More Six Months

From Gotcha day to now.....6 months in the making

Our six month Gotcha Day has come and gone....the children are all in bed fast asleep and the normal nighttime quietness is lurking. I did take a few pictures though, of course. It is the smaller things in life that can amuse and entertain a toddler....thus, the majority of the pix that were taken involve MK trying to put her pjs on. Quite a task for a 20 month old. She literally spent about 20 minutes playing with these two pieces of clothing, she managed to turn them inside out, she had the shirt on one leg and the pants on her arm...she figured out how wrong that was when she attempted to stand up and walk, so she tried yet another way to put them on...and this went on and on, attempt after attempt until finally it was time to go get the boys! It was a fun day just watching her and taking yet another moment to realize just how far we have all come in this journey.

Six Months

Six months ago today we were in China, Chongqing to be exact. We were anxious, excited, scared and nervous. Our 4 lives were about to become 5 in just a matter of seconds. It really was much like actual childbirth. There was a lot of anticipation. There were a lot of plans for our daughter yet uncertainty in how it would all come to be. We have two biological children, two wonderful, happy, and handsome boys. In the delivery room, I heard each of their cries before I ever laid eyes on their sweet faces. With MK, it was no different. As we stepped off the elevator to meet her for the first time ever, we heard her cries first. She was crying (or at least babbling loud enough for us to hear her) and crying is good, right, especially in the delivery room! It was all good. We have come a long way in six months. I remember Gotcha Day just like I remember the birthdays (or nights rather) of the boys. We were so relieved to have her, so excited to finally hold her, we took a gazillion pictures with everyone holding her yet I was a bit overwhelmed with the sudden realization that I (we) had the responsibility to take care of this child. She was no longer just a beautiful face in a picture that we had looked at for months, she was REAL. Since that day, I find myself thinking of her past, the past we will never know the answers to. I think of the woman that gave birth to her and the person that placed her ever so carefully (and intentionally) in front of the orphanage, just hours after she entered this world, so that she would quickly be found and cared for. I think of the questions that MK will have about this whole scenario and the answers that she will expect me to have for her. I think of her birth country, the traditions and the conditions of the Chinese society. I wonder what parts of her heritage will be important to her, what part she will wish to feel closer to. While thinking of her future, I have also realized just how important it is to me that she know how much she was wanted. We wanted her. We planned for her (Pryce saw to it that we prepared for her to arrive....every visit to Target he would ask me to get her some diapers. I would tell him that we didn't know what size to buy. He would matter-of-factly tell me to just "call the China man and ask him what size!") We waited for her. We prayed for her. We loved her before we knew her and we fell in love with her the day we met her. She is our "baby girl", our sister who calls for her "bro-bers" all day because she can't get enough of them and, most importantly, she is our family, one of us. No, she will never look like us on the outside but our hearts are all one on the inside. Happy Six Month Gotcha Day, Mason-Kate!

Here is our weekend through pictures. It was a fun, full weekend. Saturday we attended a carnival sponsored by Ryan's company. The boys were thrilled to be allowed to do and eat whatever they wanted. MK stayed close to us not sure yet what to think of large crowds. Saturday we met some friends for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant to celebrate the Moon Festival. From what I understand, the Moon Festival in China is similar to Thanksgiving in the States. It is celebrated every year in autumn and it is a time to give thanks. We even sampled the traditional "Moon Cakes"....Mason-Kate was impressed with her Moon Cake and chose to devour the whole thing. The rest of us spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly what a Moon Cake consisted of as they each do have a different filling. Fun was had by all!


Family Fun Day

Moon Festival Dinner

And to complete the day, MK taking in some college football

Sad, but true

This post is to alert our Gamecock and Tiger supporting family and friends that Colin has abandoned ship! Somewhere between August of this year and the beginning of football season, he has been sucked into the DAWG world of Georgia. This morning he proudly ran into our room with his hands flaring in front of him shouting "GO GEORGIA, yeah GEORGIA...." To top it off, he had big "G" stickers on his hands! The stickers were a surprise given to him from his teacher....he mentioned earlier in the week that his teacher had a surprise for him on Friday....I assumed it was GA related. However, Colin told me on Thursday that they were Clemson stickers and that he was saving them in his safe to give as a surprise to Ryan. Little sneak! We will be keeping a closer eye on him for sure!

