a year?!?

The plan was to do a post on Wednesday the 19th, our official Gotcha Day, but that obviously didn't happen since it is now Friday the 21st. I am apparently falling down on the mama job.

So what did we do on Wednesday? Well, we actually treated it like a normal day, and towards the end of it, we got in some serious giggle and marvel time. As we laughed and played in the family room with S and E, we often stared in amazement at how much they have both changed in the last year. The two children we held for the first time a year ago almost seem nothing like the two children we have now. While S maintains a lot of her "I can do it" independence, she also relishes having two parents to cling to. E is now her little brother to lord over instead of one she must care for. Instead of doing what she is sure is expected of her, she is taking chances, developing an opinion, and relaxing into her true personality. And speaking of personality, holy cow did one burst out of E! The little boy who once would not let me hold him is now a complete mama's boy who loves to sing. While he displays two-ness with great flair, he can also melt your heart with his beautiful smile and big loving eyes. He hangs back less and less and instead will jump right in with the big kids. He loves to smother his mama with kisses and impress her with long sentences that she can't understand.

And while all of this blows my mind from time to time, there is something else that wows me even more: How we have adjusted to this huge shift in family to something resembling normalcy. Even J, the one who seemed to be hit hardest by this change, has evolved into your typical big brother, and he is fantastic in this role.

For awhile after we came home from Ethiopia, I often counted time -- how long we had been home, and how long we had to go to get to a certain milestone. Strangely, our year anniversary sort of came up on me almost out of the blue. Hard to believe it has been a year, and it is also hard to believe it has only been a year. Weird, that.

Happy Gotcha Day, everybody!
:)