Two and more!

Arman turned 2 on December 1st (these photos were taken in December of 2008). He is a happy, healthy, funny toddler who loves cars, trucks, helicopters, and other things that go!

I have not posted to this blog for a very long time. I had intended to keep it going after I brought Arman home, but you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. I decided to make this addition to Arman's adoption blog because I have been giving the link to people when they ask to hear about my experience working with Children at Heart Adoption Services (I wholeheartedly recommend them, by the way). When I re-read the blog recently, I realized that I never posted a photo of Arman with my mom and dad. The family photo above is with my mom, dad, and my brother Paul. There are so many other photos I could post, but for now, I will limit myself to these two.

Arman and I moved to Manhattan in July, 2008 (he's gotten quite good at hailing a cab); this photo of Arman and me was taken in front of the Rock Center Christmas tree (thanks to Madi for taking the photo).

I am grateful to Janice and Kathy at Children at Heart and all the people at Shapagat Baby House in Karaganda, Kazakhstan who helped care for Arman and helped me adopt him. I am happy to answer any questions you may have about the adoption process and working with Children at Heart.

Arman's first Halloween!

I know I haven't posted since September, but hey, I was waiting for someone to take a good picture of Arman and me! I know, I know, you all just want to see cute photos of him, NOT me...

I'll try to go back and fill in the blanks with posts about what has been happening over the past two months. In the meantime, enjoy this photo from the Andes Harvest Moon Ball on October 27th when Arman was dressed as a puppy. Photo credit to Jim Koch (thank you!) the official photographer of all events in Andes, NY.

I have a dream...

 
I have a dream and he is here in my arms…
 
I have a dream and he is nine months old today, September 1st…
 
I have a dream and he dreams of meeting you all…
 

Arman, the name chosen by his birth mother, means “a dream” in Kazakh. The Kazakhstanis pronounce the name Arman with a rolled “r” – my advice for saying it in the U.S. is to pretend you are going to say “Armani” (like the designer), but leave off the “e” sound at the end. He will probably know who you are referring to whether you say “ar-MAHN” or “AR-min” – I wouldn’t fret about it too much.

We are home in Ithaca and would love to see you!

Many thanks to Julianna for taking the photos on this blog entry.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Ithaca! making friends, getting presents, strolling around town

We drove home from New York to Ithaca on August 29th and have been having a great time enjoying the presence and presents of friends. Thank you so much! The weather has been wonderful so we're spending lots of time in the back yard. We've also managed to find two playgrounds with bucket swings -- hooray!

It's nice to be home in Ithaca and we hope to see you here soon...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

having fun in Manhattan!

 

 

 

 

there's no place like home!

 

To Arman, they are legal guardians; to me, they are guardian angels! Can't tell you how good it was to see Annie and Peter when Arman and I came through immigration and customs. They helped us find the car in long-term parking, get Arman settled in his car seat for the first time (hey girls, your guess at the adjustments for the straps were right on target), and then drove us to their place in Manhattan (our home away from home). Arman got to meet Sam (in person) and Madi (by video/Skype) -- he's eager to meet Nick and Henry soon. He also had his first eye-to-eye with Lexi and Emma (the cats). Indian food and champagne capped off our homecoming and then we had a long sleep...

the long trip home to the United States

 

Every cloud has a silver lining...
the cloud? the combination of Virgin Atlantic and British Airways baggage handling lost my luggage on the trip to Almaty (okay, they use the phrase "delayed baggage"). I checked two items: 1) a rolling duffle bag (an inexpensive one I bought just for this trip) with food, diapers, toys, and clothes for Arman and a few changes of clothes for me; 2) a cheap stroller for getting around Almaty and the airports on the way home. Both items were "delayed" for our entire time in Almaty.

When we arrived at the airport early Sunday morning to check in for our flights home, they excitedly reported that my baggage had arrived. Woo hoo! They encouraged me to use the stroller in the airport (which I must admit was a nice treat) and to re-check the duffle bag through to Newark Airport (let's keep suspense at a minimum: the bag was delivered to me in Ithaca by Fed Ex five days later). When we gate-checked the stroller as we boarded the flight, there was confusion about whether we could use it in Heathrow or wouldn't see it again until Newark Airport (again, I'll give away the ending here -- we still haven't seen that stroller).

The silver lining...
British Airways upgraded us to Business Class for the 10-hour flight from Almaty to London. We had an empty seat next to us and great flight attendants so had a great flight.

 

 

 

The transfer from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3 in Heathrow was not so great (I would recommend staying on one airline for the entire trip, if you can). We did have a bulkhead seat with the bassinet (and an empty seat next to us) for the flight from London to Newark.

Arman was a very good travel partner -- he charmed everyone around us on the plane! And on the evening of August 26th, when the plane touched down on U.S. soil, Arman Jonathan Froggatt became a citizen of the United States...

Next stop, Manhattan!

a BIG thank you to Bob

 

 

 

Due in large part to Bob's kind hospitality in Almaty, Arman and I had a great week there. (And, again, a special thank you to Rosemary for making the introduction to Bob.) He helped us get a good, comfortable room at the Hotel Almaty, took us to lunch on Thursday, showed us around Almaty on Saturday, and generally offered great advice about the city. We are especially grateful that he carried the diaper bag wherever we went with him and he was especially grateful that I bought a black, messenger-style diaper bag rather than one of those girly ones! We are sorry that Arman did not get to meet Radima (Bob's girlfriend) since she was away. We hope they both come to New York so that we can return the hospitality favor some day.

Saturday with Bob, Arman, and Tamara in Almaty