Day 6 of Bonding

Our bonding was great today, as usual. I must say that I am so happy with the caregivers in Baby Room #3. Yesterday I gave the caregivers a bottle of lotion and even today Z’s skin looked better, her little face is so darn dry, it almost looks like it would hurt. It doesn’t help that she tends to suck on her bottom lip and drool is everywhere……….all of the time, so to help her quit that nasty habit of sucking her lip, we have introduced her to a nook……….and she loves it! It is so cute, when I take the nook away, she looks all around for it, just as she does when I take her bottle away. The caregivers are also taking pretty good care of keeping Z’s nose clean of those nasty boogs and she seems to always be in a clean outfit with a clean little face. We have one baby in our group that has been in the same outfit for 5 days now, needless to say that his mommy is quite unhappy about this, he is not in our baby room so his caregivers are different. I did also bring Zahri a new outfit today, and it was a perfect fit! I think it is a 6 month outfit, it will not be long before she is into 9 month outfits. And yes, it is pink! You can see it in the afternoon photos from today, she has on her pink Osh Kosh jumper and the brown hat, which I also brought for her. She looks so darn cute. We also learned today that she LOVES the frozen teething rings; I brought a little giraffe rattle and his body is a liquid teething ring, so Laurie took it to her apt. last night and froze it for us, it was an absolute hit!

Here is little Z studying the pictures of her cousins, Ty, Izaak, Elijah and Kolter.














At this Baby house they ask that the parents bring 4 diapers each day, and today I learned that they want the diapers to be Pampers. Ooops, I bought 2 bags of Huggies, so next time I promised to get them Pampers. Diapers are easy to buy here, so do not bother packing them. I was also told to bring 4 outfits for her, be sure that they are super warm outfits or the caregivers will give them right back to you with a scolding that they are not meant for winter…….yep, got scolded yesterday for this, thus the cozy Osh Kosh getup Z is wearing today, this was approved. Hehe Baby clothes are very expensive here, so bring several outfits from home, it is worth packing baby clothes! Other items that I would bring for your baby on the first trip if coming to Aqtobe:

*Liquid Teething Ring (if adopting under 2 years)
*4+ Warm Outfits (they layer so pack 4 warm outfits and 4 lighter ones for underneath – you can either get these outfits back when you leave or donate them to the orphanage.)
*Baby Lotion (2 bottles – one for the caregivers & one for you)
*Bottle with several nipples (possibly a tipee / bottle combo)
*A couple types of nooks / binkies (if you agree with them – some babies will not take them)
*Burp Cloths (good for teething, drooling babies too)
*Those suction nose boogie getter things (that would have been super nice to have!)
*Several fitted little hats for the baby
*You can easily buy baby food & juice here to supplement their feedings

Ceric, my driver, also picks up Margo each day before coming to get me and we take her to the older baby house where she meets with her 3 year old daughter, Nadya. Margo is a single mom from Spain in her late 40s, and I believe that Nadya is her first. I love Margo, she is so darn excited about this little girl! It is nice because I do know just a bit of Spanish, at least enough to communicate some with Margo, and she is hysterical about this little girl! It is nice because I have been able to see where the Hotel Asia is and I am able to see the older kid’s baby house too!

Other than that, yesterday my translator set up changed just a bit, in the mornings I will have Aina and now in the afternoons I get Bayana. I adore them both! I must admit that for just knowing Bayana for 2 days now I can say that I love her! Smile! Today she took me to buy a hot plate (cooked Mac & Cheez tonight in my Hotel room), she hooked me up with an internet card from “Kaz Telecom” (the building that we visited was in front of the Mosque Mall just across the street, I hear there are several Kaz Telecoms throughout Aqtobe though) and now my internet bills will be hugely less. I was paying $5 hour to use the hotels dial up and now, depending on the time of day that I use it, I pay between $1-$2 an hour! Score! So I purchased a card for 5000 tenge (about $42) so that should last me a bit. Bayana also told us where some really good restaurants are, and she recommended that we try an Uzbek & Armenian Restaurant. Fun! She said that once we try the Uzbek Rice we will be hooked. She also let us know, us meaning all the parents currently bonding with our babies, that she has 3 taxi drivers that will pick us up if we want to go out to supper or our on the town. That was great to know! We never go out after our 4-6:00 bonding time because we don’t have a way to get back home; my hotel is fairly far away from Laurie’s apartment, so we tend to shop between visits so our drivers just pick us up in different spots. Since we only have a morning visit on Dec 31 and no visits on Jan 1, maybe we can go out somewhere fun that night for New Years!!! It is probably the biggest holiday they have here and it is very celebrated! Bayana told me that it is tradition to spend New Years with your Family, they open Champagne, eat special meals, and do fireworks as a family! Fun! This year however, since she is 21, she has decided to go out with her friends. Yesterday I posted a photo of Bayana and Z, so if you look up you will see who she is.

Here is my 'make shift' kitchen in my Hotel Room. :)