I take it back

Yesterday I stated that there is no sign of teeth in Saileey's mouth. I digress. There's a tooth! Hopefully that's why she's been acting a little cranky lately.

City Pictures

 Saileey is crawling! She will move her hands forward and then 'hop' her knees forward underneath her. She'll push up on her feet and put her head on the floor so she is looking between her legs. I haven't taken a good picture of it yet. She constantly is chewing on her fingers or toys but there isn't any sign of teeth.  

She is learning to clap her hands, she will turn the pages on her board books, and give us kisses when we ask!  She has also started to cry when I leave the room. Yay. 

 A very popular ballet theater, currently being remodeled. 

 The 1966 Earthquake memorial in Tashkent

 The largest mosque in the city.  This mosque actually has one of, if not, the oldest Korans in the world.  This Koran was written in 700 A.D. (pretty cool).

 A Mahala or community in the old part of the city. 

Independence square

 Outside the mosque. These birds (storks?) are the symbol of the family in Uzbekistan.

House Pictures

We went on a city tour of Tashkent and I did take the camera and pictures but...

our friend borrowed our camera and returned it without the SD card in it. So, pictures of our house will suffice.  

Happy Birthday Daddy! This was taken in D.C

We plan to put the piano where the TV is sitting. We still need curtains. Amazingly this room gets a lot of sunlight. Outside those windows and door is about 5 feet and then a wall. No grass out that way.

Front door entry. The kitchen is off on the right and behind me is the living room. The downstairs is on the left.

Very narrow dining room 

Uzbekistan

Where to begin? So much has happened and changed in the last month. We have some pictures, mostly of Saileey and pretty much none of the city of Tashkent. This weekend we are going on a tour of the city, I'll be sure to bring our camera and actually use it.

Saileey on the plane from London to Uzbekistan

  Saileey has been doing so many new things lately! She will get up onto her hands and knees, rock back and forth, or push up onto her feet and start swaying. Usually she ends up face planting. She is trying to move from being on her belly to the sitting position. Crawling is not far away for her. Saileey's appetite is growing as well! So far she has loved everything I've given her; oatmeal, plums, bananas, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, squash, apricots. We are waiting for our amazon order of those puff cereal things. She wants so badly to eat everything we do.  It's hard to get a good picture of Saileey, she wiggles too much!

 HOH or "non" for us normal people (just bread)

 Our house is great! Having 2 bedrooms and a den has been wonderful. We haven't been able to fill our pool yet. We would need to have someone come take care of it anyway. We have a completely separate dining room which we haven't used either although we will when it's our turn to have church at our place. Right outside our wall there is an apricot tree which has been raining apricots. I've been singing Popcorn Popping to Saileey and next spring it will be very true for us, we missed the blossoms this year. We have a washing machine!!! The only problem was that its all in Russian. Our sponsor sent over her housekeeper so she could translate it for me. Now I know how to read spin, rinse, basic, wash and temperature in Russian!

Kitchen 

 Kitchen

 Living room (we just got our unaccompanied air baggage)

All the veggies and fruit we buy have to be soaked in bleach water then rinsed in distilled water. We've been to a couple bazaars where it's expected that you haggle for the right price. Luckily we weren't there by ourselves so we had someone to haggle for us. The supermarkets will probably be my scene until I can learn enough of the language. The currency is called soums (sooms) and everything is paid for in cash so you can forget your wallet. Their largest bill is 1,000 soums which is worth almost $.50. 

 How did a picture of this adorable girl get in here?

 About $4

Going to church

The driving here is...well they are all over the place! And for good reason. Potholes. Everywhere! I have been told that walking outside by myself is very safe, the biggest worry I should have is getting hit by a car. They don't give pedestrians the huge gap like drivers do in the states.  Lines are more like suggestions. If you aren't watching you might rear end someone who cut very closely in front of you. But it works. And no one seems to get angry or have road rage.

Church is great! There are three of us families now and an intern who will be here until mid July. And then there are two more children who come for primary. So in total there are 4 priesthood holders, 3 women and 11 children. Sacrament meeting is just noisy as any other so it feels normal. We have the sacrament then we are graced by an excellent speaker, usually one of the twelve apostles. Okay, we watch a General Conference rerun. Then the children (7) have primary and the babies (4) go to nursery with the men. I have offered to play the piano for sacrament meeting and for primary. After all the meetings we have lunch together.



Any questions?

Back in Virginia

Things sure have picked up once I got off the airplane. Saileey had her 4 month checkup, which meant shots again. She was very brave this time, didn't even flinch for the 1st one but with the 2nd came the crying and the tears. It didn't bother her nearly as much as the 2 month shot. She is 24 inches and weighs 11 pounds. (This was about 3 weeks ago now).

Saileey has been working on rolling from her back to her tummy and also on sitting up! She loves her seat with the toys and it is such a lifesaver for me. We have been giving her rice cereal which she likes and pears which she loves!!

Joseph will be doing a training in Florida and Saileey and I will get to accompany him! We fly down on the 6th of May and fly back on the 10th. I am excited for another small vacation before we leave. All our things will be packed up and shipped by then so it should be worry free!

Our reporting date has been moved to the 20th. That means we will actually be flying out on the 16th or 17th of May.

Our Adorable 3 Month Old!

Saileey is now 3 months old! She is changing so much and comes up with new things everyday. We don't really know how much she weighs and we haven't measured her since her last check up (she is sleeping right now but I meant to do all that today) but she is growing so much. She stares at her right hand and tries to suck on her whole fist. She has started to reach out for things. She is a cat napper but usually takes one good long nap a day. She has a bald spot on the back of her head and she is doing really well with holding her head up and steady. Right now she fits into most 0-3 month old clothing but will probably be fitting 3-6 month size soon. We love her and love to watch her. There is definitely a dimple on her right cheek and possibly one on the left.