Happy 1st Gotcha Day!

July 13/08

It is hard to believe that a year ago on the 13th of July, we got on a plane to travel half-way around the world to meet our child. We feel ill at the thought of how close we came to not being able to go at all. We can't imagine Matthew with anyone but us! A year ago on the 16th they brought in this tiny, skinny legged little baby who had the biggest smile! He is no longer skinny, in fact he has great calf muscles! He does however, still have his big smile - it is now full of teeth instead of just one!

Matthew is a bit of a dare devil and really has no fear. He loves water but hates to wear a life jacket. In fact, he doesn't even want to hold your hand anymore as he walks deeper into the water! The pool in our town has a beach entry and last week we went with Matthew's cousins. He walked all the way in until the water was up to his neck and was mad because when he went farther, his feet wouldn't touch! He also had a ball going down the little water slide, especially since his cousins took turns going down with him! In the bath, he LOVES to splash still and now has progressed to splashing water on himself and grinning as it pours down his face. He is also a big fan of laying on his tummy and becoming a motor boat complete with sound effects!

Aug. 29 - Sept. 5/08
I can't believe it is actually our 1st anniversary of Gotcha Day already! In some ways it feels like yesterday that we were in Kazakhstan and in others it is like we have always had Matthew with us. We decided to have a party for Gotcha Day and had it on the Sunday the 31st instead of the 29th. Matthew had a ball since he was surrounded by cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents! He has spent the last few days recovering from all the attention he received! He finally fit into the "I'm a Keeper" t-shirt that I had made before leaving for Kazakhstan last year! At the time I was convinced that our child would be 18 months so I got a size 2 shirt!

I can't believe how much Matthew has changed in one year! He is not a baby any more that's for sure. He is such a boy too! He LOVES trucks, tractors and semis. He drives his all over the house and always wants to go along with daddy. He has already been seeding, cutting hay and hauling canola in the semi! Any time we see a tractor or a semi he says, "Daddy brrrmm?" He also loves tools. He has toy tools, but if daddy gets out the real deal you can bet Matthew will be in there before you can even blink!

Matthew has really started to talk now. In just the last few weeks he has started trying to copy a lot of the words you say to him and I bet he added ten just in the last week alone. This doesn't mean that they are totally clear though! If you ask him "did you say ..." he will either nod his head vigorously yes or keep saying it until you get it! One of the words he started to say last week was beebee. I thought he was saying baby but it turns out he was saying peepee. I figured it out when he came to me carrying his potty seat and saying the word! He likes to sit and try to pee and my big boy even managed to squeeze out a few drops once! I'm not pushing it but I'm not going to tell him no when he asks to go!

This summer we tried to do some family things like going to the zoo, to the beach and visit with family and friends. We also met up with Jila and Kiana so that our Can/Kaz kids will know each other. We feel so fortunate that they live close by! We also took in our agencies annual picnic weekend at Minnedosa in August. We (Kaz families) were out numbered by the families from Ethiopia again but we were excited when there was a grand total of four Can/Kaz kids (including Matthew) there! Hopefully next year there will be more able to attend. We had a lot of fun and were in the water quite a bit. In fact, 5 minutes after we arrived, Matthew was soaking wet! He spotted the water seconds after his feet hit the ground and he immediately sprinted towards the lake! We waded for a brief time before he slipped and fell in fully dressed! He didn't care, of course! Good thing we were staying only minutes away at my Aunt's cabin. Boy did CAFAC do a good job of the weekend again. I seriously doubt there is a harder working, fun loving, competent group of people than them and we are so glad that they are there to help us through the adoption process.

Speaking of adoption process, we are finally feeling motivated to get moving on the next one. We have had the papers for quite awhile now, but I just haven't felt "the urge" to get working on them until a couple of weeks ago. I figured that meant that our second child just wasn't ready for us yet! A few weeks ago while shopping with a friend, "the urge" made me buy a little pink onesie that says "Worth the wait" on it! When we began the process for Matthew, we didn't specify gender, but for some reason we feel "the urge" to say girl this time. We are working with the Kazakhstan program again and hoping to go back to Astana. Did I mention how glad I am that we have CAFAC behind us? I have already been pestering them with questions!

