We're in Kazakhstan!

Just a note to let everyone know that we're safe and warm here in Kazakhstan. Baby is good, we're good. We can't post pictures of the baby on our blahg because she's not officially ours for several more weeks, but once we get past the cold snap we will be having here in Astana the next few days, we will get some pictures for everyone of the city. More things to come ...

Yes, I'm OC, but I can explain.

Ben took this picture a few weeks ago before I had done any baby laundry and before we had a dresser to put any baby things into. While this photo may seem really OC, I was first of all trying to figure out where to put all the little socks until we had a dresser. Once I had devised a location, I was merely trying to maintain balance so I wasn't picking little socks up off the floor two minutes later. However, this scene entertained my husband enough that he wanted it posted on the blog for all to see, so here you go.

Stuff to do ...

As most of the blahg readers know, there is a ton of stuff to do to prepare for a baby. Of course ours is slightly different (tour of the maternity ward of the local hospital is really unnecessary). We have gotten our vaccinations (yay), rearranged furniture to make room for baby furniture (to be acquired this weekend), started buying gifts for the people who help us in Kazakhstan, and started a construction project on the house. I know it is incredibly bad timing to have a construction project at my house, but I kept coming back to the fact that it would always be worse timing once the baby was actually here, so there you have it. Currently our laundry room / pantry is being expanded. Luckily it appears to be going really quickly, and I anticipate having access to the washer and dryer 95% of the time.

We still don't have actual travel dates which is starting to frustrate me, but to manage this level of frustration I've decided to look at this like a pregnancy. Frankly, very few women decide when their baby gets here, so I'm telling work that my due date is February 16th, but like any expectant mother, it could happen at any time now, so let's just be prepared. And we should have 10 days notice at a minimum.