We Have Tristan!!
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
We have Tristan!
We left New Orleans on Sunday at about 5 pm. Our trip over was very uneventful which was great. It did take forever though – about 24 hours. Plus, we were very anxious to see the baby. Actually, after a month separation, anxious doesn’t even describe it!
We arrived at about 2 in the morning on Tuesday and met Lola our coordinator. She took us to our hotel, the Kazzhol (pronounced Ka-jool) which is where we stayed the last time we were here in Almaty. Laura (who we traveled with last time) had gotten in the day before with her friend Liz. Laura’s husband couldn’t make the trip because of work and this is not one you want to make alone!
Lola told us our babies would arrive by train the next morning at 9 and she would pick them up. We would meet her in the lobby to receive them and do the necessary paperwork.
We got up at about 8 (still exhausted) and went to breakfast to try to get some fuel in us. At about 9 we heard the train whistle in the distance. We went upstairs to wait by the phone and at 9:15 she called. We grabbed the video camera and went down. Laura was already there holding Boeden and in tears. I looked around and saw the cutest baby, sitting in a woman’s lap. Was that big child Tristan? It was! I immediately started welling up and went over and picked him up. What an amazing feeling to finally have him in my arms again. I passed him to Din and then went over to Laura for a hug and some more tears. She and I had been talking a lot over the past month about how hard it was to be separated from them. Now here we were, all together again. Just wonderful.
I’m not really sure if Tristan recognized us but he was very happy being held. They told us he had slept the whole train ride so he was a bit groggy. (It’s wild to think that these kids have never been out of the Orphanage and now they are experiencing new things literally every minute.) We finished our paperwork and had to rush to give him something to eat before our 11 o’clock appointment with the doctor. Thank god Laura had done some shopping the day before so we had some supplies. You had to see the 4 of us trying to figure out how much water, etc to add to the formula. Remember, all the directions are in Russian! We managed to get it all together, give Tristan a car wash and clean clothes and get back downstairs in time to go. He was amazingly good being washed, jammed into his clothes and whisked out the door. It’s almost like he knows we don’t know what we’re doing and is just playing along.
We discovered that he has progressed quite a bit developmentally since we saw him last. He’s now holding things, staring at his hands, can get things into his mouth and is able to scoot on the floor to reach what he wants. He’s also found his voice, which is highly entertaining. Oh – and the TV is fascinating! Good stuff.
The SOS clinic is where the kids see a Western doctor to go over their medical records with us and give him an exam to make sure he’s ok to travel. We met with a doctor from South Africa who told us that basically all the “problems” Tristan had listed on his reports were fabricated. Kazakhstan does this because they feel that if a child is considered perfect, they should be adopted by a family from Kaz. Since there are so few natives that actually do this, in order not to have children piling up in orphanages, they come up with problems to put in their medical records. Therefore, they are eligible for adoption out of country. We had heard this before but it was good to have the doctor confirm it. So after a check up, we were told the following… He is in the 50th percentile (is that how it’s phrased?) for his height. He is 27 ½ inches long. His weight is 15 lbs. which is small. He’s in the 3rd percentile. The doctor felt that after a month or so with us he would catch up completely. Other than that, no evident problems! He’s good to go.
Back to the hotel for a nap – Mama and Papa were tired too!
Dinner in the hotel that night (not so great) another feeding and off to bed. We had a crib brought up so we thought we were set. Wrong. About 10 o’clock, after 2 hours sleep, Tristan woke up absolutely shrieking. Scared the life out of both of us. Hungry? Needs a change? Neither. We finally settled him down and decided to keep him in bed with us since we weren’t sure if he was scared or in pain or what. He was incredibly restless and rolled all over the place – very uneasy sleep. We thought about it and decided it might have been too dark and quiet, so we turned on a light and the tv and he completely settled down. I guess after sleeping with 12 other crying children a silent hotel room was just too scary. Just a theory – we’ll find out for sure tonight.
This morning we went for a long walk to stock up on provisions and he was amazing. No muss, no fuss, just happy to be rolling along in the stroller. Boeden too. It was quite a nice surprise.
This afternoon we head off to the American Embassy to get their passports and visas. Should be pretty simple but in Kazakhstan you never know.
Oh – met another new mother in the lobby the other day from Lafayette, LA. Small world – lots of babies!
Not sure if we can post again tomorrow. We’re flying out Friday at the crack of dawn (read 3 am) but are trying to reschedule it for tomorrow. If that works, no post. If not, you’ll probably have another one before we’re home.
Life is great!
Paka-
Carolyn
We have Tristan!
We left New Orleans on Sunday at about 5 pm. Our trip over was very uneventful which was great. It did take forever though – about 24 hours. Plus, we were very anxious to see the baby. Actually, after a month separation, anxious doesn’t even describe it!
