Random notes about our Bear Cub

Showing off his new beads from Uncle Warren's pirate-themed birthday party

You know Zoe feels all better when we start torturing her... Arrrgh, matey!

All smiles in front of the animal mural (notice the tree frog above his head) yesterday at Animal Kingdom.

Hello all! Well, I don't have a real organized post in my mind today, so I thought I'd just share some random tidbits about BC as I think of them. Have a wonderful week! :)

• Bear Cub is still very into frogs! He carries his little plastic frogs around the house all day. He even creates "frog exhibits" (his words, I swear!) in the playroom for us to check out. Future frog scientist...
• The boy is also crazy about trains still! He LOVES to check out real train DVDs at the library and can tell you all about how they couple up, interurban trains, and all the different parts. How do the trains and frogs fit in with one another, you may ask? He often makes the "Frog Express" and transports his frogs from one area to another by train. Oh boy!
• He is afraid of 3-D movies/shows. Tried it out yesterday at Animal Kingdom and he basically freaked. Poor guy! We left that theater REAL quick!
• He's happy going to school! Still a wiggle-worm, but all smiles after school and ready to talk about his day. Oh, and he seems to LOVE the letter 'X' as he points it out whenever he sees it!
• He loves to make up silly tunes as he plays. It's pretty cute to listen to him.
• He wants to play basketball! I've gotten some info on the 3-year-old league that starts in January. Can you imagine?!?!
• He's a speed-demon on his tricycle. I do believe Santa may have a "real" bike on his list for our boy...
• HE IS POTTY TRAINED!! Ok, I don't want totally shout it from the rooftops, as I know we'll still have accidents every once in a while, but all in all, it is DONE and we are so happy/proud/excited! It's great to just have underpants in the house...no more Pull-Ups! Go Bear Cub! :)
• He still loves books and we read LOTS each day! We go to our new library weekly and check out books. He is a non-fiction kind of guy. Last week, we got a lot on grasshoppers, dragonflies, and of course, frogs.
• He loves to point out anything pink "for Mommy!" He smiles so big at me when he sees something pink that he thinks Mommy will like. My lil sweetheart!
• BC has an incredible imagination. He stuns us daily with how he plays and the scenarios he makes up.
• He says he will do everything when he "is 5." Riding roller coasters, swimming by himself, going down the big slides. Wow, he's going to be busy when he turns five!

The miracle of...airplanes??

I have to share a very cute story here. Just a little over a week ago, we were at the dinner table, when Bear Cub suddenly said aloud, "Aunt Stephanie IS going on a big airplane." We looked at one another and said, "Oh really? Which one?" BC quickly replied, "Southwest."

Now, I believe we'd been talking about airplanes before this all came up, but if not, there are many times that BC will pop up with some interesting ideas/thoughts out of the blue. And please remember...Aunt Stephanie is the aunt that will be having a baby girl in January.

Back to the story...

So we asked him, "Well, where is she going??"

And he looked at us and said, with such sweet openess and innocence,

"She's taking a big airplane to get her baby soon."

We have talked to him so much about his adoption and how we became a family, that it has just never occurred to him that families can happen in OTHER ways than flying home on a big airplane together. I just thought it was so sweet. I love that smart, thoughtful boy of mine.

Thank God for that big airplane that brought this family together. :)

More pics from the beach...

The beaches here are truly breath-taking. We saw some amazing sunsets!

I love, love, love to see a storm move across the ocean. Wow.

Our Family Vacation

Last Thursday, we picked Bear Cub up from school and headed to St. Pete Beach for a little getaway, for just the 3 of us. We had such a wonderful time!! The weather was perfect, the resort wasn't crowded, and we all just relaxed and had FUN. Bear Cub loved the beach, was perfectly content to look for "curly-Q" shells and insisted upon his "night swimming." We stayed for three nights, each night he was busy swimming and playing in the kiddie pool until close to 10 p.m.! The resort we stayed at is so family-friendly...two of the nights we were able to watch movies right by the pool on an inflatable screen and one night we had fun watching kids play "Guitar Hero."

I love my family and it was so nice to spend that long weekend together! What a fantastic way to end our summer (although we're in for the HEAT for a long while yet here...)! Enjoy the photos!

More school days...

Strike a pose...

