17

Dear Alex,

Today, you turn 17! Well, kind of. According to my rules, you're just going to repeat being 16. You're growing up to fast so we're having to rewind time. This year, on your birthday, you're out exploring the world. Thanks to Uncle Chris, we've seen some awesome pictures of you in New Zealand and the sights!

Anyhow, on this day, December 30, 2008, your dad and I want to tell you how very proud we are of you. You continue to make your entirely family proud, not only with your grades but with the wonderful young man you are becoming. It's hard to believe that in just another year and a half you'll be off to college. Little do you know, we're going to send your application to Georgia Perimeter College and you're going to have to live at home. :-) Kidding, dear... kidding!

Thank you for everything you add to this family - for your humor, your crabbiness in the mornings when you don't get enough sleep, being such an awesome big brother, step-son and son.

Love you tons,

Becky

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Alex,

I’ve had the privilege of seeing you grow from an infant to a fine young man, conducting your life with dedication, honesty and integrity. It has been a complete joy having you in my life for the past 17 years. You are destined for great things Alexander Keith! I love you son!

Love,

Dad

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(if Andrew could type, this would be his letter to you)

Alex,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I'm going to eat your cupcakes ALL GONE!

Love,

Andrew

Anyhow, we have a little video for you. Hopefully, you can see this in the wild blue yonder! :-)

P.S. I know today is the 29th, but it's the 30th in New Zealand and I wanted to be sure it was posted so Alex would get it in the morning.

Andrew's favorite gift

It's been so much fun watching Andrew play with everything he received for Christmas. He really likes his Hot Wheels track and last night we played "Go Fish" for the first time. I managed to capture his most favorite thing of all on video. If only I knew that a cardboard box was what he REALLY wanted... we would have saved a ton of money! :-)

To set the scene, Andrew is in his boat on his way to the North Pole. He is bringing his crayons to Santa to give him as a gift. He has some friends in the boat with him and his arch rival - Callie is outside the box. Think of Callie as the pirate waiting out in sea for her enemy. This cat doesn't like Andrew so much - unless she has the opportunity to torture him! :-) (As always, don't look at the mess... thankfully this is post-Christmas mess!)



I promise the Christmas Eve post is coming. My sister is out of town and I need her video before I can put it all together and post it! Hopefully later this week.

Hugs!
Becky

"Santa, come to MY house!"

I can honestly say that this holiday season has been so much fun! When I first met Alex, he was 7 years old I think. Maybe a bit older... He was still very excited about Santa, but he had it down pat. He knew about putting out carrots for Rudolph, cookies for Santa and that he needed to be a good boy. Andrew, on the other hand, is learning this all for the first time. He's been so easily entertained and it's been a blast to watch him get excited about the holidays.

Each morning, Keith and Andrew would mark another day off of our big calendar and then they would count the number of days left until Santa came. About a week before Christmas, Andrew would look up towards the sky and yell "Santa! Come out of the North Pole, please. Come to MY house! (pause, pause and then said in a sing-song voice) Thank you!" It was too, too funny! He sang Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is coming to town each and every day - typically louder and louder each time.

For Christmas Eve, we went to my dad and step-mom's for a whole lot of food and so Alex and Andrew could open their gifts. Since I don't have the video put together yet, I'm going to save that for a totally separate post sometime this weekend. It was absolutely priceless! Let's just say it involved a knock at the door, a little boy saying "Santa, where is your Rudolph?" over and over again, Jingle Bells and 9 adults laughing so hard they had tears streaming down their faces.

After going to my dad's, Keith and I came home and spent the night wrapping. Boy, oh boy... lesson learned - wrap as you go!! We were up until about 1:30 in the morning and were just plumb exhausted. We hit the hay and thankfully our little guy didn't wake up until 8:00!! Wooohoooo!!! I know in years to come he'll be just like my sister and I - up at 4:30 full of excitement! After Andrew came downstairs he walked through the living room like it was any other day. Didn't notice all of the presents from Santa Claus and didn't notice the blue choo-choo train he asked Santa for sitting right on the floor.

Keith got the video recorder ready and we sent Andrew upstairs to wake his "big brudder" up with a big old "Merry Christmas, Alex. Time to get UP!". A quick stomp of the feet and he was back downstairs. Alex and Andrew passed out gifts which I think Andrew got a big kick out of. Alex read the tag and Andrew would put it in the right spot. He refused to stack the gifts - had to have them all laid out in a straight line. We were laughing so hard. With each present he brought over, he would say "Here you go mom/dad/Alex".

Let's see... what did everyone get? Alex got a new cellphone, swim suit and some accessories, a few PS3/computer games, a cool outfit from his hip step-mother :-), gift cards, etc... Andrew got a sit and spin, matchbox track, Mickey and Little Einsteins DVDs, some games, etc... Keith got an ipod, sweats, a watch, gift cards, etc... Becky got a pretty bracelet, a new cellphone and my favorite gift of all - My blog, in a book. Oh boy did I cry when I opened it! I wish I could remember what the dedication page said because that set me over the edge. It has to be my favorite gift of all time because it chronicles our life. It's not just about the blood, sweat and tears to bring Andrew home but it's about Alex losing his mom, his sports, homecoming, our anniversaries and so on.

