2 Weeks Notice...

Hi!

We are very happy to announce our 2 weeks of bonding is officially over and our final papers were notarized on Sunday, June 7th.  So on Monday morning our coordinator, Natasha, will submit our papers to our attorney and we can file for a court hearing with the judge.  Our court date is estimated for 6/22 but may be before that; we just have to wait and see. We are in very good hands here in Karaganda and are thankful for such great team of people to have on our side! 

These 2 weeks have gone by quickly and we are hoping the next few weeks leading to our court date will be just as smooth.  It’s getting a little boring going to the Baby House each day (not the part about hanging out with the “little one”), just the part about being in the same small room to visit in and the same walk around the Baby House exterior.  Of course our “little one” doesn’t know the difference and continues to be content with our routine. It’s more Mike and I dying to show him the world outside of his Baby House walls.  He loves being outside either in the Baby Bjorn or the stroller.  His eyes are so alert when he’s out and it distracts him from his teething (and even his crankiness from the cold he just had, poor guy).  So right now, it would make us happy to just be able to take him out of the Baby House gates and explore Karaganda’s Central Park and city with him. Bringing him home to SM is still a far goal with a few more hurdles along the way (the biggest one, by far, is our court date).  So we are just concentrating on one hurdle at a time and staying positive that we will: a) get through them and b) accomplish them in a reasonable amount of time.

In the meantime, we are making the best of our stay here and the weather is making it very easy for us!  Summer is here in Karaganda and everyone is out walking around.  The sun doesn’t set until after 9:30 PM, so we have tons of time after our Baby House visits to walk around.  We have found excellent restaurants so walking has been essential!  On top of the good restaurants, there are delicious bakery goods at the market and our travel partner, Jessica, is an amazing cook.  We still can’t believe how lucky we were to get paired up with such a great couple!  Even the staff here in Karaganda commented on how great it was to see us get along so well.  

OK, now let me end with some updates of our “little one”.  As I mentioned, he is teething like crazy and gnaws on everything he  can put in his mouth, including our fingers and had a fever from one week ago.  Then, he caught a cold (viral, that spread throughout the entire room in less than a minute!- even Mike and I couldn’t fight it off!) that wiped out his energy for 2 days then turned him into the “cranky little one” for a day or two.  When he was at his sickest, he just wanted to be held by us and cried every time we tried to put him down (a good bonding sign since all the other kids had the same cold but weren’t so needy).  Then on Saturday, when we went to visit him,  he was back to being his same happy self, smiling and laughing in his crib... what a relief!  He even raised his hands up to us to get him, which was a first.  Also a first that day, he pushed himself around with his feet in the walker, balanced himself in the tripod position while  sitting (for a second), and discovered his feet to play with while lying down.  So not only did his spirits improve, he also had many “first” milestones in the 4 hours that we saw him.  Mike was so excited to see this and immediately had our “little one” practicing his balance while standing on Mike’s stomach- tuning the “little one’s” balance and coordination for surfing and skiing already!!!!

Hope all is well with everyone and you’ll be hearing from us again soon.

Linda and Mike