Claire's BUSY day

Despite waking up at 12, 2, and 4 a.m. (sigh), Claire really is turning into a better sleeper. Claire’s mommy, however, is turning into a zombie. My mom took mercy on me this morning and played with Claire after her bottle and sent me back to bed for another hour. She is totally moving in with us (sorry, Dad). My new and improved sleeper took two hour-long naps today and went to bed at 7:30. Could it be that we’re establishing a routine? Yep, just in time to completely flip it upside down.

We went to lunch today at another Irish pub – this one was recommended by our driver, Kiriu (Key-ree-ou). The restaurants here really seem to cater to American clientele. If you ask in Russian for an English menu, they respond in perfect English, “Sure. One second.” They also serve BIG drinks with ice. I could give or take the ice, but after downing six or seven Dixie cups during a meal in Astana, it’s like nirvana to get a big ol’ glass of Coke (or, as I like to call it, “The Dark Lord”). We sat on the patio (which I think is frowned upon with a baby, but oh well…it was beautiful out), and Claire sat in a highchair and had the time of her life with three peas from my plate. She thought they were just tiny balls and spent a good half hour rolling them back and forth and finally squashed them…well, like a pea.

After lunch, we went over to Sasha’s house. Sasha is the head driver for our agency, and he and his wife run a business out of their home and sell a variety of Kazakh crafts. I got two awesome dream quilts for a ridiculously cheap price. The embroidery is all done by hand and is amazing – they’ll be a great souvenir from our trip and something that Claire can have later on. He recommended getting them dry cleaned here because dream quilts are very common here and the dry cleaners know how to handle them properly (he said he’s heard from some of his US customers that they got ruined at their local dry cleaners), so we dropped them off at a dry cleaner around the block and will pick them up before we leave on Friday.

We went to the KLM office this afternoon to get Claire’s ticket home, and Claire flirted with the two men in line ahead of us, and they let us go in front of them. This kid is a charmer! I should rent her out to people who have to go to the DMV. We got Claire’s ticket and requested a bulkhead seat so that we can have some extra room and one of those bassinets that hook to the wall, but they couldn’t guarantee it. We won’t know until we get to the airport, but I’m totally willing to pay off other families for it. Claire is not going to be a happy camper if we have to hold her in our laps.