STARTING OVER IN KAZAKHSTAN

my first sparkler at a distance...WOW!!!

2009-04-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

a self taken family birthday portrait

2009-04-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

all decked out for daycare bday party!

2009-04-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

what is it ma?

2009-04-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

I'm 2 this morning!!!! Can you tell it's way too early.

2009-04-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

november 08 My new swimsuit!! Muscle man

2009-04-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

Daddy and Olie...Santa's little helpers!

2009-04-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

Black jack dealer for Christmas!!!

2009-04-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

Our first Christmas together 08

2009-04-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

Mexico again 09

2009-04-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

January in Mexico09

2009-04-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

Feb 09 with his little friend Angelica!!!

2009-04-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

March 09

2009-04-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

April 09

2009-04-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

TRICK OR TREAT...SMELL MY CHIPS

2008-11-07T12:13:00.000-08:00

2008-10-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

Angelica and Olivier

2008-10-05T05:38:00.000-07:00

This is Olie's little friend that was adopted at the same time as him...both baby house #1. They are both blowing kisses and they enjoy each others company. I make the effort to see her and her mom at least every 3 months!!!

last days of summer

2008-10-04T05:33:00.000-07:00

Olie-K has become a really great swimmer

runway model

2008-09-30T05:13:00.000-07:00

it's baby Hugh!!!

2008-09-30T05:11:00.000-07:00

Oli's baptism on July 27th

2008-07-29T05:25:00.000-07:00

OUR LITTLE ANGEL

Sleeppy little head!!!

2008-06-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

I love his little face

My messy bedroom...but look at me run-vrooom!

2008-06-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

Swimming with mama

2008-06-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

me and my bloody nose...after I fell

2008-06-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

I have lots of trucks 3 in total

2008-06-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

2008-06-04T11:09:00.001-07:00

Well it's been a while since I'm able to write but things are finally falling into place... we have a good schedule. Since we've been back we ran a bunch of test on Oli-K and everything seems normal, he is in the 90% for height and weight and 75% for his head circumference. He is now 13 . 5 months and very good at communicating his needs. He has been saying no with his head for maybe 2 months and finally 2 days ago he said yes by nodding (he usually says "DA"). he has a great sense of humour; when I say can you say yes he laughs and shakes his head no and laughs again and nodes yes!!! He does it purposely. He also clears his throat when he sees a girl or woman that he likes, and if you are not looking at him when he goes by, he will tug on your clothes to let you know he is there.

He runs pretty fast...but I'm quicker! Just the other day he decided to run away from me and nose dived into the floor, needless to say he got a bloody nose!!! He also started to ask if he could go to sleep (for his naps), he takes my hand and leads me to the stairs and up we go into his bedroom and right up to the rocking chair. I sit and then he grasp a book and gives it to me and wants to come up...that blow my mind!!! He bobs his head when he is dancing and moves his little feet really fast to show me he is dancing...maybe tap dancing. He loves going to the park and playing in the sand... I don't like it as much because he likes eating it and keeping some in his pockets for later in the house!!! As for his features, I don't think he's changed but I will let you be the judge of that...he does however have a molar tooth that came out yesterday!!!! Here are some pictures of Olivier...

I will write again soon!

2008-04-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

it's my party...

2008-04-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

My first birthday and what a party, all my new friends and family came! Thanks everyone!!!

MY JOB!!!

2008-04-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

This is my part-time job, model!!! It's just not enough anymore to be a crazy kid now I have to sit still so mama could snap pictures of me!!!

on Safari

2008-04-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

Mommy loves dressing me up, today she thought I should look like a rap star!!!

going down the slide

2008-04-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

Dan couldn't advance quick enough, so the baby was just relaxing on him

swimming lessons

2008-04-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

first swimming lesson at the Y, Oli-K really loved it minus the bathing cap

FIRST CANADIAN DINNING...NO TEARS!!!

2008-03-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

KAZ TO AMSTERDAM

2008-03-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

Us sleeping from Uralsk to Almaty first class!!!

2008-03-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

24 OOPSSS!!! 30 HOURS!

2008-02-24T05:25:00.000-08:00

This will be a re-enactment of the last 30 hours in real time, you will know exactly what happened to us while traveling with a baby…It’s risky and dangerous, so please don’t try it for fun!!!!

Read with caution…Just kidding I think I will just sum it up~!

We left at 21:00 hours from our apartment and at 20:00 baby Oli-K decided to give us problems, first he hadn’t slept and now he had a massive case of the poops that ruined all his clothes…so I had to give him a bath because it was all over him and then I had to go into the luggage to pull out another outfit (I only brought 3 outfits and 3 pj’s). He cried from exhaustion all the way to the airport! In the smoke filled airport he was calm and starring at everything. Elvira stayed with us until we had to go down stairs and wait for them to open the gate, it was much appreciated! Boarding call, we all get up and walk outside in the cold for about 3 minutes to the plane. I was a bit surprised that they don’t let baby’s board first…so I decided I’m going to push in front of everyone and tell them “ASTAROJNA”and “IZVINITEE” in Jackie’s language “out of my way!” it really means be careful and sorry. As I push to the front with the stroller and the baby freezing to death, I wasn’t about to take him out of the stroller, so I told Daniel to go in front and hold it and I will take the back. We really looked like strong people, Daniel with his big back pack and the laptop and me, with mine and my purse. As we enter the plane we are really happy that we paid for first class and it was worth it. Olivier got a bottle as the plane was lifting that way he would not bother everyone by screaming! First class wasn’t full so I didn’t feel too bad when he did cry. He slept maybe 1 hour out of a 3 hour flight. The same thing for when the plane was landing we gave another bottle. I can honestly say we are a mess; we have so much baggage and then the baby stuff. Everyone gets off the plane and we are still there looking for the baby‘s boots and putting on his jacket, all while he is crying. The flight attendant is telling us to hurry because we are holding up the bus that will take us down the runway…well we didn’t know!!! We get on the bus and everyone is staring at us…we feel slow and awful and Olivier is still crying.

We enter Almaty airport and met up with Sveta, another nice coordinator. We sit and have coffee while Oli sleeps. Our next flight is at 8:20 and the time is 3:45 am. We have lots of time to kill. She gives us his documents and his passport and tells us what we have to show if someone is to question us. Boarding time, we meet 2 other families that have adopted from Almaty and a lady that is in the process but has to return home. We asked to be seated where the basinets are so we could have room and for the babies to sleep. Well that flight was for 7 hours and 55 minutes (late departure) and Olivier didn’t sleep much maybe 2 hours…between him and Lara (the other little baby seating with us) they made an orchestra of yelling, screaming and smells. We arrived in Amsterdam and we have 3 hours to go instead of 5 hours.

In the airport we relaxed by getting a massage, ok I got the massage and it was so worth it at the time but now my back and arms are sore! Baby Oli-K was an angel but seems to go to the bathroom at the most awkward times. Boarding time!!!

We asked to be seated together and to get a basinet but they said they could not accommodate us at all. Finally on the plane the nice lady seated beside us on the isle seat accepted to change spots with me. It was an older plane and not much room where we are seated and the flight attendant asked if she would change seats to another row…but it never happened. It was ok but cramped (the lady was really nice and helpful). All I can say is my little boy slept most of the 7 hour and 20 minute flight on me and he peed on me twice, once while changing him and the other while sleeping (no more clothes for him). And finally we land, we also noticed when we landed the first time in Amsterdam that he didn’t need a bottle, he didn’t feel the pressure change (or he didn’t complain), so we didn’t give him bottles on the ascent or descent.

At the arrival we are struggling with our bags and the baby, and we find it frustrating that they decided to put our stroller (umbrella) under the plane; we really needed it to walk through the airport and to wait in long lines (customs and immigration). All is good, we are in Canada and tired, but home.

We retrieve our bags and the stroller after 45 minutes and then off to find Lorraine…what a welcome, we cried seeing a familiar face and place!!!! Olivier took to Lorraine immediately by giving his warm energetic smile and a giggle.

Now we sleep!!! We feel like we are still on the plane (motion sickness)…to be continued!!!

THE INSANITY!!! SERENITY NOW!!!

2008-02-20T12:00:00.000-08:00

THE INSANITY!!!

What is up with the baby that won’t sleep, especially when it’s my shift to go to him if he cries in the middle of the night!!!??!! Sunday and Tuesday, baby Oli-K decided that he is going to cry every 1 hour until he is fed up of being rocked and put back to sleep! Then he is stubborn (like the Taurus that he is) and refuses all together to let himself return into dream land. He knows all mommies tricks and fights it the whole time until I give in and bring him into the living room, then he gives me a devilish smile which makes me think he won!!! Why me? He doesn’t do this with Daniel, with Dan he cries maybe 2 times 3 max and then he will go back to bed for maybe 5 hours. I think we might have to change his nap schedule once home. Can you believe all I talk about is how much my son doesn’t sleep and how much I’ve aged!

Change of subject,

My little boy has started to change; (the 5 things that made me happy)
1st I think he is bigger.
2nd he is finally able to take a banana piece from me or the plate (better if it’s from me) and put it in his mouth. Before he would put it in his hand and forget it was there.
3rd he is able to communicate when he doesn’t like his food, he shakes his head in a no gesture, and if I persist, he whacks my hand and the food lands on the floor.
4th he loves his bath now…we are using a little blue baby bath that Kim and Jean left for us, but it slides to much to keep the jitter bug in one place.
5th he loves dancing with mommy and when mommy sings off key he does the same (with a lit scream)! (Lorraine you are going to have to help him).

We wanted to let everyone know that this may be our last entry until we return home, so please do not panic. We are on dial up using internet cards and I think we are at the end of our card. We will keep updating until the end and add the missing entries once we are safely at home.

By the way…we fear the long plane ride home, we will be traveling more than 29 hours, just letting everyone know!

LE DEPART APPROCHE

2008-02-20T01:49:00.000-08:00

Samedi 16 février 2008

A 5h00am il est debout et c’est tout pour le dodo. Notre constat est clair : plus cerne que ca tu meure ! Ce matin -12 degrés a Ouralsk. Ce matin Olivier dors 30 minutes (dans le bassinet) vers 8h00am puis un 2h00 vers 11h30am dans la poussette. C’est bon pour lui, il récupère de cette mauvaise nuit. Nous espérons que le sommeil entraina plus de sommeil. En après-midi nous allons au magasin Bayterick pour faire moudre du café Colombien (oui, un endroit existe pour avoir du bon café, ca leur prend 15 minutes environ a le moudre dans une vieille machine). 200 grammes coutent environ $14 canadien, c’est très cher mais nous avons besoin d’un peu de luxe de temps en temps… Notre réserve de Tim Horton est épuisée depuis longtemps! Vers 4h15 nous rencontrons Isabelle et sa mère au Chagala. C’est devenu une habitude. Le propriétaire Anglais et est très sympathique, les employés parlent tous un peu d’anglais et la nourriture est excellente. Olivier est couche vers 8h15 et on le laisse dormir jusqu'à 9h45 puis on le réveille pour une bouteille. La nuit commence bien, pas de crises cette fois…

Dimanche 17 février 2008

Il dort jusqu'à 12h30am, heure a laquelle il se réveille et je dois aller le bercer. A 1h00am, il se réveille encore et je le berce une dernière fois car il dort sans tracas jusqu'à 7h00am ensuite ; un record pour Olivier ! Est-ce que ca sera une nouvelle habitude ? On le souhaite grandement, mais on verra, il ne faut pas s’exciter avec ca. Aujourd’hui il fait -15 degrés. Olivier a maintenant une routine de dodo de jour : de 11h00am jusqu'à 13h00 et de 3h30 a 5h30. C’est très bien cette horaire semble tenir bon pour le moment.
Dan

Lundi 18 février 2008

Aujourd’hui -24 degrés ce matin. C’est vraiment très froid, en après-midi il fait -15 mais on dirait qu’il fait toujours en dessous de -20. Nous achetons nos billets de retour chez Air Astana aujourd’hui. La première fois nous y allons pour rien car Elvira a oublie de nous donner le certificat de naissance d’Olivier. Air Astana a besoin d’une preuve d’identité pour chaque passager incluant les enfants. Les enfants volent gratuitement sur Air Astana et pour KLM ca coute $95 environ. Nous obtenons finalement nos billets lors de la 2e visite chez Air Astana. Nous avons bien hâte d’être revenu chez nous. Olivier fait ses 2 dodos durant la journée. En fin d’après-midi, nous allons encore souper a l’hôtel le Chagala. Nous sommes devenus des clients réguliers de la place. Jackie est très fatigue aujourd’hui, elle s’est levée a 3h00am car Olivier ne dormait plus. Il est reste debout jusqu'à 11h00am sans dormir. Jackie me laisse dormir jusqu'à 7h30 pour que je puisse prendre la relève.
Dan

Mardi 19 février 2008

Olivier se réveille a 3h45am. Je le berce, je lui frotte le dos de temps a autre jusqu'à 5h00am. A cette heure il ne veut plus se rendormir donc le petit déjeuner commence avec Passe-partout (comme a tous les jours). Il aime beaucoup Passe-partout, on écoute des épisodes ensemble pendant 2 heures ce matin. Durant ce temps, je le fais manger et je me fais a manger. Il ne dit jamais rien durant tout ce temps. Jackie en profite pour dormir pendant ce temps. Elle se lève vers 8h00 je prépare son déjeuner pendant qu’elle surveille Olivier. Ensuite, je retourne me coucher jusqu'à 11h15. C’est la seule façon de survivre. En après-midi nous décidons de rester en dedans, il fait environ -10 mais nous préférons essayer de nous préparer pour le retour qui s’envient. Dormir plus de jour c’est une bonne idée car nous volons de nuit des le départ d’Ouralsk. Le vol quitte a 11h00pm et arrive a Almaty a 3h00am. Jackie a déjà fait une grande partie de nos bagages.
Dan

LET'S START A COUNT DOWN!!!! 8 DAYS TO GO!

