Pool Party

One last update prior to our travels up north. Today, we spent the afternoon in the backyard in the pool. Dan was planting bushes, so Bei and I decided to jump in the pool to keep Dan company. It was really fun, Bei loves getting sprayed by the hose, loves water and being outside.

By the way, we bought a new camera!!! Yeah!! These pictures are not from the new camera.

Cowboy Bei

Bei riding his Harley with his cowboy boots

Uh oh...Bei is caught eating food in his bedroom!

We went to our nieces graduation party tonight and Bei did wonderful. He hung with me most of the time, but I eventually let the kids at the party take him for about 15 minutes before he started missing mom. (They were dying to get their hands on him)! Katherine, my niece said that after about 7 minutes, he started looking sad and started to look for me. Yes...as you all know me, I wanted him to miss me. No big surprise there! I'm glad that he is trusting enough to go with others, but it is REALLY important that he wants to come back to me and Dan. If he didn't miss us or look for us, that would be indicative of attachment issues. On July 5th, he will have only known us for two months , that is considered a newborn in the birthing world. That is how I feel, we are still figuring each other out and exploring one another's personalities.

We are headed to the cabin on Monday for the entire week. We plan on introducing Bei to fishing and swimming! I plan on taking lots of pictures and will try to go into town mid-week and upload some pictures of him at Camp Krueger.

Lily Mei Update

Little Miss Lily Mei Block is recovering very well! Yeah Lily! I spoke with Pamela this evening and she said that Lily is wanting to walk now and moves around quite a bit. They definitely have been through trying times with her heart condition, but it seems like the worst of it is over for her. Pamela shared with me that John, her husband, will have to undergo heart surgery in the very near future also, so please keep their entire family in your thoughts and prayers.
Thank you to all the people that prayed and inquired about Lily! It is so heartwarming to know that people care for one another and that this little girl has touched so many peoples lives.

Huge Event Today!

Bei being totally uncooperative with picture taking yesterday.

We had a playdate with a neighbor at the park behind our house.

Today was a huge day; Bei pooped in the toilet! And in the afternoon he pee'd in the toilet! Now, I remember, not so long ago, when my days accomplishment was marked by something other than pee and poop; an indepth financial analysis, reviewing my talking points for an upcoming negotiation, developing a project plan. Not anymore...my milestones for the day are based on Bei's eating, sleeping and pooping habits. Poor Dan, he walks in the door and I shout "Bei pooped in the toilet!" He slept for an 1.5 hours! And he ate all his rice and is drinking his milk!! Hurray! Luckily, Dan doesn't find me the most boring person on the face of the earth (yet), because he is pretty infatuated with everything Bei does too.

Bei is putting a few words together, "I go Poop", "Come On"...Ironically, he didn't learn the Come on from me, but it does sound like something I would say. We just bought this toy at a garage sale on Friday and it is a leap frog thing that plays songs and then after each song it says "Come On". Today, I was driving in the car and he was playing with that toy and just started to mimic it, over and over.

TOP 10 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT BEI (There really are a gizillion things I love about him, but I just put a few down).

10. The way that he puts his little arm around me when he is falling asleep.

9. How he has stopped picking his nose. Yea!

8. How he lights up when Dan walks in and says DaDaaaaa in his special sing song voice.

7. The way that he looks like a drunken Chinese sailor when he is trying to fight falling asleep in the car. (It is one of my favorite looks).

6. The way that he says MaMA with the accent on the second syllable, so it sounds British.

5. How he runs to the full length mirror to kiss himself...that is a kid with confidence!

4. The fact that he still calls Doe Doe on his pretend phone (my cell) and talks to her. He is now telling her in English Bye Bye.

3. How inquisitive he is about how everything works and turns and twists.

2. How he sings in Chinese really loud and off key. He also has a tin ear like Dan and I!

1. That God blessed us with having the joy and honor of raising a very special little boy named Bei!

For all those prayer people out there, please pray for Bei's Grandma Sandy. She has had some health issues and we need her to get better so that Bei can meet her. He will be crazed for her because she loves to laugh and since he likes to be silly and make people laugh, she will be a great audience for him. They are staying in touch via the phone and Grandma Sandy even got to hear him talk, he said "Doe Doe mmmm ahhh". Even though he had Doe Doe on his mind, Grandma Sandy loved hearing his little voice.

