Last Hurrah

This week has been one big blast! We have been busy doing the last minute fun things before school begins on Monday....we spent time with friends, with family and with each other just hanging out. So, the pictures should give you a synopsis of our week.

Our Story

This weekend we spent time in Atlanta visiting family and new friends we have met along our adoption journey. It was especially good for the boys to meet other families like their own, families that have adopted or will adopt from China. On the drive home, I thought a lot about "our story". Growing up, I was fascinated with adoption. My neighbor was adopted, "Annie" was my hero, playing adoption agency was my favorite pretend game and occasionally I wondered if I was adopted and my parents just weren't telling me about it. During college, I studied social work, volunteered at a children's home, and interned for an adoption agency. Although adoption was always on my mind, I never dreamed that I would actually be given the opportunity to adopt a child. Ryan and I had discussed children before we married but mostly he said "one at a time" and I said "even number, 2 or 4". Fast forward several years, Colin is born....I agreed with Ryan at that point, "one at a time"....reality of caring for a child 24/7 was huge! Fast forward 2 years and Pryce joined our family. Pryce was born in less than 2 hours, no pain medication. I developed some complications following his delivery and required surgery when he was just 6 days old. Although I did have a quick recovery physically, mentally it took a toll on me and for quite sometime I didn't feel as though I could go through that again. Fast forward 4 years, and we were jumping for joy the day we saw a positive on the home pregnancy test. Two weeks later, I miscarried. It was at that moment, in the drs. office, that Ryan promised me that we could go to China for our baby girl if I were to miscarry again. During that conversation, I do not think either one of us knew what was to come. Six weeks later, I miscarried again. With the first miscarriage, the dr. stated that "these things happen, there is no reason you cannot carry a baby, "etc.....the second time, he did not know what to say except that he was sorry for our loss.

A few weeks later, I reminded Ryan about our agreement in the drs. office. He was unsure of adoption. To answer some of his questions, he attended a conference that our agency-to-be was hosting in Atlanta. He came home and was ready to go to China the next day....from that day on, we focused on our daughter in China. We paperchased, we met friends who had been to China to adopt and we entered the adoption blog world. Then we began the WAIT, oh the WAIT. Thankfully, we had our two boys to keep us busier than ever. However, the boys were growing older which meant the age gap between them and a sister was growing wider, and all the while, the wait for a child in China was unpredictable. I decided to see a fertility specialist and after a lot of thought we decided to proceed with surgery to determine exactly why I was having trouble carrying a baby to term. The morning of surgery, I went in, got prepped and laid there scared to death. The surgery was scheduled for 10am. At 10:30 am, I sat up and announced to Ryan that I was going home. I cried as I told the nurses and the dr. who had felt my pain that I just couldn't go through with it. I called my dad who said to me "Beth, your baby is in China. One day you will go and get her." From that day on, people as well as their own stories began to enter our lives one by one. I met a girl whose husband used to do cleft operations, I met a speech therapist who gave me the ups and downs on cleft speech issues, I started reading blogs of families just like mine who were joining the waiting child program, Ryan received a random email about how to financially care for your special needs child, we were told a miraculous story of a man (now an attorney) who was born cleft affected. Ryan and I had told the social worker that we wanted a healthy baby girl but as I researched the special needs children, I was overwhelmed with the number of children who are available for adoption with correctable special needs. Amazing. I suggested that we fill out a medical conditions checklist for our agency. To my surprise, Ryan agreed wholeheartedly, he never flinched. His approach was "what is meant to be will be". Although we checked off several needs we were willing to take on, I knew in my heart that our baby girl would be cleft affected. We filled out a checklist and less than six weeks later, we were matched with our Mason-Kate. Ryan and I were on the phone with one another as we opened up her referral picture file. At the time, we had dial-up internet (sigh). As I sat on our computer waiting to see her face, Ryan said with a little surprise(referral pictures can be a little less than flattering at times)in his voice "she is really cute" and I could tell he was smiling. Moments later I saw that face, those eyes for the first time and I knew she was ours. Now, almost 8 months later, I still look into those beautiful eyes and just marvel at how she came to be in our lives. Ryan was right, what was meant to be will be.

Our new friend Shelby.................The Gruskins

Funny Story

Colin had a friend come over to play today whose father is one half Chinese. At some point, the "half Chinese" topic came up during his visit. Pryce looked at me with his serious yet innocent little face and asked "so mom, does that mean that this side [pointing to his left side] is brownish and his other side is like whitish?"