2008-02-16T20:26:00.000-08:00

I have to say time is going really slow now!!! I’m very anxious to get back home to all of you and my precious cat, that will never forgive us for coming home with a screaming baby! I know it will take time for everyone to adjust, just with the time difference I heard it could take a week or more for everyone to be able to function properly. Then with the cat being chased by an over excited baby is going to be the death of him (he is 17 human years). I will be monitoring the little Oli-K’s activities a lot, they say that at the beginning the baby will be over stimulated by everything, so no bringing him to the groceries, no toy shopping, don’t bring him all over the house or to other peoples house. It will be an overload for his little mind! Some books emphasize to only be in one room all the time with the baby until he is ready to go into another, with Oli-K that will be after he has touched everything and put it in his mouth. To be continued…I’m being summoned by the prince of the orange kingdom!

17th Sunday, continuation

Baby Oli-K was a true prince yesterday, he didn’t give us too much problems going to sleep and he slept from 10:30 till 7 am (he was up from 5 am I’m sure but let us sleep in), “Oh la belle vie”. Today we aren’t planning much, just a little pub food and groceries at the Atrium. Yesterday we went to pick up some more diapers and formula NAN2 for our return home. THIS COULD BE NEXT WEEK, YAHOO!!! WOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!! Any traveling tips for parents with a wired baby? We have a long flight back home 20 hours + but before that, we need to prepare bottles, food and change of clothes for when he poops or barfs on one of us!

2008-02-16T08:22:00.000-08:00

DANIEL A DES CHOSES A DIRE!!!!!

2008-02-16T08:07:00.000-08:00

Mardi 12 février 2008

Olivier c’est lève a 3h00am ce matin et ne voulait plus dormir. Jackie cette fois lui a tenu compagnie. Il s’est finalement rendormi vers 4h30am jusqu'à 6h00am. Moi j’ai dormi jusqu'à 8h00am et Jackie a retourne se coucher a 9h00am. Je crois que les antibiotiques prescrit cause ce problème mais Jackie n’est pas trop sur. Nous sommes fatigues mais nous savons que nous trouverons une solution à ce problème bientôt. De toute façon les antibiotiques sont pour 5 jours seulement. Nous allons à l’hôtel le Chagala vers 4h00pm avec Isabelle et sa mère. Nous passons de bons moments ensemble et décidons d’y rester pour le souper. On commande a la carte une assiette de patates pillées et une assiette de steak hache pour les petits et 2 pizzas pour nous. Nous mangeons dans le lobby de l’hôtel car le bar est plein de fume. En effet, tout le monde fume partout ici. Les compagnies de tabac compensent surement pour les diminutions de vente sur le marche Nord Américain. Les jeunes fument et boivent de l’alcool aussi dans l’escalier de notre appartement. Ca sent tellement mauvais que j’ai décidé de celler le contour de la porte avec le fameux Duc Tape que nous avons apporte ; et ce a tous les soirs. Ce ruban sert a toute sorte de chose, c’est vraiment un outil essentiel pour les parents adoptants au Kazakhstan. La porte doit-être celler vers 4h30pm – 5h00pm tous les jours, sinon on étouffe…
Dan

Mercredi 13 février 2008

Le petit Olivier s’est réveillé a 2h00am et a 4h00am. Ma rapide intervention fut un succès, une remise au lit forcée (car il se lève debout dans le bassinet et pleure) et un bon frottage de dos et il s’est rendormit les 2 fois assez rapidement. Il s’est réveillé pour de bon a 6h10am. Ce matin il résiste au sommeil malgré nos efforts répétés, il s’endort pour une mince demi-heure seulement. Elvira nous annonce hier soir que le passeport du petit est arrive. Une très bonne nouvelle ! Elvira est suppose de passer a 9h00am ce matin pour nous faire signer d’autres documents. Il est présentement 10h50am au moment ou j’écris ses lignes et elle n’est toujours pas la ! Elle a téléphoné a 10h10 pour me dire qu’elle serait la dans 10 – 15 minutes… Heureusement, ceci n’est pas arrive trop souvent. Généralement elle est toujours à l’heure. Dans l’après-midi nous prenons une grande marche nous allons vers des commissions et puis arrêtons chez Isabelle. Ensuite nous retournons a notre appartement pour faire face a notre damné porte extérieure a combinaison gelée bien dure. (Avis au futur occupant de cet appartement : Pascal et Lisa : soyez prêt à cette éventualité, les vêtements chauds sont nécessaires) Comme il nous était arrive plus tôt dans le voyage nous sommes pris a l’extérieur. Heureusement, Elvira est dans les parages car nous commencions à avoir froid. Nous allons faire un tour avec elle en attendant que quelqu’un ouvre cette maudite porte par l’intérieur. Nous sommes de retour 45 minutes plus tard et la porte est entre-ouverte ; problème réglé pour cette fois.

Jeudi 14 février 2008

Olivier se réveille 6 fois durant la nuit. Heureusement, on le rendors rapidement a chaque fois. Moins 19 degrés ce matin. Isabelle à une diarrhée aujourd’hui donc elle reste à son appartement. Ha ! Ces fameuses bactéries du Kazakhstan elles font chier !! Jackie, Olivier et moi allons encore une fois à l’hôtel le Chagala pour la St-Valentin. Nous mangeons une pizza et en commandons une pour apporter. Olivier dors durant presque tout le temps que nous sommes a l’hôtel car on le berce / brasse dans la poussette. Si on arrête, généralement il se réveille 5-10 minutes plus tard. Les fameuses vibrations, il y a rien comme ca pour endormir un bébé. Jackie est très fatiguée et se couche vers 8h30, donc je donne la dernière bouteille a 10h00pm.
Dan

Vendredi 15 février 2008

Ce matin -20 degrés et nuageux. Nous pensions que les choses ne pouvaient pas être pire pour le sommeil mais cette nuit Olivier s’est réveillé au 45 minutes toute la nuit. Jackie a décidé de le mettre dans la poussette (en passant notre poussette s’incline complètement pour former un lit) et de le brasser doucement a chaque fois qu’il s’est réveillé. Disons que, la nuit a été longue. Le sommeil sera définitivement le plus gros challenge avec le petit Olivier. Il est très têtu et insiste pour rester éveillé toujours le plus longtemps possible. Nous essayons d’instaurer une routine stable mais il n’est pas toujours possible de la respecter. Elvira est passe aujourd’hui a 3h45 a l’improvise sans nous avoir appelé au préalable au moment ou l’on essayait de faire dormir Olivier. Ceci nous a cause vraiment un gros problème : nous avons passe tout droit l’heure du dodo l’Olivier. Ensuite ca été tout simplement impossible de le faire dormir avant 6h30pm, heure a laquelle il est sur-fatigue et refuse de manger quoique ce soit. Il accepte seulement la bouteille de lait puis tombe endormi. Vers 8h30 nous le réveillons pour voir s’il va manger. La réponse est claire ; c’est un non catégorique. Rapidement nous réalisons qu’il est surexcité et même avec une bonne bouteille de lait (qui fonctionne habituellement) nous sommes dans le trouble. Rien mais absolument rien ne fonctionne c’est la crise, les pleures, les cris jusqu'à minuit ou il tombe de fatigue par lui-même dans le bassinet.
Dan

COOL BOOTS, HIS FEET AREN'T THAT BIG!

2008-02-13T05:33:00.000-08:00

BABE OF OUR OWN!!

2008-02-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

I can’t believe we are parents, I really didn’t think it would be easy but my friends (yes you guys) made it seem like a piece of cake. I love my little man, he is everything we could of wished for; he is sweet, funny and affectionate. He loves music, playing, pinching his mama and biting his dada. I love when he yawns in my arms and then falls asleep in a snap it makes me believe that he feels safe. I already feel like I’m going to miss these moments of togetherness for the 3 of us, once home.

Ok enough mushiness!!!

So what we’ve been up to! Our walks bring us to the hotel Chagala quite often where we have a bite to eat (pizza) and coffee, there is a bar area but we only sit in front because of the men in there are smoking and I don’t think they want females or babies invading their down time (I think it’s a men’s only club). So we sit in the lobby with the babies and enjoy some conversation and daydream about our journey home. We enjoy going there because we hear a lot of English conversations (I’m an eavesdropper) but never dare participate…they don’t look like they want to talk to us anyways! The owner is very polite and always has a cheerful “Good day” for us! Yesterday we purchased a beautiful pair of Kazakh boots for Oli-K, they are brown leather with sheep fur on the inside (real winter boots for the sub-artic weather)…I will post a picture! I got a call from Linda this morning and I kept wondering did I post the boots already!!!

Today’s agenda is the usual, walk to make the baby sleep and schedule an early dinner for Valentine’s Day tomorrow and maybe take some nighttime pictures (it is so beautifully light at night). We are sending our love across the world to all of you, enjoy tomorrow.

DANIEL BLOGGING!!!!

2008-02-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

Lundi 4 février 2008

Bonne journée aujourd’hui, Olivier dort presque toutes les heures qu’il est suppose dormir soit 2 x 2h00 le matin et 2 x 2h00 l’après-midi. Nous allons se promener à chaque jour avec la poussette 1 ou 2 fois. Pour diner nous allons chez Kamelot (tout comme le château du roi Arthur) avec Isabelle, sa mère et la petite Angelica. Le diner se passe très bien, les enfants dorment dans les poussettes durant presque tout le repas. A la fin du repas on les sort des poussettes a la grande joie des serveuses, c’est un vrai show de bébés !! Le repas fut très bon, c’est différent mais c’est bon quand même. J’ai commande du pain de viandes comme mentionne dans le menu et on m’a servi du bœuf farci aux champignons et cornichons. Un mix spécial mais quand même bon. Jackie a commande des pates avec du poulet et de la sauce soya. Isabelle et sa mère commande la même chose que Jackie mais rajoute une salade césar comme on en a jamais vue. Une salade césar avec presque pas de salade, c’est assez spécial ! Nous décidons d’y retourne pour la St-Valentin.
Dan

Mardi 5 février 2008

Ce matin on se lève comme d’habitude vers 6h00am et nous quittons l’appartement vers 7h30 pour aller au bureau des passeports. A l’extérieur, c’est comme en pleine nuit. Heureusement que nous sommes de bonne heure car lors de notre dernière visite il y avait 120 personnes avant nous. Nous passons rapidement malgré qu’il faille reprendre les photos des enfants (la bouche des enfants doit semble-t-il être ferme sur les photos) histoire que le bureau fasse un peu plus d’argent. Puis, nous quittons pour le bureau du notaire ensuite on revient au bureau des passeports pour finaliser le tout. Le compte a rebours est commence, dans 20 jours environs nous devrions quitter le pays. On a tous bien hâte de revenir à Montréal.
Dan

Mercredi 6 février 2008

Aujourd’hui notre petit commence à nous donner du file a retorde pour dormir. Il pleure et pleure et ne veux rien savoir. On a beau le berce mais il se réveille aussitôt qu’on le dépose dans le bassinet. C’est pénible pour lui et pour nous. Mon dos est tout simplement hors d’usage depuis l’arrive a Almaty a cause du poids du sac a dos que j’avais a transporter (70lbs sur le dos d’un gars qui se remet d’une blessure au dos cause par mon sport préfère : le badminton) . J’endure mon mal mais je ne peux pas le prendre pour le bercer, il pèse environ 20lbs et c’est tout simplement trop pour mon dos. Jackie prend la relève pour l’instant mais je sais que c’est trop pour une seule personne. Olivier prend 30 à 45 minutes pour s’endormir dans nos bras tout en buvant une bouteille de lait. C’est assez pour faire craquer le bas de dos le plus résistant car il faut faire cette routine 5 fois par jour si on n’utilise pas la poussette; c’est hallucinant… Un enfant adopte ne réagit pas comme un enfant biologique. On lui donne toute l’attention possible et on s’assure de toujours garder le contact avec lui, on ne le quitte jamais. On espère que l’attachement sera créé plus rapidement ainsi.
Dan

Jeudi 7 février 2008

Nos problèmes de dodos avec Olivier continue aujourd’hui. Il a dormi 1h15 puis 30 minutes un peu plus tard. C’est totalement insuffisant mais nous sommes à bout. Nous décidons de le laisser éveiller comme il le veut. Pour la première fois depuis le début de nos marches dehors, Olivier reste éveillé durant toute la durée de la marche. Il a vraiment une résistance pas ordinaire. Nous sommes impressionne par le petit.
Dan

Vendredi 8 février 2008

La température descend un peu plus bas aujourd’hui (-10 mais on ressent -20 avec le vent) après plusieurs journée de temps doux. C’est une autre journée avec peu de sommeil pour bébé, 2h10 total dans un seul dodo. Nous allons faire un tour chez Isabelle et sa mère. Malheureusement, le visa de Mme. Landry est expire depuis le 24 janvier et elle doit en obtenir un autre avant le départ du Kazakhstan. L’agence est responsable de cette erreur et accepte de payée les frais.
Dan

Samedi 9 février 2008

Le retour des grands froid aujourd’hui -23 au thermomètre ce matin. Nous allons quand même marche mais pas trop loin vers la fin de la journée. Olivier ne dort toujours que très peu durant la journée. On se compte quand même chanceux car il dort la nuit pour l’instant. Nous allons à deux cliniques aujourd’hui avec Olivier. Le premier médecin que nous rencontrons est une femme d’apparence plutôt bizarre. Elle porte une espèce de réflecteur attache a sa tète, quelque chose qu’on ne voit plus au Canada depuis les années 50. Elle nous donne toutes sortes de conseils et des prescriptions puis notre allons voir une autre spécialiste. Celle-ci nous semble plus crédible et nous donne plusieurs prescriptions que nous allons faire remplir a la pharmacie. Pas d’infections aux oreilles d’après le premier médecin. Le deuxième nous dit cependant qu’il a une bronchite. Il ne fait pas de fièvre et nous sommes incertains de la validité des diagnostiques. Nous essayerons certains médicaments et nous verrons bien. Dans la nuit de samedi a dimanche, Olivier se réveille a 4h00am et ne dort plus. Ouf ! la journée va être longue… Heureusement qu’on est deux, Jackie se lève et je me recouche après lui avoir préparé un café. Vers 8h20am je me lève, prépare le déjeuner et après Jackie va se coucher.
Dan

Dimanche 10 février 2008

Autre journée froide a Ouralsk (-20). Le petit est debout depuis 4h00am mais Jackie a réussi à le faire dormir un 2h00 additionnel avant que je me lève a 8h20am. Je joue avec lui environ 1h30 et Jackie se lève déjà. Nous allons faire la promenade habituelle malgré le froid. Cette fois-ci Isabelle et sa mère viennent nous rejoindre ici a notre appartement puis nous allons a l’hôtel Le Chagala prendre une bière pendant que les bébés dorment un peu (20 minutes seulement pour Olivier). La journée se termine par une nuit entrecoupée de crises et de remise sur le dos dans le bassinet car il se lève et s’agrippe a la barre du haut en criant fort pour nous réveiller efficacement !!
Dan

Lundi 11 février 2008

Vers 4h15am, il tente de se lever et je décide de prendre les choses en main. J’amène le bassinet dans le salon et je le recouche immédiatement en lui disant : c’est le temps de faire des dodos,… Pendant ce temps Jackie peu dormir et récupérer un peu. Apres plusieurs tentatives de remises au lit il craque et se rendort vers 5h30am pour une demi-heure car a 6h00am c’est clair ; monsieur ne dormira plus. Par contre, il dormira beaucoup durant la journée : 1h45 le matin et 2h40 dans l’après-midi. Ce soir, je l’ai couche a 8h00pm nous le réveillerons a 10h00pm pour lui donner son snack habituel (céréales et une bouteille de lait) et nous espérons qu’il dormira jusqu'à 6h00am cette fois-ci.
Dan

OUR WALKS TO PUT THE BABIES TO SLEEP!

