Celebrating 1 Year Since We Met Jakob!!

On December 17, 2007, we met Jakob (then Mian) for the first time in Moscow, Russia!

Wow, how all of our lives have changed since then...for the better.

In honor of this day, I'd like to post some new videos. You can really see how much Jakob has changed and become such a lively boy!

Enjoy!
Courtney, Wayne & Jakob

Videos (starting w/most recent)

Dec 13: Jakob opens an early gift of the Rick CD (a guy that plays at his school)

Nov. 30: Jakob and his guitar (singing Twinkle, Twinkle and This Old Man)

Nov. 28: Jakob's 3rd ski lesson at Sunshine Village in Banff

Nov 25: Jakob doing "shaky voice" in the car

Nov 16: Jakob's 1st Ski Lesson (afternoon session...finally getting his balance)

Nov 16: Jakob's 1st Ski Lesson (morning session...could not quite get the balance thing)

Sept 28: Jakob and Dad mowing (oh, how I miss the green now that it is snowing!)

Another video...

Our router went out due to a power surge just before I had a chance to upload this video and some photos so here goes...

Jakob in the Calgary Tower on the glass floor...Mom hanging on for dear life

A fun summer so far...if you can call it that...

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to do a quick update and upload some photos and videos from this summer. Of course, summer in Calgary can hardly compare weather wise to a Houston summer. It has been a fairly cool summer compared to other years, but we've had a few days of 30 degrees Celsius (which can be a bit harsh at night since we don't have AC). I guess we can't complain that we are melting here (like we would be if in Houston).

This summer we've enjoyed bike riding, playing in Jakob's little blowup pool, a visit from Rex and Betty from Oz, and even a camping trip at Thunder Lake with the Dalal's!

When Rex and Betty came to visit, we did an impromptu helicopter ride as we were going to Drumheller for the day. Jakob was sort of "in shock" that he was actually inside one and going up in the air. There is a video below of the ride. I could not really say anything on the video as we all had headsets on and I didn't want to distract the pilot.

As you can see from the other video, Jakob and mom play "my blanket" A LOT when we are driving long distances in the car. I originally started this game with my niece about 8 years ago when she was Jakob's age. The funny thing is he does not want anyone else to play that game except for me and him.

Jakob really enjoyed camping and sleeping in the tent. He keeps saying, "more camping." Thank you, Dalal's, for inviting us to camp with you and your friends on your annual trip!

Anyways - not too much more that is new for now. Jakob keeps growing and thriving! We are off to Memphis in 2 weeks for my mom's 60th birthday celebration with lots of family there....we can't wait!!!!

I found out that I may be in Houston from Sept 8 -12 for work, so hopefully will have time to see friends and family there at the same time. This will be my first trip without Jakob. When I return, my step-dad, Dennis, and Gretchen will be visiting us in September, so we are also looking forward to that.

I hope everyone in the U.S. is enjoying their summer and those in Oz are enjoying cooler weather.

Talk to you soon!
Courtney

A game of "My Blanket" in the car

Helicopter ride in Drumheller

Spain and Stampede Update

Hello Everyone,

It has been awhile since we've written, so thought we'd let everyone know how we (especially Jakob) are doing. We had a wonderful time in Madrid, Spain at the end of June / beginning of July. Jakob was wonderful on all of our flights. He has the whole flying thing down and manages to keep himself entertained with a book that Rachael gave him (think we owe her a million dollars for that) and also does a good job of sleeping on the planes. We worked out that he has been on 14 airplanes in 5 months! Wow!

Spain was nice and warm for us! Nice to not have a light jacket with you everywhere you go. We all went to Parque de Retiro (largest park in Madrid) after we arrived and had a boat ride, then hung out by the pool at the hotel the rest of the day. Jakob is like a fish...just loves the water. The rest of the week, I was at the World Petroleum Congress and only got to see the boys for a little bit each evening, but it was a great time for them to bond. They went to many parks, the zoo, a water park, and had pasta nearly every night (which Jakob loves)! The food in Madrid isn't great, so we did the best we could. The conference ended Thursday and we left on Saturday, so we had a chance to go to an amusement park, the zoo, and a gondola ride. We tried to go to a water park that was in a "Top 10 Madrid" book we just bought off of Amazon, but after driving 40 km south and hearing "You have arrived" on the navigation system, but not seeing the water park, we knew something was wrong. We sat there next to all of these car yards thinking "where in the heck is this thing?" Then, behind a tree in the distance I could see what used to be a waterslide. Turns out the place shut down and the book on Amazon was from 2003! I guess a lot can change in 5 years. Poor Jakob is still asking about the water park that is "all gone."

It was amazing how much his vocabulary increased while in Spain. I think there were just so many new things he was seeing each day and he was so excited, that he was like a little sponge. One funny thing in particular was when we were on one of our flights home and I took Jakob to the potty. We had to wait because someone on the plane was already in there, but Jakob could see Wayne sitting in his seat. He kept yelling something at Wayne and it took me a minute to figure out what it was. He was yelling, "Wayne.....Wayne.....Wayne!" I didn't realize he knew what our names were. I know every kid goes through that stage of calling their parents by their first name and I guess Jakob is in this stage. He then started calling me Courtney. So funny!

Once we arrived back from Spain, the Calgary Stampede (rodeo / fair) was in full swing. It was party after party each week for us, so we traded off staying with Jakob. Jakob was able to go to the Accenture Employee party and he had a blast riding the bus there, jumping on the bouncing castle, riding a mechanical bull, and playing musical chairs. It was a very fun party. On the weekend, we took him to the fairgrounds to see the horses and ride rides, which he loved. He is not as interested in rides that are on the ground as he is the ones that go up in the air. Very much a daredevil. When we put him on a helicopter ride by himself, we could not tell if he was having fun or not, but when the lady took him off, he started balling saying, "More! More!" So, we put him on again and told him, "1 more time..." So, each time he would come around on the helicopter, he would lean out and say to us, "1 more time...1 more time..." It was so funny. I told Wayne it is like he can't even enjoy the ride because he is so worried about, "1 more time." My mom reminded me that I was like that when I was younger. Everyday when she dropped me off at daycare, I would confirm with her, "4:00" which was the time she would pick me up. One day, she got in the car and realized I had not asked her what time that day, but when she looked at the door, I was standing there with 4 fingers up on one hand and waving with the other to confirm "4:00."

In terms of his Russian speaking, his teachers at school told us that he did actually speak a Russian word in class the other day (besides "dah" which means "yes"). Apparently, he knows the word for butt! Isn't that nice? He used it when one of the other kids was going potty. I've actually been working with him a little bit to try to say a word in English and then in Russian and getting him to repeat. I can tell he still understands things in Russian and his teachers say the same...he just does not really speak it.

Just this weekend, he started saying, "Excuse me" if he wants to talk and then sometimes he even yells to Wayne and me, "Stop Talking!" so that he can talk. He must have learned all of this from school.

Wayne has been having to do a bit of traveling with work...a trip to Houston, Madison, Wisconsin and this week St. Charles, Illinois outside of Chicago. I just recently started golf lessons with one of my work friends, so hoping to get to start playing a bit. I really enjoy it and I find it very relaxing.

We are getting ready to have relatives, Rex and Betty, visit from Australia on July 31 - August 4 while they are on a 1 year "around the world tour" and then we have friends, Yusuf and Nicole and their kids, coming on August 4 for 1 night, but then we will meet them in Thunder Lake just near Edmonton the following weekend for camping with their friends. At the end of the month, we head to Memphis and then the summer, as we know it here in Calgary, will be over! Sniff sniff! Right now, we are enjoying some sunshine (and a daily rain) and trying to make the most of it by staying outside as much as possible going for bike rides and to the park. Hoping to go hiking and canoeing at Lake Louise next weekend.

I hope everyone is doing well and please let us know when you are coming to Calgary!

Zoo in Spain with Monkeys

Jakob at an amusement park in Madrid

Headed to the Calgary Stampede with his cowboy hat backwards

Jakob on a helicopter at Stampede

Hello everyone,

I hope everyone is doing well! The Turpin's are doing great and Jakob is growing and changing right before our eyes!

In my last post, I was bragging about the potty training and he is still doing extremely well. He will usually have maybe 2 or so accidents per week at daycare...always at the same time, just after they have had a snack and they go out to play. So, they are starting to watch him a bit more at that time now (I think because they are finally tired of changing him...I was like...hello...there is a pattern)! He normally does not have any accidents at home unless we have friends over and he is outside and just can't bear to go inside and miss out, but that is rare. So, we are very proud of him. I have created a photo album of all the people he has met so far (and will start adding those who he is about to meet) and he LOVES to look at the photo album while on the potty pooping. So, I call it the Poop book now. Was not what it was intended to be, but hey, it keeps him on there.

Jakob is still really enjoying "school" and he is really trying to talk more and more since he started going. He is now trying to branch out to full sentences, which is great, but almost not comprehensible at this point. Much easier when it is just 2 or 3 words. I always tell everyone that I can understand about 90% of what he says, Wayne about 75%, and everyone else about 40%. He is still doing remarkably well for only having known English for 4 months (I have to keep reminding myself). One of my favorite language mix ups that he has is when he comes out of the garage or back door, he always says, "poop dog" and I always think...how does he know the rapper, Snoop Dog? But no, he is trying to say "dog poop" instead and he just has it reversed...as I'm always telling him to watch out for it if I have not had a chance to clean it up.

