We know this is actually an adoption blog, but.....

WE'RE PREGNANT !!!!!

Obviously, this was not part of our original plan. When we first found out about it, our initial reaction was fear, anxiety, and a little bit of anger. Given our history, we assumed this pregnancy would end like all of the others and we would have to suffer through yet another miscarriage. We were so reluctant to even entertain the notion that we might have a successful pregnancy that Jenny went to her first ultrasound by herself to get the bad news. Of course, there was no bad news and I felt horrible that I missed hearing the heartbeat for the first time. Our second ultrasound was this morning and everything looks great! We heard the heartbeat and saw (as in the pictures above) the baby's head and little arms and legs. We are now ten weeks in (which is twice as far as we have ever gotten before) and they are guessing that the due date would be around July 27th. We are guardedly optimistic, but please keep us in your prayers!

Now on to news about Max....

We have been home now for just over three months and Max is doing great! We have had lots of firsts in the last three months: meeting our family and friends for the first time, his first birthday at home, his first Halloween, his first Thanksgiving, his first Christmas. He is going to be very disappointed in the new year that he won't be getting a new load of presents every four or five weeks.

He's growing a LOT (he actually looks like a different kid when you compare him to the first pictures we took of him back in May). His weight has jumped up into the 25th percentile and his head size is now in the 75th percentile. His height still has some catching up to do since he was still in the 10th percentile at our last doctor appointment. But he is getting taller since he has grown out of most of his 12-month pants. Now he's wearing mostly 18-month pants along with his 18-24 month shirts. He has even moved up one shoe size as well. His food issues are continuing to improve. He still eats a TON, but he's not nearly so obsessed about it.

His personality has really blossomed since we've been home. He has lots of fun with all of his new toys and he makes us laugh all the time. His language is also starting to explode. He has lots of single words and repeats many words that we say for him. He is often able to tell us what he wants instead of just grunting and pointing. Not that everything has been smooth sailing. He does exhibit many typical two-year-old behaviors. He will throw a tantrum and show some stubbornness occasionally when he doesn't get his way. He is very independent-minded and doesn't always want us to help him when he's having difficulty. Of course, we're not complaining. This is ALL good news and just means that he is developing normally!!

We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Below is a copy of our Christmas card. We apologize if you did not receive one, but we did not order enough to send to everyone we would have liked to. Below the card, I have also posted a bunch of fun pictures of Max from the last few months. If you are on Facebook, you may have already seen most of these, but there are some new ones, too.

Still best buddies!

Max was a dragon for his first Halloween...

Falltime fun in the leaves...

On his birthday, Max learned the hard way that fire is HOT!

He loves to ride in the wagon...

Max's first visit with Santa (or as Max likes to call him, Ho Ho)...

Max likes to wear Jenny's headband and run around the house. When Krista and Rodg gave Max these pajamas on his birthday, we thought they were WAY too big, but just a month later, they fit him like a glove!

Let's get physical!

Home for a month!

It is hard to believe that we have actually been home for an entire month already! Where did the time go? We have gotten settled pretty well into our new life as a family of three instead of two. Jenny has gone back to work for three days a week, but Max has adjusted very well with both of us being away at work on those days.

Max also had his big appointment at the Children's Hospital International Adoption Center since our last post. It was a four-hour long checkup with the OT, social worker, nurse practitioner, and with Dr. Staat who runs the clinic. Max did great for the entire visit, that is until the very end when they had to take blood, at which point he SCREAMED. But once that was over and he found out that he got to go home, have lunch, and see pup-pup, he settled down. Overall, Max is doing very well. He is starting to catch up on his height and weight and his other delays are no more than we anticipated. They did recommend that we look into early intervention, so we've been getting into contact with Help Me Grow to set up an appointment. We go back to the IAC in a couple weeks to get the results of the blood tests and the stool sample (yuck) that we sent in today.

We're looking forward to Max's first Halloween. He's dressing up as a dragon. He's probably going to be confused as to what is going on, but we're sure that he'll enjoy the candy!

Max still loves getting ready to take a bath!

Max and his best buddy Sydney, looking out the back door for bunnies!

Kisses for Mommy!

