Christmas Family Pictures!

We always get our family picture done at Christmas time and this year was no exception! I always get myself all worked up and nervous over the pics...wanting a good finished product, of course...but this year I tried to stay calm. After all, Carson is a bit unpredictable. I figured we would get the best we could get. We were THRILLED with the results!! First off, our family picture...the teenager won out and we wore jeans this year! Next, we got a picture of the kids together......Meggie by herself......and Carson by himself!
For Carson's individual shot, he was slumping back in the chair like a lump and totally not cooperating...until he saw the football on the shelf. Then he wouldn't stop obsessing...he kept repeating "Foo-ball, foo-ball, foo-ball..." until we gave in and handed it to him. The finished product was pretty good, I think!

After all of that was completed, I changed Carson into his Chinese outfit and got this adorable shot...
There were many flubbed pictures...hey, we were working with a 4 year old here...and I'll post some of them later for your enjoyment. For now, Mr. Slowpoke is finished with breakfast and we're heading to the YMCA so Mommy can swim her laps! Check back...

ANOTHER Gift from Pam and Robert!

Pam and Robert (who I "met" through the Yahoo groups) were in Hefei in July for their own adoption and sent pictures of Carson back to us...remember the "pink backpack" photos?? A few days ago, Pam e-mailed me that they also had video of him! Yes, I get the daily live "Carson show" now, but I was quite intrigued to see this video. Here it is...note that the voice you hear the whole time is Carson, even when you can't see him.


For those who wished they could have heard Carson speaking Chinese when we first got him, there you go!! What he is doing in that video is what we endured during the entirety of the time in China...endless rantings in Chinese at high volume! Watching that video, especially now that Carson speaks English exclusively, was actually very fun...and weird. He isn't that loud anymore (thank goodness) or that aggressive...he is a sweet, adaptable, courteous, talkative, English-speaking Little Man now! Wow, he has come SO FAR in the short two months since he joined our family!!

Thanks so much to Pam (and Robert, who was the videographer and figured out how to send me the video)! You two are awesome!!

Carson's First Christmas!

At Church on Sunday, the preschoolers did a craft for Christmas. Carson was so proud of his craft and is still playing with it...look closely...
...and you'll see a clothes pin resting on silver tinsel, covered with a piece of brown cloth, all nestled in a small cardboard dish...the preschoolers' own Baby Jesus! I was so impressed with the simplicity and creativity of this little craft AND how it got the kids more focused on Jesus at Christmas...and a little less on the guy in the big red suit! He spent most of Sunday taking the clothes pin in and out of the dish, covering and uncovering it with the blanket. So cute!

Christmas Eve we went to Grandma and Grandpa B's house...actually, it's a condo and with all the kids there, it gets VERY crowded! A few pics:

In the minivan on the way to Grandma and Grandpa's...
Meggie's excited and Carson is ANGRY!

(Wouldn't that be a great pic of Meggie if she didn't
have Kleenex stuffed up her nose?
She does that when she has a cold...
don't ask 'cause I don't completely understand it!)

Meggie traded sunglasses with Carson,

trying to be silly and cheer him up!Traditional family picture in front of Grandma's tree

All 10 grandkids!

Another family picture...just before the chaos begins!
Carson looks a bit overwhelmed...

...as the chaos gets into full swing!

Peyton, Carson and Alex playing with their new dinosaurs

As you can see in the above pics, the kids are all wearing matching football jerseys. Grandma and Grandpa bought these for the kids so they can show their team spirit when we go to Bowling Green games next year to watch our nephew, Tyler, play. When Tyler arrived, the kids all had to get their picture taken with him...they treat him like he's a celebrity!

Since we were out SO late at Grandma and Grandpa's (and remembering Carson's bedtime struggles on Thanksgiving night), we decided to have him sleep with Meggie to help get him through the night. That lasted about two hours and he was crying...Meggie surely didn't want to deal with that!! So we put him in Mommy and Daddy's bed. He cried intermittently through the night, but NOTHING like the sobbing he did on Thanksgiving night.

