FOUR years!!

Four years ago today after we'd held Colby for the first time, I posted this and this to my blog. It's been an AMAZING four years with our boy, and I thank God every day for him.

He is our sensitive, tender, sometimes (lately often) obnoxiously hammy, attention seeking cuddle bug and I would not trade him for anything in the world. It's been interesting in this past year to see him growing from a little boy to a boy - he played t-ball last summer and soccer last fall, he started school and has friends of his own. His adventurous spirit ("LET'S DO IT!!!" is his motto!) and hearty laugh are two of my favorite things about him, although his tendencies toward kamikaze have led us to say that he can get his driver's license whenever his wife lets him. Ha!

Today we will celebrate his Family Day with some Easter Egg dyeing and his choice - dumplings - for dinner. As much and as often as I try to tell him, I still don't think he entirely believes just how special he is to me. Words simply cannot express my love for this child. I'm forever grateful to his birthmom for choosing to give him life, and to his foster family for choosing to lavish love on him and show him the meaning of family long before we stepped up to the plate.

another one xiao wawa

We took Carter a little brown beanie baby sock monkey in China. He didn't really care much about it. However, we made it a constant in his life and tucked it in with him every night - particularly when we got home. Soon he was referring to it as "xiao wawa" (little doll). For Christmas, we got him another one - a really cute brightly striped model. It wasn't long before they became "xiao wawa" and "'nother one xiao wawa". They are requisite in his bed now, and even need to be tucked in, kissed goodnight (by us) and given their due 'bedbug bites'. I wanted to take a picture of them for the blog and when I propped them up on the kitchen table, Carter couldn't resist. He settled himself right in and gazed lovingly at them. It was adorable and unexpected. I was glad to be armed with my camera to capture the moment! I see that my wawa picture is a little out of focus. I guess I'll have to sneak a private moment with the wawas on a day with better light!

sit by laps, mamas?

The arbitrary s continues to dominate our days. I find it endearing and adorable and I really hope it sticks around for awhile.

Carter really likes to "sit by laps" (as he says). And he knows just how to press this mama's buttons so that he appears to me to be entirely irresistible. He sidles up. I can see it coming. And then he looks at me with that sparkle in his eye and says, "sit by laps, mamas? sit by laps?" and I say "just a minute" and he says, with a smile, "pweaase?" and I'm done for. I'm hopelessly taken in and completely unable to wait even one more second to pull him into my "laps" for however long he wants to stay.

Colby says

When he heard the news about his new sister, he just kept saying "Her's so little! Her's so cute!" We weren't sure how much he was really processing it all.

We found out soon enough. He attacked his friends with the news the next morning. He said it so fast that barely anyone could understand him!

Then on Saturday we were at Target. The cashier asked him how he was doing. "We're getting a new baby and her name is Molly Kate!" The cashier looked at me like, "huh??" I explained that he'd just found out he was going to have a new sister. He looked at both of us like "that's what I said, fools!"

Kailin says....

As I said in my last post, we announced Molly Kate at my mom's birthday dinner. Because Steve met us there, we hadn't even told the kids yet.

When I showed my mom a picture of Molly Kate, Kailin asked who she was. Steve said,
"Kailin, that's your sister."
"What? I don't get it."
"This is your sister."
"But what do you mean?"
"Remember how we went to China to get Carter and now he's your brother? Well, I'm going to go to China and get Molly Kate and she'll be your sister!"
"Really??????"
"Yes. What do you think?"
"I like it!!"

The next morning, we were laying on her bed chatting (the boys were still sleeping) and she said, "Mom, what would you have done if I didn't agree to share my room?" I said I didn't know - that we just assumed that since she's wanted a sister for so long, she wouldn't mind sharing her room. She said, "Well you were right!"

a grand surprise!

Carter borrowed a shirt from Colby. It's a little big (well now there's an oxymoron!). He liked it so much, though, that we've decided to get him one of his own.

We are ecstatic to announce that our family is growing by one more dumpling! Molly Kate turned two in February and is waiting for us in Wanzai, Jiangxi China. She is currently in foster care and has been for much of her life. I know from talking with other parents of children from Wanzai that she is being well cared for and loved on - so that sets this mama's heart at ease. She is going to give her sister a run for her money on the hairbows and barrettes! I can't wait to get my hands on her hair! Because we are re-using much of the paperwork from Carter's adoption, we expect our process to go much quicker this time, and I'm hoping to travel in Fall to bring her home.

