Weekend in WI

Whew...what a weekend. Lets sum it up. Dad had to stay home alone for the Cats big win over Ole Miss.

1. Plane ride to Chicago...much shorter than the trip from KZ...Thank goodness! I am so glad that the big guy was not this mobile 4 months ago!
2. Car ride to WI...just in time for a short nap
3. Tailgate at Aunt Ruth's (don't worry Ruth, no damage done)
4. Football Game and Rededication of Wilmot High School's Football Field...Also known as Frank Bucci Field. What a special event that we are very thankful that we could attend.
5. Bedtime - okay a few hours late, but we have so much to do and so little time!
6. Wake and drive to Milwaukee...again, time for a short nap.
7. KZ Picnic...any event involving families that have adopted or are in the process of adopting children from KZ are always wonderful. Wyatt was able to finally meet Andrea, our LMI coordinator, and get a big smooch from her daughter.
8. Drive back to Twin Lakes...again, just enough time for a quick nippy.
9. Cookout at the Sarbacker's. We got to meet our new cousin Elliot and Wyatt played 'til exahustion with his cousin McKenzie that he just met as well.
10. Bedtime for Mr. Wyatt...maybe Mom and Kristen should have taken his lead to Aunt Kathy couldn't take all of their money in "Ship, Captain, Crew". Thanks a lot Kath! ha ha.
11. Wake up and another hour drive to the airport...you guessed it...naptime!
12. Fly home...this would be when Wyatt mooched raisins off of other passengers.
13. Arrive home...and breathe again.

Yep it was a busy weekend, but what a fun one. We are so grateful that we could make the trip and really appreciate the hospitality of the Clark's and Sarbacker's and generosity of Grandma Lynne and Grandpa John.

More Photos

Up and Moving

What have we been "up" to? A picture worth a thousand words.

More Birthday Pics

Just a few more pics of the big weekend.

Happy Birthday Pics

Happy Birthday, Wyatt. Wyatt is now one year and a day old. And boy, did he have a fun filled birthday weekend. Dad had to go out of town for a wedding, so it was Mom, Wyatt and friends Jeni and Brianna for the big weekend. Saturday started with a bang...pancakes, nap, pool, ice cream, nap, Chuck E Cheese's. Talk about tired kids and moms at the end of the day! But hey, you only turn one once! Today, Dad came home and we had our family's birthday celebration day. It started with a visit to the park and then Wyatt got to open some presents he received in the mail from the Whitsitt's and the Ivancics and some presents from Mom and Dad. After that, came the infamous first birthday cake. I think the pictures show whether he liked that or not. We had to cut him off before he ate the whole thing. Okay, maybe Mom helped a little bit. The big man is now tucked in bed, with visions of ice cream and cake dancing in his head. Sorry big guy, birthday weekend is over...back to the fruit and veggies!

Back to School Blues

After 5 months off, I guess I have no right to complain about going back to work. Day one in the life of a working mom. It comes with mixed emtions...glad to be back in the working world, but wow...I didn't realize how much I would miss him over only 8 hours! Okay, really only 4 since I went and ate lunch with him. Wyatt did great. It is such a relief to know that he is being taken care of by a loving family and that the interaction with other children is great for him socially and developmentally. Here are some pics from today...eating breakfast, drying off from a bath and getting ready to go! I'll sleep much better tonight knowing that both he and I are going to be just fine with this whole work deal.

"We're Back"

Wow! Where do we even begin? We've been home for a little over two months and what a wonderful summer it has been. Since arriving home, we are humbled everyday by the generosity and support of all of our friends and family. From the welcome home party at the airport, to the "Extreme Home Makeover Wyatt Edition", to the daily phone calls and notes of support...we cannot thank our friends and family enough. Wyatt has met so many new people and has been eating up the attention he recieves. His personality has really begun to show and boy do we have a ham on our hands! He went from belly flopping to crawling in nothing short of a sprint. He loves to swim and loves to eat...well, everything! Due to the fact that so much time has passed since our last post, we will not even attempt to sum up what all we've done this summer. We'll just leave it as it has been the best of our lives...and it's just the beginning.

