Back in Almaty

We have safely arrived back in Almaty, and are settling into our new apartment. It is very nice and very modern. We will get some pics up. We are also practically across the street from the Ramstore, which is a big mall with an ice skating rink in the middle. It also has a large grocery store which is nice.

Our flight here was almost four hours due to an hour delay on the runway for de-icing. We sat in business class, and because it was not full we each had our own row of two seats. It is amazing how much more space there is in business class- definitely the way to go if you can! I had Madden, and other than a few whines she was just fine. Unfortunately for Kevin, Jackson was not so happy to be stuck on an airplane. He cried at least half of the flight most likely because he is never still and being stuck in a seat is torture for him. We are very scared about the flight home. After realizing how cramped coach is on our flight here, we emailed the travel agent suggested by our agency which we used, but she hasn't responded at all since about two weeks ago and then only asked if we would be paying with airline miles. As best we can figure from the Lufthansa website, it would cost around $8k to upgrade, so it looks like we will be suffering in coach. I honestly believe Jackson will be screaming the whole way as he will have no room to move. Oh well, we'll survive, but I really feel for the people sitting next to us, since they will probably be deaf and covered with babyfood.

We had to take the kids out to have photos take for our US Embassy appointment, and afterwards we went to lunch with our travel partners the Fords at a place called Mad Murphys where everyone from our agency seems to eat. It is supposed to be an Irish pub, and they have English menus which is very helpful. On top of that, they actually had two highchairs! Of course, we had three babies, but I didn't have too much trouble holding Madden. The food was very American, and I very much enjoyed my potato skins. Kevin had a BBQ pork sandwhich which came with great fries and potato salad. It really felt like home for a bit. We also ran into two other couples adopting with another agency. As soon as they walked in we spotted each other and all instantly knew the other group was American and why they were here- it was actually a bit strange. On top of that, one of the couples is from Dixon, which is a small town probably about 20 minutes from where we live. Small world.

After lunch we went to the Ramstore to do some grocery shopping. Without the baby bjorns there is no way we could go out with the kids, but man is my back killing me! I wondered if we would get much attention as two Americans with babies strapped to them. I didn't really notice anyone look twice at Kevin and Jackson, but I did see a few perplexed looks in my direction since Madden is Kazakh. No bid deal though. Almaty is very modern, and I don't think it is at all uncommon for Americans to be here. However, I know that some Kazakhs don't like "their" children being adopted by foreigners, so I was prepared possible hostile glares, but saw none.

The thing about grocery shopping here is that no one seems to buy very much at a time. Also, you do your own bagging. So, as Kevin was paying, I'm desparately trying to bag all of our stuff with Madden strapped to me, which was very difficult. On top of that, to get the items to bag, I had to reach over a small shelf covered in some sort of magazine. Her feet hit just on top of the shelf, and the magazines were flying everywhere. Two people behind us had checked out and left the store before we got everything bagged, but we made it. Thankfully our driver helped us carry the bags up because we are on the 5th floor and no elevator!! Kevin almost died dragging all of our suitcases up the stairs.

We've settled in pretty well now. Madden is getting easier to feed- not that she's less picky, but we're getting better at getting the food in her mouth instead of all over her while she is facing away from us. Jackson is still happy with mostly bottles, though we now get a diaper of mushy green poo each day.

We only had a shower at the hotel in Uralsk, and so we held off trying an actual bath thinking we would have a tub here. Well, no such luck, but there is a big red tub here that other families had obviously used to bathe infants. I decided to give Madden a bath, and boy was that an experience. I had seen other families from our agencies talk about their adopted children having real issues with baths, so I specifically asked about how they were bathed. We were allowed to submit questions for the caregivers at the babyhouse, which our translator then returned to us with their answers in English. I didn't have an answer to the question of how they were bathed, but our translator said it was in a tub. I'm sure the babyhouse didn't have any fancy contraptions, so she should have been right at home in the tub. Well, as soon as her foot hit the water, she screamed bloody murder and stiffened her body so that there was no way she could be sat in the tub. I freaked out thinking maybe the water was too hot even though it seemed very cool to me, so I added some cold and tried again- more screaming and hysteria. I had to call Kevin to help, which meant that he had to put Jackson in his crib for safe keeping. Of course this made Jackson start to scream and cry. I washed her down while Kevin held her, but she was just screaming hysterically the whole time. We seriously thought neighbors would be calling the police. It was awful and she was upset for a while after it was over. I'm not sure what was so upsetting to her because the trauma started from just a foot in the water, so it couldn't have been anything we did, although I think the water was too cold after I added the cold water. Anyway, we will be sticking with sponge baths until we get home. It just seems odd that she would be so traumatized so fast, and we don't really know what to think as we know she was regularly given baths in a smilar manner. I'm sure her caregivers simply bathed her whether she was screaming or not, but we're really hoping we can figure out the problem so that baths are not traumatic for all of us.

Anyway, aside from the bath drama, things are going well. Although they are definitely a lot of work, I really think both of them are really good babies. They really have only cried when they think they should be getting food or very briefly when they are first put down for naps, and now of course we will add bathtime to the list. So, slowly we are getting the hang of things