Christmas morning -- late morning, actually, 'cause the little bum slept until almost 10 o'clock! -- we went downstairs to open presents.

Carson was quite amazed to see all the gifts under the tree...

...and headed right for his new grill...

...and his new kitchen!

Lots of packages to open!

Carson was so funny...after opening his first gift, he just wanted to sit down and play with it! We kept pointing to the pile he still had to open, but he wasn't interested. "No mo!" he kept saying, and sitting with the current gift in hand. It took quite a bit of effort to get him to open everything! The last gift just happened to be pajamas. When he opened that box...
...he put the lid right back on it and kept repeating, "No. No. No." It was hysterical! He knew toys were SO MUCH better than PJs!! What a hoot!!

Daddy's big gift this year was a boxing heavy bag. (We're hoping it will help him with stress reduction!) When he opened his heavy bag gloves, Carson just HAD to get in on that action...

What a bruiser, huh?!

After we opened the gifts, I decided to sit and blog a few of the pics while we waited for Aunt Debbie and Uncle Brandon to arrive. When I opened the laptop and turned it on, I was met with an awful discovery -- somehow, the laptop appeared to have reformatted itself and ALL OF THE PICTURES WERE GONE! Everything...including all of the pictures from CHINA!!! AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!! The photos were not backed up anywhere...Meggie erased them off my memory card at the end of November to make room for more pics!! I was physically ill! We turned the laptop off and decided to just leave it alone and call the computer help line in the morning...hopefully some of the pics could be retrieved somehow! If not, at least I blogged a lot of them...small consolation, but it's something! I tried to forget about it and enjoy the rest of our day.

When we opened gifts with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Brandon, Carson was so excited to see what they gave him...

...an Ultraman costume! (OK, so it's actually a Power Rangers costume, but you'll never convince Carson of that.) We thought he would NEVER take that thing off! The plastic mask made him so sweaty and hot, his hair was dripping...still wouldn't take it off! Score on that one, Aunt Debbie!!

After opening gifts, we all made dinner together and had our traditional (for us, anyway) fried chicken. Normally, Carson isn't allowed in the dining room...just way too many breakables for him to be around. However, Christmas is different. We ate dinner in the dining room. He felt like quite the big boy getting to sit at that table. Of course, I didn't trust him with my good dishes...maybe next year...
...but it was STILL a big deal to eat at the fancy table in the forbidden room!

Back to the laptop fiasco...Wednesday morning, I was on hold with the computer help line and the recording suggested that turning a computer off and back on can sometimes fix problems. I knew they were going to ask me if I had done that, so while I was on hold I turned the laptop back on...and all the pictures were BACK!! Apparently, the Christmas morning disaster was just a computer glitch and all the pics were OK. I nearly burst into tears!!!!!! Needless to say, the laptop was not turned back off until all the pics were uploaded to Snapfish and prints and photo CDs were ordered!! (Of course, uploading over 700 pictures -- yes, 700 -- took a couple of days in between the ordinary daily chaos of my life, which is why I didn't get around to blogging our Christmas pics until now!) I truly consider the fact that I got those pics back to be nothing short of a Christmas miracle!!

Even WITH the scare with the laptop, we had a wonderful first Christmas with Carson! Lots more to blog, but I have some errands to run. Until then, a few Christmas pics of the kids...

...and my favorite...

...check back for more later!

Merry Christmas!

In the hustle and bustle of decorating the house, purchasing and wrapping gifts, mailing Christmas cards, and running to visit everyone...just wanted to wish a very Merry Christmas to our family and friends! We have had an amazing adventure this year and wouldn't have survived any of it without the love and support of all of you!

We truly hope that God will bless your families in the coming year as much as He has blessed us this year!!!

For Your Entertainment...

