Our Last Day in Uralsk - Day 21

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To our surprise, we were the ones that had to wake Izaak this morning. To stay on schedule we should have woke him at 6am, but we thought we’d let HIM sleep in – ha! I didn’t sleep well, kept waking up to check on him. He slept well through the night and only fussed once at 4:30am. I rubbed his belly and he went right back to sleep. He was very happy to see us this morning when we woke him at 7:30am. It still seems as though he thinks we won’t be there when he wakes and it such a great surprise for him when he realizes mom and dad are still here.

We fed him his bottle, which went much better than last night though he will only take it lying down. It’s okay that I hold him to feed him cereal and give him his sippy cup, but he doesn’t want me to hold him with the bottle, so it makes me wonder if they propped the bottles in the crib in the mornings and evenings and that’s the way he’s used to it. At this point, I will do whatever it takes for the little guy to eat, but I hope to change that when we get home.

We went down for breakfast – our first social outing. Two of the Hawaiian couples were there and it was nice to show off our new son! I managed to eat while Izaak crawled all over me. We were glad to see our favorite waitress was working. We gave her a rose and told her that she was our favorite and that we really appreciated everything. She was surprised and grateful. When our eggs came out she grabbed Izaak so that we could eat our breakfast in peace. It was a nice break and she seemed to do well with him. She even showed him off to the chef.

Well, we were way off schedule at this point, so we decided to keep him up as long as we could, gave him his second feeding – cereal with egg yolk and water/apple juice. He ate it all! We headed downstairs to upload the pictures. I did a pretty good job of entertaining him, and then it was Mike’s turn. Izaak sacked out at 11am. Up at 1:45pm (let him sleep a little longer since he missed his first nap) and ready to be fed. Today we tried peas. He wasn’t sure about them, but he ate them like a good boy.

Again, we missed a naptime so that we could run out to get a few last minute things and to say good-bye to Sari and see how things were going since she took Sasha home. I gave the carrier a test run for our first outing. He was amazing! He sat quietly in the carrier and looked around, but didn’t fuss. I just hope it goes that well at the airport tomorrow.

We decided to go ahead and feed him his evening dinner – more peas and cereal and then the fun began – bath time! We decided to fill the bottom of our shower since it would be shallow and to sit with him just to make sure he felt safe. He seemed a little confused at first and then he saw his toys. When he went to get his toys, he realized the water splashed so he kept splashing. The longer we were in the bath, the bigger the splashes got! He loved the water! He went from sitting on his bottom, to putting himself on all fours and then even tried to put his face in the water, which I didn’t allow. Mike video taped everything and had to keep moving back because the water was everywhere.

We literally had to pull him away from the water and swoop him up in the towel. He even enjoyed getting dried off. This kid is absolutely amazing! So we couldn’t help ourselves, we let him crawl all over the bed naked. It’s so funny seeing your kid naked – I don’t know why. We have plenty of pictures and video to make him hate us forever if we ever decide to pull it out when he’s a teenager.

So, Izaak’s down for his nap, another bottle and to bed he’ll go. In the meantime we have 3 weeks worth of things to pack so that we’re ready for our flight tomorrow. This packing job will be a bit different, as we have to consider Izaak’s needs while we’re in transit!

Not sure when we’ll be able to update again as we aren’t sure what our internet options will be once we get into Almaty. We’re staying at an apartment during our week stay. Wish us well as we get one step closer to home! ~ A

P.S. They say “mother’s instinct” kicks in when you have a baby. I didn’t think it would, but now I know it does. My thought about the caregivers feeding the babies at 10pm in their cribs while they are still asleep was correct. Popped the bottle in his mouth while he was still asleep and he started sucking away! He put his arm up as if to hold the bottle. We’ve had a hard time getting half the bottle down. Not tonight, he drank the whole thing in less than 10 minutes without even waking. We just weren’t doing it the way he was used to. It feels so nice to be learning what it takes to make my child happy and to know I’m doing the right thing. Okay, back to packing! ~ A