The only thing we have noticed about when he comes home from school is that he usually has a "meltdown" sort of evening every other day. One day he will come home from school and be laughing and joking and having a great time and the next day he just can't stop whining, crying, throwing himself on the ground, etc. Good news is, that is what 2 year olds do...so he is "normal." Lastly, we LOVE the teachers at his school and he has a really good group of kids in his class. It is really the perfect place for all of us (since it is only blocks away from where we live and he is happy)! He is really starting to come into his own now...his personality, the way he carries himself, etc. He is also really starting to joke around a lot more and also get jokes (like on DVDs that he has...he will point and start laughing like he now gets it).

We had a great Father's Day. We had our friends over for brunch - Steffen (works on Wayne's project for Accenture), wife Carmen, son Lucas (3) and Baby Laura (only months old). Afterwards, we went to the Calgary Aerospace Museum. I figured anything involving planes would interest both Wayne and Jakob, along with Steffen and Lucas. We all had a really great day and the weather was just perfect (which it had not been just a week or so before when it rained non-stop for a week...the city was getting cranky after that...and wet).

We are also very much enjoying our neighbors. Brad and Nancy (also our landlords) have been great with Jakob and have even watched him a couple of times for an hour or so (thank you!!). The down side for them is that our deck is higher than theirs, so Jakob usually walks outside and says hi to them over and over while they are trying to relax in their backyard. Michelle (an Aussie) is on the other side and we've gotten to know her a lot more since I've been on leave. She had us over for a Lobster Boil the other week which was fantastic! Jakob is very funny...if he sees Michelle working out in her yard he says, "..Chelle....Come..." (in a very "Jesus" like voice...like, come hither my child...almost like he is so confused...why are you over there...come here...don't let the fence hold you back).

Oh, and I guess I've not mentioned yet that I have successfully completed 2 weeks worth of being back at work. It has been totally fine so far and very manageable. I am very glad to be going back to the new office that opened while I was on leave...great view of the river and Rocky Mountains a bit further out. Everyone has been very supportive in getting me back into the swing of things and I've been enjoying it. I'm not at a client site / project yet, but hopefully soon through work we are trying to sell.

Well, I am going to sign off for now. Wayne was in Houston from Thursday - Saturday and will be home in an hour or so. Jakob and I luckily had great weather while he was gone so we were able to go to parks and explore a bit...oh yeah, and have a girls night + Jakob on Friday at our house!

We leave for Spain on June 27, so I will likely try to do another post after that and Stampede which is just after here in Calgary (so mid July).

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and we will talk to you soon!

2 videos of Jakob trying to do "1 - 2 - 3 ....WAKE UP!"
(he thinks it is so funny when you act like you are sleeping and then he wakes you up)

Our boy is potty trained!

Well, I must start this blog with some really good news....our little (now big) boy Jakob is now potty trained! Yes, we said, "bye bye diapers" on Friday, May 30!

I decided to use a method that my cousin Julie used to train 4 of her kids in 1 day. It is from a book called "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day." Basically, you load the kid with all sorts of drinks in the morning and salty snacks and teach them about going to the potty. Since they have to pee so much because they have been drinking, there is so much repetition that they get it very fast. I started at 9 AM on Friday and by 11:15, Jakob had his first pee with his poop following shortly! I was so happy because around 10:30, I thought I was going to have to call it quits because Jakob was crying and screaming and throwing fits, but I powered through it and stayed positive and it all worked out!

We, of course, have had some accidents, but they are getting to be fewer and fewer. We are also not putting him in pull ups at all (not even at night) as I don't want to have to train him out of those. For now, it means that i just get up a couple of times a night to put him on the potty and then put him back to bed...at least until he can hold it a bit longer. The underwear he has is Bob the Builder (and also Diego from Dora the Explorer) as they were the only ones in his size. It is funny, though, because I kept telling him, "Don't get Bob wet, keep Bob dry, don't poop on Bob." So now, we refer to Bob a lot and I have a feeling that the name Bob might carry forward with him into adulthood to describe that part....oopps.

Anyways - enough potty talk, but thanks again to cousin Julie for all of her help and encouragement through the process! I would highly recommend this process to anyone you know who needs to potty train a child.

Jakob has also been enjoying his daycare (or school as I call it). They always do something fun or interesting each day (i.e. a guy Rick comes to play a guitar each week, they go on 1.5 hour walks to a park nearby, they make necklaces, etc). They try to get the kids outside as much as possible as long as the weather is nice, so that is really good. Jakob also really likes his teachers and I think he likes the other kids (hard to tell as I don't get to see them playing).

We are also very happy about the grand opening of our park just 1 block away! There was always a park there, but they just updated all of the equipment, so it is twice the size it was and there is a lot more climbing equipment for Jakob. I actually volunteered last week to help, so I was unloading all of the equipment off of the truck. It was a great opportunity to meet some other parents in the neighborhood as well. Turns out that out of the 8 kids in Jakob's school, 4 kids live on our street!

Wayne has been keeping busy at work and I have 1 week to go before I return to work. I am a bit nervous about the return, but am sure that it will go fine. Trying to balance work and home will be a bit of a challenge, but I'm sure once we get into the new grove it will be fine.

Lastly, we had our first post adoption placement report this week. Basically, a social worker came to our house and asked a bunch of questions about how Jakob was adjusting, his development, eating, how we are doing, etc. She then writes the report, sends it to our agency, and then that gets sent to Russia (along with 12 recent photos). Everything went just fine. We are happy to report that Jakob has gained 6 pounds and grown 2 inches in the 3 months we have had him!

Well - that is all for now. I'll try to post again once I have returned to work.

End of May Update

Hello Everyone,

I can't believe only a couple of weeks have gone by since I posted last. We have done so much in the past 2 weeks that I am not even sure where to begin!

Jakob and I flew to LA in early May to stay with my sister (Christi), brother-in-law (Larry), and niece (Autry) as Larry and Christi were shooting their short film. Jakob fell in love with Autry immediately and they were great playmates all week. We were all very lucky to get to go on the set of the film production on Monday (couldn't stay too long as you can't keep a 2 year old quiet during takes). We very much enjoyed taking Autry to / from school, but more importantly, hanging out with her after school! We managed to go to a shopping area called The Grove a couple of times, go to parks, take Jakob to the beach for the first time (which he loved and threw a fit when we left), ate at Santa Monica pier, and enjoyed watching Autry in her pop dance class (which Jakob was also upset because he could not understand why he could see Autry but could not go over right next to her...when we left the class he said, "Autry....dance....shhhhh" as I had to keep telling him to be quiet). Jakob also enjoyed "playing" with their 2 cats, Sweeney and Eve, and I say playing as Jakob has a tendency to grunt and chase them which scared them away most of the time. He is such a boy in that way.

Once Christi and Larry were done shooting the film on Thursday (which went very well according to their reports and those of others working on the set), we enjoyed hanging out with them. We enjoyed riding the train at Travel Town, eating out, going to parks, and Christi and I even got to go to hear her friend, Latina, sing at a club one night while Larry played with Jakob and put him to bed! This was a first for someone to put Jakob to bed without us being in the house and Larry did a great job (he even put himself to sleep at the same time as Jakob's sleepy lamb made such soothing noises)!

The cherry on top of the trip was spending my very first Mother's Day with Jakob and my family! We went to Huntington Gardens and it was just gorgeous. My sister got us there early to beat the crowds and gave us a great tour of the gardens. That evening, Jakob and I returned home to Wayne and the dogs. Jakob really, really loves returning home. He totally enjoys seeing new things and places, but he will say the word, "home" over and over again once he has returned from a trip....it is too sweet. Wayne (and I) both noticed that his vocabulary really increased while in LA, which was great. He is really becoming a little chatter box. I still understand more than everyone else does, but soon enough everyone else will know Jakob-speak.

Two days after we returned, my Aunt Kathy came from Dallas to visit us for about 5 days. Jakob also loved visiting with her very much! He becomes obsessed with people's names, so he was still saying Autry and then it moved to Kathy (with some occasional Autry's in there) once she arrived. While Kathy was here, we finished off Jakob's music class, spent a wonderful morning at Eau Claire in Calgary, went to Jakob's swim class, shopped in Kensington, had a fantastic day at Banff (including a ride up one of the ski lifts at Sunshine Village) and shopped at the Farmer's Market. Kathy showered Jakob with gifts while he was here, but even more so with love and kisses! We were very happy to have her here.

More big news...Jakob just spent his first morning at daycare today (May 20)! I took him in around 8:45 and all the kids were playing on the playground. So, we joined them and then they all went inside for some cereal. Jakob seemed to be doing really well, but I could tell that he was a bit distracted and acting out a little because I was there (more so to get my attention as there were many other kids wondering why I was there and wanting my attention). At 10:00, I finally decided to leave and come back for Jakob around 12 when their lunch was finished. He did totally fine and was not even sure if he wanted to go home. I thought he might want to take a nap there as he kept saying he wanted to stay, but once he laid down and realized what that would mean, he said no and climbed out. I was not going to force things as I was not even expecting him to sleep there, so we came home and he was asleep in his own bed in about 10 min. flat! I think he will really enjoy it there being with the other kids, playing with other toys once he really gets into the routine of it. It was strange for me to come home in the morning and not have him here. I return to work on June 9 and will be trying to figure out what to do with myself while he is at daycare....it is one of those things where there are so many things to do you just don't know where to start!

