Embassy etc.

Right now, it feels like it’s been a very long day – and it’s only 5 p.m. Our only real outing was to the Embassy, where things went smoothly enough and we heard the words we’ve been eager to hear – “Congratulations, your adoption is now complete”! We now have visas for the boys and their passports. Immediately afterwards we went and confirmed our flight tickets for the Lord’s Day. If all our connections go according to plan, we should be back in Indianapolis around 6 that evening. We will go to the airport at midnight tomorrow night.

Despite the smoothness of both the Embassy and the airline, the boys made it difficult. Calvin especially has been cranky since about 10:30 this morning. He and Patrick played well for me this morning for a couple hours, allowing Alaina to get some extra sleep (she missed a lot last night), but since then it’s been pretty rough. After an early lunch I took him out for a walk and Calvin fell asleep in his stroller, and then slept here in it when I got back for about an hour total. But I think he needed a lot more. Patrick has done pretty well, but when Calvin is cranky it kind of transfers over and Patrick gets whiny, too. Calvin has been crying a lot and is just really not happy. We hope he goes to bed well and sleeps through the night. (Alas, see below . . . )

We had a close call this afternoon as we were leaving for the Embassy when Alaina slipped and fell down some stairs. She was carrying Patrick at the time but he was fine. Thankfully, Alaina wasn’t hurt badly.

We need to start packing tonight after the boys go to bed, but I sure feel like crashing. I think both Alaina and I are starting to fight colds, too.

A little after 6 now. The boys are fed and bathed. I guess part of Calvin’s deal was a “hunger problem,” which is a little inexplicable due to the number of baby cookies they ate this afternoon. He’s much happier right now. Actually, he’s trying to figure out how our vacuum sweeper works, and loves it. The hose and wand is like a fire-fighter’s hose for him – a little overwhelming. But it’s keeping him busy, and he’s totally fascinated.

Have we said that Calvin loves baths, whereas Patrick hates them? Well, we might have to revise that. Patrick did pretty well tonight once he got in the tub; it was the apprehension before hand that was so traumatic. Once in, however, he was fine. Calvin, conversely, was excited to get in, but didn’t want to stay there very long!

And have we mentioned that Patrick has an obsession with electrical cords? Yes, we’ve been doing everything to cure him of it, with some success. But just now he tried to plug in his doodle pen (it goes with a magnetic, Etch-a-Sketch deal) – it was so cute . . . but, of course, potentially dangerous, so Daddy put a stop to it.

We’re listening to Wes Tillet’s CD (our cousin – coincidentally, their little boy was born on Oct. 4 – 3 new members of the family on the same day – all boys!), and Calvin is grooving. The other night we had another CD on and he was taking it all in. Both evenings, with just a little help from Daddy, he started “conducting” the music. It’s adorable. Another possible future profession?

Calvin’s putting a book on the top his head and dropping it behind him. With a little encouragement from Mommy, who is gamely laughing along, he thinks it is hilarious. (If you hadn’t figured it out, you’re getting a little play-by-play here from Daddy as he types and watches the boys!)

Patrick has a problem staying upright tonight; whenever he hits the hardwood, he loses his grip and hits the deck. A few minutes ago he tottered toward me, his sippy cup outstretched toward me – upside down! I managed to calmly get him stopped, but Alaina says the fear was clear in my eyes as the dripping cup edged closer to the laptop. Just last night we heard from another family who lost their laptop to a spilled glass of water from their new son . . .

You know how there are five-alarm fires? Well, sometimes you have five-wipe diapers. I had one this morning, courtesy of Calvin. (Patrick just hit the deck again . . . and again. He’s starting to laugh when he does it.) I guess Calvin just had another such diaper, with Alaina at the controls this time. “Hurry, get me more wipes!” As I’m rifling through the diaper bag looking for them, I hear a scream from Alaina like I’ve rarely heard – and then near-uncontrollable laughter. You can imagine what happened. He wasn’t done, and the new diaper was used before it was even fastened or even close to it :) Calvin seemed quite proud of himself.

(I apologize if you’re getting too close of a look into our lives :) Well, I’m handing the computer to Alaina and taking a turn with the boys myself . . .

Yes, it’s been quite the evening! Thankfully the boys have been great since supper. Calvin doesn’t seem very tired…unfortunately. :) He doesn’t seem to need quite as much sleep as Patrick. Since they both had short naps and a big afternoon, we are going to try to put them down a little earlier. So much for that, Calvin is just awful to put to bed. He has now been screaming and crying for over an hour with at least one of us right there with him. He is extremely stubborn! He is so tired it’s not even funny. Yeah, we don’t really like bedtime. :) Tonight he is keeping Patrick awake which is not good.

We are having a debate about what to do tomorrow with our airline schedule (we have to be at the airport at midnight and our flight is at 3:20 a.m.)…any suggestions? We’ve thought about keeping them up all day and hoping they sleep but sometimes that is counterproductive because they get sooo tired they can’t sleep and are grouchy. We’ve also thought about letting them take as long of a nap as they want but then that might mean they don’t sleep at all on the plane. And we’ve also considered putting them to bed and then waking them up to go to the airport – also flawed, as they might think they are done sleeping. I think there really is no good answer but we are very open to suggestions. We are counting on Gerber puffs to get us home . . . we will be rationing them. :) The boys are crazy about them and we’ve saved pretty much all of them for the trip home – I think we have 3 ½ containers. We almost made it without having to buy more diapers but alas, we are going to be maybe 6 or 8 short – oh well.

Well, that’s probably all you want to hear from us for now . . . maybe more! :) Our final post from here in Kaz will be tomorrow, though I think we will keep this blog going and use it for pictures and anecdotes of the boys. It has been a wonderful outlet for us and we look forward to sharing it with all your comments with our boys when they are older.

Andrew now. It’s almost 9 now, and after a monumental struggle Calvin is asleep. Patrick fell asleep within five minutes, but Calvin cried and struggled and tried to get up for almost an hour and a half. But he’s asleep now – praise God!

I’m a little sad this blog is coming to a close – at least from Kazakhstan. As Alaina says, we’ll try to keep it up some when we return, but it won’t be quite the same :} We have loved writing it, together and separately, and all your comments have made it so much better, as well as encouraging us far beyond you all can ever know. At the same time, we are both eager to be home and to be with family and friends (and getting a little help with the kids)!