We are home!!!!

Greetings from Melrose : )

We are WAY behind in posting this update. Things at home are going great, but very busy : ) Lucy arrived home as planned on August 8th (a few hours late, but hey we can't complain we are HOME finally!!). Believe it or not, she slept through the night the very first night and every night since. We are very pleased with such a smooth transition up till this point. She has adapted great to home life, and also to family and friends. Lucy is very social and loves to be on the go seeing people and new places.

We decided to share a few of our favorite moments. Lucy's first baby pool experience, that went so well we decided to go for the big pool next, then her Baptism that was last weekend.

Lucy loves being in the water, be it bathtub, pool, or sprinkler. I am going to take her to swim lessons starting the second week in September. We think she will really enjoy them : )

We are going to try to finish cleaning the camera card this week/weekend and get the blog fully updated. I am also working on a "home" document and will post parts of it as I finish.

Thanks to all that are STILL following Lucy's journey. Her journey has really just begun, we feel so very lucky to have her at home with us. She smiles all the time, giggles and does things we never knew were possible. Lucy has truly come out of her shell and we love every minute of it : )

Love, Julie, Jon and Lucy

There's No Place Like Home!

There's No Place Like Home! There's No Place Like Home! Can you believe it? I, Lucy Zhanna Nancy O'Neill, am officially coming home. I closed my eyes and wished for it just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz... and here I come. It has been a long journey for my mom, dad, and nana. I can't wait for my first plane ride. I know Mommy and Nana are excited for it as well. Ha Ha! If you are coming to the airport, you will be able to see me come in to Logan on Northwest flight 0037 from Amsterdam. I will be at gate E. My flight arrives at 4:55 PM tomorrow, Wednesday, August 8th. I can not wait to meet you all.... I love you all... Thanks for reading my blog!

Love and hugs to everyone!

Lucy

Our Last Day in Almaty Ever???

We sure hope today is our last day in Almaty EVER.....We are due to go to the Embassy at 2:30 today to pick up Lucy's Visa and do our exit interview. If all goes well her Passport with Visa is ready we are SO OUT OF HERE TOMORROW MORNING!!...WOO HOOO......I was told yesterday that everything is on schedule and there is no reason to worry.....but how can I not worry, has anything gone as planned up until this point?.....not really : )

Lucy keeps us moving and shaking...she has been sleeping great, two naps a day and a good 10-hour night....we are very pleased.....

She went to her first party yesterday. Zhaniya had us over for dinner at her house with the French couple and there daughter and the director of Baby House #2, which is were Lucy came from originally. She was moved to house #3 when they started renovations on house #2.....She did not remember the director and was a tad shy. She wasn't running over when she heard people speaking Kazakh. I honestly think she is getting used to us crazy English speakers : )

I will try to post a quick update tonight after we get back from the Embassy. For all your airport goers unless the flight is delayed we are due in at Logan at 4:55.

I am dreading the flight home, but I couldn't be happier then I am right now to know that I am finally going home.....WOO HOO

Nana says hello to everyone and Lucy does too....Wish us luck today, we will need it!!.....

The Kaz Crew.....

Happy Weekend : )

HI Everyone,
I know we are not as good about emailing, pictures of blog updates. It's been very BUSY. Anyone who has experienced a very SPIRITED toddler can understand the word BUSY. HA HA Don’t get me wrong, the week is going great, we are making great progress with Lucy each day, but it's just a long day and that is action packed with keeping her busy, keeping the house clean and trying to figure out what next? She is still a bit unpredictable, so we have been a little off schedule the past few days.

Today we ventured for a long walk down to Gorky Park which is actually on the cross street from us. It was a beautiful day, not too hot.....This is also were the zoo is located, but we didn't find the zoo. We walked around for about 45 minutes and couldn't figure out were to go and of course no one could understand the word "zoo" they would just look at me, laugh and turn away.... oh well......

