"Gotcha Day"

We arrived at about 11:30pm in Astana and our translator and coordinator took us to a hotel. The first thing they said was that we looked so confident this time! They picked us up around 9:00am to go to the baby house to pick up Max. At this point we were very excited and were dying to see him but first we handed out all the gifts to the caretakers and also Dr. Alma, the baby house director. We finally get to Max's room and he was eating but he looked over at us with a huge smile! We said our goodbyes and got some photos with his caretakers, the doctors and Dr. Alma. His main caretaker had tears in her eyes when we left, this only confirms how much they love Max and also how great they have taken care of our son up until this point.
Next stop was to the Ram store for baby food and formula for Max. After that we went to eat at a Russian restaurant and Max got some mash potatoes. He was doing so good! Then we went to the airport and flew to Almaty to finish out our last week. Max handled the plane ride like a pro! He fell asleep in my arms and also on the car ride to the hotel. That is the first time he has done that and it is such a nice feeling.
Our new translator took us to a hotel with a crib and Max went to bed shortly after. We tried a bath but he screamed and screamed. Seems they are not used to tub baths. We told our translator we wanted an apartment with a microwave and more space. (the cost of hotels went up on Feb. 1st and it is quite pricey, and the rooms are very small for a child) After a long day, we turned in. Max woke up once at 4:00am but quickly went back to sleep. Our first day as a family!