Day 9 waiting - A big purchase (double click for pics)

Friday, July 28--- (Day 9 waiting period)

Privet! Bobby’s back on the blog tonight. Where do I start on this action packed day?
We have some exciting details to share: news on the return visit, a little role reversal at the baby house and a family night out (one of our last as 3).

Lena and Kim had talked yesterday and planned to go around 9:30am this morning to pick up our tickets to Almaty for August 10th. As normal on this trip, we were pushed back a little bit on the time. Lena called around 9am to reschedule the time. Kim and Lena decided to leave a little early for the baby house and stop off at the travel center to pick up the tickets. This actually worked out well for us as we all got to go, so we had another photo opportunity. What an exciting moment to purchase 4 tickets instead of 3 (actually Landen‘s ticket was free, but they still had to print off the “boarding pass“). The travel center was interesting itself. There are 2 ladies working the front counter, one on airplane travel and one on train travel (the preferred way to travel around here). There were 2 other people behind the counter, one working a spread sheet on a computer and a man playing an intense game of solitaire on the computer. It took approximately 40 minutes to complete the purchase process. Lena made the comment during this wait that it’s a lot easier in the states to get a ticket. I could not agree more. Appears this is an old fashion process where everything is done manually and with limited access to a computer (the man had it tied up!). This was a small office to start with, maybe 20x20, and to utilize the other space in the office there was a flower shop. The flower shop probably took up more room than the travel center. Hey, get your tickets and tulips at the same time…maybe we should try this in the states. Anyway, we have 4 tickets for August 10th at 10:05pm.

As we got to the baby house, I talked Kim into letting me go and pick up Landen. I have been hearing how excited he gets when he sees her, so I gave it a try. When I peeked into the room where he was, there was 4 kids (Landen was in the swing with his head turned behind him looking at some toys, the little girl (we took a photo of her the other day) in the high chair, a little boy in the play pin and a little girl in the floor. I motioned to the lady that I was there for Landen and she nodded her head. Landen was still looking at the toys when I said “Landen”. He immediately whipped his head around and made eye contact. He kind of had a look on his face like “hey, but where is Mommy”. He quickly figured out that I was there to get him and he started rocking the swing intensely. He got the biggest little smile on his face and would look at the care taker then me and back and forth. The lady stopped feeding the other child and got Landen out of the swing to dress him for the visit. With in 20 seconds, she had stripped off his clothes he had on, put a diaper on him and put the first layer of clothing on him. Kind of rough handling, but he did not seem to mind. The lady got called away for a second and he immediately started looking at me and whining to get off of the couch. The lady came back to him and he was still giving it to her. I tried Kim’s trick of using the Dada, Momma, RyRy and Landen song and it worked perfectly. I did not have to embarrass myself with the full song as he calmed down quickly. I wonder, would I sound as bad singing to someone that can not speak English? Kim thinks so…..
The visit was another great one. We had 2 blankets laid out for Landen to crawl around a little more and get some exercise. Great plan, but he had another one in mind. He had decided that he would hang out on Mom’s right shoulder for a good hour. It was so funny when Kim would put him down, as he would give it a second then turn to her and start pulling up on her. Needless to say, she loved every second of it. Rylee took her DVD player and Landen had some fun pulling it away from her. We got about 30 minutes of play time (after the hour on Mom’s shoulder and prior to the 1:30 nap on Mom time) and made the most of it. Everyone around here (our crew and the baby house staff) says it is so great that Landen has bonded with Kim like he has. Kim took him back up at 2pm where they were giving the babies a little snack, so he was willing to jump into their arms when he saw that.

We had planned to spend the evening going to Lena’s church, but she told us in the morning that she had to go to the dentist today, so that was out again. We decided to take another shot at the ice skating. Rylee did a lap by her self! She’s getting confidence and that scares me. She only fell 5 or so times and even made some little jumps while hanging on Kim. She was so excited skating and had a lot of fun. We may do this again very soon.

Kim’s got some soup ready, so I’ve got to go….Poka, poka….

Day 8 waiting - Sweet and Sour (double click for pics)

Thursday, July 27--- (Day 8 waiting period)

Privet! It’s me, Kim! I am taking a much needed break from cooking this evening, and letting my husband work on his culinary skills. He is going to try a new dish….some type of soft shelled tacos! Should be interesting, anyway!

Up until now, time has flown by, but this week has crept by….very….very…..slowly. Today we got excited that we are able to say we have less than 3 weeks here! It sounds a lot better, anyway!

This morning was as usual…but, I can say I woke up feeling a lot better than I have the last couple days. I don’t know if it was the impact of that meat market or if I caught a little bug, but I am feeling like a new person!