Matthew and Mommy are heading back to work at the daycare on Monday. Yikes. I don't know if I am excited or horrified! Once I am back, I'm sure it will be fine. Just letting go of the freedom and getting back into the routine is hard. One good thing (I think) is that Matthew will be with me until he turns two.

To sum up this last year in one word ... wonderful! Even that seems inadequate. Everyone agrees that he just fits into our family as if he was meant to be here and we firmly believe that to be true. I recently said that I wished that we would have skipped all the years of treatments and tests and trying to adopt locally - all without success - and gone straight to Kazakhstan. But then I realized that would have meant some other child and not our Matthew. You know what, he is worth every painful minute of those years. I just can't believe that we are some how allowed to be his parents.

Matthew one year ago!

Playing at the playground in the spring.

Helping Daddy build our new chairs.

Ewww, mud doesn't taste good!

After falling in a mud puddle!

Matthew loves cucumbers!

Going seeding with Daddy!

Hanging out with my cousin!

Our strawberry monster strikes again!

I LOVE steak! Kazak version of Godzilla!

Sneaking cousin Stephanie's pop at the Gotcha Day party!

Mommy's attempt at a cake!

Goofy cousins at the Gotcha Day party!

Happy Gotcha Day!

Our little farmer!

Happy 1st Birthday, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I guess it has been a little while since the last post! Time sure flies when you are having fun!

We have been pretty busy around here. Matthew has been very healthy for the most part, but at the end of November, he came down with pneumonia. It came on really fast too! On the Sunday we had to wipe his runny nose just a few times, on Monday it really started to run and on Tuesday afternoon he was kind of gasping. He went on a ventilator at the hospital which seemed to help so we were sent home with the machine and some meds. That night he ran a fairly high fever for a few hours but by the next day, was already much better and raring to go. He never got sick again until after Christmas and this time it stayed just a cold, thank goodness.

December was a very busy month with Mommy's birthday, as well as Matthew's first birthday on the eleventh and his first Christmas a few weeks later! It was just the three of us on his big day. He had quite a little mound of gifts which he quite happily ripped the paper off of. He especially enjoyed his cake (both of them since mommy and grandma each made him one!) and ice-cream! We had the families over the next Sunday and Matthew had a LOT of fun with all his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents all doting on him. Christmas day was spent at my parents and luckily Santa knew where to find Matthew! We got to do it all again with Michael's family a little later! I think Matthew's favorite gift was the CAT dump truck he got from my sister. He constantly pushes it around the house making engine sounds!

Yes, he is definitely a boy! Santa brought him some little trucks and for the past couple of weeks he has been pushing them around the floor making engine sounds for them as well! Here are just a few of the things our little monkey has leaned since the last entry:

• How to open cupboards and pull out everything in them
  
• How to help Mommy (or Daddy) empty the dishwasher
  
• How to say cat (but his first words were DADA)
  
• How to say Mama (and in that order!)
  
• How to push veggies out of his mouth
  
• How to blow kisses
  
• How to "play" "If your happy and you know it clap your hands"
  
• How to climb up and down our 16 stairs like a pro
  
• How to pull the suitcase that was blocking off the stairs out of the way when he thinks mommy is busy so as to try climb up the stairs by himself
  
• Since the cat eats cat food out of a bowl and Matty eats food out of a bowl, it must be all the same thing (except cat food doesn't taste that great - right Matthew)
  
• Snowsuits suck
  
• Riding in the sled is fun
  
• Has eight teeth and is currently working on some molars

He isn't walking on his own yet, but sure cruises along anything he can pull himself up at. He is also getting pretty good at walking with you, holding only one hand. We aren't in a rush for him to walk though. He'll do it when he is ready. Besides, he is only just coming up on a year, corrected age! Well, here are some pics of our Matthew.

