Maya's First Hike

Lyle had a day off from work, so while the big kids were at school, we took the little girls up to the Olympic Mountains for a hike. The day was clear and beautiful and the weather was perfect!

Abby has only been on two hikes, and both times she's seen bears. She's pretty sure that's the norm. These bears were quite close to the road and we did get out of the car for a better look, but having the car right there helped us to feel safe.

Abby checking out the viewpoint at the lodge. She had a great attitude, but we were to soon learn that the hike was more than we'd bargained for!

Maya thought riding in the backpack was great. She thoroughly enjoyed her personal bag of trail mix, but made Lyle a little nervous when she kept saying, "put it in a pocket!" Lyle wondered what pocket she was talking about, and later discovered that a few nuts and M&M's had found their way down the back of his shirt!

Abby listening to the peaceful sounds of nature. I should point out that at this point, the sounds were peaceful--later on, that all changed! Hint: Remember the bears?

At the start, the trail was completely clear, but as we got higher, we trudged through lots of snow.

At this point, we were still doing well!

Here's where things began to fall apart! We needed to pass through a large, steep slope covered with snow. In this photo, normally sure-footed Lyle slipped down the embankment and saved himself and poor Qiu from a serious fall by grabbing hold of a tree branch.

He got a little dirty! I wish I took some pictures of the treacherous hike from here on out, but I was more concerned with survival! The deep snow chilled Abby's atittude considerably and after crossing a couple of snow fields, we realized we'd never make it. So, we turned back and slipped and slid back through the snow.

Maya zonked out in the backpack and we picked up the pace as we repeatedly heard the grunts of a bear somewhere behind us. We never saw it and didn't spend much time looking. We were all happy to get back to the car!

One Year Ago Today

On May 23, 2006, we woke up to a phone call from the Small World Adoption Agency. Kathy asked if we'd checked our e-mails from last night. Nope, we hadn't. "Well," she said, "I sent you the file for a beautiful 8 month old...." The kids weren't up yet, so we quietly went downstairs and opened the e-mail and read all her information.

At the bottom were her photos. I wanted to kind of sneak up on them and give myself a moment before I saw her, but I scrolled too fast and there she was!

There were 3 adorable pictures, but it was this one that just took my breath away. She felt familiar and so much like a Beck. Lyle kept chanting, "All babies are cute....All babies are cute..."

I wouldn't say our minds were totally made up in that moment because we knew we wanted to discuss her file with an international adoption pediatrician, but we certainly knew we really WANTED to adopt her!

Wow, that was me?!

I'll admit, that e-mail from one year ago is still in our "in-box". It makes me happy having it there!

Hair Issues

It's fairly customary in China for infant and toddler girls to get their heads shaved. Our adoption coordinator in China said it helps them to have beautiful, thick hair when they grow up. Looking at poor Maya's sad head of hair, I must say that I'm almost tempted to pull out the clippers!

It's growing at the top and we have enough for some respectable bug antennae, but the sides stubbornly refuse to grow.

Unfortunately the back is also growing quite well. Adam commented the other day, "Isn't her hairstyle called a mullet?" I suppose it is.

Didn't I promise you'd see more of the picture face? This, once again, is the "picture face delay".

I trimmed up Maya's bangs today because she had a few hairs that were straggly looking, but obviously most of it is still pretty short. Now that it's a little more even, I think it just looks like I cut way too much off on top!

In this photo, Maya jumped out and yelled, "Surprise!!" It did surprise me because that's the first time she's ever done that! I'm so happy I got it on film. What a funny girl!

When and if her hair ever does grow, I do think it will be beautiful. It's very shiny and smooth and for the first time I'll be dealing with a non-curly female head of hair. Lyle tries to spray Maya's head with water and do the "scrunch" technique that works quite well with our curly heads, but I think no amount of scrunching will do the job on Maya's head!

Although this has nothing to do with hair, I want to share a sweet Maya story that just warmed my heart last night. I was putting her to bed, a time when she's always snuggly and sweet, and she said without any prompting, "I love you, Mama." Then she blew me a kiss. Any stress or expense incurred with bringing her home is such a distant memory. She is such a blessing.

Adam Turns 13!

Do you think it's a tad foreboding that our first child entered his teen years on Friday the 13th? Yes, it makes us a little nervous! Unfortunately Lyle missed the festivities as he is off in Oklahoma City, the city of his birth, for a dental meeting. As I've heard the story told, I believe Lyle only actually lived there, outside of the uterus that is, for less than a week. The family was waiting on his arrival so they could move to Idaho Falls.