Relaxing Again!

Highlights from our week include the boys playing in the rain as if they had never seen it before, Mason-Kate learning to successfully use a straw, receiving our official "welcome back" letter from school, and more relaxing. I took relaxing to a new height on Saturday when I stayed in my pjs all day....the boys kept asking me, "why are you STILL wearing your pajamas?" The truth of the matter is that I was busy going through books to decide which can be donated to our church and then I took on the task of going through MK's Fall wardrobe. Lets just say that she will most likely go to college in a 2T as she is not going to be wearing those anytime soon!

Mason-Kate has really begun to try to speak. She can say usually the first sound in a word and then the remaining syllables, if that makes sense. For example, yesterday I kept hearing her say "ou-i" aka "outside" to me....she said this over and over, then finally she went and picked up Fin's leash and proceeded to chase him around the living room in an attempt to take him "ou-i". She is clearly saying "all done" and "all gone" when she finishes a meal or snack....she holds her hands up, says the words and then looks at us like "is that it?!"

For the boys this week, their obsession has been the Titanic. While we are the beach, we watched the old version of the movie one morning....not sure why exactly, but we did, and really they only cared about the part where the ship actually sank. Now that we have been home, the boys have been doing research on the computer, reading books about it and coming to their own conclusions. They have even built these elaborate replicas of the ship with Legos....Colin went as far as to put a massage chair for the captain on his!

I write this next part for my own benefit so that I will remember the phrases that are said to me from my children. This morning, Pryce came to me and said he was "steamed" with me....I tried not to smile in front of him but I couldn't help myself. He was mad.

Until next week....

Third Time Is A Charm

Our third trip to the beach with MK and she LOVED it! The children and I spent the last week at Seabrook Island viewing beautiful rainbows, dreaming about the yachts that are surely to be in our future, counting deer that crossed our paths, eating homemade ice cream sandwiches, riding bikes in the rain, watching entirely too much tv, building sand castle replicas of Cair Paravel, counting jelly fish, swimming in the pools and just having a wonderful time together. Ryan was able to join us for the weekend and we were very excited to have some time with him!

The beach is always a great place for me to ponder things. This trip, I sat back and just watched my children and really thought a lot about just how different their little personalities are. The event that lead me to my thinking was this.....the first morning that we were at the beach, the boys, MK and I decided to ride bikes to the pool. So off we go, the boys on their bikes and MK in her stroller. I had told them not to get too far ahead of me. That comment was either not heard or they chose to ignore it. I was walking as fast as one possibly can in flip flops pushing a 23 lb baby in a wobbly stroller loaded down with a bag of necessities. The boys were up a ways, I called to them to come back to me.....only Colin starts to ride towards me. Then I noticed this man getting out of this car with a puzzled look on his face and he is looking at the back of his car. Still no sign of Pryce. I call to Colin and ask where Pryce is. Colin says that Pryce is behind the car...my heart stopped. I was frantic and asked Colin if Pryce was ok. Colin assured me that he was but I still could not see him and the man was still looking at the back of the car with a puzzled stare. Finally, Pryce cruises nonchalantly around the rear of the car on his bike, big smile and all, oblivious to the tizzy I was in. The man looks at me and says, "I just heard a big thud on my car....." Pryce circles around me about this time and says "Sorry, mom, it was all my fault, I just wasn't paying attention...." It took me awhile to put it all together but basically Pryce drove right into a parked car! Unbelieveable! So, it was at this moment that I just smiled because Pryce just lives in his own little world, day by day, he has no plans specifically, carefree, very "in the moment" kind of child. Colin, on the other hand, is for the most part my serious little man....he thinks about yesterday, today and tomorrow, he is the diplomatic one - never siding one way or the other, just making peace all the way around, he doesn't try to be funny but he will make you laugh in a heartbeat and he is very logical - everything must make sense to him. Then I started thinking about Mason-Kate. Though she is 18 months old, our relationship with her right now is like the one that we first shared with Colin and Pryce as infants. We are learning her and she is learning us. As time goes on I can see her shredding the layers of her shell and becoming more comfortable in her new surroundings. She is very familiar with her routine. She knows what to expect at bedtime (stories and kisses), dinnertime (prayer, then food - her favorite) and naptime (again, stories and kisses). She always looks back to make sure we are watching, she wants the "ok" from us. She is just so much fun to watch. I love getting to know this child, holding her, making her laugh, watching her try to feed herself with the spoon, teaching her to suck from a straw, blow bubbles, hearing her hum the entire time she engages in a meal, having her head on my shoulder and her arm patting my back, seeing her dance, hearing her squeal with delight when Ryan appears....we all just continue to fall in love with this little girl....and the best part is that she is loving us back!

