Drumroll please....

We would like to re-introduce you to...Alexander Kai Krueger! I had to corner Dan, then tie him to the couch, while I sat on him and went through a baby book full of names. It was between Samuel and Alexander and Dan was the deciding vote. We both wanted to change his middle name, since Kong is so harsh sounding, so we did...you never know if you are doing the right thing or not... Most recently, Bei wanted us to name him Thomas, Henry or Gordon...for those of you not currently living in "little boy land", they are the names of the Thomas the Tank Engine trains.
Many homes and institutions don't have heat, so I think they put anything on the children to keep them warm...even hot pink pants on a little boy! He has at least four layers of clothes on him and I checked the temp in Wuyishan the day that we received the pictures and it was in the low 50's. He is up in a mountainous region of the country and so it may be damp and cold.
Many of the pictures that we have received, he has been in split pants, so his " unit and boys" are exposed, so I obviously haven't posted any of those. I'm not really sure how split pants work except to say that many of the kids wear crotchless clothes, with no diapers or underwear. So the child goes to the bathroom where ever he is at the moment and then the caregivers just cleans it up. I have read blogs where people said they were eating at a restaurant and some little toddler waddled over and pooped under their table!!! And nobody in China thought this was odd...they just cleaned it up. We did see split pants, but not in action...lucky for us!

Happy Birthday Baby Brother!

Since tomorrow is this little guys birthday, I wanted to start this post with..."And his formal name is....", but we still haven't agreed upon a name for him. So, he continues to be called "Baby Brother" for right now. We recently found out that the orphanage that he is at only has 4 other children in it. A five year old, an eight year old and two sixteen year olds. Two of the 4 children have cerebral palsy, but I don't know which ones. Plus, I don't know if they are girls or boys. This information goes hand in hand with the fact that I haven't been able to find a family that has adopted from his orphanage in any of the yahoo groups that I am on. I found this incredibly interesting that this orphanage that doesn't adopt out any children, has taken the time and the resource to ensure that our little guy gets adopted out. He was also found with a birthnote, which I hope to obtain prior to the adoption day. His referral papers specifically stated that they hope that he finds love and happiness with a foreign family. He is currently living with a foster family that I can tell by the pictures are an older couple. When we have requested information they have readily agreed to pictures and updates. I think they really love him, but want something different for him. For some reason this all feels very freeing to me. There is a level of guilt that I have felt about adopting another persons child. It is hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that any mother would choose to give up their child. With Bei, I have waves of sadness for his parents, especially his mother. She spent a year loving that little boy and all I keep thinking is that she chose the gift of life for my little man. I owe her or someone big time!! We have not even broached the subject with Bei regarding his birth mom. He knows he is adopted, and knows that we went to China to get him. He hasn't asked anything about it. He saw my sister - in -law pregnant with Anna Maria and said he was in a tummy too, but he didn't say who's tummy and I'm such a chicken little, that I didn't push it. We may be getting closer to the fact that we need to discuss more detail with him, since the Gotcha Day may be very confusing for him...or then again...maybe not! Oh well lots to think about and for right now, I just want to sign off by saying Happy Birthday to my sweet little one year old!!!

Pictures! Pictures! And more Pictures!

Hat, Cat, Mat

I was cooking and Bei walked up to me and said "I wrote Hat, where's my hat?". And I said "who taught you that?" He said "Joe." And I knew it was Joe from Blue's Clue's. Then he said "what else?" So I said "Cat with a C..."..;that is the one that looks like vat. Then he said "what else? I said "Mat with a M..." by this time he was losing interest. Not bad for a 3 year old who was turning 4 in the next few days.

and were very happy to share their new look.

The boys enjoyed a new way of eating their cake...

Our friends Becky and Nick Nick came over for cake and ice cream.

...and then rode the rides for several hours.

We went out to eat at Crave at the Mall of America...

Bei was so excited to wake up and see all his presents on his birthday! He very much about quantity over quality. Both at Christmas and his birthday first thing he did was count how many presents was given.

Bei's first ride!

Three generation of snowmobile riders!

Letter Seeking Confirmation

This picture was the first update picture that we received after we confirmed that we would take Kang. We received this in September and he was 7 months old.

Well I am very excited to report that we are finally in our 3rd trimester of pregnancy! Tomorrow we will receive the official Letter Seeking Confirmation stating that Wu Zheng Kang is ours! So what happens next you may ask??? More of the same...more rush rush paperwork out the door, waiting to be approved by the US Government, Visa applications, Consulate appointments and eventually our travel dates approximately 3 months from now.
It is both exciting and stressful at the same time.

We received the following update in November, however, I thought I would share it with you:

Now, he is 9 months old. He could sit up with the hold of caretakers. Due to the cold weather, he wears a lot of clothes, and he could not try to crawl with so thick clothes. He could control his head now. He has a ready smile, and even can laugh aloud with two dimples. He is a very lovely little boy. Caretakers and neighbors all love him very much. They give him some gifts, like clothes and toys, and they love to hug him in the arms. He is very cute now and murmurs something. When in the crib, he plays with his two feet, kicking all the time with funny. He loves to watch TV, go outsides on the street and enjoy sunshine. When the weather is not good, he will be unhappy because he could not go outsides. He is a little strong man and he never cries out when he gets immunization shots.

Currently, his height is 27.58 inches, head circumference is 16.94 inches, chest circumference is 17.34 inches, weight is 17.6 pounds (he is a little thinner due to diarrhoea in these days), and foot length is 4.73 inches. He has 4 teeth totally, 2 upper teeth and 2 lower teeth. He eats porridge, milupa, eggs and some noodles, etc. He drinks milk 5-6 times per day. He generally goes to bed at 22:00 pm, and wakes up in the midnight if he feels hungry or has a pee. He gets up at 8:00 am, and later, he enjoys nap at 10:00 am for an hour. He has noon nap from 13:00 pm to 16:00 pm.