So, while Lyle was in Oklahoma reconnecting with his roots, we had a tasty birthday spaghetti dinner. If I wasn't in single parent mode I might have made the table look a little more festive, but it was pretty delicious sauce, if I do say so myself.

Oh, and I should mention that Lyle had called and left a message on the answering machine wishing Adam a happy birthday. When Adam heard it he said, "You know, he's such a great guy. I hope I can be just like him someday." He does occasionally like us!

Lyle has convinced the Qiuster that she can and should feed herself. You can see the results. That's an apron I have tied around her neck, but really, nothing adequately does the job. When I try to feed Maya she turns her head, clamps her mouth shut, and reaches out her hand for a fork, waving her chubby little fingers. I like how Lyle "teaches" her these skills but isn't around for the cleanup.

Also, this is her new picture face. Get used to it because I have a feeling this is what we'll be seeing for awhile.

This is Exhibit A.

And here we have Exhibit B. This one is a slight variation on Exhibit A. I call this the "picture face delay". If I wait a few seconds she'll usually sneak open one eye to see if I'm still there.

Adam wanted brownies as a birthday cake substitute. Unfortunately, the kids saw the brownies on the counter after school and thought it was an after school snack. Hence the half-eaten pan. It wasn't a birthday feast that would rate very highly for looks, but I think the kids had a good time.

Adam hadn't even seen the present yet and was just being a ham. It's hard buying gifts for a teenager! The present was actually a digital camera. I have no idea why they packaged it in such a huge box! Adam said, "Thanks, but I don't really see why I need a digital camera. I always use yours." Exactly!

Tonight when I put some laundry in the washer, I found a paper in Adam's pocket that was apparently from his health class. It listed different moral dilemmas and asked questions like: What do your parents think about this? your friends? media? and finally, What do YOU think about this? The one that made me laugh was his answer to the question, "What do YOU think is appropriate dress for you?" His response was so perfectly Adam-- "I don't wear dresses."

I do feel for Adam being the oldest. He gets us at our most paranoid, inexperienced parenting selves. I hope we can avoid any Friday the 13th bad luck and that he'll be kind to us during his teenage years. Happy birthday to our teenager! We love you Adam!

Spring Break 2007

What a gorgeous spring break we've had! Lyle and Adam are off in San Francisco this week having a blast but we've had a pretty great time at home as well. Today we headed out to an old favorite, Fay Bainbridge Park. This was Maya's fist time.

Our beach toy set unfortunately has only one shovel. Can you guess who's ticked off about scooping with the sifter?

There's Abby's pretty smile!

Maya definitely set some type of speed record on these slides! As you might imagine, trying to get a picture and trying to catch her couldn't simultaneously happen. Sorry Maya!

This picture does a good job of highlighting her uneven hair growth! The top grows, but not the sides. In this photo she looks like a man with a comb-over out in a windstorm!

I love this picture of all three girls.

Madeline and Abby love the tire swing. Maya most definitely does not! She's smiling in this photo because they hadn't spun yet. When they did, her little eyes kept darting side to side, like when the doctor has you follow the little flashlight, but turbo speed. Her head rolled around and she almost instantly turned a funny color. We got her off, put her down on the ground and she looked like a drunken sailor for a good 10 minutes.

So Cute

Eighteen Months Old!

Maya turned 18 months old on the 2nd! Although today was her "official" first day of church nursery, we've been sneaking her in for about a month now and she's loved it. Well, at least she did love it! We found out today that she apparently just liked the excitement of illegal, underage entrance. Now that she's old enough, she doesn't seem to want to go! Little rebel!

She had another "first" last week when she tried out the McDonald's Playland. I thought she'd be pretty timid, but she definitely proved me wrong and had lots of fun going through the tunnels with Abby.

This little girl is really having a language explosion and for future record I'll share some of her words. Most of these she'll sign and say at the same time.

*basketball (bassaball), baby, doll, horse, duck, cat, cracker, apple, banana (with a very cute sign), water, pants, shoes, sleep, pocket, socks, nose, head, hair, eyes, mouth, fish (another really cute sign), please, dog, car, hat (she’s decided she REALLY likes hats!), jacket, pizza, Adam, ball, rock, Uh-Oh! (we hear this way too often!), Ow!, No!No!No! (Usually spoken to babies in books when she pretends they bite her fingers), Shhhhh, book, cow, eat, bease (The word baby Abby used for blankie), more, bye-bye, Maya, Qiu (She answers to both. We still call her Qiu more often than Maya.)