Poster Boy for Adoption

Bei found a playmate that loves to pick dandelions as much as he does! We had a play date with Lily and her mom, Kim. Lily is 3 years old, originally from Hunan China and a real cutie pie. Don't worry Doe Doe, I'll keep my eye on him...he still only calls you on his pretend phone!

Dan and I are still walking around thunderstruck at how fortunate and blessed we are to have Bei in our life. Honestly, he is the most loving little guy. I must have gotten at least 50 kisses today. This weekend he woke up around midnight and he looked like he was going to start crying, he saw me laying next to him, climbed on top of me, gave me a kiss and fell asleep. It was like he was saying "thank you for being there when I needed you". We are very very blessed!

A weekend at Camp Krueger

As my Grandpa Carl use to say "Goodnight Irene!!"

After Bei's bath, Dan decided to enjoy some quiet time out on the deck...but not for long, Bei ran to the deck and told Dan to come back in. He said this all in Chinese, but we are starting to pick up on it..or make it up as we go along. I try to mimic his Chinese and he loves it and laughs.

Bei enjoyed watching the fire

Bei and I watching Dan build a fire

Bei is showing Dad proper boating etiquette, wave to fellow boaters.

We enjoyed another boat ride. (This is one of my favorite expressions of Bei's).

Once we put him on this we couldn't get him to say "All Done". Thank goodness for the storm that blew in or we would still be watching him ride it!

Anybody up for a trail ride today?

The pictures speak for themselves.

Faces of Bei

One of the things that makes Bei such an enjoyable child is his happy disposition. As I have mentioned, he LOVES to laugh and make others laugh, so I tried to capture some of his facial expressions when he is having fun with his dad at the cabin during supper. Dan was being silly and Bei just ate it up!

Updated pictures of Sara (Doe Doe)

I'm a princess and I know it!

Beautiful Girl!

What you talking about Willis??

Here are some updated pictures of Sara. Jen informed me that Sara still yells out Bei Bei's name. And Bei is still calling Doe Doe on the "pretend" phone and still saying the same thing...Doe Doe, mmm Ahhh. These two obviously had a very strong connection to one another.

The great thing about the kids is that they truly went to the right parents. Sara went home to two older brothers, 10 and 12 and a dog. Jen tells me that she is a fearless, independent and verbose little girl. She can hold her own with anyone. On the other hand, you all have a good idea of who Bei is and I know he found the perfect home with us. The third Suzhou little girl went home to 2 brothers and a teenage sister, which fit her really outgoing personality. It feels like God truly had a hand in finding the right parents for each of the children.

Bei is definitely a "Must See"

Giving Aunt Nanette a big hug good-bye

Seriously, this is going to catch on...I saw it at the zoo...

Mom, socks are multi-purpose...

First stop at the zoo is always Mini Donuts!!

My friends Max and Addie

My sister Nanette and her two daughters came and met Bei today. Her parting words were "Bei is definitely a Must See". I think he dazzled them! He loved the attention that they showed him and really hammed it up for them. He can kind of be a show off when he knows he has an audience. The day started off with Bei and I joining my neighbor and her kids at Como Zoo. It was fun and Bei enjoyed it. Then Nanette and the girls arrived and off to the Mall of America we all went. We ran home, ate dinner and then went to a shower that my book club held for us. Bei loved the mash potatoe's that was served at the shower and they weren't even the secret weapon recipe from grandma Phyllis...hmmm...maybe he just loves mashed potatoes.

Even though we had a very hectic day and Bei missed his nap, he was just a champion throughout the day. There were no meltdowns and he just enjoyed every part of it. Bei is fast asleep and I'm right behind him...being a stay at home mom is hard work!!!

Daddy Rocks!

