One year!

For the last week I've been trying to come up with a one year home post that somehow communicates what the last 365 days as a family have been like. I wanted this post to be eloquent, funny, meaningful and beautifully communicate to the world how our little family of three is doing. But can we be honest? We are working parents of a 2 year old and ain't nobody got time for that! So here's my best effort! 

Looking back at this last year, the biggest thing that has stuck out to me is how normal our life has become. The memories that jumped into my mind weren't adoption milestone related, but the small joys that a child brings. The look on his face when he sees a train (or a bus or an airplane..pretty much anything transportation related), how much he loves taking baths, the warm fuzzy feeling of reading him stories before bed.

I realized that somewhere along the way we have gone from being new adoptive parents who were obsessed with trying to do the "right" thing and comparing every move Milo made with toddler adoption books to parents who most of the time forget that Milo doesn't look like us and hasn't been with us forever. Nowadays if Milo is happy, ate something somewhat nutritious throughout the day and falls asleep in under 30 minutes, we are pretty proud of ourselves! 

Do you remember this post? The one where I encouraged you to clean your baseboards and I cleaned every inch of my house for fear that our social worker would see a stray pet hair and say NO BABY FOR YOU!  We had our one year post adoption visit with our social worker a few weeks ago and I think that I *maybe* brushed some of the cat hair off the couch before she came over. Let's all agree to not ever talk about cleaning baseboards again and shake our heads at naive pre-baby Kim.

It is pretty remarkable and worth reflecting on how Milo has grown from a scared, grieving and confused baby to an energetic, brave and hilarious toddler. He has gone from screaming with fear at daycare drop off to giving us a quick hug and saying bye mama! bye daddy! He has grown 7 inches and gained 8 pounds. He has shown incredible resiliency as he turned 2, changed to the older toddler classroom, moved houses, graduated to a toddler bed and dealt with an injury to Brian that changed our routine tremendously. He has gone from no words to 10-15 words to over 400 words. He was barely able to walk when we got him and had very little muscle tone. Today the kid can run circles around us and be ready for more.

 Thank you to everyone who has supported us. We have felt a crazy amount of love throughout this year and feel so blessed.

 Milo Stephen Yang, thank you for being you. Thank you for loving us and forgiving us when we have struggled as new parents. Your laughter fills our home and your smile fills our hearts. You are our world and the best thing that has ever happened to us. We are humbled that we get the honor of calling you our son.

Every family has a story and they are all beautifully messy. I will forever be grateful and humbled that our family's story began 6000 miles and a day away!