The 2 week mark

It’s hard to believe I’ve hit day 14 of visiting Annabelle.  Yet in some ways it seems much longer and in others, like no time at all has passed.  We’ve settled into a routine during our visits, much less frenetic than the first week.  I walk in and she smiles and holds her arms up for a pickup.  I know that usually when she’s fussy she either needs a diaper change or a bottle.  But what I don’t know is so much more. How do I make her bottle?  What is her rhythm throughout the day? When does she go to nap? When does she go to bed at night? Does she sleep all the way through the night? (please, please, please). 

 

In only a week I’ll find out all these things and more.  May 10 is the tentative day for the court hearing and if all goes well, I’ll pick her up that very day.  This coming Thursday is the date for “pre-court”.  This is where I present all my papers to the chief judge and he gives me (hopefully) permission to set the court date (May 10 is an estimate). 

 

Today, there wasn’t much of a visit with Annabelle because Dr. Natalia came by to 1) review Annabelle’s birth history and what is known of her birth parents and 2) to give me an overview of what questions I will likely be asked in court.  She came to the baby room and it bodes well for this single mom that while we talked Annabelle just hung out on the mat on the floor by and did okay, she didn’t cry or fuss very much – until of course my genius kid saw the bottle come in and then by God she was NOT in the mood to wait for that.   So the end of the meeting with Dr. Natalia found me feeding Annabelle on my lap while trying to write down her many and varied diseases at birth. It reminded me of this movie in the 80s starring diane keaten where she’s trying to juggle a career and a baby and she has to interview a client with the kid on her lap.  Same deal here. 

 

I will not go into the story of Annabelle’s birth parents here.  That will be her story to tell someday.  But I will tell the story of why Dr. Natalia chose her original name Aida.  Dr. Natalia had a book of Russian and Kazakh names that she had been using to name the babies. She said she just went down the list. So I think in January there are a lot of Andrei’s and Alexandra’s and by December the babies are stuck with Zhania or something.  Anyway, she said she had just run out of names from the book.  And when Annabelle was born she was so tiny and ugly. So Dr. Natalia decided she needed the boost of a name of a very beautiful and strong woman.  There is a woman here in Kokshetau who is a “head of society”.  She is renowned as a lovely woman and a leader.  Her name is Aida.  So Dr. Natalia chose to name my scrawny ugly duckling Aida in hopes that such a name would help her grow.  Isn’t that a great story?  And the theory certainly seems to have worked since she’s sprouted like a weed and boo-tiful to boot.

 

In the few minutes left after Dr. Natalia left Annabelle and I continued to work on sitting up.  I think she’s “sticking it” a little longer….  Okay, maybe not.  She’s definitely not a weeble baby.

 

Day 14_files\Day 14 Sitting Up.MOV

 

Day 14_files\Day 14 Sitting up 2.MOV

 

 

 

 

Previous

Home

Next