Taylor decided that today would be a day for showing us that she can scootch on her own! She did very well! We are the proud parents of a mobile baby! She had a good day finding new toys that belonged to the other children :) and playing with Kate. Taylor and Kate seem to get along very well, and we (Tony, myself, Annette and Marwan) joke that they will be freinds for years to come.
Taylor enjoyed time with her daddy, as you can see.



We also went for a walk outside on the playground today and Taylor found the trees! The leaves were rather fascinating and she really seems to enjoy her time out there. We tried to use our Snuggly but it did not work real well. Besides, she really enjoys her time being held.



As we have mentioned before, Taylor is about 13 lbs and very tiny, fitting in about a 3-6 months size! I have included a picture for you all to finally see. The hand belongs to Tony and the foot is obviously Taylor's!

We are Taylor's Parents!!!

As of 11:00 am this morning we are Taylor's parents! Court went really well and really quick. The judge was nice, as was the prosecutor. While we waited Annette and Marwan were in their court session. Tony was very nervous while we waited which was a nice change of pace. For those of you that know us, I am the overly emotional one who hates speaking in front of others, and Tony is the one who usually has no problem. Not today however, the roles were reversed. I seemed to be relaxed and ready and Tony stumbled while giving his speech! Gulsana had to nudge Tony a little to get him started on it! As you can see from the picture above, Taylor is very happy to finally have us as her parents!

The next 15 days are the appeal period, in which the birthmother can appeal. However, we were told that this is rare and since Taylor was left at the maternity hospital at birth, the chances are miniscule. We dont want to jinx anything, so we will not say more than that.



We went to the baby house in the afternoon from 2 to 4pm and spent time with Maren and Peter, thier boy, and the new Peruvian couple and thier daughter. Tony and I are in agreement that we absolutely hate the afternoon sessions! They are extremely hot and uncomfortable! Taylor was very good today, despite the heat and she was very active. She even scooted herself across the blanket! YAY! This is huge for us! She smiled when we walked in (which was heartwarming as we were all smiles and extremely giddy!), laughed througout the day, and played well.



Keep us in your hopes and prayers that everything goes smoothly for the next fifteen days, at which point we will be able to take Taylor out of the baby house for good!!!!

Astana Adventures

So it was another Sunday here in beautiful Astana, Kazakhstan. We did not get to see Taylor today so we enjoyed being able to see the sights yet again. This afternoon Baheet and Gulsana came by to prep us for court tomorrow. Turns out that there is a lot that goes into it! We were briefed and are preparing this evening for our adventures tomorrow. We leave at 9:15am for court and should be done around 11am.
We walked around the park today, up to the East-West restaurant and saw some new things. The yellow building is a French restaurant located in Central Park and we are told that it is very expensive. When Tony tried to take the picture we were told by the gate keeper that we were not allowed to but he snuck this shot in on the way back.

In Central Park there is an amusement park with lots of rides including 2 Ferris wheels, a roller coaster, a water park and a zoo. We plan to see the "zoo" before we go.
The lion with the wings stands at the bridge by the Ramstore and is the "guardian" of the city of Astana. Across from him is another lion with cubs. They are very beautiful statues.

Along the pathway to East-West there is a nice walk through of a park. It was very pretty and a nice break from the shade! We didn't think it would be as hot as it was today but once we got in the sun, it was sweltering!

We went to dinner this evening at a restaurant on the river with the other couples that are here with us. We had a good time. Tony and Marwan ordered the horse dish. I know it sounds rather nasty, but it was actually delicious! Tasted a lot like pork roast! We chatted for a while and then went our separate ways. Overall it was a nice day. We go to court in the morning, so keep us in your prayers!
(from left to right - Tony, Maegan, Maren, Jennifer, Mike, Peter, Marwan, & Annette).

This is the kitty that we found along our walk. He really made us miss our furrballs! He had coloring kinda of like Kody, with Tommy's eyes, and Mom's cat Louie's claws!

The Taylor Report - week ending July 28th

Greetings everyone! It's Taylor Van Sant, reporting again from Astana, Kazakhstan. It's been another fun and fascinating week here, and just as I did last week, its now time for my week in review. Sit back, have an ice cold glass of your favorite beverage, and enjoy...

Here you see mom whispering into my ear that I have a twenty three hour trip to look forward to before I get to my new home in Michigan. Obviously, I am very upset about this! Living in Michigan that is. What's the matter with Miami Beach anyway?