We are constantly amazed by Carson's ability to pick up English, but it occurred to me that maybe he's just "parroting" everything we say. As a test, I taught him the following:


Yes, I have to ask the questions very slowly, or "four" will be the answer to both of them...but I think that's pretty impressive!

He also now spontaneously and appropriately responds "dat doo" (aka thank you) and "oo welcome" (aka you're welcome). The one word that seriously tangles his poor little tongue is "milk"...take a listen:


OK, was the timing of that belch perfect or what?? And his reaction to it? Priceless! Hey, at least he says "skooz-a me" (aka excuse me) without being prompted!

In early December Meggie had a dance recital and, since I was at the hospital with my Mom, Daddy and Carson used my ticket and went to watch her dance. Much to Daddy's dismay, Carson LOVED watching the girls dance. LOVED it!! Now, as a means to aggravate Daddy, Meggie and Carson cooked up the following routine:


What can I say...the boy's got rhythm!! NOT!! But his giggles are infectious either way!

Last night, when I went to Target with the kids to finish up Christmas shopping, we had the silliest time! Take a peek...

Carson GROWLING 'cause he wants to go to Target!

Goofing around with Sarah while they wait on me.
See me on the couch?
I'm finishing up blogging on the laptop before we leave.

Since Carson was on Meggie's shoulders,
Ultraman got a ride on Sarah's!

Meggie's favorite thing to do when she's bored is take pictures. She will photograph herself in the minivan, while we're shopping, whenever. Last night at Target, we were laughing so hard at some of the pictures she took I nearly choked! I'm pretty sure people thought we were a little "off," but we had fun!

In the Christmas aisle, Meggie and Sarah were looking at the nutcrackers on display. One of the nutcrackers was missing its beard...and Sarah found it. Take a look...

...and the best of the bunch...

Yes, folks, we are THAT exciting at Target on a Friday night! Oh goodness, I still crack up when I see Carson with that mustache!! Hysterical!

OK, enough procrastinating...I still have a BUNCH of presents to wrap...break's over!!

Wow...What a Week (Part Two)!

We're back from Target and FINALLY finished with our Christmas shopping!! Anyway, back to the update...

Yesterday Carson had his physical therapy (PT) evaluation with Miss Courtney. I took the camera so I could take a few shots of the workup, like I did with his OT evaluation. Unfortunately, in an effort to get a better look at Carson's limbs during activities, Miss Courtney stripped the poor boy down to his underpants! He actually LOVED it...he can't go barefoot anymore since he got his AFOs so he was all about running around au naturale...but I didn't feel right photographing him for the blog!!

While OT works more on fine motor skills, PT is all about the gross motor stuff. Carson had a BLAST with all the toys and activities! Miss Courtney noticed a lot of things about Carson that I had either noticed but not given importance to or not noticed at all. The most obvious is the way Carson sits on the floor. He does what is called a "W-sit"...hard to explain, so we had him pose for a picture...
I know I have seen lots of kids sit like this...in fact, my younger sisters used to do it when they were very young. However, this position is very hard on his knees and has contributed to the internal rotation of his feet. Miss Courtney said we have to stop Carson whenever he is doing the W-sit and make him do "criss-cross applesauce," like this...
Actually, that picture of criss-cross applesauce is amazing to me. Last night when he tried to do it, his knees were facing up toward the ceiling...we couldn't push his knees down toward the floor without him crying out in pain. One day later, after a little stretching, his knees are almost to the floor! Wow!! The bad thing is that with his AFOs on he can't really cross his ankles...the AFOs are kinda big and clunky. So, he will do this instead...
...which is still much better than the W-sit.

Carson walks incredibly pigeon-toed and, while the AFOs improve that a little bit, it is still pretty pronounced. The orthopedic surgeon told me at our visit last month that this may just be something Carson will have to become aware of and fix by habit. Miss Courtney had him walk on a balance beam to help show him that his feet need to face forward. He actually did pretty well on it, but still (amazingly) did it pigeon-toed! Daddy is going to work on building a small and low-to-the-floor balance beam to use at home so we can work on that.

