(Maureen's Post)
Okay, so I think last night was James' worst night here in Almaty. Poor baby kept waking up almost every hour to hour and a half. He's having a really tough time adjusting to leaving Kokshetau and coming to Almaty and being able to sleep at night. It had taken him almost a week to feel comfortable enough in our apartment in Kokshetau to get into a routine and sleep well there. And because he hasn't been getting the sleep he needs he's been extra cranky at times during the day. He still laughs and plays hard otherwise, so he's hanging in there. That's okay - we'll be home soon enough! As for us, I had no idea it was humanly possible to function on so little sleep. Of course, it's just a temporary thing until we get home, hopefully, so we should be fine.

Today I went around running some errands and left Sean with James at home since the baby had such a hard night. Andrei picked me up mid-morning, and the first order of business was to go to the Lufthansa ticket office. I was able to purchase a one-way lap ticket home for James for only $117 USD - much cheaper than if I had bought it in the States before we left. I asked the ticket agent how full our flight was from Almaty to Frankfurt, and she said it was packed. I found out later that the Sullivans had their medical appointment for the twins at the SOS International Clinic today and that there were six other adopting families there (from different agencies) to have their children's exit medical exams, and that most, if not all of them were also leaving early Wednesday morning on the same Lufthansa flight. So it's very possible we may have up to 10 babies or so on our first leg of our trip. It's going to be fun for those passengers expecting a quiet flight to Frankfurt!

After picking up the tickets, Andrei took me to a candy store so I could try some chocolates made here in Kazakhstan. He had the lady behind the counter put together a sampling of different individually wrapped filled and plain chocolates so I could try them and come back and get more of the ones I liked. I have decided that I like the dark chocolate here because it's not too bitter. I've found that the milk chocolate here is a lot sweeter than I like. I'm not a chocoholic like Sean is, though, so maybe I'm not a good judge! Next was a trip back to the Tsum store to finish up our souvenir shopping. I still have to return tomorrow afternoon, though, as I had ordered something from one of the vendors. I also picked up a few things to give to James as he grows older. We plan to give him a little something from his birthcountry each year when we celebrate his adoption day.

After I returned to the apartment I gave Sean a break and stayed in with James so he could go for a walk. Turns out we are only a 25-minute walk from the Tsum store. Of course, that would be too far to walk with a baby in tow, even with a stroller. The stroller is not the easiest thing to maneuver over slushy sidewalks. Everything's slushy because it's warming up even more (in the 40's today). He returned home with some pastries from a French bakery that he found at the Tsum. Later towards the evening he went out again to buy a 5 unit I-card. Unfortunately, we can't get it to recognize the PIN number on this new one. No worries - we still have a little bit of time on our old I-card left, and the 5 unit I-card was only about six bucks - not that big a deal when we've got bigger fish to fry, like trying to get home! Sean also picked up take-out from the American Bar and Grill for dinner, since they're only two city blocks away from our apartment. They did have the hamburgers today, so he got us cheeseburgers with fries and milkshakes for us. They were pretty good - almost tasted like home!

Before I close out today's post, I wanted to mention a few things about packing to come to Kazakhstan for the families traveling after us. Honestly, we've found that we could find most things here, even normal rolls of toilet paper in Kokshetau! They say that if you're not sure about whether or not to bring something to just save yourself the weight and leave it at home. We've found that to be pretty much true. We've used everything we've brought and didn't really miss not having anything. However, here are some things that we are very glad that we brought from home:

DVD player and LOTS of DVDs - we found that TV series on DVDs worked out better for us instead of movies since they are shorter. This was good for before we took custody of the baby and were in between running errands. This also worked out well after we had James with us so we could spend more time in between episodes playing with him, feeding him, rocking him to sleep, etc. You don't feel like you're being interrupted, like in an engrossing movie. Some people choose to play DVDs on their laptop computers, and that's fine, too. We didn't have that option since the laptop we brought was so old and the DVD player was on the fritz. Don't forget to bring cables with you if you do bring a DVD player so you can watch the DVDs on your TV in your hotel room or apartment. We brought just enough DVDs to watch during our trip. Tomorrow we finish the last "Raymond" DVD we brought. How's that for timing?