Settling in

We've had a fairly uneventful week. Max is adjusting very well. His sleeping is still great, going to bed without much fuss and he sleeps through the night with no trouble. His only issue is still with food, but even that has shown mild improvement.

Max went to his first KinderMusic class this week and he enjoyed himself pretty much, although he didn't get too involved in it. He'll be going once a week with our friend Laura when she watches him on Tuesdays after Jenny returns to work. Hopefully, he'll participate a little more in future classes.

Max has his big doctor appointment this Wednesday at the Children's Hospital International Adoption Center. It will be a three to four hour appointment in which they will run a battery of tests and give him a thorough checkup.

Max is understanding English a lot more these days and has even begun to repeat some simple words like apple, up, nana (for banana), diap diap (for a diaper change), hi, ball, pup pup (for Sydney). Speaking of Sydney, here's a sweet video of the two of them.

First Week Home!

We forgot to post on Sunday night as we were planning, so we are posting this on Monday night instead. Our first week home with Max was a great week. The transition has been even smoother than we had hoped. He goes to sleep for naps and at bedtime without too much of a fuss and he usually even does well when we leave the room before he falls asleep (in Kazakhstan, we always stayed in the room until he fell asleep). So things are going well. His only issue is his ongoing obsession with food, but even that has improved a little bit. The million new toys that he has tends to distract him for a little while, but once he thinks about it, he asks for MORE. But he does still enjoy sharing his Cheerios with Sydney.

We have had a steady stream of visitors this week. Since the family met us at the airport, lots of friends have been eager to make a visit. Sean, Robyn, and Tommy brought some lasagna over for dinner and stayed for a nice visit. Then Tim, Shannon, and the kids all came over for dinner (yummy pasta for the adults, pizza for the kids) and on Saturday it was lunch with Rodg, Krista, and Charlie who arrived with some Chipotle burritos. It has been soooooo long and of course there are many more friends (and some family) that we still are eager to see. Here's a photo of Max with his new buddy Tommy T.


On Saturday night, we decided that it was high time for Max to get to his first Reds game. We met Rodg and Danno Driehaus down at the stadium and sat in the right field moon deck. They took down the Pirates 8-4 and Max even got to see some homerun fireworks courtesy of Scott Rolen. The Reds finished the season strong this year (27-13 in their last 40 games), so Max is hopeful for a postseason appearance in 2010.

Max has also enjoyed his swing set. The previous owners left the set in the backyard for us and Max's grandma Janet supplied the new swing. He loves it!

We're coming to America!!

A final post about our trip home. But this won't be the final post for the blog. Jenny and I are planning on doing a weekly post to let family and friends know about Max's progress and to share stories, pictures, and video clips. I think we will try to post every Sunday for a while.

So we were in the apartment waiting for Leonid to pick us up at 12:30am to take us to the airport for our 3:15am flight to Frankfurt. We let Max go to sleep around 10pm because he was getting very sleepy. Well, around 12:20 or so, we get a knock on the door and since it was expected, Jenny just opened it up and this stranger is there talking to us excitedly in Russian. He kind of pushed his way into the apartment and was trying to communicate with us by gesturing while still speaking Russian. He showed us that he had a key for the apartment, so we weren't too worried since it seemed like he was supposed to be there. So we called Marina and asked her to speak to him and explain what was going on. As it turned out, he was the landlady's husband and was there to check and make sure that everything was ok with the apartment before we "checked out". Apparently Marina knew he would be showing up (would have been nice for us to know this), so she gave us a quick explanation. While he was still there, Leonid arrived and loaded up the van with our luggage.

He got us there and helped us inside with everything. He delivered us to the international part of the airport and wished us luck. Max had slept in the apartment for a couple hours, then fell asleep on the ride to the airport, but was awake while we waited to check in and then wait some more to board the plane. Needless to say, he was getting a little cranky since we kept waking him up. Finally, we got on board and took off. It wasn't long before Max was asleep again. Luckily for us, we had seats D and F and seat E was vacant. So Max was able to sleep on the seat between us and he did so for most of the 7-hour flight. We had a 4-hour layover in Frankfurt, so we had breakfast at McDonald's and then waited to board our next plane.