I am going to sign off for now, but will try to post again next month!
Courtney

Jakob at the Santa Monica Beach for the first time



Jakob putting his feet in the water

Jakob eating the dogs' food (his choice to try it after being told no)

Jakob and Autry on the train at Travel Town

Jakob's first ride on a ski lift (with mom, dad, and aunt kathy)

Update and Happy 5th Birthday Rosco and Bailey!

First of all...we'd like to take a moment to say, "Happy 5th Birthday" to our 2 wonderful beagles, Rosco and Bailey. We realize this is Jakob's site, but hey, he "over loves" them everyday so they deserve a little TLC and a mention on his page. They did not get a special BBQ party like they got every year in Houston as we decided that the Calgary folks might think it was a bit strange (since they had not been part of them since the beginning). They did get a big, long run at the dog park without Jakob there bossing them and some wet food for dinner (and I've been smothering them with kisses all day).

We have had lots of excitement since the last posting! We had WARM WEATHER!!!! Not so much in Calgary, but when we went to Houston for a visit! Yes, Jakob got to enjoy his first experience wearing shorts (without stockings underneath them and red boots like Pinocchio). He also got to wear sandals and have the grass touch his feet (which he did not like when we were at the Taylor's house playing). Of course, everyone else got to enjoy our pasty, white skin which has not been exposed to sun in ages!

We were very excited to see our family again and also to have many of our friends finally meet Jakob and vice versa!

On Friday, we had a wonderful time visiting Natalie, Martin, Martin's mom and aunt, and Jonas Jensen on Jonas' 2nd birthday! These are our very wonderful and close friends that live right across from our house in Houston. Jakob and Jonas had the best time playing together and we also enjoyed lunch with Maggie and Aidan and the Jensen's at Chatter's. Jonas just loves Wayne so it was cute to see Jakob get a bit anxious when Wayne would hold Jonas and Jakob would also want Wayne to hold him. We took Jakob to a TexMex restaurant that evening with my sister, Ed and Ben (yes, I was being a bit selfish and knew he probably would not eat it, but I wanted my fix). I was right, he didn't really eat it, but enjoyed playing in the sand (for the first time) in the play area outside.

On Saturday, we had a fantastic time at the park with about 25+ friends! The weather was rainy in the morning, but it completely cleared up by the time we all met and turned out to be a gorgeous day! Thanks to everyone who was able to make it...I'll be sending out pictures soon! Poor Jakob actually had the start of a cold sometime that morning we think, though, as he was not quite his lively self and he hardly ate anything the rest of the weekend....not even Ed's homemade lasagna we had that evening when family came over for dinner!

On Sunday, we headed over to Target for some last minute shopping, then over to the Chris and Sarah Taylor's house so Jakob could have a play with Madie and Alex. We then headed over to the Jensen's for 1 last visit before heading to the airport. We were so sad to have to leave before Jonas' birthday bbq started! I was on the airplane mourning over my dried up chicken sandwich thinking about the bbq below! Jakob was SO happy to be home that night. We realized the last time he went on a plane, he never went back to the original place (i.e. Russia), so he was so happy to return home. When he got upstairs, he just stood and stared in his room and was excited to see his bed and everything still there!

Once we returned home, everything went to crap. Jakob came down with his first full blown cold since we've had him, I got some virus (which I previously thought was food poisoning about a month before when I had it) for about 2 days, and Wayne eventually started vomiting by the end of the week. So, for the record....all Turpin's in this house have vomited this week! Jakob once on Monday, Courtney all day Tuesday, and Wayne on and off on Wednesday and Thursday! How is that? One thing that is funny is that now when the toilet seat is up, Jakob starts to spit in the toilet (as he saw me doing it when I was sick....hey, I could not help it, Wayne could not get off work that day and the poor kid had to see me like that). We are all starting to feel a bit better, but energy levels are still running low (except Jakob's has gone back up of course).

Jakob and I are leaving for LA on Sunday for 1 week to stay with Christi (my sister), Larry (brother in law) and Autry (Niece). Christi and Larry are filming a web movie that Larry wrote and they are both co-directing and producing! Jakob and I will be there to help get Autry off to school and in bed each night while enjoying some family fun in between! We are so glad that we could take this opportunity to help them and can't wait to see the final finished movie product! Jakob and I will also get to spend Mother's Day there in LA with my sister and family so we plan to make that a special day for all of us (and Wayne will do something special when we get back, right?). We are then looking forward to a week long visit from Aunt Kathy who is coming up from Dallas!

Which reminds me...we did receive some good news today....Jakob has been guaranteed a spot in the Honeybee Kensington Daycare in our neighborhood. This is the one that is just a few blocks away from us and is owned by a Russian woman (and 4 of the caregivers speak Russian). We have been a bit concerned that we would not get a spot and thought I might have to delay going back to work, but Jakob will start going part-time May 20 and closer to full time when I return to work June 9.

Jakob is continuing to grow and grow...not just physically, but mentally as well. He continues to say new English words all the time and also loves to challenge us as well ("No" is his current favorite word which he says with lots of conviction over and over again to try to get his way). My current favorite thing he says is "Bye Bye Helicopter" (which we see a lot of when the news is reporting on "traffic" in the afternoons...which in Calgary, there is hardly any traffic). So Jakob's version goes more like "Bye Ca Hop Ta Ca Ba Bye!" He kind of gets all of the words mixed up since Helicopter is a long and not so easy to say word. Wayne thinks it is mean that I try to get him to say it all the time cause it makes me laugh....but I'm just getting him to practice...ha ha!

Jonas Jensen pulling Jakob in the wagon

Jonas, the birthday boy, showing how fast he is at the age of 2!

Jakob teaching Jonas the infamous "Yah Yah"

Jakob walking on grass in his bare feet!

One of Jakob's better versions of "Bye Bye Helicopter"

Just another snowy day in Calgary...

Yes, it is the end of April and we are STILL experiencing snow storms! Who would have thought I'd be uploading videos at this time of the year of us tobogganing!

To pick up where I left off before, we had a wonderful, wonderful visit with my mom / Pam / Nana Pam! She was the first to babysit Jakob alone while Wayne and I went to a company happy hour and he (and she) did great! He asked for us a couple of times, but was just fine. Nana also got to attend his swim class (which he still absolutely loves) and see him jump off the side of the pool for the first time! We were very sad to see her head home. Jakob still asks about Nana and when we say she is at home, he puts his hand in the sky and says "swoosh" as if to indicate she left on an airplane. I keep telling him he will see her in August and then he just says, "August" in a sad sort of voice. Jakob also still calls for Nana if we go down to the basement and looks for her in the bathroom and the bedroom she stayed in (as if we would have kept her locked down there all this time...ha ha)!

Wayne has been extremely busy at work (but liking the work) and I've been extremely busy trying to keep Jakob entertained. In Jakob's music class this past week, he actually spent the entire 45 min. of the class alone with the teacher and other kids (no moms) and loved it! I think he finally realizes we will always come for him and he is confident in that. This has also made him much more independent at home (i.e. playing in the living room while I'm in the kitchen).

We've also managed to make some good friends with younger kids here and I try to get Jakob around them as much as possible. Jakob continues to learn new words and signs everyday and continues to "act his age"...except for the fact that he loves to clean (i.e. vacuum, mop, put dishes away, take out the trash, etc). I'm not sure his career as a "cleaning lady" will be enough to support Wayne and I in our old age....we'll have to work on a more advanced career for him!

I don't have much else to add now, but I hope everyone is doing well (and is staying warmer than we are). We are off to Houston on Thursday and can't wait to enjoy some heat (I promise, I'll never complain again)!

Jakob and Dad tobogganing

Jakob - MORE!

Jakob asking for Nana when we were driving away from the airport

Videos

Jakob in the bouncing castle

Nana and Jakob doing horsey

Jakob calling Nana in the morning

Jakob going down the stairs

Jakob and the dogs in the snow on April 10

Nana meets Jakob!

Finally, Nana Pam (Courtney's mom...as Wayne's mom is Pam as well), got to meet little Jakob! While we are only half way through her visit, I wanted to go ahead and post some videos and photos.

To prepare for Nana's visit, I had printed a photo of Nana Pam a few weeks before she arrived, so he was very used to seeing her picture and kissing it. We also sat and colored her a "Nana" sign for when she arrived at the airport (ok, there was the "back side" which was Jakob's version and the "front side" which was my well decorated version...hopefully this is not the start of me doing his science fair projects for him).

Jakob and I went to the airport (after Jakob's first swim class which he absolutely loved...he smiled ear to ear the whole time with dimples showing and said "more" as we were leaving) in the late afternoon since Nana's flight was delayed. Jakob seemed to recognize her from her photo and smiled straight away. Nana, of course, has been sitting in the backseat with him since she arrived, which he thinks is cool since he never has anyone to accompany him back there. He has also enjoyed saying her name over and over and over again! Jakob was very quick to let Nana hold him and has enjoyed cuddling her and giving her kisses.