2008-02-10T21:02:00.000-08:00

WHERE HE ACTUALLY TAKES HIS NAPS...MY POOR BACK!

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when he is not being forced to sleep!!!

2008-02-10T20:54:00.000-08:00

DOCTOR, DOCTOR GIVE ME THE NEWS…

2008-02-10T20:33:00.000-08:00

We have been m.i.a from the blogging scene because our Olivier is having all kinds of issues; first the teething, then the forgoing of the naps, then refusing to sleep at all at night and finally diarrhea. We decided on the week-end to bring him to the clinic because his tooth if finally out of the gum and he is still pulling his ear, amongst all his other ailments. The first clinic we went to, the doctor on duty resembled a cartoon character with a big loop in front of her coke bottle glasses and thick messy hair she looked more like a mad scientist than a doctor. Elvira came with us to translate but honestly I didn’t need to hear what this doctor had to say, I don’t think she listened to what his symptoms were and she came up with a diagnosis of he is healthy, clean his ears with a Q-tip swab and he will stop playing with it. Oh and he has a throat problem, that he inherited from his mother, that is when she stuck a metal tongue suppressor in my mouth and confirmed her suspicions, that he inherited it from me and not from his father Daniel. I was flattered that basically he looks like me but not impressed with the rest!!! So off to the next doctor, a specialist for lungs, I wanted to make sure that he only has a cold and not bronchitis (he’s coughing a lot and wheezing). She prescribed him some antibiotics and some sort of syrup, so far he is sounding better but he is still not sleeping…and he is still tugging his ear (they did say nothing is wrong with his ear) I wonder if it is a trick to keeping himself awake (he only does it when I’m trying to put him to sleep or while he is sleeping?

OH! I have to run the BABY master bellows!!!

Give me a second, a minute, a moment of your time…

2008-02-04T08:06:00.001-08:00

I finally have a minute to myself, to update the blog and to have a coffee. It is Thursday at 10:30 am for me and Thursday 12:30 Am for the rest of you, 10 hours differences, this makes me a savant, I can see into the future for all of you. I can watch CNN and tell what you will find out later on, I can tell what your weather will be like. Unfortunately I CANNOT predict when I will be able to sit at a table and eat, write this blog, sleep, or my Oli-k’s moods. It is taken us some time today and yesterday to put him down for his naps and sleep, but I did it, I put baby Dan and baby Oli down. So here I am alone with my thoughts, what should I do? Ok, I will write my blog.

I’m wondering when will I be home, I miss my cat, my friends, my family, my car. I keep saying to Isabelle and her mother (people here adopting) that we should be home in 2 weeks, (I know this isn’t the case but it makes me look forward to a date) what I didn’t realize is Isabelle’s mother thought I was serious and had a break down the other day saying “how come we can’t go home, Jackie has been saying for weeks now it’s 2 weeks left”. When I heard this (I was so sad for her), to be continued (baby is up)

8:12 pm 10:12 am(your time) I’m back but not for long, I have to clean up while the little one is sleeping and I have to give the computer to Daniel so he can answer e-mails, so what was I saying before…Oh yes, Isabelle’s mother. And now to make matters worse they just found out that her visa to be in the country has expired since the 24th of January and that they will extend it at a crazy price of 500$ … That really shouldn’t have happened, all of our visa are for 3 months and Micheline (Isabelle’s mom) had hers done with Isabelle. Anyways I feel really bad for them and us!

I know most of the hard part is done but another hard issue is getting to know our son, it is a gradually process and very hard to understand considering for the last 9 months all he has heard is Russian or Kazakh, and here we are expecting him to understand dodo (is that universal?). I tried to show him on a doll (cabbage patch) but her eyes stay open so it’s lost in translation, so I tried to explain to him the process of dodo (to whole bath ritual, etc) and then I kissed the doll, well he decided to show me he knows how to kiss. He crawled right up to her and sucked her cheek, what a kisser!!!

Ok that is my thought of the day, I will let Daniel use the computer while he has a free minute.

NO WALK IN THE PARK FOR US!!!

2008-02-04T08:06:00.000-08:00

Well let me just say it has been a hard couple of days with our little angel…and I want to thank everyone that called us to give us some courage, we are truly bless to have him and all of you in our lives, that also includes all the emails we received with great wishes!!!!!

The story goes a little bit like this,

Olivier is extremely happy to be in our arms, but he likes to play also on the floor with his toys, he also enjoys pase-partout and some baby Einstein…but try and put him to bed and the Alien comes out and he is kicking, screaming and probably cursing us! He doesn’t enjoy the food I give him, but that is entirely my fault for not being a good baby chef (those darn jars). He use to eat for lunch at the baby house meat and potatoes, but he has written it off since busting out of the joint!!! I can’t blame him. After an entire day of food fights, we discovered that he is teething and that is why he is confused all the time as to what he wants! Another thing I remembered was a good friend telling me that once the child passes his nap schedule, all hell will break lose and she was right. So now when it is approaching dodo time…I set him up 15 minutes before and then he goes down easier (without a fuss). When I say “set him up” I mean, we calm him down by holding him in our arms then start closing the lights in the rooms as we walk by, humming a favorite song and coach him to close his eyes. What he does that melts my heart each time (I keep asking Dan to video tape it but he forgets to bring the camera to the room, I’m going to have to set him up too), While I’m lying on the bed and he is fussing he finally gives up and rest his wary head on my stomach, then lifts it looks at me, smiles and does it again, he does this continuously until he falls asleep…usually it’s because I’m rubbing his back. What we did yesterday (when we didn’t know better) we would pack him up once it was too late and bring him outside for a walk in his stroller and yes he fell asleep like magic (KIM AND JEAN’S TRICK FOR NOAH). Unfortunately I’m trying to find a way that will be possible while traveling home for 22 hours, I’m working on it!!! I don’t want to be in the plane and everyone giving me the stink eye because my baby is crying to death for the whole flight (I think the getting him to sleep before his nape is due is our first clue to success).

Now for food, Daniel has decided we are going to by a blender and puree everything…I think I’m going to go through their kitchen cabinets, maybe they already have a blender?!?!? Daniel has enjoyed feeding Oli-K mashed cold bananas with his fingers (papa bounding), we notice the cold makes him feel good. We are also doubling his formula because he doesn’t want to eat. However today he seems to be feeling a lot better and I see the teeth, I think but can’t be sure, if it comes through the gums then eventually the pain will stop?!?! Anyways last night great success in putting him down and he slept 9 hours and then feeding him this morning was easy and putting him back down for his nap (oh no he’s up) 2 more hours (he sounds happy). For the next nap at noon we will go for a 2 hour, fresh warm air walk +3 degrees.

Ok the continuation, the rest of the day went really well, we went to a restaurant called Camelot and Olivier slept and then back to home for a little play time and then back out for a walk (he slept again) it sounds like we want the baby to sleep a lot hein? Well it did him good, except he didn’t like his dinner and threw it up every where, then didn’t want to eat anything else, didn’t want his bottle and was extremely hard to go down. I also noticed that he is wheezing and it is worrying me. Needless to say baby was crying for at least 35 minutes straight in my arms and he wouldn’t let me put him down, or seat down! A single tear rolled down my face because it pains me not understanding what is going on with him and being so far away from everyone or anyone that could help us and speak English. My little angel looked up at me, stopped crying/ yelling and touched my tear and made a sad face and closed his eyes. I don’t think I’m going to resort to crying but wow that was a very special moment for me.

Tomorrow we are off to do the passport…wish us luck!!!!

Meme histoire mais la version a Daniel en francais

2008-02-03T20:24:00.000-08:00

Suite du 31 janvier

La balance de la journée est plutôt pourrie. En effet, nous attendons dans la voiture pour avoir le jugement par écrit durant 1 heure, et on ne l’obtient pas (problèmes d’ordinateur,…) puis on va a chez le notaire, chez le ministère, chez Elvira, on ramasse Isabelle pour attendre encore et encore durant au moins 4h00 dans la minivan. C’est tellement long que ca me donne un torticolis !! Finalement, nous devions aller a l’orphelinat pour aller chercher les enfants et ca sera impossible faute de documents; quelle déception !
Dan

Vendredi 1 février 2008

Ce matin on va faire l’épicerie en premier puis nous allons chercher les enfants après. Cette fois-ci ca marche, je ne sais pas ce qu’Elvira a fait mais maintenant nous avons le droit d’aller chercher les enfants. Vers l’heure du diner nous sommes de retour à l’appartement avec nos enfants. C’est vraiment spécial d’avoir enfin notre petit Olivier avec nous. En après-midi nous partons avec les enfants pour aller chercher des documents notariés et les passeports. Encore une fois, longue attente dans la voiture pour rien ! Le bureau des passeports est étrangement ouvert seulement les matins entre 8h00 et 11h00 du mardi au vendredi pour le service rapide ? A mon humble avis, ceci ne fait aucun sens car nous avons paye extra pour le service rapide et il n’y a pas de service les après-midis et les lundis. Ca fait partie de la game, que voulez-vous… Elvira ne savait pas qu’il avait change cette politique depuis le 1 janvier 2008. Vive la bureaucratie maintenant il faut attendre a mardi pour avoir les passeports : donc, +4 jours sur la date de départ… Je suis bleu… La première nuit avec bébé se passe relativement bien. On le couche a 8h00 puis il se réveil a minuit pour une période de 2h00 (un peu long mais que voulez-vous c’est la vie de maman et papa!) puis se rendort jusqu'à 8h00am.

Samedi 2 février 2008

Journée d’adaptation avec Olivier. C’est pas facile nous n’avons jamais eu d’enfants mais c’est définitivement le parfait endroit pour apprendre. Mon Dieu qu’il pleure le pauvre petit!! Ce n’est pas toujours de ca faute, nous devons apprendre et je dois admettre que malgré tout notre bonne volonté nous faisons quelques erreurs qui le font pleurer un peu plus qu’il ne le devrait normalement. Nous savons que ses dents poussent (il en a 6 présentement plus 2 nouvelles a l’horizon) et que ca lui fait vraiment mal. L’autre problème est qu’il est super difficile avec la nourriture. C’est la crise après 2 ou 3 bouchées, il se tortille en pleurant comme si on le torturait. Pour les dodos c’est une autre histoire à dormir debout… On essaye de le bercer, de le brasser doucement en lui chantant frère Jacques : de la patience beaucoup de patience… Non, ce n’est pas un pinic mais l’expérience rentre au poste. Je ne suis nullement surpris par tout ceci, c’était prévu et compris d’avance. J’avais déjà observe les enfants de nos voisins, ami(e)s et aussi ma nièce Elena ; c’était clair au départ. C’est le cours Parents 101 que nous vivons et la meilleure chose c’est que nous n’avons rien de mieux à faire ici !! A Vaudreuil cet apprentissage aurait été plus long et plus pénible ; c’est évident. Notre routine habituelle nous enlèverait ce temps précieux avec l’enfant ; c’est sur.

Dimanche 3 février 2008

Nous développons de nouvelles méthodes rapidement. Olivier pleure moins. Youppie ! Pour les dodos dans la journée c’est la méthode de nos ami(e)s Kim et Jean qui a le plus de succès, c’est très simple : on va faire une randonnée avec la poussette le matin et aussi en après-midi. C’est la méthode fool proof à 100% !! Les vibrations de la poussette mettent le petit Olivier Kao en moins de 5 minutes sans cris et pleurs. En bonus, nous perdons du poids et améliorons notre forme physique. Nous réussissons à le faire dormir 2 heures le matin et 2 heures l’après-midi avec cette nouvelle poussette. C’est un miracle sur 4 roues ! En plus, il aime ca, il nous fait même des sourires une fois confortablement installe bien sur. Nous découvrons que pour la bouffe, le secret c’est de lire un livre que nous avons apporte avec nous fort heureusement. Lentement, on réussi avec des fruits frais écrasés: bananes, poires,… A date les petits pots de pure ne font pas vraiment son affaire par contre il aime boire a peu prêt n’importe quoi. Il continue d’avoir une congestion chronique, omniprésente depuis le tout début. J’espère qu’un docteur a Montréal pourra le guérir rapidement de ce problème.
Dan

FIRST DAY HOME AT THE APARTMENT!!

2008-02-01T09:26:00.000-08:00

I had to video tape this because he was laughing so hard and kissing the mirror!!

IT’S OFFICIAL…BUT NOT WITHOUT A LOT OF DELAYS!!!

2008-02-01T09:13:00.000-08:00

We get a call at 10:25 on Thursday while I’m toweling off from my shower, and Daniel is saying “well that is great news”. I had to ask what is great news? he answers “the judge decided he has free time after Isabelle adoption and we are being picked up at 10:45 and court will be at 11:00 instead of 3:00pm…OK RUN!!!! (we gladly go to court early thinking we will get our son hopefully after). Court was scary and I cried again while being asked questions. Talk about being a nervous wreck, Daniel did very well and all I had to say is “I support the adoption application and I love my son and husband very much!!!!” We left the room and waited for the judge’s decision, 10 minutes of nail biting. He calls us back in and renders his final decision. “I have decided in your favor…YOU ARE OFFICIALLY OLIVIER KEANU RENAT LAURIN’S PARENTS”, then he wished us a lot of luck and congratulations!

