We Made It Home!!

We spent a quiet weekend in Almaty. We made it outside a few times but due to my bronchitis, we mostly spent it in our room. We stayed at the Uyut Hotel (right next door to the Hotel Kazoul). The 2 room suite was well worth the extra money. It gave us some room to spread out and even have some comfortable furniture to sit it! We spread out a blanket on the floor for Daniel and he was able to roll around and enjoy his toys! For those of you who haven't traveled yet and will be staying at the Uyut in the future, the hotel's restaurant is just horrible! Go to next door to the Hotel Kazoul, it's very reasonable and the food is very good! There is also a bakery just down the block that is very good!

The flights home were very long but Daniel did fairly well. He was a little fussy from Amsterdam to Detroit but after hearing some of the other families stories, we were very lucky. Daniel slept for about 4 hours out of the 30 hours that we were traveling. We all were just exhausted by the time we got home.

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I'm sorry I never finished this post. We did make it home on April 21st. We have both been very sick since we returned home and have been very busy with Daniel. Patti came down with a terrible stomach bug the first few days that we were home and is now trying to get over a cold. I still have that same case of bronchitis that started 2 days after we left for our first trip! I've been to the doctor but nothing seems to help. I have to let it run it's usual course.

I was kind of hoping to "ease into" the whole taking care of the baby thing but unfortunately, due to Patti's illness, it didn't work out that way. Thankfully, Daniel took it easy on me! I learned fast on how to do diapers, making his meals and the right mixture of Kaz formula to American formula. Just when I was getting the hang of it, Patti decided to change things on me so I'm back to being pretty much clueless!

Daniel is such a joy to have around!! He has adjusted unbelievably well! He sometimes has trouble with his afternoon nap, but I think he just hasn't trained us well enough yet! He sleeps very well through the night although he did get up pretty early this morning (10 AM)!! He usually goes to sleep between 9:30 - 10PM and sleeps until around 8:30 AM.

Daniel has learned so much in the past 2 weeks! He knows how to wave and to clap and is really quite proud of his new accomplishments! Whenever he starts to fuss because he is hungry, I start clapping and he follows suit with a huge smile on his face! This usually buys us about 30 seconds as Patti makes a dash for the kitchen! His favorite foods are scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes and ground chicken.

Daniel has met most of his extended family already. It takes him about 10 minutes to warm up to all the new faces but he is fine after the new toys start appearing! I can't believe how many new toys and clothes he has accumulated in such a short time! Patti just smiles and reminds me that his birthday is just a week away (5/12)!! I think we're going to need a bigger boat!