Tempermental Thursday!!

Aww, look at how tired she looks. She needed a nap with her momma in the ergo, she did!!!



Freaky lookin dog at the babyhouse...we see him often on our "powerwalks"




Leeza and her ergo are already BFF'S! About 5-10 minutes before she fell asleep snuggled with her mom. AWWW!!!



Leeza just woke up, after being removed from the ergo and passed to Dad for snuggles and kisses!



Sean is so "becoming" in his sister's hat



Today was probably the warmest day we’ve had in Kostanai since we’ve been here. It still wasn’t as bad as Florida right now, so I was fine, but Tatiana was WORN out from the heat. The kids were all “rather cranky” as well. After Leeza ate her lunch, we went to play and she was SO tired and just not her typical energetic self. After a bout of fussiness where we saw her temper, I said, “Ok, girlfriend, in the ergo you go”! We walked around the baby house SEVERAL times (Joe got dizzy after awhile and went in…LOL), Leeza fell asleep again. I am so glad my lil girlfriend loves her Ergo…it works like a charm to put a tired girl down for a much needed powernap. She actually fell asleep on about the 3rd time around, but I walked around SEVERAL more times because it’s about the only exercise I get and I’m getting fat over here livin it “high on the hog” in Kostanai with all the fabulous food. Sean went to play with the kids. There were 2 new caregivers today, as Aigul is on vacation and Ava (Eva, not sure) had the day off. I was pretty proud of Sean. He went to see them anyway and told them in VERY SLOW English (like they can understand English, fast or slow) “Momma told me (points to himself) to (holds up 2 fingers) cheer (made himself smile) the babies (pointed at his buddy he has named “big eyes”) up (and pointed up!) LOL
I let her sleep about 40 minutes or so and then we woke her up. She always wakes up happy (which is a good thing) and we got some good quality play time for about 30 minutes before she had to go back to her group. I had Tatiana ask the caregivers if she did not sleep at naptime or at night, but they said she did, but all the kids were cranky just like Leeza. She woofed down her warm milk with cake in it, in record time, and then got really MAD it was gone. She had a mini hissy fit throwing her head back and EVERYTHING! She calmed down very quickly though, and I put her down for her nap.
I didn’t get very many pictures today, but you can tell how tired she was. They also said it was chilly in the morning so she had tons of layerage on, and it was hot by the time we got there. She wasn’t in the clothes we brought, so she looked like a real “rag a muffin” but even “rag a muffinish” she was still the apple of our eyes!!

We had the best lunch today at the “car shop”. Yes, a restaurant inside a car dealer. They had yummy milkshakes and this really good chicken in a pita with cabbage and what tasted like ranch dressing. It was only 1100 tenge for all 3 of us to each lunch ($9). They also had really good pastries for 45 tenge…delish!! We went to central mall to buy a new flash drive, and to get some pictures printed for Aigul. I wanted to get her something for her birthday on Monday so I printed pictures of her with Leeza, her with Sean, some of us as a family, and some pics of Sean with the kids, and a pic of Leeza’s room in Florida so she can see how proud we are she came from Kazakhstan. We also bought some gifts for Nana and Jillian.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NANA (ONE DAY LATE!) Joe’s mom’s birthday was yesterday, and we forgot to give her a SHOUTOUT on yesterday’s blog. BUT, we made up for it with a killer gift from Kazakhstan that we think you will like.

We also got some good news from the court house. Leeza’s mom showed up at the court house this morning to relinquish Leeza again. It’s a Kostanai requirement that the birth mother be found before the court hearing. Often, they don’t show up and it’s Eugene’s fun job to go find them and bring them to court. So, we’re happy she showed up and that makes Eugene’s job easier. I had HOPED that perhaps that meant we’d get a faster court date, since often that can hold up the court hearing, BUT, NO, it doesn’t make a difference. It just seems to me that if you have to wait 4 weeks for court after bonding, that they should waive the 15 day waiting period, BUT they don’t, and I’m sure they don’t really care what I think. Joe is also feeling MUCH better and we haven’t heard a cough out of him at all today, or even last night. YAY!!
I’d like to give a big THANK YOU to one of my BFF’s Laura, who talked to Sean’s teacher at school for us. Sean has his first male teacher, and he’s REALLY cool. He was so excited for Sean and said missing 3-4 more weeks would not be a problem and Sean could make it up. So, Sean has committed to working “extra hard” and going to study hall after school when he gets home to get all his work done. I think we are going to have Joe get his work scanned at the office, then emailed over and Eugene said he'd print it out for us so Sean can get a headstart. THANK YOU LAURA for getting Sean's work for us. You are an angel!!!Since I am not going to be there to pick him up right after school, and Joe works until about 6:30 or 7, we can take advantage of him being in after care. I am so happy it worked out this way. I really don’t want Sean to leave (nor does he) , and I wanted him to be here for court. So, YAY! Sean STAYS!!