Princess Sara (Doe Doe)

We always teased in China that Sara had a "Wisconsin Cheese" smile and I'm glad to see she still does...even though she doesn't live in Wisconsin.
Her rough and tumble brothers keep her on her toes and vice versa!

Bei's future wife. Isn't she just beautiful?

Sara's mom started a sensation with all of us adopted parents. She joined facebook and now we are talking to each other and sharing pictures via facebook. Jen shared a bunch of pictures of Sara and her family with me and I just had to show them to everyone. I was able to speak with Sara on the phone recently and was amazed at how wells she speaks. She said "Hi Bei Bei's mom, how are you?". And then I proceeded to ask her questions and she went into some intense conversation for a two year old. Now Bei can talk on the phone, but if I don't tell him specifically what to say he goes into some form of Chinese gutteral mumbling that nobody knows what he is saying. May be a difference between boys and girls and the fact that she has siblings talking to her. Don't get me wrong, Bei can talk but there was a difference between the two.

Another fun thing that I didn't get a chance to blog about when it occurred is that Doug, Sara's father was in the Cities last October and we were able to visit with him. It was very fun for us to see him because we like both him and Jen alot, but it also was fun to see his reaction to Bei. You can tell he is a kid person and he paid alot of attention to Bei. I asked Doug what the biggest difference was in seeing Bei and he said "Bei is willing to look at me". I had forgotten what a scared and shy little guy he was in China. Bei had not physically changed much by October when Doug saw him because he had just had his open heart surgery. It is just really fun to stay in touch with the other adoptee parents to see how their children are thriving also. As one of the adoptee parents, Beth, has told me several times "we have been at the birth of each others children and families". It is so true!

Home-vacation

The kids right before going to Church on Sunday!

Bei discovered this game, which we named "Floating Pinata", he would let the helium balloon go and we would all chase after it. He thought it was quite fun!

Kelly made a vow on Sunday to win Bei away from Gina and made a concerted effort to be with him. I think she made some headway...he quit calling her "Gina" and realized her name was "Kelly". I think he thought all sweet and kind little girls names were Gina.

Every morning Bei would wake up and say "Gina". He would climb over me and out of bed and go stare at her sleeping in the living room. He would be within a foot of her face, poor little Gina probably felt like she was being stalked!

This past weekend I was able to go on a vacation in my own home! It was wonderful! My brother Nick, wife Kathy and their children came for a long weekend. Bei is infatuated with the girls and they are very wonderful to him, so all I had to do is put him down at night. This entire weekend was a win-win for me, Bei was able to spend alot of quality time with cousins and I was able to do spend time with family, and do one of my favorite things, which is cooking!

My Three Year Old

Wee! This is fun!

Bei loves going to the park even in the winter time. He had to bring his balloon, which we clipped to his coat.

Even though Bei didn't feel well this week, it didn't mean he couldn't be put to work! He is helping paint one of the spare bedrooms. (Note the Motorcycle pants that he still insists on wearing, they are now capri's at best and moving to the knicker realm.)

This is Dan's version of "Ring around the Rosey", when they fall down they break into the worm from Animal House! Uncle John joined in the fun with Dan and Bei!

Bei is definitely a three year old already. I get alot of "Bei do it his self". "Mom, no help", "Mom, no hands". His vocabulary is also growing and he is comprehending more. Some of the cute things, that I have heard him say recently are "Ohhhh....Rats!", "Uh oh...oh welllll...", "Darn it!"

Bei is still really cuddly and wants to be held alot. (Which I LOVE!) All of sudden he is over the "yucky" remarks about the kiss, and he is back to kissing me all day long again. He loves to be held and would love me to hold him 24 hours a day if I could. He has gained another pound and is 26 pounds, so he gets heavy for me after a while.

He loves exercise tapes. When I first came back from China I put in a DVD called Booty Yoga, he loves to watch it! I wonder why??? This week, I finally have committed myself to getting back into shape. Believe me, after 9 months of a kid pushing candy and sweets on you, a person gains weight! I swear that he could have easily been born into my family. In the way that he pushes food on me, reminds me of my Grandma Phyllis. Plus, he loves to eat butter by the spoonfuls! Hello family...does that sound like anybody we know???...I'm not mentioning any names! Anyway, I've always watched my food intake and excercise because I always say, "there is a fat body dying to get out here. " So I have used Bei as an excuse long enough and I need to get back to working out. Have you ever exercised with a toddler? "Oh mom is down on all fours, I'll climb on her back and ride horsey". "Now she is doing scissor kicks with her legs, I'll see if I can run through them". "She is on her back, I'll ride her legs up and down". I won't need the 25 lb weights for some time, because I have one built in already. But once again I LOVE it!

My baby turned 3!

Huckleberry has his grand poo-buh hat on. It truly is his winter hat. It is SO Huckleberry!

