Heading Home!!! - Day 27 (with Izaak)

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After 30 days in Kazakhstan, we will be leaving to catch the plane home in a few hours. We are pretty much packed, just need to take a quick shower and we’ll be as ready as we can be for the 26+-hour trip home with our son.

We woke this morning with a full nights rest. Izaak didn’t make a peep. Mike even let me sleep in a little longer while he fed, diapered, clothed and played with Izaak. I think he’s getting the hang of this. We had planned to go out for sightseeing at 9am, but Izaak pooped out on us at 8:45am. He hasn’t taken a morning nap since we took custody of him, so it surprised us. When he laid his head on the floor and started rubbing with his hands, we knew he needed a nap. Since we knew we’d have full day, we put him down and got the rest of our packing done.

After waking and a 2nd breakfast, we headed out. Traffic is horrible in Almaty so we decided to walk. We walked from our apartment to the museum. It’s a great museum with nature, history and current exhibits. There was a fantastic exhibit on Kazakh culture, traditional clothing, a yurt and pottery. I wish we could’ve taken pictures, but cameras were not allowed as we got fussed at by one of the caretakers. We then headed to the Ramstore. It’s like a mall with restaurants, clothing stores, a giant store that is the equivalent to Walmart and an ice-skating rink. We had lunch, which turned into an eating frenzy for Mike. There was Dunkin Donuts AND Baskin Robbins. He couldn’t resist and had a donut and ice cream. He swears that the bellyache he had later had nothing to do with the overload of sweets.

We decided to make one more stop on the way back to the apartment. Patty told us that there was a gondola near our apartment that takes you to a fantastic view above Almaty. We weren’t entirely sure where it was located and since we were doing everything by foot and it was in the mid-90’s today we started to tire quickly. We completely missed the gondola and ended up walking 2 blocks out of way to find it. It was worth the backtracking though. We got to the top to find a beautiful view of the city and the mountains. The also had a playground so we made a quick stop to let him roll around on a spikey ball, much like the one at the baby house. Izaak thoroughly enjoyed this.

So, after a 4-1/2 hour and 26-30 blocks trek with a 20-pound baby strapped on my chest, I was spent! Then I had to make it up 5 flights of stairs to get to the apartment! Not sure what we were thinking, knowing that we are going to have a long trip ahead of us, but we enjoyed our day out in Almaty. I must add that Izaak was wonderful. He didn’t fuss at all, took in a couple of naps and made his mom proud! I just hope he’s that good on the flights.

Izaak wasn’t as happy once we got back to the apartment. The kid was wound up! Mike let me take a nap so that I could recover from my little workout. While I was asleep Izaak had another poopy diaper that surpassed the last one Mike changed. Mike is still trying to recover from it. When I woke up he handed Izaak to me and said he’s yours, then he went in for a nap. I luckily got Izaak to sleep shortly after Mike fell asleep, but it didn’t last long till Izaak was crying and crying and crying. We still aren’t sure what was wrong, but a little playtime with daddy and he was all smiles.

We decided to take one more walk before catching our flight. We stopped at a shop that sells souvenirs and artifacts. It was in a yurt. A fuzzy hat caught Mike’s eye and he had to have it for Izaak (so he says). We had to put it on his head as soon as we got it – too funny! We tried finding a church that is supposed to be near the apartment, but didn’t and decided to head back to give Izaak some crawling/walking/playtime before he has to be cooped on the plane.

Well, he we are, almost ready to leave. We have to admit that we aren’t ready to come back to the real world, but it’s our time to come home and we’re excited about seeing our parents at the airport and introducing Izaak to all our family and friends. We’ve enjoyed our time in Kazakhstan and getting to know our son. We appreciate all of you who have sent emails, posted comments and kept us in your prayers. We’ve been truly blessed with a beautiful child, an amazing adoption agency and all the wonderful people that were part of this journey with us. ~A