Up Close & Personal

I love these photos! Look at those long eyelashes, chubby cheeks and pursed lips. Oh yeah, and the drool.













Continuing on with our new game of Peek-a-Boo, I threw the blanket over Zahri's head, and said, "Where is Zahri? Where did she go?" and then I popped my head under the blanket with her, like the forts/tents we used to make as kids, and she laughs and laughs. She loves it!










Just another sweet photo. Bayana put Z's feet up on the sides of the walker and pulled her around, she of course had a great time!










Here is the hospital where Z was born. The hospital itself probably takes up a couple blocks and has several different buildings for specific matters, but the brick building shown here is the maternity building.












Okay, just a cute photo of Z's new winter boots. Check out the fur and the little rinestone broch on the front of the boot. The girl has to have stylin' boots, right! No stilletos yet though, not until she is 4 or 5. hahaha Okay 12. j/k











So, today I did some last minute shopping. It is amazing that I have been here for neary a month and a half, and I am hurrying like a crazy woman to get more shopping in. I went again to Sulpak, the 3 story huge mall and outdoor market with everything under the sun, and I couldn't find a darn thing. Actually, there is so much stuff that I can't shop. Isn't that strange. And shopping here is really difficult, and honestly not a ton of fun. You can't speak the language so you feel bad. They follow you around and watch your every move. You tell them nicely that you only speak English and they continue on in Russian trying to sell you things. They pull out their entire stock trying to get you to buy just something, and then you feel terrible that they just went through so much work and you didn't want to even see what they pulled out for you. Ugh! But in the end I did purchase a cheap walker for Z at the apartment, I fear that without this one crucial item, we will be in a heap of trouble. :) I will need to make supper, cook her porridge, give my arms a break, etc. And she will need to zoom around and feel that freedom, she just loves that darn walker. I am sure that she doesn't get to really be mobile much, so she just eats it up. I also, all by myself, got a bunch of photos developed at a one hour photo shop. I had to get some photos off of a cd and others off my memory card in my camera and it worked! Yahooo! Proud!

Yesterday we had a great lunch at Davy and Evy's apartment, a stellar pad I must add, and it was so nice. Evy cooked a really yummy pork stew and made Belgium French Fries, it was great, just like home............ or better becuase it was a home cooked meal. It was too funny, Evy came back into the Dining Room with her pot of stew and asked if anyone would like a bit more, and many of us said yes, including Bayana. Somehow the type of meat came up, and Bayana had thought that it was beef, even after eating it, and when she found out that it was pork she slightly freaked (not huge but it was a big surprise to her.) Bayana has never had pork, she can't have pork, I believe it is against the Muslim religion. hahaha Here are a couple photos from our lunch: