After breakfast, we went to pick a Christmas tree. We were, of course, armed with cameras, but it seemed Anelya had other plans. She was FAST ASLEEP when we got to the tree farm, so I quickly jumped out and picked a tree and Dad brought it home. Anelya is sleeping 12-13 hours uninterrupted these days, in addition to two 1-2 hour naps during the day. It's excellent for both of us.
While she was sleeping, I decorated the tree. I decided that in the interest of sanity, I would only use half of my ornaments this year. I also added a handful of Kazakh souvenirs I brought home and made in to ornaments. Once Anelya grows out of my favorite Kazakh slippers that i bought for her in Almaty, they will become ornaments too. Here are some pictures.
Anelya was in charge of hanging the yurta.
That went marginally well, once she and Gunnar had had their fun with it!
A pretty awesome ornament, I'd say!
This one too! Oh I love these things.
Of course we needed a couple to live in the yurta and take care of the donkey!
Anelya "helping" by undecorating the tree, with the "help" of four legged sidekicks!
The Kazakh stocking were hung by the passport picture with care...(The real stockings for Santa to fill are at Baba and Hoovie's)
Anelya is certainly in the Christmas spirit (her bruise is still alive and kicking,a s you can see - sigh).
Anelya is certainly in the Christmas spirit (her bruise is still alive and kicking,a s you can see - sigh).
Happiest elf EVER!
An exciting development has been made on the playroom front: I had an epiphany the other night and realized that due to my obsession with yurtas, we absolutely must have one. And so, much to my delight, Hoovie has agreed to finish the basement and turn it into a playroom. Not just any playroom, mind you... we will be decorating it to look like the inside of a Kazakh yurt. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I am so excited. This ought to take some time, but you can bet I will be posting pictures as we make progress. Have I mentioned how excited I am?
Anelya's Uncle Pierre came to visit yesterday and she took to him right away. he was great fun and arrived with a little blue box. Oh yeah. Well done, Pierre. We basically hung out and ate Mexican food, while Anelya ate something (not curry) that made her smell of curry all day, so much so that I had to bathe her because the odor was so strong I found it offensive. Strange... in any case, we are "decurried" and having a wonderful day.
I suspect that there are more teeth on their way. She was a little cranky tonight and wants to chew on everything, including my nose. Tonight she actually said "Nigh, nigh" to the dogs when she went to bed and she is signing for more everyday. It's amazing. She also says some form of "Bye bye". What she has down to a science is the pitiful faker cry which, when you respond, turns into an identical sound, only accompanied by a smile. I am so dead, seriously.
This week we are gearing up to go to our annual O'Rourke Family Christmas weekend in Maine with all of my relatives from mom's side of the family. I cannot wait for everyone to meet her. We have a very close family and it will be so fun to be able to contribute my own little noisemaker this year!
Also very exciting is a visit we are getting on Saturday morning. My blog friends, the Morrisons, are coming down from Boothbay to meet us. Their blog was the first Kaz blog I ever found. The pictures on their blog are astonishing and when they adopted their daught Aitugan "Tougy" a couple of years ago, I was glued to their story like a tween to Hanna Montana. Tougy is just a beauty and I love how down to Earth Steve and KJ are. I cannot wait to meet them. They are currently between trips for #2, having just recently adopted Nurai, a baby girl Anelya's age, from Shymkent, Kazakhstan. Needless to say, I am so excited to have this connection in northern New England.
I will, of course, keep you posted. Thank you for continuing to read our story!
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1 comment:
That's exciting! Their blog about Aitugan, Tougy's, adoption is what sealed the deal for us to adopt from Kazakhstan. I recently wrote to them on their blog while they were over meeting Nurai last month but never heard back. I imagine they were way too busy with all that was going on for them to meet new people. Anyway, I hope, one day, when we're up visiting my mother in Maine with our Kaz child, we can ALL meet up! Have fun! - Stephanie (& Yann)
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