FABULOUS 4!

Our beautiful boy is 4 today. Hard to believe... really hard. He is growing up way too fast for us. It's hard not to think about Noah's birthmom today. I'm sure she is wondering how her boy is doing and hoping and praying that he is happy and healthy. I wish so much we would have had a chance to meet her when we were in Guatemala. I hope someday I am able to hug her and thank her in person for her courage in making an adoption plan for her amazing son. People forget that adoption starts with loss. I don't mean to be a downer here but it's reality and important to remember. Noah being with us means he lost his birth family, his country, his heritage. He lost a part of himself. Yes, he gained a family that is able to provide for him but he also lost a great deal. We will do our best to help him to keep Guatemala in his heart and a part of him... always. We will do our best to comfort him when he more fully understands his loss. We will forever feel blessed that God chose us to be his parents. So often I look at him and think, "What in the world did we do to deserve this magnificent little boy as our son?" The answer is "Nothing"... it was a part of God's much bigger plan to make us a family and all we can do is be forever grateful that He is so good.

One, two, three, four and one for good luck! The birthday prince sleeping...

When he got up he had a basket of little presents on the table to open. He was sooo excited. The basket was filled with sea creatures that grow when you put them in water. They were from the dollar store. You would have thought the kid got a new bike with how happy he was... God I love this age. Eight dollars and he was thrilled!

Our big FOUR year old!

Yep, four... that's right!

Noah with "Auntie". He had such a nice day with Karen. He brought munchkins to share with his friends and Karen took him to McDonalds for lunch, which he loved, of course.

Noah with his best friend, Mary, and John.

The birthday boy ready to go out to dinner. He chose Baker's Square.

Silly...

He looks kind of angry here... he wasn't, but he sure does look it!

They sang happy birthday to him and he got strawberry pie... it was really good!

After dinner Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Nick, Auntie Pam and Maria stopped by with more presents. This boy raked it in. Here he is with his Buzz Lightyear towel from the Gonzales girls.

Opening the much coveted RC- from Toy Story. This was number two on his list, after Woody with the string.

I don't have his four year old "stats" yet because he doesn't go for his check up until mid September. I did interview him this morning though...

Favorite number: "7" (because that's when he thinks he can have gum)

Favorite colors: "Blue, green, red, brown, and black."

Favorite thing to do: "Play with my animals."

Best friend: "Mary is my best friend." Mary is the little girl that is at daycare with him.

Favorite TV show: "iCarly." (Maria got him hooked on this one!)

Favorite thing to do in the summer: "Swim"

Favorite thing to eat: "Chicken nuggets"

Favorite snack: "Goldfish crackers"

Favorite drink: "Milk"

Favorite ice cream: "Sponge Bob" he then said, "I like cannoli's."

Favorite donut: "Chocolate frosted"

Favorite book: "Thomas"

Favorite animal: "Turtle, but my favorite animal that lives in the ocean is the dolphin."

Favorite movie: "Thomas movies" He informed me that he likes the Thomas movies better than the Toy Story movies because Thomas has a better song. Alrighty then.

Favorite movie character: "Woody"

Favorite place to spend the night: "I don't want to spend the night anywhere." Guess Scott and I are just too entertaining.

That was pretty much it for the interview...he was done. He continues to be quite the talker and has developed a little bit of an attitude at times. Much to our dismay, Scott and I can hear a lot of ourselves in his "attitude" and really need to be much more careful with what we say and how we say it. Unfortunately, kids pick up the bad with the good. Damn. Scott thinks Noah is going to be an actor. He still loves pretend play and loves to repeat everything the characters in his movies say. His memory for dialogue is incredible. His "Auntie" thinks he is going to work his way through college by being a stand up comic. I'm a little worried that we may have a class clown on our hands. He's still a little love bug but can also be a stinker when he wants to be. He's shown a lot of improvement in his self control and with keeping his hands to himself. He needs some reminders when he gets really excited, but for the most part he's doing much better with this. I think he's going to be a lawyer... he is very quick to jump to someone's defense if they are reprimanded, getting into trouble or if someone talks mean to them. Unfortunately, he sometimes does it at the wrong time... like when a mom is reprimanding their child. Defense attorney, perhaps??? My Uncle Kevin used to call me his "little lawyer"...hmmmm. Well, that's all I have for now. We are taking him on a "Four year old photo shoot" this weekend... so be prepared for some cute pics!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BOY!!