Appeals Period - Day 9

Max was in a very good mood today when he was brought into the bonding room. Lots of giggling and playing. He was a little preoccupied with trying to get the Cheerios before it was time for that, but otherwise, he was very happy.


We have complained many times about the smells here, but today, we experienced the worst smell of the trip. Max had a load in his diaper during our visit that was disgusting. We told Natasha that he needed a diaper change. We didn't know whether the caregivers would just give Natasha a new diaper and some wipes, or whether they would insist on changing him themselves. Natasha returned with a new diaper and some wipes. Jenny did the honors and could have used more than the two wipes they provided. Yuck. (We have decided that changing diapers will be a nice bonding time for mother and son....at least I think so)

After the change, Max was in a much mellower mood, so we did lots of holding and walking around before Cheerios-time. And we got an extra 20 minutes with him today because the caregivers were late in coming to get him.

Tomorrow is a no-visit day since it is a Kazakh holiday. We were hoping to go to the Sulpak Market, but that is looking unlikely as well. Maybe we will do that on Monday. So our Sunday will likely be a very boring day for us (and probably no blog post as well).

9 days until we receive custody!!