Happy 1st Birthday Abraham!!

Abraham turned 1! I am still in shock that our baby boy is already 1 (it probably flew by so quickly because we missed the first 7 months of his life :( ). It was a wonderful day celebrating with family and close friends.

Opening gifts - not so sure about how that was all supposed to work.


He enjoyed flapping the paper all over the place - So cute!


Abraham with his Mamaw and Grandma. He loves them both.


Balloons were a big hit!


Look at all of those kids trying to get at the gifts - so funny...


The Birthday Cake Caterpillar (easy - everyone just got a cupcake but it still looks decently cute :) ).

Do you hear that low rumbling he's making. Yes - he does that all of the time (#8 below :) ). He was not so into eating his cake, but instead rubbing it all over the tray. He spent a good 15 minutes working at it :). We all had a good laugh!

Reflecting on his first birthday brings me back to the day we got his referral pictures. I remember sitting in front of our computer and waiting for the first image to pop up. Once we saw his incredible face, we knew IMMEDIATELY that this was our son! He was absolutely perfect. We got two different ages for pictures (ones where he was 2 months and ones where he was 5 months). In his 2 month old pictures he looked so little and frail, but by 5 months he was really starting to fill out. It shows just how loved and taken care of he was at Hannah's Hope.

Abraham when he first arrived at Hannah's Hope at 2 months of age. Can you believe that smile? It's still as precious as ever.


Not so sure in this picture. He was a very uneasy baby. He never felt quite settled. Until the last few months that was our experience with him as well. He is so well adjusted now - Praise God!


Look at my tiny little man? Still has those huge eyes!


I wish I could have held and known him when he was this little. Once again, I'm just so thankful for Hannah's Hope and the staff that love these children so much.


Abraham at 4 months (picture taken by the amazing Traci).


Abraham at 5 months - this is the first picture we saw. How could we NOT have fallen in love. It's like he's looking right into your soul.


This was my favorite referral picture of our Abraham. It's still up all over our house!!

These last five months since having him home have been a roller coaster for sure. Bringing Abraham home was absolutely amazing but ultra challenging as well. He tested, and did not trust us. Through love, affection and lots of confirmation, Abraham KNOWS he is loved and is completely secure. Every day we fall more and more in love with this amazing gift from God - our Abraham. We are constantly blown away by how God would entrust us with this child.

Our little man today.

Some of Abraham's favorite things to do:
1. CRAWL everywhere
2. Pull himself up on furniture
3. Watch, and laugh at Lowa and Whittaker (especially when they do really goofy things to purposely make him laugh)
4. Cuddle with mommy
5. Be held by mommy and daddy
6. Drink bottles
7. Grab things with his hands and contemplate what he has. Then the object usually goes into his mouth :)
8. Make a low rumbling with his voice to keep up with the the noise level from his siblings.
9. Getting tossed around, up in the air, or flipped upside down by daddy
10. Wrestle with daddy (or mommy)
11. Drool!!
12. Play with Lowa and Whittaker's toys rather than all of the fun ones he got for his birthday - figures...
13. Eat most foods
14. Look at pictures (especially of his family and people from Hannah's Hope)
15. Dance (he's so adorable)

There are many other things that he loves to do and I'll have to add them as I remember...

We want to end by saying, "Abraham - you are a blessing from God and we love you with all of our hearts. Happy Birthday son! ~ Love, Mom, Dad, Whittaker and Lowa."