Noelle and her gang!

Remember my meeting with Noelle's friends from Spain? Olga, the woman I told you about, sent me these great pictures of what Noelle was up to while I was back here in the states waiting for the waiting period to be over. It is heart-warming to see her so happy... Wait a minute, why was she so happy if I wasn't there?!?! Doctors and other parents tell you that the attention alone from a caring person can make the world of difference in these kids-- Noelle and I were very lucky that she found 4 (Olga, her husband, her daughter and her sister) of those caring people to keep her company until I could make it back to Kazakhstan. Thank you Olga!

Look, ma-- no hands!

Okay, she is getting some assistance, but Noelle is "thisclose" to walking by herself. I actually think she could do it if she tried, but so far she insists on holding onto someone or something to cruise around the apartment. Noelle is doing great these days. She spent the week getting comfortable with her new babysitter-- I go back to work on Monday-- and they hit it off very well. Noelle has also joined a baby gym, and she has a blast crawling up and down the mats. She is also very intrigued by the floor to ceiling mirrors-- she spends a part of every session just checking herself out!

Noelle also got a "thumbs up" this week from the pediatrician. She is still on the small side-- 25th percentile for height, but only 5th percentile for weight (19 pounds!)-- but otherwise, she seems to be doing well. Bathtime is going better, too! Today was her first bath without me in there with her (quick-- think of something else, you don't want the mental image of me in my bathing suit!), and she was hesitant at first but by the end, she had learned of the joy of splashing mommy! What else? There are dozens of things that happen everyday, I should be doing a better job of chronicling them. Mostly, she is a happy little girl. My nephew picked out a "Snow White" doll for Noelle at the Disney store the other day, and she loves it! She hugs it and squeals. Otherwise, her favorites are the toys that make noise-- she has a Fisher Price Learning Puppy (I think that's the name) and she revels in making it sing or talk to her. And even though none of the Mickey ears have her name on them, she is putting the "Daniel" ears to good use!

Noelle finally starts to earn her keep!

Okay, okay-- I didn't really make her do the laundry or mop! I'm just glad she offered..

The heart-stopping thing that happened on our way home from Almaty

I was so happy about getting home and getting Noelle settled in, that I forgot to tell you about the craziest thing that happened at the Almaty airport. Our whole group was in line waiting to check in at the Lufthansa desk, and Noelle decided she needed to stretch her legs, so we started to walk up the line. Suddenly, a woman with blond hair and an accent yells "Natashka" (Noelle's nickname in the babyhouse) and comes running over to hug Noelle! Of course the first thing that went through my head was that this was someone from Noelle's birth family-- my second thought was "You can't have her!!". Thankfully, it turns out the explanation was much less threatening. The woman, her husband and sister, all from Spain, were just returning home after their first trip to Karaganda, and they are adopting a little boy from Noelle's room. They spent a lot of time in the children's room itself (unlike us-- we spent most of our time in a separate playroom), and they had gotten to know all the kids. She even has pictures from when I was back in the US that she is going to email! We spoke for a few moments then went our separate ways. Later she came up to me and asked if she had scared me, and I had to tell her yes! But it was sweet to know that someone was watching out for Noelle while I was gone-- and she may have picked up a little Spanish along the way..

Know how to make a little Kaz girl cry? Give her a bath!

Well, the honeymoon is over. There are no pictures to mark the occasion-- just the reverberating cries of a little girl who is just a little bit mad at her mother tonight. And crying may not be the most accurate term to describe Noelle's reaction to her first real bath. Wailing might fit. Keening would work too. I knew going in it was going to be an event-- every blog has a story about that first bath, and how the kids hate them in the beginning. And I tried to be practical about it: I have been sticking to a sponge bath method to get her clean over the past week until she was more comfortable with me and her surroundings. I kept the water level low and skipped the bubbles. I held her close to talked to her as I undressed her, kept her warm and explained what was going on. I provided a distraction, in the form of a toy and her cousin who talked to her from the sidelines. But man, was it sad! She was shaking, and she cried more than I have ever heard, all times combined. The bath only lasted about two minutes, but Noelle is holding a little bit of a grudge. Dinner followed shortly thereafter and any time I said her name, she would turn her head away from me! At one point I thought she was warming up to me again-- she grabbed my hands and started walking toward me, but it turned out she was just trying to get the taco I was eating. (The girl never stops eating, did I mention that today?!) I hope she has forgiven me by tomorrow!

Sleep, Must have sleep.

It is 9:40pm on Sunday night, and Noelle and I are home! I mention the time because, by my count, 56 hours have passed since we received our wake up call Friday night to head to the airport. And out of the those 56 hours, I have slept 7 (maybe 8) hours. Our travel was long but relatively painless. We were traveling with several other families as far as Frankfurt, so the kids kept us occupied as we whittled away the hours. And man, were there hours to whittle! The flight from Almaty to Frankfurt (7 hours, I think) did not have any kind of movie or other entertainment-- so it was totally boring for the adults. Noelle was a trooper, however-- catching some zzz's here and there as you can see from the photos. (I finally slept a couple of hours on the Frankfurt to NY leg) And there was plenty of excitement to be had when we arrived at JFK. Immigration was a breeze, and we got through so quickly that part of our welcoming party got there after we did! My sister Ann and her husband and son, my brother Brian and my brother Terry and his son threw Noelle a little welcome home bash-- and somehow, we all found a way to stay awake through it. Noelle lost the battle around 7pm on Saturday, and I thought I was home free (silly, huh?!) I was just getting into bed at 11pm when she started to cry-- and that was the end of the sleep discussion until 2am. THEN I thought I was home free (I never learn) and finally fell asleep-- until 5am when Noelle was up again. This scene repeated itself several times throughout the day-- each time, with me thinking she is finally getting onto her schedule. Now she is down again-- I guess I will have to wait and see what tonight brings.

Noelle has settled very well into our home. She "walks" and crawls from room to room, and has been pretty pleased with the toys she has found. She absolutely loves her exer-saucer! So many people were concerned with the exersaucer once they found out how old she is-- thought she is too old for it-- but for now, it is doing the trick! She thinks it is hysterical to rock it back and forth, and she loves all the little things around her. She had fun meeting her cousins and playing with one of them again today. She met her first dog today, my sister's Australian Shepherd, Beans. Noelle was visibly nervous, but she didn't cry (that was reserved, strangely for her intense fear of a big teddy bear and Humpty Dumpty doll that belong to my nephew) She is eating everything in sight-- and is always trying to get to what is on my plate, a habit she picked up in Almaty. Probably because she was hungry-- the baby food they told us to pack for her definitely did not do the trick. On the menu tonight: spaghetti and chicken parm. I might need to get a second job if this keeps up!

Last post (ever!) from Kazakhstan

It is Embassy day! In just an hour or so, Noelle and I will head over to the U.S. Embassy with the rest of the families, to process the paperwork for Noelle's visa and her application to become a U.S. citizen. She will not actually become a citizen until we touch down in New York-- the immigration officials there will finalize everything.. But by the time she hits the Southern State Parkway, she will be an American (keeping her Kaz citizenship too, until she is 18).. Next step: paying taxes and voting!

This will be our last post from Almaty-- we fly out tomorrow morning at 4am, and (barring any delays) will be home at approximately 1pm EST. We cannot wait to get Noelle home!!