We weren't expecting a match this quickly, but we know that she'll be perfect for our family! These pictures are about a year old - so we are guessing they were taken about the time she was 13 or 14 months old. We're aching for some new ones and hope to be working on that soon.


The news of our approval came just in time to surprise my mom at her birthday dinner. We all signed the card and I added "and Molly Kate" to it. She read the card and then stumbled over that last name and looked at me with a smile and asked just what a "Molly Kate" might be. She is one excited NaiNai! Molly Kate will even out the girl/boy ratio on the Gannaway side as well, so that is exciting!

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the blog - go back to Fourtune Cookies or start something new. Until I decide, I'll still be blogging here, and then of course I'll be sure to let everyone know where they can go for the latest Gannaway Gang news!

Colby Christmas

Colby's favorite song of all time is "Joy to the World" (the Peder Eide version, which is pretty rockin'). He sings it year round. And to go with it, he sings any one of a number of other Christmas carols at random.

I've been listening to a song by Seeds Family Worship called "Grace". The refrain is simply "la de da la de da not from yourself, it is a gift from God, la de da..." Today I heard Colby, who is a very musical child, belting it out. "Navidad! Navidad! Not from yourself, it is a gift from God, Navidaaaad!" I giggled and set him right.

This afternoon during our family walk he launched into a rendition of the more traditional, "Elise Navidad." Oh I love that boy and all of his antics! --Most of them, anyway.

Yaahsss!

For the whole time we've known him, Carter has said "uh" (in varying intonations) in place of 'yes'. It's, in my opinion, a very Chinese thing to do. We heard people all the time in China saying "uh" during a phone conversation and only after we had Carter home did we understand what it meant.

We liked it. It wasn't a rude or dismissive "uh" and we felt like it was keeping him connected to his native language. We pretty much encouraged it.

And then without warning two days ago, "uh" was gone. "Yaahss!" has replaced it. I miss "uh". A lot. BUT - the enthusiasm in his voice and the delight in his eyes at having mastered another intricacy of the language that his family speaks makes "yaahss!" pretty darn endearing, too! It doesn't quite beat "nopes" for me, but it's close!

the arbitrary s

Carter's English is really coming along these days. An interesting development over the past week or so has been the addition of an arbitrary s. "Nopes!!" is frequently his response to my asking him if he needs to go to the bathroom. Or I might hear "STOP its!!!!!!" from the living room. Or perhaps "I lub you, mamas!" Sometimes it's "Bye bye, Jiejies! (or Geges)". And there's always "MINES!!!" - and he's definitely not warning us of bombs or talking about ore. I think "nopes" is my personal favorite. I want it to stay for a good long while!

you drive a hard bargain!

Today I ate leftover chicken salad for lunch. The very same chicken salad that Carter spent all of dinner last night picking the "goodies" out of and the same said dinner time refusing to eat ANY of the noodles that were the bulk of said salad.

He approached gayly with a sparkle in his eye. "Can I have it, mama, noo-dose?" he asked. "No, it's Mama's lunch." I replied. "One?" I give him one and emphasize that ONE is all he's getting. He eats it and smiles coyly at me...."Two?"

And that is the very essence of the youngest child. Because he is delightedly irresistible and he seems to know it. He got two. And that was it.

How do you like your medium shovel?

Last Friday we had a bit of a snowstorm from about 3pm until midnight. We woke up to about 5" of beautiful white snow on Saturday morning. As little snow as we've had this winter, the kids (and we) were anxious to get out and play in it a bit. As Kailin had to get to her Daisy Scout cookie booth event, we also had to get the driveway shoveled.

We had just purchased two new small size shovels for the big kids as well as a replacement shovel for our "main workhorse" the weekend before at Target. The kids were delighted to hear that they wouldn't have to share the one kid shovel we had (that Carter adores and is quite possessive of), and all three set out shoveling immediately. They quickly moved on to cooperatively clearing the van off. Steve and I set in on the driveway. He had the new shovel and I had the old. Pretty soon I overheard Kailin yell "Dad, how do you like your medium shovel?" He said, "huh?" and she replied, "Well, it's definitely not as big as Mom's is - so how do you like your medium shovel?" That girl....we showed her later that they are the same size and she just said, "Well huh."

We had the best time shoveling, tossing snowballs, taking turns with the kids pulling the sled, and the boys climbed up the play set and slid down the slide. The snow, which had been heavy and wet on Friday night, wasn't good for packing so there weren't any snowmen in our yard. Kailin was a little disappointed, but the truth was that too soon it was time for her to go anyway. What a fun family frolic it was while it lasted!