2 PETITS DODOS !

Bonjour,

Voici comment devrait se derouler les deux prochaines journees. Demain lundi, notre interprete Anna revient a Pryluky pour la finalisation. Quelques signatures, cadeaux pour le groupe de petits gars de Thomas, a la directrice, au medecin, photos a prendre a l'interieur de l'orphelinat, etc.... C'est seulement mardi qu'on ramasse le petit, le bureau est ferme lundi donc on aura pas le papier. Enfin mardi, on va le chercher, on se dirige vers Chernigov (2 heures de route) question qu'on scan son visage pour le passeport j'imagine et encore un autre 2 heures de route pour se rendre a Kiev. Ouf! Pouvez-vous vous imaginer le stress chez notre petit amour. Il n'est jamais sorti de l'orphelinat. On imagine qu'il regardera partout mais pour rester assis.. AH! YA! YAIL! Des ondes positives s.v.p pour la petite bete en photo!



2 NIGHTS BEFORE WE MOVE ON !

The next two days should be as follow: Monday our translator comes back to help us getting the last papers, signatures to get Thomas Bogdan his new passport. Then we should have a little departure ceremony where we will bring food and champagne and take few pictures with the orphanage staff and manager and it will be Thomas last sleep at the orphanage because we will pick him up only Tuesday morning to go to Chernigov about 150km on secondary roads North of where we are. Hope he doesn't have motion sickness since that might be his first car ride since he got to the orphanage at the age of 7 months. Knowing him, he will probably be excited and busy looking around...and he will be forced to realize that Earth is not flat (because he already knows it is not tasty). After having his picture taken and his face scan we will continue the journey heading to Kiev where we should spend our last few days (7 or less) in Ukraine. Then our new life will start...

SANTE! SANTE

Ever Funny Martin!  Je vous epargne les details des derniers jours, mais tiens a vous dire que je me remets tranquillement pas vite.  Une chose est certaine, j'ai 100 fois plus hate de revenir au Quebec. Juste d'y penser les larmes me montent aux yeux.  Pis je sais pas combien de fois j'entends dire de la part de Martin: Wouin s'a aurait ete bien l'fun de ramasser le petit vendredi au lieu de lundi!  J'ai qu'une chanson en tete et c'est celle d'un jour a la fois.  J'aurai des bons moment a me rapeller plus tard! Merci a Luda, Victoria (sa fille) qui ont si gentiment pris soin de moi et de Martin par la meme occassion.  Merci aussi a toi Martin d'etre pres de moi et de t'occuper de notre petit Thomas qui commence a avoir une complicite assez taquinne avec papa.  Et oui, ce matin je suis retournee faire mes visites.  Je vous laisse sur la video de la danse de Thomas Boddan devant son pere hier apres-midi.

GETTING BETTER!

Anick's health is improving slowly. The last 2 days were pretty tough on her. Well when you are a tourist or NOT don't eat Hot-dogs from the street in Ukraine like Victoria (Luda's daughter) says. Thanks to Victoria and Luda, they took so good care of Anick over the last few days healing her with traditionnal remedies and ways of treating a bad stomach flu. But let me tel you that Anick really misses home... Never the less, Anick found the strenght to come visit Thomas Bogdan this morning and it made both of them happier. We are in our last week of orphanage visit mode and we are crossind down every "dodo". We are not sure if we pick up the kid next Monday or Tuesday because the official papers are release by the city hall and they are suppose to be closed on Mondays but maybe Xenia and Anna can work their magic for Monday. On the video you can see Bogdan's washing machine move!

TOURISTA

Bonjour a tous,

Enfin, nous sommes de vrais touristes... Anick n'a pas pu se rendre a l'orphelinat ce matin car elle a la tourista assez fort. On peut oublier les festivites de notre 1er anniversaire de mariage!!! Je suis donc alle seul ce matin voir le petit Thomas Bogdan. Du bon temps entre pere et fils. Ce n'etait pas une partie de peche ou un match du Canadiens mais bon on a quand meme fait des petite choses que maman n'aime pas trop...ex. jouer dans le sable, embarquer sur des scooters parkes. Bref le temps a passe vite. Par contre j'ai pris l'apres midi off de l'orphelinat pour m'occuper de mon autre bebe afin qu'elle se remettre sur pieds plus vite. Ah! Une semaine et le petit est avec nous!