Here I am getting the star treatment. I'm such a diva. Mom and Dad will be in for it when I start wanting designer clothes, shoes, purses, etc. Don't worry though. I have a trick that works like a charm. I'll tell you all about it in just a bit.

Here is my reaction after finding out Lindsay Lohan was busted for another DUI. How dumb could you be?

Okay! So this is all I have to do to get what I want. I make a cute little face, maybe throw in some puppy dog eyes, and BAM - I have my parents eating out of my hands. I have plans to employ this tactic for years to come. Make a note fellow babies - it works like a charm!

And then came.... THE ATTACK OF THE KISSING MONSTERS!

Throughout the week, a strange epidemic seemed to overcome the 'large' people. For no reason at all, they just go into these kissing frenzies. I think maybe its a virus or something. Its definitely contagious, because sometimes one of them will do it, and then the other one does it immediately afterwards. Its so weird. They can't seem to help themselves. It doesn't matter if I laugh or cry, they just kiss, kiss, kiss! It's both strangely disturbing and kind of nice all at the same time. Actually, the more I think about it, I guess I really do like it. I can't wait until I get my next kiss!

Well, I guess that's it for now. Court is on Monday, and then my mommy and daddy will come to see me in the afternoon. I will be very happy to see them when they get here! Until then I will be saying my prayers that everything goes well in court. I encourage all my readers to do the same.

LOVE, TAYLOR

We are back on line!

For the past two days we have been unable to post... This was Taylor's reaction when she found this out...


Blogger gave us a message that said they had received warning that someone had tried to spam our blog and that it needed to be cleared by a real person. So now that that is finally cleared up we can post again! Sorry again folks for the inconvience. We do love to be able to post pictures and get comments, it helps us with our time here!

Wednesday was a tough day, as you can tell from the picture above. Taylor was not feeling well and so she just wanted to be held. She always seems to enjoy the mirror though. All we have to do is go and sit in front of it and she smiles and giggles like crazy! But if we were not distracting her, she would cry. It was so sad and cute and pathetic all at the same time.

Yesterday was a better day. Taylor was all smiles and seemed to have an overall good demeanor. Taylor, even though she does not like tummy time, has begun to show some interest in pushing herself using my arms as stable weights! This is great! Soon she will hopefully be standing! We were able to meet with the doctor and discuss Taylor's health and we were told that she has a minor, let me repeat that so y'all don't freak out, a minor cold, and is currently being treated.



Below is Annette and Marwan's daughter Kate. She is the room kleptomaniac and was caught stealing Taylor's toys! Kate is literally 2 weeks older than Taylor! What a size difference!



At the end of the day, Taylor, her daddy and I went outside for a walk and she was very tired. For all you Taylor fans out there, this is an in action shot of Taylor yawning... one for the memory books!


Today was an interesting day. So let me start by saying that Tony and I ventured out shopping on our own and found these really cute onesie. We thought they would fit but when we tried them on today there was no growing room. I guess Gulsana will have to take us to the store to exchange them. So, instead we originally had her in a comfortable onesie and then doctor came in to weigh her. When Tony brought her back in she was dressed in pants and a long sleeve onesie! My goodness! I guess we should be buying some pants too!
The good news is that she now weighs 5900 grams! This is 500 grams more than last month! So she now weighs about 13.02 lbs! This is great! As you can tell, poor Taylor was not happy with the amount of clothes...

However! She became very smiley and happy when her "boyfriend" Matthew came to play. Matthew is Jennifer and Michael's son and they look so gosh darn cute together!

Overall, the week has flown by, with nights out with friends and being able to relax and get ready for court! We had another movie night at Annette and Marwans, and we met up with Mike and Jennifer there as well to watch RV. Tony and I swear that the funniest part about seeing movies with them is Annette's reactions to things! Last night we met Annette and Marwan at a place on the river for some beer. This has become the staple here in Astana. Efes beer seems to be the best! We were also able to meet a woman from Canada who is now living in Astana for her husbands job at the Japanese Embassy. She was very nice and has even offered to take us out around town! Tonight we all met for pizza, well originally for pasta but we could not find the place! But all went well. Good food, great conversations and great friends! I have to admit that I hope to be friends with the three other couples here - Annette & Marwan, Jennifer & Michael, and Maren & Peter - for a very long time. I hope that our children grow up knowing of one another and the experience we went through together to adopt them! Sorry guys, I know you are probably reading this thinking, goodness... but it is true!