After presents, I made breakfast and immediately fell into a food coma. Andrew took a 45 min nap and I took a 2 hour nap. I woke up to the sound of Andrew balling his eyes out. I went into the living room and could tell Andrew was in trouble. He threw a puzzle piece at Keith because he was mad about something. Poor kid had reached his peak. He was overstimulated and just bouncing off walls. Two days worth of presents, a party at Grandpa and Nana's, time at Uncle Billy's and then a bunch of people at our house just did him in (not to mention the lack of nap). We tried our hardest to be patient with him the rest of the night, but boy was it hard!!

At night, we read books and he snuggled right up next to me. Part of me was sad the day was over but the other part was just so happy to have things slow down a bit. Alex left for New Zealand this morning with his Uncle Chris (his 16th bday present from his Nanny and Papa). Things should slow down with not having to drive to and from school/swimming and the girlfriends house. Hopefully we'll all recoup and be ready for the New Year!

This has been an amazing year and I'll get more into that in my New Year's Eve post. I think you've had enough of me rattling on and on so it's time to get to some pictures!







I hope everyone had an absolutely wonderful holiday!
Love,
Becky

Merry Christmas Eve!

Oh boy, did we have fun tonight at my dad and step-mom's! I don't have time to give you all of the details (I have video to share too!) but I will do that sometime over the next few days (and tell you about Christmas of course!). Right now, Keith and I need to get busy wrapping gifts.

I'm really logging on to the blog to ask all of you to keep a little friend of ours in your thoughts and prayers. Alex became friends with a boy in our neighborhood many, many years ago and they have been inseparable ever since. I always joke around that he is my second son (with Andrew being my third). Well, I spoke with his mom tonight and without going into details, he isn't doing well. His family life isn't the best and his depression seems to have reached a pinnacle. We love this kid and are heartbroken that we can't do anything to make it all better (that's what us moms are good at, right??). He needs all of the love he can get from near and far right now.

Off to wrap gifts, tidy my house and (hopefully) get some sleep!

Merry Christmas Eve!
Becky

P.S. You know you've been talking about Santa non-stop when your dogs get excited because they've heard something and you think to yourself "Oh my goodness! Is Santa here??" :-)

5 Months

Can you believe 5 months have passed since we landed in Atlanta with our little Peanut? For 5 months I've been a mother of a toddler! For 5 months I've... ummmm... SURVIVED! Yes people... I'm alive, well and really quite happy. Of course, you don't come here to read about me, so let me give you an update on our little guy.

Daycare: I had our first "conference" with Andrew's teacher yesterday. It was good to get a one on one update and most of what I heard was good! He is developmentally ahead of most others. His speech is amazing (more on that in another paragraph), he is always so excited to do things, loves art projects and is a favorite amongst all of the teachers. He seems to have an issue with being too "over" excited and can get a bit pushy. For example, when they get on the choo-choo train to go outside (code for get in line) he will mow someone over in order to get there quickly. He will also take a ball away from someone if he decides he wants it. The teacher said he doesn't do it maliciously and when corrected he immediately asks to share. Just some things to work on.

One thing she mentioned is that he always needs to be first. When they bring food in for lunch Andrew will constantly ask "Where's Andrew's??". Keith and I talked about how that could related back to orphanage days. We also talked a lot about how we forget SO easily that he has only been home for five months and we know his teachers don't even give that a second thought.

Okay... let's move on.

Eating: The boy eats. Daycare said he's their best eater. He likes lots and lots of vegetables (especially corn on the cob), chicken, beef, pork, yogurt, milk, etc... His table manners need some help, but hey - he's 3!

Sleeping: Bedtime is awesome. He sleeps so good. Naptime? Well, he's trying to give them up and I'm not sure why because he's exhausted during the day. We talked about how Santa loves good nappers and at school today he did take a good nap. What is a mom to do once Christmas is over? This Santa thing is SO WONDERFUL! Think it's detrimental to use Cupid next and tell Andrew he's going to get an arrow in his behind if he's on Cupid's bad list? :-)

Sleeping Edited: I started this post 3 days ago. I was just re-reading so I could continue with the update and the "Bedtime is awesome" sentence needs to be stricken from the record. Once upon a time, Keith was putting Andrew down for a nap and told him "When you wake up, you can just get out of bed." He told him this so that he knew it was okay to get up and go potty if he needed to. Welllllll... now he wants to "wake himself" all the time so the second his eyes open he's up and running. Or, even worse, if he lays in bed for 5 mins and can't sleep he gets up, comes to the top of the stairs and says "Mommy! I wake myself!" and is oh, so proud. Mommy, on the other hand, is oh so not happy. :-) This happens with nap time too. I have to wonder if the excitement of Santa is making him a little uppity.

Speech: Boy, oh boy!!! I am amazed. I talk to my child all of the time and am just amazed at what he says. He asks questions about everything, tells stories with tons of details and is so animated! Now, instead of saying "I want milk" he'll say "May I have some milk please, mommy?" He will also say things like "I wan to go home and see my daddy and my dogs and my cats and give them hugs. I want to hug Angel and give her food and a cookie. Callie is mean. I like Lancey" and on and on.... He loves to learn new words and can sing his ABC's. He knows all of his letters but can't write anything yet.

