Astana and first meeting

So we managed to get through lunch in Almaty and we were both sound asleep by 4pm on Sunday which was fine as we were getting picked up at 4:30 am for our flight to Astana. We arrived for our 6:15 am flight and had to pay extra for our excess baggage - guess i packed too much. Flight was uneventful - again the best kind - and they still serve a meal on an 1 1/2 hour flight - guess the Kaz airlines are in a lot better shape financially than ours. When we landed we were met by our coordinator Saule, our driver Murat and our interpreter Irina. Our travel partners the Brabsons, have a different driver and interpreter. We were taken to our respective apartments and suffice it to say that ours is sooooo much better than the one in Almaty (ugh). We are by the ramstore (groceries and basics) and right by the river as well as some English Pub -so kurt and I will probably check that out today. We left the apartment after dropping off our junk and headed to the baby house. We arrived at 10 am and ended up waiting for 2+ hours because of delays first with the Ministry officials and then the BH Director. Urgent meetings you know. We were brought into the baby house directors room and waited to be shown babies - yup we had to 'choose' our baby boy. The first two that were brought in were sick little boys - one looked like he had cp and the other looked blind maybe with autism perhaps. We ooohed and ahhed over them and held them but ultimately said that we wanted a younger baby. Then they brought in Bek...now Serik....I immediately went to hold him and he grinned this huge grin with a ton of teeth! He has 8 teeth - 4 up/4 down! We held him and he giggled and grinned. Then he was whisked away.

Of course now I'm freaking - was he too sociable? Is there such a thing? Eeek! I guess that's what it feels like to be a parent. We start real visits today - 2 hours a day from 2-4pm mon - fri and 10-12 on Sat. Sundays no visits so I guess that will be sightseeing day. We're still working on pics - sorry I know how frustrating that is. For us too! think we're almost caught up on sleep...slept 12 hours last night. will update more later.