Now, to sum up the adoption process as a whole. We cannot thank Little Miracles International enough for making our dream of becoming a family come true. From the first phone call of inquiry until now, the wonderful service and support we have recieved from them has been amazing. The LMI team both in the US and in KZ is made up of very special people that we will always hold dear to our hearts. Thank you LMI, Andrea, and to our translator and coordinator in Astana...we cannot imagine this experience without you.

We promise to update more often. Jason has been back at work since the week we got home and Michelle returns to work next week. A very sweet woman will be watching Wyatt in her home with a few other children while Mom and Dad are at work. He'll love it, as he loves other kids, but naturally, Michelle is already dreading the day she must drop him off. We'll let you know how that geos next time.

Until then...thanks for everything and sorry for the 2 month hiatus.

A Very Welcomed Uneventful Day

A much less eventful day today. Thank goodness! The day began with a run and then a visit with the big man. He was pretty happy today and it was great to see him for the full two hours (the first time since Saturday). He got tired at the end, but we had a blast till then. Jason found out a ball game to play with him that just cracks Wyatt up, so naturally, we played that for as long as he was willing. We had lots of laughs today.
After our visit, we booked our flight to Almaty. We will be heading there on May 23. It is so hard to believe that the end of this journey is in sight. One journey ends and a lifelong journey begins.

Court Day!

Whew, what a day! First and foremost we are thrilled to say that court was a success and we are now beginning our 15 day appeal period. We have been assured that this is not anything to worry about and it is safe to say we are Wyatt’s parents. What an excellent feeling to know that Wyatt is now our son…officially! Our court time was 10 am. After a while of waiting (okay, about1 hr), the judge and prosecutor came in. It was a short hearing, Hallelujah, and then we waited to hear her decision (this usually takes maybe 15 minutes). The prosecutor stated he approved our petition to adopt. The judge concludes by saying, please return at 3:00 to hear her decision. At this point, we’re waiting for someone to tell us we are on Candid Camera. We were again assured that this is nothing to worry about, and sure enough they were right. At approximately 3:15 the judge accepted our petition to adopt our son.
After court we headed straight to the baby house. Wyatt was full of smiles when he saw us…little did he know what a huge day this was for him as well. His caregiver said he had been looking for us the past few days. We missed him so much and cannot wait to bring him back to the US!
After the baby house, we headed to Buharah for a celebration dinner and drinks. We cannot thank the Little Miracles staff enough for their wonderful service. Our coordinator and translator are unbelievable and we couldn’t imagine this experience without them. They truly make dreams come true.

Sorry, no photos. We can't get blogger to upload them.

Trial Run

Happy May 1st! This is a national holiday here, which for us meant no baby house. There was supposed to be a parade and festivities today, but we assumed the snow (yes the 80 degree weather from last week had now turned into snow) might have put a damper on these. We didn’t do all that much…went for a run, to Astana Market, the Ram Store and to a nearby mall. The biggest part of our day was our coordinator and translator coming over. We just went over what to expect tomorrow and basically for them to tell us to relax. 10:00 am tomorrow cannot come soon enough. As you can imagine, it’s been a long day and we are ready for court to be finished and (knock on wood) go to see Wyatt with a very positive court experience behind us. These past two days have been especially long since we haven’t seen our boy and we are dying to see him tomorrow.

So, Monday at midnight (for those of you in EDT), send some positive thoughts our way…we hope we don’t need them.

Shopping/Scavenger Hunt

With our court appearance just a couple of days away, the anxiety of the past year is gaining some serious steam.

Today, we woke, cleaned the apartment (not much space + not many things= not a lot of cleaning). At about 2, we were picked up by the translator and driver. We were in search of a stethoscope with a small clock for a gift for Wyatt’s doctor. We found the gift after driving around Astana for about an hour and visiting 4 different drugstores. At the checkout, we were offered Vitamins as part of our change (at restaurants, it's not uncommon to get gum as a portion of the change due you). We declined and the clerk went to another register to get us appropriate change.