When Carson walks up steps, he always leads with the same foot. I know that by the age of four most children can alternate feet on stair walking, but I didn't think anything of the fact that Carson doesn't. I actually figured that he rarely walked steps at the orphanage and was just still in learning mode. Miss Courtney said that it is typical to lead with your strongest leg going up stairs and with your weakest leg coming down. They did some stair walking and Carson ALWAYS leads with his left foot going up (strong) and with his right foot coming down (weak). So, now we have to force him to switch that pattern to strengthen his right leg. Last night, he cried and really struggled with the attempt. Today, he had to really work hard and think about it, but his increased strength is already obvious.

So, we have a lot to work on until Carson's next PT appointment. No W-sitting, work on stairs, daily stretches, consistent wear of the AFOs...whew! I'm exhausted just talking about it, poor Carson has to LIVE it!! I will say that he is one of the most cooperative and tolerant kids I've EVER met. No matter what we throw at him...therapies, AFOs, whatever...he just smiles and goes along with it. What a little trouper!!

Last night, we got our family picture professionally done. (We do this every year at Christmas time.) We got a CD of the pics and I'm going to try to figure out how to post some of 'em. I will say I was not counting on being happy with the pics this year...Carson is a bit unpredictable at times and doesn't understand 100% of what we say. However, he did incredibly well and I was SO HAPPY with the final products...I actually had choices between a few good shots!

We got pictures with the kids together and each kid individually. Carson was so funny in his individual shots...the photographer sat him in a kid-sized overstuffed chair and he slumped back like a lump. Then he saw a football on the shelf and wouldn't stop obsessing about it. We handed him the football and got the CUTEST pics of him holding it while sitting in the chair!

When the photographer was taking Meggie's individual pictures, I changed Carson into his Chinese outfit. I just wanted a decent shot of him in the outfit and really had no strict expectations about what kind of pose we could get him to cooperate with. He started off standing up, then suddenly dropped to his knees, then dropped to his belly, then started writhing/crawling on the floor toward the photographer. We CRACKED UP! It was like he thought he was some kind of supermodel. The photographer couldn't stop laughing!! I finally had to tell him to stand up so she could get some decent shots...the pics of this fiasco were awful! Funny, but awful!!

I'll work with the CD over the weekend and try to post the shots next week some time...complete with some of the funny ones!

Thought I'd close this out with some funny shots of Meggie and Carson. Daddy got upset when he saw them, but EVERY little boy has pictures like this, where his big sister dressed him up...right?!
Probably won't be blogging this weekend...I've only wrapped ONE gift, so clearly I'll be a bit busy with Christmas preparations! Of course, it doesn't matter to me what I get for Christmas this year...my kids are the best gift I will EVER receive!!

Feeling especially blessed this year...Merry Christmas, everybody!!

Wow...What a Week!

Monday was a big day for Carson...he got his AFO splints! I had heard that many kids who wear these have trouble adjusting and initially put up a fight...not my Little Man! He put them on at the brace shop and hasn't looked back! A few pics...
In my never-ending effort to "cool up" any corrective devices required, I decided to call his AFOs his "Ultraman Boots"...score!! Carson not only gladly wears them, he proudly shows them off to whoever will look! He also has a different pair of AFOs (slightly different padding, same general concept) for bedtime, which we call his "Bedtime Boots." The goal of these AFOs is to stretch out his heel cords since he is a toe-walker. If we can stretch the cords with the AFOs, we can try to avoid any additional surgery.

My biggest fear with the AFOs was that Carson would be upset about losing his Ultraman gym shoes. These AFOs are HUGE and require shoes two sizes bigger than his actual foot! When the orthotist brought out his new shoes (specially made by the brace shop to accommodate the splints), he was actually excited! He is very into being a "bee boy" (aka big boy)...eating "bee boy byes" (big boy bites), for example...and when the orthotist called the shoes his "big boy shoes," that's all he needed to hear! The shoes are basic white gym shoes (see 'em in the pictures?) but he loves 'em! The Ultraman shoes are in a box...outta sight, outta mind! I would love to get them bronzed, just like we did with Meggie's first walkers. I'll have to check into that!

