New addition to Our Family

Day 29-- February 16, 2009

We have Aidar with us now!!! Olga picked us up about 10am and took us to the “baby house”. Our translator was sick so we could only have translation over the phone. We were instructed to take clothes for Aidar to change into before he leaves the baby house. Ohhhh…. that’s a problem because half of his clothes were in Cindie’s luggage that had not arrived. We did have a shirt, jacket, mittens and a hat though. Well they were just going to have to let us take him home in the pants and stuff from the orphanage. After we arrived at the baby house, we met with the Doctor of the baby house that we like so much, Batama. We showed our passports to her and we signed in her book. We were very anxious to see Aidar. She then escorted us down stairs and asked for the clothes we had brought. She opened the door to Aidars room and all the kids were already dressed to go outside, including Aidar. We saw Aidar just for a moment through the door way, we waved but it was so chaotic we not sure if he saw us. The door closed and we were told to wait.

The video camera on and ready, I was waiting to capture the moment. Finally, at 10:30 Olga said I could go back with the camera. A bit shocked as we have been told not to go in the rooms before, but off I went. I was motioned back into the play room where all the kids and care takers were ligned up for a picture by one of the other caretakers. When they had finished taking pictures, I took a picture of Aidar with the caretakers. Aidar came to me and I picked him up and gave him a big kiss. We went out to the hallway were Cindie was and he went over and gave her a big hug. Olga took our fist picture of us with our new little boy.

After a few more pictures, we left the orphanage, with Kai Aidar! Olga took us back to our apartment. Our new life with a little boy begins. After playing with some of the familiar toys it was about 11:30. We showed him around the apartment, albeit its only 3 rooms and a bathroom, but he was amazed at everything.

Hooray!!…. Cindie’s luggage arrived; Olga picked it up from the hotel we had stayed at.

Time to eat, and for Kai Aidar, it was eat, and eat and eat. Good thing I went to the store the day before. He loves crackers and just like our last trip, he loves apple juice. After lunch we tried naptime, although that was the plan we had for Kai Aidar, that was not his plan. I tried to lay down with him to get him to rest, then Cindie tried but it just was not happening, for him at least. We could have slept for a couple of hours, but Kai was not going to let that happen.

We decided to get out side and let him use some energy on the little children play scapes in the courtyard. He had fun until he walked right into a puddle of melting snow that turned out to be even deeper than I thought. Of course he started to fall but I managed to catch him by his coat before he completely went down. Good thing the other suitcase arrived, he needed some dry pants.

We then ventured off to the grocery store to pick up a few more items and water. We can only imagine that this was his first trip to the grocery store. Just like other children, he wanted to grab everything off the shelves. We loaded up the basket and made our way back to the apartment. By this time, our little guy was hungry again, and he will fit into the family just fine, he loves bread and crackers. This held him over until he ate some yogurt before the main course. The main course was supposed to be shrimp, rice and peas. Well the shrimp and peas were right, but when I opened the box of “rice” Cindie picked out, it was not like any rice I had ever seen. Turns out, they were buckwheat grouts. What……? Well the directions were just like instant rice. All and all, it turned out fine, could have used some flavoring but not bad considering the very limited kitchen with no seasonings. Kai Aidar ate his bowl full though. Then we gave him a chocolate chip cookie for desert.

Then it was bath time, or first time giving him a bath. Again, he had an excitement look on his face as I was filling the tub. Although he seemed to know what to do, he started to take off his pants. He enjoyed putting his face in the water and when I scooped the water over his head. My guess is that he is not use to a tub with as much water and him the only one in it. This hopefully means he will love swimming.

Finally, it was time for bed. We put him in a one-piece footie pajamas and I tried to read him a story. Although he wanted to just turn out the lights, so no story. He was restless for a few minutes but he finally went off to sleep. A big day for us all!

Tomorrow, we take him to the International clinic to verify his immunization records for the visa. Tell our little sweetie at home we love her and send kisses and hugs! Love to all our family and friends! Until tomorrow. --JH