Happy Birthday, Uncle Brian

Happy Birthday, Uncle Brian from the messiest eater in all of Karaganda! Noelle says she can’t wait to meet you (And I wish that was cake all over both us instead of cold cereal!)


Today’s visit went by in a flash. Noelle went to have a blood test done early this morning, so when I went to get her, she was back in bed taking a nap. I let her sleep awhile, but the caregivers decided it was time to get up—so after a quick, messy breakfast we headed in, to hang with the other kids. Noelle was either still tired or not feeling great again today (neither am I—a cold has taken hold), so she was pretty sedate for the first hour or so. It wasn’t until just before I had to leave that she perked up, but we had fun while it lasted. She is a good crawler, so she doesn’t need to roll around much but we played a game where I rolled her over and over—and she loved it. She just about got me in trouble because she wanted to roll off the carpet, onto the (cold) tile floor—a huge “nyet-nyet” around here! She was laughing her head off.. She also got a little silly with some of the toys she was putting in her mouth—just holding them with her teeth and gums, then dropping it directly from her mouth (yeah, a little like a dog with a bone, but don’t tell her I said that!).. But then she would look at me for a response and you could tell she knew she was being silly :)

Things are quiet at the Dostar Alem hotel right now. The other group of parents are at the baby house now. Last night we bowled again, and took a “tour” of the snack bar we found—anything to keep us out of our rooms for a few more minutes!!