Behavior: Andrew is both a sweet, lovable boy and a tester. When he is good, he is so very, very good! When he is bad he is a pill! Thanks to Ondrea, I've read "Magic 1, 2, 3". We use counting and the loss of privileges when applicable. If there aren't any consequences to be lost then he gets a timeout. Daycare is having some issues with him not listening and when he gets tired he'll throw out a quick "No" when asked to do something. All in all, he's a great kid - he's just in the middle of trying to test his boundaries and since he has a mean mommy so he won't get too far. :-)

Self Skills: (They teach self skills in daycare) He can pretty much do it all! He dresses and undresses, puts his shoes on (velcro - not ready to venture into tying yet), washes his hair, brushes his teeth, feeds himself (although needs to work on table manners :-)), asks to be excused at the table (still working on this) and so on.

Hmmm.... what else is there to update you on? He is just an amazing kid. We are so blessed and we honestly we're given the child we were meant to have. He loves his family and is so sweet and kind. He has a personality that melds perfectly with all of us and we are in continuous amazement as we watch him learn.

We had our first post-placement visit a few weeks ago and our social worker was absolutely amazed at how well he was talking and was attaching to us. He exhibited the perfect amount of shyness when he first met her and then warmed up as time went on. Of course he asked her his favorite introductory question... "What your dog's name?". I finally got our report done and sent off to our agency, albeit a day or two late.

I honestly have so many videos and pictures to post, just no time! I have no vacation between now and the end of the year (used it all on the adoption) and work has been absolutely insane. I apologize to those of you who have emailed or if it seems like I'm ignoring you!! Maybe the weekend of January 2nd when I have a few days off I can get all caught up. By the way, to those of you waiting by your mailbox for Christmas cards... stop looking and check back after the New Year. Just like last year, I'm trying to start a new trend with "New Years" cards.

This past Saturday, Andrew spent the night at Aunt Mandy's so daddy and mommy could spend some time with Alex and then head out to a Christmas party. Keith and I had a great time (Thanks, Cami!) and Andrew did too (Thanks, Aunt Mandy!). Below is a picture of Andrew at Aunt Mandy's. Looks like he's protecting his purse from big, bad Mason the dog. :-) I'd show you pictures of Keith and I from the party, but well... there are probably 3 pictures of Keith and 150 pictures of me. Apparently I felt the need to be in EVERY.SINGLE.PICTURE. Oye... how embarrassing! I did have a good time so that's what matters, right?

Hope everyone is all ready for the holidays and isn't quite as stressed as I am with work and life!

Becky

Deck the Halls

... and the blog walls!

Phew! About time I changed this blog, huh?? It was boring, drab and in need of some prettiness! Like the picture of my little man with Santa? I totally cracked up when he looked over his glasses like Santa - such a little old man.

I know I've promised a detailed post, but guess what? Not this one! I have to put together my pictures for my post placement report so I can get them mailed off tomorrow. I'm down to the wire (shocker!).

Later Taters!
Becky

Intermission

I've disappeared again apparently! I'm not "back" yet - so let's consider this a brief intermission. I have lots to talk about! Still have to share Disney pics, tell you about our new Christmas tradition, fill you in on our first post-placement visit (happening on Tuesday) and I really, really want to a post on how Andrew is doing after having been home for almost 5 months! I also have lots of video to edit and post - Christmas carols, Alex swimming, and much, much more.

To hold you over through this long intermission, how about a picture of Andrew at Disneyworld? His face shows you just how much he LOVES his new hat! :-)

I'm 404 blog posts behind in my google reader. Yes, 404. I will read through all of them and comment when I can! Work has been crazy busy and life has been about the same!

We decorated the tree today. Callie promised she was going to be an angel this year and leave our tree in one piece. Hmmm... she sure looks like she's up to something, doesn't she??

Till later...

Becky

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi there, from sunny Florida!

Andrew, Alex and I flew down Tuesday to Orlando to meet Keith and his brother who were already down visiting Keith's parents. This is the first time Keith's mom, dad and extended family have had a chance to meet the little Peanut. The flight down went well, although we were all pretty tired by the time we got here! We got a good nights sleep on Tuesday night and then hung around our resort most of Wednesday. Wednesday night we met the grandparents at their house and then headed out to dinner.

Andrew fell in love... he helped Grandma shuck corn, met the dogs and Grandpa gave him his Cars fishing pole! Santa left an early Christmas present of Playdoh and Grandma and Grandpa got him a rocking chair that matches ours. Too cute! The playdoh came in very handy this morning as we were trying to get ready.

For Thanksgiving, Pat, Keith's mom, cooked a feast! We had ham, turkey, stuffing, 4 different vegetables, sweet potato casserole, crescent rolls, etc, etc, etc... For dessert (my favorite part of the meal) we had 3 different pies and the best brownies in the world. We had dinner at Moss Park - where Pat works. It's a huge park near two lakes with campgrounds, fishing, sand hill cranes, deer, funky looking squirrels, and so much more. Keith's step-brother and his family came to eat with us as well.

