The End of One Journey...and the Beginning of Another!

For those who read my other blog or spend countless hours on my various Yahoo groups, you already know this news. For the rest of you...

We have gotten a referral for a gorgeous 3 year old girl living in Luohe City, Henan Province, China. This referral was completely unexpected...and completely wonderful!

When I began Carson's blog, I was new to the blogging world. I didn't know how addictive blogging is and I didn't know how therapeutic it would be for me. The journey "to" Carson actually turned into a journey "with" Carson.

Now the journey is taking a twist...and that twist will take us back to China to add a precious Little Lady to our family. Since the journey isn't just about Carson anymore, I really feel my other blog should become my ONLY blog. (Plus, keeping up two blogs is becoming a bit of a challenge, even for me!)

Carson's blog will stay here and will be linked on the other blog, so anyone who is completely bored or slightly interested will be able to go back through the old posts and see where our adoption journey began. This will be the last update on "Our Journey to Carson"...please join us as we are "Continuing the Journey"...

A Day In The Life Of A Birthday Boy...

To all of Carson's loyal fans, thought you might want a rundown of his very busy birthday. I will warn you, this post is VERY overloaded with pictures. I couldn't help myself...he's so stinkin' cute and we wanted to remember every detail of his first birthday with us!

Let's start at the beginning of the day...

At 7AM, Carson woke up and called out for Mommy. (Which is actually rare...he usually calls for Daddy when he wakes up.) I grabbed the camera and got the first shot of my 5 year old boy, all smiles...
After a long snuggle in his bed, he got dressed and got to lay in Mommy and Daddy's bed while Mommy got her shower...
...ahhhh, that's the life! (He LOVES being in our room, watching TV.) His entertainment choice this morning was one of his favorites...
...the Backyardigans!

It is tradition in our family to wake up on your birthday to a streamer-and-balloon-filled kitchen...Daddy always claims it was done by the "Birthday Angel." (Meggie NEVER believed that one...) Today was no exception...here is Carson eating his favorite breakfast (Cheerios) in his birthday-decorated chair.
When I asked him if he liked the decorations, his response was, "Why did you do that? Where did it come from?" Underwhelmed puts it lightly...

Our busy day started at a doctor's appointment. I know, I know...I didn't realize it was on his birthday when I scheduled it. It was just an incision check from his muscle biopsy. Yes, I paid a $25 co-pay for the doctor to tell me what I already knew -- his incision looks great and is healing well. The preliminary biopsy results did come in and showed "no diagnostic abnormality," which is a good thing!

At Carson's appointment, my dear friend, Katie, was his nurse. That made for one fun appointment! Since we were the last appointment on their half-day schedule (which ended at lunch time), Katie and I took Carson out to lunch for his birthday.

Katie is one of my favorite people in the world! She has my weird sense of humor and we find every possible reason to laugh when we're together. Carson hadn't seen Katie in a while and couldn't remember her name...he kept calling her "Jeannie."

When Katie and Meggie are together, they like to do "sugar shots"...Katie felt like it was time that Carson got in on the fun.

Here he is, sugar packet in hand, ready to go...
...intently watching Katie as she taught him the finer points of this weird rite of passage...
...taking his turn...
...and HATING it!! He kept semi-gagging, sticking his tongue out, whining loudly...we were laughing so hard, we could hardly get a decent picture of it! (I know, it sorta sounds like child abuse...you just have to understand me and Katie, and most people don't...)
We finally convinced him to chug some chocolate milk to rinse it down.
Thankfully, he forgave us quickly. He told Katie/Jeannie he wanted to get a picture with Mommy. OK...but then we couldn't get him to stop staring at the woman sitting in the booth behind Katie/Jeannie. What a goober!
After lunch, we ran a few errands then headed home and snuggled together in the recliner and watched cartoons until Daddy got home from work. (That is SO rare for us to allow so much TV in one day...he loved every minute of it and was kinda shocked I was watching TV with him!)

When Daddy got home, he brought us Carson's favorite dinner...China food!
Hey, Carson, what did you order?
Nice..."see food"...wonder who taught him that?! Meggie?????