So we came back and looked up the park in a book my Mother brought. It went on to say the park not only has the zoo (somewhere) but also lakes for boating!!...We didn't see any lakes or boats either. I guess this place is HUGE. We saw the adult amusement park as well as the water park, pretty flowers and all and all for 50 cents a person it was well worth it. We might try to walk back tomorrow or early next week and venture in a little deeper and try to find this zoo : )

As you will see in the pictures, Lucy decided on Thursday that she does in fact LOVE taking a bath and we have been taking at least one, some days even two : )

Have I told you yet that we have Lucy's Passport!!!!....We saw it on Friday morning when Zhaniya picked us up for Lucy's medical exam. I was VERY excited to see it; this is a good sign that we will in fact be home on Wednesday. I am of course still a little weary, can't totally believe or trust this is really happening. I am trying to stay focused and realize that this is happening and Lucy is going to be home for good next week!!!....WOOO HOOO (as Nana Nancy likes to say).....

We hope everyone has a great weekend and we will try to update more tomorrow or Monday. Monday morning we go to the Embassy for my exit interview. We might be visiting baby house #2 on Monday or Tuesday. That is were Lucy came from, she was moved to baby house #3 about two weeks before we met her. We would love take pictures and also meet the director and main caregiver.

Love and hugs, Julie, Nana and Lucy

8/1/07

Greetings,

Today was day two of “full Lucy” at the apartment. She slept well again last night, went to bed around 8:15 and woke up at 6:00. Lucy seems to be very tired, more so then when she was at the baby house (poor thing, I’m sure there is a lot of over stimulation going on in the apartment). She went down for nap one at 7:30 and slept until 9:00. When she got up she was playing with Nana, and Momma had to go with Zhaniya to fill out more papers and pick up her birth certificate. We finally have a copy and can officially explore the city without limits. Yesterday afternoon I was beginning to feel like a caged animal. Having the birth certificate copy in hand is very good feeling : )

I arrived home around 11:00 and we took her for a walk to Panfilov Park. It’s a nice rectangle shaped park with lots of greens and walkways. In the center of the park is Zenkov Cathedral. The Cathedral is built entirely of wood and with no nails (pretty cool, huh?). There is also a play area so we took Lucy over. Of course once again we are not at home and things are not as safe. We put her on the slide and let her go down a few times, she enjoyed that and also just sitting in her stroller watching the bigger kids run around.

We then headed back home for lunch and nap number two.

We are still on track for next Wednesday, but I am thinking more that it’s about a 50/50 right now. We should have a better sense on Friday. Friday is the day we take Lucy to the SOS clinic for her medical exam, and it’s also the day that Zhaniya was told she could pick up Lucy’s Passport. If both happen in a timely fashion we might be ok. If the Passport is not ready on Friday I hate to say this, but I would guess we are not going to be back until Thursday or Friday of next week. Right now there are no flights on Thursday, but as I have been saying for the past week. We will fly standby, we will do what we have to, but I will not stay a day later then August 10th….That’s my cut off!!…

Ida is back at home doing the best she can to put the pressure on the Kaz team…She has been so helpful and supportive through this difficult journey.

Nana is enjoying her time with Lucy, I think she could do without the whole Almaty experience, but she is a trooper. Most days she does better then me, and it’s as if I’ve hit the wall so to speak. I’ve had it, I’m done and I want to go home!! 4.5 weeks is a long time to be away and I can see now why many families don’t stay for so long. It will all be worth it in the end, we have sweet little Lucy (ok she is a monkey, but still can be sweet at times) and she will be home in one week!! WOO HOO

We are a day behind on the blog, but hope to update tomorrow. Lucy goes for her medical exam tomorrow morning, and hopefully the Passport will be ready. Tomorrow is a big day in deciding on our departure. We need all the prayers we can get that the Passport is ready. As we know I NEED OUT!!......

Ok Nana is keeping Lucy busy while I update the blog and download pictures. We will be in touch tomorrow......

Love and hugs, Julie, Nana and Lucy

Nana and Lucy!!

So I am a big time slacker...Nana arrived on Sunday morning, two hours late (delay in Amsterdamn) but in one piece and boy was I excited to see her!! I made her a special sign and even cried when I saw her...It was so great : )

We hung out on Sunday morning at the apartment, and got her all unpacked and settled. We then took a walk around the area and bought a few grocery's and a few gifts for Nana to bring home.

Nana struggled to not nap on Sunday, she was against the idea and wanted to stay up. Well at dinner (at 4:00) she was nodding off and I thought she wasn't going to make it...She made it until 7:15 and went to bed. She actually slept through until 5:45 which I thought was very good.