After the drugstore scavenger hunt, we asked to be dropped off at the mall (the one with the Maximus fast food restaurant from a few weeks ago). We needed cash as the shops in this mall typically don’t accept credit cards. We drove to 3 different locations before finding a working ATM (not a typical problem here).

We shopped for about 40 minutes and then were dropped back at the house, dropped off our merchandise, and then went for dinner at Shymkent. We shared white rice, steak shish kabob (Shashlik in Russian), and a small pizza with tomatoes and steak. All of this was good and all of it came to less than 10 dollars.

We then walked to the Ramstore for a few essentials (including Jack Daniels Barbecue Sauce), and then back home.

Tomorrow (court day eve), is a holiday here in Kazakhstan. It’s officially called “May Day” but is a hold over from the Soviet holiday which was a 3-day celebration for Labor Day/Workers' Day. So no visit with Wyatt tomorrow, but hopefully there will be a time to visit him after Court Tuesday.

Paka Paka Jenn and Peter

Sorry no post yesterday. We had a great visit. Wyatt has discovered his tongue and Michelle and he spent some quality time sticking their tongues out at each other. One of his wonderful caregivers had a funny story for us. Wyatt apparently has learned to pull himself up to a standing position, as he did for the first time yesterday in his playing crib. The caregiver said he was standing up and realized he had no clue how to get down. So he just stood there and screamed until somebody helped him! She said it was so funny. It definitely had us cracking up. After the visit, we came home and got ready to go to dinner with Jenn and Peter. The court granted their adoption and they are now Jack’s official parents, so we went out to celebrate. We had an outstanding meal at Buhara. The meal started with bread and salads…Jason’s salad consisted of fried mushrooms, mayo, chicken and cucumbers and Michelle’s was carrots, kidney beans, apples and lemon. After that, came two huge dishes of lamb, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage and carrots. One dish was fried and one dish was baked. It was the best meal we’ve had here. Not to mention the Georgian wine. Yum. After that, we just came home and crashed. Thank you so much to Peter and Jenn for the wonderful meal and for the time we have shared the past 4 weeks. They are leaving tonight for home and we will definitely miss them. We wish them safe travels and hope to meet up again, as families of 3, in Almaty in a few short (fingers crossed) weeks.
Today, neither the playroom nor the music room were available, so we were in the conference room. Wyatt was a little on the cranky side today. Not bad, just tired.
So we played a little and then just held him and walked around. The yawning began early today so that explained it all. We will not see him again until Tuesday after court, as tomorrow is Sunday and Monday is a holiday. So, if all goes as planned, the next time we see him we will officially be his parents. We cannot wait.
After seeing Wyatt, we headed to the Eurasian Mall to pick up some gifts. We found what we needed and headed to a fast food café in the mall. Jason had a grilled chicken sandwhich (Very McDonalds like) and fries, Michelle had a different type of chicken sandwhich (more of a roll). It was okay, nothing fantastic, but hey, fast food is fast food, and we were in a hurry because our driver (actually Jenn and Peter’s, our coordinators are wouldn’t start this morning) needed to be back at the baby house to get Jenn and Peter.
We are now off to Astana Market to pick up some groceries and will call it a night. The weather is cold and rainy, so it makes for a perfect movie night in.

Road Rage

This morning we took our usual seats on the park bench on the Avenue of the Republic (Astana’s main street which backs up to our apartment building). Today, there were a lot fewer cars being pulled over. A few moments after we sat down, we heard police sirens (a rarity here) and right in front of us was the Presidential motorcade complete with the President’s Mercedes SUV with curtained windows.

We took Wyatt outside for the first ½ of today’s 2 hour visit. He was about 15 minutes for the visit today as he was eating. About 10 minutes into today’s visit, Michelle lifted Wyatt above her head (he LOVES this). From about 2 feet above her head, he presented her with his breakfast all over her face…then, he smiled at her.