Here are a couple of pics from this morning, before heading to school. The first thing he said to me when I woke up him was, "It's time to go to school!" in a happy voice, so I'd say he is really enjoying himself there. He's still up and down (literally) in the classroom, but between our talks at home, and his very kind and patient teacher, we are working on it. :) Teamwork!

Bear Cub tells us quite a bit about his school day - who cried, what he did on the playground, who he played with, and what others brought in for the "Letter of the Week" show-and-tell. He told me today that he talked to his friends and when I asked what about, he said, "We talked about my elevated trains." Wow, that must have been a fascinating conversation! ;)

(In case you're wondering...he's SO into trains right now that he knows, and can tell you about, ALL the different types, including the elevated, or "L" trains. Oh my.)

I'm proud of how he's doing and just so happy to know that he's having fun, getting some social interaction, and learning how to be in a classroom environment. His face lights up when I come to pick him up and he was so proud to tell me today, "I had a better day today! I was a good listener!" Too cute.

Oh...funny thing here... TWO different parents have now told me that their little girls always talk about BC at home. They say how funny he is and just talk about him around home. I nervously asked the other mom today, "Um, only good stuff, right??" The mom smiled and said yes. So I have a feeling that our once shy and quiet Bear Cub now thrives off any attention he receives when he does something he considers "funny." Oh boy...do I see a class clown in our future?? We'll see. I guess that's better than being the "mean kid" in class though!

Have a great week!!

P.S. Zoe continues to do well! :) Yay for that!

Our pretty lil patient...

We are SO thankful to have our Zoe Belle back home with us again! She became sick last Thursday night - throwing up...the whole bit. Finally, around 5 a.m. on Friday morning, I called an emergency vet, yet decided to wait to get her into the normal vet at 7 when they first opened up for the day. Thank goodness I got her in right away! She tested positive for a dog virus called HGE. It's a gastro-intestinal bug that completely dehydrates the animal. The dehydration is what is SO lethal. She was on the verge of "collapse" as they called it and was immediately put on iv fluids. It was VERY scary, as they really weren't so sure what her outcome was going to be. It was heartbreaking...so, so sad. We left her there and I called every couple of hours to check on her. The house seemed so empty without her - quiet, sad, and just so not normal. She spent Friday night there at the vet, still on fluids, and being watched under the care of a nurse. By Saturday morning, things were looking better. She stayed all day, eventually started eating (a little), went to the bathroom, and had normal blood work. She was able to come home with us Saturday evening and continues to recover and perk up.

Today she was back to somewhat of her "huffy" self -- barking as we left, trying to chase after BC, and following us around the house. Her noisy barking is like music to my ears...I'm going to try so hard to not ever get annoyed with that again, because the thought of a bark-less house now seems so awful. Thank you, thank you for letting us have our "first born" baby home with us! :)

Whoa...almost Wednesday already!

Fish painting! Don't throw away old sponges...cut them into shapes for some fun sponge painting! He LOVED it! Wish I would've thought of that sooner...

So proud after finishing this "big boy" puzzle (with just a little help from me!)

Heading out for the bridal shower...what fun!

Hi there! Hope you all had a nice, long weekend! With not TOO much laboring! ;)

It was a fantastic weekend for me! My best friend, Erica, and I met up with our high school friends to celebrate a very special bride-to-be. We had dinner down on the beach Friday night, then went to a beautiful bridal shower on Saturday. To top it all off, Erica and I spent the night with my Mama (just like the old days!) and then she spent the night at my house Saturday. What a fun, relaxing, ALL-girls weekend! It was so great to catch up with "old" friends - some I hadn't seen in 10+ years! Everyone looked fabulous!

And where, might you ask, were Bear Cub and his Daddy while all this GIRL fun was going on? They had some boy time together on Friday afternoon and night here at home, then headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's where they spent Saturday night. They swam, visited with the aunts and uncles, "helped" at a garage sale, AND even rode a mini train, which BC loved! He was pooped from all the excitement by the time they got home and I was so excited and ready to see my boys after the weekend apart. :)

BC had a good day at school today - able to tell us about the letter "H" and again, how to write it! We keep practicing and talking about school at home, and it seems to be sinking in for him. He is such a cutie, walking into his classroom and then, at pick-up time, it just warms my heart when he first sees me, gives me a HUGE smile and comes running right up. We've seen some signs of maturing already since school started! He's doing a lot more on his own...potty things, taking his shoes off and putting them away, and being a better listener. School is a GOOD thing! :)

Something funny he said tonight on our walk...