Huck has said some very funny things to me lately. "Liz, Liz, Bei has a tooth, I saw it!" Yeah well, he better have more than one or somebody is in trouble because he had a full set this morning. "Liz, Liz, did you hear that? He called you mom!" Huck it has been 9 months and he called me some version of Mom since day one. "Liz, does Bei know he is Chinese?" I answered no. Then Huck said "Oh, he thinks he's Japanese." The best was "you are the greatest neighbors to have living next to us!"
Instead of trying to corral the kids into some kind of organized birthday games, jumping on the beds is alot easier.

You can't have too many birthday parties. The kids came over from next door on Bei's actual Birthday and celebrated with him. Later Bei and I went to Paint your Plate with the triplets, triplets mom and grandmother. Oh my...it was crazy, but very fun! No pictures because it was too chaotic.

Bei helping mom make his birthday cupcakes. Mmmm, chocolate on my wrist too!




Bei going kittywampus down the hill

Bei's first snowman

To love a child is to experience it through a mothers lens. It really is an extraordinary experience in so many ways. I keep asking my sister is it Bei? Is he something special that I love him so much? She assured me that every mother loves their child like I love Bei. I think what I find unique about Bei is that his temperment is so easy going. Maybe there is this nagging voice in the back of my mind that keeps telling me that it so easily could have gone the other way. We could have not bonded from the beginning, we could not like each other and have struggled. I guess that was more what I was prepared for based on the research that we read. They prepare you for worst case scenario. We are so grateful and blessed that we got this wonderful little boy that loves us too.

Impromtu Birthday Bash!

Getting a birthday kiss...yes, he still says "Yucky!"

Bei acting shy during the Birthday song. Bei did really well blowing out the candles...he only has two girlfriends.



Bei and Max playing during the Birthday party. They made these lego towers and then would use them like swords until Max got hurt and I put an end to it...boys!

The kids enjoying the food.

The title of this blog "Impromptu Birthday Bash" is somewhat a misnomer. Number one, Bei's birthday isn't until February 3rd and number two, there was a birthday party planned for this weekend, but with different people than who actually came to it. My brother, Nick and his family were planning on driving up to celebrate Bei's birthday early, but unfortunately, Nick has a very bad sore throat. We all decided it was in everyone's best interest if we postponed our get together til everyone is healthy. So we will see Nick's family in mid-February instead.

However, food already had been prepared, cakes purchased, beer fridge stocked, so we just needed people to come, eat and drink. Oh...and sing happy birthday to the birthday boy. We made a few phone calls and luckily we had some takers!

A funny thing happened this week. As some of you are aware, I am a pretty "attentive" mother...some might even call it over-protective. Bei is seldom out of my sight, but this week I was preparing dinner and I knew Bei had gotten a band-aid out of the cabinet. He plays with them like they are stickers, so I usually hide them from him. But I had recently gone to the store and threw them in the cabinet and he found them. He had been in the living room and when he walked into the kitchen he said "mom look, 3 band-aids". I looked down at him, expecting them to be on his stomache where he usually positions them and uh oh...they were lower, and yes, they were attached to his "manhood"...AND there wasn't 3 of them, but 4! OUCH! Into the bathtub he went until they came off on there own.

Don't tell Doe Doe...Bei was caught kissing another girl...

Bei giving Leah a kiss goodbye

(The triplets names are Leah, Brynn, and Maren)

Leah and Brynn are identical and Maren is a singleton.

Bei and I have had a busy week of play. Monday we saw the Huckleberry clan, Tuesday we went to a toddler free time at a community center, Wednesday we visited with a friend that has one year old triplets and today we had some other neighborhood kids come for some play time. I think Bei is exhausted from all the fun. Tomorrow, we will have a nice quiet day, just the two of us.

Huckleberry and Company

Bei having sheer fun with his friends!

Note Bei's right foot has a sock on it and the left has none. He actually has the two socks on the one foot, which he insists on doing all the time. Do I have a rebel in the making?

Bei invited his friends, Huckleberry, Max and Curly Locks to come over and play. They had not seen each other for about a month. The kids came in and wanted to hug Bei right away. On the way out, Curly Locks came over to me and said "I think Bei's cute". Believe me, he is going to think you are pretty cute too...just give him a few years.

I want to share a humorous story with you about Huckleberry. Right before Christmas we decided to meet with the neighbor kids to do a very quick Christmas present exchange. I knocked on their door and Huckleberry and Max threw open the door and shouted "We bought Bei blocks! We bought Bei blocks for Christmas! Let's open our gift? Can we open our gift, Let's open our gift, Can we? Can we? Can we?" Sure! Believe me at this time, I am all excited now the kids have gotten my adrenaline pumping and I can't wait for them to open it. The boys ripped into the large group gift that I had gotten them. The atmosphere went from sheer excitement to..."oh...that is not what I thought it was". Huck what did you think it was? "I don't know, but not that". Huck this is fun! You'll love it! "It is a baby toy". Max looked at it and went to play with his truck. What was the gift you ask? An easel, with paper on one side and a chalk board on another. I don't know if I captured the humor of the story but I thought it was very funny. Perhaps I think it is funny because I am a known notorious bad gift giver and a 5 year old can even call me out on it. Here comes Mrs. Killjoy again bearing gifts that can suck the life right out of any fun festivity.