The first morning after she arrived, I went to wake him and he said, "Nana?" I said, "yes, Nana is downstairs." So then he just kept yelling, "NANA....NANA...." as if he was waiting for a response from her. This is now the new routine each morning as we go down to the basement to find Nana.

We have had a lot of fun with Nana here. She attended his Brilliant Beginnings class on Saturday and we also enjoyed shopping while Wayne was skiing. We went to the Farmer's Market for breakfast on Sunday and Jakob enjoyed the bouncing castle along with Lucas, Jakob's new pal who is the son of a co-worker of ours (he, his wife, and 2 kids have just moved to Calgary so we are looking forward to many weekly playdates). We also revisited the Farmer's Market the same day to fill up the "pig" (which is a mini keg in the shape of a pig) at the Wild Rose Brewery. Jakob was very proud to carry dad's pig in to be refilled and all the customers were laughing so hard at the site of it. On Monday, we enjoyed more shopping and playing at home and in the backyard. We've managed to make many visits to both the park and dog park, which Jakob loves. Jakob also let Nana put him to bed this evening as Wayne had a work dinner and I decided to see how it would go (especially since Nana will get a few opportunities to watch him solo this week....Wayne and I have our 4 year anniversary tomorrow and then we have a happy hour on Friday).

We had a funny thing happen the other day. I decided to put a short sleeved t-shirt on Jakob (which I realized he has probably never had as in the orphanage, all the kids always had long sleeved shirts on because of the colder weather) under a long sleeved shirt of his. When I put the t-shirt on, he kept pulling the sleeves down and looking at me as if it was "broken." I told him that was the way the shirt should be, but he was not happy until I put the other long sleeved shirt on. Later during his nap, I actually had to take the t-shirt off and put a long sleeved t-shirt on as he was not comfortable in it. Finally, when Wayne came home, I wanted to show Wayne what Jakob's reaction was when he has just a short sleeved t-shirt on, so I took the long sleeved shirt off. Sure enough, he started pulling the sleeves down. So, Wayne took off his work shirt and showed Jakob that he also had a short sleeved t-shirt on and that it was ok to see your arms. Jakob started laughing so hard and then went up to hug Wayne as if to say, "well, if you are ok with it, then I'm ok with it." We are dying to see what his reaction will be when we go to Houston and he is in shorts!

We have a few fun trips planned this year....we will be in Houston April 24-27. Jakob and I will be in L.A. from May 4-10 to help out with my niece, Autry, while my brother-in-law and sister are shooting a short web movie. We are then off to Madrid, Spain in late June / early July as I have a conference to go to and Jakob and Wayne will be relaxing by the pool and site seeing (I think I'm getting the short end of the deal). We will then go to Memphis in August for my mom's 60th birthday and to Australia for Christmas / New Year's.

While we may seem busy, we can always find time and room for visitors, so let us know if you want to come our way!

VIDEOS - will have to publish later as having issues tonight.

3 Weeks in Calgary!

Hello Everyone,

All is still going well here in the Turpin household!

Jakob is making himself more and more at home each day. Jakob has also really enjoyed a very social week meeting our friends /co-workers here in Calgary. We had Samantha O'Regan over with her 3 kids Lola (4 1/2), Oscar (3), and Clive (5 mths) the other day. They enjoyed Jakob, but were even more obsessed with the dogs (where they sleep, bathe, and poop) as they don't have pets. Samantha and I are hoping to get together weekly with other moms and kids. We also enjoyed dinner at Lance and Elizabeth's house. Most importantly, Jakob got to meet our Super Beagle Nanny, Catherine, who has watched the dogs and the house through the entire time we were in Russia (all 3 trips). She is a saint! She loved Jakob and even said she wants to take him home (I had to get that in writing as when there are days when he is testing me to the max, I'm going to be calling her and reminding her of this)!

I bought Jakob a swimsuit and sandals this week as Jakob and I will start a swim class on Friday. It was so cute to see him in the outfit...and see how amazed he was to have shoes on where he could see his toes! He just kept walking, pointing, and laughing at being able to see his toes as he had never had shoes like these!

I had a bit of a rough week later in the week as I got food poisoning this past Friday morning. I lost every possible fluid in my body over a short period and luckily, Wayne was able to take the morning off to be with Jakob as if I was not in the bathroom, I was in bed resting. I weighed myself after the whole 24 hour episode and I weigh 8 pounds less than when we got Jakob! I think 1/2 may have been from the episode and the other 1/2 just burning off energy from chasing him around (or I gave the weight to him)! Luckily, I'm back on my feet for the most part...food still does not appeal to me.

We also took Jakob to Nakiska today (ski resort about an hour away). We had lunch with Wayne and then Jakob and I played in the snow while Wayne skied and we later met him at home. Jakob was fascinated with the people skiing and especially enjoys the ski poles. He had one of Wayne's and was pretending to shovel snow (as he had seen Wayne do that morning because we had a big dump of snow overnight). When we finally took it off him so Wayne could ski, he went screaming and crying...pretty much got the attention over everyone there. We can't wait to get him on skis next ski season when he is a bit stronger (and 3).

We have had a major breakthrough with food lately in that before, Jakob would take anything and everything you would give him. Now, he is actually making choices. For example, he will go to the fridge and keep pointing, so you open it up and you say, "do you want cheese?" and he will say, "no"..."do you want yogurt?" and he will say, "dah" (still not quite saying yes yet). So basically, you stand there with the fridge open until you say something that he finds appetizing at the moment. Jakob will also actually stop eating when he is full or does not really like something...also a major breakthrough!

He also just started saying 2 word phrases in English! Before, he would just say "bye bye" or "mama" but now he says, "bye bye, mama!" He is learning more and more words each day and is definitely understanding virtually every word we say in English. We are using almost no Russian anymore with him, so he is really learning fast.

Jakob also has a good memory (as most kids this age do)...for example, we started singing the ABC's to him the other day in the living room and he immediately gets up, goes into the kitchen, and pushes the button on his Leap Frog fridge toy that sings the ABC's! He tries to do them along with the song, but is not quite there yet.

We hope everyone is doing well and we love getting the comments and emails!

Still counting the days until Nana Pam comes to visit....only 5 more days!

VIDEO - Jakob playing with snow in the house

Easter Week

Happy Easter, Everyone!

The Turpin's have been having a wonderful week here in Calgary!

If I pick up where I left off, we did take Jakob to the doctor and he said everything looks fine so far with Jakob. I still have to take him to a different clinic to get some other immunizations done and also take in a stool sample (not to talk poop again but his pattern is off so have not been able to time it correctly yet!). When the doctor weighed Jakob, he was 26.5 pounds and he was only 22 when we got him. So, he has gained almost 5 pounds in 1 month!!! That put him in the 40th percentile in weight (as opposed to the 5th percentile). The good news is, the kid loves fruit and dairy products, so it is not junk that is fattening him up (now if we could just get him off of buttermilk...yes, the only milk he will drink as it is most similar to what he had in Russia...yuck!).

Jakob and I have a pretty good routine going here. I usually get up before he does and get ready, then we have breakfast together, clean up, play and usually go out somewhere...whether it is the mall, a park, walking the dogs, something. Then we have lunch, he naps and I get lots of stuff done (or nap as well...it is hard to pass up when our bedroom has the afternoon sun hitting it and it is nice and cozy), we then have a snack and either do some sort of craft thing (if I've been adventurous), play, go to the park, etc. Then Dad comes home and the boys go upstairs so Wayne can change and I usually hear running, screaming, tickling and laughing going on. I'm usually making dinner by then and we eat together, Dad gives Jakob his bath and one of us puts him to bed. The dogs have been pretty lucky in that they still usually get their daily walk / run at the dog park.

Jakob has really started getting better at the playground (and walking at the dog park). What we realized is that he has never really been on uneven ground or really been on playground equipment so when we first brought him home, he was hopeless at the park. He could barely walk and could not climb on anything to save his life. His poor little legs did not have the strength to do it. So, I've been working with him everyday at the park (and having to say no a lot to picking him up and carrying him) as that is the only way he will get better. He was even hopeless at the dog park because of the uneven ground and hill, but now he is a champ running through the park! It is amazing to see his progress in just 2 short weeks! If there are a lot of kids at the park, I can now pretty much just stay and talk to the moms while Jakob runs and plays with the others (of course, I keep an eye on him)...he is still a bit slower than them but he is getting there.

Jakob has also just started saying 'yes' and 'no' to food. Before, it was always "yes, I want that, please give it to me!" Now, he is actually particular about what he wants and when. This is HUGE for him as he now realizes that the food will always be there, he does not need to store it in his little cheeks (like he had been doing in Moscow), he does not have to eat every tiny morsel (no more crumb eating), etc. He is still a very good, hearty, eater.

For the long Easter weekend, we took Jakob to the zoo on Friday. It was pretty good, very crowded, and we are not used to being at a zoo where most animals are inside (since it is so cold here). Jakob really loved seeing all the animals and eating a big hot dog! On Saturday, we had breakfast at the Farmer's Market and then took him to his Brilliant Beginnings class. It was an Easter theme and he seemed to enjoy the class. He was actually copying what the teacher was doing this time, so I think he is getting the hang of it. He is still not fantastic at sharing toys (what 2 year old is?). On Sunday, he came into our room and saw his Easter basket. Not sure what he really thought of it, but having a chocolate marshmallow egg for breakfast seemed to be okay with him. We hid some eggs for him downstairs and he found them all straight away so he seemed to be getting the concept that you find them and then put them in the basket. We had our friends, Josee and Colin, over for dinner and Jakob really enjoyed that. It was the first time he had dinner our our big dining room table. He also seemed to rip into his toys that evening...playing with some that he had never really been interested in. This may have been due to the massive chocolate dog that Josee and Colin brought him. Luckily, we all shared it with him, but it was a true sugar high for about 45 min. (actually pretty interesting to see).

