Zero degrees......

Hi from freezing Astana----
So this morning we woke up and saw that it looked pretty icy outside and the computer was showing it was zero degrees out. Knowing that we are in Asia and they calculate temperature in celsius, we figured that we were more than equipt to handle zero degrees. From all those years in Rochester, Ann Arbor, and Cleveland, we figured that was really only 32 degrees- not so bad at all. Oh wait, then we realized it was zero degrees Fahrenheit! Yes- really. That was the temperature. Crazy.... It apparently reached 5 degrees F today. That's it. That was the high. Apparently Phoenix is having record breaking heat..... At least our apartment has heated floors.

Because of the crazy cold temps, our driver had some car problems this morning. We ended up taking a cab to and from the Baby House. It worked out fine, although cabs are an interesting concept here. But it worked out fine and we still got to have our visit with Baby T today. As we mentioned last week, Saturday visits are always a little rough. There were 6 families (one new family just arrived from San Diego and is adopting a little girl in Baby T's room- she is just 1 week older than Baby T!) in there together on Saturdays. So while it is really nice to get to see the other families, it is way too small of a room for so many people. Needless to say, Baby T hates Saturday visits. It is definitely overwhelming for her. She basically played for the first hour, and then fell asleep on Sara's shoulder for the second hour.

Her caregiver today told us that Baby T is very active and always in "everyone else's business." She is apparently somewhat of the busybody in her group. So thus far, we have learned that she is a bit of a drama queen, somewhat of a busybody, and we will add that she is unbelievably beautiful. I know we have no genetic connection, but come on---- the similarities to her Mommy are undeniable! :-)

Once we got home from our visit, we defrosted, had lunch and took naps. We had planned to go to the aquarium this afternoon, but we were just too cold to walk there today-- maybe another day. For dinner tonight, we bundled up in a bajillion layers and ventured out to our new favorite local restaurant--- Adam's favorite Kazakhstani fish burritos. Not as good as Rubios, but a surprising close 2nd. We stopped at the store downstairs from our apartment on our way home to pick up some dessert.

So that's about all from Astana. We are not sure yet what the plan is for tomorrow, but we are looking forward to returning to some more normal temperatures this week- still cold, but tolerable.

We hope you are all well---
And the Russian word of the day is "Oom neetzah"- it means "good girl!" We have said it to Baby T a few times yesterday and today, but she looks at us with this very confused look on her face- like she's thinking, stick to the English, Mom and Dad!

Spakone Notche (good night) from Astana----