In Search of Kazakhstan

I’ve recently finished reading, In Search of Kazakhstan: The Land That Disappeared, by Christopher Robbins and highly recommend it to anyone that is even remotely interested in the country of Kazakhstan.

Published in May of 2007, this was the most current book I could find on this incredible country. I was able to order a copy from Amazon.co.uk and it was well worth the extra postage to the U.S.

A conversation on a flight to Moscow that ended with the statement, “Apples are from Kazakhstan,” made such a lasting impression on the author that two years after the initial exchange, Mr. Robbins traveled to Kazakhstan himself to investigate the claim.

This is a wonderfully entertaining, yet very informative, record of an exploration that reaches across physical, cultural, and historical boundries of a vast and diverse country. Through reading this book, I’ve greatly increased my knowledge of and respect for the landscape, people, and struggles Kazakhstan has endured. I can now watch on, as a more informed global citizen, as this country continues to strive and grow with confidence in today’s world.

Witty, interesting, heart warming, shocking, and fun! Thank you, Mr. Robbins, for a great book and a fabulous introduction to a country I can’t wait to visit!

Baby Carriers

As we think about getting ready for our trip my thoughts have gone to baby carriers. I posted the following on the Yahoo Kazakhstan adoption message board:

“I’ve been looking around and am curious as to what people have used for baby carriers. The Baby Bjorn has been recommended but then I’ve also been looking at the ERGO Carrier. My first question: Any recommendations from those of you that have children? My second question: Up to what age are these carriers helpful? We’re hoping to adopt “a child as young as possible” (as stated in our dossier) but I wasn’t sure if baby carriers were better for children under a year old. Will a child close to a year old be too large for such a contraption?”

The responses I received were very helpful and I’ve posted snippets of the shared information below for easy access to experiences of others and to help those in search of the same info. (No names have been used and most of the posts were shortened a bit.) Thank you all who responded!!

Recommendations:

• ERGO at http://www.ergobabycarrier.com/
• Baby Bjorn at http://www.babybjorn.com/
• Kozy Carrier at http://www.kozycarrier.homestead.com/
• Mei Tai Wraps from the http://www.thebabywearer.com/ or http://meitaibaby.com/
• Kelty Carrier- http://www.shopkeltykids.com/Kelty-Baby-Carriers/
• Beco Baby Carriers- http://www.becobabycarrier.com/
  

Comments

• We had a Baby Bjorn and loved it although I recently discovered the mei-tai style wraps. The mei-tai can be used for kids up to 3 or 4. I also like that they can be used on your back. … I think being carried that close on the body would help with bonding.
• I don’t have our baby Kaz yet either, but after lots of research, I got an Ergo. I have been practicing no my friends babies and i LOVE IT! It will hold a child up to 40 lbs. I practice on a huge 7 month old who is 25 lbs and he LOVES It. It’s very comfy and you can also wear it on your back (Have not tried that yet) you can even wear it on your hip, but I like wearing it on my front so, even if you get an older child, it would work.
• I have a friend who is an avid “baby wearer” and she bought an Ergo after I showed her mine. It’s easy, and and it’s comfy.
• Your choice on carriers will probably depend more on the weight of the baby than the age – at least until the child is eager to be mobile all the time. I haven’t used a carrier since our little one was about 14-15 months.
• I have both the Baby Bjorn and the Ergo. I liked the fact that with the Bjorn the baby can face out as well as toward you. But, I would recommend the higher end model that has a lower back support. Once our guy was in the 17-18 lbs. range the regular Bjorn really strained my shoulders if I carried him for longer than 10-15 minutes.
• The Ergo has a low back support and will work with higher weights (I think up to 40 lbs). It also allows you to carry the baby on your back too which is a nice feature – (difficult to get on your back without help though). But, the baby can only face you when you carry them in the front. Our son wanted to look around a lot and wasn’t as crazy about having to face in all the time.
• We just bought a Kozy Carrier. Our 22month old and our almost three year old both love it. They can be worn either on the front or the back or even the side. Our almost three year old loves to be carried. The only down side we have found with the Kozy is that the straps are so long it is hard for us short people to put on without dragging the straps on the ground. We are considering buying a second one because both the girls love it so much.
• For the trip home my husband brought the Snugglie. It was easier to put on (clipped on each side of your torso as unlike may of them that hook around the neck). He liked it, and it made the airport much easier.
• I highly recommend a stroller. You can hang things off of it while traveling, feed your child in it, and walk to have them sleep if they will not sleep in a crib. We also took her to the restaurant while she was napping and had lunch and it was good for the airports to push and carry luggage on your arms.
• I would recommend both a carrier and a stroller. We lost our carrier on the way there and desperately missed it. We used the stroller a lot but on those long trips our daughters just wanted to be held a lot of the time. It is also nice to have both for days at the market. You can always leave the stroller in the hotel room if you are going somewhere not stroller friendly.
• We used the Bjorn for our first adoption. Our underweight but tall daughter was eight months when we started the bonding process. We used everyday at the orphanage for walks around the the grounds which worked great. We used it for the trip home through all the airports and my back started to hurt a lot. My husband could not carry her much in the Bjorn because she was so long. I did use it when we got home for errands and things until she was about 11 months and then I had to use a stroller.
• The main thing I did not like about the Bjorn is our daughter would only ride in it if she was looking out which prevented her from being able to snuggle if she needed to. I will use a hip carrier this time which allows a child to see out and snuggle close at the same time.
• I have the Ergo carrier and love it! Our son was 21 pounds when we met him and he fit just fine. The carrier helped to distribute the weight and I had no back issues.
• Since a lot of the European airports are extremely large, you have to think about boarding a bus to go from one terminal to another, long hallways to walk, long lines to stand in, etc… so to me either a Snugglie or a stroller made a lot more sense when coming home.
• I bought a Mei Tai when I got home & loved it until he weighed about 20lbs. My favorite carrier is the Beco. It is so comfy and not as bulky as the Ergo, IMO. The Beco is wonderful. My son is 20m and weighs about 30lb’s & this carrier doesn’t hurt my shoulders. I really like the Mei Tai when I carried him in front, it takes a little bit to get the hang of them but it’s worth it. Here is a great website if you want to see what all is out there & try them out. thebabywearer.com
• Oh, when we adopt again I would just take a carrier & then a Bumbo along for a highchair. My son was way more secure and happy if I wore him.
• The ERGO is GREAT!!! Its comfortable, sturdy, and you can use it from newborn to age 4. You can carry the child on your back, front or hip with this carrier. It is worth the money, you and your baby will love it.

