Our second night was a little bit more eventful. Ava woke up around 1 AM, and we gave her a bottle according to the schedule that she was on at the orphanage. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to go back to sleep once it was done. Instead, she wanted to play! Needless to say, we didn’t. It took about an hour to get her back to sleep. After that, she slept pretty good until about 6 AM, but Amber & I didn’t. Ava is showing us more and more of her personality too. Her cold has her a little grumpy at times, but she’ll go straight from crying over having her nose wiped to giggling and rolling her tongue in the same breath. She doesn’t seem to cry unless she’s really upset. Her appetite isn’t what we hoped either, but we think it’s probably just the cold.
We were able to take a little tour in Almaty today as well. We’ve discovered that while Ava doesn’t like being put in her snowsuit, she is tranquilized by it once it’s on. She got lots of smiles from people on the street today too. We went up into the mountains, which are quite beautiful and remind me of the Rockies, the way they start from nowhere and go straight up. There was an ice skating rink where speed skaters were practicing too. The 2008 Asian Olympics will be in Almaty, so that’s my guess as to the training. We went to the Park of the 28 Heroes, which had some massive statues of the aforementioned 28 heroes (stopped a tank on their own), and other war heroes from various battles. Statues are everywhere in Kazakhstan! We visited a 100 year old church and did some shopping as well. But in a city this size (1.75 million people), I’m sure there was a lot we didn’t see.
I wanted to add a little bit more about the Embassy. It was actually a very simple process. We filled out one more form once we got there, handed it in, paid for Ava’s visa, and then waited to be called. Once we were called, we talked to Jeff, and it took less than 10 minutes. He told us our paperwork looked good and was very friendly. He then handed us one packet that has all of the Kazakh documents relating to her adoption in Russian and English. Included in this are her medical history, original birth certificate, new birth certificate, adoption papers, and even the hand written letter written by her birth mother relinquishing her. It was odd looking at that form in particular. He also gave us a sealed packet to give to customs in the US when we first land at our port of entry. I think the only question we got was ‘how are you doing?’! Lola told us that though it’s easy for us, they are very picky about the paperwork that is supplied to them, so I guess the pre-work is very involved for our coordinators over here. Of course, there’s still more paperwork when we get home, but the fact that we can get home with our baby is fantastic.
There is no crib or playpen in the apartment so we were unsure as to where to put her last night. We decided it would be best to have her sleep in between us with the end of the bed blocked off and a blanket on the floor in case she did make it off the end of the bed. We also put her in her sleep sack so she was less likely to move around (although we found out later she can move and crawl in that fine). At about 9:00pm she fell asleep (in mommy’s arms) and then we all went to bed. She slept well and only woke up two times (one time I think she was just scared and then when it was bottle time) and fell back asleep quickly. She then slept until 6:00am. I thought she did pretty well considering. For her naps we fold a blanket on the floor in the living room and put her on that with a blanket or sheet on top of her. She loves the pacifier and I think it calms her. They give the babies pacifiers at the baby house so if you are adopting you may want to bring some for when you pick up your baby. 
We do feel stuck in the apartment because we want to make everything as calm as possible for Ava. But it’s not too bad. We’re still getting over jet lag also and Jason is still very tired…which means I get to hold Ava more! We tried giving her a bath last night in the sink, we had toys for her and the camera ready to take some cute pictures…it lasted about 2 minutes. After the initial curiosity she cried and cried until I quickly removed her. Jason bundled her up in a towel and she calmed right down. We felt bad though! Today we went to the Embassy. They gave us Ava’s passport and visa and they told us she will be an American Citizen when we touch down in Boston! We had Ava bundled up in her snowsuit and Jason was carrying her in the baby carrier. It was the cutest sight!
We then went to the mall and ate in the food court. They had pizza, Baskin Robins and a Dunkin Donuts. They also had an ice skating rink in the middle of the mall. Ava has learned some new things like kneeling, sucking her thumb and waving. She is also much happier and smiley than she ever was at the baby house. She is really the sweetest baby and we are so in love!!
"I heard Mommy and Daddy are 
