Happy Birthday Colin!

On this day, eleven years ago, we became parents and our family began. Colin was born, be it 9 days early, and our lives were forever changed. I will never forget that night. We had our final baby shower and as we were leaving, I felt a pain that was sharp enough to make me sit down. It wasn't the pain that was described during our lamaze class so I believed all was good. After all, no bags were packed - we were going to do that on the next day as that was the designated hospital packing day, to be done AFTER we went to church and lunch with friends. Alas, church and lunch never happened. Instead, we were greeted just four hours after that first touch of pain, with a whimpering, black haired, 7lb 13oz baby boy. He was precious. My dreams were coming true. Motherhood was what I had always dreamed of and, now, I was a mother. Today, I so enjoy being Colin's mother. Colin most always has a smile on his face though he can give you a look of scowl. Colin makes us all laugh - often he isn't even trying. He is smart, often pointing things out to me that I would otherwise never have noticed. He is thoughtful, quick to offer help to others, always quick to share his snack with his brother/sister and ALWAYS remembers to say Thank You no matter how big or little the gift or deed is. He loves to talk on the phone. He loves to read. He is currently addicted to Madden 11 Wii. And, he is, much to his mother's dismay, growing up all too fast :)

A little birthday morning cha-cha-cha for Colin....

An afternoon bike ride on his new bicycle courtesy of Gran, Pop, G-Mom and G-Dad....

This is MK....for those who have never met her, she is quite silly sometimes....and this is her newest face....she does this and then just laughs and laughs.....she thinks it is hilarious.

Chocolate Chip pancakes.....who needs cake?!

An early morning gift from our friends, the Gruskins! The children were beyond excited to open this box of goodies prepared especially for them for our upcoming trip to China. THANK YOU!

MK and SK, their first sleepover together. These two played countless hours of house and Barbies and kitchen.....they sang songs and read books.....so cute these two!

Pryce to his friend, "Dude, I ate a bowl of Frosted Flakes like three days ago and I ran around the house four times today without even getting tired!"

His friend says, "Dude, yeah, they really work!"

They're grrrreatt!

Drafts Happenings......

Colin ended his basketball season with a trophy in hand.

MK is learning to read and loves to show the boys all that she knows!

There are three families locally who are traveling to bring home their baby girls from China. We all gathered together for an evening and decided to take a "before" red couch photo....hopefully all three babies will be home by May so we can take our "after" photo.

Pryce ended his basketball season too. We were glad he was on the team.....he was their consecutive high scorer in each game - or, rather, their only scorer! It was a "learning" season for all of the little guys.

MK enjoyed having the undivided attention of her friends, Drew and Ty. Our families have been friends for years and we enjoyed sharing some good laughter with them over dinner!

And in China news, we will meet Maddox Ren on Sunday, March 13 at 4:30pm. We are packed. We are ready. We can't wait!

Mason-Kate and Ryan have their little routines they follow at bedtime. They alternate saying the prayers, they have a certain way to brush her teeth, speech is practiced, and.....MK always pinches Ryan's nose to make him talk funny. She LOVES this. Tonight she pinched Ryan's nose, he talked funny, she laughed, she tried to pinch her own nose and then she said, "Hey, how come you and the boys have a nose like that and my nose is flat and I can't pinch it?" Ah, she is growing up right before our eyes and she is becoming quite aware of differences.

Yesterday we visited the zoo with some other homeschooling families. Alas, I have no pictures! I didn't even take the camera - sigh. What I do have to share was my conversation with MK. One of the families that joined us for the day has a 5 month old baby. MK looked at him and said, "Aww, isn't she (he) cute, mama? Where did they get her from?" I simply answered, "Well, he grew inside Mrs. Wells's tummy and when he was all done growing he came to see them." MK's mind was spinning, I could tell, and I just kept thinking, "Wait for it, don't assume what she is going to ask, wait for it...." After a moment's thought, MK said, "Oh, just like the boys grew in your tummy (note, this was a statement, not a question). Well, I got my baby from Guangzhou. We just got home today and I am so tired!" Our process to adopt Maddox has left MK with a spinning mind. She often states that she is traveling to get her baby, or she has paperwork to do, or her baby has a cleft palate....whatever she has overheard from us, she has used it in her daily pretending and it is cute to see her thoughts come to life.

On another note, while visiting the zoo, I saw a baby girl who reminded me of Maddox. Being the shy person that I am, I quickly stepped up and asked the mother where her daughter was born. She said Guizhou Province. WOW. Maddox is in Guizhou! Small world. We exchanged contact info and I look forward to meeting up with them again in the future!

In August, a friend and her family flew to China to adopt their baby girl. For the month prior to her travel, she would call or email and say something to the effect of, "Beth, did you ever have trouble sleeping? How did you sleep before you went to China? I am so excited! I think of everything and I CAN'T sleep." I simply said I had no trouble sleeping prior to our travel to adopt MK....after all, I didn't remember having any trouble sleeping. Well, fast forward to our second adoption and, guess what, I CAN'T sleep!!!! I go to sleep fine. Then, I wake up and think about every possible thing one can imagine. I wonder what Maddox is doing with her foster family, is she even with the foster family still, will she sleep at night (this one is an important one and one that I consider for awhile!), what do we need to pack, do we have enough suitcases for our trip, can we take all carry-ons and no checked baggage, I need to call the travel agent and ask him this or that on Monday, I need to remember to buy this or that for the trip, and I have got to make this appointment and cancel that appointment....and gosh knows I HAVE to get my hair taken care of prior to departure, definitely need to remember to call on Monday to schedule! The past few days have been a beautiful combination of excitement, anticipation and joy!

Happy 19 months Maddox Ren....we will be there soon!