SOS clinic

On Monday we bundled up Max in a blue snow suit, courtesy of another couple, parents of Berik. (thanks Jamie & Gena!) The weather is a big difference from Astana. Instead of ice everywhere, its about 50 degrees, very nice indeed but we still are using the snow suit for our little one, who is getting over a cold. There is a little park near our apartment so we can take Max for a walk each day or walk inside the Mall with the Ram store. So, with Max all covered up we head to the SOS clinic where he gets a poke in his finger so they can take blood. Max didn't cry once, our little brave boy. (it also helped the Tim was making more funny faces at Max to distract him)
After that, Max went upstairs to meet with a really nice Russian doctor. She would sing little Russian songs to him and he would just smile and smile. Everything went OK so it was back to the apartment. Tim searched some stores and found a walker to put Max in. A nice orange and green interesting looking walker that Max loves! We found this at the 'Green Market' for only $20.00. This is also a great place for families to buy souvenirs, as we wasted a lot of time in Astana trying to find the best deals. Max raced around the apartment in his new walker. We didn't bring any shoes for him and his socks would be black by the end of the day!

The next couple of days we waited for our Embassy appointment that took place on Wednesday. We walked across the street and went through all kinds of security and inspections. Once upstairs we waited for our name to be called and really it was one or two quick questions and we were on our way. We decided to treat ourselves to a scoop of Baskin-robbins at the mall and then off for a nice walk. On Thursday we woke up to rain, it was such a nice surprise as we hardly get any rain in Colorado. The only thing is the power went out about 7:30am until 4:00pm which meant cold food for Max. He didn't seem to mind and play time went without a hitch, despite the rain. We could have left on Thursday instead of Friday, but for some reason that day was sold out for flights and just about impossible to switch. We spent the day packing up everything as it takes longer now that our family is bigger with the 3 of us! Then it was bed time and up at 1:00am for our ride to the airport. All in all, the week flew by really quickly as we were busy getting schedules down for Max and learning about each other and being new parents.
Our take on Almaty is that the buildings are not as nice as Astana, but it is much warmer weather and the people seem to be more friendly. It is more Americanized and the stores have more of a selection of items. (well, maybe not the baby food!) I did ask our translator how long the process is to adopt once you are in Almaty, versus Astana and she said it takes a month just to get a court date so your looking at about 12 weeks versus 8 weeks! Whew, so glad we are almost home.