Happy 17 month Birthday Matteo....

Happy birthday my little one.  As I approach the one year anniversary of my travel to Vietnam, and our G&R....I have been looking back at last year's blog and the photos and Matteo Bao has changed so much....at times I still feel it is all a dream, a wonderful one, but still a dream...on the one hand, as others have said...I can't remember what life was like without him, and on the other hand, I know how long I've waited for this miracle....anyhow the one thing that hasn't changed, or then again it has in the sense that Matteo has bonded even more strongly with me, but also with his little giraffe stuffed toy. It was the first toy I bought over 5 years ago when I made the decision to pursue adoption.  I brought the toy with me to Vietnam and Matteo has had it with him in his crib. It also travelled with us to Italy. In the last while he has started to bring it with him when I carry him out of his crib. Most of the time he is happy to leave him at home and put him in his downstairs crib, but on some occasions, like today, he refused to let go of him so we bundled him in the carriage and covered him so he wouldn't be cold.  As you can see in the second photo below...Matteo's arm snuggled the giraffe when he fell asleep   during our walk on a beautiful fall day.  Anyhow time seems to be flying by and while I LOVE my little boy, I don't love that he is growing up so so fast...and that time seems to be going too fast...so I try to enjoy the small things, like the special relationship between a boy and his little stuffed giraffe....hopefully when Teo is able to say more words, he can decide what to name his giraffe.  Happy 17 months my boy!!! xoxoxo