Maya's first phrase was "please more water", although she's only done that once. She often pairs "bye-bye" with "dad", even if she's saying goodbye to someone else. I think she's just used to saying bye to Dad. She says some words very fast, like basketball, and other words slowly like fish.

When she's decided she's done visiting with someone she will say "bye" and walk away. (Sometimes I wish adults could get away with that!) Anytime she sees a medical professional she doesn't even give them a chance. She yells a very quick "bye-bye" and attempts a speedy exit.

We think her language aquisition has been pretty fascinating. An adult certainly couldn't do what she's done in the last 7 months. I'm sure they could learn more words, but they'd be saying it all with a Chinese accent and would probably always struggle with certain English sounds. A group from Spain adopted babies from Guiping the week after us. Isn't it amazing to think that she could just as easily be speaking Spanish now?

I wish she'd speak a little bit more when other people are around. She gets kind of a "deer in the headlights" type of look and it's often hard to get a peep out of her. Well, anything that sounds like a word anyway. She's still a shrieker when she sees something she wants--usually food. She'll scream and then sweetly say and sign "please". I have to admit, she does get our attention! She's a smart girl!

A Beautiful Day

We've had a horrible winter--floods, winds, power outages, lots of snow...but even with all that, we've managed a few beautiful days of glorious weather. Maya loves to be outside exploring.

Her absolute favorite activity is gathering rocks. We live on a gravel road and she has a pretty decent supply. Thankfully she doesn't try to eat the rocks or throw the rocks. The whole fun of the activity is selecting the rock and bringing it to Mom.

This could go on for hours. Each time she says, "rock" and usually "ank ooo" when she hands me the rock. The funniest thing the other day was when we showed her the wonder of pockets! She rubbed her poor little hand raw putting rocks into and taking them out of her tight little jeans pocket. She was so proud of herself. Each time she'd put the rock in, she'd pat her pocket and say, "rock, pocket!"

Olaf dearly loves this girl. And really, why shouldn't he? He's probably gained 10 pounds since she's joined our family

Maya Finds Her Laugh

Maya is a happy baby. We learned that about her on Day 1. She smiles frequently and is usually content. Try as we might though, we had a hard time getting her to really laugh. We'd get kind of a courtesy "ha" type of laugh, but not one that felt very satisfying. I can't imagine that there was a lot of laughter in the orphanage and I just don't think Maya had much in the way of practice.

Well, she's putting those laughing muscles to work now and we couldn't be happier. Helping this girl to find her laugh has been one of the most rewarding things we've ever experienced as a family. Everyone has their own method of making Maya laugh and she gets bombarded with different comedic approaches throughout the day. Adam is all about rough-and-tumble play and running around the house with her, Madeline makes up funny dances and faces, and Abby and Maya giggle about things that none of the rest of us understand.

Maya is also coming into her own in the language department. She really was doing great before, but I can tell her understanding has increased and she's trying so hard to talk to us. She babbles on and on, making no sense whatsoever, but sounding like she's really telling us something important. The funniest moment during our Christmas trip was when Maya was rattling on like she often does, and her 4 year-old cousin, Annika said, "I'm sorry, Maya, but I don't speak Chinese!"

Only about a week ago we checked out some sign language videos and she's really taken to those. She's signed: more, milk, car, wash hands, food, Dad, and of course, ball. Her favorite words to speak are: Dada, Mama, sock (sock-a!), blankie (bankie), dog, bottle (botta), ball, and Adam. She's started to do more actions to finger plays and tonight she sang along with "I am a Child of God." Well, I wouldn't say there were definite words, but you could tell she was trying.

She still likes books, but they can't have more than a few words per page. Her favorite books have pictures of babies or animals. She likes to kiss the babies in the books and likes to pretend that the babies bite her finger--ouch! no,no,no! The animal books are fun for her and she's doing better at identifying the different animals and making the appropriate noises. She loves our dogs and is not the least bit intimidated by them. Olaf thinks she's wonderful and surprisingly Charlie just tolerates her. Charlie's getting older and he's not as patient about the baby-ride-the-dog sessions. He's paid his dues and is entitled to some personal space.

Maya gives great kisses and hugs and likes to pat Lyle's back. She likes dolls on occassion, but is a dedicated sports fan. Probably our funniest Maya moment was when we all went to watch Lyle play a basketball game. I had to hold her TIGHTLY because she really wanted to get out there on the court. She was totally into the game and yelled, "Ya, Ya, Ya!!! Da Da Da!!! Ball!! Dad! Ya! Ya!" It will be very interesting to see if her enthusiasm for sports continues. She's very limber and coordinated and has even caught the ball a few times. She can also kick the ball well and has a decent throw. She spots balls everywhere and I have to look carefully to find the round thing she's seen.

