HAPPY FAMILIVERSARY!!!

One year ago today we met Brady for the first time and I can remember walking into the foster mom's house like it was yesterday!! Our lives have changed so much in the last 365 days, but I wouldn't change an ounce of it for anything in the world!! Sure, we can't jet off to who knows where anymore, but you know what? I like it better this way...I feel like I have a purpose in life now. It's nice to know that someone is 100% completely dependant on me and I like it. And besides who can resist Brady's cute as can be smile?? I mean I can be having the worst day or be super tired and as soon as I see him and he smiles at me, I forget about all of that.

Today Brady and I went to Barnes and Noble so he could play with the trains (and I could get a Starbucks!!) and we got 3 new books too! This kid LOVES books so I never say no to them. Then we went to Old Navy to do a bit of shopping and I got Brady 2 of the cutest t-shirts (I'll put a picture of them in the next post) then we met "Aunt Viv" for lunch. We'll go to dinner as a family tomorrow night to celebrate. ( I'm thinking we might have time to go out for ice cream tonight, so maybe we'll do that too!!)

Brady has grown SO much since last October!! He's about 24lbs now is about 32 inches long! He is talking up a storm these days and says so many words, like: bird, dog, apple, up, down, car, more, milk, bear, juice, water, fruit ("toof" as he says), hot, mom, dad, on, off, help, Pooh, and I know there are others that I can't think of at the moment. He's also very into making animal sounds/gestures for the following animals: dog,(woof) cat(meow), bird(tweet), tiger, lion, dinosaur(roars), coyote (he tilts his head back and howls!), alligator (he either does the Florida Gator Chomp or he does a version with just his hand and says "chomp, chomp, chomp"), owl (hoot, hoot), panda (he chews), Koala (he sleeps), gorilla (he pounds his chest), chicken (bawk bawk), duck (his quack sounds like "duuuuuuuuuuck), cow (his moo sounds like "boo"), pig (he does some sort of oink/snort sound) and sheep (baaa). He's so cute when he does these!! I do have it on video but I couldn't get it to upload last night, so I'll have to try again because it's really something to see!! He is becoming very independent and likes to do things himself, which can be good and bad...coming down the stairs adds at least an extra 5-10 minutes and we don't always have that time!!

We couldn't be any happier with our "little pumpkin" as I like to call him, and we can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us!! Here's a look back at some of Brady's first pictures. If you want to read about our trip to get him, check the September and October archives!

His referral picture from April '07.

May update photo which we like to say he was calling us!!

June Update picture with the black lab we sent and in an outfit we sent.

August update with the black lab again.

September update...right before we travelled to meet him!!