Splashing mommy in the hot tub

Wow, Santa thought I was a good boy!

Mmmmm birthday cake icing!

Driving my big CAT truck - brrrrrmmm!

Mommy and Daddy's present under the tree!

Lots of snow for sledding

Christmas day!

Matthew the artist at work!

Happy Halloween!

Wow, I can't believe how time flies! It is hard to believe we have been home almost two months now. On some levels it feels like we have always had Matthew and on others it seems like just yesterday we got him! Having him sure makes us forget the pain and heart ache we went through on our journey. Anyway, enough of the sappy stuff!

Matthew sure has changed in the last month. He is now about 20 lbs and 27 1/2" long!

Here are some of the highlights:

• He had been working on his sixth tooth- it just popped through on Monday!
• He has been pulling himself up at furniture and cruising along it for several weeks
• His first word is "Dad" and he is constantly babbling
• He is a real mimicker- for example: if you cough he coughs, if you make kissing noises he does too, if you wink he makes a double wink, if he hears anyone clap (even on tv) he claps!
• He gives kisses, although he is pretty stingy!
• He loves to wave bye-bye and sometimes waves to himself and the other person at the same time!
• He LOVES to shake his head no! It is cute when you sing "5 little monkeys" and he shakes his head when you get to the "no more monkeys jumping on the bed"! (Although this may become less cute as he gets older!)
• He LOVES meat, has a sweet tooth and tolerates veggies!

We are very fortunate to have such supportive friends and family. We were thrown a get to meet Matthew shower by our neighbours and another by my family back home. Matthew received so many wonderful gifts and I don't think I need to buy him any clothes for quite awhile! One gift that we are really excited about is a bound copy of our blog that my aunt printed off for us! Last weekend, we finally had Matty christened. He did very well and REALLY enjoyed the cake afterwards! A couple of weeks ago we were able to get together with Jila and her daughter for a little visit. The kids are so cute together! We really enjoyed being able to exchange stories in person. Hopefully we will be able to do this on a regular basis. It will be nice having Can/Kaz kids for Matthew to hopefully become friends with. For Halloween, our niece had found a tiger outfit for Matthew to wear! We think he looked pretty cute! He didn't even get scared when mommy and daddy put on our masks. In fact, every time I put on my feathery mask, he laughed. He did look a little confused as we went to a few houses to trick or treat. By the look on his face it seemed he was wondering what in the world we were doing! On to the pictures!

Matthew and Mommy!

GRRRRRR! Off to see Grandpa F's cows!

Mountain climbing on a suitcase!

Exploring nature with Grandpa F

Mmmm cake!

Mmmm wrenches!

Hi Daddy! (today)

After one week at home!

Matthew loves the jolly jumper, but with our 9 foot ceilings, we had to put the suitcase under his feet!

Love those baby mum mums!

Gee Matthew, you got kind of hairy since you've been home!

He already has a remote!

Matthew's "cute" face!

Hi everyone, it is so hard to drag ourselves away from our little boy! So far, things are going well. At first, Matthew was napping pretty well and sleeping through the night, only up a couple of times for a diaper change or if he couldn't find his soother! Now he still does well during the night, but the naps are a whole other story! He fights it and then only goes down for about 1/2 hour at a time! Maybe he heard what his buddies were up to in their homes and decided to give it a try too!
Matthew has been for a combine ride with Grandpa Sanders (he loved it and even "helped" steer!) and today, rode for a few minutes with Daddy in the tractor while he baled! Matty was busy looking around the whole time and tried to reach all the controls!
We still haven't found anything that he doesn't like, food wise. I don't know if this is because he loves food, or because he doesn't know that he can refuse things. If it is the later, please, nobody tell him! Tonight, he even gobbled down some prune juice and was mad when it was all gone! (He was having some bowl problems!) He must be doing ok, if our calculations are right, he has put on about a pound since we got home!
Matthew has now met all his first cousins and has been very excited to see each and every one! He loves it when there are other kids around. I think he misses his friends from the baby house! He really is Daddy's boy though. He gets so excited every time Michael comes home. Tonight, Michael came in to say hello and Matthew began giggling and jumping around with excitement. When he went to wash up for supper, Matthew started to scream because Dad dared to leave him behind!
Well, that's all for now!

