We're definitely starting to go through the "Groundhog Day" experience right now. If you haven't seen it already, the movie Groundhog Day is about a man (played by Bill Murray) who keeps re-living the same day in his life over and over again. That's definitely what it feels like for us. Our daily routine is the same - we wake up in the mornings, visit Michael at the Baby House, go to lunch, return to the Baby House for another visit while the other parent goes back to the apartment with James, then grocery store/money exchange/go to park/etc. until it's time to eat dinner, get James bathed and in bed and turn in for the night, only to do it all over again the next day. Lather, rinse, repeat. Honestly, if it wasn't for us writing these updates we wouldn't even know what day of the week it is!
Michael was under the weather today. Wonder if it was related to what I had earlier. The reason I say that is because apparently some kind of bug was already going through the Baby House, it sounds like. The bug went through Group 3 last week, and some of the babies in Group 4 are starting to get it. When we came in we did not feed him breakfast. Actually, he had already been given a bottle of kefir right before we got there. We were given some juice to give him in the middle of our visit. When we went outside with Michael in the morning we saw his doctor out there, and she told us that he threw up last night and had a fever, so they gave him fluids to drink and probably some medicine. Fortunately he didn't have any diarrhea (again, sorry if TMI). When he awoke this morning his temperature had decreased, and by the time it was visiting hour it was back to normal. To be on the safe side they didn't want to give him his usual full breakfast, so they gave him kefir, instead. She said depending on how he does, maybe he'll get his regular lunch. However, when Sean went back for the afternoon visit he said that he didn't give Michael his lunch, and he was given a bottle of kefir. Hopefully our poor baby will be feeling better soon, although from the way he was playing today you really couldn't tell that he was ill. Even though his doctor was telling us all about Michael while speaking in Russian (our interpreter wasn't with us at the time), we were still able to understand her and communicate fine. She is super nice, and it's so obvious that she truly cares for the children here, as do all of the Baby House staff.
Today's lunch spot was a new place to us, an Armenian restaurant called Uratu which is close to the Baby House. It looked like a castle and was very lush and ornate inside, complete with mini-moat. The food was quite good, although we ordered way too much (leftovers for tonight). After Sean's afternoon visit with Michael, Juliya told him that we will have to return there tomorrow for lunch because of President Nazarbayev's visit to Karaganda tomorrow. We will still get to have our two visits with Michael, but because of logistics it's easier for us just to have lunch at the same restaurant. I had noticed lots of police presence today when we were being driven to the Baby House this morning, but Sean said it was even more so this afternoon - it looked like there were police every 200 yards or so on the main streets. President Nazarbayev will be in Karaganda tomorrow, then will be visiting Temirtau the day after. Temirtau is a nearby town that is mostly industrial. There is a steel mill there that is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Nazarbayev apparently had worked there as a young man, so he will be attending the celebration. Then he will be heading back to Astana, the capital city, afterwards. I am just glad we're still able to continue with our visits with Michael tomorrow.
So, that's our post for today - enjoy the pics!
Thanks for stopping by! Paka paka and love to all!
