Some firsts, seconds, thirds and more

Well this month brought our fourth ear infection, third round of cough medicine, second round of pink eye and our first birthday, shots, and completed post placement report. We have been really busy. Berik , at the present is healthy which is great!! His first shots were not a hit with him and he was rather peeved at mommy , thanks to daddy who was out of town at the time. He weighs 27.5 lbs and is 32 inches tall, with a 5 1/2 x-wide shoe and 12 teeth. Oh my! He will eat you up if you are silly enough to put your fingers near them. The Dr. says he is the 93% for his height and weight, so basically he is the size of your average two year old. We finally made it to the Stride Rite store to get his first pair of walking shoes and the lady measured his foot and showed us the "only" pair in his big size and put them on his feet faster than you could say Boo. Don't think that has happened again. He curls those toes, arches his foot and basically makes this part of getting dressed the part you wish someone else had. Once you get them on, then watch out!! He thinks he can run and he really almost can but it usually results in a meeting with the floor. When he is not walking/running in them, Mr. Beaver is busy trying to eat them. He is getting our money's worth out of these shoes, that's for sure!
My brother and his family came from Dallas and celebrated Easter with us at our parents house. My mother who is recovering from back surgery was in good spirits and we all had a really good time. Berik made out like a bandit as usual and had alot of Easter goodies from daycare and as "responsible" parents we "helped" him eat those candies he couldn't quite master.. lol!
He is obiviously an outdoor kind of guy and when not outside spends alot of time looking out all the windows and screen door. He loves to swing, water plants with daddy, ring the wind chime and eat dirt, or sticks or leafs etc.. you get the drift. He definately requires 100% attention outside. We took him to the fair/BBQ cookoff and he got to sport ,a giant foam cowboy hat, which I am sure he would have ripped to shreds or eaten if given the chance. We visited my brother and his family in Dallas this past weekend and it was absolutely GREAT!! We left here around bedtime and 4 hrs later we were putting him in the pack and play and he slept the rest of the night! He did really well sleeping and napping and we were very pleased! We went to the Arboretum, which was spectacular and Berik had a great time playing in the bullfrog sprinklers. He absolutely loves anything to do with the water and bathtime is alot of fun. He has finally learned to stick the foam animals on the tub wall instead of in his mouth, which is a huge milestone for us. His other accomplishments since the beginning of March, would have to be.... he can lock and unlock the gate to the utility room, he will share and feed you cheerios, he will give you kisses,(nice slobbery ones) and he can get on and off his ride/walk toys. We think he is doing great but do have a person coming by the house next week just to assess him and make sure he is on target.


Last but not least, Berik's FIRST BIRTHDAY was a big hit!! I made a monkey cake in honor of Berik, who is quite the monkey, a regular vanilla sheet cake for those who didn't like chocolate and a pint size cake for Berik complete with chocolate frosting. Berik looked stunned as all 27 of us gathered round to sing happy birthday. We helped him blow out his "1" candle and then showed him how to get that frosting and the rest was all him. After licking his fingers several times he figured out he could just put his face in it and you can see how that turned out ! All and all we had a really good time and thanks for all the gifts that I told you all were not necessary but you brought anyway. We are using them of course, just as fast as we can.

Finally, we had completed our first post placement report and we will get it apostilled this coming week and then send it on. It was really nice to have our social worker, Beverley, visit with us and see Berik. Only 17 more to go! We were so busy we never made the hair cut visit and still haven't had his pictures taken but look foward to that this month. We are busy, busy, busy, bonding with Berik so forgive us if these posts are far and few between.

TIME FLIES

WOW-A whole month has flown by and Berik is changing everyday right before our eyes. I started back to work on Feb. 1 and Jaimie on Feb. 7. Work is going good and we have lots of stories and pictures to share. Berik is settling in nicely and is adjusting well. The babysitter, with 30 years experience and whom we have known for quite some time, just adores Berik as he does her. She only keeps 3 others and they happen to be all girls who are around 20-24 mths. He comes home happy but exhausted each day, probably because they talk his ear off. Valentines day proved fruitful as Berik came home with lots of valentines goodies which mommy and daddy helped him eat!