I can honestly tell you that being outside for Thanksgiving (with a 3 year old) was a brilliant plan. Andrew ran and ran and ran. He fished, played football, watching the cranes, ate, ate some more, road in the gator and met everyone that worked at the park (who fed him some more). He was one happy boy (and we were happy (and thankful) parents because each of the people there gave us a rest!)

Andrew "caught a fish" while fishing with Grandpa. 3 baby catfish and one blue something. Can you tell I'm an avid fishergirl? :-) He got to touch all of them and throw the blue one back himself. He was so proud of himself and made sure everyone knew that HE caught a fish. We have video to prove it - just needs to be edited.

So, the boy is fast asleep and his mom isn't too far behind. Tomorrow we head to DISNEY! We're taking Alex, my nephew Levi and Andrew. The older boys can go off and ride the bigger rides and Andrew gets to hang with us and his grandma. I'm sure we'll have some awesome pictures to share. I have been "calling" Mickey all week to give him a behavior report on Andrew. I told Andrew that Mickey is just like Santa - he can see you when you're sleeping and knows if you've been a good boy! :-)

Without further ado... some pictures!

As you can tell from the last picture in the slide show, Andrew missed his nap and crashed at about 5:30.

Sorry if this is incoherent and a semi-incomplete post... As Andrew would say, "I tired". :-)

Happy Thanksgiving... SO much to be thankful for this year!
Becky

Okay, okay

Alright. Step one is to admit you made a mistake and step two is to apparently show the world your mistake. I didn't get far away pictures of the bed because the crib is still in there and a table is in the way. In other words, the room is a mess and not put back together yet. I think you'll get the point when you see the massiveness. Oh and the walls don't look mossy greenish, but they are - must be the flash from the camera.

Before the pictures, here is a little video of my boy. The other night after dinner I just recorded anything and everything so you get a few pieces of that. (Don't look at my stacks and mess in the background. I'll get around to cleaning it before Andrew's high school graduation party.)

And now here are pics... of the hideousness.

So sorry I couldn't get a picture of the spoiler. I. Had. No. Room.

And the side view. Don't look at the mess. Looks nice and little huh?

Until you see a 6'1" man snuggling with his boy. Then you realize it's BIG.

Doesn't matter what kind of bed... he still doesn't want to go to sleep!

But this face and this smile makes living with a blue, tacky, plastic car bed that much easier.

Soooo... there you have it! Now, all of you mom's with boys go by your little guy one! You know he'd love it (and then I wouldn't be the only owner of this diamond in the rough)!

Love,

Becky

A big boy bed

When we began this adventure called adoption, I obviously knew we would be requesting a boy. I knew that meant trucks and cars and dirt and grime. I knew it meant my house would be overloaded with testosterone and that Angel, Brownie, Callie, Lancey and I would have to stick together through the noise and the ickiness. I knew it meant that my creativeness when it came to decorating Andrew’s room wouldn’t matter to anyone but me which is why I never worked too hard on it.

What I never, ever expected was to have (and suggest we buy) a 92” long 52” wide uglier then anything car bed as Andrew’s first “big boy bed”. Oh. My. Goodness. It is ugly. It is big. It is plastic. It is blue. Really blue. As in “doesn’t-match-the-décor-in-the-room-and-I-refuse-to-repaint-because-of-it” blue.

Here is how it happened. Keith’s brother is having a baby sometime soon. We promised them Andrew’s crib since he was quickly outgrowing the toddler bed. I began looking on Cra1gslist for a bed. We wanted something low to the ground just in case he wiggled out of it. I looked at Ike@ because, ya know, they have a nice low bed that would be perfect. Then I stumbled upon this Little Tikes car bed. It was really cute (and little) in the picture with the little boy laying on it. I knew my little boy would love it!

I emailed the picture to Keith and he agreed Andrew would love it (duh!). We set-up a pick up time and Keith loaded it into my Expedition without a problem - in pieces of course. He got home and I opened the car door to look at the color. Holy cow. I thought it was going to be a dark navy blue. Uhhhh… no. Bright Boy Blue. Andrew’s room is nice, calming greenish. The color coordinator/scrapbooker in me freaked. Thank goodness my interior designer brained sister hasn’t seen it yet. I’ll need to get the smelling salts.

Alex and Keith put it together last night and when I walked in the room, all I saw was a huge freaking bed. People – 92x52 is BIG. 33 sq foot of blue plastic. Andrew, of course, loved it. Alex thought it was cool and wished he had one when he was little and as you can imagine, Keith was all about it. Thanks to Grandma, Andrew already had a Speed Racer comforter set to go with it! (which is really cool but it would have been really cool on a regular bed)

So, there it is taking over the entire room. You’ll never see pictures of it because I’m afraid the glaring brightness will bust my camera. I can’t believe that I’M the one that suggested this. It would be so much easier to swallow if I could blame someone else.

Andrew fell asleep last night in the normal sleeping position only to wake up completely sideways with no covers. I do have to admit that he looked real cute (and tiny) in the big ol’ bed! Reminds me that he is still such a little guy and I hope the day he “fits” in that bed is far, far away!

Becky

P.S. I'll post some cupcake pictures and possibly the "How to eat a cupcake" video sometime tonight if I have time.