The next flight was the nearly 9-hour flight from Frankfurt to Washington DC. We weren't quite as lucky with this flight. Max only slept for a couple hours and we didn't have an empty seat between us. So that meant there was a lot of switching from Mom to Dad and a LOT of eating. But Max was a trooper and cried for only about 30 seconds on the entire flight. He was in a bit of a mood when we were in the Dulles airport. We had double cheeseburgers and we ordered a grilled cheese for Max, but he was getting fussy and of course he wasn't the least bit hungry. So he would ask for "more" and then throw his piece of grilled cheese into his drink. It was frustrating, especially since we were all exhausted. It was another 4-hour layover and that was extended a little bit because our plane had to undergo some maintenance before we could board. We eventually got underway and landed in Cincinnati around 7:30pm (only about 20 minutes late). We were met at the airport by lots of our family and then we got some LaRosa's on our way home.

Max finally got to bed around 10:30pm and we retired shortly after. He slept until about 10am the next morning. He had a HUGE mess in his diaper when he finally got up and since he moves around a lot in his sleep, it had leaked out and was EVRYWHERE. It was an incredible mess...all over his clothes, sheets, hands, etc. Yuck. So he immediately got a bath before breakfast. The rest of the day was spent playing and eating and feeding our dog, Sydney. We were afraid that Max wouldn't like Sydney and it seemed that way on Saturday night. Max seemed scared whenever she would bark. He didn't want to go near her. But of course, he was extremely tired. The next day, Max would (as usual) ask for food and we would give him a Cheerio. Whenever we would also give one to Sydney, Max thought it was the funniest thing ever. Eventually, he was offering her his own Cheerio and letting Sydney eat a Cheerio out of his hand. Sydney has been great towards Max, too. She has not been in his face too much and usually only licks Max if he sticks his hand out to her. We think these two are going to be great friends.

It's been a couple days now and Max seems to be settling in very well. He still has his moments of food obsession, but that doesn't seem as bad as it had been in Kazakhstan (feeding Sydney has helped, and it has also helped that he has all these new toys to play with). Here's a video of Max and Sydney each getting a Cheerio (Max loves it when Sydney jumps up on command to get hers).

I finally tracked down my other USB cord to transfer pictures and video from our cameras to the computer. My pictures from Panfilov Park (the Zenkov Cathedral, WWII monument, etc) and of the Medeo skating rink were no better than the ones I swiped from the internet, so I won't bother posting those. I did however have a few others to share. First is a photo taken up in the mountains of part of the Tian Shan range, the mountain range that runs the border with China on the east and Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on the west. The second tallest peak in the range is the Khan Tengri which is located near the point where the three countries come together. I have no idea what peak is in this photo.

Here's a photo of the three of us up in the mountains and after that is a photo of Jenny and Max with our interpreter Kate.

До свидания KA3AKCTAH!

That is read "Do svidaniya Kazakhstan" which means "Goodbye Kazakhstan!"

Our last day in Kazakhstan. It is hard to believe that we are truly heading home. It is 7:30pm for us (9:30am for those back at home) and we are pretty much packed and ready to go, but we don’t leave for the airport for another 5 hours. Our flight out of Almaty leaves at 3:15am and we’ll be on our way home for the next 27 or so hours after that.

Today, we had our last hurdle. Our meeting at the US Embassy couldn’t have been easier. It was really just a matter of receiving some paperwork that we will hand over in Washington DC and filling out and signing a few forms. The guy helping us was super nice and got us out of there in 15 minutes. We saw another adopting family in the waiting room and they were there by themselves, no interpreter, no coordinator, no driver, no one at all. They were a little clueless about what they should do, so Kate helped them out and told them what forms needed to be filled out and what window to go to, etc. It made us very happy to have Kate walking us through it. She was actually kind of ticked off that any agency would send their families to the Embassy unaccompanied.

Most of our day was spent packing and getting things in the apartment back in order. We met the Joneses for one last dinner together before we left the country. We will miss them as we have Jonathan and Shannon. They were very nice and showed up with a bag full of snacks for Max to enjoy on the planes (variety IS the spice of life). We also made a quick stop at the UYM mall to get the Russian stacking doll souvenir that we had our eye on the other day.