MK

Mason-Kate is getting a molar! Yay! This is very exciting as her teeth have been so slow to come in. In other MK news, she is talking so much more daily. Yesterday she kept saying "hi doggie" over and over to Finley. Of course, when I told her to say it for the rest of the family later in the day, she wouldn't....go figure. And I think she is understanding everything now....everything. Lisa, our speech therapist, came over for our weekly visit on Wednesday. We were talking about MK and I was telling Lisa how cute MK is at dinnertime. She gets in her seat, squeals and immediately puts her hands together for the blessing. We always sing "God Our Father" and MK has started singing her own babble version of the prayer right along with the rest of the family. While I was telling Lisa this, MK put her hands together and started singing the prayer....of course, she then looked at us and started laughing because she is intelligent enough to realize that we think she is being cute. One night Ryan and I decided to play cards with the boys. I asked MK if she would like to watch Barney....she said "NO"....what???? No, to Barney?! Then I watched her as she walked over and laid down right between the boys....she wanted to play cards too! And I must say that her phone calls are becoming more and more of an issue. She LOVES our phone. The other day I was on the phone with Ryan. I always say "love you, bye" before I hang up with him....well, I said "love you" to him and MK yells "BYE!" She has also started to use her pointer finger to tell me to come on.....she says "MA" and then pulls out that finger to tell me to come to her. And above all words, her favorite is "ow" and she says it all the time....putting clothes over her head, "ow", putting shoes on her chubby little feet, "ow", putting the bow (a southern necessity) in her head, "ow", getting in the carseat, "ow"....she can be so dramatic. And on the drama note, I will close with this....we have noticed that when we pick MK up from the nursery at church or her little preschool, she always looks at us, puts her hands over her mouth in disbelief, bends over just enough to accent the drama and begins to cry the cutest little fake cry that one has ever heard-no tears!

Third Grade Jokes

Yep, Colin is definitely growing up and is now a big time third grader. Just about everyday he comes home with a new joke of sorts. This morning, for instance, he says "hey mom, spell PIG backwards and then say 'pretty colors' right after".....so I say it....I don't get it, he laughs and says spell PIG backwards again, emphasize the 'p' and then say 'pretty colors'....hmmm. I got it.
Of course, this was just after we had stopped at the stoplight with the sign that he loves to read. He informed me that the special today was 8 bottles of Pepsi for $2.99 and wouldn't you know he "sure would like to try that!"

Our Week At A Glance

This week we have had the luxury of spending time with our family. We began the week on Monday by visiting grandparents and we ended the week on Friday with grandparents visiting us! In between our visits, we have spent time at school, played tennis, attended Boy Scouts, practiced piano, attended a football game and we have relaxed. On Tuesday I was approached by a grandmother at MK's school who wanted to say hello to Mason-Kate. She did and then went on to ask me her name. I told her it was Mason-Kate and the lady smiled and said that her granddaughter was named Katherine Mason....so, to date, we have heard of two Katherine Masons but we have the only Mason-Kate. Speaking of MK, she is going to be one confused little girl when it comes to college football. For those of you who know us well, you know the story of how Ryan was raised all orange cheering for Clemson(not to mention he is a Clemson grad-sigh) and how I was raised all garnet/black while cheering on South Carolina. So, without all of the in between details, we now have our children in the middle of our football controversy. Colin, who is always quick to please both of us, refuses to pull for SC thus leaving him a Clemson Tiger fan - sigh. Pryce, who was my diehard SC fan from birth until last year, has gone south in his support for any team. You see, he will tell anyone what they want to hear....if you are a Clemson fan, he pulls for Clemson, if you are a SC fan, he pulls for SC and now (this part makes me cringe although it is expected seeing as we do live in GA) he has decided that if you are a Bulldog fan, he is a Bulldog fan too - sigh, once again. That leaves our poor little MK. I have personally taught her to say "Go Cocks" (as that is what the SC Gamecock fans say) yet she is surrounded by the GA red/black fanfair daily and then as if it weren't bad enough, the only team labeled outfit we have is CLEMSON - sigh. So, she wore it this weekend and made a very cute Clemson girl all the while walking around with her hands up saying "Go Cocks!" In other news, we celebrated Colin's half-birthday on Thursday AND Friday. I momentarily lost my mind on Thursday and declared that it was Sept. 5. Colin looked at me when I said the date and said, "hey, mom, today is my half-birthday"....after bringing out the cake for breakfast, lighting a candle, and singing happy half birthday, I realized that it was in fact Sept. 4. So, we had cake for two breakfasts this week, but who is counting, right?! Have a good week!

Lately when things get quiet we know that MK has found her way into the bathroom....

This is Pryce pondering homework.....