Sick Baby and Who Are You and What Have you Done With My Mother?

When we got to the baby house for the afternoon visit, Anelya was about to eat. They gave her to me and I noticed right away that she was VERY hot. She had just woken up, but I was concerned. It was time for her to eat some mashed potatoes and pureed meat, but Anelya really didn't want to eat at all. Again, I was thankful that I have some Russian to help me, because our translator was off working on some "official business" with our documents. The caregivers told me that she had an appetite this morning and no fever. Now that she didn't want to eat, they took her temperature and she had a fever. She was very thirsty, which was good.

As you can see, she really felt yucky.

We took our daily picture which we will show in court.

And then read a book

Unfortunately, she was just too sick to bond and at one point I just felt it was cruel to continue bonding. She was yawning and didn't feel well, so I asked, would it be ok if we put her to bed? They agreed and I kissed my Anelya goodbye for the day after only a total of about 30 minutes all day with her. As we left the baby room, I cried a little. I just wanted to take care of my baby girl and I don't like to see her feeling sick. I hope she won't be in the isolation room tomorrow, but I won't be surprised if she does end up there.

After we left her, there was still 1.5 hours left of bonding, so we went up to the bonding room and watched the other parents play with their children. Another baby in the room was sick and was taken to isolation with about 20 minutes left of bonding.

We were invited to go for a walk with our friends from Massachusetts (who I will now refer to as Tammy, Bob, and Sarah) along the Irtysh River. It was a beautiful day outside and it just felt really nice to move around a little and see some of the local parts of Semey. Our translator, Daniel, came with us. He is a very nice 20 year old university student who does a lot of work with adoptive families in the summer. Today we found out he is also the Baby House Director's son.

After our walk, we came across what looks like a playground, but is really an exercise area. Someone must have kidnapped my mother and sent back another one in disguise because Mom was all over it! Now she wants one at home. You can buy it next year at my yard sale...

Below is our translator, Daniel, my friend, Tammy, some impostor pretending to be my mother, and Sarah.

More exercise equipment


Man fishing in the Irtysh River

Lovely benches line the walking path, as did wild cannabis plants.

According to our translator, it's not good quality though.

I'm pretty sure smoking wild Kazakh pot is not on my agenda for this trip anyway...

The Irtysh River flows through China, Kazakhstan, and Russian, into the Arctic Ocean.

That's big.

After dropping off Tammy, Bob, and Sarah, we went to a small supermarket next to their apartment. We bought some knish type meat-filled bread pockets, more yogurt, and some nuts. It turns out you have to pay for the nuts at the deli counter. So, I made Mom go pay for the nuts. Alone. I looked at the price, gave her enough money and sent her on her way. Daniel asked if he should go with her and help her. I said, "No. This is part of her adventure. Just go stand in the background in case she needs you, but let her do this. She needs to know she can do this." And she did. I think it was very empowering for my mother, who used to be very shy and has been coming out of her shell or the past few years. When we walked outside to meet Uncle Pasha, our driver, she whacked me on the arm and said, "I love it here!"

We came back to the hotel and asked Mary Lou and Linda if they would like to meet us upstairs in the common room for some snacks and hors d'eouvers. We had a nice time chatting about our children, our lives back home, etc. Mostly it was just nice to get out of the room and hang out. It was also nice to watch CNN on the plasma.

So, today was a nice day, except I miss my Anelya. Please pray for her and the other babies to recover quickly.