Our visit with Landen was another terrific one! I, as usual, went upstairs to get him. He was in one of the playpens and immediately started bouncing up and down. One of the caretakers took him in the washroom to clean him up and change his clothes. I could hear him crying, so I started to sing our little song that I made up. He immediately stopped crying, and when he came around the corner he was all smiles. When the caretaker handed him to me she motioned for me to wait a minute. She smiled and started calling him with her hands out…..he immediately turned away from her. She started saying something that made him burst out laughing, but when she put her hands up like she was going to take him; he turned away from her again. She looked at me with a huge smile and pointed to her head as if to say “He is a smart one and knows who his Mama is….” (I could have told her that!) She then tried to get him to go to her one last time and he again let her know he wanted his mama…..She just started laughing! I think she was having fun seeing that he has bonded with us and has grown to love us. She was very happy that he wanted me!

Our visit began with a huge spit up on sister! He loves getting her in this outfit. She usually wears her brown shirt with the pink heart on it, but chose to wear just a plain brown one in case he spit up, so he showed her….he got her skirt. She handled it well! This is the 3rd day of pretty bad spit-ups so we came armed with spit-up guard today.
After the bomb on Rylee, we put a bib on him and covered ourselves with a burp pad when we held him. Of course, he did not spit up when we had the armor on….Whatever it takes to keep that smell out of our clothes. We cannot wait to start him on a more American diet to get rid that smell….it is one we will never forget!

The spit-up was the only downer of the visit….the rest of the visit went great! Landen played and laughed and watched Eloise with Rylee for a few minutes. He got tickled when Bobby started blowing bubbles. This was a first….before today, he would just watch and try to figure out what they were, but today he thought they were hilarious! We even gave him a taste of Ice Breaker Sours that we brought from the US. We had the camera ready to take a picture of a funny face, but it did not even phase him…..He loved them. Bobby and I have decided this boy is going to be easy to feed. I bet he is going to eat anything and everything!

After our visit, we stopped off at the big grocery store called Gros. We picked up a few needed items and they came back to the apartment. Lena called to tell us that Leeza had gone with her Dad somewhere and would like us to wait to go to church so that she can come with us….so; we chose to take a walk instead. We walked in a direction we had not gone, yet. It was a beautiful day--about 75 degrees outside with a very nice breeze. The part of town we were walking in was very nice…the buildings seemed to be in better shape…we found an area of nice manicured grass! We even found a very nice clothing store that was just like an American clothing store! This is the first one we have seen of this caliber. We thought that the clothes were going to be outrageous, but they seemed to be very reasonably priced. We did not buy anything, but I have a feeling we may go back! In one store, Bobby and Rylee saw the nice lady that they met the first morning we were in Pavlodar. She speaks a little English. She is the one that has grandchildren that live in Atlanta! Her husband and her own a little Kodak store not far from our apartment. They were, once again, incredibly friendly, and showed us pictures of their visit to the US in November. They had a ton of photos of all of them at the Georgia Aquarium! It is such a small world. Before we left they asked us if they could give Rylee a little gift…they brought her out a little red and white umbrella. Their names are Luba and Sergey, and we will try to go back to visit them before we leave!

After our walk, we came back to the apartment for the evening! By the way, Bobby’s tacos were great! (I took a little dinner break while writing the blog!) We now have a new item to add to our limited menu!

Well, I best wrap it up for today…Rylee wants to play a few games and read some books! Signing off for now…..Poka, poka!

Day 7 waiting - Groundhogs Day (double click for pics)

Wednesday, July 26--- (Day 7 waiting period)

We are officially half way through the waiting period! This period of time has definitely been the hardest since we arrived, but we continue to plan outings to pass some time by.
We updated the pictures from yesterday’s post, so please look at your pleasure.

Today was another groundhogs day in Kazakhstan as it was enjoyable, but similar to many of the past days here. With the exception of planning Rylee’s and Landen’s birthday party, same routine for the morning. Looks as if we will have an action packed couple weeks when we return.

The visitation time was great. Kim said Landen saw her and immediately started trying to get out of the caretakers lap he was in--he was eating, so this was big. If you have been keeping up with the post, you will remember that he is a true Woodard and loves to get his food. Kim was able to take a photo of our big boy drinking from the cup and to top it off; he was holding it by himself. This is normal over here as they want kids to be as self sufficient as early as they can. Landen’s caretaker had to turn him away from the door, where Momma was waiting for him, in order to finish feeding him and get him dressed for our visit. Kim and the caretaker had a good laugh at this.