As our adoption journey comes nearer the end, we would like to thank (here on the blog) our Little Miracles adoption coordinator Andrea. She has been and continues to be a great source of support for us. Without her assistance, we would not have Max and we owe her a world of gratitude.

And to everyone back home, see you soon!

p.s...Mom and Dad, I have attempted to email you both several times, but apparently they are not getting through. Please give Barb a call and talk to her about some details.

Our Penultimate Day in Kazakhstan

This morning we went to the National Museum. Kate and Leonid dropped us off, but Kate could not accompany us because she and Marina had a training meeting at the US Embassy. The museum has four halls. Hall #1 was prehistoric stuff. Hall #2 featured traditional clothing, customs, culture, etc. Hall #3 had exhibits on all of the different ethnicities that are in Kazakhstan and also had a lot on the Kazakhstan and the USSR’s role in WWII. Hall #4 was all about present-day Kazakhstan. All in all, it was a fairly interesting two hours. The one downside was that much of the title cards and explanations were in Russian and Kazakh, but not in English. We would estimate about a quarter had the English translation. So a lot of our time was spent just looking at the artifacts and pictures and then moving on (while feeding Max to keep him quiet).

After lunch and naptime, we went out to meet the Joneses (who arrived here today) for dinner. They requested Mamma Mia’s and we obliged even though we had it last night (it was that good). Jenny again had the gnocchi and Max again had the mashed potatoes, while I had the Spaghetti Bolognese. It was nice to see them again and we are planning on going out one last time tomorrow night to dinner at a nearby café.

Our Embassy appointment was moved up to 1pm, so we will spend much of the morning and afternoon packing everything back up for the trip home (LOVE typing that just now!).

We can see clearly now, the rain is gone.

The weather was very cooperative today. The forecast called for rain, but we never got any. Kate and Leonid picked us up at 10am and took us up into the mountains. It was about a 30-40 minute drive to get there (Max fell asleep) and it was nice and cool up among the clouds. We went to the Medeu Dam, which is on the southeastern edge of Almaty. From there, we could see down into the Medeo Skating Rink, which used to be a competitive speed skating rink from the 1950’s through the 1980’s. Apparently, the Soviet Olympians trained here. When Kazakhstan gained independence, the costs of keeping it in good shape had gotten to be too much, so it fell into disrepair. They are currently renovating it however, for the 2011 Winter Asian Olympic Games. It was very beautiful being up in the mountains. Kate said that the people of Almaty are very proud of this place. Here’s a photo of the rink as seen from the dam (we still do not have a USB cord to transfer our pictures to the computer, so I borrowed these from the internet).



After lunch, we met with Marina to fill out some forms for our Embassy appointment on Friday. She will be submitting our paperwork tomorrow, so we will be all set. Max took a nap right after she left and when he woke up, we went for a walk to the nearby Panfilov Park. The park is located just 4 or 5 blocks from our apartment and is very pretty. The park is named after General Major Panfilov and there is a statue of him on the south side of the park.

There is also a WWII Memorial on the eastern side which was quite a sight. Very impressive (and very Soviet-looking).

In the center of the park is the Zenkov Cathedral which I was very eager to see. It is the second tallest wooden building in the world and is one of only a few structures that were left standing after the earthquake in 1910. It is a gorgeous Russian Orthodox Church.

On our way back, we stopped for dinner at Mamma Mia’s. Who knew you could get such a good (and not too pricey) Italian meal in Kazakhstan? Jenny had the gnocchi and I had the penne arribiata. Max had mashed potatoes (as usual) and some of Jenny’s gnocchi. After dinner, we stopped by the market and came home. Max is sleeping now and we’ll be going to bed shortly. Our friends Melinda, Alan, and Marina will be arriving here tomorrow, so we are hoping to meet up with them in the evening tomorrow as well as possibly lunch or dinner on Friday (our last night in Kaz). Tomorrow, we are scheduled to visit the National Museum in the morning and we are free in the afternoon (I'm sure we'll go for a walk).

Big News Today!!

