After a long but uneventful journey from Dulles to Frankfort to Kazakhstan, we spent last night in Almaty in a nice hotel, and got to visit with Sean and Maureen from Houston, Texas, two of our travel partners. Andrei picked us up this morning and took us to the airport, where we met up with all the other couples and loaded our luggage through the tail-end of the infamous Yak 4o. After a nail biting flight we landed in Kokshetau and were met by Inna (interpreter), Oleg (driver and main "go to" guy here), Vladimir (our driver) and Rada (our interpreter). We checked into a hotel where Steve and Mechelle and Joan were waiting for us all with bottles of vodka (they have already been here one week and wanted to welcome us the Kaz way!).
This morning we woke and met Rada and Vladimir for the short trip to the Children's Hospital (in Kokshetau there is no baby house; the babies are born at the Maternity Hospital and then transfered to the Children's Hospital at three months), and finally, finally, we met Owen!!
He's a very happy and content baby who we quickly found loves to be thrown in the air, bounced about and flown around the room. One of the care takers told our interpreter that we "should not be shy with him; he likes motion". I think the jumperoo at home will be a big hit! He is also pretty smooth with his rolling over action and sits up with help.
Of course we also spent a lot of time just holding and talking to him which he seemed to like - especially if he could grab one of our fingers to chomp on ... his two little bottom teeth are already in!
After his bottle, a diaper change and more cuddling, he fell asleep in my arms. That was the most amazing joy; without a doubt this little boy is so worth all it took to get here.
I'll write more about Kokshetau, our quest for an apartment, our awesome travel partners, food, daily life, etc. in later posts once the routine sets in. Thanks for your comments - we love hearing from you!
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