Power converter - We forgot to bring one of these, but thankfully we were able to get one from Joan Mesker while we were in Kokshetau so we could use the DVD player we brought. We actually ended up buying it from her when she left since we used it our entire time in Kokshetau and wanted it for when we're in Almaty, too. Of course, in Almaty we ended up having working cable TV, but we still ended up watching our DVD's (I have to say it was interesting to see Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and Nickelodeon dubbed in Russian). Also, double check the voltage on your electronics and hair dryers, etc. Just because it's dual voltage doesn't mean it's for the correct voltage here, which is the mistaken assumption that we made with the DVD player.

Extra long phone cord - We brought a 25-foot long telephone cord. We ended up not needing this in Kokshetau, but did in Almaty, for sure. The telephone jack was down the long hallway near the entrance, and it allowed us to use the laptop for Internet access in the living room. Sean did his MacGyver thing again and duct taped the phone cord onto the floor along the walls so we wouldn't trip over it. The cord was a perfect length and left us with 6 inches of cord to spare. Also, don't forget to bring a female ended adapter in case your apartment has no phone jack, only a phone cord coming out of the wall. Of course, if you plan to go to the Internet cafes, instead, none of this matters, but we liked the convenience of being able to connect from the apartments.

Queen-sized fitted mattress sheet - This was one item that we were on the fence about while packing, especially since we were so close to our weight limit on our luggage. We decided to bite the bullet and packed it literally at the last minute before we loaded up the car to go to the airport. We are so glad we did. There are no fitted sheets to be found here at all, and the flat sheets on the beds in the apartments here are pretty thin and don't even entirely cover the mattress. Blankets and comforters were not a problem here; our apartments had enough of those. We had brought pillowcases, too, but did not need them at all. Well probably just leave those and the fitted sheet behind so that's less for us to pack later.

About food - We are not very picky eaters, so we didn't really bring much with us. Even convenience foods (instant soups, etc) were pretty easy to find here. Microwave popcorn can be found at the Ramstore in Almaty, but we couldn't find any at all in Kokshetau. Sometimes their Tsum store has it, but they didn't during our entire stay there. So, if your apartment ends up having a microwave, that might be nice to have. We brought one very large jar of peanut butter and it was enough for us on this trip. You can find Nutella here if you're a fan, like me. We had brought powdered Gatorade which helped me a lot when I first got to Kokshetau and then had that stomach thing going on. We left that behind in Kokshetau with another family that had recently arrived and was going through the stomach thing, too.

Ziploc bags - So helpful for so many things such as storing leftovers, packing things like lotions, soaps, etc. In a pinch they're good for especially messy diapers, although we also brought the scented disposable diaper bags which we use more of. We brought a box each of the Ziploc one quart and one gallon sizes with the zipper closure for ease.

Clorox wipes - You can't find these in Kazakhstan, either. These were very helpful for wiping down the kitchen, cleaning up spit-up from the floor, etc. What we don't use we'll leave behind in the apartment.

Rubber bands - A handful should be enough. A family who traveled before us mentioned bringing these and we've found so many uses for them. I mostly use them after I prefill the Playtex disposable liners with James' formula/rice cereal combo for his bottles then put them in a Ziploc bag until I'm ready to use them. We also used them in our apartment in Almaty to hold some doors open that would swing close when we didn't want them to. The possibilities are endless!

About medications - For sure bring all the meds that your International Adoption (IA) pediatrician prescribes for you and your child. Antibiotics for traveller's diarrhea is good to have just in case. Don't forget your prescriptions. You're better off bringing Tylenol, Advil, and any cough and cold products from home if you want instructions you can read in English. We did see Thera-Flu in Kokshetau, though. Pepto-Bismol is great. It works for diarrhea (Kaopectate also has the same formulation now, and it's not as harsh to your system as Imodium can be sometimes). Plus it works well for nausea; it came in handy for when I had the stomach problem when we got to Kokshetau. Sean didn't really have any stomach problems the entire time we were here. Our doctor has always told us to take one tablet three times daily to help prevent traveler's diarrhea when we're unsure about the water anywhere. We ended up just taking one tablet in the morning and one in the evening. In the past, it's worked for us when visiting Cancun, and it didn't fail us this time in Kazakhstan, either!

That's all I have for now. If I think of any more must-need items we'll include it in tomorrow's post. Not a lot of pics today as Sean stayed in with James most of the day. James is becoming more accustomed to the baby carrier and even fell asleep in it today. Even though we have the stroller for the airport layover in Frankfurt it will be nice to have the baby carrier as an option, too.

We've only got one more full day left in Kazakhstan and then we're outta here! We'll try to get some rest tonight, as tomorrow will be extremely busy! Paka and love to all!