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

First day alone!!.......

Hello,
This is my first post since being VERY sick. I got sick on Saturday night, and was sick all day on Sunday. I am convinced I got my first stomach bug from Lucy, but of course my coordinator wouldn’t hear of that, and insisted it must have been from the food I was eating (not sure that pasta with sauce, or mac and cheese can give you food poisoning?).

Our plans on Saturday evening changed, and we did not end up going out to dinner with friends. Probably for the best, given the circumstances later that night. Sunday we did not make it to our translators house for the traditional Kazakh meal of horsemeat and I found out today, I missed out on the fermented camels and horse milk to drink. Jon was sorry I was sick, but thanked me for getting him out of that dreaded meal. Our translator is very kind and we do feel badly that we did not get to meet her family.

Today is a better day (health wise) but also a not so good day. Jon left this morning at 5:30 to head home. I went back to bed and woke up and got ready for my morning baby house visit. I will now be going in the morning, the coordinator has lots of paper work to do and can get more done in the afternoons. I am fine with the change, as now I will be able to go to the Internet café in the afternoon and not have to worry about getting back from the baby house too late. Lucy was good today, she definitely was looking around and I think wondering, “hey were is my Daddy”. It was hard to chase her around, try to take pictures and keep track of all her toys. I guess this is what Motherhood really feels like. I guess my staying alone for two weeks is a good example of what you will do for your child. I never imagined I would do something like this, but yet it’s being done with out much choice. In the end I will survive, right? HA HA

Lucy has a nice new scrape on her nose and upper lip (I was told a child scratched her, but it looks like she fell). This new scrape will show up nicely on her passport photo that she had taken this morning (Oh well, she won’t be leaving the country any time soon). I tried to sneak a picture of the passport photo, but I couldn’t seem to balance Lucy, the camera and find a good spot to lay out the pictures. I decided that the 6 or so pictures I did take today were good enough for day one : )

Have I mentioned how amazing Jon really is? He did such a fantastic job of getting everything ready for me (everything I could have possibly needed and more) and also giving me pep talks on how it’s only 14 days, 12 if you count today and the day my mother arrives : ) I am counting down the days Nana, I can’t wait for you to get over here! No doubt this two weeks will be interesting, and challenging. I was making a list of “things to do” earlier today, and I will probably run out of options around 4:00 p.m each day, and then count down the minutes until I can log onto AOL instant messenger around 7:00 p.m and find my sister just arriving at work, or possibly Jen since she is free this week. I am counting on you girls as my evening entertainment : )

That’s all for now, Happy Monday to all!! Julie

Happy Saturday : )

Hello Everyone,
We hope your enjoying the weekend : ) We visited with Lucy this morning, and she seems to be feeling better. It’s hard to tell when we visit in the morning, she always seems so tired and cranky. I can’t wait to get her on a better nap schedule when she is home. She clearly needs more sleep then she is getting at the baby house.

Lucy was running around on the porch today with her friends Ali and Nurlan. She is getting very fast on her feet, especially with her new shoes. Nurlan's sister had sunglasses and Lucy decided to try them on today, so funny!!

We gave her applesauce and water today, well and of course a few cookies. She loves her cookies : ) She seemed fine after she ate, although she was looking for more. Monday I will go back to bringing her banana, but no more yogurt (for the time being).

You will also see that she is still opposed to putting anything down to use her hands. She was trying to take a sip of her water and insisted on leaning over and picking the cup up with her mouth. Lucy loves to be double fisted and will utilize any other body part to avoid dropping her spoon or cookie. She cracks us up!!!

Today was Daddy’s last visit with Lucy at the baby house : ( Of course she was sound asleep in the stroller for half our visit. But he did get a few good hugs and kisses. We will miss Daddy when he is at home, but he is excited to get everything in order at home (those who know us know what a task that will be…HA HA) and ready for Miss Lucy’s arrival.

Last night it was sunny and nice and suddenly it was pouring rain. Jon spotted the most amazing rainbow. He said it must have been for Lucy’s special day. It was so bright and beautiful…Jon got a few pictures of it…

Tonight we are meeting Martha and Ricardo (Nurlan’s parents from Italy) and there daughter Beatrice, with Rosemarie and her Mom. We are having dinner at a real Italian restaurant that Ricardo found out about. The owners are from Italy. Hopefully it’s good food : )

Tomorrow we are going to out translator’s house for a traditional Kazakh meal. She is preparing Horse meat, with noodles, potatoes and onions. As you can imagine I am as nervous as all hell already, there is NO chance I will eat anything. I know we should try it, but I’m not sure I can do it. We are bringing dessert and Joseph and Patricia the couple from France are joining us with Zhaniya. They are bringing the wine. Maybe I can be a wine and dessert girl : ) Jon will be forced into trying it, he will have little choice. Zhaniya will ask him if he wants something, he will say “no thank you” and she will give it to him anyway. Wish us luck!!