FINALLY ALL HOME!!!

This is Matthew's Daddy talking here and I just have to say that there are no words to describe how elated I am to finally have our family altogether in Canada again. It was a long three weeks to wait from the time I came home, until the time that Mommy and Matty arrived at the airport in Winnipeg. I was worried that he would have forgotten me, but not my little Matthew, he remembered me the moment he saw me! It has sure been a long haul and many hurdles to get to this point, but I can tell you this - it was it was worth every minute. If I could draw a picture it would be a bright sunny sky and there would be the most beautiful gift coming from the heavens - as Matthew's name means "Gift from God" and that just says it all!! We couldn't have a better gift!


As you can tell I am just slightly happy and excited, but I know that goes for Jennifer as well. She, after being gone from home for 55 days (8 weeks) in a very different country, has never been so glad to be back home. And yes I am a very proud Papa, but who wouldn't be. I want to say congratulations to the other couples that were in Astana when we were there. I hope your travels went well and that you are home safely, trying to figure life out back at home again. We will email you guys once we get things a little more figured out here. Like Jennifer says it feels strange to be back home - almost surreal, but there is nowhere else she'd rather be than together as a family again.


Matthew had a pretty good night sleep as he slept from 9 pm to 4:30 am, with only three brief cries where Daddy came to his rescue. I must not have been sleeping very soundly, as he is just in the room across the hall from us, but I heard him fussing about before I heard him cry. Jennifer was so tired she never heard a peep, not even when I got out of bed. He finally went to bed at 6 am after having an early breakfast which both Mom and Dad had to be there for. Then he slept until 8 am, when I gladly woke up to come and get him. What a little sweetheart and such a trooper. It is now almost noon and he has been sleeping since almost 11 am. It took Mommy to put him to bed, as I guess she has the knack for it.


Our dog Sheba sure seemed to take a liking to Matthew, the couple of brief times she had a chance to see Matty. And after Matthew woke up this morning, I heard our cat L.B. at our front door. The cat was not around yesterday when we came home or last night, so this was the 1st time that Matty got to touch him and they both seemed to hit it off, for now anyway.


As I type, I am waiting for the 1146 pictures to copy from our camera to our home computer. But since we were caught up in the moment after we all met, we didn't really worry about taking pictures. I think I am done typing now as Mommy just came into the office with Matty and he is now trying to take over.

Back at the hotel room in Winnipeg, with me feeding Matthew for the 1st time!

Matthew with two of his cousins, Stephanie and Leah (L/R) at home in our living room.

Matthew loves to fill his tummy and Dad loves to feed him!

Hi from Moscow!

Hi everyone, we made it to Moscow in one piece and spent the day sight seeing! Our paper work was done while we got to see the city! It is huge, 14 million people! Traffic is busy, it took 1 1/2 hours to drive home this evening. We are being picked up at 4am to make sure we are on our 7am flight! Matty got his Canadian visa so we are on our way home! Michael, I sent you an email to our hotmail, since I forgot the password and couldn't send it from there!
I am rather embarrassed about the amount of luggage I am coming home with. I was like the rich and famous and had to hire a cab to haul half my luggage from the Astana apartment to the airport, because there wasn't enough room in Oshut's car for four adults, a baby and our bags! Matthew slept most of the way here and was very good the time he was awake. Hope that keeps up. He is very grumpy now, after being good as gold all day and having to sit most of the time in the stroller. I just had to send Sarah up to our room because he is so cranky, so I had better go rescue her! See everyone soon! I can't wait! Michael, bring kleenex, because I'm probably going to need it as soon as I see you!

One more sleep!

