It's Sunday, October 11th

Hello everyone,

Sorry about missing a day yesterday. After spending the afternoon at the baby house, we went out to eat (it WAS Saturday night). A full belly, a beer, lack of sleep, and a boring movie put me to sleep by 9:00pm. I finally had a sound sleep. 10 hours!! Are you jealous?

Its Sunday, and we do not go to the orphanage today. So this morning was spent leisurely doing laundry, sipping coffee, having breakfast, and now on the computer.

Yesterday, Saturday, was an exciting day for us. As you can see from the picture, Sofie stood up supporting her body weight for the first time!! When I tried this before, she would bend her legs and not even touch the floor. Natalia left the room so I quickly took off her socks, booties and tights. (See her skinny, little legs?) I think feeling the floor will help her to stand. Needless to say, I got caught. She told me the baby needs to stay warm. She also yelled at the Spanish couple for not wearing slippers (only socks) in the orphanage. The Kazakhs are firm believers in bundling up. Reminds me of my German family :).

Here's an overview of what a day at the baby house is like

They let me feed Sofia everyday now. She eats a big bowl of cooked cereal at 10:00am. I tasted it and I thinks its Brei (Farina). The cereal is topped off by 3 sips of tea. I know what your thinking. Tea for a baby? Yup, that's what she gets. And just 3 sips. And out of a cup, too boot. She's such a big girl!!


Next, we go to the play room to play and do exercises. She is getting so strong so quickly. I am amazed by her. At 11:00am she starts to get sleepy, because that is her nap time. So After playing and doing exercises, she falls asleep in my arms at about 11:30. I carry her to her crib at 12:00pm. We leave for our afternoon break until 4:00pm. While we are gone, and after her nap, she eats a big bowl of mashed potatoes with meat for lunch. (They told me that I can feed her everything when I bring her home, just mash it up for her first.)

At 4:00pm when we arrive for our afternoon visit, she is usually asleep from her afternoon nap. The caretakers make me wake her up, even though I don't want to disturb her peaceful sleep. Surprisingly, after just a few minutes she is all smiles. I change her diaper, take her to the play room, play and do exercises until 4:30pm when they bring me her bottle. She slams it in 2-3 minutes. (I videotaped her yesterday, wait til you see how fast she drinks.) We play some more, then at 5:00pm I bundle her up (she does not like being bundled up. She doesn't cry, but its awfully hard to get her to smile when she's in her snowsuit.) We walk around the grounds of the orphanage for about a half hour, then we go back in, unbundle her, and then I have to say goodbye for the night. I can't believe how quickly the time with her goes by.

On our first day here, while we were grocery shopping, we met a woman from South Africa.( She heard us speaking English.) She and her husband are here doing missionary work. Anyway, they have been in touch with us and have invited us to join them for a walk out on the steppe. We are so excited to see what its like.
I will try to write again tonight to let you all know.