Ebay Super Seller

Apparently, shortly after my darling dearest child wrote the last post, he turned into a monster. Maybe it's the full moon, maybe it's the sniffles, maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe, just maybe, I came really close to listing him on ebay this afternoon.

Grrrrr... do you all know what I'm talking about? The non-stop "No!". The evil little smirk that appears right before the "No!". The need to say the opposite of whatever you say. The defiant laugh that makes you want to bang your head into wall. All of these things have been my child times 100 the past two days.

So, free to the highest bidder - time with my child, the current evil one. He is guaranteed to be a charmer to you, unless you are in the the doctor's office and ask him to come over to you so you can wipe his nose. Then, he'll run away, around the bead table so you can't catch him and give you that defiant little laugh. Oh wait! No, he won't do that to you... just me. I had "that" child today at the doctor's office. My child was the child that the parents kept their kids from playing with. I didn't even get the "ohhh... that poor lady" stare. I got the "MY child would never act like that". It was awesome.

And for those of you that have been there done that, how in the heck do you discipline your child in public? I tried to distract him, I tried to redirect him just to avoid having to resort to something time-out like. Nothing worked. It's not like I could pick him up and leave - he needed his flu shot. I ended up taking him out to the parking lot, talking to him and after he told me "No!" about 90,000 more times, I put him in time-out on the curb. He cried for, oh, a minute and then realized it would be totally cool to slide his behind back and forth on the curb. I, of course, told him to sit in one spot and what was his response?!? (Come on now... it's not hard!)

"NO!"

So, time out continued. And here I am wondering if I'm missing my stupid appointment! Thankfully, I didn't. Anyhow, we survived that, got our flu shot and came home. Daddy had a nice chat with him when we got home and he turned into a charmer. I know the past two days have been rough on him and long because of doctor's appointments, which is why I haven't yet listed him on ebay. Yet. If this weekend is anything like the past two days, you'll find me in the hot tub with a bottle of wine.

Okay... enough complaining (for now). So, the big Andrew news is that he needs glasses. Not to correct his vision - he's got great vision from what they can tell. It's to correct a tidbit of crosseyed-ness he has going on with his left eye. His left eye comes inward when he is focusing on something. In theory he'll need to wear glasses for quite some time but they should help strengthen the muscles in the eye. We actually found this out a while ago but needed to send his glasses back to get smaller ones.

He did great wearing them last night and all day today. On the way home, I heard "I broked it!" and I turned around. He had pulled the rubber ear piece off the glasses (the thing that goes behind the ear). I took the glasses from him but didn't think to take the rubber piece. It dawned on me later that I didn't have it so I asked him where it was. He pointed to the window. I didn't understand how he could have thrown it out the window because it was never open. My ingenious child shoved the rubber piece down into the window track. Ohhhhh... I'm so not kidding. Thankfully, enough was sticking out that I could jam my key in there and pull it out. And this is only Day 2, people.

Below are some pics of my little devil. I decided to post them just in case one of you decides to be the high bidder this weekend. He is awfully cute. I say this weekend because Andrew and I are going to have "bonding time" while Keith does some server stuff for a customer. Hopefully the full moon or the sniffles or whatever it is that's causing the terrible 3's goes away before then!

Fall fun in the leaves!

Look at me! All dressed for school pictures with my new glasses!

And THIS is one of those looks that I mentioned above.

I believe this is the "Yeah right, I'm not doing that!" look.

More later my friends! Thanks for the venting session! I know that this too shall pass...

Becky

P.S. Just in case anyone is really concerned, I wouldn't sell my kid on ebay. :-)

An Update from Andrew

Phew… can you believe I’ve been home for almost 4 months?? I figured I’d tell you now because by the time Sunday rolls around Mommy will be exhausted from “playing” with me all weekend that I’m sure she’ll forget to mention it. Has she told you lately that she’s applied for the “Mother of the Year” award? I’ve heard her tell some friends about it. Apparently it has something to do with forgetting antibiotics, not scheduling the dentist and I keep hearing “getting his glasses before he turns 18”. I have no clue what that means, but if those are the criteria, she is the WINNER!!!

So what’s been going on with me, you wonder?? Sooooo much! I’m still obsessed with the moon and – you heard it here first – I WILL reach it with my rocketship. I told Mommy she’s coming with me. I’m not sure she realizes that I’m serious. Wait until I have to yell at her for trying to take her arms out of her carseat in my rocketship. Payback, I tell ya…

I love to eat. Pasta is still my favorite. Everything is still chicken (I have no clue what this beef thing is all about). Daddy told me the other night that in order to be able to grow up big and strong and touch the ceiling, I have to eat all of my meat. I’m guessing meat = chicken. Doesn’t matter – I like to touch the ceiling so I ate all my meat. I love bean greens (not a typo) and corn, especially popcorn.

The thought of popcorn leads me to something else – CARS! You know... as in MATER! We had a movie night on Saturday and I got to eat popcorn and watch Cars. I didn’t really care about that McQueen guy – he talked normal and looked normal. Mater was who I was holding out for and I loved him. Now I want to watch it every night. I also love Madagascar. You want to know why? Because it’s the zebra’s birthday and you know what birthdays mean, right? CUPCAKES! I keep asking mommy for cupcakes after I sing to the zebra and she just laughs. How mean.

