The second paperchase begins...

Jenny and I went to bed last night around 11pm. We had left the light on in the room since Max had such a hard time with the dark. It was just a bedside lamp, but we were not going to be able to sleep with it on. When we turned it off, uh oh. Max immediately woke up and needed some attention. We ended up bringing him into the bed with us for a little while. Trouble was, he didn't want to sleep, just mess around. Eventually, we got him back in the crib and asleep after crying some more. Jenny ended up sleeping in the living room on the sofa bed and Max didn't wake up until about 6:45am. Not too bad.



After breakfast of oatmeal, milk, and a banana, we got ready for our paperwork errands. The three of us and both Natashas all went out to sign for the birth certificate and apply for Max's passport. This required several stops and we were out until about 12:45pm (3 hours total for all the stops). Max was a trooper throughout, even though we were quite late getting him some lunch. We tried some Easy Mac with mixed vegetables for lunch. He liked the Easy Mac of course (who wouldn't?), but the broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower were not to his liking (he takes after his old man). He did seem to like the Chef Boyardee Ravioli that I was having. He also tried out the yogurt and he liked that a LOT. After lunch, it was nap time! That did not go over too well. It took quite a while to get him to relax, and he kinda just cried himself to sleep.



The nap lasted for about two and a half hours. We played for a while in the apartment instead of venturing out for a walk in our new stroller because the elevator is STILL out. I did go out for some water and other necessities (like ice cream), but that walk up 12 flights is really bad when you're carrying Max with you (although it was no picnic lugging that 5-liter jug of water either). For dinner, Max had grapes. We tried to give him some of our eggs, but he didn't seem to care for those. So much for getting some protein into him. So we gave him some bread and butter to go along with his milk and yogurt. Lots of nutrition tonight! But we have to give Max some credit....no crying when the food was all gone and cleared away! That's a lot of progress for just one day!




After dinner was bath time. ugh. Max HATES having his clothes off. He doesn't like diaper changes and he really doesn't like bath time. He was screaming bloody murder before his feet had even touched the water. It was the fastest bath ever. We wrapped him up in a towel, but the screaming continued. He got his diaper on, but the screaming continued. But once the jammies were on, all was right with the world. No more nudity. This kid does NOT take after his Uncle Rodger or his cousin Eli Darnell, that is for sure.

Finally, it was bed time for Max. Boy, we miss the days (er, day) of him going to sleep in just 45 minutes! Tonight, it took a good hour and a half before we were able to successfully leave the room without getting an earful. We started around 8:30 and were finally done at 10 o'clock. We have been tip-toeing around the apartment for the last 40 minutes (I'm actually afraid this typing might wake him up). Hopefully, tomorrow will go a little better.

Our timeline for returning home is starting to take shape. We applied for the passport today and that takes the longest of all the things we need to do. We have been told that it will be ready for us on September 18. We are hoping that we can do his visa application that same day and we hear that we can leave Aktobe for Almaty as soon as the application is filed. So we are not positive exactly when we leave Aktobe, but we're hopeful it will be very soon after the 18th.

Keep your fingers crossed that we can sneak into bed without waking Max up!