Sometimes in the world of blogs, things become pretty insular. A leads to B leads to C. We have a few items that break our insularity.
Congratulations to some friends of ours who are in Karaganda right now. They just had their adoption court hearing and are the proud new parents of a little boy toddler. They are staying in the same apartment we were in. The timelines for their immigration process means that they won't be back home for Christmas. They received an early gift that they won't be able to share with their families for a while yet. Our thoughts are with them.
Our thoughts and prayers are with John's cousin Debbie as she is in very serious condition in hospital right now. She has pneumonia. She is not going to be home in time for Christmas.
Our thoughts and prayers are also with John's cousin Brenda as she continues her long battle with cancer.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Back Again
Only 28 days since our last post. Sigh. We have had lots of action in that time. We'll try to get caught up here.
John started back to work at IBM on November 2. He was happy to get together with his colleagues and friends there and to catch up on all the news on events of the past few months. John doesn't want to embarrasss his boss, Tara, so we won't mention all of the fantastic support she provided over the past couple of years as we pursued our adoption process. We wouldn't have been successful without her help.
The three of us went over to Monika's cousin Kazik's house on November 7 for a birthday/meet-and-greet celebration. Alexey got to meet some more of his relatives on Monika's side of the family. Kazik and his wife Natalie prepared a wonderful buffet lunch for us all. Alexey got to meet their son Gabriel for the first time. Gabriel is already in grade 1 at school. Alexey also met Kazik's parents, Zbyszek and Ewa, and Kazik's sister, Anna. Babcia (Monika's mom) was there too. We had a great time, since it was an honourary birthday celebration for Alexey and a real "on-the-day" birthday party for Zbyszek. Alexey was showered with lots of gifts, for which we are all very grateful.
After a couple of weeks back at work, John decided that he wanted to stay at home with Alexey and Monika. So he caught a nice case of pneumonia. Seriously though, this likely happened because his immune system was suppressed due to the food poisoning he had when we first returned home. So he went on a fine course of antibiotics for 10 days and was off work for a week. Monika once again became a single mom for almost two weeks because John couldn't do very much. Some days he couldn't even pick up Alexey.
Speaking of health, though, Alexey finally received his citizenship certificate, so we were able to get a health card number for him. Monika and Alexey got their H1N1 flu shots a couple of days later. We also were able to get a SIN card for Alexey, so he can go to work at any time now.
That brings us up to date.
John started back to work at IBM on November 2. He was happy to get together with his colleagues and friends there and to catch up on all the news on events of the past few months. John doesn't want to embarrasss his boss, Tara, so we won't mention all of the fantastic support she provided over the past couple of years as we pursued our adoption process. We wouldn't have been successful without her help.
The three of us went over to Monika's cousin Kazik's house on November 7 for a birthday/meet-and-greet celebration. Alexey got to meet some more of his relatives on Monika's side of the family. Kazik and his wife Natalie prepared a wonderful buffet lunch for us all. Alexey got to meet their son Gabriel for the first time. Gabriel is already in grade 1 at school. Alexey also met Kazik's parents, Zbyszek and Ewa, and Kazik's sister, Anna. Babcia (Monika's mom) was there too. We had a great time, since it was an honourary birthday celebration for Alexey and a real "on-the-day" birthday party for Zbyszek. Alexey was showered with lots of gifts, for which we are all very grateful.
After a couple of weeks back at work, John decided that he wanted to stay at home with Alexey and Monika. So he caught a nice case of pneumonia. Seriously though, this likely happened because his immune system was suppressed due to the food poisoning he had when we first returned home. So he went on a fine course of antibiotics for 10 days and was off work for a week. Monika once again became a single mom for almost two weeks because John couldn't do very much. Some days he couldn't even pick up Alexey.
Speaking of health, though, Alexey finally received his citizenship certificate, so we were able to get a health card number for him. Monika and Alexey got their H1N1 flu shots a couple of days later. We also were able to get a SIN card for Alexey, so he can go to work at any time now.
That brings us up to date.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Another Busy Week of Firsts
We have decided to continue our blog for a while. Some posts will be about Alexey and how everything is going as our new family is forming. Other posts will provide more details about our experience in Kazakhstan. This one is about the week just past.
On Monday (Oct. 26), we had John's Aunt Barbara from Cowansville in the Eastern Townships, cousins Garry and Connie from Cape Breton, and John's mom over for dinner at our house. This was the first chance for Aunt Barbara and the Cape Bretoners (sounds like a folk group, no?) to meet Alexey. He was his usual charming self, er, except at dinner, and was spoiled by his new relatives.
On Tuesday the three of us went on a very serious mission with Monika's mom (Babcia to Alexey). We went to Toys 'r Us to look for a few toys. Alexey enjoyed his first visit there, Babcia did the grandmotherly spoiling thing, and great fun was had by all.
Wednesday (Oct. 28) was our fourteenth wedding anniversary. We spent the day together as a a family, rejoicing in our new life together. The three of us had takeout Thai food for dinner, a new culinary experience for the little fellow. Alexey ate some pad thai sans shrimp, satay chicken without the peanut sauce, and some rice.
On Thursday, we went to a reception arranged for us at John's office at IBM. Many people from John's department were there and all enjoyed the cake and meeting Alexey. Ditto for the little guy.
We didn't dress up Alexey for Hallowe'en, but he did help us to greet the trick-or-treaters at the door. He wasn't scared at all by any of the goblins and ghouls. On the other hand, unusually for her, Shiraz was freaked out by a couple of the visitors and spent much of the evening barking and growling.
Sunday's change to Standard Time went very smoothly for us. Alexey started to wake up at the usual time, but then went back to sleep when we didn't respond to him and got up at the new time. He was able to stay awake until his new later bedtime in the evening too. He has always adapted very quickly to schedule changes.
On Monday (Oct. 26), we had John's Aunt Barbara from Cowansville in the Eastern Townships, cousins Garry and Connie from Cape Breton, and John's mom over for dinner at our house. This was the first chance for Aunt Barbara and the Cape Bretoners (sounds like a folk group, no?) to meet Alexey. He was his usual charming self, er, except at dinner, and was spoiled by his new relatives.
On Tuesday the three of us went on a very serious mission with Monika's mom (Babcia to Alexey). We went to Toys 'r Us to look for a few toys. Alexey enjoyed his first visit there, Babcia did the grandmotherly spoiling thing, and great fun was had by all.
Wednesday (Oct. 28) was our fourteenth wedding anniversary. We spent the day together as a a family, rejoicing in our new life together. The three of us had takeout Thai food for dinner, a new culinary experience for the little fellow. Alexey ate some pad thai sans shrimp, satay chicken without the peanut sauce, and some rice.
On Thursday, we went to a reception arranged for us at John's office at IBM. Many people from John's department were there and all enjoyed the cake and meeting Alexey. Ditto for the little guy.
We didn't dress up Alexey for Hallowe'en, but he did help us to greet the trick-or-treaters at the door. He wasn't scared at all by any of the goblins and ghouls. On the other hand, unusually for her, Shiraz was freaked out by a couple of the visitors and spent much of the evening barking and growling.
Sunday's change to Standard Time went very smoothly for us. Alexey started to wake up at the usual time, but then went back to sleep when we didn't respond to him and got up at the new time. He was able to stay awake until his new later bedtime in the evening too. He has always adapted very quickly to schedule changes.
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