Landen was in a wonderful mood today and actually allowed Rylee and I to hold him. This was a good thing as Momma was still not feeling well from the meat market yesterday. We figured out a couple things with Rylee holding Landen. He does not like her hair to get into his face and he loves for her to sing the Dada, Momma…song. He was so precious while Rylee was holding him. He put his little head on her shoulder and just listened to her for several minutes. He was getting relaxed and realized Mom was nearby, so he threw up his arm for her to pick him up. After they sang and rocked for a little bit, I decided to try my chances with him. It paid off, he was so tired that he decided I would do and fell asleep on my shoulder. Yes, we were near a scolding, but we got away with it. At 1:55pm, Kim had to wake him up for a return trip to his group. We made it a group effort to make sure he was not going back to sleep and he was all smiles. It appears at times that he plays a great game of possum, but we were sure he was asleep today as he snores like his dad….loud! The hardest part of every day is when Kim takes him back to his group after the visit. He knows exactly what’s going on and does not want to leave his Mommy…(it will happen soon!)

After the visit, we had Sergey drop us off at the mall. These types of public places do not like for you to take photos…so I had to sneak a couple in again. We had an enjoyable walk around the inside and outside of the mall. This outside is like a huge flea market with a little bit of everything there. We made some small purchases along with getting Rylee a Kazakh dress (check out that photo) and Landen another outfit.

Just think….Landen will be coming home with us in 9 days! Poka, Poka….

Day 6 waiting - Momma's Boy (double click for pics)

"Momma's Boy"

Tuesday, July 25, Day 6 waiting...

Hello again from Kazakhstan. Today was an action packed day, at least for us. After the usual morning ritual, less the exercise, we had some fun with the birds outside the window. The number has grown daily and we now have 8-10 birdies waiting on me in the mornings. I’m afraid to not feed them for a day as they may revolt and attack. They’re getting very bold as well. They will land on the ledge while my hand is still out there. Maybe I can feed them from my hand before I leave….Kim has already warned me about the Bird Flu, so I won’t do it….well probably not.

We arrived on time for the visit and Kim did the duties of going up stairs to pick up Landen. One thing that is very different now than before court is the way the caretakers analyze and or judge our every move. Before court, we seemed to get in trouble 1-2 times per visit. We may do things like walk on the carpet with shoes on (big no, no), have the window open on a day this particular person thinks we should not (even if it’s 90 degrees outside), or do the biggest penalty of all…..allow Landen to crawl 1 inch off of the blanket. We have grown to understand and appreciate their rules and realize they do care about these kids. Since our court date, the caretakers are all smiles and seem to give us more “space” as new parents. Lena said the reason is simple, we are now his parents and before we were visitors. Still, you better not walk on the carpet with the shoes on…if so, you will still get into trouble, but they may give a little smile as they scold. Landen was very much a Mommy’s boy today. He did not have a lot to do with Rylee or me unless we were playing with him as momma held him in her arms. Spoiled rotten (in a good way)….it’s so funny to see this part of him coming out. Kim said when she got him from the room he was so happy to see her that she almost cried…and he was ready to cry when she had to take him back. Lena was with Kim and had to tell her “posh lee, posh lee” aka-“lets go, let’s go“, as she could also tell he was ready to cry for his momma (sorry Barbara, no warning).

After the visit, Lena took us to the open food market. This was very interesting to say the least. Kim had a little (well a lot) of trouble dealing with the fresh smells from the meat department. They would not allow any photos, but I was able to get a couple in. To describe the meat department; it was kind of like being behind the scenes at a butcher shop when the heat was on and they ran out of space to put the meat, so they put it all over the top of each other. I bought some eggs…. I did get a picture of horse meat (sorry to all of the horse lovers out there) Rylee did not hear Lena when she told me what it was, but continued to ask….so I told her. Probably a mistake, but she was good about it. Did I mention Kim did not fair too well in the market? Along with eggs, we picked up some coffee, bread, candy, cheese and smoked meat. The meat was a gift from a lady that was so excited to meet a “real American”. She owned a little store inside the market that had smoked meats and cheeses. I gave her a slim jim and beef jerky from America and she was so happy and looked as if she would cry. That’s when she gave the Kazakh meat to me. Did I say Kim was ready to leave?

After our adventure at the market, we all took a little nap to prepare for our big night out. We had dinner plans with Lena and Leeza, where we enjoyed another Russian restaurant. Some differences were; they actually had a menu in English. Kim and I had the same item (chicken with mushroom and onion covered with fried potatoes) that we had at the other place, but our little dare devil child had Russian pickles, pancakes and a hot milk/sugar mix that she enjoyed.

