A Year in Review

On this day last year Bennett was one day old and we received word that there was a healthy, beautiful and tiny little preemie in the NICU in El Paso, Texas.  We were elated at the thought that maybe... just maybe he could be our son.  We emailed the adoption agency as quickly as humanly possible and told them that we absolutely wanted to be considered as parents for him.  And the waiting began.  It would be two whole days before we would get the call to tell us that he was really ours.  And as soon as we got the call, we got this picture in our email.  Our first look at our son.   

We spent the next 10 days holding him and cuddling him and getting the best training new parents could ask for from the NICU nurses.  And then it was time to leave the hospital.  As of his discharge, Bennett weighed in at a whopping 5 pounds.  Here he is as of July 24th, 2010.

At one month he had grown a bit more.

At two months, he was baptized....and had very spikey hair from the chrism oil.

Three months marked his first trip to the pumpkin patch, apple orchard and marked his first Halloween.

At four months his big brown eyes took on an extra bright sparkle

At five months we celebrated his first Christmas

 At 6 months Benny perfected his rock star pose

At seven months he started his swimming lessons

At eight months he started eating table foods.

At nine months he perfected his "shriek" and going to church got a lot more interesting.

At ten months his curls came out

At eleven months he started climbing on everything

And now our little boy is one year old.  He got his first taste of birthday cake and no need to worry about his sugar intake because I am pretty sure it all ended up on his face or on the floor.  What a wonderful first year it has been!