Big sister, Meggie, decided to serenade the Birthday Boy......then moved in for a big Birthday Smooch!
They both decided they had had enough of me taking their pictures. (Geez, kids, I'm just recording memories here...)
After Carson got dressed for his soccer game, we decided to let him open some of his birthday presents. There are still more for him to open Sunday at his party. (Yes, we went a BIT overboard...) Meggie asked me if I was going for "Mother of the Year" when she saw my wrap job...the plastic Target bag I was storing the gifts in...
...sorry, but I'm a busy Mommy...and Carson didn't seem to care! He got some new clothes, a bunch of new DVDs, a bean bag soccer ball pillow, and his favorite gift...
...his very own Diego CD player! When he opened this one, his exact quote was "Oh, my...check it out!" He was so excited he could listen to his "noo-sick" (aka music) with that thing...Daddy had to find "bat-a-dees" (aka batteries) right away and get that thing working!

Here we have the obviously much appreciated gifts, left on the floor while he obsessed over the CD player...
Grandma and Grandpa B. came over after dinner to go to Carson's first soccer game with us. His first question to Grandma..."You got a present for me?" No matter how hard we try, manners come slowly...luckily, Grandma loves him anyway!
His soccer team got to pick their team mascot name...after much deliberation, this group of 4- and 5-year-old boys and girls decided on "Team Superman." Here they are at the field, with their rousing version of "Goooooooooooo, SUPERMAN!"
Here we have the starters, hanging out waiting for the grown-ups to be ready. (That's Carson, on the left.)
When the referee came onto the field (who looked to be about 12 years old), Carson immediately marched right up to him. "What's your name? Whatcha doing?" The kid just laughed. If people didn't know Carson and his personality, it would look like he was schmoozing the ref. Hey, you catch more flies with honey...
The coach giving the kids a little pep talk after the other team (the Blue Sharks) scored a goal. I'm pretty sure the kids were completely ignoring him...
When it was Carson's turn to sit out, he gladly popped a squat on the sideline and started chugging his water bottle. Then he decided that drinking water was his REAL goal at this game and sorta refused to go back in. After some tears (his) and a pep talk (mine), he got excited again and rejoined the team.
The only "action shot" I could get...this was taken seconds after he got his turn to kick the ball back into play. (Gotta work on my photography skills...)I call this one the "Fearsome Foursome." Wouldn't you be intimidated by this wall of soccer skill awaiting you as you kick the ball toward the goal??
Carson did a lot of this during the game...running with his head down and paying absolutely no attention to where the ball was. He didn't score any goals, but he looks awfully great in that uniform, doesn't he?!
The after-game tunnel-of-fans...
...and our proud Little Man, glad to be finished running around the field with his head down...
One of the coaches wanted to be sure Carson didn't miss snack time...I thought it was sweet how all the parents on the team seemed to know his name and really looked out for him.
I wasn't sure what to expect at the end-of-game huddle. I was quite surprised for the Coach to start with, "First off, we need to say Happy Birthday to Carson and Shea!" The kids all cheered and the Birthday Boys were so proud!
Shea's parents brought cupcakes and we brought ice cream cups...the kids were in birthday heaven!
As we strapped Carson into his car seat, all he cared about was "jamming" to his favorite CD...thankfully, that Diego CD player spared ME the joy of The Wiggles on the ride home.
I took a small video of the tunnel-of-fans. Carson's team started through the tunnel, but he ended up being the very last kid because he high-fived EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the tunnel! The other kids just ran through and high-fived their parents. Not Mr. Charisma...he had to say "Hi" to everybody. What a charmer...



After the game, we headed home...finally! After a quick bath and a storybook, the Birthday Boy was ready for bed. Well, boys, was Carson's birthday fun??
Looks like they give it "two thumbs up"! Time for Mommy to give her Little Man one more Birthday Smooch......then he snuggled into his covers. Whew...that was a whirlwind of a day! We still have his celebration at school tomorrow, then his official party on Sunday. Aren't birthdays fun?!

Sleep tight, Little Man! You have a big weekend ahead of you...

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Today is Carson's 5th Birthday! While every birthday is a big deal, this one is special -- it is the first birthday he gets to celebrate with his Forever Family! We have a busy day ahead -- which includes birthday presents, his first soccer game, and probably some "China food" for dinner. I will post pictures later but didn't want the day to go by without spreading some birthday cheer to my favorite little guy!