It's getting late here and I need to hit the hay, but to sum it all up, we just love this girl to pieces. She's such a perfect addition to our family and watching her grow and develop has been unbelievably rewarding. It's amazing that we came together half-way around the world in a crowded country of over one billion people. Who knew that one of those people would meld so easily into the Beck household in Washington State! Pretty miraculous! Happy 6 months together Qiu!

Shoulda' Named her Anna...

.......Anna Phylaxis that is. Poor allergic Madeline. This picture was taken about two years ago (I so miss the toothless grin!) when Madeline started her allergy shots. As of last night, we decided to end the shots. Part of me is happy to be through with it, but part of me is sad that we're admitting defeat.

As I said, she's been doing this for over two years. We knew from about age 5 that Madeline had allergies. She got several ear infections and the doctor was sure they were allergy-related. So, when she was about 7 we had her tested for allergies. I was worried that "dog" would be the main culprit, but thankfully the pooches could stay. No, she was allergic to trees and grasses. The allergist said that he couldn't adequately express how large her reactions were--the swelling from those two needle pricks covered her whole back. He felt that the best option for her was the immunotherapy allergy injections. She'd get small amounts of her allergens injected twice a week, increasing dosage and hopefully decreasing frequency until her body didn't react to those allergens anymore. We knew it was a fairly long-term commitment, but the idea of her living allergy-free in just a few years was worth the time, effort and money we put into doing the shots. The allergist said that in Madeline's age group, they had a 95% success rate.

Well, Madeline apparently was in the 5% determined to be allergic. They gave her a shot of trees and a shot of grass initially twice a week and then weekly. Each time we always had to wait 20 minutes afterward to make sure she wasn't having a reaction. Most of the time she'd just have a little swelling at the injection site, but as the dosage increased, she started to swell more and have scarier reactions. First, I should say that Madeline was a total trooper with the shots. She loved her nurse, Maria, and would insist that I stand in a certain spot each time she got her shot. She felt a smile during the injection always helped! (See above picture!)

We never got up to the elusive "maintenance dose" when she'd get a shot only every month. The best we ever got to was every 2 weeks, but that didn't last long. Her first anaphylaxis-type episode happened about a year ago and really took us by surprise. She'd had her injections and we were sitting in the office, waiting for the required 20 minutes to pass, when she went into the bathroom for a tissue. When she came out, I thought she'd been crying because her face was so red and her eyes were watering. When she talked, it came out as a wheezy, "I feel really scared." Thankfully the doctor didn't have to use the epi-pen, but they used the albuterol treatment and oral benadryl and they watched her for about an hour until her breathing was back to normal. A few months later we had a repeat of that. Each time they had to back off on the dose and have her come in at more regular intervals.

Recently, we'd actually already left the doctor's office after our usual 20 minutes, when I heard Madeline wheezing in the backseat. I rushed her back to the doctor's office. This time she had welts on her face and arms and of course she looked totally terrified. I didn't feel so great either. Again, no epi-pen, but it was close. So, after that episode, Madeline was now very nervous about not just the shots, but leaving the doctor's office. They started doing peak-flow tests of her breathing before and after her injections just to make sure she was o.k.

Last week we had yet another anaphylaxis moment which had Madeline in tears and the medication she got to stop the reaction knocked her out for the rest of the day. She went to sleep at 5:00 and we couldn't get her to totally wake up until 7:30 the next morning, crying because she hadn't been able to do her homework. So, last night Lyle and I had a chat with the allergist and he agreed that after over 2 years of this, we can certainly say we gave it our best shot (well, about 200 shots!). He also was worried about her escalating reactions and admitted that most kids are as good as they're going to get after 18 months.

So, sadly, that just leaves us with epi-pens in strategic locations (school, purse, car, house) and albuterol inhalers and a boatload of Loratadine. I so wanted her to not be limited in her outdoor activities--and mostly she's not, we just have to be careful. She's an amazing, hardworking, talented girl and I hope and pray this won't become a big deal for her in her life. We'll see how she does now without the shots and reconvene with the allergist in 6 months. I guess the pacific northwest just isn't a great place for a kid with a tree allergy! Maybe we'll move to the desert. Knowing Madeline though, she's probably allergic to cactus!