Based on these reports Kang might be bigger than Bei was at 27 months!

Independence Adverse

Happy Birthday Grandpa Builder Bob! My father-in-law is one of the most honorable men I know. They don't make many like him anymore! Thank you Bob for being the wonderful man that you are!

I had a "light bulb" moment the other day regarding Bei. I realized that this kid has no intention of ever becoming independent and that I am going to have to push him along in that arena. Looking back, I realized that Bei has never had the usual, "I'll do it myself attitude that many 2 and 3 year olds exhibit. He is more like "hey lady, if you want to wipe my arse til I'm 30 years old, go right ahead, I won't be stopping you." He has no motivation for independence, but then why would you when your mom does everything for you? Poor kid...his rock and roll lifestyle is coming to an end shortly...one way or the other. It may be the anxiety of having a new little dependent arriving in the spring that prompted me to think about this situation differently...two totally incapable human beings on my hands....yikes...double yikes! I'm not the most capable thing myself...that is a huge responsibility! I better get Bei moving on the responsibility track now.
Let me demonstrate what I mean with a silly scenario from our household. Several months ago my mom came for a visit. Bei was watching a movie in the family room and my mom and I were sitting near by talking and "trying" to catch up with one another. We just started talking when all of a sudden you hear "Water! I want water!" Excuse me mom...here Bei....mom you were saying... "Napkin! I need a napkin!" Sorry mom...here Bei...what were you saying mom? "I spilled!" Oh for crying out loud...here Bei. "Water! I need more Water!...okay you get the picture! So my mom hasn't said anything up to this point! She just let's me run and do my thing with Bei. In the midst of all of this, Dan walks in and says to me "Hey Liz, I thought you were going to move those toys in the garage like I asked you to?" Here is where my mom steps in and says "Obviously Dan you were not on the annointed couch when you made your request." She said "Sit on the couch and yell "clean, garage, toys" and I'm sure that Liz will get up and run! That is SO my mom that just writing it makes me smile! Anyway we laughed and I have to admit my family and friends have been very patient and understanding in the way that we have done things with Bei. Our parenting has been non-traditional in the sense that we allowed him to do things at his pace for bonding purposes and we didn't push. We carried him more than probably most, we have co-slept with him, we have fed him longer and I feel like it has been the right thing for us to bond. And it HAS worked! He has bonded to us like Guerrilla Glue and we will never get him off of us...just kidding! We are just ready to move to the next stage and we think he needs a little coaching by us having a consistent message with him. This week is his birthday and he is getting an entire Thomas the Tank Engine Ensemble for his bedroom, sheets, pillow cases and a comforter...who knows maybe he will even want to sleep in his own bed again!

Preschool Blues

Bei playing trains with Grandma Dene...the train kept hitting chickens on the tracks and the feathers were flying everywhere...do you see them?
Bei loves to ice skate! I told him he skates good...like a wet noodle!

For those of you who were worried that I might try to homeschool Bei, you can all take a collective sigh of relief....I'm cutting the proverbial apron strings...I've signed him up for Preschool for the fall. It probably won't be without a lot of tears, but Dan say's it will be good for me...I mean Bei. I was really sad for about a day thinking about him going off to school, 2 days a week, for 2 hours, but then I realized that he is really ready to be challenged. The last few months have definitely been developmental growth months for him. He is really into creative and imaginary play, learning what sounds each of the letters make, writing letters of the alphabet and actually trying to read. I tell him that when he is 4 years old, he is going to be a big boy and will go to school. He says, "I want you to go with me." I told him that I can't and he said "call and ask the teacher." I told him I already did and she said "no, I couldn't go because I'm too big." "Mom, call right now and ask her again." So I pretend to call and talk to her and tell Bei that she said no again. He said "mom you forgot to push the buttons." He was right, I didn't push the telephone buttons! Rascal...he was in the backseat, so I didn't think he could see... Anyway, you can see I will have an uphill battle with him going to school and separating from me...and me from him.

Here are some of the reasons why I enjoy being with Bei everyday. On Saturday morning, he and I woke up at the same time. I saw he was waking up and I just was kind of snoozing and all of a sudden I felt these tiny little gentle hands cradle my face and when I opened my eyes, I saw his smiling little face looking down at me and he said "Isn't it a beautiful morning mom?" YES! With you as my ray of sunshine! I know it sounds corny, and I didn't say that but what a wonderful way to wake up in the morning. Bei is just giddy when the three of us are together. It is hard to wipe the smile off his face and stop his giggling. So weekends are usually alot of fun for all of us. Tonight Dan and Bei were downstairs and all of sudden I heard Bei run upstairs and he said "Mom, Mom" Yes, Bei? "I have a question" Yes? "Do you want a big hug and a kiss right now"? I sure do Bei! He came over and hugged and kissed me and then ran back downstairs laughing. I am just crazy in love with that little guy and so is Dan! We were talking tonight how blessed we are and how much our lives have changed for the better since adopting Bei. Lucky us! God has been soooooooooooooooooooooo good to us!

What has Bei been up to??

While daddy is shaving his face, Bei is shaving his hairy chest
Bei having a miserable time at Sesame Street Live...honestly, all he kept saying is "Let's Go"


Bei putting primer on his bedroom walls with cousin Elly

Here is a snapshot into the future of how Bei is going to look as a teenager