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Love, Mommy, Daddy, and Meggie

The Kids FINALLY Go Back To School!

Due to construction on some of the school buildings, our district delayed the start of school until today! Meggie would NEVER admit it, but she was getting sort of tired of sitting around the house alone during the day -- while school is actually WORK, at least it's a diversion!

As is my "Geeky Mom" tradition, I took their picture on the front porch before leaving for school. Unfortunately for Meggie, her bus comes at 6:40 -- it's still DARK when she leaves!

Here is the Teenager, heading to 10th grade (in the dark)...
...but at least she cooperated, smiled, and DIDN'T complain this year!! Yes, folks, I'm sensing progress here.

Lucky for Carson, his school doesn't actually start 'til 9:30. However, he'll be dropped off at before-care around 7AM when I work. In an effort to make those early mornings a little less of a shock to his system (and, thus, a lot less challenging), I plan on taking him at 7:30AM on my days off...allowing him to sleep in a bit, but still keeping his routine, which is SO important to him.

Here is the Little Man and "Baby Pooh", heading off to Pre-K (in the daylight, thankfully)...
...and showing off his cool Spiderman backpack!
Carson's much beloved teacher, Miss Tracy, quit working at his school to pursue her Master's Degree (good for her, BAD for Little Man). His new teacher, Miss Peggy Sue, started a couple of weeks ago. (No matter how hard he tries, her name sounds like "Piggy" when he says it! So funny!!)

Here is the Little Man with Miss Peggy Sue:
Gotta admit, he looks awfully happy to be at school! Let's just see if he's this happy tomorrow...he only went to school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays last year, so going every day may be rough. Wish us luck!

It's My...Birthday??

Today after Church we went out to lunch with our dear friends, Chris and Shannon, and their girls, Taylor and Rachel. Meggie's friends, Jacqueline and Morgan, joined us as well. Meggie got the great idea to let our server know it was Carson's birthday (well, in four days, but they didn't need the exact details).

Just as we were finishing our lunch, a line of servers approached our table clapping. We joined in and laughed along as they sang their silly version of "Happy Birthday." Carson looked...hmmm, how do I describe it?...totally and utterly confused. None of us had cameras (shame on me!), but I will tell you it was hysterical to see his reaction. Meggie and Jacqueline laughed so hard they were crying. I had him recreate the face at home so I could get a pic...this is a pretty close rendition of his reaction:
He kept turning his head from side to side (the singers were all lined up behind him) with this confused face. Then they handed him a huge ice cream sundae with a pile of whipped cream on top. He then shifted his confused gaze to the ice cream...looking it up and down, side to side, as if he wasn't sure quite what it was or what we wanted him to do with it. It was so stinkin' funny!!

The server confided in Chris that they were afraid they had come to the wrong table since Carson seemed so confused by the attention. (After explaining to them that Carson has never celebrated a birthday before, it made more sense...)

Thus begins Carson's celebratory birthday week! Hope he finally "gets it" by the time his party comes on Sunday!!

Playdate At The Children's Museum...

Tuesday, my friend Sarah and I got the boys together for a playdate at the Children's Museum. (Many thanks to Grandma and Grandpa B. for the season passes -- we are getting tons of use out of 'em!)

I'm thinking Sarah needs to take pics of her kids more often. Whenever I told Carson and Selleck that I was going to take a picture, Selleck completely ignored me and Carson put on his cheesy grin.

Here are the boys in the car at the Mechanic's Station...
...and here they are at the Construction Site, working the crane together.
When Carson got behind the wheel of the bus, he looked a bit out of control...
...but at least he looked at the road! Look how Selleck drives the bus, looking out the side window!! No wonder Carson stood up to pull the bell...he wanted off that bus quick!
In the row boat...notice Selleck is ignoring me again...
The Water Works area is always a favorite...the boys had a blast!
Poor Slade, he was cooped up in his stroller most the time we were there. In the play area for the 4-and-under crowd, we found this baby play area. Look how happy he is to be free!
Carson has so much fun at the Museum Center and is looking forward to going back soon. Max, Malachi, Selleck, Wesley, Ellie, Tori...anybody free??