Birthday!

Manu turned 1 year old today! As he reflects back upon his accomplishments of the last year, he wanted me to pass along the following statement to all of his adoring fans and family: "mamama...bububub...hehe...woowoo." I think we can all agree on that!

Manu has had a busy social calander the last few days; his first Easter yesterday and his first birthday today. Add to that the fact that he is recovering from an infection, and it makes it almost exhausting for the little guy. Because daddy had to work this weekend, mommy and Manu headed to Whitesburg to spend the holiday with her family. While there he had pictures made in his Easter outfit, got a visit from the Easter Bunny, attended church and participated in the egg hunt afterwards. He also got lots of birthday presents from his family back there.

Today Manu celebrated turning one by taking cupcakes to his teachers at daycare. Then tonight, on my way home I picked up Indian food for a big birthday dinner. Manu enjoyed the Channa Saag and the spicy dal, while mommy and daddy ate too much Lamb Biryani. After dinner we played with his new blocks and his Little People farm that we got for him. Later we sang happy birthday and had some of the chocolate birthday cake that mommy made. Manu took a few bites, but wasn't too interested in eating. In fact, the poor little guy was fussy all day, still feeling a little under the weather; not the best way to spend your birthday.

He's asleep now. It doesn't seem like he should be a year old, but at the same time we feel like we've known him forever. He has changed a lot in the few months that we have been together; we can see differences in pictures, and hear differences in video, as compared to today. But one thing that hasn't changed is his friendly disposition, and how happy he makes us feel. Leslie and I wish that we could have been there for the first nine months of his life, but realize how lucky we were to have gotten him as young as we did. The comming year is an exciting one, as we move toward finalizing the adoption and becoming even closer as a family.