11 Months!

Today our sweet little Emma Love is 11 months old!  We only have one more month to prepare for her first birthday.  How did that happen?!  She growing up at warp speed and there is nothing we can do to stop her.  She is working hard on walking and can take a few steps unassisted.  She is learning animal sounds and it is so cute when says; "caw caw!"  She can say, papa, go, whats this, three, grandma (we are working on nana), bush, ruff, quack, moo, and plant.  I think there is more but can't think of them right now.  She is also cutting 4 teeth right now and, while the amber teething necklace helps a lot, she is uncomfortable enough to only nap for 30 minutes twice a day right now.  But, at least she still naps! lol  Although, she is waking up between 4:30 and 5:30 most mornings...  My early riser has returned...

Today also marks 1 year from the time we were notified that we had been chosen as her adoptive parents!  Words can not describe how I felt when we received "the call."  Josh was at work and I had to call him there and leave a message.  I was giddy and excited and could not sit still the rest of the day.  We had had a few calls of potentials and they all did not work out  and, while each call made me feel excitement, there was something very different after we received "the call."  It felt more amazing, more real, more certain.  Of course, even after we met her birthmom, Alison, and we all decided to move forward with the adoption, there was still the possibility that Alison would change her mind.  There is always that possibility up to the moment the papers are signed.

But, even from the moment we got that call, there was the feeling that, this was real, this was going to happen, we were going to be parents.  There was still the fear that Alison would change her mind, but we felt, deep in our hearts, that we would be Emma's parents.  When we got the call, we were told that Alison was due to give birth on November 1st, giving us less than a month to prepare for a baby whose sex we would not know until birth.  It took us 4 years to get to that point, the point of being in the pool and chosen, and we were parents exactly 1 month after we were chosen.  Talk about fast track to parenthood!

There have been so many wonderful moments in the past year, and the first was that call.  I still feel giddy when I think about it.  It has not all been easy, but parenthood never is.  But there is also no better feeling in the world, no better reason to be mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted than because you have been blessed with a child.  I would not trade any moment of this journey, yes, even the moments when Emma wakes at 4:30a, for anything in the world.