15 Months Old and 6 Months Home!

In a little less than six months time in our house, you have brought so much joy to our family. You have transitioned in a way we couldn't have imagined and you bring a smile to our face daily.



The first picture we saw of you



Our first day together



...To our sweet 15 month old.

You are growing and changing so much. You walk/run around the house, keeping up with your two five year old siblings. I think since you took your first steps, you have crawled as little as possible. You are saying a few words: Daddy, Bailey, Thank You, Wow, Ow, and Yessssss. Your newest word is 'shoes'. Not that you will wear your own, but want to wear others shoes and try to walk in the ones that are super big for you. You have such short/fat feet that the woman at the shoe store said we should wait and try shoes again maybe around June. You are sleeping through the night! You still LOVE your bottle, and we still give it to you at bedtime. It is so funny how with the third child, things just don't seem like such a big deal. There are bigger things to worry about and less time to worry about them. You are a terrible eater. You are super picky and eat like a bird.  You are becoming very 'fiesty'. This is our nice word we use to describe the way you demand what you want when you want it (including your love of screaming at the dinner table to get down from your chair). I think you learned this from Sarah Bess. You know Sarah Bess...the one that shared with the social worker five minutes after her arrival for your six months post placement visit that Daddy threw Davis out of the golf cart at Thanskgiving. Give it a couple more years and the two of you will be quite a match. You still think Davis is the most hilarious person you know. And perhaps best of all, you give the most incredible snuggles...

We love you sweet Gabre Meti!

Here you are with your best friend, Bailey.

Just getting ready to mow the grass with a cold one.

Mom's attempt to do 'poofs' in hair that isn't quite long enough

Beautiful

Dear Sarah Bess,

I wanted to write you this letter to make sure I communicated this to you, now and in the future. I tried to communicate it in the moment, but your dog and my snake don't always hear each other. And I'm not talking about Bailey and a fictitious pet snake we don't have, but the fact that I was born in the year of the snake and you were born in the year of the dog. Snakes and dogs don't always communicate using the same language. When they do figure it out though, they can be an amazing pair!  Somehow I am the parent of two dogs, so I think I am supposed to be learning about communicating better while learning about parenting, no easy task. I'm also not the parent of the same breed of dog! I'm not sure about snakes and tigers, still figuring that out. But now I am off the subject.

I learned when you were very young, that I needed to change the way I told you things so that is was important to you, so you understood me, so that you really heard me. This is a daily struggle you and I have. Communicating. Talking. Hearing Each Other. But I wanted to make sure you heard this so I decided to write it. So I could read it to you, tell it to you, and hope for it to become ingrained into who you are.

You are beautiful.

I was taken aback when you had a break down that was not like you at all.You do not need blond hair or earrings to be beautiful.

I don't even know how these thoughts start in a five year old's brain. Maybe we shouldn't watch "Say yes to the dress together". Maybe I need to make sure not to criticize my physical appearance and set a good example.

You are beautiful. And I want you know how important it is for you to see your beauty. You are a beautiful person  Your daddy and I love you exactly as you are with all that we are. God loves you. He made you and He loves you exactly how you are. You can not do anything to gain or lose love from us.

So when you are 18 years old and you want to dye your hair and tattoo your whole body because it makes you happy then go for it. But don't do it to make you beautiful. You could never be more beautiful to me and more importantly, you could never be more beautiful to Him.

You shine a light. You have a sweet soul.