Birthdays, Move Days, and Christmas Days!

We are officially three days away from the big forever move home day. In some moments it feels as though just yesterday I was emailed our transition schedule and wondered how in the world we would make it two months and then it feels as though the time has flown by. We have perfected working through our four days to get to him coming home in warp speed. Each weekend has been a new learning experiencing and more moments that we fall even more in love with V.

Already our lives have been so different and so amazing because of him. Our "honeymoon" phase is just about over and the word no comes a little more often and grumpy pants are put on, but for anyone who has adopted you know that feeling of just breathing. The grumpy moments are when we really focus on being a family and not being on eggshells. When it is 5:30 am and I beg for him to watch Sprout so that mama can close her eyes for a few more moments, it feels real.

This past Friday I had the pleasure of turning 30. I always said that if I was not a mother by 30 that I was just going to give up the dream and make a very big radical life move and take off to somewhere. Little did I ever know that on my birthday I would walk up to the door and there would be my husband and son. Matt did an amazing job of not only having V armed with flowers and a card, but also my birthday present in his pocket. Let me tell you all that he could have had pocket lint to hand me and in the moment it would have been gold.

As our move in date approaches we get to do so many 1sts as a family. Putting up a Christmas tree, cooking dinners together, Christmas shopping, lots of movie snuggling time and V meeting our families. Being parents around our friends and family has been really beautiful. On Friday morning when we pick up our son for that final transitioning moment he will be meeting my mother for the first time. I can only imagine that she will be just as nervous as we were that first time. Then V will shine those big brown eyes at her and she will melt.

People tell us that we saved his life and the truth of the matter is that he saved ours. There is no present and no moment that will be an more important then those times that he yells for Mama!!!! down the hall or when Daddy comes to the door and his laughter turns to babble from excitement. Our child is our blessing and this holiday we hope that everyone else finds just as much joy as we have.

Adventures in learning a new kind of fun.

The time is moving along with the holidays, visits and getting settled into life as a new family. V is doing so fantastic that at times we wonder if we have to pitch ourselves to wake up. There are the normal moments that he doesn't want to listen or we are tried, but we certainly cannot complain. V is a very curious little guy. There has not been a single interaction that he has not totally embraced. He got to meet my high school friend/brother and managed to easily melt his heart right away. Uncle Jed (inside family joke) brought him  a couple of new cars and that night we got to put him to bed while he clutched the cars in his hands. Our little boy is busy, happy,always hungry and above all the biggest part of our life.

Last night we had a winter parade in town and decided that we would bundle up and head down to the Main St of town and watch the parade. It was another one of those moments that made me realize that we had to learn how to have fun in the way that V could be comfortable with. When the people and noise became too much he would go back on the sidewalk with daddy and play cars. It was a big difference from Q, who loves to be right in the middle of the action. When I used to picture what our child would be like, I had this rosy view of a child who was super outgoing and wanted to try everything. It is amazing to me how wrong and right I was all at the same time. V is outgoing but he needs his time to decide for how long and he wants to try new things but he needs to know it will be structured.

We are now 20 days away from this official move home and we could not be happier. It was really exciting for V to meet Matt's mom, sister and her children. He was so comfortable right away with everyone. It took him no time at all to run around and want everyone to hold him. Now we will be moving along to Christmas. We were very excited to do shopping for him and are sooo excited to see him come down the stairs on Christmas morning.

All and all there are no complaints here and we are all settling into our new roles well. Soon we are hoping that everyone will get to meet our little guy!