Manners

We have been working with Max on using his manners since we have been home, using his inside voice and outside voice, saying yes mam, no mam, yes sir, no sir, please and thank you. We feel this is so important. We would continually remind him, well it has finally clicked....YEA!!! It is so precious to hear my sweet boy use his manners. Now we need to work on, that a man is sir, I get tickled when he says to a man, yes mam...lol...all in time.....YEA MAX!!

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sorry bubba...i forgot to tell you i just couldn't hold it any longer

i love having jam sessions with my bubba....

but my favorite thing is to just hang out

I think Max has the BEST Dada in the world! Max wanted Dada to get in the pool with him, so you see where Paul is. I can't help but laugh out loud seeing Paul sitting in the baby pool....lol...Paul said the water was COLD!! I love you honey!!

I think it is safe to say, Max is excited about his pool!

sweet feet!!!

Oh how I love this seal....Thursday, Max and I drove about 2 hours to Dallas, picked up our home study, then drove 1.5 hours to my moms. Friday morning I got up around 4:30am, my mom, Max and I left a little after 6am and drove to Austin (6 hours round trip) to have our dossier authenticated. This beautiful seal was stamped on 13 treasured documents. We drove back to my moms, went and gently made copies of the authentications, drove 25 minutes to the nearest FedEX....destination Chinese Consulate in Houston Texas. Before I let the beloved package leave my hands I kissed it and prayed over it, then let it go, with my heart beating out of my chest. This morning before I talked to Paul, he had already checked the status of our dossier. It was in the hub at Houston, waiting to be delivered Tuesday morning (a day later because Monday is Memorial Day). I am guessing we might receive it back with the consulates authentication by Tuesday June 3rd, whatever day we receive it back we will that same day send it to CWA (Christian World Adoption) our agency. They will look it over and off it goes to China, once we have a LID (logged in date), then the official wait begins, that is when we can start counting the days. I am super excited to finally be close to having a LID. It really won't be long now and we will have Lulu in our arms, together forever!!

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Mom thank you for riding with us to Austin, Max and I enjoyed you so much!!!

mr. observant

this afternoon max and i were watching dancing with the stars, recorded from last night. they were interviewing kristi yamaguchi, max turned to me with bright eyes and had a huge smile on his face and said "CHINA"! i said YES, she is chinese like you (i don't think she is chinese but to max she is). when we see asian people i will get excited and tell him that they are chinese like him. i want him to be comfortable with who he is and i want him to be proud of his heritage and where he came from. we love all things "china".

fun at the park with JieJie

Max loves the park, but loves it even more when JieJie (Britney) comes to play.

now it's your turn JieJie

Right before we came to the park, Paul told Britney that Max always puts his shoes on the correct feet....LOL...kids will make a liar out of you every time.

nothing sweeter than shoes on the wrong feet!

higher JieJie higher

My JieJie is so much fun!

it's out

(click to enlarge & check out the entire page of cuties)

the June issue of Parenting magazine is out and on the shelves.

the simplicity of a child

Every night we go through the same bedtime routine. Drink our milk, brush our teeth. read our books, then he calls (yells) Dadda in and we pray together. Max has started helping in the prayer time by adding to the thank yous.....Thank you God for....outside, yes thank you God for the trees and grass outside that you made. Thank you God for....sausage, yes thank you God for yummy sausage and all the food you give us to eat. Thank you God for....blocks, yes thank you God for our blocks and all our toys and that we have fun together. Thank you God for.....climb, yes thank you God for keeping Max safe when he climbs on everything. He tickles me, I just love his precious little prayers. Max thanks God for the things that give him joy. Only if we as adults could give thanks and see the joy in the simple things of life.

because i can

it's hard work but my job is complete!

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time to move on....humm, what about this??

Congratulations Britney

Meme and Pawpaw - we enjoyed hanging out with you!!!

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Britney graduated Saturday from college. She graduated Cum Laude, we are very proud of her. The best part is.....she has a job!!!! She is going to be a Kindergarten teacher, starting in the fall. Any child that gets placed in her class will be very blessed because she is going to be FANTASTIC!!!

Not only a musician....but also an athlete.

Our big boy....

is now sleeping in his own bed. One day a couple of months back I washed the sheets (not meaning that was the last time I washed my sheets....lol), I got busy and didn't put them back on the bed before it was Max's bedtime, so I thought, okay let see what he does if I put him to bed in his own bed. He has taken his naps in his bed for a while but has been sleeping with Paul and me at night. We brushed our teeth (he brushes mine while I brush his) we laid down together in his big boy bed and read a couple of books, then Dadda came in and we said our prayers, snuggled and gave hugs and kisses, turned out the lights, and turned on the rain (sound machine) and told him I would check on him. That was it....the little stinker laid there until he feel asleep and we have been going through that routine for about 2 months now. One night I went in to check on him and he had turned on his reading light and was laying in his bed reading. Of course I got my camera because it was so darn cute (above photos). He was reading his favorite book. Mommy Loves Me. The first night that Max slept in his own bed felt very weird with him not being in there with us. I kept waking up and checking on him like you do a newborn, I even went in with a little flashlight making sure he was still breathing and was not to close to the edge. Paul had a rough time and he got a little choked up. Paul and I both see that he is growing up so quickly, we would never want to deter him but at the same time we don't want to miss a single second of the stage he is in.

Picnic Fun

I will start out by saying that Paul and I have been extremely blessed with 2 wonderful adoption agencies that partnered for Max's adoption. They are Dillon International out of Tulsa and Buckner out of Dallas. Both agencies offer so much for the families and the children. This past Saturday, Buckner had their annual picnic and we decided to go. I am so glad we went because we all had a blast. They had a bounce house, a giant inflated slide, crafts, games, a balloon clown (clowns have always kind of creeped me out), face painting and more. I am so glad that Max was to small to climb up to the slide by himself because that meant I got to slide (i did share the fun and let Paul go a couple of times). I don't know what I am going to do next year when he is big enough climb up to the top without help. I might have to be the only adult sliding :-) I can not even tell you how many times we slid. When we came down we would go right back up...over and over and over and over. I want one...I told Paul that we needed have some sort of celebration and have one brought to the house and when Max is taking a nap, I could slide for 2 hours straight. Seriously it was that much fun!! Of course, I have videos...check it out (the slide is MUCH LARGER than it appears on the video), you are going to want a slide too.

Saving the best for last.

Thank you Buckner for a fun filled day and for making treasured memories!

First sink bath

A regular bath in a regular tub will never be the same after the fun Max had in sink. Oh what small things give kids so much joy....and mama's too :-)