Just a quick update, Bei hasn't slept the past two nights...ugh! Sunday night he didn't sleep because a mosquito made a Chinese Buffet of his body at the cabin. Last night he didn't sleep because he had his first set of immunizations and he ended up with a fever and insominia. He is such a great kid, he didn't cry but was restless. He was trying to put himself back to sleep by patting himself and his eye's were wide open. Poor little guy. I ended up giving him Motrin and put more calamine lotion on his feet. Then today, he wouldn't go down for his nap. Even with the lack of sleep, he still has a good dispostion overall.
So you are probably wondering why the title is Daddy Rocks! When Dan get's home from work, he usually plays with Bei, gives him his bath and play some more. Dan noticed that Bei was saying his colors! He would watch Dan's lips to see how he was forming the words and then repeat it. It was so darling and his speech is so good! Way to upstage me Dan...I spend 10 hours a day with the kid and he was still on Bye Bye and more...

Weekend at the Cabin

Captain Bei has the face of an angel!

Not for long...our bundle of joy is in there, somewhere...(Can you find his fingers?)


Captain Bei is manning the ship!

We haven't left shore yet...

We spent the weekend up at our cabin in northern Wisconsin. Dan did chores in the morning and we took an afternoon boat ride, where our fearless leader, Captain Bei immediately fell fast asleep! The good news was that he woke just in time for Happy Hour at the Tiki Bar, where we met our friends for cocktails. Bei had his first Kitty Cocktail which was on the house and an order of yummy french fries.

I have to share with you the how we left the Tiki Bar, we were just wrapping it up and thinking about going when all of a sudden there was a huge splat, brown feces and then an instanteous horrible smell! My first thought was to look up to see if the Dave Mathews band was unloading it's tour bus septic system on our heads, but then I remembered we are in northern Wisconsin and there is only open sky above. The great American bald eagle defecated on us and our table. Lucky for us and unlucky for our friends Kathy and Boog, they took the primary hit of it. I think it was God's way of telling us to go home...

Uh oh...I'm one of those types of parents

This is the backpack that the orphanage gave us the second day when we went back to the Civil Affairs office to finalize the adoption. Bei found it in his toy box, stuffed a bunch of toys in it and wanted to walk around with it. He wasn't too cooperative with the camera today.

Today was a momentous day for me; I left Bei with Dan tonight and went to Volleyball. I pre-warned my team that I was coming up for an hour to socialize, I couldn't play because I needed to go home and help put Bei to sleep. On the way up to VB, Dan was on the phone giving me a play by play of everything they were doing. After being at VB for a while, Dan called and the conversation went something like this on my end. Hi, What is wrong? Huh? What? Really? Did he cry for me? No? Oh... Dan put Bei to bed, no crying, no asking for Mama, just a happy content little bug that fell asleep next to his daddy.

The other really sad thing about me at volleyball is that I secretly wanted to turn every conversation back to Bei. As my team members reminised about a beer drinking contest at college, I thought...hmm...tough one..but I'm sure there is some kind of connection to Bei ...think Liz!! think! Seriously, I have to admit I'm still in the infatuation stage with my little guy and I promise to "try" not to be one of those moms!!

I survived...

Daddy and Bei playing before bedtime...aren't they suppose to be settling down?

I know that Bei is the perfect child for me and that I love being his parent. Because this morning I thought, what the heck am I going to do with a two year old on a rainy gloomy day with a kid that loves to be outside? I not only survived but we had a blast! We first went and visited Dan at his work. Dan's co-workers have been phenomenal throughout this entire journey. We have received so many wonderful emails with well wishes, prayers and referrals for doctors. Not to mention all the gifts...oh my gosh...the gifts!!! The video camera that we took to China and documented our journey was given to us by his work people, plus so much more I can't even mention it all. Dan decided to send out electronic thank you's because around 80 people contributed to the gifts for Bei. Plus we received individual gifts from people from his work and they were shipping them to our house! Every day there was a new package at our front door, a tricycle, a bike trailer to put Bei in, gifts from target. It was very overwhelming to say the least and very humbling. You can tell, Dan is not well liked at his job...I always say to know Dan is to love Dan. Or at least, I do!!
I digressed, but in the spirit of going over the top in generosity and kindness, when we got to Dan's office his co-workers had made his office into a shrine of our journey to get Bei! They had 8x10 pictures all over his office walls. It was great! This little boy has touched alot of lives! Bei was a superstar at Dan's office and warmed up to everyone. He definitely is not the shy little guy that we brought home from China. He is a little shy, but warms up really fast and is pretty confident in himself.
The rest of the afternoon we played at home in the house. He is just a joy to be around and one of the best parts is that he LOVES to laugh and giggle, which is right up my alley. When he wants to have a meltdown, I turn into the kissing monster and kiss him really softly on the neck and face. He melts...but into giggles. At first he was such a trooper about his diaper being changed, but he has me figured out; I'm not like those tough orphanage ladies, so he is starting to whine a little bit. But now, when I smell a pooper I ask everyone in the room (remember it is only him), who pooped their diaper and to raise their hand. So now, every time he poops, he is raising his hand and smiling. Then I ask, who wants their diaper change to raise their hand and up goes his hand with a big fat smile...aha...I can outwit a two year old...