We had our friends, David and Laura Anne, over for dinner tonight along with their 2 boys Andrew (5) and Robert (3?) and Jakob LOVED it. He was not sure what to think of the boys at first as they made themselves at home and started playing with his toys, but by the end of the night, the boys were chasing him and tickling him, he was laughing and running around, etc. He really loved having them here.

The dogs continue to love Jakob when he is eating and tolerate him the rest of the time. He just gets SO excited around them and wants to pat them really hard, squeeze them, pull their legs up in the air, pull their tail, etc. But he has come such a long way with them. He does not mind too much if they lick him (which they don't try to do hardly at all unless he comes up to them) and loves their cold noses.

So - that is an update from our side. I am counting down the days until my mom comes for a visit (Apr 4-12) as I just can't wait for her to meet him and vice versa, plus have someone to hang out with during the day. Jakob will also start a swim class and mini-music makers class during that time which will give us something fun and exciting to do during the week!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and we will post again in another week or 2.

Love,
The Turpin's

1 Week in Calgary

Hello All,

Just wanted to do a quick update after 1 week in Calgary with Jakob.

Jakob is settling in very well! He now loves the dogs (mainly telling them "no" if they bark...like we do, and he likes to terrorize them a bit). The dogs have been fine with him and mainly enjoy him most when he is eating and dropping a few scraps on the ground. Jakob also really likes his bedroom, which includes making his bed in the morning. He saw me do it once and now when you go to wake him up (yes, we always have to wake him up as he just stays in bed and waits for us...think it is an orphanage thing) he quickly scrambles out of bed and then directs you to help him make his bed. Not a bad habit I suppose.

We have been making frequent trips to the park as the weather has been quite nice lately (still not as warm as Houston). I need to get a video of him on the swings when Wayne is there as he laughs like crazy and screams.

His English is really starting to come along. He already knew most of his facial features in English by the time we left Moscow but just today he actually started saying them to us (as opposed to us asking where they are and him pointing to them). I think this means he is getting more comfortable with us and the language to have the confidence to say things.

We just started him in a class last Saturday at a place called Brilliant Beginnings just down the road from us. It is a 1 hour class for 6 weeks. They have a theme each week (this week was Penguins and Pals) where they taught them about Penguins (I learned some things as well!). They did music, free play / exploring, crafts (they painted) and games. Jakob really seemed to like it and it was good to have him around other kids which he really seems to like. He is such a little shrimp next to the other kids, but he is growing fast. We are not sure if our scales are right, but we think he may have gained another 2 pounds in about 1.5 weeks! He still looks like a kid from Ethiopia when he has no clothes on....big bulging stomach with little arms and legs, but I can tell his thighs are starting to meat up.

I'm also going to sign him up for a swim class that I can take him to during the week as he absolutely loves the water (and is attracted to any mud puddles he finds outside).

Jakob enjoyed coloring Easter eggs today with me and also eating the ones that cracked when cooking (guess I have a new food item now that I know he likes). I ended up posting several photos from the egg coloring as they were just too cute! We are looking forward to a 3 day weekend here and already have a little Easter basket ready for him.

He has his first doctor's appointment tomorrow here in Calgary as they will do additional blood work and tests that they could not complete there at TXCH due to our very short visit there.

I'm going to sign off for now as we have an extra early day for us tomorrow, but hope you enjoy the videos and photos I've posted.

I'll post again after Easter if not before!
The Turpin Family


VIDEOS
Jakob at his first day of his Brilliant Beginnings class (appropriate title for his school, eh?)

Jakob eating his first Vegemite and Toast

Jakob and Mama jamming to music and dinner and dancing

Just Another Day in Paradise...

Well, today was my first whole day alone with Jakob and the dogs as Wayne returned to work.

Wayne left at 7 AM this morning, so we decided to go ahead and wake up Jakob so he could see Dad leave and not wonder where he was all day. He was totally fine with it.

At 7:30 or so, Jakob and I went down for breakfast and I happened to look over at Bailey laying on his bed in the kitchen and noticed that his 3rd eyelid was all bulged (cherry eye they call it)! I was like...great...guess what I get to do today! So, I called the vet and got him in for a 9 AM appointment.

Before heading off to the vet, I was getting Jakob dressed and changing his poopy nappy when....what...what is that on my shirt? Poop.... great, shirt change.

I managed to get Jakob and Bailey both buckled in and off to the vet. Once there, Jakob decided he would hold Bailey's lead and follow him around (this was a good sign that he was starting to care for Bailey). In the doc's office, the woman gave Jakob crayons which he decided (eventually) to dump all over the floor. So, I had a nervous and scared dog AND a "wonderful" 2 year old both trying to get my attention. The doctor came in and gave a few options for Bailey...and also decided he would like to draw and explain the whole anatomy of a dog's eye. I was just thinking...get to the point, I want to get out of here. In the end, we ended up saying "Pah-ka" to Bailey and leaving him there for the day for his $630 surgery!!

Once home, Rosco was all out of sorts without Bailey. Jakob and I enjoyed a visit from our neighbor, Hilde, who brought along a batch of chocolate chocolate chip cookies (probably THE highlight of the day).

The rest of the day went on as normal and then Wayne picked up Bailey on his way home from work. Since they had to put Bailey under, he was extremely out of it AND wearing a cone on his head which he has to keep on for 1 week! AND...as most of you know, Rosco LOVES to lick Bailey's eyes to calm him down which will not be allowed for 1 week while Bailey's eye heals.

To make matters slightly more interesting, when Wayne got home with Bailey, I took Bailey upstairs to be able to sleep away from everyone as the drugs had not quite worn off. Wayne was downstairs with Jakob watching a Wiggles DVD and happened to notice our neighbor's 2 kids walking down the street (I think they are maybe 4 and 2), but there was no mom. So, Wayne had to stop the fun they were having, carry Jakob out and find out what was going on (mind you, the little 5 year old boy had seen Jakob the other day for 30 seconds and said, "I don't like him" for no real reason). After many attempts to coax the kids to return to their home, Wayne had to pretend like he was interested in seeing the boy's bike so that he would return home (this was after Wayne said, "why don't you show Jakob your bike" and he repeated again..."I don't like him.") Wayne thinks the kid might grow up to be the next axe murderer...ha ha. The mom finally came out and said, "guess that is what you get when you have kids who know how to open the front door."

So, for the next week...we get to give Bailey medication 3 times a day, have him walk around with a cone on head (which means we have to let him out to pee instead of using the dog door), keep Rosco from licking his eyes, and keep Jakob from terrorizing both of them (yes...Jakob has taken a true interest in them now...which includes pulling their tails, beating them with toys, and "humping" them from behind....all true boy 2 year old things that they do with dogs)!

Anyway - it was a fairly odd sort of day, but we made it through. My guess is the next week or so won't be easy with Bailey's eye, but that is life, right?

Wayne also found out he may have to go away for 4 days at the end of March.

Ahh....just another day in "paradise"...

New Hairstyle...Not loving it...but it will grow

Hello there....

Just wanted to post a few cute videos from today of Jakob.

He went for his first haircut and cried at the beginning but then sorted himself out and was fine. I would have cried too had I known how "sub-par" it would be in the end. You can't tell from the photos, but there are so many pieces of long, random hair all over the place that did not get cut. I know the kid did not sit still, but...

I was also a little sad that the guy did not listen to my words "clean it up a bit, don't cut too much off." Instead, he just gave the "typical little boy haircut" to Jakob. Anyway - he is still so adorable and at least we won't have to go get it cut anytime soon (and certainly not there again).

The second video is from him eating lasagna tonight (which he LOVES). We normally don't let him go nuts at the table and get all messy (as we know he has been taught table manners), but he caught us off guard and then it was too funny to stop him.

Jakob is getting a bit better around the dogs, but has still not reached out to pet them. They are all "tolerating" each other at the moment. Praying they will be best buds soon as I love them all dearly.

Will post again when I have some news or photos to share.

Back in Calgary!

Hello Everyone,

After a wonderful but busy trip in Houston, we finally made it home to Calgary!

We want to add a special thank you to Stephanie, Ed and Ben for their wonderful hospitality in taking care of the Turpins while we were there. Steph was a great driver getting us to our appointments on time, Ed was a wonderful chef, Starbuck's runner and laundry man, and Ben was a great playmate for Jakob (and taught him that brushing his teeth was not so bad...although still a bit of whining). We were also able to have a great visit with Aunt Penny, Uncle Jeffrey, Cousin Kelly, Cousin Jeff. Jakob was really on fire when they were there and he loves the quilt that Penny made for him. The Taylor clan was next to visit and it was great to see Jakob with Madie and Alex. Lastly, Grandaddy D came over and Jakob just loved him. He offered Dennis some bread immediately and was trying to crawl into Dennis' car and give him a hug and kiss when he was leaving. Dennis - I'm convinced you must have had some sort of "food bait" in your pocket when you came over...ha ha!