No Lucy pics tomorrow, but maybe we will try to take some pictures tonight and tomorrow of our Italian dinner and Kazakh dinner and visit to our translators house. She is such a kind person; we are her first family that she has had over. We feel lucky to be invited and meet her family!

Have a great weekend, we miss everyone…….Julie, Jon and Lucy

July 11, 12, and 13 (woops, we've been a little slow)

Greetings,
Sorry I am catching up on the last three days. We had friends in town on Wednesday evening and thought we would be meeting for dinner so we stayed home after our visit with Lucy. Come to find out there flight came in much later then expected, so we spent most of the day/evening with them on Thursday.

Now for some Lucy news. For one, although I was going to post about Wednesday and Thursday first, and wait for Friday. I can't wait.....We went to court, and.......WE ARE LUCY'S PARENTS!!!...WOO HOOO....Court was a total breeze, we were asked a few very basic questions by the judge, the prosecutor asked no questions, just said he agrees with the judge and in the end we were in and out in about 15 minutes. Actually it was such a breeze that the judge was sending text messages on her cell phone!! Ok so I might have been a little annoyed about all these new changes in policy and cracking down in Almaty when the judge is using her cell during our hearing, but it doesn't really matter now...We did it, FINALLY!

We went right to the baby house after court, and of course were not prepared (we didn't know we would be going right after) so we had no baby bag, toys or camera...We spent about an hour with Lucy, who by the way was sick yesterday....and still seeming under the weather....she just laid on me and slept for most of the hour....poor baby.....Lucy will be staying in the baby house for 15 more days, then she will come and live in the apartment with Nana and I for a week or so.....Nana will get one or two Lucy free nights to catch up on sleep, and then Lucy is with us for the duration....I can't wait!!...I can't believe this is almost over....WOO HOO

So back to the middle of the week. Wednesday was a great visit; Lucy was playful and enjoyed her yellow spoon. You will see the spoon in her mouth, under her chin and always in her hand. She decided that's her new favorite thing we bring with us. If she needs to use her hands, it goes into her mouth, if she needs to use her mouth she tucks it under her chin. It was hilarious to watch......We knew she was off yesterday when she wasn't interested in her spoon or snack......

She was very quiet and was more or less just sitting with Jon or I. We were doing court prep on the deck at the baby house and Lucy just seemed off. We offered her a banana and she took a bite or two and then wanted nothing to do with it....We then gave her a biscuit and she tossed it on the ground....but she did point to the bag that has the yogurt in it, so we thought she wanted it...she ate it all up, no problem...and then about 20 minutes later she was sitting with her Dad on the swing (not swinging mind you) and she rested her head on his chest and then BLAH she threw up all over Jon and all over self. Poor Lucy, and poor Jon. Jon was officially christened into father hood yesterday. I of course quickly scooped Lucy up and brought her in side....I was scolded for giving her "cold" yogurt and that was definitely the cause of her being sick....whatever...I just bite my tongue...Now today I was told twice, after being told yesterday three times that I am not allowed to give her yogurt or anything cold. Cold food and drink can cause babies to vomit...I guess I learn something new every day : ) Maybe you are learning something new as well : )

As I mentioned above, she was still off today, running a low-grade fever and they said her throat was a little red. They gave her some "pill" crushed up and mixed with water...it sounds like a Tylenol type item for her fever and any pain. They might put her on an antibiotic, but I asked them to wait and see how she is tomorrow. Her fever wasn't that high and her symptoms don't seem to be that obvious yet. We will see how she is tomorrow and meet with the doctor again.

After our visit we were taken out to lunch with Zhaniya, and Asila....they took us to a Uzbek restaurant called the "Cigar Club"...I asked if people smoke cigars and they looked me like I had ten heads...I guess it's just a name....So we branched out a little more with the food, but honestly I can't report that we have found anything that we LOVE. I am very happy with my easy mac and grilled cheese sandwiches. I am such a simpleton....I guess Jon is too!!.... : )

Our friends Anthony, Liz and Paul are gone as of this morning. Liz works at NEMC with me. We found each other through our social worker. Get this, we live in the same town, work at the same hospital (and mind you she would have been my boss if I had started 2 months earlier in Dermatology), used he same social worker and adoption agency and both adopted little girls from Kazakhstan. They adopted from Petro, and there daughter is being escorted the middle of the next month. Lucy has her first Kazakh friend right up the street!...We are very excited to hopefully keep the girls close and see each other often. We enjoyed our time with them when they were here for the day.......