Well, as long as Matthew's Russian visa comes tomorrow, we are leaving Astana on the 9pm (local time) flight to Moscow! Today we were busy packing so we only have the last minute things left.
Yesterday we were busy. We went to the internet cafe to call Michael - where Matthew ended up surrounded by the three girls who were working there, all oohing and awing over him! Then we walked to the museum where Sarah got some pictures and we got in trouble from one of the guards for not having a hat on Matthew, even inside! She pointed to the ceiling and apparently the barely noticeable air conditioning was a worry for his bare head! So I tossed the spit up blanket over his head! Then we went to the Ramstore for some water, where we met Peter getting some Rinat supplies! After a quick nap at home (Matty, not me) it was off to the Astana bakery for some pastries for supper at Soraya's. Auntie Sarah went to get the supplies, while Matthew and I waited out side in the shade. While waiting, who comes along but a man who lives in our building. He said "Zrast" (hi), pointed at Matthew and asked something, then pointed at the cafe behind us. I think he wanted to know if we were thirsty, since it was about 35C out! When Auntie Sarah came out she had bought herself a ginormous (her word) beer which she was so excited she could drink while walking down the street. She managed to get yelled at by a passing motorist when she bent down to check Matthew and he must have thought she was going to give Matty a sip of beer! We went to the mall by Soraya's to stock up on food for Matthew - they have a better selection. I did not think things through when I bought as much as I did. That poor stroller was loaded down! But it gets worse! We met up with Peter, Marin and Rinat at the store and walked to Soraya's together. The elevator in this building will accommodate three bigger adults. Peter went up with Caroline and her friend from her building. We waited for the next turn. I got on with Matthew and his loaded stroller. Sarah got on next. Then I just had to say to Marin, get on, we'll be fine. So she did. The elevator moved inches then stopped. (Thank goodness the doors opened and we could get off.) Of course the elevator was stuck. Poor Sarah had to load up her backpack with most of Matthew's food, Marin carried our 5L of water and then Sarah and I proceeded to carry the stroller up 8 flights of stairs! I tried to get her to give me a turn with the backpack, but you know Ms. Stubborn! Of course, shortly after we made it, the d*** elevator was working again!
We had a great supper cooked by Soraya and Caroline. We had three babies present! Matthew, Rinat and little, but active Claudia!! It was very sad to say good-bye. Good luck with Almaty and your trip home Rolando, Denise and Claudia and Peter, Marin and Rinat. Good luck with your bonding and court Caroline, Jay and Jenn, and congratulations on your son, Soraya! I hope that the rest of your journeys go smoothly. I have enjoyed meeting all of you and hope we can all get together with our children in the future!
Today as a reward for all our work packing, we met up with Jay and Jenn and went to the Derby grill. Matthew was really good! Then we walked to the Ramstore since it was beautifully cool out and Matthew was asleep in the snuggli. I had put him in that since it was quite windy, and earlier in the afternoon we had had a dust storm!
The last couple of days, Matthew has been clingy. He just wants to cuddle and has been kind of fussy. He also hasn't been sleeping very well. Last night I thought we were going to have a great night because he slept from 10 until 2 without a peep! But then he scared me out of sound sleep with a great cry and after that was up every hour! Sarah took pity on me this morning and let me have a nap! The poor kid is just all mixed up. I don't see it getting any better in the near future. He was also eaten alive by some sort of bug, probably mosquitoes, two nights ago. When he got up in the morning he had three huge bites on his head and face and one on his leg. They finally look better today. Anyway, if you don't hear from us for a couple of days, don't worry. In fact I hope you don't hear from us, since that means we are on our way to Moscow, and then home! We will be pretty busy getting paper work done. So keep your fingers crossed for us!

Look, Soraya, I am wearing the jammies that were too small for Max! Thanks for them!

The dust storm. There are supposed to be skyscrapers in the background!

I am helping to pack!

The latest group of parents, minus Michael. Us, Denise, Rolando and Claudia, & Peter, Marin and Rinat.

Auntie Sarah and her beer on a hot day!

Matthew and me outside a traditional yurta (sp?) at he museum.