Around 3pm today, we got a call from our Almaty coordinator Marina and she gave us perhaps the best news we have heard since our court decision. We get to come home on SATURDAY!!! Max’s visa will be here on Thursday and our passports should be here either Wednesday or Thursday. Marina set up our US Embassy appointment for Friday at 3pm and we are free to leave after that. We quickly emailed our travel agent Leanne to let her know (even though it was like 4am at the time) of our new departure date so she could make the necessary changes. We leave Almaty around 3am on Saturday morning (or Friday night if you prefer) and go to Frankfurt. Then we fly to Washington DC (instead of Chicago) and then on to Cincinnati. We should land around 7:15pm on Saturday night. THAT’S FOUR DAYS SOONER THAN WE HAD PLANNED!!! Obviously, we are excited beyond words.

Well, we did NOT get to go up into the mountains today because the rain never let up. So instead, Kate dropped us off at the MEGA-MALL, the largest mall in all of Kazakhstan. It was about three-quarters the size of Tri-County Mall in the Cincinnati area (I deferred to Jenny, our resident mall-expert on size estimates). It was a nice mall with lots of upscale clothing retailers and a food court that had familiar food (we chose Sbarro for lunch and Max had a hot dog from Starburger). We also made a visit to the PAMCTOP (that’s Ram-store) which is a large grocery store that had a LOT more selection of familiar brands than our nearby market. Leonid picked us up at 12:30 and we came back and hung out here in the apartment all day (did we mention the rain never let up?).

Laura Holland had asked in her comment if we knew where our apartment was located. As near as I can tell on Google Earth (I love me some Google Earth), we are about 2 blocks to the west and 2 blocks to the north of Panfilov Park. Near the corner of Panfilov St. and Makataev Mukagali St. Obviously, only a few of our readers are going to have any idea where these streets are, but we’ll try to get some photos up sometime soon. We have none to share today once again. Actually, we have a couple to share, but I cannot seem to locate the USB cord that connects to our camera, so I am unable to put them on the computer and cannot upload them to the blog. I could have sworn that I packed it, so it either fell out of the backpack or it is sitting on the desk in our Aktobe apartment. Anyway, the Zoom Store has a HUGE electronics department on the first floor, so I am going to look and see if I can get a replacement.

We are hoping to get to the mountains tomorrow if the weather cooperates. The forecast does not look too friendly, so we may be stuck inside all day again. Keep your fingers crossed for some sunshine! We would certainly like to see some of this beautiful city before we leave this weekend!

Hello, Almaty!

It is about 10pm on Monday night and we have been trying to get Max to go to sleep for going on two hours now. We would like to go to sleep soon ourselves, so we’re going to try and make this a brief recap of the last two days and since we have a slow dial-up connection, there will be no pictures or video (not that we have any to post today anyway, we’ll try to get some for tomorrow).

We were picked up in Aktobe a little early on Sunday and we were not quite ready. We just needed the extra 10 minutes to get it all together. So the Natashas came up to help us get everything downstairs and loaded up. We got to the airport with no trouble, paid for our heavy baggage, took some photos with everyone and we were off.

Max did very well on the flight, as long as he was being fed animal crackers, fruit snacks, or Cheerios. The one time we tried to put the food away and have him try to sleep was the one time he cried. Since it was a short two and a half hour flight, the constant feeding was no big deal (he will NEED to sleep on those 9 hour flights when we return home). We were met in Almaty by Kate and our driver Leonid and they took us to our new apartment. The area we are in is very nice with a pedestrian street about a hundred yards away. We miss the luxuries of the palace, but at least we have hot water here. We took a short walk to the nearby market to get some groceries and then met with our coordinator Marina after dinner. When she left, we had bath time and then bed time, which went perfectly fine last night.

