More Great News

Hello Everyone,
I am sure you are all wondering how we are doing. It is hard to put into words what we are feeling and experiencing but I will do my best to put it out there.
Dmitri is doing well. He has been moved from the hospital area back to his own group even though he still has a cough and I can hear it on his chest. We are hoping that he keeps getting better. We have to wear masks when visiting him, as Laura is still fighting her cold and they hear her coughing, and now I have come down with a cold also.
We are allowed to visit him 3 times a day if we choose, 8:30 -9:30am, 12:30-3:30pm and 6:30-7:30pm. This is very generous as you all know we only got to visit Laura once a day for less than 2 hours. We have decided though that the afternoon visit will be the best for Laura, as trying to get up, out and there for 8:30am is too much for her. Also, the evening visit is to close to her bedtime. Martin is going to try to make it to the evening visit, so that at least one of us is there a second time each day.
I will tell you more about how we get there in a bit.
Dmitri does talk but not a whole lot and they say he has a speech delay, but we are noticing that he is strong willed and knows what he wants. We have seen that he really enjoys music, as we brought a toy that plays 'Old McDonald Had a Farm' and he dances or bounces on our knee when it is on. The same toy makes animal sounds and he really likes this too. We also went and bought a toy truck and motor bike (surprise, surprise) which he tries to chew.
He likes Martin lifting him up in the air and he giggles when he comes down. Now that he is feeling better he does not want to be held as much, and he does seem to want to go back to the room were the other children are. We are playing with him in the area where they have coat closets for the kids and workers so it is not the most ideal place and he knows children are on the other side.
He does seem to like being held, hugged and sung to which pleases me very much. We have discovered that even though he is small he is quite strong and when he wants down he pushes away from you with force. His walking is not very steady yet, but he did not start walking until just before his second birthday.
We have found out he was born at 12:10pm at Hospital #3 here in the city. This is good for us that he was born here, as it means we don’t have to travel to another city to get his Birth Certificate. His full birth name is Dmitri Gregorevech Demyanenko (Robert get your tongue around that name).
We have not been able to spend a lot of time with him as there have been other things to do or the doctor wanted us to leave so Dmitri could get his rest. Today, Tuesday we are hoping to spend the full 3 hours with him.
Yesterday we went to the Notary Office to get papers notarized, then to the social worker of the region to drop the papers off (she then gets things prepared for us). We got to see Dmitri for about 5 minutes in the afternoon. We went back in the evening to see him.
Today Natasha has gone to the orphanage without us to get paperwork photocopied. We are waiting for the social worker to call to say the paperwork is completed and then to see a lawyer to help us with what we need for court. We are really hoping court will be next week then we can start our 10 day waiting period. If all this happens today then Natasha will be on the train tonight back to Kiev to submit the papers to the SDA. Fingers crossed at this point.
Now that I have filled you in on our son and the procedures, here is a little about us and our life in Zaperasaya.
We are staying in a 2 bedroom ground floor apartment. They don’t have beds, but pull out couches which are closer to the floor than I would like. Laura is sleeping on a camp bed and she is ok with this as she is in the same room as us. Natasha is staying with us, so she has the other room. The living room is ok, the walls are white with no pictures, there are 2 chairs and the couch is another camp bed with cushions along the wall (don’t ask as this does not make sense to us either). The kitchen is a good size but we have no oven in this kitchen. The other one is much smaller but has the oven, yes that's right, we have 2 kitchens. One last thing, the bathtub is so high up that we have to pick up Laura to get her in and then she is up to Martins shoulders. We yet again had water problems, the sewage was backed up this time and they had to come in and fix it. This apartment is much better than our first place. The apartment is in an area of a lot of buildings all built in the Soviet era. They are very run down on the outside and in the stairwells but the insides have been done up and some people are even putting in new windows. This part of Ukraine is very much more Russian and they all speak Russian not Ukrainian. It is very interesting (this is my new favorite word) watching TV as, if it is a Russian show they have subtitles in Ukrainian and if its Ukrainian show ... you got it, the subtitles are in Russian. It would be like us having subtitles for a show from England as they (Ukraine, Russia) have very similar languages. Then you have commercials for products that are the same as at home (I just watched the Gillette Fusion Shaving cream add). Today we walked out and there was a car with Sensodyne written on the side of it (there is a pharmacy just across from the apartment) and the commercial for this is the same dentist talking about sensitive teeth just in Ukrainian.
To get to the orphanage we are taking the bus which is more like a large mini bus (think of Robert Q) made by Mercedes so we are traveling in style...NOT... in one, the seat itself was not attached to the frame, they have little curtains along the top of the windows and in others the seats have tears in them. The good thing is that it is cheap, 0.25 cents each. It takes us about 30 mins to get there depending on the driver. What I mean by that is that you might get a driver who is doing the Formula 1 race or a driver who is out for a Sunday drive. If we get the latter it can take 40 mins if you get the first driver it is 25 mins and a heart attack.
One experience had us all shaking at the knees when we got off. Right from the start we shot off like a rocket, at the first turn we all went sideways out of our seats, we knew then this was going to be a ride. We picked up more passengers to the point that they were standing in the aisle. Now picture having a street on the moon, craters everywhere not just potholes, the driver is weaving and dodging trying to miss every hole at break neck speeds. The passengers are being thrown to and fro. Even those sitting down. This really does not even begin to describe the trip but at one point Natasha and I were laughing so hard that we were crying. Just when we thought it could not get worse, going around one set of bends I was sure that the whole bus was going on its side. Not to mention the near swapping of paint with several cars and nearly ending up in someones trunk (I don’t think you could have got a piece of paper between the 2 vehicles). Needless to say we were all scared including Martin and we now will not get on the bus if this man is driving.
Things that we do miss from home:
- To turn the tap on and be able to drink the water.
- Being able to understand conversations. Even between strangers.
- Being able to stand in a bathtub that is not as narrow as a trough, and a shower that is on the wall.
- Having good pans
- Having sharp knives and cutlery for everyone
- A bed that is comfortable and not on the ground
- A double sink and drain tray
Some of these may sound crazy to you but believe me I will be glad to get back to them.

