Happy Little Bloke - Day 25

(click for more photos)

We woke this morning from a better night’s sleep last night. Izaak fussed about 4 times, but instead of picking him up, we rubbed his back/stomach and he fell right back to sleep. I got up twice and Mike got up the other two times. The funny thing is that Mike doesn’t even remember getting up. Guess we’re really learning to fall right back to sleep.

Izaak’s doctor’s appointment was this morning. This is required for the US Embassy. The nurse was very nice and gentle with Izaak. This was quite a change from the caregivers. I’m glad that I saw the caregivers handle the kids in a firm but loving way. It showed me that Izaak wouldn’t break, which eased my mind at changing clothes and diapers. We were glad to hear that Izaak had gained a pound in the past two weeks. He’s a whopping 19 pounds, which is still low, but at least he’s on the charts now. He is 28.5 inches tall. The doctor was very friendly – interesting guy, probably from the UK. He went through Izaak’s medical evaluation from the Baby House. We had heard a lot of this information from our doctor at home, but were glad to hear again that there was nothing concerning. The doctor gave him a good 5 min. checkup and commented several times on how happy and active he was. He called him a “happy little bloke.”

Our next stop was the Tsum store. It’s like a mall with a floor full of Kazakh gifts and souvenirs. We wanted to pick up some things for Izaak’s Gotcha Days. We were pretty proud that we got some “discounts” and “deals” on some of the items. There are tons of little booths with individual sellers. The only English they knew was “discount,” numbers (some pulled out calculators to show price) and please/ thank-you. As soon as you walk by, they jump up and start showing you their goods. We found lots of great things and amazingly got almost everything we needed with a few souvenirs for us. We apologize in advance to our family and friends for not picking up gifts for you. The luggage weight restrictions are going to be a bit tight on us. We’ve already had to pay twice – oops!

After the Tsum store, we grabbed a Sprite and popcorn and strolled down the courtyard to view paintings by local artists. We found two paintings that we liked and decided to buy. Our plan is to decorate our dining room with a Kazakh theme. I must say that during this time, almost 2 hours, Izaak was fantastic. He was in the carrier the whole time and only fussed a little bit. We somehow found a way to entertain ourselves with hands, gurgles and facial expressions. I got a lot of great eye-contract today! He even got two 30-minute naps during our trip today.

We thought we better not press our luck (and we’re paying the driver by the hour) so we headed back to the apartment for lunch. You’ll have to ready Mike’s excerpt regarding our lunch-time surprise! (**See below**) Izaak got a couple of hours of playtime. We decided to be “creative” and gave him an empty plastic soda bottle. This kept him entertained for quite some time. It’s amazing what you can do with an empty bottle - bang it, blow in it, roll it, tap it – we did it all. Then it was time for his afternoon nap. I tried calming him down by walking him in the bedroom, but he really wasn’t ready. Mike came in and we rolled around on the bed. He was a little fussy today, we’re still not sure why, but he’d go from laughing like crazy to a little fussiness, then back to playing again. Finally the 4pm hour was approaching and I was determined to get him down without the drama we went through yesterday. Put him in his crib, let him play for a few minutes, then laid him down and rubbed his back. Granted, I have to keep putting his head down, but after about 5 minutes, he was asleep. Much better than our marathon on Sunday!

I laid down to make sure he was asleep - didn’t want to leave the room until I knew he was out. 1-1/2 hours later, I woke up dazed and confused. Looks like all three of us needed an afternoon siesta as Mike joined me shortly after I fell asleep. After waking, we all had some dinner and decided to grab groceries to cover our last days in Kaz. The walk to the store is nice. Along the way we stopped at a yurt that is a souvenir store, looked at the fountains and enjoyed the evening air.

Got back in time for Izaak’s bedtime, unstrapped him from the carrier and laid him down. He fussed a little and within 2 minutes was asleep. Watching him fall asleep is so precious (now that we think we’ve figured out how to get him to sleep). If he’s on his stomach he spreads out his little arms and rubs the bed sheets with his hands. If you are carrying him when he starts falling asleep he will rub your arm or whatever happens to be close by. I think this is his way of comforting himself. So, we are hopeful that we’ll continue have a better nights sleep. We’ll update you tomorrow. ~ A

**We weren’t half way through lunch (my grilled cheese/honey sandwich specialty) when Izaak started acting up. He was standing at the chair playing with toys as he usually does, but then made a loud gasping sound and held his breath for a few seconds. I saw this once before – while he was trying to pass the baseball size turd. Izaak was at it again. Angela did a quick visual inspection and confirmed, “it’s time… dad.” Not sure why it was suddenly my turn, but whatever. I finished up my lunch and gave Izaak a few moments to finish whatever he was doing. Based on how much Angela was already laughing, I decided to take some extra precautions and wrapped a clean cloth diaper around my nose and mouth. She was kind enough to warn me of the orange color – I guess this was so I wouldn’t go into shock? Anyway, I picked the little sinker up and assumed the position. We have a nice little changing station in the bedroom. It’s on the floor and has short rails to it. Not enough to keep him in, but enough to keep him near by. At this point, Angela was in hysterics and ran to get the camera – thanks, mom. Drenched in a nervous sweat, I unbuttoned his onesie and pulled it up by his arms in case of a chemical spill. Already, the smell worsened ten-fold. Izaak was crying as this point and I tried to reason with him, but that didn’t work out so well… actually, I was just stalling. With a burst of adrenaline, I tore off the diaper and “wiped down” as instructed at our first-time-parents class and folded the diaper under. I tried not to make direct eye contact with the sludge in the diaper in fear that I may puke on poor Izaak. That didn’t really matter because the smell hit me like a ton of bricks. OH MY GOD!!! Glup, gag, barf… that was some skink like no stink I’ve experienced before. I blindly grabbed for a wet wipe as my eyes were now tearing up – partially form the smell and partially from laughing so hard. I mopped up as best I could as Angela disposed of the toxic waste. After some fumbling about due to being a bit light-headed, I got a clean diaper on Izaak and we both felt a whole lot better about life. So it was bound to happen sooner or later, but I can honestly say that my first poopy diaper experience didn’t disappoint. ~ M