Secret Weapon!!!

A little pudding right before bedtime!

I spoke with the Cardiologist today ( I had her paged) and she said that the Medical Review board wants to continue to watch Bei before making any further decisions. She asked me to schedule another Echocardiogram at 3 months and then again at 6 months. She said one of their biggest concerns is that he has had minimal weight gain since the Chinese Medical Report in October. She said they want to see how he does on an American diet with a little TLC. Once again, I'm charged with the duty of fattening the boy up! So I decided to bring out my secret weapon tonight for dinner...my grandma Phyllis's mashed potatoes. My grandma rated people based on if they were a "good eater" or not...my brother in law Randy was her favorite "good eater", however we found out later that he was cheating! He had a condition called thunder thyroid so he could pack away the food and never gain a pound!!! It could have killed him...but my grandma didn't care just as long as he kept eating her food in abundance, she was a happy woman. Anyway, Bei loved the mashed potatoes and asked for "moe" in his Boston/Mandarin accent. Grandma is smiling from heaven, she knows that Bei is a "good eater".

I thought I was a good parent until I had a child...

I went to the bookstore and there was a book with that title, that caught my eye. If that doesn't say it all...parenting looks easy from the outside. I sure had all the answers when I had no kids. So far everything has truly gone smoothly. The most stressful part so far has been getting him to sleep, but it has definitely been minor. Bei is a pretty easy kid, we have a great understanding of one another. I give him everything that he demands and he only needs to tantrum once. Truthfully, I gave Bei a timeout yesterday. In my all-knowing former life, I thought timeouts were stupid. It was for people who couldn't communicate. I get it now, they make an impact. Bei pretty much laughs in my face when I try to be stern and tell him no. He is saying "Hey lady, I came from an orphanage and there was no nice sing songing lady telling me that it is not nice to hit". Anyway, the timeout yesterday lasted only 20 seconds, but he got my point and behaved beautifully afterward. By the way, his tantrums have pretty much ceased except for naps every now and then. He is such a good kid, even if he is upset, I can usually redirect his attention and get him focused on other things.

Picture:

I love all of Bei's different expressions. As I have mentioned he loves to laugh and giggle. This is one of his faces when he is excited. We let his Big Wheel ride down the driveway by itself towards him and he loves it. I think my Civil War camera is finally on it's last leg and we are going to be forced to by a new one. Doesn't the picture really look fuzzy?

Cardiologists:

I called the Cardiologists this morning and left a message and never heard back. It is not like the kid has a hang nail, it is his heart and it would be nice to know next steps. I'm not overly impressed at the moment with this facility and probably won't be staying with it much longer. It probably is the scenario of no news, is good news.

No news from the Cardiologist

I forgot to mention in my previous post, that we have not heard from the Cardiologist yet. She was suppose to call last Friday or today Monday. I will call her tomorrow morning and see if I can get in touch with her.

We miss Dan!

I'll start with the picture; I took this as Bei was waking up from his nap and he wanted me to pick him up. He is soooooo happy to see his mommy! He usually wakes up with a smile on his face and is a very happy boy.

Dan went back to work today and we missed him alot!!! We were able to talk about 4 or 5 times during the day, which was very nice for me. Unfortunately, we weren't home when Dan got home, but I definitely want to make a big thing about it for Bei. Greeting Daddy at the door with lots and of hugs and kisses from both of us.