In other news, my brother, Alex, was inducted into National Honor Society. Dad and Mom made a big deal out of it and Mom was really mad when we got there at 8:30, sat down and started clapping because it was over. She swears it was supposed to start at 8:30 and not 8:00. The good news is that apparently it’s another “notch” in her “Mother of the Year” award so, in reality, she should be happy, right? Women – I just don’t get them! Anyhow, my mom wanted me to tell you that Alex came out after the ceremony was over and said “I got inducted for my character. Hmpfh! As if character counts for anything!” She and dad were proud… real proud!

Alex’s swim season starts in full force on Friday. I’m excited because I’ve learned how to yell “PULL, PULL” while people are swimming. I also yell “Allleeexxxxxx” really loud and all of these girls in bathing suits turn, smile and wave. They talk about how cute I am. I sure hope that works when I’m a teenager. My dad keeps telling Alex that I’m a chick magnet. Not sure what that is, but Alex always agrees!

School is good. I like my teachers and my friends. To keep mom on her toes, I’ve been balling my eyes out in the morning. Sometimes, for added effect, I throw my arms around her neck so that it takes two teachers to pry me off. Little does she know, I only cry for about 1 minute after she leaves and then I go about my merry way! I just want her to know that I’m going to miss her. I think there is still that part of me that wants to be sure she’ll remember to pick me up each day. Then again, how could you forget a face like mine!

I’m sleeping like a champ. Even with a little cold I still seem to sleep good. I love it when my daddy wakes me up each morning. It’s our little ritual. We talk about how good I slept and then go get Po-Po Puffs or grits. Po-Po Puffs are my favorite because I can make magic and turn the milk in the cereal bowl from white to brown.

Can I tell you something that is frustrating me? I have a runny nose. My mom wipes it and then it’s back again. She tells me to blow, I blow air out of my mouth just like we did when we blew air through a straw at school and she tells me I’m doing it wrong. She shows me again, I blow air out of my mouth again and she gives up. She resorts to using this bulb thing which I tolerate but don’t necessarily like. She really needs to find another way to teach me whatever it is she’s trying to teach me.

So, besides all that, I’m good! I’d really like more time to play with my puzzles and jump on the couch but being three means having lots of responsibility so I don’t get to play as often as I’d like. I’ve got Daddy’s Bronco to work on, soup to stir, laundry to try to throw up into the dryer, cats tails to play with, dogs who feel the need to lick me and a brother that likes to pretend I’m a wind up toy. By the way, mom doesn’t think it’s a good idea for me to lick the cats. Any idea why?

On that note, I’m outta here. Got food to eat and some doctor to go see. Mommy keeps promising a lollipop after our doctor’s appointment and that’s never a good sign.

Love,
Andrew

P.S. Happy Veteran's Day! Thank you to all of you that have fought for our country!

Our Trip to Myrtle Beach

Oh how much fun we had!! It was a much, much needed break from reality coupled with some great family time. I started this post by detailing everything we did, when we did it, etc... and then realized it would be 90 pages long by the time I was done. Instead, I've decided to bullet the highlights and things I loved about our trip and then let the pictures tell the rest of the story. (I took 515 pictures but will only bore you with 70 of them!)

My favorite things:

1. Riding in the car with 3 boys fast asleep (Alex, Andrew and Alex's friend Coley) talking with Keith. We talked for the entire ride - non-stop. That is the most time we've had to talk since July!

2. Meeting up with Rachel, Troy and Daniel. I've talked/emailed with Rachel since June of last year - many, many times each week. We've gone through the highs and lows together and it was surreal to have our kids meet. At some points throughout the process we never thought it would happen and here we are, on vacation together with our kiddos!

3. Watching Andrew discover the ocean. He LOVED the ocean. It's the biggest "pool" he's ever seen! He was fearless (which scared mom and dad a few times) and would have stayed there all day and night if we let him. At one point, while trying to take him out of his wet clothes (he fell a few times) he ran back to the ocean in his underwear (Finding Nemo underwear - how fitting!)

4. Telling Andrew and Daniel to hold hands and watching them both fall over when the wave hit. It was TOO TOO funny. Of course, us parents stood their and laughed and then realized "whoops! Guess we should pick our kids up, huh?". You'll see a picture of Andrew standing and a random leg in the air. That would be Daniel. :-) He took a spill and the picture looks like Andrew pushed him, but he didn't!

5. Hearing Andrew say "Bury me AGAIN!" as his big brother, Coley and Daniel buried him in the sand. Three times.

6. Watching Alex and Coley turn into little kids again as they dared each other to run into the (cold) ocean. And they did. Three times.

7. Seeing Sira for the first time at the rehearsal and seeing her grin from ear to ear as she looked at all of the adopted children practicing their walk down the aisle. She is such a very special person and loves these kids a ton!

8. Watching Andrew and Daniel practice their walk down the aisle holding hands. (See #2 for why this just melted my heart!)

