This baby boy

turned one today. Somehow he continues to capture my heart over and over again each day. It's an honor to be his mommy and to spend my days loving on this little one. I've been overcome with emotion today. I've cried a handful of times. It's a mixed bag of feelings. Definitely an overwhelming sense of thankfulness, but also remembering what we missed. Five months. His beginning. I've stopped several times in the past two weeks just wondering what I was doing when he entered this world. December 2, 2012. I have no idea. More emotions surface when I think about the anxiety that his birthmom may have been facing. What she must have felt on the day he was born. Definitely love. But also the uncertainty of what she could handle right now. We were not even in the adoption process at the time. Not even close. Yet God was orchestrating it all. Every little step. Inching us forward. Unbeknownst to us, or her or our agency. It was an amazing sequence of events that have brought us here and made us a family with this little blessing. There is definitely a part of me that wishes we could have been there on December 2, or soon after to take Abe into our family. But there is a bigger part of me that knows God is the author of our lives. His timeline is perfect. He redeems what is broken. He makes all things new. And I trust Him. So what he's done is good and I'm very thankful.

The next two pictures are of the timid baby boy we brought into our family on May 8th. God has done great things! Those pictures break my heart a little. But they are also evidence of the work of our Lord.

 

Abe is dearly loved by the four of us, if you haven't picked up on that yet. The boys are nuts about him. Jeremy rocks him and sings to him before putting him to bed at night. I don't remember him doing that with the other boys. Oftentimes if I'm going to put Abe down, he requests to do it. We are all crazy for this baby boy!

He is a big boy! I'll find out his complete stats on Thursday when he goes for his one year checkup. But he has been in 12-18 month clothes for quite some time. He is a good eater and eats just about anything we offer. One of his favorites is smoothies filled with fruit, water, a splash of orange juice and tons of spinach. He gets so excited when he hears the blender going. Some other favorites are beans, rice, quinoa, carrots yogurt, baby puffs, cheerios, blueberries and applesauce. We've learned in the past few days that he isn't a big fan of sugary sweets. He turned his nose up to the cupcakes on Friday and again to the cookie cake this evening. I'm still giving him 3-4 bottles a day. He is on whole milk now. I've been much slower in dropping the bottles this time. Whoops. We'll get there. He has his 4 front teeth and that is it!

Abe started taking several steps in a row on November 26, almost one week ago. And now he is attempting to walk everywhere, rather than crawling. He has been our earliest walker of the three. I think it's an attempt to keep up with his big brothers. He also can easily climb the stairs with me walking behind him. He loves to climb the stairs. Abe is sleeping wonderfully still. He's going about 12 hours at night. And he normally takes a nap in the morning and again in the afternoon. Each nap is 1.5-2 hours in length.

Abe likes to scream to communicate. :) So we have really buckled down and started using the baby signs a whole lot more. They are coming in handy. Now he can sign: milk, more, and all done. Just a few basic ones but it definitely helps with the noise level in our kitchen during meal times.

Abe loves destroying whatever his big brothers are playing with... if they are setting up rows of cars or their train tracks, he wants to join in the fun and demolish it all. Poor big brothers, but I have to laugh each time. Abe loves bath time and typically cries once it is over. He loves to dance when he hears music. Even if it's just one of singing, we find him dancing along. (Pax is singing 90% of his waking hours.) Sometimes his dancing is just squatting up and down and sometimes is rocking side to side. He loves his paci but just uses it during sleep times and occasionally when we are out and about. The pacis typically don't leave his room. But he definitely uses them to sleep. And he will probably continue that for at least another year.

Abe is a cuddle bug. He loves to be held, specifically by mommy or daddy. He isn't quite into books yet. I hope that in time he learns to love them. The other two boys would sit in my lap with books from the very beginning. Abe will not. But we still attempt it several times a week.

That is our one year update on our baby boy! It has definitely traveled fast to bring us to this date. But it's been a wonderful 7 months for our family. And really, it's only the beginning for this little guy. We love you sweet Abe and can't imagine our lives without you!!