Now the fun stuff, we thought it would be as simple as going to pick up our babies, but NNNOOOOO! We did a lot of parking, waiting and driving (errors in the file, photocopier broke down, ect) to not pick up our children or to get any other process started. We entered our apartment exhausted from just sitting in a car for about 5 hours, we did manage to buy an umbrella stroller for Oli-k. So Friday we shall start this whole driving around and picking up our babies again.

Friday morning, usual pick-up time 9:30. Elvira has already done some of the running around without us. We pick up Isabelle and go to the registers office to drop off some papers, then we go to Oral to pick up some more food, then to the baby house #1 to pick up our babies, to say goodbye and drop off gifts. We finished that around 11:45. Elvira tells us she will pick us up again after at 2:30 to go back to the registers office to sign some papers (that they finally finished), then to the notary again and then to the passport office to start the process. Seems pretty simple except for with our new son, that is off his schedule, hasn’t eaten much and is fed up of being in a car in the same position = mad baby!!! To make matters worse, as of the new year the passport office has specific days and hours for expediting passports… needless to say, we have to go back on Tuesday only, that right there has delayed our return home by 5 days!!!!!

Anyways we are together and that is what counts. We finally got him to sleep at 8 pm after his bottle and bath, (hates his bath)…and we are pooped! Our first day as parents and I have to admit it is tuff!!! I’m off to bed and for those of you that wanted a picture…here it comes!!!

UN RESUME DE DANIEL DU 23 AU 30 JANVIER!!

2008-01-31T18:49:00.001-08:00

Mercredi 23 janvier 2008

Jackie pense avoir le rhume encore une fois aujourd’hui donc nous allons visiter Olivier le matin seulement. Dans l’après-midi nous relaxons et restons à l’appartement. Olivier est toujours amorphe aujourd’hui et il continue d’être congestionne, c’est une situation qui semble permanente a l’orphelinat. L’échange constant de jouets qu’ils mettent tous dans leurs bouches explique ce problème. Une fois a la maison nous croyons qu’il se débarrassera de ce rhume constant. La température c’est réchauffée il fait environ -14 degrés. Le soir vers 7h00 Lorraine nous appelle de Vaudreuil, ca fait longtemps qu’on n’a pas parle a une amie de notre quartier en direct.
Dan

Jeudi 24 janvier 2008

Ce matin, une chose intéressante c’est produite. Olivier nous imite et il commence à dire maman et papa !! Ca un effet encourageant sur nous. Nous sommes vraiment emballes de ce nouveau développement. Nous le filmons entrain de répéter ces mots avec la camera digitale, ca fera de beaux souvenirs. Nous croyons que de nous voir régulièrement accélère grandement son développement Les nounous l’avait déjà remarque il y a une semaine, des changements dans son comportement était entrain de se produire. Jackie se sent mieux aujourd’hui, elle a été capable d’éviter un rhume. C’est probablement grâce au fait que l’on a la chance de dormir beaucoup, soit 9 a 10 heures par nuit. Le matelas souffle (style pour le camping) que nous avons apporte est pas mal confortable. C’est définitivement mieux que le mince matelas de foam de 1 pouce d’épaisseur sur lequel repose notre matelas souffle (Kim et Jean nous sympathisons avec vous). C’est un $25 bien investi croyez-moi !!
Dan

Vendredi 25 janvier 2008

2 visites habituelles aujourd’hui. Olivier ne nous imite pas aujourd’hui. Il est vraiment « moody ». Il change comme la température.
Dan

Samedi 26 janvier 2008

Apres la visite habituelle du matin nous allons faire l’épicerie. Nous allons chez Oural puis chez Baytereck (une plus petite surface). Vers 4h00 Elvira et Oscar viennent jouer une partie de Blokus. On joue jusqu'à 6h30, c’est plaisant d’avoir un peu de changement dans la routine.
Dan

Dimanche 27 janvier 2008

Aujourd’hui diner au Dixie Pub avec Isabelle et sa mère. Malheureusement, nous ne pouvons commander notre pizza habituelle. Nous commandons un club sandwich, des frites et des tacos, c’est mangeable mais ce n’est rien de fantastique. Plus tard nous allons magasiner et Jackie achète une paire de superbes bottes d’hiver qui ont du style (voir photo sur le blog) et qui sont doublées, donc chaudes pour l’hiver. C’est le genre de bottes qu’on ne retrouve pas à Montréal. Ici c’est plein de beau style de bottes pour femmes, l’assortiment est incroyable, c’est le rêve des fanatiques comme Jackie. Pour les hommes il y a une grande variété de souliers doubles ; ce qu’on ne voit pas par chez nous. Les gens ont du style au Kazakhstan, on dépense beaucoup sur le look même s’il n’en on pas les moyens. Je me suis même acheté un chapeau de style Kazakh car ma tuque faisait dure. J’aurais bien fait de porter un de mes manteaux de cuir pour le style mais j’aurais gelé a notre arrivée. Un manteau de cuir a -30 c’est impensable mais pas pour les Kazakhs. Aujourd’hui la température se situe aux environs de -5 degrés Celsius et il neige.
Dan

Lundi 28 janvier 2008

Ce matin il neige toujours. C’est une bonne accumulation pour ici : environ 10cm sont tombes. Normalement, le climat est froid et très sec, donc très peu de neige. Journée très chaude aujourd’hui. On passe a +2 en après-midi et la neige fond déjà. Olivier a encore attrape un rhume. Il a seulement eu quelques jours de paix et ca recommence ; pauvre lui. Nous essayons tant bien que mal de nous protéger de ce rhume (avec du Purel) mais c’est plutôt difficile car nous sommes en contact avec lui 2 heures par jour et c’est suffisant pour passer ces microbes contagieux. Nous commençons a devenir vraiment impatient avec la date de « pré-court » et de court que nous ne savons toujours pas. La période d’attachement est terminée depuis mercredi passe et le processus prend plus de temps que prévu car c’est un nouveau juge qui s’occupera de nous. Ce juge insiste pour tout révise notre dossier et ca prend plus de temps. Vers 7h00pm Elvira nous envoie un message texte sur le cellulaire disant que la pré-court sera mercredi matin (30 janvier) a 11h00am. Elle espère que la court sera vendredi (1 février) mais n’est certaine de rien. Le juge décide tout et nous n’avons aucune influence sur lui.
Dan

Mardi 29 janvier 2008

Il fait toujours chaud aujourd’hui ; -5 degrés. Jackie et moi sommes en discussion sur la date de notre départ. Nous décidons de voir quand sera la date de court pour prendre une décision. Normalement, c’est environ une vingtaine de jour pour réunir les documents nécessaires (passeport de l’enfant et autres) pour le retour au Canada. En après-midi Olivier est hyperactif, il bouge plus que jamais et ne veux presque pas manger son pate chinois habituel.
Dan
Mercredi 30 janvier 2008

Aujourd’hui c’est la pré-court. Nous sommes nerveux malgré que nous savons bien qu’il n’y a rien la. Le juge regarde nos papiers et fait des commentaires qu’Elvira traduit pour nous. Il demande toutes sortes de modifications sur nos documents. La dame du ministère de l’éducation aura quelques documents à modifier. Elle répond qu’elle est d’accord pour le faire. Notre agence aura aussi à faire quelques ajustements dans le futur. Puis, le juge tombe sur le fait que nous n’avons pas de documents signes pour les gardiens légaux (parrain, marraine de l’enfant). Celui-ci insiste pour avoir ce papier (malgré que l’agence ne nous l’avait pas demande). A ce moment Jackie commence a pleurer et moi je me choque pensant que tout le processus sera retarde. Ensuite, Lonia nous dit de ne pas nous inquiéter car nous obtiendrons le document avec l’aide d’Anna, Fred et Lorraine (parrain et marraine) a Montréal. Effectivement c’est ce qui c’est produit. Des 6h30am, heure de Montréal, nous faisons des appels pour demander l’aide de nos bons ami(e)s et aussi l’aide d’Anna. Heureusement, ils sont en mesure de nous prêter main forte. Un gros merci a tous, c’est un stress de moins sur nos épaules. Finalement, le juge établi la date de court au lendemain 3h00pm (jeudi 31 janvier) pour nous et a 10h00am pour Isabelle. Youppie ! C’est une excellente nouvelle… Nous décidons de rester à Ouralsk pour la pleine durée soit un autre 3 semaines environs. Nous estimons être à Montréal pour le 24 février. Nous serons donc au Kazakhstan pour un total de 9 semaines. Il faut dire que nous sommes arrive 2 semaines et demi a l’avance a cause du changement de dernière minute avec la disponibilité des enfants dans la base de données d’adoption. Nous avions déjà nos billets d’avion au moment de ce changement donc ca nous aurais un $500 additionnel pour changer la date de départ.

WE HAVE A DATE!!!

2008-01-30T07:11:00.000-08:00

Well ladies and gentleman the moment has finally arrived, we got a court date. Let me start from the moment we woke up… It all started with a beautiful phone call from my poupee Linda back in Mtl, we talked for a while (she had purchased a calling card). The phone disconnected 3 times but we will speak again. It made me feel so full of happiness that when we hung up for real, I was missing her already and home. But as most of you already know today Wednesday is/was a biggish day…Pre-court!!!! I’m a nervous wreck and Lin calmed me down.

10:20 we’re picked up and off to pick up Isabelle, she is alone because her mother cannot enter the court, and she is an emotional mess like me. We arrive at the court and to my surprise it looked similar to the hospital building, (amongst tiny houses/shacks) but no chefs walking around. Daniel was calm but I was the bubbling one, feeling nervous and (why is it I’m always the one sitting in front of the judge or the important person).

Pre-court; we take off our coats and Elvira is trying to tell us something like don’t make to much gestures and don’t say anything…what does she mean gestures? Needless to say I cried when the honorable judge found a problem with our file (I think that is a pretty big gesture)! To me it was serious because I didn’t know how I was going to get that information for him by tomorrow, and for Daniel, he kept thinking this is going to delay us by 2 extra weeks. I couldn’t understand why they needed this information (it’s because Isabelle had included this in her home study) and now we need to prove we had it. This mysterious paper was guardian ship of Olivier (the Godparents), so it was rectified by a phone call to the Godparents and they will send a paper stating that they will accept…Lorraine and Fred accepted!!!

Next was the mad rush to get everything we don’t have at the apartment for Olivier’s home coming (imagine it the apartment has become home). Oh! Dear did I forget to mention that the court date is Thursday, and then we pick up our son from the orphanage!!! That is all if the judge grants us the adoption. After that we start the process of getting our papers to leave, maybe we could be home in 4 weeks, I’m praying for sooner!!!

So we will let you know on Thursday if we were granted to be Olivier Keanu Renat’s parents.

Also for the future pre- adoptive parents (PAP’S) please spend all the time you have reading other peoples blogs on the region you are going to and ask your agency if the information pertains to you. I believe that all my research has made this trip a breeze for material comfort, as for documents I guess you can’t always be fully prepared (ours is a new Judge, we are his second parents)!!!

ELUSIVE DREAMS

2008-01-28T19:04:00.000-08:00

Court, no court date has been determined yet, but we do have a date for pre-court, WEDNESDAY!!!! And we are praying that he says “ok let’s go to court on THURSDAY”,is that too much to ask! It would make our life so much easier, we could finally be together. However another dream will start…the process of paper chasing to get home, which is as unpredictable and elusive as getting a court date!

Today was the same ol’ same ol’, with a twist! Olivier decided to talk again, “mamamamamama, daadaaadddddaaa papapapapa”! This is a very special moment for us that we thought we’d never experience, a young baby doing all his firsts with us!!! He also displayed his cheeky side by not talking when people were in the room, then as soon as they would leave he would turn his attention back to us and start talking all over again!!! Like I said cheeky monkey!!!!

With the previous entry on my blog, I was hoping to attract one female shoe fan in particular, but I ended up getting several comments and e-mails. However, I can’t send the phone number to the anonymous commenter since I’m not sure who you are!!! The only girls that I know that like shoes, call me baby and have not been in touch with me are…LE or JJ or EB!!! As much as I like this guessing game could the real shoe fan stand up???!!!!???

MAMA WANT S A NEW PAIR OF SHOES/BOOTS!!!!

2008-01-27T17:52:00.000-08:00

I really thought our son would be living with us this week and everybody would be saying POZDRAVLAYOU (CONGRATULATIONS) to us on finally passing to court and being a family. But as fate would have it,we haven’t passed in court and still do not have a date. It saddened me so much that I had to ponder on what I would do back home if I was getting depressed? Well the first, I would seek out my nearest and dearest; my husband, mama, then friends or it could be the other way around depending on who is the cause of the ache. Well, I cuddled with Daniel and it made me feel better but not 100% yet, so he said “I know what will do the trick!” I said “yes”, he said “ SHOESSSS”!!!! I eagerly agreed! I believe I feel down because I have nothing to do, except for eating and there is only so much eating a girl wants to do, so now it’s time for some fun activity…SHOE SHOPPING! So I pick up the phone and I call my new gal pal El (It felt like an episode of the FLINSTONES…CHARGE IT!!!!!) No sooner that I hung up the phone, I see her pulling up, screaming CHARGE IT!!! I start running out of the apartment with glea in my eyes. I think I found my shoe soul mate, I believe she has as many shoes/boots as me, if not more! I spent the next couple of hours trying on all kinds of crazy boots, when I say crazy I mean AWESOME. Let me explain the boots here are very different from the one’s back home; their are is so many different styles and all lined for winter at an affordable price. They have millions of shoe stores and millions of styles, the woman wear high heal boots in the winter and walk everywhere (no transportation) even on the ice…they look good! It is like everyone is on the catwalk struting their stuff everyday.

Anyways all this to say that I acquired a pair of KAZAKH BOOTS!!!!! And hopefully it brings me luck for a court date!!!

GUESS WHO!!!

2008-01-24T04:06:00.000-08:00

EXCITIING DAY FOR MAMA, DADA AND FAFA!!!!

