Visit #1

I can hardly believe I am about to write a blog post telling all about how we met our son! It still sounds crazy and doesn't feel real.

Kuba picked us up around 11:45 to begin the drive to Tokmok. I was able to quickly observe that if you have a weak stomach, get car sick or are a nervous passenger then traveling from Bishkek to Tokmok is definitely not the road trip for you! My favorite practice is that if you want to pass someone, you just drive down the center of the road (where a center stripe would be painted in the US). Apparently the favorite time to do this is while you are heading for a dump truck! Surprisingly, neither of us were that panicked by the driving. We enjoyed the scenery and felt remarkably calm during the 1 hour 15 minute drive. I didn't take any pictures of the country side this time but I feel confident I will have more chances to do so!

When we got to the orphanage there were 4 other families there picking up their babies! It was a really neat experience to see all of them so elated to bring those babies home. It was also really touching to see the caregivers say goodbye to the babies. They were clearly upset to see them go and love them very much.

We waited outside for a little bit before Kuba led us into the baby house where Caleb is. They brought him out to us in what I like to call his "Strawberry Shortcake costume". Poor baby, dressed like a baby girl! We are hopeful they will start to dress him in some of the clothes we brought for him.

Holding him for the first time was just surreal. I know I can't do it justice. He is such a calm, sweet and darling baby boy. I think the caregivers had woken him up to come see us, but didn't seem too upset about it! We were able to hold him, talk to him and kiss him for 2 hours before it was time to say goodbye until tomorrow morning. We felt like some of the developmental concerns we had have improved since our last update about him, although he definitely needs some work on holding his head up! We noticed that his arms and legs were stronger than we expected and he was often straightening his legs out and 'pushing off' from us while we held him.

I have to say it is not the easiest environment to get to know your sweet baby, and it's hard to know how much interaction he is used to. My guess is that he doesn't get much interaction at all, especially being a quiet baby. We felt like it may have been difficult for him to be held for that long because he simply isn't used to it. The fact that the baby house is at least 85 degrees inside with on A/C and he's wearing long sleeved strawberry clothes probably doesn't help! We also noticed that he seemed to have a bit of a cold, so all around it may not have been his top day for a visit! We are looking forward to more visits with him so we can get to know him better and figure out exactly what his needs are.

And now for the pictures, which is why I know you are all here anyways. You probably didn't even read all my rambling... ;)

pictures removed

PS: Hilary, what do you think about those Nebraska Cornhuskers socks he is sporting?? Did you have something to do with those showing up in Tokmok??? :) We wish they were Aggie socks but we decided to let it go... at least he's a Big 12 fan!