Monday was a very busy day. We were picked up at 8:45 by Zhaniya and she took us to three offices to get paper work for Lucy's adoption and for Lucy's Passport. All and all we sat in the car for hours on end, but the day gets better. We thought we were going to the baby house at 3:30 after nap, but Zhaniya decided at 12:00 that we would go. We arrived at the worst possible time for Lucy, nap time. She was ok though, didn't cry and got dressed in her pretty dress and went right to Nana. I think she was shy for about 30 seconds, since that time she has been Nana's new best friend. When she is upset or mad that I asked her to not do touch something, etc. she will run to Nana and literally throw herself into her arms. It's actually quite cute.

Lucy did great in the car, sat on Nana's lap. She didn't seem that out of sorts of funny at all. She even fell alseep in Nana's arms when we got back. As you will see in the pictures, one of Lucy's favorite things to do is pretend that the water bottle is a horse or ride of some sort. It's very funny : )

Right now as I am typing, Nana is chasing Lucy around the internet cafe, and she is running over to the Kazakh woman and wanting them to hold her. I guess she has had enough of the crazy english talk in the apartment.

She has done really well. Yesterday her nap was a disaster, she only slept for 40 minutes. Normally she sleeps for three hours, but she kept herself together and played, took a bath (cried), and had her dinner. She went to bed at 8:30 and believe it or not, slept until 6:45 this morning. I didn't sleep much, I kept waking up thinking I heard her crying, even now I keep thinking I hear a baby crying. I swear it's like I just gave birth, all the same emotions : )

Lucy took two 1.5 hour naps and has been eating great. We hope she likes being out of the baby house, we sure like having her around. Now to get her home!! I still feel very home sick and wish we were leaving. Hopefully we are coming home a week from tomorrow...WOO HOOO

Hopefully we will be free to go out as of tomorrow, and can keep the blog updated and keep on our schedule....It's been a bit crazy chasing around monkey girl (as I like to call her) and also make sure Nana Nancy is comfortable and has everything she could need and want. I feel like a true mother : )

Love to everyone from Lucy, Nana, and Julie...We can't wait to come home!! We miss everyone so much.....

Count down to Nana.....36 hours!

I am at the 36-hour mark and counting...I can't believe Nana will be leaving tonight to come visit me in Kaz and meet Miss Lucy.

I told Lucy today that Nana was coming and she was going to help me bring her home to the apartment. I told her that Mommy will come and visit her one last time tomorrow (bitter sweet), and when we see her on Monday we will have clothes and shoes for her, because that is it!...She is finally busting out for good...WOO HOO

I can't believe this day is finally coming...it's such an exciting time for me, to have my Mother with me in Almaty, and to have Lucy coming to stay with us a day later....what a great 36 hours it will be!!......

Today was a rainy and cold day in Almaty....We played inside...but met some nice people that are on there first trip and getting ready to head home....anyway it's always nice to meet people that speak English....it's not something you come by often around here......

Lucy of course is always fascinated with other people and there toys.....She was crawling on one of the Dad's laps and trying to touch his face...I told him she must be missing her Dad...she has definitely seemed a bit out of sorts this past week, testing Momma with every move she makes....But I stand firm and "no" has become a word that I say quite a bit....hehehehe......

So for all of you out there that thought I would have the quiet mousy child, nothing like me (right?)....you were wrong...I got what I put in for, and in the end a "spirited" little toddler is what I am bringing home who will keep me very busy!...

I hope to update again this weekend, and we will certaintly update the anticipated Nana arrival and meeting of Lucy. Stay tuned...and thanks for following along....

Love, Julie

What a week!

Would you believe it if I told you I was too busy to come to the Internet cafe to download pictures and update the blog? I have managed to be TOO BUSY.....This is a great thing, helps to pass the time....I am down to 2.5 days until my Mother arrives...I can't believe it!! I am SO excited!!.........