Tuesday March 16, 2010
Today we had a wonderful visit with Dmitro. We went for the afternoon and spent 3 full hours with him. The caregivers got him ready and he walked in the room to us and came straight to me, they then set out a very big blanket on the ground so we could sit and play with him. We got the bubbles out and Dmitro thought these were wonderful, he was laughing and giggling and popping them, this was great to do with Laura as she loves bubbles as well and was able to join in the fun with her brother. Then it was time for some fun with Daddy being thrown up in the air and rolling around on the blanket using Daddy as a jungle gym. It was then my turn and he sat in my lap while I made the wheel on his truck spin and he felt it going around and stopping it for me to just make it turn again. It is so nice to see him warming up to us and allowing us to cuddle and sing to him. We also placed him in a stroller that is in the room to see how he reacted and it went fine. The biggest surprise came near the end, we had been watching the clock knowing that kicking out time was coming, but all of a sudden one of the workers came in with a little chair and table attached to it and indicated that we could feed Dmitro. This made me so happy that they would let me do this. They brought out 2 little cups one filled with something that looked like cream of wheat and the other with what we are told is tea but sure did not look like tea to me. Dmitro immediately put his hands in the first dish so we had to clean his hand up, I then fed him and he did really well. He drank some of the dirty looking drink from the cup but I had to hold it. We were also given bread with a filling and this tea for Laura to have they then got one for Martin and me. Martin tried the drink but decided that it was not to his liking. I took some of the filling from the bread for Dmitro but he did not like it and spit it out. Martin and I think we will have a picky eater on our hands. For Martin and I this was such a great thing compared to when we visited Laura in Bulgaria. The whole visit was wonderful.
While we were visiting, Natasha was out at the social workers office and got the paper work from the social worker saying that we will be good parents, even though she has only met us twice this is called the conclusion, she then went to a lawyer who will help us with court and be there at the court date. Natasha will head back to Kiev tomorrow night with all the paper work to take to the SDA so that we can be given a court date. We are hoping this will be next Wednesday or Thursday. Natasha will return then to go to court with us. So things are moving along well and we hope it continues this way.
Well now that I have written my novel for you all to read I think it is time to put the computer away. We will keep you all updated as much as we can.

Love to you all

Jennifer, Martin, Laura and Dmitro (Ethan)

One last thing, the other day Natasha taught us how to make a Ukrainian dish called Borsch, it is like a soup with cabbage, beet, potatoes, carrots and more. This is one dish I plan to make when home.
Natasha has been wonderful and has made this part of the journey so much easier. Not sure what we will do without her when she leaves.