This morning, we met another adoptive parent from the US. Her name is Kristy and she is adopting her son Alex from Kyzylorda region. She is from Owensboro, KY and she is here with her father on this trip while her husband is back at home working. We all went to the SOS International Clinic for a quick medical checkup for both Max and Alex (everyone was healthy and Max has even gained some weight – he’s up to almost 23 pounds which is about 3 more than back in May and he’s about an inch and a half longer). We stopped to get a dial-up internet card on our way back and then had lunch and naptime. After Max’s nap, we took a walk down the pedestrian mall. There are many cafes and stores. We did some souvenir shopping and then had dinner at a nice café. We got home a little late, so we skipped the bath and TRIED to put Max right to bed. It is now 10:30pm and it has been a solid two hours of him not sleeping. We are sitting here at the computer listening to him entertaining himself by making all kinds of noises (at least he’s not crying). We’re not sure if it’s his new surroundings or what, but whatever it is, he is trying his best to stay awake. I think we’ll wrap this up, do the dishes, and then try to fall asleep ourselves (maybe he’ll sleep if we’re ALL in there trying to sleep).

Tomorrow, we are supposed to go up into the mountains if the weather cooperates, so hopefully we’ll have some good pictures to share then.

Goodbye Aktobe!

We had another morning of waiting around for the Natashas to come over and explain the next steps to us. They ended up getting here right after Max went down for his nap (luckily, he was not awakened by Natasha Li's cell phone conversations....the Russian language always sounds very angry, especially when she is raising her voice because the other person is having difficulty hearing her). We had some (almost) startling news during our meeting. They said that they did not have our passports or Max's because they were with the Immigration Police. They would not be able to get them until Monday morning around 10am. Immediately, we were afraid that we would have to postpone our flight to Almaty to Tuesday since the daily flight to Almaty leaves at 9:55am. They assured us that we could still leave tomorrow and use our notarized copies of our passports and Max's birth certificate to board the flight. They will send everything to us by mail on Monday or Tuesday and we should get it by Wednesday. We were very relieved that we didn't have to change our travel plans.

We took a short walk after naptime and then came back to start packing everything up. We will finish that job after Max goes to bed which is actually right now as I type this (it is 8pm right now). We will have to get up very early tomorrow because we are getting picked up at 8:10am. So we're going to cut this post a little short and get down to work.

We feel that we have done a lot of complaining about being here in Aktobe and we do not want to give anyone the wrong idea. While there is much to complain about and a good amount of our time here has been unpleasant, uncomfortable, or just plain difficult, we couldn't be happier about how things have turned out so far. We have made good friends with Jonathan and Shannon from Alaska and with Alan and Melinda from Georgia. We have also been very happy with our translator Natasha and have become friends with her as well. We have even begun to soften our feelings for our coordinator Natasha, too. But obviously, the best part about being here for the last month has been bringing Max into our family and getting to spend so much one-on-one time with him these last two weeks. In time, even with all the problems, setbacks, and difficulties, we will look back on our time here with fondness.

We will attempt to post tomorrow in Almaty, but we do not know if we will have an internet connection in the apartment or whether we will have to seek out a cafe with wifi. Rest assured, if we do not post tomorrow, that doesn't mean that something is wrong. We will post as soon as we are able.

Laura Holland asked if Max's passport photo was adorable. You be the judge.

But Max did have some fun today while we were getting stuff packed up and he was getting ready for his bath.

One day more!

Our morning was very screwy. We were told that we would be picked up at 9am to pick up Max's passport and then to go apply for his visa. Then we were told that it would be 10am. Then we were told that Natasha was going to pick up the passport herself and then they would be picking us up afterward, but they didn't know when. As lunchtime rolled around, we figured we would go ahead and eat and then deal with it later. Then they called and said that Natasha was on her way over to pick up our passports and that she was going to try to take care of it all without us. An hour and a half later, she called to ask us to bring our down our passports so that she did not have to come up. Finally, we were done waiting around and naptime could begin.


We spoke to Marina (our Almaty coordinator) to make sure all of our arrangements were in order for our arrival on Sunday. She said that she would have an apartment for us in a nice part of town near a lot of parks and that she would have a crib for us as well. WooHoo!! She is a very sweet lady who speaks English very well and we cannot wait to see her again.


After dinner (spaghetti with LaRoas's sauce, yum!), we met the Joneses at Chocolate for drinks. They hadn't eaten dinner yet, so they had pancakes while we enjoyed our hot chocolates. One of the gifts we had brought was a Cincinnati Reds ballcap for Talgat, our driver for the first trip. Since he is no longer our driver, we had no way of getting the gift to him. And since I do not wear hats, we gave it to Alan as a keepsake of their new friends from Cincinnati. Then it was home for bathtime and bedtime!