Bei is talking more English every day. One of the things that he says is " Alllll Done". He takes a mouthful of food, swallows and says, "Alll Done", takes another bite, swallows, and says "Alll Done", right-o buddy, but you have about 17 more bites before you truly are "Allll Done". We pull into the driveway after an errand and we are "Allll Done". We close the door and it is "Alll Done". You get it, everything is "Allll Done".

All the parents out there know this already but I didn't get it until now. Children are truly sponges. They want to imitate their parents in everything that they do. Which is good and bad, because we all have some bad habits...yikes! I'm trying to eliminate several words from my vocabulary! Luckily they aren't the worst words in the world, so if Bei accidently said them, I shouldn't have the neighbors knocking on my door. One of the things that I automatically did with Bei is pat him when he goes to sleep. He will be laying in my arms and I'll just pat his diaper rhythmically. Now, he is doing it to himself to get himself to sleep. Everything I do, he loves to do. Even put on my lipstick...he puckers up and then is all proud of himself after I put it on. Dan is insisting that I get Bei some chapstick.

A silly thing that he is doing is putting things in odd places. He loves to place things in the cabinets and refridgerator. There is a potatoe in the pots and pans cabinet, one of his many toothbrushes in the refridgerator (he loves to brush his teeth!), a bowl, cookies and batteries are in the tupperware cabinet. Maybe he see's me take things in and out of the cabinets and he wants to do the same. I just leave them there and he then moves them around again. It keeps him busy when I'm washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen.

All is well in the Krueger household...

Cabin

Reggie's Ramp that has become a toy for Bei!

There were many beautiful yellow flowers all over the lawn at the cabin.


Bei learned to blow the snow ball off of the stem

Joe Cool at the cabin

Puckering up for the camera

On Wednesday, we headed up to our cabin in northern Wisconsin. We had not been there since the girls weekend at the beginning of April. We needed to cut the grass, put the dock in and get the boat out of storage. Dan's parents came over in the morning for a nice visit with us. Bei had a wonderful time running up and down the ramp Dan had built for Reggie (our previous four legged child). We decided to leave it up until Bei doesn't want to use it anymore.

We left on Thursday because the weather was going to be rainy.

Today, we spent the afternoon over at our friends Mary and Jeff Sullivan swimming in their in-ground pool. Bei loved it! He is a natural in the water and is not afraid at all. Very trusting. He even wanted to put his face underwater. His diaper ended up weighing more than him, and after it blew up to the size of a basketball we finally decided to take it off and put on his Dora swim pull ups...yep, his mom accidently got girlie ones.

Open Heart Surgery for Lily Mei today

Please pray for her surgery and quick recovery. She is a really precious little girl, however she has some serious health issues. She made remarkable progress in the 11 days that she was with her new mommy and daddy. Alot of love goes a long way.

Beautiful Boy

This is his cool pony backpack that he just discovered. He must have worn a back pack before because he knew to put it on. He had it on most the evening and even took a stroller ride with the pony on his back.

Beautiful Boy!!

Dan and I are still amazed at how blessed we are in getting Bei. He was truly meant to be our child. I feel like he is teaching us so much about love and being loving.

I gave Dan a break or you could say Dan gave me a break, either way, tonight Dan played with Bei outside, while I cleaned the house. After playing with his daddy for about an hour they came back in and Bei came to me and hugged me, gently pushed me away, looked in my face and smiled and pulled me back to him to hug me again. He did that about four times and each time he would look into my face really lovingly and kiss me. It was like a scene out of a romantic French movie...this kid knows how to wrap me around his finger. I believe that somebody really loved this little boy and showered him with love and affection. Don't worry, it will continue with lots lots more from both Dan and I!!!

One last quick story; tonight he didn't want to go to bed, but he needs to go because Dan and I both need some down time. So I laid with him and he was crying, initially pretty hard and then shortly thereafter it went into kind of his fake cry. So, I just let him cry and gently patted him and laid next to him. Out of the blue, he turned to me kissed me on the lips, crawled on top of me and fell fast asleep. He is the biggest love bug. We are soooooooooooooooooooooo lucky!!!!!!!!!!!!