FLU BUG

We can say that we are real tourist now... Anick couldn't make it to the orphanage this morning because of a strong stomach ache. Here goes our romantic evening planned for our first wedding anniversary!!! So, I went alone to see Thomas Bogdan. He kind of tried to seek where Anick was hiding but he realized quickly that we were alone together; a good father and son day out. It wasn't like going camping or fishing neither going to see a Habs game but we still did few things that mom doesn't like him to do...getting dirty playing in the sand box and sitting on parked scooters... Time went fast anyway. I cancelled the afternoon with Thomas to take care of my other baby so she gets back on her feet quickly. One more week and Thomas Bogdan is with us 24/7 !

PREMIERE PHOTO DE FAMILLE

La voici la premiere photo de famille!  Sinon, pas grand changement si ce n'est qu'il nous reste que 12 dodos ici a Pryluky.  On magasine un peu, car Thomas doit avoir des vetements pour sa sortie.  Ce qui appartient a l'orphelinat reste a l'orphelinat.  . Il n'y a pas grand chose ici et c'est quand meme assez difficile de trouver ce qui nous plait.  Mais on lui a trouve des beaux souliers!  C'est un bon debut.  Notre petit Thomas est un petit singe avec papa.  Il rotte comme papa et quoi encore! Sa nounou nous a dit qu'il n'arretait pas de nous chercher du regard hier et que depuis que nous le visitons, il essaie de communiquer de plus en plus.

THE FIRST FAMILY FRAME

On top is the first family picture ever taken! Otherwise we also have started to shop around for clothing, shoes, and a stroller because everything he "owns" right now belongs to the orphanage he is will be given to us naked if we don't buy him anything. We are in a small town with a handful of baby stores and we haven't seen a lot of nice clothes. 

Thomas is showing a little more everyday that he likes us. YUesterday we couldn't visit him for the day some his caretaker said that he didn't move much all day and when ever he would hear a noise he would strech his neck to see if we were not coming. And today he starts coming back to us for a last hug (to Anick) or gentle slap in my face when we leave him with his group. He is a real little monkey with me, he tries to mimick everything I do...Anick doesn't like everything I show him but for me it really makes my day. The caretaker also mention to our translater that since we visit him, he has started to say a lot more things and he wants to communicate more and more with his peers.

Parents de Thomas Bogdan

Voici la photo de mon homme et de mon Ti-Thom!

C'est officiel, nous sommes les parents de Thomas Bogdan.  Nous arrivons a peine de notre jugement.  Bref, le jugement devait avoir lieu a 11h30, mais on nous a decalle a 15h30.  Finalement, nous avons passe devant le juge que vers 17h.  Je pensais que le juge ne nous demanderait pas beaucoup de questions, car nous etions en fin de journee.  Erreur!  L'audiance a durer environ 45 minutes et il y avait pas mal de questions.  Ou j'habite, ma date de naissance, si la famille est au courant de l'adoption, sont-ils contents, etc...  J'ai du expliquer que ma mere avait deja tricotte pour le petit et que la famille l'aimait deja, en plus de leur dire que Sarahmay lui avait fait un lit pour dormir a cote du sien.  Martin aussi a eu droit a un lot de questions.  On voulait aussi s'assurer que financierement, on pouvait subvenir au besoin du petit.  La seule question piege etait:  pourquoi avoir attendu si longtemps pour le mariage etant donne que vous etes ensemble depuis longtemps.  Puis la, de voir Martin se lever et dire Monsieur le juge, vous savez pour nous les hommes, le mariage, ca fait toujours peur.  Cela a bien fait rire les gens en presence, meme le juge apres quelques instants, car l'humour n'existe normalement pas a la Cour ukrainienne. C'est bien du Martin tout crache ca!  Reste maintenant qu'a attendre le 12 octobre pour recevoir le papier officiel qu'on est les parents de Thomas, aller dans son village natal changer son acte de naissance et si nous sommes chanceux pouvoir partir avec le petit vers Kiev dans l'attente des derniers preparatifs.  Voila!  Dommage, c'est pas pour aujourd'hui la photo de famille, on ne l'a pas visite aujourd'hui.  Demain par contre, on vous enverra la photo de famille.