Ok that's all for now...I am long and winded as you can see today, but tomorrow we will get back on track with daily posts and pictures vs. a trio : )

A special Thank you to Ida for being so patient with me and being so helpful this first week. We have hit a few bumps and she always goes above and beyond to iron them out and make things right. In the end she wants me stress free and enjoying my Lucy. I can't say that other agencies would support their clients as she does. Thank you Ida : )

Sorry we are a day late......

We will keep this post short and sweet and post lots of pictures of Lucy. We visited on Monday and Today. She is doing great, and only gave me a stare down for about 30 seconds when I first arrived to get her from her group. We took her outside, gave her yogurt and banana and she was right back to her old self. Like we never left...it was such a great feeling to know going home didn't impact her in a negative way with her wonderful progress with Jon and I.

She is walking away, but a little unstead on her feet. Not to mention the hard surfaces in the baby house playground, so we usually try to hold her hand. Lucy is a girl on a mission and I am confident will keep Jon and I off the couch from this day forward : )

Enjoy......

We're back!!

We arrived safely in Almaty around 5:00 this morning. After the mayhem at the baggage claim, we found Zhaniya and she took us back to our apartment. It actually feels like home, well ok let's not go that far...but it does feel comfortable and familiar. Two great things for us being so far away from our true home : )

Our lay over in Amsterdam was great. Unfortunately we did not go into the city. We slept the whole time at the hotel. It made the travel much more bearable and in the end I was much more bearable in Almaty (I'm sure Jon was thankful to not have a crying wife the first few hours like last time..HAHA) : )

We of course can't seem to go anywhere or do anything and not hit bad luck, right? So we get in the car with Zhaniya who is all smiles and happy and she says "well your not going to court on Monday or Tuesday". We may go on Thursday or Friday. I explained to her that we strategically planned our tickets to be PERFECT, and of course now that is all out the window. I told her that she needs to MAKE Friday work; Jon is leaving first thing on Monday. UGH........

We shall see, no sense in getting all worked up (I already did that)...We might end up staying a few days later (possibly the 10th or 11th) if court really doesn't happen until Friday. Let's home Jon can go home as planned.....someone needs to pay the mortgage : )

We spent our first day resting and doing some shopping. We should be good on the food end for a while, and it was nice to walk around to the familiar places (i.e to the mall for a nursat card so I can be on line at the apartment for insane amounts of time, etc.HAHA)

Ok so now for some GOOD news...we get to see Lucy tomorrow at 3:00....WOO HOO...we can't wait!!....We will post an update and pictures as soon as we get back and over to the Internet cafe.

We are excited to be on this last leg of a very long journey, but one that we wouldn't pass up for anything. As many of you have told us, we will just have a very long story to tell Lucy about her home coming when she is older.

Hugs and kisses : )

Todays the Big Day!!.......

We are off to Almaty tonight...WOO HOO...We can't wait to get our hands on little Lucy. We should be seeing her on Monday. Notice the picture were she is blowing kisses to everyone....She is a little mad that it took me four weeks to finish loading all her pictures.....Lucy wanted to make sure everyone knew that picture was for them, and she is saying Thanks for reading her blog and sending her so much love.

I feel like a packing pro, I could pack for just about any trip if I can pack for this one. I was up last night for hours re-packing and organizing the suitcases. I was insisting we could get away with three suitcases this time, but they all weighed more then 50 pounds (poor Jon). We decided to break it down to four to make them all weigh a little less (still have to say poor Jon, those suckers are heavy!!).

We are bringing more food and fewer clothes this time. It should be nice and hot when we arrive, and we found that we wore the same things over and over (as I'm sure you noticed in the pictures). The food as you all know was a bit of a challenge for us. Since we will have guests this time (Liz, Anthony and Paul arrive next Wednesday), and of course Nana....We decided to jazz it up and bring some Rice A Roni and Velveeta Shells and Cheese (we are going really high end this time ; )

Last night was my last night in the condo with out Lucy (Jon gets three solid weeks ALONE in the condo before the girls arrive). I have to say I am completely ok with that. I can't wait to get this baby girl home and settled into our family. She is loved so much already; I can't even imagine what it will be like when she is physically here!!....We can't wait!!

Ok that's all for now....We will post on Sunday when we arrive....We are staying in the same apartment...WOOO HOOO.....What a great relief that was, as I will be alone for two weeks....I was very comfortable and familiar with the area when we left, I hope to fall right back into place......

Wish us luck on this LONG journey....But just think, this is my last flight over to Kaz and August 8th will be my last flight home.....We are in the home stretch!!.....