Monday night, Kevin put Carson in his Bedtime Boots and was tucking him in bed, as is the usual routine. Suddenly I could hear Carson sobbing. I ran upstairs and he was crying, repeating over and over, "Soss off! Soss off!" (aka socks off). Kevin had put Carson's socks on him under the AFOs to protect his skin from the plastic but Carson would have none of it. He had the biggest crocodile tears running down his face...what could we do? The socks came off, the AFOS went back on, and he went right to sleep! We have had a couple of nights this week where he awakened in the middle of the night crying and the only thing that would stop it was removing the AFOs, but for the most part he has been very compliant with his regimen.

I asked the orthotist at the brace shop how long they thought Carson would be in the AFOs. She said the typical routine is around three years. Yikes! Poor guy...he's probably wishing we'd send him back to China where he was free. Now he comes to the U.S.A., we tie him into plastic splints, and expect him to get a good night's sleep?! I know, I know...in the long run, this is a good thing for Carson. I just feel bad 'cause he doesn't understand why everything is changing on him!

When we arrived home from the brace shop on Monday, we got a very special document in the mail...Carson's Certificate of Citizenship! He was an American citizen the day we arrived here from China, but this document is very important and is required to obtain his Social Security number and a U.S. birth certificate. Very exciting!! Even though Carson's citizenship was official all along, it just seems more "real" when you see it on paper, with the official U.S. seal!

Wednesday at OT, Carson got a wrist splint for his left arm. Since both of his poor feet are stuck in splints about 23 hours a day, Miss Mary and I decided we would let him alternate hands rather than having all four limbs tied up every night. Unfortunately, he is really struggling with this left splint. Miss Mary and I thought his right wrist looked the worst of the two, which is why he got that splint first. However, he seems to have much more discomfort with that left splint...even to the point that the little stinker is removing it at night! He cries, then he removes the Velcro, then I go into his room and replace it...repeat, repeat. Gotta give him credit...smart little booger figured out how to take the thing off! Unfortunately, that new knowledge is gonna make compliance with the splint schedule more challenging!

Carson's favorite activity at home is to help Mommy with laundry. He LOVES it! One day, in an effort to keep him busy while I hung up a load of wet clothes, I asked him to empty the dryer into the basket. That kid is EFFICIENT and obviously watches Mommy like a hawk while she does laundry! (He follows my routine to the letter!) When Kevin and I were first married, we used to dump the clean laundry on the couch...and the pile would get HUGE since we could just avoid it. We decided pretty early on to always dump it on the bed...that way we HAD to fold everything before going to sleep. I was shocked when Carson not only filled the basket with clean clothes and dragged it to our bedroom, but then he proceeded to put everything on the bed...which is quite a feat for him (as you'll see in the pics) since our bed sits pretty high off the floor.

Wednesday afternoon, he wanted to help again, so I captured it with the camera:

Trying to open the dryer door, and needing Mommy's help... ...emptying the clothes into the basket...

...dragging the basket down the hall, past the kids' bathroom......and into Mommy and Daddy's room...

...winding up to make sure...

...that EVERY towel ends up on Mommy and Daddy's bed...

...making sure the pile stays securely on the bed...

...carrying the empty laundry basket out of Mommy and Daddy's room......back down the hall, past the kids' bathroom...

...and placing it back in front of the dryer!

Can you believe it?? Now if I can just teach him to sort and fold the clothes, scrub the bathrooms, clean the house, and load the dishwasher...I could have a day off!!!! Working on it...

I have more to post, but since I promised Meggie and her friend Sarah I would take them to Target...and they're currently bugging me to leave...I'll have to finish up later! Check back for more!