THOMA BOGDAN'S PARENTS

It is now official that we've adopted Thomas Bogdan since 6:00 p.m. today. After 2 hours of waiting in a dark and cold hallway we were invited to step into the jugement room. We were 9 in the room. Everyone was representated; The Juge, the crown attorney, the adoption department, 2 withnesses, us and our translator. We were expecting few questions only since it was late in the day but we were wrong they asked us many questions from our personnal finance to if our family knew that we wre adopting a child. The only question we were not really prepared was :"why did you wait so long to get married?" Officially we had to be married to be able to adopt but that is not a good answer in a court room. So I stood up and said: "You know your Honor , marriage for us men is always a scary taugh!".  Our translater started laughing and as she was telling them in Ukrainian they started smiling and then laughing to the exeption of the Judge. Then when he saw that everyone laughed he kind of enjoyed a little humor in his courtroom, ouf! Well a day without a laugh is a really sad day... and it is the first days in almost 2 weeks that we see the rain, so that was my little rainbow. The official "release papers" will be done on October 12th only. We taugh we could get back to Kiev by the Friday the 9th but NIET! NIET! We wanted the "family to be official before we take a picture of us three together and since we came out to late of the courthouse to go visit Thomas we wil take the picture tomorrow. See ya! 

LA ROUTINE S'INTALLE...

A tous les jours on visite notre p'tit homme de 10h a 12h et de 16h a 18h.  On est toujours au meme endroit et on joue toujours avec les memes bebelles.  Martin aimerait bien sauter la cloture pour emmener Thomas se balancer dans la cour d'une garderie juste a cote, mais je lui dis qu'on est mieux d'attendre au moins au jugement.  Pas certaine qu'ils aimeraient ca, nous voir devier les regles.  Sinon, Ludmilla chez qui on habite prend bien soin de nous.  Elle cuisine pour nous la fin de semaine et c'est delicieux!  Cote nourriture, on ne peut se plaindre.  Il y a deux bons restaurants ou on adore manger.  Vous saurez a notre retour si c'est vrai qu'en mangeant des patates on engraisse.  Pour ceux qui pense que nous pouvons aller a un 3e rendez-vous pour emmener un 2e enfant.  Desole, mais les 3 rendez-vous sont pour choisir un enfant ou (frere-soeur).  On vous redonne de nouvelles apres notre jugement.  Ah oui, nous avons appris que le petit Nikita vient d'etre adopte par une famille Francaise.  Nous sommes vraiment contents pour lui.  

Sur la photo en haut vous voyez un des jeux preferes a Thomas, soit ramasser un fruit pourri du sol pour faire semblant de le manger (la plupart du temps), surtout si on lui dit:"CaCa".

Paka! Paka!

DAILY ROUTINE IS SETTLELING IN...

Everyday, twice a day, same hours, almost the same wheather, we visit Thomas Bogdan. We are always at the same box playing with the same toys. I wish I could jump the fence and use the swing from the kindergarden school neiborghing the orphanage but Anick doesn't want to do it... She doesn't want to break the rules. Otherwise the woman we live with is a real sweetheart; she cooks for us once in a while even if Anick trashed her bathroom sink...lol... Actually we have replace it last yesterday and honestly it looks better! We bought one with a footing just in case Anick gets scare again, this one cannot fall. Adoption news; Jugement day is coming soon, Tuesday, so we will give you news after. Oh! Ya, we just learned that litlle Nikita just got adopted last week by a french couple from France. We are happy for him.

