One Eye Opened!!!

We are waiting for Sara's expert opinion whether our little puppy is a boy or a girl before we name the puppy. We are 90% sure it is a girl but we don't want to name her a girly name and then find out it's a boy:) Today our puppy opened one eye while I was feeding her/him. SO CUTE!!! Looks like our puppy might join the rest of us- a blue eyed family... Probably scary to see for the first time- so bright! especially because we were in the kids old room! That green is quite the thing so see for your first view of life! I think he/she looks a little huskyish...not sure what else... hmmm. Getting cuter everyday- less ratlike.

Sidenote- we STILL don't have hot water- over 3 weeks now. The city water turned on last week but after one night of having it our area has it off again. So I had one nice warm bath last week and have been back to boiling water again. I am craving a bath- especially after all the moving, cleaning... Our new apartment has hot water right now so hopefully when we move there (Tuesday) we will have it finally. With my luck they'll turn it off over there once we move in:)

We are still hoping to live in a yurt next month (maybe starting on August 6th). It isn't a for sure thing though- depends on $$$ mostly. I am so excited to move in to our new place and would love to stay put for at least a month but we also would love to be in a yurt for the month so either way I'm happy and excited about the next month! We think it would really give our language/culture learning a boost after a rather dry month...

Thanks for checking in on us! NExt post puppy should have 2 eyes and we might even be in our new place!!!

On the move...

Huddy moving stuff from the apartment... nice living only 5 minutes away, we can carry stuff there with us as it is ready to go. (if it is light:)
The kids enjoying camping in their old room- I think they will miss being in one room... We too are sleeping on the floor so that we could bring over the bed frames and set them up at the new place.

The boys did a great job helping load our first truck full of stuff- it wasn't really full...just wanted to send over the things we don't need ahead of time. Tomorrow or Tuesday we will send it all over- and have our co-workers help us move the big stuff.

Emma keeping the puppy warm at our new apartment- Our little puppy (funny at the moment we aren't sure if it is a boy or a girl...some confusion:) can't see yet or hear but she (or he:) just feels out the warm spots to sleep or cuddle. She started at Emma's feet and crawled all the way up to the warmest spot!!! The kids thought it was very funny- Emma wanted the puppy out right away!!! Our little puppy is doing well- some nights she cries a lot but all day long she basically sleeps. Easier than a newborn now I think but still lots of work.

I didn't put pics of our new place on yet...it is still under renovation but it is gonna be soooo nice I think. The colours aren't really what we picked but they are ok- just interesting!!! It is so nice and new and clean and I'm so excited about moving in now!!!!

The second night...

what a difference. I only got up once during the night- at 4am she was hungry. But now she can drink better and she poops and pees great and she doesn't cry so much... I think she is gonna make it! She sure sleeps a lot- especially when I have a hot nalgene water bottle in her bed. She climbs right on top of it and goes right to sleep...so sweet. Now we just can't wait to see her eyes and I guess her ears will open up soon too. She can't really stand or anything yet- but I can tell she is so much stronger and a bit less clumsy:) I think I'm starting to like this little girl... guess we will have to work on getting her a name.

The first night...

Phew...I forgot what it is like having a newborn... although I think this little girl is harder than our babies ever were... She was pretty ok all day but starting at midnight she cried and cried and slept for a max of 15 minutes at a time. The first time I fell asleep was at 2 am and then I was back up at 2:15 am... I rocked her and tried everything I could to get her to stop crying but with very little success. I was going jogging in the morning so finally at 4 am I brought her in to our bedroom and dropped her on David's chest and said "I can't stand it anymore!!!" David got her to sleep after about a half hour and then when she woke up he could just sleep through the crying.. I couldn't so well.

Anyway we are so glad she is hanging in- she isn't eating so well and her crying makes me think she isn't feeling good but all day she has been very content sitting on Emma or Josiah or even all alone in a box. She still doesn't have a name- we are waiting to see what colour eyes she has or some characteristic to develop. So far I'd have to call her whimper or whiner... I forgive her though- David thinks she is just sad which is understandable.

We are still packing and renovating- our apartment is getting full with bags and boxes everywhere. We will do the move in 5? days.

Thanks for all the advice re. our little puppy- keep it coming. Her belly button was bleeding a bit today..is that a bad thing? Her 4 brothers were picked up by other people we think- hopefully they are surviving too.

