Yay Leeza! LEEZA LEARNED TO CLAP TODAY!

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Hurray for Leeza!!!! Leeza CLAPPED by herself today FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME! It was SO CUTE! She looked at her hands, like.."whoa, are those MY hands? Did I REALLY just do that?!" It was really really adorable. I am so happy we got to witness one of her "firsts" with her during visitation. We are so proud of her!!! GO LEEZA!!!
We have a few more milestones that we are hoping to witness: crawling up on our knees rather than "army style" with our arms only, and of course walking! I can tell she is getting strong every day. She also seems to be getting heavier too! We had a really fun day today with her. I brought the speakers and the ipod and we rocked out to a variety of tunes. I spent HOURS downloading music for this trip, and I was glad I did. I have tons of kid music, which is fun, but Leeza also liked the Dixie Chicks, Faith Hill, music from the Mama Mia soundtrack, and music from the Sound of Music soundtrack. She danced with Mommy to "Lo" by Flo rida...she dug it. Sean was dancing with her, but she is getting heavy, SO, I put the ergo on him and put her in that. It was very cute watching them dance in the ergo.
Mom had to dance with her too...and we rocked out to "Lo" by Flo rida...APPLE BOTTOM JEANS, BOOTS WITH THE FUR...SHE HAD THE WHOLE CLUB LOOKIN AT HER.... We took our daily walk around the baby house and she fell SOUND asleep. She WAS OUT! I had a hard time waking her up too...I only let her sleep about 15 minutes because they nap from 2:30 to 4:30 after her warm milk and cookies (doesn't that sound HEAVENLY?) I could go for warm milk and cookies and a 2 hour nap everyday... I am always impressed how happy she wakes up, even if she only sleeps for 15 minutes and is so tired, she wakes up smiling. In fact, today, when she woke up, is when she performed her MOST AMAZING FEAT..CLAPPING! That's our sweet girl !


We had such a wonderful visit...it was sad saying goodbye......BUT, everyday we say goodbye to her, is one day closer that we no longer have to leave her and she comes home with us!


We had a tasty lunch at the coffee shop. I had this "Cesar salad" but it wasn't like any Cesar salad I ever had. It was beef, broccoli, red peppers,and olive oil, and it was kinda spicy! It was so good! I had some chicken for my meal...very good! Sean and I shared delicious piece of cake for dessert too. I LOVE the desserts (not nearly as sweet as at home) and the milkshakes too! They taste more like smoothies and are much smaller. I wish our portions were more like their portions...I think we'd have a lot less overweight people around! The food here is SOOOOOOOO good. I like their pizza better than the kind we get at home!
It is Constitution day, but it's kinda like "Labor day" for us...a lot of people out and about, but I didn't see much else going on. We went shopping and I got some gifts for Leeza specific to Kazakhstan and Kostanai,and a traditional Kazakh vest and hat in blue and white for when she is older. I think it will look gorgeous with her eyes!! I got her a couple outfits for October when we spring her. They were SO CUTE! They were VERY reasonable, about $13. Sean got a cool Kazakhstan t-shirt with the map and a cool hat with the flag on it. I know that the women that work in that Kazakh souvenir store get psyched when they see us coming..THE AMERICANS WHO SPEND MONEY!
Kostanai has this REALLY cool "crest" that is on everything here...the banners, the billboards, etc, but they don't sell anything with it on it. I need to open up a shop here....it's a cool crest that would look great on shirts, hats, bags, whatever! Sean really wants a Kostanai team soccer jersey but we can't find that sold anywhere either!