We had walked to the restaurant, so we had a pleasant walk back to the apartment where we started discussing how nice it will be to share Landen with our friends and family.

Hey, another day closer ….until tomorrow, poka, poka.

Day 5 waiting - Vroom, Vroom..(double click for pics)

Monday, July 24--- (Day 5 waiting period)

What a difference a day makes! We got back on schedule with the visit to see Landen and everything seemed to fall back into place. We started the day with the routine of talking to loved ones back home, cooking a little breakfast and doing some exercising. I had a chance to make one of my special Kazakh omelets (What I think was ham, onions and tomato) and everyone had grits. We have again been asked about our variety of viewing options, so they are: Euro News, CNN-Europe and a version of VH1. Needless to say we do not spend much time watching TV, and even less time channel surfing. What little TV we have watched has been focused on the crisis in the Middle East. What a mess that is!

Lena went with us on the visit today as we were asked by the baby house staff to assist them with pictures of some children that are available for adoption. Needless to say we were honored and willing to assist in any way we can with these precious children. It will touch your heart in a way you can not imagine to see into the eyes of kids waiting for a Mom and Dad. We have grown a little immune to the challenges facing other kids over the past few weeks as have been caught up in a race to get home. This few moments shared with these kids made us realize our wait is nothing compared to what they are facing. God bless everyone one of them!

Kim went to get Landen from his room where he was in his swing. When he saw Mom, he started trying to talk and was holding his arms out for Mom to get him out, and she did! Kim also got to take a look at the “bathroom” for his group and we will share this photos with you. Our visit was “fast paced” to say the least. Landen had his wheels again….yes, Lena borrowed a walker from one of the rooms upstairs and gave it to Landen for him to enjoy. Since this was the first day back in his group (yeah, he’s out of the infirmary), he had built up energy to burn. Kim and I wanted to take a lot of pictures of him since we did not have a visit yesterday, but he did not want any part of that. He ran around the room looking at every little, and sometimes big things he could find. A caretaker came thru the room with a huge stuffed animal. The type you see someone winning early in the morning a six flags, then having to haul the enormous thing around in the heat all day. Yes, one that large…All you men out there remember those stuffed animals. Well, Landen was not afraid of it at all. He was trying to touch it and even pull it closer to him. He had a funny moment when I had a smaller stuffed animal that favored a hedge hog in my hand and was touching noses. At first, Landen did not want to have any part of the hog. He would make a face and turn his head. Being the persistent Dad I am, I kept doing the nose thing until he was comfortable with it. He then started slowly sticking out his tongue like a little baby kiss. What a cutie. Of course, the only thing that will slow him down is the 1:30pm hugging and singing with Mom. He is learning the song and may be singing it when we get home. Depending on how long it takes to get home, he may be playing it on the guitar J. Just kidding, it’s gonna happen soon enough.

After the visit, we came back to the apartment for some lunch and this allowed me a little time to download the children’s pictures on a flash card for Lena. Kim had prepared some re-fried beans and they were even better than last time. Lena came to pick up the flash card at 5pm and also wanted to take Rylee to the park again with Leeza to ride a bike. This was great for Rylee as she has missed the little things like that this summer. This was also great for Kim and me as we did not have to shop at her store today!

When Rylee arrived back home, we planned out our week with Lena. We figured the busier we are, the easier our stay will be. Just to note: we’re going to an outdoor market and having dinner with Lena tomorrow, we’re going to the big Mall on Wednesday and to Church with Lena on Thursday. We should have some interesting photos coming up this week.

PS. Rylee will be losing a tooth very soon and the “tooth mouse” may come to visit her. Correct, appears the tooth fairy has a mouse that helps her in Kazakhstan. More to come on that later. Poka, poka….

Day 4 waiting - The Lazy Day in Kazakhstan (sorry, no pics)

Sunday, July 23--- (Day 4 waiting period)

Lazy day in Kazakhstan. We again fell victim to the sad bug today. It’s unbelievable how much your heart feels empty when a part of your family is not with you. This is both for Landen and our family and friends back home.

Does it seem real?….Today is our 30th day of the adoption journey. Hard to believe that 30 days ago Bob was pulling up in the drive way to take Kim, Rylee and I to the airport for what we thought would be 4 to 5 weeks. The journey is going to take over 7 weeks, but we are glad to be this close to reaching our dream. Now for the day…

Our day was spent booking our return flight, working on a video we are putting together and playing pretend “Russian store“ with Rylee:

The flight back will be on 8/16, not 8/15 as he had hoped. 8/15 is completely booked! The good things are we will not have a lay over in Chicago and we are getting out at 3:30am from Kazakhstan. We are thinking the early flight time will be better for Rylee and Landen to sleep. We should arrive in Atlanta on 8/16 at 2:36pm and should be through customs around 3:30pm or so….As you can tell we are so excited for this date!

