Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Baby's First Birthday

Gabe's first birthday was so wonderful. So many people came to help us celebrate this day. Gabe had a great time. He wasn't feeling the best, but he actually had fun and behaved very well. He got a lot of nice gifts and completely demolished his cake!

Here's the little man walking around greeting his guests! He was asleep when the first guests arrived!

Here is our house... It was crowded to say the least. I guess I underestimated seating arrangements. I felt bad that everyone was so crammed, but what do you do?

I love this photo. Look how excited he is to dig into that cake! (Note: Cake was made by Aunt Missy and all of these photos - as well as those from the previous post - were taken by Kimberly Knight)

The cake (or what was left of it).

Love this photo. This is what the guys did half of the time. The other half of the time, they were using my son's toys (and anything else they could find) to hit eachother in the balls. Yes, I was proud of my hubby's behavior that day. Whatever gets you through it!

And, finally, the very happy family. What a wonderful day. Thank you to all of our family and friends for making our special day such a great one. We had a wonderful time and appreciate your gifts, love, and company.
Monday night, we had a visit with Gabe's birth family. We asked our parents to stop by so they would have a chance to visit with them as well. I really wanted them to at least talk with Gabe's birth family one time (other than the hospital room). It went so well. Both sets of parents said they weren't uncomfortable at all. It felt like they'd known them for a long time. That made Greg and I feel great. Gabe's birth family seemed very at ease too. I had asked his birth mom if it was ok if they stopped in and she was thrilled about it. Gabe's birth family also brought him some really awesome gifts! He loves each of them - some mega blocks, a rocking horse, a Tonka crane, a farm set, and a walker/car. It was like each of those gifts was perfect for him! Gabe made them laugh and he did a lot of his "tricks"!
I think of his birth mom every single day. That is no exaggeration. I hope she is handling all of this ok. I hope she knows that not a day goes by that we aren't thankful, so extremely thankful, that she chose us to be his parents. I hope she doesn't resent me or think I think I'm better than she is. Because I don't. I care very much for her and I hope she knows that too.
I had mentioned in a previous post a woman that was very angry about adoption coercing. I've thought a lot about this woman. I feel awful for her. I want to tell her so badly that adoptive parents are not free from hurt in the adoption process. We hurt thinking of our child's birth mom. Of course, we will never feel the amount of pain Gabe's birthmom felt. The day we brought him home was bittersweet for us. His birthday was not all joy - there was pain there too. I thought a lot about Gabe's birthmom that day. We are not cold, selfish people who only want to satisfy this need to be a parent. We are loving, caring people who realize what we've gained someone else has lost. But, I won't be telling this woman this, for fear that I'll be called every name under the sun. I can only hope and pray that some day she finds peace.
Well, that's all for today (finally!)






2 comments:

Grant said...

I love the pictures of Gabe...although I'm not a big fan of the pic where it looks like I'm telling some crazy story. I did, in fact, laugh out loud when I read the comment under the picture though. For the record, however, all of the shenanigans and tom-foolery happed after the presents, cake and ice cream. You forgot to mention that part.

Anonymous said...

Gabe's party was great!! Thank you for inviting us and letting us spend such a special day with you guys.
Love Cari and Poke