Thank you for all the birthday wishes. I had a nice quiet day with my boys. Unfortunately it rained all day, so we weren't able to do much, but we had fun. Papa and TJ gave me this Tastee Sub t-shirt, I don't think they realized how cruel it was to taunt me with yummy American food after being in Kaz for 31 days!



Oh well, at least the food at the hotel is pretty good. We also went to a good Turkish cafe for lunch yesterday and got some schnitzel and shashliks. We ordered TJ mashed potatoes (a sure hit) and it had cucumbers and tomatoes as garnish, which he also seemed to like. This is good because they told us at the babyhouse that he doesn't like vegetables, but I think that's because they only give them cabbage...

We also had our medical clinic on the 5th. Everything went really well. The doctor declared him "quite healthy." He is within the 10th percentile for weight and height. Anything "on the charts" is considered good. He weighs 24 lbs and is 32.5 inches tall. The only delay he shows is language, which is a problem all children in the babyhouse have, but we're told he'll pick it up very quickly. For the most part now he just speaks baby babble, but we're teaching him some words like ball, cat, more, up, juice, apple, mama and papa. Oh speaking of "mama," TJ yelled out my name unprompted. I was walking out of the medical clinic and he was sitting in the car with papa. He pointed to me and said "mama"! The kid is smart!

Also TJ is learning how to dance. We either play music videos for him or turn on the radio in our room. On cue he'll start moving from side to side. He also watches as mama and papa dance around and questions what he's gotten himself into.

Today we're off to the US Embassy for TJ's Visa. This is the last piece of paperwork before we can leave Kaz. Unfortunately we would have been able to leave tomorrow, but all the flights are booked, so we're leaving on Tuesday. Four more days! Can't wait to get TJ home!!!!!