A boy, from China?

When we tell people that we are adopting a boy from China we get two questions: A boy from China? and What's his name?

The other day I had my first "negative" reaction about the fact that we are adopting a boy. It was our first negative comment period. I had an "old" lady say "why would you ever adopt a boy? You should be a adopting a girl because those are the ones that they are murdering." Well, alrighty then. I did not bless her out for telling me that Sam was somehow less worthy of a family as some of you would have expected.

I completely understand the question about how we are getting a boy from China since boys are so valued in their culture. What I do not appreciate is the insinuation that I "need" a daughter.

If you know me, you know that I love being the mom of a boy. I do not feel like I have been short changed by being the mom of a boy. If JR and I felt like we needed a girl, we would have applied to adopt a girl. We did not specify gender and left it up to fate. Little girls are great, but they are for other mothers.

There is no pink in our house, no bows, and no baby dolls. There is lots of bleeding and bruising, nerf guns, six shooters, dump trucks, garbage trucks, backhoes, bulldozers, trains, bugs, four wheeler jumping and ramping, running, and mud.

I could not be happier, and best of all, I'm the lady in their lives!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NONNIE!!!

My computer is still not quite right so I don't have access to recent pictures. This one from Christmas 2009 (Plum 3 months) will have to do.

My mama or "Nonnie" as her grandchildren call her is pretty fabulous. Side note, Plum told her that she was HIS Nonnie and she told him that she was Kelsey Ann's Nonnie too. He said no, she was his. Apparently to the exclusion of all others. We are going to have to work on this before Sam comes home. Anyway, she is just as pretty on the inside as she as on the outside and deserves a birthday equally as wonderful.

We love you! Happy Birthday. I won't say which one but I will say that Plum keeps saying, "Nonnies old." =)

Spring Break Plum Style

Tuesday, my Nonnie and PawPaw took me to Jackson in the "Big Bus" to play with my friends at the park.



Saturday, my Unc shamed my Nonnie into taking me to the St. Paddy's Day Parade. I had a rockin good time and got a ton of beads. My Unc also packed my cooler. He brought me lots of Mountain Dew and chips.



Sunday afternoon, I put on a princess life jacket and new sunglasses and prepared for my first boat trip on the open waters.



Ok, well I watched all of them prepare for my voyage while my mama snapped pictures.



We stayed on the water for over an hour and I loved every moment. This reminded mama so much of her PapPaw and the time that they spent fishing. She can bait her own hook, but he always took her fish off for her. He would have been very proud of me and my skills.



I caught lots of fish.



I hope your Spring Break was as much fun as mine.

Love, The Plum

From the mouth...

of a potty training parent:

Yes, you are right. We do not eat poo poo.
Do you need to tee tee? (repeat a.m.i.l.l.i.o.n. time)
Do you need to poo poo? (repeat t.h.o.u.s.a.n.d.s. of times)
Try to aim for the potty, please.
NO! Do NOT put your head in the potty.
Yes, I know there is water running in the potty, but we still don't put our head in there.
DO NOT stick your finger in your nose after you touched your booty.
As a matter of fact, we do not put our finger in our booty.
Yes, I know that you NEED M&Ms for poo poo-ing.
Sure, Daddy can also have M&Ms for pottying.
Um no, we do not tee tee in the bathtub.
Be gentle.
No, that's not poo poo, it's a pine cone.
Please don't tee tee outside during recess.
It's time to poo poo or get off the pot.

All of those have been said at our house in the last 72 hours, some several times. But I am proud to report that there were no accidents yesterday or today. We are proud to be (hopefully) on our way to trained, and Plum has only locked himself in the bathroom one time.

I have cleaned the bathroom floor and surrounding areas hundreds of times.

Dr. Seuss's wacky day!

in one week

in one week...

Plum had blood work for his surgery. m.i.s.e.r.a.b.l.e.

I turned thirty-two and eight on Wednesday and Plum declared it his birthday too. There is no one else I would rather share my eighth birthday with. We had a party at Billy's Pizza complete with toy story stickers and noise makers.

Plum had his adenoids removed and tubes put it. He has recovered just fine. My mother and I are still trying to get our bearings after witnessing him struggling to come out of anesthesia for an hour.

We celebrated my birthday with my family.

My family extensively discussed "the new baby" whose name will be Sam. But he will forever be called "win one soon" by my brother.

We watched videos of Sam walking! We were pretty excited to see him walk since he could not walk when we accepted his referral. He was also wearing a fuzzy hello kitty coat tucked into his britches. I'm not sure if that is just what they had on hand or if it socially acceptable for little boys to wear hello kitty in China.

Tomorrow we kick off Dr. Seuss days at daycare. I'll try to take pictures, but here is one to carry you over.



The super cute dinosaur pants are from Cassady Street. They were the subject of much discussion on Sunday too!