2008-01-24T03:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was pretty blue again but that quickly changed when the phone rang. My Darling husband Daniel answered it and was talking very casually beside me, at first I thought it was Elvira, and then I realized he was talking about how we feel and how the weather was. I turned my head and said “who are you talking to?” He says “Lorraine” “Lorraine!!! Give me the phone!!!!” I couldn’t believe my husband, he made it sound like it’s just another regular phone call & I couldn’t believe that she was live on the other end of the phone…it made me cry again!!! I know it must cost a small fortune so I didn’t keep her on the phone too long…just long enough to say “thank you, I miss you and I love you”. And that is all I needed to go on for another day…anybody else want to call?

The happiness continued all day today THURSDAY THE 24TH. We went to the baby house again to see Olivier and brought his usual; change of clothes, 5 diapers (1 extra one for us), his books, teething ring, and some water in his bottle. The difference today was when he started imitating Daddy, “mama” baby Oli says “MAMA” then “DADA” we couldn’t believe our ears so we made him say it over and over again until I got it on video tape!!!! We are so proud of him, his first mimicking words!!! Another first was he gave me a real hug around my neck and then rested his little head on me, I’m so in love. And this isn’t the first time he does this but, it is the first time that I had a diaper to change him…he pooped on me again!!! I told Daddy that he will do the next diaper change. In the pm for our second visit, BABY OLI-K surprised us again. He was in his little walker in the playroom and Elvira was trying to get him to come to her, so she can bring him in the room for us. He didn’t budge, he just smiled at her. I said let me give a try and sure enough my little man got so happy and ran over to me in his walker. I took him out and kissed his little face, we were so proud that he is recognizing us. He trusts his mommy so much now that he pooped again on me, while I was feeding him. He doesn’t however like when I change him, he cries and wiggles to be free…Speaking of free, I told him that he would be free tomorrow from the baby house, but it looks like I was wrong!!! We still have no court date yet, I’m sad for him and for us!!! It is so hard for us to say goodbye to him when we leave the baby house, you could see in his face that he is wondering why we aren’t playing with him and his friends and why we always leave! I don’t want to leave him anymore!!!!

Just another manic Wednesday, ah Monday…oh Wednesday!!! Wish it was Sunday cause that is our fun day!!!

2008-01-24T03:25:00.000-08:00

OK I HAVEN’T POSTED IN A WHILE SO HERE IS SUNDAY TO WEDNESDAY ALL ROLLED UP.
I was thinking today, I don’t really write much detail on a day to day basis…so here goes!!!

I like Sundays because we go for a long walk that leads to my DIXIE PUB, where I get to watch hip hop videos, an English menu and a great pizza with a GREEK salad. Then I can walk around and shop (no purchases so far). Today we discovered (and it is Wednesday) a place that we could of purchased the stuff we needed in the apartment instead of bringing it from Canada (heads up future PAP’S). I also acquired a map of URALSK just to remember where everything is the next time we return…just kidding!!! I don’t think we will return anytime soon, if anything it will be in 20 years from now and I think I will need a new one! I really hope I can stay in touch with Elvira, I invited her to join facebook and to come visit in Canada. Daniel also challenged her and Oscar to a game of Blokus…his first contenders!!! We are thinking of throwing a party, a blokus party on Saturday night, I can’t wait!

On a serious note, today my little man was feeling chil-laxed and it was really special, Elvira helped me with our next picture for all of you!!! I will post it now! Olivier is getting very happy when he sees us and he definetly recognizes us when he is in his play room, he comes right to the door with his baby aid (helps them to walk, but I think it is banned in Canada, I have a scar because I fell down some stairs when I was in one of those contraptions).

On a sadder note, yesterday I cried!!! I missed my mommy and I could only imagine how my little Olivier is going to feel one day, when he is sad…will he miss me or yen for his biological mothers voice/touch? This whole adoption thing really makes you think and feel that much more! When I hold him, while I’m giving him his bottle it is like we have known each other forever, the connection is very profound. However, every other moment is spent wondering; does he know we are going to be his parents, does he know what we are doing here, is he ok???

I DON'T KNOW MUCH, BUT I KNOW I LOVE YOU!!!

2008-01-22T18:50:00.000-08:00

BLOKUS CHAMP

2008-01-22T18:40:00.000-08:00

IN OUR NEW LIVING ROOM, DANIEL IS PROUD OF HIS BLOKUS VICTORY!!!

JACKIE TO DANIEL " I DON'T THINK WE ARE IN KANSAS ANYMORE!!!!

2008-01-22T05:32:00.000-08:00

My fun illusions are starting to disappear and I’m feeling very home sick, we’ve been living here now for 4 weeks (30 days) and I just ran out of my last bit of home (Tim Hortons coffee). I think because baby Olivier is not with us and everyday is the same old same old, not that I’m not enjoying our routine, but I need somewhere to go with a purpose. There is a lot to discover but unfortunately it is back to the sub-artic weather, -35 to -40. I wanted to go shopping last week when it was warmer at the Chinese market outdoors but Daniel was ill…I wasn’t going to buy anything, it was just for the distraction! Anyways I’m praying very hard, and I ask all of you to pray with us, that our pre-court and court date is this Thursday and Friday!!! It makes a huge difference in our lives; baby Olivier will be able to leave the orphanage, you will be able to see a full picture of him, we will come home earlier, we won’t be so sad & lonely without Oli-k and I can get some Timmies ASAP!!!!. I never thought I was this addicted to Tim’s coffee, I dream about it day and night; I even talk about it in my sleep “large, double, double”.

While I have everyone’s attention I just wanted to mention, how well the orphanages are here! It is incredible at how well it is ran, for 8 babies there is a caretaker and a doctor always on staff, it resembles our daycares. I took a picture yesterday of Oli-k’s Doctor for his 9 months b-day and I will post it after the court hearing , so keep praying for the date 24th and 25th ( pre-court and court)!!! I’m clicking my red heels together 3 times “ there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home” Am I home yet????

Thanks everybody!

OLIVIER's B-DAY! A BIG 9 MONTHS

2008-01-22T05:29:00.000-08:00

21 of Jan 08

Yeah it’s Oliviers 9 month b-day!!!!

Well today is the day our son turns 9 months(21 of January)…what a milestone! We’ve only known him now for 4 weeks and in that time he has changed a lot! As a gift we gave him baby food puree (apples and prunes) for desert after lunch!!! He loved it!

Our week-end was pretty tamed, we didn’t do much except play BLOKUS for 4 (just me and Dan) he kicked my butt each time…watch out FRED, he is planning on taking over your title of “CHAMP”! What else did we do? Oh! Yes we went shopping for a winter coat for me, I wanted to see how much it would cost, to look as good as the girls here do, and it is expensive!!! The coat that I liked (not leather) was 56500 tenges = 480$ apprx, we were trying to tell the lady that we were just window shopping but she couldn’t understand our broken Russian/English, so it turned into a big conversation that we have no idea what she was saying to us in Russian, the few words we did understand, was; “I’m big, I’m not Russian, I’m big and how long”, Dan threw in for good measure, “she is Canadian and small Russian girl” and a little bit of “ Niet, Niet and Horacho”. She kept insisting that I try on the coat but I had a scary feeling that if you try it, you buy it. So, I told Dan, “slowly back away from the coat and head for the door”, we escaped without having to purchase anything. We will attempt this again when we have more words to say and Elvira.

I don’t know if I mentioned this but last Sunday after the church, we went next door to an unidentified place, the only sign that we saw was a mural of an iceberg, so we thought it had to do with skating or something on ice or an exhibition of Global warming! As the 4 of us entered, we were stopped by a young lad, he said something in Russian, and I thought I’d be cool by saying “shto eta?” (what‘s this?) He answers back in his native tongue (what was I thinking) we are still no closer to finding out what he said!!!! So this time I make gestures to go in and he says “NIET” so I ask again “shto eta?” he answers the same thing, this time making a gesture of cross country skiing or down hill mogul twisting…I shrug my shoulders and make one more attempt to walk in!!!! Needless to say, I was turned around and escorted out!!! We found out on Friday when I told Elvira that I would love to go clubbing that there is one next to the Church called…………..ICEBERG!!!! I guess that is why he wouldn’t let us in at 11 am…that and we looked ready for skiing.

Mise a jour de Daniel

2008-01-22T05:28:00.000-08:00

Mercredi 16 janvier 2008

A la visite du matin Olivier est toujours en excellente forme, il bouge et réagit avec vigueur. En après-midi c’est le contraire, il est amorphe et ne bouge pas beaucoup. A midi nous allons diner a un casse-croute de style cafeteria. Je commande une soupe appelée « bortsch ». C’est bon, mais mon n’état s’aggrave quand même, les crampes augmentent en intensité et la diarrhée arrive encore pour une 2e journée consécutive. Mon système digestif est vraiment très fragile aux envahisseurs bactériens. Avis au voyageur qui lirons ce blog: Le Bio-K (pilules de yogourt concentre) et des antibiotiques c’est bon d’en avoir en crime !! Une pilule de Bio-K par jour pour les gens sensibles c’est vraiment bon, NE JAMAIS ARRETE d’en prendre par contre. Moi, c’est ce que j’ai fait et c’est une gaffe; croyez-moi ! Heureusement, nous sommes prêt avec un arsenal d’antibiotique vraiment complet : nous avons du zitromax, du cipro et du clavulin. Je commence donc ce soir avec le cipro en espérant guérir ce problème au plus vite.

Dan

Jeudi 17 janvier 2008

Journée de congé pour maladie de mon cote. Jackie va tout de même a l’orphelinat visite Olivier le matin seulement et dans l’après-midi elle décide de rester avec moi pour me tenir compagnie. Pour l’instant les antibiotiques ne font pas encore sentir leurs effets mais Isabelle (qui est une infirmière) me dit que ca prendra un minimum de 24 heures avant d’avoir un soulagement. La diète liquide me fera surement perdre quelques livres ce qui frustre un peu Jackie car c’est elle qui aimerait vraiment perdre ces livres et non moi. Malheureusement, je m’enligne pour revenir a Montréal plus maigre que jamais.
Dan

Vendredi 18 janvier 2008

Des 9h30 ce matin je sens une bonne différence. Je serai en mesure de faire une journée normale. Nous visitons Olivier et il est de bonne humeur car a notre arrive il a droit a un massage de la part d’une des nounous. C’est suppose d’aide a réduire sa congestion. Situation qui est permanente depuis le tout début des visites. Le temps passe vite, déjà mercredi prochain c’est la fin du « bonding period » ensuite nous passerons en cours. Sur le chemin du retour de l’orphelinat nous décidons d’arrêter à un magasin pour regarder des pousse-pousses. Oliya (la chauffeuse) arrête sa minivan un peu trop loin a une intersection et décide de reculer sans trop regarder. Elle recule dans une voiture mais sans lui causer de dommages. Par contre, le pare-choc de la minivan commence a descendre de plus en plus. C’est le 2e accident en 2 semaines, Oscar (l’autre chauffeur) a eu un accident qui a déjà cause des dommages la semaine d’avant.
Dan

Samedi 19 janvier 2008

Visite le matin seulement aujourd’hui. Nous nous ennuyons vraiment beaucoup de la maison et aujourd’hui nous avons discute du retour. C’est difficile de regarder le calendrier et de voir qu’il reste encore 4 semaines à notre séjour. Jackie commence à manquer de café Tim Horton (elle avait apporte 10 sacs de café Tim Horton) et elle regrette vraiment de ne pas en avoir apporte plus. Chaque petite chose qui rappel la maison aide beaucoup a mieux supporter la durée de ce voyage. Je dois dire que Jackie a fait un excellent travail à ce niveau. Nous avions 21 kg de bagages excédentaires sur Air Astana (en passant ca coute environ $2,00 cdn par kg sur Air Astana, limite de 30kg totale par personne en première classe et 20 kg totale en classe économique). Sur KLM il n’on rien charge du tout car nous avions 4 grosses valises en dessous de 23kg donc nous respections les limites autorisées.
Dan

Dimanche 20 janvier 2008

Aujourd’hui pas de visite a l’orphelinat. Belle journée dehors -14 degré Celsius. Jackie et moi allons diner au Dixie Pub encore une fois et ensuite nous faisons quelques commissions à l’épicerie de l’Atrium. C’est vraiment bizarre de voir les tablettes de l’épicerie, elles sont souvent vides ou presque vides. Les produits sont disposes de façon a occupe le plus d’espace tablette possible, on n’étire littéralement les produits. Au Québec, les tablettes sont toujours pleines et on paye du personnel pour s’assurer qu’elle reste bien pleine. Nous croyons que la mentalité américaine des supermarchés plein a capacité ne fonctionne pas vraiment ici. Les Kazakh n’achètent pas beaucoup de bouffe a la fois, nous pensons que c’est encore comme a l’Européenne : ils achètent ce qu’ils ont besoin pour la journée ou le repas qui s’en viens, c’est tout. Je me demande si ces supermarchés vont survivre a long terme ? Nous remarquons que les gens qui sont dans ces magasins achètent des produits en petite quantité ; comme si c’était un dépanneur. De plus, il y a rarement beaucoup de clients dans le magasin…

Lundi 21 janvier 2008

Retour du froid sibérien, ce matin moins 30 degré. Olivier est « catatonique » comme Jackie le dit. C’est-a-dire qu’il est amorphe et a peu d’expression. Il fixe beaucoup, toujours sans expression. On a plus de difficultés a le faire rire. C’est presque a ce demander s’il nous reconnait. Par contre, certains jours il est plus réveille, il bouge plus, mais ce n’est pas la majorité du temps. Isabelle remarque aussi la même chose avec sa fille, donc c’est probablement normal avec des enfants en institution. Ils sont sous stimules et manque de vitalité, nous sommes certains que ce n’est qu’un phénomène temporaire. Une fois a la maison tout ceci changera rapidement. J’avais vu une bonne différence avec Noah, l’enfant de Kim et Jean avant qu’il ne quitte le 31 décembre. Noah semblait déjà plus vivant, plus actif. Nous verrons très bientôt.
Dan

Mardi 22 janvier 2008

Toujours froid ce matin. Olivier est toujours sur le « slow mo » aujourd’hui. Il mange bien mais son menu est toujours le même donc nous avons décidé hier d’introduire une nouveauté : on lui a donne de la purée en pot. L’après-midi il mange toujours du pate chinois tiède mais sans le mais en grains (niblets). A l’occasion, il refuse de manger ce pate ou il en mange un peu seulement (un gars s’écœure à la longue). Il a aime la purée en pot et c’est une bonne chose car ca fera parti de son menu très bientôt a la maison. Ce fut un bon test et c’est mieux que de ne rien manger du tout. J’ai hâte de voir ce qu’il aimera et ce qu’il n’aimera pas, c’est a suivre.
Dan

WE ARE GETTING CLOSER AND CLOSER!!!