Sunday was a not so fun day....I decided to sleep late, read, and then take the bus up to the Ram Mall (about 4 miles from my apartment). Figures all went too smoothly and I was out the door, on the bus in seconds and at the mall 15 minutes later. I thought I would look in the stores and blow off some time...Bad idea...these stores are so high end, and so highly staffed that they stare at you, and follow you around as if you are either a. going to steal, or b. they wan the sale! Not sure, but either way it didn't make looking around much fun....I hit the Ram store and bought a $15 American book for $26, but it was well worth the splurge, considering I have read about 4 books in a week. The weather hasn't been great, so it's hard to spend any time outside. After my Ram store shopping I decided to walk home.....well I made it about 1/2 and it started to rain. I realized I was at a bus stop at this point, and once again the bus was there waiting for me. So I jumped on and went home. This sounds like it took a while, right? Try 1.5 hours.....I was crushed when I got home and realized this....I read some more, made some dinner and watched 3 episodes of Grey's Anatomy. That was the highlight of the week, the treat I had been saving. I am such a looser, please someone remind me of that...HA HA

Monday I went and visited Lucy in the afternoon....Once again not great weather, but she is a trooper and always wants to be outside, so I took her out and we hung on one of the porches with a cover....she of course wanted to be down on the dirt running around....we had a bit of a power struggle...which seems to be the trend these days.....is an 18 month thing?....Not really sure......

Tuesday I visited in the morning, what a visit!!...I got to see the baby house go swimming in there pool (as you will see in the pictures, which do it no justice, the pool is not something that would even be up to code at home)....It was so great!!...First the older children went in, and they were splashing and screaming and having so much fun (as you will see the children go in naked..hehehe)...then the younger joined in, and before I knew it Lucy's group was going in. Lucy at first just sat with me and we watched, and took a few pictures. Before long she was reaching for her caregiver and wanted in on the pool fun. She was so funny, stripped down naked and in the pool...they dunked her and splashed her, and she didn't seem bothered at all....Hopefully this means good things to come with pools and the beach......

After the visit I went to lunch at the Hyatt with Joseph and Patricia and we headed to the Almaty art museum. It was a great diversion for the afternoon....The Hyatt is fantastic in every way and the food was great...the museum was interesting, but you know me...not much of a museum goer.....

Wednesday was an impossible picture-taking day with Lucy. She was on the move!! She is very determined to take the steps alone, to walk alone and to do just about everything on her own. If you try to hold her hand, she pulls it away and screams. We have some work to do on the screaming end of things, but all and all I think she is feeling more confident on her feet and wanting to explore....She sure keeps Momma busy during the visits.....and like clock work at 11 she lost it and was ready for a nap...I took her for a stroll around the grounds and then brought her in at 11:30 for lunch....she was trying to escape out the door, she wasn't ready to go back to her group...her caregiver grabbed her and for the first time she reached for me...I hope we are making some progress....little does Lucy know she only has a few more days in the baby house, and she will be in the apartment with Nana and I....WOO HOO

After the baby house we headed to the green market to but a stroller...Joseph, Patricia and Asila came along and we bought a nice stroller (nice enough) for about $35 US and a fan for the bedroom....I got a life time warrantee on the fan, just in case we have any issues : )

I am visiting Lucy this afternoon, so I will likely update today's pictures and news tomorrow, depending on the time.....and then the weekend is here again!!...HOORAY for the week flying by.......

Sorry for the long update...just trying to back track a bit......

Love, Julie and Lucy

It's the weekend!!

Hello,
I hope everyone had a great week, and a great weekend to come : ) Yesterday I went in the afternoon to the baby house, so I was not able to update the blog or download the pictures. Today was my morning visit with Lucy, she was in good spirits when I arrived. For the first time she actually cried and reached for me when he caregiver was trying to bring her in to change her clothes. I followed along, and quickly realized it wasn’t me she was reaching for, it was the backpack that she knows is loaded with snacks and toys. She is one smart cookie!!

The weather was a bit iffy this morning, so we started up stairs in the music room. Lucy is able to walk around and explore more when we are in doors, because we avoid the dirt and concrete. About half way through our visit she was standing by the door, and pointing at the window crying. I asked if she wanted to go outside? She didn’t answer, but came right over to put her shoes on. She loves being outside! We played with Anora (Joseph and Patricia’s daughter) for a bit, she stole a few bites of yogurt from Joseph again (poor Anora) and of course she wanted to sit with Joseph and be held by him. Lucy is quite the flirt : )

You will see in the pictures her plastic spoon still wins as her favorite thing to play with...Go figure!