9. Listening to Andrew ask over and over and over again "Where's Alex? Where's Coley?". He has these two boys on such a pedestal and they just love him. It's so great to see 3 boys of all ages (4, if you count Keith) play around and just be silly.

10. Trick or treating with Andrew. We went to Barefoot Landing (stores) and trick or treated. Seeing the Monkey and the Alligator together was just the cutest. Andrew would say "Wait! Wait for the Alligator!" and Daniel would say "Monkey!! hehehe... Monkey!!" and point at Andrew. At that point, they had no names - just Monkey and Alligator.

11. THE WEDDING! It was absolutely gorgeous - down to the very last detail. Andrew had not taken a nap so we were a bit nervous he would pitch a fit going down the aisle, but thankfully he made it! He actually made it to the end and stood there (near the bride's spot) until someone reminded him to go sit on the blanket. Sira was absolutely beautiful, Cliff looked so calm and collected and Max was just precious in his ring bearers outfit. Sira had a kid's handbell choir (is it called a choir?) there and they played "Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music as the kids walked down the aisle. How awesome is that?

12. Watching Andrew make out with the cupcake. Sira had cupcakes for all of the kids with their names on it. Andrew just started attacking the icing. It was all over his face and his tongue never left the top of the cupcake. It was a bit disturbing to watch. :-)

13. Dancing with my husband at the wedding. Granted, it was only 2 slow songs but it was nice to have that quiet time together!

14. Making new friends! We had the pleasure of sitting with two other couples at the wedding reception. It was so much fun to compare stories. It's interesting how much different your experience can be based on the country, region and even down to the orphanage level.

I'm sure there is such much more I'm forgetting! The bottom line is that we had a BLAST! We all wanted to stay another 4 days or so, but unfortunately work and school beckoned. Andrew keeps asking if tomorrow is a "Vacation Day" (we have a calendar that has S's and H's on it (S = school day and H = home day) - it helps ease anxiety when Andrew is able to see what the next day is). We added a few V's to the calendar for Thanksgiving but it doesn't seem to be helping at all. He misses the ocean and even blew it a kiss the day we left.

I'll leave you with pictures!

Bad Blogger (long and rambling)

SERIOUSLY... has it really been over a week since I posted? Didn't I promise (like a girl scout promise) to blog more frequently now that we're getting things figured out? Well, apparently, I'm not a good girl scout. Will these two random messy face pictures help you forgive me? (Spaghetti or a donut anyone??)



So much has been going on! I had the pleasure of meeting Karen and Kerry for dinner last Thursday night. They were headed to Atlanta to catch their flight back to Kemerovo City to go to court! Congratulations to them! Their 10 days were waived and I'm pretty sure they picked up their daughter today (haven't read blogs yet!). Andrew loved his new friends. At the end of the night, as we were saying our goodbyes, he insisted on a group hug.

He loves group hugs now. It started when Keith gave me a hug one morning and Andrew yelled out from his high chair "I WANT LOVE TOO!". We went over and said "Group hug!" and we all hugged. Well, now, anytime Keith or I hug anyone Andrew needs in on the action. It's too, too cute. Speaking of group hugs...

Last night (Tuesday) we met up with some very special friends! Dinia and Ron!! They were on their way from Alabama to North Georgia and they timed their trip perfectly for dinner with the family. Keith, Alex, Andrew, Mandy and I met them for dinner and hugged our hellos as Andrew insisted on multiple group hugs. He was a cutie pie at dinner, exclaiming "Look everyone!" as he showed us how the magnet stuck to the napkin holder. (It was magic.) It was so, so good to see Dinia and Ron - it was just as though we saw them yesterday in Moscow.

And, like the bad blogger I am, I have no pictures of those 2 meet-ups. Yes, I swear I really met these people in real life. I'm not quite at the point where I'm meeting pretend friends. Almost, but not quite.

Besides those two meet-ups, I spent last Saturday cooking all day with my sister and step-mom. We made meatballs, mini meatloaves, a few casseroles and lots of other things I can't remember. Now my freezer is full and ready to go! That is the first time my sister and I have cooked like that and boy does it whip your butt. You have no clue how much you use various muscles standing still or beating 20 pieces of chicken. Okay, so I'm out of shape... don't make fun. :-)

While I was cooking on Saturday, Keith took Andrew and Alex to see Alex's sister's lacrosse game. This is Kaylee's first year playing and she loves it. I honestly think she grows an inch a month. She has gotten so, so tall! Andrew came home talking about how "Kaylee catch ME!". Apparently (and according to the photo evidence) she chased Andrew around trying to catch him. Ya know, I never did find out if Kaylee's team won!

Sunday we went to get pumpkins at our local Methodist church. We really wanted to go to a pumpkin patch like so many others have, but the "good" ones were a bit of a drive and we just didn't have the time. Andrew tried to pick up many, many pumpkins and what do you think he wanted to do with them once he had them in his arms? Why throw them of course! He rolled one down the hill and got a lecture from an 8 year old boy about how it was going to explode and go everywhere. Did that stop Andrew? Why no! It made him want to do it even more!!

