Two dads!

[ptruong]

Hi all,

We're a couple of dads with a beautiful 3 year old boy.

We live in Cairns, just thought we'd drop a line to say hi to everyone.

Our son was a result of a surrogacy that we did in Russia. Anyone else gone through something like this? (not need be in Russia!)

:wave:
P&M.

[lavenderpegasus]

i haven;t been through this , but wanted to say Hi and welcome!!!

I have a little one year old boy, they are so much fun arn't they.


lp in wa

[lilboysmum]

:)

No surrogacy here... just Hi and Welcome...

[ptruong]

Hi to all!

Yeah, it's a lot of fun :)
Our first time being dads and it's been a real experience for us.

It's not been as rough and tough as we'd imagined, Drake's been an easy kid so far. Fun being domestic and we've finally got all our paperwork in order. Life's tough here in Auz for same sex couples with kids, at least two men anyway. We had to do the step-parent adoption in the US so i could be a legal parent too.

Hoping things will change, now i hear that California allows same sex marriages. Too bad they couldn't have done that a bit sooner when we were still living there :)

Pete.

[jag5000]

Hi Pete :wave:

just wanted to say hi and welcome :D - bubhub rocks! you'll love it
Cairns is lovely - and so close to my fav. place in australia - port douglas :) I'm jealous!

Drake is a GORGEOUS name! did you and your partner name him?

I am ashamed to live in a country that won't legalise same sex marriage! I came very close to not getting married myself in protest - why should I when my best friend (a lesbian) can't? not to mention thousands of others - I made our celebrant purposely mumble through the 'marriage is between a man and a woman' bit of our ceremony that we legally had to have LOL

[mum1986]

welcome to bubhub. not really a whole lot of dads on here but we always welcome new parents.

[ptruong]

Hiya!

We love Cairns, wouldn't give it up for the world! Went through the entire winter in shorts and tshirts:) We originally settled here back in 05 but had issues with the immigration folks and had to leave again. We bought Drake in on a tourist visa with the intention of sponsoring him as our child to stay. The immigration folks were really sus when we first took him home from Russia. They detained us for about 2 hours at the airport hell bent on finding something criminal about us. It wasn't something we were keen on with a 3 week old baby and after a long flight. When they couldn't find anything illegal about us or our papers for Drake they let us go...but then sent the police around to our home a week later.

They wanted to check our son for signs of "abuse"...then questioned us for another 2 hours. They said it was "unusual" for two men to have a kid. Anyhow that's when we found out our papers from the mother were really only strong enough to keep us out of trouble!

We've been lucky that she's been so good to us for the past couple of years...back and forth to the embassy, the notary, meeting with us to do more papers and more papers :no:

Glad its all worked out though. It shouldn't be this difficult really huh??! We've decided one is enough! It took us about 2.5 yrs to finally sever her rights and give us both equal rights...and that's with her consent all the way through!

Yep, we chose the name "Drake" :)
Took us ages to decide on something but we all agreed on Drake. Then the Russians didn't know how to put that name in Cyrillic on his birth certificate!

Cheers and hi to all!
Pete.

[lavenderpegasus]

Wow... yeah your right it shouldn't be that hard. But I guess it can be hard even in just wanting to get pregnant...

I'm with everyone on the name Drake.

[miloand4]

Hi and welcome I also love the name drake what a great name for your little man. Sounds awful that you had to go through so much to be here. It will be a wonderfull day when Australia recognises same sex couples in the same way as hetro's . Sounds like you two are doing a great job though even with some making it hard for you. Cairns is an awsome place I had a holiday up there a few years back and loved it! Such a relaxed place . :D

[XandersMummy]

Hi ptruong!

I am a straight Mum but wanted to wish you a warm welcome! :wave: I have gay and lesbian friends, and I am a big supporter of equal rights.

I just want to say that it's great to see two Dads, I can imagine how difficult it is for you and I sympathize. I considered being a surrogate for a gay couple, as I feel it is hardest for men. I am expecting another of my own in March, but have not given up the idea of surrogacy yet.

I am new to Australia as of June 2007, I'm from the US and hubby is Australian.

Also, I have to agree about your name, though I am a bit biased as that is a name I had picked for my daughter born in 2000 had she been a boy. GREAT name! :D

Feel free to say hello anytime!

[ptruong]

Hi XandersMummy,

I hope you're enjoying Auz :)
My partner was from the US also. He fell in love with Australia when I took him here for the first time back in 98. Both he and our son became citizens back in January so we're very happy!

We're headed back to the US for a white holiday season with my partner's family.

Thanks for the wishes :)
Pete.

[XandersMummy]

2 winters in Australia and I already miss the snow...:(

Though I can't complain much, I do love it here. My husband has the best family in the world, and I'm so happy we moved to be closer to them.

How do you and your partner find it here? Are people more accepting? Such as playgroups, doctor's appointments, etc. Did you grow up in Australia? If so, what part?

I'm not sure what the gay/lesbian community is like here, we're about 25 minutes west of Melbourne and most areas seem pretty rural. Living near DC was great, super diverse. But very fast paced, and career driven area to live in.

Enjoy your upcoming holidays! And I wish you an easy flight with your little guy! :wave:

[ptruong]

Hi XandersMummy,

Drake loves the snow, we were in Kiev back in February to meet up with his birth mum and he had a great time...until the cold got to him!

Living here in Cairns, we've actually not come across any problems being a gay couple with a kid. The daycare centre's are all very accepting, they even had Drake make 2 father's day presents for each of us. We've found the support to be surprisingly GOOD, not a single issue at all and not only that people have been really supportive...like the doctor, his teacher, the steiner school and even our accountant.

Our neighbours all know us and it's been great :)

I grew up in Melbourne, Footscray actually. It was very Italian but i think that's changed a lot. Not a big gay community up here not like SF or DC.

Cheers,
Pete.

[XandersMummy]

Just saying "hello!" again :wave:

I live about 10 minutes from Footscray :yes:

Glad to hear you live in a great area for Drake to grow up. It makes so much difference when you have people who are supportive in your everyday life, it will reinforce Drake's positive experience of growing up with two wonderful Dads!

If I don't hear from you again, hope you have a terrific holiday.... bring us back a little snow, will ya? :D