The Countdown - T minus 5 days!

Hi everyone, I hope you are enjoying cooler weather than us, or at least have a working fan! I am so excited because in 5 days we will be on our first flight headed towards home! We leave Astana for Moscow sometime in the evening on the 4th, will hopefully complete our immigration paperwork on the 5th and fly out of Moscow at 7 am on the 6th!!!! I can't wait!(We have huge layovers, especially in Toronto, but are hoping we might be able to catch an earlier flight once landed in Toronto. Otherwise we only get into Winnipeg after midnight on the morning of the 7th. So I don't expect too many of you to be waiting for us! Just as well, I will probably be grumpy and burst into tears at the sight of Michael!) I hope it goes as scheduled, otherwise, we probably won't be able to get a flight until Sunday. Our fabulous travel agent Deddy has been sweating bullets I'm sure, trying to find the tickets he finally found us on the 6th. I was worried, because before April of this year, the Embassy in Moscow was closed on Wednesdays. Lucky for us they are now open! I have really enjoyed living in Astana, which coming from me, a total country girl who usually hates cities, is amazing. But I am READY to come home. I feel like I have been away for a year instead of almost 50 days!
Matthew has had some more sad times today. He also had a 1 1/2 hour nap this afternoon! It hasn't all been sad though, we do get some huge belly laughs as well. He also eats like a horse! He finished the bowl of supper I got for him and cried when I showed him it was empty! We swear he has gotten longer since he has been at the apartment, at least his torso anyway! He still seems to have short legs! I think you will see a big difference in him Michael!
Matthew loves to go outside for walks. He still gets very quiet and just looks around, taking it all in! He is a little furnace so carrying him in the snuggli in 30+ degree weather is tiring! I also use a stroller, but today the power was out for quiet awhile, so we didn't want to have to carry the stroller up and down 9 flights of stairs!
I must admit to being a little paranoid. We are told that most people don't like foreign adoption over here, so I keep thinking people are looking at me funny when we go out. They probably aren't though.

Matty's new bed! Tenting in the living room so the light doesn't bother him! He is way to squiggly for the suitcase!

This could have been my bed!

Yesterday, we were soooo hot!

Long time no blog

Hi everyone, sorry it has been so long since the last entry. You have Annette to thank for lighting a fire under my butt! I have been enjoying time with Matthew! He is still pretty happy, although yesterday morning he was a little sad and wanted to be held constantly. Maybe he is realizing that we aren't taking him back and beginning to grieve. He still wakes frequently during the night, but so far is fairly easily rocked back to sleep. Today we were us at the fairly decent hour of 6:20 am! Yesterday was similar and after Matty ate breakfast, Auntie Sarah very kindly sent me for a nap! We have ventured out a few times - for walks and to the Ramstore. Matthew gets very quiet and just looks around. We also had our first bath! He wasn't sure at first, but as soon as he figured out he could make tidal waves by splashing with his bum, he was full of smiles and giggling! I was hoping he would be a water baby. Last night we went for a walk with Peter, Marin and Renault(sp?) and Jay and Jenn. We went across the river to the park. I learned that the bridge sways very noticably when you are standing still on it! Jenn and Jay very sweetly gave Matthew a cute pair of slippers! They also improvised a very yummy batch of chocolate chip cookies, which they kindly shared! We are all hoping to get together sometime on Sunday, so some of us can say good-bye and we can celebrate Soraya's day in court!
This weekend is a big holiday in Kazakhstan, although you wouldn't know it if no one told you! It has been VERY hot and of course our fan broke. Hopefully it cools off soon. Hopefully by this time next week, we will be HOME! I am so excited and can't wait. I will have been gone for more than 50 days by then. It feels like time has stopped. Please keep the prayers and good wishes coming so that our paper work goes through without a hitch and we can be on that plane next week!
Well, got to go since I have someone on my knee who really wants to "help"!
PS- Matty loves to eat and boy can he poop!
- Sorry about the lack of photos, but things are not working properly this morning.