Keeping in the redneck tradition we have been having some homemade fun with our boy as you can tell by the pictures. He is a happy baby and his laugh cracks us up but he still has his serious side and sometimes he just stares at you no matter how funny you think you are.

Our friends gave us a huge baby shower which was really nice and we got so many gifts that we are still digging out from all the loot nearly 3 wks later. Berik recieved a letter from the Governor of Texas and his wife making him an Honorary Texan!!! He received a second letter honoring his adoption and it went on to include personal thoughts from the Governor about Berik's future. These letters were really special and then later we got a congratulations card from the mayor of Huntsville.

Berik isn't off and running yet but it won't be long. He is taking steps and today he took 9 in a row before landing on his diaper cushioned behind. He got a walk and ride on truck from my parents has a good time with it. We are hopefully going soon to get his first pair of real shoes at Stride Rite but it depends on him as we currently are battling PINK EYE. He is doing pretty good considering how yucky it looks. That's about all for now. This month, March, brings his first birthday, his first haircut and his first professional pictures so stay tuned. Gena, Jaimie and Berik

Still trying to get settled in

Two more days and I have to go back to work! ugh!!!!!!!!! I am still trying to get unpacked and laundry done and bills paid and baby fed and bathed and played with etc... I wonder what I did with all my free time before Berik? He is doing good and slept for the babysitter for 2 hours and didn't shed one tear? What's with that? Bedtime is good around here but nap times are awful!! You can't convience him that he is sleepy even though he can't even stand when assisted. He loves helping out around the house with sweeping and laundry!! and loves his highchair,

his bath time and his toys most of the time. They trade off for a good toy is daddy's shoes in which case we make a mad dash to get them before he starts teething on them. Anything he can get in his mouth he chews.

Berik turned 10 months on 1-27-07. Time really flies by and he is changing right before our eyes everyday. We are randomly finding more tickle spots as we initially didn't think he was ticklish at all. He has the greastest giggle ever!!! He is a joy and our whole life but we are tired as this is alot of work! We have had a lot of friends stop by and each seems to have a little something for Berik, which is great! but he is getting really spoiled already and our house is busting with "stuff" to constantly pick up off the floor... but hey at least I am getting exercise! The weather here has been rainy and cold but not as bad as Kaz so we aren't complaining. Pam, another CAI family is back in Kaz today to pick up Zach. Congratulations Pam on "Gotcha Day"!!

January 22,2006

We have been home now for 18 days and Berik is finally on somewhat of a sleeping schedule. Whew...we were begining to wonder if he was ever going to get his days and nights switched around. We broke down and let him sleep with us for a few nights which was great for him but for us?? He is now in his own bed and sleeping better but still wakes up at least 2 times per night. Thanks to Gerber.com I now have a feeding plan which seems to work out great!! I never could tell how much was too much and he won't let you know as he would eat until he blew up. He loves his new highchair and is experimenting with finger foods a bit.

Berik went to see his babysitter, Kathy, for a couple of hours for the last two days and seems to love it!! She has been babysitting for 30 years and has glowing recommendations, which makes me feel good. One of the other babies there has nicknamed him already and calls him "little man". I think she is confused? He weighed 24lbs on 1-7-07 and there is no telling how much he weighs now.
We went to Alabama to see Jaimies mom and daughter, Jessi. We had a really good visit and they loved all over Berik. We arrived on Sat. and left on Mon. so really short visit but good time for all of us. We hope to get Jessi to Texas during Spring Break as we sure missed her at Christmas.

My babyshower is on Feb. 17 and I can hardly wait!!

January 7, 2007 WE ARE HOME!!

As you can see Berik was ready to go as well as we were!

Well we made it home today, Berik did very well for his first flying time. From Almaty he did very well, and he seemed to like the bassonett that we had for him.

We had a 5 hour layover in Frankfurt, to which I found Micky D's and enjoyed a Big Mac and Fries, not fres. We left Frankfurt at 10:15 a.m.Germany time, which was somewhere around Beriks evening bed time, he did at this time decide to give our fellow passengers a taste of his well developed Kazakh lungs, but it didn't last very long, this is always the worst time to get him to sleep.