Lots of great information to help us in our decision. The suggestion for taking both a stroller and carrier is a good one.

I think that we definitely want a small stroller that can be folded up quickly and is light and portable. As far as a baby carrier, a second hand Kelty will be great for when we are back home and are going on short hikes and walks in the woods. However, I’m going to look at the suggestions above and decide on one that meets the following criteria the best. Our carrier needs to be: light and not bulky for traveling, able to hold a child of various ages (8 to 20 months), and comfortable. I really think that the bonding process can’t be hurt by having a baby carrier to lug our child around the world.

We’ll be continuing with our research with actually trying out some of these carriers. Hmmm….I’ll have to borrow a child for this part. (-:

Stay tuned for our results!

GLAD is BAD!

I almost flipped the other night when I saw the advertisement for the new GLAD SimplyCooking Microwave Steaming Bags. Once again the push for helping out in “today’s busy world” turns into another landfill item and increased laziness in our incredibly wasteful society. Items like this drive me crazy!!!

On the GLAD website it actually says, ” No waiting for water to boil, no messy pots and pans to clean.” O.K., now how long does it actually take to boil a pot of broccoli and, PHEW, scrub that pot that was used to boil water? This whole process must take, well, almost as long as it takes to empty the contents from a plastic bag and walk it to the trash.

Come on now! This is just one more irresponsible product being marketed for the busy consumer that is completely unnecessary!

GLAD- shame on you and shame on anyone that buys this product!

Our Dossier Has Been Mailed

We began the process of changing our country of adoption from China to Kazakhstan in the second week of July. (June and the beginning of July were spent agonizing over whether to change countries and what route to take if we did.)

The summer was spent collecting and having notarized an enormous number of documents. I don’t even want to think about them at this point…but believe me, it took my ENTIRE school summer vacation to get our dossier together! Those of you that have been through this know it can be a full time job.

Once the dossier was completed and apostilled by the Maine Secretary of State, it was sent off to be translated to Russian at the end of August. This process took about three weeks.

Finally, the whole translated packet (2 complete sets of our dossier) was sent to Kazakhstan on Tuesday, October 2nd! Whoo-hoo! Our information has left the country!

What happens now? Well, let’s see if I can get this straight. (I’ll probably have to tweak this):

• The dossier is sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where it is checked over for the appropriate paper work and criteria for adoption.
• From there it goes to the Ministry of Education. It is here from which our dossier will be sent to one of the two cities that our adoption agency, MAPS, works with. We’ll be going to either Astana (see image above), the capital of Kazakhstan, or Kostanay where MAPS works with specific “baby houses” in each of those cities.
• Once meeting approval from this organization, the dossier is typically sent to the Guardianship board in the city of which you are adopting. I think ours is sent to a particular baby house “guardianship board” rather than a city run one. Once a child becomes available, we will be issued an invitation to travel from the Ministry of Education.

The time frame? This whole process should take about 3 to 4 months. It could go faster or it could take longer, but our estimated time of travel is around mid-January. A family that recently processed their adoption through MAPS waited only 2 months from the time that their dossier left the MAPS office to when they were invited to travel. So, yes, it is possible that we could be invited to go as early as December.

Here are a few Kazakhstan adoption stories. We’re looking forward to writing ours:

Aviva’s Adoption- http://www.bederson.org/aviva/index.html

Recent Adoptions from Astana-

• Wonderful World of Kaz, July-Sept. 2007- http://wonderfulworldofkaz.blogspot.com/
  
• Stanward Bound, July-Sept. 2007, http://www.stanwardbound.blogspot.com/
• The Van Sant Family Adoption, July-Aug. 2007, http://babygirl-kaz.blogspot.com/

Recent Adoptions from Kostanay (also spelled Kostanai and Kustanai)

• Our Adoption Journey to Kazakhstan, Feb.-May, 2007- http://www.watrous2kaz.blogspot.com/
  
• Welcoming SPW, March-May, 2007- http://www.wolfecub.blogspot.com/