2008-01-18T04:51:00.000-08:00

Not to say that we are living blissfully connected but it is in the making. One thing that we tend to forget once full force into the adoption is the baby. We tend to think about our needs, desires, and that they have finally been fulfilled. For him, we are just people he sees everyday that holds him, feeds him and calls him somebody else’s name, we talk different, we look different and we dress him in different get ups, like he is a doll!!! He is not sure what is going on but it is different, what we’ve noticed is he doesn’t discriminate; he holds, smiles, and laughs for anyone and everyone the same! We don’t feel special, the way we imagined in our heads before we got here, even though we knew that all the books warned adoptive parents to be prepared for this, we tend to forget! So now, what we have to do is, forge that bound, so our child knows that we are his parents, his primary caregivers, the ones he can trust and depend on! The way to do that is to be the one that answers his needs when he needs it, like when he cries, we should be the ones (me and Dan) to console him, when he wants to be picked up, it should be by us at least until he understands the dynamics of who we are and why we are!!! We are here for him…one day he will understand!

Today’s visit was very special, the reason I say special is because Daniel was absent yesterday due to his intestinal problems and as soon as Olivier saw DADA he gave big smiles and was very excited! We also suspect it was because he was getting a massage when we arrived, our son gets special treatment because he ROCKS!!!! Like I was saying very happy baby today, it warmed our hearts. He is become also a little bit clingy and shy so he tucks his beautiful little head in my chest for a second or so, we can’t wait to see him tomorrow, Saturday (only one visit). We are so proud, he sort of gave a high five 3 times and the care takers (God bless them) say they see a big improvement with his behavior/ personality…he is becoming more stubborn (like a bull)!!! We can’t wait to have him all to our self’s, he will blossom much quicker!

And now, JOJO will get her wish!!!! An eye!!!

AN EYE

2008-01-18T04:43:00.000-08:00

I SEE YOU!!!!! HOPE THIS DOESN'T GIVE AWAY WHO I AM!!!!

2008-01-16T04:24:00.000-08:00

we love his little mouth!!!! kisses to all my friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, and my grand mothers!!!!

SWEET CHILD OF MINE!!!

2008-01-16T04:13:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was a wonderful day for Olivier, he was extremely happy to see us in the morning! He flashed us his smile and decided today he is going to chat our ears off! He was a completely different baby; he was stubborn, defiant, funny and very loving. When I say stubborn, it’s because he was persistent in crawling towards the wall we didn’t want him to go to. Defiant comes into play with the afternoon feeding, he decided to spit it at me several times, by the way, it is always the same food and he has decided as per the caretaker to show us that he is boss…he hates his afternoon lunch!!! His funniness is always there but today he was in all kinds of happy moods. The loving was sweet and tender, but not for long. He likes when people blow him kisses, he starts to laugh, however this time he got shy and he hid his head in my bosom and then looked back at the kisser and he hid again. Finally he crawled up around my neck and suckled for a second. The caretakers are getting stricter with me; they have asked me to cover my head with a scarf. Anyways a week left and then off to court, hopefully it will be the 24th and 25th, then our little darling is with us in the apartment for another 3 weeks ish. Wednesday (today) was the same reception in the morning but in the afternoon he was back to feeling blah and refused to eat his lunch, I gave him an extra juice with water to compensate. And just to make my friend Christina laugh, Oli-K tried to initiate me into motherhood of a boy (spray me), but I was too quick and toke Kim’s advice and put the diaper back on him before he can succeed

Well on a brighter note the temperature has been soaring, we are going to have to purchase some spring clothes, Tuesday was 0 or +1 and today – 3, not bad hein? We don’t know how long it will last but hopefully it continues to stay around 0.

On a darker note, my darling husband is still feeling sluggish from the intestinal animal that is invading his body!!! It is eating all of Dan’s food and then liquefies it out through the wrong orifice, tonight I will start him on Cipro!!!! Wish us luck for Dan and early court date!!!!

2008-01-15T08:41:00.000-08:00

Pieces of me that you will never see again...my belly button, it's an outtie, let it go!!!

DANIEL'S STORY EN FRANCAIS/ FRENCH

2008-01-15T08:37:00.000-08:00

Vendredi 11 janvier 2008

Aujourd’hui Olivier ne semble pas dans son assiette. Depuis notre premiere rencontre il est grippe, mais aujourd’hui c’est juste pire. Il vomit un peu au debut de la visite puis encore un peu plus tard. Il baille, il se frotte les yeux, il tousse, il éternue, il est congestionne, il n’a aucune patience ; ca ne va pas ! Nous aimerions pouvoir l’aider mais rien n’a faire pour l’instant, le groupe d’enfant partage les microbes et tant qu’il fait parti de ce groupe nous croyons qu’il sera malade ; c’est inevitable. D’ici moins de 2 semaines il sera avec nous dans l’appartement et devrait se remettre de cette vilaine grippe. Jackie continue de tousser, moi je suis correct pour l’instant mais a chaque visite je sens les microbes dans ma gorge. C’est un combat contre la grippe ! On n’utilise beaucoup de Purel mais ca ne suffit pas.

Dan

Samedi 12 janvier 2008

Aujourd’hui Olivier est toujours malade. Il mange tout de meme avec un appetit vorace, il se tortille aussitôt que la cuillère n’arrive pas assez vite a son gout. Il est vraiment habitue d’etre nourrit a la vitesse de l’eclair. C’est a cause du nombre d’enfants a nourrir (un groupe de 8). Ca pleure en grand dans le groupe a chaque fois que c’est l’heure de la bouffe. Une nounous pour 8 enfants, ceux qui attendent deviennent rapidement jaloux de celui qui se fait nourrir alors c’est la crise generalisee. Aussitôt que son bol de céréales arrive il est fixe sur celui-ci, c’est comme s’il n’avait pas eu a manger depuis des jours. Je trouve ca un peu triste de le voir affame a chaque visite. Jackie a eu droit aujourd’hui a sa premiere selle en direct lorsqu’elle lui donna sa bouteille. Il y avait tellement de merde que ca lui a remonte dans le dos ! Ca promet d’etre salissant… C’est comme une initiation officielle !

Dan

Dimanche 13 janvier 2008

Calme journee sans visite a l’orphelinat. Nous sommes alles visiter la belle eglise pres de notre appartement. Elle est vraiment differente des eglises du Quebec. Tous les murs et plafonds sont peints. Se sont evidemment des representations religieuses diverses. Il n’y a aucun banc d’eglise, donc j’estime qu’ils sont tous debut durant les messes. De l’exterieur elle semble tres imposante mais a l’interieur elle est beaucoup plus petite. Il y a un cure qui semble s’addresse a un petit groupe de personne dans un coin de l’eglise. Par apres nous allons manger une pizza au Dixie Pub. Elle est excellente. C’est la troisieme pizza que l’on mange a ce restaurant. Ca rappel un peu la pizza de Montreal. Ensuite on a ramasse quelques items a l’epicerie puis de retour a l’appartement.
Dan

Lundi 14 janvier 2008

C’est la journee de l’examen avec le docteur de l’immigration aujourd’hui. Des 8h00am je sais que quelque chose ne va pas avec mes intestins. Une diarrhée commence avec des crampes intestinales, ca y est j’ai mange ou attrape une autre bebitte quelconque. Disons que nous sommes exposes passablement a l’orphelinat avec Olivier qui continue d’etre grippe. L’examen se passe a l’aeroport d’Uralsk avec une medecin Kazak qui arrive d’Almaty. Elle est tres presse car elle doit prendre le prochain avion pour retourner a Almaty. Ca dure un 15 a 20 minutes avec chaque enfant et le tour est joue. Tous ce deroule bien pour les 2 enfants. Le docteur ne nous apprend rien de neuf. Puis c’est le retour a l’appartement. Je continue d’avoir des nausees et crampes toute la journee, mais j’endure mon mal car cette etape doit etre accomplie ; malade ou pas malade.
Dan

Mardi 15 janvier 2008

Je commence ma journee pas si pire, je déjeune et les crampes recommencent. Puis un peu plus tard elles s’estompent. En route vers l’orphelinat je commence a avoir un mal de tete ; tiens le mal change de place… C’est a n’y rien comprendre. Visite normale a l’orphelinat, Olivier semble en meilleur forme aujourd’hui. Il est plus actif et bouge plus que lors des dernieres visites.

FEELING HOT, HOT, HOT!!!

2008-01-15T08:33:00.000-08:00

Monday was a pretty incredible, it was “bust your baby out of the orphanage and take him to the airport day”! We were so close to running off but, it was in fact “meet the immigration doctor day”! The immigration doctor flies in from Almaty, examines your child and then runs off to catch the next plane back, she is here a total of 10 to 15 minutes tops!! We had rented a room at the airport for the examination and the other stuff was done last week at the hospital. We are glad to report that while she was putting on her coat, she said with a smile, “he is in good health, needs some physical stimulation for his right arm, his “MOZG” (BRAIN) is good and no delays!!!!” I bet she says that to all the parents! It was pretty intense; we weren’t the only parent’s child she was examining, the car ride was pretty packed (mini van with 7 adults and 2 babies), no baby seats on top of that, so I was holding Oli-k very tightly. He fell asleep as usual (good vibrations)! To make matters worse, the heat was on in the car, so it was very HOT and outside was very warm (compared to what the other days were) I was overdressed and so was baby O. When we made it to the airport and took of his clothes I noticed that there was another reason why I was feeling very HOT…he wet himself and it came out of the diaper. By the way, this is the second accident that only happens on me, maybe I’m holding him too much!!! The first accident was a number 2 and it was while I was giving him his bottle, it seeped up his back and I kept thinking why is his face all red, why is my leg so darn HOT!!!!

And there you have it…FEELING HOT, HOT, HOT!

2008-01-13T17:44:00.000-08:00

Todays irresistable piece of Oli-K...it is his knee, a chubby knee!!!!

2008-01-13T17:31:00.000-08:00

Catholic Orthedox church that we went to on Sunday the 13th

2008-01-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

Run people, run!!!

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN URALSK!!!

2008-01-12T19:58:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the comments it is really fun seeing your post! Time spent over here is weird and I would probably be doing the same thing back home, let me explain; we have a pretty nice apartment, not decorated properly but nice and comfortable (I moved the furniture around). We have lots of stuff to do, so time goes by quickly, and the shopping is a challenge but always fun because we get to practice our Russian (Dan quickly makes friends because he likes saying his phrases) he is getting really good at remembering words and making up sentences. The best part is, even if the phrase is crazy and people are laughing at us (hopefully with us) they make their effort also by trying to speak English. When we were at the grocery store shopping the other day, some guy kept following us around, I became paranoid when he asked “if we come to Kazakhstan to take his kids”, before Dan could say “yes” I jumped in and said “we are educators, here to teach”, he responded “where?” That is when I played dumb and pretended I didn’t understand the question and said “Montreal Canada” and we ran away like two little school girls being offered candy by a stranger. Also, when you grocery shop, there is only a certain amount of stuff offered and once they run out well you have to move on to another brand, they may never restock that item. And just to make you feel more like an outcast (the town is small) so if you are a stranger, the security guards follow you around! The first time we took the shopping cart to our car, I turned around and the security guard was right behind us, following us, not smiling. I mentioned this to our driver and he said “what, where, someone is following us?” He started looking concerned, as if to say the popo’s are after him…then he spotted the security guard and said “oh him! He just wants the basket back, ignore him”. By the way our driver is into some heavy hard core rap, singing all kinds of profanities, maybe I should give him my M and M cd, darn I didn’t bring it!!!! He is young (23), he and our translator EL (she is 21) seem much more adult like and mature than us at that age, I guess living here you have to be a responsible adult. I think I did mention this but the drivers are insane and will run over the people on the street if you are in there way and they honk to let you know that they are coming to run you down. The only exception they will make is if you are very young (under 12) and if you are with a stroller, I think we will by one and put a doll in it for now!!! Yesterday on our trek we discovered an entrance at a cross street that lead under ground and looked like a subway, I said lets follow the people…we did and discovered some weird tunnel that lead to the either side of the street, we don’t have to run across the busy street anymore, how amazing I took a picture!

2008-01-12T19:48:00.000-08:00

I hear your comments and I will show you my ear!!!

IN MY HEAD, IN MY HEAD!!!!!!

2008-01-11T23:33:00.000-08:00

Well we want to say thank you to all of you that are following the blog, it encourages us to keep living and writing it, (it makes the time away from you’s, bearable)! We feel like we aren’t far from home, so please keep the comments and questions coming, if you feel that I missed or skipped a beat please let me know and I will correct it, like I said it is all in my head and my days are all mixed together, I guess we are overwhelmed with happiness. This is the beginning of parenthood!

Today is Saturday, and we have only one visit in the morning and then I think we will go for a walk in the late afternoon (it gets a bit warmer), and Sunday we have something incredible planned we will be going to church, it’s across the street and I hear that it is beautiful then off to go buy some more internet cards. I think we run out so fast because it is always downloading too many pictures…we will post more pictures!!!!

RECAP VERSION DANIEL!!!!

