Wow, what a whirl wind! Yesterday after I posted we headed out to Mass for the Immaculate Conception. Found a Catholic church after I ran inside to ask the nice bell hop, who spoke some English, to tell the cabbie where we wanted to go. Mass was less than 45 mins, probably partly because there were 9 people in the church; including the 3 of us! The priest knew we spoke English; he gave us communion in English. Afterwards a bitty old woman came over to us with a box of chocolates and offered us some. What a way to celebrate the Immaculate Conception; with chocolates. I loved her thought hahaa We walked to the Happy Grill for a few beers for the grownups and a pop for James. We got some appetizers in preparation of the nearly inedible free hotel dinner. I asked for a Happy Grill ornament and I scored J My Christmas tree will be extra happy this year! Walked through the beginnings of a Christmas market. Unfortunately they only had food and beer tents set up so I am still on the hunt for ornaments that say Bulgaria; I haven’t forgotten! I camped in the restaurant while James and papa went for a swim. I forgot my suit at home but enjoyed computer time and beers while they swam. After they came back we chatted at the table and had a few more drinks, then off to the room for bed!
Breakfast and packed up in the morning then off to liberate Deyan! I must say, I’ve never been to an orphanage in eastern Europe but every worker that I encountered smiled, seemed friendly and the building was clean and decorated nicely. The director and social worker were very sweet and did their best to communicate with us; the social worker spoke very little English but understood quite a bit and I’m not sure about the director; she didn’t make any attempt at English. It took what seemed like FOREVER for them to bring him to us. Of course, he came in and I cried haha, and he went right to papa. Dad was armed with Deyan’s favorite toy, a light up spikey ball. He was fairly restless, I’m sure because there were so many people doting on him, he was in his new outfit which was warm, I’m sure, because I was warm and not as layered as he was. His baba, grandma worker, was able to come in and say good bye to him and us, which was wonderful. She gave me a STRONG hug and kiss and was teary, which made me teary again! Don’t worry mom, I cried for the both of us!!! It was so wonderful to see that people truly cared for him. I could tell she was sad to see him go but so happy that he found his forever family. J We can’t thank you enough, Baba, for keeping Deyan alive and loved until we could rescue him! After signing papers, mom, just fyi, your name starts with an L on those papers. ;) We went to the Black Sea for pictures there and Deyan was so good J I think he was overwhelmed with the action and confused about where he was going and what we were doing with him. I held him down so he could touch the water, got a few pictures and headed to the car.
The rest of the ride back was pretty uneventful, which was nice. We stopped at a JUMBO, which is sort of like a Walmart, from what I understood from dad and James. Deyan needed diapers, wipes and food and of course they only have size 5 diapers and the poor kid’s butt and hips needs like a -2 size! Scratch the JUMBO trip; keep driving to find a store with more selection. About an hour later we find a small town and Danni (the woman who’s translating for us) and her dad ask for a store. Deyan did WONDERFULLY for his first grocery store trip. Went into the cart nicely, held on, looked around, smiled every so often and was just a pleasure. I love the way they do their produce..they have a computer with a digital scale; you go through the computer options for the fruit you have, put it on the scale and it prints out a sticker for the cashier. Anyways, Mr. Dido needed to be changed so I went to the bathroom with him. I’ve never seen people so blatantly stare at someone with a disability before. Some of the women cooed at him while he was making his gurgling noises but most people stare and practically walked into things as they were looking.
Changing in the car works better, the bathrooms were dirty and I wasn’t about to scar him like that for his first diaper change with me, the strange talking lady who took him from all he knows. He fought sleeping the entire 7 HOUR car ride home. No tantrums, no tears, just a few grunts every now and then to let us know he dind’t want to be in the car seat any more. He tried to push his belly out against the straps and took our hands to the buckle a few times but after a “ni” he stopped. He really is a sweet boy who just wants to be loved and be in contact with people. He either touched or held dad or my hand the entire car ride; craving physical contact. He LOVES my scarf that was a gift from a friend who went to India. It is very soft with calm, warm colors and a nice pattern. He was so great in the car; I’m hopeful that after a week together, learning each other’s personalities and such that the plane ride will be even smoother. That and he can get up and waddle around when he needs to. J
Stopped at a roadside joint for a quick meal; sausage/beef/mystery meat (pretty good), boiled, cubed potatoes, a tomato soup sauce and cabbage. Deyan loved the potatoes mashed up in the tomato sauce/soup..he ate almost all of them!
The stroller works best for feeding. After a quick Skype with mama we went to eat at the hotel restaurant for dinner. Mr. Dido ate a big jar of fish mashed with veggies of some sort and a big yogurt cup thingy. Plus I was giving him some of the gravy and cheese from our food. He drank out of the cup better than I thought. He just chewed on the sippy cup in the car so I figured I’d try the cup at dinner. We chatted with a lovely family who is leaving to go back home, to Atlanta I believe, tomorrow morning. BEST OF LUCK TO YOU ALL! YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY! Diaper changes are a challenge and I need to figure out how I am going to do this from now on so he’s not thrown for a loop on the plane; I need him to know what to expect from me. Email me if you have suggestions, keeping in mind how small airplane bathrooms are.
James and I took a nice 20 min stroll around the block and to the store while papa put Deyan down after we Skyped again, changed him and played a bit. He was still awake when we got back so he got almost an entire LARGE banana with a melatonin crushed in it. I kid you not, less than 15 mins later he crashed and is still asleep.
Here’s the rundown of his daily schedule; mom this is mostly for you so you know J I will type it exactly as Danni translated and we can discuss if you want..
7-7:45am- wake up, washing
8-8:20- breakfast which is one of these options..1. popara (which is tea cheese, bread, butter and sugar mixed up), milk and biscuits 2. Sandwich 3. Tea, milk and airam (which is yogurt and water and is drank)
8:20-8:40- potty
8:40-9- play with toys
9-9:20- cognitive development/play
9:20-9:50- free play (hahahahahaa)
9:50-10- tea, milk, airam
10-10:20- potty
10:20-11:45- walk and play outside
11:45-12:15 lunch which is one of the following 1. Soup with veggies or meat and bread, then dessert which is a sweet of some sort or yogurt or fruit
12:15-1- get ready for nap, washing, and potty
1-3:30- nap
3:30-4- wake up, washing, potty
4-4:20- afternoon breakfast- milk, rice and yogurt, or airam, fruit and tea
4:20-6:15- afternoon play, walking outside ect
6:15-6:30- washing, potty, prep for dinner
6:30-7- dinner- meal with or without meat, milk and biscuits, bread
7-7:20- potty
7:20-8- washing, prep for bed
8pm-7am-sleep
We’ll see how it goes, I think we can keep it pretty consistent for him, which is great!
Well, it’s 11:15pm here, everyone’s been asleep for about an hour and I should turn in soon, too. Enjoy the pictures and I’ll blog more tomorrow!
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