Oh Oh what have we done...

This for sure was not in our plans for today... or any day in the near future... but as the kids and I were heading to work on our new apartment we could hear this horrible crying... we peeked in the box that was just out in the playground and discovered 5 newborn pups- totally abandoned and crying so loudly and frantically looking for milk... We went and got David and he knew right away they were only a day or two old and we were sure they would all die... but we couldn't stand just leaving them... we spent a long time thinking about it... long story short we now have one little girl pup (the odd one out in the litter). We still don't know if she'll make it or not...I bought a bottle and milk for her but she misses her mommy and cries so much... she loves being held though and snuggling so we all take turns cuddling with her. Strange having crying in the house again, and bottles, and feedings every two hours... I'll let you know how much sleep I get tonight:)

We aren't dog people. and we aren't sure exactly what will happen.... but we are just wanting to give her a chance at life. though we know there are probably hundreds and hundreds of little puppies just like her our on the Kyzyl streets right now... but anyway. she just went pee on my lap... hmmm. that is good though I think. She can't stand up yet at all and I guess her eyes and ears will still be closed for a few weeks? We will know all about newborn puppies now. If only we knew what she is? Any ideas? Kinda terrierish? I'll try to get some better pictures of her whole body tomorrow.

Other than little miss pup things are going according to schedule. We have hot water again. I am so used to not having it that today as I was half way through a huge sink full of dishes I finally realized that I could turn on the hot water tap too!

Our little bit of Canada

I know nothing about gardening but David's mom sent us some canadian wildflower seeds so I filled up the 4 pots I had with way too many seeds I'm sure and we've watered them faithfully and it worked! We have a mini canadian jungle! Everyday in the last few weeks we have had some new little flower bloom- super fun for the kids cause each flower seems to be a different colour so they like to guess if the next one will be pink or purple or blue or yellow etc. I think some bigger flowers are brewing too. We'll see. Thanks Char- I think I'm getting the gardening bug... just need to buy some more pots!

Sorry for the lack of posting... no excuse:) David is busy at the new apartment with renovations- sometimes we go help him but really he gets so much done when he just has a day to himself over there- I'm liking the look of the place very much... The colours are crazy really- way too bold perhaps but still I love em and it looks so clean and interesting:)

We have maybe 6 days till we should move in- still have to paint the kitchen and put in some flooring and the cabinets and all the other furniture etc. of course but David has fixed so much already- the toilet even works now! I'm going over tomorrow to do a good clean now that most of the messy work is done and I am pleased to report that I'll have hot water to clean with tomorrow!!!!! After two weeks without there is a wonderful sound of water filling up the pipes right now- the water that is coming out of the hot water tap right now is stinky, orange and freezing cold but still I'm super excited about there being water and I'm sure after a few hours the water will be warm and clear:) I hope!

Anyway, we are doing well. Keeping busy with our new co-workers (got them all settled in at their new apartment) and getting ourselves set up too. Thanks for checking in on us!

A Good Day of Work

Today, David is feeling much better. He wasn't at full speed/endurance but we both got a lot done today at the apartment. We had some heavy supplies to bring over so we got out our double stroller- it's been sooooo long since we've used it so the boys were glad they still fit in it- they only got to ride to the store and then the clay etc. went in instead. They looked so cute...but ya- they are a little big for a stroller! even if they do fit:) Our co-workers are taking it off our hands- it will become their car now!

We painted the living room- first coat. It wasn't as easy as we thought...the walls were painted so we thought the new paint would go on easy but when we used the roller it pulled off bits of the old paint and bits of the wall. SO much of it was done by hand but still- wasn't too much work. I'm not sure the colour is the one I ordered but I like it. A little crazy and bold but after seeing gray concrete everywhere I am much more prone to have bright/deep colours to make things more interesting. Or maybe we are missing French's Mustard:)

Huddy enjoying his lunch...