On Sunday morning, we had a very early trip out to the airport to fly back to Calgary. Jakob was hyper as anything when he first got on the plane. I asked Wayne, "who slipped Jakob sugar packets?" We let him get out as much energy as possible before we took off. Once in the air, Jakob feel asleep on my lap for about 40 minutes. He then was as good as a 2 year old can be on a 3.5 hour flight. At least on this flight, he did not do any lung tests like he did on the other. He continues to try to get people to laugh and always picks those most uninterested in him to "bother."

When we finally got into the Armada, he seemed very happy with the vehicle and laughed when he saw Wayne behind the wheel (as he had not seen Wayne drive before). Wayne had to get out of the car and close the trunk again and when he did, Jakob pointed to the driver's seat and said, "Dad-da, vrooom" to indicate that Daddy was driving the car. It was so cute.

We ended up stopping at the mall to grab a bite to eat on the way home and a few other errands. Once home, the beagles, of course, went crazy and were howling. Jakob seemed ok at first until Bailey jumped and touched his legs a bit. Then he was slightly terrified...or should I just say terrified. He was SO happy running around the house, looking at his toys, seeing pictures of Mama, Dada and Jakob all over the house (he pointed at all of them) and he especially loved his room. We stayed in the house for an hour or so before heading to the dog park. On the way out, we ran into neighbors Hilda, Brad and Nancy who all got to meet Jakob for the first time. He enjoyed showing off a bit and flirting. Jakob really enjoyed the dog park. When we first got there, Bailey was trying to eat something and I yelled "no." That was the only cue Jakob needed. He then repeated "no" about 15 times. Guess who is boss now? He was running through the dog park and it was so funny as the park in on a hill (we were at the bottom but still a slight grade) and he kept getting caught in a right turn as he could not run uphill. So, he would run a bit...keep going right...fall down...and then I'd scoop him up and put him higher and we'd repeat. Once home, we took him on his first grocery store outing. He seemed to enjoy it and pointed to all of the food he wanted. It was a bit confusing though because we'd ask him, "do you want this" and he would say, "dah" and so we would get it but put it in the cart and he had this look as if ..."wait, I want that....now."

By the time we got home and continued to get settled, he was still very nervous around the dogs and tired (mind you, we also had daylight savings time and an hour time change). He was SO tired that by the time dinner was ready, we ended up feeding him in bed and by the time Wayne walked out with his plate, he was already asleep. Wayne and I then went and ate our dinner. I was feeling a bit down as I felt so bad for Jakob and the dogs. You could tell everyone was a bit out of whack. I know it will take some time for all of them to be comfortable with each other. After dinner, I gave the dogs a much needed bath and washed all of their bedding. I had really missed seeing them so this was a nice way to give them some TLC (although not sure they saw it that way).

I forgot to mention, but Jakob and I both caught Wayne's cold so Sunday, so we were a bit cloudy and snotty (at least for me) on Sunday and Monday.

The next morning (this morning), we had to wake Jakob up at 7:30 AM. It is so strange to have to wake up a 2 year old! He seemed to be a bit more interested in the dogs and we continue to show them that they are ok, they will bark (they are dogs) and that they love him. It is funny as the dogs really know something has changed and they are being EXTREMELY calm for their normal personality. They are being so gentle and keeping their distance. It could also be they are afraid of Jakob's high pitched squeal when they get too close.

We spent the day just hanging out at the house, playing, eating (which he does a lot...doctor said that is ok as long as it is healthy snacks since he is only in the 5th percentile for weight), etc. Wayne left around 4:15 PM to go to our new Calgary office which opened today (new office space), so I took the dogs and Jakob to the dog park, dropped off the dogs on the way back, and took Jakob to the kid's park down the road. I then came back and cooked dinner before Wayne arrived home. This was good practice for me (and Jakob) to not have Wayne at home all of the time so we can get used to that (since Wayne has to return to work on Thursday). Jakob was still a bit nervous and out of whack this evening during bath time, but still goes to bed reasonably quickly. I think it is all part of the adjustment (this being the 3rd place he has slept in over the 2 week period we've had him).

Anyway - better get to bed now and nurse this cold. I can't believe I'm 3 for 3 in getting a cold after returning from Moscow...the Russian curse!

I'll try to post more this weekend as I don't have any Calgary photos yet.

Talk to you soon!
Courtney

P.S. For Calgary folks...we are ready for visitors and / or to meet up. Let me know...

Ben and Jakob laughing in the car while Wayne was tickling.

Back in Houston...U.S. Population increases by 1!

Hi Everyone,

We made it back safely to Houston...AND...the U.S. population has increased by 1 person...Mr. Jakob Paul Turpin...as he is officially a U.S. Citizen!

We had a long and grueling 10 hour flight. Our kid was definitely the loudest on the plane and was not very happy with the whole thing. I don't think it was the loud engines or even the crappy airplane food, but more that he was not happy being confined to a small area.

He did not want his shoes off and kept pointing to them on the floor as he knows if he has his shoes on, that means he can go out (i.e. he thought he could get off the plane...and he could...but it would be a long, hard ride down).

There were a few fellow Russian passengers trying to analyze why he was upset and what could be done better. It was not rocket science to us...he was tired! We left right at his nap time, he could not get comfortable, and it just kept getting compounded from there. After giving me a flew slaps and nearly gouging me in the eye with a plastic spoon, Jakob finally slept for 1 hour about 3 hours into the beginning of the flight. This was a "happy hour" for us! He then slept about another hour towards the very end of the 10 hour flight and also the last 2 minutes of the flight when we were landing.

When in Atlanta, he was on fire. He loved walking around and was going up to total strangers and smiling. He saw his first guy with a cowboy hat and also a person in a wheelchair...very intrigued by both as it was all new for him.

We called my mom first thing in the airport and we put the phone up to Jakob's ear to see what he thought. We realized he had not actually ever had someone talking back to him on the phone (as he will pretend he is talking on it, but no one ever actually responds). He had the biggest smile on his face while talking to Nana and actually said her name (which my mom LOVED). We also spoke with Stephanie and Ben.

When we had to board the next flight and he was getting on the plane, he had this look on his face like...you've got to be kidding! It is hard to explain to a 2 year old (especially one where English is not their first language) that this next flight from Atlanta to Houston was only a 2.5 hour flight and not a 10 hour one. He was SO tired, his eyes were all red and he was practically limp. We were the first ones on the plane, so we just let him stand on the floor in front of his middle seat and he just stood up, hunched over, with his little head asleep on the chair. It was so pitiful looking. Just before we took off, 2 ladies in the seats across the aisle gave him some chocolate that seemed to satisfy him and actually put him to sleep! So, he slept the entire 2.5 hour flight! Wayne slept most of it as well and I did for maybe an hour or so.

My sister Stephanie was there to greet us at the Houston airport which was just wonderful! Jakob was a bit shy (but more so sleepy) when he first met her, but by the time we got to the house, he looked around a bit, and saw his bath toys come out of the suitcase, he was on fire and ready to go. We gave him a bath, put him to bed, and all went to bed!

The next morning when he woke up, we took him up to meet his cousin Ben for the first time (as we went in to wake up Ben before school). Jakob was very intrigued by him and all of the toys in his room. We can't wait for Ben to come home today so they can play.

Wayne, Steph, Jakob and I spent the morning doing errands...passport photos, Social Security Card, and passport. All went VERY smoothly (surprisingly)! We then met Ed for lunch at Jason's Deli. Jakob seems to like American food so far and absolutely loved his massive pickle that he ate! We then came back to the Mazzoni house and put Jakob in his bed for a nap (as he was SO tired). So - we are now here blogging!

Tonight we will just stay in for dinner as Ed is making beef stew (looking forward to a home cooked meal). Tomorrow, we will take Jakob to his doctor's appointment and give him the day to play with Ben and just "be." Saturday will be filled with family visits and then we are heading to Calgary on Sunday morning!

I'll try to upload more videos and photos when we can.

Pleasantly happy in Houston,

Courtney, Wayne and Jakob!

Jakob SO tired on the Moscow to Atlanta flight

The Turpin's Arriving in Houston with Stephanie greeting us

Jakob on the swing at the park

Jakob "driving" at the park

Day 8 and 9 with Jakob

So I did not get a chance to write on Day 8, but it was extremely uneventful. Basically eat, sleep, poop and repeat!

Day 9 was much more exciting so I’ll focus on that. We had breakfast and then went for a huge walk which included a stop at the store as we had used our very last wipes during the morning poop. Amazing how conscious you become of not being wasteful when you know you don’t have many left to go and you are trying to string them out as long as possible. Enough potty talk… We went to a store and then decided to walk a new route and check things out. Jakob enjoyed every minute of it…especially shouting at Wayne as we pretended to chase him with the stroller.

When we got back, we ordered some lunch in the room, ate and put him down for his nap. He only slept an hour, which was pretty short for him. The funny thing is, once this kid wakes up…he rubs his eyes, gives a little cuddle and then he is ready to play! There is not a lot of messin’ around.