I brought her in for lunch around noon, and headed back to the apartment. I must say getting through this weekend will be my biggest challenge. The weather is not so great for being outdoors, and I’m not quite sure what I will do with an ENTIRE day tomorrow. I of course don’t have the entertainment of my daily instant message sessions with Amy and Jen as I do during the weeknights. I saved three episodes of Grey’s Anatomy for tomorrow, knowing that Sunday is my longest day. I of course am reading my books WAY to fast, and know I will be done long before the week is out. I am trying to pace myself……

I might take the bus to the Ram Mall tomorrow morning. Jon and I took this bus before to meet our friends and it’s very easy. I figured I could walk around the mall if it’s raining and blow of a few hours. If it’s not raining I would like to walk around the city for a few hours…..

It finally cooled off today, I believe it’s only in the 80’s which is great compared to the weather we had the past three days….well over a 100 each day…YIKES……

Enjoy the weekend everyone…we miss you and can’t wait to see you on home turf….

Love, Julie and Lucy

7/18/07 and 7/19/07

Greetings from Sunny HOT Almaty! It’s been blazing the past few days. Thankfully my apartment is up on the 5th floor and I do tend to get some type of breeze, if you want to call it that, during the day : ) I save the AC for night, it looks old and pretty beat up. I want to keep that champ going for the remainder of the stay.

Yesterday my visit got changed last minute from morning to later in the afternoon, so I didn’t have time to come to the internet café. Today I will play catch up on both days.

Wednesday Lucy was in great spirits, as she usually is in the afternoon. You will see in the pictures, she got a kick out of sitting independently on the bench on the porch to eat her snack. She would throw her arm up on the railing or throw her leg up on the bench and crack up. She is such a little ham! We will surely have our hands full when she is home. She keeps Momma on her feet, chasing after her, and trying to save her from a face plant in the dirt, or worse on the concrete. We can’t wait for parks, and grass, and walks around the lake…all the things I imagined we would do when she got home. We are counting down the days : )

Today she was a little cheery, she was a little “naughty” as Asila my translator called her. She wanted her snack the second I arrived, and of course I couldn’t supply it fast enough so she had a fit. After she ate, she was better, but then about 20 minutes before our visit was over she lost it. Through herself down on the porch and screamed for 10 minutes. I tried to wait it out, but it’s not something you want to do when you have five caregivers staring at you. I picked her up, offered her a pacifier and she was out like a like in five seconds. In the end she isn’t naughty, she just gets very tired in the morning, especially close to lunch time.

I am still surviving, can you believe it’s day 4 already (it feels like day 40…HAHA)? I have challenging moments, but all and all it’s going just fine. I may have already told you, and forgive me if I’m repeating myself, but I camp out in the living room on the air mattress now. It’s my new favorite safe haven for sleep and hanging out. I feel like I’m back at the Cirino’s for one of my thousand sleepovers (well we had a bunk or a trundle, but you get the picture). I have my nightly routine of chatting on IM with whoever is on, usually Amy and Jen, and then I watch an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, read, and go to sleep. Such an exciting life I am living over here! Zhaniya keeps reminding me to not go out late at night, I reassure her that I’m not going any were other then my air matress.

I hope everyone is having a great week, Lucy sends her love and I do too!

Julie and Lucy

Hello Everyone,
Day 2 of being alone and I'm still alive! HA HA

Things are going just fine over here, the day actually went by nice and fast and now it's almost time to make myself some dinner.

Lucy was great this morning and I managed to take more pictures today then yesterday. You will see I got a sneak peak at lunch at the baby house. I have seen snack, but never lunch. I believe Lucy was eating some type of veggie soup, then they had some noodle, beef and beet mixture. The caregivers were excited to show me she can feed herself. Not sure how much got into her mouth, and I might have been more horrified then excited. I am very happy the caregivers take pride in there jobs and they do care about Lucy. After Lucy was done eating she got down from the table, waved bye to me, and headed to the bathroom for her potty visit. It was so funny to see.

Ok that's all for today, I am running out of time at the internet cafe, and I need to get a few grocery's before I head back to the apartment.

I hope everyone is doing well, I am missing my emails from home. I know everyone is busy, but if you can drop me a line : )

Lots of love, Julie and Lucy