2008-01-11T07:39:00.000-08:00

Dimanche 6 janvier 2008

Aujourd’hui fut une calme journée devant l’écran du lecteur de DVDS. Les dimanches il n’y a pas de visite a l’orphelinat, en moins de vouloir paye temps double au chauffeur et a l’interprète. Jackie a attrape mon rhume et quand Jackie a un rhume c’est 5 fois pire que pour moi. Etant donne qu’elle est asthmatique ses poumons sont plus faibles. Elle développe une toux grasse et ca dure longtemps… Moi en 2 jours c’est fini, elle c’est presque 2 semaines !
Nous écoutons une série de HBO : Six feet under. C’est un peu lugubre (se sont les aventures des propriétaires d’un salon funéraire) mais c’est vraiment bien fait, une vraie leçon de vie. Nous avons les DVD des 2 premières saisons. Nos journées sont remplient, 2 visites a l’orphelinat par jour : de 10h00 a 11h00 le matin et de 3h00 a 4h00 l’après-midi plus un bon 20 minutes pour aller et pour revenir. Donc, 80 minutes par jour en auto et 2 heures de visites. L’autres occupation c’est faire a manger et faire la vaisselle a la main (pas de lave-vaisselle). Il y a aussi les lavages, nos vêtements plus ceux du petit. Une autre occupation est de faire l’épicerie : a tous les 2 jours ont fait l’épicerie, c’est incroyable de voir combien de choses on mange tous les jours. On manque toujours de quelque chose. L’eau du robinet n’est pas potable donc on achète des gallons de 5 litres en quantité. On en utilise beaucoup. C’est un bon « workout » de monter les gallons au 3e étage. Je crois avoir perdu quelques livres et Jackie pense en avoir gagne.
Dan

Lundi 7 janvier 2008

Aujourd’hui nous sommes sortis dehors vers 9h20 comme d’habitude pour attendre Elvira et Oscar (le chauffeur). Malheureusement je n’ai pas porte attention a la porte d’acier de l’appartement. Elle est attachée a un ressort et se referme toute seule avec force. Cette porte a une barrure a combinaison de chiffre et le mécanisme est sensible au froid et a l’humidité. Apres s’être refermée elle se barre et cette maudite barrure gèle et n’est plus ouvrable. Donc, après avoir gèle dehors pendant quelques minutes a moins 25 degré nous contactons Elvira qui semble toute endormie. Elle nous dit qu’il n’y aura pas de visite ce matin mais que la visite se fera plutôt en après-midi. Je dois dire qu’elle avait essaye de nous contacter la veille a 10h30. Evidemment nous étions endormie a cette heure et que malgré ma course folle dans le noir a travers l’appartement j’avais malheureusement manque son appel et sans afficheur aucune idée qu’il s’agissait d’Elvira. Apres avoir tente d’ouvrir la satanée porte plusieurs fois et cogner violement sur celle-ci rien a faire ; nous étions pris embarre dehors !
Fort heureusement l’hôtel le Chagala n’est pas trop loin de notre appartement ; environ 10 minutes a pied. Lorsque nous y arrivons nous sommes complètements gelés, il était temps. Ce fut une bonne leçon pour nous. Nous avons profite de ce temps a l’hôtel pour travaille pendant 1 heure sur l’internet a haute vitesse (pour la modique sommes de 660 tenges par heure ($5,40 cdn)). Vers 11h30 nous étions de retour a notre appartement bien au chaud, un locataire avait ouvert la porte durant ce temps et ne l’avait pas laisse se barrée. On surveillera cette porte dans le futur…
Dan

Mardi 8 janvier 2008

Apres mur réflexion nous avons décidé de revenir au nom original pour notre enfant : « Olivier ». Nous conserverons Keanu comme 2e nom, plus tard quand il ira à l’école ce sera peut-être plus facile ainsi.
Dan

Mercredi 9 janvier 2008

Début de la vraie période d’attachement aujourd’hui. Youppie ! Ceci durera 2 semaines ensuite nous passerons en cours pour finaliser l’adoption. C’est vraiment dommage qu’ils ne reconnaitront pas les 2 semaines déjà passées à cause que notre enfant ne fait pas parti de la base de donne d’adoption avant le 9 janvier. Nous sommes tout de même heureux d’être ici à l’ avance. Au moins, il y avait des enfants disponibles pour nous quand nous sommes arrives.
Dan

Jeudi 10 janvier 2008

Notre chauffeur est en retard ce matin. Nous gelons dehors durant 15 minutes sur le bord de la rue. J’appel Elvira et elle me dit qu’elle sera la d’ici une minute. Lorsqu’ils arrivent je remarque qu’ils viennent d’avoir un léger accident. Un clignotant est brise, la mini van (une Honda Odyssey) a plusieurs égratignures sur le coin droit a l’avant, le capot est légèrement replie. Oscar est un chauffeur plutôt agressif et impatient comme presque tous les chauffeurs ici au Kazakhstan. C’est un peu le « free for all » au volant, on dépasse par la gauche ou par la droite, on klaxonne sans arrêt, on se glisse entre les autres véhicules en laissant très peu d’espace. Je suis très heureux de ne pas conduire ici ; c’est cingle. Ca me rappel Manhattan et personne ne porte de ceinture de sécurité ! Les routes ne sont pas glissantes heureusement. Il y a très peu de neige, juste un froid brutal qui ne semble jamais lâcher.

Dan

NAME CHANGE

2008-01-10T18:49:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the mistake in my earlier post but we are back to our original name Olivier KEANU Renat!!! Keanu is his second name that we do and will continu to use, we say it together for now but later we will see which one dominates!!! So far he answers to all three! I hope you love his little foot as much as we do! In 2 weeks he should be living with us in the appartment,this is after the court judgement, then it will be rock and roll!!! He might not answer to any name at that point! Then we have a big 3 weeks to do paper chasing and then we will be back home, tired, trying to recover!!!

2008-01-10T18:45:00.000-08:00

This is the foot of a professinal soccer player

that is about 4 inches long with 5 little toes!!!

WHEN WE MET OLIVIER KEANU RENAT

2008-01-10T18:31:00.000-08:00

I just realized because of an email from Murry, that I never told anyone how it all went down the first time we met our son. Well it was a couple of days after we arrived, (Saturday to be exact) and it was a really weird atmosphere, I’m sure that is why I did not mention it until now! We bet you are thinking that it should have been some kind of euphoric atmosphere but no, it was more like cloak and dagger, hush, hush style, or old Soviet ways!!! Here is how it went down; We entered a bright room, the light bulbs were so strong that our sweat was even hiding, we were told “SIT” and then the questions commenced and the translator was translating, we couldn’t answer questions quick enough, all we said was “DAH, DAH, NIET, DAH”! We tried to catch our breath, but the door opened so quickly, and their stood a large chef with a baby, approaching us rapidly!!! We were in a stupor either from the fact that a chef was holding a baby (what is she going to do) or the fact that a baby is now on our laps and they are telling us “it is our baby” (what should we do)!!! There is a saying for that kind of behavior, I think it is : we felt like deer’s in headlights, Dan still to this day (almost 3 weeks later) still doesn’t know what hit him!!!!
Then we were ushered to a room with our intended (now ours) son and told “you play”!
Well, just to be frank with you all, we didn’t expect any of this. We were briefed a million times before we got to this point and none of the scenario’s resembled this one. So we went in with camera’s blazing, laughter rolling and after an hour we didn’t know what to do…we had not been prepared for this!!! In reality I personally thought I was prepared with all my books, toys and clothes, but I was taken of guard and was still in shock!
My real first moment with Olivier Keanu Renat was when I gave him his bottle on Wednesday the 2nd, I don’t know what happened but we were looking into each others eyes and I was overcome by some serious emotions about whom he is and who we are!!! It is scary to be an orphan; you come with nothing, no identity, no background. I could see his soul, his beautiful eyes full of burning questions at such a young age of 8 months. Full of instinct, especially the one to survive, he is a Kazakh survivor and we are in awe of him. Most of us fight our battles as adults and we get by, but he has been fighting since he was born and abandoned to stay in this game…we are proud!!! We say he is ours and he is, he may have not been created in my womb but there is a connection that we (the 3 of us)felt and will continue to build through trust, understanding and love.

A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS...

2008-01-08T19:18:00.000-08:00

Well let’s recap the bad luck that we’ve had so far, by the way it doesn’t seem to stay bad for too long!
1st Dan drank some tap water accidentally, his body responded almost immediately, that was the first couple of hours once we landed in Kazakhstan (we still had another flight). It fixed itself slowly but surely in the days that followed.
2nd Our first apartment was so cold, the toilet didn’t flush, we couldn’t sleep! Imagine being jet lagged and freezing to death, but our luck changed and within 4 days we moved up to our friends place Kim and Jean (they went home)
3rd Dan got a cold, but he recovered very quickly
4th Jackie got Dan’s cold, very badly, I haven’t had a cold like this since 1999, upper respiratory infection, but today I feel I’m getting better.
5th Our kitchen sink got blocked, needed a plumber, but we got lucky our driver the (O male) is talented!
6th We got locked out (like I mentioned) but after a while found shelter at a hotel, my legs were frozen to the point where they were red, itchy and very hot! I thought they would have to be cut off…but I got lucky! Later in the afternoon we
7th Our cell phone ran out of minutes when we were locked out so could not call anyone, anymore for help, we added more minutes yesterday
8th We had also lost phone service in our apartment, so no phone or internet…we just got it back after a lot of praying to God!!!!

So the Yin/Yang balance is in total effect over here! This is a beautiful place, I would love to come back and visit in the summer time.

Here are a few things a person could miss while being here for this long:
a comfy bed (we brought a blow up mattress) best thing we ever did!
Tim Hortons coffee, I’m almost out but we think we found a replacement brand
usb storage device
tools or aids for stupid things, we brought duck tape, it helps with everything (used often)
work-outs, we brought our yoga mat, resistance bands and a measuring tape.
nice homely smells, we brought garlic,(just kidding) we brought blade plug-ins (don’t forget) a transformer and a voltage converter (Thanks Tarik and Caro)
Your keen way of answering questions quickly…bring a dictionary (English/Russian)
A little piece of home, we brought pictures, music, movies, popcorn and chocolate.

THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR...

2008-01-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

Ok without further a do, the moment you all have been waiting for...we would like to introduce you to our son Keanu’s hand! We know you are saying "what the heck"? Well this is officially our first day of bonding and he would like to wave hello to his future friends, family and playmates. We would really love to post his full picture but until we go to court, he is not our child officially, so we do not have the right to post it! But there is no harm in showing you pieces of him that we love!!!! Those chubby little fingers are so soft when they hold our hands!

SOMETHING TO REMEMBER!!!

2008-01-06T21:34:00.000-08:00

First off let me say we are at a hotel, since this morning monday the 7th we were waiting outside in the sub-arctic weather for our translator, (our usual time is 9:15) she never showed so we called her at 9:30, for her to tell us that she is sleeping and not feeling well, unfortunately neither is Jackie! Jackie is sick with a chest cold, that I gave to her as her first gift as a mommy!!!

Why are we at a hotel? Well our steel exterior door that leads to our appartment is locked/frozen shut and nobody in the building can hear us kicking and screaming to let us in! This is the worst thing so far that has happenned to us. We tryed calling back El but she turned off her phone and we tryed calling our other adoptive parent Isabelle but she has serious phone problems, her phones barely works! So here we are trying to stay warm and using the high speed internet at the CHAGALA hotel, owned by an English man, we might be here for a while till someone figures out that we are MIA (missing in action).

Besides that our week-end was pretty much like when we are at home, we ate popcorn and watched movies while I took care of my ailing wife. We did not go to see our son on Sunday but Saturday we made sure to video tape him for viewing on Sunday!!!

By the way, soon, soon you will be able to see parts of Keanu that we love!!!

Our hostess with the mostess

2008-01-03T19:47:00.000-08:00

El and Al

the Kazakh restaurant

2008-01-03T19:44:00.000-08:00

Kazakh waitress

2008-01-03T19:42:00.000-08:00

This is the famous Besh barmak that I ate with my fingers!!!

Clean free toilet

2008-01-03T19:39:00.000-08:00

I was able to use it without splashing my pants, oh, you should roll up your pants before you use it!!!!

WHAT IS IN A NAME??!?!

2008-01-03T19:34:00.000-08:00

WHAT IS IN A NAME?!!?

We believe that a name should be well thought out, it’s meaning has great influence in our life, however, not every name has a great meaning in all cultures, in fact it is the person himself that defines that name. With great consideration and reflection about our own names, we could only imagine what our parents where thinking especially with my very very full long name (Jackie for short), I was teased, I still to this day feel uncomfortable purchasing things with my credit card (I feel like a fraud) and I also tell people that I’m with not to say my name. Unfortunately they forget and say” Jackie look at this” then the clerk looks at me strangely and says” can I see some identification”? The reason this happens to me is because my parents decided to give me a first name that they decided not to use, so I go by my second name. My first, second and last name are too long so on credit cards they tend to just put a J or not even. I’ve mention this several times but nobody really cares!!! Back to my story, we think that a name is what you make it, look, we've lived through the trama!!! who you are you, and what does your name mean, and what does it mean to you? Either your name sets you apart from the world and you will always be remembered or, you will be a so and so #1, #2, #3 or #4, don’t get us wrong we do like who we’ve become with our names.

So having said all that, we would like to introduce you to our son KEANU OLIVIER, he weighs 19.8 lbs (balshoy= big), he is a Taurus, and a Pig (Chinese Zodiac like I mentionned in a previous post) and his name represents a cool breeze over the mountains. So far he lives up to his name, when he is over my shoulder I could smell a breeze, if you know what I mean!!!

For you travel junkies, I have a clean toilet to show you! We asked to treat El and Al (our translator and female driver, there is an O male driver) for lunch. We went to a Kazakh restaurant, by the way, it is a muslim country so they do not serve alcohol in the restaurants. We had a traditional plate BESH BARMAK (excellent dish), that you eat with your hands, (I was the only one, when in Rome…) and maybe that is why I have a cold now!!! After comes a soup bouillon, I didn’t know and I was the first one served so I dunked my hands in it thinking it was to clean them…everybody looked at me in disgust, how embarrassing!!! Also this dish grants you a wish (I wish I didn’t do that) just kidding, I can’t tell you what it is because it will not come true. At the end of the meal you place your hands in front of your face and slide them down to your heart and place them together, to say thanks. What a great experience being here is!!!!

We had an excitingly long day with Keanu, we spent three hours, horsing around and feeding him, today is Dan’s turn because mama Bear is sick. And then we went to the hospitals, 2 different ones. It felt really strange at the first one, where we did a head scan with an ultrasound wand, his brain looks good by the way, and then we looked at his little heart, and that looked mighty strong!!! We felt like this was a top secret mission, when it was time to pay, Dan gave the nurse money and then secretly she gave him his change. Just imagine when you want to bribe someone, that is the way it happened (when she gave the change). Keanu was such a good patient, mama is able to keep his attention with little tickle motions and ugly faces. The next hospital I thought was a restaurant, because everybody had chef hats on, (those were the nurses) the doctors look like everyday people from outside. We went there for a general check up, again they said what a great baby we have and that all is good with his health!!!