We got picked up at 2 PM by our driver as we were going to pick up Jakob’s passport which needed a stamp in it to say his was registered with the Russian Government (this helps us get his U.S. Passport faster if done here in Moscow). We arrived at the meeting spot where we were to meet Olga at 2:30 PM. We ended up having to wait in the car for just a bit over an hour. This was good practice for the plane as we kept Jakob in the car the whole time and tried to entertain him as much as possible. After we got the passport, the driver took us to Annabelle and Jeff Relf’s house (family we stayed with last time) as they graciously invited us over for dinner.

Jakob managed to sleep for about 45 minutes on the way there and woke up just as we were arriving. It was so good to see the Relf family again and it was great for Jakob to meet them and vice versa. Jakob is obsessed with bigger kids right now so he really enjoyed Peter and Abby. We were also anxiously awaiting his reaction to seeing dogs up close and personal as they have 2. Jakob was very cautious at first around them and was a little scared when he saw their teeth, but literally, about 5-10 minutes after watching them…he was off petting them, following them around, etc. As the evening went on, he was pulling their tails, trying to feed them, trying to smash their feet…typical boy stuff. So, all good things to prepare him (and us) for life with dogs. I think Bailey will still love Jakob to pieces regardless of what he does. Rosco will likely come around him when he is calm (or eating) and leave him alone the rest of the time…just looking at him from a distance.

We were at the Relf’s house for about 4 hours and it was amazing to see all of the things that Jakob learned / experienced in that amount of time….
- First time in a real house
- First time being up close and personal with dogs
- First time to be near a fireplace with the fire going
- First time to climb / crawl up and down stairs (the way a kid should…thanks Abby and Peter for teaching him)
- First time to refuse all food being served at the table except the few pieces of banana he saw (not sure what was up with that…Annabelle, I assure you it was not your cooking)

We left their place around 8:30 and Jakob was just exhausted when we finally got in the car. I know he had a wonderful time, but it was surely exhausting for him seeing all the new things and being up past his bedtime (which we didn’t really mind this time since we are going to totally screw his schedule up tomorrow on the plane…maybe he will sleep more on it)! He fussed a bit on the way home as he was just so tired. He was starting to cry as we got out of the car at the hotel, but I kept telling him that he would not want all of his friends on the club level to see him crying and he actually stopped by the time we got up there. I think he was just happy to know he was almost to the room.

When we got to the room, I just laid him on his bed and he gave a cute little grin as to say, “ah…I’m ‘home’!” We didn’t bother with a bath, teeth or anything, just took his shoes and pants off and said goodnight. I know he is exhausted as we have lights on and just finished packing up most of the stuff and he is still sound asleep.

We are SO excited to leave tomorrow. And while we are happy to leave, Room 1247 has been good to us…it is the room that brought our family closer together and bonded us in a very special way in just over a week. We will always remember the little rollaway bed that Jakob slept on each night (and rolled off of a couple of times...oops…he is a tough kid). I’ll remember always looking over to make sure he was still there, covered up, and breathing. I’ll remember him waking up each morning with a big smile on his face, his hair all messed up, me going over to cuddle him, and us opening up the blinds to see what sort of day it was. I will remember the bathtub and his obsession with throwing things in it, enjoying a bath for the first time (along with a few falls until he learned that it is ok to sit in the tub as he was so nervous to do it). I’ll remember handing him his little oatmeal packet out of the cupboard each morning and watching him carry it down the hall for breakfast. I will remember Jakob standing at the door of our room saying “Pah-ka” when he was ready to leave (and he would start passing us our shoes). I will remember all of the wonderful staff and friends that Jakob made (and we made through him) in the lounge area. How he brought a smile to so many people’s face and they were just amazed at what a cute, adorable, confident little man he was and is...at how he had bonded so quickly with us and were utterly amazed to know he was not our biological son.

I will also remember the 3 other wonderful families we met on this journey who hold an extremely special place in our hearts. Lisa, David and Patrick. Sam, Anne, and Nina. Marcy and Sydney. This final leg of the Moscow journey would not have been the same without them. Their friendship, support, humor, and love for children made the trip for us and we will forever share a special bond with them, for the lives of 4 children have just been made richer.

So – tonight I sign off for the VERY last time in Moscow. I can’t believe this time is finally here…the time we have waited for in what seems like an eternity…to finally bring our son home…

I thank you all for following the story this far. It does not end here, this is only the beginning.

With Love,
Courtney, Wayne and Jakob (Rosco and Bailey…who have been so patient during our travels)

P.S. I will continue to update the blog to some level of frequency, but will have to get back to you on what frequency that is. I’m sure I will try to at least get a quick post in while in Houston to let you know we are back and put some family photos on there.

Day 8 with Jakob

Hi Everyone...we didn't get a chance to post last night, but will later today.
It was another boring day in the hotel as the weather was really bad, but should be more adventurous today!

Will write soon...

Day 7 with Jakob

Day 7 with Jakob

So today was pretty uneventful and very much indoors! We spoke to Annabelle last night (wife of the family we were going to have dinner with) and we’ve rescheduled our dinner for Tuesday as she has 1 sick kid at home and wants to make sure Jakob is ok being around him.

When we woke up, Wayne was really feeling a cold that had started the night before. He was absolutely miserable. Luckily, we have some medicine that is helping. Then, we opened the blinds and it was nothing but snowy and dreary outside. So, we decided it would be an indoor day (mind you, we’ve already spent 7 days in this hotel with him so it is not like we have not already explored every nook and cranny).

We had breakfast and then played in the room a bit. Then, we decided to take him down to the indoor pool to see how he would do. Wayne got in first and realized it was a bit cooler than even we’d prefer, but Jakob was already to go splish splash, so there was no turning back. Jakob got in and did not seem too bad. I think if the water would have been warmer, we would have been there all day….he LOVES the water! We stayed down there for maybe 15-20 minutes before heading back up to the room.

Once in the room, Wayne wanted to take a warm bath as he thought that might make him feel a bit better. Little did he know, there was no way he was getting in that bath alone! First came Jakob, then came Mama as Jakob wanted me in there as well. We could not believe that he liked the warmer water that we take our baths in. We ended up in the bath letting him splash around for another 20 minutes (again, he could have stayed there all day).

After that, we played and ordered room service. After lunch, it was nap time. It has been so easy getting him down these past couple of days. He will usually do something he is not supposed to just before I’m putting him down as he knows it is coming (i.e. touch the lamp cords, phone…something he knows he is not supposed to). When I tell him “Nyet” (no) he just keeps doing it until he gets a little pat on the hand and taken away from it. Then he does his “crying” (I say it like that as it is not true pain trying, but more ‘I did not get my way’ crying and I don’t want to go to sleep) and lays down with me to go to sleep. I don’t think it has taken me over 20 min. to put him down for a nap or bed lately! Of course, we will get this all down pat here and then we have to head back to Houston and his time will be completely off!

During his nap, we slept as well. It was just one of those days that makes you tired!

When he woke up from his nap, he played a bit more and then I decided to take him out in his stroller as the sun had come out and it had warmed up a bit. It is amazing how quickly the temperature changes and the snow melts away here. Wayne stayed behind to say out of the cold. We had a good stroll in the park and he enjoyed watching a little boy feed the birds. I had him on a swing one time, but there was a huge puddle below and all he wanted to do was splash in that (which the water was coming up over his snow boots), so that did not last long.

After the park, it was back to the room (ugh) for more playing. We went out of the room about 5 PM for free appetizers but they were less than appetizing this evening. Jakob seemed more tired than normal this evening and was getting very cheeky. He does this thing where when you tell him “Nyet” he does a little “Nyet-type” motion back to you. It is actually the funniest thing we’ve ever seen, but you can’t let him know that. It is one of those sort of sarcastic looks back (I’m sure I never did that…right mom?). We tried to feed him some dinner, but he did not seem very hungry. Yes, that is right. This kid’s appetite is normalizing! We have been giving him a snack in the afternoon that is this really thick milk with crackers in it that Olga said they eat in the orphanage and it seems to fill him up quite a bit. Apparently, that was all he would have in the evening. We are giving this to him for now as we don’t want to waste the milk that the other families donated to us and it seems to be the only milk he is interested in at the moment.

So, after his cheeky mood, we went back to the room (ugh again) where he played a bit more. I guess he is used to just being cooped up in the same place all the time so it does not bother him as much as it does us. We let him play and then gave him a bath (yes, 3 times in the water today), let him play a bit more, then put him to bed about an hour earlier than normal as he could not stop rubbing his eyes.

We hope and pray that Jakob and I do not catch Wayne’s cold. It will be hard, especially with us all being in the same room. Wayne also has a hard time remembering to cover his mouth when he sneezes (didn’t we all learn that as kids…ha ha).

Jakob continues to make us smile and laugh. He is so cute! I call him my little monkey as he just has that look about him (except when he is in his snow suit and I call him my little marshmallow…since he is so fluffy and smooshy). One thing we’ve noticed is that he is actually focusing on things more. I think when he first got here with us, he was just so overwhelmed and over stimulated that you’d give him a toy or something and he would play with it, but not really focus on it. Now, he holds his phone, pushes a button, and actually looks at the lights flashing and will wait a little bit before pushing another one. He will actually let us read a book to him. We also showed him videos of himself on the computer and he sat there watching them (which he had not done before). He continues to copy everything we do. He wanted his shirt off all day (which normally it is his pants) because in the room Wayne had his shirt off. At dinner, I had my legs crossed, so he crossed his. It is so funny!