Back to Work

After a bit of a break from renovating (due to the conference etc.) we are back at it. David isn't feeling so great yet so he took a few breaks in the new tub (the only furniture we have in there at the moment:). I was busy sanding the walls that david plastered and cleaning the gunk off the bathroom floor. You can see how dirty/white the floors were before scraping/cleaning them.. still don't look very good but at least we know it is clean:) Emma's room is almost ready for move in- David painted her walls (VERY purple!!! she LOVES it:)

The best part of the day there was when our new neighbour came over to meet us- she brought us some of the raspberries/blueberryish things that she had grown out at her dacha. SOOO yummy and we are just so glad to have a nice friendly neighbour. She is a Tuvan babushka and already we can tell we are going to have a lot of great times with her. I'm making her a lemon/blueberry loaf using the berries we didn't finish yet. Hopefully she'll like it and keep giving us some of her berries! Emma said they tasted so good and reminded her of Grandpa Peter's garden... They were almost as good as the ones that he grew but not quite as good of course:) She spoke a LOT of Tuvan to us even though she didn't even know we could speak any Tuvan so we think she will be a good neighbour to develop our Tuvan language with. SO nice to meet her.

I better get to bed..hoping to get a lot done tomorrow. Keep thinking about David- I like to renovate but he really does a much better job!! We have so so much left to do- and not that much time left before we move (July 26th?)

David's latest adventure..

David and the other two men on our team were invited to be special guests at a Tuvan conference. The theme was along the lines of culture and education- the other conference goers were teachers from various parts of Siberia. I think they invited our guys along to say that they had American, Canadian and German in attendance in all the paper articles. The guys were interviewed for TV and articles were written about them and the conference. Anyway, the first day was where they met in a building and had introductions and some small group discussions. David was the one from our group to get up and introduce ourselves and the organization etc. He was really good- Our co-worker said the crowd was cheering and clapping like crazy even when he said something just like Hello (in Tuvan) or when he said how many kids we all had- that was a loud cheer I bet:)

Then the next two days were more adventurous (and less stressful for David..he practiced his 10 minute talk over and over during the week before..). They travelled out to the salt lake and various special places around the area. They watched Buddhist Ceremonies, Shaman Dancing etc. and learned so much about the Tuvan culture- Super good opportunity to learn more about this Republic and their world view etc. Our new coworkers are here- good timing as he sure got a good introduction to Tuva!

The bad part about the adventures was that either from sunstroke or the food- David came home with the chills and aches and a fever. We boiled about 20 kettles of water to make him a hot bath cause he was so so so cold... then he got SICK. blah. yucky kind of sick:) He is feeling a bit better now but is sooo worn out and lacking energy. We sure hope he recovers quick as we need to get moving into our other place and we want to be helping our coworkers get set up in their new apartment too! But the conference was worth it- such a good experience for the guys. I've got more pics on facebook but here are most of them.

David at the Salt Lake

Night Wrestling

Buddhist Ceremony

David and our new coworker

Hanging Prayer Flags

Tuvan Dancers

Yes, Amy!! We are still alive! :) We have been pretty busy- especially David- he's giving a little 8 min talk at a conference- basically introducing who we are and about our org. nothing too fancy but it is on his mind a LOT- hard enough to decide what to say in English but of course it will be in Russian. I think he might say a little in Tuvan too.. He (and the other two guys on our team) will be at the conference for 3 days- starting tomorrow.

Notice I said two guys?!?! That's because a couple of days ago the family that is joining us arrived so now we have three families working here. So we have been spending lots of time with them- they need to find an apartment and get settled in the same month we have to move..not the best timing.. but it will be fun we are hoping:) It is so good having them here, and the kids have two new little boys to play with.

Things also take longer because we have no hot water... It will be like this for maybe 3 weeks... Yikes! Not so fun- I have so much cleaning to do at the new apartment and it is so much harder with freezing cold water... Even if they had something like Mr.Clean wipes we'd need a thousand packages of them:)

Yesterday was Ivan Kupala day where you go around and dump/spray water on everyone. We were pretty busy inside but Emma did get out to get wet for a bit. Actually the kids in our building started a few days early even- the whole past week has been a little dangerous out there and our apartment has been busy cause we are the closest place to fill up their water bottles and guns:) I only took a couple of pics through the window so I don't have any good ones like last year (remember those Rosalie!?!). Actually those ones were taken from inside too- I'm too scared to go out there on Ivan Kupala Day!! :) It is hot which helps with occasions like this and having no hot water. But try having a shower with only the cold going- no matter how hot you were before the shower I guarantee you it won't be enjoyable:) I washed my hair today without boiling any water, just hung my head over and used the shower head...ouch. brain freeze. it really hurt!!! I'll boil water next time:)