Tomorrow morning, we will be meeting with the Natashas to get Max's passport (and ours) and to go over our paperwork for Almaty. The rest of the day will be packing everything up for the big relocation across the country!

Here are some more photos from today.

Marina has really taken to Max (it is sooo sweet).

One month since we left home...

...and we can't wait to get back!

Nothing real special today. Our usual breakfast routine, followed by our morning walk (we went to the mall to look around for some souvenirs), a quick stop at the market, lunch, then nap time, and our afternoon walk which ended at our favorite Turkish cafe, Kemer for dinner.

We get picked up at 9am tomorrow to get Max's Kazakhstan passport, so we will need to get moving earlier than usual to be ready on time. As soon as we have the passport in hand, we will immediately go to apply for Max's exit visa (which we will receive in Almaty).

Max has found a new toy to play with, and he carries it around the apartment all day long. It's an empty 5-liter plastic jug that our drinking water comes in.

We had another great bath time tonight. Here is a video (as requested by Josie Holland) of Max getting excited to take his bath (he has somewhat gotten over his Never-Nude inhibitions).

And here's a photo of Max actually enjoying his bath!

Leaving for Almaty in three and a half days!

We had a low-key day today (like most days). A morning walk after breakfast, then lunch, a nap, etc. After Max's nap, we went with the Joneses to the Sulpak open-air market. It was much less crowded than the market we went to yesterday and we were able to just stroll through the booths and browse. We didn't buy much, but it was nice to be out of the house doing something different than usual.

We came home for dinner (grilled cheese as we often have...it will be a looooooong time before we have grilled cheese at home after all that we've had on this trip). We relaxed for a while after dinner and had a Skype video call with Laura and Eric Holland and then we put Max to bed. No bath tonight because we are STILL without hot water for the third day in a row, but his last two baths have been complete successes. The key is constant splashing and laughing.

Max has been "talking" up a storm lately. When we are out walking and he's sitting in the stroller, he will often entertain himself with his babbling. Around the apartment, he likes to walk around making sounds which we repeat. It is a HUGE difference compared to our first visits back in May when he would do very little vocally (just that sweet giggle). Jenny doesn't know whether she is more proud as a Mom or as a Speech Pathologist.

Just a couple photos today. The first was taken on our morning walk in front of some very pretty purple and white petunias (why are these not covering Elder's campus?). And the second was a special request from Eric Holland, a picture of Max during nap-time.

Leaving for Almaty on Sunday!

That's right, we have our tickets purchased and we are good to go! We should get Max's Kazakhstan passport on Friday and the Natashas will file our application for his exit visa that same day. We will wait in Almaty for it to be processed, thank goodness! When Max heard the news, he was this ecstatic...

He is as ready as we are to move on to Almaty! Once we get there, we only have a couple of things that need to be taken care of (as far as we know). That means we should have lots of downtime for excursions and we have been told there is LOTS to do. That puts our countdown at around 109 hours until we take off, that's just about 4 and a half days!

We thought we were headed to the Sulpak market today, but we ended up at a different open-air market entirely. Natasha said that the weekdays were not very crowded, but it seemed jam-packed to us. And since we had Max in the stroller, we were constantly being bumped around by the locals who were in a great hurry. People here generally do not have the same perception of personal space that we have, so it is a little jarring to be in a crowd in Kazakhstan. We felt very overwhelmed here, so we did not stay very long. We are going to try to visit Sulpak tomorrow (when we were there to get the crib and stroller, it was not nearly as busy as the market was today).

One interesting thing happened while we were at the market today. We ran into one of Max's orphanage caregivers. She was thrilled to see him again, but Max seemed a little distant. We were a little surprised by this since Max tends to reach out for people that he doesn't even know very well, like Alan and Melinda whom he has seen all of three times now and sometimes he'll even reach out to complete strangers. We know that his reaching out to others is a sign that the attachment process still has a long way to go. Obviously, we do not let him go to those he is reaching out for because he needs to know who his Mom and Dad are.