Tomorrow, we don’t have much planned except to meet Olga at 9:15 AM downstairs to give her our documents to take to get the Russian registry done. We will have to see how the weather is and how Wayne is feeling to determine our plans. I do know packing will be involved…which sadly, we are actually excited about.

Lastly, I have not mentioned this in other blogs, but I’m sure you know…I MISS THE BEAGLES LIKE CRAZY! Our family is just not quite complete since they are not with us. They have been our “sons” for almost 5 years now and I hate being away from them this long. I can’t wait to see Jakob’s reaction to them. We showed him a video of them again today and he seems very interested in them (which by the way, when he saw me in the video waving hi to him, he waved hi back…so cute).

Until tomorrow…

Courtney, Wayne and Jakob

Well, not quite finished. It is Wayne getting a word in here! (waiting for some dude to get off the computer so I can hook up so need to kill some time!!)
I just wanted to add a couple of my own observations.
Firstly, Courtney has taken to caring for Jakob fantastically. It is amazing how attached Jakob has grown to Courtney in just a few days. If he is with me doing something and Courtney is coming, I will say where’s Mama and he looks and races to her with his arms up to be picked up and hugged. He likes to play with me and hang out and will come to me but there is no replacement for his Mum! “Unfortunately” he won’t let me put him to sleep yet - bummer!!

As Courtney alluded to – we will be so glad to get out of here! The hotel is really nice and we are on a great level which has some great amenities but we just want to get home and get on with it. Of course we have a wonderful 10 hour flight in between all this!!

I think it is amazing at how quickly Jakob is learning new things – words, actions, etc.

Also, just so everyone knows – I am teaching him all the bad habits I taught your kids over the years plus a few extras! For example, opening his mouth to show his food, banging, and yelling hello out the window from the 12th floor to everyone walking on the street – oh and splashing like crazy in the bath. Natalie – I haven’t taught him our latest Jonas trick yet (the leg etc) but, you’ll be happy to know, I did work on teaching him the one Courtney was teaching Jonas when you were in Calgary. If anyone has any requests we have a little time to work on them… Stephanie and Ed – I can’t remember what other ones I taught Ben?
I have tried playing aeroplane with his food but it was a bit wasted because he eats everything anyway – although he thinks it is funny!

On the going to sleep part, I think once he is in a routine he will be easy (hope I am not jinxing it) because he knows that once in bed he is not allowed out – I think they must have enforced that pretty big at the orphanage.

Oh, the Military museum we went to yesterday was excellent. They have fantastic displays. I think because of all the reduction and disarmament that went on there was so much surplus that they had great stuff to display.
For example, outside where all the planes and tanks were there was a SU-27, a Foxbat 25, several Mig 21’s and 29’s plus an array of the stuff you see in all the cold war footage – missile launch vehicles – huge! Also, there was this huge tank with the barrel that was huge – never seen anything like it!

Anyway, have fun. I can’t think of anything to top off the Soviet Military comments. (I added a couple of photos for those interested!)

Day 5 continued / Day 6 with Jakob

Hi Everyone!

Trying this again to see if I can get things working again. It is like I got all of you off of your routine and you're getting a bit fussy.

It looks like by popular demand, I will have to have some frequency of blog updates once we return to Calgary. I hear you people...(such demanding fans we have!) Ha ha!

EMBASSY STORY CONTINUED...

So, once we finally got our ticket (H016), we sat with about 20 other couples adopting waiting to be called to 1 of 3 windows, trying to keep our kids in control, Cheerios everywhere... Our number was the second to the last pulled of the 4 families, but as you know in the Amazing Race, anything can happen. We were already joking around with Lisa and Dave (ticket H015) that what if they skipped their number and called ours first. We were doing a slow motion "scenes for the next week" with Dave shaking his head and and holding his head. Then, moments later, H016 appeared at one of the windows! We did it...we moved ahead in the game! The pretend "scenes for the next week" came to life. Dave ended up asking someone at the window what happened and they said that he never went to window 6! We had all gone to window 4 and then you are supposed to go to window 6 for papers! We were ahead and loving it!

While at our window, I sat Jakob up on the ledge and he was so cute...he just kept waving to the guy behind the glass saying "Pah-Ka" (goodbye). The guy was laughing saying, "Jakob, you just got here, it is not time to go." The guy explained all of the paperwork we were receiving, etc. After 5 minutes, we were ready to go back to the chairs for them to call us again. Lisa and Dave were called up soon after us and were then waiting as well. During that time, Jakob and Patrick decided to bang on some air vents together. What I failed to mention before was a wrestling match the 2 of them had in the morning over Jakob's airplane. Sadly, Patrick won, but we gave Jakob a pep talk during the day. While they were banging on the vent, it was so funny because they kept kind of shoving each other with their hips. The parents each cheered their child on (don't worry...we won't make him a bully...this was just a 1 time thing).

I think Jakob may have given him a shove a little too hard one time as Patrick ended up on his behind.

A few minutes later, they said all families to window 5. Wayne and I jumped up, shoveled up our jackets and child and ran to the window. We MIGHT have shoved some people, I can’t remember… We were now in line to receive Jakob’s Russian passport, which let me tell you, has THE cutest photo of any photo we’ve taken to date! It is just precious! I will try to scan it in at some point and post it to the blog. As soon as we got his passport, we got our jackets on and headed off to pick up our cell phones, including the Fisher Price one that was confiscated. We were still ahead of 2 of the families, with Lisa and Dave close behind. As we were all heading for the cars, we were crazed when we saw that Boris, Lisa and Dave’s driver was parked behind our driver’s car!!!! The cameras were in slow motion again as we shook our heads in despair…telling Boris…”Move your car!” Luckily, Boris did and we were scared we were now going to be behind as Lisa and Dave were in the car….but wait, Boris is now back out of the car translating for the other families! We were ahead again (at least in 2nd place)! Anyways – we all made it back to the hotel with our family being 2nd which we were happy with.

Once we returned, we went back to the room for awhile and played with Jakob. He was loving all of his toys and playing “hide and seek” with Wayne. If Wayne even says, “Where’s Jakob?” Jakob just screams and laughs so hard! It is so cute. He also says “Koo Koo” when he is hiding and then shows his face. We think it must be their version of “Peekaboo.”

At 5, we went out to the lounge area for free appetizers which ended up making an entire meal for all of us. Jakob is not a picky eater and will eat just about anything. He had mushrooms, chicken, gnocchi, and all sorts of things. All the kids played together (somewhat) and we had a great last evening with everyone. I think the kids learn to "survive" together and don't really "love" each other so it is funny to see how they react with each other. This is something you know will change over time as the parents teach them love.

We took Jakob back to the room around 7 or so for his bath. The good news is he is ecstatic now with his bath and loves having Wayne in there for security until he gets more used to it. He even looks at his hands every once in a while as they get a bit pruned, which has probably never happened to him as he would have never been in water long enough for it to do so. It was also very funny to see his reaction when Wayne pulled the plug and was drying off. Jakob was determined to keep playing, but looked very confused when there was less and less water for him to play with…wait, there is no more water... where did my water go?

Once we got him dressed, it took me a whopping 5 minutes to get him to sleep! AMEN!

Of course, this was only due to the fact that he did not have a nap at all during the day. I’m not sure he could pull that one off every day (as his daycare will have a 2 hour nap he has to take).

So, that was our evening.

Day 6

So this morning, we had breakfast and then met all of the other families for a last breakfast in the lounge. It was so sad to know they were all leaving. Jakob and Patrick were just starting to warm up to each other…or should I say acknowledging each other since they still do a bit of shoving every once in awhile….boys!

At 9, they were all off and we said our goodbyes. I told Jakob to give Patrick a hug and just as it looked like he was going to do it, he gave Patrick a gentle push. Wayne and I jokingly told Lisa and Dave, “Yes....our kid got the last word!” They are such a wonderful couple and family that we plan to keep in touch with and visit. They totally have the same laid back parenting style that we do and love an adventure.

After they left, we went to the room and grabbed our stuff, heading through the park to the Military Museum nearby. It was great for Jakob to see all of the guns, dead body photos, etc. Let’s face it; he was not really looking at anything. He just liked to hear the sound of his boots tap on the floor in the quite museum and then worked out that his voice would slightly echo if he sang or shouted. We thought it was cute, but the Russians don’t really like kids to make any noise in public like that, so we got some foul looks. As we headed outside at the end to see the planes, Jakob feel asleep in the stroller. We looked at all the planes, etc and then walked back through the park and to the hotel for lunch. Jakob was a bit foul and 2 years old at lunch since he just woke up from a very short nap…guess we just have to get used to having that on occasion. We then headed upstairs for a little play time and tried to get him down for a real nap…as he was rubbing his eyes and getting a bit cheeky. After an hour or so of fighting it, he finally went to sleep. So, here I am now writing the blog during his nap.

I’m not sure what we will do this evening. We’d like to see how he likes the indoor pool here…even if just for a 2 min. splash to see what it is like.

Tomorrow evening, we are planning to go to dinner at the Relf family’s house which will be nice to get out and see them again and have them meet Jakob. They have 2 dogs so it will also be a chance to see how he does with them.

This is probably all I will post for today, so I’ll do another update tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy all the videos from Day 5! I tried to put a lot up since I left you all in suspense!