Thursday, August 14, 2008

Our Family Anniversary

As we made our way in the front door, my nerves got the best of me. A small-framed woman greeted us with a wide smile as she walked to the crib in the corner of the tidy room. She turned around to proudly reveal the baby she had lifted from the bed, and all I could do was giggle nervously and mutter, "Wow, he's big!"

I think that I repeated that phrase a dozen times as Scott and I sat on the wooden bench holding our son for the first time. Those moments were surreal...I was overwhelmed at the realization of how unprepared I was for motherhood and intimidated to have four sets of eyes on me as I interacted with Matthew. And yet as I look back at photos from that day, all I see is joy on my face.

Today marks a year since we first met Matthew. 365 days...that seems strange to type out. I think I like referring to it in days though...it seems a better way to express the time...

the days of new discoveries
the days of exhaustion
the days of triumph
the days of failure
the days of growth
the days of true laughter
the days of too many tears to count
and, most of all, the days of a love that I cannot describe

So, today we celebrated with lunch at a cafe and a visit to the children's museum! Scott took the day off, and we enjoyed our little family in a lazy, low-key way. We gave M a gift we bought in China...a pig ornament because I THOUGHT he was born in the Year of the Pig. Turns out that you're not a pig unless you were born after Feb 17, 2007 because the Year of the Dog runs Jan 29, 2006 - Feb 17, 2007. M's birthday is in January. Shows how much I know about Chinese astrology. Oh well, we met him in the Year of the Pig! Funny thing is I told him that he could hang it on the Christmas tree this year, and he remembered what a Christmas tree is and where we had ours last year!

Our first look:





P.S. Matthew is getting his fifth tooth....hooray!

14 comments:

Laurzie said...

Happy Family Anniversary! 1 year! Ours is coming up, too, and it just amazes me how much our family has changes and grown during that time. It's awesome. Congratulations to you!

Unknown said...

Congrats on one year with your little guy!

I love that first picture.

Lynn said...

Happy Day! M is such a cutie pie!

William's Family said...

Congratulations on your first anniversary together as a family. What a great milestone!

Andrea said...

Wow! Look at the little butter-ball! He has grown sooo much. It looks like ya'll had a great day, and I love the family picture. You sure are a pretty bunch. :)

Andrea

Shannon said...

What a great day to celebrate and reflect! Glad you were able to spend the day as a family of three. From the looks of things, you are doing an incredible job as a 1st Time Mama! :) Congrats!

Dianne said...

It looks like you had a fun day. I love making family day something special.

Shannon said...

Woah - LOVE the new site and all the pics of M!

kari said...

the baby pic of M brought tears to my eyes... we love you all and we're so blessed to watch M grow into a beautiful boy....

Tami said...

Happy Family Anniversary!!!! I bet you have a hard time remembering how your life was without him:-). Sounds like you had a special day together....and I love the pig! Sweet way to commemorate your gotcha day and when you were united as a family, even if that's not what it was quite intended for;-).

Rebecca Lily said...

Happy, happy 1 year anniversary to the Goff family!!! I love all the photos... the strawberry cupcake, yummy!!! M gets cuter by the day. Love the pic with the big "1"!!

Hugs & love,
R

Jenna said...

Happy Family Anniversary!! What a great way to celebrate- simple, and yet it's what being a family is all about. What an adorable baby he was, but my, he's a handsome fella these days!!! You are going to have a line of girls out your front door before you know it! :)

Kerry said...

A year already?! It seems like just yesterday that you were posting that you got your travel news.

What a wonderful, happy day full of memories. I am glad that Scott took the day off for you all to enjoy.

At least you can tell him the year of the pig story over and over. Maybe it will become "the" family story that Matthew just rolls his eyes and and says "Aw, Mom, not again!"

Congratulations on your family day. We are so blessed, aren't we?

Just Us said...

Happy Anniversary to you folks. What a wonderful wonderful day. Doesn't it seem like only yesterday, but at the same time, seem so long ago. It has been a joy watching M grow up!

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