I tried to hold his hand when crossing the street, but he made it QUITE obvious that he wanted Daddy's hand instead. And then he said, "I'm into Daddy right now. I will be into Mommy again later." Oh, really!?!? Well, FINE! ;) We had to laugh at this! He's all Daddy's boy these days, but that's ok, because I know how much he missed him during all those weeks of work travel! He'll get back to me one of these days...

Enjoy the rest of the week!! (More pics to come soon!)

Cute lil story...

Happy Friday! Just had to share a bit of Bear Cub cuteness from his school day yesterday. According to his teacher, he had a better day - still Mr. Active, but he is listening because he follows along with his class and can answer the teacher's questions and gets them right! So, I just like to think of him as the ULTIMATE multi-tasker... he can be on the go and still be learning! :)

Back to the story...

At pick-up time, I was holding BC and asked him, "Ok, what do you need to say to Ms. Teresa before we go??" I was thinking of "Bye-bye!" but instead, he reached out for a hug and happily told her, "Thank you for school!"

I thought it was so adorable and was even happier when we came home and he showed me how he can write the letter 'M'! That's my smart boy! :)

Have a fantastic weekend - pictures to come soon!

Still kickin' here in Florida!

Uncle E, Auntie A, and Grandma...just relaxing!

BC playing hide-n-seek with Uncle E. Wow, Uncle E is good! It took us ALL a long time to find him here in the laundry room, with a lamp shade on his head. We all had a good laugh over this!

The family...together again! (Think it might be time for some new shades for BC? Um, yea...a bit tiny for that head of his!)

BC showing Grandma a frog that he and Daddy caught!

Hi all! Geez, I'm sorry for my lack of blogging lately. I don't know what's gotten into me! We're doing just fine, staying busy as usual, and for some reason, I've been having "bloggers block" when it comes to typing it all out. Don't give up on me! It will all come back one of these days!

We are SO happy to have Daddy home with us again! Did you know that we've been in our house for 2 months already? And that he had only spent about 10 nights here before this weekend? Well, it's true! So we are so thankful that he's working here locally and we hope that will continue. His new account gets going in October, so he'll be very busy getting everything organized, but BC and I are just happy to get him home in the evening! Bear Cub has some re-adjusting to do though. He missed his Daddy SO much while he was gone that our short weekends together were completely Daddy-centered for him. He's very clingy to Daddy and I know it's because he's expecting him to pack his suitcase and go for another week! So hopefully soon BC will realize that he'll see his Daddy daily and we can BOTH do things for him.

We had a great weekend! Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie A, and Uncle E came over for a birthday lunch on Saturday. We had fun visiting with them and took a trip to our neighborhood park -- even though it felt like a 120 degrees outside! Phew! It was a nice day though. :) I can't even really remember WHAT we did on Sunday.... oh! We went to our splash pool and ran some errands...again, just 'normal' stuff, but the fact that we had Daddy with us made it seem special!

It was back to school on Tuesday for Bear Cub. He did ok. We did learn that it's best for Daddy NOT to walk with us, because BC cried for the first time when we left him. Again, no tears for Mommy, but when it comes to Daddy...the waterworks began! We are working on some important school skills, like sitting still and listening, at home, and we know he'll get the hang of it all soon. He again was able to tell me what book Ms. Teresa read, what they did and didn't do, AND he brought home his first artwork! Very cute! :) I was able to get a lot done that morning - vacuuming, mopping, cleaning the bathroom....all the while I jammed out to MY music! It will be nice to have a couple of mornings a week to do things around here or have appointments for myself (and by myself!) when needed. Tomorrow is another school day...I'm counting on a good report!

I am SO looking forward to this upcoming weekend! My best friend, Erica, is coming down and we're heading to our high school friend's bridal shower and "Girls Night Out!" It's going to be so fun and relaxing! Can't wait to see my friends...many I haven't seen in 10+ years. It will be quite a reunion!

Have a wonderful rest of your week! Enjoy the pictures from our family time on Saturday! :)