Happy 1st Birthday!

Today is Sean's first birthday! Today is the most important day of our lives; today is the day Scott and I (mostly me pushing) brought our little guy into the world. While September 11th holds great meaning to our country as the anniversary of a tragic day in American history, it is also a day of great joy for us. I have been told it is a "heavy" birthday for such a little guy, but I hope that by sharing such a significant day, Sean will grow up learning the value of peace in our world.

And we are so glad he's ours. From the moment he arrived at 9:55pm to today we are so overwhelmingly glad. And every day (even in the midst of this new screaming at the top of his lungs phase) I feel so lucky he's part of us. We have so much fun, whether it's the new game of chasing (crawling) Daddy around the coffee table, or watching Sean try to figure out how to climb the bookshelves (oh we are in trouble), or calling every bird he sees, be it a duck, robin, pigeon, seagull, etc, a duck (or "duh, duh, duh!!!!"), or signing for airplane every time he sees or hears one (we live under the flight patterns for both LaGuardia and JFK so there are A LOT of airplanes), or watching him "read" his books, or getting big, sloppy, open mouth kisses when he's in the mood (never when I ask for a kiss!) or those surprise snuggles when he buries his head in my neck and then is off to play again. And there is so much more to come. I am so excited to continue to watch the amazing process of Sean's development and to share all our favorite books, activities, trips, etc, with him. A friend once told me when her son was 9 months old and Sean was 3 months old that she just kept having more and more fun with her son and just when she thought it couldn't get any better, it did. I didn't believe her at the time, but it's so true, we just keep having more and more and more fun!

As Debra Fraiser wrote in her book, On the day you were born, "On the day you were born, the Earth turned, the Moon pulled, the Sun flared, and then, with a push, you slipped out of the dark quiet where suddenly you could hear a circle of voices singing with voices familiar and clear. And as they held you close they whispered in your open curving ear, 'We are so glad you've come!' "

We are so glad he's here and he's 1!