After the baby house we headed to the Ramstore to purchase additional Nursat I-cards (the access cards for our dial-up internet connection). ½ a block from the Ramstore, we were stopped at a red light and heard a horn honking from behind us. Our driver looked in the mirror and thought nothing of it. Then, more honking. Our driver moved forward a bit and the car behind us that was honking pulled up beside us on Jason’s right side. Our driver rolled down the window of the Mercedes and the shouting began between the two drivers. At one point as we were a little ahead of the other car, our driver threw it in reverse to converse a little more. Our translator said that our driver called the man a “sheep” and that they told one another to “shut up”. I think that we lost something in the translation…the words seemed much more severe than those.

Jenn and Peter’s court date is tomorrow morning. We plan to join them for their celebratory dinner tomorrow evening at Buhara. Best wishes for a smooth court appearance for them tomorrow.

Smiles and Tears

Today begin with a short walk. We stopped to sit on a bench and entertain ourselves by watching people get pulled over. Here, cops stand along side of the road and pull people over randomly. Hey, it beats America’s Funniest Home Videos!
We began the visit with taking Wyatt outside. We now have shed the sweatshirt layer. He is still loving the Snugli. After about 45 minutes we headed to the music room where we did the same stuff as usual…a little of the Leapfrog toy, a little of the books, a little of the keys, and of course the banging on anything we can find. We also played with a stuffed horse, which eventually went into the mouth. Our translator decided he is a true Kazakh man because of his taste in horse. Our coordinator came in late in the visit and it stressed Wyatt out! He is not used to men (only Jason). When our coordinator first came in, Wyatt just stared him down….couldn’t keep his eyes off of him. But once he got close and tried to tickle him, Wyatt wasn’t having it. Immediate tears. We had to include this picture! On a very positive note, as we were leaving the baby house, we saw a new mother walking out of the head doctor’s office. She had just found her baby. After looking at him briefly we realized this was the first child shown to us. We are so happy that he has found his family, as we would have wondered about him forever.
After the baby house we went to the Astana Market for lunch. We had a sampling of foods…burrito of random items, pilaf, chicken, salad, dumplings and topped it all off with some ice cream. The only downside of the whole experience was the absence of forks and napkins. From there we went on another walk (yes, our lives are sooooo exciting) and then back to the Mary Tyler Moore Show. We have now finished those DVD’s as well.
The night concluded with a trip to meet Jenn and Pete out for some cappuccino and then off to Shymkent for some beers. They are leaving Saturday night for home. We’ll be having our last hurrah at Buharah Friday night. We are so excited for them.

One Week To Go

It is officially one week from our court date, May 2 at 10:00 am. It was the President’s decision that the May 1 holiday will only last one day. It could have been up to 3! We were obviously thrilled it is only one. Wyatt was full of smiles today…that seems to be the norm now. Wyatt has found that he can prop himself up on a bench bang his hand on it for fun. It’s the little things in life, huh. We played inside for the first hour and then headed outside. We tested out the Snugli and it seems to be a hit with all of us. I can already picture us walking though the farmers market on Saturday mornings. As far as Wyatt’s layers today and yesterday, he has been dressed a little on the heavy side, but not as bad as usually… not even enough to sweat. It was about 70 today and he had on a onesie pj outfit, pants, a sweatshirt, a jacket, boots and a light hat. We probably could have done without the sweatshirt, but hey, at least no scarf!!

After the baby house we came home for lunch, watched TV for a while and went for a long walk…from 1:30-5:00. We walked to the Tree of Life and by the President’s House. We sat on the benches in the park-like area in front of the President’s house for a while. It was beautiful outside and there was some music playing so we decided to just chill for a bit.

After our walk we came home, ate dinner and went to Astana Market to get some Pepsi Lite. Of course, we had to walk through the bakery. And if you walk through the bakery, you have to try something. So, we got a little individual sized pie filled with a type of frosting that was equivalent to an extremely large pixie stick. We are not sure what it was, but we do know that is has quite the reaction when mixed with Diet Coke.