We arrived at about 2 in the morning on Tuesday and met Lola our coordinator. She took us to our hotel, the Kazzhol (pronounced Ka-jool) which is where we stayed the last time we were here in Almaty. Laura (who we traveled with last time) had gotten in the day before with her friend Liz. Laura’s husband couldn’t make the trip because of work and this is not one you want to make alone!
Lola told us our babies would arrive by train the next morning at 9 and she would pick them up. We would meet her in the lobby to receive them and do the necessary paperwork.
We got up at about 8 (still exhausted) and went to breakfast to try to get some fuel in us. At about 9 we heard the train whistle in the distance. We went upstairs to wait by the phone and at 9:15 she called. We grabbed the video camera and went down. Laura was already there holding Boeden and in tears. I looked around and saw the cutest baby, sitting in a woman’s lap. Was that big child Tristan? It was! I immediately started welling up and went over and picked him up. What an amazing feeling to finally have him in my arms again. I passed him to Din and then went over to Laura for a hug and some more tears. She and I had been talking a lot over the past month about how hard it was to be separated from them. Now here we were, all together again. Just wonderful.
I’m not really sure if Tristan recognized us but he was very happy being held. They told us he had slept the whole train ride so he was a bit groggy. (It’s wild to think that these kids have never been out of the Orphanage and now they are experiencing new things literally every minute.) We finished our paperwork and had to rush to give him something to eat before our 11 o’clock appointment with the doctor. Thank god Laura had done some shopping the day before so we had some supplies. You had to see the 4 of us trying to figure out how much water, etc to add to the formula. Remember, all the directions are in Russian! We managed to get it all together, give Tristan a car wash and clean clothes and get back downstairs in time to go. He was amazingly good being washed, jammed into his clothes and whisked out the door. It’s almost like he knows we don’t know what we’re doing and is just playing along.
We discovered that he has progressed quite a bit developmentally since we saw him last. He’s now holding things, staring at his hands, can get things into his mouth and is able to scoot on the floor to reach what he wants. He’s also found his voice, which is highly entertaining. Oh – and the TV is fascinating! Good stuff.
The SOS clinic is where the kids see a Western doctor to go over their medical records with us and give him an exam to make sure he’s ok to travel. We met with a doctor from South Africa who told us that basically all the “problems” Tristan had listed on his reports were fabricated. Kazakhstan does this because they feel that if a child is considered perfect, they should be adopted by a family from Kaz. Since there are so few natives that actually do this, in order not to have children piling up in orphanages, they come up with problems to put in their medical records. Therefore, they are eligible for adoption out of country. We had heard this before but it was good to have the doctor confirm it. So after a check up, we were told the following… He is in the 50th percentile (is that how it’s phrased?) for his height. He is 27 ½ inches long. His weight is 15 lbs. which is small. He’s in the 3rd percentile. The doctor felt that after a month or so with us he would catch up completely. Other than that, no evident problems! He’s good to go.
Back to the hotel for a nap – Mama and Papa were tired too!
Dinner in the hotel that night (not so great) another feeding and off to bed. We had a crib brought up so we thought we were set. Wrong. About 10 o’clock, after 2 hours sleep, Tristan woke up absolutely shrieking. Scared the life out of both of us. Hungry? Needs a change? Neither. We finally settled him down and decided to keep him in bed with us since we weren’t sure if he was scared or in pain or what. He was incredibly restless and rolled all over the place – very uneasy sleep. We thought about it and decided it might have been too dark and quiet, so we turned on a light and the tv and he completely settled down. I guess after sleeping with 12 other crying children a silent hotel room was just too scary. Just a theory – we’ll find out for sure tonight.
This morning we went for a long walk to stock up on provisions and he was amazing. No muss, no fuss, just happy to be rolling along in the stroller. Boeden too. It was quite a nice surprise.
This afternoon we head off to the American Embassy to get their passports and visas. Should be pretty simple but in Kazakhstan you never know.
Oh – met another new mother in the lobby the other day from Lafayette, LA. Small world – lots of babies!
Not sure if we can post again tomorrow. We’re flying out Friday at the crack of dawn (read 3 am) but are trying to reschedule it for tomorrow. If that works, no post. If not, you’ll probably have another one before we’re home.
Life is great!
Paka-
Carolyn
2 Comments:
We're so excited for you! Your account of seeing Tristan again was wonderful to read. I can't believe we might just be able to see you with the little dude at the Shop on our short visit this weekend! We're bringing a welcome home gift for the little cutie.
YAY!!! Congratulations...again!!! So now Tristan has been to the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts Express, and now he's coming home!! Can't wait to meet this little dude! And Carolyn, he still doesn't have hair! He's absolutely the cutest little guys I've seen! And he is tiny, but with a little gumbo, jumbalaya, and crawfish, he'll plump right up! Hope you get to move your flight up and get home quickly! You have to hurry up and get adjusted. I mean there's no rush....so HURRY UP!! Hehe! Love ya lots! Have a safe trip home!! xoxo-Nadia
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