On the picture you see Thomas enjoying one of the few games that he likes to put us in. He picks up a rotten fruit from the groud and if we tell him "KaKA" he will fake (most of the time) to bite it and will start to laugh.

Paka! Paka!

2 MAUVAISES NOUVELLES ET 2 BONNES

Bonjour,

Commencons par les mauvaises.  Comment se sentir honteuse!  Ce matin, en voulant sortir rapidement du bain, car la laveuse retourne son eau sale dans le bain, j'ai trebuche et j'ai pris point d'appui sur le lavabo.  Catastrophe, il a arrache du mur et je me suis retrouvee a genoux au sol avec tous les debris.  Je me suis mis  a pleurer comme un bebe en pensant a la dame avec qui on habite.  Elle est si gentille!  Pourquoi faut-il que je lui donne cette misere.  En passant, on sent et voit la pauvrete.  L'autre jour, nous avons achete des tomates sur la rue pour 3 grivnas et Martin lui en a donne 4 soit 15 cents de plus, vous auriez du voir son sourire, les deux mains sur le coeur.  

Notre visite avec Bogdan fut ecourtee, lui aussi a trebuche tete premiere. Resultat...une grosse prune.  Alors, on l'a emmene a sa nounou et elle l' a rentre a l'interieur.   On a meme pas pu etre a ses cotes.  Snif, Snif!

Bonne nouvelle, le jugement est mardi prochaine soit le 29 septembre a 11h30.  Ensuite, il faut attendre 10 jours tout en continuant nos visites et ce n'est qu'a la fin du 10 jours qu'on pourra aller le chercher et l'emmener a Kiev avec nous dans l'attente des derniers papiers (plus ou moins 4-5 jours).  On commence deja a compter les dodos.

On pensait faire un appel a tous pour demander des suggestions de prenom.  Oubliez ca!  On a eu 1h30 pour choisir.  Alors, il se prenomme Thomas Bogdan Sureau.  Notre p'tit homme!  On a hate de le revoir demain.

1 SAD STORY, 1 FUNNY ONE AND 2 GOOD NEWS

First, let's laugh...

How to feel deeply sorry... This morning, anick wanted to get out of the bath tub(shower) because the washing machine was throwing away its dirty water in the bath. The bath tubs are pretty high here so the floor is pretty far away. Unfortunately she caught the lip of the tub with her foot so she started to fall nose first. In the middle of the action she had the idea to grab the corner of the sink with one hand...bad move, the rusted bars that were holding thew sink gave up and then....bang bing badaboom..."MARTIN". So I quickly got up and went to see what happened. I opened the bathroom door and then I saw Anick with what ever was left of the sink among all the other pieces. I asked her if she was ok she said yes and started crying. Anybody that knows me will know that these things really make me laugh so I coudn't help it. I started laughing and Anick was starting to laugh and cry at the same time. She was saying " how can I do something like this to Luda (the woman we live with) she is so nice and I have to give her all that trouble...maybe she cannot get it fix here in this little town..." What a way to start the day.

The sad one is that our visit this afternoon was shortened because little Bogdan tripped and banged his head on the pavement and the careworker took him inside for the rest of the afternoon. We were heart broken... but we know he is ok!

On the Good ide, we have learned that we will have our jugement day next Tuesday which is pretty quick since we have deposited the file this morning to the judge. After the judgement, we have the "calendar days" where we have to wait 10 days to depart from Pryluky with Bogdan towards Kiev to deposit the last documents and to pick up his passport.

We wanted to ask people to help us finding a more Canadian name for him but we taugh it was later in the process but no yesterday our translater told us : " you have to give me his official name after your visit this afternoon". It took us quite a while to give Nabesh his name and there we were 1.5 hours for our child... What do you think we did all that time with our future son? Ya! We were trying all the names we know and see if it would match his face and his caracter. We finally have decided that it would be Thomas Bogdan Sureau. We can't wait to see him again!