So what's next? Time to slow down and enjoy fall that is almost over? Ummm... NOPE! Tomorrow is the Halloween parade at Andrew's school and a little fall festival, so I'll be going to that. After that is over, we'll race home, clean out the car, finish packing and head to Myrtle Beach for Sira's wedding. At Sira's wedding, we'll get to see Rachel, Troy and Daniel and a few other adoptive families! We're so looking forward to it. Alex is bringing a friend with him and they are going to do "teenage things". Not sure what that means, but I'm guessing Playstation 3 is somewhere in there.

We'll be coming home on Sunday and head right into swim season at Alex's school. I'm going to find one of these weekends to declare a "home weekend". The rules for my home weekend are (and I'm making them up as I go along) no one goes any further then 15 miles from the house and that is only for necessary things (groceries, errands, etc...). No 40 minute drives to see the girlfriend (Alex's, of course), no trips to parks or bouncy places, no spending the night at friends. Nothing. FAMILY TIME. Wow. What is that?? I swear Keith and I are like two ships passing through the night lately.

So, when I get back this weekend I should have lots of pictures! It will probably take me a month to get them uploaded and edited, but hey - late is better then never, right?

I want to take a quick second and say congrats to everyone that has gotten referrals and court dates lately! There are so, so many people (and this makes me SO happy!). I'd list everyone out by name but I'd forget someone and feel really bad about that soooo... YIPPEEE!!! Congrats to everyone!

And now, my friends, it's bed time.

Night night!

Becky

Walking and Bouncing

In an effort to tire the child out this weekend, we took a walk after the rain cleared and then Saturday morning we went to M0nkey J0es (a bouncy place). The boy had a TON of fun and was a bucket of sweat 50 minutes later when we left. Best $10 every spent!

Thanks to my dad and step-mom, Keith and I had our FIRST date night since we came home in July (speaking of which... we've been home just over 3 months!!). We took Andrew over to their house, dropped him off and we headed to PF Changs. Yum, yum! Andrew spent the night at Grandpa and Nana's and was so excited to see me when I picked him up. Thank you Nana and Grandpa for the time off! :-) Of course, the funny part is while at dinner we talked a ton about adopting another child and whether or not we would adopt a boy or a girl. Still no decision (have a few years!) but when I opened up my fortune cookie it said "Boy". :-)

Well, tomorrow is a work day... guess I had better get some sleep!

Paka!

Becky

Mom's sick

One thing they forget to tell you in Mom Preparation School (don't you wish there was such a thing??) is the Mom cannot get sick. If she does, she has to suck it up and keep plugging a way. Boy does that suck. I'm not a good sick person. When I get sick I want to be left alone to wallow in self pity and sleep. Hmmm... try that with a 3 year old. It goes over like a lead balloon!

On Saturday, I noticed Andrew getting a runny nose and sounding very congested. By Monday, he was doing pretty well and I had the beginnings of a sore throat. By Wednesday night, I had a fever, what I suspect is a sinus infection and a killer sore throat. My darling dearest husband took Andrew to daycare on Thursday morning so that I could have some much needed alone time to sleep and get better.

I got up with the crew Thursday morning, said goodbye to everyone and then just stood there and listened to the complete silence that fell over the house. I slept from about nine until one (yes, in the afternoon) and then got up, moved to the couch and started playing on my laptop. The first thought that came to my mind was "Wow... this used to be my life! Oh, how I miss it! Silence, time to watch HGTV, not having to pick up after anyone, not cooking if I don't feel like it, sleeping when/if I want, etc...". As the afternoon went on, the more the silence began to irritate me.

By 3:00 I was emptying the dishwasher, had texted Alex a few times, texted Keith to see where he was, started preparing for dinner, showered and just couldn't wait for someone to walk in the door. What happened to that longing for my old life that I was just missing a mere 2 hours ago? Am I seriously wishing for chaos and temper tantrums and another rendition of "Happy Birthday to " at dinner? Why, yes. I was.

I couldn't wait for that 3 foot person to come through that door screaming about having to go pee-sit and for that 16 year old to come in talking about how hard swim practice was and how he "owned" his precalc test. That, my friends, is another reason that it's okay to miss your old life every once in a while (or a lot when you're sick or just down and out). Because, in the end, you become so much more thankful for your new life and appreciate that little bit of time you have to yourself.

I leave you with a picture of Andrew at Frog Hollow - a fall festival at Alex's school. Another post on that later!

Paka!

Becky

Imagination

Imagination is a great thing. Andrew has a very active imagination and loves to play pretend. He also likes to take the ordinary and turn things around a bit! He makes us laugh all of the time with his silliness.

Below are some pictures from this weekend (click on pics to make them larger). I'm happy to say that I have quite a few more to add to the "Embarrass Andrew Later In Life" folder. :-)

Scene 1: As all kids do, Andrew discovered that our shoes are more fun to wear then his. Let's just say that he preferred walking in Dad's shoes.

Scene 2: Ever seen a M1ckey M0use Clubh0use toy like this before? It's the special edition "Callie" toy.

Scene 3: Special Delivery! Keith was cleaning out a few of the 4,569 boxes we have in our garage (AMEN!). A little someone had some fun!

Hope you all had a fabulous fall weekend! :-)

Becky

**edited to take off the last two pics. Only wanted to leave them up for a short while. Never know who's doing what on the internet.