They are here adopting a 4 year old little boy from the same baby house that Landen is in. We met at a nearby park and the girls had a ball. They ran around and climbed on things and hunted for bugs. After about an hour we all decided to go eat. We went back to the authenic Russian restaurant that we have eaten at before. We had a salad---it was very, very good and we had chicken noodle soup! It was very tasty, too! We then let the girls play for a little while longer. It was so good for Rylee to have some playmates that speak English! We will definately be getting together with them again soon! We are thinking about going ice skating on the 4th of July.

Since we do not a report on Landen today I thought I would tell you a little about what we have found out about him. His birthday is 8/19/05, he was a full-term baby with all healthy reports at birth. He was 53 cms long and weighed 3 kilos and 800 grams (I'll let you do the math!) His birthmother relinquished her rights at the maternity hospital due to financial reasons. She is not Kazak, but Tartar, which is native to Kazakhstan. We had the opportunity to see his baby photo thatwas taken at the maternity hospital. We took a photo of the photo and will try to post it. We have been told Landen is a very good eater and is not picky at all. Let's hope he likes American food! We also found out that the only time he wears a diaper is when we come to visit. When children in the baby house begin to sit up they start potty training them immediately. They place them on a pot very frequently and we are told they learn very quickly what this is for. By the time they are 18 mos old they are usually all fully potty trained.

Tomorrow, we will have a lady from the City Department of Education go with us to visit Landen. We do not know our schedule, but it will be a full day. We are supposed to be allowed 2 visits per day starting tomorrow....We shall see what the day brings us...

Until then.....

fyi...we have posted pics of the apartment and other misc. photos if you are interested