Honestly, Never a Dull Moment!

Some notes from the last week....we have been encouraging MK to feed herself with a spoon. Honestly, she is the messiest of my three children. Not only does half of the meal end up in her lap, but it is also in her hair, her hands, and of course, her face....as Ryan puts it "she hasn't figured out the law of gravity yet".

The children decided yesterday was a good day for a lemonade stand. So, being the entrepreneurs that they are, they made a sign, mixed together some lemonade, added ice, poured some cups full and waited patiently for their first customer to come begging. You see, money was their motivation, not fulfilling the thirsty desire that their customers possessed. So instead of offering the lemonade first, they held their money cup out for payment, then (again instead of giving the customer what they wanted) they proceeded to count the money that had been added to the cup and, as if the customer had not waited long enough, the boys would proceed to divide what profit had just been made....THEN, they gave the customer the drink! They were quite entertaining to watch. They eventually got restless and started knocking on doors to drum up business....the funniest part was that Colin went and collected money from a neighbor, took the lemonade to the man and then told him "sorry, sir, you got what was left"....the guy only got half a cup! They are new to the neighborhood....not so sure we made a good impression!

I have this thing that I started with the boys a few months ago. I read them a book and then we watch the movie as part of our family night. This time around, the boys chose to read Prince Caspian. So for the better part of the week, they have been dressing up in their new Prince Caspian costume and playing with their swords. We are loving the book and cannot wait to see the movie when we finish!

Also, while I was out yesterday, I decided to buy them a big rubber ball. We had planned an evening for the family to just cookout, swim, play in the sprinklers, etc. so I thought a huge ball would add to the fun. It did. The children liked it so much that they decided to bring it inside. HMMM. Fast forward a day. Ryan and I are downstairs with MK just hanging out, the boys are upstairs in their playroom just hanging out. We heard some knocking around. Then it got quiet. Then the playroom door opens, the bathroom door closes.....we hear two voices saying "we need some towels...." So I say to them, "boys is everything ok...what are you doing?" Pryce, being the spokesperson that he is, shouts down "everything is fine" and then to Colin "Colin, what is it that we are doing again?" The boys had knocked over our fishbowl with the big, huge ball, "Lizzy" the fish had apparently been knocked out, and they were trying to get the fish back into water and clean up the big mess without us finding out. They are only 8 and 6 so to hear them working together during this secret rescue mission was quite humorous. Of course, mom and dad stepped in, saved the fish and all is well with little "Lizzy". At some point during the rescue, Mason-Kate took notice of the drum set and decided to give those a try. She played every drum and cymbal included in the set. The boys decided to join her with Pryce on guitar and Colin on lead vocals...they make quite the band!

We celebrated Mason-Kate's "half" birthday. The boys love this tradition that we started a few years ago! On each of their half birthdays, we celebrate with half of a cake, served on half a plate and they get a gift. The boys were so excited to decorate MK's cake and pick out a gift for her to open on her special day (in reality, we celebrated a day early). Everything was going well up until we lit the candles on the cake. The boys simultaneously said "she is going to put her fingers on the candles and burn herself"....Ryan and I said it would be ok, not to worry. Well, wouldn't you know that we lit the candles, started singing, video recorder going, camera flashing, MK's finger goes towards the lit candle, the boys jump (screaming also occurred), MK - who never touched the candle - jumped and started to cry....that was that with the birthday party :) Of course, the cake made it all better.

And to close out the week, many people ask how the boys are adjusting with Mason-Kate. They continue to do so well with her. They are the first to her rescue in the mornings and they are the last to give her a big kiss goodnight! She adores them and they, in turn, adore her. Tonight, Pryce asked if he could have a turn feeding MK a bottle....after he successfully gave her the bottle, he came in and said "that was so much fun....I think I want to do it again tomorrow!" So sweet.

One more thing, there is a family leaving on Thursday for China. They are adopting a baby girl from Mason-Kate's orphanage. We cannot wait to follow along on their journey....if you would like to take a peek, their site is http://www.awaitingmarykate.blogspot.com/ Have a great week!