He never really fussed for any length of time, so we thought that he did very well for his first time flying, we thought we would have to experience what some of the other families have experienced in the past. We arrived in Houston, Texas at 2:50p.m., we were the last to dapart the plane, as we didn't want to fight with all the people to get everything ready. We went to customs and got in line and thought; hmmm, this doesn't look good, but just when we thought the worst, a customs lady (Russian) came and ask us if we were adopting and took from one line and put us in another. We thought alright!, until we went to secondary customs, we sat there until 4:30 while our family and friends were waiting patiently downstairs for us to arrive. It was a very joyful and tearful for a few minutes, then we loaded up and came home to Doma Lloyd, the house was decorated welcoming us home.

We visited and laughed,then it was bedtime for all of us, especially Gena and I, as Berik thought it was somewhere around noon back in Kaz. One of our friends (Elizabeth) volunteered to stay and watch him while we got a few hours sleep. This has been one of the best times of our lives, we love everyone that we met while on our adoption journey, Don, Kimberly and Lera, Mick, Debs and Eva; Jim and Ryan; Kurt, Chandra and Serik; Scott, Linda and Zhanna, Peter, Lynn, Moses, Kasiah, Zilya and Bonnie; Kevin, Pam and Zach (Moonruler), and Patty. It is so amazing how close you get to people, when you have a common goal. Thanks to everyone who has helped us at home and in Kazakhstan. More later........

January 2, 2007 Belated Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to all, we leave for Almaty tonight, and should be there for 3-5 days, as such we may be home sooner than previously estimated, yeahhhhhhhhh! Hope everyone had a wonderful New Years, and that you were all responsible adults. We are not sure about the internet connections when we get to Almaty, so this may be the last post until we get home. Check from time to time to see though, as I am sure there is an internet cafe there somewhere. Tara got your IM on my cell phone, Happy New Year to you too, see ya soon! Gena is at the Baby House, so that the doctors can check Berik out and maybe prescribe some meds for his ear infection and his chest congestion. Our love to all, have a great day!

December 30, 2006 Adventure Day!!

The morning started out fantastic, except for a few presents that Berik gave to mommy, 1 pee, and 3 poopies all in a row, now that's what I call an eye opener for sure. Not to mention a great way to clean your sinuses. He was in a good mood, laughing and giggly as he is most of the time, as he played with mommy, daddy fixed his porridge with eggs and got the rest of his breakfast ready. Jump to lunch time, we are waiting for our translator to bring some documents for us to sign, well she shows up at 11:45, just as we are fixing to put Berik down for his power nap, and then eat lunch ourselves. Gulsana proceeds to tell me that we will have lunch with the other families and then go to Ice City, and do a few more errands that we needed to do. Once all this was completed we would fill out the documents at our apartment later. So much for any advanced notice at all, we got ready and left and went to my least favorite place to eat, I call it the "Horse Meat Cafe", it is a traditional Kazakh restaurant. The only thing that they have there that Gena and I like is the Kazakh bread, fried donut holes,mmmmh! They are yummy for the tummy!

We did however find something that we liked, Chinese Meat and Frees. We left there and went to Ice City, it's a place that is created along some type of water way. They build everything from blocks of Ice; sculptures, slides, castles, and of course Father Frost is present as well. Gena and Berik went down the small slide twice, man that was hilarious,

then of course it was my turn, absolutely great fun.

Gena (top) and Kevin (bottom) went down the big slide while Pam, Berik and I watched and laughed hysterically as they came sliding down..

Kevin and Pam are with the same agency as we are and have just recently arrived. After this we ventured into the ever popular RamStore(over priced Walmart). Now time to fill out documents, also time for the little man to go nappy time, this is when Mr. Hyde appeared, cried and screamed for 30 minutes, he stopped long enough to catch his breath. Finally!, he went to sleep, but only briefly, but the papers were done by this time, so all is well that ends well. Supper time for little man and then his new favorite thing, bath time, then play a little, nite nite. Hope everyone has a great New Year. Love to all! Jaimie, Gena & Berik

P.S. Last night I went and bought our plane tickets for our flight to Almaty,

and was given Berik's passport, adoption certificate and birth certificate.