We are very proud parents at this moment…again please be patient for his picture, he is worth every second you wait!!!

Version Francaise

2008-01-03T07:51:00.000-08:00

!Jeudi 3 janvier 2008

Le nouvel an ca été une journée plutôt tranquille. Nous avons pris l’habitude de se coucher très tôt soit vers 8h30 – 9h00pm et de se lever faire 6h30 – 7h00am. La fatigue du voyage et l’adaptation au milieu y est surement pour quelque chose. La température s’est réchauffe légèrement on parle d’un gros -21 degré. C’est chaud a comparer des derniers jours a -25 -30 degré. Nous avons visite notre futur enfant a l’orphelinat le 1er janvier de 9h45 a 11h00am ainsi que le 2 janvier. Ce fut 2 journées identiques. On commence déjà a s’attacher a lui tous les deux. C’est plus fort que nous même si nous restons sur nos gardes.
Le 3 janvier fut une journée magique pour nous ainsi que pour Isabelle. Tout a commence comme une journée normale, départ a 9h20 de l’appartement, période habituelle avec notre enfant mais en version extensionnee. Nous avons pris l’habitude de nourrir notre enfant tous les matins. Céréales de style yogourt avec morceaux d’œuf ainsi qu’un jus quelconque que nous ne connaissons pas de couleur rose; genre sirop contre la toux. Peut-être que c’est du sirop car notre enfant est grippe comme moi. Il tousse et éternue régulièrement et moi je mouche pas mal. Déjà nous échangeons les microbes, ca commence bien, Jean-Pierre et Marie en savent quelques choses a ce chapitre je crois…

Nous avons eu la chance de rester avec lui aujourd’hui jusque vers midi. Ensuite nous pensions que nous retournions chez nous mais non ; pas aujourd’hui ! Isabelle et sa mère rencontrait la directrice de l’orphelinat pour discuter du cas de leur petite. En fait, il était suppose de justifier leur refus (car leur petite fille a un problème avec une hanche et un bras) mais aujourd’hui toute a change. Sa situation est corrigible et elle ira de l’avant avec l’adoption de cette petite fille. Etant donne qu’ils ont décidé qu’il irait avec la petite fille à l’hôpital pour un scan du cerveau nous avons du même coup demande de faire de même. De plus, c’est un scan qui sera fait d’avance pour le docteur d’immigration Canada. Donc vers 12h30 nous avons été pour un scan du cerveau de notre Keanu. Ensuite a la suggestion de Lonia (un contact russe de l’agence) nous avons fait faire un scan du cœur de Keanu (car semble-t-il qu’il a un souffle au cœur). Les deux tests ont été positifs : pas de problèmes avec le cerveau ou le cœur. Par après, nous sommes allés à un autre hôpital pour voir une médecin qui a fait un examen complet, résultat : niet problème. Que de bonnes nouvelles !!
Aujourd’hui nous vous révélons son nom : c’est Renate. Etant donne la rareté de ce nom au Québec nous avons décidé de choisir de lui donner un autre nom qui est aussi plutôt rare au Québec : Keanu. Nous pensons que c’est un nom qui donne une connotation asiatique, Jackie et moi sommes d’accord là-dessus. Nous avons hésité sur plusieurs noms mais celui-ci a retenu notre attention hier soir en fouillant sur l’internet pour avoir des suggestions de noms.
Vers 4h00pm nous sommes allés dans un resto typiquement Kazak avec Elvira et Oliya. Nous avons essaye le met national : le Besh Barmak. Un mélange de pate, de bœuf, d’onions et de patates. Ce fut une bonne expérience ! Une heure plus tard nous sommes allés magasiner au Univermag : un type de marche au puce. Nous avons acheté quelques petites choses pour notre Keanu. Ca été une journée vraiment positive et bien remplie pour tout le monde.
A bientôt,
Dan

our first living room

2008-01-02T19:12:00.000-08:00

this was our first appartments living room, the appartment was very cold!

RUN WHILE CROSSING!!!

2007-12-31T07:29:00.002-08:00

What is interesting about this place (I will take a picture), is that crossing the street is a real scary experience. We were crossing with our coordinator in Almaty and cars where zooming by, we finally made it to the intersection where we were standing waiting for our coordinator to give us the go, to run. I felt like frogger (does anyone remember that game, Atari). Our coordinator says “ok, go!” We darted across but I still had to let out a shriek because it was so excitingly scary…this is not a game for the old or the insecure!!!! Our coordinator thought I got hit by the ever so hasty crazy drivers, but I was just laughing! One thing is for sure, there are little blue cross walk signs that you should use!!! We only figured it out because we were trying to cross the street again in Uralsk and all of a sudden the cars stopped, maybe it was our bright red coats that hit the sun and reflected in their eyes and they were blinded? Naw! Our friends Kim and Jean, pointed out the beautiful blue sign with a person crossing, who knew!!!

I’m sure you want to know more about our little man, I got some anxious comments and e-mails. His original name we cannot mention until court, so you have to wait for that! His new name, well, you have to wait for that also…we cannot make up our minds, does he, or doesn’t he look like that name. Dan loves “Tristan”, and what is funny, is that our translator here, we will call her “El”, loves that name…now Dan loves it even more! Btw, “El” is a real looker…she has everybody including my crazy Dan’s head spinning!

Let me tell you what baby Laurin did today, he cried because I didn’t feed him quick enough. I’m happy he cried because I haven’t heard him cry, usually he makes a face (warning) that he is going to cry. We were blessed to hear his voice! He is very sick with a cold and congestion, and so is Dan, I have 2 babies to take care of! He also pulled himself up on me for the first time in 4 days. I gave him his breakfast; porridge with eggs and some juice, we decided to water it down and feed him through a nubi bottle. We hope it will help him with his cold. Also, we had a moment today me and baby Laurin (junior), he cried while I was giving him his bottle, he could have been crying because I was so slow at feeding him, which in turn made him irritated. However, I was crying because he is so fragile, dependent, helpless, and has to put up with potential parents that have no clue, that come and go. We see that getting attached is a 2 way street with a lot of sacrifice and trust, I also cried because he is so special and adorable!

AND TIME GOES BY SO...QUICKLY!!!

2007-12-31T07:29:00.001-08:00

Date 1 January 2008,

I think I’m going to make a calendar today. I want to wish my niece a happy b-day (Dec 31) and technically it is still Dec 31, 2007 back home.

For those anxious friends and family members, that want to know if we met our intended child….Yes we did!!! However we are not getting overly excited because, we did not get his full medical, and we will only receive that on the 3rd or 4th of January 2008. What I can tell you about this little man, is he was born in the year of the PIG, I’m a PIG too (Chinese horoscope) get your minds out of the gutter. We will be adopting him in the year of the Rat. And my darling husband is born the year of the MONKEY, I think that is why I call him, my monkey!!!

For those of you snowbirds, that are off to a sunny warm destination, well you don’t know what you are missing here. Today is going to be warm, YAHHOOO, it will reach a high of -22 celcius…I’m so happy because the – 35 we can’t take. Thanks mama Lise for your Kanuk, it is keeping me warm.

Back to our little man, because of the holidays and government procedures our official bonding period will start on the 9th of January and will last till the 23 of January, not too bad hein? Next, we go to court the week after and he hopefully becomes ours. So by January 30th, he will be living “la vida loca” with us. My Darling husband has just made me some French toast, so I’m off to eat!

PLEASE STAY TUNED, to: “As Jackie and Dan’s world turns”

LE FRANCAIS " IN THE HOUSE"!!!!

2007-12-31T07:29:00.000-08:00

Lundi 31 décembre 7h00pm,

Bonjour tout le monde, je fais un sommaire de ce que Jackie a deja dit:

Ce fut tout un voyage. La fatigue était vraiment pesante a supporter avec nos 2 escales (Amsterdam et Almaty) avant d’arriver a Uralsk. Très peu de sommeil dans un avion, (Jean-Pierre, tu avais raison, même en première classe (Almaty – Uralsk seulement) ca ne dort pas gros) beaucoup de bruits même avec des bouchons dans les oreilles ! Ne pas dormir pour 48 heures tout en accomplissant diverses taches, c’est dure pas a peu près. Nous avons fait le voyage avec Isabelle et sa mère (une future mère de Laval adoptant un enfant d’Uralsk). C’était bien d’avoir d’autres gens du Québec avec nous. Le Kazakhstan est un pays vraiment dépaysant. C’est vraiment plaisant d’avoir des gens de notre patrie avec qui on peut converser en français.
Une fois rendu a Uralsk on a pu finalement récupérer et ca a fait le plus grand bien. Nous avons été vraiment occupe a venir jusqu'à maintenant. Depuis notre arrive, le 26 décembre vers 11h00pm, ca ne lâche pas. Chaque journée est remplie d’activités : épicerie, commissions diverses, repas a préparer dans notre appartement ou repas dans un restaurant (quand on veut se gâter). Elvira (la coordonatrice d’Uralsk) et Oliya (la chauffeuse) nous conduit partout ou il faut aller.
Vendredi le 28 décembre nous avons rencontre le ministre de l’éducation pour environ 20 minutes pour répondre a une série de questions plutôt facile sur les choix que nous devons faire : préférence pour le sexe de l’enfant, son âge, questions personnelles sur nous et nos motivations de parents adoptants.
Samedi le 29 : Première rencontre avec notre potentiel enfant (potentiel car nous attendons d’avoir le rapport médical complet vérifie par un pédiatre d’une clinique de Pierrefonds. Cette première rencontre fut très spécial et un peu inattendue. C’était comme irréel et si vite arrive après des années d’attentes.
Dimanche le 30 : Courte visite du marche chinois avec la gang du Québec (les 6 plus Noah). Courte visite car c’était un bain de foule pas vraiment apprécié. Lunch de style buffet a l’hôtel Chagala, vraiment très bien ; nous y retournerons.
Lundi le 31 : Deuxième rencontre avec notre enfant potentiel. Quelques craintes s’estompent. Les tests pour le sida, l’hépatite, la syphilis sont tous négatifs et il a développé des anticorps contre l’herpes (sa mère l’avait surement). C’est un enfant calme et bien portant (9kg a 8 mois seulement). Nous ne nous exciterons pas trop avant la confirmation de notre médecin.
Isabelle de son cote doit laisser tomber la petite fille qu’on lui avait présente. Elle est trop mal en point, problème avec une hanche et un bras. Dure coup, mais c’est pour le mieux. On lui présentera une nouvelle petite fille demain.
Aujourd’hui on a déménagé d’appartement. Notre appartement était situe au 1e étage et les planchers étaient toujours très froid. Le chauffage arrivait tout juste a maintenir une température acceptable. Parlant de température présentement la température est -30 degré tous les matins et -25 en après-midi avec un beau ciel bleu tous les jours. Merci pour ton Kanuk maman !!! Nous avons pris l’appartement de Kim et Jean un couple fort sympathique de la ville de St-foie, Québec. Il quittait pour Almaty aujourd’hui vers 1h00pm avec leur nouveau fils: Noah. Un beau petit bonhomme de 9 mois. C’est avec grand regret que nous les voyons partir mais ils ont fait leurs temps ici au Kazakhstan (6 - 7 semaines) et leur adoption est un succès. Nous aurons surement l’occasion de les revoirs quand nous serons de retour au Québec. A bientôt les ami(e)s !

S nodvim Godom (Bonne Annee en Kazakh)
Bonne Annee a tous !

WE GOT IT EASY!!!

2007-12-28T07:30:00.000-08:00

Testing the moral fiber of our compass!

What does that mean? For me it means everything here, on the other side of the world, is testing who we really are. What kind of person we have become with all western luxuries has it made us wiser when it comes to enjoying life and family? I’m happy here, just me and my husband and soon our child (I hope). I have to admit we’ve been spoilt here too; our new friends Kim and Jean have taken us under their wings and shown us many hidden treasures and the secrets that they hold. We would have discovered the treasures eventually but the secrets can only be told by a foreigner that has been living here, like our friends! We are not, by far, victims of any circumstance…this will be a trip (Vacation for us) and the best kind, togetherness!!!

On a lighter note,

Our Thursday and Friday have flown by;
I already went through an internet card (500 tenge). I plan on writing my blogs first on word then transferring the info this way I might be able to last for a week on the card.
We do like our apartment however we will be moving, so please stop sending gifts to this one!!! Ha! ha! ha! Our apartment is on the ground floor and the floors are directly on cement, which in turn keeps everything really cold up until your knees. We brought duck tape and sealed all our windows, it did help, but it is coming from the floors. So bring duck tape future pap’s.
Our friends Kim & Jean & baby Noah, brought us on a city tour by foot, there is lots of places around are apartment to do groceries, there is a couple of places to buy baby articles, like umbrella stroller (they got a nice one). And there is even a recreational spot (I think they have bowling) at the Atrium.
Our Ectaco is fully charged and we plan on using it, because it takes me to long to look through my dictionary when I want to say something of meaning…like you are so nice thank you for all your help!
The people that we’ve encountered on this journey have gone above and beyond to help us. Although I do have to say for my coordinator in Almaty, stop worrying and stop saying sorry…we are grown ups!!! She is such a mother, but a good one!
I still do have my sinful luxury of wine and I get to sample different ones, like I said it’s a vacation, just kidding! In all seriousness, they do have some wines that I know but nothing fancy, like I’m used to (for now). If someone could find a good bottle…I am that someone!
Bring sauces in packets, can someone fed-ex me some, and my Tim Hortons…that would be a nice surprise! They do not make pasta dishes here so it is very limited, I will be creative but I will miss Pesto in my pasta! We brought gravy St-hub style for our friends, we rarely eat sauce like that but now I would. I think I bought some ground mouton today…that will be our Saturday night party dinner, but I would prefer to eat with our buddies before they leave on Monday morning!

And today Saturday, we will be off to find our little munchkin, so keep your fingers, arms, legs and whatever else you can cross, crossed!!! It is never a sure thing; the child could be too old or too ill. We aren’t picky, we just want healthy and as young as possible.

Can you see the difference in attitude?

2007-12-27T20:49:00.000-08:00

Still no sleep but relaxed!!!

We're flying first class ...next flight

2007-12-27T20:39:00.000-08:00

this picture is after what feels like days without sleep

and it is not the first class pictures, whereas we were told not to take pictures!!!

2007-12-27T20:32:00.000-08:00