I have been working on a little video for his birthday party and shower. Barbara, thanks for your suggestions! We are having a little trouble pulling down the songs from the Internet (we are on dial up, and when we try to download songs it says we have to be in the US to download!), but please continue to send any songs that you think would be fitting for remembering our journey. Again, thanks in advance.

The “Russian Store” has good for hours of excitement for Rylee. She started when we first arrived in Kazakhstan with a food store. She was a little pricey at the beginning, but realized she had all the goods and could charge what ever she wanted to. She has a Pringles can that we had to place the money in (yes, real tenge---which is the Kazakhstan currency) when we make a purchase. The funny thing is she checks the can after the housekeeper comes by to see if she bought something…I have dropped a few coins in and let her mind go to work. A couple days ago she closed down the food store and opened up a Russian sovenier store with some baby clothing. Kim and I have convinced her to use pretend money as we are officially broke from her food store. She is planning to open up a store when we return….look out Nana, Bandaddy, Papa Bick, Ms Diane and Papa Butch, you have been named as her first customers. She is planning on having Ella assist with the store as Landen will be “too little”.

To end this entry, Kim and I thought we would share some of our findings about Kazakhstan that may be a little different than that in the states. Enjoy and until tomorrow, Poka, Poka….

You don’t need a prescription to walk into a pharmacy and get prescription drugs, but you cannot find over the counter cold remedies anywhere!

Toilet paper is a luxury, many restrooms don’t have any or only newspaper.

If you can find a public bathroom, it may only be a hole in the ground.

Entryways to apartments have two doors, one outside one that looks like a bulletproof shield and a second normal door.

It is customary to remove your shoes when entering someone’s home (including your own). Many people keep slippers at the door for themselves and guests.

When you go to a restaurant, you order everything at once – drinks to dessert.

Shopping is a very rushed sport here, there is no such thing as browsing around the supermarket.

Most people go to the supermarket every day – no buying in bulk from SAM’s, Wal-Mart or a grocery store.

The bottom half of all trees are painted white – we are told this is to prevent insects from eating them.

Kids (at least at the orphanage) are taught that dogs and cats are dangerous and eat little children - in order to keep them away from diseased animals.

Cars do not have A/C and most taxis are like ovens – the windows are usually up at all times.

There is no such thing as a lane on the road. It is one big free for all… if your car can fit between two other cars, you can call it a lane.

When traffic lights are about to change from green to yellow, they blink as a warning. Smart idea - one thing that we think Americans could learn from!

Most people walk everywhere and dodge traffic like a game of Frogger, but they say it is too dangerous to ride a bike.

The knobs on the stoves do not have degrees, they are numbered 1-6.

There are only washers, no dryers – man, do we miss our dryer. This is if the residence has running water and the means to afford the washer.

Convenient stores are similar to ours; they have a wide variety of things, from potatoes to laundry detergent to all types of drinks. There is usually one at the bottom of every apartment.

Milk is only sold in boxes with a shelf life of 2 years and is not refrigerated – like Parmalat.

If you want water, you must ask for water “with” or “without” gas or sparkles. The gas/sparkle water is like our seltzer or club soda.

The hot water in Kazakhstan is pumped in from a central city water heater to every resident. The water is scalding hot and comes out with any pressure you need. Also, in the winter, they pipe in hot air for heating to every building.

There are red pipe lines running around the city - above the streets, through alleyways, near apartments. We found out these are their GAS LINES. And cars drive under them and around them.

Since there are many industrial factories, there is much more pollution here than we are use to at home. No jogging outside for exercise here!

The garbage situation is an interesting one. There is an area for trash between apartment buildings and it is probably emptied about once per week, although most trash doesn’t make it “in” the containers, but all around them. We have walked over many items that would be considered “sanitary” issues such as hypodermic needles and fish heads. Needless the say the stench is pretty intense!! Oh, and the local children find this to be a fun play area and are always rummaging through things.

Animal sounds are different here than what we know (Thanks to Lena for interpreting the sounds). For example:
A dog goes Gaff Gaff, not Woof Woof
A pig goes hoota hoota, not Oink Oink
A horse goes eeegoogoo, not Nay
A cat does Meow though…
A frog goes kvaa kvaa, not ribbit ribbit
A rooster goes coo coo ca ray coo, not cockadoodle doo
A sheep sounds similar with baa
A cow goes moo
A bird goes chik chee rik, not tweet tweet
A duck goes krya krya, not quack quack