Three more days till court!!!!!

My First Snoopy!

We received a care package yesterday from home. Thanks Mark, Debbie, Heather, Adam, and Aubrie! It was nice to receive some items from home, but best of all was Taylor's first Snoopy. Papa Mark worked so hard to find the perfect Snoopy for our little girl! She really enjoyed her new toy today.




Today was a day of exploring. Taylor had the chance to taste her own feet - YUM!!! We played in the mirror again, and Taylor really enjoyed looking at herself and spitting all over the glass. And she seemed to love her new sunglasses, though they were far more interesting to play with than to actually wear. They lasted all of about two seconds before they were ripped off.


All in all, it was a good day. Taylor got tired early and ended the day sleeping on Daddy's shoulder. Adorable!

A little spoiled?

Is it possible that Taylor is getting spoiled already? Here she is surrounded by her ever growing pile of toys. Of course, this is nothing compared to the spoiling she is going to get when her loving grandparents are done with her.

Today was very cool. After the blistering heat we had before, it sounds like this week is going to bring some welcome change. High 60s to low 70s all week. Never thought we would be excited for cool weather. That means the baby house will only feel like 80 degrees this week. We can handle that. Taylor seems to always be much more responsive on days like this too, which we love. She was very playful and talkative today. She was definitely a Mama's Girl today. She was all about Maegan.

We received our court date today. Next Monday, July 30th, we will go to court to make Taylor our daughter officially. We are extremely excited!!!! We just want to take her home now.

And now for my favorite picture of the day: Taylor Van Sant as the Godfather...

"I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse."

A Day Out

Today we did not get to Taylor so instead Baheet and Gulsana took us out sightseeing. We went to a place to horseback ride, which was a nice change of pace. It was not what we had expected but fun none the less.

At the horse ranch there were camels. Tony decided to pet one, at least it didn't spit on him!


Afterwards we went to Baiterik and were able to go up in it. From here we were able to see the entire city. It was very neat and exciting because we actually knew what some of the buildings were! At the top we put our hands into the gold mold and made a wish. It is tradition to do so and we were told that the wishes usually come true. I hope so!





After Baiterik we went to the Palace of Peace. Inside there is an opera theatre, a silver and gold museum, a winter garden, and a meeting hall. There is also inside the palace, a place to stand and raise your hands to the ceiling and make a wish. I hope these wishes come true.





This is the women's statue outside the Palace of Peace.

These trees are outside the Palace. Don't they look like the Lego trees?!



To waiting families:
What do we do when we are not at the baby house? Hmm... lets see. We have a few families here now so we tend to get together with them a lot. Movie nights will be a frequent activity. We walk a lot! And I mean a lot. There is only so much I can do in the apartment... Tony would love it if I could just relax! We will be doing more things like we did today. There is a resort that we will be going to soon. It has swimming, hiking, etc. I cant wait!

The Week in Review-A Baby's Perspective

Hey everyone,

It's Taylor Van Sant writing to you. In addition to being adorable and learning to say DADA already (even though Mommy keeps swearing she doesn't hear it), I am also the most talented baby journalist in the world. Today's article will be titled - The Week in Review - A Baby's Perspective

This week was an exciting and eventful week for me and my new parents. Let's take a look at the journey:

On Monday, I had a ball (not really). Here I am sinking just so Mom and Dad can get a "cute" picture. Oh the humanity...

On Tuesday, Dad rescued me from the 'Weird Yellow Circle Thing' that got caught around my leg. I was really stressing out over it. He is my hero.

On Wednesday, Mom and Dad forgot the camera. I made the best faces ever, but apparently you'll just have to take my word for it. Instead, here is a picture of my new cat Tommy reading a book

On Thursday, I shared my views on the socio-economic landscape of Kazakhstan, the impacts of global warming on our planet, and my views on the US Presidential candidates. Unfortunately though, it only came out as BA-BA-GA-GOO.

On Friday, I enjoyed flying like Superman. Look at me go...

And then for today. I really had a lot of fun today. Mom and Dad and I all played for the entire 2 hours. It was cool in the baby house, so I decided I would not be cranky and that I would have fun. I did a little more scootching today, and before long I will be crawling, walking, you name it. I just need to make Mom and Dad work for it a little bit more.

I won't get to see my parents tomorrow. I hope they behave themselves. Me, I have a lot of chores tomorrow, so I will be busy all day. Parents... They have it so easy!

Love you all
Taylor